What They Don’t Say About the Picts and the Anglo-Saxons
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 2023-01-18

Get AD-FREE VIDEOS on Patreon and support this channel: https://www.patreon.com/historydecoded

Please Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CelticHistory 

Please donate through PayPal using this link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QFB9ZECHZJDF6 – you can also send money through PayPal straight to chdecoded@gmail.com if you don’t want to use the link.

Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1

Follow Celtic History Decoded on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/celtichistorydecoded/ 

Subscribe to World History Decoded – https://www.youtube.com/@worldhistorydecoded 

What They Don’t Say About the Picts and the Anglo-Saxons 

The Picts of the wild north and the Anglo-Saxons of the South may sound like they would have been worlds apart. But think again. At one point, they actually entered into a treaty together. 

In 446 AD, some leaders of the Celtic Britons made a final appeal for Roman soldiers to return to Britannia to help the Britons fight against raids from the Picts and the Scotti. This was known as the Groans of the Britons, but the Romans, who had left in around 410 AD, refused to help. 
Vortigern, a King of the Britons, turned to the Anglo-Saxons. He invited Anglo-Saxon mercenaries over to fight the Picts and Scotti, and they were given land in the east of modern England.  

After pushing the Picts and Scotti further back North, the Anglo-Saxons soon turned on their hosts, the Britons. They quickly became a source of terror for the Britons, as waves of Anglo-Saxons flooded into the east of modern England. 

At this point, the Anglo-Saxons entered into a treaty with the Picts, allowing them to secure their emerging northern boundary and put their full energy into carving out their territory.  Bede even writes that at one point, the Picts and Anglo-Saxons joined forces against the Britons. 
This alliance was most likely short lived in the shifting sands of Britain at that time however.  

The Anglo-Saxons and the Britons would go on to fight on numerous occasions during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, including at the Battle of Mount Badon around 500 AD, where King Arthur reportedly lead the Britons to victory.

King Arthur however will be a subject of a future video. This video was merely to point out the surprising alliances in history. 

Thanks for watching.  

Sources:

Groans of the Britons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groans_of_the_Britons
 
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_settlement_of_Britain 

Bede - Ecclesiastical History of the English people (Oxford World’s Classics)

Britannica, Anglo-Saxon https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anglo-Saxon

 #anglo-saxons #picts #history