The Danes/ Vikings

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Towards the end of the 8th century new raiders were tempted by Britain 's wealth. They were the Danes from Denmark and the Northmen from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are frequently called as the Vikings ("pirates" or "people of the sea inlets"). These two Scandinavian peoples were closely related with one another, but in the main the Danes were the invaders of England and the Northmen were the invaders of Ireland and Scotland.

In 865 they realised that the quarrelling Anglo-Saxon kingdoms could not keep them out and they invaded Britain. The Vikings quickly accepted Christianity and did not disturb the local population.

The only kingdom that still fought against the Danes was the kingdom of Wessex. Due to their king, King Alfred, they managed to withstand the Vikings and eventually able to defeat them.

In 886 a treaty was signed between the Kingdom of Wessex and the Danes at Wedmore (Treaty of Wedmore), according to which the country was divided into 2 parts:

þ Wessex – Saxon England – the south-western part

þ Danelaw – the Danish rule – the north-eastern part

The border between these parts ran from London to Chester.

Influence

1) way of life

The people living in the North-East very soon intermixed and adopted some of the traits of the Danish way of life alongside with the language.

e.g. axes were used not only for the household purposes but also as a weapon, mainly tapering axes (конусообразные топоры)

2) language

! place-names

~by = “small farm or town” e.g. Nasby, Appleby

~thorpe = “village” e.g. Scunthorpe

~ dale = “valley” e.g. Wasdale

~thwaite = “a portion of land” e.g. Ruthwaite

~toft e.g. Lowestoft

! family names

~son = “the son of … ” e.g. Williamson = “the son of William”; Godwinson = “the son of Godwin”

Mac~/Mc~ e.g. McDonald

! words connected with sea and sea trade, or beginning with sk /sc~

sk/sc~ e.g. sky, skate, score, skin

3) Personalities

King Alfred the Great (871 - 899)

He was an outstanding statesman, warrior and strategist. He turned undefended villages into fortified towns, or boroughs. He understood that the best way to battle the Danes was at sea, so he built the bigger and faster ships than that of the Vikings. So that’s why he is considered to be the founder of the English fleet.

Alfred is also important as a lawgiver and as a patron of learning. He compiled and published a code of laws from earlier laws. He translated himself from Latin into West Saxon the books in geography, history and philosophy. Alfred started to write "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle".

The Normans

In the 11^th century the Normans from Normandy were the last to come to Britain.

They were the descendants of the Northmen who settled in the northern part of France, known as Normandy or the Duchy of Normandy. The ruler on this territory was the Duke of Normandy subjected to the king of France. These people intermixed with the French and spoke French with Scandinavian accent.

By the early 11^th century the situation in Britain was quite unstable.

On the one hand there were the Danish Vikings, who renewed their raids westwards. The Saxon kings decided to pay them to keep them at bay (so called ‘Danegeld’), and to get this money the king imposed taxes on the common people.

On the other hand, there was no hereditary principle in the country and the Witan chose any king they thought to be suitable. So the kings and nobles were at constant struggle for the throne of England.

After the death of the last Saxon king, the new king was chosen from the Danish ones. Thus, Canute (1017-35) became king of England as well as of Norway and Denmark. The reign of Canute, though the short one, witnessed the rise of the Saxon house of Godwin, whom he had made Earl of Wessex. After the death of Canute his sons weren’t able to hold the power and the Witan chose the king from the old English line.

The new king, Edward the Confessor (1042-66), was a descendant of the old English royal line. However, Edward had spent his youth in Normandy, so when he became king of England he brought to 'the court his Norman advisers and supporters, which in turn led to increased rivalry between the newcomers and the Saxons mainly represented by the Godwins. As Edward was more interested in the Church than kingship, so by the end of his life there was a church in each village, but no heir to inherit the throne.

During the last part of Edward the Confessor's reign the most important man in England was Harold, son of Earl Godwin. After the death of Edward in January 1066, the Witan chose him as the next king. However this decision was challenged by William, the Duke of Normandy. He had two claims to the English throne.

1) King Edward had promised the throne to him.

2) Harold, who had visited William in 1064 or 1065, had promised William that he, Harold, would not try to take the throne for himself.

Harold did not deny this second claim, but said that he had been force d to make the promise and that because it was made unwillingly he was not tied by it.

Duke William said that he had been tricked, and prepared an army for the invasion of England. This was only a pretext, for Norman influence had already been established before the Conquest. By this time Normandy possessed a very well organized and equipped army, compared to the English one.

In September 1066 William & his army landed in the south of England.

On the 14th of October at Hastings the decisive battle took place. Though the Saxon army fought bravely it was defeated and Harold was killed in battle.

On December, 25 1066 William was crowned as William I of England at Westminster Abbey (since that event all British monarchs have been crowned there), though he is widely known as William the Conqueror. (Вильгельм Завоеватель)

After being crowned king, William proceeded to suppress rebellions against his authority. Wherever he encountered opposition the Conqueror seized the lands of his foes and established fortified castles in their districts. By such methods he presently ended all opposition to his rule.

Influence

1) the establishment of feudalism and centralization of power

By the time of William’s rule the country was quite ripe for the development of feudalism. Previous kings has already established the order of authority on their land, plus the land was given to those who were “worthy” (for some accomplishments). The only thing to do for William was further development of feudalism of the English pattern. Unlike the king of France, who power was a nominal one, the power of the English king was real.

All land belonged to the king and was granted to his vassals on his own terms, terms extremely favourable to himself. At first the land was taken from the Saxon barons who didn’t support William and given to the Norman nobles. The vassals (Norman nobles) got lots of land from William in return for the military and other services ("homage") and loyalty. Soon 4 000 Saxon lords were replaced by 200 Norman ones. In such a way William was able to control not only land but also his vassals, which added to his power.

"Oath of Salisbury" - William made all landowners (lords) to take an oath of fealty directly to him so that they could not unite against him and challenge his power. The lords were not allowed also to keep big armies - so they were unable to fight with each other or against the king. Thus England became one and indivisible.

William introduced the system of primogeniture - a system according to which the eldest son inherited all the lands and riches of his father after his death.

2) “Domesday Book”

As soon as William became the king of England he decided to learn how much property he gained. So he sent his men to complete a survey of everything he possessed. The people were obliged to give the correct information otherwise they were severely punished. Not surprisingly, it was most unpopular with the people, because they felt they could not escape from its findings. It seemed to them that the Judgment Day had come, and they were “doomed”. This fact explains the name of the book “Domsday Book”.

Despite its tragic character, this register gives the historians thorough information about the life of people at this time. In fact, it was the 1^st census in England as well as in Europe.

e.g. the historians learned that about 90% of population was turned into serfs ( крепостные ) and the average age was 39 years.

3) linguistic situation

# English was the language of common people who lived in villages;

# French was the official language of the country - the language of the administration, of the king's court, of the law courts, of the army, of the school, the language of the townspeople;

# Latin was the language the church and learning.

4) architecture

a. Westminster Abbey

It was built under the sponsorship of Edward the Confessor in December 1065. Though the recorded history of Westminster Abbey begins in Edward the Confessor's time, there the glimpses of its existence before that. On an island in the Thames, already called Westminster Eyot he set about to build a great church and monastery for the monks. The Abbey was completely rebuilt by Henry III again after the style then prevailing in France in the 13^th century. In subsequent years it was partly reconstructed. It is also the place of the coronation of British monarchs starting from the 11^th century.

b. White Tower of London

It was under William’s order that it was erected to guard the town against outside attack. Work on this stronghold began in 1078 and since then it has given the scene of many momentous events of British history. As king succeeded king, the fortress was enlarged be building walls and smaller lowers around the central keep. Today it is an irregular agglomeration of buildings surrounded by wall and most, standing on the bank of the Thames at the south-east angle of the old walled city.

5) personalities

Canute/ Cnut (1016 - 1035)

He was the leader of the Danish Vikings) became king of England and England became a part of the Northern Empire (comprised Norway and Denmark) for a short period.

Edward the Confessor (1042 - 1066)

He was a descendant of the old Saxon line of kings, who had been brought up in Normandy for some time. He was a very religious person, who was more interested in the development of the Church than the kingdom. Due to him each village in England had its own church building, marking the traditional pattern of the British village (a manor house, the church and village houses). He also started a new church fit for a king at Westminster, just outside the city of London. In fact Westminster Abbey was a Norman, not a Saxon building, due to the Edward’s Norman upbringing.

William the Conqueror (1066 - 1087)

He was known in history as the Duke of Normandy and after the coronation William I of England. He was a very stern and ruthless ruler. He managed to establish military feudalism in England and centralize power under him, making him the only great power in the country unlike in Europe. He accomplished the 1^st census in England and Europe, the ‘Domsday Book’, which added to his power over his vassals. Plus he initiated the building of the White Tower of London.

The Unification of the Country

As time passed by the English kings started to pay attention to the lands west and north of England. These territories were inhabited by the descendants of the Celts and bore the traces of the Celtic culture. Besides the Christian Church that was functioning on there was of the Celtic pattern, but not Roman Catholic.

