Invasions of Britain

Celtic invasion of
Britain
When did Celts invade Britain and where did they

come from? Ancient sources place Celts in western Europe and
also occupying land near the Danube River. Their home territories
have often been traced to central and eastern France, extending
across southern Germany and into the Czech Republic. They
gradually infiltrated
Britain between about
500 and 100 B.C..
Probably there wasn’t an
organized invasion; for
some reasons, the Celts
were so fragmented and
often they were fighting
among themselves, so
the idea of a concerted
invasion would have
been ludicrous. The
Celts were a group of
peoples loosely tied by
similar language, religion, and cultural expression. They didn’t
have a central government, and they were quite as happy to fight
each other as any non-Celt. They were warriors, living for the
glories of battle. They were also the people who brought iron
working to the British Isles.
How was the structure of Celtic society?

The basic unit of Celtic life was the clan, a sort of extended family.
The term "family" isn’t properly correct, for by all accounts the
Celts practiced a peculiar form of child-rearing; they didn't rear
them, they farmed them out. Children were actually raised by
foster parents. The foster father was often the brother of the
birth-mother. Clans were bound together with other clans into
tribes, each of which had its own social structure and customs,
and possibly its own local gods.
What do we know about their religion?

From what we know of the Celts from Roman commentators, they
held many of their religious ceremonies in woodland groves and
near sacred water, such as wells and springs. The Romans also
said that human sacrifice was a part of Celtic religion. One thing
we do know, the Celts
revered human heads.
Celtic warriors would
cut off the heads of
their enemies in battle
and show them as
trophies. They mounted
heads in doorposts
and hung them from
their belts. This might
seem barbaric to us,
but to the Celt the seat of spiritual power was the head, so by
taking the head of an enemy they were appropriating that power
for himself. It was a kind of bloody religious observance. The Iron
Age is when we first find cemeteries of ordinary people’s burials (in
hole-in-the-ground graves).
What was the role of women in the Celtic society?

The lot of women was a good deal better than in most societies of
that time. They were technically equal to men, owned property,
and could choose their own husbands. They could also be war
leaders, as Boadicea later proved.
Roman invasion of
Britain
When did Romans invade Britain?
To the Roman world, Britain was an unknown and mysterious land
across the sea when Julius Caesar invaded in 55–54 BC. Despite
inflicting defeats on the British, Caesar soon made peace with his
opponents and returned to Gaul. For almost a century afterwards
the kingdoms of Britain were kept quiet with gifts and diplomacy.
But when anti-Roman rulers came to power, the emperor Claudius
– in need of a boost to his domestic prestige – launched a full-
scale invasion in AD 43, intent on regime change and military
glory.
What did they do when they

landed?
Julius Caesar was fighting against
Celts in Normandy (France) when he
thought that the Celts in Britain were
the same as in France, so he crossed
the ocean with Roman’s ships to fight
with them. They invaded all Britain
except Scotland, and at the north
border was built the Hadrian’s wall,
to defend and protect from the
violent Scottish populations. They
built:
-roads and bridges (military and

commercial reasons);
-bath (there were pools and people

used to meet there for relaxing and
socializing).
At that time Rome was threatened by

barbarians, so they needed legions
and for that reason Romans left
Britain.
Anglosaxon invasion of
Britain
How many populations were they?
Anglo-Saxon, term used historically to describe any member of the

Germanic peoples who, from the 5th century CE to the time of the
Norman conquest (1066), inhabited and ruled territories that are
today part of England and Wales.
The Anglo-Saxons were the descendants of three different
Germanic peoples: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. We know that
those peoples originally migrated from northern Germany to
Britain in the 5th century at the invitation of Vortigern, a ruler of
Britons, to help defend his kingdom against invasions by the Picts
and Scotti, who occupied what is now Scotland.
How was the political organization of Anglo-Saxons?

The most successful rulers were those who welded small groups of
peoples into kingdoms, eventually resulting in the larger ‘Anglian’
realms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia, and the ‘Saxon’
kingdoms of Wessex, Essex and Sussex.
Particularly powerful rulers were remembered for achieving
overlordship, reflecting the supremacy of their kingdom over
others. The names of many of their subsumed peoples are
recorded in the Tribal Hidage, probably compiled before the
Viking wars of the later 9th century. To each person was assigned
a notional number of ‘hides’, the amount of land considered
necessary to support a single household, and the basic unit of
taxation and government.
King Alfred
Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849,
Alfred was the fifth son of the king of
West Saxons. As King of Wessex at the
age of 21, Alfred (reigned 871-99) was a
strong minded but highly strung
battle veteran at the head of
remaining resistance to the Vikings in
southern England. In May 878, Alfred's
army defeated the Danes at the battle
of Edington. Realizing that he could
not drive the Danes out of the rest of
England, Alfred concluded peace with
them in the treaty of Wedmore. King Guthrum was converted to
Christianity with Alfred as godfather and many of the Danes
returned to East Anglia where they settled as farmers.
The Vikings
The Vikings (or Danes) came from all around Scandinavia (where
Norway, Sweden and Denmark are today). They sent armies to
Britain about the 8th
Century to plunder, and
they lived here until
around 1050.
From about 800 AD,

waves of viking assaults
on the coastlines of the
British Isles, were
gradually followed by a
succession of settlers,
bringing with them a
culture and a tradition
markedly different from
that of the prevalent
Anglo-Saxon society. These enclaves rapidly expanded, and soon
the viking warriors were establishing areas of control to such an
extent that they might reasonably be described as kingdoms.
The reason for these waves of immigrants are complex and bound
to the political situation in Scandinavia at that time.
The Danelaw was formally established as a result of the Treaty of
Wedmore in the late 9th century, after Alfred the Great had
defeated the Viking Guthrum at the Battle of Edington.
The Danelaw was gradually eroded by Anglo-Saxon raids in later
years. Edward the Elder (reigned 899 - 924) later incorporated it to
his newfound Kingdom of England.
The Normans
The Norman conquest of England was a military invasion of
England by William the Conqueror in 1066.
William was a Duke who ruled

Normandy, now a region in France.
He invaded England after the death
of King Edward the Confessor
because he believed he had the
most right to be King of England. But
King Harold II had himself crowned
king instead. King Harold, with his
Saxon army, and Duke William
fought at the Battle of Hastings on
October 14 1066. King Harold was
killed in the battle and his army left.
On December 25 1066 William was
crowned the new King of England.
The Norman conquest brought an

important change in English history
for a number of reasons. The conquest linked England more
closely with Continental Europe, and made Scandinavian
influence less important. It created one of the most powerful
monarchies in Europe. The conquest changed the English
language and culture, and set the stage for rivalry with France,
which would continue (with breaks) until the 19th century.
England has never been successfully invaded since the Norman

invasion nearly 1000 years ago.

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Celtic invasion of

When did Celts invade Britain and where did they

How was the structure of Celtic society?

What do we know about their religion?

What was the role of women in the Celtic society?

What did they do when they

-roads and bridges (military and

-bath (there were pools and people

At that time Rome was threatened by

Anglo-Saxon, term used historically to describe any member of the

How was the political organization of Anglo-Saxons?

From about 800 AD,

William was a Duke who ruled

The Norman conquest brought an

England has never been successfully invaded since the Norman

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