Saxon Invasion Of Britain Continental Saxons Modern Remnants Of

The Saxons were a large and powerful Germanic people located in what is now northwestern Germany and the eastern Netherlands (but not in the area that is known as Saxony today). They are first mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy as a people of southern Jutland and present-day Schleswig-Holstein, whence they appear subsequently to have expanded to the south and west. The word 'Saxon' derives from the word 'Sax', meaning a variety of one-edged sword. Many Germanic tribes took names from their weapons, such as the Langobard tribe.

1 Invasion of Britain

Some Saxons, along with Angles, Jutes and Frisians, invaded Britain in the early Middle AgesThe Middle Ages formed the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire ( 5th century) until th, giving their names to the kingdoms of EssexThe Kingdom of the East Seaxe (one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy) was founded around 500 AD, occupying territory to the north and east of London. Around 825 AD, the kingdom was merged with Wessex, and was eventua, SussexThis article refers to the county in England. traditional county. Sussex is a traditional county in southern England, divided for administrative purposes into the two counties of West Sussex and East Sussex and the city of Brighton and Hove. It correspond and WessexWessex was one of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy) that preceded the kingdom of England. It was named after the West Saxons and situated in the south and southwest of England. It existed from the 6th century until the emergence of the (the lands respectively of the East, South and West Saxons), which with the shorter-lived Middlesextraditional county. administrative county before the creation of Greater London. Middlesex is an area in England, mostly covered by Greater London. It is one of the 39 historical counties of England. It includes the City of London, which was self-governin eventually became part of the kingdom of EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England.

Both the Old English languageOld English (also called Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language which was spoken in England around the year 1000. It is a West Germanic language, and is therefore similar to Frisian and Old Saxon. It is also quite similar to Old Norse (and, and the modern Low Saxon languageLanguage classification Indo-European languages Germanic languages West Germanic languages Low German languages Low Saxon language Interlanguage link for the language itself: Low Saxon (in Low Saxon, Nedersaksisch Neddersassisch Plattduutsch or Nedderduut are derived from the Saxon language.

2 Continental Saxons

A majority of the Saxons remained in continental Europe, forming from the 8th century the Duchy of Saxony. They long avoided becoming Christians and being incorporated into the orbit of the Frankish kingdom, but were decisively conquered by Charlemagne in a long series of annual campaigns ( 772 - 804). With defeat came the enforced baptism and conversion of the Saxon leaders and their people. Even their sacred tree, Irminsul, was destroyed.

Under Carolingian rule, the Saxons were reduced to a tributary status. There is evidence that the Saxons, as well as Slavic tributaries like the Abodrites and the Wends, often provided troops to their Carolingian overlords. The dukes of Saxony became kings ( Henry I, the Fowler, 919) and later the first Emperors (Henry's son, Otto I, the Great) of Germany during the 10th century, but lost this Position in 1024. The duchy was divided up in 1180 when Duke Henry the Lion, Emperor Otto's grandson, refused to follow Emperor Frederick Barbarossa into war in Italy.

The later Upper Saxony in the southern part of eastern Germany, from 1806 to 1918 the kingdom of Saxony, and from then till 1952, and again from 1990 until today the Free State of Saxony, became so known through the acquisition of the dukedom of Saxony by the Margrave of Meissen in 1423. His successors' territory, in fact, lay beyond the traditional lands of the Saxon people.

The label "Saxons" was generally applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to south-eastern Transylvania in present-day Romania, where their descendants numbered a quarter of a million in the early decades of the 20th century. Most have left since World War II, many of them during the 1970s and 1980s due to the Romanianisation policies of the Ceauşescu regime.

3 Modern remnants of the Saxon name

Since reunification in 1990, three federal states of Germany derive their name from the Saxons: Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony, whose area corresponds roughly to the traditional Saxon lands between the Netherlands and the Elbe River; Sachsen-Anhalt, located around the city of Magdeburg; and the Free State of Sachsen or Saxony, which included the city of Dresden, in eastern Germany bordering the Czech Republic, the old kingdom (see above).

Ancient Germanic peoples Anglo-Saxon England History of the Germanic peoples

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1 Invasion of Britain

2 Continental Saxons

3 Modern remnants of the Saxon name

Topics: Saxon, Invasion Of Britain, Continental Saxons, Modern Remnants...