from britannia to england

As well as the establishment of the Frankish kingdom in France, Gibbon’s Chapter XXXVIII also describes the coming of the Saxons to Britain. The fifth and sixth centuries, what used to be called the Dark Ages because of the paucity of historical knowledge about them, are now commonly called the Sub Roman or Post Roman Period. There is still much we don’t know about developments in this period but the tools of archaeology and genetics have increased our understanding to a certain extent. Just about the only thing that can be said without controversy is that in 397 Britannia was part of the Roman Empire and in 597 the first Christian missionaries from continental Europe arrived to start the conversion of the Angle and Saxon kingdoms of England.

Recent discoveries in archaeology and genetics have provided new evidence, so this well-illustrated book, which serves as an introduction to the late Roman and Anglo-Saxon period as a whole down to 1066, is in some ways out of date even though it was only published in the 1980s. How much this new evidence would cause the authors to present a different narrative of events is another matter.

The Early Medieval Britain and Ireland site has a good overview of the history with a solid archaeological grounding and links to some  sources and snippets from archaeological journals.

The wikipedia article on Sub Roman Britain (usual caveats apply) mentions the new evidence with regard to genetic findings, and also points us to the excellent Vortigern Studies site. Although a site devoted to Vortigern may sound dauntingly specialised, the sections on historical texts and other sources and some of the guest articles on the more general history of the times are a real treasure trove.