A history of the British Isles

30/11: intro rédigé + dev plan détaillé

The geographical term: the British Isles

An archipelago: 6,000 islands
Great Britain
Ireland
Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands.
Isle of Man
Isle of Wight
Channel Islands

Terms referring to the political entities

Great Britain (abbreviated as Britain in everyday conversation)

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the full official name of the state

The History of the Union; key dates

16th c.= incorporation of Wales (and Cornwall) by England

1707= First Act of Union= parliamentary union between England & Wales and Scotland => Great
Britain was formed

1800= Second Act of Union= parliamentary union between Great Britain and Ireland => The United
Kingdom was formed

1922= Proclamation of the Irish Free State after the war of independence

1949= Proclamation of the Independent Republic of Ireland (Eire)

Today Only the Northern part of the island (Ulster) remains part of the UK

Introduction: From Prehistoric Britain to the Roman Era (43-400 A.D)

5000 BC= Newgrange

4000 BC= Stone-age hunters

2500 BC= Stonehenge

c. 1200 BC= evidence of prehistoric settlement north and south of the river TAMES

1108 BC= mythical foundation of London by Brute

Britain in the Roman Era: 43-400 AD

First attempt to conquer the island by Caesar: 55 & 54 BC

Didn’t find much in London/Londinium…

Cunobelin resisted the Roman invader
Emperor Claudius: AD 41-54 successfully conquered lowland England and Wales 

Iceni tribe: Warrior Queen Boudicca [Boadicea] resists the invasion (31– 60 AD). She was
vanquished.

By AD- 78= Pax Romana= the whole of England and Wales was under Roman control

The Romans went as far as the Scottish Lowlands but never beyond the Highlands:

Hadrian's Wall= was a fortification began in 122 AD to mark the limit between the Roman province
of Britannia and Caledonia up north.

Antonine's Wall= was begun in 142 AD: it marked the limit of the Roman Empire in the British Isles

Ireland was unconquered

The birth of a Roman city: Londinium

By the end of 1st c. AD: Londinium had become a centre for industry and commerce

3rd century AD: building the City Wall which made it a secure place

Excavations have revealed:

- a forum and a basilica
- A market place

Chapter1-Anglo-Saxon Britain: (400 AD-1066)

2 successive waves of invasions 5-9th centuries:
- 1st wave (5th-7th c.): Jutes, Angles, Saxons
- 2nd wave (8th c.): Magyars, Arabs, Vikings

7th c. important testimony of London as ‘a metropolis' (the Venerable Bede)

The unification of Anglo-Saxon England under the Heptarchy (9th c.)

The Saxons established 7 kingdoms: the Heptarchy (Fast Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria,
Sussex, and Wessex)

King Alferd (849-899): fights the Danes and rules over the Southwestern part of England

=> contributed to unifying England

- Led a policy of Christianisation

- Created 2 Anglo-Saxon institutions; the Witan and the Moot
- Londinium is now Ludenwic

To the East lies a territory left to the Danes and ruled by a specific code of laws: Danelaw
Chapter 2: 1066 The Norman Conquest and its legacy

2.1 Charting the conquered land: the emergence of the feudal system

The Domesday Book (1086): 'a detailed survey of all the manors of England'

An administrative tool: recorded property structures in England

A political tool: as conquest progressed rewarded knights with lands
Castles were built

= emergence of the feudal system in England

2.2 Judicial reforms: the development of common. law under the Norman kings

- Pragmatically undertook unification of existing legal practices: custom and case law

- Appointed itinerant justices (=judges) or justices eyre (Middle English eire, from Anglo-French,
journey, eyre, from 'errer' to travel).
= Norman aristocrats to deal with important civil and criminal matters in the local "shire courts"
started to act as judges and settled local disputes, very often involving disputes over the land or
succession

2.3 Chartered communities

A charter= a written grant (= authorization) by the sovereign or legislative power, by which a body
such as a borough, company, or university is created, or its rights and privileges defined.

At the time the king would issue a charter whereby he confirmed the rights and privileges of people
Ex: the charter issued for the city of London (for is citizen) by William 1rst confirmed the pre-existed
liberties

The charter is important, prominence (economic, political)

- liberties to manage their own affairs, organisation
- liberty to travel, at the time very complicated
- keep/ conserve the customs as they were in Edward’s day (his predecessor)

Sometimes the liberties were not renewed (when the Charter was not) in the 13 th century, they could
elect a mayor.

