Gesiþas Gewissa | Anglo-Saxon Heritage
Gesiþas Gewissa | Anglo-Saxon Heritage
My name is Alec Newland, and this project aims to recreate the Anglo-Saxon culture of southern Britain between 650 and 700 A.D., from domestic crafts to the weapons and regalia of the warrior class, and, eventually, the development of an Anglo-Saxon farmstead and estate.
Gesiþas Gewissa means ‘warriors of the Gewissæ’. Gesiþs were warrior companions to a king or chieftain, in exchange for gifts of gold and land. During the 7th century, Gesiþs became the landed aristocratic warrior class.
The Gewissæ were an Anglo-Saxon tribe, with their heartland situated in the Upper Thames Valley and the Vale of the White Horse. During the 7th century, the Gewissæ expanded their territories south-west into the British lands of Wiltshire and Somerset.
I was born and grew up in the same wooded valleys that the Gewissæ called home. Their legacy remains today, in the form of lonely burial mounds set upon hillsides, and ancient remnants of great border forests. This inspired the project and its name.
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Did you thresh the wheat before using it as straw thatch?
It's looking downright cozy already, if something of a fire hazard. I can imagine that thatch fires are freaking terrifying.
Hey! I love your videos. I'm fascinated by the subject, and I'm always doing research on Prehistory and Early Medieval history on the isles in hopes of writing a story one day or engaging in living archeology. Is there any reason why the plank window was preferred as opposed to a simpler and cheaper wattle construction? Cheers.
Hey I think I just saw you over on @TimeTeamOfficial working on a Sutton Hoo ship reconstruction. Nice!
I got recommended this channel from a comment on one of Primitive Technology's videos, and you certainly don't disappoint!
Yoy made the anglo saxon house into an anglo saxon home
Por favor comunique algo de sus vivencias y creaciones ,me encanta ver tus creaciones,heres un sabio creando utensilios con tus propias manos ,para mi heres un ser privilegiado tocado por la manos de dios,me trasmite mucha paz ,veo todos tus vídeos ,mi hijo mas pequeño se parece ha ti le encanta esa creatividad y está siempre inventando algo tiene una casa en el campo echa por el ,somos españoles ,Andalucía,q dios te proteja con salud y sigas gozando de esa gran virtud ❤😅
Great craftsmanship there ❤️ really cool to see the whole process done with an axe, also interesting to read your comments about why the boards were carved rather than split. I've done some green woodworking and really enjoy it but I use saws as well for cutting to length, cool to see how you do that accurately with an axe on larger pieces. Is the axe you're using a period version of a side axe? Does it have a fairly fine edge? I've currently just got a hatchet which is good for riving and can be used for shaping but it's quite a chunky edge (and also doesn't have flat sides) so not great for the latter - it takes quite a lot of effort. I also use a drawknife and froe, do you know if they would have had those back then or are they more modern? I don't know if you're planning on doing more stuff like this but might be worth making a beetle and gluts for helping with splitting. It's super helpful to have a bit more weight for driving wedges and I find the beetle better than a sledgehammer for a lot of jobs
Anglo saxon and normans equal north
Northern European, yes
Donno about Europe, but here from colonial times after the third tilling of maize, they planted pole beans and broadcast turnip seed and let the seed wash in. After the maize was picked, turnips that weren't sold or stored, the cattle got, then pigs. A harrow was run over the ground, rye would be sown and when the ground froze, clover. What rye was needed was let go to seed, but the rest was scythed for hay. One cutting only. In the old hay meadow, now a pasture, the land was plowed, manure added, and then till again. Oats and peas went there, followed by barley and then fava beans (here, they're horse beans). Straw remained on the land and people gathered mountains of leaves from different sections of forest for bedding.
I really love the intro music. Really gives that "back in time" vibe. Your videos are fascinating to watch. Those of us who love history from this period are fascinated by how people might have lived, survived and thrived during this time. Thank you for these wonderful videos.
Thank you, I'm glad you like the music!
One group of termites and it’s all over
We don't have termites here
Now this is my kind of ASMR video. 😌
Glad you enjoyed!
love your stuff!
Thank you!
This looks very comfortable. Maybe even more so than some old mattresses. It sure must be nice to be able to sleep on something you made yourself, it must be satisfying.
It is pretty comfortable!
