The origins of England and the English: Anglo-Saxon England, c.400–1100

This course explores the origins of the English and England in the early medieval period, c.400–1100. Topics covered include identity and ethnicity, looking at the origins of the ‘Anglo-Saxons’, their relationship to the Britons, and how an ‘English’ identity came to emerge over time; the evolution of kings and kingdoms, including their roots, the ‘Heptarchy’, and the eventual creation of the ‘Kingdom of the English’; trade, towns and the origins of the medieval English landscape; the archaeological and cultural impact of the Vikings on Anglo-Saxon England; and how the Anglo-Saxons were remembered in the medieval period and after.