angles
appearance: c. 100
dispersal: c. 400
ascendancy: west germans[1]
the angles are first described as a part of the suevian confederation, which puts their original origin somewhere in the middle of germany and towards the baltic. most people associate the angles with denmark, but the migration to denmark was a later occurrence - tacitus is very clear that the angles were originally suevians and hence from further east. saxo even begins his history by saying that the danes had two ancestors - dan and angul - and hence clearly separates the danes and angles into distinct peoples, although they are both sons of humble (who is a christian rationalization of bure). so, saxo even separates the danes and angles before odin, the traditional ancestor of everyone else. is this a remembrance of the yngvi/odin split?
an invasion north into scandinavia probably is what pushed the ynglingas into sweden and denmark, and probably wasn't until a little later than 100. the saxons show up with ptolemy and i would think it likely that this was about the time the angles started moving north. of course, the angles eventually went to britain where they renamed the island 'angle-land'.
once on the island, the angles split up into several communities.
descendancy: mercians
descendancy: east anglians
descendancy: northumbrians
[1]: the role of migration in the history of the eurasian steppe, andrew bell-fialkoff, 2000
[2]: the germanic invasions, lucien musset, 1965
page last updated august 22, 2004