The origins of Anglo-Saxon Herefordshire: a study in land-unit antiquity

[摘要] The study researches the origins and evolution of Herefordshire’s medieval landscape from the standpoint of its late Anglo-Saxon territorial organization, both secular and ecclesiastical. It contributes to the genre of topographical studies, adopting a methodology of regression mapping. It identifies and explores the chronology for the development of middle Anglo-Saxon land-units within the Mercian provincia of the Magonsaete, proposing a reassessment of the timescale by when the latter people became the dominant group within the provincia. It argues for the existence of fourteen early-to-mid Anglo-Saxon old minster territories, at least three of which reveal British Church origins, and proposes a model for the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon see at Hereford. It suggests a ninth-century chronology for the incorporation into Mercia of the northern and eastern districts of the kingdom of Ergyng and a tenth-century terminus ante quem for the shire’s creation. It argues that aspects of the shire’s infrastructure are British in origin. It concludes by positing the existence within Herefordshire of two relict British tribal districts which once belonged to a sixth-century kingdom of Powys of similar size to those found in Ergyng.

[发布机构] University:University of Birmingham;Department:School of History and Cultures, Department of History

[关键词] D History General and Old World;D History (General);D111 Medieval History