1.

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Lecture 1

Brief geographical outline.

The British Isles lie to the north-west of the continent of Europe and consist of the islands of
Great Britain, Ireland and over six thousand surrounding smaller isles.

Great Britain is made up of England, Wales and Scotland.

Great Britain, Northern Ireland and small islands are known as the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland with a total area of 244,1 thousand square kms.

It includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England,  the Isles of Scilly
off the south-west, Anglesey to the west, the Hebrides and the island groups
of Orkney and Shetland.

The north-west and west of Great Britain is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.

In the west the country is also washed by the Irish Sea.

The eastern coast is open to the waters of the North Sea.

The south-eastern tip of Great Britain is separated from France by the English Channel.
The Channel Tunnel bored beneath the English Channel, now links the UK with France.

Northern Ireland which lies to the west of Great Britain is separated from it by the North
Channel and is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.

London is the capital of England and the whole of the United Kingdom, and therefore is the seat
of the United Kingdom's government. 

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. 

Cardiff is the capital of Wales.

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland

Mountains

The ten tallest mountains in the UK are all found in Scotland. The highest peaks in each part of
the UK are:

 Scotland: Ben Nevis, 1,344 metres

 Wales: Snowdon (Snowdonia), 1,085 metres

 England: Scafell Pike (Cumbrian Mountains), 978 metres

 Northern Ireland: Slieve Donard (Mourne Mountains), 852 metres

Ben Nevis is the highest peak in the UK, at 1,344 metres, 

Rivers

The longest river in the UK is the River Severn (220 mi; 350 km) which flows through both
Wales and England.

 England: River Thames (215 mi; 346 km)

 Scotland: River Tay (117 mi; 188 km)

 N. Ireland: River Bann (76 mi; 122 km)

 Wales: River Tywi (64 mi; 103 km)

Lakes

The largest lakes (by surface area) in the UK by country are:

 N. Ireland: Lough Neagh (147.39 sq mi; 381.7 km2)

 Scotland: Loch Lomond (27.46 sq mi; 71.1 km2)

 England: Windermere (5.69 sq mi; 14.7 km2)

 Wales: Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) (1.87 sq mi; 4.8 km2)

The deepest lake in the UK is Loch Morar with a maximum depth of 309 metres (Loch Ness is
second at 228 metres deep).

The deepest lake in England is Wastwater which achieves a depth of 79 metres (259 feet).

Loch Ness is the UK's largest lake in terms of volume.

Climate

The United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round.
The prevailing wind is from the south-west and bears frequent spells of mild and wet weather
from the Atlantic Ocean, although the eastern parts are mostly sheltered from this wind since the
majority of the rain falls over the western regions the eastern parts are therefore the driest.

Atlantic currents, warmed by the Gulf Stream, bring mild winters; especially in the west where
winters are wet and even more so over high ground. Summers are warmest in the south-east of
England, being closest to the European mainland, and coolest in the north.

Heavy snowfall can occur in winter and early spring on high ground, and occasionally settles to
great depth away from the hills.

Population

Population of UK is just under 70 million. Great Britain is the fourth most populous country in
Europe. Those of English descent constitute about 77% of the nation's inhabitants. The Scottish
make up 8%, and there are smaller groups of Welsh (about 4.5%) and Irish (2.7%) descent. Great
Britain's population has shown increasing ethnic diversity since the 1970s, when people from the
West Indies, India, Pakistan, Africa, and China began immigrating; in the early 21st cent. these
groups accounted for more than 5% of the population. There is also a significant minority of
Poles, who arrived after Poland joined the European Union.

Religion

The Church of England, also called the Anglican Church is the officially established church in
England; the monarch is its supreme governor. There are just over 26 million adherents to
Anglicanism in Britain today.

The Presbyterian Church of Scotland is legally established in Scotland. There is complete

religious freedom throughout Great Britain.

By far the greatest numbers of Britons are Anglicans, followed by Roman Catholics and other
Christians. There are smaller minorities of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Buddhists.

Languages

British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from the Old
English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th century.

Some 1.5 million people speak Scots—a variety of English which some consider to be a distinct
language.

An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh, an official language in Wales.

In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken. There are various
regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by some immigrant populations.

Government

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. It
means that the sovereign reigns but does not rule. The monarch serves formally as head of state.
But the monarch is expected to be politically neutral and should not make political decisions.
The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. She was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1953.

Queen Elizabeth II

Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws.

Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Technically Parliament is made up of three
parts: the Monarch, the House of Lords; and the House of Commons. In reality the House of
Commons is the only one of the three which has true power.

The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament. There are 650 of them in the House
of Commons. They are elected by secret ballot. General elections are held every five years.

There are few political parties in Britain thanks to the British electoral system. The main ones
are: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal / Social Democratic Alliance.

The party which wins the most seats in Parliament forms the Government. Its leader becomes the
Prime Minister. His first job is to choose his Cabinet. The Prime Minister usually takes policy
decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet.

The current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016.
The functions of the House of Commons are legislation and scrutiny of government activities.
The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker. The Speaker is appointed by the
Government.

The House of Lords comprises about 1,200 peers. It is presided by the Lord Chancellor. The
House of Lords has no real power. It acts rather as an advisory council.
It's in the House of Commons that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the
members are in favour of a bill, it goes to the House of Lords to be debated. The House of Lords
has the right to reject a new bill twice.

But after two rejections they are obliged to accept it. And finally a bill goes to the monarch to be
signed. Only then it becomes law.

Lecture 2.

England in the period of Ancient history

Pre – Celtic period

The earliest people are thought to have come to Britain about 500,000 years ago. Britain and
Ireland were joined to Europe at this time, and during several Ice Ages much of the land was
covered with thick ice. This period was known as the Stone Age, and people used stone tools to
hunt and fish. The melting ice created the English Channel and Irish Sea, forming the islands of
Britain and Ireland. 

The first inhabitants of the British Isles were nomadic Stone Age hunters. They probably lived in
the dry caves of the limestone and chalk hills. The Paleolithic population, unable with their rude
stone tools to cope with the impassable woods and wild tangled bush growth, that covered nearly
the whole of the land, had to rely on the bounty of nature. They must have lived on what the
woods, the ocean and the rivers had to offer.

When they passed over to agriculture, the first farmers had to cultivate some arable patches on
the slopes of downs converging on Salisbury plain. Historians refer to the original population as
the Scots and Picts with whom newcomers started merging. It was the geographical position of
the land that attracted the newcomers: the way of Mediterranean civilization across the North
Sea to Scandinavia, rich in trade amber, lay straight from the Iberian Peninsula between what
later came to be Ireland and Britain. Those newcomers must have been a Mediterranean people.

The time of Late Stone Age population of Britain is Around 2,400 B.C. (2 thousand 4 hundred),
and the reasons of their migration to the British Isles from Mediterranean areas, their territorial
distribution there, the nature of their civilization. These people are thought to have settled on the
chalk hills of the Cotswolds, the Susexx and Dorset downs and the Chilterns.

A characteristic monument to this civilization is Stonehenge, a sort of sanctuary erected by the

abovementioned fusion of peoples on Salisbury plain about eleven hundred years BC or
somewhat earlier.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 2 miles (3 km) west

of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury.
This circular structure, or semi-circular structure ruin as it is now, was formed by a juxtaposition
of tall narrowish slabs standing so as to provide support for the horizontal slab.

It consists of a ring of standing stones, with each standing stone around 4.1 metres (13 feet) high,
2.1 metres (6 feet 11 in) wide and weighing around 25 tons.

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

Stonehenge is one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, and is regarded as a British cultural
icon.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 2 miles (3 km) west

of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury.

This circular structure, or semi-circular structure ruin as it is now, was formed by a juxtaposition
of tall narrowish slabs standing so as to provide support for the horizontal slab.

It consists of a ring of standing stones, with each standing stone around 4.1 metres (13 feet) high,
2.1 metres (6 feet 11 in) wide and weighing around 25 tons.

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

Stonehenge is one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, and is regarded as a British cultural
icon.

The purpose was believed to be that of a place of worship, since the circular earthwork around
the double horseshoe of the standing and hanging stones did not look like a fortification.
The stones of Stonehenge have endured centuries of weathering and erosion.

The purpose was believed to be that of a place of worship, since the circular earthwork around
the double horseshoe of the standing and hanging stones did not look like a fortification.

The Celts
The  Iron Age started when a new stream of invaders, tall and fair, poured from the continent,
from what is now France and Germany. Whole tribes migrated to the Isles, warriors with their
chiefs, their women and their children.

The invasion of these tribes known as Celtic tribes went on from 8th-7th cc. BC. to 1st c. B.C.

The first Celtic comers were the Gaels, but the Brythons arrived some two centuries later and
pushed the Gaels to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall taking possession of the south and
east.

Then, after a considerable lapse of time somewhere about the 1st c. BC the most powerful tribe,
the Belgae, claimed possession of the south-east while part of the Brythons was pushed on to
Wales though the rest stayed in what is England today, and probably gave their name to the
whole of the country.

Thus the whole of Britain was occupied by the Celts who merged with the Picts and Scots, as
well as with the Alpine part of the population; the latter predominated in the West while the rest
of the British Isles became distinctly Celtic in language and the structure of society. The Gaelic
form of the Celtic dialects was spoken in Caledonia (modern Scotland) and Ireland, the
Brythonic form in England and Wales.

The social unit of the Celts, the clan, superseded the earlier family groups; clans were united into
large kinship groups, and those into tribes. The clan was the chief economic unit, the main
organizational unit for the basic activities of the Celts.

These Celt-dominated mixture of Picts, Scots and others came to be called Brythons or Britts.

Later on, with the advent of the Belgae, the heavy plough was introduced, drawn by oxen, so the
slopes of downs could be used only as pasture land, and fertile valleys cleared of forests could be
farmed so successfully that soon the south-east produced enough grain and to spare. It could
therefore be exported to Gaul and the Mediterranean and luxuries from those lands brought a
new brightness to the otherwise austere existence of the tribesmen. Besides, rough crockery-
making, hide-processing and the like, were practised.

Fortresses were built on hilltops, towns began to appear in more wealthy south-east.
Among the first towns mentioned are such as Verulamium, Camulodunum, Londinium.

The Roman Conquest

Britain was major corn-producing country, Rome wanted food badly-hence Julius Caesar’s
expedition in 55 B.C. with 10 thousand strong Roman army was repulsed by the iron-weapon
possessing Celts with the help of the Channel storms.

A year later the expedition was repeated with an increased army of 25 thousand, and
Camulodunum was taken by them, but it led to nothing more serious than Caesar’s departure
with Celtic hostages.

In 43A.D. the Emperor Claudius sent a 50-thousand strong army which landed in Kent and
crossed the Thames. Since that time up to 410 Britain was one of the remote provinces of the
Roman Empire. It was military occupation that the Romans established, and it lasted 4 centuries.
The wide masses of people openly expressed their discontent caused by Romans’ unabashed and
unlimited plunder as well as their endless taxations. In 51 A.D. the wild tribes of the Celtic North
headed by Caradoc or Caractacus, were defeated. But in 59-61 A.D. the Celts of what is now
Norfolk rallied and poured upon the Roman strongholds; Roman military camps were razed to
the ground and Verulamium, Camulodunum, Londinium were destroyed and burnt down;
thousands of Roman settlers and their adherents were killed. The rebellion was headed by
Boadicea whom the Celts called their queen. The suppression of the Celts was a hard enough
job, it tasked the Roman legions to the utmost.

However, the Picts of Caledonia must have produced a strong impression upon the Romans, for
in 121 A.D. the Emperor Hadrian caused a wall to be erected from Tyne to the Solway Firth, that
is in a line cutting through what is Newcastle today. They had erected another wall somewhat
earlier, nearer south, so Hadrian’s Wall was a step further to the North. From the Forth to the
Clyde the wall of Antonine was built (140 A.D.), later called Grime’s Dyke.

The Romans made no attempt to subdue Ireland; as to Wales, it belonged to the so called
military districts of Roman Britain together with the other mountainous areas of the north and
west. The mountainous parts must have seemed prohibitive, inhabited as they were by those
disobedient Celts who had retreated there to retain their independence; the same applied to
Cornwall, or West Wales as it was called.

Christianity was a step forward as compared to the heathenish Druidical rites; there was a
handful of Latin words to enrich the Celtic vocabulary. There were some brutal laws that stayed
on after the Romans left, chiefly concerned with the institution of slavery, such as “If one slave
killed his master all the slaves of that man must die for it”.

Romanization was nearly non-existent in Ireland and Scotland. In the countryside, the
old Celtic way of life was preserved, the Celts continued living in their old Celtic way, suffering
from the invader’s exploitation, passing their native customs and traditions from generation to
generation and speaking their Celtic dialects enriched by some of the Latin words.

The decay of Roman power in Britain was at the end of the 4th c.; the attacks of the wild Celtic
tribes from behind the walls that had sealed off those dangerous areas, were no longer so
efficiently and promptly repulsed in the latter part of the 5th c.; the usual grain-laden ships were
no longer sent to the metropolis.

In 407 orders came for the legions to return. Evidently, the safety of Rome itself was in
question:

 its rotten economy based on the sand of slavery;

 its greed-swollen conquest craze that lured the Romans on to bite off more than they
could chew;

 its clay-legged military dictatorship aggravated by the bickerings of the would be

emperors who were constantly at each other’s throat in their scrambling for power,

made the great city an easy prey to any west-migrating barbaric tribes like the Germanic tribes of
the period.
So the Romans left, and failed to return.

The British Isles, which lie off the northwest coast of continental Europe. The name is
probably Celtic and derives from a word meaning 'white'; this is usually assumed to be a
reference to the famous white Cliffs of Dover, which any new arrival to the country by sea can
hardly miss. The first mention of the island was by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored
the island's coastline, c. 325 BC.

The Anglo-Saxon Invasion

When the Roman troops withdrew, the Romanized Celts were left to their own resources. They
had formidable foes both within and without: barbaric Germanic tribes across the North Sea and
the unconquered Gaelic Celts of Scotland and Ireland.

The Germanic tribe of the Jutes, believed to have been a Frankish tribe from the lower Rhine
reaches, were the first to arrive. They seem to have been in contact with the Romans and were
well versed in military matters since they used to serve as hired soldiers in the Roman army.
They settled in the southern part of the island for good, founding their state of Kent later on.

Other Germanic tribes that invaded island were Angles and Saxons, backward Teutonic
tribes from German coast, that is from the country around the mouth of the Elbe and from the
south of Denmark.

They were land-tillers, living in large kinship groups and having a special layer of professional
warriors to do the fighting. The aim of their first raids to the British Isles was plunder, not
conquest. The desultory raiders in war-bands began to infiltrate into Britain at the end of the 4th
and early in the 5th cc. The traditional date of their wholesale invasion is 449-450 A.D. The vast
Anglo-Saxon hordes poured into Britain, the object being territorial conquest. They came in
family groups and tribes, with wives and children.

The prevailing form of landownership was characteristic of a free village community:

land was common property. The kinship group structure was going to decay; a military leader
grasped a plot of land leaving much smaller to his followers.

The conquest must have been ruthless in its character. The barbaric invaders not only
annihilated all the remnants of Roman culture, they killed and plundered and laid the country
waste. The Celts were mercilessly exterminated. The survivors were either enslaved or made to
retreat to Wales, Cornwall and to the North of the island. So they took refuge in those
mountainous regions and retained their independence and culture. In Ireland the Celtic tribes
separated from the main island by the sea and never subdued. They developed crafts and arts
showing great skill in metal work, in sculpture and music.

The brave tribal leader, King Arthur, organized Celtic resistance to the Anglo-Saxon
invaders. King Arthur, the 6th c. hero of Celtic Independence, became in the memory of the
people a defender of the faith, and his Knights of the Round Table, bright examples of all moral
virtues. The legends extol King Arthur’s courage and integrity.

There appeared many independent tribal communities. Groups of tribes brought together
by the necessities of their common settlement formed separate states which chose separate kings;
they struggled for supremacy, and up to 829 English history is the struggle waged by one of the
Anglo-Saxon states after another for power over its neighbours.

By the end of the 6th c. Kent was the only kingdom of the Jutes while the Angles and
Saxons formed six kingdoms:

3 of the Angles in the northern and central parts of the island: 1. Northumbria. 2. East Anglia. 3.
Mercia.

and 3 of the Saxons in the southern part: 1. Sussex and Essex, 2. Wessex and 3. Devon
peninsula.

Lecture 3

Medieval England

England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from

the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485.

When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the economy was in tatters and
many of the towns abandoned. After several centuries of Germanic immigration, new identities
and cultures began to emerge, developing into predatory kingdoms that competed for power. A
rich artistic culture flourished under the Anglo-Saxons, producing epic poems such
as Beowulf and sophisticated metalwork. The Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity in the 7th
century and a network of monasteries and convents was built across England.

Early Middle Ages (600–1066)

Germanic immigrants began to arrive in increasing numbers during the 5th century, initially
peacefully, establishing small farms and settlements. 

The 7 kingdoms that were established on the conquered territory were consolidating their
administrative and political stability. There was inner strife between the members of royal
families for the crown, parts of kingdoms got sovereignty, new kingdoms sprang up and died
away. There were hostilities between the south folk and north folk of East Anglia. There was a
struggle between kingdoms for supremacy from VI till IX centuries. Thus gradually, only 3
kingdoms emerged to contend for supremacy Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex. Finally Egbert
defeated them in a battle and in 829 proclaimed the political unification of the country, with
himself its king.

The beginning of Feudalism.

The feudalization process was accelerated by the Danish raids, because they (raids) led to the
growth of the king’s taxation, impoverished the ceorl (land cultivators), endangered their lives so
the peasant was in need of a strong “patron”. Thus a free community member had to give up his
independence for the sake of safety and minimum subsistence; both he and his land passed on to
the earl, in exchange for his protection the peasant had to do certain obligations.

Thus a landowner became a lord.

Another step in the development of feudalism was made when the feudal lord’s power was
enhanced by the delegation of royal rights to powerful lords, the lords were granted the right to
hold courts of their own, it was profitable for them as all fines went to their pockets.

The highest power was in the hands of the king and the aristocratic Witenagemot that
included the greatest land magnates, shires, alderman, thanes and bishops. They were the king’s
counselors, but at the same time they restricted the king’s power, as he had to state important
decisions with Witenagemot’s approval.

The Scandinavian invasion

Small scattered Viking raids began in the last years of the 8th century; in the 9th century large-
scale plundering incursions were made in Britain and in the Frankish empire as well.

Two Scandinavian invaders Danes and Norwegians; began their expeditons with the ruthless
destruction of the Lindsfarne abbey and wholesale slaughter of those inhabitants. Later the
Danes became the invaders of England and the Norwegians constituted the bulk of the hosts
invading Scotland and Ireland.

The Danes surpassed the Anglo-Saxons in military skill and military equipment; they knew
tricks of lightning speed attack.

In 842 they burnt up London, in 850 they stayed to winter in England instead of withdrawing
with the booty as usual and in the 60ies of the 9th c. they founded their first permanent
settlements.

In 871 they founded a fortified camp in Reading.

It was the young king of Wessex, Alfred the Great ( 871-899), who finally stopped them. The
year 871 is called “Alfred’s great year of battles”. As a result, a peace treaty was signed in 879
stipulating a division of the country into two equal parts: Danelaw part in the north-east and
England proper in the south-west.

Alfred the Great prevented the Danes from becoming masters of the whole of England. That
Wessex stood when the other kingdoms had fallen must be put down to Alfred’s courage and
wisdom, to his defensive measures in reorganizing his army, to his building fortresses and ships,
and to his diplomacy, which made the Welsh kings his allies.

The Scandinavian invaders who were no further from the Anglo-Saxons were
assimilated, the Scandinavian words enriched the Anglo-Saxons vocabulary with intermarriages
and attempts to reconquer parts of the Danelaw territory.

The Scandinavian raids were renewed at the end of the 10th c. in the reign of Aethelred
the Unready (978-1017).

The object of the Scandinavian raids was money, not conquest. Tribute was claimed for the
withdrawal of the raiders, so the Aethelred the Unready exacted money from the people in the
form of the tax called “Dane – geld, - Dane money”. The Danes took money and retired, but
returned again in a year or two with increased demands.
After a fierce struggle England was made part of the Danish kingdom including Norway and
Sweden with (Danish king) Sweyn’s son Canute or Knut as King (1017-1035).

The tax fell upon the shoulders of the peasants enriching first the local lords who collected the
tax and then went to the king’s treasury.

Every shire had its functionary, the shire reeve represented the central power. The person at the
head of shire groups called ealdorman, a mighty person, who under Canute began to be
designated earl, a Danish title.

Danish raids greatly impoverished the peasants, made their land plots smaller and smaller.
Every land was possessed by a lord, every peasant had a lord over him. The lords had right to
hold courts and fine those they found guilty of certain offences, put money into their lordly
pockets.

The serf held land in return for his own personal labour on the lord’s fields. He couldn’t leave
the plot or his lord, he was tied to him and the land he tilled by bonds, and only death could
sever.

After Canute’s death in 1035 and then the death of his sons (the last childless died in
1042), the Godwin family (held 3 or 6 large earldoms of the country) restored the old Saxon
dynasty to the throne of England, Edward, son of Aethelred the Unready was brought back from
Normandy ( the part of France occupied by the Northmen). He was weak-willed and exteremely
pious, he prepared ground for the Norman conquest, bringing Norman counselors, sly monks and
Norman nobles, who played on his weakness and got what they coveted,- best lands and church
posts. Westminister Abbey was built in his reign.

Lecture 4

The Norman Conquest

In 1066, the Normans invaded England from France and after its conquest, seized large parts
of Wales, conquered much of Ireland and were invited to settle in Scotland, bringing to each
country  feudalism  on the Northern French model and  Norman-French culture. The Norman
elites greatly influenced, but eventually assimilated with, each of the local cultures.
Subsequent medieval English kings completed the conquest of Wales and made an
unsuccessful attempt to annex Scotland. Following the  Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland
maintained its independence, albeit in near-constant conflict with England. The English
monarchs, through inheritance of substantial territories in France  and claims to the French
crown, were also heavily involved in conflicts in France, most notably the Hundred Years War,
while the Kings of Scots were in an alliance with the French during this period.

There were renewed Scandinavian attacks on England at the end of the 10th
century. Aethelred ruled a long reign but ultimately lost his kingdom to Sweyn of Denmark,
though he recovered it following the latter's death. However, Aethelred's son Edmund II
Ironside died shortly afterwards, allowing Cnut, Sweyn's son, to become king of England. Under
his rule the kingdom became the centre of government for an empire which also included
Denmark and Norway.

Cnut was succeeded by his sons, but in 1042 the native dynasty was restored with the accession
of Edward the Confessor. Edward's failure to produce an heir caused a furious conflict over the
succession on his death in 1066. His struggles for power against Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the
claims of Cnut's Scandinavian successors, and the ambitions of the Normans whom Edward
introduced to English politics to bolster his own position caused each to vie for control Edward's
reign.

Harold Godwinson became king, in all likelihood appointed by Edward the Confessor on his
deathbed and endorsed by the Witan. William of Normandy, Harald Hardråde (aided by Harold
Godwin's estranged brother Tostig) and Sweyn II of Denmark all asserted claims to the throne.
By far the strongest hereditary claim was that of Edgar the Aetheling, but his youth and apparent
lack of powerful supporters caused him to be passed over, and he did not play a major part in the
struggles of 1066, though he was made king for a short time by the Witan after the death of
Harold Godwinson.

In September 1066, Harald III of Norway landed in Northern England with a force of around

15,000 men and 300 longships (50 men in each boat). With him was Earl Tostig, who had
promised him support. Harold Godwinson defeated and killed Harald III of
Norway and Tostig and the Norwegian force at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

On 28 September 1066, William of Normandy invaded England with a force of Normans, in a

campaign known as the Norman Conquest. On 14 October, after having marched his exhausted
army all the way from Yorkshire, Harold fought the Normans at the Battle of Hastings, where
England's army was defeated and Harold was killed. Further opposition to William in support
of Edgar the Aetheling soon collapsed, and William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066.
For the next five years he faced a series of English rebellions in various parts of the country and
a half-hearted Danish invasion, but he was able to subdue all resistance and establish an enduring
regime.

Depiction of the Battle of Hastings (1066) on the Bayeux Tapestry.

The Norman Conquest led to a profound change in the history of the English state. William
ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey of the entire population and their lands
and property for tax purposes, which reveals that within twenty years of the conquest the English
ruling class had been almost entirely dispossessed and replaced by Norman landholders, who
also monopolised all senior positions in the government and the Church. William and his nobles
spoke and conducted court in Norman French, in England as well as in Normandy. The use of
the Anglo-Norman language by the aristocracy endured for centuries and left an indelible mark
in the development of modern English.

Upon being crowned, on Christmas Day 1066, William immediately began consolidating his
power. By 1067 he faced revolts on all sides and spent four years systematically crushing each
one. He then went about imposing his superiority over Scotland and Wales, forcing each to
recognise him as overlord.

The English Middle Ages were characterised by civil war, international war, occasional

insurrection, and widespread political intrigue amongst the aristocratic and monarchic elite.
England was more than self-sufficient in cereals, dairy products, beef and mutton. The nation's
international economy was based on the wool trade, in which the produce of the sheepwalks of
northern England was exported to the textile cities of Flanders, where it was worked into cloth.
Medieval foreign policy was as much shaped by relations with the Flemish textile industry as it
was by dynastic adventures in western France. An English textile industry was established in the
15th century, providing the basis for rapid English capital accumulation.

Henry I, the fourth son of William I the Conqueror, succeeded his elder brother William
II as King of England in 1100. Henry was also known as "Henry Beauclerc" (because of his
education—as his older brother William was the heir apparent and thus given the practical
training to be king, Henry received the alternate, formal education), worked hard to reform and
stabilise the country and smooth the differences between the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-
Norman societies. The loss of his son, William Adelin, in the wreck of the White Ship in
November 1120, undermined his reforms. This problem regarding succession cast a long shadow
over English history.

Henry I had required the leading barons, ecclesiastics and officials in Normandy and England, to
take an oath to accept Matilda (also known as Empress Maud, Henry I's daughter) as his heir.
England was far less than enthusiastic to accept an outsider, and a woman, as their ruler.

There is some evidence suggesting Henry was unsure of his own hopes and the oath to make
Matilda his heir. In likelihood, Henry probably hoped Matilda would have a son and step aside
as Queen Mother, making her son the next heir. Upon Henry’s death, the Norman and English
barons ignored Matilda’s claim to the throne, and thus through a series of decisions, Stephen,
Henry’s favourite nephew, was welcomed by many in England and Normandy as their new ruler.

On 22 December 1135, Stephen was anointed king with the implicit support of the church and
nation. Matilda and her own son stood for direct descent by heredity from Henry I, and she bided
her time in France. The following civil war from 1139–1153 is known as the Anarchy. In the
autumn of 1139, she invaded England with her illegitimate half-brother Robert of Gloucester.
Her husband, Geoffroy V of Anjou, conquered Normandy but did not cross the channel to help
his wife, satisfied with Normandy and Anjou. During this breakdown of central authority, the
nobles ran amok building adulterine castles (i.e. castles erected without government permission).
Stephen was captured, and his government fell. Matilda was proclaimed queen but was soon at
odds with her subjects and was expelled from London. The period of insurrection and civil war
that followed continued until 1148, when Matilda returned to France. Stephen effectively reigned
unopposed until his death in 1154, although his hold on the throne was still uneasy. As soon as
he regained power, he began the process of demolishing the adulterine castles, which were hated
by the peasants due to their being employed as forced labour to build and maintain them.
Stephen kept a few castles standing however, which put him at odds with his heir. During the
confused and contested reign of Stephen, there was a major swing in the balance of power
towards the feudal barons, as civil war and lawlessness broke out. In trying to appease Scottish
and Welsh raiders, he handed over large tracts of land.

Lecture 5.

The Plantegenet dynasty.

Henry the Second reforms.

Feudal anarchy increased after Henry I died. For 19 years the wars waged between his
daughter and nephew, racked the country, brought famine and ruin to the peasants, and enriched
the barons who supported to one and then to the other, they sold their support for lands and for
privileges.

At last, under the pressure of the people’s uprisings, the two sides came to a compromise in
1153; Stephen, Henry’s nephew was to be king and after his death, the throne was to be left to
Henry of Anjou, the son of Henry’s daughter. A year later Stephen died and a new dynasty,
doubly French, was begun by Henry II Plantagenet (1154-1189), the earl of Anjou, whose vast
possessions were in France, now joined to England included half of France.

When he came to rule the country was fed up with feudal anarchy, so he began with the
curtailing of the barons’ power; he destroyed the barons’ castles, veritable strongholds that made
barons powerful.

Henry didn’t admit their customary 40 days service in times of war, he exchanged their personal
service for money payment, so called “shield money” or “scutage” was to be paid to well trained
soldier, mercenaries, they were responsible directly to the king, could be sent anywhere to fight,
not being limited by 40 days of feudal military service.

Henry with half his possessions in France was often absent from England that could be good for
the barons. So, Henry Plantegenet organized a militia composed of all freeman, and knights,
Englishmen, armed them to the teeth, to control his barons, Norman nobility.

Henry II introduced reforms in the domain of justice and administration, his idea was to
place English jurisdiction on a much higher professional level.

1. Under him Curia Regis (a court of justice and finance) was run by specially trained
officials.

2. The amateurish and roguish feudal sheriffs were replaced by specialists.

 3. The king’s Bench a special court of Justice was formed.

4. There was an establishment of travelling commissioners, who represented crown, the

travelling judges who administrated justice through a jury system of 12 jurymen, they
did away with barbarous feudal court trials by fire, by water, by single combat, etc.
where no truth could be established.

5. Now everyone who could pay the required fees (enriching King’s treasury) was
allowed to appeal to the royal court for judgment by inquisition.

6. The villains were not allowed with their pleas to the king’s court of justice.

Thus the first Plantegenet reforms were intended to limit the power of individual barons, in the
interests of the whole feudal system, a system of ruthless in human exploitation of the working
people.

At the end of the 11th c. the so-called Crusade began to be popular, they were sponsored by
Rome. The Pope of Rome sent his emissaries to go throughout all Europe preaching Crusade and
persuading the kings and nobles to sell their lands and take their subjects to Jerusalem to drive
out the Saracens. They were persuaded in the name of the Roman church that whoever died in
the holy war would be sure to go to heaven, but a lot of money wanted.

Social and economic development of England in the 12th century.

International scale fairs sprang up in England in the 11th c., foreign merchants brought things
there, that were eye-openers. The Crusades also opened the Anglo-Norman eyes to a lot of
things, the crusade participants made great money expenditures. Foreign trade was made, they
exported traditional items, also lead, tin, cattle and wool.

The economic forces alluded to were those of growing trade accompanied by a

development of money relations. Foreign contacts with France and Flandres, trading contacts
with Scandinavian and Baltic countries were steadily developing. Iron was not mined at home in
sufficient quantities, it wanted more and more, so it came from Sweden and Spain; Cloth of high
quality came from Flandres and salt from France. Henry caused to erect comfortable manor
houses at the owners’ expense, special building stone wasn’t found at home, so it had to be
imported from quarries across the Channel.

London was only important centre among towns, made so by its geographical and
commercial position, centre of home and international trade, differed from villages only in size.
The villages were built on land belonging to the king or some abbey, or a baron and they were
ruled accordingly by the owner of the land. This was a limitation to their growth and
development as the holders of the land, they paid for the land with their labor.

The idea of money payment as exchange was an early development, when the town’s economy
was based on the cultivation of the town’s fields, when crafts and came to enrich the town’s
economy, the towns began to strike bargains with those whom they held the land taking
obligations of common yearly payments. Special corporations of leading citizens were
organized to see and to secure the bargain in writing (called charter), it was encouraged by Henry
II, as the money went to royal treasury from towns built on land belonging to the Grown.

Henry II was the first King to attempt expansion on the British Isles. He invaded Ireland and
established his rule, his reign. On Henry’s death his son Richard I agreed to exchange the claim
for considerable sum of money, so Henry’s expansionist tendencies didn’t amount too much.

The Church. In Henry II’s reign the church became strong. The church was closer to the crown,
all the administrative writing and reading work was done by churchmen. The church supported
the crown against the barons, because the latter were the churchmen’s rivals in land possessing
and struggle for influence.

They had ecclesiastical courts of justice where the clergy’s gravest offences could be connived at
the punishment was just the reduction of the clerical criminal to the position of layman.

The Roman Catholic Church strove to become more important in England as it was in
Western Europe. Rome wanted its clerical subjects to be responsible to Rome only while
European Kings claimed the clergy to be their vassals, who held huge tracts of land from them
and wanted to enjoy the revenues from clergy and wanted that they should know their
obligations.

The Church snatched the cases from kings courts under the pretext of the culprits connection
with the church.

England was rapidly developing its economy. A lively wool trade brought new profits
contributing to the growth and development of the towns, Tin, lead and iron were exported. Big
towns sprang up on the king’s lands.

In the 12th c. London became an industrial and commercial centre for those times.

The second Plantagenet King, Richard I (1189-1199), popularly called Richard – the Lion
Heart was an enthusiastic crusader. In his reign the Third Crusade was under the way, he spent a
lot of his time fighting Salah-ad-Din and getting into captivity.

Struggle for the limitation of the King’s power. The Great Charter.

The 13th century began under a new king, the second son of Henry II and a third
Plantagenet, John nicknamed Lackland. In the feudal medieval triangle “the crown – the barons -
the church”, he was rash enough to fight both the barons and the church simultaneously.

The confiscation of English possessions in France meant great losses to Norman barons.
The duty of the King was to guard his vassals’ possessions, but John failed, he also drained the
treasury so it strained the patience of the barons to a pitch. So the barons resorted to an armed
rebellion against their lord (king), the barons wouldn’t be so bold if the King had been supported
by the church.

The Pope excommunicated John, when he opposed his choice of Stephen Langton for the
past of Archbishop of Canterbury, deprived him of the church’s blessing and church
membership and deposed for no person driven from church could head the government of
Christian country.
He was an easy game for any King with a decent army, as he was outlawed, the kings of France
and Scotland were persuaded to fight him, the English barons, Normans for the most part refused
to fight the King of France – and driven to despair John went down on his knees to the Pope and
received his pardon at a very high price 1000 pounds sterling annually.

Stephen danger saw that the church in England didn’t support John, he headed the barons
rebellion. Stephen Langton demanded from John as much, the king was in a desperate condition
so had to agree with them.

Great Charter (Magna Carta).

On june 25, 1215 the Great Charter was signed.

1. The bulk of the charter enumerated measures and conditions that ensured the baron’s
uninterrupted exploitation of their peasant holders without fear of extra levies.

2. Charter made a point of guarding merchants from the King’s arbitrary taxation.

3. The charter cancelled the right of the king to control the personal property and the
personal liberty of all freeman.

4. The towns were guaranteed their municipal liberties.

5. The Kings was not to be allowed to impose new taxes, to demand endless supplies and to
arrest those who objected to paying without a murmur.

6. The King wasn’t to be allowed to take the profitable cases from the baron’s courts, four
times a year at stated intervals, his courts were to function and no more.

7. All subsidies to the King were to be sanctioned by the common council.

The charter was an instrument of perfecting feudalism and establishing a baronial oligarchy.

John died in 1216. His son Henry was a child, only 9 when he came to the throne and the barons
ruled the country in the infant king’s name, constituting the Great Council with Archbishop
Langton at the head. The Great Council became very important, it had no legislative or executive
power, it discussed state affairs.

Henry took the affairs of the state in his hands as Henry III (1216-1272).

The King made a pressure on the barons, the latter pressed upon their vassals, the Pope didn’t
slacken his demands, the knights and citizens saw themselves only paying taxes, so they were
resentful and ready to support barons in their opposition.

