1.
Flag of England
–
The flag of England is derived from St Georges Cross. The association of the red cross as an emblem of England can be traced back to the Middle Ages, since the 1990s it has been in increasingly wide use, particularly at national sporting events. In 1188 Henry II of England and Philip II of France agreed to go on a crusade, 13th-century authorities are unanimous on the point that the English king adopted the white cross, and the French king the red one. It is not clear at what point the English exchanged the white cross for the red-on-white one, there was a historiographical tradition claiming that Richard the Lionheart himself adopted both the flag and the patron saint from Genoa at some point during his crusade. This idea can be traced to the Victorian era, Perrin refers to it as a common belief, Perrin concludes from this that the introduction of the Cross of St George as a national emblem is originally due to Edward I. By 1300, there was also a banner of St George, but not yet in a prominent function. From that time, his banner was used with increasing prominence alongside the Royal Banner, the flag shown for England in the Book of All Kingdoms of 1367 is solid red. John Cabot, commissioned by Henry VII to sail under our banners, flags and ensigns, St Georges Day was considered a double major feast from 1415, but George was still eclipsed by his rivals Saints Edward and Edmund. The first recorded use of St. Georges Cross as a flag, in conjunction with royal banners. In 1606 it was combined with the Scottish St. Andrews Cross to form the Union Jack, the concept of a national flag, as opposed to royal banners, naval ensigns or military flags, developed in the late 18th century, following the American and French Revolutions. In the 19th century, it became desirable for all nations of Europe to identify a national flag, since during that time, the terms Britain and England were used largely interchangeably, the Union Flag was used as national flag de facto, even though never officially adopted. The observation that the Cross of St. George is the flag of England was made in the context of Irish irredentism. Chesterton in 1933, As a very sensible Irishman said in a letter to a Dublin paper, the flag of England is one of the key components of the Union Flag. The Union Flag has been used in a variety of forms since the proclamation by Orders in Council 1606, in Scotland, and in particular on Scottish vessels at sea, historical evidence suggests that a separate design of Union Flag was flown to that used in England. The flag of the City of London is based on the English flag, having a centred St Georges Cross on a white background, the sword is believed to represent the sword that beheaded Saint Paul who is the patron saint of the city. The flag used by the British Royal Navy is also based on the flag of England, consisting of the St Georges Cross, churches belonging to the Church of England may fly St Georges Cross. The correct way is for the church to fly the St Georges cross, the flag is also seen during other sporting events in which England competes, for example during England Cricket matches, during Rugby Union matches and in football. It is also used in icons on the Internet and on the TV screen to represent teams, before 1996, most of the flags waved by supporters were Union Flags
2.
Alfred the Great
–
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest and he is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet the Great, the other being the Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself King of the Anglo-Saxons, details of Alfreds life are described in a work by the 10th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser. In 2002, Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Alfred was born in the village of Wanating, now Wantage, historically in Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex by his first wife, Osburh. In 853, at the age of four, Alfred is reported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have sent to Rome, where he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV. Victorian writers later interpreted this as a coronation in preparation for his eventual succession to the throne of Wessex. This is unlikely, his succession could not have foreseen at the time. A letter of Leo IV shows that Alfred was made a consul and it may also be based on Alfreds later having accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he spent some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, around 854–855. On their return from Rome in 856, Æthelwulf was deposed by his son Æthelbald, with civil war looming, the magnates of the realm met in council to hammer out a compromise. Æthelbald would retain the western shires, and Æthelwulf would rule in the east, when King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled by three of Alfreds brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred. Bishop Asser tells the story of how as a child Alfred won as a prize a book of Saxon poems, legend also has it that the young Alfred spent time in Ireland seeking healing. Alfred was troubled by health problems throughout his life and it is thought that he may have suffered from Crohns disease. Statues of Alfred in Winchester and Wantage portray him as a great warrior, evidence suggests he was not physically strong, and though not lacking in courage, he was noted more for his intellect than as a warlike character. During the short reigns of the two of his three elder brothers, Æthelbald of Wessex and Æthelberht of Wessex, Alfred is not mentioned. This arrangement may have been sanctioned by Alfreds father, or by the Witan, the arrangement of crowning a successor as royal prince and military commander is well known among other Germanic tribes, such as the Swedes and Franks, to whom the Anglo-Saxons were closely related. In 868, Alfred is recorded as fighting beside Æthelred in an attempt to keep the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless. At the end of 870, the Danes arrived in his homeland, the year which followed has been called Alfreds year of battles
3.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
Nationalism
–
Nationalism is a complex, multidimensional concept involving a shared communal identification with ones nation. It is contrasted by Anti-nationalism as a political ideology oriented towards gaining and maintaining self-governance, or full sovereignty, Nationalism therefore holds that a nation should govern itself, free from unwanted outside interference, and is linked to the concept of self-determination. Nationalism therefore seeks to preserve the nations culture and it often also involves a sense of pride in the nations achievements, and is closely linked to the concept of patriotism. In these terms, nationalism can be considered positive or negative, from a political or sociological outlook, there are three main paradigms for understanding the origins and basis of nationalism. The first, known as Primordialism or Perennialism, sees nationalism as a natural phenomenon and it holds that although the concept nationhood may be recent, nations have always existed. The third, and most dominant paradigm is Modernism, which sees nationalism as a recent phenomenon that needs the structural conditions of society in order to exist. There are various definitions for what constitutes a nation, however and this anomie results in a society or societies reinterpreting identity, retaining elements that are deemed acceptable and removing elements deemed unacceptable, in order to create a unified community. Nationalism means devotion for the nation and it is a sentiment that binds the people together. National symbols and flags, national anthems, national languages, national myths, Nationalism is a newer word, in English the term dates from 1844, although the concept is older. It became important in the 19th century, the term increasingly became negative in its connotations after 1914. Glenda Sluga notes that The twentieth century, a time of disillusionment with nationalism, was also the great age of globalism. Nationalism is the term used to characterize the modern sense of national political autonomy. For example, German nationalism emerged as a reaction against Napoleonic control of Germany as the Confederation of the Rhine around 1805–14, linda Colley in Britons, Forging the Nation 1707–1837 explores how the role of nationalism emerged about 1700 and developed in Britain reaching full form in the 1830s. The early emergence of a popular patriotic nationalism took place in the mid-18th century, National symbols, anthems, myths, flags and narratives were assiduously constructed by nationalists and widely adopted. The Union Jack was adopted in 1801 as the national one, Thomas Arne composed the patriotic song Rule, Britannia. in 1740, and the cartoonist John Arbuthnot invented the character of John Bull as the personification of the English national spirit in 1712. The political convulsions of the late 18th century associated with the American, the Prussian scholar Johann Gottfried Herder originated the term in 1772 in his Essay on the Origins of Language. Stressing the role of a common language, the political development of nationalism and the push for popular sovereignty culminated with the ethnic/national revolutions of Europe. During the 19th century nationalism became one of the most significant political and social forces in history, napoleons conquests of the German and Italian states around 1800–06 played a major role in stimulating nationalism and the demands for national unity
6.
English people
–
The English are a nation and an ethnic group native to England, who speak the English language. The English identity is of medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD, England is one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, they founded what was to become England along with the later Danes, Normans, in the Acts of Union 1707, the Kingdom of England was succeeded by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years, English customs and identity have become closely aligned with British customs. The English people are the source of the English language, the Westminster system and these and other English cultural characteristics have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the former British Empire. The concept of an English nation is far older than that of the British nation, many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others have developed dual or mixed identities. Use of the word English to describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their national identity. They found that while 58% of white people in England described their nationality as English and it is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. Following complaints about this, the 2011 census was changed to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, another complication in defining the English is a common tendency for the words English and British to be used interchangeably, especially overseas. In his study of English identity, Krishan Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say English, I mean British. He notes that this slip is made only by the English themselves and by foreigners. Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of Englands dominant position with the UK and it tells of the difficulty that most English people have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the British Isles. In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago and it meant indiscriminately England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so, bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as Prime Minister of England Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of England except for a geographic area brings protests and this version of history is now regarded by many historians as incorrect, on the basis of more recent genetic and archaeological research. The 2016 study authored by Stephan Schiffels et al, the remaining portion of English DNA is primarily French, introduced in a migration after the end of the Ice Age
7.
Culture of England
–
The culture of England is defined by the idiosyncratic cultural norms of England and the English people. Owing to Englands influential position within the United Kingdom it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate English culture from the culture of the United Kingdom as a whole, however, since Anglo-Saxon times, England has had its own unique culture, apart from Welsh, Scottish or Irish culture. English architecture begins with the architecture of the Anglo-Saxons, at least fifty surviving English churches are of Anglo-Saxon origin, although in some cases the Anglo-Saxon part is small and much-altered. All except one timber church are built of stone or brick, almost no secular work remains above ground. Following the Norman Conquest Romanesque architecture superseded Anglo-Saxon architecture, later there was a period of transition into English Gothic architecture, in early modern times there was an influence from Renaissance architecture until by the 18th century Gothic forms of architecture had been abandoned and various classical styles were adopted. During the Victorian period Neo-Gothic architecture was preferred for many types of buildings, other buildings such as cathedrals and parish churches are associated with a sense of traditional Englishness, as is often the palatial stately home. Many people are interested in the English country house and the lifestyle, evidenced by the number of visitors to properties managed by English Heritage. Landscape gardening as developed by Capability Brown set a trend for the English garden. Gardening, and visiting gardens, are regarded as typically English pursuits, providing a walkway out to sea, the seaside pier is regarded among the finest Victorian architecture, and is an iconic symbol of the British seaside holiday. By 1914, more than 100 piers were located around the UK coast, today there are approximately 55 seaside piers in the UK. English art was dominated by imported artists throughout much of the Renaissance and it is considered to be typified by landscape painting, such as the work of J. M. W. Portraitists like Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds are also significant, pictorial satirist William Hogarth pioneered Western sequential art, and political illustrations in this style are often referred to as Hogarthian. Following the work of Hogarth, political cartoons developed in England in the part of the 18th century under the direction of James Gillray. Since the early era, the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach, honesty of flavour. Traditional meals have ancient origins, such as bread and cheese, roasted and stewed meats, meat and game pies, the 14th-century English cookbook, the Forme of Cury, contains recipes for these, and dates from the royal court of Richard II. Modern English cuisine is difficult to differentiate from British cuisine as a whole, however, there are some forms of cuisine considered distinctively English. The full English breakfast is a variant of the traditional British fried breakfast, black pudding can be added as well as fried leftover mashed potatoes called potato cakes or hash browns. Tea and beer are typical and rather iconic drinks in England, traditionally, High Tea would be had as a separate meal, instead of afternoon tea which was only found in some classes of society
8.
