Lengua y Cultura de los Países de Habla Inglesa I Grupo C

Lengua y Cultura de los Países de Habla

Inglesa I
1. The Romans and the Celts in Britain

Historians manage to get information about other periods of time by archeology. They
find objects such as jewellery, pots, materials, skeletons… They cannot get written
information from the Celtic period because there were no writings.

- Forensic archeology: it focuses on applying archeological theory and recovering and

documenting human remains.
- Experimental archeology: focuses on recreating old objects.

It is said that Britain entered history with the Romans — this means that, as they were
a more civilised society, they wrote about every place they colonised and the people there
from a coloniser perspective. Romans were a good-organised army and they were good with
weapons. On the other hand, the “barbarians” were not organised at all and “didn’t even
know how to fight”. Of course, this was the Roman side of the story, because the Celts did
indeed know how to fight. Romans said this because they wanted to give an image of power
against Celts. They were colonists more than conquerors, since they made them change their
religion and lifestyle drastically and by force, subjugating them. Conquest refers just to the
land.

One of the reasons the Romans had not gone to Britain before was that Romans were
not very good sailors. They didn’t colonise Ireland. They went there, but did not stay.

We get information from Tacitus’ texts, from inscriptions in coins, from official
documents, personal letters or graffities — such as in Pompeii.

The first Roman incursions started in 55 BC by Julius Caesar. He didn’t like the
Republic and decided to go to the north. The reasons why he decided to go to the north are
not clear, but we can think of some possible reasons.

- He wanted to become powerful and, to do so, he needed to gain it militarily and

politically.
- There was a republic in Britain and he didn’t quite like that because he wanted all the
power to be in one person: himself.
- The Celts had helped the Gauls to fight against the Romans (because of economic
reasons: they were trading) and Caesar also wanted to trade.

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He arrived in Kent in 55 BC but the natives didn’t allow them to go any further. Next
year, he got better prepared and he selected people to be there and report back to Rome
(controlling certain areas in positions of power, but they didn’t go any further).

Emperors Augustus and Tiberius ignored Britain, as they were more interested in
Hispania, Gallia and the Mediterranean.

Caligula had psychological problems. At this time, the king of the Catuvellauni
(Britain) had good relationships with Rome. This was until the king’s son, Adminius, made a
pact with Calligula. He promised to help him kill his father, but in the end, it didn’t even
happen. The father died. He had two other sons, who were completely anti-Romans.

The emperor Claudius sent an army. He wanted to set relationships again with the
Celts. 43 AD. He sent an army of 40.000 men. He landed in Kent again. The Romans that
landed there were completely different from those that landed in Europe. People wanted to
join the army because they were offered a pension (this pension was given after 40 years of
serving and, if you died, it was given to your family). The soldiers that got there were really
scared. That shows us how little the Roman Empire knew about Britain. The Romans got to
Camulodunum, which was the capital of the tribe of the Catuvellauni. The locals escaped and
went to Wales since they did not want to be Romanized. Later, the word Wales would mean
‘natives’.

The Celts believed in Mitra (Persian). The Romans were already christianized. There
was a need for a more personalised religion, with someone listening to you telling you that
everything would get better.

Boudica was the queen of a tribe called the Iceni. She and her daughters were
humiliated by the Romans. She created an army including the Iceni and the Trivantes, and
some other smaller tribes. The Romans were in the north, trying to control the rebels, so she
thought that it was the moment to fight back. Romans learnt that the Britons were willingly to
accept them as long as they were treated correctly. The system of placed kings in each tribe
was not working. They had been trying to control a vast extent of land from Rome. The
emperor who ordered all of this was Nero.

Emperor Adriano decided to build a wall dividing Britain from Caledonia in 122.
Emperor Antoninus, in 142, decided to build his own wall and push a little bit up the frontier.

The Romans brought aqueducts, baths, roads, cities, heating, Latin and amphitheatres.

They divided Britain into two provinces in the 3rd century and into four in the 4th
century.

- 3rd century: Upper Britain (Londinium - it was the most important because it was
closer to Rome) and Lower Britain (York).
- 4th century: Britannia Secunda (York) and Britannia Superior (Londinium).

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After Constantine III, who decided to send his tropes to Spain and abandoned
Britain, there was another invasion (by the Barbarians). Britain turned into complete
chaos. The Anglo-Saxons start to invade Britain and they call Romans for help (they
didn’t answer).

2. The Anglo-Saxons

The first recognizable Germanic settlements in Britain were apparently organised in

the late fourth century by the Romans, who then governed the greater part of the island.
Distinctive Germanic cemeteries that were already in use at that early date have been
discovered. These, and other similar cemeteries have most reasonably been interpreted as the
burial-places for groups of Germans who were recruited by the later Roman government to
help strengthen the defences of Britain. In the fifth century, when the Roman government had
neither the will nor the resources to maintain its authority in Britain, power passed into the
hands of native chieftains and aristocrats, some of whom continued the Roman policy of
recruiting German warriors.

