The value of weoro: A historical sociological analysis of honour in Anglo-Saxon society

Abstract

The values that underpin the Anglo-Saxon concept of honour changed at the beginning of the sixth century. During this period, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms enshrined a new era of cultural and religious fervour, inculcating new practices of honour among the new Christianised Anglo-Saxon elite. This paper demonstrates the transition from pagan to Christian honour systems. Historians have often examined honour through concepts based on comparisons or 'terms of art', for example 'Bushido' in Japan, 'Futuwwa' in Islam, and 'chivalry' in Christianised later-medieval Europe. This paper emulates these examples by examining honour in Anglo-Saxon society through use of the Old English term weoro, an under-studied phenomenon. Unlike Bushido or chivalry, weoro does not imply a mandated way of living. Weoro is instead pervasive, encompassing many modes of Anglo-Saxon life: poetry, giving- and -receiving, burial, kin, and bestowing honours. This paper combines sociological analysis with historical evidence.