Rise of England

It’s An Island!

• The sea is important to British culture as well as the idea of sea power. (Navy, Trade)
• Really mild climate
• England itself is the best farmland.

The Celts

• 7^th Century BCE
• Came from mainland Europe.
• Brought iron weapons and tools.
• Celt is a language group that covers many different tribes

The Romans

• 50BCE to 400CE
• Built roads, towns, and more.
• Mostly, only the rich adopted Roman customs.
• The Celts became Christian.

In come the Anglo-Saxons!

• 450-ish CE
• Came from Germany, Denmark-ish
• First they came as pirates, then mercenaries, then colonists.
• Anglo-Saxons conquered the kingdoms and settled in the land.

Anglo-Saxon England

• This is the start of England as we know it.
• This is the start of English as a language.
• The Angles established various kingdoms and became Christian.
• They also had to deal with the new invaders, Vikings!

The Normans

• The Normans were the descendants of a group of Viking raiders
• Attacked the Frankish kingdom and settled in northwestern France
• Their chief, Hrolf the Ganger (or Rollo the Walker) became first duke of Normandy

Formation of France

• The Normans (Northmen) began speaking French and developed a powerful feudal state
• Ruled by the dukes of Normandy
• Nobles and Kings use knights to attack neighboring land (England, Sicily)
• Perfected the use of heavy cavalry
• They later joined the crusades

The King is Dead

• In 1066 the last Anglo-Saxon (English) king, Edward the Confessor, died without an heir.
• Two men claimed that Edward had promised the English throne to them.]
• King Harold Godwinson, Edward’s brother-in-law claimed the throne with the backing of the Witan (a council of English lords)

​

Duke William of Normandy

• William the Conqueror
• William was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of Normandy
• Could not be King, was instead a powerful Nobel
• William was a distant cousin of Edward’s.
• He Claimed that Edward had promised the throne to him in 1051.

English Invasions

• Harald Hardrada, a Viking, was invited by the brother of King Harold to take the English throne
• Vikings invaded the eastern coast of England and destroyed English forces.
• King Harold took his army and defeated the Vikings
• Meanwhile, William the Conquered and his Norman army invaded England in 1066

Normand Invasion - 1066

• William and his Norman army invaded
• King Harold quickly moves his army south to stop the Normans
• Battle of Hastings - Norman knights crushed the Anglo-Saxons and killed King Harold

​

• On Christmas Day William was crowned King of England.

William as King

• William the Conqueror set up a new kingdom.
• To reward his Norman supporters and punish the Anglo-Saxons who had supported Harold, William took most English titles from the Anglo-Saxons and gave them to his Normans.
• Normans became the ruling class and the Old English were now a part of the lower classes.

​

William’s Legacy

• To better understand (and tax) his new subjects, William created a detailed census book which listed every man, woman, and animal in England.
• This book, known as the Domesday Book, was commissioned in 1085 and was the first census taken since the collapse of the Roman Empire.
• The book was used for centuries to determine land rights
• There would not be as comprehensive census taken again until the 1900s.

​

Why Does This Matter?

William’s Legacy

• This is the start of England as we know it.
• Every ruler of England since William the Conqueror can trace their ancestry back to him.
• His introduction of Norman administrators has been credited with making England a world power.

​

William’s Legacy

• William spoke French and though he tried to learn English, he was not successful.
• As a result, none of his Norman occupiers learned to speak English either.
• Further, many French and Latin words made their way into the English language and changed it forever.

​

English words derived from French

• Attorney from the Old French atourné
• jail from Old French jaiole (meaning cage)
• parliament from Anglo-Latin parliamentum, from Old French parlement, from parler to speak
• soldier from Old French soudier
• treaty from Old French traité
• juice from Old French jus
• sausage from Old Norman French saussiche

Stages of the English Language