5th century in England
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 5th century in England: |
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| 4th century 4th century in Roman Britain Events from the 4th century in Roman Britain.-Events:* 301** Emperor Diocletian fixes the prices of British woollen goods and beer.* 306** 25 July - Emperor Constantius Chlorus dies at York, after campaigning against the Picts.* 314... | 5th century | 6th century 6th century in England Events from the 6th century in England.-Events:* around 500** Angles colonise the North Sea and Humber coastal areas, particularly around Holderness.* 501** Port and his sons, Bieda and Mægla, arrive at what is now Portsmouth.* 519... |
Events from the 5th century
5th century
The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini/Common Era.-Overview:This century is noted for being a time of repeated disaster and instability both internally and externally for the Western Roman Empire, which finally unravelled, and came to an...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Events
- 401
- StilichoStilichoFlavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of Vandal birth. Despised by the Roman population for his Germanic ancestry and Arian beliefs, Stilicho was in 408 executed along with his wife and son...
withdraws troops from Britain, and abandons forts on the YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
coast.
- Stilicho
- 402
- Last issue of RomanRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
coinCoinA coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
age in Britain.
- Last issue of Roman
- 405
- Niall of the Nine HostagesNiall of the Nine HostagesNiall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...
leads IrishIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
raids along the south coast.
- Niall of the Nine Hostages
- 407
- Army in Britain proclaims Constantine III as Emperor.
- 409
- Army rebels against Constantine.
- SaxonsSaxonsThe Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
raid Britain.
- 410
- Emperor HonoriusHonorius (emperor)Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....
recalls the last legions from Britain.
- Emperor Honorius
- 429
- The Pope sends Saint GermanusSaint GermanusSaint Germanus may refer to:*Germanus , Spanish martyr-saint *Germanus of Auxerre , bishop of Auxerre who founded the Carolingian abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre named for the same saint...
to Britain, who defeats the Pelagians in public debate.
- The Pope sends Saint Germanus
- c.430
- VortigernVortigernVortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...
allows Anglo-Saxon mercenaries to settle on ThanetThanetThanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974...
. - Fastidius completes his work On the Christian Life.
- Vortigern
- 433
- The Britons call the AnglesAnglesThe Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
to come and help them as mercenaries against the PictPICTPICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics , and some limited text support, between Mac applications, and was the native graphics format of QuickDraw.The original version, PICT 1, was...
s.
- The Britons call the Angles
- 446
- The "Groans of the BritonsGroans of the BritonsThe Groans of the Britons is the name of the final appeal made by the Britons to the Roman military for assistance against barbarian invasion. The appeal is first referenced in Gildas' 6th-century De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae; Gildas' account was later repeated in Bede's Historia...
": Britons appeal (possibly to the ConsulConsulConsul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
AetiusFlavius AëtiusFlavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
) for the Roman army to come back to Britain.
- The "Groans of the Britons
- 447
- Saint Germanus returns to Britain, and exiles the Pelagians.
- c.450
- HengestHengestHengist and Horsa are figures of Anglo-Saxon, and subsequently British, legend, which records the two as the Germanic brothers who led the Angle, Saxon, and Jutish armies that conquered the first territories of Great Britain in the 5th century AD...
founds the Kingdom of KentKingdom of KentThe Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...
.
- Hengest
- 455
- Battle of AylesfordBattle of AylesfordThe Battle of Aylesford or Epsford is a battle between Britons and Anglo-Saxons recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Historia Brittonum. Both sources concur that it involved the Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa on one side and the family of Vortigern on the other, but neither mentions who...
: Hengest and Horsa defeat Vortigern, although Horsa dies in the battle.
- Battle of Aylesford
- 457
- Battle of Crayford: Hengest & Æsc defeat the Britons, driving them from Kent.
- 466
- Battle of WippedesfleotBattle of WippedesfleotThe Battle of Wippedesfleot in c. 466 was a battle between the Saxons led by Hengest and the post-Roman Britons. It is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle thus:-...
: Hengest and Æsc again defeat an army of the Britons.
- Battle of Wippedesfleot
- 473
- Hengest and Æsc fight against the Britons.
- 477
- ÆlleAelle of SussexÆlle is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South Saxons, reigning in what is now called Sussex, England, from 477 to perhaps as late as 514....
lands at SelseySelseySelsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about seven miles south of Chichester, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea...
, and founds the Kingdom of SussexKingdom of SussexThe Kingdom of Sussex or Kingdom of the South Saxons was a Saxon colony and later independent kingdom of the Saxons, on the south coast of England. Its boundaries coincided in general with those of the earlier kingdom of the Regnenses and the later county of Sussex. A large part of its territory...
.
- Ælle
- 485
- Ælle fights against the Britons near the margin of Mearcræd's stream.
- 491
- Ælle and his son CissaCissa of SussexCissa is the name of a mythical King of Sussex, and Chichester whose placename is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 895AD, is supposedly named after him.-Historical attestation:...
besiege PevenseyPevenseyPevensey is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The main village is located 5 miles north-east of Eastbourne, one mile inland from Pevensey Bay. The settlement of Pevensey Bay forms part of the parish.-Geography:The village of Pevensey is located on...
, and kill all the Britons there.
- Ælle and his son Cissa
- 495
- CerdicCerdic of WessexCerdic was probably the first King of Anglo-Saxon Wessex from 519 to 534, cited by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the founder of the kingdom of Wessex and ancestor of all its subsequent kings...
, later the first King of WessexWessexThe Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, lands at SouthamptonSouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
.
- Cerdic
- c.500
- Battle of Mons BadonicusBattle of Mons BadonicusThe Battle of Mons Badonicus was a battle between a force of Britons and an Anglo-Saxon army, probably sometime between 490 and 517 AD. Though it is believed to have been a major political and military event, there is no certainty about its date, location or the details of the fighting...
: Britons defeat advancing Saxons, and retain control of the north and west. (Exact year uncertain).
- Battle of Mons Badonicus