Download The Earliest Times of England

The Earliest
Times of
England
(600 B.C. – 1066 A.D.)
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The Earliest Britain
600 B.C. The Celts
43 A.D. The Roman Conquest
450 A.D. The Anglo-Saxon Period
800 A.D. The Danish Invasion
The Earliest Britain
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The Ice Age, during which Neandertals and then Cro-Magnons
inhabited Great Britain, ended about 8000 bc.
The rising sea level produced the English Channel and made
Great Britain an island.
By 3000 bc the Iberians, or Long Skulls, were farming the
chalk soil of southern England, and by 2500 bc the pastoral
Beaker folk had established themselves. (The latter, named for their
characteristic pottery, are noted for their bronze tools and their huge stone
monuments, especially Stonehenge. These monuments attest to their social
and economic organization as well as their technical skill and intellectual
ability)
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Stonehenge, prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain, north of
Salisbury, in south-western England, that dates from the late
Stone and early Bronze ages (about 3000-1000 bc). The
monument, now in ruins, consists of a circular group of large
upright stones surrounded by a circular earthwork.
Stonehenge is the best preserved and most celebrated of the
megalithic monuments of Europe. It is not known for certain
what purpose Stonehenge served, but many scholars believe
the monument was used as a ceremonial or religious centre.
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The Picts, ancient and mysterious inhabitants of central and
northern Scotland and of northern Ireland, , were for
centuries, the most powerful inhabitants of the British Isles.
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They were of rather short stature and of dark complexion. The
name Pict is believed to be derived from the Latin word Picti –
„the painted men“
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Historical records show that they were quite fierce warriors.
Hadrian's Wall was built to protect the Roman colonies from
their attacks.
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The Picts also fought continuously in Scotland with the Scots
who had settled there in the 4th century.
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In 850 the Picts were defeated by Kenneth I, king of Scotland.
Kenneth united the two rival tribes and thus founded the
kingdom of Scotland.
The Celts
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In the 1st millennium bc the Celts overran the British Isles, as
they did all of western Europe.
Their priests, the Druids, dominated their society.
Druidism, religious faith of ancient Celtic inhabitants, survived
until it was supplanted by Christianity. This religion included
belief in the immortality of the soul, which at death was
believed to pass into the body of a newborn child. According to
Julius Caesar, the Druids believed that they were descended
from a supreme being.
The word Celt is derived from Keltoi, the name given to these
people by Herodotus and other Greek writers. To the Romans,
the Continental Celts were known as Galli, or Gauls; those in
the British Isles were called Britanni.
The Britons excelled in certain fields of art, particularly in the
making of bronze weapons and jewellery. When the Angles and
Saxons invaded Britain, many Britons fled to the Roman
province of Armorica in north-western France. This area was
later named Brittany after the Britons, who subsequently
became known as Bretons.
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Celtic Cross
In the 5th century ad
Ireland’s Saint Patrick led
the conversion of the Celts,
the Iron Age invaders of
Ireland, to Christianity.
Although Christian churches
and monasteries were
founded for the Celtic
people, many of the
converts retained much of
their Druidic religion. This
Celtic cross near the
Shannon River in Ireland,
with relief of earth gods
and woodland spirits,
illustrates how the Celtic
people preserved many of
their Druidic beliefs.
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Maiden Castle's Trenches and Ramparts
An ancient Celtic settlement and fortress by the Frome, Maiden Castle occupies
about 50 hectares (about 120 acres) of west Dorset countryside just south of
Dorchester. The vast earthwork is still encircled by ancient ramparts and
entrenchments. Dorchester, founded by the Romans, is today a small town with a
noteworthy past.
The Roman Conquest
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Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 bc to conquer the native
peoples, called Britons. The native tribes resisted for several
decades.
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The Britons, maintained political freedom and paid tribute to
Rome for almost a century before the Roman emperor Claudius
I initiated the systematic conquest of Britain in ad43.
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By 47, Roman legions had occupied almost all the island south
of the Humber River and east of the Severn River. The tribes,
notably the Silures, inhabitants of what are now the Wales and
Yorkshire regions, resisted for more than 30 years, a period
that was marked as rebellion led by the native queen
Boudicca.
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At this time Britain became an imperial province of Rome,
called Britannia, administered by Roman governors.
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is known of the relations between the Britons and their
conquerors. Shortly after 115, the natives rose in revolt against the
Romans. As a result, the Roman emperor Hadrian visited Britain in
122 and began the construction of a rampart 117 km long, reaching
from Solway Firth, on the Irish Sea, to the mouth of the Tyne River.
Fragments of this wall, called Hadrian's wall, still stand.
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years later, another wall, called the Antonine Wall, was built across
the narrowest part of the island, from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde.
The region between the two walls was a defence area against the
Caledonians, who were eventually driven north of Hadrian's Wall in the 3rd
century. The wall marked the northern Roman frontier during the next 200
years, a period of relative peace.
