Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons were originally a collection of differing Germanic tribes from Angeln—a peninsula in the southern part of Schleswig, protruding into the Baltic Sea, and what is now Lower Saxony, in the north-west coast of Germany—who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century. They eventually coalesced completely around the 9th century into a single people, the Anglo-Saxons, forming the basis for the modern day English country, people, language and culture.

The Anglo-Saxon Invasions

:Main article: Sub-Roman Britain

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In 410, the Emperor Honorius replied to a petition for help, reputedly from the inhabitants of Roman Britain—although there is now some dispute as to where the request originated—that they should "look to their own affairs"; from this brief mention, historians have assumed that effective Roman rule in Britain ended. Some scholars find signs of local authorities maintaining Roman patterns in the following years; this remains speculative. Nevertheless, with the withdrawal of the Roman army and the cessation of coinage, Roman administration of the British Isles was autonomous from the early fifth-century. This is highly demonstrable in the archaeology of "Sub-Roman Britain" in which the Roman way of life is overcome by an arguably more primitive and "barbarian" one. Until the mid-twentieth century scholars were still referring to this period as the "Dark Ages", not least due to the lack of written records, but also due to the nature of the archaeological record: roads ceased to be maintained and some urban centres were abandoned; the circulation of coinage ceased abruptly, though not, it now appears, trade with the Continent; manufactured goods became cruder with the reversion from wheel- to hand-thrown methods of pottery; and even the means of disposing of the dead changed also, with the practise of extramural burial—burial outside the city walls—being neglected. Most recent archaeology tends to find more Roman continuity in some sites than previously thought.

Related Topics:
410 - Honorius - Roman Britain - Sub-Roman Britain - Dark Ages

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Into this apparent power vacuum, the Anglo-Saxons came and settled in the island, primarily on the east and south coasts. The exact details of their arrival are unclear, although their migration was part of the widespread movement of Germanic tribes on the mainland of Europe at this time, called the "Migrations period".

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Where reliable history fails, legend offers us a narrative, and many have argued that there is some kernel of truth in the legend. At least as early as Bede, the tradition relates how at a council of war, Vortigern, leader of the effectively self-governing Britons, granted Thanet in Kent to the Jutish warrior leader Hengist (or Hengest) as a permanent possession, in return for his followers' help in defending the region against Germanic and Celtic raiders from beyond its borders. Archaeological explorations have indicated that Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were established in Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, and Essex in the latter part of the 5th century, as well as East Anglia, Lindsey (now Lincolnshire), Deira (now East Yorkshire) and the Isle of Wight.

Related Topics:
Vortigern - Britons - Thanet - Kent - Jutish - Hengist - Celt - Sussex - Middlesex - Essex - East Anglia - Lindsey - Lincolnshire - Deira - East Yorkshire - Isle of Wight

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Organised British resistance, first led by Ambrosius Aurelianus (according to Gildas), and then possibly by King Arthur, culminated in the Battle of Mons Badonicus. This succeeded in halting the invasion. The leaders who fought with Arthur at this and other battles may have given rise to his fabled "Knights of the Round Table."

Related Topics:
Ambrosius Aurelianus - Gildas - King Arthur - Battle of Mons Badonicus

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The fate of Britain was still in the balance as late as 590, with King Urien of Rheged besieging Lindisfarne, the stronghold of Bernicia, and other Celts victorious in 584 at the Battle of Fethanleag (Stoke Lyne, 5km north of Bicester in Oxfordshire). In the previous 120 years, the Anglo-Saxons had added only Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire to the area under their firm control. But Urien was murdered by a rival among his compatriots, and Anglo-Saxon control of most of what is now England was cemented over the next 70 years. Perhaps in memory of this eventual defeat by the Anglo-Saxons, the modern Welsh word for England, "Lloegyr", means "the lost lands".

Related Topics:
Urien - Rheged - Lindisfarne - Bernicia - Battle of Fethanleag - Stoke Lyne - Bicester - Oxfordshire - Welsh

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Besides Angles, Saxons and Jutes, Frisians and perhaps the Franks, are known to have taken part in the "invasions". The various tribes established a large number of kingdoms in what today is known as England, which were popularly described to have later consolidated into seven states known as the Heptarchy.

Related Topics:
Frisians - Franks - England - Heptarchy

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According to tradition, Kent was established first by the Jutes under Hengist. Another Jutish king, Horsa, may have taken part; he may have been Hengist's brother.

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East Anglia's beginnings are unknown and very little record survives of its foundation or the fate of the native Britons, the once mighty Iceni tribe, who had dwelt there before. The name Mercia may mean "marches" and be related to the name of the River Mersey: a frontier area facing the Celtic Romano-British or Welsh. Deira and Bernicia appear to be Anglic corruptions of older British geographical names; the two states subsequently merged to form the kingdom of Northumbria.

Related Topics:
East Anglia - Iceni - Marches - Mersey - Romano-British - Welsh - Anglic - Northumbria

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The "Anglo-Saxon conquest" controversy

The nature of the Anglo-Saxon invasion is controversial. Traditionally, historians support an Anglo-Saxon conquest and near genocide of the native Celtic population. However recent research by historians, archaeologists and geneticists offer some new perspectives.

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Historians

Historians who challenge the traditional narrative of a "Saxon conquest" point out a marked lack of archaeological evidence for a major invasion. It is believed instead there was a gradual change in favour of the Anglo-Saxons, comprising mainly benign migration and resulting in a mixture with an existing population who absorbed the cultural and linguistic influences of the migrants. Studies that show the ethnic origins of the people have varied in their conclusions (for example the conflicting results of the genetic studies below) and there are some linguistic patterns in the development of Old English that compromise with Celtic traditions in a way that suggests gradual adoption.

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One posited theory is that most sources for a "Saxon conquest" originated with historians with a partisan agenda in presenting an English identity http://www.postroman.info/saxon1.html. The historian Norman Davies, in The Isles suggests that the Celts were overlooked in the historical record in part because no documentation of their orally-transmitted histories remain, the Celts having regarded writing as a threat to their oral traditions. Generations of history based on literary sources alone saw British history as beginning with Roman invasions of the first century AD: "So long as classical education and classical prejudices prevailed, educated Englishmen inevitably saw ancient Britain as an alien land." http://www.racesci.org/in_media/y_chromosomes_brit_hist.htm

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Geneticists

The fate of the Romano-British Celtic population is a matter of conjecture that is currently being unravelled by the genetic history of modern-day inhabitants.

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Some studies of isotopic relationships of strontium and oxygen in teeth from Anglo-Saxon burials are suggesting individual local origins. Broader studies based on genetic testing of modern Britons on a wide scale provide new kinds of data. Formerly, historians believed the account of Gildas uncritically, and thought that the invaders slaughtered all whom they encountered in an act of genocide. The genetic map supports recent historians, such as H.P.R. Finberg and Norman Davies, who have argued that the Celtic Britons largely survived, and lived under the Anglo-Saxon invaders as slaves or serfs and swiftly adopted Anglo-Saxon culture. Material remains alone would have identified them as Anglo-Saxons.

Related Topics:
Strontium - Genocide - Slave - Serf

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The large genetic survey of Y chromosome mutations in the British Isles, led by Profs. Cristian Capelli and David Goldstein of University College London and published in 2003, found that the genetic stamp of the Anglo-Saxons on the British Isles was weaker than expected. Less than half the tested population, all with deep roots in British locations, showed Anglo-Saxon markers. (However, the tests were on people now living, after 1500 years of subsequent migration and mixing within Britain.) Professor Goldstein told BBC News Online, "Studies like this suggest that the number of individuals that came over is small and even in burial sites that are Anglo-Saxon culturally, they're actually natives." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3514756.stm. (Note on the burial sites: the studies looked at chemicals in the teeth, which only accrue during a person's lifetime. Many of the Anglo-Saxons in the burial sites would of course have been born in Britain, their ancestors having immigrated in previous generations.)

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Other genetics studies support the traditional story that a Saxon conquest and genocide did in fact occur. As stated in one study, the evidence ..suggests that between 50% and 100% of the indigenous population of what was to become England was wiped out, with Offa's Dyke acting as a "genetic barrier" protecting those on the Welsh side. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/wales/2076470.stm It has been found that the genes that comprise the English people are almost identical to that of the genes of the Germanic peoples of continental Europe, The English and Frisians studied had almost identical genetic make-up but the English and Welsh were very different. In fact not only are the English descendents of these invaders, the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, but the Scottish and Cornish gene pools also show a high percentage of Germanic genes, The Cornish are in effect Anglo-Saxons who for a time used a language that was hanging around. The genes of Scottish males also betrayed considerable inter-mixing with outsiders.http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/content_objectid=13502852_method=full_siteid=50082_headline=-Genetics-make-Welsh-distinct-name_page.html According to these studies it seems that only the Welsh escaped the onslaught from the Anglo-Saxon invaders, thus creating a genetic barrier in the British Isles. Through these genetic studies it has been shown that the Welsh are closely related to the Irish (not including Ulster), Highland Scots and the Basques.

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