Ten Minute English and British History #03 -The Early Anglo-Saxons and the Mercian Supremacy 

Love your work

I don't comment but I must in this instance. There is NO DARK AGES. Modern historians refer to that era as the early middle ages. The term "dark ages" came from biased enlightenment historians who saw classical Greek and Rome as the high point of civilization. There are strong evidence against the idea of the "dark ages". I recommended looking them up.

Ten Minute History I'm guessing the audio problem

+ Luke Mitchell When describing Britain post 7th century this is undoubtedly true, however some very credible historians make a strong case that a 'dark age' existed in Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. It is true that this video covers further than that, and so in this case I would refrain from using the term, but to say there were 'no dark ages' is far too sweeping a statement to make. Here's one historian making a case for the dark ages: www.historytoday.com/ian-mortimer/defending-%E2%80%98dark-ages%E2%80%99

Great video (as always), but will you be talking about the Irish, Picts, and Scots as well?

Billie Spalding *viking horns*

You mean ass not arse

@@mad1n4h9 ass? Thats a 4 legged animal you arse! 🖐😂🖑

Step in Ragnar Lothbrok and his bros..

@@chrisadlc1 he wasnt actually at that raid

Ythe humber was originally known as the "Abus' in roman / Celtic times . In later saxon times the name humber ( spelt nothing like what I've typed , but without looking I can't remember) it's a much longer word in saxon that basically meant "the people north of the humber" . But yeah, your basically right .

Oooooooooooh

Explains the name, i always thought it was due to the ones responsible for naming it was either drunk or on some strong shit

I'm from South Humberside. Well 20 years ago it was called South Humberside now it's called North Lincolnshire lol and the town specifically Scunthorpe which I've taken to mean small village close to the river

@@1invag Why isn't that place called East Yorkshire anyway ? Humberside is weird :)

I mean...most Englishmen I see take pride in their "Anglo-saxon" heritage... For some reason, they seem to think "Anglo-saxon" is cooler...why is that?

@@samuraijosh1595 I think a lot of people don't really make divisions between the two. To them, the Anglo-Saxons are a continuation of the Britons, rather then a complete replacement. Remember, Britain in the first millennium AD was essentially the deadliest game of musical chairs in European history. First came the Romans, then came the Anglo-Saxons, then came the Danish, then the Normans. The Anglo-Saxons are seen as just another group that invaded. For the longest time, I assumed the Saxons and Briton's were one and the same. As to why someone might see the Anglo Saxons as "Cool" is simple. The Anglo-Saxons are *cool*. Somehow, a single nation emerged from a diverse range of Germanic/Scandinavian inavders and Brittonnic natives to become one nation. Given how simply diverse and naturally fractured both sides were, it's pretty amazing a single "English" cultural identity was formed. Their art is a mix of stunning Germanic/Nordic and Celtic style, they were master blacksmiths, they formed the first law code in a Germanic language, and said language was the first flowering of one of the most widespread languages of the modern world, English. The Anglo Saxons are rightfully fascinating. Now we get to the... Let's say problematic opinions about Anglo-Saxon "Superiority" over the "inferior" Celtic people. A movement in the 18th century claimed the Anglo Saxons, and by extension the English, took over because of their inherent "R@cial Superiority" due to being "Germanic". This movement has some legacy today said hose who proudly claim "Anglo-Saxon" heritage *only* may not be exactly supportive of minorities. Check out "Anglo-Saxonism" if you get the chance. Long story short, the White English are genetically a mix of Celtic-Brittonic, Anglo, Saxon, Frisian, Norse, Juteish, Norman, Celtic Gaelic, and an little bit of Roman (surprisingly little, though). The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group that had mixed genetic origins between numerous Germanic/Norse tribes and absorbed large parts of "Anglicised" Britons. To claim only genetic descent from Anglo Saxon's isn't correct. No country I know is the outcome of only a single ethnicity. Countries form from different cultural and ethnic groups merging to become one. I want to say, it's okay to like the Anglo-Saxon's, someone's not racist for doing so. I'm just more interested in the Norse and Briton's, but those were the ones I was taught about it in school. I think we can be mature enough to assume someone isn't a raging goose-stepping N*zi because they like History. But, if someone believes themselves to be descended from one people, and on that basis be willing to exclude other ethnicities from the fold, in some form of Ethnic Nationalism, they might want to check up on their history and recheck their Values.

1,500 years?

Well their language is West Germanic.

@@lakelandbuzz2252 The history of Britannia is pretty cool! So many people of various backgrounds settling down changing the culture with new people coming in changing the culture even further until we get to what is today with the newish immigrants from the EU. I hear there are quite a bit of Baltic and Polish people in England that settled in when the UK joined the EU.

@lordkalte there is actually no evidence that they are exactly the same, we know very little about the pre-christian religion of the anglo-saxons.

@@trobot7221 most likely very similar

Different names, similar entities. Much like the Greek and Roman gods, like Zeus=Iupiter, Poseidon=Neptunus, Hades=Pluto

@@trobot7221 they were just as similar as the different sects of Christianity.

So three days of the week are named after astronomical objects they could see and the other ones are named after natural phenomena that were associated with gods. Monday = the day of the moon (Maandag in Dutch, Montag in German) Thursday = the day of thunder (donderdag in Dutch which literally means thunderday; Donnerstag in German) as well as the day of the tod Tor Friday was named after Frya/Freia Saturday was probably named after Saturn And Sunday means day of the sun across Germanic languages

One thing the Saxons did not bring to England...was how to take penalties !

@@andym9571 indeed but we can make up for it with Jürgen Klopp.....a german AngloSaxon in England....

@@albionmyl7735 wasn't he born in Svabia?

@@saarbrooklynrider2277 indeed but he is obviously from germanic tribes....

@@albionmyl7735 Greetings back my German Saxon friend from Wessex, The old kingdom of the English West Saxons.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿👍🏻

Marcus280898 lol unfortunately Ragnar Lothbrok and his lads , would “come at them bro”

@@chrisadlc1 little too early for our (possibly not real) boy Ragnar but you got the right idea lmao,

*humor

Jutes: Oi!!!

There were no danes or Germans then only Germanic tribes

No. The relevant point is that they were different Germanic tribes, and hated each other for that reason. Nothing to do with Danes or Germans.

teddybeddy123 oof.

Yeah, I play it every day for my own lovely stimulation.

yh i agree

You're describing it like chips lmao

🤦‍♂️ he he

And in Welsh

In spanish they're called anglosajones

@Yassin Zahran We English are indeed Anglo-Saxons, and we occasionally still refer to ourselves as such

Fun fact: is most languages I'm still referred to as sexy Which is cooler

Fun fact - Gaelic is just as German as Anglo Saxon

Definently

It's so murky and mysterious.

I don't think you would like to live in that chaotic era.

Me too wish there was more movies from this period

Beth Bartlett “absence of any higher mind” so the meat grinder that was WWI was a time of higher mind then? Tf are you on about lmao love the the Anglo Saxon Age.. and I’m American. Now the Normans were some real brutes!

Same thing

kacchan k no because loot of people think all historic roman settlers and their descendent left england. When it was the army only Tons of popular brittons who were fighting anglo saxon were from 100% roman descent. Or half celt half roman

@Michael Evans technically its britannia

@@thehoosher9322 From the encyclopedia region?

Is Albion better?

The main reason I know about him is because when I went to college there was a church nearby named after St. Bede (who I assume is the same person). This was in America, not Britain.

seriously mate?? Wasn't he mentioned in primary school? Just done a quick straw pole (not scientific) of 4 people this morning and they have all heard of him, including set`ils like he never left monetary from the age of 7, had a bias against Scots blah blah, I haven't fact checked

Stan Stanson because fuck people, that’s why

Availability.

Cause Islands are cool I guess.

Trade!

Blackgang Chine

Thank god now history has no bias and purely impartial /s

I think Gildas is generally accurate. However he's a confused and confusing writer. He doesn't tell us anything we want to know. It's a bit like the famous Gododdin poem which doesn't really tell us anything about the Battle of Catraeth.

@@littlechemie5425 Well there was definitely A LOT more back then…

BRUH 😅😂

If you are interested the Arturo Sanders novels by Peter Rhodan takes place in that time

“I slowed it to 75%” Genius

yeah a lot of our history can be found on the holy bible king james version

Lol. Yeah, it started there, ok. Lol

Since so little was known about the Anglo-Saxons, later generations were free to make up their own stories about them. The myth of Anglo-Saxon freedom versus Norman feudal servitude was used to counter would-be absolute monarchs of the Tudor and Stuart Houses. But the Domesday Book shows that a large proportion of the AS population were slaves, whereas the Normans did not have slavery.

Am a fellow Georide so aye .

Actually, the different waves of invasion even prior to that was part of his inspiration as well. The first men, the andals ...and so on

Most of game of thrones was based on English history especially the war of the roses

@@leegoldberg I think his inspiration for that was with the Norman invasions as the Saxons fled to the north of England and they were the first english and to this day the north is still more Saxon than the south and there are cultural differences

??? England is like 7 times larger than NJ

80% of America is occupied in less than 20% of it. It's mostly empty in the middle

Also you're not understanding population size back then, total world population was less than the European Union population

And braille please

@@npc4322 _bruh_

There are subtitles, it says subscribe to pewdiepie at around 3 minutes of time. I am seririous

I do it but i'm blind.

@@dancindog4089 They probably weren't there when he wrote his comment.

Englishness is under attack by liberal elites in Britain, they want to teach us that our Anglo Saxon ethnicity doesn’t exist.

@@tomben6180 Why would they do that?

@@henrygustavekrausse7459 Because they have the view that white people, especially English white people, are inherently racist and evil. The Labour Party in particular despise Anglo Saxons.

@@tomben6180 That's absurd. Most of the labor party themselves are Anglo-Saxons. I've never heard a labor politician dissing them.

@@tomben6180 I don't know what LBC stands for but I googled "where was David Lammy born" and I got London. Besides, if he brags about his Englishness, its a sign he that he likes England. Sounds like a patriot to me.

Got it done in less than 10 minutes though : )

These look litlle like. Minecrsft

What

9:59 again You sir are absolutely brutal

This is exactly why I clicked on this video, I guess they don't teach it it history class because it's just ToO CoMpLiCaTeD

​@@GusThePranksterI mean I learned it in English class tbh

Yes, the Anarchy is episode 9 and is out November 13th.

Cuz in those days only a select few people were taught how to read and write, usually only powerful men or royalty strictly Women or commoners weren’t taught, so when the nobles royalty and legions left, so did everyone who knew how to read and write

@@Enonymous99 The clergy and anyone in the civil and commercial administration would have been able to read and write. It wasn't a luxury, it was a necessary part of Roman governance.

@@williamfitch1408 sorry, but your right and wrong. it’s exactly, like I said, only a select few, no more than 10% of people according to documentation, these clergy, scribes and administration you speak of would have worked for the legion nobles and royalty and would have been ordered to leave with them to continue to document their history, not the history of the land they were now leaving And as I said early, reading and writing wasn’t taught widely to everyone, the way it is today, that can be hard to understand because of how fast information travels today and how widespread knowledge is, that’s just not the way things were 1500 years ago it’s not that it was a luxury, it is that it was a skill only taught to people deemed worthy enough to know that skill, the nobles legion and royalty would have considered it risky to have to many people knowing this, they would have only taught people they had direct control over or people they trusted It’s not as simple as your making it, if it were, your beginning question would have answered itself, it’s not that the people forgot how to read and write, as I said, it’s that the people left behind were never given that knowledge

Just look at the logic cuz I don’t want to argue with you, I am merely trying to help you understand and answer your first question What makes more sense, that the Roman’s had a spell cast to ensure everyone forgot how to write their own names or that they were never taught how to write their own names For example even cultures such as the Vikings were illiterate until almost 1,000 AD and even then only the lords kings and nobles were taught, taught by who? The Saxon’s, which is funny because even at that time, most of England was still illiterate Something else to remember too, is that often in history if there’s no documentation at all it is because what little documentation there was, was burned by an invading kingdom or people. Or warring tribes fighting for the land. When the Roman’s left and the Anglo Saxon’s immigrated to England, there were fierce wars from a number of different peoples, which coincidentally all descended from some form of Celts or Roman’s mix, the Briton’s and Saxon’s included Nevertheless, most if not all people left behind did not have the ability to read or write, probably about 2% could and what documentation did exist would have been mostly burned in all of the battles and sieges for the land in the ever changing struggle for England Only once a peace was secured nearly 200 years later, were more people were taught to write and the writing would last because of the new found security under the kingdoms like Mercia Wessex that had been established

As I said, it’s not as simple as it seems, history never is

Wow so we still use Pagan Gods names such as Woden for our weekdays whereas Europeans straight up just say mid week? Interesting

@Michael Evans in Dutch it is Woensdag.

@Michael Evans Thursday is cooler in Dutch - Donderdag/ Thunderday - same Origin as 'Thor's day'

Hence "Kentish Man" is west of the Medway and "Man of Kent" is east of the Medway.

There is the Arturo Sanders novels by Peter Rhodan

But how would you add diversity to such a period, I doubt one black person would be enought.

@@what-oy8il haha

I'm actually toying with the idea of doing a full series on Russia.

Ten Minute History i hope u dont forget other peoples of russia when u do it :)

@@HistoryMatters fun fact no

They are essentially the same people. Angles came from southern Denmark. There are even accounts of the Danes in Danelaw a viking kingdom established in england that old english and old norse were to some degree mutually intelligible languages.

Yes someone saw it

The Arturo Sanders novels by Peter Rhodan takes place in 410 CE, Roman England Four of the six novels/Ebooks are released

Frisians left their DNA in southern England

Wrong.

@@johnbuckley6051 All these people who think they know better than the Venerable Bede. The impertinence!

@@alanpennie8013 When I was as at school, English kids were taught our history and traditions and where they stem from. These days there are hardly any English at all and some of them are as thick as two short planks with no idea or interest in their land or their identity.

@@johnbuckley6051 that's because every English child is educated that they're BRITISH and being English is bad and non inclusive, but in the rest of the UK being British is an secondary option or to be frowned upon.

Cymru you numpty

I hate you I can’t I see that now lol.

Came here to say this very thing.

Yaaaaaaa

And it's more than ten minutes

OMG YES

@@haydencrawford8552 and your profile pic is omg no

@@paranoidandroid6095 it's astolfo! One of charlemagne's knights!

@@haydencrawford8552 i know

@@haydencrawford8552 fate is cancer itself, not saying about cross dressing meatshitbags

Northumbria is the best!

@Volgen The Person I think you'll find he beat the Danes and not the Angles

You silly geese, everyone knows that Kent shall rise again!

Let's be real Cornwall wasn't conquered for a reason. If they wanted to they'd mess you up.