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fandomhigh2006-02-09 01:54 pm
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History of Medieval England - Thursday 6th Period: Exam 1
Once again, Professor Pierson has catered (literally) to his students by having a layout of culinary delights from Jeff, God of Biscuits on a table in the front of the room. Everything from doughnuts to bagels to muffins to croissants. Coffee and soda provide much-needed caffiene.
Methos himself is sitting at his desk, working on what looks like a photocopy of an ancient manuscript. He's got a modern spiral-bound notebook beside it, but he doesn't appear to be writing in it. Instead, he's flipping ahead in the ancient text, frowning as he reads.
On the board is written:
EXAM 1
Pick three topics and writeor handwave 100 words (at least) on each:
- Pre-Roman Britain
- Roman Britain
- Anglo-Saxon Britain
- The Battle of Hastings
- The reign of William the Conqueror
When finished, you may turn in your papers and leave.
NO TALKING.
Methos himself is sitting at his desk, working on what looks like a photocopy of an ancient manuscript. He's got a modern spiral-bound notebook beside it, but he doesn't appear to be writing in it. Instead, he's flipping ahead in the ancient text, frowning as he reads.
On the board is written:
EXAM 1
Pick three topics and write
- Pre-Roman Britain
- Roman Britain
- Anglo-Saxon Britain
- The Battle of Hastings
- The reign of William the Conqueror
When finished, you may turn in your papers and leave.
NO TALKING.
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She did not talk and now she is gone.
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The next-to-last Anglo-Saxon king, Edward was the oldest son of Æthelred II and Emma. He had gone to Normandy in 1013, when his father and mother had fled from England.
Through the influence of the powerful Earl Godwin of Wessex, Edward took the throne at the untimely death of Hardicanute in 1042. In 1045, he married Godwin's only daughter, Edith.
Edward's Norman "affinity" produced great displeasure among the Saxon nobles. The anti-Norman faction was led by (who else?) Godwin of Wessex and his son, Harold Godwinsson, took every available opportunity to undermine the kings favorites. Edward sought to revenge himself on Godwin by insulting his own wife and Godwin's daughter, Edith, and confining her to the monastery of Wherwell.
The Godwins were banished from the kingdom after staging an unsuccessful rebellion against the king but returned, landing an invasionary force in the south of England in 1052. They received great popular support, and in the face of this, the king was forced to restore the Godwins to favor in 1053.
Edward's greatest achievement was the construction of a new cathedral, where virtually all English monarchs from William the Conqueror onward would be crowned - Westminster Abbey.
On his deathbed, Edward named Harold as his successor, instead of the legitimate heir, his grandson, Edgar the Ætheling. The question of succession had been an issue for some years and remained unsettled at Edward's death in January, 1066. It was neatly resolved, however, by William the Conqueror, just nine months later.
(Nice goin', Edward. Set up the conquering by being a stubborn idiot.)
Roman Britain: Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was constructed over a period of six years by order of the Emperor Hadrian, who came to Britain in AD 122. According to one of Hadrian's Roman biographers it was built to 'separate the Romans from the Barbarians' a feat it achieved for over 250 years.
Construction started in 122 and was largely completed within ten years, with soldiers from all three of the occupying Roman legions participating in the work.
The wall was initially designed to a width of 3 metres (the so-called "Broad Wall"). The height is estimated to have been around 5 or 6 metres.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline, and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations. But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings. This continued until the 20th century.
The Reign of William the Conqueror
Conquering isn't any good if you can't hang on to what you conquered. William initiated many major changes. In 1085, in order to ascertain the extent of his new dominionans and maximize taxation, William commissioned the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey of England's productive capacity similar to a modern census. He also ordered many castles, keeps, and mots, among them the Tower of London, to be built across England to ensure that the rebellions by the English people or his own followers would not succeed. His conquest also led to Norman replacing English as the language of the ruling classes, for nearly 300 years.
William is said to have deported some of the Anglo-Saxon landed classes into slavery through Bristol. Many of the latter ended up in Umayyad Spain and Moorish lands. Ownerships of nearly all land, and titles to religious and public offices in England were given to Normans. Many surviving Anglo-Saxon nobles emigrated to other European kingdoms.
And finally, the last serious resistance to his rule came with the Revolt of the Earls in 1075. It is estimated that one fifth of the people of England were killed during these years by war, massacre, and starvation.
By being ruthless and organized, William kept what he won throughout his reign, and left a legacy of iron rule to his sons.
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handwavedwrote about a hundred words on Roman Britain, specifically the support for the historical King Arthur being from that time period, then got her rant on and turned in almost three hundred words each on the Battle of Hastings and the reign of William the Conqueror. She's not very kind to William and the Normans in these essays. The historical details, however, are sound.Re: SIGN IN: Attendance: MEH EXAM 1
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handwavedwrote around 100 words each on Pre-Roman Britain, The Battle of Hastings, and the reign of William the Conqueror.The essay on Pre-Roman Britain shows some thought and understanding. The other two? Maybe not quite as much. Some of the facts are there, but disjointed, and sometimes historically inaccurate.
Her paper is mysteriously covered with pink glitter. That crap just doesn't come out.
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The Iceni were an Anglo-Saxon tribe living in eastern Britain who traded with Rome and their king became a rich and powerful. Boudicca was his queen. Then he died, and the Roman's beat her and raped her daughters, starting a rebellion. After burning several towns, Boudicca was stopped by the Romans and took her own life rather than be captured. She was the first Saxon Queen of England. And thus she was very notable and important for the fighting she did against the Romans who mistreated her people, even if they ultimately failed and she had to kill herself.
Anglo-Saxon Britain
There was a monk who wrote the a book about the Saxons in 540. His history wasn't so good. It was the first to tell the story of the coming of the Saxons to Britain. (If what they say is actually true. We don't know that.) The Saxons' success, which the monks thought was God's vengeance against the Britons for their sins, was pretty much the same thing Bede thought. But Gildas said that, in his day, the Saxons were not fighting the Britons after all. But most of the Britons who were already there survived and so things worked out o.k.
The Battle of Hastings
The Emperor Honorius replied to a petition for help from the Roman Britains telling them that they should "look to their own affairs", ending Roman rule in Britain. Constantine then lead the Anglo-Saxons in from across the ocean to rule England. He fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 where he was killed by an arrow in his eye fired by William The Conquerer. This was explained by a panel in the Bayoux Tapestry that isn't at all realistic, although it gives a good picture of things and the way they happened in that time
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Rome invaded Britain because it suited the careers of two men. The first of these was Julius Caesar. This great republican general had conquered Gaul and was looking for an excuse to avoid returning to Rome. Britain afforded him one, in 55 BC, when Commius, king of the Atrebates, was ousted by Cunobelin, king of the Catuvellauni, and fled to Gaul. Caesar seized the opportunity to mount an expedition on behalf of Commius. He wanted to gain the glory of a victory beyond the Great Ocean, and believed that Britain was full of silver and booty to be plundered.
His first expedition, however, was ill-conceived and too hastily organised. With just two legions, he failed to do much more than force his way ashore at Deal (http://www.deal.gov.uk/index.html) and win a token victory that impressed the senate in Rome more than it did the tribesmen of Britain. In 54 BC, he tried again, this time with five legions, and succeeded in re-establishing Commius on the Atrebatic throne. Yet he returned to Gaul disgruntled and empty-handed, complaining in a letter to Cicero that there was no silver or booty to be found in Britain after all.
Caesar's military adventurism set the scene for the second exploitation of Britain - by the Emperor Claudius. He was to use an identical excuse to Caesar for very similar reasons. Claudius had recently been made emperor in a palace coup. He needed the prestige of military conquest to consolidate his hold on power. Into this situation came Verica, successor to Commius, complaining that the new chief of the Catuvellauni, Caratacus, had deprived him of his throne.
Like Caesar, Claudius seized his chance. In AD 43, he sent four legions across the sea to invade Britain. They landed at Richborough and pushed towards the River Medway, where they met with stiff resistance. However, the young general Vespasian forced the river with his legion supported by a band of 'Celtic' auxiliaries, and the British were routed.
