THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

LECTURE 2

HISTORY OG GREAT BRITAIN

EARLIEST TIMES

Britain became an island after the end of the last ice age. The ice melted and flooded the lowlands where we have the English Channel now. Our first evidence of human life – a stone tool 250000 BC.

That time the ancestors of modern British arrived, they were smaller than modern ones and lived for 30 years. These people kept animals and grew crops, made pottery. After 3000 BC the chalkland people started building great circles of earth banks and ditches. Inside they built wooden buildings and stone circles. These “henges” were centers of religious, political and economical power (Stonehenge).

The Celts

Around 700 BC another group of people arrived. They were tall, had blue eyes, fair or red hair. These were the Celts who probably came from central Europe. They were technically advanced. The Celts were organized in different tribes, and tribal chiefs were chosen from each family or tribe.

The hill-forts remained the centre for local groups. The insides of these hill-forts were filled with houses. The Celtic tribes were ruled by a warrior class and the priests (Druids). These Druids could not read or write, but they memorized all the religious teaching, the tribal laws, medicine and so on.

The Romans

The name “Britain” comes from the word “Pretani”, the Greco-Roman word for inhabitants of Britain. Roman army actually entered the island in 43 AD.

The Romans could not conquer Scotland, at last they built a wall along the northern border (120 km long and 4 m high), named after Emperor Hadrian. It also marked the border between two countries, England and Scotland.

The most obvious characteristic of Roman Britain was its towns, which grew out of Celtic settlements. At first the cities had earthworks, but by AD 300 all towns had thick stone walls. The Latin word casta (chester, caster, cester) - army camp - remained part of many town names: Gloucester, Doncaster, Chester, Lancaster. Common people lived in the same kinds of round huts and villages. The life for them was very hard (people die between 20 and 40 years old).

There were 5 million people in Britain.

The Saxon invasion

The invaders came from three powerful Germanic tribes: the Saxons, Angles, Jutes.

The British were pushed westwards until by 570 they were forced west of Gloucester. The earliest Saxon villages – family villages. (-ing means family: Hastings – family of Hast; ham – farm: Birmingham). The Anglo-Saxons created kingdoms: Essex (east Saxons), Sussex (south Saxons) and so on. The Saxons created several institutions. For example, Witan – the King’s Council, which grew out of an informal group of warrior and churchmen (advisers of the king). By the 10^th century the Witan was a formal body, issuing laws. The king could ignore their laws, but the Witan had the right to choose the king. The Saxons divided the land into new administrative areas – shires (counties). Over each shire was appointed a shire reeve, the king’s local administrator. In each district was a “manor” or large house. This was a simple building where people paid taxes and justice was administrated. It was the beginning of a class system – king, lord, soldiers and workers.

The Vikings

The Viking (“pirates”) raided Britain in 8^th century from Norway and Denmark. First of all they burnt everything along the east, north and west coasts of Britain. London was raided in 842. In 950 Danish Vikings started raiding westwards. The Saxon king, Ethelred, decided to pay them to sat away – the new tax appeared (“Danegold”). The Witan chose a person from a local family without royal blood, but courageous and rich, to be the king. Harold’s rights were challenged by the Duke William of Normandry. Normans actually were grandchildren of the Vikings who came to France. William marched to London and was crowned a king in 1066.

THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

William was careful and gave the land in the following way – small parts of the land in different parts of the country to one person. Besides, he kept enough land for himself. He introduced feudal system. At each level a man had to promise loyalty to his lord. Each lord had responsibilities to his vassals: he had to give him land and protection.

William governed England and Normandy by traveling from one place to another. There was no capital, the kings were crowned in Westminster, their treasury was in Winchester.

William controlled two large areas – England won in the war, Normandy – his original possession where he was a vassal to the French king. When William died in 1087 he left the Duchy of Normandy to his elder son, Robert, and he gave England to his second son William. When Robert went to fight the Muslims in the Holy Land, he left William in charge of Normandy. William died in 1100 in hunting accident. He had no son to take the crown. Robert, the Duke of Normandy, was in Holy land. Henry, their third brother decided to take the English crown. He took the king’s treasure and was crowned quickly. His grandson Henry II was the first unquestioned ruler of the country (no other heirs). He destroyed castles built without his permission. He married Eleanor de Aquitaine who ruled the lands south of Anjou. But then he quarreled with his wife and his sons Richard and John took her side.

Henry was followed by his rebellious son Richard “Lionheart”. He was very popular, although he didn’t spend time in England, fighting in the Holy land. On his way back he was captured by the duke of Austria, with whom he had quarreled in Jerusalem. The duke demanded a lot of money and got the sum in two years.

Richard was followed by his brother John, who quickly quarreled with three powerful groups of people: the nobles, the merchants, the church. He was very greedy. The nobles went to London, joined angry merchants and made the king sign a new agreement “Magna Carta” (the Great Charter): promised protection and the right to a fair trial. Lords made a committee of 24 people to look after the king.

Parliament

Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, and his supporters created a council of nobles (parliament), which took control of the treasury. They were supported by the town which didn’t like heavy taxes. But some of the nobles supported the king and killed de Montfort. Henry had the whole authority. In 1272 Henry’s son Edward I brought together the first real parliament. Parliament was able to make written laws and political decisions, but they couldn’t provide the king with the money he needed as for they were land-owners. The rest should be got by taxation. The king created a “representative institution” – the House of Commons, which contain a mixture of knights and merchants. From each shire 2 representatives were sent to the Parliament.

Towns and villages

In 1066 nine-tenth of people lived in the countryside. Life in the countryside was hard. The houses were made of wooden beams and sticks, filled with mud. They ate cereals and vegetables with pork meat for special occasions.

By 1300 the population was over 4 million, it was hard to get food. Shortage of land led to a sharp rise in prices, so the smaller landed knights found it very difficult to pay for their military service, they became indebted. They came to town on hope for better future.

THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

Edward III declared war on France in 1337. He had an excuse – he claimed his rights to the French crown. The war was called a Hundred Years War and ended only in 1453 when England lost all its possessions in France.

At first the English were more successful than the French. In 1356 at Poitiers the English took a lot of treasure and even captured the French king. The French king had to give a great sum of money. In 1360 Edward III made a treaty with the French – he had re-established control over his French areas (Aquitainne, Gascony, Normandy and Brittany). But later a French king continued the war again and the lands but for some coastal ports were taken back.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1547