---
node: anglo_saxon_england
type: period
slug: anglo_saxon_england
title: "Anglo-Saxon England"
lead: "Anglo-Saxon England runs from the end of Roman rule around 410 to the Norman Conquest of 1066. In these centuries Germanic settlers' kingdoms were converted to Christianity, fought off the Vikings, and merged into a single England."
published: 2026-07-11
updated: 2026-07-11
image_file: anglo_saxon_england.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sutton_Hoo_helmet_reconstructed.jpg"
image_author: "Gernot Keller"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 2.5"
---

## Overview

Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled eastern Britain from the fifth century, forming rival kingdoms — Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and others. Augustine's mission from Rome (597) began their conversion, and monasteries became centers of learning.

## Key developments

Viking raids opened at Lindisfarne in 793 and grew into conquest; Alfred the Great of Wessex (r. 871–899) held the line and his heirs won back the Danelaw, with Æthelstan ruling a united England by 927. Cnut of Denmark later ruled England within a North Sea empire (1016–1035).

## End and transition

Edward the Confessor's death in January 1066 left rival claims. Harold Godwinson defeated a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge but fell to William of Normandy at Hastings that October, ending the Anglo-Saxon era.