A Companion to the Early Middle Ages Britain and Ireland c.500 - c.1100

Until now, most accounts of the period from the end of the Roman occupation of the British Isles up to the Norman Conquest of England have either been dominated by Anglo-centrism, or at least, followed 'national' boundaries, with separate accounts given of the regions that later came to be England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. A Companion to Britain in the Early Middle Ages will be the first reference of its kind to demonstrate how a genuinely inclusive approach to the history of the British Isles from c.500 to c. 1100 can transform our understanding of the period.

Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita at Liverpool University, previously Professor of Medieval History. She is a specialist in the history of Anglo-Saxon England and of women and gender in England and Europe from the eighth to twelfth centuries. Her previous publications include Queens, Concubines and Dowagers, the King’s Wife in the Early Middle Ages (1983, 1998), Unification and Conquest, a Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (1989), Queen Emma and Queen Edith (1997, 2001), Law, Laity and Solidarities (2001), Gender, Family and the Legitimation of Power: England from the Ninth to Early Twelfth Century (2006), and the jointly edited Gendering the Middle Ages (2000).