Values of Anglo-Saxon Society

• tribal society with kinship bonds heroic code of behavior
  • bravery
  • loyalty to one's lord, one's warband (comitatus), and one's kin
• willingness to avenge one's lord or warband without regard for personal danger or cost--death preferable to exile and lordless life
• generosity of lord to thanes and of hero to warband and lord--gift-giving
• heroism (i.e., great deeds) brings honor, eternal fame, and political power
• women as peace-weavers, married to powerful men from enemy states to bring political solidarity and to reconcile warring kingdoms--not entirely successful
• mix of pagan and Christian values--often in conflict, e.g., pagan (secular) lineage vs Christian lineage; eternal earthly fame through deeds vs afterlife in hell or heaven; honor and gift-giving vs sin of pride (hubris); revenge vs pacifist view (forgiveness); Wyrd (Anglo-Saxon "Fate") vs God's will, etc.--Germanic revenge ethic is consistent with Old Law of retribution (Old Testament Lex Talionis), not with New Testament Law of forgiveness.
• songs, tale-telling, and boasting (i.e., words) inscribe deeds in the cultural memory--the scop plays a major role in oral transmission
  • The scop is a bard, a singer of tales, who puts to music the deeds of the great warriors, laments society's losses, and also provides entertainment at feasts.