Anglo-Saxon
Britain by Grant Allen is a book that now comes free via Amazon Kindle, so
there is absolutely no excuse for not reading it, especially when such editions
can be downloaded to and read from an ordinary personal computer, at zero cost
and complete convenience. This is not an advertisement, except, of course, for
the book.
Anglo-Saxon
Britain ought to compulsory reading for all narrow-minded nationalists, Little
Englanders, British national types, English leaguers and any other set of racial
purity head-bangers, plus absolutely anyone who might even suggest that
isolationism is either beneficial for or a natural state of the English. Anglo-Saxon
Britain is not a new book, and hence does not cover any aspects of ethnology
that have been developed since the arrival of DNA analysis. Anglo-Saxon Britain
is thus an old-fashioned review and analysis of available historical documents
and sources. But, in a succinct and wonderfully readable form, it succeeds in
summarising the issue’s complexity and communicating a beautifully rounded picture
of a thoroughly complicated reality.
The
English - and their Saxon and Jutish cousins – were, of course, invaders,
originating in what we now call Germany, Denmark and Holland. What they brought
to a Romanised, at least in part already Christian and largely unified land was
barbarism, paganism and continual warfare. What they also brought with them –
or at least the Angels did – was their language, a form of low German with
gendered nouns that had case endings and verbs that declined into multiple forms
But the general structure of that language endured, endured as its complexities
of form gradually disappeared whilst its complexity of potential nuance grew.
Its vocabulary welcomed successive waves of foreign invaders and its aesthetic
adopted the more civilised ways of other foreigners from southern Europe.
The
Danes also deserve a mention, of course, since they ruled most of what we now
call England for much of the Anglo-Saxon period. And the Welsh and Celts,
indigenous people, but only in a relative sense, were not only subjugated but
contributed in their own way to the wholly complicated and, frankly mixed up,
gene pool through inter-marriage. The point is made repeatedly that perhaps the
most English – as far as the original form and sound of the language is
concerned – is still spoken by the Lothians of modern-day Scotland, since the
Angel settlers there were the least affected by subsequent waves of invasion.
What
we do know about the English – very little, it has to be said, since they wrote
down almost nothing about themselves – is that they rarely cooperated, except
at the tribal or clan level, constantly bickered and argued, regularly fought
one another and spent very little time on more civilised pursuits. At least
some things have endured.
Anglo-Saxon
Britain by Grant Allen does not trade any myths. It presents a learned, well
researched and referenced account of the politics, the conflicts, the culture
and language of the early English. It reminds us that the last English person
to occupy the English throne was Harold in 1066 and he succumbed to an
immigrant from continental Europe who moved in and made the place his own,
perhaps improving it along the way. The book is superbly entertaining as well
as informative, erudite and learned, but also lean, stimulating and succinct.
Its sections on the language, alone, render it essential reading for anyone who
is the least bit interested in English or the English.
