THE ALCOHOLIC DRINKS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS | Tha Engliscan Gesithas
Ale,Beer,Mead,Wine,Cider.
Photo: http://www.steveonsteins.com/in-the-near-future-2
04
26
26
08
10
10
Angles,Saxons and Jutes in Britain around 600 CE
03
31
31
Beot
A beot is Anglo-Saxon for a ritualized boast, vow, threat, or promise. Individuals, particularly Anglo-Saxon warriors, would publicly cast beots assertively in a manner that he or she would boastfully predict the results of such a challenging action. The principle of a beot is to proclaim one’s acceptance of a seemingly impossible challenge in order to gain tremendous glory for actually accomplishing it. During war, Anglo-Saxon warriors would usually deliver beots in the mead hall the night before a military engagement or during the battle itself. For example, a typical warrior may boast that he will be the first to strike a blow in a battle, that he would claim a renowned sword from enemy warrior as spoils of battle, that he will slay a particular monster that has been wreaking havoc on a town or village, that and so on. Beots were usually accompanied by grand stories of one’s past glorious deeds. Although later Christianized medieval culture (and modern American culture) might disdain boasting as a sign of arrogance or sinful pride, the pagan Anglo-Saxons highly regarded such behavior as glory and honor. The beot was not considered as a negative display of arrogance or insolence but as a positive sign of one’s determination, bravery, and character. Examples of the beot can be seen throughout the epic poem entitled Beowulf such as when Beowulf vows to fight Grendel without using any weapons or armor.
The etymology of beot comes from the Old English béot, contrary from earlier bíhát meaning ‘promise’. The original noun-form of beot corresponds to the verb bi-, be-ˈhátan. A shifting of the stress from bíhát to bi-ˈhát, on analogy of the verb gave the late Old English beˈhát, from which the Middle English word behote derives from. A beot is a promise, vow, threat, or boast.Etymology
Structure of a beot
12
19
19
Surprisingly little is known about the exact location of origin, or etymology of the name “Angles” (one actually complicates the other).
While Strabo and Pliny more or less seem to consider the area around the Baltic as unknown territoery (terra incognita) and cant really in any reliable way distinguish between several tribes (exactly what tribe was what, how to divide them as separate tribes and what to name them from Romes side is confusing to say the least).
Possibly the first instance of the Angles in recorded history is in Tacitus’ Germania, chapter 40, in which the “Anglii” are mentioned in passing in a list of Germanic tribes. He gives no precise indication of their geographical situation but states that, together with six other tribes, they worshiped a goddess named Nerthus, whose sanctuary was located on “an island in the Ocean”.
The other tribes are the Reudigni, Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini and Nuitones, which together are described as being behind ramparts of rivers and woods, i.e., inaccessible to attack. As the Eudoses are the Jutes, these names probably refer to localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast, in which case their inhabitants would be Cimbri or Teutones for Pliny. The coast contains sufficient estuaries, inlets, rivers, islands, swamps and marshes to have been then inaccessible to those not familiar with the terrain, such as the Romans, who considered it unknown, inaccessible, with a small population and of little economic interest.
The majority of scholars believe that the Anglii lived on the coasts of the Baltic Sea, probably in the southern part of the Jutish peninsula. This view is based partly on Old English and Danish traditions regarding persons and events of the 4th century, and partly on the fact that striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in pre-Christian Scandinavian, especially Swedish and Danish, religion.
The account in Germania is inconsistent with Strabo’s and Pliny’s on a major point. Tacitus called the Baltic the Suebian Sea and viewed the seven tribes that included the Anglii as Suebi. For Pliny the Suebi were among the tribes of Herminones in central Germany. For Strabo, the Suebi were to the south of the coast. The Suebian language developed into Old High German, while the Angles and Jutes were among the speakers of Old Saxon.
Just as with the names Gauti, Goth , Jute Gute there are those who think that words similar to “Angle” does not nessecarily denote a kinship or commonality but might be coincidental.
After all, the word “angle” with the same basic meaning is still in use in modern English (via the Angles,Jutes and Saxons = Anglo - Saxon / Old English).
Bede confidently states that the Anglii, before coming to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, “which lies between the province of the Jutes and the Saxons, and remains unpopulated to this day.” Similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great Anlo - Saxon king , 9th century, resisting the vikings) and the chronicler Æthelweard (10 century Anglo _ Saxon hitorian). identified this place with the district that is now called Angeln, in the province of Schleswig.
Bede confidently states that the Anglii, before coming to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, “which lies between the province of the Jutes and the Saxons, and remains unpopulated to this day.” Similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great and the chronicler Æthelweard identified this place with the district that is now called Angeln, in the province of Schleswig (Slesvig) (though it may then have been of greater extent), and this identification agrees with the indications given by Bede.
In the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere’s account of a two-day’s voyage from the Oslo fjord to Schleswig, he reported the lands on his starboard bow, and Alfred appended the note “on these islands dwelt the Engle before they came hither”.Confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions relating to two kings named Wermund and Offa of Angel, from whom the Mercian royal family claimed descent and whose exploits are connected with Angeln, Schleswig, and Rendsburg. Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine) and Wigo (Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex claimed descent. During the 5th century, the Anglii invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent except in the title of Suevi Angili.
