> The Wars of the Roses
During the fifteenth century the throne of England was claimed by representatives of two rival groups. The power of the greatest nobles, who had their own private armies, meant that constant challenges to the position of the monarch were possible. 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 at the Battle of Bosworth Field and were followed by an era of stability and strong government which was welcomed by those weakened and impoverished by decades of war.
> Off with his head!
Being an important person in the sixteenth century was not a safe position to be in. The Tudor mon-archs were disloyal to their officials and merciless to any nobles who opposed them. More than half of the most famous people of the period finished their lives by being executed as traitors. Few people who were taken through Traitor's Gate to become prisoners in the Tower of London came out again alive.
The sixteenth century
The power of the English monarch increased in this period. The strength of the great barons had been greatly weakened by the Wars of the Roses (o The Wars of the Roses). Bubonic plague (known in England as the Black Death) contributed to the reduction of their power. It killed about a third of the population in its first outbreak in England in the middle of the fourteenth century and continued to reappear periodically for another 300 years. The shortage of labour which this caused, and the increasing importance of trade in the towns, helped to weaken the traditional ties between feudal lord and peasant.
The Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) established a system of government departments, staffed by professionals who depended for their position on the monarch. As a result, the feudal barons were no longer needed for implementing government policy. They were also needed less for making 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. It was now more important for monarchs to get the agreement of the Commons for policy-making because that was where the newly powerful merchants and landowners (the people with the money) were represented.
Unlike in much of the rest of Europe, the direct cause of the rise of Protestantism in England was political and personal rather than doctrinal (d> Henry VIII). Henry VIII wanted a divorce which the Pope would not give him. Also, by making himself head of the 'Church of England', independent of Rome, all church lands came under his control and gave him a large new source of income.
This rejection of the Roman Church accorded with a new spirit of patriotic confidence in England. The country had finally lost any realistic claim to lands in France, thus becoming more consciously a distinct 'island nation'. At the same time, increasing European exploration of the Americas and other parts of the world meant that
1275 1328
Llewellyn, a Welsh prince, refuses to After several years of war between the
submit to the authority of the English Scottish and English kingdoms, Scot.
monarch and is recognized as an independent kingdom.
The Statute of Wales puts the whole of that country under the control of the English monarch.
The Act of Supremacy declares Henry VIII to be the supreme head of the Church in England.
The administration of government and law in Wales is reformed so that it is exactly the same as it is in England.
The sixteenth century 21
England was closer to the geographical centre of western civilisation instead of being, as previously, on the edge of it. It was in the last quarter of this adventurous and optimistic century that Shakespeare began writing his famous plays.
It was therefore patriotism as much as religious conviction that had caused Protestantism to become the majority religion in England by the end of the century. It took a form known as Anglicanism, —'which was not so very different from Catholicism in its organization and ritual. But in the lowlands of Scotland it took a more idealistic form. Calvinism, with its strict insistence on simplicity and its dislike
Jual and celebration, became the dominant religion. It is from late that the stereotype of the dour, thrifty Scot developed. ever, the Scottish highlands remained Catholic and so further ned the gulf between the two parts of the nation. Ireland also ined Catholic. There, Protestantism was identified with the sh, who at that time were making further attempts to control the whole of the country.
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII,
(>Henry VIII) was the first of three long-reigning queens in British history (the other two are Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II). During her long reign she established, by skilful diplomacy, a reasonable degree of internal stability in a t firmly Protestant England, allowing the growth of a spirit of patriotism and general confidence. She never Beamed, but used its possibility as a diplomatic tool. She became known as’ the virgin queen'. The area
which later became the state of Virginia in the USA was named after hear by one of the many English explorers of the time (Sir Walter Raleigh).
