Civilizaciones inglesas

CELTS. Came from the continent with the knowledge of iron (useful for clearing the land). Four groups:
druids, nobles, freemen (farmers) and slaves.
Two main tribes: Atrebates (south) and Catuvellauni (north)
55 BC : Caesar sent a punitive expedition to Britan for British Celts were helping Celt in the Gaul. This
expedition failed, but he tried again in 54 BC and succeeded, establishing a client relationship with Atrebates.
This Roman expansion was seen as a protection from Catuvellauni. When Romans left problems started
between both tribes.
41 AD : Emperor Claudius decided to invade England when king of Atrebates Verica asked for help against
the sons of Cymbeline (dead king of Catuvellauni). England was submitted.
Romans left roads, baths, towns with regular streets and Gods from the Pantheon which mixed with Celtic
Gods, but permanent roman effects are small nowadays (few romans, distance, anglosaxon destruction).
BARBARIANS. Invaded Britain by threatening Rome. Came from the continent; three tribes in one: Angles,
Saxons and Jutes. Celtic habitants went to Wales and Brittany. First thing we know about germanic settlement
is from the 7th c.: Anglosaxon Heptarchy, were one kingdom exerced military supremacy over the others, and
its king ruled ( brethwalda). Two classes: Thengs (nobles) and Churls (independent peasants); also slaves
(celts taken prisoners).Anglo−saxons were politheistic but eventually converted to Catholicism, which came
to them in two missions:
One came from the celtic church in Ireland with St. Patrick, with a looser organization, the monastry as the
unit of eclesiastical jurisdiction, and monks living in extreme austherity and self−punishing. This church
moved to Northumbria in 634.
The other was sent by Pope Gregory I, and led by St. Augustine (1st Archbishop of Canterbury). Continental
monks were more moderate, This church moved to Northumbria. In 663, the Council of Whitby issued in
favour of this curch.
First archbishop of England was Theodore of Tharsus (669−90), who gave the church order and unity. By 700
christianity was adopted by all anglosaxon kingdoms.
VIKINGS. 9th century: invasion of western Europe by Vikings, divided in two main tribes: Norwegians
(Ireland, Sctoland, Wales, Cornwall) and Danes (England, France). They were very fierce warriors. 850
danish army landed in East Anglia and prepared to stay by sistematically destroying anglosaxon kingdoms;
they were sometimes bought off with a money called danegeld.
870 Danes turned on Wessex and were defeated by king Ethelred and his brother Alfred. Few days later
Danes defeated Ethelred and Alfred. Ethelred died after the battle and Alfred, new king, bought the Danes off.
On 878 Danes attacked Wessex again and defeated Alfred at Chippenham. Afterwards Alfred defeated Danes
at Edington and a treaty (Treaty of Wedmore) was signed between Alfred and Guthrum, fixing a boundary
between Wessex and the danish territory (called Danelaw and ruled by Guthrum). This treaty gave Alfred
status as a national leader. Danes were the common enemy, and Alfred converted the kingdom of Wessex on
kingdom of England so the other kingdoms became shires.
• Structure of government:
Alfred made kingship an important institution mainly because he set alliance with the church, who gave king a
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halo of sanctity.
By 11th century Winchester was regarded as the capital for part of the king´s treasure was there.
Household divide in four departments : Chamber (where the king slept, center of political life), Wardrobe
(containing the king´s personal belongings), Treasury (where the king´s money was kept) and chancery
(secretarial department). Apart from the king´s household stood The Witan, an assembly of the king with the
leading men of the kingdom.
Land was divided into shires(alderman−all, sheriff−one), which where divide into hundreds(reeve).
• Legal procedure:
Communal system of justice where law was dictaated by the custom of the people, or folkright.
The wronged party made an accusation and then summoned the accused to come to court. Both parts took an
oath, the plaintiff repeated the accusation and the defendant made his denial. The assemble freemen
determined which party should give proof.
One method of proof was by oath −helpers (certain number of men swearing that the oath was truthful).
For more serious crimes the method followed was by ordeal (by fire or water). If guilty the accused had to pay
a fine or wergeld (how much one is worth). Most serious crime was treason to the king (death)
Problem: difficult to enforce the punishment, people took law in their hands. Alfred wanted to stop this. He
issued a code of laws; this set up the beginning of the king as a law maker. Alfred also established the Witan
as a court of law for men to seek redress (only in theory).
954 Alfred descendants managed to drive the country by embarquing on a sistematic conquer.
991 Danes renwed their attacks. Ethelerd II, tired of buying them off, signs an agreement with Richard of
Normandy promising mutual assistance against Danes and 1001 he marries Richard´s daughter Emma.
1013 Wessex aaccepts Swein king of Denmark as king of England. Ehtelred, Emma and sons Alfred and
Edward sook asylum in Normandy.
1014 Swein dies and is succeded by his son Cnut, who married Emma after Ethelred died. Brought peace and
prosperity, respected.
1035 When he died his son Harold claimed to the throne but also Alfred .
1036 Alfred lands in Kent to invade England. Barons invite him and drug him. Harold puts out Alfred´s eyes
with the hope of discouraging any descendant to attack him. Witan recognizes Harold as King of England.
1040 Harold dies and is succeded by his son Harthacnut who dies soon after (END OF ROYAL DANISH
LINE)
Alfred brother´s Edward became king; he had been brought up in Normandy, french manners, norman barons:
Anti−norman sentiment spreaded in England. Edward marries the daughter of one of the thengs (Godwin),
Edith. Edward was visited by William king of Normandy and it was rumoured that he had offered him the
throne.
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1065 Edward dies. Witan appoints Godwin´s son Harold to the throne. William of Normandy also claims.
1066 Battle of Hastings. William defeats Harold aand becomes 1st norman king of England
William devastates the countryside and north so nobody questions his right to the throne,
He needs a permanent army: divides the country into fiefs and gives them to 180 norman barons, dividing
each fief as well and scattering it from all parts of the country. In return for these fiefs barons had to provide
the service of 60−70 knights who would fight in the army. Fief−holders could hold courts in their fiefs, but
William collected the taxes aand supervised major criminal cases.
