When did the Roman empire start to hire Anglo-Saxon mercenary troops to protect Britain?
score:5
In Roman times there were no Anglo-Saxons. Angles were a specific ethinic group in Denmark & Germany, Saxons were another specific ethnic group in Northern Germany, and the Romans customarily referred to most tribes and ethnic groups in northern Germany as Saxons.
So the late Romans fought against many Germanic raiders in Gaul and Britain they called Saxons. And they may have hired many Germanic warriors in Gaul or Britain who they called Saxons. Some of those Saxons may have been ethnic Saxons, some may have been ethnic Angles, some ethnic Frisians, some ethnic Jutes, etc., etc., but the Romans called them all Saxons, when they didn't just call them Germans or barbarians.
But as far as I know nobody ever called himself or anyone else an Anglo-Saxon for five hundred years after that.
According to history or legends told centuries later by Bede, by the Historia Brittonum, and by the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, after the last Roman withdrawal about 410 the Britons hired "Saxon" mercenaries to defend them and eventually the "Saxon" mercenaries revolted and over decades more "Saxon" settlers, warriors, and kings moved to Britain and took over all of southern England before the mission of Saint Augustine in 597.
According to those stories the first Germanic people settled in the island of Britain were three shiploads of warriors sometime after the Roman withdrawal.
Even though there were enough Germanic mercenaries in the Roman Army in Britain in 306 AD for King Crocus of the Alemmani to be the Roman officer who proclaimed Constantine I Emperor at York.
Upvote:1
Romans began to hire Anglo-Saxon mercenaries in around the beginning of the 4th century A.D. (fun fact, they rebelled in 442 because they weren't being paid).
The reason they did this was because there was mass migration into Britain and with all the "barbaric" invasions going on at the time, Roman legions were withdrawing and the British people were calling to the Roman Emperor for help, who responded by hiring mercenaries.
Upvote:2
The Romans started hiring mercenaries from the moment they expanded. They also searched which type of troops were stronger against opponents. The core of the army were the legions but they were expanded with mercenaries who can tip the balance for the Romans.
More post
- 📝 What was the route for ships from England to South Africa in 1840?
- 📝 What is "chaud melee"?
- 📝 Why were there "hussars" all across Europe?
- 📝 Who coined the term "Golden Age" in reference to musical theatre?
- 📝 Did the Mexican province of Nuevo Mexico have its own provincial flag?
- 📝 How obvious was lend-lease equipment to the average Soviet soldier?
- 📝 How might someone have gotten a note forwarded from a transport train headed to Auschwitz?
- 📝 So why were medics ever shot at?
- 📝 Were any tactical missiles used during the 1971 Indo Pakistan war?
- 📝 Why was Truman considered a heavy underdog in the 1948 election?
- 📝 When and where did it first became usual that the ID Card holder signed his card?
- 📝 When & where were three masted ships invented?
- 📝 Who was the richest person in the world at the start and end of WW2?
- 📝 What is the royal cypher printed on the UK budget box?
- 📝 Did Chinese Hundred Schools of Thought influence Ancient Greek Philosophy?
- 📝 To what extent did the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia influence the process of relocating the capital to Washington DC in 1800?
- 📝 What was the perception of the average British person of the Boston Tea Party?
- 📝 Could women be crucified under Roman law?
- 📝 Who is the last known non-natural US citizen who would have been eligible for the Presidency?
- 📝 How and when was the Temple of Trajan destroyed?
- 📝 When and where did Louis Blanc say the famous "from each according to his abilities..."?
- 📝 Did any of the Flying Tigers lead a US Navy squadron?
- 📝 History of native cultures in America
- 📝 Why didn't the Roman Princeps restructure or dismantle the Praetorian Guard?
- 📝 "Ridiculous" military haircut in Spanish California
- 📝 Was it possible for one medieval warrior to defeat several opponents?
- 📝 What was unreasonable about Austria's ultimatum to Serbia?
- 📝 Why is the USA the world's strongest country?
- 📝 Were the animals used for gladiatorial combat in Rome trained?
- 📝 Which came first, the shield or the sword?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 When did the Roman empire start to hire Anglo-Saxon mercenary troops to protect Britain?
- 📝 When did the Roman Empire fall according to contemporaries?
- 📝 When did the Holy Roman Empire collapse?
- 📝 When did the Roman Empire devalue currency?
- 📝 Why did the Western Roman Empire collapse but not the Eastern Roman Empire?
- 📝 Why did the Roman military start to favour swords over the spear phalanx?
- 📝 When did the U.S. Army start saying "oh-six-hundred" for "6 AM"?
- 📝 When did the Hebrews stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Aramaic?
- 📝 What role did the Eastern Roman Empire play in the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
- 📝 When did the Roman Forum fall into disuse?
- 📝 Did the Roman Empire have penal colonies?
- 📝 Where were the western legions when the Roman empire fell?
- 📝 Did the Roman Empire extend as far north as the Romans could grow wine?
- 📝 When and how did the term "Nazi" start replacing the term "Germans" in the context of WW2?
- 📝 When did Europeans stop writing the month with Roman numbers?
- 📝 Why didn't the Germanic tribes harry the Roman troops to distraction when Caesar built the bridges across the Rhine?
- 📝 Why did the start of the Roman consular year move?
- 📝 Why did the Sassanid and the Eastern Roman Empire fail to make a lasting peace?
- 📝 When did last names start being used, and who introduced the concept?
- 📝 How did agricultural productivity change in Italy with the fall of the Roman Empire and through the early Middle Ages?
- 📝 When did the allies start evacuating from the Dunkirk mole during the Dunkirk evacuation?
- 📝 When did the Commonwealth of England start being considered a Republic?
- 📝 When did the Greeks start the practice of burying their dead relatives' bodies?
- 📝 When did people start saying about the US that "it's a free country"?
- 📝 When did military leaders in the field start to put units or ships as tokens onto a map and to move them around?
- 📝 When did the Royal Navy start to fill a given rank of admiral with more than one officer?
- 📝 When did the socialist movement start becoming noteworthy in Russian history?
- 📝 Did the Byzantine Empire use Roman numerals?
- 📝 When did people start caring for the handicapped?
- 📝 How did member states of the Holy Roman Empire justify only including part of their land inside it?