The Origins of Britain by Lloyd and Jennifer Liang

Another archaeologist that was frequently named in Francis Pryor’s ‘Britain BC’ is Llyod Liang, of which I have three of his books in my pre-Saxon collection. ‘The Origins of Britain’, ‘Celtic Britain’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon Britain’. I have to say, that this is probably the best book I have read thus far on Prehistoric Britain. Initially I was exhaling at the fact I was going to put myself through yet another book that recites the list of pottery that was found in each dig site, but in fact it was much more exciting than this.

In much the same style as David Barrowcloughs ‘Prehistoric Cumbria’, ‘The Origins of Britain’ opens with a chapter that focuses on the history of the archaeologists themselves, except this time I was thoroughly intrigued in the development of technology and method of analysis. Piltdown man for example was the hoax of a fossilized early human which was likely placed in a quarry by Charles Dawson in 1912. The parts turned out to consist of Orangutan teeth and mandible, as well as the small skull of a human along with some early flint tools. What’s amazing about the Piltdown hoax is that it remained unexposed for 41 years. The most fantastic part of the history of archaeologists however, is that of General Pitt-Rivers, who inherited 29,000 acres of land through marriage. He then set about conducting his own archaeological digs on this land, contributing many new innovations in archaeology, and even conducted a dig at the Grimes Graves flint mines.

The book is very concise and well-illustrated, making it a pleasure to turn each page, and once you get to the later part of the Stone Age then the information becomes particularly delightful. To return to the Grimes Grave flint mine, it is located in Norfolk and the shaft goes down 12.8m, which leads to a gallery that has many subsidiary tunnels that were dug in speculation of finding flint seams. The mine is so sophisticated that it had archaeologists thinking for years that it was perhaps dug in the Elizabethan times, when in fact it was dug around 2500BC to 2200BC. More amazingly, one of the tunnels which failed to turn up any flint was converted by the miners into a chamber for worship, in which the archaeologists found a fertility statue sitting on a ledge, in the very same place it was left thousands of years earlier.

The next piece of captivating information came in the Bronze Age comes in the form of the ‘Wilsford Shaft’, which was a thirty metre deep shaft used to make offerings to the gods, and it appears to have been kept open for around 2000 years during which time it was being filled in with pottery, daggers and other such materials. The period in which the shaft was in use is known by the fact it took two years to excavate, in which time Roman pottery was found at the top and early Iron Age pottery and wooden offerings were found at the bottom. However, the true element of surprise about the Wilsford shaft is the level of mathematics involved in its construction; apparently the people who constructed it dug the shaft in sections. When the section was dug incorrectly, the margin of error was worked out and then corrected in the next section. Additionally it is noted that at 1600bc the spoil could have only been removed with winching gear and that after only a small number of metres the bottom of the pit was pitch black. It took a fifteen minute trip for the archaeologists to climb to the bottom once it had been fully excavated.

As in previous posts about prehistory, I once again go back to the Orkney Islands. This time it is in relation to the ‘Maes Howe’ Barrow, which is described as the best preserved chambered tomb in the whole of north-west Europe. There is a fourteen metre entrance which must be crawled through in order to get inside, in which the tomb is almost perfectly preserved and the brickwork being so fine that a knife can apparently not be slid in-between many of the gaps. The only damage done to the tomb comes in the form of Viking Runes which were inscribed into the wall when the Orkneys was invaded and conquered. Apparently the Vikings found many great riches inside the tomb, which is incredibly unlikely; they will most likely have just found piles of assorted bones.

As we progress into the later part of the Bronze Age, we start to discover evidence of immigration and more advanced Pagan worship. The Beaker people who landed in Britain are said to come from many parts of Europe, but in Llyod Liang’s book he describes them as coming from Spain. Interestingly he says that Beaker people can be identified by their more rounded skulls, as opposed to the native Britons, who had longer and thinner skulls. This isn’t just a piece of Victorian pseudo-science either, as Liang and Francis Pryor say that this interpretation is just as valid now as it was then. The most interesting aspect of the Beaker people is that they are said to have worshiped a sun god, which is made clear by their neck-ornaments known as ‘Lunula’. I found this fascinating, as it’s the first solid evidence of some sort of religious practice outside of the hitherto ancestral worship made apparent through Barrows, Cairns, Henges etc.

