History of Britain 5000-55 BC

Stonehenge- 2200-1300 BCAvebury- 2000- 1600 BC

• 7000 years ago- roving bands of hunters (5000 BC)

• 4000 BCE- joined by groups from Europe- the continent- these grew crops, fashioned tools, made pottery, and established meeting places and tribal centers.

• They also developed the custom of burying their dead in stone tombs

The Beaker Folk

• Took their name from beaker shaped drinking vessels originally from Spain, they came from Holland and the Rhineland (1200 BCE)

• They are responsible for Stonehenge (immense stones from Pembrokeshire in South Wales)

• 1600 BCE- more people appeared • 1 million by 1500 BCE

• Late Bronze Age- more immigrants arrived known as Wessex Culture

• Brought skills and ornaments of quality• They redid Stonehenge- dragging 80

blocks of stone from Marlborough Downs

• 800 BCE- Celts arrived from Continent• Taller, fairer race, members of tribes from

France, Belgium, and Southern Germany• Came because other tribes from the East

were harassing them

• Celts were- according to Gildas, a Celtic monk, one of Britains earliest historians, completely ignorant of the practice of war

• their fighting men were armed with iron swords and daggers and their chieftains drove 2-wheeled chariots which they were buried with

• Albion- they built fortified hill forts with turf and stone ramparts – Maiden Castle at Dorset– Cadbury Castle at Somerset– Gladstenbury

• Occupied almost continually for 4 centuries

• Celtic tribesman raided settlements and coined off prisoners as slaves

• Celts were– Practiced farmers- grew oats, rye, wheat,

barley, corn– Ground for bread and mead– Wore brightly colored cloths, mainly red– Wore shawls and sandals of leather– Wore jewelry – Traded for iron, tin, glassware, and wine

• Most industrious and virile tribe were the Belgae

• Settled in the south-east, established centers at Colchester, St. Allians, and Silchester

• Cassivellaunus- powerful chieftain (1st century BCE)

• Not a barbarian • Dyed their bodies with woad in battle• Learned from druids• Married outside of tribes• For a long time lived in peace

• 55-450 BC – Roman Britain– 55 BC – Julius Caesar invaded Britain-

• Two reasons – Revenge» Knowledge

– Partly to punish Belgae who helped their tribesmen fight against Romans in Goul (France)

– Couldn’t land for rough seas

• Returned in 54 BC• Named Britannia• Took Cassivellaunus’ hill fort • Extracted a promise from Cassivellaunus

to their chieftains to pay annual tribute to Rome

• Took hostages and prisoners

• 43 AD Emperor Claudius makes Britannia part of Roman empire- great resistance to Roman legions

• Caractacus- grandson of Cassivellaunus– Resisted, fled, was captured and he and his

family were taken to Rome in chains– Afterwards other chieftains submitted to Rome

• 60 AD – Iceni of East Anglia submitted at first

• Then chieftain Prasutagus died bequeathing his property and his two daughters to the Roman Empire– Romans refused to accept Prasutagus’ widow

Boudicca as queen • Boudicca- tall, red hair, harsh voice

– Boudicca insisted, she was flogged and her daughters were raped

• The Iceni and neighboring tribe Trinovantes massacred Roman town of Colchester routed the 9th legion

• Then, led by Boudicca, the Britons went down to the Thames and sacked Londonium- then an undefended trading center

• Boudicca’s triumph was short lived • Rather than fall into the hands of Rome

she poisoned herself and died

• London was rebuilt• Middle of 3rd century

– Administrative as well as commercial capital of Roman province of Britain

– 30,000 people– 50 years later 60,000– Surrounded by 3 miles of strong stone wall

• Resistant tribes were pushed to Scotland and Wales

• The Romans settled and flourished for over 300 years

• AD 121- Hadrian’s wall in the North - great defensive barrier 73 miles long– 368 – Wall attacked– 383 – again and the sentries and soldiers

slaughtered

• By the 5th century Rome's protection was at an end– Rome’s soldiers called home to fight and

defend closer– Language was Latin and Celtic

• The Anglo-Saxons 450-1066– Rome left- the Saxons (North Ireland) and

Anglos (Germanic)• The Jutes- Denmark tribe • Some Britons stayed- see Bede• Most left to Armorica- France• Saxons settled in Sussex, Wessex, and

Assex

• Roman Britain continued to survived in what is now Devon and Cornwall

• Romanized Britains flocked to the West of Britain to a leader named Ambrosious

• Here arose the legend of King Arthur – Cadbury Castle in Somerset = Camelot

• Anglo Saxons- Heptarchy- 7 kingdoms • Northumbria• Mercia – King Offa• South - Wessex

• Vikings move in• End of 6th century- Christianity came

Ethelbert – King of Kent went to meet Augustine whom Rome had sent to convert the English heathens

597 – Augustine was consecrated Bishop of England

• 604 – Another missionary from Rome – Mellitus established as Bishop of London where King Ethelbert built him a church dedicated to St. Paul

• After Ethelbert died – men of London drove Mellitus out of the city gates and returned to their old religion and former priests

• Christianity was still strong elsewhere in England, gospel was spread by missionaries from Europe, Celtic Scotland, Ireland

• 664 –Conference at Whitby (Synod) Yorkshire decided that Roman missionaries would tie England to the continent– Churches, monasteries, chapels built all over

England– Christian England threatened by the Vikings

and the Danes

Alfred the Great• Wessex• Great Warrior• Scholar• Statesman• Set up schools• Wanted a united England

• 878 – defeated Danes and set up strongholds all over England

• 900 – Alfred died – England stronger and united

• Danes kept at bay by Alfred’s son Edward and daughter Ethelfelda – wife of Ethelred

• 973 - Edgar accepted as king of England by the Saxons, Danes, and acknowledged as overlord of Scotland and Wales

• 959-975 – King Edgar “the peaceable” late flowering of Anglo-Saxon culture