hello I'm Simon Whistler you're watching
top tens net and in the video today
we're looking at the top ten fascinating
facts about anglo-saxons now before we
get started with this video I will say
that this is a collaboration that we did
with the channel history with Elba's
they actually made the script for this
video so definitely if you enjoy this be
sure to go and subscribe to their
channel I'm putting a link to their
channel on the screen now and let's get
started number 10 their settlement in
England the anglo-saxons were Germanic
invaders who came from what is now the
Netherlands Germany and Denmark they
were from the tribes known today is the
angle Saxons Friesians and Jutes and set
up their own kingdoms in England but the
angles established themselves in the
north and east founding the kingdoms of
Northumbria and east anglia the Jutes
settled in kent in the far southeast of
England
the Saxons took the south of the country
naming their nations Wessex and Sussex
the Frisians made a home throughout the
kingdoms of the other tribes often
working as traders number 9 language the
anglo-saxons spoke various Germanic
dialects which eventually evolved into
the language Old English which is the
direct ancestor of modern English a
quarter of all English words come from
Old English although these words are
very commonly used for everyday objects
for example day/night light yes he shead
God cold and rain even today the closest
language to modern English is still
Frisian the language spoken in the north
of the Netherlands by the descendants of
the people who became the anglo-saxons
in Britain number eight weekdays the
anglo-saxons gave us the names for our
days of the week names like Monday
meaning moon day Tuesday was - the
one-armed War gods day and Wednesday the
day in honor of their chief god Woden
who is also known as Odin to the Vikings
however the Viking god thor was called
Fionn or in english so thursday is the
only Viking base day of the week in the
English language today they also had
names for the remaining days of the week
Friday was fries day for Frida the
anglo-saxon name for Venus saturday was
Saturn's dog and Sunday was sinan dog
number 7 bad neighbours archaeologists
still don't know what happened to the
people the anglo-saxons replaced after
the Romans left Britain in AD 420 the
Romano Britons were invaded from the
West by the Irish and the
by the pics leaving the British King
vordigan with a desperate choice
the British monk guild ass writes that
he sent word to several European tribes
inviting the warrior brothers Hengist
and Horsa to fight as mercenaries
against the invaders though they proved
victorious against the pict the
mercenaries soon turned on their masters
and began to drive out their hosts
historians know that the anglo-saxons
conquered the centre of the island
leaving the Celts Scotland in the North
Wales and Cornwall in the West and in
the south across the channel Brittany
however scholars don't know what
happened to the millions of people
living in the land the anglo-saxons took
over in what is now England and southern
Scotland Gilda suggested that the
Britons were slaughtered in their
hundreds of thousands by the invaders
new DNA evidence shows that males from
central England are genetically very
distinct from those living a few miles
west in Wales where as compared with the
modern Friesians they are almost
inseparable suggesting a complete
wipeout of the pre anglo-saxon
population number six metalworkers as
well as being bloodthirsty warriors the
anglo-saxons were skilled craftsmen and
metal workers using gold and jewels from
as far away as Persia the anglo-saxons
created beautiful artifacts such as this
the helmet found at Sutton Hoo in Surrey
and the items found in the Staffordshire
hoard which was valued at three point
two eight five million pounds after it
was discovered in 2009 number five king
arthur knights round tables and damsels
in distress' may in fact be thanks to
the anglo-saxons the legend of King
Arthur can be traced back to the
anglo-saxon invasion when the Celtic
Britons were being driven out of their
ancient lands by the new invaders the
early form of the legend tells of a
vision concerning a white and red dragon
each representing the Saxons and the
Britons this red dragon is still on the
Welsh flag today others tell us that
Arthur was a British prince who stopped
the Saxons at the siege of Mountbatten
near modern-day Bath whatever the truth
behind it all the stories of King Arthur
and his Knights are now timeless
classics throughout the world before
missionaries when the anglo-saxons came
to Britain they worshipped the Old
Germanic gods celebrating the harvests
and the spring and summer solstices
while conducting human and animal
sacrifices however this would change
with the exiled northumbrian King Oswald
who sought refuge on the island of Lanna
when he became a Christian when he
retook
kingdom from the Britons the people
there were forced to accept their rulers
new religion converting to Celtic
Christianity which was brought to them
by monks from Scotland and Ireland soon
all of England was Christian but they
did not stop there instead choosing to
return to Europe the place their
ancestors had come from many
missionaries especially from the
northern kingdom of Northumbria traveled
to the kingdoms of freezer and Saxony to
spread the gospel while some were
allowed to build churches and tent
congregations others were less lucky
like the monk Boniface who met his end
at the hands of zealous pagans in the
frisian town of dokkum where he was
clubbed to death at least his efforts
made him a saint
number 3 the creation of England the
anglo-saxons created the English nation
the word England is a compound of angle
and land meaning land of the angles
before the arrival of the Vikings from
Scandinavia the anglo-saxons lived in
small kingdoms like Northumbria Mercia
and Wessex without having a single king
to rule over them all however in AD 865
the Vikings amassed a great heathen army
and took over the anglo-saxon kingdoms
one by one until only Wessex remained a
king Alfred fought against the invaders
for decades at one point even being
forced to flee is capital at Winchester
and was forced to take refuge in the
marshes of Somerset in the Far West of
England while fighting against the
Vikings Alfred saw how weak the separate
kingdoms had been and came up with the
idea of one nation England one nation
with one king and under one God Alfred's
Kingdom remains free for the rest of his
life or there would be up to his
grandson Athelstan who finally became
King of England in AD 925 after
defeating the Vikings the Scottish and
the Cornish number two mercenaries after
being defeated by the Normans in 1066
many Anglo Saxons left Britain and
sailed to modern-day Constantinople to
fight for the Byzantium Empire the
Varangian guard was an elite military
unit set up by the Byzantine Empire in
874 AD as a personal guard for the
Emperor Michael four-third initially the
unit had been made up of Swedish Viking
suits sailed down the rivers of Russia
and Ukraine but after the Norman
Conquest increasing numbers of
anglo-saxon Englishmen joined the elite
unit to fight
the enemies of the last Roman Empire are
in the East in 1088 235 English and
Danish ships sailed to Byzantium to join
the Varangian guard which soon changed
its name to England baranggay
or Anglo Varangian number one the last
anglo-saxon King was buried in 1984 in
18 1975 a 15 year old named Edward was
crowned the king of England upon the
death of his father Edgar Edward was a
bad-tempered young man and was murdered
by his half-brothers mother when
visiting their household in 978 he was
buried the year after in Shaftesbury
abbey but the grave was lost during the
dissolution of the monasteries in the
16th century however it was rediscovered
in 1931 and preserved in a bank vault
until 1984 when the bones were finally
reburied so I really hope you liked that
video about Anglo Saxons if you did
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