In AD 43 the Roman legions landed in Britain on a
mission of conquest ordered by the Emperor Claudius to capture the islands whose
Celtic inhabitants aided their Gaulish kin against the Imperium and for the
corn and other booty which could be sent back to Rome. The
conquest lasted 30 years but the Pax Romana imposed by the Imperial sword lasted
nearly 300 years until Rome itself, beset by barbarians at its very gates,
stripped Britain of its legions and delivered the final blow by refusing to send
reinforcements in AD 410.
During the Roman occupation the Anglo-Saxons had
harried the south-eastern coasts of Britain for the rich plunder to be taken back to
their German homeland and the Romans had a Count of
the Saxon Shore who was charged with repelling the pirates
on land and sea. With Rome's withdrawal from Britain in AD 410, the
Romano-British were left to face the marauders themselves. The Saxons eventually
wrested England from the Romano-Britons but only after a
long struggle - although the British province had never
been completely Romanised, it is thought that the Romano-Britons retianed at least
some of the Roman military structure allowing them to put up a
strong resistance.
see also; Roman Britain
The Saxons repeatedly attacked Britain during the fourth and early fifth
century AD driven by the westward movement of the Huns. The abandonment of the
province by the Romans left it open to attack not only by the
Saxons, but also by the Picts and the Scots from the north.
Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, was sent to Britain to combat the
Pelagian heresy and aided the Romano-Britons to win over the Saxons and Picts
in Yorkshire or the North Midlands.
The attackers and would-be invaders were not of a single tribe but three, hailing from
approximately the same area of Northern Europe; the Jutes
from Jutland or maybe Friesland; the Saxons, originaly
from Holstein, but having spread into Brunswick, Hanover and Westphalia;
and, the Angles from the mouth of the river Elbe. It is
probable that these people migrated to Britain with their flocks, slaves and
other possessions to escape the Huns who come out of the east and settled around the
Baltic threatening Rome itself.
The Saxon Invasion
THE INVASION OF THE JUTES
The Jutes were the smallest of the three tribes to invade the British Isles
after the departure of the Romans. Thought to have originated in Jutland, some
consider them to have hailed from Friesland.
The Saxon Invasion
THE INVASION OF THE SAXONS
The Saxons originally inhabited Holstein but spread over time to Brunswick,
Hanover and Westphalia.
They conquered Sussex in 491 AD led by Aelle and Cissa (after whom
Chichester is named). They captured Anderida -
'. . . nor was one Briten left there afterwards . . .'
and established Sussex as the kingodm of the South Saxons. It is not known whether
the Saxon invasion of Britian was this bloody throughout with the anihilation of the
Britons, or whether the capture of Anderida is thus recorded
just because of its uniqueness.
The Saxon Invasion
THE INVASION OF THE ANGLES
The Angles hailed from the area around the mouth of the river Elbe. Between 500
and 540, they established themselves in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, conquered
Yorkshire and settled round the river Tweed.
The Saxon Invasion
THE BRITISH RESISTANCE
Perhaps the Romano-British retained some of the Roman military structure
on the withdrawal of the Empire from the British Isles because they put up a very
stubborn resistance to the Saxon invasion.
It took the Jutes thirty years to conquer Kent and the
Britons were victorious at Mount Badon in 520 and
Feathanlea in 584. The West Saxons under Cerdic conquered
Hampshire and
the Isle of Wight but it took them
nearly a whole century to establish the Kingdom of
Wessex.
The West Welsh
(Devon and Cornwall) and
the Cumbrians held out for many years against the Saxon forces and
Wales itself was never conquered by them.
The fate of the Britons after the Saxon Invasion is uncertain and it is
possible that the majority were exterminated as the language and institutions of
England are largely tuetonic in nature and this would be supported by the
slaughter of the Britons at Anderida in 491 during the conquest of Sussex.
On the other hand, the killing may have recieved mention in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
precisely because it was a stark exception to the norm.
Others assert that the latter was the case and that it was only the garrison at
Anderida which was slaughtered. It may be that the invaders took British
wives (although it was not their custom to intermarry with other races in their
native Germany) while the men might have been enslaved. The words of
British origin which survive in the English language refer to domestic matters
(e.g.: basket, rug) and are absent from words refering to government - this
may be an indication that the native British population were enslaved. The
presence of different types of skull found in Saxon burial grounds would
also seem to indicate the co-existence of the two races.
