Wales and Ireland respectively. The words are commonly used today in scholarly classifications (for example, the type of English used in Ireland is sometimes called 'Hiberno-English') and for the names of organizations (for example, the airline 'British Caledonian').
Erin is a poetic name for Ireland. 'The Emerald Isle' is another way of referring to Ireland, evoking the lush greenery of its countryside.
12 I Country and people
> The invisible Scot
Here are some brief extracts from an article written by a Scotswoman, Janet Swinney, which expresses anger at how the dominance of England over Scotland is reflected in the way things are described.
First, there is 'domination by omission'. A map appeared in the Observer newspaper in May 1989 under the heading "Britain's Dirty Rivers'. It showed only England and Wales. Janet Swinney says: "What is the meaning of this illustration? Does Scotland have no rivers or no dirty rivers, or has someone simply used the word Britain to mean England and Wales?'
Second, she points out the common use of England/English to mean Britain/British: 'When I went to Turkey a few years ago with an assorted group of Britons, most of the English were happy to record their nationality on their embarkation cards as English, and saw nothing offensive about it. It's not unusual, either, for Scots to receive mail from elsewhere in the UK addressed Scotland, England ... Last year, works of art from the Soviet Union intended for display at the Edinburgh International Festival were sent to the City Art Gallery addressed Edinburgh, England'.
A third aspect of domination can be seen in the names given to publications and organizations: 'The practice is to label anything that pertains to England and (usually) Wales as though it were the norm, and anything Scottish as though it were a deviation from it. Why else do we have The Times Educational Supplement and The Times Educational Supplement (Scotland), the "National Trust" and the "National Trust for Scotland", the "Trades Union Congress" and the "Scottish Trades Union Congress"? In a society of equals, all these names would carry their geographical markers: The Times Educo-tional Supplement (England and Wales) etc'.
J Swinney, 'The Invisible Scot', English Today, April 1989
The dominance of England
There is, perhaps, an excuse for people who use the word 'England' when they mean 'Britain'. It cannot be denied that the dominant culture of Britain today is specifically English. The system of politics that is used in all four nations today is of English origin, and English is the main language of all four nations. Many aspects of everyday life are organized according to English custom and practice. But the political unification of Britain was not achieved by mutual agreement. On the contrary. It happened because England was able to exert her economic and military power over the other three nations (see chapter 2).
Today English domination can be detected in the way in which various aspects of British public life are described (> The invisible Scot). For example, the supply of money in Britain is controlled by the Bank of England (there is no such thing as a 'Bank of Britain'). The present queen of the country is universally known as 'Elizabeth the Second', even though Scotland and Northern Ireland have never had an 'Elizabeth the First'! (Elizabeth I of England and Wales ruled from 15^3 to 1603.) The term 'Anglo' is also commonly used. (The Angles were a Germanic tribe who settled in England in the fifth century. The word 'England' is derived from their name.) For example, newspapers and the television news talk about 'Anglo-American relations' to refer to relations between the governments of Britain and the USA (and not just those between England and the USA).
National loyalties
When you are talking to people from Britain, it is safest to use 'Britain' when talking about where they live and 'British' as the adjective to describe their nationality. This way you will be less likely to offend anyone. It is, of course, not wrong to talk about 'people in England' if that is what you mean - people who live within the geographical boundaries of England. After all, most British people live there (> Populations in 1995). But it should always be remembered that England does not make up the whole of the UK.
There has been a long history of migration from Scotland, Wales and Ireland to England. As a result there are millions of people who live in England but who would never describe themselves as English.
They may have lived in England all their lives, but as far as they are concerned they are Scottish or Welsh or Irish - even if, in the last case, they are citizens of Britain and not of Eire. These people support the country of their parents or grandparents rather than England in sporting contests. They would also, given the chance, play for that country rather than England. If, for example, you had heard the members of the Republic of Ireland World Cup football team talking in 1994, you would have heard several different kinds of English accent and some Scottish accents, but only a few Irish accents. Most
National loyalties 13
of the players did not live in Ireland and were not brought up in Ireland. Nevertheless, most of them would never have considered playing for any country other than Ireland!