2.1. Where did they come from?

The German immigrants came from many parts of the North Sea coastal plain beyond
the Roman frontier, from the Frisian Islands north of the Rhine estuary to the peninsula of
Jutland, but most of them were from the area between the river Ems and the Baltic. The
descendants of the immigrants themselves recognized that while some had Saxon ancestry,
especially in the kingdoms of the West, South and East Saxons, others in the Midlands and
the North were Angles, descendants of emigrants from the area north of the Elbe, a small part
of which is still called Angeln.

The Romans had a lot of soldiers in England, but there was a lot of trouble with the
invaders in the south, so, as they had never really liked Britain, they left the island.

“Vortigen made pacts with the Saxons in order to make them come to Britain, but then
he never paid his part back” (we have no proper evidence about this, but Gildas (a historian)
blames him for the conquest).

By the eighth century, the names Angle

and Saxon were used interchangeably by
the Germanic inhabitants of Britain to
describe themselves, but there was
already a tendency to prefer the former,
possibly because of the dominance, at
the time, of rules who claimed to be of
Anglian descent. This preference led in
time to their language being called
Englisc, even by the West Saxon king
Alfred, and by the eleventh century the

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United Kingdom was called Englaland, the land of the English. The term Anglo-Saxon, often
used by modern scholars for the period before the Norman Conquest of England, was
apparently coined on the continent to distinguish the Saxons from the Old Saxons.

2.2. What were Anglo-Saxons like?

They were less civilised than the Romans, but had their own institutions. The
strongest social bonds (the base of their society) were claims of kinship, as well as the claims
of lordship. The families and dependents of one man may sometimes have formed their own
settlement units, with shared resources and systems of land-allotment. Safety lay in knowing
that relatives would avenge one’s death, and to neglect such vengeance meant undying
shame.

They spoke their own languages so of course there was no more Latin and English
started to be the main language spoken by the habitants.

2.3. Lordship

Loyalty to lord might sometimes conflict with loyalty to kin. In the interests of good
order and their own authority, later kings tended to promote lordship: thus King Alfred’s laws
allow any man to ‘fight on behalf of his born kinsman, if he is being wrongfully attacked,
except against his lord, for what we do not allow’. But on both counts, Anglo-Saxon society
always set great store by faithfulness and the keeping of oaths.

2.4. Religion

They also brought their own religion. It was in 597 AD that St.
Augustine brought christianity to the island.

We get all that information thanks to archeology and some

textual evidence.

2.5. Archeological and textual evidence sources

- Archeological: Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk

- Gilda’s The Ruin of Britain
- The Venerable Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

In 1939, a seventh-century ship burial was excavated at Sutton-Hoo near Woodbridge

in Suffolk. Interesting mix of Christian and pagan practices involved in the burial that mirrors
a similar mix of beliefs in Beowulf.

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2.6. The seventh century

There were seven kingdoms: Kent, Sussex (the

South Saxons), Wessex (the West Saxons), East
Anglia, Essex (the East Saxons), Mercia (including
the Middle Angles), and Northumbria (comprising
Bernicia and Deria and, a little later, Lindsey).

- The politics were characterised by the

efficiency of local governments.
- The kingdoms were subdivided coherent
administrative districts.
- These kingdoms were also in charge of their
jurisdiction.
- Political and judicial / legal systems covered
by local governments.
- Conversion to Christianity.

A very important monastery was built in Whitby. It’s called Lindisfarne priory.

2.7. The Venerable Bede

He was a monk who died in 735 AD.

- Ecclesiastical History of the English People: Source of information.

- Pope Gregory the Great (590 - 604 AD) sent Augustine to England in 597.
- Æthelbert, king of Kent.
- Canterbury as a religious centre.

2.8. Geographical account

In the south there were the kingdoms of Kent, of the South Saxons (Sussex), and the
West Saxons (Wessex); in the Midlands was the kingdom of the Mercians, which like some
others, was an amalgamation of several smaller kingdoms; and north of the Humber were
Deira (Yorkshire) and Bernicia (north of the Tees). The last two kingdoms were joined
together as Northumbria in the early 7th century.

2.9. The Mercian supremacy

- Nechtansmere battle.
- Æthelbald, king of Mercia (716 - 757 AD), called himself ‘king of Britain’
- He was killed by his bodyguard, which shows us that there were a lot of changes in
terms of kings and rules.
- His long-lived successor Offa (757 - 796 AD) witnessed the greatest expansion of
Mercian power.
- 8th century: time of considerable prosperity.

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2.10. The Viking invasions

The English language, English laws, customs and

system of government, even the English countryside
and villages are somehow Anglo-Saxon and not
North-European or Scandinavian, despite the irony that
the Angles and Saxons arrived from much the same area
as the Danes, some 400 years earlier.

2.11. Alfred the Great (23 April 871 - 26 October 899)

Much of what we know about Alfred comes from the biography written by the Welsh
monk Asser, invited to the king’s court and doubtless eager to sign his praises.

