Short poem ("Butter, bread and green cheese") and numbers 1-10 in modern Frisian (16 sec)Ĭlick here for transcript and translationĪll these peoples all spoke variations of a West Germanic tongue, similar to modern Frisian, variations that were different but probably close enough to be mutually intelligible. Over time, these Germanic tribes began to establish permanent bases and to gradually displace the native Celts. Still later, from the 470s, the war-like Saxons (from the Lower Saxony area of north-western Germany) made an increasing number of incursions into the southern part of the British mainland. The Frisian people, from the marshes and islands of northern Holland and western Germany, also began to encroach on the British mainland from about 450 AD onwards. The Angles (from a region called Angeln, the spur of land which connects modern Denmark with Germany) gradually began to settle in increasing numbers on the east coast of Britain, particularly in the north and East Anglia. Other Germanic tribes soon began to make the short journey across the North Sea. Around 430 AD, the ambitious Celtic warlord Vortigern invited the Jutish brothers Hengest and Horsa (from Jutland in modern-day Denmark), to settle on the east coast of Britain to form a bulwark against sea raids by the Picts, in return for which they were "allowed" to settle in the southern areas of Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.īut the Jutes were not the only newcomers to Britain during this period. No longer protected by the Roman military against the constant threat from the Picts and Scots of the North, the Celts felt themselves increasingly vulnerable to attack. More important than the Celts and the Romans for the development of the English language, though, was the succession of invasions from continental Europe after the Roman withdrawal. Settlement routes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes
Invasions of Germanic Tribes | The Coming of Christianity and Literacy | The Anglo-Saxon or Old English Language | The Vikings | Old English after the Vikings
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