sixty thousand years of barrs family history chapter

Not all Barrs have been farmers but many have tilled the fields and are better people for it.
CHAPTER I
Sixty Thousand Years
Of
BARRS FAMILY HISTORY
By
Al Barrs, Jr.
Greenwood, Jackson County,
Florida U.S.A.
32443-1839
Aptly, the Barrs family motto was and still is 'FORTITUDE!'
The Barrs Surname Is The 19,822 Most Popular Surname In The United States of America.
Come with me now and live the lives of your ancestors through the words of history...
To understand our family we must study their history
- Updated and Revised Eighth Edition March 11, 2009. © Copyrighted. All Right Reserved -

It is important to understand: This is SPECULATIVE DATA. Most of it is unverified. Use it for hints and
pointers, but DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!
FAIR USE NOTICE: This document may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This writer distributes this material without profit to those who
have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.
� NOT AUTHINTICATED AS OUR BARRS LINE COAT-OF-ARMS �
However, we believe all Barrs in the United Kingdom were of the same family line.
Only first sons of first sons of the recipient of a Coat of Arms are permitted to bear
their ancestor's arms. Younger sons may use a version of their father's arms, but
the rules of heraldry say that they must be changed ("differenced") somewhat. If the
bearer of a Coat of Arms (called an "Arminger") dies without male heirs, his
daughter may combine her father's arms with her husband's arms. This is called
"impaling."
The earliest British Barrs Coat of Arms is described as follows and became unique
to an early Barrs:
"Gu. two bars engr. vair betw. five annulets, three in chief and two in base or."
When translated the blazon also describes the original colors of the Barrs arms as:
"Red: two narrow vair horizontal bands engrailed, between five gold rings, three in
the top and two in the bottom."
Above the shield and helmet is the Crest, which is described as follows:
"Upon a green mound in front of a gold gate, the trunk of an Oak tree uprooted
and sprouting towards the left."
NOTICE: If a photo or graphic does not appear instantly, wait a few seconds. If it appears it is not
going to open do this. Left click the object, Cut the object and Paste the object in the same page
location.
2

PREFACE
A Brief History Of Surnames
Today, we take for granted that everyone has a 'surname', but this was not always the case...
Surnames were introduced at different times and in different cultures. In China
for example, surnames were first used in the year 2852 BC.
In England and much of Europe the introduction of surnames began much later -
around 1000 AD. Surnames were used at this time only by those of a high social
status who felt the need to use an additional name (surname), so they could be
distinguished from another who had the same "Christian" or "first" name.
Inevitably, as the centuries passed, towns and cities in England grew and it soon
became clear that 'commoners' would need to have surnames too...After all, a
surname, together with a 'Christian' name, was the only way of legally identifying
someone at that time. Surnames were also needed so that people could prove
their ownership of land and other property.
So what had started out as an aristocratic desire, in England, had (over 3
centuries) filtered down to every level of society. And by the end of the 14th
century, everyone in England had a surname.
Originally a person's relationship with another person created a surname for the
individual. For example, the surname Johnson probably originated as "John's
son" and later shortened to "Johnson". Other surnames identified where a
person may have lived, or their occupation. For example, the surname of
Nottingham (a location Nottingham, England) indicated where the person lived.
Or, the surname Blacksmith (the 'Blacksmith' trade) indicated what the person
did for a living. The Barrs family name began in Old Normandy as de La Barre,
then changed to Barre, and was translated to English as Barres and Barrs
between 1100 AD and 1400 AD. In England ‘Barrs’ is a common name for
gates. Some historical accounts say that Barre meant "Keeper of the Gate or
Town." Some accounts say that it means "Dweller at or near the Entrance of
a City or Town." Everard des Barres was Grandmaster of the Knights Templar
from 1146 to 1149. The Order consecrated itself to the protection of pilgrims and
the defense of the Holy Land.
What do you think BARRS means? What does BARRS mean to you?
So, How Were Surnames Created?
3

Another very popular way of creating surnames, at that time, was by describing
a person's character or appearance, such as the surname of 'Bright' or 'Joy'.
Nowadays, of course, there is no need for new surnames to be created (with the
exception of 'hyphenated' names) as surnames are now simply passed from one
generation to the next. But, again, this was not always the case, especially when
surnames were first introduced. For example: William Farmer may have been a
'Farmer' (By his trade). But his son might have been called Peter Williamson!
(From the father's Christian name "William" by adding the word "son.") This
confusing state of affairs (In England at least.) was eventually changed into the
hereditary process we know today i.e. where a surname is simply passed from
one generation to the next.
Surnames are an interesting reminder of the past. They tell us much more about
our ancestors and family history than we may at first realize.
Did You Know?
Fact #1: In Turkey, surnames didn't become mandatory until 1935.
Fact #2: Many of the surnames we know today are just misspellings of original
surnames. (Over the centuries, as surnames were recorded, writers and officials
would often write the name down incorrectly...thereby creating a new surname.)
Fact #3: The 'Vikings' believed in name magic and that a person's soul was
represented or symbolized by his name (for this reason, Vikings deliberately
used the names of famous chiefs or family friends, when naming their children).
Fact #4: Many Swedish surnames reflect the Swede's love of nature,
incorporating words such as: berg ("mountain") or blom ("flower").
THANKS! I want to thank all the researchers, authors and Barrs who have contributed to the research, content
and writing of this CD-ROM book. I want to especially dedicate this family history book to my mother, Evia
Adetha Bell-Barrs/Knouse, who began researching our family genealogy long before computers and the Internet
were invented. And, I wish to thank my devoted wife of many years (NOV 28, 1957), Priscilla Lee Jones-Barrs,
for her help sorting old pictures and attaching names and dates. Thanks everyone! Al Barrs, Jr.
This book has been written for educational purposed only and is intended for Barrs family member's use.
Al Barrs, Jr.
Copyrighted© by Al Barrs, Jr. March 11, 1999-2009 albarrs@wfeca.net Greenwood, Florida 32443-1839 USA. Rev. July 29, 2009
4

FORWARD
FEELING THE LIVES OF OUR ANCESTORS
How many times have you found an ancestor and wondered what they were like;
what made them laugh, what made them cry, or what made them give up
farming in England and move to "The Colonies in America" or to North Carolina,
or South Carolina farm country to be exact.
What was the Revolutionary War like for our ancestors? What was the Civil War
like for them? What was the war to end all wars, World War I, like and what was
World War II like, not for the generals, but for the young farm boys and clerks on
both sides and especially the Barrs men and women. How about the Korean
Conflict or the Vietnam War? We Barrs had veterans of all these wars in our
family. Some probably fought in the famous Battle of Hastings in England.
We know that several family members, who were farmers in North Carolina,
fought in the Revolutionary War. They enlisted in Dobbs and other North
Carolina counties. North Carolina was where some of the most vicious fighting
took place during the Revolutionary War. We know that our line of Barrs fought
in The Lines of George Washington's army and they served in the state and
county militias of North Carolina. At least two of my Barrs ancestors and two
Bell ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War from North Carolina. Moe may
have fought but I haven't verified the data yet.
John Barrs, Sr. served during 1776-77 in Charles Young's Regiment of
Dobbs County, NC Militia.
John Barrs, Jr. served during 1777-78 in Captain Kennedy's Company of
Dobbs County, NC Militia.
And, several other Barrs served including in the regular
continental army or as it was written “in the line.”
In addition, there was Bell, Morgan, Newman, Bush, McMurray, Green and other
related family ancestors who served during the American Revolutionary War.
We also know that another line of Barrs residing in South Carolina and
Savannah Georgia fought with the British to preserve The Colonies for England.
We know that both of these Barrs families originated in Warwickshire England
so were probably related.
5

A James Barrs of South Carolina and later East Georgia was sentenced in
Warwickshire England in 1767 to “The Colonies for 14 years for stealing sheep.”
He arrived in Charles Town South Carolina's seaport in 1768. He had originally
been sentence to death but his sentence was commuted to 14 years in The
Colonies for some unrecorded reason. Perhaps his family was prominent
enough to have saved his life. He was killed during the Revolutionary War by
American partisans.
John Barrs (Sr.) born March 5, 1727 in Toft Hamlet Warwickshire England, who
is our most direct and earliest ancestor in America, arrived about 1750 with his
new bride Sarah Spears, which he had married on February 19, 1749 in the St.
Peter and St. Paul Parish Church of Aston Juxta near Birmingham,
Warwickshire, England. John Barrs purchased plantation land and is known to
have sold land in 1755-56 in the present day Lenoir County NC, which was
within Johnson-Dobbs and today Lenoir County North Carolina.
This John Barrs' Great-Great Grand Son, who would have been my Great-
Great Grand Father James Campbell Barrs and his only living brother, William
W. Barrs, James C. Barrs’ oldest son John Henry L. Barrs, and a cousin
James M. Barrs all fought in the American War Between the States, for the
Confederate States of America as did other Barrs and related men. James C.
Barrs and William W. Barrs’ oldest brother Isaac L. Barrs was born 1820 and
died August 1850 in Lowndes County Georgia. We also know that James M.
Barrs, a first cousin of James C. Barrs, enlisted in the “Wakulla Tigers”
Regiment of Wakulla County Florida during the War Between the States. He was
wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. He recovered and
returned to Leon, Wakulla County, Florida where he married Elizabeth Prince
and returned to farming until his death in Wakulla, Florida.
William W. born 1824 and James C. Barrs born 1821 Twiggs County Georgia
6

One of my lines of Barrs from Day, Lafayette County Florida, Pvt. Howard
Gadsen Barrs of Company A, 158 Engineering Battalion, even survived the
infamous Bataan Death March in the Philippine Islands during WW II. What a
story he could have told us today. As a young boy I remember his talking about
his experience briefly with my Father 'Fonso' (Alfonso) Barrs, Sr. On and on
the family stories go!
What was it like to marry young, move to a wilderness full of Native American
"Indians" and wild predatory animals, such as Red Wolf, Panther, and Bear, and
be expected to provide for a new wife and a growing family with an axe, saw,
plow, musket and no hospital or doctor within miles? It is now too late for many
of us to ask our pioneer ancestors these questions?
Of course it is, but you can ask your oldest living relatives what their lives were
like and what they remember their parents and grand parents said about their
lives and what they were told by their parents and grand parents about the "good
ole days."
You too can take pencil or computer in hand and write an autobiography ...even
if you aren't a writer. I did!
With a little luck your story will be passed down from generation to generation. If
you write a biography of your ancestral grandparents, your grandchildren could
have an idea of what life was like for them -- a span of perhaps five generations.
Your children, while young, might think of you as dull; mine did. But your greatgrandchildren,
assuming one finds a copy of your autobiography in an old trunk
in an attic sometime in the future, might find you life fascinating and uplifting.
And, maybe they too, like you, will want to learn more, research and write more
about your any our family's history.
I know at least one of my own grand children outwardly began to feel that they
really were somebody worthy when he learned that his ancestral grand fathers
on both sides of my family fought in the American Revolutionary War.
You grand children or future grand children too will experience an attitudinal
change for the better when they learn about your ancestors, where they came
from, how they got to America and how they lived and died. Some facts may not
be uplifting but even outlaws and scoundrels have a story to tell and they are
often fascinating stories to pass along before you take them to the grave with
you.
7

Some people have a hard time thinking of anything to say and write. Some
ramble along for hours at the slightest provocation...like I do. Family reunions
are a great place to get older relatives talking about the "good ole days." I have
learned much from family members who attend our Barrs family reunions, such
as Mr. Corris Herndon. Mr. Herndon of Homerville, Georgia is an encyclopedia
of information about his and our family and gives of it freely. He was a gold mine
of Barrs family history information and stories, but unfortunately he passed away
in 2001 taking much family history with him.
I'm that second type of person, I like to do research and write now that I have
retired from business. My career as a corporate manager, training designer and
training executive required that I do a lot of writing so it comes easy and natural
to me.
But, not when I was a kid! I hate to write just like you may. Relax! Go ahead
and don't worry about mistakes. Just get the story down on paper. I strongly
believe the ability to communicate effectively to others is more important than
the grammar one uses. Go ahead and communicate!
On the other hand, many individuals don't feel comfortable putting their thoughts
and feeling on paper. If you are one of those individuals who doesn't want to
write or type, go to the store and buy a small tape or video recorder. Very few of
us write the same way we talk anyway so don't be concerned about how you
might sound. Do it! Do it today. Tomorrow may be too late to take action.
I have written many pages of general and specific information about my relatives
and ancestors. No, it's not organized yet, but it will be there if something should
happen to me. My wife, Priscilla (Priscilla Lee Jones-Barrs)...I call her "Sue,"
or one or more of our 3 daughters, Debbie Lee, Susan Elaine or Terri Ann,
grand children or Great Grand Children can sort it all out and continue the
documentation of our own individual family history. Your relatives can do the
same. And, you can help organize the effort. When we are gone, there will
only be memories…
Indeed, we are lucky; my mother Evia Adetha Bell-Barrs/Knouse began writing
a Barrs/Bell/Morgan/Newman/Green/Toole/Fielding and other related family
histories many years ago and well before I become interested in "my" family
heritage. Short family member stories are important too.
Take for example the knowledge that I call my wife "Sue" when her name is
Priscilla Lee. Actually her nickname comes from her father Marvin Eldon
Jones, Sr. He said when Priscilla was a baby she would run around the house
looking like she was doing the "Susie-Q."
8

The Susie-Q was an early 20th century dance. When we started dating in 1954, I
believe it was, I named my old 1950 Ford sedan “Suzie-Q.” The name just
stuck.
Now Priscilla is “Sue” to me and most other folks. Some ask if Priscilla is my
first wife when I introduce Sue. I say, "yes”, Priscilla was my first wife and Sue
is my first wife and no I'm not a bigamist, her given name is Priscilla, but I call
her Sue and then we have to tell the story related above. Our Great-Great Grand
Children won't know this story if its not told and put down in writing for them to
read and tell their grandchildren.
So now you have the simple and short story of how a family member got, or
earned, their nickname. You too can write about your family connections and
add to all of our family's collective history records. Today is not to late to begin!
Following are a series of questions about your life. If you answer all of these
questions in complete sentences you will have a start on writing an
autobiography. That's how easy it really is. If you answer each question with a
couple of paragraphs you will have thirty or more pages of heirloom more
valuable than its weight in gold to your descendants.
When I was younger I could never think of enough to say. I was bashful and
withdrawn. I can remember sitting in a classroom after a long summer, sweating
over the annual essay assignment to answer the teacher's question "What did
you do over the summer vacation?"
My teacher, who tried valiantly to develop my prose style and handwriting, would
not accept the simple answer. She wanted detail. Now that I'm an old geezer
my problem is just the reverse. I ramble on for pages at the slightest excuse,
while my children yawn from boredom. But as I did as a child, I know they to will
someday get over that disengagement and appreciate reading about their family
heritage and history.
I was surprised to find that some adults still have problems thinking of enough to
say. In the course of gathering genealogical information I've asked my older
relatives to write a short memoir. Some of them asked for a guide. Not outright
but they say something like, "Oh, what sort of things do you want to know
about?" Give them a list of open-ended questions so they will have to respond
with a statement rather than a "yes" or "no" answer.
The short answer comes from putting yourself in someone else's shoes. What
information would you have liked your great-great-grand parents to have written
and left about themselves for you and your children to read and discuss?
9

I sometimes stop, when I'm tracing some ancestor who was married at a young
age and lived six days from civilization to wonder...what was their every-day life
really like?
Did they dance at their wedding? Did friends and neighbors gather in the hardpacked
dirt between the house and the barn, to make merry with a couple of
jugs and a fiddle? Or, was it a solemn religious service conducted in a log or
clapboard church, as quiet and subdued as a Quaker meeting?
What was it like for a great-great grandmother to start keeping house at a young
age in a log cabin with a dirt floor? What was it like for the groom, to be so young
and yet to have been expected to provide for a wife and a young family with a
mule and plow, a crosscut saw, a double-bladed ax and an old musket?
What follows this exchange may be a long answer. But that's good! The
following are some things I would like to know about my Barrs / Bell / Morgan /
Newman / Toole / Campbell / Grissman / etc. ancestors.
These questions are just a guide. No one will want to answer all of them. For
almost any category (occupation, schooling, religion, courtship, military service,
etc.) or any age (child, teenager, young adult, young married, middle aged) you
could ask yourself first, what was an ordinary day like? Again the answer might
seem boring now, but probably won't be to your great-grandchildren.
My grandparents didn't think hitching up a horse and buggy to go into town for
supplies, or helping grandma's mother cook for a cotton or tobacco harvest
crew, or butchering hogs in the chill of autumn was all that interesting.
When I tell my children and grandchildren the stories they told me they are
hearing about what life was like 100 years ago.
After the ordinary part and again for each period and category, ask what were
the most exciting things that happened, the proudest moment, the funniest
events and the saddest moment of their lives? Don't forget those anecdotes that
were horribly embarrassing at the time but funny when we look back on them.
These lighten-up "your" family story.
Childhood and School Days
Where and when were you born: In a hospital, at home or in a taxicab or a
buggy? (My children remember their mother telling them about when our
youngest daughter, Terri Ann was overdue I took their mom for a long car ride
over a bumpy road up and down hills around Tallahassee, Florida. Don't laugh it
worked!)
10

Where and when did you go to school (elementary, high school, college, trade
school, and/or graduate school)? What did you major in? What were your
favorite subjects? Why were they your favorites?
What were your favorite hobbies, sports, amusements, social groups, (Such as
the Scouts, 4-H Club, FFA, Key Club, etc.) as a child, as an adolescent, a teenager
or a young adult?
What would a typical school day, Saturday, Sunday have been like as a child,
teenager, young adult or older person many years ago? Chores, for instance,
have changed a lot since children had to fetch water, chop kindling and hold a
leg while Dad butchered a hog.
I know a man whose teenager has to delete all the temporary files from the
family's computers once a week, since his younger children "draw" a lot but
aren't trusted with the file manager. Times have changed!
Did you get an allowance? If you had an after school or summer job, what did
you do? What did you like about it? What did you dislike about it? What was the
funniest thing that happened on the job? How much did you earn? What would
that buy in terms of what things cost today? What did you spend your earnings
on?
Where did you live as a child, a teen-ager, a young adult and an adult? Have
you written down a chronological account of your family's moves? These are
important facts when tracking a family's genealogical history. What were the
houses like in which your family lived? What were the towns and neighborhoods
like? What were the people like? What do you remember liking and disliking
about it? Did you have a bike?
How long did it take to learn to ride your bike and how many timed did you fall?
As an adult, why did you pick the places you chose to live (Specific apartments,
neighborhoods, cities and regions)?
What was the most exciting thing that happened to you as a child, teen-ager and
young adult or adult? And, what were the three most, five most, seven most
exciting things you have experienced during your lifetime?
Romance, Work, Play and Family History
Where and how did you and your spouse meet? What attracted you to each
other? Do you have a favorite incident from your courtship that was either funny
in the ordinary way or embarrassing then but funny now that some years have
passed?
11

What was your wedding like? Where and when was it held? Was this typical for
the time? Did you dance? What did people wear? (Those of you who changed
out of a rented tuxedo into a powder blue polyester leisure suit for the reception
will want to skip this one.) Are there pictures of the wedding? Where are they?
Who has the family pictures? Who has the family Bible? What seemingly terrible
thing happened at your wedding?
My bride lost her vale and was heart broke before she even go to the church, but
she got over it quickly when her high heel got caught in the heating system grate
in the aisle as she began solemnly walking down to the pulpit. She kept thinking,
"Disasters come in threes...what will happen next?" Forth six years later she
laughs about it and is still looking for number three.
Military service - Did you serve? When and where did you serve? Why did you
choose a particular branch of service, if you had a choice? What were the most
exciting things that happened to you in the service, the funniest and the most
frightening? This particular section can get intense if you are interviewing a WW
II, Korean Police Action or Vietnam War veteran. Try to be sensitive to their
feelings and emotions.
If your relative is willing, ask about his or her reactions to the war effort at home
while you were in service. There will probably not be many funny anecdotes here
regardless of what war or non-war period they may have served our Country. It
is they who have fought for and guaranteed our freedom and we only want to
remember their sacrifice.
Occupation - what did you do? Why did you choose a particular occupation as a
career? What did you especially like and dislike about the job(s) you performed?
What are some of the things that you are proudest of having accomplished?
What was your starting salary for your first full-time job? How much was that in
terms of a "starter" home or a car? (Inflation being what it is, most of us started
working at wages that seem ridiculously low today.) Asking how much a car,
house or whatever cost back then gives our grand children a perspective of our
economic situation when we were young and living in the "good ole days." You
may only have earned $2,000 a year at a variety of part time and summer jobs
while in college, but it was probably enough to cover room, board, tuition, books
and living expenses. Not so today.
What did you do outside your job as an adult? Why did you do it? What did you
like or dislike about it? What were the funny, proud and sad events you
experienced? Don't ask for just volunteer work but hobbies, recreation, travel
and so on.
12

Do you bird watch, water ski, play the banjo, hunt, fish, garden, teach Sunday
school, volunteer at the library, collect stamps, refinish antiques, garden or
rebuild old cars? What?
What historical events have you witnessed in person, heard over the radio or
seen on television? How did you, your friends and neighbors react to these
events?
Religion, Children, History
Religion - Why did you choose your particular denomination, if you did? What did
you like and/or dislike about it? What was the funniest thing that ever happened
to you in church? What was the most awe-inspiring thing you remember
happening to you at church? What was your proudest moment? What was your
saddest moment? What was the top church event you can recall? Make a list of
things that were horribly embarrassing but funny now that a few years have
passed.
Children - where and when were they born? How did you pick their names?
What were they like as infants, toddlers and adults?
Most of the questions here are as open and optional as I could phrase them.
Each parent writing this information will have to come up with at least one
anecdote about each of their children, for the great grandchildren to someday
chuckle over.
Larger events, personal perspective - What do you notice is the biggest change
in the world today from the world you knew, or thought you knew, as a child?
What one, three or five things can you remember being invented in your lifetime
that people today take for granted? I remember having no electrical power in our
farmhouse and no television.
(The first time I saw a television set the horizontal hold was off; it was showing a
boxing match. The top half of the screen showed the boxer's legs, the bottom
half their heads, arms and chests. I thought there was a special double-decked
boxing arena, and the TV was showing two matches at once.)
Eating - Holidays and Hard Times
Boy, can those Barrs women cook! Food and cooking makes memories and
binds families together. How did you celebrate Easter, Thanksgiving and
Christmas? What did you eat? Who cooked and how was it cooked? Did your
father cook? How did you decorate the house, if you did? Did you do anything
special for breakfast, lunch or dinner on your birthday on the weekend or on
Sunday? Did your mom have birthday parties for you?
13

If you are writing an autobiography, and are a United States of America citizen
between 25 and 50, there is a good chance Super Bowl Sunday is one of your
major holidays. If you are English, there is a good chance the Cricket Matches is
one of your major events. Don't forget to describe it. Did your family celebrate
any holidays that were special to your religious or ethnic heritage? This would be
a good place to ask about heirloom recipes, too. What was your favorite meal,
apart from the holidays?
Not everyone had steak every Saturday night when they were growing up.
Describe your hard times. Maybe your children and grand children will
appreciate what they have today if you do.
Maybe, just maybe, they will pick up their room without being told. If you lived in
the county on a farm when did your parents take you to town? How often did
you get to go to town? What did you do in town? Was there a theatre or a 5 and
10¢ Store? What did it cost to see a movie? What kind of movies did you see?
Was there a "serial" shown every Saturday like when I was young?
The Unknown Side
The next question is one I ask at dinner parties a lot. "What have you done that
no one would guess you had ever done?" They may surprise you and tell you
something no one else ever knew about them. Your deed doesn't have to be a
grand death-defying stunt. It can just be something to make your grandchildren
say, "Wow - I never knew that!" Something like the individual who contacted me
recently asking if I could help trace their father's heritage. Their father was in his
late seventies and they were surprised when he told them one day out of the
blue that he was born a Barrs and that he had been given to the couple that
raised him when he was only five years old. He had never mentioned that he
was born a Barrs in all those years. What a surprise to his children.
There are a lot of subjects that don't fit any of the above topics very well. Many
of them are what I call the "best" and "worst" of questions. What is the best meal
you have ever eaten? What was the worst meal? What are the ten best, for that
matter, and three worst meals you ever had? What was the best vacation you
and your family ever took? What was the worst vacation? What was the nicest
act of human kindness you've performed or benefited from?
What was the most beautiful sunset, sunrise, creek, river, lake, waterfall, and
rolling hillside covered with wildflowers, etc. you have ever seen? What was the
most fancy party or prom you have ever attended? Did you have a Sweet
Sixteen Party or Coming Out Party? What was the most fun you ever had in a
single day...in your entire life?
14

Now that I know my heritage I am proud of it and of the Barrs family line.
Now, make a list of your own questions. Then ask them every chance you get.
When your grandparents are gone the knowledge they held is gone with them
unless you actively gather and record it. Now isn't to late to begin!
Get cracking and good luck...Al Barrs
My personal challenge to you...
This CD-ROM Barrs Family History book and its accompanying addendum,
family picture album and other documents were written and assembled for
education purposes only and is not for sale. Many hours have been devoted to
retracing the routes and steps of our Barrs ancestors and surname derivatives.
Here we follow their journey from Scandinavian Denmark to Old Normandy, to
France, to England and finally to America and the United States of America.
Recently, with my DNA testing at the National Geographic Society, I have
learned that my unbroken DNA/genes track back from the west coast of Europe
to France, Siberia, Russia, Central and South Asia, to the Middle East, down
across the Sinai Peninsular and into East Africa West of the Horn of Africa over
a period of 60,000+ years. I haven’t discovered from where my ancestors came
to East Africa from or whether or not they came from within Africa, Asia or
Europe.
We do not wish to have the Barrs trail ever grow cold again so are making this
offer and challenge to you and your descendants.
Here is my challenge to you... I will waive my Copyright (©) to any Barrs family
member, no matter which line, if you will agree to do the following 3 things:
1. Use the family information gathering master form, located in the addendum
section of this book, to gather your Barrs family information. Make copies and
gather all the information you can about your direct line of Barrs as far back as
you possibly can. Then add your information to the Addendum section of this
Barrs Family History Book. Make this CD-ROM book your family history book.
2. Then, make one copy for each of your children and ask them to do what you
have agreed to do in number 1 above.
15

3. Finally, I ask that you agree to find and attend Barrs Family Reunions and
make other Barrs aware of this book and where they can obtain a copy for their
children.
This is a typical North
Florida Piney Woods
‘Dog-Trot’ Log House
with unattached kitchen
in rear and picket fence.
�
This house is identical
to one on Aunt Orlee
Parker’s farm in
Lafayette County FL,
which we lived and Dad
farmed, when I was a
boy. It was built by my
GG Grandfather
Henry W. Toole
CONTACTING AL BARRS
Feel free to contact me at…
Quail Ridge Farm
4731 Georgia Road
Greenwood, Florida 32443-1839 U.S.A.
albarrs@wfeca.net or suebee@wfeca.net
Typical ‘Dog-Trot’ Log Home
16

SOME BARRS ENGLISH
COATS-OF-ARMS
Donated by Jack Leonard BARRS
17
From England

Have you ever read history and wondered if your ancestors were involved in a
particular event? If you have, find out more here... Dream the good dreams!
BEFORE THE YEAR 1000 AD
Not all Barrs have been farmers but many have tilled the fields of Europe, England and America.
Families are like trees. They put down roots and grow limbs, twigs, leaves and
flowers. All trees have roots. Some roots grow straight down, deep into the
subsoil, and are called taproots. Some roots spread diagonally outward from the
trunk of the tree to gather scarce nutrients. The Barrs family tree too has
prospered and grown deep taproots and outward feeder roots from its small but
sturdy trunk through the centuries. (Note the Barrs Coat of Arms helmet crest. It
may not have belonged to one of our ancestors, but it is appropriate. It's a
chopped down tree that won't die as depicted by the fresh growth of a sturdy
limb and green leaves that continue to live and grown.) Leaves die and fall to
the ground as time passes each year.
Aptly the Barrs family motto was and still is 'FORTITUDE!'
18

Our relatively small family has spread from Europe to England to the United
States and many other countries around the World since 1000 AD. From its
unknown origin germination to Northeast Africa, Asia and Europe to Old
Normandy, France and England the Barrs family tree sprouted many thousands
of years ago. In England it grew into a sturdy but small tree. And, in America it
has grown and spread its roots and branches.
Considering family size the Barrs family is small compared to other families.
Take for example the fact that the Barrs family surname is the 19,822nd most
popular name in the United States of America. This may also be due to the
large numbers of female Barrs who took their husband's surname and
unfortunately are all but lost to history. But the Barrs family has been and is
tough and resolute in its will to survive and prosper. The word "Fortitude" is
aptly our Barrs motto.
It's important to have an understanding of where our family and family surname
came from in order to visualize their lives, feelings, occupations and
experiences. To understand the countries, people, times and social groups and
communities they lived in, and yes even where they have died and are buried is
to experience life, as they knew it. We must ask ourselves many questions and
seek answers from history and loved ones if we are to understand and be able
to visualize what life was like in those "good ole days" when life was hard and
difficult.
What were the times, in which each generation lived, like for our ancestors?
How did they live? What did they eat? What types of housing did they live in?
What types of clothing did they make and wear? What was the weather like?
Why and when did they live in and emigrate from one area to another? What
were their occupations? How many were farmers? How many farm today? When
did they give up as hunter gatherers and settle down in hamlets to farm and
become craftsmen and women.
How did they get from Europe to Great Briton...to America? Why did they
immigrate? Was it famine, war or just the urge to see what was over the next
mountain or across the next ocean? What did they do first when they arrived in
Briton and America? Were they free people, warriors, indentured slaves,
criminals, wealthy, poor and so on? Could they do as they chose or were they
under the control of others, such as a lord, a king, a dictator, a church, or a
family leader? Why did they make the decision to leave Europe and settle in
England and later America?
19

The European de La Barre was an Old Normandy family probably belonged to
the Huguenot religious group. Huguenots were the forerunners of the Methodist
movement in the United States of America. John Wesley was their leader in
America. The Barrs have a number of men who were named after notable
individuals, for example John Wesley Barrs brother of Great Grandfather Isaac
Newton Barrs.
The Huguenot's beliefs didn't sit well with competing Church leaders either. To
escape the great French massacre of 1572 AD the Huguenots (Methodist today)
fled across the English Channel and found temporary refuge in Briton, today in
the United Kingdom.
Following is a historical perspective on the areas in Europe, England and
America in which we first find the family surname de La Barre in Old Normandy,
later to become Barre and Barres in France and then in England Barres and
later Barrs and in the United States of America Barrs as well.
Why did other Barre settle in south central England and become Barres and
finally Barrs? Let us explore together our long family history not as individuals
but as a family. Individual Barrs are important to other individual Barrs but The
Barrs Family is important to all we Barrs regardless of whether or not we can
make family line connections today.
Remember at one time there was one person who called himself, his wife and
children your surname...de La Barre, Barre, Barres and finally today Barrs. He
and his wife were not the first of our Barrs line. Our Barrs family, tribe or clan
line goes back across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa over 60,000
years from 1000 AD, when surnames were our surname was first used.
The Barrs family surname history began in Old Normandy in what is today
Belgium, which is now a part of France. Where our ancestors came from to
Normandy we do not know exactly because families did not begin to use
surnames until around 1000 AD, but we can trace them somewhat through our
DNA migration pattern. In 2008 and I had my y-DNA tested and now know that
our Barrs clan’s journey began 60,000+ years ago. We know that our male
Barrs line genetic link goes unbroken from today back 60,000+ years to
Northeast Africa, near what is today the Horn of Africa. From our unbroken
genetic link our Barrs clan, over thousands of years migrated out of the Horn of
Africa through the Middle East into Mesopotamia, on into Southern Asia and
then into the steeps of Central Asia. From there our Barrs clan migrated north
into the tundra country of Siberia, probably in pursuit of the Woolly Mammals
which sustained them and forced a change in how they hunted, lived and
survived.
20

From Siberia the Barrs clan migrated across the top of Europe across Germany,
Scandinavia and into Western Europe. Once the Barrs clan reached the Atlantic
Ocean they would migrate north following the herds of wild animals that would
sustain them until agriculture emerged. Over a long period of time a number of
cooling and ice ages forced the animals the Barrs clan hunted south and made
farming difficult. During the coldest periods they migrated into the Iberian
Peninsular where they took refuge from the cold weather and advancing ice
sheets that covered North Europe and the British Islands. Eventually, about
15,000 to 10,000 years ago, they would migrate back to the Low Lands of the
West Coast of Europe into what would become Old Normandy.
Barrs Clan (R1b haplogroup) Migration Map Covering 60,000+ years
We do know that early “Viking” farmers settled Old Normandy after cold spring
and summer seasons made it impossible to grow crops in Scandinavia. We also
know the majority of these “Viking” farmers were from Denmark. Sometime
around 1100 to 1200 AD some Barrs clan families and individuals migrated to
The Midlands of Britain in what would later become Warwickshire, England. We
know that many Barrs have been farmers in England and America.
21

Many still farm. Some were Blacksmiths and Merchants. Were our early Barrs
ancestors “Viking” farmers and part-time traders and warriors too? Possibly,
however the I1a haplogroup seems to be more prevalent in Scandinavia than
our R1b haplogroup type, although there are considerable R1b haplogroup
members in Scandinavian countries like Denmark. Bottom line, we Barrs could
be of Viking descent but there is not sufficient proof yet to declare that certainty.
As more Barrs y-DNA is tested we may be able to better pinpoint whether or not
and when some of our Barrs ancestors lived in Denmark and Spain or Portugal
in the Iberian Peninsular before migrating to the Low Lands of west Europe and
Old Normandy.
Did any Barrs ancestors accompany Leif Erickson or Eric the Red, the well
documented Viking explorer father and son team, to Greenland and North
America well before Columbus sailed the ocean blue? Maybe...probably not, but
it's something to think, talk and dream about today. Someone made the trip to
America with these brave ancient sailors and explorers. To my knowledge, there
is no record of structured farming evidence during Leaf Erickson and Eric the
Red’s voyages to America, but there is emerging evidence that they were sheep
herders as well as farmers and merchants.
Before the concept of surnames emerged, and because family units were so
scattered, only Christian or first names had been used. And, these Christian
names were often reflective of physical traits, occupations, locations or prowess.
Some historical accounts say that Barre meant "Keeper of the Gate or Town."
Some accounts say that it means "Dweller At, Or Near, the Entrance of o City
or Town." What do you think the meaning of 'Barre' or 'Barrs' is?
We do know from history that family groups lived in isolated villages normally
surrounded by a wooden stockade. So, these assertions may very well be close
to the true. We also have learned that at least one Barrs family member's motto
was "FORTITUDE" which also reflects the guardian of a stockaded village or
town. Were our early Barrs traders and warriors before they became farmers
and business owners?
Were they farmers who were pressed into military service by rulers and kings?
Probably!
We know that Viking farmers from Denmark settled Old Normandy but there
were already a viable population in what would become Old Normandy well
before the Vikings arrived.
So, this is where I have chosen to pick up the story of our BARRS family line.
Perhaps we will eventually learn that they migrated from Denmark to Spain and
back to Old Normandy.
22

We all must keep searching for our ultimate BARRS family roots for our children
and grand children's sake. Today we have the Barrs DNA Project, which we
hope will eventually disclose more and more information about our clan’s long
migration trek to America.
Barrs Clan Genetic Migration Map
See Website: http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/b/barrs/ to contribute you DNA
This Map Highlights the Present Town of Barre, France
23

The Viking Era
THE VIKINGS (793 AD-1066 AD)
Viking farmers migrated from Denmark to Old Normandy because of a cooling
climate. The Barrs surname began around 1000 AD in Old Normandy as de La
Barre. It is found as Barre and Barres in France and early Briton before being
translated to Barrs in England about 1200 AD.
The documented Viking era began with the sacking of the monastery at
Lindisfarne Briton in 793 AD and ended in 1066 AD at the Battle of Stanford
Bridge where King Harald Hardråde of Briton was slain. These two bloody
events mark the opening and closing of an era in Nordic (Old Normandy) history,
which featured dramatic social change. This period came to be known as "The
Viking Era." When it started, paganism dominated and the countries were
fragmented into countless chiefdoms and minor kingdoms.
When the Viking Era ended, power had been vested in the British king and
church. For the first time in history there arose a west European type society.
Modern written records in Western Europe describe the Vikings as robbers and
pirates who burned, pillaged and raped. Laying waste monasteries and
churches, they terrorized Christian Europe. Yet, history reveals, they did more.
At the same time, they were extraordinarily skilled seafarers, explorers, traders,
farmers and herdsmen. They crossed huge and violent oceans and discovered
Iceland, Greenland and North America. They exploited oceans and rivers and
established trade routes all over Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Arabian sources describe Vikings cruising along the Russian rivers to the Black
and Caspian Seas, trading and pillaging as they went. Viking sorties also
reached into the Mediterranean Sea.
24

Danish kings succeeded in conquering England at the latter stages of the Viking
Era. The Viking Chieftain Rollo established his own kingdom in Old Normandy.
Neither before, nor since in European history have the Nordic peoples exercised
such commerce and political importance.
PEACEFUL ASPECTS OF THE VIKING ERA
Excavations of towns and settlements have provided new insight into daily life,
crafts and trade of the Vikings. A powerful surge in trading took place in Europe
during the 700’s AD and the first towns where established in Scandinavia.
During the period 800-900 AD, the Vikings played a central role in the
burgeoning commercial trade, which was drawing Europe together. Cities like
York in northern England and Dublin in Ireland were Scandinavian communities.
Toft is a Viking term for "homestead." Early 1600s Barrs lived many years in
Toft Hamlet in Warwickshire England known as “Toft Hill.”
WIDESPREAD EMIGRATION
Compared to population size, there was a scarcity of resources in many parts of
the Nordic region. Voyages to the south, east and west gave the people an
opportunity to seek out new and better living, farming and herding conditions. So
the Vikings by the thousands sought out places where they could live safely,
build homes farm and heard their domesticated animals and birds.
With the aid of the sword, they established themselves in Old Normandy and the
British Islands. Other places the Vikings came across were already sparsely
populated, like the Hebrides, Shetlands and the Orkney Islands and they
established settlements there too.
The Vikings were the first settlers on Iceland, the Faeroe Islands and Greenland.
Archaeological excavations have shown that the Vikings also attempted to settle
in Newfoundland. Their lack of success was probably due to conflicts with the
native population, i.e. Native Americans.
THE BEST OF SHIPS
The art of shipbuilding was well developed, but in the 700’s AD a technological
breakthrough was achieved by Viking boat builders, which was to affect
marauding raids, commercial voyages, trade in particular and emigration.
KEEL BOATS APPEAR
With this discovery, Viking ships could be developed to carry sail. They were
faster and better suited to sail than any other ship of that time. The Viking ships
also had the advantage that they could navigate shallow waters. They could
therefore slip easily up rivers and onto shallow shorelines.
25

THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION OF BRITON
History of BARRS before 1000 AD
Now, for a Barrs family history lesson to help our young Barrs visualize and
understand where and how their Barrs families may have originated, lived, loved
and died in those long ago and far away places that are to often forgotten and
over looked today in our family's culture and history. The story begins in about
the year 400 AD.
The English are coming!
Rome had dominated and ruled Briton before 410 AD. In 410 AD the Roman
legions were recalled to defend Rome against barbarian attacks. Britain was left
to fend for herself. (The rulers of Britain after 410 AD are referred to as 'Tyrants'
because their authority had no legitimacy in the Roman's eyes.) Having no
standing armies left the British people were left open to attack from the Picts
(probably by sea from down the east coast of England.).
The Picts are described in one late Roman source as a sea-going people and
just like the Saxons. With this situation existing in Britain we find the following:
' In the year 449 AD Mauricius and Valentinian obtained the
Kingdom and reigned for seven years. In their days Hengest
and Horsa, invited by Vortigern King of the Britons, came to
Britain at a place called Ebbsfleet at first to help the Britons, but
later they fought against the King. The King ordered them to
fight against the Picts, and so they did and had victory
wherever they came. They then sent to Angeln [i.e. Denmark];
ordered them to send them more aid and to be told of the
worthlessness of the Britons and of the excellence of the land.
They sent them more aid. These men came from three nations
of Germany: from the Old Saxons, from the Angles, from the
Jutes. From the Jutes came the people of Kent and the people
of the Isle of Wight, that is the race that now dwells in the Isle of
Wight, and the race among the West Saxons that is still called
the race of the Jutes.' 'From the Old Saxons came the East
Saxons and South Saxons and West Saxons. From Angel,
which has stood waste ever since between the Jutes and the
Saxons, came the East Angles, Middle Angles, Mercians and all
the Northumbrians.'
26

Ships of the type that were used by the early Anglo-Saxon settlers
and invaders of Briton among whom may have been the Barre
This account, of the migrations from Germany following the collapse of the
Roman Empire, is taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and it describes how
the later Anglo-Saxons saw the first arrival of their people in Briton.
Since then and until quite recently, it has remained the accepted view of what
happened. However, recent researches have shown it to be wrong in almost
every detail. It is even uncertain whether Hengest and Horsa ever existed or
whether they were actually the same person. Although Hengest may have been
the first Germanic chieftain of Kent, he was probably no more than a Warlord.
The first Germanic King was probably his son Oisc, giving the Kentish Royal
House the name of the 'Oiscingas.' While it may be true that a British King (who
may or may not have been called Vortigern) employed Germanic mercenaries to
help him in his battles against the Picts (or perhaps just another British King), it
would certainly not be the first instance of Germanic settlers in Britain.
It is known that the Romans had stationed Germanic troops in Britain since at
least the 3 rd century AD. It is also known that some of these troops settled in
Britain and Germanic pirates were raiding Britain from at least this date too. So
the 'excellence of the land' would have already been well known on the
European continent.
Archaeology has shown that by the late 4 th century AD Germanic mercenaries
were to be found settled all along the east coast of Britain, and along the banks
of the Thames River at least as far as Oxfordshire.
The British 'tyrants' also feared a Roman invasion from Gaul would remove
them, so some of the Saxons stationed in southern England may have been a
guard against Roman military intervention. This was a far cry from the old view
that the Britons missed the presence of the Roman Legions.
27

It is also known that the peoples who made up the 'Anglo-Saxons' were far more
varied than just the three groups mentioned.
For ease of reference I will use the name 'Anglo-Saxon' to refer to those
Germanic people who settled in Britain, even though this is not what they would
have thought of themselves as at that time. Certainly there were Jutes (probably
not exclusively from Jutland as many people think, but also from the Frankish
Rhineland), Saxons (from northern Germany) and Angles (from southern
Denmark).
These small populations may have formed the bulk of the migrating people, but
there were also Frisians (from the Low Countries of Europe). The Frisian
language shared in all the more important sound changes which distinguish
English from German on one hand and the Scandinavian languages on the
other, Geats (from Gotland and south-east Sweden), Franks (from northern
France and central Germany), Wends (from the southern Baltic lands), Swedes,
Norwegians, and many others contributed.
Even the totally violent nature of their arrival is now thought to have been
exaggerated. While it is certainly true that the newcomers did fight against the
Britons (As the Invaders called them, the "Wealas" - an Old English word
meaning slave or foreigner). In many regions much of the settlement was
peaceful with farmers and craftsmen integrating themselves into existing
communities. The number of the invaders was certainly large and they certainly
did affect the nature of British society, even to the extent of replacing the primary
language. But they did not wipe out the native British Islands population.
One current school of thought is that the graves found in Anglo-Saxon
cemeteries with no grave goods may in fact belong to Britons living along side
'Anglo-Saxons', and the lack of grave goods represents the different burial
customs of these early Britons.
If this is true the number of Germanic peoples may not have been as great as
many people think. The Germanic people have only replacing the middle and
upper echelons of the British society. It is also thought that some of the 'Anglo-
Saxon' burials may actually be native Britons who adopted the ways of the
'Anglo-Saxons', just as they had done several centuries earlier with the Romans.
It is most likely that a mixture of all these situations happened. In some places
the native Britons were almost entirely replaced by the newcomers. In some
places the two nationalities lived side by side, and in other places the population
remained almost exclusively British, although these British people gradually
adopted the ways and language of the invaders.
28

Whatever the nature of the influx of Germanic peoples, we know that it did not
happen overnight and that it was not entirely peaceful. Fifty years after the
traditional arrival of Hengest and Horsa there was still fighting going on for
control of the land.
Some of this was between the Britons and the invaders. This was the time of
Ambrosius Aurelianus (probably the King Arthur of legend) a Romano-British
chieftain. Some of the fighting was between different Germanic tribes with each
group struggling for supremacy.
Around the year 500 AD the Britons (probably under the leadership of Ambrosius
Aurelianus) won a great battle at Mons Badonicus (Mount Badon). This victory
halted the tide of Germanic invaders to such an extent that several continental
sources show the Germanic expansion switched to northern Frankia (including
Germanic peoples leaving England). It also appears that many Britons left Britain
for northern Gaul and turned the peninsula of Armorica into what is called
Brittany. For about a half century there was relative peace with the British having
total rule over the western half of the country and Germanic rule in the east. It
seems probable that the Britons may even have won back some parts of central
England from the invaders. (A fact the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles seem to gloss
over.)
By the middle of the fifth century AD the Germans started a second wave of
colonization that ended with most of lowland Britain falling under the control of
many Germanic 'Kings' (Most of the later Kingdoms were founded during this
period.).
The British culture was relegated to the western fringes of the country in
Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall) and Wales. The name of which is derived from
the word "wealas" mentioned previously. In the north there was the British
Kingdom of Strathclyde and the independent British Kingdom of Elmet, which
stretched westwards for many miles from the marshes at the head of the
Humber, and separated the Angles of the northern Midlands from those of the
Plain of York.
This division allowed the occasional King to gain supremacy over the other tribes
(Old English Bretwalda). They became known as the 'King of all England South
of the Humber'. The first of these Kings was Elle, King of Sussex from 477 AD.
The second King was Ceawlin, King of Wessex from 560 AD. It is also the
reason Germanic people living north of the Humber are recorded as the
Nordanhymbroron gens, or Northumbrians, while the Germanic people living
between the Humber and the Channel are referred to as Sutangli, or southern
English (the earliest case of the North/South divide).
29

The Northumbrian Angles were divided into two main tribes: the Dere (Deirans)
and Bernice (Bernicians). The southern English comprised the Lindisfaran
(Kingdom of Lindsey which may have been founded as a combined
British/Germanic Kingdom several decades before the traditional Germanic
invasion).
The Mierce (Mercians), the Eastengle (East Angles), the Eastseaxe (Essex), the
West Seaxe (Wessex), the Suthseaxe (Sussex), the Middelseaxan (Middlesex),
the Cantware (Men of Kent), Wihtland (people of the Isle of Wight), Hwicce
(Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and western Warwickshire) and a loose
confederation of small tribes known as the Middle Angles in central England
came into existence during this period.
The Germanic peoples who, in the days of the Roman Empire, had occupied
territory stretching from Scandinavia to the Danube River, from Gaul to beyond
the Vistula, shared a common heritage.
Although similar in many ways to the Celtic people, their culture was distinctly
different. For example, they spoke various dialects of a Germanic language (not
the Gallic language of the Celts) and they worshipped the Norman, not the
Roman or Celtic, gods.
The war-oriented, Teutonic lifestyle had become traditional among the tribes.
They shared, according to Tacitus, veneration for the prophetic powers of
women and a predilection for feasting and drinking. The Germans who settled in
Britain transmitted these traditional features of Teutonic culture to their
descendants. Anglo-Saxons celebrated them to such an extent that one can
find the ancient themes in literary works composed as late as the 10 th century
AD, long after the disappearance of a tribal society.
Various German societies demonstrably retained features in common although
they settled over a wide geographical area during a long period of time. And,
they nourished their 'barbarian' culture despite the proximity of the Roman
Empire.
This lack of change is useful to us when studying the early Germanic
immigrants, since their illiteracy for a century and a half, after settlement,
inevitably leaves a gap in the British historical record, a gap that can be filled, at
least partially, by written accounts from outside observers (Tacitus' Germania
gives us many details of life amongst the Germanic tribes, as do other classical
texts).
30

CLOTHING AND APPEARANCE
OF THE PAGAN ANGLO-SAXONS
There is very little direct evidence of the types of clothing the early 'Anglo-
Saxons' wore. The surviving textiles are only fragmentary (usually in a
mineralized form on metal artifacts) and there is little or no pictorial or literary
evidence from Briton. Fortunately we do have records of the continental
Germanic peoples, both from surviving garments and late Roman pictorial and
literary representations. The link between the early 'Anglo-Saxons' and their
continental relatives can easily be shown from the high degree of similarity
between burials, pottery, jewelry, etc.
Men's Clothing
Continental evidence indicates that a short cloak or cape, made of skin or fur
(usually sheepskin), was an important feature of Germanic men's costume.
Caesar and Tacitus mention this garment as being sometime the only garment
worn, and Iron Age discoveries from Danish peat bogs would seem to confirm
their observations (although it is considered unlikely that the early 'Anglo-
Saxons' would have gone naked except for a cloak).
They seem to have worn the fur-side inwards, skin-side out and secured them by
lacing, sewing, tying, or by securing wooden or leather toggles through loops of
leather (i.e. they did not require pins or brooches). Cloth cloaks, short or knee
length, were also common. These cloaks were not tailored, but consisted of a
square or rectangle of cloth that was clasped at one shoulder, usually the right
shoulder.
Cloaks would be woven in one piece on an upright loom. Often, to begin and
end the weaving, tablet woven borders would be used. Similar borders could
also be woven-in at the sides, thus edging the garment all the way around.
Particularly noteworthy are the large and luxurious cloaks found in the peat bogs
of Thorsbjerg, Denmark and Vehenmoor, Germany. Both were of a complex
weave and dyed with precious dyes in different colors.
The edges of the Thorsbjerg garment were braided on more than one hundred
tablets, the Vehenmoor on about one hundred and forty six, and both had
elaborate fringes. The Thorsbjerg garment was about 66'' (1.68m) wide and 93''
(2.36m) long, the Vehenmoor 69'' (1.75m) by about 112'' (2.85m).
31

They were worn by folding the material lengthwise and pinning it on the right
shoulder. It is very probable that the richest Anglo-Saxons wore voluminous
cloaks of this kind; less luxurious versions would also have been common. They
are versatile and practical since unpinning and unfolding them turns them into
blankets.
A different type of cloak in use by the Germanic peoples was a poncho type
garment with a central hole for the head. There are no representations of a
man's poncho in Anglo-Saxon art (although some women in late Anglo-Saxon
England seem to have worn a poncho like garment) and no direct evidence
exists that it was worn in Anglo-Saxon England, but it is certainly a type of
garment that might be known, if uncommon.
Another type of outer garment, possibly worn by the early Germanic settlers,
was the hooded robe, known to modern scholars as the 'Gallic coat.' It seems
likely that cloaks could be made from skin or textile and could vary in size from
small capes to large voluminous cloaks of the Thorsbjerg / Vehenmoor type.
There are many Old English words for these outer garments and both sexes
could wear the hacele (a cloak which might be hooded), the mentel and the
sciccels (which could be made of fur). Men wore the fur crusene and heden
(which could be hooded) and the rocc (which could be made of fur or skin). Men
wore the ofer-slop. So was the loþa (which could be made of shaggy fabric and
used as a coverlet as well as a cloak). There is no evidence to which sex wore
the rift (a cloak or curtain) and the sciccing.
We can be fairly certain the Germanic settlers wore trousers. The wearing of
trousers had long distinguished the 'barbarians' from the Greeks and Romans
(Although the Romans eventually adopted the wearing of trousers too.). They
were sometimes worn beneath a tunic and sometimes worn only with a cloak.
They were fastened around the waist with a belt. Pictorial representations often
show them to be rather loose; the slack material was gathered round the waist
and it hung in folds around the legs.
However, the examples known from archaeology are all much more closely
fitting, more akin to the tight fitting leg coverings shown in later Anglo-Saxon
manuscripts, so it seems that whether the trousers were tight or loose was
primarily a matter of personal choice or tribal tradition. Trousers at this time
seemed to have been ankle length, with the shorter trousers only remaining as
undergarments.
32

Some high quality trousers seem to have had feet and belt loops in them, while
others did not. Some examples have slits at the ankles to allow for the
narrowness of the trousers. Trousers were referred to as brec (short trousers)
and braccas (breeches or long trousers).
Trousers were bound to the legs by leggings or garters, several of which have
been found in continental excavations. Two types are known from linguistic
evidence that corresponds well with the archaeological finds.
First a legging proper, or stocking, made of woven fabric or leather; second a
strip of fabric which could be used to tie on the leggings or confining the loose
folds of the trousers (as well as covering up the ankle slit), or which could be
wound around the shin and foot for warmth and protection, much like 'puttees'
and probably known as strapulas or winingas.
Also known from archaeology are rectangles of cloth wound around the lower
leg and tied in place with strings or ribbons. These may well be the gaiter like
garment known as hosa, in which case the ribbons would be the hose-bend or
wining known from linguistic sources. These may also have been made of
leather since we know of the word leder-hosa.
However, it is also likely that the word hosa could also be used for the stocking
like garment (especially when considering their similarity to the later medieval
leg coverings known as 'hose'), in which case the hose-bend and wining could
refer to the garter holding them up. A few Anglo-Saxon men may have been in
the habit of carrying their knives or tools stuck into their leggings since a few
small knives and tools have been found at the lower legs of skeletons in Anglo-
Saxon graves.
Most men also wore a tunic, girdled at the waist and usually with long sleeves.
These tunics are usually mid-thigh to knee length. On the excavated examples
these sleeves are usually long enough to be folded back into a cuff (as on some
Celtic tunics) or pushed back from the wrist in folds (as in later Anglo-Saxon
examples), and often have the last few inches of the sleeve seams left open at
the wrist to allow the hands to pass through (there are no examples of wrist
clasps from male graves, so the slits may have been closed by tying, sewing, or
left open). Some of these tunics also have the last few inches of the side seam
left un-joined, to allow for easier movement. The neck openings on these early
tunics were just slits or oval openings. Tunics were often decorated with tablet
woven borders, but the ornate decoration of tunics like those of the late Roman
type appears not to have been used.
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Tunics at this time appear to have been known by the names cyrtel (It was
probably the shorter type of tunic) and pad. It also seems that some men,
possibly only the rich, wore a linen undershirt (at this time most linen was
probably imported from mainland Europe and/or Ireland). This would be similar
to the over-tunic (it is uncertain whether it would be worn outside the trousers or
tucked into them), but made of undecorated linen. Words for this garment
include cemes, ham, hemeðe, serc and smoc.
Belts were worn both to hold up the trousers and to girdle the tunic. Most belts
were of leather and were fastened by buckles, although woven girdles could also
be worn. Most belts were utilitarian items and were often used to hang items of
equipment from, although some belt ornaments are known. All belts were not
fastened with buckles.
Many would have been 'tie-belts' where one end of the leather belt is tied
through a loop in the other end (a belt of this type was found on the body of the
'Tollund Man' in Denmark. It is likely that a plain belt (perhaps only a tie-belt)
was used to support the trousers (where it would not be seen) while a more
decorative belt was used over the tunic (where it would be more visible). Items
like knives and pouches probably hung from the trouser belt rather than the tunic
belt.
A few elaborate belts of the late Roman military type were still used, although
most were plain, narrow (1.25" and less) leather belts. Belts were known by the
Old English words belt or fetel. Leather pouches known as fetels (to carry fire
starting materials, not money) were also sometimes worn on the belt, and could
often have a fire-steel attached to the front. Continental evidence suggests that
these would be worn at the back of the belt.
Headgear is almost unknown in this country at this time, although there are rare
examples on the continent. Probably hooded cloak, or the versatile rectangular
cloak pulled over the head, provided protection against bad weather. The words
hæt and hufe may have been applied to men's headgear, and the word hod
probably signified a hood.
34

Typical male Anglo-Saxon dress in the pagan period
Women's Clothing
Women's costume in this period is a lot easier to reconstruct than men's, since it
seems to have involved much jewelry that helps determine the whole costume's
appearance. There are consistent features of all early Anglo-Saxon women's
costume, although there are also several regional variations.
These are usually referred to as the Anglian, Saxon and Kentish or Jutish styles
(and certainly their distribution coincides with Bede's description of which people
settled where.
The basic item of clothing was a 'peplos' dress. This is usually a tubular garment
(although it can be just a rectangle of cloth) clasped at the shoulders by a pair of
brooches, leaving the arms uncovered. This type of garment has been worn by
women in countless cultures from the earliest times and was clearly a feature of
Germanic costume for many centuries. Excavated examples vary in size from
54" (1.37m) to 66" (1.68m) in height and 94" (2.40m) to 106" (2.68m) in
circumference.
It is interesting to note that these measurements correspond closely to the
measurements of the two cloaks mentioned above, so the cloaks could have
been worn as open sided peplos dresses (it also gives us a clue as to the size
and type of loom in use).
35

The height of these dresses would mean that the top of the dress would have to
be folded over into a cape and/or the dress would have to be heavily bloused
over a girdle, both features seen in continental pictorial representations. There
are numerous ways of wearing a peplos dress, involving anything from one to
three brooches, although two is definitely the most common number. It seems
the early Germanic settlers were fond of a symmetrical look and most of the
pairs of brooches are identical, or at least very similar. The girdle is usually worn
around the waist or hips, although at least one source shows the women
wearing the gown pulled in just below the breasts, then hanging loose, an
arrangement which may have been comfortable during early pregnancy. The
folds of the gown usually conceal the belt, but a few sources show a second
visible belt. This garment was usually worn ankle length, although, if worn over
an under-dress, it may sometimes have been worn calf length.
These garments were often edged with tablet weave, at least at the top edge,
and probably sometimes also at the bottom. The style of brooches worn seem to
form a regional pattern: quoit brooches were worn only south of the Thames
and, like the equal armed brooch, were known only in the earliest period.
Radiate headed brooches, bird-shaped brooches and inlaid brooches were
largely characteristic of Kent. Cruciform brooches were particularly popular in
Anglian areas; the Northumbrian Angles especially favored annular brooches.
Saucer brooches were most popular in Saxon areas, as were disc brooches.
Long brooches, in all their forms seem to have been fairly universal. (For more
details on these terms see the jewelry section. Some poorer female graves have
lacked the pairs of shoulder brooches, and it is probable that in these cases the
two edges were sewn together, rather than pinned with brooches.
Peplos gowns were usually made of wool, although a few were made of linen.
We do not know what name was given to this garment, although slop and
wealca are the most likely.
In warm weather the peplos gown would have been worn on its own, but in cold
weather, or on special occasions, an under-dress would have been worn. The
style of this seems to have varied, in some cases perhaps only being a bodice,
and in others being a full length 'gown'. The sleeves also seem to have varied in
length from almost non-existent to full length.
The main types seem to be: a bodice with long, tight sleeves with an aperture at
the front closed by a brooch, with the peplos fastened to this by another central
brooch. (There may have also been a full-length version of this garment, or it
may have been worn with a 'petticoat.'
36

This style is most often represented in Anglian areas, where wrist clasps were
used to fasten the sleeves (this is a custom which seems to be almost exclusive
to Anglian women), although a version without the wrist clasps may well have
been worn in other areas. Another type would be a full length sleeveless, or
short sleeved, under-dress (perhaps pleated like later Scandinavian examples),
similar to the man's tunic and reaching to somewhere between the knee and
ankle.
This garment seems to be more typical of the Saxon woman, although it may
have been worn under, and in addition to, the bodice mentioned above. Finally,
there is some continental pictorial evidence to suggest that a long 'petticoat' may
have been worn under the peplos.
This would probably have taken the form of a cylinder of cloth worn around the
waist or hips, drawn tight with a drawstring around the top edge. These
undergarments would usually have been of linen or fine wool. There are several
Old English words for undergarments but it is unclear which of them refer to
women's garments. The words are cemes, ham, hemeðe, scyrte, serc and
smoc.
The costume of Anglo-Saxon women in Pagan times was certainly girdled or
belted, as demonstrated by the survival of the leather or textile from which the
belt was made, by the numerous preservations in situ of fasteners such as
buckles, and the regular discovery of objects at the hip or waist which had
obviously been attached to belts.
Women's belts seem to have been fastened by many different ways including
buckles, tie-belts, knotting, or perhaps, toggles. Many items hung from the belt
including knives, shears, keys, toilet implements, cosmetic tools (tweezers,
brushes, etc.), amulets, spindles, pouches, etc.
As well as the under-dress and peplos, many women also wore cloaks, capes or
shawls. Cloaks would have been of the square or rectangular type worn by the
men, although some representations show the cloak fastened centrally on
women, rather than just at the shoulder. Shorter capes and shawls could also
have been worn.
Names for outer garments are many, and it is not usually clear which men and
which wore by women, but they include loþa, rift, mentel, hacele, ofer-slop, pad
and sciccing.
37

The crusene and heden were of fur or skin, the rocc and sciccels could also be
of fur. One cloak type garment exclusive to women seems to be the hwitel,
which was made of white (undyed) wool and was probably fringed.
There is no evidence that in the Pagan period women habitually covered their
heads like the later Anglo-Saxon women, but a number of types of headgear are
known. A cloak or shawl could easily be drawn up over the head, to form a hood,
and rectangular scarves, sometimes fringed are known from archaeology. Caps
or hairnets of a technique known as sprang are known from pictorial and
archaeological sources, often covering plaits or braids of hair.
Pictorial and archaeological evidence also suggest the use of veils, often of
linen, draped loosely over unbound hair. A veil is prone to slip, or be blown by
the wind, so if a veil was to be worn it would either have a band over it to secure
it, or a fixed base, such as a braid of hair and/or a cap, could be used to pin it to.
A few wealthy Kentish women were buried with gold brocaded fillets (perhaps
known by the Latin word vitta, or the Old English words nostle, snod and
þwæle), a fashion imported from the Frankish Kingdom.
Possibly women in humbler circumstances wore fillets made entirely of textile
which has since rotted away. The linguistic evidence suggests a wider range of
headgear than archaeology and sculpture.
The word hæt (hat) was in use as were cuffie (loose fitting hood or scarf) and
scyfel (some kind of cap or hat). The binde, a fillet, seems to have been worn by
married women.
We do not know how Anglo-Saxon women kept their legs warm, they may have
simply added extra layers of gowns and petticoats, or they could have used
some other method. They probably would have made use of short linen trousers
(brec) and puttee type leg bindings (hose-bendas, winingas).
Women's costume in Kent, where settlement seems to have been mainly by
Jutes and Frisians from the Frankish areas, seems to have been different from
the Germanic norm, at least amongst the upper classes.
Apart from the gold brocaded fillets mentioned above (which may have been
restricted to those of royal birth), it appears they may also have worn an open
fronted robe, fastened with brooches at the chest and/or waist over, or in place
of, the peplos gown.
38

It seems that a pair of brooches may also have sometimes been used to pin the
two sides of the robe open, revealing the garment beneath. From the lowest
brooch a silver caged crystal ball, often with a perforated silver spoon, would
hang, in addition to the items normally found hanging from the belt. The exact
purpose of this ball and spoon is uncertain, and it is usually ascribed ritual
significance. A buckled belt and abundance of jewelry are also common features
of Kentish costume.
The veil was also a common part of Kentish costume, and it is very likely to have
covered the ears since earrings have been found, but worn on necklaces rather
than in the ears. This style of headdress may have come from the continent,
where Christianity was influencing dress and lifestyle. This costume is more
typical of Frankish than English styles, and has its ultimate source in Byzantium.
The strong Frankish influence is probably caused by a combination of the
Kentish Jutes Frankish origin and their closeness to the Frankish Empire.
However, differences between the Kentish and Frankish costumes show that
Kentish costume was not a slavish following of Frankish fashion, just that a
number of Frankish, ultimately Byzantine, trends influenced Kentish women in
the upper strata of society.
Typical female Anglo-Saxon dress in the pagan period
How coincidental this picture? In 1925 Great Grand Mother Mary Elizabeth Boyet-Barrs,
wife of Isaac Newton Barrs, while dispatching a chicken for dinner. was spurred (scratched).
She died from blood poisoning that same year and is buried at Day, Florida USA. Al Barrs, Jr.
39

Footwear
Shoes would generally be round-toed, felt soled and reach to the ankle or just
below. Probably sandals of the Iron Age and late Roman type were still being
used, although enclosed shoes of one-piece construction seem to make their
first appearance in this period. Shoes were stitched or laced together with
leather thongs, not nailed as with some Roman examples. Shoes would be of
leather or rawhide.
There are many words for footwear, some of which seem to describe a particular
type, but it is now unclear exactly which words represent which type of footwear.
These words include scoh ('shoe', a low ankle-boot, shoe or slipper), swiftlere (a
rawhide shoe), hemming, rifeling, the bag-like socc and a thonged sandal called
a crinc (perhaps similar to the open topped Iron Age footwear). As far as we
know these shoe types could be worn by either sex.
Open topped sandals of the type found in Danish and German peat bogs and early Germanic
graves. This type of footwear would also have been worn by some of the early Anglo-Saxons.
Appearance
We have little information on the appearance of the early Germanic settlers, but
we do have quite a lot about their continental counterparts who were quite
similar. Tacitus who is generally considered reliable) tells us:
'For clothing all wear a cloak, fastened with a clasp, or in its absence,
a thorn: they spend whole days on a hearth round the fire with no
other covering. The richest men are distinguished by the wearing of
under-clothes; not loose like those of the Parthians and Sarmatians,
but drawn tight, throwing each limb into relief.'
'They wear also the skins of wild beasts, the tribes adjoining the
riverbank in a casual fashion, the further tribes with more attention,
since they cannot depend on traders for clothing. The beasts for this
purpose are selected, and the hides so taken are checkered with the
pied skins of creatures native to the outer ocean and its unknown
waters.
40

The women have the same dress as the men, except that very often
trailing linen garments, striped with purple, are in use for women: the
upper part of this costume does not widen into sleeves: their arms
and shoulders are therefore bare, as is the adjoining portion of the
breast.'
It seems that men's hairstyles, at least amongst the warriors, varied from
tribe to tribe. Tacitus tells us that the warriors of the Chatti, a western tribe,
allowed their hair and beard to grow until they killed an enemy. The
Swabians tied their hair up in a knot at the side of the head, a hairstyle well
attested from both Roman sculptures and archaeology. Tacitus tells us
that the style was the mark of the freeman.
He observed that young men who were not Swabian were also copying the style.
This variety of hairstyles is also shown on many Roman sculptures showing
Germanic tribesmen. Sidonius, writing in the fifth century, confirms that the
Swabian style was still in use by then, and suggests it had spread to other
classes as well as other tribes (it is interesting to note that even in Anglo-Saxon
England closely cropped hair was the sign of a slave).
Sidonius also adds to Tacitus' observations: 'Here in Bordeaux we see the blueeyed
Saxon afraid of the land, accustomed as he is to the sea; along the
extreme edges of his pate the razor, refusing to restrain its bite, pushes back the
frontier of his hair and, with the growth thus clipped to the skin, his head is
reduced and his face enlarged.'
Sidonius also describes Frankish warriors: He said, '...on the crown of whose red
pates lies the hair that has been drawn towards the front, while the neck,
exposed by the loss of its covering, shows bright.
Their eyes are faint and pale, with a glimmer of grayish blue. Their faces are
shaven all round, and instead of beards they have thin moustaches that they run
through with a comb.
Close fitting garments confine the tall limbs of the men, they are drawn up high
so as to expose the knees, and a broad belt supports their narrow middle.'
Sidonius also writes of Frankish servants with 'oily top knots', perhaps similar to
the Swabian knot. Evidence of early Anglo-Saxon hairstyles being extremely
rare, Sidonius' and Tacitus' observations are interesting.
41

Also of interest is the similarity of Sidonius' description of the Frankish warrior's
hairstyle with the 'Norman' styles shown on the Bayeux Tapestry some six
centuries later!
The many combs found in Anglo-Saxon contexts (mainly settlements, not
burials) suggest that care of the hair was important, and the many tweezers,
shears, etc. found in burials show that personal grooming was also valued.
Since most of the settlers were intending to devote themselves to agriculture and
colonization, it is probable that the more extravagant hairstyles of their kinsmen
were left behind, except perhaps, by some of the warriors.
The un-cropped wildness of the Chatti and the knots of the Swabians were after
all, as Tacitus tells us, largely designed to frighten the enemy. Probably the
Anglo-Saxons cut their hair fairly short, as the Franks did; by the sixth century
long hair seems to have been a style confined to the Merovingian kings in
Frankia. Our only direct evidence for the early Anglo-Saxons comes from highly
stylized faces and figures on jewelry. Luxuriant moustaches are suggested on
some faces, occasionally with a beard, but most are clean shaved. Hair is
occasionally shoulder length, but is usually collar length or shorter (hardly the
hairy barbarians many Victorian scholars would have us believe!)
Women's hair was worn long (but not necessarily un cut and un-styled),
sometimes loose but often plaited. Some representations show the hair drawn
back from the face, presumably into a plait or ponytail. It is uncertain whether a
ponytail would be tied back with some kind of fastening, or whether it would be
knotted as was done in Scandinavia. Some continental sculptures show quite
elegant coiffures and ringlets on Germanic women. A pair of ponytails, fastened
behind each ear is often also represented.
CLOTHING AND APPEARANCE OF THE
EARLY CHRISTIAN ANGLO-SAXONS
(600-800 AD)
At the beginning of this time in England there would have been two schools of
thought on clothing. In those areas where Christianity was not widespread
people would have continued to wear clothes of the type worn in the pagan
period. However in Christian areas, during the seventh century, there was a
change in costume.
42

This was a development the Anglo-Saxons seem to have shared with all the
Germanic and Germanized peoples of Europe, with the exception of the
Scandinavians and Visigoths. It reflects the discontinuation of links with the
North and the increasing influence of the Frankish Empire and, through the
Empire, the Mediterranean world, especially Byzantium. The Church's criticism
of Northumbrian dress for being 'too Pagan' in the eighth century suggests that
these changes were not entirely spontaneous, but strongly encouraged by the
Roman Church.
Although during this period there is a big decrease in the number of burials with
grave goods, it seems the converts were reluctant totally abandon the customs
of their ancestors, and they left us sufficient grave-goods to deduce that fashion
was changing.
The relatively small numbers of furnished burials form a homogeneous group,
showing that regional variations in costume had, to a large extent, disappeared
(except in Northumbria). During this period we also find the first insular
representations of people, and thus have our first pictures of clothing.
The spread of Christian learning also starts to provide literary evidence, but this
can sometimes be more confusing than helpful. For example, Aldhelm, writing in
the late seventh century, criticised the elaborate dress of nuns (and perhaps
also monks) at Barking in Essex. Many modern scholars have translated
Aldhelm's Latin description.
'Subucula bissina, tunica coccinea sive iacintina, capitum et manicae
sericis clavatae; galliculae rubricatis pellibus ambiuuntur; antiae
frontis et temporum cincinni calamistro crispantur; pulla capitis
velamina candidis et coloratis mafortibus cedunt, quae vittarium
nexibus assutae talotenus prolixius dependunt'
It seems that each one manages to give the passage a different meaning.
The following three examples clearly demonstrate this problem:
'This sort of glamorisation for either sex consists in fine linen shirts,
in scarlet or blue tunics, in necklines and sleeves embroidered with
silk; their shoes are trimmed with red dyed leather; the hair of their
forelocks and the curls at their temples are crimped with a curling
iron; dark gray veils for the head give way to bright and coloured
head-dresses, which are sewn with interlacings of ribbons and hang
down as far as the ankles.' (Michael Lapidge)
43

'In both sexes this kind of costume consists of an undergarment of
the finest cloth, a red or blue tunic, a head-dress and sleeves with
silk borders; their shoes are adorned with red dyed skins; the locks
on their temples and foreheads are curled by the curlers. In the place
of dark head coverings they wear white and colored veils which hang
down richly to the feet and are held in place by ribbons sewn on to
them.' (Sir. David Wilson)
He wrote in part '...a linen shirt; a scarlet or violet tunic, hooded, and
sleeves striped in purple with silks; the garments are encircled with
dark red furs ... dark gray veils for the head yield to white and
coloured wimples which hang down from the grips of filets as far as
the ankles.' (Gale Owen-Crocker)
When dealing with modern translations we are always at the mercy of the
translator it seems.
Men's Clothing
The evidence available suggests that men's costume underwent fewer changes
than women's in this period, although there were some innovations. There is
much evidence to suggest that by the eighth-century the dress of the Anglo-
Saxons 'south of the Humber' was very similar to that worn in the Frankish
Empire.
It is also known that there was a strong cross-channel trade in clothing,
particularly cloaks. Although we have no complete descriptions of clothing from
England, there are several from Charlemagne's Frankia in the eighth-century.
Einhard described Charlemagne's habitual costume:
"He wore the national dress of the Franks. Next to his skin he had a
linen shirt and linen drawers; and then long hose and a tunic edged
with silk. He wore shoes on his feet and bands of cloth wound round
his legs. In winter he protected his chest and shoulders with a jerkin
[thorax] made of otter skins or ermine. He wrapped himself in a blue
cloak and always had a sword strapped to his side."
The Monk of St. Gall gives a similar, but more detailed description:
"The dress and equipment of the Old Franks was as follows. Their
boots were gilded on the outside and decorated with leather laces
more than four feet long.
44

The wrappings round their legs were scarlet. Underneath these they
wore linen garments on their legs and thighs of the same color, but
with elaborate embroidery. Long leather thongs were cross-gartered
over these wrappings and linen garments, in and out, in front and
behind.'
'Next came a white linen shirt, round which was buckled a swordbelt...
The last item of their clothing was a cloak, either white or blue,
in the shape of a double square. This was so arranged that, when it
was placed over the shoulders, it reached to the feet in front and
behind, but hardly came down to the knees at the side.'
While both these descriptions are of the dress of wealthy men, the clothing of
poorer people would have been similar, if less ornate.
It is also a very good description of contemporary Anglo-Saxon dress, although
there is no evidence of the 'cross-gartering' of the second description ever
having been worn in England.
As in the earliest times a cloak or cape continued to be an important part of
men's clothing. Anglo-Saxon cloaks of this period were usually rectangular, like
that in the description of Frankish dress, although hooded cloaks are
occasionally represented. Throughout Europe cloaks were becoming less
voluminous, with most representations of cloaks from England shown reaching
from just below the waist to mid calf.
Despite this general shortening, some people, one of the more notable being
Charlemagne himself, still preferred the older style large cloaks. He disliked the
striped Goulish cloaks that were being imported into his realm by Frisian
merchants, because they were short. In his own words:
"What is the use of these little napkins? ... I can't cover myself with them in bed.
When I am on horseback I can't protect myself from the winds and the rain.
When I go off to empty my bowels, I catch cold because my backside is frozen."
And in a letter to King Offa of Mercia about the trade of English cloaks for
Frankish building stone: "But as you have intimated your wishes considering the
length of the stones, so our people make a demand about the size if the cloaks,
that you may order them to be such as used to come to us in former times."
From the eighth-century onwards illustrations show the cloak was almost
invariably fastened at the right shoulder with a disc brooch, and the brooches
that survive from southern England are consistently disc-shaped, although in the
seventh century other types may have been used.
45

We do not know the name of every variety of cloak current at this time, but the
words mentel and sciccels were in common use, and the word hacele was
sometimes used to describe a hooded cloak.
It is possible that in Anglian areas, where there were still quite strong links with
Scandinavia, that a sort of short, belted jacket may have been worn by some of
the wealthier men. This garment is shown on the decorative plates from the
Sutton Hoo helmet, and from several sources in Scandinavia, particularly
Sweden.
It has also been suggested that this garment may have had some connection
with the cult of Wotan, or may represent some form of armor. The trousers worn
in this period were always of the tight fitting type seen in earlier centuries. A few
illustrations from northern Britain show figures wearing only close fitting knee
breeches, without a covering tunic, but it is unclear whether this fashion was
Irish, Pictish or Northumbrian. However, the fashion of wearing trousers without
a tunic seems to have been a particularly Scandinavian one.
The word brec was used to mean either a loincloth or short trousers, while the
words bræcce and braccas were used for trousers of the longer sort.
The 'puttee' style of leggings seen in earlier centuries continued to be used;
although the horizontal garters and cross gartering seen on the continent is not
evidenced from this country. The 'puttee' style leg bindings were known as
winningas.
Art of this period shows that the tunic of this era was worn belted or girdled at
the waist with a full skirt reaching to just above the knee. In many illustrations the
skirt, and sometimes the forearms, of the tunic are shown in a different color and
texture to the body. This may represent the sleeves and skirt being made of a
different material, or, more likely, a shorter tunic was worn over the longer one.
This may be like the fur lined waistcoat [thorax] worn by Charlemagne, and was
probably the garment known by the name breost-rocc. Some of the tunics have
plain, close-fitting sleeves, other sleeves have a corrugated or pleated
appearance, much as is seen in later Anglo-Saxon manuscript illustrations.
This corrugated appearance was achieved by having over-long, tight fitting
sleeves, which when pushed back wrinkle up on the forearm. Most of the tunics
of this period have round neck openings for the head. The lower hem of the skirt
was probably cut wide and straight, giving the inverted 'U' shape to the hem of
the skirt seen on many of the figures of this period.
46

The tunic was often decorated with a contrasting band or stripe at the wrist or
hem. This contrasting band was sometimes a piece of decorative braid,
sometimes just a contrasting piece of textile. The eighth century chronicler
Paulus Diaconus, when writing of the garments of the Langobards, compares
them to the garments of the Anglo-Saxons:
"Indeed their clothes were roomy and especially linen as the Anglo-
Saxons were accustomed to have, embellished with rather wide
borders woven in various colors."
The Anglo-Saxon word cyrtel was almost certainly applied to the tunic, with the
newer Latin loan tunece coming into use as a synonym. This garment was
almost certainly derived from the tunica talaris or tunica dalmatica of the
Byzantine world.
Longer tunics and gowns in the Christian tradition of the late Roman
Empire appear to have been worn by people of note in the Frankish
kingdoms for special occasions, and are usually referred to by the Latin
term longa tunica. This garment generally reached to the mid-calf or ankle.
This style of tunic was thought of as 'old-fashioned.' It is often shown
being worn by biblical characters to emphasise the fact that the events in
the illustration took place a long time in the past. Although seen in England
in later centuries, this style of tunic was probably not worn by Anglo-
Saxons in the seventh to ninth centuries.
There is much linguistic evidence for a linen undershirt, worn under the tunic, but
unfortunately, there is no clear evidence from the art of the period. In Old English
it could be called cemes, ham or scyrte.
Although belts were undoubtedly worn to hold up trousers and at the waist
of the tunic, the evidence for them is small. Small items, such as knives
and other small tools, were worn at the belt. Pouches are almost never
seen. This is probably because the pouch was normally a simple
drawstring bag worn attached to the trouser belt, so would be hidden by
the tunic. However, in the seventh century there was a fashion for
decorated 'purses' with stiffened Flaps. Some of these were extremely
highly decorated, and many had a 'strike-a-light' (fire steel) attached to
them. In some cases a small knife was attached to the purse too. These
purses appear to have normally been worn on the hip or at the back of the
belt. Although buckled belts were still used many belts were leather or
textile 'tie belts'. The words gyrdel, belt and fetel were all used for belts.
47

