The map shows both the Angeln peninsula (to the east of Flensburg and Schleswig) and the Schwansen peninsula (south of the Schlei).
Modern
Angeln, also known as
Anglia (
German and
English:
Angeln,
Danish:
Angel,
Latin:
Anglia), is a
peninsula in
Southern Schleswig in the northern
Schleswig-Holstein,
Germany, protruding into the
Bay of Kiel. It is separated from the neighbouring peninsula of
Schwansen (Danish:
Svans or
Svansø) by the
Schlei inlet, and from the
Danish island of
Als by the
Flensburger Förde ("Firth of
Flensburg"). Whether ancient Angeln conformed to these borders is uncertain. It may have been somewhat larger; however, the ancient sources mainly concur that it included the territory of modern Angeln.
Angeln has a significance far beyond its current small area and country terrain, in that it is believed to have been the original home of the
Angles, Germanic immigrants to
central and
northern England, and
East Anglia. This migration led to their new homeland being named after them, from which the name "
England" derives. The
English Language thus ultimately derives its name from the Angles and Angeln.
Name
In one theory the name of the Angles came from
Germanic words for "narrow" (compare
German eng = "narrow"), and meant "the people who live beside the Narrow [Water]", i.e. beside the
Schlei estuary. The root would be , "tight".
The word
Angeln in German means "Angles", but is used as a way to designate the area they occupied (
Anglia). The most common theory is that the name
Angeln itself etymologically means "hook", as in
angling for
fish. Many reputable etymological dictionaries are silent on its root.
Julius Pokorny, a major Indo-European linguist, derives it from , "bend". The meaning would be
Anwohner der Holsteiner Bucht, "residents at the Bay of Holstein". The problem with this derivation is that
Grimm's Law does not appear to apply to it. The theory that "Angeln" refers to a
landform resembling a hook would have required advanced mapmaking abilities by its people, and is thus misleading.
Angeln is situated on the large bight linking the Baltic coast to Jutland, which is mainly the Bay of Kiel (
Kieler Bucht), but might be seen as
Holsteiner Bucht.
The Angles were part of the Federation of the
Ingaevones, with their mystic ancestor and
god of
fertility Yngvi, and both terms might well share the same root (inglish -> anglish), say as the origin of the federation. Pokorny points out the possible use of this etymological root in other ancient names, such as
Hardanger and
Angrivarii.
Early history
The region was home to the
Germanic people, the
Angles, who, together with
Saxons and
Jutes, left their home to migrate to
Britain in the 5th-6th centuries. For the years 449-455, the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes how king
Vortigern (a British king) invited the Angles to come and receive land among them if they would help to defend them against the
Picts. Those successful Angles sent word back that good land was available and that the British were worthless (presumably as soldiers). Then:
"From Anglia, which has ever since remained waste between the Jutes and the Saxons, came the East Angles, the Middle Angles, the Mercians, and all of those north of the Humber." ()
The phrase "north of the Humber" refers to the northern kingdom of
Northumbria which includes what is now north and north-eastern
England and part of southern
Scotland.
Mercia was located in central England and broadly corresponds to what is now known as the
English Midlands.
It had long been suspected from all the Germanic sources that this report is too simple, a suspicion confirmed by the archaeology; namely, the
fibulae, or brooches, worn by the women. There are essentially two kinds, the saucer brooch and the cruciform brooch. East coastal and northern Britain were settled by women wearing cruciform brooches, which came from coastal
Scandinavia, all of
Denmark, and Schleswig-Holstein all the way south to the lower
Elbe and all the way east to the
Oder, as well as a pocket in coastal
Friesland, the embarkation point.
South central Britain was settled by women wearing the saucer brooch, which came from
Lower Saxony, the south side of the lower Elbe, and pockets among the then
Franks up the
Rhine and along the coast to the mouth of the
Seine.
Eastern
Sweden, except in the far north, did not use either brooch, which may indicate that they were not as close culturally to the westward-looking population; i.e., they formed a conservative subculture of their own, the nucleus of a future Sweden. They would have looked adventurously rather to the east, where the
Goths had gone and where the
Vikings who would found
Russia were to go.
The most logical conclusion is that the people called "Angles" comprised the population of all of
Schleswig-Holstein and the
Propommern south to the first big bend in the
Elbe. They must have included identities mentioned under other names in the more ancient sources, just as the Angles themselves must have had other names. A more complete presentation is given under
Angles.
Later history
After the Angles departed from Anglia, by the 8th century the region was occupied by Danish
Vikings. This is reflected in the large number of place names ending in
-by (meaning
-city) in the region today. In the Viking period, the chronicler
Æthelweard reports that the most important town in Angeln was
Hedeby.
Later Angeln's history is subsumed in that of the larger surrounding region, which came to be known as
Southern Jutland or
Schleswig (Danish:
Slesvig). Until the 19th century, the area primarily belonged to Denmark. But ethnically and linguistically a mixed German/Danish population evolved. Denmark lost Schleswig to
Austria and
Prussia in 1864 as a result of the
second war of Schleswig. In 1920, following Germany's defeat in
World War I, a
plebiscite was held to determine which areas should return to Danish control. As a result of the plebiscite, much of Schleswig returned to Denmark, but Angeln remained in Germany. See
Schleswig-Holstein Question for a detailed history.
See also
