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Ancient Britons (The Celts).

About 500–600 B.C. new people – the Celts – appeared in Britain. They crossed the English Channel from the territory of the present-day France. They were tall, strong people with long red and sandy hair, armed with iron swords. The Romans called these people Britons and the island – Britannia. The Britons were skilful workers. Powerful Celtic tribes, the Britons, held most of the country and the southern half of the island was named Britain after them. Today the words “Briton” and “British” refer to the people of the whole of the British Isles.

Celtic tribes called the Picts penetrated into the mountains on the North. Some Picts as well as tribes of Scots crossed over to Ireland and settled there. Later the Scots returned to the larger island and settled in the North beside the Picts. They came in such large numbers that in time the name of Scotland was given to that country.

The Celts had no towns. They lived in villages. The Celtic tribes of the Britons who inhabited the south-eastern parts of the island were more civilized then the other tribes. Their clothing was made of wool, woven in many colours while the other Celts wore skins. In war-time the Celts wore skins and painted their faces with a blue dye to make themselves look fierce. The Celts worshipped Nature. The Celts believed in another life after death. They were taught by priests called druids. The Celts believed in their magic power. The druids were able to foretell the future. Some women were made tribal chiefs and called queens.


12.
The Romans.

In the 1st century B.C. when the inhabitants of the British Isles were still living under the primitive communal system, the Roman Empire became the strongest slave-owning state in the Mediterranean. It was the last and greatest of the civilizations of the ancient world. The Romans ruled all of the civilized world and in the 1st century A.D. they conquered Britain. Briton was a province of the Roman Empire for about 4 centuries.

Two thousand years ago while the Celts were still living in tribes, the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman society differed greatly from that of the Celts. It was a slave society divided into antagonistic classes. The main classes were the slaves and the slave-owners. The slave system reached its peak in the Roman Empire. No other country in the ancient world had so many slaves as Rome did.

In 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10,000 men crossed the channel and invaded Britain. The Celts made a great impression on the Romans. The Celts were strong and defeated the Romans.

In the next year, 54 B.C. Caesar again came to Britain this time with larger forces (25,000 men). The Celts fought bravely for their independence but they could not drive the Romans off.

13.Anglo-Saxon England.

After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts remained independent but not for long. From the middle of the 5th century they had to defend the country against the attacks of Germanic tribes from the continent. In the 5th century first the Jutes and then other Germanic tribes – the Saxons and the Angles – began to migrate to Britain.



In 449 the Jutes landed in Kent and this was the beginning of the conquest. The British natives fought fiercely against the invaders and it took more than a hundred and fifty years for the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes to conquer the country.

The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were closely akin in speech and customs and they gradually merged into one people. The name “Jute” soon died out and the conquerors are generally referred to as the Anglo-Saxons. The final refuge of the Celts was Cornwall and Wales. The Anglo-Saxons called the Celts “Welsh” which means “foreigners” as they could not understand the Celtic language which was quite unlike their own.

14 Christianity

Christianity first penetrated to Britain in the 3-d century. It was brought there from Rome by Christian refugees who were fiercely prosecuted for their faith at home. In the year 306, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great stopped the prosecution of the Christians and became a Christian himself. Christianity was made the Roman national faith. It was brought to all dependent countries. 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. Those who remained alive fled to Wales and Ireland where they lived in groups called Brethrens (brotherhoods). They built churches and devoted themselves to worship. They told people stories of Christian martyrs and visitations by saints. Such stories were typical of the literature of that time.

Towards the end of the 6-th century Christian monks began coming from Rome to Britain again. The head of the Roman Church at that time was Pope Gregory. He wanted to spread his influence over England by converting the people to Christianity. He sent monks to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The monks landed in Kent and the first church they built was in the town of Canterbury. Up to this day Canterbury has remained the English religious center and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
15The Raids of the Danes Uniting the Country.

The Danes were of the same Germanic race as the Anglo-Saxons themselves and they came from the same part of the continent. But unlike the Anglo-Saxons whose way of life had changed greatly ever since they came to Britain, the Danes still lived in tribes. They were still pagans. At the end of the 8th century they began to attack Britain. The Danes were well armed – with sword, spear, bow. Their ships were sailing-boats. The Danes were bold and skilful seamen.

In later years large Danish fleets brought large armies to conquer and settle in the new lands. The Danish raids were successful because the kingdom of England had neither a regular army nor a fleet in the North Sea to meet them.

