Introduction
Great Britain is an unforgettable and beautiful country which has different landscapes in various areas. However, Britain has not only picturesque sceneries, but also mysterious history. In my opinion, one of the most exciting parts of Britain’s history is “Roman Britain”. Rome was the greatest empire which conquered many countries. British Isles didn’t escape the common lot and were defeated by the Romans. However, there were many other invaders who arrived in Britain in search of new lands and resources. I have been interested in history of Great Britain for a long time. I consider that different invasions greatly influenced this country, its language, culture and people. That is why I decided to devote my research paper to this topic. In my paper I compared and contrasted different peoples who conquered Britain and life in this country before and after invasions. The aim of my paper is to find out the causes of the invasions and how many invader groups tried to defeat Britain. I am going to consider some unknown facts about peoples of those times and to find and analyse some aspects of Roman invasion. In my paper I used the websites (generally electronic encyclopedias) to find all the necessary information and historical literature which helped me to imagine fully the heart of the problem. The first chapter shows us prehistory of Britain and first tribes who lived there. Those people brought to Britain new ways of thinking, ideas and tools. The second chapter is about the Celtic tribes, the invaders who greatly influenced Britain. The Celts began to control all the lowland areas of Britain, and were joined by new arrivals from the European mainland. The third chapter describes “The Roman Britain”. The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain. The fourth chapter focuses upon the lifestyle of the Romans in Britain. The life in Roman Britain was very civilized, but it was too hard for all people except the richest. Half of the population died between the ages of twenty and forty, while 15 percent died before reaching the age of twenty. In my research paper I have found out the causes of the invasions of Britain and proved that various tribes had different influence on this country.
Chapter1
Prehistory of Britain and first tribes
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country of great history rich in important events and entertaining legends connected with them. It's not enough to write several volumes to tell the full history of the country. That's why we'll try to answer the question where the British come from and who they are.
They say, that in prehistoric times Britain was joined to Europe. So the first people came there over dry land. The present English Channel which separates Britain from Europe appeared at the end of the Ice Age. In the New Stone Age the hunters crossed the sea to the west of the Channel and settled along the Western shores in search of food. The first inhabitants of the island came from the Iberian peninsula, where Spain is located, somewhere after 3000 ВС. After 2000 ВС the people from the east of Europe entered the country. The two peoples intermixed. They left us Stonehenge and Avebury as impressive monuments of their time.
After 800 ВС the Celts arrived from Central Europe and opened up a new important page of the British history. The name «Britain» comes from the name of a Celtic tribe known as the Britons. Their influence was greatest in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as they were driven to these parts by the invaders who followed them. That's why these parts of Britain are very different from England in language, customs and traditions.
In 55 ВС Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler, invaded Britain. However, his first expedition was not successful, because his force was small, and the Celts fought well. In the following year 54 ВС he invaded the country with a larger army and this time the expedition was successful: the Celts were defeated. But Caesar didn't stay in Britain. He left the country with slaves and riches and made the Celts pay a regular tribute to Rome.
Some 90 years later, in 43 AD, the country was conquered by the Romans and the occupation continued to the beginning of the 5th century (410 AD). Roman influence was greatest in the south and south-east, while in the north and west the country remained untouched. The Romans built many towns, connected them by good roads. The largest of the towns was called Londinium. Roman culture and civilization had a positive influence on the development of the country. When the Romans left, Britain remained independent for some time.
However quite soon it was attacked by Germanic tribes: the Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles. And by the end of the 5th century the greater part of the country was occupied. People began to call the new land of the Angles and Saxons England. Wales, Cornwall, the northern part of Britain and Ireland remained unconquered and preserved Celtic culture.
The Saxon kingdoms fought one against the other. In 829 the greater part of the country was united under the name England.
The northern part was the home of the Picts and Scots. After the conquest of the Picts by the Scots in the 9th Century this territory was called Scotland. And in' the 11th century a united Scottish kingdom was formed.
An important event which contributed to the unification of the country was the adoption of Christianity in England in 664.
In the 9th century the Danes attacked England. It was Alfred who defeated the Danes making them sign a peace agreement.
The last of the invaders to come to Britain were the Normans from France. In 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated the English at the battle of Hastings and established his rule as king of England known as William the Conqueror. The French language became the official language of the ruling class for the next three centuries. This explains the great number of French words in English. The power of the state grew and little by little England began to spread its power. First on Wales, then on Scotland and later on Ireland. Wales was brought under the English parliament in 1536 and 1542 by Henry VIII.
In 1603 the son of Mary Queen of Scots James Stuart became James I of England. The union of England, Wales and Scotland became known as Great Britain. However the final unification of Scotland and England took place in 1707 when both sides agreed to form a single parliament in London for Great Britain j although Scotland continued to keep its own system of law, education and have an independent church.
