The Genius of the Anglo-Saxons

The Genius of the Anglo-Saxons — page 1 — THE ANGLO SAXONS Who In 410 after the Romans left England Anglo Saxons began invading and settling the land They were mainly made up of three different groups the Angles the Jutes and the Saxons from what is now Germany Denmark and the Netherlands Different Anglo Saxon groups took over different parts of England defeating some of the Celtic tribes living there and pushing others into Wales and Scotland It was a time of great change with fighting between Anglo Saxon kingdoms and the Celtic tribes as well as Viking raids from the late 700s However for the Anglo Saxon civilization it was also a period of culture art and learning This map shows the route of the Angle Jute and Saxon settlers North Sea Jutland Northumbria Angeln England Mercia Saxony East Anglo Saxon jewelry and weapons were often decorated with intricate details and inlaid with colorful stones Anglia Areas settled by the Anglo Saxons Wessex Kent Europe

The Genius of the Anglo-Saxons — page 2 — What happened At first Anglo Saxon England was divided into kingdoms and ruled by different kings Over time some kingdoms became more powerful than others However all Anglo Saxon kingdoms faced a common enemy the Vikings from Scandinavia In 886 after years of attacks the Anglo Saxons allowed the Vikings to rule over an area of northern and western England called the Danelaw This was the beginning of a period of power sharing between the Anglo Saxons and the Vikings There were periods when the Vikings ruled over all of England but the Anglo Saxons took back control several times The Anglo Saxon age ended with the arrival of a new group of invaders the Normans from France The last Anglo Saxon king Harold Godwinson was defeated in battle by the Normans led by William the Conqueror In 1066 William became the new Norman king of England We can still see the legacy of the Anglo Saxons today in the English language and landscape Harold Godwinson the last Anglo Saxon king died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. According to some reports he was shot in the head with an arrow

The Genius of the Anglo-Saxons — page 3 — KINGDOMS genius AND RULERS lAND sharing When the Anglo Saxons arrived in England they were not a united group Different groups of Anglo Saxons settled in different areas which then became separate kingdoms Celts Anglo Saxons 40 AO 120 km NORTHUMBRIA North Sea Lots of leaders Each early Anglo Saxon kingdom was ruled by its own leader These leaders made decisions about how their kingdom was run However this system didn't last long Over time larger kingdoms took over smaller ones until there were only seven large kingdoms Sometimes the king of one of these seven kingdoms became more powerful than the others and had influence over them However no king ever succeeded in uniting the seven kingdoms Irish Sea MERCIA WALES EAST ANGLIA ESSEX WESSEX KENT SUSSEX This map shows the kingdoms in Anglo Saxon England in around 750 English Channel FRANCE

The Genius of the Anglo-Saxons — page 4 — of dyke Offa's was a 59 foot 18 m tall bank of earth next to a ditch It can still be seen today in places such as Shropshire England TEST time The Anglo Saxon kings invaded a great deal of Celtic territory in England and Wales In the 700s King Offa faced threats from Welsh rulers to the west of his kingdom Mercia so he built a defensive wall This wall known as Offa's Dyke was considered the border between England and Wales for centuries but is no longer the boundary today One king The Vikings conquered all the Anglo Saxon kingdoms except Wessex From Wessex the Anglo Saxons fought back and recaptured most of England The first Anglo Saxon king to control the whole of England was Athelstan Under his rule the Anglo Saxons took back Viking controlled York making Athelstan the ruler of the entire country However Anglo Saxon kingdoms still kept many of their own customs even though they were all now ruled by the same king This made the shift from separate kingdoms to a unified country easier for people Athelstan ruled from 924 to 939. After his death the Vikings recaptured part of the north of England The Anglo Saxons didn't rule the whole of England again until the 950s

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