Top Ten Fascinating Facts about the Anglo-Saxons 10 Settlement in England: The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic invaders who
came from what is now the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. They were from the tribes known today as the
Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes and set up their own kingdoms in England. The Angles established themselves in the north
and east, founding the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia, the Jutes settled in Kent
in the far southeast of England, the Saxons took the south of the country, naming their
nations Wessex and Sussex. The Frisians made a home throughout the kingdoms
of the other tribes, often working as traders. 9 Language: The Anglo-Saxons spoke various Germanic dialects
which eventually evolved into the language Old English, which is the direct ancestor
of modern English. A quarter of all English words come from Old
English, although these words are very commonly used for everyday objects for example day,
night, light, yes, he, she, god, cold and rain. Even today the closest language to modern
English is still Frisian, the language spoken in the north of the Netherlands by the descendants
of the people who became the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. 8 Weekdays: The Anglo-Saxons gave us the names for our
days of the week. Names like Monday meaning “Moon-Day”. Tuesday was Tiw, the one-armed war-God’s
Day and Wednesday, the day in honour of their chief God Woden, who was known as Odin to
the Vikings. However the Viking God Thor was called Thunor
in Old English, so Thursday is the only Viking based day of the week in the English language
today. They also had names for the remaining days
of the week, Friday was “Frigeday” for Frigg, the Anglo-Saxon name for Venus, Saturday
was “Saternusdag” and Sunday was “Sunnandag” 7 Bad Neighbours: Archaeologists still don’t know what happened
to the people the Anglo-Saxons replaced. After the Romans left Britain in AD. 420,
the Romano-Britons were invaded from the west by the Irish and the north by the Picts, leaving
the British king Vortigern with a desperate choice. The British monk Gildas writes that he sent
word to several European tribes, inviting the warrior brothers Hengist and Horsa to
fight as mercenaries against the invaders. Though they proved victorious against the
Picts, the mercenaries soon turned on their masters and began to drive out their hosts. Historians know that the Anglo-Saxons conquered
the centre of the island, leaving the Celts Scotland in the north, Wales and Cornwall
in the west and in the south across the channel, Brittany. However scholars don’t know what happened
to the millions of people living in the land the Anglo-Saxons took over in what is now
England and southern Scotland. Gildas suggested that the Britons were slaughtered
in their hundreds of thousands by the invaders. New DNA evidence shows that males from Central
England are genetically very distinct from those living a few miles west in Wales, whereas
compared with the modern Frisians, they are almost inseparable suggesting a complete wipe-out
of the pre-Anglo-Saxon population. 6 Metal Workers: As well as being bloodthirsty warriors, the
Anglo-Saxons were skilled craftsmen and metal workers. Using gold and jewels from as far away as
Persia, the Anglo-Saxons created beautiful artefacts such as this, the helmet found at
Sutton Hoo in Surrey and the items found in the Staffordshire Hoard which was valued at
ÂŁ3.285 million after it was discovered in 2009. 5 King Arthur: Knights, round tables and damsels in distress
may in fact be thanks to the Anglo-Saxons. The legend of King Arthur can be traced back
to the Anglo-Saxon invasion when the Celtic Britons were being driven out of their ancient
lands by the new invaders. The early form of the legend tells of a vision
concerning a white and red dragon each representing the Saxons and the Britons. This red dragon is still on the Welsh flag
today. Others tell us that Arthur was a British prince
who stopped the Saxons at the siege of Mount Badon, near modern-day Bath. Whatever the truth behind it all, the stories
of King Arthur and his knights are now timeless classics throughout the world. 4 Missionaries: When the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain they
worshipped the old Germanic Gods like Woden, Thunor and Frigg, celebrating the harvests
and the spring and summer solstices while conducting human and animal sacrifices. However this would change with the exiled
Northumbrian King Oswald who sought refuge on Iona where he became a Christian. When he retook his kingdom from the Britons,
the people there were forced to accept their ruler’s new religion, converting to Celtic
Christianity which was brought to them by monks from Scotland and Ireland. Soon all of England was Christian, but they
did not stop there, instead choosing to return to Europe, the place their ancestors had come
from. Many missionaries, especially from the northern
kingdom of Northumbria travelled to the kingdoms of Frisia and Saxony to spread the gospel. While some were allowed to build churches
and tend to congregations, others were less lucky like the monk Boniface who met his end
at the hands of zealous pagans in the Frisian town of Dokkum where he was clubbed to death. At least his efforts made him a saint. 3 Creation of England: The Anglo-Saxons created the English nation. The word England is a compound of “Angle”
and “land”, meaning “land of the Angles.” Before the arrival of the Vikings from Scandinavia,
the Anglo-Saxons had lived in small kingdoms like Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex, without
having a single king to rule over them all. However in AD. 865 the Vikings amassed a “Great
Heathen Army” and took over the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms one by one, until only Wessex remained. A king Alfred fought against the invaders
for decades, at one point even being forced to flee his capital at Winchester, and was
forced to take refuge in the marshes of Somerset in the far west of England. While fighting against the Vikings Alfred
saw how weak the separate kingdoms had been and came up with the idea of one nation of
“Englaland”, one nation with one king and under one god. Alfred’s kingdom remained free for the rest
of his life, although it would be up to his grandson Athelstan who finally became king
of England in AD. 925 after defeating the Vikings, the Scottish and the Cornish. 2 Mercenaries: After being defeated by the Normans in 1066,
many Anglo-Saxons left Britain and sailed to modern-day Constantinople to fight for
the Byzantium Empire. The Varangian Guard was an elite military
unit set up by the Byzantine Empire in 874 AD as a personal guard for Emperor Michael
III. Initially the unit had been made up of Swedish
Vikings who’d sailed down the rivers of Russia and Ukraine, but after the Norman Conquest
increasing numbers of Anglo-Saxon Englishmen joined the elite unit to fight against the
enemies of the Last Roman Empire in the east. In 1088, 235 English and Danish ships sailed
to Byzantium to join the Varangian Guard, which soon changed its name to “Englinbarrangoi”
or “Anglo-Varangian”. 1 The Last Anglo-Saxon King was Buried in
1984: The last Anglo-Saxon king was buried in 1984. In AD. 975, a 15 year old named Edward was
crowned king of England upon the death of his father Edgar. Edward was a bad-tempered young man and was
murdered by his half-brother’s mother when visiting their household in 978. He was buried the year after in Shaftsbury
Abbey but the grave was lost during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. However it was rediscovered in 1931 and preserved
in a bank vault until 1984 when the bones were reburied.
Very good, but in section 4, Missionaries, the Island is Iona, as in Eye-owe-nah, not Lonna.