Unit 2. History. How was the UK created?

Pre-reading task.

Background test. See how many names and phenomena are familiar to you and share your knowledge about them.

ü the Lancastrians,

ü the Yorkists,

ü the Wars of the Roses,

ü Bubonic plague,

ü the Tudors,

ü the Houses,

ü Traitor’s Gate,

ü the Tower,

ü Henry VIII,

ü the Reformation,

ü Anglicanism,

ü Catholicism,

ü The Bill of Rights,

ü Elisabeth I,

ü Sir William Raleigh

Discussion club.

Get in pairs and discuss:

-) Is it possible to build “a better world” by means of revolution?

-) Who do you consider the most important figure in late British history?

Some important facts of the 15^th and the 16^th centuries.

Split into two teams. Take turns in choosing any familiar word from the word-box below and explaining its meaning to the other team in English. Every correct guess will bring a prize point to a team. For an additional point the one who guesses the word will have to produce a sentence using it.

Look through the following historic facts and comprise the information in each passage into one sentence.

ü During the 15^th century two rival groups claimed the throne of England. The greatest nobles, who had their own private armies challenged the position of the monarch. The Lancastrians, whose symbol was a red rose, supported the descendants of the Duke of Lancaster, and the Yorkists, whose symbol was a white rose, supported the descendants of the Duke of York. The struggle for power led to the Wars of the Roses between 1455 and 1485. They ended when Henry VII defeated and killed Richard III. Then followed an era of stability and strong government.

ü The power of the English monarch increased in this period. Bubonic plague (known in England as the Black Death) killed about a third of the population in the middle of the 14^th century and continued to appear periodically for 300 years. The barons were not so strong after the Wars of the Roses, the shortage of labour, the importance of trade in the towns helped to weaken the ties between feudal lord and peasant.

ü The Tudor Dynasty (1485 – 1603) established a system of government departments, that depended on the monarch. As a result, the feudal barons were no longer needed for government policy. Parliament was traditionally split into two Houses. The House of Lords consisted of the feudal aristocracy and the leaders of the Church. The House of Commons consisted of representatives from the towns and the less important landowners in rural areas.

ü Being an important person was not safe in the 16^th century. The Tudor monarchs were not loyal to their officials and merciless to any nobles that opposed them. More than half of the famous people of this period were executed as traitors. Few people who were taken through Traitor’s Gate and became prisoners in the Tower of London came out alive.

ü Henry VIII is one of the most well-known monarchs in English history, mostly because he took six wives during his life. It was during his reign that the Reformation took place. His quarrel with Rome had nothing to do with doctrine (it was because he wanted to be free to marry again and to appoint the leaders of the Church of England). In the same decade he had a law passed which demanded complete adherence to Catholic belief. This confession is known as Anglicanism, which was not very different from Catholicism in its organization and ritual.

ü Elisabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII was the 1^st of three long-reigning queens in British history. She never married and became known as “the virgin queen”. The area which later became the state of Virginia in the USA was named after her by one of the many English explorers of the time (Sir William Raleigh).

Put a question to each passage and write them down.

Retell the above information in not more than 6 sentences.

Reading. Read the text carefully and retell it close to the original. Be ready to discuss it.

When James I became the first English king of the Stuart dynasty, he was already King of Scotland, so the crowns of the two countries were united. The parliaments and the administrative systems however, were different.

Almost 40 years later The English Civil War broke out. It was part of a wider series of conflicts that involved all the British Isles with Scotland and Ireland as well as England and Wales and is also called "The Great Rebellion", "The English Revolution" and "The Wars of the Three Kingdoms".

It was an armed conflict in the British Isles between Parliamentarians and supporters of the monarchy (Royalists). Tension between Charles I and the House of Commons was growing for some time, and after his unsuccessful attempt to arrest five members of Parliament, both sides prepared for war.

The first phase of the wars (1642-1646) brought victory to the Parliament. In 1647 Charles I asked a Scottish group for assistance, starting the second phase of the wars, a series of Royalist rebellions, and a Scottish invasion. All were defeated, and Charles I was executed in 1649.

The fighting continued, and Royalist forces under Charles II invaded England in 1651. Parliamentary forces defeated the Royalists in 1651 and Charles II ran abroad, ending the civil wars. The wars' political consequence was the establishment of the Commonwealth and Protectorate. The leader of the parliamentary army, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of a republic with a military government. The first attempt was made to unite the three nations under a single government after Oliver Cromwell crushed resistance in Ireland, and the foundations of the modern British constitution were laid.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 996