Prehistoric Britain
Iberians
Earliest inhabitants lived almost 6000BC in Britain but the Iberians inhabited British Isles and many
other parts of Europe 3000BC. They had stone and wooden buildings and also roads. Used tools
made out of antlers and bones. They can be studied by different archeological excavations and
studies.
Stonehenge
It´s the best known megalithic monument in Salisbury Plain,
Britain and one of the world´s greatest mysteries. It was built
about 3000BC. No one knows what purpose these enormous
stones were erected and how they were transported there
from places far away. Many belive that it has a something do
to with aliens beacause its builders must have possessed a
sophisticated understanging both arithmetic and astronomy.
Celts
They invaded Britain in two waves. 600BC the Gaels came and 300BC the Britons(the Cymri). They
brought with them the art of smelting iron. Didn´tlive in towns but in villages instead and built forts
what were protected with ramparts and ditches. Didn´t have any private property, no classes or
explotation. Caught fish, grew corn, wheat and tamed and bred animals. Had the art of pottery.
Created large-scale artwork(mostly horses, the objects of cult worship). The Celtic language is the
ancestor of the Gaelic., Irish and Welsh languages.
Roman Britain
Julius Caesar
While the Celts were still lingin in tribes the Romas were the most
powerful people in the world. The famous Roman Julius Caesar
reached the Channel in 55BC and made two raids(55 and 54BC).
The romans who were much better trained and equiped, deafeated
the Celts. But a rebellion in Gaul forced Romans to withdraw.
Claudius
He began the Roman invasion in AD 42. The Celts weren´t slaved but instead Britain was
ruled as a colony. The Celts didn´t have to become slaves but instead had to pay taxes.
Boudicca
The Iceni tribe joined with the Romans to have a edge on rival tribes
and deafeat them. The Romans turned on the Iceni afterwards, their
queen Boudicca was tortured, her daughters raped in fornt of her.
AD 61 queen Boudicca led a revolt against the Roman rule, the
rebellion was put down and Boudicca took poison rather than to
submit.
Roman influence
Romans have left Britain with many Britains main towns and cities. Romans also built Roman
baths in Bath that are also known as Awuae Sulis(built between 1st and 4th centuries).
Romans also brought Christianity and in 4th century Christian Church was established in
Britain. Romans also built Hadrian´s Wall in 122 to keep out the raiding Picts and Scots. It´s
70 miles long, starting from Solway and stretching to the Tyne.
Anglo-Saxon Britain
After the Roman legions leht Britain in 410 the Celts remained independant but not for long.
By the mid-5th century, Angles, Saxons and Jutes form Denmark and Northern Germany had
started to raid the eastern shores of Britain. Saxon kingdoms (Wessex, Mercia and East
Anglia) were established within 100 years. Their effects were following Disliked towns and
destroyed Roamn establishments. Increased trade. Drove the Celts to high and remote areas
in Scotland, Cornwall, Wales and Islands. English, the descendant language of the Saxon
invaders of the 5th century. Anglo-Saxins were agicultural people, they lived in villages, were
self-sufficient, had no shops and little trading was going on.
Canterbury cathedral
The conversion of the
Anglo-Saxon to Christianity
began at the end of the
6th century when St
Augustine from Rome
became the Archbishop of
Canterbury, thus restoring
a link broken by Saxon
invasions. Before that the
Anglo-Saxons had been
pagans. The Cathedral
comminuty
was
reorganised as Benedictine Abbey during the reforms of Abp. St. Dunsatan. The assination of
Thomas Becket in the north-east Transept on Tuesday 29 December 1170 took also pace in
Canterbury Cathedral.
Danelaw
During the 9th-10th centuries Vikings vame first to plunder,
then to stay. Their invasions were succesful beacause the
kingdom of England had neither a regular army nor a fleet in
the North Sea. In 871 the Danes invaded Wessex. King Alfred
the Great led Wessex´s resistance against invaders. Danelaw
was founded in the northern boundry, the town of York being
its capital.
