Awards

• Winner of Shortlisted for the Archaeology Book of the Year 2025.

Overview

Research for and the writing of this book was funded by the award of a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship.The period c. AD300--1050, spanning the collapse of Roman rule to the coming of the Normans, was formative in the development of Wales. Life in Early Medieval Wales considers how people lived in late Roman and early medieval Wales, and how their lives and communities changed over the course of this period. It uses a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on the growing body of archaeological evidence set alongside the early medieval written sources together with place-names and personal names. It begins by analysing earlier research and the range of sources, the significance of the environment and climate change, and ways of calculating time. Discussion of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries focuses on the disintegration of the Roman market economy, fragmentation of power, and the emergence of new kingdoms and elites alongside evidence for changing identities, as well as important threads of continuity, notably Latin literacy, Christianity, and the continuation of small-scale farming communities. Early medieval Wales was an entirely rural society. Analysis of the settlement archaeology includes key sites such as hillforts, including Dinas Powys, the royal crannog at Llangorse, and the Viking Age and earlier estate centre at Llanbedrgoch alongside the development, from the seventh century onwards, of new farming and other rural settlements. Consideration is given to changes in the mixed farming economy reflecting climate deterioration and a need for food security, as well as craft working and the roles of exchange, display, and trade reflecting changing outside contacts. At the same time cemeteries and inscribed stones, stone sculpture and early church sites chart the course of conversion to Christianity, the rise of monasticism, and the increasing power of the Church. Finally, discussion of power and authority analyses emerging evidence for sites of assembly, the rise of Mercia, and increasing English infiltration, together with the significance of Offa's and Wat's Dykes, and the Viking impact. Throughout the evidence is placed within a wider context enabling comparison with other parts of Britain and Ireland and, where appropriate, with other parts of Europe to see broader trends, including the impacts of climate, economic, and religious change.

Full Product Details

9780198733218

Table of Contents

Reviews

Nancy Edwards has achieved a publication that evaluates the story so far in which academic, commercial, governmental, and museum archaeology, but also community archaeology projects, are providing an evergrowing body of knowledge. This book thus sets the foundation for research on the archaeology of early medieval Wales for decades to come. * Howard Williams, Current Achaeology * ...provides an immensely readable and up to date synthesis of current evidnce, and new thinking. * Andrew Davidson, Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club 2023 * ...provides an immensely readable and up to date synthesis of current evidence, and new thinking. * Andrew Davidson, Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club * Edwards, an archaeologist, has written a masterful account of the present state of knowledge about life in early medieval Wales and how it changed over time. Recommended. * Choice * This is a keenly awaited book, being the first comprehensive review of the archaeology of early-medieval Wales to be published. Overall perspectives have, until now, largely been left to historians, with the unsurprising consequence that international overviews sometimes regard early-medieval Wales as little more than an archaeological outlier of Anglo-Saxon England. In her Life in Early Medieval Wales, Nancy Edwards provides an authoritative and much-needed assessment of this archaeology. * Rhiannon Comeau, Medieval Archaeology * This well-produced volume is a model of interdisciplinary scholarship...Its ultimate quality, however, lies in its thorough and holistic consideration of what ... events and wider processes of change meant for peoples' (both ordinary and elite) lived experiences ... * Ciara O'Brien Butler, School of History, Archaeology and Religion Cardiff University *

Nancy Edwards has achieved a publication that evaluates the story so far in which academic, commercial, governmental, and museum archaeology, but also community archaeology projects, are providing an evergrowing body of knowledge. This book thus sets the foundation for research on the archaeology of early medieval Wales for decades to come. * Howard Williams, Current Achaeology *

