Notes

As the last Roman soldiers left Britain in AD 410, the Anglo-Saxons, arrived in ships across the North Sea. They settled in Mercia, Northumberland, East Anglia and Wessex.

Some Anglo-Saxons built wooden houses inside the walls of Roman towns. In Leicester, Saxon brooches from the AD 400s and 500s have been found in the area now known as Highcross, showing that they settled there. Also, cemeteries and timber halls dating from that period have been found across Leicestershire, suggesting that town sites were important in early Saxon times.

The Romans called the Anglo-Saxons ‘barbarians’. Whilst some tribes traded with the Romans, many fought them.

The Anglo-Saxons were farmers who lived in villages rather than cities. Most people in Roman Britain were Christians, but the Anglo-Saxons worshipped gods and goddesses. Their beliefs were similar to the Celts who lived in Britain before the Romans invaded.