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ENGLAND - Seamen, farmers, warriors and bards
Most Anglo-Saxon invaders were farmers looking for richer lands, but many of them were also deep-sea fishermen used to hunting seals and whales in the stormy ocean. They settled in a land of moor, marsh and thick forest and began to transform it into cultivable land. They regarder the forest both as malevolent and benign: malevolent because it was so vast and it was the natural home of bears and wolves; benevolent because it was the major source of the raw materials of daily life. many implements and almost all the buildings were made of wood, which also provided the only fuel. They improved the Celtic ploughing methods by introducing a heavier plough which required six or eight oxen to pull it.
They divided the fields into long thin strips to avoid the problem of turning the heavy ploughs. The land of each village was then divided into three sections: the first was used for planting spring crops, the second for autumn crops and the third was left as common land for pasture. The main advantage of this system of farming was that the land never wore out. Cattle was the most highly prized of Anglo-Saxon livestock: oxen were used for ploughing because they were cheaper to feed than horses and, when their working life was over, they could be eaten. Horses were kept for war and for sport. Pigs were also bred, as well as sheep, that provided milk, wool and meat. Hens and geese were common and bees were usually kept since honey was the only available sweeting substance. Honey was also the base for “mead”, the alcoholic drink favoured by the aristocracy.
The Anglo-Saxons built their wooden houses and halls in the valleys, usually near streams or rivers. The halls were decorated with carving and paint both inside and outside. The beauty of everyday objects was considered one of the pleasures of life, though few Anglo-Saxons could expect to enjoy either a very long life or a very healthy one. The climate of England was colder, damper and foggier at that time and few people lived beyond the age of forty-five. Epidemics and famine were also causes of mortality. Famine was so common in the early Anglo-Saxon period that it is perhaps significant that the modern English verb “to starve” derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “to die”. The spread of pestilence was caused by lack of personal hygene since cleanliness was taken as a sign of excessive pride. Medicine was primitive, usually connected with magic practices. However, there is evidence that there was surgery of a sort: cutting off portions of the body was a normal form of punishment; arrows were removed with a pair of tongs; stomach wounds were stiched by needle and silk thread. Blood-letting was the most popular of all remedies.
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