− Structure of government:
Most like anglosaxon (Curia Regis: Chamber, Wardrobe, Treasury and Chancery); there were domestic
servants, Government officials and Great Barons. All these people travelled around with the king, who
watched his dominions to keep the kingdom united. No fixed capital but permanent royal treasure at
Winchester.
−Great Council:
Was made up by rich men and met three times a year. It was a feudal body (only people holding a fief could
attend it) and acted as a court of feudal law for important cases involving men of high rang. Its other functions
were very vague.
−Local government:
Descentralized. William created the Cheriff, who were important barons responsible of administrating local
justice.
1086 William decided to carry out an exhaustive survey to know who owned the land, how many peasants
there were, how many freemen, how much wood, pastures, mills, becaouse he wanted to create a new taxation
system; he sent out officials throughout the country. The surey was put together in what is known as the
Doomsday Book.
William last years were taken up by war in the continent. He died in a battle against Philippe of France in
1087. He had 3 sons and a daughter betweeb whom he divided his possessions: Robert (Duchy of Normandy),
William (Kingdom of England), Henry (5,000 pounds of silver) and Adela. Robert furious.
1094 Robert makes an alliance with Philippe against William and threatens to invade England, but he finally
took the cross and left the Crusades. He pawned his Duchy to William for 3 years and 6,000 silver pounds so
William ruled England and Normandy. He was avaricious and extracted money from the people with the help
of his minister Flambarrd. The church was lso heavily taxed. One day he was hunting and an arrow stroke him
so he died. His brother Henry was in the hunting party so he hurried to seize the treasure and was approved
King.
Henry had to consolidate his power against Robert so he emprisoned Flambard and married Edith (pricess of
anglo−norman descendance) to eliminate differences between Englishmen and Normans.
1101 Robert decides to invade England expecting the barons to join him but it didn´t happen so he
surrendered to Henry and signed a treaty exchanging the throne for an anual subsidy and still duke of
normandy.
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1106 Henry defeated Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai and emprisoned Robert for life. England and
Normandy united again.
Henry spent most time at continent. He created a number of professional officials to replace barons.
Development of the treasure (now on called the Exchequer: lower Exchequer (In charge of tax collection) and
upper exchequer (in charge of accounting and auditing).
Henry had only a daughter, Mathilda, and arranged for her to marry Geoffrey (1127), heir of the County of
Anjou.
1135 Henry died. England hated Anjou so the nobles offered the throne to Stepehn of Blois (son of Adela).
1137 Mathilda decides to invade the country supported by Robert Earl of Gloucester (bastard of Henry I).
Mathilda defeates Stephen and captures him but is defeated by Stepehn´s wife Mathilda of Boulogne, who
captures Robert and exchanges him for Stephen. Robert dies and Mathilda goes back to Anjou.
While Stephen and Mathilda were fighting Geoffrey is invested Duke of Normandy. When he died his son
prince Henry became Duke of Normandy (1151). 1152 he marries Eleanor of Aquitaine (controles south of
France).
1153 Henry was resentful about what happened to his mother and routes Stephen forces. They sign a Treaty
(of Wallingforce) by which Stephen will be succeded by Henry.
1154 Henry becomes Henry II king of England, Count of Anjou aand Duke of Normandy.
Henry had 3 sons (Geoffey, Richard, John) who were always intriguing against him encouraged by their
mother who had her own court at Poitiers, so she was imprisoned for life.
When Henry II became king he decided to intoduce changes in eclesiastical courts, too lenient from his point
of view (just imposed fines and penances); in addition, the benefit of the clergy during the civil war had been
enormous. Henry appointed one of his friends, Thomas Beckett, who changed when appointed (ascetic,
supporting radical claims of church independance from royal power).
1164 Henry retaliated the Constitutions of Clarendon, where was stated that all cases concerning debt and
land disputes as well as serious crimes should be tried by lay courts, and clergymen who had commited a
crime should be unfrocked and taken to the lay court. Henry and Beckett fell out and Beckett left the country.
Before he came back Henry had ordered some bishops to crown his son Prince of Wales and when he did he
declared the coronation null and void. Henry very angry; some barons galloped to Canterbury and murdered
Beckett. Pope canonized him, his shrine became place of English pilgrimage, and Pope excommunicated
Henry.
Legal innovation: Henry started a policy of judicial centralization in order to reduce the number of offences
the barons could try in their courts. New oofences called pleas of the crown, who were ofences against the
king´s peace. Henry set up a system of itinerant justices (justices travelled, heard complaints, took them to a
small council who ruled and took ruling back); this system was not very practical coz the king was always
moving so the justices had to travel a lot. SO, Henry created a permanent Court of Justice (The Bench) in
Westminster, where justices took the case and back the ruling; also too slow so Henry created the Assize
(local meeting who gave judgement in place). When the justices came back to Westminster after having the
assizes they used to write down the sentences (these made up the jurisprudence) and other justices got used to
read them and apply the same sentences and finally they came to be bound by judicial precedents (origin of
English Common Law, where precedent is binding; it replaced the old system of customary law).
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Different system: the trial. If there was an allegation against someone the justices summoned a group of
knights (jurors) who made accusations from their own knowledge (they were witnesses and knew the truth).
This accusation, called indictment stated that one or more persons had commited a felony, indictable offecne.
The judges handed in the indictment to the justices, who took the decission by themselves.
If a crime was serious, the worng−doer lost all he had; if not, he was emrpisoned, punished physically...
In civil cases they were no pleaas to the Crown, In order to have a civil case tried by the king justice the
accuser had to buy a Royal Writ Documet with a command of the king to authorize the starts od legal
proceeding..
