England History- A History of Invasion

The conquest of Britain (Before AD. 1st C., made up of many tribal kingdoms of Celtic people)

When	Who	Where from	Which part conquered
43 AD— AD.5th C	Latin-speaking Roman	Mediterranean countries	England and Wales (not Scotland or Ireland)
AD.5th C —1066	Angles and Saxons (the forefathers of the English; the founders of England)	Germany	Eastern and Southern Britain (not Wales and most of Scotland ) mainly England
Late AD.8thC – AD 10th C.	the ferocious Vikings	Scandinavia (北欧：瑞典、挪威一带。丹麦、芬兰、冰岛等)	Northern and Eastern England, Scotland
AD 11th C (1066)	Norman French (William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and built the Tower of London)	Normandy (northern France)	The next few hundred years, joining various parts of the British Isles under English rule (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland)

 

Legends

1. King Arthur and his Round Table, giving knights equal precedence and showing knights’ demand for a more democratic system (During Anglo-Saxon’s invasion)

2. Robin Hood hid in the forest, rebelled against Normans and robbed from the rich to give to the poor (During the period of Norman rule)

 --a clue to the English Character: a richly unconventional interior life hidden by an external conformity (体现英国人个性的迹象:表面上似乎一致,但实际上保持着一种强烈的独特的生活方式)

I. Early Settlers (5000 BC—55BC)

1. The Iberians 伊比利亚人

 （1）Who were the first known settlers (inhabitants) of Britain?

The Iberians

 （2）When did they come to Britain?

At 3000 BC during the New Stone Age

 （3）How do you know that the Iberians were the first known settlers to Britain?

     A. The proof is the long barrows (古墓冢) found, which were their communal burial mounds (公墓)

     B. the Stonehenge (圆形巨石群、阵):

a.       It is a circular group of large standing stones constructed before 2000 BC.

b.       It is regarded as one of the most important monuments of its kind in Europe.

c.       Exactly why it was built is unknown but it must have had religious and political significance.

(There are many different ideas about the purpose of Stonehenge: it may have been a center of sun worship, and was perhaps an observatory)

d.       Some think the Stonehenge is associated with the Celts.

2. The Beaker Folk 宽口陶器人（以其铃、钟形宽口陶器而闻名）

  (1) When and where were they from?

At about 2000 BC (at the early Bronze Age) the Beaker Folk arrived from the areas now known as Holland and the Rhineland.

(2)    Why were they so called? (How did they take their name?)

from their distinctive bell-shaped drinking vessels (or beakers)

(3)    How about their civilization? (What did they bring with them?)

a)         The art of pottery making

b)        The ability to fashion (ornament with patterns) bronze tools

c)        The custom of individual burial

d)        The hill forts (堡垒) and small fortified towns (筑堡城镇). The Maiden Castle is one of the finest examples.

3. The Celts

 (1) Who were the ancestors of the Scots, Welsh and Irish?

The Celts were the ancestors of the Scots, Welsh and Irish

 (2) When and where were they from?

They began to arrive about 700 BC, and may have come from eastern and central Europe, now France, Belgium and Germany

 (3) What were these people?

A.      They were Practised farmers. They drained much of the marshlands and built houses of wood and wickerwork with a weatherproof coating of mud.（带有抗风化的泥层）

B.      They were ironworkers.

 (4) What was their religion?

    Druidism（德鲁伊德教），the Druids—the wise men, astrologers, soothsayers（占卜者）

II. Roman Britain (55BC—410AD)

1. What do you know about the Roman invasion of Britain?

(1)    British recorded history begins with the Roman invasion.

(2)    In 55 BC, the great Roman general Julius Caesar invaded Britain for the first time

(partly to gather information about the island and partly to punish the Belgae who helped in fighting against the conquering Roman)

the invasion was unsuccessful because of resistance, the successful invasion did not take place until nearly a century

(3)    In AD 43, Emperor Claudius invaded successfully

(4)    For nearly 400 years Britain was under the Roman occupation, but it was never a total occupation.

First, as a result of resistance; Secondly, Roman troops were often withdrawn from Britain to fight in other parts of the Roman Empire.

2. the Hadrian’s Wall 哈德良长城（公元2世纪，罗马皇帝哈德良下令修建的城墙，用于防御英格兰北部边境，抵抗克尔特部落的进攻）

    It was one of the two great walls built by the Romans to keep the Picts out of the area they had occupied and conquered.

(1)    After the Roman occupation, the Romans met with fierce resistance and attacks from the tribes of Scotland. These people were called Picts（皮克特人）because of their “painted faces”. )

(2)    The Romans realized that they could not conquer them. So they withdrew from the north, and built two great walls, the Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall, to resist the attacks)

3. the Roman contribution

  (1) they built a network of towns on their military camps with the capital of London

     (the suffix –caster or –chester in English place names—Lancaster, Winchester—derives from castra, the Latin word for camp.)

