England in the Middle Ages

England in the Middle Ages
Britain around the year 802

England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Medieval period — from the end of Roman rule in Britain through to the Early Modern period. It is in this formative period that England emerged as a unified and political entity, and transformed over several centuries from a diverse, warring and fractious land of petty kingdoms, into one of Europe's most centralised, powerful and richest states.

Early Medieval England corresponds to Anglo-Saxon England, which began with the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in southern Britain. In this period, the Brythonic kingdoms whose territories lay within the area of modern England were conquered by Jutes, Angles and Saxons Germanic tribes, from the contemporary Angeln and Jutland areas of Northern Germany and mainland Denmark. Political takeover of other areas of England proceeded piecemeal and was not completed until the 10th century.

Similarly, the end of the medieval period is usually dated by the rise of what is often referred to as the English Renaissance in the reign of Henry VIII, and the Reformation in Scotland, or else to the establishment of a centralised, bureaucratic monarchy by Henry VII. From a political point of view, the Norman conquest of England divides medieval England into two distinct phases of cultural and political history. From a linguistic point of view the Norman Conquest had only a limited effect, Old English evolving into Middle English, although the Anglo Norman language would remain the language of those that ruled for two centuries at least, before mingling with Middle English.

At the height of pre-Norman medieval English power, a single English king ruled to the borders with Scotland and Wales. After the Norman Conquest, Anglo-Norman power intruded into Wales with increasing vigour. Southern England had closer relationships with Normandy, Flanders and Brittany, owing to relative proximity, than had the other regions.

Contents

Periodisation

List of states

Early Middle Ages

Anglo-Saxon states

See: Heptarchy

Celtic kingdoms

The territories of the following early Brythonic kingdoms were absorbed into Anglo-Saxon and early medieval England:

Viking Age

High Middle Ages

post-1066 states

Late Middle Ages

See also

v · d · eEuropean Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
Culture
See also

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