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The beginning of Henry VIII’s reign was in 1509. The dominant religion at the time was Catholicism. He also married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the very powerful Spanish catholic king Ferdinand II of Aragon, that same year. -
Henry's first child, a girl, was born in 1516. Her name was Mary I. -
Henry demanded divorce in 1527, stating that she was his brother’s wife, and that’s forbidden in the bible. The real reasons were that he was in love with another woman and Catherine wasn’t able to provide him with a male heir.
In 1529, his demand was refused by Pope Clement VII. -
In 1533, Thomas Cranmer married Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Later that year, Elizabeth I, his second daughter, was born. -
This act gave the King the legal power to annul marriages.
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Henry declared himself the head of the English Church. Anne, his wide, became the official queen of England. -
The establishment of the Church of England and of a pre-modern state
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Anne Boleyn was executed and Henry VIII married Jane Seymore. -
Pilgrimage of Grace; a revolt that began in Yorkshire. They were protests against Henry VIII.
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Henry VIII’s wishes for a son are granted and he has Edward VI from Jane. However, she dies less than two weeks after the birth of her son. Also that same year, an English bible was released and made mandatory in churches.
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The monasteries in England had disappeared. The Clergy’s finances were affected and people were affected too.
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From January to July, Anne of Cleves was Henry’s wife for a few months only before he divorced her.
Later that year, he married Catherine Howard, who is to be executed in 1542. -
Catherine Parr was his last wife whom he married in 1543. She is to be widowed later on. -
Edward VI becomes king after the death of his father, just at 9 years old. He tried making England more protestant. -
On January 28, 1547, Henry’s health declined and he dies.
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His most important achievement was the publication of the Book of Common Prayer which replaced every Latin mass book in churches.
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Edward died at the age of 15, because of some health issues.
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In July 1553; Mary I became queen and she was the first queen regnant ever at the age of 37. She repealed the protestant legislation of her half-brother.
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Mary married Philip II of Spain. She engaged England, allied with Spain, in a war against France. Calais was lost. -
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The second Act of Supremacy: After Mary’s reign, she reaffirmed the authority of the Queen over the Church, and she became “Supreme Governor of the Church of England”.
The Act of Uniformity: Every parish had to use the Book of common prayer, and people who did not attend an Anglican service were fined. -
1563-71: the 39th article of faith; Stated the doctrine of the Church, a revised and tamed version of Edward VI”s 42 articles. It still is the main doctrinal frame for the Anglican church of today.
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Northern Rebellion: Animated by the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland, they were backed by 6000 insurgents. Their aim was to replace Elizabeth with Mary, Queen of Scots (Catholic and next heir in line). The rebellion was crushed.
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The Pope supported queen Mary of Scots, therefore he excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570.
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The Treasons Act 1571 was an Act of the Parliament of England. It restored the provisions of the Treasons Act 1534, which had been passed by Parliament during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII, and then repealed by the Treason Act 1547 at the beginning of the reign of her half-brother, King Edward VI.
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There were at least 8 Catholic plots against Elizabeth were discovered. Every time, they wanted to replace Elizabeth with Mary. The last one was in 1586. It was discovered by Francis Walsingham. Anthony Babington and a group of young Catholics sworn to kill Elizabeth. Mary was executed the next year, in 1587.
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Mary Queen of Scots was executed by beheading at the age of 44 on the orders of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. She was accused of plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and sentenced to death. -
During the Catholic restoration, over 200 protestants were burned alive because Mary made Protestantism a heresy. The protestants that fled the country, became known as the Marian exiles.
Queen Mary died of illness and she was dubbed the Bloody Mary. Her half-sister, Elizabeth 1, will take her place. Elizabeth was 25 at the time and she was unmarried. She was protestant, so a lot of her supporters were Marian exiles. -
The Tilbury Speech; Queen Elizabeth's intention for this speech was to address her troops and inspire them to fight with heart and courage for the freedom and love of the people of England.
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In 1588, the King of Spain Philipp II will send the Spanish Armada to invade Britain. Due to weather conditions and a good naval strategy, the “invincible” armada will be defeated. It is a huge victory, at a symbolic and diplomatic level.
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Queen Elizabeth had a lot of suitors. However, she never married. In a way, in 1559, she declared herself “married to the Kingdom of England”. She became known as the Virgin Queen. In her late reign, she often appeared in white clothes.
At a European level, she forged strong alliances with the Netherlands and France against Spain. In the late 1580s, she supported a Dutch protestant revolt against Spain. -
The Queen also engaged privateers, like Francis Drake to attack Spanish ships and possessions in the West Indies. Sir Francis Drake will also circumnavigate the world in 1577, and helped to implement an English slave trade system. In 1600, the East India Company was chartered. Overall, she challenged the Spanish power.
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In 1553, 1597, and 1601, Poor Laws were voted. In 1572 a Vagabond Act was voted. This established the idea that central and local governments had responsibility for helping the poor. But it also established a distinction between the “deserving poor” and the “undeserving poor”: very harsh laws against beggars and vagrants, sent to prison (later to the workhouses).
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James I succeeded Elizabeth I. His mother was Mary Queen of Scots, executed by Queen Elizabeth. -
James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. James was proclaimed King of Scotland in 1567. He was crowned King of England in 1603 on Elizabeth’s death. A strong believer in the divine rights of kings. Both the Puritans and the Catholics hoped they would have an easier time under James than in Elizabeth’s later years.
Puritans in particular were encouraged by the fact that James, the King from Scotland, held Calvinist (protestant) views. -
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King James first reigned as a peaceful and well-tempered King: he signed peace with Spain in 1604. Thus he temporarily helped to ameliorate the finances.
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In 1610, the Great Contract between King and Parliament stipulated that the King received a fixed sum for his annual expenses. The Crown was recognized as a proper administration, but some feared that this will collide with the Parliament's prominence on taxation and military expenses. The House of Commons refused to vote for it, and the King responded by the dissolution of the Parliament.
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His peaceful foreign affairs policies finally dragged him to war. He had the idea of marrying one of his daughters to a Protestant leader – it will be the elector Palatine. The Elector Palatine soon faced a huge problem with the Habsburg emperor and Catholic Spain who soon sent their troops. James I engaged his forces to help his son-in-law but also to act as the most powerful protestant power in Europe.
James I thus had to summon a Parliament to ask for money and taxes to fund the war. -
The first important tension under the early Stuarts as Parliament told the King that it would be a financial disaster to send an army into Continental Europe (for his son-in-law), and the King saw this as an attack on his sovereignty.
He dissolved the Parliament. Finally, another Parliament took place in 1624 and voted for funds for the war on Spain. -
James I died in 1625 and left that war for Charles I.
Charle I’s reign began that same year. He was an absolutist and did not have the flexible temperament of his father. He interpreted all criticism as a challenge to his authority. He married the French, absolutist, and Catholic Princess Henrietta Maria. -
Charles I was made to sign the Petition of Rights, granting citizens rights, in exchange for money from Parliament.
Parliament attacked his religious policies in that year. -
King Charles I dissolves parliament after various disagreements. Parliament disagreed on how he wanted to raise taxes to pay for the war. To get money, he would charge landowners a loan, and if the loan wasn’t given,, they would be out in jail.
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When MPs complaints started over in the next parliamentary session in January 1629, the King declared another adjournment.
The MPs passed the Three Resolutions. They declared that whoever tried to bring in “Popery or Arminianism” or to alter the protestant forms of the Church of England was an enemy of the Kingdom, as well as anyone advising the King to collect custom duties without Parliament’s consent. -
Charles imprisoned these MPs and dissolved parliament.
He declared there would be no more parliaments = start of the “Personal Rule”. The King ruled without calling a parliament during those 11 years, which historians call "The Eleven Years Tyranny". -
1637: the introduction of the New Prayer Book
(Book of Common Prayer) set Scotland aflame.
The changes were deemed unacceptable (new position on the altar, kneeling, etc). -
The Scots invaded England and emerged victorious
-> Peace Treaty (Treaty of Ripon, Oct 1640): Charles was forced to pay the cost of the Scots’ army (humiliation!)
