19th-century Anglo-Saxonism, or racial Anglo-Saxonism, was a racial belief system developed by British and American intellectuals, politicians and academics in the 19th century. Racialized Anglo-Saxonism contained both competing and intersecting doctrines, such as Victorian-era Old Northernism and the Teutonic germ theory which it relied upon in appropriating Germanic (particularly Norse) cultural and racial origins for the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

"race". Predominantly a product of certain Anglo-American societies, and organisations of the era: In 2017,

Mary Dockray-Miller Mary Dockray-Miller (born 1965) is an American scholar of early medieval England, best known for her work on gender in the pre-Conquest period. She has published on female saints, on '' Beowulf'', and on religious women. She teaches at Lesley Univer ...

, an American scholar of

Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...

, stated that there was an increasing interest in the study of 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. Anglo-Saxonism is regarded as a predecessor ideology to the later

Nordicism Nordicism is an ideology of racism which views the historical race concept of the "Nordic race" as an endangered and superior racial group. Some notable and seminal Nordicist works include Madison Grant's book ''The Passing of the Great Race'' ...

of the 20th century, which was generally less anti-Celtic and broadly sought to racially reconcile

Celtic identity The modern Celts (, see pronunciation of ''Celt'') are a related group of ethnicities who share similar Celtic languages, cultures and artistic histories, and who live in or descend from one of the regions on the western extremities of Europe ...

with Germanic under the label of Nordic.

Background

In terminology, Anglo-Saxonism is by far the most commonly used phrase to describe the historical ideology of rooting a Germanic racial identity, whether Anglo-Saxon, Norse or Teutonic, into the concept of the English, Scottish or British nation, and subsequently founded-nations such as the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In both historical and contemporary literature however, Anglo-Saxonism has many derivations, such as the commonly used phrase Teutonism or Anglo-Teutonism, which can be used as form of catch-all to describe American or British Teutonism and further extractions such as

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Teutonism. It is also occasionally encompassed by the longer phrase Anglo-Saxon Teutonism, or shorter labels Anglism or Saxonism, along with the most frequently used term of Anglo-Saxonism itself. American medievalist

Allen Frantzen Allen J. Frantzen (born 1947 or 1948) is an American Medieval studies, medievalist with a specialization in Old English literature. Since retiring from Loyola University Chicago, he has been an emeritus professor. Education and career Frantzen grew ...

credits historian

L. Perry Curtis Lewis Perry Curtis Jr. (June 7, 1932 – April 9, 2019) was an American historian specializing in 19th-century Irish history. He also covered modern culture and media. Early life and education L. Perry Curtis was born in London, England, the son o ...

's use of Anglo-Saxonism as a term for "an unquestioned belief in Anglo-Saxon 'genius'" during this period of history. Curtis has pointed toward a radical change from 16th- and 17th-century adulation of Anglo-Saxon institutions towards something more racial and imperialist. Historian

Barbara Yorke Barbara Yorke FRHistS FSA (born 1951, Barbara Anne Elizabeth Troubridge) is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England, specialising in many subtopics, including 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. She is currently emeritus professor of early Medieval histor ...

, who specializes in the subject, has similarly argued that the earlier self-governance oriented Anglo-Saxonism of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

's era had by the mid-19th century developed into "a belief in racial superiority". According to Australian scholar Helen Young, the ideology of 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism was "profoundly racist" and influenced authors such as

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

and his fictional works into the 20th century. Similarly, Marxist writer

Peter Fryer Peter Fryer (18 February 1927 – 31 October 2006)
''Spartacus Educational''. was an English ...

claimed that "Anglo-Saxonism was a form of racism that originally arose to justify the British conquest and occupation of Ireland". Some scholars believe the Anglo-Saxonism championed by historians and politicians of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

influenced and helped to spawn the

Greater Britain Movement The Greater Britain Movement was a British far right political group formed by John Tyndall in 1964 after he split from Colin Jordan's National Socialist Movement. The name of the group was derived from ''The Greater Britain'', a 1932 book by Oswa ...

of the mid-20th-century. In 2019, the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists decided to change its name due to the potential confusion of their organization's name with racist Anglo-Saxonism. At the passing of the 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism era, progressive intellectual

Randolph Bourne Randolph Silliman Bourne (; May 30, 1886 – December 22, 1918) was a progressive writer and intellectual born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. He is considered to be a spokesman for the young radicals living du ...

