Book contents
- The Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom
- The Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors’ Preface
- 1 The Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England (450–1066)
- 2 England after the Conquest
- 3 England in the Thirteenth Century
- 4 England in the Fourteenth Century
- 5 England in the Fifteenth Century
- 6 England in the Sixteenth Century
- 7 The English Constitution in the Seventeenth Century
- 8 A European Perspective
- 9 Wales before Annexation
- 10 The Scottish Constitution before 1707
- 11 The Eighteenth-Century Constitution
- 12 The Constitutional and Parliamentary History of Ireland till the Union
- 13 The United Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century
- 14 The United Kingdom in the Twentieth Century
- 15 The Twenty-First-Century Constitution
- 16 Wales since the Annexation
- 17 Scotland in the Union
- 18 Ireland in the Union
- 19 The Making of Empire
- 20 Constitution and Empire
- Index
1 - The Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England (450–1066)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2023
- The Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom
- The Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors’ Preface
- 1 The Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England (450–1066)
- 2 England after the Conquest
- 3 England in the Thirteenth Century
- 4 England in the Fourteenth Century
- 5 England in the Fifteenth Century
- 6 England in the Sixteenth Century
- 7 The English Constitution in the Seventeenth Century
- 8 A European Perspective
- 9 Wales before Annexation
- 10 The Scottish Constitution before 1707
- 11 The Eighteenth-Century Constitution
- 12 The Constitutional and Parliamentary History of Ireland till the Union
- 13 The United Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century
- 14 The United Kingdom in the Twentieth Century
- 15 The Twenty-First-Century Constitution
- 16 Wales since the Annexation
- 17 Scotland in the Union
- 18 Ireland in the Union
- 19 The Making of Empire
- 20 Constitution and Empire
- Index
Summary
The discovery and excavation in 1939 of the ship-burial at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, brought to light an object which was immediately recognised as a piece of early seventh-century regalia – a sceptre, or symbol of its owner’s power from the kingdom of the East Angles.1 The power is presumed to be that of a king, buried with his regalia in his ship, amidst other objects symbolic of his exalted status, and indicative of his great wealth and extended connections. The further interpretation of such a magnificently mysterious object leads in many directions and remains a matter of informed speculation. It is enough that the object itself remains symbolic of whatever it had once been known to symbolise, and thereby of all that cannot be known about the earliest stages in the constitutional history of the United Kingdom.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023