- •Часть 1
- •2) Celtic religion
- •3). Ancient celtic society
- •4). Celtic art and celtic storytellers
- •2). The end of the roman rule
- •Questions:
- •1). The celtic church and the roman church
- •On the basis of this text enumerate the special features of the Celtic church in comparison with the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Church
- •What does the text say about the relations of the Roman and Celtic churches?
- •2). The triumph of the picts Ecgfrith, the king, rashly led an army to ravage the kingdom
- •3). The british celtic kingdoms
- •In the following text find the information about the further development of relations between the Celts and Anglo-Saxons and about the fate of the main Celtic kingdoms in Britain and Ireland
- •Questions:
- •2). Mutiny of the mercenaries
- •1.Describe the situation that caused the coming of the first Germanic warriors to Britain
- •2. Read the following text and make a short report analysing the early stage of development of relations between the Celts and Germanic invaders
- •3). The coming of the saxons
- •4). Artur: fact or fiction?
- •Report the main facts conserning the real and legendary Arthur
- •Compare your information with what the following extract states a wild boar’s fury was Bleiddig ab Eli…
- •5). First steps of the roman church in england
- •What do you know about the Roman Church and its role in bringing christianity to Britain?
- •Find out about the history of relations of the Roman and Celtic Churches
- •6). Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms.
- •1. What were the names of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms?
- •2. Find out in the following extract what the main political, social and cultural events took place in this period
- •7). The venerable bede and gens anglorum
- •8). Social structure of the anglo-saxon kingdoms
- •Unit 5. The vikings
- •1). The history of the danish invasion
- •2). King alfred – the leader of anglo-saxon resistance to the danes
- •Trace the main events in Alfred’s life.
- •What is the Twelveth night mentioned in the text?
- •3). The battle of brunanburh
- •4). The saxons lose the crown
- •What distinguished Edgar from other Saxon kings?
- •What was Gunnhild and how is she connected with the loss of the crown by Saxon kings?
- •5). Restoration of the anglo-saxon kingship
- •What was the name of the king who restored the Anglo-Saxon kingship?
- •Why was Edward called the Confessor?
- •Try to remember how the Norman Conqest took place and what were its principal results for England and its people
- •Read the following extracts and make reports about the reign of King William I, his sons and his grandson Stephen
- •1)William I (1066- 87)
- •Laws of King William
- •2) William II (1087-1100)
- •3) Henry l (1100-35)
- •4) Stephen (1135-54)
- •What can you say about the reign of King Henry II and his sons Richard and John?
- •On the basis of the following extracts report about the development of the social, political and legal systems in England in the late 12th - early13th c.
- •1). Henry II (1154-89) and Thomas Becket
- •3). King John the Lackland (1199-1216)
- •2). Edward I (1272-1307)
- •3.) Edward II (1307- 1327)
- •What famous order was founded by the king?
- •What war was begun in his reign?
- •5). Richard II (1377-99)
- •The Supression of the Peasants’ Revolt
- •Part 4 learning, lollardy, and literature (XIV century)
- •Oxford and Cambridge
- •William of Ockham
- •John Wyclif
- •The Lollards
- •The Lollard Bible
- •Resurgence of English
- •Piers Plowman
- •John Gower
- •Chaucer
- •Unit 7. The house of lancaster
- •Henry IV (1399-1413)
- •2). HenryV (1413-22)
- •3). Henry VI (1422-71)
- •King Edward IV
- •Edward V
- •Richard III
- •References
- •Contents
- •Part 9. Social Structure of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms 122
- •Part 1. The Normans
- •Part 3. The Plantagenets
- •Tests 329
5). Restoration of the anglo-saxon kingship
Pre-reading tasks:
What was the name of the king who restored the Anglo-Saxon kingship?
Why was Edward called the Confessor?
Cnut had wanted his son Harthacnut to succeed him as King of England and Denmark. But there was a war on Denmark's borders and he simply couldn't leave for England. Godwine and Emma said Harthacnut should be declared king, even if he stayed in Denmark. But Leofric, Godwine's rival, proposed that another son of the late king should be regent. (Leofric's teenage wife, by the way, was Lady Godiva.) His name was Harold. This was Harold I. The Saxons called him Harold Harefoot. By 1037, Harthacnut was still in Denmark, Harold Harefoot was recognized as King and Emma went into exile, in Flanders. Godwine, being Godwine, now supported Harold. But Harold didn't last long and as soon as he was dead Harthacnut arrived to claim the throne. But like all of Cnut's sons, he died at about the age of twenty-five. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records:
*The year 1042: in this year Harthacnut died as he stood at his drink and he suddenly fell to the ground with a horrible convulsion; and those who were near thereto took hold of him, but he never spoke again, and passed away on June 8.
