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Insights into Anglo-Saxon Life: Homes, Health, Dress, Entertainment & Society 449 - 1066

Discover the truth about Anglo-Saxon life from 449 to 1066, including their homes made of timber, health practices, dress styles, entertainment choices, and societal structures. Explore the unique aspects of their culture and beliefs, from cottage industries to religious feasting and funerals.

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Insights into Anglo-Saxon Life: Homes, Health, Dress, Entertainment & Society 449 - 1066

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  1. Anglo-Saxons:The Truth about the Boasts 449 - 1066

  2. Homes • Made of timber, central hearth, boat-shaped, louver in ceiling to let out smoke, benches and tapestries • Located in villages, near navigable rivers

  3. Food • Ate meat, kept animals in pens, depended on salt for preservation, used only knives

  4. Health • Groomed themselves with bone combs, bronze tweezers, small shears, etc. • Less than 50% reached age 30 • 82% dead by 40, 98% dead by 50 • No cavities, but much osteoarthritis from squatting

  5. Subject to frequent plagues and epidemics • Relied on herbal medicine • Performed some surgery: amputation of gangrenous limbs, hernias, hare lips

  6. Dress • Wore wool and linen • Headbands, gold brocade, brooches, wrist clasps, leg bandages, long hair • Rings with runic inscriptions, earrings, buckles, functional jewelry

  7. Entertainment • Hunting, falconry, bear- and bull-baiting • Athletic contests to sharpen martial skills • Musical instruments: horns, trumpets, lyres, pipes • POETRY • Religious feasting, wakes, harvesting • Riddles

  8. Industry • Cottage industries: soap makers, charcoal makers, ice skate makers, products of bone, pottery, metal works

  9. Women • Relatively unimportant in a warrior-based society, BUT some were powerful and were active in running large estates • Spinning, weaving, embroidery, domestic economy

  10. Society • Loyalty to lord came before kin (COMITATUS) • Would not leave battle alive if king were killed • Frequent stubborn blood feuds • WERGILD: compensation for death/injury

  11. Classes: king, nobles (earls), freeman (thanes), bonded peasants (churls), slaves (thralls) • King selected and advised by a council of elders (WITAN) • Trial by ordeal after oathing • Believed in marriage, divorce • Orphaned sons came of age at age 10

  12. Beliefs • Human sacrifice • Scandinavian gods • Eventually Christianized

  13. Funerals • Cremation • Inhumation (traditional burial) • Ship burial

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