Adam Stanney
The existing historiography on the maritime societies of the early medieval North Sea centres primarily on the cultural and economic links between coastal settlements, as well as the social constitution and power hierarchies of these economies. Though a dynamic field of research, these studies have often grounded themselves in singular debates, such as the question of economic agency in a particular place, or the cultural diffusion in one geographic area. While much scholarship, modern in particular, does highlight the distinct interconnectivity of the North Sea basin and does discuss character of settlements themselves, these are rarely tackled in tandem, and a cohesive characterisation of the pre-Viking North Sea world is thus distinctly lacking. My research seeks to amend this by taking three major North Sea emporia – Ipswich, Dorestad, Ribe – as case studies. Dynamics within the settlements themselves, between the settlements and their hinterlands, and between the emporia themselves will be analysed together. Placing itself within modern thematic discourse on urbanism and networks, as well as straddling the boundaries of various disciplines and research foci on emporia, a holistic characterisation of the North Sea world will be the primary aim of the research.