Nova England

Nova England

From The Wanderer Anglo Saxon History, mythology, Folklore and religion by Frank Docherty

July 13, 2026 · 8 min

About this episode

The episode explores the medieval tradition of Nova Anglia, a narrative of Anglo Saxon exiles who founded a new homeland after the Norman Conquest.

Nova Anglia, or “New England,” is a medieval tradition about Anglo Saxon exiles who left England after the Norman Conquest and founded a new homeland in the east, placed near the Black Sea or in Crimea. The story survives in later historical references and modern retellings, but it is generally treated as an evidenced episode. The basic idea is that some displaced Anglo Saxon nobles and warriors, rather than accepting Norman rule, carried their identity, customs, and perhaps their loyalty to an English political order into foreign lands. In that sense, Nova Anglia functions as both a migration story and a memory of lost sovereignty: Englishmen building an “England” elsewhere after their own had been conquered. What makes the tale interesting is that it sits at the edge of history and legend. Some accounts describe the settlers as creating a community with English names and institutions, So the story is best understood as a medieval exile narrative with a possible historical core. It also fits a wider medieval pattern: defeated elites sometimes imagined or attempted new beginnings in distant places, especially where there was room to settle and a political vacuum to exploit. Nova…

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Host: Frank Docherty

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Places: Nova Anglia, England, Black Sea, Crimea

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