Angles (tribe)
Ængle / Engle | |
---|---|
England) | |
Languages | |
Old English | |
Religion | |
Originally Germanic and Anglo-Saxon paganism, later Christianity | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans, English, Lowland Scots,[1] Saxons, Frisii, Jutes |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/1st_century_Germani.png/310px-1st_century_Germani.png)
The Angles were one of the main
Etymology
The term Angles comes from
Many theories concerning the etymology of the name have been advanced:
- According to Angul were made rulers by the consent of their people because of their bravery. Dan gave name to Danesand Angel gave names to Angles.
- It originated from the Germanic root for "narrow" (compare German and Dutch eng = "narrow"), meaning "the Narrow [Water]", i.e., the Schlei estuary; the root would be *h₂enǵʰ, "tight".
- The name derives from "hook" (as in angling for fish), in reference to the shape of the peninsula; Indo-European linguist Julius Pokorny derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk-, "bend" (see ankle).[4] Alternatively, the Angles may have been called such because they were a fishing people or were originally descended from such.[5]
During the fifth century
Pope Gregory I simplified the Latinised name Anglii to Angli in a letter and this became standard.[6] The country remained Anglia in Latin. Alfred the Great's translation of Orosius's history of the world uses Angelcynn (-kin) to describe the English people; Bede uses Angelfolc (-folk); also such forms as Engel, Englan (the people), Englaland, and Englisc occur, all showing i-mutation.[7]
Greco-Roman historiography
Tacitus
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/AngelnAngel.png/200px-AngelnAngel.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Over_Jerstal.png/200px-Over_Jerstal.png)
The earliest known mention of the Angles may be in chapter 40 of Tacitus's
He gives no precise indication of their geographical situation but states that, together with the six other tribes, they worshipped Nerthus, or Mother Earth, whose sanctuary was located on "an island in the Ocean".[9] The Eudoses are the Jutes; these names probably refer to localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast. The coast contains sufficient estuaries, inlets, rivers, islands, swamps, and marshes to have been then inaccessible to those not familiar with the terrain, such as the Romans, who considered it unknown, inaccessible, with a small population and of little economic interest.
The majority of scholars believe that the Anglii lived on the coasts of the Baltic Sea, probably in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula. This view is based partly on Old English and Danish traditions regarding persons and events of the fourth century, and partly because striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in pre-Christian Scandinavian religion.[9]
Ptolemy
Surviving versions of the work of Ptolemy, who wrote around AD 150, in his atlas Geography (2.10), describes them in a confusing manner. In one passage, the Sueboi Angeilloi (in Greek equivalent to Latin spelling Suevi Angili), are living in a stretch of land between the northern Rhine and central Elbe, but apparently not touching either river, with the Suebic Langobardi on the Rhine to their west, and the Suebic Semnones on the Elbe stretching to their east. This is unexpected. However, as pointed out by Gudmund Schütte, the Langobards also appear as the "Laccobardi" in another position near the Elbe and the Saxons, which is considered more likely to be correct, and the Angles probably lived in that region also.[10][11] Owing to the uncertainty of this passage, much speculation existed regarding the original home of the Anglii.
