The Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies refer collectively to the genealogies of pre-Viking Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. These trace each royal family from their legendary founders, and on to the God-hero of the Anglo-Saxon peoples, Woden. In their fully elaborated forms, they continue the pedigrees back to Judeo-Christian patriarchs Noah and Adam. While historically these were accepted as a representation of authentic lineage, they are now dismissed by scholars as having mostly been invented for socio-political purposes.
Read more about Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies: Documentary Tradition, Kent and Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Wessex, Lindsey, Woden
Famous quotes containing the words anglo-saxon and/or royal:
“The Anglo-Saxon hive have extirpated Paganism from the greater part of the North American continent; but with it they have likewise extirpated the greater portion of the Red race. Civilization is gradually sweeping from the earth the lingering vestiges of Paganism, and at the same time the shrinking forms of its unhappy worshippers.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th’ ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)