The last throw was Henry’s demand of a huge payment to the Pope who had promised the
Sicilian crown for Henry’s eldest son in exchange, the barons refused pointblank to pay, with
armed vassals gathered at Oxford to force the king to satisfy their demand called “The Oxford
Provisions”. They wanted no more French favorites, no more papal extortions, the right to
appoint the justiciar, chancellor, officers and sheriffs. After the barons got what they wanted the
lands, castles of the French favorites, they disregarded those who helped them, the knights of
counties ant the citizens of towns.
The latter met at Westminster in 1259 to adopt the so-called “Westminster Provisions” that took
care of interests of the knights, citizens, they were intended to guard the citizens from arbitrary
actions of the king’s officials and the feudal courts, of the feudal lords.

So, the king got a document from the Pope that would free the King to mind not only the
“Westminster Provisions” but also the “Provisions of Oxford”.

A civil war began in 1263 with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, headed the army
consisting of knights, citizens, tradesmen, craftsmen ,free peasants and the barons. The King’s
army was defeated, he and his son were imprisoned. Henry had to sign treaty according to which
Simon de Montfort became the ruler of England.

On January 20, 1265 Simon de Montfort convened the first Parliament with the barons, his
supporters and clergymen. Only the top layers were represented in the Parliament.

The movement involved wide masses of peasants: they seized the barons’ estates, sacked the
houses.

Prince Edward escaped from prison, collected army, fought with Montfort, won the battle and
freed his father. Edward I convened Parliament in 1295. Under him, Edward, the knights and
the burgesses, craftsmen, tailors, drapers, butchers, bakers and candle-stick makers were invited
to sittings of Parliament and they sat in one and the same chamber with knights, earls and
bishops, they were not given legislative power. What Edward wanted was their money. The
Parliament got the right to vote taxes, Edward showed diplomacy and prudence dealing with the
barons, he curtailed the baronial privileges and forbade gifts of land to the church.

Lecture 6

English expansion on the British Isles

In the latter part of the 13th c. and the early part of the 14th c. Edward I pursued the policy of
expansion, by subjugating some other countries of the British Isles. Up to that time the Celts of
Wales, King Arthur’s descendants, had enjoyed their liberty in the mountainous regions of
northern and western Wales. Edward waited for an opportunity to present itself, and
taking advantage of a Celtic rebellion headed by Llewelyn, entered the country with a large
army, routed Llewelyn’s men, killed their leader and built castles to overawe the countryside.
This didn’t mean an inclusion of Wales as part of Britain: in 1284 Wales became a principality
governed separately, including the north and west of Wales; the eastern part of Wales was
considered part of England. It was a hard part to hold though, because of the constant incursions
of the Welshmen.

Having had his way with Wales, Edward turned his attention to Scotland waiting for his chance,
for Scotland was divided: in the Highlands – the Celtic tribes retained their Gaelic speech and
their ancient tribal customs, while in the Lowlands – the Saxons had gradually asserted their
feudal ways. There were quarrels between two competitors for the throne of Scotland, Bruce and
Balliol, and Edward had a chance to intervene posing as Lord Paramount to administer justice
between them. The common people of Scotland were indignant at his groundless intervention.
Edward I marched his army to the border of Scotland, the nobles of Scotland who were of
Norman descent and held lands in England, didn’t mind as long as there was a chance to seize
power under Edward’s protecting wing.

Edward made Balliol king, but he was king in name only. Edward lorded over him until he
refused to join England in hostilities against France. Balliol was a vassal of the French king since
he held estates from him in France. Then Edward crossed the border, besieged Berwick, the
richest of the Scotch towns, and brutally sacked it, murdering men, women and children. He
declared Scotland the part of England, placed garrisons in castles that were speedily built. He
departed from Scotland in 1286, left an occupation army and a governor to represent him.
The Scottish nobles put up with all that, but common people took the task of liberation to their
hands and in 1297 William Wallace, the son of a small holder, a knight headed the Scotch
resistance, defeated the occupation army under the English governor, but the nobles did not
support Wallace, he was defeated and executed with a terrible barbarity in 1305. A few years
later, Robert Bruce drove the troops away and was crowned king of Scotland.

Edward went to Scotland with a large army saying he wouldn’t return until he had subdued the
rebellious country, but before reaching his goal he fell ill and died with his last breath ordering
that his body should be carried before the army and Scotland should be conquered and that he
shouldn’t be buried until it was. But Scotland remained unconquered. Edward’s son Edward II
(1307-1327) Caernarvon didn’t bother to fulfill his dead father’s request, he buried him speedily
in Westminster Abbey and gave up the war with the Celts of Scotland – not out of respect for
their love of independence but just because he had other interests to occupy him.

Seven years later he found time for aggression, and crossed the border with a huge army, but
inspite of the size of his army he was defeated at Bannocburn in 1314 by a weaker army of
Scotland headed by Bruce and had to run for his life.

As to Ireland, an area around Dublin called the Pale with a garrison to keep it, ruled from
England. The economic development of Ireland was hindered by division and internal wars. The
Danish and later Saxon invasions had thrown Ireland back in its development, it was brutally
plundered by Vikings four centuries earlier.
After Bannocburn victory Bruce sent assistance to his Celtic kinsmen in Ireland, together they
confined English invaders to the Dublin area.

Parliament

Edward I’s expansionism made him appeal to Parliament to vote subsidies, because king’s any
attempt, to collect taxes without Parliament’s consent was doomed to failure.

At the end of the century the barons revived their opposition and fearing of the civil war, Edward
convened a Parliament of wider representation which was dubbed “The Model Parliament” in
1295. Parliament voted taxes, advised the government on certain issues and posed as the highest
juridical body. The lords constituted the court of peers, who were entitled to try cases connected
with the lord’s offences.

There was one chamber at first, later on early in the 14th c. The Houses separated into The House
of Lords and The House of Commons.

The House of Lords – the clergy, bishops, archdeacons, with the lords as hereditary members,
were always invited to sitting by personal letters from king.

The House of Commons – united the knights, burgesses, they were summoned be sheriffs. The
circle of questions was limited for them, mostly questions of taxations and subsidies. The king of
England used The House of Commons as an ally in their fight against barons. The activities of
the Parliament hadn’t connection with welfare of the wide masses of the English people.

Social state. Private wars were made illegal, land was only asset, wool trade was developing,
small landowner went for sheep breeding. The great barons were still connected with war and
plunder, the knights, merchants welfare was bound with sheep breeding and wool trade.

Lecture 7.

England in the 13th-14th centuries

Social and economic development

The 13th c. witnessed the peak of feudalism in England. The feudal manor was different in
equipment from a peasant holding. The predominantly wooden implements such as wooden
harrows, ploughs where only the share was of iron, as iron was inordinately expensive, sickles
and scythes, pitch forks and carts, no fertilizers, extensive cultivation, low yields characterized
the agricultural scope of both the manor and the peasant holding.

The towns (there were 160 in the 13th c.) began to lose their semi-agrarian nature and
gradually a demand was developing for foodstuffs that the craftsmen didn’t produce but
consumed. Fairs were not unimportant feature of the town life, manor owners produced not only
food, but goods as well, they were sold at the fairs or to professional buyers who could sell, grain
especially, not only at the local market, but at the foreign markets of France, Flandres, Holland,
Norway etc.
The peasants could do the same, if circumstances allowed, but they had to pay more and more to
the manor owner as the payment for their peasant holding.

Money economy was developed in the hilly areas too, where the land was more
convenient for cattle breeding than for grain husbandry. Sheep breeding got popular in the
eastern and northern counties. Wool became a key to the economic development of the country.
It was discovered that growing wool on the sheep’s backs was easier than growing grain on the
poorly cultivated fields. Foreign markets were open to receive English wool, this meant that
trade developing on an international scale, and merchant capital was appearing on the scene.
These forces led to the breaking up of the manor, to the decay of villeinage, to the growth of
towns.

All the traders of towns united by a common necessity formed Merchant Guilds, producing and
selling goods. Later, those producing goods formed separate Craft Guilds.

Each master-craftsman, tailor, smith, carpenter, mason, worked at home assisted by apprentices
or journeymen and sometimes by hired hands.

As a consequence of the brake-up of the manor and steady development of money relations a
certain number of peasants, escaped villeins.

The apprentices formed their own societies, secret because they were illegal, and led a
bitter struggle against the master-craftsmen, against the hardships of their existence, against the
exclusiveness of the Craft Guilds.

There was struggle between the good-producing guilds and the exclusively merchant guilds that
were beginning to act as exploiting superiors.

Lecture 8

England on the eve of Wat Tyler`s uprising.

In 1348-1349 England suffered a devastating visitation of the plague, the Black Death. Out of
the 4 million people that lived in England, 2 million remained. The rural population, the poor
population of towns, weakened by the hardships, ill nourishment and excessive labour were easy
game for the Black Death.

The shortage of labour was the gravest problem that government of Edward III faced with, after
the winter cold killed the plague and the country began to return to normal life. The countryside
was in a disastrous state: herds of cattle perished as well, vast areas of arable land went out of
cultivation because of shortage of hands and cattle, foodstuffs were hard to get and the prices
were sky-high, the wages labourers demanded were high because they had to feed their family.

The parliament where only landowners were invited adopted the Statutes of Labourers. The
Statutes of Labourers ordered - every person under the age of 60 to be bound to serve, or else
committed to jail, - and if a workman or servant depart from service before the time he would be
imprisoned.
But the Statute wasn’t obeyed, people preferred prison to starvation. The Statute re-enacted in
1357 and 1360 with more severe penalties. Some people were burdened with large families,
some people ran away.

The Roman catholic church was becoming more and more sinfully corrupt arousing anger and
indignation.

John Wycliffe, Oxford University professor spoke of the luxury and worldliness of monks and
the inordinate wealth of the church. John Wycliffe was initiator; he condemned the corruption of
the church officials, their hypocrisy, insincerity, and the mysteries of the shrine.

John Wycliffe’s followers, the Lollards, in 1360, achieved official recognition in 1387 in the
latter of the 14th c. They were poor wandering priests, who preached to the people in the streets.
They demanded abolition of villein`s labour on their lord`s fields, abolition of the thithes and
taxes,- social equality, they never called the people to arms.

The Lollards had supporters among the lords, who wanted the confiscation of monastery lands.
One of the Lords Sir John Oldcastle headed the Lollards organization and attemted to rise but
ended in failure, was burnt at the stake by Henry V.

The other poor priest of the Lollards John Ball was arrested and confined in jail, from which
people freed him, made him leader, together with Wat Tyler, a tiller.

Wat Tyler`s Uprising.

The war with France was going on, heavy tax was introduced, the poll tax of fourpence per head
of adult male population, irrespective of the status, or wealth. The collectors of the taxes were
corrupt; in May 1381 the peasants of South Essex villages killed some of the collectors who
were not only corrupt but also insolent. The uprising flared up, in Essex and Kent first, by June
all over the central counties and East Anglia and then Wat Tyler, Jack Straw and John Ball led
the army of peasants to London. In London they were joined by the poorest population, slum
dwellers and even by some wealthy citizens discontented with trade limitations. The peasants
destroyed manor houses, the palaces, seized the headquarters of the lawyers, destroyed all
documents connected with taxations, destroyed the prison and freed all the prisoners.

The King met with the rebellions peasants at Mile-End, a field near the London Gate and people
told their demands;

-commutation of villein labour for a rent of 4 pence an acre,

-abolition of villeinage

-freedom of trade for all towns

-free pardon for all the rebels.

Certificates were written out saying all demands were satisfied, and then the King suggested
them disperse.

A lot of matters were lost undemanded. The rebels wanted to demand that:
-all the laws should be abolished, anti-labour law surely,

-no privileges for the higher titled nobility,

-an establishment of peasant democratic monarchy.

So another royal audience was demanded and granted. The King met the peasant army quite
formidable, Wat Tyler attended the meeting only by his banner bearer. One of the courtiers
insulted Tyler specially to provoke him and when Tyler drew his dagger, he was beheaded. (The
mayor of London struck him on the head and neck).

The king sent his knights to suppress the rising, to cut them to pieces. It was not easy to suppress
movement of this size, the peasants courage was surprising, all England with the exception of
Northern counties was up and in arms, the peasants refused to work, the quiet and orderly
character of the movement was gone, manors were stormed, the officials killed. The King sent
punitive expedition. The King`s judges were riding to sentence the rebels to be hanged. John Ball
was ripped open.

All that was bound to happen because:

-first the peasants were never united, were not monolithic in their structure and their interests,

-there was no leading force capable of organizing the movement, they were unripe politically,
they needed such leadership badly,

-the top layers of the townspeople were unfit to head the movement because the abolition of
feudal system was not their goal, they joined the movement only for they had certain advantages
like land possessing (confiscated from church), matters connected with trade, so they betrayed
movement and joined the punitive forces.

The Uprising headed by Wat Tyler and John Ball achieved much, though many lives were lost.
It was first serious threat to feudalism in England and left a lasting imprint upon the social and
economic life of the county. Lecture 9

Cultural Development in the 14th century.

In the long run, the Norman Kings did much to centralize power and unite England into a state,
thus preparing ground for decay of feudalism, bourgeois development and the beginning of a
nation.

The appearance of the House of Commons (1343) heralded future developments.

There were great changes in the material life of the population. Life was safer, before they lived
in the fortress-homes because of the raids, now palaces and castles were built with spacious
banqueting halls illuminated by wide windows.

The farms and cottages of the poor were built of logs or planks, the floors were unusually bare
earth and the roof made of thatch, the walls might be made of mud and timber.

There was progress in letters as well. John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English creating the
beginning of English prose. English literature flourished, the life of that turbulent time was
reflected in literature that was the culmination of the medieval genres and a herald of the
Renaissance literature to come.

The development of the national language was greatly promoted by the work of Geoffrey
Chaucer (1340-1400) an outstanding poet, father of English literature to come.

Political Reaction. The big landowners couldn’t keep up with the new methods of land
cultivation requiring big investments for the purchase of new implements. They gave the lands
on lease. The rent, the income was fixed, even time passed and the prices rose. The great lords
were losing ground, while the new class of aristocracy was springing up, new nobles who were
merchants made rich by wool trade, merchants and yeomen dealing in grain, pork and other
agricultural products. They were getting power and importance.

Political Reaction

When Richard II came of age, the struggle “the crown- the nobles” started. The nobles, for
whom The French War gave chances for plunder, were supported by the new nobility and
London merchants who were interested in wool markets.

The Parliament which by that time had become a great force seized the power and deposed this
last Plantagenet King. It also appointed the next king, Henry IV (1399-1413) by passing the
lawful heir.

The House of Commons established their right not only to vote supplies of money but also to
inquire into the expenditure.

The Church got the king to agree to an anti-Lollard statute, under which any church opposition
could be punished by burning, so many Lollards met their end at the stake.

Henry V (1413-1422) tried to remedy the impoverished feudal lords plight by renewing the war
with France. He began the last stage of the Hundred Years` War by the victorious battle of
Agincourt in 1415 which let the plunder-hungry lords have chance to rob the French peasants.
The English seized the whole of the north of France. French king Charles VI was forced to
recognize Henry V as his heir, giving his daughter in marriage to the conqueror.

An ordinary peasant girl, Joan of Arc headed the French resistance, and in 1429 the town of
Orleans was liberated by the people inspired by her heroism and resourcefulness, to be turning
point of the war. The French nobles took it as a threat, they thought that common people could
organize uprising against feudal oppression.

The Burgundians who had become England`s allies got rid of the heroine selling her to the
British who accused her of witchcraft and burnt her at the market place in Roen to be example to
all common girls and boys.

Henry V died in 1422 and while his son was 9 month old child, the struggle of the nobles for
power grew quite fierce. The French king died too. So Henry VI (1422-1461) was ruler of two
countries in his cradle.

In 1453 the last battle was fought, Britain was defeated in the Hundred Year`s War, with the only
trophy Calais.
After the war taxes became more burdensome for the peasants, new nobles, merchants were
discontent, because they hoped to see a profitable termination of the war.

In May 1450 discontent rose, the revolt broke out, the rebel army no less than 40 thousand
people mostly yeomen farmers of Southern England. It was headed by Jack Cade. In their
“Charter of complaints and Requests”, they demanded;

- tax reduction,

- cancelling of the Statuses of Labourers,

- punishment for the tyrannical of the feudal lords,

- that Richard, Duke of York should rise to power

the rebel army defeated the royal forces and entered London early in July, 1450. But the London
merchants got frightened and left Cade`s side, his army was defeated and he was killed.

The Internecine wars

The Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic wars for control of the throne of England in
Medieval England from 1455 to 1485, fought between supporters of two rival branches of the
royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

The name Wars of the Roses is based on the badges used by the two sides, the red rose for the
Lancastrians and the white rose for the Yorkists.

The Red Rose of the House of Lancaster

The White Rose of the House of York

The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1485.

Major causes of the conflict include: 1) both houses were direct descendents of king Edward III;
2) the ruling Lancastrian king, Henry VI, surrounded himself with unpopular nobles; 3) the civil
unrest of much of the population; 4) the availability of many powerful lords with their own
private armies; and 5) the untimely episodes of mental illness of Henry VI.
 Henry VI, oil painting by an unknown artist; in the
National Portrait Gallery, London.

Henry VI

Great magnates with private armies dominated the countryside. Lawlessness was rife and
taxation burdensome. Henry later proved to be feckless and simpleminded, subject to spells of
madness, and dominated by his ambitious queen, Margaret of Anjou, whose party had allowed
the English position in France to deteriorate.

Margaret of Anjou.
The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years'
War, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of Henry VI which revived interest
in Richard of York's claim to the throne.

The head of York Party Richard began the civil war called “The Wars of the Roses”, which
plagued the country during 30 years, marching his army to the south, first battle at St Albans on
22nd May 1455.

Richard Duke of York easily defeated the King’s army. Henry VI was injured and taken
prisoner. In 1455, Henry suffered another bout of insanity and Richard Duke of York was made
protector of England.

In 1456, Henry recovered and retook the throne. There were further battles and in 1459 Richard
was killed at the Battle of Wakefield.

With the Duke of York's death, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward, who later became the
first Yorkist king of England, as Edward IV in1461. He reigned until his sudden death in 1483.

