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The History of Great Britain.doc (290 KB) Pobierz 1. BEFORE ROMANS – IBERIAN AND CELT BRITAIN  it was probably just after the glacial epoch that Britain was first inhabited by homo sapiens; it was then still connected to the Continent by the land-bridge; when Britain became an island it was soon a tempting place for invasions – having rich soil and moderate climate; iron and other metals, timber, fresh water; the earliest people who came to Britain were Neolithic people (3000-2000 BC), then Megalithic people – built great stone circles (which served either as temples or astronomical observatories, or both), - like Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain (built 1800-1400 BC) there pre-Celt inhabitants of the land, dark-haired, who we can call “Iberians―; most of them remained in remote and hostile regions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland; the Celts, tall men, fair and red-haired, entered Britain mostly in two waves: 800 BC and 600BC; they imposed themselves as aristocracy on previous inhabitants of Britain, and the races mixed; like the Iberians, the Celts did not develop any state organisation, remaining in tribes; we don’t know much about their religious beliefs: in spirits, fairies etc.; religion was organised by their priests called the Druids; the descendants of Iberians and Celts now live mostly in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall;  2. ROMAN TIMES  the Roman occupation took place between the coming of the Celts and the Saxons (delaying the latter by 200 years); the Celts, later the Saxons and the Danes came to slaughter the inhabitants and settle in their place, but the Romans came to exploit and govern by the right of superior civilisation; the Romans did not leave as much in Britain as they did in the Gaul (France), they did not latinise it;  the first Roman attempt to invade Britain was made by Julius Caesar in 54 BC, but his expedition was no great success; the actual conquest of the island took place under the Emperor Claudius, AD 43, the country was quite easily submitted to Romans, partly because of internal struggles and better organisation of Roman army; the exception to this easy submission was the rising of Boadicea (Boudicca); the Celtic queen, AD 61; according to tradition, 70,000 men were killed in the uprising; she committed suicide (?); now is a symbol, a statue in London the Romans did not bother much to conquer mountainous regions of the country; they were confined to England and Wales;  the Romans improved the country; they built towns (developing London) where they kept garrisons called castra; many Roman garrisons may be recognised by the names: Chester, Manchester, Chichester, Doncaster, Gloucester, Exeter; Roman towns had defensive walls, a forum, baths, market place, temple and theatres; They built defensive walls from sea to sea in the north: Antoninus’ Wall in Scotland, and Hadrian’s Wall (partly exists) – which runs from Carlisle to Newcastle (built 123 AD);  - the Romans had to leave Britain in AD 410 when Rome was threatened with an invasion of Germanic peoples;  the three things that the Romans left: - the traditional importance of certain new city sites (esp. London – founded in a very attractive site on the river Thames) - the Roman roads – no one made any more hard roads until the 18th cent.; the roads increased the speed of Saxon, Danish and Norman conquests; aided the unification of England by Saxon and Norman kings; - Welsh Christianity However, the Latin life of the cities, the villas, the arts, the language, the political organisation – all that has gone;  3. ANGLO-SAXON INVASION  - the first attacks of Anglo-Saxon raiders (pirates) from the continent began around 250 AD; it started a number of waves of Nordic invasions (people from Scandinavia, present day Denmark and Germany – Germanic peoples) that lasted until 1020 AD; - at the beginning the east coast of Great Britain was fortified, even the Romans built a fleet to protect the coast, but soon the situation grew worse, especially after the Roman withdrawal - the Nordic invasions are more important than Roman conquest and even than the later Norman conquest – there were few Romans and Norman-French people settled mainly in aristocracy; the Nordic conquest had more serious permanent results as it was accompanied by a general displacement of Celtic by Nordic people from richest agricultural parts of the island; - in the first “wave― there were three main Nordic peoples: - Jutes (northern Denmark)1 – established their kingdom in Kent - Saxons (northern Germany) 3– kingdoms in Sussex, Wessex and Essex - Angles (southern Denmark)5 – most numerous – landed in East Anglia, kingdoms of Deira, Mercia, Bernicia, Northumbria; (map – Trevelyan 41) - about 613 the new country, consisting of many small states (Northumbria was the largest) became to be known as Engle-land or England (because the majority were Angles – their dialect gradually became the common language of all people); - the Anglo-Saxons had a different form of government – more limited form of despotism, a very primitive form of democracy – based on tribal customs – tie of kinship between all members of the clan; war leaders became kings; the king had an advisory council Witan and every village a moot – meeting place where local affairs were discussed; the law was customary and became known as Common Law - although the Anglo-Saxons used a Runic alphabet, their culture was lower than that of Romanised Britons; an orderly Roman-Celtic world began to fall into chaos in the 4th century AD; life and property became less and less secure - the Anglo-Saxons were bloody-minded pirates rejoicing to destroy the civilisation higher than their own – and later attempting to settle on its land themselves; - the early Anglo-Saxons were not city-dwellers: they destroyed the Roman cities and villas instead of living in them; - another general result of this conquest was destroying the peace and unity of Roman province – frequent wars within the country - also wars with the Welsh, who were removed from their best lands; - Anglo-Saxons were rural people – lived in villages, cultivated the land, fishermen, smiths, weavers, - lived in houses called halls; one room, hearth (fire) in the middle, smoke coming through the hole in the thatched roof; tables, beds, places for domestic animals in the halls; small windows in the upper parts; - heathens – names of their gods are registered in English names of the weekdays; fatalists – the Fate called Wyrd; melancholic; sad poetry (alliterative) stories of Germanic heroes  - the times of Anglo-Saxon conquest were depicted by Bede: BEDE: commonly known as the Venerable Bede (Czcigodny Beda), (c. 672 – 735) was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery. He is well known as an author and scholar, whose bestknown work is Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The father of English History" – history from the time of Caesar to the date of its completion (731)  4. CHRISTIANISATION  - after the legalisation of Christian religion in the Roman Empire (Constantine, 313), there was quite a number of Christians in Britain: hermits and missionaries; their names commemorated in many place names (St. Ive, St. Endelion); - when the Anglo-Saxon invasions began, it was for the British Celts not only the problem of national survival, but also a problem of defence of Christianity – associated with higher civilisation of Rome;  - the leader of British against the Anglo-Saxon; became the symbol of Christianity, the defender of faith: Artorius called Arthur; Arthur, king of the Britons: important figure in the mythology of Great Britain; the central character in Arthurian legends presented by Welsh chronicles as victorious leader; the picture of Our Lady on his shield; his victory over the English at Baton Hill (516) stopped the English for about 50 years; - some people believe that the mythical hero Arthur is based on the real war leader (not necessarily a king) of Romano-British origin; - another school of thought believes that Arthur is a half-forgotten Celtic deity devolved into a personage; - Arthur first appears in Welsh literature since 6th cent. - he later appears in medieval romances (starting from AD 1133, Geoffrey of Monmouth produced a manuscript called the Historia Regum Britanniae); renewed interest in the Arthurian Legend in Norman times (possibly anti-Saxon reasons) - in these versions, which gained popularity beginning in the 12th century, Arthur gathered the Knights of the Round Table (Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad, and others). At his court, most often held at Camelot, could sometimes be found the wizard Merlin. Arthur's knights engaged in fabulous quests, famously including one for the Holy Grail. Other stories from the Celtic world came to be associated with Arthur, such as the tale of Tristan and Isolde. In the late prose romances the love affair between Arthur's champion, Lancelot, and the Queen, Guinevere, becomes the central reason for the fall of the Arthurian world;  - Christianity was strange to the Nordic mind: it taught charity, humility, self-discipline, spiritual concern, soul-body distinction, fear and hope about the next life; - Nordic religion was the worship of Odin and Thor, warriors’ religion; advocating manliness, generosity,, loyalty, rough honesty; sacrifice of cattle, horses or even slaves; not religion of dread, it taught not to be afraid of death; fatalistic, even gods were in the hands of Fate (Wyrd);  - the first place where Christianity flourished on the British Isles was Ireland, which was baptised by St. Patrick (Romanised Briton missionary – probably Welsh) – date not certain 432-460 (?); - then the Irish began colonising Western Scotland and going there as missionaries; most important St. Columba – landed on Iona island and founded there a church and monastery in 563; - later the Scoto-Irish Christianity managed to convert Northumbria;  - the other wing of Christian invasion to the island: the south: 597 – the Roman mission to England led by St. Augustine lands in Kent (a tool of the pope Gregory the Great); Benedictine monks - often Nordic kings were persuaded by their Christian wives to convert to Christianity – e.g. king Ethelbert (wife Bertha), later founding a church in Canterbury; - then Christianity started spreading into England; e.g. Paulinus converted King Edwin of Northumbria; later replaced by the mission of Aidan from Iona; - it began the dispute between the Celtic and Roman churches (different church organisations, different holiday dates etc.); it was resolved by the Synod of Whitby (664) summoned by Northumbrian king Oswy; giving Rome rights as the inheritor of St. Peter; - this decision to adhere to Roman system of religion gave impetus to the movement towards racial unity, kingly and feudal power, centralisation, systematic administration, legislation and taxation against tribal politics; - subsequent growth of church organisation, many parish churches; difficult to distinguish clearly between the Church and the State;  - Christianity also meant for England an advance in culture; it brought the Latin alphabet (easily adopted to the English language, only a few symbols added); - the alphabet made the school