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History of Anglo-Saxon England

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   The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of early medieval
   England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment of
   Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Conquest by the
   Normans in 1066. The 5th and 6th centuries are known archaeologically
   as Sub-Roman Britain, or in popular history as the "Dark Ages"; from
   the 6th century larger distinctive kingdoms are developing, still known
   to some as the Heptarchy; the arrival of the Vikings at the end of the
   8th century brought many changes to Britain, and relations with the
   continent were important right up to the 'end' of Anglo-Saxon England,
   traditionally held to be the Norman Conquest.
   Kingdoms and tribes in Britain, ca. 600 AD.
   Kingdoms and tribes in Britain, ca. 600 AD.

Migration and Formation of Kingdoms (400-600)

   Britain in AD 500
   Britain in AD 500

   It is very difficult to establish a coherent chronology of events from
   Rome's departure from Britain, to the establishment of Anglo-Saxon
   kingdoms. The story of the Roman departure as told by Geoffrey of
   Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae is dubious except as
   documenting Medieval legend.

   The archaeological records of the final decades of Roman rule show
   undeniable signs of decay, in stagnant urban and villa life. Coins
   minted past 402 are rare. So when Constantine III was declared Emperor
   by his troops in 407, and crossed the channel with the remaining units
   of the British garrison, effectively Roman Britain ended. Britain was
   left defenceless, and Constantine was eventually killed in battle. In
   410, Emperor Honorius told the Romano-British to look to their own
   defence, yet in the mid 5th century the Romano-British still felt they
   could appeal to the consul Aetius for help against invaders.

   Various myths and legends surround the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons,
   some based on documentary evidence, some far less so. Four main
   literary sources provide the evidence. Gildas' 'The Ruin of Britain'
   (c. 540) is polemical, and more concerned with criticising British
   kings than accurately describing events. Bede's 'Ecclesiastical History
   of the English People' is based in part on Gildas, though brings in
   other evidence. However, this was written in the early 8th century,
   some time after events. Later still is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which
   is in part based on Bede, but also brings in legends regarding the
   foundation of Wessex.

   Other evidence can be brought in to aid the literary sources. It is
   interesting to note that the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Bernicia,
   Deira and Lindsey all retained Celtic names, which would suggest
   political continuity. Contrastingly, the more westerly kingdoms of
   Wessex and Mercia show little sign of following existing boundaries.
   Archaeologically, following burial patterns and land usage allows us to
   follow Anglo-Saxon settlement, though it is possible that the British
   were adopting Anglo-Saxon practice. Analysis of human remains unearthed
   at an ancient cemetery near Abingdon, England, indicates that Saxon
   immigrants and native Britons lived side by side. There is much
   academic debate as to whether the Anglo-Saxon migrants replaced, or
   merged with, the Romano-British people who inhabited southern and
   eastern Britain.

   Already from the 4th century AD, Britons had migrated across the
   English Channel and started to settle in the western part ( Armorica)
   of Gaul (France), forming Brittany. Others may have migrated to
   northern Spain. The migration of the British to the continent and the
   Anglo-Saxons to Britain, should be considered in the context of wider
   European migrations. However, some doubt, based on limited genetic
   work, has been cast on the extent of Anglo-Saxon migration to Britain.

   Though one cannot be sure of dates, places or people involved, it does
   seem that in 495, at the Battle of Mount Badon (possibly Badbury rings,
   Latin Mons Badonicus, Welsh Mynydd Baddon), the Britons inflicted a
   severe defeat on the Anglo-Saxons. Archaeological evidence, coupled
   with the questionable source Gildas, would suggest that the Anglo-Saxon
   migration was stemmed for a while.

Heptarchy and Christianisation (600-800)

   The British isles in AD 802.
   The British isles in AD 802.

   Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England began around AD 600, influenced
   by Celtic Christianity from the north-west and by the Roman Catholic
   Church from the south-east. The first Archbishop of Canterbury,
   Augustine took office in 597. In 601, he baptised the first Anglo-Saxon
   king, Aethelbert of Kent. The last pagan Anglo-Saxon king, Penda of
   Mercia, died in 655. The Anglo-Saxon mission on the continent took off
   in the 8th century, leading to the Christianisation of practically all
   of the Frankish Empire by AD 800.

   Throughout the 7th and 8th century power fluctuated between the larger
   kingdoms. Bede records Aethelbert of Kent as being dominant at the
   close of the 6th century, but power seems to have shifted northwards to
   the kingdom of Northumbria, which was formed from the amalgamation of
   Bernicia and Deira. Edwin probably held dominance over much of Britain,
   though Bede's Northumbria bias should be kept in mind. Succession
   crises meant Northumbrian hegemony was not constant, and Mercia
   remained a very powerful kingdom, especially under Penda. Two defeats
   essentially ended Northumbrian dominance: the Battle of the Trent (679)
   against Mercia, and Nechtanesmere (685) against the Picts.

   The so-called 'Mercian Supremacy' dominated the 8th century, though
   again was not constant. Aethelbald and Offa, the two most powerful
   kings, achieved high status; indeed, Offa was considered the overlord
   of south Britain by Charlemagne. That Offa could summon the resources
   to build Offa's Dyke is testament to his power. However, a rising
   Wessex, and challenges from smaller kingdoms, kept Mercian power in
   check, and by the end of the 8th century the 'Mercian Supremacy', if it
   existed at all, was over.

