The Anglo-Saxons
Early Britainto 1066
When the Roman army withdrew from Britain in AD 410, pulled back to defend other parts of a crumbling empire, it never returned, and the island was left open to new arrivals from northern Europe who settled and eventually built kingdoms of their own. One of the richest signs of that new Anglo-Saxon world lies at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, where a king was buried inside a ship beneath a mound, surrounded by treasure and armour that still tells us how much status and wealth these rulers commanded.
Christianity spread back into Britain during this same period, but from two directions at once. In the north, missionaries from Ireland worked from a monastery founded by St Columba on the island of Iona. In the south, St Augustine led a separate mission from Rome, and went on to become the first Archbishop of Canterbury. By AD 600, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had taken shape across much of the land, though large parts of Wales and Scotland remained outside their control.
What to remember
| The Roman army leaving Britain | AD 410 Rome pulled its army out to defend the rest of the empire, and it never came back. |
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| Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being established in Britain | AD 600 Two centuries after Rome left. Much of Wales and Scotland stayed outside their rule. |
 Sutton Hoo | Suffolk An Anglo-Saxon king's grave, with his treasure, in a ship under a mound. |
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 The monastery founded by St Columba | the island of Iona Missionaries from Ireland spread Christianity through the north from here. |
| The mission that brought Christianity to the south | St Augustine He became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. |
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| The Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons | northern Europe The tribes that invaded after the Romans left; the handbook names no countries. |
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Everything in Early Britainor the whole course, from the beginning