History of Anglo-Saxon England: Encyclopedia - History of Anglo-Saxon England

History of Anglo-Saxon England

The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of early medieval England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Conquest by the Normans in 1066. The 5th and 6th centuries are known archaeologically as Sub-Roman Britain, or in popular history as the "Dark Ages"; from the 6th century larger distinctive kingdoms are developing, still known to some as the Heptarchy; the arrival of the Vikings at the end of the 8th century brought many changes to Britain, and relations with the continent were important right up to the 'end' of Anglo-Saxon England, traditionally held to be the Norman Conquest.

History of Anglo-Saxon England - Sources

There is a wide range of source material that covers Anglo-Saxon England. The main narrative sources are Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A range of laws are available back to the reign of Aethelbert of Kent, though they become far more numerous after the reign of Alfred the Great. Charters (usually land grants) provide us with a wide range of evidence across the period. Other written sources include hagiography, letters (often between churchmen, but sometimes between political leaders e.g. Charlemagne and Offa) and poetry.

Complementing the written sources is a wide range of non-literary evidence. Archaeology has provided much food for thought in early Medieval scholarship in the last 50 years. More traditionally the study of place names has been used to demonstrate social and political trends in settlement, while linguistics, most relevantly the contribution of Old English, Old Norse and Celtic to modern English, gives clues to wider social and cultural trends.

History of Anglo-Saxon England - Migration: Fifth to Sixth Centuries

and Anglo-Saxons

It is very difficult to establish a coherent chronology of events from Rome's departure from Britain, to the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It is traditionally held that Rome left Britain in 410, when Emperor Honorius told the Romano-British to look to their own defence. However, even by the late 5th century the Romano-British felt they could appeal to the consul Aetius for help against invaders.

Various myths and legends surround the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, some based on documentary evidence, some far less so. Four main literary sources provide the evidence. Gildas' 'The Ruin of Britain' (c. 540) is polemical, and more concerned with criticising British kings than accurately describing events. Bede's 'Ecclesiastical History of the English People' is based in part on Gildas, though brings in other evidence. However, this was written in the early 8th century, some time after events, and Bede of course had his own agenda. Later still is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is in part based on Bede, but also brings in legends regarding the foundation of Wessex.

Other evidence can be brought in to aid the literary sources. It is interesting to note that the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Bernicia, Deira and Lindsey all retained Celtic names, which would suggest political continuity. Contrastingly, the more westerly kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia show little sign of following existing boundaries. Archaeologically, following burial patterns and land usage allows us to follow Anglo-Saxon settlement, though it is possible that the British were adopting Anglo-Saxon practice. Analysis of human remains unearthed at an ancient cemetery near Abingdon, England, indicates that Saxon immigrants and native Britons lived side by side. There is much academic debate as to whether the Anglo-Saxon migrants replaced, or merged with, the Romano-British people who inhabited southern and eastern Britain.

Already from the 4th century AD, many Britons had migrated across the English Channel from Wales, Cornwall and southern Britain, and started to settle and colonize the west part (Armorica) of Gaul (France), forming Brittany. Others migrated to northern Spain. The migration of the British to the continent and the Anglo-Saxons to Britain, should be considered in the context of wider European migrations.

Though one cannot be sure of dates, places or people involved, it does seem that in 495, at the Battle of Mount Badon (possibly Badbury rings, Latin Mons Badonicus, Welsh Mynydd Baddon), the Britons inflicted a severe defeat on the Anglo-Saxons. Archaeological evidence, coupled with the questionable source Gildas, would suggest that the Anglo-Saxon migration was stemmed for a while.

