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Class 1 - History of the British Isles before the Norman Conquest of 1066
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|| Introduction: The historiographical framing of British history
| Debates on British history
● often framed as “exceptional” or ”unique”
→ linked to geographical determinism
geographical the theory that the physical environment (e.g. being an island, having access to
determinism seas, climate, natural resources, etc.) primarily shapes (or even dictates) the
historical development of a society (and its culture, economy, politics, etc.)
cf. the North Sea functioned as effective barrier to migration & social exchange
[nuance] this view is rejected in modern historiography
→ the North Sea functioned more as a transport route than a barrier
● distinct pattern within European history, but certainly not completely unique
○ pre-industrial era: superiority of water transportation over land transportation
→ cost ratio (late medieval England): land : river : sea = 8 : 4 : 1
○ connected through migration, trade, war
→ repeated invasions from the continent (Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans, etc.)
○ increasing military independence in 19th & 20th centuries
→ due to development of strong naval power (from 17th C onwards)
⚠ Even if the British Isles became increasingly independent from the continent from a military
perspective, its societies remained engaged in economic, social, cultural, & political interactions
with continental societies
→ British history is best imagined as a distinct strand within the tapestry of European history
CE Common Era = AD (Anno Domini)
BCE Before Common Era = BC (Before Christ)
|| General overview
Period Dates Key features
Celtic and Roman Era ca. 10,000 BCE – 400 CE Celtic languages: Scottish, Welsh, Irish,
Cornish Gaelic
“Dark Ages” 5th–6th centuries CE Germanic language: English
Early Middle Ages 7th–11th centuries CE State formation, urbanization
(“Anglo-Saxon era”)
|| From the first settlers to the coming of Rome
| The British Isles as a part of a Pan-European pattern
● settlement
○ became permanently settled since ca. 10,000 BCE
■ WHG population (Western Hunter-Gatherers)
○ shift → Neolithic Revolution (ca. 4,000 BCE) → arrival of Near Eastern farmers
, = Neolithic societies
Neolithic Revolution: development in which migratory hunter-gatherers
settled in a network of dispersed hamlets and henceforth earned their
living with arable and livestock farming
■ agriculture in dispersed settlements called hamlets
(true villages are a later development)
●agricultural settlement patterns: mainly in fertile lowlands
(especially south-east England)
→ agrarian revolution slower 1 less pronounced in: mountain ranges,
plateaus, & marshlands
■ social inequality (slavery, patriarchy, warfare, “monarchies”)
■ Megaliths: large, rough-hewn stones used by prehistoric, Neolithic, and Bronze Age
societies (c. 9000 BC – 2000 BC) to construct monumental structures without mortar
→ require planning, labour, resources (elites), etc.
→ testament to the social stratification (e.g. Stonehenge)
■ technological development: metallurgy
●bronze (combo copper + tin) metallurgy (from ca. 2000 BCE)
●iron metallurgy (from ca. 800 BCE)
■ climate deterioration around 1000 BCE
● decline in surplus yields → expansion into marginal previously
untouched lands
● large-scale deforestation shaping long-term landscape
→ Henceforth: British Isles were no longer heavily forested
● Indo-European migrations (ca. 2500–800 BCE)
○ Bell Beaker culture: a widespread prehistoric phenomenon in Europe, characterized by
distinct, inverted-bell-shaped pottery vessels, copper metallurgy, and individualized,
high-status burials (c. 2800–1800 BCE)
○ significant displacement of Neolithic farmers (original population)
○ introduced: Indo-European languages, new burial rites, new social structures, bronze
working, horses for transportation (increased mobility)
● emergence of Celtic societies
○ from 6th C BCE (pattern also present in rest of Europe)
○ linguistic and cultural coherence:
shared language (but with strong differentiations), cultural practices & religion
e.g. Welsh, Cornish, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic, nature-centred form of polytheism
⚠ no shared identity or government (political fragmentation)
→ British Isles = patchwork of independent polities, each dominated by its own warrior elite
(war between those polities was a frequent phenomenon)
○ Celtic social organisation: prominent position of women in public life (matrilocality)
→ women played a more important political role (still hierarchical)
e.g. warrior queens like Boudica of the Iceni tribe (1st c. CE)
○ iron working (pivotal shift from Bronze to Iron)
● Celtic origins
○ not clearly defined
○ not exactly clear how they appeared
○ 6th–7th C BCE:
■ Hallstatt: new cultural group emerges in Central Europe
■ expansion+ new cultural group (Lusitanian)
○ by 6th C BCE in Britain:
■ Celtic languages spoken
■ iron technology used
, ○ Celts:
■ not a unified political group
■ but: shared language, religion (polytheistic & nature-centred), cultural practices
● Caesar’s testimony on Celtic Britons living in inland Britain:
○ “Most of the inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. All
the Britons, indeed, dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish color, and thereby have a
more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved
except their head and upper lip….” (55-54 BCE)
| Evidences and sources
● no written sources for this period at all (not until the Greeks/Romans)
● physical evidence based on: archaeology & genetics (DNA to track migrations)
○ archaeological sites: Near Eastern farmers bring megalithic structures with them (e.g. Stonehenge)
→ evidence of societal stratification and hierarchy (‘elite power’): resource control & labour extraction
○ royal incest (identified through burial DNA showcasing lineage and descendants)
○ society characteristics: not peaceful
■ patriarchal, male-dominated family ‘elite’ groups
■ warfare and slavery = common
| End of the Neolithic Period
● characterized by: arrival of Indo-Europeans
○ new language family: Europe, Central & South-East Asia
○ origin: Pontic-Caspian steppe (modern Ukraine)
○ large-scale (90%) displacement of original population (neolithic farmers) in UK (~genocide)
→ large groups of people moving and displacing other groups
○ new technologies (e.g. equestrianism) and social systems/workings
(e.g. burials)
○ use of bronze
| Early British society and its close interactions with the continent
● archaeological sites in Britain and on the continent
→ evidence of connections between the two
● Britain as an island still connected to the mainland / continent
→ ongoing contact, constant exchanges with Gaul (France), Low Countries, etc.
