ANGLO-SAXON

term loosely applied to Teutonic tribes who conquered Britain (V.-VI. cent.); also to their language and lit. as opposed to those of their kinsmen on Continent. Phi lolog is and literary historians prefer term Ol English. See ENGLAND: History, Literature. name given to a series of six manuscripts, written at various times and in different places, of the first importance as authorities for early Eng. history. They are believed to have been commenced during the IX. cent., were reduced to something like chronological form during the reign of Alfred, and end about 1154. Some of the MSS. contain poems, including the narrative of the famous battle of Brunanburh (937).