The Anglo-Saxon: A History of the Beginnings of England, 400 - 1066, Marc Morris, c. 2021.

The Anglo-Saxon: A History of the Beginnings of England, 400 - 1066, Marc Morris, c. 2021.

This is a very clever book. Instead of a standard history, the author dedicates each chapter the major "cultural" theme in England at a point in time between 400 and 1066 AD. 

The book is like a series of stand-alone historical essays.

Early, early sources and archaeological artifacts mentioned:

• the Hoxne Hoard, near Mildenhall, East Anglia
• The Ruin of Britain, 5th century history, Gildas
• The Gallic Chronicle of 452
  
• Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Venerable Bede, early 8th century
• The Reckoning of Time, Bede, Easter story, p. 97
  
• Beowulf (much earlier); p. 45; 
• 9th century: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 69
• Life of Wilfrid, p. 109
  

Naming of the days of the week, p. 36.

Prior to 400 AD:

Pretani: "painted ones" or "tattooed folks." Roman name for native folks in Britain at the time the Romans were invading. Pretani (a land) and the folks that lived there, pretans or pretanis. Pretan --> Britonnes --> Britain.

7th century (600s): after the Romans kicked out (late 400s) by Anglo-Saxons:

 DÁL RIATA: western Scotland and northern Ireland.

 

Introduction

Chapter One: The Ruin of Britain -- The Fall of Rome and the Coming of the Saxons

• last Roman coins in Britain, dated 402
• the Battle of Badon Hill, early 5th or late 6th; Britons -- a victory, though short-lived, in stopping the Anglo-Saxons
  

Chapter Two: War-Wolves and Ring-Givers -- The Emergence of Kings and Kingdoms

• Beowulf
• begins around 500
• Penda: the last great pagan king off Anglo-Saxon England; Mercia; died 655

Chapter Three: God's Chose Instrument -- St Wilfrid and the Establishment of Christianity

• St Wilfrid: 633 - 710
• monasteries, minsters; p. 105
  
• Roman (urban) vs Irish (isolated islands)
• Northumbria: King Oswald from 634 until his death 644 (not to be confused with archbishop of York in mid-900s)
  

Chapter Four: An English Empire? King Offa and the Domination of the South

• Offa of Mercia, died 796
• the dikes

Chapter Five: Storm From the North -- The Viking Assault on Britain and Francia

• Viking raid on Lindisfarne, 793

Chapter Six: Resurrection -- Alfred the Great and the Forging of Englishness

• King Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, 849 - 899; king, 871 - 886

Chapter Seven: Imperial Overstretch? King Æthelstan and the Conquest of the North

• King of Anglo-Saxons, 924 - 927; King of all English, 927 - 939
• the influence of the Scandinavians, Danelaw, language, etc, critical p. 253.
  

Chapter Eight: One Nation Under God -- St Dunstan and the Pursuit of Uniformity

• St Dunstand: 909 - 988

Chapter Nine: The Ill-Counselled King -- Æthelred the Unready and the Fear of Apocalypse

• King Æthelred the Unready, 966 - 1016

Chapter Ten: Twilight. -- The Rise of the House of Godwine

• the House of Godwine: the last fifty years before the Norman Conquest
• the Anglo-Saxon era ended on October 14, 1066, on a Saturday afternoon, about teatime
• King Haold Godwineson clashed with William of Normandy some six miles northwest of Hastings, on the coast, down the coast, southwest from Dover
• the Bayeux Tapestry

Conclusion

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Timeline

• 55 BC: Julius Caesar, first Roman military incursions into "Britain"
• 100 AD: Roman Britain established
• 200 AD: all the familiar hallmarks of Roman civilization introduced; London, the administrative hub
• Caerleon, Chester and York had been established
• 122 AD: Hadrian's Wall
• 360 AD: Picts from the north, and invaders from Ireland, the Scots and the Attacots, had started invading northern Britain
• 367 - 368 AD: key date; "the barbarians" winning / Romans losing
• 402 AD: last year in which Roman coins appear in Britain's archaeological record inn any significant quantities
• 406: the Vandals, the Alans, and the Sueves cross the Rhine frontier; invade Gaul; cause alarm among the Britons, thinking they might be next
• 409: Romans no longer guaranteeing peace for the Britons, who revolt; Briton goes into free fall
  
• 410: most of the archaeological record of Britain disappears; period in which Hoxne treasure waas hidden
• north Britain: invaders were Picts; southern and eastern Britain, the Saxons
• Romans had religion; first, their pantheon and then Christianity; the Saxons were pagans, and sacrificed 10% of all their captives to a watery end;
• no written history, but now, the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, who says the Brits asked for help to fend off the Picts and the Scots. The Saxons were invited in by the Brits but the Saxons came to conquer the whole country for themselves .... and the rest is history.
• Bede: written in the early 8th century, a full 300 years after the events he was describinng
• Bede's primary source: a written source by Gildas, an unknown author, The Ruin of Britain 
• the most valuable account of the island's fifth-century history
• the main event -- ultimate cause of Britain's subsequent misery: the arrival of the Saxons
• Bede more concerned about historical accuracy; placed these events during the rule of the emperor Marcian, accession Bede dated as 449
• 449 AD: adopted by later writers as the date of Saxon arrival
• but more likely, 20 years earlier: around 430 AD
• another written source, The Gallic Chronicle of 452 suggests the same date, around 430 AD
• Saxon revolt, 441 AD: country divided in two -- the remaining Saxons in one area; the original Brits in another area
• commonly held: Saxons in the east; Brits in the west; but probably much more complicated
• then, in-depth archaeological history, pp 30 - 32
• then, the political and DNA history, pp 32 -- 37.
  

Chapter Seven: Imperial Overstretch? King Æthelstan and the Conquest of the North

• King of Anglo-Saxons, 924 - 927; King of all English, 927 - 939
• the influence of the Scandinavians, Danelaw, language, etc, critical p. 253.
• the question of how many Scandinavians had settled in these areas cannot be answered decisively, but .... across large areas of northern and eastern England, we find many place names that end with either -by or -thorpe, both of which are elements imported form Old Norse. 
• It was at this point, for example, that the monastery founded by St Hild at Streaneshalch became known as Whitby, and the settlement that had been Northworthig was renamed Derby.
• Almost half the place names in Yorkshire recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 had such Scandinavian origins. 
• In addition, thousands of Norse loan-words appear in English sources written after the late ninth century. One notable grammatically borrowing was the words they, their, and them. 
  

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Minsters vs Monasteries

Link here.

"Minster" was the Anglo-Saxon version of "monastery", and was originally applied to churches served by monks.

In the ninth century, many monasteries turned into more worldly institutions whose clergy were known as "clerks" or "canons," and these continued to be known as minsters, too, so that by 1066 it was possible for a minster to be either a monastic community (Westminster Abbey) or one of canons (York Minster).

Most monasteries and minsters came to an end at the Reformation, but the name continued to be used for York, for a few surviving minsters such as Southwell and Wimborne, and for former minsters such as Beverley or Iwerne Minster.

The name is now largely historic, indicating a church that in the remote past was a monastery or community of canons; but in recent years it has been revived as a title for what is considered to be an important church, such as the mother church of a town. I am not aware that any law lays down what may or may not be a minster, or that a church so named acquires a different legal status.

To be continued.