Angles (tribe)

For other uses, see Angles.

Angles
Ængle / Engle
The spread of Angles (orange) and Saxons (blue) to the British Isles around 500 AD
Regions with significant populations
origin: southern Jutland:
Schleswig (Angeln, Schwansen, Danish Wahld, North Frisia/North Frisian Islands)
Holstein (Eiderstedt, Dithmarschen)
destination: Heptarchy (England)
Languages
Old English
Religion
Originally Germanic and Anglo-Saxon paganism, later Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans, English, Lowland Scots,[1] Saxons, Frisii, Jutes
The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suevian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple

The Angles were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period.[2] They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name, which probably derives from the Angeln peninsula, is the root of the name England ("Engla land"[3] or "Ængla land"[citation needed]), as well as ultimately the word English for its people and language. According to Tacitus, writing around 100 AD, a people known as Angles (Anglii) lived beyond (apparently northeast of) the Lombards and Semnones, who lived near the River Elbe.[4]

  1. ^ Steven L. Danver (2014). "Groups: Europe". Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. p. 372. ISBN 978-0765682949.
  2. ^ Darvill, Timothy, ed. (2009). "Angles". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727139. Retrieved 26 January 2020. Angles. A Germanic people who originated on the Baltic coastlands of Jutland.
  3. ^ "England | Etymology of the name England by etymonline". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tacitus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).