- He forced peace on the Vikings who retired from the continent.

- Vikings returned in 890 AD.
- He ordered the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
- His successors are his son Edward the Elder (899 - 924 AD) and his grandson
Æthelstan (924 - 939 AD).
- He only wanted to be around educated people and was really worried about
literature and education.
- He decided to make a peace treaty with the Vikings. He gave them money and
they did not attack. They went to France during those four years and King
Alfred ordered the construction of better equipped ships (Anglo-Saxons were
much worse sailors than the Vikings).

2.12. 10th century

After 955 AD, there was a period of peace, in which Edgar was King of England until
975 AD.

- It was a multiethnic society: Englishmen, Britons, Danes…

- Re-establishment and reform of monasticism.
- Regularis Concordia (973 AD).
- Edward was murdered in 978 AD at Corfe (Dorset), possibly by the followers of his
young half-brother Æthelred, and possibly by his stepmother.
- Edward’s half-brother, Æthelred II, who later would acquire the nickname ‘the
Unready’, started his reign (978 - 1016 AD) at the same time as the emergence of
Denmark.
- Dawning of the second Viking Age based on extortion.

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- Harald Bluetooth was a viking who was in between religions.

- 1012: The Danish (Scandinavian Vikings) introduced the Danegeld (payments to the
Danes).
- Harald’s son was called Forkbeard. He decided to really conquer England, but that
conquest only came with Cnut.

2.13. Cnut and setting the path to the Norman invasion

- In 1016, Cnut became king of England.

- After further campaigns in Scandinavia, he became king of the whole of England and
Denmark and Norway and parts of Sweden in 1027.
- Cnut married Emma, widow of Æthelred II and they had a son called Harthacnut.
- Emma and Æthelred II had a son called Edward II, the Confessor (1042 - 1066).
- After Cnut’s death, Harthacnut became king. After his death, Edward II became the
king.

2.14. Cnut and the path to the Norman invasion

Supposedly, Edward the Confessor favoured Harold

Godwin’s son as his successor. He also favoured
William of Normandy since he was Emma’s grandson.
The only one in the land was Harold, so he became the
king. He didn’t defend the crown, so William of
Normandy went to fight with him and became king.
The name of the battle is The Battle of Hastings.

2.15. The decline

- Anglo-Saxon rule came to an end in 1066, soon

after the death of Edward the Confessor.
- Harold was defeated by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, and
thus a new era was ushered in.

3. The Early Middle Ages

The construction of time divided into time periods is a division constructed by

historians. It helps us to understand the past in a scientific, modern and rational way.

3.1. Mediaeval thinking

It was believed that the king was directly selected by God. If God is the one who
makes you be born in a specific social class, you will always remain in that class. In terms of
stratification, in Mediaeval times it was fixed.

3.2. The Conquest

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The issue of the succession in 1066 was not just a matter of the contenders fighting it
out, but a result of a complicated series of events, succession struggles and invasions dating.

How did society change after the Conquest?

It changed little to little, as well as the laws and the language. William didn't know
anything about England, and he needed to learn, so at first there weren’t many changes.

He decided to include information about England in the Domesday Book. He was

seeking power, and in order to gain that power, he wanted money. If you have money, you
can control people. With money, he could pay an army to protect his family and himself.

How do you get money in those times?

Land = money = power & protection.

3.3. Gradual changes

Assimilation was a gradual process that had varied cause:

- Aristocratic families dividing their lands between different branches, with separate
English and Continental branches developing.
- Inter-marriage with the English.
- Inhabitants of England distinguished themselves from those in less economically
developed parts of the British Isles, who were condemned as ecclesiastically, socially,
and culturally backward.
- Language still not a mark of identity: Welsh lords would speak Welsh, French,
English and Latin.

3.4. Feudalism

The king is the land giver, who can give you land and also remove land from you. To
give land is money, and in return you had to protect the king. Kinship has been replaced for
loyalty.

- Land tax: it’s the equivalent to something they were already used to (they had
to pay taxes to the Danes before). Those who paid taxes, got protection as a
reward from the king
- Markets and sprawling towns
- Men are able to increase their wealth
- Hierarchical society
- Noblemen had received their lands by a royal grant, and in turn gave some of
their lands to their own followers

3.5. The Domesday Book

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Information is also a source of power. This book was a data collection where
the king kept a register of the lands that each person owned. Having that information,
he started to replace English landowners with French landowners. The religious
language used for the title of the book reminds the connection between the king and
God.

Inter-marriage was a means to be able to take the English lands more onto
French lands. There’s a key thing in order to survive and be accepted: you need to
communicate with the people. Most English words about the legal field come from
French, since it was the language used by the upper classes. Poor people spoke
colloquial English (in Wales they spoke Welsh). Although they did not speak those
languages, they were able to understand each other.

If your name appeared in the book and says that you own a land, it serves as a
proof of ownership.

