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Wars in France, revolt in England, Civil War in England

After Henry II, the English started running into problems, either with the Barons, the people or pretenders to the throne.

King John was defeated by the barons and only kept the throne by signing the Magna Charta, which stated that the king was not above the law, that he only ruled by the will of the people, and that if he broke his part of the contract, then the people had the right to overthrow (change) the king. The whole episode amounted to a civil war, and was probably not as cozy as the painting on the left depicts

Continental wars continued to cost England more money than it could afford. England soon lost all its French possessions apart from Gascony (Bordeaux). Edward II's forays (raids) into Europe did not succeed in re-conquering (getting back) any ground.

Between 1370 and 1413, Kings were dethroned (lost the throne), Peasants revolted and the House of Lancaster seized the throne. Henry V's reign was brief and colourful (1413 to 22)

The English are a nation for remembering victories and forgetting defeats. Henry V's victory at Agincourt, thanks to Shakespeare, is well remembered. "Cry God for Harry, England and St George" But the territorial gains that Agincourt brought were soon lost, and even Gascony had fallen. By 1453 only Calais remained as an English foothold in Europe

The consequence of the loss of the French territories was that the Royal House of Lancaster became discredited. A series of coups (revolution) and counter-coups, intrigue and murder gripped the throne. A litany of kings (many kings) came and went between the battle of St Albans in 1455 and the battle of Bosworth in 1485. The result was a new royal house - the Tudors. Henry VII seized the throne on winning the battle of Bosworth and England was to enter a new period of history

History is written by the victors, and sometimes by Shakespeare. The victors were the Tudors and they wrote of the defeated king's epitaph. Nobody will ever now know whether he did murder the little princes in the tower. He probably was not a hunch back, but his body was flung (thrown) into an unmarked grave after the battle so we will never know that either

The Tudors -

Henry VII, Henry VIII, Mary & Elizabeth

Henry VIII, who came to the throne in 1509, was a man who left his stamp on history. His six marriages in search of a male heir (son) led to two daughters (Mary and Elizabeth) and a son Edward (who died young). Henry's need for a divorce led to a row with the pope who refused to grant Henry one. Henry countered by dissolving (cancelling) the Roman Catholic Church in Britain, and setting up the Church of England

A Church of England with Henry at the head could then allow Henry to divorce his wife. Of the Six the pneumonic goes - divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. He divorced the two European wives, Anne of Cleeves and Catherine of Aragon. The English ladies were more easily dispensable (easy to neglect)

Henry was a tyrant and a despot. Completely ruthless, and he let nothing and nobody get in his way. Cardinal Wolsey was banished (made to leave his place of residence), Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More were executed (killed after the court’s decision)



One other bonus for Henry from his split with (separation from) Rome was that he gained control of the monasteries - the monastic buildings and land were sold off after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. Many of the buildings fell into decay (were abandoned), and they lost their farmlands for ever.

Henry's elder daughter Mary was a Catholic - and a militant Catholic at that. Her efforts as queen to restore Catholicism to England made her the most unpopular queen in British history and the means that she used to pursue her aims earned her the nickname "bloody Mary". There were 283 Protestant martyrs (people who suffered very much) burnt at the stake in her reign. Among the martyrs were Cranmer (Archbishop of Canterbury), Ridley (Bishop of London) and Latimer ( a leading preacher)

A loveless marriage to the King of Spain produced no children. So when Mary died she was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's reign brought in one of the most glorious eras of British history. Exploration, colonization, victory in war, and growing world importance. The Arts flourished, this was the age of Shakespeare and Bacon. It was the age of the sea dog, Drake and Raleigh, Hawkins and Frobisher But as with her sister, plots (intrigues) against the queen were mounted (started)- Mary Queen of Scots, was finally executed in 1587- the Earl of Essex, a former favourite, was executed for leading a revolt in 1601. And the wars against Spain and in Ireland were expensive - she was £400,000 in debt when she died

Drake's voyage round the world in the Golden Hind started in 1577 and took 3 years. Though he did not find Australia or the north west passage, he brought back great wealth from raids on the Spanish possessions in the Pacific and from cargoes of spices. Drake was the first Briton to sail round the world

Eventually there was all out war with Spain. Philip of Spain assembled the largest fleet the world had seen, and in 1588 it set sail to invade England. The smaller, more maneuverable English ships harried (robbed) the Spanish armada all the way up the English Channel. But the Armada reached Calais and anchored. The English sent in fireships (crammed with burning tar (oil) and gunpowder). This forced the Spanish to cut anchor and scatter (go in different directions). The power of the Armada had been in its tight disciplined formation that the English could not break. Now it was just a collection of individual ships. The Spanish ships made their way back home to Spain via the north of Scotland and down the Irish coast. 50 ships and 20,000 men perished. Spain was humiliated (severely offended) on the world stage

This was also the England of Shakespeare, Marlow and Bacon. Born in 1564, Shakespeare left Stratford upon Avon in 1587, and by 1599 he was the part owner of the Globe playhouse (small theatre) in London. He wrote his plays while in London, and retired to Stratford in 1611, where he died in 1616

The Spanish wars had crippled (affected) the English exchequer (Ministry of Finance), inflation soared (rose), and in 1601 Elizabeth had to go to Parliament to get more money. Sensing hostility, as Parliament was angry about the privileges she had granted her favourites, she gave way graciously, and gave a "Golden Speech" which became in later years a model for the relationship between monarch and the nation - with obligations on both sides.

A few months later came news of the defeat of the long running battle against the rebels in Ireland. But by now Elizabeth's health had declined, and she was dying. The choice of successor was not straightforward, as she was the last of Henry VIII's children and none of them had any children themselves. Elizabeth delayed making her choice of successor until she was on her death bed. Her successor would be James Stuart, King of Scotland, and son of Mary Queen of Scots, whom Elizabeth had executed as a traitor (ïðåäàòåëü).


Date: 2016-01-14; view: 633


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