Origins of the English People

Modern England was carved out of lands previously inhabited by the Romanised Celtic people of lowland Britain. However, 'Celt' is a broad term to describe a culture or linguistic group. Their lands extended over much of central and western Europe until the advance of the Roman Empire. The Celtic people at that time were an amalgamation of various tribes who had been absorbed into that culture. They ranged from fair haired people of the north to darker Hellenic people of the south east.

Within the British Isles, there are three broad groups of people commonly referred to as Celtic. The earliest are a people of typical dark skinned, brown eyed, stocky Mediterranean features collectively known as Hiberians. Historically, they buried their dead in long barrows which can still be seen all over Britain to this day. They spoke a Hamitic language native to North Africa from where they probably originate. Indeed, they are likely to be related to native North African tribes such as the Berbers – as opposed to the current Arabic majority. Infact, the Hiberians are not 'ethnically' Celtic at all, but instead were absorbed into these tribes. Remnants of these people can still be seen throughout Britain, especially in the west.

The next known group to move to Britain were from central Europe, collectively known as the Goidelic peoples. In some respects, these are the classic Celts, giving their name to places associated with Celtic culture such as Gaul, Galicia, Gael (Irish). They probably migrated into Britain from central Europe during the Bronze age, possibly being pushed westwards by another Celtic tribe called the Belgae. They were more advanced than the Hiberians and gradually pushed them westwards into the British uplands, keeping the more fertile lowlands for themselves. These people looked very different to the Hiberians, being tall, fair or red haired and with blue or grey eyes. Some had the typical blue eyed, red haired and freckled faces still associated with parts of western Britain and Ireland. They buried their dead in round barrows rather than long ones and spoke an Indo-European, or Aryan language, rather than a Hamitic one. Although they have substantially mixed with the Hiberian population, their physical characteristics are still evident to this day.

The third major group to migrate into Britain are known as the Brythonics, possibly coming from slightly more north west of the Goidels. They may be related to the Belgae who drove the Goidels into Britain in the first place. They gradually displaced the Goidels out of lowland Britain into the less fertile north and west, repeating the earlier pattern of population displacement. Although the Brythonics and Goidels were from similar backgrounds and spoke similar languages, it is thought that they were somewhat distinct from each other both physically and culturally. The Brythonics were probably fairer haired, more likely to have blue eyes and were probably slightly smaller than the Goidels. They were less likely to have red hair and freckles, though both groups would have included people with all of these characteristics. These two tribes, however, were much more closely related to each other than either were to the Hiberians.

This is how the Romans found the ethnic composition of Britain when they took control in 46AD. Despite several hundred years of Roman occupation, the composition of the population did not change to any significant degree. What did change, though, is that many of the Brythonic peoples living in 'Roman' lowland Britain became Romanised in terms of language and customs. Not all, but certainly the ruling elite.

In the 5th century the Romans began to pull out of Britain in order to reinforce their Empire's northern borders against invasions by the Goths and other Germanic tribes. This left the Romano - Britons exposed to attack from Celtic peoples beyond the empire such as the Picts and Irish. There followed a period of considerable hardship in which the Britons were constantly attacked, plundered and kidnapped by these invaders. Indeed, this is how St Patrick, who was a Romano-Briton, ended up as patron of Ireland.

The Britons pleaded with the Romans to return to defend them, but to no avail. Britain was at this time relatively prosperous and undefended. It was like a magnet to those who would seek to plunder it. And so, in the middle of the 5th century, the Britons turned to another people to help them. These were the Germanic tribes of Angels, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. These Germanic warriors did an excellent job in keeping the Picts, Irish and people we now call the Welsh at bay and received more and more land in return. Gradually, they began to establish permanent settlements and brought their families over. Indeed, the migration was so intensive that Angeln, in modern southern Denmark, is still relatively lightly inhabited. The Britons were driven northwards and westwards into upland Britain (and into Brittany in modern France) in a repetition of what had gone on at least twice before as one population displaced another.

The British populations were not entirely displaced and some mixing was bound to have taken place. In the so called 'Celtic' lands of western Britain (western Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Cornwall) people are a mixture of all three of the 'Celtic' tribes together with elements of the Germanic and Norse settlers who came after the Romans. Scotland, in particular, has a significant Norse element to its population as does England, especially in the north. South Eastern Scotland was settled by the 'English' Engle.

There is uncertainty over just how far the Brythonic people were pushed out of modern England or merged with the Germanic tribes that came to be called the English. One interesting point though, is that these two peoples were physically very similar. The Norse, the anglo-Saxons and the Brythonic Celts had common tribal origins and would have been closely related to the Goidelic Celts too. Once the lowland Brythonics had been absorbed into the dominant English culture (suggesting a Germanic majority population in most of England), the two peoples were more or less indistinguishable. They quickly became a single people as they effectively had common origins in the first place.

Internal migration within the British Isles over the last couple of hundred years have blurred these distinctions a little, but outside the big cities populations remained much the same. More recent mass migration from elsewhere in Europe and beyond is also closely associated with the main urban areas, and in more isolated areas, populations remain much as they have always been.

This is an important point, because much is often made about the migrations of different peoples into Britain. But most of our history has been a story of the migration of people with common origins.

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