Licenciatura em Letras/Inglês

Módulo IV

CULTURA DOS POVOS

da Língua Inglesa
dos Celtas ao século 19
2018/2 60h 4.0.0
 Ficha Catalográfica
Samia Tamires Sousa Pereira CRB-3 1486
C743Ps
Conjunto de Textos - Base da disciplina Cultura dos Povos – “Excerpts”, Resumos,
Task-Based Activities, Checklists e outros instrumentais para subsidiar a Disciplina
Cultura dos Povos, ano de 2018 (2. 2018: Teresina, PI). Organizador: Raimundo
Nonato Sousa, Senior Translator da Unidade de Interpretação e Tradução da
Associação de Servidores da Educação Básica no Piauí – ASSEBEPI – Teresina:
2018. p. 70.
1. Textos Base- Cultura dos Povos. 2. Linguagem. 3 Aprendizagem. 4 . História 5.
Período Medieval. 6 Povos da língua inglesa 7. Anglo –Saxons
I. Sousa, Raimundo Nonato. II. Assunto.
CDD 420.7

Raimundo Nonato Sousa, a citizen of Luzilandia, Piauí, holds a degree in English with
concentration in American and English Literatures and English Language Teaching (State University
of Piauí (2001), Specialization in Public Management and a Master degree in Education (Federal
University of Piauí (2010 and 2012 respectively). He has been working in different universities
programs both state and Federal universities teaching the different disciplines of the English language
curriculum of those institutions. His previous academic roles include teaching at college levels over
the span of 12 years. Since 2012, has authored three books, coauthored about 17 papers, counselled ,
and co-counseled more than 15 graduation completion works, at least 6 papers presented in
international conferences. Has served as interpreter for three different international organizations –
Celebration freedom (Base TN) and Teresina – 2011- present), Ernie Meadows Ministries (2012-
present) and One Vision International – 2016- present) He has been honored with eight academic
recognition as class professor (2) and honored Professor (6). Recently has devoted and given his
contributions to State University of New York- Oswego (Translating of official document for
Cooperation Agreement between institutions), to Translations Unit Europe (NGO) and Coordinated
and supervised two international events: First international Seminar on Human Rights Education
(2016) and First International seminar on Drugs in Piauí (2017). Since 2015, he is the International
human rights organization activist – Youth for Human Rights International and has opened a chapter
of Foundation for a Drug Free World in Piaui. He has also and has supported various school projects
aligned with initiatives such as walking for peace, walking against drugs, distributing food in poor
communities, etc. CV available at http://lattes.cnpq.br/6883670390534293
 Sumário
UNIT 3 THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
UNIT 1 ANGLO SAXON PERIOD (450-1066 AD)
The 16th and 17th centuries - The Monarchy 33
The Celts and Roman Britain 5 Power; The Rise of Protestantism
The Tudors. The Reformation in England 34
Celtic society 5
Queen Elizabeth I 36
Rome Abandons Britain 6 Turmoil, religion, politics; The English Civil 37
Anglo-saxon Culture And Government 6 War
The Glorious Revolution. Fight Catholics and 38
Early Christianity in England 7 Protestants
Springboard to Literature: William 39
The power of the Church - King Alfred 7
Shakespeare’s Century; Sonnets, plays and life
Literature Of The Times - Beowulf, The 8 Shakespeare in the 17th Century and other other 40
Seafarer, The Battle of Maldon distinguished poets
The puritans in England 41
Christian influence on literature 9
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle 10 Puritans Create a “New England” Puritans in the 42
UNIT 2 THE MIDDLE AGES (1066 -1485 AD) English colonies;
Puritans in America 44
The Conquest and the Feudal System 16
Norman Invasion - William the Conqueror 16 Literature in colonial beginnings . Literature and 45
Religion
Rome Abandons Britain 17
Feudalism in England - how Feudalism worked 17 UNIT 4 THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
The 18th century political context; The 51
The doomsday book - The Early middle Ages 18 Parliament
The 18th and Social changes, War with France 52
The Normans seek to establish - The spread of 19
Christianity The 19th century - The Empire; The Victorian 54
Age
The State and Church affairs - The Shrine of 20 The Empire Foreign Policy 56
Canterbury Springboard to the US History (The intolerable 57
The spirit of Crusades - England goes on 21 Acts; The Boston Tea Party)
Crusades The Revolutionary war; The Declaration of 58
Independence
The Late Middle Ages; - Hard times for 22 The American Civil War; Battle of Gattyburg 59
England - The Black death
The Pesant’s Revolt - The 100 years war 23 Springboard to English Literature – The Century 60

