Bratain in Anglo-Saxon period

The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain was the process, from the mid 5th to early 7th centuries, by which the coastal lowlands of Britain developed from a Romano-British to a Germanic culture following the Roman withdrawal in the early 5th century. The traditional view of the process has assumed an invasion of several Germanic peoples, later collectively referred to as Anglo-Saxons, from the western coasts of continental Europe, followed by the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms across most of what is now England and parts of lowland Scotland. The arrival of a Germanic element in the history of Britain is also called the Advent of the Saxons (Latin: Adventus Saxonum), a term first used by Bede in about 731.The assumption that the Anglo-Saxon settlement developed from the invasion or migration of people from the Germanic coastlands, largely displacing the native people, has been challenged by those suggesting that the changes in material culture and language were caused primarily by a process of acculturation that followed the movement of a relatively small number of people. Some writers have also argued that the influence of Germanic peoples and culture was already present in eastern regions of pre-Roman Britain. The view that the Anglo-Saxons arose from insular changes and developments, rather than as a result of mass migration and displacement, is now widely accepted. However, the extent to which incomers displaced or supplanted the existing inhabitants and the extent to which mutual acculturation occurred is still the subject of ongoing debate. At the centre of this debate is the creation of an acceptable model for cultural and linguistic change, as there are few historical or contemporary sources relating to the anglicisation of lowland Britain. The sources that do exist are open to a variety of interpretations, as is the more recently available evidence largely derived from archaeology and genetic research. Alfred the Great (849 – 26 October 899) "elf counsel" or "wise elf") was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death had become the dominant ruler in England. He is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet "the Great", the other one being Cnut the Great. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons".Details of Alfred's life are described in a work by the 10th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser. A devout Christian, Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education and improved his kingdom's legal system, military structure and his people's quality of life.

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