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Anglo-Saxons beliefs

Anglo-Saxons beliefs

The early Anglo-Saxons were pagans. They believed in many gods, for example the king of the Anlgo-Saxon gods was Woden; other gods were Thunor,  god of thunder; Frige, goddess of love; and Tiw, god of war: the names of the  days of the week come    from gods’ names. Their gods and goddesses  ruled practically every aspect of  life and nature such as birth, life, death, harvest, love, fertility, earth, sky, weather and much more.

In the most primitive of times these deities were probably worshipped as natural phenomena, but over the centuries they took human form.

When the Anglo-Saxons died their bodies were either cremated or buried in a grave.

The bodies were buried with their  instruments that they used during life: the man’s graves include instruments wich suggest hunting and farming and  the women’s graves include tools used for sewing and weaving.

When the Romans left Britain, Christianity continued in other places where the Anglo-Saxons did not settle, such as Wales. The decline of the Anglo-Saxon began around 597 A.D. with the arrival of the Roman missionary St Augustine on the Isle of Thanet in Kent. The missionaries were sent out on the orders of Pope Gregory; in fact in 529 A.D. the Pope decided it was time that the Anglo-Saxons in southern Britain heard about Christianity. Over the next 100 years many Anglo-Saxons turned to Christianity. As the Anglo-Saxons were converted from pagan beliefs to Christian ones, they changed their way of life and became less warlike.

 Monasteries were centres of learning, where monks and nuns spent their time in prayer, study and worked in fields and workshops. Moreover, these places where the only schools in Anglo-Saxons England. 

Thor with a hammer

St Paul's Monastery at Jarrow.
The monastery at Jarrow in
Northumbria was a centre of the
Christian Church in Anglo-Saxon times

A pot used in an Anglo-Saxon burial.
The burned remains and bones of a dead person
 were put in the pot, which was then buried.

The end- Giovanni Maddaloni

THE END

Anglo-saxons had always had quarrels with the Vikings. The first war was in 793 when Vikings attacked the monastery and killed many of the monks.

But after king Alfred they settled down peacefully in a land called Damelaw.

After him there were other kings that ricaptured the lands where Vikings settled like Edward, Alfred’s son.

Edward’s son conquered territories almost as far as Scotland. The most powerful king was Edgar who could unite all the population. After him things went worse and worse with king Ethelred who tried to stop the Vikings’ invasion with gold but it didn’t work and he had to flee to France. After more fightings a Dame called Curt became king of England in 1016. He ruled well and after his death in 1035 two of his sons took the control of  England.

In 1042 there was a king in England: Edward. He was very religious and was called “Edward the confessor” he often confessed his sues. Edward allowed the English earls (local little cuing) to become very strong. When in 1066 Edward died the English leader chose Harold as the next king of England.

Harold had a rival: Duke William of Normand, that decided to invade England. In 1066 England was invaded twice and during the battle of Hastings (14 October 1066) Harold was killed and William became king. The Anglo-Saxon period of history was ended. 

Giovanni Maddaloni

(from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/)

Life

Anglo-Saxons’ life

When the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain they kept clear of roman towns. They preferred to live in small villages, but some Roman towns were never completely abandoned. Some of them built houses inside the roman walls, other in the forests. Their villages included  small groups of houses around a larger hall. Each house had one room with a fire for cooking and light. They put a metal cooking from a chain above the fire.

Anglo-Saxons thought that sons and daughters were equally important.

The girls worked at home. They learned skills such as weaving cloth, cooking, making cheese and ale. Only a few girls learned to read and write. By the age of 10 a girl was considered an adult.  Most girls were married and many became nuns. They wore long dresses, they used sheep and goats’ wool for clothes.

Women did not often marry men of a higher rank than themselves. But sometimes people could choose whom they married, unless the family disapproved. Family ties were very important. Women could leave wills. They could have small libraries of books. A rich woman's possessions might also include furniture, blankets, cups, jewellery, and horses.

 The Boys learned the skills of their fathers. They wore tunics with trousers. They rowed boats on rivers, went fishing, hunted wild animals. Not many boys learned to read and write. The sons of kings or rich thanes could have a private teacher . The only schools were run by the Christian Church, in monasteries.

 Most men had farms and were also soldier. After a battle they went home to look after their animals and crops. The king ordered local officials to unit many men for each land. If the country was invaded, the king called this local bands of man.

