A Survey of British History

Conf.dr. Corina Dobrotă

 The Iberians and the Celts (cca.250,000-55 B.C.)

• The oldest human inhabitants probably came to Britain about 250,000 years ago over the
landbridge that connected today’s British Isles and the Continent of Europe at that time.
•
• The so-called Iberians reached Britain between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C., probably coming
from the Iberian Peninsula. Both the Iberians and the so-called Beaker people (c.2,000
B.C.; named after the beaker-shaped pots they made) settled in the south of England.
•
• The Iberians used stone and bone tools and their settlements were based on “henges”,
great circles of earth banks and huge standing stones (e.g. Stonehenge). The Beaker
people brought the knowledge of bronze to Britain. (cf.Fig.1.)
•
• Soon after 700 B.C., Celtic tribes began to invade Britain. Between cca.700 and 100 B.C.,
they settled the whole of Britain. They formed tribal kingdoms that were frequently at war
with each other.
•
Roman Britain (55 B.C. – 5th century A.D.)
• Britain became a sphere of Roman interest in the 1st century B.C. Julius Ceasar attempted
to conquer Britain twice, in 55 and 54 B.C., his main aim being to prevent the Britons from
providing their kinsmen in today’s France with military aid. But the actual Roman
conquest of Britain by Emperor Claudius took place in 43 A.D.
•
• By 80 A.D., the Romans had conquered today’s England, Wales and southern Scotland, but
problems in other parts of their empire made them withdraw behind the so-called
Hadrian’s Wall in the first half of the 2nd century.
•
• After crushing the Britons’ resistance, the Romans Romanised the southern areas (i.e.
they imposed their civilisation and way of life on native people); northern Britain and
Wales were placed under military control and the natives were allowed to carry on with
their own way of life. A system of roads was constructed throughout Britain. (cf.Fig.2.)
• Roman rule in Britain declined towards the end of the 4th century as the whole Roman
Empire was falling apart. The last Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain in the 5th
century.
The Anglo-Saxon period (5th -11th cc.)
• Anglo-Saxons (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) were Germanic
tribes living in today’s northern Germany and Denmark.
They had already started attacking the south coast of
Britain in the 3rd century, but in the 5th century they
conquered and settled. the whole of today’s England. They
destroyed the Romano-British civilization and established
their own, agricultural one.
• In the course of the 6th century, a number of rather
unstable kingdoms arose in England. Four of them
successively held supremacy over the others: Kent,
Northumbria, Mercia and finally Wessex.
 Christianity
• Christianity reached England from Ireland and
from Rome at the end of the 6th century. It
played a highly important role in establishing
medieval society and in developing the
statehood in England: the Church served as
the model for feudal kingdoms and gave
kingship a sacred character.
•
 Unification of England
• England was finally united under the kings of Wessex in the
10th century. Danish Vikings had conquered a large part of
north-eastern England and created a confederation of
Scandinavian communities called Danelaw (878-975) there.
(cf.Fig.4.) Alfred the Great of Wessex (871-c.900) defeated the
Danes and his successors reconquered the Danelaw in the 10th
century. However, a new Danish invasion shattered England in
978: in 1016, Canute (1016-35), the King of Denmark and
Norway, became the first king of a fully united England. His
Scandinavian Empire, however, broke up under his incompetent
successors and the Saxon heir, Edward the Confessor (104266),
was restored to the throne of England.
 The Norman Conquest 1066
• Edward unwittingly prepared the way for the Norman Conquest: he
introduced Norman nobles into high state offices and left behind a
disputed succession. After his death, Harold, son of the mightiest
English nobleman, was chosen to become king. But the Duke of
Normandy and the King of Norway claimed the English throne too,
and both of them attacked England almost simultaneously in 1066.
Harold defeated the Norsemen, but he was himself defeated and
killed in the battle of Hastings in October 1066 by William of
Normandy, who succeeded him on the English throne.
•
• The Norman Conquest had been completed by 1069, and it had far-
reaching consequences for the development of England.
Consequences of the Norman Conquest
• England’s relations with Scandinavia were cut off and the country
came under French cultural influence; three languages were used in
England: Norman-French, the language of the ruling aristocracy and
law courts; Latin, the language of educated people; and English,
spoken by common Englishmen.
•
• • England was given a new, Norman-French king and ruling class;
•
• • the country was reorganised into a strong feudal state protected
by the English channel; as a result, no further conquests have since
occurred.
•
 The feudal state (11th – 13th cc.)
• This period was marked by:
• a struggle between the centralising power of
the king and the growing challenge from the
leading barons;
• a considerable development of trade and
towns, which helped to disintegrate the feudal
system.
 William I
• The gradual character of the Conquest and the support of
the Church enabled William the Conqueror (1066-87) to
establish a strong centralised state which was in sharp
contrast to the anarchy of political feudalism prevailing on
the Continent. The Anglo-Saxon system of shires was
revived, and a royal officer was placed at the head of
each; besides, William prevented the creation of great
baronies independent of the royal power. He also
established the fiscal basis of the state by ordering a
detailed survey of property value in every shire to be
made (the Domesday Book, 1086-87).
 Henry I and Henry II
• The process of strengthening the power of the state was
continued by William’s son Henry I (1100-35) and especially
by Henry II (1154-89), who ascended the throne after thirty
years of anarchy (the War of Succession, 1135-54). He ruled
over a vast empire comprising England, Normandy and a
larger part of France than that controlled by the king of
France. (cf.Fig.5.) He restored the royal rights, tightened the
control over sheriffs and tried to get all courts under the
royal control (he failed with ecclesiastical courts – cf. his
conflict with Thomas Becket). Henry also started the English
conquest of Ireland, which was never fully completed.
 Richard I
• Henry’s sons were weak kings: Richard I (Lion
Heart, 1189-99) because he spent most of his
reign fighting in Palestine (in the Third Crusade)
and in France; and John (Lackland, 1199-1216)
because his misrule alienated his barons: in
1215, they forced John to grant them the Magna
Carta (Great Charter of Liberties), which limited
the royal power and laid the foundations for the
later Parliamentary monarchy.
 Edward I
• Edward I (1272-1307), as able a monarch as Henry
II, ascended the throne after another civil war
(1264-66). He will always be remembered for
summoning the Model Parliament (1295), called so
because it contained representatives of the three
estates of Barons, Clergy and Commons (i.e. all the
elements of a future parliament). Edward
conquered north Wales (1285), but failed to
conquer Scotland: the Scottish kingdom kept its
independence from England until 1714.
The decay of feudalism (14th + 15th cc.)