Elizabeth I
> Henry VIII
Henry VIII is one of the most well-known monarchs in English history, chiefly because he took six wives during his life. It was during his reign that the Reformation took place. In the 1530$, Henry used Parliament to pass laws which swept away the power of the Roman Church in England. His quarrel with Rome was nothing to do with doctrine (it was because he wanted to be free to marry again and to appoint who he wished as leaders of the Church in England). In the same decade, he had a law passed which demanded complete adherence to Catholic belief and practice. He had also previously written a polemic against Protestantism, for which the pope gave him the title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith). The initials FD still appear on British coins today.
Henry VIII
An English language version of the Bible replaces Latin bibles in every church in die land.
I560
The Scottish Parliament abolishes the authority of the Pope and forbids the -inn mass.
I580
Sir Francis Drake completes the first voyage round the world by an Englishman.
The Spanish Armada, a fleet of ships sent by the Catholic King Philip of Spain to help invade England, is defeated by the English navy (with the help of a violent storm!).
James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England.
The Gunpowder Plot: a group of Catholics fail in their attempt to blow up the king in Parliament (see chapter 23).
22 2 History
>The Civil War
This is popularly remembered as a
contest between fun-loving, aristocratic, royalist 'Cavaliers', who nevertheless were 'wrong' in their beliefs, and over-serious, puritan parliamentarian "Roundheads' (because of the style of their haircuts) , who nevertheless had right on their side. The Roundheads were victorious by 1 645, although the war periodically started up again until 1649.
The seventeenth century
When James I became the first English king of the Stuart dynasty, he was already king of Scotland, so the crowns of these two countries were united. Although their parliaments and administrative and judicial systems continued to be separate, their linguistic differences were lessened in this century. The kind of Middle English spoken in lowland Scotland had developed into a written language known as 'Scots'. However, the Scottish Protestant church adopted English rather than Scots bibles. This, and the glamour of the English court where the king now sat, caused modern English to become the written standard in Scotland as well.
In the sixteenth century religion and politics became inextricably linked. This link became even more intense in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the century, some people tried to kill the king because he wasn't Catholic enough (see chapter 23). By the end of the century, another king had been killed, partly because he seemed too Catholic, and yet another had been forced into exile for the same reason.
This was the context in which, during the century, Parliament established its supremacy over the monarchy in Britain. Anger grew in the country at the way that the Stuart monarchs raised money, especially because they did not get the agreement of the House of Commons to do so first. This was against ancient tradition. In addition, ideological Protestantism, especially Puritanism, had grown in England. Puritans regarded many of the practices of the Anglican Church, and also its hierarchical structure, as immoral. Some of them thought the luxurious lifestyle of the king and his followers was immoral too. They were also fiercely anti-Catholic and suspicious of the apparent sympathy towards Catholicism of the Stuart monarchs.
This conflict led to the Civil War (> The Civil War), which ended with complete victory for the parliamentary forces. The king (Charles I) was captured and became the first monarch in Europe to be executed after a formal trial for crimes against his people. The leader of the parliamentary army, Oliver Cromwell, became 'Lord Protector' of a republic with a military government which, after he had brutally crushed resistance in Ireland, effectively encompassed the whole of the British Isles.
But when Cromwell died, he, his system of government, and the puritan ethics that went with it (theatres and other forms of amusement had been banned) had become so unpopular that the son of the executed king was asked to return and take the throne. The Anglican
The Civil War begins (> The Civil War).
Charles I is executed. For the first and only time, Britain briefly becomes a republic and is called 'the Commonwealth'.
The monarchy and the Anglican religion are restored.
The seventeenth century 23
A nineteenth-century painting of victorious Roundheads with two captured Cavaliers after the battle of Naseby in 1645
Church was restored. However, the conflict between monarch and Parliament soon re-emerged. The monarch, James II, tried to give full rights to Catholics, and to promote them in his government. The ‘Glorious Revolution' ('glorious' because it was bloodless) followed, in which Prince William of Orange, ruler of the Netherlands, and his Stuart wife Mary, accepted Parliament's invitationto become king and queen. In this way it was established that a monarch could rule only with the support of Parliament. Parliament immediately drew up a Bill of Rights, which limited some of the powers of the monarch (notably, the power to dismiss judges). It also allowed Dissenters (those who did not agree with the practices of Anglicanism) to practise their religion freely. This meant that the Presbyterian Church, to which the majority of the lowland Scottish belonged, was guaranteed its legality. However, Dissenters were not allowed to hold government posts or be Members of Parliament.
Junes II, meanwhile, had fled to Ireland. But the Catholic Irish army he gathered there was defeated. Laws were then passed forbidding Catholics to vote or even own land. In Ulster, in the north of the country, large numbers of fiercely anti-Catholic Scottish Presbyterians settled (in possession of all the land). The descendants of these people are still known today as Orangemen (after their patron William of Orange). They form one half of the tragic split in society in modern Northem Ireland, the other half being the 'native' Irish Catholics (see chapter 13).
> Ring-a-ring-a-roses
Ring-a-ring-a-roses
A pocket full of posies Atishoo! Atishoo!
We all fall down.
This is a well-known children's nursery rhyme today. It comes from the time of the Great Plague of 1665, which was the last outbreak of bubonic plague in Britain. The ring of roses refers to the pattern of red spots on a sufferer's body. The posies (bags of herbs) were thought to give protection from the disease. 'Atishoo' represents the sound of sneezing, one of the signs of the disease, after which a person could sometimes 'fall down' dead in a few hours.
The Great Fire of London destroys most of the city's old wooden buildings. It also destroys bubonic plague, which never reappears. Most of the city's finest churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, date from the period of rebuilding which follows.
The Glorious Revolution
The Presbyterian Church becomes the official "Church of Scotland'.
The Battle of the Boyne, in which William III and the Ulster Protestants defeat James II and the Irish Catholics.
24 2 History
The eighteenth century
Politically, this century was stable. Monarch and Parliament got on quite well together. One reason for this was that the monarch's favourite politicians, through the royal power of patronage (the ability to give people jobs), were able to control the election and voting habits of a large number of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons.
Within Parliament the divisions of the previous century, though far less bitter than before, were echoed in the formation of two vaguely opposed loose collections of allies. One group, the Whigs, were the political 'descendants' of the parliamentarians. They supported the Protestant values of hard work and thrift, were sympathetic to Dissenters and believed in government by monarch and aristocracy together. The other group, the Tories, had a greater respect for the idea of the monarchy and the importance of the Anglican Church (and sometimes even a little sympathy for Catholics and the Stuarts). The two terms, Whig and Tory, had in fact first been used in the late 1670 and allegiance to one side or the other was more often the result of family or regional loyalty than of political beliefs. This could be said, however, to be the beginning of the party system in Britain (see chapter 6).
The modern system of an annual budget drawn up by the monarch's Treasury officials for the approval of Parliament was established during this century. So, too, was the habit of the monarch appointing one principal, or 'Prime', Minister from the ranks of Parliament to head his government.
At the beginning of the century, by agreement, the Scottish Parliament joined with the English and Welsh Parliament at Westminster in London. However, Scotland retained its own system of law, more similar to continental European systems than to that of England. It does so to this day.
The only part of Britain to change radically as a result of political forces in this century was the highlands area of Scotland. This area twice supported failed attempts to put a (Catholic) Stuart monarch back on the throne by force. After the second attempt, many
The Act of Union joins the Parliament of Scotland with that of England and Wales.
The last occasion on which a British monarch refuses to accept a bill which has been passed by Parliament.
At the Battle of Culloden, a government army of English and lowland Scots defeats the highland army of Charles Edward, who, as grandson of the last Stuart king, claimed the British throne. Although he made no attempt to protect his supporters from revenge afterwards, he is still a popular romantic figure in the highlands, and is known as 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'.
For the first time, Parliament allows written records of its debates to be published freely.
James Watt invents the first steam engine.
After a war, Britain recognizes the independence of the American colonies.
The eighteenth century 25
inhabitants of the highlands were killed or sent away from Britain and the wearing of highland dress (the tartan kilt) was banned. The Celtic way of life was effectively destroyed.
It was cultural change that was most marked in this century. Britain gradually expanded its empire in the Americas, along the west African coastand in India. The increased trade which resulted from the links withthese new markets was one factor which led to the Industrial Revolution. The many technical innovations in the areas of manufacturing and transport during this period were also important attributing factors.
InEngland, the growth of the industrial mode of production, together with advances in agriculture, caused the greatest upheaval a due pattern of everyday life since the Anglo-Saxon invasions. Areas of common land, which had been available for use by everybody in a villade for the grazing of animals since Anglo-Saxon times, disappeared as landowners incorporated them into their increasingly large and more efficient farms. (Some pieces of common land remain in Britain today, used mainly as public parks. They are often called 'the common'.) Hundreds of thousands of people moved from rural areas
into new towns and cities. Most of these new towns and cities were in the north of England, where the raw materials for industry were available. In this way, the north, which had previously been economically backward compared to the south, became the industrial hearland of the country. The right conditions for industrialisation also existed in lowland Scotland and south Wales, which accentuated the differences between those parts of these countries and their non-indusmalised areas.
In the south of England, London came to dominate, not as an
industrial centre but as a business and trading centre. By the end of
the century, it had a population close to a million.
Despite all the urban development, social power and prestige
rested on the possession of land in the countryside. The outward
sign of this prestige was the ownership of a country seat — a gracious country mansion with land attached. More than a thousand such Mansions were built in the eighteenth century.
i788
Tine first British settlers (convicts and soldiers) arrive in Australia.
The separate Irish Parliament is closed s United Kingdom of Great and Ireland is formed.
A British fleet under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats Napoleon's French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in London commemorates this national hero, who died during the battle.
Robert Peel, a government minister, organizes the first modern police force. The police are still sometimes known today as "bobbies'. ('Bobby' is a short form of the name 'Robert'.)
Catholics and non-Anglican Protestants are given the right to hold government posts and become MPs.
26 2 History
The nineteenth century
Not long before this century began, Britain had lost its most important American colonies in a war of independence. When the century began, the country was locked in a war with France, during which an invasion by a French army was a real possibility. Soon after the end of the century, Britain controlled the biggest empire the world had ever seen (see chapter 12).
One section of this empire was Ireland. During this century it was, in fact, part of the UK itself, and it was during this century that the British culture and way of life came to predominate in Ireland. In the 1840s, the potato crop failed two years in a row and there was a terrible famine. Millions of peasants, those with Irish Gaelic language and customs, either died or emigrated. By the end of the century almost the whole of the remaining population were using English as their first language.
Another part of the empire was made up of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where settlers from the British Isles formed the majority of the population. These countries had complete internal self-government but recognized the overall authority of the British government. Another was India, an enormous country with a culture more ancient than Britain's. Tens of thousands of British civil servants and troops were used to govern it. At the head of this administration was a viceroy (governor) whose position within the country was similar to the monarch's in Britain itself. Because India was so far away, and the journey from Britain took so long, these British officials spent most of their working lives there and so developed a distinctly Anglo-Indian way of life. They imposed British institutions and methods of government on the country, and returned to Britain when they retired. Large parts of Africa also belonged to the empire. Except for South Africa, where there was some British settlement, most of Britain s African colonies started as trading bases on the coast, and were only incorporated into the empire at the end of the century.
As well as these areas (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Africa), the empire included numerous smaller areas and islands.
The first law regulating factory working conditions is passed. (It set a limit on the number of hours that children could work.)
Slavery is made illegal throughout the British Empire.
The TUC (Trades Union Congress) is formed.
Free primary education (up to the age
of eleven) is established.
After much debate, an atheist is allowed to sit in the House of Commons.
The first socialist, Keir Hardie, is elected to Parliament. He enters the House of Commons for the first time wearing a cloth cap (which remained a symbol of the British working man until the i96os).