The same holds true for the further millions of British citizens whose family origins lie outside the British Isles altogether. People of Caribbean or south Asian descent, for instance, do not mind being described as 'British' (many are proud of it), but many of them would not like to be called 'English'. And whenever the West Indian or Indian cricket team plays against England, it is certainly not England that they support!
There is, in fact, a complicated division of loyalties among many people in Britain, and especially in England. A black person whose family are from the Caribbean will passionately support the West Indies when they play cricket against England. But the same person is quite happy to support England just as passionately in a sport such as football, which the West Indies do not play. A person whose family are from Ireland but who has always lived in England would want Ireland to beat England at football but would want England to beat (for example) Italy just as much. This crossover of loyalties can
.vork the other way as well. English people do not regard the Scottish, the Welsh or the Irish as 'foreigners' (or, at least, not as the same kind of foreigners as other foreigners!). An English commentator of a sporting event in which a Scottish, Irish or Welsh team is playing against a team from outside the British Isles tends to identify with that team as if it were English.
A wonderful example of double identity was heard on the BBC during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992. The commentator for the BBC was Terry Wogan. Mr Wogan is an Irishman who had become Britain's most popular television talk-show host during the 1980s. Towards the end of the programme, with the voting for the songs nearly complete, it became clear that the contest (in which European countries compete to present the best new popular song) was going
To be won by either Ireland or the United Kingdom. Within a five-minute period, Mr Wogan could be heard using the pronouns 'we' and 'us' several times; sometimes he meant the UK and sometimes he meant Ireland!
> Populations in 1995
England 48.9 million
Scotland 5.1 million
Wales 2.9 million
Northern Ireland 1.6 million
UK total 58.6 million,
These figures are estimates provided by the Government Actuary's Department of the UK, based on the 1991 Census. It is expected that the total population of Britain will continue to rise by very small amounts until around the year 2025.
> The Union Jack
The Union Jack is the national flag of the UK. It is a combination of the cross of St George, the cross of St Andrew and the cross of St Patrick (> Identifying symbols of the four nations).
The Union Jack
14 I Country and People
QUESTIONS
1 Think of the most well-known symbols and tokens of nationality in your country. Are they the same types of real-life objects (e.g. plants, clothes) that are used in Britain?
2 In 1970, the BBC showed a series of programmes about the history of the British Empire. Before the series started, they advertised it. The advertisement mentioned 'England's history'. Within a few hours, the BBC had received thousands of angry calls of protest and it was forced to make an apology. Who do you think the angry callers were? Why did the BBC apologize?
3 In 1991, UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) introduced a new regulation. This limited the number of foreign players who "were allowed to play for a football club in European competitions. For example, a German club team could have only a certain number of players in it who were not German. Under the new regulation a player in the Liverpool team, had Rush, was classified as 'foreign', even though he was
born only twenty miles from Liverpool and had lived in the same area all his life. Many other players of English club teams found themselves in the same position. Many people in England thought that this was ridiculous. How did this happen? Do you think it was ridiculous?
4 The dominance of England in Britain is reflected in the organization of the government. There are ministers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but there is no minister for England. Do you think this is good for the people of the other British nations (they have special attention and recognition of their distinct identity) or is it bad (it gives them a kind of second-class, colonial status)?
5 Are there any distinct national loyalties in your country (or are they better described as regional loyalties)? If so, is the relationship between the 'nations' in any way similar to that between the nations in Britain? If not, can you think of any other countries where such loyalties exist? Do these loyalties cause problems in those countries?
SUGGESTIONS
• Britain, an Official Handbook (HMSO) is published annually and is prepared by the Central Office of Information. It includes facts and figures on aspects of British life such as politics and law, economic and social affairs, arts and sport.
• Dictionary of Britain by Adrian Room (Oxford University Press) is an alphabetical guide to well-known British organizations, people, events, traditions and other aspects of life in Britain.
History
Prehistory
Two thousand years ago there "was an Iron Age Celtic culture throughout the British Isles. It seems that the Celts, who had been arriving from Europe from the eighth century BC onwards, intermingled with the peoples who were already there. We know that religious sites that had been built long before the arrival of the Celts continued to be used in the Celtic period.
