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com/britain/london-time-anglo-saxons Search Home About Things to Do Discover Video Contact Us HelpLogin/Register London in the Time of the Anglo-Saxons A reconstruction of a Viking boat, Ravnunge. Image Credit - Jens Auer. At its peak during the 2nd century AD, Roman London (Londinium) had a population of up to 60,000 people and represented a thriving urban centre. But as the Roma n Empire declined over the next 300 years, so too did the city. In 410, Britain was cut loose from the Empire altogether, and with it London. Troops and officia ls departed, and the city was left to fend for itself. Exactly what happened during the immediately ensuing phase in Londons history whi ch is referred to as the Sub-Roman period, and lasted from approximately 450 unt il 600 AD is mysterious. A small enclave of wealthy families is believed to have continued to inhabit villas to the southeast of the Roman city into the 5th cen tury. But by the end of the 5th century, they along with almost everyone else ha d left. London was abandoned. Situated on a broad and deep river, surrounded by flat terrain and bountiful wet lands, the citys strategic location remained undeniable, and it wasnt long before a new phase in Londons history began, as the Anglo-Saxons became the dominant for ce in post-Roman Britain. They ushered in a new and turbulent era in the future British capitals history, one that would last over 600 years, until the Norman Co nquest in 1066, and turns it prove prosperous and violent, as the city prospered as a trading hub but struggled to resist the bloodthirsty attentions of Viking raiders. Who Were the Anglo-Saxons? All kinds of foreign invaders sought to fill the power vacuum left by the retrea ting Romans Picts and the Scots threatened from the north and west, while German ic tribes encroached from the south. In 449 AD, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chr onicle our key source of information on the Anglo-Saxon era, compiled in the 9th century from the writings of early historians such as Gildas and the Venerable Bede the Britonic warlord Vortigern is said to have invited Germanic mercenaries to help defend his lands. Must-know Facts About Anglo-Saxon London: 410 Romans leave Britain and London C. 550 Anglo-Saxons have become the dominant force in post-Roman England, and be gin building their own city on the Thames, Lundenwic 842 The great slaughter, London sacked for the first time by Viking raiders 865-871 The Great Heathen Army invades England and captures London 878 King Alfred the Great defeats the Danes at the Battle of Ethandun, and retak es London 886-896 Old Roman Londinium re-settled and reinforced by Anglo-Saxons 1013-1014 Danes lay siege to and eventually capture London, causing thelred the U nready to flee to Normandy 1014-1016 thelred returns and recaptures London, pulling down London Bridge in th e process, but the Danes hit back and become rulers of England 1066 Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a chain of events that leads to the Norman Conquest and the end of Anglo-Saxon rule These mercenaries revolted, however, and soon drove the Britons out, before esta blishing themselves as the dominant regional power. Its not certain whether the A nglo-Saxon Chronicle is true, but the story does provide some telling clues as t o how and why Germanic peoples in the fifth and sixth centuries came to settle a nd take control over just one area among many in the south and east of what woul

d become known as England. These invading tribes included the Saxons, Franks and Frisians of German-Dutch e xtraction, the Southern-Danish Angles and the Northern-Danish Jutes. Their rapid immigration was driven by a shortage of good farmland in their native territori es. Eventually, all of these tribes would blur together into one people whose na me emerges in records during the time of King Alfred the Great, who reigned from 871 to 899. He frequently used the title rex Anglorum Saxonum which basically mea ns king of the English Saxons. The language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons was called Englisc, and the lands they inhabited became known as England. Under the Anglo-Saxons, England became divided into a dense and complex array of petty kingdoms, all of which jostled for power and status over the centuries. F or a long time scholars believed there were seven main polities, known as the He ptarchy Northumbria, Merica, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex and Wessex. Howeve r, this idea has fallen out of favour, since there appears to in fact have been many more petty kingdoms scattered across the country in this era, including Hwi cce, Magonsaete, Kingdom of Lindsey and Middle Anglia, to name but a few. The London area technically fell within the boundaries of the East Saxons, altho ugh its importance wasnt lost on the kings of other territories, including the ru lers of Kent, Mercia and Wessex, who each took the city into their direct contro l at different stages. Under the shifting influence of these power blocs, a bran d new city was established on the Thames, and quickly prospered. Lundenwic: A Market for Many Peoples Coming by Land and Sea The Anglo-Saxons didnt move into the Roman remains, but instead established their own city Lundenwic one mile (1.6 kilometres) west and upriver of Londinium (whi ch came to be known as Lundenburh or "London Fort"). Lundenwic began life as a s mall trading-settlement as early as mid-6th century, in roughly the same spot wh ere the Strand and Charing Cross exist today. By the early 9th century it had ex panded into a city of approximately 600,000 square metres, with boundaries rough ly equivalent to those of Londons modern West End. Archaeologists excavated the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden which uncovered ev idence to suggest an organised city. Image Credit - Mark Kobayashi-Hillary. The wealth and relative sophistication of Lundenwic isnt to be underestimated. Ex cavations by archaeologists during the renovation of the Royal Opera House in Co vent Garden in the 1990s found evidence to suggest the city was very well-organi sed. It has to be, as a major industrial trading hub (wic was an Anglo-Saxon word for trading town, so Lundenwic literally meant London trading town) with a large har bour that connected it directly with other major English and continental towns a nd cities. A grid system of well maintained roads resurfaced at least ten times in 200 year s were unearthed. Artefacts found in the ruins included pottery and millstones o riginating from France and Germany proof of extensive foreign trade. Coinage was minted in the city for the first time since the departure of the Romans, and a cash economy which also seems to have made use of Roman money as a peripheral, l ow-value currency appears to have operated. Excavations of an Anglo-Saxon cemete ry in 2008 revealed some of the citys residents to haven been relatively wealthy individuals of middle to high class, who were able to afford jewellery and other luxury goods, as well as expensive funerals. Bede wrote in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of Lundenwic being a market for many peop les coming by land and sea. At its peak in the late 8th century, the citys populat ion may have been as high as 10,000 people. Clearly, this was a large, well-to-d o and cosmopolitan place by the standards of the time. Sadly, this meant it didnt

go unnoticed by outsiders, and the peace was soon shattered under the hammer of murderous raiders from the north. The Great Slaughter Viking incursions into the British Isles began with raids against monasteries in Scotland and the north of England in the late 8th century. By the early part of the 9th century, Scandinavian pirates attacking directly from Denmark, Sweden a nd Norway had started to venture further and further south in search of blood an d treasure. They soon began to wreak havoc on Lundenwic, which at that time was effectively an open and undefended site (remains of a system of log ramparts, pa lisades and ditches dating from the period have been discovered along one side o f the city by archaeologists, but these defenses evidently proved little protect ion). The first Viking assault on London referred to by one chronicler as the great sla ughter occurred in 842. Houses were burned, men killed and women raped. Not satis fied with their orgy of terror, the Vikings returned to inflict further sufferin g on Lundenwic in 851 in a raid that is said to have involved as many as 350 shi ps. By then, the city was close to deserted, its inhabitants scattered to the co untryside in fear. A full-scale Viking invasion of England was launched in 865, as The Great Heathe n Army a Danish force thousands strong, one of the greatest Viking armies ever a ssembled landed in East Anglia, having already terrorised the continent. Led by Halfdan Ragnarsson a ruler so cruel even his own troops hated him and Ivar the B oneless, a warrior known as a berserker for his habit of descending into a trancelike fury in battle, the force successively conquered three of the four main kin gdoms of England at that time Northumberland, East Anglia and Merica leaving a t rail of misery and destruction in its wake. The whole of England was in danger of falling. By 871 the Viking horde was on th e outskirts of Lundenwic, and may even have occupied the city altogether. They d idnt stay for long, though one of the most famous kings in Anglo-Saxon history ma de sure of that. Alfred the Great The Alfred Plaque commemorating Alfred the Great. Image credit - BrotherMagneto. In 1871 King Alfred became ruler of the southern kingdom of Wessex the only Angl o-Saxon kingdom to at that time remain independent from the invading Danes. We k now lots about Alfred, because the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was created during his reign. Indeed, the Chronicle was probably composed on his orders, in a bid to re vive learning and encourage the use of English as a written language, not to men tion record for posterity the undoubted achievements of the only British monarch to attain the suffix the Great. Born in born in 849 at Wantage, Oxfordshire he was the youngest son of King thelw ulf of Wessex. His love of learning was legendary one popular story about the yo ung Alfred (probably not true, but revealing at least as to the mythology histor y has built around him) has it that he won a volume of poetry as a prize from hi s mother, by becoming the first of her five children to memorise the book in its entirety. After assisting his brother King Aethelred in beating back the Danes at the Batt le of Ashdown in 870, Alfred ascended to the throne (his father had insisted tha t his sons become king in turn, so that none of them would be forced to rule at a young age) just as the tide of war turned back against the Anglo-Saxons.

Over the next few years, the Danes attacked into Wessex again and again, inflict ing defeat after defeat on Alfreds embattled kingdom, at one stage nearly capturi ng the king in his winter fortress at Chippenham. He tried to fend them off, if not by military might then with treaties and bribes, but by 878 Alfred was force d to retreat to the marshes of the Somerset Levels and mount a guerilla campaign from Fort Athelney. The Anglo-Saxon reign in England was at its lowest ebb, but still clinging on. The Battle of Ethandun A decisive encounter occurred in the spring of 878 at the Battle of Ethandun (or Edington). Emerging from his swamp hideout, Alfred rallied the remaining militi a forces of Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire at Egberts Stone, east of Selwood, who rejoiced to see him according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. His remarkable su ccess in raising an army seemingly from nowhere was testament to his skill in ma intaining the loyalty of a network of officials responsible for levying and lead ing forces, and also his cunning deployment of scouts and messengers. King Alfred and his army marched to Ethandun (the exact position of which remain s unidentified, but is thought to be near modern Westbury in Wiltshire) and on a n unknown date between May 6 and 12, clashed with The Great Heathen Army. The An glo-Saxons were outnumbered, but their tactics were shrewd. Using a technique th at must have been passed-down in military learning from the Roman occupation, th ey locked-shields, forming a dense shield-wall, according to the Chronicle. Alfred the Great - King of Wessex 871-899 on the walls of Lichfield Cathedral. I mage credit - Tim Ellis. Fighting ferociously... and striving long and bravely... at last he [Alfred] gain ed the victory. He overthrew the Pagans with great slaughter, and smiting the fu gitives, he pursued them as far as the fortress. The fortress mentioned ironically enough was Chippenham where Alfred had narrowl y evaded capture the previous winter. The Anglo-Saxons laid siege to the strongh old, forcing the Danes to the brink of starvation. King Guthrum, the Danish lead er, was forced to sue for peace. Alfred was wise enough to accept that he didnt h ave the strength to eject the Danes from Britain altogether, so he allowed them to hold onto and preside over a territory known as the Danelaw, comprising the K ingdom of Northumbria, the Kingdom of East Anglia, and the lands of the Five Bor oughs of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln. Another presumably quite humiliating condition of the surrender was the Guthrum had convert to Chri stianity, with Alfred as his sponsor. With the Vikings defeated, Lundenwic was returned to Anglo-Saxon control. It wou ld become a key stronghold of a newly fortified Anglo-Saxon kingdom, which was n ow unified under one monarch. The Revival of Roman London A period of relative stability and expansion returned to London after the defeat of The Great Heathen Army. Across Anglo-Saxon England, following the devastatio n of the Danish invasion, Alfred set about turning various important cities into fortified strongholds called Burhs. London was one such city. Its a testimony to Roman engineering that the Anglo-Saxons chose to strengthen th e citys security by retreating to Londinium, the great walls of which still stood firm. By 896, settlement in Roman London was reestablished, and what would cent uries later become the modern City of London had effectively been founded. Its de fenses were reinforced with a freshly-cut ditch surrounding the walls, and Londo n Bridge the old Roman version of which was probably destroyed during the Viking

invasion was rebuilt. On the southern side of the Thames, a new borough was fou nded called Southwark. Lundenwic, meanwhile, was left practically deserted, and became referred to as Ealdwic or old settlement, the etymology of which still surv ives today in the area of Aldwych. Alfred handed control London to his son-in-law Ealdorman Aethelred of Mercia in 886; upon Aethelreds death in 911, London for the first time came under the direc t rule of the English kings. The capital of England remained at Winchester, but London became an important political centre for the Anglo-Saxons. That prominence was mirrored in its burgeoning fortunes. Commerce blossomed once more, and wealth flowed. Modern institutions began to form. Portreeves were app ointed precursors of the county sheriff, responsible for collecting taxes and th e Peace Guild was established, a kind of very early antecedent of the Metropolit an Police, charged with the repression of theft, the tracing of stolen cattle, an d the indemnification of persons robbed, according to the Anglo-Saxon dictionary. But there was more turmoil to come, as the Danes with whom a fragile peace had b arely held for long returned to take the jewel in the English crown for a second time. King thelred the Unready and the Second Danish Conquest An AEthelred penny. Image credit - portableantiquities. King thelred II is another Anglo-Saxon king whose name is remembered with a suffi x, albeit a much less generous one than the Alfreds the Unready. Strictly speaking it was actually The Unread a play on his name, meaning without good advice (thelreds ounsel was notoriously poor) but over the centuries the meaning has become twist ed. His reign is remembered as being weak thelred failed to encourage loyalty in his men, and believed he could buy off the growing threat of the Danes with tributes . He paid mercenaries to defend English lands when he could have better invested the money in building a strong army. Sensing this weakness, Vikings began raidi ng into Anglo-Saxon lands again in the 980s, led by King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denm ark. In 1014 thelred was forced to flee England for Normandy. The first Danish attack on London came in 994. It was unsuccessful, but many mor e raids followed, culminating in a long siege from 1013-1014 (it was this that p rompted thelred, who favoured the city as his capital, to take flight). The city was isolated, in a country that was now completely controlled by the Danes. But t helred returned in the spring of 1014, backed by his ally King Olaf of Norway, a nd together they drove their common enemy out of England. A Norse saga from the period tells a famous tale of thelreds recapture of London. The English and Norwegian forces attacked on boats up the Thames, so the Danes l ined London Bridge to pelt them with spears and other missiles as they approache d. thelreds army defended itself by stripping the roofs of houses to use as shield s. They were able to get close enough to the bridge to attach lines to its piers , then row so powerfully away from the fragile structure that it came crashing d own into the river. The nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down is said to o riginate from this incident. They were able to get close enough to London Bridge to attach lines to its piers, then row so powerfully away from the fragile structure that it came crashing do wn into the river. The nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down is said to or iginate from this incident.The triumph was short-lived. By the time of thelreds dea th in 1016, much of England had been re-conquered by King Sweyn Forkbeards succes sor Cnut (or Canute), who recommenced attacks on London. thelreds son Edmund Irons

ide led a valiant resistance against the Danes, but was finally defeated at the Battle of Ashingdon in Essex on October 18, 1016. He was forced to cede all terr itories north of the Thames to the Danish king, including London. The Norman Conquest and the End of Anglo-Saxon London After Edmund Ironsides death in November 1016 (apparently of natural causes, alth ough some legends have it that he was assassinated) King Cnut (or Canute) became ruler of all of England, as well as Denmark and Norway. He ruled very well sinc e most Viking raiders were under his control, he was able to cease violence agai nst London and England, and allow the resumption of trade and prosperity. But he also made the mistake of devolving a lot of power to noblemen or earls (which ori ginates from the Danish word jarl), setting in motion a chain of events that would herald the end of the Anglo-Saxon period in England, and usher in a new dawn fo r the country. Edward the Confessor at St Edward s Church, Wetherby, West Yorkshire. Image cred it to Tim Green. After Cnuts death, and the short reigns of two further Danish kings Harold Harefo ot and Harthacanute the Anglo-Saxon line was restored when thelred the Unreadys so n by Emma of Normandy, Edward the Confessor, took the throne in 1042. Edward wou ld prove the last effective Anglo-Saxon King of England. He too allowed English nobles, such as Earl Godwin of Wessex, to increase in str ength. When Edward died, childless, in 1066, no heir was apparent. The late kings cousin, Duke William of Normandy, claimed the throne but the Witenagemot essent ially the English Royal Council met in London and choose Godwins son and Edwards b rother-in-law Harold Godwinson as the next king. William was incensed, and immed iately launched an invasion that culminated in the Battle of Hastings, Harolds de ath and the Norman Conquest of England. London was never actually defeated by William after his victory at Hastings, he marched on the city and captured Southwark, but was prevented from crossing Lond on Bridge. The city later surrendered, and William rewarded Londoners by grantin g them a special charter in 1075, allowing London a unique degree of autonomy wi thin Norman England, paving the way for its growth into an economic and politica l powerhouse. With the carrot came the stick, though, and he also built a number of castles near the city to keep it subdued, among them the Tower of London. With Anglo-Saxon rule over, a wholesale cultural and political transformation be gan, based on systems and ideas imported from the continent. London was on its w ay towards becoming the modern capital of the unified England and Britain it rep resents today. Read or leave comments

About The Author Malcolm Jack (follow me: e-mail or ) Last three pieces by this author: 10 Reasons Why Socrates is Still Relevant Toda y | Top 10 Ancient Greek Philosophers | Interview: Bettany Hughes on The Hemlock Cup and Bringing Ancient History Into the 21st Century Malcolm Jack is a freelance arts and entertainment journalist based in Glasgow, Scotland. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2004 with an MA Honou rs Degree in History. Tags