Bøger i Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology serien

Multi-disciplinary approaches shed fresh light on the Frisian people and their changing cultures.Frisian is a name that came to be identified with one of the territorially expansive, Germanic-speaking peoples of the Early Middle Ages, occupying coastal lands south and south-east of the North Sea. Highly varied manifestations of Frisian-ness can be traced in and around the north-western corner of the European continent in cultural, linguistic, ethnic and political forms across two thousand years to the present day. The thematic studies in this volume foreground how diverse "e;Frisians"e; in different places and contexts could be. They draw on a range of multi-disciplinary sources and methodologies to explore a comprehensive range of social, economic and ideological aspects of early Frisian culture, from the Dutch province of Zeeland in the south-west to the North Frisian region in the north-east. Chronologically, there is an emphasis on the crucial developments of the seventh and eighth centuries AD, alongside demonstrations of how later evidence can retrospectively clarify long-term processes of group formation.The essays here thus add substantial new evidence to our understanding of a crucial stage in the evolution of an identity which had to develop and adapt to changing influences and pressures.

Essays examining the Ostrogoths, the richest and most powerful Germanic tribe to emerge after the fall of the Roman Empire, and their role in the evolution of medieval Europe.

Essays examining the Langobards, with important conclusions for early medieval Italy.

Ethnographic studies trace the background to and impact of urbanisation and Christianisation, and the development of royal power, which stimulated the transition from the Viking age to the medieval period.

Following the Carolingian conquest the Saxons made giant strides economically and politically; a range of sources is examined.

Studies of the customs and beliefs of barbarian peoples who migrated westwards and settled in Western Europe from the close of the Roman empire to the ninth century.

Offers the studies of the advances made by the Visigoths from the decline of the Roman Empire to the seventh century, when their kingdom stretched from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar. This work addresses questions thrown up by the history of the Visigoths and of the kingdom they generated.

A study of two Germanic tribes, the Baiuvarii and Thuringi, looking at their origins, development, and customs between the fifth and the eighth centuries.