716 
SAX 
Odin.) The names of two of the Anglo-Saxon goddesses 
have been transmitred to us by Bede : he mentions Bheda, 
to whom they sacrificed in March, hence denominated 
Rehd-monath, and Eostrc, whose festivities were celebrated 
in April, called on this account Eostre-monath. The idol 
adored in Heiligland, one of the islands occupied by the 
Saxons, was Fosete, which gave name to the place, and 
was hence called Fosetesland. That the Angles had a god¬ 
dess called Hertha, or rnother-Earth, we learn from Taci¬ 
tus. The Saxons dreaded an evil being, whom they named 
Faul: some kind of female power they called an elf. They 
also venerated stones, groves, and fountains. The conti¬ 
nental Saxons respected the lady Hera, an imaginary being, 
who was thought to fly about in the air in the week after 
their Jule, or between our Christmas and Epiphany. Her 
visit was followed, as they conceived, by abundance. That 
the Saxons had many idols, is a well-known fact: but it is 
needless to enumerate them. That they had the horrid cus¬ 
tom of offering human sacrifices, is unquestionable: but 
whether such sacrifices were an established part of their su¬ 
perstitious ritual, or whether they were merely an occasional 
immolation of captives or criminals, is a point which can¬ 
not be decided. The latter is thought to be most probable. 
The Saxon idol, whose celebrity on the continent was the 
most eminent, was the Irminmla, or Armensula. The 
temple of this idol, which stood at Eresberg on the Dimele, 
or Mersberg, was spacious and magnificent; the image was 
raised upon a marble column; and the predominant figure 
was an armed warrior; its right hand held a banner, in 
which a red rose was conspicuous; its left presented a ba¬ 
lance : the crest of its helmet was a cock; on its breast was 
engraven a bear, and the shield depending from its shoul¬ 
ders exhibited a lion in a field full of flowers. Priests of 
both sexes attended the temple. The women applied them¬ 
selves to divination and fortune-telling ; the men sacrificed, 
and often intermeddled with political affairs, as their sanction 
was thought to insure success. These priests named the six¬ 
teen judges, who annually decided the provincial disputes. 
In the hour of battle they took their favourite image from 
its column, and carried it to the field. After the conflict, 
captives, and the cowardly of their own army, were immo¬ 
lated to the idol. In 772, this venerated object of Saxon 
superstition was thrown down and broken, and its fane de¬ 
stroyed by Charlemagne. Its immense wealth and precious 
vessels were distributed to the conquerors, or devoted to pious 
uses. The ancient Saxons were addicted to the prognosti¬ 
cation of events by auguries, lots, and omens, and to the 
practice of various kinds of magic. 
In the computation of time, our Saxon ancestors reckoned 
by nights instead of days, and by winters instead of years. 
Their months were governed by the revolution of the moon. 
They began their year from the day which we observe as 
Christmas-day, and in their common years they appropriated 
threfe lunar months to each of the four seasons: and when a 
year of thirteen months occurred, they added the superfluous 
month to their summer season. 
It has been a subject, of dispute, whether the Anglo- 
Saxons had the use of letters when they took possession of 
England. Although no specimen of any Saxon writing, 
anterior to their conversion to Christianity, can be pro¬ 
duced, yet some reasons have been alleged in favour of 
their knowledge of the art of writing in their Pagan state. 
To this purpose it has been urged, that alphabetical cha¬ 
racters were used by the northern nations on the Baltic, be¬ 
fore they received Christianity, and their origin has been 
ascribed to Odin, who is said to have settled in Saxony 
before he advanced to the north. Either, it is said, the 
Pagan Saxons were acquainted vrith the Runic characters, 
or they were introduced into the north after the fifth cen¬ 
tury, when the Saxons came to Britain, and before the 
middle of the sixth, when they are mentioned by Fortu- 
natus, which is contrary to the history and traditions of the 
Scandinavian nations, and to probability. Moreover, as 
the Anglo-Saxons were not inferior in civilization to any 
of the barbarous nations of the north, it cannot be leason- 
0 N. 
ably supposed that they were ignorant of Runic charac¬ 
ters, if their neighbours used them; but, besides, though the 
letters of our Saxon MSS. written after their conversion, 
are undoubtedly of Roman origin, except only two, yet 
these two characters, viz. those lor Hi and w, are allowed, 
by the best writers, to be of Runic parentage: hence it 
may be inferred, that the Anglo-Saxons were acquainted 
with Runic as w'ell as with Roman characters, when they 
commenced the hand-writing that prevails in their MSS. 
