When you think of Celtic heritage, you may think of the Irish, the Scots-Irish, the Welsh, or the Scots.
You probably don’t think of the English because they are called Anglo-Saxons after the Germanic tribes that invaded at the end of the Roman Empire. They also don’t claim a Celtic heritage the like the Irish, Welsh, and Scots do.
That’s wrong, says Bryan Sykes, on the basis of his research into the DNA of the people living in the Isles today.
Sykes describes his research in his book Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland. If you like detailed stories of scientific discovery, then you will love this book. If not, here’s a brief summary of what he found.
There are two main questions that arise in considering the genetic history of the British Isles. First, are all of the people who were there prior to the Roman invasion of common descent?
To answer the first: there is a basic, common “Celtic” substratum that exists throughout the Isles.
In answer to the second: not very much.
The Roman invasion left almost no mark on the DNA of the British Isles.
It is difficult, according to Sykes, to distinguish the DNA of the Normans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. They were all basically from the same Germanic people group. The Normans were simply Vikings that extorted the King of France into giving them Normandy and then ended up conquering England.
These groups left a minor impact on the genetic makeup of the isles. Sykes estimates that their DNA constitutes about 10% of the DNA in the southwestern part of England. Above the Danelaw line, the percentage rises to around 15% and to a high of 20% in East Anglia.
Americans who came from England are often called WASPs: White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants. Based on Sykes’ research, they may need to be called WCPs: White, Celtic, Protestants. The English are much closer to the Irish and Scots than any of them would have believed.
For, according to Sykes, the English are basically Celtic.