Ireland was England's first colony, but even now there are problems there connected with religion. The Irish people can be divided into two religious groups: Catholics and Protestants. The fighting between these groups is connected with the colonial past. In the 16th century Henry VIII of England quarreled with Rome and declared himself head of the Anglican Church, which was a Protestant church. He tried to force Irish Catholics to become Anglican. This policy was continued by his daughter Elizabeth I. The «Irish question» remained in the centre of British politics till 1921. After a long and bitter struggled the southern part of Ireland became a Free State. The northern part of Ireland where the Protestants were in majority remained part of the UK. After all the years of confrontation the people of Northern Ireland understand that only through peace talks and respect for the rights of both Catholics and Protestants can peace be achieved.
Recently, there have been many waves of immigration into Britain. Now Britain is a multinational society, which benefits from the influence of different people and cultures.
People came to Britain from other places in Europe bringing new ideas with them. One of the ideas people brought to Britain was how to make a hard metal.. This metal is called bronze.
The immigration and invasion of the Germanic tribes into Britain changed the entire social, racial and political make up of the British Isles.
Those people brought to Britain new ways of thinking, ideas and tools.
2 Chapter
The Celtic tribes, the invaders who greatly influenced Britain.
The British Isles were inhabited by prehistoric population and the earliest inhabitants were Celts (Celtic tribes) and they preceded(были предшественниками) the Germans.
They began to settle in Britain in the 7th c. B.C. The earliest and highly civilized tribe was the tribe of Britons (племя Бриттов).
They had driven the predecessors into (отодвинули предшественников)Ireland, Wales, Scotland. The third wave of Celtic settlers was the Belgae (белги). They came later and they settled the home countries.
The Celtic tribes spoke dialects belonging to the Celtic groups. It wasn't the only language spoken on the British territory. Celtic Britain was a province of the Roman Empire. The first attempt to occupy the British Isles was made by Julius Caesar before B.C.
The Celtic tribes began to penetrate into (проникать внутрь)the Isles and 100 years later under Empire of Roman.
The Romans brought to Barbarian Britain the administration (управление, контроль), their way of life and their language.
The Celtic tribes were influenced by Roman civilization. The Romans founded military settlements or campus. The names of these settlements survived in some place names Manchester – castra - крепость.
They built roads (strata via – мощеная дорога), towns of Roman soldiers and they named this towns - colonies. The word "colony" survived in some names - Colchester. The growth of towns was very considerable. Among the trading centers of Roman Empire London was the most significant. It was a small settlement. It turned into the intensive town.
Wealthy roman landowners lived there. Under Roman occupation the Celts in Britain were Romanized to a certain degree and the influence (вероятно была больше)must have been stronger in the town than in the country side.
3 Chapter
“The Roman Britain”
The use of Latin language grew; the Romanization began in the 5th century and lasted up the period of West Germanic tribes. At this time most traces (черты, следы)of the Roman rule, economic and linguistic were destroyed(the period of West Germanic tribes). The Romans occupation of Britain lasted until the 5th century. In 410 the Roman legions were withdrawn(ушли, ретировались). The withdraw of the Roman Empire was final and the Roman Empire was breaking up. After the Romans had left the British Isles. The Roman speech affected (повлиял)the British language and they had acquired from the Romans and from the Romanized Celts new lexical units and concepts. But they had contacts with the Romans while they lived on the continent before the migration to Britain.
Their ties with the Latin language were strengthened in later ages. They marked the influence of Latin on Old English. The Germanic invaders made 2 kinds of linguistic contacts:
· with the Latin language
Periods in the history of English
The first period, which may be termed Early Old English, lasts from the West Germanic invasion of Britain till the beginning of writing, that is from the 5th to the close of the 7th c. It is the stage of the tribal dialects of the West Germanic invaders, which were gradually losing contacts with the related continental tongues. The tribal dialects were used for oral communication, there being no written form of English.
The second historical period extends from the 8th c. till the end of the 11th. The English language of that time is referred to as Old English. The tribal dialects gradually changed into local or regional dialects. Towards the end of the period the differences between the dialects grew and their relative position altered(изменяться). They were probably equal as a medium of oral communication, while in the sphere of writing one of the dialects, West Saxon, had gained supremacy (превосходство)over the other dialects. The language of this period is usually described synchronically and is treated as a more or less stable system.
The third period, known as Early Middle English, starts after 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest, and covers the 12th, 13th and half of the 14th c. It was the stage of the greatest dialectal divergence caused by the feudal system and by foreign influences – Scandinavian and French. The dialectal division of present-day English owes its origin to this period of history. Under Norman rule the official language in England was French, or rather its variety called Anglo-French or Anglo-Norman; it was also the dominant language of literature.
The fourth period – from the later 14th c. till the end of the 15th – embraces (в объятиях)the age of Chaucer, the greatest English medieval writer and forerunner (предвестник)of the English Renaissance. We may call it Late or Classical Middle English. It was the time of the restoration of English to the position of the state and literary language and the time of literary flourishing(процветание). The main dialect used in writing and literature was the mixed dialect of London. The literary authority of other dialects was gradually overshadowed by the prestige of the London written language.
