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Файл:Linguistic and Cultural Studies of English-speaking countries. Лингвострановедение. Англоязычные страны. Учебное пособие
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The Saxons and the Angles gradually merged into one people and made up
the majority of the population in Britain. Their customs, religion and language
became predominant. Only the Celts who remained independent in Scotland and
Ireland spoke their native tongue.
For a long time the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fought with one another for supreme power. By the 7th century England consisted of seven kingdoms. The
strong kingdoms controlled their weaker neighbours. In 829 under the rule of
King Egbert all the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united to form one kingdom which was called England.
Old English belongs to the branch of West Germanic languages. A distinctive mark of old English is inflectional endings.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
Early Britain
The Celtic tribes
The origin of the British
Roman Influence in Britain
The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain
Video (DVD): Simon Schama A History of Britain (BBC) («Саймон Шама История Британии») 1, 2 parts
LECTURE 3: THE MIDDLE AGES
The Raids of the Danes
Alfred the Great
The Norman Invasion
The Feudal System
The Great Charter
Until the 8th century Anglo-Saxon Britain was not a united country. It consisted of small and weak kingdoms and they could not hold out against attacks
from abroad.
Beginning with the 8th century, pirates from Scandinavia and Denmark began raiding the eastern shores of Britain. They are known in English history as
the Danes. They landed their long boats, killed and robbed the population of the
towns and villages and sailed away. They returned over and over again and continued killing and robbing the population. Gradually they began settling in Britain and seized more and more land.
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The Anglo-Saxons understood that their small kingdoms must unite in order
to struggle against the Danes. In the 9th century Egbert, the king one of the
strongest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united several neighbouring kingdoms, and
Egbert became the first king of the country called England.
Alfred, the grandson of Egbert, became king in the year 871, when England’s danger was greatest. The Danes who had settled on the shores of Britain,
robbed and killed the people of England. Alfred gathered a big army and gave
the Danes a great battle in 891. The Danes were defeated in this battle, but still
remained very strong and dangerous, and Alfred hurried to make peace with
them. There were some years of peace, and during this time Alfred built the first
English navy.
Alfred is the only king of England who got the name “the Great”. And he
was really a great king. He was very well educated for his time. He had tra velled
on the continent and visited France. He had learned to read and write when he
was quite young. He knew Latin. He tried to enlighten his people. He worked
out a code of laws. He translated the Church history and parts of the Bible from
Latin into Anglo-Saxon. He started the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is
the first history of England.
The Normans or “Northmen” was descended from Vikings who had settled
in northern France during the 9th century.
After the time of Alfred the Great people were continually fighting all over
England. The country was needed a strong king. In 1066 King Edward of England died and his nephew William, Duke of Normandy (France) gathered a great
army and sailed across the English Channel on hundreds of ships. Most English
nobles did not want a French king and proclaimed Harold, the son of the Earl of
Wessex, the King of England. There was a great battle on October 14, 1066.
Harold’s soldiers fought bravely, but William’s army was stronger. Harold was
killed in the battle.
William marched his army to London and became the English king William
I known as “the Conqueror”. William the Conqueror took lands from Saxon nobles and gave them to his Norman barons who became new masters of the land.
The Normans did not know the Anglo-Saxon language and did not want to learn
it. And for a very long time two languages were spoken in the country.
The Normans introduced a new social system into England which is known
as the feudal system. The central idea of feudal society was that all land was
owned by the king but it was held by others, called vassals, in return for services
and goods. The king gave large estates to his main nobles in return for a promise
to serve him in war.
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William I organized a strong central government in which Normans held
most positions of power. The nobles paid taxes to the King. There were two
types of peasant. Free peasants owned or rented land; villains (крепостной) paid
their lord dues and worked on his land as well as their own.
After William the Conqueror’s death in 1087, three more kings of the Norman dynasty ruled England: his two sons, William II and Henry I, and his grandson, the son of his daughter, Stephen. Henry I’s daughter was married to the
French count and their son Henry was made the King of England, after Stephen’s death in 1154. Henry II ruled a large empire stretched from the Scottish
border to the Pyrenees; England and a large part of the south of France.
His son Richard I known as the Lion-Heart became King of England after
his father’s death. Richard I played a small part in the affairs of England and a
large part in the affairs of Europe. He spent most of his time on crusade (a series
of military expeditions undertaken by Christian European power). Richard I was
a man of excellent manners, kind to his friends and cruel to his enemies. He was
famous for his good education; he knew Latin and was fond of music and poetry.