   This period has been described as the Heptarchy, though this term has
   now fallen out of academic use. The word arose on the basis that the
   seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex
   and Wessex were the main polities of south Britain. More recent
   scholarship has shown that a number of other kingdoms were politically
   important across this period: Hwicce, Magonsaete, Lindsey and Middle
   Anglia. See also the non-Anglo-Saxon kingdoms such as Strathclyde,
   Rheged

The Viking challenge and the rise of Wessex (9th century)

   793 is the date given by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the first Viking
   attack in Britain, at Lindisfarne monastery. However, by then the
   Vikings were almost certainly well established in Orkney and Shetland,
   and it is probable that many other non-recorded raids occurred before
   this. Records do show the first Viking attack on Iona taking place in
   794, The arrival of the Vikings, in particular their Great Heathen
   Army, was to seriously upset the political and social geography of
   Britain and Ireland. Alfred the Great's victory at Edington in 878
   stemmed the Viking attack; however, by this time Northumbria had
   devolved into Bernicia and a Viking kingdom, Mercia had been split down
   the middle, and East Anglia ceased to exist as an Anglo-Saxon polity.
   The Vikings had similar effects on the various kingdoms of the Irish,
   Scots, Picts and (to a lesser extent) Welsh. Certainly in North Britain
   the Vikings were one reason behind the formation of the Kingdom of
   Alba, which eventually evolved into Scotland.

   After a time of plunder and raids, the Vikings began to settle in
   England. An important Viking centre was York, called Jorvik by the
   Vikings. Various alliances between the Viking Kingdom of York and
   Dublin rose and fell. Danish and Norwegian settlement made enough of an
   impact to leave significant traces in the English language; many
   fundamental words in modern English are derived from Old Norse, though
   of the 100 most used words in English the vast majority are Old English
   in origin. Similarly, many place-names in areas of Danish and Norwegian
   settlement have Scandinavian roots (e.g. Sutherland).

   An important development of the 9th century was the rise of the Kingdom
   of Wessex. Though it was somewhat of a roller-coaster journey, the West
   Saxon kings came, by the end of Alfred's reign (899), to rule what had
   previously been Wessex, Sussex and Kent. Cornwall (Kernow) was subject
   to West Saxon dominance, and several kings of the more southerly Welsh
   kingdoms recognised Alfred as their overlord, as did western Mercia
   under Alfred's son-in-law Æthelred.

Formation of England (10th century)

   Alfred of Wessex died in 899 and was succeeded by his son Edward the
   Elder. Edward, and his brother in law Æthelred of (what was left of)
   Mercia, began a program of expansion, building forts and towns on an
   Alfredian model. On Æthelred's death his wife (Edward's sister)
   Æthelflæd ruled as 'Lady of the Mercians', and continued expansion. It
   seems Edward had his son Æthelstan brought up in the Mercian court, and
   on Edward's death Athelstan succeeded to the Mercian kingdom, and,
   after some uncertainty, Wessex.

   Æthelstan continued the expansion of his father and aunt, and was the
   first king to achieve direct rulership of what we would now consider
   'England'. Certainly the titles attributed to him in charters and on
   coins suggest a widespread dominance. His expansion aroused ill-feeling
   among the other kingdoms of Britain, and he faced a combined
   Scottish-Viking army at the Battle of Brunanburh. His victory there,
   recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle with a poem, was one of the major
   steps on the road to the formation of England.

   However, England was not a certainty, and indeed under Æthelstan's
   successors Edmund, Eadred and Edwy the kingdom broke up and was
   reformed numerous times. Nonetheless, Edgar, who eventually ruled the
   same expanse as Athelstan, seems to have consolidated the kingdom, and
   by the time of the rule of his son Æthelred (the Unready) England seems
   to have (almost) secured itself as a kingdom.

   The 10th century saw important developments across Western Europe.
   Carolingian authority was in decline by the mid-10th century in West
   Francia (France), and eventually collapsed to be replaced by the weak
   House of Capet. In East Francia a Saxon dynasty came to power, and its
   kings began taking the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Interestingly,
   Anglo-Saxon England was probably the most 'developed' kingdom of the
   period; one has only to look at the way coinage was managed in the
   period to realise that 10th century Anglo-Saxon kings wielded far
   greater royal authority than their European counterparts.

England under the Danes and the Norman Conquest (978-1066)

   The end of the 10th century saw renewed Scandinavian interest in
   England. Aethelred ruled a long reign, but ultimately lost his kingdom
   to Sweyn of Denmark, though he recovered it following the latter's
   death. However, Æthelred's son Edmund II Ironside died shortly
   afterwards, allowing Canute, Sweyn's son, to become king of England,
   one part of a mighty empire stretching across the North Sea. It was
   probably in this period that the Viking influence on English culture
   became engrained.

   Rule over England fluctuated between the descendants of Aethelred and
   Canute for the first half of the 11th century. Ultimately this resulted
   in the well-known situation of 1066, where several people had a claim
   to the English throne. Harold Godwinson became king, in all likelihood
   appointed by Edward the Confessor on his deathbed. However, William of
   Normandy, a descendant of Aethelred and Canute's wife Emma, and Harald
   of Norway (aided by Harold Godwin's estranged brother Tostig) all had a
   claim. Perhaps the strongest claim went to Edgar the Atheling, whose
   minority prevented him from playing a larger part in the struggles of
   1066, though he was made king for a short time by the English Witan.

   Invasion was the result of this situation. Harold Godwinson defeated
   Harald of Norway and Tostig at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, but fell
   in battle against William of Normandy at Hastings. William began a
   program of consolidation in England, being crowned on Christmas Day,
   1066. However, his authority was always under threat in England, and
   the little space spent on Northumbria in Domesday Book is testament to
   the troubles there during William's reign.

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