Published May 30th, 2020, 5/30/20 10:03 pm
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TLDR: This is a historically accurate recreation of a 7th century Anglo-Saxon royal estate, built while reading its Archeological excavation report. This was a real place, these are real buildings that once existed, and though we don't know for sure what they looked like above ground, I did my best to represent the Archaeologist's hypothesis.
This map was created in Minecraft version 1.14.4 and will not work with any later versions of Minecraft.
I built it with the Excalibur resource pack, so some textures may not make sense if played with another resource pack.
I have returned to showcase a new project! This is something I had actually finished back in December until I tried to update the map to Minecraft's latest version and corrupted the map file. I had last backed it up with only about half progress, so needless to say I was pretty angry and didn't feel like finishing it... until now. I couldn't let this hide forever from the world, it was such a unique idea: reading an archeological report and recreating a historical village in minecraft.
The Idea came to me as I was reading Brian Hope-Taylor's report of this site: Yeavering: An Anglo-British centre of early Northumbria. I thought -- why not create the site in Minecraft as I read? It will be fun. Of course, what is being excavated are the underground impressions of 1500 year old buildings, but Brian Hope-Taylor provides hypothesis as to what they would have looked like above ground. I tried to follow his conclusions as best I could with a little of my own artistic license. I had a lot of fun doing this, so I'd love to share it with you.
The terrain is done at a 1x1 scale, reflecting the true topography of the region (Glendale), as well as the buildings on the site. One block = One meter.
Buildings at odd angles in the archeological plan (see below) have been aligned to the minecraft grid.
I have planted signs around the map explaining what things are for a bit of education.
Now, for those of you not well versed in Anglo-Saxon archaeology, let me explain what this complex is:
The early Anglo-Saxon migrants from Germany come rulers in the north of England (410-700 A.D.), it seems, had to rule over a kingdom in which there were populations belonging to two separate cultural and ethnic groups: the native Britons who were the descendants of the Romano-British population, and their own Anglian people. British populations outnumbered Anglo-Saxons in much of Northumberland at this time it seems. The Anglo-Saxon rulers in Northumberland were the Kingdom of Bernicia. In an attempt to administer/judge/tax so many localized regions, the royal family and retinue constantly traveled between several royal estates, perhaps monthly, one of which was at Bamburgh on the coast, and the another was at Yeavering, among the inland hills, which was in the British-dominated area of their kingdom. Yeavering is the modern name for the region, but contemporaries would know it as Ad Gefrin - Hill of the Goats in Brittonic.
The Anglo-Saxon settlement at Ad Gefrin had been situated there because the site had been an important tribute-collection and ritual center in the preceding Iron Age and Romano-British periods. It sat just down the hill from the the British hill-fort known today as Yeavering Bell, an ancient center of power, and this area had a series of stone-circles and mounds used as ancient burial sites. So the Anglo-Saxon complex was a deliberate reference to the traditional native institutions of the area. The Anglo-Saxons, pagan at Ad Gefrin's establishment, claimed the ancient burial sites for their own use.
Ad Gefrin, it seems, was established sometime in the mid 500s as a royal complex and tribute-collection center for the growing Anglo-Saxon Bernician Dynasty. It steadily grew in buildings and size, until it saw its height during King Edwin's reign (616-633 A.D.). This is the version of Ad Gefrin I have built (phase III).
Phase III boasts an impressive series of new structures since phase II, requiring massive authority over the local population:
- A double palisaded enclosure for collecting tribute in cattle from the local population
- A massive new feasting hall: 27x13 meters.
- A massive grandstand, capable of seating very large audiences
- A series of new satellite buildings and halls, including a Kitchen, a butcher pit, and one modest building with two stories.
- Upgrades to most former buildings in size
- An early christian church converted from a former Pagan temple
- A new Christian burial ground
Bede, a Northumbrian historian in the 8th century, wrote about Ad Gefrin. He described how King Edwin, shortly after converting from Germanic Paganism to Roman Christianity, brought an Italian Christian preacher named Paulinus to his royal township at Ad Gefrin where the priest proceeded to convert the local people from their original pagan religion to Christianity, and baptize them in the nearby river Glen. It is theorized the new grandstand was built for preaching to large audiences of people.
After King Edwin was killed in battle by the armies of Cadwallon, King of Gwynedd and Penda, King of Mercia, Ad Gefrin was burned to the ground by King Cadwallon. We can see this in the archeological record. All buildings from Phase III have traces of burned charcoal and daub. Edwin's successor, King Oswald, had Ad Gefrin rebuilt on a smaller scale but after further destructive fires, the site was abandoned for a more modest but very similarly organized settlement at Melmin across the river Glen. This abandonment was probably in the reign of Oswiu (642-679 A.D.).
