Prehistoric Britain

  • Britain – the part of the European land mass until the last Ice Age
  • 6000 BC
  • The earliest inhabitants lived in limestone caves
  • 3000 BC many parts were inhabited by the Iberians
  • They used stone axes and made antlers and bones into leather-working tools.
  • We can learn from their skeletons, weapons, tools and the remains of dwellings.
  • Stonehenge – 3000 BC; the sun and the passing of the seasons
  • The ruins consist of two stone circles and two stone horseshoes.
  • The Bronze Age 2100-1650
  • The Technique of smelting iron 700 BC, By Celts
  • Britain was invaded in two waves- the Gaels 600 BC, Cymri or Britons 300 BC
  • The Celts lived in villages, built forts on hilltops and protected them with ditches and ramparts.
  • Large-scale artwork
  • Family life was the clan
  • Croup of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion and cultural expressions.
  • Celtic languages are : Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Manx, Breton, Gaelic.

Roman Britain

  • The Romans were the most powerful people in the world.
  • Slave society
  • Gallia conquered with Rome
  • Julius Caesar reached the Cannel in 55 BC
  • Made two raids
  • The Romans defeated the Celts
  • Rebellion in Gaul forced withdraw his soldiers from Britan
  • Britain was still ruled as a colony
  • Free Celts
  • The Iceni joined with Romans but the turned on and tortured Queen Boudicca
  • Queen Boudicca - led revolt against Roman rule
  • Romans built – network of towns, forts and camps connected by paved roads.
  • Hadrian’s wall – to keep out the raiding Picts and Scots
  • Main towns and cities were established by the Romans – York, St Albans, Bath, London
  • -caster, -chester reveal the places of Roman military camps
  • Aquae Sulis
  • R. soldiers and traders brought Christianity, 4th century the Christian Church was established.

Anglo – Saxon Kingdoms

  • The Roman legions left Britain in 410 and the Celts remained independent but not for long.
  • Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Northern Germany had started to raid the eastern shores.
  • The new settlers destroyed Roman villas.
  • Towns ending in “ham” ( Birmingham, Nottingham)
  • The Celts were driven away to Cornwall, Wales and the Scottish Highlands and Islands
  • Welsh and Cymri has survived best
  • The Angles gave England the name and the Saxons language
  • Anglo – Saxons
  • Agricultural people
  • Self-sufficient villages
  • Arable-farming, cattle-breeding
  • Trading
  • King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
  • The Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons – 6th century, St Augustine
  • Important changes
  • Big landed estates
  • Spread of Roman culture ( monks)
  • They brought books to Britain
  • The First libraries and schools
  • The Venerable Bede “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”
  • “Beowulf”
  • King Elbert became the first king of England
  • Viking loanwords are – eye, leg, sky, skin, take etc.
  • They came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
  • The Viking age in European history was AD 700 to 1100.
  • Many Vikings left Scandinavia and travelled other countries.
  • The Vikings still lived in tribes and were pagans, bold and skilful seamen.
  • 871 the Danes invaded Wessex
  • The first British Navy was built and many places fortified
  • King Alfred
  • Could read and write
  • Translated Ecclesiastical History of the English People
  • The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle was written in Anglo-Saxon
  • 11th century England was conquered by the Danish king Canute who became king of Denmark, Norway and England.
  • He divided England into lordships, providing a unified system of government, ended the practise of paying Danegeld.

The Norman Invasion

  • 1042 Edward Confessor became king
  • After Edward’s death Godwin’s (father-in-law) oldest son Harold was recognised as a king
  • Real ruler of England
  • Harold and William of Normandy argued about the throne
  • Three man claimed to the throne of England
  • Harold Godwin ; the Earl of Wessex
  • William ; the Duke of Normandy
  • Harald Hardraada ; the King of Norway
  • 1st challenge to king Harold came from the north
  • 1066, Harald landed in north-eastern England
  • Godwin defeated Harald
  • Duke William had landed on the south coast
  • The Battle of Hastings
  • Last successful invasion of Britain
  • It is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry
  • William the Conqueror was acclaimed king in Westminster Abbey, 1066
  • The Normans operated a feudal system
  • 1086 The Domesday Book – s survey of every manor in England
  • French – language of the arictocracy
  • English – language of peasants
  • The most prominent surviving remains from Norman England
  • Stone castles
  • The White Tower in London, Durham

The Early Middle Ages

  • Anglo-Saxon rebellion against the Normans until 1070
  • William I
  • State system
  • Strong monarchy
  • Language
  • “Domesday” Book – complete economic survey
  • William controlled Normandy and England
  • 1087 he left Normandy to his son Robert and England to his second son William
  • William died in a hunting accident and Henry unfairly took charge of the king’s treasury and was crowned king
  • 1106 Hendry invaded Normandy
  • Henry + Matilda
  • The consequences were serious
  • The throne was seized by Stephen of Blois
  • Matilda’s fight with S of B led a civil war
  • 1153 – the latter could keep the throne if Matilda’s son Henry could succeed him.
  • Henry II became the 1st unquestioned ruler of the English throne.

The Reign Of Henry II, Richard I, John I

Magna Carta and the Decline of Feudalism

  • Henry II
  • Inherited English Kingdom and Normandy from his Mother Matilda
  • Anjou, Maine and Touraine from his father Geoffrey
  • Acquired vast areas of central and south-western France through his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine
  • Though, athletic, immense energy- travel ceaselessly
  • Most able king – generous, pillar of justice
  • Sons Richard and John
  • Struggle between the Church and the state
  • 1162 Henry II appointed Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Henry was followed by Richard
  • Spent hardly any time in England
  • R. was killed; 1199 John I inherited the throne
  • Unpopular- had taxed heavily his nobles, had taken their money but had not protected their land in France
  • Pope closed every church
  • John was forced to sign Magna Carta
  • Defining the rights and responsibilities of the crown and its subjects
  • Limited king’s power
  • Important landmarks
  • 1st stone bridge across the Thames
  • It concluded a drawbridge, a double row of housesand some 140 shops.

England under the Reign of Henry III and Edward I

100 years’ war

  • John’s son Henry
  • Reigned for a long time
  • Middling head of state
  • Was not able to get back his father’s lands in France
  • Patronized arts and inspired the improvements of Westminster Abbey and construction of Salisbury Cathedral
  • First parliament was summoned in 1265
  • His son Edward I
  • Brought together 1st real parliament
  • Annexed Wales to England
  • Brought Scotland under English control
  • Tried to have good relations with Philip IV
  • They married their children (Isabella + Edward II)
  • Consequences were disastrous and Isabella forced Edward to abdicate in favour of his 14-year-old son
  • Edward III
  • One of the most successful English monarchs
  • The most efficient military power in Europe
  • His reign saw vital developments in legislature and government
  • 100 year’s war (1337-1453)
  • The struggle began with Edward’s claim to the French throne
  • War began well for England
  • Mysterious peasant Joan of Arc
  • French went on winning
  • England had lost all its French possessions except Calais
  • English literature was born with G. Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”
  • Bible was translated into English
  • 1st school Winchester College was establishedin 1382
  • “Canterbury Tales”
  • A native architectural style (Cambridge)
  • Oxford University

The Age of Chivalry, the Poor in Revolt

  • Edward III and the Black Prince were greatly admired.
  • Symbols of the “code of chivalry”
  • Order of the Garter
  • Gave England a new patron saint, St. George
  • “Honi soit qui mal y pense”
  • The Black Death (1348-1349)
  • Edward was followed by Richard II
  • He became king at the age of 11, so others governed for him
  • His advisers introduced a tax payment
  • The third time in 1381, caused a revolt in East Anglia, Kent
  • The Peasants Revolt
  • Lasted 4 weeks
  • Leader Wat Tyler was killed
  • Richard II managed to calm down the angry crowd
  • His officers killed the other leading rebels
  • 1st sign of growing discontent with the state.