Nancy Edwards has achieved a publication that evaluates the story so far in which academic, commercial, governmental, and museum archaeology, but also community archaeology projects, are providing an evergrowing body of knowledge. This book thus sets the foundation for research on the archaeology of early medieval Wales for decades to come. * Howard Williams, Current Achaeology * ...provides an immensely readable and up to date synthesis of current evidnce, and new thinking. * Andrew Davidson, Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club 2023 * Edwards, an archaeologist, has written a masterful account of the present state of knowledge about life in early medieval Wales and how it changed over time. Recommended. * Choice * This is a keenly awaited book, being the first comprehensive review of the archaeology of early-medieval Wales to be published. Overall perspectives have, until now, largely been left to historians, with the unsurprising consequence that international overviews sometimes regard early-medieval Wales as little more than an archaeological outlier of Anglo-Saxon England. In her Life in Early Medieval Wales, Nancy Edwards provides an authoritative and much-needed assessment of this archaeology. * Rhiannon Comeau, Medieval Archaeology * This well-produced volume is a model of interdisciplinary scholarship...Its ultimate quality, however, lies in its thorough and holistic consideration of what ... events and wider processes of change meant for peoples' (both ordinary and elite) lived experiences ... * Ciara O'Brien Butler, School of History, Archaeology and Religion Cardiff University * This well-produced volume is a model of interdisciplinary scholarship, drawing together evidence from a rich range of sources including field archaeology, artefacts, inscriptions, biological remains, documents, place-names and linguistic evidence. The geographical scope is wide, utilising comparative evidence from elsewhere in Britain, Ireland and the continent, to place Wales in its broader context within the early medieval world. Its ultimate quality, however, lies in its thorough and holistic consideration of what these events and wider processes of change meant for people' (both ordinary and elite) lived experiences, even when this evidence is sparse or hard to interpret. * CIARA O'BRIEN BUTLER, Medieval Settlement Research * Nancy Edwards 'provides a gateway for many into this filed of investigation; it also sets the foundation and priorities for research for decades to come'. * Early Medieval Europe * A much-needed archaeological contribution to the field, Edwards's book...now represents the obvious place to start for students approaching the period… * North American Journal of Celtic Studies * Life in Early Medieval Wales is a landmark in the history of the subject, an immensely welcome view of what has been achieved and an incentive to make further discoveries. * T. M. CHARLES-EDWARDS, THE WELSH HISTORY REVIEW CYLCHGRAWN HANES CYMRU * Few scholars would still assign Wales to a 'Celtic fringe' on the periphery of early medieval Europe, but it is also true that evidence from Wales has not featured prominently within the coverage or interpretative narratives of recent overviews of Britain and Europe. Life in Early Medieval Wales heralds a watershed in addressing this imbalance and makes a giant leap towards putting the Welsh evidence on an equal footing with that from England, Ireland, and Scotland. This book will rightly be recognized as a landmark publication and is certain to become a textbook for a generation of students and scholars. The challenge is now for researchers to build on this platform further to expand and enhance our understanding of what is still an enigmatic period of Welsh history. * Andy Seaman, Archaeologia Cambrensis * Nancy Edwards's book on Life in Early Medieval Wales represents more than forty years study of pre-Norman Wales. In thirteen chapters it describes the nature of the evidence for life, economy, settlements, and religion with more than four hundred pages of detailed text, sixty pages of bibliography, and seventy of illustrations, comprising maps, photographs, and diagrams. It lays a firm basis for future work and study by students, professionals, and a keen interested public. * Alan Lane, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies *

"""Nancy Edwards has achieved a publication that evaluates the story so far in which academic, commercial, governmental, and museum archaeology, but also community archaeology projects, are providing an evergrowing body of knowledge. This book thus sets the foundation for research on the archaeology of early medieval Wales for decades to come."" -- Howard Williams, Current Achaeology"

Author Information

Nancy Edwards is an early medieval archaeologist with wider interests in early medieval history and art history. Her research and writing are focused on the early medieval archaeology of western Britain and Ireland, particularly inscribed stones and stone sculpture and the Church. She is Professor Emerita at Bangor University where she was formerly Professor of Medieval Archaeology and is also Honorary Professor at Cardiff and Durham Universities. She chairs the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Learned Society of Wales, and the Society of Antiquaries.

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