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Beliefs in Anglo Saxon England - Coggle Diagram
Beliefs in Anglo Saxon England
Paganism
Anglo Saxon gods
TIW god of war
Woden king of the gods
Thunor god of thunder
Frige god of love
Anglo Saxon graves
buried with belongings or created
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.
n 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.
Christianity
Why did the Anglo-Saxons convert to Christianity?
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.
What changed when the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity?
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.
Why were monasteries important?
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.
Roman Christianity was strong in Europe, North Africa and Middle Eastern regions.
Monasteries were the only schools in Anglo-Saxon England. Boys lived there to train as monks and some girls became nuns.
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.