Anglo-Saxon medical manuscript, 11th century. Collection of five prescriptions for alleviating heartache, lung disease, 'wenns' (cysts), tumors, and liver disease. Written by three different contemporary hands in Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxons were a people who inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. They comprised people from Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe, their descendants, and indigenous British groups who adopted some aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture and language. The Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period of British history between about 450 and 1066, after their initial settlement and up until the Norman conquest.