conf. univ. dr.

Amalia Mtrrigescu
Curs Op{ional Istoria Angliei
Subiecte pentru examen

1. Who were the first invaders of Britain? When did they come? Where did they
come from? Where did they settle? What do we still have from them?

2. Who were the "Beaker" PeoPle?

3. Who were the Druids?
4. The Roman Invasion.
5. How is the influence of the Anglo-Saxon culture felt at the linguistic level even
today?
6. Enumerate the kingdoms that existed in Britain in the 7ft century.

7. What was the Witan? What were its rights and responsibilities? What was the
relationship between the Witan and the king?
8. Present the history of Christianity in Britain.

9. What were the peoples that invaded Britain along the centuries?
10. The Norman Conquest.
11. What was the Angevin Kingdom?
12. What was Magna Carta? Why is it relevant for present-day England?
13. Present Henry VII's contribution to the establishment of the monarchy.
14. Present the relationship between Henry VIII and the Church.

15. Present the succession to the throne after Henry VIII's death.

16. Present the conflict between Spain and England during Elizabeth I's reign. How
did it end?
17. What were Elizabeth I's policies?
18. Present the situation in Britain in the 16tr century.
19. When wayGreat Britain born? Under wtlat circumstances?
20. Present British society in the 18th century.
t

Curs Opfional Istorda Angliei

Curs X.. tsritain's Frchisfory

The first evidence of human iife in Great Britain is represented by a few stone
tools that date from about 250,0CI0 tsC (one of, the warmer periods during the last trce

,dge). They are tocls made of fiint and have been found widely, as far north. as Yorkshire

Wales- c'n/w\i^'r- ft /*Jot. f

w-@l"u-&."-a {
and as far west as

The Ice Age drew b a close around 10,000 BC. At this time Britain was peopled
by groups of h.tmters, gatfu.erers and fishers. They seemed to have followed herds of deer
wtiich provided them with food and clofring. By 5000 BC Britain had become an island,
and a heavily-forested one, and fte deer and cdrer coldloving animals on uihich *re
people lived largely d;ied out.

About 3000 BC, Neoli&ic (i.{ew Stone Age) people crossed the sea from Europe
in small boats of wood covered with animal skins. They probably carne from the lberian
o
Peninsula or even the North Afticut csasq md settled in the Slestern parts of Britain and
^1,
Ireland. Thev were the first isvaders of Britain. Wtrat remained from them were some
**^^;J{^A
great "bEows"1, b'firiatr molurds, rnade of earlh or stoae, noost of them formd on the
chalk uplandsof south Britain.
After 3000 Q-C &e chalklard
people started building 'trenges", great circles of
fth'T'tl'''
"-'i!"r'*-
earth bank and ditches, inside of vftich drey built wooden buildings ard stone circles.
The "henges" were centres of religious, political and econonrib power. The most
spectacular is Stonehenge, built in several stages over a period of more than a thousand

years. The precise purposes of Stonehenge remain a nnystery, but it was certainly a sort of,

capital, to which fte chies of o&.er groups carne from all over Britain. Earth or stone
henges, copies of Stonehenge, were built in many parts cfthe island.
After 24OO BC new groups of people arrived in southeast Brita;n from Europe.
They had sirpedor **L* and metal-wcrking skills. They becarne leaders of British
9t
society. Their arrival is marked by the first individud graves, furnished with pottery
u*f,, *e&
berak'ers, from which this people got fte name of,the'Beaker" people. 0
Frorn about i300 BC on$rards, &e henge civilizati.on became less inrportant and
was overtaken by the farnring so,ciety. The faming socief developed in order to feed fie t

ffi * *W.
v-t-,""'-
Q,,'ry r,nh'L'
-- dL !'^^tts.".^s'-; '"InntlhrL

mw*y
o,^J *((e4
W*'[iJ**.^ t :, 6 "Nfl*
 people at the henges, but it gradually beearne more irnportant, as the fanners grew
wealthy because they leamt to enrieh the soil with naturd waste mabrials sq drat it did
#;+4#:ryi
not become poor and useless. Family vilIages a*d fortified endlolures appeared
everywhere and foas rcpl**ed henges. The pcwer sfufted to scufheast tsritain, rryhere the
land was riclier and the pmple had more advanced metal-working ftronze-working)
skiils.
-.:':" tai'E ls"tt
The Celts begat tc arrive around ?S0 tsC. They probably came from Central
'gx5>ro
Europe or Southern Russia. They were technically advanced, knowing how to work with
iron. They continr.red to a:rive in waves over seven hrindred years. They continued *re
same type of agricutrture as dre Brcnze Age peaple and continued to use and build forts.
The insides of these fo*s becasae smaller toqns.
The Celts were involv"d i* #{lii*g, rnuch ef qfrich was conducted by river and

sea. As "rroney" they r:sed iron bars until lhey begar to copy the Rornan coins.
The Celtic tribes were ruled cver by a warrior class, of wftich the priests, or
Druids, seem to have been pa*icularly imporfant members. The Druids did not put their
3
0
4 knowledge in writing, but raenrorized ajl &e religious teaefoings, fte tribal laws, history,
medicine, .t" fr"y h4lgJgggl=-b* qa gryt:{ry:ry-gs_ggtrees, on_!9@ !4b-by
T
,i""", * ln sorlrres. Sacrifice ftuma: sacrifrce) was very important in their
""*
worship.
During &e Celtio peried women bad mueh independe*rce. When the Romans
invaded tsdtain two of the largest tibes were ruled by rvornen, rvho fought frorn their
;"".1 r -l -
chariots. The most farnow was Boadicea. b?'u ? oL[ sc: ?
,

The Romanu l";.{",*Pritain fortwc reasons:

1. the Celts ofBritain piofted wi& t&e Cels of GauI againsttfoem;

2. F ,'itutn had become an important faod produceq the Rornans could use the food for
ttreir owr army fipleting the Gautrs.
a: i i
The fi.rst ltti:mpt to ccnquer Britain was made by Julius Caesar in 55 tsC. He was
defeated, but he pr*r#t*d it as a oictory in the Roman Sende. In 54 EC he retumed and

was victorious. Still, lhere are histarians ra&c consider that xhe real conquest of the istrand

happened later on, rnith Claudius, in 43 AI). The Romans did not succeed l*TK
in oceupying
*(
the entire Eritish Isles. They oeeupied dre sou*r ard the eentre, but eouid not conqueu
 SeotXand (wirieh they called "Caledonid') aithough they spcnt cver a, g,Ttuy trying to do
so. trn 123 &Emperor Hadrian bad an'ali built along the norftern UoiL, to prevent rtt* 'it,
atta*s oralei"o ;;G; *uh;;A t;;;;'' **rir** e)$tf
Ronlan conffol of Britain eame to an end ars d:e empire began to ecllapse, in the
4e century AD. R-ome pulied its tast soldiers out of Britain in 4Ag AD and &e Romanized
Celts were left to fight alone against &e Scob, but also against &e Sa:ron lild{r#r*
Germany.

The most obvicus characteristic of Roman Britain was ib towrs, which were the
basis of Roma:r adrninisEafion and eivtliratien lvfmy towns grew out of Celtic
settlements, rnilitary carnps ar mxket cenffes, and by 300 AD ali towns had thick walls.

