THE HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN

CHAPTER ONE - INVASIONS PERIOD

THE ROMAN INVASION

43 - 409 A.D. - Roman rule in Britain.

The Roman invaded Britain for the following reasons:

• Britain was rich in natural resources such as lands, forests and various mineral resources like iron, silver, lead which could be exported to the Empire;

• The Roman found Britain's mild weather quite attractive for farming, which was the base for their economy;

• Britain produced a lot of food, mainly corn and meat which the Romans could use to feed their army fighting the Gauls;

• To stop the help which the Celts of Britain offered the Celts of Gaul, against the Empire. The British Celts were giving them food, arms and offered hospitality to those who withdrew to Britain;

• To gain prestige and military glory by Roman Emperors, which could be obtained by pacifying barbarian tribes.

BRITANNIA is the name that the Romans gave to their southern British province (which covered, approximately, the area of present-day England and Wales).

CALEDONIA were the Roman names for this part of Scotland which Romans never governed.

HADRIAN'S WALL was the wall which the Romans build in 122 A.D. as a defence against the Picts. It ran for 73 miles.

The Romans also got to the north and south Wales bud had a little influence on the lives of its people and their culture. Ireland was not invaded by the Romans.

Why the Romans conquer Britain so easily?

• The Romans soldiers were well-trained and experienced;

• They using javelins and catapults;

• They had better commanders;

• Their supply system and well-stocked fortified camps allowed for permanent occupation;

• The Celts had a faint idea of what war really was;

• They could fight only for short time.

• They were farmers so they had to go back to their farms and produced food.

• The soldiers wore little or no body protection and used mainly long swords, which were not good for hand-to-hand combat.

Boudica - was the queen of British tribe who revolted against Roman rule. Her husband had left his possessions to the emperor hoping it would protect his kingdom and family. However, his property was confiscated and taxation was imposed. Boudica protested but she was flogged and her daughters raped. She rousing her tribe, swept through southern Britain and burnt Colchester and London torturing every Roman or Roman sympathiser she caught. She was eventually brought to battle and was defeated.

The Roman invasion resulted in:

• Increased literacy - the Romans brought with them the skill of reading and writing and the society become more literate. The ability of read and write was compulsory in the army and in other jobs.

• Law - society became far better regulated by law. There were more procedures and regulations, although the rule of law might have been administered in a corrupt and inefficient way.

• Language - Latin was introduced as the official language and used mainly by town dwellers and rich landowners, whereas the poor spoke Celtic. Thus the division between the rich and the poor grew bigger. Latin-Celtic bilingualism was fairly extensive among the members of the upper classes and the city dwellers. The permanent trace of Latin is to be found in place names: -chester, -caster, -cester, such a Colchester, Lancaster, Winchester or Gloucester.

• Peace - the Romans brought peace to the island, where tribal wars had been common.

• Urban expansion - towns flourished and became centres of public buildings, like public bath, monuments, theatres, amphitheatres, law courts, forums and basilica, civic offices or temples were established. A feature of Roman Britain was wall or earthwork defences surrounding towns and defending the against hostile tribes, barbarians from outside. The town were categorized into coloniae, municipia and civitas.

• Advancement - under-floor heating that warmed the walls was common as well as water supply and removal system in the shape of channels that ran alongside the buildings and engineered water supplies.

• Villas - the urban expansion occurred with the spread of villas in the countryside.

• Roads and Bridges - an affective road and bridge system was built and due to that economic life increased and long-distance trade became more local.

• Romanisation - Roman fashions and style were introduced and became dominant.

The collapse of the Roman Empire in Britain was caused by:

• Attacks by the Celts of Caledonia (Picts and Scots).

• The collapse of Roman rule throughout the world.

• The legions in Britain were called to fight the Roman wars on the continent. Their enemies comprised Germanic groups, the Saxons and Franks, who began to raid the coast of Gaul, as well as the Huns.

• The Saxon riders from continent. The Britons made an appeal for help to Rome against the Picts and Scots but not help came so they turned to the Saxons, who soon changed into invaders.

Infantry - solders who fight on foot - piechota (wojsko)

Cavalry - soldiers fighting on horseback - kawaleria, konnica

Levy - a recruit - rekrut

Raider - a person who makes a surprise attack - najeźdźca

Chieftain - a leader of a tribe/ clan - wódz, naczelnik

Usurper - a leader by force - samozwaniec, uzurpator

Chariot - a horse-drawn vehicle - rydwan

Javelin - a light spear - oszczep

Combat - a fight - walka, bój

Ambush - a surprise attack from a hidden place - zasadzka

Siege - surrounding of a town/ fortress - oblężenie miasta/ twierdzy

Garrison - troops stationed in a town/ fort - garnizon, koszary

1. Each Romans legion had an establishment of over 5000 men, mostly heavy infantry.

2. The permanent Roman warriors were the aristocracy; their favourite weapon was the chariot, which they used for rapid transport in and out of battle.

