British History #1

First settlements to Queen Elizabeth I

The very earliest Britons were hunters and gatherers who left no written records. We know them only from the artefacts they left behind, e.g. Stonehenge. The earliest Celtic inhabitants we know primarily through archaeology and the written records of the first literate people to settle in Britain – the Romans.

Roman period: 55 (BC) - 401. They built towns, and "chesters"/castles were established. They also organised areas/lands and administration. The Hadrian Wall (by Newcastle, in Yorkshire) was built and  showed how far north the romans got as part of keeping the barbarians out out Scotland. The Romans also introduced central governments, good roads, laws, Christianity…

The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic tribes from the continent who replaced the Roman-Celtic Britons during the 4^th and 5^th century. Their language, Anglo-Saxon, is the foundation of modern English. The Old Norse spoken by the Vikings was very closely related to it.

The Vikings were another group of Germanic invaders who hit the coast. The Vikings settled in the north, and many became farmers. In 1066 the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II defeated the king of Norway, Harald Hardrada, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
Year 793: Lindisfarne, Holy Island. Viking heritage: York and other cities, and the language (words).

In 1066 the Normans invaded the north eastern England and claimed the English throne. King of Norway, Harald Hardråde, led the army. The Anglo-Saxon king, Harold II, rushed north to meet him and battle, and he defeated and killed Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (outside York). The same year William, Duke of Normandy, claimed the throne, and at the Battle of Hastings he defeated and killed King Harold. This was the last invasion of the British isles in history. Spain, Napoleon and Hitler tried later, but they all failed.
Consequences: The Normans spoke French, so French is the new language in England. They got a French-speaking upper class. 1066-1085: Domesday book – a cencus (folketelling) and a register of property (showed the Normans as being fantastic organisers).

The Magna Carta (Great Charter) was a charter of liberties granted by King John in 1215. This was a result of the idea of checking the powers on the king. To raise funds for armies and campaigns King John had to turn to the strongest barons in the land. They were willing to finance the king's activities so long as he accepted a limitation on his powers. Gradually an institution developed which eventually became the House of Lords. A similar institution developed from the towns and cities. The met in what would come to be called "Commons", granting taxes to the crown and offering advice on policy. The British parliament is called the "Mother of Parliaments".

The Renaissance: 1500s

King Henry VIII married six times, and beheaded two of his wives because they failed to give him a son. When he tried to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the pope denied him permission. In response King Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church and made himself head of a new Church of England (Anglican Church). 

Elizabeth I was King Henry's daughter (her mother was Anne Boleyn). When she succeeded the throne she treaded carefully between the various religious convictions in her realm. She was intelligent, and skilfully played off the powers within her kingdom against one another, maintaining peace at home and strength abroad.  Although, one fight she could not avoid was with Spain, a conflict she had inherited from her father. He sent a fleet of 130 ships – the Spanish Armada – to invade England, dethrone Elizabeth and re-establish the Roman Catholic faith. The attack was a failure. The defeat of the Spanish Armada (the Spanish fleet) marked the beginning of England as a great power and the start of what would eventually become the British Empire. She also re-established the English protestant church (after her sister Mary I). Her reign witnessed a flowering of arts and literatures. It was an era of Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlow (playwright), Sir Philip Sidney (poet) and William Shakespeare. Her reign was a period of economic and cultural growth, and was also the start of the empire.

Mary Queen of Scots (not to be confused with Mary I) was Elizabeth's rival. She married Henry Stuart, and had a son who would become James I of England. She had many enemies and fled to England to get help from Elizabeth I. There she was taken into custody by Elizabeth. After 18-19 years in custody Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth and subsequently she was beheaded for treason. She was also a catholic.

The Spanish Armada: The Spanish king wanted to punish Elizabeth for what she did to Mary Queen of Scots, and also for supporting the Dutch. At the time Spain was the number one power at sea. Its failure led to Britain becoming the number one power at sea.