1000 Years Of British History After 410 AD When The Romans Evacuated

The Romans kept continually pushing back their Celtic attackers in Britain from two sides (the North and West) but then in 410 AD Emperor Constantine removed his Roman Army in Britain altogether in order to defend the Roman Empire at the River Rhine frontier from invasion.

The different cities of Britain thus had to defend themselves and the Romans never came back.

For the next One Thousand Years Britain again descended back into barbarism and feudalism with only a brief respite when William The Conqueror was ruling there.

For the first 600 years after the Romans, Britain was the battle ground from many different attackers such as the Angles, the Saxons, and the Celts were again pushed back into Wales and Scotland by continuing Viking attacks.

After the Romans had left in 410 AD, the Vikings used to get mercenaries from northern Germany and these mercenaries (Anglo Saxons) with their families were paid for with stolen British Lands where they could farm and set up permanent camps to defend themselves.

Even to this very modern day their Viking Blood Line is very strong in certain parts of the UK.

Eventually the Anglo Saxons realized that they were stronger than their employers (the Vikings) and thus they took control of most of Britain and lands that were not originally provided to them.

They colonized the northern and western parts of the British Isles and pushed the native Celts to the boundaries of Britain, in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.

In 850 AD they finally formed three separate states - Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex.

These Kingdoms not only had to fight with each other, but also had to protect themselves from frequent Viking attacks.

In 865 AD a large Viking army landed in East Anglia and gained a lot of territory here from the now resident Anglo Saxons.

In 878 AD Vikings attacked fiercely and the Saxon King Alfred had to run away to Somerset to survive, from where he regrouped and then kept attacking the Vikings and ultimately with assistance from his sons and grandsons they pushed the Vikings back into the sea.

By 955 AD the Great Grandson of Alfred, Eadred ruled Britain in a fine manner and he created an infrastructure also.

Then Britain was pushed into a series of battles and wars against various invaders.

One interesting thing happening to Britain at this relatively late period was the arrival of Christianity, brought in by Irish monks and the Christians organized the whole country into separate diocese, each under the control of a bishop.

Then along came another Viking raider, William the Conqueror who ultimately grabbed hold of the whole of Britain with relative ease by killing King Harold in the Battle of Hastings. When Edward the Confessor died in 1066, the Vikings saw a chance to regain control and landed an army to start a war. Within 13 days when they were camping near Hastings, the Normans killed the English King Harold. William I was crowned on London on Christmas Day in 1066.

Once he got control of Britain he showed his power by building the Tower of London to control the unruly Londoners and to reinforce himself as the new ruler of Britain.

The previous land owners lost their lands to these Young Viking Soldiers and they built many castles throughout Britain, among them being Warwick and Windsor that still stand today. When he died in 1087 around 100 major castles were in Britain.

The other good thing about William 1 was that he sent many of his surveyors across Britain to ascertain the existing and potential value of his Kingdom, and when they reported back to him, the information was put into a massive Domesday Book.

William 1 had descendants who expanded the Norman Empire further into parts of Nortern France and they ruled across the English Channel for hundreds of years.

One of his descendants was Henry II who is infamous for ordering the murder of the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral.

After Henry II, King John was weak and appointed as a figurehead King, more of a care-taker of the English administration run by individual Barons.

This is of course when the world's first Constitution - The Magna Carta - was signed in Runnymede by the weak King John, giving rights to the Barons.

Continental wars continued with Britain making it poor and thus losing most of its lands on the continent except for Gascony (Bordeaux).

From 1370 to 1413 many revolutions took place and ultimately the House of Lancaster got the throne, but Henry V's reign was quite short and colourful from (1413 to 1422).