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British Culture: History and Society - Mitschri­ft

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Kulturwissenschaften

Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz - KFU

2012

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British Culture: History and Society - Mitschrift

British Culture: History+ Society

1st class, 12.03.2012


Power points sent every Monday, print out!

Read any history of England to get more insight, e.g. one from the list he provided

Course: focusing on aspects that have contributed to British heritage- how has it become what it is today? Historical and sociocultural developments


Pre- History and Early History of Britain


Britain- at the beginning we can’t call it England

Arrival of Anglo- Saxons (Germanic); before: British people (Celtic)- so we need to distinguish between British and English culture

First human settlement on island (called Britain or Great Britain), some of the Celtic people- inhabitants: Great Britains vs. little Brittany (better known as: Bretagne)


Word ‘Britannia’ can possibly be traced to the Celtic word ‘tattoo’ Britanni= tattooed

Picti’ people= the painted people, what Picts were referred to


Not exactly known when first settled, Celts were not first ones; relics of Megalithic culture all over the place (megalithic= big stones); the earliest date from 4000 BC- people who erected stones probably came from far away- from North Africa, Mediterranean areas via Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and western coast of France

Also Neolithic relics were found (= the later Stone Age): Avesbury, Wiltshire

Particularly at the northeastern coast of Scotland (Orkney) stone circles can be found- Mainland Orkney- rich of Neolithic relics: burial sites, stone circles etc.

Best known excavation: Skara Brae (Mainland, Orkney Island)- whole Neolithic villages were preserved, but don’t know who the people really were

Henges- more compact, temple like; most famous one: Stonehenge; dates back to 3000 BC, present shape derives from 500 BC; the use still remains a mystery, must have been center of religious live; the stones are also set in some kind of observatory way (e.g. measure time by movement of shade and sun) -> but biggest mystery: how did they get them there and up? Stones come from Whales (200 miles away)- theory: glacial movements (eiszeitlich) during Ice Age moved rocks there

~ 800 BC: Bronze Age: so called ‘Beaker people’ are also believed to have come from Iberia; name derives from beakers (= Becher) that were found at burial sites

from ~ 700 BC onwards: later Bronze Age- first Celts arrived on British island

Celts came from upper Danube region (Central Europe)- spread throughout Europe

Halltstatt (Salzkammergut, Upper Austria)- Early Iron Age

Later Iron Age: La Tene (Findings in France)


Celts are the first people whose language we have knowledge of, although they were illiterate and left no written account; what we know about them we know from the Romans


Sea captain Pythias of Marsilia (present day Marseille) ~330 BC

Navigator, sailed around British Isles, from his log we get a first glimpse of the Celts (living, drinking…)

After that: no historical account until arrival of Romans

Celts were advance people, had fortified villages (befestigt, verstärkt), agricultural developments etc.

Maiden Castle, Dorchester

3 classes: 1. Nobles (task: fighting)

2. Druids (teaches, judges, priests, communication with Gods or human

sacrifice, keepers of knowledge)

3. The vast masses (working)


Other relic from Bronze Age: White Horse Hill Figure (~ 600 BC) and Cerne Giant Hill Figure, 55 meters-> Celtic Fertility Symbols; soil above lime stone, soil scratched away-> figure)


The Romans:


55 and 54 BC Julius Caesar crossed the channel from Gaul (Gallien, present day France), local Celtic clans were no match for the highly advances Romans- conquered them, but invasion was broken off, had other important issues to deal with


Then it wasn’t until 43 AD that the Romans came again, this time the invasion was ordered by Emperor Claudius; the Celts were too divided amongst themselves to get organized and defeat the Roman legions; they were forced to pay large sums to the Romans; sometimes rebellions occurred, e.g. Boudica (60 AD) defeated parts of the Roman legion (Boudica, also known as Boadicea and in Welsh as Buddug (d.

AD 60 or 61) was queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire)


By the end of the 1st century Romans had conquered the whole island of Britain including Scotland, from where they retreated soon however- so the Picts (a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval Celtic people living in ancient eastern and northern Scotland) and Scots remained a threat! Famous: Hadrian’s Wall


Wherever the Romans went they brought their civilization; efficient administration, roads, aqueducts (a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water- not much need for those in Britain, but there are still a few), theatres and other amenities of Roman way of life; new vegetables (e.g. peas and cabbages), roses, cats All brought and introduced by Romans; they also introduced towns that were alien to the Celts, had a different way of living (public baths e.g., Roman Bath in Bath, UK)


London (Londinium, established by the Romans around 43 AD) soon became administrative capital of Britain; 20.000 inhabitants, a lot of stone buildings, highways spread from London (e.g. Watling Street)

Fishbourne Roman Palace (Chichester, Sussex); owned by a Romanized Celt who had adopted to the Roman way of living

Gradually it came to a mixture of cultures, but Celtic language wasn’t eliminated by Latin, as it happened in Gaul

391 AD Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the Soul Religion in the Roman Empire and ordered closure of pagan temples (heidnisch)


Roman Britain was disintegrated when legions were called off


410 Emperor Honorius called the last of the legions home, end of Roman Britain; but you can still see the Roman influence, e.g. Marble Arch (like Forum Romanum in Italy); also, the middle of the 18th century is also sometimes referred to as the “Augustan Age”= rediscovery of Roman times in Britain; time of Emperor Augustus was time of political stability and flowering of the arts- so Rome has remained alive in British imagination


The withdrawal of Romans left a vacuum- so the local Celtic chiefs were struggling for power 449 Vortigern: was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons; many legends- said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in fighting the Picts and the Scots beyond Hadrian's Wall; but they revolted, killing his son in the process and adding Sussex and Essex to their own kingdom)

Hengist/ Hengest and Horsa: (Old English names meaning stallion and horse) are figures of Anglo- Saxon legend, which records the two as the Germanic brothers who led the Angle, Saxon, and Jutish armies that conquered the first territories of Britain in the 5th century; according to the sources (Bede’s and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British Historias) they arrived in Britain as mercenaries (Söldner) serving Vortigern, King of the Britons- this event is traditionally recognized as the beginning of the Anglo- Saxon invasion of Britain



Increasing numbers of Anglo- Saxons, pushing Celts to the Celtic Fringe, the margins (Scotland, Whales, Cornwall and Brittany); Celtic resistance against German invaders has become on e of the most popular and best known legend of Britain: King Arthur (the body of literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and its legendary kings is collectively referred to as “The Matter of Britain”) who tried to resist against the pagan barbarians that came from lower Germany; Anglos settled in the East, Saxons settled in the South (Sussex); so called “ceorls”/ “Churls”: lowest rank of freemen- those who farmed the land, laborers and slaves (churlish= unfriendly, rough, of bad manners- goes back to that word, as well as the name Charles/ Karl goes back to the Anglo- Saxon ceorls)


Anglo- Saxons lived in villages or clusters of huts; typical: fighting, war, worst thing to do is to betray- importance of loyalty to leader (e.g. Beowulf- only heroic epic from Germanic times which has come down to us in its complete form; written down around 1000 AD by Christian monks, but subject matter dates back further and reflects norms of pagan Germanic society); sounds as if they were rather primitive people, but in the 20th century a discovery was made: Sutton Hoo Ship Burial- artifacts found that couldn’t have been made by a primitive people!

Christianization:

Large number of Romanized Celts adopted Christian belief! St. Patrick began to convert the Irish in the 4th century- from Ireland Christianity came again to England, e.g. on the island of Iona (off the western coast of Scotland) where the monk Saint Columba established a very important monastery during the Early Middle Ages (563 AD)- the monastery played a crucial role in the conversion of the Picts to Christianity

Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to Britain- became first archbishop of Canterbury

(1534 Act of Supremacy- when English church split from Catholic Church)

Monasteries started popping up everywhere

664 Synod of Whitby

Remarkable: how swiftly and untroubled Christianization occurred- because Anglo- Saxons were not suppressed, Christianity wasn’t forced upon them (like on Saxons in Europe) peaceful Christianizing! Germanic tradition was also not suppressed; proof: monks didn’t have a problem writing down Beowulf; other proof: the names of the weekdays in English: Wednesday derives from Wotan, chief of Germanic gods, Saturday named after Saturn- the Roman god of agriculture and fertility; name of the days originally came from the seven planets


The Lindisfarne Gospel and the Book of Kells: Celtic in origin, but strong similarity in design; are illuminated manuscripts (artwork)


All Saints Church Brixworth, ~ 670; largest 17th century building north of the Alps


Anglo- Saxon England consisted of 7 kingdoms Heptarchy

West Saxon Kingdom= Wessex

South Saxon Kingdom= Sussex

East Saxon Kingdom= Essex

The Midlands= Mercia

Kingdom of the Angles in Northern England and South- East Scotland= Northumbria

Jutish colony in South- East England= Kent

Kingdom of the East Angles= East Anglia


Mostly relationship of rivalry and war, what held them together: One man seen as Overlord, as “King”

A remarkable civilization emerged, but came under threat of another Germanic people:

The Vikings; series of attacks on Britain, Northern France, Russia etc; they even reached America (Vinland); in some places they established permanent settlements; reason for raids: their homeland didn’t give enough to support everyone and they had a nature of society which glorified fighting


Anglo- Saxon Chronicle: Contains entries year by year, chronicling the history of the Anglo- Saxons; also talks about Viking raids


Vikings took away everything they could get a hold on, also slaves, divided the land among themselves and gradually also settled; one can easily trace where the Danes settled when you look at the ending of place names: Anglo- Saxon place names: -ham or –tun in the end; -by, -thorp or –holm are of Scandinavian origin

Other linguistic examples:

Shirt (Anglo- Saxon origin) vs. Skirt (Scandinavian origin) same words,

Heaven (Anglo- Saxon, metaphysical meaning) vs. Sky (Scandinavian, developed

physical meaning, atmosphere) different meanings


Just one of the many layers of borrowings from other languages (French, Latin…)


Kingdoms of the Anglo- Saxons were wiped out

878 Alfred defeated Guthrum (King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw); Treaty defined where they could settle (= Danelaw, a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway (herrschen) and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons)

The Viking threat had created identity- first time defined themselves as “the English”, the Anglo- Saxons

892 next Viking invasion successfully warded off


899 Alfred died on the brink of the 10th century which was to be the last one of Anglo- Saxon England

Division into shires (Grafschaften)- administrative units, governed by “scir- gereve” or “shire reeves” (= sheriffs; Markgrafen) -> leader of shire

Administrative Make- Up was beginning to fall into place, efficient administration; King’s status began to grow

Governments became literate, made formal documents written in Latin, more informal instructions written in Old English -> First time we have that!


Alfred and his successors also introduced a system of taxation, not at last because money was needed to pay off the Scandinavians= “Danegeld” (tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged)

Alfred’s successors also edged further and further in the Danish territory (Danelaw)

England in the early 11th century belonged to the Empire of the Vikings, along with Denmark, Sweden, parts of Norway

THEN: The Norman Invasion


British Culture: History and Society,

2nd Class, 19.03.2012


England in the Times of the Norman Invasion


1066 onwards until the High Middle Ages


Struggle for Crown- Ethelred the Unready

Anglo- Saxon King: Edward the Confessor, 1042 (remember Edward, he’s important!)

He laid the foundations of the famous Westminster Abbey A However, the Abbey was later built on a bigger scale by King Henry III


Godwin, Earl of Wessex: had already been instrumental in putting Edward on the throne; Edward had been exiled in Normandy; he put Normans in influential positions already before the Norman Conquest

1066 Edward dies

William of Normandy, second cousin of Edward claimed that Edward had chosen him as his heir- versus Harold (son of Godwin, who was Ed’s brother in law), who also claimed to be the chosen one

William invaded

Harold was up North, fighting off another invasion, when he and his army came down to meet William, they were exhausted- Battle of Hastings B It looked like Harold had the better position (uphill) to win the battle; William was clever, acted as if retreating, when Harold followed they turned around and defeated Harold; Harold got shot in the eye and died


Commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux (town in Normandy, nowadays France), brother of William; the tapestry renders (wiedergeben) pictures of the invasion; picture stitched on fine linen- like a comic strip telling story of invasion, 70 meters long; begins with C Edward the king, D Harold is sent to William on a diplomatic mission E there Harold swears an oath to William that he won’t keep him from power in England F comet appeared on the sky, regarded as an evil omen G Normans are crossing the channel, brought their warhorses, used to fight on horseback H battle has begun- Normans on horses against Anglo- Saxon foot soldiers I battle J Harold is killed (3rd from the right, trying to pull arrow out) K hacked down by Norman knight


Conquest by Normans; English became an oppressed majority in their own country; the Anglo- Saxon aristocracy was wiped out, Will created new Norman elite to establish power

Power secured by castles and knights in castles (Normans given old castles of Anglo- Saxons)



Another very important event besides the Norman invasion:

M The European Feudal System; became very important in Europe Medieval Times; social and economic system which depended on mutual exchange; feudal lord granted land and protection to vassal, while the vassal granted loyalty and military service to the feudal lord

On top was the King, who was above else a warlord; element of making war: armored knights, very expensive; King granted land to nobility (aristocracy/ tenants- in- chief), they split it and gave it to knights, knights on the other hand had to promise to fight; the Knights who held land on lease from barons, gave their land to peasants, the work of peasants went to the knight- villains/ serfs were at the very bottom

