Angles
Encyclopedia
The Angles is a modern English
term for a Germanic people
who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln
, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein
, Germany
. The Angles were one of the main groups that settled in Britain
in the post-Roman period, founding several of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, and their name is the root of the name "England
".
of Tacitus
.
The original noun from which this adjective was produced has not been determined with confidence. The stem is theorized to have had the form *Ang?l/r-. The more prominent etymological theories concerning the name's origin have included:
Pope
Gregory the Great is the first known to have simplified Anglii to Angli, which he did in an epistle, the latter form developing into the preferred form of the word in Britain and throughout the continent (the generic form becoming Anglus in answer). The country remained Anglia in Latin. Meanwhile, there are several likenesses of form and meaning attested in Old English literature: King Alfred's (Alfred the Great
) translation of Orosius' history of the world uses Angelcynn (-kin) to describe England and the English people; Bede
used Angelfolc (-folk); there are also such forms as Engel, Englan (the people), Englaland, and Englisc, all showing signs of vocalic mutation and later developing into the dominant forms.
and Pliny
, are silent concerning the Angles. Their reasons for this exclusion was their consideration of the south shore of the Baltic
to be terra incognita, "unknown land." However, both Strabo and Pliny describe that shore. Since the Angles took a geographic name, they possibly had other names not based on geography.
Strabo's mention of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest places his knowledge in the final years of Augustus
' reign and after, which is the early first century.
Strabo (7.2.1, 4 and 7.3.1) states that the Cimbri
still live on the peninsula (Jutland
) where they always did, even though some of them liked to wander. Beyond the Elbe
the coastal people are unknown in Strabo's work, but south of them are the Suebi
from the Elbe to the Getae (Goths
). Strabo worked eastward from the Rhine.
Pliny, on the other hand, worked from east to west (4.13.94). His description leaves the Black Sea
, crosses the Ripaei mountains to the shore of the northern ocean, and follows it westward to Cadiz
. In the first direction is Scythia
, where the Sarmati
, Venedi, Scirii
, and Hirri are located, as far as the Vistula
.
Then the Inguaeones, (the "people of Yngvi
"), begin. Baunonia (Bornholm
) is an island opposite Scythia. Cylipenus, probably the Bay of Kiel
, is described, and from there a gulf called Lagnus, which is on the frontier of the Cimbri. Its location is not known, but it was possibly in the Angeln region.
In Pliny, the Inguaeones consisted of the Cimbri and the Teutones (the Chauci
as well, but they were not in this region). If Lagnus was situated on the Cimbrian frontier and after Kiel, then Angeln must have been in the territory of the Teutones. They were perhaps not named "Angles" at that time; however, the territory of the Teutones probably included the Vorpommern and the region south to the Elbe (mainly Holstein), accounting for the implied larger range of the Angles in later sources.
Possibly the first instance of the Angles in recorded history is in Tacitus
' Germania
, chapter 40, in which the "Anglii" are mentioned in passing in a list of Germanic tribes. He gives no precise indication of their geographical situation but states that, together with six other tribes, they worshiped a goddess named Nerthus
, whose sanctuary was located on "an island in the Ocean". The other tribes are the Reudigni
, Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini and Nuitones, which together are described as being behind ramparts of rivers and woods, i.e., inaccessible to attack. As the Eudoses are the Jutes
, these names probably refer to localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast, in which case their inhabitants would be Cimbri or Teutones for Pliny. 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 Jutish peninsula
. This view is based partly on Old English and Danish traditions regarding persons and events of the 4th century, and partly on the fact that striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus
as described by Tacitus are to be found in pre-Christian Scandinavian, especially Swedish and Danish, religion.
The account in Germania is inconsistent with Strabo's and Pliny's on a major point. Tacitus called the Baltic the Suebian Sea and viewed the seven tribes that included the Anglii as Suebi. For Pliny the Suebi were among the tribes of Herminones in central Germany. For Strabo, the Suebi were to the south of the coast. The Suebian language developed into Old High German
, while the Angles and Jutes were among the speakers of Old Saxon
.
in his Geography (2.10), half a century later, presents a somewhat more complex view. The Saxons
are placed around the lower Elbe
, which area they could have reached merely by an extension of the Saxon alliance. East of them are the Teutones and also a dissimilation of them, the Teutonoari, which denotes "men" (wer); i.e., "the Teuton men." These Teutons or Teuton men appear to have been in Angeln and the land around it.
