Origins of Royal Britain

What do we mean by Britain? -  7th c. BC Brythons, Celtic people moved from continental Europe to British Isles. -  1st century BC Roman “Britannia” (largely England and Wales); Scotland was "Caledonia"; Ireland, "Hibernia" -  1603 union of crowns of England (included Wales) and Scotland (Great Britain)-  1707 Act of Union unification of the states of England and Scotland; 1801 United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland -  2015 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Great Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales)

Britons/Celts? - Celtic language group - date of arrival in British Isles unknown - British Isles inhabited for 200,000+ years         Paleolithic hunters and gathers         Neolithic peoples (first farmers) ca. 4000 BC (Salisbury Plain) - Celts in several waves over long period             introduced use of iron             traded with the Continent             used gold coinage (by 1st c. BC)

Social & Political Organization of Celtic Britain -  dominated by warrior aristocracy and priests (Druids) -  ruled by small tribal kingdoms -  experienced intertribal warfare (fortified settlements on hilltops) -  Belgae created unified kingdoms in Hertfordshire and Essex (1st c. BC on); Cunobelin (Shakespeare's Cymbeline) entitled "rex Britannorum"         introduced heavy plow (grain major exporters)

Although the Romans conquered what is now England and Wales by the end of the 1st century AD, they were not seeking a homeland but tribute. British kings submitted to the emperor and ruled their former kingdoms in his name.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, Roman Britain was threatened by Germanic invaders and Rome itself was sacked by the “Barbarians” in 410.

The Anglo-Saxons were looking for loot and land and they pretty much ignored Roman urban cultural and political institutions. As the Roman legions returned to Italy, the Britons were left defenseless. By the 6th c. AD, Britons were pushed to the fringes of the island – to Wales, Cornwall, and Southwestern Scotland. Many who remained were killed or enslaved.

Kingship Celtic  and A-S concepts of kingship similar -  oldest political institution in Britain -  word king OE cyning/cyng (title used for A-S chiefs 5th and 6th c. AD) means scion or offspring of race or tribe - A-S leaders warlords - personal bond between man and man main cement

First King? Modern concept of kingship – one who has chief authority over a country or people - 7th c. Edwin, A-S leader in Northumbria, Bretwealda or lord of the Britains - 8th c. Mercian ascendancy (kingdom stretched from Trent River to Wales) - 9th c. Alfred the Great first used title King of  English (ruled Wessex 871 to 901)  - 10th c. Danes conquered N. England -- first real King of England probably King Swein of Denmark 1013 - 1014

Nature of A-S Kingship - A-S kings selected (in theory) - defend people and maintain law and order - promulgated law (with Witan ); law lay in memory of folk - was commander-in-chief; army (fyrd) composed of peasant fighters commanded by retainers - thanes owed king service in army, maintained roads, and built military fortresses - one tax – the danegeld (to restrain the Danes), a tax on land (dated from 991) - king was expected to live off his own

An Anglo-Saxon democracy? - government employed 2 percent of adult male population - most peasants unfree tenants or slaves - free peasants or ceorls served in the fyrd but were small proportion of the peasantry and their primary occupation was farming