Publisher's description:
As the title suggests, Beyond the Burghal Hidage takes the study of Anglo-Saxon civil defence away from traditional historical and archaeological fields, and uses a groundbreaking interdisciplinary approach to examine warfare and public responses to organised violence through their impact on the landscape. By bringing together the evidence from a wide range of archaeological, onomastic and historical sources, the authors are able to reconstruct complex strategic and military landscapes, and to show how important detailed knowledge of early medieval infrastructure and communications is to our understanding of Anglo-Saxon preparedness for war, and to the situating of major defensive works within their wider strategic context. The result is a significant and far-reaching re-evaluation of the evolution of late Anglo-Saxon defensive arrangements.

Table of contents:
VII List of Figures and Tables
XIII Preface
XVII Abbreviations
1 1. Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence: Theory and Historical Context
1 Introduction: Why Study Civil Defence?
8 A Place for Civil Defence in State-Formation Theory
12 Previous Work
15 Historical Overview
30 Beyond the Burghal Hidage
37 Terminology
43 2. Characterizing Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence (Fortifications)
43 Introduction: Archaeological Correlates for Militarism
49 Middle Anglo-Saxon Defensive Sites
64 Archaeological Evidence for Burghal Hidage Sites
90 Naming Anglo-Saxon Strongholds
106 Minor Defended Sites, Burgates, Turriform Churches, and Anglo-Saxon Towers
117 Discussion
134 Conclusions
137 3. Characterizing Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence (Communications)
137 Introduction
140 Infrastructure and Communications
179 Information
199 The Venues of Warfare
209 Discussion
215 4. The Kennet
215 Introduction
225 Defensive Sites of the Kennet Region
249 Roads and Intervisibility
262 Discussion
269 5. Connections and Obstructions: The Thames in Anglo-Saxon Military Strategy
269 Introduction
281 The Strategic Landscape of the Thames
322 Discussion
327 Conclusion: The Development of the Thames System
335 6. The Defence of Kent
335 Introduction
346 The Evidence for Civil Defence
369 Discussion
377 Conclusions and Wider Implications
381 7. Civil Defence and the English State, 800–1016
381 Introduction
381 Civil Defence: Strategy, Territoriality, and Royal Authority
417 Wider Implications
427 Bibliography
467 Index