History of England
–
England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of flint tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk has revealed. The earliest evidence for modern humans in North West Europe. Continuous human habitation in England dates to around 13,000 years ago, the region has numerous remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age, such as Stonehenge and Avebury. In the Iron Age, England, like all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, was inhabited by the Celtic people known as the Britons, including some Belgic tribes in the south east. In AD43 the Roman conquest of Britain began, the Romans maintained control of their province of Britannia until the early 5th century. The end of Roman rule in Britain facilitated the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, the Anglo-Saxons, a collection of various Germanic peoples, established several kingdoms that became the primary powers in present-day England and parts of southern Scotland. They introduced the Old English language, which displaced the previous British language. The Anglo-Saxons warred with British successor states in Wales, Cornwall, raids by Vikings became frequent after about AD800, and the Norsemen settled in large parts of what is now England. During this period, several attempted to unite the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In 1066, a Norman expedition invaded and conquered England, the Norman Dynasty established by William the Conqueror ruled England for over half a century before the period of succession crisis known as the Anarchy. Following the Anarchy, England came under the rule of the House of Plantagenet, a succession crisis in France led to the Hundred Years War, a series of conflicts involving the peoples of both nations. Following the Hundred Years Wars, England became embroiled in its own succession wars, the Wars of the Roses pitted two branches of the House of Plantagenet against one another, the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The Lancastrian Henry Tudor ended the War of the Roses and established the Tudor dynasty in 1485, under the Tudors and the later Stuart dynasty, England became a colonial power. The Stuarts returned to the throne in 1660, though continued questions over religion and power resulted in the deposition of another Stuart king, James II. England, which had conquered Wales in the 13th century, united with Scotland in 1707 to form a new state called Great Britain. Following the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain ruled a colonial Empire, however, as of 2017, its cultural impact remains widespread and deep in many of them. The time from Britains first inhabitation until the last glacial maximum is known as the Old Stone Age and this earliest evidence, from Happisburgh in Norfolk, includes the oldest human footprints found outside Africa and points to dates of more than 800,000 BP. These earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, who survived by hunting game, the last Ice Age ended around 10,000 BC, and England has been inhabited ever since
9.
English Democrats
–
The English Democrats is a fringe, right-wing to far-right English nationalist political party in England. The party proposes a devolved English Parliament, and has suggested that England should become an independent country and it presents itself as an English equivalent to the Scottish National Party, though the Scottish National Party is considered to be much further left than the English Democrats. The party has had limited electoral success, at the English local elections in June 2009, the partys candidate Peter Davies won the mayoral election for the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. However, he announced his resignation from the party on 5 February 2013, in December 2015 Winston McKenzie announced that he had joined the English Democrats, along with confirmation that he had been selected as a London Mayoral Candidate for the 2016 London Elections. His nomination was deemed invalid and he did not contest the mayoral election, in 1998, in response to calls for the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, Robin Tilbrook aimed at reforming the defunct English National Party, which had ceased operating in 1981. This project included members of the Campaign for an English Parliament, the party was relaunched as the English Democrats in September 2002, after merging with several other smaller political parties. In October 2004 the party merged with the Reform UK Party, the New England Party merged with the English Democrats in February 2007. The English Democrats were co-founders of the English Constitutional Convention, now defunct, in December 2004, it was rumoured that Robert Kilroy-Silk, the former UKIP MEP had entered into negotiation to join the English Democrats. In 2007, the columnist and TV medical doctor Vernon Coleman announced he had joined the English Democrats, the partys most significant electoral success came when Peter Davies, its candidate for Mayor of Doncaster, was elected. However, Davies announced his resignation from the party on 5 February 2013 citing a big influx of new members joining from the British National Party, the English Democrats lost their remaining councillors in the 2015 local elections. On 18 September 2015, Veritas merged into the English Democrats, the party claimed a total membership of 1,011 at the end of 2004, and 1,202 at the end of 2005. Cowd was an member of the English Democrats and a National Council member. He left the party in 2006, at the 2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election the English Democrat candidate received 277 votes, or 1. 4% of the votes cast. The partys slogan for the 2005 general election was The English Democrats – Putting England First, in total, the English Democrats fielded 25 candidates for the May 2005 general election, including Staffordshire South where the election was delayed until June due to the death of a candidate. The party withdrew its candidate in North Norfolk and endorsed the Conservative Party candidate, Iain Dale, bushells 1,216 votes beat the UKIP candidate, Stan Gain, who secured 709 votes, this was the partys best result for the election though still a fifth-place performance. In June 2005 Bushell also stood in Staffordshire South, where he received 643 votes coming fifth out of eight candidates, in 2011, Bushell announced that he would, in future, be supporting UKIP. The English Democrats fielded Joanne Robinson as their candidate in the by-election forced by the resignation of former shadow home secretary David Davis from the House of Commons, Joanne Robinson came third, with 1,714 votes,44 votes fewer than the Green candidate received in second place. Of the 26 candidates she was one of three to win back her deposit
10.
Devolution
–
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization, devolved territories have the power to make legislation relevant to the area. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority may be temporary and are reversible. Thus, the state de jure unitary. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by central government in the way as any statute. In federal systems, by contrast, sub-unit government is guaranteed in the constitution, the sub-units therefore have a lower degree of protection under devolution than under federalism. It has six states and two territories with power than states. The Northern Territory of Australia refused statehood in a 1998 referendum, the rejection was a surprise to both the Australian and Northern Territory governments. Territory legislation can be disallowed by the Commonwealth Parliament in Canberra, although Canada is a federal state, a large portion of its land mass in the north is under the legislative jurisdiction of the federal government. This has been the case since 1870, since the 1970s, the federal government has been transferring its decision-making powers to northern governments. This means greater local control and accountability by northerners for decisions central to the future of the territories, Yukon was carved from the Northwest Territories in 1898 but it remained a federal territory. Subsequently, in 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from the Northwest Territories, other portions of Ruperts Land were added to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, extending the provinces northward from their previous narrow band around the St. Lawrence and lower Great Lakes. The District of Ungava was an administrative district of Canadas Northwest Territories from 1895 to 1912. The continental areas of district were transferred by the Parliament of Canada with the adoption of the Quebec Boundary Extension Act,1898. The status of the interior of Labrador which was believed part of Ungava was settled in 1927 by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which ruled in favour of Newfoundland. In 1999, the government created Nunavut pursuant to a land claim agreement reached with Inuit. The offshore islands to the west and north of Quebec remained part of the Northwest Territories until the creation of Nunavut in 1999, since that time, the federal government has slowly devolved legislative jurisdiction to the territories. Enabling the territories to become more self-sufficient and prosperous and to play a role in the Canadian federation is considered a key component to development in Canada’s North
11.
Devolved English parliament
–
A devolved English parliament is an issue in the politics of the United Kingdom. Public opinion surveys have resulted in differing conclusions on public support for the establishment of a devolved English parliament. The future prospects of a devolved English Parliament have been raised in relation to the so-called West Lothian Question, before 1998, all political issues, even when only concerning parts of the United Kingdom, were decided by the British parliament at Westminster. The establishment of a devolved English parliament, giving separate decision-making powers to representatives for voters in England, has become an issue in British politics. The political parties which are campaigning for an English Parliament are the British National Party, the English Democrats, the Free England Party, since 1997, the Campaign for an English Parliament has been campaigning for a referendum on an English Parliament. Despite institutional opposition in Westminster to a Parliament for England, the CEP has had success in bringing the issue to peoples attention, particularly in political. Members of Parliament are elected simultaneously in general elections all over the United Kingdom, there are 533 English constituencies, which because of their large number, form an inbuilt majority in the House of Commons. Surveys of public opinion on the establishment of an English parliament have given widely varying conclusions, one 2007 poll carried out for BBC Newsnight, however, found that 61 per cent would support such a parliament being established. In January 2012 Simon Hughes, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, in July 2015, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Chuka Umunna, suggested that the Labour Party should support the creation of a separate English parliament as part of a federal United Kingdom. He also called for a structure to the Labour Party with the creation of a distinct English Labour Party. Several groups are working to raise this issue of a devolved English parliament, including the Campaign for an English Parliament, the English Democrats Party also supports the creation of an English parliament. Electoral support for English nationalist parties is low, however, even there is public support for many of the policies they espouse. The English Democrats gained just 64,826 votes in the 2010 UK general election, surveys of public opinion on the establishment of an English deliberative assembly have given widely varying conclusions. An earlier ICM poll of 869 English people in November 2006 produced a higher majority of 68 per cent backing the establishment of such a body. Polling data for English devolution, English votes for English laws, note, Responses with the majority of the vote are outlined in bold and are coloured in, those with at least 50% of the vote have more saturated colours. Devolution in the United Kingdom West Lothian question English nationalism English Democrats English independence Federalism in the United Kingdom Asymmetric federalism Kumar, negotiating English identity, Englishness, Britishness and the future of the United Kingdom. Justice Select Committee,12 May 2009 Ipsos MORI2006 Poll - Views on English Devolution - 41% support English Parliament Campaign for an English Parliament Toque blog
12.