The king had a small bodyguard of brave warriors who would die to defend him. The 'warrior-code' of the Anglo-Saxons taught that a warrior must fight and die for his leader.

Their armies were usually small, with only a few hundred men. They wore helmets on their heads and carried wooden shields. Everyone fought on foot during a battle. The most feared Anglo-Saxon weapon was a battle axe, but the most precious weapon was a sword.

Anglo-Saxons liked to do meeting in the lord's great hall. They loved tales about brave warriors and their adventures. Their favourite story told how Beowulf, a heroic prince, kills the man-eating monster Grendel. This story was first written in the 8th-9th centuries. The storyteller played music to accompany the songs and poems, on a small harp or on a lyre. In this meeting they ate roast meats, bread and fruit. They drank ale or mead, a strong drink made from honey. People often drank too much, so feasts were often noisy and sometimes ended in fights.

Anglo-Saxons liked to play with words.  Early Anglo-Saxons wrote using letters called runes. They believed runes had magical powers.

Men enjoyed pastimes  such as wrestling, weight-lifting (using heavy rocks) horse-racing and swimming races . These sports kept them fit, for work and war. They also played ball games.

Anglo-Saxon toys were usually home-made. Children had wooden and rag dolls, carved animals, and toy swords and ships. Children played board games, they had spinning tops, and played tunes on pipes made from reeds or animal bones. They probably practised juggling too.



(from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/)

History

Who were they?

Invasions

The Anglo Saxons arrived after the Roman invasion AD 43, for 400 years Britain was under the Romans control. in Ad 410 new people in ships across the North Sea  started arriving. They were a mixture of people from Germany, Holland and Denmark. Some of them arrived fighting but others came peacefully to find land to farm. But the Romans only controlled southern Britain (they never conquered Scotland and Wales), which was organized by their system of roads and cities. the populations who lived in the North of Britain were called Barbaria. Their Empire was under attack in many territories and for this they had built forts along the coasts, but the area was so large that they couldn't arrest the new peoples. they also paid the new populations of Anglo Saxons to reject the other soldiers.
They established there and they were organized in villages near the sea or a river. Most of them were farmers and sailors.


Political Organization
Each group of Anglo Saxons settlers had a war-chief who was called king. The king controlled a kingdoma and led a small army. There were a lot of wars between kings to show who was the strongest that were called witan, ruler of all Britain.

By around AD600 there were five kingdoms: Northumbria, Kent, East Anglia, Wessex and Marcia.

The most important kings

King Arthur

After the Roman soldiers left in AD410 the invasions continued and who fought them was king Arthur.We do not know if there was a real Arthur. Most of the stories about him and his Knights of the Round Table come much later in history. Legend says Arthur won a great battle around AD500, but he could not stop more Anglo-Saxons coming.

Offa

Offa was king of Mercia which became the strongest kingdom. In fact in Britain he was treated almost like Charlemagne, and he was famous and respected in all the territory. Offa issued the first coin in silver, known as ‘Offa’s pennies’, and improved the defense system building Offa’s Dyke along the Wales’ line.

Edwin of Northumbria

He is remembered for having founded Edinburgh

Alfred the Great

He was the most important and the only one to be called “Great”. Alfred was born in AD849 and died in AD 899. His father was king of Wessex but he became king of all England.

He fought against the Vikings. The war lasted for years and it was hopeless for Alfred. Eventually he won the battle of Edington and the Vikings accepted to live peacefully togheter.

His capital was Winchester and the last success was captured London which was belonged to Marcia and then to the Vikings. Alfred became so important that he was on all the coins with the name of King of the English.


Other Information

Stories about Alfred the GreatIt is said that Alfred went to Rome to see the Pope at the age of four and when he came back his mother promised to the first of her child that could learn how to read it an awesome book. SO Alfred learned it by heart, re-told it to his mother and got the book.

Another story is about when he had to hide from Vikings in a lonely island. Alfred was guest of a farmer and he received a telling- off from the farmer’s wife because he let burn her bread.
The last one tells that he went to the Vikings’ camp as a minstrel to find out what they were planning.

Remainings

The most important Anglo Saxons’ remainings are the traces of a ship in Suffolk. Archeologists found in it a lot of precious objects and they understood that that was a grave. They supposed it was the East Anglia’s King’s grave and what was buried with him included coins (with date on), clothes and an armour with sword and a helmet.