This Y-DNA project was created to find common geographical, historical and patrilineal links among those who believe they have an early English/Anglo-Saxon or Frisian heritage and those who live in, or have ancestry, from the Germanic continental homelands in modern Denmark, NW Germany and The Netherlands - the lands which were once occupied by the North Sea Germanic tribes, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians etc. We are a project for those who are interested in learning more about these early-medieval Germanic peoples, their migrations and our possible genetic connection to them. Using Y-DNA and Ancient genetic samples we will attempt to establish our ancient patrilineal connections with these Germanic tribes and their migrations along the North Sea Coastlines and on into post-Roman Britain. By 'Anglo-Saxon' this project means the peoples of early-medieval eastern and southern Great Britain and the ancestral locations from which they hail on the north-western part of the European continental mainland. ********** Join Request ********** You must have a FTDNA kit number and a FTDNA Y-DNA test result. In your join request please provide your tested Y-DNA HAPLOGROUP and some detail of your known paternal ancestry - for example your Earliest Known Paternal Ancestors name, and his date and place of birth, if you have limited or no paternal detail a Y-Haplogroup result might suffice. Applications with a simple surname and no other contextual detail will be immediately dismissed. We are a Geographical/Historical project and surnames are of secondary interest. Anglo-Saxon/English or early medieval Germanic continental societies didn't start using surnames in the modern sense until the mid to late medieval period. On our DNA chart we will attempt to place our members kits in groups that have a shared SNP(haplogroup) which fits into the Anglo-Saxon/North sea Germanic migration period - approximately 350CE to 550CE. We are very interested in recruiting more testers from Jutland, NW Germany and The Netherlands and especially the regions occupied by present and past Frisian Speakers. In some parts of the world the phrase 'Anglo-Saxon' and/or 'W.A.S.P' have been used as racial and political terms, if you have come to join this project based on these racial and political views then this is certainly NOT the project for you. We are a Geographical/Historical project interested in the North Sea Germanic peoples of the Early Medieval period who settled the regions of Frisia, England and southern Scotland. PLEASE PROVIDE YOUR FTDNA TESTED Y-DNA HAPLOGROUP IN YOUR JOIN REQUEST ********** Historical background. ********** The Roman Empire was known to have enlisted various Germanic warrior groups into military service and stationed them within the province of Britannia. Germanic units used in Britain include the Batavi, the Frisii and the Tuihanti (and possibly others), when troops had served their time in the Legions they were sometimes settled on lands provided by the Emperor, often in the province that they had served in. During the migration era there were pressures on Germanic population groups in their continental homelands. During the 3rd and 4th centuries Europe had started to suffer a cool and wet period of climatic change, leading to flooding and bad harvests. New tribal groups were also pushing into the Germanic territorial homelands - Danes coming south from Scandinavia, Slavs from the east and the Huns plundering into the central Germanic lands. These North Sea Germanics spoke a West Germanic language now known as Ingvaeonic, this language evolved into various Frisian languages/dialects and the English and Scots languages. Frisians of the Early Medieval period were probably not the same cultural group as the Frisii tribes of the Roman period. The early medieval period Frisians were probably closely related to/or were a mix of the other North Sea Germanic tribes(including Angles, Saxons and Jutes). After the fall of the Roman Empire some of these North Sea Germanic settler families started to settle on the eastern and southern coastal regions of Great Britain, some of the warrior class were employed as mercenaries troops to help the Romano-British nobility guard their territories from raiders such as the Picts, Irish and Scoti - as in the Legends of Hengist and Horsa. These mercenaries were possibly also used against competing Romano-British factions and other incoming Germanic groups. All the incoming Germanics were known by the 'Celtic' speaking inhabitants of the British Isles as the Saxons (or Sais, Saeson, Sassannach and Sowson in modern Goidelic and Brittonic languages), a name which is from the large group of Germanics that the Romans called 'Saxones'. The Saxons had been known for generations for their intense coastal raiding and piratical practices on Roman British and Gaulish coastlines. Although possibly a high proportion of the incomers were of Anglian(Angle/Anglii) or Saxon heritage, many other Germanic groups from north western Europe migrated to shores of Britain too, the Jutes and Frisians are the most well known of these Germanic groups - other lesser known tribes possibly included Chauci, Cimberi, Charudes, Teutoni, Avionnes, Reudingi, Warni/Varini and possibly even Franks. Some of these Settler communities eventually ousted their Romano British overlords and began forming small states mainly along eastern and southern coastlines and up the major river valleys(Thames, Nene, Great Ouse, Welland, Trent and Derwent). As the populations of these settlers boomed and they were joined by new Germanic migrants they expanded their territorial claims into the interior of the British Midlands, the South west and up along the North sea coastline. These Germanic migrants to Britain quickly intermarried and absorbed some the existing British inhabitants into their communities. For many generations many small British independent communities remained surrounded by incoming Germanics, over a period of a few centuries the Germanic customs and languages became the dominant culture. Multiple small kingdoms within eastern, central and southern Great Britain were established by the 6th century CE. These settler peoples lived in different Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and often fought against each other, but they seem to have thought of themselves as one people. Their chroniclers called them the Angli or Angelcynn and later in the medieval period they called themselves the Ænglisċ(English). King Athelstan of Wessex became 'The King of all the Anglo-Saxons' in about 925CE and he was also called 'King of the English' in about 930CE. The Kingdom itself was not recorded in written form as Engla-land 'England' until the late 980s by the Chronicler Æthelweard and it was also used on documentation during the reign of the Canute 'the Great' after about 1016CE. Northern Bernicia a part of the Northumbrian 'English' Earldom was ceded to the Scottish kingdom in 973CE. This region makes up the modern day Scots counties of the Lothians and Berwickshire. The English population today are on average an autosomal DNA admixture of 60% British and 40% Germanic. Germanic Patrilineal Y-haplogroups are high within the eastern, southern and central part of the island of Great Britain, native ancient British and 'Celtic'-Central European Y-haplogroups are higher to the west and north of the Isles.