A (NOT SO) BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

ENGLAND A (NOT SO) BRIEF HISTORY OF

DEAD HORSE PRINT

“

There will always be an England while there's a country lane, wherever there's a cottage small beside a field of grain.

“

- Clark Ross Parker

“

You must not miss Whitehall. At one end you’ll find a statue of one of our kings who was beheaded; at the other, the monument to the man who did it.

This is just an example of our attempts to be fair to everybody.

- Thomas Appleton

“

Th in e fr t mo be ie he st yo ca nd w d sp ur us o or an en c e f ld ge d lo he an i ro 10 se 'l E s us l ng to t t sh r c l h il at om is ma in li he e hm ke g ng r sl an a s th ee , on an p in a ho te l

“

“

t po

e

a um n

Tr Ca

“

“

Not only England, but every Englishman is an island.

- Novalis

“

England is not the jewelled isle of Shakespeare’s much-quoted message, nor is it the inferno depicted by Dr Goebbels. More than either it resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep in it but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons. It has rich relations who have to be kow-towed to and poor relations who are horribly sat upon, and there is a deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income. It is a family in which the young are generally thwarted and most of the power is in the hands of irresponsible uncles and bedridden aunts. Still, it is a family. It has its private language and its common memories, and at the approach of an enemy it closes its ranks. A family with the wrong members in control - that, perhaps is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.

- GEORGE ORWELL

“

“

If countries were named after the words you first hear when you go there, England would have to be called ‘Damn it’.

“

- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

7

CONTENTS 10 12 PRE-HISTORY

ROMAN BRITAIN

26

EARLY MIDDLE AGES

40

ENGLAND RISING

45

THE BRITISH EMPIRE

50

CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN

8

31

17

THE HEPTARCHY

LATE MIDDLE AGES

..BUT FIRST, SOME GEOGRAPHY

THE BRITISH ISLES

SC OT

LA ND

IRELAND

THE UNITED KINGDOM

S LE WA

AND

ENGL

GREAT BRITAIN

The earliest evidence of human occupation around 900,000 years ago is at Ha

by Homo antecessor. The oldest human fossils, around 500,000 years old, are permanently connected to the Continent by a chalk ridge between south-east Anglian Glaciation around 425,000 years ago a flood broke through the ridge sea levels rose during inter-glacial periods. Fossils of very early Neander and of classic Neanderthals about 225,000 years old at Pontnewydd in Wales.

Neanderthals returned. By 40,000 years ago they had become extinct and mode intermittent due to a climate which swung between low temperatures with a t periods. The last of these, the Younger Dryas, ended around 11,700 years ag

Britain and Ireland were then joined to the Continent, but rising sea level large plain between Britain and Continental Europe, known as Doggerland, pe island was populated by people with a Neolithic culture. However, no writte history, culture and way of life of pre-Roman Britain are known mainly thro archaeological, available genetic evidence is increasing, and views of Brit small amount of linguistic evidence, from river and hill names, which is co

The first significant written record of Britain and its inhabitants was mad around 325 BC. However, there may be some additional information on Britain the writing of the later author Avienus. Archaeological evidence demonstrat cultural links with the rest of Europe from the Neolithic onwards, especial Britain in about 50 BC after his two military expeditions to the island in at least the southeast of Britain (it failed).

Located at the fringes of Europe, Britain received European technological and cultural achievements much later than Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region did during prehistory. The story of ancient Britain is traditionally seen as one of successive waves of invasion from the continent, with each bringing different cultures and technologies. More recent archaeological theories have questioned this migrationist interpretation and argue for a more complex relationship between Britain and the Continent. Many of the changes in British society demonstrated in the archaeological record are now suggested to be the effects of the native inhabitants adopting foreign customs rather than being subsumed by an invading population.

appisburgh on the Norfolk coast, with stone tools and footprints probably made e of Homo heidelbergensis at Boxgrove in Sussex. Until this time Britain was England and northern France called the Weald-Artois Anticline, but during the e, creating the English Channel, and after that Britain became an island when rthals dating to around 400,000 years ago have been found at Swanscombe in Kent, . Britain was unoccupied by humans between 180,000 and 60,000 years ago, when ern humans had reached Britain. But even their occupations were brief and tundra habitat and severe ice ages which made Britain uninhabitable for long go, and since then Britain has been continuously occupied.

ls cut the land bridge between Britain and Ireland by around 11,000 years ago. A ersisted much longer, probably until around 5600 BC. By around 4000 BC, the en language of the pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain has survived; therefore, the ough archaeological finds. Although the main evidence for the period is tish prehistory are evolving accordingly. Toponyms and the like constitute a overed in the article about pre-Celtic Britain and the Celtic invasion.

de by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored the coastal region of Britain n in the “Ora Maritima�, a text which is now lost but which is incorporated in tes that ancient Britons were involved in extensive maritime trade and lly by exporting tin that was in abundant supply. Julius Caesar also wrote of 55 and 54 BC. The invasion during 54 BC is thought to be an attempt to conquer

ROMAN BRITAIN

In the year 55bc, Julius Caesar made his first voyage to Britain, landing on the south coast. His first landing was fairly unsuccessful. However, a second voyage a year later yielded some success as Caesar secured the surrender of a handful of Celtic tribes. Celts were the native inhabitants of Britain at the time, though this term is misleading as it implies a degree of hegemony among the tribes. When aside from sharing a similar language and religion, each tribe was different. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to them as Britons, to distinguish them from Picts in Scotland or Gaels in Ireland.

After Caesar left Britain, a few eastern tribes joined the Roman sphere. Awareness of Britain rose significantly among the Roman populous. In the past the island had a mythical lore surrounding it.

In the decades following, Caesar declared himself dictator for life prior to his assassination. His successor Augustus became the first emperor of Rome. He had his eye on an invasion of Britain, however more pressing matters side-lined such an invasion. After Augustus, Emperor Caligula prepared an invasion force, but he too was assassinated before it could be done. His uncle, Claudius became emperor.

In order to round up support from the people and the military, Claudius also set his sights on conquering the island. In 43ad, four Roman legions arrived in Britain. Though the Britons resisted, they lacked the military technology and expertise of the Roman war machine. After four years of conquest, Rome occupied around 1/3 of mainland Britain, concentrated mostly in the south. Some Brittonic tribes maintained sovereignty, and assisted the Romans in exchange for protection and relative freedom.Though this changed when Roman legions begun disarming local tribes.

The land acquired by the Romans was under the jurisdiction of a Governor and a Procurator. The former was in charge of military and legal affairs, while the latter oversaw economic progress. Both would report directly to the Emperor. Colchester in Essex was the first capital of the Roman province. The foundations of London were also built during this time.

Rapid urbanisation drew migration from Rome. Britons were subject to unfair taxation, forced conscription and discrimination. Relations between Romans and Britons hit a fever pitch in 60ad when a Brittonic king passed away and gave half his kingdom to the current Emperor Nero. After the Romans seized all of the land, a local woman known as Boudicca protested. In response she was beaten and her daughters sexually assaulted. Boudicca led her tribe in revolt, during which London and Colchester were set ablaze.

Boudicca and her army were defeated at the battle of Watling Street. Despite heavily outnumbering the Romans, the Britons wore little-to-no armour, which made them vulnerable to the Roman javelin.

After the defeat, Boudicca took her own life. It took well over a decade for the scar of the rebellion to be sealed. London and Colchester were rebuilt.

But this new-found stability wasn’t going to last long

In 68ad, Emperor Nero was declared an enemy of Rome before taking his own life, kick-starting what is known as the Year of the Four Emperors. This instability plunged Rome into chaos. During this chaos, the Brittonic tribe to the north collapsed, leaving Roman Britain open to costant pillaging from the Picts. Vespasian won the civil conflict in Rome and united the empire. Rome could now respond to the raids from the North, as well as expand its control of the island to include modern day Wales, before all of modern day England, as well as parts of southern and western. Scotland were taken.

A process of Romanisation took place, as more urban cities popped up, local Brittonic leaders wished to become Roman. The introduction of public baths allowed some to distinguish themselves from the supposed unwashed Britons.

Roman and Greek legend were also available to some Britons as well as a long list of other goods and exotics from around the empire. Though the Britons slowly assimilated to Roman culture, the discrimination remained.

A key feature of Roman colonisation is the adoption of local gods into the Roman mythology. For example, the Celtic goddess Sulis was considered by the Romans to be an equvialent to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.

There are four types of settlement that the Romans built on the island.

Firstly, the Coloniae, the root of the word ‘colony’. Coloniae were the largest type of Roman settlement, where military veterans and Roman citizens lived. The second type is the Municipia. These were smaller than Coloniae but were still important.

Typically these settlements held a degree of self-autonomy, and were usually not lived in by Roman citizens.

Civitates were small urban centres, populated by natives and divided along tribal lines. The final settlement was the Vici, the smallest of the Roman settlements. These settlements would spring up very quickly, often close to Military garrisons, often Vici were inhabited by traders.

Most native Britons did not live in these urban settlements. With between 80-90% living in rural areas. A majority of the rural population were farmers who did not adapt to Romanisation.

In 122ad, Emperor Hadrian started construction on a border between Roman Britain and the northern Picts.

Hadrian’s Wall was completed in 128ad.

The reigns of Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus were uneventful in Britain,

Commodus was assassinated in 192ad, beginning the Year of the five Emperors. 193ad is consiered the turning point between the early and the late Roman Empire, as Septimius Severus emerged victorious from yet another civil conflict. During the rule of the Severin dynasty, senators were cast aside in favour of military generals, who took on the day-to-day running of the empire. Severus died in 211ad, to be succeeded by his two sons. In 212ad, citizenship rights were extended to those under Roman occupation. There was a peroid of stability until the assassination of emperor Severus Alexander in 235ad.

This ushered in what is known as the Third Century Crisis, a period of chaotic civil war and a plethora of generals declaring themselves emperor.

The crisis took a massive toll on the Roman economy, as Roman coinage essentially lost all of its worth.

During the crisis, Britain often found itself seperate from the rest of the Roman world.

Briefly, between 260-274ad, Britain was a part of the Gallic Empire, which modern day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, before being re-conquered. A few decades later, a naval commander named Casausius declared himself emperor of Britain and what is now northern France, before he was assassinated in 293ad. His assassin was himself defeated three years later and Britain was once again re-incorporated into the empire.

The Third Century Crisis was effectively ended by Diocletian, who established a system of government called the Tetrarchy, the rule of four. During the Tetrarchy, the empire was split into four regions, each with their own emperor.

By 312ad, chaos over leadership led to yet another civil war in Rome.

Constantine emerged victorious, and having converted to Christianity, further Christianising the empire.

The process of Christianisation was long and not entirely successful.

There is little evidence of widespread Christianity in Roman Britain before the 3rd century. THough Christian legends did exist, St Alban for example.

It wasn’t until the mid-4th century that there would be a sizeable Christian population on the island.

Constantine died in 337ad, and the empire was split once again. This time among his three song. Three quickly became two and the Roman empire was split between Eastern and Western empires for ten years, before the last living son of Constantine reconquered the entire empire by defeating the rogue general Magnentius.

In 367ad, Britain fell victim to an event known as the Barbarian Conspiracy, during which Roman colonies were attacked in a co-ordinated effort by a number of Germanic and Celtic tribes.

In the twilight years of the 4th century, Britain was involved in another crisis.

A Roman general named Magnus Maximus defeated the Picts and declared himself Emperor.

He was defeated by Theodossius in 394ad. Theodossius died a year later, which marked the permanent split between the eastern and western empires.

The western empire, now under the control of emperor Honorius was perpetually strained by economic mis-management, foreign invasions and civil conflicts. In Britain, the Picts and the Scots raided the coastline to the south.

Little is known about the last 20 years of Roman Britain, but it can be assumed that the western empires new capital, Ravenna, begun to lose control over its provinces. In the early 5th century, the economy of the western empire declined further, This led to a shortage of currency from the empire making its way to Britain. This meant that legions in Britain were being payed by local leaders, not the central Roman government. To make matters worse, a Barbarian invasion of Gaul (modern day France) effectively cut Britain off from the rest of the empire.

In 406ad, Brittania saw three attempts at usurping the throne.

Due to being overrun by Barbarians themselves, the Roman government were slow to respond.

The final attempt as usurpation, led

by Constantine III was initially successful. He seized modern day France, Spain and Portugal while pushing back Germanic invaders. However, in order to accomplish this, he withdrew most of the military stationed on Britannia, leaving the island vulnerable to attack. The attack was carried out mostly by the Picts, Scots and Saxons.

The disarmament of the RomanoBritons was lifted by the 410 Rescript of Honorius. Though this was seen by many as Britain essentially being left to its fate.

Many citizens of Britannia were still Roman citizens, and would have identified as such.

The newly-armed Romano-Britons were able to claim a few victories over the raiders. However, continued and relentless raiding led to the collapse of the civil administration in Brtiain. The economic and civic despair led to the military and civil service abandoning Britain, never to be a Roman province again.

Over the four-hundred years of Roman rule, cities which still stand today were built, as well as aqueducts, ampitheatres, and roads.

Sources on Britain immediately after Roman withdrawal are rare, as this is seen as the beginning of the Dark Ages. But soon a new group would inhabit the island. This was the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon era.

It should be stated that this period in English history is famously hard to source credibly. There are very few written sources, most of which came from the clergy, the only group with a sizeable literacy rate. Three major historical sources from this time survive; the writings of Gildas and Bede, as well as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

The same can be said for the invading Germanic tribes, Gildas’ account, a Brittonic king named Vortigern was suffering from constant raids of the Picts and Scots to the north. He appealed to Saxon mercinaries for help.

The saxons defeated the Picts and demanded fair payment. When the king refused, the Saxons begun conquering territory on the island. Early on the Saxons were successful and took the eastern coast of England with ease. The Saxons were eventually defeated at the Battle of Mons Badonicus which occurred around the year 500ad. The Britons were led

by Ambrosius Aurelianus, supposedly a descendant of the high-ranking leaders in Roman Britain. aurelianus, as well as a few other Brittonic leaders make up the basis of the legend known as King Arthur. Yes, Arthur is just that, a legend, not mentioned. in any historical sources until 500 years after he is supposed to have lived.

Arthur is representative of the struggle of the Britons against the ceaseless Anglo-Saxons.

THE

HEPTARCHY

What we do know is that throughout the early 5th century, mainland Britain was subject to numerous invasions from northern Germanic tribes. These were the Angles, Jutes and Saxons, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxons. The first of these tribes were thought to have landed in Kent. The Britons still inhabited the island, though there was still little cohesion between tribes, and the notion of a single Brittonic people was non-existent.

Beginning in the mid 5th century, there was increasing settlement of the southern and eastern coasts of England. As the settlements moved further inland around the late 6th century, kingdoms began to form. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Angles settled in the east, establishing East Anglia, Mercia and Bernicia. The Saxons settled in the south of England, and slowly moved west, Essex, Sussex and Wessex were founded (meaning east, south, and west saxon respectively). Britain was divided between Anglo-Saxons and Britons, each with their own kingdoms.

Sadly, the specifics on the formation of these kingdoms has been lost to time, but we can make the educated assumption that by the year 600, all of these kingdoms were around. The Heptarchy (rule of seven) had begun.

The major differences between the Britons and Anglo-Saxons were no different to that of the Britons and Romans, language and religion. It’s unclear when exactly christianity took root in Britain, or how many Britons were Christians. Christian kingdoms were in contact with the Britons. The Germanic peoples on the other hand were definitely not Christian. They practised a Germanic form of Paganism, slightly different to the old Brittonic way. In 595, pope Gregory-I sent a cardinal named Augustine to convert the island to Christianity. He arrived in Kent in

597ad. The king of Kent, Aethelberht, converted to Christianity, and later was canonised as a saint. By 601ad, most of Kent had been converted, and Augustine was made the first Archbishop of Canterbury, a role that still exists today. Aethelberhts conversion had a great impact, as he had sway over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms due to his role as Bretwalda, overseer of the kingdoms. He exercised this power to make other kings convert, after he died the position of Bretwalda was passed to Raedwald, king of East Anglia.

Around the 8th century, the kingdom of Northumbria opened itself up to the Roman catholic church by siding with it at the Sined of Whitby, a meeting of the Anglo-Saxon kings. This connection to Rome endowed many Northumbrian monasteries with books, art and jewels. The most notable of these monasteries were Monkwearmouthjarrow (where Bede was eductated), and Lindisfarne. The period of time from the mid 7th to the mid 8th century was a time of wealth and prestige for Northumbria, with access to top works of classical and ecclesiastical literature. The works produced in Northumbria are some of the most vital sources on Anglo-Saxon history. The kingdoms Monasteries were isolated, typically by the coast. The seclusion and wealth backfired in 793ad, when lindisfarne was attacked by raiders from the north, we know them today as Vikings (more on them later).

Northumbria’s golden age was more than just one of literary and artistic dominance, it was political as well, Northumbria exercised a lot of control over the southern kingdoms. Only Mercia threatened their monopoly. Two Northumbrian kings had met their demise at the hands of Penda, the king of Mercia. Mercia and Northumbria continued to trade small victories over one another, vying for dominance with no clear winner. In 716ad, the new king of Mercia Aethelbald attemped what’s called the Mercian Supremacy, during which Mercia had full control over the southern kingdoms, despite competition from the kingdoms of Wessex and Kent. Mercia did not annex the kingdoms under its control, allowing the conquered lands semi-autonomy and the retention of local identities. Under the king Offa, Mercian dominance reached its peak, which included the introduction of the penny. Offa was known as a pious and devoted Christian who secured the appointment of a shortlived third Archbishop, based in Litchfield. He died in 796ad.

After the death of Offa, Mercia was ruled by weak kings, and the kingdom never saw the dominance it once enjoyed again. The unstability allowed Wessex to move ahead and become the dominnt Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Upon ending the hegemony of Mercian rule, Wessex quickly annexed the remaining southern kingdoms. Wessex then successfully invaded Mercia in 829ad, forcing the Mercian king into exile, Northumbria fell soon after. A king of the English drew close, but a successful revolt in Mercia stopped this.

In 835ad, the Kingdom of Kent was heavily plundered by norse raiders. And a year later Egbert was defeated by the Danes in modern day Devon. Though the Anglo-Saxons defeated the Danes and their Cornish allies in 838ad. The Vikings, Danes, Norse or however you want to call them were a sea-faring people.

After the successful raid on the Lindisfarne monastery in 793ad, dozens more occurred, increasing in brutality. The Vikings can be split into two groups; The Danes from Denmark, who typically occupied England, moving inland, and the Norse, who occupied coastal settlements including parts of Ireland and Scotland. For the sake of simplicity, the two will be collectively referred to as Vikings.

In 865ad, the Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia, led by Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless. A year later, Northumbria, vulnerable due to political tensions was invaded and the city of York was taken. Moving south into Mercia, Nottingham was also taken swiftly. A counter-invasion was attempted by A Mercia-Wessex alliance, though this failed. After East Anglia had been taken, Guthrum and Halfdan had established a permanent presence in the southern half of Northumbria.

This is seen by many as the beginning of the period in angloScandinavian history known as the Danelaw,

The Danelaw was split into five boroughs, where Danish law was recognised, Anglo-Saxons and Britons were heavily discriminated against. the Vikings turned their attention to Wessex, but were paid off by Alfred the Great, king of Wessex. The Vikings then moved north, conquering Mercia before once again setting their sights on Wessex. Alfred won a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington. The peace treaty saw Viking leader Guthrum convert to Christianity, change his name to Aethelstan and recognise Alfred as his adoptive father. The treaty also allowed the Vikings to claim vast amounts of land in the midlands and south east, while Wessex also grew in size. The border between Alfred and Guthrum’s kingdoms follows the aforementioned Roman road Watling Street. The treaty stated that in their respective kingdoms, Anglo-Saxons and Danes were to be treated as equals, though this didn’t apply to Britons.

Alfred set about reforming his kingdom, reforms consisted of a permanent army, a naval force and a system of heavily fortified towns and settlements. He also adoped the monniker of ‘King of the Saxons’. Alfred cared deeply about scholarship, and begun importing learned men from around the kingdoms, most notably Mercia and Wales. This process is known as the Alfredian Rennaissance. This saw a spike in the publishing of literature, both new and old. Around this time, the Anglo-Saxon Chonicle was written, which was essentially a list of the major events faced by Anglo-Saxons from 793ad-1066ad. Wessex was once again ivaded by the Vikings in 892ad, and once again it was unsuccessful due to the stability provided by Alfred’s reforms.

Mecia did not have the same structural advantages and was marched through by the Vikings on their way to the Brittonic territory of Wales, also divided into smaller kingdoms, most of whom were loyal to Alfred. Alfred died in 899ad, during his life and rule, he had taken Wessex from struggling against Viking incursions to being the sole independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom. He is recognised as the architect of a united England, though this was never achieved in his lifetime.

Alfred was succeeded by Edward the Elder, who significantly weakened the Viking rule. By 918ad, a vast majority of the Danelaw had been annexed, leaving only the northern territories in Viking hands. By 923ad, all of the former Danelaw had been conquered, while a majority of the land outside of Edward’s territory had pledged allegiance to him. Edward died in 924ad and was succeeded by his son, Aethelstan II. In 927ad, Aethelstan captured the city of York and annexed the remaining Northumbrian land. This is seen by contemporary historians as the official birth of England as a nation.

Aethelstan invaded Scotland in 934ad. In response, the kingdoms of Strathclyde and Dublin joined Scotland and met the English at the brutal Battle of Brunanburh, which was a victory for Aethelstan’s forces, solidifying England as the hegemonic power on the island.

With military dominance over the island established, the English begun to play a greater role in the geopolitical affairs of the slowly-forming European continent.

For example when the Frankish king Charles the Simple was usurped to the throne, his son and heir, Louis, was given refuge in England.

Aethelstan helped Louis to regain the throne. England also played a key role in the usurption of the Norwegian throne by prince Haakon.

Aethelstan died in 939ad. He was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund. The first major challenge of his fledgling kingship was yet another Norse invasion, this time from Ireland, led by Olaf Guthfrithson. The invasion was successful and the city of York fell once again. Edmund was forced to recognise Guthfrithson as the king of Northumbria. Immediately following Guthfrithson’s death in 941ad, Edmund sought to reconquer the lost territory, and this was achieved by 944ad. Soon after he invaded Strathclyde and claimed the southern territories, while gifting the remainder of the kingdom to the king of Scotland. Edmund died under mysterious circumstances in 946ad, and was succeeded by Eadred. Once again Northumbria was lost to the Norse, and regained over a period of seven years. This was to be the last time Northumbria would change hands however, and it has since remained a constituent part of England. Eadred died in 955ad, not much is known about the later years of his life, which leads to the assumption that it was relatively uneventful and without meaningful foreign invasion. His successor, the teenaged Eadwig who almost immediately lost the support of the church, who instead backed his brother Edgar. In 957ad, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria declared their support for Edgar which led to a split in the country, with Eadwig controlling Wessex and Edgar controlling the rest. This was short-lived though as Eadwig died two years later and Edgar became the undisputed king of the Anglo-Saxons. Edgar died in 975ad and his son Edward succeeded. Three years later he was murdered, and became known as Edward the Martyr. His brother, known as Aethelred the Unready, whose kingship was marred by poor advice and the resurgence of Viking raids. Aethelred was deposed in 1013 and fled to Normandy as England fell to Danish kings. Cnut of Denmark was declared king of both lands as well as Norway. Cnut died in 1035 without an heir. The chaos this caused led the island open to invasion, by whom exactly?

Not the norse, or Welsh, Britons or Scots, but the Normans.

W I L L I A M S H A K E S P E A R E

J A N E A U S T I N

C H A R L E S D A R W I N

W I L L I A M G L A D S T O N E

MIDDLE

EARLY

AGES

The year is 1042ad, and the realm is without a king. A succession crisis was eventually resolved with the coronation of Edward the Confessor. In 1051ad, the Archbishop of Canterbury died, the Anglo-Saxon monk Aethelric was selected to succeed him. Edward the Confessor chose to override this, and instead selected a Norman monk named Robert. Part of the ascension to position of Archbishop involved a personal voyage to Rome. En route to Rome, Robert stopped in Normandy and informed the Norman Duke William that Edward did not have a clear heir to the throne. This formed the backbone of Williams’ claim to the English throne.

Further disputes over the Archbishop bought England to the brink of civil war after noble Harold Godwins returned from exile in Ireland and made a series demands from Edward which included the banishment of highly ranked Normans in the English court.

Edward acquiesced and a new Archbishop of Canterbury was chosen.

Harold Godwins died in 1053ad, and his son, aptly named Harold Godwinson succeeded the title of Earl of Wessex, his brothers also held esteemed positions in Northumbria and East Anglia. In 1065ad, Harold Godwinson visited Normandy to reaffirm that William of Normandy was to succeed the English throne. On January 6th 1066, Edward the Confessor died. However, instead of William claiming the throne, Harold did, setting the stage for conflict. The English prepared themselves for a possible Norman invasion, and stationed their army on the southern coast. William wasn’t the only other claimant to the throne however, Harold Hadrada also claimed to be the rightful heir, based on a verbal agreement between himself and Cnut, the last Danish king of England. He invaded the north east of the island and was successful, forging territory of his own. Harold Godwinson and his army frantically moved north and defeated Hadrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, during which Hadrada was killed by an arrow. While the smell of blood was still in the air, William made his move, landing on the south coast. An exhausted Godwinson and his army had no choice but to go south to meet the Norman army. The two met at the Battle of Hastings, at which Godwinson was killed. Even after defeating the English army, William was not handed the throne, which was instead given to a native called Edgar. This was short-lived, and by late 1066, William had secured the surrender of London, and later the whole of England. On Christmas Day, William the Conquerer was crowned. The next year, he triumphantly returned to Normandy, leaving his brother Odo unofficially in charge of England. There were semi-regular revolts against the Normans, but little in the way of a direct challenge. William responded brutally and instructed his soldiers to burn down any village suspected of playing a role in rebellion in a move known as the ‘Harrying of the North’, which is believed to have killed upwards of 100,000 people. Within 10 years of the conquest, the ruling class of England had been wiped out and replaced with those loyal to William.

William commissioned the Domesday Book in 1086ad, one of the most important sources of the era. Williams’ death in 1087ad saw two of his sons, Robert and William II, inherited Normandy and England respectively. Robert attempted to overthrow William in 1088ad. This time also saw several scirmishes between England and Scotland, ending in the death of the Scottish king Malcolm III. Robert was drawn into the first Crusade, allowing William to secure the throne between 1097ad and 1100ad. William would die in a suspicious hunting accident that year.

Soonafter, Henry seized Winchester and was coronated king. Almost immediately, Robert begun plotting to overthrow his younger brother and claim the throne for himself, but this was not a success and only resulted in a meagre annual payment. Henry invaded Normandy in 1105ad, capturing Robert in 1106ad.

Robert would spend the rest of his life imprisoned, and Henry became the duke of Normandy. The king of France attempted to retake Normandy in 1119ad, but failed.

Henry’s only heir died during a naval accident, this left Henry with no heir to the throne, he recalled his daughter Matilda to England after the death of her powerful husband and married her to the Plantaganet Dynasty, an influential French family with a degree of independence from the French crown.

However, just prior to his death in 1135ad, Henry stripped the two of their heirship, causing a succession crisis as their were two potential heirs; Geoffrey Plantaganet, and Henry’s nephew Stephen. Stephen was more popular among the elites, and was crowned king the same year that Henry died.

In 1138ad, Geoffrey invaded Normandy, while the Scots simultaneously invaded northern England, taking Carlisle. This is a period known as ‘The Anarchy’, a strung of civil wars over the crown that took place between 1135ad and 1153ad. Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141ad, though Matilda could not capitalise, and was chased out of London before she could be coronated. Not long after, Robert of Gloucester, a key rebel figure was captured, and Matilda agreed to swap his freedom for that of Stephen, continuing the war. Matilda eventually surrendered and fled in 1148ad, a year after Robert died. Matilda’s son, now the Duke of Normandy, married the recently-divorced queen of France, taking hold of the Aquitaine lands, he sailed to England in 1152ad and secured his own succession to the English throne. He only had to wait two years, as he became the first king of house Plantaganet in 1154ad.

Henry’s ascension to the throne was relatively peaceful compared to previous monarchs. As well as holing the title King of England, he was also the Duke of Normandy, the Count of Anjou, and the Duke of Aquitaine, which made him one of the most powerful men in Europe. His power provoked response from the French court and ended up seizing the Duchy of Brittany in 1166ad. A year later he banned English clergymen from studying in France, indirectly triggering the rise of the universities at Oxford and Cambridge. In 1169ad, his son Henry the Young King was made king alongside his father, though this was merely symbolic, it solidified the younger Henry as heir to the throne. In an attempt to bypass any issues he had with the church, Henry appointed his friend Thomas Becket as the Archbishop of Canterbury. After serious disagreements led to Becket’s exile, the pope negotiated his return. Henry made an off-hand comment about ridding himself of Becket, this was misinterpreted by his guards, who promptly murdered Becket inside Canterbury cathedral. The scandal destroyed Henry’s relationship with the church.

Henry’s next target was Ireland.

Fearing that Richard De Clare, whom the king sent to Ireland, would declare himself king of an independent Irish kingdom, Henry conquered much of south east of Ireland, while securing loyalty from the rest of the island. This marked the beginning of English influence over the Irish, which continues to this day. Henry’s newly acquired land and loyalty established a sphere of influence which covered most Britain, Ireland and France.

It was called the Angevin Empire.

By this time, Henry is possibly the wealthiest and most influential monarch in Europe.

This led to tension among his sons as the potential inheritance grew. He attempted to split the Angevin lands between all four of them. The move angered his sons, who secretly met with the French king to undermine their father.

Henry the Young King wanted his father to step aside, Richard and Geoffrey wanted more land, while John (only eight years old at the time) was content with his meagre inheritance.

The elder sons joined forces with France, Scotland and Flanders, each launching simultaneous invasions of England, and each failing. The French king died in 1180ad.

Henry the Young and Geoffrey died in 1183ad and 1186ad respectively. Phillip Augustus, successor to the French throne, was obsessed with reclaiming what he saw as stolen French land. Phillip teamed up with Henry’s son Richard launched an invasion against the unwell Henry II, who surrendered in 1189ad before dying. Richard was crowned king Richard I on September 3rd of that same year.

Richard would later earn the moniker Richard the Lionheart due to his reputation during the Second Crusade. While on the

Crusades, Richard’s brother John had come of age and was leading a domestic rebellion. The two would reconcile over Richard naming John his heir. Richard died in 1199ad, John’s early reign was uneventful until Anglo-French hostilities returned around 1202ad. The hostilities spelled disaster for John, and by 1204ad, both Normandy and Anjou had fallen, while Brittany had proclaimed independence. Only Aquitaine remained. John’s losses angered the gentry, adding to the alienation felt by the peasantry due to new taxes. Things got worse for John, as a dispute over the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury lost him the support of the clergy. The pope eventually got involved and appointed his own candidate. John responded by seizing Canterbury and banning the new Archbishop from entering. Any members of the clergy who protested were declared traitors and had their assets taken. In response, church services were put on hold for six years and John was excommunicat-ed from the church. Scotland was invaded successfully in 1209ad. William the Lion, king of Scotland agreed to pay off the English and cease their claim to Northumbria. The military successes continued with a definitive victory over a revolting Irish in 1210ad. He set his sights on reconquering France and made a number of alliances, one such alliance was with Flanders, who France invaded successfully, nullifying the English threat. John needed the Barons on his side, though due to his excommunication they had no reason to help. John capitulated and made an agreement wherein he would repay the church and accept dominion under it. In the wake of another defeat to the French, the English nobles revolted and plunged the kingdom into chaos.

In 1215ad, the so-called Gods Army marched into London to confront the king. John quickly arranged peace talks, the meeting would go down as one of the most influential events in English history, the signing of the Magna Carta. The document limited the power of the king and held him accountable to the law. John signed, but quickly betrayed his promise. The nobles invited Louis king of France to contest the throne, which he did a year later.

However, John died that same year. His son Henry was only nine years old, which made him an ideal king as he could be controlled.

Henry III was crowned king in 1216ad.

Wars with king Louis continued until the Battle of Lincoln, in which a decisive English victory saw many nobles switch sides. The next 100 years would see continuous warring with the French, the Conquest of Wales and subsequent union of crowns, as well as the Scottish Wars of Independence, led by the famous William Wallace.

By 1315ad, Edward II is king. He had just suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Scots, a rising population led to economic difficulties, and the masses were starving. In 1326ad he was betrayed by his wife, and forced to abdicate the throne in favour of his son, Edward III. Edward II would then die somewhat mysteriously. By 13330ad, Edward was sick of being king in name only, and had his Regent hanged. Now ruing under his own name, he invaded Scotland to assist a deposed heir. Despite early victories this was mostly unsuccessful. In 1337ad, a new French king was crowned. Loyal to Scotland, he ordered England cease and give up its remaining French territory. War soon followed. As unintented consequence of the war is that many soldiers returned to England unknowingly carrying a new disease, the Black Death. By 1349ad, all of England was infested with the plague. Plagues would return in 1360, 1369, and 1375ad.

Between 30-45% of the population died as a result of the plague. Edward III died in 1377ad, and was succeeded by Richard II. As Richard was still a child, a council was appointed to run things. Their high taxation led to a peasant revolt in 1381ad, which was eventually crushed.

During all of this inner turmoil, England and France were still engaging in what is now known as the 100 Years War, despite the fact in lasted 116 years. It was also not a continuous conflict as the name suggests, but three large wars, with intermittent phases of peace. England won the first major battle of the war, decimating the French navy at Sluys. Edward then seized a portion of Brittany, before a surprising English victory at the Battle of Crecy, during which the English longbows were used to devestating effect. The English also enjoyed victories over the Scottish before the Black Death bought both sides to a sudden halt. Upon the conflict resuming throughout the 1350s, the English gained another decisive victory at Poitiers, where the French king was captured. Internal chaos in France meant the kings ransom could not be paid, England invaded and the treaty of Brittany was signed, ending the first phase of the war.

The war resumed in 1369ad, upon the death of the still imprisoned king of France.

His son, Charles V, who requested an audience with the English. They refused, which meant war. The French dominated the early exhchanges, winning at Pontvallain and reducing the amount of English land in the area by 1376ad. By 1380ad, the kings of England an France had both died, and both succeeded by a child heir. The new kings of England and France were 10 and 11 respectively, causing the end of the wars second phase. Richard was overthrown in 1399ad. He was succeeded by Henry IV, the first king from the House of Lancaster. The third phase of the was was once again dominated by the French, Henry IV died in 1413ad having never claimed a meaningful victory over the French. His son Henry V would lead England so its most famous victory of the war, the battle of Agincourt in 1415ad. He then secured himself as heir to France in the treaty of Troyes, before suddenly dying in 1422ad. Six years later during the Seige of Orelans, the famous Joan of Arc led the French to victory before being captured and executed in 1430ad, this was a turning point in the war and the French reconquered much of their former land. A truce was signed which the English promptly broke. However the fall of Normandy led to the last remaining English strongholds being annexed.

The Battle of Castillon in 1453ad marks the official end of the 100 years war, with England only holding Calais and the Channel Islands. Despite defeat, the war fostered a sense of English identity, as well as England’s image as an independent island nation. The tail end of the 100 years war overlaps with another key conflict in English History, the Wars of the Roses.

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By the mid 5th century, the tide of the hundred years war was firmly in favour of the French. King Henry VI of England had married into the French court in exchange for the English territory of Maine, but the truce was short-lived.

Domestic quarrels over the war saw tensions among the gentry.

One such noble, Richard of York was deposed of his military tenure and replaced, Richard will become relevant later.

