HISTORY39 - England before the Empire

This article is about the history of England up to 1707, when the British Empire started with the combining of the English and Scottish kingdoms into the United Kingdom.  My previous blog covered the history of the British Empire from its start in 1707 through today.

 

There were no principal sources for this article; I used numerous online sources.

There is much confusion about the meaning and use of the terms, “Great Britain,” “England,” “United Kingdom,” and “Britain.”  I will use the term “Great Britain” to mean, firstly, the geographical Island of Great Britain, between Ireland and French coast.  Later, “Great Britain” will also be used politically to refer to whole of England, Scotland, and Wales in combination.  “England” is a country on the Island of Great Britain.  The “United Kingdom” (commonly abbreviated UK) includes (today) England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but began as the joining of England and Scotland in 1707.  “Britain” is widely used as a common name for the United Kingdom.

Prehistory

Geological formation of Great Britain and its Earliest Peoples.  Several species of humans have intermittently occupied Great Britain (the island) for almost a million years.  The earliest evidence of human occupation, around 900,000 years ago, was found in today’s eastern England on the Norfolk coast:  stone tools and footprints made by an early species of humans. The oldest human fossils, around 500,000 years old, have been found on the southeastern England coast.  Until this time Great Britain had been permanently connected to the Continent by a chalk ridge between southeast England and northern France, but during the Anglian Glaciation, around 425,000 years ago, a megaflood broke through the ridge, creating the English Channel.  After that Great Britain became an island, when sea levels rose during the periods between glacial coverage of Great Britain.

Fossils of very early Neanderthals, dating to around 400,000 years ago, have been found in coastal southeastern England. By 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals had become extinct and modern humans had reached Great Britain. But even their occupations were brief and intermittent, due to a climate which swung between low temperatures, with a tundra habitat and severe ice ages, which made Great Britain uninhabitable for long periods. The last of these ice ages ended around 11,700 years ago.  Great Britain and Ireland were then joined to each other and to the Continent, but rising sea levels from melting glaciers cut the land bridge between Great Britain and Ireland by around 11,000 years ago.  A large plain between Great Britain and Continental Europe, persisted much longer, probably until around 5600 BC.

 

The shoreline of the British Isles as it appears today.  From left to right:  Ireland, Great Britain, and the continental coast of France.

  

Stone Age (9000 - 2500 BC).  Great Britain has been continually inhabited since the last Ice Age ended, around 9000 BC, the beginning of the middle Stone Age.  People in Great Britain at this time were hunters and gatherers, who made use of wild plants and animals.  Most of these people were probably nomadic.  Archaeological evidence suggests that their societies were increasingly complex and soon they were manipulating their environment and prey in new ways, possibly by selective burning of then extensive woodland to create clearings for herds to gather and then hunt them. Hunting was mainly done with simple projectile weapons such as a javelin and possibly a sling.  The bow and arrow were known in Western Europe since at least 9000 BC. The climate continued to warm and the population rose

The New Stone Age began with the introduction of farming in Great Britain, from the Middle East, around 4000 BC.  Although they farmed edible legume seeds, barley and wheat, people still relied on wild animals and plants.  People began to lead a more settled lifestyle.  Flint technology produced a number of highly artistic pieces as well as purely pragmatic items such as fire starters, knife blades, projectile points, scrapers, axes, drills, and other sharp tools.  More extensive woodland clearance was done for fields and pastures.

Group burial places with monuments were built in the form of rock-covered or earthen tombs. Towards the end of the period, other kinds of stone monuments began to appear, such as Stonehenge; their cosmic alignments show a preoccupation with the sky and planets.

 

Stonehenge, a circular arrangement of huge stones, oriented towards sunrise on the summer solstice, was erected in southwest England in several stages from 3000 - 1500 BC.

 

Bronze Age (2500 - 800 BC).  The Bronze Age saw a shift of emphasis from the communal to the individual, and the rise of increasingly powerful leaders whose power came from their prowess as hunters and warriors, and their controlling the flow of precious resources to manipulate tin and copper into high-status bronze objects such as swords and axes. Settlements became increasingly permanent.  Great Britain became bound up with a trade network that included a large part of today’s Western Europe.

During the middle and late Bronze Age, landscapes were divided into great field systems and people built permanent round houses, often grouped into villages.  Elsewhere, competition for land and a need for security, prompted the construction of the earliest hillforts, earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage.

Iron Age (800 BC - AD 50).   In the early and middle Iron Age, people built bigger and more elaborate hillforts. They also began to make weapons and tools out of iron. Evidence of ritual offerings of military equipment and fine metalwork suggest the dominance of a warrior aristocracy and the emergence of tribal territories.

Beginning in about 350 BC, Great Britain experienced periodic armed invasions of hordes of migrating Celts, a collection of tribes with origins in central Europe that shared similar language, religious beliefs, traditions, and culture.  The Celts may have been attracted by Great Britain’s metals, particularly tin, copper, and iron.  It’s believed that the Celtic culture started to evolve as early as 1200 BC, and then spread throughout western Europe - including Great Britain, Ireland, France and Spain.

These Celt invasions constituted movements of a few people, who established themselves as warrior elites atop existing native systems, rather than replacing them.  Urban settlements began to eclipse the old defensive hillforts.

By the 3^rd century BC, the Celts controlled much of the European continent north of the Alps Mountain range, including present-day Ireland and the Island of Great Britain.

Beginning with the reign of Julius Caesar in the 1^st century BC, the Romans launched a military campaign against the Celts, killing them by the thousands and destroying their culture in much of mainland Europe.

Caesar’s Roman armies attempted an invasion of Great Britain in 55 and 54 BC, but were unsuccessful, and thus the Celtic people established a homeland there. As a result, many of their cultural traditions remain.

Though unsuccessful, Caesar’s invasions mark a turning-point in British history.  Control of trade, the flow of resources, and prestige goods, became ever more important to the elites of southern Great Britain; Rome steadily became the biggest player in all their dealings, as the provider of great wealth and patronage.  A full-scale invasion and annexation were inevitable, in retrospect.

Romans (AD 43 - 410)

In AD 43, Roman Emperor Claudius resumed the work of Caesar, 88 years earlier, by ordering the invasion of the Island of Great Britain.  The Romans quickly established control over present-day southeastern England.  From AD 70-90, the Romans, extended their control into northern and western England.

The Romans relentlessly moved northwards, defeating indigenous people in present day northeastern Scotland.  But Roman forces had to be pulled out of the north to deal with invasions on the Danube River frontier on the European continent.  As a result, the far north could not be held, and the army gradually fell back to the Tyne-Solway isthmus. It was here in AD 122, that Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of an eighty-mile wall from the west coast of Great Britain to the east to mark the northern Roman boundary.

When Hadrian died in AD 138, his successor Antonius Pius abandoned the newly completed wall, and again pushed northwards, trying to reoccupy Scotland.  A new, short-lived Antonine Wall was begun in AD 142 in Scotland.  But Pius was ultimately unsuccessful, and around AD 160, the Antonine Wall was abandoned, and thereafter, Hadrian’s Wall again became the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in Great Britain.

 

Map of Roman occupation of the Island of Great Britain, showing the two northern boundary walls, the extensive road network, and principal population centers.

Soon after, three Roman legions (army units of up to 6,000 men) remaining in Great Britain had settled in permanent bases.  Auxiliary troops were scattered in smaller forts, mostly across northern England and along Hadrian’s Wall.

The Romans never did succeed in subduing all of the Island of Great Britain.  They always had to maintain a significant military presence to control the threat from unconquered peoples.  The territory conquered was raised to the status of a Roman province, Britannia.  A distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture.

 

The Roman Empire at its maximum extent, with central and southern regions of the Island of Great Britain making up the Province of Britannia.

 

Most people in southern Britannia settled down to Roman order and discipline.  A network of roads developed, and landowners in the south began to build Roman-style villas.  Towns appeared for the first time across the country, including York, Chester, St. Albans, Bath, Lincoln, Gloucester and Colchester.  All of these major centers are still linked today by the system of Roman military roads radiating from the great port of London - roads such as Ermine Street, Watling Street, and the Fosse Way. These roads also allowed for the distribution of Roman luxuries such as spices, wines, glass, etc., brought in from other regions of the Empire.

The Romanization of Britannia principally affected the rich.  Landowners in the south began to build Roman-style villas.  This aristocracy may have increased status by adopting Roman ways and practices such as regular bathing. But, the vast majority of the populace remained relatively untouched by Roman civilization, living off the land and eking out a living.  By degrees, however, they came into contact with villas, towns, and markets. Here they could exchange their produce for Roman-style goods and see people dressing and behaving in Roman ways.

Alongside the cities, which acquired surrounding stone walls, the 3^rd century saw increased numbers of small market towns, villages, and villas.  Roman objects were now more common in even the poorest rural settlements.

After Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion in AD 312, Christianity was adopted more widely across the Empire, including in Britannia.  In the 4^th century, Britannia, was reorganized as a ‘diocese’ consisting of four provinces. The next 50 years or so were a golden age of agricultural prosperity and villa building, especially in the southwest.

There were still threats to Britannia.  In the north, beyond Hadrian’s Wall, the Picts had emerged as a formidable enemy, while to the south, there was a growing threat from seaborne raiders.  In response, forts were built around the southeast coast towards the end of the 3^rd century.

The 4^th century saw chronic insecurity, and in AD 367, an invasion by the Picts from the north, and Germanic tribes from the continent, produced widespread turmoil. Repeated attempts to usurp the Empire by generals based in Britannia drained the diocese of troops.  By AD 410 Britannia had slipped out of Roman control, its inhabitants left to fend for themselves.

Anglo-Saxons (AD 410 - 1066)

In the wake of the breakdown of Roman rule in Britannia, from the middle of the 4^th century, present-day England was progressively settled by Germanic groups from the North Sea coastlands of mainland Europe.  Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, these included Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians.  Saxon mercenaries had fought in the Roman army in Britannia since before the late Roman period, but the main influx of Anglo-Saxon population probably occurred during the 5^th century.

 

Migration of Anglo-Saxons to today's southeastern England from their homelands in Scandinavia.

 

The Anglo-Saxons met little firm resistance from the relatively defenseless inhabitants and seized much of Britannia for themselves, pushing back the indigenous Celts (Britons) to Wales and Cornwall.  The Anglo-Saxons formed several kingdoms, often changing boundaries, and constantly at war with one another.  By AD 650 there were seven separate kingdoms:  Kent (the Jutes); Essex, Sussex, and Wessex (the Saxons); and further north, East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria (the Angles). These seven kingdoms, which ruled over most of England from about AD 500 - 850, were later known as the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.

 

The seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms on the Island of Great Britain, c. AD 650.

 

From AD 590-660, Anglo-Saxon Britain, influenced by the Roman Catholic Church from the southeast, converted to Christianity (from their native paganism). 

The wealth of Anglo-Saxon society attracted the attention of the Vikings, seafaring Norse people from southern Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8^th to late 11^th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, and North America. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, and northern and eastern Europe.

 

Viking raiding and settlement from the 8th to the 11th centuries.  Exploration of North America is not shown.

 

Danish Viking raids into the British Isles began in the AD 770s and continued until AD 850.

A Viking army arrived in today’s England in AD 865, remained over many winters, and part of it later settled what became known as the Danelaw, in central England. The invaders were able to exploit the feuds between, and within, the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and to appoint puppet kings.

 

The future England in AD 878.  The Danes had absorbed the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of East Anglia, Essex, and part of Mercia; Wessex had expanded to include Sussex, Kent, part of Mercia, and Cornwall in the extreme southwest.

 

The Vikings assumed ever increasing importance as catalysts of social and political change. They constituted the common enemy, making the British more conscious of a national identity, raising awareness of a collective Christian identity; and by “conquering” the kingdoms of the East Angles, the Northumbrians, and the Mercians, they created a vacuum in the leadership of the British people.

The Viking army, meanwhile, continued to harry and plunder on both sides of the Channel.  Finally, Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, began to offer vigorous opposition to the Vikings.  He established a chain of fortresses across the south of today’s England and reorganized the army.  When the Vikings returned from the Continent in AD 892, they found they could no longer roam at will, for wherever they went they were opposed by a local army.  After four years, in AD 896, the Scandinavians, therefore, split up, some to settle in Northumbria and East Anglia, the remainder to try their luck again on the Continent.  Alfred’s defense of his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, made Alfred the dominant ruler, and in AD 896, he assumed leadership of all Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and became the first “King of the Anglo-Saxons,” ruling over the region that would become England.

During the course of the 10^th century, the minor Anglo-Saxon kings extended their power, thereby imposing a semblance of political unity. The prestige, and indeed the pretensions, of the monarchy increased, the institutions of government strengthened, and kings sought to establish social order. 

On 12 July AD 927, the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united by King Athelstan (then King of the Anglo Saxons) to form the official Kingdom of England. (The Anglo-Saxons called their land Engla land, meaning "land of the English,” the purported homeland of the Angles. The name Engla land became England during the Middle English period, AD 1150-1500.)

Viking raids on England resumed in AD 978, putting the country and its leadership under strains as severe as they were long sustained.  Raids occurred on a relatively small scale in the AD 980s but became far more serious in the AD 990s, and brought the people to their knees in AD 1009 - 1012, when a large part of the country was devastated by the Viking Army.  From that time, until AD 1066, England suffered alternate periods of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon rule, until the Norman conquest in AD 1066.

Note:  From here on in this paper, now that England is “England,” I’m dropping the anno Domini (AD) notation for dates.

Normans (1066 - 1154)

While England was suffering Viking invasions, another group of Danish Vikings had invaded today’s France, and managed to take Paris, and obtain a grant of land from the King of France in 911. This area became the Duchy of Normandy, and its inhabitants were the Normans (from “North Men” or “Norsemen,” another term for “Viking”).  After having settled in their newly acquired land, the Normans, adopted the French feudal system and French as their official language.

In 1066, the last Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, nominated William, Duke of Normandy, as his successor, but upon Edward’s death, Harold Godwinson, the powerful Earl of Wessex, crowned himself king. William refused to acknowledge Harold as King and invaded England with 12,000 soldiers.  King Harold was killed at the battle of Hastings, and William the Conqueror become William I of England.  His descendants have sat on the throne of England to this day.

Upon being crowned, on Christmas Day 1066, William immediately began consolidating his power. By 1067, he faced revolts on all sides and spent four years crushing them, to establish a stable regime.  He then imposed his superiority over present-day Wales, forcing it to recognize him as overlord.  In 1169, William even invaded Ireland and established a Norman foothold there.

William ordered a survey of the entire population and their lands and property for tax purposes.  Within 20 years of the conquest, the English ruling class had been almost entirely dispossessed and replaced by Norman landholders, who monopolized all senior positions in the government and the Church.  The Norman rulers kept their possessions in France, including Normandy and Maine, and even extended them to most of western France including Anjou, and Brittany. 

 

William I's possession in Great Britain and France.

French became the official language of England, and remained so for centuries. English nevertheless remained the language of the populace, and the fusion of English (a mixture of Anglo-Saxon and Norse languages) with French and Latin (used by the clergy) slowly evolved into modern English.

Henry I, the fourth son of William I, succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100. Henry I worked hard to reform and stabilize the country and smooth the differences between the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman societies.

King Henry I had required the leading barons, ecclesiastics, and officials in Normandy and England, to take an oath to accept his daughter empress Matilda as his heir.  But, upon Henry's death in 1135, with the support of the English and Norman people, and the Church, Stephen, Henry's favorite nephew, was anointed as king.

A succession-crisis civil war, called the Anarchy, resulted in England and Normandy, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order.  In 1139, Matilda invaded England from Normandy.  Stephen’s government fell.  Matilda was proclaimed queen, but was soon at odds with her subjects and was expelled from London. The war continued until 1148, when Matilda gave up.

Stephen then reigned unopposed, although his hold on the throne was uneasy.  His contested reign, civil war, and lawlessness that broke out, caused a major swing in power towards feudal barons.

When Stephen's son and heir apparent, Eustace, died in 1153, Stephen made an agreement with Henry (Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy - and Matilda’s youngest son from her marriage to Geoffrey, then count of Anjou) to succeed Stephen and guarantee peace between them.

Stephen died in 1154.  Henry became Henry II, King of England, with interests in today’s Ireland, Wales, and western France.  Henry’s marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 had already added southwestern France into Henry’s domain. The collective lands were retrospectively named the Angevin Empire.

 

Henry II's Angevin Empire in 1154, when he became King of England.

 

 

England under the Plantagenets (1154 - 1485)

The name Plantagenet is used to identify four distinct royal houses that originated from the province of Anjou in western France: the Angevins, who were also counts of Anjou; the Plantagenets; and two Plantagenet branches, the houses of Lancaster and York.  The family reigned in England from 1154 to 1485. The royal line produced 16 kings, descended from the union between the empress Matilda, daughter of the English king Henry I, and her husband Geoffrey, count of Anjou. 

12^th and 13^th Centuries.  During the early years of his reign (1154 - 1189), Henry II restored the royal administration in England, re-established dominance over Wales, and gained full control over his extensive lands in Anjou, Maine and Touraine. Henry II's desire to reform the relationship with the Church led to conflict with his former friend Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy lasted for much of the 1160s and resulted in Becket's murder in 1170.  Also, Henry II soon came into conflict with France’s Louis VII. Henry expanded his empire at Louis VII's expense, taking Brittany, and pushing east into central France and south into Toulouse.

Henry II's successor, his son Richard I, "the Lion Heart,” who (reigned from 1189 - 1199), was preoccupied with foreign wars, taking part in the third Crusade, being captured while returning and pledging fealty to the Holy Roman Empire as part of his ransom, and defending his French territories against Philip II of France. 

Richard I’s successor, his younger brother John, reigned from 1199-1216, and lost much of those territories including Normandy following the disastrous Battle of Bouvines in Flanders in 1214.

Over the course of John’s reign, a combination of higher taxes, unsuccessful wars, and conflict with the Pope made him unpopular with his barons.  In 1215, some of the most important barons rebelled against him.  He was forced to meet with their leaders on June 15, 1215 to seal the Great Charter (Magna Carta in Latin), which imposed legal limits on the king's personal power.

Although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta, neither side complied with its conditions.  Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis VIII of France.  The war soon descended into a stalemate.  In 1216, John died of dysentery, contracted while campaigning in eastern England; supporters of his son Henry III went on to achieve victory over Louis VIII and the rebel barons the following year.

Henry III spent much of his reign (1216 - 1272) fighting the barons over the Magna Carta and the royal rights, and was eventually forced to call the first "parliament" in 1265.  He was also unsuccessful on the Continent, where he endeavored to re-establish English control over Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine.

 

Engraving of King John signing the Magna Carta in 1215.

His reign was punctuated by many rebellions and civil wars, often provoked by incompetence and mismanagement in government.

Henry III's policies towards Jews began with relative tolerance, but became gradually more restrictive.  The 1253 Statute of Jewry reinforced physical segregation and demanded a previously notional requirement that Jews wear square white badges.

Henry III’s son, Edward I spent most of his 35-year reign (1272 - 1307) fighting wars, first against his barons, then on the ninth Crusade, and finally back home annexing Wales and beginning a series of military campaigns against the Kingdom of Scotland, called the Wars of Scottish Independence, that lasted until 1357, with Scotland retaining its status as an independent state.

Edward I enacted numerous laws strengthening the powers of his government, and he summoned the first officially sanctioned Parliament of England.

Edward I is also known for his policies persecuting Jews, particularly the 1275 Statute of the Jewry. This banned Jews from their previous role in making loans, and demanded that they work as merchants, farmers, craftsmen or soldiers. This was unrealistic, and failed.  Edward's solution was to expel Jews from England.

14^th Century.  Edward I’s son, Edward II, proved a disaster.  He was a weak man, who preferred to engage in activities like thatching and ditch-digging rather than jousting, hunting, or the usual entertainments of kings.  He spent most of his reign (1307 - 1327) trying in vain to control the nobility, who in return showed continual hostility to him. 

The Scottish Wars of Independence continued throughout Edward II’s reign, as the Scottish leader Robert Bruce began retaking territory conquered by Edward I.

Away from the battlefield, millions of people in northern Europe died in the Great Famine of 1315 - 1317.  In England, half a million people died, more than 10 percent of the population.

Edward II's downfall came in 1326 when his wife, Queen Isabella, returned to her native France and, then, with her lover Roger Mortimer, invaded England.  Despite their tiny force, they quickly rallied support for their cause.  Edward II fled London, but was captured, charged with breaking his coronation oath, deposed, and imprisoned in Gloucestershire, until he was murdered in 1327.

Edward III, son of Edward II, restored royal authority and went on to transform England into the most efficient military power in Europe.  His reign (1327 - 1377) saw vital developments in legislature and government - in particular the evolution of the English Parliament.

In 1338, Charles of France died without an immediate male heir.  Edward III believed he had the right to become the new king of France through his mother, Isabella of France.  Philip VI of France said he was king because France’s Salic law prevented French women from ruling, or transmitting the right to rule, to their sons.  England and France went to war over this succession issue in 1338, starting what would become known as the Hundred Years' War, which was fought intermittently until 1453, when France finally prevailed.

Ten years after the 100 Years War began, in 1348, the Black Death, an epidemic of bubonic plague that spread all over Europe, arrived in England and killed as much as a third to half the population.

The Scottish Wars of Independence finally ended in 1357 with the Treaty of Berwick, leaving Scotland as an independent state.

Meanwhile, for many years, trouble had been brewing with Castile - a Spanish kingdom, whose navy had taken to raiding English merchant ships in the English Channel. Edward III won a major naval victory against a Castilian fleet off Winchelsea in 1350, but in spite of this, Winchelsea was only a flash in a conflict that raged between the English and the Spanish for over 200 years, coming to a head with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

 

Edward III was King of England for 50 years (1327-1377).  His reign saw the Great Famine, the Black Death, evolution of the British Parliament, the end of the Scottish Wars of Independence, and the start of the 100 Years War with France over succession to the French throne.

Edward III's later years were marked by international failure and domestic strife, largely as a result of his inactivity and poor health.

Edward III died of a stroke in 1376, and was succeeded by his ten-year-old grandson, Richard II.  In 1382, Richard II married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.  Richard's autocratic and arrogant methods only served to alienate the nobility more, and his forceful dispossession in 1399, by his first cousin Henry IV, increased the turmoil.

15^th Century.  In the 15^th century, the Plantagenets were defeated in the Hundred Years' War and beset with social, political and economic problems.  Popular revolts were commonplace, triggered by the denial of numerous freedoms.  English nobles raised private armies, engaged in private feuds, and openly defied their monarchs. The rivalry between the House of Plantagenet's two branches of York and Lancaster brought about the Wars of the Roses, a decades-long fight for the English succession

Overall in this period, England was more than self-sufficient in cereals, dairy products, beef and mutton. Its international economy was based on wool trade, in which wool from the sheep of northern England was exported to the textile cities of Flanders, where it was worked into cloth.  An English textile industry was established in the 15^th century, providing the basis for rapid English capital accumulation.

 

Reconstruction of the City of York in 15th century England, showing the city walls, and the Old Baile criminal court (left) and York Castle (right).

 

House of Lancaster.  Henry IV spent much of his reign (1399 - 1413) defending himself against plots, rebellions and assassination attempts. The king's success in putting down these rebellions was due partly to the military ability of his eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, who later became king.

Henry V succeeded to the throne in 1413. He began his reign (1413 - 1422) with renewed hostilities with France and began a set of military campaigns, a new phase of the Hundred Years' War, referred to as the Lancastrian War.

He won several notable victories over the French, including at the Battle of Agincourt. In the Treaty of Troyes, Henry V was given the power to succeed the current ruler of France, Charles VI. The Treaty also provided that he would marry Charles VI's daughter, Catherine of Valois. They married in 1421. But Henry V died of dysentery in 1422, leaving a number of unfulfilled plans, including his plan to take over as King of France and to lead a crusade to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Henry V's son, Henry VI, became king in 1422 as an infant. While he was growing up, England was ruled by the Regency government, made up of the most important and influential people in the government of England.

The Regency Council tried to install Henry VI as the King of France, as provided by the Treaty of Troyes signed by his father, and led English forces to take over areas of France. It appeared they might succeed due to the poor political position of the son of Charles VI, who had claimed to be the rightful king as Charles VII of France. However, in 1429, Joan of Arc began a military effort that prevented the English from gaining control of France.

In 1437, Henry VI came of age and began to actively rule as king. To forge peace, he married French noblewoman Margaret of Anjou in 1445.

But hostilities with France soon resumed, as the Hundred Years War continued over the succession to the French throne.  The war finally ended in 1453 with a crushing victory of the French at the Battle of Castillon.  The French forces had regained control of French territory.

Subsequently, Henry VI could not control the feuding nobles, and a series of civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses began, lasting from 1455 to 1485, pitting the House of Lancaster (supporters of Henry VI) against the House of York (supporters of Edward IV).  Although the fighting was very sporadic and small, there was a general breakdown in the power of the Crown.

House of York.  Henry VI's cousin Edward, Duke of York, deposed Henry VI in 1461 to become Edward IV, following a Lancastrian defeat. Edward IV was later briefly expelled from the throne in 1470 - 1471 and Henry VI came back to power for a short second reign.  Six months later, Edward IV defeated the Lancaster forces and reclaimed the throne. Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London and died there.

Edward IV died in 1483, only 40 years old, his second reign (1471 - 1483) having gone only a little way towards restoring the power of the Crown.  His eldest son and heir Edward V, aged 13, could not succeed him because the king's brother, Richard III, Duke of Gloucester, declared Edward IV's marriage bigamous, making all his children illegitimate. Richard III was then declared king, and Edward V and his 10-year-old brother Richard were imprisoned in the Tower of London and never seen again.  It was widely believed that Richard III had them murdered, and he was reviled as a treacherous fiend, which limited his ability to govern during his brief reign (1483 - 1485).

In summer 1485, Henry Tudor, the half-brother of Henry VI, and the last Lancastrian male, returned from exile in France to defeat and kill Richard III at Bosworth Field on 22 August, and five months later was crowned Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty.

Tudor England (1485 - 1603)

Tudors ruled England for 118 years.  They worked to centralize English royal power, which allowed them to avoid some of the problems that had plagued the last Plantagenet rulers. The resulting stability enabled the English Renaissance, a cultural and artistic movement - mostly in literature and music, and set the stage for modern Britain.

Henry VII.  Henry VII inherited a government severely weakened and degraded by the Wars of the Roses. And the treasury was empty.

For most of his reign (1485 - 1509), Henry VII’s hold on power was tenuous. He claimed the throne by conquest and God's judgement in battle.  Parliament quickly recognized him as king, but the Yorkists were far from defeated. Nonetheless, he married Edward IV's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, in 1486, thereby uniting the houses of York and Lancaster.

Henry VII's foreign policy was peaceful. He made an alliance with Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, but in 1493, when the Holy Roman Empire went to war with France, England was dragged into the conflict.  Impoverished, and his hold on power insecure, Henry VII had no desire for war. He quickly reached an understanding with the French and renounced all claims to their territory except the port of Calais.  In return, the French agreed to recognize him as King of England and stop sheltering pretenders to the English throne.

Through a tight fiscal policy and sometimes ruthless tax collection and confiscations, Henry VII refilled the treasury.  He also effectively rebuilt the machinery of government.

In 1501, the Henry VII’s oldest son, Arthur, died of illness at age 15, leaving his younger brother Henry, Duke of York as heir.  When Henry VII died in 1509, the position of the Tudors was secure and his second son succeeded him unopposed.

Henry VIII.  Henry VIII began his reign (1509 - 1547) with much optimism, but his lavish court quickly drained the treasury of the fortune he inherited.

Henry VIII is perhaps best known for his six marriages.  He married the widowed Catherine of Aragon, previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Henry VIII's elder brother Arthur, and they had several children, but none survived infancy except a daughter, Mary, who would later become Queen Mary I of England.

Eventually, Catherine was no longer able to have any more children. The king became increasingly nervous about the possibility of his daughter Mary inheriting the throne, as England's one experience with a female sovereign, Matilda in the 12^th century, had been a catastrophe. He eventually decided that it was necessary to separate from Catherine and find a new queen.

Because he could not get his marriage annulled, or be granted a divorce as a Roman Catholic, Henry seceded from the Church, in what became known as the English Reformation and established the Church of England, which amounted then to little more than the existing Catholic Church, but led by the king rather than the Pope. Henry VIII appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved all convents and monasteries. Their vast wealth was transferred to the Crown and their land was used to reward Henry VIII’s loyal servants.

In 1530, Catherine was banished from court and spent the rest of her life (until her death in 1536) alone in an isolated manor home.

Henry VIII next married English noblewoman Anne Boleyn in 1533, but she was unable to produce a male heir.  She did, however, produce a daughter, Elizabeth, who would become Queen Elizabeth I.  Henry VIII was devastated at his failure to obtain a son, after all the effort it had taken to remarry.  In 1537, Henry VIII put Anne in the Tower of London on charges of witchcraft.  Afterwards, she was beheaded along with five men (her brother included) accused of adultery with her. The marriage was then declared invalid.

Henry VIII immediately married another English noblewoman, Jane Seymour, who quickly gave birth to a healthy boy, Edward (eventually King Edward VI), which was greeted with huge celebrations. However, the queen died of postnatal complications ten days later.  Henry VIII genuinely mourned her death, and at his own passing nine years later, he was buried next to her.

Henry VIII married a fourth time, the union ending in divorce, a fifth time, ending in the beheading of his wife, and finally a sixth time, which turned into a nursemaid relationship as Henry VIII’s health was failing.

Domestically, Henry VIII is known for his radical changes to the English government.  In order to achieve his extensive religious reforms, Henry VIII allowed Parliament to pass statutes which give it unprecedented power. The Reformation Parliament wrote laws which dictated religious practice and doctrine.  But its authority didn’t stop there:  all aspects of the realm’s governance and national life fell within its authority.

Henry VIII frequently used charges of treason and heresy to quell dissent, and those accused were often executed without a formal trial.  He achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favor. 

Henry VIII was an extravagant spender, using the proceeds from the dissolution of the monasteries. He also converted the money that was formerly paid to Rome into royal revenue.  Despite the money from these sources, he was continually on the verge of financial ruin due to his personal extravagance, as well as his numerous costly and largely unsuccessful wars, particularly with France, and Scotland.  Henry VIII was the last English king to claim the title of King of France, as he lost his last possession there, the port of Calais.

At home, he oversaw the legal union of England and the country of Wales with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, and he became the first English monarch to rule as King of Ireland following the Crown of Ireland Act 1542.

 

In 1542, England and Scotland were independent kingdoms, with Ireland a client state of England.

 

Henry is also known as "the father of the Royal Navy," as he invested heavily in the navy, increasing its size from a few, to more than 50 ships.

It was also under Henry VIII that England started exploring the globe and trading outside Europe, although this would only develop to colonial proportions under his daughters and future monarchs, Mary I and especially Elizabeth I.

Henry VIII's paranoia and suspicion worsened in his last years. The number of executions during his 38-year reign numbered tens of thousands. His domestic policies had strengthened royal authority to the detriment of the aristocracy, and led to a safer realm, but his foreign policy adventures did not increase England's prestige abroad and wrecked royal finances and the national economy.

Henry VIII's contemporaries considered him an attractive, educated, and accomplished king.  He has been described as "one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne" and his reign has been described as the "most important" in English history. He was an author and composer.

As Henry VIII aged, he became severely overweight and his health suffered.  He is frequently characterized in his later life as a lustful, egotistical, paranoid and tyrannical monarch.  He died in 1547 at age 55 and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI.

 

King Henry VIII was responsible for significant changes in English religious and governmental practices.

 

Edward VI and Mary I.  Ten-year old Edward VI inherited the throne at his father's death in 1547.  He showed great promise, but fell violently ill of tuberculosis in 1553 and died two months before his 16th birthday.

Edward VI was succeeded by Mary I, the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood.  Mary I, a staunch Catholic, intended to restore Roman Catholicism to England, executing over 300 religious dissenters in her five-year reign (1553 - 1558).  She married the powerful King Philip II of Spain, but died childless of ovarian cancer in 1558, and her half-sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, ascended the throne as Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth I.  Elizabeth I’s reign (1558 - 1603) restored order to the realm after the turbulent reigns of Edward VI and Mary I.  Elizabeth I quickly re-established the Church of England.  

Despite the need for an heir, Elizabeth declined to marry, even with offers from a number of suitors across Europe.  She was popularly known as the Virgin Queen.  This created endless worries over her succession, especially in the 1560s when she nearly died of smallpox.  

Elizabeth I maintained relative government stability.  She was effective in reducing the power of the old nobility and expanding the power of her government. Elizabeth I's government did much to consolidate the work begun in the reign of Henry VIII, expanding the role of the government and effecting common law and administration throughout England. During the reign of Elizabeth I and shortly afterwards, the population grew significantly: from three million in 1564 to nearly five million in 1616.

The queen ran afoul of her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots (also known as Mary Stuart), who ruled Scotland from 1542 - 1567.  Mary was a devoted Catholic and so was forced to abdicate her throne when Scotland became Protestant.  Mary had once claimed Elizabeth I's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics.  Mary fled to England, where Elizabeth I immediately had her arrested.  Mary spent the next 19 years in confinement, but proved too dangerous to keep alive, as the Catholic powers in Europe considered her the legitimate ruler of England.  She was eventually tried for treason, sentenced to death, and beheaded in 1587.

Historians often depict Elizabeth I’s reign as the golden age in English history, a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe.

This "golden age" saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for theater, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theater. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repulsed. It was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.

England was also well off compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had ended due to foreign domination of the peninsula. France was embroiled in religious battles. Also, the English had already been expelled from their last outposts on the continent.  For these reasons, the centuries long conflict with France was largely suspended for most of Elizabeth I's reign. England during this period had a centralized, organized and effective government, largely due to the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade.

Elizabeth I was cautious in foreign affairs, but risked war with Spain by supporting Walter Raleigh, John Hawkins, and Sir Francis Drake, who preyed on Spanish merchant ships carrying gold and silver from the New World.  Drake himself became a hero - being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world between 1577 and 1580, having plundered Spanish settlements and treasure ships.

The major war with Spain came in 1585 - 1603. When Spain tried to invade and conquer England it was a fiasco, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth's name with what is popularly viewed as one of the greatest victories in English history. Her enemies failed to combine and Elizabeth's foreign policy successfully navigated all the dangers.

Elizabeth I died in 1603 at the age of 69, and ironically, Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, succeeded Elizabeth I as King James I of England.

 

Queen Elizabeth I's 44 years on the English throne provided welcome stability and helped forge a sense of national identity.

17^th Century

Protestant James I succeeded Protestant Elizabeth I as the first English monarch from the House of Stewart, which would rule in England for the next 111 years, except for a brief hiatus.  At the beginning of the century, England and Scotland joined together under one king, but remained separate politically.  Relations between Protestants and Catholics were strained during this entire period, leading to rebellions and internal civil wars.  In mid-century, the monarchy was overthrown, but restored after nine years.  Over this period, the Parliament’s power increased as royal power decreased.

Meanwhile, the foundation of the British Empire (see my previous blog) began to take shape, as England started to acquire overseas possessions as colonies or trading posts.  By the end of the 17^th century, English possessions consisted principally of lands in present day Canada, along the southern shore of Hudson Bay; colonies along the eastern coast of the present-day United States; islands in the West Indies (Caribbean); and trading posts along the coast of present-day India and Bangladesh, and on the Island of Java in the East Indies.

Union of the Crowns. When Elizabeth I died, her closest male Protestant relative was the King of Scotland, James VI, of the House of Stuart, who became King James I of England in a Union of the Crowns. He was the first monarch to rule (1603 - 1625) the entire Island of Great Britain, but the countries remained separate politically.

Upon taking power, James I made peace with Spain, and for the first half of the 17^th century, England remained largely inactive in European politics.

James I aimed at improving relations with the Catholics.  But two years after he was crowned, a group of Catholic extremists led by Guy Fawkes attempted to place a bomb at the Parliament's state opening, when the king and his entourage would be present, so as to get rid of all the Protestant aristocracy in one fell swoop. The conspirators were betrayed by one of their number just hours before the plan's enactment. The failure of the Gunpowder Plot, as it is known, is still celebrated throughout England on Guy Fawkes' night (November 5^th), with fireworks and bonfires burning effigies of the conspirators' leader.

English Civil War.  The divide between Catholics and Protestants worsened during James I’s reign.  James I's successor, his son Charles I, reigned (1625 - 1649) after James I’s death.  Despite being an (Anglican) Protestant, his marriage with a French Roman Catholic and his totalitarian handling of the Parliament, culminated in the English Civil War (1642 - 1651). The country was torn between Royalist and Parliamentarian troops, and most of the medieval castles still standing were destroyed during that period.  The Parliamentarians prevailed and Charles I was beheaded.  The Protestant leader of the Parliamentarians, Oliver Cromwell, ruled the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government of the new republican commonwealth.  He was briefly succeeded by his son Richard, but Richard’s political inability prompted the Parliament to restore the monarchy in 1660, calling in Charles I’s exiled son, Charles II.

 

English Parliament protest leader Oliver Cromwell acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government after the overthrow of Charles I.

Outside of politics and religion, the 1640s and 1650s saw a revived economy.  The gentry found time for leisure activities, such as horse racing and bowling.  In the high culture, important innovations included the development of a mass market for music, increased scientific research, and an expansion of publishing.  All the trends were discussed in depth at newly established coffee houses.

Restoration of the Monarchy.  The monarchy was restored in 1660, with King Charles II returning to London. However, the power of the crown was less than before the Civil War.

In 1665, London was swept by the plague, and in 1666 by the Great Fire that raged for 5 days, destroying about 15,000 buildings.

The "Merry Monarch,” as Charles II was known, was better at handling Parliament than his father, although as ruthless with other matters.  It is during his reign (1660 - 1685) that the Whig and Tory parties were created, and the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam became English and was renamed New York, after Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York (and later James II).

Charles II was a patron of the arts and sciences. He helped found the Royal Society and sponsored architect Sir Christopher Wren, who rebuilt the city of London after the Great Fire of 1666, and constructed some of England's greatest edifices.  Charles II acquired Bombay and Tangiers through his Portuguese wife, thus expanding the foundation for the British Empire.

Glorious Revolution.  In 1680, there were attempts to prevent accession of Charles II’s younger brother James, because he was Catholic. After Charles II died in 1685, and James II was crowned, various factions pressed for Charles II’s Protestant daughter Mary and her Protestant husband Prince William of Orange to replace him in what became known as the Glorious Revolution.

In 1688, William invaded England and succeeded in being crowned William III.  James II tried to retake the throne, but was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

In 1689, one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, the Bill of Rights, was passed.  The Bill established restrictions on the royal prerogative. For example, the Sovereign could not suspend laws passed by Parliament, levy taxes without parliamentary consent, infringe the right to petition, raise a standing army during peacetime without parliamentary consent, deny the right to bear arms to Protestant subjects, unduly interfere with parliamentary elections, punish members of either House of Parliament for anything said during debates, require excessive bail or inflict cruel and unusual punishments.  William III was opposed to such constraints, but chose to avoid conflict with Parliament and agreed to the statute.

 

Depiction of England's Bill of Rights being presented to King William III and Queen Mary in 1689.

 

In parts of Scotland and Ireland, Catholics loyal to James II remained determined to see him restored to the throne, and staged a series of bloody uprisings. As a result, any failure to pledge loyalty to the victorious King William III was severely dealt with.  The Parliament ratified that all kings or queens would have to be Protestant from then on. 

William III's reign (1689-1702) ended with his death in 1702.  James II's second daughter, Anne, ascended the throne.

Formation of the United Kingdom.  During Anne’s reign (1702 - 1714), England and Scotland joined together politically. The Acts of Union between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were a pair of parliamentary acts passed by both countries’ parliaments in 1707, which dissolved them in order to form a Kingdom of Great Britain governed by a unified Parliament of Great Britain, centralizing political power in London. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate independent states, with separate legislatures, but with the same monarch) into a single United Kingdom.  The British Empire had been born.

The Act of Union of 1800 formally assimilated Ireland within the United Kingdom and from January 1, 1801 created a new state called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Between 1919 and 1921, the Irish Republican Army fought for independence from the UK. The Irish War of Independence ended with the division of Ireland into northern and southern regions in 1922.

The northern region remained a part of the UK, which changed its title to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1937, the southern region became the sovereign nation of Ireland (or the Republic of Ireland).

Wales has been a country separate from England since 1536, with the Laws in Wales Act.  Today, Wales is a constituent part of the United Kingdom.

 

The United Kingdom today is comprised of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

The British Empire

The British Empire grew out of the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16^th and early 18^th centuries.  At its height, in the 1920s, it was the largest empire in world history and, for over a century, had been the foremost global power.  The British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time, and it covered 13,500,000 square miles, 24% of the Earth's total land area.  As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread.  The British Empire was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets,” as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

Today, sixteen nations are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of equal members, comprising a population of around 2.2 billion people. These Commonwealth realms voluntarily continue to share the current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as their head of state. These sixteen nations are distinct and equal legal entities - the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.  Great Britain also retains sovereignty over 14 British Overseas Territories, including the British Antarctic Territory, formed in 1962.

See my previous blog article, “History38 - British Empire,” for a complete history of the British Empire from 1707 to the present.