English independence
–
English independence is a political stance advocating secession of England, the largest and most populous country of the British Isles, from the United Kingdom. The English national identity developed over a period of time. The Kingdom of England came into being in the 10th century, it spanned much of the southern two-thirds of Great Britain and a number of smaller outlying islands. The Norman conquest of Wales from 1067–1283 placed Wales under English control, and Wales came under English law with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, which disestablished the Principality of Wales. In 1603, the Union of the Crowns took place when the death of Elizabeth I resulted in James VI, King of Scots, acceding to the English throne, placing England and Scotland under personal union. In 1707, the Acts of Union were passed by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain, the measure was deeply unpopular in both Scotland and England. The Scottish signatories to the Act were forced to sign the documents in secrecy because of rioting and unrest in the Scottish capital. Scotland did however retain Scots law, a legal system distinct from that used in England, in 1800, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland both passed new Acts of Union, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is also claimed that England would be the 15th wealthiest nation in the world, compare this with $43,378 for Scotland, $30,546 for Walesand $31,698 for Northern Ireland, or $37,659 for the UK minus England. Political parties English Independence Party English Democrats People Leo McKinstry, nationalists elsewhere in the UK tend towards a social democratic political stance. Polling data for English devolution and independence may be found in the table below, a political party campaigning for English Independence was formed in February 2008, the Free England Party, it achieving some minor electoral success before disbanding in December 2009. The main contemporary political party advocating English independence is the English Democrats, an English Independence party was registered in 2016, its leader Neil Humphrey changed his name by deed-poll to Corbyn Anti to stand in the Batley and Spen by-election,2016. Devolved English parliament English Democrats Federalism in the United Kingdom Republicanism in the United Kingdom West Lothian question
13.
Bede
–
He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People gained him the title The Father of English History. Bedes monastery had access to a library which included works by Eusebius, Orosius. Almost everything that is known of Bedes life is contained in the last chapter of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, a minor source of information is the letter by his disciple Cuthbert which relates Bedes death. Bede, in the Historia, gives his birthplace as on the lands of this monastery, Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do. Bedes first abbot was Benedict Biscop, and the names Biscop, Bedes name reflects West Saxon Bīeda. It is an Anglo-Saxon short name formed on the root of bēodan to bid, the name also occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s. a. 501, as Bieda, one of the sons of the Saxon founder of Portsmouth, the Liber Vitae of Durham Cathedral names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Cuthbert, one of Bedes works, mention that Cuthberts own priest was named Bede, at the age of seven, Bede was sent to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith. Bede does not say whether it was intended at that point that he would be a monk. Monkwearmouths sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, in 686, plague broke out at Jarrow. The two managed to do the service of the liturgy until others could be trained. The young boy was almost certainly Bede, who would have been about 14, when Bede was about 17 years old, Adomnán, the abbot of Iona Abbey, visited Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. Bede would probably have met the abbot during this visit, in about 692, in Bedes nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by his diocesan bishop, John, who was bishop of Hexham. There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon, in Bedes thirtieth year, he became a priest, with the ordination again performed by Bishop John. In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, the De Arte Metrica and De Schematibus et Tropis and he continued to write for the rest of his life, eventually completing over 60 books, most of which have survived. Not all his output can be dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years. His last-surviving work is a letter to Ecgbert of York, a former student, Bede may also have worked on one of the Latin bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which is now held by the Laurentian Library in Florence
14.
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
–
It is believed to have been completed in 731 when Bede was approximately 59 years old. The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, or An Ecclesiastical History of the English People is Bedes best-known work, the first of the five books begins with some geographical background and then sketches the history of England, beginning with Caesars invasion in 55 BC. The second book begins with the death of Gregory the Great in 604, and follows the progress of Christianity in Kent. These encountered a setback when Penda, the king of Mercia. The setback was temporary, and the book recounts the growth of Christianity in Northumbria under kings Oswald. The climax of the book is the account of the Council of Whitby. The fourth book begins with the consecration of Theodore as Archbishop of Canterbury, the fifth book brings the story up to Bedes day, and includes an account of missionary work in Frisia, and of the conflict with the British church over the correct dating of Easter. Bede wrote a preface for the work, in which he dedicates it to Ceolwulf, the preface mentions that Ceolwulf received an earlier draft of the book, presumably Ceolwulf knew enough Latin to understand it, and he may even have been able to read it. Divided into five books, the Historia covers the history of England, ecclesiastical and political and this is impressive, nevertheless, the Historia, like other historical writing from this period has a lower degree of objectivity than modern historical writings. It seems to be a mixture of fact, legend and literature, the monastery at Jarrow had an excellent library. Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had acquired books from the Continent, for the period prior to Augustines arrival in 597, Bede drew on earlier writers, including Orosius, Eutropius, Pliny, and Solinus. He used Constantiuss Life of Germanus as a source for Germanuss visits to Britain, Bedes account of the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons is drawn largely from Gildass De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae. Bede would also have been familiar with more recent accounts such as Eddius Stephanuss Life of Wilfrid and he also drew on Josephuss Antiquities, and the works of Cassiodorus, and there was a copy of the Liber Pontificalis in Bedes monastery. Bede also had correspondents who supplied him with material, almost all of Bedes information regarding Augustine is taken from these letters, which includes the Libellus responsionum, as chapter 27 of book 1 is often known. Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, the historian Walter Goffart argues that Bede based the structure of the Historia on three works, using them as the framework around which the three main sections of the work were structured. For the early part of the work, up until the Gregorian mission, the second section, detailing the Gregorian mission of Augustine of Canterbury was framed on the anonymous Life of Gregory the Great written at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart asserts were modelled on Stephen of Ripons Life of Wilfrid, the History of the English Church and People has a clear polemical and didactic purpose. Bede sets out not just to tell the story of the English, in political terms he is a partisan of his native Northumbria, amplifying its role in English history over and above that of Mercia, its great southern rival
15.
Germanic peoples
–
The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail. It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, however, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language
16.
Angles
–
The Angles were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, and their name is the root of the name England, the name comes from the district of Angeln, an area located on the Baltic shore of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. The name of the Angles may have been first recorded in Latinised form, as Anglii and it is thought to derive from the name of the area they originally inhabited, Angeln in modern German, Angel in Danish. This name has been hypothesised to originate from the Germanic root for narrow, meaning the Narrow, i. e. the Schlei estuary, the root would be angh, tight. Another theory is that the name meant hook, as in angling for fish, Julius Pokorny, Gregory the Great in an epistle simplified the Latinised name Anglii to Angli, the latter form developing into the preferred form of the word. The country remained Anglia in Latin, the earliest recorded mention of the Angles may be in chapter 40 of Tacituss Germania written around AD98. Tacitus describes the Anglii as one of the more remote Suebic tribes compared to the Semnones and Langobardi and he grouped the Angles with several other tribes in that region, the Reudigni, Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini and Nuitones. These were all living behind ramparts of rivers and woods and therefore inaccessible to attack, the Eudoses are the Jutes, these names probably refer to localities in Jutland or on the Baltic coast. The majority of scholars believe that the Anglii lived on the coasts of the Baltic Sea and these Suevi Angili would have been in Lower Saxony or near it, but they are not coastal. The three Suebic peoples are separated from the coastal Chauci, and Saxones, by a series of tribes including, Ptolemy describes the coast to the east of the Saxons as inhabited by the Farodini, a name not known from any other sources. Owing to the uncertainty of this passage, there has been speculation regarding the original home of the Anglii. The ethnic names of Frisians and Warines are also attested in these Saxon districts, a second possible solution is that these Angles of Ptolemy are not those of Schleswig at all. According to Julius Pokorny the Angri- in Angrivarii, the -angr in Hardanger and the Angl- in Anglii all come from the root meaning bend. In other words, the similarity of the names is strictly coincidental, on the other hand, Gudmund Schütte, in his analysis of Ptolemy, believes that the Angles have simply been moved by an error coming from Ptolemys use of imperfect sources. Bede states that the Anglii, before coming to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus and Wigo, from whom the royal family of Wessex claimed descent. During the 5th century, the Anglii invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent except in the title of Suevi Angili. The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory I, as the story would later be told by the Anglo-Saxon monk and historian Bede, Gregory was struck by the unusual appearance of the slaves and asked about their background
17.
Saxons
–
The Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes first mentioned as living near the North Sea coast of what is now Germany, in the late Roman empire. They were soon mentioned as raiding and settling in many North Sea areas, as well as pushing south inland towards the Franks. Significant numbers settled in parts of Great Britain in the early Middle Ages. Many Saxons however remained in Germania, where they resisted the expanding Frankish Empire through the leadership of the semi-legendary Saxon hero, the Saxons earliest area of settlement is believed to have been Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein. This general area also included the probable homeland of the Angles, Saxons, along with the Angles and other continental Germanic tribes, participated in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain during and after the 5th century. The British-Celtic inhabitants of the isles tended to refer to all of these collectively as Saxons. It is unknown how many Saxons migrated from the Continent to Britain, the Saxons may have derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known. The seax has a symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon. The Elizabethan era play Edmund Ironside suggests the Saxon name derives from the Latin saxa, Their names discover what their natures are, More hard than stones, in the Celtic languages, the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones. The most prominent example, a loanword in English, is the Scottish Gaelic Sassenach and it derives from the Scottish Gaelic Sasunnach meaning, originally, Saxon, from the Latin Saxones. Scots- or Scottish English-speakers in the 21st century usually use it as a term for an English person. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English. Sasanach, the Irish word for an Englishman, has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people, Cornish terms the English Sawsnek, from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language, England in Scottish Gaelic is Sasainn. Other examples include the Welsh Saesneg, Irish Sasana, Breton saoz, and Cornish Sowson, Sowsnek, the label Saxons was also applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to southeastern Transylvania. From Transylvania, some Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia, as the name of the town, Sas-cut, sascut is located in the part of Moldavia that is today part of Romania. The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the term Saxony over the centuries to denote now the country of Germany
18.