This book is still being used nowadays in the UK.

3.6. Regencies

→ 3.6.1. William II

He was William the Conqueror’s son and he kept doing what his father had
been doing: collecting money from taxes. He had three children. His son Henry was to
become king, but her sister, Adele, had a son (Stephen) and she wanted him to be
king. In the end, Henry won the war and became king.

Henry I

He had a daughter called Matilda, who married a French: Geoffrey of Anjou.

They had a son called Henry II, who became the king.

→ Henry II

He married Eleanor of Acquitaine, who was French.They had four children.

Their first son, Henry, died, and only Geoffrey, Richard and John were left.

What did he do?

He established permanent courts with laws and judges. He organised the legal
system. He made the legislative system based on courts. If the king introduces courts,
he can decide who’s or not o be punished, given lands… but he established judges, so
it’s not just the king deciding.

He did something that the Church didn’t like: he imposed taxes on the Church.
Thomas Becket became a good friend of the king, who decided to make him an
archbishop. He also said that there should be royal control over the Church. Thomas

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didn’t agree to this, and he was sent into exile to France. Henry II travelled to France
and Thomas agreed to go back to England, and he was killed by four knights while he
was praying in Canterbury Church.

Henry decided to do a peregrinage to Canterbury as a way to punish himself

because he regretted killing his friend. Henry II was killed by one of his sons.

Richard Lionheart

He’s his son, who declared war on his father and allegedly killed him. He was
king for 11 years, stood half a year in England and then went to fight at the crusades.
When he died, he was buried in Anjou, France.

While he was fighting, there was a rumour he had died, so John, his brother,
thought he could become king. He was captured and John had to pay to rescue him,
but while he was going back home, rumour had it he had died and John decided to
become king.

→ King John

He’s perceived as the worst king. In the Magna Carta, we can see a reflection
of how he treated people. It was written by people who had money and owned things:
they said that they did not like the king and that he was not treating them well. They
also did not want to pay as much money to him as they did. It was a list of revences.
He had a 9 year old son: Henry III

Henry III

A man tried to get to the throne before him, but he did not succeed since the
court thought that it was better to keep him than to make a stranger king. He did not
do much and died.

→ Edward I

He was married to a Spanish woman, Eleanor of Castille. She was far better
educated than previous queens in England: she took care of the money and knew
many languages. She was a patron of literature. She was beloved by the people in
England.

Edward was the first English king — under his reign, Wales stopped being
independent. He’s the first European king who killed massive Jewish (“ethnic
cleansing”) in 1290.

3.7. The Great European famine (1315-1322)

- 1315-1317: lasted to 1322. It was during the time when Edward II was king
- Millions of deaths

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- Started with bad weather

- Consequences for the Church, State, European society and future calamities to
follow
- The famine started due to an international corp failure. Mediaeval writers
wrote about it because it was extensive; it was everywhere.
- It had economical consequences

3.8. The King Death: 1348

- London 1348
- Spring 1349: Wales and the Midlands
- Late summer 1349: made the leap across the Irish Sea dn penetrated the north
- 1350: Scotland

The Black Plague started in 1348. It entered through the south of England, and
then it mutated into something even worse. The winter came and it mixed with flues,
provoking even pneumonia. It started in the summer month. It didn’t reach Scotland
at first, and the Scottish saw the problems in England as an opportunity to attack
them. After that, they were infected as well (by 1350). Lots of cemeteries had to be
created in London since there was no space to bury the people who died.

Women obtained some benefits from this, since they were allowed to work,
but only for a period of time, until things came back to normality.

In 1831, the Peasants Revolt took place. Wages rose as a consequence of

deaths. However, barons and lords did not want to pay the workers more money.
There was also another problem: taxes. Everyone had to pay the same, no matter if
they were poor or rich. Tyler was the leader of the peasants. He talked to the king,
who at first accepted Tyler’s demands, but then he killed him. The king was Richard
II (Plantagenet).

3.9. The Hundred Years’ War

1336-1453: The Hundred Years’ War.

- Edward III
- Richard II
- Henry IV
- Henry V
- Henry VI (mentally unstable)

It was a war against France, since lots of areas in France were owned by
English people, a fact that didn’t make the French happy.

The English defended their lands because when William The Conqueror had
arrived in 1066, he had brought those lands to England.

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How did this war end? England lost the lands in France, and recovering those
lands became an aspiration for the English. It had a big impact on England since a lot
of money and effort were used for the war. If the country loses so much money, the
link will ask for more money. This increase of taxes was the biggest consequence.

3.10. The War of the Roses

1455-1485: The War of The Roses. The Plantagenets had the houses of
Lancaster and York, and both of them thought they had the right to become kings of
England. When it ended, Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York and started the
house of Tudor.

- Battle of Bosworth, 1485: Henry Tudor (house of Lancaster - he was the earl
of Richmond before becoming the king) won the battle against Richard III (the
duke of York). His marriage with Elizabeth joined both houses and helped to
stop the war.

