Which tribes were the first to settle on the British Isles. Early history of the British Isles

Pre-Germanic population of Britain. Germanic tribes, their migration to Britain.

The first population of Britain was iberians, according to the level of material culture belonging to the Neolithic (Late Stone Age), The following settlers were celts - Indo-European tribes who settled in Britain in the 7th century BC. - britons and Gaels (Gaels).They had a tribal system, but a transition to royal power was planned. The Celts of this period did not have writing. They built the first cities in Britain. In the 1st century BC. the British Isles were invaded by the Roman legions and all of Britain, except for Scotland and Wales, became a colony of the Roman Empire. (Y. Caesar undertook 2 campaigns in 55 BC and 54. The second campaign was successful). Roman culture and the Latin language greatly influenced Britain and the Celtic languages \u200b\u200bin use at the time. The Romans built roads and their military settlements later became cities (those containing the second element from the castra - the military camp - Lancaster, Manchester, Chester). Roman rule in Britain lasted until the 5th century AD. in 449, the conquest of Britain by the Germanic tribes began. At the beginning of the 5th century. Rome was under the threat of attack by Germanic tribes - Goths; the internal economic and political contradictions that accompanied the collapse of the slave system undermined it from within. Rome was unable to govern its distant colonies. In 408 the Roman legions left Britain, and in 410 Rome fell under the onslaught of the Germanic barbarian tribes.

At the beginning of our era. West Germanic tribes occupied large territories in Europe (along the Oder, Elbe, Rhine rivers, along the southern coast of the Baltic and North Seas). West Germanic tribes were represented angles (inhabited the peninsulas of Jutland - Denmark and the North Sea coast to the west of Jutland), saxons (region of the Rhine and Elbe rivers), yutami(North of the Jutland Peninsula) and friezes(the territory of the modern Netherlands and the Frisian Islands - the North Sea).

The Utahs occupied southern Britain (Kent Peninsula, Isle of Wight), the Saxons settled along the southern coast along the banks of the Thames and subsequently founded the kingdoms of Wessex, Essex and Sussex. The Angles moved along the rivers to the central part of the island and founded the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria. The Frisians mingled with the Saxons and Utes. The crushing invasion of the Germans led to the fact that the Celts were defeated and most of them were driven back to the mountainous regions (Wells, Cornwall, Scotland). The surviving Celts and Germanic conquerors gradually merged into a single nationality. The West Germanic languages \u200b\u200bgradually spread almost throughout Britain, with the exception of those areas where the Celts made up the majority of the population (Cornwall, Wales, Scotland). The languages \u200b\u200bof the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians turned out to be geographically divorced from related Germanic languages \u200b\u200bon the continent and, having much in common, are gradually developing into an independent Germanic language (English). At that time, English was not yet unified, but was represented by dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kent and Wessex.

Periods of the history of the English language.

Periodization based on historical (extralinguistic - events in the external history of England, which are milestones in the change of economic formations and political forms of government) factors:

3 periods: OE (Old English) 449 - the conquest of Britain by the Germanic tribes (VII - the first written records) - 1066 - the beginning of the Norman conquest, the Battle of Hastings

ME (Middle English) 1066 - 1475 - introduction of book printing in English. Jaz William Haxton (1485 - the year of the end of the War of the Scarlet and White Rose, the emergence of the bourgeoisie and the transition to an absolute monarchy).

NE (New English) XVI - present

It distinguishes ENE (Early New English) XVI - XVII

ME (Modern English) XVIII - present

English linguist Henry Sweet proposed periodization according to a different principle - based on the morphological features of the language:

OE - full edings: sittan, lufu

ME - leveled endings (reduced endings) sitten, love (luve)

NE - lost endings: sit, love (lav).

This justification is fair, but one-sided: there are no considerations in favor of building a periodization on the basis of the morphological structure, and not on the state of the phonological or syntactic structure, which do not fit into this periodization. Any periodization is always conditional, because it cannot cover all aspects of the language.