Jutes
–
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people. According to Bede, the Jutes were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time in the Nordic Iron Age, the two being the Saxons and the Angles. The Jutes are believed to have originated from the Jutland Peninsula, in present times, the Jutlandic Peninsula consists of the mainland of Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany. North Frisia is also part of Germany, the Jutes invaded and settled in southern Britain in the late 4th century during the Age of Migrations, as part of a larger wave of Germanic settlement in the British Isles. Bede places the homeland of the Jutes on the side of the Angles relative to the Saxons. Tacitus portrays a people called the Eudoses living in the north of Jutland, the Jutes have also been identified with the Eotenas involved in the Frisian conflict with the Danes as described in the Finnesburg episode in the poem Beowulf. Others have interpreted the ēotenas as jotuns, meaning giants, or as a kenning for enemies, disagreeing with Bede, some historians identify the Jutes with the people called Eucii, who were evidently associated with the Saxons and dependents of the Franks in 536. The Eucii may have been identical to a tribe called the Euthiones. The Euthiones are mentioned in a poem by Venantius Fortunatus as being under the suzerainty of Chilperic I of the Franks. This identification would agree well with the location of the Jutes in Kent. Even if Jutes were present to the south of the Saxons in the Rhineland or near the Frisians, however, it is possible that the tribal names were confused in the above sources. In both Beowulf and Widsith, the Eotenas are clearly distinguished from the Geatas, there is also evidence that the Haestingas people who settled in the Hastings area of Sussex, in the 6th century, may also have been Jutish in origin. One recent scholar, Robin Bush, even argued that the Jutes of Hampshire, Bede clearly implies that this was so, in 686. However, Bushs theory has been the subject of debate amongst academics, including a counter-hypothesis, the culture of the Jutes of Kent shows more signs of Roman, Frankish, and Christian influence than that of the Angles or Saxons. The Quoit Brooch Style has been regarded as Jutish, from the 5th century
19.
Celtic Britons
–
They spoke the Common Brittonic language, the ancestor to the modern Brittonic languages. The earliest evidence for the Britons and their language in historical sources dates to the Iron Age, after the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, a Romano-British culture emerged, and Latin and British Vulgar Latin coexisted with Brittonic. During and after the Roman era, the Britons lived throughout Britain south of the Firth of Forth, with the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement in the 5th century, the culture and language of the Britons fragmented and much of their territory was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons. The extent to which cultural and linguistic change was accompanied by wholesale changes in the population is still a matter of discussion. During this period some Britons migrated to mainland Europe and established significant settlements in Brittany as well as Britonia in modern Galicia, Common Brittonic developed into the distinct Brittonic languages, Welsh, Cumbric, Cornish and Breton. Although none of his own writings remain, writers during the time of the Roman Empire made much reference to them, the group included Ireland, which was referred to as Ierne inhabited by the race of Hiberni, and Britain as insula Albionum, island of the Albions. The term Pritani may have reached Pytheas from the Gauls, who used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands. The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia, the Latin name in the early Roman Empire period was Britanni or Brittanni, following the Roman conquest in AD43. Brittonic languages is a recent coinage intended to refer to the ancient Britons specifically. In English, the term Briton originally denoted the ancient Britons and their descendants, most particularly the Welsh, who were seen as heirs to the ancient British people. After the Acts of Union 1707, the terms British and Briton came to be applied not just to the remaining Brittonic peoples themselves, the Britons spoke an Insular Celtic language known as Common Brittonic. Brittonic was spoken throughout the island of Britain, as well as islands such as the Isle of Man, Scilly Isles, Orkneys, Hebrides. Thus the area today is called Brittany, Common Brittonic developed from the Insular branch of the Proto-Celtic language that developed in the British Isles after arriving from the continent in the 7th century BC. The language eventually began to diverge, some linguists have grouped subsequent developments as Western and Southwestern Brittonic languages, Pictish is now generally accepted to descend from Common Brittonic, rather than being a separate Celtic language. Welsh and Breton survive today, Cumbric became extinct in the 12th century, Cornish had become extinct by the 19th century but has been the subject of language revitalization since the 20th century. Ideas about the development of British Iron Age culture changed greatly in the 20th century, by this time Celtic styles seem to have been in decline in continental Europe, even before Roman invasions. Throughout their existence, the inhabited by the Britons was composed of numerous ever-changing areas controlled by Brittonic tribes. Part of the Pictish territory was absorbed into the Gaelic kingdoms of Dál Riata and Alba
20.
Picts
–
The Picts were a tribal confederation of peoples who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval periods. They are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celtic, where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from the geographical distribution of brochs, Brittonic place name elements, and Pictish stones. Picts are attested to in records from before the Roman conquest of Britain to the 10th century. Picts are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii, Pictland, also called Pictavia by some sources, gradually merged with the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba. Alba then expanded, absorbing the Brittonic kingdom of Strathclyde and Northumbrian Lothian, Pictish society was typical of many Iron Age societies in northern Europe, having wide connections and parallels with neighbouring groups. Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts, what the Picts called themselves is unknown. The Latin word Picti first occurs in a written by Eumenius in AD297 and is taken to mean painted or tattooed people. Their Old English name gave the modern Scots form Pechts and the Welsh word Fichti and it is generally accepted that this is derived from *Qritani, which is the Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Britonnic/P-Celtic *Pritani. From this came Britanni, the Roman name for those now called the Britons and it has been suggested that Cruthin referred to all Britons not conquered by the Romans—those who lived outside Roman Britannia, north of Hadrians Wall. A Pictish confederation was formed in Late Antiquity from a number of tribes—how, some scholars have speculated that it was partly in response to the growth of the Roman Empire. Pictland had previously described by Roman writers and geographers as the home of the Caledonii. These Romans also used names to refer to tribes living in that area, including Verturiones, Taexali. But they may have heard these other names only second- or third-hand, from speakers of Brittonic or Gaulish languages, Pictish recorded history begins in the Dark Ages. It appears that Picts were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for that entire period, the Gaels of Dál Riata controlled what is present day Argyll for a time, although they suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century. The Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, one of which, the Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Bridei mac Beli, when, in 685, the Anglians suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dun Nechtain that halted their northward expansion. The Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder of the Pictish period, a later Pictish king, Caustantín mac Fergusa, placed his son Domnall on the throne of Dál Riata. Pictish attempts to achieve a dominance over the Britons of Alt Clut were not successful. The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in Scotland than elsewhere, in a major battle in 839, the Vikings killed the king of Fortriu, Eógan mac Óengusa, the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta, and many others
21.
The Battle of Maldon
–
The Battle of Maldon is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant, both the beginning and the ending are lost, the poem is told entirely from the perspective of the English, and names many individuals that Mitchell and Robinson believe were real Englishmen. The poem as we have it begins with the Anglo-Saxon warriors dismounting to prepare for battle, a Viking messenger offers the English ealdorman Byrhtnoth peace if he will consent to pay tribute. Byrhtnoth angrily refuses, telling the messenger that he fight the heathen Vikings in defense of his land. Not all the English are portrayed as heroic however, one, Godric the son of Odda, flees the battle with his brothers and, most improperly, the poem as it has come down to us ends with another Godric disappearing from view. This time, it is Godric, the son of Æthelgar, advancing into a body of Vikings, ofermōde, occurring in line 89, has caused much discussion. Literally high spirits or overconfidence, ofermōde is usually translated as pride, both Glenn and Alexander translate it as arrogance and Bradley as extravagant spirit. In 1731, the only manuscript of the poem was destroyed in the fire at Ashburnham House that also damaged and destroyed several other works in the Cotton library. The poem has come down to us thanks to the transcription of it made c,1724, which was published by Thomas Hearne in 1726. After being lost, the transcription was found in the Bodleian Library in the 1930s. Who made this original transcription is still unclear, some favouring John Elphinstone, according to some scholars, the poem must have been written close to the events that it depicts, given the historical concreteness and specificity of the events depicted in the poem. According to Irving, the events told with such clarity could only have been composed shortly after the events had taken place. While this may seem strange to an audience, who are used to “realistic fiction. Niles, in his essay “Maldon and Mythopoesis”, also argues for a composition date. He states that the three references to Æthelred the Unready necessitate an early composition date, before Æthelred had achieved his reputation for ineffectiveness. This argument hinges upon Byrhtnoth’s, and the poet’s, degree of knowledge of Aethelred’s ill reputation, if Byrhtnoth had known of Aethelred’s nature, would he have been willing to sacrifice himself for an undeserving king, effectively throwing away his own life and those of his men. Niles indicates that this not appear to be supportable through the actions. Apparently Byrhtnoth did not know of the nature, and most likely the poet himself did not know of the king’s nature either
22.
