Chapter Peopling the British Isles 1

1.1 The Anglo-Saxons（盎格鲁撒克逊人）

The ancestors of English-speaking people are called the Anglo-Saxons, a

Germanic tribal people, who originally lived in southern Denmark and northern

Germany. Since the Anglo-Saxons were illiterate and had no written language of

their own, they are historically called barbarians. Other barbarians include Franks,

Visigoths, Vandals, etc. And it was the Visigoths that brought the Roman Empire

to its end. According to Cunliffe (2013), the first three centuries of the Roman

invasion had promoted the extensive mobility of population and in the late 3rd

century there were German conscripts in Roman auxiliary units. Other reasons for

the Germanic tribes to move westward from northern Europe could be cold climate

or hunger. The three tribes among them were the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes.

Their destination was the British Isles and it took them 150 years to complete the

settlement in Britain since the year of 449 AD. In the meantime another group of the

Germanic people arrived at Brittany, west of France. This second group had made a

greater impact on Britain than the Anglo-Saxons, which will be discussed later. Apart

from the previously mentioned reasons, the fourth possible reason for this large-scale

migration was related to the Chinese who drove the Huns (匈奴) out of northern

英语使用者的祖先是来自北欧日耳曼部落的盎格鲁人、撒克逊人和朱特人。公元5世

纪时他们背井离乡迁移到不列颠岛国。本章讲述盎格鲁撒克逊人定居之前不列颠的社会形

态，如罗马人的占领留下了什么以及早于罗马人定居此地的凯尔特人的生活状态，还涉及

盎格鲁撒克逊人西迁的动因、定居不列颠后的生活和基督教传播的状况。

Chapter

1Peopling the British Isles

不列颠岛屿的居民

导读 Synopsis

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English Language and Culture英语语言与文化

part of China in Han Dynasty. According to Xu Bo (2009), people causing the huge

movement of the European barbarians could be the Huns who had been defeated by

Emperor Wu Di (156-87 BC) and swept the savage people westward. “Crossing the

Volga and the Don River from east to west to enter eastern Europe, the nomads led,

coerced and forced many other savage people toward the frontier of Roman Empire,

sweeping and destroying anything encountered.”

The barbarians are called like that in contrast to the highly civilized Romans

because the latter inherited many aspects of ancient Greek civilization. In literature,

for instance, the Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BC) created the Roman epic The Aeneid

following Homeric legend The Odyssey. Like Odysseus in The Odyssey who

experienced a multitude of difficulties and hardships trying to go back home Ithaca,

having defeated the Trojans, Aeneas, the hero of the epic, leading his bedraggled

soldiers defeated by the Greeks, underwent numerous hazards and perils before

finding his destination Italy. In this way Aeneas became the ancestor of the Romans

and the city of Rome was established in 753 by his offspring Romulus and Remus,

300 years after the death of Aeneas (Jones, 2012). In order to gain pride of the

Romans for their ancestors, Virgil has intentionally fabricated the plot of the epic

while the Homeric epics could be partially traced back to history.

In philosophy, the Latin Fathers such as St. Jerome, St. Ambrose and St.

Augustine in Rome integrated Plato’s ideas of afterlife and the separation between

body and soul into the compilation of the Bible, which means that man’s soul still

functions after the body departs. In addition, the deductive reasoning method, i.e. the

syllogism, was inherited by scholars of scholasticism. And Latin used by the Romans

was dominant in Europe for a thousand years due to the prevalence of Christianity.

As we know, the Romans are renowned for their engineering technology in

architecture and aqueduct projects. During the period of their occupation in England,

the Romans built many roads, towns, villas and bathing facilities. Because of the

public bathing house constructed by the Romans in Bristol, England still attracts

tourists today and the town was named after the bathing house, i.e. Bath. The most

important road built by the Romans connected the city of London, or Londinium

in Latin, and the city of Rome or Silchester (BBC News, 2010). In the late period of

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Peopling the British Isles不列颠岛屿的居民Chapter 1

Roman occupation, the Roman villas were extremely popular and Lullingstone was a

case in point. The Romans also constructed the Saxon Shore, the well-known military

citadel (Musgrove, 2010). The barbarians like the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, the

Franks, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths and the Vandals were considerably dwarfed

by the highly developed Roman civilization. Ironically though, it is none other than

those savage peoples that eventually conquered the civilized people and overthrew

the Roman Empire. Undoubtedly, the collapse of Roman Empire was closely related

to its inner corruption of political system and its luxurious and dissipated life.

1.2 The Celts（凯尔特人）

Before the Anglo-Saxon settlements and the Roman invasions, the inhabitants

of Britain were the Celts, European immigrants from France and western Germany.

