Norwich in the Anglo-Saxon Period.
THE destruction of all documents relating to East Anglia, during the
irruptions of the Danes, has rendered this period the most obscure of any
period of our history. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes having subjugated
the fair territory of England, they divided it into seven kingdoms,
called the Heptarchy, in which Norfolk formed a part of East Anglia. The
Anglo-Saxon leader, Uffa, established himself in this part of the island,
in 575; and assumed dominion over that portion of the eastern district
now divided into Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, giving it the name
of East Anglia, of which Norwich was made the metropolis. Norwich was,
therefore, a royal city, and the residence of the kings. Uffa, the first
king, is supposed to have formed here a strong entrenchment of earth on
the site of the present castle, encircled by broad ramparts and a ditch,
as under the present Saxon arch. Uffa, who died A.D. 578, was succeeded
by his son Titul; on whose demise, in 599, his son Redwald assumed the
reins of government and embraced Christianity, but by the influence of
his wife renounced it again. He was succeeded, A.D. 624, by his son
Erpenwald, who was killed by a relation named Richbert, A.D. 633. His
half brother Sigebert, who succeeded to the crown, established the
bishopric of Dunwich, in Suffolk, and formed the first seminary for
religious instruction, which led to the establishment of the university
in Cambridge. Fatigued with the crown and its cares, he resigned it,
A.D. 644, to his kinsman Egric, and retired into the famous monastery at
Bury St. Edmund’s.
Norwich then became one of the chief seats of Anna, king of the East
Angles, who gave the castle, with the lands belonging to it, to his
daughter Ethelfrida on her marriage with Tombert, a prince of the
_Gyrvii_ or Fenmen, who inhabited the fens of Lincolnshire and the
adjacent parts of Norfolk. At the same time Tombert granted to
Ethelfrida, as a marriage settlement, the isle of Ely, which for greater
security was to be held by castle guard service to the castle of Norwich.
From the time of Anna till the reign of Alfred the Great there are few
events on record except the frequent incursions of the piratical Danes,
who at last over-ran East Anglia, and had their head quarters at Thetford
in 870. But the reign of the Great Alfred was distinguished by his
decisive victories over those Northern marauders. One of his chief
objects was to fortify the principal parts of his kingdom against hostile
attacks. Finding the walls or ramparts of Norwich Castle too weak for
repelling the attacks of the Danes, he caused others to be erected with
the most durable materials. That it was a noted military station, and a
royal castle in his time, is evident from a coin struck here in the year
872, having round the head _AElfred Rex_, and on the reverse _Northwic_.
After making peace with the Danes in 878, he assigned to them, for their
residence, the whole of East Anglia, and their leader Guthrum fixed his
seat at Norwich; but, breaking his faith, the city and county were
wrested from him, and reverted again to the Angles under six successive
sovereigns.
Edward the Elder succeeded his father, the illustrious Alfred, in the
year 901, and kept the Danes at bay. Ericke, one of their chiefs, held
East Anglia under the king, till he rebelled in 913, when he was
overthrown and slain. Athelstan, who succeeded Edward, totally expelled
the Danes, and reduced the whole kingdom under his government. In his
reign Norwich flourished, and it is probable that he was here in 925, for
a coin still extant has on the obverse _Ethalstan_, and on the reverse
“_Barbe Mon Northwic_,” that is “Barbe, mint master of Norwich.” Among
the other East Anglian coins struck here, the following may be mentioned;
one of Edmund, the successor of Athelstan, inscribed round the head
_Edmund Rex_, and on the reverse _Edgar Mon Northwic_; several of Edred,
coined about 946, and inscribed round the head _Eadred Rex_, and on the
reverse _Hanne Mo Northwic_; two of Edward the Martyr, having on the
obverse _Edward Rex. Angl._ and on the reverse _Leofwine Mon Nor._; and
three of Ethelred the Unready, having on the obverse _Edelred Rex_.
There is no account of the castle after the time of Anna till the Danish
wars; and then it was often won and lost by the contending powers.
Blomefield, in his History of Norfolk, vol. II. p. 4, notices the coins
of several Anglo-Saxon princes, Alfred, Athelstan, Edmund I., Edred,
Edward the Martyr, and Ethelred II. The circumstance of Alfred coining
money here is remarkable, as at the date of this coinage, (872) the
government of East Anglia could only have just come into his hands, upon
the extinction of the East Anglian dynasty in the person of St. Edmund,
and the country either was or had just been in the military possession of
the Danes.
During the reign of Athelstan the city appears to have been in a
flourishing state. In the reign of Edward, 941, and his successor Edred,
945, it greatly increased in wealth and extent. The greater part of the
city was then built on the north side of the river Wensum, with a small
population. The city is certainly of Anglo-Saxon origin, but as an
Anglo-Saxon city it was destroyed by the Danes, and no vestiges remain of
its Anglo-Saxon buildings, excepting, perhaps, one or two round towers of
churches.