Major Dates in England's Early Past

250,000 CE to 1000 CE

• BCE--first human arrivals
• 55-54 BCE--Julius Caesar's written record
• 430-530 CE--first Germanic groups arrive
• 700-750 CE--Beowulf composed?
• 950-1000 CE--Beowulf composed?

250,000 - 50,000 BCE

Paleolithic peoples arrive in England.

6000-5000 BCE

Land bridge to European continent severed, hindering transmigrations.

4000 BCE

Neolithic peoples arrive from the Mediteranean area. Stone Age begins.

2000 BCE

Beaker folk arrive. Bronze Age begins.

800 BCE

Celts begin to arrive.

700-400 BCE

Various minor, peaceful immigrations.

500 BCE

Iron Age begins.

55-54 BCE

Julius Caesar invades Britain, producing writtten records. The Celts have no single name for the land, but Romans call it "Britannia."

78-85 CE

Roman occupation of much of Britain begins.

127 CE

Hadrian's Wall completed.

200-300 CE

First exposure to Christianity occurring

410 CE

Roman occupation ends.

ca. 430-530 CE

Invasions and encroachments by Gaelic Scots, Picts, and Germanic groups: Jutes, Saxons, Frisians and Angles. The action of Beowulf is set in Germanic homelands in or before this period.

600 CE

By this time several regional kingdoms, sometimes called the heptarchy, have emerged, and stability begins to return. The kingdoms exist separately and concurrently, but often one or another gains a position of leadership or influence among them.

597-700 CE

Missionary work of St. Augustine from Rome and St. Aidan from Ireland results in conversion of most people in Britain to Christianity.

700-750 CE

According to some scholars, Beowulf was composed sometime in this period.

730 CE

Bede writes Historia Ecclesia Gentis Anglorum, referring to the people in Britain collectively as anglorum, Latin for "English."

775-878

Various raids by Vikings, Germanic groups from Scandinavia, not Christianized at this time, related to but not the same as earlier Germanic groups coming to England. His heir claims to be Rex Anglorum, "King of the English."

899 CE

Death of Alfred the Great of Wessex, which has become the predominant kingdom of the Heptarchy.

10th century CE

Alfred the Great's heirs consolidate England

991 CE

Battle of Maldon in Essex, celebrated in an Old English poem by the same name. This was one of many vigorous attacks by the Vikings occurring during the late tenth century.

950-1000 CE

According to some scholars, Beowulf may have been composed any time between 700 CE and 1000 CE.

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