  (2) the Romans constructed a network of major and secondary roads. From London, roads radiated all over the country.

(3) The Romans made good use of Britain’s natural resources. They built baths, temples, amphitheatres and beautiful villas.

(4)    The Romans also brought the new religion, Christianity, to Britain.

4. Why was the Roman influence on Britain so limited?

Although Britain became part of the Roman Empire, the Roman impact upon the Britons was surprisingly limited as a result of

(1)    the Romans always treated the Britons as a subject people of slave class.

(2)    The Romans and the Britons never intermarried during the 4 centuries.

(3)    The Romans had no impact on the language or culture of ordinary Britons.

III. The Anglo-Saxons (446-871) 盎格鲁-萨克逊人

1. Who were the Anglo-Saxons?

    The Anglo-Saxons referred to the three Teutonic tribes（日而漫部落）who invaded Britain in the mid-5^th century. They were Jutes, Saxons and Angles.

    --The Jutes 朱特人, from today’s Denmark, came to Britain first for assistance to drive out the Picts and Scots.

--Then the Saxons from northern German

--The Angles who also came from northern German and were to give their name to the English people.

2. How did the Heptarchy (七王国) come into being?

During the Anglo-Saxon invasion, the three tribes named the Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles settled in different parts of Britain which was divided into many kingdoms. Among them, there were 7 principle kingdoms of Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria. So they have been given the name of Heptarchy.

3. Offa’s Dyke 欧发大堤（古代英格兰的巨大土方工程。8世纪后期由麦西亚王偶发下令修建，作为英格兰河威尔士的分界线）

The Anglo-Saxon tribes were constantly at war with one another, each trying to

get the upper hand.

(1)    A long ancient earthwork

(2)    Built in the 8^th century by Offa, the King of Mercia, along his western borders to keep out the Welsh

(3)    As a boundary between England (to the east) and Wales (to the west)

4. How were the early Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity?

(1)    the Anglo-Saxons brought with them their own Teutonic religion when they invaded Britain, and Christianity was then only a fringe belief.

       Among the Anglo-Saxon Gods were Tiu(蒂乌)，the god of war, Woden（沃登）, king of heaven, Thor（托尔）, the god of Storms, and Freya（弗雷娅）, goddess of peace.

       The names Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday derive from these gods.

(2)    In 597, the Roman Pope Gregory I sent St. Augustine to England to convert the heathen English to Christianity.

(3)    Augustine was remarkably successful in converting the king and the nobility, and he became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

(4)    But the conversion of the common people was largely due to the missionary activities of the monks in the north. Monasteries sprang up throughout the country and became places of learning.

5. What contributions did the early Anglo-Saxons make to the English state?

Though the Anglo-Saxons were ferocious (barbarian, brutal) people, they laid the foundations of the English state.

(1)    First, the modern names of “England” and “English” derived from the Angles.

(2)    Secondly, they divided the country into shires （郡），with shire courts and shire reeves, or sheriffs（郡长官、行政司法长官），responsible for administering laws.

(3)    Thirdly, they devised the narrow-strip, three-field farming system（三田耕种制度），which continued until the agricultural revolution in the 18^th century.

(4)    Fourthly, they also established the manorial（庄园的、领地的）system（采邑制度），whereby the lord of the manor collected taxes, and organized the local army.

(5)    They created the Witan (council or meeting of the wisemen, 议会、贤人会议) to advise the king.

6. What is the Witan

(1)    Witan was the council of meeting of the wisemen.

(2)    It was created by the Anglo-Saxons to advise the king.

(3)    It’s the basis of the Privy Council（枢密院）which still exists today.

7. the Privy Council

(1)    An advisory body to the Crown: a body that advises the Crown on matters of government.

(2)    the predecessor of the Cabinet. It was the most important part of the government until the development of the Cabinet after 1688.

(3)    Its duties are now formal: it is the body through which the Queen makes certain orders, putting into effect decisions made by ministers.

(4)    number of members: it has about 400 members, including all Cabinet ministers, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and senior British and Commonwealth statesmen.

IV. The Viking and Danish Invasions 北欧海盗和丹麦人入侵

1. Who were the Vikings and how did they invade Britain?

(1)    the Vikings were the Norwegians and the Danes from Denmark.

(2)    They attacked various parts of England from the end of the 8^th century and became a serious problem in the 9^th century.

(3)    They even managed to capture York, an important center of Christianity.

