Creation of England

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The emergence of England as a coherent domain, as we encountered it in the High Middle Ages , was a long process. After the Roman era , Germanic tribes, the Anglo-Saxons , conquered Britain. They founded small kingdoms there, which were consolidated around 700 on seven domains, the so-called heptarchy . Individual Anglo-Saxon rulers managed to expand their influence at times, including Offa , who ruled the regions south of the Humber in the 8th century . A unification of large parts of today's England with standardized military structures, administration and promotion of education only took place under Alfred the Great and his successors. One can speak of a kingdom of England since Alfred the Great and his successors .

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

The main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

While the almost four hundred year old occupation by the Romans , unlike in Gaul , had no lasting cultural influence, their successors, the Germanic tribes of the Jutes , Angles and Saxons , had a long-term impact on the island. They founded small kingdoms on the soil of what is now England , and in part also what is now Scotland , of which the seven most important formed the so-called heptarchy :

The heptarchy reflects the consolidation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms around 700. Of these, only three were significant around 750: Northern Humbria in the north, Mercia in the middle of what is now England and Wessex in the south.

Dominance of individual Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

Aethelbald , king of Mercia, managed to extend the influence of his empire to the point that he, according to Beda in the year 731 all countries south of the Humber dominated. In addition, he called himself not just King of the Merzier, but King of the Britannians ( rex Britanniae ). His successor Offa (757-796) also managed to maintain the supremacy of Merciens, and there is already evidence of a central administration which, among other things , planned and built the border wall against Wales , Offa's Dyke . After Offa's death, however, Mercia's supremacy waned again.

The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms around 802

This enabled Wessex to evade Mercia's control. Egbert of Wessex led a campaign to Cornwall in 815 . Ten years later, in 825, he defeated Beornwulf of Mercien in Ellandun . Egbert also used Mercia's weakness to bring neighboring kingdoms such as Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex under his control. In 829 Egbert conquered Mercia and the king of Northumbria recognized him as ruler. However, Egbert was unable to maintain his supremacy for long, as Mercia regained independence under Wiglaf as early as 830 and even brought Middlesex and London under his control. Until the time of the Danish Viking invasions in 865, there was a balance of power between Wessex and Mercia.

Association under Alfred the Great and his successors

From 865 the Danish Vikings , who had initially only undertaken raids in England, also began to establish themselves there. They succeeded in conquering a large number of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms within a short time. Your domain, the Danelag (English Danelaw), eventually took the entire east of England and also included East Anglia and the formerly Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria.

Alfred (848–899) von Wessex was ultimately the only Anglo-Saxon ruler who achieved effective military success against the Vikings. He expanded Cornwall as a military base and drove the Danes from Wessex in 878. Under Alfred finally the defense was reformed, he established a standing army and renewed defenses ( burh ) to form a network of refuges created and fortified settlements in Wessex. Fortifications existed before Alfred, but it was only under him that they were expanded and networked: a burh should nowhere be more than a day's journey away, and the defenses were linked by rivers, old Roman roads or other transport routes.

In addition to military reforms, Alfred introduced innovations in the areas of administration, education and legislation, which also contributed to the consolidation of his sphere of rule. For example, he began to gather numerous scholars from all over Britain and the rest of Europe at his court. He also promoted the translation of Latin texts into Old English and collections of laws were compiled under his government, which were based on older models.

In historiography time under Alfred and his successors is up to Edgar regarded as the time England in which the nation established: as a nation with a unified written language and literature, an established fiscal and commercial nature, a deployed administrative structure and an intelligent network Cities. The fact that under Alfred's reign some scholars began to write of his domain as the Engla lond ( Eng . "Land of Angles") suggests that the descendants of the Celtic Britons and the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from this one Time were viewed as a unit.

A silver penny embossed under Æthelstan

Under Alfred's successors, the Anglo-Saxon domain was again divided into smaller areas for a time, and the territorial disputes with the Danes were of variable success. However, there were also attempts by Alfred's successors to unite large parts of England into a single kingdom under an upper king who was recognized by other rulers. From 925 Æthelstan ruled over large parts of what is now England. He tried to regulate trade and coinage; on his coins he had himself referred to as Rex totius Britanniae . He also centralized his administrative files in a chancellery that was staffed with clerics. He succeeded in conquering Northumbria and subjugating Wales, which was lost again under his son.

Under his successors Eadred and Edgar again a temporary unification of large parts of England including Northumbria succeeded. In the 10th century one can speak of a transition from a fragmented territory towards a united England.

End of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and beginning of Anglo-Norman England

The dominance of Anglo-Saxon kings ended with the renewed invasion of Vikings from Scandinavia and finally with the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror . Under William, England changed from a regional kingship with the hegemony of a single king to a clearly pronounced feudal system under an Anglo-Norman upper class.

See also

literature

  • Mark Atherton: The Making of England: A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World . Tauris, London / New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-78453-005-1 .
  • Nicholas J. Higham, Martin J. Ryan: The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, New Haven 2013, ISBN 978-0-300-21613-4 .
  • David Peter Kirby: The Earliest English Kings. Revised Edition. Routledge, London 2000.
  • Harald Kleinschmidt: The Anglo-Saxons. CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62137-6 .
  • Jürgen Sarnowsky: England in the Middle Ages . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark Atherton: The Making of England: A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World . Tauris, London / New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-78453-005-1 , p. 3.
  2. ^ Jürgen Sarnowsky: England in the Middle Ages . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2002, p. 28.
  3. ↑ Michael Maurer: History of England . Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010475-0 , p. 14.
  4. ^ Jürgen Sarnowsky: England in the Middle Ages . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2002, pp. 32–34.
  5. ^ Jürgen Sarnowsky: England in the Middle Ages . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2002, pp. 34–35.
  6. ^ Jürgen Sarnowsky: England in the Middle Ages . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2002, p. 38.
  7. ^ Nicholas J. Higham, Martin J. Ryan: The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, New Haven 2013, ISBN 978-0-300-21613-4 , p. 268.
  8. ^ Nicholas J. Higham, Martin J. Ryan: The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, New Haven 2013, ISBN 978-0-300-21613-4 , pp. 268-269.
  9. ^ Mark Atherton: The Making of England: A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World . Tauris, London / New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-78453-005-1 , p. 3.
  10. ↑ Harald Kleinschmidt: The Anglo-Saxons. CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62137-6 , p. 117.
  11. ^ Nicholas J. Higham, Martin J. Ryan: The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, New Haven 2013, ISBN 978-0-300-21613-4 , pp. 301-305.