Ang lo-SaxonF AQs

Stephen Pollington

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

\\'ordcraft Leechcraft Meadhall
TIle

W'arrior's \X/a)" of Runelore Language & its Literature

The English \'Carrior Rudiments An Introduction First Steps in Old English

to the Old English

Old English Poems, Prose & Lessons - 2eDs - read by S Pollington

Published

2008 by

Anglo-Saxon Books
www.as books. co .uk

25 Brocks Road
EcoTech Business Park

Swaffharn, Norfolk PE]7 7XG

PL

© Stephen Pollingron & Lindsay Kerr

,-I,Urights reserved, :\10 pan of this publication In'Y be reproduced transmirted in am' form Or bv any means, electronic or mechanical phoro-copving, recording, 01 any inforruarion storage or retrieval

Or including
SrSIenl~

without prim permission in 'Hiring from the publisher, e:<cept for the quotation of brief passages in connection with a review written t-01" inclusion in a magazine O[ nC'\'I,-spaper.

This book mar not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by wav of trade in any form of binding Or cover other than that in which it is publi'hed, without the prior consent of the publisher.

ISBN 978 1 898281 504

Acknowledgements
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Andy and Jeanette Stephens, who veey kindly stopped me overloobng some of those persistent questions

which bedevil historical interpretation.

Cover photograph

by Lindsay Kerr

Contents
.Ackno\l.lledgemen ts Illustrations Introduction Glossary ofTerms 1. Land & People Who were the Anglo-Saxons? When did England begin? Were they really Celts? What about DNA evidence? 'VVlere Welsh a threat? the What about the Scots? Why ate there Welsh names in the lists of Anglo-Saxon \X/hy were there so many sepata te kingdoms? Who were the Vikings? What was the climate like? Was England covered in thick forest? Were their lives "nasty, brutish and short"? What were the burial customs? What happened 2. Buildings How can we tell if a building has Anglo-Saxon work 1111t? How much of their building work survives? Did they have toilets? What is 'long-and-short' work? castles? Are there any Anglo-Saxon Did they have palaces? \X!hat are Pit-Houses? What about furniture? Where arc their settlements? to the Anglo-Saxons? kings? , 3 9 11 13 17 17 18 19

20 22 22
23 24

25
26

26 27 27
28 31 31 31 32 32 34 34 34 36 37 38

\X'hat sorts of houses did they have?

3. Clothing & Appearance How did men and women dress? Did they have changing fashions? What is a peplos dress? Did they
have buttons?

,,, ,

, ,

39

39
.40 .40 .40 42 .42 .44 44 44 .45

Did they wear make-up?

\X,'hy were knives so common?

~Thy are there so many female dress accessories? Did they wear jewellery? Did they wear skins and furs? \,{'hat about headgear? ,

4. Food, Drink & Fun

Are there any Anglo-Saxon jokes? \X/hat musical instruments did they have? \X/hat was Anglo-Saxon music like? What did they eat and drink? \1lfhat about alcohol? \Xlhat tableware did they have? Did they drink out of horns? Did they use cutlery? , How did they eat their meals? Did they ever have toothache? What plants were gro\:vn? ,,, ,, , ' , , , , __ , How did they cook their meals?

.47
..47

.48 .48

50
51 51

51
52 54 54 55 55

HO\v was food preserved?

5. Work What jobs did people have? ., \Xlas there a trade network? ..,

60
61

61
,.63 63 64 64 , , 64 65 65 ""
5

How did people and goods move around? Did they have shops? Was there any form of money? Did they have mechanized Did they have steel? Did they have cloth? Did their ships have sails? " industry?

66

Contents
Why was then pottery so poor? Did they have commercial trademarks? Did they have to pay tax? 6. Kingship \17ho was IGng Arth l.1r? Why was I<.ing Alfred called "the Great"? .·.· . Did Canute really try to stop the waves? How long did the longest reign last? Why was Ethelred called "Unready"? \'l7hat was the Heptarchy? Did their kings wear crowns? 7. Art & Science Did they produce manuscripts? How did they get the parchment, Who was the Venerable Bede? Did they have medicine? Did they have maps? Why was Alcuin important? What is the Bayeux Tapestry? Did they have clocks? What about the Doomsday Book? , , religlOn? , inks and paints? , , ····,·············· 66 68 68 69 69 69 71 71 72 72 72 73 73 73 73 74 75 76 76 77 79 79

Did they know about astronomy? ._

8. Religion
How do we know so much about Anglo-Saxon Were they devout Christians? , Did they celebrate Christmas? What other celebrations were there? Were they Roman Catholics? What ",'as the Synod of Whitby? Were there archbishops Were they superstitious? What about Easter eggs? What did they believe in before they were converted? in England>

81
81 81 82 82 83 83 83 84 85 85

Contents
9. Language & Literature Why does "Anglo-Saxon" mean bad language? . \""X7b y did they use strange letters? Why are their names spelt in different ways?
\\!hut ure ruriec?

87 87 87 88 89 90 91 94 95 ,..9 5

Which is correct: "Old English" or "Anglo-Saxon"? Howald is the English language? What was the Old English language like? How do we know so much about early English history? Wha t other types of litera ture did they record? Is there any poetry from that period? 10. Sutton Hoo \Xlhat was found at Sutton Hoo? W-hat is the importance of Sutton Hoo? Was it a Viking grave? Howald is the burial? , , ,, ,

,97
99 99 100 102 102 103 103 104 ,, , 105

Are there any other ship burials from this penod? Are there any other pagan royal burials? \'V'hat can the treasures from Sutton Hoo teach us? 11. \X!arfare \'V'hat was a scramasax? What was OfEa's Dyke for? \'\i'hat was the Saxon Shore? Did they have archers? Were there female warriors? Did the Anglo-Saxons have cavalry? Why were the Anglo-Saxons , , , , ,, : , , ,

What were the weapons and tactics in use at the time?

105
106 106 107 108 109 112 112 113 , 115 115 116 116 , 116 11 7

DId the Vikings have horns or wings on their helmets? unable to defeat the Vikings? , , ,., ,
7

12. SOCIety & Law

'

What was the family structure? \X:'hat part did the family play in society? Where did the shires come from? Did they have nicknames? \X!hat names did men and women have?

Contents

What was the attitude to women? How did they detect crime and prosecute criminals? What about insurance against accidents? Did poor people get married in church? What was the difference between 'free' and 'unfree' 13. The Anglo-Saxons Now things today?

118 119 119 120

men?

120 121 121 122 122 123 123 123 124 124

Where can I see Anglo-Saxon Where can I find out more? Land & People Buildings Food, Drink & Fun Clothing & Appearance Work Kingship Art & Science Religion Language & Literature Societv & Law Sutton Hoo Warfare

124
125 125 125 126 126 period? 126 126 126 127 127 127 127

Are there any societies devoted to the Anglo-Saxon Pa Engliscan GesiOas Regia Anglorum The Vikings Britannia ISAS 111e Sutton Hoo Society

Illustrations
Unless otherwise stated, drawings are by Lindsay Kerr ::Inc!photographs by Stephen Pollingron. page 12 16 30 33 35 36 37
41

43 46

49
52 53 54 59 67 78 80 86 88 89 91 93 94 100 101 106 107 109 110 111 115

Decorative shield plate - Sutton Hoo Map - Anglo-Saxon kingdoms Swallow Down design Basham church Timber houses - Bedes World Thatched houses - West StO\VAnglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon hal1- Bayeux Tapestry Clothing - women Saucer brooches and beads Clothing - men Anglo-Saxon harp Drinking horn - Sutton Hoo Claw beaker - Taplow Spoon & fork Plants - fennel & 'wolf's combe' Sutton Hoo ship - half-scale replica Food preparation and a feast Belt buckle - Finglesham Warriors depicted on Sutton Hoo helmet Anglo-Saxon bookhand Anglo-Saxon runes Ruthwell Cross - Hickes Old English manuscript page Bracteate - Undlev Burial mound - Sutton Hoo King's wargear - Sutton Hoo Scrarnasax - "sturdv knife' Map - Offa's Dyke path Anglo-Saxon Warnors Sword hilt - Sutton Hoo Shield - Sutton Hoo Diagram - Anglo-Saxon family structure 9

village

10

Introduction
This book is aimed at those with an interest In the early English past. It has been written as a series of simple questions and concise answers, in the form ofthe 'FAQ' documents which are often used on the internet to give newcomers a background body of knowledge. For those who wish to know more, a short list of books, places to visit and people to contact is given at the end: the books are all currently in print and are accessible to the beginner. The inspiration for this book comes from the many occasions when I have given talks on Anglo-Saxon themes, or acted as a 'costumed interpreter' at a historical site. Questions from the public at these kinds of re-enactment and cultural events can be very entertaining when considered out of context: "Did they have fire then?" or "Didn't they ali just wear skins?" or "Did they really have metal?" Perhaps the inability to distinguish between AngloSaxons and Palaeolithic cave-dwellers stems from the fact that the AngloSaxons are almost invisible in our modern educational time-line ~ the salient points are 'Romans', 'Normans', 'Tudors' and 'Victorians' and everything else melds into a generic groups of fur-wearing, club-wielding savages. More serious - and much harder to answer in a few words - are questions such as "How do you know what Old English sounded like?" or "Couldn't they have kept worshipping their heathen gods away from the church, so it would never have been recorded)" or "\X1hat makes you think they had sails on their ships?" These are intelligent questions over which many books and articles have been written, and the answers are perhaps still not accepted as definitive by all. In these pages you will find an attempt to answer some of those awkward questions you want to ask ~ or would rather someone else asked.

11

Detail ofa gold foil plaque from the rim of the shield found in Mound I (the ship-burial) at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. The design is based on six dragons whose bodies curl over and under each other: their limbs can be seen in the comers of the plate. 12

Glossary of Terms
The letters 0 have the sound 'th ' as in thin and this; the letter x has the sound 'a' in cat.

p and

Words In the Glossary in italics are in the original language (Old English, Old Norse, etc.) Alcuin Northumbrian cleric who worked for Charlemagne re-vive classical learning People of Jutland who settled in eastern Britain One of the Germanic dialects spoken in Britain; the name
to

Angles
Anglian

Angizsc (Angle-ish) came to describe all such languages in

the term 'English'

Anglo-Saxons angon Armorica

ASC Bayeux Tapestry

Generic term for the Germanic inhabitants of Britain Throwing-spear Older (Roman) name for Brittany

Anglo-Saxon Chronic/ex, series of historical documents

written in Old English (OE) Embroidered decoration depicting the Norman invasion of England, housed in Baveux, France Northumbrian and science cleric who wrote several works on history

Bede

Beowulf
British

OE poem about the struggles of an adventurer against monsters, and his progress from hero to kmg Language of lowland Britain; displaced in the post-Roman period by Germanic dialects, it spread into Armorica (renamed Brittany) in the 6'h century Inhabitants of lowland Britain in the pre-Roman period who survived through to the post-Roman period Stronghold, fort Linguistic & cultural grouping in Central Europe; term sometimes used to describe the non-English areas and population of Britain Funerary rite whereby the body is burnt on a pyre and the ashes gathered for burial; forbidden for Christians
13

Britons

burh
Celtic

cremation

Glossary of Terms

cuir bouilli
Danegeld Danelaw

Leather, boiled to harden it, used to make pots, flagons, armour etc. Tax levied by 1Epelr::ed to but peace from the Danes Area of eastern England where Danish customary law was applied under the terms of the peace-treaty between Alfred and Guthrum (1) the Germanic inhabitants of Britain, in contrast to the Wealas or Britons; (2) the Anglo-Saxons in contrast to the Dene or Scandinavians; (3) the language of the AngloSaxons I English. Book of Old English verse housed in Exeter Cathedra! Portable chair Ivory box, nO\\7in the British Museum, carved with scenes from English folklore and the bible reeve, bailiff, estate manager Language & culture of northern Europe, of which Angles, Saxons, Scandinavians, Franks and others were part. Archaeological term for a type of house or workshop with a sunken floor, also called a grub-hut, pit-house or SFB (sunken-featured building) Son of Earl Godwine, an Anglo- Danish nobleman, Harold was declared Icing on the death of the childless Edward the Confessor in Ianuary 1066; he fell at the battle of Hastings 10 October the same year Victorian term for a period in which seven kingdoms emerged in England, roughly 7m and 8ci• centuries Funerary rite whereby the body is buried in the earth People from the lower Rhineland who settled in Kent, the Isle of Wight and part of Hampshire Projection from the bottom of a ship, which helps it to hold a course Layer of lime-based white paint applied to an internal wall
to brighten up the building

Englisc

Exeter book

Ja Ides tol
Franks Casket gerefa Germanic grubenhaus

Harold Godwinesson

Heptarchy inhumation Jutes keel limewash

Lindisfarne
Gospels

Magnificent early Northurnbrian manuscript of late 7'b cenmry date, showing the transition from early Germanic art to the fully-developed manuscript styles of the 8'b century

14

Glossary of Terms long-and-short work DE

peplos

Typically Anglo-Saxon method of building corners in stone Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons
Kind of tubular dress

Piets quernstones Romano-Britons runes rushlight Saxons Saxon Shore

Inhabitants of present northern Scotland Two stones used to grind wheat into flour Inhabitants of Britain in the Roman period
Letters used by the Anglo-Saxons before they became

familiar with Roman methods of book production Cheap form of lamp made from a rush soaked in oil People of northern Germany who settled in southern Britain Series offorts on the south-east coast of Britain and north-east coast of France Early form of silver coin Anglo-Saxon poet or minstrel People from Ireland who settled in north-west Britain a knife or single-edged sword See pegen Member of the landowning class, similar to a mediaeval krught Anglo-Saxon name for the British, origin of the word '\.'{la}es' Legal price attached with his status
to

sceattas scop
Scots

seax thane

begen
Wealas

wergild
Wollaston helmet

a man's life, varying

Type of helmet, named for a Northarnptonshire barrow find, consisting of a deep bowl, nasal, cheek-flaps and a boar-crest; helmets of this type are shown in 7m_8th century Anglo-Saxon art e.g. on the Franks Casket Midwinter festival, partly assimilated to the Christian festival of Christmas

Yule

15

\. M erCla
MierC"e'

.:
1
Mid~el/ E~

East AngJia
East Engle

rJ

~
Middel S""",e

Principal Anglo-Saxon kingdoms before the commg of the Danes ..

16

1. Land & People

Who were the Anglo-Saxons?
Originally the Anglo-Saxons were not a single nation, but a series of generally similar peoples living In northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Many of these tribes had traditions of serving in the Roman military, and some were stationed in Britain in Roman times. On completion of service, they were free to return home but it is not clear whether they were always obliged to do so, or could remain in the area they had been defending. At a point in the early to mid 5'b century, according to the historical records, elements of these folk were invited to assist the Britons In repelling waves of Irish and Pictish invasion. There are different accounts of what happened next, but it seems that the Britons did not honour their end of the deal; either the Britons offered land instead of money because they could not raise the cash, or the warriors saw how poorly defended Britain was and decided to take land for themselves. In either case, by the mid 4005, there were sizeable settlements of Germanic speakers along the North Sea coast from. Edinburgh to Southampton and in the Thames Valley. Over the next 150 years these Germanic settlements spread out and joined up, so that by about 600 the lands of the Anglo-Saxons constituted everything east of the Pennines, the Midlands and most of the West Country. Cornwall and Wales were still independent, and Devon and Cumbria may also have been. It is probable that British (\'qelsh) -speaking areas remained intact for some time, and that the process of formation for the various Germanic states proceeded at different paces. As a general rule, the south and east was Germanic-speaking quite early on, which means that there are very few traces of British in these areas: major rivers (Thames, Humber) and major population centres (London, Lincoln, York, Rochester, Dover) are all that remains. The further west, the greater the survival of the British language: Exeter still had British speaking inhabitants into the lOrh century, and tbe counting system of Cumbrian shepherds were recognisably Welsh-based until Victorian times. The i\nglo-Saxons were not a single people, and may not have been even a formal confederation originally. As well as Angles from Jl.ltland and Saxons from the Elbe-Weser region, there were also Jutes from the lower Rhineland, and Swabians, Franks and Alamanni. However, the Anglian and"

17

Land & People

Saxon elements ",'ere the most prominent and adopted to cover "insular Germanic" identity. Anglisc (Angle-ish, Anglian) was accepted and assumed under the heading Anglisc or Englisc, these 1:'\"0 names were In time, the designation of the national identity was "English".

When did England begin?