The Romans left about 2S iarge torn'$s of about 5000 inhabitants and about 100
smailer ones. The Latin word fot camp, ca.stra,has rernained part cf many town narnqs to
dg.tns t> ([c4&'] t|nqi.+s1t+ ;,p.g*-{t5fa
lhis day (as chester, caster ar cester): Goueester, Leicester, Dcicaster, Wincheiter,
'\*aiz-6sbi
Lancaster. The towns were built wi& stone as rvetrl as wood, and had streets, markets and
shops. Some buiidings had cenffal. heating" The towns were oonnected by roads that
continued to be used iong after the Roffia$s lef,t and becafire dre rnain roads cf modem
tsritain. Six of these Roman roads rnet in London, wtrich began to frrnction as a capital
under the Romans.
Outside *re tow*s, there were large f,anns caltred villas. They belonged to the
richer Britons, ulho, like the tovruspeople, tried ta copy the rnanners of the Romans.
Except for the richest, &e Britons had, however, ahar& life. Life e><pectancy was
very low Half of the poptrlafion died between &e ages af 2A and,40, q*rile 75Ya died

before reaching the age of 20.

LanguageFacus
a_a'l..,^n{,.1,1 tffJiJi,
pronwrciation: Cetrts, souftern, to know, knowledle, sacred; the names ofthe towns
Celts, Fieb, Scots
t.
afew- few ! l;,i;t:1';
one of the warrner periods

hunters, gatherers and fishers

deer, people, money, knawiedge
 I

:frJ t-!
causative "have" - h4:9W ,alev;'t' e P:tuut
{t^V::u ';t3: i: ' - :
I
i
than - then

island - isle
the passive voice

the past tense

the numeral

the degrees of comParison

Questicns to answer:
1. What is the first evidence of human life in Crreat tsritain? When does it date from?
Where was it found?
Z. What kind of peaple ard what animals lived in Britain atthe end cf the lce Age?
3. Who were d:e fi.rst invaders of Britain? When did they come? Where did they
come &om? Where did they settie? What do we still have from them?

4. \4&at were fie "henges"? What is &e mast frmous henge? What purpose did it

serve?

5. Who were the "Beaker" PeoPle?

6. By rnihat was the henge civi.tization rcplacedT When?

? Wn"o did &e Celb come in Britain?'Where did &ery come from? What were their
occupations?

8. Who were ttre Druids?

g. What was the condition of wornen in dre Celtic society?
10. Why did the Romans invade tsritain?

1 I . During vihat Roman emferor;3f;tain conquered?

12. What parts of Britain did they-manage to occupy?

i3. What is Hadrian's wall?
14. When did Roman soldiers retire from Britain?

15. Dwell on the toitns the Romans built inBdtain'

16. When did London begrn to firnction as a capitai?

17. What were dre villas?

18. What was the life expeetancy of the population at that time?
conf. univ. dr. Amalia Mlriisescu
Curs Opfional Istoria Angliei
Curs 2

The Saxon Invasion

The wealth of Britain by tlp,4th century, the result of its mild climate and centuries of
I
peace, was a temptation to the #gtt The invaders came &om three Germanic tribes: tle
I
S_go-1g. the An-gl-el?lj lbS*gThe Jutes settled mainly in Kent and along the south coast.
I V
The Angles settled in the east and in the north Midlands, while the Saxons settled between V (q
t\ I
the Angles and the Jutes. The Anglo-Saxon migrations
----q--- -e-
gave the larger
--e--E- part of Britain its new | \-
|
name, Englnnd"theland of the Angles".
\
The British Celts fought the Germanic warriors as well as they could, but by 570 theV
/
we.re forced westwards, being driven into the mountains in the wesf which the Sgrlons called{
."- =, i- I

\W;s, meaning "the land of the foreigngrs'. Some Celts were driven into Comwall)where/
il;;;.affi. ;;;;; t.*s rn the nortrs orher certs were driven intd
Se6tlanif:'iOthers stayed behind ?q{!g9ame the slaves ofthe
,_ -._^4
Saxons. ,.-
--# a I
I
-_ is obvious even today. Days of the wgek wer{
The strength of Anglo-Saxon culture
named after Germanic gods: Wedneilay < Odin, Tlwrcday I \hor, Fridny < Frei.*H3t::+
[iri,(r,
'
names appeared on the map Reading, Hastings (the ending -ing meaung "folkro{' 'A.;,
"family''); Birmingham, Nottingham (-hsm "farm"); Southarnpton, Kingston (+onl
_l
"settlement").
The Anglo-Saxons estabtished a number of kingdomE some of which still exist in
county or regional names to this day: Essex @ast Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), Sussex
(South Saxons), East Anglia @ast Angles). By the middle of the 7tr century, the three largest

kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex were t}re most powerfirl.

In the 8ft century king Offa of Mercia ct111l!]ginip of the English, but did not
*
manage to control all of England "i't:
'u''tb"g!
"''{'L
The Saxons crffted institutions which made the English state strong for the next 500-l
years. One of these institutions was the King's Council, called the Witan. The Witan I
I
probably originated in a group of warriors and churchmen to whom the kings turned for
l1A
when they By the 10ft century, it was a formal body issuing laws. The king
advice needed.
[r-.,
could decide to ignore the Witan's advice, but he knew it might be dangerous to do so I
I
because without its support the king's authority was in danger. (The Witan had the right to I

choose kings and to agree to the use of king's laws.) J

 The Saxons divided the land into new administrative areas based on shires or counties
(shire is the Saxon word, coantythe Norman one). The shires established by the end of the
10e century remained the same for about 1000 years. They were reorgamzedin 1974, but the
new system is very much like the old one. Each shire was led bV a sh.ye-re:ve (the king's
local administrator), which, in time, became sheriff. ;/-
--
Anglo-Saxon.tec$rology changed the shape of English agriculture. Anglo-Saxons
introduced a heavylplough, which required 6-8 oxen to pull it and was difficult to turn.
Consequently, the land was divided into long thin strips and the oxen had to be shared by
several families. The village land was divided into three very large fields: one was used for
planting spring crops, the second for autunnn crops and the third was left to rest for a year,
during which it was used as coilrmon land for animals to feed on. This Anglo-Saxon pattern
was the basis for English agriculture until the 18tr century.

Each village had u Affir,a building where local villagers came to pay taxes, where
justice was administered and where men met to join the army. The lord of the manor had to
organize this and to make sure village land was proper$ shared.
At first the lords ?#ll;t#ere local officials. Then they were warlords and were
".
called by a new Danish earl.Bathstill exist today: aldermen *'i--.,|t'
are elected officers in the
:W \
local government and earls are high ranking nobles- One other important class deve lop"dP
during the Saxon period was that of the men of learning. They came from the Christian
Church. (
lla [Ctnistianity reached Britain in the 3d century AD and became frmty established in
the last hundred years ofRoman govemment. Afterthe Saxon invasion" it continued to spread
in the Celtic areas. The Celtic Church brought Christianity to the ordinary people. The Celtic
T
- bishops went from
(._- village to village teaching Christianity. They were readily accepted in
T"{. Anglo-Saxon areas. The Roman Churct4 on the other hand, was more interested in bringing
rulers to the new faith. In time, it was the Roman Church that extended its authority over all
Christians.
England had betrome Christian very quickly. By 660 only Sussex (and the Isle of
Wight) had not accepted the new faftrJl\
Saxon kings helped the Church to grow and the Church increased the power of kings
(they had "God's approval"). The value of Church approval was all the greater because of the

uncertainty of the royal succession. Any member of the royal family could be chosen to
become king and any member who had enough soldiers might try ficr the throne.
 Then, the Church established monasteries, which were places of learning and
education, training men who could read and write"
th []ne king who made most use of the Church was Alfred, king of Wessex between 871
and 899. He used the literate men of the Church to help establish a system of law, to educate
the people and to write down important matters:,He started theAnglo-Swon Chronicle.
Increased literacy and religious contacts with Europe helped trade. Anglo-Saxon
England exported woolen goods, cheese, hunting dogs, pottery and metal goods, and
imported wine, fistq pepper, jewelry and wheel-made pottery.
The Vikings
Towards the end of the 8th century, new raiders were tempted by Britain's wealth.
These were the Vikings, coming from Norway and Denmark. At the beginning they only
raided the island, but in 865 they invaded Britain to conquer it. They quickly accepted

