Papal legate
A papal legate or apostolic legate is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters; the legate is appointed directly by the pope. Hence a legate is sent to a government, a sovereign or to a large body of believers or to take charge of a major religious effort, such as an council, a crusade to the Holy Land, or against a heresy such as the Cathars; the term legation is applied both to the territory concerned. The relevant adjective is legatine. In the High Middle Ages, papal legates were used to strengthen the links between Rome and the many parts of Christendom. More than not, legates were learned men and skilled diplomats who were not from the country they were accredited to; the Italian-born Guala Bicchieri served as papal legate to England in the early 13th century and played a major role in both the English government and church at the time. By the Late Middle Ages it had become more common to appoint native clerics to the position of legate within their own country, such as Cardinal Wolsey acting as legate to the court of Henry VIII of England.
The reason for this switch in policy could be attributed to a change in attitude on the eve of The Reformation. Papal legates summoned legatine councils, which dealt with church government and other ecclesiastical issues. According to Pope Gregory VII, writing in the Dictatus papae, a papal legate "presides over all bishops in a council if he is inferior in rank, he can pronounce sentence of deposition against them". During the Middle Ages, a legatine council was the usual means that a papal legate imposed his directives. There are several ranks of papal legates in diplomacy; the most common form of papal legate today is the apostolic nuncio, whose task it is to strengthen relations between the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church in a particular country and at the same time to act as the diplomatic representative of the Holy See to the government of that country. An apostolic nuncio is equivalent in rank to that of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, although in Catholic countries the nuncio ranks above ambassadors in diplomatic protocol.
A nuncio has the same diplomatic privileges. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which the Holy See is a party, a nuncio is an ambassador like those from any other country; the Vienna Convention allows the host state to grant seniority of precedence to the nuncio over others of ambassadorial rank accredited to the same country, may grant the deanship of that country's diplomatic corps to the nuncio regardless of seniority. Pro-nuncio was a term used from 1965 to 1991 for a papal diplomatic representative of full ambassadorial rank accredited to a country that did not accord him precedence over other ambassadors and ex officio deanship of the diplomatic corps. In those countries, the papal representative's precedence within the corps is on a par with that of the other members of ambassadorial rank, so that he becomes dean only on becoming the senior member of the corps. For countries with which the Holy See has no diplomatic relations, an apostolic delegate is sent to serve as a liaison with the Catholic Church in that country, though not accredited to its government.
This highest rank is awarded to a priest of cardinal rank. It can either be focused or broad in scope; the legate a latere is the alter ego of the Pope, as such, possesses full plenipotentiary powers. "born legate", i.e. not nominated individually but ex officio, namely a bishop holding this rank as a privilege of his see, e.g. archbishops of Canterbury, Esztergom, Salzburg and Cologne. The legatus natus would act as the pope's representative in his province, with a legatus a latere only being sent in extraordinary circumstances. Although limited in their jurisdiction compared to legati a latere, a legatus natus were not subordinate to them. "sent legate", possessing limited powers for the purpose of completing a specific mission. This commission is focused in scope and of short duration; some administrative provinces of the Papal states in Italy were governed by a Papal Legate. This has been the case in Pontecorvo and in Viterbo. In four cases, including Bologna, this post was awarded to Cardinals.
The title could be changed to Apostolic Delegate, as happened in Frosinone in 1827. Papal diplomacyNuncio – an envoy whose diplomatic status is recognized by the receiving state – a titular archbishop. Internuncio – a lower rank than Nuncio for a papal diplomatic representative, a title used at a time when states sent to some less important countries diplomatic representatives, called Envoys or Ministers, lower in rank than Ambassadors. Papal apocrisiarius List of papal legates to EnglandOtherPontifical legate Catholic Encyclopedia: Legate WorldStatesmen - Italy to 1860 - Papal State Maseri, Pellegrino. De Legatis et Nunciis Apostolicis Iudiciis Ecclesiasticis Civilibus
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire, it has a population of about 47,180. Perth has been known as The Fair City since the publication of the story Fair Maid of Perth by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott in 1828. During the medieval period the city was called St John's Toun or Saint Johnstoun by its inhabitants in reference to the main church dedicated to St John the Baptist; this name is preserved by the city's football teams, St Johnstone F. C. There has been a settlement at Perth since prehistoric times, on a natural mound raised above the flood plain of the Tay, where the river could be crossed at low tide; the area surrounding the modern city is known to have been occupied since Mesolithic hunter-gatherers arrived more than 8,000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles exist, dating from about 4000 BC, following the introduction of farming in the area.