There was also a period in the Bronze Age, dating from around 1800bc to 1400bc where gold became a symbol of power, and chieftains started emerging; particularly in Wessex. This is known to have created the ‘Wessex Culture’ although outside the introduction of gold and advanced power structure, there is little to suggest there was any real separate culture from the rest of Britain. What the most interesting part of this period is is that almost all of the gold ornaments found from this period were created by a single craftsman around 1800bc. These were then handed down through the ruling families, and by around 1400bc all of the objects had been buried with their owners to accompany them to the afterlife. Around this period there was also unearthed what is known as the ‘Mold Pectoral Gold Cape’ which is noted by the fact gold capes only appear in one other place, Ancient Egypt. This had led some people to believe the Britons were descended from Egyptians. As an additional thought about Pagan Rituals of prehistoric Britain, I happened to be reading the part of this book about the ‘Bromley Horn Dance’ just at the exact time in which it was being annually conducted. This is every year on the Monday after the first Sunday following September the 4^th, in which the horn dance is acted out using ‘Antler Frontlets’. The Frontlets currently in use are said to have been brought over by the Vikings, but the ritual itself is said to have been conducted every year unbroken since it was started in the Stone Age.

This is possibly the best book I have read so far on the prehistory of Britain. It includes so much information that hasn’t appeared in any of the other books I have read, and it spares the reader of any of the tedium of endless pottery or metal work findings. I could literally go on for much longer with this post on the amount of interesting stuff which I learned, and so I will leave you with one last nugget that I believe requires more attention of my time in the future. In Barry Cunliffe’s ‘Iron Age Communities in Britain’ he mentions that the Phoenician’s possibly visited an island off the coast of Britain to acquire tin through trade. In Llyod Liang’s book he gives a name to the island, which is ‘Ictis’. Although the likelihood of the Phoenician’s ever visiting Britain is unlikely, it is still an area which may require more attention in the future.

Iron Age Communities in Britain by Barry Cunliffe

I started this before having read Leonard Dutton and Paul Hill’s books on the Anglo-Saxons. But now I have finished those I felt it a necessity to get this one finished. As I have previously stated in Prehistoric Cumbria it can be a little tiresome reading endless pages of archaeological evidence in which sometimes there is no interpretation to be gained from it. With there being so little to go on sometimes the author simply has to describe what has been found, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. This makes Barry Cunliffe’s book on Iron Age Communities an essential piece to have for young aspiring archaeologists who are in need of reference material to support or disprove their own theories, as well as being a great spring board for alerting the reader of interesting areas they might decide to search for in more depth within other literature.

One such area of which I was alerted to was the names of some of the prominent Celts which appear as we get closer to historical records. One name in particular during the Claudian invasion is Verica, who was King of the Atrebates and is described in sources as a ‘client king of Rome’. This led me to finding the book ‘The Heirs of King Verica’ by Marin Henig, of which I am yet to read but has been added to my pre-Saxon reading list. With the written sources being so sparse I was unable to find anything outside of essays on other contemporary figures such a Cunobeline, Carractacus, Cassivellaunus etc, but with already knowing this, finding the Heirs of Verica was more than what I had hoped for.

Back to the archaeological evidence, there were three chapters that go me particularly interested. As I have mentioned in Francis Pryor’s ‘Britain BC’, Scotland and the Orkney islands are extremely interesting due to their structures made almost entirely from brick, especially in the Orkney’s where there is a lack of wood. What was interesting to learn about in Iron Age Communities was that not only were these buildings made from brick, but that they were also capable of having multiple floors, with some of the illustrations depicting three floors with the platforms made from wood. This level of technology is staggering, and unfound in other parts of Britain, making the dwellings of Scotland probably the most interesting of the entire prehistory when combining them with the amazing island homes knows as ‘Lochs’.