The place of the English language in the Indo-European language family and the Germanic language group.

English belongs to the Germanic languages \u200b\u200b(1 of the 12 language groups of the Indo-European family). All Germanic languages \u200b\u200bare divided into 3 subgroups: East Germanic, North Germanic, West Germanic.

East Germanic - extinct languages \u200b\u200b(Gothic, Burgundy, Vandal)

North Germanic languages \u200b\u200b- Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese (North Sea islands).

West Germanic - German, English, Dutch, Flemish (a variant of Dutch, which is spoken in Belgium), Afrikaans, Yiddish (Jewish - Germany, Poland 19th century).

The language of the Germanic group is spoken by over 400 million people, the most common is English - more than 300 million speakers.

The history of the Germanic languages \u200b\u200bbegins with a common Germanic language - the basis, which separated from the ancient Indo-European and acquired independent features in the period between the 15th and 10th century BC. The common Germanic language basis is not reflected in written records. By the beginning of our era, it becomes less monolithic and dialects appear.

The history of the English language began with the conquest of Britain by Germanic tribes in the 5th century AD. At that time the British Isles were inhabited by the Celts, who once arrived in three stages from the European continent. Economically and socially, the Celts were a tribal society that consisted of tribes, clans and their leaders. The Celts were engaged in primitive agriculture. Initially, the territory of the British Isles was inhabited by the Gaelic Celtic tribes and the British. The Celtic languages \u200b\u200bused by the inhabitants were not Germanic, although they were Indo-European.

The official beginning of the conquest of Britain by the Germanic tribes is considered to be 449, when the Germanic tribes arrived on the islands under the leadership of the kings Hengst and Horst, although the Teutonic raids on the islands began long before that.

The Celts put up fierce resistance to the conquerors, and the Anglo-Saxons managed to consolidate their position in England only by the end of the 6th century. By about AD 700, the Anglo-Saxons had conquered most of England (excluding Cornwall and the Northwest area) and much of southern Scotland, but they failed to conquer Wales. The conquerors represented more than one Germanic tribe; Bada the Venerable noted in 730 that there were Angles, Saxons and Jutes among them.

Although the conquerors of Britain belonged to different Germanic tribes, however, they were closely linked by linguistic kinship and culture and saw themselves as one people. Therefore, the word “Engle” (the Angles) began to be used in relation to all representatives of the Germanic tribes who settled in Britain, and the corresponding adjective “Enӡlisc” began to be used in relation to their language. Torn away from mainland German, the West Germanic dialects spoken by the conquerors of England gave rise to a new Germanic language, English.

Although the common origin of the dialects spoken by the Germanic conquerors and their joint development in Britain led to their development into a single language, early in its development, English was represented by a number of scattered dialects spoken in separate kingdoms. Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians - Germanic conquerors. They formed 7 Germanic principalities: Northumbria, Mercia - Angles; East Anglia; Essex, Wessex, Sussex - Saxons; Kent are jutes.

The Old English period was characterized by constant conflicts and wars for power. Different kings managed to periodically establish sovereignty over other kingdoms, but their power was temporary. In the 7th century, Northumbria was powerful, and it became the center of education. In the 8th century, Wessex gained the leading position, and it was the kings of Wessex who eventually unified the country. At the end of the 9th century, King Alfred saved the south and west of England from the Scandinavians, and in the 10th century, Alfred's descendants conquered the north and south of England. The unification of England by the Wessex kings led to the recognition of the Wessex dialect as the literary standard of their era. The surviving Old English texts are written in four main dialects: Wessex, Kent, Mercian, and Northumbrian.

Each of these dialects is represented by a number of written records.

Northumbrian dialect(The Northumbrian dialect): runic inscriptions on a cross found near the village of Ruthwell and on a whalebone box, translations of the Gospel, the monk Kadmon's hymn and Beda's Death Song.

Mercian (The Mercian dialect): Psalter translations (9th century) and church hymns.

