Developing Saxon Characters

Like Cymbrians, Saxons inhabit a world governed by a warrior aristocracy. Players begin as free Saxons, who may either be thegns in the service of a lord, monks who work to convert the heathen or reclaim backsliders, or travelling poets (scops) who make their living going from court to court. The most prominent thegns (pronounced “thanes”) in the service or a lord are given lands and office, but the lands revert to the lord on the death of the thegn rather than being passed along to his sons. So unlike Cymbrians, who squabble with their siblings over inheritance while defending their clan lands against encroachments by outsiders, Saxons attempt to distinguish themselves by their service and look to their lords for reward. Landed thegns live in modest households, together with the members of their immediate family. But they sometimes attend their lords in the hall, leaving their households in the care of stewards. Above the general mass of thegns are the ealdormen who see to the King’s interests in regions remote from direct royal supervision. Some of the ealdormen are themselves great thegns closely connected to the King. Others are drawn from the King’s immediate family. Still others have been drawn from some of the subjugated under-kings and rule as sovereigns in their own lands. Players who begin as thegns all serve a King, a Sub-King, or an Ealdorman.

Kinsmen

Like the Cymbrians, Saxons regard kinship as a sacred tie. The family structure is clannish, but the clan is denoted by the suffix “ingas” attached to the eponymous founder of the kin. Thus the descendants of a chieftain named Hrothulf may be called Hrolfings. But only the most important kin-groups, of royal or of once-royal blood, are so named. Others simply announce their names and that of their fathers. There are advantages and disadvantages of being associated with a known kin-group. On the one hand, royal ancestry makes it easier to advance. On the other hand, it attracts the unwelcome attention of the other kings in power who will find any pretext to eliminate a rival.

Background and Skills

Saxon warriors are an elite caste distinct from the vast majority of freemen and bondsmen who manage and work the land, learn crafts, or contribute to village life. For that reason, Saxon warriors do not come with backgrounds as farmers or herdsmen. Instead, they have a broad range of weapons they can wield, and skills in such tactics as the charge, the shield wall, defense works, and siege. The monk can read and write, and has a knowledge of religion. Some are skilled in folk charms that protect against elves, trolls, and other faerie folk; others are secret practitioners of magic. Still others, through singular holiness and devotion, may be saints who can cure diseases, lameness, or blindness, and even raise the dead. The Saxon scop (pronounced “shop”) is a class similar to the Cymbrian bard. He is well-versed in folklore and religion, and has a deep knowledge of the spirit world. There is no Saxon equivalent to the Cymbrian woodsman class. Saxon warriors fear the woods, while to the religious the woods are an emblem of the pagan past. Forestry, trapping, and tracking are skills that are more likely to be found among either the humbler classes of free Saxons or outlaws and brigands.

Saxon Society

One of the most prominent aspects of Saxon society is storytelling. The stories are filled with characters who repeatedly demonstrate the common Saxon traits of pride, loyalty, generosity, and vengeance.

Storytelling

Everywhere among the Saxons, whether the lord’s hall, the minster, or the hearth-fires of the peasant’s home, stories and storytellers are central to Saxon culture. The scops—professional poets who travel from place to place—are the most revered storytellers. But even the meanest swineherd can tell a tale. Much storytelling takes place in the hall. A scop may begin the process, but when the harp is passed around each warrior takes a turn. The most important aspect of storytelling is in the performance. Good performance involves use of kennings, two-word compounds that cleverly describe something else, and darkly humorous understatement. Instead of saying “Hrothulf stabbed Horga,” one might say, “Hrothulf made battle-music, swung his sword, opened that bone-box. Horga took scant delight doling out that treasure!”

Boasting Particularly if the story is a personal one, storytelling leads naturally to boasting. The young thegns are expected to boast of their prowess (and later to prove it). In the same vein, rival thegns are expected to undercut the boasting of their fellows, in the sense of good-natured hazing to establish dominance. If Godric boasts that he will follow his lord fearlessly into battle, another thegn might say, “Godric? Are you not that Godric we all heard of, who fought with Byrhthelm at Wihtburh? You were by when Cedric caught Cynwald, slit open his stomach. But they say you’d little stomach of your own for that sight—did you not relinquish your ring-giver’s riches, cast his costly mead on the cold earth, give up gobbets! Your valor availed not to hold back the vomit. Your boasts echo in the hall, but in battle you belch!” Boasting contests establish a hierarchy among the warriors just as surely as contests of strength or arms. No Saxon wishes to be outdone in boasting, but in serious contests the only final response to a challenge is to prove your words by deeds. Thus Beowulf responds most fully to Unferth’s taunts by wrestling with Grendel in the hall, and ripping out the monster’s arm.

Loyalty

The loyalty a Saxon warrior owes to his lord is the fabled cornerstone of the society. Once the thegn has pledged his service to a lord, he is expected to serve that lord until death. That does not preclude going out to seek fame—with his lord’s blessing of course—as Beowulf does when he leaves Hygelac to offer his services to Hrothgar. But when a thegn follows his lord into battle, he is expected to go on fighting if his lord has been slain. He must either avenge his lord’s death, or die trying. It is considered the height of shame and dishonor to survive your lord after losing a battle. Because of the dread of such dishonor, Saxon war-bands are given liberal bonuses to morale in combat.