There is no surviving headgear from this period, and in the few representations
available it is unclear whether the head covering is meant to represent a pointed
cap or a conical helmet. A few hooded cloaks are known, however. Occasionally
men are shown wearing some sort of fillet, but this fashion is mostly restricted to
Angels!
There is evidence to suggest that loincloths were worn beneath the other
clothing. They generally took the form of short, unbelted skirts or linen shorts.
The words gyrdel, brec (this word is the ancestor of the modern word 'breeches',
and seems principally to have signified short trousers covering the loins or
extending down the thigh), underwrædel and wæd-brec all appear to have been
used to denote a loincloth.
Women's Clothing
The change in women's clothing at this time was far more drastic than that of
men. The 'peplos' dress of earlier times, with its pair of shoulder brooches with
its festoon of beads started to disappear in the seventh century and by the
eighth century had completely vanished. A similar change had taken place when
the Franks had been converted to Christianity a century earlier.
This change seems to have been taken for granted by most writers, and the only
reference to it comes from the biography of St Radegund, daughter of the King
of Thuringia. We hear that she kept her 'barbaric costume' even after she had
become Queen of the Franks, testifying that the fashion change had already
taken place in sixth century Frankia. The evidence for this new style of clothing
is very limited, but seems to be a modified version of Byzantine dress, which
may have been transmitted via Frankia, but which may also have owed
something to the religious works of art of Mediterranean origin which were
coming to England under the influence of Christianity.
As we have seen above, Aldhelm, in his work De Virgnitate, written in the late
seventh- or early eighth century, criticizes the overly elaborate clothing worn by
women in holy orders (is was written as a reprimand for the nuns of Barking),
and in the process gives our only surviving written description of such clothing, a
general translation of which is:
48

"...Linen undershirts, a red or blue tunic, a hood and sleeves with
(purple) silk stripes or borders; the garments [it is unclear at this
point whether the word Aldhelm uses to describe the garment
means 'shoes' or 'small cloak'] are encircled in dark red furs; the
hair on their temples and forelocks are crimped with a curling iron;
dark gray veils for the head yield to white and colored headdresses
which hang down from the grip of fillets as far as the
ankles."
The main part of a Christian woman's costume at this time was an ankle length
tunic or overdress, like a longer version of the man's tunic, but seems often to
have been worn unbelted at the start of the period. This dress would generally
have been made of wool although some wealthier women may have worn linen
versions. These tunics usually had a round neck opening.
The sleeves of this tunic were usually fairly wide and reached either to just
above the elbow, or to the mid-forearm, although some appear to have had tight
fitting wrist length sleeves similar to those worn by men.
Wealthy noblewomen might have broad boarders of embroidery or braid at the
cuffs and hem of these dresses and in some cases another broadband running
from the neck to the hem at center front. In the case of extremely wealthy
women the entire tunic may have been of patterned cloth or covered in
embroidery. This tunic was cut very wide, and was probably based on the tunica
colobium or tunica dalmatica of late Roman and Byzantine fashion. In England
this garment was referred to as a cyrtel, although the Latin loan word tunica was
borrowed into English as tunece.
Beneath the overdress the woman wore a plainer linen under-tunic or underdress.
This dress was also like an ankle length version of the male tunic, with a
round neck and sleeves that were tighter on the forearm, and reached to the
wrist. These tunics were usually less baggy than the overdress, and would have
generally been worn belted. They were generally of undyed linen, although a
broad decorative band of contrasting color textile, braid or embroidery was often
used at the wrist. On rare occasions it seems that this dress may have been
worn with a hooded cloak rather than the overdress described above.
This garment was probably based on the late Roman/Byzantine tunica talaris. In
Old English the name for this garment appears to have been ham.
49

Although a few buckled belts are known (particularly in Kent) from the seventh
century, women's belts seem usually to have been simple braid 'tie-belts,'
occasionally ornamented with strap ends (these would generally only have been
used if the overdress was not being worn). Although some of these strap ends
are decorated, their main function was probably not ornamental, but to stop the
ends of the braid from fraying.
The habit of wearing personal objects suspended from the belt seems to have
declined, although long chatelaine chains and small metal containers (once
thought to be thread-boxes, but now believed to be reliquaries) were still
sometimes worn hanging at the waist, and also perhaps shears, spindles, keys
and combs.
Remains of leather and textile in seventh century graves suggest that pouches,
made of one or both materials, were carried. This may have been a substitute for
the habit of suspending personal items from the belt. There is almost no
evidence for women's belts from the eighth century onwards, and what little
there is suggests that the habit of wearing items hanging from the belt finally
disappeared at around this time.
Those items, which a woman needed, appear to have generally been carried in
a bag with a shoulder strap rather than in a pouch or on the belt. The word
gyrdels seems to have been used for the woman's belt.
A few women appear to have worn cloaks similar to those worn by men.
However, this is rare and most women seem to have worn semicircular, or
perhaps triangular, capes or shawls that could rest on the shoulders, and be
pulled up to cover the head when necessary. Some seem even to have included
a hood, which could be pointed at the back. Occasionally these are shown
fastened at the neck or chest with a disc-brooch. They may also have been
pinned to the overdress at the neck or with a pair of pins at the shoulders, or
worn unfastened. Sometimes the ends were brought around the chest and
thrown back over the shoulders. This garment was derived from the Byzantine
palla, and in England was probably called a hacele.
It is likely that headgear for women was becoming more common by the seventh
century. It seems that Christian morality (based on St Paul's edicts) was
influential in this respect. By the eighth century it seems that all women wore
head coverings.
50

It appears that most women wore a close fitted cap. (Perhaps similar to the
slightly later caps from York and Dublin.) Sometime they left the hair at the
forehead and temples visible. For wealthier women this may have had a padded
or rolled edge, which may have been striped or embroidered. (This type of head
covering is well known from Byzantine sources.)
Although this was sometimes worn on its own, the hood/cloak and or a veil
would usually cover it. Judging by Aldhelm's comments this veil could be
extremely colorful and voluminous.
The veil would generally be pinned to the cap, although it could also be fastened
with fillets or ribbons, or pinned to the shoulders of the overdress or cape,
perhaps using a set of the linked dress-pins known from this period. The few
surviving fragments of veils suggest they were usually of fine linen or wool,
sometimes so fine as to be almost gauze. The cap was probably known as a hod
or healsted, while the veil was known as a scyfel, wimpel or orel. The fillet or
ribbon was called a þwæle, nostle or snod.
Many wealthy female graves of the seventh and early eighth century have
contained ornate necklaces, with many pendants, and often a central cross.
Many of these involve the use of much gold and garnet or amethyst, although
slightly less ornate versions use gold and silver wire rings around glass beads.
These were almost certainly a symbol of rank, and were derived from the
superhumeral, the broad, jeweled collar worn by women of the Byzantine court.
There is no evidence of women wearing underwear or leg coverings in this
period, but this does not mean that they were not worn, only that no evidence
has survived.
Northumbrian Fashions
Literary evidence suggests that Northumbrian costume and hairstyles in the
eighth century differed from the fashions adopted elsewhere in England. In a
letter written to King Ethelred of Northumbria in 793 AD Alcuin made the
following comment:
"Consider the dress, the way of wearing the hair, the luxurious habits
of the princes and people. Look at your trimming of beard and hair, in
which you have wished to resemble the Pagans."
51

The context from which this quotation is taken makes it clear that the 'Pagans'
were in fact the Vikings, who had raided Lindisfarne earlier that same year. It
seems that the extravagant fashions of dress and hair resembled the Pagan
Germanic fashions of the Vikings, rather than the 'Christian' fashions of the
Anglo-Saxons and Franks.
It seems unlikely that the Northumbrians were actually copying the Vikings,
rather that they had retained much of the older Germanic fashions rather than
the newer continental ones. These similarities to 'Pagan' fashions had also been
noted in 787 by the papal legate on a visit to the kingdom.
It is quite likely that the nominally Anglian population of Northumbria included
many people of Celtic stock, and that they dressed like Britons rather than like
the Anglo-Saxons of other kingdoms. (There was much similarity between early
British costume and that of the Pagan Germans.) In a tenth century translation of
the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Latin word pallium [cloak] is translated with the
word bratt, a word of Celtic, not Germanic, origin. Remote from cross channel
trade and the influence of the Frankish Empire, the Northumbrians were affected
little by the costume changes which followed the conversion of other Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms. This left them wearing a distinctly northern costume, more
closely resembling the dress of their Viking enemies than their friendlier kinsmen
in Wessex or their neighbors in the Carolingian Empire.
Footwear
There does not seem to be any distinction made between men and women's
shoes at this time. Archaeological finds demonstrate that leather shoes were
made by the turn-shoe method, by which the sole and upper were joined
together inside out, and then turned right side out. The typical shoe was ankle
high, usually fastened by a drawstring or lace, although by the mid ninth century
a triangular Flap and toggle were used too. Low 'slippers' are also known. Some
shoes had a band of decorative stitching running from the ankle to the toe.
Rawhide shoes also probably continued to be used.
WARFARE IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
(400 - 900 AD)
Many modern writers to describe the Anglo-Saxon army use the Old English
word fyrd. Indeed this is one of its meanings, although the word here is equally
valid. In its oldest form the word fyrd had meant 'a journey or expedition'.
However, the exact meaning of the word, like the nature of the armies it is used
to describe, changed a great deal between the times the first Germanic settlers
left their homelands and the time of King Alfred.
52

The Anglo-Saxon period was a violent one. Warfare dominated its history and
shaped the nature of its governance. Indeed, war was the natural state in the
Germanic homelands and the patchwork of tribal kingdoms that composed pre-
Viking England. Chieftains engaged in a seemingly endless struggle against
foreign enemies and rival kinsmen for authority, power and tribute. Even after
Christianity had supplied them with an ideology of kingship that did not depend
on success in battle these petty wars continued until they were ended by the
Viking invasions. From 793 AD until the last years of William the Conqueror's
rule, England was under constant threat, and often attack, from the Northmen.
In order to understand the nature of the armies that fought in these battles, many
historians in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century looked to
classical authors, particularly the 1st century Roman Author Tacitus.
Tacitus, in his book Germania, gives much detail of how the German tribes
organized their military forces, and many historians used the fact that the tribes
Tacitus was writing about were the forebears of the early Germanic invaders to
explain the nature of the Anglo-Saxon fyrd. But are the tribal customs of
barbarian people really a good basis for the nature of a nation removed by
almost 1000 years?
More recent research has shown that the nature of the fyrd changed a great deal
in the 969 AD years between the time of Tacitus' writing and the battle of
Hastings.
For many years there was much debate amongst scholars as to whether the fyrd
consisted of nobleman warriors who fought for the king in return for land and
privileges (peasants farmed and aristocrats fought), or whether the fyrd
consisted of a general levy of all able bodied men in a ceorl (peasant) based
economy.
In 1962 AD Hollister proposed an ingenious solution: there had been not one but
two types of fyrd. There had been a "select fyrd", a force of professional, noble
land-owning warriors, and a second levy, the "great fyrd" - the nation in arms.
This view, because of its elegant simplicity, soon achieved the status of
orthodoxy amongst most historians, and is the view put forward in many of the
more general books on the period published today. However, continued
research has shown this view to be incorrect. Hollister coined the terms "great
fyrd" and "select fyrd" because there was no equivalent terminology in
contemporary Old English or Latin.
53

Current research shows that the Anglo-Saxon fyrd was a constantly developing
organization, and its nature changes as you go through the Anglo-Saxon period.
From what little we know of the customs and nature of the early German settlers
in this country, we can be fairly sure that much of what Tacitus wrote about the
first century Germans still applied to their fourth, fifth and early sixth century
descendants. The early tribes were military in nature, consisting mainly of free
warrior families and tenant farmers, free and not free, ruled by a tribal chief or
king. These tribes were often grouped together in nations, sometimes under the
rule of a 'high-king.'
Tacitus tells us:
'They choose their kings for their noble birth, their leaders
for their valor. The power even of the kings is not
absolute or arbitrary. As for the leaders, it is their
example rather than their authority that wins them special
admiration - for their energy, their distinction, or their
presence in the van of fight...'
'No business, public or private, is transacted except in
arms. But it is the rule that no one shall take up arms until
the tribe has attested that he is likely to make good.
When the time comes, one of the chiefs or the father or a
kinsman equips the young warrior with shield and spear
in the public council.'
'This with the Germans is the equivalent of our toga - the
first public distinction of youth. They cease to rank merely
as members of the household and are now members of
the tribe.'
' Conspicuous ancestry or great services rendered by
their fathers can win the rank of chief for boys still in their
teens. They are attached to the other chiefs, who are
more mature and approved, and no one blushes to be
seen thus in the ranks of the companions.'
This order of companions has even its different grades, as determined by the
leader, and there is intense rivalry among the companions for the first place by
the chief, amongst the chiefs for the most numerous and enthusiastic
companions.
54

Dignity and power alike consist in being continually attended by a corps of chosen
youths. This gives you consideration in peacetime and security in war. Nor is it
only in a man's own nation that he can win fame by the superior number and
quality of his companions, but in neighboring states as well. Chiefs are courted by
embassies and complimented by gifts, and they often virtually decide wars by the
mere weight of their reputation.
'On the field of battle it is a disgrace to the chief to be
surpassed in valor by his companions, to the companions
not to come up to the valor of their chief. As for leaving a
battle alive after your chief has fallen, that means lifelong
infamy and shame. To defend and protect him, to put
down one's own acts of heroism to his credit - that is what
they really mean by allegiance.'
'The chiefs fight for victory, the companions for their chief.
Many noble youths, if the land of their birth is stagnating in
a protracted peace, deliberately seek out other tribes,
where some war is afoot.'
'The Germans have no taste for peace; renown is easier
won among perils, and you cannot maintain a large body
of companions except by violence and war. The
companions are prodigal in their demands on the
generosity of their chiefs. It is always 'give me that warhorse'
or 'give me that bloody and vicious spear'. As for
meals with their plentiful, if homely, fare, they count simply
as pay. Such open-handedness must have war and
plunder to feed it.'
We know from other parts of Tacitus' writings that the tribe's farmers supported
chief and his warriors in return for protection from the depravations of enemy
tribes. At need, the chief was able to call out all able-bodied freemen in defense
of the tribe's lands, although usually he relied only on his warrior 'companions.'
These companions were fed and housed by the chief, and would receive
payment in war-gear and food (the only use of precious metals by the Germans
in Tacitus' time was for trading with the Roman Empire).
How were these 'companions' equipped? Again Tacitus can help us here:
55

'Only a very few use swords or lances. The spears that
they carry - frameae is the native word - have short and
narrow heads, but are so sharp and easy to handle, that
the same weapon serves at need for close or distant
fighting. The horseman asks no more than his shield and
spear, but the infantry have also javelins to shower,
several per man, and they can hurl them to a great
distance; for they are either naked or only lightly clad in
their cloaks.'
'There is nothing ostentatious in their turn out. Only the
shields are picked out with carefully selected colors. Few
have body armor; only here and there will you see a
helmet of metal or hide. Their horses are not
distinguished either for beauty or for speed, nor are they
trained in Roman fashion to execute various turns.'
'They ride them straight ahead or with a single swing to
the right, keeping the wheeling line so perfect that no one
drops behind the rest. On general survey, their strength
is seen to lie rather in their infantry, and that is why they
combine the two arms in battle.
The men who they select from the whole force and station
in the van are fleet of foot and fit admirably into cavalry
action. The number of these chosen men is exactly fixed.
A hundred are drawn from each district, and 'the hundred'
is the name they bear at home.'
From this description it would seem that the warriors were primarily infantry with
a small amount of cavalry support. They would generally be armed only with
spear(s) and shield, although a few of the greatest/most well off might possess a
sword, helm or, rarely, body armor. Archaeology bears this out, and probably
most of the swords, helms and mail-shirts originated within the Roman Empire,
reaching the Germans either by trade or as spoils of war.
The relative commonness and scarcity of the various types of arms and armor is
well borne out by finds from sacrificial bogs where votive offerings of the arms
and armor of defeated enemies were often made. In these finds shields and
spears (and surprisingly often bows and arrows) are by far the most common,
with swords, helms and armor all being much more rare.
56

Up until the fourth century most of these swords, helms and mail-shirts are of
Roman type, although from the fifth century onwards distinctly German type
swords become more common.
Suebian (Germanic) warrior's cloak from the late Roman period
By the time of the invasion of Britain in the fifth century the Germans had
become so heavily dependant on their infantry that one British writer tells us that
'they know not the use of cavalry.' The armies coming to this country were
usually far smaller than their Roman predecessors. Most of the accounts tell of
the armies arriving in only two or three ships, and as ships of this time generally
carried no more than 50-60 men, most of these armies probably only numbered
100 to 200 men.
Despite the small size of these armies, the Germans were able to carve
themselves out many small kingdoms, killing, driving off or enslaving the native
population as they went, but it should be remembered that they did not always
have things their own way.
This was the time of Arthur who, through his use of Roman cavalry tactics
against the Germanic infantry, was able to defeat the invaders so handily; they
were unable to advance any further for almost fifty years.
However, by the end of the sixth century the Germanic, or as they were then
starting to call themselves, Angelisc (Anglo-Saxon) invaders had taken over
much of lowland Britain and carved out many small Kingdoms of varying
strengths and hierarchies much as they had in Germany.
War was endemic to the kingdoms of sixth, seventh and eighth century Britain.
An Anglo-Saxon ruler of this period was above all else a warlord, a dryhten, as
the Old-English sources put it.
57

His primary duty was to protect his people against the depredations of their
neighbors and to lead them on expeditions (fyrds) of plunder and conquest. As
we hear in Beowulf (who lived at this time) about Scyld (literally 'shield'), the
mythical founder of the Danish royal line:
'Scyld Sceafing often deprived his enemies, many tribes
of men, of their mead-benches. He terrified his foes; yet
he, as a boy, had been found as a waif; fate made
amends for that. He prospered under heaven, won praise
and honor, until the men of every neighboring tribe,
across the whale's way, were obliged to obey him and
pay him tribute. He was a good king!'
Scyld was a good king because he was lord of a mighty war-band that profited
from his leadership. As long as he lived, his people were safe and he enjoyed
tribute from the surrounding tribes. This portrait is no mere convention of a
heroic genre.
Even the early Anglo-Saxon monks, when writing about the Anglo-Saxon kings
of this time, show that this was not a heroic ideal, but the way a king ruled.
It is noteworthy that the early sources use the language of personal lordship to
express the obligations owed a king. When Wiglaf followed Beowulf into combat
against the dragon, he did not speak of his duty to 'king and country,' but of the
responsibility of a retainer to serve and protect his lord. In fact, amongst the
early Anglo-Saxons a king was simply the lord of the nobles.
Even the term cyning [king] literally only means 'of the kin' and denoted a
member of the royal line, while the office of king was expressed by the titles
hlaford [loaf- or land-lord] and dryhten [war-lord].
The æðeling [prince or nobleman] who was chosen for the office of king was
merely the member of the royal line who could command the largest war-band.
This fact helps to explain the many 'civil wars' which took place in the early
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and why a king who gained his position by force could
so quickly be accepted by his subjects.
58

Anglo-Saxon Dryhten of the fifth century
A seventh- or eighth-century king most often came to his throne through violence
or through the threat of violence, and kept his crown by warding off domestic and
foreign rivals.
Peace was simply the aftermath of one war and the prelude to another. In violent
times such as these, it was necessary that a king secure (in the words of the
Beowulf poet) 'beloved companions to stand by him, people to serve him when
war comes.' But what obliged men in seventh century England to attend a king's
army, and what sort of men were they?
As the kingdoms developed in England the ceorl (peasant) had come to receive
a more important position than in the Germanic homelands, but did he replace
the nobleman in forming the bulk of the king's army (a view held by many
nineteenth and early twentieth century historians).
Careful study of contemporary sources has shown that although the ceorl, as a
freeman, had the right to bear arms, he would rarely have joined the king's fyrd.
The word fyrd had, by this time, acquired a distinctly martial connotation, and
had come to mean "armed expedition or force."
It is clear that the king's companions or, to use the Old English term, Gesiðas
were still drawn from aristocratic warrior families, but now the gift-giving seen in
earlier times had undergone something of a change. Now, in addition to wargear,
gifts of valuable items (a lord is often referred to as a 'giver of rings' in
literature) were given too, or most sought after of all, land.
59

In Anglo-Saxon England a gift was not given freely, and a gift was expected in
return in the form of service. When a warrior took up service with a lord he was
required to 'love all that his lord loved, and to hate all that he hated.' Neither gift
was 'complete' - gift and counter-gift sustained one another. For example,
although it was customary for a warrior to receive an estate for life (either his
own or his lord's), it was not a certainty. If one failed in his duty to the king the
royal grant could be forfeited. Thus the king's gift was as open-ended as his
retainer counter-gift of service; the former was continually renewed and
confirmed by the latter.
Sixth century Anglo-Saxon Dryhten and his Gesiðas
To receive land from one's lord was a sign of special favor. A landed estate was
a symbolic as well as an economic gift. It differed from other gifts in that its
possession signified a new, higher status for the warrior within the king's retinue.
Consequently, by the seventh century we see the emergence of different classes
of warrior noble - the geoguð (youth) and duguð (proven warrior).
The former were young, unmarried warriors, often the sons of duguð, who,
having as yet no land of their own, resided with their lord, attending and
accompanying him as he progressed through his estates, much as the
'companions' of Tacitus' day had done. When a gesið of this sort had proved
himself to his lord's satisfaction, he received from him a suitable endowment of
land, perhaps even the land his father had held from the lord. This made him
into a duguð.
He ceased to dwell in his lord's household, although he still attended his
councils; rather, he lived upon the donated estate, married, raised a family, and
maintained a household of his own. In order to improve his standing the duguð
would often raise military retainers of his own, probably from amongst the more
prosperous ceorls on his estates (this is how the name geneat [companion]
originated to describe men from the top portion of the cierlisc class) and other
geoguð who had not yet sworn themselves to some other lord.
These estates are often referred to a scir (shire) in the early records. This
military following was known as the lord's hearðweru or hirð [household or
'hearth' troops].
60

Fifth -7th century Anglo-Saxon warriors lightly equipped geoguð on left and better armed
duguð on the right.
When a king assembled his army, the duguð were expected to answer his
summons at the head of their retinues, much as they would attend his court in
time of peace. The fyrd would thus have been the king's household warriors
(gesið) augmented by the followings of his landed retainers (duguð). If a warrior
did not answer the king's summons, he could be penalized, as King Ine's (688-
726) laws show:
' If a gesiðcund mon [nobleman] who holds land neglects
military service, he shall pay 120 shillings and forfeit his
land; [a nobleman] who holds no land shall pay 60
shillings; a cierlisc [peasant] shall pay 30 shillings as
penalty for neglecting the fyrd.'
This clause does not prove that the early Anglo-Saxon fyrd was made up of
peasant warriors, as some historians argue. Rather, it shows that some
peasants fought alongside the nobility when the king summoned his army.
These ceorls were the peasants in the service of the king, or in the service of
one of his duguð. When an Anglo-Saxon king of the sixth to eighth century
chose to war, his retainers would follow him into battle, not out of duty to defend
the 'nation' or the 'folk,' but because he was their lord. Similarly, their own men,
also obliged by the bond of lordship, fought under them.
The size of these armies was quite small; King Ine defined the size of an army in
his law code:
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We use the term 'thieves' if the number of men does not
exceed seven, 'band of marauders' [or 'war-band'] for a
number between seven and thirty-five. Anything beyond
this is an 'army' [here].
Although the exact size of armies of that time remain unknown, even the most
powerful kings could probably not call upon warriors numbering more than the
low hundreds.
Certainly in the late eighth century the æðeling Cyneherd considered his army of
eighty-four men sufficiently large to attempt to seize the throne of Wessex.
When Centwine became king of the West Saxons in 676 AD, he drove his rival
kinsman, Cædwalla, into exile. The exiled nobleman sought refuge in the 'desert
places of Chiltern and the Weald' and gathered about himself a war-band. In
time his following grew so large that he was able to plunder the lands of the
South Saxons, and kill their king in the process. After nine years of brigandage,
he turned back to Wessex and began to 'contend for the kingdom.'
The king's resources were no match for Cædwalla's. When they met in battle
the West Saxon fyrd was decisively defeated. It seems most likely that
Cædwalla's victory was the triumph of one war-band over another, rather than
the conquest of a 'nation.'
Time and again we are told in the sources that a new king had to defend his
kingdom with tiny armies. Later in their reigns, these same kings having survived
these attacks made 'while their kingdoms were still weak,' are found leading
great armies. After all, victory meant tribute and land, and these in turn meant
that a king could attract more warriors into his service.
How were these warriors equipped? Unfortunately, our only written sources for
this period are the heroic tales such as Beowulf and the Finnesburh Fragment,
etc., but these are remarkably consistent in their descriptions. From the
Finnesburh Fragment we hear:
'... Birds of battle screech, the gray wolf howls, spears
rattle, shield answers shaft... Then many a thegn, laden
in gold, buckled on his sword-belt... The hollow shield
called for bold men's hands, helmets burst... Then
Guðere withdrew, a wounded man; he said that his armor
was almost useless, his byrnie [mail-shirt] broken, his
helmet burst open.'
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In Beowulf we hear many references to arms and armor such as:
'Then Hrothgar's thane leaped onto his horse and,
brandishing a spear, galloped down to the shore; there,
he asked at once: 'Warriors! Who are you, in your coats
of mail, who have steered your tall ship over the sealanes
to these shores?
Never have warriors, carrying their shields, come to this
country in a more open manner. Nor were you assured of
my leader's approval, my kinsmen's consent. I've never
set eyes on a more noble man, a warrior in armor, than
one among your band; he's no mere retainer, so
ennobled by his weapons.'
'The boar crest, brightly gleaming, stood over their
helmets: superbly tempered, plated with glowing gold, it
guarded the lives of those grim warriors... Their byrnies
were gleaming, the strong links of shining chain mail
chinked together. When the sea-stained travelers had
reached the hall itself in their fearsome armor, they
placed their broad shields (worked so skillfully) against
Heorot's wall. Then they sat on a bench; the brave men's
armor sang. The seafarer's gear stood all together, a
gray tipped forest of ash spears; that armed troop was
well equipped with weapons... In common we all share
sword, helmet, byrnie, the trappings of war.'
These descriptions are borne out by archaeology. Male burials in the pagan
period were often accompanied by war gear. On average around 47% of male
burials from the pagan period contain weapons of some sort.
This figure has often been used to argue for the idea of a 'nation in arms', but
has conveniently overlooked the fact that although spears were found in just
over 86% of the accompanied burials, shields were found in only 44%.
As we have seen earlier, and as the literary evidence bears out, spear and
shield made up the basic war-gear of an Anglo-Saxon warrior. It should be borne
in mind that, although the spear was used in battle, it was also a tool of the hunt.
Many of the interred spears probably represent hunting tools rather than
weapons. As we start to look at other types of weapon, we find they are far less
common than the spear and shield.
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Swords are found in only about 12% of accompanied burials, axes in about 2%
and seaxes only about 4%. (This makes for an interesting comparison with the
Saxons' continental homelands where some 50 - 70% contained seaxes.) Armor
and helmets, while not unknown are decidedly rare and are usually only found in
the richest of burials.
Certainly in archaeology they seem to be far rarer than in literature, although the
few examples we have agree remarkably well with the literal description.
This apparent rarity of armor and helmets may have more to do with burial
customs than the scarcity of these items at the time. It appears that the pagan
Anglo-Saxons believed in some warrior heaven, similar in nature to the Viking
Valhalla. The grave goods were what they would need in this afterlife, and in
order to fight the warrior needed weapons, but if death was only a 'temporary
setback', why give them armor that could be far better used by their mortal
counterparts?
It would seem likely from these sources that the kings and more important
noblemen would possess a coat-of-mail and a crested helmet, a sword, shield
and spear(s). Noblemen of middling rank may have possessed a helm, perhaps
a sword, and a shield and spear(s). The lowest ranking warriors would have
been equipped with just a shield and spear(s), and perhaps a secondary
weapon such as an axe or seax.
Two 7th-century Anglo-Saxon warriors, one heavily armed dryhten or duguð on
the left and a lightly equipped geoguð on right
The advent of Christianity in the seventh century was to bring about a change in
the fyrd that would totally change its nature by the middle of the ninth century. As
Christianity spread the monasteries needed land on which to build, and as we
have already seen land tended to be given only for the lifetime of the king.
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However, the monasteries needed a more secure arrangement than just
the hope that the king's successor would maintain the donation. This was
achieved through the introduction of a Roman system known as ius
perpetuum, or as the Anglo-Saxons called it bocland [bookland].
Under this system the king gave the land to the Church in eternity, and the grant
was recorded in writing [the book] and witnessed by important noblemen and
churchmen so that the land could not be taken back in future. Although bookland
was foreign in origin, it flourished in England because the notion a man
gave so that he might receive was anything but foreign to the pagan English.
Book-land must have struck early Christian kings as a reasonable demand on
the part of the Church. A Christian king gave a free gift to God in hope of
receiving from Him an eternal gift - salvation.
While nothing that he could give to the Lord would be sufficient, for no man
could be God's equal, just as no retainer could hope to be the equal of his lord, a
king could at least respond with an eternal terrestrial gift, a perpetual grant of
land and the rights over it.
This exchange of gifts confirmed the relationship of lordship that existed
between a king and his Lord God in the same way as the relationship between a
gesið and his lord.
How did book-land impinge upon the early fyrd arrangement? On the simplest
level, what was given to the Church could not be used to endow warriors. As
time went by more and more land was booked to the church, and many of the
king's noblemen became disgruntled. Some of the noblemen offered to build
abbeys and become the abbot on their land in return for the book-right, and this
was often granted even if the noblemen didn't keep his end of the bargain. The
holders of these early books, both genuine and spurious, enjoyed their tenures
free from all service, including military service. And by giving the land in bookright,
the king had removed it permanently from his control.
The kings faced a dilemma. This dilemma was first solved by the Mercian kings
of the mid-eighth century, when King Æthelbald decreed that all the churches
and monasteries in his realm were to be free from 'all public renders, works and
charges, reserving only two things: the construction of bridges and the defense
of fortifications against enemies.'
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By the latter part of the eighth century book-right was being granted to secular
as well as ecclesiastical men. In order to maintain his fyrd, King Offa of Mercia
further refined Ethelbald's decree by giving land free of all service 'except for
matters pertaining to expeditions [fyrd], and the construction of bridges and
fortifications, which is necessary for the whole people and from which none
ought to be excused.' By the mid ninth century these 'common burdens' (as they
were often referred to) were being demanded in all the kingdoms.
In short the idea of military service as a condition of land tenure was a
consequence of book-right. Under the traditional land-holding arrangement a
stipulation of this sort would have been un-necessary - a holder of loan-land
from the king was by definition a king's man, and his acceptance of an estate
obliged him to respond with fidelity and service to his royal lord. Book-land
tenure, a hereditary possession, was quite a different matter, for such a grant
permanently removed the land from the king's control without assuring that
future generations who owned the property would recognize the king or his
successors as their lord. By imposing the 'common burdens', the king
guaranteed military service from book-land and tied the holders of the book
securely to the ruler of the tribe.
By this time the terms geoguð and duguð had been replaced with dreng (young
warrior) and thegn (one who serves). The dreng still attended the king directly,
while the thegn was usually the holder of book-land. By now, the term scir
usually denoted more than just a single estate, and the thegn who held the scir
was usually referred to as an ealdorman. Many of the lesser thegns within the
scir would have held their land from the ealdorman in addition to those who held
land directly from the king.
An 8th-9th century Anglo-Saxon thegn equipped with helm, mail-shirt, shield,
spears and large scrameseax.
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The Kingdom of England was forged in the furnace of Viking invasions. Quite
simply, the depredations of the Danes aided Wessex by extinguishing all other
royal lineages. By 900 AD only the house of Cerdic remained, and the kings of
this dynasty found that their survival depended on a total reorganization of their
realm, both administratively and militarily.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 871 AD gives us a good idea of the nature
of the military system that Alfred inherited from his father and brothers.
'After describing six battles, the annals conclude with the
observation that 'during that year nine general
engagements were fought against the Danish army in the
kingdom south of the Thames, besides the expeditions
which the king's brother Alfred and single ealdormen and
king's thegns often rode on, which were not counted.'
From this, and other sources, it would seem that the West Saxon military
establishment consisted of three general types of army: the national host, shire
forces led by individual ealdormen, and the war bands of individual thegns. The
first of these is sometimes referred to as the folc, and was characterized by the
personal leadership of the king. It would consist of the king with his own personal
war-band, augmented by the war-bands of his ealdormen and thegns.
However, each of these territorial units was an army unto it self. An eighth- or
ninth-century ealdorman could wage war on his own initiative and was expected
to do so in defense of his scir. Just as the national host was made up of shire
forces, so the shire forces were made up of the followings of individual local
thegns. These thegns, in turn could mount raids of their own, but the sources
unsurprisingly take little note of these small war-bands. None of these forces, not
even the folc, was the 'nation in arms.' All were war-bands led by chieftains,
whose troops were bound to them by personal ties as well as by the 'common
burdens' imposed upon their land. In essence, they still remained the chief's
following arrayed for battle.
Despite the lordship tie, Alfred's difficulties in 878 AD were due in no small part
to his dependence upon the 'common burdens' for the defense of the kingdom.
The growing importance of Bookland aggravated certain problems previously
encountered in connection with the earlier landholding gesiðas. Quite simply it
took time to summon and gather warriors from the various localities, and a highly
mobile raiding force could devastate a region before the king's host could
engage it in battle. Added to this was a second drawback.
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Those who held Bookland were territorial lords with local interests, and were
thus far more likely to seek terms with the Danish invaders, if by their timely
submission they could save all or part of their inheritance.
After his victory at Edington in the spring of 878 AD, Alfred realized he could not
rely upon the existing military system to counter the continuing Danish threat. If
he was to survive and consolidate his hold upon Wessex, he would have to
innovate, and innovate he did.
The king's adoption of Danish tactics in the winter of 878 AD, such as his use of
strongholds and small mobile raiding parties to harry the lands of his enemies,
was forced upon him by immediate circumstances.
Over the next twenty years of his reign, he was to revolutionize Anglo-Saxon
military practice. Alfred answered the Danish threat by creating an impressive
system of fortified burhs [boroughs] throughout his realm and by reforming the
fyrd, changing it from a sporadic levy of king's men and their retinues into a
standing force. This system, and its extension into Mercia, enabled his kingdom
to survive and formed the basis for the re-conquest of the Danelaw by his son
Edward and his grandson Æthelstan. He divided the fyrd into two rotating
contingents designed to give some continuity to military actions. Rather than
respond to Vikings with ad hoc levies of his local noblemen that were disbanded
when the crisis had passed, the West Saxons would now always have a force in
the field. As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles tell us: 'The king divided his army into
two, so that always half of its men were at home, half on service, apart from the
men who guarded the boroughs.' Moreover, like the Danish heres [armies],
Alfred's fyrd was to be composed of mounted warriors possessing the necessary
mobility to pursue an enemy known for its elusiveness. The warriors who waited
their turn 'at home' also filled a necessary defensive function.
It was essential that some king's thegns and their retainers remain behind to
guard their lands and those of their neighbors on campaign against sudden
raids, if for no other reason than the obvious one that landholders would have
been reluctant to leave their estates and families totally undefended. The
warriors who stayed behind do appear to have been obliged to join the garrisons
of nearby burhs on local forays.
Alfred also had compelling administrative reasons for his division of the fyrd. The
Anglo-Saxons did not draw much distinction between 'military' and 'police'
actions. The same men who had led the king's hosts (His thegns, gerefa
[reeves] and ealdormen.) did extract justice. The same mounted men who were
responsible for the capture of lawbreakers were also responsible for the defense
of the kingdom - there was a thin line between posse and army!
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After all, the Danish invasions did not end ordinary criminal activity. In fact there
is some evidence to suggest it may have increased.
Alfred's innovations did not affect the basic makeup of the fyrd, which remained
composed of nobles and their lesser-born followers.
This is borne out from many sources; ordinary ceorls would generally be unable
to afford the expensive horse required for fyrd service, the summoning of the
fyrd left ordinary agricultural activities such as harvest unaffected, and not least,
Alfred's own words. For Alfred society was divided three ways; beadsmen
(gebedmen) prayed, warriors (fyrdmen) fought and workmen (weorcmen)
labored, each a necessary, distinct class.
Several later period writers reiterated this idea. The Alfredian fyrd was designed
to act in tandem with the burwaran, the permanent garrisons that the king settled
in the newly built burhs. The size of the garrison in each burh varied according to
the length of its walls (4 men for every 5½ yards), but an average one would
have required a garrison of about 900 men. Because of this vast requirement for
manpower, each burh was at the center of a large district specially created for its
needs. The landholders in these 'burghal districts' were charged with providing
the men necessary to maintain and garrison the burhs, on the basis of one man
from every hide of their land. This appears to be in addition to the landowner's
obligations to serve in the king's fyrd.
Building a burh from an Anglo-Saxon manuscript.
The scale of service demanded by Alfred and his descendants was
unprecedented; the garrisons of the burhs alone represented a standing army of
almost 30,000 without the fyrd. The days of winning kingdoms with only a few
hundred men were gone.
How Alfred's fyrdmen were equipped is uncertain, although spears and shields
still remained the prime weapons. It may well be that this was all the equipment
the average burwaran would use, possibly supplied to him by his lord.
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The fyrdmen, on the other hand were a professional warrior class, drawn from
amongst the wealthiest men in the country, expecting to face a well equipped,
professional enemy army.
The evidence we have suggests that helmets, swords and mail-shirts had
become much more common by the time of Alfred's reforms, and most of the
fyrd would have been equipped with at least a helm and sword in addition to
their spear, shield and horse. Many would also have possessed a mail-shirt.
Some of the well off burwaran may also have been equipped in a similar way to
the fyrd.
A typical Anglo-Saxon Fyrdsman of the 9th-11th centuries
The innovations that Alfred introduced meant that within twenty years of his
death most of the Danelaw had been re-conquered by the West Saxon kings
and their Mercian allies. By the middle of the tenth century the last Danish king
had been driven out of England and the West Saxon line now ruled the whole
country.
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ANGLO-SAXON WEAPONS AND ARMOR
This was a 'heroic' age: the surviving stories and poems make this clear. The
greatest virtue was loyalty to one's lord: the warrior shared the spoils of battle,
but he was also willing to die for his lord - indeed it was considered a disgrace to
leave the field of battle if one's chief were dead. When the battle was over you
chased down any fleeing foe and exacted blood vengeance for your own slain
warriors.
This spirit is reflected in both the poetry and prose of the Anglo-Saxons, even
long after Christianity had become firmly established in England. And war has
left its remains in the archaeological record, in the form of innumerable weapons
buried in the graves of warriors, and even on occasion, those of ceorls.
The size of an early Anglo-Saxon army was quite small - we often hear of armies
arriving in only three to five ships, but these groups, at most only 150 - 250
warriors, were often enough to win entire kingdoms. In many cases a king may
have had less than 50 warriors in his retinue. Anglo-Saxon battles were fairly
solid affairs fought on foot; it is thought that Ambrosius Aurelianus' success
against the Anglo-Saxons may have come from his use of Roman Cavalry
tactics against them. (It is strange that the Germanic invaders did not use
cavalry themselves, since in the first and second centuries the Romans recruited
their cavalry from amongst the Germanic peoples.) Once the forces had met, the
battle consisted of a hail of missile weapons followed by grim hand-to-hand
fighting in a restricted area, the opposing sides hacking away at each other until
one side was reduced to carrion or broke and fled.
A 6th-century Anglo-Saxon Dryhten and his Gesiða
Spears
The principle weapon of the Anglo-Saxons was the spear. Spearheads came in
many styles (Swanton classified 21 different forms), but were usually leaf- or
'kite-' shaped and had a socket for attachment to the shaft. It was usually
diamond-shaped or lentoid in cross section, while the socket that continued from
the narrow neck of the spearhead was split on one side and usually had an iron
rivet to attach it to the shaft, which was usually of ash.
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Spearheads vary considerably in length from a few inches to two feet or more,
and the basic forms change very little throughout the whole Anglo-Saxon period.
The overall length of the spear was around 6'6" - 8' (2.00 - 2.50m), and the butt
of the spear was often capped with a metal ferrule. Spears were used both for
hand-to-hand combat and as javelins. There is a special type of spear
occasionally found in an early Anglo-Saxon context (although more common on
the continent) - the Angon.
This type of spear was closely related to the Roman pilum, but unlike its Roman
counterpart, the angon was used for close combat as well as for throwing.
Angons normally had a small, barbed head connected to the socket by a long
metal shaft. This long metal shaft served the same purpose as the shaft of a
pilum when used as a javelin, and when used in close combat would stop the
head from being chopped off. Spears are found in around 86% of the Anglo-
Saxon burials that contain weapons.
Scramaseaxes
Another relatively cheap weapon used during the sixth and seventh centuries
was the single edged knife - the scramaseax. Scramaseax is a term covering a
wide variety of knives from small eating knives to large combat weapons. For the
sake of simplicity, the term scramaseax shall only be used to describe the
weapon in this section. The typical scramaseax of the Migration period, as found
on the Continent, is about 8 - 14" (20 - 35 cm) long with an asymmetrical tang.
Large scramaseaxes do not appear in England until the latter part of the Pagan
period, with the earlier types generally having blades of about 6-10" (15-30cm) in
length.
The guard is generally insignificant, or even non-existent, but many of the early
scramaseaxes had decorative pommels, often boat-shaped or lobed. By the
ninth century very long scramaseaxes start to appear, more a single edged
sword than a knife. The blades of these scramaseaxes are between 22 - 32" (55
- 80cm) long and very heavy, capable of delivering a horrendous cutting blow.
This type of scramaseax is probably the type referred to as a langseax (O.E.
'long-knife') in contemporary sources.
Two basic forms of scrameseax were in use in England. The Germanic type has
almost parallel edges, with a sharply angled back. A single narrow fuller
sometimes runs down one side, or rarely both sides, of the blade, just below the
back. This type is not usually seen any earlier than the seventh century. The
Merovingian type has a more curved form, and often has one or more fullers on
both sides of the blade.
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This type first appears in England during the later fifth century, reaches a peak in
the sixth century, and is gradually replaced by the Germanic type in the seventh
and eighth centuries. Both types have blades of triangular section. Handles were
usually of horn or wood.
Scramaseaxes were carried in a leather sheath at the warrior's thigh and the
sheath was suspended from the belt by means of a series of small bronze loops.
Some scramaseax scabbards appear to have been made of leather covered
wooden laths, in a manner similar to sword scabbards. Many scramaseax
scabbards have decorative chapes. Scramseaxes are found in around 5% of the
Anglo-Saxon burials that contain weapons.
Swords
The weapon par excellence, but not a very common one, was a sword. The
swords of the Pagan Saxon period were usually two-edged, broad-bladed,
straight-edged swords of the type known as spatha, the type of sword in use in
Celtic and Roman times. These blades were usually of diamond or lentoid
section and sometimes have one or more fullers (grooves running down the
length of the blade to lighten it). During the sixth century the fullered broadsword
starts to take over from the spatha. There is little evidence for the hilts of the
earliest Anglo-Saxon swords, but what there is shows that the swords in use
were similar to those found in the bog deposits of southern Denmark.
These early forms had lower and upper guards and grips of wood, bone or horn
rather than metal, and no real pommel - merely a large 'washer' over which the
tang was riveted. Some continental examples in use from the third to sixth
century were coated in silver foil, although so far none of the excavated English
examples have been.
In the sixth century there is a new form that seems to have been adopted by all
the Germanic peoples - it is found in Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, France,
Italy and Hungary. Swords of this type are the first to feature a large metal
pommel, rather than an oversized washer. The upper and lower guards seem
often to have been made of wood, bone or horn, or often of a sandwich
construction of layers of metal riveted to a central layer of organic material.
Some do have all metal guards, but where this is the case they usually mimic the
sandwich construction, complete with rivets. These swords are often very rich,
with gilded (or even solid gold) metal parts. This form of hilt includes the 'ringsword'.
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These have an upper guard embellished with a ring and staple. In the earliest
examples the ring is free running through the staple, while on later forms it is
replaced by a single solid casting of the ring and staple. The significance of
these rings is not really known, but since literary sources indicate that both rings
and sword-hilts were considered worthy of having oaths sworn upon them, this
may have been their function.
Some swords show signs of having had such rings removed, and so it is
possible that they were personal to a particular owner and were removed if the
sword were passed on to someone else. It is also possible that these were the
rings given by kings in literature. The rings may have been an indication that a
lord had rewarded a warrior.
A 6th century broadsword sward with metal and horn fittings and a wooden grip, and a 5th
century spatha with horn guards and leather covered wooden grip on the right.
During the later seventh and eighth centuries the organic parts of the upper and
lower guards were gradually replaced with iron. During the eighth century a new
type of pommel appears, usually divided in three, or sometimes five, 'lobes'.
These pommels were sometimes of iron.
By the ninth century the guards and pommel were almost exclusively made of
iron, often with decorative silver inlay. By now the lower guard was usually
curved down towards the blade and the upper guard curved away from the
hand.
Swords were precious objects, handed down from father to son, king to retainer,
and swords were often thought to have greater virtue because they were old, or
had belonged to some famous person of the past.
The best blades were made by pattern welding, a technique where rods of iron
and steel are twisted together and welded into a single piece of metal. This is
then hammered out to form the core of the blade, to which hard steel cutting
edges are welded.
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This forms a very strong blade, and the pattern welded core gives a marbled
pattern, hence the name. A pattern-welded sword was an object of great value.
The poem Beowulf gives us some good descriptions:
"Then he took off his helmet and his corselet of iron, and
gave them to his servant, with his superb, adorned sword
... he impaled the wondrous serpent, pinned it to the rock
face with his patterned sword ... the iron blade was
adorned with deadly, twig-like patterning, tempered with
battle blood... the ancient treasure, the razor sharp
ornamented sword..."
"Angrily the warrior hurled Hrunting [the name of the
sword] away, the patterned sword with serpent patterns
on its hilt; tempered and steel-edged ... an invincible
sword wrought by the giants, massive and double edged
... the defender of the Scyldings grasped the ringed hilt,
swung the ornamented sword ... the gold adorned sword
hilt; the blade itself had melted, the patterned sword had
burnt ...finest of blades, with twisted hilt and serpentine
patterning ... his sword, gleaming and adorned, sank in
up to the hilt."
The sword was carried in a scabbard, which was usually made of two thin laths
of leather-covered wood. The mouth of the scabbard was sometimes
ornamented with a metal band, and it was sometimes bound with a strip of metal
and was tipped with a metal shape.
The scabbard was usually lined with fleece so that the natural grease of the
sheep's wool would keep the blade from rusting. Many of the scabbards that
have been excavated have shown signs of having a thin ribbon or tape, usually
of linen, wrapped around the upper portion, but it is not clear what its purpose
was.
Although swords were sometimes worn on waist belts, they were usually carried
slung from the right shoulder on a baldric. The sword was normally worn with the
hilt riding quite high, above the hip, with the scabbard hanging at an angle,
rather than straight down. In some cases, strap distributors have been found in
association with swords, and these were used with a Y-shaped baldric strap to
hold the scabbard at an angle. Swords are found in around 12% of the Anglo-
Saxon burials that contain weapons.
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Typical war-gear for a 9th century Saxon soldier: spears, sword, knife, helm and mail-shirt, to
which a shield would usually be added.
Axes
A few warriors used axes, but this was not a particularly common weapon. It is
often hard to tell whether an axe found in a grave represents a weapon, or just a
woodcutting axe. Of course it is possible that the same axe might be used for
both purposes One special type of axe, not common, but found in sufficient
numbers to show it was in use was the francisca, a type of short handled axe
with an upward curving blade, probably originating amongst the Franks and
designed primarily for throwing. Axes are found in around 3% of the Anglo-
Saxon burials that contain weapons.
Bows and Arrows
Bows and arrows do seem to have been used, but to a lesser extent in England
than on the continent. No bows have survived in England, although arrowheads
do sometimes remain.
However, on the continent many bows have been found in the Saxon
homelands, and it is likely that bows in England were of the same type. These
bows were wooden longbows, ranging in length from 5' - 6'6" (150 - 200cm) and
were usually of Yew. The arrows were usually tipped with iron heads, although
many arrowheads of bone have also been found in Denmark. Bows or arrows
are found in around 1% of the Anglo-Saxon burials that contain weapons.
Shields
The main defensive item of the Anglo-Saxon warrior was the shield. The Anglo-
Saxon shield was of the center-grip type, and consisted of a round wooden
board, often covered with leather or heavy cloth, with an iron boss in the center.
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Often the grip was reinforced by an iron strip, which sometimes extended across
the back of the shield to reinforce it. A few shields were bound at the rim with
bronze, but most would have had a leather rim stitched on. Some of the shields
were ornately decorated with ornate metal foils and studs or by painting. Most of
the shields shown in early pictorial sources appear to be of the 'buckler' type, but
this is possibly just an artistic convention so that details of the figures carrying
them are not obscured.
Shields known from excavation vary in diameter from 16" - 36" (42 - 92cm), with
the usual size being between 24" and 28" (60 and 70cm), but it has been
observed that generally, the older and/or wealthier the person buried was, the
larger their shield was.
It has also been noted that in the earlier part of the period the shields were
generally of the smaller type, gradually becoming larger as the period
progresses. It is interesting to note that continental examples of this type of
shield tend to be larger, being 22 - 44" (57 - 112cm), the commonest size being
around 36" (90cm). The shields were surprisingly thin, varying between 3/16 - ½"
(5 - 12mm) in thickness, with most being around 5/16" (7mm).
Most poetry and prose from the period refers to Linden wood (lime) shields, but
this timber only accounts for about 3% of the excavated examples; excavated
examples have been found made of alder (37%), willow or poplar (37%), maple
(10%), birch (7%), ash (3%) and oak (3%). Continental examples are almost
exclusively of oak.
The shield boss was usually conical, with a wide Flange, secured to the shield
by 5 rivets. They often had a small section of vertical or concave wall, and the
boss is often tipped with a button which can sometimes be elaborately decorated
with a silver or bronze plaque. Strangely, the hemispherical boss that was so
common on the continent seems to have been almost entirely absent in England
at this time. It is possible that a few of the poorest warrior's shields did not have
a boss as this type are known on the continent, but are extremely rare.
Helmets
"The boar crest, brightly gleaming, stood over their
helmets: superbly tempered, plated with glowing gold, it
guarded the lives of those grim warriors... Displayed on
his pyre, plain to see, were the bloody mail-shirt, the
boars on the helmets, iron hard and gold clad..."
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"Placed on the bench above each retainer, his crested
helmet, his linked corselet and sturdy spear-shaft were
plainly to be seen...when the ornamented sword, forged
on the anvil, the razor sharp blade stained with blood,
shears through the boar-crested helmets of the
enemy...we shielded our heads in the fight, when soldiers
clashed on foot, slashed at boar-crests...and his head
was guarded by the gleaming helmet which was to
explore the churning waters, stir their very depths;
gold decorated it, and it was hung around with chains as
the weapon-smith had wrought it long before, wondrously
shaped it and beset it with boar-images, so that
afterwards no battle-blade could do it damage.
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Extract from Beowulf
For most warriors the shield was the only protection, but wealthy warriors may
also have worn a helmet. Unfortunately, surviving helmets from the fifth- and
early sixth-centuries are unknown in Britain (the oldest helmets dating to the
seventh century), but there are continental examples, especially from the
Frankish kingdom. Those surviving there are of the late Roman type,
constructed of four or more segments, and often having cheek-guards and mail
aventails.
This type of helmet is
usually given the
name 'Spangenhelm'.
The possible remains
of a helmet of this type
are known from
Dumfriesshire.
A helmet of Spangenhelm type reconstruction based on several fragmentary examples

