LONDON : the name Londinium is first mentioned by Tacitus('Annals', 14, 33A.D. 61) as that of a place notable for its concourse of merchants; but the earlier existence of the town is proved by coins (of Cunobelin) and other celtic objects found on the site. After evacuation by the Romans, conquest by the Saxons, and plundering by the Danes in the 9th Century. London was resettled by Alfred the Great in 886.
Tacitus, Gaius Cornelius(c.A.D. 55--117)
Roman historian.
The Greatness of Alfred is shown by --
1. His Work of Deliverance : He saved Christianity and civilisation in the British Isles.
2. His work of Defence, by which his deliverance of Wessex was secured.
(a) He organised the fyrd, or national militia. (b) He built a fleet;
(c) He fortified the towns
3. His Judicial Work : (a) He drew up a CODE OF LAWS
(b) He appointed good judges; (c) He constantly inspected the
work of his judges.
4.His Educational Work: (a) He invited foreign teachers, e.g.Asser, John of Corvey, Grimbald. (b) He established a palace school. (c) He translated books, e.g. parts of the Bible, Bede's history, the history of Oosius, etc.
5. His Inventive Genius. He invented a way of reckoning time by means of a candle, protected by a lantern.
6. His encouragement of Travel. He sent embassies to Rome, alms to the Christians of India, and wrote an account of the voyages made to the Baltic and White seas.
His Application to Business.
He acceded to the throne in 871 A.D. and he died in 900 A.D.
EDINBURGH : is near the South shores of the Firth of Forth. The site during Roman times was occupied by British or Welsh tribes, and around c.617 A.D.was taken by Edwin of Northumbria, from whom the town took its name. The early settlement grew up round a castle on Castle Rock, whilst about a mile to the East, another burgh, known as Canongate, grew up round the abbey of Holyrood, founded in 1128 A.D. by
David I.
DAVID I. (1084 - 1153) King of Scotland. The youngest son of Malcolm Ceanmhor and St. Margaret ,
he was brought up in the English court of Henry I, he married Matilda, widow of the Earl of Northampton, and in 1124 became king.
He invaded England in 1138 in support of Queen Matilda, daughter of Henry I, but was defeated at Northallerton in the "Battle of the Standard," by
These are the times of the geologist, anthropologist and the archaeologist, and have little or no bearing on history proper, except as an introduction to the stage on which the history of England has been played.
PLEISTOCENE PERIOD.
Geography : Great Britain and Ireland were part of a vast Continent extending from Asia westward. The North Sea was a plain drained by the River Rhine, which emptied itself into the North Atlantic Sea, and of which the rivers :Thames, Medway, Humber and Tyne were tributaries. The River Severn was joined by the rivers of Southern Ireland and fell into the Atlantic Ocean south-west of Ireland.
Climate : Humid and equitable conditions were succeeded by intense cold, when a great ice sheet extended over the land as far as the Thames valley.
Fauna : Two extinct species of elephant, lion, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, bear, mammoth, wolf, musk-sheep, reindeer, etc.
Man : The name of Palaeolithic, or, men of the Old Stone Age, has been given to the first inhabitants of Britain, because their weapons and utensils were of a rougher character than those used by the race which succeeded them. These Old Stone Age men were classified as river drift or cave men, and the only knowledge of their existence is derived from flint weapons and bone utensils they left behind them.
On their tools are sometimes to be found sketches and hunting scenes, similar in character to the sketches made by modern Eskimos. Because of this reason, it is partly supposed that Eskimos are maybe descendants of Palaeolithic men.
Neolithic Men, or Men of the New Stone Age, were a small race, with dark hair and eyes ; agriculturists, possessing domestic animals, practising the arts of spinning, pottery-making, building huts and lake dwellings. Probably descended from nomads from the Middle East
Men of the Bronze Age : A tall race of a Finnish type.
The religion of the Pre-Celtic tribes was Druidism, a system of magic.
The Druids were priests, soothsayers, magicians, doctors, teachers, and exercised great power. They offered human sacrifices and held mistletoe and oak sacred.
Remains of Pre-Celtic Civilisation.
1. Tombs : The long barrows of the Neolithic men and the round barrows of the men of the Bronze Age.
2. Their implements : e.g., stone axes.
3. Manufactory of flint weapons at Cisbury, stone circles at Avebury and Stonehenge.
4. The log house discovered in Dumkelin Bog, 1833.
The Celts were the first Aryan people to reach this island. They were a tall race, with light hair and blue eyes. By the test of language they can be divided into two branches :-
1. The Goidels
2. The Brythons
The Goidelic-speaking tribes were in the North and West, and the Brythonic-speaking people, who probably invaded Britain about the sixth Century B.C., in the rest of the island.
Thus when history opens, three races were to be found in our island - two Pre-Celtic races and the Celts.
From the Aborigines the Goidels adopted Druidism. The Brythons, or Britons, worshipped many gods, and were more advanced in the arts of life and of government than the Goidels.
Discovery of Britain by Pytheas, circa 330 B.C. Greek merchants of Marseilles, anxious to obtain tin,sent out an exploring expedition, under the guidance of Pytheas, and he discovered Britain.
The result of his voyage. Trade was established between Marseilles and Britain by the overland route through Gaul (France)
circa 110 B.C. Cornwall visited by the Greek Posidonius.
The Phenicians It is very doubtful whether the Phenicians ever visited Britain. The Cassiterides,
or tin islands, once supposed to have been the Scilly Isles, are now thought to be some islands off the coast of Spain.
(i.) Coins of British chiefs :earliest date, cir. 200 -150 B.C.
(ii.) Personal ornaments, domestic pottery, implements, etc.
(iii.) Traces of British camps and villages, probably built during Roman period, e.g. villages on the Wiltshire Downs.
