Much of the information about the Jutes in England comes from
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (731), a book by
the English historian Bede. Archaeological findings have shown
that the Jutes had much in common with both the Saxons in Britain
and the ancient Franks, a people of what are now Belgium, western
Germany, and the Netherlands. Some historians say the Jutes came
from the area of Denmark known today as Jutland.
The Angles came either from Angeln, a district in what is
now Schleswig-Holstein, or from Denmark. They were just entering
the agricultural stage of civilisation when they arrived in Britain.
The Angles occupied the central part of southern Britain and
the northern and eastern coasts. They founded the embryonic kingdoms
of Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. These territories were
called Engla land, or Angle land, from which the name England
came.
The ancient geographer Ptolemy first mentioned the Saxons
in a book he wrote during the AD 100's. According to Ptolemy,
the Saxons lived in what is now the state of Schleswig-Holstein
in Germany. They were a warlike people who invaded Roman territory
in the second half of the 4th century, during the reigns of the
emperors Julian and Valentinian. By the close of the 6th century
all northwest Germany as far east as the Elbe River had become
Saxon territory.