Anglo-Saxon Britain
450-1066 A.D.
In 410 A.D., Ro
was sacked by A
and the Visigot
Anglo-Saxon Invasion of B
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Angles, Saxons, Jutes,
and other Germanic
tribes
Seafaring warriors
Vengeance and Bloodshed
Anglo-Saxon
Settlement
of
Britian
Ancestral Tribes of Clans
Chieftain
Thane
Thane
Thane
\
Peasant
Serfs
Peasant
Serfs
Peasant
Serfs
Serfs
Living Quarters—Mead Halls
A reconstructed
Anglo-Saxon home
located in West
Stow in Sussex,
England
Mead Hall
• center of life
• sleeping
quarters
• dining area
Sutton Hoo
• Located in Woodbridge,
Suffolk,
England
• Discovered in 1939
• Burial ship of an AngloSaxon king
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7th century helmet
Reconstructed from
hundreds of corroded
iron fragments
Anglo-Saxon Brooch
 Anglo-Saxon
pendant
probably made in
the 7th century
AD
 found in
garden soil at
Sacriston,
County Durham.
 made of solid
gold with a
goldwire or
Additional Anglo-Saxon Artifacts
King Offa’s Dyke
 approximately
170 miles long
running north and
south
• continuous wall
except for river
crossings
Construction
 Earth Embankment
 No fancy stonework
 No garrisoned posts
 12 foot wide ditch on
Welsh side
 Height ranges from 10
to 60 feet
Monument to Power
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Perhaps this dyke was
a defense against
raiders from Wales.
Perhaps it served as a
permanent boundary
between Mercia and
Wales.
Perhaps it was a
boundary monument to
remind the Welsh of
King Offa’s power and
control.
Anglo-Saxon Cross Shaft
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Location: St. Peter
Advincula Church, Glebe
Street, Stoke
Re-erected on its modern
base in 1935, the fragment
of 10th Century AngloSaxon stone cross shaft had
been used as a door lintel in
the church until its discovery
by a gravedigger in 1876.
The square sectioned top of
the cylindrical shaft has a
different decorative motif on
each face. However part of
the side key pattern has
been cut away, probably to
allow its use as the church's
door lintel.S
5th century British
kingdoms, after the
departure of the
Romans
Invasions of Germanic tribes—the Angles,
Saxons, and Jutes—began in 450 A.D.
By 600 A.D., Germanic
tribes controlled the
southeastern part of
Britain.
Roman-Celtic Britons
still held the north and
west.
By 700 A.D., Celtic
culture survived only in
present-day Scotland,
Wales, and Cornwall—
areas where the Celtic
language continues
today.
The medieval legends of King Arthur and his Round
Table may have originated in the Saxon period.
Arthur may have been a Roman-Celtic leader named
Ambrosius Aurelianus who led an assault on the
German invaders.
Aurelianus led the
Britons in victorious
battle against the
Saxon invaders at
Mount Badon (never
accurately
identified),
c. 500 A.D.
An aerial view of a hillfort known
as Bradbury Rings
Legend holds that “Arthur’s” grave is here, at
Glastonbury Abbey, in Somerset.
Roman writer, Sidonius
Apollinaris, described the
Germanic invaders as
“scruffy, blond, giants.”
By the 7th C., AngloSaxon England
included 7-8 major
kingdoms.
Together they were
called the Heptarchy.
Northumbria
Mercia
East Anglia
Essex
Sussex
Kent
Wessex
All Anglo-Saxon kingdoms shared these characteristics:
1. A king, whose leadership position depended not
on birth, but on his leadership in war.
One of the kings
of the seven
kingdoms was
acknowledged as
the “ruler of
Britain,” or
Bretwalda.
The Sutton-Hoo treasure from East Anglia, 6th C.
In the 7th C., Northumbria became the site of a
revival of Celtic culture—the Northumbrian
Renaissance.
In the 8th C., Mercian King Offa defeated the
other kingdoms, and proclaimed himself “King of
the English.”
To centralize control of “England,” he built
the earthwork that still bears his name—
Offa’s Dyke, stretching 150 miles along the
border between England and Wales.
Ultimately, Wessex
would become the
nucleus of a united
England, and its West
Saxon monarchy evolved
into the English
monarchy.
The “winged griffin” of
Wessex is still part of the
British royal coat of arms.
2. Strong kinship groups duty-bound to protect the
honor and welfare of their kin.
As strong kings united England, blood feuds were
replaced by a system of money compensation
(wergeld) for death, personal injury, and theft.
3. Customary law: neither the king
nor his council (the Witan)
could make law.
Instead, they declared a
custom.
4. Polytheistic religion:
Germanic tribes
worshipped the old
Norse gods—Odin,
Thor, Woden.
5. No written language
Epic poems, like Beowulf,
were oral traditions.
6. Anglo-Saxon society had a mixed economy of
agriculture, hunting, and animal husbandry.
Between 600-900 A.D., two forces—the development
of a strong monarchy and the return of Christianity—
encouraged the unification of England.
Celtic Chrisitianity center around large,
autonomous monasteries.
Lindisfarne Priory
Page from the illuminated
manuscript of the Book of
Kells, produced at Iona
monastery.
Celtic Christianity
differed from Roman
Christianity:
1. Monks followed a
stricter rule; but
monasteries were less
regulated.
2. Celtic monks shaved
the front of their
heads, not the tonsure.
3. Celtic Christians used
a different method of
calculating the date of
Easter.