Wessex dialect (The West-Saxon dialect): "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", works of King Alfred (849-900), original and translations from Latin, sermons of Abbot Elfric (10th century) and sermons of Wulfstan (early 11th century).

Kentish (The Kentish dialect): translations of psalms (50 to 70) and old charters.

Old English poetic monuments such as Beowulf, Genesis, Exodus, Judith, and the works of the monk Künevulf can hardly be attributed to one specific dialect, since along with Wessex forms they also contain a number of English forms. Ilyish believes that these works were originally written in the English dialect, and later rewritten by Wessex scribes.

The predominance of written records in the Wessex dialect, both quantitatively and qualitatively, confirms the dominance of this dialect over all others, which allows us to consider it a conditionally literary language of its era.

The British Isles were inhabited by humans long before the invasion of Germanic tribes into Britain in the 5th century AD. e. The first population of the British Isles was a non-Indo-European tribe of Iberians, in terms of material culture, belonging to the Neolithic (Late Stone Age - about 3 millennium BC). The next settlers were the Celts - Indo-European tribes who settled in Britain in the 8-7th century. BC e.

The first to appear on the island of Britain were the Gaels, one of the numerous Celtic tribes that inhabited vast areas of central and western Europe. About 5 c. BC e. The island of Britain experienced another invasion of the Celtic tribes - the Britons, who stood above the Gaels in their culture. They pushed the Gaels back to the north and settled in the southern part of the island. In the 2nd century. BC e. on the island of Britain, the Celtic tribes of the Belgae appeared, which settled among the Britons.

The Celts had a tribal system, the basis of which was the clan, but the transition to royal power was already planned. With the spread of land ownership in Celtic society, there was a division into classes of landowners, free farmers and half-slaves.

By this time, the Celts were at a fairly high level of culture - they already knew how to cultivate the land with a hoe and a plow. The Celts built the first cities in Britain, which were essentially fenced-in villages. The Celts of this period did not have writing.

Celtic languages \u200b\u200bare divided into two main groups - Gallo-Breton and Gaelic. The Gaulish language was spoken by the population of Gaul - (the territory of modern France); British languages \u200b\u200bare subdivided into a) Breton (BretonorArmorican), preserved to our time in Brittany (northern France); b) Cornish, now extinct - the language of the population of Cornwall, which was spoken until the end of the 18th century; c) Welsh (KymricorWelsh), which is spoken by the people of Wales. The Gaelic group includes a) the language of Scotland (Scotch-Gaelicofthe Highlands), b) Irish (Erse) and c) the Manx language (theManxlanguage), which was spoken on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea (died out in the 20th century).

Roman conquest. In 1 century. BC Celtic Britain is invaded by the Roman legions. In 55, Julius Caesar, who had conquered Gaul by this time, undertook a campaign against the British Isles, landing in southern Britain. This first campaign was unsuccessful. The next - 54 BC. e. - Caesar landed a second time in Britain, defeated the Britons and reached the River Thames, but this time the Romans' stay in Britain was only brief. The lasting conquest of Britain began in AD 43. e. under the Emperor Claudius, under which the entire southern and central part of the island passed into the hands of the Romans.

The Romans colonized the country and set up many military camps, from which English cities later developed. These are all those cities that contain in their name an element derived from the Latin castra "military camp, fortification": Lancaster, Manchester, Chester, Rochester, Leicester. Among the largest shopping centers were the cities of London (Londinium), York (Eburacum), Colchester (Camulodunum). The cities were inhabited by Roman legionaries and common people of both Roman and Celtic origin. The urban population was apparently largely romanized, mainly its upper strata. The Celtic nobility, along with the Roman patricians, also became the owner of large land holdings, gradually assimilated Roman customs and customs, losing their national features, which cannot be said about the rural population. History has not recorded any serious clashes between the local population and the Romans. The most serious known attempt at resistance by the Celts was the rebellion launched by Queen Boadicia in 60 AD. e., which was suppressed by the Romans.

