Professor Peter Heather

It's really hard to imagine how Anglo-Saxon would become the language at least of the early medieval elite as it emerges in post-Roman Britain if there are not plenty of female speakers of Germanic. So, in other words, we've got to have Anglo-Saxon women as well.

It's really hard to imagine how Anglo-Saxon would become the language at least of the early medieval elite as it emerges in post-Roman Britain if there are not plenty of female speakers of Germanic. So, in other words, we've got to have Anglo-Saxon women as well.

That's one data set that's already there, and the dominance of Germanic language amongst the new elite of post-Roman Britain is quite clear. The new data set that's slowly emerging is generated by the capacity now to extract DNA from ancient bones. Can't do it from cremations. Has to be inhumations.

That's one data set that's already there, and the dominance of Germanic language amongst the new elite of post-Roman Britain is quite clear. The new data set that's slowly emerging is generated by the capacity now to extract DNA from ancient bones. Can't do it from cremations. Has to be inhumations.

That's one data set that's already there, and the dominance of Germanic language amongst the new elite of post-Roman Britain is quite clear. The new data set that's slowly emerging is generated by the capacity now to extract DNA from ancient bones. Can't do it from cremations. Has to be inhumations.

There's quite a lot of it. But the numbers that have been tested so far are quite small. The real issue, and this is the sort of thing that's fought over, is the extent to which The dramatic cultural change, which is evident in Britain, says switch. Villas disappear. Latin disappears. The sort of civilian bureaucratic elite is replaced by military aristocracy. All of that everyone agrees about.

There's quite a lot of it. But the numbers that have been tested so far are quite small. The real issue, and this is the sort of thing that's fought over, is the extent to which The dramatic cultural change, which is evident in Britain, says switch. Villas disappear. Latin disappears. The sort of civilian bureaucratic elite is replaced by military aristocracy. All of that everyone agrees about.

There's quite a lot of it. But the numbers that have been tested so far are quite small. The real issue, and this is the sort of thing that's fought over, is the extent to which The dramatic cultural change, which is evident in Britain, says switch. Villas disappear. Latin disappears. The sort of civilian bureaucratic elite is replaced by military aristocracy. All of that everyone agrees about.

What is disagreed about is the extent to which this new elite that we meet in the pages of Bede from, whose memory goes back to about, well, it goes back really to the arrival of the Roman mission in 597. B knows damn well about the 5th and earlier 6th centuries. He basically copies out Gildas.

What is disagreed about is the extent to which this new elite that we meet in the pages of Bede from, whose memory goes back to about, well, it goes back really to the arrival of the Roman mission in 597. B knows damn well about the 5th and earlier 6th centuries. He basically copies out Gildas.

What is disagreed about is the extent to which this new elite that we meet in the pages of Bede from, whose memory goes back to about, well, it goes back really to the arrival of the Roman mission in 597. B knows damn well about the 5th and earlier 6th centuries. He basically copies out Gildas.

It's so striking to me that his historical memory and the memory of the people he grew up around doesn't stretch back into that period. So he relies on Gildas for that. And it's only from the time, the last decade of the 6th century onwards, that he's telling you stories about kings and things that are totally independent of that. Anyway, we're clear of the cultural change.

It's so striking to me that his historical memory and the memory of the people he grew up around doesn't stretch back into that period. So he relies on Gildas for that. And it's only from the time, the last decade of the 6th century onwards, that he's telling you stories about kings and things that are totally independent of that. Anyway, we're clear of the cultural change.

It's so striking to me that his historical memory and the memory of the people he grew up around doesn't stretch back into that period. So he relies on Gildas for that. And it's only from the time, the last decade of the 6th century onwards, that he's telling you stories about kings and things that are totally independent of that. Anyway, we're clear of the cultural change.

The contentious issue is the extent to which that cultural change is driven by the arrival of Saxons. In other words, do Saxons predominate in the early medieval elite that we meet in the pages of Bede and in various other stories and are visible archaeologically? It's that question that the DNA will, I think, eventually shed a lot of light on. I'm notoriously a migrationist.

The contentious issue is the extent to which that cultural change is driven by the arrival of Saxons. In other words, do Saxons predominate in the early medieval elite that we meet in the pages of Bede and in various other stories and are visible archaeologically? It's that question that the DNA will, I think, eventually shed a lot of light on. I'm notoriously a migrationist.

The contentious issue is the extent to which that cultural change is driven by the arrival of Saxons. In other words, do Saxons predominate in the early medieval elite that we meet in the pages of Bede and in various other stories and are visible archaeologically? It's that question that the DNA will, I think, eventually shed a lot of light on. I'm notoriously a migrationist.

I think that the Anglo-Saxon takeover is a bit like the Norman conquest, but only bigger. So in the Norman conquest, we know that the massive peasants just stay where they are. But about 2,000 Norman families replaced 3,500 Anglo-Saxon families as the dominant land-owning elite. I think the Anglo-Saxon takeover was like that, but there are more Anglo-Saxons. as it were.

I think that the Anglo-Saxon takeover is a bit like the Norman conquest, but only bigger. So in the Norman conquest, we know that the massive peasants just stay where they are. But about 2,000 Norman families replaced 3,500 Anglo-Saxon families as the dominant land-owning elite. I think the Anglo-Saxon takeover was like that, but there are more Anglo-Saxons. as it were.

I think that the Anglo-Saxon takeover is a bit like the Norman conquest, but only bigger. So in the Norman conquest, we know that the massive peasants just stay where they are. But about 2,000 Norman families replaced 3,500 Anglo-Saxon families as the dominant land-owning elite. I think the Anglo-Saxon takeover was like that, but there are more Anglo-Saxons. as it were.