The presence of Scone Abbey, home of the Stone of Scone where the King of Scots was crowned, enhanced the early importance of the city. Perth became known as a ` capital' of Scotland. Royal Burgh status was soon given to the city by King William the Lion in the early 12th century; the city became one of the richest burghs in the country, doing trade with France, the Low Countries and Baltic Countries for goods such as Spanish silk and French wine. The Scottish Reformation played a big role in the city with the sacking of the Houses of the Greyfriars and Blackfriars, after a sermon given by John Knox in St John's Kirk in 1559; the Act of Settlement brought about Jacobite uprisings. The city was occupied by Jacobite supporters on three occasions; the founding of Perth Academy in 1760 helped to bring major industries, such as linen, leather and whisky, to the city. Given its location, Perth was placed to become a key transport centre with the coming of the railways, its first station was built in 1848.
Today, Perth serves as a retail centre for the surrounding area. Following the decline of the whisky industry locally, the city's economy has now diversified to include insurance and banking. Due to its location, the city is referred to as the "Gateway to the Highlands". Perth in Australia and Perth in Canada are both named after Perth in Scotland. Perth is twinned with Aschaffenburg in the German state of Bavaria; the name Perth derives from a Pictish word for copse. During much of the medieval period it was known colloquially by its Scots-speaking inhabitants as "St John's Toun" or "Saint Johnstoun" because the church at the centre of the parish was dedicated to St John the Baptist. Perth was referred to as "St Johns ton" up until the mid-1600s with the name "Perthia" being reserved for the wider area. At this time, "Perthia" became. Perth's Pictish name, some archaeological evidence, indicate that there must have been a settlement here from earlier times at a point where a river crossing or crossings coincided with a raised natural mound on the west bank of the Tay, thus giving some protection for settlement from the frequent flooding.
Finds in and around Perth show that it was occupied by the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who arrived in the area more than 8,000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles followed the introduction of farming from about 4000 BC, a remarkably well preserved Bronze age log boat dated to around 1000 BC was found in the mudflats of the River Tay at Carpow to the east of Perth; the presence of Scone two miles northeast, the main royal centre of the Kingdom of Alba from at least the reign of Kenneth I mac Ailpín the site of the major Augustinian abbey of the same name founded by Alexander I, enhanced Perth's early importance. Perth was considered the effective'capital' of Scotland, due to the frequent residence of the royal court. Royal Burgh status was soon awarded to the city from King William the Lion in the early 12th century. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Perth was one of the richest trading burghs in the kingdom, residence of numerous craftsmen, organised into guilds. Perth carried out an extensive trade with France, The Low Countries and the Baltic Countries with luxury goods being brought back in return, such as Spanish silk and French pottery and wine.
