The Fall of Roman Britannia
In the fourth century A.D. the Roman Empire was facing its decline in Western Europe. Rome called back the legions from the peripheral domains in order to defend the core of the Empire.
Among these domains withdrawn by the legions there was Britannia, today known as England.
Romans had ruled over it for almost four centuries and colonizers from Italy and other Roman provinces mixed with local populations of Celtic stock giving origin to the so called Romano – Britons, who retained Roman language (Latin), religion and customs.
After the legions left the island the inhabitants had to provide by themselves for their security and defence.
Saxon were already raiding British coasts, in facts Roman had built a row of fortifications called Litora Saxonica (Saxon Shore) to drive back their attacks.
Some Saxons, however, had already settled peacefully in Britain working as farmers.
When, in the middle of the fourth century, the Celtic tribe of the Picts, and their allies attacked Roman Britain from the North, Romano-Britons landlords hired Jutish mercenaries (i.e. belonging to the Germanic tribe of the Jutes) to defend their possessions.
Probably we will never know what exactly happened, but a legend says that two mercenary leaders, Hengist and Horsa, after defeating the Picts, asked for a more conspicuous reward than the one promised them by their employers. When their claims were rejected, they revolted and sacked the land, provocking an insurrection among the Germanic farmers and setting favourable conditions for the landing of other invading tribes from the mainland.
The only surviving account of the invasions, written by a Romano-Briton called Gildas, describes systematic destruction and merciless persecution of the defeated Romano-Britons who, however, moved war against the invaders for the following four hundred years.
Other roman historians described Germanic invaders as fierce and cruel warriors, many of them were raiders and war was, above all, an important socio-economic activity for these populations.
The Saxons, as well as other related tribes, such as Angles, Jutes, Frisians and Danes were pirates as well and used to sail across the Northern sea to attack the coasts of Northern Europe and Southern England.
Sacking and booting was a quick way to gater riches and slaves which Anglo-Saxons either kept for themselves or traded . Kings distributed the booty of their raids among their warriors as a reward for their loyalty and bravery in battle. We know from Old English poems that generosity was one of the main virtues for a king.
It is interesting to notice that among Germanic people arts, science and literacy were taken into little or no account, but they were wonderfully skilled in blacksmithing and metallurgy and produced very good and beautiful weapons [L1] [L2].
The Name Anglo-Saxons comes from the blending of the two tribes of Angles and Saxons, who settled in Britannia, while the Angles gave their name to the whole land: England (originally Ængla-land i.e. ‘land of the Angles’).
These tribes came from Northern Germany and Southern Denmark [LP1] [LF1] [LF3].
Very little is known about the first period of the Anglo-Saxon settlements in the British Isles. Germanic people were illiterate and all the written documents they left us from this age are chronological lists of kings’ names.
Literacy, together with Christianity, was brought to the Anglo-Saxons from missionaries and travelling monks coming from Ireland, Wales, France and Italy.
Three main tribes invaded the Roman province of Britannia: Angles, Saxon and Jutes, among them there were some people belonging to other Germanic tribes: Frisians and probably Franks [L3].
We know for sure that, after the turmoil following the invasion, four separate Saxon realms formed and the names of three of them (Essex, Wessex and Sussex) are still surviving and define three English counties.
These kingdoms were:
Essex: Realm of the East Saxons.
Middlesex: Province ruled by the Middle Saxons.
Sussex: Realm of the Southern Saxons.
Wessex: Realm of the Western Saxons.
The Angles established themselves in the North-Eastern part of England while the Jutes settled in the Island of Wight and on the opposite mainland.
Romano-Britons and Celtic people fled westwards, in the regions now known as Wales and Cornwall or northwards (Scotland) or to the north-eastern part of France, to which they gave the name of Brittany after their homeland.
It reasonable to suppose that some of them were reabsorbed into the new culture.
The new Germanic settlers probably considered themselves as separate people, and in fact they formed separated and independent kingdoms, but they spoke very similar dialects and shared the same customs.
The life of these populations was based upon war and sacking and one of the duties of a king was to attack and everyone in sight, in order to maintain his power by giving land, slaves and treasures to his warriors, in order to gain their loyalty and support.
If a king was not considered brave or generous enough his warriors deserted him and were ready to fight for a new claimer to the throne.
When a king died (usually it happened in battle) any relative who had a good number of followers could claim the throne for himself, that is the reason why Anglo-Saxon tribes were almost perpetually at war with each other and also with neighbouring and overseas populations, with whom they did not disdain to ally, if they had a common enemy; kingdoms did not usually last long [L4].[L5]
Further invasions:
Anglo-Saxons were not the last invaders of the British Isles. From IX century onwards Vikings from Denmark, also known simply as Danes, started raiding English shores and sacked and destroyed several times the city of London.
The Danes had a more efficient army than the Anglo-Saxons and their fleet was made of better and faster ships. They began to settle in some parts of England they conquered until, between the end of the IX century and the beginning of the X they reached an agreement with the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred ‘The Great’ and were granted the North-Western part of England, that took the name of Danelaw from the new rulers.
England attracted also the attention of other Viking tribes, coming from Scandinavia. These Vikings are described by their contemporaries as ferocious, bloodthirsty and merciless raiders and pirates. From the end of IX century onwards they started raiding Northern Europe, England, Scotland and Ireland attacking and destroying everything they met, villages, churches and monasteries included.
At the beginning of XI century Anglo-Saxons and Norwegian Vikings allied to conquer back London from the Danes and they were successful; such alliances, however, never lasted long.
Some Vikings settled in Northern France. They were called Normans (men from the north) and their lands became known as Normandy. The Norman king William the Conqueror in 1066 A.D. led his army to victory at the battle of Hastings, thus conquering England and bringing an end to Anglo-Saxon era [LF3].