For people in Britain today, the chief significance of the prehistoric period (for which no written records exist) is its sense of mystery. This sense finds its focus most easily in the astonishing monumental architecture of this period, the remains of which exist throughout the country. Wiltshire, in south-western England, has two spectacular examples: Silbury Hill, the largest burial mound in Europe, and Stonehenge (> Stonehenge). Such places have a special importance for anyone interested in the cultural and religious practices of prehistoric Britain. We know very little about these practices, but there are some organizations today (for example, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids - a small group of eccentric intellectuals and mystics) who base their beliefs on them.
Stonehenge
> Stonehenge
Stonehenge was built on Salisbury Plain some time between 30^0 and 2300 bc. It is one of the most famous and mysterious archaeological sites in the world. One of its mysteries is how it was ever built at all with the technology of the time (the stones come from over 200 miles away in Wales). Another is its purpose. It appears to function as a kind of astronomical clock and we know it was used by the Druids for ceremonies marking the passing of the seasons. It has always exerted a fascination on the British imagination, and appears in a number of novels, such as Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbevilles.
These days Stonehenge is not only of interest to tourists, but is also a gathering point for certain minority groups such as hippies and 'New Age Travellers' (see chapter i 3). It is now fenced off to protect it from damage.
16 2 History
> Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans in the second century across the northern border of their province of Britannia (along nearly the same line as the present English-Scottish border) in order to protect their territory from attacks by the Scots and the Picts.
Hadrian's Wall
The Roman period (43-410)
The Roman province of Britannia covered most of present-day
England and Wales. The Romans imposed their own way of life and culture, making use of the existing Celtic aristocracy to govern and encouraging this ruling class to adopt Roman dress and the Roman language (Latin). They exerted an influence, without actually governing there, over only the southern part of Scotland. It was during this time that a Celtic tribe called the Scots migrated from Ireland to Scotland, where they became allies of the Picts (another Celtic tribe) and opponents of the Romans. This division of the Celts into those who experienced direct Roman rule (the Britons in England and Wales) and those who did not (the Gaels in Ireland and Scotland) may help to explain the development of two distinct branches of the Celtic group of languages.
The remarkable thing about the Romans is that, despite their long occupation of Britain, they left very little behind. To many other parts of Europe they bequeathed a system of law and administration which forms the basis of the modern system and a language which developed into the modern Romance family of languages. In Britain, they left neither. Moreover, most of their villas, baths and temples, their impressive network of roads, and the cities they founded, including Londinium (London), were soon destroyed or fell into disrepair. Almost the only lasting reminder of their presence are place-names like Chester, Lancaster and Gloucester, which include variants of the Roman word castra (a military camp).
The Germanic invasions (410- 1066)
One reason why Roman Britannia disappeared so quickly is probably that its influence was largely confined to the towns. In the countryside, where most people lived, farming methods had remained unchanged and Celtic speech continued to be dominant.
The Roman occupation had been a matter of colonial control rather than large-scale settlement. But, during the fifth century, a number of tribes from the north-western European mainland invaded and settled in large numbers. Two of these tribes were the Angles and
Some important dates in British history
*bc means 'before Christ'. All the other dates are ad (Latin onno Domini), which signifies 'after the birth of Christ'.
55 BC*
The Roman general Julius Caesar lands in Britain with an expeditionary force, wins a battle and leaves. The first 'date' in popular British history.
ad 43 The Romans come to stay.
Queen Boudicca (orBoadicea) of the Iceni tribe leads a bloody revolt against the Roman occupation. It is suppressed. There is a statue ofBoadicea, made in the nineteenth century, outside the Houses of Parliament. This has helped to keep the memory of her alive.
The Germanic invasions 17
the Saxons. These Anglo-Saxons soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. In the west of the country their advance was temporarily halted by an army of (Celtic) Britons under the command \ of the legendary King Arthur (> King Arthur). Nevertheless, by the end of the sixth century, they and their way of life predominated in nearly all of England and in parts of southern Scotland. The Celtic Britons were either Saxonized or driven westwards, where their culture and
-anguage survived in south-west Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a great effect on the countryside, where they introduced new panning methods and founded the thousands of self-sufficient vil-.ages which formed the basis of English society for the next thousand ~a so years.
