Textuality » 3A Interacting
FOCUS ON HISTORY
CELTIC BRITAIN
THE IBERIANS:
- Settled in Neolithic
- They spread from the South
- Evidences: archaeological remains → "beakers"
- Landmark: Stonehenge.
THE CELTS:
- They arrived from North-West Germany
- Language remains: Welsh, Gaelic
- Physical appearance: tall, muscular, fair skin, blue eyes, blond hair
- Occupations: farmers, hunters, fishermen and metal workers
- Social role: warriors, seamen, traders
- Social organisation: tribes
RELIGION: Druidism
- Druids occupations: religion, justice, education, medicine
- Rites: ceremonies in the forest
- Symbols: mistletoe
RELIGION: Worships
- Divinities: natural elements → the Sun, the Moon, trees, rivers
- Holy element: Water → which generates life and is the door to the world after death
- Believes: immortality, transmigration of the soul
- Life after death: spent on the Earth in caves, hills or lakes → nature gets a magical connotation
RELIGION: Sacrifices
- Means of communicating with the spiritual world
- Offering of precious objects, animals, sometimes human sacrifice
ROMAN CONQUEST:
- When: 55 B.C.
- Why: - the British Celts were helping Celts of Gaul against Romans
- agricultural and commercial prosperity
MIDDLE AGES - EUROPEAN SCENE
- When: from the collapse of Roman Empire to the Renaissance
UNIFYING FEATURES
- Christianity:
- Filled the vacuum left by Roma Empire
- Gave rise to new imperial systems (that of Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Empire, Tsars of Moscow)
- The Pope got spiritual and temporal power
- Feudalism:
- Had a hierarchical structure: king, vassals, serfs
- Gave power to local kings and weakened ecclesiastical authority
FACTORS OF CHANGE:
- Invasions:
- Nordic populations and Mongols
- Destructed old settlements but gave rise to new kingdoms
- Crusades:
- Why: to free the Holy Land from Muslims
- Ravaged many countries through which Crusaders travelled
- Opened new routes to trade and travel
- Trade and pilgrimage:
- For professional or spiritual reasons
- They were very hard
EMERGENCE OF CITIES AND THE MIDDLE CLASS:
- Cities development:
- When: by the 12th century
- Where: in several regions of Europe on trade routes
- Why: for economic and political reasons
- Middle-Class (bourgeoisie):
- Merchants and artisans formed a new social class
- They laid between nobles and peasants
MIDDLE AGES - BRITISH SCENE
MAIN FACTS:
- Roman domain: from 43 A.D. to 410 A.D
- Invasions of Angles, Saxons and Jutes:
- When: in the 5th-6th century
- They drove indigenous population to West and North
- Anglo-Saxon England:
- When: by the 6th century
- Seven kingdoms were born → in the 9th century they unified themselves under and Anglo-Saxon king (King of Wessex)
- Spread of Christianity in England:
- Who: St. Augustine, some Benedictine monks and missionaries
- When: from 597 A.D.
- Why: to convert to Christianity the heathen British
- Viking invasion:
- When: from 787
- Viking tribes began to raid British coasts and settlements: By 872 the Danes established themselves in East Anglia, the Vikings continued their attacks until the 10th century
- Famous Anglo-Saxon and Danish Kings:
- Alfred the Great (871-899): learned and skilful in political and military affairs
- Cnut: a Danish king who ruled wisely until 1035
- King Edward (1042-1066): Anglo-Saxon king, named the "Confessor" for his religious piety
- Norman invasion (1066) → William of Normandy claimed the throne
- The Historical MacBeth:
- When: 11th century
- Where: in Scotland
- Unlike the Shakespeare's hero he defeated his predecessor and got the throne
THE ANGLO-SAXONS
- They brought in Britain their code of values based on a sense of honour and fidelity to their chiefs, their religion and military organisation
- Society: there was a hierarchical structure:
- The king
- The "earls": nobles by birth
- The "thegns": personal companions of the king
- "freemen": they had to help building forts, roads and bridges and provide military service
- Life: they lived in villages based on agriculture and farming
- Early towns:
- When: in the 8th and 9th century
- They were military bases and centres of trade
- They were inhabited by soldiers, merchants and their families
- Language:
- Their language was Old English from which was born English spoken nowadays
- Celt's languages survived in Wales, North-West Scotland and Ireland
- Influence of Christianity:
- Christianity unified the kingdom and opened England to Europe
- Introduced the use of writing
CELTIC BRITAIN - EXERCISES
1)
Archaeological remains - resti archeologici
Megalith - megalite
Iron - ferro
Tin - stagno
Pottery - ceramica
Cloth - stoffa
Tribe - tribù
Warrior - guerriero
Temple - tempio
The gods - gli dei
2)
The evidences of Iberians are archaeological remains.
Their most famous construction is the structure of megalith of Stonehenge.
They traded iron, tin, pottery and cloth between tribes.
They also were warriors.
They did not pray their gods in temples but in forests.
3)
a. Mistletoe
b. Cloak
c. Megalith
d. Beaker
5)
a. Iberians evidences are archaeological remains of beakers and cups of pottery
b. Because we do not have writing remains so we cannot certainly know what was their use.
c. the Welsh and Gaelic languages in Wales and Scotland and the use of decorating houses with mistletoe which is still considered special.
d. Druids were very important in tribe because they were involved not only in religion but also in justice, education and medicine.
6)
Their stories might have been about their heroes, their beliefs, their knowledge and discoveries.
8)
Elements of worship | Beliefs | The after-life | Communication with the spiritual world |
Natural elements (Sun, Moon, trees, rivers...) | Immortality | Still spent on the Earth | Through sacrifice (animal but also human sacrifice) |
Water as the Holy element which generates life | Transmigration of the soul | In caves, hills or lakes | Through offerings of precious objects. |