Crafters of Kingship: Smiths, Elite Power, and Gender in Early Medieval Europe

Practice, Power and Place: Southern British Perspectives on the Agency of Early Medieval Rulers’ Residences

“…This perspective has clear relevance to the evidence for skilled crafting frequently found within or adjacent to elite residential compounds of the period (Hjärther-Holdar et al 2002, Hedeager 2011, pp. 137-148, Axboe 2012, Wright 2019. But, as we demonstrate below in relation to southern Britain, it is equally germane to the ostentatious timber architecture defining these sites and, more broadly, the innovative systems of resource extraction and consumption channelled through them.…”

“…It is interesting to consider comparisons with the skilled metalworkers who produced portable elite material and who were also attached or periodically embedded in elite households or residences (Hjärther-Holdar et al 2002, Hedeager 2011, Axboe 2012, Wright 2019. Master smiths would have crafted within a closed workshop groupskilled assistants and apprentices -whereas master builders would have worked in sustained and creative collaboration with a wider community of estate dependents including carpenters capable of turning their own knowledge and skills to elite purpose.…”