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Britons fleeing the Saxon attacks during the first half of the
fifth century settled in Armorica in northern France which became known as
Brittany.
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There is evidence that in the Kingdom of Wessex there co-existed
an organised Celtic community arranged in different social ranks to those of
Saxon society and with its own estates.
As in their native Germany the family was the basic unit of
Saxon society. The family was responsible for the crimes of its members
and compensation for injuries done to a member such as the
Weregild compensation for murder were
paid to the family.
The Saxons favoured living in villages composed of related families
and the towns established by the Romans declined. The system of
common cultivation by the village community which had prevailed in the
German homeland was continued in Britain.
The population was divided into three classes; nobles, freemen and slaves.
The need for a military leader led to the establishment of monarchies in all the
tribes of Britain.
Punishments under Saxon law at the end of the seventh century
were severe, even for offences against religious convention;
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Theft without the knowledge of the family was punishable by death.
If the thief's family were aware of the theft, all could be
enslaved.
A serf working on a Sunday by the order of his Lord would become free,
should he work of his own will, he rendered his whole family liable to enslavement
Failure to baptise a child within thirty days of birth incurred a fine of
thirty shillings. Should the child die before baptism, the father lost all his
possessions.
Profane use of God�s name incurred whipping or even death, at the discretion of
the local Lord.
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Slavery was common practice in Saxon England. Apart from a few staple commodities, England produced little for export slaves were exchanged for goods from abroad. The unfortunates thus traded found themselves in Ireland, Denmark and even as far as Italy. From Denmark, they doubtless passed into Germany. The powerfull took part in this trade wholesale, as is witnessed by William of Malmesbury in his reference to the powerfull Earl Godwin in his Chronicle of the Kings of England of 1065;-
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When he was a young man he had Canute's sister to wife, by whom he had a son, who in his early youth, while proudly curveting on a horse which his grandfather had given him, was carried into the Thames, and perished in the stream; his mother, too, paid the penalty of her cruelty; being killed by a stroke of lightning. For it is reported, that she was in the habit of purchasing companies of slaves in England, and sending them into Denmark; more especially girls, whose beauty and age rendered them more valuable, that she might accumulate money by this horrid traffic.
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Saxon slaves where a class of society known as 'theow', true slaves bound to their owner and not to the land and they numbered some 25,000 in the time of King Edward the Confessor.
By the time of William I's Domesday survey in 1086, the number of slaves had much declined and there is scant mention of them in the Domesday Book. By the late 12th century, slaves had all but disappeared as a class in England.
The population was divided into three classes; nobles, freemen and slaves.
The need for a military leader led to the establishment of monarchies in all the
tribes of Britain. The German laws were retained at the expense of the
Roman0-British institutions which disappeared.
There was little cohesion between the Saxon tribes who tended to find separate leaders
and form the kingdoms which, far from co-operating, would vie for supremacy. England
was not truly united as a country until the invasion of Duke William of Normandy in
1066 and the completion of his conquest.
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The Saxon kingdoms vied amongst themselves for supremacy and invariably a King would,
through military success, gain supremacy over an area considerably larger than his
kingdom. Such leaders were accorded the honorary title of
Brytaenwealda (sometimes referred to
as Bretwalda) - meaning 'wide ruler'.
e.g.;
Ethelbert of Kent and
Redwald of East Anglia
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Under the English kings the country was divided into great earldoms, the earls attended the Witan, or king's council, together with representatives of the Church. The earldoms were not hereditary and the earl ruled at the king's discretion, the boundaries of the earldoms frequently changed at the king's direction.
England was ruled through a series of courts or "moots" in a heirarchy from the Witan to a local level. The earls ruled as the monarch's agents through the Shire moots which were attended by the major local thegns and, in their turn, ruled through their local Hundred Moot (the "Wapentake" bing the equivalent in the Danelaw). The lesser thegns who attended the Hundred Moot ruled through their local tithing Moot and all men were required to belong to a tithing consisting of either 10 or 12 families.
Through this structure, the earls, through the thegns, knew the worth of the lands they controlled on behalf of the king and any land transfers were either conducted in writing, or at the very least known by those involved in the transaction.