The Anglo-Saxons were pagan when they came to Britain. Christianity spread throughout Britain from two different directions luring the sixth and seventh centuries. It came directly from Rome when St Augustine arrived in 597 and established his headquarters. Canterbury in the south-east of England. It had already been introduced into Scotland and northern England from Ireland, which had become Christian more than 150 years earlier. Although Roman Christianity eventually took over the whole of the British Isles, the Celtic model persisted in Scotland and Ireland for several hundred ears. It was less centrally organized, and had less need for a strong monarchy to support it. This partly explains why both secular and religious power in these two countries continued to be both more
locally based and less secure than it was elsewhere in Britain through out the medieval period.
Britain experienced another wave of Germanic invasions in the eighth century. These invaders, known as Vikings, Norsemen or Danes, came from Scandinavia. In the ninth century they conquered and settled the extreme north and west of Scotland, and also some Coastal regions of Ireland. Their conquest of England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex (> King Alfred). This resulted in an agreement which divided England between Wessex, in the south and west, and the 'Danelaw' in the north and east.
> King Arthur
King Arthur provides a wonderful example of the distortions of popular history. In folklore and myth he is a great English hero, and he and his knights of the round table are regarded as the perfect example of medieval nobility and chivalry. In fact, he lived long before medieval times and was a Romanized Celt trying to hold back the advances of the Anglo-Saxons - the very people who became 'the English'!
King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and one of the knights of the round table, from the film 'Camelot'
The Romans leave Britain.
St Patrick converts Ireland to Christianity.
597 878
St Augustine arrives in England. The Peace ofEdington partitions
—_____————————_—_—___—_ England between the Saxons, led by
793 King Alfred, and the Danes.
The great monastery on the island of —————————————————————
Lindisfarne in northeast England is973
destroyed by Vikings and its monks Edgar, grandson of Alfred, becomes
killed, king of all England.
18 2 History
> King Alfred
King Alfred was not only an able warrior but also a dedicated scholar and a wise ruler. He is known as 'Alfred the Great' — the only monarch in English history to be given this title. He is also popularly known for the story of the burning of the cakes.
While Alfred was wandering around his country organizing resistance to the Viking invaders, he travelled in disguise. On one occasion, he stopped at a woman's house. The woman asked him to watch some cakes that were cooking to see that they did not burn, while she went off to get food. Alfred became lost in thought and the cakes burned. When the woman returned, she shouted angrily at Alfred and sent him away. Alfred never told her that he was her king.
> 1066
This is the most famous date in
English history. On 14 October 1066 an invading army from Normandy defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings. The battle was close and extremely bloody. At the end of it, most of the best warriors in England were dead, including their leader, King Harold. On Christmas day that year the Norman leader, Duke William of Normandy, was crowned king of England. He is known in popular history as 'William the Conqueror'. The date is remembered for being the last time that England was successfully invaded.
However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were comparatively small. They led roughly the same way of life and spoke two varieties of the same Germanic tongue (which combined to form the basis of modern English). Moreover, the Danes soon converted to Christianity. These similarities made political unification easier, and by the end of the tenth century England was one kingdom with a Germanic culture throughout.
Most of modern-day Scotland was also united by this time, at least in name, in a (Celtic) Gaelic kingdom.
The medieval period (1066-1485)
The successful Norman invasion of England in 1066 (> 1066) brought Britain into the mainstream of western European culture. Previously most links had been with Scandinavia. Only in Scotland did this link survive; the western isles (until the thirteenth century) and the northern islands (until the fifteenth century) remaining under the control of Scandinavian kings. Throughout this period the English kings also ruled over areas of land on the continent and were often at war with the French kings in disputes over ownership.
Unlike the Germanic invasions, the Norman invasion was small-scale. There was no such thing as a Norman village or a Norman area of settlement. Instead, the Norman soldiers who had been part of the invading army were given the ownership of land — and of the people living on it. A strict feudal system was imposed. Great nobles, or barons, were responsible directly to the king; lesser lords, each owing a village, were directly responsible to a baron. Under them were the peasants, tied by a strict system of mutual duties and obligations to the local lord, and forbidden to travel without his permission. The peasants were the English-speaking Saxons. The lords and the barons were the French-speaking Normans. This was the beginning of the English class system (> Language and class).
