Visions of the Anglo-Saxon apocalypse in the Britain destruction and its Conquest (c. 540-546), St Gildas
Trans. Lines of Anglo-Saxon rush; Forest; Swamp, Pond; Anglo-saxons cemeteries; Britons fortifications.
Around 540, a distressed and obstinate british monk named Gildas decided to report the tragic events a few years before on his island. The invasion of Angles and Saxons had virtually destroyed what little was left of Roman rule in what was later called England. His pamphlet, The Destruction and their British Conquest, writing in the first half of the sixth century, would become the only record of this troubled century in that region.
This article will examine this important work of Gildas, especially the passages where the author urges the Britons chieftains for their weaknesses, for him, responsible for the destruction of the Britons. One problem in analyzing the work of Gildas is that the britons kings are mostly, legendary trait that was kept in later works, such as Nennius in the ninth century (History of the Britons). However, to reconstruct the history of England in the Middle Ages is necessary to face this challenge and weave it with what the sources tell us the time, keeping a critical mind.
We divided the work into two parts. Initially we deal with the socio-cultural aspects common to all Germanic peoples who migrated in V-VI centuries, with special emphasis on its social organization. Then treat the invasion of Britain, lecturing briefly about the Roman domination and the vision that the Romans had the native people, using the works of Tacitus, Life of Julius Agricola as a base document. Also commented the different forms of invasion made by barbarian tribes, addressing the new social structures and the Christianization of England on the eve of the seventh century. In this part, we use Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written in the vernacular during the reign of Alfred the Great (871-899, n. 849), king of Wessex, and the very work of Gildas.
In the second part, we made a brief history of how little is known about the life of Gildas, for, then deal with his work, highlighting the structure of the document and its literary aspects. We analyze the passages of Destruction and his British Conquest in which the author said the weakness of the Britons, his inability to govern, the vices of their tyrants, responsible for his downfall and, finally, his critique to the monks of his time, a scathing critique eloquent and probably influenced by the rigid Irish monasticism.
I. Characteristics of the Germanic kingdoms
Althoug they have different characteristics, the germanic kingdoms that arose in the West from the fall of the Roman Empire developed along the High Middle Ages as a foundation with some commonalities.
The first was the tribal kinship, based on an ancient institution and tradition linhagística (Maeght, Aet, SIPP, Geschlecht or Fara). It offered the necessary security to property and the lives of community members, and provide prestige to the group. It was a stable network of rights that united the families of the people. The classical theory of Sipper called it a clan, an organization governed by a council of elders. For Anglo-Saxon clans were clearly familiar agnatic - kinship by consanguinity of the male line - and exogamous - marriages performed with members of another tribe or, in the same tribe, different clans. The husband went to the clan of women (Cuvillier, 1997: 30).
Marriage (éwa) was celebrated among the people: an exchange marriage made in a balanced way. This balance was seated in the Mund (peace, honor, and purchase protection). Socially, the world was the purchasing power of the bride by the groom's relatives. Her husband ran the dowry of women under the supervision of her clan, the clan of which he will be linked. It is this balance which means the word Mund. Once the marriage was consummated, the homeowner (husherre) - which held a power of life and death over his family - his wife gave the Morgengabe (goods intended to the wife if he dies before her), recognizing it as the owner the house. It was for this germanic woman to express the consciousness of the group (Familiensinn), it represented a major role in peacekeeping clan (Cuvillier, 1997: 33).
However, the relationship between these strains was always very troubled, because we know that germanic society was deeply marked by private vendettas (fehde), a result of the webs of social reciprocity. These brawls have indelibly marked the medieval European societies and their existence lasted throughout the Middle Ages. Revenge could be held if a member of the strain were killed, injured or mistreated, and it could be commensurate or even greater than the injury. It became a duty rather than a right, for the maintenance of tribal honor. The strain was resentful that would lead to the right to physical revenge upon the payment of wehrgeld, sort of monetary compensation that varied according to the greatness of the act inflicted (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 193).
The meetings of the freemen determined the issues of litigation and the resulting decisions, and setting the rules of customary law, another trait common to all the West Germanic Kingdoms. This tradition continued later in the form of local courts of justice. The institution of the comitatus - a committee composed of the armed group (Gasindi, Gefolge) in order to protect, in peace or war, the king or chief of the tribe - was another form of mutual social protection as laid down the solidarity and camaraderie the flock. This German tradition is intertwined with the Roman custom of the Roman Empire down a bodyguard of powerful men (bucelari).
At the same time providing a military force, these delegations were creating a security environment in a clear reciprocal relationship of interdependence of its members. What's more, the Gefolge was the very power structure, as well as the consecration of the chiefs and warriors were the bonds of solidarity by setting up slowly from that armed entourage. Free men, young people seeking adventure and riches to a man joined by a bond of loyalty and retaining your freedom.
These military retinues played a major role among the Germans, because the accelerated process of social hierarchy, consolidating a true warrior nobility. Later, the body of ideas born of that group would be transferred to institutions vassal fief, besides the very medieval kingship (Mattoso, s / d: 346): many royals had their origin in these armed groups, because the king was elected among the best warriors (Heerkönig).
When setting up the lands of the Empire, not the invaders became mere peasants. Especially Goths, Burgundians, Vandals and Franks became great lords of new realms, strengthening their power in conquered lands.
The fact that most germanic peoples belong to the Arianism was certainly a factor of disintegration with the Romans - Arianism taught that the Logos (the Word of God made flesh in Jesus) was not God himself, "but a creature infinitely superior to angels, but how they created out of nothing before the beginning of the world (Duffy, 1998: 22). This idea released by Bishop Arius (256-336) was considered heretical at the Council of Nicea (325) (Frohlich, 1987: 31). This religious difference inhibited during a certain time inter-ethnic marriages and cause great distrust and enmity (Duby, 1974: 21).
Certain practices of the Empire have continued, albeit precariously, in the new Germanic kingdoms. The system and farming methods have kept their general characteristics, with large and small land, settlers, both free and slaves, had their rights and duties in a natural economy almost closed, with the decline in the use of money and trade. The Saxons practiced sedentary agriculture on a humid plains with cattle, and horses. The enjoyment of woods, fields and water was collective - a tradition maintained later in some tribal territories of Kent, Sussex and Wessex (Cuvillier, 1997: 38).
