This engaging study focuses on the role of assemblies in later Anglo-Saxon politics, challenging and nuancing existing models of the late Anglo-Saxon state. Its ten chapters investigate both traditional constitutional aspects of assemblies - who attended these events, where and when they met, and what business they conducted - and the symbolic and representational nature of these gatherings. Levi Roach takes into account important recent work on continental rulership, and argues that assemblies were not a check on kingship in these years, but rather an essential feature of it. In particular, the author highlights the role of symbolic communication at assemblies, arguing that ritual and demonstration were as important in English politics as they were elsewhere in Europe. Far from being exceptional, the methods of rulership employed by English kings look very much like those witnessed elsewhere on the continent, where assemblies and ritual formed an essential part of the political order.
Author(s): Levi Roach
Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought. Fourth Series, 92
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: XIV+302
List of maps vii
List of tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
List of abbreviations xi
1. Introduction: assembling consent in late ninth- and tenth-century England 1
Absent assemblies: the historiography of the Anglo-Saxon 'national assembly' 1
Assembly politics and the formation of the 'kingdom of the English', 871–978 6
Kingship, assemblies and the 'late Anglo-Saxon state' 11
Assemblies and rituals: continental contributions and anthropological approaches 14
Defining assemblies: outline and scope of the study 20
2. Assembly attendance 27
Assembly attendance in the 'kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons', 871–909×925 29
Assembly attendance in the 'kingdom of the English', c. 925–978 32
Conclusions 43
3. Meeting places and times of assemblies 45
Locating meaning: the meeting places of the 'witan', 871–978 45
'Diplomatic' meetings 48
'Legislative' meetings 53
'Dispositive' meetings 54
'Diplomatic', 'legislative' and 'dispositive' assemblies: the relationship revisited 64
Preliminary conclusions 67
Meeting times, duration and frequency of assemblies 71
4. Royal charters and assemblies 77
Diploma production and assemblies 78
Diplomas and assembly politics 89
Conclusions 101
5. Legislation and consent: law-making and assembly politics 104
The 'witan' and the law 107
Law-codes and royal administration 113
The 'witan' and the law: preliminary conclusions 121
6. The 'witan' and the settlement of disputes 122
Dispute settlement in Anglo-Saxon charters 124
Dispute settlement in house chronicles 137
Law-codes, dispute settlement and the 'witan': conclusions 143
7. The 'further business' of the 'witan' 147
Consensus, assemblies and the administration of the realm 148
Conclusions 159
8. Symbols in context: ritual and demonstration at assemblies 161
Rites and rituals at assemblies 162
Ritual and ceremony at and beyond assemblies 173
Emotional displays 174
Symbolizing community and hierarchy 176
Rituals of petition and intercession 184
'Rites de passage' and the distribution of gifts and offices 190
Ritual and demonstration at assemblies: preliminary conclusions 194
9. Ritual and reality: the problem of the sources 195
Ritual and symbolism beyond narrative sources 196
The sources of ritual 202
Conclusions 208
10. The role of the 'witan': celebration and persuasion 212
Kingship and consent: the 'witan' and the late Anglo-Saxon state 213
Rituals and assemblies in England and on the continent 227
Assemblies and kingship in England, 871–978: final observations 235
Appendix: Meetings of the 'witan', 871–978 239
Locatable meetings of the 'witan' 239
Dated meetings of the 'witan' 243
Bibliography 244
Index 292