The nineteenth century 27
> Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. During her reign, although the modern powerlessness of the monarch was confirmed (she was often forced to accept as Prime Ministers people she personally disliked), she herself became an increasingly popular symbol of Britain's success in the world. As a hard-working, religious mother of nine children, devoted to her husband. Prince Albert, she was regarded as the personification of contemporary morals. The idea that the monarch should set an example to the people in such matters was unknown before this time and created problems for the monarchy in the twentieth century (see chapter 7).
Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their nine children, photographed in 1857
Some, such as those in the Caribbean, were the result of earlier British settlement, but most were acquired because of their strategic position along trading routes.
A change in attitude in Britain towards colonization during the nineteenth century gave new encouragement to the empire builders. Previously, colonization had been seen as a matter of settlement, of commerce, or of military strategy. The aim was simply to possess territory, but not necessarily to govern it. By the end of the century, colonization was seen as a matter of destiny. There was an enormous increase in wealth during the century, so that Britain became the world's foremost economic power. This, together with long years of political stability unequalled anywhere else in Europe, gave the British a sense of supreme confidence, even arrogance, about their culture and civilization. The British came to see themselves as having a duty to spread this culture and civilization around the world. Being
Nationwide selective secondary education is introduced.
The first old-age pensions are
introduced
The power of the House of Lords is severely reduced.
Sick pay for mostworker isintroduced.
Britain declares war on Germany. Until the 194os, the First World War was known in Britain as "the Great War'.
The 'Easter Rising' in Ireland against British rule is suppressed. Its leaders are executed.
The right to vote is extended to include women over the age of thirty.
The British government partitions Ireland.
28 2 History
> The White Man's Burden
Here are some lines from the poem
of this title by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), who is sometimes referred to as'the poet ofimperialism'.
Take up the White Man's burden—Send forth the best ye breed-Go, bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harnessOn fluttered folk and wild -Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child.
Other races, the poem says, are 'wild' and have a 'need' to be civilized. The white man's noble duty is to 'serve' in this role. This is not a quest for mere power. The duty is bestowed by God, whom Kipling invokes in another poem (Recessional) in a reference to the British empire in tropical lands;
God of our fathers, known of old,Lord of our far-flung bottle-line, Beneath whose awful hand we holdDominion over palm and pine -
the rulers of an empire was therefore a matter of moral obligation. It was, in fact, known as 'the white man's burden' (> The White Man's Burden).
There were great changes in social structure. Most people now lived in towns and cities. They no longer depended on country landowners for their living but rather on the owners of industries. These factory owners held the real power in the country, along with the new and growing middle class of tradespeople. As they established their power, so they established a set of values which emphasized hard work, thrift, religious observance, family life, an awareness of one's duty, absolute honesty in public life and extreme respectability in sexual matters. This is the set of values which we now call Victorian.
Middle-class religious conviction, together with a conscious belief that reform was better than revolution, allowed reforms in political and public life to take place. Britain was gradually turning into something resembling a modern state. There were not only political reforms, but also reforms which recognized some human rights (as we now call them). Slavery and the laws against people on the basis of religion were abolished, and laws were made to protect workers from some of the worst forms of exploitation resulting from the industrial mode of production. Public services such as the police force were set up.
Despite reform, the nature of the new industrial society forced many people to live and work in very unpleasant conditions. Writers and intellectuals of this period either protested against the horrors of this new style of life (as Dickens did) or simply ignored it. Many, especially the Romantic poets, praised the beauties of the countryside and the simplicity of country life. This was a new development. In previous centuries the countryside had just existed, and it wasn't something to be discussed or admired. But from this time on, most British people developed a sentimental attachment to the idea of the countryside (see chapter 5).
Treaty between Britain and the Irish
Parliament in Dublin is signed.
The Irish Free State is born.
General Strike
The right to vote is extended again. All men and women over the age of twenty-one can now vote.
i939
Britain declares war on Germany.
1944 Free compulsory secondary education
(up to the age of fifteen) is established and secondary modern schools are set up (see chapter 14).
The nineteenth century 27