1、BBC 纪录片：英国史简介文字来源【中文名称】: 英国史【英文名称】: A History of Britain【发行时间】: 2002 年【发行公司】: BBC【语 言】: 英语【导 演】: Simon Schama【视频比率】: 25.0 fps (1462 Kbps)【屏幕比例】: 16:9【音频比率】: 192 Kbps 48000 Hz【持续时间】: 1560mins【集 数】: 15影片介绍文字来源对于一个不了解英国历史的人来说，本片是很好的教材。本片再现了英国文明的成长历程，从巨石文化的新石器时代到辉煌的伊丽莎白时代，穿越 17 世纪暴乱的国内战争到日不落大不列颠帝国。这是一个生
2、动的，有些情景可以说是血腥的故事。它有 15 个章节组成。从令人毛骨悚然的黑死病在短时间内使英国一半的人丧生。Henry II, Anne Boleyn 和 Thomas Wolsey 的政治操控致使英国与罗马天主教决裂 在古代、中世纪时期，英国这个大西洋中的蕞尔小岛，未受到人们的重视。在古代人所绘制的世界地图上，英国被置于地球边缘的天涯海角。当时欧洲大陆的人，隔着英吉利海峡，隐隐约约见到不列颠岛岸边雾茫茫中的灰白色山崖，称之为阿尔比昂。在古代诗歌中，这个名称就是指英国。至于岛上的具体情况，知道的人很少。直到中世纪，一些欧洲大陆的人还以鄙夷的眼光来看待它。1414 年，在黑海岸边的康士坦察召开
3、的一次天主教国际会议上，法国、德国、西班牙等国的代表认为，英国不过是像丹麦、葡萄牙一样的小国家，它的代表不能与其他大国代表平起平坐，不应享有表决权。 但到了近代，英国一跃而为在欧洲举足轻重的强国。在国际斗争中，它的代表纵横捭阖，折冲樽俎，各国统治者无不对之刮目相看。靠了日益富强的国力和强大的海军，英国先后在16、17、18 世纪击败了西班牙、荷兰、法国，成为所向无敌的海上霸主。英国的船舰，驰骋于世界各地的海洋上，气势汹汹，不可一世。以后它又将殖民主义的触角，伸向全世界各个角落，逐步建立起人类有史以来最庞大的“日不落”殖民帝国。凡阳光一天 24 小时照耀之处，都可以看到英国殖民主义者的旗帜在飘扬
4、，英国近代历史也就成为这时期世界历史的不可或缺的重要组成部分。 正像世界上别的国家、民族一样，英国历史也有它的特点，其重要特点之一是，长期而持久的议会传统。从中世纪以来，英国的议会就一直存在，未曾长时期停止过。到 17 世纪时，议会作为领导革命的核心力量，发动了推翻君主专制的斗争，将国王送上了断头台，建立了没有国王、上议院由人民选举产生的下议院掌握最高权力的共和国。这次革命是在欧洲封建制度发生危机的环境下产生的。它是欧洲封建制危机的最深刻、最尖锐的反映，同时又反过来对整个欧洲产生了深远的影响。在革命中，社会中下层人民摆脱了封建制度的桎梏，意气风发，表现出了巨大的创造性。革命时期人民的精神焕发、
5、热情蓬勃的气概，引起了当时人的极大振奋。诗人弥尔顿对此欢呼道，他好像看到一个强大的民族，“像从沉睡中醒来的巨人，摇撼着他那沉重的枷锁，奋然站立了起来！” 虽然后来克伦威尔建立的军事专政的护国公制，将革命的民主进程加以扼杀，为斯图亚特王朝复辟开辟了道路，但在王政复辟时期，王党分子竭力将历史车轮扭转到革命前的企图遭到了失败。经过二三十年的复杂斗争后，斯图亚特王朝再度被推翻，詹姆斯二世只得流窜国外，才逃脱了像他父亲那样被斩首的命运。 1688 年“光荣革命”后，英国的立宪君主制逐渐建立并巩固了起来。这是当时世界上最民主的政治体制。在这段时期，欧洲大陆和东方各国，普遍存在着君主专制制度。君主的意志就是
6、法律。社会各阶层劳动群众都在专制君主的枷锁下忍受熬煎。法国的路易十四，自称“朕即国家”，把国家与他个人等同起来。那些匍匐于他的足下的臣僚，阿谀地称他为“太阳王”。在“太阳王”的凡尔赛宫廷豪华奢靡的阴影下，有多少人在专制暴政的重轭下，过着暗无天日的悲惨生活！那个著名的巴士底狱“铁面人”的故事，只是由于伏尔泰在路易十四时代一书中加以揭露，才为世人所共知。实际上远比这一事件更为凄惨的事又有多少！在沙皇专制农奴制的“黑暗王国”，在“身穿裙子头戴皇冠的答尔丢失（骗子手）”叶卡特琳娜二世及“戴着王冠的警察”尼古拉一世的野蛮统治下，俄国的千千万万农奴过着牛马不如的生活。叶卡特琳娜二世曾先后把约达 80 万个
7、农民赏赐给她的宠臣作农奴。农奴主可以任意对这些农奴加以买卖、虐待，甚至杀害。在当时俄国的两家报纸莫斯科新闻和圣彼得堡新闻上，经常登载着把农奴和跑马、猎犬一起出卖的广告。女地主萨尔蒂科娃把许多农奴活活折磨至死。在这些暴君的严密控制下，人们在公开场合只能听到对“太阳王”和 “仁慈沙皇”的歌功颂德，但实际上，受压榨和迫害的千万劳动群众，却对残害人民的统治者怀着刻骨的愤恨。18 世纪时，法国的梅里叶曾尖锐地指出：“暴君是当代最大的强盗和刽子手。”俄国的拉吉舍夫在 1790 年出版的从彼得堡到莫斯科的旅行记一书中揭露，在专制农奴制的俄国，农民遭遇的是“带枷的罪犯的命运、被囚于地牢的囚徒的命运、轭下牛马的
8、命运”。他认为沙皇是“一切凶手中最凶残的凶手、一切罪犯中最严重的罪犯”；一死还不足以偿其辜，他应该“死一百次”。 和上述这些国家比较起来，英国具有相对自由、民主的政治和社会环境。在这样的环境下，科学文化界人士得以自由地发挥自己的才智，为科学文化事业作出自己的贡献。有人估计，从 17 世纪中叶到 18 世纪中叶，全世界最重要的科学成就中，大约有 40%都是由英国学者作出的。在世界知名的科学家中，包括从牛顿到达尔文等一系列英国伟大的学者。在哲学、社会科学方面，也是群星璀璨，先后出现了洛克、亚当斯密、大卫李嘉图、休谟、吉本、麦考莱、韦伯夫妇、汤因比等人；在文学艺术上，莎士比亚、拜伦、雪莱、狄更斯、萧