1189 Henry II died; succeded by Richard, very influenced by his mother and homosexual, he went on the 3rd
crusade. Eleanor in charge of Government. On his way back captured in Vienna. Lots of money to have him
back. Richard married a navareese princess, Berengaria.
Richard died, no heirs. Two claimants: his brother John and his nephew Arthur. John persuaded Philippe
Augustus to recognize him as Earl. Bad relationship between he and the barons.
1200 John marries Isabella of Angoulème and her ex−fiancé Hugh of Lusignore appeals to Philippe Augustus,
who sentenced him to the lost of his french possessions. John murders Arthur.War. Finally, signing of the
Treaty of Chinon, and John lost his french lands except for Aquitaine (John Lackland). He also had problems
with the church, for he rrefused to accept the bishop appointed by the Pope Gregory VII so England was
placed under an anterdict; Then John ppropriated great amount of church revenues and many abbots and
bishops lef the country. Barons were furious so John accepted the Pope´s conditions. Barons very upset coz:
murder of Arthur, quarrel with the church, lost all his possessions in France, financiation of the army taxing
them.
1215 Barons wrote down their grievances in a document (Magna Carta) presented to John, askig him to stop
abusing their feudal rights and to define them, and also laid some principles concerning the legal system (see
ph.)
1216 John dies leaving a baby, prince Henry so pbs: minor king & threaten of a foreign ruler (Louis). King
supporter selected a regent, William Marshall.
Henry III wanted to rule in the same autocratic way his father did; when he agreed to help the Pope in his war
against Sicily, barons imposed on the King a document called the Provissions of Oxford (1258), seen as an
extension of the MC, a Council of 15 whithout whose consent Henry would not be able to make any
decission; the Council appointed high officials. Disent among aistocracy for not all barons were members.
Battle between prince Edward and Simon of Monford; first wins Simon the Edward. When Henry dies,
Edward= Edward I.
Edward I marries Eleanor of Castile. He have always had problems with scots, who kept making incursions
into the North of England; he needed money to fight them back. Barons were reluctant to pay so Edward
realized that Burghesses, a new class of rich merchants, could give him the money he needed if he made them
feel important; he started to very s`poradically invite them to Councils.
This meeting was to be called parley first, and later on parliament. The attendace of knights and burghesses
became more fixed from 1295 on. In these parliaments, apart from taxation and general matters, Edward
promulgated several documents called statutes, by which he made new laws which bounded all other courts.
These statutes were passed in Parliament and promoted by the king with the consent of both knights and
burghesses, which came to be called the Commons.
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Statutes change the substance of the law, for just until now it was unwritten, judge−made and based on
precedent. Statutes were made by Parliament and not by judicial decission: the King was in fact the legislator
so now two branches of English Constitution: judicature and legislature.
The statutes passed by Edward aadressed particularr points not covered by the Common law; they are still
being produced in England.
Edward II was homosexual and gave Peter Gaveston, his lover, a free hand in ruling. Barons were pset and in
1311 prepared the ordinances 1311 according to which Gaveston would be banished and Edward could only
appoint officials with the consent of Barons in Parliament. As Gaveston is called from the exile by Edward
Barons revolt openly, behead Gaveston and appoint Thomas Earl of Lancaster as Regent; he banished
despenser, the new lover of the king, but the king raised an army which defeated and executed Thomas. The
barons were headed by Roger Mortimer, queen Isabelle´s lover.
1325 Roger and Isabelle went to France taking Edward´s son with them, then invaded England and defeated
Edward, and beheaded Despenser; Edward was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, then murdered.
Concept of equity: When Common law failed, people started petitioning the king to intervine; king referred
them to his chancelor, who studied the request and provided a remedy if necessary. The Chancellor acted aas
his conscience told him so this type of justice became very popular because there were no necessity to buy
any writ. So one of the main Chancellor´s competences became finding equitable remedy to ny failures in the
outcome of the appliance of Common Law; his decission became gradually more predictable and so equity
hardened into law.
The Hundred Years´ War:
Economic causes: There was a trade between England and Flanders. Englnad exported wool aand the Flemis
weavers turned it into fabric; suddenly the French King, feudal lord of hte count of Flanders, wanted to
increase the customs duties on English wool Both Englad and Flanders complained.
Political Causes: Charles IV, last Capetian King, died. His heir should have been his nephew Edwaard III, but
the french nobles offered the throne to Philip Count of Valois, Charles´cousin, who became Philip IV and
inaugurated the Valois dynasty. Edward III claimed for his mother was Isabella of France.
War began in 1337 with raaids on the French coast. Edward arrived in Normandy in 1346 and sacked Caen;
he then defeated the Frenc at Crécy. Edward´s eldest son, the Black Prince started his chevauchée in 1355. He
defeated the French at Poitiers and Jean le bon, the French king, was captured and brought to England. The
Black Prince advanced to Paris and French opened negocations for peace: Treaty of Brétigny (1360): Edward
became sovereign ruler of 1/3 of France, and in return renounced to the French throne.
The new French King Charles V wanted revenge. Henry of Trastamera wanted to usurp the Castilian throne
occupied by the only legitimate son of Alfonso XI, Peter the Cruel. Henry asked Charles V for help, and
Charles agreed on condition that once he became king he should sign an alliance with France. This alliance
was formed and Charles sent an army to Burgos, where he managed to overthrow Peter. Peter went to
Bordeaux and asked the Black Prince for help, and as it was important for England to have a friend in the
southern side of Gascony, the BP decided to help Peter: he defeated Henry at the battle of Nájera (1367) and
Peter was restored to the throne. In exchange for his services, the BP didn´t got what he had been promised,
but a big ruby which is still a famous jewel in the English throne. The Black Prince went back to Bordeaux. A
few months later Peter was overthrown again and killed by Henry, but the Black Prince was very ill and his
father Edward III was very old, so the Frech took advantage of this to resume the war against England, and
now the enemy was also Castile.
