ANGLO-SAXONS. — From the name “Saxones,” given to the Germanic invaders of Britain, and from “Angli,” later more commonly used, Paulus Diaconus derived the term Angli Saxones to distinguish the Anglo-Saxons from the Saxons who remained on the Continent. The compound form was used between the 9th and 20th centuries to denote the union of the various tribes. It fell into disuse until the late Renaissance, when Camden revived it in his work of 1586.
First mentioned by Tacitus in his *Germania*, the Anglo-Saxons, according to the most important source, Bede, constituted one of the three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain. The other two were the Saxons and the Jutes. The three tribes spread across the lands of the Celtic island and colonized it: the Anglo-Saxons (coming from what is now Schleswig) settled in East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria; the Saxons (coming from the area between Hanover and the sea) in Essex, Sussex, and Wessex; the Jutes (coming from Jutland) in Kent, Hampshire, and the adjacent Isle of Wight.
As for the Anglo-Saxons and the Saxons, modern scholarship, which has long examined the historical origins of England, has only confirmed the opinions expressed by the Venerable Bede. This is not the case for the Jutes, whose substantial differences from the other two peoples have been highlighted, though they may have been the first to reach the British coasts.
Around the mid-5th century AD, settlements began to take shape, and the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom arose in Kent. From there, moving up river valleys or with new landings, the invaders spread across the entire island, still permeated by Roman civilization, and subdued its populations. However, elements of Roman civilization remained, particularly where the new arrivals’ system—of establishing isolated strongholds at short distances from Roman roads—meant that the previous order did not undergo significant changes.
Between the mid-5th and mid-6th centuries, the foundations of the English kingdoms were laid: on the western side of the island, especially in the region of Wales, the Celtic populations maintained a defensive stance and offered fierce resistance. Yet the Battle of Deorham in 577 and the struggles of the following century exhausted the strength of the natives and enabled the expansion of the Anglo-Saxons. The legendary cycle of King Arthur, a Celtic and Christian opponent of the pagan barbarians, is linked to these conflicts. Scotland, more protected by nature than by human defenses, remained outside Saxon influence, which might otherwise have extended from the nearby kingdom of Northumbria.
The first, though very limited, kingdom was Kent, whose fame arose from its relations with Pope Gregory the Great through the mission of the monk Augustine (see AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY, Saint), the initial step toward the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. By the late 6th century, however, a much larger kingdom had emerged—that of Northumbria—which for a century represented the power of the new settlers in the far west. King Æthelfrith of Northumbria achieved successes that expanded Saxon settlement zones and enabled their further consolidation. His successor and former enemy, Edwin, a prince of Deira, secured the decisive influence of the Roman Church and the mass conversion of the Anglo-Saxons.
No Christian people in the Middle Ages felt such attraction to Rome as the Anglo-Saxons, who, with Benedict Biscop (see) and Wilfrid of York (see), inaugurated a movement that, from the 7th to the 9th centuries, brought thousands of pilgrims from the British Isles to Rome.
When, in 633, Penda, king of Mercia, defeated and killed Edwin at Hatfield, Northumbria’s fortunes passed to Mercia, which then rose to prominence. After various vicissitudes, Northumbria revived under King Ecgfrith, who strengthened contacts with the civilization of Latin countries, which in the following century—the 8th—would be represented by the illustrious school of York and its leader, Alcuino.
Defeated by the Scots in 685, the kingdom was conquered by new invaders, the Danes. Yet supremacy had already passed to the kingdom of Mercia under kings Æthelbald and Offa. For a brief period: upon Offa’s death, the rival kingdom of Wessex absorbed the divided realms through bitter strife and assumed political representation of the island. King Egbert (802–829) conquered Kent, annexed Mercia, and then Northumbria.
By the mid-9th century, however, the effects of the incursions and early settlements of the Danes in the British Isles were becoming evident. The history of the early kingdoms thus became the history of England.
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**Studies:** For the history of the Anglo-Saxons, see, in addition to the old but still useful work by Winkelmann (also translated into Italian, Milan 1888): E. A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, Oxford 1876; M. Lappenberg, History of England under the Anglo-Saxons, 2nd ed., London 1881; C. Oman, England before the Norman Conquest, 5th ed., Oxford 1891; W. Ramsay, The Foundations of England, London 1898; H. M. Chadwick, Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions, Cambridge 1907; F. Cabrol, L’Angleterre Chrétienne avant les Normands, Paris 1909; T. Hodgkin, Political History of England from the earliest Times to the Norman Conquest, 2nd ed., London 1914; E. Wingfield-Stratford, History of English Civilization, ibid. 1928; E. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 2nd ed., Oxford 1947. Pier Fausto Palumbo