The Anglo-Saxons

Who were the Anglo-Saxons?

Things were changing, and in about AD410, the last Roman soldiers were ordered to leave. New people came
in ships across the North Sea – the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon age in Britain was from around AD410 to
1066. Britain no longer had the strong Roman army to defend it from the invaders. There were many battles
between Anglo-Saxons and Britons. Over time, the Anglo-Saxons took control of most of Britain.

They were a mix of tribes from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The three biggest were the Angles,
the Saxons and the Jutes. The land they settled in was 'Angle-land', or England. If we use the modern names
for the countries they came from, the Saxons were German-Dutch, the Angles were southern Danish, and the
Jutes were northern Danish.

Why did the Anglo-Saxons come to Britain?

To farm: Many Anglo-Saxons came peacefully, to find land to farm. Their homelands in Scandinavia often
flooded so it was tough to grow enough food back there.

To make new homes: Whole families set sail across the sea to live in Britain. They brought tools, weapons and
farm animals with them and built villages with new homes.

They were invited: With Picts and Scots attacking from the north, the Britons invited some Anglo-Saxons to
help defend them. But they didn’t leave! They took over.

Anglo-Saxon Life
Anglo-Saxon children had to grow up quickly. By the time they were ten, they were seen as an adult. This
wasn't always a good thing. They had to work as hard as any adult and would be punished as adults, if they
stole or broke the law.

Girls worked in the home. They were in charge of housekeeping, weaving cloth, cooking meals, making cheese
and brewing ale. Boys learned the skills of their fathers. They learned to chop down trees with an axe, how to
plough a field and how to use a spear in battle. They also fished and went hunting with other men from the
village. Only a few girls and boys learned to read and write. The sons of kings or wealthy families might be
taught at home by a private teacher. The only schools were run by the Christian church, in monasteries. Some
children lived there to train as monks and nuns.

Life on an Anglo-Saxon farm was tough. All the family had to help out - men, women and children. Men cut
down trees to clear land for ploughing and to sow crops. Farmers used oxen to pull ploughs up and down long
strip fields. Children with dogs herded cattle and sheep. They also kept a lookout for wolves - which still lived
in Britain at this time. The Anglo-Saxons were great craftsmen too. Metalworkers made iron tools, knives and
swords. Woodworkers made wooden bowls, furniture, carts and wheels. Potters made pottery from clay.
Jewellers made beautiful brooches, beads and ornaments from gold, gemstones and glass.

The Anglo-Saxons had armies too. But their soldiers didn't fight all the time. After a battle they went home as
soon as they could and looked after their animals and crops.
Anglo-Saxon houses and villages
The Anglo-Saxons didn’t like the stone houses and streets left by the Romans, so they built their own villages.
They looked for land which had lots of natural resources like food, water and wood to build and heat their
homes, and Britain’s forests had everything they needed. They surrounded each village with a high fence to
protect cattle from wild animals like foxes and wolves, and to keep out their enemies, too!

We know what Anglo-Saxon houses were like from excavations of Anglo-Saxon villages, such as the one at
West Stow in the east of England. Here, an early Anglo-Saxon village (c.420-650AD) has been carefully
reconstructed where it was excavated. Using clues from the what was discovered, archeologists have
reconstructed the houses as they may have looked about 1,500 years ago. They were small wooden huts with
a straw roof, and inside was just one room in which the whole family lived, ate, slept and socialised together
– much like an ancient version of open-plan living! Much of Britain was covered with forests so the Anglo-
Saxons had plenty of wood to use. The houses were built facing the sun to get as much heat and light as
possible.

The biggest house in the village belonged to the chief, which was large enough to house him and all his
warriors – and sometimes even the oxen, too! It was a long hall with a stone fire in the middle, and hunting
trophies and battle armour hung from its walls as well as a hole in the roof to allow smoke to escape. The
windows were slits called eye-holes. There was no glass in the windows. The floor was dirty and covered with
rushes from the river banks.

Anglo Saxon villages were usually very small. The largest villages had no more than a few hundred people living
there. The villages were built near natural resources. The villagers needed food, water, fuel for heating and
cooking and materials for their homes and clothes. The natural resources had to provide the villagers with
what they needed to survive.

The village also needed to protect itself. All round the village was a high fence to keep the herds safe at night
from enemies and the wild animals of the forests - wolves, foxes and boars. The Anglo-Saxons grew crops and
kept pigs, sheep and cattle. They hunted other animals and fish for food. They made household goods and
farm equipment from pottery, wood and metal, clothes from cloth they wove themselves. They traded goods
such as hunting dogs and slaves for things they couldn't make, like glass, with people from other countries.

Anglo-Saxon food
Perhaps one of our favourite Anglo-Saxon facts is how much they liked to party! They loved a good meal and
would often host huge feasts in the chief’s hall. Meat was cooked on the fire and they ate bread, drank beer
and sang songs long into the night!

They grew wheat, barley and oats for making bread and porridge, grew fruit and vegetables like carrots,
parsnips and apples, and kept pigs, sheep and cattle for meat, wool and milk.

They were a very resourceful people – everything had its use and nothing went to waste. Animal fat could be
used as oil for lamps, knife handles could be made out of deer antlers and even glue could be made from
cows.
The Sutton Hoo
Much of what we know about the Anglo-Saxons comes from graves like the one discovered at Sutton Hoo in
Suffolk.

Near the River Deben in Suffolk, at Sutton Hoo, are eleven mounds or 'barrows' dating back to the 7th century.
In 1939 archaelogists explored the largest mound and discovered a ship buried in the mound.

The ship had rotted away, but the shape of it was clearly left behind in the earth. The ship was 27 metres long
and 4.25 meters wide at it widest point (almost ninety-feet long and fifteen-feet wide). It would have taken
about 20 oarsmen on either side to row it! The ship had been put there and used as a grave. Archeologists
think that the ship was dragged to the top of the hill from the river below. It was then placed in a ditch that
had been specially dug for it.

A hut was built in the middle of the ship and the coffin and treasures placed inside. The ship was then
completely covered with a mound of earth. The person was buried in the ship because they believed that this
was the best way to reach the After Life. The objects in the grave would have been the personal possessions or
weapons of the person 'buried' with the ship to use in the afterlife.

A sword was found next to the body, by the right arm. The end of the handle of the sword was made of gold
and contained a precious red jewel. The sword was made of iron. The sword was the most important weapon
in Anglo-Saxon times. It was often passed down from father to son. Warriors were buried with their swords
beside them.

The person in the ship was buried with lots of expensive household goods, including rich clothes, pieces for
playing games, and a lyre (a bit like a guitar) – look at the power points for pictures of these items.

Ship burials were reserved for the most powerful people. Sometimes the burial ships were cast adrift in the
sea, sometimes the ships were buried on land. Important men, especially if they were warriors, were buried
with weapons such as a sword, spears and a shield. Most ordinary Anglo-Saxon people were cremated (burnt)
after they died, their remain were placed in urns and buried in the ground.

The mound at Sutton Hoo

The excavation of the ship

A drawing of the Anglo-Saxons preparing the