In the 1980s, under Emperor Domitian, the Romans reached the rivers Glotta (now Clyde) and Bodotria (now the Fort). Thus, part of Scotland, including the areas of the modern cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, was part of their territory. Britain became a Roman province in this era. This colonization had a profound impact on Britain. Roman civilization - paved military roads (stratavia) and powerful walls (vallum\u003e weall) of military camps - completely transformed the face of the country. To protect the borders of their possessions from the warlike northern neighbors, the Romans built defensive structures - the Hadrian or Roman, a rampart that stretched south of the Highlands of Scotland, and at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers north of the Hadrian's Wall, Antony's Wall was built.

The Latin language supplanted the Celtic dialects in the cities and, probably, gained some distribution outside them. In any case, it was the language of government and the army, and thus the language of communication for a very significant upper stratum of society. In the 4th century, with the introduction of Christianity in the Roman Empire, it also spread among the Britons. However, the Christian communities were apparently small.

The Romans ruled Britain for nearly four centuries, until the early 5th century. In 410, under Emperor Constantine, the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain to protect Rome from the advancing Germans (this year Rome was taken by the Goths, led by King Alaric). In addition to endless attacks by barbarian tribes, including the Teutons, the empire was threatened by the emergence of independent kingdoms in the former Roman territories. Thus, the penetration of the Franks into Gaul finally cut off Britain from the Roman Empire.

After the departure of the Romans, the Britons were left to their own forces. The richest and most economically developed part of the island - the southeast - was devastated, many cities were destroyed. From the north, the Britons were threatened by the Pictish and cattle tribes, and the southern part was attacked by the Germanic tribes living on the continent.

It should be noted that since the Romans left Britain some time before the invasion of the West German tribes, there could be no direct contact between them in the territory of Britain. It follows that elements of Roman culture and language were taken over by the invaders from the Romanized Celts. However, it should not be forgotten that the Germanic tribes had already come into contact with the Romans and the Romanized populations of the continental provinces before their invasion of Britain. They met the Romans in battles, ended up in Rome as prisoners of war and slaves, they were recruited into the Roman army, and finally they traded with the Romans or Romanized Celtic merchants. Thus, through various means, the Germanic tribes became acquainted with the Roman civilization and the Latin language.

The British are a nation and ethnic group that constitutes the main population of England and part - in the former colonies; speak English. The nation was formed in the Middle Ages on the island of Great Britain from the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes, as well as the Celtic population of the island assimilated in the 5-6 centuries. In the meantime, there is no need to worry about it. ”

The British ethnos has absorbed many features of the peoples who migrated from the European continent to the British Isles. However, scientists are still debating who is the main ancestor of the current inhabitants of the United Kingdom.

Settlement of the British Isles

For many years, a group of scientists led by Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum of London has studied the settlement of the British Isles. Scientists have brought together archaeological data over the past centuries, due to which the chronology of the settlement of the islands has been built most completely.

According to the published data, people made at least 8 attempts to settle in the territory of what is now Great Britain, and only the last of them was successful.

For the first time, man came to the islands about 700 thousand years ago, which is also confirmed by DNA analysis. However, after several hundred millennia, due to the cold snap, people left these places. The outcome was not difficult, since the islands were connected to the continent at that time by a land isthmus, which sank under water about 6500 BC. e.

12 thousand years ago, the last conquest of Britain took place, after which people did not leave it. Subsequently, all new waves of continental migrants ended up in the British Isles, creating a motley picture of global migration. However, this picture is still not clear. “The pre-Celtic substrate remains to this day an elusive substance that no one has seen, but at the same time few would dispute its existence,” writes British scientist John Morris Jones.

From Celts to Normans

The Celts are perhaps the most ancient people whose influence can be seen in Britain today. They began to actively populate the British Isles from 500 to 100 BC. e. The Celts who migrated from the French province of Brittany, being skilled shipbuilders, most likely instilled in the islands the skills of navigation.

From the middle of the 1st century A.D. e. the systematic expansion of Britain by Rome began. However, mainly the southern, eastern and partly central regions of the island were subjected to romanization. West and north, having put up fierce resistance, the Romans never submitted.

