Re-assessing the foundations of the Anglo-Saxon period – and re-setting the tone of debate [Book Review]

Hines, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0440-6214 2026. Re-assessing the foundations of the Anglo-Saxon period – and re-setting the tone of debate [Book Review]. The Antiquaries Journal 10.1017/s0003581526100638

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Abstract

This review article examines How England Began: from Roman Britain to the Anglo-Saxons by Nicholas J Higham (225 mm. Pp viii+360, 32 pls. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2026. isbn 978-0-300-25492-1. £25.00 (hbk)), and its contribution to debates about the transition from Roman Britain to early Anglo-Saxon England. Through a close reading of Gildas’ De excidio Britanniae, Higham argues for the continued strength of British Christian identity while acknowledging a greater role for migration than earlier revisionist models allowed. While this more nuanced treatment of the evidence is to be welcomed, there remain questions about some of his demographic assumptions and the continued use of a supposed ‘Germanist’ historiographical tradition as a polemical target. Archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence suggests there is a need for more explicit demographic modelling that prioritises empirical, regionally focused and critically balanced interpretations of fifth- and sixth-century Britain.

Item Type:	Short Communication
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Global Humanities Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0003-5815
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 October 2026
Last Modified:	06 Oct 2026 13:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190043

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