British Isles

Long ago, the British Isles were not isles at all. Britain was part of the European continent: the English Channel did not exist and East Anglia merged into the Netherlands. Then, about 10,000 years ago - when the last Ice Age had ended, when the bones of the last mammoth had sunk into the mud of the Thames valley, when the climate grew warmer - new rivers and seas were formed and Europe was slowly formed into its present shape.

The people of Britain, like their cousins оn the continent, were simple hunters who lived оn the flesh of wild animals, which they shot with flint-tipped arrows or caught in traps. They killed fish in the estuaries and shallow rivers with spears made from the antlers of deer. They gathered wild fruit, nuts and honey, and probably ate snails, caterpillars and other grubs. They did not build permanent houses, but moved from place to place, sheltering in caves in cold weather.

The people of Britain lagged behind the people of certain warmer lands in their development. While they were still living in caves and scratching about for insects to eat, the Egyptians were building pyramids and writing literature.

Of all the stages between the cave and the skyscraper, perhaps man's greatest leap forward was taken when he became а farmer. The Stone Age farmer of about 5,000 years ago had to clear patches in the forests which covered most of Britain that was not barren heath or swamp. Не cut down trees with stone axes, burned off the scrub, and tilled the ground with а stone-headed hoe. Не kept half-wild cattle and pigs in the forest, where they could find their own food, and in treeless parts, like northern Scotland, he kept sheep. The people who grew grain in southern England had flint sickles to reap the harvest.

By the end of the Stone Age, about 2,000 BC, metal was already being used. The Beaker people, who are named after the clay mugs, or 'beakers', they made, also used bronze knives. They came to Britain from northern Europe, and started the building of the stone monuments at Stonehenge and Avebury...

In 55 ВС Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar, а Roman general and governor of Gaul (France), soon to be, in all but name, the first Roman emperor.

At that time the city of Rome was about 700 years old, but the Roman empire was much younger. As late as 211 ВС Rome had narrowly escaped destruction by the Carthaginian general, Hannibal. But Hannibal's defeat left Rome without а serious rival, and by Caesar's time it controlled an empire that stretched from Spain to the Near East.

The history of Britain began with Roman rule. In 55–54 BC, Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar organised two expeditions to Britain. The Romans had recently conquered Gaul, and the commander believed the Britons had been supporting the Gauls. Caesar did not conquer any territory, but instead brought Britain under the political influence of Rome. Trade relations soon developed, and taxes on trade brought more money to Rome than any conquest.

Four Roman legions invaded Britain in AD 43. Roman rule over the island was marked by insurgency and turmoil. Over time, larger parts of the island were conquered and Roman Britain grew in size. By the 4th Century, Britain’s economy declined. Coins were rarely minted, evidenced by the declining number of troops because of difficulties with paying officials and soldiers. Copper coins were rarely produced after the 4th Century. No new Roman coins were in circulation by AD 407, and coinage was abandoned as a means of exchange shortly thereafter.

Britain faced the additional threat of barbarian attacks. The country was torn by internal strife, which paved the way for the Saxon occupation in AD 600. Many Britons escaped to Brittany at this time, when the legends of King Arthur emerged. The benefits of Roman rule were that an extensive road network and sewage systems were built. The prestige of the Roman Empire influenced the British world view for many generations thereafter.

Germanic tribes arrived in Britain in the context of the Roman conquest, which were initially auxiliary troops of the Roman Army. They brought the Germanic language of English to the island. To this day, Germanic words form the base vocabulary of English. Native Germanic words are much lower in number than French ones, but this is attributed to the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066.

Before the Norman Conquest, Britain was divided into four realms, with four linguistic dialects, including the kingdoms of Mercia, Kent, Wessex and Northumbria. Christianity was also ushered into the history of Britain in AD 627 through baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria, the most significant kingdom until the 8th Century. On a stormy night, a monk from Rome persuaded the king to be baptised after a sparrow flew into the hall by a window and out another one. The monk likened life to a sparrow’s flight; we know nothing as to where we have come from, or where we are going, but Christianity would bring warmth and safety, and clarify our existence. Britain was often referred to as ‘the kingdom that was converted by a sparrow’.

