This book is about Britain, and the people who dwelt there, between about 500 and 1000. At this stage Britain was not thought of as the basis of a shared nationality or government: it was an island that contained numerous distinct groups with different languages and ways of life, as well as strong views of their own history and ethnicity. Its population was a small fraction of what it is now, with precious few towns, and most people devoted their time to producing food from land and livestock. Resources and education were distributed very unevenly according to status and gender – and justice, too, was harsh and often slow and imbalanced. By modern standards, early medieval Britain was in many ways a very harsh place. Nonetheless, its people had much to take pride and interest in. They would have seen important changes going on around them as a sequence of new kingdoms took shape, and as Christianity came to be a force at all levels of society. They would have learnt their place in that society, and in the world at large, by swapping stories and poems. At times they would also have seen new immigrants enter their community, or been migrants themselves, or adopted – either bit by bit or by a sudden leap – a whole new identity, taking on new customs and languages in the process. They would have been conscious of several intersecting layers and kinds of belonging, from families and localities upwards to kingdoms and a religious community that spanned the whole continent. All of this is interesting partly because of what it sets up – most obviously, the modern nations of England, Scotland and Wales as cultural and/or political entities – but the early Middle Ages are also interesting in themselves, as an era of possibility and change in Britain without regard for outcomes that lay centuries in the future. This book seeks to show how the latter approach can challenge and enrich the former.

How did people get the things they needed but could not grow or make from their own resources? This chapter examines networks of exchange; that is to say, of people exchanging things among themselves. It surveys first the major kinds of exchange – gift, tribute and purchase – before looking at the means and mechanics of exchange, including money and precious metal. Finally, we will look at the locations of exchange, among which were various forms of towns; the functions of these will be considered, including military and administrative roles as well as trade.

This chapter is framed around a very simple question with many complex answers: how do we know about the early Middle Ages? There are a number of secondary questions that lie behind this one: what don’t we know about the early Middle Ages? How reliable and representative is the material that does survive? What factors have affected the preservation of that information? All of these should be kept in mind when reading the rest of this book, as the sources for this period are often unusual and challenging. Much can depend on short or ambiguous texts. Readers may also notice unaccustomed forms of evidence playing a prominent role: place names, archaeological finds, inscriptions and literary texts all feature.

Whilst the theoretical underpinning and rationale for deeper learning presented and discussed in Chapter 4 is based on current thinking and research by academics and educators, its interpretation, application and actual implementation is challenging. Understanding the mechanisms of deeper learning is one thing. Generating and sustaining learner commitment and achievement is another.