13-9. The Three Invaders of Roman Britain
The first reference to the Saxons occurs in a work dating from the middle of the second century A.D., namely the Geography of Ptolemy, in which they are said to occupy the neck of the Cimbric Peninsula (presumably the region which now forms the province of Schleswig), together with three islands off its west coast. The Angles are mentioned half a century earlier by Tacitus in his Germania. No precise indication is given of their position, but they are clearly represented as a maritime people and the connexion in which their name occurs would suggest the Baltic coast, though Tacitus appears to have little knowledge of that region. Such indications as are given are perfectly compatible with the traditions of later times, which place the original home of the Angles on the east coast of Schleswig. To the Jutes we have no reference earlier than the sixth century.
The Saxons no doubt belonged to the same stock as the Old Saxons of the Continent. In the fourth century we find this people settled in the district between the lower Elbe and the Zuiderzee. According to their own traditions they had come thither by sea, and certainly we have no evidence of their presence in that region during the first century, when it was well known to the Romans and frequently traversed by their armies. Whether the Saxons who invaded Britain came from the peninsula or from the region west of the Elbe cannot be decided with certainty, but since they appear to have been practically indistinguishable from the Angles the former alternative seems more probable. In any case they were a maritime people and their piratical ravages are frequently mentioned from the close of the third century onwards.
The Angles, on the other hand, are never mentioned by Roman writers from the time of Tacitus until the sixth century, when they were settled in Britain. In their case however we have certain heroic traditions which appear to have been preserved independently both in England and Denmark. These traditions centre round an old king named Wermund and his son Offa, of whom the latter is said to have won great glory in a single combat, the scene of which was fixed by Danish tradition at Rendsburg on the Eider. From him the Mercian royal family traced their descent, while the royal family of Wessex claimed to derive their origin from a certain Wig the son of Freawine, both of whom according to Danish tradition were governors of Schleswig under the kings above mentioned. The date indicated by the genealogies for the reigns of these kings is the latter half of the fourth century.
It is a much debated question whether the Jutes who settled in Britain came from Jutland. In the course of the sixth century we hear twice of a people of this name which came into conflict with the Franks, probably in western Germany, but it is by no means impossible that this also was a case of invasion from Jutland. The same name probably occurs also in connexion with the heroic story of Finn and Hengest, with regard to which our information is unfortunately very defective.
We have no satisfactory evidence of any linguistic differences between the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. The divergencies of dialect which appear in our earliest records are at first only slight and such as may very well have grown up after the invasion of Britain. The language as a whole must be pronounced homogeneous, its nearest affinities being with their Frisian dialects. Nor with regard to customs or institutions have we any evidence of a distinction between the Angles and Saxons. On the other hand the Kentish laws exhibit a marked divergence from those of the other kingdoms, in respect of the constitution of society, a divergence which can scarcely have come into existence subsequent to the invasion. We have no information with regard to the characteristics of the Hampshire Jutes.
It may be doubted whether all those who took part in the invasion of Britain belonged to the three nationalities which we have been discussing. The attempts made from time to time to trace the presence of settlers belonging to other peoples cannot be pronounced successful, and when Procopius speaks of Frisians inhabiting our island together with Angles and Britons it is possible that he may mean either the Jutes or the Saxons. Yet considering the numbers which must have been required for such an undertaking, it is highly probable that the invading forces were augmented by adventurers from all the regions bordering on the North Sea, perhaps even from districts more remote.
With regard to the state of civilisation attained by the maritime Teutonic peoples at the period when these settlements took place, a good deal of information is afforded by their earliest cemeteries in this country as well as by others on the opposite side of the North Sea. Amongst the latter perhaps the most important is that of Borgstedterfeld near Rendsburg, where the remains found shew much affinity to those discovered in this country. Much is also to be learnt from the great bog-deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam in the east of Schleswig, the latter of which appears to be only slightly earlier than the cemetery of Borgstedterfeld. In a district slightly more remote, at Vi in Fyen, a still larger deposit has been found dating from about the same period.
Among the most interesting objects found at Nydam were two clinker-built boats about seventy feet long which are preserved practically complete. A very large number of weapons were also found in this and the other deposits. At Nydam were found 550 spears and 106 swords, a large number of which bear the marks of Roman provincial workshops.
At Vi was discovered a complete coat of mail containing twenty thousand rings. Fragments of such articles together with silver and bronze helmets were found at Thorsbjaerg. This deposit also yielded some articles of clothing in a fair state of preservation, among them cloaks, coats, long trousers, and shoes. Taken together the evidence of the various deposits shews conclusively not only that the warriors of the period were armed in a manner not substantially improved upon for many centuries afterwards, but also that certain arts, such as that of weaving, had been carried to a high degree of perfection.
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