Anglo-Saxons
–
The Anglo-Saxons are a people who have inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their settlement and up until the Norman conquest. The early Anglo-Saxon period includes the creation of an English nation, with many of the aspects that survive today, including government of shires. During this period, Christianity was re-established and there was a flowering of literature, charters and law were also established. The term Anglo-Saxon is popularly used for the language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England, in scholarly use, it is more commonly called Old English. The history of the Anglo-Saxons is the history of a cultural identity and it developed from divergent groups in association with the peoples adoption of Christianity, and was integral to the establishment of various kingdoms. Threatened by extended Danish invasions and occupation of eastern England, this identity was re-established, the visible Anglo-Saxon culture can be seen in the material culture of buildings, dress styles, illuminated texts and grave goods. Behind the symbolic nature of these emblems, there are strong elements of tribal. The elite declared themselves as kings who developed burhs, and identified their roles and peoples in Biblical terms, above all, as Helena Hamerow has observed, local and extended kin groups remained. the essential unit of production throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Use of the term Anglo-Saxon assumes that the words Angles, Saxons or Anglo-Saxon have the meaning in all the sources. Assigning ethnic labels such as Anglo-Saxon is fraught with difficulties and this term began to be used only in the 8th century to distinguish the Germanic groups in Britain from those on the continent. The Old English ethnonym Angul-Seaxan comes from the Latin Angli-Saxones and became the name of the peoples Bede calls Anglorum, Anglo-Saxon is a term that was rarely used by Anglo-Saxons themselves, it is not an autonym. It is likely they identified as ængli, Seaxe or, more probably, also, the use of Anglo-Saxon disguises the extent to which people identified as Anglo-Scandinavian after the Viking age or the conquest of 1016, or as Anglo-Norman after the Norman conquest. The earliest historical references using this term are from outside Britain, referring to piratical Germanic raiders, Saxones who attacked the shores of Britain, procopius states that Britain was settled by three races, the Angiloi, Frisones, and Britons. The term Angli Saxones seems to have first been used in writing of the 8th century. The name therefore seemed to mean English Saxons, the Christian church seems to have used the word Angli, for example in the story of Pope Gregory I and his remark, Non Angli sed angeli. The terms ænglisc and Angelcynn were also used by West Saxon King Alfred to refer to the people, at other times he uses the term rex Anglorum, which presumably meant both Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Alfred the Great used Anglosaxonum Rex, the term Engla cyningc is used by Æthelred
23.
Vikings
–
The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
24.
Byrhtnoth
–
Byrhtnoth was Ealdorman of Essex who died 10 August 991 at the Battle of Maldon. His name is composed of the Old English beorht and noth and he is the subject of an ancient poem, and more recently a statue. His death, while leading the Anglo-Saxon forces against the Vikings in 991, is the subject of the famous Old English poem The Battle of Maldon. As presented there, his decision to allow the Vikings to move to a position was heroic but fatal. He was said to stand well over six feet in height, although it is believed that he fell early in the battle, some say that it took three men to kill him, one of them almost severing Byrhtnoths arm in the process. He had previously had several successes, presumably also against Viking raiders. Byrhtnoth was a patron of Ely Abbey, giving it many villages and he was buried there alongside Archbishop Wulfstan the homilist. The Liber Eliensis records that his widow gave the Abbey a tapestry or hanging celebrating his deeds, presumably in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry and this was given immediately after his death, so had probably been hanging in his home previously. After his burial, his remains, along six other Saxon benefactors of Ely Church have been moved and reburied three times. All the clerics were estimated to be over 6 feet tall, Byrhtnoth was married to Ælfflæd, sister of the dowager Queen Æthelflæd of Damerham, making Byrhtnoth a kinsman of King Edgar by marriage. Byrhtnoth may have had a daughter called Leofflæd, however she is not mentioned in any pre-Conquest source, recently, a statue created by John Doubleday has been placed at the end of the Maldon Promenade Walk, facing the battle site of Northey Island and the Causeway. The battle site itself has a National Trust plaque recording his heroic defeat, as well as the Anglo-Saxon poem, The Battle of Maldon, J. R. R. Tolkiens short play in verse, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelms Son takes place on the battlefield of Maldon and deals with Byrhtnoths death. Maldon Battle and Campaign, Report compiled by Glenn Foard,2003, for The UK Battlefields Resource Centre, Provided by The Battlefields Trust Byrhtnoth 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
25.
Earl of Essex
–
Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, the current holder of the earldom is Paul Capell, 11th Earl of Essex, a retired school teacher from Caton, Lancashire. The family seat was Cassiobury House, near Watford, Hertfordshire, the title was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex. Upon the death of the earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct. The Essex title passed to two of Fitz Peters sons before becoming extinct after the death of the second, William, the 3rd Earl of Essex. The third creation was for Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford in 1239, whose father Henry had married Maud, all three of the Earldoms of Hereford, Northampton and of Essex became extinct in 1373. Upon its extinction, the present creation was made in 1661, the Capell family descends from Sir Arthur Capell of Raines Hall in Essex and of Hadham in Hertfordshire. His grandson Arthur Capell represented Hertfordshire in both the Short and Long Parliaments, in 1641 he was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Capell of Hadham, in the County of Hertford. Capell later fought as a Royalist in the Civil War and he was tried and condemned to death by the Parliamentarians and beheaded in May 1649. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baron and these titles are also in the Peerage of England. Lord Essex later served as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and as First Lord of the Treasury, on his death the titles passed to his son, the second Earl. He was a lieutenant-general in the army and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and he was succeeded by his son, the third Earl. He served as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1739 to 1743 and was also Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, when he died the titles passed to his son, the fourth Earl. He also served as Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and he was succeeded by his eldest son from his first marriage, the fifth Earl. He sat in the House of Commons for many years and was Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire from 1801 to 1817, Lord Essex assumed the surname of Coningsby. In 1839, at the age of seventy-six, he married the vocalist and he was succeeded by his nephew, the sixth Earl. He was the son of the Hon. John Thomas Capell, on his death the titles passed to his grandson, the seventh Earl. He was the eldest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur de Vere Capell, Viscount Malden, the line of the sixth Earl failed on the death of the seventh Earls grandson, the ninth Earl, in 1981
26.
Nation state
–
A state is specifically a political and geopolitical entity, whilst a nation is a cultural and ethnic one. The term nation state implies that the two coincide, in that a state has chosen to adopt and endorse a specific cultural group as associated with it. The concept of a state can be compared and contrasted with that of the multinational state, city state, empire, confederation. The key distinction is the identification of a people with a polity in the nation state, the origins and early history of nation states are disputed. A major theoretical question is, Which came first, the nation or the nation state and it was with these intellectual discoveries and technological advances that the nation state arose. For others, the nation existed first, then nationalist movements arose for sovereignty, some modernization theories of nationalism see it as a product of government policies to unify and modernize an already existing state. Most theories see the state as a 19th-century European phenomenon, facilitated by developments such as state-mandated education, mass literacy. However, historians note the early emergence of a relatively unified state and identity in Portugal. In France, Eric Hobsbawm argues, the French state preceded the formation of the French people, Hobsbawm considers that the state made the French nation, not French nationalism, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, the time of the Dreyfus Affair. At the time of the 1789 French Revolution, only half of the French people spoke some French, during the Italian unification, the number of people speaking the Italian language was even lower. The French state promoted the unification of various dialects and languages into the French language, the introduction of conscription and the Third Republics 1880s laws on public instruction, facilitated the creation of a national identity, under this theory. Some nation states, such as Germany and Italy, came into existence at least partly as a result of campaigns by nationalists. In both cases, the territory was divided among other states, some of them very small. The sense of identity was at first a cultural movement, such as in the Völkisch movement in German-speaking states. In these cases, the nationalist sentiment and the nationalist movement clearly precede the unification of the German and Italian nation states, some authors deconstruct the distinction between ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism because of the ambiguity of the concepts. They argue that the case of Ernest Renan is an idealisation and it should be interpreted within the German tradition. For example, they argue that the used by Renan at the conference What is a nation. Are not consistent with his thinking and this alleged civic conception of the nation would be determined only by the case of the loss gives Alsace and Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War
27.
Norman conquest of England
–
Williams claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor, who may have encouraged Williams hopes for the throne. Edward died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, within days, William landed in southern England. Harold marched south to confront him, leaving a significant portion of his army in the north, Harolds army confronted Williams invaders on 14 October at the Battle of Hastings, Williams force defeated Harold, who was killed in the engagement. Although Williams main rivals were gone, he faced rebellions over the following years and was not secure on his throne until after 1072. The lands of the resisting English elite were confiscated, some of the elite fled into exile, to control his new kingdom, William granted lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints throughout the land. More gradual changes affected the classes and village life, the main change appears to have been the formal elimination of slavery. There was little alteration in the structure of government, as the new Norman administrators took over many of the forms of Anglo-Saxon government. In 911 the Carolingian French ruler Charles the Simple allowed a group of Vikings under their leader Rollo to settle in Normandy as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for the land, the Norsemen under Rollo were expected to provide protection along the coast against further Viking invaders and their settlement proved successful, and the Vikings in the region became known as the Northmen from which Normandy and Normans are derived. The Normans quickly adopted the culture, renouncing paganism and converting to Christianity. They adopted the langue doïl of their new home and added features from their own Norse language, in 1002 King Æthelred the Unready married Emma of Normandy, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their son Edward the Confessor, who spent many years in exile in Normandy, childless and embroiled in conflict with the formidable Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his sons, Edward may also have encouraged Duke William of Normandys ambitions for the English throne. When King Edward died at the beginning of 1066, the lack of a clear heir led to a succession in which several contenders laid claim to the throne of England. Edwards immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, Harold was immediately challenged by two powerful neighbouring rulers. William and Harald at once set about assembling troops and ships to invade England, in early 1066, Harolds exiled brother, Tostig Godwinson, raided southeastern England with a fleet he had recruited in Flanders, later joined by other ships from Orkney. Threatened by Harolds fleet, Tostig moved north and raided in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, but he was back to his ships by the brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia. Deserted by most of his followers, he withdrew to Scotland, King Harald Hardrada invaded northern England in early September, leading a fleet of more than 300 ships carrying perhaps 15,000 men. Haralds army was augmented by the forces of Tostig, who threw his support behind the Norwegian kings bid for the throne
28.