2.4 Religion

London in the Middle Ages= a great centre of the Christendom

This religious presence prevailed until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536

Role of the religious community:

- Learning: very few laymen (laïques), let alone lay women could write and read; only clerics were
literate
- Health care
- Charity provisions
= county dominated by the Church, omnipresence

Conclusion

The Norman Conquest: a huge cultural legacy. A process of legal and administrative unification
completed by his successors, the Plantagenêt Kings (William Il and Henry I)

- Gradually the common law (« Anglo-Norman” common ley) replaced local customary laws

A process of cultural integration:

- Norman became the language spoken at Court and in the courts of justice (law French)
- The Norman caste became the basic unit of feudal England
- A Christian Country

Chapter 3 - The feudal heritage of Magna Carta (1215) and the Rise of the
English Parliament

3.1 What happened in between? A few landmarks

A short timeline:

- William l (of Normandy) 1066-1087

- William II 1087-1100 (Rufus)
- Henry I (creation of the Court of the Exchequer) (1100-1135) = 20 years of civil war for succession
- Stephen (1097-1154)
- Henry II Curtmantle or Plantagenêt (1154-1189) : count of Anjou, Maine, Nantes, Duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine and feudal vassal of the King of France, whence he inherited a huge realm
extending from the Pyrenees to Normandy
- Richard I Lionheart (1189-1199)

12th-13th c. The centralisation of the legal system

Successive setting up of three courts:

- the Court of the Exchequer (concerning royal revenue),
- the Court of Common pleas (civil disputes between the subjects where the king's
interest was not involved // Itinerant justices)
- the Court of King's bench (for civil and criminal matters).
=>These three courts were known as the Courts of Common Law.

Centralisation of the system of law was reinforced with the creation of the Royal Courts, permanent
courts established in London for specific cases

A reminder: pre-existing institutions before Parliament

 Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot (6-11th centuries): Anglo-Saxon kingdoms = “assembly of wise

men” i.e., Noblemen
 Norman King's council or Curia Regis
- king's main advisers (ministers), nobles (landowners, barons), churchmen (bishops). Based
in London (Westminster).
- Functions: daily administration + taxes + advice on laws
 The council could vote statutes i.e., laws imposed by the king to everyone
  First statutes: the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164): an attempt to restrict papal and
ecclesiastic authority
Further development of a system of common law under Henry II

It was Henry II (reigned 1154-1189) who really developed and reinforced the legal system

• created “circuits” (the “eyre”) regions where four judges travelled, going from town to town.
• Magistrate (local) courts were created that took off some of the work of the royal courts and
made justice easier.
• Discussions in London about when and how to apply the local customs and make the system
more uniform

3.2 The historical background: the quarrel between the King and the barons

Went on a crusade: his military prowess gained him great fame and popularity = a war hero!

To run the country in his absence developed the royal administration.

New functions of:
- coroners
- justiciars acting as viceroys
=› grew v. unpopular

But it came at a cost

To fund his expedition to Jerusalem resorted to the sale of public offices (sheriffdoms) and the raising
of revenue
Taxation increased to pay up his ransom when taken prisoner
Cf. The Robinhood Legend and the Sheriff of Nottingham

Died childless and designated his brother John whose

Legitimacy was contested

John “Lackland” one of the most detested monarchs in the history of Britain (1166-1216)

Led expensive military operations in France: placed an extra tax burden on his subjects
= new taxes and customs duties + abuse of traditional feudal dues (duties to the king)

Moreover, entered an open conflict with the Pope over the question of the appointment of bishops.
Had to give way

The hostility of the barons which originated in his father and brother's rules developed into open
rebellion: civil war between his supporters and those who wanted to replace him by Philip
Augustus's son

A few definition

The (sealed) writ ($34-35)

1) a formal written document especially a legal instrument in epistolary form issued under seal in
the name of the English monarch
2) an order or mandatory process in writing issued in the name of the sovereign or of a court or
judicial officer

3) The power and authority of the issuer of such a written order

ex: a writ of detinue, a writ of entry, a writ of execution.

The letter of summons (S14)

A letter by which the king requests attendance at a meeting

= here, John announces requests attendance of all the magnate’s realm in order to form "the
common counsel of the kingdom"

Baillif

An official employed by a British sheriff to serve writs and make arrests and executions

Magna Carta granted several liberties and privileges to several social groups

Clergymen = higher clergy

- Rights to appoint church officials without interference of the king ("the freedom of
elections')
- Rights to judge them in church courts
= Principe of church independence vis a vis the king

Magnates [the barons, earls] = the lay nobility or the tenants in chief those who directly holding land
from the King: "'shall not be amerced except through peers" ($21)
= Principle of judgment by peers

Freemen < Anglo-Norman franctenanc ($$20-40)

-'No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled in any way destroyed...
except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land”/ "To no one will we
sell, to no one will we refuse…”
-“Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt”.
=Principle of habeas corpus against arbitrary arrest and arbitrary seizure of property by the ling

The City of London (merchants) « shall have its ancient liberties and free customs » ($13, 41,42)
= Principle of the town charters and principle of free commerce

Even the poor peasants

= Right to use common lands (silva communis) that had been afforested by John and his
predecessors

3.4 The historical impact and legal significance of Magna Carta

A limited impact in the short run…

The charter voiced:

- A list of common grievances against the King
- From the various classes of the medieval community defending their vested interests seem
to have had a very limited application for a while.
= An instrument for the barons to control/check the despotic power of the king and a first step to
establish a baronial monarchy.

The Pope declared the charter illegal (at John's request)

• A civil war ensued: the barons withdrew their allegiance to the king and proclaimed Louis (Philip
Augustus's son) king
• Upon John's succession, his nine-year-old son Henry was placed on the throne as Henry III.
• Magna Carta was confirmed

a) The principles enshrined in the text extended far beyond its

immediate context
>The principle of judgment by peers ie principle of fair trial *
>The principle of habeas corpus as the sole decision of a judge
> The principle of the law of the land as closely linked to the notion of custom (what
is commonly accepted as legal practice): the principle by which "there is a law which
is above the king and which he must not break." (W. Churchill, A History of the
English Speaking Peoples, 1958).
F the power of the king was not unrestrained and was circumscribed by the law
>The principle that there should be no taxation without the consent of the people/
popular representation (1629, 1776 etc.)

b) Though technically not a statute, it acquired the force and

authority of a statute
- embodies the idea of a law which is supreme over the King
himself, the first constitutional document which recognizes the rights of
the people of England.
- The liberties and rights defined in negative terms rather than positively
(only two are general statements of principle); amount to a limitation of
the king's power
-> you speak of negative liberties as opposed to positive rights as they
appear in civil law.

c) Magna Carta is considered as the act of birth of the English parliament

- Reference to a "common counsel of the kingdom" (S12, 14) made up of the church dignitaries and
the greater barons

- not always in session but expressly summoned by the king to examine the amount of taxes and
scutage (= écuage ie payment of money in lieu of military service to the king)

The Provisions of Oxford (1258)

- During Henry's minority, a Council ruled on his behalf

- In 1258, Simon de Montfort, a leading figure of the aristocracy summoned a parliament
- Issued the “Provisions of Oxford”:
- 3 sessions of parliament a year
- representatives to elect the king's Counsel

The Model Parliament (1295)

In calling the “Model Parliament” in 1295, Edward I proclaimed in his writ of summons: “what
touches all, should be approved of all, and it is also clear that common dangers should be met by
measures agreed upon in common”

Edward needed support from the humbler classes, and they were from then on to be found in
Parliament (wealthy) bakers, tailors, butchers sat alongside Knight, abbots, and earls etc.

• The assembly included:

- 49 members of the clergy and the aristocracy = "the Lords'
-292 representatives from the various counties and boroughs: commoners/ common people "the
Commons'

• still unicameral (= a single house) but a "model" for later Parliament

The appearance of the bicameral Parliament in the 14th c.

Over the course of the 14th c. Parliament became divided between two houses:

>The House of Lords: members of the aristocracy and senior members of the clergy (the Church)
>The House of Commons; the gentry and the 'new' commercial classes

Conclusion

• a text of prominent importance in the constitutional and political history of Britain (one of the
"pillars of the Constitution")

• NB reissued several times over the course of the 13th c. as a reminder of the limits on the King's
powers; reached the statute book ie adopted by parliament in 1297

• Its importance however lies not in its very words since it is v. much the product of the feudal times.

•But it laid out several principles/ a spirit that presided over the development of English institutions,

Chapter 3:

1337-1453: the Hundred Years' War: The English aim to reconquer their territorial
possessions

1346 battle of Crécy (Somme): victory of the English longbowmen stronger than the old
French chivalry and their crossbows

1415 Agincourt (Normandy): victory of Henry V over the troops of Charles VI celebrated by
Shakespeare in Henry V; marks the end of the French chivalric age and development of artillery

1420 A peace treaty disinherited the French crown prince, Charles VII of Valois, amid accusations of
his illegitimacy, and King Henry. was made ruler of both England and France.

