The Early ‘Dark Ages’
England 400-700
A quick chronology of some of the key events from the early ‘Dark Ages’
in England after the Roman withdrawal. Some of these dates are approximate.
400-409 Following the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain
during the first decade of the fifth century, Britain comes under sustained
attack by the Picts (from modern-day Scotland), the Scots (from Ireland)
and, increasingly, the Saxons.
410 The Goths sack Rome. Britain is left to organise its own defences.
440-50 The collapse of central authority has seen Britain gripped
by famine and civil war. Many towns have been abandoned and the Britons
have begun to move westwards to escape the continuing raids.
450 The British leader, Vortigern, hires Saxon mercenaries to defend the north against Pictish attacks. Hengest arrives in what becomes known as the 'adventus Saxonum' – the coming of the Saxons. Increasing numbers of Saxon settlers – and raiders – follow. Angles, Jutes and other Germanic tribes also make their way across the North Sea to Britain.
458 Hengest conquers Kent. Britons continue to move westwards, with
the first large-scale migrations to Brittany.
460-500 A running series of battles sees the Saxons gradually expanding
their territory across southern and eastern England until they are halted
by resistance led by Ambrosius Aurelianus, a Romano-British aristocrat,
with the historical ‘King Arthur’ as one of his likely battlefield
generals. The Saxons suffered a key defeat c 496 at the battle of Mount
Badon, the exact date and location of which is not known.
519 Cerdic becomes the first king of the Kingdom of the West Saxons
(Wessex), centred around Hampshire and Wiltshire.
540s The priest, Gildas, denounces the wickedness of the times. ‘Britain has kings but they are tyrants . . . Britain has priests but they are fools,' he writes in De Excidio Britanniae (The Ruin of Britain), where he views the coming of the Saxons as God’s retribution on the Britons.
541-47 Britain is hit by at least two major outbreaks of plague,
which may have affected the British kingdoms more than the Saxon. The Saxon
incomers take advantage of the weakened native kingdoms, pressing further
westwards.
577 The West Saxons win an important victory at Dyrham, placing the
whole of the Cotswolds and the Romano-British cities of Bath, Cirencester
and Gloucester under their control.
597 A mission is sent by Pope Gregory to Canterbury to convert the
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent to Christianity. Augustine, who leads the mission,
is made archbishop of the Anglo-Saxons. King Athelbert is baptised c 600,
starting the slow process of conversion of all the Anglo-Saxon lands.
600 By now the conflicting Anglo-Saxon chieftains and petty states
have been consolidated into seven main kingdoms: the Jutes in Kent; the
Angles in Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia; and the lands occupied by
the East, South and West Saxons (Essex, Sussex and Wessex). The ‘Heptarchy’,
as the seven kingdoms are known, are at almost constant war with each other,
with changing allegiances and dynastic disputes to continue for years to
come.
602 King Athelbert issues the first law code to be written down in
Anglo-Saxon.
625 The East Anglian king, Radwald, is given a lavish burial at Sutton
Hoo. The wealth and variety of the grave goods buried with him in a 27-metre
wooden boat gives an indication of the affluence and extensive trading links
of the East Anglian ruling class at this time.
627 King Edwin’s victory over the West Saxons makes his Northumbrian
kingdom the most powerful in Britain.
654 King Penda, of Mercia, is killed in battle. He is the last significant
pagan king in England.
664 The Synod of Whitby rules against the Celtic Christian church
in a long-running dispute with Rome over the date of Easter. The Celtic
Christians have played a major role in the conversion of the pagan Anglo-Saxons,
but their significance declines from now on.
695 Under Kings Cadwalla and Ine, the kingdom of Wessex has expanded
greatly. Now a new port is being built at Hamtun (Southampton), close to
the Wessex capital of Winchester, reflecting the importance of trade to
the increasingly powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
698 The Lindisfarne Gospel, a beautiful illuminated manuscript, is
produced at the Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne.
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