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The new English commander was John of Gaunt, brother of the Black Prince. Castile defeated England at the
Rochelle (1372), controling the channel and helping thhe French to raid English Coasts. English conquests
were quickly lost to the French when Edward III finally died.
A treaty was signed between the English King Richard II (son of the BP) and the French King Charles VI.
While all tihs war was happening, England suffered the bubonic plague, spreaded by the fleas which were on
the black rats; these rats came into the country in the ships of abroad and remained in England over 300 years.
A person infected would die in about 3 to 5 days. This produced a great scarcity of laborers, so farmers were
obligued to amploy casual laborers paying them high wages: this supposed a break in the feudal system, in
favour of another system called the copyhold: some lords leased a part of their state to independent farmers;
these new lease−holders were more efficient than vilains for they saw the opportunity to raise. They paid a
rent for their holding. The agreement between lord and farmer was inscribed on the manor record, of which
the farmer got a copyhold. Another consequence of the Black Death was that villeinage practically
disappeared, because villeins scaped to other manors where they could become high laborers or even tenants.
Lords were reluctant to pay and tried to force villeins to work, but they were now aware of their value and
decided to refuse performing their farmer obligations: pesasants´revolt (1381). The immediate cause of the
revolt was the Poll Tax, a tax paid by all and dependant on the person´s wealth; the aim of this tax was to shift
the burden of taxation on peasantery. But peasant didn´t agree: they wanted an end to the system of villeinage,
high wages and low rents. They were not poor, but they wanted an end of villeinage. They rose in Wessex,
burnt houses and killed landowners; they demanded a visit to the king. Richard granted all the requests, but
his promises were never fulfilled.
Richard II succeeded his father. A Council of Regency was established, led by John of Gaunt (the king´s
uncle, for he was 10). Richard was an homosexual and his favorites held office. Lords Apellant, the group of
leading barons, forced in 1387 the king to strike down most of his friends from office, and he was forced to
accept the barons dominion for ten years; then he reassured his power, executed some barons and sent to exile
the rest.
When John of Gaunt died, Richard seized the states of the Duchy of Lancaster, which should be for Henry of
Bolingbroke. Henry rised an army, deposed and murdered Richard, becoming Henry IV.
Henry IV was an usurper (the new King should have been Lionel, duke of Clarence, his uncle), Henry
Bolingbroke inaugurated the House of Lancaster, being the duchy of Lancaster the largest domain after the
royal one. The fact that he was an usurper favoured a rebellion against him. He died in 1413.
Henry V succeeded his father, and claimed to the french throne aand to the territories ceased at Brétigny.
The new french king, Charles VI, was insane (country vulnerable), and there was a civil war in France,
between the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Orléans, brother of the King.
1415 Henry landed with an army in Normandy and marched to Calais. He wn the battle of Agricourt and went
back to England.
14117 Henry returned to France and performed a sistematic devastation of Normandy, occuping Anjou,
Brittany and Picardy.
1419 The Burgundians allied the English against the Orleanists. A combined English&Burgundian army
occupied Paris and captured Charles VI. The Dauphin escaped to the south and became the head of the
Orleanist Party.
1420 The allies forced Charles VI to subscribe the Treaty of Troyes, by which he was forced to set aside the
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dauphin´s right of successions in favour of Henry V, who became King of France upon Charles VI´s death.
Henry married Charles´ daughter, Katherine of Valois.
Anyway, southern France remained loyal to the dauphin. He set a Court at Chinon and controlled the zrea
south of the Loire.
Soon after the treaty Henry contracted dipsentery and died in 1422. Prince Henry (9 months old) became then
Henry VI and, since Charles VI died a fex weeks later, he also became Henri II of France.
A Council of Regency was set up (for both England and France), headed by John, Earl of Bedford.
When Charles VI died, the Dauphin proclaimed himself King of France, but he wasn´t crowned, because
Reims and Paris were English.
1428 Bedford decided to attack the Orleanist territory. 1st thing he did was to besiege Orléans. The Dauphin
took fright but then Joan of Arc appeared at Court, spotted the Dauphing who was disguised and told him God
had ordered her to fight the English and to see him crowned at Reims. She rode in full armour, and the French
immediately repelled the English at Orléans, and the Dauphin was crowned at Reims in 1429.
1431 English captured Joan and burnt her at the stake for heresy, but English lost all possessions except for
Calais. However, English Kings continued o bear the title of King of France until 1801.
War of the two Roses (red: L, white, Y):
Henry VI was an incompetent king who perrmitted dangerous rivals among the nobles, such as the Yorkish
family, led by Richard Duke of York. On his mother side Richard descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence
(son of Edward III), and pretended to have a better claim to the throne than the king. Richard demanded to
have the right to participate in the King´s Council and when refused he raised an army and defeated the King
at the Battle of St. Alban. A Yorkist Government was set up with Richard as Constable of England.
1459 Hostilities were renewed and the Lancasters defeated the Yorkists at Wakefield, where Richard was
killed. Henry was made King again, but 2 years later Edward, Richard´s son, defeated the Lancasaters;
Edward was crowned as Edward IV.
The war of the roses went on during the first part of the reign of Edward IV, for the Lancasters were strong
mainly in the North.
1470 Lancasters deposed Edward, put Henry out of the Tower and put him on the throne.
1471 Yorkists recovered the throne, Henry put to death in the Towerr.
Second part of Edwrad´s reign mor peaceful. Died in 1483. Left two sons, Edward and Richard, under the
protection of his brother Richard of Gloucester, wwho was very ambitious and as soon as Edward died killed
both children and was crowned Richard III.
However, in 1485 Henry Tudor, Lancaster claimer, came over from France and defeated Richard at the Battle
of Bosworth, which put an end to both the War of Roses and to the Middle Ages.
Henry Tudor became Henry VII by conquest: his mother was a descendat of John of Gaunt, and his link with
the House of Lancaster was very distant, so he married Edward IV´s eldest daughter Elizabeth of York,
uniting both houses, but he had anyway to face dangerous conspiracies, though he managed to put them down.
