An Age of Tyrants: Britain and the Britons, A.D. 400-600

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Summary: Considers the written and archealogical records together.
Review: A very even-handed account of Sub-Roman Britain. Beginning with a review of the contemporary written sources, the author provides a new and insightful method of studying this Dark Age society through their use of common and important words such as "civitas" and "tyranni".

After getting the most from the few written works available from both inside and outside Britain, the second half of the book considers the archealogical record of period. This part alone is an excellent overview of the latest knowledge which the archealogist's trowel has been able to bring to bear on the period. Orgainized in categories such as cities and religious sites, the book considers Sub-Roman patterns of site usage throughout the country rather than focusing on a site-by-site survey.

Very accessible reading which leaves you wishing for more.

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Summary: This is a wonderful book...
Review: An Age of Tyrants: Britain and the Britons A.D. 400-600
Christopher A. Snyder
The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998
ISBN 0-271-01780-5

This is a wonderful book to bring to life a cohesive mosaic of the two centuries that followed the removal of Britain from the Roman Empire to the arrival of the papal mission under Augustine in 597.

Published within the past few years, this book bring together many of the latest elements in the trail of King Arthur available to the modern scholar. His book is filled with the most credible theories based on academic consensus, drawing from the most recent translations and comparisons of ancient sources.

What is most singulary worthy of this book is the lack of judgement on the topic of Arthur and Merlin. After laying out the entirety of the context within which Arthur and Merlin may have lived, these two characters are dealt with only in a brief three page appendix. Snyder describes the historical basis for the two characters then ends his brief discussion without trying to postulate who they actually might have been. "What the historian can contribute, however, is a better understanding of the period and place in which Arthur and Merlin may have lived for those who wish to pin down these legendary figures to time and space."

Indeed! This is precisely what he has done. Anyone interested in playing Pendragon or reading Arthurian literatute will appreciate how he frames the era in terms of these "tyrants" -- self-made men who usurped traditional authority to re-establish order and deal with the chaos of the dissolution of the Roman empire.

As a scholar what I like is that the author has made a thorough documentation of where he gathered all of his information. This book itself is short, at 260 pages of text including appendices. Yet it then has 124 pages of rich and curious notes and a lengthy bibliography from which he cited his information.

Christopher Snyder is Associate Professor of History and Chair Department of History and Politics at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.

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Summary: The Brittonic Age....
Review: Christopher Snyder says the inhabitants of what is known today as England, Scotland, and Wales would not have called themselves Britons before the arrival of the Romans. In pre-Roman days they would have been known by names associated with their tribal affiliations. Many of the individuals might have referred to themselves as 'Combrogi' or 'Cymry' the latter a Welsh term referring to friendship and/or love of place. The Romans named the "big" island across the "English" channel Brittania. About 400 years after they arrived, the Romans formally withdrew from Britain and left behind a changed place (and probably a few ex-Romans) -- including the name by which the inhabitants knew themselves.

For a long while scholars referred to the period following the departure of "official" Rome and the final "conquest" of Britain by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes the 'dark ages'. More recently, scholars have referred to this era, which stretches from about 400-600 A.D. 'sub-Roman Britain'. Christopher Snyder says he would prefer to call it the Brittonic Age, although his book title names it AN AGE OF TYRANTS.

Snyder's book is divided into three parts. First, he explores the written record -- the writings of Britains Patrick (5th Century) and Gildas (6th Century) and other non-Britonic witnesses. He discusses Latin terms from the extant written material, such as the word "tyrant" which was construed differently by different people in different places speaking different languages. Snyder suggests the "tyrants" described by St. Jerome or the Honorable Bede may not have been as badly behaved as the negative connotation of theit term suggests. In fact, Snyder says the tyrants distant churchmen described may have been more akin to the "tigern" or Celtic lord.

In the second part of his book, Synder discusses the archeological record of the Brittonic Age--which has been overlooked and undervalued as it falls between the rich material record of the Roman (Cirencester, Bath) and Anglo-Saxon (Sutton Hoo) periods. I found this section of the book illuminating as Snyder has systmatically inventoried and synthesized the evidence from a many "digs" into a coherent whole.