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During the period of conquest and military campaigns, the
people of Britain benefited from Roman technology and
cultural influences. (legal and political systems, architecture,
and engineering,numerous towns were established, as well as
a vast network of military highways…)
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In general, however, only the native nobility, the wealthier
classes, and the town residents accepted the Roman language
and way of life, while the Britons in outlying regions retained
their native culture.
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At the end of the 3rd century, the Roman army began to
withdraw from Britain to defend other parts of the Roman
Empire. In 410, when the Visigoths invaded Rome, the last of
the Roman legions were withdrawn from the island. Celtic
culture again became predominant, and Roman civilization in
Britain rapidly disintegrated. Roman influence virtually
disappeared during the Germanic invasions in the 5th and 6th
centuries. Thereafter the culture of the Angles and Saxons
spread throughout the island. Historians refer to Britain after
the Germanic invasions as England, Scotland, and Wales.
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Roman Bath
The Romans were originally attracted to the natural hot springs near
what is now the city of Bath in England, pictured here. They founded
the city and excavated the baths to exploit their medicinal value. The
baths are now famous landmarks.
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The Anglo-Saxon Period
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In the absence of Roman administrators, British
warlords, nominally Christian, ruled small, unstable
kingdoms and continued some Roman traditions of
governance, The Saxons revolted against their
British chiefs and began the process of invasion and
settlement that established Germanic kingdoms
throughout the island by the 7th century. Later
legends about a hero named Arthur were placed in
this period of violence.
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The invaders were Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Jutes,
and Franks in origin, but were similar in culture and
eventually identified themselves indifferently as
Angles or Saxons.
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By the 7th century the Germanic
kingdoms included Northumbria,
Bernicia, Deira, Lindsay, Mercia, East
Anglia, Essex, Wessex, Sussex, and
Kent.
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All Anglo-Saxon societies were
characterized by strong kinship groups,
feuds, customary law, and a system of
money compensations (wergeld) for death,
personal injury, and theft. They practiced
their traditional polytheistic religions, lacked
written language, and depended on mixed
economies of agriculture, hunting, and
animal husbandry.
Arthur, King of the Britons
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Arthur, is claimed as the King of nearly every Celtic
Kingdom known. The 6th century certainly saw many
men named Arthur born into the Celtic Royal families of
Britain but, despite attempts to identify the great man
himself amongst them, there can be little doubt that
most of these people were only named in his honour
Geoffrey of Monmouth recorded Arthur as a High-King of
Britain. He was the son of his predecessor, Uther
Pendragon
The name Arthur itself appears to derive from the Celtic
word Art, meaning "bear". Arthur could, like so many
other Celtic gods, be merely a personification of the
many reverred animals of the wild.
King Arthur and the
Knights of the
Round Table
The tale of King
Arthur, his wife
Guinevere, and his
knight Lancelot
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King Arthur
Arthur, a medieval king of the
Britons who historians believe
may have existed during the
6th century. According to
legend, Arthur was raised
unaware of his royal ancestry
and became king by pulling the
magic sword Excalibur from a
stone.
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Angles (people) (Latin Angli), Germanic tribe that occupied the
region still called Angeln in what is now the state of
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Together with the Saxons and
Jutes, they invaded Britain during the 5th century ad. With
their kindred ethnic groups, they formed the people who came
to be known as the English. The name England is derived from
them.
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Jutes, early Germanic tribe of Denmark or northern Germany
that, participated in the conquest of south-eastern Britain
along with the Angles and Saxons during the 5th century ad.
These people were the inhabitants of Jutland. Their territory
bordered that of the Saxons, who, with the Angles, also settled
Britain and drove the Britons westward into present-day
Wales. Through assimilation, the Jutes gradually lost their
identity as a people, and by the 8th century the term Jute had
almost completely disappeared from the English language
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Saxons, Germanic people, who dwelt in the south Jutland
Peninsula in the north of what is now Germany. They
conducted piratical raids in the North Sea area. Saxons
invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. They were joined
by other Germanic peoples, the Angles and the Jutes. At the
beginning of the 7th century, the Anglo-Saxon conquest of
Britain was practically completed.
Saxon Invasions and Land Holdings
Britain about 600 - Settlements of Angles, Saxons and Jutes
Saxon Control
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1.Reintroduction of Christianity
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dominant themes of the next two centuries were the success of
Christianity and the political unification of England. Christianity came from
two directions—Rome and Ireland. In 596 Pope Gregory I sent a group of
missionaries under a monk named Augustine to Kent, where King Ethelbert
had married Bertha, a Christian Frankish princess. Soon after, Ethelbert was
baptized, Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury, and the
southern kingdoms became Christian.
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Northumbria the Christianity from Rome met Celtic Christianity, which had
been brought from Ireland to Scotland. Although not heretical, the Celtic
church differed from Rome in the way the monks tonsured their heads, in its
reckoning of the date of Easter, and, most important, in its organization,
which reflected the clans of Ireland rather than the highly centralized Roman
Empire. In 664, Northumbria's King Oswy chose to go with Rome, giving
England a common religion. In 668, was the English church given its basic
structure.
