11. Celtic Britain. Society and culture

The ancient Celts were various population groups living in several parts of Europe north of the Mediterranean region from the Late Bronze Age onwards.

Celtic warriors were known for their long hair and imposing physique.

The Celts loved war.

Fierce appearance in the battle, dyed hair

Great users of light chariots in warfare

They beheaded their opponents in battle and display their heads as trophies

They couldn't stop fighting among themselves long enough to put up a unified front

The basic unit of Celtic life was the clan, which were bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes, each of which had its own social structure and customs, and possibly its own local gods.

Housing

The Celts lived in huts of arched timber with walls of wicker and roofs of thatch. The huts were generally gathered in loose hamlets. In several places each tribe had its own coinage system.

The Iron Age is the age of the "Celt" in Britain

Women were equal to men, owned property, could work and choose their own husbands

Language and culture

a written Celtic language developed well into Christian times

The Celtic language is a branch of the Indo-European language family.

oral transmission of culture, primarily through the efforts of bards and poets

they held many of their religious ceremonies in woodland groves and near sacred water

12. Celtic Britain. Druids.

The word ‘Druid’’ seem to have come from ‘doire’, an Irish-Gaelic word for oak tree, a symbol of knowledge

Druidism can be described as a shamanic religion

it relied on a combination of contact with the spirit world and holistic medicines to treat (and sometimes cause) illnesses

super-class of priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators

They had their own universities, where traditional knowledge was passed on by rote

They had the right to speak ahead of the king in council, and may have held more authority than the king

The eldest Druid, the Arch-druid, would wear gold robes

The ordinary Druids would wear white and act as priests

The Sacrificers would fight and wear red

The blue Bards were artistic

The new recruits to Druidism completed lesser tasks and were held in lesser esteem, wearing brown or black

13. The Roman invasion. Roman legacy.

Roman influence began in 55BC with Julius Caesar’s first attempt to conquer Britain

Network of roads - there were about 10,000 miles of roads constructed during the first hundred years of Roman occupation

Roman villas - Mediterranean style of architecture and town planning

Buildings were made of stone and brick

Some people in Britain started to use Latin too.

People started to educate, to learn reading and writing

Romans brought Christianity during the second century. Before the Romans came, the native Britons were pagans.

London became the hub at the centre of a major network of roads

14. Early Anglo-Saxon literature

Saint Gildas the Wise was a Romano-British monk, known primarily for a work entitled - On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain. Mid-6th century AD.

On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain

It’s a chronicle of the history of Roman Britain

His purpose in writing is to illustrate the sins of his people and to show them a better way.

The Venerable Bede (602 or 673 – 735) was a Benedictine monk at the Northumbrian monastery of St Peter at Wearmouth, an author and scholar; "The father of English history".

(The Ecclesiastical History of the English People); composed a five line vernacular poem known to modern scholars as Bede’s Death Song

five books and 400 pages of the history of England; from the time of Caesar to the date of its completion (731); Employed all the testimony with critical consideration of its value; was very concerned about the validity of all his sources

Nobody really knows if he was correct