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who are yer?
Battle of Maldon - Anglo-Saxon Poem
Our people first came to this country around 450AD, firstly
as paid mercenaries and then later to conquer and settle.
These were a northern European people composed of three main
tribes - Engles, Saxons and Jutes. The dominant group were
the Engles who gave their name to their new homeland - Englalond,
the Land of the Engles. All three tribes shared a common background,
language and culture and by the 9th century they had merged
into a single English identity. Those writing at the time
would also refer to the early English people as The Anglo-Saxons.
Hengest and Horsa were two of the first Anglo-Saxons to come
to this country. Chieftains of the Jutes, they came with three
longships of fighting men, not initially as an invasion but
by invitation. They had been invited here by Vortigern, a
British king who had come to rule large parts of what is now
southern England. The reason for their invitation was to counter
repeated raiding by the Pictish people of Scotland. The Jutes
defeated a Pictish army sent against them, but according to
the Venerable Bede in his eighth-century History of the English
People, they also noted that the other defenders were cowardly
and weak in the face of the enemy.
Relations with the Welsh king soon deteriorated after it was
said that he “welshed” on a deal to pay his mercenaries
what he had promised. In a clash with Vortigern, Horsa was
killed, but Hengest had soon taken over the whole of Kent
and the Isle of Wight. Soon Engles from Schleswig-Holstein
and Saxons from the region between the Rhine and the Elbe
arrived in force. The Saxons established themselves in Essex
(East Saxons), Middlesex (Middle Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons)
and Wessex (West Saxons), while the Engles occupied East Anglia
(East Engles). From the East Engle’s territory we also
get the words Norfolk – the land of the North Folk and
Suffolk – the land of the South Folk. As more of their
kinsman arrived they pushed inland up the rivers with small
squadrons of ships whose crews became the founders of new
communities. The Engles pushed into the Midlands and further
north forming the new kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria as
well as settling most of what is now Lowland Scotland*. Later
Viking settlement also occurred in the north with new kingdoms
of their own being formed, most notably at York before eventually
being re-conquered by the English. Over the years these small
independent kingdoms were gradually brought together by successive
kings and forged into what we know today as England.
These were the early pioneering days for the English people.
No one had that much more than the next man and no one was
that much more important than anyone else. They picked their
own leaders who ruled by consent rather than by force and
intimidation, and justice was dispensed in open-air moots
in full view of the people. Their social lives were based
around great Saxon mead halls, 24m or more in length and hung
inside with tapestries, ornamental drinking horns and shields.
Here they would drink and listen to the minstrels with harps
and repeat popular tales like that of Beowulf that had been
passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.
Theirs was a society where the principles of honour loyalty
and kinship were prized above all others. These were people
who’s lives were not dominated solely by the acquisition
of worldly goods but whether their memories would be kept
alive and they would be remembered with fondness and respect
when they were gone.
A man’s good name was everything and indeed their entire
system of law and justice was founded upon the sworn word
of good men. The ties of kinship were of utmost importance
and it was from here that they drew their strength. It was
in the interest of the entire kin-group to watch over potential
troublemakers within their own group as it would be everyone,
even down to second cousins, who would be held responsible
to pay the fines incurred by any wrong-doer within their group.
To be disowned by your own kinsmen would be tantamount to
disaster as without the protection of the extended family
and kin-group you would be “nothing” and would
have no one to swear an oath in your defence.
Although it was a formal society even in these early days
women were protected by law from marrying men they did not
like, and could own land and property and divorce if they
wished. Women had much more power and influence in Anglo-Saxon
culture than under later Norman rule where they were viewed
as little more than the possession of their husbands. They
took a full role in society and there is much evidence of
this where their names appear in wills and charters, as well
as the presence of female names in the place names of towns
and villages. They could dispose of their own assets as they
saw fit and not simply at the behest of their husbands and
as such had a legal presence within society and so were considered
“oath worthy” Although both men and women had
their place in society (King Alfred referred to the spindle
and spear sides of the family), the lines were not always
strictly held and there are tales of “shieldmaidens”
taking to the battlefield with their men.
At the pinnacle of this society were the warriors. They owed
unquestionable allegiance to there Lord who, in return, kept
them and supplied them with mead and for his closest household
troops, land and riches. These were men bound by honour, to
fight to the death on the battlefield rather than face the
shame of returning home without their Lord. Foremost amongst
this warrior elite were the famed English Huscarls, possibly
the toughest fighting men in Europe at the time. It is said
that these men were worth any two of the Vikings finest warriors.
