Bibliography

Yeates, Stephen James, Myth and history: ethnicity and politics in the first millennium British Isles, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2012.

  • Book/Monograph
Citation details
Work
Myth and history: ethnicity and politics in the first millennium British Isles
Place
Oxford
Publisher
Oxbow Books
Year
2012
Description
Abstract (cited)
Our recent understanding of British history has been slowly unravelling thanks to new techniques such as DNA analysis, new archaeological data and reassessment of the literary evidence. There are considerable problems in understanding the early history of Britain; sources for the centuries from the first Roman invasion to 1000 AD are few and contradictory, the archaeological record complex and there is little collaboration or agreement between archaeologists, Roman and Anglo-Saxon historians. A common assumption concerning the development of the English language and, therefore British history, is that there was an invasion from northern Europe in the fifth century, the so-called Anglo-Saxon migration; a model based on the writings of Bede. However the Bedan model has become increasingly unsustainable and is on the verge of collapse. Myth and History offers a comprehensive re-assessment of the present scientific, historical, archaeological and language evidence, debunking the model of British history based on Bede, and showing how Roman texts can be used in conjunction with the other evidence to build an alternative picture.
Subjects and topics
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
September 2014, last updated: January 2019