(4)    They gained control of the north and east of England (“the Danelaw”)

2. What do you know about King Alfred?

(1)    Alfred was the king of Wessex.

(2)    He defeated the Danes who attacked England and reached and agreement with them.

(3)    The Danes gained control of the north and east of England, while Alfred ruled the rest.

(4)    He also converted some leading Danes into baptized Christians.

3. What makes him worthy of the title of “Alfred the Great”?

(1)    Alfred is known as “the father of the British navy” as he founded a strong fleet to beat the Danes at sea to protect the coasts, and encourage trade.

      He constructed a fleet of ships to augment his other defenses, and in so doing became known as the "Father of the English Navy."

(2)    He reorganized the Saxon army to make it more efficient.

(3)    He translated Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

He, himself, was a scholar and translated Latin books into the Anglo-Saxon tongue.

(4)    He encouraged learning, established schools and formulated a legal system.

The reign of Alfred was known for more than military success. He was a codifier of law, a promoter of education and a supporter of the arts. After his death, he was buried in his capital city of Winchester, and is the only English monarch in history to carry the title, "the Great."

All this makes him worthy of his title “Alfred the Great”.

V. The Norman Conquest (1066)  诺曼征服

1. King Edward, “the Confessor” (“忏悔者“)

(1)    King Edward was known as ‘the Confessor’ because of his piety to religion. He was far more Norman than Saxon.

(2)    He was more concerned with the building of Westminster Abbey（威斯敏斯特大教堂）than with affairs of state.

(3)    He promised the English throne to William, Duke of Normandy（诺曼底公爵）.

2. William the Conqueror

  Why did William the Conqueror invade England after Edward’s death?

(1)    King Edward had promised the English throne to William,

(2)    When Edward was on his deathbed, several men laid claim to the English throne, but the Witan chose Harold as king.

(3)    The Battle of Hastings 哈斯廷斯战役

A.      In 1066, King Edward died with no heir, the Witan chose Harold as king.

B.      William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England.

C.      On October 14, the two armies met near Hastings. After a day’s battle, Harold was killed and his army completely defeated.

D.     William entered London shortly before Christmas, and on Christmas Day he was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of York.

E.      This battle was very important on the way of the Roman Conquest.

3. What were the consequences of the Norman Conquest?

The Norman Conquest of 1066 is the best-known event in English history. It brought about many consequences.

(1) William the Conqueror confiscated almost all the land and gave it to his Norman followers.

(2) He replaced the weak Saxon rule with a strong Norman government.

(3) The feudal system was completely established in England.

(4) Relations with the Continent were opened, and civilization and commerce were extended.

(5) Norman-French culture, language, manners, and architecture were introduced.

(6) The Church was brought into closer connection with Roman, and the church courts were separated from the civil courts（世俗法庭）.

4. Why is the English nation a mixture of nationalities of different origins?

(1)    The population of Britain is made up of the English, the Scottish, the Welsh, the Irish, and other peoples. The formation is complicated because England was invaded by different races at various times from Europe.

(2)    Besides the early settlers, the Iberians, and the Celts,

(3)    Roman occupied Britain for nearly 400 years after 55 BC.

(4)    Then the invasions of Anglo-Saxons helped to form English race and language and laid the foundation of the English state.

(5)    After that was the invasion of the Vikings and Danes.

(6)    Finally, in 1066, William of Normandy invaded England and began the age of the Norman Conquest that resulted in great French influence.

Therefore, many different peoples of different origins are living in Britain.

That’s the reason why we say English nation is a mixture of nationalities of different origins.

 

For reference

Norman Rule (1066-1381)

1. William’s Rule (1066-1087)

 (1) The beginning of feudalism in England

Under William, the feudal system in England was completely established.

 (2) What was feudalism like in England under the rule of William the Conqueror?

   A. Who owned the land under the feudal system in England?

According to the system, the King owned all the land personally.

   B. How did William deal with the land and why?

a. William gave his barons large estates in England in return for promise of military service and a proportion of the land’s production.

   King ---barons---lesser nobles, knights and freemen---serfs

b. These estates were scattered far and wide over the country, so that the barons could not easily combine to rebel the king or that his authority was not be challenged by any powerful barons.

   C. What was the peculiar feature of feudal system in England?

        To restrain the growth of power of the barons, all landowners, big of small, took the oath of allegiance for the land the held, not only to their immediate lord, but also to the king.

   D. What did William do to the Witan?

        He replaced the Witan (the Council of Anglo-Saxon Kings) with the Grand Council.

