Early European History Part 59

111. THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN BRITAIN, 449-839 A.D.

ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST OF BRITAIN

From the history of Continental Europe we now turn to the history of Britain. That island had been overrun by the Germanic barbarians after the middle of the fifth century. [24] They are commonly known as Anglo-Saxons, from the names of their two princ.i.p.al peoples, the Angles and Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain was a slow process, which lasted at least one hundred and fifty years. The invaders followed the rivers into the interior and gradually subdued more than a half of what is now England, comprising the fertile plain district in the southern and eastern parts of the island.

NATURE OF THE CONQUEST

Though the Anglo-Saxons probably destroyed many flourishing cities and towns of the Romanized Britons, it seems likely that the conquerors spared the women, with whom they intermarried, and the agricultural laborers, whom they made slaves. Other natives took refuge in the hill regions of western and northern Britain, and here their descendants still keep up the Celtic language and traditions. The Anglo-Saxons regarded the Britons with contempt, naming them Welsh, a word which means one who talks gibberish.

The antagonism between the two peoples died out in the course of centuries, conquerors and conquered intermingled, and an English nation, partly Celtic and partly Germanic, came into being.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANGLO-SAXON DRINKING HORN Horn of Ulphus (Wulf) in the cathedral of York. The old English were heavy drinkers chiefly of ale and mead. The evening meal usually ended with a drinking bout.]

THE SEVEN KINGDOMS IN BRITAIN

The Anglo-Saxons started to fight one another before they ceased fighting their common enemy, the Britons. Throughout the seventh and eighth centuries, the Anglo-Saxon states were engaged in almost constant struggles, either for increase of territory or for supremacy. The kingdoms farthest east--Kent, Suss.e.x, Ess.e.x, and East Anglia--found their expansion checked by other kingdoms--Northumbria, Mercia, and Wess.e.x--which grew up in the interior of the island. Each of these three stronger states gained in turn the leading place.

EGBERT AND THE SUPREMACY OF WESs.e.x, 802-839 A.D.

The beginning of the supremacy of Wess.e.x dates from the reign of Egbert.

He had lived for some years as an exile at the court of Charlemagne, from whom he must have learned valuable lessons of war and statesmanship. After returning from the Continent, Egbert became king of Wess.e.x and gradually forced the rulers of the other states to acknowledge him as overlord.

Though Egbert was never directly king of all England, he began the work of uniting the Anglo-Saxons under one government. His descendants have occupied the English throne to the present day.

ANGLO-SAXON BRITAIN

When the Germans along the Rhine and the Danube crossed the frontiers and entered the western provinces, they had already been partially Romanized.

They understood enough of Roman civilization to appreciate it and to desire to preserve it. The situation was quite different with the Anglo- Saxons. Their original home lay in a part of Germany far beyond the borders of the Roman Empire and remote from the cultural influences of Rome. Coming to Britain as barbarians, they naturally introduced their own language, laws, and customs wherever they settled. Much of what the Anglo- Saxons brought with them still lives in England, and from that country has spread to the United States and the vast English colonies beyond the seas.

The English language is less indebted to Latin than any of the Romance languages, [25] and the Common law of England owes much less to Roman law than do the legal systems of Continental Europe. England, indeed, looks to the Anglo-Saxons for some of the most characteristic and important elements of her civilization.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, ANGLO-SAXON BRITAIN]

112. CHRISTIANITY IN THE BRITISH ISLES

PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY

The Anglo-Saxons also brought to Britain their heathen faith. Christianity did not come to them until the close the sixth century. At this time more or less intercourse had sprung up between the people of Kent, lying nearest to the Continent, and the Franks in Gaul. Ethelbert, the king of Kent, had even married the Frankish princess, Bertha. He allowed his Christian wife to bring a bishop to her new home and gave her the deserted church of St. Martin at Canterbury as a place of worship. Queen Bertha's fervent desire for the conversion of her husband and his people prepared the way for an event of first importance in English history--the mission of Augustine.

MISSION OF AUGUSTINE, 597 A.D.

The pope at this time was Gregory I, better known, from his services to the Roman Church, as Gregory the Great. [26] The kingdom of Kent, with its Christian queen, must have seemed to him a promising field for missionary enterprise. Gregory, accordingly, sent out the monk Augustine with forty companions to carry the Gospel to the heathen English. The king of Kent, already well disposed toward the Christian faith, greeted the missionaries kindly and told them that they were free to convert whom they would.

Before long he and his court embraced Christianity, and the people of Kent soon followed the royal example. The monks were a.s.signed a residence in Canterbury, a city which has ever since remained the religious capital of England. From Kent Christianity in its Roman form gradually spread into the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY The present church, dating from the thirteenth century occupies the site of a chapel built before the arrival of Augustine, The walls still contain some of the Roman bricks used in the original structure. St Martin's Church was the scene of the earliest work of Augustine in Canterbury.]

