The Anglo Saxon period starts after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire from Britain in the 5th century AD.  The name Anglo-Saxon is usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes and their creation of the English nation until the Norman conquest of 1066AD.

The Benedictine monk Bede, writing three centuries after the start of the Anglo Saxon period identifies the three Germanic tribes as:

The Angles, who may have come from Angeln (in modern Germany), and Bede wrote that their whole nation came to Britain, leaving their former land empty. The name England (Old English: Engla land or Ængla land) originates from this tribe).

The Saxons, from Lower Saxony (in modern Germany; German: Niedersachsen) and the Low Countries

The Jutes, possibly from the Jutland peninsula (in modern Denmark; Danish: Jylland).

The Anglo Saxon period is often divided into Early Saxon (450-650AD), Middle Saxon (650-850AD) and Late Saxon (850-1066AD).  The early Saxon period is the period migration or pagan Saxon period. 

The Middle Saxon period is noticeable for the nucleation of previously dispersed hamlet settlements into fixed settlements that are often the base of today’s rural villages and the establishment of religious communities.  This also accompanied the conversion to Christianity.

The Late Saxon period shows the Viking invasions and the development of written English. An important development in the 9th century was the rise of the Kingdom of Wessex; by the end of his reign Alfred was recognised as overlord by several southern kingdoms. Æthelstan was the first king to achieve direct rule over what is considered "England".

Near the end of the 10th century, there was renewed Scandinavian interest in England, with the conquests of Sweyn of Denmark and his son Cnut the Great. By 1066 there were three lords with claims to the English throne, resulting in two invasions and the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings, the results of which established Anglo-Norman rule in England.