II. Religion
94. The Ancient Saxon Faith.
Before their conversion to Christianity, the Saxons worshiped Woden and Thor, names preserved in Wednesday (Woden's day) and Thursday (Thor's day). The first appears to have been considered to be the creator and ruler of heaven and earth; the second was his son, the god of thunder, slayer of evil spirits, and friend of man.
The essential element of their religion was the deification of strength, courage, and fortitude. It was a faith well suited to a warlike people. It taught that there was a heaven for the brave and a hell for cowards.
95. What Christianity did.
Christianity, on the contrary, laid emphasis on the virtues of self-sacrifice and sympathy. It took the side of the weak and the helpless. The Church itself held slaves, yet it labored for emancipation. It built monasteries and encouraged industry and education. The church edifice was a kind of open Bible.
Very few who entered the sacred building then could have spelled out a single word of either the Old or New Testament, even if they had then been translated from Latin into English; but all, from the poorest peasant or the meanest slave up to the greatest noble, could read the meaning of the Scripture histories painted in brilliant colors on wall and window.
The church, furthermore, was a peculiarly sacred place. It was powerful to shield those who were in danger. If a criminal, or a person fleeing from vengeance, took refuge in it, he could not be seized until forty days had expired, during which time he had the privilege of leaving the kingdom and going into exile.
This "right of sanctuary" was often a needful protection in an age of violence. In time, however, the system became an intolerable abuse, since it enabled robbers and desperadoes of all kinds to defy the law. The right was modified at different times, but was not wholly abolished until 1624, in the reign of James I.
III. Military Affairs
96. The Army.
The army consisted of a national militia, or "fyrd," and a feudal militia. From the earliest times all freemen were obliged to fight in the defense of the country. Under the feudal system, every large landholder had to furnish the King a stipulated number of men, fully equipped with armor and weapons. As this method was found more effective than the first, it gradually superseded it.
The Saxons always fought on foot. They wore helmets and rude, flexible armor, formed of iron rings, or of stout leather covered with small plates of iron and other substances. They carried oval-shaped shields. Their chief weapons were the spear, javelin, battle-ax, and sword. The wars of this period were those of the different tribes seeking to get the advantage over each other, or of the English with the Danes.
97. The Navy.
Until Alfred's reign the English had no navy. From that period they maintained a fleet of small warships to protect the coast from invasion. Most of these vessels appear to have been furnished by certain ports on the south coast.
IV. Literature, Learning, and Art
98. Runes.
The language of the Saxons was of Low-German origin. Many of the words resemble the German of the present day. When written, the characters were called runes, mysteries or secrets. The chief use of these runes was to mark a sword hilt, or some article of value, or to form a charm against evil and witchcraft.
It is supposed that one of the earliest runic inscriptions is the following, which dates from about 400 A.D. It is cut on a drinking horn,[1] and (reproduced in English characters) stands thus:
EK HLEWAGASTIR - HOLTINGAR - HORNA - TAWIDO
I, Hlewagastir, son of Holta, made the horn
[1] The golden horn of Gallehas, found on the Danish-German frontier.
With the introduction of Christianity the Latin alphabet, from which our modern English alphabet is derived, took the place of the runic characters, which bore some resemblance to Greek, and English literature began with the coming of the monks.
99. The First Books.
One of the first English books of great value was the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," a history covering a period beginning 1 A.D. and ending in 1154. The work was probably written by the monks in Canterbury, Peterborough, and other monasteries. It may be considered as an annual register of iportant events. Thorpe says of it, "No other nation can produce any history written in its own vernacular, at all approaching the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" either in antiquity, truthfulness, or extent, the historical books of the Bible alone excepted."
Though written in prose, it countains various fragments of poetry, of which the following (rendered into modern English), on the death of Edward the Confessor (1066), may be quoted as an example:
"Then suddenly came On Harold's self,
Death the bitter A noble Earl!
And that dear prince seized. Who in all times
Angels bore Faithfully hearkened
His steadfast soul Unto his lord
Into heaven's light. In word and deed,
But the wise King Nor ever failed
Bestowed his realm In aught the King
On one grown great, Had needed of him!"
Other early books were Caedmon's poem of the Creation, also in English, and Bede's "Church History" of Britain, written in Latin, a work giving a full and most interesting account of the coming of Augustine and his first preaching in Kent. All of these books were written by the monks in different monasteries.
100. Art.
The English were skillful workers in metal, especially in gold and silver, and also in the illumination of manuscripts.[1] Alfred's Jewel, a fine specimen of the blue-enameled gold of the ninth century, is preseved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It bears the inscription: "Alfred me heht gewurcan," Alfred caused me to be worked [or made].
[1] These illuminations get their name from the gold, silver, and bright colors used in the pictures, borders, and decorated letters with which the monks ornamented these books. For beautiful specimens of he work, see Silvestre's "Pale'ographie."
The women of that period excelled in weaving fine linen and woolen cloth and in embroidering tapestry.
101. Architecture.
In architecture no advance took place until very late. The small ancient church at Bradford-on-Avon in the south of England belongs to the Saxon period. The Saxon stonework exhibited in a few buildings like the church tower of Earl's Barton, Northamptonshire, is an attempt to imitate timber with stone, and has been called "stone carpentry."[2] Edward the Confessor's work in Westminster Abbey was not Saxon, but Norman, he having obtained his plans, and probably his builders, from Normandy.
[2] See Parker's "Introduction to Gothic Architecture" for illustrations of this work.
V. General Industry and Commerce
102. Farms; Slave Trade.
The farming of this period, except on the Church lands, was of the rudest description. Grain was ground by the women and slaves in stone hand mills. Late, the mills were driven by wind or water power. The pricipal commerce was in wool, lead, tin, and slaves. A writer of that time says he used to see long trains of young men and women tied together, offered for sale, "for men were not ashamed," he adds, "to sell their nearest relatives, and even their own children."
VI. Mode of Life, Manners, and Customs
103. The Town.
The first Saxon settlements were quite generally on the line of the old Roman roads. They were surrounded by