The History of Britain

From Neolithic times to the 21st Century

Richard Dargie

• Publisher: Arcturus
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781789503364
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

This highly illustrated, information-packed volume traces the history of the British Isles and its people from prehistory to the present day.Arranged in eight self-contained sections, each dealing with a major historical period, The History of Britain explores both well-known historical events such as the Norman invasions and the execution of Charles I, and lesser-known details like the uprisings in Dark Age Wales and the birth of tabloid newspapers in Victorian Britain.Find out how centuries of invasions and migrations shaped British society and culture; how four proud and fiercely independent territories finally came together to form the United Kingdom; how a small island nation rose to become a global power, controlling the largest empire the world had ever seen; and how that empire was lost and today's modern, multicultural Britain emerged.Chapters include:
• Prehistoric Britain
• Roman Britain
• Invaders and Settlers
• Medieval Britain
• Early Modern Britain
• Georgian Britain
• Victorian Britain
• The Twentieth Century and Beyond

Picture credits

We have made every attempt to contact the copyright-holders of the illustrations within this book. Any oversights or omissions will be corrected in future editions.

1. White cliffs of Dover: Shutterstock

2. Depiction of early hominids: AKG Images

3. Depiction of early Mesolithic hunters: AKG Images

4. Trethevy Quoit in Cornwall: Pamela Adam

5. Beaker burial: Wessex Archaeology

6. Reconstruction of the earthworks and great stone circles at Avebury: Mark Denovich

7. Bronze axeheads: Bridgeman Art Library

8. Julius Caesar commanding his forces on the first Roman expedition to the British Isles: Corbis

9. Emperor Claudius: Corbis

10. Wicker man: Corbis

11. The warrior queen Boudicca and her army: Getty Images

12. Emperor Vespasian Bridgeman Art Library

13. Historian Gaius Cornelius Tacitus: AKG Images

14. Hadrian’s Wall: Ian Robertson

15. Construction of fortifications along Hadrian’s Wall: Mary Evans Picture Library

16. Mosaic floor at the Roman villa of Bignor in Sussex: Mark Burbidge

17. Plan of the Roman town of Silchester: Mary Evans Picture Library

18. Roman bath-house: David Wilmot

19. Statue of Marcus Aurelius: Shutterstock

20. Emperor Septimius Severus: AKG Images

21. The tribes of Caledonia, now known collectively as the Picts: Bridgeman Art Library

22. Attack on Hadrian’s Wall: Bridgeman Art Library

23. Alaric, king of the Visigoth tribe: Clipart

24. The British chieftain Guthigern receiving Saxon mercenaries as allies: AKG Images

25. Saint Aidan being received by Oswald of Northumbria: Bridgeman Art Library

26. Construction of Offa’s Dyke: Bridgeman Art Library

27. Viking attack: Clipart

28. Picts, shown as elaborately painted, headhunting warriors: Corbis

29. Bede: Bridgeman Art Library

30. Iron and gilt bronze helmet found at the Sutton Hoo burial ship in Suffolk: Bridgeman Art Library

31. Forces of King Alfred of Wessex attack vessels of the Danish invaders in Swanage Bay: Bridgeman Art Library

32. King Sweyn of Denmark: Corbis

33. Macbeth: Bridgeman Art Library

34. Section of the Bayeux tapestry: Corbis

35. 15th-century illustration of the Battle of Hastings: Bridgeman Art Library

36. Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Getty Images (left), Mary Evans Picture Library (right)

37. Carrickfergus Castle: Vanda Wallace

38. Margam Abbey in West Glamorgan: Andy Piper

39. King Edward I: Corbis

40. Victims of the bubonic plague: Corbis

41. Medieval walled city: Mary Evans Picture Library

42. Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor: Bridgeman Art Library

43. Martin Luther publicly burning a papal warning at Wittenberg: Bridgeman Art Library

44. Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire: Rich Harrison

45. Mary Stewart and Lord Darnley: AKG Images

46. Section from Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum: AKG Images

47. The Earl of Tyrone seeking an agreement with Governor Mountjoy: Bridgeman Art Library

48. Contemporary engraving shows a meeting of the House of Lords under King Henry VIII: AKG Images

49. Oliver Cro...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Britain: Islands, Peoples and Identities
• Our Earliest Ancestors
• Settling down
• The Cults of the Dead
• Monuments and Metals
• Iron Age Warriors
• The Coming of the Eagles
• The Claudian Invasion
• Boudicca’s Revolt
• The Conquest of Britannia
• Caledonia – The Limits of Empire
• Hadrian’s Wall
• The Romanization of Britain
• New Towns of the Roman Age
• Threats to the Roman Peace
• The Cult of Christ in Roman Britain
• The Barbarian Onslaught
• The Fall of Roman Britain
• Germanic Invaders
• British Resistance
• An Age of Saints
• New Kingdoms
• Northumbrian Glory
• Dark Age Wales
• The Picts and Scots of Alba
• Dark Age Culture
• Viking Dawn
• The Warrior Kings of England
• Scandinavian England
• The Last of the Old Kings
• The Year of Three Kings
• Norman Conquest
• The Kingdom Builders
• England and France
• Medieval Ireland
• Medieval Wales
• Medieval Scotland
• The Plantagenet Dream of Empire
• The Black Death
• Dynastic Strife
• Population and Economy
• Culture and Identity
• Three Renaissance Kings
• The English Reformation
• Reformation Throughout Britain
• The Regiment of Women
• The Union of the Crowns
• Tudor and Stewart Ireland
• King and Parliament
• The War of Three Kingdoms
• The Age of Cromwell
• The Restoration of the Monarch
• The Succession Crisis
• The Glorious Revolution
• Exploration and Trade
• Culture and Society
• Towards Union
• The Kingdom of Great Britain
• The Jacobite Risings
• The Rise of Party Politics
• Britain and Europe
• The Loss of America
• Britain and the French Revolution
• The Wars Against Napoleon
• Ireland in the 18th Century
• Feeding the Nation
• Coal, Iron, Steam and Cotton
• The Transport Revolution
• More Mouths to Feed
• Deists and Methodists
• Radical Britain
• Clearance and Famine
• The Workshop of the World
• Votes for More People
• Railway Mania
• Unite, Protest and Strike
• Reforming Britain
• God’s Work
• The Benefits of Science
• Education and Leisure
• Irish Home Rule
• The British Raj
• African Adventure
• The Birth of the Welfare State
• Preparation for War
• The Great War
• Slump
• Votes for Women
• Irish Independence
• The Road to War
• Alone
• The Grand Alliance
• The Age of Austerity
• The End of Empire
• Britain and Europe
• Consensus and Consumerism
• Thatcher’s Britain
• Multicultural Britain
• Troubles in Northern Ireland
• Nationalism and Devolution
• The New Millennium
• Picture credits
• Copyright