Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Peepz and Cultz > Anglo-Saxons > Flashcards

Anglo-Saxons Flashcards

1
Q

Bede and the Adventus Saxonum

A
  • Monk writing in early 8th & century Northumbria
  • Describes the arrival of peoples, from the ‘three most formidable races of Germany’: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes
  • Said to be led by brothers Hengist & Horsa
  • Incomers supposedly granted land in exchange for maintaining peace and security
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Gildas’ On the Ruin of Britain

A
  • 6th & century British cleric, possibly in south& west England
  • Disasters blamed on sins of British Christian clergy
  • Talks about Anglo & Saxon mercenaries
  • Chronologically unreliable but best source we have for the period
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Jutes

A

‘From the Jutes are descended the people of Kent and the Isle of Wight and those in the province of the West Saxons opposite the Isle of Wight who are called Jutes to this day…

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Saxons

A

‘From the Saxons – that is, the country now known as the land of the Old Saxons – came the East, South and West Saxons…’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Angles

A

‘From the Angles … Angulus, which lies between the provinces of the Jutes and Saxons and is said to remain unpopulated to this day – are descended the East and Middle Angles, the Mercians, all the Northumbrian stock, and the other English peoples’ (Bede’s Historia EcclesiascaI:15)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Traditional model

A
  • Not to be taken literally
  • Written from Christian standpoint – narrative of ‘chosen ones’ crossing water to promised land
  • North Sea zone interconnected in this period anyway
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Historiography of Anglo & Saxonism

A
  • ‘Culture history’ approach: belief that groups of migrants could be traced through material culture
  • John Mitchell Kemble in mid 19th century – Germanist who pioneered comparative Continental approach
  • J.N.L. Myres in 1930s – Continental background to ‘English settlements’ starts with Bede
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Ethnicity and material culture

A
  • Superficially, the geographical distribution of certain artefact types fits the narrative…
  • But always problematic: objects can’t be passive reflection of identities
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Migration vs acculturation

A
  • Mass movement vs small scale influx of warriors and elite groups
  • Folk migration unfashionable by late 1980s and 90s – processualists also sceptical of historical sources
  • Post & processualism – renewed relevance of migration, with debates about ethnicity and ethnographies of migration and assimilation
  • ‘Apartheid & like’ society? (Härke 2011)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Genetics

A

• Research in early 2000s (Weale et al. 2002) – central English and Frisian samples indistinguishable
• New paper just published (Schiffels et al. 2016) using genome sequencing:
‐ Oakington cemetery, Cambs, displays evidence of culturally Anglo & Saxon but genetically mixed community
‐ Contemporary E England population derives 38 of ancestry from Anglo & Saxon migrations
‐ Anglo & Saxon samples closely related to modern Danish and Dutch populations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Isotopes

A

West Heslerton, N Yorks (Montgomery et al. 2005)
– high mobility, and individuals with ‘Anglian’ cruciform brooches and wrist clasps more likely to have non & local strontium levels
• Bowl Hole cemetery, Bamburgh, Northumberland (Groves et al. 2013) – majority non & local
• Recent study at Berinsfield cemetery, Oxfordshire (Hughes et al. 2014) – only 5 of individuals originated outside area

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Anglo & Saxon identity

A
  • Historical sources suggest 8th & century populations believed, or liked to believe, in Continental origins • Part ‘origin myth’, part truth?
  • New scientific techniques useful, but have to be careful fimng results into existing narratives
  • Concept of ethnicity may have differed
  • Regional identities probably developed here, not on Continent
  • Study people not cultures
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Anglo & Saxon kingdoms

A

Evidence and sources for kingdoms and regiones:

  • Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but written much later and from perspective of West Saxons
  • Tribal Hidage – probably 7th & century tribute list of Mercian or Northumbrian overlord
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Tribal Hidage

A

-List of 35 tribes or territories, many of which are known only from this source
-Size in hides (land needed to support one family)
West Saxons 100,000
Mercians 30,000
East Angles 30,000
Kent 15,000
East Saxons 7000
South Saxons 7000