In the early years of Anglo-Saxon England, the term Engfisc was used to differentiate between the Germanic settlers and the Britons and Irish. Small kingdoms based round local loyalties coalesced into seven major groups (the Heptarchy). These kingdoms and their people called themselves English; they "were also known as East Angles or South Saxons, each group having its own kings and nobility. At the time of the first Danish Wars, in the early 800s, only four kingdoms were still significant: Northurnbria in the north, East Anglia, Mercia and \X'essex in the south and south-west. The idea of a unified kingdom of all the English took shape in the reign of Alfred the Great, but it was not until his grandson Athelstan's time that it became a reality. Alfred united his people behind a 'Christian English' iden tity which contrasted with that 0 f the 'Heathen Danes' who were his enemies; to do this, he carefully crafted a law-code from the existing documents of King Ine of Wessex, King OHa of Mercia and King Ethelbert of Kent in order to have a single code which all the peoples of southern England could accept. He thereby crafted a single English kingdom out of regional elements. Alfred' son and Athelstan's father, Edward, was King of Wessex but Athelstan was born in the Midlands and managed to claim the loyalty of the people of Mercia as well as Wessex. In 927, the Norse ruler of Northumbria died and Athelstan saw his chance: he annexed the north and brought the whole of England under a single king. He also took tribute from the Scots and \'{'elsh, who recognized him as their overlord. t\ Cornish rebellion was suppressed and the King of England's authority stamped there. Resentment at the rising power of the English grew_ In 937 a huge force of Dublin Vikings, Welsh and Scots mounted an invasion to force Athelstan from the throne. At a battle known as Brunanburh, of which the site is still unknown, the king destroyed the enem~' armies and broke their power for a generatlon. Sadly, Athelstan died two years later: If he had lived to build on his successes, the Danish Wars of the later lOrh century might have been avoided. King Athelstan was a ruler of international standing, whose sisters were married to kings of France and Germanv,

18

Land & People

The idea of 'England' and 'Englishness' did not begin with Alfred, who only styled himself Wesseaxena cyning 'King of Wessex'. It seems likely that the term Englisc 'English(man)' was gaining currency even before Alfred's time as a common identity for the Germanic inhabitants of the British Isles, the majority of whom were probably Angles/English. Sometimes the label Angulseaxe 'Angle.Saxons ',lIaS used in manuscripts, but even in rhe Rth cenmry the continental Saxons were an obdurately heathen people who resisted Charlemagne's efforts at conversion, thousands preferring death to the forced worship of an imposed, foreign god. It is likely that the Seaxe 'Saxon' name had unfortunate associations for their Christian kinsmen and it was perhaps quietly dropped in favour of the Engle 'Angles' name, which had no such overtones.

Were they really Celts?

The term 'Celtic' is often used to refer to the inhabitants of the British Isles in the pre-Roman period, but this is misleading for several reasons. First, archaeology and historical sources show that there was no single identity 111 pre-Roman Britain, but rather a patchwork of tribal chiefdoms or kingdoms; in some of these languages were spoken which were later included in a group labelled 'Celtic' but it is by no means certain that all Britons spoke a 'Celtic' language, and this is especially so in the areas furthest from the south-east where our knowledge fails. Second, the peoples of Britain never called themselves 'Celts', and nor did Roman or Greek observers who came into contact with them; the label was invented and applied by romantic historians in the is- and 19m centuries, often with a nationalist agenda. Third, 'Celtic culture' is a rather vague term which can refer to certain technologies (e.g, iron-working) and art styles (e.g. Hallstatt, La Tene) not all of which were in use in the British Isles. La Tene art, for example, began in the Rhineland and might as easily be associated with groups such as the Belgae as the 'Celts'. In short, 'Celtic' is a name given to people sharing distinctive language, technological and cultural characteristics - it is not in itself an ethnic identity. A problem with making the term 'Celtic' so vague as to be a synonym for 'Iron Age Northern European', It has been possible to argue for a common Celtic identity for the inhabitants of Central and northern Europe, but to do so is to impose a modem, simple idea on a complex ancient situation, The modern working definition of a Celtic people is that they speak or spoke a 'Celtic' language and had a 'Celtic' culture. Celtic languages were spoken in 19

Land & People Britain in historical Urnes, but may have been partly replaced by Latin when Britain was incorporated into the Roman Empire: people would have needed to understand Latin to deal with the government. The British (Celtic) language may have survived in most areas after the Roman departure. The Anglo-Saxons spoke an early form of English which is now called Old English (0£). This was dle hUlgU.tg;~ which replaced British in eastern and southern England and eastern Scotland. Therefore, the Anglo-Saxons did not belong to the Celtic but rather to the Germanic group which includes German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages. Even if we ignore the language evidence, there are some good indicators in the archaeology that show that the Anglo-Sa.xons were different from the British: for example, the British building tradition was for large, round houses while the Anglo-Saxons built long, rectangular ones; the British favoured art styles based on commas, spirals and whorls (La Tene art) while the Anglo-Saxons used animal and geometric patterns adapted ultimately from Scythian and late Roman military styles; Britons used various forms of cloak pm and dress accessory which do not occur among the Anglo-Saxon remains. As many of the British were, like the Anglo-Saxons, northern European peoples, the details of difference between British and AngloSaxons were perhaps not great, but it is dear that some Anglo-Saxon dress items - such as the larger types of square-headed brooch - were distinctive and must have been a bold marker of status and ethnicity.

What about DNA evidence?

Forensic scientists can use D:::-.JA extracted from living or dead tissue to answer questions about identity, Applying the same techniques to ancient DNA is fraught with difficulties. One problem is contamination from handling: to avoid this, forensic scientists "year sterile clothing and work in laboratory conditions, while archaeologists have only recentlv begun to do this. Another problem is degradation - the natural decay of material oyer time: to overcome this, deep muscle tissue is sought, but this almost never survives ill ancient remains. Using various techniques it is possible to recover DNA from samples of tooth and bone, but the conditions are far from ideal. In an effort to surmount the difficulties of using ancient remains, more recently a variety of sampling techniques have been employed, Typically, DNA samples are taken from people whose grandparents all lived in the same location as the descendants bemg tested, on the premise that they are likely to be families which did not move around a great deal, Rural and small-town locations are favoured oyer large towns and cities, because the

20

Land & People population should have been stable for a long time. The results of DNA studies are then plotted on a map, and it is then possible to say that 'people in the West Country tend to have this type of DNA' or 'people in the northeast tend not to have that type of DNA'. As far as it goes, that would be reasonable, if not very informative. The problem is compounded when statements are made of the type 'you have this type of DNA so you are a Celt', or 'vour genes show that your ancestors came from Spain just after the Ice Age', or 'almost no-one in England has Anglo-Saxon DNA, so there cannot have been many Anglo-Saxons who came here in the Dark Ages, so therefore we are all really just British'. None of these statements can be accepted at face value. Ethnic identity is not determined by DNA. First, there is no 'Celtic' DNA, nor 'Anglo-Saxon', nor 'British'. DNA comes in various types of which the easiest to measure are mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which we inherit from our mothers, and Y chromosomes 0DNA) which comes from our fathers and is split into a 'variety of sub-groups. Despite a lot of research, it has not been possible yet to isolate anything which proves membership of one or other group. This is not surprising, since tile history of northern Europe is one of peoples mixing and interacting over millennia; the genes of the English, Irish, Danes and Icelanders are too mixed up for specific markers to be found (although this might change in the future with more research). Secondly, mtDNA comes down through the female line only, therefore it can only provide information about your mother, and her mother, and her mother, and so on. It has been calculated that everyone of European descent is descended from no more than eight women who lived in various parts of Europe between 8,500 and 45,000 years ago. Famously, the skeleton of a man found in the caves at Cheddar from many thousands of years ago was found to have DNA which still occurs in the village. Newspapers immediately stated that tile modern inhabitant was a descendant of the man whose bones had lain in the cave for all that time, but the DNA showed no such thing. fill that could be said is that the skeleton in the cave and the modern man shared a common female ancestor, who lived thousands of years before the Cheddar man. The distribution map hypothesis is the most troublesome. Because using ancient DNA is difficult, scientists prefer mathematical models based on modern DNA distributions. But modern distributions may not coincide with ancient ones - a lot of things have happened in the 1500 years since the Anglo-Saxons arrived including several wars, several plagues, massive depopulation ill the Black Death, massive movement of peoples when the enclosures took place in the early 1800s and even more with the coming of the railways. Places which are small 'villages today may have been more important in the past and have attracted people from far and wide,
21

Laud & People

The science of DNA analysis and genetics is too young to have solved all the problems which beset It. It may one day be possible to distinguish English
from Danish DNA, but as things stand in the early 21" century there is too much that is not fully understood for any sensible statements to be made.

Were the Welsh a threat?

The Anglo-Saxons called their British neighbours Wealas 'foreigners' which may seem undiplomatic, as the country had once belonged to them, but 'foreign' was meant in the sense of the Britons being outsiders - not AngloSaxon. The Wealas were never united under a single king or dynasty, and never acted in U111son,therefore to call them a single 'people' is perhaps misleading: their '\-X;'eIshness' was defined merely as an absence of Englishness. Famously, Cedwalla, a Y<'elsh Christian bog of Gwynedd, allied with Penda, a heathen English king of Mercia, to attack Edwin, a Christian English king of N orthurnbria. Politically expedient alliances of this kind overruled fraternities based on ethnicity, language or religion. The \\lelsh were therefore often a threat because thev could make common cause with enemies of the English - Dublin-based Vikings, for instancebut ill terms of posing a threat to the stability of the later English state no \,(!elsh leader was able to present himself as more than a nuisance.

What about the Scots?

The Scots were a people from Ireland who settled in northwest Britain. The inhabitants of what is now Scotland in the earlier Anglo~Saxon period could be divided into three groups. On the west coast, a nascent Scottish kingdom was extending from Iona into the western mainland; this group spoke Gaelic and had been infiltrating the western des since the 5<11 century. In the north there was a political group 109 called the Picts - but we do not know whether this was a single people, or a group name covering several different identities. The Piers spoke a language of which little record exists: some claim it was an ancient form of 'Celtic', others that it pre-dates Celtic in Britain and perhaps goes back ultimately to Neolithic times ..On the eastern coast from the Firth of Forth southwards, the land was under the control of Northumbrian settlers (i.e. Angles), and was English-speaking. Sometime in the 8rn century, the Pictish identity disappeared - perhaps due to their conquest by the Scots or the creation of a political union of Piers and Scots agalOsr the threat of the Angles. For whatever reason, within a century or

22

Land & People two Gaelic was the language of the highlands, the west coast and the western isles, and the rest of the country was already English-speaking or becoming so. Gaelic is actually, therefore, not a relic of the original language of the north, but is an introduced language (a variant of Irish) which arrived there at about the same time as English did. Anglo-Saxon ambitions in what 15 nuw SCUlhnJ were disturbed by a series of military campaigns, in some of which the N orthumbrians were defeated probably as much by the distances and terrain involved as by military force. By the advent of the Viking Age, there were problems enough on the North Sea without having to look to the northern border. The north of Scotland was sparely populated in Anglo-Saxon times, but settlement by expatriate Norwegians began to take place from around the S'h century. The northernmost part of Scotland is known as Sutherland - the southern land - which lt is when approaching from Norway! The border between England and Scotland was rather fluid down into the Middle Ages and it is fair to say that many of the large and powerful families in the area liked to keep it that way - the rule of a king based in London or Edinburgh meant little in the marches, and few English or Scottish monarchs had the will or the resources to bring this land firmly under control. The Scots were therefore a threat to the northern English far beyond the Anglo-Saxon period.

Why are there Welsh names in the lists of Anglo-Saxon kings?

In the early Anglo-Saxon period - after the fall of Roman power and the dissolution of the provinces of Britannia into smaller political units - societies formed which were based on (assumed) identities: Jutish in Kent, Saxon in Sussex, and so on. These political units became in time fully-fledged kingdoms with ruling families and geographically defined territories - this is the period of the Heptarchy. At this point, with relative stability having been achieved, lt was necessary to look around for alliances against potential threats, and these alliances were often cemented by marrying a noblewoman of one group to a nobleman of the other. In time, the children of these unions rnight come to power and, having been named by their mothers, names from outside the group would appear in the royal line. Processes of this kind were happening across the whole of western Europe in the post-Roman period. In the \'V'est Saxon king-lists names such as Cerdic and Ceawlin stand outthey don't appear to be Anglo-Saxon names at all, and the first is evidently

23

Land & People an anglicised version of the British name Caradoc (Caratacus, Ceretig). It would seem quite plausible that the \i(:'est Saxon ruling family had accepted a British-speaking member, who had named his or her children.

It was not a process confined to Anglo-Saxon and Welsh kingdoms, however: there were Pictish brides among the Northumbrians, for example. Furthermore, the kings of the Ea.st Sa,'\.Ul1:' Call1uu::.ly favoured male names beginning with sfor their kings from Sledd a and Seeberht onwards, but ill the 80l century a man named Offa appears as rex- bearing the name of famous Anglian and Mercian kings, and doubtless the son of an East Saxon king and a Mercian lady.

Why were there so many separate kingdoms?

The break-up of the Roman Empire was effected at different rates 10 different places, but that is not the only reason for the emergence of a patchwork of small kingdoms. The Roman province of Britannia was itself diVIded into four (or sometimes five) smaller units depending on cities for their admmistranonLondon, York, etc. It is likely that when Roman pO\ver was withdrawn, the leaders of these regions decided to act in their own self-interest, and that this resulted in the pursuit of different policies: we might think of the east Midlands being re-populated with dispossessed Germanic n1igrants fleeing their own economic downturn, and brought in to boost the local tax-base and economy; or in the south-east, perhaps Roman civil authority lasted longer, with the recruitment of mercenary troops to act instead of the Roman military in defence of the larger estates, the roads and important strongholds. In the west, perhaps Roman trade continued longer and there was less threat from sea-raiders, so the idea of a Roman state was maintained longer and Germanic presence was not felt. In short, there is not one story of post-Roman Britain but many, and tills fragmentary approach resulted in small chiefdoms and local leaders who saw tile opportunity to seize po\x'er - or perhaps power was thrust on them when the area was attacked and a military presence was needed. The sources of the many peoples who settled were also varied, although some groups were far larger in number than others: Angles, Saxons and Jutes are the canonical trio but there were also Alemanni (whose memory is preserved at Almondbury, Yorkshire), Swabians (Swaffham, Norfolk and Swavesev, Cambridgeshire), Taifali (Tealby, Lincolnshire) and probably many others. The east of England shares its culture with southern Scandinavia (from where the Angles came), while Kent likewise shares with southern Norway for a while, before it falls under the spell of the Franks. How many kings and warlords rose and fell in the conflict which was to bring about a stable political map we will never know.
24

Land & People

Who were the Vikings?

The Old English word vvicingas is used to describe sea-borne raiders from Scandinavia. It is quite rare in Old English sources, where the terms Dene 'Danes', here 'invading army' or hcebne 'heathens' are more usual. In Scandinavia, the term 'Viking' never refers to people but to an activity: ganga i vikingi vestr um hal' to go raiding westwards over the sea', for example. The word Dene 'Danes' covers all Scandinavian raiders but the individual people taking part were of various backgrounds: in modern terms, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians (and later, Icelanders). The notion of a 'Dane' at this time was also quite complex: the Danes were a people of Skane (now in southern Sweden) and the neighbouring island of Zealand, whose authority had only extended into Jutland frorn perhaps the 8th century onwards. In J utland, there were remnants of previous identity (probably the Iuue, the 'Jutes'). A Danish powerbase had therefore already formed but the process of assimilating recently conquered neighbours had not been completed. In Norway, Viking activity was partly a response to the state-building policies of rulers such as Harald Fairhair, whose attempts to wrest control from local chieftains led to voyages of exploration in the North Atlantic and the settlement of Iceland, previously inhabited by a few Irish monks. The Swedes were also in the process of forging a new, common identity from separate elements: the Svear (the original Swedes) were the inhabitants of the Uppbnd reglOn, who were still expanding their influence and rule into the Baltic as wen as the Scandinavian mainland. In view of an these upheavals arising from political consolidation, there were a great many disinherited noble families whose choices lay between accepting the authority of a local aristocrat newly raised to the position of 'king', or setting off in search of a better life elsewhere. In recent years, there has been a tendency to rehabilitate the Vikings - to stress their pOSltlVequalities as adventurers, traders, craftsmen, storytellers, poets, explorers and settlers. They were, however, implacable foes who used their superior weight of numbers, their maritime technology and the remoteness of their homelands to reduce their victims to the level of slaves. They founded no lasting political entities In Europe: they were themselves escapIng consolidation at home, and their gains in western Europe (the Danelaw in England, Normandy In northwest France) soon ceased to exist. In Iceland, by contrast, where they were not confronted by a previous organisational structure, they set up one of the earliest mediaeval experiments in social organisation - a land without a king, governed by a college of local headmen operating as equals.

25

Land & People

What was the climate like?

Towards the later part of the Anglo-Saxon period (9th to 11 th centuries) the climate was rather warm - a few degrees warmer than it is today. This enabled the Anglo-Saxons to grow grapes and produce wine in quantity.

