Samenvatting British culture

British Culture
Geography
Terminology and landscape of Britain and the Four Nations

The British Isles
Group of islands:
Great Britain, Ireland, smaller islands

The United Kingdom
Political term
= the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland:
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,
several smaller islands

Great Britain / Britain
Main island of the British Isles
England, Scotland Wales

The people
 The British; Britons; Brits (infl.)
 The English; Englishmen; Englishwomen
 The Scots; the Scottish; Scotsmen. Scotswomen
 The Welsh; Welshmen; Welshwomen
 The (Northern) Irish; Irishmen. Irishwomen

Adjectives
 British: ~ the U.K. or (Great) Britain
 English: only ~ England
 Scottish: ~ people and things in Scotland
 Scots: ~ people, law and language of Scotland
 (Northern) Irish
 Welsh
United Kingdom: Union Jack England: St George’s Cross

Scotland: St Andrew’s Cross
Includes Hebrides and other islands
Near border with
England: Hadrian’s Wall

Wales Y Ddraig Goch
Western part of mainland Britain with Celtic
roots

Northern Ireland (= Part of the U.K.)

Also known as Ulster (only used by protestants who
want to be part of the U.K.)


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Janne Bruyneel

,British Culture
Ireland: St Patrick’s Cross

History of the British Isles
Prehistory and the Celts
Human habitation Neolithic ppl arrival of Celts

800,000 BC 3,000 BC 700 BC

6,000-5,000 BC 2,400 BC

Britain becomes island Beaker ppl


The Celts brought: tribal, agriculture, druids and bards, art, Celtic cross, Celtic languages

The Romans 55BC – 409 AD
Julius Caesar 1st Claudius incorporates Britannia
Romans out
time in Britain - Boadicea
55 BC 43 AD 409 AD

54 BC 125 AD

2nd time Hadrian’s Wall

Rome brought

 Modern government
 Written language
 Calendar
 Infrastructure
 Names end in -chester /-cester /-caster



The (Anglo-) Saxons (450-1066)
 Invasions: Saxons, Angles, Jutes
 The celts were driven West (Wales, Weallas) and North
 Legend of King Arthur
 End 6th century: Augustine spreads Christianity
 End 8th century: invasions by Vikings (≠Normans) and Danes
 End 9th century: King Egbert: confederation
 King Alfred fought the Vikings and agreed to give them an area: the Danelaw
 10th century: Edgar ‘the Peaceful’ reunites England
 Ethelred ‘the Unready’ pays off the Vikings: Danegeld
 Cnut ‘the Great’: England under Scandinavian control
Danes / Vikings and Anglo-Saxons live together
 Edward ‘the Confessor’, son of Ethelred


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Janne Bruyneel

,British Culture
King Egbert  King Alfred  King Edgar (grandson)  Ethelred  Cnut  Edward (son of Ethelred)

Old English
No Celtic influences
From late 9th century
Bede: Ecclesiastical History


1066
 Edward ‘the Confessor’ dies
 Harold crowns himself (last Anglo-saxon king)
 Duke William of Normandy claims the throne
 Harold marches north (Danes), then south (William)
 Battle of Hastings: Harold is killed
 William ‘the Conquerer’ (= Guillaume the batard) is crowned on Christmas day
 Bayeux tapestry



The Normans (1066-1154)

William I
The Conquerer


Robert, duke of Adela & Stephen of
William II Henry I
Normandy Blois

Matilda Stephen

Henry II




 Grand Council (first step to a parliament)
 Domesday Book (to keep track of feudalism)
 William II ‘Rufus’
 Robert fights Henry I and loses. Henry I reunites England and Normandy
 Civil war: Stephen vs. Mathilda
 Henry II succeeds Stephen




English under the Normans
Normans bring French with them (military, law, cooking, hierarchy). English lives on in spoken form in
the lower classes. The higher classes speak French.




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Janne Bruyneel

, British Culture
The Plantagenets (12th – 15th century)


Henry II



Richard I John
Henry Lackland
The Lion-Heart

Henry III

Edward I

Edward II


Edward III



Edward John of Gaunt Edmund
The Black Prince Duke of Lancaster Duke of York


Richard II Henry IV Richard
Earl of Cambridge


Henry V Richard,
Duke of York



Henry VI Edward IV Richard III



Edward V




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Janne Bruyneel