16 ALFRED THE GREAT

Alfred, the grandson of Egbert, became king in the year 871, when Englands danger was greatest. Alfred gathered a big army and gave the Danes were defeated in this battle, but still they remained very strong and dangerous. The Danes the greater portion of England. The kingdom that was left in Alfreds possession was Wessex. Alfred is the only king of England who got the name “the great”. He translated the church history and parts of the Bible from Lation into Anglosaxon. He started the famous Anglosaxon chronicle. The Anglosaxon chronicle was continued by various authors for 250 ears after the dead of Alfred.

17 England after Alfred the Great:

 

Alfred The Great was son of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. After he succeeded his brother as king and win battles with Danes, he devied England in Danelaw - Danish territory and North part. When he obtained peace with Danes, he reorganised his army and built up defences of kingdom; he advocated justice and order and established a code of laws and a reformed coinage. He had a strong belief in the importance of education. After his dead, England was powerfull, cause Alfed reorganised army and gave importance to education and rules of law, that allowed peace and harmony live in this lands.

18 The Norman Conquest

At the end of the 11th and at the beginning of the 12th century England had a population of about 1,500,000 people.

The church was the centre of the village. The Anglo-Saxon church was made of stone with very thick walls and a tower. The people did not work on these days and that is how a “holy day” became a “holiday”. The church was used as a store-house, as a prison and as a fortress (in times of danger).

The most important Norman nobles lived in castles from which they ruled the village. The castle dominated over the small miserable dwellings of the peasants. They were rough little huts with thatched roofs. They were dark, cold and uncomfortable. The peasants, huts were very smoky because they had no chimneys.

Very few changes came about in the village in England after the Norman Conquest. The peasants tilled the land and kept sheep and oxen in the same way as their fathers and grandfathers had done.

But most of them were no longer free men. By this time the village had become a part of the feudal manor. Now the village lands and the villagers themselves belonged to the lord of the manor.

19 RICHARD 1 THE LION-HEART

(1189-1199) was the second king of the Plantagenet dynasty. His contem poraries described him as a man of excellent manners., king to his friends and cruel and merciless to his enemies. Richard was seldom seen in England, spending most of his time taking part in crusades in Palestine. At home the barons, in the kings absence, strengthened their castes and acted like little kings prince john. Common people were cruelly appressed. Richard the lion-heart was killed in one of the battles in France, and the English throne passed to his brother john. Naturally the French kings and nobles didn’t like it and wanted to win back these lands, so the English and the French waged continuous wars in france. Finally the barons organized an open rebellion. In1215 the king was made to sing a document called the Great Charter.

20 The Magna Carta
was signed in June 1215 between the barons of Medieval England and King John. ‘Magna Carta’ is Latin and means “Great Charter”. The Magna Carta was one of the most important documents of Medieval England.

 

It was signed (by royal seal) between the feudal barons and King John at Runnymede near Windsor Castle. The document was a series of written promises between the king and his subjects that he, the king, would govern England and deal with its people according to the customs of feudal law. Magna Carta was an attempt by the barons to stop a king – in this case John – abusing his power with the people of England suffering
England had for some years owned land in France. The barons had provided the king with both money and men to defend this territory. Traditionally, the king had always consulted the barons before raising taxes (as they had to collect it) and demanding more men for military service (as they had to provide the men). This was all part of the Feudal System.

So long as English kings were militarily successful abroad, relations with the barons were good. But John was not very successful in his military campaigns abroad. His constant demands for more money and men angered the barons. By 1204, John had lost his land in northern France. In response to this, John introduced high taxes without asking the barons. This was against feudal law and accepted custom.

John made mistakes in other areas as well. He angered the Roman Catholic Church. The pope, vexed by John’s behaviour, banned all church services in England in 1207. Religion, and the fear of Hell, were very important to the people including the barons. The Catholic Church taught the people that they could only gain entrance to Heaven if the Catholic Church believed that they were good enough to get there. How could they show their goodness and love of God if the churches were shut ? Even worse for John was the fact that the pope excommunicated him in 1209. This meant that John could never get to Heaven until the pope withdrew the excommunication. Faced with this, John climbed down and accepted the power of the Catholic Church, giving them many privileges in 1214.

1214 was a disastrous year for John for another reason. Once again, he suffered military defeat in an attempt to get back his territory in northern France. He returned to London demanding more money from taxes. This time the barons were not willing to listen. They rebelled against his power. The barons captured London. However, they did not defeat John entirely and by the Spring of 1215, both sides were willing to discuss matters. The result was the Magna Carta.