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Kings were Primus inter Pares (one more nobleman) and Henry was determined to restore the crown to its
former position above aristocracy, the king bing Rex Imperator, placing kingship on a new place of
preeminence. He got little by little rid of old nobility, creating a new class of nobles who owed him their
promotion. Tudor kingship became strong.
As regard to foreign relation, Henry signed the Treaty of Medina del Campo with Spain , by which his eldest
son Prince Arthur was to marry Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Fernando and Isabella. But within six
months the young prince died, so Henry decided to sign another agreement by which Catherine should marry
his second son, Prince Henry.
Common law was extremely unpopular coz its courts tended to favour the rich. Henry VII created a series of
Conciliar Courts, which drew their authority directly from royal power. The Court of Chancerry was a civil
court in cases where common law failed to provide justice. The courts created by Henry also saw remedy to
individual wrongs, and were also called prerogative courts for the King or his minister could pass the
sentences.
Henry VII had refused Columbus, but in 1490 he sponsored John Cabbot, who had been refused by Spain, and
who crossed the Atlantic and reached New Foundland.
Henry died and his son became Henry VIII.
During the first 20 years of his reign, Henry VIII left all the details of his gvt to his Chancellor Wolsey, a very
ambitious Cardinal.
All Henry´s children died, only Princess Mary survived, but the idea of a female succession seemed
unfamiliar. One day Henry was reading the Bible and he understodd that it was an unclean thing to do to
marry your brother´s wife, so the idea of divorcing took shape on his mind. As he met Anne Boleyn he
decided to appeal to Rome to allow him to divorce from Catherine, whose marriage with him hada been
possible because of a popal dispensation by Julius II, and Henry wanted to proe that the dispensation wasn´t
valid, for the marriage was forbidden by God´s law. The Pope would have agreed in normal circumstances,
but Catherine was Charles V´s aunt (the Holy Roman Emperor), and Clement didn´t want to displease him,
and also Henry wanted him to declare illegal another Pope´s decission. He was procrastinating for 10 years. In
1531 Anne was allowed to became Henry´s mistress, and when she became pregnat Henry married her
secretly. He sent Wolsey to Rome to pressure the Pope, but Wolsey failed and was dismissed. Cromwell
(member of his council) became his chief advisor.
Cranmer sugested that Henry could declare Rome´s power ended in England and replace it with the Royal
Supremacy of the Church, so the church would be controlled by the King. Cranmer was the new archbishop of
Canterbury, and so able to try the divorce case in England. Popal dispensation was invalidated and divorce
carried out, Catherine was prohibited from using the title of Queen, aand succession to the throne laid on
Henry and Anne´s children (to his sorrow it was a princess, Elizabeth).
After 7 years, Pope Clement declared that Catherine´s mariage to Henry was lawful and ordered Henry to
resume cohabitation.
Charles V refused to take action against Henry (he was afraid that Lutheranist netherlands would side the
English)
When Henry broke with Rome he knew he had supporters for Roman Papacy was very corrupt, and money
was used to finance Popes´ private wars, for they were also temporal rulers.
Henry considered Lutherans heretical and in 1521 he had written a document attacking Luther´s doctrines.
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Luther wrote a very respectful response, addressing to him as Lord Henry, and the latter was outraged, and
relied on St Thomas More to write a response to Luther, for he intensely hated him.
1533 Henry induced the Parliament to enact a series of laws abolishing all payements to Rome and
proclaiming the English Church as an independant national unit only subjected to Royal Authorities.: The Act
of Appeals declared that the Pope had no more authority in England than any other foreign bishop.
1534 The Act of Supremacy declared that the King was the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
Anyway, the Church of England was Schismatic, but not Heretic: Henry´s opposition to the Pope was
political, no religious: these acts didnt turn England in a protestant country, both Episcopalism and
Catholicism were retained.
1539 Parliament passed the Six Articles, which left no doubt as to the official ortodoxy (pg. 99).
Henry was eager to show that he was swchismatic, not heretic. He gradually introduced some minor changes
in the dogma: pilgrimages and prays were suppressed, shrines were demolished and an English translaion of
the Bible was placed in every church.
His marriage with Boleyn was a disaster; as she kept being unfaithful, she had her head cut off. The next day
Henry married Jane Seymour, who gave birth to his only son, Prince Edward.1540 Henry marrried Ann of
Cleves. Marriage of convenience though he divorced. Catherine Howard was his 5th wife, also disloyal so she
was executed. He finally married Matherine Parr. Henry VIII died in 1547.
Edward VI succeeded his father though he was nine so a Council of Regency led by the Duke of Somerset, his
uncle, was appointed. The Duke permitted much more freedom of obey within the church. Years of intense
theological discussion, where Thomas Cranmer was of great importance, gradually becoming a protestant. He
and his followers had enriched themselves from exploitation of the Church.
1552 John Dudley, Duke of Northumberlad seized power, D of somerset executed.
1553 Dudley knew Edward was dying; he tried to alter the succesion by marrying his 3rd son with lady Jane
Grey, great grandaughter of Henry VIII, and then forcing Edward to deshinerit his two sisters in favour of
Jane and her heir. Jane ruled 9 days. When Edward died, the country stood for Mary because the people still
adherated to catholicism. Dudley executed and Jane&husband sent to the Tower.
Mary Tudor was 37 but needed a heir ofr if not the throne woul go to her half−sister Elizabeth, protestant, and
the future of catholicism looked dim. She got married with Prince Philip of Spain, son of Emperor Charles. It
was a marriage of convenienco for Philip. It was followed by the restoration of Papacy and a sistematic
prosecution of heretics. 1556 Philip became Philip II of Spain aand persuaded Mary to make war to France.
Lost of Calais in 1558. She had no children so the throne went to her sister Elizabeth.