They lived in Britain between 700 BC-100 AD. More recent research carried out

by Cunliffe (2013) revealed, however, that the Celts are probably the Spanish who

moved to Britain by 2000 BC. The Celts, also called Indo-Europeans, are further

divided into the Picts, the Britons and the Scots. The word “Scots” has two meanings.

One refers to the indigenous people in Scotland. The other stands for the Gaelic-

speaking Irish who had moved to Scotland. The Picts who lived in northern part

of Scotland were famous for their toughness and belligerence. When the Romans

first came to Britain in the first century, they were frequently assaulted by the Picts

and failed eventually in their attempt to occupy Scotland. Because people of this

nationality liked to paint colors on their body, the Romans called them “Pict”, a

Latin word meaning “a person who paints colors on his body”. Julius Caesar, the

renowned Roman general, twice landed in Britain in 55 BC and 54 BC. In the first

invasion the Roman soldiers encountered strong resistance and had to withdraw

from Britain. The second landing of the Romans was successful but lasted only a

short period of time. The formal conquest of Britain by the Romans began in 43 AD

under the throne of Roman emperor Claudius (10 BC-54 AD; his imperial presidency

was between 41-54 AD). The subsequent Emperor Hadrian ordered to build a 73-

mile wall, i.e. the Hadrian’s Wall, in 122 AD for the purpose of keeping the hostile

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Picts out of England. Look at the map below and we find another wall, i.e. the

Antonie Wall, to north of the Hadrian’s Wall, which was constructed in 142 AD at

the order of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and is 39 miles long. The area between

the two walls functioned as frontier barrier of Roman Britain to protect the northern

boundary from other tribes.

Upon the arrival of the Germanic

tribes at Britain in 449 AD the

Roman Empire had already declined.

All the Roman legions withdrew from

Britain in the year 409 AD so that

the Anglo-Saxons met fewer tough

enemies in Britain. Having no strong

protection from the Roman legions,

the Britons faced another fierce attack

from the Picts in the north. At that

time Vortigen, the king of Britain,

decided to ask help from the newly

arrived Saxons to withstand their

enemies from the north. In return the king would allow the Saxons to stay in Britain.

Not unexpectedly, the Saxon brothers Hengist and Horsa defeated the Picts so that

they gained the right to remain in Kent. That was the year 449 AD.

The Anglo-Saxons came to Britain in the following way: The Jutes, coming from

southern Denmark, landed in Kent, the southeast area of Britain. The Angles and the

Saxons who came from northern Germany settled separately in northern England

and southwest of England. Thus the three tribal peoples became ancestors of the

English-speaking people.

The frequently used acronym WASP is derived from the history and the full name

is the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. It is well known that the American society was

dominated by the WASP and it was this group of people who decided on legislature,

judiciary and administration of the country. So the WASP could also indicate elites of

the American society, especially before 21st century. Thanks to this group of people

The Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall

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the 102 pilgrims embarked on the ship Mayflower in 1,620, got ashore in Plymouth

and established the country called the United States in the newly found continent.

The reason was that in this free soil they could freely practice their religious belief

Puritanism. In 1,608, some English Puritans migrated to Holland, a free country, to

practice their religious belief. But before long the second generation got accustomed

to the Dutch culture and forgot their own. That motivated them to move again to the

new land.

Beyond the expectations of the Britons, these newly arrived immigrants did

not plan to live peacefully in such an abundant land. Instead, the Anglo-Saxons

directed against the Britons who asked them for help. One could hardly imagine

these Germanic people were so brave and resourceful in battles, matching the Roman

legions. On top of that their asperity and brutality were also comparable to that of

the Romans. Consequently, the frail and pathetic Celtic people were gradually forced

out of their wealthy and prosperous land where they might have lived for 2,000 years

and moved toward the peripheral areas such as Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Ireland

and Brittany in present-day France. From

the picture on the right we can see in the

8th century Anglo-Saxons took control

of most of the territories of Britain. The

dark-grey areas were occupied by the

invaders while the light-colored areas

were mainly taken up by the Gaelic-

speaking Celts. Comparatively speaking,

the natural condition of the fringe areas

was poorer and infertile. There was a

drastic change in demography, too. The

Celts had changed from previous majority

settlers of Britain to the present minority

nationality due to the English invasions. This situation inevitably led to the conflict

and estrangement between the two nationalities because the majority Anglo-Saxons

held a powerful position while the Celtic minority was in the inferior position. For

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a long historical period of time Ireland was under control of the English rulers and

it was not until 1921 that Ireland became independent from Britain. But it was also

during this time that the six towns in Northern Ireland were separated from the

Republic of Ireland and have remained in Britain, causing a rise in nationalism. For

instance, at the beginning of 20th century, IRA, the Irish Republican Army tried hard

to help Northern Ireland gain independence from Britain and they even used the

method of terrorism to achieve their purpose.

