History Pr ehi stor y Two thousandyearsagothere was anIro nAgeCelticculture through-om th eBriti shIsles.Itseems th attheCells ,whohadbeen arrivin g from Europefro m theeigh thcenturyB e
Trang 11 I Co untry an d People
QUESTIO N S
1 Think of themost well-knownsym bo lsand
to kens o f n ation ality in yo ur coun try A re th ey
the same types of real-lifeobjects (e.g.plan ts,
clo thes) t hat a re used in Br itain?
2 In 1970, the BBC showeda series ofp
ro-gra ln mes ab o ut t he histo ry of th e B ritish Empir e.
Befo reth e seriesstarted, th ey advertised it.The
a dvertisement me ntione d ' Eng land's h istory'.
Withina few hours, theBBChadrecei ved thou-sands ofangry calls ofpro testandi was for ced
to make anapology.Whodo youthinktlie an gr y callers were'Why did the BBCapolo gize ?
3 In 1991,UEFA (theUnion of EuropeanFootball
Associat ions) in troduced a new re gulatio n Thi s
limi ted the num ber of f oreign pl ayers w ho w ere
allowed to playforafootba llclub in Europe an
co mpetitions For exa mple, a Ger man cl ub te am cou ld h ave o nly a c ertain n umbe r of pla yers i n
it w ho we re not Ge nnan Und er the new re gula -tion a playe r in the Li verpool tea m, I an Ru sh , was class ified as 'foreig n', even th ou gh h e was
bo rn onlytwenty miles from Liverpool an had
lived in th e same area all hislife.Man y othe r playersof Eng lish club team sfo un dth em selves
in th e same position.Many peo ple in England thoug ht thatth iswas ridiculous.Ho wdidthis happen' Do youth inki was ridi cu lous?
SU G GES TI ON S
4 Th e d ominanceofEn glan d in B ritain is reflecte d
in th e or ganizationof the gove rnment Th ere
are m inisters f or Sco tland , Wales an d No rthern Irel and , b ut t here i s n o min ister fo r E ngland.
Do you thinkthis is good for th e people of the
o ther B ritish natio ns ( they have special a tten
-t io n and re cogni tion oftheird istinct ide ntity)
or isit bad (it givesth ema kindof second-class,
co lon i al s tatus)?
5 A re t here an ydistin ct nationalloya ltiesin you r
count ry (orare th ey better describeda regio na l
lo yalties) ?I fso,is the relationsh ipbet w een the
' nations' in an y way s imilar to th at b etw een t he
n ations in Brit ain? If n o t, can yo u th ink of any
o ther co untries wh ere suc h loyalt ies exist? Do
th ese l o yalties ca use problems in those
coun-t ri es?
• Britain, anOfficial Handbook(HMSO)is pu blish ed annuall yand is
pre-paredby th e Central Officeof Info rmation.It incl udes factsand
figures onaspects of Britishlife suc h aspolitics and law, economic
a nd s ocia l a ffairs, a rts and s po rt.
• Dictionaryof Britainby Adr ian Room (Oxford Univer sityPress)is n
alphabet icalguide to well- kn own British organizatio ns, people ,
eve nts , t raditions and o ther a spectsof lifein Britain.
Trang 2History
Pr ehi stor y
Two thousandyearsagothere was anIro nAgeCelticculture
through-om th eBriti shIsles.Itseems th attheCells ,whohadbeen arrivin g
from Europefro m theeigh thcenturyB eonwards, interm in gledwih
thepeo ples whowere alreadyther e.Weknow that religious sites
thathadbeen built long beforethearrivalof theCeltscontinued to
be used in theCeltic period
For peopleinBritain today, h e chiefsign ificance of'thepreh istoric
period (for whichno written records xist) isis senseofmystery
This sensefindsisfo cusmosteasilyin th ea tonishingmon ument al
arch itecture of thisperio d, therem ainsof which exist h ro ughout
thecou ntry.Willshire, inso th- w estern England ,hastwospectacular
examples:S bu ry Hill, helargest buri al mound inEuro pe,and
Stone henge(c-Stonehenge) Such placeshaveaspecialimportancefor
anyoneinterested in theculturaland religiouspractices ofprehistoric
Britain Wek ow verylittle abou t these practices, but there aresome
orga nization stod ay(for exam ple, theOrd er ofBards, Ovatesand
Dru ids - asmallgroupofeccent ric intellectualsand mystics) who
basetheirbeliefs onthem
Stonehenge
Ii> Stonehenge Stonehen ge was built o Salisbury Plain some time between 301)0 and
2300 B e It s one or the mo st famous and mysterious archa eological sites
in the wo rld One of its m ysterie s is how i was ever built at all with the technology of the tim e (the sto nes
co me from over 2 0 0 mil es awa y in Wales) Another is its purpose It
ap pears 1O functi on as a kind of astronomical clock and we know i was used by the Druids for cere-monies marking the passing of the seasons It has alwa ys exerted a fas-cination on the British im aginatio n and appears in a number of novels, such as Thoma s Hard y' s T ess of the D'Urbevilles.