Their handicraft was mediocre, but arrived to perform masterpieces in metallurgy (Musset, 1967: 12), as can be seen in the royal burial of Sutton Hoo, in what was the kingdom of East Anglia (Suffolk): a boat without candle with a treasure (coins, harp, guns, drinking horns).
The germanic king inherited the imperial prerogatives, as well as the lands of the kingdom. The roman civil administration survived, albeit in simplified form. Roman law continued to govern the lives of the "Romans" and, over time, influenced the drafting of codes barbarians. The literature has been preserved especially by the Roman clergy, although there were secular writers in Italy and Spain. The Catholic Church played a significant role in the preservation of elements of Roman and Christian civilization, a constant struggle against the barbaric ideals of violence and passion.
adornment of a shield found in Anglo-Saxon burial of the seventh century at Sutton Hoo (Suffolk). In: The Sutton Hoo Room
II. The invasion of Britain
England was the least romanized region of Europe during the existence of the Roman Empire. After the conquest of Caesar (55 BC) - he called all the people of Britanni for thinking that they were similar of a Gallic tribe - and the invasion of Claudius (43 AD), the Romans divided the island into two provinces, subdivided into four century IV (Camulodunum [Colchester], Lindum [Lincoln], Eboracum [York] and Glevum [Gloucester]), and thirteen city-states, all near the border with the Celtic tribes.
Probably the Britons were a people from the merger of the Iberians - a pre-Celtic megalithic culture - and the Celts (Meleiros, 1994: 55). According to Tacitus (AD n.56/57), the appearance of these natives was
... different in several peoples (...) red hair and the corpulence of Caledonia to ensure that people who are of German origin. The color of the faces of Silurians, their hair curled and her situation (geographical) in front of Hispanics do believe that the ancient Iberians were out there and who have occupied that region. "(Tacitus, 1946: XI, 979)
The Romans built roads and cities on the island. The Roman aristocracy was the owner of great estates, where they founded villages, the emperors held vast lands in the Midlands and later kingdom of East Anglia (Nicholas, 1999: 83). These estates prospered at the expense of small local farmers. It seems that many of them supported the invading Anglo-Saxons against the landowners Romans (Cambridge Ancient History, 1924: vol. XII, 287).
In any case, a "Roman culture" flourished in this period. Many Roman houses, built with bricks, central heating and had had several glass windows, always surrounded by a vast garden. Many villages were built around these large properties (Grimal, 1993: 272). Tacitus tells us that Agricola, governor of Britain (78-84 AD) and his father, urged the people, "and scattered rough men", to
... raise temples, squares and houses, instructing the children in the liberal arts major families, putting the talent of the Britons ahead of the Gauls (...) Since then, they began bragging to take our dresses, making the use gown frequent, and were gradually turning into an addiction, the porticoes, baths and ostentation in the banquet, calling the learned culture, being part of slavery "(Tacitus, 1946: XXI, 988-989).
The main trade in the region was that of weaving, exported to the continent. So few Roman legions were sufficient to maintain security on the island (Alcock,1971).
This state of things would change from the late second century, when piracy Celtic increased throughout the East Coast, which forced the Romans, in partnership with a Saxon earl, to establish a line of fortifications between the Isle of Wight and the Wash - from Diocletian to power in Britain was divided between three men: a prefect, a Dux britanniarum (sort of commander in chief) and a Food littori saxonici, a Saxon earl who depended on the coast of the prefect of the Gauls, and not the governor of Britain. This organization has been relatively effective in fighting the invading Picts and Scots during the first half of the fourth century.
Only from the second half of the fourth century the Roman power has been seriously threatened. In 367, the Picts (the current Scotland) and Scots (Ireland) - both of Celtic origin - and Saxon pirates planned an attack, and troops are repelled by Breton. The pressure was felt, Magnus Maximus (383-388), commander of the army and the Count of Brittany, rebelled in 383, leading to the mainland, for personal reasons, most of the troops - was killed in Aquileia (FERRIL 1989: 63-64).
Up to 410, with the usurper Constantine (407-411), the legions almost disappeared from the region. Archaeology shows us that from 402 there was an interruption of the import of coins: it probably means that the troops stationed on the island have not received your payment. Thus, in 408 formed a citizen militia Roman Britons to resist invasions. It is possible that the Roman Britons leaders have hired mercenaries to help them on defense. Anyway, what was left of Roman rule was a "Romanized aristocracy Breton" (Oliveira, 1988: 79), which regularly sent requests for assistance to the imperial court at Ravenna. These petitions show the degree of desperation of the Britons against the invading Picts, Scots and Saxons. Gildas describes in great metaphors the calls for help of the Britons:
... The Britons, impatient for the attacks of the Scots and Picts, their hostilitiesand vicious oppression, they sent ambassadors to Rome with letters, begging for assistance in unfortunate terms of an armed band to protect them, and offering loyalty and ready for submission authorities in Rome if they could onlyexpel the invaders (...).
... And again, they send suppliant ambassadors, with their lacy clothes and heads covered with ashes, imploring the assistance of the Romans, and as timidchickens, piling on the protective wings of their parents. They said their countryshould not be unhappy all destroyed, for the Roman name, which was now onlyan empty sound to fill your ears, could not become a reproach even to distant nations.
