Making it clear that there is far less available information during the Anglo-Saxon period in England than from that of the Romano-British era https://derrickjknight.com/2025/04/18/britannia-a-history-of-roman-britain/, Peter Hunter Blair gives reasons for this in
One is that the helmet in this frontispiece is one of the rare archeological finds from the 7th century, and is in fact Viking. Archeological evidence plays a limited part in providing evidence and
is largely restricted to cemeteries. “No Anglo-Saxon site has yet been made to reveal so accurate and detailed a story as has been recovered from great numbers of Romano-British sites.”
There is very limited contemporary written work. Hunter Blair discusses “Traditions about the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain” and assesses the input of Gildas and Bede, and others, each writing centuries after the events. “Roman writers usually refer to the raiders who periodically attacked the eastern and southern shores of Britain from the third century onwards as Saxons, a generic term which may be supposed to have embraced a variety of different Germanic peoples.” “… several authorities recognise the separate existence in early times of Angles, Saxons, and Frisians, and in some degree also of Jutes.” “The Saxons originally came to Britain as hired mercenaries, not as invaders, to fight against northern enemies.” “All went well for a time, but a dispute about the supply of provisions led the Saxons to revolt against the British.”
Geographical factors are important. “There are certain deep-rooted and long-lasting differences which distinguish the history of the northern peoples from the history of the southern kingdoms…..[in the movement towards unity] The question here was not whether British or English would ultimately triumph, but which of the various English kingdoms would finally establish supremacy over the others. That supremacy was achieved by Mercia in the eighth century. It passed to Wessex in consequence of the great changes wrought by the Scandinavian invaders of the ninth.”
“Perhaps the most important fact of English political history in the eighth century is that two successive kings, Aethelbald and Offa, between them ruled the great block of Midland territory for eighty years (716-96).”
The Norwegians and the Danes were to make further inroads into Britain. “The first places to suffer [were the monasteries of] Lindisfarne, Jarrow and Iona” where is noted ” the astonishment of the attackers …. at finding so many communities which house considerable wealth and whose inhabitants carried no arms.” “In time the Faeroes, Shetland and Orkney became, and for centuries remained, wholly Scandinavian in race, language and custom.” In the last quarter of the ninth century battles were fought out by King Alfred and the Danes of Guthrum. “… a series of campaigns [was] conducted jointly by Edward the Elder and his sister Aethelflaed… which ended in an English victory in 910……”
” …. by the end of 917 the whole of eastern England as far north as the Welland had been recovered”.
“…..the Abingdon chronicler is not alone in depicting the [38 year] reign of Ethelred as an age of degeneracy marked by feebleness and treachery among its leaders.” His nickname, The Unready, could be translated from Old English as without counsel. Within two years of his succession the Danes resumed their attacks.
“After the death of Edmund Ironside [in 1016] England was ruled by Danish kings rather more than twenty five years….. on the death of Harthacnut [second son of Cnut] in 1042, the old line of Wessex was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor”.
It was believed that King Edward had, on a visit to France in 1064, made a promise to William of Normandy that he would receive the English throne on his death. “Contemporary English chroniclers make no reference to it and its date remains uncertain… and what befell will never be known, but most modern historians are more ready to
accept the version represented pictorially in the Bayeux tapestry than any one of the written accounts.
Late in 1066, while William was on his way to take possession Harold Hardrada brought an army to attack Harold, king of England on his own account. This required our king to travel north to defeat the Norwegian at the battle of Stamford Bridge and return immediately to take on William. “The English army can scarcely have been in a condition to take the initiative against a force which, although numerically weaker, was well equipped with both archers and cavalry.” By the end of 14th October “The decisive battle which marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon state and the beginning of the Norman Conquest had been fought and lost.”
Following a pattern adopted by Sheppard Frere in the work mention in my first paragraph of this post, Hunter Blair follows the chronological approach of his early sections with thematic chapters, beginning with The Church:
Up until the early years of the eighth century heathenism was worshipped alongside both Celtic and Roman Christianity with Roman ultimately triumphing largely on account of the monastic libraries and the use of the written word. “… in the seventh century and much of the eighth the English Church found its greatest inspiration in monasticism. Communal life could do much not only to provide intellectual and spiritual comfort, but also to offer an escape from at least some of the more severe physical hardships of life in a primitive age.” “… several nunneries as well as double houses in which monks and nuns lived under the rule of an abbess.”
A few churches remain appear in samples of the monochrome plates in the book.
The architectural remains of this period are usually built from Roman stone materials that had been abandoned.
Dealing with Government, the author tells us that “Although it is proper to emphasise the hereditary aspect of the rule of kings in Anglo-Saxon England, it should be stated with equal emphasis that the principal of primogeniture plays no part in the succession……There are a number of passages in Bede’s History which suggest that the reigning king himself designated his successor during his own lifetime.” I imagine this may explain William of Normandy’s belief that Edward had promised him the succession.
“…. in general it may be thought that most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came into being through military conquest….”
We learn of fairly rudimentary court ceremonial and more or less ad hoc advice sought from members of the household. “From the first the Church was closely involved”. Ethelred the Unready clearly hadn’t made enough use of this.
Divisions of local government including Shires, Hundreds, Wappentakes, and Ridings, mostly concerned with land ownership and tributes are outlined.
The author covers the Economy of Country, Countryside, and Towns. He speaks of coastal erosion, forestry, and land suitable for farming. “The people of Anglo-Saxon England were mainly agricultural people who. lived in villages, farms, and hamlets. With few exceptions towns did not play an important part of the life in the country until the tenth century.” “The status [of a free man] can best be seen in the amount of his wergild [namely] the sum payable to his kinsmen by a man who slew him.” Those having entitlement to holding acreage on a lord’s estate without paying rent were bound to carry out regular tasks in varied services.
“There is no evidence that [organised] town life survived the Anglo-Saxon invasions”. “…. sites of the earliest Anglo-Saxon towns were a legacy of Roman Britain”.
Concerning Trade the author tells us that “the quality of coinage leaves little doubt that England’s external and internal trade was of considerable bulk in the eighth century”.
The manufacture of textiles and metalworking were two skills in which the English acquired a high reputation”. They also exported cheese, salt, and fish.
In regard to Letters and the Growth of Scholarship we learn that “In the latter part of the Anglo-Saxon period there developed alongside the spoken dialects a literary language which was used in all the cultural centres of England.” “the use of runes was very limited and it was the Latin alphabet which was used as the universal instrument of written Old English”.
The early Anglo-Saxon settlers ‘knew nothing of letters and virtually nothing of books.”
The book is profusely illustrated by colour and monochrome plates, drawings and maps in the text from which I have featured a selection.
The introduction by Simon Keynes is useful. Reginald Piggott drew the helpful maps.
