Exercises

Task I. Complete the chart with the missing parts of speech. Check the pronunciation.

verb	noun	noun (agent)	adjective
		rebel
		worshipper
		ally
	conquest
		successor
tempt

Task II. Match the words to their definitions.

1) barrow a) a piece of land that is surrounded by a fence or wall and

is used for a particular purpose

2) henge b) a circus of large vertical wooden or stone objects built

in prehistoric times

3) toga c) a loose outer piece of clothing worn by the citizens of

ancient Rome

4) enclosure d) a group of people of the same race, and with the same

customs, language, religion, etc; living in a particular

area and often led by a chief

5) tribe e) a country ruled by a king or queen

6) temple f) (in England and Wales in the past) a senior member of a

town, borough or county council, below the rank of a

mayor, chosen by other members of the council

7) kingdom g) a large piece of farming equipment with one or several

curved blades, pulled by a tractor or by animals. It is

used for digging and turning over soil, especially before

seeds are planted

8) plough h) a member of a religious group of men who often live

apart from other people in a monastery and who do not

marry or have personal possessions

9) warlord i) a building used for the worship of a god or gods, especially

in religions other than Christianity

10) alderman j) a large pile of earth built over a place where people were

buried in ancient times

11) monk k) (especially in the past, or in poor countries) a farmer who

owns or rents a small piece of land

12) peasant l) a military leader, especially an unofficial one fighting

against a government or king.

Task III. Complete the sentences with a suitable word in the correct form.

Beaker, pottery, villa, literate, hill-fort, monastery, ancestor, burgh, election, Latin, bishop, warrior, tribal, priest, Celtic, occupation, tribe, society.

1. Neolithic people kept animals and grew corn crops, and knew how to make … . 2. The ... people decided to be buried separately and gave up the old communal burial barrows. 3. ... replaced henges as the centres of local power, and remained local economic centres long after the Romans came to Britain, and long after they went. 4. The Celts were organised into different ... , and ... chiefs were chosen from each family or tribe, sometimes as the result of fighting matches between individuals, and sometimes by ... . 5. The Celtic tribes were ruled over by a ... class, of which the …, or Druids, were very important members. 6. The Druids memorised all the knowledge necessary in Celtic…. 7. The Celts are important in British history because they are the ... of many of the people in Highland Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall today. 8. Welsh is one of the ... languages, like Scottish and Irish Gaelic, which is still spoken. 9. To increase the power of the English state the Church established ... which became places of learning and education. 10. The Celtic ... went out from their monasteries of Wales, Ireland and Scotland and walked from village to village teaching Christianity. 11. The growth of ... was one more big change during the Roman ... . 12. Britain was probably more ... under the Romans than it was to be again until the fifteenth century. 13. The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain. ... was used in speech and writing. 14. During his struggle against the Danes, King Alfred built walled settlements which were called. … and which became prosperous market towns.

Task IV. Are the statements true or false? Correct the false ones.

1. The Celts, who probably came from Central Europe or further east, from southern Russia, were technically advanced, war-mad, “high spirited and quick for battle”.

2. We know little of the Druids’ kind of worship but we know for sure it never included human sacrifice.

3. Queen Boadicea of the Iceni tribe led a bloody revolt against the Roman occupation.

4. Hadrian’s Wall was built on the orders of the Roman emperor Hadrian to prevent tribes from the North invading the Roman province of Britain.

5. The remarkable thing about the Romans is that, despite their long occupation of Britain, they left very little behind.

6. Alfred, the great king who ruled Wessex from 871-899, didn’t use the literate men of the Church to help establish a system of law, to educate the people and to write down important matters. He did everything by himself.

7. The Vikings couldn’t invade Britain because the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were strong enough and could keep them out.

8. A Godwinson, Harold, whom the Witan chose to be the next king of England, defeated Duke William of Normandy in battle near Hastings in 1066 because William had claims to the English thrown.

9. Ireland remained a land of monasteries and had a flourishing Celtic culture as neither the Romans nor the Anglo-Saxons invaded the country.

Task V. Choose the correct date for each event.

1) Britain had finaly become an island a) 10,000 BC

2) the Celts settled in England b) by about 5000 BC

3) the Vikings invaded Britain c) after 2400 BC

4) St. Augustine arrived in England d) around 700 BC

5) Rome withdrew its last soldiers from Britain e) 55 BC

6) the Witan chose Edward, known as “the Confessor”,

to be king f) 597

7) the Romans came to stay g) 865

8) the Roman general Julius Caesar landed in Britain

with an expeditionary force, won a battle and left h) AD 409

9) the Beaker people inhabited England i) AD 43

10) the Ice Age drew to a close j) 1042

11) Christianity came to Ireland k) about AD 430

Task VI. Match the kings to their deeds.

1. Alfred the Great a) decided to pay the Vikings to stay away,

to find the money he set a tax on all his

people, called Danegeld, or “Danish money”.

2. Ethelred the Unready b) held out against the Vikings, who had already

taken most of England, won a decisive battle in 878, captured London and made a treaty

with the Vikings.

3. William the Conqueror c) spent almost the whole of his reign fighting

his enemies, ruled over all Wales.

4. Gruffydd ap (son of) d) defeated the English in battle near Hastings

Llewelyn in 1066 and established his rule in the country

as king of England.

5. Edward the Confessor e) started a new church fit for a king at

Westminster, just outside the city of London.