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About a thousand years before Christ the Celts spread across Europe, taking over what is now France and Belgium and then crossing into Britain.

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The Romans conquered the island under Emperor Claudius (43-54). Roman Britain included present-day England and Wales.

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End of the Roman occupation and beginning of Anglo-Saxon England

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End of the Roman occupation and beginning of Anglo-Saxon England

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The last Roman soldiers left Britain in 410 CE when the legions were withdrawn to fight on continent. New invaders now arrived from across the North Sea. These were Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

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Over the centuries the Germanic invaders fought to conquer territories until Anglo-Saxon England was divided into seven kindoms. This period is known as the "Heptarchy" (660-800).

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Raids by seaborne Viking (Scandinavian) warriors began at the end of the eighth century. In 793 Viking raiders attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne, on the coast of Northumbria.

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As the Vikings prepared large armies ready to conquer the whole island, king Alfred (871-900) united the Anglo-Saxon people against the Danes. The Danes maintained possession of north-eastern England, the Danelaw, but left Wessex undisturbed. Anglo-Saxon England continued to flourish after Alfred's death.

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"William the Conqueror", Duke of Normandy, landed with an impressive army and on 14 October 1066 defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Hastings. Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king, was killed and the Anglo-Saxon reign came to an end.

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Henry II is held responsible for the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury on 29 December 1170.

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Angered by John's oppressive reign, by his loss of French territories and by the pressure of taxes imposed, the barons rebelled against their king. In 1215 they forced the king to sign the Magna Carta.

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The First Scottish War of Independence saw the emergence of a true Scottish hero, William Wallace or "Braveheart". His victory over Edward I's troops at Stirling Bridge in 1297 is still remembered through the film Braveheart.

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The Hundred Years' War with France began in 1337, seeking to regain lost territories in France and to put a doubtful claim to the French throne.

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The Black Death, a plague which swept across Europe, reached England in 1348.

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Altough a Peasants' Revolt demanding freedom and wages was checked in 1381, the rigid structure of feudal system was beginning to crumble.

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After the foreign wars, England was torn by the quarrelling over the crown between two branches of the Plantagenet royal family, the House of York and the House of Lancaster. This 30-years dynastic struggle was known as the War of the Roses (1455-1485), because the white rose was the symbol of the House of York and the red rose the symbol of the House of Lancaster.