The Saxon Invasion

By 453 the Saxons became more restless with frequent raids on British towns and cities. Supposedly, around 456 a phoney peace conference led to a massacre of 300 leading Britons by the Saxons. By 458 Hengest finally conquered Kent. This caused a migration of British aristocrats and city-dwellers to northwestern Gaul. It became known as Brittany thereafter.

In the following decade Ambrosius Aurelianus took control of the pro-Roman faction and the British resistance against the Saxons. Around 466 the Saxons defeated the Britons at the battle of Wippedesfleot, with great slaughter on both sides. For the next ten years, ancient hillforts were strengthened and the Wansdyke was probably constructed. At the battle of Wallop (Hampshire), Ambrosius Aurelianus defeated Vitalinus, the leader of an opposing faction to assume supreme power in Britain. In 473, however, Kentish forces, under Hengest, moved westward, driving the Britons before them “as one flees fire”.

In 477 the Saxon chieftain Aelle landed on Sussex coast with his sons. The Britons attacked him but his superior force drove them into the forest . Over the following decade the Saxons expanded their coastal occupation in Sussex. In 486 Aelle

and his sons met the Britons in battle at Mercredesburne. The battle was bloody but indecisive, and ended with a truce.

Towards the end of the 5th century, the Britons defeated the Saxons at Mount Badon. This victory halted the Saxon advance for over 50 years and led to a generation of peace. However, according to Gildas, corrupt leadership, civic disagreements and apathy eroded Romano-British culture.

The traces of Anglo-Saxon language and culture in modern Britain

7th and 8th century authors wrote in Latin, as did a great many Anglo-Saxon authors of later periods. In addition to well-known classic poems as Beowulf they left us the translations associated with King Alfred's educational program. While most of the manuscripts that preserve vernacular works date from the late 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, the Anglo-Saxons were producing written work in their own language by the early 7th century, and many scholars believe that Beowulf and several other important poems date from the 8th century.

Between the time of the migration and the appearance of the earliest written records in the first years of the 8th century, the language of the Anglo-Saxons came to differ from that of the people they had left behind. This distinct language is called Old English to emphasize its continuity with Modern English, which is directly descended from it.

The rules for spelling Old English were different from the rules for spelling Modern English. But there are more substantial differences as well. The 3 vowels that appeared in the inflectional endings of Old English words were reduced to one in Middle English, and then most such endings disappeared entirely. The vocabulary of Old English was of course Germanic. Old English developed into four major dialects: Northumbrian, north of the river Humber; Mercian, in the midlands; Kentish, in Kent; and West Saxon, in the SW. Nearly all Old English poetry is in West Saxon, though it often contains spellings and vocabulary more typical of Mercian and Northumbrian.