Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon England

England AD 449 to AD 1066 and through Norman times

449 AD:  The Coming of the English and the beginning of English social history 

The English have one thing above all that separates them from the Brythonic peoples that preceded them on the Island that is England. They had the 19 volumes of Anglo-Saxon chronicles. It records their history and has caused much jealousy, as others did not record their own history. The English are a Germanic set of peoples – so the way they lived was reflected in the ‘Old Saxony’ in what is now Germany, and thus much of the religion, dress, and attitudes are known. 

The English are formed of the original Saxon Confederation of Germanic Sea Tribes. The Eote or Yeten (Jutes) Friese (Friesians) Seaxe (Saxons) and the people of the God of the Sword  - Ing – the Ing or the Engles. Sea Wolves – and pagans. Of no fixed abode. Nerthus (mother earth,) worshipping Wodenists. Attacking all down to the Iberian coast and beyond. Known collectively to this day as Saxons – The Sons of the Sword – a literal translation. Later called the English by Alfred the Great, their saviour and greatest King. This article will call them Saxon – English – Anglo-Saxon.

Sea wolves: Early Saxons were raiding seaborne warriors, akin to the later Vikings.They hated all things Roman. They were worshippers of the war god Woden.

The English tribes began arriving in earnest in 449 AD and brought with them Germanic dialects and culture. It was like an explosion. 90,000 warriors used to fighting Romans and Hunnic tribes of massive numbers. Theirs was the war of total destruction. The idea of the hero and the heroic death. Of fighting for your war chief. Of comradeship found sailing their Kuyls (keel boats,) their ‘wave riders’ as they called them. Found also in fighting with their shoulder companions on the English Shieldwall. After 400 years of subjugation by and war with the Roman Empire, they hated all things Roman. They burnt the Roman palace at Fishbourne at Chichester in Sussex, destroyed Winchester and Londinium.They levelled the great Roman City of Eagles in Chester, one of the largest outside of Rome itself.  Swept across Wales to the Isle of Anglesey. Carved White Horses into the hillsides and the hill forts they conquered. A warrior society that put swords and shields before fancy artefacts. Helmets before gold. Death before dishonour.

Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon England

England AD 449 to AD 1066 and through Norman times

449 AD:  The Coming of the English and the beginning of English social history 

The English have one thing above all that separates them from the Brythonic peoples that preceded them on the Island that is England. They had the 19 volumes of Anglo-Saxon chronicles. It records their history and has caused much jealousy, as others did not record their own history. The English are a Germanic set of peoples – so the way they lived was reflected in the ‘Old Saxony’ in what is now Germany, and thus much of the religion, dress, and attitudes are known. 

The English are formed of the original Saxon Confederation of Germanic Sea Tribes. The Eote or Yeten (Jutes) Friese (Friesians) Seaxe (Saxons) and the people of the God of the Sword  - Ing – the Ing or the Engles. Sea Wolves – and pagans. Of no fixed abode. Nerthus (mother earth,) worshipping Wodenists. Attacking all down to the Iberian coast and beyond. Known collectively to this day as Saxons – The Sons of the Sword – a literal translation. Later called the English by Alfred the Great, their saviour and greatest King. This article will call them Saxon – English – Anglo-Saxon.

Sea wolves: Early Saxons were raiding seaborne warriors, akin to the later Vikings.They hated all things Roman. They were worshippers of the war god Woden.

The English tribes began arriving in earnest in 449 AD and brought with them Germanic dialects and culture. It was like an explosion. 90,000 warriors used to fighting Romans and Hunnic tribes of massive numbers. Theirs was the war of total destruction. The idea of the hero and the heroic death. Of fighting for your war chief. Of comradeship found sailing their Kuyls (keel boats,) their ‘wave riders’ as they called them. Found also in fighting with their shoulder companions on the English Shieldwall. After 400 years of subjugation by and war with the Roman Empire, they hated all things Roman. They burnt the Roman palace at Fishbourne at Chichester in Sussex, destroyed Winchester and Londinium.They levelled the great Roman City of Eagles in Chester, one of the largest outside of Rome itself.  Swept across Wales to the Isle of Anglesey. Carved White Horses into the hillsides and the hill forts they conquered. A warrior society that put swords and shields before fancy artefacts. Helmets before gold. Death before dishonour.