The Crisis of Kingship, the Wars of the Roses

  • After 100 Year’s War many of soldiers became unemployed
  • Lancastrians and Yorkist fought for the control of the throne
  • 1377 Richard II became king
  • Young king was placed under control of his uncle John, Duke of Lancaster
  • He prepared the throne for his son Henry IV
  • Other successor – the son of his uncle Edmund, Duke of York
  • Henry was stronger
  • Established his royal authority
  • Nobility were divided between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists
  • The house of York – white rose; Henry had no right to be king; better right, because they were descended from and older son of Edward III
  • Lancaster – red rose
  • War 1455 with the battle of Saint Albans
  • Edward York became king as Edward IV
  • Edward V and his brother was killed in the Tower of London
  • Richard III
  • Last king of the House of York
  • “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

The Tudors

  • European royal house
  • 1485 – 1603
  • 1st monarch Henry Tudor
  • Built foundations of a wealthy nation state and a powerful country
  • His son Henry VIII make church truly English
  • Elizabeth defeated the powerful navy of Spain
  • Less glorious view: Henry VIII wasted a lot of the wealth saved by his father
  • Elizabeth weakened the quality of government by selling official posts

The early Tudors

  • Henry VII
  • Was born in Wales
  • Edmund Tudor, Lady Margaret Beaufort
  • Established new monarchy
  • Based royal power on good business
  • Avoided quarrels with Scotland in the north or France in the south
  • Important alliances
  • His son Arthur + Catherine of Aragon
  • Marriage between his daughter Margaret and James IV of Scotland
  • He kept England out of European wars
  • Henry VIII
  • Catherine of Aragon – divorced
  • Anne Boleyn – beheaded
  • Jane Seymour – died
  • Anne of Cleves – divorced
  • Catherine Howard – beheaded
  • Catherine Parr – survived
  • Parliament passed two acts
  • The pope had no authority in England
  • The act of Supremacy – made the Church of England a separate institution, established king as its supreme head
  • The reformation in England

Reformation-the background

  • Henry VIII spent so much on wars and court
  • The church was a huge landowner
  • The monks lived in wealth and comfort
  • Henry disliked the power of church in England
  • He wanted control the Church
  • Believed in catholic faith
  • Once E. had accepted the separation from Rome, H. took the English reformation a step further
  • Thomas Cromwell
  • Careful survey of Church property
  • Closed monasteries and religious houses

The Later Tudors. The Protestant – Catholic struggle

  • Edward VI became king after Henry VIII death
  • The county was ruled by a council
  • Edward died at the age of 16
  • Jane Gray was his successor
  • The Nine Days’ Queen
  • The privy council change sides and Lady Jane was executed
  • Mary + king Philip of Spain
  • Enacted a policy a persecution against Protestants
  • Nickname “Bloody Mary”
  • Elizabeth became queen
  • Led E. back to Protestantism and made herself head of the Church
  • The struggle between Catholics and Protestants
  • Spain and French kings wanted to marry Elizabeth
  • Danger from the Catholic nobles in England
  • Mary Stuart Queen of Scots
  • Closest living relative
  • Elizabeth never married and had no children

The Elizabethan Age

  • Spain as main trade rival and enemy
  • The defeat of the Spanish Armada
  • Prosperous period
  • Greatest dramatists
  • Seamen continued to seek alternative routes to India
  • A number of companies were established

The early Stuarts

  • Mary Queen of Scots – fascinating and controversial monarchs
  • She claimed the crowns of four nations – Scotland, France, England and Ireland
  • Mary + Francois; short marriage, no children
  • Mary + Lord Darnley; instead of marrying Lord Dudley; unpopular
  • When she got tired of him, she allowed herself to agree to his murder and married the man believed to have been the murderer; less popular
  • Her third marriage ended in forced abdication in favour of her one-year-old-son
  • Tried and executed for treason for her alleged involvement in three plots to assassinate Elizabeth
  • James started to rule at the age of 12
  • When E. died, she left James with a huge debt
  • Raise taxes
  • Mistake- appointing one Elizabeth’s minister as Chief Justice
  • Limited kings power
  • The Gunpowder plot of November 5, 1605.
  • Guy Fawkes and others were caught to blow up the House of Lords on a open session day.
  • Authorised King James’ Version of the Bible

