The Framework of Anglo-Saxon History to A.D. 900

188 Pages·1976·8.87 MB·English

by  Kenneth Harrison

What were the systems of dating during the various
stages of early English history and how accurate
were the dates assigned to events? In this study,
Kenneth Harrison discusses these fundamental
questions which have long occupied and puzzled
historians.
During the early Middle Ages there was no
universal method of dating historical events, no
framework about which everyone in Western
Europe could agree. In their pagan days, the Anglo-
Saxons reckoned time on a luni-solar calendar
(which poses problems for the archaeologist). Later,
although they did not invent the Christian era,
much less thejulian calendar on which it is founded,
they were the first to make use of it in charters and
for the writing of history, and this reckoning by
Annus Domini, based on attempts to calculate the
festival of Easter by means of a luni-solar calendar,
has now spread over much of the world. After a
detailed examination of time-reckoning and Easter
tables, Mr Harrison suggests ways in which Bede
and the compilers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
were able to arrive at a series of dates and thus
demonstrates the significant part played by Anglo-
Saxons in the development of historical writing.
This lucidly-written account of complex technical
problems will be of particular interest to Anglo-
Saxon scholars, historians studying Irish and Welsh
annals and continental sources, and to archaeologists
of the period.
The author was formerly a Fellow of King’s College,
Cambridge

THE FRAMEWORK OF ANGLO-SAXON
HISTORY TO A. D. 900

THE FRAMEWORK OF
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY
TO A.D. 900
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KENNETH HARRISON
formerly Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON * NEW YORK • MELBOURNE
Published by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 irp
Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London NWI 2DB
32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA
296 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park, Melbourne 3206, Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1976
First published 1976
Printed in Great Britain
by W & J Mackay Limited, Chatham
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Harrison, Kenneth.
The framework of Anglo-Saxon history, to a.d. 900.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
i. Great Britain—History—Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066—
Historiography. 2. Calendar, Anglo-Saxon. 3. Beda, Venerabilis,
673-735. Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. I. Title.
DA129.5.H37 94i.oi’07’2 75-13450
ISBN 0 521 20935 8
CONTENTS
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Preface page vii
I The moon and the Anglo-Saxon calendar I
2 Raiding and settlement 15
3 The Easter tables of Dionysius 30
4 The Christian era in Britain 52
5 Bede’s History 7 6
6 Annals and charters 99
7 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 120
Appendix i: Succession among Kentish kings I42
Appendix 2: Numerology I47
Bibliography I5I
Index 163
v