A quarter of a million years ago the Ice Age was present in the northern Europe. It withdrew enough for people to appear in the area which nowadays is called Britain. They travelled on land as the area was at the time connected with the rest of the continent.


First stone tools (made of flint krzemień) were used in Britain ~ 250 000 B.C.

Ice age advanced, and then withdrew after some time allowing people to appear again.

Another wave of people ~50 000 B.C. - said to be the genetic ancestors of today's British people.

~10 000/9000 B.C. - the end of the ice age - people were mainly hunters/gatherers at the time.

~5000 B.C. - Britain became an island and turned into a forest land.

~3000 B.C. - a wave of the Neolithic (modern stone age) culture - people became farmers (learned how to grow crops and rear animals). They introduced:
- barrows - burial mounds (small hills) of earth or/and stone


- stone settlements, like Skara Brae (occupied in ~3000-2500 B.C.)


- great circles of earth and stones - henges (~2500-2000 B.C. - the construction of the Stone Henge building)


~2400/2300 B.C. - "beaker" people appear in Britain ("beaker" from clay pottery they brought with them) - they are said to have brought the skill of metalworks (which lead to the development of bronze in Britain), and barley which was a fast growing grain.


~1300 B.C. - further development of the farming society - it lead to the growth of the population and consequently to population pressure; people started to compete for land and resources; the construction of the fortified enclosures and hill-forts; the development of the wheel and ox-drawn ploughs; centre of power shifts from the Stone Henge area eastwards


~700 B.C. - the arrival of the Celts - they are said to have brought the skill of ironworks to Britain. One of the earliest names of the land - Albion - was coined by the Celts.


55 B.C. - Julius Cesar's first attempt to conquer Britain (referred to as Britannia by the Romans). Two legions tried to cross the English channel, but failed and were withdrawn.
54 B.C. - a second attempt, with five legions. Withdrawn because of a rebellion in Gaul (nowadays France).

43 A.D. - another, this time successful Roman invasion of Britain ordered by emperor Claudius - 40 000 troops took part in the invasion
The beginning of the Romano-British culture - some of the Celtic lords willingly surrendered to Romans and were often rewarded for it by the empire. With time most of the richer Britons became Romans. The Empire also introduced such names as Caledonia (for present Scotland) and Hibernia (for Ireland).


60-61 - Boudicca's rebellion caused by the ruthlessness of a Roman governor - she managed to sack and burn Colchester - a main Roman town.


122-139 - the construction of Hadrian's Wall - not necessarily for defence but rather for control.
~140-160 - the construction of the Antonine's Wall (north from the Hadrian's Wall; never used for too long)

~367 - start of the Rome's decline - Britain suffers from attacks by Celts and Saxons. The development of fortresses along the southern and the southeaster coast.
409 - the Roman empire withdraws its troops from Britannia

After the Romans left the peoples from the area of nowadays' Denmark and north Germany began to settle in Britannia. It was the beginning of the "Anglo-Saxon invasion". The term invasion is hardly appropriate though, as the process of colonisation of the island by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes took several centuries and was often peaceful.


Most of the information about the period comes from Ecclestastical History of the English People by a monk called Venerable Bede (7th/8th century).

~430 first settlements of the Germanic tribes in Britain.

The end of the 6th century - the term Weallas (source of the present Wales) coined by the Anglo-Saxons. Weallas meant "the land of the foreigners". It suggests that by that time the Britons were pushed away from most of the present England.

They brought a whole new idea of how a society should be ordered.
Moots - meetings of all people (Polish: wiec) which were to decide on laws and justice (the idea of common people giving sentences - jury).
Witan - a group of the elders - the wisest and most experienced members of the country who decided on who should be the leader.
Shires - administrative units (developed particularly in Wessex) with a shire reeve (sheriff) as a local administrator.

Anglo-Saxons created small kingdoms which appeared and disappeared. Some of them would take over the others for a time. With time a more stable heptarchy (seven kingdoms) was developed - Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria.


597 - St Augustine sent with the christianisation mission to England - invited by Ethelbert - king of Kent; under the influence of his wife, a Frankish Christian princess.

