angli

Angli, also Angles, were a Germanic-speaking people whose traditional homeland lay along the Anglia peninsula on the Baltic coast, in what is now the Angeln region of Schleswig-Holstein and nearby areas. In the 5th century, following the Roman withdrawal, groups identified as Angli, together with the Saxons and Jutes, migrated to Britain and established settlements there. In England, the Angli formed the eastern wing of the early Anglo-Saxon settlement and founded several kingdoms, most notably East Anglia, located in what is now Norfolk and Suffolk (with parts of Cambridgeshire). Anglian communities also shaped other early realms, such as Northumbria and Mercia, contributing to the formation of the English nation.

The Angli spoke Old English dialects, and the Anglian branch in particular influenced the development of Old English across eastern England. The ethnonym Angli is the source of England’s name: Englaland, the “land of the Angles.” By the 7th century, many Angli were Christianized and integrated with neighboring peoples, helping to form a unified medieval English culture.

In modern scholarship, Angli are studied as a central element of the Anglo-Saxon migration to Britain and the ethnogenesis of the English people. Their legacy remains in place names and linguistic features of the English language, especially in eastern England where Anglian influence was strongest.