I'm at the beginning of the video and I'm already enjoying it. I'm going to subscribe, because I like things that I could do. I even want to be able to make a complete and functional mini house one day, I hope I can have land for it.
Good luck with your project!
Would love to know if "Gewissa" is related to the German "Gewissen" (conscience). Do you know more about this?
I believe they are related! With Old English being very close to the old Germanic languages. The "Gewisse" may have meant the "wise" or even the "certain", the "true", or the "trusted ones", which is quite fitting given their likely origin as a 'comitatus' war-band; a group of loyal warriors in service to a warrior king.
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Thanks for watching!
Found your channel and binged all the videos. Will be really interested to see the garden and house as it comes on!
Welcome, glad you're enjoying the videos!
I just saw you on Time Team! How fitting that you’re involved with the Sutton Hoo ship build ❤
It's a great project! That's from a couple years ago, when I was working as a shipwright on the Sutton Hoo Ship.
@@gesithasgewissa When you commented a few videos ago that you’d hewn plenty of planks by hand, I hadn’t imagined this :) You weren’t kidding! I just finished watching the programme and I look forward to seeing how she sails in 2026… or later. Who cares how long it takes for such an important experiment, as long as the resources don’t run out. Glad Time Team is involved to bring the story to the masses too.
Beautiful work! Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
sorry if it's insensitive to ask, but is that chest scar sfx makeup, or an actual scar? If it's makeup, WOW, that was amazingly done, if it's real, WOAH, that's a cool-looking scar you got
It's a real scar ☺
There seems to be a major shortage of cowshit in that daub?
It's not completely necessary, the straw does a lot of what dung would do ☺
When the planting season starts?
March-April, though I am resowing a lot at the moment due to slug damage ☺
@@gesithasgewissa You have no children during sowing 😂. In Russia, children used to run behind the plowing adults to scatter the seeds. I guess it's the common practice along all the peasant farm families
@@vonmansfeld2244 Still working on the children 😆
Hey, I thought iron instruments were not affordable. Have you any idea with working on wooden ones?
They were valuable, but not out of the reach of the average freeman or village community. As I have the iron tools, which are period correct, I will use them. I may make a wooden hoe for weeding though.
There's something about that fox pelt on the bed that gives off a similar soothing feeling to that of a plush toy. And now I'm wondering if old saxon children (or even adults) would feel a similar comfort from those, or maybe even play with them...
It's entirely possible! Straw dolls and wooden toys are quite commonly found throughout archaeological history.
nice vid, I just saw you on time team for a split second and was like wait i know that face
Thanks, and yeah that's from a couple years ago, when I was working as a shipwright on the Sutton Hoo Ship ☺
As someone who's made cordage a few times in their life, let me just say: I'm envious of how even and well-finished that looks! That lashing on the end looks so smooth, and that taper is so well done I can't even guess the spots where the strips were cut. Wow. Just wow.
Thank you very much, linden bast is a really beautiful material to work with!
Medieval underdeveloped NORTH of europe
True, but around this time I believe farming methods were essentially very similar ☺
Hey I just saw you on the new Time Team Sutton hoo episode!
Yeah! That's from a couple years ago, when I was working as a shipwright on the Sutton Hoo Ship ☺
I just spotted you on Time Team! Well done!
Thanks, that's from a couple years ago, when I was working as a shipwright on the Sutton Hoo Ship ☺
What is that wide-headed hatchet called? I've never seen it before and it looks so good for switching between chopping and rougher detailwork
It's a T-shaped hewing axe, used from the 7th century onwards for hewing smooth surfaces, but it works great for general carving too.
I think the added sound is not very reasonable, perhaps it would be better to leave the sound natural.
I had diggers working nearby while filming so the natural sounds weren't possible this time.
Beans are a new world crop and wouldnt have been available in the 7th century. Broad beans might have been as rhey are a different plant family entirely - I dont know when they, or onions for that matter, made it to Britain
These are field beans, or fava beans. Definitely old world and definitely grown in the 7th century, as were onions.
Love this. Your thatched house is absolutely beautiful. We recently tilled and re-planted a large medicinal herb garden on our land that was abandoned some years ago and covered in weedy plants and scrubby trees, much like your patch was. I viscerally recognized that feeling of satisfaction after all the effort and chopping when you finally get out a nice big chunk of tree root :) Thanks for sharing your passion for history with us!
