lick of water called the English Channel, the British Isles were home to a plethora of
tiny kingdoms, about three quarters of which were native (“Celtic”) and the last
quarter Germanic (“Anglo-Saxons”).
There were clear differences between the Romanized south—Spain, Italy,
southern Francia—and the north. (See Map 2.3.) Travelers going from Anglo-Saxon
England to Rome would have noticed them. There were many such travelers: some,
like the churchman Benedict Biscop, were voluntary pilgrims; others were slaves on
forced march. Making their way across England, voyagers such as these would pass
fenced wooden farmsteads much like the ones at Wijster (see pp. 21–22). These
farmsteads typically had a relatively large house, outbuildings, and perhaps a sunken
house, its floor below the level of the soil, its damp atmosphere suitable for weaving.
Even royal complexes were made of wood and looked much like humble villages: see
Figure 2.2 on p. 60.
