anglo saxon life

• Social classes in Anglo-Saxon England

  • Slaves (10% of population)
  • Ceorls (majority, free peasants)
  • Thegns (about 3,000, local lords)
  • Earls (about 10-20, powerful advisors to the king)
• Normans


  Freed the slaves in Anglo-Saxon England
• Under Norman rule, there were a lot fewer free peasants (ceorls) compared to Anglo-Saxon times, but their lives did not change much
• Thegns


  Local lords who became tenants under Norman rule, could have their land taken away if they misbehaved or died
• Earls


  Powerful, part of the King's Witan (council) as advisors
• Bishops


  Important, part of the Witan (king's council), had clerks and record keepers as most people could not read or write
• All villages had a priest
• Local priests


  Usually poor, illiterate peasants
• The Church was very corrupt
• Corrupt church figures


  • Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury (had two jobs, sold jobs to highest bidder)
• The Pope hated English Christians
• English Christians were big drunkards, liked to have sex before marriage, and were superstitious (believed in elves and magic)
• Most Anglo-Saxon houses were made of wood, so they rotted easily and left little evidence
• Timber from houses

  Turned the soil next to it a different color as it rotted
• Anglo-Saxon houses

  • Usually one story with a thatched roof
  • Thegns lived in bigger two-story houses
• Burhs (fortified towns)

  • Some made of stone, but most of wood
  • Stone ones usually built by Romans, like Londonburh
• Anglo-Saxon churches

  • Some stone, but most wood, served as a place of shelter
• The Normans and Vikings took most of the artifacts from Anglo-Saxon England