Anglo-Saxons there was a flowering of literature and language. Charters and law were also established. The term "Anglo-Saxon" is popularly used for the language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England and eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. In scholarly use, it is more commonly called Old English. The history of the Anglo-Saxons is the history of a cultural identity. It developed from divergent groups in association with the people's adoption of Christianity, and was integral to the establishment of various kingdoms. Threatened by extended Danish invasions and military occupation of eastern
History of Anglo-Saxon England known as Englishry under Norman rule and through social and cultural integration with Celts, Anglo-Normans and other cultures became the modern English people. Bede completed his book "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) in around 731. Thus the term for English people (Latin: "gens Anglorum"; Anglo-Saxon: "Anglecynn") was in use by then to distinguish Germanic groups in Britain from those on the continent (Old Saxony in Northern Germany). The term 'Anglo-Saxon' came in practice in the 8th century (probably by Paul the Deacon) to distinguish English Saxons from continental Saxons (Ealdseaxe, 'old' Saxons). The historian James