Scarica Riassunti inglese liceo e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! FROM PRE-CELTIC TO ROMAN BRITAIN Six thousand years ago the land now called 'Britain' was already inhabited. The population began to burn and cut down the forests, to grow cereals like wheat, barley or oats, and to breed cattle, pigs and sheep. From about 3000 BC they built ritual sites, large, enclosed spaces used both for ceremonies and for defence.The most famous of these is Stonehenge in southwest England. Around 700 BC the Celts arrived from northwest Germany and gradually settled in the country. They were farmers, hunters, fishermen and metal workers. They introduced the iron plough which made the cultivation of the soil easier. Women were almost equal to men; they could choose the man they wanted to marry and retained their own property. They could also lead other warriors in war. The Druids were the Celts' priests; they were important not only in religion, but also in justice, education and medicine. They held ceremonies in the forest and not in temples. The Celts worshipped the natural elements such as the sun, the moon, trees and rivers. They considered water a holy element since it generated life. They believed in immortality and in the transmigration of the soul from one person to another. Julius Caesar led a Roman invasion of Britain in 55-54 BC but the country was conquered under Emperor Claudius. The Romans were attracted by the rich agriculture of the South, tin and lead in the West, the availability of slaves and Britain's strategic importance as an offshore base.In 122 AD Emperor Hadrian ordered a wall to be built to mark the border between the conquered Britons and the unconquered populations of the North. The Romans built paved roads in Britain where there were the troop movement, and later the movement of commercial goods. The Romans also brought their culture, the Latin language and Christianity to Britain. Roman control of Britain came to an end in 409 AD when soldiers must defended Rome against the Barbarian raiders. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE VIKINGS Over the course of the 5th and 6th centuries the Anglo-Saxons settled south of Hadrian's Wall because they were lowland people and were looking for farming land. Their society was founded on loyalty to the family or clan, and the centre of communal life was the hall, which was the place where they gathered and swore loyalty to the chiefs in return for their protection. In the 7th century had formed Seven Kingdoms called Heptarchy and in the 829 the kingdom of Wessex became the most important. In 597 Pope Gregory I the Great sent a monk, Augustine, to bring Christianity back to England. Augustine's mission of Christianisation was successful. In fact in 602 was founded the cathedral of Canterbury and Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. The monasteries became important cultural centres, the Church educated the people and offered them efficient public administration. The scholar Venerable Bede wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People where he talked about the birth of the country.
