subject: A Brief Peek Into The Rich History Of The Isles Of Great Britain [print this page] Thanks to the joys of genealogical work, I have come to develop a great appreciation for my families' rich heritage--both the one into which I was born and the one I married into. I have found, most particularly, that I am descended from peoples springing from virtually every country of the isles of Great Britain.
Because of this, I have longed to take an extended Ireland and Scotland vacation, touring through all of the major sites that have been home to such landmarks in world and personal history.
Though a portion of Ireland and Scotland have been absorbed by the United Kingdom, they histories that are simultaneously distinctive and yet indelibly intertwined with those of Wales and England.
After all, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Ireland, and even portions of England and modern-day France were the homes of the ancient Celtic people that spoke and wrote a language which is entirely foreign to us and only survives in English in the form of a few place names and landscape terms, such a "crag," meaning rock.
The Celtic people in England, Cornwall, and Wales were dominated by the more organized and unified Roman Empire. Their influence introduced roads, aqueducts, and baths, some of which survive today.
But it wasn't long after the Romans' departure that the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians came to what is now known as England (so named for the Angles--Angle-land).
Some historians believe that they came as assistants to the vulnerable Celts, to defend them from the ferocious Picts in the North, while others believe they were invaders.
The realm that is now Great Britain began as a fractured one. Each of the major regions was fashioned into an individual kingdom, but during the reign of King Alfred the Great during the ninth century, Alfred's defense of the other realms from the Viking aggressors allowed him to adopt the title "King of the Anglo-Saxons."
Ireland--known in Anglicized Gaelic as Erin--had little association with England until the spread of Christianity through Irish missionaries in Northumbria during the seventh century. Furthermore, the Norman Conquest over England spread its control to Ireland which lasted--directly and indirectly--for over seven centuries.
Travelers in Ireland in years past may have been concerned about continual sectarian violence, but in recent times, this has begun to subside, allowing individuals to safely pass between northern and southern regions.
I love knowing the history behind the lands of my sires, but I long more than anything to see the land for myself, complete with its landmarks that tell a story all its own.
