Anglo-Saxons Timeline

4th C. First Saxon raids1

410 Roman legions leave Britain
450 Saxon conquest starts (though Germanic speaking continentals have already been settling in
England for centuries). However, the relatively small number of graves in Anglo-Saxon
cemeteries suggest that the local population survived as the majority across the country.
c. 500 Arthurian resistance?
520 King Hygelac of the Geats killed fighting the Swedes
597 St. Augustine’s evangelization of southern England begins.
656 Penda of Mercia, the last great pagan king, defeated. However, the persistence of grave-goods
burials2 into the 8th Century illustrates the relative slowness with which pagan practices were
abandoned despite the supposed Conversion.
600-900? Beowulf composed
735 Death of the Venerable Bede
789 Vikings raid3 Dorset
793 Vikings sack4 Lindisfarne monastery
865 the great Danish army occupies most of England
878 Alfred defeats the Danes and unites southern England
924 England united under one king (Athelstan) for the first time in 500 years
c. 1000 More Viking attacks. Payment of Danegeld5
1017-42 Danish dynasty
1066 Norman Conquest. The Normans and Bretons replace the Anglo-Saxons as the ruling elite. The
Anglo-Saxon language disappears without trace.

1
raid – surprise attack
2
burial – interment, funeral
3
to raid – attack by surprise
4
to sack – destroy, raze
5
Danegeld – Danes’ gold, a type of protection money (= impuesto revolucionario, dinero extorsionado)
paid to prevent more Danish attacks