Were there Huns in Anglo-Saxon England?

The British historian Caitlin R. Green has an interest in Anglo-Saxon history, but she is also interested in showing how we're all connected. In an admittedly speculative post, she suggests that there were Huns among the Anglo-Saxons when they migrated to Britain:

http://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/07/were-there-huns-in-anglo-saxon-england.html

One piece of evidence is from Bede, an English monk, when he writes: "He knew that there were very many peoples in Germany from whom the Angles and the Saxons, who now live in Britain, derive their origin... Now these people are the Frisians, Rugians, Danes, Huns, Old Saxons, and Boruhtware (Bructeri); there are also many other nations in the same land who are still practising heathen rites to whom the soldier of Christ proposed to go..." (quoted from link above). Some have argued that this was just a list of peoples Egbert wanted to preach to, but these names belong to a 5th century rather than 8th century (at the time Bede wrote this) context.

Other pieces of evidence include the finding of cicada brooches matching those of the Huns in England (at least in Yorkshire), and she noted to me on Twitter that more such brooches have been found since she published her article last year. Other pieces of evidence include Priscus, an Eastern Roman ambassador to Attila the Hun's court, who quoted Romulus of the Western Empire as saying that Attila ruled the "islands of the Ocean" in 448/449. What exactly is meant by "islands of the Ocean" is unclear, with some historians arguing it's talking about Scandinavia (which the Romans thought was a bunch of islands at the time). Green disagrees, however, quoting other historians who say Britain is referenced by "islands of the Ocean".

The context of the statement in which it appears is meant to be shocking, placed right alongside Attila levying tribute from the Romans, things that would previously been almost unthinkable to the Romans. Other authors consider Britain among the "islands of the Ocean" and Britain was the best known of them to the Romans, having been formerly a Roman colony. She argues that it's likely that the Anglo-Saxons had become established in Britain already by 441 based on the Gallic Chronicle of 452, and not later as other authors assume. So it's possible that at the time Attila at least nominally ruled parts of England via the Anglo-Saxons, who as shown above would have had Huns among them and probably lots of other vassals of Attila.

Now, were there Anglo-Saxons who were fleeing the Huns? Probably. But as Hyun Jin Kim, author of "The Huns, Rome, and the Birth of Europe", related to me, the way the Huns expanded was they would reconnoiter the area, mainly via people who fled the Huns from further upstream as well as newly created vassals sent by the Huns, before moving in and conquering it. So such fleeing might have occurred in the context of the Hunnic method of expansion.

There are other pieces of evidence, too, but I find this very interesting. Also, in Western Folklore, there was published "Hawks, Horses, and Huns" which argued for Hunnic influence on Anglo-Saxon culture that was interesting, such as burying people side by side with their horses.

I think historically we've had a limiting, racist view of European history, which often presumed little to no contribution from outside of Europe. I think it's interesting that we're beginning to look at the role of the Inner Asians (western China + Mongolia + Central Asia) in the development of European culture, showing how interconnected we have long been.

Given the timing of the various migrations, a huge part of me is like "no shit, Sherlock".

However, how Hunnish any particular wave of immigrants actually felt... probably varied. There's a difference between "a couple of dudes integrated and turned Germanic twenty years ago and passed their stuff and few trade links onto their kids" and "they came, they slaughtered all the men, took all the women-folks and added them to their band before moving onwards on a boat or twelve". <_< Which, honestly — not all that different from everybody else in the region.

edited 26th Sep '16 1:01:23 PM by Euodiachloris

Pretty much. With nomadic people it would be surprising for small numbers of them to show up in unexpected places. The real issue is how big a segment of the population they represented.