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These people called Britons arrived in England in 5000 b.C. and they were a Celtic-speaking population. Britons are famous for a circle of big stones called "Stonehenge".
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The Celts were Indo-European tribes from Europe and Asia minor. Their name came from Greek, and it means "barbarians". They were divided into clans and ruled by a leader, who had to be a strong warrior. Celts were very good fisherman,hunters, warriors and farmers. They used the runic alphabet.
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This language belongs to the west germans and it was written with the runic alphabet, because it was used in all Europe by German and Scandinavia tribes.
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Romans arrived in England because they wanted the precious metal of the Celts, but they accept to pay taxes. After some year, few Celts like queen Boudicca, didn't want to pay anymore taxes, so they attac Romans.
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Romans had to come back home, so a new population arrived in Britain, and they were: Agles, Saxon and Jutes; they come from northern Germany, Jutland and Scandinavia. The Angles called the largest part of Britain "England" which means land of Angles. This tribes dived the counrty in 7 kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia, Kent, Essex, Saxes and Wessex. They also had an hierarchical organization.
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In 800 a population from Scandinavia, called vikings, attac the Anglo-Saxon. They were very good sailors, traders, fisherman and farmers. After fought againist king Alfred, they were settled in the north and the midlands, this area was called Danlaw. A century and half later Canute became the king of all England.
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Beowulf is the oldest surviving poem written in Anglo-Saxon more than 1200 years ago and the autor is unkown.
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The Normans were Vikings who settled in the north coast of France and they introduced: France language, feudal system and the Domesdoy book. In this period the relations between state and church were very difficult. In 1215 Jonh I granted the Magna Carta, a document that said tha king couldn't claim taxes without the approval of the council.
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Middle English is easier than old English, but is essentialy phonetic and its spelling was more complicated than middle English. It is a dialect used by common people during the Norman conquest and this language was used by Chaucer, one of the most important representation of the literature of this period.
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The first form of drama was originated in the 12th century and took place inside the church. The language used was English and in 1210 Pope Innocent III prohibited these performances in the church. So they started to be called plays anche took place in the streets.
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This was was between France and Britain, began in 1337, in 1453 the English army was defeated and there was the bubonic plague.
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This war was between the house of York and the house of Lancaster. It was called War of Roses becauseof the white and red roses that figured in the two families coats of arms. It finished with the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
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The French term “Renaissance” means rebirth, in fact it was the rebirth of classical literature after the fall of roman empire. The English Renaissance developed later than the others, with northern humanism. -
The Tudor Dynasty started when Henry VII won the war of roses and married the beginning of the Tudor. This period Washington characterized by peace and prosperity thanks to a reorganization of the state administration.
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Henry VIII was the ideal of Reinassence and with him there is the start of the Golden Age.
In this period the is the protestant movement with Martin Luther, at first Henry defended the Pope against him, in face he published “in defunse of the 7 sacraments” that gave him the title of “defender of the faith”. But after Pope Clement VII refuso tuo accept his request of divorce he became independent from the church of Rome the the act of Supremacy. -
Modern English was born during the Reinassence thanks to three factors: the printing press, the spread of popolar education and the increase of means of communication. There were also three problems: this new language had to replace the latin in science, law and philosophy, was established a uniform orthography and the vocabulary had to be enriched.
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Mary I was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII. When she became queen of England her aim was to restore the catholic religion, and for doing this she persecuted the protestant. For this she became popular as “Bloody Mary”.
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Elizabeth I reigned from 1558 to 1603, considered as the Golden Age of England. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and she became queen after Mary I, who devastated the nation because of the religious war.
Elizabeth was a well educated woman and she had a very strong character. She never got married because she said she was married to the people and she started to be called “The Virgin Queen”.
In 1558 she defeated the Spanish Armada of Philip II and she won. -
He was contemporary of Shakespeare and he had a turbolent life rileva by passions and all his characters seemed ruled by self-distructive passion.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS
It was first published in 1604 but it was performed 12 years before in 1592. It is the story of a wise and learned german scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for 24 years of power and knowledge. The play is divided into 5 acts it is both written in blank verse and prose and there are many soliloquies. -
Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. When he was 18 he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. He died in 1616.
He wrote 154 sonnets between 1593 and 1598, they were published in 1609 and addressed to a fair youth, a dark lady and a rival poet. The main themes are love, beauty and immortality.
His plays were published in 1623 by his friends and were divided in 4 periods. These are characterized by comic elements and have happy ending. -
Queen Elizabeth I died with no heirs, so James VI of Scotland became king of England with the name of James I. He joined Scotland to England as well as Wales in one kingdom, Great Britain with a common coinage and a common flag, called the union jack.
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There was a civil war in England from 1642 ti 1649 between the supporters of the crown, the cavaliers, and the supporters of the parliament and puritans, the Roundheads. The leader of the parliament army was Cromwell. Charles I was captured in 1648 and condemned to death, he was executed in 1649. Oliver became lord protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.