England in the Middle Ages

"Mediæval Britain" is a term used to define the period in the history of Great Britain from around the 5th century until the 15th or 16th centuries. Major historical events in Mediæval British history include the Christianisation of England and Scotland, the Norman Conquest, England's participation in the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Roses.

The Mediæval period can be dated a number of ways. Generally, England's mediæval period is dated from the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the legendary Hengest and Horsa, when the Celtic powers of Romanized Britain were conquered by Germanic tribes from the contemporary Jutland area. Similarly, the end of the mediæval period can be dated by any number of markers. Some define its end simply by the rise of what is often referred to as "Renaissance England" in the reign of Henry VIII. From a linguistic and political point of view, however, what fell between 440 and 1066 was very unlike what existed between 1070 and 1500, and so "mediæval" ends up including two very dissimilar cultural and political histories.

A further problem comes from the term "Britain." During the mediæval period, Britain, the island, was a number of kingdoms. At the height of English mediæval power, a single English king ruled from the border with Scotland to the border of Wales, while Scotland and Wales were themselves ruled variously by kingdoms of various sizes. After the Norman Conquest, English power intruded into Wales with increasing vigor, but the process of consolidation was continuous from William to Oliver Cromwell and is not a mediæval feature.

Languages and Origins

Around 400 AD, Roman forces withdrew from the island of Britain. The Celtic forces that had fought the Romans to a standstill for decades and been conquered only with great effort were, by this point, very weak. They had relied upon Roman force to protect them from Scottish and Welsh Celtic marauders and invaders, and when the Roman troops left, the Britons had no effective defense.

According to the Venerable Bede, the British king called upon two Germanic tribal leaders from Europe to help defend Romanized Britain (i.e. Britain south of Hadrian's Wall). These two kings were named Hengest and Horsa, and they led a coalition of Angles and Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons rapidly repelled the Celtic invaders and pacified the land. After this, there was a vast victory banquet, where the participants were seated Celt and Saxon alternatingly around the table. At a certain point, Hengest announced "nemet eora saxa" (take out your saxas). Each Saxon drew out his saxa (a long dagger whose name was associated with the tribe) and stabbed the Celtic ruler beside him. With the entire leadership of Celtic Britain dead, the Anglo-Saxons were able to take over the country in a matter of three to four years.

Whether Bede is completely accurate or not is in some doubt. "Hengest" and "Horsa" both mean "horse," so it is possible that only one person is indicated. Also, while the Saxons and Angles are well attested, some of the other tribes supposedly involved in the conquest are very difficult to locate. In general, however, Bede's evidence is accepted as the best account available.

The Anglo-Saxon kings divided up the nation into a number of different areas, each operating more or less independently of the others. These kings were like other Germanic princes and brought with them the tales, religion, and traditions of the continent, including the worship of Odin (as Woden), the practice of weregild, the comitatus code, and the distribution of wealth in battle to thanes and retainers. They also brought with them the culture of scaldic poetry and alliterative verse. Their language, most accurately called Anglo-Saxon, is also called Old English.

Conversion

The Welsh maintained the Christian traditions inherited from Roman times. The Anglo-Saxon tribes in England retained their pagan traditions.

In the Kingdom of Kent, King Ethelbert's wife Bertha, a Christian Merovingian princess, had brought a chaplain with her and built or restored a church in Canterbury and dedicated it to St Martin of Tours, a major patron of the Merovingians. Probably under influence of his wife, the pagan Ethelbert asked Pope Gregory I to send missionaries. A reluctant Augustine of Canterbury was sent; in 597 he landed in Kent.

Ethelbert held the largely honorific title of among the kingdoms, and the re-Christianisation of England spread in the south from canterbury.

In 563 Saint Columba, exiled from his native Ireland, founded a monastery on the island of Iona in the Hebrides, and from there Christianity spread to the rest of Scotland and the north of England.