The Irish nationalism is reflected in several Irish men of letters, e.g. William

Butler Yeats, James Joyce and Seamus Heaney. In his attempt to revive Celtic

literature and tradition, Yeats (1865-1939) in his early poetry drew on the ancient

Irish myths and legends. But he expressed his nationalism and defied English

government in his later poems. For instance, in Easter 1916, Yeats expressed

mournful sentiment for those dead rebels and denounced what the English had done

(Fakia, 2009). The setting of this poem was in Easter, Dublin in 1916. The Irish

Citizen Army planned to stage a rebellion in Dublin against the British rule in Ireland

and the date for rebellion was Monday, 24th April. Initially the insurgents took hold

of the main buildings and won small victories against the British army. But several

days later, many of the rebels were killed and the four described in the poem were

executed after they surrendered. Yeats admired the rebels’ heroism and patriotism

and he sang praise for what they had done for this country. One of the martyrs is

called McBride who in fact is not liked by Yeats. But in the poem Yeats expressed

admiration and respect for him anyway. Other poems expressing nationalism include

The Second Coming and Sailing to Byzantium.

The second Irish novelist James Joyce (1882-1941) expressed his patriotism in

his early work Dubliners, a collection of 15 short stories. The purpose is to make

criticism on people’s indifference and numbness, the so-called “moral paralysis”(Sun

and Zong, 1984). For instance, in The Sisters, the first of the 15 short stories, Father

Flynn, the old priest died of fear of the broken chalice, symbol of loss of faith. But

people around him had little consciousness of that and his two sisters could not

understand why such an incident caused their brother’s death. The implied meaning

was that people living in this city had no moral pursuit. Joyce intended to awake his

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people to such a fact and edify their morality. In another story Ivy Day, Joyce, on the

surface, told a story about how the Irish Party agents helped canvass people for their

head Mr. Tierney, which was obviously wrong. But the true protagonist of this story

was Parnell, the former leader of Irish Party, who did not appear in the story. He was

described as an “Uncrowned King”, and “He would have had his Erin famed, /The

green flag gloriously unfurled, /Her statesmen, bards and warriors raised/Before the

nations of the World”. Unfortunately, however, Parnell is dead and the people in the

story cherished the memory of him and hoped that one day “his spirit may/Rise, like

the Phoenix from the flames, /When breaks the dawning of the day, /The day that

brings us Freedom’s reign” (James Joyce, 1984:152-153).

Though not wanting to take sides, Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) is outspoken

in making critique on violence and the chaos caused by it. He pointed out that

the Catholics in Northern Ireland were prejudiced against and maltreated by the

Protestants, causing confrontations between the Irish Republican Army and British

government. The unbearable thing was that the British army shot the civil rights

protesters, leading to 13 death tolls and 14 injuries. The following quote is taken

from his 1995 Nobel Prize address:

While the Christian moralist in oneself was impelled to deplore the atrocious

nature of the IRA’s campaign of bombings and killings, and the“mere Irish”in

oneself was appalled by the ruthlessness of the British Army on occasions like

Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972, the minority citizen in oneself, the one who had

grown up conscious that his group was distrusted and discriminated against in

all kinds of official and unofficial ways, this citizen’s perception was at one with

the poetic truth of the situation in recognizing that if life in Northern Ireland were

ever really to flourish, change had to take place.

Born and brought up in Derry, Northern Ireland and being a Catholic

Republican, Heaney has profound feelings for this land and he wants to use his

poetry to help people gain peaceful life. But sometimes such a good intension is not

easily reached. The poem Casualty in Field Work 1979 expresses his mournful feeling

for Louis O’Neil who died in the Bloody Sunday. This poem echoes with what Yeats

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has written in Easter 1916, which memorizes those who died in the struggle to drive

away the British government in Northern Ireland (Weiner, 2014). The title Casualty

is borrowed from Yeats’ line “He, too, has resigned his part/In the casual comedy”.

But the difference is that the main character McBride that Yeats mourns for is the

leader of the rising while the unnamed fisherman in Heaney’s poem has nothing

to do with politics. “He was blown to bits/Out drinking in a curfew.” Heaney asks

“How culpable was he/That last night when he broke/Our tribe’s complicity?” The

point made here is that an ordinary citizen dies due to the conflict in politics which

has nothing to do with this man at all. So the poet deplores the innocent death of

the fisherman and in the meantime condemns the people who caused such casualty,

i.e. the British authorities. Since the Saville Inquiry reported that “all of those shot

were unarmed, and that the killings were both ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’”. David

Cameron, the British Prime Minister, made a formal apology on behalf of the United

Kingdom (Wikipedia Retrieved, 2014).

Regarding Scotland the situation is not so optimistic. Recently we heard about

Scottish independence referendum. According to an Economist article (April 12,

2012), the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) thinks that Scotland has

its own society and nation and can prosper when it has sovereignty. The pro-

independence Scots think that they are subsidizing the British government by

the North Sea oil and gas. Others complain about the arrogance of Westminster

politicians.

