Anglo-Saxon England I

  General Description  
Anglo-Saxon England existed between the fall of Roman Britain in 410 CE and the quickly subsequent mass migration into the region of the Germanic speaking Angle, Saxon, and Jute tribes from western Europe, until the Norman invasion and conquest of 1066.
“The most developed vision of a ‘big’ sub-Roman Britain, with control over its own political and military destiny for well over a century, is that of Kenneth Dark, who has argued that Britain should not be divided during the fifth, and even the bulk of the sixth, century into ‘British’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon’ cultural and/or political provinces, but should be thought of as a generally ‘British’ whole. His thesis, in brief, is to postulate not just survival but continuing cultural, political and military power for the sub-Roman elite, both in the far west (where this view is comparatively uncontroversial) but also in the east, where it has to be imagined alongside incoming settlements. He postulates the sub-Roman community to have been the dominant force in insular affairs right up to c.570. Then, over a sixty year period, but for no very obvious reason, Anglo-Saxon kingship begins to emerge, the English conversion began and, in this scenario, Anglo- Saxon leaders overthrew British power and set about establishing their own kingdoms.” ^[1]
Anglo-Saxon ‘England’ after the migration of the Germanic tribes from the European mainland was in fact formed of several kingdoms known as the Heptarchy: Wessex, Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and the minor kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, and Kent all ruled by different monarchs or dynasties (in the case of the minor kingdoms), and who all at one time or another were allies or enemies, looking to claim more power from the others.
The three major kingdoms all looked at one point that they would become the dominant power and unite the kingdoms under one rule; Northumbria in the seventh century and Mercia in the eighth century. But it was the House of Wessex that rose to the greatest power under King Egbert at the beginning of the ninth century. During his reign 802-839 CE Wessex expanded rapidly across the south. It benefitted from its strategic position and its growing wealth enabled the purchase of the best warriors and military technology. It also led the wars against the incoming Viking invasions, whose first raid on the island had taken place in 793 CE. ^[2]
Vikings, mainly from Denmark and Norway, raided and conquered territories in East Anglia, Essex and parts of Mercia and Northumbria between the 9th and 11th centuries. From 865 CE the Viking-settled region became known as Danelaw and was granted Danish self-rule in 884 CE under King Guthrum of Norway. Ongoing battles and attempts to expand territory on both sides resulted in the beginning of the breakup of Danelaw in 902 CE when the region of Essex submitted to the rule of King Æthelwald. ^[3]
The region now known as England was not completely united as a country, the Kingdom of England, until 927 under King Æthelstan, after a drawn-out process of conflict and consolidation. Moreover, Northumbria, the northern most region of England and therefore the most susceptible to invasion by Scandinavian forces, continued to fall in and out of English and Danish rule until 954 when King Eadred brought it fully under English control, where it remained. At the same time, Lothian, the small area which bordered northern Northumbria, was ceded to Scotland as part of the deal. ^[4]

[1]: (Higham 2004: 4) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K

[2]: (Roberts et al 2014: 27) Roberts, Clayton, Roberts, F. David, and Bisson, Douglas. 2014. ‘Anglo-Saxon England: 450–1066’, in A History of England, Volume 1, 6th ed. Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P2IHD9U3

[3]: (Roberts et al 2014: 27-28) Roberts, Clayton, Roberts, F. David, and Bisson, Douglas. 2014. ‘Anglo-Saxon England: 450–1066’, in A History of England, Volume 1, 6th ed. Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P2IHD9U3

[4]: (Roberts et al 2014: 29-30) Roberts, Clayton, Roberts, F. David, and Bisson, Douglas. 2014. ‘Anglo-Saxon England: 450–1066’, in A History of England, Volume 1, 6th ed. Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P2IHD9U3