In another important passage, Gildas shows the desperation of the Britons and letters to Aetius - Roman commander (430-432 and 433-454 AD) during most of the reign of Valentinian III (emperor of the Western Empire, AD 425-455):
Again, therefore, the wretched remnant people sent to Aetius, a powerful Roman citizen, the following message: "- To Aetius, consul for the third time now: the groans of the Britons." And again a little later, this way: "- The barbarians threw us into the sea, the sea threw us back to the barbarians: thus two modes of death await us, we will be killed or drowned. "the Romans, however, could not watch them, and in the meantime , the confused people wandering in the forests began to feel the effects of severe hunger that compelled many of them without delay to surrender to their cruel persecutors for subsistence. Others of them, however, were hidden in mountains, caves and forests, and continually went out there on journeys to renew the war. (Gilda, II.20)
This excerpt shows a briton request that could not be met by the Romans as they withdrew permanently from the island probably around 446 to defend their lands from the attacks of Attila the Hun (434-453). In the above passage also clearly shows the behavior of the Britons against the invasions. If we give credence to the words of Gildas, the Britons who have given themselves no refuge in the forests and mountains, without establishing an effective resistance. Those who surrendered were living submissive to the invaders. Thus, by mid-450 to urban life was being abandoned, though with differences that varied according to region.
Anyway, archeology shows that 430 had ceased before the large-scale production of ceramics. The echoes of these events reverberated long in the memory of those people. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written over four hundred years later, in the vernacular during the reign of Alfred the Great (871-899, n. 849), king of Wessex, also says these prayers:
443 AD - In this year sent the Britons over sea to Rome, a plea for assistance against the Picts, but they did not get anything because the Romans were at war with Attila the Hun. Then they sent to the Angles and ordered the same thing to the nobles of that nation (The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Part 1: AD 1 to 748. Online Medieval and Classical Library Release)
Thus, the invasions of Britain were conducted by three branches of the Germanic tribes, with closely similar dialects. The Angles, from the current Slesvig dominated areas around the Thames (Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia) (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 244), the Saxons, who formed the group of Germans from the sea, the division of linguistic Musset (Germans from the steppes - Goths and their neighbors, Germans from the woods - most of modern Germany, and Germans from the sea - Saxons, Frisians and Danes) (Musset, 1967: 11) from the former Saxony, Elbe and Weser , dominated much of southern England (Essex, Wessex, Sussex and Midlessex respectively of the East Saxons, West, South and Central) (see map 1).
Finally, the Jutes, a small tribe that probably originated in Jutland in northern Denmark, Friesland and the Lower Rhine (McEvedy, 1979: 24) won Kent, the Isle of Wight and Hampshire region (around the Solent estuary ).
Of these three groups the Jutes are the most enigmatic. According to archeology, the funerary furnishings of Kent has similar characteristics to the funerary furniture of lower Rhine regions frank (Musset, 1967: vol. 1, 97), but also has news that the Jutes had settled temporarily assigned to the Franks and Frisians (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 244).
According to the few documents of the time confronted with severalarchaeological data, these tribes did not migrate on a collective movement, unified. Even before there were 410 Germans in Britain since they were found inthe Thames Valley tombs of warriors apparently Frisians and Saxons. Probablythe invasions were isolated acts of heads with his comitatus (Previte-ORTON,1967: 251). The early Saxons to settle in Britain were foederati, mercenariesand not conquerors. That is, they had been hired by the Britons to defend certain areas of Britain. Then, with some groups already established, they began aseries of raids, with the initial objective of prey (Musset, 1967: vol. 1, 99). In some cases, groups of attackers were trained by members of distinct tribesmixed among the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
The figure above is a characterization of the type of vessel used by those first immigrants - about 450 archeology shows a rise in sea level, which may have encouraged the migration, as some coastal villages must have been abandoned.
as for the invasion routes were mainly used three estuaries: the Thames, the Wash and the Humber (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 251) - see map 1. At the Thames came the invasion linked to the name of the hero juto Hengst (or Hengist), which would have been invited by the Breton chief Vortigern to help the Britons to expel an invading Picts and Scots. This legendary monarch, usurper of the throne would have reigned between 425 and 450 (Zier, 2000) Gildas describes this invitation in his work, and considers Vortigern a tyrant, a traitor of the Britons:
So, all counselors, together with that arrogant tyrant Vortigern, King Briton, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country sealed their fate, inviting to (be) between them (like wolves in the flock of sheep), the fierce and ruthless Saxons, a race hateful to both God and man, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was more unhappy. What palpable darkness must have wrapped their minds - darkness desperate and cruel!
Those same people who, when missing, feared more than death itself, were invited to reside, how can one say about his own roof. Foolish are the princes, as is said of Thafneos, giving advice to the ignorant Pharaoh. A crowd of lion cubs came from the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call them, they are warships, with their sails with the wind and with omens and prophecies favorable, as it was foretold by a soothsayer among them, they should occupy the country for which they were sailing three hundred years, and half of that time, one hundred and fifty years, should plunder and steal it.
They first landed on the east side of the island at the invitation of the unfortunate king, and there fixed their sharp talons, apparently to fight for the island, how sad! But certainly against it. His homeland, seeing his first offspring has successfully sent thither a hungry largest company of its offspring, which sailing, joined the bastards comrades. From that time, the germ of iniquity and the root of contention planted the poison between us, as we deserve, and shot directly into the leaves and branches.
The Barbarians (Saxon), and thus introduced as soldiers on the island, to find, as they falsely said, any danger to defend their hospitable hosts (Britons), obtained a grant for supplies, which, being abundantly provided for some time , stopped their mouths canine. Still, they complained that their monthly supplies were not provided in sufficient abundance, and worse each time they applied for discussion, saying that unless more liberality was shown to them, they would break the treaty and plunder the whole island. Soon, they followed their threats as they had said (Gilda, II.23).
In turn, Bede the Venerable (672-735), tells us in his Ecclesiastical History of the Nations of the Anglos, that such an invasion occurred in 449 years, and herecounts the unfolding of the arrival of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons, but now with hindsight, it had spent more than two hundred years since the event:
In the year 449 of the Incarnation of Our Lord, Marcian and Valentinian, having received the kingdom as fortieth sixth successors of Augustus, owned for seven years. At this time, the people of the Angles or Saxons, being invited by the aforementioned King (Vortigern) to come to Britain with three long boats, and, by command of the same king, when they arrived, received land in the eastern part of the island to defend it as friends, but in reality, as proved later, had in mind to conquer it as the enemy. After starting the fight against the enemies coming from the north, the Saxons had the victory. Announced it in their homes, as well as fertility of the island and the cowardice of the Britons, Saxons sent as reinforcements quickly a larger fleet with a stronger group of armed men, along with the foregoing, formed an army stronger than the Britons were able to face.