The year 1043: in this year Edward was consecrated King in Winchester on the first day of Easter with great ceremony. Soon in this same year the King had all the lands which his mother owned confiscated for his own use, and took from her all she possessed... because she had been too strict with the King her son in that she had done less for him than he wished both before and after his accession. Soon after, Stigand [the Archbishop of Canterbury] was deprived of his See, and all that he possessed was confiscated to the King, because he, Stigand, was his mother's confidant.
So Edward, not yet known as the Confessor, was crowned King of England.C+Edward was a quiet, pious person, without liking for war or much aptitude for administration. His Norman upbringing made him the willing, though gentle, agent of Norman influence, so far as Earl Godwin would allow Norman prelates appeared in the English Church, Norman clerks in the royal household, and Norman landowners in the English shires. According to tradition the King was a kindly, weak, chubby albino...and as he grew older his outlook was increasingly that of a monk. [Hence his name, the Confessor.]
Godwine grew more powerful with Edward on the throne, even though the King regarded him with great suspicion and still saw him as the man behind the death of his brother, Alfred. Alfred's elder sons became earls. One of them, Swein, stretched family loyalties when he seduced an abbess and murdered his cousin, one of the King's earls. Edward publicly declared him to be 'nithing’, meaning 'a man without any honour'. Swein fled to Flanders.
C+A crisis came in the year 1051, when the Norman party at Court succeeded in driving Godwin into exile. During Godwin's absence William of Normandy is said to have paid an official visit to the Confessor in England in quest of the succession to the Crown. Very likely King Edward promised that William should be his heir. But in the following year Godwin returned, backed by a force raised in Flanders, and with the active help of his son Harold [who was to become Harold of Hasimgs]. Together father and son obliged King Edward to take them back into power. Seven months after his restoration Godwin died, in 1053. Harold, his eldest surviving son, succeeded to his father's great estates and for the next thirteen adventurous years was the virtual ruler of England. The death of the official ruler is recorded in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
*King Edward came to Westminster towards Christmas [1065], and there had the abbey church consecrated which he himself had built to the glory of God, St Peter, and all God's saints; the consecration of the church was on Holy Innocents' Day. He passed away on the vigil of the Epiphany, and was buried on the Epiphany. Here in the world he dwelt for a time in royal majesty, sagacious in counsel; a gracious ruler for twenty-four years. And so Edward died and with him the line of the Saxon Kings. The boy who should have been King on Edward's death was Edgar. He was the son of the King's nephew. But he was in no position to lead the nation, certainly not to defend it, especially as it was certain that Duke William of Normandy and the King of Norway would each claim the crown for himself. The English had to decide between a respect for the royal line and the need to be protected. Harold was unique. No one man, other than the King himself, had ever been so popular and so powerful throughout the land.
Yet one irony remained. On his deathbed, Edward warned of the great evil that was about to sweep his land. But the Archbishop encouraged Harold to ignore the warnings This was nothing more, he said, than the ramblings of an ancient robbed of his wits. The Archbishop was that great ecclesiastical survivor, Stigand.
But the warnings were true and the spirit of Edward ruled English hearts for centuries, so much so that it wasn't until the fourteenth century that the people abandoned Edward as the nation's patron saint for the mythical St George.
And while England mourned, Duke William of Normandy made ready for sea.
(from “This Sceptred Isle” by Christopher Lee, L. 1990)
Questions:
When did the Vikings arrive to Britain?
What were the causes of the Danish invasion ?
Describe the religious, cultural and social life of the Anglo-Saxon tribes at the time of their invasion to Britain.
What were the main events and historical consequences of the Danish invasion?
What parts of England did the Danes occupy?
Why is king Alfred called the Great?
What were the other English kings fighting against the Danes?
How was Canute’s Empire created? What was its fate?
What is Danegeld?
How did it happen that the Danes took the crown of England?
What social and political reasons caused the end of the Anglo-Saxon period and brought about the Norman conquest?
Unit 6. ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD (AD 1066-1485)
Part 1. The ΝΟRMANS.
Pre-Readng Task: