Extremely Violent Pirate Types Who Are Fiercely Pagan

The Saxons

1. Who were the Saxons? -extremely violent pirate types who are fiercely pagan 2. Where did they originally live? -coast of the north sea in northern Germany 3. What made them leave their homeland? -flooding wrecking havoc with their lands due to climate change -villages are washed away -migrations of many Barbarians bring a lot of hardship 4. Who were the Britons? -Northwest edge of Roman Empire -400 years the Romans ruled there with a an iron fist—they abandon the island of Britain -the Britons are left to their own defenses

5. Which two groups threatened their safety? -Picts and Irish -Picts are from Scotland and are over-run by them 6. Who was Vortigern? -controls the British aristocracy -said to be ruthless but he was desperate for help against the Picts and the Romans refused help 7. Why did he invite the Saxons to Britain? -to fight as mercenaries against the Picts -largely a male migration 8. What were the Saxons to get in return for helping Vortigern? -food, supplies, money and some land -secondary migration brought the rest of the group: women and children 9. What is the story of Rowena? -Saxon princess that Vortigern wants badly -Hengis demands a dowry of the entire region of Kent

10. Describe the second migration of the Saxons.

-women and chilren

11. What is Rowena’s “price”?

12. How does the harvest compound Vortigern’s problems with the immigrating Saxons?

-Serfs can’t grow enough food to meet the needs of the Saxons -climate detioration results in poor cereal crops -famine results -Vortigern fails to pay the food tribute.

13. What is the Saxon response to his failure to pay them?

-all injuries must be “avenged” in the Saxon code -attacked and burnt all the major towns 14. What happened to King Vortigern? -held responsible and his own nobles corner and kill him

15. Describe the “Night of the Long Knives”.

-peace treaty meeting with the Britons -at Stonehenge -Saxons show up with knives hidden in their boots and killed all the Britons -Henghis cuts out the heart of the British resistance

16. Where do the Britons flee? -Wales -Highlands on western edges of the island

17. Who was Ambrosius Aurelianus? Describe his career. -491 -brilliant general who rallies the Britons to defend their way of life -assited by a dynamic warrior prince who through time has come to be called Arthur -Mount Batten is the last stand (may be present day Bath) -the Britons are able to hold off the Saxons -period of peace follows: this is the period where the “Camelot” myth begins

18. What is the story of Edwin, Prince of Northumbria? -a Saxon warlord Aethelfrith is attempting to gain power in England -he attacks Northumbria and kills the King, his sister is taken as a “bride” -Edwin escaped -tracked around England and Edwin somehow survives -ends up in the house of Raedwuld 615-East Anglia’s powerful king -eventually becomes king of Northumbria becausae Raedwuld’s son was killed in the eventual battle with Aethelfrith

19. What role does human sacrifice play in Saxon life?

-sacrificed humans to war gods before battle -very common

20. Describe Saxon combat.

-hand to hand and very very violent and bloody

21. Describe Edwin’s conversion in 627. -on the battlefield -give me the victory and I will convert -will force the rest of his dominions to convert

22. How did the Saxons view Christ? -warrior who defeated death

23. Describe the finds at Sutton Hoo. -big ship full of all sorts of treasure -seafarers -lots of treasure from other parts of the world

24. Describe the Viking invasion of England. -show up in ships -capture Edmund -able to easily defeat Saxons -they blood eagled Edmund -Saxon chieftains fall to him

25. Who was Alfred? -young king of Wessex

26. Describe his rise to power. -sicky, academic -succeeds to throne only because his brothers died -he proved himself as a warrior -plots resistance to Vikings

27. What tactics did he use against the Vikings? -guerrilla raids -sneaks up on Viking camps—stealing their food and supplies -he is able to motivate the Saxons to resist -overthrew Vikings at battle of Eddington 28. What did Alfred’s terms after he defeated the Vikings? -leave the Kingdom -conversion of King Guthram and his leading men to Christianity -Alfred becomes overlord in 887

29. What are Alfred’s peacetime accomplishments? -whole new military system -30 fortified towns -huge army formed -had books translated into English—all important books—writes 5 himself -eductation---free men who are rich enough to send their children to school to learn English

30. Why was Alfred the only king of England to be called “the great”? -preserved English culture