3.11. The Paston Letters

The Paston family left a testimony of everything that was happening, people
dying, daily bases, letters, how they were dealing with the Black Death, personal
impact of the situation…

4. The Tudor Age

Henry claimed the English throne, defeating Richard II on the Battle of Bosworth.

LINEAGE:

- Henry VII (1485-1509)

- Henry VIII (1509-1547)
- Edward VI (1547-1553)
- Jane Grey (1553)
- King Philip of Spain and Mary I (1553-1558)
- Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

4.1. Law changes

The king dispensed justice personally to all subjects alike. For centuries it had
been impracticable for justice to be dispensed directly by the monarch and his
Council, and these functions had developed upon two major common law courts. The
Court of King’s Bench exercised jurisdiction over cases concerning the rights of the
crown and its in Westminster, and through a system of circuit judges, who toured the
localities at fixed intervals, and held assize courts under the authority of a royal
commission of oyer and termner (Old French - ‘to hear and determine’). The Court

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of Common Pleas, on the other hand, heard cases between subject and subject. It sat
at Westminster and was by some margin the busiest, and therefore the slowest of the
Tudor law courts.

3.12. Economy changes

- Inflation, unemployment
- High agricultural prices
- Demand for food often outstripped supply
- Agricultural prices began to rise faster than industrial prices from the
beginning of the reign of Henry VIII, a rise which accelerated as the sixteenth
century progressed
- Start of capitalism - wealth is gathered by a few, concentrated on a few

3.13. Society changes

- Prices were rising and the real wages of the greater part of the population
falling
- Increase in population
- The most dramatic inflationary pressures followed from the debasement of the
coinage in the middle years of the century and from bad harvests, which
produced severe food shortages in the late 1540s, 1550s and 1390s, poor roads
and inadequate means of storage making the supply of grain dangerously
vulnerable to the weather.

3.14. Henry VIII

- Church: he became the head of the Church of England, he created his own
Church
- Remodelling of the machinery of government
- Remodelling of taxation
- Major growth in the importance of Parliament
- Incorporation of Wales into the regular system of English local administration
- Establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland
- Arrival in England of Renaissance modes of art and literature
- Arrival of a major building programme which included colleges, palaces and
fortresses,

He was first married to Catharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and

Isabella. She was sent to England to marry Henry VII’s first son, Arthur, who was
never a king. He died and she ended up marrying Henry. They had a daughter called
Mary.

- Some historians say that Henry was already in love when his brother
married her. She was older than him. They married and they had a
daughter. If you are a king, you must have a son. This is one of the

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causes of the Reformation. While he was with Cathaline of Aragon, he

had a mistress, Anne Boleyn, who became pregnant. If he wants that
child to be legitimate, he has to marry Anne. The only way he can
think of is divorce. The problem was that Charles V, Catherine’s
nephew, had a lot of power over the Pope, so he denied the divorce.
Cranmer suggests that the kings of England always enjoyed imperial
power. The only thing he needed was a green light from the archbishop
of Canterbury, but he didn’t agree. Unexpectedly, the abrishop died and
was replaced by a different archbishop, Cranmer, who allowed him to
divorce.
- At this time, there were 3 people claiming to be the Pope. There were
internal fights in the Church in order to get to the top. Popes were
having more power than princes or even kings sometimes.

3.15. John Wycliffe (1324-1384)

A century before Martin Luther arrived.

- He advocated for a translation of the Bible into English.

- The Lollards (Wycliffe’s supporters) driven underground in 1414

He was not trying to completely break away from the Church, just wanted to
reform it.

3.16. Humanists

John Colet, Thomas More and Erasmus

- The Humanists: Back to basics, scriptures studied as any other text. Reform
from within.
- Martin Luther (10 Nov 1483 - 18 Feb 1546) concluded that salvation was a
personal matter between God and man
- Traditional church ceremonial was irrelevant at best and its worst fraudulent
- Nailing his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, he prompted massive
theological debate and was condemned as a heretic and an outlaw — when
Henry VIII heard about this, he went against what he was saying and defended
faith.
- Martin Luther’s ideas soon reached England

The White Horse Club was a group of academics who discussed about this
issue.

1520s: Discontent, talk and dissatisfaction towards the catholic Church.

In 1534, The Act of Supremacy declared Henry VIII the head of the Church of
England.

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3.17. Effects of protestantism on England

The Catholic Church owned the majority of lands in England, but after the
conversion, Henry VIII removed power (lands, objects) from the monasteries. The
landowners were Catholic too. He removed lands from these landowners and sold
them to protestants.

- BENEFITS:
- He immediately got money
- Having power allowed him to have a good army
- The protestants could now access those lands

Henry VIII was a Catholic himself. Before dying, he called a priest to confess
his sins. Protestantism was not a reality, but a political move to achieve what he
wanted. He ruled for about 40 years and, after his death, the heir was his son Edward.