James; Charles; The Civil War; Execution of King; Cromwell

  • James Stuart’s reign
  • Scottish Catholic who believed in the “Divine right” to rule as he pleased
  • Conflict with parliament
  • Charles I, 1600
  • 1625 became king
  • Married Henrietta Maria of France
  • Tension with parliament over money
  • Dissolved parliament in three times
  • He dismissed parliament, resolved to rule alone
  • The Civil War at Edgehill, 1642
  • Supporters on monarchy-Cavaliers
  • Supporters on parliament-Roundheads
  • 1645, the Royalist army was finally defeated
  • New “model” army that Oliver Cromwell
  • The new king Charles II
  • The 1st political parties in Britain
  • Whigs
  • Tories
  • The Plague in 1665
  • The Great Fie of London in 1666
  • His brother James II succeeded him
  • The king was unable to raise taxes or keep an army without the agreement of parliament
  • The political events was called the Glorious Revolution
  • Prince William was not liked, but his wife was very popular
  • Queen Anne
  • 1st monarch to rule over the Kingdom of Great Britain
  • Parliamentary elections had a decisive effect on the life of the country

The Commonwealth (1649-1660). Oliver Cromwell

  • The term is loosely used to describe the whole period of 1649-1660
  • Cromwell’s government divided the country into 11 districts
  • Most of entertainment was banned
  • Oliver Cromwell
  • Most controversial figures
  • A radical dictator
  • Nobody can deny the importance of the new “model-army” that he had created
  • On the side of the “Roundheads” and became a key military leaders
  • A Puritan
  • Enjoyed music, hunting and playing bowls
  • Was buried in Westminster Abbey

The eighteenth century

  • Growth of industries
  • Britain had the strongest navy
  • King’s minister was a decision-maker
  • The invention of machinery destroyed the “cottage industries” and created factories
  • Sudden growth of cities
  • George became king; didn’t speak English, didn’t seem very interested in his country
  • Government power was increased
  • Walpole came to power as a result of his financial ability
  • Idea – government ministers should work together in a small group
  • The limits to monarchy
  • Could not be a catholic
  • Could not move or change laws
  • Was dependent on Parliament for his financial income and for his army
  • Was supposed to choose his ministers
  • W. put taxes on luxury goods: tea, coffee, chocolate
  • New king, George III
  • Didn’t want ton continue expensive war
  • Made peace with France
  • Britain’s international trade increased rapidly

Britain from George III to Victoria

  • The Georgian Age
  • Age of Enlightenment
  • George III
  • Hanoverian king
  • Could speak without accent
  • Defeated France
  • Becoming the dominant European power in North-America, India
  • American colonies lost
  • A series of wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France
  • Loss of American colonies
  • Conflict between B. and American colonies triggered by the financial cost of the Anglo-French wars
  • 1764 – serious quarrel over taxation
  • American colonist decided that it was not lawful to tax them without their agreement
  • 1773, Boston tea party
  • Rebellion
  • The American War Of Independence (1775-1783)
  • Declaration of Independence
  • The war in America gave strength to the new ideas of democracy and independence.
  • Napoleonic wars
  • Brought changes to Europe and America
  • 1804 Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor
  • Nelson, Trafalgar in 1805
  • Wellington, with the help of the Prussian army, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815
  • The Danger at home, 1815 -1832
  • No need for factory-made goods
  • Price increases in almost everything
  • Many looked for a better life in towns
  • The Tories collapsed over the Question of Catholic Emancipation
  • Led by Earl Grey, the Whigs were still aristocratic party
  • In 1830 George IV died and William came to the throne
  • Last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament
  • William was succeeded by his niece Queen Victoria

Victorian England

  • Inherited throne from William IV
  • Britain was the most powerful country
  • “The Empire on which the Sun never set”
  • 1854, war in Crimea
  • Florence Nightingale with nurses
  • 1857 a munity in India
  • Victoria became Empress of India and the country was put under the direct rule of Britain
  • Industrial Revolution
  • The use of steam-machines led to a huge increase in the number of factories
  • Child labouring
  • Education
  • Important inventions and discoveries
  • Joseph Lister – the antiseptic surgery
  • Steamships
  • Railways
  • The first book of evolution
  • Christianity had a very important influence on Victorian society
  • Hard work
  • Thrift and respect
  • Famous Writers
  • Charles Dickens
  • Oscar Wilde
  • R. Kipling

The Edwardian Age, World War I and the Post-War Years