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The Anglo-Saxon Invasion in Britain
The Germanic invaders of Britain, who were to become the English, came
from north-west Europe, between the mouth of the Rhine and the Baltic Sea.
At first the Anglo-Saxons
arrived in small groups. Then,
liking the country, they came in
larger bands, and began to move
inland, finding their way to the
heart of England up the Thames
and other rivers.
In the early 5th century a
number of the Germanic tribes from northwestern Europe invaded to England and
settled in large numbers. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes attacked the coasts of
Britain. After long wars with the Britons they settled on the British Isles. The
Britons fought bravely against the enemies and defeated their land. But the
enemies were stronger. They took houses, fields and cattle from the Britons.
Two of these tribes the Angles and the Saxons had the southeast of the
country in their gasp. In the west of the country their advance was temporarily held
by an army of (Celtic) Britons under the command of the legendary King Arthur.
Nevertheless, by the end of the sixth century, they and their way of life
predominated in nearly all of England and in parts of southern Scotland. The Celtic
Britons were either Saxonized or driven westwards, where the language survived
in southwest Scotland Cornwall.
The Angels got most of the land and became the strongest tribe. The Britons
went to the mountains in the west of the Isles and settled there. This part of Britain
is called Wales now. Later the 2 people the Angels and the Saxons grew into one
and were called Anglo-Saxons. They called their speech English and their country
England, that is the Land of the English, The Anglo-Saxons formed seven
Kingdoms like Kent, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Sussex, North Umbria, Mercia.
They are countries of Great Britain now. These kingdoms were at war with each
other. The stronger kings took the land from the weaker kingdoms.
In the 7th and 9th centuries gradual changes were taking place among the
members of the community. The arable land became the private properties of
separate families. Thus in the 7th - 9th centuries feudal relations developed. With the
developing of feudal relations great changes took place in the government too.
Rich landowners were given great power over the peasants.
Among the 7 kingdoms Wessex was the strongest kingdom. Then the
kingdoms were later united. Egbert was the king of England. Later Egbert‘s
grandson Alfred the great was the king. Alfred(871-900) the great wanted his
people to study, to learn the Latin language. He opened schools. Books were
translated into English from Latin.
At this time Latin words spade, mill mortar, marble, chalks were adopted
from Latin. Alfred ordered the learned men to write the history of England. In the
reign of Alfred, the kingdom of England became stronger.
The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a great
effect on the countryside where they introduced new farming methods and founded
villages which formed the basis of English society for the next thousand or so
years.
Christianity spread throughout Britain from two different directions during
the sixth and seventh centuries, it came directly from Rome when St. Augustine
arrived in 597 and established his headquarters at Canterbury in the south-east of
England, and it had already been introduced into Scotland and northern England
from Ireland, which had become Christian more than 150 years earlier. Although
Roman Christianity eventually took over the whole of the British Isles, the Celtic
model persisted in Scotland and Ireland for several hundred years. It was less
centrally organized, and had less need far a strong monarchy to support it. This
partly explains why both secular and religious power in these two countries
continued to be both more locally based and less secure than it was elsewhere in
Britain throughout the medieval period.
At the end of the 10th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdom became weak. At
the beginning of the 11th century England was conquered by the Scandinavians.
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