So those who arrived were allowed by Britons to live among them, on condition that they would fight for peace and security of the country against their opponents, and that others would pay them a fair wage for the act of war. Then came people from the most valuable of the three tribes of Germany, that is, the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. From the Jutes came the people who own the Isle of Wight and even today people called Jutes in the province of West Saxons (Wessex). The Saxons, that is, the region that is now called Old Saxony (Holstein) came the East Saxons, the Saxons and the Saxons Southern Eastern (Essex, Sussex and Wessex).
Of the Angles, that is, the homeland that is called Angeln (Sleswig), and from then until today remains a desert - between the provinces of the Jutes and the Saxons - descended the East Angles (East Anglia), the Angles Mediterranean (South Anglia and Uppland), the Mercians, and all progeny of the Northumbrians, that is, the people who inhabit the north of the Humber river and all other people of the Angles. (Bede, Ecclesiastical History Anglorum, XV: 69-71)
Thus, the basic division of the people and their institutions comes from Bede - although we do not know his sources, his Ecclesiastical History of the Nations of the Angles, along with the destruction and his British Conquest of Gildas and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from the time of King Alfred is the only written records that have reached us.
Finally, Hengst and Aesc (his child or grandchild) established the Jute kingdom of Kent, name of the briton tribe Cantii. The Saxons also used the Thames to invade the regions that later became Midlessex and Essex. The angles used to reach the river Wash the East Midlands. We saw that to Bede, the Humber, the Angles expanded by East Riding of Yorkshire (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 251). To emphasize the epic conquest, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also highlights the divine origin of the invaders. Hengist and Horsa were descended in direct line of Odin (Woden), its fifth generation:
A.D. 449. This year Marcian and Valentinian assumed the empire, and reigned seven winters. These days Hengist and Horsa, invited by Wurtgern king of the Britons, to assist him, arrived in Britain in a place called Ipwinesfleet, initially to help the Britons, but afterwards fought against them. The king commanded them to fight the Picts, and they did and got the win everywhere they went. They then went to the Angles and requested more help. They described the worthlessness of the Britons and the riches of the earth. So they sent a larger support.
Then came the men from three powers of Germany: the ancient Saxons, the Angles and Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the men of Kent and the Isle of Wight and that line of Wessex that men yet call the Jutes. From the ancient Saxons came the people of Essex, Sussex and Wessex. From Anglia, which has always remained lost between the Jutes and the Saxons came the East Angles, the Angles from the center, of Mercia and all those in the north of the Humber. Its leaders were two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, who were sons of Victgilsi; Victigilsi was the son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Odin. Odin came across the royal lineage and all those south of the Humber (The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Part 1: AD 1 to 748. Online Medieval and Classical Library Release).
The lineage of Hengist and Horsa dating back to Odin is confirmed by Bede, which however does not highlight the deity Odin, only mentions his name (Bede, Ecclesiastical History Anglorum, XV: 73). Anyway, the first forty years of the fifth century saw the Romanized Britons to their fate by the Roman Empire. In this new situation, Angles and Saxons were the main instrument of destruction of roman Britain.
Gildas tells us, in their destruction and their British conquest, a Saxon federated major attack had occurred in the fifth century, and that once would have ruined Roman cities and devastated the entire region. This invasion is associated with the name of the Saxon Aella, lord of the lands south of the Humber, which Bede considers the first Bretwalda (king of England). The same Aella is assigned as master of Sussex (south-central), where he founded a kingdom among the desert Anderida woods and sea, between the years 477 and 491 (Previte-ORTON, 1967:251).
In this struggle against the invaders, the Britons are from the former head of a Romanized population, Aurelius Ambrosius (BOWDER, s / d 25). He would have established a brave resistance, culminating in the famous battle at Mount Badon, around the year 500. This battle has been won by the semi-legendary Arthur (Artorius) against the Saxon host. Aurelius Gildas describes as the winner of the battle of Mount Badon, without even mentioning Arthur. Since Nennius, in his History of the Britons (c. 800), presents him as the main hero of the fight because he is a christian dux bellorum (warlord) (Zier, 2000).
Arthur himself would have won nine hundred and sixty men. In the subsequent narrative written by the monk Nennius is the addition of the Virgin Mary, being carried on the shoulders of Arthur: "The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which fell in one day nine hundred and sixty men in a charge of Arthur and no onestruck them down except Arthur himself, and in all the battles he emerged as the winner "(Nennius, History of the Britons, ch. 56).
After such a struggle would have elapsed forty-four years of relative peace.During that time the Britons were divided into five or more tribal kingdoms in the western region. Meanwhile the kingdoms and instability increased among theAnglo-Saxons in the East. In turn, the Jutes, from Kent, took the Isle of Wight(Previte-ORTON, 1967: 252).
III. The new social structures
Five kings of the Britons named by Gildas, the most powerful was Maelgwyn (Maglocune) of Gwynedd. Gildas refers to those leaders as tyrants, because, according to Roman standards, their authority was not entitled. These kingdoms were located in the Breton Resistance Dummonia (Devon and Cornwall) and Wales (Wales), and Strathclyde Briton and independent kingdom of Elmet, both in the north (Levick, internet).
With the death of Maelgwyn, was open the way that the Anglo-Saxons waiting for their invasion. The chief Anglo Ida began his attack against the Welsh (Welsh), Britons who took refuge where he is currently located in Wales. After several attacks to 592 west of the island was virtually taken by the invaders. The north was also dominated in the late sixth and early seventh, and formed the kingdom of Northumbria (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 252).
As Britain was the least romanized region during the Empire, the form of dominance differed in some essential points of which occurred on the continent. The invaders have retained and imposed their own language, kept the barbaric institutions and customary law, without the influence of roman law, established their own methods of cultivation. They were pagans, and unlike the Franks, not embraced Christianity. Thus, they were free from any influence of Latin culture (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 253).
The conservation of their own language walked alongside the toponymy. The names were just renovated, with the exception of some rivers and landforms more generic. During this rule, the weak breton class fell almost completely romanized. The peasants were enslaved Eastern little more civilized than their new masters and contributed little to the formation of this new culture.