Beowulf
Beowulf is a old English heroic poem composed in the later Early Middle Ages (around 9th
century). The poem talks about a Germanic tribes hero, Beowulf, who battles three great
threats to people, Grendel, Grendel´s Mother and during his last days of life he battles a
dragon. Beowulf is important beacause its the signel major surviving work of Anglo-Saxon
heroic poetry.
Edward the Confessor
He reigned 1043-1066 and was the successor of Harold Godwin.
His reign was known as time of peace and prosperity but his
sympathies for Norman favourites furstrated Saxon and Danish
nobles. He was declared a saint in 1163.
Norman Conquest
Three claimers of the throne
Duke William of Normandy said that Edward had promised him the throne when he visited
England in 1051. Harold Godwin claimed Edward had promised him the throne on his
deathbed. Harald Hadraada, King of Norway also announced claim to the English throne.
Battle of Haistings
In 1066 the battle was held betwen Harold Godwin, Harald Hadraada and Duke William. The
battle was won by William through trickery, the Normans pretended to be reatreating and
running but the suddenly turned on the Anglo-Saxons who were chasing them. King Harold
was wounded and died. It was the last successful invasion of Britain. This battle is seen on
the Bayeux Tapestry(1080), held in Westminster Abbey. Willaim of Normandy beacame the
new ruler of England and built the White Tower in London in order to dominate the city.
The Plantagenets
Henry II
He was adopted son of Stephen of Blois and inherited
the English kingdom and Normandy from his mother. He
also inherited Anjou, maine and Touraine form his
father. He also gained control over vast areas of central
and south-western France trought the marriage with
Eleanore of Aquitaine. He was strongly built and athletic
man.Had a struggle with the church for the control of
the country what led to the murder of Thomes Becket.
John I
He lost the Plantagenet lands in France to Philippe II by 1204. His failure to recapture these
territories gave him the nickname John Lackland. In 1215 he waas forced to sign Magna
Carta wich established the principal rights and obligations of the crown and the nobility.
Henry III
He was John´s eldest son. He liked arts, inspired the improvments to Westminister Abbey
and te construction of Salisbury Cathedral. During his reign Oxford university was
established and also the first parliament summoned in 1265.
Edward III
He was the son of Isabella(daughter of Philip the Fair, his three sons had died without male
heirs. He claimed the French throne trough his mother, but
the French recognized the nephew of Philip IV as king. During
his reign in 1337 the Hundred Yeras War began with his
troops landing in Normandy. In 1348 he founded chivalric
order to embody the ideas of King Arthur´s Round Table
called The Most Noble Order of the Garter. The war with
french went well and won England wealth but in 1431 the
French began to win back their territories(Joan of Arc). The
English got Joan and burned her at the stake but the French
kept dominationg the war. By 1453 only Calais was still under
the English command and the war was considered to be over.
Richard II
During his reign the Peasants´Revolt took place in 1381. Taxes that were ment to fund the
war and led to riots where people wanted Richard II to change their conditions. The revolt
was gruesomely put down by beheading the peasants leader Wat Tyler and that broke the
rebels spirits.
The Wars of the Roses
This is a war between the House of Lancaster and York who fight for the control over the
throne. The Lancastrians forced Richard II form the throne. May battles were fought
between the houses, starting from 1455
when the Yorkist crushed the
Lancastrians and Edward IV came to the
throne, His successors Edward V and
Richard III were from the house of York.
In 11485 Henry Tudor defeated the royal
army and Richard III was killed. In the
end Henry Tudor was crowned
King(Henry VII) first of the Tudor
dynasty, He married Edward IV´s
daughter and united the rivaling houses.
The Tudors
Henry VII
He was the founder ouf the Tudor dynasty who united the rivaling Lancasters and Yorks. He
married Elizabeth of York.