● megaliths → British megaliths resemble those in Brittany (France)
|| The birth of the Roman Empire
| A social transformation
● Roman Britain (Britannia): ca. 43–410 CE
= Conquest (permanent Roman occupation) under Emperor Claudius
= Roman colony; geographically limited to part of the British Isles
→ northern boundary of the Roman province of Britannia = close to the current border of England and
Scotland (border demarcated with a string of military encampments and ramparts: Hadrian’s Wall)
[nuance] first contacts were even earlier: Julius Caesar (55–53 BCE)
● the impact of Rome
○ Romanisation of Britain (adoption of Roman culture)
○ Britannia = first urbanised society on the British Isles
○ urbanisation + economic development
■ effective integration into Roman economy:
introduction of Roman coins, long-lasting trading networks,
development of various industries
■ introduction of new roads & cities
→ pre-Roman Britain: agricultural society: no cities
→ urban centres established by Romans around existing Celtic / tribal centres
= many major modern cities
, e.g. London, York, Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester, Chester
→ roads connect cities: allow for trade (integrated infrastructure)
■ introduction of Roman-style villas in the countryside
= centres for agrarian exploitation, each controlled by a member of the
Briton-Roman elite
■ by 4th C: Britannia becomes 1 of the more prosperous prosperous parts of
the Roman empire
→ Britain is connected to other parts of the world
(part of an international Roman system)
○ introduction of written language / literacy: introduction of Latin
■ language for elite of Britannia (rest of society continued to speak various Celtic languages)
■ Celtic societies:
●very limited literacy (grave inscriptions, coins)
●largely oral society (way of passing on information)
■ Latin
●language of government & administration
●introduces literacy
●latinisation mainly of elites
●majority continue speaking Celtic languages (tribal identities persist)
→ Romano-British culture
○ introduction of new religion: Christianity (late, limited impact)
■ became the new religion of state of the Roman empire (course of 4th CE)
■ no full integration (of the island)
●Ireland (Hibernia): Celtic-speaking peoples never conquered
●Scotland (Caledonia): Celtic-speaking peoples not conquered
→ border with Roman province of Britannia demarcated with string of military encampments &
ramparts known as Hadrian’s Wall
→ Scotland only partially and temporarily occupied
■ the regions that later became Ireland and Scotland therefore remained Celtic
|| The fall of Roman Britain
| A gradual process (ca. 350–420 CE)
● shrinking of the Roman Empire (4th–5th C → relatively strong)
○ 3rd C crisis: demographic, economic, political
○ increasing attacks by Scottish & Irish raiders: fiscal pressure for military defence
■ growing use of available funds for military defence ruined the economy (costs → ordinary people)
■ inability of Roman empire to provide military support
■ taxes to fund defenses compromised the purchasing power of the inhabitants of Britannia
→ demand for goods produced in towns declined
(organized industrial production of pottery and iron ceased)
■ well-developed urban network in Britannia collapsed
● external pressures:
○ Germanic invasions into the British Isles
■ Peoples across the Rhine who had previously interacted with Romans
→ new social organisation, hierarchy, technology, etc.
→ regroupment into larger tribal confederations (e.g. Goths, Vandals)
● 410 CE: Roman withdrawal (Theodosius) (due to invading Germanic tribes in Roman Gaul)
● after Roman rule
○ continued use of Latin initially
○ Romano-Britain faces external threats
Class 1 - History of the British Isles before the Norman Conquest of 1066
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|| Introduction: The historiographical framing of British history
| Debates on British history
● often framed as “exceptional” or ”unique”
→ linked to geographical determinism
geographical the theory that the physical environment (e.g. being an island, having access to
determinism seas, climate, natural resources, etc.) primarily shapes (or even dictates) the
historical development of a society (and its culture, economy, politics, etc.)
cf. the North Sea functioned as effective barrier to migration & social exchange
[nuance] this view is rejected in modern historiography
→ the North Sea functioned more as a transport route than a barrier
● distinct pattern within European history, but certainly not completely unique
○ pre-industrial era: superiority of water transportation over land transportation
→ cost ratio (late medieval England): land : river : sea = 8 : 4 : 1
○ connected through migration, trade, war
→ repeated invasions from the continent (Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans, etc.)
○ increasing military independence in 19th & 20th centuries
→ due to development of strong naval power (from 17th C onwards)
⚠ Even if the British Isles became increasingly independent from the continent from a military
perspective, its societies remained engaged in economic, social, cultural, & political interactions
with continental societies
→ British history is best imagined as a distinct strand within the tapestry of European history
CE Common Era = AD (Anno Domini)
BCE Before Common Era = BC (Before Christ)
|| General overview
Period Dates Key features
Celtic and Roman Era ca. 10,000 BCE – 400 CE Celtic languages: Scottish, Welsh, Irish,
Cornish Gaelic
“Dark Ages” 5th–6th centuries CE Germanic language: English
Early Middle Ages 7th–11th centuries CE State formation, urbanization
(“Anglo-Saxon era”)
|| From the first settlers to the coming of Rome
| The British Isles as a part of a Pan-European pattern
● settlement
○ became permanently settled since ca. 10,000 BCE
■ WHG population (Western Hunter-Gatherers)
○ shift → Neolithic Revolution (ca. 4,000 BCE) → arrival of Near Eastern farmers
, = Neolithic societies
Neolithic Revolution: development in which migratory hunter-gatherers
settled in a network of dispersed hamlets and henceforth earned their
living with arable and livestock farming
■ agriculture in dispersed settlements called hamlets
(true villages are a later development)
●agricultural settlement patterns: mainly in fertile lowlands
(especially south-east England)
→ agrarian revolution slower 1 less pronounced in: mountain ranges,
plateaus, & marshlands
■ social inequality (slavery, patriarchy, warfare, “monarchies”)
■ Megaliths: large, rough-hewn stones used by prehistoric, Neolithic, and Bronze Age
societies (c. 9000 BC – 2000 BC) to construct monumental structures without mortar
→ require planning, labour, resources (elites), etc.
→ testament to the social stratification (e.g. Stonehenge)
■ technological development: metallurgy
●bronze (combo copper + tin) metallurgy (from ca. 2000 BCE)
●iron metallurgy (from ca. 800 BCE)
■ climate deterioration around 1000 BCE
● decline in surplus yields → expansion into marginal previously
untouched lands
● large-scale deforestation shaping long-term landscape
→ Henceforth: British Isles were no longer heavily forested
● Indo-European migrations (ca. 2500–800 BCE)
○ Bell Beaker culture: a widespread prehistoric phenomenon in Europe, characterized by
distinct, inverted-bell-shaped pottery vessels, copper metallurgy, and individualized,
high-status burials (c. 2800–1800 BCE)
○ significant displacement of Neolithic farmers (original population)
○ introduced: Indo-European languages, new burial rites, new social structures, bronze
working, horses for transportation (increased mobility)
● emergence of Celtic societies
○ from 6th C BCE (pattern also present in rest of Europe)
○ linguistic and cultural coherence:
shared language (but with strong differentiations), cultural practices & religion
e.g. Welsh, Cornish, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic, nature-centred form of polytheism
⚠ no shared identity or government (political fragmentation)
→ British Isles = patchwork of independent polities, each dominated by its own warrior elite
(war between those polities was a frequent phenomenon)
○ Celtic social organisation: prominent position of women in public life (matrilocality)
→ women played a more important political role (still hierarchical)
e.g. warrior queens like Boudica of the Iceni tribe (1st c. CE)
○ iron working (pivotal shift from Bronze to Iron)
● Celtic origins
○ not clearly defined
○ not exactly clear how they appeared
○ 6th–7th C BCE:
■ Hallstatt: new cultural group emerges in Central Europe
■ expansion+ new cultural group (Lusitanian)
○ by 6th C BCE in Britain:
■ Celtic languages spoken
■ iron technology used
, ○ Celts:
■ not a unified political group
■ but: shared language, religion (polytheistic & nature-centred), cultural practices
● Caesar’s testimony on Celtic Britons living in inland Britain:
○ “Most of the inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. All
the Britons, indeed, dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish color, and thereby have a
more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved
except their head and upper lip….” (55-54 BCE)
| Evidences and sources
● no written sources for this period at all (not until the Greeks/Romans)
● physical evidence based on: archaeology & genetics (DNA to track migrations)
○ archaeological sites: Near Eastern farmers bring megalithic structures with them (e.g. Stonehenge)
→ evidence of societal stratification and hierarchy (‘elite power’): resource control & labour extraction
○ royal incest (identified through burial DNA showcasing lineage and descendants)
○ society characteristics: not peaceful
■ patriarchal, male-dominated family ‘elite’ groups
■ warfare and slavery = common
| End of the Neolithic Period
● characterized by: arrival of Indo-Europeans
○ new language family: Europe, Central & South-East Asia
○ origin: Pontic-Caspian steppe (modern Ukraine)
○ large-scale (90%) displacement of original population (neolithic farmers) in UK (~genocide)
→ large groups of people moving and displacing other groups
○ new technologies (e.g. equestrianism) and social systems/workings
(e.g. burials)
○ use of bronze
| Early British society and its close interactions with the continent
● archaeological sites in Britain and on the continent
→ evidence of connections between the two
● Britain as an island still connected to the mainland / continent
→ ongoing contact, constant exchanges with Gaul (France), Low Countries, etc.
