Anglo-Saxon (Civ3)/Civilopedia

Unlike the other relatively unified Germanic tribes, the words "Anglo-Saxon" are used to refer to a number of different barbarian groups who invaded Roman Britannia in the 5th century. These included the Jutes from what is now southern Denmark, the Angles (modern Schleswig in Germany), the Saxons (the region at the mouth of the Elbe), and the Frisians (roughly the modern Netherlands). They all began as sea raiders in the third and fourth century, and later migrated across the sea after the breakdown of Roman authority. Although the tribes were distinct from one another, they spoke similar languages and shared a relatively cohesive Germanic culture - features that would help differentiate them as "Saxons" from the Celts of the British Isles.
The Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain in 402AD after three and a half centuries of continuous occupation in order to meet more pressing threats from other Germanic tribes in Gaul. The Romans did not intend to abandon the province permanently, but the breakdown of the empire meant that the island's inhabitants were left to fare for themselves. The Latinized Romans that lived in the cities and the rural Celts that made up of the majority of the population had little to no military experience, leaving them at the mercy of raids from the Picts, Scots, and Irish. By 430, Britannia was effectively ruled by a Celtic warlord known as the "Vawr Tigherne", or Vortigern. In order to defend Britannia from these attacks, the Vortigern invited in a small group of barbarian adventurers, hoping to play off one group against the other.
This mercenary group was led by a figure called Hengest, a Saxon word meaning "stallion". Hengest landed in 449 and from the accounts that survive from the period performed his mission well in driving off naval raids by the Picts. Relations quickly deteriorated between the Vortigern and Hengest after the end of this mission, however, as Hengest began inviting large numbers of Jutes, Angles, Saxons, and Frisians over to Britannia in what was likely a move to increase his own power. In 455 the forces under Hengest rebelled against the Vortigern and initated a long and chaotic period in the history of the British Isles, under which no unified kingdom would form for centuries. Over time thousands of Germanics would cross over to settle permanently in the former Roman Britannia, and the Celtic population would be pushed back into what is now Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland. The influx of so many Germans had powerful cultural effects, causing a re-paganization of large portions of the island and absorbing the Celtic culture in the south and east of Britannia through a mixture of conquest and interbreeding. It should be remembered, however, that in no way were any of these disparate groups united along ethnic or cultural lines; Germanics were as likely to fight other Germanics as they were to fight Celts. The notion of a single group of Anglo-Saxons driving the Celts back into the west is a historical fiction; the reality was considerably more complex.
By the end of the sixth century, the warbands and loose federations of Germanics had coalesced into prototypical kingdoms. Historians have identified a Heptarchy of seven kingdoms forming at this time - Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria - though in reality this is an oversimplification of a complex situation in which many more small overlapping kingdoms existed. Out of all of these primitive states, it was Wessex which would eventually unite the Anglo-Saxons into one kingdom in order to meet the threat of invading Danes and Norwegians in the 9th and 10th centuries. Although the region would soon be re-Christanized and establish contact with the Roman world to the south once again, the culture and language of these Germanics left a permanent mark on the region which would eventually become known as "England".