CELTIC CHRISTIANITY

Augustine and his monks were not the first missionaries to Britain. Roman soldiers, merchants, and officials had introduced Christianity among the Britons as early as second century. During the fifth century the famous St. Patrick had carried Christianity to the heathen Irish. The Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain drove many Christians to Ireland, and that island in the sixth and seventh centuries became a center from which devoted monks went forth to labor in western Scotland and northern Britain [27] Here they came in contact with the Roman missionaries.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CELTIC AND ROMAN CHRISTIANITY

The Celtic Christians followed some customs which differed from those observed by Roman Christians. They computed the date on which Easter fell according to a system unlike that of the Romans. They permitted their priests to marry; the Romans forbade the practice. Their monks shaved the front of the head from ear to ear as a tonsure, while Roman monks shaved the top of the head, leaving a "crown of thorns." These differences may not seem very important, but they were enough to prevent the cooperation of Celtic and Roman missionaries for the conversion of the heathen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL The choir dates from the twelfth century, the nave, transepts, and central tower, from the fifteenth century. One of the two towers at the west front was built in 1834-1840 A.D. The beautiful stained gla.s.s in the windows of the choir belongs to the thirteenth century.]

SYNOD OF WHITBY, 664 A.D.

The rivalry between Celtic and Roman Christians was finally settled at a church gathering, or synod, called by the king of Northumbria at Whitby.

The main controversy at this synod concerned the proper date for Easter.

In the course of the debate it was a.s.serted that the Roman custom had the sanction of St. Peter, to whom Christ had intrusted the keys of heaven.

This statement was enough for the Northumbrian king, who thereupon decided in favor of the Roman claim, declaring that he would not oppose St. Peter, "lest when I come before the gates of the kingdom of heaven, he who holds the keys should not open to me." [28] The representatives of the Celtic Church then withdrew from England, leaving the field clear for Roman missionaries.

THE BRITISH ISLES BECAME ROMAN CATHOLIC

The decision of the Synod of Whitby in favor of Rome meant that all England henceforth would recognize the pope's authority in religious matters. It remained a Roman Catholic country until the time of the Reformation, nearly nine hundred years later. [29] The Celtic Christians in Ireland and Scotland also in the course of time became the devoted children of the Roman Church.

113. THE FUSION OF GERMANS AND ROMANS

THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS

We have now followed the fortunes of the Germans for five centuries from the end of the Roman Empire in the West. Most of their kingdoms, it has been seen, were not permanent. The Visigothic and Burgundian dominions in Gaul yielded to the Franks, and those of the Visigoths in Spain, to the Mohammedan Arabs. [30] The Vandal possessions in North Africa were regained by the emperors at Constantinople. [31] The rule of the Ostrogoths in Italy endured for only sixty years and that of the Lombards pa.s.sed away after two centuries. The kingdoms established by the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons alone developed into lasting states.

HINDRANCES TO THE FUSION OF GERMANS AND ROMANS

But even where the Germans did not found permanent kingdoms, they mingled with the subject provincials and adopted much of the old Roman civilization. The fusion of the two peoples naturally required a long time, being scarcely completed before the middle of the tenth century. It was hindered, in the first place, by the desire of the Germans to secure the lands of the Romans. Wherever the barbarians settled, they appropriated a large part of the agricultural soil. How much they took varied in different countries. The Ostrogoths seem to have seized one- third of the land in Italy; the Visigoths, two-thirds of that in Gaul and Spain; the Anglo-Saxons, perhaps all the tillable soil of Britain. It could not but be galling to the Romans to surrender their farms to the barbarians. In the second place, the Germans often a.s.sessed heavy taxes on the Romans, which they themselves refused to pay. Tax-paying seemed to the Germans a mark of servitude. In the third place, a barrier between the two peoples arose from the circ.u.mstance that each had its particular law. For several centuries following the invasions there was one law for the Romans--that which they had enjoyed under the empire--and another law for the Germans--their old tribal customs. After the Germans had lived for some time in contact with the Romans they wrote out their laws in the Latin language. These "Laws of the Barbarians" still survive and throw much light on their early beliefs and manners.

CONDITIONS FAVORING FUSION

In spite of the hindrances to fusion, it seems true that the Germans and the Romans felt no great dislike for each other and that, as a rule, they freely intermingled. Certain conditions directly favored this result.

First, many Germans had found their way within the empire as hired soldiers, colonists, and slaves, long before the invasions began. Second, the Germanic invaders came in relatively small numbers. Third, the Germans entered the Roman world not as destroyers, but as homeseekers. They felt a real reverence for Roman civilization. And fourth, some of the princ.i.p.al Germanic nations, including the Visigoths, Burgundians, and Vandals, were already Christians at the time of their invasions, while other nations, such as the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons, were afterwards converted to Christianity. As long, however, as most of the Germans remained Arian Christians [32] their belief stood in the way of friendly intercourse with the Roman provincials, who had accepted the Catholic faith.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE at the beginning of the Tenth Century.]

CONTRAST BETWEEN EAST AND WEST

If western Europe during the early Middle Ages presented a scene of violence and confusion while the Germans were settling in their new homes, a different picture was afforded by eastern Europe. Here the Roman Empire still survived and continued to uphold for centuries the Roman tradition of law and order. The history of that empire forms the theme of the following chapter.

STUDIES

1. On an outline map indicate the boundaries of the empire of Charlemagne, distinguishing his hereditary possessions from those which he acquired by conquest.

2. On an outline map indicate the boundaries of the empire of Otto the Great.

3. What events are connected with the following places: Soissons; Mersen; Whitby; Reims; Verdun; Canterbury; and Stra.s.sburg?

4. What is the historical importance of Augustine, Henry the Fowler, Pepin the Short, Charles Martel, Egbert, and Ethelbert?