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Kingdom Formation

A

Regiones: older subdivisions which were ‘building blocks’ in kingdom formation?
• Bassett (1989): Competing micro & kingdoms, weakest gradually eliminated or subsumed ‘Football analogy’ – like knockout
• Place & name evidence, e.g. -ingas = ‘dwellers of’ or members of a particular tribal group
• Emerged from Roman estate centres?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Hundreds and assembly places

A
  • Hundred/wapentake = later A & S administrative unit (100 hides)
  • Assembly helped forge and maintain group identity
  • Perhaps related to seasonal movement of livestock
  • Barrows or ancient sites open used, suggesting long & term significance
  • Place & names open theophoric
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

The ‘Heptarchy’

A

Traditionally seven kingdoms
… East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex
…which eventually unified to form England
The ‘Heptarchy’ Term not used so much now – number of kingdoms fluctuated, but certainly many more than seven

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Kingship and expressions of power: ‘princely’ burial

A
  • What was the nature of kingship?

* How did elites demonstrate their power and prestige through burial and the funeral?

19
Q

What was the nature of kingship?

A

• Burial record – increasing stratification and focus on elites from later 6th century
• Documentary sources – hierarchical social structure with payment of tax or tribute to support dynastic elite
• Kings owed their position to their abilities as warleaders?
-Richly furnished male burials usually include weapons as primary status symbol
-Woden – god of war is seen as progenitor of royal houses

20
Q

‘Princely’ burials

A

Characteristics:
• Numerous and rich grave & goods
• Open barrow burial
• Ship burial in case of Sutton Hoo and Snape
• Prominent or strategic position in landscape
-Examples: Sutton Hoo, Suffolk Snape, Suffolk Prittlewell, Essex Taplow, Bucks Asthall, Oxfordshire

21
Q

Sutton Hoo

A

-Extensive burial ground: barrow burial, horse burial and, most notably, ship burial
• Grave & goods: huge variety of items, both exotic imports and insular
• Date c. AD 600

22
Q

Sutton Hoo landscape

A
  • c. 4.5 hectares (11 acres)
  • Prominent monuments
  • Location near River Deben
  • All about display and signalling
23
Q

Sutton Hoo Mound 1

A

• Clinker & built ship with central chamber
• 27m & long
• Seaworthy
• 3.5m below ground
Before Staffordshire Hoard – largest single collection of Anglo & Saxon jewellery and artefacts ever found

24
Q

Sutton Hoo Mound 1: The Grave

A
  1. Chamber constructed
  2. Lined with fabrics and hangings
  3. Three cauldrons placed on E wall
  4. Coffin placed in chamber
  5. 3 groups of objects placed in coffin
  6. Cloths laid over coffin
  7. New sets of objects placed on top
  8. West wall of chamber adorned
  9. Other items placed on floor
25
Q

The Funeral

A
  • Arena or theatre for social processes
  • Series of collective ritual acts and performances
  • Memories of individuals and communities forged
  • Consolidated by monument building
26
Q

Monumentality

A

Wider European phenomenon
• Conversion period – time of change and experimentation
• Display of paganism, in response to growing power of Christianity (Van de Noort 1993)?
• Response to political insecurity (Carver 2001; 2002)?

27
Q

What about the rest of the population?

A

Individuals given lavish barrow burials in minority
• Most buried in cemeteries – size varied
• Choice of cremation or inhumation initially – both found together in same cemetery

28
Q

‘Final Phase’

A

Around 7th century
Characteristics:
• New cemeteries
• Rows of inhumations
• Few grave & goods
• Uniformity Winnall II, Winchester (Meaney & Hawkes 1970)
-Furnished burial ended abruptly according to new research (Hines & Bayliss 2013)

29
Q

Gewissae: the origins of Wessex

A
  • Wessex heartland once thought to lie in S Hampshire
  • Now considered to be in Upper Thames valley, modern Oxfordshire
  • Zone inhabited by Gewissae tribe
  • Intensive 5th & century evidence in this region including high & status burials and finds
  • Dorchester & on & Thames first bishopric in 7th century
30
Q

‘Britons’ and ‘Anglo & Saxons’ in Wessex

A

Laws of Ine (late 7th & to early 8th & century king):
• Britons are given legal status, albeit inferior to that of West Saxons
• Co & existence, if not complete assimilation had been achieved in Wessex by late C7th
• West Saxon identity probably encouraged
• May show idealised or aspired situation rather than real picture

31
Q

Prehistoric monument reuse

A
  • Invention of lineage to legitimise elite (Bradley 1987)

* Fear/superstition of prehistoric (Semple 1998)?

