Britain After The Romans 407-800 AD

“When Angles and Saxons came hither from the east,

Sought Britain over the broad-spreading sea,

Haughty war-smiths overcame the Britons,

Valiant earls got for themselves a home.”

From The Anglo Saxon Chronicle

Five Distinct Cultures

• With the departure of the Romans began the so-called Dark Ages, lasting 1000 years.• The period between the departure of the Romans (407 AD) and the coming of the

Vikings (ca. 800AD) was marked by the interaction of five distinct cultures.• Anglo-Saxon ( from the Baltic shores of Germany), British (Celtic/Iberian), Pictish,

Irish and Jute (from the peninsula of Jutland in modern day Denmark)• At the beginning of this period (407 AD) The dominant culture of this period was

Romano-British and the least important was the Germanic/Anglo-Saxon• By 800AD this had been completely reversed and the Anglo-Saxons controlled

much of the east and south-east, and Irish culture was dominant in the north, west and the eastern part of Scotland (among the Picts).

• British Culture had all but been wiped out, the only places it survived were in the westernmost and northernmost parts of Britain and the area of north west France which came to be called Brittany (‘little Britain’)

The Venerable Bede

• What we know of these centuries we know from the writings of the Venerable Bede (ca.673-735)

• Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (A History of the English Church and People)

• A church history – concerned itself with the Christianisation of England and the establishment of the church of Rome .

• Bede was a ‘Modern’ historian.• Employed the term Anglorum, so Bede saw

‘the English’ as a nation rather than a tribe – a new concept.

• Writing from the perspective of the dominant culture – Anglo-Saxon, Christian and Latin. Need to take this into account.

• However, the best source we have for this time.

The Coming of the Anglo-Saxons

• New arrivals from Northern Germany and the Danish peninsula.• British regional warlords hired them as mercenaries.• 440s Hengist and Horsa rebelled against their British commander and seized the land

for themselves.• Over the next 50 years, wave after wave of Germanic and Scandinavian tribes followed

them.• By 495 they had pushed as far north as York and West to Southampton.• Sheer weight of numbers overwhelmed the indigenous Britons.• Battle of Badon Hill halted the advance of the Saxons.• 550 new wave of Germanic immigration.• Around six or seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: East Anglia, Mercia , Sussex, Essex,

Wessex, Kent and Northumbria.• These kingdoms worshipped same gods, spoke similar dialects, shared a common

culture, but soon competing for land, influence and trade.• Sutton Hoo - Raedwald of the East Angles.

Anglo-Saxon Culture• Fishermen, farmers and marauders. Sought and

won land so as to escape the nature of theirs.• Highly organised tribal system• Each tribe ruled by a king. Four classes: Earls,

freemen, serfs and slaves.

• Reintroduced paganism to Britain. Worshipped ancient German Gods such as Woden and Thunor.

• Eventually these gods succumbed to Christianity but still with us e.g. days of the week.

• Anglo-Saxons had a strong cultural relationship with the Irish – common values in poetry, fighting and farming

• Antagonistic toward British culture. Christian vs. pagan and coloniser vs. colonised. Offa's Dyke a sign of this

A Nation is Born?• Reestablishment of Christianity - Pope Gregory "Angels not Angles" - St Columba, St

Augustine and St. Patrick.• By 650, Augustine had succeeded in converting most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to

Christianity. • Why did they agree to be converted? Christianity, perhaps owing in part to its association

with the power of Rome, seemed more attractive than paganism. Literacy was also associated with Rome and therefore was more desirable.

• Christianity had many influences on the Anglo-Saxons. It softened the ferocity of the warrior people. It ‘improved’ their behaviour. Taking revenge on those who you believed had wronged you became less important, whereas calling upon a higher law (that of God) became more important. Society became more peaceful.

• Celtic versus Roman Christianity.• 664 Synod of Whitby.• Christian message interpreted in a Saxon way.• King Offa (757-796), King of Mercia brutally acquired Sussex, Kent and East Anglia, while

Wessex and Northumberland became passive neighbours.• Recognised by Charlemagne as the ruler of all England, he built churches, encouraged

literacy, introduced widely accepted English currency. Constructed `Offa`s Dyke` protected his back. With peace existing between the various Saxon kingdoms and with Christianity bringing a return to literacy, England seem to be finally emerging from the dark ages.

• 789, however, saw some strange visitors turning up on the coast of Dorset, the Vikings.

Saxon Kings of England

British Culture• Anglo-Saxons advanced – British culture in decline• British suffered military losses and retreated to Cornwall and Wales – the

peripheries.• Some Britons went to Ireland where they formed a distinctive group named the

Scots (after the Latin, Scotia, the name given by the Romans to Ireland). This group migrated back to Britain, eventually settling in what is now Scotland.

• A culture in retreat often seeks compensation in the story of a warrior who will throw off the yoke of the oppressor. For many Britons this was King Arthur (although the myth was not popularised until the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth)

Irish Culture• Golden period• Irish culture expanded into Scotland, Wales and

continental Europe.• Irish Christianity assimilated elements of paganism

such as polygamy and ‘cursing one’s enemies’• Tribal system declined to be replaced by two

kingdoms – in the north and the south.• By the sixth century Ireland was by and large

Christianised thanks to St. Patrick and other missionaries.

• This missionary zeal was so great that by the end of this period nearly all of the British Isles had adopted the religion. Irish missionaries were at the forefront of this.

Pictish Culture• Unknown quantity

• Whereas the Anglo-Saxons had Bede, the British had the oral and the written word, as did the Irish - all we know about the Picts comes from archaeological digs.

• What we do know is that they had wealth (silver), they has access to Irish and Anglo-Saxon culture, they were Christianised, they accepted the Roman (eventually) rather than the Celtic dating of Easter and they used Roman architecture to build their churches.

• …and that is all we know of them.