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Period: 8000 BCE to 3500 BCE
Pre-Celtic Britons
The original inhabitants of Britain were a Celtic-speaking people, called Britons, which culture is a bit of a mistery as it dates back to the Neolithic Period. Pre-Celtic people in Britain had previously built a civilization of which the best known monuments are located in Southern England: Silbury hill, which is the largest man-made burial mound in Europe, and the world-famous circle of big stones, probably a temple, called Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain. It was built around 5000 years ago. -
5000 BCE
Stonehenge
It is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. -
Period: 500 BCE to 200 BCE
The Celts
The Celts were Indo-European tribes from Europe and Asia Minor. Their name comes from the Greek word Keltoi that means Barbarians.The Celts who settled in England were split into many different clans each ruled by a leader who did not inherit the title but was chosen among the men of the clan.Leaders had to be strong warriors and good administrators to solve disagreements with other clans and conduct trade.They were farmers and hunters
Celts -
Period: 54 BCE to 410
The Romans
In 55 BC Julius Caesar made military expeditions to Britain.The Roman conquest, however, only began in 43 AD, under Emperor Claudius.To defend Britain from the Celts, the Romans built a long wall called Hadrian's Wall. The Celtic tribes, who lived in Britannia,adapted to Roman civilization and became Christian in the 4th century. The Roman presence in Britain can still be traced in the names and foundations of some towns and road systems.In the late 4th century the Romans withdraw from Britain. -
Period: 410 to 1066
The Anglo-Saxons
After the Romans left in 410, nothern tribes began to invade Britain and settle there. During the first half of the 5th century, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came to Britain in great numbers from northern Germany and Jutland.The Britons at first fought against the Anglo-Saxons but subsequently retreated to the Welsh interior.The northern tribes shared a common Germanic heritage: a warlike race, a valorous, courageous king, a society ruled by men.info -
597
St Augustine of Canterbury
He led a mission from Rome to England under the will of Pope Gregory the Great. By the second half of the 7th century, England was a largely Christian country. Christianity brought the idea of written literature to England, most of which was in Latin, the common language of educated people at that time. He was bishop of the Canterbury cathedral, a place of pilgrimage. -
Period: 800 to 1050
The Vikings
A new influx of people, the Vikings, started to invade England in the 9th century.They came from Scandinavia on their famous fast and strong longships and were great sailors and also expert traders, fishermen and farmers. In a Viking family only the eldest son inheritated the family farm, so his younger brothers had to make their living elsewhere. The Viking presence in Britain can still be traced in the names of some towns ending in -by (such as Selby). -
975
Beowulf epic poem
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; Scholars call the anonymous author the "Beowulf poet".The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes. -
1307
King Arthur manuscript
King Arthur with spear and shield, from a manuscript dated 1307-1327
