 Trade In this Item for up to £6.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Men of the North: The Britons of Southern Scotland for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £6.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The North Britons are the least-known among the inhabitants of early medieval Scotland. Like the Picts and Vikings they played an important role in the shaping of Scottish history during the first millennium AD but their part is often neglected or ignored. This book aims to redress the balance by tracing the history of this native Celtic people through the troubled centuries from the departure of the Romans to the arrival of the Normans. The fortunes of Strathclyde, the last-surviving kingdom of the North Britons, are studied from its emergence at Dumbarton in the fifth century to its eventual demise in the eleventh. Other kingdoms, such as the Edinburgh-based realm of Gododdin and the mysterious Rheged, are examined alongside fragments of heroic poetry celebrating the valour of their warriors. Behind the recurrent themes of warfare and political rivalry runs a parallel thread dealing with the growth of Christianity and the influence of the Church in the affairs of kings. Important ecclesiastical figures such as Ninian of Whithorn and Kentigern of Glasgow are discussed, partly in the hope of unearthing their true identities among a tangled web of sources. The closing chapters of the book look at how and why the North Britons lost their distinct identity to join their old enemies the Picts as one of Scotland's vanished nations.
About the Author
Tim Clarkson worked in academic librarianship before setting up a business with his wife. He gained an MPhil in archaeology (1995) and a PhD in medieval history (2003) from the University of Manchester. He is author of The Picts: A History (2008).
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found the book interesting and a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in the origins of Scotland. The main difficulty for any historian, writing of the time and place, is obviously the paucity of information. Needless to say, the available sources do not always agree, and bridging the gaps requires some very tenuous assumptions to be made. In addition, the historian has to decide whether his primary objective is to present a broad trail of alternative scenarios, paying full attention to the strengths and weaknesses of his evidence, or to go for a tighter narrative, pausing only to indicate the points about which there are greatest doubts. In this case there is switching between the two, with the narrative gaining strength in the late chapters, even although the quality of the evidence seems no higher. Perhaps a timeline, indicating events like battles, along with the reigns of the most significant kings would have helped the early chapters. I also would have liked a less cautious approach to the general maps to include some of the author's best judgements as to locations.
I will make two specific points; firstly the author appears to believe that the disappearance of Strathclyde in the 11th century, was accompanied by the removal of the top slice of its society, replaced by its Gaelic, Scots equivalent and that this percolated very quickly through society. Presumably, this would also be his model for the Pict/Scots transition in the 9th/10th centuries. Secondly, the author appears to favour strongly the English interpretation of the allegiance question, with Kings of Alba and its successor states, really just sub-kings from the reign of Athelstan of Wessex onwards to the 12th century.
I will make two specific points; firstly the author appears to believe that the disappearance of Strathclyde in the 11th century, was accompanied by the removal of the top slice of its society, replaced by its Gaelic, Scots equivalent and that this percolated very quickly through society. Presumably, this would also be his model for the Pict/Scots transition in the 9th/10th centuries. Secondly, the author appears to favour strongly the English interpretation of the allegiance question, with Kings of Alba and its successor states, really just sub-kings from the reign of Athelstan of Wessex onwards to the 12th century.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