The fifth period is called Early New English, lasted from the introduction of printing to the age of Shakespeare. The first printed book in English was published by William Caxton in 1475. It was a time of great historical consequence: under the growing capitalist system the country became economically and politically unified. Caxton’s English of the printed books was a sort of bridge between the London literary English of the ME period and the language of the Literary Renaissance. This period was also a time of sweeping (отметания)changes at all levels, in the first place lexical and phonetic. The growth of the vocabulary was a natural reflection of the progress of culture in the new, bourgeois society.
The sixth period extends from the mid-17th c. to the close of the 18th c. In the history of the language it is often called “the age of normalization and correctness”, in the history of literature – the “neoclassical” age. It is essential that during the 18th c. literary English differentiated into distinct styles, which is a property of a mature literary language. The 18th c. has been called the period of “fixing the pronunciation”. The great sound shifts were over and pronunciation was being stabilized. Word usage and grammatical construction were subjected to restriction and normalization.
The English language of the 19th and 20th c. represents the seventh period in the history of English. It is called Late New English or Modern English. The classical language of literature was strictly distinguished from the local dialects and the dialects of lower social rank. The dialects were used in oral communication and, as a rule, had no literary tradition. The 20th c. witnessed (свидетельствует о значительном смешении)considerable intermixture of dialects. The local dialects were retreated(отступать) and displaced by Standard English. The English vocabulary has grown on an unprecedented scale reflecting the rapid progress of technology, science and culture and other multiple changes in all spheres of man’s activity.
4 Chapter
The lifestyle of the Romans in Britain
As a result of Roman conquest, many signs of Roman civilization spread over Britain. There had been no cities in Britain before the Romans conquered it. The civilized Romans were city dwellers, and as soon as they had conquered Britain they began to built towns, splendid villas, public baths as in Rome itself. York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London became the chief Roman towns; there were also about fifty other smaller towns. London which had been a small trading settlement before the conquest now became a center for trade both by road and river. Colchester, Gloucester, York and Lincoln sprang up round the Roman military camps. The town of Bath became famous for its hot springs. The towns grew up as markets and centers of administration. In most towns there were market-places and plenty where merchants sold their goods. The rich merchants and officials had luxurious houses which contained many rooms, with mosaic floors and central heating. Every Roman town had a drainage system and a good supply of pure water. Temples and public baths could be found in most towns. The Roman towns were military stations surrounded by walls for defence which were guarded by the Roman warriors. The Romans were great road-makers and now a network of roads connected all parts of the country. One of the chief road was Watling Street which ran from Dover to London, then to Chester and into Wales. Along the roads new towns and villages sprang up. Great tracts of forest were cleared, swamps were drained, and corn-fields took their place. The province of Britain became one of the granaries of the Roman Empire. A constant trade was carried on with other parts of the empire. The chief exports were corn, lead, tin, and building tiles. The goods were sent in wagons along the roads of Britain, Gaul and Italy to Rome. Britain imported luxury goods, especially fine pottery and metalware. But together with a high civilization the Romans brought exploitation and slavery to the British Isles. Rich Romans had villas in the country with large estates, which were worked by gangs of slaves. Prisoners of war were sent to the slave-market in the Roman Empire. The free Celts were not turned into slaves but they had to pay heavy taxes to the conquerors and were made to work for them. The Romans made them clean forest, drain swamps, built roads, bridges and walls for defense. That was how the famous Hadrian's Wall was built too. Among the Celts themselves inequality began to grow - the tribal chiefs and nobility became richer than other members of the tribe. Many of them became officials acting for Rome. Tribal chiefs who submitted were appointed to rule their people as before, but now they acted in the name of the Roman Emperor. The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They lived in rich houses and they dressed as Romans. They were proud to wear toga which was the sign of being Roman citizens. They spoke Latin, the language of the Romans. But the rank-and-file Celts went on living in their tiny huts, they spoke their native Celtic tongue and they did not understand the language of their rulers.
Conclusion
Outstanding Events in the History of Great Britain
There were many outstanding events in the history of Great Britain. Many different tribes tried to control the territory of Britain. England was added to the Roman Empire in 43 A.D. Roman invasion played a very important role in the history of the country. The Roman built the first roads in the country, dug the first walls. The Romans, who were great architects, constructed the first towns in Britain.
But the Normans influenced the British civilization most of all. They came in 1066 under the leadership of William the Conqueror. As the invaders spoke French, their speech influenced the English language.
Once the British had to face the French in 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar. Then Admiral Nelson won a great victory over the French fleet. In order to commemorate this event the monument to Admiral Nelson was erected on this square.
In the 18th century technological and commercial innovation led to the Industrial Revolution. The 13 North American Colonies were last, but replaced colonies in Canada and India.
Использованная литература
Информационные источники: Brocklehurst R. Roman Britain. – London: Usborne Publishing Ltd., 2006
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain www.britannia.com www.british-history.ac.uk www.GreatBritain.co.ukÀíãëèéñêèé ÿçûê 11 XIV Научно-практическая конференция учащихся Кировского рай
British museum. Roman Britain file:///C:/Users/Леново/Downloads/british_museum_roman_britain.pdf
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