English [OE] England and the English get their names from the Angles, an ancient Germanic people who came to England in the 5th century ad and founded kingdoms in the Midlands, Northumbria, and East Anglia. Their name came to refer to all of the early Germanic settlers of Britain—the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—and their language, which we now call Old English. The first written example of English (spelled Engliscne) comes from The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, an agreement between King Alfred the Great and Guthrum, the Viking ruler of East Anglia. Its exact date is uncertain, but it was probably written around 880. For an account of how the Angles got their name see angle, and see also british. The proverb An Englishman’s home is his castle has been around in various forms since at least 1581.