The History of EnglandLecture 1!

Beginnings

British Isles

Iberians

• Earliest immigrants to the British Isles!

• Arrive c. 2500 B.C. with late Stone-Age weapons!

• Migrated from Spain / Portugal!

• Stonehenge – c. 2000 B.C.

Celts

n Arrive c. 800-600 B.C.!

n Also from Southern Europe !

n Two main groups: Brythons & Gaels!

n Brythons (Britons) settle in Britain!

n Gaels settle in Ireland

Celtic migrations

Celtic Society

n Individual clans loyal to Chieftains!

n Inter-Clan rivalries and disputes settled by priestly class – Druids!

n Druids were religious leaders and keepers of history and myth through the oral tradition

Druids

Druids today

Romans

n Invade Celtic society in 43 A.D. (after two earlier unsuccessful attempts).

Roman soldiers

Roman art and architecture

The Roman Empire1st Century BC to 476 AD

Significance of the Romans

n Brought improvements, primarily roads

n Brought Christianity!

n Ruled for 300 years, until barbarian invasions of Italy forced Roman troops home to defend homeland!

n Departed Britain by 407 A.D.

Traces: Hadrian’s Wall

Anglo-Saxon Invasionn449 A.D. The end of Celtic possession

of Britain!

nAngles, Saxons, & Jutes arrive separately from areas around present day Denmark!

nCelts are pushed West into Wales, North to Scotland, & off the island into Ireland!

nLegend has King Arthur as the last great Celtic king defending against the Anglo-Saxons c. 475-515 A.D.

Celts and Anglo-Saxons

By end of 6th Centuryn Anglo-Saxons dominate England!

n Celts pushed to!

§Wales!

§Cornwall!

§Brittany!

§Ireland!

§Scotland

Anglo-Saxon Language and Culture

n Angles, Saxons, and other invading groups meld together into cooperative neighboring kingdoms with much social exchange, including marriage, etc.!

n Languages meld over time into one “Anglo-Saxon” language today called Old English (“Angl-ish”). !

n Old English: written form made up of ancient symbols called Runes, not Greek Alphabet of today.

Manuscript page from Beowulf

Vikings

n Other groups of “Vikings” (warriors) from northern Europe arrive

Christianity

n 597 – St. Augustine is sent by Pope Gregory the Great to bring Christianity to England

Canterbury

Christianity

• The population gradually converted until the 9th century when most Britons were Christian.!

• Latin was introduced to the Anglo Saxons who integrated Old English with Latin Vocabulary!

• Examples: Area, bacteria, cancer, circus, complex, equilibrium, fungus, pauper, peninsula!

• Christian monks inaugurated a literary tradition in Anglo Saxon society

Venerable Bede

Bede, or Baeda (c. 672 - May 25, 735 CE) was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk at the Northumbrian monastery.!

Most famous work: Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (History of the English Church and People) which begins “Britannia is an island in the ocean and once was called Albion”.

Venerable Bede struggles to complete his translation of the Gospel of John into Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon culture c.700

n Norsemen (from Norway); settled in Northern England, Scotland, Wales, & Ireland!

n Danes settled in Southern & Eastern England, region known as “Danelaw”!

n Both groups’ languages affect Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon Britain

The Norman Invasion – 1066 A.D.

n 1066 A.D. – William the Conqueror of Normandy (Northern France) invades Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king, at the Battle of Hastings!

n The birth of Middle English

n Normans are French, and although the language of the people of England remains Anglo-Saxon, the new language of law and government becomes French overnight!

n By 1400 A.D., English has absorbed so much French, it begins to look like English we can recognize