Anglo-Saxon multiple estate
{{Short description|Historical multi-settlement landholdings}}
An Anglo-Saxon multiple estate was a large landholding controlled from a central location with surrounding subsidiary settlements. These estates were present in the early Anglo-Saxon period, but fragmented into smaller units in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Despite some academic criticism, the concept has been widely used and a large number of possible examples have been proposed.
Definition
The concept of an Anglo-Saxon multiple estate was developed by Professor Glanville Jones of Leeds University. The idea originally appeared in a paper published in 1961{{cite journal|title=Settlement Patterns in Anglo-Saxon England|first=Glanville|last=Jones|journal=Antiquity|volume=XXXV|year=1961}} and was fleshed out in a 1976 book on medieval settlement.{{cite book|first=Glanville|last=Jones|editor-first=PH|editor-last=Sawyer|title=English Medieval Settlements|chapter=Multiple Estates and Early Settlement|publisher=Edward Arnold|year=1979}} The term "great estate" is sometimes used as an alternative to multiple estate.{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Rippon|page=14|title=Beyond the medieval village|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008}} These estates typically contained various features:{{cite book|title=Interpreting the Landscape|first=Mick|last=Aston|pages=34–35|publisher=Routledge|year=1985|authorlink=Mick Aston|isbn=0-7134-3649-2}}
- a central caput from which the estate was managed
- a minster church providing parochial support to the whole estate
- surrounding agricultural settlements specialising in particular crops.
The specialised settlements, dependent on the caput, often took their name from the crop they produced – Cheswick (cheese wick), Berwick (barley farm), etc.{{cite book|title=The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England|first=Della|last=Hooke|page=52|publisher=Leicester University Press|year=1998|isbn=0-7185-0161-6}} The caput has been variously described as a villa regalis, aula, mansio, or maerdref. Specialisation may have been encouraged by "renders" – taxation in kind – paid to the king.{{cite book|first=Susan|last=Oosthuizen|title=Landscapes Decoded|page=9|publisher=University of Hertfordshire Press|year=2006|isbn=1-902806-58-1}}
These estates may have been based around a royal vill and may have been coterminous with the parochia of an early minster church.
Chronology
The origin of some of these estates has been traced back to Roman times or earlier{{cite book|title=Landscape Detective|first=Richard|last=Muir|year=2001|page=24|publisher=Windgather Press|isbn=0-7509-4333-5}} – for example, H. P. R. Finberg proposed a Roman origin for Withington, Gloucestershire,{{cite book |last=Finberg |first=H.P.R. |authorlink=Local history#United Kingdom |title=Roman and Saxon Withington: a study in continuity |year=1955 |location=Leicester |publisher=University College, Leicester}} while Glanville Jones himself suggested a pre-Roman origin for some estates{{cite book|title=Interpreting the Landscape|first=Mick|last=Aston|page=32|publisher=Routledge|year=1985|authorlink=Mick Aston|isbn=0-7134-3649-2}} These multiple estates were a common feature in the English landscape before the 10th century and were usually owned by the king or an important monastery.{{cite book|title=Later Anglo-Saxon England|first=Andrew|last=Reynolds|publisher=Tempus|year=1999|page=81|isbn=0-7524-2513-7}} In the late Anglo-Saxon period, many of these large estates fragmented into smaller units which eventually became independent parishes.{{cite book|title=Signposts to the Past|first=Margaret|last=Gelling|publisher=Phillimore|page=206|year=1997|edition=third|authorlink=Margaret Gelling|isbn=0-460-04264-5}} The resultant parishes frequently share the same name differentiated by a suffix or prefix.{{cite book|title=The Essex Landscape|first=John|last=Hunter|publisher=Essex Record Office|page=68|year=1999}} The fragmentation of these estates resulted in the diminishing importance of their minster churches{{cite book|first=John|last=Blair|chapter=Parish Churches in the Eleventh Century|title=The Story of Domesday Book|editor1-first=RWH|editor1-last=Erskine|editor2-last=Williams|editor2-first=Ann|publisher=Phillimore|year=2003|page=98}} which (under the "minster hypothesis") had been the basis of early Christian church organisation.
Academic status
The concept has been criticised – for example, because the evidence used is often much later than the date of the proposed estate.{{cite book|title=The NEW Reading the Landscape|first=Richard|last=Muir|page=123|publisher=University of Exeter Press|year=2002|isbn=0-7181-1971-1}} Nonetheless, the concept is widely used and a large number of possible examples have been proposed.