LECTURE 3

The Celts/Pre-Roman
 The island we know as England was invaded
by two groups of people: 1. Celts: known as
Bythons (now spelled Britons) and 2. Gaels
(who settled on the island now known as
Ireland).
 The Celts were Pagans and their religion was
known as “animism” a Latin word for “spirit.”
 Druids were their priests and when clans had
disputes, they intervened to settle them.
 Roman Occupation
 Hadrian’s Wall
 Important Events During Roman
Occupation
 Julius Caesar begins invasion/occupation in 55
B.C.
 Occupation completed by Claudius in 1st Century
A.D.
 Romans “leave” in 407 A.D. because Visigoths
attack Rome (this leaves Britain defenseless)
 St. Augustine (the “other” St. Augustine) lands in
Kent in 597 and converts King Aethelbert (King of
Kent, the oldest Saxon settlement) to Christianity;
becomes first Archbishop of Caterbury
The Most Important Results of the Roman
Occupation
 Established camps that eventually became
towns.
 Maintained relative peace.
 Latin heavily influenced the English language.
 Christianity begins to replace Paganism,
especially after St. Augustine converts King
Aethelbert in 597.
The Anglo-Saxon Period
410-787 A.D.
 Important Events in the (First) Anglo-
Saxon Period
 410-450 Angles and Saxons invade from Baltic
shores of Germany, and Jutes invade from
Jutland peninsula in Denmark, thus driving
out the Celts.
 Nine Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms eventually
become the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy (England
not unified) or “Seven Sovereign Kingdoms”.
 King Alfred “the Great” managed peace
against the Danes for about a generation, until
William of Normandy defeated them in 1066.
 Viking Invasion
 The Vikings were sea-faring, explorers, traders
and warriors, Scandinavians during the 8th-
11th centuries.
 Expeditions that plundered and ended in
conquest and settlements of Britain.
 King Alfred “the Great” in 871 was able to use
the language to appeal the English and his
efforts saved the language.
Importance of the Viking Invasions
 Politically and Culturally- there was no central government or
church* BUT The Anglo-Saxon Code is evident in Beowulf.
 Linguistically Old English is born- mainly Germanic (although
even Germanic languages are derived from a theoretical Proto-
Indo-European language, the grandparent of classical languages
such as Greek, Sanskrit, Latin and German).
 LOTS of dialects of Old English- because there are several
separate Kingdoms, many founded by essentially five or six
different cultures: Anlges, Saxons, Frisians, Jutes, Danes and
Swedes.
 *King Alfred “the Great” (ruled approx. 871-899 A.D.) was one of
the first Anglo-Saxon kings to push Vikings back; in fact, he was
one of the first kings consolidating power, unifying Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms.
 Norman Invasion
 In 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, the Normans (powerful
Northern Frenchmen) defeat the English and start a century-long
conquest of England.
 William (Duke of Normandy) crowns himself the ruler of
England (1066) and establishes a social system: Feudalism- a
hierarchy of rulers under one lord; individuals gave military and
other services to their overlords in return for protection and land.
 Cultural/Political/Literature Influence:
 French becomes official language of politics and power and exerts
enormous influence on Old English, which becomes obsolete.
 William maintains efficient system of government of Anglo-
Saxons, but replaces the English nobility with Normans, and
creates a great class division that oppressed the Anglo-Saxons.
 The feudal society
 The basis of feudal society was the holding of
land
 The central idea was that all land was owned
by the king but it was held by others, called
"vassals", in return for services and goods.
 The king gave large estates to his main nobles
in return for a promise to serve him in war for
up to forty days.
 The greater nobles gave part of their lands to
lesser nobles, knights, and other "freemen".
 every man had a lord
 every lord had land
Bourgeois Revolution (1642—1648)
 The bourgeoisie and the gentry led the
peasants and the townsmen against the
absolute monarchy.
 The struggle between Charles I and Parliament
finished with the victory of the second.
 Oliver Cromwell was the leader in the English
Revolution.
 The results of the revolution
 an army of a New Model (Oliver Cromwell)
 The monarchy was overthrown,
 Charles I was beheaded,
 the House of Lords was abolished as "useless
and dangerous",
 the Commonwealth (or Free State, or Republic)
was proclaimed.
 So, what do I need to know about the
History of the English Language?
 Major dates
 55 B.C.
 43 A.D.
 410 A.D.
 597 A.D.
 1066 A.D.
 Major people…

 Julius Caesar
 St. Augustine
 King Ethelbert of Kent
 King Alfred “the great”
 William the Conqueror
 William, Duke of Normandy
 England
 The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans
during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but takes its name from the
Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th
centuries.
 The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans
during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but takes its name from the
Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th
centuries.
 England became a unified state in the 10th century, and since the Age
of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a
significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world.
 The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law – the basis
for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the
world – developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system
of government has been widely adopted by other nations.
 The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming
its society into the world's first industrialised nation.
 The capital is London, which is the largest
metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom
and the European Union.
 England's population of over 53 million
comprises 84% of the population of the United
Kingdom
 Wales

Cardiff (the capital) of Wales

• At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and
metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural
society into an industrial nation
• Wales' economy depends on the public sector, light and service industries
and tourism.
 Welsh national identity emerged among the
Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from
Britain in the 5th century,
 Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic
nations
 The whole of Wales was annexed by England
and incorporated within the English legal system
under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542.
 Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th
century.
 Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and
the language is spoken by a majority of the population in
parts of the north and west.
 From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its
popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the
eisteddfod tradition.
 At many international sporting events, such as the FIFA
World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth
Games, Wales has its own national teams, though at the
Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete as part of a Great
Britain team. Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh
identity and an expression of national consciousness.
Scotland
 The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an
independent sovereign state in the Early Middle
Ages and continued to exist until 1707.
 By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots,
became King of England and King of Ireland, thus
forming a personal union of the three kingdoms.
 Scotland subsequently entered into a political
union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May
1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.
 Scotland's legal system has also remained
separate from those of England and Wales and
Northern Ireland, and Scotland constitutes a
distinct jurisdiction in public and private law
Northern Ireland
 Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland
was partitioned between Northern Ireland and
Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament.
 Unlike Southern Ireland, which would become the
Irish Free State in 1922, the majority of Northern
Ireland's population were unionists, who wanted to
remain within the United Kingdom, most of whom
were the Protestant descendants of colonists from
Great Britain; however, a significant minority,
mostly Catholics, were nationalists who wanted a
united Ireland independent of British rule.
Indo-European languages