From the origins to the end of the Middle Ages

Celtic Britain

1000 BCE

The Celts spread across Europe, taking France, Belgium and Britain.
Three main groups: the Gauls, the Britons and the Gaels. Common language, the religion of Celtic in Britain was Druidism.

The Roman Invasion

43

Romans conquered the island under Emperor Claudius (present-day England and Walles).
Hadrian's Wall runs from coast to coast to defend the province of Britannia.
Build towns, roads, stone villas and aqueducts.

Anglo-Saxon England

410

Romans left Britain and new invaders arrived across the North Sea.
They were German, tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes who spoke "Old English".

The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy

660

Germanic invaders fought and Anglo-Saxon England was divided into seven kingdoms: Kent, Nortumbria, East Anglia, Mercia Essex, Wessex and Sussex.

Vikinfg raids

793

Raids by wikings warriers began at the end of the eigth century.
In 793 they attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne (Northumbria) and for the next decades many other monasteries were destroyed in the north.

Alfred the Great

871

King Alfred united the Anglo-Saxon people against Danes who maintained possesion of north-eastern England.
His Son Edward the Elder reconquered the Danelaw.

The last invasion

1066

Harold, the last Anglo-saxon king, defeated the Vikings at the battle of Stamford Bridge.
William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Hastings and the Anglo-Saxon reign came to an end.

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy

1066

With King William the Conqueror Normandy became an English territory and it was introduced the feudal system.
The Normans brought their language, Norman French, that became the language of government, while Latin was the language of Church.
In 1085 William comissioned a survey of the land and wealth in England and it was published in a book called the "Domesday Book".

Henry II

1154

Henry II was the first king of the french House of Plantagenet and he dominated most of France.
He quarreled with Thomas Becket about the power of the Church. He is considered responsible for Becket's murder in 1170.

Richard the Lionheart

1189

He succeded his father Henry II and was known by his bravery and military abilities.
During his absence fight on crusade and in France, his brother John reigned in his stead. He was very unpopular and during his reign England lost all its French possesions.
In the 16th century folklore linked Robin Hood to the reign of King Richard the Lionheart and Prince's John regency. The legend was developed by Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe (1820).

King John signs the Magna Carta

1215

The baron rebelled against King John because of the loss of french territories and high taxes.
They forced the king to sign the Magna Carta that established freedom under the rule of law for all men and declared the subjection of the king to the law of the land.

The Hundred Years' War

1337

The Hundred Years' War was a long struggle between England and France over succession to the French throne. It beganin 1337 and ended in 1453 leaving Calais as the last English possession in France.

The Black Death

1348

The plague arrived to England in 1348 provoking the death of nearly half of the English population.

The Peasants' Revolt

1381

The Peasants' Revolt was the first great popular rebellion in English history.
The rebels sought a reduction in taxation, an end to the system of unfree labour known as serfdom.
The revolt was considered as the beginning of the end of the feudal system.

The War of the Roses

1455

The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The white rose was the symbol of the House of York and the red rose was the symbol of the House of Lancaster.
The conflict ended with the Batlle of Bosworth Field in 1485 where Henry Tudor of Lancaster beated Richard III, the last of the York kings.
Henry VIi became the first Tudor king and brought a period of strenght and growth to England.