What are the names of some historical ports where the Germanic tribes (Angles/Saxionds/Jutes/Frisians) set sail for Britain in the 5th century? I have no read of any names of actual ports in Jutland, Frisia or Schleswig-Holstein. Do we know the Germanic names of the mercenary leaders or are they all Latinized?
I look forward to your feedback.
davidmich
You have set me testing my Google-Fu.
Fröjel, Gotland for one
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/Towns.htm
Sorry- that is Viking as the next one.
xxx
Thank you Pjen, but I don’t see any mention of Anglo -Saxon ports in your posts. I’m looking at the 6th century AD . Did the germanic tribes used old Roman ports to saio to Britain?
davidmich
Unfortunately the answer is probably lost to history. Most of the major modern ports in the area enter the historical record hundreds of years later; we can surmise that the embarkation points for the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians were most likely impermanent. Denmark’s oldest town, Ribe, enters the historical record in the 710s - by which point the Anglo-Saxons were already well established in Britain (Gildas was annoyed by their migrations back in the 540s).
I do remember BBC documentary years ago in which the presenter was standing on a beach somewhere in Frisia and stating that the Frisians/Anglo-Saxons left from there. But the name was very unclear. I didn’t catch it. So I guess it is known to some historians but I can’t fin any reference to it.
davidmich
The answer is Terschelling. According to the BBC documentary “English Birth of a Language”. You can hear the name mentioned about 5 minutes into the program.
davidmich
Saxon boats were small enough to pick up and carry for fairly long stretches overland. It’s unlikely they needed “ports”.
It’s unlikely the presenter meant her as “right here from this stretch of beach”. Much more likely s/he meant “from this or another generic Frisian beach”. Terschelling which you mention didn’t even exist as the island it is today, if Wikipedia is correct.
Back then they launched their boats into the sea from beaches, or even sailed down rivers into the sea. They didn’t need seaside towns or harbours to set off from. Most of them seem to have used the coast of Frisia as a jumping off point for England.
Just to add to what Mr. Kobayashi said, it is not at all certain any such thing existed. That there were more or less permanent settlements near or on the water is fairly certain, such as Feddersen Wierde ( which was abandoned by the 5th century, speculatively due to emigration to Britain ). But these don’t seem to have been large, but rather more on the scale of small villages/homesteads. The tribal people of northern Germany and southern Scandinavia were not an urban folk. It is more likely that raiders coalesced from numerous small groups, gathering at some impermanent central location before embarking. But they may even have advanced in a scattered way, only rendezvousing when they reached Britain.
It really is all very murky. To this day even the nature of the kinds of boats they used, the nature of the ‘Saxon Shore’ ( containment or prevention? ), and even the identity of the various raiders is hotly debated. Our records from that period are quite simply very poor.