A.

So the 1^st attention of the English fell onto neighbouring Ireland. Ireland was the land of monasteries and the Celtic culture. It was divided into 5 kingdoms, one of them called Ulster (present-day Northern Ireland). It has never been invaded either by the Romans or by the Anglo-Saxons, but the Vikings often raided Ireland (they founded the city of Dublin).

In the 12^th century the English made their 1^st attempt to conquer Ireland. The country was not untied at those times and local lords were fighting against one another. This fact gave a great opportunity to seize the country. In 1169 Henry II of England started the invasion of Ireland. Although a large part of the country was under the English, there wasn’t much direct control from England during the Middle Ages. But still it’s considered to be the 1^st colony of Britain.

Since the very beginning of the English invasion the Irish resisted the rule, struggling for their independence. That’s why the English built fortified walls in order to protect themselves from the Irish.

The next attempt to subdue Ireland was in the 16^th century, when Henry VIII quarreled with the Pope of Rome and the new Church was formed, the Anglican Church. He persuaded the Irish Parliament to recognize him as king of Ireland. But the religious question rose, as the Irish has become Catholics by this time and the English were Protestants. The Irish didn’t want to recognize the new Church and didn’t accept the change. So the king tried to force them into acceptance, if they didn’t comply he took their land. The Northern province of Ulster became the centre of resistance, which was crushed only 1607. Soon after the ‘Plantation of Ulster’ began. It was turned into an area, which was settled by Protestant immigrants from Scotland and England. “Plantation” meant that 23 new towns were built in Ulster to protect the Protestant settlers (‘planters’). The Irish Catholics were driven from their lands. As the result this territory became Protestant while other parts of Ireland were still Catholic.

At the end of the 18^th century the Irish Catholics organized a mass rising against the English colonizers but it was crushed. 1801 - George the 3 ^rd united Ireland and Great Britain.

Throughout the whole 19^th century the ‘Irish question’ still remained. The English were not favoured even more by the Irish after the Great Hunger (1845-1849). Because of the bad harvest a lot of people died and as many immigrated to the USA, but the British government did nothing to help the people.

1918 - the Republicans won the elections in Ireland => they formed their own Parliament in Dublin, announced that Ireland was a republic and started guerrilla against the British in Ireland.

1921 – after a long struggle the southern part of Ireland finally became a free state, while the northern part remained under the British rule.

1949 – the Irish free state declared itself a republic => the Republic of Ireland (Eire), with the capital in Dublin.

But still the differences between Catholics and Protestants were not solved in Northern Ireland. They were not equal in their rights.

In 1969 the conflict started between these 2 groups, so the British government had to send the army to keep the peace. Since that time the country has no peace and saw lots of deaths. There were several terrorist organizations in NI on both sides:

a. Catholics – the IRA (the Irish Republican Army), whose aim is to unite the country with the help of terrorist acts and bombing.

b. Protestants – some secret terrorist organizations

Recent events show that after the talks between London and Dublin and the end of terrorist activities, there’ a hope that the conflict between these 2 communities will be solved.

B.

Wales was the 1^st to be conquered by England. The Welsh tribes were constantly fighting with one another. That's why they were so weak and could not fight back the English.

William the Conqueror allowed his lords to win the land in Wales by conquest. During the 11^th -13^th c. the Normans raided Wales and intermixed with the Welsh. Thus soon they were well integrated in the Welsh society though the newcomers never felt safe in Wales because of the Welsh opposition.

Thanks to the Normans who started the invasion of Wales, it did not cause much trouble to Edward I to conquer Wales in the 1284 (13^th c). But the Welsh did not want to be rules by an English king. They wanted a Prince of Wales who would satisfy the 3 conditions. He should:

ê be born in Wales;

ê be of royal blood;

ê not speak English or French.

Edward I gave them one - his baby son. Edward brought his pregnant wife to Wales, so his son was born in Wales, in Caernarfon Castle (the first condition). Surely he was of royal blood (the second condition) and did not speak neither English nor French as far as he was just born and did not speak any language yet (the third condition). Thus, thanks to the wisdom of Edward, in 1301 his son became the first Prince of Wales. The ceremony took place in Caernarfon Castle and was called "Investiture". Since that time the eldest son of a ruling king or queen has usually been made Prince of Wales (now - William).

The Welsh continued to struggle for independence but in the 15^th c. the English throne passed to Henry VII of the Welsh House of Tudor. In the 16^th c. his son Henry VIII brought Wales under the English Parliament which meant the complete loss of independence.

C.

