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

公元5 - 9世纪是后罗马时代北方欧洲王国形成的关键时期。发掘出的皇家和贵族住宅遗址是理解这一过程的最重要的考古证据来源之一，为了解作为王权工具的新建筑形式和材料实践提供了重要的见解。一个比较的角度是至关重要的理解这些现象如何发展作为一个共同的反应，整个中世纪早期北方世界的社会政治复杂性的增长。虽然来自斯堪的纳维亚半岛和欧洲大陆北方邻近地区的新考古数据激增，激发了新的辩论和跨学科的方法，但由于遗址样本有限和证据基础陈旧，最近的话语中缺乏英国的观点。拟议的网络的主要目的是利用一套新项目的潜力，检查整个中世纪早期英国的皇家居住地，以纠正这种不平衡，并为未来建立一个更全面的研究议程。在过去的五年里，已经启动了五个研究项目，每个项目都在雄心勃勃的规模上检查或寻求重新评估皇家居住地，其中四个在英国的地区，这些地区以前没有证实过这种现象：莱明格（肯特），萨顿·库尔特奈/朗威滕纳姆（牛津郡）;伦德勒舍姆（萨福克郡），莱尼（皮克兰）和耶弗林（诺森伯兰郡）。我们将邀请各组成项目的负责人进行持续的对话，分享研究结果，比较方法和质疑假设，并向国内和国际领先的学者开放这种对话，以发展比较跨学科的观点。我们将在24个月内组织一系列的三次会议，每次会议都讨论一个跨学科意义的总体主题：网站动态和长期年表;权力架构：仪式行为、表演和建筑环境;以及皇家住宅和权力网络。每次会议将有18名与会者参加，包括来自不同国家和学科的早期职业研究人员和博士生和学者。预定的辩论重点将提前分发，同时分发邀请文件的摘要，以便为讨论提供信息和安排讨论。我们将与英格兰遗产和历史苏格兰等国家机构合作，为这些遗址的未来管理和开发提供信息，这些遗址因其稀有性和文化意义而受到重视。这将包括邀请这些机构的高级成员参加网络咨询委员会并参加其会议。我们还将制作两种资源，以显着提高当地社区内五个参与研究项目所取得的影响：该网络网站上的一个专门设施，供特殊兴趣团体和当地学校策划自己的临时在线展览，以及一个教育包，将鼓励小学以有趣和创造性的方式与当地的中世纪早期皇家住所进行互动在关键阶段2的历史国家课程的交付。这两种资源将作为研究的遗产在网络结束后提供。将建立一个网站和编辑的论文集，以保证网络的连续性，并最大限度地传播其研究成果。该网站将包括学术和公众受众的内容，并将通过链接的社交媒体最大限度地扩大覆盖面。它将张贴会议摘要，公布正在进行的工作的通知，并在项目过程中促进与网络的联系和网络内部的联系。学术传播的主要工具将是经过编辑的论文集/期刊特刊，其中包括向年轻学者征集的稿件。

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.