IMPORTANT MOMENTS in

British HISTORY
 MAIN POINTS
• Britain’s early history
• The Norman Conquest
• The Tudors
Henry VIII
Elisabeth I
• James I, Charles I, Cromwell
rule
• The House of Hanover
• The Victorian era
 Britain’ s early history
• characterized by a series of invasions:
• The Celts
 settled all over Britain
 lived as farmers
• The Romans
 occupied England, but not Cornwall, Wales or
Scotland
 built roads and fortified cities
 England a major trading nation
• The Anglo-Saxons
 first came as raiders, then as settlers
 were great farmers
 established a well-organized system of
government
• The Vikings
 raided the coastal areas for a long time
 eventually settled in the eastern and
southeastern part of England
 mingled with the Anglo-Saxons, virtually
becoming one nation, esp. under King Canute
• The Normans
 conquered the country in 1066 and ended
Anglo-Saxon rule in England for good
 The Norman Conquest
• 1066 – the most famous date in English history,
the last time England was successfully invaded
• An invading army from Normandy defeated the
English at the Battle of Hastings → the Norman
leader, Duke William of Normandy, became king of
the whole of England (‘William the Conqueror’)
• Norman rule:
 William broke up the Saxon kingdoms and gave
the land to his followers; Saxon rebellions were
brutally punished
 He had castles built to house his followers, and
the Tower of London for himself, to instill fear and
respect in the people
• He strengthened his position through
centralization of government, establishing the
Royal Council, more dependent on the King
• He reinforced the feudal system, making all
those in important positions swear to obey
him and be directly responsible to the Crown
• He kept enough land for himself to make sure
he was more powerful than his nobles
• He brought into England the law of
primogeniture – the eldest son inherited all
the father’s possessions, making the
monarchy hereditary
• Cathedrals and churches – massive
Norman cathedrals, Norman churches,
abbeys and monasteries
• The Doomsday Book (1086) – an inventory
of every cottage, farm and manor; every
acre of land, forest, pool, marsh and ditch
• Language: the rich land-owners used
Norman French, the peasants spoke Anglo-
Saxon → the peasants were obliged to use
the new words of their French masters to
express certain ideas related to war, justice,
religion, hunting, comfortable living, but
they kept their own words for everyday life
and affairs
 expressions from Norman French
entered the language of the common
people and were treated with little
respect → the stronger Germanic
element began to overshadow but not
obliterate the more elaborate Norman
French
 eventually the two tongues combined
and became a new language – Middle
English – expressive enough to be
adopted by all levels of society
 The Tudors
• Henry VIII (1509-1547)
• one of the most well-known monarchs
in English history, chiefly because he
had 6 wives during his life
• during his reign the Reformation took
place → in the 1530s, he used
Parliament to pass laws which swept
away the power of the Roman Church
in England
 HENRY VIII
• his quarrel with Rome had nothing to
do with doctrine; it was because he
wanted to be free to marry again and
to appoint whom he wished as
leaders of the Church of England
• the first king to realize the need of a
proper navy → he paid for 20 new
ships, all designed for war, and for
full-time captains to command them
 ELIZABETH I
• Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
• the first of 3 long-reigning queens in
British history
• during her reign she established, by
skillful diplomacy, a reasonable degree of
internal stability in a firmly Protestant
England, allowing the growth of a spirit of
patriotism and general confidence
• she never married, but used its possibility
as a diplomatic tool → she became known
as the ‘virgin queen’
 ELIZABETH I
• the Elizabethan Age:
 an intelligent and strong rule
 encouragement of the creation of colonies
abroad
 reorganization of the fleet → formation of a
new navy of 134 ships and merchant
vessels → the English were able to fight
and defeat the strong Spanish Armada (Sir
Francis Drake, the queen’s personal pirate)
 the blooming of arts (Edmund Spencer,
William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe)
 TUDOR BRITAIN
• The Tudor period (1485-1603) – the most glorious in
English history:
 it laid the foundations for the growth of the nation’s
wealth and for a powerful monarchy, though vast
amounts of money were extorted from the population
 the Church of England became truly British by
breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church and
control by the Pope
England's position as a major trading power and the
foremost naval power was secured by defeating the
mighty navy of Spain, the greatest European power of
the time
It brought about one of the greatest artistic periods in
English history
 James I, Charles I, Cromwell rule
• James I ( 1566-1625)
• James Stuart, the son of Mary Queen of Scots,
whom Elizabeth had executed as a traitor
• He was a Scottish catholic who believed in the
divine right to rule as he pleased → conflict
with the English parliament
• He and his son Charles I failed to understand
the English tradition of Parliamentary liberty
→ civil war (1642-1649)
• Charles I (1625-1649) immediately came into
conflict with Parliament
• He tried to rule without summoning
parliament for 11 years, but ran out of
money and summoned it in 1640 →
Parliament refused him money and the
country split between supporters of the king
(Cavaliers) and the supporters of Parliament
(roundheads) → civil war (1642-1649)
• The parliamentary forces led by Cromwell
defeated the Royalists in 1645 (the decisive
battle of Naseby) → Charles was captured
and put on trial for treason in 1649
• He refused to reorganize the court, but was
found guilty and beheaded
• Oliver Cromwell and the army (1649-
1658) emerged as the power in the land
• it was the only time in history when
England became a republic
• Cromwell was unable to find anything
to replace the monarchy
• when he died in 1658, his son Richard
succeeded, but he was not a man to
rule Britain
• in 1660 Charles II was restored to the
throne his father had died for
 The House of Hanover
• ruled Britain 1714-1815
• George I (a German who did not speak a
word of English, but was Protestant)
started the rule of the House of Hanover
under which Britain achieved wealth and
peace → at the end of the 18th century,
Britain gained all of Canada, France being
destroyed as a colonial power in North
America
• George III (George I’s grandson) – the first
British born king for 50 years → he was to
reign for the next 50 years
• Britain won new territories in Canada
and India, but lost the American colonies
→ the appointment of Pitt the Younger as
prime minister, whose legislative
program was to bring about the end of
royal power
• in Europe, French power was
manifesting itself following the French
revolution in 1789
• Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar ensured
that Britain ruled the seas, but French
troops controlled Europe
 QUEEN VICTORIA
• Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901)
• she became an increasingly popular symbol of
Britain’s success in the world
• at the beginning of the 20th century, Britain controlled
the biggest empire the world had ever seen (Ireland,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, large parts of
Africa, smaller areas and islands in the Caribbean)
• as a hard-working, religious mother of 9 children,
devoted to her husband, Prince Albert, she was
regarded as the personification of contemporary
morals → the idea that the monarch should set an
example to the people in such matters was unknown
before this time and has created problems for the
monarchy in the 20th century
• nicknamed the grandmother of Europe
 QUEEN VICTORIA
• as a hard-working, religious mother of
9 children, devoted to her husband,
Prince Albert, she was regarded as the
personification of contemporary
morals → the idea that the monarch
should set an example to the people
in such matters was unknown before
this time and has created problems
for the monarchy in the 20th century
• nicknamed the grandmother of
Europe
 THE VICTORIAN AGE
The Victorian Age:
 Industry and trade expanded rapidly
 Science and technology made great strides
 Britain expanded its colonial empire overseas
 The middle class grew enormously in power
and numbers
 better working conditions were introduced,
esp. for children and women
 elementary education was introduced
 during Queen Victoria’s reign the monarchy
became very popular