Celtic BritonsThe Britons (*Pritanī, Britanni), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the indigenous Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons (among others). They spoke Common Brittonic, the ancestor of the modern Brittonic languages. The earliest written evidence for the Britons is from Greco-Roman writers and dates to the Iron Age.
William the ConquerorWilliam I (1028 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. By 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.
EssexEssex (ˈɛsᵻks) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the south-west, and Hertfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Southend-on-Sea. The county has an area of and a population of 1,832,751. After Southend (180,686) the largest settlements are the city of Colchester (192,700), city of Chelmsford (181,763), and Basildon (187,659).
Parliament of EnglandThe Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised the English monarch. Great councils were first called Parliaments during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). By this time, the king required Parliament's consent to levy taxation.
NottinghamshireNottinghamshire (ˈnɒtɪŋəmʃər,_-ʃɪər; abbreviated Notts.) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county borders South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Nottingham (323,632). The county has an area of and a population of 1,154,195. The latter is concentrated in the Nottingham built-up area in the south-west, which extends into Derbyshire and has a population of 729,997.
SheriffA sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly translated to English as sherif. Historically, a sheriff was a legal official with responsibility for a shire, the term being a contraction of "shire reeve" (Old English scīrgerefa). The sheriff would manage a county on behalf of the king. Typical duties would include the collection of taxes.
Domesday BookDomesday Book (ˈduːmzdeɪ ) – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by the Latin name Liber de Wintonia, meaning "Book of Winchester", where it was originally kept in the royal treasury. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him.
WorcestershireWorcestershire (ˈwʊstərʃər , -ʃɪər ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands county to the north, Warwickshire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south, and Herefordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Worcester. The county is largely rural, and has an area of and a population of 592,057. After Worcester (103,872) the largest settlements are Redditch (87,036), Kidderminster (57,400), and Malvern (30,462).
CountyA county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes in some modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French comté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (earl) or a viscount. Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, including comté, contea, contado, comtat, condado, Grafschaft, graafschap, and zhupa in Slavic languages; terms equivalent to 'commune' or 'community' are now often instead used.
DorsetDorset (ˈdɔːrsᵻt ; archaically: Dorsetshire ˈdɔːrsᵻt.ʃɪər,_-ʃər , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The county town is Dorchester and the largest settlement is Bournemouth. The county has an area of and a population of 772,268. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, which contains several of county's largest settlements: Bournemouth (183,491), Poole (151,500), and Christchurch (31,372).