England in the Middle Ages
–
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the economy was in tatters, after several centuries of Germanic immigration, new identities and cultures began to emerge, developing into predatory kingdoms that competed for power. A rich artistic culture flourished under the Anglo-Saxons, producing epic poems such as Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity in the 7th century and a network of monasteries and convents were built across England. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 led to the defeat and replacement of the Anglo-Saxon elite with Norman and French nobles, William the Conqueror and his successors took over the existing state system, repressing local revolts and controlling the population through a network of castles. The new rulers introduced an approach to governing England, eradicating the practice of slavery. The position of women in society changed as laws regarding land, Englands population more than doubled during the 12th and 13th centuries, fuelling an expansion of the towns, cities and trade, helped by warmer temperatures across Northern Europe. A new wave of monasteries and friaries were established, while ecclesiastical reforms led to tensions between successive kings and archbishops, despite developments in Englands governance and legal system, infighting between the Anglo-Norman elite resulted in multiple civil wars and the loss of Normandy. Nearly 1,500 villages were deserted by their inhabitants and many men and women sought new opportunities in the towns, new technologies were introduced, and England produced some of the great medieval philosophers and natural scientists. English kings in the 14th and 15th centuries laid claim to the French throne, more social unrest broke out, followed by the Wars of the Roses, fought between rival factions in the English nobility. Henry VIIs victory in 1485 typically marks the end of the Middle Ages in England, at the start of the Middle Ages, England was a part of Britannia, a former province of the Roman Empire. The English economy had once dominated by imperial Roman spending on a large military establishment, which in turn helped to support a complex network of towns, roads. At the end of the 4th century, however, Roman forces had largely withdrawn. Germanic immigrants began to arrive in increasing numbers during the 5th century, initially peacefully, establishing small farms, in the 7th century, the kingdom of Mercia rose to prominence under the leadership of King Penda. Mercia invaded neighbouring lands until it loosely controlled around 50 regiones covering much of England, Mercia and the remaining kingdoms, led by their warrior elites, continued to compete for territory throughout the 8th century. Massive earthworks, such as the dyke built by Offa of Mercia, helped to defend key frontiers. Mercia and Northumbria fell in 875 and 876, and Alfred of Wessex was driven into exile in 878. Suppressing internal opposition to his rule, Alfred contained the invaders within a known as the Danelaw. The West Saxon rulers were now kings of the Angelcynn, that is of the whole English folk, with the death of Edgar, however, the royal succession became problematic
29.
Anglo-Norman language
–
Anglo-Norman, also known as Anglo-Norman French, is a variety of the Norman language that was used in England and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period. One of these was Old Norman, also known as Old Northern French, other followers spoke varieties of the Picard language or western French. It was spoken in the law courts, schools, and universities and, in due course, in at least some sections of the gentry and the growing bourgeoisie. Private and commercial correspondence was carried out in Anglo-Norman or Anglo-French from the 13th to the 15th century though its spelling forms were often displaced by continental spellings. Social classes other than the nobility became keen to learn French, manuscripts containing materials for instructing non-native speakers still exist, although Anglo-Norman and Anglo-French were eventually eclipsed by modern English, they had been used widely enough to influence English vocabulary permanently. Thus, many original Germanic words, cognates of which can still be found in Nordic, German, other such examples are heir apparent, court martial, and body politic. The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom still features in French the mottos of both the British Monarch, Dieu et mon droit and the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qui mal y pense. Dieu et mon droit was first used by Richard I in 1198, the motto appears below the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms. Anglo-Norman was never the administrative language of England, Latin was the major language of record in legal. There is evidence, too, that foreign words often entered English via Anglo-Norman, by the late 15th century, however, what remained of insular French had become heavily anglicised, see Law French. It continued to be known as Norman French until the end of the 19th century even though, philologically, among important writers of the Anglo-Norman cultural commonwealth is Marie de France. Much of the earliest recorded French is in fact Anglo-Norman French, Latin did not disappear in medieval England either, it was used by the Church, the royal government and much local administration, as it had been before 1066, in parallel with Middle English. The early adoption of Anglo-Norman as a written and literary language probably owes something to this history of bilingualism in writing, thus, typically, local records are rather different from continental French, with diplomatic and international trade documents closest to the emerging continental norm. English remained the vernacular of the people throughout this period. The resulting virtual trilinguism in spoken and written language was one of medieval Latin, diverse French varieties, from the conquest until the end of the 14th century, French was the language of the king and his court. During this period, marriages with French princesses reinforced the French status in the royal family, nevertheless, during the 13th century, intermarriages with English nobility became more frequent. French became progressively a second language among the upper classes, moreover, with the Hundred Years War and the growing spirit of English nationalism, the status of French diminished. French was the tongue of every English king from William the Conqueror until Henry IV
30.
William of Malmesbury
–
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede, indeed William may well have been the most learned man in twelfth-century Western Europe. William was born about 1095 or 1096 in Wiltshire and his father was Norman and his mother English. He spent his life in England and his adult life as a monk at Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. Though the education William received at Malmesbury Abbey included a smattering of logic and physics, moral philosophy, the evidence shows that Malmesbury had first-hand knowledge of at least four hundred works by two hundred-odd authors. Williams obvious respect for Bede is apparent even within the preface of his Gesta Regum Anglorum, in fulfilment of this idea, William completed in 1125 his Gesta Regum Anglorum, consciously patterned on Bede, which spanned from AD 449–1120. He later edited and expanded it up to the year 1127, releasing a dedicated to Robert. This second edition of the Gesta Regum, disclosing in his thoughts the mellowing of age, is now considered one of the great histories of England. His anxiety for money is the thing on which he can deservedly be blamed. I have here no excuse whatever to offer, unless it be, as one has said, that of necessity he must fear many, Williams first edition of the book was followed by the Gesta Pontificum Anglorum in 1125. He stayed at Glastonbury Abbey for a time, composing On the Antiquity of the Glastonbury Church for his friend, around this time, William formed an acquaintance with Bishop Roger of Salisbury, who had a castle at Malmesbury. It is possible that this acquaintance, coupled with the reception of his Gesta Regum earned him the offered position of Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey in 1140. William, however, preferred his duties as librarian and scholar and his one public appearance was made at the council of Winchester in 1141, in which the clergy declared for the Empress Matilda. This work breaks off in 1142, with a promise that it would be continued. Presumably William died before he could redeem his pledge, William also wrote a history of his abbey and several saints lives. William is considered by many, including John Milton, to be one of the best English historians of his time, a strong Latin stylist, he shows literary and historiographical instincts which are, for his time, remarkably sound. He is an authority of considerable value from 1066 onwards, many telling anecdotes and shrewd judgments on persons, some scholars criticise him for his atypical annalistic form, calling his chronology less than satisfactory and his arrangement of material careless. Much of Williams work on Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, is thought to derive from an account from Coleman
31.
Chronicler
–
A chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events and this is in contrast to a narrative or history, which sets selected events in a meaningful interpretive context and excludes those the author does not see as important. Some made use of materials, charters, letters, or the works of earlier chroniclers. Still others are tales of such unknown origins so as to hold mythical status, copyists also affected chronicles in creative copying, making corrections or in updating or continuing a chronicle with information not available to the original author. The reliability of a chronicle is an important determination for modern historians. In modern times various contemporary newspapers or other periodicals have adopted chronicle as part of their name, various fictional stories have also adopted chronicle as part of their title, to give an impression of epic proportion to their stories. A chronicle which traces world history is called a universal chronicle, scholars categorize the genre of chronicle into two subgroups, live chronicles, and dead chronicles. A dead chronicle is one where the author gathers his list of events up to the time of his writing, a live chronicle is where one or more authors add to a chronicle in a regular fashion, recording contemporary events shortly after they occur. Because of the immediacy of the information, historians tend to value live chronicles, such as annals, the earliest medieval chronicle to combine both retrospective and contemporary entries, is the Chronicle of Ireland, which spans the years 431 to 911. Chronicles are the predecessors of modern time lines rather than analytical histories, if the chronicles deal with events year by year, they are often called annals. Unlike the modern historian, most chroniclers tended to take their information as they found it, the point of view of most chroniclers is highly localised, to the extent that many anonymous chroniclers can be sited in individual abbeys. Later 16th century Scottish chronicles, written after the Reformation, shape history according to Catholic or Protestant viewpoints. It is impossible to say how many chronicles exist, as the many ambiguities in the definition of the make it impossible to draw clear distinctions of what should or should not be included. However, the Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle lists some 2,500 items written between 300 and 1500 AD
32.