7th century - rivalry between the Roman and the Irish catholic churches. The Irish church was focused on the salvation of the ordinary people, while the Roman church - on the conversion of kingdoms and their authorities.

The early Anglo-Saxon kings were inclined to support the Roman church for three reasons:
- the Roman church gave them the support by giving them the "God's approval";
- the Roman church gave the kings the idea of written laws, which further strengthened their power over the people; moreover, the churches and the monasteries were the centres of education where literate people were taught - ones who could be used as the kings' administrators;
- the churches and the monasteries also became centres of trade, not only local, but also international, through the contacts with other catholic centres in Europe.

663 - Synod in Whitby - a decision meeting where the contest was resolved in favour of the Roman church (by the king of the most powerful of the kingdoms at the time - Northumbria).

Offa of Mercia (757-96) claimed the kingship of the English. He is nowadays remembered by his brutal conquest of neighbouring kingdoms, his coins and the earth dyke dividing Mercia and Wales.

Offa's dyke
The Vikings (also referred to as the Danes) started raiding Britain in 700s. In 860s they saw that the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would be easy to overtake, thus decided to conquer England under the leadership of Guthrum.

The last Anglo-Saxon kingdom unconquered by the Danes was Wessex ruled by Alfred (later to be known as Alfred the Great).


Initially Alfred was defeated but hid in the marshes, managed to regroup and in 878 won a decisive battle over Guthrum.
He forced the Danes to sign a peace treaty - a division of was established: on the south-east the independent kingdom of Wessex remained; in the north-west there was a Danish-ruled land, referred to as Danelaw ("the land where the law of the Danes reigns").


Alfred commissioned the building of a chain of fortresses which later developed into boroughs (towns - Old English burhs) in their own right with a re-taken London as one of them.
He also commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - one of the most important Old English writings, which was continued for several centuries.
After the re-taking of London Alfred started to refer to himself as the "king of the Angles and the Saxons".

His great grandson - Edgar - finally managed to crown himself as the king of England (not just the king of Wessex).

Shortly after his crowning in Bath Edgar died. The succession became the reason for a fierce conflict.

It took only three years for his son to be killed and for Ethelred the Unready (from unread, which used to mean "not willing to listen to advice/badly advised") to become the next king of England.


991 - the Danes start to attack anew. This time it seems they are even more successful than a century earlier.

In order to secure the south of his country Ethelred married princess Emma from the duchy of Normandy. Nevertheless, the Danes prove to be too strong and take over the English throne. Ethelred is driven into exile, while Sweyn - the Danish king - becomes the king of England.

Sweyn dies shortly afterwards. On his death Ethelred is invited by the English barons to re-take the throne, but on certain terms.

Soon Ethelred dies as well while the fighting for England continues.

1016 - Canute - Sweyn's son - takes the English crown. After initial harassment of the English nobility and the royal family he changes his approach to the English affairs. He marries Emma (Ethelred's widow) and appoints English barons as his earls to rule in his stead while he is away - the most important of them is earl Godwine.

Canute's empire
1035 - the death of Canute - leads to fighting among Emma's sons - ones after Ethelred and the ones after Canute. Only one of them - Edward - prevails.

1043 - Edward (the Confessor) becomes the king of England. He has to face the opposition of the Godwines.

At one point Edward brought the conflict with the Godwines to an open military fight. At first it was Edward who managed to banish Godwine. Yet, earl Godwine soon returned and took control over the king.

At this time Edward is said to have made a promise to a young duke of Normandy - William (the Bastard). He promised the duke the crown of England. It was done mainly to antagonize the Godwines.

Harold Godwineson takes over the position as the head of the Godwine family. He resolves the conflict between his brother Tostig and the Northumbrian barons in favour of the barons - breaking his family loyalty.

Later, for an unknown reason he sails to Normandy. He is arrested by William there and he too is said to promise William the English crown.

1066 - after Edward's death Harold becomes the next king of England. He is immediately faced with contest from abroad:
- his brother Tostig brings the Norwegian king Harold Haradra (the Norse forces are successfully defeated by the English);
- duke William claims to have been promised the crown by both Edward and Harold.