British History: From Ice Age to Norman Conquest

In about 37,000 years ago human beings lived in Great Britain. The lived of hunting, fishing and gathering plants. The human beings lived there before the last ice age. The last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago. The weather became warmer and the ice melted. Britain became an island. Around 600BC Celts from the mainland began to settle in parts of the British Isles. Those people already living in the British Isles began to speak Celtic languages, too.The Roman soldiers landed in England in 55BC. It was not a success for the Romans. In AD43 the Romans came back and this time they stayed. Great Britain was a part of the Roman Empire until AD401. In the 400s and 500s raiders from northern Germany and Scandinavia began to attack eastern Britain. We call them Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons divided England into many separate kingdoms. Then about 432, a British monk called St Patrick went to Ireland to preach the Christian faith. The monks made beautiful copies of the Bible by hand. Over the next 200 years monasteries were founded in Ireland. In 700s and 800s, the Irish were some of the finest craft workers in Europe.Viking raiders began to attack the British Isles in 789. They attacked monasteries, villages and towns. They took treasures, chattels and slaves. In 840s and 850s, the Vikings began to settle in Britain and Ireland. They fought against the Anglo-Saxons and controlled large areas of England.Wales and Cornwall had been centres of Christianity since Roman times. As other parts of Great Britain Wales was divided into several kingdoms. From 1282 the English ruled Wales. By 1043 all the different parts of Scotland belong to the new kingdom. William, Duke of Normandy, was crowned king of England in 1066. People have to work for their new Normand lords and pay taxes. The Normans attacked and settled in parts of Wales, Lowlands of Scotland and in 1166 Normans knights seized parts of Ireland. The Normans build castles in Britain for 400 years.In the middle ages the king has power over everyone. His people have to work for him. It was a hard life and sometimes the peasants revolted in protest. In 1215 King John was forced to sign an agreement that said that the king had to obey the law. The English and the Scots were deadly enemies for many years. The Scots defeated the English in 1314. The Welsh defeated the English in 1416.The Tudor family were of Welsh descent. The first Tudor king, Henry VII, united England under his rule. The Stewart family ruled Scotland. Their greatest king was James IV. He was killed fighting the English in 1513. In 1653 Parliament handed over power to a soldier called Oliver Cromwell. In 1660 Parliament decided to have a king again. The 1600s and 1700s were lawless times. Queen Anne was the last of the Stewarts. She ruled from 1701 to 1714. In 1707 it was decided that England and Scotland should have the same parliament. England, Wales and Scotland were now a United Kingdom.