The Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain

The concepts rooted in the history of medieval Europe play a major role in modern socio-political discourse. Among those are the terms “Anglo-Saxons” and “Anglo-Saxon”. As the name of German-speaking peoples who settled in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries, the ethnonym “Anglo-Saxons” emerged already in the Early Middle Ages. Starting from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when English antiquarians began a systematic study of the past of their country, the ethnonyms used by early medieval authors were interpreted precisely as designations of communities similar to the European peoples of the modern times. Throughout the nineteenth century the ethnonym “Anglo-Saxons” was used more and more often in its political and cultural meaning, at the same time, ethnic understanding spun off from it. There emerged an idea of the “Anglo-Saxon race”, which, depending on the specific context, began to be contrasted with the “Celtic”, “Latin”, “African” or “Indian” races. The idea of the emergence of a single English nation as a result of the mutual assimilation of the Saxons and Normans became the cornerstone of the Whig model of history that dominated the Victorian era.

Keywords

English history, historical writers, Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxonism, national identity, antiquarians, S. Turner, W. Scott, Whig interpretation of history

Received

18.08.2022

Publication date

15.12.2022

Number of characters

38655

Cite

GOST	Mereminskiy S. The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain // ISTORIYA – 2022. – V. 13. – Issue 11 (121) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840023078-4-1 (circulation date: 25.08.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023078-4
MLA	Mereminskiy, Stanislav "The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain." ISTORIYA 13.11 (121) (2022) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023078-4
APA	Mereminskiy S. (2022). The Origin of the “Anglo-Saxon” Myth: Early Medieval England in the Historical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Britain. ISTORIYA 13(11 (121)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023078-4

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