Who were the anglo-saxons?

Germanic tribes from Angeln and Saxony and Jutes (modern Danish-Jutland) brought the Anglo-Saxon language - (see Beowulf and the AS Chronicle) a sort of broad German-based language - they took advantage of the departure of the Romans to invade England where Latin ( and Welsh - the language of the Ancient Britons) was spoken. Much of Germanic language is Latin as they were also colonized by the Romans. As becomes the indigenous tongue by the time the Normans invade - so we end up with Franco-Norman language for the rulign elite and AS for the peasantry - thus sheep is the anlgo saxon word, but mutton is the Norman word - reflecting how the different cles viewed the same thing - ie as farmers or consumers.