“This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,This fortress built by Nature for herselfAgainst infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall,Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”

Richard II

History Of The British Isles

Beginnings….

• Beginnings of British Civilisation go back to 750,000 BC (see image 1) –pre-history

• ‘History’ proper begins around 7000 BC when humans returned to the island of Britain following retreating glaciers (see image 2)

• 4000 BC Hunting, fishing and gathering replaced by agriculture.

• A gradual progression from managed hunting to pastoral farming to crop growing

Stonehenge

• Stonehenge dominating monument of British early history. • Started ca. 2500 BC and took many hundreds of years to build and 30 million man

hours.• It has been established it was in use ca. 1848 BC• The blue stone conundrum• Its purpose?• Stone east of the altar stone casts a shadow on the altar on June 21st - Summer

solstice

Migrations• Migrations continued across ice

bridges into first millennium.• The Iberians (Beaker people? - see

image) Brought late stone age weapons to Britain. Descendants of modern day Cornish and Welsh perhaps.

• The Celts: Between 800 and 600 BC invaded or migrated peacefully?

• Two groups: The Gaels settled in what is today Ireland and The Brythons settled in what is today Britain.

• The Celts remained on the two islands until the Romans arrived.

The Celts (part 1)

• Brought iron to Britain and Ireland• Shared culture with continental Celts e.g. art, language and religious beliefs (e.g.

cult of the severed head (see next slide).• Celtic language still survives in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Cornwall• Traditional features of society: kinship (power and prestige rested within the kinship

group, land was not communally owned but resided within the nuclear family), no national identity (identity tied up with the tribe)

• Farmers and hunters, tightly knit clans. Druids were the religious class who resolved disputes between clans.

• Druids presided over religious rituals including prayer and sacrifice. Anglesey their center.

• Celtic religion a kind of animism (animus meaning spirit). Spirits were in everything. These spirits controlled all aspects of existence and had to be appeased (kept happy)

• Perfect harmony created with the union of Mother Goddess (nature itself) and the Great Father (the tribe and its culture)

The Celts Cult Of The Severed Head

• The ancient Celts had a religious fascination with the human head.

• Celtic myths are full of severed heads, like that of Bran the Blessed that kept Britain safe so long as it was buried on Tower hill.

• According to Greek and Roman historians, Celtic warriors took the heads of their enemies as trophies:

“The heads of their most distinguished enemies they embalm in cedar-oil and

carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to strangers, gravely

maintaining that in exchange for this head some one of their ancestors, or

their father, or the man himself, refused the offer of a great sum of

money”

The Romans

• Julius Caesar 55-54 BC (see top image) made a ‘hit and run’ attack on Britain. Exaggerated his invasion somewhat, ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici’

• An invasion of the south east rather than an invasion of Britain.

• Claudius (see bottom image) in 43 AD conducted a ‘proper’ invasion

• This saw the establishment of military camps (called castra), that eventually developed into towns with roads, villas, baths etc

.

Impact Of Romans On British Isles• Immense: it is very difficult to see any fragments of Celtic Societies.• However, Celtic roots were not destroyed rather they lay dormant for hundreds of

years.• The south of Britain saw the greatest changes, Celtic language, religion, law, social

institutions lost their dominant status• The Romans wanted to unite the country under one economy, one culture and,

most importantly, one government.• Advantages of occupation: period of relative peace and prosperity, development of

infrastructure, Christianity, rural development and firm government.• Disadvantages: The imposition of one culture on another can never be seen as

good.• The further north you go the less the impact of Romanization (e.g. Hadrian’s wall)• Those areas that Romans had less impact on, are those areas today where Celtic

culture still exists i.e. Cornwall, Ireland, Wales, Scotland • Ireland had peaceful contact with the Romans, the greatest impact the coming of the

Romans had on Ireland was the arrival of Christianity with St. Patrick.

Christianity

• The fourth century saw Christianity becoming the established religion of The Roman Empire

• Church organised in the same way as the secular administration. Administration units (dioceses) headed by bishops (governors) who, in turn, were responsible to the Pope (Emperor)

Christianity vs. Druidism• Druidism: local, oral, secrecy• Christianity: Centralised, written, uniform• Latin was the language of the empire and the

gospels, therefore Christian missionaries were also missionaries of Romanization – indistinguishable.

The Romans Depart

• In AD 407 the last Roman soldiers left the British Isles• Why?• Rome herself was under attack from Northern European tribes and Britain's legions

were needed to help in the defence.

Legacy of The Romans

North/South Cultural Divide

• South-Thames Estuary to Bristol Channel-heavily Romanised

• North-includes Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland-less so and maintained distinctive Celtic flavour. Took what it wanted from Roman influence e.g. Celtic Christianity.

• This divide exists still today. Language, values and so on.

• In conclusion it is safe to say that despite the Roman occupation lasting some 350 years, large areas of the British Isles maintained their distinctive Celtic identity.