Earlier, we mentioned that before the Roman invasion of Britain, the Celts came to England intermittently and established a state around the 1st century AD. Of course, the emergence of the state certainly did not happen overnight, the first simple cities appeared, and gradually transitioned to the state.
The early city of Opida
The early British city was called Opida, meaning "defended site". It is also known from the name that in the early days, the main function of Opida was defense. However, as the scale increases, so does its nature. Opida gradually developed into the center of the tribe's "political, economic, commercial, religious, cultural" activities, and defense had taken a back seat.
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Of course, Opida gradually developed into the country. The main reasons for this generally include war and inter-clan identification. In particular, the identity of the clans played an important role in the development of Opida into the country. Opida showed a sense of identity between clans, uniting to form a tribal kingdom and electing a king, while the former temporary meeting place or long-term meeting place between clans developed into a tribal center.
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Early England nation
Kingship is widespread, but the situation of royal power is diverse.
For example, kings are often elected. Either because of superior military command capabilities; or because of the ability to execute specific military operations. Of course, there is also hereditary kingship, but this is not the mainstream. The elected crown is particularly indicative of the early stages of the English state of this period.
For example, many countries practice dual kings, or even multi-kings. For example, later when Caesar conquered Britain, a large army marched to a certain country in Kent. Caesar discovered that there were four kings in the country. Meanwhile, in West Britain, Dobunni practiced a dual monarchy.
For example, the power of the king was very limited, and its size depended mainly on their performance in the war, or on the effectiveness of some of the measures of domination.
By the time of Caesar's invasion in 53 BC, the entire southeastern part of Britain was theoretically under the rule of Casivellanus, whose capital was Colchester. At the beginning of the 1st century AD, a king named Cunobelinus appeared in Catuvirani, better known in Shakespearean plays as Cymbeline, then known as the "King of Britannia" (rex Britanniarum). Kunopiriinus gained a de facto monopoly on trade with the Roman province of Gaul, which was an important reason for the rise of the Catuvillani. It has been established that Kunopinianus controlled the southeastern coast of Britain, including the Thames Estuary region. On the one hand, he supplied British goods to the vast Roman army in Gaul, and on the other hand, he offered the nobles throughout Britain the Roman luxuries by which they maintained their noble status.
Religion in early Britain
The religion of the Britons is mainly Druidism. "Duyd" may mean "Oak Recognizer". Its doctrines include:
They especially worshiped the mistletoe parasites that grew on oak trees, and revered the tall oak trees as gods and sacred trees;
The human soul is immortal, transferred from one person to another at the time of death; there are many souls that are evil and dwell in forests, streams, springs, and rocks;
Worshippers, believing that if one person's life is to be redeemed, one can only sacrifice the life of another person, and in particular, it is believed that if it can be used as a sacrifice for a person caught in stealing, robbing, or committing other crimes, it is particularly pleasing to the gods;
The Druids had a high status in their society, they were not only priests, but also doctors, teachers, and judges, and were likely to have a great deal of political power, and anyone who did not obey their judgment would be punished with the harshest punishment;
Preach a kind of "brotherhood that transcends tribal boundaries" that prevails in both Gaul and the British Isles.
A well-preserved 2,000-year-old British corpse was found, known as Lindow Man, the most intact marsh mummy in British history.
It is inferred that
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