Two places more different than imperial Rome and Celtic Britain could hardly have existed. Roman society was urban, with grand public buildings built of marble. Britain was а country of mud huts, with no settlement large enough to be called а town. An upper-class Roman lived in greater comfort than any Britisher before the 15th century. His house even had central heating.

The Romans, as heirs of the civilization of Ancient Greece, were interested in art, philosophy and history (Caesar himself wrote good military history in simple prose). The British could neither read nor write. They were not savages, and in some ways Celtic art was superior to Roman, or so it seems to us, but the Romans naturally thought of them as hopelessly primitive barbarians. То the Romans - and to many non-Romans too - there was but one worthwhile form of society, and that was their own. The only useful function of other peoples was to contribute to the glory of Rome.

Britain was а mysterious isle to the Romans. But Caesar knew it contained valuable minerals, and he knew also that the British were helping their cousinsin Gaul against Rome. Не decided on invasion. ...

The Romans were in Britain for over 350 years - а very long time in the history of any country. In the north and west they remained an occupying army, keeping а grip on an often hostile people; but Lowland Britain (most of England) was thoroughly Romanized. The effects of the occupation were surprisingly small in the long run, but Roman rule certainly changed the lives of the British.

The greatest blessing of Roman rule was the рах Romana, 'Roman peace'. Tribal wars in Lowland Britain stopped, and the attacks of outsiders, like the Picts from the north and the Saxons from overseas, were resisted. The Romans set up law courts and enforced justice, though their idea of justice was not the same as ours and their punishments, which included execution by crucifixion, were cruel.

The Romans built the first towns. London was the largest, with about 30,000 people. Colchester and St Albans each had about half as many, but most Roman towns had only 3,000 or 4,000.

The typical Roman town was surrounded by а defensive wall, and was entered through stone-towered gateways. Streets were laid out in squares, and many of the ordinary houses and shops were made of timber and plaster. Larger, stone houses belonged to local leaders, government officials or merchants. The centre of the town was the marketplace, or forum, and nearby were а town hall, several temples, public baths (the Romans were fond of bathing and even had а type of sauna), and an inn or two. Some buildings, such as the amphitheatre where plays were performed, were outside the defensive walls. ...

The decline of the Roman empire was а long process. In а waу, it began before the conquest of Britain, when some of the old Roman virtues were already disappearing. Ву the 3rd century, there could bе no mistaking the decadence of Rome. Ordinary people seemed to care for nothing except 'bread and circuses' (food and cheap entertainment). The aristocracy had grown lazy and soft through living on the work of slaves. Standards of education had fallen, and inflation was ruining the есоnomy.

The slow breakdown of Rome coincided with the restless stirrings of more vigorous people. The fierce Huns were expanding westwards from central Asia, and others - Vandals, Goths, Franks, etc. - moved west ahead of them. Among them were the Saxons who came to Britain.

Roman civilization in Britain was dying for many years before the legions departed. Some towns, like Bath, were ruined and deserted before the Saxon invaders reached them. Coins and pottery, which provide such valuable clues for archaeologists, were becoming scarce before 400. Written records disappeared almost entirely. Looking back, we seem to see а gloomy northern mist falling on Britain. Through it we hear the cries and sounds of battle, while now and then some menacing figure looms dimly through the mist, bent on plunder. ...

The Germanic invaders of Britain, who were to become the English, came from north-west Europe, between the mouth of the Rhine and the Baltic Sea. By Roman standards they were uncivilized people. They had never known Roman rule, and when they reached Britain they were startled by the Roman buildings. Only а race of giants, they thought, could have built them. They avoided the towns, preferring their own simpler settlements.

