Early History of England

  This week the most effective thing I found is the history of England and I collected much more knowledge after the lesson.

Early History of England  

The island was originally inhabited by Celtic tribes from Central Asia prior to the invasion by the Romans c. 50-100CE.  Some of the Celts, a brave, fierce, and what we would call barbaric people, fled west over the mountains to what is now Wales and further over to Ireland.  The rest stayed and intermarried with the invading Romans.  The Romans brought architecture, art, "civilization," Christianity and most important, literacy. They stayed in the land, founding the cities that are today London (then Londinium) and Wincester, but during the fall of the Roman Empire c. 450-500 CE, the Roman soldiers left, leaving the now-softened Celtic people. 

This left the natives open to attacks from the neighboring Picts (from what is today Scotland) and Jutes (a Germanic tribe).  The Celts called for help from the Angles and Saxons, tribes from the area that is the modern Germany - Denmark area.  The Angles and Saxons saved the Celts, but then turned against them and settled in England, becoming the Anglo-Saxons who lived in Angle-Land (-- England). 

These Anglo-Saxons were brave, rude, reckless, adventurous and barbaric.  They did not have much of a written culture, but they brought with them a rich folk-lore tradition, with long epics recited by scops, the poets of the clan.  These recitations, the earliest English Literature, was finally written down by Christian monks in the 10th and 11th centuries. 

Religion: 
 

While the Romans brought Christianity to the land, it was not until around 650 CE that England was fully Christianized.  The native religions were dominated by the earth-based religion Druidism, but there were a number of smaller traditions being practiced.  These were not destroyed, but pushed underground in greatly diminished numbers, only to be resurfacing in the later part of this century.  Pieces of these older religions can be found thoughout English literature.  Right: Ardagh Chalice The acme of Irish Christian metallurgy, 7th-8th century,  (from How the Irish Save Civilization)