The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Middle Ages: churches, <strong>ca</strong>stles and monasteries<br />
• 245 •<br />
bailey form declined in all <strong>of</strong> north-western Europe by the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, when<br />
it began to flourish in southern and eastern Europe (Fehring 1991, 118). Continental parishes<br />
formed much earlier due to Carolingian reforms, with a two-tier system <strong>of</strong> mother churches and<br />
parish churches <strong>from</strong> c.800. This structure developed in England (and in Italy) much later, with<br />
full parochial rights for village churches accruing <strong>from</strong> the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries.<br />
However, the pace and precise character <strong>of</strong> parochial development is likely to have varied<br />
between lo<strong>ca</strong>lities. Regional variations <strong>ca</strong>n be detected, such as the more tenacious survival <strong>of</strong> the<br />
minster system in north-western and south-western England, and the absence <strong>of</strong> evidence for<br />
minster frameworks in the areas <strong>of</strong> Viking settlement such as Yorkshire and East <strong>An</strong>glia. <strong>The</strong><br />
consensus <strong>of</strong> current opinion favours a seigneurial origin for most lo<strong>ca</strong>l churches, in other words,<br />
their foundation by a lo<strong>ca</strong>l lord. It has been argued that they began as privately owned churches,<br />
possibly motivated by the financial gains to be made by the lord retaining a portion <strong>of</strong> tithes and<br />
soulscot (paid for the burial <strong>of</strong> corpses) (Blair 1988, 12). While economic gain may have played<br />
some part in motivating lo<strong>ca</strong>l lords to construct churches, social expectations must also have<br />
played a role. <strong>The</strong> proprietary church be<strong>ca</strong>me symbolic <strong>of</strong> thegnly rank, and represented a pious<br />
act that it was believed would improve one’s chances <strong>of</strong> salvation. <strong>The</strong> current picture <strong>of</strong> church<br />
origins also neglects the possibility that lo<strong>ca</strong>l communities either demanded that churches should<br />
be provided for them, or instigated such building projects themselves.<br />
Considerable debate still surrounds the issue <strong>of</strong> the origins and development <strong>of</strong> the parish<br />
church and the <strong>ca</strong>stle (e.g. Blair and Pyrah 1996). In some quarters, there has been a recent<br />
concern to investigate the domestic and ideologi<strong>ca</strong>l dimensions <strong>of</strong> <strong>ca</strong>stle life over that <strong>of</strong> military<br />
functions, while the priorities <strong>of</strong> monastic archaeology have shifted away <strong>from</strong> religious and<br />
social elements to focus on lands<strong>ca</strong>pe and technology. Furthermore, the development <strong>of</strong><br />
environmental archaeology has made a substantial contribution to our understanding <strong>of</strong> medieval<br />
life. Particularly in the <strong>ca</strong>se <strong>of</strong> monastic ex<strong>ca</strong>vations, the evidence <strong>of</strong> pollen and plant and insect<br />
remains has been used to reconstruct former environmental conditions. <strong>An</strong>imal bones and plant<br />
macr<strong>of</strong>ossils have yielded new information on the high status medieval diet, and skeletons ex<strong>ca</strong>vated<br />
<strong>from</strong> ecclesiasti<strong>ca</strong>l sites have provided insights on health and demography. It is especially when<br />
investigating the standards <strong>of</strong> daily life that archaeology makes its own unique contribution to<br />
medieval studies.<br />
Monastic studies have successfully incorporated a more integrated, lands<strong>ca</strong>pe approach that is<br />
still lacking in investigations <strong>of</strong> parish churches and <strong>ca</strong>stles. Research and recording <strong>of</strong> all three<br />
types <strong>of</strong> settlement have assisted in refining a distinctive archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l method for the study <strong>of</strong><br />
standing buildings. In contrast to these advances, there has been comparatively little interaction<br />
between archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l theory and the practice <strong>of</strong> medieval archaeology, an omission that is<br />
gradually being redressed.<br />
Key texts<br />
Greene, J.P., 1992. Medieval monasteries. London: Leicester University Press.<br />
Kenyon, J.R., 1990. Medieval fortifi<strong>ca</strong>tions. London: Leicester University Press.<br />
Morris, R., 1989. Churches in the lands<strong>ca</strong>pe. London: Dent.<br />
Pounds, N.J.G., 1990. <strong>The</strong> medieval <strong>ca</strong>stle in England and Wales. A social and politi<strong>ca</strong>l history. Cambridge: Cambridge<br />
University Press.<br />
Rodwell, W., 1989. Church archaeology. London: Batsford/English Heritage.<br />
Bibliography<br />
Astill, G., 1989. ‘Monastic research designs: Bordesley Abbey’, in Gilchrist, R. and Mytum, H. (eds) <strong>The</strong><br />
archaeology <strong>of</strong> rural monasteries. Oxford: British Archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l Report 203, 277–292.