History of England

The History of Britain covers British history from the Prehistoric era to the modern age.

The late pre-Roman Iron Age

Britain emerged into recorded history in the Classical period. It is likely that the name Cassiterides or "tin islands", mentioned in the 5th century BC by Herodotus, refers to the British Isles. The Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia claimed to have visited the island in the 4th century, and although his own writings are lost, and later classical writers are sceptical, it seems likely that he did so. However, little else is recorded about the island until the 1st century BC.

The Belgae of north-eastern Gaul began to settle on the coasts of south-eastern Britain in the 2nd or early 1st century BC, after a period of raiding, and a Gaulish Belgic king called Diviciacus is known to have held power there. Then, in the mid-1st century BC, Britain became part of Rome's sphere of political influence. Julius Caesar, in the course of his conquest of Gaul, made two armed expeditions there in 55 and 54 BC. The first barely gained a foothold on the south-east coast before being forced to return to the continent for winter. The second was more successful, installing a friendly king, Mandubracius of the Trinovantes, and forcing the submission of his rival Cassivellaunus, but conquered no territory and did not extend beyond the Thames Valley.

Coins had arrived in Britain before Caesar, perhaps as early as the late 3rd century BC. The earliest were imported from Belgic Gaul, and were uninscribed. By the early 1st century BC the Britons of the south-east were striking their own coins. The first inscribed coins were those of Caesar's former ally Commius, who fled to Britain after falling out with Caesar and established a dynasty there. The practice spread, allowing the archaeologist some insight into British politics in this period. Beginning with Commius' son Tincomarus, the traditional Gallo-Belgic design, ulimately derived from the 4th century BC gold staters of Philip II of Macedon, was replaced by Roman-derived designs.

Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus' reign, claims that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could, and mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus. Based mainly on coin evidence, Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms, the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius, and archaeology shows an increase in imported luxury goods in the south-east. These peaceful relations broke down in AD AD 39 or 40, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and staged an invasion that collapsed in farcical circumstances.

Roman Empire

When Claudius successfully invaded in 43, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, this time Verica of the Atrebates. The Catuvellaunian territory became the nucleus of a new Roman province, while Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus was sent up as the client ruler of Atrebatian and other lands. Over the course of the 1st century Roman control expended west into Wales, then north into Scotland. However, the Roman presence in the north proved untenable, and was withdrawn to the line of Hadrian's Wall in the 2nd century.

• Names
• Language
• Urbanisation & road-building
• Arrival of Christianity
• Roman civil wars

Post Rome

• Roman withdrawal
• Migration period
• Anglo-Saxons, Picts, Scots
• Arthur legend
• Emergence of England, Scotland and Wales

The Middle Ages

• Early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England, Gaelic kingdoms in Scotland, Welsh kingdoms
• Norman conquests of England and Wales
• Wars of Scottish independence
• Owain Glyndwr's rebellion in Wales
• Wars of the Roses
• Stuart Scotland