The Archaeology of the East Anglian Conversion, by Richard Hoggett

In what represents the revival of an old orthodoxy, this book proclaims that the conversion should be isolated as the principal cause of transitions in Anglo-Saxon burial practices over the seventh to ninth centuries AD. Two of the author’s conclusions will suffice to give a flavour of the argument: ‘The extent of the rite [cremation] and the speed of its decline suggest that the conversion process was quick and widespread at a grass-roots level’ (p. 114); ‘In the early years of the conversion the teachings of the church did [author’s emphasis] have profound effects on burial practices and funerary topography’ (p. 142). Bristling with statements of this kind, Hoggett’s thesis is certainly provocative. But, in a region of Anglo-Saxon England as threadbare in historical coverage as East Anglia, can the material record really be aggregated to deliver a ‘bottom-up’ narrative of the Christian conversion characterised by rapid evangelisation and a swift realignment of religious affiliation among the masses?

Ancient history · Archaeology · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Literature · Narrative · Ninth · Orthodoxy · Political science · Principal (computer security) · Religious conversion · Rite · Classics · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History