John Blair

Historian and archaeologist Professor John Blair presents a radical reappraisal of buildings in Anglo-Saxon England based on the latest archaeological discoveries.

Blair says the latest discoveries help us to fully understand for the first time how regionally diverse Anglo-Saxon buildings were. He says buildings in eastern England near the North Sea had more in common with those in the Low Countries and Scandinavia than the rest of England. The latest discoveries also reveal new clarity around the emergence of villages and field systems and on the administration of the kingdom of Mercia.

Blair is emeritus professor of medieval history and archaeology at the University of Oxford and emeritus fellow in history at The Queen’s College, Oxford. His books include The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society and The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction.