Anglo-Saxon Invasion of Britain

Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and other Germanic tribes

Seafaring warriors

Vengeance and Bloodshed

Anglo-Saxon Settlement

of

Britain

Characteristics of Invaders

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Ancestral Tribes of Clans

Chieftain

Thane Thane Thane

Peasant Peasant PeasantPeasantPeasant

Serfs SerfsSerfs Serfs

Thane

Comitatus: Thanes are loyal to Chieftains and fight wars for them; in return the Chieftains reward the Thanes and offer protection.

Living Quarters—Mead Halls

A reconstructed Anglo-Saxon home located in West Stow in Sussex, England

Mead Hall

• center of life

• sleeping quarters

• dining area

• meeting place

Living Quarters—Mead Halls

A re-creation of a mead hall in Denmark.

Located on a site of a “ring fort”

A drawing of the inside of a typical

mead hall

• Located in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England; discovered in 1939

• Burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king

• Burial site contained 41 items of solid gold and 37 gold coins, as well everyday items

•The ship had been sailed upriver, dragged overland, and then placed in a pit dug at the burial spot. The ship was then covered with a large mound of soil.

Sutton Hoo

7th century helmet Reconstructed from hundreds

of corroded iron fragments The bronze eyebrows are

inlaid with silver wire and garnets. Each ends in a gilt-bronze boars head.

A gilded dragon-head lies nose to nose with a similar dragon-head placed at the end of the low crest that runs over the cap. The nose, eyebrows and dragon make up a great bird with outstretched wings that flies on the helmet.

Anglo-Saxon pendant probably made in the 7th century AD

found in garden soil at Sacriston, County Durham.

made of solid gold with a gold wire or filigree decoration.

Anglo-Saxon Brooch

Additional Anglo-Saxon Artifacts