The royal castle, was destroyed by a flood of the Tay in 1209, one of many that have afflicted Perth over the centuries. It was never rebuilt and Perth was protected at this time only by partial walls and an inventive water system consisting of a Mill lade from the River Almond which divided and flowed to the North on one side and the West and South on the other joining the Tay. King Edward I brought his armies to Perth in 1296 and with only a ditch for defence and little fortification, the city fell quickly. Stronger fortifications were implemented by the English, plans to wall the city took shape in 1304, they remained standing until Robert the Bruce's recapture of Perth in 1312. As part of a plan to make Perth a permanent English base within Scotland, Edward III forced six monasteries in Perthshire and Fife to pay for the construction of stone defensive walls and fortified gates around the city in 1336; these defences were the strongest of any city in Scotland in
Northumberland
Northumberland is a county in North East England. The northernmost county of England, it borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south and the Scottish Borders to the north. To the east is the North Sea coastline with a 64 miles path; the county town is Alnwick. The county of Northumberland included Newcastle upon Tyne until 1400, when the city became a county of itself. Northumberland expanded in the Tudor period, annexing Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1482, Tynedale in 1495, Tynemouth in 1536, Redesdale around 1542 and Hexhamshire in 1572. Islandshire and Norhamshire were incorporated into Northumberland in 1844. Tynemouth and other settlements in North Tyneside were transferred to Tyne and Wear in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Lying on the Anglo-Scottish border, Northumberland has been the site of a number of battles; the county is noted for its undeveloped landscape of high moorland, now protected as the Northumberland National Park. Northumberland is the least densely populated county in England, with only 62 people per square kilometre.
Northumberland meant'the land of the people living north of the River Humber'. The present county is the core of that former land, has long been a frontier zone between England and Scotland. During Roman occupation of Britain, most of the present county lay north of Hadrian's Wall, it was controlled by Rome only for the brief period of its extension of power north to the Antonine Wall. The Roman road Dere Street crosses the county from Corbridge over high moorland west of the Cheviot Hills into present Scotland to Trimontium; as evidence of its border position through medieval times, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including those at Alnwick, Dunstanburgh and Warkworth. Northumberland has a rich prehistory with many instances of rock art, hillforts such as Yeavering Bell, stone circles such as the Goatstones and Duddo Five Stones. Most of the area was occupied by the Brythonic-Celtic Votadini people, with another large tribe, the Brigantes, to the south; the region of present-day Northumberland formed the core of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, which united with Deira to form the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century.
The historical boundaries of Northumbria under King Edwin stretched from the Humber in the south to the Forth in the north. After the battle of Nechtansmere its influence north of the Tweed began to decline as the Picts reclaimed the land invaded by the Saxon kingdom. In 1018 its northern part, the region between the Tweed and the Forth, was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland. Northumberland is called the "cradle of Christianity" in England, because Christianity flourished on Lindisfarne—a tidal island north of Bamburgh called Holy Island—after King Oswald of Northumbria invited monks from Iona to come to convert the English. A monastery at Lindisfarne was the centre of production of the Lindisfarne Gospels, it became the home of St Cuthbert, buried in Durham Cathedral. Bamburgh is the historic capital of Northumberland, the royal castle from before the unification of the Kingdoms of England under the monarchs of the House of Wessex in the 10th century; the Earldom of Northumberland was held by the Scottish royal family by marriage between 1139–1157 and 1215–1217.
Scotland relinquished all claims to the region as part of the Treaty of York. The Earls of Northumberland once wielded significant power in English affairs because, as powerful and militaristic Marcher Lords, they had the task of protecting England from Scottish retaliation for English invasions. Northumberland has a history of revolt and rebellion against the government, as seen in the Rising of the North against Elizabeth I of England; these revolts were led by the Earls of Northumberland, the Percy family. Shakespeare makes one of the Percys, the dashing Harry Hotspur, the hero of his Henry IV, Part 1; the Percys were aided in conflict by other powerful Northern families, such as the Nevilles and the Patchetts. The latter were stripped of all power and titles after the English Civil War of 1642–1651. After the Restoration of 1660, the county was a centre for Roman Catholicism in England, as well as a focus of Jacobite support. Northumberland was long a wild county, where Border Reivers hid from the law.
However, the frequent cross-border skirmishes and accompanying local lawlessness subsided after the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England under King James I and VI in 1603. Northumberland played a key role in the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century on. Many coal mines operated in Northumberland until the widespread closures in the 1980s. Collieries operated at Ashington, Blyth, Netherton and Pegswood; the region's coalfields fuelled industrial expansion in other areas of Britain, the need to transport the coal from the collieries to the Tyne led to the development of the first railways. Shipbuilding and armaments manufacture were other important industries before the deindustrialisation of the 1980s. Northumberland remains rural, is the least-densely populated county in England. In recent years the county has had considerable growth in tourism. Visitors are attracted both to its historical sites. Northumberland has a diverse physical geography, it is low and flat near the North Sea coast and mountainous toward the northwest.
