Anglo-Saxon multiple estate

An Anglo-Saxon multiple estate was a large landholding controlled from a central location with surrounding subsidiary settlements. These estates were present in the early Anglo-Saxon period, but fragmented into smaller units in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Despite some academic criticism, the concept has been widely used and a large number of possible examples have been proposed.

Contents

Definition

The concept of an Anglo-Saxon multiple estate was developed by Professor Glanville Jones of Leeds University. The idea originally appeared in a paper published in 1961[1] and was fleshed out in a 1979 book.[2] The term "great estate" is sometimes used as an alternative to multiple estate".[3] These estates typically contained various features[4]:

The specialised settlements, dependent on the caput, often took their name from the crop they produced - Cheswick (cheese wick), Berwick (barley farm), etc.[5] The caput has been variously described as a villa regalis, aula, mansio or maerdref.[4] Specialisation may have been encouraged by "renders" - taxation in kind - paid to the king.[6]

These estates may have been based around a Royal Vill and may have been coterminous with the parochia of an early minster church.[3]

Chronology

The origin of some of these estates has been traced back to Roman times or earlier[7] - for example, Finberg proposed a Roman origin for Withington, Gloucestershire[8], while Glanville Jones himself suggested a pre-Roman origin for some estates[9] These multiple estates were a common feature in the English landscape before the 10th century and were usually owned by the king or an important monastery.[10] In the late Anglo-Saxon period, many of these large estates fragmented into smaller units which eventually became independent parishes.[11] The resultant parishes frequently share the same name differentiated by a suffix or prefix.[12] The fragmentation of these estates resulted in the diminishing importance of their minster churches[13] which (under the "minster hypothesis") had been the basis of early Christian church organisation.

Academic status

The concept has been criticised - for example because the evidence used is often much later than the date of the proposed estate.[14] Nonetheless, the concept is widely used and a large number of possible examples have been proposed.

Notes

  1. ^ Jones, Glanville (1961). "Settlement Patterns in Anglo-Saxon England". Antiquity XXXV. 
  2. ^ Jones, Glanville (1979). "Multiple Estates and Early Settlement". In Sawyer, PH. English Medieval Settlements. Edward Arnold. 
  3. ^ a b Rippon (2008). Beyond the medieval village. Oxford University Press. p. 14. 
  4. ^ a b Aston, Mick (1985). Interpreting the Landscape. Routledge. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0713436492. 
  5. ^ Hooke, Della (1998). The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England. Leicester University Press. p. 52. ISBN 0718501616. 
  6. ^ Oosthuizen, Susan (2006). Landscapes Decoded. University of Hertfordshire Press. p. 9. ISBN 1902806581. 
  7. ^ Muir, Richard (2001). Landscape Detective. Windgather Press. p. 24. ISBN 0750943335. 
  8. ^ Finberg, H.P.R. (1955). Roman and Saxon Withington: a study in continuity. Leicester: University College, Leicester. 
  9. ^ Aston, Mick (1985). Interpreting the Landscape. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN 0713436492. 
  10. ^ Reynolds, Andrew (1999). Later Anglo-Saxon England. Tempus. p. 81. ISBN 0752425137. 
  11. ^ Gelling, Margaret (1997). Signposts to the Past (third ed.). Phillimore. p. 206. ISBN 0460042645. 
  12. ^ Hunter, John (1999). The Essex Landscape. Essex Record Office. p. 68. 
  13. ^ Blair, John (2003). "Parish Churches in the Eleventh Century". In Erskine, RWH; Williams, Ann. The Story of Domesday Book. Phillimore. p. 98. 
  14. ^ Muir, Richard (2002). The NEW Reading the Landscape. University of Exeter Press. p. 123. ISBN 0718119711.