"Now What?!!"

INTRODUCTION

Much is  said  about  the  longships  and who invented what and when. The simple  fact is that the longship was  developed by both  Danish Vikings and Engel  Tribesmen. It is known that  the Engels used longships before A.D. 449  and  that this was  hundreds  of years before the first of the Viking raids  upon Britain. It was  the Engels who sailed  their longships to Britain first. The Saxons main two forms of shipping were the trireme of  Greek origin  and the  Ceol,  which was a twin masted ship which could be propelled by both oars and sails on the twin masts. Saxons only used  their version of the longship for ceremonial purposes. 

By year A.D. 449, the Engels and Kimbern tribes had amalgamated with the Saxons tribe and this make them one large  and powerful force. All three tribes  would  operate  autonomously, each  under the orders of its own nobility, but always under  the banner of the Saxons.

The Engel tribe were  living on both  sides  of  a long fiord called  Eckenforde in about the middle of the Jutland Peninsular. At the time the entire peninsular was peopled by Germanic tribes. Eckenforde provides a very good and safe harbour for shipping and boats because if extends for a long  way into the peninsular. The Engel homeland was called Angeln, is being the reason that English speaking  people call them Angles. The North of the peninsular was populated by the Kimbern tribe (Germanic  name) or  Cimbri (Latin name). The name  given to  those people by the British was Jutes.

After  A.D. 449, the original homeland of the  Engel  Tribe (Angle tribe) was  left  totally deserted because the entire  tribe had  gone to  Britain as a mass  migration, which also left several  of their longships which were at various stages of construction behind.  It  is thought that the difference  between the Engel longship and the Danish Viking ones may have been that the Engels used  a  keel plank, whereas the Viking longship which  appeared more than 150 years later  had a 'T' shaped keel which gave it better performance in rough weather.

What was  the reason the Germanic tribes may have gone to  Britain? The actual  reason is  lost in time, but  it may have been  that the Saxons could  not expand  toward the west and south  west toward the Rhine  because  the Franks were  there. There was  pressure coming from Wends  who were also living  in the Jutland  peninsular  at the  time and the Danes  who also needed  to expand.

Once  the Engels left, so did many of the Kimbern and Saxons,  this made  the entire  Jutland peninsular depopulated, a  fact not missed by the Danes who moved in and made use of the deserted  country-side. Centuries  later, the Germans would take back most of the Jutland peninsular. All three Germanic tribes settled in Britain, with the Engels calling where they settled  Engel-land.

Now What?!!

- Kent -

The Historical Background

Good day to you, I am a ghost of a Kimbern War Lord, (this Germanic tribe occupied the north of the Jutland Peninsula, resulting in many people just calling them Jutes.) and tribal leader, my name was Horsa. I died in the year A.D. 455, because of battle wounds. In the text that follows, I am going to tell you the story of the coming to the British Islands of the Germanic tribe, Saxons who had amalgamated with the Engels (Also known as Angles) and Kimbern (Jutes) who were also known as Cimbri by the Romans. My twin brother was named as Hengest and many English-speaking people also call him Hengist.

My Father was Wictgils, who was the son of Witta and his father was Wecta. The father of my Great-Grandfather Wecta is known to be the God Woden, which of course means that Thor is my Great-uncle. With such an impressive family line which is directly being related to the Gods, it is no wonder that that the names of Hengest and Horsa have lived through the ages and are known even in the twenty-first century A.D...

I think that before we go much further, it may be a good idea to tell you of the meaning of the names of both Hengest and Horsa. The name of Hengest still means Stallion in the German language. The fact is that Horsa is a variation of the Germanic name of Horst and this has the meaning of Trainer.

Let's now digress for a while and I will explain how I ended up with the name Horsa, which almost sounds English to me. In my family, we had the tradition of being named twice, that is once at birth and again at a later age when we were beginning to show our true characteristics. Hengest and I were twins, and upon birth we both received our initial names. In my brother's case he was firstly named as Ernest, while I was initially named as Bern. When we were aged fourteen, Ernest was at the horse training yard of our main Kimbern horse training compound when a stallion broke from its tether and reared up, appearing to be threatening a girl who happened to be close by.