Genetic evidence for mass Anglo-Saxon migration was first published in 2002. This evidence was based on an analysis of the Y chromosomes of men from a cross-section of Great Britain from East Anglia (North Walsham) in the East to Anglesey (Llangefni) in the West. The data were then mathematically analysed to infer migration from Friesland to Central England of Anglo-Saxons. Using a background migration of 0.1% (ie one in a thousand people migrating either way), the analysis concluded that a mass migration event from Frisland to Central England occurred which affected 50%-100% (95% confidence interval) of the Central English male gene pool:^[1]
A further and more complete study was conducted in 2003. This study takes samples from 25 sites in the British Isles (including the Channel Islands). For comparison it also took samples from Norway, Denmark and Northern Germany, includes the samples from Friesland from the 2002 study and samples from the Basque Country (considered to be a putative paleolithic sample). The study could find no way to distinguish between Northern German and Danish samples, neither could it find a significant difference between these samples and samples from Friesland used in the previous study. Samples from central Ireland (Castlerea) and Wales (Haverfordwest and Llangefni) all cluster near those from the Basque country, indicating that they are similar in nature. Samples from Cornwall and mainland Scotland were closest to the indigenous samples, but are slightly skewed towards the North German/Danish samples. Samples from York and Norfolk are closest to the North German/Danish samples, and represent about a 60% North German/Danish (Danish-Viking/Anglo-Saxon) influence. It should be noted that the 60% figure represents paternally inherited genetic information only. If Germanic men alone settled in places like York and intermarried exclusivelly with indigenous women, then the contribution of Germanic peoples to the gene pool in York would be 30% of the whole. Converselly if female Germanic migration was at the same level as that of male migration then the contribution overall would be 60%. ''The sites with the highest degree of German/Danish input are York and Norfolk, followed by Southwell and Llanidloes. All of these except Llanidloes are historically in regions where the Danes are known to have had a significant presence. The remaining samples are closer to the indigenous group; for these populations, this finding suggests a lower demographic impact by North European populations.^[2] This research appears to have cast some doubt on the scale of Anglo-Saxon immigration to England.

History of Anglo-Saxon England - Seventh to Eighth Centuries

Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England began around AD 600, influenced by Celtic Christianity from the north-west and by the Roman Catholic Church from the south-east. The first Archbishop of Canterbury, Augustine took office in 597. In 601, he baptized the first Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelbert of Kent. The last pagan Anglo-Saxon king, Penda of Mercia, died in 655.

Throughout the 7th and 8th century power fluctuated between the larger kingdoms. Bede records Aethelbert of Kent as being dominant at the close of the 6th century, but power seems to have shifted northwards to the kingdom of Northumbria, which was formed from the amalgamation of Bernicia and Deira. Edwin probably held dominance over much of Britain, though Bede's Northumbria bias should be kept in mind. Succession crises meant Northumbrian hegemony was not constant, and Mercia remained a very powerful kingdom, especially under Penda. Two defeats essentially ended Northumbrian dominance: the Battle of the Trent (679) against Mercia, and Nechtanesmere (685) against the Picts.

The so-called 'Mercian Supremacy' dominated the 8th century, though again was not constant. Aethelbald and Offa, the two most powerful kings, achieved high status; indeed, Offa was considered the overlord of south Britain by Charlemagne. That Offa could summon the resources to build Offa's Dyke is testament to his power. However, a rising Wessex, and challenges from smaller kingdoms, kept Mercian power in check, and by the end of the 8th century the 'Mercian Supremacy', if it existed at all, was over.

This period has been described as the Heptarchy, though this term has now fallen out of academic use. The word arose on the basis that the seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex and Wessex were the main polities of south Britain. More recent scholarship has shown that a number of other kingdoms were politically important across this period: Hwicce, Magonsaete, Lindsey and Middle Anglia. See also the non-Anglo-Saxon kingdoms such as Strathclyde, Rheged and Elmet.

History of Anglo-Saxon England - First Viking Age: Ninth Century

793 is the date given by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the first Viking attack in Britain, at Lindisfarne monastery. However, there is a good chance that other, non-recorded, raids occurred before this. The arrival of the Vikings was to seriously upset the political and social geography of Britain and Ireland. Alfred the Great's victory at Edington in 878 stemmed the Viking attack; however, by this time Northumbria had devolved into Bernicia and a Viking kingdom, Mercia had been split down the middle, and East Anglia ceased to exist as an Anglo-Saxon polity. The Vikings had similar effects on the various kingdoms of the Irish, Scots, Picts and (to a lesser extent) Welsh. Certainly in North Britain the Vikings were one reason behind the formation of the Kingdom of Alba, which eventually evolved into Scotland.

After a time of plunder and raids, the Vikings began to settle in England. An important Viking centre was York, called Jorvik by the Vikings. Various alliances between the Viking Kingdom of York and Dublin rose and fell. Norse and Danish settlement made enough of an impact to leave significant traces in the English language; many fundamental words in modern English are derived from Old Norse, though of the 100 most used words in English the vast majority are Old English in origin. Similarly, many place-names in areas of Norse and Danish settlement have Scandinavian roots (e.g. Sutherland).

