The story of English finds its beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire. For Britain was, at the start of the fifth century ad, under Roman rule. The native Britons, speaking a Celtic language related to Irish and Scots Gaelic, had faired rather well under Roman rule: the Romans unified much of modern-day England, provided a well-developed infrastructure of roads, aqueducts, and towns, not to mention a well-trained and outfitted standing army. When trouble began brewing back in Rome around 410 ad, the Romans withdrew from the British Isles, leaving the Britons sitting unguarded in what to outsiders must have looked like a pile of gold. Unsurprisingly, invaders shortly came knocking.
The first Germanic tribes, including Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians, arrived around 450 ad. They spoke closely related Germanic languages, which together would evolve into Old English, the language of Beowulf. To the native Celts, the Germanic tribes were largely indistinguishable, and were all simply called Saxons. In fact, in Scotland and Ireland, Sassenach is still an uncomplimentary term for the English. To those across the Channel on the continent, these people were referred to as Angles, which developed to give us the name for the language, English, as well as the name for the land, England (from Angles' land).
Without the Roman's organization, the native Britons could do little to repel the invaders. There was, however, one notable exception. The Britons were able to organize, rise up, and repel their invaders around 500 ad at Mt. Badon, near Bath. Who unified them? King Arthur. Written records from this time period are rare (hence the term The Dark Ages), so events are clouded in a fair degree of doubt, yet many scholars agree that the Britons were unified under "King Arthur", most likely a general of the fragmented Roman-British force. Unfortunately, the rest of the King Arthur legend, distributed by Alfred Lord Tennyson and Disney among others, is largely myth. Further, his victory was to be brief. By 550 ad, the Germanic invaders were back, never to leave again.
The invaders practiced a form of Germanic paganism, though conversion to Christianity was swift with Pope Gregory's (c.600 ad) sending of a mission. This early religion has, however, which has left its impression in Modern English. Consider the days of the week: Sunday is the day of the sun, Monday of the moon, and Saturday, that of Saturn. What are Tuesday through Friday? They are the days of the Germanic deities Tiw, Wodan, Thor, and Frig, respectively. Our religious holiday Easter, too, has its name rooted in paganism, named after the Germanic Goddess Eastre.
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