Outrage over the king’s handling of Maine led to the imprisonment of the Earl of Gloucester, during which he died. Henry’s increasingly reckless actions plumetted. The Earl of Suffolk, an ally of the king was exiled under pressure from parliament, but he was beheaded on the way, it’s unclear by who. He also exiled Richard of York to Ireland. A popular revolt broke out in 1450ad, But it was quickly crushed. England lost Normandy, opening the door for Richard of York to return to England and raise an army. Two factions emerged; the Yorkists, led by Richard, and the Lancastrians, led by The Earl of Somerset and the Queen Margaret, who were loyal to the king. Tensions continued in the early 1450s, in 1452ad, Richard was summoned to the king.

Believing that the invitation was a trap. he refused the invitation. Richard and the King both raised armies, but last-minute diplomacy spared civil war, for now.

By 1453ad, the French had won the hundred years war by taking the territory of Gascony. Matters became more complicated when a domestic dispute between two powerful northern families devolved into a proxy war between York and Lancaster. Henry eventually suffered a mental breakdown, and his wife Queen Margaret became took control of the country. Margaret would then give birth to Henry’s heir Edward, taking Richard out of the line of succession. After it became clear that Henry could no longer rule the nation, parliament decided to set up a regency, which was given to Richard. Almost immediately he stripped the earl of Somerset of all his duties and sent Margaret away from the royal court. In 1454ad, Henry returned to the court and was re-declared king, allowing Somerset to return.

The Lancastrians had taken back the reigns of power and Richard once again raised his army. Richard and Henry’s armies met at St. Albans, officially commencing the Wars of the Roses. Somerset was killed during the battle and it was declared a decisive Yorkist victory, though the battle was fairly small.

Richard once again dictated domestic policy, and the kings mental health problems returned. Richard was again dismissed by a revitalised Henry in 1456ad. Somerset’s death wasn’t enough to end the tensions, and the fighting resumed in 1459ad with a string of Yorkist victories. However, the Yorkists suffered a humiliating defeat at Ludford Bridge after the vastly outnumbered Yorkist army fled the battle before it had even begun. Parliament then declared Richard’s faction to be traitors and confiscated land belonging to those loyal to Richard. Richard struck back with the assistance of the earl of Warwick, marching on London. The gates to London were opened with no resistence, as much of the south had sympathies with the house of York. The two armies would meet once again in Northampton, the king was captured and Richard declared victory. The victory ensured the sucession of Richard over Henry’s natural heir Edward, much to the chagrin of Margaret, who sought help from the Scots. The Lancastrians did claim a vital victory at Wakefield, during the battle Richard was killed. His son, also named Edward made his own claim to the crown, leading the Yorkists into several small skirmishes throughout 1461ad. In the same year, Margaret and her Scottish army defeated Warwick at the second battle of St. Albans, though she stayed away from a mostly hostile London.

Edward of York enjoyed a different reception, and was welcomed into the capital. He became king Edward IV. Almost immediately upon becoming king, he led a revitalised Yorkist army into battle with the Lancastrians a Townton. The battle of Townton is widely considered one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on English soil, roughly 28,000 men died in a single day.

Edward was victorious and Margaret fled to Scotland. Meanwhile Henry, now hiding in northern England attempted to rally an army worthy of clawing back his place on the throne. Ultimately this was unsuccessful and he was captured in 1465ad. Placed in the tower of London, he was contacted by the earl of Warwick, who after a series of disagreements over the kings choice of wife, had begun plotting to betray him. He married his daughter to Edward’s brother, George, another claimant to the throne. A rebellion broke out in 1469ad, defeating Edward at the battle of Edgecote and capturing him in the process.

Edward was released from custody that same year. Warwick was not punished for his treachery and soon begun plotting once again, this time with Henry.

Another rebellion was crushed and Warwick fled to France. He returned with a French army in 1470ad, this coincided with a large movement of the nobility from York to Lancaster, Edward fled this time and Henry was declared king once again, though he acted on the advice of Warwick. By now, Warwick was despised by both sides of the conlict for betraying both at different points in the war.

Edward, at the request of the duke of Burgundy, invaded England in 1471ad, landing in Yorkshire, The Yorkists claimed back-to-back victories at the Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, the former saw Warwick slain on the battlefield. Henry’s son Edward was also killed and Margaret was captured.

Henry died not long after and Edward’s position as king was solidified. The next decade of Edward’s reign was uneventful, though it saw much needed stability in the kingdom. Edward himself died in 1483ad. His successor, the 12-year old Edward V, was too young for kingship, and was governed through his uncle, Richard of Gloucester. Though Richard had ulterior motives, and with the help of the clergy was delcared the rightful heir. Edward was imprisoned in the tower of London and Richard was crowned Richard III of England.

Soon into Richard’s reign, another rebellion broke out. This time it was led by the duke of Buckingham and Henry Tudor. Buckingham was defeated while Tudor was in Brittany, Henry bided his time and invaded England in 1485ad, Henry marched his army northwards, and met Richard at the Battle of Bosworth, the decisive battle of the war. Richard was killed, ending the Yorkist dynasty and allowing Henry Tudor to take the throne. He was crowned Henry VII and married strategically to the daughter of Edward IV, uniting the claims of York and Lancaster into that of one house, the House of Tudor.

The wars of the roses represents several crucial milestones in English history, the simultaneous rise of the Tudor dynasty and fall of the Plantaganet dynasy, the strengthening of the English monarchy, and the beginning of a move away from Medieval norms and into the Rennaissance.

The early years of Henry VII’s reign were somewhat volatile, culminating in a 1487ad rebellion led by Lambert Simnel. The rebellion, despite being backed by several powerful land owners, was crushed at the Battle of Stoke.

Henry quickly made moves on the international scene, signing a treaty with the kingdom of Aragon in modern day Spain. Part of the deal saw his eldest son, Arthur, and princess Catherine of Aragon. Things remained calm in the realm until a new claimant named Perkin Warbeck made himself known.

Warbeck claimed to be a descendant of Edward IV. Warbeck secured the support of Scotland, and they attacked northern England in 1497ad.

In response, Henry raised an army of his own, though this was unpopular as it required increased taxation. Henry eventually managed to hold off the Scots, as well as a rioting Cornish. Warbeck galvanised the Cornish into sieging the city of Exeter, the siege was unsuccessful, he was captured and paraded through London before being hanged. Insecure about his position on the throne, Henry purged several notable Yorkists, often using financial means rather than violent ones.

In 1502ad, Arthur died suddenly. Henry tried to marry Catherine of Aragon to his youngest son and the new heir, also named Henry, though this was difficult due to local marriage customs in Aragon. Henry VII died seven years later, his son was coronated Henry VIII later that year. Almost immediately, Henry tried and executed some of the unpopular ministers who were connected to his late father. He wanted to be remembered for military prowess, leaving domestic governance to a bishop named Thomas Wolsey.

Henry invaded France, entering England into the War of the League of Cambrai, alongside the Holy Roman Empire, now Germany and the low countries.

Henry would personally lead his army into battle and won numerous key battles. Peace seemed possible around 1515ad, and three years later the peace was ratified by the Treaty of London, which naively set out to establish eternal peace in Europe. The war resumed and was won by the Holy Roman Empire, though England was given no reparations for the role it played. Angered, Henry formed an alliance with France and waged war with the Holy Roman Empire in 1526ad.

By 1527ad, Henry and Catherine had had five children, though only one, a daughter named Mary had survived. Desperate for an heir, and infatuated with a different woman, Anne Boleyn, Henry had his marriage to Catherine annulled. This faced severe opposition from the church, the Holy Roman Empire, the Thomas Wolsey who was relieved of his duties in 1529ad.

After he still couldn’t secure the divorce he wanted. Henry married Boleyn anyway. Wolesy’s sucessor, Thomas Cromwell passed legislation which gave the king preccedent over Rome.

In 1534ad, Henry ratified the Act of Supremacy, establishing the Church of England. A year later, revolts sprung up in York and Lincoln over Henry’s treatment of those still loyal to the Catholic church. Soon after, Anne Boleyn was beheaded which allowed him to re-marry, this time to Jane Seymour in 1537ad. Henry was finally the father to a son and heir after the birth of Edward, though Seymour died during childbirth, Henry married for a fourth time in 1540ad, to Anne of Cleves, The marriage was brief and it

was annulled before it could be consumated. Thomas Cromwell was blamed for the short-lived marriage and was executed soon after. Henry quickly married for a fifth time, this time to Catherine Howard. Howard was caught having an affair just over a year into the marriage and was also executed. Henry’s later reign was characterised by conflict in both Ireland and Scotland. He married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, in 1543ad. The last years of Henry’s life were plagued by health issues surrounding his morbid obesity. He died of an infection in 1547ad, his son was crowned Edward VI at the age of nine. Henry’s impact on English history cannot be understated. His split from Rome dictated English foreign policy for centuries to come.

Edward was deemed too young to rule the kingdom, and a regency was set up to govern, led by Edward Seymour.

Seymour continued England’s move away from the Catholic church and introduced the English language to church services.

England was still locked in conflict with the French and Scots, leading to higher taxes which in turn led to rioting around 1549ad.

His low popularity led to him being replaced

by John Dudley, earl of Warwick, who swiftly ended the wars to the north and south.

Edward would never see the full fruits of kingship, as he died in 1553ad aged just fifteen. An intense power struggle broke out among three female claimants to the crown which was won by the eldest daughter of Henry, Mary. She had become the first ascended queen of England. Archaic views on the role of women, coupled with her devout Catholicism made her unpopular. She married into the Habsburg family who ruled much of Spain and southern Europe.

