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NAMING PLACES

The community names used by the Anglo-Saxon invaders were of several kinds. Some were 'tribal', in the sense that all the members of the group would be originally related through kinship: the Angles may well have been a tribe, in this sense, though doubtless mixed with other stock. Other names reflected a much looser sense of 'tribal', being little more than a collection of bands gathered together under a leader. In some cases, a name reflected a confederation of groups who came together for defence or attack: this description seems to suit the Saxons, whose identity was based on their fighting ability with the type of short sword known as the seax. As long as a man carried a seax, he would be called Saxon, regardless of his ethnic or geographical origins. It was perfectly possible for an Angle to 'become' a Saxon by joining one of the seax-wielding groups.

[Taken from page 6]

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