Charles had to call parliament again: “The Long Parliament”
(Because it would not be dissolved until 1660) -
In 1640, needing money to fight the Scots, Charles called a parliament for the first time in 11 years (“The Short Parliament” as the MPs demanded the King to address their grievances first, Charles dissolved it after only 3 weeks).
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The 1640 Parliament was determined to remedy 11 years of grievances and wanted to ensure regular parliaments.
They passed two acts ensuring that:
-Parliament should meet at least every 3 years
-The dissolution of Parliament required its consent Parliament also executed Earl Stafford, one of the King’s most powerful advisers (scapegoat for the king’s policies during his Personal Rule). -
In October 1641, an armed revolt broke out in Ireland: The Irish Rebellion. James I (Charles’ father) had implemented a plantation policy which was sending English and Scottish protestant colonists to Ireland, taking the lands of Irish Catholics
So, in October 1641, Irish Catholics rebels rose up against Protestant settlers.
➔ Massacre of 3 000/4 000 protestants -
Necessary to raise an army, but who would control it?
Parliament passed the Militia Act (1641): the army should be placed under the control of a general appointed by Parliament. It was taking away the King’s ability to appoint whoever he wanted. -
The Grand Remonstrance was an important document voted by Parliament after heated debates.
It summarized all the wrong doing of Charles I and concluded on “revolutionary” demands:
-the right of the House of commons to choose the King’s ministers
-the right for Parliament to control any army sent to Ireland
-the right for Parliament to reform the Church
As a consequence, the text divided Parliament into 2 groups:
The Parliamentarians and The Royalists. -
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Fearing for his life, Charles left London for York. Charles I believed that John Pym and 4 other MPs were plotting against the Queen. He wanted to impeach them, but Parliament refused.
Charles I marched into the House of Commons with troops and attempted to arrest the 5 MPs (January 1642). And on 22 August 1642, King Charles formally declared war on Parliament. -
The First civil war would cost the lives of 190 000 Englishmen (in combat/from diseases) and last for four years.
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A new army was created in 1644 by the Parliamentarians
Unlike the earlier regional armies, this was a national, centralized army, controlled and paid from Westminster rather than the counties.
It was strong; 22 000 men that were armed with swords, pistols, and pikes. Religious fervour (nicknamed the “praying army”, soldiers carried Bibles in their breast pockets), convinced that the army was acting on God’s behalf -
The June 1645 Battle of Naseby was a turning point and saw the Royalist forces weaken. -
In May 1646 King Charles I and the Royalists surrendered to the Scots, who handed him to Parliament.
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Thinking the war was over, the House of Commons decided to disband the New Model Army BUT without paying the soldiers what they were due (at that point they hadn’t being paid for months).
This led to mutiny. In June 1647, the New Model Army seized the King. -
The Army issued the Agreement of the People (no authority above parliament, so they would have elections) in Nov 1647.
The Putney Debates to discuss these demands but no agreement. -
The King escaped from army custody and allied himself with the Scots (he promised to introduce Presbyterianism/Calvinism into England, in return the Scottish army would invade England and restore him to power).
-Horrified Parliament (using a foreign army to wage war on his own people!) and led to the Second Civil War -
The Army wanted the King to be tried, while conservative MPs wanted to negotiate with the King.
-PRIDE’S PURGE (Dec 1648): Colonel Pride (Army) entered the House of Commons, stopped the vote, and arrested the 45 conservative leader MPs.
The remainder MPs (named the Rump Parliament) put the King on trial for high treason. -
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The regicide was welcomed with shock and dismay in England and Europe (reinforced by Royalist propaganda describing the King as a martyr)
In 1649:
A law abolished monarchy (described as “unnecessary, burdensome and dangerous”)
The House of Lords was abolished
The House of Commons had supreme authority
England was declared a Commonwealth
Ruled as a Republic -
In 1649, another Irish Rebellion broke out. Cromwell’s army repressed and installed a severe repression towards Catholics.
In 1649, massacre of both soldiers and civilian at Drogheda and Wexford. Spirit of revenge from the 1641 Irish Rebellion.
Catholicism forbidden, Irish priests arrested, Irish Catholic’s land confiscated. -
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For more than a decade, England will be governed without a King. Oliver Cromwell will assume the role of the head of the State.