An important development of the 9th century was the rise of the Kingdom of Wessex. Though it was somewhat of a roller-coaster journey, the West Saxon kings came, by the end of Alfred's reign (899), to rule what had previously been Wessex, Sussex and Kent. Cornwall (Kernow) was subject to West Saxon dominance, and several kings of the more southerly Welsh kingdoms recognised Alfred as their overlord, as did western Mercia under Alfred's son-in-law Æthelred.

History of Anglo-Saxon England - Formation of England: Tenth Century

Alfred of Wessex died in 899 and was succeeded by his son Edward the Elder. Edward, and his brother in law Æthelred of (what was left of) Mercia, began a program of expansion, building forts and towns on an Alfredian model. On Æthelred's death his wife (Edward's sister) Æthelflæd ruled as 'Lady of the Mercians', and continued expansion. It seems Edward had his son Athelstan brought up in the Mercian court, and on Edward's death Athelstan succeeded to the Mercian kingdom, and, after some uncertainty, Wessex.

Athelstan continued the expansion of his father and aunt, and was the first king to achieve direct rulership of what we would now consider 'England'. Certainly the titles attributed to him in charters and on coins suggest a widespread dominance. His expansion aroused ill-feeling among the other kingdoms of Britain, and he faced a combined Scottish-Viking army at the Battle of Brunanburh. His victory there, recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle with a poem, was one of the major steps on the road to the formation of England.

However, England was not a certainty, and indeed under Athelstan's successors Edmund, Eadred and Edwy the kingdom broke up and was reformed numerous times. Nonetheless, Edgar, who eventually ruled the same expanse as Athelstan, seems to have consolidated the kingdom, and by the time of the rule of his son Aethelred (the Unready) England seems to have (almost) secured itself as a kingdom.

The 10th century saw important developments across Western Europe. Carolingian authority was in decline by the mid-10th century in West Francia (France), and eventually collapsed to be replaced by a weak Capetian dynasty. In East Francia a Saxon dynasty came to power, and its kings began taking the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Interestingly, Anglo-Saxon England was probably the most 'developed' kingdom of the period; one has only to look at the way coinage was managed in the period to realise that 10th century Anglo-Saxon kings wielded far greater royal authority than their European counterparts.

History of Anglo-Saxon England - The Second Viking Age and the Norman Conquest: Eleventh Century

The end of the 10th century saw renewed Scandinavian interest in England. Aethelred ruled a long reign, but ultimately lost his kingdom to Swein, though he recovered it following the latter's death. However, Aethelred's son Edmund II Ironside died shortly afterwards, allowing Canute, Swein's son, to become king of England, one part of a mighty empire stretching across the North Sea. It was probably in this period that the Viking influence on English culture became engrained.

Rule over England fluctuated between the descendants of Aethelred and Canute for the first half of the 11th century. Ultimately this resulted in the well-known situation of 1066, where several people had a claim to the English throne. Harold II Godwin became king, in all likelihood appointed by Edward the Confessor on his deathbed. However, William of Normandy, a descendant of Aethelred and Canute's wife Emma, and Harald of Norway (aided by Harold Godwin's estranged brother Tostig) all had a claim. Perhaps the strongest claim went to Edgar the Atheling, whose minority prevented him from playing a larger part in the struggles of 1066, though he was made king for a short time by the English Witan.

Invasion was the result of this situation. Harold II managed to defeat Harald of Norway and Tostig at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, but fell in battle against William of Normandy at Hastings. William began a program of consolidation in England, being crowned on Christmas Day, 1066. However, his authority was always under threat in England, and the little space spent on Northumbria in Domesday Book is testament to the troubles there during William's reign.

See also

• Anglo-Saxon monarchs
• History of England
• Britain in the Middle Ages
• Category:Battles of the Anglo-Saxons
• Old English language
• Aelle of Sussex
• Gildas
• King Alfred
• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• St. Augustine
• Battle of Mons Badonicus
• The Venerable Bede
• Bretwalda
• King Canute
• Danegeld
• Danelaw
• Battle of Deorham
• Ceawlin of Wessex
• Ethelred the Unready
• Hengest
• Hereward the Wake
• Offa
• States in Medieval Britain
• Weregild
• Anglo-Saxon law
• Anglo-Saxon architecture
• Anglo-Saxon mythology
• Anglo-Saxon monarchs
• Anglophile
• Fuller brooch

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History of Anglo-Saxon England", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki