Who were the Anglo-Saxons?

The last Roman soldiers left Britain by AD410. New people came to Britain in ships across the North Sea – the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon age in Britain was from around AD410 to 1066.

• The Anglo-Saxons were a mix of tribes from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
• The three biggest were the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes.
• The land they settled in became known as 'Angle-land', or England.
• They brought Germanic languages and new customs and dress.

If we use the modern names for the countries they came from, the Saxons were German-Dutch, the Angles were Southern Danish, and the Jutes were Northern Danish. They arrived over a number of decades.

Life on an Anglo-Saxon farm was hard work. All the family had to help out - men, women and children. Men cut down trees to clear land to sow crops. Farmers used oxen to pull ploughs up and down long fields.

The Anglo-Saxons were great craftsmen too. Metalworkers made iron tools, knives and swords. The Anglo-Saxons were skilled jewellers, who made beautiful brooches, beads and ornaments from gold, gemstones and glass.

The Anglo-Saxons had armies, but their soldiers didn't fight all the time. After a battle, they went home as soon as they could and looked after their animals and crops.

Anglo-Saxon children had to grow up very quickly. By the time they were ten, they were seen as an adult. They had to work as hard as any adult and would be punished as adults if they stole or broke the law.

Boys learned the skills of their fathers. They learned to chop down trees with an axe, plough a field, and use a spear in battle. They also fished and went hunting.

Girls worked in the home. They were in charge of housekeeping, weaving cloth, cooking meals, making cheese and brewing ale.

Only a few children learned to read and write. The sons of kings or wealthy families might be taught at home by a private teacher. The only schools were run by the Christian church, in monasteries. Some children lived there to train as monks and nuns.

When the Romans left, very few people wrote about Britain. A British monk called Gildas wrote in Latin in around AD530. However, he doesn't write much about the Anglo-Saxon settlements, since he is too busy writing about the British tribes fighting each other.

Later in AD730 an Anglo-Saxon monk called Bede wrote about the history of English people.

Anglo-Saxons also used runes (marked stones) but little has survived. Much of our evidence comes from archaeology: burials, grave goods, treasure hoards and building remains.

Look at the artefacts below to get an idea of what everyday life was like for Anglo-Saxons.

The ‘Dark Ages’ is another modern phrase we use today. The Anglo-Saxons would not have used this term.

After the collapse of Roman Britain, there was a big change from town and city life to the countryside. However, the new settlers brought with them astonishing skills, craftsmanship and language.

Explore the village below and listen to Hild as she tells you about her life, friends, and family.

Did you find everything in Hild's village? Click on the question mark button to reveal all the things you can click on.