Since the invasion of the Angles, Saxons, and others in the 5th and 6th centuries, the English have occupied most of modern England.

The principal capital of the English has been London for most of English history. In the earliest periods, however, there was either no capital or many. At one point the rule of England was divided among seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, each with a principal town. When the Danish ruled part of England, their capital was modern York.

The Germanic invasions of England were part of the great displacement of people from the east that destroyed the Western Roman Empire. The first invaders to settle may have been raiders who forced their way ashore and stayed, or may have been invited ashore to help fight against Irish raiders from the west and Pict raiders from the north. The first settlers were followed by many more. From this period of Germanic invasion come the tales of King Arthur, perhaps a great Romano-British war leader, who defeated the Saxons 11 times and stopped their incursion for 50 years. By 600, the Angles and Saxons controlled most of modern England. By 800, only modern Wales, Scotland, and West Cornwall remained in largely Celtic hands.

In 865 the relative peace of England was shattered by a new invasion. Danish Vikings who had been raiding France and Germany formed a Great Army and turned their attention on the English. Within ten years, most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had fallen or surrendered. Only the West Saxons (modern Wessex) held out under Alfred, the only English ruler to be called 'the Great.'

England was divided between the Vikings, the West Saxons, and a few other English kingdoms for nearly 200 years. The Viking half was called the Danelaw (under Danish law). The Vikings collected a large payment, called the Danegeld (the Dane's gold), to be peaceful. The Danes became Christians and gradually became more settled. In time the English turned on the Danes and in 954 the last Viking king of York was killed. England was united for the first time under an English king from Wessex.

In 1066 the Witan (king's council) offered the crown to Harold, son of the Earl of Wessex. Two others claimed the throne: Harald Hardrada (meaning 'the hard ruler'), King of Norway, and Duke William of Normandy. The Norwegian King landed first, near York, but was defeated by Harold at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Immediately after the victory, Harold learned that William had landed on the south coast. Harold forced-marched his army to meet William, which he did at Hastings. The battle see-sawed back-and-forth all day, but near dusk Harold was mortally wounded by an arrow in the eye. Over the next two years, William, now 'the Conqueror,' solidified his conquest of England.

William controlled much land in France. During the remainder of the Middle Ages, the successors of William largely exhausted themselves and their country in a series of confrontations and wars attempting to expand or defend these holdings.

The 10th century kings of England were advised by a council, called the Witan, made up of nobles and bishops. A small but excellent civil service supported the king. The king continued to collect a national tax that had been raised to pay off the Danes (the Danegeld), even after the Danes were removed. The kingdom was divided into earldoms, then shires, and then hundreds for local government and courts.

When the unpopular King John pushed his nobles too far in attempting to raise taxes for war in France, a threat of rebellion forced him to accept a limitation on royal power. The limitations were outlined in the Magna Carta, signed in 1215, which influenced government systems to follow many centuries later. Among the rights listed in the Magna Carta, was that of a fair and prompt trial. Demands made by the nobles later in the 13th century for more rights led to civil war and the calling of the first Parliament of commoners by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester.

Montfort is honored today as the 'Father of the House of Commons.'

The Anglo-Saxons were organized into war bands under local chieftains. The warriors wore mostly leather armor, iron helmets, wood and iron shields, and fought with axes and swords. From the Celts native especially to Wales, the English developed the use of the superior longbow. Use of this weapon required much training and the English encouraged this with archery tournaments throughout the land. During the great battles of the Hundred Year's War, English longbowmen often defeated much larger French armies of armored knights and footmen.

Horses and cavalry were rare in England until the Norman Conquest. Duke William used heavy cavalry at Hastings and installed the culture of knights and cavalry in England.

English knights and soldiers took part in the Crusades (notably Richard I, the Lion Hearted) but in much smaller proportion than France and Germany.

The Hundred Year's War between England and France was an on-and-off conflict that stretched from 1337 to 1453. It was triggered by an English king's claim to the throne of England, thanks to family intermarriages. The war was also fought over control of the lucrative wool trade and French support for Scotland. The early part of the war featured a string of improbable, yet complete, English victories, usually thanks to common English longbowmen mowing down hordes of ornately armored French knights from long range.

The English could not bring the war to closure, however, and the French rallied. Inspired by a peasant girl, Joan of Arc, who professed divine guidance, the French fought back, ending the war with the capture of Bordeaux in 1453. The English were left holding only Calais on the mainland (and not for long).

The English language became one of the world's most important languages, thanks to its flexibility and adoptive qualities, and being spread throughout the British Empire in much later times. The Norman Conquest in 1066 did not replace the English language with French, but rather added something like 10,000 French words to English. There are many cases where English has two words for the same concept, one Anglo-Saxon and one French. Examples are cow and bovine, and woman and female. The 100 most commonly used English words are of Anglo-Saxon origin, however.

The days of the week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are derived from the names of pagan Anglo-Saxon gods: Tiw, god of war; Woden, chief god; Thunor, thunder god; and Frig, goddess of fertility.

Another legacy from England of the Middle Ages is its common law which spread also in later times throughout the British colonial empire. It is also remembered for its mythic heros-King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and the outlaw Robin Hood (robbing from the rich and giving to the poor).

For more information

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

NEXT (Franks)