Britain's Earliest Immigration

Question 1

Answer these question on the Celts?
1. Where were they from?
2. Where did they settle and when?
3. How did they live?
4. What were they?
5. How did they look and dress?
6. What did they do in Britain?
7. How did the run their tribes?
8. What was religion like?

Answer 1

1. From central europe
2. Settled in Britain around 500 BC
3. They lived in tribes that often faught brutally with each other.
4. They were farmers.
5. They were proud of their appearances, they kept themselves clean using special soaps and perfumes, they wore shirts and cloaks that were colourfully dyed and embroidered.
6. They introduced bagpipes to Britain, and built forts.
7. Tribal buisness was done at yearly assemblies - they would settle land disputes, tried accused criminals and appointed people to important positions by vote.
8. They had celtic priests (druids) who were in charge of rituals, some of their traditions are still around today such as Halloween and May Day.

Question 2

Answer these questions on the Romans?
1. When did they arrive in Britain and how long did the stay?
2. Where were they from?
3. Who was part of the Roman army that settles in Britain?
4. What did they do for Britain?

Answer 2

1. They arrived in 43 AD and stayed for around 400 years.
2. They were from Italy (Rome)
3. The Roman army was made up of Gauls (from france), Germans and Hungarians, and there is also evidence of black Africans near York.
4. They brought roads, towns such as chester, york, bath, gloucester, lincoln, colchester and st albans. Our language can be traced back to romans, calendars, coins, glass and bricks. Introduced cabbages, peas, wine, apples, grapes, turnips, carrots and cats.

Question 3

Answer these questions on the Anglo-Saxons.
1. When did they arrive?
2. Who were they?
3. Where did they drive the celtic tribes into?
4. What religion were they?
5. Who were some of their gods and what have their names influenced today?
6. What did they do for Britain?

Answer 3

1. Around 450 AD - after the Romans left.
2. They invaded in small groups from Denmark and Northern Germany (other tribes also invaded around this time, such as Jutes from Northern Germany). They were called Angles and Saxons.
3. They drove many of the celtic tribes into Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria and Scotland.
4. Before they converted to Christianity, they were pagans and worshipped many gods.
5. Their gods influenced the days of the week: Tiw (the god of combat) = Tuesday
   Woden (the god of war and wisdom) = Wodnesday or Wednesday
   Thor (protector of mankind) = Thorsday or Thursday
   Freya (goddess of love and beauty) = Friday.
6. They gave England its name - ‘Angle-land’, Anglo-Saxon is one of the key ‘base’ languages of English. Many of our counties and towns were created and named by them - if a town ends in, ‘ton’, ‘-which’, ‘-worth’, ‘burn’, ‘-hurst’ or ‘ham’ then it was probably Anglo-Saxon originally.

Question 4

Answer these questions on the Vikings.
1. When did they arrive?
2. Where were they from?
3. What were they looking for?
4. What did they do when they got here?
5. What was named by the Vikings?
6. What did a man of Viking origin do?

Answer 4

1. Arrived after 800 AD.
2. From Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
3. They were looking for land to settle on but also for loot.
4. When then got to Britain some attacked and went home, others stayed. They took over much of north and east Britain.
5. Places ending in ‘-by’ and ‘-thorpe’ were named by the Vikings.
6. A man of viking origin became the king of England in 1016 (King Cnut).

Question 5

Answer these questions on the Normans.
1. When did they arrive?
2. Where were they from?
3. Where did they controll?
4. What did they do for and bring to Britain?

Answer 5

1. Arrived after 1066.
2. From Normandy, France.
3. Rich Normans controlled England and Wales, but failed to take over Scotland and Ireland.
4. They built many fine castles, churches and cathedrals that still stand today. Over 10,000 words in our dictionaries come from these French settlers (e.g royal, city, soldier, parliament and prince). Names like William Stephen, Emma, Alice and Robert were introduced by them. They invented surnames and introduced playing chess and conquers. Also introduced deer, pheasants and rabbits and planted the New Forest to hunt them in. They introduced many new laws, traditions and customs still in use today. They changed the way the country was ruled and how people were taxed.