# Britons: did you learn anything about the Anglo Saxons in school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581 "2013-08-07T12:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/1 "2013-08-07T12:26:44Z")
(I suppose this specifically applies to the English as Scots probably have less reason to learn about the Anglo Saxons than we do.) I was watching a documentary on Alfred the Great last night and it dawned on me how little I actually know about the Anglo Saxons and Viking invasions of England. I dropped history before GCSE, so perhaps I missed out on some later focus on this time period (though, from what I gathered from students studying GCSE History at my school, I don’t think so — perhaps at A-level?), but my history education roughly consisted of the Romans, before jumping forward to the defeat of the Anglo Saxons with the Norman Invasion, bypassing about 1000 years of history where our country was actually unified as a single political entity under Alfred and Aethelstan, with the Vikings leaving a massive cultural mark that’s still felt today, before moving on to the Tudors. Is there a reason why the Anglo Saxons are given so little prominence? ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/2 "2013-08-07T12:43:09Z")
Learned nowt of that era myself, but like you dropped history prior to GCSE. Cannot recall being taught anything historic from 0-1000AD. Jesus was crucified by the Romans then King Harold got shot in the eye by an arrow. ---
**Author:** ![Virgil\_Tibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Virgil\_Tibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgil_Tibbs)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/3 "2013-08-07T13:06:31Z")
I also quit history before GCSEs, and learnt nothing about them. Didn’t learn about the English Civil War either. All I remember learning about in history is the Cold War and Henry VIII. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/4 "2013-08-07T13:21:54Z")
Virtually nothing: there was Caesar’s invasion, then the Heptarchy, then 1066, then the Wars of the Roses, then the Tudors in more depth, then very slightly the Rebellion, then the Napoleonic Wars, then nothing. Claudius’s more successful invasion and the successful revolution of 1688 whereby the aristocracy took over were passed over in silence. They concentrated on Industrial History which was as dull as ditch-water and on Social History, which is even duller than that. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/5 "2013-08-07T13:47:32Z")
I learnt a fair bit, but then I grew up in prime Viking country. I did History GCSE, but that focused on more modern history - agricultural revolution and beyond. ---
**Author:** ![drbhoneydew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@drbhoneydew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drbhoneydew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/6 "2013-08-07T14:47:40Z")
Yes, at primary school, but mainly in the context of Northumbrian history - we did bits on The Venerable Bede and the Viking invasions starting in 793. Oh, and Hereward the Wake. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/7 "2013-08-07T14:51:51Z")
It’s a bit inconvenient to teach about the Anglo-Saxons because the cultures they conquered are still there, neither completely destroyed nor completely assimiliated (the Welsh and the Cornish, and I suppose the Bretons). Much better to start with the Normans and assume there always was an England ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/8 "2013-08-07T15:59:44Z")
> [@Jennyrosity](#): > > I learnt a fair bit, but then I grew up in prime Viking country. So did I! My village was founded by them. Still nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/9 "2013-08-07T16:21:51Z")
Learned all about them in Year 5 or 6 I think. Seaxes and scramasaxes, wattle and daub buildings, woad, thanes and so on. Even learned about their fellow travelers the Jutes and Frisians (though not much). I most distinctly remember learning about Saxon placenames. Birmingham: _the fortified village controlled by the family of Birm_, whoever he was. ETA: this was at a private prep school in Dorset. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/10 "2013-08-08T00:08:06Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Much better to start with the Normans and assume there always was an England “William the First was the first of our kings not counting Ethelreds, Egberts & things…” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/11 "2013-08-08T17:45:55Z")
Yup, we did the Angles, Saxons, Jutes - with maps showing where they came from - but not much about their history as such. We also did some stuff about place names and a bit about Vikings - but we are so close to York that’s not surprising ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Cornholio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Cornholio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Cornholio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/12 "2013-08-09T00:22:10Z")
