The Arrival of the “English”
After the Romans left Britannia in 410, the Picts and Scots from the northern part of the island began to invade the southern portion inhabited by the Britons. One of the British kings, named Vortigern, asked the Germanic tribes in Europe to help fight off the Picts and Scots, in return, he promised he would give them land.
The Germanic tribes came over, fought off the Picts and Scots, and then decided to stay. They also encouraged their kinsmen back in Europe to join them. Thus began a 100-year process of invasion and conquest, as the Germanic tribes became masters of large parts of Britain, pushing the native Celts to the border areas in the west and north.
These invaders came from the three most powerful of the Germanic tribes. First came the Jutes, who lived in the northern part of what is now Denmark, called at the time Jutland. The Jutes arrived in 449 and settled in the southern part of Britain.
Sometime later, the Angles arrived from the south of Denmark; they settled large parts of the northern and central regions of Britain. Finally the Saxons, from northern Germany, arrived, settling in southern Britain. Other Germanic tribes, including the Frisians and Franks, also came over. The Britons called all these tribes Anglo-Saxons. Their country quickly became known as Angle-land, or Englalond, or England, and a new language, English, arose.
These settlers organized themselves into a number of independent (and often warring) kingdoms. The names of these kingdoms are still used to denote English regions. Wessex was the kingdom of the West Saxons; Sussex belonged to the South Saxons; Essex was for the East Saxons. East Anglia belonged to the Angles.
Beginning in 787, a new threat arose from the outside. A new series of attacks began, this time from the Germanic peoples from the area we now call the Scandinavia. These were Danes and Norwegians, a group we collectively call Vikings. At first they came just to steal riches from the monasteries. In 865 a huge Danish army arrived, hoping to seize land and settle in Britain, and they soon controlled most of England, except Wessex. At the last moment the great King Alfred rallied the people and won a victory over the Danes. They reached an agreement that the Danes would be allowed to occupy a large area of England, all the land to the east of the old Roman road (Watling Street) running between London and Chester. Because Danish laws were to be in effect there, the area became known as the Danelaw.
During this period, Christianity came to England. The pagan Anglo-Saxons learned about the Christian religion from missionaries who came from Rome. The first great missionary was St. Augustine, who came with 40 monks in 597. By the end of the 7th century, all of England was effectively Christian.
The monasteries (where the monks lived and wrote) became great centers of learning and of wealth. Christian monks used the Latin alphabet to write down the English language, beginning in the early 7th century. Thus the tradition of English literature began, though the language of the church and of learning was still Latin.
This meant that many new Latin words entered the English vocabulary, especially words related to the Church such as altar, hymn, apostle, martyr, and priest.
Eventually the settlers in the Danelaw learned to live peacefully with the native population, and Alfred and his heirs were able to bring most of the area back under English control. But new invasions kept occurring in the 900s. A series of Viking attacks from the North Sea took place, and from 1013 to 1035 all of England was ruled by two Vikings, Svein Forkbeard of Denmark, and his son Canute. English kings ruled again from 1042 until the Normans from France conquered England in 1066.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
The story of King Arthur is a legend. Scholars have tried to determine if there was a real King Arthur in history, but there is no proof that he actually lived. So he is not a historical fact, but a story that was created sometime in the Middle Ages, i.e., hundreds of years after the time he supposedly lived. Nevertheless, this is a legend that was inspired by history.
We know that in the fifth century, after the Romans left Britannia, the island began to be invaded and conquered by Germanic tribes, a process that went on for hundreds of years. We have also learned that in 878, the British King Alfred the Great led his people to victory in fighting against the invading Danes. The historical King Alfred may have been an inspiration for the mythical King Arthur.
There are many tales about King Arthur. One account says that he defeated the Saxons and established an empire over Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Gaul. Another says that in one battle, he single-handedly killed 960 invaders.
Later stories added Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table and recounted the love between Arthur’s Queen, Guinevere, and the handsome Sir Lancelot. They also told of the magician Merlin, and the ability of the young Arthur to draw the famous sword from the stone. These are romantic and inspiring tales that have provided material for countless books and movies. They are interesting to us because they are supposed to have taken place in the Old English period. But unfortunately, they are not true.