Edward IV, portrait by an unknown artist; in the National

Portrait Gallery, London.

Edward IV

Edward IV had two sons, Edward and Richard, both of whom were too young to rule and so their
uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester ruled England. The two princes were taken to the Tower of
London and in the summer of 1483 mysteriously disappeared. It is believed that their uncle
murdered them.

Princes in the Tower, painted by John Everett

Millais

The two young princes disappeared within the confines of the Tower of London.

Richard was crowned Richard III in 1483. His reign was brief, he did not take the support of the
gentry and townsmen.

He was not a popular king and faced many challenges to his place on the throne, notably from
Henry Tudor, grandson of Owen Tudor who had been second husband to Henry V’s wife
Katherine of Valois.

The wars ended when Richard III, the last Yorkist king, was defeated at the battle of Bosworth in
1485 by Henry Tudor founder of the house of Tudor.

Illustration depicting the Battle of Bosworth Field, with King Richard III on the white horse.

The Print Collector/Heritage-Images

After assuming the throne as Henry VII, he married Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter and
heir of Edward IV, thereby uniting the two claims. The House of Tudor ruled the Kingdom of
England until 1603, with the death of Elizabeth I, granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of
York.

Henry VII

Lecture 10

England in the latter part of the 16th century

The former peasants were reduced to the position of homeless and defenceless vagabonds and
were excellent material for exploitation at the new enterprises that sprang up in the countryside.

Coal mining and woolen cloth industries began to use huge reserves of working hands. Large
manufacturing centres appeared with former merchants, as bosses.

The army of the unemployed peasants was so vast, that were ready to take any terms.

The wages were extremely low for bread, bread was very expensive, wheat bread was luxury for
them, common people had to be content with bread of beans, oatmeal or peas mixture.

After Edward VI, Mary Tudor (1553-1558) or Bloody Mary as she was called, came to the
throne. In her reign Catholicism was restored, the protestants were burned. She married the king
of Spain, thus placing the country under Spanish control, dragging the country into an alliance
with a country who was rival in marine and commercial matters. The union with Spain meant
war with France which ended in failure as England was defeated, Calais was lost. Mary Tudor
left the country in a bad plight. After Mary Tudor`s death there was a struggle for the throne
between Mary Stuart and Elizabeth,

Elizabeth became the queen of England. In her reign the heads of Catholics were chopped off.
She supported the protestants of Scotland because they fought against the French occupation
army. She sent English ships and army to the Scotch protestants and by 1560 Scotland was free
from French domination, and protestants Presbyterian church was established there.

Elizabeth turned her attention to building up the country sea power. To keep the English navy in
good form, Navigation Acts were issued, directed at stopping English merchants` transporting
their cargoes in foreign ships. Corn exporters were encouraged because it contributed to the
development of agriculture.

Ten years after Elizabeth`s accession black flesh was in trade. English navigators made voyages,
discovered new places, caught African savages and sold them to other countries. This slave trade
was profitable, and was encouraged by British government, but it was detrimental to Spanish
commerce. The Anglo-Spanish war lasted from 1587 to 1604. The Spanish king tried to place
Mary Stuart on the throne to get rid of Elizabeth. So Mary finally was executed in 1587.

In 1588 the Spaniards (Spanish) attempted an invasion on the English fleet, but the experienced
English navigators routed Spanish fleet. After this victory the English considered Spain as an
easy prey, so they plundered nearly defenceless ports and towns, returned richly laden with
booty.

England was emerging as a nation, with new strength and with the characteristic of the growing
bourgeoisie.

The peak of English absolutism had its own specific features. It showed the first signs of struggle
between absolute monarchy and bourgeoisie. The Parliament openly opposed the queen on the
issue of monopolies, and she was too clever not yield. But the concession never amounted to
anything tangible so there were new relations between the sovereign and the bourgeoisie.

English Renaissance

With the advent of capitalism, radical changes occurred in the spiritual life of the newly-arising
nation and its new-born culture that was taking a national shape. The process can be referred to
as English Renaissance.

Renaissance the epoch of Humanism and the Revival of Learning, born and nursed in Italy, after
revolutionizing the culture and science of Italy and the whole western world penetrated England
and brought new learning, new religious issues and new art. The human being, the beauty and
the joy of this life were now the center of attention.

There are 3 phases of this process:

1) the early phase of the end of the 15th and the end of the 16th century,

2) the reign of queen Elizabeth, life-span of Shakespeare,

 3) Shakespeare`s death and the beginning of the puritan revolution-was the time of decline
of the Renaissance and crisis of Humanism.

The new architecture imported from Italy had little in common with the Gothic pointed type. It
was felt in England in the pure classical lines of Inigo Jones (ex, Whitehall palace) and in the
prodigious talent and inventiveness of Sir Christopher Wren who used classic forms with great
purity and correctness.

Most of the English early Renaissance structures are hybrid in style, often retaining Norman of
Gothic features.

Architects and painters were invited from Italy and other western countries, they were founders
of the English school of painting.

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and Henry Howard the Earl of Surrey (1517-1547) were poets
influenced by the Italians.

The giant of the Renaissance was Thomas More a typical Renaissance giant lawyer, scholar,
writer, statesman, a man for all times. His great work was “Utopia” published in Latin in 1516, a
scathing satire on feudalism and the emerging capitalism, on the governments and society of
England.

The second phase of Renaissance in England , the second half of the 16th century is an age of the
theatre art. In 1576 the first theatre was built in London by a group of actors and soon theatres
appeared everywhere.

William Shakespeare managed to convey through his works the Renaissance spirit of optimistic
hopefulness of joy, of the ultimate triumph of love and freedom over the dark feudal forces of
hatred and lust for power.

He also managed to reflect the historical changes of colossal importance and scale and the deep
contradictions of his epoch.

The third period of Renaissance epoch in England was characterized by increasing decay of the
Renaissance drama.

The Renaissance epoch brought in a flood of scientific discoveries. William Gilbert (1540-1603)
a physicist, wrote his epoch-making work “De Magnete”, John Gale a physician, wrote a treatise
on rifle wounds and Francis Bacon believed human potentialities to be limitless. In his treatise
“Advancements of Learning” he outlined the methods of scientific research: facts must be
collected and passed through an automatic logical process from which correct judgments would
emerge.

The mind should be cleared of church dogmatism. Bacon`s appeal to study nature through
experiment gave impetus to natural sciences and led to the emergence of a number of scientific
societies, the Royal Society being one of them.

Lecture 11
England in the first half of the 17th century

The 17th century went down in the history of England as the century of the bourgeois revolution,
one of the earliest in the history of Europe.

Economic and social development. The 17th was a century of rapid change, industrial
development was coming to the fore working changes in the country’s economic life and in the
people’s minds. England was no longer a wool-producing country, it had an established
reputation as a manufacturer of woolen cloth. Furthermore, it was not only wool-processing
industry alone, supplying foreign markets with first-rate woolen cloth, that had developed; new
industries were developing and old ones growing in scope. Shipbuilding, metallurgy, coal-
mining, were assuming unprecedented proportions. The new branches of industry included
production of cotton prints, silk, glass, soap, etc. Skilled artisans from other countries were
encouraged to immigrate, new manufacturing centres were springing up hourly, quickly growing
to be a typical feature of the country’s economic development. They were various, both of the
large capitalist manufacture type and small manufacturing shops.

In the 17th c., as well as at the end of the 16th, so-called chartered companies were springing
up, mostly of London merchants and they were bitterly fighting for prior rights, concentrating
the foreign trade of the country predominantly in London and contributing to an increase in the
political weight and power of the big London merchants. There was also the first Joint Stock
Company, organized to trade with the East, the East India Company (1600) soon to become a
great power in its own right, with its own army, staff of lawyers, experts, etc. The members
invested capital which was pooled and used in the trade turnover, while profits were distributed
in proportion to the share of capital invested.

The survivals of feudal relations in agriculture also retarded the development of industry and
kept England within the limiting status of an agrarian country though capitalism was developing
in the countryside as well changing the whole system of agriculture. Marsh lands were drained,
agricultural implements were becoming more sophisticated, the growing inner markets acting as
a stimulus for the extension and more intensive exploitation of arable lands.

Arable farming became important again and many lands converted to pasture were reclaimed for
arable farming, but it was capitalistic arable farming and many of those who had been ousted
from their lands, returned to them in the new capacity of wage-earners, hired by the new type of
capitalist farmer to cultivate-more often than not-land leased by big landowners.

Land was becoming a source of profit, it was royal property and was held from the king, the
holder paid for the right in the coin, but anyway the feudal law was an obstacle to capitalist land
exploitation, free trading in land, etc.

The social structure of 17th c. The social structure of 17th-century England was topped after the
king by the feudal nobility and the highest clergy, bishops and the like.

Lower down, the next rung of the social ladder was occupied by the gentry, smaller landowners
turned bourgeois in their interests and way of life.

And the bourgeoisie, in its turn divided into 3 layers: 1. the great city magnates. 2. the middle
merchant class. 3. the petty bourgeoisie, small shop owners and the like. Still lower down were
the workmen, some of them close to the petty workshop owners, and also enjoying some sort of
property, others working fifteen or more hours, deprived of political rights.

In the countryside the yeomanry, freeholders (the owners of land,could lease if they wanted),
copyholders (held their land for life, paid rent to the owner, paid in labour too), leaseholders
(anybody wished to augment his holding could get some on lease for payment agreed for a
certain term). Yeomanry’s top layers were - wealthy copyholders and freeholders.

The lowest and poorest layers of the peasantry were the cotters, landless hired men exploited by
the capitalist farmers, the gentry and the top layers of the yeomanry.

The gentry were a sort of link between landowner and merchant for they exploited the land they
possessed or leased.

Puritans. The first Stuart king directed persecution against the puritans who were bearers of
bourgeois-revolutionary ideology. The persecution, religious in form was in fact a method of
repression against political opponents. It was typical since their opposition to the Stuart
monarchy was not yet ripe for a definite political platform and was consequently clothed in
religious garments. They wanted the Anglican church to be purified of all remnants of
catholicism.

They were calvinist protestants dissatisfied with the incompleteness of the Reformation that took
the form of Anglicanism. They wanted it to reach completion. As the more or less wealthy layer
of the population they made their convictions public late in the 16th c, when all hopes of
Elizabeth’s completing the Reformation collapsed. They were especially influential in the
counties of East and South-East England where the traditions of Lollardism were still alive.

They wanted a “cheap” church, spoke against rich ornament and complexity of the church ritual,
worshipped wealth and despised poverty. At the beginning of the Stuart reign puritanism was no
more than a religious trend differing from the Established church in certain details of worship
though even then there was a “left wing” that was more in favour of Scottish presbyterianism
which they wanted to replace anglicanism in England.

There were several sects, the two most prominent ones being the presbyterians who wanted the
church to be governed by church aldermen, presbyters, instead of bishops, and the independents
who wanted no centralization whatever and a complete independence of religious organizations.

But all the puritans had common political and constitutional theories that were to play an
important role in the bourgeois revolution.

When absolute monarchy was established by the first of the Tudors, it was welcomed by the
merchants and the landed gentry as a rescue from the bloody feudal conflicts deadlocking the
country, precluding any chance of bourgeois development. The merchants and the gentry, “the
new nobles” were ready to give the crown every support and aid, so that no permanent army or
any sort of paid bureaucratic service was wanted, soldiers being hired and paid out of the city
coffers when those coffers’ interests were at stake. After the founder of the Tudor House, the
thrifty, parsimonious and resourceful Henry VII no Tudor had any superfluous income to make
him independent of the moneyed nobles, for every Tudor could always rely upon the Parliament
to vote the necessary supplies, and Elizabeth is said to have always been on friendly terms with
the London goldsmiths acting as bankers, ready to lend any sum-in reason of course.

So the bourgeoisie supported monarchy as long as they wanted the crown’s protection. But the
other feudal component of monarchy was always there and when those feudal survivals came to
be felt as obstacles while the bourgeoisie came to realize its economic power, they started
getting impatient to feel the chains of absolute monarchy hindering the further progress of the
country’s bourgeois growth.

Elizabeth knew the value of support offered by the growing merchant class and spared no efforts
to promote the interests of trade and commerce. When she died and James I was crowned (1603-
1625) the situation was quite different. He came from Scotland where industry and foreign trade
were practically undeveloped, and the merchant class not half so influential as in London. He
was lavish, for, being unused to the glamour of the English court and the country’s apparent
wealth by contrast with Scottish comparative poverty, he committed errors of judgement and so
very soon had to approach the Parliament with money requests.

James proved to be obtuse paying no attention to the suppression of Spanish marine power,
doing little or nothing to uphold the power of the English fleet so that English merchant ships
suffered from piracy. He made a peace with Spain that did not promise the London merchants
any profit for it did not stipulate their right of trading with the colonies of Spain. No wonder the
king made enemies of the powerful London merchants while he made friends of those
merchants’ ancient enemies; he became friendly with the Spanish king.

Thus neglecting the interests of the historically progressive classes of the period, James Stuart
had a Parliament opposition formed against him, growing during his reign and culminating to a
head during the reign of his son Charles I (1625-1649). Both had to dissolve their parliaments
more than once mostly on the grounds of the Stuarts trying to consolidate their absolute power
and build up a new state apparatus that was indispensable in new conditions, if the monarchy
was to be a genuine despotism. Attempts to create a standing army and a state bureaucracy
involved taxations, and the taxes had to be voted while the bourgeoisie were ready to fight for
their purses fiercely.

In 1628 the parliament opposition uniting the bourgeoisie and the gentry scored a victory; the
king was made to sign a document limiting his power, the so-called Petition of Right. It
formulated their demands that no one should be arrested or kept in prison without being charged
with a definite crime, that no one should be compelled to yield any property without common
consent to confiscate it by an Act of Parliament. Charles I had to sign the Petition as he needed
money quite badly.

Charles dismissed the parliament and did not summon it again during eleven years(1629-1640).
He also arrested and imprisoned some of the leaders of the opposition. During the eleven years
of Parliamentless rule Charles and his counsellors racked their brains trying to invent some
sources of revenue. Charles went all lengths, such as forcing the occupiers of lands that had
anciently been royal forest, to confirm, to pay for what they thought theirs, baronetcies were
sold, new monopolies were sold and new customs imposed; finally an old tax was revived, the
so-called ship money, ostensibly meant for the benefit of the navy which really was badly in
want of repairs, but treated as a regular and universal tax it would have made the king
independent of Parliament. In 1636 some of the leaders of the opposition refused to pay the tax:
the example was followed by wide masses of the people, but the movement was suppressed, and
the tax was levied repeatedly.

The king’s archbishop, Laud organized a high church party, small and isolated at first but quite
influential later. Laud thrust his high church, a sort of exaggerated Anglican church, on
everyone, and puritans were fiercely persecuted. Many of them emigrated to America founding
colonies in what is New England now, Massachusetts, Connecticut and other New England
colonies later. Persuaded by Laud, Charles thrust his high church prayer book on Scotland where
Presbyterianism was prevailing religion. The Scots took it as an infringement on their religious
and political independence. The Scots rebelled and rose for their independence; they were a
success, and in 1640 they occupied the northern part of the country, and seeing their army
threaten to move further Charles hastened to make a peace with them at any cost, and the cost
was high. Charles had not only to promise not to interfere with the Scottish political and
religious liberties, but as a condition for the Scottish army’s withdrawal had to pay the costs of
the campaign. His credit in the city was exhausted, he didn’t see where he could borrow any
more money to pay the Scots, so the only way out was to convene Parliament and to get it to vote
new taxes.

The Bourgeois Revolution (1640-1653)

The Parliament Opposition against the King

In April 1640 Charles summoned Parliament only to find the opposition grown to frightening
dimensions. He bore it for three weeks after which the Short Parliament was dissolved.

The revolutionary situation in the country was glaringly apparent. The wide masses of the people
resented the persecution of the puritans. The increasing taxes fell heavily upon the people's
shoulders. The king's most confidential counsellor, Lord Strafford had started creating a hired
army in Ireland. In 1639 and 1640 there were uprisings of artisans and workers in London.

The fact was that production had been cut and mass unemployment was the result. Wages were
low and the people sent petitions demanding that Parliament should be convened and measures
taken to improve their living standards. Peasant movements were starting in the East of England.
Scotland was far from peaceful. There seemed to be no help for it, so Charles had to convene a
Parliament that later came to be called "The Long Parliament" (November 1640-1653).

The leaders of the puritan opposition were s the first canvassers in English Parliament history:
Pym, a popular London merchant leader, Hampden, the beginner of the anti-ship-money
movement and other popular city figures travelled over the country propagandizing, organizing
the big bourgeoisie securing majority in Parliament for the puritans. Strafford and Laud, the
advisers of the king were arrested while other ministers emigrated. The House of Commons
accused them of high treason against the welfare of the state and succeeded in getting death
sentences, at first in 1641 Strafford was sentenced, than four years later Laud was executed.
They made all sorts of taxation illegal; abolished some institutions of feudal absolutism, all the
monopoly patents and privileges were cancelled.

The Presbyterian church was declared obligatory all over England. Theatres, dances, fancy
fashions were prohibited by an Act of Parliament. In May 1641 a Bill was passed fixing the
Long Parliament as a state institution not to be dissolved, the constitutional monarchy in England
was officially established.

By this time there began a rebellion in Ireland, England’s first colonizing venture. At
first there were five counties in the east of Ireland , the so-called Pale including Dublin,
the Irish capital, where the English reigned supreme, ousting the Irish peasants from their
lands and hurting the Irish nobles’ land interests, as well.

The colonization of Ulster in the north of the country gave vast tracts of land to
English adventurers , army officers and all sorts of shady characters. Their oppression was
hateful to all classes in Ireland , so the uprising of 1641 was of quite a mixed nature: the
oppressed peasants made landless and homeless by the colonizers were led by the Irish
nobility and the catholic clergy.

The reaction in London was curious: both puritans and royalists were for suppressing
the rebellion, but the control of the army was a two-edged weapon. According to the
law of the land, the army was to be raised and commanded by the king in times of
danger. The puritans knew the king, if given the control of the army would turn it
against the disobedient commons. So the “Grand Remonstrance “ was created containing
204 articles enumerating the king’s atrocities, the abuse of power his counselors were
guilty of, etc. The remonstrance demanded that all important government posts should be
filled with men appointed by Parliament. The Militia Bill accompanying the remonstrance
transferred the command of the army and navy to Parliament. Seeing that, and as a last
expedient, Charles tried to arrest the five members of Parliament Pym, Hampden and
three others. They were warned about the king’s intended raid and took refuge in the
city, the merchants ‘ stronghold.

A week later Charles left Whitehall, his residence, for the Northern countries where he
started mustering an army. The Parliament did the same. A provisional government was
created out of the two chambers and a Civil War loomed on the horizon.

So the second period of the bourgeois revolution (1642-1649) was a period of Civil
Wars.

The first period of the bourgeois revolution 1640-1642 (the constitutional period of the
revolution).

Lecture 12

The Civil Wars (1642-1645)

The whole of England was divided into hostile camps. The distribution of forces was
characteristic: the royalists or "cavaliers" as they were nicknamed for their aristocratic laxity and
brilliance, fashionable bright clothes, they were in the the North, the West and South-West while
the determined puritans or "roundheads" were ideological and economic masters of the industrial
South, the industrial centres of the North and Midlands. This was the geographical distribution of
the forces,

The political distribution was in accordance: the new nobles, bourgeoisie, and the gentry
supported by the yeomanry constituted the bulk of the roundheads while the feudal aristocracy
and the high Anglican clergy rallied round the king. The Parliament opposition had the support
of the wide masses and the plebian layers of the towns.

Thus the Parliament army had great advantages: enjoying the support of the most wealthy
regions of the country and the virtually unlimited financial backing of the wealthiest part of
English society, the army did not have to rely upon marauding, the way the cavaliers' army did.
Roundheads were well paid and well disciplined, they did not rob the peasants. Besides, the
Parliament army enjoyed the support of the navy and the whole of London was on the side of the
Parliament army.

There were ten battles fought by the two armies (the army of the king royalists and the
Parliament’s army puritans,roundheads).

The Parliament army was headed by Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658). He came of a gentry family,
was brought up as a strict puritan. He became well known as a talented military organizer. He
organized cavalry of the eleven regiments and trained the horsemen, so his army became a
formidable force.

In June 1645 Cromwell's army defeated the royalists at Naseby (Northamptonshire) and the king
fled to Oxford, then to Scottish army at Newark. The Scots, however, were persuaded by the
Parliament to accept the “costs” of four hundred thousand (400,000) pounds sterling and on
those terms they agreed to hand over the king who was heard to say “I've been sold and bought”.

The Struggle within the Parliament Party

The Democratic Movement

By this time the Parliament was divided into two parties; the presbyterians and the
independents. The presbyterians were the right wing of the puritans. It was a political party
which expressed the interests of the London merchants and bankers, and also of a certain part of
land-owning aristocracy. The presbyterians were in favour of only limiting the king's power.

The Independents expressed the interests of the radical wing of the bourgeoisie and of the new
commercially-minded nobility headed by Oliver Cromwell. They formed an opposition to
anglicanism. They were against any church that was sponsored by the state. As a political party
the Independents made the radical wing in the Parliament camp and headed the movement
against Stuart monarchy. All the enemies of the royalists rallied around the Independents.
After the king was defeated in 1646 there came a division in the Independents' ranks. 1. The
bourgeois-aristocratic elements headed by Crowell considered the revolution finished. 2.The
democratic elements fought against Cromwell and his adherents; they created their own separate
party of levellers.

The Levellers were a radical petty bourgeois democratic group that sprang up in 1645-1646 with
the deterioration in the living standard of the ordinary, mostly poor people. Their program was a
programm of wide and radical political reforms. They were in favour of abolition of monarchy,
of the House of Lords and aristocratic privileges: they were in favour of making England a
republic with a one-chamber Parliament elected on the basis of universal suffrage and were in
favour of everyone's equality before the law.

However, the levellers were not consistent democrats. Their social-economic program was quite
moderate. They wanted abolition of patents and monopolies, lightening the burden of taxes, a
return to the pre-enclosure state of land owning, a transformation of copy-holding into free-
holding. But all that did not mean any radical solution of the agrarian problem, that is
liquidation of aristocratic landownership. This repulsed the wide masses.

The levellers were headed by John Lilburn. They fought against the growing taxes. In 1649
Lilburn and other leaders of the levellers were arrested. The army levellers revolted (May-
September 1649), Cromwell suppressed the rebellion and the democratic movement ended.

Cromwell suppressed another democratic movement, a small group that called themselves
“diggers” or “true levellers” who made a practice of occupying common lands and digging them
to sow grain.

They were originally part of the levellers movement. They expressed the interests of the town
and village poor, of the poorest landless peasantry, of those who were objects of both feudal
and capitalist exploitation.

They demanded that the common lands should be returned to common usage and demanded
radical abolition of feudal landownership.

Their leader, Winstanley with a large group of adherents organized a “communistic”

colony in Surrey. They occupied a common on the slopes of St. George Hill where they started
“digging” practicing collective agriculture. The colonies existed for a year (1649-1650). Court
persecutions, extermination of the colonists’ crops and utensils by hooligans hired by the lords of
the manor and wealthy freeholders broke down their determination. Cromwell’s soldiers were
also sent to help the manor lords to eradicate the “rebels” so that finally the altruistic diggers had
to give up and disperse.

Both the levellers and diggers had no idea of a real political force that could help them to
realize their programs. They didn’t understand the necessity for a systematic agrarian program
that would envisage the abolition of big landownership and would defend the interest of vast
masses of the poorest peasants.

Oliver Cromwell suppressed the democratic movement so successfully that the bourgeoisie and
gentry were delighted with a leader who could protect the country from the dangerous left
groups. He showed his trustworthiness still further when he suppressed the national liberation
movement in Ireland and Scotland as well.

The royalists took advantage of the struggle between the Parliament parties. Supported by the
presbyterian desire of compromise, they rallied and began another civil war in 1648. They got
part of the navy, headed by the Prince of Wales, to support them; the Scotch reactionaries were
helpful; but by the end of 1648 the royalist armies were defeated by Cromwell's formidable
forces.

The king was brought before the court, accused of acts of tyranny, of raising taxes without the
consent of Parliament and of making war upon his subjects. The trial took seven days. The king
Charles I was condemned to death and beheaded before a crowd of people on the 30thJanuary of
1649. In February of the same year the House of Lords was abolished and England was
proclaimed a Republic ruled by Parliament.

This was the highest point of the English bourgeois revolution. The country took the way of
bourgeois development. But the aristocratic landownership was left intact, and no really
genuinely democratic Republic was in fact created.

The bourgeoisie was frightened by the growth of the people’s activity and the Parliament was
dissolved. England was to be ruled by a council of officers who established military dictatorship
and Cromwell was solemnly declared its protector (The Lord Protector) he did everything in his
power to secure the victory of the bourgeoisie and gentry. In 1656 the Parliament offered him the
crown, Cromwell refused for a military dictatorship like his, he couldn’t disregard the army, and
the army didn’t want monarchy.

The Restoration

The Whigs and the Tories

The so-called “Glorious revolution “

The Restoration. In 1658 Cromwell died. The peasant movement in the country side was
growing. The upper layers of the bourgeoisie were badly scared. In May 1660 Charles II was
crowned. The Restoration showed that the nobles and the upper layers of the bourgeoisie could
not do without monarchy in the face of the growing democratic movement.

The Restoration period (1660–1688) was a scene of struggle for privileged positions between
feudal and Bourgeois elements. The aristocracy was dreaming of a complete return to the days of
“merry England “while the bourgeoisie desperately tried to retain the trophies gained during the
revolution.

Charles II didn’t keep his promises given before he got hold of the crown and the puritans were
cruelly persecuted. Cromwell’s body was exhumed and gibbetted. The lands that had been
confiscated from the church as well as the crown lands were restored.

The Chancellor of the time was Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, fresh from exile and the
settlement of the “Cavalier Parliament” was called the “Clarendon Code”. According to it the
towns which were centers of puritanism were not allowed to have people in their governing
bodies who were not members of Anglican church, strict adherents to its principles and its
discipline. The puritan priests were attacked next, Anglican clergymen being placed instead of
those who did not agree with the Anglican Prayer Book and didn’t use it in church service .

In 1665 the hostilities between Holland and England were resumed, and some of the Dutch
settlements in America were seized by the English troops among them New Amsterdam renamed
New York in honour of James, the brother and heir of Charles II, who had the title of the Duke
of York. This was the time of disaster. There was another visitation of the plague called the great
plague of 1666 broke out. Within a year after that a large group of Dutch ships sailed up the
Thames and burned a sizeable part of the British fleet.

However, Holland in fact ceased to be a danger by that time, it was France which was becoming
more and more dangerous due to its growing power. The French king Louis XIV was anxious to
have Catholicism restored in England which would enhance French influence in the country
immeasurably. To bring this about Louis was persuading Charles II to pay for all the hospitality
received at the hands of his gracious host during his exile by restoring Catholicism and
promoting French influence in restoration England. Seeing no result, Louis XIV promised him
an allowance to be paid in the course of his life on condition that he promoted the interests of
France, joined France against Holland and declared himself a Catholic. Charles accepted the
bribe the more willingly because it made him independent of Parliament which was always slow
to vote supplies for the King’s necessities.

It was not an easy thing to establish Catholicism, as the Anglican church was strong; The
Parliament, being protestant, made Charles accept a so called Test Act according to which no
Roman Catholic could occupy any position of Government importance.

The Whigs and the Tories. In the 70-ies of the 17th century, two parties were formed which were
to struggle for power with alternating success for two centuries under the nicknames of the tories
and the whigs, and after the two centuries - under the appelations of conservatives and liberals
with somewhat modified programs, membership and role.

The Tories, the biggest landowners and Anglican clergy stood for strong royal power.

The whigs, the city financiers, merchants and landowners turned bourgeois, were for limiting the
power of the crown and extending that of Parliament. They were opposed to Catholicism.

In 1685 Charles II died. The period before his death was filled with growing persecution
of the whigs, struggle with the whig adherents of the Exclusion Bill aimed to prevent a catholic
church land restoration. After he was crowned as James II, the Duke of York appointed Catholics
to the highest posts in the state. The rebellion the Dike of Monmouth (who was said to have been
the illegitimate son of Charles II), aimed at seizing the throne was supported not by the whigs
only, but by craftsmen and apprentices as well as by merchants in towns and peasants and
weavers in the country.

The revolt was speedily suppressed and James II showed repulsive cruelty. He
empowered his favourite judge Jeffreys whose sadistic cruelty and blind devotion to Stuarts were
notorious. He exterminated the rebels, hudreds were hanged or sold as slaves to colonies.
 In June 1688 an invitation was sent by the whig-and-tory alliance which the leading lords
signed, to William of Orange, the Netherland ruler, son-in-law to James, known as a persistent
defender of the Netherlands against Louis XIV.

Thus, the whigs and part of the tories were deeply dissatisfied with the arbitrary, high-handed,
pro-catholic policy of James II, a policy that was downright dangerous since on the one hand it
could lead to a strengthening of wide masses’ movement and on the other hand it was
detrimental to the interests of the bourgeoisie and “new nobles”.

The adherents of James II deserted to the side of William. One of the deserters was John
Churchill (ancestor of WQinston Churchill) whose influence as an army officer was
considerable. James was left without the army support and in December 1688 he left for France
with his wife and his baby son. This was how William and Mary were offered the throne in
February 1689.

The “Glorious revolution “. The easy and comparatively bloodless change was called “the
Glorious Revolution” by bourgeois historians. It was naturally not a revolution but a change of
government.

Now the British property owner got what he wanted: the supreme power belonged to Parliament
where the House of Lords was important again; the democratic movement was suppressed and
the king was obedient. The king was deprived of any power over the army and court of law. He
was not supposed to repeal laws or break them, neither he was entitled to any financial liberty.
The parliament was to meet every three years. It was a period of unprecedented plundering
activities when state lands were given away, sold or even annexed to private estates by direct
seizure.

The so-called “Glorious revolution “was a culmination of the compromise between the top layers
of the bourgeoisie and the landed aristocracy. It was no longer feudal monarchy, it was bourgeois
monarchy.

Still, do far the Parliament was not yet all-powerful, the executive power remained with
the king; the protestant non-comformists were given religious liberty by the “Toleration Act”
while Catholics and all sort of dissenters were not allowed to occupy government posts or teach
at Universities.

In the bourgeois revolution of the 17th century bloc of bourgeoisie and the new nobility used the
revolutionary energy of the masses but avoided deep social and economic transformation which
could benefit the ordinary people. The revolution was to be as conservative as possible, and the
bourgeoisie was all the time prepared to compromise and strike bargains with the Kings and
restore monarchy, or with the landed aristocracy and cede the ostensible power to the nobles
rather than let the ordinary people profit by the changes for the sake of which the people had
been fighting and making sacrifices, bearing the brunt of the hardships.

It led to a consolidation of capitalism in Britain. The bourgeois revolution in England, the

first of such magnitude on the European scale, meant a collapse of the feudal method of
production which yielded its place to the capitalist method.
Lecture 13

England in the 18th century

The Kingdom of Great Britain came into being on 1 May 1707, as a result of the political

union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. The
terms of the union had been negotiated the previous year, and laid out in the Treaty of Union.
The parliaments of Scotland and of England then each ratified the treaty via respective Acts of
Union. ally separate states, England and Scotland had shared a monarch since 1603 when on the
death of the childless Elizabeth I, James VI of Scotland became, additionally, James I of
England, in an event known as the Union of the Crowns. Slightly more than one-hundred years
later, the Treaty of Union enabled the two kingdoms to be combined into a single kingdom,
merging the two parliaments into a single parliament of Great Britain. Queen Anne, who was
reigning at the time of the union, had favoured deeper political integration between the two
kingdoms and became the first monarch of Great Britain. The union was valuable to England's
security because Scotland relinquished first, the right to choose a different monarch on Anne's
death and second, the right to independently ally with a European power, which could then use
Scotland as a base for the invasion of England.

Although now a single kingdom, certain aspects of the former independent kingdoms remained
separate, as agreed in the terms in the Treaty of Union. Scottish and English law remained
separate, as did the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Anglican Church of England.
England and Scotland also continued to each have its own system of education.

The creation of Great Britain happened during the War of the Spanish Succession, in which just
before his death in 1702 William III had reactivated the Grand Alliance against France. His
successor, Anne, continued the war. The Duke of Marlborough won a series of brilliant victories
over the French, England's first major battlefield successes on the Continent since the Hundred
Years War. France was nearly brought to its knees by 1709, when King Louis XIV made a
desperate appeal to the French people. Afterwards, his general Marshal Villars managed to turn
the tide in favour of France. A more peace-minded government came to power in Great Britain,
and the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt in 1713–1714 ended the war.

Hanoverian kings. Queen Anne died in 1714, and the Elector of Hanover, George Louis, became
king as George I (1714–1727). He paid more attention to Hanover and surrounded himself with
Germans, making him an unpopular king, However he did build up the army and created a more
stable political system in Britain and helped bring peace to northern Europe. Jacobite factions
seeking a Stuart restoration remained strong; they instigated a revolt in 1715–1716. The son
of James II planned to invade England, but before he could do so, John Erskine, Earl of Mar,
launched an invasion from Scotland, which was easily defeated.

George II (1727–1760) enhanced the stability of the constitutional system, with a government
run by Sir Robert Walpole during the period 1730–42. He built up the first British Empire,
strengthening the colonies in the Caribbean and North America. In coalition with the rising
power Prussia, defeated France in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), and won full control of
Canada.
George III reigned 1760–1820; he was born in Britain, never visited Hanover, and spoke English
as his first language. Frequently reviled by Americans as a tyrant and the instigator of the
American War of Independence, he was insane off and on after 1788 as his eldest son served as
regent. The last king to dominate government and politics, his long reign is noted for losing the
first British Empire with a loss in the American Revolutionary War (1783), as France sought
revenge for its defeat in the Seven Years War by aiding the Americans. The reign was notable
for the building of a second empire based in India, Asia and Africa, the beginnings of the
industrial revolution that made Britain an economic powerhouse, and above all the life and death
struggle with the French, the French Revolutionary Wars 1793–1802, ending in a draw and a
short truce, and the epic Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), ending with the decisive defeat of
Napoleon.

South Sea Bubble. The era was prosperous as entrepreneurs extended the range of their business
around the globe. The South Sea Bubble was a business enterprise that exploded in scandal. The
South Sea Company was a private business corporation set up in London ostensibly to grant
trade monopolies in South America. Its actual purpose was to re-negotiate previous high-interest
government loans amounting to £31 million through market manipulation and speculation. It
issued stock four times in 1720 that reached about 8,000 investors. Prices kept soaring every day,
from £130 a share to £1,000, with insiders making huge paper profits. The Bubble collapsed
overnight, ruining many speculators. Investigations showed bribes had reached into high places
—even to the king. Robert Walpole managed to wind it down with minimal political and
economic damage, although some losers fled to exile or committed suicide.

Warfare and finance. From 1700 to 1850, Britain was involved in 137 wars or rebellions. It
maintained a relatively large and expensive Royal Navy, along with a small standing army.
When the need arose for soldiers it hired mercenaries or financed allies who fielded armies. The
rising costs of warfare forced a shift in government financing from the income from royal
agricultural estates and special imposts and taxes to reliance on customs and excise taxes and,
after 1790, an income tax. Working with bankers in the City, the government raised large loans
during wartime and paid them off in peacetime. The rise in taxes amounted to 20% of national
income, but the private sector benefited from the increase in economic growth. The demand for
war supplies stimulated the industrial sector, particularly naval supplies, munitions and textiles,
which gave Britain an advantage in international trade during the postwar years.

The French Revolution polarized British political opinion in the 1790s, with conservatives

outraged at killing of the king, the expulsion of the nobles, and the Reign of Terror. Britain was
at war against France almost continuously from 1793 until the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815.
Conservatives castigated every radical opinion in Britain as "Jacobin" (in reference to the leaders
of the Terror), warning that radicalism threatened an upheaval of British society. The Anti-
Jacobin sentiment, well expressed by Edmund Burke andmany popular writers was strongest
among the landed gentry and the upper classes.

British Empire. The Seven Years' War, which began in 1756, was the first war waged on a global
scale, fought in Europe, India, North America, the Caribbean, the Philippines and coastal Africa.
The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) had important consequences for Britain and its empire.
In North America, France's future as a colonial power there was effectively ended with the
ceding of New France to Britain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under British
control) and Louisiana to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain. In India, the Carnatic War had
left France still in control of its enclaves but with military restrictions and an obligation to
support British client states, effectively leaving the future of India to Britain. The British victory
over France in the Seven Years War therefore left Britain as the world's dominant colonial
power.

During the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became
increasingly strained, primarily because of opposition to Parliament's repeated attempts to tax
American colonists without their consent. Disagreement turned to violence and in 1775
the American Revolutionary War began. In 1776 the Patriots expelled royal officials
and declared the independence of the United States of America. After capturing a British
invasion army in 1777, the US formed an alliance with France (and in turn Spain aided France),
evening out the military balance. The British army controlled only a handful of coastal cities.
1780–81 was a low point for Britain. Taxes and deficits were high, government corruption was
pervasive, and the war in America was entering its sixth year with no apparent end in sight.
The Gordon Riotserupted in London during the spring of 1781, in response to increased
concessions to Catholics by Parliament. In October 1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army
atYorktown, Virginia. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, formally terminating the war and
recognising the independence of the United States.

The loss of the Thirteen Colonies, at the time Britain's most populous colonies, marked the
transition between the "first" and "second" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention to Asia,
the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, had argued that
colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had
characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and
Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after
1783 confirmed Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.

During its first 100 years of operation, the focus of the British East India Company had been
trade, not the building of an empire in India. Company interests turned from trade to territory
during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the British East India
Company struggled with its French counterpart, the La Compagnie française des Indes
orientales, during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s. The British, led by Robert Clive,
defeated the French and their Indian allies in the Battle of Plassey, leaving the Company in
control of Bengal and a major military and political power in India. In the following decades it
gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or indirectly
via local puppet rulers under the threat of force of the Indian Army, 80% of which was
composed of native Indiansepoys.

Voyages of the explorer James Cook.

On 22 August 1770, James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Australia while on a

scientific voyage to the South Pacific. In 1778,Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage,
presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a
penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788.
At the threshold to the 19th century, Britain was challenged again by France under Napoleon, in
a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two
nations.

The British government had somewhat mixed reactions to the outbreak of the French Revolution
in 1789, and when war broke out on the Continent in 1792, it initially remained neutral. But the
following January, Louis XVI was beheaded. This combined with a threatened invasion of the
Netherlands by France spurred Britain to declare war. For the next 23 years, the two nations
were at war except for a short period in 1802–1803. Britain alone among the nations of Europe
never submitted to or formed an alliance with France. Throughout the 1790s, the British
repeatedly defeated the navies of France and its allies, but were unable to perform any significant
land operations. An Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands in 1799 accomplished little
except the capture of the Dutch fleet.

It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was threatened: Napoleon threatened
invasion of Britain itself, and with it, a fate similar to the countries of continental Europe that his
armies had overrun.

The 18th century was a time of transition in the growth of the British parliamentary system. The
monarch still played a very active role in government, choosing and dismissing ministers as he
wished. Occasionally, sentiment in Parliament might force an unwanted minister on him, as
when George III was forced to choose Rockingham in 1782, but the king could dissolve
Parliament and use his considerable patronage power to secure a new one more amenable to his
views.

Great political leaders of the late 18th cent., such as the earl of Chatham (see Chatham, William
Pitt, 1st earl of) and his son William Pitt, could not govern in disregard of the crown. Important
movements for political and social reform arose in the second half of the 18th cent. George III's
arrogant and somewhat anachronistic conception of the crown's role produced a movement
among Whigs in Parliament that called for a reform and reduction of the king's power. Edmund
Burke was a leader of this group, as was the eccentric John Wilkes. The Tory Pitt was also a
reformer. These men also opposed Britain's colonial policy in North America.

Outside Parliament, religious dissenters (who were excluded from political office), intellectuals,
and others advocated sweeping reforms of established practices and institutions. Adam Smith's
Wealth of Nations, advocating laissez-faire, appeared in 1776, the same year as the first
publication by Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism. The cause of reform, however,
was greatly set back by the French Revolution and the ensuing wars with France, which greatly
alarmed British society. Burke became Britain's leading intellectual opponent of the Revolution,
while many British reformers who supported (to varying degrees) the changes in France were
branded by British public opinion as extreme Jacobins.

Economic, Social, and Political Change

George III was succeeded by George IV and William IV. During the last ten years of his reign,
George III was insane, and sovereignty was exercised by the future George IV. This was the
"Regency" period. In the mid-18th cent., wealth and power in Great Britain still resided in the
aristocracy, the landed gentry, and the commercial oligarchy of the towns. The mass of the
population consisted of agricultural laborers, semiliterate and landless, governed locally (in
England) by justices of the peace. The countryside was fragmented into semi-isolated
agricultural villages and provincial capitals.

However, the period of the late 18th and early 19th cent. was a time of dynamic economic
change. The factory system, the discovery and use of steam power, improved inland
transportation (canals and turnpikes), the ready supply of coal and iron, a remarkable series of
inventions, and men with capital who were eager to invest—all these elements came together to
produce the epochal change known as the Industrial Revolution.

The impact of these developments on social conditions was enormous, but the most significant
socioeconomic fact of all from 1750 to 1850 was the growth of population. The population of
Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) grew from an estimated 7,500,000 in 1750 to about
10,800,000 in 1801 (the year of the first national census) and to about 23,130,000 in 1861. The
growing population provided needed labor for industrial expansion and was accompanied by
rapid urbanization. Urban problems multiplied. At the same time a new period of inclosures
(1750–1810; this time to increase the arable farmland) deprived small farmers of their common
land. The Speenhamland System (begun in 1795), which supplemented wages according to the
size of a man's family and the price of bread, and the Poor Law of 1834 were harsh revisions of
the relief laws.

The social unrest following these developments provided a fertile field for Methodism, which
had been begun by John Wesley in the mid-18th cent. Methodism was especially popular in the
new industrial areas, in some of which the Church of England provided no services. It has been
theorized that by pacifying social unrest Methodism contributed to the prevention of political and
social revolution in Britain.

Lecture 14

England in the 19th century

On 1 January 1801, the Great Britain and Ireland joined to form the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Ireland.

Events that culminated in the union with Ireland had spanned several centuries. Invasions from
England by the ruling Normans from 1170 led to centuries of strife in Ireland and
successive Kings of England sought both to conquer and pillage Ireland, imposing their rule by
force throughout the entire island. In the early 17th century, large-scale settlement by Protestant
settlers from both Scotland and England began, especially in the province of Ulster, seeing the
displacement of many of the native Roman Catholic Irish inhabitants of this part of Ireland.
Since the time of the first Norman invaders from England, Ireland has been subject to control
and regulation, firstly by England then latterly by Great Britain.

After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Irish Roman Catholics were banned from voting or attending
the Irish Parliament. The new English Protestant ruling class was known as the Protestant
Ascendancy. Towards the end of the 18th century the entirely Protestant Irish Parliament
attained a greater degree of independence from the British Parliament than it had previously
held. Under the Penal Laws no Irish Catholic could sit in the Parliament of Ireland, even though
some 90% of Ireland's population was native Irish Catholic when the first of these bans was
introduced in 1691. This ban was followed by others in 1703 and 1709 as part of a
comprehensive system disadvantaging the Catholic community, and to a lesser extent Protestant
dissenters. In 1798, many members of this dissenter tradition made common cause with
Catholics in a rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen. It was staged with
the aim of creating a fully independent Ireland as a state with a republican constitution. Despite
assistance from France the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was put down by British forces.

Possibly influenced by the War of American Independence (1775–1783), a united force of Irish

volunteers used their influence to campaign for greater independence for the Irish Parliament.
This was granted in 1782, giving free trade and legislative independence to Ireland. However,
the French revolution had encouraged the increasing calls for moderate constitutional reform.
The Society of United Irishmen, made up of Presbyterians from Belfast and both Anglicans and
Catholics in Dublin, campaigned for an end to British domination. Their leader Theobald Wolfe
Tone (1763–98) worked with the Catholic Convention of 1792 which demanded an end to
the penal laws. Failing to win the support of the British government, he travelled to Paris,
encouraging a number of French naval forces to land in Ireland to help with the planned
insurrections. These were slaughtered by government forces, but these rebellions convinced the
British under Prime Minister William Pitt that the only solution was to end Irish independence
once and for all.

The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was brought about by the Act of Union 1800,
creating the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". The Act was passed in both the
Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland, dominated by the Protestant
Ascendancy and lacking representation of the country's Roman Catholic population. Substantial
majorities were achieved, and according to contemporary documents this was assisted
by bribery in the form of the awarding of peerages and honours to opponents to gain their votes.
[27]
 Under the terms of the merger, the separate Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland were
abolished, and replaced by a united Parliament of the United Kingdom. Ireland thus became an
integral part of the United Kingdom, sending around 100 MPs to the House of Commons at
Westminster and 28 representative peers to the House of Lords, elected from among their
number by the Irish peers themselves, except that Roman Catholic peers were not permitted to
take their seats in the Lords. Part of the trade-off for the Irish Catholics was to be the granting
of Catholic Emancipation, which had been fiercely resisted by the all-Anglican Irish Parliament.
However, this was blocked by King George III, who argued that emancipating the Roman
Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath. The Roman Catholic hierarchy had endorsed the
Union. However the decision to block Catholic Emancipation fatally undermined the appeal of
the Union.

Napoleonic wars. During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), Britain occupied most
of the French and Dutch colonies (the Netherlands had been a satellite of France since 1796), but
tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the
war, Britain was forced to return most of the colonies. The peace settlement was in effect only a
ceasefire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the
country and by occupying the German city of Hanover (a fief of the British crown). In May
1803, war was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Britain failed due to the inferiority of
his navy, and in 1805, Lord Nelson's fleet decisively defeated the French and Spanish at
Trafalgar, which was the last significant naval action of the Napoleonic Wars.
The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure(completely dismasted) into
battle off Trafalgar. The Bucentaure also fights HMS Victory (behind her) and HMS
Temeraire (left side of the picture). In fact, HMS Sandwich never fought at Trafalgar, it's a
mistake from Auguste Mayer, the painter.

The series of naval and colonial conflicts, including a large number of minor naval actions,
resembled those of the French Revolutionary Wars and the preceding centuries of European
warfare. Conflicts in the Caribbean, and in particular the seizure of colonial bases and islands
throughout the wars, could potentially have some effect upon the European conflict. The
Napoleonic conflict had reached the point at which subsequent historians could talk of a "world
war". Only the Seven Years' War offered a precedent for widespread conflict on such a scale.

In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental
System. This policy aimed to weaken the British export economy closing French-controlled
territory to its trade. The British army remained a minimal threat to France; the British standing
army of just 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars hardly compared to France's army of a
million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national
guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary. Although the Royal Navy
effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French
shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade
with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. In
addition, France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of Britain.

Many in the French government believed that isolating Britain from the Continent would end its
economic influence over Europe and isolate it. Though the French designed the Continental
System to achieve this, it never succeeded in its objective. Britain possessed the greatest
industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable
economic strength through trade to its possessions from its rapidly expanding new Empire.
Britain's naval supremacy meant that France could never enjoy the peace necessary to
consolidate its control over Europe, and it could threaten neither the home islands nor the main
British colonies.

The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The
Duke of Wellington and his army of British and Portuguese gradually pushed the French out of
Spain and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Prussians,
Austrians, and Russians, Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and
exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned, but when he escaped back into
France in 1815, the British and their allies had to fight him again. The armies of Wellington and
Von Blucher defeated Napoleon once and for all at Waterloo.

Financing the war. A key element in British success was its ability to mobilize the nation’s
industrial and financial resources and apply them to defeating France. With a population of 16
million Britain was barely half the size of France with 30 million. In terms of soldiers the French
numerical advantage was offset by British subsidies that paid for a large proportion of the
Austrian and Russian soldiers, peaking at about 450,000 in 1813. Most important, the British
national output remained strong and the well-organized business sector channeled products into
what the military needed. The system of smuggling finished products into the continent
undermined French efforts to ruin the British economy by cutting off markets. The British
budget in 1814 reached £66 million, including £10 million for the Navy, £40 million for the
Army, £10 million for the Allies, and £38 million as interest on the national debt. The national
debt soared to £679 million, more than double the GDP. It was willingly supported by hundreds
of thousands of investors and tax payers, despite the higher taxes on land and a new income tax.
The whole cost of the war came to £831 million. By contrast the French financial system was
inadequate and Napoleon’s forces had to rely in part on requisitions from conquered lands.

Napoleon also attempted economic warfare against Britain, especially in the Berlin Decree of
1806. It forbade the import of British goods into European countries allied with or dependent
upon France, and installed the Continental System in Europe. All connections were to be cut,
even the mail. British merchants smuggled in many goods and the Continental System was not a
powerful weapon of economic war. There was some damage to Britain, especially in 1808 and
1811, but its control of the oceans helped ameliorate the damage. Even more damage was done
to the economies of France and its allies, which lost a useful trading partner. Angry governments
gained an incentive to ignore the Continental System, which led to the weakening of Napoleon's
coalition.

War of 1812 with United States. Signing of the Treaty of Ghent (December 1812) with the U.S.
diplomats.

Simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes and British impressment of American
sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The "second war of independence" for the
American, it was little noticed in Britain, where all attention was focused on the struggle with
France. The British could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814.
American frigates also inflicted a series of embarrassing defeats on the British navy, which was
short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe. A stepped-up war effort that year brought
about some successes such as the burning of Washington, but many influential voices such as the
Duke of Wellington argued that an outright victory over the US was impossible.

Peace was agreed to at the end of 1814, but Andrew Jackson, unaware of this, won a great
victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 (news took several weeks
to cross the Atlantic before the advent of steam ships). Ratification of the Treaty of Ghent ended
the war in February 1815. The major result was the permanent defeat of the Indian allies the
British had counted upon. The US-Canadian border was demilitarised by both countries, and
peaceful trade resumed, although worries of an American conquest of Canada persisted into the
1860s.

George IV and William IV. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country
than it had been in 1793. As industrialisation progressed, society changed, becoming more urban
and less rural. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation
caused widespread social unrest. Europe after 1815 was on guard against a return of Jacobinism,
and even liberal Britain saw the passage of the Six Acts in 1819, which proscribed radical
activities. By the end of the 1820s, along with a general economic recovery, many of these
repressive laws were repealed and in 1828 new legislation guaranteed the civil rights of religious
dissenters.
A weak ruler as regent (1811–20) and king (1820–30), George IV let his ministers take full
charge of government affairs, playing a far lesser role than his father, George III. The principle
now became established that the king accepts as prime minister the person who wins a majority
in the House of Commons, whether the king personally favors him or not. His governments, with
little help from the king, presided over victory in the Napoleonic Wars, negotiated the peace
settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed. His
brother William IV ruled (1830–37), but was little involved in politics. His reign saw several
reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all
the British Empire, and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral
system. There were no major wars until the Crimean War of 1853–56. While Prussia, Austria,
and Russia, as absolute monarchies, tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur, the
British came to terms with new ideas. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend a
constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies
in 1824. British merchants and financiers, and later railway builders, played major roles in the
economies of most Latin American nations.[41] The British intervened in 1827 on the side of the
Greeks, who had been waging a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire since 1824.

Whig reforms of the 1830s. The Whig Party recovered its strength and unity by supporting moral
reforms, especially the reform of the electoral system, the abolition of slavery and emancipation
of the Catholics. Catholic emancipation was secured in the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which
removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Britain.

The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform. They made Lord Grey prime minister
1830–1834, and the Reform Act of 1832 became their signature measure. It broadened the
franchise and ended the system of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections
were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed power on the basis of
population. It added 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales. The main
effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry, and enlarge the power of the
professional and business middle-class, which now for the first time had a significant voice in
Parliament. However, the great majority of manual workers, clerks, and farmers did not have
enough property to qualify to vote. The aristocracy continued to dominate the government, the
Army and Royal Navy, and high society. After parliamentary investigations demonstrated the
horrors of child labour, limited reforms were passed in 1833.

Chartism emerged after the 1832 Reform Bill failed to give the vote to the working class.
Activists denounced the 'betrayal' of the working class and the 'sacrificing' of their 'interests' by
the 'misconduct' of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued the People's Charter demanding
manhood suffrage, equal sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of MPs (so poor men
could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. Elites saw the
movement as pathological, so the Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate.
Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as
a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society.

In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in the Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. The
government purchased the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners
who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, especially those in the Caribbean sugar
islands.
Leadership. Prime Ministers of the period included: William Pitt the Younger, Lord
Grenville, Duke of Portland, Spencer Perceval, Lord Liverpool, George Canning, Lord
Goderich, Duke of Wellington, Lord Grey, Lord Melbourne, and Sir Robert Peel, Lord John
Russell, Lord Derby, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart
Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Rosebery.

Victorian era. Queen Victoria (1837–1901) Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long
reign until 1901 saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic and political power. Exciting new
technologies such as steam ships, railroads, photography, and telegraphs appeared, making the
world much faster-paced. Britain again remained mostly inactive in Continental politics, and it
was not affected by the wave of revolutions in 1848. The Victorian era saw the fleshing out of
the second British Empire. Scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as defined by a
variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated with the Victorians
—actually begins with her coronation or the earlier passage of the Reform Act 1832. The era was
preceded by the Regency era and succeeded by the Edwardian period.

