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Butchered Bones, Carved Stones: Hunting And Social Change In Late Saxon England, Shawn Hale

Masters Theses

Textual, archaeological, and art historical evidence all point to a significant reorganization of Anglo-Saxon society in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Changes in landownership, the development of proto-urban centers, the growth of merchant and artisan classes, as well as the proliferation of occupations associated with royal and regional administration, collectively altered the Anglo-Saxon social order. This radical reorganization benefitted some groups of individuals and threatened others with decreased social standing. Established elites and the nouvuae riche utilized exclusionary measures to counter any degree of social mobility provided by economic and political changes.

Shifting hunting practices and perceptions are particularly emblematic …