The Anglo-Saxons disliked towns and cities, they preferred to live in the countryside. They introduced new farming methods and founded the thousands of small villages which formed the basis of English society for the next thousand or so years. In their villages they bred cows, sheep and pigs. They ploughed [plaud] the fields and grew wheat, rye or oats for bread and barley for beer.

   The Anglo-Saxons were tall, strong men, with blue eyes and long blond hair. They were dressed in tunics [`tju:niks] and cloaks which they fastened with a brooch above the right shoulder. On their feet they wore rough leather shoes. Their usual weapons were a spear and a shield. Some rich men had iron swords, which they carried at their left side. The women wore long dresses with wide sleeves. Their heads were covered with a hood.

   The Anglo-Saxons were pagans [`peigзnz] when they came to Britain. Christianity spread throughout Britain from two different directions during the 6<sup>th</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> centuries. It came directly from Rome when St. Augustine [з`gΛstin] arrived in 597 and established [is`tæbli∫t] his headquarters [`hed`kwo:tзz] at Canterbury [`kæntзbзri] in the south-east of England. But Christianity had already been introduced into Scotland and northern England from Ireland, which had become Christian more than 150 years earlier. Although Roman Christianity eventually [i`ventjuзli] took over the whole of the British Isles, the Celtic model persisted [pз`sistid] in Scotland and Ireland for several hundred years.

Vocabulary

Germanic – германский

Jutes – юты

Saxons – саксы

Angles – англы

migrate – мигрировать, переселяться

refuge – убежище

Cornwall – Корнуолл

Sussex – Сассекс

Wessex – Уэссекс

Essex – Эссекс

Northumbria – Нортумбрия

Mercia – Мерсия

East Anglia – Восточная Англия

hostile – вражебный

akin – похожий, сходный, близкий

merge – сливаться, соединяться

tunic – туника

pagan – язычник

Christianity – христианство

St. Augustine – св. Августин

establish – учредить, основать

headquarters – штаб-квартира

Canterbury – Кентербери

eventually – окончательно

persist – сохраняться 

5. The Vikings

   In the 8^th century Britain experienced another wave of Germanic invasions [in`vei3зnz]. These invaders, known as Vikings [`vaikiŋz], Norsemen [`no:smзn] or Danes [`deinz], came from Scandinavia [,skændi`neivjз].

   The Danes were the same Germanic race as the Anglo-Saxons themselves. They still lived in tribes. They were still pagans. They worshipped Woden [`woudn], the god of War, Thor [θo:] and the other old gods whom the Anglo-Saxons had forgotten.

   The Danes were well armed – with swords, spears, daggers [`dægз], battle-axes [`bætlæks] and bows. They were bold and skilful seamen. Their ships were sailing-boats but they were also provided with oars [o:z]. The sails were often striped red and blue and green. At the prow [prau] of the ship there was usually a carved dragon’s head which rose high out of the water.

   In 793 the Danes carried out their first raids on Britain. Their earliest raids were for plunder [`plΛndз] only. They came in spring and summer (in three or four ships) and returned home for the winter. Every year they went to different places, thus all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms faced the same dangerous enemy. In later years large Danish [`deini∫] fleets (more than three hundred ships) brought large armies to conquer and settle in the new lands. They didn’t go home for the winter but they made large well-guarded camps, from which the Danes made many raids upon the villages in the area.

   The Danish raids were successful because the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had neither a regular army nor a fleet in the North Sea to meet them. Soon the Danes conquered Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Only Wessex was left to face the enemy.

   Wessex had united the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and under the reign of King Alfred (871–899) became the centre of resistance against the invaders.  Alfred, who became known in English history as Alfred the Great, managed to raise an army and built the first British fleet. He made new rules for the army, in which every free man had to serve and to come provided with the proper weapons. Many places which could be easily attacked by the enemy were fortified [`fo:tifaid]. Earthen walls were built around them. These walls were protected by fighting men who owned lands in the neighborhood.

   As a result of all these measures, the Anglo-Saxons won several victories over the Danes. The Danes left Wessex and a part of Mercia. They settled in the north-eastern part of England, a region that was from that time called the Danelaw, because it was ruled according to the law of the Danes.

   At the end of the 10^th century the Danish invasions were resumed [ri`zju:md]. The Anglo-Saxon kings were unable to organize any effective resistance and they tried to buy off the Danes. The Anglo-Saxon kings gave them money to leave them in peace. The result was that they came again in greater numbers the following year to demand more. In order to make this payment to the Danes in 991 the government imposed a heavy tax called Danegeld [`dein,geld], or Dane money.

   At the beginning of the 11^th century England was conquered by the Danes once more. The Danish King Canute [kз`nu:t] (1017–1035) became king of Denmark, Norway and England. He made England the centre of his power. But he was often away from England in his kingdom of Denmark and so he divided the country into four parts called earldoms [`з:ldзmz]. They were Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. An earl [`з:l] was appointed by the king to rule over each great earldom. To win the support of the big Anglo-Saxon lords, Canute promised to rule according to the old Anglo-Saxon laws. He sent back most of his Danish followers to their own country. He usually chose Anglo-Saxon nobles for the high posts of earls and other royal officials. He became a Christian and sent monks [mΛŋks] from Canterbury to convert [kзn`vз:t] his subjects in Scandinavia to Christianity too. Supported by the Anglo-Saxon lords Canute ruled in England till he died. After the death of Canute his kingdom split up and soon afterwards an Anglo-Saxon king came to the throne (1042) and the line of Danish kings came to an end.

Vocabulary

invasion – вторжение

Vikings – викинги

Norsemen (Northmen) – норманны, древние скандинавы

Danes – даны

Scandinavia – Скандинавия

Woden – Воден (Один)

Thor – Тор

dagger – кинжал

battle-axe – боевой топор

oar – весло

prow – нос корабля

plunder – грабеж

King Alfred (871–899) – король Альфред (Великий)

fortify – укреплять

Danelaw – область Датского права

resume – возобновлять

Danegeld – «Датские деньги» – налог

Canute [kз`nu:t] (1017–1035) – Канут

earldom – графство; earl – граф

monk – монах; convert – обращать (в веру)

LECTURE 2

Great Britain in XI–XVII centuries 

Plan:

1. The Norman Conquest of England
2. The ruling of the Plantagenet’s [plæn`tæd3inits] Dynasty [`dinзsti]
3. King John and Magna Carta [,mægnз`ka:tз]
4. The birth of the British Parliament
5. The struggle of Scotland for its independence
6. The Hundred Years’ War
7. The war of White and Red Roses in England
8. The Tudors’ England
9. The Stuarts’ England
10. The Civil War, the Restoration and the Glorious Revolution

 

1. The Norman Conquest of England

      In 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy [`no:mзndi] (the northern territory of France), began to gather an army to invade Britain. His father, Robert, had been Canute’s brother and a cousin of Edward the Confessor, the King of England, so William believed he was King Edward’s rightful heir. But Saxon nobles did not want a French king, and after Edward’s death they proclaimed a young Saxon named Harold [`hærзld] King of England. Harold was the second son of the earl of Wessex, one of the most powerful English nobles of the time. Everything in Harold’s career suggested that he would have made a ruler in the best Saxon tradition – brave, vigorous [`vigзrзs], honourable and generous.

      When Harold was crowned king in London, William immediately began to make preparations to invade England. He gathered a great army and sailed across the English Channel on hundreds of ships. Harold’s army met him on the English coast. There was a great battle at Hastings [`heistiŋz] on October 14, 1066. Harold’s soldiers fought bravely, but William’s army was stronger. Harold was killed and with his death the battle was lost.

      William marched north and took London. He was crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. Thus the Norman duke became king of England – William I or, as he was generally known, William the Conqueror. He ruled England 21 years (1066–1087).

      During the first five years of his reign the Normans had to put down many rebellions [ri`beljзnz] in different parts of the country. The free peasants [`pezзnts] fought fiercely for their freedom against the invaders. To protect himself from attacks of the Saxons, William ordered to build a strong tower on the left bank of the Thames. It was called the White Tower because it was built of white stone. Later other buildings were added and the whole place was surrounded by a stone wall to form a strong fortress which we know now as the Tower of London.

      William the Conqueror took lands from Saxon nobles and gave them to his Norman barons who became new masters of the land. So the native English aristocracy [,æris`tokrзsi] was replaced by a French aristocracy. Great nobles, or barons, were responsible directly to the king; lesser lords, each owing a village were directly responsible to a baron. Under them were the peasants, tied by a strict system of mutual [`mju:tjuзl] duties and obligations to the local lord, and forbidden to travel without his permission. This was the beginning of the English class system.

