hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2017-10-16

■ #3094. 449年以前にもゲルマン人はイングランドに存在した [anglo-saxon][history][archaeology][map]

　標題について，「#2493. アングル人は押し入って，サクソン人は引き寄せられた？」 ([2016-02-23-1]) で， Gramley (16) の "Pre-Conquest Germanic cemeteries" と題する地図を示した（以下に再掲）．



　5世紀初め，そしておそらくもっと古くから，ゲルマン人がイングランドにいたことが考古学的な証拠から示唆されるが，この辺りの事情について，Gramley (16--17) の説明を引用しておきたい．

The earliest evidence we have of Germanic settlement in Britain consists of the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries and settlements in the region between the Lower Thames and Norfolk. Others possibly lay in Lincolnshire and Kent. In Caister-by-Norwich there was a large cremation cemetery outside the town dating from about 400. Similar settlements were found near Leicester, Ancaster, and Great Chesterford. One of the most likely explanations for these settlements, virtually always outside the city walls, was that the Germanic invaders were invited there to protect the British settlements, especially after the Romans withdrew. Much as in other western provinces, the Empire relied on barbarian troops and officers from the late third century on.
  The formal end of Roman rule by 410 did not mean the end of all efforts to protect Britain from external attacks, the most serious of which came from the Scots and the Picts . . . to the north and the sea-borne Saxons among others. It may well have been that the British leaders continued to use Germanic troops after 410 and perhaps even to increase their numbers. For the Germanic newcomers it was probably of no importance who recruited them. They were simply doing what their fathers before them had done. However, without any central power to coordinate defenses the Germanic forces would soon have realized they had a free hand to do as they wished. Soon more would be coming from the Continental coast near the Elbe and Weser estuaries (the Saxons), from Schleswig-Holstein, especially the region of Angeln (the Angels (sic)), from northern Holland (the Frisians), and probably from Jutland (the Jutes).

　伝説によれば，449年に Hengist と Horsa というジュート人の兄弟が，ブリトン人に呼ばれる形でイングランドに足を踏み入れたとされるが，実際にはすでにゲルマン人はその数十年も前からイングランドに存在しており，5世紀半ばには，大陸から仲間を呼び寄せるのに，ある意味で準備万端であったとも言えるのである．ゲルマン人のイングランドへの侵攻は，伝説が示すほど電撃的なものではなかったと考えられる．
　関連して，「#33. ジュート人の名誉のために」 ([2009-05-31-1])，「#389. Angles, Saxons, and Jutes の故地と移住先」 ([2010-05-21-1])，「#1013. アングロサクソン人はどこからブリテン島へ渡ったか」 ([2012-02-04-1])，「#2353. なぜアングロサクソン人はイングランドをかくも素早く征服し得たのか」 ([2015-10-06-1]) の記事も参照されたい．

　・ Gramley, Stephan. The History of English: An Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012.

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