Hi! I have four questions that I was hoping members of the forum could help me with.
1) I was reading an online sheet of statistics and it said that Britain had a population of half a million. Now I can't find the sheet, and I can't remember the exact date it mentioned, but I know it was in the early 500s and I think it was in the 530s. So did Britain have a population figure at that level during this time?
2) what portion of that population would be where on the Island and would the figure include Ireland?
3) If that figure is incorrect what was the population of the Islands, and what percentage would be in modern day England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland?
4) I have read that the traditional view of the Anglo-Saxon conquest is incorrect and that A. There was already some Germanic groups in Britain and that the invaders came over initial to support and at the invite of their distant Germanic speaking cousins. B. It was a gradual process that took multiple centuries and left many populations of natives intact who nearly changed language and custom to match the new groups coming in. While scattering other groups who didn't assimilate. Is this true?
Answers to these questions, and insights to the political, economic, demographic, and social environment of the time period would be most welcome.