Their preferred weapon was the huge double-handed battle-axe
and with it they were more than an equal to any fighting man,
anywhere. Unlike many contemporary societies (Norman society
is a prime example) the relationship between the Lord and
his warriors was not based on fear but on honour, friendship
and respect. The code of conduct between a Lord and his warriors
was referred to by the Roman historian Tacitus as the “comitatus”
and required a warrior to defend his lord to the death who
in turn would provide protection, shelter and a warm fire.
It was not simply a relationship of services but was in fact
one of the closest bonds in Anglo-Saxon society. Unlike many
other societies of the time the comitatus code was not a strictly
formal one. One of the great strengths of the Anglo-Saxon
warband was the comradery that existed between the lord and
his thanes. Anglo-Saxon literature is littered with words
such as friends, kinsmen, table comrades, hearth comrades
and hall-sitters that were used to describe the strong bonds
of friendship that existed between them. In the Old English
poem “Beowulf”, the warrior Beowulf is welcomed
into his warband by his new lord, with treasure and gifts,
but is also given a solemn oath of friendship.
“Now Beowulf, best of men, I will love you in my heart
like a son; keep to our new kinship from this day on”
The flowering of the English nation, one of the most sophisticated
and richest societies in Europe was dealt a hammer blow, when,
on the 14th October 1066 King Harold II was cut down on the
bloodstained field of Senlac. As the Norman veil was slowly
drawn over Anglo-Saxon England the comitatus still held strong
and the oaths of loyalty to their Lord were paid in blood
by the King’s faithful warriors. Even with the King
dead his Huscarls would not leave the battlefield and they
would not yield to the invaders. They made their final stand
at a place on the battlefield later known as Malfosse (Evil
Ditch) and in their vengeance caused such slaughter among
the Norman knights that once again the outcome of the battle
hung in the balance. At the last they were overcome and died
to a man, just as they had vowed they would, protecting the
Kings personal banner “The Fighting Man”.
Things would be different now. The fortified burghs that were
built by and manned by the people, for the protection of the
people, were torn down and replaced by Norman castles placed
there to dominate and intimidate the local population. The
language of law and the King’s court, and the language
that books were increasing written in was no longer to be
English, the language of the common man. With the coming of
the Normans it would be Latin and Norman French that would
hold sway. The new governing elite also brought with them
their own version of the bond between the lord and his vassals.
Out went the oath of loyalty and respect and in came the Norman’s
own continental version. To the English the oath of loyalty
was a two-way thing. The contract binding them together could
be denounced if the lord wilfully abused his power over them.
The lord had a general duty to keep faith with his vassal
and not to act in such a way as to injure his life, honour
or property. The Norman European way of doing things was altogether
different. To them the oath that they demanded was an oath
of utter fealty. This meant that the English who submitted
to William would be surrendering everything to him including
lands and honours or offices and this is something that many
of them could never do. Resistance to the Norman invasion
went on for many years but with the cream of the English aristocracy
killed in the Battles of Hastings and Stamford Bridge the
English rebels were essentially leaderless.
Many of the warriors who could never reconcile themselves
to the new regime took to their ships. In an epic voyage,
in which they sacked the city of Septom in Morocco, landed
in Majorca, Minorca and Sicily they finally arrive in Byzantium,
during the reign of Michael VII. Receiving news that Constantinople
was under siege by the Seljuk Turks, they sailed to its rescue,
arriving unexpectedly at night, attacking the besieging ships
and destroying them. In gratitude, the Emperor offered them
service in his elite Varangian Guard. Many accepted his offer
and went on to form the core of the Emperor’s bodyguard
for many years to come. Others declined, not wanting to serve
under a foreign emperor and these were given permission to
carve out a home for themselves north of the Black Sea. Historians
note that around this time the Byzantium Empire suddenly regained
lands around the Sea of Azov and the Crimea. 15th and 16th
century maps of the Black Sea area also show six towns suggesting
English influence. One appears on various maps as “Londia”,
“Londin” or “Londina”. Similarly in
the 13th century, records tell of a Christian people called
the “Saxi” speaking a language very similar to
English serving in the Georgian Army.
Back at home William the Bastard crushed the last large scale
English rebellion with his “harrying of the north”
where he laid waste to huge areas of northern England and
caused the death of over 100,000 men women and children. It
was his attempt to finally impose his will on his new kingdom
and with his brutal reign the English felt the full weight
of the Norman Yoke. But they weren’t finished yet.
