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In modern times, the term "Anglo-Saxons" is used by scholars to refer collectively to the Old English speaking groups in Britain. As a compound term, it has the advantage of covering the various English-speaking groups on the one hand, and to avoid possible misunderstandings from using the terms "Saxons" or "Angles" (English), both of which terms could be used either as collectives referring ...
Similarly, a non-Anglo-Saxon contemporary of Bede, Paul the Deacon, referred variously to either the English (Angli), or Anglo-Saxons (Latin plural genitives Saxonum Anglorum, or Anglorum Saxonum), which helped him distinguish them from the European Saxons who he also discussed. In England itself this compound term also came to be used in some ...
Near-contemporary Continental sources attest to raids (though not necessarily settlement) of Britain by Saxons around the fifth century. The Vita Germani, a hagiography of Saint Germanus of Auxerre written in 480, claims that during a visit to Britain this Gaulish bishop helped command a British defence against an invasion of Picts and Saxons in 429.
The area of present-day England was part of the Roman province of Britannia from 43 AD. [7] The province seems unlikely ever to have been as deeply integrated into Roman culture as nearby Continental provinces, however, [8] and from the crisis of the third century Britain was often ruled by Roman usurpers who were in conflict with the central government in Rome, such as Postumus (about 260 ...
After World War I, historians such as Frank Stenton and Dorothy Whitelock shifted their focus to understanding the Anglo-Saxon period on its own terms. In his 1943 Anglo-Saxon England, Stenton chose to use the term "King's Council" in place of witan and witenagemot. This change in terminology signaled an important change in the way Anglo-Saxon ...
The middle of the fifth century marked the beginning of Anglo-Saxon England. [1] The Anglo-Saxon era consists of three different time periods: The early Anglo-Saxon era, which spans the mid-fifth to the beginning of the seventh century; the middle Anglo-Saxon era, which covers the seventh through the ninth centuries; and the late Anglo-Saxon era, which includes the tenth and eleventh centuries.
Anglo-Saxon societies were based on Germanic law and custom. Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, and Lombards became Romanized to varying degrees by the 5th century. Nevertheless, this was not true of the Anglo-Saxons, who originated from northern Germany and Denmark and had no direct contact with the Roman Empire.
Generally preferring not to settle within the old Roman cities, the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of agriculture, at fords in rivers or sited to serve as ports. In each town, a main hall was in the centre, provided with a central hearth. [1] There are many remains of Anglo-Saxon church architecture.