History of Britain: from Early Britain to the Middle Ages
2.1 Britain B.C
About three thousand years В.C. many parts of Europe including the British Isles, were inhabited by a people called the Iberians. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. They could polish stone and make smooth objects of stone.
In some parts of modern Britain one can see a number of huge stones standing in a circle. These are the monuments left by the earliest inhabitants of the country. The best-known stone-circle named Stonehenge dates from between 1900 and 1600 В. C. The stones are 8.5 metres high and weigh about 7 tons.
No one can tell how these large stones were moved, or from what places they were brought. Stonehenge is still a mystery to scientists.
There are a lot of legends connected with the Stonehenge. Some believed that the early British kings, killed by their enemies, were buried here; others think that Druids made it to house their pagan rites. Some say it was used for sun worship. It may have been a Temple for some form of worship – or a Court of Justice – or a Hall for ceremonial meetings of tribal chiefs.
2.2 Early Britain. The Celtic Tribes
During the period from the 6th to the 3rd century В. C. a people called the Celts spread across Europe from the east to the west. Some Celtic tribes – the Iberians, the Picts, the Scots and the Britons –invaded Britain. The Picts penetrated into the mountains on the North; the Scots settled in the North beside the Picts. Powerful Celtic tribes, the Britons, held most of the country, and the southern half of the island was named Britain after them. The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts and were driven westwards into the mountains what is now Wales.
The Greeks were the first to mention the British Isles. They wrote about the Phoenicians, great sailors and traders, who used to come to the British Isles for tin. They called the British Isles the Tin Islands.
Julius Caesar described the country and its inhabitants in his ‘Commentaries on the Gallic War’. He tells us that the Celts were tall and blue-eyed. They wore long moustaches but no beards.
In the 1st century В. C. they lived in tribes, and were ruled by chiefs, or kings, whom all the tribesmen obeyed. In war-time the Celts wore skins and painted their faces with a blue dye to look fierce. They were armed with swords and spears. The Celts fought fiercely in the battle.
2.3 The Roman Conquest of Britain
Two thousand years ago while the Celts were still living in tribes the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman society was divided into the class of slaves and the class of slave-owners. The slave-owners put down the uprisings of the slaves with the help of the army. The army also helped the slaveowners to protect their riches against foreign enemies and to conquer new lands and to seize more slaves. The Romans conquered all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
In 55 В. C. a Roman army of 10,000 men with Julius Caesar at the head crossed the Channel and invaded Britain. The Celts saw their ships approaching and rushed to attack the invaders in the sea. Their hair and moustaches were dyed red and their legs and arms were painted blue. With loud shouts they attacked the Romans and the well-armed Romans had to retreat to Gaul (France).
In 54 В. C, Caesar again came to Britain, this time with larger forces (25,000 men). The Celts fought bravely for their independence but they were not strong enough, in spite of their courage, to beat the Roman. The Romans defeated the Celts in several battles. Some of the chiefs submitted and promised to pay tribute to Rome. But the promised tribute was not paid.
Nearly a hundred years later, in 43 A. D. a Roman army invaded Britain and conquered the South-East. The Celts fought fiercely against the Romans who never managed to become masters of the whole island. They were unable to conquer the Scottish Highlands. From time to time the Picts and the Scots from the North managed to invade the Roman part of the island and burn their villages.
2.4 Roman influence in Britain
To defend their province the Romans placed their legions in Britain. Straight roads were built so that the legions might march quickly, whenever they were needed, to any part of the country. These roads were made so well that they lasted a long time and still exist today. Bridges of stone were constructed wherever a road crossed a river. Besides, to guard the province against the Picts and Scots who lived in the hills of Scotland, a high ‘Hadrian’s Wall’ with forts was built in the North.
The civilized Romans were city dwellers, and as soon as they had conquered Britain they began to build towns, splendid villas, public baths as in Rome itself. Every Roman town had a drainage system and a good supply of pure water. Great tracts of forests were cleared, swamps were drained, and cornfields took their place.
But together with a high civilization the Romans brought exploitation and slavery to the British Isles. Rich Romans had villas in the country with large estates, which were worked by slaves. Prisoners of war were sent to the slave-market in the Roman Empire. The Romans made the free Celts clean forests, drain swamps, build roads, bridges and walls for defence. The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They lived in rich houses and spoke Latin, the language of the Romans. But ordinary Celts lived in their tiny huts, they spoke their native Celtic tongue and they didn't understand the language of their rulers.
The Romans remained in Britain for about four centuries and during that time Britain was a Roman province, governed by Roman governors and protected by Roman legions.
In the 4th century the uninterrupted struggle of slaves against their owners greatly weakened the Roman Empire. Early in the 5th century the Roman legions were recalled from Britain to defend the central provinces of the Roman Empire from the attacks of the barbarian Germanic tribes. They never returned to Britain.
Though the Romans lived for four centuries in Britain, their language didn’t influence the English language. There are only several place names of Roman origin: Chester, Lancaster, Gloucester, which are variant of the Roman word castra (a military camp).
2.5 The Middle Ages. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts remained independent but not for long. From the middle of the 5th century they had to defend the country against the attacks of Germanic tribes from the Continent. The Saxons and the Angles began to migrate to Britain. At first they only came to plunder. They landed from their boats, drove off the cattle, seized the stores of corn, and were off again to sea before the Celts could attack them. But after some time they returned again and again in larger numbers, and began to conquer the country.
The British natives fought fiercely against the invaders and it took the Angles and the Saxons more than a hundred and fifty years to conquer the country. The Celts went to the mountains in the west of the isle (now Wales) and settled there. In the course of the conquest many of the Celts were killed, some were taken prisoners and made slaves or had to pay tribute to the conquerors.
In the southern and the south-eastern parts of the country the Saxons formed a number of kingdoms – Sussex (the land of the South Saxons), Wessex (the land of the West Saxons, and Essex (the land of the East Saxons). Further north were the settlements of the Angles who had conquered the greater part of the country. In the North they founded Northumbria, Mercia was formed in the Middle, and East Anglia – in the east of England. The new settlers disliked towns, preferring to live in small villages. During the war they destroyed the Roman towns. The art of road-making was lost for many hundreds of years.
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