   E. Why did William compile the Domesday Book（土地调查清册）?

      The Domesday Book:

a.       Nature: a property record, and a general survey of England made in 1085

b.       Content: it stated the extent, value, the population, state of cultivation, and ownership of the land

c.       Purpose: to have a reliable record of all the lands, his tenants and their possessions and to discover how much they could be called upon to pay taxes

d.       Why so called: because it seemed to the English like the Book of Doom

   F. What was William’s policy toward the church?

His policy towards the church was to keep it completely under his control.

a.       on one hand, he took the English church closer to Rome

b.       on the other hand, he managed to maintain his own independence

VI. The Great Charter and the Beginning of Parliament

The Great Charter (1215)

(1)     What are the two aspects of the Norman legacy that contributed to great domestic unrest in England in the 12^th and 13^th century?

One was England’s possession of territory in France. The other was Norman adherence to Roman Catholicism.

  (2) the Great Charter

A.      Also known as Magna Carta or the Barons’ Charter

B.      King John’s reign caused much discontent among the barons and churchmen.

a.       Wars against France

b.       Quarrel with the Pope

(John became the King---lost all his Continental fief except a tiny spot in France---quarrel with the Pope---was forced to give in---promised not only to pay a yearly tribute to the Pope, but handed England to the Pope and received it as a fief. ---John wanted to white-wash himself with military victories---his tyrannical behavior forced the barons to raise army against him.)

C.      In 1215, he was forced to sign a document, known as Magna Carta.

D.     It was a guarantee of the freedom of the Church and a limitation of the King’s power.

E.      It has long been regarded as the foundation of English liberties.

2. The Beginning of Parliament

  (1) Henry III’s defy of the Great Council

King John died---his son became Henry III---planned to regain lost territories

---increased taxes---a tense relation between the King and the Great Council

  (2) Simon de Montfort raised an army

Simon de Montfort, the defender of the Great Charter, raised an army against the king’s abuse of power---forced the king to accept the Provision of Oxford---the King denied and was captured by the nobles.

  (3) Change in the Great Council

Originally the Great Council was made up of the Nobles and Clergymen

↓

Now Nobles & Clergymen, 2 knights from each county and 2 citizens from each town

↓

The earliest parliament

↙      ↘

    The nobles   Knights and citizens

↓             ↓

The Lords        The Commons

(Make decisions)        (offer advice)

VII. The Hundred Year’s War with France (1337-1453)

1. The Hundred Year’s War

(1)    Who were the two parties involved?    England and France

(2)    Why was it so called?    Get its name for the intermittent war between England and France that lasted for a hundred years from 1337 to 1453.

(3)    What were the causes?    Partly territorial and partly economic

The territorial cause was related with the possession by English kings of the large duchy in France.

The economic cause was mainly connected with Flanders: the Flemish cloth manufacturing towns were importers of English wool but they owed political allegiance to the French King.

(4)    What was the result?   

Ended in failure of the English (were driven out of France)

  (5) Influence: a blessing for both countries.

2. Joan of Arc

(1)    She was a national heroine of France during the Hundred Year’s War.

(2)    She successfully led the French to drive the English out of France.

At an early age she claimed to have direct inspiration from God. When she was about 16, she led the French armies to victory over the English.

(3)    She was condemned as a heretic and burned by the English.

For reference

 The Black Death (1348-1349) and the Peasant Uprising (1381)

1. The Black Death

(1)    It was a deadly bubonic plague, and epidemic disease spread by rat fleas.

(2)    It spread through Europe in the 14th century, and swept through England

(3)    It killed one half of the English population, and spared no victims.

The population reduced from 4 million to 2 million during the next 15 years.

2. What harm did the Black Death do to the English society?

(1)    It reduced the English population from 4 million to 2 million and brought about far-reaching economic consequences.

(2)    As a result of the plague, much land was left untended and there was a terrible shortage of labor.

(3)    The surviving peasants were in favourable position to demand higher wages and changed their serfdom into paid labours

3. The Lollards

(1)    Who were the Lollards?

A.      A group of Oxford reformers. They were poor priests and traveling preachers who were John Wyclif’s followers in the 14th century.

B.      They went about preaching the equality of men before God.

C.      The most famous one was John Ball.

  (2) What role did the Lollards play in the Peasant uprising of 1381?

They ideas provided mental preparation for the Peasant uprising of 1381.

4. Wat Tyler’s Uprising

(1)    As a result of the Black Death, there was a terrible shortage of labors, and the surviving peasants demanded higher wages.

(2)    So the government issued statutes to protect the interests of landowners.

(Establish rules to keep down wages)

(3)    The repressive measures and a series of poll taxes caused much hatred and resulted in the Peasant Uprising in 1381.

Although the Uprising failed, it had great significance in English history. It dealt a deathblow to villeinage (serfdom), and a new class of yeomen farmers emerged, paving the way for the development of capitalism.