Elizabeth I had been in the Tower durin mary´s reign. She was perrsuaded to put an end to the religious
problem: within a few years, the country had experienced Henry´s anglo−catholicism, radical protestantism
under Edward, retur to Rome under Mary. Elizabeth, a protestant, wanted to find a settlement which the
majority of people would accept; she knew that no imposed radical protestantism would be good, for part of
the people was catholic.
1559 Act of Supremacy passed by Parliament disabling all Mary´s catholic legislation and making Elizabet
Supreme Gorvernor (not Head) of the English Church, so catholics had their Pope as Head of the Church and
protestants theirs too in Christ, only head they recognized. This Act also accepted most protestant ceremonial
reforms instituted unde Edward; Elizabeth left the most controversial articles of the faith very vague. This Act
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pleased most of her subjects, but not everybody was pleased: the Puritans, disciples of John Calvin, believed
that nobody could hope to be saved by his own good works: Humans were granted slvation only by God´s
Grace, which was offered to those predestinated to be saved, the elects, who had to carry out God´s program,
which was discovered by reading the Bible, with small regard of the wishes of Kings. Those who were not
chosen, the reprobate, were passed to ever lasting fire. Calvinists were extremely critical of Elizabeth´s
church, for in their mind the church was a holly society of the Elect, clearly separated from the state, so they
didn´t recognize Elizabeth as governor of the Curch, because Spirit of Power went diredctly from God to the
Elected. For all this, Elizabeth was highly irritated, for they were challenging her authority to rule the church
so some puritan leaders were imprisoned and a few were executed.
The Catholics : In 1570s took place the Counter−Reformation, an effort by the catholic church to stop
protestantism and to recover the lost ground. The Jesuit order was created in 1540. The Society of Jesus was
not jus a monastic order, but a company of soldiers to defend the faith with eloquence, persecution, etc. The
Jesuit leader was called the Black Pope because of his black Habits.
Phillip II of Spain, the strongest catholic ruler, became the temporal Head of the Counter−Reformation;
during this period Popes became very zelous.
1570 Pope Pious V issued a bull excommunicating Elizabeth, declaring her deposed and calling upon loyal
catholics to remove her from the throne.
Jesuits from the continent crossed the Channel and travelled through England infusing into English Catholics
the New Spirit of European Counter−Reformation, stopping them from becoming mor protestant. They were
hunted by Elizabeth.
Foreign Relations: Philip II, as well as head of the Counter reformation, was also the most powerful ruler in
Europe; Elizabeth was Queen of the strongest protestant state in Europe. Philip hated Elizabeth because she
had ordered the assassination of Mary Queen of Scots, the only hope of restauration of catholicism in Europe,
England had attacked the Spanish between the Colonies and Spain (sea).
There was the problem of the Netherlands also, considered as the key of the Empire by Philip, where
Calvinism had spreaded and which he was determined to stand out: he prohibited any other religion than
catholicism and imposing heavy taxes on the Provinces. The Dutch Nobles, led by William of Orange,
rebelled against all those measures; a radical calvinist faction started a violent campaign against churches, and
Elizabeth secretley encouraged and assisted these calvinists.
Philip decided to punish Elizabeth by invading England. He appointed the Duke of Medina Sidonia as leading
almirant (he had never been at sea). The spanish fleet was powerfull but had some defects (lack of munition,
sealing qualities below those of England, disasterous campain planning). The Armada sailed from Lisbon
aand soon later a summer storm destroyed ¼ of the ships. Food and water started rooting, so people was ill.
The Almirant decided to stop at Corunna to refit and wrote a letter to Philip telling him to abandon the idea of
invasion, but Philip was inflexible and in July 132 ships with 29000 men sailed the English Channel; they
were supposed to take more troops in Belgium and moved in a right crescent formation, but the English were
waiting at Plymouth and felt behind the Armada with the wind at their back, so the Spanish were at their
mercy, with their English smaller and faster ships. At Calais Medina Sidonia had no harbour to take refuge in,
because there was no port capable of handling such enormous ships, so they couldn´t get fresh supplies nor
meet theyr army in Belgium. They anchored oof the coast of Calais and sent desperate messages to the
governor of the Netherlands to send them ammunition. The English sent fire ships to the area which started
attacking the spanish Armada, Spanish captains were so worried that they cut the cables and started drifting in
a helpless way, sailing into the North Sea, then North of Ireland, West of Ireland and South again to Spain.
They were tormented by bad weather, had no provisions, no drinking water and the crew suffered high fever.
Somo ships went ashore on the coast of Ireland but the ships were wrecked and the people killed by the Irish.
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The great result of the defeat was to stop advance of the Cvounter−Reformation: protestantism wasn´t going
to be cleared away so easily.
Tudor Monarchy: quasi−absolutism.
During the 15th century, the King was just a noble, not an important institution. Henry VII decided to place
monarchy in a new place, restoring the king to a position above the aristocracy, a policy which was continued
by his succesors. They did four basic things:
• As regards to the church, he placed it under royal control.
• As regard to the law, Henry VII created a number of Prerogative Courts which were outside the Common
Law system created by Henry II.
• As regards to the nobility, the old nobles were gradually liquidated by Henry VII, who created a new class
of nobles who owed their promotion to him, and had to be loyal to him.
• As regards to Parliament, it grew in importance in the Tudor Era.
In the Middle Ages, Parliament was just regarded as a tax−granting body. Under the Tudors, Parliament began
to offer its own opinins about matters of state; it was summoned regularly. The Reformation Parliament
undeHenry VIII met for 7 years, and Henry VIII acknowledged that Parliament was an integral part of the
state.
In the Reign of Elizabeth the commons became more agressive, even criticising royal policy, and gradually
replaced the Lords in importnce at the end of her reign, but the lords were a Tudor Creation; the commons
contained a number of royal officials who formed a kind on Minisdterrial Bench, who wre the leaders of the
commons. The speaker of the House was also important, for he was in reality a nominee of the monarch from
whom he recieved fees and other awards, and he spoke in favour of royal measures. He used his influence
with country magnates and town corporations to return members favourable to royal measures.Most members
of the Commons were Puritans, for they were succesful traders and because of catholic dogma that wealth
accumulation was a sin. Puritanism gave them the ideal excuse becaause for them wealth was the external
prove that they were one of the elected.
