The United Kingdom of Great BritainWales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England

Iberians (Old & New Stone Age)•The first people to live in England•Physical characteristics:

▫Short▫Dark hair and skin

•Lifestyle:▫Knew how to make bronze (an alloy)

•Stonehenge – from the Saxon, meaning “hanging stone”▫May have been used by Druids for religious

rites dealing with the lunar & solar cycles

Celts (Approx. 600 BC – 55 BC)• Physical characteristics:

▫Tall, blonde▫Warriors

• Lifestyle:▫Cured ham, kept bees, made wooden barrels▫Skilled artisans who introduced the use of iron

to Europe▫Had a legal system that specified individual

rights• Woad – a blue dye

▫Celts would dye their bodies to give themselves a terrifying appearance in battle.

More about Celts

•Animism – religion of Celts▫Saw spirits in everything (rivers, trees,

stones, fire)•These spirits controlled all aspects of

existence and had to be constantly satisfied

•Druids – priests▫Acted as intermediaries between gods and

people; they sometimes called for ritual dances or sacrifices

Romans (Approx. 55 BC – 400 AD)•Beginning of Christianity•Julius Caesar – 55 BC

▫Conquered Gaul (a region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and parts of the Netherlands and Germany)

▫Then he sailed across the English Channel to learn about Britain

More about Romans• Contributions:

▫Roads (5000 miles of stone road, some still in use today)

▫Walls▫Villas▫Great public baths

• Hadrian’s Wall▫A 73-mile long defensive wall linking the North

Sea & the Atlantic; separated England & Scotland

• Romans left in 410 AD because of problems in Rome…

Anglo-Saxons (450 AD)

•Germanic invaders: Angles, Saxons, Jutes•Alfred the Great:

▫Led Angles, Saxons, Jutes against the invading Danes (Vikings) uniting Anglo-Saxon England

▫Revived interest in learning and in the English language

•St. Augustine▫Converted England to Christianity the

second time by converting the Jute king

More about Anglo-Saxons

•The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – a lengthy running history of England instituted by Alfred the Great. Because of his efforts, English began to gain respect as a language.

•Class structure:▫Earls – free men▫Churls – unfree men (slaves or tenants)

And more about Anglo-Saxons• Lifestyle:

▫VERY SOCIAL!▫Mead – drink of fermented honey, malt, & spices▫Mead hall – center of family life; fire in the

center; dias at one end▫Entertainment:

Women – needlework Men – played chess & backgammon; enjoyed

fishing, hunting, gambling, drinking, & fighting▫Food – meat & fish; primary vegetable – cabbage

Dinner would last for several hours

And the last of Anglo-Saxon info •Commerce:

▫Families usually provided for themselves.▫Chapmen – peddlers

•Literature:▫Monks – spent almost all of their daylight

hours copying manuscripts by hand in a scriptorium (writing room)

▫Scop (or bard) – skilled storytellers who sang of gods and heroes; were revered as much as warriors

Hagar the Horrible