Ernest ran over to the stallion and proceeded to calm it down, using low and soothing tones and he eventually gained the trust of the stallion and was able to further pacify it by gently running his hands over it and when he had completely gained the trust of this animal, he began to ask those present for a horse brush and upon being given one, he started to gently brush the stallion, so calming it more. After he had spent some time doing this, the stallion trusted him completely to the point where it now followed him everywhere.

Soon after this, my father, named as Wictgils said to us both, "After that display of courage and understanding of the stallion and how you Ernest, was able to gain the complete trust of the animal and so save the girl who was threatened, I am now going to give you each, your warrior's name. Your new name shall from this day forward be Hengest which is the Germanic word for stallion.

Your brother who has the boyhood name of Bern shall from this day onwards be called Horsa. This is because I have watched him training both himself and other warriors. At even his current young age, he shows all the signs of being a great trainer of warriors. He is constantly putting himself and his warriors through countless drills and possible tactical situations which will result in instant action by the warriors without the necessity of giving them orders, unless a different action is required. Now go, my sons, I am most proud of you both!"  

I urge you to think about it and I am sure that you will also conclude that a lord of the Kimbern (Jutes) would also be a trainer of his warriors. That is one of the things that I was famous for, the training of my warriors by putting them through so many practices and drills to everything they did was second-nature to them and they only required an absolute minimum of orders to complete any given task.

I always bore in mind what was so ably demonstrated by the warriors of Armin when they wiped out Varus and his three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest just four and a half centuries before now. Armin and his warriors beat the Romans because he and his warriors were lightly armoured and armed, allowing them to move at a much higher speed than their Roman enemies. As well, all of Armin's warriors knew the jobs/duties of the man immediately above him in rank as well as those of the man immediately below him in rank and station.

This meant that in the event of a leader becoming disabled or dying, the fight would continue along the same lines as before because everyone knew what was required of them and how to do it. This is one of the reasons that both discipline and training are so important that those two factors will often make the difference between success and failure in battle.

2 the Britons request the pope to  send  them missionaries

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The Britons Request the Pope to Send Them Missionaries.

In A.D. 167, the ruling Roman emperor was Marcus Aurelius. A priest had risen from being the normal rank of Father, and he was now in a position like that of the Cardinals of the twenty first Century A.D... He would go on to become the Pope later in the year A.D.167 and he held that position with great honour for fifteen years, his name being Eleutherius.

In the June of A.D. 178, he received a letter, written in Latin, from the king of the Britons, whose name was Lucius. The letter said, "Dear Holy Father Eleutherius, I am Lucius, the king of the Britons. I have been speaking to Roman merchants, soldiers and sailors here in Britain and they have told me of your god, whom is said to be kind and who will forgive the sins that people commit against him and his covenant for life.

Now, everyone here is a heathen and undergoes pagan practices. I beg you to immediately send missionaries to the islands of Britain to convert my people to the correct faith, that of belief in and the worship of Jesus Christ, the Lord.  Please do not let my people continue to wallow in their misguided heathen practices! I would like to be the first person in Britain who is converted to your faith and baptised.

I will be most happy for your priests to baptise me in public so that my people can see their very own king being baptised. I am sure that such a public act by me would be the best way of also converting the entire population of the Britons."

Accordingly, Pope Eleutherius said to the clergy staff around him, "Who do we have among us that we could send to the British Islands to do the work of God and convert the heathens in Britain to the true faith?" He was immediately answered by the clergy around him, with one of them saying, "Holy Father, I know of two priests who may well be the answer that you are looking for. In both cases, these men are fearless, and I know that they would both welcome an audience with you about this very matter.

I have heard them both speak, and I think that both would jump at the chance to not just become your missionaries in Britain, but to start things rolling with the public baptism of Lucius, the King of Britons as this would be a really good start for us. The names of the two priests I have in mind are Father Faganus and Father Deruvianus. I know for sure that Father Deruvianus would dearly love to build a church near Glastonbury on the Island of Britain!"

This resulted in Pope Eleutherius saying to those around him, "Summon those two priests so that they both come here and see me as quickly as possible. I want my Church of Rome to become established on the British Islands as quickly as possible." And so, the summons was sent to Fathers Deruvianus and Faganus to attend a meeting with the Pope in the Holy See on 28/July/178. Both priests went to where the Pope was seated and then the meeting between them, which was to have profound implications for the British Islands began, with Pope Eleutherius saying, "Fathers Faganus and Deruvianus, I am so very glad to see you both. I need you to go to the British Islands and begin the conversion of the Britons from being heathens to the true faith. I will give what support I can, for you to build a church near Glastonbury.

Your task of converting the Britons will be made immensely easier by the fact that their King Lucius has asked for his people to become Christians and even for himself to be baptised. By baptising him in public, it will open the way for the conversion of all Britons who witness it immediately. So, I suggest that you both go and see this king immediately and use his public baptism as a means of getting the rest of the Britons to follow on with that.

Remember that much of the success or otherwise of converting people from being heathens to becoming true Christians lies in selling the religion to them, and by having a public baptism of one of their kings, it will open the way for the church to not only gain a foothold in Britain, but to become a strong religious force. Now, get out there and give Lucius, the King of Britons, what he wants, namely for him to be baptised in public and for your missionary work to really flower!"

So, it was that in the year 179 A.D., Lucius, King of Britons was baptised in public in a shallow stream, not far from the church at Glastonbury. King Lucius died twenty-two years later, and he was given a Christian burial, complete with much ceremony. The missionary work of the two priests continued with much success. With the Britons successfully converted to Christianity, the stage was now set for misunderstandings and mutual religious intolerance that followed when the Germanic pagan tribes arrived. So, it was that in the year 179 A.D., Lucius, King of Britons was baptised in public in a shallow stream, not far from the church at Glastonbury. King Lucius died twenty-two years later, and he was given a Christian burial, complete with much ceremony. The missionary work of the two priests continued with much success. With the Britons successfully converted to Christianity, the stage was now set for misunderstandings and mutual religious intolerance that followed when the Germanic pagan tribes arrived.

Introduction to Angles (Engels), Franks and Saxons.

It has proved difficult to trace the Teutonic branch of the present European population before the first conflicts with the Romans. All that has really been done is to confirm a long-held opinion by historians that the ancestors of the Germanic tribes had a lot in common with the Cimmerian, Celtic and Slavic Clans and that they migrated originally from the vast areas around the Caspian Sea, extending from the foothills of the Caucasian and Median Alps through Transoxiana to the steppes of the Ural and Volga. 

All these nations were known to Greek historians and geographers by the name of Scythians. That name was never used by these races of people themselves. In general, it may be said that the name of Scythians was used to describe the many people who had the characteristics of being tall, robust, fair-haired and blue eyed. These people continued to occupy the vast plains of the Oxus and Iaxartes and they were either nomads or semi-nomadic up to not long before the birth of Christ. They migrated and spread themselves over central Asia from the Caspian to the great wall of China and from the Himalayas to the Altai eventually settling in areas of Finland and Sweden.

There is little doubt that the Germanic tribes are lineally descended from some of the more powerful and numerous of these tribes. In the point of personal appearance, customs and language they exhibit striking similarities of the very same people. The nomadic habit is always the last to covert to civilization. In the case of Germanic tribes, they stuck to the nomadic way of life long after they were first noticed.

Their nomadic habit endured for a long time and we find during their history, whole nations migrating with their herds of cattle, and families as well as movable property, from even the remotest regions with about the same difficulty as is experienced now in mounting expeditions and/or campaigns. By the early Bronze Age, Germanic tribes occupied the entire Jutland peninsular and all land through to what is now known as Switzerland and beyond. The Alps and the region of Sarmatia to the east and their northern most limit was the Baltic Coast. Their western boundary was the Rhine River, but this was crossed many times both by Germanic tribes and by Gauls. (Greenwood 1836)

The coming of the Angles, whose Germanic tribal name was Engels into Britain and the coming of the Saxons as well as the effects of their presence made great impressions upon the then populations of Britons. When the Engels arrived in Britain, they called the area where they settled as Engel–Land, meaning the land of the Engels.

Angles – Germanic Name of Engels.

In the year of 407 A.D., the Romans abandoned what we now call England, which was invaded by the Picts and Scots, finally falling to the invited Germanic tribal warriors of Engels, (Angles), Kimbern (Jutes) and Saxons. The Engels along with their Saxon and Kimbern Brothers, were invited to Britain in the 5th Century A.D as protectors of the Britons by their king.