Anglo-Normans
–
The Anglo-Normans were the medieval ruling class in England, composed mainly of a combination of ethnic Anglo-Saxons and Normans, following the Norman conquest. A small number of Normans had earlier befriended future Anglo-Saxon King of England, Edward the Confessor, when he returned to England some of them went with him, and so there were Normans already settled in England prior to the conquest. Following the death of Edward, the powerful Anglo-Saxon noble, Harold Godwinson, acceded to the English throne until his defeat by William, the invading Normans formed a ruling class in Britain, distinct from the native populations. Over time their language evolved from the continental Old Norman to the distinct Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Normans quickly established control over all of England, as well as parts of Wales. After 1130, parts of southern and eastern Scotland came under Anglo-Norman rule, the Norman conquest of Ireland in 1169 saw Anglo-Normans settle vast swaths of Ireland, becoming the Hiberno-Normans. The composite expression regno Norman-Anglorum for the Anglo-Norman kingdom that comprises Normandy, the English were Catholic and shared this religion with the Normans and they had already an influence in England, before the conquest. Furthermore, the relationships between the sailors from both sides of the English channel had maintained a common culture. The Normans were not a homogeneous group springing from Scandinavian stock, in terms of culture, they represented the Northern French civilisation, who mostly only spoke Langues doïl as languages. The Norman settlers felt no community with the earlier Danish settlers, however, in their own army, they did not even feel any sense of community with the Poitou, the Bretons, and other groups that had different dialects and traditions. The association between these different troops was only occasional and corresponds to a necessity for the Norman ruler. In fact, the Normans met with the steadiest resistance in a part of England that was the most influenced by the Danish, many of the English nobles lost lands and titles, the lesser thegns and others found themselves dispossessed of lands and titles. A number of free geburs had their rights and court access much decreased, becoming unfree villeins, at the same time, many of the new Anglo-Norman magnates were distributed lands by the King that had been taken from the English nobles. The Norman conquest of England brought the British Isles into the orbit of the European continent, especially what remained of Roman-influenced language and it transmitted itself in the emerging feudal world that took its place. The England that emerged from the Conquest was a different place. The Norman conquest of England also signalled a revolution in military styles, the old Anglo-Saxon military elite began to emigrate, especially the generation next younger to that defeated at Hastings, who had no particular future in a country controlled by the conquerors. William, encouraged them to leave, as a security measure, the first to leave went mostly to Denmark and many of these moved on to join the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. Although the Anglo-Saxons as a whole were not demilitarised, this would have been impractical, instead, William arranged for the Saxon infantry to be trained up by Norman cavalry in anti-cavalry tactics. The younger Norman aristocracy showed a tendency towards Anglicisation, adopting such Saxon styles as long hair and moustaches, (Note that the Anglo-Saxon cniht did not take the sense of the French chevalier before the latest period of Middle English
33.
Battle of Hastings
–
It took place approximately 7 miles northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory. The background to the battle was the death of the childless King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, Harold was crowned king shortly after Edwards death, but faced invasions by William, his own brother Tostig and the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada. Hardrada and Tostig defeated a hastily gathered army of Englishmen at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September 1066, the deaths of Tostig and Hardrada at Stamford Bridge left William as Harolds only serious opponent. While Harold and his forces were recovering, William landed his forces in the south of England at Pevensey on 28 September 1066. Harold was forced to march south swiftly, gathering forces as he went, the exact numbers present at the battle are unknown, modern estimates are around 10,000 for William and about 7,000 for Harold. Harold appears to have tried to surprise William, but scouts found his army and reported its arrival to William, the battle lasted from about 9 am to dusk. Early efforts of the invaders to break the English battle lines had little effect, therefore, Harolds death, probably near the end of the battle, led to the retreat and defeat of most of his army. After further marching and some skirmishes, William was crowned as king on Christmas Day 1066, there continued to be rebellions and resistance to Williams rule, but Hastings effectively marked the culmination of Williams conquest of England. Casualty figures are hard to come by, but some estimate that 2,000 invaders died along with about twice that number of Englishmen. William founded a monastery at the site of the battle, the altar of the abbey church supposedly placed at the spot where Harold died. In 911, French Carolingian ruler Charles the Simple allowed a group of Vikings to settle in Normandy under their leader Rollo and their settlement proved successful, and they quickly adapted to the indigenous culture, renouncing paganism, converting to Christianity, and intermarrying with the local population. Over time, the frontiers of the duchy expanded to the west, in 1002, King Æthelred II of England married Emma, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their son Edward the Confessor spent many years in exile in Normandy, Edward was childless and embroiled in conflict with the formidable Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his sons, and he may also have encouraged Duke William of Normandys ambitions for the English throne. Following King Edwards death on 5 January 1066, the lack of a clear heir led to a succession in which several contenders laid claim to the throne of England. Edwards immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, Harold was at once challenged by two powerful neighbouring rulers. Duke William claimed that he had promised the throne by King Edward. Harald III of Norway, commonly known as Harald Hardrada, also contested the succession, William and Harald Hardrada immediately set about assembling troops and ships for separate invasions. In early 1066, Harolds exiled brother Tostig Godwinson raided south-eastern England with a fleet he had recruited in Flanders, threatened by Harolds fleet, Tostig moved north and raided in East Anglia and Lincolnshire
34.
Earl
–
An earl /ɜːrl/ is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon in origin, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, in Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced by duke. In later medieval Britain, it became the equivalent of the continental count, however, earlier in Scandinavia, jarl could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty kingdoms of Norway had the title of jarl, alternative names for the rank equivalent to Earl/Count in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as the hakushaku of the post-restoration Japanese Imperial era. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess, a feminine form of earl never developed, instead, countess is used. The term earl has been compared to the name of the Heruli, proto-Norse eril, or the later Old Norse jarl, came to signify the rank of a leader. The Norman-derived equivalent count was not introduced following the Norman conquest of England though countess was and is used for the female title. In the other languages of Britain and Ireland, the term is translated as, Welsh iarll, Irish and Scottish Gaelic iarla, Scots yarl or yerl, Cornish yurl. An earl has the title Earl of when the title originates from a placename, in either case, he is referred to as Lord, and his wife as Lady. A countess who holds an earldom in her own right also uses Lady, younger sons are styled The Honourable, and daughters, The Lady. In the peerage of Scotland, when there are no courtesy titles involved, the heir to an earldom, and indeed any level of peerage, is styled Master of, and successive sons as younger of. In Anglo-Saxon England, earls had authority over their own regions and right of judgment in provincial courts and they collected fines and taxes and in return received a third penny, one-third of the money they collected. In wartime they led the kings armies, some shires were grouped together into larger units known as earldoms, headed by an ealdorman or earl. Under Edward the Confessor earldoms like Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, Earls originally functioned essentially as royal governors. Though the title of Earl was nominally equal to the duke, unlike them. After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror tried to rule England using the traditional system, shires became the largest secular subdivision in England and earldoms disappeared. The Normans did create new earls like those of Herefordshire, Shropshire and their power and regional jurisdiction was limited to that of the Norman counts. There was no longer any administrative layer larger than the shire, Earls no longer aided in tax collection or made decisions in country courts and their numbers were small
35.
Bishop
–
A bishop is an ordained, consecrated, or appointed member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within these churches, bishops are seen as those who possess the full priesthood, Some Protestant churches including the Lutheran and Methodist churches have bishops serving similar functions as well, though not always understood to be within apostolic succession in the same way. Priests, deacons and lay ministers cooperate and assist their bishop in shepherding a flock, the earliest organization of the Church in Jerusalem was, according to most scholars, similar to that of Jewish synagogues, but it had a council or college of ordained presbyters. In, we see a system of government in Jerusalem chaired by James the Just. In, the Apostle Paul ordains presbyters in churches in Anatolia, in Timothy and Titus in the New Testament a more clearly defined episcopate can be seen. We are told that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete to oversee the local church, Paul commands Titus to ordain presbyters/bishops and to exercise general oversight, telling him to rebuke with all authority. Early sources are unclear but various groups of Christian communities may have had the bishop surrounded by a group or college functioning as leaders of the local churches, eventually, as Christendom grew, bishops no longer directly served individual congregations. Instead, the Metropolitan bishop appointed priests to each congregation. Around the end of the 1st century, the organization became clearer in historical documents. While Ignatius of Antioch offers the earliest clear description of monarchial bishops he is an advocate of monepiscopal structure rather than describing an accepted reality. To the bishops and house churches to which he writes, he offers strategies on how to pressure house churches who dont recognize the bishop into compliance. Other contemporary Christian writers do not describe monarchial bishops, either continuing to equate them with the presbyters or speaking of episkopoi in a city, plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 6,1. Your godly bishop — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 2,1, therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father, either by Himself or by the Apostles, so neither do ye anything without the bishop and the presbyters. — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 7,1. Be obedient to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father, and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the Father, — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 13,2. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church, — Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallesians 3,1. Follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles, and to the deacons pay respect, as to Gods commandment — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 8,1. He that honoureth the bishop is honoured of God, he that doeth aught without the knowledge of the bishop rendereth service to the devil — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9,1
36.
Abbot
–
Abbot, meaning father, is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as a title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The word is derived from the Aramaic av meaning father or abba, in the Septuagint, it was written as abbas. At first it was employed as a title for any monk. The title abbot came into general use in western monastic orders whose members include priests. An abbot is the head and chief governor of a community of monks, the English version for a female monastic head is abbess. In Egypt, the first home of monasticism, the jurisdiction of the abbot, or archimandrite, was, sometimes he ruled over only one community, sometimes over several, each of which had its own abbot as well. Saint John Cassian speaks of an abbot of the Thebaid who had 500 monks under him, by the Rule of St Benedict, which, until the Cluniac reforms, was the norm in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over only one community. Monks, as a rule, were laymen, nor at the outset was the abbot any exception, for the reception of the sacraments, and for other religious offices, the abbot and his monks were commanded to attend the nearest church. This rule proved inconvenient when a monastery was situated in a desert or at a distance from a city, the change spread more slowly in the West, where the office of abbot was commonly filled by laymen till the end of the 7th century. The ecclesiastical leadership exercised by abbots despite their frequent lay status is proved by their attendance, thus at the first Council of Constantinople, AD448,23 archimandrites or abbots sign, with 30 bishops. The second Council of Nicaea, AD787, recognized the right of abbots to ordain their monks to the inferior orders below the diaconate, abbots used to be subject to episcopal jurisdiction, and continued generally so, in fact, in the West till the 11th century. The Code of Justinian expressly subordinates the abbot to episcopal oversight, in the 12th century, the abbots of Fulda claimed precedence of the archbishop of Cologne. It has been maintained that the right to wear mitres was sometimes granted by the popes to abbots before the 11th century, but the documents on which this claim is based are not genuine. The first undoubted instance is the bull by which Alexander II in 1063 granted the use of the mitre to Egelsinus, abbot of the monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury. Of these the precedence was yielded to the abbot of Glastonbury, until in AD1154 Adrian IV granted it to the abbot of St Albans, next after the abbot of St Albans ranked the abbot of Westminster and then Ramsey. Of course, they always and everywhere had the power of admitting their own monks, the power of the abbot was paternal but absolute, limited, however, by the canon law. One of the goals of monasticism was the purgation of self and selfishness
37.
