Flester Maria

ID ROMANA ENGLEZA

Write an essay on one of the topics below:

a) Invasion Patterns in Ancient Britain;

b) Medieval Invasions of Britain;

c) Attempted Invasions of Modern England.

a) Great Britain is the name of the largest of the British Isles. In fact , it
is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean situated off the coast of north
west Europe. Britain became an island after the end of the last Ice age
when the ice melted flooding the lower-lying land because of the
temperature . With the renewed advancement of ice , Britain became
hardly inhabitable.

Towards the end of this age , people formed groups and they used
stone tools to hunt and fish . This period was called the Stone Age .
The change from a hunter gatherer to a farming way of life is what
defines the start of Neolithic or New Stone Age.

The first wave of invaders probably came from the Iberian

Peninsula .They kept animals , grew corn and knew how to make
pottery . They settled in the western parts of Britain and Ireland .
During this period , people learned to farm . Farming took 2,000 years
to spread across the British Isles. It used to be believed that the
introduction of farming into Britain was the result of huge migration
from across the Channel . The farmers were people who adopted the
new way of life and took it with them to other parts of Britain .
That may be called the Neolithic Revolution .
 Neolithic people used flint , antler and bone to make tools , and
develop the skill of making clay pots .The hunters tended their
quarry .
To make room for the the new farmland , these early agricultural
communities undertook mass deforestation across the islands ,
dramatically and permanently transforming in landscape .
The Neolithic also saw the construction of a wide variety of
monuments in the landscape , many of which were megalithic in
nature.
They burried their dead in large tomb and built huge stone circles
for outdoor ceremonies . These monuments were called henges and
they were centres of religious , political and economic power made
of great circles of earth bank and ditches inside which were
wooden buildings and stone circles . The famous is
STONEHENGE . The name of these prehistoric people is
MEGALITHIC MEN.

After 2400 BC , in south east Britain , settled new groups of people

came from France and the Low Countries . They were strongly built
and taller than Neolithic Britons . They were skilled in working
metal and in making pottery . In the Bronze Age ancient Britons
learned to work with copper , tin , gold and bronze . The appearance
of metal marks an important technological development , especially in
the control of fire .
The first bronzes appears in Britain in the centuries just before 2500
BC which is usually accept start date for the Bronze Age .
Henges continue in use but the long barrows passage graves are
replaced by round barrows . Their graves were furnished with
pottery beakers . The Beaker culture is also spread in Europe .
Beaker people were immigrants entered in Britain in the late
Neolithic so named from their dinstinctive pottery . The Beaker way
of life involved making pottery and metal , holding feasts and
building stone cirlces .
The Celts were people in Iron Age . They swept into the British isles
coming from central Europe or further east . By the later Iron
Age Celts had expanded over a wide range of lands : as far west as
Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula , as far east as Galatia , and as far
north as Scotland . The Celtic languages form a branch of the larger
Indo European family . The Gaelic Celts linguistic heritage is
represented by Gaelic , Erse , and Manx . The Brythonic Celts
linguistic heritage is represented by Welsh and Cornish . The Celts
were tall and they wore shirts and breeches and stripped or
checked cloaks fastened by a pin . They knew how to work with
iron from here the name of the Iron Age . Iron had been
introduced to the Celtic peoples in Europe around 1000 to 700 BC ,
thus giving them the technological edge to spread as they did . Iron
was a far superior metal to bronze , being stronger and more durable .
They could make better weapons and introduce more advanced
ploughing methods to farm heavier soils .
The Celts believed in sun , the moon and stars . They were ruled by a
warrior class . The Druids have been a particularly important members
. They memorised all the religious teachings , the tribal laws , history ,
medicine , etc. . Religious rituals were performed in sacred groves on
certain hills .
Women had more independence and they were respected for their
courage in battle . Boadicea , also known as Boudicca , was the most
powerful celt to stend up to the Romans . She was a Celtic warrior
queen who united several British tribes in revolt against the Romans .
She destroyed Colchester , London and Verulanium , so that the Roman
rule had a hard time recovering after that.
In the late eighteenth century , the interest in old celtic literary
tradition was revived by the Pre-Romantic movement .
Under the Celts , Britain became an important food producer
because of the mild climate and the advanced ploughing technology.
That seems to be a reason of the Roman invasion and also the support
given by Celts of Britain to the Celts in Gaul against the Romans .
 The Romans arrived in Britain in 55 BC . The Roman Army had been
fighting in Gaul (France) and the Britons had been helping the Gauls
in an effort to defeat the Romans.

The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 . This was not as a punishment for

helping the Gauls . It was to take over the island. . The Romans
quickly established control over the tribes of present day southeastern
England . The
Romans were to stay for many years . The romans also extended their
control in Wales . Legions were located at York , Chester and Caerleon .
They did not develop their culture there and the area was divided into the
Latinised and the Barbarian region. They couldnt conquer Caledonia
today called Scotland . They built Hadrians Wall a stone barrier built to
separate the Romans and the Picts tribes in Scotland. The Romans ruled
in Britain almost four hundred .
This rule had its benefits : - towns which were the basis of Roman
administration and civilisation ;
-stone paved highways used long after the Romans left ;
-glass windows, running water , Roman baths;
- large farms outside the towns ;
-the introduction of Latin alphabet ;
-the introduction of Christianity ;