The Origins of the Anglo-Saxons: Decoding the Ancestry of the English

This ground-breaking history of the Anglo-Saxons draws on new genetic data to overturn prior assumptions about their ancestry. 

What do we really know of English ancestry? Combining results from cutting-edge DNA technology with new research from archaeology and linguistics, The Origins of the Anglo-Saxons reveals the adventurous journey undertaken by some of our ancestors long before a word of English was spoken.

Starting with the deeper origins of the Germani and how they fit into the greater family of Indo-European speakers and ending with the language of Shakespeare, taken to the first British colony in America―with thoughts about how English became the lingua franca of the world―this chronicle takes a wider scope than previous histories.

Jean Manco makes the latest genetic data―so far published only in scholarly papers―engaging and accessible to the general reader, data that have overturned the suppositions of population continuity that until recently were popular among geneticists and archaeologists. The result is an exciting new history of the English people, and an entertaining analysis of their development. Featuring illustrations and charts to explain the recent research, this is a must-have for anyone who is interested in the history of English ancestry and language.

100 illustrations

Jean Manco was a building historian who trained within an archaeological unit and applied an interdisciplinary approach to her work. Her other books include Ancestral Journeys and The Origins of the Anglo-Saxons.