Vespasian marched west, to storm Maiden Castle and Hod Hill with such ruthless efficiency that the catapult bolts used to subdue them can still be dug out of the ground today. Hod Hill contains a tiny Roman fort from this time, tucked into one corner of its massive earthworks. Meanwhile, Claudius arrived in Britain to enter the Catuvellaunian capital of Colchester in triumph. He founded a temple there, containing a fine bronze statue of himself, and established a legionary fortress. He remained in Britain for only 16 days.
It took another 30 years to conquer the rest of the island (bar the Highlands). Once in, Rome was prepared to defend her new acquisition to the death. Yet Britain was originally invaded not for its wealth, not for strategic reasons, not even for ideology, but for the plain and simple reason that it furthered a politician's career. It has been said that Rome conquered an empire in a fit of absent-mindedness. Britain is a case in point.
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West Kennet Long Barrow is one of the many prehistoric monuments that are part of the Avebury complex of Neolithic sites. It is one of the most impressive and well-preserved burial chambers in Britain, as well as being one of the most visited.
The mound itself - of which the burial chamber is only a small part - stretches for 100 metres in an East - West orientation. The earth used in its construction was taken from two trenches dug alongside the mound (see diagram), although these have long since become filled with weathered material. The chamber, which extends 10 metres into the mound, consists of five seperate chambers, two on either side of a narrow passage, which then opens up into a further chamber at the far end. Like many of these passage graves, the entrance was flanked by a semi circular forecourt, which framed the dark opening, although this is now partially obscured by the huge stones used to seal the tomb. These large stones, and the other hefty sarcen boulders used in the barrows construction, were brought from the nearby downs, while the smaller stones seem to have been selected and brought from a location over 30 miles away.
The tomb is thought to have been constructed around 3500BC, and was in use for a thousand years, until 2200BC, when the tomb was sealed with chalk rubble, and the gigantic sarcen boulders that now guard the entrance. This was at the same time as the great stone circle at Avebury was begun, and may signify a change in the focus of belief and religion.
The tomb was excavated in 1859 and again from 1955 - 56, important evidence is likely to have been lost during the 17th century (when a significant amount of the Avebury circle was destroyed) when it was recorded that the grave had been opened and some of its content removed.
During excavation it was revealed that almost 50 people - of varied age groups - were buried within the tomb. These people may have been the ruling elite from the farming community that made the Avebury area its home. Evidence also suggests that the bones (specifically leg bones and skulls) were removed for use elsewhere, although the ceremonies, and the meaning of them will probably never be fully understood. It has been suggested that the bodies were first laid out to rot in a separate place, perhaps the sanctuary at nearby Overton, or as part of the complex rituals that took place at Windmill Hill.
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The Battle of Hastings was the last time England was successfully invaded and conquered by a foreign army. It brought greater unity and strength to a country which was already wealthy and strong in governmental systems but which was dynastically and territorially insecure.
The battle took all day beginning early in the morning of 14th October 1066 with William's archers firing the first arrows into English ranks. William followed up his plan with an attack by the infantry and then by the cavalry, but Harold's army was stronger than expected and William's army sustained many casualties. The Bretons on the left flank panicked due to their lack of experience, the unexpected strength of Harold's army and the noise and confusion. They failed to keep in line and got ahead of the other two sections on their right. In their panic they began to retreat. Harold's less experienced fighters broke rank when they saw the Bretons retreating and William's army slaughtered them.
William retreated and regrouped. The second and following assaults went according to William's plan and he supported his troops by joining in the charge on horseback. Both sides became more tired as the day wore on and suffered heavy casualties. As the supply of arrows was running low, William ordered the archers to fire them high into the air for the final assault so that they fell into the rear ranks of the English army. This caused high casualties and the collapse of the English shield wall. The Normans penetrated the ranks and killed Harold. With the morale of the English troops shattered by the death of their leader, the battle ended in defeat for the English, although the housecarls and thegns continued to fight to their deaths. Over the following months, William captured Canterbury, Winchester and London. He was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066.