AN OUTLINE OF EARLY BRITISH HISTORY
Ancient history of the nation.
3.1.1 Approximately in 700 BC Britain was invaded by the Celts, who are supposed to have come from Central Europe or further east, from Southern Russia. They were tall, strong people with long red or sandy hair, armed with iron swords and knives which were much stronger than the bronze weapons used by the native population. The first group of invaders was called the Goidels or Gaels. They occupied the central part of GB and later western and northern areas. The original language of Ireland and North-west Scotland is thus Gaelic.
3.1.2 The second wave of Celtic tribes, the Brythonic Celts or Brythons, from whose name – according to one of the versions – is derived the word “Britain”, arrived in England between 600 and 500 BC, and settled in the South of England and South West Scotland. Their language developed into the Celtic language of modern Wales. The third wave of invaders, Belgae (the Belgic tribes) arrived about 100 BC and occupied the greater part the central part of GB. The earliest Celts were in the bronze stage of development, but later Celtic invaders brought with them the knowledge of iron working. Trade, industry and agriculture flourished, as did the sheep and cattle breeding. They established a warrior aristocracy and a number of tribal kingdoms.
3.1.3 The Britons were polytheistic, that is they believed in many gods. They believed that different gods lived in the thickest and darkest parts of the forests. Some plants, such as the mistletoe and the oak-tree, were considered sacred. Some historians think that the Britons were governed by a class of priests called Druids who had great power over them. Stonehenge was the temple of the Druids, just as it had been the temple of the primitive men before.
3.1.4 At the turn of the Christian era it was the close relations of Britain to Gaul which first attracted the notice of the Romans. The reason for the Romans to invade Britain was the fact that the country produced and exported corn, animals, hunting dogs and slaves. So the Romans could make use of British food, at least, for their own army fighting with Gauls. So, they prepared for an invasion. Julius Caesar was the first to carry the Roman banner to the British Isles. In 55 BC he landed and engaged the Britons but soon withdrew his troops because the local opposition was strong. The following year with an army of 25,000 he landed again and penetrated where the London now stands, there he defeated the Celtic tribesmen. He levied tribute upon them but again withdrew without making a permanent occupation.
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The beginning of the Christian era and after.
3.2.1. In AD 43 the Roman Emperor Claudius sent an army to Britain which conquered the southern part of the island. It was not an easy task. The Britons rose again and again, sword in hand. One of the most famous rebellions against the Romans was led by Boadicea, a British queen (circa AD 61). The Britons forced the Romans out of London, and some 70,000 Romans were killed in a few days. The Romans retaliated with a vengeance.
The Romans could not conquer “Caledonia”, as they called Scotland. At last Emperor built a great wall of earth, known as the Hadrian’s Wall, more than 70 miles long, to keep out Picts and Scots. According to another version, the name “Britain” comes from the word “Pretani”, the Greco-Roman word for the inhabitants of Britain. The Romans mispronounced the word and called the island “Britania”. The island got one more name. It was the name of “Albion”. It meant “white land”, because the first view for most visitors was the white cliffs near Dover.
3.2.2. In the north and the west the older social order remained much untouched, while in the towns and where the Roman type villas were concentrated, the slave-owning system developed. Otherwise the old way of life of the British Celts did not change very much. The Romans brought law and order, fine buildings, roads and towns, and what is more important peace for more than 300 years. The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain. The written word was important for spreading ideas and also for establishing power. While the Celtic peasantry remained illiterate and only Celtic speaking, a number of town dwellers spoke Latin and Greek.
3.2.3. There’s one remarkable point about the Roman period in the history of the UK. Despite their long occupation in Britain, the Romans left not very much behind. Most of their villas, baths, temples, the impressive network of roads and the cities they founded, including Londinium, were soon destroyed or fell into disrepair. Probably the only long lasting reminders are place names on the territory of modern England (such as Chester, Lancaster, Gloucester); a layer of the Roman borrowings in the lexical system of modern English. The Christian religion was first brought to Britain by means of Roman ships.
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3.2.4. Soon after the departure of the Romans (407) the Celts retained their independence for a short period of time. From the middle of the V century they were the subject to numerous attacks of the Germanic tribes of the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons. At first the Germanic tribes only raided Britain, but after AD 430 they began to settle. The Angles settled in the east, and also in the north Midlands, while the Saxons settled in a band of land from the Thames Estuary westwards.
The Anglo-Saxon period.