These days Sto nehe nge is not o nly
of interest to tourists, but is also a gathering point for certain minority groups such as hippies and 'N ew Age Travellers' (see chapter I 3) It is
no w fence d ff to protect i from damage.
1
Trang 316 2 History
Hadrian 'sWall
Hadrian's Wall was built by the
Romans in the second century
across the northern border of their
prov ince of Britannia (along nearly
the same line as the present E nglish
-Scouish border) in order to protect
their territory from attacks by the
Scots and the Picts.
Hadrian'sWall
T he R oman pe riod (43-4I 0) TheRoman provinceofBritanni a coveredmost of present -da y
Englan dand Wales.TheRo m ansimposed theirow n way ofhfeand
c lture, makin g useof the existing Celticaristocracytogovernand
encouragingthisrulingclassto adoptRoman dressand theRoman
language(Latin) They exerted an influence ,withoutactuall yg
ov-erning there,overonlythe southern part of Sco tland Itwasduring
this time that a Celtic tribecalledthe Scotsmigrated from Ireland to Scotland,where they became alliesof thePiets(anotherCeltic tribe)
and opponentsof the Ro m an s Thisdivision of theCelt sinto those
who e p rienced direc tRomanrule(theBritonsin England and Wales) and those whodid not (the Gaelsin IrelandandSco tland) may help toe plain the developmentoftw o distinctbranches ofth Celticgroup oflanguages
Th remarkablething about the Romansisthat,despit etheir long occupationof Britain ,they left ver ylittle behind.Tomanyother partsofEuropethey bequeathed asystem of lawandadministration
which formsthe basis of the modernsystem andala guagewhich
developedinto the mod ern Romance fam ily oflanguages.In Britain ,
theyleftn ither.Moreover,mostof theirvillas,bathsandtemples,
theirim pressivenetworkof roads,and the citiestheyfounded,
includingLondin ium (London),were soo nd stro yedorfellint o
disrepair Almostthe onlylasting rem ind er oftheir presenceare
place-names like Chester,LancasterandGloucester ,whi ch include variantsofthe Roman wordcastra (a military cam p)
T he G ermanic i nvasions ( 4I0 - 1066)
One reason why Roman Britanniadisappeared soquicklyis pro bably thatits influencewaslargelyconfinedto th towns.In the coun try-side,where mostpeoplelived , farmingmeth ods had remained
unchan ged andCelticspeech continued to be dominant
The Roman occupatio nhad been a matterofcolonial control rather
than large-scalesettlement.But, during thefifth century,a number
oftrib esfromthe north-westernEuropean mainland invadedand settled in largenum bers Two ofth se tribesweretheAnglesand
Some important dates in British history
* BC means 'before Chri st' All the other
dates are AD (Latin anne D omini), wh ich
signifies 'after the birth of Chri st '.
SSB *
The Roman general Julius Caesar lands
in Bri tain wi th an expedi tiona ry force , wins a battle and leaves The first'date'
in popular Briti sh hi stor y.
AD 4- 3 The Romans come to Slay.