Christianity and did not disturb the local population. By 875 only king Alfred (of Wessex)
held out against them. He won a decisive battle in 878 and captured London 8 years later. He
then made a treaty with the Vikings. Viking rule was recognized in the east and north of
England (a territory called Danelaw). In the rest of the country, Alfred was recognized as
('
king.lDuring his struggle against the Danes he had built walled settlements to keep them out.
These were called burghs. They became prosperous market towns and the word (also spelt
borough) is one of the commonest endings to place names.
'b,.n. lnt
Language Focus
the greedy
ox-oxen, advice
Christian
burgh/ borough

Questions to answer:
1. Who invaded Biitain beginning with the 46 century?
;i'
'i,"/'n
2. What doesEnglandmean?Wheredoesthenamecomefrom? -'y''r'
/ { "/''t'
3. What does%alesmean?
4. What happened to the Celts after the Saxon invasion?
5. How is the influence of the Anglo-Saxon culture felt at the linguistic level even
today?
6. What were the most powerfi.rl kingdoms in the 7tr century?
7. Wbo was king Offa?
8. \tthat was tle Witan? What were its rights and responsibilities? What was the
t;lir,'lih{
the Witanand theking? 7fui pitpfkd lttt/ $ w,fu*
relationship between
9. What were the administrative areas during the Saxons?
,,.f
:, r tl

10. How di$ Anglo-Saxontechnology change agriculture?

11. What was tle manor?
12. Whar.Lr** developed duringthe SCIron period? .- fW * {w'u',tl Al{l n,'/ '*l'f,'ifu,rt'a
' have? / ,.ii,rr.Ftr ,..,f,4ftr',
13. Whatreminiscences ofthe Angto-Saxon oulture do we still ,,11{filu!'

14. What is the history of Christianity in Britain?

15. Discuss the Saxon royal succession.

16. Why was King Alfred important?

17. How did trade dwelop in the Anglo-Saxon period?
18. When did the Vikings invade Britain? Where did they come from?
19. Wbat wasDanelaw?

20. What were the burghs?

 6n/J,t-p *

conf. univ. dr. Amalia Mirigescu

Curs Op{ional Istoria Angliei

Curs nr.3

!\e\ Norman
/A r-
Conquest
\ tU
[By 950' Englard seemed rich and peaceful again after
the troubles of the viking
invasion' But soon afterwards' the Danish
vikings started raiding westwards. The Sa:<on
king' Ethelred, decided to pay a huge
amount of money as tribute to the Danes.
when he
died' the Britons could not pay the tribute
and the Danistr king, canute, became
king of
England' He was at the same time king
of Denmark, Norway and central and Eastern
England' After canute's dealh, as he
had no sons, there followed again am
Anglo-sa:<on
king' one of Ethelred's sons, Edward
the confessor Edward had promised william
of
Normandy dre succession to the rhrcne
because he had lived in exile in Normandy
for
years and had made a pledge
of chastity to have an unconsumed mariage,
so he had no
legal successors to dre throne. Moreover;
he and wilia'were cousins.
when Edward died however' the rffitan decided
firat the cft)lrn should go to
Harold' william's brother-in-law. on hearing
rhis, william decided to invade Britain. He
landed in fire soufir wirh his army- At the sarne time,
the Norwegians attacked the island
from nor*r' rrarcld defeated the Norwegians,
then went to the suth, but it was too late
and he was defeated by William at
Hastings in 1066. r{e died on the battlefield-
l
william wr$ very prwccupied to appear legal.
*.rr.r#feast on
He had a
christmas Day, 1066, at westminster
Abbey, a cathedral built by Edward the confessor.
But the feast tumed into a fight
The Norman conquest was the rast successfur
conquest ofBritain.
The Normans and Norrrandy
In the I lth century' Normandy was one
ofthe strongest feudalist states in Europe.
The Nggglwere arse-considered
b b"
they were Northmen, rryho had settled
1 . At their origin,
in qfiat is nowadays the north of France qr.d who
converted themselves b christianity.
They built many monasteries (e.g. tlr" ffifi'"fr
cathedral) and fortresses (the Tower of London),
they had scholars (the Benedictins) and
were great warriors, having one of the
best organized armies on the continent. They
 brought the ideal of strong monarchy
in tre British Isles, relying on a shong army
and
aristocracy' Their policy in the conquered
tenitories was not of changing firem
completely' Thus, in Britain, the structure
of the royal govemment remained Anglo-
Saxon: king, king,s council, the shire
system, the sheriffs.
But in the l2dr century, Britain was only geographicaily
an island, because by itsTJ\\
culture and religion it belonged to Europe .
and France. After the conquest for 300
,"*r, V
French was the official language of
the British rsles. Most aristocrats had possessions
in
France, rryhich formed the
F-v Angevin ru'-'u''r
'rrEv'' Kingdom. JJ"J'D.' '' a'-e- { z
Medievar Britain
For Britain' dre Middle Ages meant the rise
of nationalisnl of national and
democratic political institutions, the
beginning of fire religious reform, of a new
tum in
extemal policy, of printing and of national
literature. The first universities, carrbridge
and Oxford, were also built in that period.

with william the Conqueror, the aufiority ofthe

monarch was at its climor. After
william's death, drere was a dramatic decline of
British monarchy, starting with the loss
of Nonnandy to France ln 1204, continuing with
dre loss of most of the Angevin
Kingdom and ending with the Hundred Years'
war between France and England
(actually a series of conflicts occurring
between 1337 and 1453), when the English
lost
all their possessions in France- According to the
medieval ritual, dre kings of Englmd
were vassals of the French kings' but they
did not resent it as much as they resented
the
fact that the French to contnor fre E-ng,lglpggsessions in Ftrce. This was
Ypgg"as*m;ffi";ffi* lried

House of valois from France and the

I4lqe
English House orprfrrJJg.in"i. rn" English
were
defeated and, after thal they gave up
trying to build an empire on the continent and
looked for other territories.

The greatett pqlorthe Angevin Kingdom was lost during dre reign
of John
Lackland' son of Henry IL Having lost
so many terribries, John Lackland tried
to impose
v \')/
new tar(es on the English barons, afact
which they strongly resented. Therefore, under
the leadership of simon de Monthrt, they
rebelled in t2I5 and forced the king to
sign a
charter, Magna Carta, a charter by which
fre barons imposed their control over the
monarchy' That is why Magna carta has
been considered the beginning of British
 democracy' More important dran tlre provisions
of Magna Carrawas lhe fact that a grcup
of 25 barons as representatives of the cfoole class of
barons had the ,ight to control dte L1-
king and to impose dre wishes oftheir class
to fte king This group of 25 barons is at the
origin ofthe present-day House oflords in the Bdtish parriament.
The church was a central institution, trnder the
contrrol of Rome and of the pope,
who had dre right to name fte high officials ;o gfitain.
The king had to submit to the
Pope, but tried to rebel against this condition.

Medieval e@nomy registered a decline because

of the Hundred years, War.
Moreover, as a consequence of the Black Death (Ciuma
neagri) _ l34g-1351, one third
of the population died- Most of it was rural population,
which led to the impossibility of
the landlords to have *reir land worked. Consequently,
they enclosed it, tumed it into
pastures and started raising sheep for
wool. With the rr@ol they made clodr which they
even exported to ofter courtries- Because they
found rhemselves without work the
peasants were forced to migrate to torn#to
beoome workers.
The following sociar prgsses existed in medieval
England:
o the lords and h"#t";
. the knights:initially earls and barons,lateron
squires and gentlemen;
. the clergy;
o the peasants;
/". r1tLei,a.
o the villeins (gefti) in r3g9 villanage was aborished in England.

I'Describe the circumstances under q/hich England

was conquered by the Normans.
2. Charasterize fie Normans.
3. How did Britain change after the Norman
Conquest?
4. What was the Angevin Kingdom?
5. What was the Hundred years'War?
6. Wh at was Magna Carta? Why is it relev't for present-day England?
7' what was the relationship between the king
ard the church?
8. Present medieval economy.

9. Enumerate tre social classes of medieval England.

'I-
conf. univ. dr. Amalia Mirigescu
Curs Opfional Istoria Angliei
Curs nr.4

The Tudors. The Birth of the Nation State

The century of Tudor rule (1485-1603) is often thought of as the most glorious period
in English history. IIenry VII built the foundations of a wealthy nation state and a powerfi.rl

Itonarchy. I{is son, Henry VIII, made the Church in England truly English by breaking away
from
----7 the Roman Catholic Church. His daughter Elizabeth brought glory to the new state by
defeating the powerful navy of SpairU the greatest European power of the time. During the
Tudor age England experienced one of the greatest artistic periods in its history.
There is, however, a less glorious view of the Tudor century. Henry WII wasted the
wealth saved by his father. Elizabethweakened the quality of government by selling ofiicial
posts. And although her government tried to deal with the problem of poor and homeless
people, its laws and actions were often cruel in effect.

Henry VII is less well known than Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, but \ilas more
important than them in establishing the new monarchy. He considered that business was good ue
ol.i {tit:tn..
for the state, while war and glory were bad for business. Therefore, he avoided quarrels both
with Scotland and with France. Moreova, in 1486, he made an important trade agreement
with the Netherlands which allowed English trade to gow.
Henry had more power and money than earlier kings because he had got the lands of
the nobles who hld died or been defeated in recent wars. In order to establish his authority
beyond questiorq he forbade anyone, except himself, to keep armed men. As punishment he
encouraged the use of heavy fines. His aim was to make the Crown financially independent,
i tr' 7:..11,"ii:-,.
and he never spent money unless he had to. He relied on merc-hant and lesser gentry classes.
The only thing on which he was happy to spend money was the building of ships for his
merchant fleet because he understood the impo,rtance of trade for England's future wealth.
When he died in 1509, he left behind a huge amount of money.
Henry VIII was quite unlike his father. He was cruel wasteful with money and
interested in pleasing himself. He wanted to become an important influence in European
politics, but did not manage because he always hesitated between being the ally ofFrance and
of Spain, depending on what he had to qain from each. He spent much money on maintaining
a magnificent court and on useless warq therefore he remained without his father's legacy.
To get tnore money, he reduced the amount of silver used in coins, but this only caused a rise

In his search for money, Henry started looking at the Church. The Church was a huge
landowner, and it was unpopular because many monks lived in wealth and comfort. Henry
disliked the power of the Church in England since he could not completely control it.
Moreover, the taies paid to the Church reduced his income. But he had also another reason
/h lr t:blr! \,

for sthiidiig'iipito the authority ofthe Church.

In 1510 Henry had married Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his elder brother
Arthur. tsut by 1526 she had still not had a son who survived infancy and was now unlikely
to do so. Henry tried to persuade the pope to allow him to divorce Catherine. Normally,
Henry need not have expected any difficulty. His chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, hoped that
his skills and his important position in the Church would be zuccessful in persuading the
pope. But the pope was controlled by Charles V, king of Spairq who was Catherine's nephew.
For both political and family re:rsons he wanted Henry to stay$ married to Catherine. The
pope did not wish to anger either Charles or Henry, but eventually he was forced to do as

Charles V wanted. He forbade Henry's divorce-

Henry was extremely angry and the only reason why Wolsey escaped execution was
that he died of natural causes on his way to the king's court. After him, no priest ever again
became an important minister of the king. In 1531 Henry persuaded the bishops to make him
head of the Church in England and this became law after Parliament passed the Act of
Supremacy in 1534. It was; g$"t* decision. I{enry vras now free to divorce Catherine and
marry his new love, Anne Boleyn. He hoped Anne would give him a son to follow him on the
throne.

Henry's break with Rome was purely political. He had simply wanted to control the
Church and to keep its wealth in his own kingdom. He did not approve of the new ideas of
Reformation Protestantism introduced by Llartin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in
Geneva. He still believed in the Catholic faith. Through several Acts of Parliament between
1532 and 1536, England'became politically a Protestant country even though the popular
religion was still Catholic. Henry executed Protesta$"$ who refused to accept Catholicism.
'of Church property was made and 560
-i' ibrt*."r, 1536 and t539 a caretul "l{#!iai'
monasteries were closed, many buildings and lands being grven or sold to landowners and

merchants. The monks and nuns were thrown out and many of them became wandering
.-1

begSarl The dissolution of the monasteries was probably the greatest act of offrcial
destruction in the history ofBritain.
 Henry died in ls47,leaving behind his 6s wife, Catherine Parr, and three children.
Mary, the oldest, was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon. Elizabeth was the daughter of
Anne Boleyn, whom he had executed because she was unfaithful. Edward was the son of
Jane Seymour, the only wife whom Henry had really loved, but who had died giving birth to

his only son.

-1?.
The Protestant - Catholic Struggle
Edward VI, Henry VIII's son, was only 9 when he became king so the country was In
ruled by a council. All members of this council were from the new nobility created by the
Tudors and were Protestant reformers because they had benefited from the sale of monastery
lands. They knew they could keep their lands only if they made England truly Protestant.
Most English people were still Catholics, but the new religion was imposed on them. In 1552
a new prayer book was introduced to make sure that all churches followed the Protestant
religion. Still, most people were not happy about tlre change.
When Edward, aged 16, died in 1553, Mary became queen. She.was a Catholic and
took control of the kingdom by force, fighting against Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant whom
some nobles tried to put on the throne. Mary chose to marrSr King Philip of Spain, but it was
an unfortunate choice, depriving Mary ofthe support ofthe ordinary peoplg who disliked the
marriage. The Parliament, though agreeing to Mary's marriage, only accepted Philip as king
of England for Mary's lifetime. The marriage was a mistakg but it vras not Mary's only one.
She began burning Protestants, which sickened the pmple. She qlso considered killing her
half-sister Elizabettq but as Elizabeth kep a low profilg Philip persuaded his wife to leave
her unharmed.

Mary died in 1558, andBhzabeth became queen- She wanted to solve in a peaceful
manner the problems between the Catholics and the Protestants, therefore the kind of
Protestantism finally agreed in 1559 remained closer to the Catholic religion than to other
Protestant groups. But she made sure that the Church was still under her authority, and she

made it part ofthe stategnachine.