's essay ''Trans-National America'' reacted positively to integration ("We have needed the new peoples"), and while mocking the "indistinguishable dough of Anglo-Saxonism" in the context of very early 20th-century migration to the United States, Bourne manages to express an anxiety at the American melting pot theory.

Origins

Early references

In 1647, English MP John Hare, who served during the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

, issued a pamphlet declaring England as a "member of the Teutonick nation, and descended out of Germany". In the context of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, this anti-Norman and pro-Germanic paradigm has been identified as perhaps the earliest iteration of "English Teutonism" by Professor

Nick Groom Nicholas Michael Groom FRSA (born 1966) is Professor of English Literature at the University of Macau, an author on subjects ranging from the history of the Union Jack, to Thomas Chatterton, has edited several books and regularly appears on tele ...

, who has suggested the 1714

Hanoverian succession The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

, where the German

House of Hanover The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...

ascended the throne of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, is the culmination of this Anglo-Saxonist ideology.

Teutonic germ theory

Many historians and political scientists in Britain and the United States supported it in the 19th-century. The theory supposed that American and British democracy and institutions had their roots in Teutonic peoples, and that Germanic tribes had spread this "germ" within their race from ancient Germany to England and on to North America. Advocacy in Britain included the likes of

John Mitchell Kemble John Mitchell Kemble (2 April 1807 – 26 March 1857), English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor and Maria Theresa Kemble. He is known for his major contribution to the history of the Anglo-Saxons and philology ...

William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Chester from 1884 to 1889 and Bishop of O ...

, and

Edward Augustus Freeman Edward Augustus Freeman (2 August 182316 March 1892) was an English historian, architectural artist, and Liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of Prime Minister William Gladstone, as well as a one-time candidate for Parliament. ...

. Within the U.S., future president

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

, along with

Albert Bushnell Hart Albert Bushnell Hart (July 1, 1854 – July 16, 1943) was an American historian, writer, and editor based at Harvard University. One of the first generation of professionally trained historians in the United States, a prolific author and editor ...

and

Herbert Baxter Adams Herbert Baxter Adams (April 16, 1850 – July 30, 1901) was an American educator and historian who brought German rigor to the study of history in America; a founding member of the American History Association; and one of the earliest ed ...

were applying historical and social science in advocacy for Anglo-Saxonism through the theory. In the 1890s, under the influence of

Frederick Jackson Turner Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 – March 14, 1932) was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his frontier thes ...

, Wilson abandoned the Teutonic germ theory in favor of a frontier model for the sources of American democracy.

Ancestry and racial identity

Germanic and Teutonic

Anglo-Saxonism of the era sought to emphasize Britain's cultural and racial ties with Germany, frequently referring to

Teutonic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

as a source of strength and similarity. Contemporary historian

Robert Boyce Robert William Dewar Boyce (born 1943, in Montreal) is a professional historian and was (until his retirement) a Senior Lecturer in International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His main fields of interest ...

notes that many 19th-century British politicians promoted these Germanic links, such as

Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer (William) Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer GCB, PC (13 February 180123 May 1872) was a British Liberal politician, diplomat and writer. Background and education Bulwer was the second son of General William Bulwer and hi ...

who said that it was "in the free forests of Germany that the infant genius of our liberty was nursed", and

Thomas Arnold Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement. As headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were wide ...

who claimed that "Our English race is the German race; for though our

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

fathers had learned to speak a stranger’s language, yet in blood, as we know, they were the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

’s brethren both alike belonging to the Teutonic or German stock".

