BRITISH HISTORY (-∞,1603)

Lukáš Čejka

Kultura a reálie anglofonních zemí a ČR

APIN LS 2017/18

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OVERVIEW OF EARLY BRITISH HISTORY

• Stone Age – The Neolithic

• Bronze Age

• Iron Age

• The Romans

• The Invasions – Anglo Saxon, Jutes, Vikings

• The Normans

• The Middle-Ages

• The beginning of Parliament

• The Tudors

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NEOLITHIC ~8000 – 2500 BC

• At the end of the last Ice Age (~8300 BC) people crossed into ‘Britain’ and settling mostly in the East and South of England.

• Until around 6500BC, when the English Channel was formed.

• The initial settlers were hunter-gatherers.

Land joining Eurasian landmass and todays’ British Isles

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THE FIRST BRITONS

• The first 'Britons' were an ethnically

mixed group

• From all parts of the Caucasoid

population of Europe.

• The varied environment of Britain

encouraged a great diversity of

culturesDepiction of first homes

Stonehenge

BRONZE AGE ~2500 – 700 BC

• Hunter-gatherers started to farm animals and grow crops

• Improved farming

• The population of Britain ~1400 BC was ~one million

Tools of the Bronze Age

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Tools of the Bronze Age

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THE IRON AGE ~700 BC – 45 AD

• Iron replaces bronze

• Britain is a collection of indigenous tribes

• The many regional cultures of the British Iron Age grew out of the preceding local Bronze Age

Weapons of the Iron Age

IRON AGE CELTS

• Clothes

• Body paint with blue woad.

• Celtic tribes were led by hereditary Kings and warlords

• The Kings were supported by a warriors who enslaved most of the peasants.

• Warfare was common between tribes

• Confrontations tended to be brief.

Celtic warrior

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THE ROMANS

• Britain is a land of agricultural

and mineral wealth

• Roman Emperor Claudius

invasion

• South Britain quickly occupied

Map of Roman Britain (often referred to as Britannia)

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Roman soldiers

Map of the Roman empire

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BRITAIN AND THE ROMANS

• Population of Britain ~3 million

• Roman invasion

• Natives adopted Greco-Roman civilization

• Britons became Roman citizens, culturally and

legally.

• 300 AD majority of 'Britannia' was Roman

• Scotland untouched

Roman soldiers

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THE ROMANS & THE CELTS

• South East pro-Roman

• Celtic art

• Roman-Celtic syncretism (=

combining of different beliefs, schools

of thought.

Depiction of a fight between a Celt and a roman soldier

ROMAN DEPARTURE FROM BRITAIN

• Rome invaded

• The Romans had left Britain by 410.

• British inhabitants

LARP (Live Action Roleplay) of a depiction of a roman soldier

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AFTER THE ROMANS

• Return of ancient cultural trends of the Iron Age.

• Sixth century, 'Germanic' kingdoms.

• The Romano-British were slaughtered or driven west by

invading Anglo-Saxons

• Western-most parts of Britannia

• Population changes

• Germanic dialects replaced Latin or Celtic

• Loose knit and feuding hereditary kingships

• Germanic immigrants were mostly pagan and illiterate, the process was not well recorded

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ANGLO-SAXONS

• The tribes who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries are

known as the Anglo-Saxons.

Map of Anglo-Saxon movement circa 5-6th century

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ANGLO-SAXONS

• Unknown impulse

• Possible reasons include:

• Often floods in their native land

• Farming difficulties

• Migration period

Depiction of an Anglo-Saxon family

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ANGLO-SAXONS

• The Anglo-Saxons took control of most of Britain

• Scotland, Wales or Cornwall remained unconquered

• Country divided into kingdoms, each with its own royal family.

• By around 600 AD the five main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent and Anglia.

Kingdoms of England circa 600 AD

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ANGLO-SAXONS?

• 8th and 9th century -Vikings

• Anglo-Saxon accounts describe terrible Viking raids in records

• By the end of the 870s, the Vikings occupied most of eastern England.

Lindisfarne Stone

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VIKINGS

• 793 Viking raids began

• In 865 a 'Great Army' of Danish Vikings invaded England.

• In the end the Vikings conquered all of northern, central and eastern England, and seized much of the land for their own farms.

• During the same period, Norwegian Vikings sailed to northern and western Scotland.

Division of England circa 8-10th century

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VIKINGS

• The Vikings came from three countries in Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

• They were also known as the Norse people. They were mostly farmers, but some worked as craftsmen or traders.

Map showing Viking movement from their homeland to the British Isles

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ALFRED THE GREAT

• By 878 the Vikings had conquered all of England except Wessex.

• Wessex remained Anglo-Saxon

• Retaking back Britain

• 11th century King Knut

Division of England circa 8-10th century

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THE END OF THE VIKINGS

• Vikings in Scotland remained for

hundreds of years

• They were driven from the mainland in

the mid-12th century,

Illustration of a Viking ship

Example of Viking coin found on the English mainland

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THE END OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS

• The Anglo-Saxon period came to an end in 1066.

