The name of the Angles may have been first recorded in Latinised form, asAnglii, in theGermania of Tacitus. It is thought to derive from the name of the area they originally inhabited, theAngeln peninsula, which is on the Baltic Sea coast ofSchleswig-Holstein.
Two related theories have been advanced, which attempt to give the name a Germanic etymology:
It originated from theGermanic root for "narrow" (compare German and Dutcheng = "narrow"), meaning "the Narrow [Water]", i.e., theSchleiestuary; the root would be*h₂enǵʰ, "tight".
The name derives from "hook" (as inangling for fish), in reference to the shape of the peninsula where they lived; Indo-European linguistJulius Pokorny derives it fromProto-Indo-European*h₂enk-, "bend" (see ankle).[4] Alternatively, the Angles may have been called such because they were afishing people or were originally descended from such.[5]
In Old English, the same termEngle refers the Angles before and after the migration to Britain. As most Germanic settlers in Britain during this time were Angles, the settled area became referred to as England ("Engla land", "the land or country of the Angles"). While Latin and Celtic-speaking populations referred to the Germanic speakers in Britain in general by terms related to "Saxons", they came to refer to themselves asEngle ("Angles", "English people").[6][7] "Angle" and related terms therefore have some ambiguity in their scope. FromEngle is also derived "English" (Old English:Englisc).[7]
According toGesta Danorum, the brothersDan andAngul were made rulers by the consent of their people because of their bravery and theDanes and Angles are respectively named from them.[8][9]
Angeln in northernSchleswig-Holstein.Possible locations of the Angles and Jutes before their migration to Britain
The earliest surviving mention of the Angles is in chapter 40 of Tacitus'sGermania written around AD 98.Tacitus describes the "Anglii" as one of the more remoteSuebic tribes living beyond the Semnones and Langobardi, who lived near the lowerElbe, and were better known to the Romans. He grouped the Angles with several other tribes in that region, theReudigni,Aviones,Varini,Eudoses,Suarines, andNuithones.[3][10] According to Tacitus, they were all living behind ramparts of rivers and woods, and therefore inaccessible to attack.[3][10]
He gives no precise indication of their geographical situation but states that, together with the six other tribes, they worshippedNerthus, or Mother Earth, whose sanctuary was located on "an island in the Ocean".[11] The Eudoses are generally considered to be theJutes and these names have been associated with localities inJutland or on the Baltic coast. The coast contains sufficient estuaries, inlets, rivers, islands, swamps, and marshes to have been inaccessible to those not familiar with the terrain, such as the Romans, who considered it unknown and inaccessible.
The majority of scholars believe that the Anglii lived on the coasts of theBaltic Sea, probably in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula. This view is based partly on Old English and Danish traditions regarding persons and events of the fourth century, and partly because striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in pre-ChristianScandinavian religion.[11]
Surviving versions of the work ofPtolemy, who wrote around AD 150, in hisGeography (2.10), describe the Angles in a confusing manner. In one passage, theSueboi Angeilloi (orSuevi Angili), are described as living inland between the northernRhine and centralElbe, but apparently not touching either river, with the Suebic Langobardi on the Rhine to their west, and the Suebic Semnones on the Elbe stretching to their east, forming a band of Suebic peoples. This positioning of the Langobardi and Angli is unexpected, as are the positions of many of the peoples in this passage. The text is believed to result from the combining of different types of older texts. As pointed out byGudmund Schütte, the neighbouring Langobards appear in two places, and the ones near the Rhine appears to be there by mistake.[12][13] Schütte, in his analysis, believes that the Angles are placed correctly relative to the Langobardi to their west, but that these have been positioned in the wrong place. The Langobardi also appear in the expected position on the lower Elbe, and the Angles would be expected to their northeast, based upon Tacitus.[14]
Another theory is that all or part of the Angles dwelt or moved among other coastal people, perhaps confederated up to the basin of theSaale (in the neighbourhood of the ancient canton ofEngilin) on theUnstrut valleys below theKyffhäuserkreis, from which region theLex Anglorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed by many to have come.[11][15] The ethnic names ofFrisians andWarines are also attested in these Saxon districts.[citation needed]
An especially early reference to the Angli in Britain is by the 6th-century Byzantine historianProcopius (who however expressed doubts about the stories he had heard—apparently from Frankish diplomats—about events in the west). He does not mention the Saxons, but he states that an island calledBrittia (which he says is separate and distinct from Britain itself) was settled by three nations, each ruled by its own king: the Angili, Frissones, and Brittones. Each nation was so prolific that it sent large numbers of individuals every year to the Franks, who
allow them to settle in the part of their land which appears to be more deserted, and by this means they say [the Franks] are winning over the island. Thus it actually happened that not long ago the king of the Franks, in sending some of his intimates on an embassy to the EmperorJustinian in Byzantium, sent with them some of the Angili, thus seeking to establish his claim that this island was ruled by him.[16]
Procopius says that the Angles had recently sailed a large army of 400 ships from Brittia to Europe, to the Rhine, to enforce a marriage agreement with theWarini who he said were living north of the Franks at that time.
