ABSTRACT
I noted in the last chapter that by the third century the Saxons had become a force to be reckoned with along the shores of northern Gaul and southeastern England. Archeological evidence supports the notion that some Germanic settlers were already well established in East Anglia in the latter part of the fourth century, although these were probably Angles rather than Saxons. But both the historical sources and the archeological evidence seem to agree that the major influx of Germanic immigration into England came in the mid-fifth century. The historical sources refer to a British (i.e., Celtic) “proud tyrant” (whom the eighth-century North-umbrian monk and scholar Bede calls Vortigern), who invited the Saxons, under leaders Bede calls Hengest and Horsa, into the country to help his people resist attacks from the barbarian Picts and Scots of the north.