This administrative structure was destroyed after the Norman conquest, earldoms became honorific and that lands of the magnates became dispresed throughout the country. The resulting confusion was probably a major factor in William the Conqueror's decision to order the compilaton of the Domesday Book.
The well-organised Christianity of the Romano-British disappeared from England to be
replaced by the pagan worship of the Saxons although Christianity survived in
Wales which was never conquered.
Religion
THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY
It was through the influence of Bertha, the Christian wife of King
Ethelbert of Kent and daughter of Charibert the King of Paris,
that the King of Kent allowed St Augustine to land in Thanet in 597 and, Ethelbert himself
having been baptised, allowed Augustine to settle the capital of the Church at
Canterbury.
Augustine became Archbishop of Canterbury and consecrated Justus the Bishop of Rochester.
Although London was part of the Kingdom of Essex, it accepted Christianity under
Ethelbert's influence and Augustine consecrated Mallitus as bishop of London.
Although all the Saxon Kingdoms excepting Sussex and Northumbria were affected by
Christianity at some time, the religion was chiefly confined to the dominions of the
King of Kent. After Ethelbert's death in 616, there was a pagan reaction against
Christianity with only Kent remaining Christian.
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It was in the general reaction to Christianity after the death of Ethelbert of Kent that
London reverted to its former pagan religion and thus, while it would become the
secular capital of Britain, the ecclesaistical supremacy of Canterbury was established.
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Augustine could not unite the Roman and Welsh Churches or settle their differences over
Baptism and the date of easter.
Althoug the Kingdom of Kent was the cradle of Christianity amongst the Saxons in Britain
and harboured it during its first unsteady period, even there the religion was weak there
and its eventual success amongst the Saxons was due to Northumbria. .
Ethelbert of Kent ruled from 561 until 616 and, although he suffered defeat at the hands
of the West Saxons under Ceawlin at Wimbledon in 568, he recovered to secure his position
as Brytaenwealda
with supremacy over eastern England up to the Humber and his authority recognised by the
Kings of the East
Saxons (Essex) and East Anglia.
It was due to the influence of Ethelbert's Christian wife Bertha that the King recieved
St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, who landed in Thanet in 597 and was allowed
to settle at Canterbury - see The Introduction of
Christianity.
Kent's supremacy ended with the death of Ethelbert in 616 and, indeed, had been challenged
during his lifetime; Redwald, King of East Anglia had established his authority over
central England and also secured himself the title of
Brytaenwealda
. For almsot all of the 7th century, the supremacy passed to Northumbria.
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THE KINGDOM OF NORTHUMBRIA
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SAXON CONQUEST OF THE DANELAW
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The conquest of the Danelaw became imperative to the Saxons - at every crisis which befell
Wessex,
the Danes of the north-east would attack. One example of such an act was the support
of the Danes for Ethelwald, pretender to the Wesex
throne against Edward the Elder (Ethelwald took Wimborne and Christchurch in Dorset
in 901AD).
9th Century
At the turn of the ninth century, Mercia in the Midlands was the most powerful of the Saxon kingdoms of England having come to prominence under under King Offa after 796. Wessex gradually came to dominate the rest of England, particularly south of the river Thames during the reign of King Egbert (802-839) and in 825 Sussex, Surrey and Kent, later Essex and East Anglia came under its control. By 829, Mercia itself had come under the sway of Wessex and, despite first raids of the Vikings from Denmark which had to be fended off, Wessex also recieved the submission of Northumbria, Wales and, in 838, Cornwall.