King john I; The Magna Carta 24 of Prose - Distinguished writers

Springboad to literature; The Chaucer’s age; The 25 The century of Novel – Mary Shelley 61
Canterbury tales
The century of Novel -Charles Dickens 62
Medieval Romance – King Arthur 26
The ballads; Robin Hood 27 American Romanticism/ Romaticism in America 63
 Licenciatura em Letras/Inglês
Módulo IV

UNIDADE 1
ANGLO SAXON
PERIOD450-1066 AD
The Celts and Roman Britain; Celtic society; Rome Abandons Britain; Anglo-saxon Culture And
Government; Early Christianity in England; The power of the Church; King Alfred; Literature Of The
Times; Beowulf, The Seafarer, The Battle of Maldon; Christian influence on literature; The Anglo Saxon
Chronicle; Summary

THE CELTS
The Celts and Roman Britain
1. The oldest human inhabitants probably
came to Britain about 250,000 years ago
over the land bridge that connected
today’s British Isles and the Continent of
Europe at that time.
2. The so-called Iberians reached Britain
between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C., probably
coming from the Iberian Peninsula. Both
the Iberians and the so-called Beaker
people (c.2,000 B.C.; named after the
beaker-shaped pots they made) settled in
the south of England.
3. The Iberians used stone and bone tools
and their settlements were based on
“henges”, great circles of earth banks
and huge standing stones (e.g.
Stonehenge). The Beaker people brought
the knowledge of bronze to Britain.
4. Soon after 700 B.C., Celtic tribes began
to invade Britain. Between 700 and 100
B.C., they settled the whole of Britain.
They formed tribal kingdoms that were
frequently at war with each other.
5. The Celts are important in British history
because they are the ancestors of many
of the people in Highland Scotland.
Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall today. The
Iberian people of Wales and Cornwall
took on the new Celtic culture. Celtic
languages, which have been continuously
used in some areas since that time, "re
still spoken. The British today are often
described as Anglo-Saxon. It would he
better to call them A nglo-Celtic.
UNIT 1 Anglo Saxon Period (450-1066 AD)
The Celtic and Roman Britain
The Arrival of The Anglo-Saxons
The Coming of Christianity in The British Isles and
end of Roman Britain
The Church in early Anglo-Saxon England
The Vikings
Springboard to Literature
Celtic society
1. Our knowledge of the Celts is slight. As with
previous groups of settlers, we do not eve n
know for certain whether the Celts invaded
Britain or came peacefully as a result of the
lively trade with Europe
2. From about 750 BC onwards, At first most
of Celtic Britain seems to have developed in
a generally similar way. But from about 500
BC trade contact with Europe declined, and
regional differences between northwest and
southeast Britain increased.
3. The Celts were organized into different
tribes, and tribal chiefs were chosen from
each family or tribe, sometimes as the result
of fighting matches between individuals , and
sometimes by election.
THE STONEHENGES
1. Stonehenge was almost certainly a sort of
capital, to which the chiefs of other groups came
from all over Britain. They built, as far as the
Orkney Islands north of Scotland, and as far
south as Cornwall. They seem to have been
copies of the great Stonehenge in the south. The
importance of these places in folk memory far
outlasted the builders of the monuments.
5
THE ANGLO-SAXONS
The arrival Anglo Saxons
1. When the Goths, Huns and Franks
began attacking Gaul, modern day
France, the Romans had to begin
withdrawing their legions from Britain.
The troops that remained in Britain were
not numerous enough to defend against
the Saxon and Pictish attacks. In 410 the
Britons asked the emperor Honorius for
help, but he told them to look after their
own defense. This was the end of
Roman rule in Britain.
2. At first little changed, but gradually
various groups began to conduct raids.
First came the Picts from the north, then
the Scots, who were originally from
Ireland and finally some tribes from
Germany and Jutland (part of modern
day Denmark) the Angles and the
Saxons.
3. These Germanic tribes first came to
Britain as Roman mercenaries, and when
Rome abandoned Britain, others came as
conquerors. The Britons (the Celts who
had adopted Roman ways) put up some
resistance: they won a major battle at
Mons Badonicus (the leader of the
Britons was supposedly a certain Arthur,
the king famous in myth for his
friendship with the magician Merlin and
for his knight's of the round table).
Anglo-saxon Culture And
Government
1. These Anglo-Saxons were the first of the
northern tribes to invade Britain; after them
would come the Vikings or Danes and then, in
1066, the Normans. All three of these groups
had many things in common. They were
organized in family groups where loyalties to the
family and the lord of the tribal group where the
most important social bonds. It was essential to
avenge any wrong committed against a family
member. In fact, one of the legal institutions of
the Anglo-Saxons was the wergild (man-payment)
which was the money that the murderer paid to
the victim's family to free the murderer from the
vengeance of the victim's family. In Anglo-Saxon
law the wergild was established in accordance
with the victim's rank in society. The wergild was
a way of eliminating some of the violence that
plagued Anglo-Saxon society.
The Names Of The Week
2. The gods of the Anglo-Saxons, before they
became Christians, were those of Germanic
mythology; Tiw, Woden and Thor and the
goddess Freya, four of their gods, are
commemorated in the names of four days of the
week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
6
CHRISTIANITY
Early Christianity in England
1. The Britons fled to Cornwall and Wales.
Some went to a place now known as
Brittany (named after the Britons, of
course) in France. The Britons who fled
took with them their Christianity. It
should be remembered that Christianity,
which had begun in the Roman province
of Judaea, spread throughout the Empire
and finally in 312 Al) the emperor
Constantine became a Christian. In
Britain Christianity had won many
converts even though most the
population outside of the sphere of
Roman influence continued to worship
the gods they had always worshipped.
2. In any case, the Celtic church continued
after the Romans left and continued to
send out missionaries. One of the most
famous of these early missionaries was
St. Patrick. As a young boy, he was
kidnapped and taken from Britain to
Ireland. He escaped and ended up in
Italy. In 423, he returned to Ireland and
began to convert the Irish. He is given
the credit for bringing the Christian faith
to the Irish.
3. Ireland, once converted, sent out its own
missionaries. St. Columba is perhaps the
most famous. A hundred years after St.
Patrick, he sailed across the Irish Sea and
founded a monastery on the island of
Iona. Together with his disciples, he went
all over Scotland, converting the Picts.
The power of the Church
4.Christianity reached England from Ireland
and from Rome at the end of the 6th century.
It played a highly important role in
establishing medieval society and in
developing the statehood in England: the
Church served as the model for feudal
kingdoms and gave kingship a sacred
character.
The Power Of The Church
5. There was one grand exception to the
feudal system’s hierarchy: the church. Led by
the pope in Rome, the medieval church
wielded tremendous power—levying taxes,
making its own laws, running its own courts,
and keeping kings and noblemen in line with
the threat of excommunication. The church
owned more land than anyone in Europe, and
its soaring stone cathedrals and great abbeys
were as impressive as any castle. The church’s
power did lead to conflicts with the
monarchy. When Henry II’s archbishop and
friend Thomas à Becket began favoring
church interests over those of the crown,
four knights loyal to the king murdered him.
Becket was declared a saint, and his shrine at
Canterbury became a popular destination for
pilgrims, such as those described in Geoffrey
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
7
 Prior to the Norman Invasion
Short topics
The Anglo-Saxons and faith Catholic Faith and the Celtic The Vikings

