Who were the Haestingas?

Our re-enactment group takes the name of a group of peoples known to have existed during the Saxon period. Today, we cover the region of East and West Sussex.

Frustratingly, not much is known about the Haestingas people compared to other regional groups!

Historians and archaeologists agree that there was a migration of peoples from Europe, sometime in the fourth-to-fifth centuries. The historian Bede wrote that these settlers were from Germanic tribes - the Saxons, Angles and Jutes. He goes on; "the people of Kent and the Isle of Wight are of Jutish origin... From the Saxon country came the East Saxons, the South Saxons and the West Saxons..."

By the time we arrive in the seventh century, Bede's history tells us there were a large number of small kingdoms. A document called the Tribal Hidage was a list compiled in the later seventh century in order to assess tribute to be paid to the kingdom of Mercia (B. Yorke, 1990). This document lists 'Suth Sexena' as having 7000 hides; it is assumed a hide equates to 120 acres (Yorke, 1990).

The picture becomes more muddled when it appears that the South East of England had a range of small provinces; groups of people independent of another kingdom, yet with an overlord. For example, West Kent had it's own ruler, but during the seventh century was ruled by the East Saxons (Yorke, 1990).

Kingdoms that continued into the eighth century include that of the South Saxons. Yorke (1990) tells us that it was one of the earliest dominant kingdoms and there is a lot of evidence for the pagan period. Yet as the eighth century develops, the written source evidence available decreases dramatically.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a series of histories composed between the ninth and twelfth centuries provides us with further clues as to the early origins of the South Saxons. The Chronicle provides the aetiology, or foundation 'myth' of this kingdom - detailing the exploits of Aella and his sons. The area that the South Saxons inhabited seems to have been West Sussex, all the way to perhaps Pevensey. And this is where the Chronicle gives us tantalising evidence for the Haestingas; from the east of Pevensey to the border of the kingdom of Kent, the Haestingas people settled. The name means "Haesta's people".

So it would seem that the Haestingas were considered as separate from the South Saxons. Despite even these few literary sources for the early Haestingas, the archaeological evidence remains sparse. There is little evidence for occupation or cemetery sites in this Haestingas region between the fifth and eighth centuries.

By the ninth century, areas of Sussex, Surrey and Essex had cemented their allegiance to Egbert, King of the West Saxons. Through the 820's Egbert conquered and submitted such that he became sole ruler; according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle (ASC), he was the eighth king to do so, but Ella, king of the South-Saxons, was the first.

During the reign of Alfred, we do not see much mention of the South Saxons, nor the Haestingas. We do know that the south coast was often raided by Danes, and according to the ASC, in 897 Alfred ordered a major shipbuilding project to defend against further raids. When the Danes arrived, the counter attacks seemed to be beset by bad tides and the English had great difficulty in trapping and seizing the Danish ships; "they were so crippled, that they could not row them beyond the coast of Sussex: there two of them the sea drove ashore".

Much like the rest of Britain, the southern regions were not immune from Danish invasion. A century later, in 994, Anlaf and Sweyne with a fleet of 94 ships, first ravaged London, then "wrought the greatest evil that ever any army could do, in burning and plundering and manslaughter, not only on the sea-coast in Essex, but in Kent and in Sussex and in Hampshire. Next they took horse, and rode as wide as they would, and committed unspeakable evil."

This unsettling incident in the closing stages of the 10th century would have been compounded by other events prior. The 900's were a time of repeated famine, regional commotion, raiding, and foreboding auspice.

The harsh conditions of the late 10th century continued into the 11th century; successive seasons of raiding by the fearsome Danes are recounted by the Anglo Saxon Chronicle (ASC). For example, in 1009 Thurkill's army marched first to Sandwich then to Canterbury; the men of East-Kent made peace with the Danes, giving them 3,000 pounds for security. However, the army left soon after that went, moving south until "everywhere in Sussex, and in Hampshire, and also in Berkshire, they plundered and burned, as THEIR CUSTOM IS." By 1011, the ASC reports that the situation was so poor that the king and his council negotiated with the Danes; "promising them both tribute and provisions, on condition that they ceased from plunder. They had now overrun East-Anglia, and Essex, and Middlesex, and Oxfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire, and half of Huntingdonshire, and much of Northamptonshire; and, to the south of the Thames, all Kent, and Sussex, and Hastings, and Surrey, and Berkshire, and Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire." It is telling that the ASC should report on the condition of the population; "[the Danes] went everywhere in troops; plundering, and spoiling, and slaying our miserable people."

Local areas of Sussex begin to be mentioned. Pevensey, for example, seems to be the location of a major harbour, decades before even the events of 1066 and the Norman landing. In 1049, Earl Harold Godwinson sailed 42 ships from Sandwich to Pevensey during a particularly tricky series of foreign policy manoeuvres involving Pope Leo IX, Baldwin V of Flanders, and Sweyn Godwinson. [*Ed: this episode deserves it's own post at some point!]

Ultimately, Sweyn was declared an outlaw, and was captured. The ASC explicitly mentions the Haestingas here; "A little before this the men of Hastings and thereabout fought his two ships with their ships, and slew all the men, and brought the ships to Sandwich to the king." Clearly, we can infer that the Haestingas were a seafaring people, with a fleet. Further mentions in the ASC refer to the Haestingas specifically as "boatmen" (entry for 1052).

Hastings itself is referred to by three place names in early documentary sources: the burgh of Haestingaceastre, Haestingaport where Duke William constructed a castle before the Battle of Hastings, and the town of Hastings. Haestingacaestre is the second burh listed in the Burghal Hidage, an Anglo Saxon document that functioned as a list of fortified towns (burghs) and as a tax document. The allocation of 500 hides equates with 2062 feet of defences. A mint was set up there in the reign of Athelstan and continued in production throughout the Saxon period. Sadly, there is little tangible archaeological evidence for any significant pre-Conquest settlement at Hastings; conversely, there is good evidence for such at Pevensey.

More history of the Saxons and Vikings can be found in Regia Anglorum’s wiki here.