Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• West End theaters
• The Docklands skyscraper zone
Basic British History for the Traveler
When Julius Caesar landed on the misty and mysterious isle of Britain in 55 B.C. , England
entered the history books. The primitive Celtic tribes Caesar fought were themselves in-
vaders (who had earlier conquered the even more mysterious people who built Stone-
henge). About 90 years later, the Romans came back, building towns and roads and estab-
lishing their capital at Londinium. The Celtic natives in Scotland and Wales—consisting of
Gaels, Picts, and Scots—were not easily subdued. The Romans built Hadrian's Wall near
the Scottish border as protection against their troublesome northern neighbors. Even today,
the Celtic language and influence are strongest in these far reaches of Britain.
As Rome fell, so fell Roman Britain—a victim of invaders and internal troubles.
Barbarian tribes from Germany and Denmark, called Angles and Saxons, swept through
the southern part of the island, establishing Angle-land. These were the days of the
real King Arthur, possibly a Christianized Roman general who fought valiantly—but in
vain—against invading barbarians. In 793, England was hit with the first of two centuries
of savage invasions by barbarians from Norway, called the Vikings or Norsemen. The is-
land was plunged into 500 years of Dark Ages—wars, plagues, and poverty—lit only by
the dim candle of a few learned Christian monks and missionaries trying to convert the
barbarians. The sightseer sees little from this Anglo-Saxon period.
Modern England began with yet another invasion. William the Conqueror and his
Norman troops crossed the English Channel from France in 1066. William crowned him-
self king in Westminster Abbey (where all subsequent coronations would take place) and
began building the Tower of London. French-speaking Norman kings ruled the country
for two centuries. Then followed two centuries of civil wars, with various noble famil-
ies vying for the crown. In the bitterest feud, the York and Lancaster families fought the
Wars of the Roses, so-called because of the white and red flowers the combatants chose
as their symbols. Rife with battles, intrigues, and kings, nobles, and ladies imprisoned and
executed in the Tower, it's a wonder the country survived its rulers.
England was finally united by the “third-party” Tudor family. Henry VIII, a Tudor,
was England's Renaissance king. He was handsome, athletic, highly sexed, a poet, a
scholar, and a musician. He was also arrogant, cruel, gluttonous, and paranoid. He went
through six wives in 40 years, divorcing, imprisoning, or executing them when they no
longer suited his needs. (To keep track of each one's fate, British kids learn this rhyme:
“Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.”)
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