2.4. The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain

From the middle of the 5^th century the Celts had to defend the country against the attacks of Germanic Tribes from the Continent. First the Jutes and then the Saxons and the Angles began to migrate to B. The Saxons came from the territory lying between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers which was later on called Saxony. The Jutes and the Angles came from the Jutland Peninsular.

The British natives fought fiercely and it took the invaders a hundred and fifty years to conquer the country. In the course of the invasion many of the Celts ►were killed, some were taken prisoners and made slaves or had to pay tribute to the conquerors.► Some of the Celts crossed the sea to the North-West of France and settled in what was later on called Brittany.

► A – S occupied most of the territory of the island, but certain refuge areas were left to the natives. Cornwall and Wales and the northern part of the island ( Scotland) were the home of the Picts and Scots whom neither Romans nor the AS were able to conquer.

A-S society was much more backward as compared with the social organization which prevailed among the Celts in B. The new settlers preferred to live in small villages and destroyed the Roman towns and villas. Many buildings were so neglected that soon fell in ruins. Many roads were broken up , as the stones were used as building material. Thus the art of road-making was lost for many hundreds of years.

By the beginning of the 7^th century several kingdoms were formed by the Germanic tribes:Kent, Sussex, Wessex , Essex, Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia. These kingdoms were hostile to one another and they fought constantly for supreme power in the country. Gradually 3 greater kingdoms were left: Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex¸the latter being the most powerful of them. At the beginning the king of Wessex , Egbert, subdued the Celts, defeated the Mercians in the battle, and so became the first king of all England.

The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were closely akin in speech and customs, and they gradually merged into one people. The name “Jute” soon died out and the conquerors were generally referred to as the Anglo-Saxons, who made up the majority of the population in Britain. The Celts got to be called “welsh” which means foreigners as they spoke the Celtic language different to the language of the Anglo-Saxons. But gradually the Celts merged with the conquerors, adopted their customs and learnt their language (only the Celts who remained independent in the West, Scotland and Ireland kept to their own tongue and traditions).

The most fruitful event of the A-S history was the conversion of the English to Christianity. Augustine of Canterbury became the first archbishop of Canterbury in 601.

5. The Danish wars

The Danes who came from Denmark and the Northmen ( Vikings)who came from Scandinavian penincular, were of the same Germanic race as the Anglo-Saxons. But they still lived in tribes and were pagans. They worshiped the old gods forgotten by the A-S.

In 793 they carried out their first raids on Britain which were for plunder only and had nothing to do with permanent occupation. These raids were successful because there was neither regular army nor a fleet on the North sea to meet them. In 865 a great Danish army landed in East Anglia. As the result of this invasion Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia were defeated, only Wessex was left to face the enemy.

Under the reign of Egbert’s grandson, King Alfred, who due to his military genius became known in British history as Alfred the Great, Wessex became the centre of resistance against the invaders. King A prevented the D from conquering the whole of the island. He succeeded in beating the D and forcing a peace upon them. After several victories won by Anglo-Saxons followed the treaty in which the Danes promised to leave Wessex and a part of Mercia. They settled in the north-eastern part of England, a region which was from that time called the Danelaw, because it was ruled according to the law of the Danes.

After his hard-won victories K A reorganized the West Saxon state, built a fleet, and so became the founder of English maritime power. He called in the Welsh bishop, Asser, to aid him in education himself and his people, translating books into E and becoming the founder of E prose literature.

But the work of the West Saxons was undone by the second wave of Danish invasion. The A-S tried to buy off the Fanes. In 991 a heavy tax called the Danegeld was imposed. But every year the Danes came back to receive more money. The country submitted to the rule of the great Canute, king of England, Denmark and Norway. He brought E into the orbit of his Scandinavian Empire. His policy was to reconcile E and D upon the basis of equality and acceptance of Christianity. The Danes were vigorous traders who revived the life of the Roman towns and the commerce of London.

Supported by A-S feudal lords Canute ruled in E till he died in 1035. Soon afterwards an A-S king Edward the Confessor came to the throne and the line of Danish kings came to an end. The Canut’s Empire broke up with his death: the future of England was not to be with Scandinavia.