In the third section of his book, Snyder uses the material from parts 1 and 2 to describe life in the Brittonic Age in various kinds of settlements (towns, villas, forts, etc.) and the social structure of the people including aspects of government, religion, military, and economic. He says the Britains were a Romanized-Christian people who did not revert back to the tribal behavior that existed before the coming of the Romans.

Snyder is a professor at Marymount University and for all I know he is a member of a religious order, but having graduated from Georgetown University myself, I know that religious affiliation does not mean one cannot be objective. However, Snyder's conclusion that pagan ways disappeared in the Brittonic Age as the population became Christianized may not be exactly accurate.

Based on a reading of the material in Snyder's book and other material, I suspect Celtic ways and the Christian ways merged into an entirely new religion. According to Snyder, Pope Gregory suggested at one point that as the clergy converted pagans they should adapt "pagan temples and rituals to Christian usage in nonviolent ways." I think that is exactly what happened, and I think that explains in part why The Blessed Virgin Mary became so important in Great Britain--which Snyder, a professor at MARYmount might have noted.

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Summary: Liberating post-Roman Britain from the "historical Arthur"
Review: I must admit, like so many others, I was originally drawn to the post-Roman period by the "historical King Arthur." But the period is a rich and diverse one, worthy of study in its own right--not only as "Arthur's Britain." In this incredible volume, Chris Snyder--probably the greatest expert on post-Roman Britain alive today, in my opinion--paints a picture of Britain that is anything but a "sub-Roman" "Dark Age." If you ever raised an eyebrow when your history textbook skipped from the Romans in 400 CE to the Anglo-Saxons in 800 CE, then you should read this book. If I had begun with a volume like this when I began my foray into post-Roman Britain, my how farther along I'd be now!

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Summary: An Important Book
Review: It is very refreshing to read a book about this period of British history that is not obsessed with the Arthurian legend, interesting though that is. Mr Snyder uses the little written evidence there is from the 410-600AD period to try and form a picture of the conditions at the time. The second part of the book discusses the archaeological evidence in depth and the final part constructs a coherent picture of what life must have been like in post Roman Britain using the evidence of the first two sections. Arthur and Merlin are mentioned in an appendix and at a few points within the text but only to point out that the historical evidence cannot say one way or the other whether these personalities existed.

Mr Snyder has settled on the title "An Age of Tyrants" to describe the era as being preferrable to "Sub-Roman Britain". I'm not sure if this title is adequate but it is superior to the somewhat demeaning "Sub-Roman" description. This period was clearly not as savage as has previously been thought.

My only minor criticism is that I would have preferred to see more illustrations of the archaeological sites and artefacts but overall I found this an extremely interesting book that was difficult to put down.

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Summary: A must read for anyone interested in post Roman Britain
Review: Snyder provides a thorough survey and sound evaluation of the documentary and archaeological evidence for the Fifth and Sixth Centuries in Britain. These two centuries are the "lost" period in British history, lying between the better-known Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. Snyder provides insight into a period of great changes and adaptations, showing how Roman era political and social institutions and concepts were transformed to deal with altered circumstances. In a sense, Snyder's work could be seen as a partial update of the invaluable _Arthur's Britain_ by Leslie Alcock. "Partial" because Snyder intentionally deals only with those surviving documents that are contemporary to the period (e.g., St. Patrick, Gildas, Life of Saint Germanus). He deliberately avoids the accounts of this period which were written in slightly later times (e.g., Bede, Annales Cambriae, Nennius, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). These later sources are based upon early documents (since lost) and oral tradition, and are therefore more problematic than the contemporary documents. Snyder thus carefully avoids the controversy surrounding the question of the historical basis for the King Arthur legend. This omission does not, however, render his work less valuable to Arthurian enthusiasts; to the contrary, it provides a firm factual foundation from which those daring souls may approach the more problematic material and tackle the Arthurian controversy

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Summary: Linking St Patrick and King Arthur
Review: They apparently lived around the same time and spoke the same language. Who was Merlin? Amazing detective work as the author combs for clues to the darkest of the dark ages. No weird stuff or new age speculation - real professional erudition. Tough going for the non-Latinate non-Welsh but the illustrations alone are worth it for any King Arthur buff. Glastonbury, Tintagel, Caerleon, Cadbury Hill and all that.