A helmet from Krefeld-Gellup located in Germany
The earliest Anglo-Saxon settlers, particularly those who were serving in the
shore forts or as foderati may have worn Roman style ridge helmets. Several
helmets (or parts of them) of this type are known from Britain, including finds
from the Saxon Shore Forts of Burgh Castle, Norfolk and Richborough, Kent.
This style of helmet was probably used both by Germanic mercenaries and
native British troops, and could well have formed the model for later Anglo-
Saxon helmets, such as the Pioneer helmet. Many archaeologists and military
historians believe that these helmets may also have formed the models for the
Scandinavian style of helmet found at Vendel, Valsgärde and Sutton Hoo.
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Ridge Helmets: Left: Late Roman 'Cavalry' Ridge Helmet, 4-5th century.
Center: Late Roman 'Infantry' Ridge Helmet, 4-5th century. Right: Scandinavian
Ridge Helmet (Valsgärde type), 6-7th century. #1 Reconstructions by Crafts The
Benty Grange helmet (from Sheffield), although dating to the late seventhcentury,
and the Pioneer Helmet, dating to the mid seventh century, may also be
good examples of the type of helmet worn in the earlier period too, as they fits
the description of helmets from much early poetry and prose, most notably by
their boar-crests. They are both domed helmets of banded construction,
probably originally having had a neck-guard and nasal, and surmounted by a
boar-crest.
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A reconstructed Anglo-Saxon Helmets. From left to right: The Sutton Hoo
Helmet (Reconstruction) from the late sixth/early seventh century; The 'Pioneer'
Helmet (Reconstruction) from the early seventh century; The Benty Grange
Helmet from the mid to late seventh century; The Coppergate Helmet from the
late eighth century.
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Domed helms with cheek-Flaps, neck-guards and sometimes face-guards and a
crest or ridge are known from pictorial sources. This sort of helmet is known in
England from the burial at Sutton Hoo, the Pioneer Helmet from
Northamptonshire, the Coppergate Helmet from York, and fragments of crests
from Rempstone in Nottinghamshire and Icklingham in Suffolk. This type of
helmet is probably best known from the finds at Valsgärde and Vendel in
Sweden.
Pictorial evidence shows helmets of all the types mentioned here. The evidence
suggests that helmets were high status items, and as such were usually
decorated to some degree, from the decorative silver rivets and crest of the
Benty Grange helmet to the ornate decorations of the Sutton Hoo, Vendel and
Valsgärde helmets, although the Pioneer Helmet is surprisingly plain.
During the Viking Invasions of the ninth century simple four-piece conical
helmets seem to make their first appearance, gradually replacing the older
types. These helmets could include a nasal bar and/or a mail aventail. This style
of helmet seems to have been less ornately decorated than earlier styles
Body Armor
The more wealthy warriors may also have worn a mail-shirt or byrnie, which at
this time was probably not much larger than a modern T-shirt, and certainly
nowhere near as large as the later split hauberks. The mail shirt was probably
worn over a leather jerkin or padded undergarment to prevent the mail links
being forced into the body (the padded undergarment possibly did not make an
appearance until the time of the Viking raids of the ninth century, when weapons
seem generally to have got larger and heavier). It is possible that some of the
less well off warriors may have worn leather helmets and jerkins for protection,
although there is no direct evidence for this.
The mail of the period was made by cutting thin strips of iron from a piece of
sheet, or drawing iron wire through a draw-plate, and winding this around a
cylindrical former. It was then cut off with a chisel to form the links. The links
would then be compressed so that the ends overlapped. Half of the links were
then welded shut in the forge.
The other half had the ends of each link Flattened and then had holes punched
in them. As the mail-shirt was assembled a punched ring was linked to four of
the welded rings, a rivet was put through the hole to close the link. Finally the
whole mail-shirt was likely to have been 'oil tempered' to make it stronger and
give a small degree of rust proofing.
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THE RELIGION OF THE PAGAN
ANGLO-SAXONS
The nature of the religion of the Germanic settlers is a very difficult subject, since
it has to be pieced together from odd references from classical times and later
Christian writings which obviously did not want to promote Pagan beliefs. Many
modern historians look at the fact that four days of the week are named after Old
Germanic deities, corresponding to four of the deities from later Scandinavian
religion and shrug it off as being the same as the religion of the Pagan Vikings.
Unfortunately, it is not this simple. While it is true that they share many
similarities, this attitude is about as valid as saying the Jewish faith and
Christianity are the same thing just because they share the Old Testament.
Although both the Early English and Viking religions have the same Germanic
root, they were very different, and the Viking version had three more centuries of
development than the English one. The early English religion had much in
common with pre-Roman Celtic beliefs as well as later Scandinavian ones.
Unlike the later Scandinavian religion, the supreme deities in English faith were
probably goddesses, not gods. The most important of these was Nerthus, the
earth mother (the Harvest Queen of folk tradition). She looked after the fertility
and well being of man and beast. It is unclear whether Frija or Frea is a separate
goddess, or just another aspect of Nerthus, but she is usually associated with
love, lust, yearning and friendship. Other important Goddesses were Eostre,
goddess of the dawn, spring and new life (and whose name is given to the
spring festival of the Christian faith - Easter), and Rheda or Hreð, a wælcyrie
(valkyrie) and goddess of the winter.
Of the Gods of the early English we only know of three: Tir, Woden and Thunor
(the Tyr, Oðin and Thor of Viking mythology). Woden seems to have been the
most important of these three since most royal lines traced their descent from
him, and he survived the Conversion as the lord of magic, the shaman and as
the leader of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt was originally made up of the souls of
dead warriors riding to Valhalla to join Woden's host of champions, waiting for
the last battle against the forces of destruction.
In modern German the Wild Hunt is also known as the Wild Army; in the middle
ages, Germans called it Wuotaanes her, Woden's army. In later English folklore,
it is usually taken to be the souls of the restless dead being hunted by the
hounds of hell.
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Rationalist explanations include the terrifying violence of spring and autumn
gales and the cries of flocks of migrating geese. (It is also interesting to note that
the wild hunt is also sometimes associated with Cernunnos, the antlered god of
the Pagan Celtic faith). Tir was the god of glory and honor, and a favorite with
warriors, but little is known of his early English personification, although the rune
for Tiw is frequently used as a charm of protection.
Thunor was also popular amongst warriors, and of all the English gods was the
closest to his Scandinavian counterpart. Although his symbol of the hammer was
used in England, his commonest symbol was the fylfot cross (the swastika of
modern times), which seems to have also symbolized both the sun and a shield.
Another god who was probably worshipped by the early English was Frey.
Although there is little direct evidence, his usual symbol - the boar - is commonly
associated with warriors (another similarity to Pagan Celtic times). Frey was a
fertility god, 'ruler of rain and sunshine and thus of the produce of the earth'. The
reason for the lack of evidence for Frey may be because his English
personification was Ing, the son of Mannus (the father of mankind) and Nerthus
(the divine mother).
However, the boar may also have been associated with the goddess Frija. If this
were the case then its popularity with warriors would be explained by Tacitus's
observation of one of the Suebic tribes:
'They worship the Mother of the Gods. As an emblem of the rite, they
bear the shapes of wild boars. This boar avails more than weapons or
human protection; it guarantees that the worshipper of the goddess is
without fear even when surrounded by enemies.'
At Yuletide warriors made their vows for the coming year on a sacrificial boar
(we still make New Year's resolutions), and before the turkey arrived, the boar's
head had the place of honor at Yuletide feasts (and we still sing a carol that
accompanied its processional entry into the feasting-hall).
To the early English, the world was full of lesser spirits as well as the great gods
and goddesses. There were elves, ettins (Trolls), wælcyrian and a whole host of
other supernatural beings (who all joined the earlier Celtic deities amongst the
faerie folk).
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The early English year was full of religious significance, and was divided into
only two seasons: summer and winter. These were divided by moon-lives
(months), six to each season; but the sun governed the year.
The two greatest festivals were at the two Solstices, Midsummer (Liða) and
Midwinter (Geola or Yule). These times were so important that each was
'guarded' by two moons: Ærra Liða (the month before Midsummer) and Æftera
Liða (the month after Midsummer) - June and July, and Ærra Geola and Æftera
Geola Flanking Midwinter - December and January.
Winter began with the first full moon in October and was called Winterfylleþ.
November was Blot-monaþ (Blood-month or the month of sacrifice) when the
winter slaughtering of livestock took place and feasts were held in honor of the
gods, to whom many of the livestock were sacrificed.
We know from Bede that the Midwinter festival, the most sacred night, when the
New Year began, was called Modranect - Mothers' night. He says that it was so
called from the ceremonies that took place then but he does not describe them,
but it may well have been associated with the birth of Ing. It is easy to
understand why Bede did not go into details about what happened on
Modranect. If the English were already celebrating a young Lord, Ing son of
Mannus, and his Divine Mother at the same time as the feast of the Nativity, the
parallels would seem too close, even blasphemous, to a theologian like Bede.
February was called Sol-monaþ - mud-month, probably just a comment on the
English weather at this time of year. Bede tells us that it was also popularly
called the 'month of cakes' - mensis placentarum - 'which in that month the
English offered to their gods'. Ploughing of the fields had begun, and the cakes
(Latin placentae) were probably the loaves placed in the first furrow as an
offering to Nerthus for a good harvest. March was Hreð-monaþ (Hreð's month),
the last month of winter and its goddess Hreð.
Sacrifices were made to Hreð in this month. April was Eostre-monaþ (Eostre's
month). Eostre's symbols were the hare and the egg, both seen as symbols of
rebirth and the spring (many early English actually believed that hares laid eggs,
since a hare's 'scratch' and a lapwing nest look the same and are both first seen
in the spring!) - and still remembered today in the form of Easter eggs and the
Easter bunny.
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May was Þri-milce (three milkings) because, as Bede tells us 'in olden days in
Britain, and also in Germany, from where the English came to Britain, there was
such abundance that cattle were milked three times a day.' Was this a far
memory of the easy days before the deterioration of the climate at the end of the
Northern Bronze Age (500 - 400 BC), or just the perpetual belief that things were
always better in the old days?
The power unleashed at the Midsummer Solstice must have been too strong and
dangerous for Bede and his successors even to mention the rituals, although
later sources tell us 'Midsummer Eve is counted or called the Witches Night and
still in many places on St John's Night they make fires on the hills', so the rituals
probably involved the lighting of bonfires (perhaps similar to the Beltain festivals
of Celtic times). The Christian Church certainly felt it was a day needing special
guardianship and put it under the protection of St John the Baptist, whose
message was repentance of sins. August was Weod-monaþ (weed month),
'because they grow most in that month.' September was Halig-monaþ (holy
month), the month of festivals in honor of Nerthus in her aspect as giver. This is
the festival for which we have the best idea of the ritual, as Tacitus devotes a
chapter of Germania to this festival, common to all the Germanic tribes:
'They worship in common Nerthus, that is the Earth
Mother, and believe she intervenes in human affairs and
goes on progress through the tribes. There is a sacred
grove on an island of the ocean, and in the grove is a
consecrated wagon covered with a cloth. Only one priest
is allowed to touch it; he understands when the goddess
is present in her shrine and follows with profound
reverence when she is drawn away by cows.'
'Then there are days of rejoicing: the places she
considers worthy to entertain her [i.e. the places where
the cows pulling the driverless wagon choose to stop]
keep holiday.
They do not go to war, do not use weapons, all iron is
shut away - peace and quiet is much esteemed and
loved at that time - until the same priest returns the
goddess to her sanctuary when she has had enough of
human company.
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Directly the wagon, the covering clothe and, if you like to
believe this, the goddess herself, are washed in a
secluded lake. Slaves are the ministers; immediately the
same lake swallows them. [They are drowned as soon as
they have finished their tasks as lay folk may not see or
touch the goddess and live] From this arises a
mysterious terror and a pious ignorance about what that
may be, which is only seen by those about to die.'
We also know that the sheaf was also a symbol of the goddess (the origin of the
corn-dolly), and it seems that even after the conversion this ritual had not been
forgotten. In September 1598 a German visitor traveling to Eton describes a
country ritual he witnessed:
'We were returning to our lodging house; by lucky chance
we fell in with the country-folk, celebrating their harvest
home. The last sheaf had been crowned with flowers and
they had attached it to a magnificently robed image,
which perhaps they meant to represent Ceres [Ceres
was the Roman name for a goddess of the fruitful earth
and the harvest, and a much more widely known deity
than Nerthus in the 16th century] They carried her hither
and thither with much noise; men and women were
sitting together on the wagon, men-servants and maidservants
shouting through the streets until they come to
the barn.'
About 1,000 years after the conversion, the English still had a goddess of the
fruitful earth, still riding a wagon, making random progress amidst public
rejoicing. Servant-ministers were in attendance, although in the September of
1598 they were on their way to a more cheerful and less final end to the
ceremonies. Even as late as the end of the 18th century, the antiquarian William
Hutchinson reported meeting the Harvest Queen in Northumberland:
'I have seen in some places an image appareled in great
finery, crowned with flowers, a sheaf of corn placed
under her arm and a scythe in her hand, carried out of
the village in the morning of the concluding reaping day,
with music and much clamor of the reapers, into the field
where it stands fixed to a pole all day, and when the
reaping is done it is brought home in like manner.
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This they call the Harvest Queen and it represents the
Roman Ceres. [To classically educated scholars from
one end of Europe to the other, all the old gods appeared
in their Roman forms.]'
There is no physical evidence for temples or shrines in England, but this may
well be because the early English shrines were not buildings, but sacred places.
We know that King Rædwald put up a Christian altar in his family shrine, and
that King Edwin's temple at Goodmanham was desecrated and burned at the
orders of its own high priest, but nowhere do we have any direct evidence of
these holy places being buildings. Yet the shrines and holy places of the old
tradition can be seen everywhere in England. Tacitus says of the early Germans:
'They judge that gods cannot be contained inside walls
nor can the greatness of the heavenly ones be
represented in the likeness of any human face: they
consecrate groves and woodland glades and call by the
names of 'gods' that mystery which they only perceive by
their sense of reverence.'
So the shrines were probably sacred groves and pools rather than buildings, and
this would certainly seem to be borne out by the number of natural features
bearing the names of gods, and the number of sacrificial bogs known from the
continent.
The priests of the early English are an even more shadowy group than the
deities, and really all we know about them is that they existed, were not allowed
to ride any horse but a mare and could not bear arms (although the spear, the
sacred weapon of Wodan, may have been used in some rituals). After this our
knowledge of them is non-existent.
THE HORSE
IN EARLY GERMANIC CULTURE
The horse was an important animal to the early Germanic peoples of Europe.
Finds from the North German peat bogs show that horses were sometimes
sacrificed and their skins were hung on poles over the bog. For the first several
hundred years AD horse offerings were important in pagan Germanic religious
ceremonies. Piles of horse bones have been found in many North German bogs
and burials.
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Remains of the head, the lower part of the legs and in some cases the base of
the tail are usually found. The ritual perhaps demanded that the Gods received
the skin with the head, legs and tail while the participants in the ceremony ate
the remainder.
The early Germanic warrior also used the horse. The Roman author Tacitus,
writing in the first century AD, tells us:
"The horseman asks no more than his shield and spear,
but the infantry have also javelins to shower, several per
man, and they can hurl them to a great distance; ... Their
horses are not distinguished either for beauty or for
speed, nor are they trained in Roman fashion to execute
various turns. They ride them straight ahead or with a
single swing to the right, keeping the wheeling line so
perfect that no one drops behind the rest.
On general survey, their strength is seen to lie rather in
their infantry, and that is why they combine the two arms
in battle. The men who they select from the whole force
and station in the van are fleet of foot and fit admirably
into cavalry action."
Also, a number of sets of horse-harness have been recovered from the German
and Danish peat bogs, dating to the first few centuries AD. As we can see from
this, the idea of a cavalryman was not unknown to the Germanic warrior, but it
was not usual for the Anglo-Saxons to use cavalry.
Contemporary finds of warriors buried with their horses are well known from the
pre-Viking cultures of Scandinavia, and at Vendel and Valsgärde many of the
ship burials contained horses and horse-harness. Mounted warriors are also
commonly shown in contemporary art, most notably in the decorative foils used
to ornament helmets.
Burials of riders with their horses are also known from the Merovingian Frankish,
Thuringian and Allemannic kingdoms. Burials with horses are also found in
Viking Age Scandinavia.
One of the most famous horse-burials is that of Childeric's grave in Tournai (482
AD).
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Childeric had taken over the role of the defender of the dying Romanitas in the
Merovingian realm, but he was also a Germanic pagan ruler. His burial belongs
to the category of "Fuerstengraeber" (pincely graves). This phenomenon of
graves that are rendered prominent is well known from the early Merovingian
period, but vanishes at the end of the 6th century.
Childeric's grave was under a burial mound, and current research shows that the
Frankish world used again the tumulus. Tumulus-graves are found mainly in the
Alammanic area, but West of the Rhine they are an exception. These graves are
meant to contain very important personalities; they are one of the criteria for
Germanic ethnic identity and a definite proof of paganism. Childeric's grave was
situated near a Roman road at the edge of a contemporary graveyard. Three
horse-burials are situated at the edge of the burial mound (They contain a total
of 21 horses!). These particular burials are believed to be connected to
Childeric's burial. However, this thesis cannot be proven with any certainty.
However, several arguments exist for connecting the horse-burials with
Childeric's burial, especially since there is evidence for those graves being
contemporary with Childeric's. The arguments are: All graves belong to the end
of the 5th century (which can be proven by scientific methods.)
It is significant that the horse graves are situated at the edge of the burial mound
and the number of horses is remarkable.
The horse-population is very homogenous: geldings, horses for battle,
outnumber any others.
It is most implausible that the horses died because of an epidemic - especially
not at this place. The graves can be clearly understood as such and their place
in the graveyard hints at cult/ritual significance. The occurrence of horse graves
in the Merovingian period shows clearly that this custom stayed an exception
between the Rhine and the Seine, while it was well known in the middle of the
5th century in Thuringia and later at the Elbe, Rhine and Danube.
Therefore it can be taken for sure that the horse graves are connected to the
king's grave and its magnificent burial-rite.
The horse skull, that was found within Childeric's grave, belonged without a
doubt to his personal riding horse, while the other horses that had been
sacrificed at the time of his burial, probably came from his own stables.
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The participation of horses in important ceremonies was widespread and
popular, as the report about the arrival of the Frankish prince Sigimer into Lyon
makes clear. The discovery in Tournai explains the special appreciation of
horses in Frankish society of the 5th century and the ritual significance that they
had concerning burial rites of a pagan king.
Other burials of this type are known from Beckum, Frankfurt, Main-Praunheim
and Wulfsen. There are also many Frankish and Allemannic graves containing
horse harness, although without the horse itself.
THE HORSE IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
Only a few people in early Anglo-Saxon England had horses and they were very
valuable animals. The quotes from Beowulf show that a horse was considered a
kingly gift, and this is further borne out by Bede when he is writing about King
Oswin around 644 AD:
"He had given an excellent horse to Bishop Aidan so
that, although it was his custom to walk, he could ride it
when he had to cross rivers or some other urgent
necessity arose. Not long afterwards Aidan was met by a
poor man begging for alms, and dismounted and ordered
the horse, complete with it's royal trappings, to be given
to the beggar; for he was a man of great compassion and
a friend of the poor, and like a father to those in need.
When the king was told of this, he said to the bishop as
they were going to dinner: 'My Lord Bishop, why did you
want to give this royal horse to a beggar?"
”It would have been better for you to keep it as your
own. Did we not have many less valuable horses, and
other things which would have been good enough to give
to the poor, without giving away the horse I chose
especially for your own use?'"
The Anglo-Saxon attitude to horses, in a religious/cult sense, was noticeably
different to the continental one. In England all the archaeological evidence (even
that of the cremations) suggests that the horse was not butchered and eaten as
on the continent, but was interred whole. What little evidence there is for eating
horseflesh is devoid of any noticeable religious contexts.
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However, the symbolic role of the horse-burial rite is made clear by the fact that
they seem only to accompany adult male burials. It seems likely that in Anglo-
Saxon England the religious significance of the horse may have been somewhat
different to that on the continent.
We know for certain that there were stud farms in Anglo-Saxon England by the
tenth century because they are mentioned in wills, but it is likely that kings and
rich nobles had them around much earlier. As well as the clue in the quote from
Bede (above), there are many hints from later charters and accounts. By the
early11th century all military men were required to have several horses by law!
NOTES
1. Stirrups do not appear to have been used in England
until about the ninth century and were probably adopted
from the Franks
2. This could also account for the early Christian ban on
the eating of horseflesh.
3. This distinction between 'royal' horses and ordinary
ones could suggest that the unusually large size of the
horse in the burial at Lakenheath could represent a royal
horse. Perhaps this warrior had been rewarded with a
fine horse by the king.
ANCIENT CULTURES OF WESTERN EUROPE
Modern French institutions and people are derived from 2,000 years of contact
with diverse cultures and people. Into the area (Normandy) now defined as
France (and Belgium) the Vikings, Celts, Romans, Franks came, and other
people producing a mixture of practices and races.
Since 1500 AD the French have formed a relatively unified territorial state in
which diversity nevertheless persists.
Ancient Gaul
When Julius Caesar of the Roman Empire invaded Gaul in 58 BC, he found a
territory reaching from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea; from the
Pyrenees Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean to the Rhine River and the Alps
Mountains. The population of possibly ten million possessed neither
homogeneous roots nor unified rule.
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Several centuries earlier the Celts had surged from their Danubian homeland
into the valleys of the Rhine and Rhone Rivers and as far as today's Belgium,
England/Scotland, and Ireland. The newcomers mingled with the native
Ligurians of the Alps, Iberians of the Pyrenees, and numerous folk elsewhere
who were often of Phoenician, Greek, or Roman stock.
The Celts
Celtic rule in Gaul was decentralized. The Gaul (Latin for Celts) were basically
grouped as members of clans that sometimes functioned separately and
sometimes formed into one of over 400 tribes, which in turn often joined into one
of the 70 or so "nations." Thus the Gauls had no single leader or authority, and
except for Marseille and Nice, they had no cities or towns either.
Most lived in scattered thatched roof mud huts generally surrounded by a
stockade. Hunting, fishing, and pastoral pursuits supplied their basic food and
shelter needs. Some surpluses and craftwork in wood and leather found their
way into local markets for sale or barter (exchange). Gallic religious life too was
localized and pluralistic, with pantheistic worship of rivers, woods, and other
elements of nature. The most widespread but not universal cult was that of the
druids, centered in Brittany (Briton).
Roman Conquest
Roman legions marched into Gaul in 58 BC not only to protect the Roman
republic's Mediterranean holdings but also, to promote Julius Caesar's personal
ambitions beyond his pro-consulship of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. The
Gaul's contributed to their own subjugation by their tribal rivalries and inability to
resist the infiltration of trans-Rhenish barbarians and the Swiss (Helvetii).
Caesar's speedy success in stopping the barbarians was followed by the
conquest of all of Gaul. The Roman victory was not due to superior numbers of
troops but to their training, discipline, and weaponry and to Gallic disunity. Even
the heroism of the Gallic prince Vercingetorix failed to halt or reverse the Roman
conquest.
Five hundred years thereafter of Roman rule produced striking consequences for
Gaul. Politically, the idea was planted of citizenship of a common state with a
single set of laws and administrators and a more or less unified tax system. In
practice, much localism remained, and the direct and indirect taxes were
assessed and collected inequitably. If imperial Rome benefited by holding
provincial Gaul (from financial exactions, manpower, and cheap grain), the Gaul
themselves also derived economic advantage from their connection.
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Security against barbarians and bands of brigands encouraged the Gaul to clear
more forests and farm more land. Better roads, bridges, and communications
fostered greater trade. Towns and villages began to appear in place of the
scattered family unit mud-hut habitations.
Culturally, a taste for learning Latin and Greek was cultivated in rudimentary
educational institutions in cities like Marseille, Bordeaux, and Lyons. Frequently,
the interest was superficial, and outlying regions remained untutored in Latin.
They also continued to practice old Celtic paganism and Druidism despite the
spread of Christianity. As missionaries crisscrossed Gaul to convert the pagans
and to organize The Church, other Christians clustered in monasteries to pray
and to establish islands of learning. When the Roman Empire collapsed, the
surviving Roman Church would be crucial for the retention of Gallic-Roman
forms and practices.
Frankish Kingdom
The 5th-century decline of Rome was disastrous for Gaul's political unity,
economic development, and cultural life. An accelerated flow of barbarians-invading
in variously sized groups of Franks, Goths, and Burgundians, rather
than in a single coordinated force--began the process of splintering Gaul.
However, as the Romans and Gauls become assimilated so too did the Gallo-
Romans and the barbarians adopt each other's ways. The France that emerged
by the year 1000 AD was thus a combination of Celts (Gauls), Romans, and
barbarians (Franks, Teutons, Visigoths, Burgundians, Vandals, Vikings, and
others).
Merovingians
Out of the welter of political and territorial shifts from the 5th to the 11th century,
the Church and the successive dynasties of the Merovingians (431-751 AD) and
the Carolingians (747-987 AD) supplied links of continuity. The founder of the
Frankish kingdom was Clovis (481-511 AD), a Merovingian. He completed the
work of his grandfather, the Salian Frankish chieftain Merowen, by first
overwhelming the Gallo-Roman forces at Soissons in 486 AD.
Thereafter he (Clovis) extended Frankish rule over Burgundy and the whole
southern region to the Pyrenees by defeating the Visigoths. A convert to
Christianity in 496 AD, Clovis found that his services to the Church helped his
own status in and beyond his new capital, Paris.
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Upon Clovis's death in 511 AD, the Frankish kingdom was parceled out among
his four sons. Clovi's heirs subdivided their holdings and waged bitter wars
against one another and outsiders. In the last century of their rule, the
Merovingians exhibited their declining authority even in their particular kingdoms.
Aristocratic landowners whittled away at their royal power in administrative,
legal, military, and tax matters. Agriculture and trade were in disarray with the
countryside ravaged by feuding chiefs and barbarian bands. Towns and villages,
although still furnishing some shelter for occupants and rural refugees, dwindled
as commerce ebbed.
The strong influence of the Church continued, with bishops protecting townsmen
and monastic orders maintaining some semblance of culture, but even the
Church could not prevail against Merovingian decline. Finally, at the beginning of
the 8th century, after decades of incompetent Merovingian rule over the
remnants of the Frankish kingdom, the Carolingians, who had served as pal ace
mayors (or advisors), finally secured the reins of power.
Carolingians
Even before the Carolingians, Charlemagne, had become king of the Franks in
768 AD. Charlemagne became emperor in 800 AD. His grandfather, Charles
Martel, had amassed sufficient power to "save" Europe from the Moors at Tours
in 732 AD.
Martel's talents and military forces were passed on to Charlemagne's father,
Pepin the Short, whose aid to the missionary Saint Boniface was compensated
by the Pope's endorsement of Pepin and his sons as the legitimate dynasty of
the Frankish kingdom. Upon these foundations, Charlemagne waged
innumerable wars and gained all Europe from the Pyrenees to the Vistula. His
rule encompassed no more than Gaul and the Frankish kingdom, but it
nevertheless left a strong imprint upon France. It also foreshadowed the feudal
system, which was already evolving.
Within the Frankish state, the vigorous and attractive Charlemagne extended
royal power and financial resources. In exchange for extensive, but
nonhereditary land grants and the right to levy local taxes, lords of manors
furnished military troops and judicial services to the King, and the lower classes
provided labor on road and other public works.
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As a check on the local notables, Charlemagne sent out teams of missidominici
(usually a bishop and a count) to inspect the districts and report on any
irregularities. Two assemblies were held each year, possible forerunners of the
States-General (parliament). In the spring session Noblemen had opportunity to
discuss their problems, and the King could present his program or impressions
of the realm.
In his capital at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) and in other towns, Charlemagne
rekindled intellectual life by gathering holy men, scholars, and literary figures like
Alcuin. Works of Greek and particularly Latin were copied and analyzed in new
schools founded by favored churchmen.
Charlemagne's encouragement of learning had perhaps more long-range
significance for French and Western civilization than his sensational military and
political ventures.
The Carolingian decline, after Charlemagne, followed the same pattern as the
Merovingians' after Clovis. The same type of partition of lands, notably
formalized in the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD, resulted in the area roughly
equivalent to medieval France being assigned to the Frankish emperor Charles
II. He and his descendants held an ever-weakening grip over the kingdom
against invading Vikings--who, as Normans, established the Duchy of
Normandy--and predatory Lords. Over the shrunken French state the Capetian
dynasty would achieve kingship by 987 AD, and within that state the feudal
system would flower.
Capetian Kingdom (987-1328 AD)
For nearly 1,000 years, the house of Capet furnished France with kings, first as
direct-line Capetians and later through the branch families of Valois and
Bourbon. The line was literally cut by the guillotining of Louis XVI in 1792 AD,
although his brothers Louis XVIII and Charles X and his distant cousin Louis-
Philippe served as monarchs after Napoleon I.
Between Hugh Capet's coronation in 987 AD and the succession of the Valois in
1328 AD or the inception of the Hundred Years' War in 1338 AD, the feudal
system became crystallized along with the concept of French kingships. Cities
and towns revived, peopled by bourgeois citizens engaged in a resurgent trade
of agricultural and craft products. A cathedral-building boom satisfied the
religious spirit and supplied jobs. The Crusades absorbed the energies of kings,
counts, clergy, and commoners. And the Norman conquest of England
established the centuries-long connection and rivalry with that island kingdom.
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Feudalism, rooted in land grants of Charlemagne and the subsequent
breakdown of his empire, became almost inevitable when weak kings failed to
check the Viking incursions of the 9th and 10th centuries.
Surely but haphazardly, feudalism developed as a contractual arrangement
between Lord and King, and mannerisms came to determine the relationship
between Lord and peasant. As warriors for the king, the lords were bound to
render military service at their own cost. In return, not only did they receive
hereditary title to tracts as large as provinces but also the right to tax, oversee
and judge their inhabitants.
Toward their subjects, the lords owed protection and the preservation of order;
from them, they were due loyalty, rents, fees, and obligations of a military and
economic nature.
The relative strength of Lords and Kings often depended not upon title but upon
personal traits and capabilities, extent of landholdings, resources available,
alliances possible, and church support. The local Lords' power was
demonstrated in the election of Hugh Capet to the kingship in 987 AD. His
predecessors were mere Counts of Anjou and Blois, and his supporters included
the Duke of Normandy. As Kings the Capetians were in actual possession of
only their family lands of central France--the Ile de France--situated around Paris
and Orleans.
It was long a question how much authority would be allowed the Kings of France
in the lands of the Dukes or Counts of Normandy, Aquitaine, Burgundy, and
Flanders. An outstanding example was the case of the Dukes of Normandy.
Duke William's conquest of England in 1066 AD and his ascent to the English
throne, as William I, obviously made the subsequent Dukes of Normandy and
Kings of England awesome competitors to their feudal overlord...the Kings of
France.
The English Kings extended their French holdings even further when Eleanor Of
Aquitane, after the annulment of her marriage to the pious Capetian Louis VII,
married (1152 AD) the future Henry II of England.
To tip the precarious balance in their favor, shrewd Capetian Kings frequently
encouraged and linked-up with the new middle-class, whose urban and
commercial interests often clashed with the warrior and rural concerns of the
feudal lords.
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Royal charters granted special privileges and wider markets to the bourgeoisie,
and the bourgeois could pay. Churchmen too could be wooed to the King's side
with his patronage for cathedrals, schools, and crusades.
With glaring exceptions and tragic consequences, French participation in the
Crusades stimulated a spirit of national rather than local pride, tied the church
more closely to the monarchy, and created contacts with Italy and the Middle
East for French merchants and scholars.
Of unquestionable vitality in this Medieval era was the cultural expression. In
monasteries and universities, churchmen and laymen studied, discussed, and
debated theological tracts, Greek and Latin works, and a spate of literature
beginning to appear in the vernacular French language.
Consolidation of Royal Power (1328-1715 AD)
Such Capetians as Hugh Capet, Philip II, Louis IX, and Philip IV succeeded in
upholding and enlarging the royal prerogative beyond their family lands; other
Capetians failed. The Valois branch (1328-1589 AD), after a dreary start and
before a whimpering end, drove the English out of France, consolidated the
kingdom, asserted royal authority, launched expeditions into Italy, and ushered
in a cultural Renaissance. What the Valois left undone was completed by the
Bourbons.
From the Hundred Years' War to the Wars of Religion
The expulsion of the English involved the French in the Hundred Years War
(1338-1453 AD), a conflict of intermittent intensity. Mixed into the origins of the
war were the quest for commercial and political prizes in Flanders and the duel
between the English and French Kings for Normandy, Aquitaine, and other
provinces.
One highlight of the war was the contribution of Saint Joan of Arc. Inspired by
visions instructing her to present herself to the Dauphin (later Charles VII) and
free Orleans from the English, she in turn inspired the Dauphin, his advisors, and
the public. Although she was burned at the stake in 1431 AD, her mission was
accomplished within a generation. Relieved of the English presence, the French
monarchs, notably Louis XI (1461-83 AD), finished the task of consolidating the
Kingdom.
They then began to seek extension of their power beyond the boundaries of
France. Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494 AD, launching the Italian Wars and a
long dynastic rivalry with the Habsburgs of Austria and Spain.
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Sixteenth-century France was blessed by two strong Kings, Francis I and Henry
II, and cursed by three weak ones, the sons of Henry II by Catherine De Medicis.
The Wars of Religion spoiled not only by the weak monarchs, but French
prosperity and solidarity also after 1560 AD. Catholics battled Calvinist
Huguenots, each faction aspiring to control the monarchy. Catherine de Medicis
steered a Machiavellian course to maintain her children's status.
However, she was barely outlived by her last son, Henry III, who was
assassinated in 1589 AD. This paved the way for the first Bourbon, Henry IV, the
leader of the Huguenots, to fight and compromise his road to the throne by 1598
AD. He satisfied Huguenots by the tolerant Edict of Nantes in 1598 AD and
mollified Catholics by his own conversion so as to enter the Paris he considered
"worth a Mass."
Bourbon Reconstruction
By tact, persuasion, and force, Henry IV reduced religious tensions, stimulated
commerce and manufacturing, and curbed the nobility. Cardinals Richelieu and
Mazarin who were the de facto rulers of France, under Henry's weak son Louis
XIII, vigorously pursued the last process.
It was Louis XIV, however, who truly tamed the aristocracy, at least until the end
(1715 AD) of his own absolutist reign. Already deprived by Richelieu of their
fortresses in the countryside, prohibited from dueling, and subjected to royal
edicts and administrators, the nobles were turned by Louis into powerless
courtiers, forced to attend him in the new Palace of Versailles.
The grandeur of Versailles, imitated by so many European monarchs, was not
merely architectural and social in value. It was also a focal point from which
emanated favors and patronage for artists, writers, and scientists.
In this period the bourgeoisie was the beneficiary of mercantilist policies
developed most notably by Jean Baptiste Colbert. The interests of the royal
treasury often coincided with subsidies for manufacturing and for expanded
internal, colonial, and foreign trade.
The middle class and the peasantry paid, however, by a heavy tax burden to
finance Louis HIV's wars and other enterprises.
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French influence abroad rose as the secular-minded Cardinal Richelieu engaged
Catholic Frenchmen as allies with Protestant Princes against the Holy Roman
Emperors, the German Catholic Princes, and Spain in the Thirty Years War,
after which France gained Alsace by the Peace of Westphalia (1648 AD). Louis
XIV further expanded French territory in Europe and overseas and placed his
grandson on the Spanish throne as Philip V. The Bourbons completed all the
wars, diplomacy, and marriage that Valois left undone.
HUGUENOT (METHODIST) HISTORY
Thanks to L'Histoire, mes bons Amis
The Rhône River has remained a premier center for trade and agriculture for
thousands of years. The river flows south from Lac Léman at Geneva,
Switzerland through a region once occupied by the Keltoi, the name given to
people in southern France with whom the ancient Greeks traded, in particular by
the writer Herodotus. The earliest archaeological evidence places Celtic tribes in
France and western Germany in the late Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. In the
early Iron Age, they are associated with the Hallstatt culture (8th century to 6th
century BC), named for an archaeological site in Austria. In the 5th century BC
(late Iron Age) the La Tène culture, characterized by finely crafted jewelry,
weapons, and pottery, spread from eastern Gaul (the English word for the Latin
name Gallia) throughout the rest of the Celtic world. Between the 5th and 1st
centuries BC, this influence extended from Hispania to the shores of the Black
Sea.
Celtic Gaul
The Gaulois subjugated northern Italy, for a time occupied Rome, and seized
land even as distant as Turkey (Galatia or Gallogræcia). The Gaulois included
Celtic tribes like the Helvetii, the Sequani, and the Aedui, along the Rhône and
Saône rivers; the Arverni among the mountains (Cévennes) to the west of the
Rhône; and, the Allobroges along the Isère River. Rome "conquered" all of
Gallia. Munatius Plancus, under Julius Caesar established the colonial city of
Lugdunum (meaning raven on a hill), what is today Lyon, at the confluence of
the Rhône and Saône Rivers, overlooking small existing Gaulois settlements.
While the Western Roman Empire flourished, the Gaulois enjoyed close
relations with the Romans. Their fortunes, both in war and peace, became
indivisible from those of Rome. Most ancient travelers to northern and western
Europe first had to pass, by foot, by animal, or by boat, through Lugdunum.
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More about Lyon
The Celtic language slipped into disuse as Roman influence grew over the next
few centuries. Only a few hundred words survive of the Gaulois. A Romance
version of Latin remained, best reflected in Provençal (as well as the Occitan or
Langue d'oc tongue and dialects), spoken in the southern third of France, and
used by about one-fourth of today's French population.
Grenoble, tucked away among the mountains where the Drac and Isère rivers
merge, has a somewhat similar beginning as Lyon, being first a tribal center
(Cularo). Later it became the Roman city, eventually called Gratianopolis,
"Grenoble" being a corruption of the Latin. The Emperor Gratian (for whom the
city was named) was murdered in Lyon by the mutinying commander of the
Roman armies of Britain (August 25, 383), before the Emperor could reach the
safety of the Alps. He was 23.
In some ways the history of the British Isles, which mirrors that of France, helps
to explain the event. The various local tribes, known collectively to the Romans
only as Britanni, probably began to adopt Celtic culture during the early Iron Age
phase (8th-6th century BC). Rome built colonial fortifications at places like
Londinium and Eboracum (York), after its successful invasion in 43 AD;
however, Rome's hold on these places remained always more tenuous than on
the Continent. From the resulting many rebellions came a few emperors, such as
Flvius Valerius Constantinus, whose nom de guerre is Constantine I, the Great.
Ultimately, however, in the 5th century AD, during the twilight of the Western
Roman Empire, even Gallia was overrun by successive incursions by Goths,
Franks, and Huns. Grenoble and areas south in Provence did not experience the
full brunt of these invasions, which allowed the Provençal culture to flourish.
The Franks, Another
The name of France derives from a Germanic tribe (and of earlier Nordic
origin?), the Salian Franks.
Their leader {C} hlodwig (ruled from 481 to 511) was the first notable ruler of the
Merovingian dynasty. This past year France celebrated the 1500th anniversary
of his baptism in 496, several years after his marriage to Burgundian Princess
and Saint, Clotilda (June 3). His name, Latinized, is Louis {the {C} h being
silent), while in English he is known as Clovis I.
He was the first of 18 individuals named Louis, who over the course of French
history held or were pretenders to the French Crown. {C} hlodwig first made
Paris the French capital.
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The kingdom declined in size and power, after his death, until the Carolingians,
the succeeding ruling family, again united the Franks, in order to push the Moors
back from an invasion of Europe (732 AD). Competing interests between heirs
gradually tore apart the Carolingian kingdom.
Disunity led, eventually, to a three-part division by the Treaty of Verdun (843),
creating a west Frankish kingdom in the western portion of modern France.
Within 100 years the Capetian family (also Frankish nobles) took control of this
portion. Lands east of the north-south line made by the Rhône/Saône/ Meuse
Rivers lay in another (the middle) kingdom. Thus, the area around Grenoble,
which was part of Provence during much of this interim time, survived as
nominally independent for another 600 years. Disunity in the western kingdom
also led to successful raids from wandering Norseman from Scandinavia (Viking
pirates). One group, the Normans settled in the lower Seine river valley along
the English Channel (Normandy) at the invitation of a local noble. The chiefs of
the Norman tribes, soon adopted what by now was a distinct French language,
accepted Christianity, swore allegiance (fealty) to the local Frankish ruler, and
became magnates (or French nobility) themselves.
In the time of the early rulers of the House of Capet, the king was only primus
inter pares or the first among equals, being of no more illustrious origins or
having no larger territorial holdings than his peers. The other noble peers were
his counts (comtes), his companions. The Dukes of Normandy, Brittany,
Burgundy, and Acquitaine, as well as, the Counts of Flanders, Champagne and
Vermandois thought themselves equal. Soon after the Peers of France were
twelve in number - six spiritual and six temporal. "Traditional peerage" dates
from the 14th century growing out of and arising out of the need to reward
"loyalty" during the wars of the period.
England (Angle-land) underwent a 5th century (AD) Germanic conquest by the
Angles, Saxons and other northern European cousins of the Franks.
Over time, the rule of many tribal leaders was consolidated under one English
King and his loyal Barons (the witenagemot). England and France remained
intertwined through intermarriage. As an example, Edward the Confessor, a son
of Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred, was recalled from Normandy, where he had lived
in exile with Norman Christian cousins. Not unexpectedly, Edward's reign
witnessed increasing Norman-French influence. Edward oversaw completion of
Westminster Abbey, which he finished just in time for his burial in January 1066.
Edward's death without an heir left the succession in doubt and in dispute.
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The witenagemot chose Harold, Earl of Wessex. The Earl had once been held
hostage by a Scandinavian cousin, also named Harold, and was released only
upon giving up any interest in the English throne. This relative, now called King
Harold III of Norway, wished to claim his prize. Another contender and cousin
was Duke William of Normandy.
Harold, then currently English King, Harold II, fought off an invasion by the
Scandinavian claimant, defeating him at Stamford Bridge on September 25,
1066. Notwithstanding this success, the course of world history radically
changed at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066; because, Duke William
(the Conqueror) established a beachhead in England without opposition, while
Harold busied himself elsewhere. When an exhausted Anglo-Saxon army was
able to turn its attention to the second set of invaders, it was too late. French
Barons, née Viking pirates, had established the new English royal family and
noble retinue. William was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.
Norman feudalism became the basis for redistributing the land among the
conquerors, giving England a Norman-French aristocracy. England turned away
from Scandinavian social and political structure towards France. After the
Norman invasion the "English" court spoke French; but conducted business in
the local language -- eventually a friendly and amicable compromise was
reached. Rabid extremists of the Anglo-Saxon persuasion can point out that the
English language overcame the Celtic and Roman influences, while Norman
French never fully subdued it.
Thus today, we swear (Germanic) and affirm (French); we raise swine
(Germanic), have pigs (Old English, perhaps Celtic, but the original etymology
remains obscure), and eat pork (French); a canine (Latin) pet can be dog (again
more Celtic), hound (Germanic), or dawg (Georgian).
There is of course a dispute about whether lawyers/attorneys use two words for
everything, because of the differences between Old English and Norman-
French, or because counselors of the legal kind once were paid by the 'word.'
Finally, consider the word "cat" of Germanic origin. Probably, the Germanic
tribes borrowed the word from the Romans, who brought really big cats into the
Circus at Lugdunum and elsewhere. The Latin language has another word for
cat, which we know today as feline. Just maybe this helps explain why,
depending on your perspective, English spelling is a "mess" (a French
derivative) or a "jumble" (a word whose origin is unknown).
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William, Duke of [French] Normandy, although himself a Capetian vassal, as an
English ruler exercised far more real power, over a far larger realm, than did his
King, Philip I (who reigned from 1060 to 1108 AD). The interests and goals of the
ruling families soon began to collide.
The common elements of the religious and political history of England and
France were not strong enough to overcome these difficulties. The Capetian and
Norman clans and their successors disputed claims and allegiances for the next
eight hundred and fifty years. Wars would be fought primarily because each
royal house had an arguably valid claim against the other's land. Often religion
was blamed for the dispute; but, the underlying cause remained political. It is
only at the end of these second thousand years of the Christian era that these
two countries have established a record of relatively consistent cooperation.
During the interim, their political (economic) conflicts, and those of other
European powers, were played out on the battlefields of the Old World, as well
as in the Americas. Before the Europeans and their troubles officially arrived in
the New World, however, the river system running through the center of the
United States, much like the Rhône and its tributaries, had affected tribal trade
and agriculture of the indigenous people for thousands of years. The Algonquian
people called this the father of waters; the Ojibwe called the water source mezzi
{misi} sippi -- the "big river."
After entering from the Northeast, the Mississippi and its watershed became a
key factor in the direct French influence in the New World. LaSalle visited the
lower Mississippi region in 1682. He claimed it for the French King, Louis XIV,
hence the name Louisiana. The first Europeans of the lower Mississippi, mostly
French and some Spanish settlers who had arrived much earlier, were known as
Creoles.
When Marquette, Jolliet and others explored this Nation's heartland, it was a part
of New France (France's North American colonial empire).
The French founded trading settlements in the northern Mississippi River Valley
with names such as St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. They tried, unsuccessfully, to
name the big river after Louis.
A name that survives today, "Illinois", reflects the French pronunciation for the
native nation in that part of the region. Cahokia was founded in 1699 by French
missionaries and named for a tribe of the Illinois people. The village, the oldest
permanent European settlement in Illinois, was also the site of the largest
prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico. Today it lies between East St.
Louis and Granite City and is known for racing and horseradish.
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Much later, towns like Dubuque, the first settlement in Iowa (1788) founded by a
French-Canadian looking for lead, were established.
Today's name for the Rock River (in Illinois) naturally flows from the anglicized
French name, Rive a la Roche.
The French also had a more northern colonial presence. The first settlement of
New France was established in what is today known as the Canadian Maritime
Provinces. The French founded Acadia before Jamestown and Plymouth in
1604, although a heavy influx did not begin until the 1620's. The British and
French both had claimed these northern lands. The English obtained permanent
possession of mainland Acadia by the Peace of Utrecht (1713 AD), which ended
the War of the Spanish Succession; also known as Queen Anne's War in the
Americas, the same war in which England obtained Gibraltar.
The Acadians, who had attempted to remain neutral in the Anglo-French
conflicts, suffered. In 1755 AD, because of renewed war with France (the Seven
Years' War) and doubts about the loyalty of the Acadians, the British colonial
authorities removed the Acadians from their lands, dispossessed them of their
property, and dispersed them among the other British holdings in the Americas.
Some of the Cajuns, as they are today known, fled to less populated areas of
southeastern Louisiana, away from the higher riverbanks, to places not already
occupied by the Creoles. Acadian descendants retain today, in large measure,
the language spoken upon exile. A list of names from this area in Louisiana
would show the French (Acadian or Creole) influence: Bourgeois, Broussard,
Guidry, Jeansonne, Lambert, Ordeneaux, Robichaux.
For economic, as well as political reasons, the French Crown ceded colonial
Louisiana to the Spanish, who had competing claims. It was returned secretly to
France on the eve of its sale by Napoleon to the United States.
The sale (commonly called the Louisiana Purchase) also put to rest claims that
had kept Georgia's border from extending westward to the sea.
By 1778 the French Crown officially had intervened against Britain in the
American Revolution, thereby hoping to weaken its colonial rival and to recover
its lost colonies. Participation in the war increased a politically dangerous and
burdensome French national debt; yet, without the Alliance of 1778 AD, there
would have been no United States, able to claim its Manifest Destiny, a destiny
that included and was made real by the Louisiana Purchase.
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We should also not fail to remember Napolean's help during the War of 1812
AD. Without the French alliance and its internal political consequences, the long
European War(s) it precipitated; the "success" of the Americans, which then
inspired the French Revolution; and the First Republic's bloody excesses, which
led to the Emperor Napoleon; France would have had no occasion to part with
her New World claims.
France also influenced events along the American East Coast, well before the
US Revolution. This was due in significant part because of Huguenot migration.
The Huguenots were a strong political force, as well as, a group of Protestant
worshippers. They were skilled artisans, intellectuals and army officers.
Protestantism had arrived in France in about 1520 AD and experienced
alternating periods of persecution and tolerance. During the years from 1562 AD
until nearly the end of the century, eight civil wars were waged, nominally for
religious reasons. The underlying cause however, was rivalry between
competing political interests for the French crown.
Eventually, the Protestants led by Henry of Navarre, who became Henry IV, King
and the first Bourbon ruler of France after the assassination of the last Valois
King in 1589 AD. Although the new King converted to Catholicism to ease the
transition, he granted full Protestant tolerance by the Edict of Nantes in 1598
AD. Never the less, the Huguenots' political influence threatened the security of
the absolutist monarchs who followed after Henry's death. On-off periods of
persecutions followed until the Huguenots lost full power, after the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV in 1685 AD, a few years after LaSalle
visited Louisiana. Protestant worship was forbidden; preachers were expelled
from the country; and houses of worship were destroyed.
Under the threat of heavy punishment, between 200,000 and 300,000
Huguenots fled France, joining others who had left much earlier. Many more
were killed.
The Huguenots after escaping France reached the New World by various routes,
through England, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Some Huguenots with
names such as Echols, Durrett, Ward, Paschall, Barrs, Pouder, Bell, etc, landed
in Virginia and North Carolina. In South Carolina names like Cordes, Balluet,
Fleury, Foisson, Tauvron, LaRoche, Horry, Trapier show their French origin.
They and their descendants became farmers, merchants, Anglican priests,
politicians and soldiers. Some fought the French Nation in the French-Indian
wars. Many fought the British Crown during the American Revolution.
106

