Anglo-Saxon Britain
Germanic peoples who settled in Britain, mainly after Roman rule ended; their villages and kingdoms in much of what became England, place names, and the spread of Christianity
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain who the Anglo-Saxons were and that their main period of settlement in Britain followed the end of Roman rule
- Name at least two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (e.g. Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria)
- Recognise Anglo-Saxon words in English place names, such as -ton, -ham and -bury, without treating an ending alone as proof of when a place was founded
1 · Read
The Anglo-Saxons included peoples called the Angles and Saxons. They came from northern Europe, including lands now called Germany and Denmark. Their main settlement period in Britain began in the 400s, after Roman rule ended. People already lived in Britain. The newcomers built villages and farmed. Their kingdoms grew in much of what became England. Viking raids began centuries later.
Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria were Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Wessex was in the south, Mercia in the middle, and Northumbria further north. Each had its own king. They did not begin as one kingdom with one king.
Old English was the Anglo-Saxons' language. Some English place names keep its words. The ending -ton often means a farm or settlement. The ending -ham can mean a home or settlement. The ending -bury comes from a word for a fortified place. These endings are clues. An ending alone cannot tell us exactly when a place was founded.
Christianity spread through the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms over time. Missionaries came from places including Rome and Ireland. Many kings became Christians. Monasteries were built, and monks copied books by hand.
The main Anglo-Saxon settlement period followed the end of Roman rule. Kingdoms included Wessex and Mercia. Some place names keep Old English words.
These readings were written for this learning dataset.
More to read
Tools and clues
A seax was a knife with one sharp edge. People in Anglo-Saxon Britain used knives for daily work as well as fighting.
A surviving tool raises questions for historians to investigate. What is it made from? Where was it found? Does it show marks from use?
One object cannot tell the whole history of a people. Other finds and written records can help. A story about how a people got their name needs evidence too. We should not treat a naming story as a witnessed event.
Arriving and settling
Roman rule in Britain ended in the early 400s. During the following years, groups from across the North Sea made homes in Britain. They included Angles and Saxons.
Britain was not empty. People already living there met the newcomers. Changes differed from place to place. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms grew in much of what became England.
The end of Roman rule helps us place these changes in time. It does not tell us why every family moved. A migration can have several causes.
2 · Watch
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Where it sits
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Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.