The Sipper's structure has changed because, except for Kent, where it was possible to keep some of the unique socio-cultural conditions of the Germans, the invaders settled in small groups, governed jointly by tribal aristocrats. Above the slave had the Eorl (noble), and Ceorl (free man). Kent also had the laets, probably remnants of the population of Brittany. In Wessex, the free Welsh also held a particular place in society.
The villages were organized into regions or kingdoms. In Kent, the kingdom was an administrative division, with a real possession in the center. The tribe was ruled by a king, generally considered a descendant of Woden (Odin). Such royalties were formed by the heads of the wars of conquest. Around the kings gathered a remarkable assembly of men, who assisted him in administration and justice. Also there should be in each kingdom a central assembly. But presence of assemblages was not democratic in a modern sense. The private wars, the weight of the strains, the man "well born", all these factors set us apart as typically barbarians.
The elements of cultural mixing between populations occurred mostly in the field of handicrafts and, in some cases, the production of farm products. The Angles and Saxons brought with them the custom of cremating the dead. Since the Jutes practiced burial, as the Romans. They also brought with them their gods of the Norse pantheon. Odin, Thor and Tyr are still in toponímina south of the Humber. The names of the days of the week have also been clearly influenced by German culture (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 254-255). For example, Wednesday (Wednesday, in English) derives its name of the God Odin or Wotan, the Thursday (Thursday) of the god Thor and Tuesday (Tuesday) the God Tyr.
The establishment of Christianity during the Roman period in ancient Britain took place especially among the Britons because they were Romanized and were Christianized from the time when the Empire adopted the Christian religion. The Scots of Ireland were also Christianized from the raids and the establishment of the Breton St. Patrick (c. 385-461), the second Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sent by Pope Celestine I (422-432) in 430 to "preach the baptism among the Scots. "
Another important saint was St. Herman (378-448), mentioned by Nennius in the History of the Britons. He was twice in the fifth century in Britain, trying to carve out Pelagianism, a heresy that claimed humans were not guilty of the sin of Adam, as the saint as a missing individual. Nennius says that St. Germain highlights the sins of Vortigern, and the fact that he married the daughter of the Saxon chief and later joining his daughter, and her one son, these facts would justify the domination led by Saxons who came next (Zier, 2000).
With the invasion of Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the prospect of the Christianization of the island has changed. The Saxons remained untouched by Christianity, under the influence of the Angles, Picts and Welsh returned to paganism. With the departure of the Romans several other people have revived their old traditions, customs and maintained by oral tradition (Jones and Pennick, 1999: 157). The Welsh began to live under the domination of tribal kings, and the population under the system of clans and races, with power fragmented among several kingdoms.
The Briton and Irish churches were isolated. There, Pope Gregory (590-604) had no influence. Thus developed a "micro christianity" with institutions and their own styles, different enough from the continent (Brown 1997: 188-201; DUFFY, 1998: 57). The institution of the diocese was not as important. The great monasteries functioned more as religious centers, and were governed by abbots in a tribal style. Their fervent monks, a more rigorous asceticism, as Gildas and his more famous colleagues Patrick and Columba (528-614), representing the strength of the Christian church in the islands (Previte-ORTON, 1967: 256), being practically the only centers of intellectual life (Heers, 1991: 32).
In: CAHILL, Thomas. How the Irish saved civilization. New York: Doubleday, 1995, p. 156.
However, most of the island was pratically pagan. Celestine I sent a bishop named Palladius to a mission to the Irish, but with few practical results. The conversion of Ireland - the beginning of the process of converting the island - was the work of Pope Gregory.
The legend is well known. Still deacon, Gregory seems to have seen beautiful, blond Anglo-Saxon boys in the slave market in Rome. Gregory saw the angels of God in them, and was filled with a desire to convert the island. Thus, in 597 the Romans ordered that forty monks, led by Augustine, mayor of the monastery of St. Andrew, went to the island with the mission to evangelize it. Bede tells us, "Augustine, therefore, is very encouraged with the comfort of the blessed Father Gregory, returned to work the word with the servants of Christ who were with him and went to Britain" (Bede, Ecclesiastical History Anglorum, XXV: 107-109). The pretext was the marriage of the king of Kent, Ethelbert, Bertha, daughter of King Christian and Paris. Gregory was referring to England as "the end of the universe" (Duffy, 1998: 56).
Upon reaching the island, Augustine was faced with a world utterly Germanic Saxons ruled by kings dating back to Odin. There were urban, living in fortified towns and villages, spoke Anglo-Saxon rather than Celtic or Latin and Germanic laws followed, very similar to those described by Tacitus, five hundred years before (Jones and Pennick, 1999: 157). To get an idea of the strength of pagan rituals, according to Gildas, when King Ethelbert of Kent received its first group of Christian priests in 597, demanded that the meeting was outdoors, so that the wind dissipated the spells that you could try launch with its "foreign magic" (quoted by Lacey and Danzinger, 1999: 27).
Thus, in the late sixth century England was a pagan region, with small clusters ofChristianization, like Ireland. In the year 600, in a letter to Abbot Mellitus, Pope Gregory also advised the best way to convert the Britons:
Now that the Almighty God has led you to our venerable brother, BishopAugustine, handing him what, after long reflection, I decided on the Britons.
The temples consecrated to the gods that people should not be destroyed, will destroy only the images of gods are found in them.
bless the water, spray it inside the temples, raise altars, and put relics on it. Because when these temples are built solidly, it is necessary to subtract them to the worship of demons and consecrate them to worship the true God.
When you see their temples were not destroyed, this people will pluck off the error of his heart to acknowledge and adore the true God and he will meet more easily in places that are familiar.
On the other hand, the Britons have the custom of sacrificing many animals to their demons (idols). Must become customary in this religious festival. In these places, on the day of the dedication of the church or the feasts of martyrs, far will the exhibition of the relics of holy martyrs around the temples turned into churches, will be erected shelters made of branches of trees and solemnize-will be the party with a sacred meal. So no more animal sacrifice to the devil, but to feed themselves and to the praise of God (...)
