Monumentalising Kingship: Places of Royal Residence and the Making of Early Medieval British Kingdoms AD 500-800

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The fifth-ninth centuries A.D. were pivotal to the formation of kingdoms in post-Roman northern Europe. Excavated sites of royal and aristocratic residence constitute one of the most important sources of archaeological evidence for understanding this process, providing important insights into new forms of architecture and material practices that were strategically deployed as tools of kingship. A comparative perspective is crucial for understanding how these phenomena developed as a shared response to the growth of socio-political complexity across the early medieval northern world. While a surge in new archaeological data from Scandinavia and neighbouring regions of northern continental Europe has stimulated new debate and interdisciplinary approaches, a British perspective has been lacking in recent discourse due to a limited sample of sites and an old evidence base. The key aim of the proposed network is to harness the potential of a suite of new projects examining sites of royal residence across early medieval Britain to redress this imbalance and establish a more holistic research agenda for the future. The past five years have seen the initiation of five research projects, each examining or seeking to reassess sites of royal residence on an ambitious scale, four in regions of Britain where such phenomena were previously unattested: Lyminge (Kent), Sutton Courtenay/Long Wittenham (Oxfordshire); Rendlesham (Suffolk), Rhynie (Pictland) and Yeavering (Northumberland). We will bring the directors of the constituent projects into a sustained dialogue to share findings, compare methodologies and question assumptions, and open up this dialogue to leading national and international scholars to develop comparative interdisciplinary perspectives.We will organise a series of three meetings over 24 months, each addressing an overarching theme of interdisciplinary significance: site dynamics and long-term chronologies; architectures of power: ritual action, performance and the built environment; and royal residences and networks of power. Each meeting will be attended by 18 participants, including early career researchers and PhD students and scholars from different countries and disciplines. The intended focus for debate will be circulated in advance, together with summaries of the invited papers to inform and structure discussion. We will engage with national agencies such as English Heritage and Historic Scotland to inform the future management and exploitation of such sites as key heritage assets esteemed for their rarity and cultural significance. This will include inviting senior members of these bodies to sit on a Network Advisory Committee and to attend its meetings. We will also produce two resources that will significantly enhance the impact achieved by the five participating research projects within local communities: a dedicated facility on the Network web-site for special interest groups and local schools to curate their own temporary on-line exhibition, and an Education Pack that will encourage primary schools to engage with a site of early medieval royal residence in their locality in fun and creative ways in the delivery of History National Curriculum at Key Stage 2. Both of these resources will be made available beyond the life of the network as a legacy of the research.A web-site and an edited collection of essays will be produced in order to guarantee the continuity of the network and to maximise the dissemination of its research findings. The web-site will include content for both academic and public audiences and will maximise reach through linked social media. It will post summaries of the meetings, publish announcements of work in progress, and facilitate contacts to and within the Network over the course of the project. The main vehicle for academic dissemination will be an edited collection of essays/journal special edition, including contributions solicited from younger scholars.