Last Updated on August 7, 2021 by
The words “Anglo-Saxon” have come to mean anyone who is English or of English descent. But the Anglo-Saxons were actually people who lived long ago. The Romans had conquered Britain and occupied it for about 400 years. Then the Roman soldiers were called back to Italy. Britain was left undefended —at first, the Britons managed to carry on the Roman way of life, but by 450 A.D., wandering tribes began to settle in the part of England we now call East Anglia.
The Britons found that the newcomers were merciless people, whose songs were all songs of war. They belonged chiefly to three German tribes. the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes All of them lived on or near the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic.
These newcomers were fair-haired, tall, and very courageous. Before the end of the sixth century, they had destroyed the Roman power in Britain and had founded seven kingdoms here.
At first, each of these kingdoms had its own ruler, but in 829 they were united under an overlord. One of his successors was Alfred the Great, who reigned from 871 to 900. In 1066, the rule of the Anglo- Saxon kings in Britain was brought to an end by the Norman conquest.
Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, the language they spoke, was a mixture of the tongues spoken by the Angles, the lutes, and the Silkons. Present-day English grew out of Anglo-Saxon, but there is little resemblance between them, except to language experts. Anglo-Saxon must be studied like and foreign language.
Who Came First Anglo Saxons Or Vikings?
It both begins and ends with an invasion: the first Roman invasion in 55 BC and the Norman invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066. Add ‘in between were the Anglo-Saxons and then the Vikings’.
What were the Anglo-Saxons known for?
The Anglo-Saxons, also known as the Anglo-Saxons in England and the Anglo-Saxons in the United Kingdom, were the group of Germanic tribes who invaded England from the continental part of modern Germany in the fifth century. They settled along the southern coast of the island, beginning to conquer the western part of the country in the seventh century.
Why is it called Anglo-Saxon?
The word Anglo-Saxon is an anglicized version of the Latin word Anglorum, which means “the people of Angel”. It was used to describe the people of the United Kingdom, which was called Angel by the Romans. The Anglo-Saxons were those people.
What language did Anglo-Saxons speak?
Old English
