Summary British History Essay Research Paper ESWHChapter

Summary British History Essay, Research Paper

ESWH

Chapter 1 The foundation Stones

The Island

Britain is an Island and its history has been closely connected to the sea. The seas saved Britain from danger. Strong national sense have been developed by the sea.

Britain.s prehistory

Britain has not always been an island. The ice age wasn.t one cold period. Our first evidence of human life is a few stone tools, dating from 250.000 BC.

Britain was hardly habitable until another milder period around 50.000 BC. During this period, a new type of human seemed to have arrived. They look similar to normal people, but they were smaller and had a life span of only thirty years.

Around 10.000 BC Britain was peopled by groups of hunters, gatherers and fishers.

Around 5.000 BC, Britain has become an island.

There were several invaders:

.The first people to invade were people from either spain or north-africa. They were small and dark and knew how to make pottery.

.After 2400 BC new groups of people arrived in Britain, they were round-headed and strongly built. They became leaders of British society.

.Around 700 BC They Celts arrived in Britain, They came from central Europe and they were technically advanced. They could make weapons from Iron. These are the ancestors of many of the people in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Cornwall. Last Celtic arrivals were the belgian Tribes.

.The Romans arrived in 55 BC. They brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain. The Romans could not conquer Scotland.

.The Anglo-Saxons Invaded in the fifth century AD.

.The Vikings in 865 AD

Roman Life

The Romans had a good influence on British life, The people learned how to speak Latin/ Greek and learned how to write. The Romans came to Britain because they could use the British food for their army with the Gauls.

Most obvious characteristic were the towns, They were the bases of Roman civilisation.

There were three different kind of towns in Roman Britain.

.Coloniae: Towns settled by Roman settlers

.Municipia: Large cities in which all inhabitants were given Roman citizenship.

.Civitas: Included the old Celtic tribal Capitals

London was twice the size of Paris and the most important trading centre of Northern Europe, because Britain produced so much corn for export.

The biggest change during the Roman occupation was the growth of large farms called .villas.. Roman life seemed civilised, but it was also hard if you were poor. The life expectancy was only 20 years.

Chapter 2 The Saxon Invasion

The Invaders

The invaders came from powerful Germanic tribes.

.The SaxonsSettled in the rest of England.

.The Angles Settled in the East

.The JutesSettled in mainly Kent and along the south coast

They gave the England of modern times her name. It was the part they had settled in Britain.

The Anglo-Saxon left little of Celtic culture in England. There are only two cities: London and Leeds and some rivers: Thames.

Government and society

The Saxons created institutions which made the English state strong for the next 5oo years.

One of them was the King.s council, the Witan. It issued laws and orders. Nowadays the king still has a privy council, based on the Witan.

The Saxons divided the land into counties (Shire is the Saxon word for county). They also changed the agriculture in Britain. They introduced a new plough which was far more better than the Celtic one.

The farmers had to work together, because they had to share land and instruments with each other. This made a new form of settlements. To make this work they had several laws and regulations.

.Each district had a .manor., The villagers paid their taxes here and men met here to join the .fyrd., The Anglo-Saxon army.

.The Aldermen were the local officials, but they changed to warlords. The name was changed to Earl. A Danish name. They are both still used in the army.

Christianity

In the Celtic areas, Christianity began to spread, because it was forbidden in the Anglo-Saxon part.

Not Augustine, but the Celtic church brought Christianity to the normal people. Bishops went from village to village to tell about their religion. They were also accepted in Anglo-Saxon villages, in spite of the difference.

Saxon kings helped the church become big, but the church also increased the power of kings. They gave their king support and made it harder for Royal power to be questioned. It was different from now, an eldest son did not become king automatically.

The power of the church was also increased by the monasteries. They trained the men who could read and write.

The Vikings

The Vikings invaded in 865 AD. They accepted Christianity quickly and did not disturb the local population. King Alfred won a battle against the Vikings in 878, and eight years later he captured London. He was smart enough to make a treaty with the Vikings.

Alfred was recognised as a king.

Who should be king.

The Saxon king, Ethelred decided to pay the Vikings to stay away. He asked money from his people (taxes) It was the beginning of

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