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Angles (tribe)
The Angles were one of the main Germanic peoples who
Angles
settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period.[2] They
founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon Ængle / Engle
England. Their name is the root of the name England ("land of
Ængle"). According to Tacitus, writing around 100 AD, a
people known as Angles (Anglii) lived east of the Lombards
and Semnones, who lived near the Elbe river.[3]

Etymology
The term Angles comes from Old English: Ængle, Engle and
Latin: Angli. The name of the Angles may have been first
recorded in Latinised form, as Anglii, in the Germania of
Tacitus. It is thought to derive from the name of the area they
originally inhabited, the Anglia Peninsula (Angeln in modern The spread of Angles (orange) and
German, Angel in modern Danish). Saxons (blue) to the British Isles
around 500 AD
Multiple theories concerning the etymology of the name have
been hypothesised: Regions with significant
populations
1. According to Gesta Danorum, Dan and Angul were made Jutland (Schleswig (Anglia),
rulers by the consent of their people because of their
Holstein), Frisia, Heptarchy
bravery. Dan gave name to Danes and Angel gave names
to Angles. (England)
2. It originated from the Germanic root for "narrow" (compare Languages
German and Dutch eng = "narrow"), meaning "the Narrow Old English
[Water]", i.e., the Schlei estuary; the root would be *h₂enǵʰ,
"tight". Religion
3. The name derives from "hook" (as in angling for fish), in Originally Germanic and Anglo-
reference to the shape of the peninsula; Indo-European Saxon paganism, later Christianity
linguist Julius Pokorny derives it from Proto-Indo-European
Related ethnic groups
*h₂enk-, "bend" (see ankle).[4] Alternatively, the Angles may
have been called such because they were a fishing people Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans,
or were originally descended from such.[5] English, Lowland Scots,[1] Saxons,
Frisii, Jutes
During the fifth century, all Germanic tribes who invaded
Britain were referred to as either Englisc, Ængle or Engle, who were all speakers of Old English
(which was known as Englisc, Ænglisc, or Anglisc). Englisc and its descendant, English, also goes
back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ-, meaning narrow.

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Pope Gregory I, in an epistle, simplified the

Latinised name Anglii to Angli, the latter form
developing into the preferred form of the word.[6]
The country remained Anglia in Latin. Alfred the
Great's translation of Orosius's history of the
world uses Angelcynn (-kin) to describe the
English people; Bede uses Angelfolc (-folk); also
such forms as Engel, Englan (the people),
Englaland, and Englisc occur, all showing i-
mutation.[7]

Greco-Roman
historiography The approximate positions of some Germanic
peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the
1st century. Suevian peoples in red, and other
Tacitus Irminones in purple

The earliest known mention of the Angles may be

in chapter 40 of Tacitus's Germania written around AD 98.
Tacitus describes the "Anglii" as one of the more remote Suebic
tribes compared to the Semnones and Langobardi, who lived on
the Elbe and were better known to the Romans. He grouped the
Angles with several other tribes in that region, the Reudigni,
Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarines, and Nuithones.[3][8] These
were all living behind ramparts of rivers and woods, and therefore
inaccessible to attack.[3][8]

He gives no precise indication of their geographical situation but

states that, together with the six other tribes, they worshipped
Nerthus, or Mother Earth, whose sanctuary was located on "an The map shows both the Anglia
island in the Ocean".[9] The Eudoses are the Jutes; these names (Angeln) and the Schwansen
probably refer to localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast. The peninsulas
coast contains sufficient estuaries, inlets, rivers, islands, swamps,
and marshes to have been then inaccessible to those not familiar
with the terrain, such as the Romans, who considered it unknown, inaccessible, with a small
population and of little economic interest.

The majority of scholars believe that the Anglii lived on the coasts of the Baltic Sea, probably in the
southern part of the Jutland peninsula. This view is based partly on Old English and Danish
traditions regarding persons and events of the fourth century, and partly because striking affinities
to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in pre-Christian Scandinavian
religion.[9]

Ptolemy

Surviving versions of the work of Ptolemy, who wrote around AD 150, in his atlas Geography
(2.10), describes them in a confusing manner. In one passage, the Sueboi Angeilloi (in Greek
equivalent to Latin spelling Suevi Angili), are living in a stretch of land between the northern
Rhine and central Elbe, but apparently not touching either river, with the Suebic Langobardi on
the Rhine to their west, and the Suebic Semnones on the Elbe stretching to their east. This is
unexpected. However, as pointed out by Gudmund Schütte, the Langobards also appear as the

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"Laccobardi" in another position near the Elbe and the Saxons,

which is considered more likely to be correct, and the Angles
probably lived in that region also.[10][11] Owing to the uncertainty
of this passage, much speculation existed regarding the original
home of the Anglii.

