Stonehenge – The most famous circle of stones in Great Britain.

The purpose of it is still mystery,

probably astronomical, religious or political centre. (build after 3000 BC)

Skara Brae – Stone built Neolithic settlement, which is situated in Orkney in Scotland. It’s even older
than Stonehenge. Everything is made of stone there. (older than 3000 BC)

Druids – priests in Celtic tribes, they played important part in their culture. They memorised all the
religious teachings, laws and history. They were slaughtered in Anglesey (60 AD)

Hadrian – Roman emperor, after him was named the wall (Hadrian´s wall), which protected Romans
in Britain against the northern tribes. Later it marked a border between England and Scotland (1/2 nd
century)

Boadicea – her husband was Celtic king. After his death, she led the rebellion against Romans. She
nearly drove Romans from Britain. Finally, she was defeated and killed. (1 st century)

St. Patrick – Christian missionary, founder of Christianity and bishop of Ireland, later became patron
of Ireland. (5th century)

King Arthur – A legendary king, who according to legends, led the defence of Britain against Saxons.
Excalibur (legendary sword) is connected to his name (5 th - 6th century)

Augustine – A monk, he was sent by Pope to re-establish Christianity in England. He became the first
Archbishop of Canterbury (6th century)

Venerable Bede – a monk, he wrote Ecclesiastical History of English people. It´s the only source of
knowledge from the period of the Saxon (Germanic) invasion (5 th century)

Alfred the Great – Anglo-Saxon king, fought against Vikings in Wessex. He also improved educational
and law system in Britain. (9th century)

Danelaw and Danegeld – Danelaw was a territory in Britain, which was under control of Vikings.
Dalegeld was a tax, which might prevent Britain from Danish (Viking) invasion in 10 th century.

Edward the Confessor – another Anglo-Saxon king, he was interested in Church, also brought many
Normans to English court. (beginning of 2 nd century)

William the Conqueror – Duke of Normandy, conquered England in battle of Hastings in 1066, where
he defeated the king Harold. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey. (beginning of 2 nd century)

The battle of Hastings – Battle, where fought William the Conqueror and King Harold against each
other. Harold was killed. This act is depicted on Bayeux tapestry. (11 th century)

Domesday book – the economical survey, it was ordered by William the Conqueror, it was unpopular
with the people (11th century)

Homage – promise of loyalty, which was given by man to the lord. It is still part of the coronation
ceremony (Middle Ages – 1/2nd century)

Feudal pyramid – on the top of it, there is king, who owns all land and then he distributes it between
his vassals, so they only mange his land. (Middle Ages)
Thomas Becket – Archbishop of Canterbury, he was murdered by knights on kings Henry´s order. He
became saint and was said to be a martyr (12 th century)

Richard I – one of the most popular kings of England, “The Lionheart”, he mainly fought in Holy Land
against Muslims and he didn’t give a fuck on matters in England. (12 th century)

Crusades – religious wars, the main goal was to conquer the Holy Land from the Muslims. They were
mainly declared by pope. (11th - 15th century)

John the Lackland – Richard’s brother, he was greedy and unpopular, he took more money from
people, kept land for himself, was forced to sign Magna Charta (12/13 th century)

Magna Carta – charter agreed by John the Lackland, it restricted the power of king, it was the first
charter of its kind, symbolized freedom (13 th century)

Robin Hood – heroic outlaw, “he was robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.” (13 th - 14th
century)

Edward I – brought together the first real parliament, he led the war against the Scottish
independence, also called “The hammer of Scots” (13/14 th century)

William Wallace – The first leader of the Scots in Scottish war of independence against the England.
In the end, he was defeated and executed on Edward I’s orders. (end of 13 th century)

Robert de Bruce – heir to the Scottish throne, he carries on with the matter of Scottish independence
after Wallace’s death. Became a king of Scotland, won a battle of Bannockburn (14 th century)

The Hundred Years’ War – war between England and France, lasted over hundred years, is divided
into 3 parts, in the end, England was driven off the France’s territory (England had here land as the
heritage after William the Duke of Normandy) (early 14/ mid 15 th century)

Black death – the epidemic of plague, the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, more
than one third of British population died (mid 14 th century)

John Wycliffe – leader of a heretic group of Lollards, Oxford professor, he influenced our Mr. Jan Hus
beside others, translated bible from Latin into English. (14 th century)

Lollards – heresy in England, they were dangerous for Christian Church, they stood up against its
authority, one of the leaders of them was John Wycliffe (14 th century)

The Peasants’ Revolt – revolt against the king, due to increasing taxes, the leader was Wat Tyler, idea
of equality, lasted only few weeks, unsuccessful (14 th century)

