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English people
The English people are a nation and an ethnic
group native to England who speak the English English people
language. The English identity is of early medieval
origin, when they were known in Old English as the
Angelcynn ('family of the Angles'). Their ethnonym
is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic
peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the
5th century AD.[8] England is the largest and most
populous country of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, and the majority of Flag of England
people living there are British citizens. Total population
The English largely descend from two main c. 80–100 million worldwide
historical population groups – the earlier Celtic Regions with significant
Britons (or Brythons) and the Germanic tribes who
populations
settled in Britain following the withdrawal of the
Romans: the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and United Kingdom 37.6 million in
Frisians.[9][10] Collectively known as the Anglo- England and Wales[1]
Saxons, they founded what was to become the Significant English diaspora in
Kingdom of England (from the Old English
United 50 million[2]
Englaland) by the early 10th century, in response to
States (1980)a
the invasion and minor settlement of Danes
beginning in the late 9th century. This was followed Australia 7.8 million[3]
by the Norman Conquest and limited settlement of (2016)b
Anglo-Normans in England in the latter 11th
Canada 6.3 million[4]
century.[11][12][13][9][14] In the Acts of Union 1707,
2016)c
the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of
Scotland merged to become the Kingdom of Great South 1.6 million[5]
Britain.[15] Over the years, English customs and Africa (2011)d
identity have become fairly closely aligned with
New 44,000–
British customs and identity in general.
Zealand 282,000[6]
The English people are the source of the English Argentina 100,000
language, the Westminster system and common
Languages
law. These and other English cultural characteristics
have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the English
former British Empire. Religion
Traditionally Anglicanism, but also

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Contents non-conformists and dissenters (see

History of the Church of England),
English nationality as well as other Protestants; also
Relationship to Britishness Roman Catholics (see Catholic
Historical and genetic origins Emancipation); Islam (see Islam in
Near total population replacement of Neolithic England); Judaism and other faiths
farmers by Northern Continental Indo- (see Religion in England). Almost
Europeans 25% are non-religious.[7]
Anglo Saxon settlement of Britain Related ethnic groups
History of English people other British people · Germanic
Early Middle Ages people (esp. Frisians) · Celtic
Vikings and the Danelaw Britons
English unification
Norman and Angevin rule a
English American, b English Australian, c
United Kingdom English Canadian, d British diaspora in
Immigration and assimilation Africa
Current national and political identity
English diaspora
United States
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Argentina
Culture
Religion
Language
Literature
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
Diaspora
Notelist
External links

English nationality

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The concept of an 'English nation' (as opposed to a British one) has become increasingly
popular after the devolution process in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland resulted
in all four nations having semi-independent political and legal systems. Although
England itself has no devolved government, the 1990s witnessed a rise in English self-
consciousness.[16] This is linked to the expressions of national self-awareness of the
other British nations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which take their most
solid form in the new devolved political arrangements within the United Kingdom – and
the waning of a shared British national identity with the growing distance between the
end of the British Empire and the present.[17][18][19]

Many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others
have developed dual or mixed identities.[20][21][22][23][24] Use of the word "English" to
describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white
people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual
Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of
British people with their perceived national identity. They found that while 58% of white
people in England described their nationality as "English", the vast majority of non-
white people called themselves "British".[25]

Relationship to Britishness

It is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. In the 2001 UK
census, respondents were invited to state their ethnicity, but while there were tick boxes
for 'Irish' and for 'Scottish', there were none for 'English', or 'Welsh', who were
subsumed into the general heading 'White British'.[26][27] Following complaints about
this, the 2011 census was changed to "allow respondents to record their English, Welsh,
Scottish, Northern Irish, Irish or other identity."[28] Another complication in defining
the English is a common tendency for the words "English" and "British" to be used
interchangeably, especially outside the UK. In his study of English identity, Krishan
Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say "English, I mean
British". He notes that this slip is normally made only by the English themselves and by
foreigners: "Non-English members of the United Kingdom rarely say 'British' when they
mean 'English'". Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of England's
dominant position with the UK, it is also "problematic for the English [...] when it comes
to conceiving of their national identity. It tells of the difficulty that most English people
have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the
British Isles".[29]

In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote,

When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago,

"England" was still an all-embracing word. It meant indiscriminately
England and Wales; Great Britain; the United Kingdom; and even the

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British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed
continue to do so. Bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed
to describe himself as "Prime Minister of England" [...] Now terms have
become more rigorous. The use of "England" except for a geographic area
brings protests, especially from the Scotch.[30]

