England

M

Economy and Government

See United Kingdom.

IV

History

The history of England begins with the Anglo-Saxons, who invaded Great Britain about ad 449. They displaced the Celtic occupants of the south-eastern part of the island, forcing them back into Wales and the south-western peninsula. The land they settled, they called Angle-land, or England. Previously, England, like Europe, had been home for a succession of peoples dating from the beginnings of the Old Stone Age.

A

Ancient Britain

The Ice Age, during which Neanderthals and then Cro-Magnons inhabited Great Britain, ended about 8000 bc. The rising sea level caused by the melting ice caps at the end of the Ice Age produced the English Channel and made Great Britain an island. In the new environment of forest and swamp the Middle Stone Age came and passed, followed by the New Stone Age, during which the practice of agriculture was begun. This period brought a stream of new people to Britain. By 3000 bc the Iberians, or Long Skulls, were farming the chalk soil of southern England, and by 2500 bc the pastoral Beaker folk had established themselves. The latter, named after their characteristic pottery, are noted for their bronze tools and their huge stone monuments, especially Stonehenge. These monuments attest to their social and economic organization as well as their technical skill and intellectual ability.

In the 1st millennium bc the Celts overran the British Isles, as they did virtually all of western Europe. With iron ploughs they cultivated the heavy soil of the river valleys; with iron weapons and two-wheeled, horse-drawn chariots, they subdued and absorbed the indigenous inhabitants of the islands. Their priests, the Druids, dominated their society.

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1

Roman Rule

Although it had long been known to the Mediterranean peoples as a source of tin, Great Britain did not enter the Roman world until Julius Caesar’s two expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 bc—as an afterthought to his conquest of Gaul. Caesar’s contact, however, was temporary; permanent occupation had to wait until Rome had solved more pressing problems at home.

Emperor Claudius I invaded Britain in force in ad 43, but nearly two decades passed before the Romans had captured the island of Anglesey, Wales, headquarters of the Druids, and put down the revolt of Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni. The Roman governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola won the Battle of Mons Graupius (ad 84), somewhere in Scotland, but the northern tribes proved hard to subdue. In 123, Hadrian’s Wall, stretching 117 km (73 mi) from the Solway Firth to the River Tyne, became the northern frontier.

Britain was a military outpost, taking a tenth of the Roman army to hold it. Several towns attained a degree of Roman urban civilization, boasting baths and amphitheatres. Numerous villas—large estates worked by slaves and featuring sumptuous noble dwellings—were also established. Beyond these, the countryside remained Celtic. See Britons; Roman Britain; Roman Conquest.

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2

Roman Withdrawal

Britain in the 3rd and 4th centuries felt the decline of the Roman Empire. An official known as the Count of the Saxon Shore oversaw defences against raids by Saxons and others along the North Sea coast. Would-be emperors stripped Britain of its occupying forces, moving the legions elsewhere to serve their own political ambitions. In 409 the last troops were withdrawn and Rome abandoned Britain. After nearly four centuries of occupation, it left little that was permanent: a superb network of roads, the best Britain would have for 1,400 years; the sites of a number of towns—London, York, and others bearing names that end in the suffixes -cester and -caster; and Christianity. The Anglo-Saxons, who occupied the country after the Romans left, ignored the towns, chased Christianity into Wales, and gave their own names, such as Watling Street, to the Roman roads.