Geoffrey Chaucer – British author, he wrote Canterbury tales, that depicts a group of pilgrims
heading to the Thomas Beckett‘s tomb in Canterbury (14 th century)

William Caxton - inventor of the first English printing press, he printed Canterbury Tales (15 th
century)
The Wars of the Roses – kind of civil war between two English houses – The House of Lancaster (red
rose) and The House of York (white rose), both had rose as their emblem, in the end the dynasty of
Tudors came to power (15th century)

Henry VII – the first Tudor king, had a sense for business, he avoided wars, saved o lot of money and
supported trade and merchants (15/16 th century)

John Calvin- the French reformer of Church, alongside with Martin Luther he belonged to the most
influential reformers in Europe. (16th century)

Henry VIII – son of Henry VII, spent a lot of money, he had 6 wives, some of them let to execute, he
established the Church of England and became its head (16 th century)

The Reformation – the establishment of the Church of England by the Act of Supremacy, he did so to
divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. (16 th century)

Mary Tudor – became a queen after Henry VIII’s son Edward, she was Henry’s daughter, her mother
was Catherine, after 400 years first queen, married Spanish king Philipp, also called Bloody Mary
(executions of Protestants). (mid 16th century)

Elizabeth – Mary’s sister-in-law, she sympathized with Protestants, she ordered people to go to the
church on Sundays, also called The Virgin Queen (never married) (16 th century)

Spanish Armada – the great fleet of Spanish ships, it was destroyed by Francis Drake (English army
sailor) (16th century)

East India Company – English trading company established in Elizabeth’s era, it provides trade with
India, Persia and Japan (founded 1600)

West Indies – it is region in North Atlantic Ocean (Middle America islands), there was important
export of sugar for England in history, also there operated some trading organisations

Mary Stuart – she was daughter of James I, married to the Protestant ruler of Holland, William of
Orange. (17th century)

The Presbyterians – Scottish protestant group, they wanted a democratic Church and they did not
have bishop. (16th/17th century)

James Stuart – King of England, Scotland and Ireland, he established a personal union (England and
Scotland), where both were considered as sovereign states with own parliament (16/17 th century)

Mayflower – the name of ship on which a group of puritan pilgrims (Pilgrim Fathers) escaped from
England to America (Massachusetts) (17th century)

Guy Fawkes – one of the Catholics, who intended to blow up the House of Parliament with King
James inside (17th century)

Charles I – Stuart king, he dissolved the Parliament, quarrelled with Parliament over money and was
forced to sign The Petition of right, caused a civil war and finally was executed (17 th century)
The Petition of Right – document, which Charles I was forced to sign by Parliament, due to this
document, king couldn’t imprison anyone without lawful reason and could raise money by Act of
Parliament (17th century)

The Rump Parliament – name of English Parliament, that followed the Long Parliament, there were
removed Charles I’s sympathizers, caused the execution of Charles I. (17 th century)

New Model Army - regularly paid army, established by Oliver Cromwell, consisted of devoted
Protestants (they fought for religious reasons) (17 th century)

The Puritans – religious group, they believed, they could build God’s kingdom in England, were
against Charles I., wanted to ‘purify’ the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices to become
more Protestant (16/17th century)

Oliver Cromwell – creator of New Model Army, fought against Charles I on the side of Parliament,
established not long period of Republican Britain. (17 th century)

Civil War – war between the Parliament and the king Charles I, who was defeated, captured and
afterwards executed. (mid 17th century)

The Restoration – the restoration of monarchy after Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate (17 th century)

The Glorious Revolution – the act, when Mary Stuart and William of Orange became king and queen
of England (end of 17th century)

William of Orange – The Protestant ruler of Holland, he married Mary Stuart and together they re-
established kingdom in England (mid 17 th century – early 18th century)

The Bill of Rights – act of the British Parliament, it sets basic civil rights after the Glorious Revolution
and William of Orange had to agree with it. (end of 17 th century)

Act of Settlement – it supported the Bill of right, it deals mainly with question of succession in
England (In Hanoverian dynasty) (18th century)

Act of Union – act that united England and Scotland into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain
(early 18th century)

Robert Walpole – the adviser of Hanoverian king George I, he was very influential and is considered
as the first British Prime Minister. (17/mid 18 th century)

Isaac Newton – the Cambridge professor, he started to study the gravity, and finally published book
Principia, where he explained it, had a title of Knight Bachelor. (17/18 th century)

John Locke – one of two theorists, who claimed that the power of the king must be strictly limited
(17th century)

Adam Smith – capitalist economist, who argued that the government should not interfere in trade
and industry at all (19th century)

The Jacobites – the group of Stuart supporters, who started a rebellion against the king George, but
were defeated (end of 17th – end of 18th century)
Bonnie Prince Charlie – grandson of James II (Stuart), who wanted back the throne of England (18 th
century)

Robert Burns – Scottish poet, national poet of Scotland, wrote in Scottish language (18 th century)

Thomas Paine – American politician activist, author of two pamphlets, which started American
Revolution, inspired Americans to declare independence (18 th century)

James Watt – Scottish inventor, he invented his Watt steam engine. (18 th century)

George Stephenson – mechanical engineer, built the first inter-city railway for steam locomotives.
(18/19th century)

Jethro Tull – agricultural pioneer, he initiated British Agricultural Revolution, improved a seed drill (it
was able to sew seed into rows) (17/18th century)

John Wesley – British theologian, one of the founders of Methodism, which was religious group. It
derived from Anglican Church (18th century)

Darwinism – theory of biological evolution introduced by Charles Darwin, it was revealed in his book
On the Origin of Species (19th century)

Social Darwinism – derived from Darwinism, it is trying to apply the theory of Darwinism on human
society. (late 19th century)

Admiral Nelson – leader of navy forces of Britain, fought mainly in Napoleonic Wars, killed during his
last victory in Battle of Trafalgar (18/19th century)

Duke Wellington – he was leader of army forces. He fought against Napoleon, he defeated him in his
last battle of Waterloo on 1815. (19th century)

The Tories – one of two parties, which were created in 17 th century, Irish name for thieves, natural
inheritors of Royalist position (until 19th century)

The Whigs - second of two parties, which were created in 17 th century, were afraid of absolute
monarchy, they wanted religious freedom (until 19 th century)

Robert Owen – owner of a factory, he decided to build his factory in countryside, provide workers
with nearby houses and shortened their working hours (18/19 th century)

Chartists – group of workers and radicals, they wanted vote for all adults, right for a man without
property of his own to be an MP or elections each year (19 th century)

Victorian values – includes duty, seriousness, modesty and proper behaviour, it was morality
demanded in Victorian Era, they were using a lot of euphemism (19 th century)

Class system – there were 3 classes: The Upper Class – aristocrats, landowners, The Middle Class –
merchants and factory owners, and the Working class – they worked with their hands (19 th – early
20th century)
Liberalism – political philosophy, based on liberty and equality, firstly it occurred in 17 th century,
when Charles was the king, they wanted religious liberty and equality before law (until now)

Irish famine – Irish accused England of causing famine when the potato crop failed three times. It
happened due to wheat that was exported from Irish to England (mid 19 th century)

The Labour Party – political party, derived from the Conservatives, they fought for better work
conditions and for sufficiency of job opportunities (founded 1900)

Suffragettes – the group of radical women, who wanted to have right to vote and fought for women
rights at all, they wanted them because they worked as same as men. (early 20 th century)

The Easter Rising – a rebellion of Irishmen in Dublin during WWI, they didn’t wanted to fought for
Britain, and wanted independence, the rebellion was put down and its initiators were executed (early
20th century)

Michael Collins – soldier and politician, who was a leading figure in the struggle of Irish
independence in (20th century)

IRA – (The Irish Republican Army) armed movement of Irish nationalists, they believed in
independence of Ireland and they used violence for its achieving (mid 20 th century – early 21st)

Sinn Fein – Irish nationalist political party, which is known for supporting the IRA movement
(founded 20th century)

Neville Chamberlain – British Prime Minister at the beginning of the WWII, took part in treaty of
Munich (1938, Czechoslovakia) (20th century)

Winston Churchill – British Prime Minister after Chamberlain, he remained there during WWII,
elected for PM also in 1951-55, won a Nobel Prize (20 th century)

The Battle of Britain – it was during WWII when Hitler wanted to invade GB, it was mainly war of air
forces RAF vs. Luftwaffe, Britain was hardly bombarded. (mid 20 th century)

The Empire – UK was so called The British Empire, due to their great expansion all over the world.
They had a lot of colonies in Africa, America etc. (20 th century)

Gandhi - man who launched the Quit India civil disobedience movement and helped overthrow the
British rule (19th century - mid 20th century)

The Welfare State – idea of New Liberals, which is based on support of citizens by e.g. preventing
from starving, paying national insurance or unemployed and sick people would be helped. (19/20 th
century)

NHS – organization founded after WWII, that should provide health and medical services to the
citizens. (mid 20th century – now)

Margaret Thatcher – the first female Prime Minister in GB, also known as “The Iron Lady”, led the
last Britain’s colonial war in Argentina. (mid 20 th century – 2013)
Tony Blair – Prime Minister and former of Labour Party in UK, he sympathized with Bush (USA
president), and that’s because GB took part in invasion of Afghanistan (mid 20 th century – now)

Scottish referendum 1997 and 2014 – referendums, dealt with the issue of Scottish independence. In
2014 it was decided that Scottish will stay the part of United Kingdom.