The Huguenots' story mirrors that of countless German, Scottish and Irish
immigrants of the same time period who came to the Southern English Colonies,
in order to escape the politically instigated hardships.
The conflicts that affected the Acadians and Huguenots also left deep marks on
the English. The British rulers' excesses gave us the concept of the Bill of Rights
and furnished the impetus for English immigration. The Mayflower Compact, a
basic document in establishing America's form of government, clearly reflects
the signers' determination to avoid the destabilizing turmoil of the age.
The Reformation also made quite a personal impression on England's
monarchy. Unlike France, by the end of the 17th century England had become
generally a Protestant nation. In 1683 AD Princess Anne married Prince George
of Denmark. Although her father, James II, converted to Roman Catholicism in
1672 AD, Anne remained Protestant and acquiesced in James's overthrow by
the anti-Roman Catholic "Glorious Revolution of 1688 AD", which brought her
sister Mary and Mary's husband, William of Orange, to the throne. On William's
death in 1702 AD, Queen Anne restored to favor John Churchill, making him
Duke of Marlborough. As captain-general of the British army, Marlborough
(Winston Churchill's forebear), won a series of victories over the French in the
War of the Spanish Succession.
During Queen Anne's reign the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united
(1707), contributing to Scottish and later Scottish-Irish immigration. She died in
London on August 1, 1714, having no surviving children. A German cousin,
George, Elector of Hannover, followed Queen Anne, as King George I of Great
Britain, by the terms of the Act of Settlement, passed by Parliament in 1701 AD.
It secured the succession of the English crown to members of the House of
Hannover of the Protestant faith, unless Queen Anne, the last of the Protestant
Stuarts, provided a suitable heir. Anne's husband died in 1708 AD without issue.
Thus, this law had the effect of excluding Roman Catholics from the throne.
Thoroughly German in tastes and habits, George I never learned the English
language. The British Proprietary Colony (the town of Savannah founded in
1733 AD), named after this German-speaking father of thoroughly English King
George II, was established in part to hold the Spanish in check. John Wesley, as
recounted in his diary (1736 AD), began to perfect a method of evangelism by
holding Protestant services each Sunday in at least three languages with
English, German and French settlers at Savannah.
107

Peter Crothaire (derivation of de la Croix), a Huguenot of the Bordeaux region
(his parents were béarnais, from the region of Béarn near Navarre), changed his
last name to LaRoche (upon marriage?), during his service to the husband of
Queen Anne. Béarn was a small semi-independent province, immediately north
of the Pyrénées, about 45 miles long and 35 miles wide. Pau, its capital, lies at
the center. It formed a considerable portion of the Kingdom of Navarre. Today
Pau is included in the Department of Basses Pyrénées.
One of the Trustees of Georgia at its founding, John LaRoche, descended from
Peter Crothaire née LaRoche.
Another descendant, of a later generation, Isaac LaRoche, was born in
Savannah. He became a merchant-farmer in Richmond County, Georgia.
Records indicate that his father was a soldier in the American Revolution.
Isaac's wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of another "American" soldier from
London, who allegedly provisioned his fighting company out of his own pocket
after immigrating to the Augusta area.
She was also the granddaughter of Donald MacKay, who as a child first settled
at New Inverness (Darien Georgia USA) in about 1736 AD. Donald's Scottish
father was killed or captured at the battle of Moosa (1740 AD) when Donald was
only nine. Donald overcame this tragedy and later owned part of St. Simons
Island, including possession of Fort Fredricka, after the Spanish were no longer
a threat to English holdings in Georgia. The abandoned tabby (shell concrete)
buildings at Fredricka were recycled because of a lack of materials at the time,
leaving only the base outlines tourists see today. Thus visibly demonstrating,
how a small rock (petros) can sometimes become a firm foundation.
The assets of ChlorAlp lie in the Rhône River watershed near Hauterives on a
tributary called the Galaure and at le Pont-de-Claix on another tributary, the
Drac. The original owner is Rhodia Chemie, a subsidiary of Rhône-Poulenc
(RP). RP celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1995, a century rich in French
chemical industry history.
In June of 1895 chemists Prosper Monnet, Auguste Gilliard and Jean-Marie
Cartier founded Société Chemique des Usines du Rhône, [Rhône Factories
Chemical Company]. Monnet, Cartier, and Marc Gilliard (the father of Auguste)
had previously worked together near Geneva to develop and produce dyes. The
Saint-Fons site on the Rhône, south of Lyon, would be their first new factory to
make dyes from coal-tar chemistry.
108

Base chemicals such as phenol, salicylic acid and vanillin still are produced by
RP today. Part of the Company began in medicines and home remedies, a
drugstore business, which took on the sale chemical supplies for photography
after 1837. The two partners, Pierre Whittmann and his son-in-law Étienne
Poulenc, as well as Étienne's three sons, turned to research and manufacturing,
creating a business that would be known as Établissements Poulenc Frères. The
merger of these two companies in 1928, along with various additional
acquisitions, have established RP as a premier chemical and drug company.
In the 1920's the Company began to work with the Gillet family of Lyon to make
artificial silk. The Gillet family manufactured dyes and textiles. The processes for
making new fabrics and leather dyes led to the manufacture of new compounds
such as acetic acid, tin dichloride and sodium phosphate. The Pont-de-Claix
factory (usine) was originally established near Grenoble by the Société du
Chlore Liquide, which produced chemical weapons (phosgene-based) in
response to the German chemical attacks in the Great War.
The Gillet family acquired Usine du Pont-de-Claix in 1919 and changed its entire
chemical holdings to the name Progil in 1920. After the war Progil expanded into
petrochemical and agricultural fields. Phosgene (from the reaction of chlorine
gas and carbon monoxide over an activated carbon catalyst) still is used at the
site to produce chemicals like hexamethylene diisocyannate (HDI) and toluene
diisocyannate (TDI).
Progil joined RP in stages between 1969 and 1975 (nominally 1972 AD) when
French President Pompidou made RP the centerpiece in the reorganization of
the entire French chemical industry. Despite the reorganization, RP was
nationalized in 1982 under François Mitterrand. It began the process of
privatization again in 1986, which was completed in 1993.
Hauterives (Department (or province) of Drôme), a country village with about
1100 inhabitants rests at the foot of steep hills (high banks) in a peaceful river
valley. The town is most famous for le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval. It is a
stone, concrete and shell structure (et classée monument historic), defying
simple description, which took one man 33 years to build.
In 1965 an affiliate of what was then Progil, "Sopachimie et Compagnie Les
Salines du Sud Est", obtained salt from its first brine well. The salt strata in
which the Company has a permanent easement lies about one mile beneath the
valley floor.
109

Today, the Hauterives facility of ChlorAlp consists of several currently producing
wells and a salt brine collection area for redistribution a few kilometers from the
center of town. Raw brine is sent about 48 miles to the chlorine (electrolysis)
plant at le Pont-de-Claix, by below- ground pipe. At le Pont-de-Claix salt brine is
clarified for use. An underground propylene storage facility lies also within the
salt strata near Hauterives. This location is about halfway between a propylene
production facility at Feyzin, just south of Lyon (and Saint- Fons), and le Pontde-Claix
where the propylene is used. Raw salt brine stabilizes the underground
propylene storage area during its filling and draw down.
The Pont-de-Claix site is a large integrated factory sitting in a suburb a few miles
south of a larger city, Grenoble. It produces a host of chemicals in facilities
owned by RP and others. RP operates a powerhouse for process steam along
with electricity for the operation of several chlorine/caustic cell lines. The
powerhouse, in the final stages of an extensive upgrade, also furnishes power to
the French electric grid. The plant produces high quality salt, used by another
chlorine manufacturer (mercury cells) in the area.
Grenoble sponsored the Winter Games of 1968, and is close to other French
Olympic sites such as Albertville. The city of Grenoble is the capital of the
Department (or province) of Isère, a region north of and separate from Provence.
The term Franco-Provençal refers to a distinctive group of dialects still spoken
northeast of Provence, extending slightly into Switzerland and Italy, an area that
includes Isère. In a move to preserve regional heritage and culture, the French
government in 1993 instructed state schools to start teaching Provençal. The
bridge at Claix, le Pont-de-Claix, is upstream from Grenoble on the Drac river -
Drac a local term for dragon, originating from a Latin word borrowed from the
Greek term for a great serpent, drakõn; and, applied to the river because of the
fierceness and unpredictability of the mountain runoff that feeds it. The site is
just down river from (north of) le Pont Rouge. Steep mountains, the Alps,
surround the Isère valley in which Grenoble rests. Grenoble and the Isère region
share a reputation with Lyon as being centers of the Resistance during the last
world war.
The larger Provencal region, which encompassed historically Grenoble,
extended significantly north of its current speech area, and its standard written
style bridged many local dialects. The Provençal literature of the 11th to 15th
centuries is quite distinct and includes the noted poetry of the troubadours.
110

The standard (literary) language began to wane as France established dominion
over the south in the 14th century. It was not until the 19th century that the poet
Frédéric Mistral led the movement to reestablish a standard for literary
Provençal.
Le Dauphiné Libéré, with a circulation of about 400 thousand, is the region's
chief newspaper. Its name reflects the period in history when the area around
Grenoble, then independent of France, underwent forced political consolidation
instigated by the Capetian monarchy -- that is when the southern portion of the
middle Frankish kingdom was forcibly united with the kingdom of the west. The
first step in the political incorporation focused on the Cathari (or Albigenes), a
religious sect.
The close by monastery of the Carthusians, La Grande Chartreuse (founded in
the 11th century), today is known best for a type of liqueur, not "radical" political
theology. The incentive for a 13th century crusade against these "heretics" was,
as it always was, land. Provençal culture underwent extensive change after this
event, with northern French nobility being given new property for victory in the
south. In time, the Crown annexed the independent trading center of Lyon in
1307. After being removed from Provence, Grenoble became the capital of an
independent feudal province, Dauphiné, which later passed to Philip VI-the first
Valois monarch in 1349. Thereafter, the Crown Prince of France ruled
exclusively. He was the eldest son of the King, the Dauphin.
As I have said before, I find no evolutionary theme in the tangle of history's
roots. You must, however, do more than scratch the surface to obtain an
understanding. Good land, well watered, brings forth a harvest useful to those
for whose sake the soil was cultivated. It is not all by accident that we have
celebrated ten years together this past year, nor that the legacy of these new
sites may have a familiar ring. We are not really strangers to those who live and
work in France; just cousins who are meeting again for the first time.
111

THE WARS OF RELIGION
The religious wars began with overt hostilities in 1562 AD and lasted until the
Edict of Nantes in 1598 AD. It was warfare that devastated a generation,
although conducted in rather desultory, inconclusive way. Although religion was
certainly the basis for the conflict, it was much more than a confessional dispute.
"Une foi, un loi, un roi," (one faith, one law, one king). This traditional saying
gives some indication of how the state, society, and religion were all bound up
together in people's minds and experience. There was not the distinction that we
have now between public and private, between civic and personal. Religion had
formed the basis of the social consensus of Europe for a millennium.
Since Clovis, the French monarchy in particular had closely tied itself to the
church -- the church sanctified its right to rule in exchange for military and civil
protection. France was "the first daughter of the church" and its king "The Most
Christian King" (le roy tres chretien), and no one could imagine life any other
way.
"One faith" was viewed as essential to civil order -- how else would society hold
together? And without the right faith, pleasing to God who upholds the natural
order, there was sure to be disaster. Heresy was treason, and vice versa.
Religious toleration, which to us seems such a necessary virtue in public life,
was considered tantamount to letting drug dealers move next door and corrupt
your children, a view for the cynical and world-weary who had forgotten God and
no longer cared about the health of society.
112

Innovation caused trouble. The way things were is how they ought to be, and
new ideas would lead to anarchy and destruction. No one wanted to admit to
being an "innovator." The Renaissance thought of itself as rediscovering a purer,
earlier time and the Reformation needed to feel that it was not new, but just a
"return" to the simple, true religion of the beginnings of Christianity.
These fears of innovation certainly seemed justified when Henri II died suddenly
in 1559 AD, leaving an enormous power vacuum at the heart of social authority
in France. The monarchy had never been truly absolute (although François I st
made long strides in that direction), and had always ruled in an often uneasy
relationship with the nobility. The nobles' sense of their own rights as a class and
the ambitions of some of the more talented, were always there to threaten the
hegemony of the crown.
When the vacuum appeared, the House of Guise moved in. François II, although
only 15, was married to Mary Queen of Scots, a niece of the Duc de Guise. The
Guise was a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine (an independent imperial
duchy) that was raised to the peerage by François I st . They were ambitious and
had already produced at least two generations of exceptional leaders. The duc
de Guise, François, was a military hero, and his brother, the Cardinal de
Lorraine, was a formidable scholar and statesman. During François II's brief
reign, Guise power was absolute.
This greatly threatened the House of Montmorency, an ancient line that had
enjoyed great political prominence under Henri II, as well as the Bourbons, who
as the first princes of the blood had the rights of tutorship over a minor king.
François II was not technically a minor (14 was the age of majority), but he was
young and sickly and no one expected much from him.
These dynastic tensions interweave with the religious and social ones. The
Bourbon princes were Protestant (the Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre and
the Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé), and although the constable de
Montmorency was Catholic, his nephews, the Châtillon brothers (including
Admiral de Coligny) were Protestants.
The Guise identified themselves strongly as defenders of the Catholic faith and
formed an alliance with Montmorency and the Marechal St. André to form the
"Catholic triumvirate." Antoine de Bourbon joined them. Antoine de Bourbon had
flip-flopped again on the matter of his religion. His wife, Jeanne d'Albret, the
Queen of Navarre, remained staunchly Protestant and established Protestantism
completely in her domains.
113

Catherine de' Medici tried to promote peace by issuing the "Edict of Toleration"
in January '62, which made the practice of Protestantism not a crime, although it
was restricted to preaching in open fields outside the towns and to the private
estates of Huguenot (Protestant) nobles. This was not well received by many
Catholics.
The First War (1562-1563 AD)
The first religious war was provoked by the Massacre at Vassy in '62. The Duc
de Guise, traveling to his estates, stopped in Vassy on a Sunday and decided to
hear Mass. A few of his servants got into a scuffle with some Huguenots who
were attending a service in a nearby building, and the whole thing escalated until
the Guise faction had fired on the unarmed Huguenots, set the church on fire,
and killed a number of the congregation.
The national synod for the reformed church met in Paris and appealed to the
Prince de Condé to become the "Protector of the Churches." He, his clients, and
their respective client networks took on the task, and from this point the
leadership of the Huguenots moves away from the pastors towards the noble
"protectors", and takes on a more militant tone.
Condé mobilizes his forces quickly and moves decisively to capture strategic
towns along the waterways, highways, and crossroads of France. He takes a
string of towns along the Loire and makes his headquarters at Orléans. He also
contracts with Protestant leaders of Germany and England for troops and
money.
The royal forces are slower to respond, as the permanent garrisons are located
along the Habsburg frontiers. Catherine de' Medici was forced to turn to the
Guise faction to deal with this alarming development. The Guise in turn sought
help from the Pope and Phillip II of Spain.
The Protestants were well dug-in in their garrisons, and the siege efforts to
recapture the towns were long and costly. Only one open pitched battle was
fought: that at Dreux, which was a Catholic victory.
At that battle the Protestants captured Montmorency. The Catholics captured
Condé. The young Admiral de Coligny managed to safely withdraw most of the
Protestant forces to Orléans, which was then besieged during the winter of '62-
'63.
114

At Orléans an assassin killed the Duc de Guise. Antoine de Bourbon had been
previously killed at the siege of Rouen, and this last casualty pretty much
eliminated the first generation of Catholic leadership. With the Huguenot
heartland in the south virtually untouched and the royal treasury hemorrhaging,
the crown's position was weak and Catherine bent her efforts towards a
settlement. The noble prisoners were exchanged, and the edict of Amboise
issued in March '63. This restricted Protestant freedoms somewhat, allowing
worship outside the walls of only one town per bailliage, although the nobility still
had the freedom to do as they would on their estates. This increased the
resentment and tension in the towns and was generally unsatisfying to most.
The Second War (1567-1568 AD)
Even though the Duc de Guise had died, the Guise faction remained powerful
and the Cardinal de Lorraine consolidated his power even more. He argued for
more vigorous suppression of the Huguenots in response to Protestant
insurrection in the neighboring Low Countries, where outbreaks of iconoclasm
were met with fierce repression by Spain. Catherine began a two-year tour of the
provinces with her son Charles IX, as part of an effort to establish a sense of
unity with the nobility.
During this time, she passed through Bayonne and met with the Duke of Alva,
the King of Spain's "hard man" in the subjugation of the Netherlands.
This spread a ripple of alarm through the Protestant community. When the
Spanish marched troops along the "Spanish Road" from Italy to Flanders, their
presence on the eastern borders of the kingdom added to the panic. The rumor
that Catherine was plotting with Spain to exterminate them caused the
Huguenots to attempt a coup at Meaux, to seize the person of the king and get
him away from the Guises. This plan failed, and provoked the second war. This
was much a repeat of the first. At the end of it, Montmorency was dead, the
crown was more in debt, and the Peace of Longjumeau was a pretty much the
same as the Peace of Amboise.
The Third War (1568-1570 AD)
It was destined to be short-lived. The Cardinal de Lorraine hatched a plot to
overturn the peace and capture Condé and Coligny. They escaped to La
Rochelle and raised another army to begin the third war.
Condé and Coligny made an alliance with William of Orange in the Netherlands,
who was fighting for the independence of the United Provinces from Spain. The
Guise became ever more closely involved with Spain. The Cardinal de Guise
also saw in Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, a tool for unseating Elizabeth and
putting a Catholic monarch on that throne as well. (As long as Elizabeth was
childless, Mary was next heir to England.)
115

The third war therefore involved a even larger number of foreign interests, and
lasted from '68 to '70.
The Protestant strategy this time was to fortify the Southwest and stand off the
crown. This was reasonably successful for a fairly long time. However, at
Jarnac, under the nominal leadership of the king's younger brother, Henri
d'Anjou, the Protestants suffered a great defeat and the Prince de Condé was
killed. Coligny met the Catholics at Moncoutour and suffered another defeat.
However, he collected his forces and made a brilliant "long march" across the
south of France, defeating the royal army on at least one occasion and depriving
the crown of their chance to break the Protestant hold on the South.
The cost of keeping the army in the field was telling on the crown again, and yet
another peace was negotiated at St. Germain. This peace was more favorable to
the Protestants than the previous, naming specific towns as secure strongholds,
returning confiscated property to Huguenots, and guaranteeing some equality
before the law.
This third war was more protracted, and brought the war to the rural areas in
central and southern France, spreading the suffering to the population and
raising the cultural tensions between Catholics and Protestants.
The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572 AD)
After the peace of St. Germain, Catherine exerted a great deal of diplomatic
effort trying to create harmony between Catholic and Protestant leaders. Admiral
de Coligny, now the chief military leader of the Huguenots, was welcomed into
the king's council, Elizabeth of England entertained the prospects of marriage to
one of King Charles' younger brothers, and Catherine negotiated with Jeanne
d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, to marry her daughter Margeurite (Margot) to Henri
de Navarre, the ranking Huguenot prince of the blood. However, the common
people felt no such harmony, and tensions grew in the towns and countryside.
Protestant rhetoric had become increasingly revolutionary in the late 1560's, with
leading thinkers advocating that Christians did not have the obligation to obey
leaders who themselves defied God.
Calvin himself came to the conclusion, after advocating for many years that
obedience to the civil authorities was a Christian duty that a prince that
persecuted the church had forfeited his right to be obeyed. François Hotman's
Francogallia was written during this time (although not published until 1573AD).
It advocated the existence of a mythical Frankish constitution whereby the kings
of France were elected by the people and governed only through their consent.
116

This was all very frightening and served to unite the Protestant faith with treason
in the mind of the average person.
Along with these more abstract issues, tension between Catholics and
Protestants had some more mundane economic and social elements.
Protestants were often represented in the newer and more lucrative trades, such
as printing, out of proportion to their numbers in the general population.
The Protestant emphasis on literacy as the basis for understanding The Bible
made for a generally better educated group. Protestantism was more an urban
than a rural phenomenon (except in the Southwest), one well suited to capitalists
and merchants.
For example, the 100 or so Catholic feast days that they didn't celebrate made
for more days to do business. This wasn't viewed as being much of an
advantage by the peasants, but was viewed as an unfair advantage by other
Catholic townsmen.
The years of persecution had created a cell-like structure of congregations,
consistories, and synods where people in the group stuck together and helped
each other, both in matters of religion and everyday business. Like that other
minority in Europe, the Jews, this engendered a feeling of suspicion about their
"secret" organization.
The participation of women in the church service, with men and women singing
together and studying the Bible, was viewed with a range of emotions: from a
sign that society was collapsing when cobblers and women could debate the
meaning of the Bible (even the Protestants were sometimes alarmed at the
effect of their doctrine about "the priesthood of all believers"), to a conviction that
Protestant worship must involve some kind of orgiastic rituals.
Prices had also risen very sharply between the beginning of the century and the
1560's, especially the prices of food, fuel, and shelter. This might seem
irrelevant to matters of religion, but the sense of stress about making ends meet,
increasing homelessness and poverty in the towns, a sense of anxiety about the
future, and all the other things that go with this kind of economic pressure make
for a fearful and hostile society looking for scapegoats.
Many Catholics felt that the toleration of heresy in their midst was like a disease
in the body of Christ that threatened the very contract between God and his
people. There was an increasing rhetoric among the popular preachers to purge
this infection to restore God's favor and with it, social stability.
117

All of this tension is important background to the watershed event of the wars:
the evening of August 23, 1572 AD -- the feast of St. Bartholomew. The 19 yearold
Henri de Navarre and Margot de Valois were married in Paris on August 17
and the festivities were still going on. The entire Huguenot leadership came to
Paris for this wedding. Henri himself brought 800 mounted noblemen in his train.
On August 22, as Admiral de Coligny was returning to his lodgings from a visit
with the king, an assassin fired at him, breaking his arm and wounding him
severely, but not killing him outright.
The Huguenots were outraged and demanded justice from the king. Everyone
suspected the Guises of the attack. When various Huguenot leaders counseled
Coligy to flee the city -- certainly at this time they could have easily made it to the
safety of a Protestant stronghold -- he reputedly refused, feeling that it would
show a lack of trust in the king. However, the Huguenots were threatening riot in
the streets if something wasn't done, and it was a very hot summer.
At some point during the night of August 23, the decision was taken at the
Louvre to kill Coligny and the Huguenot leaders gathered around him. Charles
IX was certainly there, Catherine de' Medici, Henri d'Anjou. It may not have been
originally intended to be a general massacre. Catherine reputedly badgered
Charles IX and his councilors into this decision and when he finally broke he is
alleged to have said, "Well, then kill them all that no man be left to reproach me."
During the early hours of Sunday morning, a troop of soldiers came to Coligny's
door. They killed the guard that opened the door, and rushed through the house.
Coligny was dragged from his bed, stabbed, and thrown out the window to the
pavement below. Reputedly the Duc de Guise mocked the body, kicking him in
the face and announcing that this was the king's will.
Rumors ran thick and fast, and somehow the militia and the general population
went on a rampage, believing themselves to be fully sanctioned by the king and
the church. Catholics identified themselves with white crosses on their hats, and
went around butchering their neighbors.
The neighborhood militias played a very significant role in the slaughter. The
killing went on for 3 days or so, with the city councilors and the king unable to
bring the whole thing under control. There are numerous tales of atrocities,
occasional ones of courage and compassion. Historians have debated what
really happened and why in excruciating detail ever since.
118

The Louvre itself was not immune. Henri de Navarre slept in his bridal suite with
an entourage of 40 Huguenot gentlemen, all of whom were killed. Henri and his
cousin, the Prince de Condé (another Henri, the son of the late Louis who had
been the champion of the churches), were dragged before the king and
threatened with death if they did not convert. They did, and Navarre became a
prisoner of the court for the next four years, living in constant fear of his life.
The massacres spread to the provinces over the next few months. Some thought
they had directives from the crown to kill all the Protestants, others thought there
was no such thing. The actions of the governors and mayors depended very
much on the individuals and the circumstances in their areas. Areas with vocal
Protestant minorities often suffered the most.
The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, as it came to be known, destroyed an
entire generation of Huguenot leadership. Henri de Navarre was a prisoner, not
yet a known quality as a leader. Condé eventually escaped to Germany, and
Andelot, Coligny's younger brother, was an exile in Switzerland. Although it
wasn't clear at the time, this was the beginning of the decline of the Protestant
church in France. In spite of the wars, the '60s had seen an enthusiastic growth
in the Religion. Over the months following, many Protestants despaired and
abjured their faith. The experience radicalized many of the survivors, creating a
profound distrust of the king, an unwillingness to disarm, and an upsurge in the
political rhetoric of resistance. Works with titles like The Defense of Liberty
against Tyrants were to come off the Huguenot presses.
The Huguenot "state within a state" became solidified, as the churches
organized themselves into an efficient hierarchy for communications and selfprotection.
They collected their own tithes, maintained their own armies and
garrisons, and provided for the governance and social welfare of the Protestant
communities.
The Fourth War (1572-1573 AD)
The fourth war was set off when the city of La Rochelle, the de facto capital of
the Protestants, refused to pay taxes to the king because of the massacre and
refused admittance to the royal governor. The king declared war on the town in
November '72 and finally got an army to besiege it in February.
The army was nominally led by Henri d'Anjou, and included Henri de Navarre as
a hostage. Being a port city that was easily re-supplied by sea, with a nearimpregnable
harbor, La Rochelle was not easily reduced. There were high
casualties on both sides, and the royal treasury began to feel the strain.
119

The siege was called off in May, as Catherine began to prepare for the election
of the Duc d'Anjou to the throne of Poland. The Treaty of La Rochelle was
disadvantageous to the Protestants, and left them certain to break it when they
were strong enough.
The Fifth War (1576 AD)
In 1574 AD, Charles IX died, sweating blood and reputedly tormented with guilt
for the massacre. His brother, Henri, now installed as king of Poland, lost no
time giving the slip to his Polish courtiers and heading for the border. He took a
leisurely tour of Italy and then arrived in France to take up the crown. The people
remembered him as the "young eagle" of Jarnac and Moncontour, and were
looking to him to take a strong hand and settle things down in the kingdom. This
was not to be. Henri III's reign was tormented by the impossibility of peace.
Meanwhile, Condé was raising money, troops, and support from the German
princes, particularly Jan Casimir, the son of Frederick III of the Palatine. Henri de
Montmonrency, the Sieur de Damville, Governor of Languedoc, who ruled his
region as like an "uncrowned king of the south," brought another substantial
army to the Protestant side. Although he himself was Catholic, the Languedoc
was a heavily Protestant region and he was related to the Coligny brothers. In
February '76 Navarre escaped from the court and headed into his own territory,
raising an army behind him. The king's younger brother, the Duc d'Alençon, the
last of the Valois sons, began to play to the anti-royalist factions.
His propagandists put out manifestos portraying him as alternative ruler to the
current king, one able to speak up for the rights of the people and rule more
justly -- cutting taxes all the while, of course.
This was a potent alliance, one for which Catherine had no good counter at the
time. When 20,000 troops invaded France under Jan Casimir in the spring of '76
and these various armies collected themselves together in the heart of France
within striking distance of Paris, the crown was forced to negotiate.
The Edict of Beaulieu, otherwise known as the Peace of Monsieur ("Monsieur"
being the traditional title for the reigning king's next-oldest brother) was signed in
May and was very favorable to the Protestants.
In separate private agreements, the leaders got substantial settlements: Navarre
was confirmed as Governor of Guyenne, Condé was made Governor of Picardy,
Alençon was made Duc d'Anjou and given a raft of titles, and the crown agreed
to pay the bills for Jan Casimir's mercenaries. It left Henri III smarting.
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The Parliament of Paris refused to register it, and some of the towns ceded to
the Protestants refused to admit their troops. Picardy, for example, refused to
admit Condé to his capital.
The Sixth War (1577 AD)
In the spring of 1576 AD convocation of the Estates General was held. The
Protestants had been pushing for this for some time, but when it came, there
were almost no Protestant delegates. The Estates advocated establishing one
religion in the realm, and Henri III demanded new taxes and revenues in order to
finance such a project. The Estates somehow wanted this to be done without
spending any money. The cost of the wars was driving up the national debt
beyond the level of endurance, and it made staunch absolutists like Jean Bodin
(whose Six Books of the Commonwealth was published in 1576 AD) question
the value of enforcing the royal prerogatives at such costs.
This year saw the formation of the first attempt at a Catholic League to oppose
the Protestants if the king would not. To co-opt this threat to his authority, Henri
III declared himself the head of it. However, somehow a royal force was put
together to take back some of the Protestant towns along the Loire. La Charité
fell in May of 1577 AD, but the bulk of the Protestant forces were at large in the
South and there was no hope of a victory over them.
The Peace of Bergerac was signed in July. It was more restrictive in allowing
places of worship to the Protestants than the previous peace, but was still largely
the same. It disallowed any leagues and associations, trying to fend off the
growing movement from the Catholic right wing.
The Seventh War (1580 AD)
This was a brief flurry of activity, the most notable of which was Henri de
Navarre's seizure of the city of Cahors. Sometimes called "The Lovers War", it
seems to have been some kind of maneuvering between Navarre and the crown
in which Queen Margot was involved.
It didn't last long, and Navarre and Catherine de Medici signed the Treaty of
Nerac, followed by the Peace of Fleix. Henri consolidated his control of the
Southwest and bided his time.
The Duc d'Anjou spent these years (1580-1584 AD) intriguing and trying to
acquire the sovereignty of the Netherlands, who were seeking a prince to
replace Phillip II, the king of Spain against whom they were in rebellion.
Although not a Protestant himself, or even truly sympathetic to them, this
seemed his best opportunity for a place in the world until his older brother died.
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When Anjou died in 1584, it precipitated a new crisis. King Henri III was childless
and looked to remain so. With the death of Anjou the heir presumptive became a
Protestant: Henri de Navarre.
Map of Iberian Peninsular
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HISTORY OF NORMANDY
Normandy is a province of ancient France, situated between Brittany and
Picardie. Today it is located between the High-Normandy to the east and Low-
Normandy to the west.
The region is situated around the valley of Seine, a very ancient commercial
axis, populated by many Gallic tribes. In 56 AD and before Jesus Christ, the
victory of Cesar allowed their incorporation into the province of Lyon. After the
fall of the Roman Empire, Normandy belonged to the Kingdom of Syagrius, and
then to Neustrie.
Very early Christianized (3rd century), Normandy gave birth to many abbeys and
monasteries during the old Middle Ages, like Jumieges and the Mont Saint
Michel.
Mont Saint-Michel.
The province received its historical identity during the invasions of the Normans
(Danish, Norwegians), who gave it their name. In 911 AD, by the treaty of Saint-
Clair sur Epte, the King of France Charles the Simple, to avoid disturbances,
decided to give them the country in exchange for accepting leadership of the
French King.
He negotiated with their Chief Rollon, who had to be baptized, on the region of
Rouen, Normandy then constituting in Dukedom. The Dukedom spread to the
west, and its Scandinavian population gradually integrated with the rest of the
World.
The Duke Richard 1 st pushed the accession of Capetiens to the throne of France
(987 AD). In the 10 th and 11 th centuries, the Dukes led a centralization and
conquest policy (momentary sovereignty on Brittany and in 1031 AD, on the
French Vexin), by leaning on the economic prosperity of the region and on the
Church, reformed by Cluny.
After their settlement in the Dukedom, the Normans came back for new
expeditions and adventures, to realize new conquests, such as their expedition
against Moorish in Spain, to Jerusalem during Catholics crusades, founded the
Two-Sicilies kingdom in the beginning of the 12 th century.
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The most important event was the conquest of England by William, sixth Duke of
Normandy, successor of Rollon. He became King of England by winning the
battle of Hastings, in 1066 AD. Even if he was the English King, he was still
depending on the French royalty of the Dukedom of Normandy. The tapestry of
the queen Mathilde, today preserved in Bayeux, illustrated William's victory of
1066 AD at Hastings.
Bayeux Tapestry
Capetiens worried about the boom of this powerful principality which its Chief
was both King of England and Vassal of the King of France. From 1087 AD, to
the death of William, they favored divisions between its descendants. On the
favor of these struggles, the Dukedom passed in 1144 AD to the Count of Anjou
Geoffroi 5 th Plantagenet. His son Henri married Alienor d Aquitaine when the
King Louis 7 th had repudiated it, and become King of England under the name of
Henry 2 nd .
He reorganized finances of England's immense empire Angevin. The King of
France Philippe Auguste, aware of the danger that represented the power of its
Vassal combative son of Henry 2 nd , Duke Richard Coeur de Lion and Jean Sans
Terre, confiscated all continental fiefs between 1202 AD and 1204 AD. In 1259
AD King Henry 3 rd renounced officially to Normandy by the Treaty of Paris.
Henceforth left integral of the royal area, Normandy saw fit to confirm its
institutional privileges (Charter of Normans, 1315 AD).
During the War of One Hundred Years, the English had not invaded the
province, since the landing of Henry 5 th (1415 AD) until the victory of the French
King in Formigny (1450 AD). The province gradually lost its privileges. In 1515
AD, the chessboard of Rouen became the Parliament of Normandy, in 1542 AD;
majorities of Caen and Rouen were created and in 1655 AD States of Normandy
existed for the last time.
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Marked by the Protestantism, after revolting against the Royal Tax (Insurrection
of 1639 AD) and against the revolutionary state (federalist movement in 1793
AD), Normandy remained one of the richest provinces of France thanks to its
strong maritime trade. Ports of Le Havre, and Rouen were textile industry ports.
During the 19 th century, the Norman rural would give birth to famous known
writers such as Gustave Flubert and Guy de Maupassant.
125

126

THE 1066 AD INVASION OF ENGLAND
This is the period in which the Barre or Barres of Europe is believed to have
migrated to 'Briton,’ today England. With his victory at the Battle of Hastings,
William became known as William "the Conqueror." Prior to this, he was known
as William "the Bastard" because he was the result of his father's affair with a
tanner's daughter.
Before the Battle of Hastings, William vowed that if granted victory, he would
build an Abbey on the battleground with its altar at the spot where Harold's
standards stood. William was true to his word and Battle Abbey stands today at
the site of the battle.
Edward of England contributed to the English loss at the Battle of Hastings by
becoming lax in his responsibilities. He had withdrawn from many of his "Kingly"
responsibilities. And, he had not clearly identified his successor.
Edward was made “Duke of Normandy” at age seven. His ascension ignited a
civil war lasting 12 years. King Edward of England (called "The Confessor"
because of his construction of Westminster Abbey) died on January 5, 1066 AD,
after a reign of 23 years. Leaving no heirs,
Edward's passing ignited a three-way rivalry for
The Crown that culminated in the Battle of
Hastings and the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon
rule of England. The leading pretender was
Harold Godwinson the second most powerful
man in England and an advisor to Edward. Harold
and Edward became brothers-in-law when the
King married Harold's sister. Harold's powerful
position, his relationship to Edward and his
esteem among his peers made him a logical
successor to the throne. His claim was
strengthened when the dying Edward supposedly
uttered "Into Harold's hands I commit my Kingdom."
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With this Kingly endorsement, the Witan (the council of royal advisors)
unanimously selected Harold as King. His coronation took place the same day
as Edward's burial. With the placing of the crown on his head, Harold's troubles
had just begun.
Across the English Channel in Europe, William, Duke of Normandy, also laid
claim to the English throne. William justified his claim through his blood
relationship with Edward (they were distant cousins) and by stating that some
years earlier, Edward had designated him as his successor. To compound the
issue, William asserted that none other than Harold himself had carried the
message to him in 1064 AD in which Edward anointed him, the next King of
England. In addition, (according to William) Harold had sworn on the relics of a
martyred Saint that he would support William's right to the throne.
From William's perspective, when Harold donned the Crown he not only defied
the wishes of Edward but had violated a sacred oath. He immediately prepared
to invade England and destroy the upstart Harold. Harold's violation of his
sacred oath enabled William to secure the support of the Pope who promptly
excommunicated Harold, consigning him and his supporters to an eternity in
Hell.
The third rival for the throne was Harald Hardrada, King of Norway.
His justification was even more tenuous than William's.
Hardrada ruled Norway jointly with his nephew Mangus
until 1047 AD when Mangus conveniently died. Earlier
(1042 AD), Mangus had cut a deal with Harthacut the
Danish ruler of England. Since neither ruler had a male
heir, both promised their kingdom to the other in the event
of his death. Harthacut died but Mangus was unable to
follow up on his claim to the English throne because he
was too busy battling for the rule of Denmark.
Thereafter, Edward became the Anglo-Saxon ruler of
England. Now with Mangus and Edward dead, Hardrada
asserted that he, as Mangus's heir, was the rightful ruler of
England. When he heard of Harold's coronation, Hardrada immediately prepared
to invade England and crush the upstart.
Hardrada of Norway struck first. In mid September, Hardrada's invasion force
landed on the Northern English coast, sacked a few coastal villages and headed
towards the city of York. Tostig, King Harold's brother, joined Hardrada in his
effort.
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The Viking army overwhelmed an English force blocking the York road and
captured the city. In London, news of the invasion sent King Harold hurriedly
north at the head of his army. He picked up reinforcements along the way.
The speed of Harold's forced march allowed him to surprise Hardrada's army on
September 25, as it camped at Stamford Bridge outside York. A fierce battle
followed. Hand to hand combat ebbed and flowed across the bridge. Finally the
Norsemen's line broke and the real slaughter began. Hardrada fell first and then
the King's brother, Tostig. What remained of the Viking army fled to their ships.
So devastating was the Viking defeat that only 24 of the invasion force's original
240 ships made the trip back home. Resting after his victory, Harold received
word of William's landing near Hastings.
Construction of the Norman invasion fleet had been completed in July. All was
ready for the Channel crossing. Unfortunately, William's ships could not
penetrate an uncooperative north wind and for six weeks he languished on the
Norman shore.
Finally, on September 27, after parading the relics of St. Valery at the water's
edge, the winds shifted to the south and the fleet was able to set sail. The
Normans made landfall on the English coast near Pevensey and marched
toward Hastings.
Harold rushed his army south and planted his battle standards atop a knoll some
five miles from Hastings. During the early morning of the next day, October 14,
Harold's army watched as a long column of Norman warriors marched to the
base of the hill and formed a battle line. Separated by a few hundred yards, the
lines of the two armies traded taunts and insults. At a signal, the Norman archers
took their position at the front of the line. The English at the top of the hill
responded by raising their shields above their heads forming a shield-wall to
protect them from the rain of arrows.
The battle was joined. Cavalry repeatedly charged Harold's shield-wall. As the
combat slogged on for the better part of the day, the battle's outcome was in
question. Finally as evening approached, the English line gave way and the
Normans rushed their enemy with a vengeance.
King Harold fell dead as did the majority of the Saxon aristocracy. William's
victory was complete. On Christmas day 1066 AD, William was crowned King of
England in Westminster Abbey.
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The Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry (actually an embroidery measuring over 230 feet long and
20 inches wide) describes the Norman invasion of England and the events that
led up to it. It is believed that Bishop Odo of Bayeux and the half-brother of
William the Conqueror commissioned the Tapestry.
The Tapestry contains hundreds of images divided into scenes each describing
a particular event. The scenes are joined into a linear sequence allowing the
viewer to "read" the entire story of the battle starting with the first scene and
progressing to the last. The Tapestry would probably have been displayed in a
church for public view.
The victor writes history! The Tapestry is above all a Norman document. In a
time when the vast majority of the population was illiterate, the Tapestry's
images were designed to tell the story of the
conquest of England from the Norman
perspective. It focuses on the story of William,
making no mention of Hardrada of Norway or of
Harold's victory at Stamford Bridge. The
following are some excerpts taken from this
extraordinary document.
King Edward sends Harold on a Mission
The Tapestry's story begins in 1064 AD. King
Edward, who had no heirs, had decided that
William of Normandy would succeed him.
Having made his decision; Edward calls upon
Harold to deliver the message.
This is the Norman interpretation of events for King Edward's selection of
William. It is critical to the legitimacy of William's later claim to the English crown.
It is also important that Harold delivered the message, because the tapestry
explains that event in later scenes.
In the scene on the previous page King Edward leans forward entrusting Harold
with his message. Harold immediately sets out on his fateful journey.
Harold Swears an Oath to William
Pursuing his mission, the Tapestry describes how Harold crossed the English
Channel to Normandy, is held hostage by a Norman Count and is finally rescued
by William.
130

Harold ends up in William's castle at Bayeux on the Norman coast where he
supposedly delivers the message from King Edward. At this point the Tapestry
describes a critical event.
Having received the message that Edward has anointed him as his successor;
William calls upon Harold to swear an oath of allegiance to him and to his right to
the throne. The Tapestry shows Harold, both hands placed upon religious relics
enclosed in two shrines, swearing his oath as William looks on. The onlookers,
including William, point to the event to add further emphasis. One observer (far
right) places his hand over his heart to underscore the sacredness of Harold's
action. Although William is seated, he appears larger in size than Harold. The
disproportion emphasizes Harold's inferior status to William. The Latin inscription
reads "Where Harold took an oath to Duke William."
The Death and Burial of Edward the Confessor
The Tapestry describes Harold's return to England after swearing his oath to
William and his report to King Edward. The story then advances forward two
years to 1066 AD and the death of King Edward.
The death and burial of King Edward is presented in three scenes whose
chronological order is reversed. The first image depicts Westminster Abbey. This
is followed by Edward's funeral procession and then his death.
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The Death of Edward
In this scene, Edward is presented as both alive and dead. In the top portion of
the panel Edward converses with those gathered at his bedside. The Latin
inscription says, "Here King Edward addresses his faithful ones." At the foot of
his bed sits Edward's wife who is also Harold's sister.
At the side of the bed stands Stigand, the
Archbishop of Canterbury who performs a
religious ceremony. The dying King addresses
Harold who is kneeling in front of him. It is
here that Edward supposedly anointed Harold
as his successor and gives legitimacy to
Harold's claim to the crown.
In the lower panel of the tapestry, Edward is
prepared for burial. The bishop performs last
rites while the embalmers go about their work.
The Latin inscription reads "And here he
died!"
The Procession
Edwards' body, wrapped in linen, is carried to the church for burial. The Latin
inscription says, "Here the body of King Edward is carried to the Church of St.
Peter the Apostle." Edward's burial took place on January 6, 1066 AD.
In its entry for the year 1066 AD, the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle describes Edward's death as follows: "In this
year was consecrated the Minster at Westminster, on
Childer-mass-day. And King Edward died on the eve of
Twelfth-day; and he was buried on Twelfth-day within
the newly consecrated church at Westminster.
And Harold the earl succeeded to the kingdom of
England, even as the king had granted it to him, and
men also had chosen him thereto; and he was crowned
as king on Twelfth-day."
Westminster Abbey
Edward's funeral procession completed its journey at Westminster Abbey. King
Edward began work on the Abbey in 1050 AD and construction was completed
shortly before his death.
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The pious Edward was awarded the distinction "the Confessor" for his effort.
Unfortunately, the King fell ill on Christmas Eve and was unable to attend the
Abbey's consecration.
The Tapestry conveys the newness of the Abbey by the workman affixing the
weather vane atop the roof to the left. A hand appearing from the clouds above
represents God's blessing upon the consecrated structure.
A Bad Omen: the Appearance of Halley's comet
Harold is crowned King on January 6. In the spring, near Easter, a comet
appears in the sky. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the event as follows.
"Easter was then on the sixteenth day before the calendar of May.
Then was over all England such a token seen as no man ever saw before. Some
men said that it was the comet-star, which others denominate the longhaired
star. It appeared first on the eve called 'Litania major', that is, on the eighth
before the calends of May; and so shone all the week."
We now know that the comet-star in the sky
was Halley's comet making one of its 76-year
cyclical appearances. In the Tapestry, an
attendant rushes to tell Harold of the celestial
happening as he sits upon his throne. The
comet appears at the upper left. The portrayal
acquires a sense of foreboding as empty long
boats appear below the scene.
These no doubt represent the invasion fleet
William will employ to cross the English
Channel from France. The Tapestry implies
that the appearance of the comet expresses
God's wrath at Harold for breaking his oath to William and assuming the throne.
Retribution is to be found in the invasion fleet.
William Launches His Invasion
Hearing the news of Harold's coronation,
William immediately orders the building of an
invasion fleet. The Tapestry describes the
construction of the fleet and preparations for the
invasion and provides insight into 11th century
building techniques.
133

With preparations complete, William waits on the Normandy shore for a
favorable wind to take him to England.
The favorable wind arrives on September 27. The fleet sets sail. Its ships are
loaded with knights, archers, infantry, horses and the lumber necessary to build
two or three forts. This scene shows William's ship as the fleet approaches
Pevensy on the English coast.
A cross adorns the top of the ship's mast. Below the cross, a lantern guides the
way for the rest of the fleet. Shields line the ship's gunwales, reminiscent of the
practice of the Norman's Viking ancestors. A dragon's head sits on the ship's
prow and a bugler blows his horn at the ship's stern. A ship laden with horses
sails along side William's craft. The fleet lands on September 28 and the
invasion army makes its way to Hastings.
The Battle
This is one of many scenes depicting the
ferocity of the battle. Wielding his battle-axe, a
Saxon deals a deathblow to the horse of a
Norman. This was the first time the Normans
had encountered an enemy armed with the
battle-axe. For the Saxons, this was the first
time they had battled an enemy mounted on
horseback. This scene probably describes the
later stages of the battle when the Norman
knights had broken through the Saxon's shield
wall.
At the bottom of the scene lay the dead bodies of both Normans and Saxons.
The Death of Harold
King Harold tries to pull an arrow from his right eye.
Several arrows are lodged in his shield showing he was
in the thick of the battle. To the right, a Norman knight
cuts down the wounded King assuring his death. At the
bottom of the scene the victorious Normans claim the
spoils of war as they strip the chain mail from bodies
while collecting shields and swords from the dead.
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Scholars debate the meaning of this scene, some saying that the man slain by
the Knight is not Harold. Others contend that the man with the arrow wound is
not Harold. Others claim that both represent Harold. The Latin inscription says,
"Here King Harold was killed." The Tapestry ends its story after the death of
Harold.
William ruled England until his death in 1087 AD
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recalls the Norman King in its entry for that year:
"But amongst other things is not to be forgotten that good peace that he made in
this land; so that a man of any account might go over his kingdom unhurt with
his bosom full of gold. No man durst slay another, had he never so much evil
done to the other; and if any churl lay with a woman against her will, he soon lost
the limb that he played with. He truly reigned over England; and by his capacity
so thoroughly surveyed it, that there was not a hide of land in England that he
wist not (know) who had it, or what it was worth, and afterwards set it down in his
book."
References:
Bernstein, David, The Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry (1987 AD); Howarth,
David, 1066 AD the Year of the Conquest (1978 AD); Ingram, James
(translator), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1823 AD); Wood, Michael, In Search of
the Dark Ages (1987 AD).
THE HISTORY OF WARWICKSHIRE
During the 14th to 19th centuries there were many Barrs who are known to have
lived in Warwickshire or Warwick County and surrounding 'counties' such as
adjoining Leicestershire and Worcestershire. One such family was the
William Barrs family of Bulkington Village. William had a son Robert Barrs,
who had a son named Tomas Barrs who moved his family from Bulkington to
Thurlaston in 1612 AD. His oldest son, Abraham Barrs became a prosperous
citizen of Toft Hamlet located just east across the valley from Thurlaston and
south of nearby Dunchurch Village. Abraham Barrs of Toft lived and farmed in
Toft Hamlet Warwickshire until his death. These Barrs were early documented
ancestors of mine. (Al Barrs) Abraham Barrs of Toft's family became a
prominent and prosperous family in Warwickshire in the 1600s and 1700s. They
farmed in the area around Toft Hamlet and Dunchurch Village for several
hundred years. Warwickshire was and still is a prime farming area in south
central England (The Midlands).
135

Warwickshire is the native county of William Shakespeare. With its mediaeval
castles, historic towns of Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leamington Spa,
Rugby, Dunchurch and Kenilworth and its beautiful countryside, forests and
canals it is a favorite tourist region today.
Stratford-upon-Avon is the provincial home of the Royal
Shakespeare Company who performed in the three theatres near
the River Avon. There are many half-timbered buildings in the town,
several of which have associations with the great bard and the
shopping center satisfies the most discerning shopper.
A few miles up the River Avon lies the town of Warwick with its
magnificent mediaeval castle brought to life by Madame Tussaud's
vignettes. At Kenilworth, the Castle can be seen.
Close by is the Royal Showground which hosts the Royal show every
July and is a year-round agricultural center.
Royal Leamington Spa is an elegant Regency town with wide streets,
crescents and fine gardens and famous for its healing waters.
There are also many picturesque villages throughout the county and stately
homes such as Packwood house, Ragley Hall, Charlecote Park, Baddesicy
Clinton and Coughton Court. Hamlets, villages and towns important to the Barrs
were Toft Hamlet, Dunchurch Village, Thurlaston Village, Nuneaton Village,
Aston Village, Birmingham, etc.
Warwickshire is a ‘Heart of England’ county. It features the city of Stratfordupon-Avon,
where William Shakespeare was born in 1564 AD and died in 1616
AD. Stratford is filled with monuments to ‘The Bard,’ but none of the town's
21,000 residents has been able to dig up dirt on him, since history's most
renowned playwright left behind no personal papers of any kind.
Shakespeare didn’t have to look far for ideas, either. The subject of one of his
plays, Richard III, was slain in nearby Market Bosworth. That historically
preserved town radiates out from a central square where market has been held
each Wednesday since the year 1285 AD. Warwickshire is also home to a world
famous medieval castle. Michael Barrs lived there about 1540.
Kenilworth Castle is linked to the legend of King Arthur. Pomp and circumstance
surrounding a 16th century visit by Queen Elizabeth I to Kenilworth is thought to
have inspired scenes in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as a certain 11-year-old
Billy was most likely on hand to witness the event.
136

But lest Shakespeare receive all the literary credit, we should remember the
Warwickshire village of Nuneaton was home to Evans, (Nuneaton was also the
birthplace of my (Al Barrs) 9 th Cousin Once Removed, Anthony Marston (Tony)
Barrs family who now is retired in Scotland.) better known by her pen name,
George Elliot. Splendid countryside and such history make Warwickshire one of
the most visited regions of the United Kingdom.
Abraham Barrs (II) was one of Abraham Barrs of Toft and Joan's sons. John
Barrs, Abraham Barrs son’s "Strip Farms" were located south of Toft Hamlet
and Dunchurch Village on this map segment the. Barrs "Strip Farms" are
colored in yellow. They were called "Strip Farms" because the land was only
fertile in strips and the owners or controllers of the land wanted to distribute the
fertile land as evenly as possible...hence the strips of farmland boundaries.
UPDATE: October 2004
In September 2003 I (Al Barrs) flew to Scotland to visit with Tony Barrs and his
family in Murthly Perthshire for a ‘fortnight’ (2 week) visit. Today Tony is retired
and lives with his daughter Sue and her husband Paul. Tony had done and is
still doing extensive research on the Barrs family. He and I drove down to
Leicestershire and Warwickshire to visit the old Barrs family farm and
homestead, the church where they attended in Dunchurch Village nearby and
we visited the old Barrs Forge in Thurlaston Village, Warwickshire.
Recent information Tony Barrs has uncovered in Warwickshire has happily
pushed our family tree back several more generations. Abraham Barrs of Toft
had previously been validated as our earliest ancestor. However, we now have
new information on Abraham Barrs of Toft’s parents and grandparents.
Abraham Barrs of Toft’s parents were Thomas Barrs and Margery. Thomas
Barrs was born about 1625 in Bulkington Warwickshire England. Thomas
Barrs died on February 20, 1659 in Toft Hamlet Warwickshire England. He was
probably the first to undertake Strip Farming in Toft Hamlet. Thomas Barrs’
father was Robert Barrs. Robert Barrs died in 1595 in Bulkington
Warwickshire. Robert Barrs’ father was William Barrs who died in 1560 in
Bulkington also. William Barrs made his Last Will and Testament in 1559.
(Update by Tony and Al Barrs October 2004)
137

Abraham Barrs and his son John Barrs land holdings map of 1699 AD
The Barrs land holdings were huge compared to the 12 to 15 acres farmed by
most early 15th century farmers and herdsmen
St. Peters Parish Church, Dunchurch Village, Warwickshire is where much
Barrs family history was made and recorded. Many Barrs family members were
buried in its surrounding churchyard cemetery. Churchyard burials are common
in England.
138

Following is a 1717 AD map of the "Strip Farms" where my (Al Barrs) family lived
in Warwickshire during the 1600 and 1700's. "Strip Farm" boundaries, shown on
the following 1717 AD map, are still field boundaries today (2002 AD).
COPY OF ORIGINAL 1717 AD "STRIP FARM" MAP
139

Dunchurch Warwickshire Glebe Terrier Newspaper of 1698
FARM PROPERTY INFORMATION of Barrs
(Coincides with the above "Strip Farm" map of 1717)
Strip Farms had names to identify them on the above map. The Lord of the Manor owned all
the land in England and individuals had to rent the land from the Lord.
140

Continued from previous page.
Old Barrs Forge in Thurlaston Village Warwickshire Built in the 1700s by the
Barrs family. Abraham Barrs and son John Barrs were ‘Ferrier’ and
veterinarians here during the period of about 1800 to1861.
Old Barrs Forge Thurlaston Village Warwickshire England
141

THE HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE
Leicestershire is in central England and joins with Warwickshire to the east.
The city of Leicester is an administrative center. Leicestershire is divided into
two regions. Leicestershire County borders Warwickshire County in The
Midlands of England. The Barrs family may have lived in Leicestershire prior to
settling in Bulkington Village, Warwickshire. One John Barrs was born in Market
Bosworth in Leicestershire as was his father Michael Barrs about 1540 AD. We
believe our surname spelling may have changed in Leicestershire and
Warwickshire in the latter 1200s and early 1300s. We believe the spelling
changed from BARRE (French spelling) or BARRES to BARRS (English) during
the early 1400s. Prior to 1540 AD we find few Barrs, but some Barres and
Barre in the Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Lancashire England regions.
Leicestershire lies by the Soar River. In the eastern section are dairy and
livestock-raising uplands; in the western section are farmlands and such
industries as coal mining, quarrying, and hosiery manufacturing. Low-grade iron
ores are mined in the east. In the 7th century the area became part of the Anglo-
Saxon kingdom of Mercia and was later occupied by the Danes (Denmark). In
1974 the former county of Rutlandshire was incorporated in Leicestershire. Area
is 2553 sq km (986 sq mi); population (1991 preliminary) 860,500.
Map of Leicestershire Hundreds
142
Key
A - Framland
B - East Goscote
C - West Goscote
D - Sparkinghoe
E - Gulthlaxton
F (2 parts) - Gartree

THE HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE
The Black Country is a group of towns to the North and West of Birmingham
Warwickshire England that were known as 'Red by Night, Black by Day' due to
the amount of foundries, lime kilns, collieries, backyard chain making and nail
making that went on here. It's known as the 'Black Country' due to the color of
the ground and buildings, even today,(not to a flippant remark by Queen
Victoria!). The famous ten-yard coal seam outcropped here and, well, the ground
is black! The Boundaries are subject to heated debate now that we're not 'looked
down upon' for coming from the area (even Brummies try to muscle in
sometimes!).
The undisputed Queen of the Black Country is Dudley which is virtually at its
center, but starting from the Southern edge and going round clockwise, it
includes the top end of Halesowen, Lutley Pedmore, Oldswinford, Stourbridge,
Amblecote, Wordsley, and Kingswinford. It then cuts across, skirting Himley, up
to the Gornals and Ruiton to Sedgley, Coseley, Part of Wolverhapton, across to
Wood End and Willenhall, Wednesfield and then New Invention. It then cuts
across the bottom end of Bloxwich through to Harden and Coalpool and Rushall.
Part of Walsall goes back through Bentley (of Charles II fame) down to
Wednesbury, across to Hill Top and Great Bridge / Tipton. Part of West
Bromwich, Part of Oldbury, Langley, Part of Smethwick (as far as Brindley's
canal) goes by. Part of Cape Hill across to Bearwood (as far as the Bear Hotel)
up to Hill top (another one!) down to White Heath and through Black Heath
running back again through Cradley to the top end of Halesowen. That's about
what the edges are but the real heart of the area is from Cradeley Heath to the
Gornals Inc Lye, Woodside, Netherton, Quarry Bank, Pensnett, Rowley, and
Brockmore etc. BTW I know that I've left out towns such as Bilston, James
Bridge and Darlaston but there are so many it would take hours to put them all
down. The dialect that we speak in these parts isn't too removed from Chaucers
English (helps with original texts such as the Canterbury Tales) and can change
from one side of a road to another.
We believe a few Barrs drifted into Worcestershire from Warwickshire, which is
adjacent to Warwickshire, but the Barrs family never became as firmly
established in Worcestershire County as did they in Leicestershire, Lancashire
and Warwickshire regions.
143

THE HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Lancashire was located on the west side of England. A Palatine and maritime
county, it is bounded on the north by Cumberland and Westmoreland, on the
east by Yorkshire, on the south by Cheshire and Derbyshire, and on the west by
the Irish Sea.
The first Earl of Lancashire was Edmund Crouchback, Youngest son of Henry lll.
In the time of the valiant John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward, the county of
Lancaster was advanced to the dignity of a palatinate, by a Royal patent. It
confers the title of Duke of Lancaster on the King. Nobility from this county
derives many other high titles.
Lancashire has been, at a great variety of periods in history, the scene of
contention and theatre of strife. The sanguinary conflicts between the Houses of
York and Lancaster, and the Royal forces of Charles l, and those of Parliament
under Cromwell, as well as the support which the Pretender received from the
disaffected, have stained the fields of this county with blood.
The Battle of Flodden Field, of more early date, gave testimony to the prowess
of the men of Lancashire and the achievements of the heroic bowmen and
billmen from the districts of Warrington, Wigan, Rochdale, Preston, Blackburn,
Bolton, etc.
A very extraordinary page in Lancashire history must not be omitted - The
Lancashire Witches. In 1594 AD, Ferdinand the fifth Earl of Derby was seized
with mortal sickness, produced probably by poison secretly administered. After
much suffering, he died days later. In his chamber was found an image of wax
with hair the same color as that of the Earl, stuffed into the belly! In the 1600s,
many notorious witches were tried at Lancaster assizes.
Quite a number of Barrs lived and live today in Lancashire. We have been
unable to connect them with our Barrs. We have been unable to make contact
with Barrs of some of these "Midland" Counties, but continue to search for that
long ago family connection throughout England. We have received family stories
that some Barrs accompanies Henry IV to Leicestershire to battle King Richard II
at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, which is near Market Bosworth where we
have record of a Barrs family from early 1400s. Michael Barrs was born in
Leicestershire about 1540, married there in 1563 and raised his family in Market
Bosworth Leicestershire England. We are searching for a connection to our
earliest know ancestor, William Barrs, of Bulkington about 16 miles away.
Michael could have been one of William Barrs sons.
144

OLD MAPS OF ENGLAND
145

THE BLACK PLAGUE IN ENGLAND
1539-1640 AD
A General Study
With a Specific Reference to Loughborough, England
Thanks to Ian Jessiman
The Barrs in England would have been in the middle of this horrible deadly
period. No one knows how many Barrs family members may have died during
the PLAGUE in England, but many no doubt did die. Our family tree shows a
number of Barrs children who died. To those who were fortunate enough to
have survived we owe our very existence.
Abstract
Throughout the middle ages most of
populated Britain suffered sweeping
ravages of disease and pestilence;
individually and collectively these
epidemics were referred to as the
plague.
Examination of the Leicestershire town of Loughborough's Parish Register
reveals valuable statistical data, particularly in respect to burials after 1538 AD.
The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, Vol. III part II, by J
Nichols, offers an insight into some of the social effects of the plague. Using
these and other sources, an attempt to investigate the local myths and legends
has been undertaken. Furthermore, other issues, such as what was the Plague
and how it did spread, are addressed.
Preface
The Plague, also known as bubonic
plague, pestis or the Black Death, was
an acute, severe infection caused by the
bacillus Yersina pestis (formerly known
as Pasteurella pestis, now named after
Yersin who first described it in 1894 AD).
146

This bacillus is primarily an internal parasite of wild rodents, such as rats, mice
and squirrels, for whom the resulting illness may be acute, subacute, or chronic.
It is carried to man by fleas deserting dying or dead animals, in search of
nourishment. It may enter the bloodstream directly as the fleabites the host, or
indirectly through contact between fleas' excrement, and scratches or lesions on
the skin. Massive human epidemics have occurred. The most infamous was the
Black Death of the Middle Ages. More recently, infections have occurred
sporadically but have tended to be limited.
Modern science has identified two main types of plague; bubonic plague and
primary pneumonic plague. Bubonic plague was named after buboes (enlarged
lymph nodes) which first become visible during, or shortly after, the fever started.
This was the most common form of the Plague and the incubation period varied
from a few hours to 12 days, (but generally 2 to 5 days). The onset was abrupt
and often associated with chills; the temperature rapidly rose to 39.5 to 41 C
(103 to 106 F). Occasionally, a primary sore appeared at the bite site, varying
from a small spot to a large suppurating ulcer. These often changed in color from
orange to black, or blue or purple, and, of all the different signs of the Plague,
these were the easiest 'tokens' of recognition. The sufferer was often restless,
delirious, confused and uncoordinated.
Most deaths occurred from blood poisoning in 3 to 5 days. Some victims
however, took a month or so to die. Until the advent of antibiotics, the mortality
rate was generally between 60 and 80%.
This form of the disease spread though a community very rapidly, thriving in a
humid and warm climate; which provided ideal conditions for fleas to breed and
flourish. In Europe, the months between July and October normally nurtured
optimum infestation. However, fleas have been known to survive through winter
in warm 'ecosystems'. For example, until the Eighteenth Century, the supports of
floors and roofs in wooden, or wattle and daub buildings, harbored the nests of
black rats. (Brown and gray rats not appearing until the Eighteenth Century).
Primary pneumonic plague had a 2 to 3 day incubation period that was followed
by an abrupt onset of high fever, chills and often a severe headache. Coughing
developed within 24 hours, initially mucous but rapidly developing blood spotting
and then acquiring a uniform, bright red, often foamy appearance.
Most patients died within 48 hours after onset. This form of the Plague was
spread by bacteria coughed out in the sputum of the victim, or by the inhalation
of infected droplets from a sneeze. Because of its dependence on respiratory
transmission and not on fleas, this extremely virulent form of the Plague tended
to be associated with European winters.
147

Considering the much-reported incidence of bloody sputum, a continued high
mortality in the winter months, and the very rapid spread between communities
in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, it is highly probable that this form of
the plague was active with bubonic plague during this period.
It may be natural to assume that survivors of the Plague had suffered the
bubonic form. However, Pestis minor, a benign form of bubonic plague, has
been identified as occurring alongside bubonic plague in (modern) epidemic
areas. 4 The signs and symptoms of Pestis minor are similar to that of bubonic
plague but subside within a week. This may explain why some plague epidemic
areas had a higher than average survival rate.
Apart from the bubonic and pneumonic plague, a further disease swept through
Europe. It had many names and was known as The Sweat, The Swat, New
Acquaintance, Stoupe, or Knave know thy master.
It was claimed that it only killed the rich, middle aged - not the young or the old,
and that it caused a quick death: "They were dancing in court at nine and dead
at eleven", wrote a Poole minister, while Dr Caius, physician to Henry VIII,
compared it to "the Plague at Athens, a pestilent contagious fever of one natural
day".
Dr Caius recorded the signs and
symptoms as "... burning heat,
sickness, headache, delirium, intense
thirst, labored breathing, erratic pulse,
followed by faintness, drowsiness,
profuse sweating, sickness of stomach
and heart but seldom vomiting".
He added "... the symptoms reached their height by the seventh hour after
onset, by the ninth delirium set in, and that death often quickly followed...
However, if the victim survived the fifteenth hour the symptoms abated, and if
they passed the twenty-fourth hour, they usually survived the ordeal." The Sweat
is believed to have arrived in England in 1485 AD, transported from Rouen by
mercenaries recruited to help establish Henry Tudor. The first recorded outbreak
was at Milford Haven, the port at which Tudor landed his invading force. Other
outbreaks were recorded throughout the country in 1508, 1517, and 1551 AD.
148

In 1615 AD, a burning fever swept through Leicester. There is little information
about this ailment, other than that its appearance coincided with a contagious
sickness and the Hot Ague (fever) elsewhere in England and Europe.
Unidentified fevers erupted in 1638, 1660 and 1661 AD. Smallpox was prevalent
in 1634-5 and goal fever was recorded in Oxford in 1577, York in 1581, Exeter in
1586, Lincoln in 1590 and Hereford in 1636. Small, generally local, outbreaks of
Malaria occasionally caused alarm in the marshes of East Anglia. Typhus also
appeared periodically, and it has been suggested that influenza, in various forms
may have been responsible for the non-specific epidemics. Examination of the
etiology, epidemiologist and the signs and symptoms of Haemophilus Influenza
and adenoviruses or adenoassociated viruses reveal a strong correlation
between Dr. Caius's reports and these diseases.
Although modern medicine may offer a range of what is uncertain is the actual
epidemiology of the plague, feasible diagnosis, particularly in respect to
transmission during the sixteenth Century. How did the disease pass between
small communities and households, and what was the mode of transmission
over long distances - between countries, counties and towns?
The role of fleas in the transmission of the bubonic plague is fairly certain.
However, what is uncertain is the actual relationship between flea, rat and man.
Once the diseased rat-flea, Xenopsylla cheopis, has left the rat and infected
man, can that flea pass from man to man without the intervention of the rat?
English epidemiologists, basing their arguments on modern plagues in South
Asia, generally claim not.
However, French epidemiologists, basing their claims on the results of modern
plagues in North Africa and India, propose that the human flea, Pulex irritans,
can transmit the disease as it moves between human hosts. The wisdom of
concluding that the human flea has played a major role in the transmission of the
plague in England has been questioned.
There is evidence to support the view that the concentrations of plague mortality
in towns were often in isolated pockets, often on the outskirts, not in the center;
suggesting rats, not humans were the vectors of transmission. Furthermore,
despite the frequency of multiple cases of plague within single households, it
has not been demonstrated that mortality rates were related to the size of the
household, as may be expected if the human flea was the culprit.7 It may be
prudent to surmise that both forms of transmission were evident, however, not
necessarily in equal weighting, or operating together.
149

A further controversy concerns the exact method by which the plague arrived in
England. It certainly arrived via the ports, carried on merchant and Naval ships.
However, were the infected fleas carried by the rats in the grain or bales of cloth
and cotton, or on the backs of the crew, passengers or returning soldiers?
Furthermore, how did the disease spread from the ports to the town and
country? It spread by way of wild rodents in the countryside, by the rats and
fleas in transported freight, or by the fleas on their human hosts?
Although the evidence is mixed and subject to debate, it is suggested that they
all played a role. There is evidence to support that plague was caught from
baggage and bales of clothes and cloth, as in Eyam in Derbyshire in 1665.
However, there also exists evidence that human transmission alone has been
responsible.
It appears that the spread of the plague across the country was far too rapid to
be accounted for by wild rodents in the countryside, and it is human transport,
which explains its movement along the major trade routes, usually by ship
(British port to port), or on main roads and navigable rivers. Nevertheless, it is
reasonable to assume that rodent transmission played a part in local village-tovillage
contamination. Possibly, the occasional annual outbreaks of bubonic
plague may be explained by the over-wintering of fleas and black rats in major
cities, and perhaps on the wild rodents of the countryside.
Elizabethan Loughborough
It has been estimated that in 1564 AD,
Loughborough had 256 houses. The
shape of the town, as it was, had
changed little since the reign of
Edward II (1307-1327 AD), for, during
his reign, there is a record of a
grant for land in Dede Lane:
"In Loughborough there is a le Dede
Lane, le Bygging, le Kirkgate, le Woodgate and le Tollbothe". (This suggests that
Dead Lane is in fact far older than many historians have claimed, for it appears
to have been in existence at least 280 years before the 1608-09 plague).
Leyland described the town in the early sixteenth Century, recording that, " ...
most of the houses were made of wood and betraying their various ages by
cruck, post and pan, or the slighter timber frame, all with wattle and daub
infilling, gleaming plaster and new wood showing evidence of recent extensions,
alterations or new erections, for three new ones were built on Bridgeland."
150

Elizabethan Loughborough was seasonally exceedingly wet. From the south ran
the Woodbrook. This flowed through the town; entering alongside the Market
Place and exiting via The Rushes. The Elizabethan Le Swynesians, now Swan
Street, was probably named after a flock of breeding swans that was kept there.
Les Russhes, now The Rushes, was where the rushes grew.
They were a valuable commodity item for the town and provided an excellent
roofing material. Le Kirkegate, now Churchgate, was a central part of the town
and housed the wealthier townsfolk. It has retained its original Tudor width of
about eighteen feet and remains an excellent indicator to the average breadth of
medieval town streets. In 1860 AD, a journalist reported an interview with a town
nonagenarian; it related the recollections of the senior citizen's grandfather, who
lived in sixteenth century Loughborough - "There was a boggy tract within the
town lying between the Woodbrook, as it crossed the Ashby Square, and the
Market Place.
The Woodbrook flowed down the open space being crossed at different points
by a plank bridge with a handrail, and reached the Rushes. Here was another
old bog as the name denotes, with a raised causeway. There were two pools of
water in the town, one in which is now called Devonshire Square and another
where the Woodgate ends. Between Loughborough and Shelthorpe, there was a
raised footway made of huge stones with bridges of planks here and there,
where water tended to accumulate.
Somewhere near Shelthorpe, there was a large pool of water which remained as
late as the middle of the seventeenth century."
This account is given some credence, for the Bridgemaster's accounts itemize
much bridging work in and around the town, particularly between 1570 and
1595. Sixteenth Century records also mention some of the various trades that
were in the town, such as a tanner, a glove maker, a dyer, a blacksmith, a baker,
a clothier who employed a weaver, a cooper, a rope maker, a barber, a mason,
a glazier, a vole and vermin catcher, and various shopkeepers and innkeepers.
Mr. George Ward was the town's bearward; he was responsible for ensuring that
all cattle were baited before slaughter. A heavy fine was imposed for noncompliance.
The stocks, pillory and whipping post stood in the market place and
the gibbet may have been on the Forest Road, close to the Blackbrook.
On July 17th 1564 AD, the plague was so severe in Leicester that the assizes
were held in Loughborough. Accompanying the Leicester magistrates and clerks
were eight convicted felons. They were duly hung in the town, two days later.
151

A total of 1,632 of the townspeople died in ten epidemic years between 1545
and 1631 AD.
That there is some factor operating chiefly in the spring, in particular from March,
or, in exceptionally bad cases, until June, seems likely. A possible explanation is
that these deaths were caused either directly or indirectly by malnutrition. In the
case of 1602-03AD there is some evidence to support this, for in the Syston
Parish Register there is a note:
"In 1601AD all the hay was inned out of Syston Great Meadow on the
Wednesday before St, James (25th July) day. In 1602 harvest was so late that it
was St. Matthew's day (21st September) before all the barley was inned. In
1603AD a pound of good hops was sold for 2s. 6d., a strike of malt for 17d and a
strike of wheat for 2s. 4d." ('s' Shilling and 'd.' Pence or penny)
Nichols also mentioned another entry in that Register: "In 1607 AD the frost was
so hard and so continued that it was after St. Valentines Day (14th February)
before men could set forth plough. In 1609 AD there died at Loughborough of
the plague in one year 500 people."
Although no records have been found of any large numbers of people dying of
starvation, a strong possibility exists that there was a correlation between
malnutrition, due to poor, late crops and an increased mortality due to a
widespread lowering of resistance to disease(s). Furthermore, average burial
rates in Loughborough indicate some interesting statistical information.
Between 1550 and 1566 AD, when Bubonic plague and Influenza were
sweeping through the country, (The population of England probably fell by at
least 6% between 1556 and 1560 AD) the average burial rate in Loughborough
dropped to 37.
As Griffin points out, this lower than anticipated figure may have been the result
of a large epidemic striking the town in the years in which the Parish Register
was not kept (1548-58 AD, during the reign of Queen Mary), therefore possibly
reducing the population and the subsequent death rate. However, analysis of the
burial figures for 1550-53 AD indicates an annual average burial rate of 27,
whilst 1560-66 AD was 42, thus invalidating the hypothesis.
152

Nichols reported that a dreadful plague broke out in Loughborough in August
1609 AD, which raged for 18 months. He continues "... that this destructive
disorder seems to have ended about the 19th February, 1610-11 AD, and at that
time there had died within the town and parish, 452 persons men, women and
children; and within a mile of Loughborough is a spot of ground to this day called
The Cabin Lees (whereon many of the inhabitants prudently built themselves
huts and encamped, to avoid the infection." (Cabin Lees has been identified as
having existed in an area known as Bottle Acre.
A recently built small housing estate, off the Belton Road, has a road called
Cabin Lees.) Interestingly, he has added a footnote to this paragraph: "This
circumstance, though recorded by Dr. Pochin, Mr. Webster informs me, is
doubtful." Unfortunately, Nichols is not clear on what is doubtful, and ambiguity
remains.
Is it doubtful that The Cabin Lees existed, or was it built for another purpose?
Slack refers to cabins (hovels) being built on the outskirts of Liverpool for the
specific purpose of housing the infected.
"A bylaw of 1540 AD in Liverpool similarly ordered that those visited with
pestilence should 'depart out of their houses and make their cabins on the heath'
in summer; in winter they should stay at home and 'keep their doors and
windows shut'". Similar quarantine measures were undertaken in Nottingham,
Durham, Shrewsbury, York, Windsor and Berwick. Possibly, Loughborough built
its own isolation camp on the outskirts of the town.
There is further evidence to suggest that local towns occasionally put
Loughborough into quarantine. During June 1610 AD, the Rector of
Loughborough wrote the following letter to the Mayor of Leicester: "Sir, I
understand from a neighbor of mine that it is your desire that I should give
warning to my neighbors to keep them from coming to your town of Leicester for
the time of the Assizes; with their desire I will by God's help accordingly fulfill
only I desire to know whether the restraint must be so general as none of the
towns for any cause may come hither with certificate as formally they have done.
I desire to be informed in law upon an arbitrement that we
will put off until some other time if you think that your
coming will be offensive to any one. And so thanking you for
your care and kindness towards my neighbors in this time of
visitation I rest. Your loving friend in Christ assured, John
Brown."
153

In 1631 AD, a further outbreak, although not so severe, (and the last major
epidemic) caused such concern that the Parson of Loughborough, John Browne
(successor and namesake of the John Brown who wrote the 1610 AD letter),
wrote to the Mayor of Leicester:
"These are to certify whom it may concern that the shattered town of
Loughborough is not so dangerous as by some may be considered; in as much
as there are but only three houses visited by the Plague: being all of them small
tenements, and being in a back lane or place far remote from our market-place
or any common passage, being inhabited by poor people: all attended upon; as
well for relief of the visited as for prevention of danger.
And, they are dead of the sickness. As is supposed only eleven persons in all
men, women and children, in the space of seven weeks since first the infection
began lived."
However, the Mayor of Leicester was not placated, for he issued the following
proclamation: "To the Constable of the Bishop's Fee in or near Leicester and to
his deputies: Forasmuch as we understand that the sickness is growing very
dangerous in Loughborough and many of the inhabitants there have of late
endeavored to bring their goods into the town of Leicester, and to settle
themselves here to the great endangering of the Corporation, for preventing
whereof (So far as by God's assistance well maybe.) we have taken order for a
watch to be kept daily in several places in and about the town. And here also
have given the strict charge that none shall resort to the said town of
Loughborough until it please God to stay the said Visitation.
This is therefore to command you to cause convenient watch to be daily and
constantly kept within your said ward, or Constabulary for preventing of the
dangers aforesaid and to give stout charge and warning to all inhabitants within
the said Fee not to entertain or harbor any of the inhabitants of Loughborough or
their goods, that they forbear coming to the said town, either to the Market or
otherwise. Therefore fail not at your peril. Given under our hand the nineteenth
Day of May, Anno Domini 1631. Thomas Smithe, Mayor." The parish records
indicate that in Loughborough, in that year of 1631 AD, there were 135 deaths
due to the plague.
Average monthly burials during 1539-1640 AD: The 'very bad' years totaled six,
(recorded burials in brackets), 1558-9 (332), 1609-11 (603) and 1631 (167). The
'exceptional' years totaled four, 1543 (98), 1577 (78), 1602 (98) and 1617 (90).
In the 'normal' years the highest death rate occurred in April and May, the rate
then generally dropped away to rise again in mid winter.
154

However, in the very bad (plague) years the months July, August, September
and October brought the highest death rates with January to April being low. The
Area graph, highlights a close correlation between monthly burial patterns for the
exceptional and very bad years: both indicate a slight rise in May and then a
sharp dip in June. Similarly, the following months are matched in both rise and
fall, with a common zenith in September.
A student of Elizabethan mortality in England has two important sources of
evidence on which to base their research. Prior to 1538 AD there are probate
records and after 1538 AD there are parish registers.
A detailed study of probate records may reveal years of unusually high deaths,
which may indicate years of epidemic. However, there was a large percentage of
society that never made wills, for instance, travelers and the poor. It may be
prudent to assume that the non-will-making class were those with the least, and,
in common with the poor of any society, this group may have been the most
vulnerable to disease. "Wills were generally made by a small and
unrepresentative social group - those adults, mostly males, who had property to
bequeath."
Nevertheless, in the absence of other evidence, both the records of wills that
were read and wills that were registered, remain as an indication as to actual
mortality, or concern about mortality. During the 1550s plague years of London,
the number of wills written rose to well over twice the average.
Parish registers were kept after 1538 AD, by law. Each
Sunday, the parson and the churchwarden of Loughborough
recorded the baptisms, births and burials of the preceding
week. However, even the best-kept registers are unlikely to
give a complete record of mortality. They listed burials in the
churchyard, not deaths in the parish, and there is a possibility
that the extent of the mortality, particularly during an epidemic,
was understated.
There are numerous examples of the reluctance's of parishes to contaminate
their churchyards with plague corpses, of unregistered burials of plague victims
in gardens and fields, and of parochial registration ceasing at the height of the
epidemic. Therefore, the figures in the recorded tables and graphs should not be
taken to imply a certainty and accuracy which the original records do not
possess.
155

Likewise, although Elizabethan plague regulations required the priest to record
all the deaths from the plague by writing a 'p' in the Register against the names ,
it may be worth considering the diagnostic skills of a priest who was probably
examining the body in poor light. In 1578 AD, government imposed stringent
restrictions on attendance at funerals. These prescribed the burial of the dead
only at dusk, and suggested that ministers officiating should "... Be distant from
the danger of infection of the person dead, or of the company that shall bring the
corpse to the grave." Thus, ministerial 'plague labeling' should be viewed with
caution.
The last reported plague in Loughborough ended in 1648 AD Nichols reported
that, "From July 20, 1647, to March 25, 1648 AD, died of the Plague, 83. No
more of the plague in 1648 AD." Widespread death in the form of the plague
never returned to England once the epidemic beginning in London in 1665 AD
had run its course. It remains a mystery exactly why the plagues ended.
However, a tentative hypothesis may include the introduction of effective
quarantine measures.
Improvements in the environment may also have accelerated the demise of the
plagues; "... on the 4th day of June 1622 AD there was a grievous fire in this
town (Loughborough), which burnt down to the ground many houses." Fire has
remained an extremely efficient and global destroyer of disease. The destruction
of wooden, rat-infested dwellings and their subsequent replacement with brick
buildings, that separated people from the rats, may have also been a
contributory factor. Slack proffers, that in 1652 AD the London bricklayers
pointed out that the substitution of brick for timber would reduce the plague.
Local legend has it that Dead Lane was named after the burial plot that was
situated in that area for the victims of the 16th Century plagues. As suggested
earlier, the name Le Dede Lane has, in fact, been traced to the reign of Edward
II.
Perhaps it refers to a burial spot for victims of the 12th Century Black Death?
Notwithstanding, there are one or two clues as to why contemporary opinion has
dated it much later. First, when the foundations of the Shakespeare Street
School were being dug in the early 19th Century, old skeletons were discovered.
However, records indicate that on, or near this site, was the 14th Century burial
site for the nearby hospital of St. John.
Second, 16th Century law required that the corpses of the victims of the plague
be carried to their burial place, by a route other than a busy thoroughfare. To get
to the Churchyard, or other Northern burial spot, the eponymous named 'Dead
Lane' was ideally situated.
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I concur with Slack's conclusion, that the Plague, in the years covered, had
become a reminder of the transience of all aspects of life. It destroyed life,
wealth and many towns throughout England, and in common with other
disasters, like famine or war it undermined any assurance we might normally find
in family, friends, business and property, or even in government and nation.
At the heart of the conflict between disease and society lay the sufferings and
struggles of ordinary men, women and children. The student of history may trace
and analyze the available data, evidence and statistics, but can only guess at
the unrecorded private feelings of the inarticulate victims.
WHY ENGLISH FARMERS
IMMIGRATED TO AMERICA
Hypothesis for English farmer’s Immigrating to America
By Al Barrs, Jr. © 1999 All Rights Reserved
Heretofore most of us had assumed immigrants from England came to America
in the 1600’s because they were shipped to America for “crimes against the
Crown”, or were “indentured servants”, or because of Religious convictions
different from the beliefs of the Church of England. True, our first validate Barrs
ancestor, William Barrs, did not conform to Church of England doctrine. He was
fined. (See William Barrs’ 1559 Last Will and Testament)
Although little direct or written Barrs family evidence exists to verify my (Alfonso
Barrs, Jr.) hypothesis, I believe English farmers in great numbers immigrated to
“The Colonies” in America because the climate had become too cool to farm
successfully in Northern Europe, Ireland, Scotland and England. And, the “Great
Potato Famine” of 1645AD had also taken its toll on farmer's professions and
lives. Plus, big families meant less land was available to farm.
I believe my Barrs, as well as other family ancestors, as did other’s families,
immigrated to America during the 1600’s and 1700’s in desperation, but with the
hope and belief that they could become successful farmers in the lower latitudes
of America. We know that one could only travel just so far south in England and
remain within the fertile south central farming belt.
The fertile farming region of Lancashire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire in
south central England quickly gives way to unfarmable rocky coastal terrain all
the way to the Atlantic Ocean. This region enjoyed the warmer Atlantic breezes
coming off the Gulf Current but is unsuitable for farming.
157

In America farmers could go as far as sub tropical Florida and virtually grow
whatever products they choose. Most Barrs entered America in the area of
Virginia, North and South Carolinas or perhaps they first disembarked in
Philadelphia or New York.
Both the Barrs and my mother’s Bell families slowly migrated south in any case,
as the records show. My line of the Barrs and Bell family are known to have
moved from North Carolina, first to Upper Georgia from north eastern North
Carolina, later to south central Georgia and finally to Florida in the north central
farming counties clustered around the Suwannee River valley of Columbia,
Suwannee, Lafayette, Madison and Taylor Counties, Florida USA. Many Barrs
remain today in these southeastern states. Some are still farmers and some had
entered other commerce trades by the early 1900’s. As evidence for my
hypothesis I offer the following article by researcher and writer Robert Ardrey.
THE HUNTING HYPOTHESIS
Thanks to Robert Ardrey
1976 Library of Congress ISBN 0-689-10672-6, pg. 187-189
Mr. Ardrey speculates when the present interglacial period we are presently
experiencing will end. He states, “Through recorded history weather has moved
in cycles. Some can be short and some can be long and last for a century or
two. The Danes fell victim to such a cold cycle about 1250 AD. The previous
centuries had been so mild that they had established their colonies even in
Greenland, then aptly named, and pressed on with their exploration of what
would become America. But then the switch came. Pack ice pressing down from
the Arctic exerted its veto on navigation. Greenland could no longer be reached,
and further exploration of the West was abandoned.
Even in England, more than a century later (1350-1400 AD), there stood the
remains of abandoned farming villages. We assumed depopulation to be the
work of the Black Plague, but it was not. The growing season had become to
short because of the weather.
Another such cycle chilled the northern world beginning about 1600 AD, in the
days when William Shakespeare (In Warwickshire England) was writing his
tragedies. Commonly know as the “Little Ice Age,” it too lasted for approximately
a century and a half (1600-1750 AD), and competent geologists assure me that
the growing season would have been so shortened, even in the major wheatgrowing
regions of Canada and Russia, that growing food crops would have
been impossible. In those days, of course, such regions also attracted us for
their furs, not just their wheat.
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Fortunately for us, the Little Ice Age had expired by 1750 AD, when the
Industrial Revolution inaugurated our present population explosion.”
GLOBAL WARMING OR ARCTIC FREEZE
Thanks to David Montgomery and Richard Sadler
Dr. David Montgomery also supports my hypothesis or rather I support his, as to
why the Barrs, and many other family members, such as the Bell, Morgan,
Newman, Green, Grissman, Toole and other related families along with other’s
families, immigrated to America during this critical weather period.
GLOBAL warming even today, says Dr. Montgomery, rather than making the
weather milder and wetter, could plunge Britain and all northern countries into a
mini ice age "within a few decades", according to new scientific evidence.
Research using ice cores in Greenland suggests that climate change in Britain
and northwest Europe could happen far more quickly than in other parts of the
world - and that the British climate could start changing rapidly.
Contrary to the generally accepted notion that Britain will gradually become
warmer as the planet heats up the results of the study suggest that temperatures
are more likely to plunge into an arctic freeze.
In the worst-case scenario, the North Sea would freeze over during the winter
and icebergs could drift as far south as Portugal - the kind of conditions
experienced during the last big freeze 12,700 years ago.
The western Highlands could be covered by an ice cap similar to the one
covering Iceland today; glaciers could appear in the Great Lakes district of North
America, Wales and the Pennines and the rest of England could be covered by
permafrost for a long period of time.
The findings, announced at the British Association Festival of Science in London
by Professor John Lowe, of London University, open up the prospect of
potentially catastrophic climate change within a human lifespan.
Professor Lowe, the leader of a multinational team of scientists studying past
climate changes just returning from Greenland, described the latest evidence as
"startling".
"The danger for the United Kingdom and parts of north-west Europe is that there
is an assumption that the climate is somehow going to get warmer as the world
warms up," he said.
159

"But some of these models suggest that north-west Europe will experience a
rapidly alternating climate and personal opinion is that there’s going to be a
period of great instability which will be difficult for insurance companies and
governments to respond to, and people to cope with."
Evidence gathered by Prof Lowe’s team from past climate patterns suggests that
after a "false dawn" of warmer weather across the world, the massive Greenland
ice sheet will melt, the polar ice front will move south-eastwards and Britain will
be plunged into freezing conditions. The researchers extracted cores of ice from
the Greenland ice sheet to a depth of 3,000 meters. Each contained perfectly
preserved layers of frozen ice representing snowfalls from the past 1,500-2,000
years.
These cores give vital information about the nature of past climate variations
which Professor Lowe’s team has matched with data from seabed sediments. "It
wasn’t until the publication of the first ice core records in the early 1990's that we
began to realize just how quickly things could change," said Professor Lowe, a
geologist at London University.
"Now we’re making progress in the way we can pin this down - for the first time,
we can get a better handle on the way the world has operated during previous
climatic changes. "I don’t believe that within ten years we’re going to be wiped
out or that we will all be in dire straits, but I do think that in 30 to 40 years we’re
going to see a big difference. "You only need a small change of a degree or so
to have a serious effect on weather patterns. Obviously there is the potential for
major disruption to agriculture...food crop farming in particular and the world
economy."
It is not clear why northern Europe should cool down, while the rest of the world
heats up, but an important factor is thought to be the effect of ice melting from
the Greenland ice sheet and other ice sheets in Iceland and Norway.
The movement of billions of tons of melted fresh water on the surface of the
northeast Atlantic could contribute to a sudden drop in temperature.
This in turn could abruptly bring a halt to the Gulf Stream's northward flow, the
warm water from the Caribbean, which has kept the British climate relatively
warm for the past 10,000 years. September 11, 2000
160

AMERICAN PLANTATIONS AND COLONIES
OF 1600 AD
Fast forwarding to the 1600s we find a full-fledged immigration movement from
Europe and the United Kingdom to America taking place among, which included
the farming families of the Barrs of south central England…The Midlands.
Following is a typical story of the American Plantation and Colonization period,
which the Barrs would have been a part. Although not about their individual
struggles specifically it gives us a thumbnail description of what the Barrs
immigrants would have also experienced during that difficult period in America.
Although the Europeans made their first attempts at colonizing Atlantic America
were along the section that became "Carolina", all initial efforts failed. The last
failed effort made initial contacts with Virginia, but no settlers left England for the
region granted to Sir Robert Heath in 1629 AD by Charles I. The grant was for all
land from 31 to 36 degrees of latitude, to which the name "Carolana" was
applied. In 1663 the next Charles of England granted another grant, for the
same region. That grant for a "Carolina" was soon increased to include 29
degrees to 36 degrees 30 minutes of latitude. Carolina was known as a
“propriety” and was under the control of eight wealthy English proprietors
experienced in colonization enterprises. Their approach to the problem was
different than Sir Robert Heath's effort in 1629 AD.
The Carolina proprietors issued an invitation to established settlements
(Barbados, Virginia, Bermuda, and New England), extolling the virtues of their
new venture, in an attempt to attract settlers. The invitations were successful,
but the initial attempts at settlement were not. A group of Puritans from New
England were the first, arriving at the Cape Fear River area, but did not remain
for long. They returned to the Massachusetts Bay area.
Their leader, however, went to Barbados and succeeded in gathering a group
from there to try and settle the new land. At least one Barrs and his family lived
in Barbados, we don't know if he or his descendants later came to North
America.
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About 800 settlers sailed from Barbados to Carolina in 1664 AD to attempt
Mediterranean-type ventures. Native Americans, planting difficulties and strife
within the group caused the settlement attempt to be abandoned three years
later. Many families of this group moved to Virginia. Others learned valuable
lessons to apply in the future in the region.
By 1669 AD, a combination of Barbadian interests and the Carolina proprietors
had developed a plan of action, through which the resources, both material and
people, of both Barbados and England would be used.
Their plan was to develop a settlement around the excellent anchorage at Port
Royal. Local Native Americans, however, soon persuaded the arrivals to move
60 miles up the coast. At the new location, in 1670 AD, a permanent settlement
was finally established and was given the name of Charles Town (Today
Charleston, South Carolina).
The English proprietors eventually divided Carolina into separate proprieties in
1712 AD, creating North and South Carolina and eventually created Georgia, as
follows.
South Carolina
In 1717 AD, the proprietors gave a grant to Sir Robert Mountgomery for the land
south of the Savannah River as far as the Altamaha River. That portion of the
South Carolina proprietary had not been settled on a permanent basis. The
grant was satisfactory with the settlers north of the Savannah River, since it
provided a buffer between them and Spanish Florida. Sir Mountgomery lost his
right to the grant, however, by not following through on his grand plans.
In 1732 AD, Sir Robert Mountgomery's portion of South Carolina was granted to
James Oglethorpe and his associates by the king of England. Oglethorpe was
successful in colonizing his new "Georgia".
The "Bounty Act"
This is believed to be the period (1750 AD) in which John Barrs, (Sr.), son of
John Barrs of Toft and Mary, and his new wife Sarah Spears (married 1749AD
in Birmingham, Warwickshire England) immigrated to the Johnson (Later Dobbs
and Lenoir Counties) County area of North Carolina. We believe John Barrs
bought his farmlands with funds he brought from England. He had inherited his
father, John Barrs of Toft's, land holdings. He and Sarah settled in North
Carolina immediately before South Carolina began making land grants available
to immigrant families, as outlined below, so would therefore not have qualified
for a "Bounty Act" land grant. And, he is recorded as having sold land to another
person in 1755-56 AD.
162

In order to help settle unoccupied lands, certain clauses in a "General Duty Act",
passed by the General Assembly of the Colony of South Carolina on June 14,
1751AD, provided some financial relief to encourage the immigration of poor
Protestants from the United Kingdom and Europe to certain parts of South
Carolina. On October 5, 1752 AD, the General Assembly altered and amended
the Act to enable settling in any part of the province. The Act was generally
continued through further occasional actions of the General Assembly. On July
25, 1761 AD, this Act was broadened as a "Bounty Act" to provide special
benefits to United Kingdom and European protestant refugees. This later act
provided greater impetus to the immigration than was previously realized.
To receive these benefits, immigrants were required to have certificates to show
that they were of that religion. Two townships were laid out for the immigrants,
"one at Long Cane . . . called Boonesborough and the other Belfast." Later,
many immigrants were settled at other locations. Adult immigrants petitioned for
benefits based on "family right" (apparently for 100 acres each for family adults
and 50 acres each for children under the age of 15, with a "Bounty" from the
Public Treasurer to provide for them until established). Special provision was
made at times to pay for the immigrants' passages from the Bounty.
"Warrants of Survey for their Lands" were issued on petition of the immigrants,
generally at the same time, as authorized under the Act. Encouraged by the Act,
large numbers of these protestant immigrants, many otherwise destitute, arrived
during somewhat more than the next decade.
On October 4, 1768 AD, after a review of all Acts and amendments, the Attorney
General reported to the General Assembly that the "Bounty Act" had expired and
no bounty could be paid to the individuals. He also noted that the eighth clause
of the General Duty Act of June 14, 1751 AD, that they were still entitled to "their
land free of charge".
Following that eventuality no list of passengers were provided for the purpose of
determining "family right" to funds. As previously on the lists of petitions for
Warrants of Survey for the allotment of land, family members and other
individual passengers who were not eligible (e.g., under 15) were not listed.
Therefore, "passenger lists" are less complete for the voyages following that
date.
163

