Anglo-Saxons

• The Anglo-Saxon Word 400-800

  period was called "The Dark Ages"for two reasons

  1.downfall of post-Roman civilization -> leaving 'the darkness of a non-civilized world'

  ->very negative qualities, brightness of Roman Civilisation gone:

  written language, values, advanced technical/intellectual aspects

  2. only few traces are left, little knowledge about this period due to lack

  of written documents, language was "gone"
• Situation on the British Isles in 400

  · Britain was a complex country -> split into different regions

  · Interaction of four distinct cultures:

  1. the Britons/Celts (Romanised Region),

  2. the Picts (North)

  3. the Irish,

  4. the Anglo-Saxons (centre
• What happened after the Romans left?

  · political void was not filled for centuries, no central authority like the Romans

  · no new coins were minted after 410 -> decrease in economic activity

  · Roman towns in the south declined becaus Romans took their knowledge with them'

  ↳> no longer centres of cultural activity, decline of roads, less trade

  · return to pre-Roman living and self-sufficiency (eg houses built with wood instead of stone)

  · drastic depopulation, celtic refugees fled to France (Brittany)
• Arrival of the Anglo-Saxons

  · new start in Britannia, unique in Western Europe

  · Anglo-Saxons: group of different tribes

  ↳> from 430s onwards Germanic settlers arrived: Angles, Saxons, Jutes& Frisians

  => seeking new beginning (migration from Northern Europe)

  · pushed to Britain due to rising sea levels and other tribes from east occupying their land

  · Saxons used to be pirates -seen as brutal, plundering coasts
• Anglo-Saxons: Allies or Invadors?

  · southern people hired Anglo-Saxons to help

  defend against the Scots and Picts

  · Anglo-Saxons were led by brothers

  Hengist and Horsa -founded Kingdom

  of Kent in 450
• Anglo-Saxons: Allies or Invadors?

  · instead of helping the king in Britannia, they took their territory and established a kingdom

  · by the end of the 6th century, invaders controlled half of the isle and local hings gave themselves the title Bretwalda (King of Britain)
• Anglo-Saxon society

  · Germanic tribes spoke Germanic languages (very different from Celtic languages)

  · Germanic gods gave name to Weekdays (Frey/Freya -> Friday)

  · women had no rights

  · celtic population (the Britons)saw them as barbarians -> seen as primitive (different values (

  · their language replaced Latin as lingua franca

  · spread over a great part of British Isles and built their own kingdoms

  -> replaced Roman law with own, brought new religion, social and political values

  · Similarities: tribal culture, similar weapons, dominance of villages, group not homogenous
• First English Towns

  · Canterbury, York, Winchester, Worcester

  · towns crumbled after Romans Left->Anglo-Saxons either founded new towns

  or built on former Roman settlements

  · rise of churches and cathedrals

  · reintroduction of coins -> trade flourished again

  Anglo-Saxon Kings didn't rule alone -> alongside bishops, local hings...
• Old English

  · brought by Anglo-Saxons, replaced Celtic and Roman languages

  · introduced lower case letters as well as specifically Anglo-Saxon pronounciation

  · derived from runes, some letters can still be traced back

  · used written symbols -> way of communicating simple messages

  · Beowrlf -> Anglo-Saxon epic
• Relationship between Anglo-Saxons and Britons

  · mostly antagonistic (coloniser vs. colonised)

  · Mercian King Offa (757-96)as most powerful king before Alfred

  ↳ Offas dyke: built as boundary between Britons and Anglo Saxons

  Capprox. following Welsh border)-> no mixing of the two cultures

  · Offa initiated process of unification, homogenisation and centralisation

  -> 'England'as region emerging
• Christianity and the Anglo-Saxon World

  · renewed Christian mission of Britain Calready introduced by Romans), survived in Ireland and Wales

  · Anglo-Saxons Crushed Chitianity (except Wales and the North

  · Pope Gregory the Great: sent Augustine to Kent (becaus King already had Christian wife)

  -Augustinian mission successful -> king converted and population& other kingdoms followed

  · Augustine became archbishop in Canterbury (598)
• Kings helped churches grow and supported Christianisation.
• Church controlled people by giving their life structure with rituals.
• Kings and church were even more entwined by anointment, as kings needed the power of the church to exist and were blessed at coronation, making their power very convincing.
• Kings brought literacy back to Britain.
• Instant Christianisation was not possible, as evidenced by Beowulf, where some aspects of Anglo-Saxon religion were incorporated into Christian religion to make conversion easier.
• Anglo-Saxon gods slowly vanished over time.
• Anglo-Saxons: 400 AD - 800 AD