In the mid 500s there was a very bleak period lasting a decade or so in which
the weather was cool and there was little sunshine. ThIS may be linked to volcanic activity in the Indian Ocean or a comet exploding in the atmosphere, either of which events would have caused a layer of ash or dust to screen out the sunlight. Events such as this may have gone into folklore as the Norsefimbulvetr or Great Winter.

Was England covered in thick forest?

Lowland Britain was largely cleared of its pnmary forest in Neolithic times, thousands of years before the Anglo-Saxons arrived. Early farmers used a technique called slash-and-burn to remove trees and clear the soil for cultivation. By Roman times, Britain was producing huge quantities of gram. After the Roman economic downturn, in the mid 4rh century, there is evidence in some areas for secondary woodland, which happens when fields go out of cultivation and trees and shrubs move back in. It has been estimated that late Anglo-Saxon England was about 15% forested, which is a little more than nowadays but still far from dense woodland everywhere. Before mediaeval drainage opened up areas of East Anglia, Essex, Lincolnshire and Sussex, marshland and swampy, boggy areas consisting of reed beds intersected by sluggish streams would have been common and in these conditions clumps of willow and other water-tolerant trees would have been common. The Anglo-Saxons certainly managed their woodland by cutting back the branches or trunk of trees to create pollards, which are shown on the Bayeux tapestry - this encourages the rapid growth of tall, straight wood ideal for building and for making tools. They also encouraged the growth of larger trees with a view to using the wood for building and for ships.

26

Land & People

Were their lives "nastu, brutish and short"?

life expectancy in Anglo-Saxon times was lower than it is today - which is hardly surprising in view of the great medical breakthroughs of the 19th and 20th centuries. With a healthy diet and rigorous work, Anglo-Saxon people were generally healthier than most people had been up to the early 20"' century. Life expectancy is difficult to assess but it seems that the early years were the most hazardous, and that the ones who managed to survive beyond their fifth birthday had every chance of living into their late 40s. Warfare was not endemic in Anglo-Saxon England, but there were always possibilities of violence to be expected; furthermore, workplace injuries and accidental falls could be fatal if bones were broken and infection set in. The main danger to women was child-bearing. Medical techniques were very advanced for the age: broken bones could be set; fevers and infections could be reduced; diseases such as jaundice and leprosy could be treated; even skull injuries could be dealt with. Salves, potions and surgery were all available to Anglo-Saxon physicians. Bathing and hygiene were considered important and the necessity of keeping wounds dean and dressed was recognised. Infection from wounds received in battle probably accounted for more warrior deaths than slaughter on the battlefield. The incidence of bad teeth was low due to the lack of refined sugar in the diet, but problems such as arthritis must have been common as the tough, physical work most people undertook would have worn out joints. In a society where prosperity depended on effort, the Anglo~Saxons were accustomed to harsher physical conditions than we would accept today. However, not having ever slept on a sprung mattress 111 a centrally heated room, they would not have missed such luxuries, especially as feathers and hay were available as bedding material. They certainly took pleasure in games and songs, eating and drinking, competing and celebrating much as we do today.

What were the burial customs?

In Christian times, the main burial custom was interment in a shroud without grave-goods, sometimes inside a wooden coffin, in a plot within a churchyard. The head was placed to the east. This was the approved rite, although there were exceptions: some important people were buried beneath the floor of the church. King Harold's brother Gyrth is said to be buried in the church at

27

Land & People Basham (Sussex) and there are conflicting traditions concerning the king: some say he was also buried at Bosham; others that he was buried at Waltham (Essex) where he held large amounts of land; others that he lived out ills days as a hermit in the northwest, and was buried in an unmarked grave. Criminals and non-Christians could be buried in unconsecrated ground, often at a crossroads. In pre-Christian times, there was a range of burial practIces available, of which the main ones were inhumation (burial in the ground) and cremation (burning of the body). Cremated bones were removed from the pyre and collected in a pot, box or bag which was then buried. Often symbolic grave-goods such as a knife, brooch or miniature comb would be included with the charred bones. The ceramic urns Vi-ereoften elaborately decorated, but the boxes and bags have all perished. Sometimes cremation urns were put in an existing burial mound, and others rna)' have been covered with a purpose-built mound of their own. Inhumations are usually accompanied by some graye-goods: typically a knife and spearhead for a male, brooches and beads for a female. Children from the age of about 10 received adult treatment; younger children often had a token offenng such as a single bead worn at (he neck Some burials contain no grave-goods, but it is not certain what this means: interpretations vary between early Christians buried among pagans, Romano-Britons buried among Anglo-Saxons, and slaves who had no possessions to take with them. It is unlikely that one explanation fits all circumstances, and furthermore it is probable that many graves contained items (e.g. rich clothing, wooden tools, drinking horns) which have not survived. A few spectacular burials under mounds are known, including Sutton Hoo, Taplow, Prittlewell, Benry Grange, Asthall and Broomfield. In pre-Christian cemeteries it is not uncommon to find a mixture of burial customs, indicating an attitude of tolerance in religious belief and custom.

What happened to the Anglo-Saxons?

This is an interesting question: It assumes that the Anglo-Saxons are no longer here in England, and in a sense this is true. \'{'e don't call ourselves "Anglo-Saxon" any more and we don't speak as they did, dress in the same clothes and so on. The fact is that the Anglo-Saxons didn't go anywhere, but the political, economic and military leadership changed in 1066 and with it the notion of the state being run by and for the benefit of the English. The Anglo-Saxons called themselves Anglisc or Englisc (English) but the state was run and ruled

28

Land & People

by men who had no claim to this description, the Normans. It became expedient for the new ruling class to play down the achievement of the Englisc during the previous 600 years and to highlight the glories of the new order: Romanesque art, armoured cavalry and all the rest. The idea that Angles lived in Angle-land was quietly suppressed, as was the essential continuity from the Germanic settlement of the 5th ccotuiT to the modern nation. It is thought that following the Norman invasion many of the English bands of warriors and seamen who together formed ship crews, sailed to Byzantium where they took service with the Eastern Empire in the Varangian Guard. Many dispossessed English nobles probably made the same journey. Edgar the Atheling, the only surviving male member of the Wessex royal line, was already 111 exile in Hungary. Although some went abroad, the vast majority of the English remained in England where they went on speaking English and observing their English customs. The Norman invasion and conquest affected the language over time, but the orman identity was soon lost - the royal family was ousted by Angevins within three generations. \'V'hile Norman French was the language of the royal courts for more than a century, by the 1200s, Englishthe language of the workers, warriors, merchants and most of the clergy was being written again and a thriving literature of verse and prose was once agaIn available to English people in their own language.

29

A metal mount from a satchel found in a burial mound at Swallowcliffe Down, Wiltshire. The design is based on two interlaced bands.

30

2. Buildings
can we tell if a building has Anglo-Saxon work in it?
HOID

It takes the practiced eye of an expert to tell for sure, but many English churches have Anglo-Saxon parts still in them. Things to look out for are: .:. Long-and-short work on the corners (see Basham. church page 33);

.:0

A relatively tall and narrow nave, with doorways which ate low and narrow (but of course many have been remodelled in later centuries); with a baluster pillar in the middle

.:. Characteristic window-openings (see Basham church page 33);

.:. Courses of re-used Roman tile set into load-bearing walls. There are also several churches which have Anglo-Saxon remains in the churchyard - fragments of cross-shaft, for example. These may not indicate the age of the building, but the presence of a 9'h century cross-shaft implies that a religious building may have stood on the spot, perhaps made of wood and later replaced by a mediaeval stone structure.

How much of their building work survives?

Although timber was the favoured building material until the invention of mass-produced clay bricks in Victorian times, there are many buildings still standing in which Anglo-Saxon period material has been identified. Most are churches, as one would expect, and it is not difficult to spot Anglo-Saxon buildings - they are generally taller and narrower than the standard forms of mediaeval church, with smaller doorways, Most areas of the country have examples of Anglo-Saxon structures. The tiny village of Deerhurst (Gloucestershire) actually has two: seventh century material in the main church and an 11 rh century chapel later incorporated into a residential building. As regards building in wood, the oldest wooden church in the world is the tiny example at Greenstead, Essex, which is over a thousand years old. The structure dates from the 11 th century and legend has it that the body of St. Edmund rested here on its route from East Anglia to London. It is built

31

Buildillgs

from huge oak trunks, split along their length and trimmed to corner posts are three-quarter rounds. Each trunk has a recess edge of its inner, t1at surface to hold a weatherproofing panel. had a belltower and porch added in the Tudor period and was brick foundations in Victorian times. There are a few churches which are believed in place.
to

shape. The on either The church put onto doors still

have Anglo-Saxon

The skill with which the Saxon builders handled the construction of this building should not surprise us: their woodworking tradition was second to none, and in the 9th century they were building ships which outfought the Vikings' famous longships.

Did they have toilets?

Villages appear to have had a designated pit for use as a toilet, where human and animal waste was deposited. Once it became full, it was covered over with earth and another was dug. As with modern cornpost heaps, after a period the rotted material could be used to fertilise the fields. Sometimes, urine was collected for use in tanning and dyeing processes.

What is 'long-and-short' work?

One of the characteristic features of Anglo-Saxon masonry IS called 'longand-short work'. This is a method of strengthening the corners of stone buildings. The stones used for the walls were often re-used parts of older buildings and were rather small, so it was very important to have solid corners in order to keep the building stable. Cornerstones were used which were laid alternately horizontally and vertically, binding the "vall-courses together and using the weight of the stone above to hold the wall firmly in place. This results in alternate long and flat stones on the corners - hence the name 'long-and-short work'.

32

Buildings

Tower of the church at Bosham (Sussex) showing detail of the long-and-short work and characteristic splayed windows. 33

BUildings

Are there any Anglo-Saxon castles?

'Castles' are a mediaeval phenomenon, and one associated with the Norman and Angevin kings who used the presence of military might to impose their law on those they ruled. The Anglo-Saxons did not have castles as such, but they did have fortified towns called burh (plural byrig), the origin of our word 'borough' and place-names ending in -borough, (Middlesborough) and -bury (Cadbury).

Did they have palaces?

Anglo-Saxon Icings certainly did have royal residences. In Anglo-Saxon times, kings did not usually remain in one place for long, but travelled round their kingdoms gathering taxes, settling legal disputes and handling other administrative matters. They stayed with the local leaders and lived off their hospitality ot feorm, the duty to put up the king and his entourage for a given time. However, kings also held land for themselves and had royal estates, both working farms and specialist places such as hunting lodges. On these estates there were probably splendid feasting hails which could hold large gatherings. Not many of these buildings have been detected, but it is notable that the royal site at Cheddar - favoured by Alfred the Great - certainly had a number of large timber structures. The larges t hall was 24 by 5.5 metres (17ft x 18ft) and there were other buildings on the site: a church, kitchen and others of uncertain purpose. Other royal sites are known to have been located in London, Winchester, Canterbury, York, Tamworth. The remains of a probable palace complex were excavated at Yeavering, Northumberland, where there was a large "grandstand" at which meettngs were probably held ..

'What sorts of houses did they have?

In northern Europe in the Iron Age, a type of longhouse was common - a barn-like building in which the family lived at one end and the livestock was housed at the other. There is no evidence for these structures in England, and in the coastal areas from which the Anglo-Saxons came they were already going out of fashion in the 4th century. Anglo-Saxon settlements in the early period usually consist of a large rectangular building (a hall) and a number of outbuildings. Some of these may have been workshops and store-rooms, but some may have been 34

Buildings sleeping accommodation for sleeping in too. too. But it may be the case that the hall was used

There are few examples of Anglo-Saxon domestic architecture still standing, but there is one Anglo-Saxon house which is still inhabited: a 'mediaeval' house called Priors Hall at Widdington, Essex, was scheduled for repair in 1988 and the workmen discovered that the construction technique involved long-and-short quoins, a distinctive Anglo-Saxon feature which was already obsolete by the end of the 10'" century.

Timber houses and an enclosure for livestock at Bede's World, Northumberland.

35

Buildings

Thatched houses at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village, Suffolk.

Mat are Pit-Houses?

The Anglo-Saxon 'pit-house' (also known as a Grubenhaus or SunkenFeatured Building (SFB)) was a lund of practical store-room which is found on many early Anglo-Saxon sites. Typically they consist of a small, rectangular pit - perhaps 2m x 4m - which has almost no evidence for internal structure: often, just a post-hole in the centre of the shorter sides. They are usually envisioned as a kind of more permanent variety of tent, the pit having been cleared of earth which formed a low wall round the perimeter, and the two posts holding up a roofridge aga.tnst which two thatched panels could be leant as a roof. It is likely that the Anglo~Saxons used these buildings as store-rooms, workshops, weaving sheds and temporary accommodation. A similar form of structure was in use in rural southern England into the 20th century as a woodturning workshop. Pit-houses often show signs of not having lasted very long, and the pit might then have been used as a rubbish dump or toilet. Some appear to have been a bit grander than the name suggests, with

36
-

-------_.

Buildings

a raised, spnmg floor above the pit which was used to keep the floorboards away from the damp soil. Occasional finds of brooches and other valuable items in the base of pit-houses imply that once something fell through the t1oorboards, it could not easily be retrieved.

Feasting in the upper storey of an Anglo-Saxon hall as shown on the Bayeux Tapestry. The lower storey or undercroft was used for storage.

What about furniture?

It is not necessary to assume - as some writers have done - that the Anglo-

Saxons lived in rough wooden sheds surrounded by squalor. They were expert woodworkers and there are many Continental examples of wooden furniture such as would have continued in use in England; sadly, the English soil does not favour the survival of wood, so there is little direct evidence. Chairs, stools and benches were common - the latter were for the ordinary members of the community, while chairs and free-standing seats were reserved for their leaders: in Scandinavia, an heir could not inherit until he had fulfilled the burial rites and drunk the special drink of ale at the funeral, after which he was entitled to sit in the high-seat. A remarkable pot-lid from Spong Hill (Norfolk) shows a man seated on a chair, deep in thought. The princely grave at Prittlewell (Essex) contained the metal frame of afaldestol

37

BUildings ~ a folding chair which could be taken around with the user. (Incidentally faldestol is the origin of the French wordfauleuil 'arm-chair") Tables or boards were used for dining but seem to have a folding trellis support so that they could be stored out of the way when not needed. As houses and halls were not large and the hearth took up quite a lot of room, it would have been impractical to leave tables sec up when (he space was needed for other activities. Wooden beds were certainly known, and some 7m century women were actually buried on theirs. With joints held by pegged tenons and covered by linen sheets and woollen or fur coverings, there would be little to discover of an Anglo-Saxon bed after 1500 years. There is pictorial evidence for cupboards in monasteries, used to store scrolls, but no surviving examples. In most households, chests would be a more likely form of container, and the possession of the keys to the chests was one of the housewife's symbols of status. Floors were usually wooden or beaten earth, and presumably strewn with rushes or straw and swept daily to keep them clean. Walls may have been covered with plaster and painted with limewash to brighten up the interior, as was certainly done in churches. Perhaps coloured decoration was also present, and wallhangings of tapestry or embroidered fabric may have been popular. Illumination would have been from metal sconces and candles in well-to-do households, or from rushlights where there was less affluence.

Where are their settlements?

In England and Lowland Scotland, most towns, villages, hamlets and farms have names that probably go back to Anglo-Saxon times. It actually is easier to try to identify older British-based place names, or those which are more recent. One of the reasons that evidence for Anglo-Saxon towns is so patchy is that most of them are still in use, and any remains are buried beneath modern town layouts. Occasionally, a property development uncovers an amazing array of finds, which just serves to remind us of how much is either lost (destroyed by later development) or still awaits discovery. The excavation at Coppergate in York and at Queenhythe and the Royal Opera House in London both produced waterlogged finds of exceptional interest.

38

3. Clothing & Appearance

How did men and women dress?
Anglo-Saxon men and women seem to have taken great trouble over their appearance. There is a good deal of evidence for both splendid and functional clothing from the period. To generalise, men wore a basic woollen shirt or tunic over an undershirt, hitched up at the waist with a belt. Trousers were close-fitting and calf- or ankle-length, and a loincloth or undergarment was worn beneath. At the ankles, a kind of puttees or gaiters were worn to protect the lower trouser legs. Shoes of leather were worn, either ankle-height or somewhat higher. A cloak pinned at the right shoulder completed the ensemble. The Bayeux Tapestry shows workmen digging wearing just their shirts. Shoes could be re-soled as they wore out, but may have been confined to outdoor use. Women are shown wearing floor-length dresses in multiple layers, each hitched up to reveal the one beneath. (It may be that the number and richness of garments worn reflected wealth and status.) They appear to have worn identical shoes to those of men, and hose or stockings fastened with tapes. A headrail or wimple is the distinctive feature of female costume: this was pinned to the sides of the head and hung to the shoulders, where one end was thrown back over the opposing shoulder. Anglo-Saxon men of the pagan period apparently showed off their wealth by decorating their women: female graves often feature a girdle with ornamental features, from which hang a pouch or purse, a set of keys, a knife, a toilet set, a crystal magnifying glass and other sundries. Men commonly have a metal belt buckle and a knife, but no other recognisable decoration. (They might have had richly decorated fabric in their clothing but this does not survive. Some pictures of warriors have decoration on their tunics which may be embroidered motifs.) From the scraps of material which have survived (some religious garments, occasional waterlogged finds, impressions left on rusted metal objects) it seems that Anglo-Saxon clothing was warm and extremely well-made. The fabric was all spun, carded and woven by hand with great skill. Both men and women appear to have been involved in the process. Among the more exotic and unusual items known in Anglo-Saxon times are silks, which were imported from the Near East; beaverskin and other furs, 39

Clothing & Appearance

some native and others imported from Scandinavia; a kind of cotton (fustian) from the Middle East via Italy. Undershirts were made from linen, which could be flax-based like the modern product, but could also be made from fibrous plants such as nettles. Dyes from animal (murex), vegetable (walnut, woad, greenweed, and many others) and mineral (ochre, lapis lazuli) sources WCl:C used, fixed with salt, club moss or urine to make the colour fast.

Did they have changingfashions?

Our best evidence comes from the pre-Christian period, when there are certainly regional styles of dress and developments in such dress - probably reflecting innovations and new ideas brought in from elsewhere. To the extent that costume expressed rank, status, ethnicity and wealth, fashions certainly did change. There is no reason to think that this stopped when people stopped burying their dead in their indoor clothes. The adoption of new styles of sword, shield or axe certainly implies an openness to changing ideas about the design of wargear, which rather supports this notion. Changing fashions in dress, manners, language and religious observance were used to reinforce identities and consolidate privileges,

What is a peplos dress?

Early Anglo-Saxon female costume consisted of a linen shift and over it an outer garment, woven as a tube and fastened at the shoulders with brooches. This method of production and manner of wearing it resembles the peplos, a tube of fabric worn by classical Greek women, and it is usually given this name in the literature.

Did they have buttons?

There is no evidence for buttons from Anglo-Saxon England. However, the technology was certainly known and there are clothing-fasteners which appear to have used the same idea. (Reinforcing the button hole might have been very arduous uSlOg only needle and thread, though.) Clothes appear to have been fastened with metal pins and brooches for the wealthy; poorer people probably had to use wooden or bone pins, or even a thorn.

40

Clothing & Appearance

Left: Right:

Typical pepJos dress worn with a linen shift. (Photo: L. Kerr) High status Kentish fashion of the later 6th century (imitating the Frankish styles).

41

Clothing & Appearance

Did they wear make-up?

Make-up and cosmetics were certainly known in the mediaeval period, but direct evidence for this in Anglo-Saxon England is lacking. We know, for example, that men and women took trouble over their appearance, because combs, tweezers, scissors, ear-scoops and other toiletry tools appear In the archaeological records. The nuns of Barking Abbey were rebuked for wearing fashionably decorative clothing. We also know that the means of creating make-up were available - various salves were grease-based and could have been coloured to mask the burn or scar beneath. In the 1st century BC, Caesar describes Germanic (Swabian) warriors caught unawares while dying their hair in a stream - the colour of their hair apparently added to their image of ferocity. In the 1sr century AD, Tacitus describes a Germanic tribe as having adopted the practice of blackening their weapons, clothes and bodies so that they could attack unseen at nightthis shows that skin-colorants were certainly available and their uses appreciated. The Visigoths in Spain referred to a pink skin colorant, which was favoured by prostitutes. It may be that the use of such artificial aids to beauty were not really approved of, at least by the people who wrote manuscripts. If colorants were available, it is likely that they would have been quick to fade and the effects would have been quite muted; without modern chemicals, the dyes would have been derived from finely ground materials of animal, vegetable or mineral origin.

Why are there

so

many female dress accessories?

It is not necessarily the case that Anglo-Saxon women were better-dressed than their male consorts, but it is true that we have better evidence for female dress than for male. This is because people were normally dressed in their indoor clothes when they were buried - before the Christian period, at least - and female clothes were secured by a number of pins, hooks and brooches made from metal, some of which have survived reasonably well. Male dress might have been every bit as lavish, but the metal parts which survive are usually the belt-buckle and knife-blade.

42

Clothing & Appearance

Two saucer-brooches with a swag of decorative glass beads, as worn by fashionable women in the south-east of England In the 6th and 7lh centuries.

43

Clothing & Appearance

Why were knives so common?

Knives survive quite well in the grave, and are among the most frequently found items with males and females. They were a common, multi-purpose tool which every adult would need to keep by him- or herself. After the period of pagan burial rites, knives still occur frequently as casual losses in the soil, and are found in quantity by modern metal-detectors.

Did they wear jewellery?

There is quite a lot of jewellery from the pre-Christian period, and most of it is of a very high quality. Changing fashions and different local traditions mean that the type of brooch a woman wore would tell the viewer something about her: her 'tribe', her social position and her family'S wealth. Apart from showy brooches, women wore necklaces, earrings, bracelets and in some areas had metal fittings on their dresses. \v'hile men did not usually wear jewellery - other than a cloak pin and a finger-ring - they lavished time and money on hrghquality fittings for their weapons and belts, which were also a badge of rank. Gold, silver, bronze, amber, gemstones, jet, ivory and glass were used to make and adorn brooches, pendants, decorative buckles and clasps. In Christian times, a cross-shaped pendant worn on the chest made in gold and set with jewels was a sign of a wealthy churchman. Techniques such as gilding, filigree wire, chip-carving and intricate stone-setting were practiced. Even quite humble copper-alloy pins and brooches feature decoration in the form of patterns of incised lines and circles, made to catch the light and sparkle.

Did they wear skins and furs?

There is a popular view of early mediaeval people wearing thick fur jackets; so far, there is no evidence for this. Skins and furs were an important part of the economy, and fine quality furs were much prized in southern Europe, where they were difficult to obtain. Anglo-Saxon and Viking traders probably profited from supplying the Mediterranean market with these products. There is very little evidence for Anglo-Saxon people wearing furs, although in later mediaeval limes garments trimmed with some kinds of fur were very valuable. This may be due to the rarity of the animals rather than the desirability of the furs themselves.

44

Clothing & Appearance Animal skins were certainly used for a variety of purposes, such as books and documents, waterproof wrappers, and probably also seat covers and bedding. Leather was manufactured, used for clothing, belts, knife sheaths, sword scabbards, bottles and cups and various other uses, mostly exploiting the fact that leather could be rnoulded when wet and once dry it would retain its shape but become very hard. It is possible that some forms of armour were made from a specially treated form of leather known by the French term cuir bouilli. Belts of the most expensive kinds were more often woven from multicoloured braid than cut from leather.

What about headgear?

Any form of headgear does not seem to have been fashionable for men in the Anglo-Saxon period although manuscripts often show men wearing a strange close-fitting hat with a prominent forward-pointing peak, called a Phrygian cap. Whether these garments were ever 'seen on the streets' of Anglo-Saxon England is unknown. A square-sided hat like a pill-box, called a Pannonian cap, is worn by a small seated figure moulded into the lid of a cremation urn from Spong Hill (Norfolk). (see next page) The other form of male headgear is the military helmet, for which there is some evidence. Finds of four certain examples are known: Benty Grange, Wollaston, Sutton Hoo Mound 1, Coppergate (York) with a probable fifth example at Newhaven (near Benty Grange). Fragments of helmets have also been found at Caenby and Dumfries. All these are quite elaborate forms of headgear which would probably have belonged to high-ranking warlords or kings - although the Wollaston example is less glamorous and may be more like the helmets of the thanes. Anglo-Saxon warriors on the Franks Casket and the Aberlemno stone are shown wearing helmets similar to the Wollaston type. Women's headgear consisted a f the hrage! or 'headrail', a long scarf which covered the hair and could be draped around the neck and throat; in manuscript illustrations they often have decorative borders and tassels. For women working round open fires in the kitchen or serving in the hall, it would have been important not to allow free-flowing hair to come t60 close to naked flames. It is probable that girls wore their hair loose and uncovered, and that the donning of the headrail marked the transition to married status - indeed the bridal veil today may recall this rite of passage.

45

Clothing & Appearance

Male dress of the 5th - 6th century as modelled into the lid of a cremation urn from Spong Hill, Norfolk. The man wears a low pillbox hat and a long-sleeved tunic, tight-fitting trousers but no shoes. He is seated on a carved (wooden?) chair.

46

4. Food, Drink & Fun

Are there any Anglo-Saxon jokes?
Jokes and similar frivolous matter were not normally recorded in mediaeval Europe as the church - which was responsible for the greatest part of the output of written material- did not really approve of such uses for valuable ink and parchment Nevertheless, there is a unique collection of Old English verse - the Exeter Book - which does contain a series of riddles. Riddles were considered a respectable form of entertainment, as they provided an intellectual challenge, and indeed the Anglo-Saxons seem to have been very fond of them. The renowned Alcuin may have composed some (under the Latin name enigmcey and Aldhelm is associated with some others, also in Latin. The Old English ones are anonymous and many of them are a long way from the sobriety of the Latin tradition. Here is an example from the Exeter Book no.44: Wrcetlic hongao bi weres pea frean under sceate Joran is pyrel bio stip ond heard stede hafao godne ponne se esne his regen hrcegl ofer cneo hefeo wile beet cube hal mid his hangellan heafde gretan ace! he efenlang cer oft gefylde A wonder hangs by a man's thigh under a lord's shirt - its forepart is pierced, it is stiff and hard and has a good standing when his own tunic the workman lifts over his knee, that familiar hole he wishes to meet with the head of his dangler of the same length, which he often filled before. The answer is, of course, a key - which Anglo-Saxon men wore attached to the trouser-belt beneath the outer garments. To get to the key, the user had to lift his shirt up and insert the front of it into the keyhole. Obviously the double entendre element here is very strong, but this kind of verbal dexterity was very much prized - and early Anglo-Saxon art also seems to have 47

Food, Drink & Fun

delighted in visual riddles, such as the face on the Sutton Hoo helmet which is formed into the shape of a bird. It is no accident that an alternative name for a poet was hleahtorsmi]i 'laughter-smith, one who makes merriment' and it may be that Anglo-Saxon halls rang with laughter as often as they were filled with gasps as the listeners were thrilled with tales of heroic virtue.

What musical instruments did they have?

The principal musical instrument of the Anglo-Saxons was the hearpe - our word 'harp' but meaning what we would call a six-string lyre. This was the instrument which the scop -- a poet or storyteller - used to accompany his verse; sometimes, one man made the verse while another played beside him. Drums were known: the name is tunnebotm or bydenbotm 'barrel-bottom' which suggests that they were either made from old barrels, with a skin stretched over the open end, or perhaps that coopers were responsible for making them. Brass instruments are shown in manuscript illustrations, although none have survived. The technology required to create long funnel-shaped tubes certainly existed in Anglo-Saxon England, working in metal or wood. Horns - aside from their use in drinking - may have been blown both in war and for entertainment. \l7hlstles made from long, thin bones were certainly used - examples have been found at York - as well pipes made from elder-wood.

What was Anglo-Saxon music like?

From a study of Anglo-Saxon poetry we can discover some aspects of their songs - although this is really confined to the metre of the verse, and therefore it points only to the rhythm of the songs. As far as we can tell, the strong beat-counting, end-rhymed verse which was developed in the Middle Ages did not exist in Anglo-Saxon times and it therefore seems likely that the rhythm of songs sung by scopas would have been quite free. The tempo may have been varied in any case to convey a particular mood or musical effect. We cannot recapture any melodies from Anglo-Saxon times, and indeed it is not certain what musical scale they used. The six-stringed lyre implies a scale based on six notes, and such a scale is known from mediaeval times: the pentatonic scale, which consists of the 'black notes' on a modern piano. Musical notation does exist on the continent, but so far no usable examples have been found in Anglo-Saxon contexts.

48

Food, Drink & Fun When working in the fields, heaving a load or rowing a boat it is likely that very rhythmic chants would have been used, but if so they have not been identified: perhaps some of the songs known from mediaeval times were actually composed to existing tunes?

_.

:
;

:'

1•

:
: ,:

\:

. :"i'
! i

!:

Reconstruction of the hearpe found at Bergh Apton, Norfolk.

49

Food, Drink & Fun

What did they eat and drink?

The diet in Anglo-Saxon times was actually not very different from what we think of as 'traditional' English cooking today. Of course some common modern foodstuffs were not available - turkey meat, tomatoes, potatoes, tea and coffee - but perhaps surprisingly some 'modern' foods were available: for example, refined sugar, pepper, pies, sandwiches and sausages. Saltwater fish were caught in coastal areas, but most fishing took place in freshwater, so that trout (sceota) and eels (ada) were more common meals than cod (codd) or haddock. In the event of a beaching, whales would be cut up for steaks (and the blubber, skin and bones used for other purposes). Favourite fruits included apples, pears, rnedlars (resembles the crab apple), plums, cherries, grapes and various berries (raspberries, strawberries and blackberries were the commonest). Aside from standard forms of roast meat and stew, the Anglo-Saxons enjoyed pies, soup or broth, and sausages. Pies and sausages made with cooked meat and yegetables were favoured as a means of keeping the filling in an edible air-tight container, which presen.-es it. Bread was an important staple of the diet. The rough mechanisms of the saddle- or rotary-querns meant that small pieces of grit were included in the meal. The effect of this was to gradually wear u"\vaythe grmding surfaces of the teeth of people eating bread. The resulting flour was sieved and graded, to produce different types of bread: a flat, unleavened bread; wholemeal and a highly-refined white bread were standard forms. From wheat flour thev also made cakes (probably similar to scones, s"\,-eetened wirh honey) and crumpets. A meal of bread with butter and a filling was used; the' filling' (smeoru) could be a kind of paste or spread . .A type of relish or sauce (sufT) was also eaten with bread. Milk was a common drink - CO\\-'S, sheep's or goat's being used. Excess milk was used to make butter and whey - a soured milk product like modern yoghurt. The curds were also consumed, as was the buttermilk extracted in butter-making. Cheeses - both hard and soft types - were a popular preserved food. Pepper and other exotic imports were highly pnzed and were valuable commodities. They formed an important part of the exchange networks across Christian areas of Europe and the Near East.

30

Food, Drink & Fun

What about alcohol?

To wash down the meal, the Anglo-Saxon had a variety of drinks. Commonest was water, but due to the uncertain nature of water supplies some form of fermented drink was favoured - the alcohol would kill off any lurking bacteria. Ale could be brewed from malt to different strengths ranging from a very light amber type through to a stronger heavy, dark brew. It could be flavoured with hops, but alternatives such as the plant alehoof and the leaves of gale (a shrub also known as bog myrtle) were probably more common at this time. Honey was sometimes added to aid fermentation. Wine was produced in southern England, and cider was made from spoilt or surplus apples. Mead was brewed from honey, often flavoured with seeds or spices. Another drink was bear, the same word as modern 'beer' but probably not the same drink (beer was called ealu 'ale'). It may have been a fruit drink - perhaps a fruit "vine - or a barley wine,

How did they cook their meals?

The main methods of preparing food were roasting, boiling, baking, and frying although for the latter a measure of refined cooking oil was needed (the OE for 'fried' is elebacen 'oil-baked'). Meat could be roasted on a spit over a hearth, but in most households no doubt it was more often boiled in a stew with vegetables and dumplings called cepplas 'apples'. Cooking pots of rough ceramic are found on many domestic sites - often broken and discarded. Iron or brass cauldrons were also used, although they probably formed the serving vessels for food cooked 10 clay pots. Some food could be eaten raw - for example nuts, berries, and salad vegetables such as cucumbers, onions, lettuce and fennel - as well as forming ingredients in cooked dishes.

What tableware did they have?

Dishes, bowls and plates were known but most would have been made from wood and turned on a lathe; horn bowls and leather containers may also have been used. Very high-status tableware consisted of planished (hammered and polished) silver or bronze bowls and dishes, decorated with punched ornamentation and repousse (hammered embossing) motifs. From comparison with Norse and other records, 1t appears that at formal meals a series of tablecloths would be used, allowing layers to be removed as the meal progressed.
51

Food, Drink &

FUll

Did they drink out of horns?

Drinking horns with large and impressive metal fittings have been found in several of the high-status seventh century graves such as Sutton Hoo Mound 1, Taplow, Pri ttlew ell. Such showy Items are unlikely to have been unique and it 15 quite probable that plainer versions without metal fittings would have been in wider use. Polished and carved horn can look very impressive, and if the carved detail were stained that would enhance the visual effect. For the less affluent, cups made from horn consisting of a tubular section and a base-plate may have been used: they are certainly known from later mediaeval times, but there is nothing in the technology of their manufacture that was not known to the Anglo-Saxons. For most people of moderate means, cups of wood turned on a lathe would have been the most common form of drinking vessel. Pottery may also have been used, but Anglo-Saxon ceramics were not often glazed and, lacking a smooth surface, would not have been suitable for tableware. Metal cups may have been muse - they are certainly known from Viking age Scandinavia and metal chalices ",'ere made for religious purposes. These would have been high-status objects.

