Учебное пособие: Deep Are the Roots A Concise History of Britain
5. Roman Britain
6. Hadrian's Wall
7. Scots and Picts
8. Queen Boadicea– (Boudicca)
9. Villas
10. Roman roads – straight as a die
11. Pax Romana, Roman Peace
12. Saxons: Saxon kings and Saxon kingdoms:
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Kent
13. Vikings
14. Venerable Bede (731)
15. Alfred the Great (849-899)
16. The Danelaw
17. Edward the Confessor (1042-1066)
The very first stages of the existence of people on the British Isles are frequenly described as prehistoric and referredto as unwritten history of Britain.
The geographical position of the land was both a blessing and a problem: on the one hand the insular position protected the country from invasions; and on the other – the lowland facing the continent always invited invasions.
The greatest material monument of the ancient population of the British Isles is Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain,– a monumental stone circle and a memorial of the Stone Age culture.
The first ever inhabitants are believed to be hunters of the Old Stone Age who came from the Continent, to be followed by new waves of imigrants.
By the end of the Stone Age the Beaker people who were called so after the clay mugs or "beakers" they could make,– were farmers and metal was already being used.
The beginning of the Stone Age coincided with the arrival of new invaders, mainly from France. They were the Celts. Reputed to be tall, fair and well built, they had artistic skills and were good craftsmen. Their dialects were imposed on the native population: the Gaelic form was spread in Ireland and Scotland, and the Brythonic in England and Wales. It was the Brythonic tribe of the Celts that gave its name to the whole country.
The culture of Celts in the Iron Age was not altogether barbaric. Their Priests, the Druids, were skillful in teaching and administration.
But the Romans came with a heavy hand,
And bridgedand roaded andruled the land,...
wrote R. Kipling
The Roman Emperor Julius Caesar carried out two expeditions in 55 and 54 ВС, neither of which led to immediate Roman settlement in Britain. Caesar's summer expeditions were a failure. Almost a century later in 43 AD Emperor Claudius sent his legions over the seas to occupy Britain. The occupation was to last more than three centuries and the Romans saw their mission of civilizing the country. The British were not conquered easily. There was a resistance in Wales and the Romans destroyed the Druids, a class of Celtic priests (or witchdoctors) as their rutuals alledgedly involved human sacrifice.
There was a revolt in East Anglia, where Queen Boadicea (Boudicca) and her daughters in their chariots were fighting against Roman soldiers and were defeated. The Roman occupation was spread mainly over England, while Wales, Scotland and Ireland remained unconquered areas of the Celtic fringe – preserving Celtic culture and traditions.
The Romans were in Great Britain for over 350 years, they were both an occupying army and the rulers. They imposed Pax Romana,– Roman peace – which stopped tribal wars, and protected Britain from the attacks of outsiders – Picts in the North, Saxons from overseas.
London is a Celtic name, but many towns that Romans built along their roads – Lancaster, Winchester, Chichester, etc. have the Latin component "castra"– a camp, a fortified town.
London was the centre of Roman Rule in Britain, it was walled, the Thames was bridged; and straight paved roads (Roman Roads,– that are as straight as a die) connected London with garrison towns.
Under the Emperor Hadrian in 120 AD a great wall was built across Britain between the Tyne and the Solway to protect the Romans against the attacks of Scots and Picts.