Angles

The Angles (Old English: Ængle, Engle;

Latin: Angli; German: Angeln) were one of
the main Germanic peoples who settled in
Great Britain in the post-Roman period.
They founded a number of kingdoms of
Anglo-Saxon England, and their name is
the root of the name England ("land of
Ængle"). According to Tacitus, before their
move to Britain, Angles lived alongside
Langobardi and Semnones in historical
regions of Schleswig and Holstein, which
are today part of northern Germany
(Schleswig-Holstein).[1]
 Angles

Ængle/ Engle

Spread of Angles (red) and Saxons (yellow)

around 500 AD
Regions with significant populations

Schleswig, Holstein, Jutland, Frisia, Heptarchy

(England)

Languages

Old English
(Anglic dialects)

Religion

Originally Germanic and Anglo-Saxon paganism,

 later Christianity

Related ethnic groups

Anglo-Saxons, Saxons, Frisii, Jutes

Map of the Roman Empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–

138), showing the then homeland of the Angles (Anglii)
on the Jutland peninsula in today's Germany and
Denmark

Name
The name of the Angles may have been
first recorded in Latinised form, as Anglii,
in the Germania of Tacitus. It is thought to
derive from the name of the area they
originally inhabited, the Anglia Peninsula
(Angeln in modern German, Angel in
Danish). This name has been
hypothesised to originate from the
Germanic root for "narrow" (compare
German and Dutch eng = "narrow"),
meaning "the Narrow [Water]", i.e., the
Schlei estuary; the root would be *h₂enǵʰ,
"tight". Another theory is that the name
meant "hook" (as in angling for fish), in
reference to the shape of the peninsula;
Indo-European linguist Julius Pokorny
derives it from Proto-Indo-European
*h₂enk-, "bend" (see ankle).[2]

During the fifth century, all Germanic tribes

who invaded Britain were referred to as
either Englisc, Ængle or Engle, who were all
speakers of Old English (which was known
as Englisc, Ænglisc, or Anglisc). Englisc
and its descendant, English, also goes
back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ-,
meaning narrow.[3] In any case, the Angles
may have been called such because they
were a fishing people or were originally
descended from such, so England would
mean "land of the fishermen", and English
would be "the fishermen's language".[4]
Gregory the Great, in an epistle, simplified
the Latinised name Anglii to Angli, the
latter form developing into the preferred
form of the word.[5] The country remained
Anglia in Latin. Alfred the Great's
translation of Orosius's history of the
world uses Angelcynn (-kin) to describe the
English people; Bede used Angelfolc (-
folk); also such forms as Engel, Englan (the
people), Englaland, and Englisc occur, all
showing i-mutation.[6]

Greco-Roman historiography
Tacitus
The map shows both the Anglia (Angeln) and the
Schwansen peninsulas

Possible locations of the Angles and Jutes before their

migration to Britain
The earliest recorded mention of the
Angles may be in chapter 40 of Tacitus's
Germania written around AD 98. Tacitus
describes the "Anglii" as one of the more
remote Suebic tribes compared to the
Semnones and Langobardi, who lived on
the Elbe and were better known to the
Romans. He grouped the Angles with
several other tribes in that region, the
Reudigni, Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini,
and Nuitones.[7][8] These were all living
behind ramparts of rivers and woods, and
therefore inaccessible to attack.[7][8]

He gives no precise indication of their

geographical situation, but states that,
together with the six other tribes, they
worshiped Nerthus, or Mother Earth,
whose sanctuary was located on "an
island in the Ocean".[9] The Eudoses are
the Jutes; these names probably refer to
localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast.
The coast contains sufficient estuaries,
inlets, rivers, islands, swamps, and
marshes to have been then inaccessible to
those not familiar with the terrain, such as
the Romans, who considered it unknown,
inaccessible, with a small population and
of little economic interest.

The majority of scholars believe that the

Anglii lived on the coasts of the Baltic Sea,
probably in the southern part of the Jutish
peninsula. This view is based partly on Old
English and Danish traditions regarding
persons and events of the fourth century,
and partly because striking affinities to the
cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are
to be found in pre-Christian Scandinavian
religion.[9]

Ptolemy

Ptolemy, writing in around 150 AD, in his

atlas Geography (2.10), describes the
Sueboi Angeilloi, Latinised to Suevi Angili,
further south, living in a stretch of land
between the northern Rhine and central
Elbe, but apparently not touching either
river, with the Suebic Langobardi on the
Rhine to their west, and the Suebic
Semnones on the Elbe stretching to their
east.

These Suevi Angili would have been in

Lower Saxony or near it, but they are not
coastal. The three Suebic peoples are
separated from the coastal Chauci
(between the Ems and the Elbe), and
Saxones (east of the Elbe mouth), by a
series of tribes including, between the
Weser and Elbe, the Angrivarii,
"Laccobardi" (probably another reference
to the Langobardi, but taken by Ptolemy
from another source), and the Dulgubnii.
South of the Saxons, and east of the Elbe,
Ptolemy lists the "Ouirounoi" (Latinised as
Viruni, and probably the Varini) and
Teutonoari, which either denotes "the
Teuton men", or else it denotes people
living in the area where the Teutons had
previously lived (whom Ptolemy attests as
still living to the east of the Teutonoari).
Ptolemy describes the coast to the east of
the Saxons as inhabited by the Farodini, a
name not known from any other sources.

Owing to the uncertainty of this passage,

much speculation existed regarding the
original home of the Anglii. One theory is
that they or part of them dwelt or moved
among other coastal people, perhaps
confederated up to the basin of the Saale
(in the neighbourhood of the ancient
canton of Engilin) on the Unstrut valleys
below the Kyffhäuserkreis, from which
region the Lex Anglorum et Werinorum hoc
est Thuringorum is believed by many to
have come.[9][10] The ethnic names of
Frisians and Warines are also attested in
these Saxon districts.

A second possible solution is that these

Angles of Ptolemy are not those of
Schleswig at all. According to Julius
Pokorny, the Angri- in Angrivarii, the -angr
in Hardanger and the Angl- in Anglii all
come from the same root meaning "bend",
but in different senses. In other words, the
similarity of the names is strictly
coincidental and does not reflect any
ethnic unity beyond Germanic.

However, Gudmund Schütte, in his analysis

of Ptolemy, believes that the Angles have
simply been moved by an error coming
from Ptolemy's use of imperfect sources.
He points out that Angles are placed
correctly just to the northeast of the
Langobardi, but that these have been
duplicated, so that they appear once,
correctly, on the lower Elbe, and a second
time, incorrectly, at the northern Rhine.[11]

Medieval historiography

Manuscript of Bede

Bede states that the Anglii, before coming

to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called
Angulus, "which lies between the province
of the Jutes and the Saxons, and remains
unpopulated to this day." Similar evidence
is given by the Historia Brittonum. King
Alfred the Great and the chronicler
Æthelweard identified this place with
Anglia, in the province of Schleswig
(Slesvig) (though it may then have been of
greater extent), and this identification
agrees with the indications given by
Bede.[9]

In the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere of

Hålogaland's account of a two-day voyage
from the Oslo fjord to Schleswig, he
reported the lands on his starboard bow,
and Alfred appended the note "on these
islands dwelt the Engle before they came
hither".[n 1] Confirmation is afforded by
English and Danish traditions relating to
two kings named Wermund and Offa of
Angel, from whom the Mercian royal family
claimed descent and whose exploits are
connected with Anglia, Schleswig, and
Rendsburg. Danish tradition has preserved
record of two governors of Schleswig,
father and son, in their service, Frowinus
(Freawine) and Wigo (Wig), from whom the
royal family of Wessex claimed descent.
During the fifth century, the Anglii invaded
Great Britain, after which time their name
does not recur on the continent except in
the title of the legal code issued to the
Thuringians: Lex Anglorum et Werinorum
hoc est Thuringorum.[9][10]

The Angles are the subject of a legend

about Pope Gregory I, who happened to
see a group of Angle children from Deira
for sale as slaves in the Roman market. As
the story would later be told by the Anglo-
Saxon monk and historian Bede, Gregory
was struck by the unusual appearance of
the slaves and asked about their
background. When told they were called
"Anglii" (Angles), he replied with a Latin
pun that translates well into English: “Bene,
nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales
angelorum in caelis decet esse coheredes”
("It is well, for they have an angelic face,
and such people ought to be co-heirs of
the angels in heaven"). Supposedly, this
encounter inspired the pope to launch a
mission to bring Christianity to their
countrymen.[14][15]

Archaeology
The province of Schleswig has proved rich
in prehistoric antiquities that date
apparently from the fourth and fifth
centuries. A large cremation cemetery has
been found at Borgstedt, between
Rendsburg and Eckernförde, and it has
yielded many urns and brooches closely
resembling those found in pagan graves in
England. Of still greater importance are
the great deposits at Thorsberg moor (in
Anglia) and Nydam, which contained large
quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of
clothing, agricultural implements, etc., and
in Nydam, even ships. By the help of these
discoveries, Angle culture in the age
preceding the invasion of Britannia can be
pieced together.[9]

Anglian kingdoms in England

Angles, Saxons, and Jutes throughout England

According to sources such as the History

of Bede, after the invasion of Britannia, the
Angles split up and founded the kingdoms
of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia.
H.R. Loyn has observed in this context that
"a sea voyage is perilous to tribal
institutions",[16] and the apparently tribe-
based kingdoms were formed in England.
Early times had two northern kingdoms
(Bernicia and Deira) and two midland ones
(Middle Anglia and Mercia), which had by
the seventh century resolved themselves
into two Angle kingdoms, viz.,
Northumbria and Mercia. Northumbria
held suzerainty amidst the Teutonic
presence in the British Isles in the seventh
century, but was eclipsed by the rise of
Mercia in the eighth century. Both
kingdoms fell in the great assaults of the
Danish Viking armies in the 9th century.
Their royal houses were effectively
destroyed in the fighting, and their Angle
populations came under the Danelaw.
Further south, the Saxon kings of Wessex
withstood the Danish assaults. Then in the
late 9th and early 10th centuries, the kings
of Wessex defeated the Danes and
liberated the Angles from the Danelaw.
They united their house in marriage with
the surviving Angle royalty, and were
accepted by the Angles as their kings. This
marked the passing of the old Anglo-
Saxon world and the dawn of the "English"
as a new people. The regions of East
Anglia and Northumbria are still known by
their original titles. Northumbria once
stretched as far north as what is now
southeast Scotland, including Edinburgh,
and as far south as the Humber Estuary.
The rest of that people stayed at the
centre of the Angle homeland in the
northeastern portion of the modern
German Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein,
on the Jutland Peninsula. There, a small
peninsular area is still called Anglia today
and is formed as a triangle drawn roughly
from modern Flensburg on the Flensburger
Fjord to the City of Schleswig and then to
Maasholm, on the Schlei inlet.

See also
Angeln
Anglo-Saxons
East Anglia
 Kingdom of East Anglia
List of ancient Germanic peoples

Notes
1. See the translation by Sweet,[12] noted
by Loyn.[13]

References

1.
Tacito, De origine et situ
Germanorum

— XL, 1

.
2. Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo 1993.
Origins and development of the
English language. 4th edition. (New
York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich).
3. Barber, Charles, Joan C. Beal and
Philip A. Shaw 2009. Other Indo-
European languages have derivities of
the PIE Sten or Lepto or Dol-ə'kho as
root words for narrow. The English
language. A historical introduction.
Second edition of Barber (1993).
Cambridge: University Press.
4. Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable
1993 A history of the English
 language. 4th edition. (Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice Hall).
5. Gregory said Non Angli, sed angeli, si
forent Christiani "They are not Angles,
but angels, if they were Christian" after
a response to his query regarding the
identity of a group of fair-haired
Angles, slave children whom he had
observed in the marketplace. See p.
117 of Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003),
Language Contact and Lexical
Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave
Macmillan. ISBN 9781403917232 /
ISBN 9781403938695 [1]
 6. Fennell, Barbara 1998. A history of
English. A sociolinguistic approach.
Oxford: Blackwell.
7. Tacitus & 98, Cap. XL.
8. Church (1868), Ch. XL.
9. Chadwick 1911, pp. 18–19.
10. "Lex Anglorum et Werinorum hoc est
Thuringorum - Wikisource" .
la.wikisource.org (in Latin). Retrieved
6 September 2017.
11. Schütte (1917), p. 34 & 118 .
12. Sweet (1883), p. 19.
13. Loyn (1991), p. 24.
14. Bede (731), Lib. II.
15. Jane (1903), Vol. II.
16. Loyn (1991), p. 25.

Further reading
Beda (731), Historia ecclesiastica gentis
Anglorum Historia ecclesiastica gentis
Anglorum  . (in Latin)
Bede (1907) [Reprinting Jane's 1903
translation for J.M. Dent & Co.'s 1903
The Ecclesiastical History of the English
Nation], Bede's Ecclesiastical History of
England: A Revised Translation  ,
London: George Bell & Sons.
Cornelius Tacitus, Publius (98), De
origine et situ Germanorum De origine et
situ Germanorum  Check date values in:
|year= (help). (in Latin)
Cornelius Tacitus, Publius (1942) [First
published in 1928, reprinting Church and
Brodribb's translations for Macmillan &
Co.'s 1868 The Agricola and Germany of
Tacitus ], "Germany and Its Tribes"  , in
Hadas, Moses; Cerrato, Lisa (eds.), The
Complete Works of Tacitus, New York:
Random House.
Schütte, Gudmund (1917), Ptolemy's
Maps of Northern Europe: A
Reconstruction of the Prototypes ,
Copenhagen: Græbe for H. Hagerup for
the Royal Danish Geographical Society
 Sweet, Henry (1883), King Alfred's
Orosius , Oxford: E. Pickard Hall & J.H.
Stacy for N. Trübner & Co. for the Early
English Text Society
Loyn, Henry Royston (1991), A Social
and Economic History of England: Anglo-
Saxon England and the Norman
Conquest, 2nd ed., London: Longman
Group, ISBN 978-0582072978

Attribution:

 This article incorporates text from a

publication now in the public
domain: Chadwick, Hector Munro
(1911), "Angli", in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.),
 Encyclopædia Britannica, 2 (11th ed.),
Cambridge University Press, pp. 18–19
 "Angles"  , Encyclopædia Britannica, 2
(9th ed.), 1878, p. 30

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Angles&oldid=910233211"

Last edited 5 days ago by an anony…

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.