3.
B England in Middle Ages
For four centuries, England was occupied by Romans, who for example built the famous
Hadrian’s wall there. However, in the fourth century, Romans left the Britain to deal with
their issues in Roman Empire. This act allowed people from the other parts of the world to
invade Britain. We mean mostly, Angles, Saxons and Jutes who sailed to England from
the area of today’s north Germany. These invaders pushed Britons and Celtic people to the
area of Wales and in England established seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. That is the reason
why this period is known as period of the Heptarchy (hepta = seven). These kingdoms were:
Essex, Wessex, Sussex, Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia. Kent, Northumbria and
Mercia had leading position among these kingdoms. All of them were ruled by kings who had
own armies. These armies, privileged men later became the first nobility in England.
There is one simile between French kingdom and England. French kingdom, by the time
Frankish empire was pagan until the baptism of Clovis in the 6th century. Christianity came
to England in the 6th century as well, thanks to missionaries such as St. Patrick who was
on his mission in Ireland. However, more successful than st. Patrick were Benedictines sent
to England by the pope Gregory I. at the very end of the 6th century. By the end of the 7th
century, all English kingdoms were Christian.
Another simile shared with French kingdom had the form of the invasion from Scandinavia.
These invaders were known as Vikings, and their conquest of the British Isles started in
793 with the attack on the Lindisfarne monastery which was located in the north-eastern
England. Vikings were very skilled craftsmen, brave sailors and feared warriors who managed
to sail to America as well. We know that it was a Viking – Leif Eriksson who reached
America as the first European man.
How is it possible that people from Scandinavia all of the sudden decided to invade
European countries? There are three main reasons:
1. Sudden change of the weather in Scandinavia, temperatures dropped rapidly
2. Overpopulation
3. Desire for fame and fighting (Vikings were tempted to get the wealth and
treasuries of western Europe)
Scandinavian invaders were successful in Britain, those coming from Denmark managed to
inhabit the area that was located north of the River Thames. They named this area as a
Danelaw (area of Danish law – jurisdiction). Sadly, for them, the king of Wessex, Alfred the
Great manage to unify all English kingdoms and even to defeat Vikings in 878. Although
he couldn’t drive Vikings out of the country.
Series of successful battles against Danish Vikings continued during the rule of Alfred’s
successors – king Athelstan and after him king Edgar. Btw king Athelstan was the first
king of England who was officially crowned. Situation changed at the end of the 10 th century
mainly because of the weak English king who couldn’t prepare an army to fight Danish
Vikings. Solution for this situation was in the form of so called Danegeld – war tribute paid
to Vikings to maintain the peace. The effort to raise money for Danegeld was the first form
of taxation in Britain. However, situation escalated and the influence of Denmark was so
strong that in the 11th century Danish king Cnut the Great became the king of England as
well and for the short time he annexed Britain to Denmark.
Period of Danish rule ended in 1042 when the Wessex ruler Edward the Confessor
became the new king. Problem came after his death in 1066. Again, similarly to France two
men wanted this throne. This time there was a brother of Edward’s wife – Harold
Godwinson, who was approved by English nobility as a future king and there was also a
cousin of death king Edward – William the Conqueror who came from Normandy (area of
today’s France inhabited by Normans) to place his claim for English throne. These two men
met at the battle of Hastings in 1066 and the battle resulted in favour of William the
Conqueror. William appointed his trustworthy men to rule over different regions of England,
however he didn’t bring only his friends from France, he brought also French culture and
French language. Suddenly French language was the one spoken at the royal court and
vernacular English was the language of peasants. Very important source of information for us
is so called Domesday book from 1086 in which all properties gained by Norman nobility
is summarized. Descendants of William the Conqueror ruled in Britain until 1135.