/)
f,.4,,,rx[,*'l
-The parish, the area served by one church, usually the same size as a village, became
nlUr.ls{,dlil
I 1"'' "
\- theunit of state administration. People had to go to Church on Sundays by law and they were
,.",,, ,r',,]' fined if they did not. The parish priestl parson/ vicar became almost as powerfirl as the village
' /l,i'lj
'

squire. Elizabeth also arranged for a book of serrrons to be used in church. Although most of
the sermons consisted of Bible teaching this book also taught the people that rebellion
against the Crown was a sin against Cnd.
 T
;: iStill, the struggle between Catholics and Protestantt *d,ffi9,,::.,"d Elizabeth's position

for the next 30 years, Both France and Spain were Catholic, thtii6fols flangerous- Both the
French and the Spanish kings wanted to marry Elizabeth and any marriage would have
been a

Catholic
mistake. Another danger was represented by the pope, who might have persuaded
wanted to
countries to attack England. Another still came from the Catholic nobles who
replace Elizabeth with the queen of Scotland, who was a Catholic--i

l. Why is the age ofthe Tudors considered the most glorious period in English history?
2. What were its drawbacks?
3. How did Henry VII consolidate his position as monarch?
4. What kind of king was Henry \IItr?
5. What feasons did he have to take a stand against the Church?
6. How did Henry vIII become head of the church in England?
7. What was his position towards the Catholic faith?
g._ What happened to the Church in England after Henry VIII became its head?
JP'--
g. Present the succession to the throne after Henry VIII'S death.

10. What kind of queen was N4arY?

11. What was the dominant reltgton in England during Elizabeth's reign?

12. Describe the situation of the Church during Elizabeth's reign.

13. What were the Catholic dangers threatening Elizabeth's position?

 conf. uniy. dr. Amalia Miirigescu
Curc Op{ional Istoria Angtiei
Curs nr" 5

The Tudoni (2)

Mary "Queen of Scots" was Elizabeth's closest living relative. Her mother had
been French, so she had spent her childhood in France and was a strong Catholic. When

she retumed to rule Scotland, Mary made enemies of some of her nobles and, to avoid
them, she finally escaped to dre safety of England. Elizabeth, however, kept Mary as a
prisoner for alrnost 20 years. During trat time, she discovered several Catholic plots,
some of which clearly aimed at making Mary queen ofEnglard.
It was difficult for Elizabeth to decide what to do with Mary because she had
connections bo'th in France and in Spain. But she finally agreed to Mary's execution in ,!=";,1.

1587, partly because Mary hadnamed Philip of Spain as hernri. to tr. rh-roieofEnglm;r /$il'i'
and because with this claim Philip had decided to invade England. Mary's execution was
popular in England because the people had groun a&aid of a foreign Catholic invasion
and, therefore, had started to believe that to be a Catholic was to be an enemy ofEngland.
Elizabeth's foreign policy carried Henry VII's work further, encouraging
merchant opansion. Spain was her nnain trade rival and enemy. At that time Spain ruled
the Netherlands, but the people drere were Protestant and were fighting for their
independence. Elizabedr supported them botr by allowing their ships to use English
harbours, and with money and soldiers. The English ships also attacked Spanish ships as
they retumed frorn America loaded with silver and gold. These English ships were
privately owned, but they shared widr the queen the treasures they captured. Francis
Drake was one ofthe most famous pirates ofthe time.
k' 7 pltq
158
3":'a{ 3::g:l' --'--1gtT! :g *qigqe.ssqy-
step,before dpfe-alir1e
.

the Dutch rebels in the Netherlands. He hoped trat fire Catholics in England would be
#

willing to help fuost of his army was in the Ne&erlands. He built a great fleet of
him.
ships, an "Armadd'to move his army across the English Channel from flre Netherlands.
But in the same year, Francis Drake attacked and destroyed part of this fleet in Cadtz
harbour.
 Philip started again and built the largest fleet that had ever gone to sea. But rnost
of the ships were designed to carry soldiers, and dre few figtrting ships were not as good
as the English ones. English ships were longer and narrower, so that they were faster, and
their guns could also shoot farther than the Spanish ones.
The Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, mgre by bad weather than by English
guns. Some Spanish ships were,ff5t iit'iAtt *"ie blown northwards by the wind,
many being wrecked on the rocky coasts of Scotlmd and Ireland. For England it was a

glorious rnoment, but it did not lead to an end of the war with Spain, and England had to
spend more than ever on its defence. @eace was made with Spain only after Elizabeth's
death )
Elizabeth followed two policies:
Sparish ships bringing treasures
l. to attackl
she encouraged English sailors
from Ameica; 2. she encouraged English traders to ll
Tn
settle abroad ard to create colonies. This second policy led to Britain's colonial empire ofrr
the 176 and 18ft centuries.

p Fgg-l-q44. The settlers

of the best known was Sir Walter Raleigh, raiho brought tobacco_.p-Fftg]-Alt
L
(
tried, at first without success, to start profitable colonies in Virginia, named after
Elizabeth, the "virgin" (unmarried) queen.
England also begm selling West African slaves to work for the Spanish in
America. The first slave cargo was carried ta 1562. By 1650 slavery had become an

inrportant trade, bringing wealth particularly to Bristol in South West Englmd. (This
trade was ended at the end ofthe 18ft century-)
During Elizabedr's reign several companies were established to trade with certain
J
regions: the Eastland Company to deal with Scandinavia and the Baltic countries; the ,lg
/
Levant Company to trade widr the Ottoman Empire; dre A&ica Company to trade in J
slaves; the East India Company to trade wift krdia

The East India Cornpany was established mainly because the Dutch controlled the
entire spice trade with dre East Indies (Indonesia). Spices were irnportant for making the
winter salted meat tastier. The company did begin to operate, and the quarrel over spices
was England's first difficulty with the Dutch, leading to three wars before the end of the

17ft century.
l. Who was Mary, the queen of Scotland?
2. What was herrel*ionship with ElizSeth?
3. Why did Elizabeth agree to have Mary executed?
4. How did ordinary people react to Mary's execution? tvVhy?
5. What was England's main enemy at that time? Why? How did Elizabeth fight it?
6. Why did Philip decide to conquer England? What steps did he take in order to
succeed? What went wrong?

7. Did the defeat of Philip's Armada mean the end of the conflict between England
and Spain? :.i'1
8. What were Elizabedr's policies? What did they lead to?
9. Who was SirWalterRaleigh?
10. How did England get involved in the slave trade?

11. What were the companies and the regions ffrey traded wift during Elizabeth's
reign? What was the most difficultregion? Why?

,, li , '' ,' i '{

:ir.'!',!,r,;".';!."r
r,
!

) 11,^ f nil ['trt:i , i.,',r, ']'

gl'1.t ' {':
 conf. univ. dr..Amalia Mlrigescu

Curs Opfional Istoria Angliei

Curs nr.6

The Tudors (3)

On the other hand, the Tudors did their best to bring Wales,
ir>" Ireland and Scotland
under English control., r-

