From the history of Continental Europe we now turn to the
history of Britain. That island had been overrun by the Germanic barbarians
after the middle of the fifth century. They are commonly known as
Anglo-Saxons, from the names of their two principal peoples, the Angles and
Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain was a slow process, which lasted at
least one hundred and fifty years. The invaders followed the rivers into the
interior and gradually subdued more than a half of what is now England,
comprising the fertile plain district in the southern and eastern parts of the
island.
NATURE OF THE CONQUEST
Though the Anglo-Saxons probably destroyed many
flourishing cities and towns of the Romanized Britons, it seems likely that the
conquerors spared the women, with whom they intermarried, and the agricultural
laborers, whom they made slaves. Other natives took refuge in the hill regions
of western and northern Britain, and here their descendants still keep up the
Celtic language and traditions. The Anglo-Saxons regarded the Britons with
contempt, naming them Welsh, a word which means one who talks gibberish. The
antagonism between the two peoples died out in the course of centuries,
conquerors and conquered intermingled, and an English nation, partly Celtic and
partly Germanic, came into being.
