Lecture II history of Great Britain plan

The Germanic Invasions, the English Kingdoms

• 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 peoples the Angels and the Saxons grew into one and were called Anglo-Saxons. They called their speech English and their country Angleland later England, that is the Land of the English, The Anglo-Saxons formed many Kingdoms like Kent, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Sussex, Nothumbria, 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.

The Medieval Period (1066-1485)

• The successful Norman invasion of England in 1066 brought Britain into the main stream of western European culture. Previously most links had been with Scandinavia. Only in Scotland did this link survive; the western isles (until the thirteenth century) and the northern islands (until the fifteenth century) remaining under the control of Scandinavian kings. Throughout this period the English kings also ruled over areas of land on the continent and were often at war with the French kings in disputes over ownership.

The Tudor dynasty (1485 –1603)

• established a system of government departments, staffed by professionals who depended for their position on the monarch. As a result, the feudal barons were no longer needed for implementing government policy. Parliament was traditionally split into two ‘Houses’ .The House of Lords consisted of the feudal aristocracy and the leaders of the Church; the House of Commons consisted of representatives from the towns and the less important landowners in rural areas.

The Growing Empire.

• In the late 1600, Britain and France had begun to challenge each other for commer­cial and colonial control of North America. Troops, trad­ers, and settlers of both nations battled in the New World. British and French trading companies also com­peted for control in India. In Europe, Britain had fought France in a series of wars. But none of these conflicts had settled the rivalry between the two countries.
• The dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, the United Kingdom is often credited with being the nation that "created the modern world"