Anglo - Saxon invasion

The Anglo-Saxons, a group that also includes the peoples known as Jutes, were settlers from the German regions of Angelin and Saxony, who made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410. The Jutes were a Germanic people who are believed to have originated from Jutland in modern Denmark, Southern Schleswig and part of the East Frisian coast. The later kingdoms of Sussex, wessex, and Essex were the outgrowths of their settlements.

Anglo-Saxon Life

The Anglo-Saxons were pagans when they came to Britain.

Religion was not a source of spiritual revelation, it was a means of ensuring success in material things. Society was divided into several social classes, which might vary from place to place. The early Anglo-Saxons lived in small settlements consisting of just two or three families and a few buildings. Later, settlements grew into villages and small towns.

• The Anglo-Saxons had a strong military organisation  and a code of values based on a high sense of honour, fidelity, loyalty and courage. Today we know about the Anglo Saxon thanks to all that was found in cemeteries.

• Saint Augustine and other Benedictine monks were sent from Rome to convert Britain. Christianity began to spread throughout the country. It introduced writing in documents, the culture of the Anglo-Saxons were based on an oral tradition.

• In the 8^th century the anglo saxons had to face a several invasion from the vikings, scandinavian tribes who came especially from denmark and norway.

• 1066 the Saxon King Harold was defeated by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Hastings. The Normans were descendents of the Vikings who had long settled in Northwestern France (Normandy). This event opened the country to the invasion and occupation by the Normans.