Medium fishing (Mercia)

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Geographical position of the central fishing line compared to other ethnic groups around 600

The middle anglers were an ethnic and cultural group within the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia in the early Middle Ages .

Origin and region

The Central Angles formed in the eastern Midlands as a result of migratory movements from East Anglia and the Wash area in the early 6th century. After the establishment of their rule, this group was called Middilangli . The center of its territory lay in today's county Leicestershire and the East Staffordshire , but finally extended to the hills of today's county of Cambridgeshire and the hilly terrain of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire . This meant that the central fishing rods occupied a strategically important geographical position both in Mercia and in the whole of southern England, as on land they took the important trade routes of Watling Street and Fosse Way , and on water the River Trent with its tributaries, the River Tame and River Soar controlled.

The middle fishing in Mercia

The integration of the area of ​​the middle fishing in the Kingdom of Mercia began before the reign of King Pendas (approx. 626–655). Pendas put his son Peada in rulership of the middle fishing rods. According to Bede, the middle fishing line was the target of a four-man group of Christian missionaries who began their missionary work after Peada's baptism in 653, and who included Saint Cedd . The establishment of Peadas as sub-king over the Central Angles implies that at that time the administrative integration of the Central Angles area into the Kingdom of Mercia was well advanced.

After Penda's death in 655 and Peada's assassination in 656, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled the area of ​​the Central Angles. He appointed one of the missionaries, the Irish Diuma , to be the bishop of both the central fishing line and the Kingdom of Mercia. Bede emphasizes that the lack of priests forced Oswiu to appoint one man as bishop of two peoples. This suggests that the Central Angles, although their area was in close proximity to the center of Mercia, were seen as a distinct ethnic group from the actual population of Mercia. This conceptual distinction was otherwise only used for previously independent areas in the north and west of Mercia incorporated into Mercia. Diuma died in the middle fishing area after a short but successful missionary work. His successor Ceollach , also an Irishman, returned to his homeland after a few years for unknown reasons; he only followed Trumhere and then Jaruman after.

After Mercia regained its independence from Northumbria under King Wulfhere , the middle fishing rods disappeared from the sources and are only mentioned in the Vita of Saint Guthlac , where Penwalh is reported to live in Mediterraneorum Anglorum partibus.

The middle anglers were a small, withdrawn ethnic group until they were conquered by Mercia. Their sudden appearance in 7th century sources does not mean that they formed a solid, closed group, but that they were a collection of various Anglic groups. This is also supported by the fact that the central fishing rods were not mentioned in the Tribal Hidage .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ASC , s. a. 652
  2. ↑ Beda, HE , III, 21
  3. ↑ Beda, HE , III, 21
  4. ^ Barbara Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England , p. 107
  5. ↑ Felix's Life of Saint Guthlac , c. 1
  6. ↑ Wendy Davies, Middle Anglia and the Middle Angles , p. 20th

literature

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  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: MS A v. 3 , Janet Bately (Ed.), Brewer, Rochester (NY) 1986, ISBN 0-8599-1103-9 .
  • Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People , B. Colgrave & RAB Mynors (Eds.), Clarendon, Oxford 1969, ISBN 0-1982-2202-5 .
  • Felix's Life of Saint Guthlac , Bertram Colgrave (Ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1956, ISBN 0-5213-0926-3 .

Secondary literature

  • Steven Basset (Ed.): The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1989, ISBN 0-7185-1317-7 .
  • James Campbell (Ed.): The Anglo-Saxons , Phaidon, London 1982, ISBN 0-7148-2149-7 .
  • Wendy Davies: "Middle Anglia and the Middle Angles." in: Midland History 2 (1973-4), p. 18-20
  • David Dumville: "The Tribal Hidage: an Introduction to its Texts and their History", in: Steven Basset (Ed.): The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1989, ISBN 0-7185-1317-7 .
  • David Dumville: "Essex, Middle Anglia and the Expansion of Mercia in the South East" in: Steven Basset (Ed.): The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1989, ISBN 0-7185-1317-7 .
  • Margaret Gallyon: The Early Church in Wessex and Mercia. Terence Dalton, Lavenham 1980, ISBN 0-9009-6358-1
  • Peter Hunter Blair: Roman Britain and Early England. 55 BC - AD 871. Nelson, Edinburgh 1963, ISBN 0-1771-1044-9 .
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings . Unwin Hyman, London 1991, ISBN 0-0444-5691-3 .
  • Frank M. Stenton: Anglo-Saxon England . 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford 1971, ISBN 0-1928-0139-2 .
  • Barbara Yorke : Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 . PDF (6.2 MB)

See also