Generosity

Lords, for their part, are expected to deal generously with their thegns. They must lead them to victory in battle, and reward them with an appropriate share of the spoils. As the thegns become experienced, they may also be given lands and titles. A penurious lord may lose the bonuses to morale typical of the Saxon war-band. But at the same time, a generous lord will inspire even greater loyalty. Exchanging treasure is the most central feature of life in the hall. Treasure is dispensed by the lord, in accordance with custom and desert. But perceived inequities are subject to criticism (never directed at the lord), in the form of boasting and challenge: “How great the riches that Rogwald receives! In the battle-lord’s eyes, the fighter finds favor. Alas that my eyes see things not so easily. Busy with battle, I beheld not his deeds!” It is not a good idea, however, to protest too frequently.

Vengeance

The emphasis in Saxon society on loyalty that extends beyond death, together with the dread of being dishonored, leads to a highly vengeful society. Saxons embrace feuding and vengeance with savage joy. Saxon warriors who witness the death of their lord on the battlefield will go to all lengths to avenge him, and they are not too particular about who falls under their sword. Their behavior when seeking revenge is irrational, and sated only by blood. The call to vengeance, in fact, is almost religious in its forms. The warrior seeking vengeance approaches his immediate superior in a ritual way and in view of everyone in the hall. Nor is vengeance confined to the “guilty” generation. A wrong perpetrated in the time of one’s father, or one’s grandfather, or even in some cases of one’s remote ancestors, will enflame the Saxon desire for vengeance when given ritual form. 

Living Conditions

Most Saxons live in villages owing feorm, a render of food and other commodities like wool and leather that is collected at the royal vills scattered throughout the kingdom. Prominent thegns who have been given land appropriate to their rank may also have small halls of their own near the villages, sometimes connected to the estate of important officials like ealdormen. The vills are built for convenience and for collecting the feorm. But the great halls are another matter—expertly build of timber by the finest craftsmen, they are the center of royal life and the playground of the King’s war-band, or comitatus, comprised mostly of the numerous untested thegns who are eager to display their talents and earn rewards. If the Cymbrian neuadd functions as an exclusive finishing school for bonheddigs in the teulu, the Saxon hall is like a competitive military academy for these ambitious young thegns. Drinking contests, ritualized boasting, and storytelling are the rule in a Saxon hall. Each one of these tests the mettle of the young thegn. 

The Saxon hall is divided, like the Cymbrian neuadd, into an upper and a lower section. The lower part of the hall is reserved mostly for the King’s thegns. Benches and tables lining the sides of the hall surround a central fire pit. At night, the benches become bunks for the King’s men to sleep. At the far end of the hall, stairs ascend to the higher section. In the place of precedence are the senior members of the comitatus, together with the most important visitors to the hall, including bishops, abbots, and ealdormen. The most important ritual of the hall is the dispensing of treasure, a formal sign of the value the King sets on his thegns. The King is often called “Treasure-Giver” or “Ring Lord” as an indication of this function of his office. The atmosphere is celebratory but also formal and controlled. Strict lords do not allow the casual looting of conquered territories. The treasure is gathered in the hall and dispensed by the lord in the sight of all. The great hall is also the location for the meeting of the King’s Witan, the Council comprised of the “wise men” of the realm. These include bishops and archbishops, abbots, ealdormen, and thegns. The Witan advises the King on the greatest matters of the Kingdom. They also choose a new King when the old has died or abdicated, although such “choice” is often little more than a formal acceptance of the successor the King has named. In addition to his thegns, the King supports all of the other expected members of his court, including the chaplain, scribes, scops and a host of servants like cupbearers, woodmen, grooms, and pot boys.

Saxon Law

Saxon law is both local and customary. At the most local level justice is meted out in a general assembly of the people called a folk moot. Twelve prominent local men are chosen to act as judges, and speakers are chosen for their memory of law and custom. The moot is held in a customary place atop a hill; there is sometimes a hall there, but often the moot takes place outdoors, with tents used in the rain. Peddlers and local merchants travel for miles to attend and do business at the folk moot. The plaintiff calls the defendant to the moot hill, swears an oath, and then names several of the judges to hear the case; the defendant may challenge the judges chosen if they are biased, have committed any crimes elsewhere, or are otherwise unsuitable. The plaintiff then brings witnesses and presents the case to the judges. The defendant responds by taking an oath and calling witnesses of his own. The judges do not resolve the case but merely make sure that the case is judged by the laws of the region. Once both sides have been presented, the case is turned over for judgment to a group of arbitrators agreed on by both parties. In cases of serious crime, like manslaughter, disfigurement, or rape, the charges are brought by the lord of the victim, thegn or ealdorman, who is responsible for seeking the wergild (blood-price) of the victim. Crimes like treachery, deliberate murder, and arson are punishable by death and forfeiture of goods. All Saxons except for the King’s thegns are subject to the law of the folk moot. Those thegns who serve the King directly are responsible to no one but him, and may claim the right to be judged in the court of the King alone. But even though they may not be judged at the folk moot, the King’s thegns can and do act as local judges.

