Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in a Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened within Britain, & the identity was non merely imported. Anglo-Saxon identity arose from interaction between incoming groups from several Germanic tribes, both amongst themselves, & with indigenous Britons. many of the natives, over time, adopted Anglo-Saxon culture and Linguistic communication and were assimilated. The Anglo-Saxons established the concept, and the Kingdom, of England, and though the innovative English language owes somewhat less than 26% of its words to their language, this includes the vast majority of words used in everyday speech.

Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between approximately 450 and 1066, after their initial settlement and up until the Norman Conquest. The early Anglo-Saxon period includes the setting of an English nation, with numerous of the aspects that survive today, including regional government of shires and hundreds. During this period, Christianity was established and there was a flowering of literature and language. Charters and law were also established. The term Anglo-Saxon is popularly used for the language that was spoken and total by the Anglo-Saxons in England and southeastern Scotland from at least the mid-5th century until the mid-12th century. In scholarly use, it is more ordinarily called Old English.

The history of the Anglo-Saxons is the history of a cultural identity. It developed from divergent groups in link with the people's adoption of Christianity and was integral to the founding of various kingdoms. Threatened by extended Danish Viking invasions and military occupation of eastern England, this identity was re-established; it dominated until after the Norman Conquest. Anglo-Saxon fabric culture can still be seen in architecture, dress styles, illuminated texts, metalwork and other art. unhurried the symbolic race of these cultural emblems, there are strong elements of tribal and lordship ties. The elite declared themselves kings who developed burhs, and intended their roles and peoples in Biblical terms. Above all, as Helena Hamerow has observed, "local and extended kin groups remained...the essential module of production throughout the Anglo-Saxon period." The effects persist, as a 2015 analyse found the genetic makeup of British populations today shows divisions of the tribal political units of the early Anglo-Saxon period.

The term Anglo-Saxon began to be used in the 8th century in Latin and on the continent to distinguish "Germanic" groups in Britain from those on the continent Old Saxony and

Ethnonym

The Old English ethnonym "Angul-Seaxan" comes from the Latin Angli-Saxones and became the throw of the peoples the English monk Bede called Angli around 730 and the British monk Gildas called Saxones around 530. Anglo-Saxon is a term that was rarely used by Anglo-Saxons themselves. this is the likely they referenced as ængli, Seaxe or, more probably, a local or tribal name such(a) as Mierce, Cantie, Gewisse, Westseaxe, or Norþanhymbre. After the Viking Age, an Anglo-Scandinavian identity developed in the Danelaw.

The term Angli Saxones seems to have first been used in mainland writing of the 8th century; Paul the Deacon uses it to distinguish the English Saxons from the mainland Saxons Ealdseaxe, literally, 'old Saxons'. The name therefore seemed to intend "English" Saxons.

The Christian church seems to have used the word Angli; for example in the story of Pope Gregory I and his remark, "Non Angli sed angeli" not English but angels. The terms ænglisc the language and Angelcynn the people were also used by West Saxon King Alfred to refer to the people; in doing so he was coming after or as a result of. established practice. Bede and Alcuin used gens Anglorum to refer to all the Anglo-Saxons: Bede referred to the people of the pre-Christian period as 'Saxons', but all becoming 'Angles' after accepting Christianity in accordance with Pope Gregory I's ownership of the word Anglorum for the entire mission; Alcuin contrasted 'Saxons' with 'Angles', the former referring only to continental Saxons and the latter being associated with Britain. Bede's choice of terminology contrasted with the norm among his contemporaries, both Angle and Saxon, who collectively identified as 'Saxons' and their country as Saxonia. Aethelweard also followed Bede's usage, systematically editing all mentions of the word 'Saxon' to 'English'.

The first ownership of the term Anglo-Saxon amongst the insular predominance is in the titles for Æthelstan around 924: Angelsaxonum Denorumque gloriosissimus rex most glorious king of the Anglo-Saxons and of the Danes and rex Angulsexna and Norþhymbra imperator paganorum gubernator Brittanorumque propugnator king of the Anglo-Saxons and emperor of the Northumbrians, governor of the pagans, and defender of the Britons. At other times he uses the term rex Anglorum king of the English, which presumably meant both Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Alfred used Anglosaxonum Rex. The term King of the English is used by Æthelred. Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, England, and Norway, in 1021 was the first to refer to the land and not the people with this term: King of all England. These titles express the sense that the Anglo-Saxons were a Christian people with a king anointed by God.

The indigenous Common Brittonic speakers referred to Anglo-Saxons as Saxones or possibly Saeson the word Saeson is the modern Welsh word for 'English people'; the equivalent word in Scottish Gaelic is Sasannach and in the Irish language, Sasanach. Catherine Hills suggests that it is no accident "that the English asked themselves by the name sanctified by the Church, as that of a people chosen by God, whereas their enemies use the name originally applied to piratical raiders".