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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_EnglandReference;Name of Person =BLUEName of Book =
Green
& ItalicName of Place =
Black
& boldName of Language =
Black 
& ItalicTranslation & Explanation = inside the brackets [{()}]
HISTROY OF ENGLAND
1. ROMAN PERIOD
Julius Caesar
invaded southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC and wrote in
De BelloGallico
that the population of southern Britannia was extremely large and sharedmuch in common with the
Belgae
{The Belgae were a group of tribes living innorthern Gaul (Roman Empire in western Europe was called sas Gauls)} of the LowCountries. Coin evidence and the work of later Roman historians have provided thenames of some of the rulers of the disparate (
markedly different, contrasting, dissimilar,unlike
) tribes and their machinations (
act of plotting or scheming; scheme, plot,conspiracy
) in what was Britannia. Until the Roman Conquest of Britain, Britain'sBritish population was relatively stable, and by the time of Julius Caesar's firstinvasion, the British population of what was old Britain was speaking a
Celticlanguage
generally thought to be the forerunner (
ancestor; one sent in advance
) of themodern
Brythonic languages
. After Julius Caesar abandoned Britain, it fell back intothe hands of the Britons.The Romans began their second conquest of Britain in 43 AD, during the reign of 
Claudius
. They annexed (
incorporated, added
) the whole of what would becomemodern England and Wales over the next forty years and periodically extended theircontrol over much of lowland Scotland.
2. ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
In the wake of the breakdown of Roman rule in Britain around
410
, present dayEngland was progressively settled by
Germanic
(
also called as
Teutonic
they were thepeoples who spoke indo-European languages
)
groups
. Collectively known as the
Anglo-Saxons
, these included
Jutes
from
Jutland
(
the mainland part of Denmark 
) together withlarger numbers of 
Saxons
from
northwestern Germany
and
Angles
from what isnow
Schleswig
-
Holstein
.{
duchies (
lands belonging to a duke or duchess
) of Schleswig andHolstein
}Prior to those settlements some
Frisians
(
ethnic group of Germanic people living incoastal parts of The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany
) invaded southeastern Britain in the
250
s.They first invaded Britain in the mid 5th century, continuing for several decades. The
Jutes
appear to have been the principal group of settlers in
Kent
(
county in England
),the
Isle of Wight
(
island in the English Channel south of the city of Portsmouth
) and partsof 
coastal Hampshire
(
county in southern England
), while the
Saxons
predominated in
 
all other areas south of the
Thames
(
longest river in England
) and in
Essex
{
county(district, division of land) in southeastern England
} and Middlesex {
former county(district,division of land) in England
}, and the
Angles
in
Norfolk
(
district in England
),
Suffolk
(
county in eastern England
), the
Midlands
{
inner counties (in Britain)
} and the north
.
The population of Britain dramatically decreased after the Roman period. Thereduction seems to have been caused mainly by plague and smallpox. It is known thatthe plague of 
Justinian
[
Byzantine{Eastern Roman Empire, successor to the Roman Empireafter the separation of the eastern and western sections of the empire in 395 AD (lasted till1453 AD)} emperor]
entered the
Mediterranean
(name of a sea)
world
in the 6thcentury and first arrived in the
British Isles
in
544
or
545
, when it reachedIreland.The
Annales Cambriae
(
a Latin chronicles
) mention the death of 
MaelgwnWledig, king of Gwynedd
(
Gwynedd was an unknown place
) from that plague in the year547.
2.1 BATTLES BETWEEN ANGLO-SAXON AND BRITONS
In approximately 495, at the
Battle of Mount Badon
(
battle between a force of Britons andan Anglo-Saxon army, probably sometime between 490 and 517 AD
), Britons inflicted (
imposedupon
) a severe defeat on an invading Anglo-Saxon army which halted (
stop
) thewestward Anglo-Saxon advance for some decades. Archaeological evidence collectedfrom pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries (
place where dead people are buried
) suggests thatsome of their settlements were abandoned and the frontier between the invaders andthe native inhabitants pushed back some time around 500.Anglo-Saxon expansion resumed (
begun again; continued
) in the sixth century,although the chronology (
sequence of past events
) of its progress is unclear. One of thefew individual events which emerges with any clarity (
clearness
) before the seventhcentury is the
Battle of Deorham
(
The Battle of Deorham was fought in southwestern Britain in577, between the Saxons and Britions
), in
577
, a West Saxon victory which led to thecapture of 
Cirencester
(
a town in the northwest of England
),
Gloucester
(
seaport insouthwestern England
) and
Bath
, bringing the Anglo-Saxon advance to the
Bristol
(
city in southwest England
)
Channel
and dividing the Britons in the West Country fromthose in
Wales
. The Northumbrian (
a native or inhabitant of Northumbria, an area of NEEngland
) victory at the
Battle of Chester
around
616
may have had a similar effect individing Wales from the Britons of 
Cumbria
(
county in the northwestern England
).Gradual Saxon expansion through the West Country continued through the seventh,eighth and ninth centuries. Meanwhile, by the mid-seventh century the Angles hadpushed the Britons back to the approximate borders of modern Wales in the west, the
Tamar
in the South west and expanded northward as far as the
River Forth
(
majorriver draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland
).
2.2 Heptarchy
(
seven main kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England that existed in the 7thand 8th centuries
)
and Christianisation
Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England began around
600 AD
, influenced by
CelticChristianity
(
Insular Christianity is a term referring broadly to the Early Medieval Christianpractice that developed in Britain
) from the northwest and by the
Roman Catholic Church
 
from the southeast.
Augustine
,
the first Archbishop of Canterbury
(
head of theChurch of England
+
Canterbury is a city in England
), took office in
597
. In
601
, he baptisedthe first Christian Anglo-Saxon king,
Aethelbert
of 
Kent
(
county in England
). The lastpagan Anglo-Saxon king,
Penda
of 
Mercia
(
ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom in centralEngland
), died in 655. The last pagan Jutish king,
Arwald
of the
Isle of Wight
(
islandin the English Channel
) was killed in 686. The Anglo-Saxon mission on the continenttook off (
lift-off, leave the ground in flight
) in the 8th century, leading to theChristianisation of practically all of the
Frankish
{
old Germanic language spoken bythe Franks (member of an ancient Germanic people who conquered Gaul and establishedFrance)
}
Empire
by 800.Throughout the 7th and 8th century power fluctuated (
vary, change
) between the largerkingdoms.
Bede
records
Aethelbert of Kent
as being dominant at the close of the 6thcentury, but power seems to have shifted northwards to the
kingdom of Northumbria
(
north east England and southern Scotland
), which was formed from theamalgamation (
union; mixture
) of 
Bernicia
(
an Anglo-Saxon kingdom
) and
Deira
(
anAnglo-Saxon kingdom
).
Edwin of Northumbria
probably held dominance over much of Britain, though Bede's Northumbrian bias (
prejudice
) should be kept in mind.Succession crises meant Northumbrian hegemony (
leadership, predominance
) was notconstant, and
Mercia
(
ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom in central England
) remained a verypowerful kingdom, especially under
Penda
. Two defeats essentially endedNorthumbrian dominance: the
Battle of the Trent
in 679 against
Mercia
, and
Nechtanesmere
in 685 against the
Picts
{
The Picts were a confederation (
alliance, league
) of tribes living in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland
}.The so-called "Mercian Supremacy" dominated the 8th century, though it was notconstant.
Aethelbald
(a
King of Mercia
) and
Offa
(a
King of Mercia
), the two mostpowerful kings, achieved high status; indeed,
Offa
was considered the overlord(
superior ruler
) of south Britain by
Charlemagne
(a king of franks). That Offa couldsummon the resources to build
Offa's Dyke
{Offa's Dyke (
protective wall
) is a massivelinear earthwork (
fortification
), roughly following some of the current border betweenEngland and Wales} is testament (
proof, evidence
) to his power. However, a rising
Wessex
(
Saxon kingdom in south west England
), and challenges from smaller kingdoms,kept Mercian power in check (
under control, restrained
), and by the early 9th centurythe "Mercian Supremacy" was over.This period has been described as the
Heptarchy
, though this term has now fallen outof academic use. The word arose on the basis that the seven kingdoms of 1.
Northumbria
(
north east England and southern Scotland
), 2.
Mercia
(
central England
),3.
Kent
(
county in England
), 4.
East Anglia
(
a peninsula of eastern England
), 5.
Essex
(
countyin southeastern England
), 6.
Sussex
{
former county in southeast England (now divided intoEast and West Sussex)
} and 7.
Wessex
(
south west England
) were the main polities (
rule,regime
) of 
south Britain
. More recent scholarship has shown that other kingdomswere also politically important across this period: Hwicce, Magonsaete, Lindsey andMiddle Anglia.
2.3 Viking
[
Scandinavian
{
region in northern Europe (includes Norway, Sweden,Denmark 
} peoples]
challenge and the rise of Wessex
(
Saxon kingdom in southwest England
)
of 00

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