When the Roman Empire collapsed and its main soldiers leaders and noblemen left England to go defend Rome, there was a long period without culture and writing —so it’s quite tricky to really know what happened next. We don’t know for sure if Britain was invaded by a new group of people called the Angles and Saxons. Or whether people drifted in to Britain from Europe and slowly became established. We don’t know if it’s ancient pagan people the Celts resurrected. There was one British writer at the time whose name was Gildas. He wrote a manuscript (above) entitled ‘The Ruin of Britain’. At many times in our history we have plainly felt “ruined” by our overlords but we have always as people survived. It is important as kids you understand this.
Gildas writes that after the Romans the British people (the Britons, men and women left behind, Celts and pagan tribes) invited the groups of people collectively known as the “Anglo-Saxons” to come to Britain. He says they were mercenaries and asked to defend the land against the Picts and other northern groups. Mercenaries are usually skilled fighting men paid to defend and protect people. At the time people, especially those with land and wealth, likely felt worried that when the Roman garrisons left they were under threat. These mercenaries according to him later rebelled when they felt their pay was not adequate and they overthrew the British “with great bloodshed”. We don’t know this as certain. Some people say the Angles and Saxons simply came over and settled, as the Roman Empire fell apart. Perhaps it was a combination of both.
It is estimated that the first Anglo-Saxons arrive in the 470s AD (anno domini meaning year of our Lord in Latin, or the period in history after Christs death).
A writer and historian called Bede who writes in the 600s and 700s wrote something called the “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” and in it he says the first Saxons to arrive in Britain were: Hengest and Horsa, who were the sons of Wihtgils, the son of Witta, the son of Wecta, the son of Woden.
Bede dates their arrival to around 450AD and says that Horsa was later killed in battle by the Britons.
Bede also says that there were three powerful groups who occupied various parts of Britain:
Saxones (East, West, South – the Saxons)
Angli (East, Middle, Northumbrian – the Angles)
Iutae (Isle of Wight – the Jutes)
We also know now that there were early connections with the Continental Franks, a (tribe of people who lived in Northern Europe), and it has even been argued that Kent was at some time part of the wider kingdom of these Franks. This is relevant because remember we were conquered by the Normans. The Normans were Franks. The Normans married Frankish women, spoke the French language, and adopted Christianity.
The names of places in the country can also help to understand what was happening.
From the 5th century, for example, between the South Downs of England and the Channel, along the rivers and east of Pevensey, names denoting groups of people (Beeding, Malling, Patching) all tell us these were settlements of people. Many tribes if you like.
We know that up North, Northumbria was a whole mini nation state. They were collectively called “Nordanhymborum gens” (the nation of the Northumbrians). This is important because Northumbria will play a huge dominant role in English royal history later on.
Meanwhile, the areas south of the Humber were referred to as “Sutangli” (Southern English).
Many different traditions and identities were evolving especially in the Midlands and South and they all formed themselves under the authority of one overlord called a “Bretwalda”.
There was a period in the 7th century when three successive Bretwaldas ruled both north and south of the Humber. These overlords were recognised among the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. They were rarely if at all recognised by the existing British kingdoms, the people left over after the Romans.
Britain was being run by bands of adventurers who, according to their own traditions, were drawn from three Germanic peoples. They saw their kings as descended from the god Woden. And the kings in turn were all ruled over by a Bretwalda.
By the 7th century, definite kingdoms began to emerge across Britain until there were seven which ruled over the Anglo-Saxon portion of Britain until the late 9th century.
These were known as the Heptarchy.
So Anglo Saxon history can be summarised into three parts.
The first part above is from the 5th-7th century.
The Heptarchy from 7th - 9th Century
Anglo Saxon England from 10th- 11th Century
whereupon the Anglo Saxons were attacked by an invading force called the Normans under William the Conqueror.
Famous Anglo Saxons include
Alcuin of York
Athelflaed, Lady of the Mercians
Bede
Eadric Streona
King Edward the Elder
Edwin, King of Northumbria
Hereward the Wake
Hengest, Horsa and the Coming of the English
Offa, King of Mercia
The Story of King Alfred
King Æthelstan
King Edgar, first king of all England
Harold Godwinson
For the purpose of what we are doing here on Substack we will take a few of these men and women and a bunch of topics and explore further under these headings at various points —not in this order below necessarily but more as the mood takes, all in an attempt to weave the Anglo Saxon story together.
Inspire
Hengest, Horsa, Alcuin, Athelflaed and maybe some others —a bit of a mix
Bitesize
Carolingians, Franks, Charlemagne connection
Godwinson and William the Conqueror
Go Deeper
Vikings and their influence and their pagan gods and beliefs.
Anglo Saxon Pagan beliefs, gods and language, folklore
Anglo Saxon Christianity, monasticism, monks, learning
King Alfred, the Vikings and establishment of England
King Edgar, first king of All England
Complement
Beowulf
Battle of Maldon
Sutton Hoo
Celts and the Book of Kells
Lindisfarne Gospels
The Franks Casket
Revisit
The Celts and Neolithic England (1.0) at this time I think it’s pressing for me as a mum to cover the Anglo Saxons with my son. I have done a fair bit with him on the Celts and Neolithic ages which I’m calling 1.0. I’ll link to it I just don’t know how yet.
Sources and Resources
All the stuff I find to complement this and links to my sources
The Franks Casket above.
The casket was made in the 8th century, probably in Northumbria, and it is astonishingly, although not completely, intact. The panels around the sides and on the lid show an array of stories from Roman, Jewish, Christian and Germanic tradition. Starting with the Romans, the left hand panel depicts the story of Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome, being suckled by the she-wolf. The inscription is in Old English runes and reads:
“Romulus and Remus, two brothers, a she-wolf nourished them in Rome, far from their native land”
The back panel depicts the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the Romans. Part of the inscription here is in Latin using the Roman alphabet and the other part is in Old English in runes. In the top left the Romans attack the city and it states “Here Titus and the Jews fight” (Old English runes); then in the top right the population is trying to escape, with the text “Here the inhabitants flee from Jerusalem” (mixed Latin and runes); in the bottom left we see a judge, and the word “judgement” (in Old English runes); and finally in the bottom right the defeated slaves are led away with the word “hostages” (Old English runes). The front panel has two stories side by side. The first is the Christian Adoration of the Magi at the birth of Jesus. A rather duck-like bird in the scene is probably the Holy Spirit, and word “magi” is shown in runes.
The other side of the panel depicts the legend of Weyland the Smith, a Germanic story about a master smith captured and hamstrung by King Nithhad. In revenge Wayland kills the king’s sons and makes goblets from their skulls which he presents to the king. He also gives drugged beer to the king’s daughter and then rapes her, leaving her pregnant. Wayland finally escapes on wings made from the collected feathers of birds.
Source The Engliscan
To me it represents the stunning beauty of combined western civilisation as it flourished in England.
The Roman occupation of Britain is probably one this most fascinating periods for me. Recently there has been a glut of novels telling stories of the Roman army in Britain and these are currently filling my Kindle Library, also have a pile of the latest textbooks on the subject on a table next to me to check the facts, so as to not to get too carried away by the fiction. A bad habit of mine, buying books for background information on a work of fiction I'm reading, Not sure if we will be able to rely on the objectivity of the latest interpretations of history. I can't say I would have survived those brutal times but safe and comfortable as I am now, I wonder if it is really living.