British English

Celts:

Tribes of warriors who shared similar language, religion, and culture
Did NOT invade Britain
Slowly settled in Britain between 500 and 100 B.C.
They were hunters, fishermen, metal workers
Used iron for weapons
Iron affected trade and assisted in sustainability due to low cost and accessibility
Agricultural society
Introduced the iron plough (used for soil cultivation)
Lived in small villages/farming communities
Occasionally built hill forts (groups of houses built on hills surrounded by banks and ditches)
Inside hill forts people lived in huts (made of wood and thatching)
Formed clans as their basic unit of life
Superstitious people
Worshipped the natural (sun, moon, water)
Religious ceremonies conduced in woods and near water by Druids (priests)
Druids held most influence
Druids didn’t go to war
Druids ran the justice system and were educators
Women potentially held similar status and had more rights than men
Women could choose who to marry and could be a property owner

Roman Britain:

Emperor Claudius began the conquest of Britain in 43-47 A.D.
Towns consisted of public bathhouses and were commercial centers
Romans built over 9600km of paved roads
Roman invasion founded London
Romans built first London Bridge on River Thames
London Bridge as center of the road network
Londinium (north side of London bridge) became important trading center
Hadrian’s wall built for defense and barrier between England and Scotland
Emperor Honorius sent his soldiers to Rome to defend from barbarians in 409 A.D.
Roman Celts alone to defend from Anglo-Saxons and fell

Anglo-Saxon Britain:

Germanic tribes
Arrived in Britain throughout the 5th and 6th centuries
Warlike
Mostly illiterate
Used runic alphabet
Farmers and deep-sea fishermen
Lived in wooden houses near streams and rivers
Had great halls in their village centers decorated with carvings and paintings
Large sense of beauty
Enjoyed feasting and drinking
Consisted of family groups/clans
Loyalty of great importance
Dialects known as old English
Initially worshipped many gods, but Pope Gregory I the Great brought back Christianity
Most Anglo-Saxon records written by a monk

The Heptarchy:

A division of Anglo-Saxon England into seven kingdoms: Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, Wessex, Sussex, and Essex.
Each kingdom had its own king
Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex were most powerful by mid 7th century

Vikings:

Alfred the Great of Wessex:

United the Anglo-Saxons against the vikings
Regained occupied territories
Reorganized army and built a fleet
Established fortified towns
Gave importance to religion and written history (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)
Mercia accepted his leadership in 879 and formed the kingdom of Anglo-Saxons
Promoted literacy
His son (Edward) was a war leader
His son (Edward) extended his power into the Midlands and East Anglia
Northumbria was conquered by Edward’s son (Athelstan) in 927
Athelstan was described as the father of the English state due to his idea of royal authority, law, and coinage

Viking Kings:

Viking violence returned to england in 990s
Danegeld - protection money paid in return for being left alone (common practice)
In 1012: Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered and replaced within a year with Forkbeard (a Danish king)
Forkbeard’s son (Canute) ruled the North Sea (Denmark, Norway, England) and ended viking attacks
Canute also became king of england
After Canute came Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor devoted himself to religion
Edward the Confessor died childless in 1066
Harold II of Wessex was crowned on the day of Edward’s burial and was the last Anglo-Saxon king

Norman Conquest:

Normans were vikings who settled in northern france
William Duke of Normandy (norman leader) claimed Edward promised him the throne
In 1066 William invaded and defeated Harold II at Hastings
William was crowned William I in Westminister Abbey on Christmas day (1066)
Unified the country under a monarchy and provided it with the foundations of the medieval state

Battle of Hastings (1066):