32
Q

Examples of reused monuments

A
  • Barrow Clump, Wiltshire P. Andrews pers. comm. • Unusual Bronze Age bell barrow • Excavations 2003 & 2013 revealed burials in ditch and berm, mainly C6th
  • Storeys Meadow, Hampshire Aper Ford and Falys 2012 • Ploughed flat Bronze Age barrow • High proportion non & adults (red) • Many with serious pathologies • Not just elite groups reusing earlier monuments
33
Q

High status burial examples

A

• Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire • In Bronze Age barrow • W & E orientation – Final Phase • Rich grave & goods • Nothing unambiguously Christian • Sprinkler – possible Celtic workmanship
Ford II, Wiltshire • In ring & ditch of probable AS barrow, next to Roman road • High & status though not in same league as ‘princely’ burials • Hanging & bowl containing onions and crab apples – Romano & Celtic tradition and workmanship

34
Q

Identifying settlement activity

A
  • Evidence mostly archaeological
  • Important data from recent commercial work
  • Regional variations – influence of geology, soils, preservation
  • Few artefacts – rarely identified by fieldwalking
  • Aerial photography – cropmarks
  • Very few great hall complexes excavated
35
Q

House construction

A

• Building material = timber
• Two main forms in S and E England:
1. Sunken & featured buildings (SFBs) or Grubenhäuser
2. Earth & fast timber (post & hole) buildings
• Clear NW European influences and tradition, but also RB
• Earth & fast ‘houses’ in England average 8 & 10m long and 4 & 5m wide
• Contrast to Continental longhouses (some over 60m long)

36
Q

Sunken & featured buildings (SFBs) or Grubenhäuser

A
  • Grubenhaus most commonly excavated type of AS building
  • Unquestionably ‘Continental’
  • Large, sunken hollow
  • Sub & rectangular, 3x4m in area,
37
Q

Form and function of Grubenhäuser

A
  • Suspended floor?
  • Air circulation?
  • Storage – open associated finds
  • Weaving
38
Q

Posthole timber buildings

A
  • No evidence for standardisation of dimensions or construction
  • Irregular agglomerations of postholes
39
Q

Mucking, Essex

A

Multi & period site located on a ridge of Thames terrace gravels
• Over 200 Grubenhäuser and post & hole plans of 50 halls
• 5th to early 8th century
• Each phase representing hamlet or pair of hamlets lasting 3 generations (Hamerow 1993)

40
Q

Rural settlements and farmsteads

A

Postholes of Early Saxon building in collapsed façade of Meonstoke Roman villa (British Museum) Landscape continuity?
Villa estates… Two principal layouts:
• One associated with chalk geology, e.g. Chalton, Hampshire
• One associated with sand and gravel river valley terraces, e.g. West Stow, Suffolk

41
Q

High & status settlements

A
  • Settlement evidence open less compelling than burials
  • Difficult to distinguish between kings and aristocrats, or indeed rest of society
  • Attempts to associate sites to named kings, places or events problematic
42
Q

Yeavering

A
  • Type & site for ‘palace sites’, characterised by large halls
  • Ad Gefrin, royal villa of Northumbrian King Edwin, mentioned by Bede
  • Roman missionary Paulinus conducted mass baptisms in River Glen
43
Q

Society and social stratification

A
  • Society unlikely to have been wholly egalitarian, even in early Anglo & Saxon period
  • Kin & based and gip exchange important
  • Continental influence and Christianity led to tributary system, with defined social classes and fixed trading places
  • Stratification noticeable from later C6th in burial record
  • Intensification of land exploitation visible in settlement activity

Peepz and Cultz (9 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions