The way of their living

HISTORICAL SURVEY BRITAIN

CHAPTER II: Historical survey

Ancient Britain

The first inhabitants of the island were the Iberians[1], a race who about 2000 BC[2] inhabited the countries of the Mediterranean region and is supposed to have formed the first population of some parts of the British Isles.

Soon after 700 B.C. Britain was invaded by the Celts who are sup­posed to have come from Central Europe. History says that they came in three distinct groups. The first group occupied Western and Northern regions. The original language of Ireland and of North-West Scotland is Gaelic[3]. The second group of Celts arrived in England between 600 and 500 B.C. and settled down in the South of England, in Wales and in North and South-West England and Scotland. Welsh is the celtic lan­guage of modem Wales. A third wave of invaders occupied the central part of Great Britain.

2. The Roman Conquest and Occupation

The British Isles always attracted the notice of the Romans. Julius Caesar was the first to lead the Roman troops in their invasion of Britain. The Greeks had called the British Isles "Albion", what the Romans in­terpreted as "albium" - white land, due to the white cliffs going down to the sea in the Strait of Dover.

The Romans occupied the Eastern and Central parts of Great Brit­ain. In the North and West the social order remained much untouched while in the south-eastern region of England there was much change. During their dominance the Romans built many towns, Roman type vil­las where the slave-owning system developed soon. Otherwise the old way of life of the British Celts did not change very much. The largest of the towns was called Londinium. It was on the river Thames where Lon­don is to-day. It became the capital city.

3. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest. The Struggle against the Danes

After the departure of the Romans the Celts became independent again, though it was a short period of time. From the middle of the 5-century they were subject to the attacks of the Germanic tribes[4] of the Jutes[5], the Saxons and the Angles.

They invaded the greatest part of England except Wales. The name Jute soon died out and the invaders were generally referred to as the An­glo-Saxons.

The establishment of Anglo-Saxon rule postponed the development of class relations and the formation of class society in the country. The communal organization was wide-spread among the newcomers.

The way of their living

The Anglo-Saxons settled mainly in small villages consisting of about 20 to 30 families. All of them were faithful to their leader. Local rules, for example, the rule how to share a great grass field before hay -making were made by the moot[6]. The moot was a small meeting of all free villagers held on a grassy hill or under a tree. Sometimes the moot judged cases between the people of the village. A certain number of vil­lages were grouped into hundreds and the hundreds into shires[7]. Each hundred had an open-air court of justice. Important cases were judged by the sheriff of a shire or by a king's officer.

Gradually class inequality increased among the Anglo-Saxons es­pecially after the conquest of Britain. The nobility took the best land and cattle and gradually became great landowners. They didn't cultivate the land themselves, the slaves worked their fields but as slave labour was unproductive, the slaves often were given some land for their personal use. This was another important step in the development of serf[8] labour.

In the 7 ^th – 9 ^th centuries important changes took place among the members of the Anglo-Saxon communities: land became their private property which could be sold, inherited or used as a payment for debts. In this period feudal relations were beginning to make slow progress within the Anglo-Saxon society. Anyhow the majority of the population still consisted of free peasants.

In 664 Christianity was adopted in the country and caused a great progress of the development of feudal relationship. It served the interests of the rich Anglo-Saxons, their right to rule the country but it also led to the growth of culture and the revival[9] of Latin too.

Having established in England their powerful kingdom the Anglo-Saxons had to face most dangerous enemies from Scandinavia - the Danes from Denmark and the Northmen from Norway, frequently called the Vikings[10]. The Danes were the invaders of England and the North­men[11] were the invaders of Ireland and Scotland.

Fortunately at this time there appeared a Saxon king Alfred[12] who was a military genius. He gathered his men and defeated the Danes by surprise attacks. Alfred saw that the best way to keep off the Danes was to fight them at sea. He built ships bigger and faster than the Danish ships and attacked them at sea.

He is considered to be the founder of the English fleet.

4. The Norman Conquest

In 1066 Britain was invaded by the Normans who came from Nor­mandy (France). The ruler of Normandy was Duke William, who wanted the become king of England The deciding battle between the Anglo-Saxon king Harold and the Norman duke William took place on the 14* of October on the field of Hastings. Though the Saxon army fought bravely, it was defeated and king Harold himself was killed in battle.

Immediately after this victory William and his army proceeded to London and took it. He was crowned king on the 25th.of December 1066 at Westminster as William I though he is widely known as William the Conqueror.

A hard time began for the Anglo-Saxons especially for the common people.

William suppressed[13] any rebellions[14] against his authority. Wherever he saw opposition he took the lands and established castles in that dis­tricts. By such methods he presently ended all opposition to his rule. It was under his order that the White Tower of London was built to guard the town against outside attack.

The Normans strengthened and organized the feudal system of so­ciety. It meant cruel suffering for the people of England.

The Norman feudal lords and those of the Saxon lords, who ac­cepted Norman rule, organized the increasing exploitation of the free and unfree peasants. It was hard forced labour on the lord's land, they could­n't leave the manor[15], they were not free any longer, their forced labour was controlled and they were severely punished if their labour did not satisfy the lord

5. The Peculiarities of the feudal System in England

Though England was a typical feudal country, it had certain peculi­arities which were unique in European history. The feudal system reached a higher regularity and completeness than in most other coun­tries of Europe. Elsewhere the king's ownership of all the land was a fiction. Here it was fact The king had vast lands, money, his own army, so in fact the king had great power. The king was far stronger than any baron, at that time.

The wealth of feudal lords lay in terms of land. They were consid­ered to be rich due to their vast land. Private wars between nobles (so characteristic of France and Germany and even Russia) was an exception rather than the rule and private armies and castles were watched by the Crown. Anyhow like landlords in other countries they had to pay then-rent -the original feudal payments. Only those original feudal payments had to be payed in terms of money (not in products) for the king and the country needed money for the world market.

Secondly there were many so called "free people" round the king who were interested in trade with others countries, future merchants, devoted to the king, who always supported him and needed his support as well. Trade was increasing throughout the country with those "free people" who travelled from manor to manor and from market to market.

So these peculiarities of feudalism in England contributed[16] to a de­velopment which exceded the limits of feudalism.

Assignments

1. What were the first inhabitants of the British Isles? What countries did they come from? When did it happen?

2. What do you know about the Celts? Where did they come from? Enumerate the groups of Celts and say what parts of the British Isles they occupied.

3. What can you say about the languages of Wales and Scotland nowa­days? How did they develop?

4. Speak about the Roman Conquest. Why did they call the island "Al­bion"? What changes were there in the place they occupied?

5. Speak about the Anglo-Saxon Conquest. What part of Great Britain did they invade? What was progressive in their way of living? Speak about the moot, the hundreds and the 'shires'? How did serf labour appear? Was it productive?

6. Who were the Vikings? What place did they come from? Why were they dangerous for the Anglo-Saxons? What parts of Great Britain did they invade? Who defended the country? Speak about king Al­fred.

7. The Norman Conquest, the battle of Hastings: speak about William the Conqueror, his activity in England How did the Conquest influ­ence the life of the Anglo-Saxons?

8. The peculiarities of the feudal system in England why were English kings much more powerful in comparison with the kings in other European countries? What rent did they get from feudal lords? What was the role of the so called "free people"? Why did they support the king?

6. The Economic ' Social and Political Development of England in the XI-XIV Centuries

1) The Economic development of England in the XI Century

We have already learned that during that period (XI-XIV centuries) trade was increasing throughout the country with merchants who trav­elled from manor to manor, from town to town and market to market. Much trading consisted of wool, first raw wool which could be profita­bly sold not only at the local market but abroad, to the cloth-manufacturing towns of the European countries.

But soon the English people learned to weave[17] themselves, to make wool clothes. First there were the domestic workers in each manor but by and by the lords began to get interested in paying money to the peas­ants who would sell their labour. It was more profitable. This novelty played a certain role in the development of new relations between the lords and the employed people.

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