9、伯纳等，更是妇孺皆知。 英国的相对民主自由的政治和比较宽松的社会环境，不仅为本国人民发挥聪明才智和创造性、积极性奠定了条件，而且也为欧洲大陆专制君主制国家的进步人士提供了避难所。在近代早期，当法国掀起宗教迫害的浪潮时，数万名胡格诺教徒逃到了英国。后来，在流亡到英国的大批人物中，包括马克思、赫尔岑等革命家、思想家。资本论及其他许多马克思主义著作，就都是在英国出版的。革命民主主义者赫尔岑在伦敦创办了“自由俄罗斯印刷所”，并出版北极星、钟声杂志，发表革命民主主义文章，鼓吹在俄国推翻沙皇专制农奴制。1864 年，国际工人协会，即第一国际，就是在伦敦的圣马丁堂成立的。 英国的立宪君主制和议会制，成为封建
10、专制国家的先进人士向往的榜样。18 世纪法国的启蒙学者伏尔泰、孟德斯鸠以及法国其他一些政治家，都曾在他们的著作中，表示了对英国民主政治的向往。19 世纪末，中国的维新运动兴起的时候，英国的政治制度是维新派人士效法的榜样。 英国历史上的另一特点是，从中世纪以来，它的军事官僚国家机器比较薄弱，同时它的社会阶级关系流动性比较大，阶级之间的界限不太严格。这些特点，对英国历史发展产生了深远的影响。 在近代早期，英国没有常备军和固定的警察，甚至国王本人都没有固定的卫队，遇到紧急状况时，国王临时能够召集起来的武装人员不过几十人。在国家政治、军事生活中，武装力量主要由民兵组成。直到 19 世纪中叶，英国仍是世
11、界上军事官僚国家机器最薄弱的国家之一。马克思曾根据这一点，认为英国在客观上有可能通过实行普选权，用和平方式过渡到社会主义。同时，这些特点使英国的政治生活具有相对的灵活性。政治矛盾和社会矛盾往往通过小的变动即可调整，不致蓄积起来，爆发为大规模的暴力冲突。在英国历史上，除了 17 世纪革命时期的内战之外，从来没有发生过大规模暴力斗争事件。 上述的政治、军事和社会阶级关系特征，造成了在英国各种政治党派政策中和政治思潮中浓重的和平渐进的改良主义。长期稳定的政治局势，社会阶级关系流动性、灵活性较大，对科学技术发明的鼓励，以及善于吸收国外先进科学知识和生产技术等，加上其他自然条件，使英国在世界上首先发生了
12、工业革命。当英国工业革命刚发生的时候，在大陆上，法国大革命正轰轰烈烈地进行。人们的注意力都被法国大革命的翻天覆地的暴力场面所吸引，未曾注意在英国发生的不太喧嚣的经济技术变革进程。但一个多世纪以后，工业革命的深远影响却日益显现了出来。它不但在生产技术上和经济上引起重大变革，而且导致了社会阶级结构的翻天覆地的大变化。在生产技术上，机器生产代替了手工劳动，生产量和生产率成几十倍甚至几百倍的增长。从工业革命开始到 19 世纪中叶，英国的棉纱产量增加了四五十倍，生产率也迅速增长；19 世纪初，英国一个普通纺纱工纺出的棉纱，相当于工业革命前二三百个手工纺纱工同时间纺出的棉纱产量。 工业革命也大大改变了人同
13、自然的关系和人同人之间的关系。在人类历史发展的长河中，在千万年的时期里，由于生产力低下，人类在无法克服的自然界威力面前，只能以依赖和屈从的态度去取得与自然界的协调。世界上大多数人，虽然终年辛劳，含辛茹苦，仍无法从自然界取得维持温饱的衣食。直到中世纪时，在欧洲，无论乡村或城市，约有一半的人经常处于难以维持生命的最低生活水平。遇到荒年，往往饿殍遍野。直到 16 世纪末和 17 世纪初，在英国的坎布利亚等地还曾有许多人饿死，甚至在首都伦敦也有饿死人的事发生。就全世界来说，工业革命前，即 1750 年，全世界人口约 7.5 亿人，以当时生产力的水平来看，全世界顶多只能养活的人为 10 亿。工业革命后，
14、世界人口激增，100 年后，即 1850 年为 12 亿人，1950 年为 25 亿人。虽然人口激增，但工业革命后带来的生产力的巨大增长，足以保证全世界人口平均收入的不断提高。英国在 19 世纪的 100 年中，人口增加了 3 倍，但按人口平均计算的实际收入仍然增加了 4 倍。有人说，英国工业革命是一个成功的例证，因为它的结果是：“在人口增加的同时，生产出了更多的产品，按人口平均计算的产品在增长。”英国工业革命所具有的重大历史意义，实际上超过了一般的政治革命事件。 与此同时，工业革命在交通运输方面所造成的重大技术发展，在人际关系和国际关系方面也产生了非常深远的影响。在工业革命之前，各地区和各国
15、之间的交通非常不便，山川阻隔，往往成为不可克服的障碍。各地区、各国人民之间，永世隔绝，互不来往，这是造成人们之间互相隔阂、猜忌以至争战的客观因素。工业革命后，交通运输工具飞速发展，人际来往、国家关系越来越密切；各国与各地区都由统一的经济链条联系在一起，世界各地区人民之间利害一致性日益增强。从长远的历史眼光来看，四海一家的前景越来越近。 然而，我们说近代英国的政治比较民主自由，只是与欧洲大陆及东方的专制君主制相比较而言。实际上，英国在近代历史时期，主权在民的民主进程始终未能贯彻到底。即使在 17世纪革命高潮时期，以克伦威尔为首的当权派即已用残酷手段，将要求把民主进程深入发展下去的中下层人民，及代
16、表他们利益的平等派和掘地派加以镇压。平等派的领导人李尔本等被逮捕、监禁，要求民主的士兵阿诺尔德、洛克叶和汤普逊被枪杀。书报检查制度虽然在1695 年被废除，并且以后也未再恢复，但揭露和批判现实政治腐败的作家仍遭到迫害。著名的威尔克斯案件就是一个例证。托马斯潘恩也因为发表了批评英国政府的著作而遭受迫害，他不得不逃往国外。18 世纪末，英国国内激进民主主义兴起时，英国政府颁布法令，暂停“人身保护法”生效，又制订“叛逆行为法”和“叛乱集合法”，限制人民的言论、集会自由，违者将遭严惩，直至判处死刑。法庭以“散播不满和叛乱种子”的罪名将激进民主人士托马斯缪尔流放到澳大利亚。在 19 世纪英国进行的三次议
17、会改革中，选举权虽然不断扩大，但约占全国人口一半的妇女，始终被排斥在选举权之外。一直到 1918 年第四次议会改革时，妇女才取得了选举权，而且年龄被限制在 30 岁以上。英国工人运动兴起后，英国统治阶级多次用武力对工人加以镇压。1819 年发生了“彼得卢屠杀”惨案。宪章运动时，政府调集军警，屡加破坏，最后竟命令“铁公爵”威林顿率大批武装力量来对付工人群众。 当英国作为国外先进人士避难所的同时，英国统治阶级在对外关系上却执行着镇压革命和殖民侵略的政策。法国革命开始后，英国统治者成了当时反对法国革命的主要倡导者和组织者。从 18 世纪末到 1815 年的滑铁卢战役，英国断断续续进行了长达 20 余
18、年的反法战争。在英国推行殖民侵略过程中，英国的殖民主义者在世界广大地区抢占土地、屠杀人民、掠夺财货。英国国内的工商业繁荣，在很大程度上也是靠了掠夺殖民地人民的血汗。我国历史上的第一个不平等条约，就是由英国殖民主义者挟其坚船利炮，用血与火的手段，通过鸦片战争强加到我国人民头上的。所以在世界近代历史上，英国也扮演了反动的角色。 英国的工业革命，虽然具有巨大的进步作用，但在它的早期也带来了一些消极影响。工业革命后，资产阶级的财富飞速增长，但劳动群众却反而陷入水深火热之中。在工业化的资本主义社会，工人阶级 “无论作为一个人或一个阶级，都不能像人一样的生活、感觉和思想”。拿卡莱尔的话来说，工业革命后所建
19、立起来的工厂，不过是像“昏暗、肮脏的牢房”。 1851 年在伦敦水晶宫举行世界博览会时，英国的产品琳琅满目，参观者都对之赞不绝口。英国的工商业者作为“世界工厂”的主人而志满意得。帕麦斯顿在讲演中说：“我们的民族显示出一个榜样，即在我们的社会中，每一个阶级都以欢乐愉快的心情，接受了上帝安排给他们的命运。”然而事实却是，工业革命时期，在新的工厂制度下进行劳动的工人阶级，他们的工资待遇、劳动条件、生活条件都处于非常悲惨的状况下。在迅速兴建起来的大城市中，社会秩序混乱，环境污秽肮脏，工人们麇集在嘈杂、喧嚣的厂房中，无日无夜地辛苦劳动。大工业城市成了没有诗歌、花朵和友爱的荒漠。英国学者哈孟德说，这些“新
20、式的纺纱厂和新式炼铁厂，就好像是金字塔一样，把它们长长的阴影投射在这个以它们为自豪的社会之上。”工业革命后，“迈达斯的祸害”在社会上到处弥漫，就好像古希腊寓言中的国王迈达斯一样，人们贪婪地企图把一切都变成黄金，结果却丢掉了许多远比黄金更宝贵的东西。工业化后的资本主义社会，只说明“人类社会的被奴役，而不能说明人类社会有力量”。汤因比指出：“工业革命证明了，自由竞争可以创造财富，但不能创造幸福。”现在我国在进行社会主义工业化，在这个过程中，如何吸取英国工业革命的经验和教训，值得注意。 影片字幕英文来源1 Beginnings（3100 B.C.1000 A.D.）(本片在时间上横越了 4000 年
21、从铁器时代直至今日。)古代英国是一个兴旺的地区，罗马人称它是一个声望和财富聚集的地方。当时很多英国酋长已经并接受了罗马式的规则并采取了罗马人的生活方式。Hadrian 墙的建成标志着省在英国的出现。在罗马帝国灭亡 400 之后，它的统一的梦想却流传了下来。Alfred 公然向伪王国挑战，并且把海盗从王国的土地上赶走，最终一个王国被诺曼人征服了。From its earliest days, Britain was an object of desire. Tacitus declared it “pretium victoriae“ - worth the conquest, the best
22、 compliment that could occur to a Roman. He had never visited these shores but was nonetheless convinced that Britannia was rich in gold. Silver was abundant too. Apparently so were pearls, though Tacitus had heard they were grey, like the overcast, rain-heavy skies, and the natives only collected t
23、hem when cast up on the shore. As far as the Roman historians were concerned, Britannia may be off at the edge of the world, but it was off the edge of their world, not in a barbarian wilderness. If those writers had been able to travel in time as well as space to the northernmost of our islands, th
24、e Orcades - our modern Orkney - they would have seen something much more astonishing than pearls: Signs of a civilisation thousands of years older than Rome. There are remains of Stone Age life all over Britain and Ireland. But nowhere as abundantly as Orkney, with its mounds, graves and its great c
25、ircles of standing stones like here at Brodgar. Vast, imposing and utterly unknowable. Orkney has another Neolithic site, even more impressive than Brodgar, the last thing you would expect from the Stone Age, a shockingly familiar glimpse of ancient domestic life. Perched on the western coast of Ork
26、neys main island, a village called Skara Brae. Beneath an area no bigger than the 18th green of a golf course lies Europes most complete Neolithic community, preserved for 5,000 years under a blanket of sand and grass until uncovered in 1850 by a ferocious sea storm. This is a recognisable village.
27、Neatly fitted into its landscape between pasture and sea, intimate, domestic and self-sufficient. Technically still the Stone Age and Neolithic period, these are not huts, theyre true houses, built from sandstone slabs that lie all around the island and gave stout protection to villagers at Skara Br
28、ae, from their biting Orcadian winds. They were real neighbours, living cheek by jowl, their houses connected by walled, sometimes decorated alleyways. It is easy to imagine gossip travelling down those alleys after a hearty seafood supper. We have everything you could want from a village except a c
29、hurch and a pub. In 3,000 BC, the sea and air were warmer than they are now. Once theyd settled in their sandstone houses, they could harvest red bream and mussels and oysters that were abundant in the shallows. Cattle gave meat and milk and dogs were kept for hunting and for company. In Neolithic t
30、imes there would have been a dozen houses, half-dug into the ground for comfort and safety. A thriving, bustling little community of 50 or 60. The real miracle of Skara Brae is that these houses were not mere shelters. They were built by people who had culture, who had style. Heres where they showed
31、 off that style. A fully equipped, all-purpose Neolithic living room, complete with luxuries and necessities. Necessities? Well, at the centre, a hearth, around which they warmed themselves and cooked. A stone tank in which to keep live fish bait. Some houses had drains underneath them, so they must
32、 have had, believe it or not, indoor toilets. Luxuries? The orthopaedically correct stone bed may not seem particularly luxurious, but the addition of heather and straw would have softened the sleeping surface and would have made this bed seem rather snug. At the centre of it all was this spectacula
33、r dresser on which our house-proud villagers would set out all their most precious stuff. Fine bone and ivory necklaces, beautifully carved stone objects, everything designed to make a grand interior statement. Given the rudimentary nature of their tools, it would have taken countless man hours to b
34、uild not only these dwellings but the great circles of stone where they would have gathered to worship. Skara Brae wasnt just an isolated settlement of fishers and farmers. Its people must have belonged to some larger society, one sophisticated enough to mobilise the army of toilers and craftsmen ne
35、eded, not just to make these monuments, but to stand them on end. They were just as concerned about housing the dead as the living. The mausoleum at Maes Howe, a couple of miles from Skara Brae, seems no more than a swelling on the grassy landscape. This is, as it were, a British pyramid and in keep
36、ing with our taste for understatement, it reserves all its impact for the interior. Imagine them open once more. A detail from a village given the job of pulling back the stone seals, lugging the body through the low opening in the earth. Up 36 feet of narrow, tight-fitting passageway, lit only once
37、 a year by the rays of the winter solstice. A death canal, constriction, smelling of the underworld. Finally the passageway opens up to this stupendous, high-vaulted masonry chamber. Some tombs would have been elaborately decorated with carvings in the form of circles or spirals, like waves or the b
38、reeze-pushed clouds. Others would have had neat stone stores or cubicles where the bodies would be laid out on shelves. The grandest tombs had openings cut in the wall, to create side chambers where the most important bodies could be laid out in aristocratic spaciousness like family vaults in a coun
39、try church. Unlike medieval knights, these grandees were buried with eagles and dogs, or even treasure. The kind of thing the Vikings who broke into these tombs thousands of years later were quick to filch. In return, these early tomb raiders left their own legacy. These wonderful graffiti. These ru
40、nes were carved by the most skilled rune carver in the western ocean. I bedded Thorny here. Ingegirth is one horny bitch. As for the Orcadian hoi polloi, they ranked space in a common chamber, on a floor carpeted with the bones of hundreds of their predecessors. A crowded waiting room to their after
41、world. For centuries, life at Skara Brae must have continued in much the same way. Around 2,500 BC, the climate seems to have got colder and wetter. The red bream and stable environment the Orcadians had enjoyed for countless generations disappeared. Fields were abandoned, the farmers and fishers mi
42、grated, leaving their stone buildings and tombs to be covered by layers of peat, drifting sand and finally grass. The mainland too, of course, had its burial chambers, like the long barrow at West Kennet. There were also the great stone circles, the largest at Avebury. But the most spectacular of al