Bede (died 735) stated 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." A similar account, possibly based on Bede's, is given by the 9th-centuryHistoria Brittonum. KingAlfred the Great and the chroniclerÆthelweard identified this place with Angeln, in the province ofSchleswig (though it may then have been of greater extent), and this identification agrees with the indications given by Bede.[11]
In the Norwegian seafarerOhthere of Hålogaland's account of a two-day voyage from theOslo fjord toSchleswig, he reported the lands on his starboard bow, and Alfred appended the note "on these islands dwelt theEngle before they came hither".[n 1] Confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions relating to two kings namedWermund andOffa of Angel, from whom theMercian royal family claimed descent and whose exploits are connected with Angeln, Schleswig, andRendsburg.[11][15]
Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine) andWigo (Wig), from whom the royal family ofWessex claimed descent.[11] During the fifth century, the Anglii invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent except in the title of the legal code issued to theThuringians:Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum.[11][15]
The Angles are the subject of a legend aboutPope Gregory I, who happened to see a group of Angle children fromDeira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. As the story was told by Bede, Gregory was struck by the unusual appearance of the slaves and asked about their background. When told they were calledAnglii (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 angels in heaven). Supposedly, this encounter inspired the pope to launch a mission to bring Christianity to their countrymen.[19][20]
The province of Schleswig has proved rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the fourth and fifth centuries. A large cremation cemetery has been found atBorgstedt, between Rendsburg andEckernförde, 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 atThorsberg moor (in Angeln) andNydam, 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 culture in the age preceding the migration into Britannia can be pieced together.[11]
According to sources such as theHistory of Bede, after the invasion of Britannia, the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms ofNorthumbria,East Anglia, andMercia. H. R. Loyn has observed in this context that "a sea voyage is perilous to tribal institutions",[21] and the apparently tribe-based kingdoms were formed in England. Early times had two northern kingdoms (Bernicia and Deira) and two midland ones (Middle Anglia and Mercia), which had by the seventh century resolved themselves into two Angle kingdoms, viz., Northumbria and Mercia.[citation needed]
Northumbria held suzerainty amidst theGermanic presence in the British Isles in the 7th century, but was eclipsed by the rise of Mercia in the 8th century. Both kingdoms fell in the great assaults of the DanishViking armies in the 9th century. Their royal houses were effectively destroyed in the fighting, and their Angle populations came under theDanelaw. Further south, the Saxon kings ofWessex withstood the Danish assaults. Then in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, the kings of Wessex defeated the Danes and took control of areas inhabited by Angles that were formerly in the Danelaw.[citation needed]
They united their house in marriage with the surviving Angle royalty and were accepted by the Angles as their kings, ultimately resulting in theKingdom of England. The regions ofEast Anglia and Northumbria are still known by their original titles. Northumbria once stretched as far north as what is now southeastScotland, includingEdinburgh, and as far south as the Humber Estuary and even the River Witham.[22]
The rest of that people stayed at the centre of the Angle homeland in the northeastern portion of the modern GermanBundesland 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 modernFlensburg on the Flensburger Fjord to theCity of Schleswig and then to Maasholm, on theSchlei inlet.[citation needed]
Sweet, Henry (1883).King Alfred's Orosius. Oxford: E. Pickard Hall & J. H. Stacy for N. Trübner & Co. for the Early English Text Society.
Loyn, Henry Royston (1991).A Social and Economic History of England: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest (2nd ed.). London: Longman Group.ISBN978-0582072978.