![Yeavering - The Anglo-Saxon Palace Complex of King Edwin [Northumberland, 616 - 633 A.D.] Minecraft Map](https://exarc.net/sites/default/files/map_4.jpg)
![Yeavering - The Anglo-Saxon Palace Complex of King Edwin [Northumberland, 616 - 633 A.D.] Minecraft Map](https://historicengland.org.uk/hex/file/he/content/upload/11861_700.jpg?w=980&h=650&mode=max&quality=60)
This map was created in Minecraft version 1.14.4 and will not work with any later versions of Minecraft.
I built it with the Excalibur resource pack, so some textures may not make sense if played with another resource pack.
I have returned to showcase a new project! This is something I had actually finished back in December until I tried to update the map to Minecraft's latest version and corrupted the map file. I had last backed it up with only about half progress, so needless to say I was pretty angry and didn't feel like finishing it... until now. I couldn't let this hide forever from the world, it was such a unique idea: reading an archeological report and recreating a historical village in minecraft.
The Idea came to me as I was reading Brian Hope-Taylor's report of this site: Yeavering: An Anglo-British centre of early Northumbria. I thought -- why not create the site in Minecraft as I read? It will be fun. Of course, what is being excavated are the underground impressions of 1500 year old buildings, but Brian Hope-Taylor provides hypothesis as to what they would have looked like above ground. I tried to follow his conclusions as best I could with a little of my own artistic license. I had a lot of fun doing this, so I'd love to share it with you.
The terrain is done at a 1x1 scale, reflecting the true topography of the region (Glendale), as well as the buildings on the site. One block = One meter.
Buildings at odd angles in the archeological plan (see below) have been aligned to the minecraft grid.
I have planted signs around the map explaining what things are for a bit of education.
Now, for those of you not well versed in Anglo-Saxon archaeology, let me explain what this complex is:
The early Anglo-Saxon migrants from Germany come rulers in the north of England (410-700 A.D.), it seems, had to rule over a kingdom in which there were populations belonging to two separate cultural and ethnic groups: the native Britons who were the descendants of the Romano-British population, and their own Anglian people. British populations outnumbered Anglo-Saxons in much of Northumberland at this time it seems. The Anglo-Saxon rulers in Northumberland were the Kingdom of Bernicia. In an attempt to administer/judge/tax so many localized regions, the royal family and retinue constantly traveled between several royal estates, perhaps monthly, one of which was at Bamburgh on the coast, and the another was at Yeavering, among the inland hills, which was in the British-dominated area of their kingdom. Yeavering is the modern name for the region, but contemporaries would know it as Ad Gefrin - Hill of the Goats in Brittonic.
The Anglo-Saxon settlement at Ad Gefrin had been situated there because the site had been an important tribute-collection and ritual center in the preceding Iron Age and Romano-British periods. It sat just down the hill from the the British hill-fort known today as Yeavering Bell, an ancient center of power, and this area had a series of stone-circles and mounds used as ancient burial sites. So the Anglo-Saxon complex was a deliberate reference to the traditional native institutions of the area. The Anglo-Saxons, pagan at Ad Gefrin's establishment, claimed the ancient burial sites for their own use.
Ad Gefrin, it seems, was established sometime in the mid 500s as a royal complex and tribute-collection center for the growing Anglo-Saxon Bernician Dynasty. It steadily grew in buildings and size, until it saw its height during King Edwin's reign (616-633 A.D.). This is the version of Ad Gefrin I have built (phase III).
Phase III boasts an impressive series of new structures since phase II, requiring massive authority over the local population:
- A double palisaded enclosure for collecting tribute in cattle from the local population
- A massive new feasting hall: 27x13 meters.
- A massive grandstand, capable of seating very large audiences
- A series of new satellite buildings and halls, including a Kitchen, a butcher pit, and one modest building with two stories.
- Upgrades to most former buildings in size
- An early christian church converted from a former Pagan temple
- A new Christian burial ground
Bede, a Northumbrian historian in the 8th century, wrote about Ad Gefrin. He described how King Edwin, shortly after converting from Germanic Paganism to Roman Christianity, brought an Italian Christian preacher named Paulinus to his royal township at Ad Gefrin where the priest proceeded to convert the local people from their original pagan religion to Christianity, and baptize them in the nearby river Glen. It is theorized the new grandstand was built for preaching to large audiences of people.
After King Edwin was killed in battle by the armies of Cadwallon, King of Gwynedd and Penda, King of Mercia, Ad Gefrin was burned to the ground by King Cadwallon. We can see this in the archeological record. All buildings from Phase III have traces of burned charcoal and daub. Edwin's successor, King Oswald, had Ad Gefrin rebuilt on a smaller scale but after further destructive fires, the site was abandoned for a more modest but very similarly organized settlement at Melmin across the river Glen. This abandonment was probably in the reign of Oswiu (642-679 A.D.).
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