Angeln

Angeln (German and Low German: Angeln; Danish and South Jutlandic: Angel; Latin: Anglia) is a small peninsula in northern Germany, on the Baltic coast of Jutland. Jutland consists of the mainland of Denmark and the northernmost German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Angeln belongs to the region of Southern Schleswig, which constitutes the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein. The region is often referred to in German as Landschaft Angeln (Landscape Anglia) or Halbinsel Angeln (Anglia Peninsula).

To the south, Angeln is separated from the neighbouring peninsula of Schwansen by the Schlei Firth, and to the north from the Danish peninsula of Sundeved and the Danish island of Als by the Flensburg Firth. The landscape is hilly, dotted with numerous lakes. Whether ancient Angeln conformed to the borders of the Angeln Peninsula is uncertain. It may have been somewhat larger; however, the ancient sources mainly concur that it did include the peninsula's territory.

Angeln has a significance far beyond its small area and country terrain. According to Bede in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Continental homeland of the West Germanic tribe of the Angles, that settled East Anglia, Central and Northern England as well as the Eastern Scottish Lowlands, was centred in Angulus, which is traditionally identified as the Angeln Peninsula. Their migration led to their new homeland being named after them, from which the name "England" derives. England, East, Mid and West Anglia as well as the English language, thus, ultimately derive at least their names from Angeln.

On the Angeln Peninsula are two historically significant castles, which represent the ancestral seat of several European royal houses: Glücksburg Castle in Glücksburg is the seat of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which is the royal house of Norway and Denmark, and earlier also of Greece and Iceland. King Charles III of the United Kingdom is also a patrilineal member of the House of Glücksburg. Gottorf Castle in the city of Schleswig is the ancestral seat of the House of Holstein-Gottorp, from which four Swedish kings emerged, as well as of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, to which the last eight Russian emperors belonged.