One of the factors that have marked England out from the very
earliest times has been the libertarian instinct of her people,
an inheritance of our sea-faring ancestors, who brought with
them a confident and positive outlook on life that would allow
them to sow the seeds of a nation that would eventually touch
this world like none other ever had, or possibly will ever
again. Our inherent sense of justice and fairplay made it
increasingly difficult for our kings to rule without "counsel
and consent" and spawned a myriad of movements and protests
from the English (Peasants) Revolt to the Levellers, the Diggers
to the Suffragettes, the slavery abolitionists to the Trade
Union Movement. These ideals would later be laid down in Magna
Carta. Although it guaranteed fewer freedoms for the ordinary
man than are popularly imagined, certain concepts were to
find there way into judicial thinking and eventually into
the accepted principles of English life. The thirty-ninth
article stated:
"No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or dispossessed
or outlawed or harmed in any way, save by the lawful judgement
of his equals under the law of the land. Justice will not
be sold to any man, nor will it be refused or delayed".
These much-prized principles of freedom and liberty were for
their time radical in the extreme. It is no coincidence that
many of these movements and ideas first took root here in
England and they can be traced directly back to those first
boatloads of warriors who splashed up on our beaches all those
years ago. This heady mix of Engle, Jute and Saxon was to
form the basis of the ancestry of the English people. Centuries
later the dauntless spirit and sense of adventure that first
brought our people to these shores remained undiminished as
the Anglo-Saxon nation spread to the far reaches of the globe.
In modern day multi-cultural England it is all too easy to
forget the debt that we owe to all those who have come before
us and sacrificed so much so that we can enjoy the freedoms
and relative prosperity that we have today. For the modern
British state it is not considered appropriate that we should
pass on to our children a fundamental idea of who they are
and from where they have come. No matter what their social
or financial background, this could be something that they
can draw strength from and stand them in good stead for the
whole of their life. It is deemed to be in the in the interests
of diversity and multi-culturalism that many English people
have become detached from, and ignorant of their past, their
Anglo-Saxon heritage and the true culture of this, the land
of our births. In these days we will do well to remember the
radical tradition of those who have come before us. The outlook
of our early ancestors can be summed in the Old English term
"se swa his hlaford" - "each his own lord".
In essence it advocates individual freedom within a secure
community where loyalty and respect were given to those who
earned it. Free men do not owe loyalty or respect to those
who show no respect or loyalty to them.
"Se swa his hlaford" is as relevant today as it
has ever been. If the British state and the political elite
that run it show the English people no loyalty and respect
what right have they got to expect any in return? They constantly
disregard our point of view because they think they know better
and then time and time again, lie to us in the most cynical
way. The Normans may be gone but many say their Yoke is with
us once again. Just as then we are ruled by a governing elite
that is detached from the people. Once again we see them try
to impose their will on to us and once again we see them take
our hard won freedoms away and try to install a foreign continental
system of government. The spectacle of them lining up in Parliament
endorsing Gordon Brown's lie that the Lisbon Treaty is not
a repackaged version of the EU's rejected constitution, so
that they can justify breaking the promise of a referendum
on which they were all elected - was degrading even by their
standards and yet they have no so shame and they have no honour.
We owe these people nothing apart from the same contempt that
they show us.
It is in the direct interest of the present government that
we do not think too much about our history and all those who
have come before us. Much of what they have bequeathed to
us – either by the blistering of their hands or the
shedding of their blood, our present day leaders have given
away cheaply - and they sell it to us as progress. These are
the people who have no honour, integrity or loyalty to the
English people. They measure our progress as a nation solely
on the growth of the economy – on how much we consume
or how much we spend. We only have to look around us to see
that the English people have totally lost their way. We have
forgotten who we are and have become selfish and ignorant.
We have allowed ourselves to become marginalized in our own
homeland, we have been cowed into silence and we have lost
the confidence as a people to do or say anything about it.
They tell us to look to the future but we see nothing there
that we like. We say, that if we are going to move forward
and to progress as a people in these times of great upheaval
then we must first look back.
The voices of our ancestors still echo through the ages and
in these days of mass-immigration, globalisation, cultural
chaos and broken communities, we must allow ourselves time
to pause for a while and to listen to them, for they have
much that they can teach us.
Ultimately it is they, and not Tony Blair, Gordon Brown,
David Cameron, or any other politician, who in the end will
show us the way forward....
First line of an Old English poem known
as Maxims I C
*One early English chieftain, Edwin,
gave his name to a fortified town (burgh) he established on
a prominent rock beside the River Forth. Over the years the
town grew into a city, which is now called Edinburgh. The
Scots language that is spoken across Lowland Scotland is derived
from Old Scots, which is itself a dialect of Old English,
the language of the Anglo-Saxons.
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