-
1. BEFORE ROMANS IBERIAN AND CELT BRITAIN
it was probably just after the glacial epoch that Britain was
first inhabited by homo sapiens; it was then still connected to the
Continent by the land-bridge; when Britain became an island it was
soon a tempting place for invasions having rich soil and moderate
climate; iron and other metals, timber, fresh water; the earliest
people who came to Britain were Neolithic people (3000-2000 BC),
then Megalithic people built great stone circles (which served
either as temples or astronomical observatories, or both), - like
Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain (built 1800-1400 BC)there pre-Celt
inhabitants of the land, dark-haired, who we can call Iberians;
most of them remained in remote and hostile regions of Scotland,
Wales and Ireland; the Celts, tall men, fair and red-haired,
entered Britain mostly in two waves: 800 BC and 600BC; they imposed
themselves as aristocracy on previous inhabitants of Britain, and
the races mixed; like the Iberians, the Celts did not develop any
state organisation, remaining in tribes; we dont know much about
their religious beliefs: in spirits, fairies etc.; religion was
organised by their priests called the Druids; the descendants of
Iberians and Celts now live mostly in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and
Cornwall;
2. ROMAN TIMESthe Roman occupation took place between the coming
of the Celts and the Saxons (delaying the latter by 200 years); the
Celts, later the Saxons and the Danes came to slaughter the
inhabitants and settle in their place, but the Romans came to
exploit and govern by the right of superior civilisation; the
Romans did not leave as much in Britain as they did in the Gaul
(France), they did not latinise it;
the first Roman attempt to invade Britain was made by Julius
Caesar in 54 BC, but his expedition was no great success; the
actual conquest of the island took place under the Emperor
Claudius, AD 43, the country was quite easily submitted to Romans,
partly because of internal struggles and better organisation of
Roman army;the exception to this easy submission was the rising of
Boadicea (Boudicca); the Celtic queen, AD 61; according to
tradition, 70,000 men were killed in the uprising; she committed
suicide (?); now is a symbol, a statue in Londonthe Romans did not
bother much to conquer mountainous regions of the country; they
were confined to England and Wales;
the Romans improved the country; they built towns (developing
London) where they kept garrisons called castra;many Roman
garrisons may be recognised by the names: Chester, Manchester,
Chichester, Doncaster, Gloucester, Exeter; Roman towns had
defensive walls, a forum, baths, market place, temple and theatres;
They built defensive walls from sea to sea in the north: Antoninus
Wall in Scotland, and Hadrians Wall (partly exists) which runs from
Carlisle to Newcastle (built 123 AD);
- the Romans had to leave Britain in AD 410 when Rome was
threatened with an invasion of Germanic peoples;
the three things that the Romans left:- the traditional
importance of certain new city sites (esp. London founded in a very
attractive site on the river Thames)- the Roman roads no one made
any more hard roads until the 18th cent.; the roads increased the
speed of Saxon, Danish and Norman conquests; aided the unification
of England by Saxon and Norman kings; - Welsh ChristianityHowever,
the Latin life of the cities, the villas, the arts, the language,
the political organisation all that has gone;
3. ANGLO-SAXON INVASION
- the first attacks of Anglo-Saxon raiders (pirates) from the
continent began around 250 AD; it started a number of waves of
Nordic invasions (people from Scandinavia, present day Denmark and
Germany Germanic peoples) that lasted until 1020 AD; - at the
beginning the east coast of Great Britain was fortified, even the
Romans built a fleet to protect the coast, but soon the situation
grew worse, especially after the Roman withdrawal- the Nordic
invasions are more important than Roman conquest and even than the
later Norman conquest there were few Romans and Norman-French
people settled mainly in aristocracy; the Nordic conquest had more
serious permanentresults as it was accompanied by a general
displacement of Celtic by Nordic people from richest agricultural
parts of theisland; - in the first wave there were three main
Nordic peoples: - Jutes (northern Denmark) established their
kingdom in Kent- Saxons (northern Germany) kingdoms in Sussex,
Wessex and Essex
1
-
- Angles (southern Denmark) most numerous landed in East Anglia,
kingdoms of Deira, Mercia, Bernicia, Northumbria; (map Trevelyan
41)- about 613 the new country, consisting of many small states
(Northumbria was the largest) became to be known as Engle-land or
England (because the majority were Angles their dialect gradually
became the common language of all people); - the Anglo-Saxons had a
different form of government more limited form of despotism, a very
primitive form of democracy based on tribal customs tie of kinship
between all members of the clan; war leaders became kings; the king
had an advisory council Witan and every village a moot meeting
place where local affairs were discussed; the law was customary and
became known as Common Law- although the Anglo-Saxons used a Runic
alphabet, their culture was lower than that of Romanised Britons;
an orderly Roman-Celtic world began to fall into chaos in the 4th
century AD; life and property became less and less secure- the
Anglo-Saxons were bloody-minded pirates rejoicing to destroy the
civilisation higher than their own and later attempting to settle
on its land themselves;- the early Anglo-Saxons were not
city-dwellers: they destroyed the Roman cities and villas instead
of living in them; - another general result of this conquest was
destroying the peace and unity of Roman province frequent wars
within the country- also wars with the Welsh, who were removed from
their best lands; - Anglo-Saxons were rural people lived in
villages, cultivated the land, fishermen, smiths, weavers, - lived
in houses called halls; one room, hearth (fire) in the middle,
smoke coming through the hole in the thatched roof;tables, beds,
places for domestic animals in the halls; small windows in the
upper parts;- heathens names of their gods are registered in
English names of the weekdays; fatalists the Fate called Wyrd;
melancholic; sad poetry (alliterative) stories of Germanic
heroes
- the times of Anglo-Saxon conquest were depicted by Bede: BEDE:
commonly known as the Venerable Bede (Czcigodny Beda), (c. 672 735)
was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery. He is well known as an
author and scholar, whose best-known work is Historia ecclesiastica
gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People)
gained him the title "The father of English History" history from
the time of Caesar to the date of its completion (731)
4. CHRISTIANISATION
- after the legalisation of Christian religion in the Roman
Empire (Constantine, 313), there was quite a number of Christians
in Britain: hermits and missionaries; their names commemorated in
many place names (St. Ive, St. Endelion);- when the Anglo-Saxon
invasions began, it was for the British Celts not only the problem
of national survival, but also a problem of defence of Christianity
associated with higher civilisation of Rome;
- the leader of British against the Anglo-Saxon; became the
symbol of Christianity, the defender of faith: Artorius
calledArthur;Arthur, king of the Britons: important figure in the
mythology of Great Britain; the central character in Arthurian
legendspresented by Welsh chronicles as victorious leader; the
picture of Our Lady on his shield; his victory over the English
atBaton Hill (516) stopped the English for about 50 years; - some
people believe that the mythical hero Arthur is based on the real
war leader (not necessarily a king) of Romano-British origin; -
another school of thought believes that Arthur is a half-forgotten
Celtic deity devolved into a personage;- Arthur first appears in
Welsh literature since 6th cent. - he later appears in medieval
romances (starting from AD 1133, Geoffrey of Monmouth produced a
manuscript called the Historia Regum Britanniae); renewed interest
in the Arthurian Legend in Norman times (possibly anti-Saxon
reasons)- in these versions, which gained popularity beginning in
the 12th century, Arthur gathered the Knights of the Round Table
(Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad, and others). At his court, most often
held at Camelot, could sometimes be found the wizard Merlin.
Arthur's knights engaged in fabulous quests, famously including one
for the Holy Grail. Other stories from the Celtic world came to be
associated with Arthur, such as the tale of Tristan and Isolde. In
the late prose romances the love affair between Arthur's champion,
Lancelot, and the Queen, Guinevere, becomes the central reason for
the fall of the Arthurian world;
- Christianity was strange to the Nordic mind: it taught
charity, humility, self-discipline, spiritual concern, soul-body
distinction, fear and hope about the next life; - Nordic religion
was the worship of Odin and Thor, warriors religion; advocating
manliness, generosity, loyalty, roughhonesty; sacrifice of cattle,
horses or even slaves; not religion of dread, it taught not to be
afraid of death; fatalistic, even gods were in the hands of Fate
(Wyrd);
2
-
- the first place where Christianity flourished on the British
Isles was Ireland, which was baptised by St. Patrick (Romanised
Briton missionary probably Welsh) date not certain 432-460 (?); -
then the Irish began colonising Western Scotland and going there as
missionaries; most important St. Columba landed on Iona island and
founded there a church and monastery in 563; - later the
Scoto-Irish Christianity managed to convert Northumbria;
- the other wing of Christian invasion to the island: the south:
597 the Roman mission to England led by St. Augustinelands in Kent
(a tool of the pope Gregory the Great); Benedictine monks- often
Nordic kings were persuaded by their Christian wives to convert to
Christianity e.g. king Ethelbert (wife Bertha), later founding a
church in Canterbury; - then Christianity started spreading into
England; e.g. Paulinus converted King Edwin of Northumbria; later
replaced by the mission of Aidan from Iona; - it began the dispute
between the Celtic and Roman churches (different church
organisations, different holiday dates etc.); it was resolved by
the Synod of Whitby (664) summoned by Northumbrian king Oswy;
giving Rome rights as the inheritor of St. Peter; - this decision
to adhere to Roman system of religion gave impetus to the movement
towards racial unity, kingly and feudal power, centralisation,
systematic administration, legislation and taxation against tribal
politics; - subsequent growth of church organisation, many parish
churches; difficult to distinguish clearly between the Church and
the State;
- Christianity also meant for England an advance in culture; it
brought the Latin alphabet (easily adopted to the English language,
only a few symbols added); - the alphabet made the school education
possible, - the Bible opened to people the heritage of Christian
and Oriental culture;
- interestingly, until the middle of 7th cent. main power in
Saxon England was in the North (which never claimed the leadership
later, perhaps until the industrial revolution); it was only later,
after the coming of the Danes that the city of London became the
leader of England
5. THE DANISH INVASION
- a hundred years after settling in Britain, Nordic people
forgot their sea-faring skills, devoted themselves to farming
life;- the invaders came actually both from Denmark as well as from
Scandinavian fiords; - the Vikings were called sons of the creek
landed on an inlet of water near the sea, built a fort and began to
raid a country;- they were strong, violent men, looking for
adventure, bloodshed, gold, drink and women their raids were the
result of rumours of rich west as well as infertile lands and
polygamy producing many landless solitary young men; - in their
raids, the Vikings went as far as Piraeus or Constantinople; -
around 787 the Danes first invaded Northumbria; purely destructive
raids;- around 867 they organised so-called Great Army and after
defeating Northumbrian, divided it among themselves;
- 871 Danish chief Guthrum sailed up the Thames and tried to
conquer Wessex but was opposed by the new young kingAlfred Alfred
the Great; Alfred bought peace for 5 years, later was attacked and
defeated but managed to escape andreorganise the army- 878 Alfred
defeats the Danes in the battle of the Valley of White Horse;
knowing he was unable to drive the Danes outof England he signs a
Treaty of Wedmore, establishing Danelaw (Northumbria, Eastern
Mercia, leaving Wessex free), area where the Danes may settle and
live according to their customs, but accepting Christianity;-
Alfred well used the years of peace until his death (901);
reorganised the army, created the navy, established the rules of
law, introduced school system, many books translated from Latin
- only northern part of Northumbria (north of the Tyne) was not
conquered by the Vikings; it remained the Saxon kingdom of
Northumberland (for a few centuries between England and Scotland);-
around 860 Kenneth MacAlpine became the King of the united Picts
and Scots in the north;
- Alfreds son, Edward the Elder started the re-conquest of the
Danelaw, it was completed by his successor Athlestan, - 973, Edgar,
a grandson of Alfred, was crowned as the king of the whole united
England, which consisted of Wessex and also included Mercia and
Northumbria (Danelaw); - it was easy to incorporate the Danes from
Danelaw as they were, just as Anglo-Saxons, of Nordic origin, and
did not come to Britain to establish their kingdom;
- the life in late Anglo-Saxon England marked the breakdown of
the tribal and clan social organisation, rise of feudal system,
together with some specialisation of social functions;
3
-
- there was a distinction between a peasant and a warrior; below
the king there was a class of thegns (thanes) feudal lords whose
function was to protect their freeholders, thralls and serfs in
times of frequent wars, they worked for him; - this differentiation
led far from equality but enabled settled order, civilisation and
wealth; - every man must have a lord to be answerable in court for
his misdoings (previously it was his kinsmen); - the kings had
actually little control over thegns in local matters, needed them
only for national defence - in general the prestige of the Crown
rose when the Kings of Wessex became the Kings of all England -
definitely some decentralising feudal tendencies, but they were to
be postponed until much later; - United England was administered in
four or six Earldoms
- about the end of 10th cent. the second wave of Danish invaders
came to England in the times of an incompetent king Ethelred the
Redeless (Unready); - they obviously did not attack Danelaw, but
the south of England Wessex- Ethelred was not eager to fight the
Danes but he preferred buying peace with so-called Danegeld: it
began to be paid in Alfreds times, and amounted to extraordinary
sums, contributing to the decline of English lower classes (heavy
taxation); - soon after Ethelreds death there was a struggle for
the throne between his son Edmund Ironside and Canute, son of
Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard; Edmund soon died and the Saxon Witan
had to choose his successor so they chose Canute (1016); who
actually proved to be a fortunate choice for a king- this was the
example of the elective character of English monarchy at that time;
Canutes successors, Harold and William the Conqueror, had none of
them legal title to the throne;
- during the times of later Danish wars the role of London as a
city rose immensely; it was fortified and colonised by Alfred, in
times of Ethelred it was centre of English resistance; it was
initially opposing Canute, but later he turned out to be a good
ruler also for London; - London was an important port, and Danish
rule increased the safety of sea trade (pirates) in the North Sea;
- the Danish merchants became the leading citizens of London;
- Canute at first was a foreign conqueror in England, holding
his throne by the sword; - since 1020 he began the policy of
reconciling the two races on a basis of equality and also started
his alliance with the Church; - both Anglo-Saxon and Danish were
official languages of the kings court- he established a navy and a
professional army of housecarls- Canute could have established a
strong Nordic empire (England, Norway, Denmark) but he died at
forty (1035) and his empire soon dissolved for lack of adequate
strong successors;
- after Canutes death his kingdom broke up between two sons;
they both died soon and the Witan gave the throne to Edward the
Confessor, the descendent of Ethelred, who was brought up in French
Normandy; - Edward was a childless, pious king who was mainly
interested in building Westminster Abbey (he was buried there and
his throne is still used for the purposes of coronation)- Edwards
interest was no longer directed towards the Nordic Empire but
rather to Normandy, which resulted in preparing way for the Norman
Conquest and Britains long link with France
6. THE NORMAN CONQUEST
- before, the influences that governed England came from
Scandinavia, but dating from the accession of Edward the Confessor
(1042), for the next hundred years they were to come from
Normandy;- the Norman aristocracy were Scandinavian by origin (part
of Normandy was similar to Danelaw in England), and keptthe Viking
energy in colonisation and war, but become converts to Latin
culture and Christianity;- they had one quality which Scandinavians
and English lacked the instinct for political unity and
administrative consolidation;- the Norman State established by
Danes and Norsemen was different from other Viking states, and also
different from French Paris-based state; most of peasants were
French, Scandinavians included fishermen, merchants and
aristocracy- new method of fighting: instead of fighting on foot
with the battle-axe, they fought from the horse-saddle with the
spear and sword, cavalry; more private castles- after the French
model, Norman feudalism was strictly territorial, fixed and
heritable - on the top was the Duke, then the barons, under each of
them the knights and under them peasants: serfs bound to the soil
and to his lord who owned the soil; they were not able to be
transferred, unlike in England, which resulted in more stable and
better organised structure;- the barons owed military service to
the Duke on account of the lands they held from him (unlike in
England where thegns did so by personal or national obligation);
the knights had a similar obligation to barons; - the power of the
Duke was very strong, he had his own administrative and tax
officers; the power was supported strongly by the Church
4
-
- the Normans, nonetheless, were not so much civilised: not
learned, barbarian in treating subjects and enemies;
- after Canutes death his kingdom broke up between two sons;
they both died soon and the Witan gave the throne to Edward the
Confessor (1042), the descendent of Ethelred, who was brought up in
French Normandy, and was more of aFrench monk than an English king;
- Edward was a childless, pious king who prepared the way for the
Norman Conquest and Britains long link with France; - Edward
brought many Normans into high positions in English State and
Church (a number of bishops); - he moved the kings capital from
Winchester to London;- Edwards England was a weak country divided
into six great Earldoms with powerful rulers, the most powerful
Earl Godwin (Wessex, his daughter married Edward)
- 1066 Edward dies, and Harold, Godwins son (blood of
Scandinavian kings) is elected king;- but his right to the throne
was disputed and in the autumn of 1066 England was attacked in two
separate invasions: by Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and
William, Duke of Normandy (distant relative to the Ethelred the old
king), though bastard;- William claimed that once Edward named him
as his successor (though last Edwards will was that Harold should
takeover)- William prepared the way for his invasion of England by
diplomacy and propaganda in many countries;
- William had no power under feudal law to call out his vassals
to a foreign campaign for longer than 40 days; but manyof barons
from Normandy, Brittany and Flanders voluntarily engaged in it; -
the power of the army lay not in size but in training; there were
at most 12,000 men, half of which cavalry; that they could conquer
a country of 1.5 million people tells about political and military
backwardness of the English system- the element of luck that
William had was that England was attacked simultaneously in the
north (Harald Hardrada, King of Norway) and Harold, after a
victorious battle in the north (Stamford Bridge) had to rush to the
southern coast, where the Norman landed; - the battle took place
near Hastings (14 October 1066); two armies represented different
systems; Harolds housecarls were infantry (sometimes on horseback)
fighting with battle-axes, William had cavalry fighting with
spearand sword, also archers with bows; - in the evening the battle
ended, won by Duke William
- the battle had surprisingly hardly any effect in terms of
resistance: earls, thegns, bishops and sheriffs thought that, like
under Canute, they will retain their privileges and wanted to make
easy peace with the conqueror; - on Christmas Day 1066, in
Westminster William the Conqueror was crowned as lawful king of
England (heir of Edward the Confessor); - the conquest, however,
had different effects from previous invasions: it was an invasion
of a group of barons who attacked the country to divide it among
themselves and draw income from the land and work of Anglo-Saxon
peasants; - in 1069 the Dukes of Mercia and Northumbria rebelled
against William but were soon overpowered; - the last opposition
was defeated by William in 1071 siege of the Isle of Ely (Fens
marshland)
7. NORMAN INSTITUTIONS ESTABLISHED
- the conquest resulted in replacing old Anglo-Saxon form of
feudalism with the new, Norman one (described before); - it put an
end to the separation of the country into northern Danelaw and
southern Wessex; - the Danish freeman became the villein of the
manor (subject of the lord); - the English earls and thegns were
replaced by the Norman barons- new administrative divisions of the
country; old English shire replaced by Norman County;
- establishing a rigorously feudal system, William prevented
England from falling into general European anarchy of political
feudalism- he prepared the ground for the gradual development of
monarchical bureaucracy far from despotic power- William swore to
observe old Saxon laws;- it was a duty of a feudal king to consult
his main tenants (who held land directly from him); it gave rise to
royal Council or Court of William, which was the predecessor of the
Parliament;- in 1086 William organised the Domesday Survey,
preparing the Domesday Book collection of facts made for fiscal
purpose an inventory of land, people, animals, crops etc. - in
place of old Danegeld, the Norman King and Council imposed a heavy
tax sum on each shire (county); - obviously taxation strengthened
the royal power
- William brought his won bishops and imposed them on the
Church; - four centuries of splendid ecclesiastical architecture
began: the Norman builders replaced old Saxon churches with more
magnificent structures;
5
-
- the compulsory celibacy of priests was introduced at the
bidding of the Pope; - one other reform of the Conqueror was the
division of the spiritual from the secular courts; this enabled the
development of English Common Law (it would not be possible with
Roman Church courts of law);
- William the Conquerors successor, William Rufus, claimed the
right to appoint bishops but often failed to do so in order to draw
income from vacant bishops seats;- he was not as prudent monarch as
his father, ruthless and despotic;- Rufus was generally hated and
killed while hunting
- Rufus brother, Henry I, seized the throne, although it
belonged to his brother Robert, who was on a crusade a cause for
war;- Henry renounced the power of appointing bishops, giving it to
the Pope; although he still had the tactical right of choice and
was officially their liege;
- the final outcome of the Norman Conquest was the making of the
English language;- the barons were French-speaking, so was the
court influence of French on English language (visible now)- the
Anglo-Saxon tongue, the language of Alfred and Bede was exiled from
the hall, from court and cloister and despised as peasants jargon;
it almost ceased to be the written language; - the gentry talked
French and the clergy talked Latin; - because the English language
was spoken by plain people for 3 centuries, its grammar easily
simplified - at the same time, the vocabulary became enriched by
the French; esp. in words relating to war, politics, justice,
religion, cooking, hunting and art;- improved in this way, English
re-entered more learned society;
8. THE EARLY PLANTAGENET KINGS HENRY II
- the medieval period (Middle Ages) as distinct from Dark Ages
may be said to begin with the First Crusade (1095); growth from
barbarism to civilisation; advance from despotic form of
government, from Empire;- the characteristic institution of the
Middle Ages was feudalism; the unit of power was the barony, the
manor; good military, political and judicial organisation of
power;
- after the death of Henry Is son, William, there was a period
of anarchy under the reign of Stephen de Blois (Henrys nephew); -
these were the years of a disputed succession between Stephen and
Henrys daughter; the country was tortured by the atrocities of
feuds; simple people exhausted by work to build great stone
castles; - finally, Stephen was succeeded by son of Matilda and
Geoffrey Plantagenet (1154), Henry Plantagenet;
- Henry II was actually French, came from Anjou (central
France); he ruled both England as well as the western part of
France, up to the Pyrenees; England was his largest province; his
court moved often from place to place;- Henry developed strong
monarchy;- from Henry II times the stabilisation, progress of
civilisation, arts, crafts and wealth: French-speaking Kings
preventedconstant invasions like in Anglo-Saxon period and stopped
private wars within the country (typical of Medieval Europe);- the
knights were no longer called out for feudal military service: it
was hard for a foreign king to take them to France if he could do
it only for 40 days; instead, the nobles started paying so-called
shield-money for which the king boughtmercenaries (both English and
foreign); actually some knights became mercenaries themselves,
fighting in France, Scotland and elsewhere- the knight lost his
interest in warfare, turning it to agricultural local matters: the
predecessor of the figure of English country gentleman;- Henry II
demolished many unlicensed stone castles and ordered the building
of stone manor-houses; it had a walled courtyard at the front and
one gateway protected by moss; defensible against a mob or a troop
on horse but nor really against a serious siege (like a castle
could be); - the rule of primogeniture adopted for land, to avoid
dividing it among the sons, all goes to the eldest son; younger
sonswere sent to Europe to seek fortunes;- the growth of a leisured
class: more and more land under plough, increasing population of
peasants, manorial system of agriculture, disinheritance of younger
brothers all increased the wealth of the knights: they spent the
surplus of it oncomforts and amenities in manor-houses, on arts and
minstrels in the hall, they engaged in sports, hunting etc.- the
wealth of the feudal classes caused the rise of towns, new middle
classes engaged in manufacture and trade;
- the peasants: a freeman (freeholder) very few of them,
proportionally; and villein (serf): half-slave, bound to the soil
by birth and inheritance, he and his family were sold together with
the estate, could not migrate, had to work a number of days a year
on lords domain with his team of oxen to plough;
6
-
- villeins work was supervised by lords bailiff; but lord did
not have any claim on him on some days, villein could share the use
and profit of village meadow, pasture, woodland and waste where
they kept swine and geese; - the lords took some care of villeins,
counting on their willing work; they were to a certain extent
protected by law; the lords, e.g. could not raise the rent more
than it was in the customary law; - the system flourished in
England, in the Domesday Book times (1086) there were about 1.5
million inhabitants, it grew to the time of Black Death (1349) to 4
million; - the serf was quite primitive, fearful, ignorant,
superstitious; - cattle and sheep were eaten only by lords, for
peasants were pigs, fish and birds;- apart from farming: carpenters
(built houses and furniture), thatchers (roofs), blacksmiths, women
and children were spinsters (weavers); coarse clothing, often made
of animal hide; - peasants lived in primitive wooden-clay houses,
often without windows and chimneys, surrounded by a small
orchard,garden or yard;- West and North small hamlets of a few
dozen farms; East and Middle England large villages of 200-500
people; - lord, freeman and villein cultivated common field which
had stripes belonging to each of them; one third of the fieldlay
fallow each year; (MANORIAL VILLAGE PICTURE: TREVELYAN p. 151); -
windmills uncommon, rather water mills;
- Henry II had a conflict with Thomas Becket: it was initially
his friend and Henry appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury,
wanting to have some control over church through him; - 1164 Henry
proclaimed the Constitutions of Clarendon: they subjected churchmen
to royal courts, forbade the church to excommunicate people without
kings permission and forbade the clergy to appeal to Rome; - but
Becket refused to accept the Constitutions and opposed Henry; -
Henrys anger inspired four knights to murder Becket in Canterbury
Cathedral; (T.S. Eliot Murder in the Cathedral)- Becket became a
symbolical famous martyr, the state had to suffer problems; people
started pilgrimages to Canterbury(Chaucers Canterbury Tales);
- the greatest benefits that England had from Henry II was the
legal reform;- Henry recognised the old Anglo-Danish tradition of
Common Law as a basis for legal system rather than Roman Law;- the
Common Law was reworked in the new fashion- Henry II abolished
old-fashioned barbarous methods of trial: compurgation (a man
bringing his friends and family to support his oath); ordeal by hot
iron (heathen originally but later performed by priests); trial by
battle; - instead, he introduced the trial by jury- established the
Central Court of Justice and the Appeal Court;
9. THE CRUSADES, MAGNA CARTA, BEGINNINGS OF PARLIAMENT
- improved warfare: feudal cavalry; self-confidence of Christian
feudal kingdoms; many victories and regaining power (with Vikings,
Spanish Moors, etc); - the Crusades satisfied the demands for piety
as well as for exploration and plunder;- obviously, for England the
Crusades were not a national movement (like e.g. for France), but
for individual knights;- First Crusade with little involvement of
the English (1095-1099)
- Third Crusade English King took part in it, taking with him a
number of knights; Richard Coeur de Lion (the Lion-Hearted); - the
legend made Richard a model of chivalry; W. Scotts Ivanhoe - he was
not a successful king: negligent, absent, imposing heavy taxes on
people; - quarrels with fellow-crusaders led to imprisonment in
Austria; high ransom had to be paid for him; - leaving for a
Crusade, Richard left the power in the hands of Hubert Walter, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and his brother John (called John
Lackland); - John tried to take kings power when Richard was
absent, but with the help of Hubert his treason was suppressed;-
after releasing him, Richard soon left England again and died
wounded by some knight a few years later (1199)
- John became Richards successor; - not a successful king,
either; oppressed people through taxation; - the reign of John was
the time of the movement of constitutional resistance, first only
the demands of the Barons, then embracing all classes of freemen; -
John was actually the man causing this: false, selfish, cruel, but
without a good political strategy; - John started selling municipal
independence to towns, they were becoming self-governed, London was
the first city to elect their own Mayor; - John spent a lot on
unsuccessful attempts to defend his French inheritance against the
rising power of kings of France;- Johns coalition with German
allies was defeated in 1214 in the battle of Bouvines loss of
Normandy; gradual loss ofconnections with France;
7
-
- the Barons, the bishops (led by Archbishop Stephen Langton)
and the thanes combined and forced king John to sign Magna Carta
Libertatum (the Great Charter of Liberties) 1215; a kind of
constitution; but more technical and less general than later
constitutions- it gave the church freedom of electing bishops- the
barons and the towns were granted participation in fixing the
amount of taxes; - no freeman could be imprisoned (or persecuted)
unless tried by his peers and found guilty; - individual liberty- a
council of 25 barons appointed to see that the points of charter
were obeyed: a rather clumsy instrument, but barons did not have
any idea of Parliamentary institutions; - the idea behind barons
changes was not to undermine Henry IIs feudalism, but to put it
under common control;- later Magna Carta became very symbolic
liberty, roots of democracy etc. - a year later king John died
(1216)
- succeeded by Henry III; the struggle for the Charter, period
of civil war and constitution-making; - in 1258 a group of barons,
led by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, forced King Henry III
to accept a new form of government in which power was placed in the
hands of a council of 15 members who were to supervise ministerial
appointments, local administration and the custody of royal
castles. Parliament, which was to meet three times a year, would
monitor the performance of this council- the document was called
Provisions of Oxford and was significantly written not only in
French and Latin but also in English- Henry III broke the agreement
in 1261 and Civil war broke out; Simon de Montfort's army met and
defeated the royal forces at the Battle of Lewes in 1264;- in 1265
Simon de Montfort became the leader of the Parliament; he summoned
not only the knights but also representatives from other social
classes; - but it was soon dissolved after Simon was killed at the
battle of Evesham in 1265; (this time was later compared to
Cromwellian revolution)
10. EDWARDIAN TIMES: THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONS
- in the Middle Ages a human being in England had actually no
human rights, personal freedom had to wait for the Renaissance and
Reformation which, freeing the villeins, gave basis for new
economic system- four new great institutions had increasing power
in those times: A. the Universities; B. the orders of friars
(travelling monks), C. the lawyers incorporated in the Inns of
Court, D. the Parliament (the House of Commons)
A. Universities- Universities were the invention of Middle Ages,
ancient learning and wisdom did not organise in this way- for long
centuries the Church had all the knowledge in cloisters and
cathedrals; - 12th century: new intentions for learning: partly
owing to contacts set up by the Crusades (Arabic numerals
mathematics), partly to study of classical Latin and Greek
philosophy and learning; - universities spread in Europe in 12th
and 13th centuries;
- partly because of the trouble between Henry II and the king of
France, the English students at the University of Paris were
forbidden by Henry to study there (1167), they migrated to their
native island and founded a University at Oxford (not possible to
establish an accurate date, since some teaching had already taken
place there even in 11th century)- convenient location spot: easy
access to the south and west of England; houses for lodging,
taverns, etc.
- following the murder of two students accused of rape in 1209,
the University was disbanded (leading to the foundationof the
University of Cambridge). In 1214, the University returned to
Oxford- Cambridge was a convenient spot as well: meeting-place of
waterways and Roman roads from the north and east of England;-
Scottish people went to Paris and Padua until they founded their
own university at St. Andrews (1410)
- medieval Oxford and Cambridge were not for the upper classes:
barons and knights considered themselves above this education- the
villeins obviously were below it- a typical student came from the
middle-class: a yeoman (farmer owning his ground), craftsman,
tradesman; he studied from the age of 14 to 21;- university
education opened the path to promotion in the Church and also to
become a civil servant, secretary of a nobleman, physician,
architect or lawyer; - the organisation of Universities depended on
Colleges
B. Friars- coming from the continent in the 13th cent.; two
orders: Dominicans and Franciscans;- made a great religious revival
among the poor
8
-
- they addressed the poorest, the most neglected, the diseased,
those who were not sufficiently provided for by the parish system-
before the friars, religion was addressed to more well-off,
especially sacraments, friars made them more available- the
movement connected with monasteries limited Gods garden to the area
behind the monastery walls;- the theory was that friars could not
hold any property; in practice, they had some libraries and
churches; - in the 14th century the friars were considered enemies
by the parish churches;
- in the 14th and 15th centuries money-lending passed into
English hands as a result of the expulsion of the Jews- the Jews
came to England after William the Conqueror; they were used by the
king and barons to borrow money for interest; this practice was
forbidden by the Christian church;- the only protector of the Jews
was the king, they were otherwise hated, especially for their
fortunes, often suffered horrible pogroms- Edward I drove the Jews
out of England (~1290)- money-lending business passed into the
hands of the Flemings and Italians, later of the English
capitalist;
C. Legal reform- Edward I has been called the English Justinian
(Roman emperor who codified the law)- under his reign the
institutions of the medieval state began to flourish;- the years of
Edward I saw the beginning of Statute Law: the legal-minded king
passed many Statutes through his Parliament; - the Statutes were
new, changed the substance of the law; before: old law, common law,
Anglo-Danish, customary, unwritten; feudal law, customary; case law
made by decisions of famous royal judges; - the Statutes mostly
defined the feudal land law
- furthermore, Edward was responsible for defining the law
courts; - the courts of Common Law were manned by secular people;
new class of people, educated at Universities;- as the English
Universities developed Colleges, the lawyers built their Inns of
Court; they grouped their halls, librariesand dwelling places in
one place, halfway between the commercial centre of London and the
political capital at Westminster;
D. Parliament- Englands Parliament was not a fruit of any
revolution but a gradual development;- during the times of three
Edwards the Parliament acquired something like its present form-
after the experiences of de Montfort, Edward I saw in frequent
national gatherings the essence of government- Edwards object was
not to limit the royal power, but to make it more efficient by
keeping in tough with the life of the governed;- around 1295 he
accepted the composition of Model Parliament, the complete image of
the nation: barons, bishops,2 members chosen by each city, shire
and diocese)- the Parliament was not divided into 2 houses, the
House of Commons originated in the times of Edward III; - no
taxation without representation motto; one of Edwardian purposes
was collecting money for his wars with Scotland and France; - the
king also used the Parliament to check the misdeeds of local
officials; people could bring petitions and complaints
11. IRELAND, SCOTLAND, WALES (EDWARDIAN TIMES): SAXONS AND
NORMANS VS. THE CELTS
Ireland- before: the times of the beginning of Christianity;
monasticism- the invasions of the Vikings: the Danes conquered some
land and founded port cities (e.g. Dublin), - the Irish were
regarded as savages, as they were not controlled by the Pope-
Adrian IV (the only English Pope) gave Henry II the right to
conquer Ireland to bring it to Roman Christianity - Henry II was
too busy on the continent, the conquest was began by private
adventurers led by Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed
Strongbow (coming from Wales); - the Danes were soon defeated and
brought out of the country- the basis of Anglo-Norman rule in
Ireland was the building of stone castles;- the natives were
weaker, more primitive fighting methods, not united for the lack of
feeling of national identity; living in tribes- Henry II did not
have enough power to control the conquest and it continued slowly-
a part of Ireland under English influence around Dublin was called
Pale, the rest was a mixture of English feudal influences and
Celtic chiefs
- in the times of Edward I a period of prosperity more attention
paid by the king- Edward II: clashes with the Scots, the Bruce
brothers invaded Ireland through Ulster; English influence weakened
for 2 centuries;
9
-
- The Hundred Years War distracted Englands attention from
Ireland, Richard II in the interval of this war came with his army
to Ireland and was defeated: for a long time no English king set
foot in Ireland;- times of the War of The Two Roses: further
neglect: return of Celtic tribalism on the island outside the Pale,
Irish language and customs spreading through the island, even among
the English in the Pale;
- however, the theoretical presence of England on the island
prevented the forming of a state there; no strong national unity;
the claims of the English king prevented the union of the country
under Anglo-Irish barons;- in the 15th century there were attempts
to form an independent government in Ireland but unsuccessful;-
England was too weak to conquer and govern Ireland but strong
enough to prevent her from governing herself;- neglecting Ireland
for ages and involving elsewhere proved wrong historically for
England;
Wales- the mountains in Wales brought Saxon conquest to a halt,
but also prevented the union of the Welsh; - from William the
Conqueror to Edward I, most successful attempts to conquer Wales
were made by Marcher Lords, lords with private armies, representing
rather English economic penetration than English monarchy; - once a
Marcher Lord conquered a small area, he built a castle and imposed
feudal dues on the inhabitants; brought English-speaking colonists-
Anglo-Normans conquered the lowlands and valleys;- the remaining
Welsh were tribal, pastoral people, - civilisation brought by
Marcher Lords meant progress for the Welsh: permanent houses,
market-towns, etc.; yet the Welsh preserved their tongue;
- early 13th cent. Welsh national revival: some territories were
re-conquered from Marcher Lords, led by Llewelyn princes- Edward I
defeated the Welsh (1280s), gave to his son the title of Prince of
Wales (Principality established)- Principality was part of Wales
(and it retained some Welsh customs), the rest was the territories
of Lords Marcher;
- in 14th and 15th centuries Welsh was a scene of many tribal
feuds, wars meant to re-conquer Wales by the Welsh, as well as wars
between Marcher Lords;
Scotland- in the Dark Ages (before 10th cent.) Scotland was a
Celtic Kingdom, bordering with Anglo-Saxon England; - it became one
state after the union of the Picts and the Scots under Kenneth
Macalpine (844)- later Lothian (northern part of Saxon Northumbria,
south of Edinburgh) was integrated with Scotland, as a result of
thedissolution of Northumbria; 1018- Lothian was a rich
agricultural land with rock-fortress of Edinburgh; it helped
develop feudal system of Anglo-Norman monarchy of Scotland (English
language adopted)- as a result, Scotland was not so Celtic in its
character as Ireland or Wales; even though it formed an independent
state for a longer time;
- during the reign of Malcolm III and his wife Margaret (who did
much to strengthen the English language) a period of English
influence, especially connected with many Saxon/Nordic refugees
after the lost battle of Hastings;- their son, David I, built
Scotland anew in the form of a Norman feudal monarchy and took some
disputed territories onthe border with England; - David I brought a
number of knights from England, giving them land, as he wanted to
strengthen the feudal system and get rid of old Celtic tribalism-
12th and 13th centuries is also a period of development of the
church, influenced by the English church, flourishing architecture;
- the old Celtic tribal organisation shrank, concentrating only in
the northern highlands;
- 1286 Alexander III was carried over a sea-cliff by a horse and
died; his heiress was grand-daughter Margaret; whe wassupposed to
marry Edward Is son Edward II, which would have united both states,
but died- dispute over the Scottish throne, Edward I supported
Balliol, who soon became his puppet but renounced allegiance to
Edward;- 1296 Edward easily marched with his army into Scotland and
pronounced himself King of Scotland;- 1297 uprising began with
William Wallace as a leader- Scottish aristocracy supported the
English king (many of them owned land in England), but Wallace
based his support on peasants and small gentry;- they began the
guerrilla war, even though the English won many battles, they could
not control the country as all peasants were potential warriors; -
another leader of the Scottish became Robert Bruce, coming from
aristocracy he added the feudal element to the fight- after the
death of Edward I, the Scottish were winning more and more castles;
the crowning victory of Bannockburn (1314), it finally give
Scotland independence
10
-
- but it became a poor, savage country of feudal anarchy,
private wars, corrupt Church, no flourishing cities and weak
institutions;
12. THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR
- the wars of medieval Europe were more local than since 16th
century: involved mostly knights, the king could not afford to
engage agricultural labour into war; inferior methods of
transportation of the armies, - the wars were frequent, continuous,
but on a small scale- the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) was perhaps
the first national war in Europe
- after Norman conquest England was a rising power, strong
monarchy, no involvement in conflicts, - English knights began
plundering their continental neighbours; simply because they were
more powerful- the fact that Edward III and Henry V had
genealogical claims to the French throne was but an excuse for
robbing- the war was not a result of dynastic ambitions but a
national matter, supported by the institutions (Parliament)- it was
much more profitable for an English knight to go to France to
plunder than to poor Scotland- thats why in the early reign of
Edward III English ambitions were redirected from Scotland to
France; besides, Edward III spoke French, so he felt more at home
there;- French resistance against the English was actually weaker
than Scottish: France did not have a spirit of the nation, wasjust
a collection of lords;
- the war against France was also fuelled by the conflicts
between English and French merchants who sold wool to Flanders-
first great action of the war: battle of Sluys (1340) won by the
English merchant navy;- Edward III claimed the rights to the French
throne and was, as the first English king, supported by the
society, the Parliament; it rested on the hatred of the French in
English-speaking common folk;
- the basis for the advantage of the English was a better social
organisation: the French peasant serfs were strongly exploited and
often rebelled; the English had a larger proportion of freemen,
from whom the Edwards organised a trained army;- the 14th century
became the age of the longbow as a preferred, most powerful weapon;
using it was practised by the English since early years (actually
Edward III banned other sports: handball, football, hockey); -
English skilled archers could send an arrow through plates of
armour- English fighting strategy also included changing cavalry
into infantry: dismounting from horses; - the French were defeated
by these tactics at Crecy (1346) (12,000 English against 30-40,000
French) after which Edward created his dominion in northern France
and Poitiers (1356); both battles were led by Edward the Black
Prince (son of Edward III), who died in France and his son Richard
II was the next king; - the advantage of the English strategy was
that it was defensive; later France was liberated by Du Guesclin,
who changed the French strategy of blind attacks; English castles
in France were successfully besieged with the use of cannon;
- Richard II found rival in his cousin, John Gaunts son,
Hereford; he was murdered in his prison in 1400;- Hereford was
crowned as Henry IV in 1399 and opens the period of the Lancasters
on the English throne (descendantsof John de Gaunt) and the Yorks
(descendants of his brother, Duke of York)
- Henry V, on his accession to the throne 1413, revived Edward
IIIs pretensions to the French Crown;- using the strategy of the
Black Prince he fought the French at Agincourt and decisively won
1415; 5,900 English against 35,000 French (!); - 1420 Henry V was
acknowledged heir to the French Crown by the Treaty of Troyes; -
1422 he died, leaving his inheritance for his son, Henry VI;
- during the times of Henry VI came the second French revival,
following the tactits of Du Guesclin;- it was also the time of
Jeanne DArc (Joan of Arc), a 17-year-old shepherdess who claimed to
hearing the voice of God, persuaded him to take action, she had a
flair for persuasion but no actual tactical, strategic or
leadership ability- together with Charles de Dauphin, Joan started
the siege of Orleans (1429); it was successful for them; The French
victory at Orleans was a major turning point for the French in the
Hundred Years War- Jeanne D'Arc was captured by the Burgundians,
and turned over to the English, who found her innocent of
witchcraft but guilty of schism (going against the Papacy and
Church dogma by following the voice of God directly), and
executedher- later more victories of the French, but it took them
more than 20 years until they drove the English away
Results of the war:- the break-up of English medieval society
and a period of anarchy
11
-
- gaining the port of Calais for a hundred years after the war;-
bringing strong national self-consciousness; - new patriotic
feeling raised as racial hatred against the French (in the times of
Elisabeth I these feelings turned against Spaniards)- six years
after Poitiers (1362), a statute was passed through Parliament that
all judgements of English courts should be given in English and
Latin (to replace French); - also English became the language
taught at schools to the upper class- it prepared way for
English-tongue literature: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton;
13. THE BLACK DEATH, EMANCIPATION OF VILLEINS
- the English (and in general European) population was decimated
by the Black Death in 1348-9 (bubonic plague duma dymienicza,
spread by fleas and rats) (theories: anthrax or Ebola-like virus)-
in sixteen months the number of population decreased from 4 million
to 2.5 million- the war in France was not stopped
- the market value of labour force rose- the labourer who was
free demanded more for his work, the villein started to struggle
against the demands of the bailiff, asking full freedom- lords and
bailiffs were in a dilemma: no people to work on their farmland: it
was partly solved by using soil for sheep-pastures; raw wool was
exported to Flanders looms; - the Parliament passed the Statute of
Labourers (restoring the old institution of villeins, under heavy
penalties)
- new ideology for peasants, agitation, gradually brought more
and more protests;- free labourers went on strike, villeins often
left their land, - Peasant Revolt began in June 1381, - times of
Richard II, his incompetent government wanted to collect taxes for
the war in France (unpopular at the moment); - among the leaders of
the revolt were John Ball (priest) and Wat Tyler;- the peasants
organised in an army and marched on London- King Richard II and the
Mayor of London gave them a lot of promises and the Mayor
treacherously killed Wat Tyler- after the rebels dispersed, the
promises were never kept, but the participants of the revolt were
persecuted;
- despite the defeat of the revolt, it was very important for
the later process of the emancipation of the villeins, who mostly
bought their freedom; the process took place in the 15th century
and finished under the Tudors- the emancipated villein changed into
a small farmer called yeoman- the emancipation gave basis for
modern economy, growth of trade, manufacture and colonisation
- 14th and 15th centuries also saw the loss of moral and
intellectual leadership of the Church; the failure of the
cosmopolitan church of the Middle Ages;- persecution was an
integral part of medieval Christianity, it was natural to persecute
people disobeying the church- the basis for revolutionary
Reformation were inherent in the structure of the medieval church,
especially in the following:- unfair distribution of ecclesiastical
wealth among priests- celibacy- choosing Popes favourites, often
from foreign countries, to occupy main posts in the church- sale of
pardons and relics (superstitious) that revolted the better part of
the society; - church courts spied on people in hope of extracting
money as fines for sin
- the Church of England was in no position to reform herself all
officials were subject not to English bishops but directly to Rome-
Pope-appointed favourites were foreigners treating England as
source of income
- it was all the basis for movement started by John Wycliffe, an
Oxford don- he found a theoretic basis for denying the Papal
authority: theory of dominion the Popes power was derived from
Caesars of Rome, not from Christ and Peter;- he was involved in
politics, in the contest between the state and the church- he
demanded the service in English and produced the first full English
translation of the Bible; - he was considered the precursor of the
Protestant Reformation; the movement he started was called
Lollardry;
14. PARLIAMENTARY DEVELOPMENT, WARS OF TWO ROSES
12
-
- in the times of Richard II the Commons had no policy of its
own but were the instrument of higher aristocratic powers in the
strife with one another- in the 15th century the premature
experiment in Parliamentary control of the executive ended in the
aristocratic anarchy: the Wars of the Roses.- later, finally,
skilfull Tudor monarchs used Parliament as the instrument of a
revolution in Church and State;
- in the times of The Hundred Years War the kings had to
continually ask the Parliament to support heavy taxation: it
resulted in increasing the powers of the Parliament; - the medieval
English Parliament was not only an assembly voting taxes and making
laws (Statutes), it also functioned as the High Court of Parliament
a judiciary function;- this enabled to regard the king himself as
subject to law and not the absolute monarch; - the Revolution of
1399 (starting the Lancasterian period with Henry IV) gave more
powers to the two Houses of Parliament, the Lancaster kings ruled
by Parliamentary title and the powers and privileges of both Houses
had to be respected by them
- the battlefield for quarrels of the gentry was the Kings
Council, where the executive power was lodged;- the nobles regarded
the Council as a body representative of the forces of the State,
but the King believed it was his personal body, to be filled with
whomever he liked: a wise King would put trained experts there, a
foolish King his favourites;- in the times of Henry VI the Council
fell into the hands of the nobles; Henry became King when he was a
few months old, England was ruled by regency government, until
Henry was 16; - the supremacy of the nobles in the Council
continued and the conflicts finally started the Wars of the Roses
(1455)- the Council and the Parliament were both controlled by the
same aristocratic cliques whose only contests were against one
another
- the last of the English were driven out of France after the
Hundred Years War in 1453, just two years before the Warsof the
Roses began: the return of the armies filled England with knights
and archers accustomed to war and plunder, willing to fight;- many
conflicts between the gentry, abuses of law, intimidating juries,
besieging manor houses, etc. - anarchy - savage customs; arranged
marriages of children; foundation of new schools: Winchester,
Eton;
- the Wars of the Roses was an intermittent civil war fought
over the throne of England between adherents of the Houseof
Lancaster and the House of York- both houses were branches of the
Plantagenet royal house, tracing their descent from King Edward
III- the name Wars of the Roses was not used at the time, but has
its origins in the badges chosen by the two royal houses, the Red
Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York.- the reason of the
conflict was the want for power, wealth and ultimately the
Crown
- Henry VI (Lancaster) was considered a weak, ineffectual King
after losing all French territories won by his predecessors; he was
also known for episodes of mental illness- in 1453 after the attack
of Henrys illness, a Council of Regency was set up with Lord
Protector: Richard Plantagenet (head of House of York); - but in
1455 Henry recovered and his power was taken by his strong wife
Margaret of Anjou; - Richard wanted to oppose her and resorted to
armed conflict, starting the first Battle of St. Albans;
- on each side there was a group of great nobles, knights,
lawyers and clergy- but changing of the sides and remaining neutral
was very popular: most cities remained neutral and in return the
armies were not destructive;- the neutral majority of the society
suffered little and trade went on as before;- the combatants
suffered severely; the fighting nobles were savage in their
treatment of one another; - the war was a bleeding operation
performed by the nobility upon their own body. To the nation it was
a blessing in disguise.- like in France: the strategy: archers and
infantry
- the victorious figure was Edward IV from the House of York,
whose restoration as King in 1471 was by some considered the end of
the war- the Yorkist king died suddenly in 1483, and political and
dynastic turmoil erupted again; - at the time of Edward's sudden
and premature death, his heir, Edward V, was only 12 years old; -
Edward V was kept in the Tower of London, where he was later joined
by his younger brother Richard- Parliament gave the throne to
Richard III (also York)- the two princes in the tower disappeared
and were possibly murdered (mystery not finally resolved)
- Lancastrian hopes now centred on Henry Tudor, whose father had
been an illegitimate half-brother of Henry VI;
13
-
- Henry Tudor's forces defeated Richard's at the Battle of
Bosworth Field in 1485 and Henry Tudor became King HenryVII of
England- Henry strengthened his position by marrying Elizabeth of
York, daughter of Edward IV and the best surviving Yorkistclaimant-
He reunited the two royal houses, merging the rival symbols of the
red and white roses into the new emblem of the redand white Tudor
Rose
15. RENAISSANCE: THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDORS: HENRY VII, THE NEW
MONARCHY
- new era of individual rebirth, Renaissance and Reformation; -
the Medieval Corporation all separate states the same: clergy,
nobles, villeins; no individual freedom, - the roots of the changes
to be found in 14th and 15th centuries: the emancipation of
villeins, the growth of London (andcities), the rise of educated
classes, the spread of cloth manufacture, the rise of Parliament,
the adoption of the English language by the educated classes, the
victory of archers over the mounted aristocrat, the invention of
the cannon to defeat the aristocratic stronghold of the castle, the
invention of printing press to shatter churchmans monopoly of
learning, the discovery of the ocean trade routes and of America
(the New World); - it all was responsible for dissolvingthe fabric
of medieval society in England; - in France, Spain, Portugal:
increasing power of the King based on the old Church, in England
new church, but old Parliament;
- Henry VII is remembered as the English counterpart of Louis
XI, cautious, thrifty, opening his heart for nobody;- after the
Wars of the Roses England expected no more chivalry and wars, but
peace and the enforcement of order- Henry VII kept no standing
army, occasionally he hired foreign mercenaries;- he preserved old
medieval institutions (Kings Council, Parliament, Common Law,
Justices of the Peace and jury), butmade them instruments of royal
power instead of French of Spanish way of despotic power of
monarch
- the centre of new constitutional power became Kings Council
(Privy Council)- Kings Council was the field of aristocratic fights
before, now Henry VII (and VIII) excluded all nobles who could be
disobedient- the members of Privy Council under Henry VII were
middle-class clergy, new civil servants; after Henry VIII the
clergy were replaced by lawyers, coming from middle class but with
aristocratic aspirations, devoted to the King, they had University
legal education and experience from foreign travel loyal and
efficient- the Council had a legislative power: through ordinances
and proclamations directly, suggesting Statutes and Bills to the
Parliament- the Parliament was not very important under Henry VII,
its importance rose in times of Henry VIIIs Reformation
- Privy Council delegated a sub-committee of its own members,
for judicial matters, Star Chamber;- Star Chamber was the highest
court in the state, it became popular as it protected the weak from
the strong, being Henry VIIs chief instrument of controlling
illegal riots and similar activities; - through the influence of
the Star Chamber local courts regained their independence; juries
became no longer afraid of giving verdicts against powerful
neighbours,
- because it was not possible for the King to impose heavy
taxation, he had to limit the expenditure: a way of doing it was
imposing more and more administrative duties on the unpaid Justices
of the Peace (magistrates)- the function of JPs was to exercise the
local powers given them by the Privy Council, they tried small
offences, arrested criminals, kept prisons, roads and bridges,
licensed ale-houses, became agents of economic control of the
state;
- obviously the political changes of the Tudor rule limited the
role of aristocracy: it was possible because of the Wars ofthe
Roses they limited the number of aristocrats, led to confiscation
some of their wealth by the crown, and persuaded lower classes to
follow the King;
- the change from medieval to modern England may be seen on the
example of cloth trading- first English wool was exported to
Flanders and Italy to the looms: it gave basis for trading wealth
of Plantagenet England;- a large number of Flemish weavers started
coming to England since the times of Edward III, partly in
connection with the Hundred Years War, then a big wave of religious
refugees in Elizabethan times- the weaving manufacturing developed
in the 15th and 16th centuries especially in East Anglia, in cities
(Norwich) but also in rural areas; - it gave basis for the trade of
wool products: Baltic sea, East and West Indies, America; this, in
turn, developed the navy- cloth trade gave rise to the new middle
class
14
-
- apart from the positive effect, cloth trade had some negative
impact on rural development- in certain districts it caused
enclosure (of permanent walls or hedges) of open fields (arable or
unused) of the villagefor pastures for sheep it meant the eviction
of many ploughmen to make room for a small number of shepherds-
evicted ploughmen wandered around the country as beggars or rogues,
robbers and outlaws;- enclosure had a positive effect, too: it
secured compact farms of yeomen, stopping border conflicts and
litigations- still, primogeniture secured some large farms for the
lords; it left younger sons for liberal professions or foreign
adventure;
- the 15th century was an intellectually barren period:
suppression of freedom during wars, no great literature after
Chaucer;- the restoration of peace and order was a favourable
condition for intellectual revival
- the revival of Lollardry: started by John Wycliffe, religious
movement; anti-clerical, stress on Bible-reading, translating it
into the vernacular; - the movement was forbidden, quite a few
Lollards went to the stake, but it survived in secret;
- Renaissance coming from Italy: interest in Greek and Roman
literature and culture; changing the Middle Ages attitudeto
learning- through Greek and Hebrew new interest and understanding
of the Bible; John Colet lectures on St. Paul- English Renaissance
more closely connected with religion than Italian or French- Henry
VII was little interested in knowledge, but the court of Henry VIII
included a number of learned men
- the age of sea voyage: western European countries sent ships
to Asia, discovering America and parts of Africa;- the pope drew
the line down the globe from pole to pole to divide all
discoverable land between Spain (west) and Portugal (east) 1493;-
the voyages of Columbus, Magellan, Amerigo Vespucci, - in Henry
VIIs reign, the Cabots (John and his son Sebastian) sailed to
Labrador, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia; - England did not promote
maritime adventure yet, not to lay hands on Spanish heritage;
- Henry VIII made possible the future liberation of his countrys
energies by means of founding a Royal Navy- building royal fleet
was started in times of the Hundred Years War by Henry V, but later
neglected- Henry VIII built an effective fleet of royal fighting
ships - he also founded Trinity House: a corporation taking care of
lighthouses, providing aid to navigation and caring after safety,
welfare and training of mariners; - the ships were new and modern:
well adapted to ocean voyage, to manoeuvring in battle; they were
longer and not so round as old-fashioned Spanish ships; with
cannons mounted; - 1545 a French armada attempted to invade
England, but was foiled by the Royal Navy;
16. HENRY VIII AND REFORMATION
- in Tudor England there was no clear distinction between
Catholic and Protestant parties, the opinions of people were
forming, not ready- Reformation was the change from medieval to
modern society in the sphere of religion- England was the country
of John Wycliffe and Lollards; - the best background for the
Protestant movement was anti-clerical mood in the society, powerful
at the beginning of the 16th century;- in some people this
anti-clericalism meant a greedy desire to plunder the church, but
in general it was the critical attitude to churchmen, who used the
doctrine for their own individual goals- critical attitude to
selling indulgencies- Henry VIII burnt Protestants, while he hanged
and beheaded the Catholic opponents of anti-clerical revolution
- the prelude to Henrys breach with the Pope was the German
Reformation under Martin Luther (1518); - it for some years
annihilated the prestige of Rome as a centre of religious
authority; it was sacked by the armies of Charles V, Emperor in
Germany and King of Spain- after being proclaimed at Wittenberg,
Lutheran doctrines soon became popular (although banned) in
England, they absorbed Lollards into the Protestant movement
- while young men eagerly joined the new movement, many older,
even open-minded, remained orthodox (like sir Thomas More)- Oxford
was more orthodox, Cambridge circles were more open to
Protestantism, students discussed the ideas
15
-
- educated in Cambridge, archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas
Cranmer, was one of the main church followers of HenrysReformation,
he was not so uncompromising like others, who lost Kings regard
soon, Cranmer remained with Henry till his very death- Cranmer
replaced archbishop Wolsey, a former head of church (acting as head
of state in times of Henrys youth); Wolsey did not want to follow
Henrys reformatory ideas so he was ousted and died in disgrace;
- at the time of the sack of Rome, Henry, 36, reached a point in
which he wanted to switch his interests from hunting and
tournaments into politics, government and state administration; as
he was an energetic person, he poured all his energy into it- one
of the formal reasons for his breach with Rome was the necessity
for a divorce;- he was married to Catherine of Aragon, with whom he
had only a daughter, Princess Mary; but as there was no tradition
of a Queen in England, he wanted to secure a male heir to avoid
conflicts; - he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, his court mistress; -
technically, it was not actually a question of divorce, but of
whether Henry had been at all properly married to Catherine, who
had been married before- the Pope denied Henry divorce; actually
granting a divorce for a King, for reasons of state only, was done
and popular in those days, but Pope, after the sack of Rome, was
under the influence of Charles V, Catherines nephew and protector-
Henry could not tolerate that the interests of England should be
subjected, through the Pope, to the will of the EmperorCharles; in
the age of strong English nationalism, he wanted for the state full
independence;- the English people sympathised with Catherine rather
than Anne, but the political and ecclesiastical side took over the
personal one: the spirit of nationalism combined with
anti-clericalism;- the persecution that followed was Catholic
anti-clericalism: many people were sent to scaffold for refusal to
repudiate Papal authority (like sir Thomas More), but at the same
time Protestants died at the stakes for other reasons- the
religious persecution seems more harsh nowadays, in fact people saw
it then as a government keeping order in church and state, besides,
much more people died in religious wars in France, Holland and
Germany- Henry gained the title Defender of Faith, e.g. for writing
a pamphlet accusing Martin Luther of heresy;
- the instrument for Henrys Royal Reformation was the
Parliament- it was not an ecclesiastical assembly called
Convocation (there were two: Canterbury and York), as they did not
have any representation of the laity; - the clergy accepted being
subjected to the King without much ado, it was for them just the
change of the supreme power (from the Pope to the King), but they
retained most of their privileges; in effect the Reformation was
not a cause of a religious war in England- in 1531 Convocation
acknowledged that Henry was Supreme Head of the Church of England,
but so far as the law of Christ allows (this phrase was given up
later)- before, in the times of Henry VII, the Parliament lost much
of its previous power, now it was to regain part of it- the
Reformation Parliament sat for 7 years: 1529-1536; in a series of
Royal Parliamentary Statues (prepared by the Privy Council, but
voted over by both Houses) it revolutionised the fundamental law of
Church and State;- first acts reforming certain Church abusive
practices were passed in November 1529- 1534 the Parliament passed
the Act of Supremacy: stating that Henry VIII was 'the only supreme
head in earth of the Church of England' and that the English crown
shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, jurisdictions, privileges,
authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said
dignity".- furthermore, the Act decided that any act of allegiance
to the Pope was to be considered treason
- the economic aspect of Reformation was the suppression of
orders of monks and friars and the secularisation of their
property, called Dissolution of the Monasteries (Suppression of the
Monasteries); - In 1534 Henry authorised Thomas Cromwell, a layman
in his service, to "visit" all the monasteries, ("Visitation of the
Monasteries"), - the Visitations results stated that monks and nuns
were sinful hypocritical sorcerers, often leading scandalous
lives;- the process of dissolution took part 1536-1540; - Some of
the confiscated church buildings were destroyed by having the
valuable lead removed from roofs and stone reused for secular
buildings. Some of the smaller houses were taken over as parish
churches, and were even bought for the purpose by wealthy parishes;
- Other losses to posterity included widespread destruction of many
valuable books held in the monastic libraries. It is believed that
many of the earliest Anglo-Saxon manuscripts were lost at this
time. Monastic schools and hospitals were also lost, with serious
consequences locally - Henry VIII sold great part of the
confiscated Abbey lands to aristocrats, public servants and
merchants, who resold much of it to smaller men; Henry sold the
lands too hastily, so he could have earned more for it;
16
-
- the monks and old religion received most support in
Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (centres of feudal medieval society),
the result was the rising, the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536; but the
King received strong support from the rest of the country;- the
monks and friars did not receive any support from parish priests
who saw them as their rivals who exploited them and evaded the
law;
- Henry VIII, as Supreme Head of the Church, reformed the
religion- relic worship was forbidden, relics were discarded and
pilgrimages discouraged- the shrine and cult of Thomas Becket (the
centre of European pilgrimage) was suppressed; - many forms of
superstition were stopped, like image-worship or pardon-mongering;
- the Bible in English circulated freely and was ordered for every
parish, the Lords Prayer, the Commandments were taught in
English
- at some point Henry decided that it was going too far, he
beheaded some of his ostracising advisors, like Cromwell (1540)
(partly because his bride Anne of Cleves brought by Cromwell from
Germany was of a disagreeable appearance)- still, some hostility in
the last years of Henrys reign remained (e.g. a man was hanged in
London for eating meat on Friday, The Act of Six Articles decreed
death for denying clerical celibacy or the necessity of auricular
confession)
- Henry VIII is also historically famous for having six wives;
it was partly connected with his obsession that he will die without
the male heir (which sort of actually came true)1. Catherine of
Aragon: a couple of miscarriages or prematurely dead children
including three sons; one surviving daughter Mary (Queen Mary I)
divorced (marriage declared non-valid)2. Anne Boleyn: two dead sons
and daughter Elisabeth (Queen Elisabeth I) accused of adultery
(five lovers) and incest (with brother) and beheaded; 3. Jane
Seymour: a son Edward (king Edward VI) died two weeks after
delivering the son4. Anne of Cleves brought from Germany and
advertised by Cromwell but found very unattractive by Henry,
marriage soon annulled as not consummated; 5. Catherine Howard
(cousin of Anne Boleyn) probably had an affair with a courtier,
appointed her ex-fianc as secretary; accused of adultery = treason
and beheaded6. Catherine Parr initially Protestant, but submissive,
helped Henry reconcile with two daughters; survived divorced,
beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived- Henry died (obesity,
syphilis?, ulcerating wound) 1547
17. EDWARD VI AND MARY TUDOR
- all the political achievements of the early Tudors (Henry VII
and VIII) had not been secured after the death of Henry VIII- the
state was in debt and the religious conflicts were about to break,
losing their suppression- the problems needed a strong monarch, and
were eventually solved by Elizabeth, but in 12 years before her
accession, the country was in chaos
- Edward VI (son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour) was 9 at his
accession (1547); - Edward was a sick and weak child, but very well
developed intellectually- he appointed his uncle Edward Seymour to
serve as Lord Protector Somerset during his minority and rule the
state in his name; Somerset was a rash man, proud and selfish, but
also honest
- Edwards reign was also dominated by Archbishop Cranmer, who
prepared Prayer Book, based on his translations from Latin into
English; it appealed to the population and gave solid basis of
anti-clerical revolution (it was later found triumphant in
Elizabethan times)- another influential figure was Hugh Latimer,
also a man of church; he was a Protestant and in the times of Henry
VIII had to give up his position; his rough skilful sermons
