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ANGLI, ANGLII

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 19 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANGLI, ANGLII or ANGLES, a See also:Teutonic See also:people mentioned by See also:Tacitus in his Germania (cap. 40), at the end of the 1st See also:century. He gives no precise indication of their See also:geographical position, but states that, together with six, other tribes, including the Varini (the Warni of later times), they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus, whose See also:sanctuary was situated on " an See also:island in the Ocean." See also:Ptolemy in his See also:Geography (ii. 11. § 15), See also:half a century later, locates them with more precision between the See also:Rhine, or rather perhaps the See also:Ems, and the See also:Elbe, and speaks of them as one of the See also:chief tribes of the interior. Unfortunately, however, it is clear from a comparison of his See also:map with the See also:evidence furnished by Tacitus and other See also:Roman writers that the indications which he gives cannot be correct. Owing to the uncertainty of these passages there has been much See also:speculation regarding the See also:original See also:home of the Angli. One theory, which however has little to recommend it, is that they dwelt in the See also:basin of the See also:Saale (in the neighbourhood of the See also:canton Engilin), from which region the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed by many to have come. At the See also:present See also:time the See also:majority of scholars believe that the Angli had lived from the beginning on the coasts of the Baltic, probably in the See also:southern See also:part of the Jutish See also:peninsula. The evidence for this view is derived partly from See also:English and Danish traditions dealing with persons and events of the 4th century (see below), and partly from the fact that striking See also:affinities to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in Scandinavian, especially See also:Swedish and Danish, See also:religion. Investigations in this subject have rendered it very probable that the island of Nerthus was Sjaelland (See also:Zealand), and it is further to be observed that the See also:kings of Wessex traced their ancestry ultimately to a certain Scyld, who is clearly to be identified with Skioldr, the mythical founder of the Danish royal See also:family (Skioldungar). In English tradition this See also:person is connected with " Scedeland " (p1.), a name which may have been applied to Sjaelland as well as Skane, while in Scandinavian tradition he is specially associated with the See also:ancient royal See also:residence at Leire in Sjaelland.

See also:

Bede states that the Angli before they came to See also:Britain dwelt in a See also:land called Angulus, and similar evidence is given by the Hisloria Brittonum. See also:King See also:Alfred and the chronicler A thelweard identified this See also:place with the See also:district which is now called See also:Angel in the See also:province of See also:Schleswig (Slesvig), though it may then have been of greater extent, and this See also:identification agrees very well with the indications given by Bede. Full See also:confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions See also:relating to two kings named See also:Wermund (q.v.) and Off a (q.v.), from whom the Mercian royal family were descended, and whose exploits are connected with Angel, Schleswig and See also:Rendsburg. Danish tradition has pre-served See also:record of two See also:governors of Schleswig, See also:father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine) and Wigo (See also:Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex claimed descent. During the 5th century the Angli invaded this See also:country (see BRITAIN, Anglo-Saxon), after which time their name does not recur on the See also:continent except in the See also:title of the See also:code mentioned above. The province of Schleswig has proved exceptionally See also:rich in prehistoric antiquities which date apparently from the 4th and 5th centuries. Among the places where these have been found, See also:special mention should be made of the large See also:cremation See also:cemetery at Borgstedterfeld, between Rendsburg and Eckernforde, which has yielded many urns and brooches closely resembling those found in See also:heathen See also:graves in See also:England. Of still greater importance are the See also:great deposits at Thorsbjaerg (in Angel) and Nydam, which contained large quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of clothing, agricultural implements, &c., and in the latter See also:case even See also:ships. By the help of these discoveries we are able to reconstruct a fairly detailed picture of English See also:civilization in the See also:age preceding the invasion of Britain. See also:Die Angeln (1889); A. See also:Erdmann, Ober die Heimat and den Namen der Angeln (L psala, 189o-cf. H.

Moller in the Anzeiger See also:

fur deutsches Altertum and deutsche Litteratur, xxii. 129 ff.); A. See also:Kock in the Historisk Tidskrift (See also:Stockholm), 1895, xv. p. 163 ff. ; G. Schutte, See also:Var Anglerne Tyskere? (Flensborg, 1900); H. See also:Munro See also:Chadwick, The Origin of the English Nation (See also:Cambridge, 1907) ; C. See also:Engelhardt, See also:Denmark in the See also:Early See also:Iron Age (See also:London, 1866) ; J. Mestorf, Urnenfriedhofe in Schleswig-See also:Holstein (See also:Hamburg, 1886) ; S. See also:Muller, Nordische Altertumskunde (Ger. trans., See also:Strassburg, 1898), ii. p. 122 ff.; see further ANGLO-See also:SAXONS and BRITAIN, Anglo-Saxon.

(H. M.

End of Article: ANGLI, ANGLII

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