At first the Anglo-Saxons arrived in small groups. Then, liking the country, they came in larger bands, and began to move inland, finding their way to the heart of England up the Thames and other rivers. The England they found was not much like the England of modem times. То judge from Anglo-Saxon poetry it was а grim, cold place. Thorny forests and barren heaths covered much of the land, swamps and marshes covered more. Rivers were not neatly confined within banks but oozed over the fields. Bears, wolves and wild boar roamed the forests. There were pelicans in Somerset and golden eagles in Surrey. ...

Anglo-Saxon England settled into a pattern of seven kingdoms. The three largest, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex eventually came to dominate the country, each at different times. First it was Northumbria (the only time in English history when the centre of power has been in the north). Northumbria stretched as far as Edinburgh and for a time included part of the kingdom of Strathclyde, in south-west Scotland.

During the 8th century, Northumbrian leadership was replaced by the midlands kingdom of Mercia. The greatest of Mercian kings, Offa (757-796), corresponded with the mighty Charlemagne, emperor of the Franks; he minted his own coins - the first nationwide currency since Roman times. He is remembered also as the builder of Offa's Dyke (ров), an earth rampart over 190 kilometres long which marked the border of Mercia with Wales. It can still be seen, but it was much higher in Offa's time. ...

In the Roman slave market one day, Pope Gregory noticed some pretty fair-haired Yorkshire children for sale. He asked who they were and was told they were Angli, English. 'Angli who look like Angeli (angels)', the Pope replied, making a famous pun.

If this old story is true, the Pope's interest in Britain was aroused on that day, and he decided to send a missionary to convert these attractive heathens to Christianity. In 597, St Augustine landed in Kent. After 150 years of silence, England's contact with Rome was restored.

St Augustine landed very near the spot where the Roman legions had waded ashore, but unlike them he came in peace, and with the agreement of the king of Kent. His message was gratefully received: on Christmas Day 10,000 people were baptized at Canterbury, where a Christian church was still standing. ...

Before the end of the 8th century, the British Isles were raided again by another non-Christian people, from Scandinavia. In 793 the Vikings, as we call them, destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne, drowning some of the monks and stealing precious objects.

The Vikings were a sea-going people; they had the best boats yet seen in Europe, powered by oar and sail. They crossed the Atlantic, founding a colony in Newfoundland 500 years before Columbus discovered America; they rounded Lapland and sailed up the rivers of Russia; they raided Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. Norsemen sailed around Scotland and down the west coast of Britain as far as the Mersey; they established colonies in northern Scotland and created a Scandinavian kingdom in Ireland. Danes raided the east coast of England, burning and killing, exulting in violence. Nothing stopped the Vikings, not even the northern winter.

These long-haired warriors wore coats of mail, carried hefty battle-axes and long shields. No one had the ships to match them at sea, and when they landed they moved so fast - rounding up all the horses in the neighbourhood - that they could destroy a town, burn a church and slaughter the people before a force could be raised against them. When they were brought to battle, they were often too strong for the motley group of poorly armed peasants who confronted them, and when they were defeated they were back again, stronger than ever, a year or two later. ...

Edward the Confessor (Эдуард Исповедник) was half-Norman by birth. He had spent most of his life in Normandy; and he appointed Normans to important positions in the state (partly to balance the power of great English earls like Godwine of Wessex). England was already half 'Normanized' before the Norman Conquest of 1066. 
  
Edward had no children, and as he died he recognized Harold, son of Godwine, as his heir(наследник). Across the Channel in Normandy, а loud protest was heard. According to Duke(герцог) William, Edward the Confessor had made the same promise to him; what was more, Harold had already accepted William's claim during а visit to Normandy two years before. 
  
Such arguments are usually decided by force. William swept across the Channel with his army and landed near Hastings. Harold was in the north, where he had just defeated а Norse invasion, but he hurried south and, brave but foolish, offered battle. His men were tired and he would have done better to have starved the Normans out. Still, his position on а hill was а strong one, until the Normans, pretending to run away, lured the English down the hill.

When Harold was killed, the battle - and the kingdom - was lost. Duke William, the most formidable empire-builder of his time, marched directly to London, where the nervous and disunited English lords fell over themselves in their eagerness to surrender. ...