"Misnaming the Medieval: Rejecting “Anglo-Saxon” Studies" Topic

"When we think of the study of Old English literature or its language, we often think of the epic poem Beowulf. We seldom consider the scholarly field in which Beowulf is most closely scrutinized, nor the pervading assumptions within our lexicon about the people within the period that Beowulf was composed.

‘Anglo-Saxons' has long been associated with the early English people, but this label suffers from a long history of misuse. The scholarship and field supposedly draw their name from the people that scholars study, although the labels ‘Anglo-Saxonist' and ‘Anglo-Saxon studies' are also fraught with inaccuracies. The term ‘Anglo-Saxon' (rather than the medieval ‘Anglo-Saxorum' or ‘Anglo-Saxoria') gained popularity in the eighteenth and nineteenth century as a means of connecting white people to their supposed origins. Historically, the people in early England or ‘Englelond' did not call themselves ‘Anglo-Saxons'. The term was used sporadically during the early English period, but by and large, the people in early medieval England referred to themselves as ‘Englisc' or ‘Anglecynn.'

In the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066, only scant references of the term ‘Anglo-Saxon' exist, most notably in reference to royal titles. It was not until the sixteenth century that English antiquarians and scholars began to collect early English manuscripts and compile dictionaries of Old English. This sudden interest in the early English period was not as benign as one might think. In contrast to the Catholic church, Protestant Reformers in England aimed to establish precedent for their sectarian beliefs by reinterpreting early medieval English Christianity to create links between the "primitive English church" and Reformers' present day. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, an English nationalizing agenda emerged, centered on an English ‘race' dependent upon an appropriation and a refashioning of the past. English discourse depicted the ‘Anglo-Saxons' as reflecting ideals of national liberty.,,"

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Armand

What claptrap. It was always taught at school, way back when I was there, that the Angles, Saxons and and Jutes invaded and took over most of Great Britain, much of which only became known as England because of their presence. Of course these days this is now being called a migration and the term invasion is frowned on, but then societies always cast the past to suit the message they want from it and today's society is no different in this respect.