L
lynchet
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- Thread starter
- #31
After a couple of hundred years differences can easily grow.
And on the same basis what about the wars between the many kingdoms of the Saxons.
Local settlements always fought theur next door neighbours etc whether they were Celt or Saxon, unfortunatly thats human nature. The Celts weren't on any sort of anti-Saxon mission, they just wanted some of the land and booty from wars or even control over the whole kingdoms, as the Saxons did when they fought the Celts or each other - there was no great idealogical battle.
The Saxon journals and Bede etc can be pretty disparaging of Britons (Celts) but they are written much later on when the land was primarily Saxon -- and of course it made better reading to say you came and conquered than to admit you sidled in and asked if you could stay.
There is actually a lot of debate about when and why Offas dyke was built -- but if you take the view that it was defensive then clearly they felt at that time the Celts to the west were their main enemy - not because of idealogy but because the other Saxon kingdoms weren't as powerful at that time - the likes of the Hwicce and Magonsaeten had been taken within Mercia and, again if it was built around that date, that was the period of Mercian dominance amongst the Saxon kingdoms
And on the same basis what about the wars between the many kingdoms of the Saxons.
Local settlements always fought theur next door neighbours etc whether they were Celt or Saxon, unfortunatly thats human nature. The Celts weren't on any sort of anti-Saxon mission, they just wanted some of the land and booty from wars or even control over the whole kingdoms, as the Saxons did when they fought the Celts or each other - there was no great idealogical battle.
The Saxon journals and Bede etc can be pretty disparaging of Britons (Celts) but they are written much later on when the land was primarily Saxon -- and of course it made better reading to say you came and conquered than to admit you sidled in and asked if you could stay.
There is actually a lot of debate about when and why Offas dyke was built -- but if you take the view that it was defensive then clearly they felt at that time the Celts to the west were their main enemy - not because of idealogy but because the other Saxon kingdoms weren't as powerful at that time - the likes of the Hwicce and Magonsaeten had been taken within Mercia and, again if it was built around that date, that was the period of Mercian dominance amongst the Saxon kingdoms