3.18. Edward VI

He was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. He had been educated under
protestantism. He became king at only 10 years old.

In 1539, Henry had produced the Act of 6 Articles. Under one of these articles,
it was stated that “priests” were not able to marry. His son Edward was so radicalised,
that he changed that: he said that they were allowed to marry. He kept on
“confiscating” more lands from the Catholics. He kept doing what Henry had started,
but much more radically.

He was only in power for 5 years, dying at age of 15. He had two half-sisters:
Mary I and Elizabeth. Mary was older than Elizabeth, and they got along with each
other, but, as she was a Catholic and Edward didn’t want a Catholic to rule. He stated,
in his will, that he wanted Lady Jane Gray (great granddaughter of Henry VIII) to be
the queen after him.

3.19. Lady Jane Grey, “The Nine Days Queen”

She was a protestant, well educated young woman. She was kept in the Tower
of London. The Catholic didn’t want her as a queen, and started a revolution in order
to take Jane from the throne and make Mary the queen. She was executed on the 12th
February 1554, between the age of 16 and 17.

3.20. Mary I of England

She became queen in 1553. She was a Catholic, so she tried to go back to
Catholicism. She got rid of Thomas Cranmer, who had played a great role in the
divorce of her parents. She didn’t have it easy to rule, and her way of solving
problems was getting rid of people.

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She died childless, and the closest person to her was her sister Elizabeth.

3.21 Elizabeth I

Daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. She was a Protestant, since her
mother was able to marry Henry due to the change of religion. She had seen the
wrongdoings of her sister Mary under Catholicism. From now on, all the monarchs in
England will be Protestants, and they will all be paranoid and scared of Catholics.

With her reign, it felt like it was a better time for the country. It was called
“The Golden Age”, but they were not really. The poor people started to become
poorer at the time.

She did not trust anyone because many people had tried to take her from the
throne.

She was the first queen who tried to be visible to people. She was concerned
about her public image. Ig people like you, chances are they’re not going to kill you.
She had lots of portraits painted. She was also called “The Virgin Queen”. Pearls were
an emblem for virginity. The emblem she’s transmitting is that she’s not a normal
woman, she’s a goddess. Not only her identity is being constructed, but also the
identity of the country.

She relied upon lots of ministers, but she was really indecisive. She was
always really paranoid about them. Her mother died when she was very young and
she was raised by another queen. Catherine Parr.

- She created the Act of the Poor

- She introduced the Church settlement
- She also introduced the New Book of Common Prayer

She had to be very careful to get rid of things from Catholicism. She had a lot
of trouble with Ireland. She saw the beginning of the 9 years war with Ireland.

She left behind a corrupted country, where people stole lots of money, evaded
taxes, and with an inefficient government. There was an increase in population.
However, she was a public relations queen, who knew that if she wanted to remain in
power, she had to be visible. London started to be a trading place, with lots of people
(this brought problems such as the plague or robbers). All towns grew in size, London
more than the others. It was the biggest city in England. When she died, James I
succeeded her.

5. The Stuarts Age (1603 - 1688)

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The Tudors dynasty ends with Elizabeth’s death. There’s a period of time in which,
for 10 years, there’s a republic, led by Oliver Cronwell. The Stuarts start with James I as a
monarch. Charles I is the first king to be killed legally.

- England, Wales and Scotland united under one single monarch.

- Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudors,died in 1603, and the thrones of England,
Wales and Scotland passed to her cousin, James Stuart.
- James VI of Scotland also became James I of England.
- England, Scotland and Ireland were very different countries, and the memories
of past conflicts ran deep.

LINEAGE:

- James I (1603 - 1625)

- Charles I (1625 - 1649)
- Oliver Cronwell (1649 - 1658)
- Richard Cronwell (1658 - 1659)
- Charles II (1660 - 1685)
- James II (1685 - 1688)
- William II (1689 - 1702)
- Mary II (1689 - 1694)
- Anne (1702 - 1714)

5.1. Society and economic life

- Population growth:

In the century before 1640, the population was growing faster than food
resources. One result was occasional and localised food shortages so sever as
to occasion hunger, starvation at the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning
of the seventeenth centuries and quite certain that many did so in CUmbria in
the early 1620s. Thereafter, famine disappears as a visible threat, in England at
least. Increased agricultural production, better communication and lines of
credit, and the levelling off of population solved the problem. England
escaped the periodic deaths and widespread starvation that were to continue to
devastate its Continental neighbours for decades to come.

- The Gunpowder Plot: 1605

- In 1603, after 45 years on the English throne, Elizabeth I was dying.
- English Catholics were very excited. They had suffered severe
persecutions since 1570, when the Pope had excommunicated
Elizabeth.
- To the Tudor State, all Catholics were potential traitors.
- Rumours suggested James was more warmly disposed to Catholics
than the dying Queen Elizabeth.

