Life in the UK test: Early Britain to 1485 practice questions

Pin each year to one event before you choose: 1066 Hastings, 1086 Domesday, 1215 Magna Carta, 1485 Bosworth. A famous later name, such as Henry VIII or Cromwell, cannot be the answer to a Roman or medieval question.

Question 1

Who led the Iceni in a revolt against Roman rule in Britain?

  1. Alfred the Great
  2. William the Conqueror
  3. The emperor Hadrian
  4. Boudica

Answer: Boudica

Boudica, queen of the Iceni, led a revolt against Roman rule in AD 60 or 61. Alfred fought the Vikings centuries later, William conquered England in 1066, and Hadrian ordered the building of the Wall in the second century.

Question 2

Hadrian's Wall was built on the orders of which ruler?

  1. William the Conqueror
  2. The Roman emperor Hadrian
  3. Alfred the Great
  4. Henry VIII

Answer: The Roman emperor Hadrian

Hadrian ordered the wall across northern Britain, and work began around AD 122. William, Alfred and Henry VIII lived more than a thousand years later.

Question 3

What was the Domesday Book?

  1. The first complete English translation of the Bible
  2. The roll of MPs elected in 1086
  3. A survey of landholding in England, completed in 1086
  4. The treaty that ended the Wars of the Roses

Answer: A survey of landholding in England, completed in 1086

William I ordered the Domesday survey, and the book was completed in 1086. There was no Parliament of elected MPs then, the Wars of the Roses ended in 1485, and an English Bible is a much later book.