The everyday life of the Briton was not something I would have envisaged capturing my imagination prior to reading the book. Surprisingly when I started learning about composition of diet and the changes of the eras which can be noted through the frequency of animal bone finds then I became somewhat curious to how the livestock was maintained over winter months. Prior to winter the inhabitants would usually have a cull of some of the older animals, so as to reduce the numbers they would have to feed during the winter months. Food itself was stored in storage pits, which were small shafts that were dug, and had a lid to cover them. These would keep the food cool and act for greater preservation.

As the end of the book was approaching there was a great deal on the emergence of Hill Forts. Some of which could be dated as far back as the early iron age, and had since been amended and added to right up until the Roman occupation. Many were simple but impressive earthworks, but as the times progressed then some of the larger forts started incorporating brickwork into the outer layer. The defensive tactics of the Celts were also made apparent. The usual weak spot in the fortifications were the entrance(s), and so it is possible to see the evolution of the earthworks where alterations were made to adapt to problems. Earthworks would usually start pointing outwards or inwards around the entrance, thus creating a long corridor in which the enemy would have to travel down before reaching the settlement within; during which they would be vulnerable to missile fire from above. The impressive illustrations came into their own during these chapters, and were very much needed in helping me understand the information. Another very interesting aspect of Hill Forts is the population density within, sometimes containing as much as 300 roundhouses, and a shrine, or which interestingly the Romans simply converted when they took over, rather than destroyed.

I have mentioned little in this entry about metal working, which I think was covered in much a similar manor to Francis Pryor’s ‘Britain BC’, and so I decided to focus more on the aspects that captured my attention. In all this is a fantastically researched and compiled book, complete with some of the finest illustrations I have seen in and prehistory literature. As I have mentioned it can be a little longwinded at times reading archaeological evidence, and so I will leave you with a humorous quote from the very start of the book which touches on the complications of writing about such dark eras of history.

‘When, in 1969, I mentioned to my colleague Leo Rivet that I was thinking of writing a book on the British Iron Age, he said that it could not be done. Now that I have finished my work, I am inclined to agree with him’.

The Anglo-Saxon’s at War 800-1066 by Paul Hill

Considering that Leonard Dutton’s ‘Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms’ covered the periods from Hengist to Ecgbert, it made excellent sense to then follow up with reading Paul Hills book which covers the next period from 800-1066. However, the book was not exactly what I was expecting. What I was expecting was for much the same format as the Dutton’s book in which it followed all military events and activities in chronology, but instead we have a book divided up into sections. These sections cover such things like the composition of the army and the equipment they would have used, and then later it deals with selective campaigns of the period from 800-1066. Mainly classic campaigns involving battles like Maldon and Hastings, but nevertheless campaigns of which I am still shamefully under-read.

It starts by introducing the reader to the subject of Anglo-Saxon warfare by informing him of what the armies of the time would have looked like, and fought like. As I may have mentioned in the previous post I am more of a visual learner, and having a map to hand when reading history is an essential for making sure that I remember all the events. So being able to picture exactly what the Anglo-Saxons would have looked like in battle was a very handy way of making me (the reader) fully engaged. Along the way the author also raised questions in which the answers were a little ambiguous, but where he managed to supply valid theories, such as the role of cavalry in Anglo-Saxon England where it is concluded that many warriors dismounted for battle but then remounted to chase a defeated foe.

What would be later called ‘levies’ in medieval England were initially called ‘Fyrds’, which were essentially freemen who would mobilise when called upon by their lord. These soldiers were usually very lightly armoured and will have been likely only to carry a spear and shield at best. However, some troops were much better equipped. Depending on your status in society would depend upon what was equipment would have to be pledged to upon death. What I mean by this, is that if you were an Earl you may have to fulfil a requirement of gifting equipment enough to fit out five Huscarls upon your death. The requirements would alter depending on current event. For example during the reign of Aethelred the unready the number of equipment which needed to be donated upon death was at an all-time high. This system was a very handy way of ensuring that there was always a sufficient amount of heavy infantry on the battlefield, but heavy infantry is not always what is required. One of the select military campaigns the book decides to deal with is Harold Godwinson’s invasion of Wales in 1063 to deal with the brigand Llywelyn Ap Gruffydd who had been raiding the midlands for many years. According to John of Salisbury (a 12^th century Bishop and author) Harold fashioned his troops with light leather armour and smaller shields to cope with the difficult terrain of the Welsh hills. He stated:

‘light armaments shod with boots, their chests protected with straps of a very tough hide, carrying small round shields to ward off missiles, and using as their offence weapons javelins and a pointed sword’

One can’t help but wonder if this is the description they used for those abysmal uniform like costumes the Saxons wear in the TV series ‘Vikings’.

Some of the other military campaigns covered include the bloodbath at Maldon, where the Vikings made their return to England, which started a series of events that would eventually lead to a line of Danish kings lasting almost thirty years. Paul Hill argues that the period of prosperity that followed when all the English Kingdoms were united, may well have caused the subsequent Vikings conquest. Edgar ‘the peaceful’ was named such, not because he was a pacifist, but because the English naval power started under Alfred was so mighty that the Vikings would not dare attempt a landing on English soil. This period of prosperity is argued, as I have seen in many other books, that it led to the Anglo-Saxons becoming weak, complacent and almost decedent; making them ripe for conquest when the naval power could not be maintained, as was the case under Aethelred the unready.

Two classic conflicts covered are Hastings and the early period of Alfred the Great. The battles discussed were nothing particularly new to me, but there were some incredibly interesting aspects that merit further investigation. Unlike in Leonard Dutton’s book, Paul Hill establishes that most battles of the early Anglo-Saxon period were between no more than a few hundred troops on either side. This makes for extremely interesting reading when you put this information alongside Alfred the Greats reforms, and in particular the border fortifications he erected that had a standing army of almost 30,000 troops occupying them collectively at any one period of time. At Hastings the book deals with some of the misconceptions of the Saxon defeat. Although Harold Godwinson ordered the plunder from Stamford Bridge returned to the capital, without giving his troops a fair share, resulting in desertion on his speedy march south. We still know that despite of this that Godwinson had more than enough men once he came to battle. Literally more than enough, as described in the ‘Carmen de Hastingae Poelio’ which details how the Saxon army was so tightly packed that those slain by arrows were rooted standing on the spot by those next to them. Paul suggests this lack of mobility and vulnerability to missile fire may well have caused the panic that led to defeat.

Although the book did not follow all the events in chronologic order or set itself out in a way like Leonard Dutton’s ‘Power Struggles’, it did successfully fulfil all my requirements for giving me the major events of the years from 800-1066. It has also gifted me the appetite I wanted for when it comes time to read about the later Saxon period. In particular I want to learn more about the family of the Godwinsons, which seems to be a slow but continual rise to power from as far back as Aethelred’s reign. For this I have a multitude of material in my library including ‘The Life & Times of Godwine Earl of Wessex’ by Hubert Grills, ‘Harold II: The Doomed Saxon King’ by Peter Rex, ‘Harold the Last Anglo-Saxon King’ by Ian Walker, ‘The Godwins’ by Frank Barlow and finally ‘The House of Godwine’ by Emma Mason. 

The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: The Power Struggles from Hengist to Ecbgerht by Leonard Dutton

Although I had initially set out a list of pre Anglo-Saxon books to read before going into the Saxons themselves, I decided that I could not wait any longer. And although I am still half way through Barry Cunliffe’s Iron Age Communities in Britain, I decided that my Anglo-Saxon book collection was so big that it was a little embarrassing that I had not started on any of them yet. I decided to commence with one that looked like a basic overview and chronology of the Anglo-Saxon period, and Leonard Dutton’s book seemed a perfect place to start. I had initially bought it because I was compiling sources on Egbert of Wessex, so that I could possibly attempt to write a book on him sometime in the future. However, these dreams were squashed when I was in conversation with the owner of a publishing company who has already written two thirds of a book on the very same King. He mentioned that he had translated all of Egberts charters, and that he had discovered something significant in one of them which has been overlooked by previous historians. The fact alone that he was able to translate old English led me to the decision that I ought to leave this idea of writing a book alone for the time being.