James I. When Elizabeth died she nominated mary Stuart´s son James VI of Scotland to be James I of
England, the 1st Stuart king. These united the crowns, but not the countries. James was a vain person who felt
that he was extremely close to God and that both had much in common, avocating of a theory of government
called the divine right of kings.
1598 he wrote a theory according to which it was God who placed Kings on their thrones, and it was God´s
commands that subjects should obbey their kings, because they all came from God and were above law, the
church and the Parliament. In Scotland James had managed to translate this theory into practi ce. When he
arrived in England and gave his 1st speech in Parliament, the members were highly irritated, specially when
he said that he was not accountable to any earthly authority such as Parliament because his authority came
from God. The Parliament was furious, but james didn´t give theme much of a chance to complain, becuse he
summoned them rarely: he just felt he shouldn´t consult them.
As regards to the church, the scotish kirk was presbyterian (calvinist) and it didn´t consider James to have any
authority over it, so when he saw that in England the church considered him its head he waas delighted.
1604 Conference of Hampton Court: Some Puritan Clergymen asked james to introduce a few chaanges in the
ritual of the church of England: to forbid the use of the sign of the cross in baptism and to supress the
sacrament of confirmation. The King started a very cruel prosecution of Puritans, dangerous for they had been
gaining ground in England, specially among the commons.
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James was very tolerant with regards to Roman catholics. He married Anne of Denmark, a catholic, although
he was homosexual and made little efforts to cancel its true preferences. The best known of his lovers was
George Villiers. James made him Duke of Buckingham, but the Duke quickly grew tired of the king and when
Jaames died there was a rumour that the duke had empoisoned him (possible).
Charles I. He succeeded his father when he died in 1625. He was also a supporter of the theory of the Divine
Right of the Kings, believed that opposition to royal wiil was a sin and prosecuted Puritans. During his reign,
the Star Chamber started being used to try puritans. There were three types of sentences: the hacking of one
ear, a session in the pilloryor being branded with SL (seditious libeler) in the cheeck. Charles was very linient
to Roman catholics, his wife (Henrietta Maria, siste of the french king) was a catholic.
Charles summoned Parliament several times to aski it for money, but Parliament wanted him to make
concessions on religious issues which he was unwilling to make. By 1627 he was so broke that he imposed a
forrced loan, an extra−parliamentary tax imposed by the king without consulting the Parliament. The Tudors
had never imposed taxes without the parliament consent, lots of people were opposed to this loan and Charles
imprisoned many members of the gentry who refused to pay. After this failure, he had to summon Parliament
again, and its members drew up a document called the Petition of Right (1628) pg 115. In this document the
commons asserted that land laws had been broken and demanded that the king should not break them again.
Charles reluctantly signed the document, dissolved Parliament and didn`t summon it again for 11 years: it was
the beginning of a period of Personal Rule, the only period in English History during which we can speak of
Absolute Monarchy. During these years, Charles kept leving extra−Parliamentary taxes, the most famous of
which was called Ship Money (the crown had the right to demand coastal areas to provide money for their
defense in case of emergency). Charles extended this ship money to cover the whole country, what was
unpopular for people realized that ship money was becoming a permanent way of taxation.
1637 Charles decided to introduce religious reform in Scotland. He comissioned bishops to prepare a Prayer
Book which would introduce into scotland the practices of the church of England, but the scots weren´t going
to accept this so the appointed a body of comissioners who issued the National Covenent, which contained a
pledge to resist the innovation. The Covenent also restablished a Presbyterian form of church government.
Charles decide to invade scotland but had no army and decided to summon the Parliament, who refused to
grant a penny befor the king listened to their grievances. The ing dissolved it and since he couldn´t raise an
army, scots crossed the border and occupied Northumberland and Dunham. Charles thought this invasions
would provoke a patriotic response in Parliament, so with this naïf expectation he called the long Parliament
(which prevented English monarchy from becoming an absolute monarchy). The members thought that
Charles had gone too far and wanted to limit the powers of monarchy, imposing a series of measures to
Charles:
−An act abolishing the star Chamber, so the Common law courts remained supreme and prosecution of
puritans stopped.
−An Act putting an end to the fiscal devices of the Personal Rule.
−An Act which stated that Parliament would meet at least once every 3 years, and 50 days each time.
The king was forced to agree these measures. After he signed the bills, scots were forced to go home and there
was relative peace in England, but soon a small group within the Commons led by John Pyn wanted to go
further, especially as far as religion was concerned. The group wanted to overthrow the Church of Englan and
set up Puritanism, so the Ecclesiastical Supremacy that the Crown had exerciced since the break with Rome
would be transferred to Parliament as a first step towards complete Parliamentary control; these group came to
be called the Root and Branch Group. Suddenly the members werew organising a plot to arrest the Queen.
Charles, who loved his wife, decided to go to the Commons in person and arrest the leding members, four of
which had fled for they knew what was going to happen; just one of the leadres remained: Oliver Cromwell.
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The speaker of the House would not tell the King where the members wwere. The members who still
supported the king were calle Royalists. Civil war became inevitable. The country was divided in two
factions: the supportesr of the king (cavaliers) and the side of Parliament (romanheads). High classes were
more in favour of the king, as well as north and west; the business classes sided the Parliament. The king won
the first battles for he had excellent cavalry. But Cromwell decided to raise a professional cavalry, which
came to be called the New Model Army, and Parliament started winning more battles and eventually defeated
the king. After the war Parliament offered to restore the king to the throne on condition that he agreed to
transfer sovereignity of the church and state to Parliament. Of course this was unacceptable to Charles, who
started negotiations with Ireland and France to raise an army against Parliament, which heard about this; the
Root and Branch Party proposed to set up a court to try the king on a charge of high treason , but the rest of
the members didn´t want to go that far so the Party decided to emprison 2/3 of the Commons. The remaining
1/3 came to make up the Rump Parliament, setting up a court to try Charles; he refused to recognize the
authority of this court for acording to laaw high treason was a crime committed against the king, not by him,
but the court paid him no attention and condemned him to death in 1649. After the execution the Rump
abolished the office of king,the House of Lord and the Anglican Church.
