Lecture 6 Crafts and trades in Britain

The age of Hill Forts and Hill Tribes in Britain 1500 BC to the Roman Invasion in 43 AD

For some unexplained reason, Iron Age man started to change his living habits. They stopped building burial mounds and stone circles, stopped using the ancient sites like Stonehenge. Instead the Iron Age peoples took to farming in permanent fields and to living in protected hill forts. The explanation might be that with the acquisition of the knowledge to make iron tools, then farming and tilling land became a viable proposition. Or perhaps iron weapons made man more aggressive and groups needed protection from marauding bands of armed thugs.

Maiden Castle in Dorset as it is seen today, was typical of a large protected hill fort, with its various ramparts. By around 150 BC there was a substantial trade between Britain and the continent. Involved were raw materials such as tin, silver or gold: finished goods like wine, pottery and coins: and even slaves. Julius Caesar made a landing in Britain in 55 BC, but only succeeded in establishing a temporary bridgehead. After another abortive attempt the next year, he sailed away, and the Romans left Britain alone for another century, until they landed in force in 43 AD. By the eve of the Roman invasion, Britain was a series of small kingdoms, perhaps 20 of these large enough to have a regional influence, but with no one kingdom holding any real control over any large area of the country

410 to 1066 Anglo- Saxon Britain. Viking Raids. The Norman Invasion

The breakdown of Roman law and civilisation was fairly swift after the Roman army departed in 410 AD. To counter the raids from continental pirates, Vikings, Picts and Scots towns would bring in mercenaries from Europe to defend them from attack. These mercenary soldiers were Angles and Saxons from northern Germany.

The deal was that the mercenaries brought their families with them, and got paid with land which they could farm. Eventually the Anglo- Saxon mercenaries realised that they were stronger than their employers and appear to have taken over the running of areas themselves.

There is of course the whole legend of King Arthur that is ascribed to this period. Arthur appears to have been a fictional, rather than historical figure, but that link gives you a complete guide to King Arthur, who he could have been and where he could have lived.

The new Anglo- Saxon invaders were not organised centrally, as the Romans had been, or as the Normans would be. They slowly colonised northwards and westwards, pushing the native Celts to the fringes of Britain. Roman Britain was replaced by Anglo- Saxon Britain, with the Celtic peoples remaining in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. The Anglo- Saxon areas eventually combined into kingdoms, and by 850 AD the country had three competing kingdoms.

The three kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex, not only were competing between themselves, but they were also under sustained attack from Viking raids. The Viking incursions culminated with a "Great Army" landing in East Anglia in 865 AD. It made wide territorial gains, and by 875 the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria had succumbed. Only Wessex remained Anglo- Saxon. The Vikings attack Wessex in 878, and the Saxon king, Alfred (of burning the cakes fame) had to flee to the Somerset marshes.. However he was able to regroup and counterattack. His efforts and those later of his son and grandsons, gradually pushed the Vikings (remember Eric Bloodaxe) northwards and eventually into the sea. By 955, Alfred’s the Great grandson Ethelred, ruled over a united England. Government became centralised, and the king had the infrastructure to rule the whole country.

Next came another wave of Viking attacks. The net effect was that the English kin, Ethelred the Unready, found his kingdom under attack on all coasts by Norsemen. On Ethelred's death in 1016, the Viking leader Cnut was effectively ruling England. But on Cnut's death, the country collapsed into a number of competing Earldoms under a weak king, Edward the Confessor.

Britain before 1066

This chapter covers the period of time from the dawn of civilization in Britain (around 4000 BC) up to the Norman conquest. It is a period that is largely ignored in British history books, apart from the Roman invasion and occupation.

But lot of interesting things happened, and much remains for the visitor to discover and explore. The sub divisions that we are going to use, to help you make sense of what happened are 4000BC - 1500BC The first farmers, Stonehenge and other relics Man migrated to Britain whilst it was still joined to the rest of Europe by a land bridge. Stonehenge and Avebury Ring are the most spectacular monuments from this period, but there are others. Stone Age man possessed great skills, but left behind only his archeology.

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