Fellow residents of our Early-Medieval Britannia! Many of you will have become aware of strange men coming from oversees to our green and pleasant island home.
You may be wondering who these people are, what they have come for and how long they plan to stay. To we Britons, their barbarian and guttural languages all sound very much the same… but let me inform you that in fact these visitors actually come from different places and each have different cultures- though they share many traits, they will be offended if you should accidentally confuse them for one another. So how do you tell your Jute from your Angle, for example?
This ye olde Heritage-key guide should clarify all for you.
Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings
If you should see them around, BEWARE, early indications are that they are not just here for a spot of sightseeing and may be dangerous!
The Angles
When might they arrive?
The Angles are scheduled to arrive in the 5th century AD.
We can expect them to be very powerful, until someone else comes to knock them from their perch… perhaps the Vikings in around 867 AD, for example… (a wild stab in the dark).
Where are they from?
The Roman historian Tacitus mentioned the Anglii in his Germania, a book about Germany (obviously) written back in around 98 AD and their name is believed to derived from their homeland of Angeln, as it is called in Old English. It is situated on the narrow peninsula between the North and Baltic seas, in the central part of the peninsula which will later be called ‘Schleswig-Holstein’. This territory is so littered by marshes, rivers and inlets that even the Romans never could get to grips with it. It all sounds a bit bleak over there, so it’s not surprising they want a look at our verdant and foresty pastures.
Where are they headed?
The Angles are coming in large numbers! So many in fact that it seems they may be abandoning their homeland and all but a few of them will be turning up on our eastern and southern coasts. There’ll be so many we may as well start calling our homeland ‘Angleland’ if we aren’t careful (but that would be a ridiculous name)! We forecast particularly strong presences in the North and East, in places they call ‘Northumberland’ and ‘East Anglia’ in their language. We may also see them as far inland as ‘Mercia’, slap bang in the middle of our fine Celtic land.
Do they worship a god?
Tacitus had them down as one of several peoples who venerated the goddess Nerthus, along with other pagan gods. Pope Gregory may have other plans for them… it is said after seeing some sweet little slave children of this people he asked Where are they from?.
When told they were from Angeln he punned Well that is well, for they have angel faces, and such people should share with the angels in heaven.
At that moment it is said he swore to convert them from their pagan ways.
Until that happens the Angles will retain their pantheon of gods, which they share with all the Germanic peoples. Most prominent among these is Woden, the leader of ‘the wild hunt‘. Secondary to him is Thunor, the thunder god. Some others from the pantheon include Ingui, Tiw and Helith (fertility, war, and marriage gods). They use these gods to identify their weekdays: Tiw’s day, Woden’s day, Thunor’s day, Frige’s day (Frige is believed to be Woden’s wife).
The Jutes
When might they arrive?
Expect them in around the 5th and 6th centuries AD – much like theAngles.
Where are they from?
The Jutes (or Iuti or Iutae) come from a land that will one day be called Jutland in their honour, and the venerable Bede tells me they are from the northern part of that peninsula, to be specific, further north than the Saxons or Angles.
Where are they headed?
The Jutes are headed a bit more southwards than the Angles. Their proverbial towels have been thrown in reservation over the Southern areas of our island. So get prepared if you are in Kent, Hampshire or the Isle of Wight and of Celtic descent, as we don’t expect them to leave any time soon – there is a moderate to high risk that you will be absorbed, displaced or – worse – destroyed! So pack an umbrella! (whatever an umbrella is.)
Take comfort from the fact that the same thing may well happen to them one day, once the West Saxons arrive.
Anything else?
The Jutes are a bit more suave and debonair than their Germanic cousins. They’ll probably try and adopt some aspects of Roman and Christian culture, knowing them. They will also be ahead of their peers in adopting funerary burial, instead of cremation. They use ‘Partible Inheritance’ (dividing between heirs as opposed to primogeniture), which should be helpful for people in the future to set them apart from the other German peoples whilst digging around into history.
See Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings
The Saxons
When might they arrive?
