Did the Anglo Saxons mix with the britons and other Celtic tribes?

Answer 1

The Adventus Saxonum is recorded in the Anglo saxon Chronicles and the record states that far from mixing with the Romanized Brythonic stock, they followed the custom of the Germanic raiders of that time by pushing out all existing tribes before them by force.Where pitched battles were fought they were ruthless in their thoroughness in displacing the existing population.

DNA studies shown a characteristically abrupt change at this time to one closely resembling that of the Danes. Interestingly recent DNA samples show that it is still vitually impossible to distinguish English from Danish or Frisian samples. Some academics consider that apart from the usual taking of slaves there was complete apartheid practiced by the Anglo Saxons.

The same recent DNA studies show about 70% of English males bear the same "Atlantic Modal Haplotype" genetic signature common in Ireland, Wales, Scotland. The supposed Roman ancestry only showed up in a tiny minority. See Bryan Sykes, Stephen Oppenheimer.

The book The Origins of the British (2006) by Stephen Oppenheimer covers the subject in detail.

However, Capelli et al found that the Germanic influence in England amounts to between 24.47% and 57.52% (with a mean of 54.1%).

Answer 2

No, the British were part of the waning Roman Empire. The Romano-British, having lost it's army to events on the continent, turned to Saxon mercenaries to defend them from Pictish and Scottish attacks. However, the Saxons soon turned on their British employers and began taking the country for themselves. England is a result of the combined Germanic kingdoms (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) that conquered Roman Britain. Scotland is a result of the Irish warrior who conquered northern Britain defeating the native Picts. Wales is the area of Britain never conquered and as such can be considered the only natives to Britain (Wales in fact meaning foreigner in old English), the Welsh still referred to themselves as Britons for hundreds of years and continued to maintain Roman settlements.

A counter opinion is that "Saxon" is a name for any Roman auxiliary armed with a seax sword, regardless of ethnicity, so the Saxon take-over of Britannia was an assumption of power by military allies, not an invasion of foreigners. Diggings and recovered artifacts do not support warfare and armed strife in the south and east of the island. There was a full-on invasion in the northwest, by Irish, attested to in the Welsh chronicles and supported with recovered evidence. Gildas, the writer who tells us of the Battle of Badon Hill does not name the combatants, but elsewhere, has scathing words for the Irish and Scots. It is therefore possible that "Saxons" were allies of the British, acting as armed auxiliaries since the time of Carausius and enshrined into hereditary power by Diocletian. There may have been a rebellion of the Saxons due to poor pay after the fall of Rome, but facts on the ground do not support the escalation of that into a war with the British. It exists only in myth. ("Sons of Hengist and Horsa" is the German equivalent of "Sons of Romulus and Remus." It indicates a military heritage, not actual historical origins.)

Answer 3

No - the Angles and the Saxons were Germanic people.