Saxons vs Vikings
Saxons and Vikings were two different tribes of people who are believed to have been dominant in what was to become the United Kingdom later. Both groups of people were Germanic, and there were many similarities between Saxons who were later known as Anglo Saxons and the Vikings though the two belonged to different eras. However, there were also differences between Saxons and the Vikings that will be discussed in this article.
Saxons
Before the start of the 5th century, England was under the Roman control. Romans decided to leave England by around 410 AD and by this time, there were successions of raids by invaders from all sides of the English isles. These invaders mainly belonged to the tribes called the Saxons, the Jutes, the Angles, and the Frisians. Angles and the Saxons arrived in England from Denmark and adjoining areas and took over the vast expanse of land called UK from the left over Romans and the Celts. England was not a unified nation at this time, and the geographic areas controlled by the Saxons were named differently by these Saxons (such as Sussex, Essex, Wessex etc.)
The term Anglo Saxons refers to the intermingling of the two tribes of Angles and the Saxons. The era of Anglo Saxons lasted in England for about 600 years, and the biggest legacy of this dominance is the English language.
The name Saxons may have been derived from the knife called Seax that was used prominently by the tribe.
Vikings
Viking was a Germanic tribe arriving in England from Denmark in the closing years of the 8th century. Their first raid took place in East Anglia on a monastery where they killed the monks and also made many slaves work for them. While many Vikings behaved as pirates and continued to raid, many of them settled and became Christians and started to live a civilized life. Alfred the great, a Saxon King, was the lone warrior against these raids, and he successfully repulsed the Vikings in a war, in 917 AD. However, Vikings continued to raid and also establish Danish rule in many territories in England. By the time 11th century arrived, a Danish even became the king of England. However, Vikings could not rule England for long, and the Saxons regained the country within 20 years of Viking rule. But, in 1066AD, the Saxon era came to an end as England was conquered by the Normans. Interestingly, Normans were of Viking descent.
Saxons vs Vikings
• Saxons were a Germanic tribe to arrive in England from Denmark, and they invaded and settled in East Anglia, in the year 410 AD as the Romans left the area.
• Vikings were also Germanic tribe that invaded England in the 9th century, in the year 840 AD, in East Anglia.
• Vikings were pirates and warriors who invaded England and ruled many parts of England during 9th and 11the centuries.
• Saxons led by Alfred the Great successfully repulsed the raids of Vikings.
• Saxons were more civilized and peace loving than the Vikings.
• Saxons were Christians while Vikings were Pagans.
• Vikings were seafaring people while the Saxons were farmers.
• Vikings had tribal chiefs while Saxons had lords.
kenny bear says
This isn’t that accurate not all Vikings were warriors, the majority were tradespeople
Person says
Inaccurate..you’re equating the Romanized anglo-saxons to the original Saxons, who WERE warriors and raiders, who WERE NOT Christians originally. They had pagan beliefs very similar to the Vikings
Saltybeard says
The anglo-saxons were NOT Romanized. The Germanic tribes that invaded the British isles (Saxons, Angles, and Jutes)did so AFTER the Romans left. They occupied and ruled over the remnant Romanized Britons (Celtic).
Leonardo da Vinci says
Also in accurate on the point that Viking’s were German. They were in fact Swedish and Norwegian decent. Your thinking of the Danes.
Alan Robert Hunter-Craig says
These people were all Germanic and had similar beliefs and language. There was no individual nationalities. Vikings and Saxons were very much one and the same people particularly those from Northern Germany and Denmark.They could converse with each other and worshipped the same Gods.
Magus McMagus says
No it’s correct, the Swedes and Norwegians are of Germanic decent. The Sammie people are the residents of the country who are not Germanic.
bailee says
you used the wrong you’re try again sweatie
craig mcdaniel says
hold on a minute Norwegian /Swedish and Danish peoples are northern Germanic peoples likewise Anglo and Saxon tribes are as well Germanic tribes . If you have DNA tests you will find that they all have distinct DNA regions where their DNA was located . For example British Anglo/Saxon DNA may be spread over Great Briton , Belgium parts of France , Austria etc,..
Saltybeard says
INCORRECT… The Viking expeditions first came from the land that would become Denmark, and Norway. They are all “Germanic” but there was no country called “Germany” at that time. The Danes were vikings as well as the Norwegians, and Swedes. All three are Nordic/Norse peoples. The Saxons were a pre “viking” tribe that hailed from what would become Jutland then Denmark. They were all tribal brothers, and cousins, spanning different time frames.
alan B'stard M P says
they were the same race, same people
sean kinnane says
Most vikings had red hair..not blond portrayed by hollywood.The Normans or Norsemen were of Viking descent which you stated correctly .William the conqueror was a redhead .The Saxons defeated them in York but fell to them at Hastings 1.possibly because of the forced march from Stamford bridge to Sussex.
