-
Henry VIII was born in 1491, the son of Henry VII (the first Tudor King). Henry was 17 when he became king in 1509. He died in 1547. Under his reign, the church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church (1534). This is called a schism. He had six wives. Two were divorced and two beheaded. Three of his children reigned after him: Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. He is one of the most famous and emblematic English Kings.
-
It defined the right of Henry VIII to be "Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England". -
This act made Ann Boleyn a legitimate Queen. -
Henry decided that the monasteries were bastions of “popery”. They were disbanded and the Crown appropriated their income and land (and at the time Church owned 25% of the land!)
-
The dissolution process was interrupted by rebellions in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. These were the greatest rebellions ever faced by a Tudor monarch. They lasted 6 months and were called the “Pilgrimage of Grace”. They were against the dissolution of the monasteries and the Reformation. The repression was brutal : exemplary public hangings.
-
In 1537 permission was given for an English Bible and not a Latin one. They were soon made mandatory in every church. -
The Council of Trent held in the Italian city of Trent, it's the symbol of Counter Reformation. The Roman Catholic church attempted to correct some of the abuses of the church and harshly condemned protestant heresies.
-
He was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. He was only 9 when his father died. Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and soon to be Duke of Somerset, the new King's eldest uncle, became Lord Protector. During his reign a series of measures pushed England towards Protestantism
-
Edward himself was fiercely Protestant, so he did a revision of the mass-book and led to the publication of the Book of Common Prayer. Roman Catholic practices (including statues and stained glass) were eradicated, the marriage of clergy was allowed.
The imposition of the Prayer Book (which replaced Latin services with English) led to rebellions in Cornwall and Devon. -
Poor Laws were passed in 1553, 1597 and 1601. This established the idea that central and local governments had a responsibility for helping the poor but it also established a distinction between the “deserving poor” and the “undeserving poor”. It was very harsh laws against beggars and vagrants.
This system remained in place until the 19th century, it's one of the most famous legacy of the Queen’s reign. -
She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and the first Queen regnant at 37 years old. She restored Catholicism in 18 months and she repealed the Protestant legislation of her father and half-brother.
-
She was an unmarried woman (and only 25 when she became Queen). She needed to prove her legitimacy as Queenand she had to appease religious tensions after 25 years of religious change.
She stabilised the Church of England by giving it principles that still exist today the « religious settlement ». Her foreign policy was to expanded England’s influence on her neighbours, in Europe and in the world. Her reign is associated with the idea of a Golden Age for the country -
This Act was for the Religious belief :
- Every parish had to use the Book of Common Prayer
- People who did not attend an Anglican service were fined. -
This Act was fo the Church organisation :
- It abolished the authority of the Pope
- It restored the authority of the Queen over the Church
- She became “supreme governor of the Church of England”. -
It stated the doctrine (religious belief) of the Church
3 important changes : a new ecclesiology (conception of the Church), a new doctrine of Salvation and a new definition of sacraments and of the mass. It still in use today -
Rebellion against religious reforms. They were 6000 insurgents.
An attempt to replace Queen Elizabeth by Mary, Queen of Scots.
The revolt was led by the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland. But it was crushed. -
Pope Pius V issued the papal bull “Regnans in Excelsis”, it called Elizabeth “The so-called queen”, “a heretic favouring heretics”. He almost gave Catholics licence to kill her with the certainty that it would not be seen as a crime by Rome. -
Pope Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth. -
The 1571 Treason Acts made it treason for anyone to say that Elizabeth was not the true Queen of England and Wales. -
It's an Act to retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their due Obedience. It provided for the death penalty for any person converting, or already converted to Catholicism.
It was now forbidden to participate or celebrate the Catholic Mass
Anglican services were compulsory : £20 per month fine. -
Young Catholics had sworn to kill Elizabeth and put Marie Stuart on the throne but their strategies were discovered by Francis Walsingham, when he managed to decipher a coded letter between Marie Stuart and this group.
-
She was the daughter of King James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. She was raised in France as a Catholic and the widow of the French King Francis II. In 1568, Mary was involved in a civil war in Scotland, and had to fly to England. Elizabeth granted her shelter but kept her under close watch (virtually a prisoner in England for 19 years).