● megaliths → British megaliths resemble those in Brittany (France)
|| The birth of the Roman Empire
| A social transformation
● Roman Britain (Britannia): ca. 43–410 CE
= Conquest (permanent Roman occupation) under Emperor Claudius
= Roman colony; geographically limited to part of the British Isles
→ northern boundary of the Roman province of Britannia = close to the current border of England and
Scotland (border demarcated with a string of military encampments and ramparts: Hadrian’s Wall)
[nuance] first contacts were even earlier: Julius Caesar (55–53 BCE)
● the impact of Rome
○ Romanisation of Britain (adoption of Roman culture)
○ Britannia = first urbanised society on the British Isles
○ urbanisation + economic development
■ effective integration into Roman economy:
introduction of Roman coins, long-lasting trading networks,
development of various industries
■ introduction of new roads & cities
→ pre-Roman Britain: agricultural society: no cities
→ urban centres established by Romans around existing Celtic / tribal centres
= many major modern cities
, e.g. London, York, Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester, Chester
→ roads connect cities: allow for trade (integrated infrastructure)
■ introduction of Roman-style villas in the countryside
= centres for agrarian exploitation, each controlled by a member of the
Briton-Roman elite
■ by 4th C: Britannia becomes 1 of the more prosperous prosperous parts of
the Roman empire
→ Britain is connected to other parts of the world
(part of an international Roman system)
○ introduction of written language / literacy: introduction of Latin
■ language for elite of Britannia (rest of society continued to speak various Celtic languages)
■ Celtic societies:
●very limited literacy (grave inscriptions, coins)
●largely oral society (way of passing on information)
■ Latin
●language of government & administration
●introduces literacy
●latinisation mainly of elites
●majority continue speaking Celtic languages (tribal identities persist)
→ Romano-British culture
○ introduction of new religion: Christianity (late, limited impact)
■ became the new religion of state of the Roman empire (course of 4th CE)
■ no full integration (of the island)
●Ireland (Hibernia): Celtic-speaking peoples never conquered
●Scotland (Caledonia): Celtic-speaking peoples not conquered
→ border with Roman province of Britannia demarcated with string of military encampments &
ramparts known as Hadrian’s Wall
→ Scotland only partially and temporarily occupied
■ the regions that later became Ireland and Scotland therefore remained Celtic
|| The fall of Roman Britain
| A gradual process (ca. 350–420 CE)
● shrinking of the Roman Empire (4th–5th C → relatively strong)
○ 3rd C crisis: demographic, economic, political
○ increasing attacks by Scottish & Irish raiders: fiscal pressure for military defence
■ growing use of available funds for military defence ruined the economy (costs → ordinary people)
■ inability of Roman empire to provide military support
■ taxes to fund defenses compromised the purchasing power of the inhabitants of Britannia
→ demand for goods produced in towns declined
(organized industrial production of pottery and iron ceased)
■ well-developed urban network in Britannia collapsed
● external pressures:
○ Germanic invasions into the British Isles
■ Peoples across the Rhine who had previously interacted with Romans
→ new social organisation, hierarchy, technology, etc.
→ regroupment into larger tribal confederations (e.g. Goths, Vandals)
● 410 CE: Roman withdrawal (Theodosius) (due to invading Germanic tribes in Roman Gaul)
● after Roman rule
○ continued use of Latin initially
○ Romano-Britain faces external threats
