From the Celts, to the Magna Carta to the Black Death

In a nutshell

This summary illustrates Medieval Europe, from the Celts culture in the British Isles and the Roman invasion, to King John and the Magna Carta, concluding with one of the worst tragedies in Europe, the Black Death.

The Iron Age

The Celts Culture

The Celts were a mix of tribes that shared similar religious beliefs, language, traditions, and culture. They settled throughout western Europe, although most of their presence remained in Great Britain and Ireland. The Celts established themselves during the Iron Age (ca 600 BC- 5O AD) when the Roman Empire ruled most of southern Europe. The Romans used to refer to them Gauls, which  meant barbarians.

The Celts worshiped nature as the moon, the sun and water. They were tribes of warriors where men were equal to women. Also, they had a great influence in helping accomplish local independence in the British Isles thanks to iron working, since it was very cheap and accessible. Much of the traditions, old stories and poems that we see today come from Celts culture, for example, Halloween.

The Beginning of The Middle Ages

The Roman Invasion

Beginning with the reign of Julius Caesar, the Romans fought against the Celts and managed to persuade them into living in the towns which later became the center of commercial activity. The Romans built several roads in Britain, as well as the very first London Bridge. They also built a barrier and defense fortification between England and Scotland which is known under the name Hadrian's wall.

The Anglo-Saxons and Christianity in England

After the Roman army left Britain, the Celts remained alone to fight the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. The Anglo-Saxons were mercenaries from Scandinavia and Germany that conquered the island and knocked down the Roman British towns. They named a great part of Britain and were mostly divided into family clans, the most important thing for them was loyalty, courage, and personal freedom.

The Anglo-Saxons were polytheistic. However, by the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory I The Great had the objective to convert the Anglo-Saxons. So, he sent a monk, St. Augustine, to spread Christianity in England, and soon, a church was established in Canterbury. 

At this point, Britain was ruled by different kingdoms until Vikings started to invade. However, that would not last long because Alfred the Great of Wessex defeated the Vikings in advance. In this way, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxons joined Wessex and Mercia under Alfred's vision. Later on, Edward (Alfred's son) would extend his power to East Anglia and Midlands, and Athelstan (Edward's son) would conquer Northumbria completing the creation of England.

The Norman Conquest

In October 1066 a military conquest occurred by William, Duke of Normandy. He emerged victorious in the Battle of Hastings against the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II. William made deep social, political, and administrative changes in the British Isles. He established a feudal system where barons could obtain lands by becoming the King's tenants and they could pay the rent by doing military service.

Twenty years later after the Conquest, William sent a survey through England called Domesday Book. This survey had the goal to collect the necessary information on the property tax, so the king could have full control of the wealth and distribution of lands of his tenants.

Henry Plantagenet

During the period of the Norman Conquest, there was no law related to who would replace a dead monarch. At a certain point, the aristocracy members got tired of contests and the lack of monarchs. Therefore, they obliged contenders to make an agreement in 1153. A year later, Henry II became king, he was the first king of the Plantagenet dynasty and he successfully expanded the Anglo-French administration. 

Henry II's reign brought many changes, he reduced the power of barons by giving knights the chance to pay an amount of money instead of doing military service, with this money the King was able to hire a better army like professional soldiers or mercenaries. In addition, a common law system was created for all the towns in the country where analysis, custom, and comparisons were done to make decisions, this system allowed lawyers to stop using the Roman Empire's law or the Church's law. 

Another goal in his reign was to reduce the authority of the Church, he thought the best way to do it was by making his chancellor, Thomas Becket, head of the Church. However, once Thomas became Archbishop, he and Henry became rivals because Becket preferred the bishops. This conflict lasted years until Becket was murdered in the Canterbury Cathedral. For this reason, this cathedral became an important symbol for Pilgrims from England and Europe.

The Dark Ages 

The Magna Carta

In 1189 Richard I succeeded his father Henry II, Richard spent most of his reign absent due to his participation in the Third Crusade for the Holy Land. During his absence his brother John tried to take his place, it was later on when Richard died without anybody to inherit the throne. Hence the Norman and English barons chose John as king.

John was perceived as a terrible king, he had poorly defended the French territory and the huge collection of taxes had left barons without income. For these reasons, a rebellion against him started, barons refused to pay and plotted to resist his reign. By 1215 a war was unleashed, and the rebels were called Army of God, they took London and disobeyed the king. Due to all of this discontent, the king agreed to meet with them and so the Magna Carta was written.

The Magna Carta was a document that protected human rights and freedom. Some of the clauses established the right of possessing land, the right of the church to be separated from the government, and citizen protection from taxes or illegal imprisonment, among others. There were also accusations against King John, one of the most significant was that any citizen, even the King, was under the eyes of the law. 

The Great Mortality

The Black Death was one of the worst and saddest events that Europe could have experienced. This plague originated in China in 1300 and reached Europe by the year 1347. It was an infectious fever that was transmitted by direct human contact, so it was very easily spread. This disease was transmitted by fleas and rats, though nobody ever suspected these rodents would be the cause since rats and fleas were very common in the 14th century. 

A third of England's population died due to the bubonic plague. The impact of this plague on the economy and society was huge, labour rates were extremely low which caused an increase of wages and prices dropped. Therefore, the situation for the small group of peasants who managed to survive improved since they were able to request money for work done on their lord's lands.