<P> Kenneth Dark's argument for continuing British military and political power in the east rests on the very uneven distribution of Anglo - Saxon cemeteries and the proposition that large gaps in that distribution necessarily represent strong British polities which excluded Anglo - Saxon settlers by force . Cremation cemeteries in eastern Britain north of the Thames begin during the second quarter of the fifth century, backed up by new archaeological phases before 450 (see Archaeological evidence above). The chronology of this "adventus" of cremations is supported by the Gallic Chronicle of 452, which states that wide parts of Britain fell under Saxon rule in 441 . However, this did not result in many Brittonic words entering Old English . It seems therefore that no large - scale interaction occurred between incoming "Germanic" communities and numerous indigenous Brittonic speakers of equivalent social rank . If such interaction had been widespread, then we might have expected far greater language borrowing both in terms of structure and vocabulary (see linguistic evidence above). </P> <P> The most extreme estimation for the size of the Anglo - Saxon settlement suggests that some 80% of the resident population of Britain were not Anglo - Saxon . Given that, explanation has been sought to account for the change in culture of the Britons to one where by the 8th Century the majority of people in southern Britain saw themselves as heirs to the Anglo - Saxon culture . Whilst the developments were rather complicated, there are two competing theories . </P> <P> One theory, first set out by Edward Augustus Freeman, suggests that the Anglo Saxons and the Britons were competing cultures, and that through invasion, extermination, slavery, and forced resettlement the Anglo - Saxons defeated the Britons and consequently their culture and language prevailed . This view has influenced much of the linguistic, scholarly and popular perceptions of the process of anglicisation in Britain . It remains the starting point and' default position', to which other hypotheses are compared in modern reviews of the evidence . Widespread extermination and displacement of the native peoples of Britain is still considered a viable possibility by certain scholars . Our best contemporary source, Gildas, certainly suggests that just such a change of populations did take place . However, Freeman's ideas did not go unchallenged, even as they were being propounded . In particular, the essayist Grant Allen believed in a strong Celtic contribution to Englishness . </P> <P> Another theory has challenged this view and started to examine evidence that the majority of Anglo Saxons were Brittonic in origin . The major evidence comes firstly from the figures, taking a fairly high Anglo - Saxon figure (200,000) and a low Brittonic one (800,000), Britons are likely to have outnumbered Anglo - Saxons by at least four to one . The interpretation of such figures is that while "culturally, the later Anglo - Saxons and English did emerge as remarkably un-British,...their genetic, biological make - up is none the less likely to have been substantially, indeed predominantly, British". </P>

When was england invaded by the anglo saxons