Hector Munro Chadwick

“ ANGLI, Anglii or Angles, a Teutonic people mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania (cap. 40) , at the end of the 1st century. He gives no precise indication of their geographical position, but states that, together with six other tribes, including the Varini (the Warni of later times) , they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus, whose sanctuary was situated on “an island in the Ocean.” ”

“ At the present time the majority of scholars believe that the Angli had lived from the beginning on the coasts of the Baltic, probably in the southern part of the Jutish peninsula. The evidence for this view is derived partly from English and Danish traditions dealing with persons and events of the 4th century (see below) , and partly from the fact that striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in Scandinavian, especially Swedish and Danish, religion. ”

“ Still more curious is the fact that West Saxon writers regularly speak of their own nation as a part of the Angelcyn and of their language as Englisc, while the West Saxon royal family claimed to be of the same stock as that of Bernicia. ”