Lords and Communities in Early Medieval East Anglia seeks to address the issues raised by Power of Place: the Future of the Historic Environment, as part of the substantial consultation exercise being undertaken on the intersection between culture, heritage and social policy in order to improve the quality of life for those who reside in and visit the United Kingdom. Effective decisions by planners, government organizations and other institutions will depend upon the quality of the information provided by research in history and related disciplines, and in particular on the ability of regional studies to apply a range of methodologies in order to illuminate the richness of local communities’ historical pasts. The comments of Power of Place are instructive in this context.

This ‘once-in-a-generation’ report, conducted by some twenty public and charitable organizations, notes that we need to remember that ‘the historic environment is seen by most people as a totality’, and while generally striking an optimistic note, comments that ‘many people feel excluded from a full appreciation of England's cultural richness and diversity’. It recommends that we ‘should ensure that regional and local cultural strategies both identify and address previously neglected influences on the historic environment and identify opportunities to improve access to information’. Moreover, in relation to the East Anglian region, the report recognizes that the history of some of its localities, such as Great Yarmouth and its hinterland, has more in common with counterparts in the Low Countries than with other English areas. The implications for the scholarly community are clear enough: more work is urgently required on the historical dynamics of regional communities within a comparative framework of analysis which is initially related to western Europe, with an appropriate balance being struck in discussion between diversity and unity.

The present study considers how lords and communities from a range of religious, ethnic and social backgrounds came together to forge workable societies within a regional framework between the ages of the Vikings and the Normans. Mostly the unfolding of these developments took place during periods of peace, and discussion will consider how these communities responded to the policies of rulers and outside powers, over which they exercised a negligible influence.