The Development of Anglo-Saxon Village West Stow Essay examples

Many people may have heard of the story of Beowulf, but not know who the Anglo-Saxons were. According to an article on BBC History, the term Anglo-Saxon refers to settlers from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony. The Anglo-Saxons made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410 and the period lasted for 600 years. During this period there where many rises and falls of bishops and kings, as well as many important battles. The Anglo-Saxon warriors had a variety of weapons and armor to defend them. This includes spears, scramaseaxes, swords, shields, helmets, and body armor.

The Anglo-Saxon period was a time around 410 AD where settlers from Modern Germany invaded Britain after the failure of the Roman Empire. Anglo-Saxon warriors were hired to preserve the Roman way of life but decided the land was good for themselves. Therefore, Britain became their home. Anglo-Saxons contributed greatly to the foundations of Britain by spreading their culture in ways of their language, literature, religion and traditions in law and government. They were referred to as the “First Englishmen” and left the strongest reminder of their presence in ways such as the Exeter Book. The Exeter Book was literature that expressed all the ways and values of the Anglo-Saxon people. “The seafarer”, “the wanderer”, and “the wife's lament” being part of the Exeter book expressed the central theme of isolationism.

In the 7th Century AD, an important individual was buried inside a ship in East Anglia. The ship most likely hauled up from the nearby river, a burial chamber was built in the center of the massive vessel. Luckily grave robbers did not reach the ship burial as they did other nearby burial mounds, because the ship was rich in history and artifacts including gold, silver, bowls, spoons, weapons, drinking horns and much more. Originally discovered in 1939, the artifacts and ship burial have been closely examined another 2 times. The artifacts found within the magnificent burial site have created a lot of stir over the past 80 years. Theories have changed on the significance and origins of the artifacts due to changing hypothesis or the arrival of new and different evidence. Because there are dozens of artifacts within Sutton Hoo, this paper will be focusing on a select four of them including; the ‘baptismal’ spoons, the Merovingian coin hoard, the whetstone, and the scepter. According to scholars over the past 80 years, how have opinions, evidence, or assumptions changed relating to these exact artifacts? This paper will be taking a contemporary look at the perspectives of different scholars on different artifacts and, finally, analyze why these perspectives have shifted or changed over time. To my knowledge, scholars do give credit to previous perspectives, but no scholar has every brought all the perspectives together and analyzed their findings.

The Anglo Saxon is a primary source written by an anglican monk who was captured and taken back to Norway. This chronicle is a recount of the brutal and harsh conditions in captivity and slavery. However; it may not be 100% historically correct due to the obvious grudge and biased point of view the monks have against the Viking warriors. The chronicle was originally written in old english and continuously updated for many years between, 1116-1154 AD . 9 copies of the original were made and spread throughout monasteries around england. All of these facts help depict the importance of this book. This source is quoted as being the single most useful old english historical source due to the fact that it helped historians piece together the romanian

At Sutton Hoo in 1939, an ancient ship burial and treasure was found. In the article “Sutton Hoo and Europe, AD 300-1100” from the British Museum website, it explains the Sutton Hoo find and its significance to archaeology: “The Sutton Hoo ship burial provides remarkable insights into early Anglo-Saxon England. It reveals a place of exquisite craftsmanship and extensive international connections, spanning Europe and beyond. It also shows that the world of great halls, glittering treasures and formidable warriors described in Anglo-Saxon poetry was not a myth” (“Sutton Hoo”). The Sutton Hoo find is very important in the understanding of the Anglo Saxon culture. The ship burial at Sutton Hoo, also known as

The Anglo Saxon people provide much of modern day western culture. They birthed old english which grew to modern english, one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world today. They heavily influenced modern literature with their tales of heroes fighting magical creatures for honour and glory as is portrayed in fantasy such as Lord of the Rings and Forgotten Realms. A warlike and aggressive people who inhabited the island nation of Britain post 400 A.D., they were a mix of German, Danish, and Dutch peoples who migrated to the island after the evacuation of the Romans, avoiding flooding and other hardships in their own nations. Although the nation already had an indigenous people, without the Romans to protect them, the Celts could

Sutton Hoo is the site of two cemeteries of the sixth and seventh centuries. Sutton Hoo was discovered in 1939 and is the most important link to the Anglo Saxon world. On the Sutton Hoo burial site, there are approximately 20 burial mounds formed between 625 and 670 AD. As Thomas Robjent says in his article The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial: A General Background and Source List, “Along with the ship-burial, many impressive artifacts were found within mound one. The list of artifacts and treasure from this mound is as follows: An iron standard, a sceptre, spears, an iron-bound wooden bucket, a bronze bowl, a hanging bowl containing the remains of a musical instrument, drinking horns, a shield, a helmet, a sword, the iron head of an axe, the remains

In the year 1939 in the community of Sutton Hoo near Suffolk, England a discovery of massive proportion took place. The magnitude of this archeological find was described in a local news article, “For the first thousand years of the Christian era the little island of Britain was overrun by hordes of men who rose up out of the sea. In the Fifth Century came the Angles, from somewhere on the bleak coast of the Baltic. Ships brought them, and when their kings died they were buried in ships with their bows pointing toward the sea.” This discovery answered many of the questions left by the story Beowulf, a document once cast of as a transcribed lore. Modern day archeological discoveries prove that Beowulf is a story founded in truth.

While the author of Beowulf did not initially intend for the epic to become one of the most researched and foundational works in the English language, and therefore, did not go into much detail about its setting and surrounding political structures, the unnamed writer left behind important clues regarding Scandinavian and English political, economic, geographical, and societal bodies. Although not much is known about the author, it is evident through their writing, especially in the societal structure mentioned in the epic, that they were of English descent, specifically, born in the middle of seventh and end of tenth century England, according to Seamus Heaney in the introduction to his translation of Beowulf. Societal clues are the most prominent in proving this claim, as they merge Scandinavian and Old English structures, and at its most form, Beowulf is a Scandinavian tale told through an Englishman’s persepctive.

The excavation of Sutton Hoo stared in 1939, the archeologists were amazed at all of the treasure they found. There was gold and silver, brooches and jewelry, dishes and many other valuable objects. The excavations have lead archaeologist to believe that Sutton Hoo is a high class cemetary, where the noble people were buried, and in the main mound the king.

The Sutton Hoo burial site, long ago, served as a resting place for upper class citizens. Although relatively few people were actually laid to rest there, the site held enough prominence to be mentioned in works such as Beowulf . Today, Sutton Hoo is regarded as an important, archaeological discovery, unveiling many artifacts and clues to the culture and art of not only the Anglo-Saxons, but groups, such as the Celts as well. The findings are numerous and relatively independent of each other with one grave holding the richest amount of relics and hints to the past.

The Wessex culture appeared on the Salisbury Plain soon after the Beaker people. The date must have been about 1700 B.C. Like the Beakers, they were a highly organized and industrious people, but perhaps less belligerent. There graves contained fewer daggers and bows and more ornaments. There was evidence that the Wessex folk were concerned less with war than with the arts and enjoyments of peace-trade and the good life. Their chief leaders were so concerned of their people and sternly ruled them. Their toil in mine and field seemed to have made profits which the rulers put to good use in their trading. Only the chieftains were preserved for the afterlife (Hawkins 37).

Overall, the Anglo- Saxon’s had many values within their culture that without most of them, the society and its artifacts might not have lasted for so long. The artifacts and poems that they have left behind for the generations that have formed after them could see what kind of civilization they were. According to the remnants, they mostly valued loyalty, strength, and wealth. Those are the morals and ethics that kept the society

In a time that archeologists of today know very little about and have very little evidence for, assumption tend to be made and believed as fact. There is so much mystery surrounding both Sutton Hoo and Beowulf that the two have been naturally connected in the minds of many and have been affecting each other since the Sutton Hoo find. One scholar wrote about this human tendency saying, “Human beings understand the world by making analogies, placing the unknown alongside the known and extrapolating from the familiar to the unfamiliar; seldom do we encounter any ‘original’ thing that we can appreciate fully in its newness and self-sufficiency. Everything reminds us of something else, everything relates to some other thing” (Liuzza 281). This is true, especially with matters of ancient history, when often time, little to no evidence can actually tell archeaologists anything substantial about the life and culture of the time. People have often done this with Beowulf and Sutton Hoo, making strong connections with flimsy facts and similarities. The traditional pagan ritual of the ship burial in which people were sent to the afterworld

This medieval village, first populated around 2000 BC as a commune, is perched like an eagles nest on a narrow rocky peak 1,400 feet above sea level. This ancient fortified village is still crowned with the ruins of its 12th-century fortified castle (torn down in 1706), sitting on a narrow rocky peak. The village forms a circular pattern around the base of the castle. The old buildings and narrow streets are very well restored, with high stone walls and narrow roadways of red-brick centered stone. When visiting this quaint village, you can tour local perfumeries, peruse shops carved into the stone, and enjoy the breathtaking views this place offers.