Tuesday 14 June 2016

Angle-Land

"Though Dane, Jute, Anglian, and Saxon thought of themselves as unlike each other, they were closely akin in blood, tongue, and lifeways. Many of them were going west overseas to harry the Franks and carve new homes out of England."
-Poul Anderson, War Of The Gods (Tor Books, New York, 1999), p. 233.

Except that they would not have called it "England" yet? The Angles gave their name to England and to one part of it, Anglia, although not also to the Welsh island, Anglesey. In any case, Hadding sees Jutes leaving Jutland and Manse Everard sees them after their arrival in England because parts of the first Time Patrol story, "Time Patrol," are set in the same period as War Of The Gods:

"...the Romans had left Britain, the Romano-British civilization was crumbling, and the English were moving in." (Time Patrol, p. 29)

"'Kent was invaded from Jutland...'" (p. 22)

"Among the jostling Jutes, he spotted an occasional Romano-Briton..." (p. 35)

A Jute comments on the displaced British:

"'...I for one see little use in all these books and baths, to say naught of that weird cross-god they have...'" (p. 33)

Many of us now appreciate Roman hygiene and learning even if we do not share their religion.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And, of course, because of Pope Gregory I's intense personal interest in the Anglo/Saxons, the faith of that "weird cross-god" would begin to be preached to the descendants of these invaders not much more than about 120 years later!

Sean