From then on, England was going to be a Commonwealth adn the suprerme authority of the nation was
Parliament. But the RP couldn´t representate the nation for large areas of the nation were not repesented
(members imprisonned).
The members of the NMA were independants, a protestant sect which rejected any kind ocf ecclesiastical
hierarchy. Democracy in the church, they thought. Should lead to democracy in politics and people should
selct their governors. They agitated in favour of a Parliamentary Republic based on Universal Suffrage.
Cromwell, their leader, considerd that the Commonwealth should be temporary and replaced by a government
representative of the people; when he realized that the other members of the Rump just wanted to perpetuate
themselves in office, Cromwell (1643) marche into Parliament with troops and ordered the members to
disperse, establishin a virtual dictatorship under a Constitution drafted by Army officers; this Constitution was
called the Instrument of Government (the only written cons. Engalnd ever had), in which Cromwell was given
extensive powers and named Lord Protector of the Nation, being his office made hereditary. At the beginning
he tried to rule not by military force, but Parliament disliked the Instrument of Government. After 1653,
Cromwell´s government became an autocracy and he had more power than any of the stuarts have had; but
when he died his son Richard lacked the character to remain in power: Parliament met and in 1660 invitd
Pirnce Charles, exiled in France, to return to England as Charles II, which meant the Restoration of
Monarchy.
Charles II said as soon as he arrived that he agreed to respect Parliament and to observe the Petition of Right
(1628). All legislation passed by Parliament immediately befor the outbreak of civil war remaint as law;
Prerogative Courts disappeared. England became a limited Monarchy. Charles wanted to build his monarchy
on a base as broas as possible, he refused to give special positions to his friends. Only those people who
signed Charles I death were executed.
As regards religion, the Anglican clergy men who now returned from exile wnated Anglicanism to be fully
restored. Charles wanted to restore the Church of England, but introducing some reforms that would make it
acceptable to the majority of moderate puritans. But his first parliament was against toleartion and wanted to
erradicate puritanism, so Charles asserted tthe Act of Uniformity restoring the whole church of England
Completely. The Parliament also passed a series of Acts excluding puritans from universities, municipal
government and many offices under the crown. Puritaans, who came to be known as non conformists entered
trade business.
1670s . two events took place
A paer written by John Locke demanded toleration of religion. Locke was a Latitudinarian, a school which
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believed that if a man confessed, that alone should be enough to entitle him as a member of the christian
church. The paper claimed that no man could dictate other man´s religion. Locke´s ideas penetrated
Parliament, and all members were graadually replaced by people who had religious affinities with non
conformists, and who forced to obtain religious toleration for them.
A rumour about that there was a Jesuit plot to assassinate the king and to place Prince James, his catholic
brother, on tthe throne (it was called the Popish Plot), The rumours about this Plot led to a period of histeria
and many roman catholics wwere put to death. During this period James became extremely unpopular and
most members held that he should be excluded from succession but other members found the exclusionist too
radical and favoured moderate measures (anti exclusionists). This division of Parliament led to the emergence
of modern Political Parties. Exclusionists were called the Whigs, and anti exclusionists, Tories. Whigs (who
wanted to execute James) represented the urban commercial classes, largely non conformists, and led by the
Earl of Shaftesbury, and the Tories (who wanted to limit his powers) the London aristocracy.
The Whigs organised petitions and wanted that one of James´bastard children, the Duke of Mormouth, should
be nominated Charles´heir. Whigs introduced an Exclusion Bill in 1680. However, Tories discovered that
there was a Plot to assassinate both the king and his brother. When parliament heard this there was a violent
recation and exclusion bill was rejected. Shaftesbury fled to the continent followed by mormouth and this
caused a reaction in favour of James.
James II. Charles suffered a sudden stroke and Prince James became James II. The Whigs had been crushed
and Tories were blindly loyal, but James was arrogatn and blind to public opinion, which led him to make a
fatal mistake: make clear that he wanted to restore Catholicism. Popal legates became a usual sight in the
street of London. Even the Tories became resentful, for loyalty to the church was greater than loyalty to the
king. As soon as he realized that Parliament would repeal Anticatholic legislation, he decided to dissolve it.
This is the second perion of Absolute Rule. On April 1687, James issued a Declaration of Indulgence, leaving
all catholics and non conformists free; but the latter realized that james was using them and they knew that in
the logn run they couldn´t expect much.
Mary of Modena, James´s wife, gave birth to a male heir. His thorne would go to one of his grown protestant
daughters, Mary or Ann.
2William, Duke of Orange, married to James´ sister, was invited to assume the throne of England. James fled
to France, was captured but allowedf to escape for William didn´t want to make a martyr of him. William
became William III with Mary II: the Joint Monarchy.
William III summoned a free Parliament in 1689, where Whigs and Tories drafted a document called the Bill
of Rights, the greatest charter ater Magna Carta, inspired by Locke´s ideas; this document created an
oligarchy.
Parliament issued atoleration act which granted non conformists the right of public worship. But this act still
prohibited non conformists from office in central and local government, but just in theory. This toleration act
wasn´t extensive to catholics. William was an authocrat who used all the power which had not been taken
away from him; he had complete control over the army and foregin affairs. He also appointed his ministers
regardless of which of the two parties had a majority in the commons. When he died the throne passed to
Mary´s younger sister Anne. She was the last of Stuart monarchy. Married Prince George of Denmark. All of
her 17 children died.
[Author ID0: at ]
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