Grant Allen

Anglo Saxon Britain Grant Allen

Grant Allen's Anglo Saxon Britain is a description of Britain under the early English conquerors from the social rather than from the political point of view by a distinguished historian. It traces the history of the Anglo Saxons from their ruthless extinction of the vestiges of Roman rule through the Christianization of the heathen tribes and their consolidation into a single culture with its own unique literature and art.

The early history of the settlement Britain through successive waves of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes and others had a profound effect on the social fabric of the civilization they wrought. Allen's principal object has been to estimate the importance of those elements in modern British life which are chiefly due to purely English or Low-Dutch influences.

The original authorities most largely consulted have been the English Chronicle, and Bæda's Ecclesiastical History. These have been supplemented by Florence of Worcester and the other authoritative Latin writers of later date. The net result is a scholarly and fascinating examination of the historical synthesis of the British character.