Normally
when you hear the word England, you think about Queen Elizabeth, or Big Ben.
But really you should think about a people called the Saxons.
The
Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes who settled in England in the early
middle ages. They invaded Great Britain and were eventually allowed to settle
there as farmers. After this they sort of started taking over South-Eastern
Britain (modern day England) and they split up into four separate realms:
The
East Saxons created the Kingdom of Essex.
The
Middle Saxons created the Province of Middlesex.
The
South Saxons created the Kingdom of Sussex.
Finally
the West Saxons created the Kingdom of Wessex.
During
the period of the reigns of Egbert to Alfred the Great, the kings of Wessex
were basically the ruler of all four realms, unifying the country. They
eventually organized it as the Kingdom of England when they were threatened by
Viking invasions.
Their
first religion was paganism, and they worshiped gods like Woden and Thunor.
Eventually they were converted to Christianity under the influence of the
neighboring Jutes of Kent in the seventh century.
The
main division in Saxon society was between slave and free. Both groups
hierarchically structured, with several classes of freemen and many types of
slaves. The most prominent ranks within free society were the king, the
nobleman or thane, and the ordinary freeman. Women though, were in some ways
better off than they would be in later times. A woman could own her own
property, she could even take over as a leader for her husband if he died. Also
marriage was consensual between the man and the women.
The
occupations of the Saxons consisted of mainly farming, but metal working and
sculpting were also popular jobs.