Mary Queen of Scots was convicted for complicity in the Babington plot and sentenced to death. -
Philip II, the Catholic King of Spain supported several plots against Elizabeth. As a result, the KinIn retaliation, and to support the cause of Protestantism, Elizabeth supported the Dutch Revolt against Spain. He attempted to invade England but it was a complete defeat, England was victorious -
The queen made this speech in Tilbury, Essex, in order to rally the troops who were preparing to repel the invasion of the Spanish Armada : “I know I have the body of a weak woman but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a King of England too”. -
East India Company founded by royal charter.
It began to build up a small empire of trading posts in India. Three main trading settlements: Bombay (Mumbai), Calicut (Calcutta), Madras (Chennai).
The East India Company allowed England to control the trade of luxury goods like spices, cotton, silk and tea from India and China, and influenced politics. -
He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots (who had been executed by Elizabeth). James was proclaimed King of Scotland in 1567 and was crowned King of England in 1603 on Elizabeth’s death. He was a strong believer in the divine rights of kings.
-
When James became King of England in 1603, Catholics placed high hopes in him: he was Queen Mary’s son. But James continued Elizabeth’s harsh repressive laws.
The Gunpowder plot was a conspiracy devised by a small group of Catholics to blow up Parliament and kill James I. -
The first permanent settlement
(1585 : a failed attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a settlement in Roanoke, Virginia) -
Period of starvation, only 60 of the 500 colonists survived!
Why ? Shortage of drinkable water, insufficient growing of crops ans conflicts with the Native Powhatan tribe.
Some settlers even turned to cannibalism -
The centrepiece of the financial reforms was the “Great Contract” of 1610 :
The King would receive a fixed sum but some MPs feared the King would not need to call up parliaments anymore (the king would be financially independent). The House of Commons refused to vote in favour of the Great Contract so James dismissed Parliament. -
The only important change with Elisabeth's reign is the new translation of the Bible. -
The Thirty Years’ War :
- Military defeats (Lord Buckingham, the King’s advisor became very unpopular)
- England at war with Spain and France
Consequences of the war were the raising of troops (50 000) had important impacts on the local population and a huge strain on finances. -
He firmly believed in the divine right of Kings and he interpreted all criticism as a challenge to his authority. He was married the French princess Henrietta Maria (absolutist + Catholic) and favoured a minority wing of Anglicans: the Arminians (wished to restore traditional ceremonies and increase the authority of bishops and the clergy).
-
MPs’ complaints in this petition. They requested the King to recognise the illegality of extra-parliamentary taxation, billeting, martial law, imprisonment without trial. They wanted to get Charles to recognise that there were limits to his powers.
Charles reluctantly signed it but was furious, and as MPs were discussing impeaching Lord Buckingham again, he suspended parliament seating. -
The MPs passed the Three Resolutions and 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.
It was an act of open defiance. Charles imprisoned these MPs and dissolved parliament. He declared there would be no more parliaments = start of the “Personal Rule” -
11 years when the King ruled without calling a parliament.
Whig historians called it “The Eleven Years Tyranny”. -
The introduction of the New Prayer Book set Scotland aflame
Scotland was Presbyterian and the changes were deemed unacceptable. The riot would soon turn into a widespread rebellion known as the Bishop Wars. -
The end of the Personal Rule and the outbreak of the Civil war were caused by crises not just in England but in Scotland and Ireland.
-
Parliament passed the Militia Act, the army should be placed under the control of a general appointed by Parliament and taking away the King’s ability to appoint whoever he wanted. -
It's 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
The text divided Parliament into 2 groups : the Parliamentarians and the royalists. -
-
Charles I marched into the House of Commons with troops and attempted to arrest 5 Members of Parliament (January 1642)
Breach of privilege, which showed there could be no peace between King and Parliament
Fearing for his life, Charles left London for York.
Parliament presented the 19 Propositions to the King (extreme: Charles as a constitutional monarch) -
The First civil war would cost the lives of 190 000 Englishmen (in combat/from diseases) and last for four years.
-
A new army created in 1644, unlike the earlier regional armies, this was a national, centralized army, controlled and paid from Westminster rather than the counties.
It was strong of 22 000 men, armed with swords, pistols, pikes and wearing the redcoat.
Religious fervour (nicknamed the “praying army”, soldiers carried Bibles in their breast pockets), convinced that the army was acting on God’s behalf. -
It was a turning point and saw the Royalist forces weaken. -
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. -
The Second Civil War was made of a series of revolts in the South of England, Wales and Scotland. The Royalists were easily defeated by Cromwell.