Scotland remained independent for quite a long time. The Scottish were more persistent than the Welsh in their opposition. The most famous opposition leaders were William Wallace (13^th c. ("Brave Heart")) and Robert Bruce (14^th c).

The Scottish allied with the French to be able to resist the English.

In 1603, when Queen Elizabeth I of England died childless, the throne passed to James (Stuart) the 6^th of Scotland. He became James I of England and struggled to unite the two countries. Nevertheless, Scotland continued to be independent during the 17^th c.

In 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne, the final unification took place and England, Wales and Scotland became known as Great Britain (a political notion at that time, but not anymore - now this is only the name of the largest island of the British Isles).

Lecture 2b: Economy of the UK

Today Britain is no longer a leading industrial country as it used to be. It’s the 5^th in size in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and the 5^th largest trading nation in the world.

GB has an open economy, in which international trade plays a vital role in the life of the economy. Traditionally the country imports more than it exports, which in turn leads to the deficit in the balance of payments. It is usually covered by the transactions on the international market, thus making Britain one of the financial centers of the world.

The British economy is mainly based on private enterprise. The government is encouraging and expanding the private sector. As a result 75% of the economy belongs to the private sector, employing ¾ of the labour force. More than 95% of GDP belongs to the manufacturing and service industries and construction. The rest is shared by energy production and agriculture.

The service sector includes business, trade, travel, tourism, education, healthcare and administration. Britain also has a well-developed network of industries such as aerospace, chemicals, oil & gas, electronics, biotechnologies, textile, shipbuilding, etc.

Agriculture. Less than 2% of the population is engaged in agriculture. More than 2/3 of the arable pastures belong to the landlords, but the middle and small-scale holders of land give the greatest part of the produce. Due to the mechanization the productivity is very high: it supplies nearly 2/3 of the country’s food. But still Britain is one of the largest importers of agricultural products and raw materials. They import – different fruits, vegetables, cotton, coffee, cocoa, etc.

The general location of industries has changed little. 80% of the production is concentrated in England. But there still exists the traditional gap between the “depressed” North and the “flourishing” South.

In terms of its economic development Britain is divided into 8 economic regions: the South Industrial and Agricultural, the Midlands, Lancashire, Yorkshire, the North, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Regions of GB

Region	General Information	Major cities	Major Industries	Agriculture
the South   the Midlands	located from Bristol Channel to the Wash Industrial South Agricultural South South West, East and South East - known as Black Country because of the mass industrialization - located in the centre of GB	London Greater London (London + satellite towns) Dagenham (Ford motor-works)   the City of London (British business center)   Oxford & Cambridge   Luton   the Thames Valley (the Sunrise Strip)   Bristol (port)     Plymouth   Southampton Portsmouth Brighton Bournemouth     Birmingham (“makes everything from a pin to a steam roller”)   Coventry   Wolverhampton     Leicester Nottingham   Derby   Stroke-upon-Trent (“the Potteries”)	clothing, furniture making, jewellery, oil-refining, steel-making, electrical engineering, aircraft production, electronics, motor-car manufacturing; service industries: banking, insurance, scientific research, etc. educational centers, electronics and printing; car production and engineering;   high-tech center;     manufacture of tobacco & chocolate; center of aircraft & automobile industry, defense industry;   naval base;   transatlantic ports;   seaside resorts (service industry) commuters area;     manufacturing of sporting guns, consumer goods, food (chocolate);   motor industry;   heavy engineering, tyre production;   knitwear industry, production of knitting machines;   railway engineering; aircraft engineering (the Rolls Roys factory = aircraft engines);   pottery & ceramics	South West livestock & dairy farming   South East & East arable farming (mainly cereals like wheat and barley)     East Anglia (region) market gardening   the Fens (region) fruit growing   is mainly based on dairy & livestock farming, growing vegetables, gardening
Lancashire	- to the North of the Midlands - historic centre of British industry; - the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution	Merseyside Liverpool   “Greater” Manchester   Blackpool	chemical, motor car industries; shipbuilding & ship-repairing (e.g. Birkenhead industries);   general engineering;   seaside resort (service industries);	less developed in this region
Yorkshire	located to the East of the Pennine Chain	Sheffield   Leeds   Bradford   York   Scarborough   Scunthorpe (leading steel-making center) Immingham Grimsby Hull	steel & cutlery production;   clothing, engineering;   worsted & woolen manufacture;   tourism   holiday resort;   iron & steel industry;   sea ports;	It’s represented chiefly by sheep-breeding.
the North Wales	- industrial area, but some major industries are mainly in decline; - 2 major centers: a) North-East (estuaries of the Tyne, the Tees, the Wear) b) North-West (Cumberland)   The South is the main industrial area;   The North-West is a mountainous region and the industrialization had little effect;	North-East Newcastle-upon- Tyne (“to bring coal to Newcastle”) Sunderland     Teeside   North-West Workigton Whitehaven Barrow-in- Furness Cardiff Swansea Newport Milford Haven   Snowdonia district	coalmining, steel-making, shipbuilding (are in decline) electrical engineering, construction for the North Sea oil production; chemical industry;     shipbuilding main business center; coalmining & steel industry (in decline) main port, oil refining;   tourism	chiefly sheep-breeding & beef livestock farming     is represented by sheep-breeding in the Snowdonia region
Scotland	The Central Lowlands are the industrial heart of Scotland.   The Highlands     The Southern Uplands (mainly agriculture)	Glasgo (the most important area of the industrial activity)   Grangemouth     Edinburgh (“the Athens of the North”)   Aberdeen	seaport; coalmining, shipbuilding (are in decline); textile & clothing production; service industry; manufacture of foodstuffs & furniture; electronics;   sea port, oil refineries, petrochemical industry;   tourism, textile industry, brewing, paper production, printing & publishing;     oil refining; fishing industry	The Southern Uplands dairy farming, beef cattle breeding, arable farming (growing barley, oats, wheat), sheep-breeding;
Northern Ireland	is a unique region because of the number of economic problems and political division. 3 main activities: farming shipbuilding textile industry	Belfast   Londonderry	textile & fiber manufacture, clothing & footwear production, shipbuilding (“Harland & Wolf”), aircraft & aerospace production (“Short Brothers”), electric engineering, food processing, tourism;   textile manufacture	is represented by mixed & dairy farming

