The Anglos and the Saxons, or the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, settled in Great Britain, which were many united tribes.
First inhabitants of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom
The islands that today make up Great Britain were inhabited in remote times by tribes, among which the Caledonians stood out. , the one of the Cambios and that of the Celts . These peoples had pantheistic religious beliefs. Their priests, called druids , they made cult ceremonies inside the forests. They, in turn, governed the tribes.
The Anglos and the Saxons
In the 6th century AD, after the barbarian invasions, peoples from Germany went to occupy England. They were the Angles and the Saxons. Under the orders of the leaders Hengisto and Horsa They overcame the heroic resistance of the Caledonians and took over a large part of the territory. Hengisto took the name of King of Kent and established the capital of it at Canterbury .
The Saxons founded two more kingdoms (Sussex and Wessex ), but they had to face the formidable defense put up by the Cambrians, who were fearsome warriors and whose famous King Arthur he performed such remarkable feats of valor that he became the stuff of legend. It was said that with his own hand he had killed 400 enemies in a single day. Having perished in combat, the Cambrians did not believe that he had died, and waited for his return for centuries. This legend still survives among some current peoples of Scotland.
Once the Cambrians were defeated, the kingdom of Essex was founded. having London as its capital.
The invaders came to form seven kingdoms, in the course of two centuries (5th and 6th AD). With them they formed a Heptarchy (hepta =seven), and each Anglo-Saxon kingdom retained some independence. Thus was born rivalry and civil war. It was necessary for Egbert the Great to emerge (872 AD) for the seven kingdoms to unify and form a single kingdom called England. Since then the Monarchy was established.
However, despite this unification, much of Scotland and Ireland retained their independence.
Alfredo The Great
One of the most notable kings of this Anglo-Saxon Monarchy was Alfred the Great .
This sovereign contained the first expeditions of Danes and Normans who sought to land on the shores of England. After numerous battles along the seashore, Alfredo asked his subjects to pursue the invaders, so that the danger would not be repeated; but the people refused to follow him. Enemies with the nobles, with the clergy and with everyone, he withdrew from the palace and took refuge in the hut of a poor woodcutter, without revealing his name. After a few months, the woodcutter's wife, tired of that useless mouth, scolded him harshly, because she had allowed the bread that was baked under her supervision to burn.
However, the foreign danger was threatening. The Danes had not fully withdrawn. Alfredo organized troops, disguised himself as a harp player and entered the enemy camp. He studied the position of the armies, returned, and, the next morning, attacked and won. The chief of the Danes was forced to be baptized as a Christian.
With this victory he regained his immense popularity. His government was brilliant. He divided the territory into counties and cantons; he created a kind of ministry called the Assembly of the Wise , to consult you on the most delicate matters. he founded the Oxford School . There was such honesty among his subjects that, according to the Breton chronicles, he could leave gold jewels on the roads, without anyone touching them. Finally, Alfred the Great said that the English should be free as he thought .