The Rebirth of Towns in the West AD 700-1050

150 Pages·1988·41.297 MB·English

by  Richard Hodges, Brian Hobley (eds.)

C B A
R E S E A R C H
R E P O R T
No 68
THE REBIRTH
OF TOWNS
IN THE WEST
AD 700-1050
edited by
Richard Hodges
and Brian Hobley
1988

The birth of cities marked the beginning of a new era in the
internal history of Western Europe. Until then, society had
recognized only two active orders: the clergy and the nobility.
In taking its place beside them, the middle class rounded the
social order out or, rather, gave the finishing touch thereto.
Thenceforth its composition was not to change; it had all its
constituent elements, and the modifications which it was to
undergo in the course of centuries were, strictly speaking,
nothing more than different combinations in the alloy.
Henri Pirenne, 1925, Medieval Cities, 213

The rebirth of towns
in the west
700-1050
AD
A review of current research into how, when,
and why there was a rebirth of towns between
700 and 1050. Based upon papers presented to
the Fourth joint CBA/DUA International
conference on The Rebirth of Towns in the
West AD 700-1050 held at the Museum of
London on 21-23 March, 1986
edited by Richard Hodges
and Brian Hobley
1988
CBA Research Report 68 Council for British Archaeology
Published 1988 by the Council for British Archaeology
112 Kennington Road, London SE11 6RE
Copyright © 1988 Authors and Council for British Archaeology
allrightsreserved
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
The rebirth of towns in the West AD 700-1050.
—(CBA research report ISSN 0589-9036;68).
1. Western Europe. Towns, 700-1050
I. Hodges, Richard II. Hobley, Brian
III. Council for British Archaeology
IV. Series
940'.09'732
ISBN 0-906780-74-8
Printed by the Alden Press Ltd, Oxford
Contents
List
of illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
List of contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Part I Europe
1 The rebirth of towns in the early Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Richard Hodges
2 Unity and diversity - a framework for the study of European towns . . . . . . 8
David Hill
Part II Italy
3 The towns of northern Italy: rebirth or renewal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Bryan Ward-Perkins
4 Rome and Naples: survival and revival in central and southern Italy . . . . . . 28
David Whitehouse
5 The rebirth of Rome in the 8th and 9th centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Paolo Delogu
Part III Gaul
6 Problems of the continuity of Roman civitates in Gaul, as illustrated by the
interrelation of cathedral and palatium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Carlrichard Brühl
7 The rebirth of towns in the Rhineland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Walter Janssen
8 Dorestad: a Carolingian town? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
W J H Verwers
9 Reflections on early medieval Tours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Henri Galinié
Part IV Scandinavia
10 The prehistory of towns in Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Björn Ambrosiani
Part V Britain
11 Saxon London: Lundenwic and Lundenburh: two cities rediscovered . . . . . . 69
Brian Hobley
12 The economic basis of Anglo-Saxon London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Alan Vince
13 Ipswich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Keith Wade
14 Hamwic (Saxon Southampton): an 8th century port and production centre . . 101
Mark Brisbane
15 The Roman heritage of Chester: the survival of the buildings of Deva after the
Roman period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Tim Strickland
16 Early medieval Chester: the historical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Alan Thacker
17 York 700-1050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Richard A Hall
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
V
Illustrations
Fig 1 The growth of towns: a model Fig 39 Late Saxon silk fragments
Fig 2a Map of 9th and 10th century town wall repair and Fig 40 Central London in the late 6th to 7th centuries
reconstruction Fig 41 Central London in the 8th and 9th centuries
Fig 2b Map of 9th century fortification of monasteries Fig 42 Central London in the late 9th to mid 10th
Fig 3 9th century Saracen raids in the eastern Mediter- centuries
ranean Fig 43 Central London in the late 10th to early 11th
Fig 4 Burgus in France 750-1049 centuries
Fig 5 Graphs showing numbers of European towns 400- Fig 44 Distribution of 7th century gold and silver coins
1000 minted in London
Fig 6 Roman towns and new towns in northern Italy Fig 45 Distribution of early to mid 8th century coins
Fig 7 Late antique and early medieval churches in Rome minted in London
Fig 8 Late antique and medieval churches in northern Fig 46 6th to 7th century Frankish pottery from sites in
Italy the City of London
Fig 9 Air photography of the site of Heraclia in the PO Fig 47 Map of Ipswich showing sites excavated 1974-86
delta Fig 48 Middle Saxon Ipswich
Fig 10 Air photograph of modem Pavia Fig 49 Probable field systems: a) Fore Street (site 20)
Fig 11 Wartime air photograph of Piacenza and b) Elm Street (site 4)
Fig 12 Wartime air photograph of Aosta Fig 50 9th to early 10th century street and buildings -
Fig 13 Verona, via Dante: facade of the late Roman east side of School Street, site 10/25
house Fig 51 Later 9th century building, School Street, site
Fig 14 Roman centuriation preserved in modern field 10/25
boundaries near Cesena Fig 52 Middle Saxon waterfront revetment at Bridge
Fig 15 Graph showing gold and silver in papal gifts to Street, site 16
the Roman churches Fig 53 Middle Saxon well, School Street, site 10/25
Fig 16 Reconstruction of early medieval Dorestad Fig 54 Distribution of Ipswich ware
Fig 17 Tours: sites and observations 1973-83 Fig 55 Imported 7th-9th century pottery from Ipswich
Fig 18 Map of Tours, Roman to medieval Fig 56 Histograms of Anglo-Saxon coins excavated in
Fig 19 Map of Tours c1670 Ipswich
Fig 20 Map of the Baltic area with Viking Age ‘town’ and Fig 57 The Liberty of Ipswich
market settlements Fig 58 Current model of Ipswich settlement structure
Fig 21 Map of Birka Fig 59 Map of Saxon Southampton
Fig 22 Birka cemeteries Fig 60 Map of late Saxon ditch in Southampton
Fig 23 Water route to the northern iron production areas Fig 61 Reconstruction drawing of Hamwic
Fig 24a Area around the Paviken settlement Fig 62 Reconstruction drawing of Six Dials area of
Fig 24b Bogeviken i Rute and Bandlundeviken in Burs Hamwic
sites Fig 63 Plan of relationship of present-day Chester to
Fig 25 18th century map by Hilfeling Roman fortress
Fig 26 Plan of area of Queenhithe to Cheapside Fig 64 Saxon Chester
Fig 27 Dark earth deposits Fig 65 Remains of legionary bath
Fig 28 Late Saxon woollen cloth Fig 66 Present-day ruins of praetoriumat Umm el-Jemal
Fig 29 German lava querns Fig 67 Map of Chester’s trade routes
Fig 30 Plan of St Alban Wood St and the Cripplegate Fig 68 Map of Chester’s medieval topography
fort area Fig 69 Map of York sites referred to in text
Fig 31 Late Saxon street plan
Fig 32 Relationship between Roman and Saxon/
medieval street plans
Fig 33 Saxon buildings cut into a Roman road at
Ironmonger Lane
Tables
Fig 34 Cross-section of Bow Lane
Fig 35 Roman road north of basilica cut by late Saxon Table 1 Papal building enterprises in the 7th-9th
pits centuries
Fig 36 Billingsgate lorry park 1982 Table 2 7th century gold coinage of London
Fig 37 Pudding Lane: late Saxon house foundations Table 3 Southern English pennies known in 1963
Fig 38 Pudding Lane: late Saxon building with quern- Table 4 Comparison of Delgany and Middle Temple
stones as foundations hoards