The origins of the word "Angelcynn"
A suggestion has been made that Mills may have fabricated or invented the word Angelcynn, which he used in his Angelcynn Church of Odin.
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This can be found in MS Hatton 88 held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. |
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| The Making of Angelcynn: English Identity before the Norman Conquest, Sarah Foot, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th Ser., Vol. 6, 1996, p. 25. | |||
Anglicanism, Wikipedia. |
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Due to uncertainty as to the applicability of British Imperial laws on the Commonwealth, the Statute of Westminster 1931 was enacted which freed the Dominions, including the Commonwealth, from Imperial restrictions. This was then adopted by the Commonwealth via the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942. This is often regarded as the moment of Australia's national independence. |
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The word Angelcynn, comes from Old English, and was first used by Alfred the Great in the preface to his translation of Pope Gregory I, Cura Pastoralis (known in English as Pastoral Care[1]), in the 9th century CE.
The relevant extract is as follows:
Alfred’s use of the word is significant as it is probably the first instance where the English (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, etc) were described as a people, with a separate identity.
Sarah Foot writing for the Royal Historical Society makes the following comment:
Through his promotion of the term of Angelcynn to reflect the common identity of his people in a variety of texts dating from the latter part of his reign, and his efforts in cultivating the shared memory of his West Mercian and West Saxon subjects, King Alfred might be credited with the invention of the English as a political community.[2]
Finally, whereas Angelcynn derives from Anglo-Saxon, the term Anglican has more recent origins deriving from a Medieval latin phrase ecclesia anglicana which simply means “the English Church”; and as a noun Anglican is used to describe "the people, institutions and churches as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the state established Church of England and the Anglican Communion".[3]
It is therefore to Mills' credit that he chose the term "Angelcynn" to describe the British people, in re-establishing their Heathen religion prior to the advent of Chrstianity. Mills use of “British” as distinct from “English” is self-evident as England formed part of the British Empire, and Australians still considered themselves to be British citizens.[4]
Andrew Ryan
July 2006