6 Queen Boudicca (or Boadicea) of the Iceni tribe leads a bloody revolt against the Roman occupation It is suppressed There is a statue of Boadicea made in the nin eteenth century, outside the Houses of Parliament This has helped
to keep the memory of her alive ;
Trang 4t he Saxons T hese A nglo-Saxons soo n had th e so uth-east o f he
co untry i n t heir gras p In t he west o f he co untry t heir ad vance w as
tem porarilyhalte d by an armyofCCeltic) Bri tons under the com m and
of thelegendary King Arth ur Co>K ingArthu r) Nevertheless, bytheend
of thesixth century,they an dtheirwayoflifepred om ina ted innearl y
allofEnglandand in partsofsouthernScotland The CelticBritons
wer e e it he r S axon i zed or driven wes twards, whe re their c ulture a nd
la nguage surv ived in so uth-west Sco tland, W ales a nd Co rnwa lL
The An glo- Saxo ns hadlittleusefor townsan dcities Butthey had
a g reat effect on the count ryside , where t hey i ntroduce d new
farm ingmethodsand foundedthe thousa n dsofself-sufficie nt
vil-lages which form edth e basis ofEnglishsociety for th e nextth ousan d
or s o years
The Ang lo -Saxons were p agan w hen t hey ca me to Br itain Chris
-tianity sp read thro ughout B ritain fr o m t w o di fferent di rections
duri ng t h e sixth an d s eve n th cent uries I tcarnedirec tly fro m R OIn e
when St Augu stine arr ived in 597 an d es tablished his h eadquarters
at Canterburyin the south-east of En glan d It had alread ybeenintro
-duced into Scotlan dan d no rt h ern Engl and from Ireland ,wh ichhad
b ecom e C hristian m o re th an 150 years e arlier A ltho ug h Roman
Ch ristian ityeventually too k over the whole ofthe Bri tish Isles, the
Celtic modelpersistedin Scotland and Irelandforseveral hundred
years I t was les s ce ntrally orga nize d, and h ad l ess n eed f o r a s trong
monarchyto supportit.This partlyexplainswhyboth secu lar and
r eligio u s power i n t hese t w o c ou ntries c o ntinue d t o be both mor e
l o cally based a nd les s secu re t han it was e lsewhere in Br itain th rou gh
-ou t t he me dieval period.
B ritain experienced ano ther wave o fGerman ic invasion s in th e
eighth c entury T hese inva ders, kn ow n as V ikings , Nors emen or
Da nes , came f rom Scandi navia I n t he n inth cen tury t hey conquered
an d settle d t he extre me n orth and wes t of Scotland, anda lso SOl li e
coastal regions ofIrelan d.The irconq uestof En glan dwashalted when
theyweredefeatedbyKing Alfre d of theSaxo n kingd omof Wessex
Co>KingAlfred).This resulted in anagreem ent wh ichdivide d En gland
between Wessex, in the so uth an d wes t, an d th e'Danelaw 'i n t he
nort h and east.
Th e Ger ma n i c in vasions 1
King Arthur
Kin g Arthur p rovides a wonde rful examp le o f th e d istortio ns of pop ular his tory I n folklore and myth he i s a gr eat En gli sh hero, and
h e and h is k night s o f the roun d table are regar ded a s t he pe rfect ex amp le
o f m edieval nobility and chivalry In
f act h e lived long before me dieval
ti mes a nd w as a R oma nized Celt
t rying to h old b ack the advances of the A nglo-S axons - the v ery p eopl e
w ho be cam e 'the En glish '!
Ki ng Art hur, Queen Guinevereand one o f
the knightsofthe round table, from the
film'Camelot'
, p o
T he Ro ma ns lea ve Bri tain.
4 1
S rPa trick c o nverts Ir eland to
C hristian ity.
S97
St A ugustine ar rives i n England.
793
T he g reat m o nastery o n th e i sland o f
Llndisfarnein northeast Engl and i s
d es troy ed by Viki ngs and i ts monks
kill ed.
87 8
T he P eaceof Edingtonp artitions Engl and b etw een the Saxons, led by
K ing A lfred, an d th e Danes.
9 73
Ed gar, gran dson of A lfred, becomes
k ing o f all E ngland
Trang 51 2History
~King Alfred
King Alfred was not on ly an able v arrior but also a ded icated scholar and a w ise ru ler He is know n as 'Alfred the G reat' - the o nly
mon arch in English history to be given this title He is also popu larly known for the story of the Durni ng
of the cakes.
While A lfred was wande ring around his country organizing res-istance to the Viking invaders , h e trave lled in disgu ise On one occ a-sion, he sto pped at a wo man's ho use.
The woman asked hi m to watch some cakes that were cookin g to see that they did not b urn, w hile she went off to get food A lfred be came lost in though t an d t he cakes burned When the wo man returned, she shouted angrily a t A lfred and sent him a way A lfred ne ver tol d her
t hat he was her k in g.
~1066
This is t he m ost famous date in English h istory O n I 4 O ctober
1066 an invadi ng army from N or -mandy defe ated the Eng lish at the
B attle of Hastings T he ba ttle was close and ex tremely bl ood y A t the end of it, most of t he bes t w arrio rs
i n E ngland were d ead , i ncludi n g thei r l eader, Ki ng H arold On Christmas day tha t year the No rma n
l eader, Duke Wil ham of Norm andy, was crowned king o f Eng land H e is know n in p opular histo ry a s 'W illiam t he Co nqueror' Th e da te
is remembered for be ing t he l as t
t ime that E ngland was successf ully invaded.
However, the cultural differences betweenAnglo -Saxon sand Danes were comparativelysma ll.Theyled roughly thesam e way of life and spoke tw o varieties ofthe same Germanictongue (which combine dtofor m the basis of modern English) Moreover, theDanes
so<;m converte dto Christiani ty.These similar itiesmade political uni
-fication easier,and by the end ofthe tenth centuryEngland was one kingdom with a Germanicculturethro ugho ut
Mostofmodern-dayScotlandwasalsounited bythistim e , at least
innam e,in a (Celtic) Gaelickingdo m
The me dieval period ( t 066- t 485)
The successful Normaninvasionof England in 1066(0) 1066)brought Britaininto the mainstreamof westernEuropean culture Previously
most linkshad been withScandinavia OnlyinSco tland did thishnk survive; the westernisles(untilthe thirteenthcentury) and the northern islands (untilth fifteenth century)remaining underthe control of Scandinaviankings Throughout thisperiodthe English
kingsalsorul ed over areasofland on the continentandwere oftenat war withtheFrench kingsin disputesoverownership
Unlike the Germanic invasions,the Norman invasionwas sm a ll-scale There wasn such thing asaNo rm an villageor aNorm anarea
ofsettlem en t Instead, the Normansoldiers who hadbee part of the invadingarmywere giventheow nership ofland- and of the peo ple
livingon it.Astrict feudal systemwas imposed.Greatnobles,or barons,were responsibledirectlyto the king; lesserlords,each
owing a village,weredirectlyrespo nsible to abaron.Underth m were the peasants,tied byastrictsystem of mutual dutiesand obliga
-tionsto the local lord, and forbiddentotravel witho ut hispermission
The peasants were the English -speaking Saxons.Thelordsand th baronswerethe French-speakingNormans Th iswasth beginning
ofthe Englishclass system ( 0)Language and class)
The strong systemof government which the Norm ans introduced
meant thattheAnglo-Normankingdom waseasilythe most power
-ful poli tical force in the British Isles No tsurpnsin gly therefore, the authority of theEnglish monarch graduallyextendedto othe rparts of
these islandsin the next250 years Bythe end of the thirteenth
century,a large part of eastern Ireland was co ntro lled by Anglo
-Normanlordsinthe nameof the Englishkingand th whole of Wales
10 14-Brian Boru's I rish ar m y d efeats t he Vikings at Clontarf (near mo dern Dublin) As a result, Vi king set tlem ent
in I e la n d remains li mite d and I reland
r etains its C eltic id enti ty, n ever becom -ing pan of the Scandin avian e m pire.
10 6 6 The Baule of Hasting s ( I> 1 066)
10 8 6
K ing W illiam 's officia ls complete the
D om esday B ook, a very deta iled,
v illage-by-village re cord o f t he peo ple and their p ossessions th roughout his
k ing dom
Trang 6wa s und er hi s dir ect r ule ( at w hich tim e th e cu stom o f n aming th e
to r ema in po litically in de pendent in th e m edieval p eriod but w as
obliged tofightoccasiona lwars to do so
Theculturalstoryof thisperiod isdifferen t Two hundred andfifty
years afterthe Norm an Conquest,it was a Germanic language
(Middle English ) and notthe Norman(French) langu age whichhad
becomethedominant oneinallclasses ofsocietyin England.Fur
-thermo re it w as the Anglo- Saxo n concep t of commo n la w , an d no t
Roman law.whichformedthe basisof the legalsystem
Despite Eng lish rule.northernandcentral Waleswasnever settled
in greatnumbersb Saxon orNorman.Asaresultthe(Cehic) Welsh
languageandculture remainedstrong Eisteddfo s.nationa lfestivals
of Welshsong and poetry.continued throughoutthemedi evalperio
and stilltakeplacetoday.The An glo-Norm an lordsofe stern Ireland
remained loyaltotheEn glish king but,despit elaw sto thecontrary
Thepoli tical independe nceof Scotland did notprevent a gradual
switch toEnglish languageand customsin thelowland (southern)
pa rtof theco unt ry Fir st, th e Anglo -Saxon e lem ent he e w as
s trengthened b y t he arr ival of man y S axo n ari sto crats fl eeing th e
a do pt io n o f an An g lo -Norman sty le of government would
Gaeli c c ulture a nd langu age preva iled - and wh ere, be causeofthe
mountain ou s l and sca p e , t he a uthorityofthe king wa s hard to e nfo rce
It w as in th is pe riod th at Par liamen t b egan it s g radual ev o lutio n
into t he d em ocratic bo dy wh ich it i s toda y Th e w o rd 'parliam en t' ,
which comes fromtheFrench word parler (to speak) ,wasfirstused
called togetherb the king.In I29 5 theMod elParliam ent setthe
u rban and ru ral are a s.
Th e m ediev al p eriod J 9 II- Language and cl ass
Th e e xistence of tw o wo rds for the
l arger fa rm a nim als in modern Engli sh i s a r esult of t he class d ivi
-s ions es t ablished by t he Nor man
co nquest There a re the words for
t helivin ga nima ls (e g (0 \\' pig.
s heep) which have their origins in
A nglo-Saxon and the w ords fo r the
me at from t he ani mals (e g.bttf pork.
mu tton) which have their o rigins in the French l anguage that the
Normansbrought to England Only
t he Normans norma lly ate meat; the poorAnglo-Saxonpeasants didnOI~
II- Robin H ood Rob in Hood is a le gendary fol k hero King Rich ard I (I 189-99) spent
m o stofhisre ig n fi ghting i n the
cru-s ades ( the w ars be tween C hristian s and Mu s lim s in t he M iddle East).
Wh il e Richard w as a way E ngland was governed b y h i s bro ther J hn who w as un popular b ec a use o f a ll the ta xes he i m po s ed A ccord in g to
legen d R o bin Ho od li v ed wit h h i s
band o f ' me rry m en' i n he r w ood
F oresto ut si deN o tt i ng h am stealin g
fro m t he r ich a nd givi ng t o t he p o o r.
H e w as c o nstant lyhun t edbythe
local s heriff (th e o yal re presenta
-t iv e ) b ut w as nev er ca ptured.
117 0
The murdero f ThomasBecket the
Archbishop ofCamerbury by so ldiers
of Kin g Henr yl l Bec ket (a lso kn own a s
Th om asaB ecket) was mad e a s ain t and
his g rave was vis ited by pil grim s f or
h undreds o f yea rs Th tCanterbu ryT ales.
w ritten b y Geo ffrey C hauce r in th e
fo urteenth centu ry reco unts t he s tories
to ld b y a fictio na l group of p ilgr im s o n
t h eir w ay to C ante rbury.
117 1 The Nor man baro n kno w n as Strongbow
a nd hi s follo wers se ttle i n I reland.
121S'
An a lliance ofarist ocracy.Church and
me rchantsforce King John to agree to
th e Ma gna Carta (Great Charter) a docu
-me nt i n which the king agrees to follow cert ain rules of governmen t In fact.
neither J o hn n o r h is successorsenti rely
fo llo wed t hem but Mag na Ca rta is
r em emb ered a s t he fi rst t ime a monarch agre ed i n w r iti ng t o bide b y f ormal proc edures.
Trang 71 2 H i story
Th e Wars of th e Ros e s
D uring the fifteenth ce ntury t he
t hroneof Engl andwas cl aimed by
representatives of t wo riva l grou ps.
The p mver of the greates t nobles ,
who had their o wn private a rmies,
meant that constant cha llenges to
the pos ition o f the m o narch were
p ssi ble.TheL ancastn ans.w ho se
symbo l w as a red rose, su pported th e
descendantso f t heD ukeof Lanca st e r ,
and the Yorkists.whos e symbo l w as
a white rose, su pported the d es
-cendants of the Duk eofYork The
s truggle for power l ed to th e 'W ars
of theRoses ' between 1455 a nd
1485 They ended wh en H enry V II
defeated a nd killed R ichard III at the
B att l eof BosworthFie ld an d we re
fo llowed b y an era of sta bility a nd
sl rong governme nt which w as we
l-comed by t hose weaken ed a nd
impoverished by dec ades of w ar.
Off wi thhi s h e ad!
Be ing an important pers o n i n the
si xteenth ce ntury w as n ot a sa fe
p o sitio n to be i n The Tudor mon
-arc hs were disloyal to th e i r offi cials
and mercil ess (Q any no bles wh o
o ppose d them More t han hal f o f t he
mos t amous p eopl e o f he p eriod
fi nished their li ves by be i ng
executedas traito rs Few p eopl e who
wer e taken through Trait or 's G ate (Q
become p rison ers in the T ower o f
L o ndo n came out ag ain alive.
T he six tee n th c entury
The powerofthe Englishmonarchincreasedin thisperiod The
of the Roses(r-The WarsoftheRo ses).Bubonicplague (knownin
En gland as the BlackDeath)contribute to the reductionof their
pow er It killedabout a thirdofthepopulation in itsfirstoutbreak in
En gland inthe middle of thefourteenth centur y andcon tinued to
reappear periodicallyfor another 300years.The shor tage ofla bour
and peasant.
The Tudor dynasty (1185- 160 3)establishe dasystemof govern-ment departments,staffed by professionals wh odepended for their
po sitio n on the monarch As a re s ult, the f eu dal baro ns we re n o
lon ger needed for implementing government policy.Theywerealso
needed less for making government policy Par liam ent wa s traditi on
-allysplitinto tw o 'Houses' The Houseof Lordsconsistedofthe
becausethatwas where the newlypow erful merchantsand land -owners(thepeoplewith the money) were represented
wouldno t givehim Also, by making himself head ofthe 'Church
of England', independent of Rome, allchur chlands came under his
Thisrejection of the RomanChurch accordedwith a new spiritof
exploration of theAmericasandothe r parts of th world meant that
IJ 7
Llew ellyn ,a We ls h prince r efuses to
submit to t he a uthority o f t he Engli sh
monarch.
1 2
84-T he Statuteof W alesputs t he w hole o f
t hat country u nder the contro lof the
English mon arch.
13 2
A fter s everal years o f w ar b etw een the
S cottish and Eng lish kin gdoms Scot -land is r ecog nized as an i ndependent kingdom
1 5"34-The Actof Supremacydecl ares He nry
V III t o b e t he sup reme hea d of the Church in England.
15"3 6 The admin istration of gov ernment and
l aw in W ales i s reformed so t hat it i s exactly th e ame as it is in England.
Trang 8Eng landwas closertothe geographicalcentreofwestern civilisation
insteadofbein g, as previously.o the edge ofir.Ir was in thelast
quarterof thisadventurousandoptimistic centurythat Shakespeare
beganwritinghis famousplays
Itwas the refor e patriotismasmuch as religiousconv iction that
hadcaused Pro testant ismto become the majori ty religioninEngland
bythe endofthecent ury It tooka formknown as Anglicanism
whichwas n tso very different from Catholicismin itsorgan ization
andritual But inthe lowlandsof Scotlandit tookamor e idealistic
fo rm Calvinism ,with its strict insistenceo sim plicityand isdislike
of ritual andcelebration , becamethe dominant religion It isfrom
thisdate that the stereotypeof thedo ur ,thrifty Scotdeveloped
How ever theScottish highlandsremainedCatholicandso furtlier
widenedthe gulfbetween the twopartsof thenation Irelandalso
remainedCatholic There ,Pro testanti sm waside nt ifiedwith the
English who at that time were making fur therattemp tsto controlthe
whole of the country
~ ElizabethI
The sixteenth century 2 I
~ HenryVl1i
Henr y V III i s one of the m ost w ell
-kn own m on archs i n En glish hi story,
c hiefly be cause he t ook s ix w ives during hi s lif e It wa s d uring hi s
reign that the Reformation took place I n t he I 530s, H enry u sed
P arliament to pa ss l aws whi ch s we pt away the power of the Roma n
Ch urch in Engla nd Hi s quarrel w ith
R om e w as nothing ( 0 do wi th doc
-t rine (it was b c au se h wanted to
be f ree to marr y a gain and to
a ppoint wh o h wi shed as le ad e r s o f the Chur ch in Engla nd) In the s ame
d ecade, h h ad a l aw pa ssed wh ich
de manded co m plete adher ence to
Cat holi c be lief a nd pr actice H e h ad
a lso pre v iously wr itten a po lemic agains t Pr otestant ism , for \vh ich the
pope gav e h im t he tit le F idei D efensor ( Defender of the F aith) The i nitials
FD still app ear o n Briti sh co ins t od ay.