3. The exact status of the cavalry is uncertain: they were probably men who could provide their own horses.

4. The British army consisted mostly of levies summoned from the farms.

5. The Britons depended on a long slashing sword, whereas the Romans used javelins.

6. In hand-to-hand combat the Britons were at a disadvantage faced with the armoured Romans.

7. The Celts were successful in their surprise attacks and ambush, thus the Roman commanders aimed to force them out into the open.

8. The Roman garrisons permitted permanent occupation of the British towns.

9. Some of the British tribes led by their chieftains resisted the raiders from Rome fiercely.

10. After the break with Rome, there were many usurpers who had sized power.

CHESTER, CASTER, CESTER - the Latin endings indicate that a town used to be an army camp during the Roman times.

COLONIAE - towns peopled by Romans settlers.

MUNICIPIA - cities the population of which was given Roman citizenship.

CIVITAS - the old Celtic tribal capitals.

VILLA - a luxurious residence, usually with extensive grounds and often with an agricultural estate attached.

THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION

449 A.D. - the traditionally accepted date of the Germanic conquest.

The year 449 has been traditionally accepted as the year of the Germanic conquest of the Island, although Germanic raids had been harassing Britain for over two centuries prior to 449.

The invasion of Britain was gradual. The invaders came from what is now north-western Germany and eastern Netherlands and belonged to three powerful Germanic tribes:

• the Jutes - settled Kent and on the Isle of Wight.

• the Saxons - settled west of Kent and south of the Thames.

• the Angles - settled on the areas north of Thames up to the northern border of today's England and gave origins to the East Angles, the Middle Angles, the Mercians and the Northumbrians.

SAXON-PLACE NAMES:

• -ing = folk, family, e.g Hastings- the place of the family of Hasta.

• -ham = farm, e.g. Birmingham.

• -ton = settlement, e.g Southampton.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CELTS?

• They were driven far west into the mountains of the country never conquered by the Saxons and called by them `Wales'. There they were kept out by Offa's Dyke, a huge defensive rather than offensive earth wall.

• Some were driven into Cornwall or pushed northwards into the lowlands of what became Scotland as the highlands were already inhabited by the Picts and Scots from Ireland.

• Many Celts fled westwards Brittany, but there were also those who stayed behind and became slaves of the Saxons.

Anglo-Saxons were not city dwellers but hunters and farmers and were used to living in the open. They lived in villages and isolated farms. During the first two centuries, they were tough, brutal, warlike, illiterate and less civilised than the Romans. They were pagans, too.

The Anglo-Saxon invasion resulted in:

• Destruction of Roman civilisation;

• Geographical and political division of Britain into England, Wales and Scotland;

• The end of the Celtic language and culture in England and the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon one, although the Celtic culture was still flourishing in Ireland, which was not invaded by the Romans or the Saxons;

• The creation of many Saxon kingdoms;

• Days of the week named after Germanic gods;

• New place-names - typical Saxon endings.

INSTITUTIONS CREATED BY ANGLO-SAXONS:

• The King's Council called WITAN;

• The beginning of the manorial system and local government. In the centre of each district there was a MANOR owned by a local lord. Here people paid taxes, rendered services, gathered before war, here justice was administered with a local lord acting as a judge;

• New administration system: a SHIRE, or a county, was ruled by a SHERIFF; each shire was divided into HUNDREDS and protected by a FYRD; a HIDE was introduced as a unit of land.

WITAN - the King's Council in the late Saxon England, an assembly of nobles, ecclesiastics and officials meeting irregularly to advise the king. In the tenth century the Witan was more formal as new kings were chosen here, solemn public arts were ratified and business was discussed. It was an established institution and force to be reckoned with.

MANOR (or TUN) - a medieval landed estate held by a lord under the feudal system and worked by serfs and tenant farmers as a largely self-sufficient economic unit. The tenants rendered dues in kind, money or services in return for their land and the lord enjoyed certain rights over both land and tenants, e.g. the right to hold a court.

SHIRE - an Anglo-Saxon administrative area coinciding with the modern county.

