ANGLO-SAXON CULTURE AND THE RISE OF

ENGLISH / LITERACY, CHRISTIANITY AND

LATINITAS, PART I

Bede’s Description of Britain

Angles, Saxons, and Jutes: Invasions and Settlement

The Heptarchy and the Danelaw

Christianity
 BEDE’S DESCRIPTION OF BRITAIN
One of the most important sources for the study of England in the Anglo-Saxon period is the Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (c. 735), a book written by the English monk St. Bede the Venerable (known as the
Venerable Bede). In the first chapter, Bede concludes his geographical description of Britain by naming its people
and their languages:
This island, at present, following the number of the Book in which the Divine law was written, contains five
nations, the English, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins, each in its particular dialect cultivating the sublime
study of Divine truth. The Latin tongue is, by the study of the Scriptures, become common to all the rest.
Bede’s account, apart from revealing the Christian bias of his history, informs his readers of several nations and
several languages sharing (not as peacefully as Bede suggests) the territories of Britain in the early 8th century:
1. The English nation (the Anglo-Saxons): they spoke
English (what we call Old English). This nation was
divided into several kingdoms (as seen on the map) .
2. The British nation (the original inhabitants of Britain), of
Celtic origin, occupying Wales and Cornwall after the
invasions. They spoke the Brythonic language, and they
were originally from Britanny, in the continent (Armorica).
3. The Irish or Scots. The Scots were the original
inhabitants of Ireland. They were also Celtic people, and
their language was Gaelic (or, Goidelic, or Irish).
4. The Picts, originally from Scandinavia (Scythia), who
first settled in the north of Ireland, and later occupied
Scotland. Later on the Irish or Scots moved to the isle of
Britain, and they obtained some shares (dæle) of land from
the Picts.
5. The fifth tongue that Bede mentions is Latin. As the
language of the Church, Bede speaks of Latin as the link
between all Christian people in Britain. Latin is an
instrument of religious and political importance. It will be
crucial in the development of a written culture, and
therefore in the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon
England.
 THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASIONS
The year A. D. 410 is reported as the time when the Romans, who had had settlements in Britain since AD
43, left the island. The Britons, the original inhabitants of the land had lived under different forms of
Roman domination until that time. They were at the mercy of the tribes of the North, the Picts and Scots.
This is the reason why, according to the Venerable Bede, the British king Vortigern sought help from a
Germanic army led by Hengest and Horsa. This is at the origin of the Germanic invasions, which involved,
also according to Bede, the arrival in Britain of “the three most powerful nations in Germany –Saxons,
Angles, and Jutes” (Book I, Chapter XV).
The years between 410 and 600 were times of invasions and settlement. There are few remains of this
period, and most of what we know is between history and legend. Although British resistance to the
invasions seems to have been limited, there are tales that inform us of the wars that certain British
leaders commanded against the Anglo-Saxons. The most famous of these legendary British leaders is one
Artus (the original King Arthur), who is reputed to have defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Mount
Badon (or Mons Badonicus, c. 520).
The Anglo-Saxon invasions brought many changes to daily life. Latin culture and the Roman social system
was progressively replaced with Germanic ways of life. Roman roads disappeared, and city life lost
importance. The Roman monetary economy was replaced with a more primitive system, based on life in
small groups in the countryside, with farming and hunting as the most important activities. We must think
of an oral, non-literate culture in the early years. Writing grew in importance only after the 7th century.

WAR: The Germanic peoples that settled in Britain were also

and above all a society of warriors. The importance of heroic
songs (originally composed for oral performance and later
preserved as writing in fine epic poetry), and the treasures
found at Sutton Hoo and only recently in Staffordshire, attest to
the sophistication of their culture of war and the importance of
their heroic code. In words of Michael Alexander, “the social
function of the heroic songs was exemplary: in poetry as in life,
courage and loyalty lead to glory for a king and, often, to success
for his warriors” (A History of Old English Literature, p. 58) Jewellery and war objects in the recently
found Staffordshire treasure (7th century)
 THE “HEPTARCHY”
These three tribes that arrived in Britain were from different lands in the continent: the Angles came
from the southern part of Jutland (modern Denmark); the Saxons came from southern part of the river
Elbe (modern Germany); and the Jutes were from northern Jutland.
According to Bede, the Jutes settled in Kent; the Angles occupied the central eastern area and both sides
of the river Humber; and the Saxons settled in the Southeast and the Southwest (Essex, Sussex, and
Wessex). The Celts were on their part displaced to the north or to the Southwestern area of the island
(to modern Wales and Cornwall).
By the early seventh century Anglo-Saxon Britain was divided into seven kingdoms—a political system
that is commonly known as the HEPTARCHY: the territory that we know as Kent nowadays was
occupied by the Jutes; Essex, Sussex and Wessex were the Kingdoms of the East, South, and West
Saxons); East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria were the kingdoms formed by the Angles (see map
above). The small kingdoms were in fact under the dominance of the three superpowers (Northumbria,
Mercia and Wessex). These three were hostile to one another, and in turn dominated England for about
less than 200 years until a new wave of invasions from Scandinavia (the Vikings) raided the island of
Britain. Northumbria held the hegemony in the late 7th and early 8th century. Supremacy passed later to
Mercia under the rule of King Offa (757-796). This monarch considered himself rex totius Anglorum
patriae (the King of the entire fatherland of the English). Finally the hegemony was transferred to
Wessex, which flourished under Kings Alfred (871-899) and Aethelstan (924-939).
THE DANELAW The Anglo Saxon Chronicle (another
important history written in Old English) tells us that
in 793 “the harrying of the heathen miserably destroyed
God’s Church in Lindisfarne by rapine and slaughter”.
This is a description of the first Viking (or Danish)
raids, later followed by further invasions of the lands of
the Anglo-Saxons in 855. In the times of King Alfred
they were isolated in the northeast of England by King
Alfred. The Viking territories were known as the
Danelaw. The period between 800 and 1066 is therefore
a time of conflict between the English and the Danes,
A coin of Alfred the Great, A coin of King Canute, who
King of Wessex (871-99) who eventually seized power under the reign of Cnut united Denmark and
between 1016 and 1035. England.
 THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS
The Anglo-Saxons were not Christian people when they arrived in
England. They observed the beliefs, traditions, and rituals of the
Germanic and Scandinavian people. These included the worship of deities
like Tiw, Woden, and Thor (a trace of which we still find in the days of the
week , i.e. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). However, heathenism, or
paganism (terms with which Christian people name those who are not
Christian), progressively disappeared in Anglo-Saxon England, mainly
due to the effect of several missions sent by the Papacy since the end of
the 6th century. What we know of this process is a mixture of history and
legend, and again Bede is our main source
In this sense, the arrival of Christianity to the island means an
interesting and complex cultural process. Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica An 11th century image of the Witanangemot
shows how Christianization reached the island. According to him, Pope
THE CONVERSION OF EDWIN,
Gregory the Great saw a group of English boy-slaves in Rome. He was so
impressed by their blonde hairs and their blue eyes that he said that they KING OF NORTHUMBRIA (627)
were not Angles, but Angels (Lat. non Angli sed angeli), and that such an Book II, Chapter XIII of Bede’s
angelic people should not remain pagan. That is why, according to the Historia Ecclesiastica accounts for
legend, the first Christian mission, headed by St. Augustine, was sent to the reasons that led the King of
England and arrived in Kent by the year 597 (Bede, Book II, Chapter I). Northumbria to convert to
However, and regardless of legend, In fact there are two different sources Christianity in the year 627. Bede
of Christianity in England: narrates the meeting of Edwin’s
- On the one hand, there was a strong Christian, monastic tradition
witanangemot (i.e., the Council of
among the Celts (the early inhabitants of Britain). In 565, an Irish monk
of royal blood, known as St. Columba, founded a monastery in Iona, in the Wise Men), after which one of its
north of Britain. members argues in favour of the
- On the other hand, we have the Roman tradition, which started with benefits of Christianity over their
Augustine's mission. This tradition relies less on monasticism and more own beliefs.
on the hierarchical structure proper to the Roman church. The councillor’s reasons witness to
However, Christianity was not always an ongoing process. There was the mixture of doctrinal, spiritual,
much backsliding; even when a kingdom converted, many of the pagan political and practical reasons that
traditions and ideas remained among the people. The first king that
actually led Anglo-Saxon kings to
converted to Christianity was Ethelbert of Kent (597). He was followed by
the Northumbrians (627), the West Saxons (635) and the Mercians (655).
embrace Christian faith and leave
aside their old beliefs.