It is urged further, that if the Saxons had derived the use 
of letters from the Roman ecclesiastics, it is probable they 
would have taken from the Latin language the words they 
would use to express them: other nations, so indebted, 
have done this: but nations who had known letters before 
they became acquainted with Roman literature, would 
have indigenous terms to express them, and the Saxons 
have such terms. Upon the whole, Mr. Turner is induced 
to believe, that the Anglo-Saxons were not unacquainted 
with alphabetical characters when they came into England : 
but if they had ancient letters, they ceased to use them after 
their conversion, with the exception of those for the th and 
■w. If, however, the Anglo-Saxons had alphabetical cha¬ 
racters, they were much more used for divinations, charms, 
and funeral inscriptions, than for literary compositions. 
Mr. Turner proceeds to examine the manners of the An¬ 
glo-Saxons after their occupation of England. Having pos¬ 
sessed themselves of the south part ot Britain during the 
fifth and sixth centuries, they displayed qualities peculiarly 
inauspicious to the improvement of intellect and of moral 
character. They appear to have been bands of fierce, ig¬ 
norant, idolatrous, and superstitious pirates, enthusiastically 
courageous, but habitually cruel. Their improvement in 
manners and mental associations was very much promoted 
by the internal state of Britain at the time of their invasion. 
What this state w^as, Mr. Turner has particularly described. 
He observes, “ that the first great change in the Anglo- 
Saxons appeared in the discontinuance of their piracies. 
They ceased to be the ferocious spoilers of the ocean and 
its coasts. They became land-owners, agriculturists, and 
industrious citizens; they seized and divided the acquisitions 
of British influence, and made the commonalty of the island 
their slaves. Their war-leaders became territorial chiefs; 
and the conflicts of capricious and sanguinary robbery were 
exchanged for the possession and inheritance of property in 
its various sorts; tor tradtsand manufactures; for useful lux¬ 
uries, peaceful industry, and domestic comfort. He pro¬ 
ceeds to state, that their tenderest and most helpless years 
were under the care of females; that they had infant bap¬ 
tism, which they performed by immersion; that they used 
the cradle; that they venerated the relationship of god-fa¬ 
thers ; and that on the death of the father the children re r 
mained under the care of the mother, who was enjoined to 
provide for them, and recompensed for her trouble. Bede 
mentions, that their period of infancy ended with the seventh 
year, and that the first year of their childhood began with 
the eighth. As the Anglo-Saxons were not a literary people, 
their childish occupations must naturally be the exercises 
of muscular agility. The names of the Anglo-Saxons were 
imposed, in their infancy, by their parents; and these 
names were frequently compound words, rather expressive 
of caprice than of appropriate meaning. Whether the 
Anglo-Saxons had surnames, lias been a subject of discus¬ 
sion: it appears, however, that additional appellations were 
occasionally used by them, as mere personal distinctions; 
but in the progress of civilization, the convenience of a per¬ 
manent family denomination was so generally felt as to 
occasion the adoption of the custom; and it is probable 
that the first permanent surnames were the appellations of 
the places of birth, or residence, or a favourite ancestor. 
Education among the Anglo-Saxons was, as we may 
well imagine, in an imperfect state. Some men, how¬ 
ever, rising above the level of the age, endeavoured to re¬ 
commend the use of schools. Thus Sigebert, in the seventh 
century, as soon as he regained the East-Anglian throne 
after his exile in France, established a school in his domi¬ 
nions 