The strong system of government which the Normans introduced meant that the Anglo-Norman kingdom was easily the most powerful political force in the British Isles. Not surprisingly therefore, the authority of the English monarch gradually extended to other parts of these islands in the next 2^0 years. By the end of the thirteenth century, a large part of eastern Ireland was controlled by Anglo-Norman lords in the name of the English king and the whole of Wales
1014 1066 1086
Brian Boru's Irish army defeats the The Battle of Hastings (> 1066) King William's officials complete the
Vikings at Clontarf (near modern Domesday Book, a very detailed,
Dublin). As a result. Viking settlement village-by-village record of the people
in Ireland remains limited and Ireland and their possessions throughout his
retains its Celtic identity, never becom- kingdom. ing part of the Scandinavian empire.
The medieval period 19
P was under his direct rule (at which time the custom of naming the monarch's eldest son the 'Prince of Wales' began). Scotland managed to remain politically independent in the medieval period, but was obliged to fight occasional wars to do so.
The cultural story of this period is different. Two hundred and fifty years after the Norman Conquest, it was a Germanic language (Middle English) and not the Norman (French) language which had become the dominant one in all classes of society in England. Furthermore, it was the Anglo-Saxon concept of common law, and not Roman law, which formed the basis of the legal system.
Despite English rule, northern and central Wales was never settled in great numbers by Saxon or Norman. As a result the (Celtic) Welsh language and culture remained strong. Eisteddfods, national festivals of Welsh song and poetry, continued throughout the medieval period and still take place today. The Anglo-Norman lords of eastern Ireland remained loyal to the English king but, despite laws to the contrary, mostly adopted the Gaelic language and customs.
The political independence of Scotland did not prevent a gradual switch to English language and customs in the lowland (southern) part of the country. First, the Anglo-Saxon element here was strengthen by the arrival of many Saxon aristocrats fleeing the
Norman conquest of England. Second, the Celtic kings saw that the adoption of an Anglo-Norman style of government would
strengthen royal power. By the end of this period a cultural split had developed between the lowlands, where the way of life and language
w as similar to that in England, and the highlands, where (Celtic) Gaelic culture and language prevailed - and where, because of the mountainous landscape, the authority of the king was hard to enforce.
It was in this period that Parliament began its gradual evolution into the democratic body which it is today. The word 'parliament',
which comes from the French word parler (to speak), was firstusedin England in the thirteenth century to describe an assembly of nobles called together by the king. In 1295, the Model Parliament set the
pattnern for the future by including elected representatives from
urban and rural areas.
>Language and class
The existence of two words for the larger farm animals in modern English is a result of the class divisions established by the Norman conquest. There are the words for the living animals (e.g. cow, pig, sheep), which have their origins in Anglo-Saxon, and the words for the meat from the animals (e.g. beef, pork, mutton), which have their origins in the French language that the Normans brought to England. Only the Normans normally ate meat; the poor Anglo-Saxon peasants did not!
>Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary folk hero. King Richard I (1189-99) spent most of his reign fighting in the crusades (the wars between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East). While Richard was away, England was governed by his brother John, who was unpopular because of all the taxes he imposed. According to legend, Robin Hood lived with his band of'merry men' in Sherwood Forest outside Nottingham, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. He was constantly hunted by the local sheriff (the royal representative) but was never captured.
117o
The murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, by soldiers of King Henry II. Becket (also known as Thomas a Becket) was made a saint and his grave was visited by pilgrims for hundreds of years. The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century, recounts the stories told by a fictional group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury.
The Norman baron known as Strongbow and his followers settle in Ireland.
An alliance of aristocracy, Church and merchants force King John to agree to the Magna Carta (Great Charter), a document in which the king agrees to follow certain rules of government. In fact, neither John nor his successors entirely followed them, but Magna Carta is remembered as the first time a monarch agreed in writing to abide by formal procedures.
