Old English

• The Roman
Conquest
• The Germanic
Conquest
 The Ice Age
• During the Ice Age England
was attached to Europe
• The Ice Age came to an end
around 16,000 BC
• Britain and Ireland got
separated from Europe
around 6,500 BC (Neolithic
Age) by the formation of the
English Channel
 The Stone Age
• England was inhabited by
humans
• Languages spoken by them is
unknown – but not Indo-
European.
• Stonehenge – well-known
monument of the Neolithic
age – constructed from
around 3000 to 2500 BC.
 The Arrival of Celts

Who were the Celts?

• A collection of tribes, who belonged
to the Western Europe and also the
land near the headwaters of the
Danube river.
• The oldest archaeological evidence
of the Celts comes from Hallstatt,
Austria, near Salzburg.
• Date of arrival in England is
controversial – believed that they
reached by approximately 1,000BC
and lived there during the Iron Age
• Two recognized families of Celtic
languages - Brythonic (Welsh,
Breton, Cornish) and Goidelic (Irish,
The Romanic Conquest
(43 BC – 410 AD )
• Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice, in
55 and 54 BC – was unable to fight
back the fierce Celtic tribes
• claimed only the Southeast and trade
between them boomed for the next
century
• By 43 AD Emperor Claudius invaded
with thousands of troops and won the
Britons all over
• The Romans pushed the Celts inland
towards the West
• By 50 AD controlled most of the island,
except the north (Pictland)
The Hadrian’s Wall
• Though some Celts
cooperated with the
Romans, some fought back
• Especially the Picts in the
North, who were fierce
barbarians
• To put an end to the attack
of these barbarians, the
emperor Hadrian erected a
huge wall in 122 AD, known
as the Hadrian’s Wall
Hadrian’s Wall is still standing in Northern
England
The Roman Britain

• For the next four hundred years,

England was Rome’s westernmost
outpost
• Established cities, built a network of
highways, Roman-style houses and
villas, complete with central heating,
running water and mosaic tile floors
and well-established sewer systems
• Public baths were constructed and
Roman theatres were also built.
 Religion and Language
• Both Romans and Celts believed in many • Latin was the official language

Gods and offered sacrifices of the Romans

• In 313 AD Romans started to follow • Some upper class Britons spoke

Christianity by the order of Emperor Latin, while most of the others

chose to speak their old Celtic

Constantine, under the Edict of Milan, an
dialects
agreement to treat Christians

benevolently within the Roman Empire

• Celts were forced to follow Christianity

The withdrawal of the Romans and its impacts

– By the beginning of the 5th century AD, Rome was under pressure
from migrations and invaders from the East and North
– under the order of Emperor Honorius, the Romans left Britain to
fight against the Visigoths on 410 AD.
– After they left – political situation got deteriorated rapidly – Picts
attacked the ill-equipped Britons – several invaders flooded
– Roman cities, buildings, roads were not taken care of - Roman
Britain was in ruins
– Once they were trying to cope with the Picts, a much more
calamitous series of events were awaiting
The Germanic Invasion
(449 AD)
• By AD 449 waves of Germanic speaking
people from Europe began to invade the
island
• Angles – from Eastern Schleswig and
settled in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Humberside and northern Yorkshire
• Saxons – from the North German coast
and occupied Essex, Sussex and Northern
Hampshire
• Jutes – from Southern Denmark and
settled in Kent, the Isle of wight and the
Southern Hampshire
• Frisians – from the area of Zuyder Zee, a
bay of North Sea in the Netherlands
 Venerable Bede
• the origin and settlement of these
Germanic invaders were written by
the saint Venerable Bede
• The Ecclesiastical History of the
English People, written about AD 731
(two and a half centuries after the
incident)
• The description is suspiciously tidy –
implying a level of planning and
organization that never existed
• The immigrants – mixed origins –
continued to intermingle long after
they arrived
The Settlement of the
Anglo-Saxons
• These Germanic invaders were called as
Angles in Europe – their common language
was called English
• However the Celts called them “Saxons”

• For the rest of the 5th century the Germanic

immigrants poured into England – for their
lands in their home countries were flooded
• These tribes often fought among themselves

• Britons – unable to repel these invaders –

constantly squabbled among themselves –
forced back towards the west, southwest
and north of the island
The Legend of King Arthur
• King Arthur – legendary king of Britain – first appears in two early medieval historical
sources, the Annales Cambriae and the Historia Brittonum.
• but these date to 300 years after he is supposed to have lived, and most historians who
study the period do not consider him a historical figure.
• The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the
popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia
Regum Britanniae
• Although the Britons had no unity amongst themselves, by the beginning of the 6 th
century they did manage to unite
• King Arthur (probably not a king but rather a Romano British general) was believed to be
the leader of the post-Roman Britons in battles against Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain in
the late 5th and early 6th centuries
• At the battle of Mt. Badon, the Celts won a great victory around 500 AD
• Anglo-Saxon military activity and the flood of immigrants halted for the next half century
• The halt was only temporary – middle of 6 th century Anglo-Saxon pressure was in full
force
Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy
• By time the Anglo-Saxons merged with the native Britons – moved
into their villages – took over their farm land – intermarried with the
people already living there – Strengthened their military forces –
rose to power as leaders of villages, towns and cities
• Between the sixth and ninth centuries AD they were successful in
organising the seven kingdoms – collectively termed as Heptarchy
• Northumbria – from Southeast Scotland down to the Humber River
• East Anglia – present day Norfolk and Suffolk
• Mercia – central England over to Wales
• Wessex – in the Southwest over into Devon
• Essex
• Kent
• Sussex
• There were many other minor kingdoms other than the heptarchy –
no defined borders – locus of major power shifted steadily –
Northumbria dominated the seventh century, Mercia in the Eighth
and Wessex in the ninth and tenth
 The Anglo-Saxon England
• Contrasting the Romans, they lived a simple life
nearby the rivers in wooden houses
• They were skilled in farming as well as craftsmanship
– made metal jewelry
• They spoke the Old English, which serves as the root
of Present Day English.
• They were pagans originally and converted to
Christianity by the end of the sixth century.
Sutton Hoo – Burial Site
• Though the Anglo-Saxons left the
Roman Britain in ruins, they created a
new life style. Some kings managed to
amass great wealth and power
• The seventh century burial site of an
East Anglian king (probably Raedwald)
at Sutton Hoo stands as an evidence of
their richness
• In 1939 excavation, numerous Anglo-
Saxon artifacts including a burial boat,
jewelry, utensils and war gear were
found
A short video summary