On the continent of Europe,
Roman Christianity had
begun to convert the
Germanic tribes.
Merovigian King Clovis
In 597 A.D., Pope Gregory
sent St. Augustine and 40
monks to evangelize in
Britain.
Augustine established a base at Canterbury, in Kent.
Canterbury became
the mother-church
of Roman Christianity
in Britain, and
Augustine became
the first Archbishop
of Canterbury.
At the urging of
Augustine, King
Ethelbert issued the
first written laws in
England (called dooms).
Roman and Celtic Christian advocates debated before
King Oswy at the Synod of Whitby in 664 A.D.
Christianity proved to be a force
for peaceful unification.
1. It settled the problem of which Christian tradition
England would follow.
2. It brought Britain in line with the rest of Europe.
3. The English church adopted the Roman episcopal
structure.
4. Spiritual unity could now lead to political unity.
The Northumbrian Renaissance
The Venerable Bede
(c. 673-735), History
of the English Church
and People
A historian!!!
-questioned accuracy of
sources.
-sense of historical
structure
-first historian to date
from the birth of Christ
King Alfred (r. 871-899) was
the greatest of the Wessex
Bretwaldas and is considered
the first true King of England.
King Alfred the Great
of Wessex
King Alfred’s jewel
Accomplishment of King Alfred’s reign:
1. Created a national army, the fyrd, to fight the
Danes.
Accomplishment of King Alfred’s reign:
2. He built a line of fortifications—the burghs—that
soon became towns.
3. He began
construction of a
navy to fight the
Danes on the sea.
4. He made the Anglo-Saxon laws—the dooms—
apply uniformly over England.
5. He encouraged the
monks to keep the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
In 900 A.D., the Chronicles
described Alfred as King
over the entire English
people.
6. He forced the
Danish king to accept
the division of Britain
into two kingdoms,
Wessex and the
Danelaw (Essex, East
Anglia, and part of
Northumbria).
The Danelaw, A.D. 880
King Alfred’s reign marked a turning point in English
history:
1. It was the climax of the trend to political
unification.
2. It was the first stage in the development of English
royal government.
Under Ethelred, “the
Unready,” England lost the
gains achieved by King
Alfred.
Danish Vikings
assailing a Burgh.
It is thought that this
image from a 12th century
manuscript was illuminated
at Bury St. Edmunds, and
shows Thetford under
attack.
A Dane, Cnut (or
Canute), held the
English throne from
1016-1035.
Edward, called “the Confessor,” succeeded Cnut.
He was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.
Edward built the first Abbey at Westminster,
which was completed only eight days before his
death in January of 1066.
Life in Anglo-Saxon England
“Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short! –
Thomas Hobbes
A “nucleated” village
Smallest villages were
the vills.
Slightly larger were the
tuns.
A burgh (or borough) was
larger than the tun.
A city was the site of a
cathedral and the seat of
a bishop.
Anglo-Saxon
Government
1. Based on Germanic
tribal organization.
2. Kings were chosen from
a royal family by a small
group of men, the
wisest and strongest in
the tribe.
3. Monarchy was not truly
hereditary.
Anglo-Saxon society was not
egalitarian.
Hierarchy of Society:
1. King or Bretwalda
2. Atheling: a prince of the royal house.
3. Eorl: a noble by birth, given land by the king in return
for military service. Both land and nobility was
inherited.
4. Thegn: a lesser noble, given land in return for military
service. But land and title was not inheritable.
5. Ceorl: a freeman; an independent landowner
Anglo-Saxon society was not
egalitarian.
Hierarchy of Society:
4. Serf: an agricultural laborer bound to the land.
5. Slave: a person personally owned by another.
The Anglo-Saxon Fyrd
Military service owed by Eorls, Thegns, and Ceorls
formed the primary defensive force, the fyrd.
A Saxon shield wall, by re-enacters.
King Alfred had made the
fyrd into a true standing
army, with members
required to serve on a
rotating basis year-round.
Manuscript illustration of a
Saxon spearman
Even though this policy
was abandoned by his
successors, the right of
the king to call upon
“every able-bodied man”
for military service
remained.
The King and the Witan (or Witenagemot)
dispensing justice.
One important role
for the Witan was
the selection of the
ruling monarch.
Anglo-Saxon Local Government
Basic unit of land = the hide, the amount of land needed
to support one family.
For purposes of tax assessment and military
service, hides were grouped together in units
called hundreds, comprised of approximately 100
hides.
The Hundreds were grouped together into
approximately 40 shires, or counties.
Each shire held a court, called the Shire Moot, that met
twice a year. All free men participated.
A local official, the shire reeve, presided
over the Shire Moot.
The Sheriff was the key link between the king and
local administration.
England had the most advanced government
in western Europe, especially at the local
level.
Anglo-Saxon Legal System
1. Based on custom and tradition.
2. Recognized the intervention of God.
3. Principal court was the Hundred-Moot.
Oath-takers or Compurgation
A group of twelve freemen who could swear that the
defendant was truthful.
Anglo-Saxon Burghs
Most domestic structures were built of wood,
chinked with mud.
Roofs were usually made of thatch.
Churches and monasteries were built of stone.
Easton Church
Anglo-Saxon churches were generally small in
scale, with few decorative elements.
Church towers began as
defensive structures,
enabling inhabitants of
villages to watch for
invaders.
Another common element
in Anglo-Saxon churches
were stone crosses.
The Church was a
vital part of AngloSaxon society.
•Efficient farmers
•Influenced English foreign
policy
•Provided education