Social Exclusion from Early Medieval Wessex

Over the past twenty years Anglo-Saxonists have become increasingly interested in the
mechanisms and processes through which West Saxon society was formed into a
cohesive and coherent whole. They have focused on the ways in which kings and other
figures of authority used their power in attempts to bring their subjects together by
providing them with a sense of shared identity, purpose and ambitions. To date,
however, academics have failed to recognise the important role that exclusion played in
this process and this thesis serves to redress this balance. By examining the types of
individuals that were excluded from full membership ofearly medieval West Saxon
society and the reasons for their exclusion, it offers a new way of exploring the
processes that made this society self-consciously more coherent. The thesis is structured
thematically around five separate categories ofpeople who each in their own way
experienced some form of social exclusion from the kingdom of Wessex during the
seventh to late-tenth centuries, but focusing most heavily on the ninth and tenth
centuries. Chapter one explores the concept of social exclusion as voluntary exile,
entailing an investigation into the motivations that prompted Anglo-Saxon missionaries
and pilgrims to leave behind their homes and kin. Most importantly, this chapter
surveys the networks of support that such travellers exploited in order to help them
survive as aliens in foreign territories. The next two chapters investigate types of
individuals who were excluded as a result of an action or behaviour that was deemed
unacceptable by the rest of their society. Chapter two considers the evidence relating to
outlawry and excommunication and chapter three takes a broader view of the idea of
deviancy and looks at how Anglo-Saxon criminals were brought to justice and punished
for their unlawful behaviour. The final two chapters explore the potential for
understanding the concept of social exclusion as 'social disadvantage'. Chapter four
examines slavery and, most importantly, draws attention to the privileges and rights
from which Anglo-Saxon slaves were excluded on account of their status as the legally
'unfree'. The fifth and final chapter considers in detail Anglo-Saxon attitudes to the
body in order fully to appreciate the disadvantages that could be caused by bodily
ailments; it questions whether or not impaired and disabled individuals experienced any
form ofmarginalisation because of their bodily dysfunctionalities.