<P> A re-evaluation of the traditional picture of decay and dissolution Post-Roman Britain has occurred, with sub-Roman Britain being thought rather more a part of the Late Antique world of western Europe than was customary a half century ago . As part of this re-evaluation some suggest that sub-Roman Britain, in its entirety, retained a significant political, economic and military momentum across the fifth century and even the bulk of the sixth . This in large part stems from attempts to develop visions of British success against the incoming Anglo - Saxons, as suggested by the Chronicles which were written in the ninth and mid-tenth century . However, recent scholarship has contested the extent to which either can be credited with any level of historicity regarding the decades around AD 500 . </P> <P> The representation of long - lasting British triumphs against the Saxons appears in large parts of the Chronicles, but stem ultimately from Gildas's brief and frustratingly elusive reference to a British victory at Mons Badonicus--Mount Badon (see historical evidence above). Nick Higham suggests, that the war between Britons and Saxons seems to have ended in some sort of compromise, which conceded a very considerable sphere of influence within Britain to the incomers . According to Higham; </P> <Dl> <Dd> The most developed vision of a' big' sub-Roman Britain, with control over its own political and military destiny for well over a century, is that of Kenneth Dark, who has argued that Britain should not be divided during the fifth, and even the bulk of the sixth, century into' British' and' Anglo - Saxon' cultural and / or political provinces, but should be thought of as a generally' British' whole . His thesis, in brief, is to postulate not just survival but continuing cultural, political and military power for the sub-Roman elite, both in the far west (where this view is comparatively uncontroversial) but also in the east, where it has to be imagined alongside incoming settlements . He postulates the sub-Roman community to have been the dominant force in insular affairs right up to c. 570 . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> The most developed vision of a' big' sub-Roman Britain, with control over its own political and military destiny for well over a century, is that of Kenneth Dark, who has argued that Britain should not be divided during the fifth, and even the bulk of the sixth, century into' British' and' Anglo - Saxon' cultural and / or political provinces, but should be thought of as a generally' British' whole . His thesis, in brief, is to postulate not just survival but continuing cultural, political and military power for the sub-Roman elite, both in the far west (where this view is comparatively uncontroversial) but also in the east, where it has to be imagined alongside incoming settlements . He postulates the sub-Roman community to have been the dominant force in insular affairs right up to c. 570 . </Dd>

Who were the saxons and why did they invade england