The Anglo-Saxons and Early English Christianity

The Migration and Settlement of the Germanic Tribes

We have now examined saints of Wales, Scotland (Picts) and Ireland. Before we move to France and Germany during the 600 and 700s, we will explore the Anglo Saxons whose prime was from 450 to 1066. These peoples were located to the Southeast of Scotland, in East-Central Briton, on the South-Central coast, and in the areas near and to the West of modern-day London.  Saint Bede, mentioned previously, is a Primary Source who gives us insights about these peoples. The " Angles" eventually became "English; they migrated from the Jutland Peninsula, namely the region near the modern-day border of Germany and Denmark. The Saxons came from just to the South of that location.  Both tribes, as well as the Jutes, came as a response to huge loses in Britain after the Roman armies and secular leadership left in the early 5th Century (early 400s).  The Welsh, and other Britanni (namely the Bretons and the Cornish) fought the Saxons. By 600 A.D. The Saxons won.  Angles culture now developed over vast areas of Northern Briton and Saxon culture in vast swathes of the South.  We will next analyze the Anglo-Saxon relationship with Christianity, but here are two great resources for the time period: https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2020/11/27/online-resources-early-medieval-england/ and https://isseme.org/resources/ . 

Another tremendous resource is: The origins of Preston from Anglo Saxon village to the Domesday Book | Blog Preston 

Our Lady of Glastonbury is of great note, when discussing Christianity in Great Britian during the First Millenium. Saxons settled the land after Roman control. The town itself more than likely bears the name of an Irish hermit that lived nearby.  I had planned two write about the city myself, but this article eludes wondrously to the "two cities" of Glastonbury, a physical one and a spiritual one.  For much more, read The Saints and Shrines of Glastonbury / OrthoChristian.Com.