SHERIFF - the king's local administrator in Anglo-Saxon times.

HUNDRED - for legal and administrative purposes shires were divided into hundreds. Each hundreds had its own court for settling local business, had to provide troops and oarsmen.

FYRD - during the Anglo-Saxon period, a local military force in which all free men were obliged to serve. A fyrd seldom fought beyond the borders of the shire in which it was raised.

HIDE - an Anglo-Saxon unit of land, originally the amount on which a household could survive.

The Anglo-Saxon introduced new technology in agriculture, the heavy plough, which influenced land organisation and use. England also became a great exporter of woollen goods, cheese, hunting dogs, pottery and metal goods. Its import mainly wine, fish and jewellery.

HEPTARCHY - seven English kingdoms that existed from the sixth to the ninth century: Northumbria, East Anglia, Essex, Mercia, Wessex, Sussex and Kent.

KING OFFA (757-96) was the most powerful king of the seventh of kingdoms. He ruled all the kingdoms except Northumbria and Wessex. He is the first ruler whose charters use title `King of the English'.

ECGBERT (802-839) was the king who united all Heptarchy kingdoms.

THE VIKINGS INVASION

The Vikings were Norwegians and Danes riders. The word “Viking” probably means “pirate” or “the people of the sea inlets”. They had a polytheistic religion similar to any other religion of that type. However, the Vikings quickly accepted Christianity.

The Vikings may seem “barbarian” as they killed, plundered and burnt monasteries, but they are also known for their barter skills. They lived in towns which were the centres of trade and local crafts. They were skilful farmers as well as fur-traders, whalers, fishermen, merchants, pirates and sailors. The sea was their road from one settlement to another and the only way of communication with the outside world. Their strategy was to make sudden and unexpected attacks.

Britain's monasteries, which their gold and silver treasures, tempted them, the more that being situated along the east, north and west coasts of Britain, they were generally easy to plunder. Initially they only raided the island, but as their population was expanding and it was getting harder and harder to find a reasonable living in their homeland, the Vikings decided to establish settlements on the island, which offered good conditions like good climate and rich land.

THE VIKING INVASION PERIOD CAN BE DIVIDED INTO:

• THE FIRST VIKING AGE during which the Anglo-Saxons were in the constant state of war with the Vikings.

• 842 A.D. - the Vikings raided London.

• 865 A.D. - the Vikings invaded Britain to conquer and settle. They landed in East Anglia and soon made wide territorial gains.

• 871 A.D. - first attacks on the Wessex¹.

• 875 A.D. - Marcia and Northumbria had succumbed.

• 875-6 A.D. - another attack launched on Wessex

• 878 A.D. - King ALFRED THE GREAT (871-899) held out against the Vikings and won a decisive battle.

• 879 A.D. - the Danish King and Alfred settled peace terms, according to which the Danelaw was to be ruled by the Danes and Alfred would be the King of the English area not subjected to the Danish law.

• 886 A.D. - Alfred captured London and was proclaimed the King of the English.

• THE SECOND VIKING AGE during which Norwegian Vikings from Ireland began attacking the west coast. Their main object was to gain control of the northern Danelaw. They created the Norse kingdom with a base in York. It lasted with interruptions for 35 years.

• 954 A.D. - the English invaded Northumbria and the last king of York was driven out and killed.

• 973 A.D. - EDGAR (957-75), Alfred's grandson, was the first king of England to be crowned at Bath.

• 991 A.D. - a Danish force came and had to be bought off with a large payment. Heavy raids followed in 994 A.D., 997 A.D. and 1002.

ALFRED THE GREAT (849 - 899) was a King of Wessex from 871 A.D., renowned for his defence of England against Danes and for his encouragement of learning. He himself translated a number of Latin texts. Alfred is also noted for his laws, “The Dooms of Alfred”.

¹ Wessex, which had become the most powerful kingdom and was the only kingdom where the anti-Vikings opposition was better organized. Alfred and his brother inflicted the first serious defeat on the Danes on Berkshire Downs. But the English success was short-lived and a new Danish army landed and invaded Wessex. After a year of minor defeats, Alfred, who after the death of his brother became the ruler, had to buy the Danes off.

DANELAW - the land where Danish law and rule was recognised. The Danish had their own system of manorial organisation, land measurement, law and social differentiation. These differences remained and were difficult to eliminate in the united kingdom lather on. Its towns ha the ending -by, for example Derby. The rulers after Alfred wanted to re-conquest the Danelaw.