converted many people to Protestantism- Latimer believed in the
importance of education in the society; so he supported
re-establishing King Edward Grammar Schools in the place of
abolished monastery schools
- the Protector Somerset supported the Parliaments change of
most oppressive of Henry VIIIs laws- he persecuted neither
Catholics nor Protestants and permitted free discussion of
religious differences, also published the first issue of Prayer
Book - these acts of liberalism led to religious conflicts getting
hotter- there were serious religion-based disturbances in various
parts of the country- to follow, there were also agrarian protests
(caused also by the rising prices in Henrys times)- 1549: armed
peasants revolted under their leader Kett (famously killing and
eating 20,000 sheep in Mousehold Heath)
17
-
- the rising was suppressed by better organised classes its
result was pressure for stronger government and the fall of liberal
Somerset who was soon overthrown by the Council
- Somerset was replaced by Dudley, Earl of Warwick and later of
Northumberland- he did not have his own strong religious opinions
but decided to work with Protestants and gave more impetus to the
Reformation- Dudley returned some Henrys strict laws, but this time
against Catholics: some of them were deprived or imprisoned, but
not killed- Dudley was unpopular as a ruler, and he deserved it;
his rule are the times of corruption and greed among courtiers; the
country was weak, there was no King to solve the problem- as Edward
was close to death, Dudley planned to exclude both Henrys daughters
and plant on the throne his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, a
distant heir- when Edward VI died (tuberculosis, arsenic poisoning
or syphilis from his father), the plan was not successful, and Mary
became Queen July 1553- Dudley renounced his Protestantism, but was
nevertheless beheaded on Tower Hill, as was Lady Jane Grey later-
After Edward's death rumours of his survival persisted, several
impostors were put forward as rightful Kings even in Marys and
Elizabeth's reign;
- Mary I began her reign (37) in an atmosphere of popular
enthusiasm, which was, however, dissipated very quickly- she was,
typically of Tudors, effective and brave in the times of danger,
and had no personal vindictiveness- the problem was her religious
views- daughter of Catherine of Aragon, she was brought up in the
Catholic religion of her mother, important was her mothers Spanish
origin- Mary cared mostly for the souls of the English, believing
they could be safer in Italian or Spanish hands, but returning to
old Christian religion
- at that time Protestantism was associated with violence,
unrest, robbing the churches etc. - if would have been safe and
popular for Mary to return to religious compromise, to restore the
Latin Mass and perhapskill a few Protestants- but Mary decided to
marry Philip of Spain, making England Spanish vassal - then, in her
religious zeal, she decided to revive the jurisdiction of the Pope
over England and burnt 300 Protestants in 4 years (earning a name
Bloody Mary)- these acts made the Catholic religion appear to the
English nation as a cruel, unpatriotic, foreign creed;
- unfortunately, the Parliament, which supported the accession
of Mary, had no constitutional power to prevent her frommarrying
the Spanish prince; - the national feeling was expressed by the
rising in Kent under Thomas Wyatt (1554) (son of the poet of the
same name)- Wyatt was defeated at the gates of London, then
executed and Mary married Philip- Philip was titled as King of
England, he signed documents with Mary; he found his wife (11 years
older) physically unattractive and when she thought she was
pregnant, left her and went to Spain
- then Mary turned to religious matters, reuniting with Rome and
bringing back Popes supremacy- persecution followed earning her
Bloody Mary epithet;
- having inherited Spanish throne Philip came to England and
persuaded Mary that England should join Spain in a war against
France- the result was the capture of Calais by the French (the
last possession in the continent, from the times of Hundred Years
War)- this obviously contributed to rising unpopularity of Mary
- Mary had problems with getting pregnant, suffered from phantom
pregnancy several times, probably due to some ovarian disease- Mary
died at the age of 42 of influenza, uterine cancer or ovarian
cancer on 17 November 1558- she was hated by the people of England,
left by her husband who already started favouring her sister- she
left the country in a bad condition: ill-governed, without arms and
leaders, without unity and spirit, a vassal of the Spanish
Empire
18. ELIZABETHAN ERA
- Mary attempted to re-establish the rule of the cosmopolitan
church, with a foreign language- it was popular with the clergy,
with semi-feudal society of Northern England, but highly unpopular
with Londoners- Elizabeth soon re-established the supremacy of the
national, laic State with a national church
18
-
- the political-religious conflict finally ended in a maritime
war against Spain (the head of the Catholic reaction in Europe)-
the struggle for the independence of the island united the peoples
of England and Scotland, then it gave basis to the conquest of
Catholic Ireland
- when Elizabeth became Queen, at the age of 25 (Nov. 1558), the
country was in no condition to resist a foreign invader- it was
divided by religious conflicts, it had been dependent on Spain for
several years, was very weak financially- Philip of Spain protected
the Queen and her rule, even though she was not Catholic- the
reason was the next heir to the English throne: Mary Queen of Scots
Catholic but married to the Dauphin of France- for many years
during Elizabeths reign the independence of heretic England was
secured by the rivalry between two Catholic superpowers: France and
Spain
- Elizabeth did not admit that she owed anything to him, she
said she owed everything to the English people - she stressed the
fact of being purely English, not having any foreign ancestry, Im
mere English- Elizabeth mastered the skill of attracting her people
to her: her learning (Greek, Latin, Italian) endeared her to the
Universities, her courage to the soldiers and sailors, her coquetry
to the nobles and courtiers; her popularity was strengthened by her
love of hunting, dancing and theatre
- the Parliament of 1559 restored the Reformation in its
Anglican form by passing the Act of Supremacy (which abolished the
Papal power giving it to the monarch) and the Act of Uniformity
(which made the Prayer Book the only legal form of worship)- the
Reformation was done with the support of the Queen and the Commons,
the House of Lords was against it, esp. the bishops, - the church
was controlled by the Queen by means of Commissioners and Bishops
who inspected and administered it- in her decisions upon religion
Elizabeth largely depended on advice from Sir William Cecil- She
appointed an entirely new Privy Council, removing many Roman
Catholic Counsellors
- her reason for never marrying is unclear:- she may have felt
repulsed by the mistreatment of Henry VIII's wives- Alternatively,
she may have been psychologically scarred by her rumoured childhood
relationship with Lord Seymour- gossip: she had suffered from a
physical defect that she was afraid to reveal, perhaps scarring
from smallpox- or perhaps Elizabeth did not wish to share the power
of the Crown with another- finally, she was remembered as the
Virgin Queen;
- 1559 was also the date of Scotlands Reformation and breach
with Rome - it caused the alliance of both countries in mutual
defence; in 1558 England was a Catholic country dependent on Spain,
and Scotland a Catholic country dependent on France;
- before, in 1540s the Catholic party lad the national
resistance against the English: King Henry VIII wanted to unite
thewhole island, enforcing it on the Scots, this policy was
followed by Protector Somerset; - to save the little girl Mary
Stuart, Queen of Scots, the Scots sent her to France;- with French
support Mary declared herself Queen of England, part of the
agreement of France was the presence of French army in Scotland
many people hated it- when Mary was 16 she was married to the
Dauphin of France (1558); in case of her death without heirs the
country was to be given to French Crown
- 1557 Scottish nobles formed the Congregation of the Lord, to
protect new Protestant religion, - 1559 a democratic religious
revolution takes place, led by John Knox: a religious reformer, who
spent some time imprisoned by the French, then travelled on the
Continent, in Geneva was influenced by John Calvin; Knox
established the Presbyterian Church of Scotland- Scottish
reformation was bloodless; - after the death of her husband,
Francis II, Mary, 18, returned to Scotland (1561) and for six years
struggled for power against Knox- the Protestants in Scotland had
to ally with the Protestants in England; most of Catholic feudal
influence came from the North of England sparsely populated and of
limited importance
- Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a descendant of King
Henry VII of England and had by him a son, James- Darnley demanded
his rights as King, but he was murdered by Bothwell, whom Mary soon
married- the nobles gathered an army against Mary and Bothwell,
they imprisoned her for some time, forcing her to abdicate the
throne for the sake of her son, but in 1568 she flied to England
where she was imprisoned by Elizabeth
19
-
- from the moment Mary was imprisoned, English Catholics, urged
by the Pope, Spain and the Jesuits, started plotting to put her on
Elizabeths throne- first crisis: the Northern rebellion (1569,
1570); the Catholics from the North of England rebelled, but with
the help of the South, the Queen was defended; Elizabeth took
vengeance on the gentry, executing 800 of them- the failure of the
Northern rebellion showed the internal unity of new England
- in 1570 Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth and many French
or Spanish people started plotting against her, her possible
assassination became a very popular topic- the Commons demanded
that Elizabeth executed Mary, but she did not: partly for pacifist
reasons, but she also believed that after Mary is killed, Philip,
King of Spain would claim the throne of England- in 1572, Elizabeth
made an alliance with France; St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
(thousands of French Protestants killed), strained the alliance but
did not break it; Elizabeth even began marriage negotiations with
Henry, Duke of Anjou and afterwards with his younger brother
Franois, Duke of Anjou; the Spanish Ambassador reported that she
actually declared that the Duke of Anjou would be her husband;
however, Anjou, who is in any case said to have preferred men to
women, returned to France and died in 1584 before he could be
married- later Elizabeth gave some secret help to Huguenots (French
Protestants)
- together with new geographical discoveries, new routes of
trade and colonisation, new possibilities opened for the English
islanders, no longer sentenced to their seclusion- the contest for
new commercial and naval leadership was between Spain, France and
England;- Spain and Portugal were the first countries to exploit
the new situation on a large scale (1494 Popes division of the
world); they led to many discoveries along African and American
coasts; in 1580 Spain annexed