43、l at Stonehenge. By 1,000 BC, things were changing fast. All over the British landscape, a protracted struggle for good land was taking place. Forests were cleared so that Iron Age Britain was not, as was romantically imagined, an unbroken forest kingdom stretching from Cornwall to Inverness. It was
44、 rather a patchwork of open fields, dotted here and there with copses giving cover for game, especially wild pigs. And it was a crowded island. We now think that as many people lived on this land as during the reign of Elizabeth 1, 2,500 years later. Some archaeologists believe that almost as much l
45、and was being farmed in the Iron Age as in 1914. So its no surprise to see one spectacular difference from the little world of Skara Brae. Great windowless towers. They were built in the centuries before the Roman invasions, when population pressure was most intense and farmers had growing need of p
46、rotection, first from the elements, but later from each other. Many of those towers still survive but none are as daunting as the great stockade on Arran, off Irelands west coast. They didnt just spring up around the edges of the British islands. All over the mainland too, the great hill forts of th
47、e Iron Age remain visible in terraced contours such as at Danebury and Maiden Castle. Lofty seats of power for the tribal chiefs, they were defended by rings of earthworks, timber palisades and ramparts. Behind those daunting walls was not a world in panicky retreat. The Iron Age Britain into which
48、the Romans eventually crashed with such alarming force was a dynamic, expanding society. From their workshops came the spectacular metalwork with which the elite decorated their bodies. Armlets, pins, brooches and ornamental shields like this, the so-called Battersea Shield. Or the astonishing styli
49、sed bronze horses, endearingly melancholy in expression, like so many Eeyores resigned to a bad day in battle. With tribal manufacture came trade. The warriors, druid priests and artists of Iron Age Britain shipped their wares all over Europe, trading with the expanding Roman Empire. In return, with no home-grown grapes or olives, Mediterranean wine and oil arrived in large earthenware jars. Iron Age Britain was not the back of beyond. Its tribes may have led lives separated from each other by custom and language, and they may have had no great capital city but