1014 -1042 were the period of twenty-eight-year Danish rule during which a lot of Danes joined the aristocracy and held official positions.

1042 - Edward The Confessor (1042 - 66) becoming the English king.

Harold - was Edward brother-in-law. He was the last Anglo-Saxon ruler.

THE VIKING INVASIONS BROUGHT ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CHANGES:

• Britain was devastated, monasteries were plundered, fewer houses of learning and culture were left, charters and other documents were lost.

• England had to pay tax know as Danegeld to buy off the Vikings - it evolved into a regular tax for keeping armies.

• Three English kingdoms were destroyed: Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia.

• The Danelaw was created.

• Fortified burhs were developed.

• Scandinavian names, like Harold, Tostig, and place-names ending with: -by, -thorp, -thwaite, -toft appeared.

• Only Celtic Scotland and Celtic Wales stayed independent.

• Ireland's first towns such as Dublin, Limerick, Waterford were founded.

DANEGELD - a tax imposed by Ethelred to get money he needed to but off the Vikings. The beginning of a regular tax system of people to pay for armies.

BURH - towns built to keep off the Vikings. It is one of the commonest endings to place names.

THE NORMAN CONQUEST

The Normans were descendants of the Vikings who had raided France. The King of France to make peace with them gave them land known as Normandy. The Normans rapidly absorbed the language, religion and manners of the French.

The Normans invasion started when William Duke of Normandy and his solders landed at Pevensey on 28 September 1066 and defeated Harold at the battle of Hastings.

By 1086 the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was gone and was replaced by new Norman elite.

Many new laws were passed to make the Norman more powerful. William's New Forest laws, which vastly extended royal forests and made the king the person to whom all hunting rights belonged, imposed very strict restrictions and hardship on the poor. The invasion caused a huge devastation in English villages, especially in the north.

On the other hand, under Norman rule a lot of castles, such s Windsor or the Tower of London, and churches were built around England. The feudal system became fully developed. The French culture became dominant in music, literature, art and architecture, and new styles, such as Romanesque and Gothic, were introduced.

FEUDALISM

The feudal system is associated with the rule of Norman kings who brought the system to England. The system was a practical means of controlling the population and also a useful system to extract money or services from landowners.

The abolition of the feudal system took place in 1789 and was caused by the reading of a report on the misery and disorder in the provinces.

FIEF - land granted to a knight by his lord in return for military service. By the twelfth century such land was regarded as heritable.

TENANT - someone who used land in return for service of any kind or money.

SERFS - an unfee pesant, tied to the land, could not leave except by paying or running away; if caught, they were brought back to servitude; he enjoyed certain rights that distinguished him from a slave.

HOMAGE - the act of submission made by a feudal tenant to his lord.

OATH OF FEALTY - the loyalty sworn by a vassal to his lord. It followed the act of homage. The oath has survived in the coronation service.

THE SUMMARY

ROMANS

• Called the island “Britannia”.

• Called Scotland “Caledonia”.

• First they raided, then they settled.

• Built the first border between England and Scotland.

• Brought the skill of writing and reading.

• Created and empire which included southern half Britain.

• Did not invade Ireland.

• Build the first roads in Britain.

• Were the first to bring Christianity.

• Built luxurious residencies in the countryside.

ANGLO-SAXONS

• Divided the land into shires.

• Were pagans.

• Created the Heptachy.

• Called the mountains in the far west of Britain “Wales”.

• Did not invade Ireland.

• Push the British Celts to the Scottish highlands, Wales and Cornwall.

• Gave the larger part of Britain its new name England.

• Valued loyalty to family and lords as well as gift giving.

• Had the army called “fyrd”.

VIKINGS

• Were kept put by walled settlements called “burghs”.

• Were pagans.

• Had to be bought off.

• Introduced Denegeld.

• First they raided, then they settled.

• Settled in northern Scotland, on the Shetland and Orkney Islands.

• Raided London.

• Ruled England for 28 years.

• Created Danelaw.

NORMANS

• Settled in Ireland, where Dublin was their main base.

• Came from the northern France.

• Caused an urban expansion in England.

• Created the first class system made up of king, lords, solders and workers.

• Were descendants of the Vikings.

• Fully developed feudalism.

• Brought the French language and culture.

• Build many castles to resist English attacks.

Serfs

(An unfee peasant)

Freeholders

(Ovned his land in fee)

Sub-tenants

(knights)

Swore loyality and military service to their lords

Tenants-in-chef

(earls, barons)

Swore loyality and military service to the King

King

Possessed all the land

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