At Bewcastle the Anglo-Saxon cross dated from around 670. It
is in the churchyard of St Cuthbert's and records in Anglo-Saxon runes that it
was set up in memory of Alcfrith of Northumbria who became king in 670. Further west is the Ruthwell Cross in
Dumfriesshire, from the same period, also with an Anglo-Saxon inscription [26]. As well as these great
crosses, there are examples of pre-Viking, Anglo-Saxon cross styles at
Beckermet on the west coast of Cumberland and at Penrith.
This does not presume a wholesale Anglicisation, because the
monuments are for the ruling elite, who would be Anglo-Saxon, but in addition,
how a man carves a stone does not tell you what language he spoke, or what he
felt his identity to be. Alex Woolf
discusses the history of the ideas that the Anglo-Saxons came en masse from the Continent and wiped
out the Britons, or that only a warrior elite came and everyone else remained
British. Woolf's point that a language that the English learned by the Britons
would show a considerable influence from their Brittonic dialects if they only
had their landlord or themselves to practice on [23]. However, I would note that
they say that the English of the Scottish Highlands is the purest spoken
anywhere and while Irish English has Irish influence on it, it is still Standard
English rather than a Creole.
Woolf also quotes the West Saxon laws that give the rate of
fines payable for Saxons and Welshmen. The Welsh (Britons) are worth less but
there are Welsh nobles in the Saxon king's court who are still worth five times
more than an English churl. Woolf notes that similar low wergeld for Britons is
payable under the Northumbrian laws. Woolf says that the existence of Welsh
nobles in an Anglo-Saxon court suggests that some areas under the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom are still ruled by their British lords, albeit under the patronage of
the Anglo-Saxons.
We know that the Anglo-Saxons had a series of monasteries
across the area that was later the Kingdom of Cumbria. One of these was at
Dacre, west of Penrith. Probably at Workington, Brigham. Certainly at Carlisle,
and of course Whithorn. Ruthwell, Hoddom, Thornhill and Closeburn [27] Bailey believes that
Northumbrian churches were being granted land west of the Pennines by the
second half of the sixth century.
The Northumbrian lords ruled their new lands from fortified
centres at Bamburgh and Dunbar, as well as from Yeavering and Millfield in
Northumberland and Sprouston in Roxburghshire,
but they took over the native British systems of land organisation [10]
Bede wrote a history of the life of St Cuthbert [28]. Cuthbert was born around
634. He was a shepherd according to Bede in some "distant mountains"
when he had a vision of angels related to the death of Aidan, Bishop of
Lindisfarne. After this he devoted himself to God and became a monk at Melrose.
Bede visited Carlisle (in 685), which he says was corruptly called by the
English Luel to speak to the English
queen. Northumbrian control over Carlisle appears secure at this time and
English speakers were present. Cuthbert also visited the English named hermit
Herebert on an island on Derwentwater.
In 685, King Ecgfrith gave Cartmel and all its Britons to
Cuthbert. Another Anglian cross with an Anglo-Saxon runic inscription was found
at Great Urswick in Furness dating from the Northumbrian period.Ecgfrith also
gave Carlisle to Cuthbert around this time. Potts notes that Anglo-Saxon chroniclers
reports that the British fled or were cleared out and Anglo-Saxons planted in
their stead. [29]
Simeon of Durham tells us that in 756 King Eadberht along
with King Unust of the Picts received the Britons in alliance in the city of
Alcwith, which the editor notes is the Alclut of Bede [30]. The Britons of Strathclyde
clearly had some political autonomy but suffered at the hands of the
Northumbrians. English language place-names and dedications of churches to
Northumbrian saints - for example to St Oswald at Cathcart, which suggest that
the expansion of Northumbrian power was accompanied by Anglo-Saxon settlement
in what had been wholly British speaking territory [31]
In 759. Ethelwald known as Moll, which sounds suspiciously,
but inexplicably .like the Welsh Moel, referring
to his baldness - began to reign. In 764,
Frithwald, another Anglo-Saxon name, who was bishop at Whithorn, died. Ethelwald Moll's son, Aethelred took the sons
of an enemy from York and drowned them in Wonwaldremere (?Windermere). He allegedly killed another rival at
Maryport. This source for the location of this act at Maryport seems unclear to
me but it is reported on different websites [32]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that his body
was deposited at Tynemouth. It should be noted that throughout this century,
Northumbria was in frequent civil war.
The Vikings raided Lindisfarne in 793 but did not disturb
Cuthbert's relics. However, in 844, they killed Raedwald, King of Northumbria
and the monks decided to move the relics for saftey to Norham. In 867 the
Vikings captured York and killed the Northumbrian King. In 875, a Viking fleet
was anchored in the River Team and the Bishop of Lindisfarne with Eadred the
Abbot of Carlisle (note his Anglo-Saxon name) decided to move the relics again
from Lindisfarne. They stopped at Melrose, Durham and in Lancashire and
Yorkshire, allegedly wandering all over the lands held by the Northumbrians at
that time. The itinerary included
Whithorn. Daniel Elsworth has recently argued that the relics did not cross the
Solway to Whithorn but rather went crossed Morecambe Bay to the south [33].
Raine [34] following Simeon [30] tells us that the monks
carrying Cuthbert's relics eventually found their way to the mouth of the
Cumberland Derwent at Workington and were planning on heading across to Ireland
to escape the Norsemen but a storm arose and drove them back. Woolf dates this
to around 880 [8] It was felt that the storm
represented Cuthbert's will not to go overseas. If this is in any sense a true
story, it suggests that in the late 9th Century, Cumbria west of the Pennines
was seen as safe territory for the Northumbrians. Or at least safe Christian
territory.
Taken together, the material Anglo-Saxon remains, the
dedications to Northumbrian saints, the Anglo-Saxon place-names from this
period, and what history that we have suggests that following the Northumbrian
expansion into Berwickshire, Lothian, Dumfriesshire, Cumberland and Westmorland
and even parts of Lanarkshire, resulted in a significant Anglicisation of
previously British territory, similar to that which happened in Devon and
Somerset and the Welsh border counties, but not in Wales, or to the same extent
in Cornwall.
Woolf argues that the recovery of Anglian coinage from
Whithorn dating to the mid 860s indicates that Northumbrian governmental
control was maintained in that area until that time [8]. In 866, Danes attacked and
took York. They had come from Ireland where they had been active since around
851 [8]. Traditionally this was the establishment of
the Viking kingdom of York, though Woolf argues that it was not as clear cut [8]. Woolf says that the Vikings
then used anchored in the mouth of the Tyne and from there attacked the Picts
and Strathclyde. In 876 they sacked Carlisle, which of course up until then was
probably still under Northumbrian rule. At this time the Vikings began to
settle, at least east of the Pennines.
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