2.the Normans had an advantage as they had cavalry.
Even to this day the English have a sub conscious dislike for redheaded people this is why…has nothing to do with the Irish or Scottish..
Alan Robert Hunter-Craig says
In actual fact it was mainly flaxen coloured.
Heith Greenfield says
Dislike of redheads is much more universal than this, like handedness and probably stems from our (European) Neanderthal heritage. It’s impossible to prove that most Vikings had red hair – for a start Viking pertains to an activity rather than an ethnicity: and borders are an invention. Modern Scots and the Irish have a higher incidence of red hair than any of the Scandinavian countries. Europeans have been mixed and mixing for a very long time. The only real difference between the Angles who gave England and English it’s name, and the Danish Vikings is time and religion. Through time the Angles discarded their pagan identity, which included the same religion and use of runes as the Vikings – became Christians and started mixing with the peoples already living in what was to become England. Linguistically and ethnically the Angles and (Danish) Vikings are the same people separated by time. Geneticists used to refer to “invader” dna for all of these Germanic peoples because they couldn’t tell them apart.
Tracy says
This was interesting and the time line is good to know as well thanks for the corrections to the previous posts
Philip Li says
saxons were somewhat druidic, meaning they revered nature. as for being fighters, what they fought against if anything was being forced to submit to briton or norman rule, or having to replace their religion with those of christians in the north. to an extent they lost those fights, and were intermarried with them to prevent further deaths among their peoples.
history is made by those who tell it, not those who were there, and our only real defense against it, is truth being passed down through descended families, even after several thousand years.some saxons were warriors, but most were farmers, fishers, hunters, merchants, as as a matter of development, teachers, passing on what they learned from each civilization they encountered, during their time as nomads.
books neither tell the whole story, nor the real story.
Larry says
Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are all Germanic peoples. They were all pagan, they were all seafaring people, and they were all fighters. The Anglo-Saxons is not an accurate description. They were Anglo, Saxon, Jute, etc . . . Mostly from Denmark, yes. But many of these groups had intermixed for centuries through battles and commerce and marraige. They are in fact all one people with many divisions. The Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity both in their Germanic homeland and in what would become England. The Vikings, who lived on the other side of forests and rivers and were less accessible to Christian missionaries remained pagan much longer. It is doubtful that by the time of the Viking invasions of the heptarchy that any knew of their common ancestry.
craig mcdaniel says
i wouldnt bank on that assumption of hair color . My father had milk white hair when he was born ..i suspect that red hair is possible with many european races i doubt its from Northern Germanic decent.
Donar says
Red hair comes from West/Central Asia. Most Germanic peoples have their origins there.
ME says
Hair color is technically a matter of probability and chance in genomic expression.
Denny says
Difference Between Norse And Viking. The Vikings came from the Norsemen. They are the young and energetic Norsemen who took to a different way of life from that of other Norsemen. The Vikings were pirates and warriors while the Norsemen were noble people who engaged in farming, trade and were also rulers. In essence, all Vikings are Norsemen but not all Norsemen were Vikings.
Also, the term Viking was originally meant when a Norseman went rogue or went out to raid during the “Viking Age”. Many historians commonly associate the term “Viking” to the Scandinavian term vikingr, a word for “pirate.”. However, the term is meant to reference oversea expeditions, and was used as a verb by the Scandinavian people for when the men traditionally took time out of their summers to go “a Viking.”
Frank says
Saxons didn’t arrive from Denmark! Their origin place is that region of modern day “Lower Saxony” in Germany. The Saxons also conquered parts to the east (around Magdeburg), to the west (region Groningen in Netherlands and to the south (modern Westphalia and Northern Hesse). Those regions weren’t occupied by people from Denmark.
J.C.P. says
Vikings were very much farmers at home. Like Saxons they were sea-faring when raiding and acquiring territory. Both were trading in and keeping slaves.
Saxons converted to Christianity over time, but were adherents to Norse polytheism beforehand, just like Vikings.
Like Vikings, Saxons called Scandinavia, more specifically the area of today’s Denmark, while Vikings were traced back to a wider range in Scandinavia encompassing today’s Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. However, since the “Viking Age” post-dates Saxon expansion by approx. 400 years, I was wondering whether there was a an overlap among the two populations.
Naff Off says
Minor regional differences between Teutonic human primates. White Caucasian Europeans to broaden the demographics. Centuries later, the decendants of these imbeciles fought and killed each other in wars, labelling each other different ethnicities, despite common ancestry overlaps.
Such is the stupidity of this destructive species named the Human Being…
Tick tock…
Naff Off says
Teutonic heathens. The lot of them… Human primates.
alan B'stard M P says
The Danish vikings came from the same place as the earlier Saxons. DNA examinations show they’re the same people an era apart