-
England was declared a Commonwealth (a republic) -
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 and the House of Commons had supreme authority.
England was declared a Commonwealth ans ruled as a Republic. -
The Interregnum is between 2 reigns, between 2 kings
England declared a “Commonwealth” = governed by its people without a King but is was a failure to reach stability and creation of a military protectorate ruled by Cromwel.
During the interregnum, many experiments with republican forms of government but the main problem is that any republican regime needed the support of both.
The propertied classes who wanted stability and order.
The army who wanted religious toleration and reforms. -
The Levellers who criticized Cromwell were imprisoned
They were in favour of equality, they wanted men over 21 to have the right to vote and religious freedom.
The Quaker James Nayler who imitated Christ’s entry into Jerusalem was harshly punished -
England’s first and only written constitution. -
Problems with the Rump Parliament : slow progress with electoral reform and army getting increasingly irritated by the Rump Parliament.
On 20 April 1653 Cromwell dissolved the Rump and ordered the MPs to leave.
Next Parliament: “The Barebones Parliament” but internal tensions, the Barebones Parliament dissolved. -
The Protectorate was a military dictatorship, it's similar to a monarchy without a King.
1) Cromwell appointed Lord Protector :
- Executive power (return to a govt of a single person)
- Controlled the military, diplomacy
- Ruling with the help of the legislative power
2) Parliaments of 460 MPs elected every 3 years :
- To be allowed to vote, a man had to own £200 of personal property
3) Council of State
- Composed of 13 to 21 members who served for life -
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 -
It promised :
- A general amnesty (pardon)
- To continue religious toleration
- To share power with Parliament -
King, desire for reconciliation, the 100 people who had signed Charles I’s death warrant were executed. Cromwell’s corpse was dismembered, his head stayed on a spike in Westminster for 25 years.
Tensions between : Parliament (now permanent: an institution, not an event and representing the people) and King , royal prerogative (discretionary powers that placed the monarch above the law of the land). -
All ministers had to swear to conform to the Book of Common Prayer + Restoration of bishops to the House of Lords and to their place in the Church. -
-
-
Rumour of a plot organised by the French to murder Charles II and replace him by his Catholic brother James II. -
Parliament attempted to debar James II from the succession to the English throne so Charles disolved the Parliament.
-
When James II sat on the throne, deep seated fear of Catholic absolutism. Reinforced by the fact that James tried to enforce toleration of Catholic worship (Parliament forced him to back down)
Important tensions : many were afraid any upheaval = reversal to the dark times of the civil wars
There is a problem, in 1688, James’ second wife gave birth to a son. It's a catholic Heir, a threat to Protestantism and to parliament’s powers. -
It established religious pluralism, and freedom of worship for all Protestants. -
- Lists King James’ misdeeds
- Fixed limitations on the sovereign’s powers
- Set out the rights of Parliament
- Set out basic civil rights
- A key political text
-
The 1701 Act of Settlement :
- Settled the order of succession and ensured a Protestant succession, ignoring dozens of Catholic heirs
- Successor: Hanoverian descendants of James I
- Key role in the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain -
Creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain: England (and Wales) and Scotland, old dream of James I. Under Queen Anne, ratification of the Act of Union :
A single kingdom, Scotland lost its parliament but gained 45 seats in the House of Commons + 16 seats in the House of Lords and Scotland kept its Presbyterian church and own laws -
Britain gained Acadia over the French.
-
-
It was led by the “Old Pretender” James Francis Edward Stuart (the son of James II) -
-
It was led by the “Young Pretender” Bonnie Prince Charlie (the grandson of James II) -
-
Britain gained Florida over the Spanish and (most of) Canada over the French.
-
-
-
Grievances against George III -
Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States -
By 1783, Britain had established an empire which comprised of:
colonies in North America including the West Indies, and the Pacific including New Zealand (which became a British Colony following an expedition by James Cook in 1769), trading posts in India, naval bases in the Mediterranean - Gibraltar and Minorca.
But Britain's defeat in the American War of Independence meant the loss of the American colonies. -
-
Britain at war with France Combatting revolutionary ideology + maritime, colonial and economic motives
-
Creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England and Scotland) and Ireland