One theory is that they or part of them dwelt or moved among

other coastal people, perhaps confederated up to the basin of the
Saale (in the neighbourhood of the ancient canton of Engilin) on
the Unstrut valleys below the Kyffhäuserkreis, from which region
the Lex Anglorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed
by many to have come.[9][12] The ethnic names of Frisians and
Warines are also attested in these Saxon districts.

A second possible solution is that these Angles of Ptolemy are not

those of Schleswig at all. According to Julius Pokorny, the Angri-
in Angrivarii, the -angr in Hardanger and the Angl- in Anglii all Possible locations of the Angles
come from the same root meaning "bend", but in different senses. and Jutes before their migration
In other words, the similarity of the names is strictly coincidental to Britain
and does not reflect any ethnic unity beyond Germanic. Gudmund
Schütte, in his analysis of Ptolemy, believes that the Angles have
simply been moved by an error coming from Ptolemy's use of imperfect sources. He points out that
Angles are placed correctly just to the northeast of the Langobardi, but that these have been
duplicated, so that they appear once, correctly, on the lower Elbe, and a second time, incorrectly, at
the northern Rhine.[13]

Medieval historiography
Bede (died 735) stated that the Anglii, before coming to Great
Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, "which lies between the
province of the Jutes and the Saxons, and remains unpopulated
to this day." Similar evidence is given by the 9th-century
Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great and the chronicler
Æthelweard identified this place with Anglia, in the province of
Schleswig (Slesvig; though it may then have been of greater
extent), and this identification agrees with the indications
given by Bede.[9]

In the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere of Hålogaland's account of a

two-day voyage from the Oslo fjord to Schleswig, he reported
the lands on his starboard bow, and Alfred appended the note
"on these islands dwelt the Engle before they came hither".[n 1]
Confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions
relating to two kings named Wermund and Offa of Angel, from
whom the Mercian royal family claimed descent and whose
exploits are connected with Anglia, Schleswig, and
The Saint Petersburg Bede, 8th
Rendsburg.[9][12]
century

Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of

Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine)
and Wigo (Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex claimed descent. During the fifth century,
the Anglii invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent
except in the title of the legal code issued to the Thuringians: Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est
Thuringorum.[9][12]
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The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory I, who happened to see a group of Angle
children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. As the story was told by Bede, Gregory
was struck by the unusual appearance of the slaves and asked about their background. When told
they were called Anglii (Angles), he replied with a Latin pun that translates well into English:
"Bene, nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales angelorum in caelis decet esse coheredes" (It is
well, for they have an angelic face, and such people ought to be co-heirs of the angels in heaven).
Supposedly, this encounter inspired the pope to launch a mission to bring Christianity to their
countrymen.[16][17]

Archaeology
The province of Schleswig has proved rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the
fourth and fifth centuries. A large cremation cemetery has been found at Borgstedt, between
Rendsburg and Eckernförde, and it has yielded many urns and brooches closely resembling those
found in pagan graves in England. Of still greater importance are the great deposits at Thorsberg
moor (in Anglia) and Nydam, which contained large quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of
clothing, agricultural implements, etc., and in Nydam, even ships. By the help of these discoveries,
Angle culture in the age preceding the invasion of Britannia can be pieced together.[9]

Anglian kingdoms in England

According to sources such as the History of Bede, after the
invasion of Britannia, the Angles split up and founded the
kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. H. R. Loyn
has observed in this context that "a sea voyage is perilous to
tribal institutions",[18] and the apparently tribe-based
kingdoms were formed in England. Early times had two
northern kingdoms (Bernicia and Deira) and two midland ones
(Middle Anglia and Mercia), which had by the seventh century
resolved themselves into two Angle kingdoms, viz.,
Northumbria and Mercia.

Northumbria held suzerainty amidst the Teutonic presence in

the British Isles in the 7th century, but was eclipsed by the rise
of Mercia in the 8th century. Both kingdoms fell in the great
assaults of the Danish Viking armies in the 9th century. Their
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
royal houses were effectively destroyed in the fighting, and
throughout England
their Angle populations came under the Danelaw. Further
south, the Saxon kings of Wessex withstood the Danish
assaults. Then in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, the kings of Wessex defeated the Danes and
liberated the Angles from the Danelaw.