Constituted a hierarchy of rank and created predominantly a static position, structure; you remained what you were born in; society where every man was bound to another man by promises


Church too was reorganized after the conquest- substituted by Normans

The major cultural change that came with the Norman Conquest: suppression of the English! Edward was the last English- speaking king for 300 years; now Norman France was spoken; originally Normans were Vikings who had a long time ago invaded Normandy and settled; so these originally Scandinavian people spoke French differently, not the “right kind” of French; Chaucer for example makes fun of it in his Canterbury Tales; the English language was now considered inferior

A lot of vocab and synonyms, usually French word is more formal in register; example:

Animal: Once you eat it:

Cow -> Beef Animal is Anglo- Saxon, its meat is Norman

Sheep -> Mutton -> tells us: the rich ones, upper class ate meat,

Pig/ Swine -> Pork but the animals were taken care of by peasant,

English speakers


French was now the language spoken by the ruling class- so how did English survive?

Because it was too well established before, spoken by very many people= demographic advantage

In the course of the centuries, boundaries between the two classes and languages blurred, inter- marriages happened etc.

Then it came to the 100 years war with France (14th century)

New form of English: Middle English, very different from old, Anglo- Saxon’s English; more of a mixed English


O The Domesday (Doomsday) Book

William had to see how much land and possessions there were; he had registered what wealth there was in this newly conquered England; that’s what was written down in the Book, in order to extract maximum taxation- sent out men all over England to find out; very detailed inventory of the wealth of England (land, cattle, money…); 400 double-sided pages: such an accomplishment hasn’t been reached by any other king later


New dynasty that came to the throne in 1154: The Plantagenets (House of Plantagenet)

P William’s granddaughter (Empress Matilda) had married Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou; he wore a leaf of broom/ plantagenista on his head (Ginster), that’s where the name comes from

Geoffrey’s and Matilda’s son: Henry II.- he came to power in 1954, in 1952 he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the richest heiresses in Middle Europe; reigned for 34 years, didn’t speak any English and spent 21 years of his reign on the continent, established courts to act in his name- new court system, also first legal textbook (law)


Q Thomas Becket

When Henry II. came to the throne, he appointed Becket to be the Archbishop since they were close friends, even though he was a common man; Bishops and Abbots (Äbte) had become dependent on the King, so the King had a strong influence; there had been endeavors to separate church from state- Henry believed that influence of state on church would be stronger again if he installed Becket; but Becket’s personality changed- fervent (eifrig, inbrünstig) defender of rights of church against rights of state; over the years the conflict escalated; On December 29th 1170 Becket was murdered by 4 knights in his own cathedral; he was declared a Saint and his tomb became a shrine and place of pilgrimage (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales R aim of pilgrimage: Shrine of Saint Thomas Becket)


His older son could secure his position as his father’s heir, became King Richard Lionheart S

A lot of myths about him, even though he had only been to England twice; he was always either in France or on crusades to the Holy Land


T his cowardly brother John- popularized by Robin Hood; he was made prince regent during his brother’s absence (regent= not the actual king, but rules as substitute), also during the period when Richard was missing; John was named Lackland by his father (= Johann Ohneland), as the youngest son he had no title and was not entitled to any of the inheritance


U Richard’s death was caused by a conflict on the continent, died of blood poisoning; left no heir, different parts of land chose different successors; John ruled England without the continental empire of his brother and father, they turned away to the King of France; John lost all French possessions

He attempted to regain the lost territories but failed, forced to stay in England- barons weren’t used to that and didn’t like it, weren’t happy with expensive wars against France


W reign, not rule over the subjects, King’s/ Queen’s powers are limited; can’t do as he/ she pleases but is responsible for people- with the consent of people as represented in Parliament

This development towards the limitation of rights of Kings continued through the centuries, Magna Carta often used as ‘weapon’, as something to refer to when Kings wanted total power


X Led to other documents the rulers were made (‘forced’) to sign


Y Henry III. reigned for a long time, but like his father he failed to reclaim the lost possessions in France; cost a lot of money though, led to conflict in government (exercised mainly by 2 institutions: chancery and exchequer) Z have been part of royal household for a long time; later separate departments, not as strongly influenced by king anymore; had their own highly organized records


Struggle for power between Henry III. and Simon de Montfort who had become leader of the barons: Battle of Lewes (Henry defeated) and Battle of Evesham (Simon defeated and killed)



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