The early history of Britain and its people, like that of many other countries, is marked by a re... more The early history of Britain and its people, like that of many other countries, is marked by a repeated pattern of invasion, conquest and settlement. The struggle for power, based largely upon wealth and military strength, was constant, resulting in conflicting loyalties, internal divisions, and widespread political instability. The term "Old English" was invented as a patriotic and philological convenience. "Old English" implied that there was a cultural continuity between the England of the sixth century and the England of nineteenth century. The Germanic people known as the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, who had successfully invaded the former Roman colony of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Celts first appeared in Britain around the year 700 BC. Originating from the north-west of Germany, they bought with them an already sophisticated culture. Celtic priests were Druids and were considered living archives of tribal law, history, science, medicine and religion. Druids filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, mystic and scholar. The Celts were originally a pagan culture who worshipped the elements: the sun and the moon, well, rivers, trees, stones, were believed to have "souls". The most famous surviving circle is Stonehenge a group of enormous blue stones placed in concentric circle. The construction of Stonehenge took close to 2000 years. The Celts weren't a united people. They had no real sense of themselves as a nation, and feuds both between and within different tribes were common. The Roman conquest of Britain began in the year 55 BC with the invasion of Julius Caesar. Britain wasn't occupied by the Romans until much later under the reign of Emperor Claudius. The Romans introduced a literate culture into Britain for the first time in its history. The Latin language and civilisation became part of the structure of British society. They built roads, fortifications, baths, amphitheatres and towns where they settled and which they administrated the rural Celtic population. The Roman advance was halted just south of what is now the border between England and Scotland. The Caledonians, as the Romans called the fierce inhabitants of Scotland, refused to be colonised and eventually Emperor Hadrian decided to build a wall to keep the northen raiders out of roman Britain. Hadrian was one of the few Roman emperors to renounce the policy of unlimited imperial expansion. It's possible to walk along the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. The Roman of Britain had also driven the Chistianized Celtic inhabitants of Britain westwards to the confines of Wales and Cornwall and northwards into the Highlands of Scotland. The radical success of their colonization is evident in the new place-names that they imposed on their areas of settlement. The fate of the old Celtic inhabitants who were not able to remove themselves is announced in the English word Wealth, a word once applied both to a native Briton and to a slave (foreign). The old Roman order had utterly disintegrated under pressure from the new invaders, though stories of determined Celtic resistance to the Saxons in the sixth century. In Ad 410, barbarian raiders from northern Germany. After the departure of the Roman legions, the Romanised Britons were forced to employ Saxon mercenaries to defend their shores. These mercenaries refused to leave the country. The way was opened for another full-scale colonisation by the Anglo-Saxon invaders who soon took control of much of eastern Britain. The Britons continued to resist the Saxon invaders but suffered from internal divisions and had to defend from attacks by the Picts and the Irish as well as the Saxon. It was around the time of the Saxon invasions in the 5 th century that the legend of King Arthur and the Knights. By the end of 6 th century, the Anglo-Saxons had established seven recognisable kingdoms on Britain's shores. Of these three: Kent, Sussex and Essex, are remembered in the names of the modern English countries. The fourth kingdom, that of the East Angles, lay in the extreme east of Britain. The other two Angle kingdoms were those of Northumbria and Mercia. The Wessex, was the kingdom of west. The process of re-
The early history of Britain and its people, like that of many other countries, is marked by a re... more The early history of Britain and its people, like that of many other countries, is marked by a repeated pattern of invasion, conquest and settlement. The struggle for power, based largely upon wealth and military strength, was constant, resulting in conflicting loyalties, internal divisions, and widespread political instability. The term "Old English" was invented as a patriotic and philological convenience. "Old English" implied that there was a cultural continuity between the England of the sixth century and the England of nineteenth century. The Germanic people known as the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, who had successfully invaded the former Roman colony of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Celts first appeared in Britain around the year 700 BC. Originating from the north-west of Germany, they bought with them an already sophisticated culture. Celtic priests were Druids and were considered living archives of tribal law, history, science, medicine and religion. Druids filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, mystic and scholar. The Celts were originally a pagan culture who worshipped the elements: the sun and the moon, well, rivers, trees, stones, were believed to have "souls". The most famous surviving circle is Stonehenge a group of enormous blue stones placed in concentric circle. The construction of Stonehenge took close to 2000 years. The Celts weren't a united people. They had no real sense of themselves as a nation, and feuds both between and within different tribes were common. The Roman conquest of Britain began in the year 55 BC with the invasion of Julius Caesar. Britain wasn't occupied by the Romans until much later under the reign of Emperor Claudius. The Romans introduced a literate culture into Britain for the first time in its history. The Latin language and civilisation became part of the structure of British society. They built roads, fortifications, baths, amphitheatres and towns where they settled and which they administrated the rural Celtic population. The Roman advance was halted just south of what is now the border between England and Scotland. The Caledonians, as the Romans called the fierce inhabitants of Scotland, refused to be colonised and eventually Emperor Hadrian decided to build a wall to keep the northen raiders out of roman Britain. Hadrian was one of the few Roman emperors to renounce the policy of unlimited imperial expansion. It's possible to walk along the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. The Roman of Britain had also driven the Chistianized Celtic inhabitants of Britain westwards to the confines of Wales and Cornwall and northwards into the Highlands of Scotland. The radical success of their colonization is evident in the new place-names that they imposed on their areas of settlement. The fate of the old Celtic inhabitants who were not able to remove themselves is announced in the English word Wealth, a word once applied both to a native Briton and to a slave (foreign). The old Roman order had utterly disintegrated under pressure from the new invaders, though stories of determined Celtic resistance to the Saxons in the sixth century. In Ad 410, barbarian raiders from northern Germany. After the departure of the Roman legions, the Romanised Britons were forced to employ Saxon mercenaries to defend their shores. These mercenaries refused to leave the country. The way was opened for another full-scale colonisation by the Anglo-Saxon invaders who soon took control of much of eastern Britain. The Britons continued to resist the Saxon invaders but suffered from internal divisions and had to defend from attacks by the Picts and the Irish as well as the Saxon. It was around the time of the Saxon invasions in the 5 th century that the legend of King Arthur and the Knights. By the end of 6 th century, the Anglo-Saxons had established seven recognisable kingdoms on Britain's shores. Of these three: Kent, Sussex and Essex, are remembered in the names of the modern English countries. The fourth kingdom, that of the East Angles, lay in the extreme east of Britain. The other two Angle kingdoms were those of Northumbria and Mercia. The Wessex, was the kingdom of west. The process of re-
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