This course critically examines the period when the English language arose and the English state was formed from the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It was during this period that the current 'Celtic Fringe' of Europe developed in Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and the legend of King Arthur arose. Looking at Post-Roman Britain during the period from about 400 to 800 AD allows us to examine issues such as continuity versus replacement in biological anthropology, migration versus diffusion in the archaeological record, the relation between archaeological and linguistic entities and the interplay of archaeology and nationalism in the modern world. Contemporary developments in Continental Europe at the end of the Western Roman Empire are also examined.

Tutorial attendance (10%), two 4000 word essays or projects (45% each).

Normally offered in alternate years
2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorial per week

Bassett, S. (ed.) The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, Leicester University Press, 1989.
Dark, K. From Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity 300-800 AD, Leicester University Press, 1994.