BRITONS
(British people)
At the time England and Scotland were part of the Roman Empire. The Britons who by that time were mostly Christians were constantly being raided by barbarians (Picts, Northumbrians, and Irish). However, by this time the Roman Empire was not what it had been, and the traditional response of sending Roman Legions to punish those who raided Roman provinces was no longer possible in the declining empire. Getting no help from Rome, the Britons invited the Saxons to come and form an alliance that changed the course of history.
The British people, or Britons, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies. British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, which can be acquired, for instance, by descent from British nationals. When used in a historical context, "British" or "Britons" can refer to the Ancient Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain and Brittany, whose surviving members are the modern Welsh people, Cornish people, and Bretons. It also refers to citizens of the former British Empire, who settled in the country prior to 1973, and hold neither UK citizenship nor nationality.