21 The First Universities

 

Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest universities in England. Both of these universities are very beautiful. They have some of the finest architecture in Britain. Some of their colleges, chapels and libraries are three, four and even five hundred years old, and are full of valuable books and precious paintings.
Little is known about the early history of Cambridge but there is enough information to trace the first steps due to which Oxford gained its intellectual glory. The first college of Oxford University was founded in 1249. The university now has thirty-five colleges and about thirteen thousand students.
There were no women students at Oxford until 1878, when the first women's college, Lady Margaret Mall, opened. Now, most colleges are open to men and women. Oxford is famous for its first-class education as well as its beautiful buildings. Many students want to study there, It is not easy to get a place at Oxford University to study for a degree. But outside the university there are many smaller private colleges which offer less difficult courses and where it is easy to enrol.

 

22 The Hundred Years’ War

The Hundred Years' War was a conflict between France and England, lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453. It was fought primarily over claims by the English kings to theFrench throne and was punctuated by several brief and two lengthy periods of peace before it finally ended in the expulsion of the English from France, with the exception of the Calais Pale. Thus, the war was in fact a series of conflicts and is commonly divided into three or four phases: the Edwardian War (1337-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), the Lancastrian War (1415-1429), and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc, (1429-1453). The term "Hundred Years' War" was a later historical term invented by historians to describe the series of events.

The war owes its historical significance to a number of factors. Though primarily a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of both French and English nationality. Militarily, it saw the introduction of new weapons and tactics, which eroded the older system of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry. The first standing armies inWestern Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire were introduced for the war, thus changing the role of the peasantry. For all this, as well as for its long duration, it is often viewed as one of the most significant conflicts in the history of medieval warfare.

23 The Peasants' Revolt
of 1381 is one of the most dramatic events of English history. What began as a local revolt in Essex quickly spread across much of the south east of England, while some of the peasants took their grievances direct to the young King, Richard II, in London.

The revolt began in Essex when locals in Brentwood reacted to an over-zealous poll-tax collector.

The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 . The ruin of France and the famine that followed caused an epidemic of the plague. It was so infectious that there was no escape from it. People died within twenty-four hours. From France the epidemic was brought over to England. The English soldiers called rt the Blaeh Death. By the year 1348 one-third of England's population had perished. The position of the peasants was very hard. They had to give part of their harvest to the lord. They also had to work on the lord's fields regularly. After the epidemic of the Black Death, when the population of England had diminished by one-third, there were not enough labourers to work on the lords' fields. So the surviving peasants were made to work on the lords' fields lnuch more. They were paid for their work, but the payment was very little. As years went by, the French feudals united against their enemy, and the English were beginning to lose their advantage. As the king needed money for the war, Parliament voted for extra taxesl, which made the life of peasants stiil harder. In 1381 the peasants revolted. Sixty thousand people from the counties of Essex and Kent marched to London led by Wat Tyler2 and Jack Straws. In London they broke open the prisons, destroyed many buildings and killed many royal officials. They came to the royal palace and demanded to see the king. The king of England Richard II was then a l4-year-old boy. He boldly appeared be fore the crowd of rebels, listened to them and promised to fulfil their demands. But the king did not keep his promise. Wat Tyler rffas treacherously mu dered and the rebellion was suppressed.
24 THE WAR OF THE ROSES

When the Magna Carta was singed in 1215, the Norman barons were united with the Saxon nobles and the growing, bourgeoisie of the big towns, and they took part in governing the country. Big barons formed a small group of their own. Realizing the danger whith these big barons represented to crown, Edward 3 tried to marry his sons to there daughters. During the reign of Richard 2 (1377-1399), dynasty, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, seized the crown and became the fist king of the Lancaster dynasty, Henry 4 (1399-1413). The feudal struggle grew into an open war between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Why the war between them put the name of the war of the roses. Which lasted for 30 years (1455-1485) turned into a bitter struggle for the crown. The war of the roses ended with the battle of Bosworth in 1485. king Richard 3 of the house of york was killed in the battle and right in the field, Henry Tudor, earl of the house of Lancaster. A year later, in 1486, he married the yorkist heiress Princess Elizabeth of york. Of the House of Lancaster with the white rose of the house of york.

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Date: 2016-01-14; view: 4944


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