Henry VII was half Welsh. He brought many Welshmen

to his court and named
his oldest son Arthur, in honour of the legendary Welsh
king to whom he suggested he
was somehow connected' Arthur died early and Henry
VII's second son became Henry
VIII' He did not love Wales, but only wanted to control it and wanted the
Welsh to
become English. He forced them to adopt family names
by preventing Welsh names from
being used in law courts and on official papers. Between
1536 and 1543 wales became
joined to England under one administration.
The country was organized in the English
manner (into shires)' English became the official language,
Welshmen entered the
English parliament.
Henry vIII also wanted to bring Ireland under his authority, but he did
not
manage because he tried to make the Irish accept his
English Church Reformation. But
the Irish nobility refused to take monastic land and remained
catholic. The Tudors might
have given up trying to control the Irish, but they were
afraid of a possible alliance
between them and the Catholic countries in Europe. The
Tudors fought 4 wars to make
the Irish accept their authority and their religion. In the
end, Ireland became England,s
first important colony. The best lrish lands were sold to English
and Scottish merchants.
This colonization did not make English richer, but it destroyed
much of Ireland,s society
and economy,layingalso the foundations of war between
Protestants and Catholics.
[Ireland was celtic and was not invaded by Romans or Anglo-Saxons, only
by the
Vikings and Normans.!
Flenry vIII
also fought some wars with the Scots, defeating them. The
Scottish
economy was weak, the country was lawless, and the
monarchs had to fight both the
English and the disobedient Highland clans in the north.
They accepted protestantism
because it meant that they could take over the wealth
of the church. But the Scottish
 noblemen were careful not to give
the monarch authority over the
new protestant Scottish
church' when Mary returned to scotland
from France as queen, she was carefur
not to
give the church any reason for
actually opposing her. But she
made several n,,;;i.;;
got married to a Scottish noble,
then agreed to his murder, then
married the murderer,
was imprisoned, Ieft for Engrand,
etc.). Mary,s son, James VI, started
,";; at the age of
12'in 1578' He showed great skill from
an earlyage, managingto remain
friendlyboth
with the catholic countries (France
uiispuin; and with the protestant England.
He was a
clever diplomat and brought the
nobles and the church under
his royal control. when
Elizabeth I died in 1603 (at 70),
James vI of Scotland became
arso James I, king of
England, as her crosest rerative.
He was accepted by Elizabeth,s
statesmen.
At the beginning of the l6th century,
most towns were actually large
villages,
with their own fierds and farms. But
this began to change rapidry. rt. poprration
increased' and large areas of
forest were cut down to prouia.
*ooo a, *. *robuilding
industry' The price of food and
other goods rose steeply, while
the wages fell. The
problem was that there were
too many people and too little food,
so living conditions got
worse and fewer people married.
The people who did best were
the farmers who had at
least 100 acres of rand, but these
were very few. Many had to steal
crime became an imponant problem.
in
".0".
;;:;;;;
The fact that thieves (as well as
homeless people)
were hanged did not solve it' There
were many riots, but they were
repressed. However,
in 1601 Parliament passed the first Poor
Law, which made local people responsible
the poor in their own area.
for

By using coal fires (instead of wood

fires), the people of the period
made greatly
improved steer, from which
they produced weapons (muskets),
but also knives, forks,
clocks' watches' nails and pins.
Birmingham became an important
industrial city. But the
smoke produced by the coal
fires darkened the sky, and made
the towns filthy and stinky.
women in England had greater freedom
than anywhere else in Europe.
They had
to obey their husbandg but they were
not kept hidden in their homes and
were ailowed
free and easy ways with strangers.
Most women gave birth to g to 15
children, and many
women died in childbirth' Most
of the children died at a young age.
Marriage was often
an economic arrangement,
so the emotional ties were often
absent. when a wife died, the
husband looked for another'
The unmarried women suffered particularly
badly. They
 could no longer become nuns, so they could only hope to become servants in someone
else's house or to be kept by their own family. Many became beggars. Few people were
over 60.
But the living conditions became better with the development of the chimneys,
which made cooking and heating easier and more comfortable. For the first time, more
than one room could be used in winter.
i>" e-. -
Literacy increased greatly throughout the l6th century. Thus, by the lTth century,
about half the population could read and write. London English became accepted as
standard English, but the uneducated people continued to speak the local dialect.

The l6th century was the century of Renaissance, of great development in music,
painting and literature, of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ben Jonson.

.li Wnat was Henry VII's connection with Wales?

;./ How did Henry VIII come to control Wales?
l)Why did he fail in Ireland?
{) What was the reason why the Tudors wanted to control lreland?
.s'/How did the colonization of Ireland affect the English and the Irish?
( | Present Scotland's situation in the period and the relation between Scotland and England.
?iWhat were the consequences of the increase in population?
liWhat was the Poor Law?
3lwhat were the consequences of the use of coal fires? What about those of the
/4f development of chimneys?

ro)Comment on women's condition in the period.

 conf. univ. dr. Amalia MIr5gescu

Curs Opfional fstoria Angliei

Curs nr.7

England in the ITth Century

when James inherited the English throne
in 1603, he assumed that he would unite
the two countries, but his errortfi uris respect were blocked on both
sides of the borderl'
James was unable to overcome
the hostility and prejudice that the citizens
of both
countries felt toward each other
after centuries of war. The Scots were
fearful of losing
their independence' The English, already jealous
of James,s scottish advisers, saw no
advantage in merging with a poor,
less-developed nation. unable to
form a union, James
did everything he could to establish
closer connections between the two
kingdoms. He
elevated Scottish lords to English
titles, provided them with English
estates, and arranged
marriages between English and
Scottish noble families.
James's son charles I made no attempt to unite his kingdoms,
although he did try
to create greater uniformity between
the scottish and English churches that
he headed.
His attempts at church reform in Scotland
led to a rebellion against him in 163g.
charles
convened Parliament and requested
new taxes to pay for an army to suppress
the scottish
rebellion' However, charles had
attempted to govern without parliament
in the past, and
Parliament refused to raise revenues
until charles addressed a series of grievances
raised
by its members.

The conflict between charles and

Parliament escarated into a civil
war in which
Scots and English fought side
by side both for and against the king. parliamentary
forces
defeated charles and executed
him in 1649.They established a revolutionary
government
to rule over the king's former domains.
oliver cromwell, the leader of the parliamentary
army' eventually assumed total political
control and brought about a brief political
union
between England and Scotland.
under this arrangement, the Scots
sent representatives to
the English parliamenf

cromwell also established complete

British control, over Ireland. In 1649
he
brought a highly-trained army
to Ireland to assist the protestants, who
thus managed to

!
 defeat the Catholics. Within ayear all major opposition had been
eliminated. Cromwell
seized all estates owned by catholics and gave the land to protestants.

Following Cromwell's death in 1658, Charles's son retumed to England from

exile in 1660 and took the throne as Charles II. He reestablished separate
governments in
Scotland and England. The occasional outbreaks of violence against
the king's rule in
Scotland were brutally suppressed. A series of conflicts followed
lD" between the Scots and
- e..
the English. -

The Revolution of 1688 deposed James II, the then king, in favour
of his nephew,
William of Orange. William was a Dutch Protestant noble who had married
James,s
daughter Mary. An act of Parliament made Mary II and William III joint monarchs in
1689' But William and Mary were childless, as was Mary's sister,
Anne, who succeeded
to the throne in 1702. To assure a smooth transition of power to a protestant
monarch, in
1701 the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement,
which stated that a German
branch of the royal family, the Hannovers, would succeed Anne
as the monarchs of
England. The Scottish Parliament refused to ratiff the act, creating
the potential that the
two kingdoms would split after more than 100 years under the same
monarchs.
The English feared that an independent Scotland might ally itself
with France and
provide a backdoor for a French invasion of England. The
English fear of an invasion
was especially strong at the beginning of the l8th century. To
avoid facing an enemy on
the northern border, Anne's ministers threatened the Scottish parliament.
They wamed
Scotland that they would treat all Scots as aliens in England,
stop all trade between the
nations, and capture or sink Scottish ships that traded with
France. These threats led the
Scots to accept the union with England.

In17o7 GreatBritain was born. Fear had led the politicians of both
nations to a ,I *g
union that would prove durable for hundreds of years. The Act
of Union of 1707
\y \-
created
a single national administration, removed trade barriers between the
countries,
standardized taxation throughout the island, and created a single parliament.
However,
England and Scotland continued to have separate traditions
of law and separate official
churches.

