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Yes / Objective: This research introduces ‘The Bioarchaeology of Disability’ (BoD), a population-scale approach which allows for a comprehensive understanding of disability in past communities through a combination of palaeopathological, funerary, and documentary analyses. Methods: The BoD consists of three phases: 1) Contextualisation includes period-specific literature review; 2) Data collection consists of palaeopathological re-analysis of individuals with physical impairment and collation of mortuary treatment data; and 3) Analysis incorporates qualitative and quantitative comparison of the funerary treatment of individuals with and without physical impairment to explore contemporary perceptions of disability. Materials: The BoD is demonstrated through a case study investigation of disability in later Anglo-Saxon England (c.8th-11th centuries AD) which included four burial populations (Ntotal=1,543; Nimpaired=28). Results: Individuals with disability could be buried with normative or non-normative treatment (e.g., stone/clay inclusions, non-normative body positioning), and in marginal, non-marginal, and central locations. Conclusions: The overall funerary variation for individuals with disability was relatively slight, which may suggest that political and religious factors were influencing normative funerary treatment of disabled individuals. The funerary variability that was observed in disabled individuals was probably influenced by individual and community-specific beliefs. Significance: This research describes a population-scale approach to archaeological disability studies that can be replicated in other archaeological contexts. Limitations: Individuals with non-skeletal physical impairment (e.g., soft tissue, mental) cannot be analysed osteologically and are not considered by the BoD. Suggestions for further research: The BoD should be applied to different archaeological communities around the world to better understand disability in the past. / This work was supported by the Society for Church Archaeology who awarded a Research Grant to the lead author which funded analysis of the Priory Orchard and St. Peter’s Church collections. Research trips were also funded by the University of Bradford, School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences’ research funds for PhD students.

The Priesthood in Anglo-Saxon England explores the life and work of priests in England between the arrival of St. Augustine in 597 and the reforming Council of Clofesho of 747. It seeks to reposition priests within the consciousness of Anglo-Saxon historians by demonstrating the essential role which they played first in the conversion of the English, and then in the pastoral care which the English people received up to the reforms instigated by Archbishop Cuthbert at the 747 Council of Clofesho. The thesis draws on several trends in recent Anglo-Saxon historiography, notably focus in recent years on the role and function of monasteria. Sarah Foot’s work, Monastic Life in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600 – 900, is the primary study in this area. Many historians working in this area have read Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica, the main narrative source for our period, in a predominantly monastic light. Close attention to the text of this and other works of Bede’s however demonstrates that priests were indispensable in the initial conversion and continued care of the people, particularly because of their ability to celebrate the sacraments. This thesis contends that monasteria increasingly gained control over pastoral care through their continued endowment and royal privilege. This effectively removed the cura animarum from the bishops, to whom it was theoretically entrusted. Following the example of Theodore and Bede, and on the prompting of his contemporary Boniface, in 747 Archbishop Cuthbert recognised the need to reform the structure of the church in Southumbria, particularly the relationship between the episcopate and the monasteria, and so restore the cure to its rightful place. He and his fellow bishops achieved this by redefining pastoral care along sacramental grounds, thereby excluding monks from its exercise, and putting the priest back at the heart of the church’s mission to the people of England.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Glasgow, 2004. / Ph. D. thesis submitted to the Department of English Language, University of Glasgow, 2004. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

In the fifth century, after the departure of the Romans, according to tradition, which is based on the ancient written sources, Britain was invaded by the Angles and Saxons. This view has been questioned in the last century. The size of the ‘invasion’, and indeed its very existence, have come into doubt. However, this doubting school of thought does not seem to take into account all of the evidence. An interdisciplinary, nuanced approach has been taken in this thesis. Firstly, the question of Germanic raiding has been examined, with reference to the Saxon Shore defences. It is argued that these defences, in their geographical context, point to the likelihood of raiding. Then the written sources have been re-examined, as well as physical artefacts. In addition to geography, literature and archaeology (the disciplines which are most commonly used when the coming of the Angles and Saxons is investigated), linguistic and genetic data have been examined. The fields of linguistics and genetics, which have not often both been taken into consideration with previous approaches, add a number of valuable insights. This nuanced approach yields a picture of events that rules out the ‘traditional view’ in some ways, such as the idea that the Saxons exterminated the Britons altogether, but corroborates it in other ways. There was an invasion of a kind (of Angles – not Saxons), who came in comparatively small numbers, but found in Britain a society already mixed and comprising Celtic and Germanic-speaking peoples: a society implied by Caesar and Tacitus and corroborated by linguistic and genetic data.

No description available.

<p>Many questions are still left unanswered regarding the period c. 450-700 AD, when hordes of Anglo-Saxon migrants landed on the British Isles and by doing so made the starting point in the foundation of England. Who were these Germanic tribes? The theories of how the migration proceeded are today many. The two major theories today concerns whether it was a question of a mass migration or a gradual migration proceeded by smaller groups of military elite. Another interesting point, well worth discussing, is the concept of cultural identity, and especially of these Anglo-Saxon migrants. How do you strengthen your identity as a newcomer in foreign country? Is this reflected in the material culture, in the way you build your houses or how you choose to bury your dead? The purpose of this essay is to shed more light on the migrants that were to become the English.</p>

This thesis offers an interdisciplinary approach to the period between c. AD 400 and 650 in the Lincoln region, considering in depth not only the archaeological evidence, but also the historical, literary and linguistic. It is argued that by using all of this material together, significant advances can be made in our understanding of what occurred in these centuries, most especially with regard to Anglian-British interaction in this period. It is contended that this evidence, when taken together, requires that a British polity named *Lindēs was based at Lincoln into the sixth century, and that the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindsey (Old English Lindissi < Late British *Lindēs-) had an intimate connection to this British political unit. In addition to investigating the evidence for Anglian-British interaction in this region and the potential legacies of British *Lindēs, this thesis also provides a detailed analysis of the nature of the Anglo-Saxon population-groups that were present in the Lincoln region from the mid-fifth century onwards, including those of *Lindēs-Lindissi and also more southerly groups, such as the Spalde/Spaldingas. The picture which emerges is arguably not simply of importance from the perspective of the history of the Lincoln region but also nationally, helping to answer key questions regarding the origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the nature and extent of Anglian-British interaction in the core areas of Anglo-Saxon immigration, and the conquest and settlement of Northumbria.

Many questions are still left unanswered regarding the period c. 450-700 AD, when hordes of Anglo-Saxon migrants landed on the British Isles and by doing so made the starting point in the foundation of England. Who were these Germanic tribes? The theories of how the migration proceeded are today many. The two major theories today concerns whether it was a question of a mass migration or a gradual migration proceeded by smaller groups of military elite. Another interesting point, well worth discussing, is the concept of cultural identity, and especially of these Anglo-Saxon migrants. How do you strengthen your identity as a newcomer in foreign country? Is this reflected in the material culture, in the way you build your houses or how you choose to bury your dead? The purpose of this essay is to shed more light on the migrants that were to become the English.