what does anglo saxon mean and what time period is considered to have lasted

The Anglo-Saxon period

Jump to: Anglo-Saxons in Britain | Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms | Areas to examine | Key concepts & links

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The Anglo-Saxon period in Uk spans approximately the half dozen centuries from 410-1066AD. The menses used to be known as the Nighttime Ages, mainly because written sources for the early years of Saxon invasion are scarce. However, most historians at present prefer the terms 'early on middle ages' or 'early medieval catamenia'.

It was a time of state of war, of the breaking up of Roman Britannia into several separate kingdoms, of religious conversion and, after the 790s, of continual battles against a new set of invaders: the Vikings.

Climatic change had an influence on the movement of the Anglo-Saxon invaders to Britain: in the centuries after 400 Advertising Europe's average temperature was i°C warmer than we have today, and in Britain grapes could be grown as far north as Tyneside. Warmer summers meant better crops and a rise in population in the countries of northern Europe.

At the same time melting polar ice caused more flooding in low areas, peculiarly in what is now Denmark, Holland and Kingdom of belgium. These people somewhen began looking for lands to settle in that were not and so likely to flood. After the departure of the Roman legions, Uk was a defenceless and inviting prospect.

A curt history of the Anglo-Saxons in U.k.

Anglo-Saxon mercenaries had for many years fought in the Roman regular army in Britain, so they were non total strangers to the isle. Their invasions were slow and piecemeal, and began even before the Roman legions departed. At that place is even some evidence to propose that, initially, some Saxons were invited to help protect the country from invasion.

When the Roman legions left Britain, the Germanic-speaking Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians began to arrive – at first in small invading parties, simply presently in increasing numbers. Initially they met little firm resistance from the relatively defenceless inhabitants of Britannia. Effectually 500 AD, all the same, the invaders were resisted fiercely by the Romano-British, who might have been led past King Arthur, if he existed – and at that place is no hard evidence that he did. Withal, the monk Gildas, writing in the mid-6th century, talks near a British Christian leader chosen Ambrosius who rallied the Romano-British against the invaders and won twelve battles. Later on accounts call this leader Arthur. Encounter 'Saxon Settler' lesson plan.

The Celtic areas of Britain regarded the Saxons as enemies and foreigners on their borders: their proper noun became Sassenachs to the Scottish and Saesneg to the Welsh.

The diverse Anglo-Saxon groups settled in different areas of the country. They formed several kingdoms, oftentimes changing, and constantly at war with i some other. These kingdoms sometimes best-selling one of their rulers every bit a 'High Rex', the Bretwalda. By 650 AD there were seven separate kingdoms, as follows:

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, c. 650-800AD

one. Kent, settled by the Jutes. Ethelbert of Kent was the commencement Anglo-Saxon king to be converted to Christianity, by St Augustine around 595 AD.

2. Mercia, whose best-known ruler, Offa, built Offa's Dyke forth the border between Wales and England. This large kingdom stretched over the Midlands.

3. Northumbria, where the monk Bede (c. 670-735) lived and wrote his Ecclesiastical History of U.k..

4. East Anglia, made up of Angles: the Due north Folk (living in modern Norfolk) and the South Folk (living in Suffolk). The Sutton Hoo ship burying was found in East Anglia (see below).

5. Essex (East Saxons). Here the famous Battle of Maldon was fought confronting the Vikings in 991.

six. Sussex: the South Saxons settled hither.

7. Wessex (West Saxons), afterwards the kingdom of King Alfred, the only English language king always to have been called 'the Nifty', and his as impressive grandson, Athelstan, the start who could truly call himself 'King of the English language'.

By 850 Advertisement the seven kingdoms had been consolidated into three big Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. The Anglo-Saxons had become a Christian people.

Areas worth examining

Poetry

Three poems give excellent insights into the Anglo-Saxons:

• The Ruin, an anonymous poem written well-nigh the ruin and decay of a Roman town (see lesson plan and resources on The cease of Roman United kingdom - the poem text is available via the 'resources' attachment)
• Beowulf, well-nigh the great hero who fought and killed the monster Grendel and his mother, became a peachy king and met his death fighting an enraged dragon. In that location are several versions of the verse form for children, too as a cartoon moving-picture show. Rosemary Sutcliff's version is splendid.
• The Battle of Maldon, near the Saxons' heroic defense against a forcefulness of raiding Vikings in Essex.

Sutton Hoo ship burial

This burial of an East Anglian male monarch provides a rich instance report from which we can draw inferences about kingship, religion, warfare, trade, craftsmanship.

See the Saxon Ship Burial and Sutton Hoo lessons, and the Sutton Hoo objects exemplar.

Daily life

• 'Saxon farming year' trading exemplar
• Anglo-Saxon house and daily life posters

Alfred the Great

King Alfred, called 'the Great' because he:

• defeated the Vikings in the Battle of Edington in 878, then converted their leader Guthrum to Christianity;
• recaptured London from the Vikings and established a boundary betwixt the Saxons and the Vikings - the area ruled by the Vikings was known as the Danelaw;
• strengthened his kingdom'due south defences by creating a serial of fortresses (burhs) and a decent army;
• built ships against Viking sea attacks, and then beginning the English language navy;
• had books translated into English and promoted learning;
• founded monasteries;
• commissioned the writing of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical tape of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain.

Afterward 793, when the Vikings raided Lindisfarne Monastery, the history of the Anglo-Saxons becomes entangled with that of the Vikings. In many means they were similar: in linguistic communication, religion and Northern European origins, however they are not the same. The very fact that they invaded Uk at unlike times makes them two very singled-out peoples in our history.

Key concepts

• Invasion
• Settlement
• Heathens
• Christianity
• Monastic life
• Kingdom
• Chronicle
• English language

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Source: https://www.history.org.uk/primary/resource/3865/anglo-saxons-a-brief-history#:~:text=The%20Anglo%2DSaxon%20period%20in,or%20'early%20medieval%20period'.

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