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

William the Conqueror organized his English Kingdom according to the feudal system which had already begun to develop in Europe. The central idea of feudal society was that all land, was owned, by the king but it was held by others, called vassals, in return for services and, goods. The king gave large estates to his main nobles in return for a promise to serve him in war. The nobles also had to give him part of the produce of the land. The greater nobles

gave part of their lands to lesser nobles, called knights, and other freemen. Some freemen paid for the land, by doing military service, while others paid,

rent. The noble kept serfs to work on his land. These serfs were not free to leave the estate and were often little better than slaves.

There were two basic principles to feudalism: every man had a lord, and every lord had land and vassals. At each level a man had to promise loyalty and service to his lord. On the other hand, each lord had responsibilities to his vassals. He had, to give them land and protection.

The last of the invaders to come to Britain were the Normans from France In 1066 Duke William of Normandy (a duchy which was established by the Vikings in the 9th century in the north-west of France), who claimed the English throne, defeated the English at the battle of Hastings on the 14th of October in 1066 and established his rule in the country as king of England. He is known as William the Conqueror. The Normans settled in the country, and the French language became the official language of the ruling class for the next three centuries. This explains the great number of French words in English. The monarchy which was established by William and his successors was, in general, more effective. The feudal system contributed to the growth of power of the state, and little by little England began to spread its power. There were many people in England who did not want to be ruled by a Norman king, and in many parts of the country there were rebellions. Lots of people were killed, villages and towns were destroyed.

William 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. By means of the Domesday book, William’s government knew exactly where everyone lived and how much property they owned. Thus, for the first time in the history of England, it was made possible to collect the right taxes for the king.

Wales was the first to be conquered by England. Before they were conquered by the English in the 13th century the different Welsh tribes were continually fighting one another. In 1282 Prince Llewelyn was killed in battle and the King of England, Edward I started a successful campaign to conquer Wales. Eventually the country was subdued, but the English never felt safe there because of Welsh opposition. This explains why the English built so many castles here of which most famous is Caernarfon located in North Wales.

At the same time Edward I of England made his eldest son, his heir, bear the title Prince of Wales in 1301. The ceremony when Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, became Prince of Wales, took place in 1969 in Caernarfon. It was watched by millions of TV viewers all round the world. The ceremony itself, when the eldest son of the monarch becomes the official heir to the throne receiving the title Prince of Wales is known as the Investiture. Though Wales was conquered by England, the Welsh continued to struggle for their independence. At the beginning of the 15th century there was a great rising, but the situation was seriously changed when in 1485 the English throne passed to Henry VII of the Welsh House of Tudor. In 1536 and 1542 Henry VIII brought Wales under the English parliament through special Acts of Union. Since the 16th century Wales has been governed from London. In today’s Government there is a special department and minister for Welsh affairs. Since 1999 Wales formed its own Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, which consists of 60 members.

Scotland managed to be independent for quite a long time, though the English tried hard to conquer it. In the 14th century Robert Bruce led the struggle against the English, but he was defeated by the English king Edward I and had to hide on an island between Scotland and Ireland. Here, so Scottish legend says, Bruce found shelter in a cave. He was in despair. He had been defeated, his friends were scattered, and the English were strong as ever. As he lay on the cave’s hard floor, thinking how difficult it would be to win his struggle, he saw a spider above him spinning its web. Again and again the spider slipped from the web, and again and again it climbed up a line of the web until the whole web was completed. The example with the spider gave Bruce new strength. He managed to organize a new army and defeated the English, However, some years later Edward II, the new English king, decided to attack Robert Bruce in Scotland. He managed to cross the border and reach the Bannock Burn or stream just south of Stirling Castle, which was not taken by the Scots and remained in English hands. Here in the battle of Bannockburn (1314) the English were very seriously defeated, and Scotland continued to be independent for the next three centuries.

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died and, as she had no children, was succeeded by James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots, cousin of Elizabeth

With this union England, Wales and Scotland became " known as Great Britain. However, Scotland continued to be quite independent in the 17th century. The final unification took place in 1707, when both sides agreed to form a single parliament in London for Great Britain, although Scotland continued to keep its own system of law, education and have an independent church. Today Scotland is part of the United Kingdom. There is a special minister in the Government, the Secretary of State for Scotland. In 1999 Scotland restored its independent Parliament of 129 members. This process which took place in Wales and Scotland is known as devolution, which means granting greater autonomy to the national parts of the United Kingdom.

The province of Northern Ireland (sometimes called “Ulster”) consists of six counties and is part of the United Kingdom. It is surrounded by sea to the north and east, and it borders on the Irish Republic (Eire) in the west and south. The capital of the province is Belfast.

Ireland was England’s first colony, and this must never be forgotten when speaking of Anglo-Irish relations. Ever since the first English appeared on Irish land eight centuries ago, there has been much unhappiness and blood.

The problem of Northern Ireland is closely connected with religion, because the Irish people can be divided into two religious groups: Catholics and Protestants. At the same time it is quite clear that the fighting between these two groups is connected with the colonial past.

In 1169 Henry II of England started an invasion of Ireland. Although a large part of Ireland came under the control of the invaders, there was not much direct control from England during the Middle Ages. However, in the 16th century Henry VIII of England quarrelled with Rome and declared himself head of the Anglican Church, which was a Protestant Church. Ireland remained Catholic, and did not accept the change. So Henry VIII tried to force Irish Catholics to become Anglican. He also punished them by taking a lot of their land. This policy was continued by his daughter Elizabeth I. The northern province of Ulster became the centre of resistance, which was crushed by the English in 1607. After these events Ulster became an area of settlement by Protestant immigrants from Scotland and England. The “Plantation of Ulster” began. “Plantation” meant that 23 new towns were built in Ulster to protect the Protestant settlers known as “planters”. The Irish Catholics were driven from their lands. As a result of these actions the population in Ulster became Protestant in majority. But the Irish Catholics never gave up their struggle for independence and their rights. At the end of the 18th century there was a mass rising against the English colonizers which was crushed by the English army,

and in 1801 a forced union was established with Britain.

All through the 19th century the “Irish question” remained in the centre of British politics. One of the greatest tragedies of the 19^th century was the Great Hunger of 1845-49 when because of the bad potato harvest one million people died and more than one million emigrated to the United States of America. The Irish people have never forgotten that the British government had not done enough to help the

poor people during the hunger.

After a long and bitter struggle the southern part of Ireland finally became a Free State in 1921. Ulster where the Protestants were in majority remained part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Free State declared itself a republic in 1949, and is now known as the Irish Republic or Eire (an old Irish word for Ireland). It is completely

independent, and its capital is the city of Dublin. Northern Ireland had its own Parliament at Stormont in Belfast and government which was responsible for its province’s life. But from the beginning the Parliament was in the hands of Protestants, while the Catholics did not have equal rights with the Protestants. In 1969 conflict started between these groups, and so the British government closed the local parliament and sent in the British army to keep the peace. But there was

no peace, and there have been many deaths since 1969. On the Catholic side is the IRA (Irish Republican Army) which wants to achieve a united Ireland by terrorism and bombings. On the Protestant side there are also secret terrorist organizations.

But after all these years of confrontation the people of Northern Ireland understand that only through peace talks and respect for the rights of all the people (both Catholics and Protestants) can peace be achieved in the province. Recent events show that after the talks between London and Dublin, and the end of terrorist activities between the two communities there is much hope that the age-old conflict will be solved, and that peace and progress will be established in Northern

Ireland to the benefit of its population with the restoration of the local Parliament.

The Northern Ireland Assembly of 108 members was restored in 1998. Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held in November 2003. However, many difficulties still exist to make this local parliament a workable body because of the confrontation between the parties representing the Protestant and Catholic communities.

Many years ago all Irish people spoke Gaelic (a Celtic language) and today this language is still spoken in some parts of Ireland, especially in the west, although English is spoken by all Irish people with an accent and dialect quite different from the English in Britain. Gaelic placenames have also survived, for example “lough” - lake, “inis” - island, “drum” - the top of mountain, “glen” - valley, “bally”- town. The names of people are also Gaelic. For example: Liam, the same as the English William, Sean [Jo: n], same as John, Brid, same as Bridget.

An Irishman is quite often called Paddy (short for Patrick). Patrick is so often used, because St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, but it is not a Gaelic name. The same may be said of another widely used name Micky (short for Michael). Irish culture has had a great influence on the development of British culture. Many famous Irishmen contributed to the development of British culture, for example, Jonathan Swift, Bernard Shaw, James Joyce and many others.

Recently, there have been many waves of immigration into Britain and movement within the U.K. For example, many people from Wales, Scotland and Ireland have settled in England.

Many foreigners settled in Britain since the beginning of the 20th century. Commonwealth citizens could enter Britain quite freely until 1962, while people from other countries had to receive special permits. Before the Second World War most of the immigrants came from the old dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. In the late 1930s many Jews came from Germany because of fascist persecution, as well as Poles and people of other nationalities from Eastern Europe. After 1952 many immigrants came to Britain from the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, from some countries of Africa. At this time the British economy was developing rapidly and it needed cheap labour. The immigrants were poor and out of work and had been told there were jobs for them in Britain.

Black and Asian people can be seen in every city of Britain, but there is a greater concentration of them in larger cities, where it is easier to find work, such as London, Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Manchester and others. Today, more than 5 million people of non-white origin live in Britain and over 50 per cent of them were born in Britain, thus they are British, but with a different colour of their skin. Nearly half the doctors and many of the nurses are black, or of Indian origin, as are large numbers of bus drivers and conductors. Many work in the service industry, or own little shops, restaurants, cafes. The immigrants usually take the lowest paid jobs, and when there is unemployment they are the first to lose work. In spite of the laws to protect them, there was still discrimination against the non-whites. This led to serious disturbances in many cities of Britain in the early 1980s.

The main languages of the Asian immigrants are Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Cantonese (Chinese). The authorities support the non-white communities to continue speaking their own languages as well as English. These communities have their special newspapers, magazines, radio and television programmes.

With the movement of people among the countries of the European Union of which Britain is a member, more and more people enter Britain from continental Europe. Today there are many Italians, Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese living in Britain.

The arrival of many foreigners has changed life in present-day Britain. British culture has been enriched through its contact with other cultures. For example, the eating and cooking habits of the British have changed. There are lots of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, Greek and Italian restaurants and cafes all over the country. Traditionally Asian foods have been very popular with the British. But nowadays the British have also developed a great taste for Italian pizzas. Greek foods which.are served at Greek restaurants attract many people not only because the foods are very specific and tasty, but also due to the opportunity to enjoy Greek folk songs and dances.

The service sector has also improved considerably due to the arrival of immigrants. There are many shops run by South Koreans and Vietnamese which are open 24 hours, and any customer can drop in any time to buy things which he needs.

There are also many “take-away shops”, that is shops where you can take food home which has been prepared for you. Another important thing is that the food is tasty and cheap, and you save much time which you can use for other purposes.

Cultural life has also become interesting due to its diversity. You can visit different exhibitions, enjoy new theatrical performances, music. For example, the Bonie M pop group which started in the West Indies became very popular not only in Britain, but far beyond the British Isles. Today Britain is a multiracial society which benefits from the influences of different peoples and cultures.