Saxon Religion

The Saxons are a people on fire with religious zeal. They see their conquest of Britain in terms of a real divine mandate. Coming from a pagan warrior ethos, they celebrate the God of Battles, Lord of Hosts, who drives their military successes and blesses his chosen people with fruitfulness and lordship over all of Britain. For them, the spreading of enlightenment and religious truth coincides easily with the rise of Saxon power. At the same time, they are fearful of the avenging ire of the pagan gods whom they have abandoned. The scops are forbidden from reciting the tales of the ancient gods—Woden and Thunor and Tiwaz and Frigga—but those gods lurk in the minds of every Saxon. And they still acknowledge the terrifying power of the world connected with those gods, the world of elves and trolls and all bad breeds as the Beowulf poet describes it. So for the Saxons, the landscape of religion pits the luminous glow of the Church against the dim twilight of the otherworld. Those who are strong in faith may be able to hold that world at bay, and others may be able to pacify it for a time, but the one thing they cannot do is make that world disappear. Consecrated ground and daylight lessen the power of the old gods. Priests routinely practice charms to keep the faerie world away from the world of men. But in the end, it is the doom of all men to fail, and their works to crumble with them. Saxons accept that with stoicism. Much of the Saxon Church has a monastic character. The monastery has a similar communal purpose to the hall. Indeed, bishops and abbots and priests are given land by the King just as if they were his own retainers. The relationship of monks to abbot is similar to that of thegns to lord. This is, again, unlike the Cymbrian monasteries which are really collections of individual monastic cells giving considerable private time for reflection, prayer, and study. The Saxon monastery is altogether a social institution. The monasteries mostly perform the work of copying books, and characters can find sages and scholars there with wide-ranging knowledge. Saxon monks, like their counterparts in Cymbria, have no special abilities in spell-casting, though some may have learned magic from their extensive reading. If so, they keep their knowledge quiet. Saints, who work miracles out of their own holiness, are a different matter. They live apart from the law of monastery or hall, trusting only to God. The reverence with which the Saxons view the Church, however, does not always prevent them from plundering the monasteries when the need arises. This is particularly true of Cymbrian monasteries, but holds for monasteries in rival Saxon kingdoms and even, in extreme circumstances, to monasteries close to home. Kings still look on land grants to the Church in the same way that they regard land grants to their thegns, and the death of an abbot or a bishop is sometimes an excuse for the King to reclaim those lands. He does so with the aid of the comitatus, and the warriors are not always gentle in the measures they take to reclaim it. Routinely abbeys seal their charters with terrible curses on future Kings who try to revoke them. But the best way to ensure survival is to keep both bishopric and monastery in the hands of the royal family. The death of an abbot or bishop is therefore often followed by the reinstatement of a close relative of the King as the new abbot or bishop.

Recreation

In addition to the pastimes of hunting and falconry, Saxons very frequently engage in weapon contests, while the lower orders of society enjoy wrestling matches. Horse fighting and bear baiting are popular with those who can afford such sport. Saxons also enjoy dancing and physical sports. In the hall and among the warriors there are still ritual dances performed by armed men, either naked or clad in animal skins. These dances have a pagan history in the Cult of Woden but continue to be practiced when there are no priests around to disapprove. Other pastimes include board games, dice, and chess. All Saxons have some skill in music, and they are fond of the Riddle Game. Many of these forms of recreation can be enjoyed during downtime in the hall, at folk moots, or even during the gatherings of the Witan. Skill in some of these forms of recreation enhances the reputation of young warriors.

War

Even more than Cymbrian society, Saxon society is organized for war. Young warriors are kept on short leashes by their lords, and one index of the success of the comitatus is level of its discipline. The comitatus will sometimes be supported by a general muster in the kingdom. The general levy falls under the purview of the ealdorman, who with the aid of the landed thegns recruits among the most able-bodied men of the region. The ealdormen are responsible for providing a fixed number of men for the general levy, and each landed thegn is expected to provide one man for the levy as well. 

The Scop

Like the Cymbrian bards, scops have their own system of training and advancement. A scop may take service with thegn, ealdorman, or king, but he is not part of the official network of the kingdom. He is trained by a master, and is part of an altogether older network. The Saxon scop is really an official of the old pagan religion. Traditionally subject to the priesthood, he is a repository of traditional lore. In his repertoire is the recitation of the stories of gods and heroes, of the beginning of the world and the Children of Yngwaz, the first man. All this he has been forbidden to sing by the Church. Some scops therefore have gone underground, as it were, singing among the common folk who still respect the gods. Others, such as the celebrated Theorweald son of Ceawlin in East Anglia, well-known for his recitation of the Beowulf poem, have found ways to refit the traditional stories in the language of the Church.