The province of Schleswig has proved rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. A broad cremation cemetery has been found at Borgstedterfeld, between Rendsburg and Eckernförde, and it has yielded many urns and brooches closely resembling those found in heathen graves in England. Of still greater importance are the great deposits at Thorsberg moor (in Angeln) and Nydam, which contained large quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of clothing, agricultural implements, etc., and in Nydam even ships. By the help of these discoveries, Angle civilization in the age preceding the invasion of Great Britain can be fitted together.
Personally i´m often weary with historians of feeding off eachother. My own history around the same time is steeped in legend and we have several royal houses in Sweden that are considered legendary rather than historic.
However, these later attestations feels more reliable than the earlier (famous as Pliny or Bede might have been, they observed ANOTHER people. Not their own history).
I have heard that the whole peoples left for todays England and Scotland.
This is incorrect.
Jutland still has Jutes and Danes and there are still Seax and Anglii in Schleswig - Holstein.
As the Angles and Saxons settled they would eventually form the kindoms of Mercia, East Anglia and North Umbria (via diverse constallations such as Deira and Bernicia witch where swallowed up by Northumbria).
12
01
01
Early Middle Age:
The transition of the Migration period to the Middle Ages proper takes place over the course of the second half of the 1st millennium. It is marked by the Christianization of the Germanic peoples and the formation of stable kingdoms replacing the mostly tribal structures of the Migration period.
In continental Europe, this is the rise of Francia in the Merovingian period, eclipsing lesser kingdoms such as Alemannia. In England, the Wessex hegemony as the nucleus of the unification of England, Scandinavia is in the Vendel period and enters the extremely successful Viking Age, with expansion to Britain, Ireland and Iceland in the west and as far as Russia and Greece in the east.
The various Germanic tribal cultures begin their transformation into the larger nations of later history, English, Norse and German, and in the case of Burgundy, Lombardy and Normandy blending into a Romano-Germanic culture.
11
17
17
Early Anglo-Saxon Britain
Settlement. We know very little of the first several hundred years of the Anglo-Saxon, or “English”, era, primarily because the invaders were an illiterate people. Our earliest records of them are little more than highly inventive lists of rulers. We know that they established separate kingdoms, the Saxons settling in the south and west, the Angles in the east and north, and the Jutes on the Isle of Wight and the mainland opposite. They probably thought of themselves as separate peoples, but they shared a common language and similar customs.
Saxon Britain 600-900 AD
The king’s power. One of these customs was fighting everyone in sight. A king’s power was not hereditary; it depended solely on his ability to win battles and so gain land, treasure, and slaves to give his supporters. He was obliged to fight and keep fighting. If not, he would find himself out of a job or deprived of his life, or both. Succession from father to son was never a forgone conclusion. Any relative of the old king who could muster enough support could make a bid for the throne. This helps to explain why the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came and went so quickly. The power of any kingdom over its neighbours was only as solid as the strength of its king in battle.
King Offa. Roughly speaking, the 7th century was the age of Northumbrian ascendance, with Mercia playing second fiddle. In the 8th century these roles reversed. The most powerful and well known of the Mercian kings was Offa, who ruled from 758-796. A successful warrior (which is a given for anyone in those days who managed to hold onto power for so long), he defeated kings in Sussex, Anglia, and Wessex, proclaiming himself King of the English.
Penny of Offa of Mercia
Offa’s Dyke. Offa caused to be built the earthwork that still bears his name, Offa’s Dyke, which stretches the 150 mile length of the Welsh border. Begun in the 780’s, the purpose of the dyke seems to have been as a fortified frontier barrier, much as Hadrian’s Wall some six centuries previous.
In most places the ditch was 25 feet from the bottom of the cut to the top of the bank, with wood or stone walling on top of that. The work involved has been compared to the building of the Great Pyramid. This gives us some idea of the power wielded by Offa. It seems that the dyke was not permanently manned, relying instead on the warning given by a series of beacons.
Foreign attack. The upper hand enjoyed by the Mercians did not long survive Offa’s death. In the 820’s a series of victories by Egbert, king of Wessex, broke Mercian control in the south east. The 9th century may well have turned into a struggle for the upper hand between Mercia and Wessex if not for one thing; England was once again the subject of recurring raids from across the seas. This time it was the Danes and Norwegians. The Danes attacked the east coast of England, the Norwegians attacked the north by way of Ireland and Scotland.
The Danes. The Danes found rich pickings in the undefended monastic settlements on Lindisfarne Island and Jarrow, in Northumbria, but they were not out solely for loot. The Danish raids were partly a response to population pressures in their homeland, so they wanted new lands to settle, not merely easy plunder. They made good use of fortified settlements as bases to expand, and their use of helmets, shields, chain mail, and particularly the long handled battle axe, meant they were better armed than most of their foes.
(Note: The terms “England”, “Scotland”, and “Wales” are used purely to indicate geographic location relative to modern boundaries - at this time period, these individual countries did not exist).
