Editing Anglo-Saxons (section)

{{Short description|Early medieval Old-English-speaking cultural group in Britain}}
{{about|the medieval Anglo-Saxons|other uses and specific sub-topics|Anglo-Saxon (disambiguation)|and|Saxon (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Anglo-Saxons
| native_name      = Englisċ
| native_name_lang = ang
| image            = LindisfarneChiRiho.jpg
| image_caption    = Page with [[Chi Rho]] monogram from the Gospel of Matthew in the [[Lindisfarne Gospels]] {{circa|700}}, possibly created by [[Eadfrith of Lindisfarne]] in memory of [[Cuthbert]]
| image_upright    = 1.1
| languages        = [[Old English]]
| religions        = [[Anglo-Saxon paganism]], later [[Christianity]]
| related_groups   = [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], Saxons, [[Jutes]], [[English people]]
| footnotes        = 
}}
{{Anglo-Saxon society}}

The '''Anglo-Saxons''', in some contexts simply called '''Saxons''' or the '''English''', were a [[Cultural identity|cultural group]] who spoke [[Old English]] and inhabited much of what is now [[England]] and south-eastern [[Scotland]] in the [[Early Middle Ages]]. They traced their origins to [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] settlers who became one of the most important cultural groups in Britain by the 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period in Britain is considered to have started by about 450 and ended in 1066, with the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]].{{Sfn|Higham|Ryan|5=2013}} Although the details of [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|their early settlement]] and [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|political development]] are not clear, by the 8th century an Anglo-Saxon cultural identity which was generally called {{lang|ang|Englisc}} had developed out of the interaction of these settlers with the existing [[Romano-British culture]]. By 1066, most of the people of what is now England spoke Old English, and were considered English. [[Viking]] and Norman invasions changed the politics and culture of England significantly, but the overarching Anglo-Saxon identity evolved and remained dominant even after these major changes.{{Sfn|Higham|Ryan|2013|pp=7–19}} Late Anglo-Saxon political structures and language are the direct predecessors of the [[High Middle Ages|high medieval]] [[Kingdom of England]] and the [[Middle English]] language. Although the modern [[English language]] owes less than 26% of its words to Old English, this includes the vast majority of everyday words.<ref>{{cite book |title=Origins of the English Language: A Social and Linguistic History |isbn=978-0-02-934470-5 |last1=Williams |first1=Joseph M. |date=1986 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofenglish0000will}}</ref>

In the early 8th century, the earliest detailed account of Anglo-Saxon origins was given by [[Bede]] (d. 735), suggesting that they were long divided into smaller regional kingdoms, each with differing accounts of their continental origins. As a collective term, the compound term ''Anglo-Saxon'', commonly used by modern historians for the period before 1066, first appears in Bede's time, but it was probably not widely used until modern times.{{Sfn|Higham|Ryan|2013|p=7}} Bede was one of the first writers to prefer "[[Angles (tribe)|Angles]]" (or English) as the collective term, and this eventually became dominant. Bede, like other authors, also continued to use the collective term "[[Saxons]]", especially when referring to the earliest periods of settlement. Roman and British writers of the 3rd to 6th century described those earliest Saxons as [[North Sea]] raiders, and mercenaries. Later sources, such as Bede, believed these early raiders came from the region they called "[[Old Saxony]]", in what is now northern [[Germany]], which in their own time had become well known as a region resisting the spread of [[Christianity]] and [[Francia|Frankish rule]]. According to this account, the English (Angle) migrants came from a country neighbouring those Saxons.

Anglo-Saxon material culture can be seen in [[Anglo-Saxon architecture|architecture]], [[Anglo-Saxon dress|dress styles]], [[Anglo-Saxon art|illuminated texts, metalwork and other art]]. Behind the symbolic nature of these cultural emblems, there are strong elements of tribal and lordship ties. The elite declared themselves kings who developed ''[[burh]]s'' (fortifications and fortified settlements), and identified their roles and peoples in Biblical terms. Above all, as archaeologist [[Helena Hamerow]] has observed, "local and extended kin groups remained...the essential unit of production throughout the Anglo-Saxon period."{{Sfn|Hamerow|2012|p=166}}