The History of Great Britain

The History of Great Britain

Prehistory
2000 years ago there was an Iron Age Celtic culture throughout the British Isles. The Celts, who came from Europe in eighth century BC, intermingled with the peoples who were already there and continued to build the religious sites. Celts left many religious sites but two are the most important: Silbury Hill, the largest burial mound in Europe and Stonehenge, built between 3050 and 2300 BC.

The Roman period (43-410)
In 55 BC Julius Caesar landed in Britain. It’s the first important date in British history. The Romans conquered Britain in 43 AD. They controlled England and Wales. The Romans never went to Ireland and they had to fight with Scots and Picts. In the second century they built Hadrian’s Wall along south border of Scotland. Also they had problems with people under their occupation. [optional = In 61 Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe started revolt against Romans. Revolt fell and Boudicca died.] The Romans left Britain in 410 year. They left very little behind. The Roman remains were destroyed very quickly.

The Germanic invasions (410-1066)
Angles and Saxons were the strongest tribes that settled in Britain. These tribes had the south-east of the country in grasp, but their attack in west England was halted by Celtic army and its leader - famous King Arthur. In 432 St Patrick converted Ireland to Christianity. During the sixth and seventh century Britain became Christian. In 597 St Augustine established headquarters at Canterbury and started to control the church in Britain.
In the 8th century there appeared Vikings. In ninth century they controlled parts of Scotland and Ireland. Their invasion of England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex.

The medieval period
The most important battle of English history took place in 1066 near Hastings. William of Normandy defeated Saxon army. He went down in history as William the Conqueror. Norman invasion brought Britain into the mainstream of western European culture. Unlike the Germanic invasions it was small-scale: there was no such thing as a Norman village or settlement. Instead the Norman soldiers were given the ownership of land and of the people living on it. A strict feudal system was introduced.
Peasants (the English-speaking Saxons) were subordinate to lesser lords, which were subordinate to nobles or barons (The French-speaking Normans). King was a main superior. In 1086 king William’s officials completed very detailed record of people and their possessions. This record was named Domesday Book.
In 1215 an alliance of aristocracy, Church and merchants force king John to agree to the Magna Carta, a document in which the king agrees to follow certain rules of government. It was in this period that Parliament began its gradual evolution. In 1295, the Model Parliament set the pattern for the future by including elected representatives from urban and rural areas.
The powerful Anglo-Norman kingdom continued conquest of other parts of British Islands. By the end of the thirteenth century Anglo-Norman lords controlled eastern Ireland and whole of Wales (at which time the custom of naming the monarch’s eldest son the ‘Prince of Wales’ began). Scotland remained independent.
In fourteen century English language become the dominant in whole England. In Wales and Ireland Celtic language and customs survived. Despite the political independence of Scotland southern part of the century was gradually adopting English language and customs. Northern Scotland, which was difficult to reach, remained strongly connected with Celtic culture.

 English word „parliament” comes from the French word „parler”
 Robin Hood is a national hero who fought the enemies of King Richard Lion Heart)

The sixteenth century
The power of the English monarch increased in the sixteenth century. The strength of the great barons was weakened by the Wars of the Roses (the conflict between two rival groups -the Lancastrians, whose symbol was a red rose, and the Yorkists, whose symbol was a white rose) and Bubonic plague known in England as the Black Death.
The shortage of labour which this caused, and the increasing importance of trade in the towns, helped to weaken the traditional ties between feudal lord and peasants.
The Tudor dynasty estabilished a system of government departments. Parliament consisted of two “Houses” (House of Lords and House of Commons).
One of the most well – known monarch in English history was Henry VIII who lived and governed in this period. Henry VIII took six wives during his life. He also rejected The Roman Church and introduced new religion known as Anglicanism because the Pope would not give him a divorce. In 1534 Henry VIII signed the Act of Supremacy (he was the supreme head of the Church in England). After this all church lands came under his control and gave him a large new source of income. The country had lost any claim to lands in France. Moreover, in the sixteenth century England was closer to the geographical centre of western civilization.
In the last of quarter of century Shakespeare began writing his famous plays.
Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII, was the first of three long-reigning queens in British history (apart from Victoria and Elizabeth II). She never married and became known as “the virgin queen”

The seventeenth century

1. James I became the first king of Stuart Dynasty. He was the King of Scotland and England.
2. Fights between Catholics and Protestants led to the Civil War in 1642 between the aristocratic, royalist “Cavaliers” and puritan, parliamentarian “Roundheads”. The conflict ended with victory for parliamentary forces. In 1649 Charles I was captured and executed after formal trial for crimes against his people. The country became republic.
3. Oliver Cromwell became “Lord Protector” of a republic after Charles I death. Puritans banned all kinds of amusement, which was unpopular.
4. When Cromwell died the son of the executed king was asked to return and take the throne.
5. Anglican Church was restored, but the conflict between Monarch and Parliament was going on.
6. After the “Glorious Revolution”, which was bloodless, William of Orange, the ruler of Netherlands, became the king. Since this event the Monarch of England could rule only with the support of Parliament.
7. The religious problems took place in Ireland a conflict between Catholics and Presbyterians.
8. 1666 – the Great Fire of London

The 18th century
Politically, the 18th century was stable. Monarch and Parliament got on quite well together, because the monarch’s politicians were able to control the elections.
There were two groups within Parliament. One group, the Whigs, supported the Protestant values of hard work and thrift. They belived in government by monarch and aristocracy together. The other group, the Tories supported the monarchy and the Anglican Church.
The terms Whig and Tory had first been used in the late 1670s. This could be said that it was the beginning of the party system in Britain.
At the beginning of the century Scottish, English and Welsh Parliament joined at Westminster in London, but Scotland retained its own system of law.
The highlands area of Scotland twice supported failed attempts to put a Catholic Stuart monarch back to the throne. The Celtic way of life was destroyed and many people were killed. The wearing of highland dress (the tartan kilt) was banned.
Great Britain had a lot of colonies. The trade was developing which led to the Industrial Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of people moved from rural areas into new towns and cities. The north of England became the industrial heartland of the country. In the south of England, London came to dominate as a business and trading centre.
Despite all the urban development, social power and prestige rested on the possession of land in the countryside.