Books on Anglo-Saxon farming do not come along often, so this collaboration by two of the acknowledged experts in the field is particularly welcome. The authors rather modestly attribute the lack of published works in this area to a scholarly emphasis on more eye-catching aspects of the Anglo-Saxon economy such as commerce and urbanisation. There may be an element of truth to this, but the fact remains that a comprehensive examination of this multifaceted topic requires a level of dexterity in the integration of archaeological, historical and toponymic sources that very few could hope to aspire to, let alone accomplish.
The book is a coupling of two independently authored parts. In Part I, Banham examines the mechanics of farming, including the types of crops and livestock produced, and the tools and techniques used to produce them. In Part II, Faith explores the practicalities of these regimes through the lens of different landscape types, embracing riversides, woodland, chalk downland, moorland and wolds. The conclusion draws the various strands together “to provide a broad picture of Anglo-Saxon farming as a whole that is wide-ranging and comprehensive, as well as grounded firmly in detailed evidence” (p. 1).
The story of Anglo-Saxon farming that emerges from Banham and Faith's expansive and penetrating analysis is complex, dynamic and regionally divergent. Responses by Anglo-Saxon farmers to the Romano-British inheritance were contingent and localised. There were strong levels of continuity at one end of the scale (e.g. the Breckland of south-east Suffolk), and decisive breaks with the past at the other; in certain extreme cases, this might involve the wholesale reorganisation of entire blocks of landscape (e.g. the Thames gravels). Of considerable benefit to archaeologists is the fact that several of Faith's selected micro-regions encompass important settlements known through excavation—Mucking, Chalton, Hamwic and Wharram Percy. As a result, readers will come away with a much improved sense of how these iconic sites were woven into the fabric of wider landscapes, resource networks and economic hinterlands.
While Banham and Faith are keenly aware of the significance of local complexity, the scope of their analysis is sufficiently wide enough to draw out general trends in the Anglo-Saxon countryside. The resulting narrative hinges on the identification of two key turning-points: a post-Roman ‘abatement’ when there was a general relaxation in farming from a Romano-British apogee, with an attendant shift in emphasis from cereal production to animal husbandry; this was followed by a ‘Middle Saxon’ (eighth–ninth centuries) intensification when the land was generally made to “work harder” (p. 269). The latter finds expression in a renewed emphasis on cereal production (“cerealization”, p. 39), particularly geared towards free-threshing bread wheat, underpinned by the closer integration of livestock and crop husbandry, and involving such strategies as systematic manuring and the implementation of different rotational systems that permitted the same land to be kept under cultivation. Although the authors demonstrate that we have much still to learn about the pace and precise mechanics of these developments in different corners of the Anglo-Saxon realm, the various strands of change taken cumulatively point towards a real revolution, “which gave rise to the beginnings of traditional English farming” (p. 293).
If this book has a key message it is that it is impossible to overstate the significance of pastoralism in the examination of Anglo-Saxon farming. The management of animals not only had an enduring impact on the physical characteristics of the landscape and settlements, but also exerted a powerful influence on the institutions that lay at the heart of rural life and, by extension, the identity of local communities. Specifically applied to the post-Roman period, this emphasis on pastoralism overturns the deeply entrenched conception that it was the presence of easily cultivatable land that drove early generations of Anglo-Saxon settlers to colonise the river valleys. Banham and Faith make a persuasive case that the real draw for these pioneers was the high-quality grazing offered by nutrient-rich alluvial floodplains.
Another impressive aspect of this study is the extent to which it engages with the social realities of farming as experienced by the Anglo-Saxon peasantry—a considerable achievement given that the period under examination is bereft of personal testimonies from the farmers themselves. One gains a tangible impression of the specialist knowledge, skills and degree of social freedom particular to agricultural communities who were steeped in the lore of certain localities, from the farmer-cum-fishermen of the Blackwater estuary in Essex in the east, to the farmer-miners occupying the upper reaches of the Severn Valley in the west. Then, as now, diversification provided a means for farmers to generate extra income, helping to mitigate the ever present risk of uncertain harvests.
It is difficult to find fault in this study without being pedantic, a judgement that extends to presentation as much as content—readers new to this subject area will especially appreciate the clear and fluently written prose that in less accomplished hands could easily have been encumbered by dense description and technical jargon. Overall, the authors should be congratulated for a highly successful scholarly collaboration that has yielded what will no doubt come to be regarded as an essential text on Anglo-Saxon farming for many years to come.
