History of Great Britain I.

Stone age• - 800.000-500.000 BCE – first recorded signs of human settlement• - 6.500 BCE – The English Channel separates Britain from Europe• - 4.000 BCE – first evidence of usage of stone tools and farming +

construction of the first wooden walkway (road) “Sweet Road”• - 3.000 BCE – first stone circles were erected along with Stonehenge +

burial sites • Most of the human population was concentrated in the south of the

Britain ( today’s Bristol, London,….)

Bronze and Iron age• - 2.500 BCE – Bronze age begins in Britain along with the arrival of

Beaker Culture ( bronze tools, statues)• - England becomes a part of the Atlantic trade system ( cultural

connection in W. Europe) → development of Celtic languages• - Villages become more populated and dense• - 800 BCE – Iron age – Hallstatt culture; invasions of Celtic tribes,

Britons → Britannia• - Britain first mentioned by Pytheas of Massilia ( around 600 BCE)

Roman Britain• - 55 BCE – the invasion of Julius Caesar - 43 BCE – Britain becomes

part of the Roman Empire• - 50 BCE – Londinium founded• - Romans pushed the Celtic tribes northwards and westwards, and

conquered England and Wales; 122 CE – Hadrian’s wall was erected, dividing England and Scotland

• - Romans brought culture, progress and their way of life to Britain• - 410 CE – Romans withdrew from Britain

Anglo-Saxon Britain• - 3 tribes invaded Britain – Jutes, Saxons and Angles• - they settled in England and formed 7 kingdoms – Wessex, Essex,

Sussex, Kent, Merica, Northumbria and East Anglia• - Anglo-Saxons spread into Britain and drove Britons out of England• - 597 CE – St. Augustine brings Christianity to England and becomes

the first archbishop of Canterbury

Viking Britain• - 787 CE – first recorded Viking (Danish) landing - 793 CE – the

beginning of invasion at Lindisfarne• - most of the Anglo-Saxon eastern kingdoms fell and The Danelaw

( rule of the vikings) was established• - 871 CE - Alfred the Great, king of Wessex defeated vikings, but

allowed them to stay in Britain• - 926 CE – Danelaw reconquered by the Saxons → then again in 1016

CE conquered by Danes and king Canute crowned himself King of England

• - long and complex power struggles → William the Conqueror invades Britain and wins the Battle of Hastings in 1066, he then crowns himself a King of England

Medieval Britain• - 1078 – works starts on Tower of London - 1167 – Oxford university• - 1086 – Domesday Book – census, taxes, property• - Lot of civil wars and power struggles• - King Henry I. worked hard to reform and stabilize the country, and to

settle the relations between Anglo-Saxons and Normans

• - The Anarchy (1135-54) – war in England, breakdown in law and order, power struggle between church and king; succession crisis - King Stephen x Empress Matilda + Henry Plantagenet → Plantagenet rule under Henry II.

• - Richard I. “ the Lion Heart” – crusades• - 1212 – internal disorder and civil war ( king John) → 1215 Magna

Carta – restriction of king’s power → first assembly of parliament 1265• - 1282 – King Edward conquers Wales• - Great famine of 1315-1317 – half a million people died• - 1296-1328- wars of Scottish independence William Wallace, Robert the Bruce

• - 1348 – 1349 – Black Death – killed half of the population• - 1337 – 1453 – Hundred Year’s War – Edward III. Declared himself as

a rightful heir to the French throne → war with France, 3 stages ; in the end English lost all his territory in France with exception of Calais and Channel Isles ( Battles of Crécy, Poitiers, Agincourt, Patay)

• - 1455-1485 – War of the Roses – dynastic struggle for the possession of the crown between the House of York and the House of Lancaster – rival branches of house Plantagenet → victory went to Henry Tudor ( Lancaster) when he defeated Richard III. → Henry VII.

Tudor Britain• - turning point in history of England• - England became a superpower – oversea discoveries (America, India)

- John Cabot – ship “Matthew” → North America – Bristol / first English colony – Virginia ( Sir Walter Raleigh)

• - trade expeditions• - after death of Henry VII., his son Henry VIII. succeeded to the throne• - James IV. of Scots attacked England but was defeated• - Henry VIII. had 6 wives → divorce → English Reformation ( English

Church) 1534 • - with Catherine of Aragon he had Mary I – she was catholic and so she

persecuted protestants - with Anne Boleyn he had Elizabeth I.

• - 1535-1342 – Act of Union ( "The Laws in Wales Act“) – Wales is joined to England

• - Queen Mary I. pursues protestants and burns protestant monasteries• - after her death, her half-sister Elizabeth I. succeeds to the throne

(1558) – she’s protestant• - beginning of Elizabethan age – golden age• - 1570 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail for the West Indies• - 1588 – Spanish king Philip II. attempted to invade Britain with

Spanish Armada, but was defeated

• - 1600 – first involvement in India → British East India Company founded

• - 1603 – Queen Elizabeth I. dies → James VI. of Scots becomes James I. the King of Great Britain

The End

© Ondřej Kvarda 2014