North Carolina
As stated previously the English proprietors of divided Carolina into separate
proprieties in 1712 AD, creating North and South Carolina. The division was
through a region lacking European settlers, about halfway between Spanish
Florida (defined at the time by the Savannah River) and Virginia. North Carolina
was placed under a separate governor.
Georgia
In 1717 AD, the proprietors gave a grant to Sir Robert Mountgomery for the land
south of the Savannah River as far as the Altamaha River. That portion of the
South Carolina proprietary had not been settled on a permanent basis. Sir
Mountgomery lost his right to the grant, however, by not following through on his
grand plans. That same land was granted to James Oglethorpe and his
associates by the king in 1732 AD. Oglethorpe was successful with his plans for
colonizing his new "Georgia".
BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT
Ulster Ireland Emigration to Freedom and the New World in the Eighteenth Century
Thanks to Ronnie Hanna
Note by Al Barrs, Jr: Although emigrants from Ireland are discussed here the same conditions
prompted Englanders and Scots to come to America in record numbers. Among them would surely
have been the Barrs of south central England. Some Barrs came voluntarily. The English Crown
Courts, for such offenses as stealing sheep, had sentenced some, as you will read more about later, to
The Colonies (America) for punishment. The really bad ones were shipped to Australia and New
Zealand to serve out their terms, which usually amounted to life. Some Barrs were among these…
164

Although Ulster emigration to America prior to the eighteenth century had been
on a small scale, many notable figures had arrived in the New World in the latter
part of the seventeenth century, among them being the Presbyterian ministers
Samuel Davis, William Trail, Thomas Wilson and Francis Makemie - who later
became the founding father of the Presbyterian Church in America.
The Ship Eagle Wing
Ulster could have had an earlier impact on the development of the new colonies,
had the Eagle Wing reached its destination in 1636 AD. In September of that
year, the vessel had left Groomsport Ireland carrying 140 passengers who, like
the Pilgrim Fathers, were seeking freedom to practice their Protestant faith as
they chose.
Forced at first to shelter from the storms in Lough Ryan, the Eagle Wing
eventually returned to Ulster, after almost foundering in bad weather off
Newfoundland. Although this brave attempt had failed, it had created a path that
others would choose to follow in later years and so, by the early eighteenth
century; Ulster people were already aware of the successes and potential of the
New World. This awareness was heightened by correspondence from the
colonies and the effective propaganda campaign - organized by the agents of
the shipping companies and the colonies they had tried to attract new settlers.
'In this land of hills, covered by unbroken forest, they took
root and flourished... men who, before any others
declared for American independence.'
Worth Enduring
The first recorded sailing of an emigrant ship from Ulster to America was that of
the Friends' Goodwill, which left Larne in April 1717 AD and arrived in Boston,
Massachusetts a short time later. The exodus had begun.
Five thousand people would leave Ulster that year for America thereby laying the
foundation for future immigration and settlement. The letters that returned to
their homeland never attempted to conceal the hardships and hazards of a sea
journey that could, in some cases, last up to three months in cramped and
unhygienic conditions. However, the message remained that the journey was still
worth enduring, as the rewards waiting in America were great. The perils of the
Atlantic crossing were graphically described in a letter from Samuel McCulloch
to his father in Carrickfergus.
165

24 September 1774 AD
Dear Father;
This comes with our duty to you and our stepmother, and our love to
your brothers and sisters, and to let you know that it has pleased God
to spare all the principals of our two families, but it was sore on our
children; for on the 19th June, Tommy Jackson died, and the day after
the two girls, to our great grief, both died in one hour. This was the
greatest trouble. To see our two fine girls thrown into the ocean after
they had been seven weeks on board and were on the coast. Our
mate died, and several more men and women and about 12 children.
We had a great fever on board; men lay raving through all the berths. I
never lay down that night, but I was afraid that some of us would have
it before the morning. Our children died of a short illness and not of the
fever. When we came to York, Billy and me went onshore and at about
3 o'clock we set out for our brother's but we could not come to his
house, and we lay down and slept in a wood.'
Your Obedient Son,
Samuel McCulloch
Pennsylvania
Most of the early settlers made their homes in Pennsylvania, where there was an
abundance of cheap, fertile land and where the authorities were helpful to new
settlers. The following year several thousand more voyagers followed the
vanguard of emigrants, thereby beginning the strong and powerful impact that
Ulster would have on the New World. Many of those who left Ulster were
ministers of the Presbyterian Church.
It is recorded that the song most frequently sung round newly arrived families
firesides was the ballad of the Boyne Water. Older men who had starved and
fought on Derry Walls, and youngish men reared in the Derry tradition were not
men to be trifled with.
Fresh Impetus
For a few years after the initial influx of Ulster settlers in 1717 and 1718 AD,
there was a slackening off in numbers, but in 1725 AD the migration received a
fresh impetus.
166

The next four years saw a down-turn in the economy at home which encouraged
many Ulster families to pull up their roots and follow in the wake of their fellow
countrymen and women, who had already undertaken the great adventure.
They left in such numbers that it was remarked upon in parliamentary circles and
in private correspondence. The Archbishop of Armagh, Hugh Boulter, remarked
in a letter of 16 July 1728 AD:
'We have hundreds of families (all Protestants) removing out of the North to
America; and the least obstruction in the linen manufacture, by which the North
subsists, must occasion the greater number following.'
Third Wave of Immigration
Note by Al Barrs, Jr.: The Barrs emigrating from England would have probably
been in this wave of immigration. Famine, which is caused by poor crops, would
have directly impacted the Barrs family who were farmers in southern England
at the time. Immigrating to America was a survival necessity for farmers during
this period of English history. We know John Barrs, (Sr.) was known to have
sold land in Johnson-Dobbs County, North Carolina in 1755-56. He is believed
to have arrived from Warwickshire with his new wife in 1750. He and Sarah
Spears were married in FEB 1749 in Warwickshire, England. Perhaps they
arrived in Wilmington, North Carolina's primary seaport.
The 1730's were comparatively quiet, but in 1740 AD, an outbreak of famine,
which was to claim 400,000 lives across Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England,
sparked off a third wave of immigration to America. The Ulster settlement now
began to spread outside Pennsylvania, along the Great Valley and the
Shenandoah Valley into North and South Carolina. Bad harvests in Ulster
brought more settlers to these areas in 1754 and 1755 AD, but the outbreak of
war with the French and the Indians at the same time, stemmed this flood of
emigration before it could reach its peak. When peace was restored more Ulster
settlers immigrated.
From 1771 AD, until the outbreak of hostilities between the American Colony
and Britain in 1775 AD, emigration from Ulster was at its height. Between 25,000
and 30,000 people entered the American colonies, forced out of their homeland
by depression in the linen industry and persecution on the tenant farms. The
large increase in rent on the Antrirn estates of the Marquis of Donegall was
particularly devastating. In many cases, the only alternative to emigration
appeared to be destruction.
167

As relations between the American colonies and Great Britain deteriorated to the
point of no return, this would be the greatest and the last exodus of Ulster
Protestants of the eighteenth century.
A Great Price
Those who made the break from the Old World did so at a great price. Almost
one in three of the immigrants who sailed to America did so under contracts of
service or indenture as it was more commonly known. Contracts for terms of
between four and seven years were most common and reflected the great need
that existed in the colonies for hired help.
The Belfast News Letter carried many advertisements for passage to America, of
which most made special provision for contracted labor. The following
advertisement ran on the 29th of June in 1750 AD:
'That the SNOW HAWKE (ship), Captain Brown, lately advertised in this
paper will certainly sail from the Lough of Belfast, on the 8th July next
(1750 AD), for New Castle in America, and as the owners are resolved
to take in no other goods than provisions for the passengers, any who
are not contracted are desired to apply immediately to William Walton
and Hugh Pringle of Belfast, Merchants, otherwise they will be
disappointed as the number they design to take is near completed. NB.
Servants will meet with proper encouragement.'
It was indeed ironic that many of those seeking freedom in America could only
hope to achieve it by becoming servants or indentured slaves, but it was very
much a case of things getting worse before they got better. As well as providing
free passage to America, the contracts of indenture generally offered fair terms,
usually guaranteeing those involved specific points of assistance after the
completion of their contract.
The best terms available seemed to be those in Pennsylvania where, after
service had been completed, the former servant was granted fifty acres of land,
an axe, two hoes and two suits of clothing. It was little wonder then that
Pennsylvania became the gateway to America in the New World.
The main seaports in Ireland through which the mass exodus passed were
Belfast, Londonderry, Larne, Newry and Portrush. Once safely across the
Atlantic, the vessels would arrive at Philadelphia, Chester or New Castle. By
1729 AD, it was reported that there were already 6,000 settlers in the colony - a
trend that would continue right up to the outbreak of the American Revolution.
168

This was indeed the best place for people to come, for in truth they were not
particularly welcome in the Puritan community of New England, while the
plantation systems of the southern colonies was a completely alien environment.
In particular, the southeastern area of Pennsylvania offered a fertile soil, a good
climate, a fair system of government and religious toleration.
It reflected well on the foundations laid by William Penn. Pennsylvania was then
the cradle of the Ulster-America community and in particular it's chief port and
town, Philadelphia. In a way, this town represented the hope that attracted so
many Ulster settlers to America. By the time the Ulster immigrants began to
arrive in great numbers, Philadelphia had already established itself as the chief
trading rival to Boston.
By 1760 AD, it had become the largest city in the American colonies with a
population of 23,750. During the next fifteen years - thanks in large part to the
members leaving Ulster - this figure had almost doubled to around 40,000 at the
outbreak of the American Revolutionary.
It was easy for the Ulster settlers to retain a sense of identity, as they tended to
settle together; mixed little with the English and Germans already there. Poverty
also forced them from the more expensive land in the east, to the frontier
regions, where land was cheap and available; others simply squatted in defiance
of the authorities. There were, however, drawbacks - none more so than the risk
of being attacked by Native Americans - and colonial officials were glad to have
the Ulster people in the frontier region to provide a buffer against hostile natives.
When trouble did arise, the Ulster settlers were left to their fate - an experience
that hardened and embittered them against their English government - just as
had been the case in Ulster.
Frontier Country or 'Back Country'
From Pennsylvania, the Ulster settlement spread along the Valley of Virginia
during the I730s and 1740s, following the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road. This
was the famous 'back country' where their presence was welcomed as
reinforcement against the Native American threat - a threat, which caused some
of the Ulster families to move into the sparsely populated upland regions of
North and South Carolina. Again, they were encouraged to do so by the
authorities and by force of economic circumstance - reflecting the growing
pressure for land in Pennsylvania.
Most of the movement into North Carolina took place between 1740 and 1756
AD, with the surge into South Carolina developing in the 1760s. By the time war
came with Britain, about 90% of the Ulster settlers had made their homes in
Pennsylvania, the Valley of Virginia and the Carolinas.
169

The Seven Years War
Before war with Britain, however, came war with the Natives. British history
refers to it as the Seven Years War, a battle for the Empire against the French,
and lasting from 1756 to 1763 AD. William Pitt the Elder had become the King's
First Minister and brought to the job a determination to crush the French as
Britain's last economic and military rival.
He felt the war would pay for itself from the economic prizes and indeed the size
of the British Empire was doubled with the capture of the French Sugar Islands,
Canada, India and Florida. The Ulster community in the American 'back country',
however, had quite a different perspective on these events. Fighting with
France's Native American allies broke out in 1754 AD and was marked by great
cruelty and ruthlessness on both sides.
While Pitt was directing British forces towards imperial glory, the Ulstermen were
fighting for their survival against an enemy seeking to recover the land they had
once occupied. This life or death struggle continued for a year after Britain and
France had concluded peace with the Treaty of Paris; Pontiac's War, from 1763-
64 AD, gave renewed impetus to the Native American onslaught on the white
settlements. Sporadic warfare between settler and Natives remained a feature of
frontier life as a report in the Belfast News Letter of 20 February 1767 AD
indicates:
'Letters from Fort Prince George, Keowee, say that on the 9th of last
month seven traders from Virginia who were carrying goods into the
Cherokee country, were found murdered near Cowee. Those
traders had sent notice of their approach and a party... [that had
been] immediately sent to escort them in, found their dead bodies.
The goods were not touched. Only some paint is said to be missing.
The murders are thought to have been committed by some
Cherokees in revenge for the people they lost in Virginia about two
years ago.'
The Ulster settlers would emerge from this baptism of fire a more formidable
force than they had ever been. Abandoned to their fate by their British masters,
who had let them down so many times in the past, the Ulstermen and women
began to feel themselves American above everything else - something to which
they were perfectly entitled, for it had been the future of America that they had
worked and fought for.
170

'Country Boy' - 'City Slicker'
The division between the frontier community and the old settlements (which later
became the division between west and east; 'country boy' and 'city slicker') was
in its embryonic stage, an Ulster-American phenomenon. It was from this starting
point that Ulster families were in the vanguard of the push west. Moving across
the mountain barriers, many would leave Virginia for Kentucky, or North Carolina
for Tennessee, while many others migrated from eastern Pennsylvania into the
Ohio Valley. Theodore Roosevelt paid tribute to this remarkable chapter in the
history of the Ulster-Americans:
'The backwoodsmen were Americans by birth and parentage and
of mixed race; but the dominant strain in their blood was that of the
Presbyterian-Irish and the Scotch-Irish, as they were often called.
These Irish representatives of the Covenanters were in the west
almost what the Puritans were in the northeast, and more than the
Cavaliers were in the south. 'Mingled with the descendants of many
other races, they never-the-less formed the kernel of the distinctively and
intensely American stock who were the pioneers of our people in their march
westward, the vanguard of the army of fighting settlers, who with axe and
rifle won their way... to the Rio Grande and Pacific Ocean.'
Theodore Roosevelt
Other Settlements
The families were not exclusively confined to the frontier and the areas already
mentioned - smaller pockets of settlement did exist elsewhere. The colonies of
New York and New Jersey received a smaller number of settlers, as the
demands there for indentured labor were not as great as those of the colonies to
the south. Delaware also had an Ulster settlement, due mainly to the fact that
the port of New Castle received many of the immigrants. The potential for
settlement here was limited by the fact that the colony was already well
populated - the main area of settlement being to the north-east in Cecil County,
but after completing their contracts of service, most of the Ulster settlers moved
to the open spaces of Virginia and North Carolina.
Further south, the coastal region of South Carolina also acted as a starting point
for Ulster settlement. As in Maryland, the few families that stayed did so only
until their term of endurance ended. The plantation system and the dominant
position of the Anglican church in this region was not to the taste of the Ulster
settlers and so it was to the west that they turned their eyes.
171

Similarly, the Puritanism of New England was not accommodating on the Ulster
emigrants, although the area did receive about 20,000 of these settlers, as
reflected in the place-names across the country. Names from their homeland
were pieces of Ulster that her people carried with them deep in their hearts,
throughout their long trek across America. W. F. Marshall comments upon this in
some detail:
'There are eighteen towns in the United States named after Belfast.
There are seven Derrys, nine Antrirns and sixteen Tyrones. There is a
Coleraine in Massachusetts. New Hampshire has Stewartstown.
Washington, Ohio and Iowa have each a Pomeroy. Hillsborough is in
New Hampshire, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Maine has
Newry. Ohio has Banbridge. In twelve States there are twelve Milfords.
In Michigan there is a town named after that river that is not Ulster, but
was once dyed with Ulster blood, the River Boyne.'
As well as the familiar names from home, the Ulster settlers also transplanted
their church to the new world. W. F. Marshall claims that by 1760 AD, America
had over 300 Presbyterian congregations (in 1705 there had been only seven)
and that during the period between 1680-1820 AD, almost 300 ministers of
Ulster descent served in the American Presbyterian Church.
The 'Great Awakening'
There had been a small Presbyterian presence in the American colonies before
1717 AD, but with the arrival of the Ulster settlers, Presbyterianism quickly outstripped
the Congregationalists and the Quakers, as the main crusading force on
the continent. It was no coincidence that the revival known as the 'Great
Awakening' occurred in the 1730's, as Ulster immigration increased. The 'Great
Awakening' was the American equivalent of the birth of Methodism
(Huguenotism). It was a time of great change in spiritual affairs, but many were
repelled by the hysteria associated with the revival.
Consequently, divisions appeared within the Protestant faith in America,
between the followers of the 'New Light' (who were caught up in the spirit of the
'Great Awakening') and the followers of what was known as the 'Old Light', who
adhered to longer-established and quieter forms of religious practice.
It was also a split between the liberal and rational religion of the urban areas and
the fundamentalist faith of the frontier, which of course, was where the Ulster
settlers were to be found.
172

American Nationhood
If the Ulstermen and women were natural frontiersmen, it was also true to say
that the frontier helped shape their character into something new, that which is
now recognized as American. The distances between homes on the American
frontier, was in contrast to the village pattern of settlement in Ulster and resulted
in the fostering of a greater sense of individuality and independence, than had
been the case in the Old World. A life of continual movement to new grounds
broke down social barriers and put the onus on individual achievement.
Since these settlers helped to mould the land they lived in, it was not long before
they came to regard themselves as American, rather than as an immigrant
community. As Britain and the American colonies began to grow further apart,
the opportunity would soon be at hand for these sons and daughters of the 'old
world', to make good their claim to nationhood and to be a new people.
Theodore Roosevelt's pen sweeps majestically across the page, charting the
magnificent story of the Ulster-American people, from their arrival in the early
eighteenth century, to where the fight for freedom beckoned:
1700 AD HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
OF NORTH CAROLINA
John Barrs and Sarah Spears-Barrs settled in the coastal lowland farming
region of North Carolina following their arrival in 1750 AD.
Thanks to The State Library of North Carolina
North Carolina Encyclopedia
Early History
At the time of the first European contact, North Carolina was inhabited by a
number of Native American Tribes sharing some cultural traits, but also
distinguished by regional and linguistic variations. Three major language families
were represented in North Carolina: Iroquoian, Siouan, and Algonquian.
The Iroquoian tribes--the Cherokee, Tuscarora, Meherrin, Coree, and Neuse
River (which may have been Iroquoian or Algonquian)--were related linguistically
and culturally to the Iroquois tribes to the north.
173

The Cherokee were located in the mountains on the western boundaries of the
state and the Tuscarora, Meherrin, Coree, and Neuse River were located in the
coastal plains. Located primarily in the piedmont area, or central portion, of the
state were the Siouan tribes: the Cape Fear, Catawba, Cheraw, Eno, Keyauwee,
Occaneechi, Saponi, Shakori, Sissipahaw, Sugaree, Tutelo, Waccamaw,
Wateree, Waxhaw, and Woccon.
The Algonquian-speaking tribes represented the southernmost extension of
predominantly Northeastern Woodlands tribes and were located entirely in the
tidewater area of the state. These were the Bear River, Chowan, Hatteras,
Nachapunga, Moratok, Pamlico, Secotan, and Weapomeoc.
Since most historical accounts of travelers and settlers dealt with either the
Cherokee or the Algonquian, little is known about the Siouan peoples and their
pre-contact cultures.
The descriptions that follow will deal with the Cherokee as representative of the
Iroquoian, with the Catawba as representative of the Siouan-speakers and the
piedmont tribes, and the coastal Algonquian.
Coastal Algonquian
At the time of the first contact of Europeans with the Native Americans , the
Algonquian tribes occupied the tidewater areas of the Atlantic Coast extending
from Canada to as far south as the Neuse River in North Carolina. In 1584, the
estimated 7,000 Algonquians living in North Carolina were relative newcomers to
the Southeast, having come in a series of migrations. To some extent, they
retained cultural elements from their Northeastern Algonquian traditions, but
there was also a great deal of cultural borrowing from their southern neighbors
as they adapted to the geographical and climatic conditions of the area, in that
they were more water-oriented and placed more emphasis upon hunting, fishing,
and gathering than did most of their neighbors.
Catawba
The Catawba was one of the Siouan-speaking tribes of the piedmont area of the
Carolinas at the time of the first European contact. Little is known of their culture
and life style at that time, since contact was few and sporadic and little was
documented of their culture. What is known is based largely on the writings of
John Lawson, who explored the piedmont territory and visited the Catawba in
1701 AD.
174

Not only is little known about the Catawba culture, there is also confusion as to
exactly who the Catawba were. The Catawba Nation was actually a military
alliance of several Siouan tribes and remnants of tribes or bands decimated by
war and disease that joined the Catawba. In the historical records, they have
been known by several different names: the Spanish referred to them as the
Issa, the Ysa, or the Usi and the 17th century Virginians called them the
Usheree or Ushery. After the Yamasee War they became known as the
Catawba, which means "cut off," apparently referring to their being cut off from
other Siouan tribes. Their name for themselves was I Ye Ye, "people," or Nieye,
"real people." At the time of contact, there were approximately 6,000 Catawbas,
equal in size to the Tuscaroras. The only tribe larger than these two groups was
the Cherokee.
Cherokee
At the time of their first contact with Europeans, in the mid-16th century, the
Cherokee lived in the isolated hills and valleys of the highest portions of the
Southern Appalachians. Related linguistically to the Iroquois to the north, some
scholars believe that successive groups of Cherokee were driven southwards in
pre-Columbian times until they settled in the Southern Appalachians.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the Cherokee territory had expanded to
include Allegheny County in southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina,
northwestern South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia and
Alabama. Abundant in natural resources, this area provided over 800 species of
plants used for food, medicines, and crafts. A wide variety of trees in the dense
forests were available for fuel, weaving fibers, twine, medicinal barks and the
framework and covering of dwellings, while plentiful animals provided food,
clothing, shelter, and medicine.
The first known European exploration of North Carolina occurred during the
summer of 1524 AD. A Florentine navigator named Giovanni da Verrazano, in
the service of France, explored the coastal area of North Carolina between the
Cape Fear River area and Kitty Hawk. A report of his findings was sent to
Francis I and published in Richard Hakluyt's Divers Voyages Touching the
Discoverie of America. No attempt was made to colonize the area.
Between 1540 and 1570 AD several Spanish explorers from the Florida Gulf
region explored portions of North Carolina, but again no permanent settlements
were established.
175

Coastal North Carolina was the scene of the first attempt to colonize America by
English-speaking people. Two colonies were begun in the 1580's under a
charter granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Walter Raleigh. The first colony,
established in 1585 AD under the leadership of Ralph Lane, ended in failure.
A second expedition under the leadership of John White began in the spring of
1587 AD when 110 settlers, including seventeen women and nine children, set
sail for the new world. The White Colony arrived near Hatteras in June, 1587
AD, and went on to Roanoke Island, where they found the houses built by Ralph
Lane's expedition still standing. Two significant events occurred shortly after the
colonist's arrival: two "friendly" Indians were baptized and a child was born.
Virginia Dare, as the baby was named, became the first child born to Englishspeaking
parents in the new world.
The colonists faced many problems. As supplies ran short White was pressured
to return to England for provisions. Once in England, White was unable to
immediately return to Roanoke because of an impending attack by the Spanish
Armada. When he was finally able to return in 1590 AD, he found only the
remnants of what was once a settlement. There were no signs of life, only the
word "CROATAN" carved on a nearby tree.
Much speculation has been made about the fate of the "Lost Colony," but no
one has successfully explained the disappearance of the colony and its settlers.
(Speculation is that the colonists were so decimated from the lack of food and
supplies on Roanoke Island when winter set in that they left a message
["CROATAN"] carved in a tree to John White telling him where they had gone to
await his return and went, either voluntary or involuntary no one knows for sure,
with a neighboring tribe to live in their village on the mainland of North Carolina
where food and shelter was more available. Since John White had no idea what
the word Croatan meant he never searched for the missing colonist of Roanoke
Island and they have been lost to history. Rumor has it that Native and
Caucasian crossed people inhabited and still live in the area where the word
Croatan was known to denote a place or chieftain's tribe.)
Colonial Period
The first permanent English settlers in North Carolina were immigrants from the
tidewater area of southeastern Virginia. The first of these "overflow" settlers
moved into the Albemarle area of northeast North Carolina around 1650 AD.
In 1663 AD, Charles II granted a charter to eight English gentlemen who had
helped him regain the throne of England. The charter document contains the
following description of the territory which the eight Lords Proprietors were
granted title to:
176

All that Territory or tract of ground, situate, lying, and being within our Dominions
in America, extending from the North end of the Island called Luck Island, which
lies in the Southern Virginia Seas and within six and Thirty degrees of the
Northern Latitude, and to the West as far as the South Seas; and so Southerly
as far as the River Saint Mathias, which borders upon the Coast of Florida, and
within one and Thirty degrees of Northern Latitude, and West in a direct Line as
far as the South Seas aforesaid;
Together with all and singular Ports, Harbors, Bays, Rivers, Isles, and Islets
belonging unto the Country aforesaid; And also, all the Soil, Lands, Fields,
Woods, Mountains, Farms, Lakes, Rivers, Bays, and Islets situate or being
within the Bounds or Limits aforesaid; with the Fishing of all sorts of Fish,
Whales, Sturgeons, and all other Royal Fishes in the Sea, Bays, Islets, and
Rivers within the premises, and the Fish therein taken; And moreover, all Veins,
Mines, and Quarries, as well discovered as not discovered, of Gold, Silver,
Gems, and precious Stones, and all other, whatsoever be it, of Stones, Metals,
or any other thing whatsoever found or to be found within the Country, Isles, and
Limits..."
The territory was called Carolina in honor of Charles the First ("Carolus" is the
Latin form of "Charles"). In 1665 AD, a second charter was granted to clarify
territorial questions not answered in the first charter. This charter extended the
boundary lines of Carolina to include;
All that Province, Territory, or Tract of ground, situate, lying, and being within our
Dominions of America aforesaid, extending North and Eastward as far as the
North end of Carahtuke River or Gullet; upon a straight Westerly line to
Wyonoake Creek, which lies within or about the degrees of thirty six and thirty
Minutes, Northern latitude, and so West in a direct line as far as the South Seas;
and South and Westward as far as the degrees of twenty nine, inclusive,
northern latitude; and so West in a direct line as far as the South Seas.
Between 1663 and 1729 AD, North Carolina was under the control of the Lords
Proprietors and their descendants, who commissioned colonial officials and
authorized the governor and his council to grant lands in the name of the Lords
Proprietors. In 1669 AD, John Locke wrote the Fundamental Constitutions as a
model for the government of Carolina. Albemarle County was divided into local
governmental units called precincts. Initially there were three precincts--Berkley,
Carteret, and Shaftesbury--but as the colony expanded to the south and west
new precincts were created. By 1729 AD, there were a total of eleven precincts:
six in Albemarle County and five in Bath County, which had been created in
1696 AD.
177

Although the Albemarle Region was the first permanent settlement in the
Carolina area, another region was developed around present-day Charleston,
South Carolina. Because of the natural harbor and easier access to trade with
the West Indies, more attention was given to developing the Charleston area
than her northern counterparts. For a twenty-year period, 1692-1712 AD, the
colonies of North and South Carolina existed as one unit of government.
Although North Carolina still had her own assembly and council, the governor of
Carolina resided in Charleston and a deputy governor appointed for North
Carolina.
In 1729 AD, seven of the Lords Proprietors sold their interests in North Carolina
to the Crown and North Carolina became a royal colony. The eighth proprietor,
Lord Granville, retained economic interest and continued granting land in the
northern half of North Carolina. All political functions were under the supervision
of the Crown until 1775 AD.
Colonial government in North Carolina was essentially the same during both the
proprietary and royal periods. The only major difference was who appointed
colonial officials. There were two primary units of government: one consisted of
the governor and his council and the other consisted of a colonial assembly of
persons elected by the qualified voters of the county. There were also colonial
courts; however, unlike today's courts, they were rarely involved in formulating
policy. Either the Lords Proprietors prior to 1729 AD or the Crown appointed all
colonial officials afterwards.
Members of the colonial assembly were elected from the various precincts
(counties) and from certain towns that had been granted representation. The
term "precinct" as a geographical unit ceased to exist after 1735 AD. These
areas became known as "counties," and about the same time "Albemarle
County" and "Bath County" ceased to exist as governmental units.
The governor was an appointed official, as were the colonial secretary, attorney
general, surveyor general, and the receiver general. All officials served at the
pleasure of the Lords Proprietors or the Crown. During the proprietary period,
the council was comprised of appointed persons who were to look after the
proprietors' interests in the new world.
The council served as an advisory group to the governor during the proprietary
and royal periods, as well as serving as the upper house of the legislature when
the assembly was in session. When vacancies occurred in colonial offices or on
the council, the governor was authorized to carry out all mandates of the
proprietors, and could make a temporary appointment until proprietary or royal
commission filled the vacancy.
178

One member of the council was chosen as president of the group, and many
council members were also colonial officials. If a governor or deputy governor
was unable to carry on as chief executive because of illness, death, resignation,
or absence from the colony, the president of the council became the chief
executive and exercised all powers of the governor until the governor returned or
a new governor was commissioned.
The colonial assembly was made up of men elected from each precinct and
town where representation had been granted. Not all counties were entitled to
the same number of representatives. Many of the older counties had five
representatives each while those newer ones formed after 1696 AD were each
allowed only two. Each town granted representation was allowed one
representative. The presiding officer of the colonial assembly was called the
speaker and was elected from the entire membership of the house. When a
vacancy occurred, a new election was ordered by the speaker to fill it.
On the final day of each session, both the speaker and the president of the
council signed the bills passed by the legislature. The colonial assembly could
not meet arbitrarily, but rather convened only when called into session by the
governor.
Being the only body authorized to grant a salary to the governor or to be
responsible for spending tax monies, the legislature met on a regular basis until
just before the Revolutionary War; however, there was a constant battle for
authority between the governor and his council on the one hand and the general
assembly on the other. Two of the most explosive issues were the power of the
purse and the electing of the treasurer, both privileges of the assembly. Another
issue of contention was who had the authority to create new counties.
On more than one occasion, elected representatives from counties created by
the governor and council, without consultation and proper legislative action by
the lower house, were refused seats until the matter was resolved. These
conflicts between the executive and legislative bodies were to have a profound
effect on the organization of state government after independence.
The Halifax Resolves
North Carolina, on April 12, 1776 AD, authorized her delegates to the
Continental Congress to vote for independence. This was the first official action
by a colony calling for independence. The 83 delegates present in Halifax at the
Fourth Provincial Congress unanimously adopted the Halifax Resolves, which
read as follows:
179

'The Select Committee taking into Consideration the usurpations and
violation attempted and committed by the King and Parliament of
Britain against America, and the further Measures to be taken for
frustrating the same, and for the better defenses of this province
reported as follows, to wit, It appears to your Committee that
pursuant to the Plan concerted by the British Ministry for subjugating
America, the King and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped a
Power over the Persons and Properties of the People unlimited and
uncontrolled and disregarding their humble Petitions for Peace,
Liberty and safety, have made divers Legislative Acts, denouncing
War Famine and every Species of Calamity daily employed in
destroying the People and committing the most horrid devastations
on the Country.
Governors in different Colonies have declared Protection to Slaves
who should imbrue their Hands in the Blood of their Masters. That
the Ships belonging to America are declared prizes of War and many
of them have been violently seized and confiscated in consequence
of which multitudes of the people have been destroyed or from easy
Circumstances reduced to the most Lamentable distress.
And whereas the moderation hitherto manifested by the United
Colonies and their sincere desire to be reconciled to the mother
Country on Constitutional Principles, have procured no mitigation of
the aforesaid Wrongs and usurpations and no hopes remain of
obtaining redress by those Means alone which have been hitherto
tried, Your Committee are of Opinion that the house should enter into
the following Resolve, to wit.
Resolved that the delegates for this Colony in the Continental
Congress be empowered to concur with the other delegates of the
other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign
Alliances, resolving to this Colony the Sole, and Exclusive right of
forming a Constitution and Laws for this Colony, and of appointing
delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general
Representation thereof to meet the delegates of the other Colonies
for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out.'
The Halifax Resolves were important not only because they were the first official
action calling for independence, but also because they were not unilateral
recommendations. They were instead recommendations directed to all the
colonies and their delegates assembled at the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia.
180

Virginia followed with her own recommendations soon after the adoption of the
Halifax Resolution, and eventually on July 4, the final draft of the Declaration of
Independence was signed. William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn
were the delegates from North Carolina who signed the Declaration of
Independence.
American Revolutionary War to The War Between the States
In early December 1776 AD, delegates to the Fifth Provincial Congress adopted
the first constitution for North Carolina. On December 21, 1776 AD, Richard
Caswell became the first governor of North Carolina under the new constitution.
In 1788 AD, North Carolina rejected the United States Constitution because of
the lack of necessary amendments to ensure freedom of the people; however,
on November 21, 1789 AD, the state adopted the constitution, becoming the
twelfth state to enter the federal union.
A constitutional convention was held in 1835 AD, and among several changes
made in the constitution was the method of electing the governor. After this
change the people elected the governor for a term of two years, instead of being
elected by the legislature for one year. Edward Bishop Dudley was the first
governor elected by the people.
In 1868 AD, a second constitution, which drastically altered North Carolina
government, was adopted. For the first time all major state officers were elected
by the people. The governor and other executive officers were elected to fouryear
terms, while the justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the superior
court, were elected to eight-year terms.
The members of the General Assembly continued to be elected for two-year
terms. Between 1868 and 1970 AD numerous amendments were incorporated
into the 1868 AD constitution, so that, in 1970 AD, the people voted to adopt a
completely new constitution. Since then, several amendments have been
ratified, but one in particular is a break from the past. In 1977, the people voted
to allow the governor and lieutenant governor to run for reelection successively
for an additional term.
In 1790 AD, North Carolina ceded her western lands that included Washington,
Davidson, Hawkins, Greene, Sullivan, Sumner, and Tennessee counties, to the
federal government. Between 1790 and 1796 AD the territory was known as
Tennessee Territory, but in 1796 AD it became simply Tennessee, the sixteenth
state in the Union.
181

During the years between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, North Carolina
developed a system of state and local government to meet the needs of its
people. During this same period, two North Carolina natives were elected to the
presidency of the United States: Andrew Jackson, the seventh president (1829-
1837 AD), and James K. Polk, the eleventh president (1845-1849 AD).
Although there was much division in the state concerning secession, North
Carolina did secede on May 20, 1861 AD. North Carolina was not considered a
wealthy state, but during the Civil War North Carolina supplied more men and
materials to the Confederate cause than any other state.
The state also suffered the largest number of losses than any other Confederate
state during the war. General Joseph Johnston surrendered the last major
Confederate Army to General William Sherman near Durham on April 26, 1865
AD.
North Carolina was readmitted to the Union in 1868 AD. Serving as president
during much of the difficult period of Reconstruction was Andrew Johnson, the
seventeenth president (1865-1869 AD), another North Carolina native. The
years of reconstruction and the decades following were characterized by
courageous readjustments.
The Twentieth Century
In 1901 AD Governor Charles B. Aycock introduced a far-reaching program of
education throughout the state, an event that marked an important turning point
in the history of North Carolina.
In 1903 AD the Wright Brothers made the first successful powered flight by man
at Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk. The Wright Memorial at Kitty Hawks now
commemorates their achievement.
In the 1920's a pioneer road-building program was instituted which ultimately
caused the state to be known as the "Good Roads State."
Established in 1959 AD to enhance North Carolina's economic growth, the
Research Triangle Park is a unique complex for organizations engaged in
institutional, governmental, and industrial research. Three major research
universities--Duke University in Durham, North Carolina State University in
Raleigh, and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill--are both the base
and the capstone of the Research Triangle Park.
Bottom line, North Carolina was not a paradise in the 1750s…Al Barrs
182

THE WARWICKSHIRE RESEARCH OF
ANTHONY MORSTON BARRS
“TONY”
The following two family lines of Barrs separated in 1749 AD when my (Al Barrs’)
ancestral Grandparents, John Barrs born in 1727, left Toft Hamlet after selling
his father’s inheritance, married Sarah Spears in St. Peter and St. Paul Parish
Church in Aston Juxta Hamlet (Birmingham) in Warwickshire England for good to
seek his fortunes in America. Our most common validated ancestral
Grandparent to date is William Barrs who died in 1560. We only know that one
son was named Robert Barrs and he died in Bulkington Warwickshire May 23,
1595. Robert Barrs had a son named Thomas Barrs who was born in
Bulkington Village and moved his family to Thurlaston Village in 1612 and died
in Thurlaston Village Warwickshire. Thomas Barrs was the first known ancestor
to have been buried in Dunchurch.
Thomas Barrs had a son named Abraham Barrs who was born in1603 in
Bulkington Village Warwickshire. Abraham Barrs died in 1682 in Toft Hamlet
Warwickshire England. Abraham Barrs became a prominent farmer in the
region and became known as Abraham Barrs of Toft. We know more about
Abraham Barrs than any of his preceding family.
Abraham Barrs of Toft was born1603 in Toft Hamlet. We first find him in the
parish records living in Toft Hamlet near Dunchurch Village in the Midlands of
Warwickshire England. He was the oldest son of Thomas and Margery Barrs
and farmed property near Toft Hamlet. In keeping with an early Barrs' motto
Abraham certainly had 'FORTITUDE.’ He set our like his father Thomas Barrs
to make his own way in the world. He began to build what would become the
Barrs farming and livestock operations in Toft Hamlet and Dunchurch Village.
Abraham Barrs of Toft became a respected and prosperous citizen in his
community, church and by working extremely hard to succeed.
Tony (Anthony Marston Barrs) and his son David Barrs (daughter Sue Barrs-
McLennan) were born near Toft Hamlet in Nuneaton Warwickshire began doing
Barrs history research several years ago. In 2000 Tony contacted me by e-mail
after noticing a name in my Website family tree postings that he had in his
extensive Barrs family history records. After comparing names, birth dates, and
other information by e-mail we each discovered and agreed that we that
Abraham Barrs of Toft born in 1603 was our common ancestral grandfather.
Abraham Barrs sons Thomas (b. 1631) and Abraham Barrs (b. 1633) were
brothers. Tony Barrs’ ancestral grandfather Thomas Barrs was born in 1631 in
Toft Hamlet Warwickshire England.
183

My (Al Barrs') ancestral grandfather Abraham Barrs was born in 1633 in Toft
Hamlet Warwickshire England. From this point on we have mapped out both our
family's history in England and America.
Our Barrs family had been separated by 254 years of time and an ocean until I
(Al Barrs) flew to Scotland to visit Tony and his family. Tony and I drove to
England to visit historic places where our Barrs were born, lived, worked,
married, died and buried. We then drove down to Tony’s son David’s home in
Essex County for a few days. (Trip September 2-16, 2003)
Barrs in England Family History by Anthony M. Barrs AUG, 2002
Scanned and inserted by Al Barrs, Jr. SEP 7, 2002
You can enlarge the page to read the following documents
Our Barrs family Toft Hamlet Farm located just south of Dunchurch Village
Warwickshire England in “The Midlands” of England. Toft Hill top left…
Photo taken September 2003 by Al Barrs
184