Mary wanted England to be a Catholic kingdom again, and set about violently persecuting Protestants. These acts earned her the monniker ‘Bloody Mary’. She overturned much of the anti-Catholic laws passed by her father.

A new war with France commenced in 1558ad, an expensive and unpopular defeat, resulting in the loss of the last English territory in the European mainland.

Mary died that same year without an heir, the role of monarch was passed on to her sister, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth set about undoing the work of her sister, passing a second split from Rome and welcoming back exiled protestants from a Europe torn apart by sectarian violence. After avoiding an attempted usurption from Mary Queen of Scots, she was declared an illegitimate queen by the pope. King Phillip of Spain decided to take matters into his own hands and launched a naval invasion of England known as the Spanish Armada in 1588ad. Ingenious tactics coupled with intense weather led to an unlikely English victory, though the counter attack ended in disaster.

War and religion aside, the Elizabethan era is seen as the peak of the English rennaissance, which saw great seps taken in art, architecture and literature. The most famous figure in this cultural scene was the playwright William Shakespeare.

The war with Spain did continue for the rest of the 16th century, though England mostly took a back seat.

During Elizabeth’s late reign, the East India Company was founded in 1600ad and quickly established a monopoly over trade. Other key moments in the later years of her queenship were rebellions in Ireland and severe famines. She died without an heir, her eventual successor, king James of Scotland. He would rule both kingdoms during a time when the role of England in the wider world expanded to a point where its influence could be felt in the new world. England was rising.

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ENGLAND The year is 1603ad, and James I is the first king of England from the house of Stuart, as well as being the monarch of Scotland and Ireland. James inherited the war with spain from his predecessor Elizabeth, though the war would be over within a year of his coronation. The early Stuart period is known as the Union of the Crowns. The presence of a king to unite the three kingdoms resulted in the effective end of the Anglo-Scottish wars for the remainder of James’ reign, and the end of conflict in Ireland until the Irish war of independence in the early 20th century.

By this point England was rapidly urbanising, due to the booming population. Religion was still a divisive issue domestically, James comissioned the bible to be written in English, though this did not solve any of the sectarian issues in wider society. Catholics still faced oppression, which triggered some Catholics to plot his demise, the infamous Gunpowder Plot was underway.

The plot was undertaken by 13 conspirators, most notably Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes, who planned to blow up parliament while the king was present.

The plot was discovered, as was Guy Fawkes in the parliament cellar with enough explosives to destroy the heart of English government. After a lengthy peroid of torture, Fawkes confessed the names of his comrades before all were executed.

In 1607ad, the settlement of Jamestown was founded in North America. This was the first permanent English settlement in the new world and is widely seen as the dawn of the British Empire. James quickly ran into financial troubles and attempted to raise taxes, but parliament refused. further disareements caused an enraged James to dissolve parliament in 1610ad.

Further disputes between king and paliament continued until 1616ad, England and Spain went back to war in 1618ad, followed by the start of the Thirty Years War in 1620ad, though England played a marginal role. To ensure peace with Spain, James attempted to marry his son Charkes to the daughter of the Spanish king. Both parliament and James’ son rejected the notion as Spain was a Catholic kingdom. James managed to avoid further wars with Spain until his death in 1625ad. His son was crowned Charles I, while his father was aware of the nuances of political life and the need to listen to others, he was not so liberal. Charles’ inner circle was corrupt, and he quickly lost the support of parliament. Charles declared war on Spain, undoing years of diplomacy led by his father. The early exchanges were a disaster for English forces, Charles also stepped up the involvement of England and Scotland in the thirty years war. Like his father, he fell out with parliament over his intention to raise funds. He also blocked the impeachment of a loyal ally for corruption. Charles then instituted a policy of fundraising known as a forced loan, where subjects of the crown were made to give money to the king to spare themselves a day in court. War with the French soon followed as Charles further alienated parliament and the gentry.

The wars ruined England financially, and the ally he fought to have acquitted was assassinated in 1628ad.

He was running out of allies. A year later Charles dissolved parliament and ruled the kingdom to his own jurisdiction. Largescale migration of Puritans to the new world hit an all time high around this time, as they saw Charles as an arteficial representative of god. In 1639ad, England and Scotland came close to war, forcing Charles to re-call parliament a year later. However, parliament was once again dissolved after only three weeks, this was fittingly called the Short Parliament. The Scottish army invaded and seized part of north-east England, and Charles paid them to leave, again Charles did so at heavy expense, which required him to raise taxes once more recall parliament.

Fierce opposition to Charles in parliament was led by the radical Puritan John Pym. He successfully passed an act requiring parliament to be called at least once every three years. Other acts passed required parliaments’ consent to be dissolved, as well as limiting the kings ability to arrest whomever he pleased. Parliament had two of the kings closest allies, Thomas Wentworth and William Laud, arrested.

The former was executed for his authoritarian policy in Ireland. Parliament then passed a damning indictment of Charles. The indictment accused Charles of corruption, ignorance of parliament and sympathies towards Catholicism. Enraged, Charles and a small unit of soldiers marched into parliament and tried to arrest five members of parliament, including John Pym. The five were aware of the plan and had already fled by the time Charles and his men arrived.

Now that they controlled most of the country, parliament carried out the reforms it wanted to see, including the development of a full-time professional army.

In marching on parliament, Charles had effectively outed himself as a tyrant in the eyes of parliament, and England edged closer to civil war. Parliament seized control of London and Charles promptly fled the city. Two factions emerged, one led by the king and the other by parliament. Charles attempted to seize the city of Hull but this was unsuccessful. The English Civil War officially begun when Charles raised the royal flag over the city of Nottingham in 1642ad.

The war saw England split into two factions. The Cavaliers, loyal to the king, and the Roundheads, who favoured parliamentary supremacy. Charles made the first move and marched his army towards the capital, where he was met by the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Edgehill, which was a stalemate. The Royalists won the early military battles while the parliamentarians focussed on securing the support of Scotland. The Scots were convinced to join the fight, and played a crucial role in the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644ad, which was a clear victory for the Roundheads, who were led by Oliver Cromwell. The defeat at Marston Moor led to the collapse of Royalist strongholds in the north.

Charles suffered further defeat at the battle of Naseby in 1645ad. He surrendered himself to the Scots a year later, ending the first civil war. In 1647ad, the Scots handed Charles over to parliament. While incarcerated, Charles made a deal with Scotland, in which the Scots would attack England and attempt to restore him to the throne. The move was somewhat successful and Charles was able to escape his captivity, galvanising Royalists into several bloody revolts. In no time at all, the Second Civil War had begun. This was the shortest of the civil wars, and Parliament quickly crushed the revolts and defeated the Scots at Preston.

Charles attempted peace talks, but the Roundheads did not trust him, and talks faltered. In 1648ad, a group of Parliamentarians stormed parliament and arrested anyone deemed loyal to the king. What was left is referred to as the Rump Parliament, who placed Charles on trial for high treason, a crime for which Charles was found guilty and executed by beheading in 1649ad.

In the wake of Charles’ execution, a republic was declared, named the Commonwealth of England. The new republic was governed indirectly

by Oliver Cromwell. Soonafter, the army was sent to Ireland. Irish rebels were supported by Royalists who hoped to restore the monarchy under Charles’ son, also called Charles. Cromwell and his army were efficient and ruthless in their advances into the Ireland.

The cities of Drogheda and Wexford were brutalised by English forces despite assurances of their safety if they surrendered without any resistence. The conquest was completed by 1652ad

Upon returning to England, Cromwell was immediately called to Scotland after the Scots had taken in Charles and declared him king Charles II. This begun the Third Civil War. Cromwell marched north and defeated a much larger Scottish army at the Battle of Dunbar. Afterwards the English army occupied Edinburgh.

The fatal blow to the Royalist cause was dealt at the Battle of Worcester. After a significant victory, Charles II ran away to Europe, thus ending the civil wars which had torn England apart for nine years.

Cromwell set up a new parliament, known as the Parliament of the Saints, though the parliament was mostly inept, leading Cromwell to pen an English constitution titled the Instrument of Government, which placed absolute power in his hands as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Ireland and Scotland.

Economic hardship caused by the war marred the early years of the Cromwell’s rule. Foreign wars were also common, the first of which was the Anglo-Dutch war, which the Commonwealth won. War was declared on Spain in 1654ad, another victory increased the size and scope of England’s colonial presence in the new world.

Growing resistence to his rule led Cromwell to brutally crush dissent and run the realm with an iron fist. Taxes were raised without the consent of parliament and his political opponents were jailed indefinitely. The reign of Oliver Cromwell ended suddenly upon his death in 1658ad. The title of Lord Protector was passed on to his son Richard Cromwell. Richard could not control the nation like his father had and resigned in 1659ad, less than a year into his reign.

The chaos bought about by Richard Cromwell’s downfall almost led the nation into a fourth civil war, the Scots marched south in 1660ad and seized parliament, reinstating all those who were arrested in the parliamentarian purges. That same year, parliament dissolved itself voluntarily. A new parliament was summoned, which acknowledged the claim of Charles to the English crown, paving the way for Charles to return as king Charles II of England. The Commonwealth had ended and England was no longer a republic.

