simple questions

The United Kingdom: History

Questions p41

1. What are the major eras in terms of ruling royal families?

Plantagenet, Tudor, Stuart - family name

Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian - first name

2.Who were the main foreign invaders and what were their contributions to and impact on

British culture?

The Romans - city culture, central heating, roads, words of Latin origin, Roman numbers,

the solar calendar, Roman laws and the census. Christianity spread

Germanic tribesmen, including the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, from Northwestern Europe

gave us Old English.

The Vikings (Danes) from Denmark, Norway and Sweden –trouble!Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, and his successors saved the Angles and unified the country, under Anglo-Saxon

rule*. England fluctuated between Anglo-Saxon rule and that of Danish/Norwegian

descendants of the Vikings until 1066 when William of Normandy (France) defeated King

Harold at the Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror and his court spoke Anglo-Norman, leaving an indelible mark on the development of Modern English.

The Normans were the last invaders in history to conquer the British Isles.

* During Anglo-Saxon rule the northern part of Britain remained independent, inhabited by Celtic tribes. The Picts and the Scots united under one king in AD 843 to form Scotland.

By the end of the 7th century all of the kings of the British Isles were Christianised.

3.What is feudalism?How did it emerge and decline?

Feudalism is a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour. Peasants worked for landlords and landowners

(nobles) who were responsible to and would fight for the King or Lord. The Domesday Book records the population, their lands and property and how much tax they paid. This survey was commissioned in 1086 by William the Conqueror who strengthened and enlarged

feudalism. The unpopularity ofKing John – who lost Normandy - brought about the decline of feudalism. He antagonised the nobility and the Church, who led a rebellion against him, and he was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 accepting limits on his power as King to raise money from his subjects. A royal council of twenty-five barons was formed to ensure the King conformed to the Magna Carta. The council was joined by some men from the

commons, i.e. ordinarymen. These two groups slowly developed into a parliament with two

houses. Simon de Montfort summoned the first elected parliament in 1265 and the Model Parliament was adopted in 1295.

4.What is the background for the Reformation and what major achievements did the

Elizabethan era witness?

The HundredYears’ War (1337-1453) between France and England destroyed the feudal nobility and brought about a new social order.

In 1533 Henry VIII separated the English Church from the Church of Rome (the Pope) and established himself as head of the Church of England. Protestantism was taking hold but the Church of England was still theologically closer to Rome, i.e. Catholicism. The

Reformation refers to the changes (reforms) Henry made in the way the Church was run, including the services. His main reason for doing this was so that he could divorce his wife, Catherine. The Pope did not approve.

The reign of Elizabeth I (Henry’s daughter) was an age of glory and marked the end of the Tudor period. She put an end to the religious squabbles which had divided the country and balanced the interests of the Puritans (radical Protestants) on the one hand and the

Catholics. She reduced the power of the nobility and expanded the power of her

government, establishing a common law and administration throughout England. England became a major economic power– through the establishment of colonies and consequent trade (including the slave trade). England enjoyed supremacy at sea after the war with Spain in 1588. The Elizabethan era also saw the English Renaissance. The Renaissance (rebirth) is the cultural and artistic movement which spread over Europe. In England it produced poets such as Spenser and Milton and playwrights such as Marlowe and

Shakespeare.

5.In what sense did Tudor Britain (????) serve as a transition to modern times?

The Tudor period was a decisive one in English history: feudalism declined and a modern English nation state was born, bound together by a common language, a powerful central government and a strong Church but the relative power of the monarch and Parliament was in question. Who should be in control?

Elizabeth 1, the last of the Tudors, died in 1603. Her cousin, James VI of Scotland, a

Protestant king of the House of Stuart, ascended the thrones of England and Ireland as James I and united all three states. (Union Flag 1606)

6.How did the English Civil War break out and what were its consequences?

7.How did the UK Parliament come into being? How did the major political parties evolve?

James VI and I believed in the Divine Right of Kings and the Royal Prerogative and limited Parliament’s power and rights in areas such as trade and foreign policy. He also persecuted Catholics and Puritans (fundamentalist Protestants). The struggle for political control

intensified when his son, Charles I, came to power.

The English Civil War was between supporters of Charles I and the nobility – the Royalists (“Cavaliers”) and the Parliamentarians(“Roundheads”). It was essentially a constitutional argument between the King and Parliament, which represented country gentry, merchants and artisans and did not believe in the divine sovereignty of the King. Parliament had

sought to limit the King’s power and guarantee civil liberties through the Petition of Right (1628) but this challenge to royal authority led tothe war. Both sides were Protestant: the Royalists were Anglicans, having broken away from the Catholic Church, and the

Roundheads were Puritans. In 1649 King Charles I, son of James VI and I, was beheaded.