Elizabeth I , daughter o f H enry V III ,
(t>H e nryVllf)was the fir st o f th ree
lo ng-reigning q ueens i n Br i tish
his tory (t he othe r two a re Quee n
v ictoria a nd Eli zabeth II ) D ur ing
he r l o g r eign she establi shed, by
s kilfu l dip lomacy, a reasonable
degre e of internal s tability in a
firml y Protestant Eng land, allowing
t he gr O\ vth of a s pirit o f patrioti sm
a nd g eneral confiden ce S he never
marri ed, but used it s po ssibilit y a s a
dipl omatic t ool S he be came known
a s ' the v irgin qu een ' The area
w hich later became th e s tate of Vir
-ginia in the USA wa s named afte r
her b y one of the ma ny Engli sh
ex plorers o f the t ime (Sir Walter
Raleigh).
153 8
An English la nguage ver sion of the Bible
replace s L atin bib les i n e very c hurch in
th e land.
1 5'60
Th e Sc ottish Parlia ment abo lishes t he
auth orit y o f the P ope a nd f o rbid s the
La tin ma ss
Eliza beth I
I S80
Sir Fr ancis D rake comp letes the first voyage rou nd the wo rld by an English man
I S8 8
Th e Spani sh A rmada, a fleet of s hips se nt
b th e Catholi c King Philip o f S pain ( 0
help i nvade England , is defeat ed by t he Engli sh nav y (with the help o f a violent s to rm").
HenryV IIl
1 603
J ames VI of Sc otland become s ame s I
of England
1 60 S
The Gunpowd er Pl ot : a grou p of C ath
-ol ics fail in t heir anemp t t o b low up t he king in P arliament (see ch apter 23)
Trang 92 2 Hi story
The C ivil Wa r
co ntest betweenfun - lo ving a risto
be liefs, and over -ser ious, p uritan
until [649.
The s even tee n t h ce nt ury WhenJam esIbecam ethefirstEnglish king of theStuartdynasty,he
was al re ady k ingofSco tland ,s o t h e crown softhesetwo c ou ntr i es were u n ited A lt houg h th eir p ar li amen t s an d a dm ini s trativ e a nd judi
-ci al s ys t e ms conti nued to b e s p a rate , th e ir li ngui s tic differe nc es
werelessenedin this century.Thekindof MiddleEnglishspokenin lowlandScotland had developed intoa writte nlanguageknown as
'Scots' However, the Scottish Protestant church adoptedEnglish
ratherthan Scotsbibles.This,and the glamour of the En glishco ur t
w here th e k ing n o w s at , ca used modern Eng lish to be co me t he written s tanda rd in S co tl and as we ll.
In t he s ixteent h c entury re ligion a n poli t i c b ecam e inextrica bly lin ked Th i s lin k b ecame eve n more i n te n se in the s eventeen t h
century Atthe beginningofthe century, some people tried tokill
th kingbecausehe wasn'tCatholice nou gh(see chapter23) Bythe endofthe cent ury, ano therkinghadbeen killed,partlybecauseh
seeme tooCath olic,andyet anotherhad been for ced intoexile for
t h e same reason.
