A Brief History of Anglo Saxon Britain

A Brief History of Anglo Saxon Britain
By Geoffrey Hindley
Published in January 2006
320 Pages
Thibault’s Score: 2/5

A Brief History of Anglo Saxon Britain is a survey history of the Anglo Saxons starting with their arrival in the late Roman period until the Norman Conquest.

What is remarkable about this book is how little of it I remember. I listened to the audiobook several days ago and somehow retained absolutely nothing.

The book contains a survey of the facts, but gets lost in the many complicated relationships between warchiefs and kings. It spends significant time talking about the conversion of the Anglo Saxons to Christianity. I knew that the Anglo Saxons were pagan but didn’t realize that the Anglo Saxons retained their paganism for some time in England. I thought they immediately converted after conquering the culturally and technologically superior Britons. Instead, they maintained polytheism, only slowly converting over the course of two hundred years. By the time the vikings came, some groups were only still in the process of converting. The conflict between Celtic Christianity and Roman Christianity is very interesting as well.

It also contains a detailed - and interesting - “hagiography” of King Alfred the Great. I didn’t know very much about King Alfred, just that he was deposed, and that when he was on the run, he burnt some pies. I knew that he beat the vikings. What I didn’t realize was that he built significant amounts of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and most importantly, fortifications to stop future viking raids. I also didn’t know that he was a patron of arts and scholarship. He commissioned the creation of the Anglo Saxon chronicle.

Finally, the last major part that I remember is what happened to the Britons after the Norman conquest. Initially, the Normans attempted to impose French culture on the Anglo Saxons. They explicitly attempted to raze Anglo Saxon churches and monuments in what the author calls “cultural genocide.” Despite this, they slowly adopted more and more Anglo Saxon customs over time. Within a century and a half, the Normans were speaking English and using it to write laws and deal with court cases.

It is important to note that today we don’t talk about “Normano-Britons.” Instead, we talk about “Anglo Saxons.” Many cultures existed in England prior to the Anglo Saxons such as the Romans and Celts; many cultures existed concurrently such as the Scottish and Welsh; and many invaded after such as the Vikings and Normans. Despite all of the competition for cultural hegemony, Anglo Saxon culture won out.

The writing style is boring but clear enough. There is nothing special about this book. It doesn’t waste too much time on pointless academic solipsisms.

I do not recommend this book. If you are specifically studying this period of history in depth, it is likely too basic for you. It might be a decent study guide for a PHD student new to the period.

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