However, although Taylor believed this blurring effect was dying out, in his book The
Isles (1999), Norman Davies lists numerous examples in history books of "British" still
being used to mean "English" and vice versa.[31]

In December 2010, Matthew Parris in The Spectator, analysing the use of "English" over
"British", argued that English identity, rather than growing, had existed all along but has
recently been unmasked from behind a veneer of Britishness.[32]

Historical and genetic origins

Near total population replacement of Neolithic farmers by Northern

Continental Indo-Europeans

Recent genetic studies have suggested that Britain's Neolithic population was largely
replaced by a population from North Continental Europe characterised by the Bell
Beaker culture around 1200 BC, associated with the Yamnaya people from the Pontic-
Caspian Steppe. This population lacked genetic affinity to other Bell Beaker populations,
such as the Iberian Bell Beakers, but appeared to be an offshoot of the Corded Ware
single grave people.[33][34] It is currently unknown whether these Beaker peoples went
on to develop Celtic languages in the British Isles, or whether later Celtic migrations
introduced Celtic languages to Britain.[35]

The close genetic affinity of these Beaker people to Continental North Europeans means
that British and Irish populations cluster genetically very closely with other Northwest
European populations, regardless of how much Anglo-Saxon and Viking ancestry was
introduced during the 1st millennium.[36][33]

Anglo Saxon settlement of Britain

There is a debate between historians, geneticists and others about how far historical
changes in the culture of the British Isles correspond to migrations of Germanic tribes,
and the size of these migrations. During this period the language and culture of most of
what became England changed from Romano-British to Germanic.[37] The Germanic
speakers in Britain, themselves of diverse origins, developed a common cultural identity
as Anglo-Saxons during the mid-fifth to early seventh centuries, after the end of Roman

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power in Britain around the year 410. The settlement was followed by the establishment
of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the south and east of Britain, later followed by the rest of
modern England.

The available evidence includes the scanty contemporary and near-contemporary

written record, and archaeological and genetic information.[a] The few literary sources
tell of hostility between incomers and natives. They describe violence, destruction,
massacre and the flight of the Romano-British population. Moreover, there is little clear
evidence for the influence of British Celtic or British Latin on the Old English language.
These factors have suggested a very large-scale invasion by various Germanic peoples.
In this view, held by the majority of historians until the mid to late 20th century, much
of what is now England was cleared of its prior inhabitants, and thus the genes of the
later English people would have been overwhelmingly inherited from Germanic
migrants.

However, another view, probably the most widely

held today, is that the migrants were fewer, possibly
centred on a warrior elite – which would suggest
that the incomers, having achieved a position of
political and social dominance, acculturated the
natives to their language and material culture, and
intermarried with them to a significant degree.
Archaeologists have found that settlement patterns
and land use show no clear break with the Romano-
British past, though there are marked changes in
place names and material culture. This view
predicts that the ancestry of the people of Anglo-
Saxon and modern England would be largely
derived from the native Romano-British. The
uncertain results of genetic studies have tended to
support both a predominant amount of native
British Celtic ancestry, as well as a significant
contribution from Anglo-Saxon migrations. The Incipit to Matthew from the
Book of Lindisfarne, an Insular
Even so, if these incomers established themselves as masterpiece
a social elite, this could have allowed them
enhanced reproductive success (the so-called
'Apartheid Theory'). In this case, the prevalent genes of later Anglo-Saxon England
could have been largely derived from moderate numbers of Germanic migrants.[39][40]
This theory, originating in a population genetics study, has proven controversial, and
has been criticised by a number of scholars.[41]

History of English people

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Early Middle Ages

The first people to be called 'English' were the Anglo-Saxons, a group of closely related
Germanic tribes that began migrating to eastern and southern Great Britain, from
southern Denmark and northern Germany, in the 5th century AD, after the Romans had
withdrawn from Britain. The Anglo-Saxons gave their name to England (Engla land,
meaning "Land of the Angles") and to the English.

The Anglo-Saxons arrived in a land that was already populated by people commonly
referred to as the 'Romano-British'—the descendants of the native Brythonic-speaking
population that lived in the area of Britain under Roman rule during the 1st–5th
centuries AD. The multi-ethnic nature of the Roman Empire meant that small numbers
of other peoples may have also been present in England before the Anglo-Saxons
arrived. There is archaeological evidence, for example, of an early North African
presence in a Roman garrison at Aballava, now Burgh-by-Sands, in Cumbria: a 4th-
century inscription says that the Roman military unit Numerus Maurorum
Aurelianorum ("unit of Aurelian Moors") from Mauretania (Morocco) was stationed
there.[42] Although the Roman Empire incorporated peoples from far and wide, genetic
studies suggest the Romans did not significantly mix into the British population.[43]

