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Across Britain, there are over 100 possible early-medieval linear earthworks commonly termed dykes; in total, they stretch for over 400 kilometres. They vary in size from those just 100 metres in length to the famous Offa’s Dyke, which is over 95 kilometres long. There have been studies of individual dykes (Noble and Gelling 1983 for example) and general discussions of the larger examples (Squatriti 2002 for example), but no systematic attempt to catalogue and analyse them all. Their size and number suggests these earthworks were probably an important aspect of early-medieval life and have the capacity to tell us a great deal about the societies that built them. Dating such earthworks is difficult even with modern archaeological techniques and, as few early-medieval written sources survive, historians have often incorrectly ascribed enigmatic dykes to this period. This present study ascertained which dykes probably belong to the early-medieval period and contains a comprehensive gazetteer of them in the appendix. It also discusses how the dykes relate to the surviving written records, how many people were involved in their construction, what were their functions and what dykes can tell us about the processes that created early-medieval Britain. It calculated that far fewer people were needed to build them than many previous studies had supposed. While some were estate boundaries and King Offa may have ordered the building of the dyke that bears his name to bolster his power, it is argued that many of these earthworks were designed to prevent raiding. The dykes were a symptom of the endemic low-intensity warfare and small-scale forays into neighbouring territories that often characterised this period.

The story of Lady Godiva's naked ride through Coventry is well known. While scholars agree that it has no historical basis, no satisfactory explanation has been offered as to when and why it first appeared. This thesis explores the possibility that it may have been an original composition intended as hagiography. Beginning with the historical Godiva, who died in 1067, it details the various categories of saint that were popular in Anglo-Saxon England, in particular the 'cartulary' or 'founder' saint - a category for which Godiva was eminently qualified. It examines the possibility of political objections to her canonization in the light of her grandsons' role in the rebellion against William the Conqueror, and considers the allegation that Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, had a particular animosity towards the English saints. The paper then turns to hagiography as a literary genre. It explores the purpose of writing about the saints, and how this correlates with the well-known flurry of such writing that occurred in England in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. It discusses the influence of folklore, classical literature and twelfth-century courtly romance on hagiography in general, and examines the story of Godiva's Ride with specific reference to the Virgin Martyr tradition and to Chrétien de Troyes' courtly romance Erec et Enide. A brief overview of the political situation in Coventry when the story was first written in 1218 suggests that Godiva was intended to serve a role similar to that of the cartulary saint. Finally, the thesis considers how Godiva became a local folk hero, and how this may have preserved her memory long after she would have been forgotten as a saint. It examines her changing role as a symbol of Coventry and of the East Midlands, and ends with the revelation that she may have become a saint after all - albeit of a uniquely secular variety.

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Yes / This paper presents a re-evaluation of a cemetery excavated over thirty years ago at Walkington Wold in east Yorkshire. The cemetery is characterised by careless burial on diverse alignments, and by the fact that most of the skeletons did not have associated crania. The cemetery has been variously described as being the result of an early post-Roman massacre, as providing evidence for a `Celtic¿ head cult or as an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery. In order to resolve the matter, radiocarbon dates were acquired and a re-examination of the skeletal remains was undertaken. It was confirmed that that cemetery was an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery, the only known example from northern England, and the site is set into its wider context in the paper.

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Over the past decade, historians and archaeologists have become increasingly aware that the Mid Saxon period in England (7th-9th centuries AD) witnessed a transformation in agricultural practices. According to the emergent consensus, in contrast to the heavily pastoral, broadly subsistence-based mode of agriculture characteristic of the Early Saxon period (5th-7th centuries), Mid Saxon agriculture was geared towards higher levels of surplus production and placed a greater emphasis upon arable farming. The increased cultivation of bread wheat and the specialist production of sheep’s wool have been identified as particularly important innovations of this period. This thesis represents the first attempt to explore agricultural development in Mid Saxon England on a systematic archaeological basis. It considers settlement, zooarchaeological, and archaeobotanical evidence in detail, with a special emphasis on charred plant remains. The analyses utilize data gathered from excavation reports, published and unpublished, covering two case study regions: (i) the Upper/Middle Thames valley and environs, and (ii) East Anglia and Essex. In addition, a sub-assemblage of charred plant remains from a Mid Saxon monastic site at Lyminge (Kent) is studied at first hand. In this way, a series of agricultural innovations is identified in the archaeological record, including in particular: specialized pastoralism, an increased emphasis on sheep in some regions, an expansion of arable production, growth in fibre production, growth in cereal surpluses, a consequent investment in specialist storage and processing facilities, and a general diversification of crop spectra. These innovations were contingent upon, and adapted to, local environmental factors. The process of agricultural development is thought to have begun in the 7th century and continued through the 8th and 9th centuries, facilitated and stimulated by newly consolidated élite landholdings and, probably, a growing population.

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The Anglo-Saxon patron often commissioned images in which he or she bears a visual rendering of his or her donation. The donor’s model is often overlooked in modern scholarship because there is no existing framework with which to address larger issues raised by the image type. This thesis proposes a framework developed through a close reading of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Using the Old English literary trope of the tacen, or in modern English, the token, this thesis seeks to reframe the donor’s model in order to understand how the model creates meaning. Like the donor’s model found in medieval donor portraits, the tacen in Anglo-Saxon literature is a held object that in large part symbolizes the gift giver’s relationship with the community. This thesis argues that beyond merely a model used to attribute patronage, the tacen found in Anglo-Saxon donor portraits acts simultaneously as a visual record of an event and an object used to teach and encourage viewers. Viewing the donor’s model as a tacen also surpasses the purely historical function of the image type by allowing the representation of the model to transcend both time and space. Using the concept of the tacen as a framework for analysis demands that an entirely new set of questions be asked of Anglo-Saxon donor portraits (and potentially all medieval donor portraits) in which a model is featured. This thesis strives to answer the how instead of the what. And in doing so it has the potential to foster a greater understanding of the image type that spread, by the requests of patrons, throughout the Anglo-Saxon world and the wider medieval world. Beyond cultivating a greater understanding of the medieval donor portrait, this thesis underlines the profound connections between medieval literature and art and highlights the advantages of interdisciplinary scholarship. / text

Thesis advisor: Robin Fleming / This dissertation examines the formation of Christian identity in Europe through the ritual performances of baptism. Baptism was an essential act of social and religious initiation experienced by the majority of people in Europe, yet historians have struggled to understand its administration for ordinary lay participants as Europe transitioned from paganism to Christianity. Rather than a uniform indicator of Christian identity as described in clerical texts and current scholarship, baptism changed dramatically between the sixth and twelfth centuries. I show how what began as a flexible array of diverse religious practices located in watery landscapes, Roman-style baptisteries, portable spoons, lead tubs, and wooden buckets, evolved into a ritual standardized in the stone baptismal font, a form which persists to this day. I deploy an interdisciplinary methodology that engages robustly with church archaeology and art history to demonstrate how baptism created localized religious identities for new converts through its use of diverse ritual places and things. This study challenges our definition of a united medieval Christendom by radically reinterpreting the long-term practice of baptism as a slow process of Christianization in Europe from below. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.