Historians like Bernard Porter have characterized the mid-Victorian era, (1850–1870) as Britain's
'Golden Years.' There was peace and prosperity, as the national income per person grew by half.
Much of the prosperity was due to the increasing industrialization, especially in textiles and
machinery, as well as to the worldwide network of trade and engineering that produce profits for
British merchants and experts from across the globe. There was peace abroad (apart from the
short Crimean war, 1854–56), and social peace at home. Opposition to the new order melted
away, says Porter. The Chartist movement, peaked as a democratic movement among the
working class in 1848; its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade unions and cooperative
societies. The working class ignored foreign agitators like Karl Marx in their midst, and joined in
celebrating the new prosperity. Employers typically were paternalistic, and generally recognized
the trade unions. Companies provided their employees with welfare services ranging from
housing, schools and churches, to libraries, baths, and gymnasia. Middle-class reformers did
their best to assist the working classes aspire to middle-class norms of 'respectability.'

There was a spirit of libertarianism, says Porter, as people felt they were free. Taxes were very
low, and government restrictions were minimal. There were still problem areas, such as
occasional riots, especially those motivated by anti-Catholicism. Society was still ruled by the
aristocracy and the gentry, which controlled high government offices, both houses of Parliament,
the church, and the military. Becoming a rich businessman was not as prestigious as inheriting a
title and owning a landed estate. Literature was doing well, but the fine arts languished as the
Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased Britain's industrial prowess rather than its sculpture,
painting or music. The educational system was mediocre; the capstone universities (outside
Scotland) were likewise mediocre. Historian Llewellyn Woodward has concluded: For leisure or
work, for getting or spending, England was a better country in 1879 than in 1815. The scales
were less weighted against the weak, against women and children, and against the poor. There
was greater movement, and less of the fatalism of an earlier age. The public conscience was
more instructed, and the content of liberty was being widened to include something more than
freedom from political constraint.... Yet England in 1871 was by no means an earthly paradise.
The housing and conditions of life of the working class in town & country were still a disgrace to
an age of plenty.
Foreign policy. Free trade imperialism. The Great London Exhibition of 1851 clearly
demonstrated Britain's dominance in engineering and industry; that lasted until the rise of the
United States and Germany in the 1890s. Using the imperial tools of free trade and financial
investment, it exerted major influence on many countries outside Europe, especially in Latin
America and Asia. Thus Britain had both a formal Empire based on British rule and an informal
one based on the British pound.

Russia, France and the Ottoman Empire. One nagging fear was the possible collapse of the
Ottoman Empire. It was well understood that a collapse of that country would set off a scramble
for its territory and possibly plunge Britain into war. To head that off Britain sought to keep the
Russians from occupying Constantinople and taking over the Bosporous Straits, as well as from
threatening India via Afghanistan. In 1853, Britain and France intervened in the Crimean
War against Russia. Despite mediocre generalship, they managed to capture the Russian port of
Sevastopol, compelling Tsar Nicholas I to ask for peace. A second Russo-Ottoman war in 1877
led to another European intervention, although this time at the negotiating table. The Congress of
Berlin blocked Russia from imposing the harsh Treaty of San Stefano on the Ottoman
Empire. Despite its alliance with the French in the Crimean War, Britain viewed the Second
Empire of Napoleon III with some distrust, especially as the emperor constructed ironclad
warships and began returning France to a more active foreign policy. But after Napoleon's
downfall in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he was allowed to spent his last years exiled in
Britain.

American Civil War. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), British leaders personally
disliked American republicanism and favoured the more aristocratic Confederacy, as it had been
a major source of cotton for textile mills. Prince Albert was effective in defusing a war scare in
late 1861. The British people, who depended heavily on American food imports, generally
favoured the United States. What little cotton was available came from New York, as the
blockade by the US Navy shut down 95% of Southern exports to Britain. In September 1862,
during the Confederate invasion of Maryland, Britain (along with France) contemplated stepping
in and negotiating a peace settlement, which could only mean war with the United States. But in
the same month, US president Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation.
Since support of the Confederacy now meant support for slavery, there was no longer any
possibility of European intervention.[54]

Meanwhile the British sold arms to both sides, built blockade runners for a lucrative trade with
the Confederacy, and surreptitiously allowed warships to be built for the Confederacy. The
warships caused a major diplomatic row that was resolved in the Alabama Claims in 1872, in the
Americans' favour.

Empire expands. In 1867, Britain united most of its North American colonies as the Dominion of
Canada, giving it self-government and responsibility for its own defence, but Canada did not
have an independent foreign policy until 1931. Several of the colonies temporarily refused to
join the Dominion despite pressure from both Canada and Britain; the last one, Newfoundland,
held out until 1949.

The second half of the 19th century saw a huge expansion of Britain's colonial empire in Asia
and Africa. In the latter continent, there was talk of the Union Jack flying from "Cairo to Cape
Town", which only became a reality at the end of World War I. Having possessions on six
continents, Britain had to defend all of its empire with a volunteer army, for it was the only
power in Europe to have no conscription. Some questioned whether the country was
overstretched.

The rise of the German Empire since 1871 posed a new challenge, for it (along with the United
States) threatened to take Britain's place as the world's foremost industrial power. Germany
acquired a number of colonies in Africa and the Pacific, but Chancellor Otto von
Bismarck succeeded in achieving general peace through his balance of power strategy.
When William II became emperor in 1888, he discarded Bismarck, began using bellicose
language, and planned to build a navy to rival Britain's. Ever since Britain had taken control of
South Africa from the Netherlands in the Napoleonic Wars, it had run afoul of the Dutch settlers
who further away and created two republics of their own. The British imperial vision called for
control over the new countries and the Dutch-speaking "Boers" (or "Afrikaners") fought back in
the War in 1899–1902. Outgunned by a mighty empire, the Boers waged a guerilla war, which
gave the British regulars a difficult fight, but weight of numbers, superior equipment, and often
brutal tactics eventually brought about a British victory. The war had been costly in human rights
and was widely criticised by Liberals in Britain and worldwide. However, the United States gave
its support. The Boer republics were merged into Union of South Africa in 1910; it had internal
self-government but its foreign policy was controlled by London and was an integral part of the
British Empire.

Free trade imperialism. Britain in addition to taking control of new territories, developed an
enormous power in economic and financial affairs in numerous independent countries, especially
in Latin America and Asia. It lent money, built railways, and engaged in trade. The Great
London Exhibition of 1851 clearly demonstrated Britain's dominance in engineering,
communications and industry; that lasted until the rise of the United States and Germany in the
1890s.

In 1890–1902 under Salisbury Britain promoted a policy of Splendid isolation with no formal

allies.

Queen Victoria. The Queen gave her name to an era of British greatness, especially in the far-
flung British Empire with which she identified. She played a small role in politics, but became
the iconic symbol of the nation, the empire, and proper, restrained behaviour. Her strength lay in
good common sense and directness of character; she expressed the qualities of the British nation
which at that time made it preeminent in the world. As a symbol of domesticity, endurance and
Empire, and as a woman holding the highest public office during an age when middle- and
upper-class women were expected to beautify the home while men dominated the public sphere,
Queen Victoria's influence has been enduring. Her success as ruler was due to the power of the
self-images she successively portrayed of innocent young woman, devoted wife and mother,
suffering and patient widow, and grandmotherly matriarch.

Disraeli. Disraeli and Gladstone dominated the politics of the late 19th century, Britain's golden
age of parliamentary government. They long were idolized, but historians in recent decades have
become much more critical, especially regarding Disraeli.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), prime minister 1868 and 1874–80, remains an iconic hero of
the Conservative Party. He was typical of the generation of British leaders who matured in the
1830s and 1840s. He was concerned with threats to established political, social, and religious
values and elites; he emphasized the need for national leadership in response to radicalism,
uncertainty, and materialism. He is especially known for his enthusiastic support for expanding
and strengthening the British Empire in India and Africa as the foundation of British greatness,
in contrast to Gladstone's negative attitude toward imperialism. Gladstone denounced Disraeli's
policies of territorial aggrandizement, military pomp, and imperial symbolism (such as making
the Queen Empress of India), saying it did not fit a modern commercial and Christian nation.
Disraeli drummed up support by warnings of a supposed Russian threat to India that sank deep
into the Conservative mindset. Disraeli's old reputation as the "Tory democrat" and promoter of
the welfare state fell away as historians showed he that Disraeli had few proposals for social
legislation in 1874–80, and that the 1867 Reform Act did not reflect a vision Conservatism for
the unenfranchised working man. However he did work to reduce class antagonism, for as Perry
notes, "When confronted with specific problems, he sought to reduce tension between town and
country, landlords and farmers, capital and labour, and warring religious sects in Britain and
Ireland—in other words, to create a unifying synthesis."

Gladstone. William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) was the Liberal counterpart to Disraeli,

serving as prime minister four times (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, and 1892–94). His financial
policies, based on the notion of balanced budgets, low taxes and laissez-faire, were suited to a
developing capitalist society but could not respond effectively as economic and social conditions
changed. Called the "Grand Old Man" later in life, he was always a dynamic popular orator who
appealed strongly to British workers and lower middle class. The deeply religious Gladstone
brought a new moral tone to politics with his evangelical sensibility and opposition to
aristocracy. His moralism often angered his upper-class opponents (including Queen Victoria,
who strongly favoured Disraeli), and his heavy-handed control split the Liberal party. His
foreign policy goal was to create a European order based on cooperation rather than conflict and
mutual trust instead of rivalry and suspicion; the rule of law was to supplant the reign of force
and self-interest. This Gladstonian concept of a harmonious Concert of Europe was opposed to
and ultimately defeated by the Germans with a Bismarckian system of manipulated alliances and
antagonisms.

Historian Walter L. Arnstein, concludes:Notable as the Gladstonian reforms had been, they had
almost all remained within the nineteenth-century Liberal tradition of gradually removing the
religious, economic, and political barriers that prevented men of varied creeds and classes from
exercising their individual talents in order to improve themselves and their society. As the third
quarter of the century drew to a close, the essential bastions of Victorianism still held firm:
respectability; a government of aristocrats and gentlemen now influenced not only by middle-
class merchants and manufacturers but also by industrious working people; a prosperity that
seemed to rest largely on the tenets of laissez-faire economics; and a Britannia that ruled the
waves and many a dominion beyond.

Salisbury. Historians portray Conservative prime Minister Lord Salisbury (1830–1903) as a

talented leader who was an icon of traditional, aristocratic conservatism. Robert Blake considers
Salisbury "a great foreign minister, essentially negative, indeed reactionary in home
affairs". Professor P.T. Marsh’s estimate is more favourable than Blake's, he portrays Salisbury
as a leader who "held back the popular tide for twenty years." Professor Paul Smith argues that,
"into the ‘progressive’ strain of modern Conservatism he simply will not fit." Professor H.C.G.
Matthew points to "the narrow cynicism of Salisbury".One admirer of Salisbury, Maurice
Cowling largely agrees with the critics and says Salisbury found the democracy born of the 1867
and 1884 Reform Acts as "perhaps less objectionable than he had expected—succeeding,
through his public persona, in mitigating some part of its nastiness."

Morality.The Victorian era is famous for the Victorian standards of personal morality. Historians
generally agree that the middle classes held high personal moral standards (and usually followed
them), but have debated whether the working classes followed suit. Moralists in the late 19th
century such as Henry Mayhew decried the slums for their supposed high levels
of cohabitation without marriage and illegitimate births. However new research using
computerized matching of data files shows that the rates of cohabitation were quote low—under
5%—for the working class and the poor. By contrast in 21st century Britain, nearly half of all
children are born outside marriage, and nine in ten newlyweds have been cohabitating.

Lecture 15

England in the 20th century

Edwardian era 1901–1914. Queen Victoria died in 1901 and her son Edward VII became king,
inaugurating the Edwardian Era, which was characterised by great and ostentatious displays of
wealth in contrast to the sombre Victorian Era. With the advent of the 20th century, things such
as motion pictures, automobiles, and aeroplanes were coming into use. The new century was
characterised by a feeling of great optimism. The social reforms of the last century continued
into the 20th with the Labour Party being formed in 1900. Edward died in 1910, to be succeeded
by George V, who reigned 1910–36. Scandal-free, hard working and popular, George V was the
British monarch who, with Queen Mary, established the modern pattern of exemplary conduct
for British royalty, based on middle-class values and virtues. He understood the overseas Empire
better than any of his prime ministers and used his exceptional memory for figures and details,
whether of uniforms, politics, or relations, to good effect in reaching out in conversation with his
subjects.

The era was prosperous but political crises were escalating out of control. Dangerfield (1935)
identified the "strange death of liberal England" as the multiple crisis that hit simultaneously in
1910–1914 with serious social and political instability arising from the Irish crisis, labor unrest,
the women's suffrage movements, and partisan and constitutional struggles in Parliament. At one
point it even seemed the Army might refuse orders dealing with Northern Ireland. No solution
appeared in sight when the unexpected outbreak of the Great War in 1914 put domestic issues on
hold.

World War I. Britain entered the war because of its implicit support for France, which had
entered to support Russia, which in turn had entered to support Serbia. Even more important than
that chain of links was Britain's determination to honor its commitment to defend Belgium.
Britain was loosely part of the Triple Entente with France and Russia, which (with smaller allies)
fought the Central Powers of Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire. After a few weeks
the Western Front turned into a killing ground in which millions of men died but no army made a
large advance.

The stalemate required an endless supply of men and munitions. By 1916, volunteering fell off,
the government imposed conscription in Britain (but not in Ireland) to keep up the strength of
the Army. After a rough start in industrial mobilisation, Britain replaced prime minister Asquith
in December 1916 with the much more dynamic Liberal leader David Lloyd George. The nation
now successfully mobilised its manpower, womanpower, industry, finances, Empire and
diplomacy, in league with France and the U.S. to defeat the enemy. After defeating Russia, the
Germans tried to win in the spring of 1918 before the millions of American soldiers arrived.
They failed, and they were overwhelmed and finally accepted an Armistice in November 1918,
that amounted to a surrender.

Britain eagerly supported the war, but in Ireland the Catholics were restless and plotted a
rebellion in 1916. It failed but the brutal repression that followed turned that element against
Britain. The economy grew about 14% from 1914 to 1918 despite the absence of so many men in
the services; by contrast the German economy shrank 27%. The War saw a decline of civilian
consumption, with a major reallocation to munitions. The government share of GDP soared from
8% in 1913 to 38% in 1918 (compared to 50% in 1943). The war forced Britain to use up its
financial reserves and borrow large sums from New York banks. After the U.S. entered in April
1917, the Treasury borrowed directly from the U.S. government.

The Royal Navy dominated the seas, defeating the smaller German fleet in the only major naval
battle of the war, the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Germany was blockaded, leading to an increasing
shortage short of food. Germany's naval strategy increasingly turned towards use of U-Boats to
strike back against the British, despite the risk of triggering war with the powerful neutral power,
the United States. The waters around Britain were declared a war zone where any ship, neutral or
otherwise, was a target. After the liner Lusitania was sunk in May 1915, drowning over 100
American passengers, protests by the United States led Germany to abandon unrestricted
submarine warfare. With victory over Russia in 1917, Germany now calculated it could finally
have numerical superiority on the Western Front. Planning for a massive spring offensive in
1918, it resumed the sinking of all merchant ships without warning. The US entered the war
alongside the Allies (without actually joining them), and provided the needed money and
supplies to sustain the Allies' war efforts. The U-boat threat was ultimately defeated by a convoy
system across the Atlantic.

On other fronts, the British, French, Australians, and Japanese seized Germany's colonies.
Britain fought the Ottoman Empire, suffering defeats in the Gallipoli Campaign) and
in Mesopotamia, while arousing the Arabs who helped expel the Turks from their lands.
Exhaustion and war-weariness were growing worse in 1917, as the fighting in France continued
with no end in sight. The German spring offensives of 1918 failed, and with the arrival of the
American in summer at the rate of 10,000 a day the Germans realized they were being
overwhelmed. Germany agreed to an armistice—actually a surrender—on 11 November 1918.

Victorian attitudes and ideals that had continued into the first years of the 20th century changed
during World War I. The army had traditionally never been a large employer in the nation, with
the regular army standing at 247,432 at the start of the war. By 1918, there were about five
million people in the army and the fledgling Royal Air Force, newly formed from the Royal
Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), was about the same size of the
pre-war army. The almost three million casualties were known as the "lost generation," and such
numbers inevitably left society scarred; but even so, some people felt their sacrifice was little
regarded in Britain, with poems like Siegfried Sassoon's Blighters criticising the ill-
informed jingoism of the home front.

Economics. Taxes rose sharply during the war and never returned to their old levels. A rich man
paid 8% of his income in taxes before the war, and about a third afterwards. Much of the money
went for the dole, the weekly unemployment benefits. About 5% of the national income every
year was transferred from the rich to the poor. Taylor argues most people "were enjoying a richer
life than any previously known in the history of the world: longer holidays, shorter hours, higher
real wages."

The British economy was lackluster in the 1920s, with sharp declines and high unemployment in
heavy industry and coal, especially in Scotland and Wales. Exports of coal and steel fell in half
by 1939 and the business community was slow to adopt the new labour and management
principles coming from the US, such as Fordism, consumer credit, eliminating surplus capacity,
designing a more structured management, and using greater economies of scale. For over a
century the shipping industry had dominated world trade, but it remained in the doldrums despite
various stimulus efforts by the government. With the very sharp decline in world trade after
1929, its condition became critical.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill put Britain back on the gold standard in 1925,
which many economists blame for the mediocre performance of the economy. Others point to a
variety of factors, including the inflationary effects of the World War and supply-side shocks
caused by reduced working hours after the war.

By the late 1920s, economic performance had stabilised, but the overall situation was
disappointing, for Britain had fallen behind the United States as the leading industrial power.
There also remained a strong economic divide between the north and south of England during
this period, with the south of England and the Midlands fairly prosperous by the Thirties, while
parts of south Wales and the industrial north of England became known as "distressed areas" due
to particularly high rates of unemployment and poverty. Despite this, the standard of living
continued to improve as local councils built new houses to let to families rehoused from
outdated slums, with up to date facilities including indoor toilets, bathrooms and electric lighting
now being included in the new properties. The private sector enjoyed a housebuilding boom
during the 1930s.

