Читать книгу Western Civilization - Paul R. Waibel - Страница 51

According to tradition, the Rhine River froze over in December 406, an unusual occurrence. Large numbers of Germans fleeing before the advancing Huns poured across the river into Gaul. The Visigoth invasion of northern Italy was halted, but only temporarily. Desperate for soldiers loyal to Rome, Honorius (384–423), emperor in the West, recalled the legions from Britain. With the legions gone, the Anglo‐Saxon invaders met little resistance from the defenseless inhabitants of Britain. In 410, the year that the Visigoths sacked Rome, Honorius informed the people of Britain that they must see to their own defense. The legions were not going to return.

The inhabitants of Britain resisted the invaders, but by the middle of the fifth century much of what is modern England was overrun. There is very little in the historical record of this period in Britain's history. As the Romanized population vanished or migrated westward into Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland, literacy vanished with them. Something of the resistance to the Anglo‐Saxons can be gleaned from “On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain” by St. Gildas (c. 500–570), a sixth‐century monk.

In the first part of “On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain,” Gildas relates the history of Britain from the Roman conquest to his own time. Of particular interest is Gildas's account of a Christian Romanized Britain, Ambrosius Aurelianus, who rallied the Britons to resist the Anglo‐Saxon invaders. He won 12 battles, most famously, the Battle of Mons Badonicus, or Battle of Badon, in c. 500. Ambrosius Aurelianus is a shadowy figure. From the ninth century on, his identity became absorbed into the legend of King Arthur of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table.

By 650, the Anglo‐Saxon invaders settled down in seven separate kingdoms referred to historically as the Heptarchy: East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex. War among the seven kingdoms was constant. From time to time, the kingdoms recognized one king as the Bretwalda, or “High King” of Britain. By the middle of the ninth century, the seven kingdoms were consolidated into three: Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex.

Viking raids (mostly Danes) were common during the ninth century. In 865, a large Viking army originating in Denmark began a 12‐year campaign in Britain. The “Great Heathen Army,” as the invaders were called by the Britons, came to conquer and settle, not merely raid and plunder. Only the Kingdom of Wessex, where Alfred the Great (849–899) was king, remained unconquered. A decisive battle (Battle of Edington) was fought in 878, from which Alfred emerged victorious over the Danish king Guthrum (d. 890).

With the Treaty of Wedmore (878) that followed Alfred's victory, the Vikings agreed to settle in an area that comprised northern and eastern England, where the laws of the Danes ruled. It became known as the Danelaw. Guthrum accepted baptism, took the Christian name Athelstan, and became Alfred's godson. In 937, Alfred's grandson, Athelstan, King of the Anglo‐Saxons (924–927) and King of the English (927–939), defeated an invasion by a combined force of Irish, Norse, Scots, and Northumbrians, thus preserving the independence of both the Danelaw and the Kingdom of Wessex.

England was once again invaded in 1003 by Sweyn Forkbeard (960–1014) of Denmark. He was proclaimed king on Christmas Day, 1013, but died less than six weeks later on February 3, 1014, uncrowned. Sweyn's son, Cnut (995–1035), also known as Canute (Cnut the Great) the Dane, in 1016 became the first ruler of all England since the Roman era. He was crowned King of Denmark in 1018 and King of Norway in 1028. Together, the kingdoms are referred to as the North Sea Empire or the Anglo‐Scandinavian Empire.

The period of Cnut's reign was a pleasant respite from the turmoil that preceded and followed him. He brought more than two decades of peace and prosperity to England. He reformed the laws, promoted trade, and strengthened the coinage. Cnut was a generous patron of the Church. He rebuilt the churches and monasteries that were looted by the Vikings and built new ones. He gave gifts of money and relics to the English Church and promoted monastic reforms. In 1027, he made a pilgrimage to Rome to attend the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II and obtain favors for English Christians directly from the pope.

Cnut's Anglo‐Scandinavian Empire did not survive him. Like Charlemagne's empire, Cnut's empire fragmented as his heirs intrigued and battled for the pieces. The English crown returned to the House of Wessex with Edward the Confessor (1003–1066) in 1042. Edward proved a saintly, but ineffective ruler, who left the affairs of state largely to Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and his son Harold. When Edward died childless, the Witan (royal council of nobles and church leaders) elected Harold Godwinson King of England.

Harold, known as Harold II, was immediately faced with two challenges to his rule – the first from his brother Tostig (c. 1026–1066), supported by King Harald III Hardrada of Norway, who invaded England, and the second from Duke William II of Normandy (1028–1087), a cousin of Edward the Confessor. Harold surprised Tostig and Hardrada at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire on September 25, 1066. Both Tostig and Hardrada were killed in the battle, and their army virtually annihilated.

Immediately following the Battle of Stamford Bridge, Harold force‐marched his army to the south coast of England to confront an invading army led by Duke William of Normandy. The battle that ensued on October 14, known as the Battle of Hastings, proved historically significant for several reasons. Harold's Anglo‐Saxon army fought on foot with the battle ax as their preferred weapon. William's army was made up of armed, mounted knights, supported by infantry armed with bows. The battle lasted the entire day. At its end, Harold lay dead, shot through the eye with an arrow, and his army destroyed.

Figure 4.1 Duke William of Normandy's victory over King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 marked the end of Anglo‐Saxon England.

Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.

The period of Anglo‐Saxon England ended with the death of its last king. The Norman Conquest of England followed. William was crowned King of England on Christmas Day, 1066. Though William retained those aspects of Saxon customs and laws that strengthened the king's position, he introduced a highly centralized form of feudalism in England. Saxon nobles were displaced and their lands given to those, largely Norman, who participated in the conquest. French, the language of the Normans, became the language of government and administration. Henceforth, the dominant cultural influence in England came from across the channel.