The Emergence of the English

Past Imperfect

by Susan Oosthuizen

This book takes a critical approach to the assumption that the origins of the English can be found in fifth- and sixth-century immigration from north-west Europe. It begins by evaluating the primary evidence, and discussing the value of ethnicity in historical explanation. The author proposes an alternative explanatory model that sets short- and medium-term events and processes in the context of the longue dur�e, illustrated here through the agricultural landscape. She concludes that the origins of the English should rather be sought among late Romano-British communities, evolving, adapting, and innovating in a new, post-imperial context. Though focusing on England between the fifth and seventh centuries, this volume explores themes of universal interest--the role of immigration in cultural transformation; the importance of the landscape as a mnemonic for cultural change; and the utility of a common property rights approach as an analytical tool.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, British Literature, Archaeology

152 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2019

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's already a great review of the book here on Goodreads, so instead of writing my own review, I'll simply quote from Nigel Hillpaul's review on Excvbitor:

"While there may have been some Abandonment (political and economic collapse, the Justinianic Plague), there is no evidence for Annihilation (a population conservatively estimated at 3 million did not disappear into mass graves). That leaves Assimilation, which confirms what every Welshman suspects deep down: that the English are just Celts pretending to be Germans in the world’s earliest example of Stockholm Syndrome."

In other words, this book challenges everything you were taught about the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. It's a trim tome, dense and learned but accessible. Be warned that there's a chapter that dives headlong into the nature and significance of various forms of landholding, common and private, so if you're looking for a book that's just about DNA sequencing and sword typology, this may not be for you. If you have any interest in Roman, British, or European history, however, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

[GRANT · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was hoping for a larger and longer book, it still serves its purpose as a synthesis of recent scholarship on more questions than answers regarding the title subject. However, by raising such questions and providing some thoughtful possibilities, it further establishes that the Anglo-Saxon "conquest" of Britain was more cultural, economic, and linguistic appropriation - both ways - than an outright conquest and displacement of peoples. And it argues that this happened over time even if there were definable events that had their relative impact which has often been overblown by ancient writers with a political agenda for king or church. The footnotes are extensive and helpful to see the modern research and provided a couple of instances of books to seek out.

[Julia Ibbotson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent discussion of recent research into the world of post-Roman pre-Anglo Saxon settlement. I was thrilled to see that Prof Oosterhuizen's thesis reflected so much of my own growing opinion (illustrated in my novel A Shape on the Air) but with sound and thorough academic evidence provided (archaeological and other). I have long believed that there could not have been the dramatic, sudden and brutal destruction of a civilisation by barbaric invaders, assumed for so long. This book goes a long way to analyse evidence that questions popular and long-held views about the 'dark ages' and argues for evidence of more of an absorption of immigrant communities and a continuance of the culture that had developed over the past centuries. Much food for thought.

[Artie LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superbly written slim volume which is accessible to the layman, but equipped with copious references for the specialist. The author has produced a clear and decisively-argued recasting of the "dark ages", with well-adduced evidence. Highly recommended.

[Peter Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon receiving this book the first thing that struck me was the lack of bulk. It's about the same size as an old Ladybird book. There are 149 pages to it, which less endnotes (I prefer footnotes so you can source the reference at a glance) and the odd diagram came out at 92 small sized pages. For £16 inc posting, I expected a bit more. It reminded me of a book on Raedwald that I once bought that through creative positioning of paragraphs, quotes, maps and the like stretched out to 60 or so pages. Put it another way, I started this book at tea time and had it completed before Supper.

This isn't a book aimed at the general population with a passing interest in history whom someone is stuck as what to get them for Crimbo. James Campbell, The Anglo-Saxons, or something by Michael Wood have that covered. Instead, this is a book for the well informed and involved.

The introduction is all about terminology and historiography. This is quite dry and gives the work the feel of a Uni thesis that has gotten out of hand.

The second chapter is a thorough survey about what we reliably know about late antique/early medieval England. This goes through the contemporary written sources very well, pointing out flaws and strengths. The archaeological section is good and her points made about brooches stand well with Flemings in Britain after Rome. Genetics is a relatively new area and this part points out flaws in early samples and makes sensible assertions. The same can be said for the part on language displacement. This chapter reinforces the idea that the question of A/S migration has been looked at from the wrong end of the microscope, with too many facets being made to fit in with what people thought the answers already were.

Chapter 3 goes into ethnicity and elite replacement as an explanation for changes. It makes a case that the elites identified with what they thought of as Rome (mention of Edwin's Tufa is a curious omission here), rather than anything especially Germanic. However, this does ignore the fact the various kingdoms identified as being settled by legendary warriors that weren't from Rome. The archaeological evidence that there wasn't a recognisably A/S material culture per se is again raised. The law code of Ine is explored, but I wasn't convinced that Wealh pertained to traditional Romano-British law – this needed further explanation. The reasoning that A/S used barrows and other parts of the ritual landscape to give them the appearance or antiquity and so legitimacy, to my mind, isn't the whole story – I think it ignores the equally valid idea that they were utilised because they were there and imposing – it's possible that all or a mixture of these motives were present in their use. The notion that the A/S Germanic roots were invented as a legitimising tool is dismissed, but I quite like this idea and feel that whilst the specifics invented by the elites may be problematic, the general trend was enough to satisfy their aim of giving their dynasties ancient credence. History is created by the winners.

The final chapter (4) begins with some theoretical waffle about the Longue Duree, which whilst it provided a theoretical framework for Oosthuizen's points, wasn't really necessary. In this chapter she makes a compelling argument for the widespread continuation of landscape use without any breaks, both personally and communally owned. This point stood on its own without any talk of Longue Duree and emphasised continuity of population.

This book makes some good arguments and is thought provoking. However, whilst Oosthuizen does acknowledge some continental immigration, she doesn't really go into how this fitted into the existing population and systems of Britain. This is a major flaw. Similarly, she doesn't explain why, despite the adoption of what they saw as elements of Romanitas, the various dynasties identified as Anglo-Saxon. On the language side, interesting points are made about the existence of bilingual people, but how English became dominant isn't fully fleshed out.

[Robert Monk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a short treatise on late British/early English history, say 400 to 800 CE. Which is a subject I find fascinating. And its basic premise is that there's no evidence that there was actually an Anglo Saxon invasion (as opposed to migration, which would be hard to deny), so it probably didn't happen. And I found that theory totally unconvincing. Now, as a reiteration of the current belief that the Anglo Saxon invasion probably didn't involve a large replacement of population, this book makes fair points. But it really mostly ignores the one biggest piece of evidence that the coming of the Anglo Saxons wasn't just a happy time of lovely folks from the continent coming to visit and staying after they'd made friends: the fact that I'm writing this review in English rather than Britano (or whatever you'd call a Romance language that developed from Latin in Britain) or some sort of Brittonic (a Celtic language). It even mentions that the people who inhabited the island were referred to as "angli" by the 6th century. If that kind of change has ever happened that quickly without violence being involved, I don't know where. (My part of North America usually speaks English these days, for instance, and that didn't happen without violence.) It also dismisses the fact that we have contemporary sources that talk about the invasion. I'm glad I read it, of course, because I do enjoy considering differing views. But it didn't convert me. I'm not saying that I think the invasion was entirely a blood-soaked slaughter by vicious monsters, mind you. But I've found the argument that the Germanics replaced the Romano-British ruling class and thus brought about a cultural change through status more convincing.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The emergence of the "English" should be sought not in large scale immigration from north west Europe but in the continuity of Romano-British communities, who evolved and adapted from the 5th century onward. Oosthuizen embraces the longue durée and notion of Late Antiquity to persuasively argue over about 100 pages that, essentially: the evidence for a great Anglo-Saxon settlement or invasion from the 5th century looks slim; the explanations for the primacy of Old English are inadequate; the distinctions between ethnic 'Anglo-Saxons' and 'Romano-British' are arbitrary and dependent on cultural stereotypes. Guided by the sensible principle that "continuity should be assumed unless there is clear evidence—lacking here—to the contrary," Oosthuizen, Professor of Medieval Archaeology at Cambridge, generates a picture instead of a "traditional society assimilating newcomers, and continually evolving, adapting, and innovating in response to individual and collective actions, to events, small- or large-scale, sudden or expected, and to local, regional, and international influences and processes, new or familiar, rapid or slow."

[Philip Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read but Ooshuizen clearly has an agenda to push the importance of the continuation of the Romano-British way of life as the basis for the emergence of England and weights the evidence towards this view whilst perhaps too readily dismissing the perhaps unreliable historically documented aggression of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. (Much in the same way as some modern historians have tried to play down the aggression of the Vikings). Was it really a world of ‘love and peace’ and ‘live and let live’ in the 6th to 9th centuries as she seems to imply? That seems extremely unlikely.

The fact remains that the influx of Angles, Saxons and Jutes significantly changed the nature of ‘England’ not least in terms of the language and religion, and the influence of the Romano-British was significantly reduced in eastern, central and southern England.

The England that emerged seems to owe more to Anglo-Saxon culture than to Romano-British culture.

[Caomhghain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, clear presentation of late Antique/Early Medieval British history taking what might be called the minimalist approach. All claims are backed by physical (largely archaeological) evidence first which gives a quite different result from older approached based on the tiny written record.

I still find the dominance of Old English over other languages a poser though Oosthuizen points out the often missing evidence for spoken Latin as a third language.

[Ella Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really bold and expansive take on a subject that has often only been interpreted in a rather restricted way. The immensely novel take that Oosthuizen makes can sometimes feel overly revolutionary but the immensely clear way that she sets out her argument and deals with other interpretations of the subject means it is still a really useful resource.

[Florence Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential and timely work that problematises much of what we historians take for granted about the so-called 'Anglo-Saxon migration'. Though it creates many more questions than it has answers, this book is undoubtedly a springboard from which we can begin to reconceptualise the past.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debunking of Celtic ethnonationalism with thorough evidence that I really hope manages to enter the national consciousness.

[Bohdan Barylko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but a bit too scholarly for me.

[Liam Guilar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this is the most disapointing book I've read this year. Whatever you think of the final argument, the level of thinking and the quality of the argument is depressingly poor.