Anglo Saxons - The origins of England

The Anglo-Saxon era, from the early fifth century to the Norman Conquest, is crucial to our understanding of England, for it was during this turbulent half-millennium that the foundations of the country were laid. The early English produced dazzling works of art, such as the Sutton Hoo treasure and the Lindisfarne Gospels, and works of poetry that continue to resonate. It remains a period of considerable obscurity, far less well documented than the centuries that followed. In recent decades, however, thanks to the efforts of historians and archaeologists, more and more has been discovered about this dynamic yet mysterious lost world.

The excellent Castle Hotel, Taunton, is our host. Renowned for its service, comforts and superb catering, it has been owned and run by the Chapman family for over 60 years. The symposium takes place in the Music Room. 

Our eminent speakers: Professor Michelle P. Brown, Professor Martin Carver, Dr Helen Gittos, Dr Marc Morris, Professor Rory Naismith, Professor Levi Roach. 

Speakers

Professor Michelle P. Brown

Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the University of London, she is a Visiting Professor at University College London and a Visiting Research Fellow at Durham University. Her former positions include the Curator of Medieval and Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library, the Sandars Lecturer in Bibliography at Cambridge University, and Lay Canon and Chapter Member at St Paul’s Cathedral. She has published on the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Luttrell Psalter, and the Holkham Bible. Her latest book is Bede and the Theory of Everything (Reaktion, 2023).

Professor Martin Carver

Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of York. Martin is a former army officer turned academic specialising in the archaeology of early medieval Europe. He was director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project and has an international reputation as a leading exponent of new methods in excavation and survey. He has also excavated in Scotland (Portmahomack), France, Italy, Sicily and Algeria. Carver holds fellowships to the Society of Antiquaries and the British Academy. He was editor of Antiquity for ten years. Since retirement he has focused on public communication of archaeology. He is a director of The Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company, which aims to build a full-size and seaworthy replica of the Anglo-Saxon ship found there.

Dr Helen Gittos

Associate Professor, Colyer-Fergusson Fellow and Tutor in Early Medieval History at Balliol College, Oxford. Her work focuses on the history of the church and its rituals in the Middle Ages, and she is as interested in buildings, objects and archaeological evidence as in written texts. She is the author of several works on medieval liturgy, including Liturgy, Architecture and Sacred Places in Anglo-Saxon England (2013). A second strand of her research has been about language, and in particular the role and status of English in relation to Latin; She has also been researching aspects of the conversion of the Anglo Saxons to Christianity.

Dr Marc Morris

Author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England (2021), as well as The Norman Conquest (2012) and biographies of Edward I and King John. Marc studied and taught at the universities of London and Oxford and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He presented the highly acclaimed TV series Castle and wrote its accompanying book. He regularly writes for history magazines and broadcasts on radio and television. 

Professor Rory Naismith

Professor of Early Medieval English History at Corpus Christi College Cambridge. His research focuses on economic and social developments in Anglo-Saxon England. He is interested in the cross-fertilisation of material and written sources, and has worked particularly closely with coinage. At present he is preparing a major study of the social impact of monetisation in early medieval England and its neighbours, to be published by Princeton University Press.

Professor Levi Roach

Professor of Medieval History and Diplomatic at the University of Exeter. He is the author of Kingship and Consent in Later Anglo-Saxon England (Whitfield Prize 2014 proxime accessit) and Æthelred the Unready (Longman-History Today Prize 2017, Labarge Prize 2017) and Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium (Princeton University Press, 2021). His latest book is a popular history, Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia.