Week 5:

History of
the UK

Ly Thi Hoang Men

 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 2000 years ago
 Iron Age Celtic culture
 The Celts
 Arrived from Europe from 8th century B.C
 intermingled with people who were already there
 Chief significance: Sense of mystery
 Astonishing monumental architecture
 The Celts (Celtic people) 800 – 400 B.C
Stonehenge
Silbury Hill
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

The Roman army invaded
England and Wales

The ancient
Roman Republic
 Roman invasion (55 B.C)
 Julius Caesar

Reconstruction of the first invasion

Julius Caesar
 Scotland: The Scots
allied with the Picts
(also Celtic) against the
A Celtic tribe (the Scots) Romans
migrated from Ireland to
Scotland
The Romans built the
Hadrian’s wall to protect
from attacks by the Scots
and the Picts
The Hadrian’s
Wall

(most of) England & Wales:

The Roman province of
Britannia
 The Roman Empire in many parts of Europe
bequeathed
 A system of law and administration which forms the basis of
the modern system.
 A language which developed into the Roman family of
languages.
 In Britain: left neither
 Villas, baths, temples, roads, cities (including London
founded by the Roman were soon destroyed or fell into
despair.
 The only lasting reminder: place-names (e.g.
Chester, Lancaster and Gloucester, which
includes the Roman castra – a military camp)
 Reason: Roman influence was confined to the
towns, whereas the countryside largely remains
unchanged
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 Germanic = German?
 Germanic people = early people who included the
Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons and the Germans.
 The Anglo-Saxons
- The Angles: the modern word for a Germanic-
speaking people in what is now Germany.
- The Saxons: also in what is now Germany.
 Scandinavia: group of countries in northern
Europe, consisting of Norway and Sweden, with
Denmark, Finland and Iceland often included.
Scandinavia

Germany
 During this period, Britain was invaded by
 The Anglo – Saxons

 The Scandinavians
 5th century
 Invaders: tribes from north-western European
mainland
 The Anglo-Saxons soon had the south-east of the
country in their grasp
 In the west of the country, they were halted by
an army of Britons under the command of King
Arthur
King Arthur,
who fought
against the
invading
Anglo-
Saxons

Anglo-Saxons
5th century
 By the end of the 6th century, the Anglo-Saxons
predominated in nearly all of England and in parts
of southern Scotland.
 The Celtic Britons were either Saxonized or
driven westward.
 Scotland
 Wales
 Cornwall

Cornwall (in red)

 The Anglo- Saxons had a great effect on the
countryside
 Introduced new farming methods
 Founded thousands of self – sufficient villages –
form of the basis of the English society for the next
thousand or so years.
 Religion
 When the Anglo-Saxons came to England,
they were pagan (not believing in Christianity).
 Christianity came to Britain
Canterbury
- In South and East of England: directly from
Rome with St. Augustine
• arrived in 579
• established his headquarters at Canterbury in
the south-east of England.
- In Scotland and England: Christianity was
introduced from Ireland
 8th century
 Another wave of Germanic invasions
 Invaders: the Vikings (also called Norsemen, or
Danes) from Scandinavia
 The Vikings
• Ship - borne explorers, traders
and warriors of the Norsemen
who was originated from
Scandinavia.
• Raided the coasts of the
British Isles, France and other
parts of Europe from the late 8th
century to the 11th century.
 Green: areas subjected to frequent raids of the
Vikings
 Other colors: Vikings settlement in different
countries
 9th century
 The Vikings conquered and settled
 The extreme north and west of Scotland
 Coastal regions of Ireland
 In England, the Vikings were defeated by King Alfred
 An arrangement which divided England between
 The Wessex (King Alfred’s Saxon Kingdom) in the south
and west
 The “Danelaw” in the north and east
 King Alfred
 Noted for his defense of
his Kingdom against the
Danish Vikings
 Is the only English King to
be given the Epithet “the
Great”

Statue of Alfred the Great

Wantage, Oxfordshire
 Between the Anglo-Saxons and Danes:
insignificant cultural differences
 Led the same way of life
 Spoke two varieties of the same Germanic tongue
=> basis of modern English
 The Danes soon converted to Christianity

 Political unification easier

 10th century
 England was one kingdom with Germanic
culture throughout
 Most of modern-day Scotland was also
united in a (Celtic) Gaelic kingdom
The Celtic people were 10th century:
Saxonized or driven to Scotland=Gaelic kingdom
• South-west Scotland Vikings
•Wales 8th century
•Cornwall

Celts
10th century: England Anglo-Saxons
8th century
= Germanic kingdom
B.C.
5th century
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 1066: the successful Norman invasion of
England
 Norman: the adj of Normandy, part of
northern France on the Channel coast
 Brought Britain into the mainstream of
western European culture
 Previously most links had been with
Scandinavia – after the Norman invasions, only
in Scotland did this link survive
 Normandy
 Germanic invasions  Norman invasions in the

 Large – scale (both by medieval period

 Small– scale
the Anglo-Saxons and the
 No Norman village or
Vikings, all over Britain)
Norman area of settlement
 Germanic villages and
 Norman soldiers were
settlement
given the ownership of land
and of the people living on
it
 A strict feudal system in England

King The beginning of

the English class system

Lesser lords
French-speaking Normans
Barons

Peasants English-speaking Saxons

 The beginning of
the English class system

 Words for living animals, e.g.

King
cow, pig, sheep <= Anglo-Saxon
words
Lesser lords
 Words for the meat from the French-speaking
Normans
animals, e.g. beef, pork, Barons

mutton <= Norman words

Peasants English-speaking
 Only the Norman normally Saxons

ate meat; the poor Anglo-Saxon

peasants did not.
 Strong system of government
 The Anglo – Norman kingdom was easily the
most powerful political force in the British
Isles.
 The authority of the English monarch
gradually extended to other parts of the
British Isles in the next 250 years
 13th century
 Large part of eastern Ireland was controlled by
the Anglo-Saxon lords in the name of the English
King
 The whole of Wales was under the king’s direct
rule (the custom of naming the monarch’s eldest
son the “Prince of Wales” began)
 Scotland managed to remain politically
independent, but was obliged to fight occasional
wars
 Scotland: A few wars
Eastern Ireland: but still remain
controlled by independent
Anglo-Norman
lords in the name of
the English king England: A
strict feudal
system (king-
landlords-
barons-
peasants)
brought by the
Norman since
Wales: under the
11th century
English king’s direct
rule
 Eastern Ireland: controlled by Anglo- Scotland: A few wars
Norman lords in the name of the English
king but still remain
The lords remained loyal to independent
the English king but mostly
adopted the Gaelic language
and custom England: A strict feudal system
(king-landlords-barons-peasants)
brought by the Norman since 11th
century
Wales: under the English king’s • Germanic language,
direct rule
not the Norman
The (Celtic) Welsh language
language and •The Anglo-Saxon
culture remained concept of common
strong, e.g. law, not Roman law
Eisteddfod
 Parliament began its gradual evolution into the
democratic body which it is today
 “Parliament” <= the French word parler (to
speak)
 First used in the 13th century to describe an
assembly of nobles called together by the king
 In 1295, the Model Parliament set the pattern
for the future by including elected representatives
from urban and rural areas
 Robin Hood
 Legendary folk hero
 King Richard I (1189-99) was
away; England was rules by his
brother John, who was unpopular
because of the taxes he imposed
 Robin Hood lived with his band
of “merry men” in Sherwood
forests outside Nottingham
 Stole from the rich and gave to
the poor
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 Politics

 Religion

House of Lords

House of Commons
 The Wars of the Roses
 The Bubonic Plague (the Black Death)
 The strength of the great barons had been
greatly weakened
 The shortage of labor
 The increasing importance of trade in the
towns
 Weaken the traditional ties between the
feudal lords and peasants
 A system of government departments was
established
 Staffed by professionals who depended for their
position on the monarch
 Feudal barons were no longer needed for
 Implementing government policy
 making government policy
 Parliament was split into 2 “Houses”
 The House of Lords = feudal aristocracy + leaders of the
Church
 The House of Commons = representatives from the towns +
landowners from rural areas
 Politics

 Religion
 Rejection of the Roman Church by Henry VIII
 Making himself as head of the “Church of England”
 Independent of Rome
 All church lands came under his control
 Gave him a large new source of income
 This rejection was political and personal rather than
doctrinal, unlike in much of the rest of Europe => the rise of
Protestantism
 This rejection accorded with a new spirit of patriotic
confidence in England as an “island nation”
 Exploration of Americas => England was closer to the
geographical center of western civilization instead of being
on the edge of it
 Henry VIII
 Scotland:
•Lowlands: Calvinism (a
form of Protestantism)
•Highlands: still Catholic
Ireland: remained
Catholic
England:
Protestantism in
the form of
Anglicanism,
both because of
patriotism and
religious
conviction
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

  1603, James VI of
Scotland became James I
of England
=> Two kingdoms
(Scotland and England)

James I
  Conflicts
 The Stuart Monarchs raised
money without parliament’s
agreement
 The rise of Puritanism
against Anglicanism
- Puritans regarded many Anglican
practices and Anglican hierarchical

Ann of Denmark, structure as immoral

wife of James I
 Conflicts => Civil War
 Civil War

Aristocratic,
Cavaliers royalist

Puritan,
‘Roundheads’ Parliamentarian

Victory
 Charles I, 2nd son of
James I
 1st monarch in Europe
to be executed
 Charged of crimes
against his people

Charles I
 Cromwell, leader of Parliamentary
army
 The “Lord Protector”
 Britain became a republic for the
1st and only time
 Unpopular because
 Brutally crushed resistance in Ireland
 Puritan ethics: theatres and other forms
of amusement had been banned Oliver Cromwell
 When Cromwell died, the
son of Charles I was asked to
return and take the throne
 James II, the 2nd surviving
son of Charles I
 Restored the Anglican Church
 Tried to give full rights to
Catholics and promoted them in
his government

James II
 Conflicts between monarch and
Parliament soon re-emerged
 The “Glorious Revolution”
(bloodless)
 Power of the monarch was limited
– the monarch could rule only with
William III
the support of the Parliament
 Prince William of Orange and his
wife accepted the Parliament’s
invitation to become king and queen
(William III)
James II
 James II fled to Ireland
 James II in Ireland formed the
James II
Catholic Irish army
 Was defeated
 Catholics were forbidden to vote
or even own land
 Division of Ulster
 Anti-Catholic Scottish Presbyterians
 The “native” Irish Catholics
 Formed the tragic split in society in
modern Northern Ireland
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 Politically stable
 2 divisions within Parliament
 The Whigs = Parliamentarian’s “descendants”
• Believed in government by monarch and aristocracy
together
 The Tories
• Greater respect for the idea of the monarchy and the
importance of the Anglican Church
 Said to be the beginning of the party system in
Britain
 This century was marked by cultural change
 Britain expanded its empire in
 The Americas
 West African coast
 India
 Increased trades with these new
markets => Industrial Revolution

Industrial mode of production

Advances in agriculture
James Watt, who
invented the 1st
steam engine
Greatest upheaval in the pattern of
everyday life since the Anglo-Saxon
invasions
 Greatest upheaval in the pattern of
everyday life since the Anglo-Saxon invasions

Areas of common lands Hundreds of thousands

disappeared of people moved from
as landowners turned them rural areas into new
into larger, more efficient towns and cities
farms

Social power and prestige

Urban development
rested on the possession
However
of land in the countryside
Lowland Scotland:
industrialization took
place
Northern
England
became the
industrial
heartland

London
dominated South
South Wales: England as a
industrializatio business and
n took place trading centre,
NOT as an
industrial one
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 Expansion of the British Empire => the
white man’s burden
 Great changes in social structure
 Reforms in politics and human rights
 Nostalgia and protests against new lifestyle
 Expansion of the British Empire
 Biggest empire the world has ever seen
 India: British officials
developed a distinctive
Ireland: British Anglo-Indian way of
culture and life, imposing British
way of life institution and methods
predominated of government

Canada, Australia
and New Zealand: Africa: most colonies
self-governed but started as trading bases
recognized the on the coast and had
overall authority of little British settlement,
British government except for South Africa
 An enormous increase of wealth during the
century
 British developed a sense of supreme confidence,
even arrogance, about their culture and civilization
 “The white man’s burden”
 A poem by Rudyard Kipling
 Content: other races are wild and have a “need” to be
civilized
The white man’s burden This advertisement for soap uses the
– a satiric take theme of the White Man's Burden,
encouraging white people to teach
cleanliness to members of other races
 Changes in social structure
In the past In the 19th century

Most people live in rural Most people lived in

areas towns and cities

Depended on landowners Depended on factory

for their living owners for their living

Together with the middle class of tradespeople

Victorian values Held the REAL POWER

in the country
 One of the most memorable and
endearing of the English monarchs
 Usually associated with the
Victorian Era
 Scientific and technological
development
 Impressive economic development,
the Industrial Revolution
 Improvement of human rights
 Arts, architecture, literature Queen Victoria
flourished (1837-1901)
 Reforms in politics and human
rights
 Britain gradually turned into
something resembling a modern state
 Slavery and laws against people on the
basis of religion were abolished
 Laws were made to protect workers
Sir Robert Peel
 Public services such as the police Prime Minister of the
U.K. (1834-1835)
force was set up
Established the
London police force
 Nostalgia and protests
against new lifestyle
 Writers and intellectuals
protested against the horrors of
the new lifestyle (Dickens)
 Many poets praised the
Charles Dickens
simplicity and beauty of the
Acclaimed as one of history’s
countryside greatest novelists
A reformist writer
(one who wrote about bad things
in order to change society for the
better)
 Prehistory

 The Roman period (43 – 410)

 The Germanic invasion (410 – 1066)

 The medieval period (1066 – 1485)

 The sixteenth century

 The seventeenth century

 The eighteenth century

 The nineteenth century

 The twentieth century

 The first 20 years of the century: a period
of extremism
 From the beginning of this century, the
urban working finally began to make its voice
head
 The Labor Party gradually replaced the Liberals
(“descendants” of the Whigs)
 The Conservatives (“descendants” of the Tories)
 Trade Union gathered momentum
 Winston
Churchill Margaret
Prime Minister Thatcher

In office: 1940- Prime Minister Tony Blair

1945 In office: 1979- Prime Minister
Political party: 1990
In office: 1997-
Conservative and Political party: now
Liberal Conservative
Political party: Queen
Labour Elizabeth II
(1926-)
Ly Thi Hoang Men – FFL, TNU