In history Scotland was an independent nation. But in 1286 after the death of

monarch Margaret, 13 descendants of former monarchs scrambled for power. Seeing

this EdwardⅠof England, intervened on behalf of John de Baliol, a grandson of

DavidⅠ, proclaiming suzerainty（宗主权）over Scotland. Then William Wallace was

trying to get back the power from the English monarch but failed. In 14th century

Robert Bruce, another Scottish patriot, led his people to struggle for independence.

The Scots won independence from England in 1328 when the regents of the young

EdwardⅢof England approved the Treaty of Northampton. More than 300 years

later in 1707 Scotland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (Microsoft

Encarta Encyclopedia, 2002) for the purpose of protecting the newly emerged

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religion Protestantism. Yet during the 300-year union problems and complaints still

exist among Scots. Up till now, the Celts living in Britain still remember their heroic

leader King Arthur, hoping that one day Arthur would come and lead his people to

fight for freedom and independence.

But in any case, the British national flag or the Union Jack still has three crosses

representing the three different nationalities: the white diagonal cross on a blue

ground symbolizes the Scottish patron saint St. Andrew; the red cross on a white

ground stands for England and their patron saint is St. George; and the red diagonal

cross on a white ground belongs to the Irish patron saint St. Patrick. The Union flag

looks very much like the Chinese character 米. So we often call it 米 character flag.

But what we do not know is its religious connotations behind each cross. Take a look

at the following picture.

The story about St. George, the English patron

saint, goes like this: A monster comes to ravage a

pagan land every year, greatly disturbing the peaceful

life of the people living in this territory. In order to

pacify the monster and regain the quiet life, people

decide to make an offering to the dragon by sacrificing

a young person each year. Now it is the king’s turn to sacrifice his daughter. When

the king is just about to pass his daughter to the dragon, a young man named

George rushes to the spot and slays the monster and saves the princess. The king is

so grateful to George that he asks his people to be converted to Christianity. This is

the story about St. George. Now people in Britain celebrate St. George’s Day every

year.

The knowledge of British history helps us to communicate effectively in such

a globalized world. It is necessary to distinguish between “British” and “English”

because inappropriate use of the form of address would cause annoyance or even

offence. For instance, you do not use “English” to address people from Northern

Ireland, Scotland or Wales because the word “English” only refers to people coming

from England. Sometimes England is used in two senses: the narrow sense and the

broad sense. The latter could loosely refer to Britain but not accurately. If you do

The British National Flag

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not want to annoy British people with different nationalities, you had better use the

umbrella term “British” to address people coming from Great Britain unless you

know exactly where in Britain they come from. So the term British can be used to

address Irish, Scottish, Welsh and people from Cornwall without giving offence. It is

also safe to use “British” to address English.

In this section we have discussed the origin of the English-speaking people, the

relation between the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts, and the etiquette we should pay

attention to when communicating with people from Britain. Next we will look at

the characteristics of Old English and the Venerable Bede, a well-known monk who

wrote the Ecclesiastical History.

In-depth Reading深度阅读

1.3 古英语的特点

凯尔特人的母语统称盖尔语（Gaelic），它的具体方言包括爱尔兰盖尔语

（Irish Gaelic）、苏格兰盖尔语（Scots Gaelic）、康沃尔语（Cornish）和威尔士语

（Welsh）（Freeborn，2000）。这里需要明确一下，苏格兰盖尔语的使用者生活

在苏格兰高地（Highlands），而苏格兰语（Scots）的使用者则生活在苏格兰低地

（Lowlands）。低地地区的多数人是盎格鲁人的后裔，他们定居在边界地区（the

Borders）和东洛锡安（East Lothian）地区，属于诺森伯利亚王国统领。诺曼征服

后，为了躲避侵略者，一些盎格鲁撒克逊人从英格兰逃到了边界地区。这些人所讲

的语言称为低地苏格兰语（Lowland Scots），并逐渐代替了低地地区的盖尔语。所

以，低地苏格兰语更接近日耳曼部落的古英语（Old English）。居住在这里的苏格兰

人的祖先是由日耳曼人、凯尔特人和北欧人构成的。因此，苏格兰语不属于凯尔特

语，而属于古英语。

尽管盎格鲁撒克逊人占领了这片土地，由于蔑视凯尔特人，日耳曼部落的人很

少与失败者交往，因此在英语的借词里盖尔语词汇数量有限。英国人的祖先盎格

鲁撒克逊人讲的语言称古英语。古英语在句法（Syntax）、词汇（Lexicon）、拼

写（Spelling）和发音（Pronunciation）方面都与现代英语相去甚远。经过150年的

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Chapter Peopling the British Isles 1