Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons were culturally-related Germanic tribes from Angeln, a peninsula in what is now Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany. Beginning in the mid-5th century AD, these tribes migrated to southern Britain and became dominant there. From that time until the 9th century, they coalesced into a unified culture, the Anglo-Saxons.

Etymology

Origins of the word

The term "Anglo-Saxon" is from Latin writings going back to the time of King Alfred the Great, who seems to have frequently used the title rex Anglorum Saxonum or rex Angul-Saxonum.

The origin of this title is not quite clear. It is generally believed to have arisen from the union of six of the seven kingdoms of the Heptarchy under Alfred in 886. An interpretive reading of Bede (Historia Ecclesiae i. 15) suggests that:

the people of the more northern kingdoms (East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria) belonged to the Angles, who derive their name from the peninsula of Angeln in Schleswig-Holstein, presently located in northern Germany
those of Essex, Sussex and Wessex were sprung from the Saxons, who derive their name from Old Saxony (which was probably in the general area of Lower Saxony in Germany and should not be confused with Upper Saxony)
while those of Kent and southern Hampshire were from the tribe of the Jutes

Other early writers do not bear out consistent distinctions, though in custom the Kingdom of Kent presents the most remarkable contrasts with the other kingdoms. West Saxon writers regularly speak of their own nation as a part of the Angelcyn and of their language as Englisc, while the West Saxon royal family claimed to be of the same stock as that of Bernicia in the north. On the other hand, it is by no means impossible that the distinction drawn by Bede was based solely on the names Essex (East Seaxan), East Anglia, &c.

We need not doubt that the Angles and the Saxons were different nations originally; but from the evidence it seems likely that they had practically coalesced in very early times, perhaps even before their invasion of Great Britain. At all events the term Angli Saxones seems to have first come into use by Latin writers on the continent, nearly a century before Alfred's time, in the writings of Paul the Deacon, historian of the Lombards. There can be little doubt, however, that there it was used to distinguish the Teutonic inhabitants of Great Britain from the Old Saxons of the continent.

Use of the term "Anglo Saxon" today

By 1800 "Anglo-Saxon" was the term used for the Old English language. It was the language spoken in England before the arrival of the French-speaking Normans who conquered England in 1066. In the 19th century the term was widely used in philology. English scholars at the mid-19th century, such as Edward Freeman, argued that the roots of certain English political ideas and values could be found in pre-Norman, that is, Anglo-Saxon, England. Numerous researchers explored possible long-term survivals, but by the 1890s most scholars gave up that quest and decided that English legal rights emerged from later developments like the Magna Carta of the 13th century.

It is still a matter of debate as to whether the term "Anglo-Saxon" can be used as a synonym for ethnic or racial groups who lived in England. On one hand there is the argument that says that there were further influxes of people into England such as the Danes, Normans, and Celts who migrated to England from the other parts of the British Isles, so the term is no longer valid. The other side of this argument is to say these people were relatively small in number and, particularly in the case of Danes and the Normans, were of similar ethnic origins as the Anglo-Saxons themselves, and so became immersed into the Anglo-Saxon "tribe".

In popular usage in Canada and the United States, the term "Anglo-Saxon" (as in "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" or "WASP") has evolved into a politicized term with little connection to its academic definition. Until about 1960 the term was mostly used and popularized by Irish Catholics and French-Canadians. Since 1960 it has had more general usage, but exactly who it designates has become a matter of individual opinions and context, ranging from people of English descent to any North American of European origin who fits a certain socio-economic and/or ethnic profile.

"Anglo-Saxon" is still used by linguists to mean the original West Germanic component of the English language, often called Old English, as opposed to the especially large addition of Old Danish (eastern England), Old Norwegian (from Vikings of the Viken who settled on the West Coast of England), and many loanwords the language has obtained, especially from Romance languages.

