Britain in the Middle Ages : an archaeological history
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"With technical advancements including the widespread use of metal-detectors and a recent increase in the number of archaeological excavations nationwide, Britain in the Middle Ages draws on a depth of knowledge and research to dispel the common misconception of the 'Dark Ages' as an era characterized by chaos and violence. Redefining everything from the role of the Vikings - conventionally depicted as rapists and pillagers but here shown to have played a crucial role in extending existing trade routes - to the supposed rigidity of the feudal system - now revealed to have existed in a state of considerable flux - Britain in the Middle Ages demolishes many of the schoolroom myths about medieval Britain. Far from a period of stasis, Francis Pryor demonstrates that the Middle Ages, particularly the two centuries following the Black Death epidemic of 1348, were a time of diversity, transition and growth." "Britain and the Middle Ages takes readers on a tour of a landscape at once familiar and foreign, from the Middle Saxon town of Lundenwic that proves the nation's capital has been a major trading port for 1,400 years, to excavations at Winchester showing that many early towns were planned and laid out in Saxon times by the famous King Alfred. In so doing, Francis Pryor advances a convincing argument for a new definition of the Middle Ages as the era which gave birth to the modern world."--BOOK JACKET.