История Англии

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ  
РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 
 
РОСТОВСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ  
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ (РИНХ) 
 
 
ФАКУЛЬТЕТ ЛИНГВИСТИКИ И ЖУРНАЛИСТИКИ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Агабабян С. Р., Барабанова И. Г. 
 
 
 
ИСТОРИЯ АНГЛИИ 
 
 
 
УЧЕБНОЕ ПОСОБИЕ  
 
ПО КУРСУ  
«ИСТОРИЯ СТРАН ИЗУЧАЕМОГО ЯЗЫКА  
(НА ИНОСТРАННОМ ЯЗЫКЕ)» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ростов-на-Дону 
2018 

УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.2Англ 
А 23 
 
 
Агабабян, С. Р. 
А 23 История Англии : учебное пособие по курсу «История 
стран изучаемого языка (на иностранном языке)» / 
С. Р. Агабабян, И. Г. Барабанова. – Ростов н/Д : Издательскополиграфический комплекс Рост. гос. экон. ун-та (РИНХ), 
2018. – 92 с. 
 
ISBN 978-5-7972-2440-2 
 
 
Учебное пособие знакомит обучающихся с основными историческими событиями и историческими личностями Англии, способствует расширению фоновых знаний. Все тексты пособия являются современными и 
аутентичными. 
Предназначено для студентов направления 45.03.02 «Лингвистика», 
проходящих историю стран изучаемого языка. Также данное пособие 
можно использовать на гуманитарных факультетах и в системе дополнительного образования.     
УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.2Англ 
 
Рецензенты: 
к. п. н., доцент Евдокимова Н. В., 
к. ф. н., доцент Погребная И. Ф. 
 
Авторы: 
к. филол. н., доцент Агабабян С. Р., 
к. псх. н., доцент Барабанова И. Г. 
 
 
Утверждено в качестве учебного пособия Редакционно-издательским 
советом РГЭУ (РИНХ). 
 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-7972-2440-2 
© Ростовский государственный 
экономический университет (РИНХ), 2018 
© Агабабян С. Р., Барабанова И. Г., 2018 

CONTENT 
 
 
UNIT 1 
EARLY HISTORY ______________________________________ 4 
UNIT 2 
THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE VIKINGS ______________ 10 
UNIT 3 
THE NORMANS THE PLANTAGENETS _________________ 16 
UNIT 4 
THE TUDORS _________________________________________ 31 
UNIT 5 
THE STUARTS ________________________________________ 36 
UNIT 6  
HOUSE OF HANOVER _________________________________ 45 
UNIT 7 
THE VICTORIAN PERIOD _____________________________ 54 
UNIT 8 
WAR AND PEACE 1910–1945 ___________________________ 61 
UNIT 9 
MODERN ENGLAND __________________________________ 73 
KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND. 
TIMELINE & BURIAL SITES ___________________________ 83 
HISTORICAL CHART _________________________________ 87 
 

UNIT 1 
EARLY HISTORY 
 
Exercise 1. Read the information about the Early History of Bri- 
tain. Give more information on Durrington Walls and Windmill Hill. 
 
Neolithic Period 
A major change occurred c. 4000 BC with the introduction of 
agriculture by Neolithic immigrants from the coasts of western and 
possibly northwestern Europe. They were pastoralists as well as tillers 
of the soil. Tools were commonly of flint won by mining, but axes of 
volcanic rock were also traded by prospectors exploiting distant outcrops. The dead were buried in communal graves of two main kinds: 
in the west, tombs were built out of stone and concealed under 
mounds of rubble; in the stoneless eastern areas the dead were buried 
under long barrows (mounds of earth), which normally contained timber structures. Other evidence of religion comes from enclosures (e.g., 
Windmill Hill, Wiltshire), which are now believed to have been centres of ritual and of seasonal tribal feasting. From them developed, late 
in the 3rd millennium, more clearly ceremonial ditch-enclosed earthworks known as henge monuments. Some, like Durrington Walls, 
Wiltshire, are of great size and enclose subsidiary timber circles. British Neolithic culture thus developed its own individuality. 
 
Exercise 2. Read the information about Stonehenge. Give short 
presentation about this place. 
 
Stonehenge 
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 
2 miles (3 km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. It consists of a ring of standing stones, with each standing stone 
around 13 ft (4.1 metres) high, 6 ft 11 in (2.1 metres) wide and weighing around 25 tons. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle 
of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in 
England, including several hundred burial mounds. Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding 
circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the 
monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating 
suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 
BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC. 

One of the most famous landmarks in the UK, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882 when legislation to protect historic 
monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its 
surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 
1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English 
Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust. 
 
 
 
One of the most famous landmarks in the UK, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882 when legislation to protect historic 
monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its 
surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 
1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English 
Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.  
Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 
BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least 
another five hundred years.  
 
Exercise 3. Read the information about the Celtic invasion. Answer the questions and say how this invasion changed Britain. 
 
The Celts 
Between the sixth and third century BC, the British Isles were invaded by Celtic tribes who settled in southern England. They originally 
came from Central Europe. Their culture goes back to about 1200 BC. 

Between 500 and 200 they were the most powerful people north of the 
Alps. Originally they were pagan, with priests known Druids. They later converted to Christianity. It was Celtic missionaries who spread the 
Christian religion through Scotland and Northern England. 
The Celts were famous artists, known for their sophisticated designs, which are found in their elaborate jewelry decorated crosses and 
illuminated manuscripts. 
1. When were the British Isles invaded by the Celts? 
2. Where did the Celtic tribes settle? 
3. What was their religion? 
4. What were the Celts famous for? 
 
Exercise 4. Read the information about the Roman invasion. Answer the questions and say how this invasion changed Britain. 
 
The Romans 
Julius Caesar invaded southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC and 
wrote that the population of southern Britannia was extremely large.  
 
 Julius Caesar 
 
Until the Roman Conquest of Britain, Britain's British population was relatively stable, and by the time of Julius Caesar's first invasion, the British population of what was western old Britain was 
speaking a Celtic language generally thought to be the forerunner of 
the modern Brythonic languages. After Julius Caesar abandoned Britain, it fell back into the hands of the Britons and the Belgae. 
The Romans began their second conquest of Britain in 43 AD, 
during the reign of Claudius. They annexed the whole of what would 
become modern England and Wales over the next forty years and periodically extended their control over much of lowland Scotland. 
In AD 43 the Romans invaded southern Britain. It became a 
Roman colony called Britania. The Romans set up their capital in 

London and built major cities in Bath, Chester and York. The cities 
contained the beautiful buildings, squares and public baths. Fine villas 
were not completely peaceful. In AD 60, the Iceni, a tribe led by 
Queen Boudicca, destroyed three cities, including London. The Romans stopped the rebellion brutally and Boudicca killed herself.  
The tribes of Scotland never completely surrendered to the Romans. As a result, in AD 122, Emperor Hadrian built a long wall to 
defend the border between England and Scotland. Hadrian’s Wall was 
overrun several times by Scottish tribes and was finally abandoned in 
AD 383. By then the Roman Empire was collapsing and the Roman 
legions had left Britain to fight the tribes on the continent.    
 
 Queen Boudicca 
 
1. When were the British Isles invaded by the Romans? 
2. What did they call their colony? 
3. Who did they build fine villas for? 
4. Who was Queen Boudicca? 
5. What happened to her? 
6. Did the tribes of Scotland ever completely surrender to the 
Romans? 
7. Who built a long wall to defend the border between England 
and Scotland? 
 
Exercise 5. Read the text and name the main facts about the early history of London. 
 
The Romans waited to come to Britain. After the battle by the 
river, Caesar had not come a third time. Ten years later, the great conqueror had been stabbed to death in the Senate in Rome. Another century had passed before, in AD 43, the Emperor Claudius had crossed 
the narrow sea to claim the island for civilization. 

Once begun, however, the occupation had been swift and thorough. Military bases were immediately set up in the main tribal centers. The land was surveyed. It did not take long for the canny Roman 
colonizers to interest themselves in the place that went by the Celtic 
name of Londinos. It was a tribal capital. Just as in Caesar's time, the 
main tribal centres lay to the east, on ether of the long river estuary. 
But still it was the first place where one could ford the river, and 
therefore the natural focus for a system of roads. And the Roman 
roads were the key to everything. Ignoring entirely the ancient system 
of prehistoric tracks along the ridges, the straight, metalled roads of 
the roman engineers struck across the island, joining tribal capitals 
and administrative centres in an iron framework they were never entirely to lose. From the white cliffs of Dover in the south-eastern peninsular of Kent, up through Canterbury and Rochester, ran the road 
known Watling Street. To the east, above the road opening of the estuary laid the road to Colchester. Due north, a great road led to Lincoln and on to York; and in the west, past Winchester, a network of 
roads joined Gloucester, the Roman spa of Bath with its medical 
springs, and the pleasant market towns of the warm south-west. 
 
 Londinium 
In the summer of the year 251, the province of Britain was calm, 
as, for two centuries, it had usually been. True, in the early days a 
huge revolted by the British Queen Boudicca had briefly shaken the 
province; for a long time, too, the proud people of Wales had troubled 
the west of the island, whilst in the north the wild Picts and Scots had 
never been subdued. The Emperor Hadrian had even built a great wall 
from coast to coast to lock them in their moors and highlands fastnesses. More recently, it had also been necessary to build two strong 
naval ports on the east coast to deal with troublesome Germanic pi

rates on the seas. But in the increasingly troubled world of the sprawling empire, where barbarians kept breaking through the frontiers in 
Eastern Europe, where political strife seemed endemic and where that 
very year no fewer than five emperors had been proclaimed in one 
place or another, Britain was a haven of peace and modest prosperity. 
And Londinium was its great emporium. 
From London by Edward Rutherfurd  
 
Exercise 6. Read the text and say what influenced the Celtic Art. 
 
Celtic Style Christian Art  
The evolution of Celtic art was significantly influenced by military and political events. By the mid-first century CE most of the Celtic lands including much of Britain were absorbed into the Roman Empire, and only Ireland and the north of Britain remained outside it. For 
most of the period the northern frontier of the Empire in Britain was 
Hadrian's Wall and the area bordering it was subject to massive Roman influence. Indeed, the Celtic tribes living there may have been in 
alliance with Rome. This region seems to have played a significant 
part in the development of new, partly romanized fashions amongst 
the Celtic peoples of the North and West. Within the province of Britain, Celtic culture and language survived to some extent and it is 
probable that many of the great landowners were the romanized descendants of native leaders. 
Celtic Cross 
By the fourth century, the troubles which beset the Empire left 
the province in Britain vulnerable to attack by pirates, and in Ireland, 
by the Picts from Scotland and by the Germanic Saxons. The picture 
is very confused, however, and some of these raiders may also have 
served from time to time as mercenaries defending the colony and 
may have been settled in Britain for that very purpose. In 407, the legions withdrew and about 410 the Emperor Honorius advised the 
Britons to look to their own defence. This they did and it now seems 
clear that a high level of romanized culture was maintained by native 
rulers well into the sixth century. 

UNIT 2 
THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE VIKINGS 
 
Exercise 1. Read the text, answer the questions and say how this 
invasion changed Britain. 
 
The Saxons, Jutes and Angles 
From about AD 350, Germanic tribes began invading south-east 
England. The tribes came from what is now northern Germany, Holland and Denmark. The first to come were the Saxons, joined later by 
the Jutes and Angles. The Angles gave England its name. Britain had 
the protection of only a few Roman legions. The native people could 
not stop the new enemy, known as the Anglo-Saxons. The Celts fled 
north and west taking their ancient arts and languages with them. Celtic 
languages have disappeared from most of Europe, but are still spoken 
in parts of Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Celtic Christians later returned 
to England and Scotland and Ireland as missionaries. The AngloSaxons in the southern England were converted to Christianity following the arrival of Saint Augustine of Rome in AD 597. As Christianity 
spread, churches and monasteries were built all over England. 
 
1. When did the Germanic tribes begin invading south-east England? 
2. Where did these tribes come from? 
3. Who was the first to come? 
4. Who protected Britain? 
5. Are Celtic languages still spoken anywhere? 
6. Who arrived to England to covert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity? 
 
Exercise 2. Read the information on Alfred the Great and retell 
it, paying attention to the pronunciation of the proper names. 
 
Alfred the Great (849 AD – 899 AD) 
King of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and one 
of the outstanding figures of English history, as much for his social 
and educational reforms as for his military successes against the 
Danes. He is the only English monarch known as «the Great».