The Saxon-Invasion: The Old English period occur from 445 AD to 1485 AD.

The Romans progressively abandoned Britannia in the end of 4th century as their Empire was falling apart and
legions were needed to protect Rome. After the Romans left England, the Celtic Britons were attacked by the 3
Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxon and Jutes, who came from Germany and Denmark.
 The Jutes settled mainly in Kent.
 The Angles settled in the east coast of Britain, particularly in the north and East Anglia.
 While the Saxons settled between the Jutes and the Angles.

Most of the British Celts were pushed into the mountains in the far west, which the Saxons called “Wales” (the
land of the foreigners). Others were driven into Cornwall, and some others, in the north, which later became
Scotland. Many Celts became slaves of the Saxon.

The Anglo-Saxon migrations gave the larger part of Britain its new name, England (the land of the Angles). The
Anglo-Saxons established a number of kingdoms. By the 7 th century the 3 largest kingdoms: Northumbria,
Mercia and Wessex were the most powerful.

The Saxons created institutions which made the English state strong. One of these institutions was the King's
Council, called the Witan, which was a political institution and its primary function was to advise the king on
difficult matters and whose membership was composed of the most important noblemen in England, ecclesiastic
and secular. By the 10th century the Witan became a formal body, issuing laws and charters.
By the end of the 10th century, the Saxons divided the land into new administrative areas, based on shires or
counties. Anglo-Saxon technology changed the English agriculture by introducing a heavier plough, which was
useful for cultivation heavier soils. Village land, were divided into large fields of thin strips, which were then
assigned to each family. Each district had a "manor" where local villagers went to pay taxes, where justice was
administered, and where men met to join the Anglo-Saxon army, the fyrd.
The English language had changed over time influenced by all civilizations who occupied the territory of the
British Isles.

At the end of 6th century, St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Anglo-Saxons to
Christianity. The monk, Augustine, became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Several ruling families in England
accepted Christianity. Some Latin words had been borrowed into the Germanic languages when the Anglo-
Saxons were converted to Christianity and Latin speaking priests became influential. Thus, the Latin alphabet
was introduced and adapted for the writing of Old English, replacing the earlier runic system. The Anglo-Saxon
quite rapidly adopted the new Roman alphabet.
Old English or Anglo-Saxon, was the language of the Germanic tribes who settled in England from the 5th
century. It had 3 main dialects: Kentish, Saxon and Anglian. As the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in England,
their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain. Several written works have survived form the Old
English period. Most of these are short religious writings or poems about great heroes. The most famous of
these is Beowulf, composed by an unknown author and written down in the 8 th or 9th century. Beowulf is set in
5th century Scandinavia and tells the story of the hero Beowulf’s battle with the monster Grendel and Grendel’s
mother. It was the first major European poem that was not written in Latin or Greek. Old English was originally
written in runes or runic letters, an ancient alphabet of 24 angular letters. Some Old English words, such as
dead, is, brother, from Beowulf’s passage, have survived with little change into Modern English.

 Many of the most basic and common words used in English today have their roots in Old English, including
words like: water, earth, house, food, drink, sleep, night, storing, he, she, not, etc.

 Evidence of the extent of their settlement can be found in the place names ending with the Anglo-Saxon “-
ing” meaning people of (e.g. Reading, Hastings), “-ton” meaning village (e.g. Burton, Luton), “-ham”
meaning farm (e.g. Nottingham, Birmingham). It is impossible to say just when English became a separate
language, rather than just a German dialect, although it seems that the language began to develop its own
distinctive features in isolation from the continental Germanic languages, by around 600 AD. Over time, 4
major dialects of Old English gradually emerged: Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the
midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the southeast.

 Saxon was the language spoken at the court of King Alfred the Great, who encouraged people to translate
Latin books into English, and so it became the main language of literature. With the unification of the Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms by Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, the language of government and literature
became standardized around the West Saxon dialect.

It is estimated that about 85% of the 30.000 or so Anglo-Saxon words gradually died out after the arrival of the
Vikings and the Normans who come after them, leaving a total of 4.500. After the arrival of the Vikings from the
8th century onwards, many Norse words, (e.g. dirt, sister, happy) were added to the language. Old English were
replaced by Norman French as the official language of England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, but it
continued to be spoken by the ordinary people, and influenced by French and Latin, developed into Middle
English, the language of the 12th to the 15th centuries.

Modern Standard English, however, developed from Mercia, a variety of Anglian which was spoken in the
Midlands. Relatively few Latin words dating back to the Roman occupation of England survived into Old English.

Christianity: the partnership of Church and state

At the end of 6th century, St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Anglo-Saxons to
Christianity. The monk, Augustine, became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 601. Several ruling families in
England accepted Christianity. But Augustine and his group of monks made little progress with the ordinary
people, partly because Augustine wanted to establish Christian authority, so the rulers were the priority. Some
Latin words had been borrowed into the Germanic languages when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to
Christianity and Latin speaking priests became influential. Thus, the Latin alphabet was introduced and adapted
for the writing of Old English, replacing the earlier runic system. The Anglo-Saxon quite rapidly adopted the new
Roman alphabet.
Saxon kings helped the Church to grow, but also the Church gave more power to the royalty. With the support
of the Bishops, Kings had “God’s approval”. The Church also increased the power of the English state by
establishing monasteries, which were places of learning and education. These monasteries trained the men who
could read and write, so that they had the necessary skills for the growth of royal and Church authority. King
Alfred, used the literature men of the Church to help establish a system of law, educate people and write down
important matters. This process gave power to those who could write and read, and in this was class division
increased.

On the other hand, it was the Celtic Church the one that brought Christianity to the ordinary people of Britain.
The Anglo-Saxon kings preferred the Roman Church for economic reasons since villages and towns grew around
the monasteries increasing local trade

The Vikings
By the late 8th century, Vikings (or Norsemen) coming from Norway and Denmark arrived to the Island tempted
by its worth. They only raided at first, but in mid-9 th century they came to conquer and settle, and quickly
accepted Christianity.
Their Scandinavian language (Old Norse) was also Germanic so that was easy for them to communicate with the
Anglo-Saxons who had come from Germany and Denmark years before.
Vikings expansion was finally checked by Alfred the Great and, in 878, a treaty between the Anglo-Saxons and
the Vikings established the Danelaw, splitting the country along a line roughly from London to Chester, giving
the Norsemen control over the north and east and the Anglo-Saxon the south and west.

Who should be king?

By 950, during the rule of the Saxon King, Ethelred the Unready, the Danes attacked England repeatedly.
Ethelred, decided to pay the Vikings to stay away. The money came from a land tax called “Danegeld” or
“Danish money”. It was introduced in Anglo-Saxon England in 991 in order to raise money to pay the Danes not
to attack southern England. The land tax affected most heavily the ordinary villagers. It was the beginning of a
regular tax system. When Ethelred died, Canute, the Viking King, became king of England. Cnut died in 1035.
The Witan chose Edward the Confessor, a son of Ethelred the Unready, to be king. Edward, known as "the
Confessor", was more interested in the Church than in kingship. When he died, there was a great confusion over
who had been promised the throne of England. His brother-in-law Harold Godwin became king, but was soon
removed by William the Normandy in the Norman Conquest of 1066.