The Defence of Wessex: The Burghal Hidage and Anglo-Saxon Fortifications

A collection of 13 papers from a conference in May 1989 in Manchester, England, exploring aspects of the early 10th-century manuscript Burghal Hidage, which contains important information on the 33 places for which it lists the number of hides to be paid as tax. After a bibliographical review of previous studies and an edition and translation, they discuss manuscript evidence, the document, place names, administrative background, the fortification and their shires, and mints and burhs. Among the appendices are an annotated bibliography relating to the Tribal Hidage and a gazetteer of Burghal Hidage sites. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.