The Angles, as such, are not listed at all. Instead there are Syeboi Angeilloi, Latinized to Suevi Angili, located south of the middle Elbe. Owing to the uncertainty of this passage, there has been much speculation regarding the original home of the Anglii. One theory is that they or part of them dwelt or moved along other coastal people perhaps confederated up to the basin of the Saale
(in the neighbourhood of the ancient canton of Engilin
) on the Unstrut
valleys below the Kyffhäuserkreis
, from which region the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed by many to have come. The ethnic names of Frisians
and Warines
are attested in the neighborhood names of this Saxon or Swabia
n lands.
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. The Suevi Angeli would have been in Lower Saxony
or near it and, like Ptolemy's Suevi Semnones, were among the Suebi at the time.
Bede
confidently states that the Anglii, before coming to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, "which lies between the province of the Jutes and the Saxons, and remains unpopulated to this day." Similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great
and the chronicler Æthelweard identified this place with the district that is now called Angeln
, in the province of Schleswig
(Slesvig) (though it may then have been of greater extent), and this identification agrees with the indications given by Bede. In the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere
'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". 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
. Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine
) and Wigo
(Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex
claimed descent. During the 5th century, the Anglii invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent except in the title of Suevi Angili.
The province of Schleswig has proved rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. A broad cremation cemetery has been found at Borgstedterfeld, 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 civilization in the age preceding the invasion of Great Britain can be fitted together.
According to sources such as the History of Bede, after the invasion of Great Britain
, the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms of the Nord Angelnen (Northumbria
), Ost Angelnen (East Anglia
), and the Mittlere Angelnen (Mercia
). H.R. Loyn has observed in this context that "a sea voyage is perilous to tribal institutions," and the apparently tribally-based kingdoms were produced in England. In early times there were two northern kingdoms (Bernicia and Deira) and two midland ones (Middle Anglia and Mercia). As a result of influence from the West Saxons, the tribes were collectively called Anglo-Saxons
by the Normans
, the West Saxon kingdom having conquered, united and founded the Kingdom of England
by the 10th century. The regions of East Anglia and Northumbria are still known by their original titles to this day. Northumbria once stretched as far north as what is now southeast Scotland
, including Edinburgh
, and as far south as the Humber Estuary.
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 Flensburg
on the Flensburger Fjord to the City of Schleswig and then to Maasholm, on the Schlei
inlet.
which apparently has roots in history. Gregory happened to see a group of Angle children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. Gregory inquired 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 angel
s in heaven"). Supposedly, he thereafter resolved to convert their pagan homeland to Christianity.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
term for a Germanic people
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln
Angeln
Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The Angles were one of the main groups that settled in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the post-Roman period, founding several of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, and their name is the root of the name "England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
".
Etymology
The ethnic name Angle has had various forms and spellings and meanings, the earliest attested being the Latinized name Anglii, a Germanic tribe mentioned in the GermaniaGermania (book)
The Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.-Contents:...
of Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
.
The original noun from which this adjective was produced has not been determined with confidence. The stem is theorized to have had the form *Ang?l/r-. The more prominent etymological theories concerning the name's origin have included:
- The LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word for the JutlandJutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
ic district of AngelnAngelnModern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
(where the Angles are believed to have emigrated from) is Angel. This is the preferred etymological theory amongst historians, and may connect to Angle (the peninsula is noted for its "angular" shape). - It may mean "the people who dwell by the Narrow Water," (i.e. the SchleiSchleiThe Schlei is a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It stretches for approximately 20 miles from the Baltic near Kappeln and Arnis to the city of Schleswig. Along the Schlei are many small bays and swamps...
), from the Proto-Indo-European languageProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
rootRoot (linguistics)The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
ang- meaning "narrow". In the West-Germanic languages Dutch and German, the word eng means "narrow"; eng- forming the root for Engeland, which is Dutch and Afrikaans for England. The English Angles translates as Angele in Afrikaans. In RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, английский (angliskii) means english. - Derivation from the GermanicGermanic peoplesThe Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
god *Ingwaz or the Ingvaeones federation of which the Angles were part (the initial vowel could as well be "a" or "e").
Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Gregory the Great is the first known to have simplified Anglii to Angli, which he did in an epistle, the latter form developing into the preferred form of the word in Britain and throughout the continent (the generic form becoming Anglus in answer). The country remained Anglia in Latin. Meanwhile, there are several likenesses of form and meaning attested in Old English literature: King Alfred's (Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
) translation of Orosius' history of the world uses Angelcynn (-kin) to describe England and the English people; Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
used Angelfolc (-folk); there are also such forms as Engel, Englan (the people), Englaland, and Englisc, all showing signs of vocalic mutation and later developing into the dominant forms.
Angles under other names
Two important geographers, StraboStrabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
and Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, are silent concerning the Angles. Their reasons for this exclusion was their consideration of the south shore of the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
to be terra incognita, "unknown land." However, both Strabo and Pliny describe that shore. Since the Angles took a geographic name, they possibly had other names not based on geography.
Strabo's mention of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest places his knowledge in the final years of Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
' reign and after, which is the early first century.
Strabo (7.2.1, 4 and 7.3.1) states that the Cimbri
Cimbri
The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The Cimbri were probably Germanic, though some believe them to be of Celtic origin...
still live on the peninsula (Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
) where they always did, even though some of them liked to wander. Beyond the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
the coastal people are unknown in Strabo's work, but south of them are the Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
from the Elbe to the Getae (Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
). Strabo worked eastward from the Rhine.
Pliny, on the other hand, worked from east to west (4.13.94). His description leaves the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
, crosses the Ripaei mountains to the shore of the northern ocean, and follows it westward to Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. In the first direction is Scythia
Scythia
In antiquity, Scythian or Scyths were terms used by the Greeks to refer to certain Iranian groups of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dwelt on the Pontic-Caspian steppe...
, where the Sarmati
Sarmatians
The Iron Age Sarmatians were an Iranian people in Classical Antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD....
, Venedi, Scirii
Scirii
The Scirii were an East Germanic tribe of Eastern Europe, attested in historical works between the 2nd century BC and 5th century AD.The etymology of their name is unclear...
, and Hirri are located, as far as the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
.
Then the Inguaeones, (the "people of Yngvi
Yngvi
Yngvi, Yngvin, Ingwine, Inguin are names that relate to an older theonym Ing and which appears to have been the older name for the god Freyr ....
"), begin. Baunonia (Bornholm
Bornholm
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...
) is an island opposite Scythia. Cylipenus, probably the Bay of Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, is described, and from there a gulf called Lagnus, which is on the frontier of the Cimbri. Its location is not known, but it was possibly in the Angeln region.
In Pliny, the Inguaeones consisted of the Cimbri and the Teutones (the Chauci
Chauci
The Chauci were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the upper Weser. Along the coast they lived on artificial hills called terpen, built high enough to remain dry during the highest tide...
as well, but they were not in this region). If Lagnus was situated on the Cimbrian frontier and after Kiel, then Angeln must have been in the territory of the Teutones. They were perhaps not named "Angles" at that time; however, the territory of the Teutones probably included the Vorpommern and the region south to the Elbe (mainly Holstein), accounting for the implied larger range of the Angles in later sources.
Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
' Germania
Germania (book)
The Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.-Contents:...
, chapter 40, in which the "Anglii" are mentioned in passing in a list of Germanic tribes. He gives no precise indication of their geographical situation but states that, together with six other tribes, they worshiped a goddess named Nerthus
Nerthus
In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with fertility. Nerthus is attested by Tacitus, the first century AD Roman historian, in his Germania. Various theories exist regarding the goddess and her potential later traces amongst the Germanic tribes...
, whose sanctuary was located on "an island in the Ocean". The other tribes are the Reudigni
Reudigni
The Reudigni were one of the Nerthus-worshipping Germanic tribes mentioned by Tacitus in Germania. Schütte suggests that the name should be read Rendingi or Randingi and then the name would be the same as the Rondings of Widsith. They have otherwise been lost to history, but they may have lived in...
, Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini and Nuitones, which together are described as being behind ramparts of rivers and woods, i.e., inaccessible to attack. As the Eudoses are the Jutes
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
, these names probably refer to localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast, in which case their inhabitants would be Cimbri or Teutones for Pliny. 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
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, probably in the southern part of the Jutish peninsula
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
. This view is based partly on Old English and Danish traditions regarding persons and events of the 4th century, and partly on the fact that striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus
Nerthus
In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with fertility. Nerthus is attested by Tacitus, the first century AD Roman historian, in his Germania. Various theories exist regarding the goddess and her potential later traces amongst the Germanic tribes...
as described by Tacitus are to be found in pre-Christian Scandinavian, especially Swedish and Danish, religion.
