AHC Slavic Britain

During the migration period, have Slavic peoples play a similar role to Anglo Saxons in Britain, or at the very least have them leave lasting Slavic imprints on English
 
During the migration period, have Slavic peoples play a similar role to Anglo Saxons in Britain, or at the very least have them leave lasting Slavic imprints on English
Historically, the advance of Slavic peoples in Central Europe is essentially due to the partial desertion of these same lands from the IInd century onwards up to the Vth by whole groups of peoples that more or less slowly gathered at the Roman border, forming new set of peoples with natives (Goths, for exemple). regions that weren't particularilly strongly inhabited either.
In these peripheral regions, there wasn't much demigraphical rivality or polities strong enough to either repel them or acculturate these.

But, for reaching Britain's shores, Slavic people would have to move very quickly to North Sea, which gives some obstacles.
The first being that Slavic migrations generally followed a familial pattern, rather than whole peoples as most Barbarians in the Vth (which beneficied from a large integration within Roman institutions already, and the fact they were litterally at borders and on both sides), which provoked a relatively slow advance. It changed a bit due to the Avar hegemony over several Slavic peoples, gathering them around it as chiefdoms, but it wasn't really doable before Slavs really managed to differenciate themselves and before Germans and Sarmatic Barbarians got off the way.
And even arguing of a super-complex chiefdom as Avars or Bulgars, as much Pannonian Plain and Lower Danube are fit these large ensemble...Germanic Forest and Alps are rather more problematic, so best leaving this precise idea.

Then, Slavs would have to deal, if they can't advance quickly, with the post-imperial Roman world, and its successor in western Romania, Franks. By the time Slavs showed up on their doorstep, Franks were quite powerful and tried their best to raid and enslave them (which is why we call slaves....slaves and not a derivative of servi).
Note that I could see, without real problems, Slavic peoples from the Avar sphere of influence leaving it and forming sort of a foedi inside Francia or at its periphery. It did happened IOTL in Italy. But I don't expect a full-fledged migration.
You could argue that Slavs could try to pull what they did in Balkans, having a PoD forcing a weakened Francia in the region (which shouldn't be about Francia divided stuff, because this tended to reinforce the military capacity) : it's not that plausible for several reasons but not impossible either. At this point, tough, one is kinda forced to wonder why Slavs would go beyond the Channel. It's poorer and more of a mess.

And then, ignoring or having succeeded dealing with what is briefly mentioned above, is how Slavs behave when in Britain.
In the Vth century, the general desintegration of power led Germanic communities to follow a familial migration pattern.
In the VIth or VIIth, however, Polities are much more well definied, with set identities and with a complex enough organisations : the process of migration/acculturation of Germans (from Germany and Scandinavia) into petty kingdoms wasn't really doable anymore and would have required a more military approach, like Danes and Norses did in the VIIIth to XIth century. Which isn't really what was about Slavic migrations : again, I could see these as groups settling, but not forming enough of communities or political centers to be really this relevant culturally.
 
Slavic Denmark is IMO the obvious prerequisite here
Danemark is a bit the oddity in Scandinavia : it began a process of unification of its petty-kingdoms quite early and by the VIIth, may have been knowing sort of complex-chiefdom process (meaning the establishment of a more or less unified kingship). It was more or less ended in the VIIIth (maybe because of Carolingian's business in Frisia and Low Germany) but it still represented a structurated ensemble.
We're not really talking of deserted and unorganized regions as in Balkans or Central Europe : it doesn't mean it's not possible, but it's not obvious that you wouldn't just end up with a bigger Pomerania up to the mouth of the Elbe and with, maybe, bit of Jutland. To be honest, if you manage to get Balto-Slavs on central Baltic Sea by the Vth, you'd have a far better chances as this region was less importantly inhabited and undergoing an important destabilisatizing period. The trick being how to get coherent enough Balto-Slavs (not yet entierly differenciated) undergoing a strong enough westwards migration and still having them getting differentiated enough).
 
With an earlier PoD, could it be achieved?
Anything too early as a PoD (such as preventing Germanisation of Central Europe while hastening differentiation of Balto-Slavs and still getting recognizable enough Slavs out of it) would involve a butterfly genocide to still make it work. Any PoD that would eventually be about Romania being so desintegrated that nobody would oppose a long-range migration to Britain more or less end up with Slavs arguing about why getting to Britain if they can get all the rest.

Now you could get some bastard solution : having peoples like Antes (mix of Sarmatians and Balto-Slavs) but with Germanic groups in Pomerania and Lower Elbe (let's say that Byzzies manages to pull it off in the Balkans, forcing a northwards roads : I don"t think that's particularly plausible, but work with me there). Managing to integrate within the general ensemble (a bit like Belgae did in Gaul) and while they would be more or less importantly Germanized, you could end up with a Germano-Slavic "thalassocracy" or rather a Germano-Slavo-Frisian thalassocracy ending with at least coherent communities in Britain and maybe, some deeper establishments (Jorvik-equivalent in the right conditions).
A weakened Francia in the VIIth would prevent the takeover that happened IOTL in the VIIIth/IXth centuries. Probably more delayed than negated, but that's enough for allowing frequent sailing between Elbe and Northern Britain.

I agree : it's not really that plausible (in no small part because the impetus for this kind of migration is unlikely and because it requires 3 or 4 different PoDs), but it's not impossible.
 
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