Bede,
who spent most of his life in Northumbria, was the outstanding
European scholar of his age. His Ecclesiastical History of the English
People made popular the use of bc and ad to date historical events.
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2.The Process of Unification
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the 7th century people regarded themselves as
belonging to „the nation of the English“, though divided into
several kingdoms – Essex, Sussex, Wessex,, Nurthambria,
Mercia, and Kent, which was the first English kingdom to be
converted to Cristianity.
King Alfred (849 – 901)
The most powerful king of Anglo-Saxon period
Alfred, became king of Wessex, when The Danes, part of the
Viking forces that had
begun to raid the English coasts in
the late 8th century, set on conquering England. Wessex and
Alfred were all that stood in their way. After his victory at
Edington in 878 he forced the Danish king Guthrum to accept
baptism and a division of England into two parts, Wessex and
what historians later called the Danelaw (Essex, East Anglia, and
Northumbria). Alfred captured London and began to roll back
the Danish tide.
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Alfred's Legacy -Alfred also gave his attention to
good government, issuing a set of laws, and to
scholarship. He promoted, and assisted in, the
translation of Latin works into Old English and
encouraged the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle. For his many accomplishments, Alfred
was called The Great, the only English king so
acclaimed.
The conquest of the Danelaw was completed by
Alfred's son, Edward the Elder, and by his
grandson Athelstan, who won a great victory at
Brunanburh in 937. Most of the rest of the
century was peaceful.
King Alfred the Great (849, ruled 871-899)
Alfred the Great, his son Edward and wife Ealhswith
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Considered the primary source
for English history between
the 10th and 12th centuries,
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also
contains earlier examples of
prose. This page depicts
Charlemagne, king of the
Franks in the late 8th century,
killing the heathen Saxons
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The
Danish
Invasion
A new round of Danish invasions came in the reign
of Ethelred II. Often called the Redeless (meaning
“unready,” or “without counsel” or “unwise”). In
1014 he was driven from the throne by King Sweyn
I of Denmark, only to return a few months later
when Sweyn died. When Ethelred died in 1016,
Sweyn's son Canute II won out over Edmund II,
called Ironside, the son of Ethelred. Under Canute,
England was part of an empire that also included
Denmark and Norway.
Following the short and unpopular reigns of
Canute's sons, Harold I (Harefoot) and Hardecanute,
Edward the Confessor, another son of Ethelred, was
recalled from Normandy (Normandie), where he had
lived in exile. Edward's reign is noted for its
dominance by the powerful earls of Wessex—
Godwin, and then his son, Harold (subsequently
Harold II)—and for the first influx of NormanFrench influence. Edward was most interested in
the building of Westminster Abbey, which was
completed just in time for his burial in January
1066.
The Danelaw
Edward the Confessor (1005-1066) - King of England 1042-1066
King Edward the Confessor restored the Saxon dynasty to the English throne
after many years of Danish rule. He was a very pious monarch and spent
most of his time praying and building Westminster Abbey. He didn't seem
interested in his wife or in producing an heir to the throne. Unfortunately, he,
therefore, had no obvious heir at his death and this situation led to a series of
invasions and, finally, the Conquest of England by Duke William the Bastard of
Normandy. Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey a few days after its
completion. He was reverred as a saint and was the Patron Saint of England
before the introduction of the worship of St. George.
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Edward's death without an heir left the
succession in doubt. The royal council chose
Harold, earl of Wessex, although his only
claim to the throne was his availability.
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Other aspirants were King Harold III (the
Hard Ruler) of Norway and Duke William of
Normandy. Harold II defeated the former at
Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066, but
lost to William at Hastings on October 14.
William was crowned in Westminster Abbey
on Christmas Day.
English Sovereigns
The first unified government of England came with the conquest of the Danish in northern England
by Edward the Elder. The rule of succession to the throne is primogeniture, or the passing of the
throne to the oldest son (or daughter when there are no sons).
West Saxon Kings
899-924
Edward the Elder
son of Alfred the Great
924-39
Athelstan
son of Edward I
939-46
Edmund
half brother of Athelstan
946-55
Edred
brother of Edmund
955-59
Edwy
son of Edmund
959-75
Edgar
brother of Edwy
975-78
Edward the Martyr
son of Edgar
978-1016
Ethelred II
son of Edgar
1016
Edmund Ironside
son of Ethelred
Danish Kings
1016-35
Canute II
son of Sweyn I of Denmark who conquered England 1013
1035-37
Harold I and
Hardecanute
sons of Canute II (each ruled a part of England as decided by the royal
council)
1037-40
Harold I
son of Canute
1040-42
Hardecanute
son of Canute
West Saxon Kings (restored)
1042-66
Edward the Confessor
son of Ethelred II
1066
Harold II
son of Godwin
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