!-
 Great Britain became one of the world's great military powers. Tradition ally a
naval power, Britain had built a modern, professional army during the reign of William
III. It gradually assured Britain's control over the Mediterranean.

18th Century Britain

-lr British society was stratified in the l8th century, with a tiny aristocracy and
irl |ll},. -
1'' ,.!
gg.q geryry at the top and a vast mass of poor at the bottom. For the aristocracy, !|!ihi
l8th century was its greatest age. British lords who controlled large estates saw their
wealth increase from a boom in agricultural production, an expansion of investment
opportunities, and the domination of the government by the aristocracy. They built vast
palaces and developed new areas of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. The monarchy
almost exclusively appointed aristocrats to the most important political offices.

In contrast to the aristocracy, the gentry lost much of its political and financial
influence. Many holders of small estates found that land was no longer the secure source
of wealth it had once been, especially with the high taxes imposed on landowners to
finance Britain's wars. The immense estates of Britain's aristocratic class provided their
owners with a constant flow of funds, while higher taxes often consumed the profits
generated by the smaller estates of the gentry. Although the gentry's status
in the local
community was secure, merchants who traded luxury commodities overseas soon
eclipsed the gentry in wealth and influence on the national level during the l8th century.

Society in the 18th century was becoming more fluid than in the past, in part
because of the growth of the middle classes in towns and cities. Middle-class families
earned their livings in trade or in professions, such as law and medicine. They valued
literacy, thrift, and education, ideas that were spread by thinkers of the Age of
Fnlightenment. Especially influential were philosophers John Locke and
David Hume
and economist Adam Smith.

Increased literac; and education spread throughout the country. In towns, the
middle classes established lending libraries to distribute books, clubs to discuss ideas,
and
coffeehouses to debate politics. Newspapers became the most popular form of media,
and
more than 50 towns produced their own newspapers. Women shared in the upsurge
in

a th,j: . ttl\).:.,..'
't 1,l I
:

L-)
literacy. Dozens of weekly magazines and installment romance stories, which contained a
strong moral message encouraging chastity and sobriety, were directed at women.

The newest form of literature was the novel. The rise of the middle class was also

seen in the most important religious movement of the era, Methodism. It encouraged the
population at large to believe personal salvation could be achieved without relying on the
formal rituals of the Church of England.
G- -- lr}, ..-

Poverty dominated the lower reaches of British society, especially as the

population grew and food prices rose in the middle of the century. Towns swarmed with
homeless families, the sick, and individuals with disabilities. The government and

charitable organizations established orphanages and hospitals, as well as workhouses

where the unemployed could find temporary work. While women and children were left

to live in poverty, the government forced able-bodied men into military service by the
thousands. London experienced the worst of this situation. Poor migrants flooded the city

seeking work or charity; most found an early death instead.

Paradoxically, improvements in sanitation, medicine, and food production

allowed many poor people to live longer lives, increasing the population of poor and
adding to the problems. The epidemics of plague and smallpox, which had routinely
killed a third of the people in towns during earlier centuries, were now a thing of the past.
The production of cheap alcoholic beverages, such as gin and rum, eased some of the
pain of the poor, but increased alcohol consumption also raised the level of violence and
crime.

Crimewassocommonin l8th-century Britain that Parliament made more than

200 offenses punishable by death. Executions were weekly spectacles. To deal with
excess prison populations, the British government deported many inmates to British
overseas colonies. The govemment sent tens of thousands of convicts to the Americas as

servants and established the colony of Australia as a prison colony at the end of the
century. F

18th Century British Politics

Following the union with Scotland, the British government functioned according
to an unwritten constitution put in place after the Revolution of 1688. This agreement

j
4 (
 between the monarchs and Parliament provided for the succession of Anne,s
German
Protestant cousin, George of Hannover, and his heirs. It excluded from the
throne the
Catholic descendants of James II who now lived in France and who periodically
attempted to regain the throne. Their supporters were known as Jacobites,
and they rose
in an unsuccessful rebellion in 1715. The Church of England remained the official
religious establishment, but most Protestants who belonged to other churches
enjoyed
ir>"
toleration.
The revolution also resolved
the struggle for power between the monarch and
Parliament. Parliament emerged as the leading force in government. The
Hannoverians
ruled as constitutional monarchs, limited by the laws of the land. During
the lgth century,
British monarchs ruled indirectly through appointed ministers who gathered and
managed
supporters in Parliament. Landowners eligible to vote elected a new House
of Commons
every seven years, although membership into the upper house of Parliament,
the House of
Lords' remained limited to hereditary and appointed lords and high church clergy.
Parliament passed laws, controlled foreign policy, and approved the taxes
that allowed
the monarch to pay the salaries of officials, the military, and the royal family.

The Hannoverian monarchs associated the Whig Party with the revolution that
brought them to power and suspected the Tory Party of Jacobitism. As a result,
the Whigs
dominated the governments of George I (l 714-1727) and his son, Georg
e lI (1727-1760).
Neither king was a forceful monarch. George I spoke no Ehglish and was
more interested
in German politics th#hewas in British politics. George II was preoccupied
with family
problems, particularly by an ongoing personal feud with his
son. Although they both
were concerned with European military affairs (George II was the last British
monarch to
appear on a battlefield), they left British government in the hands
of their ministers. the
most important of whom was Sir Robert Walpole.
Walpole led British government for almost 20 years. He spent most of his life
in
govemment, first as a member of Parliamento then in increasingly
important offices, and
finally as prime miniiler. Walpole had political influence over a wide range
of domestic
and foreign policy matters. He was chiefly interested in domestic affairs
and was able to
improve royal finances and the national economy. He reduced the national
debt and
lowered the land tax, which had slowed investment in agriculture.
Walpole kept Britain
 out of war during most of his administration. A growing sentiment in Parliament for
British involvement in European conflicts forced Walpole to resign in 1742.
Walpole so firmly established the Whigs that the two-party system almost
disappeared from British politics for half a century. He created a patronage system, which

he used to reward his supporters with positions in an expanding and increasingly wealthy

_government. Opposition to patronage eventually grew within the Whig Party among
tr}, .- 1l1;.., .-
those who believed that ministers had acquired too much power and that politics had
grown corrupt.
In 1745 a Jacobite rebellion posed a serious threat to Whig rule. Led by Charles
Edward Stuart, the grandson of James II, the rebellion broke out in Scotland. The rebels

. captured Edinburgh and successfully invaded the north of England. The rebellion
"Jg3llgd after William Augustus, who was the duke of Cumberland and a son of George
II, defeated the Jacobites at Culloden Moor in Scotland in 1746.

