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Course: Medieval Europe + Byzantine > Unit 6
Lesson 1: England- Anglo-Saxon England
- Sutton Hoo ship burial
- The Sutton Hoo ship burial
- Sutton Hoo ship burial (quiz)
- The Sutton Hoo purse lid
- The Sutton Hoo helmet
- Decoding Anglo-Saxon art
- Great square-headed brooch from Chessell Down
- Fibulae
- Fibulae (quiz)
- The Franks Casket
- The Lindisfarne Gospels
- The Lindisfarne Gospels
- Lindisfarne Gospels (quiz)
- Codex Amiatinus, the oldest complete Latin Bible
- The Utrecht Psalter and its influence
- The Fuller Brooch
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Anglo-Saxon England
In the fifth century C.E., people from tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes left their homelands in northern Europe to look for a new home. They knew that the Romans had recently left the green land of Britain unguarded, so they sailed across the channel in small wooden boats. This warlike dragon figurehead is from a ship of that time.
The Britons did not give in without a fight, but after many years the invaders managed to overcome them, driving them to the west of the country. The Anglo-Saxons were to rule for over 500 years.
Some objects were left behind by the Anglo-Saxons which have given us clues about how they lived. The British Museum is home to the largest and finest Anglo-Saxon collection in the world.
Anglo-Saxon England was divided into the five main kingdoms of Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria and Kent, each with its own king. Kings often died early and violent deaths. As well as fighting against each other for power, they had to keep their own nobles happy, or they might rise up against them. One way that they did this was to give them expensive presents.
The ring on the left was perhaps given to a noble by King Æthelwulf of Wessex. The other ring has AD on it which stands for "Agnus Dei" meaning "Lamb of God" in Latin. On the back the name Æthelswith has been cut. She was Æthelwulf’s daughter and the ring might have been a gift she gave to someone to show her favour.
© Trustees of the British Museum
Want to join the conversation?
- Do you have that collection of ancient gold that was mentioned on tv a few months ago? It was found in a farmer's field. I don't remember much else about it.(7 votes)
- If you mean the Staffordshire Hoard, which was first discovered in 2009 in a farmer's field, parts of it were on display at the British Museum for a while shortly after its discovery but is now owned by museums in Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent. There's a very good series of episodes on this hoard in the History of Britain podcast series (audio though).(18 votes)
- Can the fibulae be in relation to the Anglo-Saxon?(4 votes)
- Did the Britons became what is today Welsh after they were pushed west? Or are the Welsh a different people entirely?(1 vote)
- The Welsh were a Celtic people who lived in Britain long before the Romans invaded,never mind the Anglo-Saxons. Today, few people could claim pure Celtic heritage, what with numerous invasions and more peaceful migration. It's best you don't point that out to patriotic Welsh people, though.(3 votes)
- What religion were the Anglo Saxons before Christianity?(1 vote)
- Some may have practiced the Roman State religion, others various local and non-local faiths, as well as some Celtic and Norse influence.(2 votes)
- How did the Angles, Saxons and jutes know that the Romans left Britain?(1 vote)
- People traded and traveled and would have been quickly aware that there was a power vacuum in Britain.(2 votes)
- Is Anglo a religion, object or event that happen?(1 vote)
- "Anglo" comes from the same word root as the modern word "English". It refers to the ancient people of one part of Britain (not the Picts, who were in Scotland, or the Celts, who were in Wales, Cornwall and Ireland). Anglo-Saxon refers to a mixed ethnicity which happened when Saxons (from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands) interbred with the Anglos.(1 vote)
- I know that the Germanic tribes that invaded the British Isles, mainly the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were from Germany and the Jutland Peninsula, but where were the Celtic tribes originally from, mainly the ones inhabiting the British Isles? Some of my ancestors were Irish and Celtic.(1 vote)
- The Celts were a collection of tribes with origins in central Europe that shared a similar language, religious beliefs, traditions and culture. It’s believed that the Celtic culture started to evolve as early as 1200 B.C. The Celts spread throughout western Europe—including Britain, Ireland, France and Spain—via migration. Their legacy remains most prominent in Ireland and Great Britain, where traces of their language and culture are still prominent today. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/celts#section_1(1 vote)
- attitudes toward war anglo-saxons(1 vote)
- How do they figure out what it says like Aesthelswith(1 vote)
- why is this "grammar" but were taking history quizzes seems like this class is a waste of time(0 votes)
- If we are learning something, our time is not being wasted.(5 votes)