Research Catalog

Title

Citadel of the Saxons : the rise of early London / Rory Naismith.

Author

Naismith, Rory

Publication

• London : I.B. Tauris, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xx, 268 pages : illustrations, maps; 23 cm

Summary

'With a past as deep and sinewy as the famous River Thames that twists like an eel around the jutting peninsula of Mudchute and the Isle of Dogs, London is one of the world's greatest and most resilient cities. Born beside the sludge and the silt of the meandering waterway that has always been its lifeblood, it has weathered invasion, flood, abandonment, fire and bombing. The modern story of London is well known. Much has been written about the later history of this megalopolis which, like a seductive dark star, has drawn incomers perpetually into its orbit. Yet, as Rory Naismith reveals - in his zesty evocation of the nascent medieval city - much less has been said about how close it came to earlier obliteration. Following the collapse of Roman civilization in fifth-century Britannia, darkness fell over the former province. Villas crumbled to ruin; vital commodities became scarce; cities decayed; and Londinium, the capital, was all but abandoned. Yet despite its demise as a living city, memories of its greatness endured like the moss and bindweed which now ensnared its toppled columns and pilasters. By the 600s a new settlement, Lundenwic, was established on the banks of the River Thames by enterprising traders who braved the North Sea in their precarious small boats. The history of the city's phoenix-like resurrection, as it was transformed from an empty shell into a court of kings - and favoured setting for church councils from across the land - is still virtually unknown. The author here vividly evokes the forgotten Lundenwic and the later fortress on the Thames - Lundenburgh - of desperate Anglo-Saxon defenders who retreated inside their Roman walls to stand fast against menacing Viking incursions. Recalling the lost cities which laid the foundations of today's great capital, this book tells the stirring story of how dead Londinium was reborn, against the odds, as a bulwark against the Danes and a pivotal English citadel. It recounts how Anglo-Saxon London survived to become the most important town in England - and a vital stronghold in later campaigns against the Normans in 1066. Revealing the remarkable extent to which London was at the centre of things, from the very beginning, this volume at last gives the vibrant early medieval city its due.' --

Subjects

• History
• To 1500
• London (England) > History > To 1500
• England > London

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-255) and index.

Contents

1. Roman London and its end : first to fifth centuries AD -- 2. Among the ruins : Post-Roman London -- 3. London between kingdoms : c. 600-800 -- 4. Lundenwic : 'An emporium for many nations' -- 5. Alfred the Great and the Vikings -- 6. London in the tenth century : c.900-75 -- 7. Late Anglo-Saxon London -- 8. London in 1066 : the Battle of Hastings and after.

Call Number

JFD 19-3128

ISBN

• 9781788312226
• 1788312228

OCLC

1029805274

Author

Naismith, Rory, author.

Title

Citadel of the Saxons : the rise of early London / Rory Naismith.

Publisher

London : I.B. Tauris, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-255) and index.

Chronological Term

To 1500

Research Call Number

JFD 19-3128