Establishment of the feudal system in Britain in the early middles ages (5-11 centuries).

The Romans protected their province of Britain against the barbarian tribes until they left which was at the beginning of the 5 century the Anglo-Saxons, Germanic tribes invaded Britain.

The Anglo-Saxon conquest is regarded as the beginning of medieval history in Britain.

The Anglo-Saxons were the ancestors of the English. As a result of the conquest they formed the majority of the population in Britain.

After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts remained independent but not for long. From the middle of the 5 century they had to defend the country against the attacks of Germanic tribes from the Continent.

In the 5 century, first the Jutes and then after Germanic tribes - the Saxons and Angles began to migrate to Britain. The Saxons came from the territory lying between the Rhyne and the Elbe rivers which was later on called Saxony. The Jutes and the Angles came from the Jull and Peninsula.

In 449 the Jutes landed in Kent and this was the beginning of the Conquest. The British natives fought fiercely against the invaders and it took more than a hundred and fifty years the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes to conquer the country.

In the course of the conquest many of the Celts were killed, some were taken prisoners and made slaves or had to pay tribute to the conquerors.

By the end of the 6 century and the beginning of the 7 several kingdoms were formed on the territory of Britain conquered by the Germanic tribes. This territory later on became England proper. Kent was set up by the Jutes in the South-East. In the southern and southern-eastern parts of the country the Saxons formed a number of kingdoms -Sussex (the land of South Saxons), Wessex (the land of West Saxons) and Essex (the land of the East Saxons). Farther north were the settlements of the angles that had conquered the greater part of the country. In the North they founded North Umbria which has left its name the present country of north umber land. Murcia was founded in the Middle and East Anglia-in the East of England, north of the East Saxon Kingdom. These kingdoms were hostile to one another and they fought constantly for supreme power in the country.

The new conquerors brought about changes altogether different from those that followed the conquest of the country by the Romans. The new settlers disliked towns preferring to live in small villages. In the course of the conquest they destroyed the Roman town and villas. All the beautiful buildings and baths and roads were so neglected that soon fell in ruins. Sometimes the roads were broken up, the stones being used for building material. This art of road making was lost for many hundreds of years.

The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angels were closely a kin in speech and customs, and they gradually merged into one people. The name”Jute” soon died out and the conquerors are generally referred to us the Anglo-Saxons.

As a result of the conquest the Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population in Britain and their customs, religion and languages became predominant. They called the Celts ”welsh” which mean foreigners as they could not understand the Celtic language which was quite unlike their own.

But gradually the Celts who were in the minority merged with the conquerors adopted their customs and learned to speak their languages. Only the Celts who reminded independent in the West, Scotland and Ireland spoke their native tongue.

At first the Anglo-Saxons spoke various dialects but gradually the dialect of the Angles of Murcia became predominant. In the course of time all the people of Britain were known to us as the English after the Angles and the new name of England was given to the whole country. The Anglo-Saxons language or English has been the principal language of the country since then although it has undergone great change.

After the conquest of Britain the survivals of the primitive way of life were very strong among the Anglo-Saxons. But in the 7-9 centuries great changes were taking place in Anglo-Saxon society, Feudalism was slowly taking root.