British History- A History of Invasion Before the first century AD Britain was

made up of many tribal Kingdoms of Celtic people.

Roman Invasion 43AD The Anglo-Saxons 446-871

The Vikings and Danish Invasions410 - 1065

Norman Invaders-The Battle of Hastings 1066

A process of joining together the various parts of the British Isles-British identity

King Arthur - History and Legend c.520

Arthur, the legendary British king is possibly based on a real character that has been given more than one identity throughout history. The earliest references suggest that he was a Romano-British leader against Saxon invaders, who in the early sixth century led the Britons to defeat the 'English' army at the battle of Mount Badon.

Arthur’s Tintagel castle

Arthur’s Excalibur

Arthur’s Palace

Arthur and his Knights

KING ALFRED THE GREAT

William the Conqueror

King of England and Duke of Normandy An innovator in government. He built a

strong centralized administration staffed with his Norman supporters. He was also not about to put up with any backtalk from the newly conquered English.

William the Conqueror

The Battle of Hastings

October 14, 1066 Battle, East Sussex Saxons under Harold, King of

England vs. Norman French under Duke William of Normandy

The cause of Battle of Hastings When Edward the Confessor died

he left no direct heir, and the throne of England passed to Harold. However, William of Normandy claimed that Edward had promised the crown to him, and indeed that Harold himself had sworn a sacred oath to relinquish his claim in William's favour.

The influence of The Battle

Although there were sporadic outbreaks of Saxon resistance to Norman rule after the Battle of Hastings - notably in East Anglia under Hereward the Wake, and in the north of England - from this point on England was effectively ruled by the Normans.

Robin Hood

Shaping of the Nation(1066-1381)

1. The establishment of Feudalism .William the conqueror established a strong monarchy in England.

William the Conqueror’s centralized monarchy

Early Castles. One of the ways he insured that he held it was to build castles everywhere. The castles were given to Norman barons to hold for the king. In theory every inch of English land belonged to the crown and William's vassals had to swear oath of allegiance directly to the crown. William was making loyalty to the nation, in the form of the crown, supercede loyalty to the individual person of a lord.

Henry II’s Reforms

All land held in feudal tenure was brought under royal jurisdiction.royal jurisdiction.

““Common Law”Common Law” ““Assize of Arms”Assize of Arms” Relationship between church and the statechurch and the state.

Henry II is perhaps known for his quarrels with his family and the tragic episode of his one-time friend Becket--- Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Dispute between Henry II and Becket

'Everyone, Henry included, expected Becket to be a yes-man for the King.'

What no one realized was that Becket would take his new role quite so seriously.

At its heart lies a personal dispute between Henry II, who felt betrayed by his friend, and Becket, who mistrusted the motives of the king. This bad blood between friends is what made the dispute so bitter.

Becket arguing with Henry II

3. The Great Charter(Magna Carta)

Three sets of provisions of the Great Charter

The king was not to extract extra payments from the feudal vassals without their consent.

Laws were not to be modified by the arbitrary action of the king.

Should the king attempt to free himself from the law, the vassals had the right to force the king to obey it, by civil war or by otherwise.

The significance of Magna Carta

Magna Carta is often thought of as the corner-stone of liberty and the chief defence against arbitrary and unjust rule in England.

In fact it contains few sweeping statements of principle, but is a series of concessions wrung from the unwilling King John by his rebellious barons in 1215. However, Magna Carta established for the first time a very significant constitutional principle, namely that the power of the king could be limited by a written grant.