<P> The writing of Patrick and Gildas (see below) demonstrates the survival in Britain of Latin literacy and Roman education, learning and law within elite society and Christianity, throughout the bulk of the 5th and 6th centuries . There are also signs in Gildas' works that the economy was thriving without Roman taxation, as he complains of luxuria and self - indulgence . This is the 5th century Britain into which the Anglo - Saxons appear . </P> <P> Surveying the historical sources for signs of the Anglo - Saxon settlement, and the people, assumes that the words Angles, Saxons or Anglo - Saxon have the same meaning in all the sources . Assigning ethnic labels such as "Anglo - Saxon" is fraught with difficulties and the term itself only began to be used in the 8th century to distinguish "Germanic" groups in Britain from those on the continent (Old Saxony in present - day Northern Germany). </P> <P> The Chronica Gallica of 452 records for the year 441: "The British provinces, which to this time had suffered various defeats and misfortunes, are reduced to Saxon rule ." The Chronicle was written some distance from Britain . There is uncertainty about precise dates for fifth - century events especially before 446 . This, however, does not undermine the position of the Gallic Chronicles as a very important contemporary source, which suggests that Bede's later date for' the arrival of the Saxons' was mistaken . In the Chronicle, Britain is grouped with four other Roman territories which came under' Germanic' dominion around the same time, the list being intended as an explanation of the end of the Roman empire in the west . The four share a similar history, as they were all given into the "power of the barbarians" by Roman authority: three were deliberately settled with German federates and though the Vandals took Africa by force their dominion was confirmed by treaty . </P> <P> Procopius states that Britain was settled by three races: the Angiloi, Frisones, and Britons, each ruled by its own king . Each race was so prolific that it sent large numbers of individuals every year to the Franks, who planted them in unpopulated regions of its territory . Writing in the mid-sixth century, he also states that after the overthrow of Constantine III in 411, "the Romans never succeeded in recovering Britain, but it remained from that time under tyrants ." </P>

When did the anglo saxons arrive in britain