Richard the Lion-Heart was killed in one of the battles in France, and the
English throne passed to his brother John. At that time great territories in France
belonged to England. The French Kings and nobles did not like it. So the En glish and the French waged continuous wars in France. King John needed a lot of
money to wage these wars. He made the barons give him that money, and he
made enemies among the barons (a landowning nobleman) and the clergy. He
imposed on them heavy taxes. The barons did not like it and in 1215 the barons
made him sign a document called the Great Charter (Magna Carta in Latin),
establishing their rights and protecting the nobles from taxation. Merchants received permission to travel freely and do business.
For the first time in the history of England, the Great Charter officially stated certain rights and liberties of the people, which the king had to respect.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
Uniting the Country
A new social system
English Kings of the 11th and 12th Centuries
Video (DVD): Simon Schama A History of Britain (BBC) («Саймон Шама История Британии») 3, 4, 5 parts
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Lecture 4: THE NEW MONARCHY
The Wars of the Roses
Tudor Dynasty
The 100 Years’ War
Absolute Monarchy
The Wars of the Roses is the name given to the struggle for power between
the two factions of the royal family – the houses of York and Lancaster. They
are named after the emblems of the two rivals – the white rose of York and the
red rose of Lancaster.
Henry VI could not control his nobles and lost most of the land that Henry
V had gained in France. The fighting began in 1455 and continued for 30 years.
Each royal house murdered every possible heir to the throne. Some of them were
killed in the war, some were prisoners in the Tower and murdered there. The
head of the house of Lancaster Henry Tudor’s marriage to Elizabeth of York,
Edward IV’s daughter, put an end to the Wars of Roses. This marriage was of
great political importance.
A new dynasty came to power with the union of the red rose of the House
of Lancaster and the white rose of the House of York. The period of Tudor rule
(1485-1603) is described as the most glorious period in English history and is
often associated with the names of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
Henry VII established the new monarchy. He created new nobility from
among merchants making them his statesmen who were devoted to him. This
helped him to recover royal authority. Henry VII was clever with people, careful
with money, encouraged trade and enterprise. During his reign only king could
keep armed men, this strengthened his power and weakened the nobles. He encouraged English trade at home and abroad. Henry VII financed construction
works, culture and especially the building of ships for a merchant fleet. He understood that England’s future wealth would depend on intern ational trade for
which a fleet was a necessity.
The 100 Years’ War was a series of wars between England and France
which lasted from 1337 to 1453. In 1328 Charles IV of France died without a
male heir. The English King Edward III, whose mother was a French Princess,
wanted to become the King of France. Edward declared that he wished to defend
English trade and the war broke out in 1337. At first England was successful in
the war. The English fleet defeated the French fleet in the English Channel. The
war ended in 1453 and England lost all its French land.
Henry VII’s son Henry VIII succeeded his father at the age of 17. He was
well-educated, spoke French, Latin and Spanish, and was very religious. He was
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fond of music, hunting and playing tennis. During his reign music and poetry
flourished at his court, he composed music and poetry himself.
His father left him a stable and well-ordered country. But Henry VIII was
quite unlike his father, careful and patient ruler. His son was cruel, wasteful
with money and interested in pleasing himself. Henry VIII wanted to have an
important influence on European politics. But he was unsuccessful. England had
lost its lands in France in the Hundred Years’ War. France and Spain were more
powerful than England.
Henry VIII disliked the power of the Catholic Church in England. He decided to take control of the Church in England and to keep its wealth in his own
kingdom. He persuaded the English bishops to break away from the Catholic
Church and establish a new Church in England, the head of which would be the
English monarch. In 1531 the Church of England was established in the country,
and England officially became a Protestant country. Henry VIII closed many
monasteries and their property was confiscated by the King. Most of them were
sold and many were destroyed.
Henry’s break with Rome and Catholic Church was a necessary declaration
of national independence. England became a separate and independent natio n.
Elizabeth, Henry VIII’s daughter, succeeded him on the throne at the age of
25. When coming to power she confronted with many problems, one of which
was the Church. Elizabeth was Protestant. She became Supreme Governor of the
English (or Anglican) Church. Elizabeth I managed to make the Church a part of
the state machine.
Elizabeth’s reign is known as the Golden Age of Britain. The Queen reigned
almost 45 years and turned the poor and weak country into a great world power
expending its influence overseas. Elizabeth I pursued successful policies at
home and abroad. She skillfully used rivalry of the two greatest Catholic powers
(Spain and France) to gain peace which she needed to turn the country into a
strong country.
She improved the economy of the country. Elizabeth, as well as her father
and grandfather, considered trade the most important foreign policy and encouraged merchant expansion. England became known as the nation of merchants.
The people were busy making money.
Elizabeth I allowed her “sea dogs” (seamen) who were traders as well as pirates to attack Spanish ships returning from America loaded with silver and
gold. The treasure was shared with the Queen, and she could increase her income and save people from high taxes. Her share enabled Elizab eth’s government to start a vast building programme. Many schools, hospitals were founded.
The arts flourished in England during Elizabeth’s reign.
It was the age of great names and of great deeds (Francis Drake, William
Shakespeare and others).
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The peak of the country’s development was reached in 1588, when the
Spanish Armada, an enormous fleet sent by Spanish King Philip II to conquer
England, was defeated. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was the high point of
the Queen’s reign and united the nation.
Elizabeth I was never married and in 1587 she accepted James VI of Scotland, the Protestant son of Mary Queen of Scots as her heir. Elizabeth died in
1603 and James became James I of England, first Stuart king of England. He
united the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
The House of Lancaster and York
The House of Tudor
Wars Abroad and At Home
The New Monarchy
Video (DVD): Kings and Queens (BBC) («Короли и королевы»)
PART FIVE
REVISION
LECTURE 5: THE PERIOD OF INVASIONS
Ancient Tribes of the British Isles
Britain Under the Romans
Britain in Anglo-Saxon Times
Scandinavian invasion
The Normans
About two thousand years ago the British Isles were inhabited by Celtic
tribes. They fought against the Romans, Germans, and Scandinavians through
their whole history.
The Romans came from Italy in 43 A.D. Their intention was to expand the
boundaries of the Roman Empire. The Romans brought to Britain their way of
life, their language and religion. They built large towns, constructed a network
of roads and made Latin an official language of the country.
The Angles and Saxons came from Germany, Denmark. By the end of the
sixth century they founded seven kingdoms, which gradually merged into one
country – England.
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The Scandinavian invasion began in the 8th century. They were good
sailors and traders. They favoured the growth of towns and the development of
trade in England.
The Normans invaded the British Isles from France in 1066. As a result o f
this invasion the English language changed greatly. The French was the o fficial
language of England for almost three centuries. The modern English has a lot of
words of French origin.
Test your Knowledge
1. What ancient tribes inhabited the British Isles B.C.?
a) the Celts; b) the Saxons; c) the Angles
2. Against whom did the ancient tribes of the British Isles wage endless wars?
a) the Germans; b) the Romans; c) the French
3. With what intention did the Romans invade the British Isles?
a) to build towns and roads;
b) to expand the boundaries of the Roman Empire;
c) to learn the English language
4. When was French the official language on the British Isles?
a) in the 6th century;
b) in the 12th century;
c) in the 15th century
Task:
Prepare presentation about: a) the most mysterious monument of the British
past; b) how the Romans equipped their towns; c) what else except civilization the
Romans brought to the British Isles; d) how Elizabeth I settled the problem of disagreement between the Catholics and Protestants; e) Francis Drake – the most famous
English seamen that caused trouble to Spanish ships in the Atlantic Ocean.
Video (DVD): Как строилась Британия (BBC), часть 1 (Восток. Сердце Англии)
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PART SIX
BRITAIN IN THE 17th – 19th CENTURIES
LECTURE 6: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Britain in the 17th Century. British Fleet
The Colonial System of Britain
Three Stages of Economic Development of Britain
Britain Began to Lose its Industrial Supremacy
The British Isles are situated on the crossways of sea routes. That helped
the British fleet to develop very early in history. In the 17th century became
not only “the workshop of the world” but also “the mistress of the seas”. Its
ships carried the products of British industries all over the world and brought
back food and raw materials.
Large territories in India, Australia, America and Africa became dependent
on the British Empire. Britain sent to these overseas lands soldiers and clerks
to look after its property. Settlers from Britain moved to these new lands in
search of riches.
Some colonies were self-governing, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Others like India, Africa were ruled by a governor appointed from Britain.
At the period of its prosperity the British Empire covered one quarter of the
earth and had one quarter of the world’s population. Having many colonies,
Britain controlled large areas of the world. The territory of the British Empire
was so large that the British said, “The sun never sets on the British Empire”.
The colonial system of Britain was founded on the three principal stages
of capitalist development – Merchant Capital, Industrial Capital and Finance
Capital. Merchant Capital initiated and dominated the first period of large-scale
overseas colonial expansion. This was the period of the conquest of newly discovered overseas territories, extermination of the original inhabitants and establishment of colonial settlements by migration. Colonies were direct source of
wealth for the country.
Cheap raw materials were drawn from all over the world. The products of
British machine industry dominated the markets of every country. British factories produced more than any other country in the world. British shipping dominated the world trade. The colonial system provided the main basis for the primary accumulation of capital which made possible the Industrial Revolution.
The era of industrial capital had given place to the era of finance capital.
At the end of the 19th century Britain began to lose industrial supremacy. The direction of capital investment and accumulation more and more over-
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seas has led to the decay of home industry. The colonial system and British
economy entered into deepening crisis. The population of the colonies began to
struggle against the British colonists and their struggle led to powerful national
liberation movements. India, Pakistan and many colonies in Africa became independent. Britain lost military strength and employment for its population.
Britain has greatly weakened today by the pressure of the USA.
Topics for discussion:
The Age of Power and Prosperity
Decay of the British Empire
Video (DVD): Как строилась Британия (BBC), часть 2 (Шотландия. Запад);
часть 3 (Север. Юг)
PART SEVEN
PRESENT-DAY BRITAIN
LECTURE 7: THE LAND
(PHYSICAL BACKGROUND)
Geographical Position
The Surface of Britain
The Climate of Britain
The Population of Britain
Language
Parts of the UK
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK for
short) is actually four countries united into one state: England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
The United Kingdom is situated on the British Isles lying to the northwest of the continent of Europe. The largest islands are Great Britain (comprising England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland (comprising Northern Ireland and
the independent state Irish Republic). They are separated by the Irish Sea. The
United Kingdom includes also more than 5000 smaller islands. In the west the
country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, in the east by the North Sea. Great
Britain is separated from the continent by the English Channel and the Strait of
Dover (32 km wide). The UK is a small country. The total area of the country is
244,000 sq. km of which nearly 99% is land and the remainder inland water.
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The surface of England and Ireland is rather flat while the highland area
comprises Scotland and most of Wales. The Cheviot Hills separate England from
Scotland.
There are many rivers in Britain but they are not long. The longest river is
the Severn, flowing along the border between England and Wales into the Irish
Sea. The busiest and the most important river is the Thames. Many of the English and Scottish rivers are joined by canals, so that it is possible to travel by
water from one end of Great Britain to the other.
The UK has many beautiful lakes in Scotland, which are called lochs, and
north-west England. The Lake District in northern England with its lakes, mountains and valleys is a holiday resort.
There are no great forests in Britain now. Historically, the most famous
forest is Sherwood Forest, in the north of London, the home of Robin Hood.
The Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influence the
climate of Britain, making it temperate and mild. Winters are not severe, summers are not very hot.
The British Isles are the home of four nations – the English, the Scotsmen
(the Scots), the Welsh and the Irishmen (the Irish). The British are descendants
of different peoples who settled on the British Isles at different times. The English are mainly Anglo-Saxon in origin, while the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish
regard themselves as Celtic people.
Nowadays the population of the United Kingdom is over 60 million inhabitants.
English is the official language of the state. English developed from Anglo-Saxon and it is a language of the Germanic group.
The Celts spoke Celtic, which survives today in the form of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic (гаэльский). Nowadays all Welsh, Scottish and Irish
people speak English but they have their own special language, accents, and dialects as well. The southern accent is generally accepted as Standard English.
From the British Isles the English language was exported to Britain’s colonies, which by the 19th century accounted for one quarter of the world’s population. In the 20th century, even though Britain’s role as a world power has declined, English spread all over the world and is now widely spoken as a first, second or foreign language on six continents. It is the primary language of the
United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand,
and various small island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It
is also an official language of India, the Philippines, and many countries in subSaharan Africa, including South Africa.
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