The Anglo-Saxons

1) Before them

Before Anglo-Saxons, Britain was under Roman control. The end of the Roman rule over Britain
occurred in the year 410 (the year that the Visigoths sacked Rome).The romans pulled out of Britain,
leaving the people living there - a blend of native Britons, Romans and Celts - vulnerable to raiding
barbarians. Although they were no longer part of the Roman Empire, the people of Britain still
closely identified with Rome. Religion, laws, written language and government, all reflected its
Roman background. With the departure of Roman rule, Germanic marauders met with little
resistance during their raids on Britain. At the time, these marauders were not called Anglo-Saxons,
but were most likely members of the Anglos, the Saxons, the Judes and other Germanic groups.
After decades of raiding British villages then sailing back to their homes on the European continent,
the Anglo-Saxons put down permanent roots on the British Isles. The transition from Roman control
to Anglo-Saxon rule was not a smooth one. But in time, the Anglo-Saxons merged with native
Britons. They moved into their villages, took on their farmland and intermarried with people already
living there. They commanded military forces and, over time, rose to power as leaders of villages,
towns and regions. Historians often used the term Dark Ages to describe the time after the Roman
rule of Britain, the time when the Anglo-Saxons ruled the land. This implies that the era was a time
of intellectual stagnation and brutality, but this was not the case.

2) Belief

Despite the lack of written records, we can assume that the Anglo-Saxons pantheon of gods was
similar to that of other Germanic tribes, and oral stories bear this out. Even written stories - much
later - mention the chief deity of the Anglo-Saxons as Woden. Various Anglo-Saxon gods remain part
of our everyday vocabulary in the names of the days of the week. Tuesday, for example, comes from
the god Tiu and Thursday comes the god Thor. The Anglo-Saxons organized themselves into social
classes similar to other Germanic tribes. At the head of the tribe is the chieftain, a title that later
became king. The position of chieftain passed through male bloodlines. The word king comes to us
from the ancient word “cynn”, which literally means “family lineage”. The Anglo-Saxons strongly
believed that the male bloodline had to be kept pure because it was the family’s link back to Woden.

3) Social classes

The Anglo-Saxons didn’t make wine, but they did make a weak beer. Their beverage of choice
however, was mead, a drink made with fermented honey with higher alcohol content. When they
weren’t celebrating, the Anglo-Saxons were often engaged in battles against the Britons and the
Romans. When the Romans pulled out of Britain, the Anglo-Saxons exerted their formidable power
over the Britons living in coastal communities. Between attacks, the Britons carried on with their
own lifestyle and their way of life was not greatly changed by the Anglo-Saxons for decades. When
the Anglo-Saxons eventually settled in parts of Britain they fought off Viking raiders. The chieftains of
several of the Anglo-Saxon settlements on the British Isles banded together against the invading
Vikings. Leading them was an Anglo-Saxon king who became famous as Alfred the Great. Under his
leadership, the Anglo-Saxons defeated the Viking at the Battle of Edington in 878. After that, the
Vikings retreated to the northeastern region of the island and left the remaining territory to the
Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons developed some battlefield innovations that changed warfare for
the Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and later, the Normans. First, they brought together numerous
small village armies into one large, well-organized, and well-commanded fighting unit.