An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England

An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England by Hill, David. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780802064462.

The attempt to place the history of England in its physical context is an ancient one. Bede began his Ecclesiastical History with a chapter Of the situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their ancient inhabitants, and other similar descriptions survive from the period. The latest, largest, and most helpful was the attempt to record the state of England in January 1066: the Domesday Book. It is not possible for the historian today to understand the England of Alfred and Ethelred as they did, having learned the shape of the realm through their feet as they walked and their bones as they rode. But it is possible to recognize athe geographic framework in which they lived and the constraints it imposed upon them, and to provide a basis for such an understanding is the purpose of this book. David Hill records what of the Anglo-Saxon world can be looked at spatially and cases new light on the known and stimulates new ideas about the known and the unknown. Presented in five sections, the 260 maps and charts portray the background and the events: they show sea-level changes, settlement patterns and place names, invasions and campaigns, royal itineraries, land holdings, mints and coinage; in short most aspects of war and peace, town and country, church and state. The Atlas represents a massive contribution to our understanding of early England.