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Anglo-Saxons

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A map showing the general locations of the major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

The Anglo-Saxons were originally a collection of differing Germanic tribes from Angeln—a peninsula in the southern part of Schleswig, protruding into the Baltic Sea, and what is now Lower Saxony, in the north-west coast of Germany—who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century. They eventually coalesced completely around the 9th century into a single people, the Anglo-Saxons, forming the basis for the modern day English country, people, language and culture.

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 final union of the various kingdoms under Alfred in 886. Bede (Historia Ecclesiae i. 15) states that the people of the more northern kingdoms (East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, &c.) belonged to the Angli, those of Essex, Sussex and Wessex were sprung from the Saxons, while those of Kent and southern Hampshire from the Jutes. Other early writers do not bear out consistent distinctions, though in custom Kent presents 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 Angli 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 the invasion. 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 Britain from the Old Saxons of the continent.

The Anglo-Saxon Invasions

Main article: Sub-Roman Britain

In 410, the Emperor Honorius replied to a petition for help, reputedly from the inhabitants of Roman Britain—although there is now some dispute as to where the request originated—that they should "look to their own affairs"; from this brief mention, historians have assumed that effective Roman rule in Britain ended. Some scholars find signs of local authorities maintaining Roman patterns in the following years; this remains speculative. Nevertheless, with the withdrawal of the Roman army and the cessation of coinage, Roman administration of the British Isles was autonomous from the early fifth-century. This is highly demonstrable in the archaeology of "Sub-Roman Britain" in which the Roman way of life is overcome by an arguably more primitive and "barbarian" one. Until the mid-twentieth century scholars were still referring to this period as the "Dark Ages", not least due to the lack of written records, but also due to the nature of the archaeological record: roads ceased to be maintained and some urban centres were abandoned; the circulation of coinage ceased abruptly, though not, it now appears, did trade with the Continent; manufactured goods became cruder with the reversion from wheel- to hand-thrown methods of pottery; and even the means of disposing of the dead changed also, with the practise of extramural burial—burial outside the city walls—being neglected. Most recent archaeology tends to find more Roman continuity in some sites than previously thought.

Into this apparent power vacuum, the Anglo-Saxons came and settled in the island, primarily on the east and south coasts. The exact details of their arrival are unclear, although their migration was part of the widespread movement of Germanic tribes on the mainland of Europe at this time, called the "Migrations period".

Where reliable history fails, legend offers us a narrative, and many have argued that there is some kernel of truth in the legend. At least as early as Bede, the tradition relates how at a council of war, Vortigern, leader of the effectively self-governing Britons, granted Thanet in Kent to the Jutish warrior leader Hengist (or Hengest) as a permanent possession, in return for his followers' help in defending the region against invading Picts and any other enemies. Vortigern's refusal to pay these mercenaries led to Hengest's successful rebellion, extensive immigration and the conquest of what is now England over the next two hundred years. Archaeological explorations have indicated that Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were established in Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, and Essex in the latter part of the 5th century, as well as East Anglia, Lindsey (now Lincolnshire), Deira (now East Yorkshire) and the Isle of Wight.

Organised British resistance, first led by Ambrosius Aurelianus (according to Gildas), and then possibly by King Arthur, culminated in the Battle of Mons Badonicus. This succeeded in halting the expansion of the English kingdoms. The leaders who fought with Arthur at this and other battles may have given rise to the tale of the "Knights of the Round Table."

The contest for Britain was still in the balance as late as 590, with King Urien of Rheged besieging Lindisfarne, the stronghold of Bernicia, and other Celts victorious in 584 at the Battle of Fethanleag (Stoke Lyne, 5km north of Bicester in Oxfordshire). In the previous 120 years, the Anglo-Saxons had added only Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire to the area under their firm control. But Urien was murdered by a rival among his compatriots, and Anglo-Saxon control of most of what is now England was cemented over the next 70 years. Perhaps in memory of this eventual defeat by the Anglo-Saxons, the modern Welsh word for England, "Lloegyr", means "the lost lands". "Welsh" in the English language originally meant "foreigner".

Besides Angles, Saxons and Jutes, Frisians and perhaps the Franks, are known to have taken part in the "invasions". The various tribes established a large number of kingdoms in what today is known as England, which were popularly described to have later consolidated into seven states known as the Heptarchy.

According to tradition, Kent was established first by the Jutes under Hengist. Another Jutish king, Horsa, may have taken part; he may have been Hengist's brother.

East Anglia's beginnings are unknown and very little record survives of its foundation or the fate of the native Britons, the once mighty Iceni tribe, who had dwelt there before. The name Mercia may mean "marches" and be related to the name of the River Mersey: a frontier area facing the Celtic Romano-British or Welsh. Deira and Bernicia appear to be Anglic corruptions of older British geographical names; the two states subsequently merged to form the kingdom of Northumbria.

The "Anglo-Saxon conquest" controversy

The nature of the Anglo-Saxon invasion is controversial. Traditionally, historians support an Anglo-Saxon conquest and near genocide or expulsion of the native Celtic population This veiw has been held because of historical traditions, the remarkable absence of Celtic words in the Old English language, and the establishment of new Celtic kingdoms in Brittany (now in France) by refugees. However recent research by historians, archaeologists and geneticists offer some new perspectives.

Historians

Historians who challenge the traditional narrative of a "Saxon conquest" point out a marked lack of archaeological evidence for a major invasion. They believe instead there was a gradual change in favour of the Anglo-Saxons, comprising mainly benign migration and resulting in a mixture with an existing population who absorbed the culture and language of the migrants. Studies that show the ethnic origins of the people have varied in their conclusions (for example the conflicting results of the genetic studies below) and there are some linguistic patterns in the development of Old English that compromise with Celtic traditions in a way that suggests gradual adoption.

One posited theory is that most sources for a "Saxon conquest" originated with historians with a partisan agenda in presenting an English identity [1]. The historian Norman Davies, in The Isles suggests that the Celts were overlooked in the historical record in part because no documentation of their orally-transmitted histories remain, the Celts having regarded writing as a threat to their oral traditions. Generations of history based on literary sources alone saw British history as beginning with Roman invasions of the first century AD: "So long as classical education and classical prejudices prevailed, educated Englishmen inevitably saw ancient Britain as an alien land." [2]

Geneticists

The fate of the Romano-British Celtic population is a matter of conjecture that is currently being unravelled by the genetic history of modern-day inhabitants.

Broad studies based on genetic testing of modern Britons on a wide scale provide new kinds of data. Formerly, historians believed the accounts of Gildas, Bede, and the English chroniclers uncritically, and thought that the invaders slaughtered or expelled all whom they encountered in an act of genocide. The genetic map supports recent historians, such as H.P.R. Finberg and Norman Davies, who have argued that the Celtic Britons largely survived, and lived under the Anglo-Saxon invaders as slaves or serfs and swiftly adopted Anglo-Saxon culture. Material remains alone would have identified them as Anglo-Saxons.

The large genetic survey of Y chromosome mutations in the British Isles, led by Profs. Cristian Capelli and David Goldstein of University College London and published in 2003, found that the genetic stamp of the Anglo-Saxons on the British Isles was weaker than expected. Less than half the tested population, all with deep roots in British locations, showed Anglo-Saxon markers. (However, the tests were on people now living, after 1500 years of subsequent migration and mixing within Britain.)

Other genetics studies support the traditional story that a Saxon conquest and genocide did in fact occur. As stated in one study, the evidence ..suggests that between 50% and 100% of the indigenous population of what was to become England was wiped out, with Offa's Dyke acting as a "genetic barrier" protecting those on the Welsh side. [3] It has been found that the genes that comprise the English people are almost identical to that of the genes of the Germanic peoples of continental Europe, The English and Frisians studied had almost identical genetic make-up but the English and Welsh were very different. In fact not only are the English descendents of these invaders, the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, but the Scottish and Cornish gene pools also show a high percentage of Germanic genes, The Cornish are in effect Anglo-Saxons who for a time used a language that was hanging around. The genes of Scottish males also betrayed considerable inter-mixing with outsiders.[4] According to these studies it seems that only the Welsh escaped the onslaught from the Anglo-Saxon invaders, thus creating a genetic barrier in the British Isles. Through these genetic studies it has been shown that the Welsh are closely related to the Irish (not including Ulster), Highland Scots and the Basques.

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.

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, or confined to foundations and crypts.

Distinctive features of Anglo-Saxon architecture include rough brickwork, extremely thick walls and mostly arch windows, with a few square- or triangular-headed windows. Particularly in earlier examples, reused Roman work is common. The vast majority of buildings were wooden, but only a single wooden example survives.

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 Mediaeval 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 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 (French) 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.

Before literacy, the Runic alphabet, called the futhorc (also known as futhark), was used for inscriptions. When literacy arrived with the conversion of the English to Christianity, 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 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. The poem 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:

Use of the term "Anglo Saxon" today

It is a matter of debate as to whether the term Anglo-Saxon can be used as a synonym for English. On one hand there is the argument that says that there were further influxes of people in to England such as the Danes and Normans, as well as the 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 comparison, in Canada and the United States, the term "Anglo-Saxon" (often as White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP) is used to describe people of English, Scottish and more recently, German, Scandinavian and other people of Northern European ethnicity; used predominantly to separate these populations from the Irish-Catholic cultural group, and French Canadians, and later Eastern and Southern European immigrants and their cultures.

"Anglo-Saxon" can also 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, "Anglo-Saxon" has been used as pertaining to the Anglophone cosmopolitan societies of predominantly Western character, (the United States, the British Isles, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) describing their intellectual traditions and national characters, as opposed to "Gallic", "Lusitanic" or "Hispanic". Such usage is especially common in France. It is a wide ranging term, taking in the English-speaking world's language, culture, technology, wealth, influence, markets and economy.

See also

References

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