Norman and Celtic

Anglo-Saxonists in the 19th-century often sought to downplay, or outright denigrate, the significance of both Norman and Celtic racial and cultural influence in Britain. Less frequently however, some form of solidarity was expressed by some Anglo-Saxonists, who conveyed that Anglo-Saxonism was simply "the best-known term to denote that mix of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, Norse and

blood which now flows in the united stream in the veins of the Anglo-Saxon peoples". Although a staunch Anglo-Saxonist,

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

had even disparagingly described the United States as a kind of "formless" Saxon tribal order, and claimed that

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

had given Anglo-Saxons and their descendants a greater sense of order for national structure, and that this was particularly evident in England.

Northern European

, a leading Anglo-Saxonist of the era, promoted a larger

northern European The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54°N, or may be based on other geographical factors ...

identity, favorably comparing civilizational roots from "German forest" or "Scandinavian rock" with the cultural legacy of ancient Greece and Rome. American scholar

expands on this concept to suggest that pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Anglo-Saxonism ideology helped establish the "primacy of northern European ancestry in United States culture at large".

Lowland Scottish

During the 19th century in particular, Scottish people living in Lowland Scotland, near the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to ...

, "increasingly identified themselves with the Teutonic world destiny of Anglo-Saxonism", and sought to separate their identity from that of

Highland Scots The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

, or the "inhabitants of Romantic Scotland". With some considering themselves "Anglo-Saxon Lowlanders", public opinion of Lowland Scots turned on Gaels within the context of the Highland Famine, with suggestions of deportations to British colonies for Highlanders of the "'inferior Celtic race". Amongst others,

Goldwin Smith Goldwin Smith (13 August 1823 – 7 June 1910) was a British historian and journalist, active in the United Kingdom and Canada. In the 1860s he also taught at Cornell University in the United States. Life and career Early life and education S ...

, a devout Anglo-Saxonist, believed the Anglo-Saxon "race" included Lowland Scots and should not be exclusively defined by English ancestry within the context of the United Kingdom's greater empire.

, himself a Scot, was one of the earliest notable people to express a "belief in Anglo-Saxon racial superiority". Historian

Richard J. Finlay Professor Richard J. Finlay FRHistS is the current Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. ...

has suggested that the

Scots National League The Scots National League (SNL) was a political organisation which campaigned for Scottish independence in the 1920s. It amalgamated with other Scottish nationalist bodies in 1928 to form the National Party of Scotland. The Scots National Leag ...

, which campaigned for Scotland to separate from the United Kingdom, was a response or opposition to the history of "Anglo-Saxon teutonism" embedded in some Scottish culture.

Mythology and religions

Nineteenth-century Anglo-Saxonism was largely aligned with

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, generally perceiving Catholics as outsiders, and was orientated as an ideology in opposition to other "races", such as the "Celts" of Ireland and "Latins" of Spain.

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...

, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, was particularly focused on there being a "strong Norse element in Teutonism and Anglo-Saxonism". He blended Protestantism of the day with the

Old Norse religion Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peop ...

, saying that the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

was "wonderfully and mysteriously fitted for the souls of a free Norse-Saxon race". He believed the ancestors of

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

Norse people The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic peoples, North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic languages, North Germanic br ...

and

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

had physically fought beside the god

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

, and that the British monarchy of his time was genetically descended from him.

Political aims

Expansion

Embedded in 19th-century American Anglo-Saxonism was a growing sense that the "Anglo Saxon" race had to expand into surrounding territories. This particularly expressed itself in the ideology of "

manifest destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special vir ...

, which claimed the U.S. had a god-given right to expand across North America.

Shared citizenship

A persistent "Anglo-Saxonist" idea,

Albert Venn Dicey Albert Venn Dicey, (4 February 1835 – 7 April 1922), usually cited as A. V. Dicey, was a British Whig jurist and constitutional theorist. He is most widely known as the author of ''Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitutio ...

believed in the creation of a shared citizenship between Britons and Americans, and the concept of cooperation, even federation, of those from the "Anglo-Saxon" race.

References

{{Reflist Nordicism Anglo-Saxon society Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Norse England British nationalism Anglosphere Cultural history of the United Kingdom