There is no doubt that it is impossible to root out immediately among uncivilized beings, traditional customs: those who want to achieve a high peak, didn't get there if is not in stages, step by step, don't doing jumps (...)
All of it you must report to our brother, that he might well reflect on their ways (...)
Given on 15 June, under the government of our lord Maurice Tiberius in 19. Th year of his reign and the 18th year of his consulate, in the fourth. Nd, indiction (quoted in FRÖHLICH, 1987: 52)
Britons still sacrificing animals in year 600! Nevertheless, at the time of Gildas, sixty years before the writing of this letter, they were the only remnants of what little remains of the Roman Latin culture - and the pope considered "uncivilized". Anyway, as were the social and ethnic origin of our author, that explains much of their complaints about the degradation of their time.
England in the early ninth century, with the division of realms and an indication of the diocese until the eleventh century. INTERNET: http://www.angelcynn.org.uk/. © Ben Levick 1997-2001. Photos copyright © Angelcynn 1997-2001. Webgraphics, design and programming copyright © Nicole Kipar 2000, 2001.
V. Gildas
St. Gildas was born around 516 AD, possibly on the slopes of the Clyde River (modern Scotland). His father was a Breton nobleman named Cau (or Nau). Gildas had a brother named Hull (or Cuil). As a young man was sent to a monastery in Glamorganshire in Wales, where he was instructed by St. Iltut. There was a fellow of St. Samson and St. Peter de Leon. Gildas is also known by the alias Badonicus because, as he said in his narrative, was born the same year the famous battle of Mount Badon (The Destruction and their British Conquest, 26) - currently Bannesdown, near Bath, in Somersetshire. In this battle, as we have seen, is assigned an important victory of the Britons over the Saxons.
Subsequently, the Welsh monk Nennius said the leader of the Britons would bethe legendary Arthur (History of the Britons, 56), a fact that Gildas does not comment. Bede, who also does not mention the existence of Arthur in his Ecclesiastical History of England, places the battle of Mount Badon 44 yearsafter the first arrival of the Saxons into Britain, in 451 (on those accounts,Gildas was born in 494, not 516).
After having obtained the monasticism, Gildas went to Ireland and northern Britain, and its presence was confirmed by reports of miracles. Back to Ireland at the invitation of the Briton King Ainmire, Gildas made preaching and founded churches and monasteries. During the Revolution made a pilgrimage to Rome, he decided to retire to the island of Houat. All these trips described by tradition is explained by the current idea of sanctification, one of the best ways to achieve it was traveling and wandering (Duby, 1974: 31). In the case of Irish monasticism, had two traditions of pilgrimage: the small and the great pilgrimage.
Anyway, the island of Houat was a small piece of land a league in length located between the coast and the island of Bellisle Rhuys, the last four leagues from the coast of Armorica, on the continent. Gildas went to live there as a hermit. When his hermitage became known by fishermen and nearby residents who flocked there in search of enlightenment, the Britons had convinced him to found a monastery in Rhuys (peninsula on the coast of Armorica). Guerech, the first chief of the Britons in Vannes, Gildas gave the land needed to build the monastery.
In this monastery, he probably wrote his most famous and important work, The Destruction and their British Conquest, probably between the years 540-546. Gildas decided to again make a retreat, passing through the Gulf of Vannes and Quiberon headland until choosing a cave on the banks of the river Blavet. There he found a cave that was converted into a chapel. From time to time, Gildas he left his hermitage to visit the monastery of Rhuys, advising all in pursuing the path of Christian virtues.
We also know that lived in Rhuys Santa Trifina, daughter of Guerech. She was married to Count Conomor, vassal of the Merovingian king Childebert. Conomor murdered Trifina and her son, named Gildas, and godson of St. Gildas. Saint Trifina and her son are cited in the welsh collection of short stories titled Mabinogion - work produced in the twelfth century, but dating back to the seventh century (The Mabinogion, 2000). Gildas died around 570 on the island of Houat, where he made his retirement again, going a few times a monastery.
One of the greatest desires of Gildas was copying what seemed to be the most perfect way of life of the Christian monastic life. Tradition has it that bad eating and drinking, living ascetically. He wore a fur coat with a rough coat, sleeping on the floor with a stone for a pillow. His life has been geared toward martyrdom, a perpetual sacrifice. The object of his contemplation was a deeper understanding of God and of himself, his studies being directed to the lives of saints. His readings led him increasingly to the world isolation, a typical attitude of monasticism of the Middle Ages.
Gildas is remembered in the ancient British history and quoted by Bede and Alcuin of York. In the eleventh century was a Gildas biography written by an unknown monk of Rhuys Abbey. Later in the twelfth century, Caradoc, a Welshman, wrote another biography of Gildas. Both have a very bad timing and distinct differences, attributed to the temporal distance of the biography. The date on which St. Gildas is celebrated by the Church is January 29 and on May 11 commemorates the translation of his relics, which were transported to Berry in the X century.
VI. The British Destruction (c. 540)
The work is divided into three parts. It begins with a brief preface, where plaintive Gildas underlines the character of his writing and will address the "situation of Britain, her disobedience and subjection, her rebellion, and the second subject of his terrible bondage (...) tyrants, her two hostile (...) devastated nations and the subversion of their cities and the rest who escaped, and finally, peace, in which, by the will of God, was guaranteed in our time. "(I.2)
The second part deals with the history of Britain begins with a beautiful and geographical description, later copied in full by Nennius. Gildas says the Roman conquest, the revolt of Queen Boudicca Breton against the Romans, speaks about St. Alban (II.11) († in the fourth century) - proto-martyr of England, converted by a Christian priest that he had pursued housed in his house and who suffered martyrdom near the town of Verulam, now St. Albans (Mourra, 1968) - Albano is next to Thomas Becket, one of the most famous saints in the Middle Ages, a matter of great pilgrimage to York.
