The Roman army left Britain in AD 410 to defend other parts of the Roman Empire and never returned. Britain was again invaded by tribes from Northern Europe: the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons. The language they spoke are the basis of modern-day English. Battles were fought against these invaders but, by about AD 600, Anglo-Saxon Kingdom were established in Britain. These Kingdoms were mainly in what is now England. The burial place of one of the Kings was at Sutton Hoo in modern Suffolk. This King was buried with treasure and armour, all placed in a ship which was then covered by a mound of earth. Parts of the West of Britain, including much of what is now Wales, and Scotland, remained free of Anglo-Saxon rule.
The Anglo-Saxons were not Christian when they first came to Britain but,during this period, missionaries came to Britain to preach about Christianity. Missionaries from Ireland spread the religion in the north. The most famous of these were St Patrick, who would become the patron of Ireland (see pages 91-2 for more about patron saints), and St Colunba, who founded a monastery on the island of Iona, off the coast of what is now Scotland. St Augustine led missionaries from Rome, who spread Christianity in the south. St Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury (see page 91 for more about the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church in Britain today).