Bruntheow, 600AD
(aka Claire King)
Meet Bruntheow, who is married to Odda the Ceorl. They have two children of their own, Aelle and Ymma, and a foster son, Aelfred.
Bruntheow is not an Anglo-Saxon by birth - she is from a Romano-British family who lived in the Severn valley near the Roman city of Glevum (Gloucester). When the West Saxons took Glevum after the Battle of Dyrham in 577, she and her family were taken as slaves. Her name in fact means 'dark slave' and was given to her by her Anglo-Saxon owners, her British name was Clarisin.
After a few years Odda, the son of her new owners fell in love with her and she was freed so that the couple could marry. Despite her Romano-British roots, she has adopted the ways and language of her new family.
The Ceorl
The ceorl was the freeman in Anglo-Saxon society. The ceorl
at this time would have been primarily a farmer. The Anglo-Saxon economy
was based on food production and few villages or settlements would have
supported specialist craftsmen. Most people had to be self sufficient in
all requirements of everyday life. For this reason each person had to become
a 'jack of all trades' although within each community individuals would
tend towards the craft for which they showed natural apptitudes rather
than being a specialist craftsman.
Women of the cierlisc class would also have spent much of their time producing the textiles and clothing their family would need. They would also prepare meals, and do jobs around the farm such as milking the sheep, goats and cattle, tend the herb/vegetable gardens, gather friuts and berries, fungus and wild vegetables in their season to augment what was grown on the farm. They would also have ground rye, barley and some 'wheat' grasses in order to make the family bread. Women may also have been involved in some of the 'lighter' crafts such as making pottery, leatherwork, etc.
Although they usually farmed land for a nobleman, many ceorls were quite wealthy in their own rights, and the status of the ceorl in Anglo-Saxon England seems to have been higher than his pre-migration Germanic counterpart. Many ceorls also owned slaves who would work on their farms.
Page created 30th July 1997
Last updated 12th June 1999
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