The account in Germania is inconsistent with Strabo's and Pliny's on a major point. Tacitus called the Baltic the Suebian Sea and viewed the seven tribes that included the Anglii as Suebi. For Pliny the Suebi were among the tribes of Herminones in central Germany. For Strabo, the Suebi were to the south of the coast. The Suebian language developed into Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
, while the Angles and Jutes were among the speakers of Old Saxon
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in the Netherlands by Saxon peoples...
.
Suevi Angili
PtolemyPtolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
in his Geography (2.10), half a century later, presents a somewhat more complex view. The Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
are placed around the lower Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
, which area they could have reached merely by an extension of the Saxon alliance. East of them are the Teutones and also a dissimilation of them, the Teutonoari, which denotes "men" (wer); i.e., "the Teuton men." These Teutons or Teuton men appear to have been in Angeln and the land around it.
The Angles, as such, are not listed at all. Instead there are Syeboi Angeilloi, Latinized to Suevi Angili, located south of the middle Elbe. Owing to the uncertainty of this passage, there has been much speculation regarding the original home of the Anglii. One theory is that they or part of them dwelt or moved along other coastal people perhaps confederated up to the basin of the Saale
Saale
The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale , is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.-Course:The Saale...
(in the neighbourhood of the ancient canton of Engilin
Unstruttal (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft)
Unstruttal is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Burgenlandkreis , in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Before 1 January 2010, it was a Verwaltungsgemeinschaft. It is situated along the river Unstrut, approx. 50 km west of Leipzig...
) on the Unstrut
Unstrut
The Unstrut is a river in Germany and a left tributary of the Saale. It originates in northern Thuringia near Dingelstädt and its catchment area is the whole of the Thuringian Basin...
valleys below the Kyffhäuserkreis
Kyffhäuserkreis
The Kyffhäuserkreis is a district in the northern part of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Mansfeld-Südharz, Saalekreis und Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, and the districts Sömmerda, Unstrut-Hainich and Eichsfeld.-History:...
, from which region the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed by many to have come. The ethnic names of Frisians
Frisii
The Frisii were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Zuiderzee and the River Ems. In the Germanic pre-Migration Period the Frisii and the related Chauci, Saxons, and Angles inhabited the Continental European coast from the Zuyder Zee to south Jutland...
and Warines
Warini
The Varni , Varini , Varinnae , Wærne/Werne and Warnii probably refer to a little known Germanic tribe. The name would have meant the "defenders". They lived in northern Germany...
are attested in the neighborhood names of this Saxon or Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
n lands.
A second possible solution is that these Angles of Ptolemy are not those of Schleswig at all. According to Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny was an Austrian linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities.-Life:...
the Angri- in Angrivarii
Angrivarii
The Angrivarii were a Germanic tribe of the early Roman Empire mentioned briefly in Ptolemy as the Angriouarroi , which transliterates into Latin Angrivari. They are believed to be the source of the 8th century identity, Angrarii, which was one of three subdivisions of Saxony...
, the -angr in Hardanger
Hardanger
Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord. It consists of the municipalities of Odda, Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik, Granvin, Kvam and Jondal, and is located inside the county of Hordaland....
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. The Suevi Angeli would have been in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
or near it and, like Ptolemy's Suevi Semnones, were among the Suebi at the time.
Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
confidently states that the Anglii, before coming to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, "which lies between the province of the Jutes and the Saxons, and remains unpopulated to this day." Similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
and the chronicler Æthelweard identified this place with the district that is now called Angeln
Angeln
Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
, in the province of Schleswig
Schleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
(Slesvig) (though it may then have been of greater extent), and this identification agrees with the indications given by Bede. In the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere
Ohthere
Ohthere, Ohtere , Óttarr, Óttarr vendilkráka or Ottar Vendelkråka was a semi-legendary king of Sweden who would have lived during the 6th century and belonged to the house of Scylfings...