They united their house in marriage with the surviving Angle royalty, and were accepted by the
Angles as their kings. This marked the passing of the old Anglo-Saxon world and the dawn of the
"English" as a new people. The regions of East Anglia and Northumbria are still known by their
original titles. Northumbria once stretched as far north as what is now southeast Scotland,
including Edinburgh, and as far south as the Humber estuary and even the river Witham.

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The rest of that people stayed at the centre of the Angle homeland in the northeastern portion of
the modern German Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein, on the Jutland Peninsula. There, a small
peninsular area is still called Anglia today and is formed as a triangle drawn roughly from modern
Flensburg on the Flensburger Fjord to the City of Schleswig and then to Maasholm, on the Schlei
inlet.

Notes
1. See the translation by Sweet,[14] noted by Loyn.[15]

References
1. Steven L. Danver (2014). "Groups: Europe". Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of
Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. p. 372. ISBN 978-0765682949.
2. Darvill, Timothy, ed. (2009). "Angles" (https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/978
0199534043.001.0001/acref-9780199534043-e-160?). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Archaeology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727139. Retrieved 26 January
2020. "Angles. A Germanic people who originated on the Baltic coastlands of Jutland."
3. Tacitus, Cap. XL
4. Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo 1993. Origins and Development of the English Language. 4th
edition. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich).
5. Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable 1993 A History of the English Language. 4th edition.
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall).
6. Gregory said "Non Angli, sed angeli, si forent Christiani" [They are not Angles, but angels, if
they were Christian] after a response to his query regarding the identity of a group of fair-haired
Angles, slave children whom he had observed in the marketplace. See p. 117 of Zuckermann,
Ghil'ad (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave
Macmillan. ISBN 9781403917232, 9781403938695
7. Fennell, Barbara 1998. A History of English. A Sociolinguistic Approach. Oxford: Blackwell.
8. Church & Brodribb (1876), Ch. XL
9. Chadwick (1911), pp. 18–19.
10. Ptolemy, Geography, 2.10 (https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171020085906/http://penelope.
uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/_Texts/Ptolemy/2/10/limited.html).
11. Schütte (1917), p. 34 (https://archive.org/details/ptolemysmapsofno00schrich/page/34)See
also pp. 119–120, & 125–127
12. Lex Anglorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum (in Latin) – via Vikifons.
13. Schütte (1917), p. 34 (https://archive.org/stream/ptolemysmapsofno00schrich#page/34/mode/2
up/search/angles) & 118 (https://archive.org/stream/ptolemysmapsofno00schrich#page/118/mo
de/2up/search/angles).
14. Sweet (1883), p. 19.
15. Loyn (1991), p. 24.
16. Bede (731), Lib. II.
17. Jane (1910), Vol. II.
18. Loyn (1991), p. 25.

Sources

Bede (731). Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum [Ecclesiastical History of the English
People] (in Latin).
Chadwick, Hector Munro (1911). "Angli" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A
6dia_Britannica/Angli). In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.).
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Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–19.

Jane, Lionel Cecil, ed. (1910). Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (https://en.wikisourc
e.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical_History_of_the_English_Nation_(Jane)). Translated by John Stevens.
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. De origine et situ Germanorum [On the Origin and Situation of the
Germans] (in Latin).
Germania. Translated by Church, Alfred John; Brodribb, William Jackson. 1876.
Schütte, Gudmund (1917). Ptolemy's Maps of Northern Europe: A Reconstruction of the
Prototypes (https://archive.org/stream/ptolemysmapsofno00schrich). Copenhagen: Græbe for
H. Hagerup for the Royal Danish Geographical Society.
Sweet, Henry (1883). King Alfred's Orosius (https://archive.org/details/kingalfredsorosi79oros).
Oxford: E. Pickard Hall & J. H. Stacy for N. Trübner & Co. for the Early English Text Society.
Loyn, Henry Royston (1991). A Social and Economic History of England: Anglo-Saxon England
and the Norman Conquest (2nd ed.). London: Longman Group. ISBN 978-0582072978.

Attribution:

"Angles" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica,_Ninth_Edition/Angle
s), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (9th ed.), 1878, p. 30

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