Anglo Saxon music was a fundamental part of early medieval English life, deeply woven into ceremonies, storytelling, and daily activities. With instruments like the lyre, harp, and various percussion tools, Anglo Saxon melodies conveyed emotions, preserved history, and entertained communities. Understanding this musical heritage offers insight into the cultural fabric of the Anglo Saxon period and its lasting influence on English music traditions.
This was also the type of music to which most of the commoners had access and would occasionally enjoy carol dancing in churchyards. The secular type of music was most typically played at the frequent feasts which were thrown by the Anglo-Saxon nobility.
Music was also played by the poets in Anglo-Saxon England. Extant historical sources reveal that a wide range of musical instruments was used in Anglo-Saxon society.
Anglo Saxon Musical Instruments
During the Anglo-Saxon rule in Britain which lasted from the 5th century until the 11th century, a wide range of instruments were used in England.
During the early Anglo-Saxon days, more rudimentary instruments were used which had native Breton-Celt origins or Germanic origins.
Towards the subsequent centuries, Anglo-Saxons came to admit significant influence from Continental Europe, and consequently, many contemporary European musical instruments reached Anglo-Saxon England as well.
According to extant sources, a quadrangular instrument with multiple strings was played by the Anglo-Saxons and was popular in England. Towards the 9th and 10th centuries, this instrument was replaced by a harp.
Both harps and other string instruments have been found in the discovered Anglo-Saxon burials, underlining their significance.
Wind instruments such as horns were being used in Anglo-Saxon England by the 10th century. And by the 11th century, Anglo-Saxon music utilised a vast variety of instruments including the rebec, flutes, drums, bells, and panpipes.
Music at Anglo-Saxon Feasts
Music was a regular part of Anglo-Saxon feasts where soft music was played during dining to aid in digestion while more jovial music was later played by the guests assembled. In fact, it was a common tradition among the Anglo-Saxons for all guests at a feast to come together and then play the harp one after the other.
Male members of the Anglo-Saxon nobility were expected to know how to play the harp and their failure to do so occasioned embarrassment at events such as a feast.
Anglo-Saxon Music Fast Facts
- Anglo-Saxon music was produced between the 5th and 11th centuries in England.
- Two types of Anglo-Saxon music existed in medieval England: religious music and secular music.
- The golden age of Anglo-Saxon music arrived in the 10th and 11th centuries when Anglo-Saxon poetry flourished and many instruments became available.
- Secular Anglo-Saxon music utilised a wide range of string, percussive, and wind instruments.
- Secular Anglo-Saxon music was frequently played at the grand feasts thrown by Anglo-Saxon nobles.
Music and Anglo-Saxon Poetry
There is some evidence in historical sources that like the music traditions in many other parts of the medieval world, poets in Anglo-Saxon England frequently made use of an instrument to accompany their poetry recitals.
Poetry comprising of heroic ballads and epic historical narratives was common in Anglo-Saxon England and the poets probably used a harp or some other stringed instruments when reciting their compositions to a crowd.
Music as Devil’s Temptation
Once the Church began to exercise significant influence over the Anglo-Saxon society, music became more and more associated with religious services.
As a result, secular music especially one which could induce different emotional states was looked upon with suspicion by the Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical offices.
Despite this, music remained strongly associated with the Anglo-Saxon tradition of feasting as well which ensured that secular music would survive despite the Church’s disapproval.