The Cheviot
John Hill Burton
John Hill Burton FRSE was a Scottish advocate and economist. The author of Life and Correspondence of David Hume, he was secretary of the Scottish Prison Board, Historiographer Royal. Burton was born in Aberdeen on 22 August 1809, the son of Elizabeth, daughter of John Paton of Grandholm and William Kinninmont Burton, a lieutenant in the army, he was educated at Aberdeen Grammar Marischal College. After graduating, he moved to Edinburgh and studied for the Bar, being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1831. In 1832/3 the address of "J. H. Burton advocate" was given as 12 Fettes Row, in Edinburgh's New Town. However, he had little practice, in 1854 was appointed Secretary to the Prison Board of Scotland, in 1877 a Commissioner of Prisons, he became at an early period of his life a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine and other periodicals, in 1846 published a life of David Hume, which attracted considerable attention, was followed by Lives of Lord Lovat and Lord President Forbes. He began his career as a historian by the publication in 1853 of History of Scotland from the Revolution to the Extinction of the last Jacobite Insurrection, to which he added History of Scotland from Agricola's Invasion to the Revolution, in 7 vols.
Thus completing a continuous narrative. Subsequently, he published a History of the Reign of Queen Anne. Other works of a lighter kind were The Book-Hunter, The Scot Abroad. Burton's historical works display much research and a spirit of candour and honesty, have picturesque and spirited passages, but the style is unequal, lacks dignity, he was one of the first historians to introduce the principles of historical research into the study and writing of the history of Scotland. Burton died at his home, Morton House on the southern edge of Edinburgh, he is buried in Dalmeny churchyard with his infant daughter Rose, to the north-east of the church, the stone cross being obscured by a large yew tree on its south side which screens it from the centre of the churchyard. The monument to his first wife and their joint children is in Dean Cemetery and this bears a fine portrait head of Burton in high relief sculpted by William Brodie. In 1901 it was publicly revealed that he supplied all the commentaries to the 240 architectural illustrations by Robert William Billings in The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, a work published in four volumes between 1845 and 1852, which contained 240 illustrations, with explanatory text.
The work was a great success and has been reprinted several times, in 1899, 1900, 1901, 1908, 1909, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017. On 23 July 1844, at Edinburgh, John Hill Burton married Isabella, daughter of David Lauder, a Captain in the Perthshire Militia, by his wife Janet Patrick. Isabella died in 1850, aged 40, their daughter, Matilda Lauder "Mattie" Burton married Dr William Lennox Cleland on 21 June 1877. He was a noted surgeon in South Australia and for many years served as Director of Adelaide's Parkside Lunatic Asylum, as Colonial Surgeon. Burton married again, in 1855, daughter of Cosmo Innes, the antiquarian, she was an author in her own right. They had nine children in total. Another of their children, Mary Rose Hill Burton, was a notable artist. A further son, Cosmo Innes Burton was a short-lived but noteworthy chemist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; the Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh edited by A S Cowper, Euan S McIver, Edinburgh, 1992, ISBN 0-901061-54-9 Cousin, John William.
"Burton, John Hill". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: John William. A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource. Masson, David. "John Hill Burton". Edinburgh Sketches and Memories. London: Adam and Charles Black. Pp. 372–383. Burton, The Book-Hunter. A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author Garnett, Richard. "Burton, John Hill". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 4. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 863–864. Works by John Hill Burton at Project Gutenberg Works by or about John Hill Burton at Internet Archive Lives of Simon Lord Lovat, Duncan Forbes, of Culloden John Hill Burton, 1847, Narratives from criminal trials in Scotland, Vol. 2 John Hill Burton, 1852
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England, it suffered many invasions by the English, but under Robert I it fought a successful War of Independence and remained an independent state throughout the late Middle Ages. In 1603, James VI of Scotland became King of England, joining Scotland with England in a personal union. In 1707, the two kingdoms were united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain under the terms of the Acts of Union. Following the annexation of the Northern Isles from the Kingdom of Norway in 1472 and final capture of the Royal Burgh of Berwick by the Kingdom of England in 1482, the territory of the Kingdom of Scotland corresponded to that of modern-day Scotland, bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest.
