01 History of Englan..

The History of England
Lecture 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
n Gaels
(Britons) settle in Britain!
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 Empire
1st 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 Invasion
n 449
A.D. The end of Celtic possession
of Britain!
n Angles,
Saxons, & Jutes arrive separately
from areas around present day
Denmark!
n Celts
are pushed West into Wales,
North to Scotland, & off the island into
Ireland!
has King Arthur as the last
great Celtic king defending against the
Anglo-Saxons c. 475-515 A.D.
n Legend
Celts and Anglo-Saxons
By end of 6th Century
n
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