education possible, - the Bible opened to people the heritage of Christian and Oriental culture;  - interestingly, until the middle of 7th cent. main power in Saxon England was in the North (which never claimed the leadership later, perhaps until the industrial revolution); it was only later, after the coming of the Danes that the city of London became the “leader― of England                                           5. THE DANISH INVASION  - a hundred years after settling in Britain, Nordic people forgot their sea-faring skills, devoted themselves to farming life; - the invaders came actually both from Denmark as well as from Scandinavian fiords; - the Vikings were called “sons of the creek― – landed on an inlet of water near the sea, built a fort and began to raid a country; - they were strong, violent men, looking for adventure, bloodshed, gold, drink and women – their raids were the result of rumours of “rich west― as well as infertile lands and polygamy producing many landless solitary young men; - in their raids, the Vikings went as far as Piraeus or Constantinople; - around 787 the Danes first invaded Northumbria; purely destructive raids; - around 867 they organised so-called Great Army and after defeating Northumbrian, divided it among themselves;  - 871 Danish chief Guthrum sailed up the Thames and tried to conquer Wessex but was opposed by the new young king Alfred – Alfred the Great; Alfred bought peace for 5 years, later was attacked and defeated but managed to escape and reorganise the army - 878 Alfred defeats the Danes in the battle of the Valley of White Horse; knowing he was unable to drive the Danes out of England he signs a Treaty of Wedmore, establishing “Danelaw― (Northumbria, Eastern Mercia, leaving Wessex free), area where the Danes may settle and live according to their customs, but accepting Christianity; - Alfred well used the years of peace until his death (901); reorganised the army, created the navy, established the rules of law, introduced school system, many books translated from Lati - only northern part of Northumbria (north of the Tyne) was not conquered by the Vikings; it remained the Saxon kingdom of Northumberland (for a few centuries between England and Scotland); - around 860 Kenneth MacAlpine became the King of the united Picts and Scots in the north;  - Alfred’s son, Edward the Elder started the re-conquest of the Danelaw, it was completed by his successor Athlestan, - 973, Edgar, a grandson of Alfred, was crowned as the king of the whole united England, which consisted of Wessex and also included Mercia and Northumbria (Danelaw); - it was easy to incorporate the Danes from Danelaw as they were, just as Anglo-Saxons, of Nordic origin, and did not come to Britain to establish their kingdom;  - the life in late Anglo-Saxon England marked the breakdown of the tribal and clan social organisation, rise of feudal system, together with some specialisation of social functions; - there was a distinction between a peasant and a warrior; below the king there was a class of thegns (thanes) – feudal lords whose function was to protect their freeholders, thralls and serfs in times of frequent wars, they worked for him; - this differentiation led far from equality but enabled settled order, civilisation and wealth; - “every man must have a lord― to be answerable in court for his misdoings (previously it was his kinsmen); - the kings had actually little control over thegns in local matters, needed them only for national defence - in general the prestige of the Crown rose when the Kings of Wessex became the Kings of all England - definitely some decentralising feudal tendencies, but they were to be postponed until much later; - United England was administered in four or six “Earldoms―  th - about the end of 10 cent. the second wave of Danish invaders came to England in the times of an incompetent king Ethelred the Redeless (Unready); - they obviously did not attack Danelaw, but the south of England – Wessex - Ethelred was not eager to fight the Danes but he preferred buying peace with so-called Danegeld: it began to be paid in Alfred’s times, and amounted to extraordinary sums, contributing to the decline of English lower classes (heavy taxation); - soon after Ethelred’s death there was a struggle for the throne between his son Edmund Ironside and Canute, son of Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard; Edmund soon died and the Saxon Witan had to choose his successor so they chose Canute (1016); who actually proved to be a fortunate choice for a king - this was the example of the elective character of English monarchy at that time; Canute’s successors, Harold and William the Conqueror, had none of them legal title to the throne;  - during the times of later Danish wars the role of London as a city rose immensely; it was fortified and colonised by Alfred, in times of Ethelred it was centre of English resistance; it was initially opposing Canute, but later he turned out to be a good ruler also for London; - London was an important port, and Danish rule increased the safety of sea trade (pirates) in the North Sea; - the Danish merchants became the leading citizens of London;  - Canute at first was a foreign conqueror in England, holding his throne by the sword; - since 1020 he began the policy of reconciling the two races on a basis of equality and also started his alliance with the Church; - both Anglo-Saxon and Danish were official languages of the king’s court - he established a navy and a professional army of “housecarls― - Canute could have established a strong Nordic empire (England, Norway, ... 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