British invasions and their influence

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The influence of foreign invasions on early

British culture

We know that british history is a history of invasions , and we can also make a formula for the nation : original Britons + Angles +Saxons +Jutes +Danes +Normans =British .Due to the complicated nationalities ,invasions did have a deep influence on its culture ,such as

art ,religion,language,race,education and so on .

The beginning of settlement in British took place in about 700BC. The early settlers were certain Celtic-speaking tribes called Britons .The Britons were a primitive people ,a bronze-age people entering upon an age of iron .Britain was made up of many tribal kingdoms of celtic people—a powerful culture originating in central Europe .

Then in 43 AD,Britain was invaded by the Roman Empire ,Englang and Wales became part of it for nearly 400 years. With the Roman conquest, the Roman mode of life and civilization came across to Britain also.Though it was never a totoloccupation ,in did have an effect on the race.. Among this years ,many roads were built to connect every cty, and Britain came to become one of its provinces. Besides,Hadrian’s Wall was built to prevent the escape of the celtic .Although it is ruined now ,lengths of it can still be seen and walk along.What’s more ,they slaved the

celtic ,treating them as goods ,as subjects of slave class. As for the language ,Roman speak latin,at that time ,latin is superior to Celtic ,more formal .The most inportant thing is the new

religion---Cristainity which influenced the nation mostly .

As the Romam Empire was under the threat of the east ,they withdrew from Britain . But

unfortunately ,Britain was later controled by Gemanic people :the Anglo-Saxons.This time came a legend hero—King Arthur ,with his magical sword and 12 knights ,he drove back the

invaders.And this story has been embellished by singers,poets,noverlists and even filmmakes ever since.His”Round Table” is also popular even today.Whatever Arthur’s success legend or not ,it turly didn’t last long,for the Anglo—Saxons did invaded,and they were the forefathers of it .

From the late 8th century on ,raiders from Scandinavia ,the ferocious Danish Vikings controled it part by part .The great hero of that time was King Alfred the Great who turned the tide in the south agaist the Vikings.It is to him of the preservation of older Anglo-Saxon literature.

Equally important is the fact that he started the Anglo—Saxon Chronicle ,a historical register of national events from dim past to his own age .There remains to this day a certain cultural divide between northerners and southerners in England “Saxon” and “Dane” .

At that time ,many early writings were concerned with Christianity. Anglo—Saxons produced beautifully illustrated versions of the Bible. And most important masterpiece—Beowulf ,a long poem came out form this time .

Although the king defeated the Danes ,they came again and occupied it in 1013,and then held it for about 30 years .They came to make permanent settlement and ruthlessly destoryed many of the monasteries It is of the Gemanticheritage,perhaps the greatest Gemanticepic,and contains evidently pre-Christian elements..

The next invaders were the Normans ,form northern France ,who were the descendents of the Vikings. The France—sheakingNormans ,under the leadership of William the Conquest came in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings ,William was crowned as the King of England ,and

这只是英国历史的一个缩影,希望写出来与大家共勉

then built the Tower of London ,a castle standing still today in the center of London.They brought their new social organization,new laws and new speech to England.

The Normans did not settle England to any great extent :rather they imported a ruling class.they established the feudal systermtheret.The Conqueror ,by the very struture of

feudalism ,centralized its society to his own person.This kind of ruling produced another kind of heroic legends such as “Robin Hood”,an outlaw with his band “merry men”,robbing the rich and then giving it to the poor .This kind of figure gave a lot of inspirations to both writers and

filmmakes.Oherwise ,following this king of systerm about a few hundreds years ,the various part of British came to join togather under English rule. And all this accelerated the intergration of British people ,making it possible to become the world power later.

The conqueror also influenced the language greatly. During the 2 centuries control French literature expanded.Endlish only remained in oral and informal ,used by illiterate and poor people.In the course of time ,the two king of language were bound to merge and became a new language.The basic part of the language remained Old English :the interllectual,artistic,and theological came mostly from French. English literature inevitably felt the influence of the Norman French .