Rome had a significant impact on the culture and organization of life in the British Isles.

The historian Tacitus describes the Romanization process carried out by the Roman governor in Britain Agricola: "He privately and at the same time providing support from public funds, praising the diligent and decrying the baggy ones, persistently encouraged the British to build temples, forums and houses."

It was during Roman times that cities first appeared in Britain. The colonists also introduced the islanders to Roman law and the art of war. However, in Roman politics, there was more coercion than voluntary motivation.

In the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain began. Warlike tribes from the banks of the Elbe quickly conquered almost the entire territory of the present Kingdom. But along with the belligerence, the Anglo-Saxon peoples, who had adopted Christianity by that time, brought a new religion to the islands and laid the foundations of statehood.

However, the Norman conquest of the second half of the 11th century radically influenced the political and state structure of Britain. A strong royal power appeared in the country, the foundations of continental feudalism were transferred here, but most importantly, the political orientations changed: from Scandinavia to central Europe.

Commonwealth of four peoples

The nations that make up the backbone of modern Britain - the British, Scots, Irish and Welsh - have evolved in the last millennium, largely facilitated by the historical division of the state into four provinces. The unification of four distinctive ethnic groups into a single nation of the British was possible for a number of reasons.

During the period of great geographical discoveries (XIV-XV centuries), the reliance on the national economy was a powerful unifying factor for the population of the British Isles. She largely helped to overcome the fragmentation of the state, which, for example, was in the lands of modern Germany.

Britain, unlike European countries, due to its geographical, economic and political isolation, found itself in a situation that contributed to the consolidation of society.

Religion and the associated formation of a universal English language for all British people became an important factor for the unity of the inhabitants of the British Isles.

Another feature manifested itself during the period of British colonialism - this is the emphasized opposition of the population of the metropolis and the indigenous peoples: "We are, and they are."

Until the end of World War II, after which Britain as a colonial power ceased to exist, separatism in the Kingdom was not so pronounced. Everything changed when a stream of migrants poured into the British Isles from the former colonial possessions - Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, residents of the African continent and the Caribbean. It was at this time that the growth of national identity in the countries of the United Kingdom intensified. It culminated in September 2014, when an independence referendum was held for the first time in Scotland.

The trend towards national isolation is also confirmed by the latest opinion polls, in which only a third of the population of Foggy Albion called themselves British.

British genetic code

Recent genetic research may provide new insights into both British ancestry and the uniqueness of the Kingdom's four major nations. Biologists from London University College examined a segment of the Y-chromosome taken from ancient burials and concluded that more than 50% of the British genes contain chromosomes found in northern Germany and Denmark.

According to other genetic examinations, approximately 75% of the ancestors of modern Britons arrived on the islands more than 6 thousand years ago.

Thus, according to Brian Sykes, a DNA genealogy specialist from Oxford, in many respects modern Celts of ancestry are associated not with the tribes of central Europe, but with more ancient settlers from the territory of Iberia who came to Britain in the early Neolithic.

Other data from genetic research conducted in Foggy Albion literally shocked its inhabitants. The results show that the British, Welsh, Scots and Irish are largely identical in their genotype, which deals a serious blow to the pride of those who pride themselves on their national separateness.

Medical geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer puts forward a very bold hypothesis, believing that the common ancestors of the British arrived from Spain about 16 thousand years ago and initially spoke a language close to Basque.

The genes of the later occupiers (Celts, Vikings, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Normans), according to the researcher, were adopted only to a small extent.

The results of Oppenheimer's research are as follows: the genotype of the Irish has only 12% of uniqueness, the Welsh - 20%, and the Scots and British - 30%. The geneticist supports his theory with the works of the German archaeologist Heinrich Hoerke, who wrote that the Anglo-Saxon expansion added about 250 thousand people to the two million population of the British Isles, and the Norman conquest was even less - 10 thousand. So for all the difference in habits, customs and culture, the people of the United Kingdom have much more in common than meets the eye.