• These two centuries form the period of

transition from feudalism to pre-industrial era.
The long war with France helped to form a
sense of national identity: a native English
culture was born and English became the
official language of the country.
•
 The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
• The first stage (1337-60) was successful for England, because the English army
consisted of well-organised professional soldiers, while the French army was an
undisciplined feudal host. The French suffered two crushing defeats at Crécy
(1346) and Poitiers (1356), and gained large territories in France.
• The second stage (1369-75) was successful for France: the French adopted the
strategy of guerrilla war, and gradually reconquered the lost territory except for
two ports.
• The third stage (1415-53): The war was resumed by Henry V (1413-22), the
second Lancastrian king: he dealt the French another crushing defeat at
Agincourt (1415) and gradually extended his territory. In 1420, he was
acknowledged heir to the French throne. Though he died in 1422, the war
continued and, in 1428, the French were defending their last stronghold at
Orleans. The appearance of Joan of Arc in 1429, however, led to a French revival.
The war dragged on for more than twenty years, until the battle of Chatillon
finally ended it in 1453.
The Black Death (1348-51) and the Peasants’
Revolt (1381)
• In the mid-14th century, an epidemic of bubonic plague called “Black Death”
swept across Europe. It reduced the English population by nearly a half, which
caused a severe shortage of labour. As a result, free workers were able to
obtain higher wages and serfs demanded compensation for labour services.
• By the end of the 1370s, however, the population had increased and the
peasants could no longer demand either higher wages or release from
serfdom. High taxes were demanded in order to pay for the war in France: in
1379, the so-called Poll Tax was imposed on every male over sixteen. This
situation resulted in the outbreak of a revolt in 1381: the rebels marched on
London and held the government at their mercy. King Richard II (1377-99), who
was a boy of fourteen at that time, promised to meet all their demands, but as
soon as they dispersed, the revolt was brutally crushed.
• Yet, there was no return to the previous system, and serfdom had disappeared
by the end of the 15th century.
 The Wars of the Roses (1455-85)
• This series of wars was a dynastic struggle between two
powerful families, the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, both
descendants of Edward III: they fought for the crown.
The Wars were marked by indecisive victories and
defeats on both sides. During the thirty years of
intermittent fighting, the feudal nobility was
impoverished and almost exterminated, while the Crown
became wealthy, as a result of confiscations of their
estates for the benefit of the Crown after each battle.
This paved the way for the establishing of Tudor
absolutism.