The Earliest States of Eastern Europe
DG-2014, 116-130

Migrations and state formation in the early middle ages: A view from the west

H. Härke

 

Migrations of “tribes”, and mobility of elites, figure in many narratives of state formation and nation-building. But the frequent assumption that early medieval migrations regularly led to state formation is not borne out by a critical look at western European cases between the fifth and eleventh centuries AD. The outcomes of migrations in this period varied considerably. The case studies discussed in this paper include the Anglo-Saxon immigration into England and other migrations of the fifth – seventh centuries AD in western Europe, and the Viking immigration into the British Isles as well as other Scandinavian cases of the ninth – eleventh centuries AD in the west. Taken together, these cases demonstrate that migration does not necessarily lead to state formation. But even in the absence of state formation, some social change among migrants is likely because migrations require organisational leadership.

State formation appears to have been a likely consequence only where immigrants encountered native populations of a certain level of social complexity. The reason might lie in the nature of segmentary (tribal) organisation: it presupposes social links and shared ancestry among the lineages of the tribe. This imposes size limitations, but more importantly restrictions in terms of identity. After conquest by an immigrant population or elite, one possible solution is that the native population is reduced to the status of slaves who are attached to the households of lineage members. The alternative would be the creation of a joint state based on a common ideology (such as afforded by Christianity in early medieval western Europe).

 

Keywords:
Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, migration, colonization, state formation
References

 

References

 

Anthony D.W. Migration and archaeology: the baby and the bathwater // American Anthropologist. 1990. Vol. 92. P. 895–914.

Anthony D.W. Prehistoric migration as social-process // Migrations and invasions in archaeological explanation / Eds J. Chapman and H. Hamerow. Oxford, 1997. P. 21–32.

Barnard A. and Spencer J. Routledge encyclopedia of social and cultural anthropology. 2nd ed. L., 2010.

Barrett J.H. The Norse in Scotland // The Viking world / Ed. S. Brink and N. Price. L., 2008. P. 411–427.

Bierbrauer V. Archäologie und Geschichte der Goten vom 1.–7. Jahrhundert. Versuch einer Bilanz // Frühmittelalterliche Studien. 1994. Vol. 28. P. 51–171.

Campbell J. The Anglo-Saxon state. L., 2000.

Capelle T. Die Sachsen des frühen Mittelalters. Darmstadt; Stuttgart, 1998.

Chapman R. Evolution, complexity and the state // Socialising complexity: Structure, interaction and power in archaeological discourse / Eds S. Kohring and S. Wynne-Jones. Oxford, 2007. P. 13–28.

Cherry J. Generalization and the archaeology of the state // Social organisation and settlement (British Archaeological Reports, S 47) / Eds D. Green, C. Haselgrove and M. Spriggs. Oxford, 1978. P. 411–438.

Claessen H.J.M. Was the state inevitable? // The early state, its alternatives and analogues / Eds L.E. Grinin, R.L. Carneiro, D.M. Bondarenko, N.N. Kradin and A.V. Korotayev. Moscow, 2004. P. 72–87.

Cultures in contact: Scandinavian settlement in England in the ninth and tenth centuries / Eds D.M. Hadley, J.D. Richards. Turnhout, 2000.

Das Reich der Vandalen und seine (Vor-)Geschichten / Ed. G.M. Berndt. Wien, 2008.

Die Franken: Wegbereiter Europas / Ed. A. Wieczorek. Mainz, 1996.

Douglas D. The rise of Normandy. Proceedings of the British Academy, 4th series. 1947. Vol. 33. P. 101–130.

Edwards N. The archaeology of early medieval Ireland. L., 1990.

Esmonde Cleary A.S. The ending of Roman Britain. L., 1989.

Frachetti M.D. Migration concepts in Central Eurasian archaeology // Annual Review of Anthropology. 2011. Vol. 40. P. 195–212.

Fried M.H. The notion of tribe. San Francisco, 1975.

Garnett G. Franci et Angli: the legal distinctions between peoples after the conquest // Anglo-Norman Studies. 1985. Vol. 8. P. 109–137.

Golding B. Conquest and colonisation: The Normans in Britain, 1066–1100. N.Y., 1994.

Goodacre S., Helgason A., Nicholson J., Southam L., Ferguson L., Hickey E., Vega E., Stefánsson K., Ward R. and Sykes B. Genetic evidence for a family-based Scandinavian settlement of Shetland und Orkney during the Viking period // Heredity. 2005. Vol. 95. P. 129–135.

Graham-Campbell J. and Batey C.E. Vikings in Scotland: An archaeological record. Edinburgh, 1998.

Griffiths D. Vikings of the Irish Sea: Conflict und assimilation AD 790–1050. Stroud, 2010.

Halsall G. Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376–568. Cambridge, 2007.

Härke H. Anglo-Saxon immigration and ethnogenesis // Medieval Archaeology. 2011. Vol. 55. P. 1–28.

Härke H. Archaeologists and migrations: a problem of attitude? // Current Anthropology. 1998. Vol. 39 No. 1. P. 19–45.