The Crown was the most important element of government. The Scottish monarchy in the Middle Ages was a itinerant institution, before Edinburgh developed as a capital city in the second half of the 15th century; the Crown remained at the centre of political life and in the 16th century emerged as a major centre of display and artistic patronage, until it was dissolved with the Union of Crowns in 1603. The Scottish Crown adopted the conventional offices of western European monarchical states of the time and developed a Privy Council and great offices of state. Parliament emerged as a major legal institution, gaining an oversight of taxation and policy, but was never as central to the national life. In the early period, the kings of the Scots depended on the great lords—the mormaers and toísechs—but from the reign of David I, sheriffdoms were introduced, which allowed more direct control and limited the power of the major lordships. In the 17th century, the creation of Justices of Peace and Commissioners of Supply helped to increase the effectiveness of local government.
The continued existence of courts baron and the introduction of kirk sessions helped consolidate the power of local lairds. Scots law was reformed and codified in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under James IV the legal functions of the council were rationalised, with Court of Session meeting daily in Edinburgh. In 1532, the College of Justice was founded, leading to the training and professionalisation of lawyers. David I is the first Scottish king known to have produced his own coinage. At the union of the Crowns in 1603 the Pound Scots was fixed at only one-twelfth the value of the English pound; the Bank of Scotland issued pound notes from 1704. Scottish currency was abolished by the Act of Union, however to the present day, Scotland retains unique banknotes. Geographically, Scotland is divided between the Lowlands; the Highlands had a short growing season, further shortened during the Little Ice Age. From Scotland's foundation to the inception of the Black Death, the population had grown to a million.
It expanded in the first half of the 16th century, reaching 1.2 million by the 1690s. Significant languages in the medieval kingdom included Gaelic, Old English and French. Christianity was introduced into Scotland from the 6th century. In the Norman period the Scottish church underwent a series of changes that led to new monastic orders and organisation. During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation that created a predominately Calvinist national kirk. There were a series of religious controversies that resulted in persecutions; the Scottish Crown developed naval forces at various points in its history, but relied on privateers and fought a guerre de course. Land forces centred around the large common army, but adopted European innovations from the 16th century. From the 5th century AD, north Britain was divided into a series of petty kingdoms. Of these, the four most important were those of the Picts in the north-east, the Scots of Dál Riata in the west, the Britons of Strathclyde in the south-west and the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia in the south-east, stretching into modern northern England.
In AD 793, ferocious Viking raids began on monasteries such as those at Iona and Lindisfarne, creating fear and confusion across the kingdoms of north Britain. Orkney and the Western Isles fell to the Norsemen; these threats may have speeded up a long-term process of gaelicisation of the Pictish kingdoms, which adopted Gaelic language and customs. There was a merger of the Gaelic and Pictish kingdoms, although historians debate whether it was a Pictish takeover of Dál Riata, or the other way round; this culminated in the rise of Cínaed mac Ailpín as "king of the Picts" in the 840s, which brought to power the House of Alpin. When he died as king of the combined kingdom in 900 one of his successors, Domnall II, was the first man to be called rí Alban; the term Scotia would be used to describe the heartland of these kings, north of the River Forth, the entire area controlled by its kings would be referred to as Scotland. The long reign of Donald's successor Causantín is regarded as the key to formation of the Kingdom of Alba/Scotland, he was la
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 927, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united by Æthelstan. In 1016, the kingdom became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England and Norway; the Norman conquest of England in 1066 led to the transfer of the English capital city and chief royal residence from the Anglo-Saxon one at Winchester to Westminster, the City of London established itself as England's largest and principal commercial centre. Histories of the kingdom of England from the Norman conquest of 1066 conventionally distinguish periods named after successive ruling dynasties: Norman 1066–1154, Plantagenet 1154–1485, Tudor 1485–1603 and Stuart 1603–1714. Dynastically, all English monarchs after 1066 claim descent from the Normans; the completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown.
Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. From the 1340s the kings of England laid claim to the crown of France, but after the Hundred Years' War and the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in 1455, the English were no longer in any position to pursue their French claims and lost all their land on the continent, except for Calais. After the turmoils of the Wars of the Roses, the Tudor dynasty ruled during the English Renaissance and again extended English monarchical power beyond England proper, achieving the full union of England and the Principality of Wales in 1542. Henry VIII oversaw the English Reformation, his daughter Elizabeth I the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, meanwhile establishing England as a great power and laying the foundations of the British Empire by claiming possessions in the New World. From the accession of James VI and I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland.
Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into civil war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament; this concept became established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its successor state the United Kingdom, functioned in effect as a constitutional monarchy. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain; the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning "land of the English", by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the purported homeland of the Angles; the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglorum terra, the Old French and Anglo-Norman one Angleterre.
By the 14th century, England was used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for monarchs from Æthelstan until John was Rex Anglorum. Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first to call himself "King of England". In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with occasional use of Rex Anglie. From John's reign onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Regina Anglie. In 1604 James I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, adopted the title King of Great Britain; the English and Scottish parliaments, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the gradual unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy: East Anglia, Northumbria, Essex and Wessex; the Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, native Anglo-Saxon life in general. The English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE.
During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, a high king over the other kings. The decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful, it absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825. The kings of Wessex became dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore making Egbert the first king to reign over a united England. In 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he regarded as a turning point in his reign; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that "all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred." Asser added that "Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly... and made it habitable once more." Alfred's "restoration"
England
England is a country, part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to Scotland to the north-northwest; the Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south; the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century, since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world; the English language, the Anglican Church, English law – the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world – developed in England, the country's parliamentary system of government has been adopted by other nations.
The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's terrain is chiefly low hills and plains in central and southern England. However, there is upland and mountainous terrain in the west; the capital is London, which has the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. England's population of over 55 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom concentrated around London, the South East, conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East, Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century; the Kingdom of England – which after 1535 included Wales – ceased being a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland 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 and Northern Ireland. 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 Anglia peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea; the earliest recorded use of the term, as "Engla londe", is in the late-ninth-century translation into Old English of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The term was used in a different sense to the modern one, meaning "the land inhabited by the English", it included English people in what is now south-east Scotland but was part of the English kingdom of Northumbria; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that the Domesday Book of 1086 covered the whole of England, meaning the English kingdom, but a few years the Chronicle stated that King Malcolm III went "out of Scotlande into Lothian in Englaland", thus using it in the more ancient sense.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its modern spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, in which the Latin word Anglii is used; the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars. How and why a term derived from the name of a tribe, less significant than others, such as the Saxons, came to be used for the entire country and its people is not known, but it seems this is related to the custom of calling the Germanic people in Britain Angli Saxones or English Saxons to distinguish them from continental Saxons of Old Saxony between the Weser and Eider rivers in Northern Germany. In Scottish Gaelic, another language which developed on the island of Great Britain, the Saxon tribe gave their name to the word for England. An alternative name for England is Albion; the name Albion referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus the 4th-century BC De Mundo: "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules is the ocean that flows round the earth.
In it are two large islands called Britannia. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, i.e. it was written in the Graeco-Roman period or afterwards. The word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins, it either derives from a cognate of the Latin albus meaning white, a reference to the white cliffs of Dover or from the phrase the "island of the Albiones" in the now lost Massaliote Periplus, attested through Avienus' Ora Maritima to which the former served as a source. Albion is now applied to England in a more poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England and made popular by its use in Arthurian legend; the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximate
_i.JPG)
