The Anglo-Saxons (446-871)
盎格魯-撒克遜人(公元446-871年)
1.Basis of Modern English race:the Anglo-Saxons.
英國種族的基礎:盎格魯-撒克遜人。
In the mid-5th century a new wave of invaders,Jutes, Saxons,and Angles came to Britain.They were three Teutonic tribes.
五世紀中葉,朱特人、撒克遜人和盎格魯人不斷入侵不列顛。這是三支日耳曼(條頓)部落。
The Jutes,who fished and farmed in Jutland,came to Britain first.A Jutish chief became the King of Kent in 449.Then the Saxons,users of the short-sword from northern Germany,established their kingdom in Essex,Sussex and Wessex from the end of the 5th century to the beginning of the 6th century.In the second half of the 6th century,the Angles,who also came from northern Germany and were to give their name to the English people,settled in East Anglia,Mercia and Northumbria.These seven principal kingdoms of Kent,Essex, Sussex,Wessex,East Anglia,Mercia and Northumbria have been given the name of Heptarchy.
居住在朱特蘭島(現丹麥南部)上從事打漁農耕的朱特人先抵達不列顛。449年,一位朱特族長成為了肯特的國王。后來從德國北部來的使用短劍的撒克遜人在埃撒克斯、蘇塞克斯和威塞克斯建立了王國,統治期從五世紀末至六世紀初。六世紀后半葉,同樣來自德國北部的盎格魯人,在東盎格利亞、麥西亞以及諾森伯利來定居,同時也他們也把名字給了英國人。這七個主要王國(肯特、埃塞克斯、蘇塞克斯、威塞克斯、東盎格利亞、麥西亞和諾森伯利亞),合稱為七王國。
2.The early Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity.
早期盎格魯-撒克遜人改信基督教。
The Anglo-Saxons brought their own Teutonic religion to Britain. Christianity soon disappeared,except among the Celts of Cornwall,Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In 597,Pope Gregory I sent St.Augustine,the Prior of St.Andrew's Monastery in Rome,to England to convert the heathen English to Christianity.In 579 St.Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.He was remarkably successful in converting the king and the nobility,but the conversion of the common people was largely due to the missionary activities of the monks in the north.
盎格魯-撒克遜人把日耳曼宗教帶到了英國。除了康瓦爾、威爾士、蘇格蘭和愛爾蘭的凱爾特人還信奉基督教外,基督教很快就消失了。公元597年,教皇格里高一世把羅馬圣安德魯修道院的副院長圣奧古斯丁派遣到英格蘭,其使命是使異教徒的英國人皈依基督教。公元579年圣奧古丁成為坎特伯雷大主教。在使國王和貴族皈依基督教方面,奧古斯丁非常成功。但是普通人的皈依很大程度上歸功于北部修士們的傳教活動。
3.The Early Anglo-Saxons make the contributions to the English state.
早期盎格魯-撒克遜人為英國做出的貢獻。
The Anglo-Saxons laid the foundations of the English state.Firstly,they divided the country into shires,with shire courts and shire reeves,or sheriffs,responsible for administering law.Secondly,they devised the narrow-strip,three-field farming system which continued to the 18th century. Thirdly,they also established the manorial system.Finally,they created the Witan(council or meeting of the wisemen)to advise the king,the basis of the Privy Council which still exists today.
盎格魯-撒克遜人為英國國家的形成打下了基礎。首先,他們把國家劃分為郡,郡法庭和郡法官、或行政司法長官負責執法。其次,他們設計的窄條三圃田農耕制延用至18世紀。此外,他們還建立了領地制。最后,他們還創立了議會(賢人會議),向國王提供建議,這就成為了今天仍存在的樞密院的基礎。
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