Lecture 2 Geography

Topic: physical geography

You may find some blank maps here http://www.d-maps.com

General Information

The UK lies to the north-west of Europe in the continental shelf and includes over 5000 islands. It’s located between the latitude 50⁰-61⁰ North and longitude 2⁰ East and 11⁰ West. The 0⁰ meridian runs through the old observatory of Greenwich.

The territory of the British Isles makes up 322,242 km² and the total area of the UK together with the islands is 244,100 km². The country stretches from North to South for 900 km and from East to West – for 60 and 500 km.

The extreme points of GB are:

North = John O’ Groats

South-West = Land’s End

South = Lizard Point

The country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the North Sea in the east and is separated from the continent by the English Channel (220km) and the Strait of Dover (32 km).

NB! The Channel Tunnel was an ambitious project started in the 60s of the XX^th century by the 2 countries Britain and France. But it was a failure until 1986, when eventually it was launched. It took about 8 years to finish it. It was officially opened in 1994 and connected Folkston (GB) and Calais (France). The journey by a supersonic train takes about 35 minutes.

The UK occupies a favourable geographical position for the development of the economy, trade and shipping.

Fill in the chart

British Isles

The coastline of GB stretches for 8,000 km and is greatly indented (esp. west of Scotland & Wales), which results in a great number of bays, harbours, capes and peninsulas that are quite advantageous for building port and flourishing of the economy. The eastern part of the country is not so greatly indented and is represented by the lowlands and is often flooded.

The major inlets are the estuaries of: the Thames

the Wash

the Humber

the Firth of Forth

The Relief of GB

The country is dominated by the two types of the relief: mountains (uplands) and lowlands. The mountains are mostly located in the North and the West of the country, while the South and the East are lowlands, represented by the moorlands.

Fill in the chart

The Mountains of the UK

The English Midland is a plain located to the south of the Pennines. It’s an area which abounds in the great number of river valleys and hills like: Cotwolds

The Chiltern Hills

The Northern and Southern Downs

Salisbury Plain

British rivers and lakes

All rivers in the UK belong either to the basin of the North Sea or the basin of the Irish Sea.

The North Sea basin the Thames (332km)

the Trent (274km)

the Ouse England

the Humber

the Tees

the Tyne

the Tweed

the Forth

the Dee Scotland

the Spey

The Irish Sea basin: the Mersey

the Eden

the Clyde

The longest river on the British Isles is the Shannon (384km) which flows through the whole Ireland.

The largest river in the UK is the Severn (350km) which begins in the Cambrians of Wales and flows through the territory of England to the Bristol Channel.

The largest lake and the biggest inland lake is Loch Lomond (70km²).

The largest freshwater lake is Lough Neagh (381km²)

H/W “How Do You Do Britain?”: Unit 2,3 “Face of GB”