Charles did not have an heir, his brother James was next in line, James was a catholic. Charles dissolved parliament after a plot to assassinate him. The plot gave James sympathy and he succeeded Charles upon his death in 1685ad.

James quickly begun to lose support, with many not wanting a Catholic monarch, though James’ had named his daugher Mary, a protestant as his heir. Mary was married to William of Orange, a Dutch royal. However, James had a son, cutting Mary and William out of succession and stoking more fears of a Catholic dynasty. Some prominent members of parliament invited William to invade England and seize the throne, which he did in 1688ad in what is known as the Glorious Revolution. The English turned against the king, and he fled England just over a month on from William’s arrival. William and Mary were crowned in 1689ad.

That same year the Bill of Rights was passed, which the monachy, established some democracy, and banned the English throne. Charles, assisted by France and but he was defeated by William at the Battle of the

further limited the power of Catholics from inheriting Scotland attempted to return Boyne, solidifying his rule.

Though the two kingdoms shared a monarch , England and Scotland were legally independent from eachother and each had its own parliament. Attempts at an official union of the two failed throughout the 17th century. The last failed attempt was in 1689ad.

By the late 1700s, England had established a number of colonies in North America and Africa. The Scots on the other hand had yet to colonise, but not through a lack of want. Scotland needed money in order to pursue the creation of settlements around the world, and approached several countries in Europe, including England, for help, but sensing that Scotland could become a threat to their own interests, they all refused. Scotland managed to raise the money itself and set sail for Panama, their chosen location for the beginning of a prospective Scottish empire which they named New Caledonia. The attempt was a total disaster that put the Scottish on the verge of total bankruptcy, Sensing the opportunity to nullify the potential threat to the north once and for all, England made an offer to Scotland in which Scotland’s financial losses would be reimbursed, in exchange for the Scottish parliament voting for union, matching an identical vote held in English parliament. Despite some resistence on both and English and Scottish sides, the Acts of Union were passed in 1707ad, and the kingdom of Great Britain was born.

Resistence from Scots skeptical of the union continued, with many claiming the move would effectively end Scottish sovereignty, allowing England to run Scotish affairs from London, a similar fate was shared by Wales a few hundred years earlier. However, membership of the union gave Scotland access to the much more successful English colonies, allowing both kingdoms to accumulate massive wealth. The British Empire had begun in earnest.

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The 16th century saw European powers conquer and subdue the so-called new world in an era known as the Age of Exploration. Spain dominated colonial settlement during this time. Aforementioned tensions between Protestants and Catholics brought England and Spain into war, which England won. English exploration was spearheaded by Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. The first attempt at a colony in the new world, Roanoake, was unsuccessful. However, soonafter the settlement of Jamestown was established in 1607ad. This marks the dawn of the British Empire, which would go on to surpass any other. North America was colonised further throughout the 17th century, with the help of a migrating population of puritans known as Pilgrims. Early on, relations with the native population were peaceful, however conflict soon arose, the English were victorious and the eastern Americas fell firmly under the control of the crown. The new world was rich with ‘cash crops’ and indentured servants helped to cultivate the land in exchange for the forgiving of their debts.

However, they were soon replaced by slaves from Africa, a permanent stain on the legacy of the British Empire until the abolition of slavery in the early 19th century.

Tobacco and sugar were immensly profitable, and the trading of such goods made England very wealthy. This newfound wealth protected England economically and militarily.

The presence of English colonies grew rapidly in the aftermath of the English Civil War and the restoration that followed. New Amsterdam was seized from the Dutch and renamed New York, and much of the Carribbean was taken from Spain.

The 18th century begins where the last chapter left off, a bankrupted Scotland reluctantly agreed to form a union with England and Wales, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Great Britain immediately found itself in the midst of European wars, though the outcomes of these wars allowed the empire to grow. The Seven Years War, which begun in 1754ad, was a global war, the first of its kind. It saw Britain and France competing over the power vacuum left by the declining influence of Spain and Portugal. Britain won the war and subsequently gained most of what is now Canada and the United States. Britain and France also fiercely contested influence in India, which both sides saw as a lucrative trading opportunity. British interests in the region were represented by the East India Company, which had engrained itself deeply in Indian politics. Post-war, the British territory in India was expanded substantially, giving the British access to lucrative commodities such as textiles, spices, and most importantly, tea. Other sought after goods from india include indigo and poppies, which were used to produce opium, which was sold to China en masse.

Though the empire presented itself as a massive source of income, the real catalyst for total British economic dominance was domestic. The invention of the steam engine kickstarted the rapid advance in technology which enabled the British economy to move from agriculture to industry. This, coupled with the writings of Adam Smith are seen as the birth of the capitalist economy, which saw massive increases in GDP per capita, life expectancy, quality of life and the reduction of severe poverty as well as the rise of the urban middle class.

While Britain was feasting on the fruits of the industrial revolution, a different revolution was brewing in the new world. Disputes over taxation and inadequate representation led the 13 colonies in North America to demand independence. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776ad, the American Revolution had begun. Led by George Washington. The early war was dominated by the British, though with assistance from the French and Spanish the revolutionaries began to turn the tide of the war. The war was over by 1783ad with the establishment of the United States of America. British territory in the new world was reduced to what is now Canada,

Undeterred by the loss of the American colonies, Britain turned its attention to the eastern hemisphere. A new penal colony was found in Australia, Captain James Cook claimed both Australia and New Zealand for Britain, with the first convicts arriving around 1788ad. In 1800ad, the Union of the Crowns was updated to include the entirety of Ireland.

Though the increased scope of European politics enabled a sense of globalism, the next major war would largely be fought within Europe’s borders. The bloody French Revolution had given rise to Napoleon Bonaparte. The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803-1815ad, during which Britain also went to war with the United States in a stalemate known as the War of 1812. Britain was victorious in the Napoleonic Wars and gained more territory including Malta and South Africa. The weakening of France allowed Britain to expand its empire without much resistence on the continent. The next century is known as the Pax Britanica, a period of relative peace, prosperity and economic growth.

During this time, Britain underwent a massive period of modernising, both socially and economically. Slavery was abolished in 1807ad, and Britain used its newfound military monopolu to essentially bully the slave trade out of Europe. Domestically, the Catholic Emancipation Act, the Education Act, the Great Reform Act and many other liberal policies were passed under the premiership of William Ewert Gladstone. Britain set an example of moral leadership in a period now referred to as the Golden Age of Liberalism.

This period, while comparitively peaceful wasn’t entirely without conflict.

Brtain and Russia were involved in a series of proxy wars over regional dominance dubbed the Great Game. As well as this, tensions over the rampant importation of opium led Britain and China down the war path. Known as the Opium Wars, the British were successful and the territory of Hong Kong was gained, further expanding the empire. The tensions with Russia did not cede, Britains paranoia over Russian influence in the Balkans, the Eastern Question, reached a fever-pitch in 1853ad with the outbreak of the Crimean War. Brtain, along with France and the Ottoman Empire were clear winners, and the regional influence of Russia was severely diminished. Around this time, Canada secured domestic autonomy, New Zealand was officially incorporated into the empire, and Ireland faced a cataclysmic potato famine which decimated much of its population. The resentment that the famine caused would fester and eventually result in the Irish Wars of Independence further down the road. A rebellion sparked in India in 1857ad, after many locals who served the British became dissatisfied with their treatment, though the rebellion was unsuccessful due to large loyalty to the crown and the lack of a unified Indian identity.

The aftermath of the rebellion saw the East India Company discontinued, and control of India transferred to the crown. Queen Victoria was declared the Empress of India. The British also expanded the rule to encompass the entire Indian sub-continent.

Toward the end of the 19th century, Britain was facing new competition for the title of sole global power. The United States of America was recovering from its civil war and slowly abandoning its longheld policy of isolationism, the federalised Holy Roman Empire had been unified into the German Empire, and Japan was seeking an empire of its own. The Berlin Conference took place in 1884ad and was designed to distribute the colonisation of Africa in a way that avoided war among European powers. Britain faced serious resistence to its colonial intentions in Africa, one such resistence was that of the Zulu Nation, who claimed several major victories over Brtain before innevitably capitulating to the superior firearms of the British. Another group who fiercely defended their land from Britain were the Boers, ethnic Europeans who occupied two nations in modern day South Africa; the Free Orange State and the Republic of Transvaal. Unlike the Zulu’s, the Boers were proficient with firearms and were able to defeat the British. Eventually though, the Boers were defeated and South Africa was unified into a single nation in 1910ad.

The British Empire grew to the peake of its size and influence following the First World War, after Britain gained territory from both Germany and the Ottoman Empire. By this time the world had seemingly begun to move on from colonialism, and independence movements began to spring up.

None were more pronounced than the Irish, still furious at Britain for their handling of the Irish potato famine, the skirmishes begun during the First World War and continued until the seccession of the irish Free State in 1922ad, later it would become the Republic of Ireland. Another post-war change was the seizure of the holy land from the Ottomans. It was decided that this would become a home for the global Jewish diaspora who had endured brutal cruelty in Europe for centuries. The State of Israel would go on to be founded in 1948 after a military victory over six neighbouring Arab nations.

Following the Second World War, Britain, despite being victorious, was on the brink of total economic collapse as the maintenence of a global empire had become unsustainable, especially considering the significant re-building required domestically. An Indian lawyer named Mohandas Ghandi sensed this and begun calling for independence, which was granted in 1947ad, leading to the creation of not only an independent India, but also Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma.

Britain’s position as a superpower had been overtaken by the two sides of the Cold War, America and the Soviet Union and the empire was slowly dismantled over the subsequent decades in a process called Decolonisation.

Decolonisation would continue until the last major colony of the British Empire, Hong Kong, was returned to China in 1997ad, marking the official end of the British Empire. While at times highly immoral, the influence of the British Empire is undeniable. It spread the language, culture, politics and legal structure of Brtain to the world. Without it, the world would look very different today.

CONTEMPORARY

Throughout the latter stages of the 19th century, Britain’s role in the wider world could be described as that of a super power. Through diplomatic and military triumphs over the likes of Russia, France and the Holy Roman Empire, the Pax Britanica had enabled a period of free trade, limited war, and an increasing quality of life. The industrial revolution had mechanised facets of every day life, and had made war a truly terrifying prospect.

Britain attempted to allay the fears of further destructive warfare by signing a series of military pacts and treaties, these treaties bound Britain to protect and cooperate with France, Belgium and the Russian Empire among others. Though it wasn’t only Britain who had begun to do this. The biggest emerging threat to british hegemony was the newly unified Germany. Germany and Austro-Hungary had signed a similar pact, which would come into play in the aftermath of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914ad. The global diplomatic breakdown that followed, the July Crisis, led Europe irreversibly down the path to war. The path came to a bloody head after Britain declared war on Germany in that same year. The Great War had begun.

The cultural attitude towards war was still a somewhat naive one. Young men saw it as a romantic adventure, to serve king and country while making ones family proud. However, the ever industrial nature of the early 20th century had far exceeded the archaic tactics of war which suited a time of inferior technology. Thousands upon thousands of lives were needlessly lost in futile trench warfare which dominated the First World War. Eventually Britain was on the victorious side, and while generations of young men would never be the same again, the post-war world was kind to Britain. The Ottoman Empire had fallen, and its land was split among the British and French in the Sykes-Pico agreement. By 1922, despite the loss of

BRITAIN

Ireland, the British Empire had grown to its peak. The largest empire in the history of civilisation, one which the sun never set according to poetic interpretations of history.

Britain was heavily involved in the Treaty of Versailles, a document which ultimately held Germany solely accountible for the Great War, and sought reperations from the Germans, a demand which would crush the German economy and leave the nation vulnerable to the takeover of Fascism in the 1930s.

Though the twin extremes of Fascism and Communism both held small degrees of influence over British intellectual life, Britain had a philosophical tradition of its own, and generally speaking the Liberal, Radical and Conservative currents of British politics held firm. The late 1930s saw a policy of appeasement toward both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Though this was not an act of endorsement or indifference toward Nazi Germany or the USSR, Britain, having seen the horrors of the Great War, was terrified of another global conflict. This reluctance showed in the early exchanges of the war, in which Germany dominated and France was swiftly defeated, along which much of western and central Europe. The Second World War was now among us.

The plucky attitude of the British public soon grew, and the nation stood behind the men and women who fought for its freedom. An ingenious strategy which involved the use of civilians and civilian crafts in a quasimilitary function, mathematics, espionage and the development of what would later be known as special forces, would keep Britain from Nazi rule. Under the leadership of Winston Churchill, the British mentality of stubbornness, independence and never giving up was fostered.

While the Royal Navy and Air Force kept the Axis powers at bay, both the USA and the Soviet Union had been attacked, dragging them into the war on Britain’s side. After years of being alone in the war, Britain was no longer so. After six years of bombardment, retaliation, victories and defeats, the war was over. The Allies had launched a successful liberation of Europe with the D-Day landings, coupled with a trailblazing Soviet Red Army from the east, and the use of atomic weapons on Japan, the Axis had been defeated.

Adolf Hitler, and most of the German high command took their own lives and Imperial Japan announced its unconditional surrender. While Britain was to maintin a central role in global affairs as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the nation was broken and bankrupt from the war. The Empire had become totally unviable, and was slowly de-constructed over the next half-century.

Britain’s post-war years saw an immediate attempt at re-building the nation. The government of Winston Churchill was voted out of office almost immediately, and was replaced with a new force in British politics, the Labour Party. Under the new leadership, the NHS and welfare system were set up, and residents of the former empire, now known as the Commonwealth, were invited to make Britain their homes. The Windrush Generation arrived from Asia, Africa and the Carribbean, with it they brought cultural influences which still effect Britain’s cultural landscape today.

The 1950s saw the effective end of the UK as a global power as tensions of the cold war grew. Britain and France were humiliated on the global stage in the Suez Crisis, which saw both back down to the commands of Russia and America.

Though the days of global influence were not beyond Britain, they would take on a whole new appearance.

The 1960s saw Britain emerge as a force of culture. This decade saw the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the WHo, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin emerge. The British invasion refers to the explosion of popularity experienced by British artists in America. The hippy culture of the decade found a home in the west end of London, James Bond came to define to cool and suave. In the worlds of film, music and fashion, the world looked to England. A reputation for polite manners and legendary drinking habits emerged, Britain was cool. Though it was not to last, and the 1970s brought with it a sense of alienation, a failing economy. The Winter of Discontent ground the nation to a hal, Shortages of food and fuel panicked the nation, even the dead had to wait in line. The remaining decades of British and English history are defined by two different prime ministers; Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. Before either would enter Downing Street, Britain saw its economic future away from its former empire and towards Europe. Britain joined what could become the European Union in 1975ad. Financial desperattion led to the

election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979ad, the first female prime minister and a staunch proponent of the economic liberalism of Adam Smith.

Thatcher’s 11 years in power were controversial to say the least. Mines were closed and state spending was cut. In return, Britain’s COA

LN DOL OT E

economy grew rapidly, and London became a global financial centre.

Thatcher also represents a fundamental shift in the politics and expectations of class in Britain. The daughter of a green grocer, she became the image of a social mobility which hadn’t before existed in British society. This trend would continue in the next three to call 10 Downing Street home; John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, none of whome were privately educated.

NO WAR ON IRAQ

The 80s and 90s saw Britain’s cultural role in the world hold steady, the indie movement of the 80s saw refreshed enthusiasm toward Manchester and its local sound. Similarly the Britpop of the 90s earned the name Cool Britannia. This was capitalised on by Tony Blair, who used his own image as a basis to become Prime Minister in 1997ad. While the early years of the Blair premiership were full of excitement, alienation innevitably grew. Britain had drastically increased the size and scope of the state, a clear violation of British philosophical tradition, and the Iraq War of 2003ad showed that the appetite for war is well and truly gone from the British pallette.

Enterring the 21st century, Britain, under the monarchy of Queen Elizabeth II, sought to continue growing and cultivating its identity, a discussion which continues to this day. The late 90s had seen the Good Friday Agreement, and the establishment of devolved parliament in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The financial services grew rapidly and exponentially until the devestating crash of 2008 and subsequent recession.

The recession brought the economic failings of Labour to the attention of the public, and a Conservative-Liberal coalition was quickly voted in to try and heal the countries economic wounds.

What followed was a campaign of budget balancing known as austerity, which achieved sereval intended and uninteneded aims. While the national deficit was alleviated somewhat, a resentment was also fostered. The resentment was on capitalised on by Eurosceptics and a resurgent Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn,

To respond to the pressure, and ensure re-election against a resurgent Labour Party, Prime Minister David Cameron announced an in-out referendum on the continuation of Britain’s membership of the European Union. The EU had become very unpopular in the traditional Labour heartlands of the north and midlands, while it was beloved in urban metropolitan centres in London and the south east.

The referendum campaign brought up debates surrounding British identity, sovereignty, economic pros and cons. and the effects on local communities of a global economy, and the centralisation of power to the European Commission.

In the summer of 2016ad, Britain voted by a margin of 1,3million people to leave the European Union. In the wake of the vote, Cameron resigned and was replaced

by Theresa May. May was a public campaigner for the Remain camp, and failed to strike a withdrawal agreement with the EU that would please those who voted to leave the EU in the first place, Three years after the vote, May resigned, without having taken Britain out of the EU. She is set to be replaced by Boris Johnson, a hardline Eurosceptic with immense public support. And it appears Britain will now be leaving the EU convincingly in the pursuit of its own fate.

While imperfect, and at times cruel, England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom have impacted the world in a profound way. Through literature, sports. music, philosophy, art, cinema. legal systems and systems of government, when the time comes to truly examine the course of human history, many years from now, the influence of this tiny island will be significant.

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The maxim of the British people is ‘Business as usual’.

- Winston Churchill

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The British are terribly

They like to get it over then set up a game of cr - Stephen Leacock

y lazy about fighting.

r and done with and ricket.

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One matter Englishmen don’t think in the least funny is their happy consciousness of possessing a deep sense of humour.

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- Marshall McLuhan