The Saxons

* The Saxons were named after a type of sword they used called a 'Sax'.
* The Saxons originally lived in Europe. Some of them came to live in Britain during the Dark Ages.
* The word 'Saxon' refers to several groups of people from Northern Germany and Southern Denmark. They were a type of Germanic people.
* They are sometimes called 'Anglo-Saxons'. This refers to two groups: the Angles and the Saxons. It can also mean the 'English Saxons'.
* The part of Britain which the Anglo-Saxons took over was named 'England' after them. It means 'Land of the Angles'.
* They all spoke a language similar to English. It is usually called 'Old English'. They used a type of writing called Runes for name tags and gravestones.
* Strictly speaking, the Saxons came from North-West Germany. Some of them moved south to set up Upper Saxony. The Angles came from Angeln in South-West Denmark. A third group, called the Jutes, came from Jutland in Central Denmark.
* Tradition says that the Saxons settled in Southern England; the Angles settled in East Anglia, the Midlands and Northern England; the Jutes settled in Kent, Hampshire & on the Isle of Wight.
* Other groups who settled in Britain can also be called 'Saxons'. These include the Frisians, the Franks and the Swabians.