It’s going to busy in the North Sea for a while – the Saxons will, like the Jutes and Angles, be heading over for much of the 5th and 6th centuries AD. East coast fishermen look out, you won’t be able to move for boat loads of colonisers. The name of this lot may be related to a type of distinctive knife they use, the Seax. Look out for those in future on the emblems of Essex and Middlesex.
Where are they from?
They are from Southern Jutland, on the Baltic coast, and as such have plenty of room to expand further southwards and westwards into Europe, though in doing so they’ll be treading on the toes of Charlemagne and his Franks, so there’s likely to be a clash there one day.
Where are they headed?
Expansive is their middle name. The Saxons are expected to lay claim to lands all along the East Coast. They’re a bit sex mad this lot, they like the word ‘Sex’ so much that they are liable to set up kingdoms with names like West Sex, East Sex, and South Sex (or Wessex, Essex and Sussex for short).
Any distinguishing features?
The languages of the Jutes, Angles and Saxons are very similar, as is that of the Fresians on the coast of the lowland European countries, so there’s not much to separate them there. You may be able to tell a Saxon from his brooch; whilst the Angles and Jutes prefer cross shaped brooches, the Saxon will often wear a round one. Look for his pottery too – the Saxons are fans of curvilinearly decorated pottery.
See Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings
The Vikings
When might they arrive?
Sensibly the Vikings are going to avoid the rush in the 5th and 6th centuries and join us between the 9th and 11th centuries, by which time the other Germanic peoples will have been able to establish themselves on our shores. The Vikings have a reputation for being more warlike than the others and they will come here with no good intentions! By raiding the by then established and flourishing Anglo-Saxons they will be be able to acquire tremendous wealth to take back to Scandinavia.
Where are they from?
They’re frrom the Danish Peninsula and the coastal areas of Sweden and Norway. The word ‘Viking‘ is from the word ‘wicing’, our own Old English word meaning pirate. In their homelands the Vikings use primogeniture to determine inheritance (the eldest son is bequeathed everything), and when birth rates are high that means there are many men who do not inherit. Those men must choose between working on their brothers’ land or joining one of the many raiding parties which set off across the known world and even into the unknown world. When they see the riches with which their countrymen return from such expeditions, it is not surprising they find so many men to join their raiding parties, if only on a season-on, season-off basis for many.
What do they look like?
There is no particularly obvious look to set them apart from the other northern Germanic peoples. When raiding they may wear round leather skull caps and the successful soldier may even have a round metal helmet with a nose guard, but this is rare. Leather body armour is a possibility, but many raiders are just on expeditions during the summer – they are not career raiders who have acquired all the most modern accoutrements of armour. Look out for their distinctive large round shields. These Vikings have a curious custom: they bathe as often as once a week and comb their hair regularly; most unusual behaviour and most unhealthy!
Where are they headed?
Everywhere. If it has a coast, the Vikings will raid it eventually, from Scandinavia, round Europe, to as far as Constantinople, to the interior of the black sea and even down the rivers of Russia to the Caspian, they have no limits to their range. It is even said they have stumbled across a whole new landmass far, far away across the Western Ocean. Nowhere in Britain is to be safe from their raiding, though settlement will be confined to some extent. Northumbria can expect settlement from the ninth century onwards, but it will come as late as the 11th for much of southern and central zones. If you live in those areas then you’d best lock up your daughters.
Given half a chance they’ll try and establish their own settlements, with names ending in things like ‘-by’ (homestead), -thorpe (an outlying settlement), ‘-borg’ (castle) or ‘-wick’ (bay). Once these settlements are in place, they will instate their laws and create a separate Scandinavian territory. The ‘Danelaw’ would be a nice name for this Viking state on our island. If this should happen, it would take a great leader to unite the Saxons and rid us of the Vikings!
Now you know how to differentiate these newcomers, find out who were London’s most influential invaders (you might be surprised!) or follow us following the Vikings in our ‘Ancient World in London‘ video series. Feel like dressing up as a Viking? Take up one of the challenges to join us at the live event and win the Grand Prize:a lovely one-week break in Turkey.