10 - The Kingdom of East Anglia, Frisia and Continental Connections, c. ad 600–900

Summary

East Anglia has long been appreciated as sharing links with the Continent, and the Netherlands in particular, through its geographical position on the North Sea littoral. While the sea has always acted as a conduit between the two areas, the extent and duration of particular phases of contact has been more difficult to assess. The question is particularly interesting in the case of Frisia, as linguistic similarities have suggested a close relationship with England. Likewise, the Netherlands coastal regions appear to have had limited settlement, suggesting the movement of peoples from the Anglo-Saxon west (Bremmer 1990; Knol 2009; Nieuwhof 2013). In this paper I examine the nature of these contacts following the Migration Period of the 5th and 6th centuries and before the opening of the Viking Age.

I use the kingdom of East Anglia as the basis of study for two reasons. First, as a defined political, geographical and possibly cultural entity in the Anglo-Saxon period, it provides us with a unit that maintained its integrity at a number of levels throughout this period. Second, and perhaps most pertinent, it is the obvious place to look for evidence of cultural interaction, being the political and topographical land unit within England geographically closest to early-medieval Frisia (Fig. 10.1). In its Anglo-Saxon sense, East Anglia may broadly be defined as the modern English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, although as Bede makes clear, the Isle of Ely was certainly included within it in the late 7th century at least (Historia Ecclesiastica IV.19). Surrounded by sea to the north and east, and partially isolated by the extensive marshlands of the Fens to the west, only to the south, and the border with the kingdom of the East Saxons, was there more traversable countryside. With its long coastline and rivers draining into the North Sea, East Anglia was a kingdom particularly suited to maritime communication, and an almost island-like territory itself on England's east coast.

Historical background

It seems right to discuss the sources that chronicle the historical kingdom's relations with the Continent first. Sadly, these are limited, reflecting the paucity of documentation for East Anglia more generally.