Edward I of England
–
Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. He spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law, through an extensive legal inquiry, Edward investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, while the law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law. Increasingly, however, Edwards attention was drawn towards military affairs, the first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his fathers reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he sided with a baronial reform movement. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained throughout the subsequent armed conflict. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land, the crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster on 19 August, after suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, Edward subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns in the countryside, next, his efforts were directed towards Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom. In the war followed, the Scots persevered, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. At the same there were problems at home. In the mid-1290s, extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and these crises were initially averted, but issues remained unsettled. When the King died in 1307, he left to his son, Edward II, Edward I was a tall man for his era, hence the nickname Longshanks. He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. The Edict remained in effect for the rest of the Middle Ages, Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Among his childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henrys brother Richard of Cornwall, Henry of Almain would remain a close companion of the prince, both through the civil war that followed, and later during the crusade. Edward was in the care of Hugh Giffard – father of the future Chancellor Godfrey Giffard – until Bartholomew Pecche took over at Giffards death in 1246, there were concerns about Edwards health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246,1247, and 1251
38.
Peine forte et dure
–
Many defendants charged with capital offences would refuse to plead in order to avoid forfeiture of property. If the defendant pleaded guilty or not guilty and was executed, their heirs would inherit nothing. If they refused to plead their heirs would inherit their estate, the common law courts originally took a very limited view of their own jurisdiction. They considered themselves to lack jurisdiction over a defendant until he had submitted to it by entering a plea seeking judgment from the court. Obviously, a justice system that could punish only those who had volunteered for possible punishment was unworkable. Alternatively, individuals were tried under the law of the sea as observed by Bracton. By the reign of Elizabeth I it took the form of pressing the accused with weights, pressing to death might take several days, and not necessarily with a continued increase in the load. This done, he has a great Weight of Iron and Stone laid upon him, but, in case of High Treason, the Criminals Estate is forfeited to the Sovereign, as in all capital Crimes, notwithstanding his being pressed to Death. Peine forte et dure was abolished in the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1772, with the last known actual use of the practice having been in 1741. From 1772 refusing to plead was deemed to be equivalent to pleading guilty and she died within fifteen minutes under a weight of at least 700 pounds. Several hardened criminals, including William Spiggot and Edward Burnworth, lasted an hour under 400 pounds before pleading to the indictment. Others, such as Major Strangways and John Weekes, refused to plead, even under 400 pounds, in America, Giles Corey was pressed to death on 19 September 1692, during the Salem witch trials, after he refused to enter a plea in the judicial proceeding. According to legend, his last words as he was being crushed were More weight and this is referred to in Arthur Millers political drama The Crucible, where Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to plead aye or nay to the charge of witchcraft. In the film version of play, the screenplay of which was also by Miller. Asphyxia Crush syndrome Crushing McKenzie, Andrea and this Death Some Strong and Stout Hearted Man Doth Choose, The Practice of Peine Forte et Dure in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England. Law and History Review, Summer 2005, Vol.23, forfeiture in England and Colonial America The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, Reference Number, t16760823-6
39.
Pleading in English Act 1362
–
The Pleading in English Act 1362, often rendered Statute of Pleading, was an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act complained that because the Norman French language was unknown in England, the people had no knowledge of what was being said for or against them in the courts. Following the Norman conquest, the language of the latest conquerors was used – Anglo-Norman was used for pleadings, the fourteenth century saw a decline in Law French, hence the Pleading in English Act, which marked the beginning of modern Legal English. The statute was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, some 50 years later English became the language of official government in the form of Chancery Standard, during the reign of Henry V. Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts,1539, French legislation mandating use of French in law, in place of Latin Sachsenspiegel,1220, first legal document written in German rather than Latin Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730 Legal English Law French
40.
Norwich
–
Norwich is a city on the River Wensum in East Anglia and lies about 100 miles north-east of London. It is the administrative centre for East Anglia and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London and it remained the capital of the most populous English county until the Industrial Revolution. The urban area of Norwich had a population of 213,166 according to the 2011 Census, the parliamentary seats cross over into adjacent local-government districts. A total of 132,512 people live in the City of Norwich, Norwich is the fourth most densely populated local-government district in the East of England, with 3,480 people per square kilometre. In May 2012, Norwich was designated Englands first UNESCO City of Literature, the capital of the Iceni tribe was a settlement located near to the village of Caistor St. Edmund on the River Tas approximately 8 kilometres to the south of modern-day Norwich. Following an uprising led by Boudica around AD60 the Caistor area became the Roman capital of East Anglia named Venta Icenorum, literally the market place of the Iceni. According to a rhyme, the demise of Venta Icenorum led to the development of Norwich, Caistor was a city when Norwich was none. There are two suggested models of development for Norwich, the ancient city was a thriving centre for trade and commerce in East Anglia in 1004 AD when it was raided and burnt by Swein Forkbeard the Viking king of Denmark. Mercian coins and shards of pottery from the Rhineland dating from the 8th century suggest that trade was happening long before this. Between 924 and 939, Norwich became fully established as a town, the word Norvic appears on coins across Europe minted during this period, in the reign of King Athelstan. The Vikings were a cultural influence in Norwich for 40–50 years at the end of the 9th century. At the time of the Norman Conquest the city was one of the largest in England, the Domesday Book states that it had approximately 25 churches and a population of between 5, 000–10,000. It also records the site of an Anglo-Saxon church in Tombland, the site of the Saxon market place and the later Norman cathedral. Norwich continued to be a centre for trade, the River Wensum being a convenient export route to the River Yare and Great Yarmouth. Quern stones and other artefacts from Scandinavia and the Rhineland have been found during excavations in Norwich city centre and these date from the 11th century onwards. Norwich Castle was founded soon after the Norman Conquest, the Domesday Book records that 98 Saxon homes were demolished to make way for the castle. In 1096, Herbert de Losinga, Bishop of Thetford, began construction of Norwich Cathedral, the chief building material for the Cathedral was limestone, imported from Caen in Normandy
41.
King's Lynn
–
Kings Lynn /ˌkɪŋz ˈlɪn/, known until 1537 as Bishops Lynn, is a seaport and market town in Norfolk, England,97 miles north of London and 44 miles west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800, the town has two theatres, museums and other cultural and sporting venues. There are three schools and one college. The service sector, information and communication technologies and creative industries, provide employment for the population of Kings Lynn, the etymology of Kings Lynn is uncertain. As the Domesday Book mentions many saltings at Lena, an area of partitioned pools or small lakes may have existed here at that time, the salt may even have contributed to Herbert de Losingas interest in this modest parish. In the Domesday Book, it is known as Lun, and Lenn, and is described as the property of the Bishop of Elmham, the town is and has been for generations generally known by its inhabitants and local people simply as Lynn. The city of Lynn, Massachusetts, just north of Boston, was named in 1637 in honour of its first official minister of religion, Samuel Whiting, Lynn originated as a settlement on a constricted site to the south of where the River Great Ouse exits to the Wash. Development began in the early 10th century, but the place was not recorded until the early–11th century, until the early–13th century, the Great Ouse emptied via the Wellstream at Wisbech. After the redirection of the Great Ouse in the 13th century, Lynn and its port became significant, in 1101, Bishop Herbert de Losinga of Thetford began to construct the first mediaeval town between two rivers, the Purfleet to the north and Mill Fleet to the south. He commissioned St Margarets Church and authorised a market, in the same year, the bishop granted the people of Lynn the right to hold a market on Saturday. Trade built up along the waterways that stretched inland and the town expanded between the two rivers, during the 14th century, Lynn ranked as Englands most important port. It was considered as vital to England during the Middle Ages as Liverpool was during the Industrial Revolution, Sea trade with Europe was dominated by the Hanseatic League of ports, the transatlantic trade and the rise of Englands western ports did not begin until the 17th century. The Trinity Guildhall was rebuilt in 1421 after a fire and it is possible that the Guildhall of St George is the largest and oldest in England. Walls entered by the South Gate and East Gate were erected to protect the town, the town retains two former Hanseatic League warehouses, Hanse House built in 1475 and Marriotts Warehouse, in use between the 15th and 17th centuries. They are the remaining buildings from the Hanseatic League in England. In the first decade of the 16th century, Thoresby College was built by Thomas Thoresby to house priests of the Guild of The Holy Trinity in Lynn, the guild had been incorporated in 1453 on the petition of its alderman, chaplain, four brethren and four sisters. The guildsmen were licensed to found a chantry of chaplains to celebrate at the altar of Holy Trinity in Wisbech, in 1524 Lynn acquired a mayor and corporation. In 1537 the king control of the town from the bishop
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}