Wednesday, October 5, 2022

The Anglian phylarchy

The oldest Yankee capitol has been found, where the Venerable Bede said it would be found: Rendlesham. The Anglians held this capitol from AD 570 to 720 after which, I guess, they moved it. Rendlesham's hall was made of wood, being in an unstony part of Britain, so wasn't easy to find.

The kingdom is most famed these days for Sutton Hoo, which is close to Rendlesham but not in it. Probably because Sutton Hoo was... a grave, for king Raedwald to be exact. Although, based on his grave-goods: "king" and "rex" might be pushing it. Malak would be the best Semitic term, or gwasileus in Linear B because he seems to have bent it for the Merovings, the true sharru / wanakes of the sixth-seventh turn of the Century. A monk naming himself Augustine came to Cantwareburh and converted them to the Anglian rite in AD 597 - although, interestingly, made less headway among then-divergent Britons. (Also of note, perhaps, is that the Cantware king Aethelbert wasn't calling himself a Jute by then...)

After Augustine's ascension to the saints AD 605 the Merovings lost control of a lot of things, including, like, control of the Franks; Kent and Essex - the Anglians tell us - broke from all Christianity. East Anglia stayed loyal to Christ (read: to the Franks) which bought them political autonomy, to end in independence after Christianity didn't require Continental control anymore.

After AD 720 the Anglians would trundle along until the 800s when the Norsemen put paid to the whole place, possibly forcing today's division Suffolk and Norfolk. I don't know why there exists no "West Anglia" unless it's just Massachusetts.

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