Britain and Its Neighbours was born of the 2018 Swansea University Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies Symposium by the Sea. The objective of the conference's theme strand was to provide historical perspective on the connections between the island of Britain and Continental Europe, particularly in the wake of the Brexit vote in 2016. That said, Britain and Its Neighbours is not intended to be a commentary on the decision to depart the European Union, nor does it present any such arguments in that regard.
Britain and Its Neighbours contains twelve case studies that depict contact and exchange between the island of Britain and its various neighbors, ranging from near (the Isle of Man) to far (the Mediterranean and beyond). When reading the book as a cohesive whole, the reader may have the sensation that they are reading two halves of two different books.
The first six chapters are tightly clustered chronologically and thematically. The initial chapter addresses the “Anglo-Saxons” and the connections of the iconography of the Franks Casket in comparison to contemporary depictions in Europe and the Middle East. Chapters 2 through 6 are set in a very broad “Viking Age” and discuss Britain's interactions with the Scandinavian world, which extended to Scotland and the Isle of Man during this period. These five essays, alongside the first to a lesser extent, are tightly woven together in terms of chronology, shared pagan and Christian themes, and Northern European culture. Because of the intensive focus and continuity among these chapters, there is a feeling of insularity, as interactions beyond the Scandinavian world seem to be minimized or must have gone through a Scandinavian filter before reaching Britain.
In terms of the chronology and external cultural contacts, there is a gap between the sixth chapter and the seventh. Although some of the essays advertise their content as reaching the 1400s, their main arguments are primarily rooted in pre-thirteenth-century evidence. Additionally, there is no content that addresses Anglo-Norman relations. Five out of the first six chapters cover Scandinavian influence. The absence of any mention of Norman or French influence at the year 1000 is striking in comparison. One may argue that those interactions have been excessively covered elsewhere and are part of the popular consciousness. At the same time, their complete exclusion makes the space and time spent on the Scandinavian world seem disproportionate compared to the other cultural exchanges discussed in the book. Thus, when the reader begins the seventh chapter, they may be startled to find themselves in Eleanor of Castile's Iberian-inspired garden in the late 1200s and early 1300s, having just departed a discussion of the laws of Knut (Canute) the Great (r. 1016–35) compared to the memory of them in Sven Aggesen's Lex Castrensis (ca. 1181–82). However, one may wonder whether there was a case study intended to be included here that would bridge the Anglo-Norman gap, but it did not survive to publication.
The seventh through twelfth chapters fall into the broader scope of the Renaissance era chronologically (ca. 1300–1700). Further shores are explored, including Iberia, France (via Scotland and the Auld Alliance), Switzerland, Italy, and Sweden. The content of the case studies is more geographically and chronologically spread out than the first half of the book. This diversity fits the stated purpose of the book better than the first half, which curls back in upon itself. However, the first half of the book makes a very tight and focused assertion of the collection's argument, as the chapters build upon each other.
Overall, this collection delivers the promised fresh outlooks on the varied continental connections between Britain and its neighbors; there are intriguing methods utilized to read new meaning into old texts and objects. The individual case studies themselves are generally well written and well argued within the limits of each chapter. There are one or two chapters that seem to defy the editorial conventions of the others. However, as iterated at the start of this review, the chapters seem to belong to two different books—the first six to one, the second six to another. The chapters muster the same overarching argument, but how and whether they work off each other to do so depends upon which half of the book one reads.