They were first mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus (first century A.D.). (Greenwood, 1836). The seven tribes of the Suevic Nation which included the Engels, worshipped the Goddess Nerthus, also known as Hertha, or Mother Earth. The worship of whom had a rite which always left a lasting impression upon all who saw it. In the Baltic Ocean there was an island with a sacred grove in which there was a consecrated chariot which was covered with a robe, which no-one except a single priest was supposed to touch. In this, the goddess was supposed to be present and the chariot which was drawn by cows, was bought out by her priest. Her arrival always was accompanied by great joy among her followers and during the days after her arrival there was great festivity resulting in no war or conflict being entered into.  (Greenwood, 1836)

The Engels came from a long inlet or fiord known as Eckenforde in the Schleswig area of northern Germany. The tribe was known as Engels to the Germans settled along both banks of this inlet/fiord. These people were known as warriors and sailors and they came up with arguably the first designs of the long-ship, using both sails and oars as the means of propulsion. When the Engels migrated to Britain, starting in year 449 A.D., they moved the entire tribe and left their original homeland of Angeln on the mid Jutland peninsular in northern Germany deserted. They also left behind them, several of their long-ships which were in various stages of construction.

These long-ships were further developed until perfected by Vikings who used them with devastating effect after this time. (Greenwood, 1836) The area in northern Germany where the Engels came from is south of an area known as Flinsburg near the present-day Danish/German border. This continued until the entire tribe settled in the area of Britain that they called Engel-land. (King Alfred the Great, 1847) [1]

Franks – Origins

Saint Jerome, when writing his book, Life of St. Hilarion, in the fourth century A.D., describes the Franks as people distinguished more by their strength and capacity then the amount of their possessions. Older historians than him called their country Germania, while he called it Francia. (Greenwood, 1836) Both the Roman and Greek historians agree that the original settlements of the Frankish nations were between the Saxons on the North and the Alemanni on the south.

The Franks settled on the Rhine and centuries after the Roman defeat at the hands of Armin and Thusnelda and their followers, the Franks would become dominant through the amalgamation with the well-known Germanic tribes of Chauci, Amsivarii, Cherusci, Chamavi and Chatti. All these tribes and even others became the one tribe under the banner of Franks. The name of the Franks was seen by many as Wehrmannen, or warriors as they best became known to their neighbours. In time, as more amalgamations with other tribes progressed, the Franks became more powerful and dominant. As well, a capable and warlike tribe which had the reputations of being skilled sailors and warriors would also become a dominant force among Germanic tribes, starting from obscure beginnings, the Saxons also became a dominant force through the process of their amalgamation with other tribes.

Due the location of their ports on the north German coasts, the Franks had no choice but to learn how to become good sea-farers. During the reign of Gallienus, (Roman), Frankish fleets which were being run out of the mouths of the Ems, Weser and the Elbe, attacked the coasts of Britain, Gaul, Spain and Africa.

For seven years Posthumius (Roman) took on the Frankish pirates and roving bands of Franks who were robbers before finally clearly them away in sufficient numbers to consider the areas to be safe.

Origins of the Saxons

Much of the information about Saxon origins comes from Witichind, who was a Saxon Monk of the Abbey of Corvey in Westphalia. In the tenth century A.D., he collected and digested the early history of his people and wrote his ‘Saxon Annals’ for his friend, ‘Otho the Great’.

Bear in mind that like most Germanic tribes, the Saxons did not have a written language of their own until centuries after those times. Therefore, the materials for the early history of the Saxons consists entirely of oral reports and songs.

Witichind wrote, "Opinion is divided on the matter of origin of the Saxons, with some scholars believing the Saxons derived their origin from Danes and Normans.

Teachings of ancient Greeks state the Saxons are the remnants of the Macedonian army of ‘Alexander the Great’, which after his death, was scatted to all parts of the earth. This may be, but it is certain that they were an ancient and noble people. They are mentioned in a speech by Agrippa to the Jews which was reported by Josephus. (Greenwood, 1836)

We know with certainty that the ‘Saxones’ came in ships and that they came into Germania by sea, landing at the mouth of the Elbe and conquering the Thuringians who were there before them." Their ships were the Greek triremes of the naval forces of Alexander the Great. These vessels were propelled by using three rows of oarsmen as well as sails and their first use was documented at 525 B.C...