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If you didn’t attend services, you were penalised and had to give money. James I
decided to end with this law (Recusancy law), but people thought he was going to introduce
more Catholic laws. He wanted to be nice to Catholics, but when he was, Protestants were
angry with him, so he started to change his attitude towards Catholics, and they started to
worry and weren’t happy with him.

- Robert Catesby: the thinking head - devout Catholic.

- On 20th May 1604, Catesby met Thomas Wintour, Jack Wright and Thomas Percy at
the Duck and Drake. 5th person: Guy Fawkes.
- With Parliament postponed to 5 November 1605, the number of plotters gradually
increased to ten: Robert Keyes, Robert Wintour, John Grant, Kit Wright and Thomas
Bates.
- Further plotters were recruited later: Ambrose Rookwood, Francis Tresham and Sir
Everard Digby.

They were following the plan, with the barrels underneath the basement, when a
member of the parliament received a letter saying not to meet there because something was
going to happen. His servant saw the letter and told the plotters to watch out. The Prime
Minister ordered a search in Westminster and they got Guy Fawkes in the basement.

They all died:

- Some plotters discovered that their gunpowder was soaked, and laid it in front of the
fire to dry - John Grant was blinded.
- Catesby, the Wrights and Percy died form their wounds at the battle in Staffordshire.
- Thomas Wintour, Rookwood and Grant were captured.
- Jesuits implicated.
- Traditional punishment: hanging, drawing and quartering. They would be hanged
until half-dead, upon which their genitals would be cut off and burned in front of
them. Still alive, their bowels and heart would be removed. Finally they would be
decapitated and dismembered; their body parts would be decapitated and
dismembered; their body parts would be publicly displayed, eaten by the birds as they
decomposed.

James is succeeded by his son Charles I, who was married to a French Catholic,
Henrieta Maria of France. He was determined to rule without parliament. He was a
conscientious and principled ruler, but he was also stubborn, reserved and politically
maladroit. From the moment that he first assumed the crown, uneasy murmurs about
his style of government began to be heard.

There were two parties during the Civil War: royalists and parliamentarians.

Charles I is killed, and the Civil War ends. Now, they need a leader, since they have
gotten rid of the royalists: Oliver Cronwell, in 1649. He comes to the government and
wants the new country to be characterised by the freedom of religion. He confiscated

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the lands of bishops and Irish “rebels”. His reign was characterised by money. He died
and his brother, James II went after him. He was a catholic and had an heir.

5.2. The Great Fire of London - 1666

- House of Thomas Fraynor, the king’s baker in Pudding Lane, near London
Bridge.
- 373 acres of the city and burning around 13.200 houses, 84 churches and 44
company halls. Officially, only four people died.
- Who to blame: foreigners.
- Charles I declared that the fire had been an act of God.
- Robert Hubert, confessed: he was hanged at Tyburn.
- An inferno caused by a forgetful baker, fuelled by a strong wind and
indecisive leadership, was blamed on Catholics for over 150 years.

5.3. The Glorious Revolution

It’s the first time that, due to a revolution, the king is replaced by another
monarch - William of Orange (he’s Dutch).

What made this Revolution “Glorious”?

There were two parties: the Whigs - they wanted to get rid of James II - and
the Tories - they wanted James II to be maintained as king; also called Royalists or
Jacobites.

- Main reason for wanting to get rid of the king: Religion (it’s the coverup -
people think that he’s helping the catholics too much; trigger event - he
wanted to repeal the “Test Acts”.
- The protestants did not like James’ behaviour. He was also married twice, and
his second wife was a French catholic. She has a son.
- Catholics had been blamed for many bad things that had happened during
time.

Whig’s version:

It was a bloody revolution, especially in Ireland and Scotland (they wanted to give
this image of the Irish and Scottish as violent for being catholic).

They preferred William a a king because he was a protestant who hated France. They
said they invited Willia to go to their country. For them, it is so important to emphasise this
“invitation” because otherwise, it would be seen as an invitation.

James II had two daughters: Mary and Anne.

Mary is a protestant, so William of Orange marries her. Before being married, the
Wighs added new restrictions to the king and made him sign the “Declaration of Rights” →

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“Bill of Rights” (1689). It is said that the king could not: ignore parlement, can’t raise taxes
and give / remove powers from people whenever he wants to.

From now on, parliament decides who is the new king.

However, parliament accepts his will to get money to finance his war against France.

5.4. Bank of England - 1694

It means the beginning of the new bourgeoisie. They did not have noble
connections, but they had money.

There was a growth of slaves.

Anne becomes the new queen after William’s death. 5 years later, we get the
formal union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland (1707); the Scottish were
never really happy with this deal.

After Anne dies, the new monarch is George I, who starts a new dynasty, the
Hanoverians.

From 1714 and up to 1837, Great Britain built an empire based on

colonisation, taking lands, free labour… It’s based on commerce, business, dealing
with things, and they’re invested in naval power.

By the beginning of the 18th century, Britain had colonies in North America,
as well as the Caribbean (“sugar colonies”).

