The Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain

Mereminskiy, Stanislav

doi:10.18254/S207987840023078-4

Home>Issue 11 (121)>The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain

The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain

Table of contents

Annotation Estimate Publication content

References Comments

The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain

Annotation

PII

S207987840023078-4-1

DOI

10.18254/S207987840023078-4

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Stanislav Mereminskiy Send message

Affiliation: Institute of World History RAS
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Edition

Volume 13 Issue 11 (121)

Abstract

The concepts rooted in the history of medieval Europe play a major role in modern socio-political discourse. Among those are the terms “Anglo-Saxons” and “Anglo-Saxon”. As the name of German-speaking peoples who settled in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries, the ethnonym “Anglo-Saxons” emerged already in the Early Middle Ages. Starting from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when English antiquarians began a systematic study of the past of their country, the ethnonyms used by early medieval authors were interpreted precisely as designations of communities similar to the European peoples of the modern times. Throughout the nineteenth century the ethnonym “Anglo-Saxons” was used more and more often in its political and cultural meaning, at the same time, ethnic understanding spun off from it. There emerged an idea of the “Anglo-Saxon race”, which, depending on the specific context, began to be contrasted with the “Celtic”, “Latin”, “African” or “Indian” races. The idea of the emergence of a single English nation as a result of the mutual assimilation of the Saxons and Normans became the cornerstone of the Whig model of history that dominated the Victorian era.

Keywords

English history, historical writers, Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxonism, national identity, antiquarians, S. Turner, W. Scott, Whig interpretation of history

Received

18.08.2022

Publication date

15.12.2022

Number of characters

38655

Number of purchasers

Views

303

Readers community rating

0.0 (0 votes)

Cite Download pdf 200 RUB / 1.0 SU

To download PDF you should pay the subscribtion

GOST	Mereminskiy S. The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain // ISTORIYA. – 2022. – V. 13. – Issue 11 (121). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840023078-4-1/. DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023078-4
MLA	Mereminskiy, Stanislav "The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain." ISTORIYA. 13.11 (121) (2022). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023078-4
APA	Mereminskiy S. (2022). The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain. ISTORIYA. vol. 13, no. 11 (121) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023078-4

Full text is available to subscribers only

Subscribe right now

Only article and additional services

Subscription benefits

200 RUB / 1.0 SU

Whole issue and additional services

Subscription benefits

820 RUB / 10.0 SU

All issues and additional services for 2022

Subscription benefits

5000 RUB / 50.0 SU

References

1. Beda Dostopochtennyj. Tserkovnaya istoriya naroda anglov / per. V. V. Ehrlikhmana. SPb., 2001.

2. Vysokova V. V. Britishness, Englishness i «vigskaya interpretatsii istorii» // Proshloe dlya nastoyaschego: istoriya-pamyat' i narrativy natsional'noj identichnosti / pod obsch. red. L. P. Repinoj. M., 2020. C. 267—290.

3. Vysokova V. V. Konfliktuyuschie kontseptsii proshlogo v britanskoj istoricheskoj kul'ture vtoroj poloviny XVII — serediny XVIII veka // Proshloe dlya nastoyaschego: istoriya-pamyat' i narrativy natsional'noj identichnosti / pod obsch. red. L. P. Repinoj. M., 2020. C. 240—266.

4. Sukhino-Khomenko D. V. «Anglo-saksonskaya skhizma»: terminologicheskaya diskussiya v angloyazychnom media-prostranstve i vyzovy soobschestva medievistov // Dialog so vremenem. 2021. № 76. S. 145—159.

5. Shpirt A. M. Venskaya shkola istoricheskoj ehtnografii i problema ehtnogeneza v ehpokhu Rannego Srednevekov'ya // Al'manakh po istorii Srednikh vekov i Rannego Novogo vremeni. 2013. № 3-4. S. 45—52.

6. Brownlie S. Memory and Myths of the Norman Conquest. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2013.

7. Frazier Wood D. M. Anglo-Saxonism and the Idea of Englishness in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Woodbridge, 2020.

8. Gerrald J. The Defence of J. G. on a charge of sedition, before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh Corrected by Himself. L., 1794.

9. Jones M. E., Casey J. The Gallic Chronicle Restored: A Chronology for the Anglo-Saxon Invasions and the End of Roman Britain // Britannia. 1988. Vol. 19. P. 367—398.

10. Levison W. England and the Continent in the Eighth Century. Oxford, 1946.

11. Loyn H. R. Turner, Sharon (1768—1847) // Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. Oxford, 2004. P. 661—663.

12. MacDougall H. A. Racial Myth in English History: Trojans, Teutons, and Anglo-Saxons. Montreal, 1982.

13. Niles J. D. The Idea of Anglo-Saxon England 1066–1901: Remembering Forgetting, Deciphering, and Renewing the Past. Chichester, 2015.

14. Turner S. History of England, from the Norman Conquest, to the Accession of Edward the First. L., 1814.

15. Turner S. The History of the Anglo-Saxons, from Their Earliest Appearance above the Elbe, to the Norman Conquest. London, 1802—1805. Vol. 1—3.

16. Wilton D. What Do We Mean by Anglo-Saxon? Pre-Conquest to the Present // The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 2020. Vol. 119. P. 425—454.

17. Worth C. Ivanhoe and the Making of Britain // Links & Letters. 1995. Vol. 2. P. 63—76.