      The peasants were the English-speaking Saxons. The lords and the Barons were the French-speaking Normans. For a very long time two languages were spoken in the country. Norman-French was the official language of the court, law and government administration. Common Saxon people spoke Anglo-Saxon. The existence of two words for the large farm animals in modern English is a result of the class divisions established by the Norman conquest. There are the words for living animals (e.g. cow, calf, pig, sheep), which have their origins in Anglo-Saxon, and the words for the meat from the animals (e.g. beef, veal, pork, mutton), which have their origins in the French language that the Normans brought to England. Only the Normans normally ate meat; the poor Anglo-Saxon peasants did not.

      As a result of the Conquest, the Anglo-Saxon language changed greatly under the influence of the French language. The two languages gradually formed one rich English language which already in the 14^th century was being used both in speech and in writing.

      William the Conqueror sent groups of men all over the country to make lists of all the population together with the information of how much land every family had and how much cattle and what other property they had on their land. All this information was put into a book which was called the Domesday Book [`du:mzdei,buk]. Thus, for the first time in the history of England, it was possible to collect the right taxes for the king.

Vocabulary

William, the Duke of Normandy – Вильгельм, герцог Нормандии

Edward the Confessor – Эдуард Исповедник

heir – наследник

proclaim – провозглашать

Harold  – Гарольд

vigorous – сильный, энергичный

Hastings – Гастингс

Westminster Abbey – Вестминстерское Аббатство

William the Conqueror – Вильгельм Завоеватель

  rebellion – восстание, бунт

peasant – крестьянин

mutual – взаимный

cattle – скот

the Domesday Book – «Книга Страшного Суда» – Земельная опись

taxes – налоги 

2. The ruling of the Plantagenet’s [plæn`tæd3inits] Dynasty

      William I left three sons. Robert, the elder son, became the Duke of Normandy after his father’s death.

      The middle one, also called William, became the King of England William II (1087–1100) and was known as ‘Rufus’ [`ru:fзs] (that means ‘the Red’) from the redness of his face. Politically and military successful, Rufus was unpopular with the Church because of his treatment of it, though he had a very high reputation in knightly circles. He was killed by an arrow in 1100, while hunting. It was probably a hunting accident.

      Rufus was succeeded in England by his younger brother Henry I (1100–1135). In 1101 Robert, the Duke of Normandy, invaded England. The two brothers met in battle in 1106. Robert was beaten and became his brother’s prisoner until his death in 1134. Henry was the master of both England and Normandy. He was a powerful ruler.

      Henry had one son, William, who was drowned [draund] in 1120, and a daughter, Matilda [mo`tildз]. She was the most prominent woman in early 11th-century England. She had married Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor [`empзrз], on his death she married Geoffrey [`d3efri] Plantagenet [plæn`tæd3init], count of Anjou [a:ŋ`3u:].

      In 1135 when Henry I died, Matilda was pushed aside by Stephen [`sti:vn], son of Adela [`ædilз], the daughter of William the Conqueror. Stephen was King from 1135–1154, but throughout that time he was opposed [з`pouzd] by Matilda, who wanted the throne first herself and then her son Henry. There was Civil War until 1153, when it was agreed that Stephen should rule until his death. In the death of Stephen it was agreed that Henry should become King.

      Henry II came to the throne in 1154. He was master of a great empire. He was Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, Tourain [tu:`ren] and Maine [mein]. In 1152 he married Eleanor [`elinз] of Aquitaine [`ækwi,tein], who brought him large parts of the south of France. She was famed for her beauty, brilliant mind, and courage.

      Henry II was highly intelligent, active and hot-tempered. His aim was to restore [ri`sto:] England to what it had been under Henry I. He retook lost territories, and destroyed castles, built without his permission. He improved the economy [i:`konзmi] and legal system, creating the King’s Court, which travelled around his country so that freemen could seek justice there. He began the use of Westminster as a centre of government.

      Henry II is best remembered by his quarrel with Thomas [`tomзs] Becket [`bekit], Archbishop [`a:t∫i`bi∫зp] of Canterbury [`kæntзbзri]. Becket was initially Henry’s friend. But he resisted [ri`zistid] Henry’s attempts to reduce [ri`dju:s] the Church’s power. In 1170, Henry in a rage, begged for someone to get rid of Becket. At once four knights rode away and murdered Becket in his cathedral. Becket was later made a saint [seint].