Henry VIII
He was the man who formed the Anglican Church and in whos time the Act of Supremacy
was written(1534). He is known for having six wives.
Mary Tudor
She tried to restore catholicism in England. Married Felipe II of Spain. Was
the daughter of Henry VII and Catherine of Aragon.
Elizabeth I
During her reign Englane beacame a very strong country. During her time was the English
Renaissance and the establishment of Virginia, the first Bristish colonie.
William Shakespeare
He is the most famous English writer. During his lifetime he wrote about
38 plays and 154 sonnets. He is the most quoted writer in the English
language(1564-1616)
The Stuarts
Mary Stuart
She was the queen of ScotlandMarried twice. First Francis II of France, later married to
Henry Darnley , the father of James I. Was Catholic, which caused many tensions in the
Protestant Scotland.
James I
He was the first king of both England and Scotland. He was the king
against whom was the Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy with a plan to
blow up the Parliament when it would be in session with the king.
Later became paranoid suspecting that everyone wants to kill or
betray him.
Charles I
During his reign was the English Civil war, he was executed by the English commons
Oliver Cromwell
He was the Lord Protector of England. The English republic and The Commonwealth.
Charles II
He was the son of Charles I, so actually he beacame Charles II right
after his father´s execution. The Declaration of Breda in 1660 was a
collection of terms of his ascension to the throne of England. Two
cathastrophes during his reign, The Great Plague in 1665 and The
Great Fire in London the next year 1666, that actually helped to
stop the Plague.
Georgian era
Georgian age was the time of enlightenment. Western tought was revaluated. Teaching
beacame more widelyspread and popular. Regulard people were teached various things.
George I and II
Both kings weren´t british and did t care much about the things that went on in Britain. That
gave the parliament free hands to grow their power.
George III
He was the first Hanoverian king to be born in Britain and who
could speak without a foreign accent,During his reign Britain
defeated France, becoming the dominant European power in
Norrth America and India. However, soon many of its
American colonies were lost in the American War on
Independence, which led to the establishment of the United
States of America. Also a series of wars against revolutionary
and Napolenoic France, over a 20-year period.
Robert Walpole
The first so-called Prime Minister of Great Britain, who led the Cabinet and made most of the
political decisions of that time.
The Jacobite Rebellions
Aimed at restoring the Stuart dynasty to the throne was organized by the Jacobite movment
and ended at the Battle of Culloden.
Loss of American colonies
In 1764 there was a serious quarrel over taxation between the Bristish goverment and its
colonies in America. The Bristish goverment continued to think of the colonists as British
subjects. In 1773 the Boston tea party.In 1775 The American War of Indipendence had
begun and lasted until 1783. In July 1776 the Declaration of Independence was issued.
Napoleonic wars
The wars begun beacause the French revolution made people fear the revolution beacause
the outcome of the revolution was that no democracy was created. Wellington, Nelson
deafeated Napoleon.
Victorian age
Queen Victoria
Longest reigning monarch of England and also the first
Empress of India. She was a mother of many children, mos of
whom where married into different royal families of Europe.
She was the last hanover monarch. („The Grandmother of
Europe“)
Prince Albert
He was the husband of Queen Victoria. Had a unusually great influence in British politics fo a
Prince Consort. Was a supporter of science, art, agriculture. Also supported the first World
Exhibition.
The Industrial Revolution
It begun in Britain and basicly manual labour was replaced with machinery. This made
possible cheaper prices and led to trade expansion. Was the time of beginning of the
railways and had a great influence all over the world.
Charles Dickens
One of the greatest English writers. His books helped to start the revolution of social ideas.
Edwardian Age
Edward VII
He was the son of Queen Victoria. He travelled in Europe and
tried to keep good realationships. Age of art and fashion.
Edward died in 19100 And George V came to throne but the
Edwardian era lasts until the end of the First World War. The
dominions of Great Britain were given complete independence
from Britain in 1931.