What did the Anglo-Saxons believe?

In Roman Britain many people had been Christians. But the early Anglo-Saxons were not Christians, they were pagans.

After the Romans left, Christianity continued in places where Anglo-Saxons did not settle, like Wales and the west. The Anglo-Saxons had their own gods, beliefs and superstitions.

Anglo-Saxons believed in lucky charms. They thought that rhymes, potions, stones and jewels would protect them from evil spirits or sickness.

Over time their beliefs changed and many Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity.

Look at the table below to see some of the most important gods and goddesses. They also gave their names to days of the week.

Woden had two pet wolves and a horse with eight legs. He was a German version of the Scandinavian god Odin.

When Anglo-Saxons died, their bodies were often cremated or buried in a grave along with some belongings.

Men's graves included knives and spears. Women's graves included tools used for sewing and weaving. High status graves had swords and precious objects.

In 1939, an amazing discovery was made at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. Archaeologists found traces of an Anglo-Saxon ship and many precious objects. This was the grave of a king, probably King Raedwald of East Anglia. He died around AD625.

In AD595 Pope Gregory sent a mission to Britain led by St Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.

Augustine arrived in Kent and firstly converted the king there called Ethelbert.

More and more Anglo-Saxon kings and their people became Christians too. This is because they realised that by converting to one God, they could unite their people.

Pagan shrines were turned into churches, magic water became holy water, and various pagan gods were gradually turned in Christian saints.

Kings went into battle with priests, their armour and weaponry were carved with texts from the Bible which we know from the Staffordshire Hoard. With God on their side, they could not lose.

Monasteries were centres of learning. Monks and nuns spent their time there in prayer and study. They also copied out books by hand and decorated the pages in beautiful colours.

Monasteries were the only schools in Anglo-Saxon England. Boys lived there to train as monks and some girls became nuns.

Roman Christianity was strong in Europe, North Africa and Middle Eastern regions.

St Adrian was a famous abbot (head of a monastery) from North Africa, and was in charge of monasteries in Naples, Italy and the important St Augustine’s, Canterbury.

An English monk called Bede lived in the monastery at Jarrow in Northumbria. He went to live with monks in AD680, when he was just seven years old.

Bede wrote a book called 'A History of the English Church and People' in AD730. This was the story of the creation of a unified English peoples under one Church.

It was made into a book in the 9th century and starts with a decorated letter B (from 'Britain').

There was a famous monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. One of the monks, St Cuthbert, left the monastery to seek a life of solitude on the tiny Farne Islands out to sea.

St Cuthbert performed miracles. When he died, he was buried in Durham Cathedral. Kings visited him there because they believed he was a source of power and faith.