Oliver Cromwell introduced republicanism and became Lord Protector of the

Commonwealth. He was succeeded by his ineffectual son in 1658. In 1660 disgruntled

generals took over and called for a pro-royal Convention Parliament, inviting Charles II to return from exile and restore the House of Stuart. He eradicated Puritanism and ushered in

a period of extravagance and exoticism. This Restoration period saw an expansion in

colonisation, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London (1666) andthe birth of the Whig and Tory parties.

Charles’s successor James wa s hated as a Roman Catholic. He fled to France and the

Convention Parliament asked his Protestant daughter Mary to rule with her husband

William. This is called the Bloodless or Glorious Revolution. William and Mary agreed to a Bill of Rights (1689) li miting the Crown’s power and marking the beginning of the

constitutional monarchy.

Af ter William and Mary, Mary’s sister, Anne, became Queen. She was the last of the Stuarts.

With the death of Anne,who had no living children, GeorgeI of the House of Hanover, was the closest Protestant heir to the throne but Scotland did not want George as he had been chosen by the Parliament of England. However, conflict was avoided: in the Act of

Settlement 1701, passed by the Parliament of England, Hanoverian succession was agreed upon and this was ratified by the Parliament of Scotland. In return Scotland was to be given access to the English plantations in North America. The Act ofUnion was passed by both Parliaments in 1707, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain with a single

Parliament.The personal union of the crowns which took place a century earlier was now a political union.

George I and George II, who saw themselves first and foremost as Germans, allowed

ministerial power to be strengthened. The two rival political parties –Tories and Whigs–vied for favour (see Victorian Britain for evolution of parties). Power continued to move away from the Crown and toward the House of Commons but society remained stable and there was a spirit of tolerance in politics and religion.

8.What and when was the Industrial Revolution and how has it impact ed British Society?

The Georgian period saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (mid-1750s to mid -1850s) and with its advent the structure of society changed.

The Industrial Revolution started in the wool industry. Peace at home ensured a climate which encouraged inventors and investors. New devices and efficient methods were

adopted. Plenty of labour was available and there was an increasing demand for goods.

James Watt’s new steam engine marked a high point in the development of large-scale

machine production. The cotton industry boomed: raw cotton came from the colonies and finished goods were exported. There were innovations in the coal, iron and steel industries too. Industrialisation resulted in the growth of large urban areas in North and Central

England. Huge numbers of manual workers moved to the cities and became the unitary

working class, which contrasted with an emerging middle class (commercial) and the old aristocracy (upper class). The Industrial Revolution was accompanied by territorial

expansion and although the North American colonies broke away (1776) Britain became the largest imperial power in Europe, commanding superior sea forces and controlling vast

trading relationships.

9.Christianity. There is a note on Augustine of Canterbury on p37. Augustine was responsible

for the conversion of thousands of Saxon people to Christianity between 596 and 605. He was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 601 and was given authority over all the

churches in England.

10.What were the distinct features of the Victorian era that made it different from other times?

The Victorian era saw remarkable changes:

Political reform: the Reform Act of 1832 gave the vote to the majority of the male middle class. As a result the Whigs and the Tories had to attend to the interests and demands of a wider electorate. In 1838 the “working class” Chartist movement was founded, urging more reform and demanding uni versal suffrage (for men). In 1848, their leader, Fergus O’Connor, presented three petitions to Parliament to no avail. In the late 1850s the Whigs became the Liberal Party and were responsible for the Reform Bill of 1867, enfranchising two million men, mainly working class. Working men’s parties were founded; these merged in 1900 and were renamed the Labour Party in 1906.

Social reform: movements for justice, freedom and moral values grabbed public attention.

Municipal reforms were directed at urban problems in health and hygiene. Legislation set the basis for universal primary education. Women’s rights were extended. The slave trade ended.

Innovations(the Industrial Revolution): photography, Darwin’s evolutionary theory, railways, engineers: Brunel and Stephenson, bridges, tunnels, stations, the London Underground, the steam boat, improvements in medicine (Florence Nightingale), electric light,

radiocommunication.

The Victorian era also marked the apex of the British Empire– and the dissemination of

British ideas, notably its political institutions and the English language, throughout the world.