pedrov
Collector of Threads
@ Madeira: Some information to narrow down your search:
(from "The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages")
Together with two other tribes, the Jutes and the Angles, the Saxons primarily invaded and settled in the regions of Britain still known today as Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), and Kent (Jutes and Frisians). I'm assuming that the terms East, West, and South for saxons does not refer to their origins but rather where they settled in England. Several Saxon tribes that went further north established East Anglia and Mercia (and Northumbria, I believe). Some say these groups were invited by an ambitious celtic king to attack a rival but, either way, the decline of roman influence in the region allowed a steady flow of Angles and Saxons to dominate England. The native Britains (celts) were either enslaved or driven west to wales or north to scotland (picts?).
The head of the most dominant anglo-saxon kingdom was referred to as the bretwalda (british ruler). The first was King Ethelbert of Kent. Later, the rulers of Northumbria, centered around York, were most dominant. In the 700s, the most dominant group were in Mercia, lead by King Offa. He changed the ruler's title to rex Anglorum. Still later (~800) was Essex under King Egbert.
It wasn't until after Egbert died that the Viking invasions really picked up (839ish). After conquoring Northumbria and East Anglia, and threatening Wessex and Mercia, the regions north of a line between London and Cambridge in the east, Bridgenorth and Lichfield in the center, and Cardigan Bay and the Irish Sea in the west, all became known as Danelaw. The anglo-saxon king, Alfred the Great, and his successors, reconquored some (all?) of the area. The Danes again ruled under Cnut the Great and two of his sons from 1016-1042, until the Anglo-Saxons regained dominance under Edward the Confessor. After this, it's all about the Norman invasions.
If you're looking for stock names of territories for Anglo-Saxons, they organized England into burroughs (administered by reeves) and shires (administered by shire-reeves, or sheriffs). This same system of government persisted into the late medieval and modern periods. The system was preserved even by the Normans and, though I don't know for certain, I would say that the vast majority of Anglo-Saxon colonies/settlements still go by the same name in modern England... unless of course it sounds french or latin.
(from "The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages")
Together with two other tribes, the Jutes and the Angles, the Saxons primarily invaded and settled in the regions of Britain still known today as Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), and Kent (Jutes and Frisians). I'm assuming that the terms East, West, and South for saxons does not refer to their origins but rather where they settled in England. Several Saxon tribes that went further north established East Anglia and Mercia (and Northumbria, I believe). Some say these groups were invited by an ambitious celtic king to attack a rival but, either way, the decline of roman influence in the region allowed a steady flow of Angles and Saxons to dominate England. The native Britains (celts) were either enslaved or driven west to wales or north to scotland (picts?).
The head of the most dominant anglo-saxon kingdom was referred to as the bretwalda (british ruler). The first was King Ethelbert of Kent. Later, the rulers of Northumbria, centered around York, were most dominant. In the 700s, the most dominant group were in Mercia, lead by King Offa. He changed the ruler's title to rex Anglorum. Still later (~800) was Essex under King Egbert.
It wasn't until after Egbert died that the Viking invasions really picked up (839ish). After conquoring Northumbria and East Anglia, and threatening Wessex and Mercia, the regions north of a line between London and Cambridge in the east, Bridgenorth and Lichfield in the center, and Cardigan Bay and the Irish Sea in the west, all became known as Danelaw. The anglo-saxon king, Alfred the Great, and his successors, reconquored some (all?) of the area. The Danes again ruled under Cnut the Great and two of his sons from 1016-1042, until the Anglo-Saxons regained dominance under Edward the Confessor. After this, it's all about the Norman invasions.
If you're looking for stock names of territories for Anglo-Saxons, they organized England into burroughs (administered by reeves) and shires (administered by shire-reeves, or sheriffs). This same system of government persisted into the late medieval and modern periods. The system was preserved even by the Normans and, though I don't know for certain, I would say that the vast majority of Anglo-Saxon colonies/settlements still go by the same name in modern England... unless of course it sounds french or latin.