The execution of Charles I was a shock both in England and Europe. As much as he had been hated, he soon became a martyr.
The political changes that were provoked by his execution were huge and somewhat unpredictable: A law abolished both the monarchy and the House of Lords. The House of Commons had all power, and England was declared a Commonwealth (a Republic). -
On 30 January 1649 King Charles I was executed, while March 1649, Monarchy and House of Lords were abolished, and England was declared a Commonwealth (a republic).
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The Levellers who criticized Cromwell were imprisoned
They were in favour of equality, wanted electoral reforms, and religious freedom. -
Charles II (the son of Charles I) was proclaimed king of Scotland after his father’s execution.
He raised a Scottish Army to invade England
Cromwell defeated the Scots Army in 1650 and crushed the uprising of the Scots Royalist force led by Charles II in 1651.
Charles II escaped and fled to Europe. -
The Convocation of 1563 was a significant gathering of English and Welsh clerics that consolidated the Elizabethan religious settlement, and brought the Thirty-Nine Articles close to their final form
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Problems with the Rump Parliament:
-Slow progress with electoral reform
-Army getting increasingly irritated by the Rump Parliament On 20 April 1653 Cromwell dissolved the Rump. Ordered the MPs to leave.
Next Parliament: “The Barebones Parliament”
But internal tensions, the Barebones Parliament dissolved
- 16 Dec 1653: end of the Commonwealth and start of the Protectorate. -
The Protectorate was the period of the Commonwealth (or, to monarchists, the Interregnum) during which England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English overseas possessions were governed by a Lord Protector as a republic.
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Cromwell died in 1658
His son Richard became Lord Protector but resigned after 6 months
This led to a period of Anarchy: 7 governments in less than a year! People longed for a return to order, increasing support for monarchy -
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Charles II, king of England, Scotland and Ireland.
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Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda. It promised:
-A general amnesty
-To continue religious toleration
-To share power with Parliament in return for the restoration of monarchy.
All of this worked! The King restored 29 May 1660 = The Restoration -
Since the Declaration of Breda, Charles II positioned himself as a defender of toleration for all… while he truly sought toleration for Catholics. He married the Catholic princess Catherine of Braganza in 1662 and had a strong relationship with Louis XIV (a catholic absolutist that led a strong repression toward protestants). His brother James converted to Catholicism in 1668.
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Plot organised by the French to murder Charles II, and replace him by his Catholic brother, James II.
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The Parliament tried to debar James from the succession. Charles II's reaction was to dissolve Parliament. He ruled without it until his death in 1685 (he converted to Catholicism on his deathbed). He was succeeded by his brother.
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Surprisingly, the first years of James II’s reign were quite peaceful. He tried to work toward toleration for both Catholics and dissenters, facing Parliament's opposition on this issue. But he was old and had no male heir. His daughter Mary was a protestant, married to the Dutch prince William of Orange, and champion of the protestant cause within Europe / against France.
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-James II fled to France and his daughter Mary was married to the Dutch William of Orange.
-Parliament invited William of Orange to invade England (no resistance) = King William
-"glorious": shedding no blood.
-Stable political system: development of a Constitutional Monarchy. -
Joint monarchy : Mary Stuart (daughter of James II) and the Dutch William of Orange
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-Limited monarchs' power.
-Lead Britain's transformation from Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy. -
-Ensured a Protestant succession.
-Put an end to the quarrel between King and Parliament. -
Last Stuart monarch.
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-Creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain: England, Wales, and Scotland. (single kingdom).
-ratified under Queen Anne. -
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The second rebellion, in 1745, to install the “young pretender”, Charles Edward Stuart (1720-88), aka “Bonnie Prince Charlie). Led to the final Jacobites’ defeat at the Battle of Culloden (1746). -
The Seven Years War opposed a French coalition to the English, mostly over questions of colonial and naval control.
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In 1783, Britain recognized the independence of the United States through the Treaty of Paris. -
-an uprising against British rule in Ireland
-Influenced by the ideas of the American and French revolutions
-Presbyterian radicals + Catholics
-Rebels defeated (/atrocities) -
The Acts of Union of 1801 unites the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, bound since 1541 by a personal union. It thus gives birth to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland