To the average American, the names Britain, England
and the United Kingdom
are completely interchangeable, just different names for the same place. While
this may be true to a degree, each of these titles has a different historical
connotation that is oft overlooked, and are linked to a people group forgotten
by all but a select few. While it's easy to see how the island got one of its
titles from the Britons, the Angles and Saxons brought their name with them
from the mainland. That's not all they brought, either, but why did they come
in the first place? What inspired the Saxon conquest, and how did they change
the island? And lastly, how did the Anglo-Saxons compare to the group that
would eventually conquer them, the Normans?
It all started in 410 AD, when Emperor Honorius of Rome withdrew his Legions
from Briton, and told them to look to their own affairs. This "liberation"
came at a price: the Roman Legion provided an air of stability and protection
for Britain, and upon their depart, left the island vulnerable to attacks an
raids by 'barbarians', namely, the Picts, Irish, and "sea people",
which included the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. (James, 2011) However, some local
governments sought help from the Foedarati,
Roman mercenaries of Germanic descent, to help combat the Picts in the north.
This adventus Saxonum, or
"Coming of the Saxons", marks the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon
conquest, with the Foedarati commander Hengest landing on the shores of Britain with
"3 keels" of soldiers around 450 AD. (Woods, 1999) Soon after, they
stopped defending Britain
and began to play the role of conqueror, with the southern and eastern
territories falling into Saxon control. These mainland invaders began to refer
to the native Britons as "wealas",
a derogatory slur meaning literally "foreigner", and seen today
evolved as the word Welsh. Soon, other Germanic tribes began to migrate to Briton,
including the Angles, Jutes, Frisians and Franks, in addition to many Irish and
Scots, and by 500 AD, most of the invaders had settled there permanently. (James,
2011)
By 550 AD, many of the native Britons, or Welsh, had
converted to Christianity, but attempts to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons were
unsuccessful. These "Celtic Christians" were primarily Welsh and
Irish folk, and preferred a rather Spartan monastic lifestyle, but were
nonetheless passionate about their faith. (Ross, 1998) Some historians theorize
that the fabled Friar Tuck from the story of Robin Hood was a monk of this
order, especially due to his love of mead – something not uncommon to Britons
at the time. It wasn't until the Roman Catholic church began to send
missionaries to England
from the south that Christianity made real headway into the Anglo-Saxon
culture; however, some resisted and the Anglo-Nordic religion of Asatru can
still be found today. Pope Gregory commissioned Augustine, later St. Augustine, to found a mission in the domain of King
Aethelbert of Kent,
who was selected because of his marriage to Bertha, a Frankish princess who was
known to be a Christian. These Celtic and Roman monks were a bastion of
education in an otherwise illiterate society, and this fact caused many high
officials in the church to gain powerful secular posts, acting as advisors to
the local king, witnesses to charters, and being ministers of estates. (Ross,
1998) It was during this time that Bede, the most famous of Anglo-Saxon
writers, began his journey as a writer and historian. His works while at the
Jarrow Monastery in Northumbria would go on to shed more light on the Angles
and Saxons than any other single work to date, but it was in the nearby
Lindisfarne Monastery that a Celtic art-inspired illustrated Bible was made, a
masterpiece that is currently on display in the British Library. Many works
written in Latin were translated by these monks into Old English as well,
giving the formerly illiterate society Christian writings in their own tongue. These
missions succeeded in converting the kingdoms of Kent,
Northumbria, Essex, and East Anglia, but paganism returned and only Kent remained Christian until the end of the 7th
century, after the Scottish
Church began sending
missionaries.
As mentioned earlier, many church officials held secular
political positions as well, and that, coupled with the economic weight and
stature of the Catholic Church itself, meant that the monasteries in England never
had to worry about their coffers being filled. Granted, the rural economy of England grew
exponentially as well, especially under Saxon monarchs like Alfred the Great,
but the Church and her satellites were a constant. This also made them soft
targets for the Vikings, heathens who had little regard for Christian
sanctuaries. But as these raids grew more constant, some of the Nordic raiders
thought of conquest as well, and eventually claimed a portion of land through
treaty and threat of force known as the Danelaw. By 1000 AD, England had become a prosperous prize,
ripe for the taking by another power with the will and drive to do so. This
people would be the Normans, a sort of hybrid culture, blended from the Vikings
and French. They had adopted the feudal system of government, where landowners
were granted parcels in return to military service to their lord. In addition,
they began using horses for their warfare, and constructing grand stone castles
like their European counterparts, while still keeping in touch with their
Nordic architecture as well. (Osprey Publishing, 2006) They brought all this
social change with them when they conquered England, replacing the Anglo-Saxon
way of life – a much more Scandinavian in its administration, with kings and
lesser kings ruling small individual kingdoms that dotted the English
landscape.
The Angles and Saxons were either a blessing or a curse
for Britain,
depending on who you asked. On one hand, they were the protection the island
desperately needed from the other, more barbaric tribes. Conversely, they were
also the oppressors of native Britons, effectively wiping their legacy out of
the nation, and confining it to Wales.
They expanded language and trade, and once converted, Christianity as well.
Some people – particularly descendents of the Britons, who hate the term Welsh
– claim that Britain would have flourished into an even more glorious empire if
the Anglo-Saxons had never come, and that Britain would still have the Briton
fables and myths that were lost or Anglicanized. It's impossible to say for
sure, but one thing is certain: the Anglo-Saxons had a profound impact, not
only on the island that bears their name, but through that island nation, an
impact on the world.
References
James, E. (2011, February 17). BBC - History -
Ancient History in depth: Overview: Anglo-Saxons, 410 to 800. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/overview_anglo_saxons_01.shtml
Osprey Publishing (2006, September 25). Essential
Norman Conquest - An interactive day-by-day retelling of the events of 1066. Retrieved from http://www.essentialnormanconquest.com/
Ross, D. (1998). Early Christianity in England. Retrieved from http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Early_Christian_Britain.htm
Woods, K. (1999, December 8). Anglo-Saxon England. Retrieved from http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/courses/4301w99/ashc.html
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