3.3.1. For a long time the tribes of Angles, Saxons al Jutes fought with one another for supreme power. As a result, Britain split up into seven kingdoms. At the beginning of the ninth century Wessex became the leading kingdom and united the rest of England in the fight against the new invaders (the Danes). Since 829 the greater part of the country was united under the name of “England”.
3.3.2 In the course of the struggle of the Celts against the Anglo-Saxons many legends emerged of which most famous is the legend of the Court of King Arthur. The Welsh historian Nennius first mentioned Arthur by name in the IX-century Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons), but a full account of his life did not appear until about 300 years later, in the Historia Regum Britanniae by Welsh writer Geoffrey of Monmouth. Romances were composed in the XIII century.
In English, one of the most important Arthurian achievements is The Death of Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. This work draws together the full Arthurian story from a variety of sources. Arthurian themes again became popular in the 1800s. Whether such person really lived, whether there were several people whose histories came to be confused together under one name, or whether all about him was invention, no one knows.
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3.3.3 Having become the most powerful kingdom of England, Wessex began to face a most dangerous enemy. They were the Danes from Denmark and the Norsemen from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They’re frequently called the Vikings. These two Scandinavian peoples were closely related with one another. In the very beginning the Vikings were pagans while the Anglo-Saxons had already accepted Christianity. During their first raids the Vikings burnt churches and monasteries. The Anglo-Saxons understood that their small kingdoms must unite in order to struggle against the Danes successfully. Egbert, king of Wessex, united several kingdoms under the name of England and became the first king of the united country.
3.3.4 Alfred, the grandson of Egbert, became king in the year 871, when England's danger was greatest. The Danes, who had settled on the eastern shores of Britain, continued robbing and killing the people of England and occupying more and more land. There were some years of peace during which Alfred built the first English navy. The kingdom that was in Alfred's possession was Wessex. Alfred is the only king of England who got the name Great. He is famous for having tried to enlighten his people. He worked out a code of laws. He translated the Church history and parts of the Bible from Latin into Anglo-Saxon. He started the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is the first history of England.
Anglo-Saxons gave the Danes a great battle at Maldon in AD 991. The Danes were defeated in this battle, but still they remained very strong and dangerous.
Christianity in Britain.
3.4.1. Christianity was brought to Britain from Rome by Christian refugees who were fiercely prosecuted for their faith at home. In the year 306, the Roman Emperor Constantine stopped the prosecution of the Christians and became a Christian himself. It became the official religion in Britain, too. The Druids disappeared. The new religion was called the Catholic Church ("catholic" means "universal"). The Greek and Latin languages became the languages of the Church all over Europe. When the Anglo-Saxons, who were pagans, invaded Britain, most of the British Christians were killed. Towards the end of the VI century Christian monks began coming from Rome to Britain again. The first Catholic Church was built in the town of Саnterbury.
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3.4.2. Curiously, the spread of Christianity is also associated with the activities of St Patrick, the national saint of Ireland. He was probably born in Wales, the son of a Roman father. Patrick became a monk in Gaul (= France) and went to Ireland in AD 432. He converted many people to Christianity, and there are many stories about his great powers, including one which explains why there are no snakes in Ireland. Patrick is said to have tricked them all so that they went into the sea and drowned. He is also said to have used the shamrock plant to explain the Christian idea of the Trinity, because it has three leaves on one stem. That is why it is traditional for Irish people to wear a shamrock on St Patrick’s Day, 17 March.
3.4.3. Nowadays, the United Kingdom guarantees its citizens religious freedom without interference from the state or the community, and most of the world’s religions have followers in Britain. As in many European countries today, the majority of the population in Britain does not regularly attend religious services, yet nearly all faiths have devoted congregations of active members. An increasing percentage of the population professes no religious faith and some organizations represent secular outlooks. The United Kingdom has two established churches: the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. Anglicans also speak of themselves as a catholic, or universal, church, with a lowercase c, meaning that their beliefs are intended for humankind as a whole.
3.4.4. The British monarch, who must be a member of the Anglican Church, holds the titles of Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith. The monarch appoints archbishops and bishops upon the advice of the prime minister, who consults a commission that includes both lay people and clergy. Two archbishops and 24 senior bishops sit in the House of Lords. About 45 percent of the British population is Anglican. A third of the marriages in Britain are performed in the Anglican Church. Many members are merely baptized, married, and buried in the church, but do not otherwise attend services. More than a million people attend the Church of England on an average Sunday.
LECTURE 04
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