Cambridge Library Collection - Medieval History
2 total works
First published in 1905, H. Munro Chadwick's Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions applied his study of philology to a re-analysis of the historical evidence for early English law and administration. In the first part he examines the development of the monetary and social systems, coming to some controversial interpretations. The second part of the book looks at the administration at national and local levels, land tenure and the origin of the nobility. He shows that there was considerable variation between different Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and their legal and social organisation. Chadwick combined his knowledge of languages, history and archaeology to highlight new areas for further research, and he had considerable influence on the development of the study of Anglo-Saxon and related subjects at Cambridge.
In this 1907 work, H. Munro Chadwick (1870-1947) re-examines the early history of the English nation from a new perspective. By training a philologist, he uses the tools of ethnology, history, tradition, language, customs, religion and archaeology, to understand how the various Germanic tribes established themselves in Britain, founding new kingdoms. Despite an almost total lack of English historical documents from the period, Chadwick uses a range of historical and literary sources, from both sides of the English Channel, which relied on oral traditions. By close linguistic analysis he shows how the Saxon and other invaders retained close cultural ties with their continental kinsmen. He shows that although the Dark Ages may be obscure due to lack of contemporary sources, careful scholarly analysis of later texts can reveal a great deal about the history, culture and society of the earlier period.