Part Two

British History

By Zhang yonglan

Chapter I Pre-feudal Society

Main and difficult points:

Teaching aims: Students shall master the main events in the

period of British pre-feudal society .

*The time of the major events in each period.

2000 BC Stonehenge 巨石阵 a religious center astronomical observatory

About 6,000----5000 B.C. severing of landbridge

about 3,000 B.C Iberians

Ice Age ended 7,000 years ago

I.Early Settlement(…-55B.C.)

2.About 2000 BC,the Beaker Folk(青铜器时代的宽口陶器人 )from Holland and the Rhineland 3. Celtic tribes from Europe:(1)Gaels(Scotland) , about 750B.C.

(2.)Britons (Welsh ) , about 400-500B.C.

(3)Belgae. around 150B.C. from Gaul.(4) Druids:Celtic priests . practised farmers,ironworkers. Druidism[督伊德教 (古代高卢人与不列颠人的一种宗教 )]. The Druids(the wise men, astrologers and soothsayers)rites in woods by the light of the moon. human sacrifices to their gods, sometimes single victims, groups of men in immense wickerwork cages.(5)Primitive communism.

II.The Roman Occupation(55B.C. --410)

The Middle Ages

destruction of the Roman Empire in the West in 375, the last of the Roman Emperors of the West, in 476.

The close of the Middle Ages :rise of Humanism and the Renaissance ,the fourteenth century; with the Fall of Constantinople, in 1453; with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492

recorded history :beginning in 55BC. 55BC. 55—54B.C.Julius Caesar ---hostages, small tribute

real conquest 43A.D.—Claudius

122A.D. Hadrian’s Wall ---- Picts and Scots against the Romans. They built baths, temples , amphitheatres and beautiful villas.the new religion, Christianityconsequences (pp38-39) : romanized, slave society

III Anglo –Saxon Times(410—871)

Middle of 5th century, Germanic (Teutonic) tribes: the Angles, Saxons, Jutes. Old EnglishArchbishop of Canterbury, 597 Christianity By the end of the 7th century, heptarchy:

The Map of Heptarchy

manorial system,taxes , the local army.Witan (council or meeting of the wisemen): basis of t

he Privy Council( 枢密院）

829 Egbert ,King, Wessex . clan system

Scholar: Bede, theologian Ecclesiastical( 基督教会的 )History of the English People

Beowulf ： hero of an anonymous Old English epic in the early eighth century. Beowulf slays the monster Grendel and its mother, becomes king of the Geats, and dies fighting a dragon.

IV. The Invasion of Vikings(北欧海盗 ) and Danish Rule

Alfred (871-899)---national hero, father of the British navy,

Alfred ,the great.

Guthrum , Danelaw( 丹麦法 )

Village system---class polarization

1013,Danish king Sweyen became master of England .Eth

elred fled to Normandy.

round the turn of 8th century, Vikings from Norway, mainly,Denmark.

1016,Edmund fought against Danes.

Canute(1016-1035) ： ruler of England, making Eng

land part of a Scandinavian empire which included No

rway as well as Denmark.

King of England (1016-1035), Denmark (1018-1035), a

nd Norway (1028-1035) whose reign, at first brutal, wa

s later marked by wisdom and temperance. He is the s

ubject of many legends.

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Chapter II The Growth of Feudalism

Teaching aims:

Back to tree

Students shall master the major events during this feudal society.Main and difficult teaching points:

William,Henry II , Parliament and their role in history.

William I : 1066-1087, feudalism

I.Norman Conquest

Battle of Hastings Norman Conquest

1042-1066,Edward, Confessor,King,Hastings

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1 William II (1087-1100)

II. The Consolidation of Monarchy

2 Henry I : 1100---1135his scholarly interests, "Lion of Justice".

3.King Stephen(1135-1153)

4. HenryII’s(1154-1189) reforms:

(1)common law (2)Jury system (3)legal reforms:

clerks with criminal offences : tried in King’s court instead of in the Bishop’s courts. The latter courts : only by means of censure (harsh criticism),excommunitions, and penance, and no inflict corporal punishment.

Becket : fastings and disciplines, hair shirts hair , protracted vigils, and constant prayers. stripped himself of all signs of the lavish display

3.The Great Charter(1215)

(1)Eleanor of Aquitaine :1122-1204, the mon

astery(2)Crusades :eight in number: 1095-1270

in fulfilment of a solemn vow, to deliver the Holy Places from Mohammedan tyranny.

Christian kings of Europe involved in the wars against the Islamic Empire of the Turks to gain possession from the Christian city of Jerusalem.

John,1215,Lackland, concession to the Pope

and the loss of land,signed the Great Charter.

QS

Henry,1216,Montfort,1264, All Estates Parliament-1265,Edward I (1272-1307).1277-1282,conquest of Wales,1284:The Statute of Wales placed the country under English law .Prince of Wales, a title held by the heir to the throne ever since.1295,Model Parliament.- royal assent to laws.

4.Parliament

Intensive study (para 5 : part II)

It serves you right if you find it impossible to

escape from some idle or inquisitive

chatterbox, or from somebody who wants

something for nothing, or from some reporter

bent on questioning you about your own

affairs or about the private life of some friend

who has just eloped or met with a fatal

accident.

QS

Intensive study (para 6)

But, you will say, you need not have your name prin

ted in the telephone directory, and you can have a telep

hone which is only usable for outgoing calls. Besides, y

ou will say, isn’t it important to have a telephone in cas

e of sudden emergency– illness, accident or fire? Of co

urse, you are right, but here in a thickly populated count

ry like England one is seldom far from a telephone in c

ase of dreadful necessityQS

Intensive study (paras 7: part I)

Is there any conclusion to be drawn from my obstinacy and wilfulness, my escapism, if you like to call it that? I think perhaps I had better try to justify myself by trying to prove that what I like is good. At least I have proved to myself that what many people think necessary is not necessary at all. I admit that in different circumstances– if I were a tycoon, for instance, or bed-ridden, I might find a telephone essential. But then if I were a secretary or taxi-driver I should find a typewriter or a car essential.

QS

Intensive study (para7: part II)

Let me put it another way: there are two things for which

the English seem to show particular aptitude: one is mec

hanical invention, the other is literature. My own besines

s happens to be with the use of words but I see I must no

w stop using them. I have just been handed a slip of pap

er to say that somebody is waiting to speak to me on the

telephone. I think I had better answer it. After all, one nev

er knows, it may be something important. QS

Questions on para 1

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1. What does the writer mean by saying that “ he is taking too much for granted”?

2. What does “the impossible” here refer to?

3. Can you guess the meaning of “ I’m not on the phone” from the context?

Questions on para 2

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5. Describe the public telephone box.

6. Try to paraphrase the underlined part.

4. What is really horrible? Why?

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Questions on para 3

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7. How do you understand “ Ah, it will all be the same…”?

8. What are the moments when you least want your telephone to ring?

9. How do you often react when the telephone rings?

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Questions on para 4

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10.What do you often tell yourself when you miss a call ?

11. Do you believe”good news travels as fast as ill news?

12. What does the writer suggest in this para?

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Questions on para 5

14. what do yo know about Shakespeare?

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15. Are there any chatterboxes around you ?

16. Do oyu often chatter with your friends on the phone?

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Questions on para 6

17. what do you think of the necessity of telephone?

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18. What can be categorized as “dreadful necessity”?

19. what does the writer really mean by “escapism”?

Questions on para 7 Back to text

20. What does the end of the text suggest to you ?

21. What kind of person do you think the writer is?

20. What is the author doing and what stops him?