'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". Confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions relating to two kings named Wermund
Wermund
Wermund or Garmund is an ancestor of the Mercian royal family, a son of Wihtlaeg and father of Offa. Mythology claims him to be a grandson of Woden, but the Danish histories written by Saxo Grammaticus disagree with this concept....
and Offa of Angel
Offa of Angel
Offa was the 4th-great-grandfather of Creoda of Mercia, and was reputed to be a great-grandson of Woden, English god of war and poetry and creator of Middle-Earth, the realm of man. Offa was the son of Wermund, and the father of Angeltheow...
, from whom the Mercian royal family claimed descent and whose exploits are connected with Angeln, Schleswig, and Rendsburg
Rendsburg
Rendsburg is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis of Rendsburg-Eckernförde. As of 2006, it had a population of 28,476.-History:...
. Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine
Freawine
Freawine, Frowin or Frowinus figures as a governor of Schleswig in Gesta Danorum and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as an ancestor of the kings of Wessex, but the latter source only tells that he was the son of Frithugar and the father of Wig....
) and Wigo
Ket and Wig
Ket and Wig appear in the Gesta Danorum as the sons of Frowin, the governor of Schleswig. Wig also appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the son of Freawine and father of Gewis, eponymous ancestor of the kingdom of Wessex and their kings, but this is thought to be a late manipulation, inserting...
(Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
claimed descent. During the 5th century, the Anglii invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent except in the title of Suevi Angili.
The province of Schleswig has proved rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. A broad cremation cemetery has been found at Borgstedterfeld, between Rendsburg and Eckernförde
Eckernförde
Eckernförde is a German city in Schleswig-Holstein, Kreis Rendsburg-Eckernförde at the Baltic Sea near Kiel. The population is about 23,000.All German submarines are stationed in 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
Thorsberg moor
The Thorsberg moor near Süderbrarup in Anglia, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, is a peat bog in which the Angles deposited votive offerings for approximately four centuries...
(in Angeln) and Nydam
Nydam Mose
Nydam Mose is an archaeological site located at Øster Sottrup, a town located in Sundeved, eight kilometres from Sønderborg, Denmark.-History:...
, 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 civilization in the age preceding the invasion of Great Britain can be fitted together.
Angle kingdoms in England
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms of the Nord Angelnen (Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
), Ost Angelnen (East Anglia
Kingdom of the East Angles
The Kingdom of East Anglia, also known as the Kingdom of the East Angles , was a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that comprised what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens...
), and the Mittlere Angelnen (Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
). H.R. Loyn has observed in this context that "a sea voyage is perilous to tribal institutions," and the apparently tribally-based kingdoms were produced in England. In early times there were two northern kingdoms (Bernicia and Deira) and two midland ones (Middle Anglia and Mercia). As a result of influence from the West Saxons, the tribes were collectively called Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
by the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, the West Saxon kingdom having conquered, united and founded the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
by the 10th century. The regions of East Anglia and Northumbria are still known by their original titles to this day. Northumbria once stretched as far north as what is now southeast Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, including Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and as far south as the Humber Estuary.
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
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, on the Jutland Peninsula
Jutland Peninsula
The Jutland Peninsula or more historically the Cimbrian Peninsula is a peninsula in Europe, divided between Denmark and Germany. The names are derived from the Jutes and the Cimbri....
. There, a small peninsular area is still called "Angeln
Angeln
Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
" today and is formed as a triangle drawn roughly from modern Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
on the Flensburger Fjord to the City of Schleswig and then to Maasholm, on the Schlei
Schlei
The Schlei is a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It stretches for approximately 20 miles from the Baltic near Kappeln and Arnis to the city of Schleswig. Along the Schlei are many small bays and swamps...
inlet.
St. Gregory
The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory IPope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
which apparently has roots in history. Gregory happened to see a group of Angle children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. Gregory inquired 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 angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s in heaven"). Supposedly, he thereafter resolved to convert their pagan homeland to Christianity.
See also
- Baltic SeaBaltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
- AngelnAngelnModern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
- Germanic peoplesGermanic peoplesThe Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
- List of Germanic peoples
- For the rulers of the Angles prior to their migration to Britain, see List of kings of the Angles
- Thorsberg moorThorsberg moorThe Thorsberg moor near Süderbrarup in Anglia, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, is a peat bog in which the Angles deposited votive offerings for approximately four centuries...