The third part, more extensive, is his Epistle. It has several literary constructions, as well as several reports of princes, clergy and barbaric population. Gildas addresses his letter to governors last five kings of Britain and Britons, in the following order: Constantine (III.28, 29), Aurelius Conanus (III.30), Vortipore (III.31), Cuneglasse (III.32) and Maglocune (III.33, 34, 35 and 36). It also criticizes monastic corruption, he said, a characteristic of his time. He accused the judges of iniquity (iniquitatis), wickedness, extreme injustice - one of the vices of his constant writing. The work, in fact, is an exhortation to complete all these sins and vices in his time, and in his opinion, practiced by all people.
One of the vices mentioned in the text is the perversity (perversitate). This sin is one of the basic concepts of the text, a habit that extends almost all Gildas. More than one who has bad character, the wicked, to Gildas, is one that has been perverted by something, or even from himself.
The range of charges that Gildas does to your time is very wide: adultery,gluttony (great feasts followed by drunkenness), idolatry. To all Gildasmercilessly curse, sending them to hell, or even warn them to suffer various ailments still alive on earth. Also very important is the charge of tyranny on the part of kings Britons. The basis of his exhortation are biblical examples withpassages from the prophets and apostles. Gildas and prefer the OldTestament. Finally, the text as a whole is a great sermon, liturgical characterand has a mass typical of Irish saints.
Gildas reproves and warns the five kings who cites in his work. Constantine rebukes and encourages him to go to Christ, for only He can take it "from the distant regions of sin." Otherwise, the tyrant will be "tortured and shot in blackand inevitable flood of eternal fire." Gildas sees Constantine as a glutton - a"fatted calf" - that pigs eat food and never sated. Tells the king that he must take into account the importance of the mantle and ring true, for through themyou will have the heavenly hope (III.29).
Worse still is the description of Aurelius Conanus: this "lion cub" is "swallowed up, like a huge flood from the sea on the obscenity of horrible murders, fornication, and adultery." Aurelius closed the gate of peace for the sake of civil war and the looting and was then left alone "as a withered tree in the middle of the field." As Constantine, Aurelius says Gildas must turn to the true faith, otherwise accumulate eternal pain and will forever be "tormented and neverconsumed in the cruel jaws of hell." (III.30)
In turn, Vortipore, "fool demecianos the tyrant," is like the leopard, because "in many ways and act with malice," and also as Aurelius, from top to bottom is "stained with murder and adultery." Drunkard, Vortipore sits on a "throne full of mistakes" have a miserable soul, because he lives in the sin of lust and incest with his daughter "shameless" (III.31).
Cuneglasse is also luxurious, who cast out his wife to estimate their "detestable sister" who made vows to God for eternal youth. Nevertheless, Gildas believes that God had abundantly Cuneglasse many things. Therefore, the tyrant should not be an adulterer and "proudly wise" but trust God and seek correction of his ways, that is, good habits, to become virtuous. Otherwise, like the others, it will be "burned dirty and in surrounding flames of eternal fire without dying by any means. For the souls of sinners are forever as a perpetual fire when the souls of the righteous are in perpetual joy and contentment. "(III.32)
Maglocune, finally, is the largest of all the leaders of Britain, both in stature and in the reign of the body, "the dragon of the island", the first in malice, more licentious in sinning, "strong arms and stronger working to destroy your own soul. "Gildas asks him: "Maglocune because you're foolishly rolling in the black pool of brilliant offenses as if sinking into the wine grape sodomite?" However, although large, is much worse in Maglocune sins. Gildas speaks directly to him:
Then listen for a moment and listens patiently to the following list of your achievements, which I will not touch or take any offense at home (if some of them are light), but only those that are open and widely scattered and far from all knowledge men.
Hast thou not at the beginning of your youth, terrible oppression with sword and spear and fire, against the King's uncle, along with his brave band of soldiers in battle whose faces were not different from those young lions?
You did not consider the words of the Prophet, who said "the deceived man and bloodthirsty should not live out half their days", and even if the sequel of thy sins had not happened, what return you would expect for this offense only from the hands of the righteous judge, who said through his prophet: "Woe who has damaged, and you should not, even you, that ye may be damaged?" and you, you killed, you should not be killed? And when you place yourselves an end in your damage, then you should fall "(III.33)
The head of the social body was corrupted by the vices. One of the most consistent justifications present in medieval political literature for the overthrow of a monarchy was not fulfilling their social function: the peace and welfare of subjects. In this respect, these passages show the work of Gildas as one of the predecessors of Mirrors of Princes later appearing in the court of Charlemagne and his successors, more than four years later.
But were not the monarchs the only target of the criticism of Gildas. By diverting his gaze to the clerics, Gildas was equally critical. More than that: his words were a poignancy seldom seen in medieval literature. It is no exaggeration to say that his chapter on the clergy in Britain is one of the most virulent literary passages and cutting of the Middle Ages. Although long, it should highlight the passage of Destruction and his British Conquest, we can still feel its impact today:
Brittany has priests, but they are ignorant, there are many who teach, but there are many insolent clerics she said, but some of them are misleading excited, they are called shepherds, but wolves are prepared for the death of souls, it does not provide anything for the good of the common people, but to covet gula their own bellies, they have the houses of the church, but to get dirty in order to profit, they instruct the layman, but the most depraved examples , addictions, and bad ways, and sometimes sacrifice and sometimes remain on the altar with clean hearts, but do not correct the common people for their offenses, while committing the same sins, they despise the commandments of Christ, and are careful with all my heart to carry out their lusty desires, some of them to usurp the seat of the Apostle Peter with dirty feet.
On the demerit of their lusts, they fall into the stinking chair of the traitor Judas, and often depreciate, and some speak truly, they hate the truth as an enemy,and promote falsehoods as their most beloved brethren, look at the fair, poorand helpless, with stern face, as if they were detestable snakes, and the rich men revere as if they were heavenly angels with no regard to shame, and preached with their lips that alms should be given to the needy, but do not offerhalf penny; hide the horrible sins of the people, and extend the injuries offeredthemselves as if they were made to Christ Our Savior, expelled from their homes to their religious mother, perhaps sisters, and familiarly strange womenand indecently entertaining as you would for a top secret letter or, to speak the truth, though fondly (not so affectionately to me, but to commit these acts), theydegrade themselves in such bad creatures, and seek more for allecclesiastical dignities than the kingdom of heaven, defending theirpreferences so afflicted with a tyrannical and unjust working on ways to adorn it.
They are negligent and dark to hear the precepts of holy saints - if ever they heard what they should hear - but they are diligent and attentive to the games and the silly fables of secular men as if they were the true means of life, and are in fact, passages for the death, they are few ways of bulls and with plenty of fat but miserably ready for all unjust actions, they keep their arrogant faces, and never have their inner sense, because they have troubled the consciences and corroded; they are depressed to the bottom, or rather, to the bottomless pit; are happy for the gain of a penny and saddened by the loss of such value, they are lazy and stupid in the apostolic decree (whether by ignorance or by the burden of their offense), and stop the mouths of well educated and are uniquely experienced changes in the business of misleading words, and intrude violently many words and conversations of this kind in the perverse preferences of the church.
Yes, they buy at the price of the thigh, and taken anyway, and besides, as unworthy unhappy wallow like pigs in their old and miserable puddle of evilintolerable. Having reached the seat of the priesthood or episcopate - despite not having even been installed or resident in the same - they do not receive the orders or apostolic preeminence because usurp the name of the priesthood.
How can they, who are not fully educated in the faith, nor did penance for their sins, to be known and convenient way to ascend the ecclesiastical some degree? I can not speak for the Almighty, holy men just want perfect, they arefollowers of the apostles, and to use the words of the teacher of nations, free people of reprimand, which can faithfully working without fault or offense of sacrilege (III .66).
The tone of the text is clearly oratory. The feeling is that our author is speakingfrom the pulpit of a church to a large number of listeners. Although his style isflorid and sometimes tortuous - typical of medieval texts of preaching, asaimed at reaching the masses in the collective memory and print certain basic concepts with these repetitions, for example, disapproval of addiction - is not ashamed to Gildas conceal his indignation about the men who were on the steps of their higher crude society. In addition to skin feel the consequences of migration of Angles and Saxons, the British monk points the finger in the wound, indicating that those responsible for the degradation of their time were not the invaders from the continent, but his own people did not realize their mistakes and vices and was swallowed up "like a huge ocean wave."
The long passage highlighted above shows that their criticisms were very heavy, as heavy as his asceticism: we know that the Irish and Celticmonasticism was incredibly harsh on the island, it was endowed with a "fierceasceticism too barbaric and a conception of repentance and salvation "(Duby,1974: 31). Benedict of Nursia and his more moderate monasticism had notarisen yet.
It is quite likely that Gildas was influenced by Irish monasticism, since only from the Synod of Whitby (663) was the uniformity of worship in the churches of England (in favor of the Romans and to the detriment of the cult Scotch). In addition, the abbey founded in Gildas Rhys was located in Armorica, a regionheavily influenced by Irish monasticism, for the second half of the fifth centuryIrish monks spread across all regions Celtic, Scotland and North West England to Armorica itself on the mainland.
Conclusion
The fact is that despite historically unreliable, the destruction of Britain seems to have profoundly marked the image that later generations of medieval readers had about the Britons, who were, as we know, built the new peoples and cultures that migrated to the island from the fourth century.
The criticism of Gildas on the briton monarchs also served of political support to legitimize the new kingdoms that emerged from the crisis of the fifth century - the so-called heptarquia - in the writing of the later scribes, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
On the other hand, when Gildas admonishes the monks, is a yearning for reform. Of minds and bodies. His idea of a hermit did not discount the reform of society: the monks should not retreat and isolate themselves in their monasteries, but be part of building a Christian society - Christian defined here as a Roman civilization, culturally, since the Church was practically the only institution that has withstood invasions and passed over the ancient and medieval worlds.
In this transition phase, the monks, like Gildas wanted to reform their. Therefore, Gildas fight against corruption, accusing the tyrants they are drunkards, greedy and lustful, ignoring even the basic concepts of incest - as seems to be the case of Vortipore. The ban on marriage between blood relatives had not yet signed (Guichard, 1997: 22): Gildas seems to contribute to this moralizing in his criticism.
So the question is not to insist on the real existence or not of these characters, as has been done. Real or not, the rulers of Gildas and most of the early briton leaders cited in the sources that refer to the fifth and sixth centuries - besides the monks - are clear examples of medieval literature, where the educated sectors of society trying to civilize the new world was born. And this attempt, the most fruitful times, has indelibly marked the history of medieval Western Europe.
P.S.: Well, although the authors Gildas and Nennius present a romantic and relatively distorted vision about the Roman invasion of Britain and the Britons. You get a good view of the historical process as the Anglo-Saxon invasion in Britain, and the Formation of England. It's clear that the Picts are Britons who did not accept Roman rule and were trying to evict them, they live in northern Britain, Scotland, after the Hadrian's wall, where the Romans could not invade, thus they could keep a more successful resistence against the romans.
In this transition phase, the monks, like Gildas wanted to reform their. Therefore, Gildas fight against corruption, accusing the tyrants they are drunkards, greedy and lustful, ignoring even the basic concepts of incest - as seems to be the case of Vortipore. The ban on marriage between blood relatives had not yet signed (Guichard, 1997: 22): Gildas seems to contribute to this moralizing in his criticism.
So the question is not to insist on the real existence or not of these characters, as has been done. Real or not, the rulers of Gildas and most of the early briton leaders cited in the sources that refer to the fifth and sixth centuries - besides the monks - are clear examples of medieval literature, where the educated sectors of society trying to civilize the new world was born. And this attempt, the most fruitful times, has indelibly marked the history of medieval Western Europe.
P.S.: Well, although the authors Gildas and Nennius present a romantic and relatively distorted vision about the Roman invasion of Britain and the Britons. You get a good view of the historical process as the Anglo-Saxon invasion in Britain, and the Formation of England. It's clear that the Picts are Britons who did not accept Roman rule and were trying to evict them, they live in northern Britain, Scotland, after the Hadrian's wall, where the Romans could not invade, thus they could keep a more successful resistence against the romans.
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