The Migration Period

350 to 550 AD was a migration period in Europe. In the seventh century the Frisian Empire extended from the coastal areas of north Belgium to southern Denmark. They controlled much of the North Sea trade routes from Friesland to England, Frankia, Scandinavia and northwestern Russia. A ‘Magna Frisia’ (Great-Friesland) consisted of a long narrow strip of land along the North Sea, from the Swin River in Belgium to the Weser River in Germany. The Saxons were their neighbors to the north and east, the Franks were in the south and the Anglo-Saxons in the west across the North Sea. Since the conversion to Christianity of the Franks under Clovis the Frisians had become their major enemy. About 450 AD Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians crossed the North Sea and established the Anglo-Saxon empire known as England. The Frisians colonized what became the county of Kent in southeast England. 

Clovis, and the Franks, converted to Catholicism for power and political reasons. Other Germanic tribes had converted to Christianity called Arianism. The Germanic tribes in the north, including Friesland, still practiced the religious beliefs of their forefathers, known as Odinism and were considered heathens. There were many years of warfare between the Franks and Frisians, Christians and heathens. Around 734 Charles Martel sent forces to the heart of Frisian land. A decisive battle, with Poppo as the Frisian leader, was waged on land and sea. Frisian forces were defeated, and Poppo was killed, and Friesland became part of the Frankish Empire. Frisians lost their freedom and the church established a foothold in Friesland.

East Friesland was conquered about fifty years later. They had united with their heathen Saxon neighbors. Charles Martel’s son, Pepin the Short tried but could not win against these Frisians and Saxons. They remained free until his grandson, Charlemagne, defeated them in 785. In Kent, at this time, Egbert of Wessex would have been about ten years old.

During the eighth century, while these struggles were taking place, the Frisian language was born, which can be traced back by sound changes in the language. It is a Germanic language belonging to the West Germanic group. High and Low German, Dutch, and English are also in this group, English being the closest to Frisian. At its start Frisian was spoken in the coastal areas of Holland and Denmark.

Charlemagne ruled the Frankish Empire in a strong centralized way and Frisians were required to serve in his armies. In 800 the first Viking raids upon Friesland started, and the Frisians were discharged to organize their defenses at home. Egbert was in exile from 795 to 802 in Charlemagne’s court, and would have been aware of these events.  Since Charlemagne’s victory over the Saxons in 785, his empire bordered the Viking Empire. The Vikings knew of atrocities Charlemagne had done to the Frisians and Saxons and raided the wealthy churches and monasteries, which were thought of as heathen reprisals.

After 785 the Frisian Empire was a county of the Frankish Empire. The first Frisian count in the Frankish Empire dated from 749-775. The count was a feudal tenant with the main duties to maintain the rule of law, and to organize conscripts for the Frankish armies. There are several who are known by name from various records of Charlemagne’s court, representing East, West, and Middle Friesland. There were three counts named Egbert in this group, all counts of Middle Friesland. There was a Count Egbert mentioned during the time of King Egbert’s exile in Charlemagne’s court, who remained in the Frankish Empire after the return of King Egbert to England.

In Britain

By about 84 AD the Romans had conquered all England, and most of Wales and the Lowlands of Scotland. After that time the Briton tribes were quiet with few incidents. They benefited from the Roman civilization, with its language, laws, roads, business and trading. The principal enemies of Roman Britain were the Picts from the Scottish Highlands, Frisians, Angles, and Saxons. To deal with these groups, the Romans appointed a special Count of Saxon Shores, which included most of the east coast of England. For many years these “Saxons” were beaten off, but when the Roman empire itself was invaded by barbarians, Roman troops in Britain were called home and left the island at the mercy of the invaders. At first the Britons fought the Saxons, the Gaels and Picts, but Britain soon broke up into many small independent kingdoms.

In 449 the king of Kent, Vortigern, was desperate and appealed for help in beating off the attacks from the Picts, to two Jutish chiefs from the continent, Hengist and Horsa. They drove the Picts out, but refused to return home. War followed, and Vortigern was defeated at the battle of Aylesford, at which Horsa was slain. Hengist then took over the kingdom of Kent. During the next hundred and fifty years invaders conquered most of the little kingdoms and settled there with their families. The Anglo-Saxon invasion had begun.

A Saxon chief, Aella, landed in Sussex in 477, proceeded to overrun the district, and settled his followers there, battering the Britons in a number of sieges. Nearly twenty years later, another Saxon chief, Cerdic, brought an army to Southampton, and shortly made himself master of Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire. Cerdic became king of Wessex and was a direct ancestor of King Egbert.

The invaders had now settled in the eastern part of England and southern Scotland. The land was excellent ground for agriculture, and the Angles and Saxons were expert farmers. The marauding Saxons seized whatever bits of land they could and, of course, there was opposition from the Celts. The legendary King Arthur was one of those who led them in trying to beat off the advancing Saxons. However, nothing would stop them arriving and settling.

The first Anglo-Saxon communities were probably started with gifts of land by the conquering chieftains to the sworn followers whom they was bound to maintain in return for their loyal service in battle. In this way Anglo-Saxons formed many settlements, not under the old tribal king, but under princes representing younger branches. They organized themselves as new military states, dependent on their chiefs, rather than as tribal groups. When the names of these new settlements were not already well established they are either borrowed from the lands recently conquered or given a new name.

In about 550 AD there were probably as many as a thousand little Anglo-Saxon “kingdoms,” some only a few square miles in area. There is some information about the local chieftains of that time in the place-names which still survive. A large number of towns and villages in England have names ending in -ing, or -ingham, or -ington. The word ingas meant ‘family’ or ‘followers,’ so a chief’s name would be perpetuated in the name of the spot where his boat landed and where he carved out his little kingdom, and this would be followed by -ing to show that his family or followers had settled there with him. Tooting, Havering, and Paddington are typical examples. A ham meant ‘home’ or ‘homestead,’ and a tun was ‘enclosure’ and later came to mean ‘village’ or ‘town.’ So a village with a name such as Donnington would suggest that it was the ‘town where Dunna’s people live.’