Rim of a drinking hom from Sutton Hoo. One of a pair of magnificent feasting vessels, made from the horns of an aurochs.

Opposite page ~Clawbeaker from Taplow, Berkshire. The extruded claws with their shaped decorative trails make these vessels very distinctive. Early 7th century

52

Food, Drink & Fun

53

Food, Drink & FUll

Did they use cutlery?

Every Anglo-Saxon man, woman and child has his or her own small knife which served a hundred utilitarian purposes, one of which was to cut up food. Cutlery consisted of the ubiquitous personal knife (meteseax) for cutting food, and a wooden, horn or metal spoon (sticca, cuclere) for raising liquids to the mouth. When seated at a table, food was raised to the mouth with a spoon, made from wood or horn, although there are some examples of an mgeruous eating utensil: a handle with a spoon at one end and a twopronged fork at the other.

A double-spoon and a spoon and fork combination.

How did they eat their meals?

Food was customarily served in bowls or on shallow dishes, and the community sat at trestle tables to eat together at mealtimes; these tables could be cleared away when the room was needed for other purposes. It was considered very bad manners to eat food that had fallen on the floor, or to use the fingers. On formal occasions seasonings, such as sait, pepper or mustard sauce, were placed on the table and had to be passed round to the diners. A linen cloth was laid over the table top end-to-end, and was removed once the main meal was finished - presumably sweeping away any crumbs or spilt food at the same time. Food was served by servants under a discbegn (dish-thane) and drink by a byre!e (cup-bearer) .. For the majority of the population, and at informal meals, food was eaten from a wooden dish with a wooden spoon, cut up with a small knife, and drink was taken from a horn or wooden cup.

54

Food, Drink & Fun

Did they ever have toothache?

There are references to tooece 'toothache' in medical manuscripts, so the problem was known. As the Anglo-Saxons had almost no refined sugar in their diet, it is not likely that they suffered from tooth decay to any great extent, but stone-ground flour contains tiny, gritty particles which would grind down the upper surface at the teeth over a lifetime. There is also the possibility of people breaking their teeth - such as in a fall - which would have been very painful. Without access to dental amalgam fillings, broken or badly chipped teeth would have to be removed to prevent painful decay and abscesses forming.

What plants were grown?

As mentioned before, stews and broths (soups) were made with meat and vegetables such as cabbage, leeks, parsnips, peas, beans and food could be prepared with garnishes such as parsley or fennel. Some vegetables were eaten raw, such as nuts, berries and salad plants (e.g. cucumbers, onions, lettuce and fennel). Grains and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and millet were both for making bread and pastry, and for thickening stews. plants were fruits, berries, nuts, hops for bre,ying and herbs A range of plants was also cultivated for medicinal purposes savine, for example. Old English had a large vocabulary of plant-names, from communities living cheek-by-jowl with nature fertility of the land for survival. Indeed, plant-names branch of Old English studies due to the abundant problems involved. Some Old English plant names English origin while others are translations very important Other cultivated for flavouring. - feverfew and

as one would expect and relying on the have formed a discrete material and the special are clearly of native

One problem when discussing Anglo-Saxon plants is that many of them have not been identified for certain: there are, for example, three Old English names for the plant 'pennyroyal' (dweorgedwosle, hylwyrt, pollegie) while the plant names felterre and disma have never been identified at all for certain. Sometimes, the Anglo-Saxon name survives as a dialect name for a plant into modern times, such as horeseheal for elecampane (OE horselene) although even then the match is not always exact.

55

Food, Drink & Fun In the following table some Old English plant-names modern forms:
OE name • related agrimony alehoof basil beet(root) bennet betony bramble brookcress brooklime brookmint bryony burdock buttercup cale (cabbage) carrot
catrnint

are given alongside

DE namefrom Latin agnmoruum

OE name . unrelated gardife rnisrel

(read) hof bcre bcnedicte beronice bremel Broccerse leomuce brocminte

biscupwyrt,

brunwyrt

cawel nefte ciloenige

hpuele date clufwyrt moru

celandine centaur), chervil dover comfrey coriander cornflower cress crowfoot cucumber daisy dandelion dill dock elecampane fennel feverfew foxglove gale garlic gorse groundsel hassock

curmelle cerfille cl::efre gaUuc celendre cerse

hzwenhnydele
stune cluflJung hwerhwette XQ'\V\Tt b , docce finule feferfugie

drcges eage dile ompre elene

foxeselife gagel garleac

gorst
grundes\\;Tlige cassuc

56

Food, Drink & Fun

DE namerelated hawthorn hazel heather hellebore hemlock hemp henbane hock holly hop horehound houseleek hyssop Ins
IV}

DE namefrom Latin

DE name - unrelated

pefeporn

hsesel
hrep

runsingwyrt
hymlic hsenep hennebelle hoc holen hyrnele hune sinfule )'Sope fxne ifig unforrra-dde leac leahtrice lilie Iufestice ealhtre mredere hocleaf sigelb\veorfa merschmergylle mregepa medewyrt mmte misrel mucgwyrt netele oxanslyppe petresilige feldrnoru plse pollegie poplge cwice hradic hrzmse 57 ontre dweorgedwostle foxes glofa swa 111111 stice hwitleac

knotgrass leek lettuce

illy
lovage lupin madder mallow mangold marshmallow may the meadowsweet mint mistletoe mugwort mushroom nettle O111on oxlip parsley parsmp pea pennyroyal peony poppy quitch radish ramson

Food, Drink & Fun

DE namerelated DE name from Latin mep
>

DE name - unrelated

rape reed ribwort

hreod ribbe

rose
rue rye saffron sage
savine savorv
J

rose
rude ryge croh salfie safine sxperge sundcorn secg su ernewudu

saxifrage sedge southernwood

speedwell strawberry

hleomoc
streawberge

tansy thistle thorn thyme turnip vervain violet waybread woad

woodbine

helde Distel
oorn

organe (xnglisc) nxp

berbene

bopen

banwyrr wegbra-d wad wudubinde wudurofe wermod geanvc

woodruff wormwood yarmv

Opposite, Fennel (top) an important flavouring in the Anglo-Saxon culinary tradition, and wild teasel (bottom) from the OE manuscript of the Herbarium Apulei P latonic i, The 0 E text reads 'wulfes camb ' or 'wo If s comb' a common name for the plant.

58

Food, Drink & Fun

]
I

59

Food, Drink

& FIII1

How was food preserved?

Food had to be preserved in order to feed the community in lean periods between harvests and kills: these could be the coldest part of the year, when little vegetable matter could be gathered in the wild and game animals were scarce, but seasonal and weather variations as well as the actions of invaders and robbers could gIve rise to food shortages at almost any time. The principal methods of preserving meat were drying and salting. The raw meat or fish would be hung on stakes over a fire and gemly smoked to remove bacteria. The resultant substance was relatively hard and chewy with a distinctive flavour; It is used today by hunters and travellers, known as biltong or jerky. Salted meat and fish were kept in airtight barrels. The flesh was still relatively moist but the salt taste would overpower any flavour. The salt maintained an airtight surface seal which excluded airborne yeast and bacteria, thus preventing decay. The food would have to be boiled to extract the salt before it could be eaten. For short-term storage, pies and sausages were an alternative. These also sealed off the meat from the air. Kept cool, pies would last for some time. It was common practice for villagers to collect berries, nuts, grains and seeds when these were available. Berries could be eaten fresh, or dried for flavouring. Grain and seeds could be made into a thick porridge or stew, as well as turned into bread. Nuts only needed to be kept dry in order to preserve their food content. In order not to have to feed cattle over winter, the best animals would be selected and the remainder would be slaughtered at the year-end, their meat giving the opportunity for a grand feast. This is probably the origin of the tradition of enjoying a series of large meals at Yule or Christmas, to provide a good intake of protem and fat for the harsh weather to come.

60

5. Work
What jobs did people have?
A number of names for various craftsmen and tradesmen have survived into
modern English from Anglo-Saxon
surnames:

times ~ often they are fossilised as

Job
arrow-maker baker brewer butcher carpenter cart-maker cloth-maker doctor estate manager fisherman horseman hunter plough-maker pot-maker sailor ship-maker smith steward wall-builder warn or wood-turner

Names / Alternatives Arrowsmith, Baker, Baxter Brewer, Brewster Carver Woodwright Cartwright, Wainwright, \Xlheehvright Fuller, Tucker, \Veaver, Webster Leach Beadle, Reeve Fisher Horsewell, Rider Fowler, Hunt, Hunter Plowright Potter Seaman, Shipman Shipwright Smith Steward, Stuart Waller Dearman, Kemp Turner Fletcher

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Work

An Old English text used to teach boys Latin, known as lElfric's Colloquy on the Occupations, offers a number of imagined conversations between a magister (schoolteacher) and various workmen and tradesmen whom he meets. They are named as:

Old English
Arsmio
Bcecere

meaning ore-smith baker churl chapman alderman fisher fowler goldsmith lord hunter man who works in copper or brass bread-maker craftsman, worker freeman yeoman merchant, trader nobleman fisherman bird-catcher man who works in gold master, leader hunter herdsman, watchman warrior teacher, schoolmaster learner -monger mass-priest monk ox-herd shepherd shoe-wright salter seamer silversmith smith ploughman tree-wright thrall wright earth-ling student, apprentice seller, merchant priest who is entitled to take mass monk, cleric herdsman for oxen herdsman salt-maker tailor man who works in silver man who works in iron man who ploughs a furrow carpenter, woodworker adviser, counsellor servant workman, maker ploughman for sheep leather worker

Bigengere Ceorl Ceapman

Ealdormann

Fiscere
Fuglere

Goldsmio
Hlaford

Hunta Hyrde
Kempa Lareow

-herd

Leornere
Mancgere

Mas sepreos t Munuc

Oxanhyrde

Sceaphyrde
Sceowyrhta
Sealtere Seam ere Seoloforsmib

Smib
Syla Treowwyrhta Geoeahta Prad Wyrhta

Yrblingc

62

Work

Was there a trade network?

Anglo-Saxon England was the focal point for a number of trade routes. Britain - especially eastern England - was able to take part in both the north-south and east-west trades in goods and raw materials. Ports such as York, Ipswich, London, Dover and Southampton throve. London, the capital of the East Saxons, "vas described by Bede as a 'market of many nations, arriving by land and sea'; he clearly knew of the wide range of contacts between London and other ports in northern Europe and beyond. Goods from overseas available in Anglo-Saxon England included metalwork from Syria, gemstones and fabric from India, silks from (luna, furs and amber from the Baltic, soapstone vessels and quernstones from the Rhineland. Many rich 6th and century graves contain imported vessels - bowls, dishes, plates and other tableware - usually of Mediterranean manufacture.

r:

Trade was handled by merchants, who brougbt cargoes from overseas to the ports, where they w-ere sold onto traders who distributed them within the local communities. Slaves - mostly captives taken in war - hunting dogs and woollen products were among the exports from England at this time.

How did people and goods move around?

Transportation over long distances was possible in Anglo-Saxon although conditions varied in different parts of the country. times,

The Roman road network was still largely in place, but in the turbulent period of the Scl, century some toads were cut by ditches to prevent attackers making use of them. Carriage of goods by land would have been mainly in wagons and on pack-horses. Horse ownership was probably quite widespread, and in the \Vest Saxon area some locals were legally bound to provide riding services to the king as part of their tax burden. One orthumbrian bishop was noted for insisting on walking rather than using his horse, so there was an expectation that people of a certain status would normally rrde rather than walk. Many people preferred to travel by water as this was both faster and more efficient on rivers and in coastal waters. Rivers could be a barrier to land travel, but were a major highwa~' for boatmen. For the poor, walking was probably the only solution, although it is not clear why poor people would need to travel far any\var: if they were unfree they were bound to their estates and would onlv have been able to travel with their lord's permission.

63

Work

Did they have shops?

Markets were the normal place to buy and sell goods, and they could attract traders from. a wide area. They were held in places called portas 'ports, trading centres' and although there is little reference to them in Anglo-Saxon sources, their existence is inferred from so-called 'productive sites' - unmarked spots in the landscape where a great deal of Anglo-Saxon material has been detected, mostly in the form of small finds such as buckles, strap-ends, small coins, broken pottery and so on. A development from the regular but short-lived market was the town where goods and services could always be bought; these often grew up near important administrative buildings such as forts and cathedrals, where a constant stream of visitors could be expected.

Was there any form of money?

From the 4th century till the 7'h no coinage was struck in Britain as the decline in Roman tax-gathering and the dispersal of the military removed the need for it. Coins began to be minted again in the 7'h century as international trade began to revive under the influence of Frisian merchants who controlled cross-Channel commerce for a century or more. Some Frankish mints issued gold coins almost continuously. The early Anglo-Saxon coins were crude imitations of Late Roman types but by the S'h century a respectable cOlnage was in use which circulated in northern Europe. Defacing the coinage by clipping the edges was punished harshly. Moneyers (coin-makers) had to buy the dies from the king and there were harsh penalties for issuing coins outside the approved specification the king whose name appeared on the coins was guaranteeing their purity and could not afford for his reputation to be impugned. Vast quantities of Anglo-Saxon profit from Viking expeditions. coins have been found in Scandinavia, the

Did they have mechanized industry?

There was a certain amount of mechanization in Anglo-Saxon production centres. The biggest machines of the age were watermills, of which a few survive in the archaeological record. These provided power which was used to grind corn, but may also have been used to power bellows,

64

Work

On a smaller scale, pole-lathes were used to make items from wood: these rely on the springiness of wood to store and release energy to a wheel which spins the block of wood first ooe wav and then the other. Pottery wheels were a lost technology as far as Eogland is concerned, but they made a comeback in the 8'h century: first the rather crude kick-wheel which allows the potter to keep both hands on The day Juring manufacture, and later the rnore complex treadle. In irorrworking, for example in the manufacture of ,veapons, it is likely that teams of specialists co-operated on certain tasks. To make a mail shirt, one man would have to smelt the iron, another to turn the smelted iron ingots into drawn wire, another to twist the wire and cut the rings, and another to flatten the ends and rivet them together. With all these processes requmng the use of a forge, there must have been apprentices or unfree men working the bellows and tending the fires while others turned wood into charcoaL

Did they have steel?

Steel is iron to which a certain amount of carbon has been added; this makes the metal less soft and better able to keep an edge, bur it is also more brittle. In making swords, smiths combined the rwo kinds of metal to give springy blades with a hard cutting edge. This process "vas very time-consummg and must have been expensive but it produced excellent results. Finds from excavations at Southampton demonstrate the skill of the AngloSaxon steelmaker: The quality was so high that a better product could not be made until the Industrial Revolution.

Did they have cloth?

English wool was a staple of the economy in mediaeval times, and seems to have been a popular trade item as far back as the 8th. There is some correspondence still in existence between King 0 ffa of Mercia and Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, concerning the provision of woollen cloaks - apparently, the English merchants had been making the cloaks shorter than before, and Charlemagne asked that this be corrected, which is a diplomatic way of pointing out that the buyers were being supplied with less wool than previously, Aside from woollen cloth, a lighter fabric was used for undergarments either linen (made from flax) or even cloth made from nettles or hemp.

65

Work

Did their ships have sails?

This is a question that is raised periodically about the early Anglo-Saxon period: because the closest thing to an Anglo-Saxon ship is the vessel from Nydam, which had no provlSlon for a sail, it follows that the Anglo-Saxons didn't have sails, doesn't it? Actually no - sailing ships had been in use in northern Em-ope from at least the Iron Age, the Romans had them, the Armoricans had them (ships with leather sails, no less) and Germanic seafaring skills were unrivalled in the 1" millennium AD. To propel a ship by a sail, all they needed was a mast (to hold the sail up) and a keel (a projecting ridge underneath, so the vessel would not just be driven where the wind was heading). The Sutton Hoo ship certainly had a keel, as well as provisron for rowers. Masts are mentioned occasionally in Old English sources, including Beowulf. A ship with a sail also features ill some early Anglian art on funerary urns. There seems no doubt that sail technology was available to the AngloSaxons - but they only raised a sail where appropriate and in some cases rowing offered more control over the direction and speed of travel than sailing would.

Why was their pottery

so

poor?

In the early days of Anglo-Saxon settlement, pottery was mainly used for funerary urns and was quite plain, made by the coiling method, decorated with stamps, incised lines and 'bosses' (circular swellings), The decoration made a statement about the identity of the person inside the pot. Later Anglo-Saxon pottery was finer and more elegant, wheel-thrown and with burnished surfaces or glazed. However it was never very common and the pottery industry seems to have remained at a local level except at certain locations (Ipswich, St Neots, Winchester and a few others). Long-distance trade only begins in the 8Th century. Even then, ceramic vessels often mimic the form of leather or wooden versions. However, this lack of pottery is not really surprising since the Anglo-Saxons were masters of wood technology and used wooden vessels for the most part. A broken pot is, after all, just a mess on the floor - but a wooden bowl is less likely to break and if it does It can still be used for fuel.

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Work

111

Sketch plan of See Wylfing Edwin and Joyce Gifford have Identified evidence in the shape and design of the hull which suggests that the Sutton Hoo ship was a sailing ship. They built a half scale model ( See Wyljing) and found it to be fast and manoeuvrable under sail. Thanks to Edwin & Joyce Gifford for permission to use the plan.

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Work

Did they have commercial

trademarks?

Commercial trademarks on everyday products do not appear in the AngloSaxon period - or at least they have not been recognised. There are occasional finds of knife-handles and the like with patterns carved in which might be recognizable to the owner and would have marked out the work of individuals, but there does not seem to have been any system to back these marks up (i.e. no way to stop another craftsman using the same marks). Swords often bear inlaid patterns on the upper blade which would identify the workshop: examples are INGELRII and ULFRIC. Both these makers are believed to have been located in the Rhineland. Coins also had to bear the name of the moneyer and/ or the mint so that there was a guarantee of purity; the penalties for passing under-weight coins was severe.

Did they have to pay tax?

There was no tax on income in Anglo-Saxon times, so people who earnt more money did not necessarily pay more tax. The basis for tax assessment was landholding, and the complex arrangements of the 11th century grew out of a simple system of renders, whereby each farm bad to supply a certain quantity of produce to the king; this could be in the form of bread, ale, livestock or cured meat, honey, fish, timber and other products. It was possible to 'commute' or convert this duty to feed the king by paying in silver, and from this arrangement gte,\, both tax assessments and coinage - the king had to know that the metal he took in payment was of recognised quality, so coinage was issued for this purpose, and the coins could then be used in exchange for goods. Tax ",'as collected by a gerefa (reeve) or local overseer who was responsible for the administration of an estate. The system was so efficient that it was possible to raise many thousands of pounds of silver in order to buy off the Danes in the early 1000s, the so-called Danegeld.

68

6. Kingship
Who was Kiltg Arthur?
This is one of those questions that has no definitive answer, so any explanation is bound to be unsatisfactory. Legend has it that Arthur was a leader of the British (\'V'elsh) against the Anglo~Saxons (English). The case for his historical existence IS rather weak. If he existed, he would not have been a "king" which is of course an English title. There are no contemporary records of "King Arthur" among the English, who should have known about an important enemy leader. There are no early records of him among the Welsh either, nor other contemporary sources from the Continent. The earliest British traditions (Y Mabinogionj place Arthwr among a group of youngsters carrying out a series of impossible tasks to win the favour of a princess, and the tale has something of the 'labours of Hercules' about it. The non-historical settings may mean that Arthwr was onginallya figure from myth, folktale or legend, whose name became associated with the deeds of a group of horsemen. The tradition of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table really takes off under the Normans in the 11a, century, and may have been used as a propaganda tool: some of the invaders in \X·'illiam's army were Bretons, who felt that they were attacking the people who had forced their ancestors into exile in Armorican Gaul (Brittany). Once the Normans took the tradition over, there were no more Welsh tales connected to Arthur until the mediaeval romances were translated into \X'elsh centuries later. However, it is generally accepted that the Anglo-Saxons met stiff 111 some parts of southern Britain, and there were British-speaking in areas such as the Chilterns and around Leeds, which may have determined resistance to the Germanic incomers; perhaps one of groups was led by a man with the name Artorius or Arthur. More cannot really be said of Arthur with confidence. resistance enclaves mounted a these than that

Why was King Alfred called lithe Great"?

The West Saxon royal family produced many able leaders, but only one English king has been awarded the title 'the Great' rn honour of his achievements. Alfred was born at \X?antage (Berkshire) in about 849, the fourth and youngest son of the West Saxon King iEpelwulf (Athelwulf), and 69

Kingship

cannot have expected to achieve a position of eminence . .Alfred visited Rome as a child with this father and was made an honorary consul by the pope. Leo IV, which was later seen as a confirmation of divine blessing, but it is more likely that the youngest son had been earmarked for a position in the church. The elder brothers 1:Epelbald and .tEpelberht quarrelled with their father and there was a great deal of rivalry within the family for power. When the third brother, LEpelrred (Ethelred) became king in turn, he appointed Alfred to a position of authority and may have regarded him as his natural successor. In the year 870 .tEpelred and Alfred jointly oversaw a military campaign to guard Wessex from the attacks of Danish Vikmgs who had successively overrun each Anglo-Saxon kingdom to oppose them. A series of defeats and inconclusive engagements took place into the winter, followed by a resounding victory in January 871 at Ashdown (probably a spot on the Berkshire Downs) in which Alfred distinguished himself However, one victory did not stop the Danes and .fEpelred fell in battle the same year. In his early 20's, Alfred became king of the last independent English kingdom. Terms of peace were quickly agreed, and the Danes returned to the eastern coast to consolidate their gains. Alfred did not waste this opportunity but set about re-organising the defences of Wessex with strongholds and naval forces, and a split call-up for the armed forces. In 877, the Danes returned and Alfred proved a match for them, being able to outmanoeuvre them on land, blockade their ships and deny them mobility. Over midwinter of that year they launched a surprise attack, overran the kingdom and very nearly caught the king and his household as they celebrated Christmas at Chippenham (\'<7iltshire). Alfred and his family escaped to refuge at Athelney 10 the Somerset marshes where a small island was fortified to provide a military stronghold and base for consolidation. A counter-attack the following spring led to the battle of Edington (\Xliltshire) which resulted in a decisive victory for the West Saxons, and afterwards a treaty was drawn up ceding the eastern parts of England to the control of the Danes. This territory was known as the Danelaw for this reason. However, the king did not rest with a partitioned kingdom: he took every opportunity to extend his authority into the east for example, attacking the Danish forces based at Benfleet (Essex), taking man)" leaders prisoner and slighting their fortifications. During Alfred's time, the Danes learnt not to attack England and preyed on easier targets on the Continent instead. Despite his reputation as a military commander, strategist and politician, all these aspects were only one side of the king's achievements. A far-reaching reform of the military included the requirement that thanes (who were the

70

Kingship

officers of the army) should be able to read and write, and the king began a programme of translating useful works into English for this purpose. (It is sometimes claimed that Alfred himself translated these books, or that he had a hand in the task, but whether this is true or not is unimportant: he created the conditions in which such intellectual tasks could be performed, and his farsighted vision of a mobile army which could communicate effectively proved crucial to \"'\Iessex's later success.) Alfred is justly called 'the Great' not simply for defending the English against the Danes, but more importantly for giving his successors the tools to carry on his work after his death. The re-conquest of the Danelaw began in Alfred's day and was substantially completed by his son, Edward the Elder.

Did Canute really tlY to stop the waves?

The st01"Y the foolish king attempting to repel the waves (incoming tide) is of often cited as an example of the folly and exaggerated pride of mortal men. The mediaeval tale actually sought to demonstrate the opposite. Cnut grows weary of the flattery of his courtiers and has his throne placed on the shore to demonstrate the limits of his royal pO\ver. It is unlikely that any such incident ever happened, and it was probably invented by Henry of Huntingdon.

How long did the longest reign last?

The longest reign we know of is that of Ethelred (iEpelned) the Unready who held the throne from 978 to 1016, a span of 38 years. This is something of a record for the Anglo-Saxon period, but we should remember that there are very few kings for whom regnal (period of reign) dates are known, Before the unification of England, and the re-conquest of territory from the Danes, there were a number of kingdoms for which the records are patchy, where they exist at all. The regnal dates of most of the rulers are unknown: many only warrant a pass1ll.g mention in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or a land-grant. It is therefore possible that Ethelred's record was surpassed, although what we know of the dangers and rivalries attached to early kingship in north-western Europe makes this unlikely.

71

Kil1gship

Why was Ethelred called "Unready"?

The king's name in Old English was LEjelrced, which means 'noble advice'. At some point after his death, the name is recorded with the soubriquet Ullrad'wlllch can mean either 'not advised, unwise' or even 'bad advice, illaJ vised", The king was certainly surrounded by magnates whose first thought was for their own position rather than the good of the kingdom. The word unrted is a pun on the king's name. W11ether it was current in his lifetime or not is not known, but it seems an obvious if bitter joke.

What was the Heptarchy?

is a term often used to describe a short period of about two centuries in the formation of England when the smaller and larger kingdoms had formed a fairly stable equilibrium comprising seven states: Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, The period would correspond to the 7Llt and 8m century - after the advent of Roman Christianity in 597 AD up to the beginrungs of determined Danish raiding from 793AD.
The Heptarchy

However, such a simple new of the Heptarchy probably has to be consigned to the dustbin of history because no such stable set of competing polities ever existed - neither Essex nor Sussex was independent of wealthy Kent for long in the early period, and the power of Mercia was substantial before Northumbria had merged into a single unit from its constituent kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, Essex, with its llTIportant commercial centre of London, was first dominated by Kent, then by Mercia and latterly by Wessex. The Thames Valley - which was the \",\'est Saxon heartland for some time - was dominated by' Mercia in the 8'h century ..

Did their kings wear crowns?

There is good evidence for Anglo-Saxon kings \yeanng crowns in the later period. The first English monarch we know to have been crowned is King Edgar whose coronation service was devised bv Archbishop Dunstan and still fonns the base of the royal investiture today. Before coronation was adopted, Christian kings were anointed with holy oil as part of the inauguration rite. In the pre-Christian period, the symbol of kingship was the wearing of a special helmet - the Anglo-Saxons translated Latin corona 'crown' With the term cynehelm 'king-helmet'. A spectacular piece of military headgear like the one from Sutton Hoc may have been what they had in mind.

72

7. Art & Science

Did they produce manuscripts?
Anglo-Saxon England was famous throughout Europe for the illuminated manuscnpts produced by its scribes in minsters, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels of c.700 AD. Documents such as these were created for the glory of God, and were a matter of great prestige to their creators and owners. However, the Anglo-Saxons were capable of producing more workaday documents which were intended to record laws, land transfers and other mundane matters. These were made in great quantities, but sadly only a handful survive to the present day.

How did they get the parchment, inks and paints?

Paper was not in common use in Europe in the early Anglo-Saxon period. Most writing was first drafted on a wax tablet - a block of wax in a wooden frame that could be written on with a stylus or sharp point, then smoothed over for re-use. Finalised text was committed to vellum, a specially prepared calf-skin with a smooth, creamy surface which would last for centunes if kept in the right conditions. Ink was usually made from pigment derived from oak-based tannins suspended in water: this gave a strong, dark colour which fades to a chocolate brown over time. Coloured paints were created using a vanety of plant- and mineral-based media such as lapis lazuli for blue, cochineal for red and gold leaf.

Who was the Venerable Bede?

Bede was one of the more important churchmen of the early Middle Ages, but he was only called 'venerable' after his death when his possible sainthood was discussed. Breda, as he would have called himself, was born in 672/3 In Northumbria. \YJ e know nothing of his early life except that he was accepted into the monastery at Monkwearmouth (Northumbria) at the age of seven. This suggests that he was from a (at least moderately) wealthy background and that h1Sparents wanted him to have a clerical career - this was not uncommon for the younger sons of landowners, who stood to inherit little.
73

Art & Science

At the age of nineteen he was appointed to the office of deacon, and became a priest at thirty. Bede IS best known for his valuable work Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation) which deals with the history of Britain from Caesar's invasion down to Bede's own day (he finished writing it in 731 AD); it therefore covers a wider period than the title implies but Bede really only gets into his stnde when he begins to recount the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon arrival In Britain and the establishment of kingdoms. Bede used a variety of documentary sources for the ecclesiastical aspects of his work; for the material relating to the English, he probably used the traditional oral tales as well as what he could glean from other writers, such as Gildas. He wrote many other scientific and theological tracts, including an influential work on the calculation of time De Temporibus Ratione, and a shorter one De Tempore which was adopted by Alcuin and used across Europe for the calculation of the date of Easter. Another of the long-term effects of Bede's work was the adoption of a dating system based on the calculated year of Christ's 'incarnation'; this had been proposed about a century earlier but was not Widely adopted until Bede's use of the system showed that it was workable. (The calculation actually ran from the time of the conception rather than the birth.) These Anno Domini (AD) 'year of the Lord' dates are still in use, of course. Bede spent all his life in the north-east at Monkwearrnouth and Jarrow, and died 111 735 AD. His body was later transferred to Durham cathedral where it rernams to this day. Bede was canonised and his feast day is 25'h May, the date of hIS death at the age of 59.

Did they have medicine?

Anglo-Saxon medical knowledge was second to none in mediaeval Europe. Despite the authority of the written traditions handed down from classical antiquity, medical practitioners called fcece (leeches) were not tied to the use of Roman-derived formulae but were able to treat most forms of illness with plant-based drinks and sakes. (Leece has nothing to do with the animal 'leech' although the words came to be pronounced the same.) They understood the importance of cleanliness and the need for a positive mental attitude to the effectiveness of any cure. Remedies were known as leechcraft (doctor-skill) and often called for the use of vegetable extracts; modern medicine applies vegetable extracts also, but in a disguised, tablet form.
74

Art & Science

There are several manuscripts dealing with medical matters - the Herbarium Apulei is a translation of a Latin work; the Lacnungo is a learned treatise on healing; the three-volume Bald's Leechbook IS a native English work, perhaps the commonplace book of a practicing leech, Aside from lotions and potions, there is some evidence for bone-setting and surgical intervention, including rrepanarion, (A trepan is <L cylinJJ:lcal saw used to cut a hole in the sk-t.Jlso that a piece of it, in the form of a disc, can be removed.)

Did they know about astronomy?

Perhaps It is surprising to learn that Bede, for one, was well aware that the earth was round and not flat, that the length of the solar year was not a whole number of days and that the equinoxes, solstices, appearances of comets and eclipses were ali perfectly predictable. Of course, scholars such as Bede and Alcuin may have known these dungs, but we cannot be sure that the unlearned were convinced even if they had heard of such ideas. The Anglo-Saxon year included a two-month period called Lioa, roughly 'midsummer' Into which extra days could be inserted to keep the solar and lunar calendars in line (the same as we do with the leap-year). The week was the standard seven-day period of antiquity and the day-names were translations of the Roman ones based on heavenly bodies (Monday :::: moon day > dies lunae, etc.) The day names were: Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

S unnandtPg
J.\t[ oJUlIldag

Day of the sun Day of the moon Day ofTiw (war-god) Day of Woden (god of magic and death) Day of Punor (thunder-god) Day of Frige (love-goddess) Day of Saturn

TilPesdag Wednesdag Punresda:g Ftigeda:g 5eternesdag

The fact that the last day is named for Saturn implies that the day-names were based on recognised astronomical features, just as the Roman ones had come to be (i.e. the old gods of the Latin pantheon such as Mars and Jupiter had come to be identified primarily with visible planets).

75

Art & Science

Did they have maps?

There is not much evidence for maps having been produced in Anglo-Saxon times, but this lack of evidence may be misleading. An Anglo-Saxon 'world map' (mappa mundi), dated between 1025 and 1050, was probably made at Canterbury but based on a Late Roman original which had been periodically updated over time. As was usual with early European lTlapS, east was at the top. The reproduction of the outline of the British Isles is remarkably good, but the southwest is shown oversized as if the (original) artist expected the users of the map to have greater need of information about that part of the world. The map is now owned by the British Library.

Why was Alcuin important?

The scholar known as Alcuin of York was an Anglian nobleman, born in 735 AD. Alcuin is the Latinised spelling of his name; had he been born into Alfreds Wessex he would have been known as Ealh\vine, a customary Germanic/English name meaning 'friend (who offers) protection'. Alcuin was schooled at York under Archbishop Ecgberht, and assumed responsibility for the school in 778 AD at the age of forty-three. Under his leadership, York accumulated a fine library of technical, scientific and theological treatises which established it as one of the foremost seats of learning in northern Europe. On the basis of his part in the promotion of learning, Alcuin was approached by the court of Charlemange, King of the Franks and later Holy Roman Emperor, to oversee the Palace School at Aachen. One of Alcuin's innovations was the development of a style of writing called "Carolingian minuscule", based on the lower-case forms of Roman letters but made more rounded and flo\ving so that the script was both easier to write and to read. Many existing scientific works were copied out in the new script, and this process led to fresh examples being created of texts which otherwise would not have survived. On his retirement in 796 to the monastery of St Martin of Tours, Alcuin continued to oversee manuscript production, and also arranged exchanges with his colleagues in York which allowed new copies to be made of some of the manuscripts he had previously collected. Alcuin applied himself to writing on the subjects of arithmetic, astronomy and geometry and hiS texts were used for generations as the standard primers in these subjects, written in the form of a catechisms (a question, followed by its answer) until his death in 804AD. Alcuin was highly influential in the early Middle Ages both in preserving the knowledge of antiquity and in stimulating interest in the circulation of
76

Art & Science

manuscripts, written 111 a language and script which were known across Europe. Alcuin was therefore a major benefactor of subsequent generations of scholars in the service he ga\'e to manuscript production - and thus in the dissemination of knowledge - and in the formation of the styles of handwriting used into the modern period.