| 367 | | Picts, Scots and Saxons simultaneously invade the British Isles | | BAAAGEKC BAAAGBRE BAAAGEHV | | 491 | | Saxons led by Aelle and Cissa invade and established Sussex as the kingdom of the South Saxons
Britons are slaughtered at the fort of Anderida | | | | 500 | | Angles start their conquest of East Anglia (-540) | | | | circa 500 | | Defences at Cadbury Castle in Somerset thought to have been built | | BAAAGCEE BAAAGBHZ | | 515 | | The West Saxon
advance halted by the Britons at the Battle of Badon (possibly led by a leader named Arthur)
(FE Haliday,1959)c. 500 Ambrosius Aurelianus defeats Saxons at Badon Hill | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGEFP BAAAGCEI BAAAGCBS BAAAGEFQ BAAAGEIT | | 540 | | Angles complete their conquest of East Anglia (500-); occupying East Anglia, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and settling round the river Tweed
The words England /English derived from Angles | | | | 577 | | The West Saxon advance resumed at the Battle of Deorham | | BAAAGEFP BAAAGBSC BAAAGEFQ | | 577 | | Battle of Deorham Down near Bristol results in the separation of the West Welsh (the Cornish) from the Welsh by the advancing of the Saxons
Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester mentioned in an account of the battle but not Bristol | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGEAF BAAAGDEZ BAAAGEDZ BAAAGBKA BAAAGEFP BAAAGEFQ BAAAGEII | | 658 | | Kenwalh, King of the West Saxons, fought and defeated the Britons at Pen Selwood in Somerset | | BAAAGCEE BAAAGBHZ | | circa 700 | | The Saxons reach the Bristol Channel cutting of the Celts of Cornwall from the Celts of Wales | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBAV BAAAGBHZ BAAAGDEZ BAAAGEDZ BAAAGBKA | | 705 | | The Saxons under King Ine renew their westward advance into Devon and Cornwall | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBAV BAAAGBHZ | | 710 | | The Saxons occupy Exeter in Devon | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBAV BAAAGDZD | | 722 | | Saxons defeated at the battle of Hehil, probably near Jacobstowe | | BAAAGBAV BAAAGEFP BAAAGEFQ | | circa 780 | | Saxons westward advance reaches the river Tamar | | BAAAGBAV BAAAGBGJ | | 807 | | Viking Danes form alliance alliance with the Cornish against the Saxons | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBAV BAAAGDDL BAAAGDDN | | 814 | | Ecgberht of Wessex conquers Cornwall
The Saxons \'laid waste the land from east to west\' but cannot subjugate the Cornish | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBHZ | | 825 | | Egbert defeated the Mercians at the Battle of Ellandun (modern Nether
Wroughton) and Wessex became the dominant Saxon kingdom in England. He also conquered
Kent, Sussex and Essex. | | BAAAGCBS BAAAGCFE BAAAGBHZ BAAAGBIU BAAAGEFP BAAAGEFQ | | 851 | | Devon first recorded as Defnascir in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle when Danes defeated at Wicganbeorg | | BAAAGBAV BAAAGDDL BAAAGDDN | | 878 | | Death of Dumgarth, king of the Cornish, by drowning
Dumgarth is identified as Doniert in Saxon records. Doniert\'s Stone stands in the parish of St Cleer, Cornwall | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBHZ paris | | 986 | | \'this year came first the murrain of cattle in England\' - (The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) | | BAAAGEEN | | 1001 | | Danes joined in Devon by the Saxon traitor Paley (ASC) | | BAAAGCEI BAAAGEEN BAAAGDDL BAAAGDDN | | 1016.Oct.18 | | Danes under Canute decisively defeat the Saxons under Edmund II (Ironside) at Battle of Assandun (Ashingdon) in Essex
Edmund retreated to Gloucestershire | | BAAAGEEO BAAAGBRA BAAAGDDL BAAAGDDN BAAAGEFP BAAAGEFQ | | 1017 | | Canute divides his English kingdom into 4 earldoms - East Anglia, Mercia, Northumberland and Wessex - with Danish earls excepting the Saxon Godwin, made earl of Wessex | | BAAAGDIV BAAAGBIV BAAAGBRA BAAAGDDN | | 1052 | | Earl Godwin leads a vicious attack on the Isle of Portland in Dorset | | BAAAGCQX BAAAGDIU | | 1069 | | Brian de Bretagne, Norman Earl of Cornwall, leads an army against the sons of the defeated Saxon King Harold II | | BAAAGBFR BAAAGBHZ BAAAGDIU | | 1071 | | Defeat of the Saxon Hereward | | BAAAGBVE | | 1072 | | Submission of Malcolm Canmore to William I ending Saxon resistance to the Conqueror | | BAAAGBVE | | 1076 | | At
Lent, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV of Saxony | | BAAAGDLY | | 1100.Nov.11 | | Henry I married Edith, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland and niece of Edgar the Atheling uniting the lines of the Saxon and Norman kings | | BAAAGCBL BAAAGBWT BAAAGBWL BAAAGEKC | | 1987.Nov.18 | | Cricklade (Wilts.) celebrates 1,100th anniversary of the Saxon borough | | BAAAGDAF |
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