Historia Anglii - egzamin.
Zagadnienia ogólne
Facts, terms and concepts (definitions)
1. Battle of Crecy/or Poitiers
The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War. The combination of new weapons and tactics has caused many historians to consider this battle the beginning of the end of chivalry.
Crécy was a battle in which a much smaller English army of 16,000, commanded by Edward III of England and heavily outnumbered by Philip VI of France's force of 80,000, was victorious as a result of superior weaponry and tactics, demonstrating the importance of the modern military concept of fire power. The effectiveness of the English longbow, used en masse, was proven against armoured knights, contrary to the conventional wisdom of the day which held that archers would be ineffective and be butchered when the armoured units closed in.
The Battle of Poitiers was between the Kingdoms of England and France on September 19, 1356, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War.
The result was a decisive French defeat, not only in military terms, but also economically: France would be asked to pay a ransom equivalent to twice the country's yearly income to have the king returned. John, who was accorded royal privileges whilst being a prisoner, was permitted to return to France to try to raise the required funds. He subsequently handed himself back to the English, claiming to be unable to pay the ransom, and died a few months later. In many ways, Poitiers was a repeat of the battle of Crécy showing once again that tactics and strategy can overcome a disadvantage in numbers.
2. The New Model Army was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. It differed from other armies in the same conflict in that it was intended as an army liable for service anywhere in the country, rather than being tied to a single area or garrison. As such, its soldiers became full-time professionals, rather than part-time militia. Furthermore, its officers were also intended to be professional soldiers, not having seats in House of Parliament and therefore not linked to any political or religious faction among the Parliamentarians.
3. Battle of Agincourt was fought on Friday 25 October 1415 in northern France as part of the Hundred Years' War. The armies involved were those of Kings Henry V of England and Charles VI of France. Charles did not command the French army himself, as he was incapacitated. The French were commanded by Constable Charles d'Albret and various prominent French noblemen of the Armagnac party. The battle is notable for the use of the English longbow, which Henry used in very large numbers, with longbowmen forming the vast majority of his army. The French suffered heavily. Thousands died, including the constable, three dukes, five counts and 90 barons. Estimates of the number of prisoners vary between 700 and 2,200, amongst them the Duke of Orléans and Jean Le Maingre, Marshal of France. Almost all these prisoners would have been nobles, as the less valuable prisoners were slaughtered.
4. Bare-bones Parliament (Parliamnt of Saints) came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. It was an assembly entirely nominated by Oliver Cromwell and the Army's Council of Officers. It acquired its name from the nominee for the City of London, Praise-God Barebone. The Speaker of the House was the Reverend Francis Rous. The total number of nominees was 140, 129 from England, five from Scotland and six from Ireland.
5. Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that Henry V of England would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was signed in Troyes, France in 1420. The treaty was part of the aftermath of the Battle of Agincourt. This attempt to alter the traditional pattern of French royal succession did not succeed.
6. Mercantilism is an economic theory that the prosperity of a nation depends upon its capital, and that the volume of the world economy and international trade is unchangeable. Government economic policy based on these ideas is also sometimes called mercantilism, but is more properly known as the mercantile system. Some scholars conceive the mercantile system as a subset of, or synonymous with, the early stages of capitalism, while others consider mercantilism to be a distinct economic system.
Economic assets, or capital, are represented by bullion (gold, silver, and trade value) held by the state, which is best increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations (exports minus imports). Mercantilism suggests that the ruling government should advance these goals by playing a protectionist role in the economy, by encouraging exports and discouraging imports, especially through the use of tariffs.
7. Lollardy/Lollards. Lollardy was the political and religious movement of the Lollards from the mid-14th century to the English Reformation. Lollardy was supposed to have evolved from the teachings of John Wycliffe, a prominent theologian at the University of Oxford beginning in the 1350s - however, it is possible that the Lollards actually predated Wycliffe. Its demands were primarily for reform of the Roman Catholic Church. It taught that piety was a requirement for a priest to be a "true" priest or to perform the sacraments, and that a pious layman had power to perform those same rites, believing that religious power and authority came through piety and not through the Church hierarchy. Similarly, Lollardy emphasized the authority of the Scriptures over the authority of priests. It taught the concept of the "Church of the Saved", meaning that Christ's true Church was the community of the faithful, which overlapped with but was not the same as the official Church of Rome. It taught a form of predestination. It advocated apostolic poverty and taxation of Church properties. It also denied transubstantiation in favour of consubstantiation.
8. Navigation Acts were a series of laws which restricted the use of foreign shipping in the trade of England (later the Kingdom of Great Britain and its colonies). Resentment against the Navigation Acts was a cause of the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the American Revolutionary War. The Navigation Act bill was passed in October 1651, reinforcing a longstanding principle of government policy that English trade should be carried in English vessels.
9. Battle of Bosworth was Lancastrian Henry Tudor's defeat of Yorkist Richard III, ending the Plantagenet dynasty to begin a new Tudor dynasty. Historically, the battle is considered to have marked the end of the Wars of the Roses, although further battles were fought in the years that followed as Yorkist pretenders unsuccessfully fought to reclaim the crown. Henry Tudor was crowned as King Henry VII, marking the beginning of the 118-year reign of the Tudor dynasty in England. He immediately sought to backdate his administration to a date prior to the battle of Bosworth Field in order to attain for treason men who had fought for the former King Richard III
10. The East India Company was an early joint-stock company (the Dutch East India Company was the first to issue public stock). The company's main trade was in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea and also opium. It was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intention of favouring trade privileges in India. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created HEIC a 21 year monopoly on all trade in the East Indies. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one that virtually ruled India and other Asian colonies as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, until the British Crown assumed direct rule in 1858 following the events of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
11. Chamber Books - financial & administrative records kept by Henryk VII. He checked them very often. By each page there was his signature. He read about each transactions.
12. The Great Plague 1665 was a massive outbreak of disease in England that killed 75,000 to 100,000 people, up to a fifth of London's population. The disease was historically identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted via a rat vector.
13. Court of Star Chamber was a court of law which evolved from meetings of the king's royal council. Although its roots go back to the medieval period, the court only became powerful as a separate entity during the reign of Henry VII. In 1487 the court became a judicial body separate from the king's council, with a mandate to hear petitions of redress. In a sense the court was a supervisory body; its members oversaw the operations of lower courts. As well, its members could hear cases by direct appeal. Members of the court were either privy councillors (i.e., members of the king's advisory body) or judges drawn from the courts of common law.
14. The Great Fire of London, a major firestorm that swept through the central parts of London from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666, was one of the major events in the history of England. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II's Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated that it destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's ca. 80,000 inhabitants. The death toll from the fire is unknown and is traditionally thought to have been small, as only a few verified deaths were recorded. This reasoning has recently been challenged on the grounds that the deaths of poor and middle-class people were not recorded anywhere, and that the heat of the fire may have cremated many victims, leaving no recognisable remains.
15. The Beefeaters. The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right, a point the Yeoman Warders acknowledge. The name Beefeater is of uncertain origin, with various proposed derivations. The most likely is considered to be the Wardens' payment in rations that included beef, as well as mutton and veal, and various historical commentators have noted a preference for beef among the Wardens and the Yeomen of the Guard.
16. The Popish Plot of 1678 was an alleged conspiracy which gripped England in anti-Catholic hysteria from 1678 until 1681. In August 1678, Charles II was informed by Christopher Kirkby of a catholic plot to kill him. Kirkby had found out from Dr Israel Tongue, who, when questioned, said his information came from Titus Oates. Oates would eventually make a host of accusations leading to the execution of at least 15 men. However public opinion eventually began to change and Oates was arrested for sedition, fined £100,000 and thrown into prison.
17. "Field of the Cloth of Gold" is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a spectacular meeting that took place from 7 to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase the bond of friendship between the two kings following the Anglo-French treaty of 1518. The solecism Field of the Cloth of Gold has entered general use in the English language since at least the eighteenth century.
This meeting made a great impression on contemporaries, but its political results were very small. By one French account it apparently turned sour for Henry when he lost a wrestling match with Francis. Relations between the two countries worsened soon after the event when Cardinal Wolsey arranged an alliance with Charles V, who declared war on France later that year.
18. Glorious Revolution was the overthrow of King James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians with an invading army led by the Dutch stadtholder William of Orange, who as a result ascended the English throne as William III of England.
The Revolution is closely tied in with the events of the War of the Grand Alliance on mainland Europe, and may be seen as the last successful invasion of England. The deposition of the Roman Catholic James II ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England, and also led to limited toleration for nonconformist Protestants—it would be some time before they had full political rights. In the case of Catholics, however, it was disastrous both socially and politically. Catholics were denied the right to vote and sit in the Westminster Parliament for over 100 years after this. They were also denied commissions in the British army and the monarch was forbidden to be Catholic or marry a Catholic, thus ensuring the Protestant succession.
19. First Succession Act of Henry VIII's reign was passed by the Parliament of England in March 1534, and removed Mary from the line of the succession, leaving Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. The Act made Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, the true successor to the Crown by declaring Princess Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, a bastard. The Act also required all subjects, if commanded, to swear an oath to recognise this Act as well as the King's supremacy. Anyone who refused to take an oath was subject to a charge of treason. This is what happened to Sir Thomas More, who refused to swear the oath because it acknowledged the anti-Papal powers of Parliament in matters of religion.
20. Bill of Rights (1689) - It is one of the basic documents of English constitutional law, alongside Magna Carta, the Act of Settlement and the Parliament Acts. The Bill of Rights 1689 is largely a statement of certain rights that its authors considered that citizens and/or residents of a constitutional monarchy ought to have. It asserts the Subject's right to petition the Monarch and the Subject's right to bear arms for defence. It also sets out (or in the view of its writers, restates) certain constitutional requirements where the actions of the Crown require the consent of the governed as represented in Parliament.
21. Act of Supremacy, 1534 was an Act of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII declaring that he was 'the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England' and that the English crown shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity."
Henry, who had been declared "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei Defensor) for his pamphlet accusing Martin Luther of heresy, was now confirmed as head of the Church in England. This made official the English Reformation that had been brewing since 1527, and caused a long-lasting distrust between England and the Roman Catholic Church. The act was a result of Henry's desire for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which Pope Clement VII had refused to grant. Another act caused any act of allegiance to the Pope (or any other non-Anglican religion, for that matter) to be considered treason.
22. Act of Settlement of 1701 is an Act of the Parliament of England to settle the succession to the English throne on the Electress Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James I, and her Protestant heirs. The Act provided that the throne would pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover — a granddaughter of James I of England, VI of Scotland, niece of Charles I of England and Scotland — and her Protestant descendants. Only the descendants of Sophia who were Protestant, and had not married a Roman Catholic, could succeed to the throne. Roman Catholics and those who marry Roman Catholics are barred from ascending the throne "for ever".
23. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was the formal process between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monastic communities in England, Wales and Ireland and confiscated their property. He was given the authority to do this by the Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament in 1534, which made him Supreme Head of the Church in England, and by the First Suppression Act (1536) and the Second Suppression Act (1539).
24. The War of the Grand Alliance - The Nine Years' War (1688-97) was a major war of the late 17th century fought primarily on mainland Europe but also encompassed theatres in Ireland and North America.
King Louis XIV of France emerged from the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 as the most powerful monarch in Western Europe, but although he had expanded his realm the `Sun King' remained unsatisfied. Using a combination of aggression, annexation, and quasi-legal means Louis and his ministers immediately set about consolidating and extending his gains in order to stabilize and strengthen his frontiers. The War of the Reunions (1683-84) secured Louis further territory, but the King's revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 began a deterioration of French military and political dominance in Europe. Louis' belligerence eventually led to the formation of a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, determined on curtailing French ambition. The Alliance was led principally by the Anglo-Dutch Stadtholder-King William III, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, King Charles II of Spain, and Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy.
The war was dominated by siege operations, notably at Mons, Namur (on the picture), Charleroi and Barcelona; open battles such as Fleurus and Marsaglia were less common. These engagements generally favoured Louis' armies, but by 1696 France was in a grip of an economic crisis. The Maritime Powers (England and the Dutch Republic) were also financially exhausted, and when Savoy defected from the alliance in 1696, all parties were keen for a negotiated settlement. The signing of the Treaty of Ryswick in September 1697 brought an end to the Nine Years' War, but with the imminent death of the childless and infirm King Charles II, a new conflict over the inheritance of the Spanish Empire would soon embroil France and the Grand Alliance in another major conflict - the War of the Spanish Succession.
25. Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against England's break with Rome and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances.
26. The Battle of the Boyne was a turning point in the Williamite claim on the English throne. The deposed King James VII of Scotland and II of England and Ireland and his Jacobite supporters were defeated by James' nephew and son-in-law, William III and his supporters. By the invitation of Parliament, William had deposed James in 1688. Both kings acted as commander of their respective armies.
The battle took place on July 1, 1690 (Old Style) just outside the town of Drogheda on Ireland's east coast. Each army stood on opposing sides of the River Boyne. William's forces easily defeated those of James who led an army of mostly raw recruits. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known battles in British and Irish history and a key part in Irish Protestant folklore.
27. The Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, leading to the Norris-Drake Expedition or English Armada of 1589.
28. Whigs/Tories. The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid 19th centuries. It is more accurate to describe the original two ideas as loose groupings, or more precisely, tendencies. While the Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule, both might be termed conservative by modern parameters. Party politics did not begin to coalesce until at least 1784, with the ascension of Charles James Fox as the leader of a reconstituted "Whig" party, ranged against the governing party of the new "Tories" under William Pitt the Younger.
29. 'The Rough Wooing' was a term coined by Sir Walter Scott and H. E. Marshall to describe the Anglo-Scottish war pursued intermittently (okresowo) from 1544 to 1551. It followed from the failure of the Scots to honour the terms of the 1543 Treaty of Greenwich, by which the infant Mary Queen of Scots was betrothed to Edward Prince of Wales, the son and heir of Henry VIII. The war had the opposite effect of that intended: rather than agree that Mary be married to Edward, the Scots sent their queen to France, where she was betrothed to the Dauphin Francis, the son of Henry II. The war itself can be divided into two distinct phases. The first, while Henry was still alive, was principally a campaign of large-scale intimidation, England's main military effort being directed against France. The second phase under Protector Somerset saw a much more serious onslaught on Scotland, with major invasions in 1547 and 1548.
30. Peace of Utrecht, a series of individual peace treaties signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713. Concluded between various European states, it helped end the War of the Spanish Succession.
By the treaties' provisions, Louis XIV's grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou was recognised as King of Spain (as Philip V), thus confirming the succession as stipulated in the will of the late King Charles II. However, Philip was compelled to renounce for himself and his descendants any right to the French throne, despite some doubts as to the lawfulness of such an act. In similar fashion various French princelings, including most notably the Duke of Berry (Louis XIV's youngest grandson) and the Duke of Orléans (Louis's nephew), renounced for themselves and their descendants any claim to the Spanish throne.
31. Protestant Revolution in Scotland. The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France.
The Reformation Parliament of 1560, which repudiated the pope's authority, forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith, was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony. Prior to that, Scotland was under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed in the name of her absent daughter Mary Queen of Scots (then also Queen of France).
The Scottish Reformation decisively shaped the Church of Scotland and, through it, all other Presbyterian churches worldwide.
32. Treaty of Paris was a treaty between Louis IX of France and Henry III of England, agreed to on December 4, 1259.
Henry agreed to renounce control of Normandy (except for the Channel Islands), Maine, Anjou and Poitou, which had been lost under the reign of King John. Henry was able to keep the lands of Gascony and parts of Aquitaine but only as a vassal to Louis. In exchange, Louis withdrew his support for English rebels.
The agreement resulted in the fact that the English kings had to pay homage liege to the French monarchs and therefore they remained French vassals. The situation did not help the friendly relationship between the two states, as it made two sovereigns of equal powers in their countries in fact unequal. According to Professor Malcolm Vale, the treaty of Paris was one of the indirect causes of Hundred Years War.
33. Babington Plot was the event which most directly led to the execution of Mary I of Scotland (Mary Queen of Scots). In January 1586, Mary Queen of Scots found herself in the strictest confinement she had experienced in the eighteen years she had been imprisoned by the English as a result of an increasing number of plots surrounding her.
34. The Battle of Culloden was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It was the last land battle to be fought on mainland Britain. Culloden brought the Jacobite cause—to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain—to a decisive defeat.
The Jacobites—the majority of them Highland Scots, although containing significant numbers of Lowland forces—supported the claim of James Francis Edward Stuart ("The Old Pretender") to the throne; the government army, under the Duke of Cumberland, younger son of the Hanoverian sovereign, King George II, supported his father's cause. It too included significant numbers of Highland Scots, as well as Scottish Lowlanders and some English troops.
The aftermath of the battle was brutal and earned the victorious general the name "Butcher" Cumberland. Charles Edward Stuart eventually left Britain and went to Rome, never to attempt to take the throne again. Civil penalties were also severe. New laws attacked the Highlanders' clan system, and Highland dress was outlawed.
35. The Divine Right of Kings is a general term used for the ideas surrounding the authority and legitimacy of a monarch, the doctrine broadly holds that a monarch derives his or her right to rule from the will of God, and not from any temporal authority, including the will of his subjects, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm. Chosen by God, a monarch is accountable only to Him, and need answer only before God for his actions. The doctrine implies that the deposition of the king or the restriction of the prerogative power of the crown runs contrary to the will of God. However, the doctrine is not a concrete political theory, but rather an agglomeration of ideas. Practical constraints have placed very considerable limits upon the real political power and authority of monarchs, and the theoretical prescriptions of the Divine Right have seldom translated literally into total absolutism.
36. Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands in the 18th century. It led to mass emigration to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and abroad. It was part of a process of agricultural change throughout the United Kingdom, but was particularly notorious due to the late timing, the lack of legal protection for year-by-year tenants under Scots law, the abruptness of the change from the clan system and the brutality of many of the evictions.
37. Hampton Court Conference was a meeting in January 1604, convened at Hampton Court Palace between King James I of England and representatives of the English Puritans. While the meeting was originally scheduled for November 1603, an outbreak of plague meant it was postponed until January. The conference was called in response to a series of requests for reform set down in the Millenary Petition by the Puritans, a document which supposedly contained the signatures of 1000 puritan ministers.
The conference was set out in two main parties by James, one party of Archbishop John Whitgift and 8 Bishops who represented the episcopacy, supported by eight deans and one archdeacon, and another party of four or five moderate Puritans.
38. The Battle of the Nile saw a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson defeat a French fleet, stranding Napoleon's army in Egypt. French losses have been estimated to have been as high as 1,700 dead (including Vice-Admiral Brueys) and 3,000 captured. British losses were 218 dead. The battle established British naval superiority during the remainder of the French Revolutionary Wars, and was an important contribution to the growing fame of Admiral Nelson.
39. The Bishops' Wars refer to two armed encounters between Charles I and the Scottish Covenanters in 1639 and 1640, which helped to set the stage for the English Civil War and the subsequent Wars of the Three Kingdoms
40. The Battle of Trafalgar, an historic sea battle between the British Royal Navy fleet of 27 ships of the line which defeated the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy of 33 ships of the line, was fought on 21 October 1805 west of Cape Trafalgar in south-west Spain.
The French and Spanish lost 22 ships, while the British lost none in the most decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. The British commander Admiral Lord Nelson died late in the battle. Since then he has been considered one of Britain's greatest naval heroes.
It was part of the War of the Third Coalition, and a pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the 18th century. However, by the time it was fought, Napoleon had abandoned his plans to invade southern England and instead was defeating Britain's allies in Germany.
41. Roundheads/Cavaliers
"Roundheads" was the nickname given to the Puritan supporters of Parliament during the English Civil Wars. Roundhead political and religious factions included (but were not limited to) Presbyterians, classical republicans, Levellers, and Independents. The Roundheads' enemies, the Royalist supporters of King Charles I, were nicknamed Cavaliers.
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War (1642-1651). Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered an archetypical cavalier.
42. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was an international exhibition that was held in Hyde Park, London, England, from 1 May to 15 October 1851 and the first in a series of World's Fair exhibitions of culture and industry that were to be a popular 19th century feature.
A special building, nicknamed The Crystal Palace, was designed by Joseph Paxton to house the show; an architecturally adventurous building based on Paxton's experience designing greenhouses for the sixth Duke of Devonshire, constructed from cast iron-frame components and glass made almost exclusively in Birmingham and Smethwick, which was an enormous success.
Six million people visited the Exhibition. The Great Exhibition made a surplus of £186,000 which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History.
Names (who the people were and what they achieved, or why they are important to remember)
1. Edward, the Black Prince was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, and father to King Richard II of England. Edward, an exceptional military leader and popular during his life, died one year before his father and so never ruled as king (becoming the first English Prince of Wales to suffer that fate). The throne passed instead to his son Richard, a minor, upon the death of Edward III.
2. James I when he was only one year old, succeeded his mother Mary, Queen of Scots. Regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1581. James achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced great difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and repeated conflicts with the English Parliament. According to a tradition originating with historians of the mid-seventeenth-century, James's taste for political absolutism, his financial irresponsibility, and his cultivation of unpopular favourites established the foundation for the English Civil War. Under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture. James himself was a talented scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597) and Basilikon Doron (1599)
3. Richard II was the King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He is famed for his pivotal role in resolving the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, and for his purported misdemeanours as King, which led to both to his forced resignation and civil war.
4. Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army, which defeated the royalists in the English Civil War. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Cromwell dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England, conquered Ireland and Scotland, and ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.
5. John of Gaunt was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He gained his name "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent, then called Gaunt in English. John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority reign of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing periods of political strife, but did not openly associate with opponents of the King.
6. Sir Christopher Wren was a 17th century English designer, astronomer, geometer, and one of the greatest English architects of his time. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, as well as many secular buildings of note. He was a founder of the Royal Society (president 1680-82), and his scientific work was highly regarded by Sir Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal. As a fellow of All Souls, he constructed a transparent beehive for scientific observation; he began observing the moon, which was subsequent to the invention of micrometers for the telescope. He experimented on terrestrial magnetism and had taken part in medical experiments, performing the first successful injection of a substance into the bloodstream (of a dog).
7. Lancastrians (Henry IV, V, VI). The House of Lancaster was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century. The House is named Lancaster, because its members were all descended from Edward III's son John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster; their symbol was a Red Rose of Lancaster.
The opponents of the House of Lancaster were the House of York. The rivalry between Lancaster and York, in the form of the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, has continued into the present day, on a more friendly basis. For example, the annual sporting competition between Lancaster University and the University of York is called the Roses Tournament.
8. William III of Orange was the Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the main provinces of the Dutch Republic from 28 June 1672, King of England and King of Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scots (under the name William II) from 11 April 1689, until his death.
Born a member of the House of Orange-Nassau, William III won the English, Scottish and Irish Crowns following the Glorious Revolution, during which his uncle and father-in-law, James II (VII in Scotland)), was deposed. In England, Scotland and Ireland, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694. He reigned as 'William II' in Scotland, but 'William III' in England and Ireland. Often he is referred to as William of Orange, a name he shared with many other historical figures. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, he is often informally known as "King Billy". Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith.
9. Owen Glendower crowned as Owain IV of Wales, was the last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales. He instigated an ultimately unsuccessful but long running revolt against English rule of Wales. On September 16, 1400, Glendower instigated the Welsh Revolt against the rule of Henry IV of England. Although initially successful, the uprising was eventually put down - Glendower was last seen in 1412 and was never captured, nor tempted by Royal Pardons and never betrayed. His final years are a mystery. Glyndŵr has remained a notable figure in the popular culture of both Wales and England, portrayed in Shakespeare's play Henry IV (as Owen Glendower) as a wild and exotic man ruled by magic and emotion.
10. John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His rise to prominence began as a lowly page in the royal court of Stuart England, but his natural courage on the field of battle soon ensured quick promotion and recognition from his master and mentor James, Duke of York. When James became king in 1685, Churchill played a major role in crushing the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion; but just three years later, Churchill abandoned his Catholic king for the Protestant William of Orange.
11. St.Joan of Arc also known as "the Maid of Orleans” was a 15th century virgin saint and national heroine of France. A peasant girl born in Eastern France, Joan led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of King Charles VII. She was captured by the English and tried by an ecclesiastical court led by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, an English partisan; the court convicted her of heresy and she was burned at the stake by the English when she was nineteen years old. Twenty-four years later, the Holy See reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and later canonized in 1920.
12. Sir Robert Walpole was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the position of "Prime Minister" had no recognition in law or official use at the time, Walpole is nevertheless acknowledged as having held the office de facto because of his influence within the Cabinet.
A Whig, Walpole served during the reigns of George I and George II. His tenure is normally dated from 1721, when he obtained the post of First Lord of the Treasury; others date it from 1730, when, with the retirement of Lord Townshend, he became the sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet. The "longer" version of the tenure is generally upheld by the contemporary press, most notably that of the opposition, who focused far more attention upon Walpole than his counterpart. Walpole continued to govern until his resignation in 1742, prompted by the Battle of Cartagena disaster, making his administration the longest in British history.
13. John Wyclif was an English theologian, translator and reformist. Wycliffe was an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. He is considered the founder of the Lollard movement, a precursor to the Protestant Reformation (for this reason, he is sometimes called "The Morning Star of the Reformation"). He was one of the earliest opponents of papal encroachment on secular power.
Wycliffe was also an early agitator for translation of the Bible the Vulgate directly from the Latin into vernacular English in the year 1382, now known as the Wycliffe Bible. It is believed that he personally translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and it is possible he translated the entire New Testament, while his associates translated the Old Testament.
14. Bonnie Prince Charlie - Charles Edward Stuart was the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Charles was the son of James Francis Edward Stuart who was in turn the son of James II and VII, who had been deposed in the Revolution of 1688. The Jacobite movement tried to restore the family to the throne. Charles' mother was James' Polish wife, Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702-1735, granddaughter of the Polish King, John III Sobieski). After his father's death Charles was recognised as Charles III by his supporters; his opponents referred to him as The Young Pretender.
15. Richard, 3rd duke of York was a member of the English royal family, who served in senior positions in France at the end of the Hundred Years' War, and in England during Henry VI's madness. His conflict with Henry VI was a leading factor in the political upheaval of mid-fifteenth-century England, and a major cause of the Wars of the Roses. Although he never became king, he was the father of Edward IV and Richard III.
16. `Butcher Cumberland' - The Prince William, Duke of Cumberland was a younger son of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and a military leader. On 8 April 1746, he set out from Aberdeen, towards Inverness, and, on 16 April, he fought the decisive Battle of Culloden, in which the forces of the Young Pretender were completely destroyed. Cumberland told his troops to take notice that the Jacobite enemy's orders were to give no quarter to the "troops of the Elector", and they took the hint to reciprocate; there is no evidence of any such orders. On account of the merciless severity with which the fugitives were treated, Cumberland received the nickname of "Butcher" from some, and he is still known to some Scots as "Butcher William"
17. Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death. He was the last king from the House of York, and his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth marked the culmination of the Wars of the Roses and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty. After the death of his brother King Edward IV, Richard briefly governed as regent for Edward's son King Edward V with the title of Lord Protector, but he placed Edward and his brother Richard in the Tower and seized the throne for himself, being crowned on 6 July 1483.
Two large-scale rebellions rose against Richard. The first, in 1483, was led by staunch opponents of Edward IV and, most notably, Richard's own 'kingmaker', Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. The revolt collapsed and Buckingham was executed at Salisbury, near the Bull's Head Inn. However, in 1485, another rebellion arose against Richard, headed by Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) and his uncle Jasper. The rebels landed troops and Richard fell in the Battle of Bosworth Field, then known as Redemore or Dadlington Field, as the last Plantagenet king and the last English king to die in battle.
18. Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his support of the American colonies in the dispute with King George III and Great Britain that led to the American Revolution and for his strong opposition to the French Revolution. The latter made Burke one of the leading figures within the conservative faction of the Whig party (which he dubbed the "Old Whigs"), in opposition to the pro-French-Revolution "New Whigs", led by Charles James Fox. Burke also published a philosophical work where he attempted to define emotions and passions, and how they are triggered in a person. Burke worked on aesthetics and founded the Annual Register, a political review. He is often regarded by conservatives as the philosophical founder of Anglo-American conservatism.
19. Warwick `The Kingmaker' - Richard Neville was a leading figure in the Wars of the Roses, during which he helped depose the Lancastrian King Henry VI in favour of the Yorkist King Edward IV. This earned him his nickname of "the Kingmaker", but he later fell out with Edward and restored Henry VI to the throne. During this period Warwick was the richest man in the country outside of the Royal Family, and was considered the real ruler of England. Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet, as Edward was restored to power.
20. Thomas Paine was an English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, classical liberal, inventor and intellectual. He lived and worked in Britain until the age of 37, when he migrated to the American colonies just in time to take part in the American Revolution. His main contribution was as the author of the powerful, widely read pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), advocating independence for the American Colonies from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and of The American Crisis, a series of pamphlets distributed between 1776-1783 that supported the Revolution.
Later, Paine was a great influence on the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791) as a guide to the ideas of the Enlightenment. Despite an inability to speak French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. Regarded as an ally of the Girondists, he was seen with increasing disfavour by the Montagnards and in particular by Robespierre.
21. John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer commonly credited as the first European to discover North America, in 1497, notwithstanding Norseman Leif Ericson's landing (c. 1003). The Canadian government's official position is that he landed on the island of Newfoundland.
22. Horatio Nelson was a British admiral famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars, most notably in the Battle of Trafalgar, a decisive British victory in the war, during which he lost his life. Nelson went against the conventional tactics of the time by cutting through the enemy's lines. Nelson was noted for his ability to inspire and bring out the best in his men, to the point that it gained a name: "The Nelson Touch". His actions during these wars and his heroic image as a one-armed, one-eyed patriot, ensured that before and after his death he was revered.
23. Thomas Wolsey who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. When Henry VIII became king in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in all matters of state and extremely powerful within the Church. The highest political position he attained was Lord Chancellor, the King's chief advisor, enjoying great freedom and often depicted as an alter rex (other king). Within the Church he became archbishop of York, the second most important see in England, and then was made a Cardinal in 1515, giving him precedence over even the Archbishop of Canterbury. His main legacy is from his interest in architecture, his Hampton Court Palace, which stands today.
24. Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman. He was one of the leading military and political figures of the nineteenth century. Born in Ireland, he was commissioned an ensign in the British Army. Serving first in India and then Ireland he raised to prominence as a General during the early Napoleonic Wars. In the Peninsular Campaign he led the Allied forces to victory against the French and after the Battle of Vittoria in 1813 , was granted a Dukedom and promoted to the rank of field marshal. Serving as the ambassador to France following the exile of Napoleon, he returned to fight Napoleon's forces after the Hundred Days. This culminated at the Battle of Waterloo, which saw the defeat of the French Emperor and a decisive coalition victory.
Given the epithet the "Iron Duke" he was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under the Tory party and oversaw the passage of Catholic emancipation in 1829. He continued as Prime Minister until 1830 and again served briefly in 1834. Although unable to prevent the passage of the Reform Act of 1832 he continued as one the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement. He remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death.
25. St. Thomas More was an English lawyer, author, and statesman who in his lifetime earned a reputation as a leading humanist scholar, and occupied many public offices, including Lord Chancellor (1529-1532). Sir Thomas coined the word "utopia", a name he gave to an ideal, imaginary island nation whose political system he described in the eponymous book published in 1516.
26. Benjamin Disraeli was a British Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister—the first and thus far only person of Jewish parentage to do so (although Disraeli was baptised in the Anglican Church at 13). Disraeli's greatest lasting achievement was the creation of the modern Conservative Party after the Corn Laws schism of 1846.
Although a major figure in the protectionist wing of the Conservative Party after 1844, Disraeli's relations with the other leading figures in the party, particularly Lord Derby, the overall leader, were often strained. Not until the 1860s would Derby and Disraeli be on easy terms, and the latter's succession of the former assured. From 1852 onwards, Disraeli's career would also be marked by his often intense rivalry with William Gladstone, who eventually rose to become leader of the Liberal Party. In this duel, Disraeli was aided by his warm friendship with Queen Victoria, who came to detest Gladstone during the latter's first premiership in the 1870s. In 1876 Disraeli was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Beaconsfield, capping nearly four decades in the House of Commons.
27. Mary I Stuart was Queen of Scots (the monarch of the Kingdom of Scotland) from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. She was also the queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560. After a long period of protective custody in England, she was tried and executed for treason following her involvement in three plots to assassinate Elizabeth I of England and place herself on the throne.
28. William Edwart Gladstone is famous for his intense rivalry with the Conservative Party Leader Benjamin Disraeli. The rivalry was not only political, but also personal. When Disraeli died, Gladstone proposed a state funeral, but Disraeli's will asked for him to be buried next to his wife, to which Gladstone replied, "As [Disraeli] lived, so he died — all display, without reality or genuineness." Disraeli, for his part, said that GOM (which stood for Grand Old Man, Gladstone's nickname), really stood for "God's Only Mistake".
The British statesman was famously at odds with Queen Victoria for much of his career. She once complained "He always addresses me as if I were a public meeting." Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as the "Grand Old Man" or "The People's William". He is still regarded as one of the greatest British prime ministers, with Winston Churchill and others citing Gladstone as their inspiration.
29. John Knox was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the ecclesiastical and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent of Scotland, Mary of Guise. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled to England on his release in 1549.
While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he quickly rose in the ranks to serve the King of England, Edward VI, as a royal chaplain. In this position, he exerted a reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. When Mary Tudor ascended the throne and re-established Roman Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country. Knox first moved to Geneva and then to Frankfurt. In Geneva, he met John Calvin, from whom he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. He created a new order of service, which was eventually adopted by the reformed church in Scotland.
On his return to Scotland, he led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Protestant nobility. The movement may be seen as a revolution, since it led to the ousting of the queen regent, Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. Knox helped write the new confession of faith and the ecclesiastical order for the newly created reformed church, the Kirk. He continued to serve as the religious leader of the Protestants throughout Mary's reign. In several interviews with the queen, Knox admonished her for supporting Catholic practices. Eventually, when she was imprisoned and James VI enthroned in her stead, he openly ridiculed her in sermons. He continued to preach until his final days.
More general issues (their approximate dating, origins, general course and consequences)
1. The origins of English parliament. The English Parliament traces its origins to the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066, William of Normandy brought a feudal system, where he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws. In 1215, the tenants-in-chief secured the Magna Carta from King John, which established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of his royal council, which slowly developed into a parliament.
In 1265, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester summoned the first elected Parliament. The franchise in parliamentary elections for county constituencies was uniform throughout the country, extending to all those who owned the freehold of land to an annual rent of 40 shillings (Forty-shilling Freeholders).
In the boroughs, the franchise varied across the country; individual boroughs had varying arrangements. This set the scene for the so-called "Model Parliament" of 1295 adopted by Edward I. By the reign of Edward II, Parliament had been separated into two Houses: one including the nobility and higher clergy, the other including the knights and burgesses, and no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses as well as of the Sovereign.
2. The causes of The Hundred Years' War
Na początku XIV w. rozognił się spór angielsko-francuski na tle lenn angielskich - Gujenny (części Akwitanii) oraz Flandrii. Dodatkowo spór ten nałożył się na rywalizację dwóch stronnictw arystokratycznych o władzę w samej Anglii. Podzieliła ona także rodzinę królewską: króla Edwarda II (1307 - 1327) i jego żonę Izabelę. Izabela schroniła się wówczas we Francji, gdzie uzyskała wojskowe i pieniężne wsparcie, gdyż sama była córką króla francuskiego Filipa IV.
Po zbrojnym powrocie królowej do Anglii, Edward II musiał abdykować i został aresztowany, tron zaś przypadł w 1321 jego synowi, niepełnoletniemu jeszcze Edwardowi III (1312 - 1377). Faktyczną władzę, do czasu jego pełnoletności, sprawowała matka wraz ze swym stronnictwem. Gdy młody, ambitny król przejął w 1330 rządy w Anglii, zaczął domagać się od Francji nie tylko swych praw do byłych lenn angielskich na terenie Francji, lecz także uznania go w ogóle za sukcesora korony francuskiej, gdyż był po matce księciem francuskiej dynastii Kapetyngów, której panowanie we Francji wygasło wobec braku bezpośrednich męskich następców tronu.
3. Black Death (origins, symptoms, consequences on English economy)
Origins - The pandemic is thought to have begun in Central Asia, India, or possibly Africa, and spread to Europe during the 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 million people; approximately 25-50 million of which occurred in Europe. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population. It may have reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400.
Symptoms - The three forms of plague brought an array of signs and symptoms to those infected. The septicaemic plague is a form of blood poisoning, and pneumonic plague is an airborne plague that attacks the lungs before the rest of the body. The classic sign of bubonic plague was the appearance of buboes in the groin, the neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled. These buboes were caused by internal bleeding. Victims underwent damage to the skin and underlying tissue, until they were covered in dark blotches. Most victims died within four to seven days after infection. When the plague reached Europe, it first struck port cities and then followed the trade routes, both by sea and land.
Consequences - The hardest hit lands, like England, were unable to buy grain abroad: from France because of the prohibition, and from most of the rest of the grain producers because of crop failures from shortage of labour. Any grain that could be shipped was eventually taken by pirates or looters to be sold on the black market. Meanwhile, many of the largest countries, most notably England and Scotland, had been at war, using up much of their treasury and exacerbating inflation. In 1337, on the eve of the first wave of the Black Death, England and France went to war in what would become known as the Hundred Years' War. Malnutrition, poverty, disease and hunger, coupled with war, growing inflation and other economic concerns made Europe in the mid-fourteenth century ripe for tragedy.
4. Peasants' Revolt (causes, chief leaders, course and termination)
The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the best documented popular rebellion ever to have occurred during medieval times. The names of some of its leaders, John Ball, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, are still familiar even though very little is actually known about these individuals.
Wat Tyler's Rebellion is significant because it marked the beginning of the end of serfdom in medieval England. Tyler's Rebellion led to calls for the reform of feudalism in England and an increase in rights for the serf class.
The revolt was precipitated by heavy-handed attempts to enforce the third poll tax, first levied in 1377 supposedly to finance military campaigns overseas — a continuation of the Hundred Years' War initiated by King Edward III of England. The third poll tax, unlike the two earlier, was not levied on a flat rate basis (as in 1377) nor according to schedule (as in 1401), but in a manner that that allowed some of the poor to pay a reduced rate, but others with essentially the same economic position to pay the full tax, prompting calls of injustice.
King Richard promised the rebels that all was well, that Tyler had been knighted, and that their demands would be met - they were to march to St John's Fields, where Wat Tyler would meet them. This they duly did, but the King broke his promise. The nobles quickly re-established their control with the help of a hastily organised militia of 7000, and most of the other leaders were pursued, captured and executed, including John Ball and Jack Straw, who was beheaded. Following the collapse of the revolt, the king's concessions were quickly revoked.
5. Doctrines of Wycliffe (at least 4 points)
- He rejected the doctrine that tradition is equal in authority with the Scriptures.
- He rejected transubstantiation and indulgences.
- He believed the Bible to be the Word of God without error from beginning to end.
- There is some evidence that Wycliffe rejected infant baptism, at least toward the end of his life.
6. The Wars of the Roses (causes, names of 2 important battles, major dynastic changes)
The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487) were a series of dynastic civil wars fought in England between supporters of the Houses of Lancaster and York. Although armed clashes had occurred previously between supporters of Lancastrian King Henry VI and Richard, Duke of York, head of the rival House of York, the first open fighting broke out in 1455 and resumed more violently in 1459. Henry was captured and Richard became Protector of England, but was dissuaded from claiming the throne. Inspired by Henry's Queen, Margaret of Anjou, the Lancastrians resumed the conflict, and Richard was killed in battle at the end of 1460.
After several years of minor Lancastrian revolts, Edward quarreled with his chief supporter and advisor, the Earl of Warwick (known as the "Kingmaker"), who tried first to supplant him with his jealous younger brother George, and then to restore Henry VI to the throne. This resulted in two years of rapid changes of fortune, before Edward once again won a complete victory in 1471. Warwick and the Lancastrian heir Edward, Prince of Wales died in battle and Henry was murdered immediately afterwards.
A period of comparative peace followed, but Edward died unexpectedly in 1483. His surviving brother Richard of Gloucester first moved to prevent Edward's widow Queen Elizabeth's unpopular family from participating in government during the minority of Edward's son, Edward V, and then seized the throne for himself, using the suspect legitimacy of Edward IV's marriage as pretext. This provoked several revolts, and Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrian kings who had nevertheless inherited their claim, overcame and killed Richard in battle at Bosworth in 1485.
Yorkist revolts flared up in 1487, resulting in the last pitched battles. Sporadic rebellions continued to take place until the last (and fraudulent) Yorkist pretender was executed in 1499.
Fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of feudal retainers, support for each house largely depended upon dynastic factors, such as marriages within the nobility, feudal titles, and tenures. It is sometimes difficult to follow the shifts of power and allegiance because nobles acquired or lost titles through marriage, confiscation or attainture. For example, the Lancastrian patriarch John of Gaunt's first title was Earl of Richmond, the same title which Henry VII later held, while the Yorkist patriarch Edmund of Langley's first title was Earl of Cambridge. However it was not uncommon for nobles to switch sides and several battles were decided by treachery.
Causes - The antagonism between the two houses started with the overthrow of King Richard II by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, in 1399. As an issue of Edward III's third son John of Gaunt, Bolingbroke had a very poor claim to the throne. According to precedent, the crown should have passed to the male descendants of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, Edward III's second son, and in fact, the childless Richard II had named Lionel's grandson, Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March as heir presumptive. However, Richard II was then deposed and Bolingbroke was crowned as Henry IV. He was tolerated as king since Richard II's government had been highly unpopular. Nevertheless, within a few years of taking the throne, Henry found himself facing several rebellions in Wales, Cheshire and Northumberland, which used the Mortimer claim to the throne both as pretext and rallying point. All these revolts were suppressed, although with difficulty.
Important battles - Battle of Wakefield, The Battle of Towton
7. Henry VII (his claims to the throne, reforms and management of England)
Henry VII's paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor, a Welshman, is said to have secretly married the widow of Henry V, Catherine of Valois, and the result of their union was the father of Henry VII. However, Henry's claim to the throne derived from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. His claim was somewhat tenuous; it was based upon a lineage of illegitimate succession, and overlooked the fact that the Beauforts had been disinherited by Letters Patent of King Henry IV. Lady Margaret Beaufort claimed royal blood as a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III, and Gaunt's third wife Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. Katherine had been John of Gaunt's mistress for some 25 years and borne him four illegitimate children, John, Henry, Thomas and Joan Beaufort, by the time they were married in 1396.
The first of Henry's concerns on attaining the throne was the question of establishing the strength and supremacy of his rule. His own claim to the throne being weak as it was, he was fortunate that the majority of claimants to the throne had died in the dynastic wars or were simply executed by his predecessors. Henry married Elizabeth of York with the hope of uniting the Yorkist and Lancastrian sides of the Plantagenet dynastic disputes. In this he was largely successful. However, a level of paranoia continued, such that anyone with blood ties to the old Plantagenet family was suspected of coveting the throne.
Economy - Henry VII was a fiscally prudent monarch who restored the fortunes of an effectively bankrupt exchequer (Edward IV's treasury had been emptied by his wife's Woodville relations after his death and before the accession of Richard III) by introducing ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation. Henry VII's policy was both to maintain peace and to create economic prosperity. Up to a point, he succeeded in both. He was not a military man, and had no interest in trying to regain the French territories lost during the reigns of his predecessors. Henry's most successful economic related diplomacy came through the Magnus Intercursus (1496). In 1494, Henry had a trade embargo (mainly the trade of wool) with The Netherlands (ultimately, Margaret of Burgundy and Maximilian of the Holy Roman Empire), as he wanted to stop their support of the Pretender Perkin Warbeck. This paid off for Henry as the Magnus Intercursus was agreed in 1496 which helped to remove taxation for English merchants and significantly increase the wealth of England.
8. Mary I Tudor and restoration of Catholicism
England briefly resubmitted to Catholicism during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I from 1555 to 1559.
Like all Henry VIII's children, Mary had had a traumatic childhood. She was genuinely pious and felt she had a mission to bring back England to the Catholic faith. This was not an impossible prospect since the greater part of the populace were still attached to Catholic beliefs.
In this enterprise she also had the assistance of a considerable number of spiritually impressive men. However, her allotted time was to be short and her strategic choices were at times ill-conceived. One fact for which she has for ever been reproached is the persecution that was unleashed in her reign on Protestants, with burnings at the stake. With the assistance of the propaganda of later governments, this episode ensured her a place in popular memory as Bloody Mary.
9. Elisabeth I (her patronage of arts, policies, persecution of Catholics and the problem of succession)
The notion of a great Elizabethan age depends largely on the builders, dramatists, poets, and musicians who were active during Elizabeth's reign. They owed little directly to the queen, who was never a major patron of the arts.
Elizabeth's foreign policy was largely defensive. Elizabeth's first policy toward Scotland was to oppose the French presence there. Her policy in Ireland was to grant land to her courtiers and prevent the rebels from giving Spain a base from which to attack England.
Many Catholics, particularly on the continent, regarded Elizabeth as nothing more than an illegitimate heretic. In 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated her, calling her the "pretended queen of England". This sanction, which in theory released English Catholics from allegiance to Elizabeth, served only to identify the English church more closely with the crown. It also placed English Catholics in great danger. By encouraging them to rebel, it raised doubts about their loyalty to the queen.
The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed three years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Perhaps for that reason, her brother, Edward VI, cut her out of the succession. His will, however, was set aside, as it contravened the Third Succession Act of 1543, in which Elizabeth was named as successor provided that Mary I of England, Elizabeth's half-sister, should die without issue. In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded Mary, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.
10. The Great Civil War (causes, sides involved, 2 major battles, consequences) consisted of a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists between 1642 and 1651. The first (1642-1646) and second (1648-1649) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649-1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. The English Civil War has many causes but the personality of Charles I must be counted as one of the major reasons.
The Battle of Marston Moor - When: July 2, 1644; Where: Long Marston, Yorkshire; Who: Royalist troops under the Marques of Newcastle and Prince Rupert vs. an allied army of Parliamentary and Scottish troops led by Sit Thomas Fairfax and Lord Manchester.
The Battle of Naseby: When: June 14, 1645; Where: Naseby Northamptonshire; Who: Royal army under Prince Rupert vs. Parliamentary troops under Sir Thomas Fairfax. The wars left England, Scotland and Ireland amongst the few countries in Europe without a monarch. In the wake of victory, many of the ideals (and many of the idealists) became sidelined. The republican government of the Commonwealth of England ruled England (and later all of Scotland and Ireland) from 1649 to 1653 and from 1659 to 1660.
