The Economic and Social Structure of Society between the 5

That period was a transitional period from the tribal and slave-owning system to feudalism. The basic economic unit was the feudal manor. Tribal and clan division was superseded by townships and shires [ςaiez] (поместья), which had no connection with kinship. The growth of feudalism was accompanied by the rise of regional dialectal division replacing the tribal division.

In that epoch Anglo-Saxon Britain was practically cut off of Europe, and Rome in particular. In 597 Pope Gregory ( папа Григорий I) sent missionaries to England to convert them to Christianity. Christianity also penetrated to England from Ireland, and less than a century practically all England was Christianized.

The Germanic tribes, conquered Britain, formed seven independent kingdoms, that throughout four centuries fought for power. The kingdoms were: Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria ( Нортумбрия). Kent, Northumbria and Mercia got supremacy in this fight by turns. But in the early 9^th c. their struggle ended by a decisive victory of Wessex. Wessex had secured the control of other kingdoms. Apart from internal factors the unification of England under the leadership of Wessex was speeded up by a new factor: the pressure of an enemy: Scandinavians.