英国早期-中世纪史-C5-P1

Part OneThe Early and Medieval HistoryAs a multi-national country, Britain has gone through several conquests, which laid a foundation for the progress of the British people. What are the historical conquests and the significance of them in British history? Try to get the information from the materials available.The Native Celts and the Roman ConquestAs there is no actual written history about the origin of the earliest natives in Britain, the Celts were taken as the early natives in British history. Their languages were assimilated into the English language and served as the origin of the Scots and Welsh languages. The Celtic tribes migrated from northwestern Europe to the British Isles from about 750 B.C.in search for empty land, living in a primitive society. They became the ancestors of the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh, and created their own civilization known as the historical Stonehenge.In 55 B.C., Julius Caesar commanded the Roman army to invade Britain. This invasion is the well-known Roman Conquest which lasted nearly a century and marked the beginning of the recorded history in Britain. The Romans didn't succeed in conquering what is now England by driving the native Celts into the mountainous Scotland and Wales until 43 A.D.. But they never conquered the whole nation because of the natives' resistance in the mountainous areas.The Romans introduced their own civilization into England by building baths and temples, draining marshes, cultivating land, and clearing away forests. They also introduced the system of governing, with an intention to transform England into a slavery society. What's more, the Roman traders and soldiers brought their own religion-Christianity to Britain.Although England became a part of the Roman Empire, and even some of the native people served as slaves of the Romans, the Roman influence upon Britain was too limited to change the language and customs of the ordinary nativepeople. Only the English upper classes were organized to become Roman landlords and officials. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the Romans had to withdraw from England to fight against the Germanic invasion in 410 A.D., which ended the Roman occupation.117 ADThe Anglo-Saxon ConquestAfter the Romans left, three groups of Germanic tribes from the European continent came to England in succession: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. The Angles and Saxons began to invade the British Isles in 450 A.D., but encountered fierce resistance of the Celts. Half a century later, the Celts were slaughtered or made slaves or driven to the mountainous areas in northern and western Britain or assimilated by the invaders. As the Scots in the mountainous areas began to plunder the native Britons in England who were defenseless without the protection and control of the Romans, the Jutes were invited by the English King to help him drive out the Scots. But the Jutes refused to leave and stayed in England when the war was over. This well-known movement in history is called the Anglo-Saxon Conquest. Their language is what we call the Old English or the Anglo-Saxon language. They also introduced their own Teutonic religion, which practiced multi-gods, to England. Moreover, the Anglo-Saxons carried out the village system in which the arable land was fairly distributed among the villagers. Such concept of equality started the process of feudalism in Britain. By the early 7th century, the Angles, Saxons and the Jutes from north Germany settled and established seven kingdoms in England for lack of unity and were trapped in wars with each other for about 200 years, which is known as the Heptarchy in British history.The Viking InvasionsThe Vikings from Norway, Denmark, and Scandinavia began to attack the northeast coast of Britain for farming land and settlement in the late 8th century. England became a unified country after 300 years' resistance against the Vikings, especially the Danes. The English King Alfred, noted for his defense of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, became the only one to be accorded the epithet "the Great". The Anglo-Saxons in the period of Alfred the Great finally defeated the Vikings in the mid 900s. Alfred the Great built a naval force and reorganized the land army to fight against the Danes. But the Danes were too strong to be thoroughly driven out of England, Alfred the Great had to allow them to keep the eastern part of England by compromise, but forced the Danes to accept Christianity. As the first national hero, Alfred the Great also presented his greatness in the period of peace. He attached great importance to education and religion by establishing schools and repairing churches, especially to the Latin culture. He made a notable contribution to literature because his writings and translations have been taken as the beginning of prose in Britain.The Norman ConquestIn the 9th century, the Normans, belonging to the same ethnic group as the Danes, began to ravage the northern coast of France. Finally the French king had to make an agreement by giving them a piece of land in the northern part of France, but forced them to accept the Christian religion, just as the English King Alfred had done before. Their country was then named Normandy. When the English King Edward died in 1066, many claimants scrambled for the English throne. Finally William, the Duke of Normandy, succeeded in conquering England and was crowned in Westminster Abbey. So William, known as the Conqueror, became the first Anglo-Norman King of England. This is the well-known Norman Conquest in British History.The Norman Conquest had a huge influence on Britain. It enhanced the process of the British feudalism. In the feudal society, the nobles received theirland from the King,to whom they were bound to be loyal and to pay certain duties.Actually the King became the ultimate owner of the land. After the con-quest of England, William the Conqueror distributed the lands to the Norman followers in order to secure his own authority. The Normans became the upper class, while the Anglo-Saxons turned into the lower class. What's more important, he centralized the power of the monarch by granting the Norman nobles several pieces of land in different parts of the country instead of a large piece, but retained most of the Old English customs of governing. Introducing French culture to England, the Normans intermingled with the Anglo-Saxons. Therefore, the English language kept its own structure, while adopted French words and terms employed by the Normans. As the last invasion of England, the Norman Conquest in 1066 marked the beginning of the period of Middle English.。