Wanderlust World Wanderlust World The arrival of Germanic speakers in Britain—known as the Adventus Saxonum (“Coming of the Saxons”)—was not a single event but a multi-generational process spanning c. 400–600 CE.
| Period | Character | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-400 | Limited contact | Roman auxiliaries (Frisians, Batavians) on Hadrian’s Wall; trade across North Sea. |
| c. 410 | Roman withdrawal | Honorius’ rescript; Britons “look to their own defenses.” |
| c. 430–450 | Early settlement | Archaeology: cremation urns (Spong Hill), brooches, sunken-featured buildings (Grubenhäuser) in East Anglia, Kent. |
| c. 449 (traditional) | Hengest & Horsa invited | Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica (731): Vortigern hires mercenaries against Picts. |
| c. 450–550 | Mass migration | “Anglo-Saxon” material culture spreads; place-names (-ingas, -ham, -ton); ancient DNA shows ~75% Continental Northern European ancestry in Eastern England. |
| c. 550–600 | Kingdom formation | Heptarchy emerges (Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria). |
| By 600 | Old English established | Law codes (Æthelberht), Christian mission (Augustine 597), written vernacular begins. |
There was no “invasion day.” Instead, two centuries of migration, intermarriage, elite dominance, and cultural adoption transformed lowland Britain from Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon. The process was well underway by 450 and largely complete by 600.