HISTORY WEEK 2

What is history?
 History deals with the past and produces knowledge from it.
 The future is governed by the present and the past.
Types of sources:
Primary sources – original, first hand sources
Secondary sources – they draw from primary sources
Tertiary sources – usually an abstract/digest from other sources
Types of history:
Traditional history
 only a narration of facts
 the historian is passive
Contemporary history
 new factors, methods and problems
 the historian is active
 history as an ongoing process
 in the context of social sciences
History shouldn’t be culturally influenced, constructed, determined.
Records of the past should be revisited.
We should use critical tools for analysis.

Medieval period
Collapse of roman empire (5. century)  Renaissance (13. – 15.c.)
Divided into early and late period.

Anglo-Saxon settlement
Origin of England and it’s people.
Sources:
 archaeology – graves, texts
 The Ruin of Britain – moral decay of Britons leading up to the fall of Roman rule in
Britain; by monk Gildas, 540s
  Ecclesiastical History of English people – 731, by monk “The Venerable Bede”
 The Anglo-Saxon chronicle

Settlements:
Enabled by withdrawal of Romans.
 Angles (Germany, Denmark)
 Saxons (Northern Germany)
 Jutes (Denmark)
Newcomers (Foederati – mercenary soldiers) welcomed to settle by natives.
Epic poems such as Beowulf and The Wanderer.

Warrior culture
Pagan religion. Family ties (it was okay to divorce; marry stepmother)
 Cynn – tribe, kin
 Cyning – king

 Thanes – landowners (called “earls” in Kent)

 Churls – independent countryman, didn’t own as much
 Slaves
Augustinian (Gregorian) mission – late 6th century
 Anglo-Saxon tribal kingdoms united – Kent, Sussex, Wessex, …
 Gained great power but it was hard to maintain.
 Northumbria – most important kingdom
The Scandinavian era
 Viking raids (first one in 790) which came to plunder and rob.
 England was educated and prosperous.
Phases:
 Late 8th c. – “smash and grab” (came, took and left)
 Mid 9th c. – permanent bases
 Last – invasion by Scandinavian kings
Alfred the Great, King of Wessex
 House of Wessex
  United South and West England to struggle against invasion – Kingdom of England.
 Revived literacy and education.
 Reorganized army, built navy.
 System of burghs (defended cities)
 Issued charter for privileges of cities.

HISTORY WEEK 3
The Medieval period – NORMAN and PLANTAGENET dynasty  1066 – 1399

Edward the Confessor

 Died in 1066, had no kids.
 Last king of the House of Wessex.
Next candidates?:
William (Duke of Normandy) claimed that Edward wanted Harold Godwinson as successor.

Battle of Hastings – 1066

Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy vs. Anglo-Saxon King Harold II
William became king of England.

The Norman Kings, Normanization

William I “The Conqueror” (same William)
 New royal family, ruling class, culture and language.
 Was supposed to obey the French king, though as English king he was independent.
 Confiscated all the land, redistributed it. Same with power – Feudal system.
 1086 – Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was replaced by Norman elite.
 Became a single cross-channel (with mainland) community.
 At that time, a well educated Englishman was trilingual: French, Latin, English.
 Books from the continent revived the church intellectually.
 Horse ownership was a posh hobby.
 2 class system: Free and Unfree
Domesday book
 inventory of all productive land in the kingdom
  used to raise taxes
 had about 13400 locations recorded
The Bayeux Tapestry
 embroidered cloth, cartoon like depiction of the events up to the Norman conquest of
England in 1066
King John Lackland
 Lost the Duchy of Normandy, Anjou and much f England.
 Rebels (ruled by barons) forced him to sign document:
Magna Carta (The Great Charter) – 1215
“Everybody, even the king, was subject to the law.”

HISTORY W4
Late/High Middle Ages – LANCASTER & YORK
Focus of English government and politics on the King, his court and royal family (Hereditary
monarchy). Relationship between king and political subjects was crucial.
Late 13th century – England’s population peak
14th – 15th c. marked by persistent warfare.

