14th March 2025 5th November 2025 By Victor Rouă In

A Brief History Of The Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons were an ethnic, linguistic, and cultural mixture of three Germanic peoples (i.e. the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, according to medieval chronicler Saint Bede the Venerable) which migrated from what is now Denmark (more specifically the Jutland peninsula) and northern Germany (more specifically the states of Schleswig-Holstein, most notably the Angeln peninsula, and Lower Saxony or Niedersachsen as it is known in German) during the Early Middle Ages to Britain (inhabited and ruled at that time by Romano-Britons). The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, the three Germanic peoples who constituted the unified cultural group of the Anglo-Saxons, sailed across the North Sea from mainland Europe (led by brothers Hengist and Horsa, according to legend, who were invited by Vortigern, a semi-legendary Briton king) and reached the shores of south-eastern Britain where they permanently settled and pushed the Celtic Britons west (to Wales) and north (to Scotland).

Migration map depicting how the Saxons stemmed from the Angles during the 3rd century (moving southward from the Angeln peninsula), according to German philologist Elmar Seebold in his work Die Herkunft der Franken, Friesen und Sachsen (i.e. The origins of the Franks, Frisians, and Saxons) in Essays on the Early Franks, Barkhuis, the Netherlands, 2003, pages 24-29). Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Migration map depicting the Anglo-Saxon expansion in south-eastern Britain as well as the Jutish expansion to both Frisia and south-eastern Britain during the 5th century, according to German philologist Elmar Seebold in his work Die Herkunft der Franken, Friesen und Sachsen (i.e. The origins of the Franks, Frisians, and Saxons) in Essays on the Early Franks, Barkhuis, the Netherlands, 2003, pages 24-29). Image source: Wikimedia Commons

According to Saint Gildas (a 6th century chronicler) in his Latin work De excidio et conquestu Britanniae (i.e. On the ruin and conquest of Britain), the first Saxons to set foot on British soil were actually mercenaries invited and hired by a nameless Briton prince (later on known and referred to in historical sources as Vortigern) with the mission of defending his realm against Pictish and Scottish invaders. These Saxon mercenaries subsequently revolted against this monarch (i.e. Vortigern), conquered and settled Britain, and pushed the previous inhabitants of this land to the west and/or north.

The Settlements of the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes in Britain in about 600. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

They came to Britain in search of new, fertile farming land during the 5th century (just as their Germanic relatives from Scandinavia, the Norse, would eventually do several centuries later). The Anglo-Saxons spoke Old English (endonym: Englisc or Ænglisc), the eldest known form of the English language (although each of the three Germanic peoples spoke its own dialect which later on collectively evolved and became Old English), and were initially pagan/heathen, before converting to Christianity. They were initially ruled by chieftains prior to their transition to various types of monarchies (i.e. ritualised monarchy, elective monarchy, Christian monarchy, hereditary monarchy, and constitutional monarchy) and were initially geopolitically divided into several early medieval kingdoms (collectively known as ‘The Heptarchy‘, i.e. the seven Anglo-Saxon medieval kingdoms) before being united under one king. All Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, collectively referred to as ‘The Heptarchy’, were ruled by a king between the 6th and 8th centuries (or from circa 500 to circa 900). Those seven early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Wessex, Sussex, and Kent. Before the Heptarchy however, there were also other smaller Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, more specifically Deira (situated in the north-east of present-day England), Bernicia (also situated in the north-east of present-day England as well as in southern Scotland), Lindsey (located in the east of present-day England), Surrey or Isle of Wight (both located in the south of present-day England, the latter being inhabited by the Wihtwara who, according to Saint Bede the Venerable, were descended from the Jutes).

As the Anglo-Saxons became the dominant people of early medieval Britain (demographically, politically-administratively, religiously, economically, and militarily), much like how they settled on the Albion by defeating and subduing the local Romano-Briton population before them, they were challenged with the same fate by the Norse who raided and plundered their abbeys. The Vikings frequently raided the coastal areas of England and subsequently established their own state in the north, centre, and east of England known as the Danelaw (known in Danish as Danelagen and in Old English as Dena Lagu, i.e. Danes’ law), where the laws of the Danish Vikings held sway over those of the local Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw existed from the late 9th century up until the early 11th century, with the only two surviving Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being the English Mercia and Wessex. Although the total territorial extent of the Danelaw (which also comprised a certain portion of south-eastern Scotland) was not entirely settled by the Danes, their warlords left an indelible mark on the region nevertheless. The total territorial extent of the Danelaw included Yorkshire, East Anglia, as well as the central and eastern parts of the Midlands. The Norse/Danish presence in the Danelaw also influenced the local speech of the people, leading to the apparition of various Anglo-Norse dialects. Given the frequent raids and skirmishes between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons, the West Saxons under King Alfred the Great of Wessex built a series of fortifications known as burhs.

The Vikings, more specifically the Great Heathen Army led by the Danish warlord Guthrum, were defeated at the Battle of Edington (nowadays a village situated in Wiltshire, south-western England) in 878 by the Anglo-Saxons of the kingdom of Wessex under King Alfred the Great. Years after this battle, namely in 886, a peace treaty was signed between King Alfred the Great and the Danish warlord Guthrum which delineated the boundaries of the Danelaw and Wessex and also included trade. Nonetheless, both Anglo-Saxon and Danish England came to an end after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 which paved the way to the Norman conquest of England.

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