The Overseas Contacts of the Anglo-Saxon England. A reassessment

Abstract

This article examines the main directions of contact of the Anglo-Saxon world and the question of English ports, the emporia. Together they form the basis of early Anglo-Saxon interpretation of the British Isles pattern of contact. The question of emporia (but not necessarily the emporia themselves as it will be discussed in the last section) is important here, because as entities they formed the gates of trade system of the Anglo-Saxon England in the given period. As such they were also the windows to the world and helped in establishing new contacts and maintaining the old ones.