Who were the rulers/inhabitants of UK/England prior to 900 AD?

Answer 1

After the Romans left - the last Roman ship left these shores about AD 410 - British history is somewhat misty. Here is something interesting on the very early rulers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_Regum_Britanniae

There was then an awkward power-vacuum. Total chaos prevailed, and various petty chieftains squabbled among themselves for tiny kingdoms. About forty years later one of these rulers, Vortigern, was so desperate to beat off some northern tribesmen who were troubling him that imported allies from the continent to help. This was the beginning, for not only did they come but they stayed - boatload after boatload of eager immigrants: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Franks. The Anglo-Saxon invasion had begun.

The native Britons, or Celts, were pushed further and further into the fringes of the British Isles, into Cornwall, Wales, Scotland. Meanwhile there was a frantic free-for-all as the marauding Saxons seized whatever bits of land they could. Naturally there was opposition from the Celts, and {it is possible} King Arthur was one of those who led them in trying to beat off the advancing Saxons. However, nothing could stop them arriving and settling.

After a century or so, in about AD 550, there were probably as many as a thousand little Saxon "kingdoms", some only a few square miles in area. Gradually, these tiny settlements grouped into larger units and eventually, in the sixth century, seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms emerged. Then, in AD 825, these seven kingdoms at last became united under the dominant King Egbert of Wessex, who is therefore regarded as the first king of a more or less united England.

Seven Saxon kingdoms:

Kent - considered the first. First Kentish kings were the brothers Hengist and Horsa. Horsa was killed, but Hengist ruled Kent from about AD 455-488. Thereafter, a line of seventeen Kentish kings ruled here until it acknowledged King Egbert in AD 825.

East Anglia - had a series of sixteen kings, called "Wuffings", after their first king, Wuffa. The last king here was St Edmund, after whom the city of Bury St Edmunds is named.

Essex - had a line of fifteen kings before acknowledging Egbert.

Sussex - had a line of nine kings. The records are incomplete.

Mercia - the line of kings is also incomplete, but fifteen kings are recorded before Egbert. One of these kings was Offa, who constructed a 120-mile long earthwork to protect his kingdom from the Welsh.

Northumbria - had a line of twenty-five kings until its King Eanred did homage to Egbert.

Wessex - had its own line of nineteen kings, the last of whom was Egbert himself, who can therefore be seen as the nineteenth king of Wessex as well as the first king of England. Not much is known about these kings, but some of them were great men, who ruled valiantly in difficult times:

Cerdic (first king of Wessex) - 519-534
Cynric (his son) - 534-560
Ceawlin (his son) - 560-591
Ceol - 591-597
Ceolwulf (his brothr) - 597-611
Cynegils - 611-643
Cenwalh (his son) - 643-672
Seaxburgh (his wife) - c 672-674
Cenfus (grandson of Ceolwulf) - 674
Aescwine (his son) - 674-676
Centwine (brother of Cenwalh) - 676-685
Cadwalla (desc from Ceawlin) - 685-688
Ine - 688 - 726
Ethelheard - 726-740
Cuthred - 740-756
Sigeberht - 756-757
Cynewulf - 757-786
Beohrtric - 786-802
Egbert - 802-839

Including these early Wessex rulers, then, the line of succession of English monarchs stretches from Cerdic to the House of Windsor.

Including Egbert, there were seventeen Saxon kings of England before William the Conqueror. After fifteen of these, the line was temporarily broken by four Danish kings. Then the Saxon kings were restored. Strictly speaking, these Saxon kings do not constitute a "dynasy" as they did not always follow as a hereditary blood-relationship. So, on to AD 900:

Ethelwulf (Egbert's son) -839-858
Ethelbald (his son) - 858-860
Ethelbert (his brother) - 860-865
Ethelred I (his brother) - 866-871
Alfred the Great (871-899)
Edward the Elder (899-924)

My apologies to Scotland and Wales - it is such a huge topic that I have restricted myself to "England". Here are links to histories of the former:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wales
(These are not disputed.)

Answer 2

There were no real rulers of England until 900 ad, unless you count King Arthur. In the Dark Ages(about 200ad-500ad) England was ruled by a Clan system, where every noble was a king. King Vortigen(an actual person) tried to change that. He wanted to become High King over all England, leaving the local enforcement of his rules to the local kings. It might have worked, except Vortigen's wife was a Saxon and he had to let the Saxons into England and to give them land, displace some of the Celts who had been living on that land for years(kinda like what happened to the American Indians). Giving his faithful vassels land to intruding, maurding Saxons cost him his life.

Answer 3

There were several groups, mostly Angles and Saxons, with a smattering of Norse and Danes. The general area these people came from is Northern Germany, Denmark, Norway/Sweden area, and their languages were all very similar. Things were different then, way different.

Of course there were still Celts, in Cornwall, and different groups ruled their respective areas, but by 900 the place was mostly Anglo-Saxon.

Answer 4

Well..............
Around 480 "we", (King Vortigern) invited the Saxons Hengist and Horsa over to try to sort out a few problems, having killed one of them in a dispute at Aylresford in Kent we realised we had landed ourselves in a whole heap of trouble. So we had the Saxons, Angles, (hence English) Jutes, and some Danes on our backs over the next 2 to 3 hundred years, then the Vikings started coming. The period you are asking about is mainly Saxon, with a few punch-ups with the Danes thrown in. Oh and by the way, the Normans were of Viking (Norsemen - Norman) descent so even in 1066 it was the vikings who were invading.

Answer 5

After the withdrawal by the Romans, there was a constant fight between teh native Britons and the Saxons. The Saxons ultimately took over, and had to fight the Danes!

Answer 6

Celts, Angles, Jutes, Vikings, Picts, Britons, Saxons for awhile there some part of the island got overrun almost every other year.

Answer 7

Who ever put the french, the norman invasion didnt happen till 1066.

Answer 8

The Saxons I do believe.

Answer 9

the french