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The Anglo-Saxons |
The history of Britain during the
centuries following Roman abandonment is obscure. Yet it was during
this time that Britain was invaded by Germanic tribes of Angles,
Saxons and Jutes. The Angles were from southern Denmark; the Saxons
were from northwest Germany but the homeland of the Jutes remains a
mystery.
The Anglo-Saxons were
tall, fair, red-haired and blue-eyed. Living in far northern Europe,
they had been spared contact with Rome, which might have moderated their
savageness. They were barbarians and loved war. Poetry, sung by gleemen
in the halls of the chieftains, recounted the deeds of mighty warriors
and told of slaughter and bloodshed. The Anglo-Saxon mother lulled her
baby to sleep by whispering in his ear that he would become a great
fighter and redden the fields with the blood of his victims. Although
the Celts fiercely resisted the invaders, they were no match for the
fury of the Anglo-Saxons. Gildas described the fury of the onslaught. He
told of the destruction of cities, the massacre of the inhabitants and
the devastation of the countryside. Those Britons who survived, he
wrote, became slaves, fled overseas or took refuge in the bleak
highlands.
By the year 600, the
Celts were largely confined to the mountains of the west and north or
were slaves to the invaders. Britain had become England, the land of the
Angles; from that time forward the English have been predominately of
Anglo-Saxon blood, though tempered by Celtic and other races. |
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