What is the Bayeux Tapestry?

The Bayeux Tapestry is a linen cloth decorated with woollen yarn, roughly 70 metres by 50 centimetres (230 feet long by 20 inches wide). It is not a tapestry, but an embroidery - but the name Baveux Tapestry has stuck, The design uses eight colours of worsted thread on a plain, creamy background. It tells the story of the Norman Invasion, beginning with King Harold's visit to Basham in Sussex in 1064. The final scenes are lost, but probably showed Duke \'Xlilliam's entry into London and coronation. The top and bottom borders are decorated with birds, beasts and tiny figures sometimes cornmenting on the events in the main panels. A text in Latin is also used to identify who is doing what, It is understood that \,(!illiam' shalf-brother, Odo, the bishop of Bayeux, probably commissioned the work from a team of seamstresses in Canterbury. Odo appears prominently in the important scenes, such as urging \'{!illiarn to invade England and taking part in the battle. Odo gained the title of bishop in order to gain access to the wealth of the Norman church; he was later imprisoned by William for unauthorised levying of troops. The embroidery probably took more than a year to complete. It was handled in eight sections, with sewers working from both top and bottom edges. The colours of the original wool have faded so that there are now green horses, for example, which may originally have been a dark near-black shade. The value of the BT is that it shows clearly the work of preparation involved in mediaeval warfare, the armour and weapons and the logistics of invasion. It is unique in this respect in early mediaeval Europe.

77

Art & Science

Scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry showing preparations for a feast (below) and a meal being served (above).

78

Art & Science

Did they have clocks?

\'Q'hen not fighting the Danes, ruling his kingdom, translating books from Latin into English and pursuing his interests in science, lElfred gave some thought to the accurate measurement of time. One of his solutions was a candle-based clock which could be housed in a horn-sided lantern and with div-isions marked on the sides of the candle, accurate measurements of time could be made. Sundials were a fairly common useful decoration on public buildings several survive on churches - which not only allowed the churchmen to judge the correct time for services, but also provided a public record of the time of day. A curious invention of the later Anglo-Saxon period is the' pocket sundial' , found at Canterbury which allows the user to gauge the time of day quite accurately in strong sunlight, with different markings on the face showing the length of a shadow cast at noon in any of the twelve months.

What about the Doornsday Book?

In 1086 I<i.ng \'iVilliamdecided to take stock of the kingdom he had won, and he had a survey made of every village m the land with assessments of the values both in the time of King Edward the Confessor and in his own day. The results were compiled into a two-volume work called the Domesday Book. The importance of this work IS that it gives the earliest record of many villages, towns and hamlets which survive today. The fact that the scribes used Norman French spelling means that some of the sounds are not reproduced clearly, but this in itself offers the opportunity to assess pronunciation at the time the record was made: 'Shoebury', for example, from OE sceoburh appears as Esoberia because Norman French spelling did not allow for words to begin with a 'sh' sound, and the ending -0 was needed for compliance with Latin grammar. Domesday allows us to get a snapshot of land ownership, of settlement types, of population size and offers an invaluable means of verifying whether a settlement was named in the Old English or Middle English periods. \Xlhile Domesday did not adequately cover the whole country - it extended only to the rivers Ribble and Tees - it consolidated information about livestock, buildings, assets and trading activities. There is no comparable record in northern Europe at this time and the project was only made possible due to the efficiency of the late Anglo-Saxon chancery and its bureaucracy. The whole project was written up by a single scribe.

79

Warrior with spears and a homed helmet, on a belt buckle from Finglesham, Kent.

80

8. Religion
How do we know so much about Anglo ..Saxon religion?
Wle know very little about the pre-Christian religion because writing and making books were skills to which the Christian church had access, while rival forms of belief generally did not, The Church had no interest in preserving knowledge of the old religion; on the contrary, it had an interest 111 suppressing it, \'\'hat we know from written sources of heathen beliefs and practices was recorded in passing. For example, information about the calendar and certain heathen practices prohibited by law, Many of the surviving manuscripts are evidently of ecclesiastical or monastic origin, and religious sentiment appears to have been included as a matter of course even in secular works, such as the poem about the hero Beowulf, Indeed, there are only a handful of works which are not obviously religious in part or in whole - in their intent: these are some land-grants and Bald's Leerhbook. (It is possible that in many cases the land-grants were preserved only because the land subsequently came into the possession of a monasterv.) Monks and clergymen were usually scribes, laymen only rarely. The rich and powerful were generally able to read, but most would use a scribe to write for them 10 a clear hand. Many Anglo-Saxon churches still survive and it is often possible to deduce ideas about religious practices from these buildings. Even the dedications can supply information: there are quite a few saints of the 7'h century whose cults seem to have been Yery restricted in geographical area and \\'110 were originally part of a royal farnilv '- these saints' names were often attached to a miracle story, and it is tempting to see in them relics of older cults which changed their outward form in order to survive in the new religious climate.

Were they devout Christians?

In the early Christian period, villages had preaching crosses rather than churches. The inhabitants would tum out to listen to a preacher expounding his faith, and telling them to repent of their 51115. This would have been the extent of contact the average Anglo-Saxon had with Christian faith, and a detailed knowledge of Christian theology would haw been reserved for those who could attend a religious foundation. \'\'hat they actually absorbed was more likely to be bible stories, the ten commandments, the lord's prayer and perhaps some 81

Religion carefully chosen examples of Christian superiority to alternative relig:lOusideas. More important to rural communities were the cults of local saints, who were guardians of the places in which they had lived and the churches with which they were associated. Local saints were often noblemen who had turned their back on aristocratic life in favour of a simpler life. They were often responsible for charitable acts anrl r>l1"eof those in need

Did they celebrate Christmas?

TIle Anglo-Saxon year began at Midwinter, called Geol, our word Yule. Celebrations included decking the houses with evergreen boughs, enjoying a feast and playing games. This period was not suitable for agricultural work, and it provided a good opportunity for a rest. The night before Geol was called Modranect "Mothers' Night" and was probably associated with new beginnings, with prophecy and magic. In the heathen calendar it was one of the most lmportant times of the year. \Xlhen Christianity carne to the Anglo-Saxons, instructions were given by Pope Gregory I to his missionaries not to disturb the custorns of the English, but rather to adapt them to Christian usage. Instead of sacrificing a beast to heathen gods, they were to slaughter and eat it in celebration of the birth of the Lord. In this way, the ancient Yule festival gave rise to the Christian cele bra tion 0 f c ris tes mcesse 'Chris t' s mass', Christmas. Most modern Christmas customs were introduced or devised by the Victorians, and very little of the old English tradition survives, The Yule log - a large, decorated wooden stump - seems to have been the focus of celebrations in mediaeval times, and this tradition may date back to the Anglo-Saxon period.

What other celebrations

were there?

The other mam celebrations were at Easter (early spring, but moveable, then as now) and Lammas (1" August). Midsummer was called Lipa and may also have been a customary, if not religious, holiday. Local saints' days would probably have featured as days for feasting. Many Anglo-Saxon saints had very localised cults, perhaps due to their having been associated with one location or small district during their lifetime. Church dedications and scraps of legend are often the only surviving evidence. (lmbofc (1" February), Beltaine (1" May) and Samhain (eve of 1 November) are Irish festivals and there is no evidence that they were recognised as being part of the Anglo-Saxon year.)
SI

82

Religion

Were they Roman Catholics?

After conversion, the English church was dependant on the church of Rome. There was initially some resistance to the authority of the Eternal City, because certain areas of England were converted by churchmen from Ireland who had a divergent tradition: for example, they calculated the date for Easter in a different manner. After (he Synod u[\II/hitby in 664, the Roman rule was adopted throughout the English church. The schism between the eastern and western ("Orthodox" and "Catholic") traditions had not taken place for most of the Anglo-Saxon period: this happened in 1052. The English church followed rites and customs which would be more familiar to followers of the eastern rather than of the western tradition todav

What was the Synod of Whitby?

Christianity was brought to the southern English from Rome by Augustine, but it had also been brought to the northern English by Irish monks. The two Christian traditions had some fundamental disagreements and there was potential for conflict; the Irish church had developed along its own path, separate from the Roman church. In order to avoid conflict, a meeting of bishops was called in 664 in order to resolve differences such as the correct method of calculating the date for Easter. This meeting, me Synod of\,\'hitby, saw the English church aligned with the Roman-Frankish tradition, against the Irish.

Were there archbishops

in England?

The initial plan was for the church to take control in the centres of Roman power: London in the south and York In the north. However, on the death of the Christian King Sseberht of Essex in 617 AD, his three sons reverted to the old faith and threw out Bishop ~Jellitus, who £led to Kent. Therefore, when the authority of archbishops for the country was drawn up, York was retained for the north but for the south the Kentish capital of Canterbury was selected for the archbishop'S seat. The Archbishop of Canterbury has been the leading churchman of the land ever since, In the 8m century, King Offa of Mercia felt that it was not 10 keeping with his dignity as foremost king of the English to have no archbishopric in his kingdom, and he accordingly began petitioning for a new archbishopric based on Lichfield. The king got his wish in 787, but the position was swept away in the Danish wars later that century. 83

Religion

Were they superstitious?

Belief In supernatural aid - whether Christian saints or heathen gods formed a major part of life In most of Europe at this time. In the Th century, some kings converted to Christianity but after a downturn in their fortunes reverted to the old gods. Pear of the unknown was a major factor influencing behaviour; the certainties offered by the church were a selling point in the process of conversion as King Edwin of Northumbria's adviser says in the so-called "sparrow episode" from Bedes Histone Ealesiastica Centis Allg/on"!! in .... vhich King Edwin of N orthumbria 15 taking counsel with his advisers one day about whether they should convert to the new Christian faith or stick with their traditional gods. In the story Edwin had himself already determined to convert, and his main priest likewise - giYing as his reason that he had done most to serve the old gods but had not received correspondingly greater rewards. The text continues:
Pees wordum opel' cyninges svita 7 ealdormann gebofunge sea/de 7 to bcere sprcece feng 7 pus cweeD.. "byslic me is gesel1'en, bu cyning, pis ·

andwearde lif manna on eoroan to wiometenesse jJCeretide be us uncuo is; swy{c sIVa bu cet swcesendum sitte mid binun: ealdormannum 7 pegnum on wintertide 7 sie fyr onceled 7 pin heat!
gewyrmed 7 hit rine 7 sniwe 7 stytme life; clime an spearwo 7 hrcedlice pee! hus burhfleo, clime purh obre dum in, burt: obre lit gewite. Hwcet, he on ba tid be he inne bid ne bio hrinen mid jJy storme pees winters; ac peel bio an eagan brvmm 7 bcet lcesste fac,

ac

he sona of wintra on pone winter eft c.vmed. Swa donne pis monna lif

to medmiclum feece eelyweo, hwcet peer foregange oCJOe hwcet pee! afterfytige we ne cunnun.
To that one's words another of the king's advisers and ealdormen gave consent, and took up the discussion and spoke thus: "It seems to me thus, 0 king, this present life of men on earth as measured against the time which is unknown to us: as if you were sitting at a banquet WIth your ealdormen and thanes in wintertime, and a fire bas been lit and your hall warmed, and outside there is rain and snow and storm; a sparrow comes and quickly flies through the house - he comes 111 through one door and goes our through the other. Lo, for the time that he is inside he is not touched by the WInter's storm, but that is one eye's blink and the least space of time, yet from the winter he straightaway comes back to the winter. So then, this life of men shows as a brief space of time: what precedes it, or what follows it, we do not know.

84

Religion Towards the end of the 10,h century, Christian Europe became concerned at the approach of the Millennium - the thousandth year since the birth of Christ, which was prophesied to be the year of his return - the year 100 L The Day of Judgement and the Armageddon would accompany the end of the world. Notable events, such as comets, floods and Viking raids, "vert ~c:cn dO> plesages of impending doom by some follz at this time. Anglo-Saxon folklore included ylfe 'elves', who were believed to shoot arrows which caused sudden pain - stitch or rheumatism. Other creatures were dweorgas 'dwarves' associated with hallucinatory fevers, and with the echoes in caves and mines; spectres scinnan and scuccan, who could lead travellers astray at night; and wiccan, witches, who could use the po"ver of the ancestral dead to their own advantage. There is even one recorded instance of a woman usmg a morp or voodoodoll to harm a local landowner.

What about Easter eggs?

The giving of decorated eggs at the time of the spring equinox may well be an older custom than Christianity. There is, after all, nothing specifically Christian in the practice and the symbolism - the egg as a sign of fertility and new life - seems fairly blatantly sexual, Bede says that April was called Eostermonao 'easter-month' after a goddess worshipped at this time. The name Eostre (Easter) is derived from the word 'east' and represents an ancient word *ausosa 'east, the dawn, the rising sun' which is also the root of the Latin word aurora' dawn, daybreak',

What did they believe in before they were converted?

There is not a great deal of evidence for the beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons before Christianity was sent to them - Augustine's mission landed in Kent in 597 AD, the same year that St. Columba of Iona died after having done a great deal to bring the Irish brand of the faith to northern England. The traditions of the gods of the Anglo-Saxon are almost entirely lost to us but there is ample evidence to suggest that the later traditions of the Scandinavians were not very different from those of the Angles (who came from Jutland) and Saxons (from northern Germany). Odd scraps of information re-enforce this idea - for example, Earendel is an Old English name for the morning star, while in a Norse tale a dwarf called Orvandil sose: his toe to frostbite and it is thrown

85

Religion up into the heavens by Thor to become a star. The words Earendel and Orvandil appear different but are actually variant forms of a single original. Contact between English and Danes in the 9th and lOrh centuries led some churchmen to denounce the Vikings and their heathen ways, but in fact it is likely that some of these traditions were being re-introduced after the church had suppressed them.

'- _

/ ,.--____..J

Reconstruction of one of the decorative plates from the Sutton Hoo helmet showing dancing warriors armed with swords, spears and war-coats, with birdheaded horns on their helms showing possession by the god Woden.

86

9. Language & Literature

Why does "Anglo-Saxon" mean bad language?
Some writers abhor the use of simple and direct language and, especially In the early 20,h century, used the term "Anglo-Saxon" to mean short, straightforward words for simple ideas. In time this developed into the notion of "four-letter words" as shorthand for 'crude speech, swearing, vulgarity'. \'\;'hat has this to do with the Anglo-Saxons? \XI ord origin research was able to trace a lot of the words for parts of the body and basic human activities back to OE roots, and from this the notion arose that the AngloSaxons were incapable of describing anything except in the most basic and inelegant terms. Anyone who has read the Riddles will know that they were absolute masters of innuendo and double-entendre, but this 1S part of the playful character of their art and does not indicate a preoccupation with sex and toilets. Perhaps the choice of "Anglo-Saxon" here shows rather the prissy distaste of the Victorians for both their national ongms and the richness of their vernacular language.

Why did they use strange letters?

The earliest English writing was in the runic script or fuporc. Runes were mainly used for inscriptions - for instance, writing one's name on a tool or weapon, or recording who made or owned an object. Runic texts were short and there was no tradition of using them to make long and detailed Written records. \Xben Augustine's mission brought Christianity to southern England, there was a need for the copying and production of manuscripts for use in Christian contexts, but it was not until the late 600s that the recording of English began to take place uS111g Roman script. In time, especially after the scholar Alcuin had modified Roman-derived writing systems, a standard Anglo-Saxon 'bookhand' or system of handwriting was devised which matched the needs of the language. The standard Roman characters were adopted in a rounded form called 'uncial', but due to the circumstances of Old English, additional letters were used, some derived from the fuporc.

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Language & Literature

a

b c d
e

1
c
~ ek 1
m

»
y
(£-

q Jt

y
se

k
1
m

s
t

r
r u

p
0

P
~

f
'S

n
0

n
0

Anglo-Saxon Bookhand

Runes were used for jJ and w. The characters J; and d both have the sound 'th' as in 'this' and in 'thin'; (e is the vowel in 'cat'. It can be seen that the letters j, v and z are missing from the table above. Both k and z were rare although k was used in the later texts in words such as kyng 'king' in place of older cyning. The letters) and v were devised in early modem times, to distinguish them from i and u.
Numbers were written using the Roman system: i, ij, iij, iii}, v, v). vi} etc. - the descender of) was used to help the ere judge how many times the i was used.

Why are their names speIt in different ways?

The spelling of names in Old English sometimes involves letters which have fallen out of use, such as p, rJ or tl!. \"1V'henrinted histories came to be p produced, the conventions for reproducing these letters had not been fixed, so that the name /EJ;elberht could be rendered as Athelberht or as Ethelbert, depending on the whim of the writer. For names in /Epel- the form Ethelcame to predominate, perhaps because the word abele 'noble' remained in use as the feminine name Ethel. However, the name of /Epelstan cyning had already gained some currency in the form King Athelstan; and the usage stuck, although some writers - perhaps aware that the second element stan was a word for 'stone', decided to modernise the name as Athelstane. The name of /Elft-ed (eelf-reed) had perhaps never been entirely lost as it had remained a popular given name, and had come to be speltAifi-ed in later times. Females' names in Old English could end in a consonant (/Epelflr.ed), or in-u (Freawarll) or in -e (Golde), \X!hen used in Latin contexts, the normal practice

88

Language & Literature was to contnve a form ending in -a, so that Godgifu (gift of God) was refashioned as Godiva. A name such as JEfJetpryjJ 'noble strength' was contorted to Etheldreda. There was a Scandinavian ruler of England in the 11 rh century, who would have called himself Knut Svensson. His name was written by English scribes as Cnut, pronounced 'k-noot'. A modern spelling wac; devisee] lu reflect this: 'Canute'. Attempts at 'improvement' or 'correction' also took place: the name Cerdie was assumed to be a misspelling of a name ending in the common element -rie (as in Eadric, Beorhtric, etc.) and the name was therefore tidied up as Cedric. However, this was a mistake as the original was Cerdic, from British Ceretic. Ceredic is also found in the name of the British leader Caratacus who led a revolt against Rome. The confusion was not helped by divergent Anglo-Saxon spellings: the hero of Meldon was called variously Beorhtnob, Byrhtno]: and Bryhtnop.

r
f

n
U

~ ~

r
0

~
r

k
c

X
g

~
w

N
h

l~
n

1\ u

J'
ih ~

~ p ~ ng

r
x

~J
s

r
t

;
b

M
e

t4J
111

~
ce

H
d

r
a

r
;:e

w
y

j
ea Anglo-Saxon Runes (fuporc)

What are runes?

Before they adopted Christianity, most Anglo-Saxon writing was in a native script of which the individual letters were called 'runes'. The scnpt is known as theft/pore after the first six characters. They were derived from an alphabetic scnpt, although there is still some debate as to the exact source: Roman, Greek, Alpine or perhaps some other script. Many runes bear a strong resemblance to characters 11l. other alphabets. The runes were made

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Language & Literature for carving on wood, horn, bone and other organic materials and consequently were made up from straight lines and 90 degree corners. Runes continued in use once the church gained power, and most runic texts survive because they were carved in ecclesiastical contexts, e.g the Ruthwell Cross. (see page 91) Runes were not seen as a 'heathen peril' in the eyes of the church. It was later that runes were associated with secret writing and thus with 'occult' (hidden) practices and from here comes the notion that they were necessarily magical symbols: some early runic texts were definitely magical in character but the majority were not. By the 10[h century runes were one of a number of esoteric scripts used in western Europe, mainly as intellectual games for clerics. The Anglo-Saxon runes were an extension of the original 24 to 28, with several additional characters added at various times and places - some to meet linguistic needs and others so that Latin words could be spelt in runes.

Which is correct: "Old English" or "Anglo-Saxon"?

These two terms cause confusion, but need not do so. "Old English" (OE) is the name of the language, and "Anglo-Saxon" is the name of the historical period, and of the culture and the people of that period. Therefore it is possible to have Latin literature written in Old English (The Metres of Boethius is one example) and Anglo-Saxon literature written in Latin (such as the works of Bede and many other early churchmen; and a later version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written In Latin). Archaeologists often use the term "Saxon" to refer to the period between Roman and Norman / mediaeval. This is misleading, because "Saxon" properly refers to the people who called themselves Saxons and thus not to the Anglian areas of the country. (A more recent development is to refer to the pre-Christian period as "Anglian" and the later, Christian culture as "Saxon" which also defies logic. Archaeologists see nothing wrong with descriptions such as "a beautiful Saxon wrist-clasp" when the item is typical of the Angles and never found in Saxon areas.) Because of the history of the study of the language, many older reference books refer to the language as 'Anglo-Saxon' in an attempt to distance it and its users from (modern) English. "\\!hile this is no longer approved, there are still many second-hand books on the market with titles such as Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader - a book about Old English.

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Language & Literature

Drawings by Hickes of the Ruthwell Cross

How old is the English language?

English has been in continuous use in Britain for more than 1500 years. One of the earliest inscriptions is the word raihan scratched in runes on a bone gaming counter found in a cemetery at Caister-by-Norwich, It means "roe(deer)" and may have marked the quanT in a chase game, like "fox and geese". The bone has been identified as coming from a roe-deer. From about 300 AD onwards, many of drawn from the Germanic regions, and Old English. There may also have been Germans along what became known as 91 the Roman troops in Britain were spoke languages closely related to early settlement of North Sea the Saxon Shore. But it was not until

Language & Literature the early 5<h century that larger numbers of Germanic people started arriving for the purpose of settling in eastern and southern Britain. Their speech several dialects of a common Germanic language spoken round the North Sea - was understood by people from Norway to Northern France. Related languages were spoken 111 Italy (Ostrogothic, Lombarclic), Spain (Visigothic, Vandal, Swabian), Portugal (S"\wtbian) France (Frankish, Burgundian, Saxon) and even the Crimea (Gothic). This is due to the period of rapid movement during the collapse of the Roman Empire, where Germanic-speaking groups and others were involved in expansion across Europe from their homelands in the north. Some groups even managed to settle in North Africa. Previously, while Britain was part of the Roman Empire, people spoke Brythonic (British) in lowland Britain and a little-known language called Pictish in the northern areas outside the Empire. Latin was used for government and administration. Troops from across the Empire were stationed in Britain, using Vulgar Latin as their common tongue. A curious gold coin which was part of an English antiquarian'S collection bears the word skanomdu in runes; if the coin was minted in England, it would be the oldest English inscription, but it is more likely that it was made in Frisia. Skanomodu is a personal name. A gold medallion from Undley, Suffolk, (see page 94) is the best contender for the very earliest English text: it bears a message in runes which has not been satisfactorily interpreted but seems to refer to 'protection of kinsmen', and is shows a copy of the famous image of Romulus and Remus. The British language evolved into modern \"X'elshand Cornish (and the Continental language, Breton). As a mother tongue, Cornish died out in the 18']' century, but has been revived by modern enthusiasts. Gaelic was introduced to the north-western area (modern Dumfries and Galloway, and the western isles) by Irish settlers at about the same tirne as English came into eastern Britain. English has changed through processes of internal development, as well as through contact with other languages, mainly the Scandinavian speech (Old Norse) and Norman French. Many common words were adopted from tl11S contact, such as (Norse) die, skill, law, sky, take, seek; and Norman French chair, table, face, pork, beef, venison. Curiously, almost nothing was adopted from their British neighbours - only about a dozen words were taken over from Old \Xlelsh into Old English (apart from river-names and placenames). The core of Modern English is still the grammar and vocabulary of Old English, and it is not possible to speak or write intelligible English without using these Old English words,

92

Language & Literature

Page from an Old English medical manuscript.

93

Language & Literature

Bracteate from Undley, Suffolk. The text reads gagoga.maga.medu - the first word is also found on some early weapons from Denmark and appears to have been a magical word to bring good luck.

What was the Old English language like?

In most respects Old English was much like modern English, although it probably behaved like German in its grammar. The spelling system was a Iittle different - 'sc ' had the sound we write "sh', for exam ple, so tha t 'ship' was spelt scip, There were a few more different endings on words, but overall it was not very different from modern English in its structure, "Edward sat on his bed and thought" is Eadweard scet on his bedde ond bohte, " fire is a thief" IS for is peal One big difference, though, is the way Old English formed words. Today, when a new idea comes along, we usually borrow a word for it (tsunami, coffee, kayak) or make a new one out of Latin and Greek elements (television, 94

Language & Literature telephone, computer, voicernail). Old English preferred to make new words from known elements, so that 'trinity' is rendered by three-ness (jJrines) or 'grateful' by thank-full (jJoncfuf) or 'divinity' by god-kind-ness (godcyndnes).

How do we know so much about early English history?

Our main source for 'kings and dates' history is the document called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle usually abbreviated to ASC. It is not a single document, but actually six separate manuscripts which have survived ~ there is good reason to believe that there were others. They show a continuous history of the period in the form of annals, records of the significant events of a particular year. The early annals are sparse and terse - for example one entry just says 'this summer all the birds died' - but the later annals are often lengthy and the chroniclers introduce personal comment. The six texts (A to F) are not identical, but all show a common beginning which suggests that a central record was compiled and copies of it were sent out to different regional bases. Each record was therefore different from all the others due to small errors in the copying of the original; and since the record was continued by different persons at different locations, the agreement between the different versions has allowed historians to work out the complex relationships between the manuscripts. The early annals appear to have been compiled from monastic sources, probably the marginal notes in canonical tables used to calculate the date of Easter. They were written up as a single series, from before the birth of Christ to the date of compilanon, which appears to be the late 800s ..It is tempting to link this enormous work of scholarship to the reform of English learning which K111giElfred claimed to have initiated during his rule. The ASC is a umque work in European history. While monastic annals are not unknown from the early mediaeval period, such as the Kiev Chronicle in the Ukraine, there is no national record on a similar scale to the English chronicles of this period.

V\Thatother types of literature did they record?

The records of the Anglo-Saxon period are extremely rich and varied. We are fortunate to have the ASC as a chronological framework into which events can be slotted, but the Chronicle is itself only a tin)' fraction of the literature surviving from Anglo-Saxon times. For the student of English local history, there are two highly valuable sources: the Domesday Book and the land charters. Domesday was commissioned by 95

Language & Literature

the N orman king, William I, but the task of gathermg, compiling and editing the information fell to the English civil service which was the best organised in Europe at that time. The project was regarded by the English population as like the comprehensive book in biblical tradition which will be used on the Day of Judgement to determine the worth of each soul; the Old English name fo~ 'Day of Judgement' is Domesdceg, our 'Doomsday', Domesday offers a fascinating insight into the complex social and economic life oflate Anglo-Saxon England. The inspectors collected relevant information from individual farm estates throughout England, taking note of the assets and personnel to a fine degree of detail. Most records offer the current value of the estate, and the comparative value in the time of King Edward. The 1:\1/0 huge volumes in which the records were written up are among our national treasures. Land charters take various forms, but most are records of grants of land by lay persons to specific religious houses. Often the texts contain records of the boundaries and assets of the estates mentioned, as well as stipulations such as rents or services owed. Usually such grants had to be affirmed by the king of the day, and the manuscnpts are concrete records of these events. Due to the economic gain possible with such documents, many are forgeries intended either to give legal weight to an existing arrangement or to support a weak claim to some land. The disruption of the Danish wars meant that often both the physical records and the witnesses to a transaction had penshed, and It was necessary to produce a document in order to grlle an air of authority to a claim, Many of England's place-names are first recorded in Anglo-Saxon charters, and others in Domesday. Other official documents include the Tribal Hidage - a list of all the subkingdoms paying tribute to the king of Mercia; the Burghal Hidage - a list of all the royal strongholds and the extent of their resources; the Treaty of .zEljred and Guprum setting the boundary between the English land and the Danelaw; several sets of law-codes from various regions and periods; genealogical tables giving the ancestry of kings. Outside these administrative • • • • • texts, there was a rich prose literature including: saints' lives, often with intriguing incidental details of everyday life scientific tracts (Menologium) religious and theological works (Boethius's Philosophy, Gregory's Pastoral Care) geographical additions) translations documents On the Consolation of

(Alfred's translation of Orosius with many

medical texts (Old English Herbarium, Lacnunga, Bald's Leechbook) of Greek and Roman tales iApotonius of Tyret 96

Language & Literature

• • 'wisdom literature' dealing with e.g. biblical apocrypha (Solomon and Saturn) sermons and other writings deruing with Christian subjects in an Anglo-Saxon context (Sermo Lupi ad Anglos)

Not all these kinds of writing: are very numerous, but all are represented in
the sources. The Anglo-Saxons drew no hard-and-fast distinction between what we would call 'science' and 'religion': both represented knowledge of the world and could help to explain the course of events.

Is there any poetry from that period?

The single most famous Old English text is the poem Beowulf, which has been studied comprehensively for over a century and has given rise to a small industry of academic works. Despite this, there is no general agreement on the location and date of the poem's composition (though it cannot be later than the date of its written text, around 1000 AD), its authorship, or the poet's intentions in recounting legends of the heroic northlands. Its 3182 lines amount to about 10% of all Old English verse known to survive. The greater part of Old English verse is found in just five manuscripts. The Vercelli Manuscript (Vercelli, Cathedral Library, CXVII) The Junius Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11) The Exeter Book (Exeter, Cathedral Chapter Library, MS 3501) The Beowulf Manuscript (British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.15) The Paris Psalter (paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, 8824)

The Vercelli MS is held in the cathedral at Vercelli, Italy, and the Paris Psalter is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale (paris). The Exeter Book has been kept at Exeter Cathedral since it was donated by Bishop Leofric in 1000? AD. Poems survive in a few other works and in odd leaves preserved in the bindings of more recent books. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle includes entries which have been composed as poetry - an example is the entry for 937 AD which is usually referred to as The Battle of Brunanburh. Very few poems survive in more than one edition, so copying and spelling errors cannot be compared and checked. Some important works -such as the Old English Rune Poem or the Battle of Maldon - only exist as copies made in the 18m century; the original texts have not survived. The Beowulf

97

Language & Literature Manuscript was badly damaged by a disastrous fire in 1731 which destroyed an unknown quantity of irreplaceable mediaeval documents. One difficulty with Old English verse lies in identifying it. Verse was written out as prose (without each line of verse receiving its own line on the page) and it was not end-rhymed like most mediaeval and modern vcrxc, but rather relied on alliteration. The result is that some rhetorical texts (for example, some of the later homilies) have some but not all the characteristics of verse and do not fall into either category. (This is probably a failing of the modern attempts to classify the texts as one thing or the other, when they are actually neither.)

Byrhtwold mapelode, bard hafenode;

se wces eald geneat; tesc acwehte. He ful baldlice beornas lterde:

"Hige seeal

pe

heardra, heorte

pe

cenre,

mod sceal pe mare be ure mcegen t)itiao. Her lfa iire ealdor eall forheawen,
god on greote:

se

ae nilfram

a mceg gnornian pis wfgpl egan wendan pen ceo .I

Byrhtwold spoke up, he raised his shield and brandished his spear - he was an old retainer; with great courage he addressed the troop: "Mind shall be the harder, heart the keener, courage the greater as our strength dwindles. Here lies our leader, cut down, the good mao in the dirt. May he ever grieve who now thinks to turn from this war-play. The Battle of Maldoo, lines 309-316

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10. Sutton Hoo

What was found at Sutton HOD?
In 1938 a Suffolk landowner, Mrs, Edith Pretty, decided to investigate some large mounds on her property overlooking the River Deben, She employed a local excavator, Basil Brown, to undertake the dig. Brown realised that the mounds were probably burials, and that they had been dug before. He began a trial excavation on one of the apparently worst damaged ones and found many iron rivets and the remains of some drinking hom fittings; this told Brown that the mounds were Anglian, rather than Bronze Age as he had supposed. In the next summer, as the shadow of war lengthened over Europe, Brown excavated the largest of the mounds, and to his surprise began to discern the shape of a ship in the soil, left as a dark stain and a series of iron nails in neat rows which Brown recognised must mean that the ship, though decayed, was undisturbed, Realising the importance of his discovery, he contacted the British Museum who sent down a team of expert archaeologists to finish the task and record the finds. Basil Brown continued to assist in the excavation, but received little recognition for his efforts at the time. The barrow contained the remains of a 90ft sailing ship, one of the largest ships from the mediaeval period ever discovered. Amidships was built a burial chamber into which were placed the body of the dead king, his royal treasures, weapons and armour, feasting equipment and regalia. The ship had been hauled to the top of a promontory overlooking the river, lowered into a prepared ditch and covered with a huge burial mound. The grave-goods came from various places: Merovingian Francia, Byzantium, elsewhere ill Britain and the Baltic. One feasting bowl was of Egyptian manufacture and the garnets in the decorative plaques may have come from India. The drinking horns were from the Baltic or eastern Europe, and the sword fittings included ivory (possibly walrus). There are striking similarities between features of the burial and details in the epic poem Beowulf, although there the founding father Scyld is laid to rest in a treasure- filled ship which is set adrift, and later the hero Beowulf is laid in a conspicuous mound near the sea. There are also very dose similarities in the archaeological finds with other mound burials in southern Sweden. Aside from the ship-burial in Mound I, there are a further 18 or more mounds on the site all of which had apparently been robbed in antiquity, except for one. Mound 17, the only other undisturbed grave, contained the

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