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55 BCE
The first attempt of Invasion
Julius Caesar : The infamous roman Emperor who ruled from 27 BC to 44 BC. He launched the first attempt of invasion against Britain in 55 BC but failed -
43
The first successful invasion : AD43
In the year 43, Claudius, the Roman emperor who ruled from 41 to 54 manages to invade Britain and successfully sets foot on the island in AD 43. There was still a great deal of resistance in Whales though. -
Period: 43 to 410
Roman Britain
The whole duration of the Romans' stay in Britain. after they left,Britain will remain christian till the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons -
78
Total control of the territory : AD 78
In Ad 78, The Romans finally manages to conquer what was left of England, including Whales therefore asserting their dominance all over the island. Past that point, they didn't try to invade Ireland, but did try to go North and conquer Scotland -
122
Hadrian's wall
After attempting and failing at invading Scotland, the Romans realized they were losing to much troops and money so they decided to cut the northern country from the rest of the island with a huge wall stretching over 73 miles to prevent any backfire from their defeats in Scotland. The wall was given the name of the emperor of that period : Hadrian Hadrian was the Roman emperor from 117 to 138 -
142
The second wall
In 142, the Romans manage to push their border further North and build a second wall named Antonine wall. This wall was not near as strong as Hadrian's wall since it was made of dirt and it is also less famous nowadays. -
Period: 400 to 600
Anglo-Saxons invasions
Throughout the 5th and the 6th centuries, peoples coming from different areas such as what is actual Germany and Danmark launched invasions to conquer Britain. Despite the great deal of resistence, the island eventually falls and christianism is slowly forgotten where the pagants settled, mostly on the Eastern side of England where they built temples. -
409
The departure
The Romans stayed in England for about four centuries. From 43 to 409. Throughout the centuries, Britain's population adopted the Roman way of life and built their political and architectural paradigms on Romans' ones. The Romans finally decided to leave the bread-basket that Britain represented in 409 -
597
The evangelisation of Britain
In 597, The Pope Gregory the Great, leader of the Roman Catholic church sends monk Augustine on a mission to evangelise Britain. He asks him to build an ecclesiastic hierarachy and to keep the pagants' temples in order to worship the cristhian God and to spread christianism faster. Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterburry and will later be known as Saint Augustine. -
790
The emergence of the three kingdoms
By the end of the 8th century, three kingdoms had emerged : Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria. Society was still filled with conflicts and struggles, and the king of Mercia, Offa (757 - 796) decided to build Offa's Dyke to separate Whales from ENgland. -
Period: 799 to 899
The Scandinavian invasions
At the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century, people called Vikings invaded the island. They werre rumored to be very violent and they invaded a lot of territories suchs as the northern part of actual France , Poland and Belgium. They plundered and burnt down a lot of churches and precious manuscripts looking for treasures -
Period: 871 to 899
King Alfred the Great, King of Wessex
The King Alfred the Great formed an army to drive back the Vikings and confined them into a territory called Danelaw that extended from the east coast of England to Mercia that was its outer limit. -
Period: 899 to 999
The overthrow of the Vikings' reign
During the 10th century, Alfred's successors manage to defeat the Vikings who are forced to leave Britain. -
Period: 959 to 975
King Edgar the peacful
King Edgar ruled Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria from 959 to 975. He strenghtened the unity that had emerged when the Vikings were dirven back and his reign is considered as the golden age of the Anglo-Saxon culture -
973
King Edgar is crowned
King Edgar was crowned at the end of his reign, in 973, he represented a symbol of union for the three kingdoms that where united for the first time. -
Period: 1017 to 1066
The eleventh centurey : Another series of invasions
The King Cnut that possessed Norway invades Britain at the beginning of the 11th century and makes it a province of his kingdom. He dies in 1035 and is replaced by Edward the confessor -
1042
Edward the confessor
Edward the confessor became King in 1042 after the sons of Cnut the great died. He ordered the construction of Westminster Abbey and his mother is the sister of the Duke of Normandy. He will die childless in 1066 -
1066
The battle of Hastings part 1 out of 2
Since Edward the confessor died childless, a lot of people claimed ot be his rightful successor, amid them were William, Duke of Normandy and Harold,the late king's brother in law. When the king of Norway tried to invade England, Harold went North to fight this new threat, and while he was gone, William attacked and conquered Normandy with 1.000 to 3.000 ships in September 1066. -
1066
The Battle of Hastings part 2 out of 2
It took some time for Harold to plan a counter attack, but he eventually confronted Williaw in the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. In 5 hours, 5.000people died, including Harold at the end of the fight. With this act of triumph, William had proven himself worthy and was no longer known as WIlliam the Bastard, but had won his title of Conqueror -
Period: 1066 to 1509
The Middle-Ages
The Middle-Ages is a very long period that will witness a lot of changes in the english monarchy as well as in the British way of life.
During this era, the feudal system will be implemented in England and the royal powers will be questionned for the first time. -
Period: 1066 to 1087
William the Conqueror
William quickly understood that the opposition to his reign was strong and therefore decided to crush it. He had Northumbria burnt down and slaughtered from 1069 to 1072. He also had the Anglo-Saxons barons killed so he would not have to be affraid of being betrayed. -
1087
The feudal system
During his reign, William the Conqueror implemented the feudal system : He would give lands to Norman Barons in exchange for an oath of loyalty, and they would do the same with Knights that would reward peasants with protection in exchange for their work. -
1189
Richard Lionheart
Richard I was one of Henry the second son. After his father's death, he was crowned in 1189 and led his army in crusades. Since he needed money, he increased the taxes, but the people didn't complain as long as he was victorious. -
1199
John Lackland
John Lackland was Richard brother's and succeeded him when he deceased. He kept increasing thetaxes, but he also lost a lot of territories, therefore upsetting his people. They stopped trusting him and started rebeling. Kohn had no choice but to fight them, but they were stronger and overtook London. John had to negotiate with them and this led to the creationn of Magna Carta -
1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta was a charter created in 1215 after the rebelion overtook London under King John's reign. This charter was constituted of 63 chapters, made to limit the king's powers. Only 3 of this clauses still remain nowadays. One of them stating that “No men shall be imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, or exiled without the lawful judgment of his equals.” -
Period: 1327 to 1453
The wars with France 1327 - 1360; 1420 - 1453
Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, conflicts appeared between England and France, and led to a War that can be divided into four parts -
Period: 1337 to 1360
The first part
from 1337 to 1360 the English succeeded under the command of Edward III (1327 - 1377) and Aquitaine was still under the English monarch's control -
Period: 1346 to 1353
The black Death epidemy
during the war between England and France, the black death wiped out 40 % of England population -
Period: 1360 to 1400
Second phase
France was successful and drove England back between 1360 and 1400 -
Period: 1400 to 1429
Third phase
Under Henry V of England (1413 - 1422), the English were victorious from 1400 to 1429. -
Period: 1429 to 1453
Last phase
The French united under the Valois King and defeated England once and for all in 1453. after that period, only Calais and the Channel Islands were still owned by the English