Wow, that's great. It's a good feeling to be growing things...or at least trying to! Thanks for sharing
U are creator of the most beautiful sense ❤and u deserve the best event ❤️ 💖 Full of good feeling and beautiful senses ✨️
Thank you!
Love you video
Thank you!
How long would this thing last? With proper maintenance of course.
Five to ten years, perhaps?
IRL Minecraft
😄
You always make me feel exhausted just sitting here watching you work so hard. No wonder you stay so fit!😂 I have been very impressed with your whole series. To watch living history makes me admire how hard people of that era had to work in order to survive. When people say when talking about history, “Oh, they were just peasant farmers”. Well, I wouldn’t want to mess with them!😅
Thank you, and I agree!
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Thanks!
Hi friend 🧡 u are amazing ❤i enjoy watching your video 🎉🎉🎉
Thank you!
So this is representing farming before the invention of the plow?
Small-scale vegetable gardens yes. For larger scale field systems, the Anglo-Saxons used a primitive plough or ard before the introduction of the heavy plow by the 10th century at least, but this may have been as early as the 7th century.
There are a number of labor saving garden techniques used in various cultures including small scale grazing and controlled burning. Most likely these were also used in this kind of settings. You may not personally had those options but I have a hard time believing essential food production wasn’t more skilled and understood/managed. Modern permaculture is reviving much of this technique. What we now call “food forests”
I'd like to do more permaculture based gardening in the future. Burning would not work on living trees and I wouldn't want to do that next to my thatched house. The area is a little small for livestock, and they wouldn't have removed the trees anyway.
Not one but two beautiful young men
Thanks!
Hmmmm fire can handle that easily 😂😂😂😂
Living blackthorn trees won't burn easily and the roots would still be left in the ground. Not to mention it is right next to my thatched house...
hello from Belarus)
Welcome!
What stitch are you using?
It's quite a unique 'Thorsberg stitch'; a simple running stitch, but it runs through the folded hems of each fabric side, meaning four layers of fabric are stitched, rather than two.
Your axe-handling skills are commendable! I very much like your videos, thank you!
Thank you very much!
Nicely done! But use a damm saw, they had wurmbunte Schwerter and the most insane jewelry/craftsmanship and could not think of a saw? Thats rediculous!
They certainly used small hacksaws for all the intricate metalwork, but there is no evidence of large timber saws or saw marks from the Anglo-Saxon period.
@@gesithasgewissa yeah of course, they were dumb, its the "dark period"😂 Just because theres no evidence, doesnt mean they werent there. Wood just withers away or is formed to other things, same as metal. Its just very unlikely, but hey, science rules ;)
There are vast numbers of surviving timbers from Early Medieval sites, such as York, London, Mucking and Ebbsfleet. These have survived in their waterlogged condition, and many show tool-marks from being worked by axes, but none show any saw-marks. Just because axes were preferred doesn't necessarily mean it was an inferior technology. There may have been cultural preferences or technological barriers against large saws. Cleaving trees and hewing planks was integral to Northern European clinker shipbuilding traditions, and these would have heavily influenced other carpentry. Most carpenters may have been so comfortable using axes for precise carpentry that they didn't feel the need to use saws until high quality trees became scarce in the 13th century. Having experienced cleaving oak trunks one metre diameter and five metres long myself with a maul and wedges I can say that it is possible within a couple of hours. You can cleave the tree as it lies without needing to move it around, raise it or dig a saw pit. If you imagine that it is much easier to process these trees where they are felled and transport the smaller pieces, you can see that, for a skilled treewright, it may well have been quicker to split and hew boards and beams rather than digging a sawpit and manoeuvring the tree into a saw-able position. Furthermore, bloomery iron available to the Anglo-Saxons may not have been of sufficient quality to produce thin flexible large saw blades. Wrought iron is very different to modern steels in that it does not spring back after being flexed, it just bends. With a huge array of high quality straight trees, cleaving would have been relatively easy and produced strong timber with intact grain all along the plank. The introduction of saw pits to Britain in the later Medieval period coincides with a reduction in forests and so far less availability of quality timber, and the transition from clinker-built boats with long flexible planks to carvel-built boats with short solid planks. This is potentially also partly due to the changes in available timber quality. Twisted, knotty timber is far easier to cut with a saw than to cleave, but this is not so much the case with high quality straight timber. Note that this transition took place far earlier in the Mediterranean, where timber supplies may well have already been dwindling well before the Roman period.