GK UK HISTORY

• Famous revolt against the Romans in Britain was led by Boudicca (Latin: Boadicea)
• After the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, the main language of England changed from Celtic and Latin to Germanic
• Animals that lived in prehistoric Britain: rhinoceros, elephant, dinosaur
• Romans officially left Britain in the year 410 AD
• Romans brought to Britain:

  • Roads that connected markets, towns, and forts
  • Centralised taxation and administration
  • Greco-Roman deities and Christianity
  • The amenities of town life, e.g. baths, temples, amphitheatres
• Parts of the British Isles not conquered by the Romans: Ireland and Scotland
• Agriculture first arrived in Britain around 4,000 BC from Continental Europe
• First written account of Britain was by Pytheas of Massilia (Marseille)
• Roman/Latin names for British modern-day nations:

  • Scotland: Caledonia
  • Ireland: Hibernia
  • Wales: Cambria
  • England&Wales: Britannia
• First use of the word "Celtic" was by Greek writers, e.g. Herodotus
• Roman conquest of Britannia began in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius
• Hadrian's Wall was a defensive earthwork structure between England and Wales
• Modern part of the British Isles last settled by humans was Ireland
• Early tribes and peoples from the British Isles that spoke a Celtic language: Picts, Britons, Welsh, Gaels
• First humans reached the British Isles approximately 800,000 years ago
• London was officially founded by the Romans
• Ages sorted chronologically: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age
• First names of people in the British Isles were known in Roman 'Britannia'
• Alfred the Great is known for:

  • Keeping the Vikings at bay through various battle victories
  • Reforming the army, building a sea fleet, and building defences
  • Spreading literacy and education in his kingdom
• True facts about King Canute:

  • He ruled his vast northern empire from England
  • He married and established loyal earldoms to secure his throne
• Invaders chronologically: Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans
• Beowulf is an important Old English cultural artefact in the form of a poem written by an anonymous author
• Danegeld was a tax to raise money to bribe the Danish Vikings to not attack England, but it attracted even more lucrative Viking attacks
• First archbishop in England was to be seated by Pope Gregory in Canterbury
• Correct term for the seven principal Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Heptarchy
• Vikings or Norsemen that fell into England mostly came from Denmark and Norway
• Offa's Dyke was a defensive earthwork structure between England and Wales
• Hierarchical groups from Anglo-Saxon society: peasants and churls, thegns/thanes and ealdormen, earls, kings
• First king to style himself "King of the English" (Rex Anglorum) was Offa of Mercia
• Major Viking strongholds outside of England: Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides, Dublin
• Book of Kells from Anglo-Saxon England was a beautifully written and illustrated book containing the four gospels of the New Testament
• ‘Witangemot’ was the king’s council of wise men (nobles, clergy) in Anglo-Saxon England
• Modes of transport that allowed Vikings to move quickly and flexibly: horseback riding, shallow longboats
• In the case of 'Murder in the Cathedral', Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in his own cathedral for disloyalty towards King Henry II and ultimately was canonised as a saint by the Pope
• Battle of Hastings took place in the year AD 1066, led by William of Normandy against the Anglo-Saxons
• Domesday Book was compiled by the Normans primarily to survey the land they had conquered for tax purposes
• First British universities, Oxford and Cambridge, were founded in the 12th century
• Medieval English Parliament developed out of The King’s Great Council
• Magna Carta was signed in 1215
• Buildings in chronological order: Skara Brae, Orkney; Tower of London; Westminster Palace