A Brief Summary of Anglo-Saxons

Jessica Crowther

The Anglo-saxon England was around from the 5th to the 11th century AD from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest (1066). It consisted of carious anglo-saxon kingdoms until 927 when it was united as the Kingdom of England by King Athelstan.

The anglo-saxons were members of germanic tribes which migrated from the area of today´s Denmark, Northern Germany and Netherlands (northwestern Europe). The main tribes were Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. These tribes established Heptarchy which consists of these seven main kingdoms Wessex, Sussex, Middlesex, Essex, Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Kent.

The tribes were religious, but not christian, they were Pegans and that is a polytheistic religion. But christianity was already known on the British Islands. So the Pope sent a monk to convert them to christianity. The monk was based in Canterbury (Kent) and the king Athlestan helped him to convert people, so the men were educated and could help the King run Kent. Converting to christianity was important just because of religious reasons, but also political.

there were also many conflicts between each kingdom even though they were now different than at the beginning. From this era is also known the Legend of Arthur. They were also facing threats from the Viking´s, through their entire history. To defend against the Vikings king Alfred did some reforms: 1) reform the army (smaller but more efficient and permanent army) 2) more ships 3) creation of the Buhrs. The most important sources of the anglo-saxon era are the Anglo-saxon chronicle and Historia Ecclesiastica.

Around the 9th century some danish people came and lived in England too and that is called the Danelaw. This caused quite a few changes such as the size of towns and cities increases and they also changed the ruling classes in their territories. St. Brice´s day massacre: many thousands of Danes were killed. They are also paying money to vikings to leave them alone.

Women in England had much more rights than women in the rest of Europe. They could own property and be witnesses.

this era ends with the Norman conquest where the Anglo-saxons say goodbye to the Danish occupiers.