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An English Empire: Bede, the Britons, and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings (Origins of England)

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For ages, the contemporary writings of the Venerable Bede, an early Christian churchman, have served as a mainstay for historians attempting to understand 7th Century Britain. Bede was probably Saxon descent, or an Angle as he preferred to call the Germanic invaders of Britain. By the time Bede lived and wrote, the Saxons (Germanic peoples from what is today northern Germany, Holland and Denmark) had established power in Britain, albeit fractured by warring factions. Apparently, the first Saxons had been imported by the Romans to serve as mercenary soldiers and secure Britannia from non-Roman invaders. After official Rome withdrew formal support in the 5th Century, the remaining Romano-British people and Saxon soldiers joined forces. Following waves of invasion from the Germanic areas of Europe, by the 7th Century, Saxons ruled most of Britain.

Higham argues Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum or Ecclesiastical History of the English People is a biased accounting of his times. Bede serves as both apologist and historian for the Saxon invaders, portraying them as a "chosen people" who brought the word of God to the heathen. Never mind that many of the Romano-Britains were probably already Christian. One of Bede's complaints is that the Britains do not reckon Easter using the "Roman" method.

Using the writings of Bede and other contemporaneous material such as the `Tribal Hidage', a tribute list thought to reflect the kingship structure of the period, Higham constructs a population profile. By the 7th Century, the Britains had become mostly rural farmers and slaves or servants, who lived and worked on landed estates controlled by Saxon overlords. Higham deduces their status as much from what Bede says as what he doesn't say. He deconstructs Bede's text, examining his use of various terms such as `pagan' and `imperium', the latter a word used by Bede to equate Saxon rule with that of the Romans.

Several things I like about this book include: 1) Higham's ideas concerning the identity of the great warrior buried at Sutton Hoo; 2) His links to Beowulf ; 3) His investigation of the use of various Latin, British, and German (Angles=English) terms in different contexts; 4) His view of how the Britains moved from Roman domination to Anglo-Saxon serfdom.