Introduction to Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons, the name given the Germanic, or Teutonic, peoples who invaded and occupied Britain beginning in the fifth century. They came from the area that is now Denmark, northern Germany, and the Netherlands. Under the Anglo-Saxons, the foundations for a unified English nation were laid, the country was permanently converted to Christianity, and a distinctive native culture was developed. To these people the English-speaking world owes the basis of its language and literature and the foundations of its law, local government, and other basic institutions.
Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
Invasion and SettlementGermanic tribes from northwestern Europe began to raid Roman-occupied Britain in the third century, carrying away grain, cattle, and other valuables. Not long after Roman troops were withdrawn from Britain, 407–10, bands from three distinct but closely related tribes—the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—sailed across the North Sea in search of land for settlement.
According to tradition, the first important settlement was made about 449 by the Jutes on Britain's eastern coast. For nearly two centuries, a steady stream of Teutonic invaders followed. They penetrated the island by way of its inland rivers, ravaging as they advanced. Roman civilization was destroyed; its language, religion, and customs disappeared. Most of the native Britons, a Celtic people, were killed, enslaved, or driven into Wales and to Brittany (in France).
About 613 the Anglo-Saxon conquest of central Britain was completed. Anglo-Saxon England was divided into a number of small kingdoms. The Jutes occupied the region called Kent, between the Thames River and the Strait of Dover. The Saxons settled to the south and west of London. Their major kingdoms were Sussex, Essex, and Wessex. The Angles, who gave their name to the country, inhabited the eastern coast from the territory of the Saxons northward into the Scottish lowlands. They formed the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria.
Although barbarians, the Anglo-Saxons were more advanced than the Britons had been before the Roman occupation. Predominantly a rural people, they settled in small villages scattered throughout the country and farmed the land.
Steps Toward UnificationConstant conflict followed during the four centuries after the conquest of Britain. The Anglo-Saxons warred among themselves, against the Welsh (Britons in Wales), and later against Danish and Norwegian invaders (the Vikings).
The more powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdoms absorbed their weaker neighbors. From the seven major kingdoms that developed during the invasions, three dominant states emerged—Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. Northumbria held supremacy in the seventh century; Mercia, particularly under King Offa (757–96), in the eighth; and Wessex, beginning with King Egbert (802–39), in the ninth. But there was little real unity until the reign of Egbert's grandson Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871–99). Because of his strong leadership at a time of the continuing disruption caused by the Danish wars, the English acknowledged Alfred's supremacy, thus taking the first steps toward eventual union of all Englishmen.
The Danes and Norwegians, who had overrun much of the north and east of the country since their first invasion of England about 787, were finally subdued through the efforts of Alfred and his immediate successors. His grandson Athelstan, king of Wessex (925–40), won a great victory over the Vikings, Britons, and Scots in 937 and united England under one rule. Fighting was renewed after his death, but the Danes and Norwegians finally came to accept rule by an Anglo-Saxon king under Athelstan's brother Edred (946–55).
About 980, however, in the reign of Ethelred the Unready (978–1016), the Danes renewed their attacks, and in 1016 Knut (Canute), king of Denmark, seized the throne. Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred, restored the native dynasty in 1042. The conquest of England in 1066 by the Norman French, under William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, ended six centuries of Anglo-Saxon dominance.
Life In Anglo-Saxon England
SocietyIn each Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the king was chosen from the royal family and his election was probably confirmed by the witenagemot , the king's council. Princes of the royal family were called athelings and formed the highest class in Anglo-Saxon society next to the king. Below them were the nobles, or thanes , from whom the chief local officials, the ealdormen , were selected. The great mass of people were churls , or peasant freemen. Most of these freemen were farmers, living in villages and farming adjacent fields. The Anglo-Saxons possessed slaves, usually war captives or persons serving punishment.
Farming, raising livestock, and fishing were the major occupations. Urban life and trade were developing by 1066, and the Anglo-Saxons engaged in iron and lead mining, metalworking, and salt production.
Freemen wore tunics woven of wool and linen. Members of the upper classes wore loose, flowing garments, sometimes of embroidered silk. Both men and women had long hair. Ale, cider, and mead (fermented from honey and herbs) were favorite beverages. Life for most, particularly for the peasantry, was crude and harsh, with war, famine, and plague constant threats.
ReligionWhen the Anglo-Saxons first invaded Britain, they worshiped Teutonic gods. In 597 Saint Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory I, arrived in Kent to convert the people of the British Isles to Christianity. By the end of the seventh century, missionaries had converted all of England. Christianity played an important role in civilizing the Anglo-Saxons.
Language and LiteratureThe language of the Anglo-Saxons, commonly called Old English, was a form of Low German, allied to Dutch. Actually it was less a language than a group of related dialects. The Jutes spoke Kentish; the Saxons, West Saxon. (These two combined at an early period.) The speech of the Angles separated into two dialects, Northumbrian and Mercian.
Northumbrian and Mercian were important dialects in the pre-Danish period. When Wessex became the most powerful kingdom, West Saxon developed as the prevailing dialect of the country. At that time, much early literature was translated into West Saxon, and most Old English literature that remains is in that dialect. A great flowering of Anglo-Saxon literature occurred in the reign of Alfred the Great, and again in the late 10th century.
Old English tended toward short, strong words, many of only one syllable, and thus had a harsh, Germanic sound. About 40 per cent of modern English words are of Anglo-Saxon origin. From Old English came the names of numbers; the articles, a, an, the ; conjunctions and prepositions, such as and, of, to, for ; short action verbs, such as run, jump, go, come ; and such simple but basic words as man, love, hate, life, death.