T hi s wa s th e co ntext in wh ich, d uring t h e c n tury, P arliament
in th e coun try a t t h e wa y t hat t h e S tuart m on ar c h s rai se d mon ey,
especiallybecausethey didnot get theagreeme n tof the Houseof
Com mons t o d o s o firs t Th i s was ag ain s t a ncie nt tradit ion In addi
-ti on , id eol o g ical Pr otes t an t ism , e s pecially Pu ritan i s m , h ad grow n i n
En gland Pur itans regarded many ofthepracti cesof the Anglican
C hur ch, and a l so i t s hi er ar c hi cal s truc tur e, asimmoral.Someo f th em
thou gh t th luxuriouslifestyle of the kingand hisfollow erswas
im moraltoo Theywere alsofiercely anti-Catholicandsuspiciousof
thea pare ntsym pathy tow ards Catholicismof the Stuart mo archs This con flictledto the CivilWar (c-T heCivilWa r) ,whichended
withco m pletevictory forthe parliamentary forces The king (CharlesI) was capture d andbecam ethe firstmonarchinEuro peto
be executed afteraformal trial for crimesagainsthispeople.The
lead er of theparliamentary army, Oliver Crom well,became'Lord Protector'of a republic with a militarygovernmentwhich, after he
h dbru tallycrushedresistanceinIreland,effectivelyencom passed
the wholeoftheBriish Isles
But whe nCromwelldied, he ,his systemof governme n t,andth
p uritan e thics tha t went w ith i t ( theat re s a nd o th er fo rms o famuse
-ment had beenbanned) hadbecomesounpopular that theso n ofthe
execut edkingwas asked toretu rn and takethe thro ne The Anglican
1 641.
1 4
o nly t ime, Brit ain b riefly be co mes a
re public a nd is calle d 't he Comm o n
1 6
re ligion are restored
Trang 10Chu r ch w asrestored How ever, the co nflict betw een monarch and
Parliam e nt so o n r e-eme rged The monarch , Jame II, tried to gi ve
full rightstoCatholics,and topromotetheminhisgovern me nt
The 'Glorio sRevolution '('glor ious' becauseit wasbloodl es )
Netherland s , and hi s Stuart wife Mary, accepted Parliament ' s inv i
ta-tontob comekingand queen In thiswayit was establishe d that a
monarch co ld ruleonlywith the supportof Parliament Parliamen t
immed iatelydrewup a Billof Rights, which limited some of th
powersof themonarch (notably, thepow er to dism issjudges) It
alsoallowedDissent er s(thosewhodid notagreewith thepractices
of Anglicanism) topractisetheir religion freely.Thismeantthatthe
Presbyter ianChurch ,towhichthe majority of the low land Scottish
be lo nged , wa s gu aranteed its legality However, Disse n ters we re not
allowe d toh ldgovern me nt posts or be Members of Parliamen t
JamesII, meanwhile ,hadfled to Ireland.But the Catho lic Irish
army hegather edthere was defeat ed Law s were then passedforbid
-ding Catho licsto vote or even ownland.In Ulster, inthenorth of the
c untry ,largenumber s of fiercely anti-CatholicScottishPresbyteri ans
are stillknown toda asOrangem en (after theirpatro n Williamof
Northe rnIreland,theother half being the'native' Irish Catholics
Anineteen th -c entu r y p aint in g of victoriou s Roundhead switht w o c aptured
Cavaliers afterthe boule ofN aseby in
1 45
Ring -a-ring-a-roses Ring -a-r i ng-a -rost'S
Apocket full o fp osies
A tisho o! An shoo!
Wea ll lld own.
Th i s i s aw el l -knownchil dren's nurse ry r h yme today It co mes from
t h eti m e of t he GreatP lague of 166t;
w hich was the l ast outb reak of
b ubo nic p lague in Britai n The ring
of ros es refers to the pattern of red
s po ts o n a s uffe rer's body T he posies (b agso f h erbs)w ere thoug ht to give
p rotectio n f rom the d isease.
'A ushoo 're presents the sound of
s neezing, one of the signs of the dis ease a fter which a person could
so metimes 'fall down' dead in a few h o urs.
1666
T he Great Fireof Lo ndondestroys m o st
of t hec i ty'so ld wooden buildi ngs It
a lso destroys b ubonic pl ague , wh ich
ne ver rea ppears M o stof th ecity's fine s t
c hurches in cludingS tP au l' s Cat hedral,
da t e f ro m t h e p eriod of reb uil di ng
whi ch foll ow s.
1688
T he G lorious Revolut ion
169 0
Th e B attleof theBoyne, in which
W illiam JII and the Uls ter Protestants def eat James II and the Irish Catholics.