Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs

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Andrew Reynolds (Reader in Medieval Archaeology, Reader in Medieval Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University College London)

Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs

Andrew Reynolds (Reader in Medieval Archaeology, Reader in Medieval Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University College London)

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English

Oxford University Press
12 March 2009

British & Irish history; Medieval history; Medieval European archaeology; Ethical issues: capital punishment; Sociology: customs & traditions

Series: Medieval History and Archaeology

Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs is the first detailed consideration of the ways in which Anglo-Saxon society dealt with social outcasts. Beginning with the period following Roman rule and ending in the century following the Norman Conquest, it surveys a period of fundamental social change, which included the conversion to Christianity, the emergence of the late Saxon state, and the development of the landscape of the Domesday Book. While an impressive body of written evidence for the period survives in the form of charters and law-codes, archaeology is uniquely placed to investigate the earliest period of post-Roman society, the fifth to seventh centuries, for which documents are lacking. For later centuries, archaeological evidence can provide us with an independent assessment of the realities of capital punishment and the status of outcasts. Andrew Reynolds argues that outcast burials show a clear pattern of development in this period. In the pre-Christian centuries, 'deviant' burial remains are found only in community cemeteries, but the growth of kingship and the consolidation of territories during the seventh century witnessed the emergence of capital punishment and places of execution in the English landscape. Locally determined rites, such as crossroads burial, now existed alongside more formal execution cemeteries. Gallows were located on major boundaries, often next to highways, always in highly visible places.

The findings of this pioneering national study thus have important consequences on our understanding of Anglo-Saxon society. Overall, Reynolds concludes, organized judicial behaviour was a feature of the earliest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, rather than just the two centuries prior to the Norman Conquest.

By: Andrew Reynolds (Reader in Medieval Archaeology Reader in Medieval Archaeology Institute of Archaeology University College London)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 253mm, Width: 176mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 827g
ISBN: 9780199544554
ISBN 10: 0199544557
Series: Medieval History and Archaeology
Pages: 340
Publication Date: 12 March 2009
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1: Sources, Approaches, and Contexts 2: Burials, Bodies, and Beheadings: Interpretation and Discovery 3: Social Deviants in a Pagan Society: the Fifth to Seventh Centuries 4: Social Deviants in a Christian World: the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries 5: The Geography of Deviant Burial in Anglo-Saxon England 6: Themes and Trajectories: the Wider Social Context Appendix 1. A handlist of Anglo-Saxon law-codes prescribing capital punishment, mutilation, and burial in unconsecrated ground Appendix 2. A handlist of early Anglo-Saxon deviant burials Appendix 3. A handlist of select burials from execution cemeteries Appendix 4. A handlist of execution and related sites, and other burial places in Anglo-Saxon charter bounds Bibliography

After a career in field archaeology Andrew Reynolds studied for the BA Medieval Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, where he completed his PhD in 1998. His core research interests are the archaeology and history of state formation and landscape structure in Anglo-Saxon England, in comparative European perspective. He is now Reader in Medieval Archaeology at the Institute. Andrew's fieldwork and research interests have taken him from the UK to Ethiopia and Russia, while he is currently working on early medieval rural settlement in the Basque Country.

Reviews for Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs

This scholarly and accessible study, which recognises the stark and often brutal reality of social power and judicial process, is recommended to anyone with an interest in early English society or the evolution of the English landscape. * Chris Scull, British Archaeology *