One theory is that they or part of them dwelt or moved among other coastal people, perhaps confederated up to the basin of the
A second possible solution is that these Angles of Ptolemy are not those of Schleswig at all. According to Julius Pokorny, the Angri- in Angrivarii, the -angr in Hardanger and the Angl- in Anglii all come from the same root meaning "bend", but in different senses. In other words, the similarity of the names is strictly coincidental and does not reflect any ethnic unity beyond Germanic. Gudmund Schütte, in his analysis of Ptolemy, believes that the Angles have simply been moved by an error coming from Ptolemy's use of imperfect sources. He points out that Angles are placed correctly just to the northeast of the Langobardi, but that these have been duplicated, so that they appear once, correctly, on the lower Elbe, and a second time, incorrectly, at the northern Rhine.[13]
Medieval historiography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Beda_Petersburgiensis_f3v.jpg/220px-Beda_Petersburgiensis_f3v.jpg)
In the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere of Hålogaland's account of a two-day voyage from the Oslo fjord to Schleswig, he reported the lands on his starboard bow, and Alfred appended the note "on these islands dwelt the Engle before they came hither".[n 1] Confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions relating to two kings named Wermund and Offa of Angel, from whom the Mercian royal family claimed descent and whose exploits are connected with Angeln, Schleswig, and Rendsburg.[9][12]
Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (
The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory I, who happened to see a group of Angle children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. As the story was told by Bede, Gregory was struck by the unusual appearance of the slaves and asked about their background. When told they were called Anglii (Angles), he replied with a Latin pun that translates well into English: "Bene, nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales angelorum in caelis decet esse coheredes" (It is well, for they have an angelic face, and such people ought to be co-heirs of the angels in heaven). Supposedly, this encounter inspired the pope to launch a mission to bring Christianity to their countrymen.[16][17]
Archaeology
The province of Schleswig has proved rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the fourth and fifth centuries. A large cremation cemetery has been found at Borgstedt, between Rendsburg and Eckernförde, and it has yielded many urns and brooches closely resembling those found in pagan graves in England. Of still greater importance are the great deposits at Thorsberg moor (in Angeln) and Nydam, which contained large quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of clothing, agricultural implements, etc., and in Nydam, even ships. By the help of these discoveries, Angle culture in the age preceding the invasion of Britannia can be pieced together.[9]
Anglian kingdoms in England
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Britain_peoples_circa_600.svg/220px-Britain_peoples_circa_600.svg.png)
According to sources such as the History of Bede, after the invasion of Britannia, the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. H. R. Loyn has observed in this context that "a sea voyage is perilous to tribal institutions",[18] and the apparently tribe-based kingdoms were formed in England. Early times had two northern kingdoms (Bernicia and Deira) and two midland ones (Middle Anglia and Mercia), which had by the seventh century resolved themselves into two Angle kingdoms, viz., Northumbria and Mercia.
Northumbria held suzerainty amidst the
They united their house in marriage with the surviving Angle royalty, and were accepted by the Angles as their kings. This marked the passing of the old
The rest of that people stayed at the centre of the Angle homeland in the northeastern portion of the modern German Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein, on the Jutland Peninsula. There, a small peninsular area is still called Angeln today and is formed as a triangle drawn roughly from modern
Notes
References
- ISBN 978-0765682949.
- ISBN 9780191727139. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
Angles. A Germanic people who originated on the Baltic coastlands of Jutland.
- ^ a b c Tacitus, Cap. XL
- ^ Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo 1993. Origins and Development of the English Language. 4th edition. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich).
- ^ Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable 1993 A History of the English Language. 4th edition. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall).
- ISBN 9781403917232, 9781403938695
- ^ Fennell, Barbara 1998. A History of English. A Sociolinguistic Approach. Oxford: Blackwell.
- ^ a b Church & Brodribb (1876), Ch. XL
- ^ a b c d e f g Chadwick (1911), pp. 18–19.
- ^ Ptolemy, Geography, 2.10.
- ^ Schütte (1917), p. 34See also pp. 119–120, & 125–127
- ^ a b c Lex Anglorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum (in Latin) – via Vikifons.
- ^ Schütte (1917), p. 34 & 118.
- ^ Sweet (1883), p. 19.
- ^ Loyn (1991), p. 24.
- ^ Bede (731), Lib. II.
- ^ Jane (1910), Vol. II.
- ^ Loyn (1991), p. 25.
Sources
- Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum[Ecclesiastical History of the English People] (in Latin).
- Chadwick, Hector Munro (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–19.
- Jane, Lionel Cecil, ed. (1910). John Stevens. . Translated by
- Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. De origine et situ Germanorum [On the Origin and Situation of the Germans] (in Latin).
- Germania. Translated by Church, Alfred John; Brodribb, William Jackson. 1876.
- Schütte, Gudmund (1917). Ptolemy's Maps of Northern Europe: A Reconstruction of the Prototypes. Copenhagen: Græbe for H. Hagerup for the Royal Danish Geographical Society.
- Sweet, Henry (1883). King Alfred's Orosius. Oxford: E. Pickard Hall & J. H. Stacy for N. Trübner & Co. for the Early English Text Society.
- Loyn, Henry Royston (1991). A Social and Economic History of England: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest (2nd ed.). London: Longman Group. ISBN 978-0582072978.
Attribution:
- Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (9th ed.), 1878, p. 30 ,