From Viking to English Tea

When one hears the word England, one may think one of these three things:

1. Tea. Black tea

A delicious English tea either with milk, lemon or honey.

2. The Queen of England

Long live the Queen.

3. Harry Potter.

Beware of Genny. She may use a basilisk to conquer us all.

Well, maybe not everyone thinks these three things but at least on one of them. Usually one could link the name of England to modern days, to things that identify England on the 21st century. And that's ok, I mean, after all, what would be England without tea or Harry Potter? (The queen may always be there, do not worry).

But could one link England to this?

I might have nightmares with this.

If you did not recognize what this is, its Beowulf.

The anglosaxons were the ancestors of Englishmen (what a term). They came from the germanic tribes of north, conquering what the Roman empire destroyed. As the Fall of the Empire, they took over, creating this tribal society where you know... stuff happened.

I mean, they were what most people know as "vikings".

The people went back to the system of tribes, where one tribe had their thanes or lords. They believed in conquering, barbaric conquers. They had a main hall, where every social event occurred (many believe the ancestor of castles).

And as history may have forgotten, they created many of the beliefs and social constructs of today's England. So, without telling to much of Beowulf (that is another post) one would think that Englishmen were just tea and the queen, but no. There was much more.