By 178, Great Britain lost most of the colonies. 13 colonies in North America
were lost.

After losing these colonies, they needed more, so they looked at India and they
created the English India Company.

1760 - 1830s: Industrial Revolution.

Canals were built to transport mercancies from one place to another.

Industrialization did not affect all Great Britain in the same way. Lots of professionals
appear: shoemakers, clockmakers, tailors…

THE WIGHS THE TORIES

- Liberal. - Conservative.
- They were against absolute - The term had been used to
monarchy. They went for describe Irish Catholic Bandits.

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constitutional monarchy. - They supported hereditary

- They did not support hereditary succession for the crown.
monarchy. - They supported the more
- The word started to be used by important institution of the time
cattle. Later, in the late 17th the Church of England.
century, it started to be used to - If you were a landowner, you
talk about radical covenants. should be given the privilege of
- Later, it was used to describe being a member of parliament.
those who were against the
Roman Catholic Church.
- They asked for personal freedom
(not for women, slaves… it was
meant for business and money).
- Between 1760 and the 1800s, the
party became corrupted.

5.5. George III (1760 - 1820)

He was a peace-maker and a family man. He was criticised and ridiculized for
not wanting to go to war.

1776: Declaration of Independence (North America). They are very angry

with George III, who is not helping them.

1789: French Revolution.

This two important revolutions took place during his reign. How is it that there
was no English Revolution?

1m 1798, a revolution in Ireland was attempted, but it was crashed. Ireland

was absorbed really quickly, and the UK became the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland. Fighting Ireland was different from fighting Scotland because they were
catholics. Nothing was being built in Ireland and all the resources were being taken to
England, The Irish were completely poor and ignored.

1840- The Famine: Lots of Irish people died, and those who had not died
emigrated to the US because England was not helping them, though they could have
helped them.

1922. They became a republic (The Republic of Ireland), except for the
northern of Ireland.

- TIMELINE
- George IV (1820-1830) - George’s son
- William IV (1830 - 1837)
- Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) - Daughter of the Duke of Kent
- Edward VII (1901 - 1910) - Victoria’s son

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House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Victoria and Edward)

- George V (1910 - 1936)

1917 - London is being bombed. When the bombs fall to the floor, they
can see the brand name of the bombs. The Gotha G.IV.

Their surname was changed to Windsor.

- Edward VIII
- George VI - Last emperor of India, Indian colonies are lost during his
reign.
- Elizabeth II
- Charles III

5.6. Queen Victoria

She was the only child of Prince Edward. Her mum was a Saxe-Coburg.
Before she was born, her parents were not living in England, they were living in
Bavaria, but Victoria was born in Kensington Palace. After her baptism, her parents
owed money, so they moved to Devonshire because it was cheaper.

Edward died and Victoria, her mum and her half-sister moved all back to
London. She was provided with the education of the upper classes.

When she was about 10, her nanny made her start the practice of diary writing.
The Behaviour Book. There was a very strong bond between Victoria and her nanny,
but her mother did not like it because their relationship was not as good.

It is said that she was looking for the father figure she did not have. She
became the queen of the UK and Ireland. In 1876, she became the first empress of
India. Peace was a necessary condition for long-term prosperity.

The British Empire had colonised ⅕ of the planet. Almost ¼ of the world
population had an alliance to the queen. Victorians believed that they were God’s
elected.

- Divine Mission
- PROVIDENCE: “Manifest Destiny”
- Spread civilization towards the world
- Britain: exploitative and racist
- The Industrial Revolution:
- New markets
- More consume
- Greater prosperity, but no tin every social class
- Changes in terms of transport with the built of canals and trains

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- Cities were not clean enough, which provoked many diseases and
premature deaths.
- Almost 1 child in 5 had died by the age of 5
- Polluted water
- Dump houses - mold - pulmonary diseases. Tuberculosis
- Social novel starts with Dickens
- Children were recruited as criminals
- ⅕ of the population could vote. It increased to ⅖

- British India:
- 1858 - 1947
- East India Company: 1599 (the year Hamlet is supposed to have been
written). The East India Company was created by pirates. The word
Indian refers to Indonesia
- Eventually, the whole Company controlled the whole country
- 1857 - Indian rebellion. The British had imposed religion, language.
Laws…

- Irish Famine (1846 - 1851):

- Whig government. Prime minister. John Russell
- 1M people died of starvation and epidemic disease
- Those who could scape, emigrated to North America
- ⅛ of the population was killed as a result of the famine
- Destroyed 60% of the crops in the country
- The Famine could have been prevented
- Soup-Kitchen
- Poor-law system
- Obstacles prevented people from accessing the system
- The government started to evict those families who couldn’t pay rent
- 500.000 people were evicted during this time
- The British government didn’t help them
- The doctrines of laissez-faire → British didn’t want to interfere
in Irish economy
- Protestant belief Divine Providence → you must have done
something wrong if God is doing this to you
- Prejudice against the Catholics

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