The indigenous population of the British isles were Celtic peoples such as the Picts in the north of what is now Scotland, and various tribes of Britons.
In the year 43 AD, the southern part of Britain (without most of what is now Scotland) was invaded by the Romans and integrated into their expanding empire. The Romans retained control of much of Britain until they withdrew in the year 410, leaving the Britons to fend for themselves and defend against attack from the Picts in the North and the Irish in the west.
It was at this time that Germanic peoples living in what is now northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, known collectively as "Anglo-Saxons", migrated across the North Sea and settled the eastern half of Britain, bringing with them Germanic languages and dialects which over time developed into what we recognise as "English". King Arthur, who may have been legendary figure, was possibly a leader of the post-Roman Britons as they sought, unsuccessfully, to fight against the incoming Anglo-Saxons.
The two major states in north Britain were Pictland and Dal Riada. Nor did the western half of Britain initially come under Anglo-Saxon control; what is now Wales, what is now Cornwall, but also what is now Cumbria (notice the similarity between Cumbria and the Welsh name for Wales, Cymru) and Strathclyde (area around Glasgow) were all not under Anglo-Saxon rule. Eventually, only the various Welsh kingdoms remained independent until they too were invaded by the Kingdom of England in 1282.
By the 500s, the Anglo-Saxon settlers had established seven different kingdoms: Kent, Mercia, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia and Northumbria (uniting Bernicia and Deira). Starting in the late 500s, these were evangelised by Christian monks from Rome, Ireland and what is now France and became Christian during the course of the 600s.
From 790, Britain came under attack from warrior sailors from Scandinavia called the Norsemen or Vikings, and from the late 800s half the island came under "Danelaw" (Viking rule). It was king Æthelstan (royal house of Wessex) who first united England into a single kingdom, and who took the Viking city of York (Yorvik) in 927.
In 1066, another set of Norsemen, the Normans, who had earlier settled northern France (which became known as "Normandy"), invaded England, won the Battle of Hastings and took over rule of England, with William the Conqueror, who was already the Duke of Normandy (France), being also crowned King of England. At this time, the language of the nobility and public life became French, and English only survived as the language of the home. It was for this reason that the Kings of England lay claim to France, which led to the 100 years war between the two countries 1337–1453.
The 1300s was an unsettled century in many ways, and it was the time of the Plague or Black Death; about 1 in 3 people died. In the following century, the 1400s, the wars of the Roses saw the royal houses of Lancaster and York compete for the English throne. In the end, it was a third powerful family with Welsh roots, the Tudors, who came to power under King Henry VII.
Comments
Post a Comment