What first struck me was how the chronology of events is limited almost entirely to the military aspect of Anglo-Saxon history; only straying into other areas when essential. This was something I enjoyed immensely, as the military history and reign of the kings provides the bare bones of the subject, in which I can start adding the meat later with more specific books. There were also multiple illustrated maps throughout, depicting the current political situation, positioning of fortification and where possible, maps of battlefields. I consider myself somewhat of a visual learner, and can get easily confused if I do not have a map of the area I am reading about close to hand, so this was ideal for making all the information go straight into the long term memory bank.

The Anglo-Saxon has seemed to me to be the ultimate incarnation of the Englishman, but while reading this book I couldn’t help but have sympathy with the native Britons who were having their homeland taken from them. I found myself simultaneously supporting all parties, form Aurelianus and King Arthur to Hengist and Oswald of Northumbria. One person I took a charm too in particular was King Urien of Rheged, who was described by Leonard Dutton as ‘a latter day Arthur’. He was a native British leader of one of the last regions to resist being absorbed by the Anglo-Saxons, which also happen to be my home county of Cumbria. At its height Rheged stretch from southern Scotland to Liverpool, and during the reign of Urien they almost dispelled the Angles from Northumbria. Urien pushed King Ida and his men all the way back to the island of Lindisfarne, and besieged them there until Urien was assassinated at the behest of one of his own allies who had grown jealous of his militaristic skills. Following this Ida managed to gain a beachhead and then finally defeat the Brittonic alliance. Rheged remained independent until sometime around 750, where is said to have been peacefully integrated into the kingdom of Northumbria through inheritance.

Another matter, even earlier than when Uriel lived, was the stupidity of the British king Votigern who invited the Saxon mercenaries Hengist and Horsa to Kent so that they would help the Britons defend their borders. There was also a more sinister purpose to this invitation however. In the previous year Flavius Aetius had defeated Attila the Hun at the battle of Catalonian fields, and for a while it seemed likely that the Romans could return to Britain. Votigern was the leader of the anti-Roman faction in Britain, and inviting the Saxon mercenaries over would be of great help in ensuring that the Romans couldn’t return. A year after this however it was realised that Rome’s decline was terminal, and there would no return. Votigern had already made his mistake however, and it didn’t take long for the mercenaries to betray him and start to pillage and settle in the lands of Kent. The mess was mainly left to Ambrosius Aurelianus, leader of the pro-Roman faction, to clean up. Ambrosius and his successor, King Arthur, managed to stem the flow of Saxon expansion, but only temporarily.

Aside from these two account of the native Britons, the rest of the book focuses on stories of Anglo-Saxon kings. These proved very informative, as kings such as Oswald of Northumbria, who Tolkien had based Aragon on will make the reader sympathise with the journey taken to reclaim a kingdom. Although it is easy to see the opposing side to Oswald’s story, as King Edwin, who succeeded Oswald’s father was only reclaiming his own lands as well. Oswald is also remembered for destroying the famous British rebel Cadwallon ap Cadfan, but was himself defeated after an eight year reign by the great Pagan king of Mercia, Penda. King Ine of Wessex and King Caedwalla of Wessex are two other interesting characters, who I thought ought to have books written about them. I found a short fifty page book on Ine by Ray Gibbs which I believe focuses on many of his successful law reforms. Although Ine is said to have been lacking skill militaristically, he is credited with having an unusually long reign for the time, and for preventing his subjects from making slaves of fellow Englishmen.

The book takes us up to the reign of Ecgbert of Wessex, leaving us at the start of the age of the Vikings. From this point on the narrative of England’s history changes, and so I have prepared a book which starts from the point that this one leaves us. Next I will be reading ‘The Anglo-Saxon’s at War’ by Paul Hill, which will look at military campaigns and army composition up until 1066. Although I decided to read these two books for the chronology of the Anglo-Saxons, I have found myself building a stronger admiration and interest for the struggles of the native Britons, and so I will continue to amass some more books on the post-Roman Celts.