For over a hundred years, the French have used "Anglo-Saxon" to refer to the Anglophone societies of Britain and the United States, and sometimes (rarely) including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It supposedly describes their intellectual traditions and national character, as opposed to "Celtic," "Gallic", "Lusitanic" or "Hispanic". It is a wide-ranging term, taking in the English-speaking world's language, culture, technology, wealth, influence, markets and economy.

Anglo-Saxon culture

Anglo-Saxon architecture

Main article: Anglo-Saxon architecture

Anglo-Saxon architecture describes a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Anglo-Saxon buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Preferring not to settle in the old Roman cities, the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of agriculture. In each town, a main hall was in the centre, surrounded by the huts of the townspeople.

There are few remains of Anglo-Saxon architecture, with no secular work remaining above ground. At least fifty churches are of Anglo-Saxon origin, with many more claiming to be, although in some cases the Anglo-Saxon part is small and much-altered. All surviving churches, except one timber church, are built of stone or brick, and in some cases show evidence of re-used Roman work.

The architectural character of Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical buildings range from Coptic influenced architecture in the early period; basilica influenced Romanesque architecture; and in the later Anglo-Saxon period, an architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings.

Anglo-Saxon art

Main article: Anglo-Saxon art

Anglo-Saxon art covers the period from the time of King Alfred (871-899), with the revival of English culture after the end of the Viking raids, to the early 12th century, when Romanesque art became the new movement. Prior to King Alfred there had been the Hiberno-Saxon culture (the fusion of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic techniques and motifs) which had ceased with the Vikings.

Anglo-Saxon art is mainly known today through illuminated manuscripts. It includes the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold manuscript, which drew on Hiberno-Saxon art, Carolingian art and Byzantine art for style and iconography. A "Winchester style" developed that combined both northern ornamental traditions with Mediterranean figural traditions, and can be seen in the Leofric Missal (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodl, 579). The Harley Psalter was a knockoff of the Carolingian Utrecht Psalter —all of which underscore the larger trend of an Anglo-Saxon culture coming into increasing contact with, and under the influence of, a wider Latin Mediæval Europe.

Manuscripts were not the only Anglo-Saxon art form, although they are the most numerous to have survived. Perhaps the best known piece of Anglo-Saxon art is the Bayeux Tapestry which was commissioned by a Norman patron from English artists working in the traditional Anglo-Saxon style. Anglo-Saxon artists also worked in fresco, ivory, stone carving, metalwork (see Fuller brooch for example) and enamel, but few of these pieces have survived.

Anglo-Saxon history

Main article: History of Anglo-Saxon England

The extent of Anglo-Saxon migration

The nature of the Anglo-Saxon migration to Britain is controversial. Traditionally, historians support an Anglo-Saxon 'invasion', where the Romano-British population were either killed or displaced. More recently, other theories have been put forward to describe the nature of Anglo-Saxon migration.

The view that the Anglo-Saxons completely displaced the Romano-British population stems from several sources. Gildas and the Anglo-Saxon chronicle both include details of battles fought between the Anglo-Saxons and the British. The reliability of both can be questioned, with Gildas essentially writing a polemical work to denounce British 'tyrants' and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle being written from a 9th-century perspective. However, it was clearly understood by the British and Anglo-Saxons alike that there had been a violent element involved. Archaeologically, it is possible to determine that the population of Britain fell massively in the 5th and 6th centuries, perhaps caused by frequent conflict. Although traditionally believed the Anglo-Saxon Language has little Celtic influence, suggesting there was little integration, that view is coming under more challenge today by scholars. We know that there was a migration of Britons to Armorica (creating 'Brittany'), which could have been the result of displacement or earlier conquest from the Magnus Maximus expedition.

It is, though, possible to construct an argument for greater integration between the Anglo-Saxons and the Romano-British. There is currently little archaeological evidence of an 'invasion'. The names of some kingdoms in the east, such as Kent, Lindsey and Bernicia, have celtic origins, suggesting some kind of continuity. In the laws of Ine 'Welshman' (Anglo-Saxon for the British) have specific laws applying to them. Unspecified peoples who may be British are referred to in the laws of Aethelbert of Kent. Genetic studies based on the male Y chromosome have tried to answer some of the problems, though few firm conclusions have been made [1]. Part of the problem lies in that studies such as these cannot take into account intermarriage between Anglo-Saxon men and British women.

Anglo-Saxon language

Main article: Old English language

Anglo-Saxon, also called Old English, was the language spoken under Alfred the Great and continued to be the common language of England (non-Danelaw) until after the Norman Conquest of 1066 when, under the influence of the Anglo-Norman language spoken by the Norman ruling class, it changed into Middle English roughly between 1150-1500.

Anglo-Saxon is far closer to early Germanic than Middle English, i.e., it is less latinized, and retains many morphological features (nominal and verbal inflection) that were lost during the 12th to 14th centuries. The languge today which is closest to Old English is Frisian, which is spoken by a few hundred thousand people in the northern part of the Netherlands and Germany.

Before literacy in the vernacular "Old English" or Latin became widespread, the Runic alphabet, called the futhorc (also known as futhark), was used for inscriptions. When literacy became more prevalent a form of Latin script was used with a few letters derived from the futhork; 'eth', 'wynn', and 'thorn'.

The letters regularly used in printed and edited texts of OE are the following:

a æ b c d ð e f g h i l m n o p r s t þ u w x y

with only rare occurrences of k, z.

Anglo-Saxon law

Main article: Anglo-Saxon laws

Anglo-Saxon law is a body of legal rules and customs which obtained in England before the Norman conquest, and which constitute, with the Scandinavian laws, the most genuine expression of Teutonic legal thought.

Anglo-Saxon literature

Main article: Anglo-Saxon literature

Anglo-Saxon literature (or Old English literature) encompasses literature written in Old English during the 600-year Anglo-Saxon period of Britain, from the mid-5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, a significant corpus of both popular interest and specialist research.

The most famous works from this period include the poem Beowulf, which has achieved national epic status in Britain. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of important early English history. Cædmon's Hymn from the 7th century is the oldest surviving written text in English.

Anglo-Saxon religion

Main article: Anglo-Saxon mythology

The Anglo-Saxon mythos was a Germanic mythology and closely related to Norse mythology.

Christianity (both Celtic and Roman forms) replaced the old gods in England around the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The Synod of Whitby settled the choice for the Roman form. As the new clerics became the chroniclers, the old religion was lost before it was recorded and today our knowledge of it is sketchy. One of the few recorded references is that a Kentish King would only meet the missionary St. Augustine in the open air, where he would be under the protection of the sky god, Woden. Written Christian prohibitions on acts of pagan worship are one of our main sources of information on pre-Christian beliefs.

Remnants of the Anglo-Saxon gods remain in the English language names for days of the week:

Tiw, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Tyr, the god of war: Tuesday
Woden, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Odin, the one-eyed wise god of storms and the dead: Wednesday
Þunor, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Thor, the thunder god: Thursday
Frige, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Freya, the love-goddess: Friday

External links

The Saxon 'Invasion'. Retrieved 6 December 2005.
Y Chromosomes Sketch New Outline of British History; Nicolas Wade, New York Times 27 May 2003. Journalistic response to Capelli, et al. (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.
Y Chromosome Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Mass Migration, Michael E. Weale,1, Deborah A. Weiss, Rolf F. Jager, Neil Bradman and Mark G. Thomas; Molecular Biology and Evolution 19:1008-1021 (2002). Retrieved 6 December 2005.
A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.
Y-chromosome variation and Irish origins Nature Vol 404, 23 March 2000. PDF download. Retrieved 6 December 2005.
English and Welsh are races apart; BBC, 30 June 2002. Retrieved 6 December 2005.
Genetics make Welsh distinct, Rhodri Clark, The Western Mail 11 October 2003. Retrieved 6 December 2005.
UCL Anglo-Saxon presentation; presentation on Anglo-Saxon migration by Weal et al.
Viking genetics survey results, BBC summary of Capelli et al.

References

Chadwick, Hector Munro. Anglo-Saxons. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

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