Anglo Saxon Research Paper

The Anglo-Saxons The invasion of a Germanic barbarian tribe, the Anglo-Saxons, had a significant and positive influence on England. Unlike most invasions, the Anglo-Saxons’ arrival in England had mostly benefitted the Britons. In both the government and the early church, Anglo-Saxon culture and practices transformed England in many ways. The pagan Anglo-Saxons contributed to the early development of the church and of the development of a complex governing body, helped create new farming methods, and allowed for the expansion of Christianity by providing an outlet for missionary work in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons were pagan barbarians who had invaded and settled in various parts of Eastern England. This Germanic tribe originated

“Their para-monastic form, capable of being endowed, adopted, or controlled by individuals or dynasties, was attractive to the kings and nobles of northern Europe, where the monastic sites tended to become nodes of interconnections based on familial and territorial structures”(Blair 49). In this para-monastic form, the bishops were important pastorally and to varying degrees administratively. This also provided infrastructure for the local churches. In all the complex religious sites, housing communities of a broadly monastic character became progressively more important. “…it proved enormously attractive to English kings too, though this only becomes apparent sometime after the initial conversions” (Blair 49). As a result, there rose long-term stability within Irish society where the emergent Anglo-Saxon communities helped forge a new Germanic and pagan identity. As they moved toward a more political and less tribal organization, they reoriented themselves towards the Christian world. “…the late Anglo-Saxon kings developed a highly advanced administration that functioned through a system of local divisions (shires) and royal officers (sheriffs)” (McKitterick 121). This system made the Anglo-Saxon kings’ will known throughout their kingdom by means of writs and allowed the direct levying of taxes. With this improved degree of communication, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms survived

England received new crops, made advancements in trade and established a relationship with the Christian Church. “…zooarchaeological evidence indicates that the Anglo-Saxon immigrants followed agricultural practices similar to those of Romano-British farmers” (Fisher 492). At West Stow, a rural settlement in use from the fifth to seventh centuries, evidence indicated a mixed agricultural economy. During that time, changes in agricultural practices spread, including new cereal crops, the use of water mills and meadows, the farming of open fields, the production of animal surpluses, and broad use of the moldboard plow. These new alterations enabled greater agricultural yields. “Each major Anglo-Saxon kingdom controlled at least one emporium” (Fisher 494). The goods that passed through the emporia were linked to local markets or exchange sites at smaller, non-urban settlements. Archaeological finds demonstrate that the European continent supplied Anglo-Saxon England with cachet goods like precious metals, gemstones, ceramics, jewelry, textiles, glassware, and weaponry. The church characterized the sacral role of kingship through ritual anointing and synodic degree. “A mutually beneficial patron-client relationship existed between the Anglo-Saxon kings and the Christian church” (Fisher 494). West Saxon and Mercian kings, seeking support for their