• Duke William of Normandy (France)

• This was the beginning of the Norman period in

English history.

The Bayeux Tapestry

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NORMANS

• The Normans were

originally Vikings (“North

Men”) from Scandinavia

• They settled in a part of

France called Normandy

• The Normans were the last

people to successfully

invade England

Map showing the approximate area referred to as Normandy

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THE NORMAN CONQUEST (1066)

• In 1066 the Anglo-Saxon King of England died without an heir

• Two people claimed the Kingdom:

1.Harold, The Earl of Wessex

2.William, The Duke of Normandy

• William defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings (Oct 14 1066).

William on his horse in the Bayeux tapestry

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WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

• William was crowned in Westminster

Abbey on Christmas Day 1066.

• England was divided among 180

Norman “tenants in chief” (basically

“Lords”)

• William brought about many changes

in British culture

William shown as Duke of Normandy in the Bayeux tapestry

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ANGLO-NORMANS (1066 – 1215)

• Normanisation of England, Wales and lowland Scotland.

• William's victory brought England into closer contact with western Europe.

• Stone castles became a common sight

LARP inspired by the Anglo-Norman era

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WHAT THE NORMANS DID

• There were considerable changes in the social structure of the British kingdoms as a new aristocracy was introduced

• Anglo-Saxon central and local governments and judicial system were retained

• The “English” language

• Written English slowly reappeared in the 13th century.

Page of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle

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KNIGHTS & FEUDALISM

• Feudalism

• The obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief form the basis of feudalism

1. Lords (Land owners),

2. Vassals (Knights)

3. Fiefs (Land).

• In exchange for use of the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord.

• Knights

Portrait for Walther von Klingen in the Codex Manesse

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THE DOMESDAY BOOK (1086)

• Result of a great survey by William the

Conqueror

• He sent officials to 13,418 places to

find out who lived there and what they

owned.

• Purpose: tax collection, title & land

disputes

• Domesday was the most complete

record of any country at that timeIllustration of the Domsdey Book being written

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THE MIDDLE AGES (1216-1347)

• England and Scotland focusing on self development.

• There were large constitutional changes

• Wales was conquered by the military campaigns of Edward I but his wars in France, Scotland and Ireland were less successful.

Great Seal of Henry III

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THE BEGINNING OF PARLIAMENT (1236 - 1307)

• First reference in 1236

• In 1254, the first meeting of a parliament took place

• Representatives were two knights from each shire.

• Parliament development

Depiction of the parliament

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LATE MEDIEVAL (1348 – 1484)

• Hundred Years' War

• Black Death (bubonic plague) and its impact

• Edward III

• Parliament continued to develop and English rather than French became the language of daily use

• A new dynasty - the Stewarts

Men on the battlefield during the Hundred Years’ Way

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THE BLACK DEATH (1348)

• 1348, southern coast ports.

• spread by fleas living in the fur of rats.

• The plague reached London by September 1348 and Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the winter of 1349.

• Between 10-30% of the population died

• The plague returned periodically until the seventeenth century.

• Poorer land was simply abandoned

Victims of The Black Death

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TUDORS (1485 – 1603)

• Known as the “Early Modern” period of British history.

• The Tudors ruled in England and the Stuarts in Scotland.

• Henry VIII of England and James IV of Scotland were both cultured, educated Renaissance princes with a love of learning and architectural splendour.

• The early modern period was an era where women exercised more influence:

Catherine de Medici in France, Elizabeth and Mary in England and Mary in Scotland ruled as their male counterparts had done before them.

Henry VIII of England

Typical Tudor era house

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RULERS OF THE TUDOR DYNASTY

• Henry VII of England (1485-1509)

• Henry VIII of England (1509-1547)

• Edward VI of England (1547-1553)

• Lady Jane Grey (uncrowned)

(1553) (deposed, died 1554)

• Mary I of England (1553-1558)

• Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603)

Henry VII of England Henry VIII of England Henry VI of England

Lady Jane Grey Mary I of England Elizabeth I of England

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

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QUESTIONS?

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SOURCES

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/

• http://www.history.com/topics/british-history

• http://www.britannia.com/history/

• http://projectbritain.com/history.html

• http://www.great-britain.co.uk/history/history.htm

• https://lewismccaine.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/peterborough_chronicle22jpg-original.jpg

• http://c8.alamy.com/comp/C42044/henry-iii-1101207-16111272-king-of-england-18101216-on-horse-seal-C42044.jpg

• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Codex_Manesse_052r_Walther_von_Klingen_%28detail%29.jpg/800px-Codex_Manesse_052r_Walther_von_Klingen_%28detail%29.jpg

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/7915100/1066-and-all-that-how-the-Normans-shaped-Britain.html