The Rise of Anglo Saxon Warlords - The Roots of Post-Roman Kingdoms

[@MissMuttonmeat]

These are some thing I wish I was taught in school. Keep up the good work!

[@GuthlacYT]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I'll certainly try to!

[@ahightechlowlife]

Looking forward to seeing you crack 1K subs. These videos are great. Fascinating topics.

[@GuthlacYT]

thank you! I'll keep making them as long as people enjoy watching them :)

[@CaskTheology]

Absolutely cracking. as always!

[@GuthlacYT]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it man :)

[@abombinabowl]

Keep up the great work. I thoroughly enjoy educational videos like this.

[@GuthlacYT]

Thank you! I just wish I dcould do them faster :)

[@abombinabowl]

Guthlac what would you need help with to make them go faster, I’m more than willing to help out

[@tai-yomaruno3680]

Great bloody vid! Always wondered about this

[@5tycho]

Your channel makes me watch the same video multiple times. I never do that.

[@brunoolas]

I remember founding one of your first videos on a reddit post a while back. Subscribed immediately and have been enjoying your content ever since. Recently I took more interest in Anglo-Saxon Britain and then rewatched all of your videos!

[@GuthlacYT]

Thank you! I remember seeing you around for a while! I'm glad you enjoy rewatching my videos :)

[@scottmarsh2991]

Clearly explained difficult topic!

[@juliebell6362]

Very well done!

[@edlyness4891]

Great video, your first I've seen! Looking forward to seeing more

[@GuthlacYT]

Thank you! I'm working on the next one, but unfortunately these things just take time!

[@edlyness4891]

@@GuthlacYT of course! I've still got lots of previous videos to catch up on ;)

[@LilJim2031]

Very nice mate, well described.

[@idrissamorehouse5776]

Great piece!! -important to remember that Germanic tribes had a rich tradition of mythology and storytelling blending into ancestral history -So it was only natural that it would be woven into politics and manifestos as the germanic tribes began to gain in influence post roman empire

[@keeperoftruth5951]

I don't think any people on the planet would willingly give up their language and religion with out a fight

[@GuthlacYT]

You're viewing it on too small a scale. This was inter-generational. Nobody 'gave up' their culture and religion; this was a change over nearly a century of time.

[@jackwalters5506]

@@GuthlacYT A century is the blink of eye in terms of absolute cultural, religious, and linguistic change, especially in a place where there would be no real push to adopt foreign culture. I can't think of another time or place in history where such drastic change happened with no outside force using violence to force it. You're also talking about the difference in time between the arrival and Gildas/Bede as though it was enormous. It's actually not that unlikely that when they were born there could have still been some people who were alive before the Anglo-Saxons arrived(depending on how early in the 6th century they were born). Even if not, there would have been a lot of people who were the children of those people, and who would have themselves lived through the Anglo-Saxon conquest. Also, this theory requires the existence of the small landlords for the spread of Anglo-Saxon culture. There is the slight problem then that Anglo-Saxon culture spread into the Pictish lowlands, where there would have already been a well established tribal society where the sort of assimilation you describe would have been completely impossible

[@noahtylerpritchett2682]

I have a theory. What we call battles may of been infact exaggerated bandit raids. Wholesale slaughter, mass looting, and city destroying, there's no archaeological evidence of that in Britain. HOWEVER! I think what happened was Bandit raids. "Battles" that happen were reality mythologized Bandit vs guards or Bandit vs Bandit Raids. Aylesford was 99% percent likely to be a fight between 30 or 40 Bandits fighting likely the Anglo-Saxons and the other 30 or 40 warriors were Brythonic people. The battle likely was just a braw, the casualties so few that it's likely negligible, and any destruction was a barn and farmhouse or two being burnt. And is hardly archaeology as they likely were just wearing regular clothes using stone tools and farm tools as they were mere militia and Bandits. No armor no metal. In this theory I imagine it can't be archaeologically found. And Battle unlikely. And if a man in armor did die. He would of been picked clean of his loose. So this is what I think happen. And this being the only conflict agenda ridden priests just said those burnt house or two was destroyed cities and a genocide happen and a bazillion dead soldiers in armor. Which is unlikely.

[@D.A.99740]

Not too long ago they did genetic tests on ten skeletons found in a couple of Anglo-Saxon era graves in Cambridgeshire. Most of them appeared to have come from across the North Sea (or were descended from people who did), but the wealthiest one was a native Briton! In terms of fashion, the Briton had adopted elements of Germanic culture, while the Saxons had adopted elements of British culture. Though this is obviously on a local level, it's fascinating stuff, and proves quite clearly that there was no "single" Anglo-Saxon invasion, or single process by which kingdoms formed. Great video.

[@GuthlacYT]

for sure! it's disingenuous in the Anglo-Saxon period to look at the picture as a whole, because somebody in modern Cambridgshire wouldn't know and probably wouldn't care what was going on in Northumbria. These tiny details are the important thing to consider when considering the period :) I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@cottagecheese2481]

*Britonic culture

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

One issue with the "settler" theory. If the Saxons were jsut "settlers" then why did they continually war with the Welsh ad the Picts and the Scots and Strathclyde in the North? If they were just coming in to settle,then why make war at all? No it's simply this. They were mercenaries for the Romans. When Rome collapsed, they killed the Britons and took over. In fact, the real reason why the British collapsed was the Plague of Justinian. Since trade at that time was still going on largely like before, the disease spread. Thousands died and the Saxons took their land. Much like the Bubonic Plague.

[@GuthlacYT]

You're referring to events which are around the early 400s, entirely fictional, 200 years in the past, and 200 years in the future entirely at random here. Your premise that the Saxons 'warred' with the Picts and Scots is based on Bede's narrative, we have no evidence to support it's claims, and the homogeneous identities you speak of ('Picts', 'Scots', 'Saxons') weren't used at the time to any meaningful degree, if at all. Your assertion that they were mercenaries stems from the fourth century; these mercenaries did exist, but they were entirely Romanised by the early fifth century; the Plague of Justinian occurred in the sixth century in Constantinople, and though it doubtless spread to Britain, we have no evidence that it did.

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

@@GuthlacYT well actually there is evidence. There is history of vast tracts of land being abandoned right at the plague. I'll have to find the link but a large part of Europe died just like the later plagues. Rome really fell because of this as did urbanized society. At least for a while.

[@GuthlacYT]

Urban areas in Britain were completely abandoned over a century before the Plague of Justinian; Bede does mention that a plague is causing the empire grief throughout the fifth century, but Bede is difficult to believe on this for a variety of reasons, and this was again a century before the Plague of Justinian. The Plague of Justinian almost doubtlessly affected Britain, but we don't know how that manifested politically.

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

@@GuthlacYT interesting ok

[@franciscomm7675]

Keep up the good work

[@greywanderer5935]

Fantastic!

[@oitubeman1019]

1:12 My teacher:why are you laughing? Me:NO My brain;HENGIST KHAN

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

Why did you double the size of The Wash on the map? Was that area flooded at this time?

[@mayfrasonsier]

I really like the soundtrack on this video! Is there a way to listen to *just* the soundtrack?

[@GuthlacYT]

Here is the music in the order it is played: "Wintersong": kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKCcc2uDiK6YeNk "Behind the Sword": kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZXKq6ljeN6NnMk "Celtic Impulse": kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zp7QfKpujLODibs "Lord of the Land": kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmmyeX2ni554eNk "Borgar": kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpTFZoqNhbuInZY

[@jbussa]

Awesome! Your explanation is as good as any I've heard. How much of a role do you think the Foederati and people living along the "Saxon Shore" may have played in helping the culture to dominate faster? Also do you think areas that had Roman villas were first to take to this new Landowner economy?

[@GuthlacYT]

Thanks! Essay incoming on those questions :p I'm doubtful of the extent to which Foederati played any role in the cultural change of the British Isles, because the process of cultural change visibly takes longer than one singular human life in the archaeological record; Germanic warriors, when they're found in the archaeological record, aren't dressed as Germanic warriors would, they're dressed in Roman regalia and carry Roman weapons, showing that they were probably happy to acclimatise themselves to what they considered the Roman way of life to be. By the time Germanic culture was becoming the culture of government and wider society, it would have been their grandchildren, at least, who were living through this cultural change, and it's likely that their grandchildren and great grandchildren wouldn't have had any relation to the culture that was becoming Anglo-Saxon culture in the later fifth century. As for Roman villas, there is evidence of some Roman villas being post-Roman landowners too, I talk about this in a previous video if you want to know more (kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrHYWuAptiMnqc), but to summarise some landowners in modern Cornwall and Devon commanded an economy based around the extraction of tin and trading it with the Byzantines. These centres certainly existed, but in the British Isles they fell out of favour, likely being replaced with, or becoming, more Bryhtonic or Irish based individuals. :)

[@MythologywithMike]

I got the notification for this while finishing up my own video. Glad I finally got around to watching this one! This sounds like an early form of propaganda maybe? (not the right word but it's the first one that came to mind). Changing or fabricating a history to legitimize their rule, useful for them but a pain in the butt for us! Great job man!

[@GuthlacYT]

yeah for sure! history's always been a useful tool for people and leaders to prove they were the right ones for the job, it is just a shame it makes the facts so difficult to ascertain :p

[@asadforat3734]

I hope you answer my question ! I'm a fellow History student from Tunisia. In this contest of the video, I think there is a relation between the preexisting germanic foedorati and the late migration to migration. I'm not talking here about invasion but I still dont think that bede's story is not 100% fictional. Logically, if there is germanic people called the saxon and there is the saxon shore and later saxon kingdoms. I think that the migration of germanic individuals or families to eastern Britain corresponded with the preexisting germanic foedorati who might retained some of their germanic elements even though they became romans. Also I would like to Ask you since the creation of kingdoms happend later.Are The War lords who fight for domination Are All Romano-Britons who where landowners who controled a germanic worrior class or there also germanic individuals who eventually became landowners and fought for dominance? I'm sorry for my imperfect english I hope you understand me

[@duncanbradshaw8993]

The vikings entry into Brutain was similar to the germania entry of the saxons etc Al.

[@greenjack1959l]

Makes sense.

[@FrankFLucas]

Warlords 😎

[@conorfields2660]

Not conquerors haha what a dumb way to look at history The weak were enslaved

[@BOO_QUEEN6]

😃😃😃😅😅😅 I don’t know 🤷‍♀️

[@ajrwilde14]

there were no dark-skinned people back then what are you doing

[@tjlowery9669]

This is one of those,the English are not anglosaxon videos.

[@GuthlacYT]

I'm driven by the fact that you genuinely have no idea what any of those terms mean.

[@grimwulf8547]

what a load of crap

[@GuthlacYT]

Cry more

[@grimwulf8547]

@@GuthlacYT ok, if you're going to rewrite history you actually need to provide evidence rather than just flap your gums

[@GuthlacYT]

@@grimwulf8547 ikr, it's not like you can google "Birdoswald" and find the archaeological evidence found at Birdoswald, it's not like you can google "Caedbaed" and find that he's mentioned in Lindsey's lineage. It's the 21st century my guy it has never been easier to fact check. And yet you're sitting here rewriting history, by flapping your gums, chatting, how you say, a load of crap.

[@grimwulf8547]

@@GuthlacYT more meaningless crap from you. You stated early on in your video there was no AS invasion and no wars. As if millions would give up their country without bloodshed. AS chronicle lists many of the battles with the welsh, welsh poetry talks of the battles with the English. DNA evidence from skeletons burried at the time clearly shows the English took over and wiped out or chased off the welsh before later mixing with them to create what we have today.

[@GuthlacYT]

@@grimwulf8547 so, the Chronicle and Poetry. Both really reliable and written at the time (which I dissect here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIeZq3ugfN6kZ9E). I highly recommend you watch this before spouting stuff which make you look, frankly, quite thick. "DNA evidence from skeletons" the studies to which you're referring are studies of how many skeletons? let me answer - the most is 16. Further, these studies aren't of DNA are they. They're studies of tooth enamel. What do these skeletons tell us? That there are people in Britain, were children in a different area, that is probably Scandinavia. That is all that this evidence can ever tell us. We don't know from DNA evidence what these people did, or how they go there. Now given the archaeological evidence (outlined here and in other videos), odds are, these people were farmers, since there has been no evidence of mass migration, and there is a vast quantity of evidence of continuation in agricultural practice - in laymans terms, people stayed put. A mass migration, on the scale reported in the Chronicle and in Poetry, would show up in the archaeological record, as an overnight change ina rchaeological behaviour. But that doesn't appear - people farm the same fields in the same ways in the sixth century as they did in the third. A mass conquering and slaguther, as reported in the Chronicle and in Poetry, would show in the archaeological record, in the form of mass graves. Bar one in Chester, which is from the sixth century, and which Bede records is related to conflict between different sects of Christianity, there is none. Now, on to skull shape. There was a study released last year which studied the skull shape of archaeological finds in Northern Europe from the fifth to the ninth century. What did it find? It found that British people and Germanic people had slightly different shapes of skull. It used this to plot what occurred in the periods. What it found was an increase in the quantity of people arriving from the fifth to sixth century who had a skull shape akin to that of Scandinavia. But, as the ninth century came around, these features became muted by native British skull shapes. What does this tell us? It tells us that the two groups bred together, and the Germanic features, being small in number, were slowly subsumed into the native population. No evidence of massive displacement, no evidence of massive change in farming behaviour, no evidence of slaughter. What does this tell us, Grim Wulf?

[@TurnierRustung]

budget history with hilbert

[@GuthlacYT]

uhh, thanks I think! I've never actually watched his videos, but I do put a lot of work into making my videos as academic as possible; isn't "budget" a bit flippant?

[@3dfried163]

History with Hilbert is trash compared to this.

[@TurnierRustung]

@@GuthlacYT it was a joke

[@3dfried163]

@@TurnierRustung Trash joke!