Britainancient and early medieval

Until late in the Mesolithic period, Britain formed part of the continental landmass and was easily accessible to migrating hunters. The cutting of the land bridge, c. 6000–5000 bc, had important effects: migration became more difficult and remained for long impossible to large numbers. Thus Britain developed insular characteristics, absorbing and adapting rather than fully...

In western Europe and the British Isles, burial cairns and barrows date primarily from the Neolithic Period and Early Bronze Age (4000 bc–ad 600). The burial chambers in Britain, unlike those of similar structures in the Mediterranean region, were seldom excavated in the soil beneath the barrow but were enclosed within the structure itself. (See barrow.)

...rather than ancestral descent. Such an explanation fits better with a picture of slow internal development within European society. The new ideology did not prevail everywhere, however, and in Britain, for instance, the 3rd millennium saw the construction of massive ceremonial monuments such as Avebury and Stonehenge, before the introduction of individual burial rites at the end of the...

In Britain the sequence is even more complicated and shows both a strong indigenous tradition and clear local influences from western Europe. The greatest complication is the disappearance of formal burials in this area in the Late Bronze Age; they did not reappear before the last century bc and then only in a few regions, such as Yorkshire. The...

...were not wholly occupied in a savage struggle for mere existence against aggressive tribes migrating across Europe (e.g., Avars, Slavs, and Saxons). The most isolated places, such as the province of Britain, responded strongly to this opportunity and at the same time were able to conserve important elements of Roman civilization. Ireland, which was never under occupation by the legions, offered...

The earliest coinage of Britain consisted of small, cast pieces of speculum, a brittle bronze alloy with 20 percent tin. These coins copied the bronze of Massilia (Marseille) of the 2nd century bc and circulated, mainly in southeastern Britain, early in the 1st century bc; their relationship with contemporary iron currency bars is uncertain. At the same time, uninscribed gold coins of the...

That British folk football did not become appreciably more civilized with the arrival of the Renaissance is suggested by Sir Thomas Elyot’s condemnation in The Governour (1537). He lamented the games “beastely fury, and extreme violence.” Even James I, who defended the legitimacy of traditional English pastimes when they were condemned by the Puritans,...

...other Germans in a vigorous westward push. The Balkans suffered a third period of terrible raids from the eastern Germans; and Jutes, Angles, and Saxons from the Jutland Peninsula crossed over to Britain. The Franks and the Alemanni finally established themselves on the far side of the Rhine, the Burgundians extended along the Rhône valley, and the Visigoths took possession of nearly...

...it was not only the rough language of the legions that penetrated but also, it seems, the fine subtleties of Virgilian verse and Ciceronian prose. Research in the late 20th century suggests that in Britain, for instance, Romanization was more widespread and more profound than hitherto suspected and that well-to-do Britons in the colonized region were thoroughly imbued with Roman values. How far...

By 1000 bc iron was beginning to be known in central Europe. Its use spread slowly westward; iron making was fairly widespread in Great Britain at the time of the Roman invasion in 55 bc. In Asia iron was also known in ancient times, in China by about 700 bc.

...was a similar delay in the spread of farming. In western France, domesticated animals were added to hunting and gathering in a predominantly stock-based economy, and pottery was also adopted. In Britain and Ireland, forest clearance as early as 4700 bc may represent the beginnings of agriculture, but there is little evidence for settlements or monuments before 4000 bc, and...

...Claudius himself displayed much interest in the empire overseas; he enlarged it significantly, incorporating client kingdoms (Mauretania in 42; Lycia, 43; Thrace, 46) and, more important, annexing Britain. Conquest of Britain began in 43, Claudius himself participating in the campaign; the southeast was soon overrun, a colonia established at Camulodunum...

...later replaced by stone and earthen walls. The Alemanni broke through the limes about 260, and the Roman frontier was withdrawn to the Rhine and Danube once more. The limites in Great Britain were Hadrian’s Wall, built of stone between the Rivers Tyne and Solway and, farther north, the turf wall of Antoninus Pius between the Rivers Forth and Clyde.

...a road system that spanned the south shore of the Mediterranean. In Gaul they developed a system centred on Lyon, whence main roads extended to the Rhine, Bordeaux, and the English Channel. In Britain the purely strategic roads following the conquest were supplemented by a network radiating from London. In Spain, on the contrary, the topography of the country dictated a system of main...

Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain from ad 77 to 84, was the first Roman general to operate extensively in Scotland. He defeated the native population at Mons Graupius, possibly in Banffshire, probably in ad 84. In the following year he was recalled, and his policy of containing the hostile tribes within the Highland zone, which he had marked by building a legionary...

From about 61 to 52 million years ago (early in the Tertiary) there were important igneous extrusions and intrusions in northwestern Britain. In Northern Ireland and northwestern Scotland, basaltic lava flows (e.g., the Giant’s Causeway and the northern part of the isle of Skye) are associated with northwest–southeast-trending basaltic dikes and many plutonic complexes, which are...

Meaningful study of prehistoric Wales has to be pursued against the broader background of British prehistory, for the material remains of the period 3500–1000 bc, especially funerary monuments, provide regional manifestations of features characteristic of Britain as a whole. The Celtic origins of Britain, probably to be sought in a gradual process within the last millennium bc, are a...

During the first half of the 1st century bc, Belgae from the Marne district had crossed to Britain and had formed the kingdom that in 55 bc was ruled by Cassivellaunus (q.v.). After further Gallic victories (54–51 bc) by Caesar, other settlers took refuge across the Channel, and Belgic culture spread to most of lowland Britain. The three most important Belgic kingdoms,...

in ancient Britain, a tribe that occupied the territory of present-day Norfolk and Suffolk and, under its queen Boudicca (Boadicea), revolted against Roman rule.

The most disparate picture is offered by the church in the British Isles. The church there was concentrated around heavily populated monasteries, and discipline outside them was maintained by means of a new penitential practice. In place of ancient canons about public penance, the clergy and monks used libri poenitentiales (“penitential books”), which contained detailed...

The Church of England, mother church of the Anglican Communion, has a long history. Christianity probably began to be practiced in England not later than the early 3rd century. By the 4th century the church was established well enough to send three British bishops—of Londinium (London), Eboracum (York), and Lindum (Lincoln)—to the Council of Arles (in present-day France) in 314. In...

The hostelries of Roman England were derived from the cauponae and the tabernae of Rome itself. These were followed by alehouses, which were run by women (alewives) and marked by a broom stuck out above the door. The English inns of the Middle Ages were sanctuaries of wayfaring strangers, cutthroats,...

Roman general celebrated for his conquests in Britain. His life is set forth by his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus.

...These peoples were exterminated by Caesar in 55. In the same year he bridged the Rhine just below Koblenz to raid Germany on the other side of the river, and then crossed the Channel to raid Britain. In 54 he raided Britain again and subdued a serious revolt in northeastern Gaul. In 53 he subdued further revolts in Gaul and bridged the Rhine again for a second raid.

...bands of peasants who found the tribute oppressive. Then, with peace scarcely restored after a campaign against the Germans, Maximian had to battle Carausius, who, having fought for the empire in Britain against the Frankish and Saxon pirates, revolted and named himself emperor in Britain in 287. Carausius reigned in Britain for nearly 10 years until Constantius I Chlorus succeeded in...

Claudius’ decision to invade Britain (43) and his personal appearance at the climax of the expedition, the crossing of the Thames and the capture of Camulodunum (Colchester), were prompted by his need of popularity and glory. But concern with the anti-Roman influence of the Druid priesthood, which he tried to suppress in Gaul, and a general inclination toward expanding the frontiers were other...

The Emperor’s travels show the man better than anything else and are marked by some of his most memorable achievements. In northern Britain he initiated the construction of the tremendous frontier wall that bears his name from Wallsend-on-Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway. At Lambaesis, in Algeria, his rigorous inspection of the troops and his severe standards of discipline can be seen in a long...