Early History of England

450 - 800 AD. The Germanic people invaded England and established a number of kingdoms between 450 and 600 AD. There were many groups of Saxons, Angles and Jutes. They established seven independent kingdoms called ‘Heptarchy’ (a Greek word which means ‘the rule of seven’):Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria. Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex were the main kingdoms who controlled the others whichever was in power, but they always battled among themselves for power.

In 597 the pope of Rome sent Augustine to England to spread Christianity. He was welcomed by the king of Kent who became the first convert, and then, with the help of the king of Kent, conversion vigorously started in England. The capital of the kingdom of Kent was Canterbury, so, Augustine established the cathedral there which was the center of the Church of England. In 601, the pope made Augustine the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus Augustine became famous as Augustine of Canterbury.

In 829, the Saxon King Egbert of Wessex established his superiority and joined all the kingdoms together. He was thus the first king of the unified kingdom.

800 - 1066. In the early 800’s, Danish Vikings had started attacking the country and had captured quite a few territories (except Wessex) and had settled in the eastern half of the country, but the Saxon King Alfred the Great of Wessex defeated the Danes and pushed them to the north eastern side of England. After Alfred’s death in 899, the kingship weakened and Danish invasions again started and finally in 1016 Canute, son of the Danish king, succeeded in defeating the existing Saxon king of Wessex. Thus, the kingdom of England went into the hands of Danish rulers who ruled until 1042 when it was again conquered by a powerful Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, who ruled up to 1066.

1066 - 1170. After a few peaceful years during the reign of Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror (William I) of Normandy, France, came with a strong force, defeated the Saxon king and became the crowned king of England in 1066. It was called the ‘Norman Conquest.’ William Iestablished a strong government and built cathedrals, castles and the Tower of London. His sonWilliam II, called Rufus, ruled after him. Afterwards, William I’s youngest son, Henry I, became the king. William’s family ruled up till 1154.

During that time civil war broke out because of the conflict between the nobles and the French people, as the nobles wanted to rule their territory in their own style. Consequently, the Normans lost their power and the Duke of Normandy of (French) Plantagenet family, Henry II, became the king in 1154. Henry wanted sole power to govern the churches of England which created a rift between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the King of England. But it was easily resolved (in 1170) when the king’s knights came and beheaded the archbishop while he was doing the prayer in the cathedral.

Taken from an article:  Early History of England (400 - 1200)