Anglo-Saxons and Danes

Anglo-Saxon, term used historically to describe any member of the Germanic peoples who, from the 5th century CE to the time of the Norman Conquest (1066), inhabited and ruled territories that are today part of England and Wales.

According to St. Bede the Venerable, the Anglo-Saxons were the descendants of three different Germanic peoples— 1/_______________________________. By Bede’s account, those peoples originally migrated from northern Germany to the island of Britain in the 5th century at the invitation of Vortigern, a ruler of Britons, to help defend his kingdom against marauding invasions by the Picts and Scotti, who occupied what is now Scotland. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first migrants from the Germanic areas of mainland Europe included settlers from Frisia and antedated the Roman withdrawal from Britain about 410 CE. Their subsequent settlements in what is now England laid the foundation for the later kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, and Wessex (Saxons); East Anglia, Middle Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria (Angles); and Kent (Jutes). Ethnically, the Anglo-Saxons actually represented an admixture ofGermanic peoples with Britain’s preexisting Celtic inhabitants and subsequent Viking and Danish invaders.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the first migrants from the Germanic areas of mainland Europe included settlers from Frisia and antedated the Roman withdrawal from Britain about 410 CE. Their subsequent settlements in what is now England laid the foundation for the later kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, and Wessex (Saxons); East Anglia, Middle Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria (Angles); and Kent (Jutes). Ethnically, the Anglo-Saxons actually represented 3____________________________ an

3/The peoples of each of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms spoke distinctive dialects, which evolved over time and together became known as Old English. Within that variety of dialects, an exceptionally rich vernacular literature emerged. Examples include the masterful epic poem 3_________________________

The term Anglo-Saxon seems to have been first used by Continental writers in the late 8th century to distinguish the Saxons of Britain from those of the European continent, whom St. Bede the Venerable had called Antiqui Saxones (“Old Saxons”). The name formed part of a title, rex Angul-Saxonum (“king of the Anglo-Saxons”), which was sometimes used by King Alfred of Wessex (reigned 871–99) and some of his successors. By the time of the Norman Conquest, the kingdom that had developed from the 4________________________ had become known as England, and Anglo-Saxon as a collective term for the region’s people was eventually supplanted by “English.” 

Anglo-Saxon” continues to be used to refer to a period in the history of Britain, generally defined as the years between 5/_____________________________ During that period, though, the various peoples commonly grouped together as Anglo-Saxons were not politically unified until the 9th century, and their reign over England was interrupted by 26 years of Danish rule that began in 1016 with the accession of Canute.

Old English language, also called Anglo-Saxon, language spoken and written in England before 1100; it is the ancestor of Middle English and Modern English. Scholars place Old English in the Anglo-Frisian group 6_____________________

The Danish settlement of England was the gradual process by which the Danes (a group of seafaring Scandinavian peoples) settled in England from the late 9th to early 11th centuries AD. The Danes first arrived during 7_____________________________t

8__________________________migrated to England during this time (leading some experts to believe that the Danelaw left a negligible footprint on English DNA), although other scholars believed this to be an undercount due to the similarities between Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian genetics, and the many migrations which occurred in the following centuries.

Because of the similarities between the Germanic Saxon and Norse cultures, assimilation was rapid, and the Danes often attempted to integrate themselves into English society after establishing or capturing settlements. The Danes of York submitted to the Anglo-Saxons in 954 AD, but the new Danish aristocracy and the descendants of the Danish settlers formed a new society which rivalled the Saxon society south of the Humber. 9_______________________________

. The Danes and Angles of northern England would remain rivals over the following decades due to Danish separatism and disloyalty during Sweyn Forkbeard and Canute's invasions, but, during the Norman conquest of England, 10___________________

The Danish aristocracy was replaced by a Norman one, and the Danes, along with the native Anglo-Saxons, and invading Normans, all came to be seen 11___________________________ The impact of the Norse settlers on England is still visible in the form of towns ending in "-thorpe", "-thwaite", and "-by" (most of which are in the former Danelaw), and in the English words anger, ball, egg, got, knife, take, and they.

Discussions and analysis still continue on the size of the migration, and whether it was a small elite band of Anglo-Saxons who came in and took over the running of the country, or a mass migration of peoples who overwhelmed the Britons An emerging view is that two scenarios could have co-occurred, 12__________________