English people

This article is about the English as an ethnic group. For information on the population of England, see demographics of England.

The English are an ethnic group associated with England and the English language. The majority of the ethnic English currently live in England, the largest division or constituent country of the United Kingdom.Definition of England from thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 14 July 2006.England Country Guide - Overview from World Travel Guide. Retrieved 14 July 2006.

History

The English as an ethnic group can trace their heritage back to several groups including: indigenous Ancient Britons; Anglo-Saxons, descended from peoples who settled south and eastern Great Britain between the 5th and 7th centuries (Teutonic tribes thought to be involved in this settlement include the Angles, the Jutes, the Saxons and the Frisians); and Danish-Vikings who formed the Danelaw during the time of Alfred the Great.The Adventure of English, Melvyn Bragg, 2003. Pg 21 The name of the area known as England derives from the Angles.

At one time it was widely believed that the Anglo-Saxons supplanted the native Romano-British populations. Genetic studies have shed some light on the matter and indicate that there was certainly no complete replacement or displacement of the Romano-British population, the studies indicate that the English are rather descended from the mixing of indigenous Ancient Britons, Anglo-Saxon and Danish-Viking people, the relative contribution of the Anglo-Saxons may be smaller than originally believed, though there has been no definitive study as yet. A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005. Some archaeologists also see only limited evidence of immigration in the record, Francis Pryor writes I also can't see any evidence for bona fide mass migrations after the Neolithic. Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans by Francis Pryor, p. 122. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-00-712693-x. Recent studies suggest that the Anglo-Saxons may have established political and cultural dominance over the Romano-British natives and intermarried with them.

Y chromosome analysis of people from Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Friesland and the Basque Country has revealed that some areas of England have a higher Germanic (Danish/North German/Frisian) component in the male line of descent than others. Germanic Y chromosomes are at their highest concentrations in York and Norfolk, here the Germanic male sex chromosome occurs in about 60% of men, with indigenous Y chromosomes comprising about 40%. The research cannot distinguish between Danish (the presumed source of Danish-Viking settlers to East and Northern England), North German (Schleswig-Holstein, modern era) and Frisian (Anglo-Saxon) Y chromosomes. The study concludes these data are consistent with the presence of some indigenous component in all British regions. It should be noted that the work cannot make reference to the extent of settlement by Anglo-Saxon/Danish-Viking women. It is therefore the case that even in places like York, the total genetic contribution of these peoples may represent less than 60% of the whole if fewer women than men migrated, conversely the total contribution to the gene pool by these peoples would be greater than 60% if there were more women settlers than men.

A further settlement of Danes under Guthrum occurred in 878 in northern and eastern England, forming the Danelaw.The Age of Athelstan by Paul Hill (2004), Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2566-8

Some people concentrated in several English counties, generally further from the south and west, notably the Cornish and the Cumbrians claim to have a noticeably less diluted connection to the pre-Anglo-Saxon ancient Britons; As a result of this, some people from Cornwall claim not to be English but Cornish.

The influence on the English language by Danes, particularly in the former Danelaw, is most pronounced in places like York, formerly the settlement of Jorvik (though Jorvik is ultimatelly derived from the Brythonic name Eborakon and was a settlement long before the Danes).COLONIA (AVRELIA?) EBORACENSIVM / EBVRACVM: roman-britain.org website. Retrieved 10 July 2006. These groups had a noticeable impact on the English language, for example the modern meaning of the word dream is of Old Norse origin.Online Etymology Dictionary by Douglas Harper (2001), List of sources used. Retrieved 10 July 2006. Additionally place names that include thwaite and by are Scandinavian in origin.The Adventure of English, Melvyn Bragg, 2003. Pg 22

The Anglo-Saxons established several kingdoms, commonly referred to as the Heptarchy. These were united in the early 9th century under the overlordship of Wessex, forming what would eventually become the modern nation of England.

These kingdoms were then subjected to a series of raids, conquest and settlement by Vikings originating from Denmark from the 9th century onwards. The Treaty of Wedmore gave the Danes dominion over territory north and east of a line between London and Chester called the Danelaw and represented the beginning of a period of acceptance and assimilation of the Danes.

Most notably, this period saw the rise of Alfred the Great, the only king in English history to receive 'the great' appended to his name. Alfred was king of the region of Wessex which effectively held off the Danish conquest of what would later become England. Wessex grew from a relatively small kingdom in the South West to the complete annexing of all remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms not in the Danelaw.

The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought English and Danish rule to an end, and began a diminished period, both culturally and socially, for the native inhabitants. The new Norman elite almost universally replaced the English aristocracy and church leaders. The English existed as a subject class for about 300 years with the aristocracy speaking French until a full assimilation was made by the time of Chaucer, in the late 1300s. By this time a large number of French words had been added to the English language. The impact of the Normans on English government, law and culture was out of all proportion to the small number who settled there. A. L. Rowse, The Story of Britain, Artus 1979 ISBN 0-297-83311-1

During Britain's centuries as a major colonial power, people migrated from all over Britain's sphere of influence to England, leaving a small, but noticeable mark on English culture. Also, and sporadically for much of its history as a recognisable political entity England has had a significant Jewish population.