School-wise, we did little other than 1066 and all that. I was, however, absorbed in Henry Treece’s books, so learned a lot myself about pre-Norman Conquest. I still remember going to Secondary School and my History teacher was young, a sort of hippy-chick. Although it wasn’t very cool, I couldn’t help myself chipping in and answering questions as we started the syllabus, possibly the only kid who was at all interested, let alone . My teacher glowed, I can still see the sparkle in her eyes, 30 years later, as we bantered about Saxons, Vikings and Danegeld, and through into the Normans and the Feudal System. Nobody else in the room gave even half a shit! Sadly, I moved, and changed schools after a year, dumping History soon after that. ( Though I still have a thing for hippy chicks, and a yearning to get off my tits on some mushrooms and swing a massive axe called “Brain-Biter” at the massed ranks of invaders) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/13 "2013-08-09T03:37:38Z")
Nobody cares about the Jutes! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/14 "2013-08-09T06:53:14Z")
I dropped history in the third year of secondary school (back then it was called the third year). I remember history classes prior to that including the decline of the Roman Empire (including in Britain), Anglo Saxon Britain, the Vikings, the Normans, etc. Some of this was just in timeline form, or presented as a context/background of other things. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/15 "2013-08-09T07:34:05Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > It’s a bit inconvenient to teach about the Anglo-Saxons because the cultures they conquered are still there, neither completely destroyed nor completely assimiliated (the Welsh and the Cornish, and I suppose the Bretons). Much better to start with the Normans and assume there always was an England ‘Inconvenient’ WTF?? You have a very odd opinion of how we view our history. We are well aware, and proud, to be a nation of mutts, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/16 "2013-08-09T08:24:12Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > ‘Inconvenient’ WTF?? You have a very odd opinion of how we view our history. We are well aware, and proud, to be a nation of mutts, thanks. _SEA-KING’S daughter from over the sea, Alexandra! Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee, Alexandra!_ ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/17 "2013-08-09T08:31:05Z")
> [@Virgil\_Tibbs](#): > > All I remember learning about in history is the Cold War and Henry VIII. There’s an alarming thought: Henry VIII and Catholic Europe, both equipped with nukes… ---
**Author:** ![David\_H\_Singanas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@David\_H\_Singanas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_H_Singanas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/18 "2013-08-09T08:36:06Z")
In the old USENET there were Brits who posted excerpts from the “AngloSaxon Chronicles”. The Danes were a bloodthirsty lot with a religion even more violent than Islam. They set up a domain called the DANELAW, and the Anglosaxons who lived north of West Saxony (Wessex) suffered a great deal. The Irish and Roman Catholics were able to slowly convert the Danes to the Prince of Peace. Chesterton writes well about the conversion of these savages. Alfred the Great was able to unite England because Norse invaders intermarried with the Anglosaxons, thus combining ON and AS languages into one great language. Ironically, when the catholic priests recorded the “Chronicles” around 1000 AD, Their purpose was to preserve AS. AngloSaxon was no longer spoken by commoners in that time. “Goose and Gander Waft their wings together To carry king and daughter Across the river Humber To far Noroway.” (The daughter was betrothed. Both longboats sank in a storm. All of Wessex and Danelaw mourned.) ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/19 "2013-08-09T11:10:14Z")
I found some old work books from Year 3 (so eight years old or thereabouts) which had work concerning Hengest and Horsa, and some _Beowulf_ work. Then in Year 7 we did the events leading up to 1066. Then nothing until university, where I made up for lost time. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581/20 "2013-08-09T12:03:15Z")
Only in primary school (where the teacher pretty much made up the syllabus based on what kids were interested in), I seem to recall we touched on it, but I don’t remember much in the way of detail. We did more on ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, probably because they have cooler relics. In secondary school we did a little about 1066, then we jumped to the tudors, and that was basically it for pre-WW1 Britain. I gave up history in the 3rd year, but apparently they only studied the World Wars at GCSE anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-did-you-learn-anything-about-the-anglo-saxons-in-school/665581.md?page=2)