11. Policies of James II
James is best known for his belief in absolute monarchy and his attempts to create religious liberty for his subjects. Both of these went against the wishes of the English Parliament and of most of his subjects. Parliament, opposed to the growth of absolutism that was occurring in other European countries, as well as to the loss of legal supremacy for the Church of England, saw their opposition as a way to preserve traditional English liberties. This tension made James's three-year reign a struggle for supremacy between the Parliament and the crown, resulting in his ouster, the passage of the English Bill of Rights, and the Hanoverian succession.
12. War of the Spanish Succession ( causes, British involvement, 2 major battles, consequences)
In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) several European powers combined to stop French succession to the Spanish throne and what would likely have been a resulting shift in the European balance of power. It was a major European conflict and included Queen Anne's War in North America. The war was marked by the military leadership of notable generals like the duc de Villars, the Duke of Berwick, the Duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugene of Savoy.
In 1700, Charles II died and bequeathed all of his possessions to Philip, duc d'Anjou — a grandson of the French King Louis XIV — who thereby became Philip V of Spain. The war began slowly, as the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg fought to protect his own dynasty's claim to the Spanish inheritance. As Louis XIV began to expand his territories more aggressively, however, other European nations (chiefly England, Portugal, and the Dutch Republic) entered on the Holy Roman Empire's side to check French expansion. Spain itself was divided as Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia rose up in support of the Habsburg pretender. Other states joined the coalition opposing France and Spain in an attempt to acquire new territories, or to protect existing dominions. The war was fought not only in Europe, but also in North America, where the conflict became known to the English colonists as Queen Anne's War, and by corsairs and privateers along the Spanish Main. Over the course of the fighting, some 400,000 people were killed.
The war was concluded by the treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714). As a result, Philip V remained King of Spain but was removed from the French line of succession, thereby averting a union of the two kingdoms. The Austrians gained most of the Spanish territories in Italy and the Netherlands. As a consequence, France's hegemony over continental Europe was ended, and the idea of a balance of power became a part of the international order due to its mention in the Treaty of Utrecht.
Battle of Vigo Bay, Battle of Denain.
13. Seven Years War (causes, division of power, British involvement)
Causes - Often said to be a continuation of the War of the Austrian Succession, in which King Frederick II of Prussia had gained the rich province of Silesia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) only in order to gain time to rebuild her military forces and to forge new alliances, which she did with remarkable success. The political map of Europe had been redrawn in a few years. During the so-called Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, century-old enemies France, Austria and Russia formed a single alliance against Prussia.
Prussia had the protection only of Great Britain, whose ruling dynasty saw its ancestral Hanoverian possession as being threatened by France. In Great Britain's alliance with Prussia the two powers complemented each other. The British already had the most formidable navy in Europe, while Prussia had the most formidable land force on continental Europe, allowing Great Britain to focus its soldiers towards its colonies.
The Austrian army had undergone an overhaul according to the Prussian system. Maria Theresa, whose knowledge of military affairs shamed many of her generals, had pressed relentlessly for reform. Her interest in the welfare of the soldiers had gained her their undivided respect.
The second cause for war arose from the heated colonial struggle between the British Empire and French Empire which, as they expanded, met and clashed with one another on two continents. These causes of the French and Indian War are described on that page
Division of power - The British already had the most formidable navy in Europe, while Prussia had the most formidable land force on continental Europe, allowing Great Britain to focus its soldiers towards its colonies.
The British strove to take advantage of their naval power and press the war in the colonies, not only by naval blockade and bombardment of enemy ports, but also using their ability to move troops by water. They would harass enemy shipping and attack enemy colonies, frequently using colonists from nearby British colonies. They sought to offset their natural disadvantage on the continent of Europe by allying themselves with one or more Continental powers whose interests were antithetical to those of their enemies, particularly France. For the Seven Years' War, the British allied themselves with the greatest military strategist of the day, Frederick the Great, and his kingdom, Prussia, then the rising power in central Europe, and paid Frederick substantial subsidies to support his campaigns.
14. Jacobite Risings (causes, dates, 2 major battles, Highland warfare, the outcome of the `Fourty Five' rebellion)
The major Jacobite Risings were called the Jacobite Rebellions by the ruling governments. The "First Jacobite Rebellion" and "Second Jacobite Rebellion" were known respectively as "The Fifteen" and "The Forty-Five", after the years in which they occurred (1715 and 1745).
Although each Jacobite Rising has unique features, they all formed part of a larger series of military campaigns by Jacobites attempting to restore the Stuart kings to the thrones of Scotland and England (and after 1707, Great Britain) after James VII of Scotland and II of England was deposed in 1688 and the thrones claimed by his daughter Mary II jointly with her husband, the Dutch born William of Orange. The risings continued, and even intensified, after the House of Hanover succeeded to the British Throne in 1714. They continued until the last Jacobite Rebellion ("the Forty-Five"), led by Charles Edward Stuart (the Young Pretender), was soundly defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, ending any realistic hope of a Stuart restoration.
Battle of Falkirk, Battle of Culloden
15. 3 selected important figures of the Industrial Revolution, their inventions and innovations
James Watt was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution.
Sir Richard Arkwright was an Englishman who is credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power.
Henry Cort was an English ironmaster. During the Industrial Revolution in England, Cort began refining iron from pig iron to wrought iron (or bar iron) using innovative production systems. In 1783 he patented the puddling process for refining iron ore.
16. British colonial gains in the Napoleonic Wars - France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793, and the conflict lasted 22 years. Britain was the one consistent partner in the many coalitions of European powers that formed against France, and an implacable foe of Napoleon. As a result of these wars, Britain made colonial gains in the West Indies and South Africa, and strengthened its hold on India. Britain also claimed influence in Egypt and set up a trading monopoly with South America.
17. Queen Victoria (foreign policy, colonial wars and reforms at home)
Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. She was the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent. Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. In foreign policy, the Queen's influence during the middle years of her reign was generally used to support peace and reconciliation. During Victoria's long reign, direct political power moved away from the sovereign. A series of Acts broadened the social and economic base of the electorate. It was during Victoria's reign that the modern idea of the constitutional monarch, whose role was to remain above political parties, began to evolve. 1864, Victoria pressed her ministers not to intervene in the Prussia-Austria-Denmark war, and her letter to the German Emperor (whose son had married her daughter) in 1875 helped to avert a second Franco-German war. On the Eastern Question in the 1870s - the issue of Britain's policy towards the declining Turkish Empire in Europe.
Queen Victoria's reign marked the gradual establishment of modern constitutional monarchy. A series of legal reforms saw the House of Commons' power increase, at the expense of the House of Lords and the monarchy, with the monarch's role becoming gradually more symbolic.
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