Labour. During the war trade unions were encouraged and their membership grew from 4.1
million in 1914 to 6.5 million in 1918. They peaked at 8.3 million in 1920 before relapsing to 5.4
million in 1923.

Coal was a sick industry; the best seams were being exhausted, raising the cost. Demand fell as
oil began replacing coal for fuel. The 1926 general strike was a nine-day nationwide walkout of
1.3 million railwaymen, transport workers, printers, dockers, iron workers and steelworkers
supporting the 1.2 million coal miners who had been locked out by the owners. The miners had
rejected the owners' demands for longer hours and reduced pay in the face of falling prices.
[106]
 The Conservative government had provided a nine-month subsidy in 1925 but that was not
enough to turn around a sick industry. To support the miners the Trades Union Congress (TUC),
an umbrella organization of all trades unions, called out certain critical unions. The hope was the
government would intervene to reorganize and rationalize the industry, and raise the subsidy.
The Conservative government had stockpiled supplies and essential services continued with
middle class volunteers. All three major parties opposed the strike. The Labour Party leaders did
not approve and feared it would tar the party with the image of radicalism, for the Cominterm in
Moscow had sent instructions for Communists to aggressively promote the strike. The general
strike itself was largely non-violent, but the miners' lockout continued and there was violence in
Scotland. It was the only general strike in British history, for TUC leaders such as Ernest
Bevin considered it a mistake . Most historians treat it as a singular event with few long-term
consequences, but Pugh says it accelerated the movement of working-class voters to the Labour
Party, which led to future gains. The Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927 made general
strikes illegal and ended the automatic payment of union members to the Labour Party. That act
was largely repealed in 1946. The coal industry, used up the more accessible coal as costs rose
output fell from 2567 million tons in 1924 to 183 million in 1945. The Labour government
nationalised the mines in 1947.

The second world war.

Britain, along with the dominions and the rest of the Empire, declared war on Nazi Germany in
1939, after the German invasion of Poland. After a quiet period of "phoney war", the French and
British armies collapsed under German onslaught in spring 1940. The British with the thinnest of
margins rescued its main army from Dunkirk (as well as many French soldiers), leaving all their
equipment and war supplies behind. Winston Churchill came to power, promising to fight the
Germans to the very end. The Germans threatened an invasion—which the Royal Navy was
prepared to repel. First the Germans tried to achieve air supremacy but were defeated by the
Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain in late summer 1940. Japan declared war in December
1941, and quickly seized Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma, and threatened Australia
and India. Britain formed an alliance with the Soviet Union (starting in 1941) and very close ties
to the United States (starting in 1940). The war was very expensive. It was paid for by high
taxes, by selling off assets, and by accepting large amounts of Lend Lease from the U.S. and
Canada. The US gave $40 billion in munitions; Canada also gave aid. (The American and
Canadian aid did not have to be repaid, but there were also American loans that were repaid.)

Welfare state. Welfare conditions, especially regarding food, improved during the war as the
government imposed rationing and subsidized food prices. Conditions for housing worsened of
course with the bombing, and clothing was in short supply.

A common theme called for an expansion of the welfare state as a reward to the people for their
wartime sacrifices. The goal was operationalized in a famous report by William Beveridge. It
recommended that the various income maintenance services that a grown-up piecemeal since
1911 be systematized and made universal. Unemployment benefits and sickness benefits were to
be universal. There would be new benefits for maternity. The old-age pension system would be
revised and expanded, and require that a person retired. A full-scale National Health Service
would provide free medical care for everyone. All the major parties endorsed the principles and
they were largely put into effect when peace returned.
Austerity, 1945–1950. The end of the war saw a landslide victory for Clement Attlee and
the Labour Party. They were elected on a manifesto of greater social justice with left wing
policies such as the creation of a National Health Service, an expansion of the provision
of council housing and nationalisation of the major industries. Britain faced severe financial
crises, and responded by reducing her international responsibilities and by sharing the hardships
of an "age of austerity."[126] Large loans from the United States and Marshall Plan grants helped
rebuild and modernize its infrastructure and business
practices. Rationing and conscription dragged on into the post war years, and the country
suffered one of the worst winters on record. Nevertheless, morale was boosted by events such as
the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and the Festival of Britain.

Prosperity of 1950s. As the country headed into the 1950s, rebuilding continued and a number of
immigrants from the remaining British Empire, mostly the Caribbean and
the Indian subcontinent, were invited to help the rebuilding effort. As the 1950s wore on, Britain
lost its place as a superpower and could no longer maintain its large Empire. This led to
decolonisation, and a withdrawal from almost all of its colonies by 1970. Events such as
the Suez Crisis showed that the UK's status had fallen in the world. The 1950s and 1960s were,
however, relatively prosperous times after the Second World War, and saw the beginning of a
modernisation of the UK, with the construction of its first motorways for example, and also
during the 1960s a great cultural movement began which expanded across the world.
Unemployment was relatively low during this period and the standard of living continued to rise
with more new private and council housing developments taking place and the number of slum
properties diminishing.

Lecture 16

Contemporary England. England in the 21st century

War in Afghanistan and Iraq, and terrorist attacks. In the 2001 General Election, the Labour
Party won a second successive victory, though voter turnout dropped to the lowest level for more
than 80 years. Later that year, the September 11th attacks in the United States led to American
President George W. Bush launching the War on Terror, beginning with the invasion
of Afghanistan aided by British troops in October 2001. Thereafter, with the US focus shifting to
Iraq, Tony Blair convinced the Labour and Conservative MPs to vote in favour of supporting the
2003 invasion of Iraq, despite huge anti-war marches held in London and Glasgow. Forty-six
thousand British troops, one-third of the total strength of the Army's land forces, were deployed
to assist with the invasion of Iraq and thereafter British armed forces were responsible for
security in southern Iraq. All British forces were withdrawn in 2010.

The Labour Party won the 2005 general election and a third consecutive term. On 7 July 2005, a
series of four suicide bombings struck London, killing 52 commuters, in addition to the four
bombers.

Nationalist government in Scotland. 2007 saw the first ever election victory for the pro-
independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the Scottish Parliament elections. They formed
a minority government with plans to hold a referendum before 2011 to seek a mandate "to
negotiate with the Government of the United Kingdom to achieve independence for
Scotland." Most opinion polls show minority support for independence, although support varies
depending on the nature of the question. The response of the unionist parties was to establish the
Calman Commission to examine further devolution of powers, a position that had the support of
the Prime Minister.

Responding to the findings of the review, the UK government announced on 25 November 2009,
that new powers would be devolved to the Scottish Government, notably on how it can raise tax
and carry out capital borrowing, and the running of Scottish Parliament elections. These
proposals were detailed in a white paper setting out a new Scotland Bill, to become law before
the 2015 Holyrood elections. The proposal was criticised by the UK parliament opposition
parties for not proposing to implement any changes before the next general election. Scottish
Constitution Minister Michael Russell criticised the white paper, calling it "flimsy" and stating
that their proposed Referendum (Scotland) Bill, 2010, whose own white paper was to be
published five days later, would be "more substantial". According to The Independent, the
Calman Review white paper proposals fall short of what would normally be seen as requiring a
referendum.

The 2011 election saw a decisive victory for the SNP which was able to form a majority
government intent on delivering a referendum on independence. Within hours of the victory,
Prime Minister David Cameron guaranteed that the UK government would not put any legal or
political obstacles in the way of such a referendum. Some unionist politicians, including former
Labour First Minister Henry McLeish, have responded to the situation by arguing that Scotland
should be offered 'devo-max' as an alternative to independence, and First Minister Alex Salmond
has signalled his willingness to include it on the referendum ballot paper.

The 2008 economic crisis. In the wake of the global economic crisis of 2008, the United
Kingdom economy contracted, experiencing negative economic growth throughout 2009. The
announcement in November 2008 that the economy had shrunk for the first time since late 1992
brought an end to 16 years of continuous economic growth. Causes included an end to the easy
credit of the preceding years, reduction in consumption and substantial depreciation of sterling
(which fell 25% against the euro between January 2008 and January 2009), leading to increased
import costs, notably of oil.

On 8 October 2008, the British Government announced a bank rescue package of around £500

billion ($850 billion at the time). The plan comprised three parts.: £200 billion to be made
available to the banks in the Bank of England's Special Liquidity Scheme; the Government was
to increase the banks' market capitalization, through the Bank Recapitalization Fund, with an
initial £25 billion and another £25 billion to be provided if needed; and the Government was to
temporarily underwrite any eligible lending between British banks up to around £250 billion.
With the UK officially coming out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2009—ending six
consecutive quarters of economic decline—the Bank of England decided against
further quantitative easing.

The 2010 coalition government. The United Kingdom General Election of 6 May 2010 resulted
in the first hung parliament since 1974, with the Conservative Party winning the largest number
of seats, but falling short of the 326 seats required for an overall majority. Following this, the
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government for the
UK since the end of the Second World War, with David Cameron becoming Prime Minister
and Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister.

Under the coalition government, British military aircraft participated in the UN-

mandated intervention in the 2011 Libyan civil war, flying a total of 3,000 air sorties against
forces loyal to the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi between March and October 2011. 2011
also saw England suffer unprecedented rioting in its major cities in early August, killing five
people and causing over £200 million worth of property damage.

In late October 2011, the prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms voted to grant gender

equality in the royal succession, ending the male-preference primogeniture that was mandated by
the Act of Settlement 1701. The amendment, once enacted, will also end the ban on the monarch
marrying a Catholic.

2015 election. In 2014 Scotland held a referendum on becoming independent of the United
Kingdom. The three major national parties were all strongly opposed, and won a majority
defeating the separationists of the Scottish National Party (SNP). However, SNP successfully
mobilized after the election, sweeping out the Labour Party which had long dominated Scotland.

After years of austerity, the British economy was on an upswing in 2015, When Prime Minister
David Cameron called a general election. The United Kingdom general election, 2015 was held
on 7 May 2015. Pre-election polls had predicted a close race and a hung parliament, but the
surprising result was clear victory by the Conservatives nationwide. The other three main parties
were shocked and bitterly disappointed; their leaders resigned the next day. The Conservatives
with 37% of the popular vote held a narrow majority with 331 of the 650 seats. The Scottish
National Party (SNP) carried 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, a gain of 50. Labour suffered its
worst defeat since 1987, taking only 31% of the votes and losing 40 of its 41 seats in Scotland.
The Liberal Democrats lost 49 of their 57 seats, as there coalition with the conservatives had
alienated the great majority of their supporters. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), rallying
voters against Europe and against immigration, did well with 13% of the vote count. It came in
second in over 115 races but came in first in only one. Cameron now has a mandate for his
austerity policies that shrink the size of government, and a challenge in dealing with Scotland.

Culture.

The culture of the United Kingdom has been influenced by many factors including: the nation's
island status; its history as a western liberal democracy and a major power; as well as being a
political union of four countries with each preserving elements of distinctive traditions, customs
and symbolism. As a result of the British Empire, British influence can be observed in the
language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies including Australia, Canada,
India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States. The substantial
cultural influence of the United Kingdom has led it to be described as a "cultural superpower".

Literature. 'British literature' refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, the Isle of
Man and the Channel Islands. Most British literature is in the English language. In 2005, some
206,000 books were published in the United Kingdom and in 2006 it was the largest publisher of
books in the world. The English playwright and poet William Shakespeare is widely regarded as
the greatest dramatist of all time, and his contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson
have also been held in continuous high esteem. More recently the playwrights Alan Ayckbourn,
Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and David Edgar have combined elements of
surrealism, realism and radicalism.

Notable pre-modern and early-modern English writers include Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century),
Thomas Malory (15th century), Sir Thomas More (16th century), John Bunyan (17th century)
and John Milton (17th century). In the 18th century Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe)
and Samuel Richardson were pioneers of the modern novel. In the 19th century there followed
further innovation by Jane Austen, the gothic novelist Mary Shelley, the children's writer Lewis
Carroll, the Brontë sisters, the social campaigner Charles Dickens, the naturalist Thomas Hardy,
the realist George Eliot, the visionary poet William Blake and romantic poet William
Wordsworth. 20th century English writers include the science-fiction novelist H. G. Wells; the
writers of children's classics Rudyard Kipling, A. A. Milne (the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh),
Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton; the controversial D. H. Lawrence; the modernist Virginia Woolf;
the satirist Evelyn Waugh; the prophetic novelist George Orwell; the popular novelists W.
Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene; the crime writer Agatha Christie (the best-selling
novelist of all time); Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond); the poets T.S. Eliot, Philip Larkin
and Ted Hughes; the fantasy writers J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and J. K. Rowling; the graphic
novelists Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.

A photograph of Victorian era novelist Charles Dickens

Scotland's contributions include the detective writer Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock
Holmes), romantic literature by Sir Walter Scott, the children's writer J. M. Barrie, the epic
adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson and the celebrated poet Robert Burns. More recently the
modernist and nationalist Hugh MacDiarmid and Neil M. Gunn contributed to the Scottish
Renaissance. A more grim outlook is found in Ian Rankin's stories and the psychological horror-
comedy of Iain Banks. Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, was UNESCO's first worldwide City of
Literature.

Britain's oldest known poem, Y Gododdin, was composed in Yr Hen Ogledd (The Old North),
most likely in the late 6th century. It was written in Cumbric or Old Welsh and contains the
earliest known reference to King Arthur. From around the seventh century, the connection
between Wales and the Old North was lost, and the focus of Welsh-language culture shifted to
Wales, where Arthurian legend was further developed by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Wales's most
celebrated medieval poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym (fl.1320–1370), composed poetry on themes
including nature, religion and especially love. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest
European poets of his age.[451] Until the late 19th century the majority of Welsh literature was
in Welsh and much of the prose was religious in character. Daniel Owen is credited as the first
Welsh-language novelist, publishing Rhys Lewis in 1885. The best-known of the Anglo-Welsh
poets are both Thomases. Dylan Thomas became famous on both sides of the Atlantic in the
mid-20th century. He is remembered for his poetry—his "Do not go gentle into that good night;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is one of the most quoted couplets of English language
verse—and for his "play for voices", Under Milk Wood. The influential Church in Wales "poet-
priest" and Welsh nationalist R. S. Thomas was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1996. Leading Welsh novelists of the twentieth century include Richard Llewellyn and Kate
Roberts.

Authors of other nationalities, particularly from Commonwealth countries, the Republic of

Ireland and the United States, have lived and worked in the UK. Significant examples through
the centuries include Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, George Bernard Shaw, Joseph
Conrad, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and more recently British authors born abroad such as Kazuo
Ishiguro and Sir Salman Rushdie.

Visual art. The history of British visual art forms part of western art history. Major British artists
include: the Romantics William Blake, John Constable, Samuel Palmer and J.M.W. Turner; the
portrait painters Sir Joshua Reynolds and Lucian Freud; the landscape artists Thomas
Gainsborough and L. S. Lowry; the pioneer of the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris;
the figurative painter Francis Bacon; the Pop artists Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and David
Hockney; the collaborative duo Gilbert and George; the abstract artist Howard Hodgkin; and the
sculptors Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Henry Moore. During the late 1980s and 1990s
the Saatchi Gallery in London helped to bring to public attention a group of multi-genre artists
who would become known as the "Young British Artists": Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Rachel
Whiteread, Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Wood and the Chapman
Brothers are among the better-known members of this loosely affiliated movement.

The Royal Academy in London is a key organisation for the promotion of the visual arts in the
United Kingdom. Major schools of art in the UK include: the six-school University of the Arts
London, which includes the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Chelsea
College of Art and Design; Goldsmiths, University of London; the Slade School of Fine Art (part
of University College London); the Glasgow School of Art; the Royal College of Art; and The
Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art (part of the University of Oxford). The Courtauld
Institute of Art is a leading centre for the teaching of the history of art. Important art galleries in
the United Kingdom include the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and
Tate Modern (the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors
per year).

Cinema.
Alfred Hitchcock is often ranked the greatest British filmmaker. The United Kingdom has had a
considerable influence on the history of the cinema. The British directors Alfred Hitchcock,
whose film Vertigo is considered by some critics as the best film of all time, and David Lean are
among the most critically acclaimed of all-time. Other important directors including Charlie
Chaplin, Michael Powell, Carol Reed and Ridley Scott. Many British actors have achieved
international fame and critical success, including: Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Michael
Caine, Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery, Vivien Leigh, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Peter
Sellers, Kate Winslet. Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been
produced in the United Kingdom, including two of the highest-grossing film franchises (Harry
Potter and James Bond). Ealing Studios has a claim to being the oldest continuously working
film studio in the world. Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry
has often been characterised by a debate about its identity and the level of American and
European influence. British producers are active in international co-productions and British
actors, directors and crew feature regularly in American films. Many successful Hollywood films
have been based on British people, stories or events, including Titanic, The Lord of the Rings,
Pirates of the Caribbean.

In 2009, British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of
around 7% globally and 17% in the United Kingdom.] UK box-office takings totalled
£944 million in 2009, with around 173 million admissions. The British Film Institute has
produced a poll ranking of what it considers to be the 100 greatest British films of all time, the
BFI Top 100 British films. The annual British Academy Film Awards are hosted by the

Philosophy. The United Kingdom is famous for the tradition of 'British Empiricism', a branch of
the philosophy of knowledge that states that only knowledge verified by experience is valid, and
'Scottish Philosophy', sometimes referred to as the 'Scottish School of Common Sense'. The most
famous philosophers of British Empiricism are John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume;
while Dugald Stewart, Thomas Reid and William Hamilton were major exponents of the Scottish
"common sense" school. Two Britons are also notable for a theory of moral philosophy
utilitarianism, first used by Jeremy Bentham and later by John Stuart Mill in his short work
Utilitarianism. Other eminent philosophers from the UK and the unions and countries that
preceded it include Duns Scotus, John Lilburne, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sir Francis Bacon, Adam
Smith, Thomas Hobbes, William of Ockham, Bertrand Russell and A.J. "Freddie" Ayer. Foreign-
born philosophers who settled in the UK include Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx, Karl Popper and
Ludwig Wittgenstein.