Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain

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The settlement of Great Britain by diverse Germanic peoples led to the development of a new Anglo-Saxon cultural identity and shared Germanic language, Old English, which was most closely related to Old Frisian on the other side of the North Sea. The first Germanic-speakers to settle permanently are likely to have been soldiers recruited by the Roman administration, possibly already in the fourth century or earlier. Significant, material cultural changes which show parallels with northern Germany, as well as a breakdown of the Roman economy, become apparent in the archaeological record in the early fifth century, after the end of Roman rule in Britain.

Many questions remain about the scale, timing and nature of the Anglo-Saxon settlements, and also about what happened to the previous residents of what is now England. The available evidence includes not only the scant written record, which tells of a period of violence, but also the archaeological and genetic information. Furthermore, the Old English language seems to have become dominant rather quickly in many areas because British Celtic languages had very little impact on Old English vocabulary. This suggests that a large number of Germanic-speakers appeared relatively suddenly. On the basis of such evidence it has even been argued that large parts of what is now England were cleared of prior inhabitants. However, a view that gained support in the late 20th century suggests that the migration involved relatively few individuals, possibly centred on a warrior elite, who popularized a non-Roman identity after the downfall of Roman institutions. This hypothesis suggests a largescale acculturation of natives to the incoming language and material culture. In support of this, archaeologists have found that, despite evidence of violent disruption, settlement patterns and land use show many continuities with the Romano-British past, despite profound changes in material culture.^[1]

A major genetic study in 2022 which used DNA samples from different periods and regions estimated that the Anglo-Saxons contributed about 40% of the ancestry of modern English ancestry. The authors argue that this is "strong evidence of large-scale early medieval migration across the North Sea zone", involving both men and women, which began in the Roman era, increased rapidly after the end of that era, and continued until the 8th century. There was also strong evidence of rapid acculturation, with early medieval individuals of both local or migrant ancestry being buried near in each other in the same new ways.^[2]

One of the only written accounts of the period is by Gildas, who wrote in the early 6th century. His account influenced later works which became more elaborate and detailed, but which are considered unreliable sources for this early period. He reported that a major conflict was triggered some generations before him, after a group of foreign Saxons was invited by the Romano-British leadership to help defend against raids from the Picts and Scots. After a long war, he reported that the Romano-British recovered control, and peace was restored. Britain was now ruled by tyrants, and had internal conflicts instead of conflicts with foreigners. He gives no other information about Saxons or other Germanic people before or after this specific conflict. No other written records survive until much later. By the time of Bede, more than a century after Gildas, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had come to dominate most of what is now modern England. Bede and later Welsh and Anglo-Saxon authors believed that the conflict described by Gildas continued and eventually led to a conquest of an Anglo-Saxon nation over a British one. They even gave mythical genealogies connecting later Anglo-Saxon kings to the original raiders mentioned by Gildas. In fact, modern historians believe that the development of Anglo-Saxon culture and identity, and even its kingdoms, involved not only Germanic immigrants but also people of local British ancestry.