Culture

Contribution to humanity

The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals have included the scientists and inventors Isaac Newton, Francis Crick, Abraham Darby, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin and Frank Whittle; the poet and playwright William Shakespeare, the novelists Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Orwell, the composers Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst, and the explorer James Cook (for a complete list of famous English people see List of English people). English philosophers include Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Michael Oakeshott and Roger Scruton.

Thanks to the legacy of the British Empire, the English language is now the world's unofficial lingua franca, while English common law is also the foundation of legal systems throughout the English-speaking countries of the world.

Language

English people traditionally speak the English language, a member of the West Germanic language family. The other language traditionally spoken is Cornish, a Celtic language originating in Cornwall spoken by about 3500 people. In addition to these languages, Welsh is still spoken by a few people in the area adjacent to the border with Wales.

Religion

Ever since the break with the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, the English have been predominantly a Protestant people. Perhaps the moment when the Protestant identity of England began to be questioned most radicallly was during the Ritualist controversies of the nineteenth century. Today, most English people practising organized religion are affiliated to the Church of England or other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism and Methodism. At the 2001 Census, a little over 37 million people in England & Wales professed themselves to be Christian however some would argue that in practice the English are generally secular today.

Jewish immigration since the seventeenth century means that there is a relatively ethnically and culturally assimilated Jewish English minority mostly in urban areas. 252,000 Jews were recorded in England & Wales in the 2001 Census; however this represents a decline of about 50% over the previous 50 years, caused by emigration and intermarriage, and the long-term future of the community is a matter of some concern to community leaders.

The gradual assimilation of migrants from India and Pakistan since the 1950s means that there is a growing groups of people who are culturally English and practise Islam (818,000), Hinduism (467,000), or Sikhism (301,000).

The 2001 census also revealed that 7,171,332 (15%) of the population of England claim no religion.

Sports

There are many sports invented by the English, which then spread worldwide predominantly via trading partners and the British Empire.

Football

Cricket

Croquet

Badminton

Rugby

Table Tennis

Lawn tennis

England, like the other nations of the United Kingdom, competes as a separate nation in many international sporting events. The English Football, Cricket and Rugby teams have contributed to an increasing sense of English identity. Supporters today (2006) are more likely to carry the St George's Cross whereas twenty years ago the British Union Jack would have been the more prominent.

Symbols

The English flag is a red cross on a white background, commonly called the St George's Cross adopted after the crusades. Saint George, famed as a dragon-slayer, is also the patron saint of England. The three golden lions or leopards on a red background was the banner of the kings of England derived from their status as Duke of Normandy and is now used to represent the English national football team and the English national cricket team. The Tudor rose and the English oak are also English symbols. "God Save The Queen" is widely regarded as England's unofficial national anthem; however, other songs are sometimes used, including "Land of Hope and Glory" (used as England's anthem in the Commonwealth Games), "Jerusalem", "Rule, Britannia", and "I Vow to Thee, My Country."

Identity

Wales was annexed by England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, which incorporated Wales into the English state. In 1707 England formed a union with Scotland by the passage of the Acts of Union 1707 in both the Scottish and English parliaments, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. This was replaced again by the Act of Union 1800 which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, although most of Ireland broke away from the union in 1922 to form the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Liberation of Ireland: Ireland on the Net Website. Retrieved 23 June 2006. A new British identity began and was subsequently developed when James I expressed the desire to be known as the monarch of Britain (he was James I of England and James VI of Scotland).A History of Britain: The British Wars 1603-1776 by Simon Schama, BBC Worldwide. ISBN 0-563-53747-7. The English, along with the other peoples of the Britain found their old identities undermined in favour of a new British identity.The English, Jeremy Paxman 1998

The late 1990s saw the beginning of a gradual renaissance of English national identity, spurred by devolution in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and London. Some English people now question what it is to be English and its relationship with being British, and are calling for the creation of a devolved English Parliament, claiming that there is now a discriminative democratic deficit against the English people.An English Parliament...: Campaign for an English Parliament Website. Retrieved 26 June 2006.

References

External links

BBC Nations Articles on England and the English
The British Isles Information on England
Mercator's Atlas Map of England ("Anglia") circa 1564.
Viking blood still flowing; BBC; 3 December, 2001.
UK 2001 Census showing 49,138,831 people from all ethnic groups living in England.
Tory MP leads English protest over census; The Telegraph; 23 April 2001.
On St. George's Day, What's Become Of England?; CNSNews.com; 23 April, 2001.
Watching the English — an anthropologist's look at the hidden rules of English behaviour.
The True-Born Englishman, by Daniel Defoe.
The Effect of 1066 on the English Language Geoff Boxell
Can we talk about what it means to be English ? The English Democrats Party
BBC "English and Welsh are races apart"
Y Chromosome Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Mass Migration

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