Ancient Britons (the Celts and their religion, Stonehenge)

The formation of the British nation

Ancient Britons (the Celts and their religion, Stonehenge and Avebury);

The Romans;

The Anglo-Saxons (Christianity, the raids of the Danes, Alfred the Great);

The Normans (William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings);

The Plantagenets (Magna Carta, Hundred Years War);

The Houses of York and Lancaster (War of the Roses, Richard III);

1.7. The Tudors (Henry VIII, the Protestant- Catholic struggle, Mary I – “Bloody Mary”, Elizabeth I);

The Stuarts (Gunpowder plot);

The Civil War; the Republic under Oliver Cromwell; restoration of monarchy (Great Plague in London and Great Fire of London, union of England and Scotland);

1.10. The Hanoverians (Seven Years’ War against France for colonies in America and India, the Battle of Trafalgar, the Battle of Waterloo, “Victorian Period”, the British Empire);

1.11. the House of Saxe-Coburg (“Edwardian Period”);

The House of Windsor (World War I, World War II, the United Nations, the end of the British Empire).

Ancient Britons (the Celts and their religion, Stonehenge)

Little is known about the ancient population of the British Isles. In prehistoric times (before 12 000 BC) Britain was joined to the rest of Europe. The first people, and many animals, came there over dry land. Towards the end of the Ice Age the low-lying land areas became covered with water, and thus the present English Channel was formed. Somewhere after 3000 BC the first inhabitants from Continental Europe came to the shores of the island. The hunters of the New Stone Age crossed the sea to Britain to the west of the Channel and settled along the Western shores in their search of food.

The first inhabitants of the island for whom a traditional name exists are the Iberian or Megalithic-people. They are thought to have come from the region of the Mediterranean Sea. Soon after 2000 B.C. another people entered the country from the east of Europe. The two peoples intermixed.

Like other primitive people in other parts of the world, they lived in caves and hunted animals for food. Gradually they learned to grow corn and breed domestic animals. They made primitive tools and weapons of stone. Later they learned to smelt metal and make metal tools and weapons. Archeologists find their tools and weapons, as well as remains of primitive houses.

These people were religious, though we know very little about their religion. Some temples which they build still stand in many parts of England and Scotland. These temples are also very primitive. They are just circles of great stones standing vertically. The greatest of them are Stonehenge in the South of England and Avebury.

At the end of the Bronze Age people started to use iron instead of bronze for making tools and weapons. The Iron Age began in Britain about 500 BC.

The arrival of the Celts from central Europe after 800 B.C. opened up a new and important page of British history. The name “Britain” comes from the name of a Celtic tribe known as the Britons who settled in the country. They were tall, strong people with long red or sandy hair, armed with iron sword and knives which were much stronger than the bronze weapons used by the native population. The society of Celts included warriors and noblemen, farmers, the most highly skilled craftsmen and druids who were most learned people (priests, doctors, and musicians). Some of them pretended to be enchanters (волшебники), others taught young men who were their pupils. Their society was organized in tribes each headed by a king or a chief. They made things out of iron, bronze, tin, clay and wood, and decorated them with beautifully drawn lines and patterns. They made money out of gold and silver. They began to make roads, along which they travelled about the country, buying and selling things.

There were some good and rather big houses in Britain, which had many rooms and corridors. The richer Britons lived in these big houses. When they had feasts in their houses, they sat round low tables. There were no forks and spoons. They took big pieces of meat in their fingers and tore (отрывали) them apart, or cut them with their knives. They drank from big cups made of earthenware (керамика) or silver.

The Celts spoke the Celtic language. The influence of the Celts was greatest in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. They were driven to these parts by the invaders who followed them. Due to this, these parts of Britain are very different from England in language, custom, traditions.

Welsh is one of the Celtic languages, like Scottish and Irish Gaelic. About 16 to 20 per cent of the population of Wales speaks the Welsh language, although in north and west Wales about half of the population speaks the local tongue. According to the Act of 1967 all official documents in Wales should be in English and Welsh and most road signs are in both languages.

Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are still spoken in Scotland and Northern Ireland, although they have suffered more than welsh from the spread of English. However these languages are being taught and learned in schools. The Scots have very many interesting traditions, games, of which they are very proud. The Scottish song For Auld Lang Syne which means “in memory of past times” was written by Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns, and it is sung all over Britain. Many Scottish people still use some Scottish words when they speak English.

In England itself Celtic influence is felt to this very day, though this influence is much weaker, as compared with the other parts of the country. The Celts worshipped nature. The oak-tree and mistletoe [ˊ mɪ sltə υ ] were sacred. Water was also worshipped as the source of life. There are place-names in England connected with the Celts. For example, Avon – the name of a river, which means “water” in Celtic. The origin of the name Severn – the longest river in the country – is connected with the name of a Celtic goddess – Sabrina. The tradition of decorating the homes in Britain during Christmas with branches of such plants as the mistletoe and holly is connected with the customs of the Celts, who believed that these plants protected their homes against evil spirits.

The Britons were polytheistic, that is they believed in many gods. They believed that different gods lived in the thickest and darkest parts of the forests. Some historians think that the Britons were governed by a class of priests of druids who had great power over them. They were cruel men and their ways of worshipping their gods were cruel too. They often declared that a god was angry, and to get the god’s pardon the people had to offer up sacrifices of human beings. The druids put men into huge baskets and burned them in the presence of the people.

The Britons often fought among themselves. The remains of forts build by the Britons can be seen in different parts of the country.

During the Celtic period women may have had more independence than they had again for hundreds of years. When the Romans invaded Britain two of the largest tribes were ruled by women who fought from their chariots. The most powerful Celt to stand up to the Romans was a woman, Boadicea. She had become queen of her tribe when her husband had died. She was tall, with long red hair, and had a frightening appearance. In ad 61 she led her tribe against the Romans. She nearly drove them from Britain, and she destroyed London, the Roman capital, before she was defeated and killed. Roman writers commented on the courage and strength of women in battle, and leave an impression of a measure of equality between the sexes among the richer Celts.

The most interesting description of the life of the Celts was given by Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler, who first invaded Britain in 55 BC.