The exact nature of the arrival of the

Anglo-Saxons and their relationship
with the Romano-British is a matter of
debate. Traditionally, it was believed
that a mass invasion by various Anglo-
Saxon tribes largely displaced the
indigenous British population in
southern and eastern Great Britain
(modern-day England with the
exception of Cornwall). This was
supported by the writings of Gildas, the
only contemporary historical account of
the period, describing slaughter and
starvation of native Britons by invading
tribes (aduentus Saxonum).[44]
Furthermore, the English language
contains no more than a handful of
words borrowed from Brythonic
sources.[45]

However, this view has been re- Southern Great Britain in AD 600 after the Anglo-
evaluated by some archaeologists and Saxon settlement, showing England's division into
historians since the 1960s; and more multiple petty kingdoms.
recently rejected by genetic studies,[46]

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which show only minimal evidence for mass displacement. Archaeologist Francis Pryor
has stated that he "can't see any evidence for bona fide mass migrations after the
Neolithic."[47]

Historian Malcolm Todd writes, "It is much more likely that a large proportion of the
British population remained in place and was progressively dominated by a Germanic
aristocracy, in some cases marrying into it and leaving Celtic names in the, admittedly
very dubious, early lists of Anglo-Saxon dynasties. But how we identify the surviving
Britons in areas of predominantly Anglo-Saxon settlement, either archaeologically or
linguistically, is still one of the deepest problems of early English history."[48]

In a survey of the genes of British and Irish men, even those British regions that were
most genetically similar to (Germanic speaking) continental regions were still more
genetically British than continental: "When included in the PC analysis, the Frisians
were more 'Continental' than any of the British samples, although they were somewhat
closer to the British ones than the North German/Denmark sample. For example, the
part of mainland Britain that has the most Continental input is Central England, but
even here the AMH+1 frequency, not below 44% (Southwell), is higher than the 35%
observed in the Frisians. These results demonstrate that even with the choice of Frisians
as a source for the Anglo-Saxons, there is a clear indication of a continuing indigenous
component in the English paternal genetic makeup."[49]

In 2016, through the investigation of burials using ancient DNA techniques, researchers
found evidence of intermarriage in the earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement. By
studying rare mutations and employing whole genome sequencing, it was claimed that
the continental and insular origins of the ancient remains could be discriminated, and it
was calculated that 25–40% of the ancestry of the modern English is attributable to
continental 'Anglo-Saxon' origins.[50][51]

Vikings and the Danelaw

From about 800 AD waves of Danish Viking assaults on the coastlines of the British
Isles were gradually followed by a succession of Danish settlers in England. At first, the
Vikings were very much considered a separate people from the English. This separation
was enshrined when Alfred the Great signed the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum to
establish the Danelaw, a division of England between English and Danish rule, with the
Danes occupying northern and eastern England.[52]

However, Alfred's successors subsequently won military victories against the Danes,
incorporating much of the Danelaw into the nascent kingdom of England. Danish
invasions continued into the 11th century, and there were both English and Danish kings
in the period following the unification of England (for example, Æthelred II (978–1013
and 1014–1016) was English but Cnut (1016–1035) was Danish).

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Gradually, the Danes in England came to be seen as 'English'.

They had a noticeable impact on the English language: many
English words, such as anger, ball, egg, got, knife, take, and
they, are of Old Norse origin,[53] and place names that end in
-thwaite and -by are Scandinavian in origin.[54]

English unification

The English population was not politically unified until the

Æthelred II (Old
English: Æþelræd,
pronounced [æðelræːd];[n 1]
c. 966 – 23 April 1016),
known as 'the Unready',
was King of the English
from 978 to 1013 and
again from 1014 until his
death.
10th century. Before then, there were a number of petty
kingdoms which gradually coalesced into a heptarchy of seven
states, the most powerful of which were Mercia and Wessex.
The English nation state began to form when the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms united against Danish Viking invasions, which
began around 800 AD. Over the following century and a half
England was for the most part a politically unified entity, and
remained permanently so after 959.
The nation of England was formed in 937 by Æthelstan of
Wessex after the Battle of Brunanburh,[55][56] as Wessex grew
from a relatively small kingdom in the South West to become
the founder of the Kingdom of the English, incorporating all
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the Danelaw.[57]

Norman and Angevin rule

The Norman conquest of England during 1066

brought Anglo-Saxon and Danish rule of England to
an end, as the new French speaking Norman elite
almost universally replaced the Anglo-Saxon
aristocracy and church leaders. After the conquest,
"English" normally included all natives of England,
whether they were of Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian or
Celtic ancestry, to distinguish them from the
Norman invaders, who were regarded as "Norman" Battle of Hastings, 1066 (from the
even if born in England, for a generation or two Bayeux Tapestry)
after the Conquest.[58] The Norman dynasty ruled
England for 87 years until the death of King
Stephen in 1154, when the succession passed to Henry II, House of Plantagenet (based
in France), and England became part of the Angevin Empire until 1399.

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Various contemporary sources suggest that within 50 years of the invasion most of the
Normans outside the royal court had switched to English, with Anglo-Norman
remaining the prestige language of government and law largely out of social inertia. For
example, Orderic Vitalis, a historian born in 1075 and the son of a Norman knight, said
that he learned French only as a second language. Anglo-Norman continued to be used
by the Plantagenet kings until Edward I came to the throne.[59] Over time the English
language became more important even in the court, and the Normans were gradually
assimilated, until, by the 14th century, both rulers and subjects regarded themselves as
English and spoke the English language.[60]

Despite the assimilation of the Normans, the distinction between 'English' and 'French'
survived in official documents long after it had fallen out of common use, in particular
in the legal phrase Presentment of Englishry (a rule by which a hundred had to prove an
unidentified murdered body found on their soil to be that of an Englishman, rather than
a Norman, if they wanted to avoid a fine). This law was abolished in 1340.[61]

United Kingdom

Since the 18th century, England has

been one part of a wider political
entity covering all or part of the
British Isles, which today is called the St George's Cross St Andrew's Cross
(England) (Scotland)
United Kingdom. Wales was annexed
by England by the Laws in Wales
Acts 1535–1542, which incorporated
Wales into the English state.[62] A
new British identity was Great Britain St Patrick's Cross
subsequently developed when James (Ireland)
VI of Scotland became James I of
England as well, and expressed the
desire to be known as the monarch of
Britain.[63] United Kingdom

In 1707, England formed a union with Scotland by passing an Act of Union in March
1707 that ratified the Treaty of Union. The Parliament of Scotland had previously passed
its own Act of Union, so the Kingdom of Great Britain was born on 1 May 1707. In 1801,
another Act of Union formed a union between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the
Kingdom of Ireland, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922,
about two-thirds of the Irish population (those who lived in 26 of the 32 counties of
Ireland), left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State. The remainder became
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, although this name was not
introduced until 1927, after some years in which the term "United Kingdom" had been
little used.

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Throughout the history of the UK, the English have been dominant in population and in
political weight. As a consequence, notions of 'Englishness' and 'Britishness' are often
very similar. At the same time, after the Union of 1707, the English, along with the other
peoples of the British Isles, have been encouraged to think of themselves as British
rather than to identify themselves with the constituent nations.[64]

Immigration and assimilation

England has been the destination of varied numbers of migrants at different periods
from the 17th century onwards. While some members of these groups seek to practise a
form of pluralism, attempting to maintain a separate ethnic identity, others have
assimilated and intermarried with the English. Since Oliver Cromwell's resettlement of
the Jews in 1656, there have been waves of Jewish immigration from Russia in the 19th
century and from Germany in the 20th.[65]

After the French king Louis XIV declared Protestantism illegal in 1685 in the Edict of
Fontainebleau, an estimated 50,000 Protestant Huguenots fled to England.[66] Due to
sustained and sometimes mass emigration of the Irish, current estimates indicate that
around 6 million people in the UK have at least one grandparent born in the Republic of
Ireland.[67]

There has been a black presence in England since the 16th century due to the slave
trade,[68] and an Indian presence since at least the 17th century because of the East
India Company[69] and British Raj.[68] Black and Asian populations have grown
throughout the UK generally, as immigration from the British Empire and the
subsequent Commonwealth of Nations was encouraged due to labour shortages during
post-war rebuilding.[70] However, these groups are often still considered to be ethnic
minorities and research has shown that black and Asian people in the UK are more
likely to identify as British rather than with one of the state's four constituent nations,
including England.[71]

Current national and political identity

The 1990s witnessed a resurgence of English national identity.[72] Survey data shows a
rise in the number of people in England describing their national identity as English and
a fall in the number describing themselves as British.[73] Today, black and minority
ethnic people of England still generally identify as British rather than English to a
greater extent than their white counterparts;[74] however, groups such as the Campaign
for an English Parliament (CEP) suggest the emergence of a broader civic and multi-
ethnic English nationhood.[75] Scholars and journalists have noted a rise in English self-
consciousness, with increased use of the English flag, particularly at football matches
where the Union flag was previously more commonly flown by fans.[76][77]

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