Edward III
14th c. – reign marked by the Black Death, Hundred Years War, rise of Parliament.
Hundred Years War - 1377
Multiple disjointed conflicts.
 William the Conqueror’s conquest of England made later English kings deserving of the
French throne.
 Henry II acquired lands in France through marriage.
 Edward III directly launched the war.
Factors of the conflict:
1. Duchy of Aquitaine and Gascony were English inherited lands in France.
2. English king claimed the French crown.
French king Philip VI attempted to confiscate Edward’s land in 1377, this precipitated the war.
Siege of Orleans
 Turning point in France’s favor.
 Siege led by Joan of Arc.
Battle of Castillion – 1453
 Victory of France.
 England lost southwestern territories (except Calais).

Black Death
 Fundamentally changed British society, unlike the war.
 Killed 35-45% of the population.
 Recurred with diminishing intensity into the 17th century.
Depopulation brought:
 Economic benefits to survivors (land, agriculture).
 Disaster for landowners.
 End of serfdom – farmers bound to hereditary land and to the will of the landlord.

The Wars of the Roses  1455 – 1485

 Conflict between the House of Lancaster (red rose badge) and York (white) for throne.
 Winner was HoL – Henry Tudor.

HISTORY W5
Early Modern Era – The TUDORS  1485 – 1603
 England economically healthier.
2 processes:
1. Shift from Catholicism to Protestantism.
2. Joining of 2 nations (England and Scotland?) under “Kingdom of Great Britain”

Henry VII
 Founder of Tudor dynasty.
  From House of Lancaster, married to a York.
 Conflict with the Barons of England, plan to reduce their power:
1. Banned private armies
2. Taxes
3. Court of Star Chamber (only most loyal members)
 Eldest son Arthur to marry Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, but Arthur died shortly.

Henry VIII
 After the death of his brother Arthur, married Catherine as his first wife.
 Didn’t have a son for a long time – blamed on improper marriage and wife.
 6 waifus.
 Divorced her, which pissed off the Pope, so he made himself Head of Church by Act of
Parliament (1534) – Henry’s Reformaton:
1. King as head of the Church.
2. Bible in English language.
 Renounced Papal authority
 Church of England (or Anglican Church)

Edward VI
 Very young (9) after Henry VIII’s death, son of one of his wives.
 Brought up as Protestant.
 Made churches more plain (abolished Catholic Mass, images and relics)
 The First Book of Common Prayer – worship in English.

Mary I “Bloody Mary”

 Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
 Determined to restore Catholicism.
 Reversed Edward VI’s changes, banned The First Book of Common Prayer.
 Executed protestants.
 Married Philip of Spain, highly controversial, no kids.

Elizabeth I
 Daughter of Henry VIII and some other waifu.
 Re-established Protestantism but appealed to both sides.
  Act of Supremacy – Supreme Governor of the Church of Engand
 Issued the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (Church’s doctrine).
 Modernized The Book of Common Prayer.
 Catholics bitched about her being a woman, unmarried, bastard and heretic (go figure).
 Spanish Armada – to overthrow the queen to re-establish Catholicism; were defeated
 No babies ☹

HISTORY W6
Early Modern Era – The STUARTS  1603 – ?

James I (James VI of Scotland)

 Son of Mary, Queen of Scots.
 Wanted to unite Scotland and England.
 King Jame’s Bible
 Gunpowder plot – failed assassination attempt by Catholics to replace him with a
Catholic monarch; wanted to blow up the House of Parliament.
Charles I 🧸

 Tension with Parliament over money.

 Dismissed their concerns, thus:
Civi War  1642 – 1648
 Royalists (supporters of King Charles I) vs. Parliamentarians (supporters of Parliament)
 1649 – 1653  Republic (Commonwealth of England)
 1653 – 1658  Cromwell’s Protectorate – military dictatorship
 Execution of Charles I
Charles II 🧸

 After Cromwell’s death.

 Restoration of Monarchy, House of Lords, Church of England.
 The Royal Society – scientific community (Boyle, Newton).

James II
 Glorious Revolution – 1888
 Encouraged Catholic services and printing of books.
 Legal equality of Catholics.
  Tolerationist coalition between dissenters (religious groups not affiliated with the
Church of England, they fought for their independence and rights, I guess).
Bloodless Revolution
 Deposition of James II, accession of his daughter Mary II + husband William III.
 Signed the document Bill of Rights – permanent establishment of Parliament as the
ruling power of England (start of Constitutional Monarchy).
Bill of Rights
1. Limited royal power
2. Supremacy of Parliament to this day
3. King can’t raise taxes nor standing army
4. People can petition him without prosecution
5. Mostly constitutional matters, few Protestant civil rights