The Religion of the Pagan Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons:

Jutes and Angles from now Denmark Saxons from northern Germany

In the middle of 500s, Anglo-Saxons invadedEngland.

Celtic Breton moved to West Wales, hilly Scotland and Ireland.

With the Celts, Christianity survived, especially in Ireland, where Catholic scholarship continued to flourish.

Anglo-Saxon’s religion:

1. The world is driven by spirits and magic.

2. Everything that moves or existed has consciousness and spirit .

3.They worship trees, mountains, wells and rivers.

4.They believe in good spirits and evil spirits —gods and demons.

5. They believe in mischievous elves.

6.They believed in hideous monster spirits called ogres, and malicious ghost-like spirits called goblins.

** Their myths was the story of Beowulf, a hero victor over a savage monster named Grendel and Grendel’s mother.

Anglo-Saxon Gods and Goddesses:

Gods:

1.Tir—god of glory and honor; a favorite with warriors; Tuesday. 2.Woden—most important; shaman and as the leader of the Wild Hunt; Wednesday. 3.Thunor—god of thunder, popular amongst warriors; Thursday. 4.Frey—fertility god; ruler of rain and sunshine.

Goddesses:

1. Nerthus—the earth mother who looked after fertility and well-being of man and beast. --associated with love, lust yearning and friendship. --another name:FrigFriday --people worship sacred groves. 2. Eostre—the goddess of the dawn, spring and new life; (Easter in Christianity) .

3. Rheda (valkyrie)—goddess of the winter.

Months of a year: 1.A year was divided in to two parts:summer &winter. 2.Winter started in October; Summer started in April.

3.June and July---Midsummer December and January—Midwinter

Christianity to England’s Anglo-Saxons: 1. Aethelberht, king of Kent, contacted the people on the continent and married Catholic daughter of king of Paris.

2.Pope Gregory sent a group of monks to Kent to evangelize. 3.Aethelberht and his subjects were baptized.

4.Destruction of the temples of rival religions.(Easter)

5.Later in mid 600s Christian missionaries from Ireland began evangelizing across England.

6.Catholicism won prestige with the victory of Northumbria

7.Kings in England welcomed a religion whose scriptures described and supported monarchy.

Works Cited

Pagan: < http://www.angelcunn.org.uk/>

World History

<http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h04eng.htm>