> Joan of Arc's crusade to reconquer the throne: burned at the stake after being declared guilty
(relapse) in 1431

The Black Death (1348-1349) and the Lollard movement

- one out of two every other person dies
- land stopped being cultivated; prices rose
- resentment against the luxurious and corrupt higher clergy (not against poor local priests but
against wanton friars and traffickers in pardon from the Pope)

14-15th c.: against the background of an economic crisis, rise of the Lollards (John Wyclif), who attack
the wealth of the Catholic Church => precursors of Protestant Reformation in Europe

1. The beginning of the Tudor dynasty: the reign of Henry VII Tudor (1485-1509)

A period of relative stability and prosperity

A period of demographic expansion: English population almost doubled
2.2 M in 1500 to 4 M in 1600

Henry VIl's chief concerns

To secure the continuation of his own dynasty

To restore the royal function
To maintain peace at home and abroad

Measures for peace?

Henry of Lancaster marries Elizabeth of York: ascends the throne as Henry « Tudor »

Summons Parliament and has them:

Vote 28 bills of attainders against the opponents to Richard III
Annul the bills against his own supporters

NB: An Act (or Bill) of Attainder is a Parliamentary procedure in which Parliament passes judicial
sentence on an accused person as if it were a court of law. In essence Parliament acts in place of a
judge and jury, with the Bill of Attainder supplanting a judicial verdict. The accused criminal is
sentenced by statute of law rather than by a judicial decision

Key political and institutional reforms

Reformed the Court of Star Chamber, an independent court of justice located in the royal palace

Summoned parliament as rarely as possible (7 times in 24 years)

Secured a continental alliance: his eldest son (Arthur) married to Catherine of Aragon (aunt of
Spanish Emperor Charles V)

The Court of the Star Chamber: an inquisitorial court

A prerogative court which covered minor criminal offences:

Ex: livery and maintenance, riots and other civil disorders, misconduct of sheriffs, bribery of juries
etc.

Against the grain of common law:

- examined cases by an inquisitorial procedure (no cross-examination)
- summoned no jury
- not bound by case law

Two young princes and a Spanish princess:

Arthur marries Catherine

Dies prematurely at the age of 15
Henry VII secures the alliance with Spain by marrying his younger son to Catherine after obtaining a
papal dispensation

2. Henry VIII (1509-1547): the ‘Henrician Reforms'

2.1 The Early years Henry's reign (1509-29)

Henry VIII: a young (athletic) opinionated prince

Tries to establish his power by forming European alliances

A friend of the Papacy...

Married Catherine, his sister-in-law after his brother's death =>alliance with Catholic Spain secured

A staunch supporter of the Papacy:

- upholds the doctrine of the Church against Luther's 95 theses and becomes "Defender of the Faith"

About to join the anti-French Holy League with Spain

Late 1520s: a changing context

Male dynasty challenged: no male heir (just a girl: Mary!) = the king's « great matter »

Meets Ann Boleyn, a learned young lady acquainted with the new protestant ideas

Seeks the annulment of his marriage from the Pope: but the Pope is held prisoner by Emperor
Charles V (Catherine's nephew).

Entails constitutional and jurisdictional changes meant to deprive the Pope of his authority over the
land = the « Schism »

2.2 The Jurisdictional Reforms (1529-1536)

The Henrician reform started as a jurisdictional revolution, but had all kinds of repercussions,
institutional, political, diplomatic, economic, cultural.

To obtain the annulment of his marriage he summoned:

- the members of the higher clergy: the Convocations of the Clergy
- the members of Parliament: the Reformation Parliament 1529-1536 was so-called because passed
the main measures leading to the break with Rome.
1531 Revival of the Praemunire Act: prohibited assertion of the Pope's jurisdiction ie the clergy had
to accept Henry as "only supreme head of the English Church"
= this effectively placed the law of the land above canon law and deprived the Pope of his
sovereignty over the English clergy

1533 Act in Restraint of Appeals: declared the English clergy had authority to pronounce the
"annulment" > Archbishop Cranmer did pronounce the annulment and the marriage with pregnant
Ann Boleyn valid.
1534 (First) Act of Supremacy (cf. brochure)
1534 Treasons Act

The redefinition of Henry's powers

Henry VIII proclaimed by the members of Parliament assembled and convocations of the clergy
"(only) supreme head of the church of England called Ecclesia Anglicana”

" A temporal dimension: he becomes "emperor in his own realm" as is made clear by the reference
to "the imperial crown of this realm" and has all the attributes of an emperor (Sword and Bible cf.
portraits of the king by Hans Holbein)

A spiritual dimension: yet the act also gives a spiritual dimension to the notion of supremacy.