18th Century Economy

More than anything else, the economic development of Britain in the l8th century
made possible its military successes and the expansion of its empire. The creation of
financial institutions-such as the Bank of England and the Bank of Scotland-at the end
of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th century helped increase the circulation of
money and the speed with which business transactions could take place.
At the end of the century Britain had more than half a million men in the military,
and the task of supplying and paying them was huge. Following the union with Scotland
in 1707, the British population stood at about 6.5 million; a century later it had reached
15.75 million. More importantly, most of that growth had taken place after 1750 in one of
the greatest population explosions in British history. Before the 19th century, most people
still lived in the countryside and engaged in agricultural occupations.
Agricultural production changed gradually over the course of the century, but
these changes had a profound impact on British society. In the regions where soil was
rich, landowners converted small family farms into large commercial enterprises. Acts of
Parliament allowed them to enclose land and create vast estates where single crops
intended for the marketplace could be grown. New techniques brought increased

,,)
productivity. Scientists developed new strains of grasses to restore the fertility of the soil,
bred more productive livestock, and pioneered the use of new fertilizers. Agriculture
became a business rather than a means of subsistence, and the owners of small plots of
land gradually. became agricultural labourers rather than independent farmers.
Although most people lived in the country, the 18th century was notable for the
growth of towns. Ports such as Bristol and Liverpool grew from the nrosngtV o_f-
overseas trading. Seasidiresorls catered to the middle and upper classes, and
the resort

town of Bath became a vacation center. tn the Midlands of west central England, towns
turned to cities as agricultural workers from the south and east began to migrate
north
grew
toward the new industrial jobs. Birmingham, Sheffield, and above all Manchester
rapidly.
But nothing matched the colossus that was London. Already the largest city in the
Western world at the beginning of the century, London continued to expand, reaching
a

population of I million by 1800. It was almost completely rebuilt after a great fire
destroyed much of the city in 1666. Eighteenth-century improvements included sewers,

water mains, streetlights, and even the numbering of houses. One out of every eleven
Britons lived in the capital. London was the center of every important institution in the
nation except for the universities, which were located in Cambridge and Oxford.
profits
Increased wealth and a rapidly growing population were sustained by the

of commerce. At the beginning of the century, Britain still competed on an equal footing
with the Dutch, the Spanish, and the French. By the century's end Britain was the
dominant commercial power in the world marketplace. Traders bought brightly coloured
cotton cloth in Asia; they exchanged the cloth in Africa for slaves, who were brought
either to the southern colonies in America or to the West Indies. In the West Indies slaves

were exchanged for sugar, the most desirable of the products of the Americas.
The importation of goods from British colonies and the exportation of these goods
all over the world bgcame the key to British prosperity. Roads were built connecting
London to every other center of population, and canals were excavated to connect inland
waterways so that goods could move farther faster. Commerce drove the expansion of the
shipbuilding industry, provided tens of thousands of jobs for laborers on the London
docks, and spawned wholesale and retail trade everywhere. Commerce was so important

{
 "a nation
economy that British economist Adam Smith described Britain as
to the British
of shopkeePers."

ThedevelopmentofindustryinBritainwasalongandgradualprocess.
took place earlier and more rapidly
in Britain than anywhere else
Industrialization
waterways
in nngtano. A system of intemal
di.uur" existing conditions were favorable
transport of goods
less
physical barriers to trade made the
and canals and the absence of
to
forests' located conveniently close
in other nations. Coalfields and thick
difficult than
largedepositsofmetalores,providedfueltopowerthefurnacesthatproducediron.
provided financing for investments
in industrial plants and
Thriving commercial banks
machinerY.
Advancesinagriculturealsocontributedtotheindustrializationprocess.
Beginninginthemid-lTthcentury,Englandunderwentaprocessofagricultural
cultivating the same
farmers to feed more people while
improvement that enabled fewer
to the towns
no longer find work on farms migrated
amount of land. workers who could
popuration during the
there was a dramatic shift in
in search of employment. As a result,
southeast to the Midlands and
the north' where
lgth century from the agricultural
industry was located'
centered on the production of
cotton clothing'
The first phase of industrialization
still exported finished cotton cloth from
At the beginning of the l8th century Britain
became the world's
reversed this flow' and England
India. Soon domestic manufacturing
the availability
developments made this possible:
primary supplier of cotton cloth. Two
that
and the invention of new machines
of cheap raw cotton from Egypt and America,
and weave more cloth'
enabled workers to spin more thread
Withtheintroductionofmachinery,factoriesbecamethesiteoforganized
manufacture in the home' At first
most
production of twtiles, replacing small-scale

factorieswerecomparativelysmall,employingfewerthanl00workers.Theywere
wives
initially allowed families to remain together' husbands weaving'
efficient and
disrupted
carrying' Ultimately' however' factories
spinning, and children fetching and
operated the machines' and they
worked the same
family life. women and children easily
 n^,rlofl rr*Ptn*
pay women and children loiver wages'
l2-hour days as men. Since factory owners could
men were driven out of the industry'
Insomecommunities,displacedworkersattackedfactoriesandfactoryowners.In
others, they'attacked,the machines themselves' But
they were unable to stop the
grew rich by producing cheap. durable
development of new factories. Factory owners
cottons with the new machines. G,
Engineers used it to build the
Iron was the illiacle-product of industrialization.
the rails and engines that powered
machines that powered production ?qd. ultimately
distribution. By 1850 English wefe producing more than half of the
^"ft$W"rs
world's iron.
ThemostimportantuseofthisenofTnousoutputofironwasinbuildingrailroads.
advances made during the
The railroads developed as a result of the technological
Industrial Revolution
to move coal from the mines to the
Systems of rails and carriages had long existed
it was shipped. They were pulled by humans or horses' After
1800
barges on which
engine as a means of powering
inventois began experimenting with Watt's steam
carrying coal and bulk goods
carriages. In 1830 the first important railway opened,
Liverpool. It soon carried more people than products'
All
between Manchester and
center of the nation'
,."U-;O lines ultimately connected to London, the commercial

The ImPact of Industrialization

Industrialization transformed nearly every aspect
of British life' Glasgow came to

Edinburgh as a center of wealth in Scotland' Ireland,

which had grown faster than
rival
lar$ely
Scotland throughout the 18th century, failed to industrialize and remained
agricultural
Inl85l,forthefirsttime,manufacturingPxrployedmoreworkersthan
agriculture.Ttreg6wthofindustrialcities*u,WWhilethepopulationasa
the population of towns such as
whole grew by 100 percent between 1801 and 1851,
authorities found it impossible
Liverpool and Manchester grew by 1,000 percent. Town
of people lived in
to regulate the explosion in the population. In Liverpool thousands
in one Manchester
basements without light or heat. Sanitary conditions were appalling;

j
 1 million
people for every toilet. London, which had about
district there were 215
living in
grew to more than 2.3 million by 1850, many of them
inhabitants by 1801,
poverty.Urbanization,withitscostsandbenefits'cametoBritainallatonce'
Atonelevel,industrializationconsolidatedBritain'spositionasthegreatest
powerintheworld.Byls30BritainproducedhalfofEurope'sironandcotton,three.
quartersofitscoal,andnearlyallofitssteamengines.TheEnglishsuppliedthe the railway
expertise for engineering
in otheffiouniiit'' and they planned
technological
systems for nearly all of Europe' , ^^-^rr'-ar
Britain'svastoverseasempirewasnowasmuchaconsumerofBritish
manufacturedgoodsasitwasasupplierofBritain,srawmaterials.Steam-poweredships
madetheworldasmallerplaceinthesamewaythatrailroadshadshrunktheBritish
wealth poured into
were now easily moved around the globe' and
Isles. Bulk cargoes
rough estimates, the per capita
ports in western Britain. By
London and the commercial
wealthofEnglandtripledfromls0ltol85l,aremarkablegrowthconsideringthatthe
population doubled'
Thisincreaseinwealth,however,didnotbenefiteveryone.Ifthestandardof labor was
the quality of life declined for others' Agricultural
living rose for some,

performedtoseasonalrhythmsbythelightofthesun,buttheclockgovernedfactory
production,12hoursaday,6daysaweek.Factoryworkwasdangerous,dirty,and to those who
were considered lucky compared
but those who could get it
unhealthful,
begged or starved in the streets' , , ^+^^+^A
Inthefirstphaseofindustrialization,workerswereunprotectedbysocial
opposition' Few safety
efforts to eliminate child labor met serious
regislation_even
better conditions' but without
existed. workers attempted to organize to force
regulations
protectionagainstdismissal,theireffortsweresporadicandviolent.

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