Härke H. Conquest ideology, ritual, and material culture // Image, memory and monumentality. Archaeological engagements with the material world: A celebration of the academic achievements of Professor Richard Bradley (Prehistoric Society Research Paper 5) / Eds A.M. Jones, J. Pollard, M.J. Allen and J. Gardiner. Oxford; Oakville, 2012. P. 108–115.

Härke H. Early Anglo-Saxon social structure // The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the eighth century: an ethnographic perspective (Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology, 2) / Ed. J. Hines. Woodbridge, 1997. P. 125–170.

Härke H. Invisible Britons, Gallo-Romans and Russians: Perspectives on culture change // Britons in Anglo-Saxon England (Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, 7) / Ed. N. Higham. Woodbridge, 2007. P. 57–67.

Härke H. Kings and warriors: Population and landscape from post-Roman to Norman Britain // The peopling of Britain: the shaping of a human landscape / Eds P. Slack and R. Ward. Oxford, 2002. P. 145–175.

Härke H. Population replacement or acculturation? An archaeological perspective on population and migration in post-Roman Britain // The Celtic Englishes III (Anglistische Forschungen, 324) / Ed. H.L.C. Tristram. Heidelberg, 2003. P. 13–28.

Härke H. The debate on migration and identity in Europe // Antiquity. 2004. Vol. 78. P. 453–456.

Heather P. The fall of the Roman Empire. L., 2005.

Heather P. Empires and Barbarians. L., 2009.

Heather P. The Goths. Oxford, 1996.

Higham C. From the Iron Age to Angkor: New light on the origins of a state // Antiquity. 2014. Vol. 88. P. 822–835.

Higham N. An English empire: Bede and the early Anglo-Saxon kings. Manchester, 1995.

Jones G. The Norse Atlantic Saga. Oxford, 1964.

Jones M.E. The end of Roman Britain. Ithaca; L., 1996.

Kinship and social organisation (American Museum Sourcebooks in Anthropology, 10) / Eds P. Bohannan and J. Middleton. Garden City, N.Y., 1968.

Loyn H.R. The Vikings in Britain. Oxford, 1994.

Lull V. and Micó R. Archaeology of the origin of the state: the theories. Oxford, 2011.

Mair L. Primitive government. Harmondsworth, 1962.

Menghin W. Die Langobarden: Archäologie und Geschichte. Stuttgart, 1985.

Merrills A. and Miles R. The Vandals. Malden, Mass., 2010.

Musset L. The Germanic invasions. L., 1975.

O’Corráin D. Ireland before the Normans (Gill History of Ireland, 2). Dublin, 1972.

Richards J. The English Heritage Book of Viking Age England. L., 1991.

Sawyer P. Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe AD 700–1100. L., 1982.

Sawyer P. The age of the Vikings. 2nd ed. L., 1971.

Schoppa H. Die Völkerwanderungszeit (Schriften des Städtischen Museums Wiesbaden, Nr. 7). Wiesbaden, 1969.

Service E.R. Primitive social organisation. N.Y., 1962.

Sharples N.M. and Smith R. Norse settlement in the Western Isles // Scandinavian Scotland – Twenty years after / Ed. A. Woolf. St Andrews, 2009. P. 103–130.

Stenton F.M. The Scandinavian colonies in England and Normandy. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 1945. Vol. 27. P. 1–12.

Strasser K.T. Deutschlands Urgeschichte. Frankfurt, 1933.

The cross goes north: Processes of conversion in northern Europe, AD 300–1300 / Ed. M. Carver. Woodbridge, 2003.

The early state / Eds H.J.M. Claessen and P. Skalnik. Den Haag, 1979.

The impact of the Scandinavian invasions on the Celtic-speaking peoples c. 800–1100 A.D. / Ed. B. O’Cuív. Dublin, 1983.

The origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms / Ed. S. Bassett. Leicester, 1989.

Thomas M.G., Stumpf M.P.H. and Härke H. Evidence for an apartheid-like social structure in early Anglo-Saxon England. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2006. Vol. 273. P. 2651–2657.

Todd M. Migrants and invaders: The movement of peoples in the ancient world. Stroud, 2001.

Woolf A. Apartheid and economics in Anglo-Saxon England // Britons in Anglo-Saxon England (Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, 7) / Ed. N. Higham. Woodbridge, 2007. P. 115–129.

Yoffee N. Deep pasts: Interconnections and comparative history in the ancient world // A companion to world history / Ed. D. Northrop. Oxford, 2012. P. 156–170.

Yorke B. Kings and kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England. L., 1990.

 

Written sources

 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: English historical documents c. 500–1042 / Ed. D. Whitelock. 2nd ed. L.; N.Y., 1979.

Beda Venerabilis. Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum: Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People / Transl. B. Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors. Oxford, 1969.

Gregory of Tours. Historia Francorum: Gregory of Tours. The History of the Franks / Transl. L. Thorpe. Harmondsworth, 1974.

Landnámabók Íslands / Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen, 1925. (English translation: Book of the settlement of Iceland / Transl. T. Ellwood. Kendal, 1898.)

Orkneyinga Saga / Transl. Hermann Pálsson and P. Edwards. Harmondsworth, 1978.