In the 8th century Britain experienced another wave of invasions. These invaders, known as Vikings, came from Scandinavia. In the 9th century they conquered and settled the extreme north of Scotland, and also some coastal regions of Ireland. Their conquest of England was stopped when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex. By that time they had already taken most of England. King Alfred made a treaty with the Vikings, according to which Viking rule was recognized in the east and north of England. It was called the Danelaw, the land where the law of the Danes ruled. In the rest of the country Alfred was recognized as king.
King Alfred (871-899) is the only English King to be known as the Great. He rebuilt London, built the first permanent fleet of warships in England to fight Viking invasion ships. He used to literate men of the Church to help establish a system of law, to educate the people and to write down important matters. He started the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a history of the people of England. He patronized traditional arts and crafts. During the years of his reign there was a great increase in the translation and production of illustrated manuscripts, and many exquisite jewelry items were made. King Alfred was well-educated and full of initiative, he was not afraid to consult his colleagues and seek consensus whenever possible. He was also religious but without being obsessed. He possessed a strict sense of justice, insisting that even after defeat the Danes should be allowed to remain in their settlements and be treated as equals of the English before the law.
King Alfred is also popularly known for the story of the burning of the cakes. While Alfred was wandering around his country organizing resistance to the Viking invaders, he travelled in disguise. On one occasion, he stopped at a woman’s house. The woman asked him to watch some cakes that she was cooking to see that they didn’t burn, while she went off to get food. Alfred became lost in thought and the cakes burned. When the woman returned, she shouted angrily at Alfred and sent him away. Alfred never told her that he was her king.
So by the end of the 10th century England seemed t be rich and peaceful again. It was one kingdom with a Germanic culture and language throughout. Christianity was its religion. Most modern-day Scotland was also united by this time in a Celtic (Gaelic) kingdom.
1066 s the most famous date in English history. That year Edward the Confessor, who was the king at the time and known for building churches all over the country, died without an obvious heir. When he was king he promised his crown to his friend William, Duke of Normandy after his death. But when he died his crown was given to Harold, Earl (герцог) of Wessex. When William learned this, he felt cheated and brought a Norman army over to England. He defeated Harold at the battle of Hastings and was crowned king of England. Now known as William the conqueror, he subdued the local population by confiscating Anglo-Saxon estates and giving them to his Norman followers.
The successful Norman invasion of England in 1066 brought Britain into the mainstream of the western European culture. A strict feudal system was imposed. Great nobles, or barons, were responsible directly to the king; lesser lords, each owning a village, were directly responsible to the barons. Under them were the peasants, tied by the strict system of duties and obligations to the local lord, and forbidden to travel without his permission.
The peasants were the English-speaking Saxons. The lords and the barons were the French-speaking Normans. This was the beginning of the English class system.
The Normans introduced a strong system of government. It meant that Anglo-Norman kingdom was easily the most powerful political force on the British Isles. That’s why the authority of the English monarch gradually extended to other parts of these islands in the next 250 yeas.
By the end of the 13th century a large part of eastern Ireland was controlled by Anglo-Norman lords in the name of the English king; and the whole of Wales was under his direct rule. At that time the custom of naming the monarch’s eldest son ‘the Prince of Wales’ began. Scotland managed to remain politically independent during the medieval period, but had to fight occasional wars to do so.
Despite English rule, neither Norman nor Saxon actually settled actually settled in northern and central Wales. As a result, the (Celtic) Welsh language and culture remained strong. (National Festivals of Welsh Song and Poetry continued throughout the medieval period and still take place today.) As for the Anglo-Norman lords who settled in Ireland, they adopted the Gaelic (Irish) language and customs. But the political independence of Scotland didn’t prevent the gradual switch to the English language and customs in the lowlands (i.e. southern part of the country). This happened because many Anglo-Saxon aristocrats moved there after the Norman Conquest (завоевание) of England. Besides, the Celtic kings saw that the adoption of an Anglo-Norman style of government would strengthen royal
power. So by the end of this period a cultural split had developed between the lowlands, where the way of life and language was similar to that in England, and the highlands, where (Celtic) Gaelic culture prevailed
The existence of two words for the larger farm animals in Modern English is a result of the class division established by the Norman Conquest. Thus there are words for the living animals (e.g. cow, pig, sheep), which have their origin in Anglo-Saxon, and the words for the meat from those animals (e.g. beef, pork, mutton), which have their origin in the French language that the Normans brought to England
