The Aristocracy’s Appearance

Abstract

This chapter aims to understand the self-image that Northumbrian aristocracy constructed. It will seek to discover how the aristocracy portrayed itself in the historical sources, examining the nouns used to refer to them, the image of warriors and/or clerics, the war gear, the role played by women, the idealized impossibility of social mobility and how the aristocracy understands itself at the end of the long eighth century, as represented in the Durham Liber Vitae. The main argument of the chapter is that the way the aristocracy wanted to be perceived played a major role in its ideological (re)production. Self-perception is also fundamental for organizing the aristocracy internally, and for establishing its own internal hierarchies.