The Anglo-Saxons were pagan
when they came to Britain. Chris-
tianity spread throughout
Britain from two different
directions during the sixth and
seventh centuries. It came
directly from Rome when St
Augustine arrived in 597 and
established his headquarters at
Canterbury in the south-east of
England.
Although Roman Christianity
eventually took over the whole of
the British Isles, the Celtic model
persisted in Scotland and Ireland
for several hundred years. It was
less centrally organized, and had
less need for a strong monarchy
to support it.
Britain experienced another wave
of Germanic invasions in the
eighth century. These invaders,
known as Vikings, Norsemen or
Danes, came from Scandinavia.
In the ninth century they
conquered and settled the
extreme north and west of
Scotland, and also some coastal
regions of Ireland.

However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were comparatively small.
They led roughly the same way of life and spoke two varieties of the same Germanic tongue
(which combined to form the basis of modern English). Moreover, the Danes soon converted to
Christianity. These similarities made political unification easier, and by the end of the tenth century
England was one kingdom with a Germanic culture throughout.

King Alfred
King Alfred was not only an able warrior but also a dedicated scholar and a wise ruler. He is known
as “Alfred the Great” — the only monarch in English history to be given this title. He is also
popularly known for the story of the burning of the cakes.
While Alfred was wandering around his country organizing resistance to the Viking invaders, he
travelled in disguise. On one occasion, he stopped at a woman's house. The woman asked him to
watch some cakes that were cooking to see that they did not burn, while she went off to get food.
Alfred became lost in thought and the cakes burned. When the woman returned, she shouted
angrily at Alfred and sent him away. Alfred never told her that he was her king.

8
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Literature Of The Times
Poetry
• BEOWULF, a complete epic, is the
oldest surviving Germanic epic as
well as the longest and most
important poem in Old English. It
originated as a pagan saga
transmitted orally from one
generation to the next; court poets
known as scops were the bearers of
tribal history and tradition. The epic
celebrates the hero's fearless and
bloody struggles against monsters
and extols courage, honor, and loyalty
as the chief virtues in a world of
brutal force.
• The elegiac theme, a strong
undercurrent in Beowulf, is central to
Deor, The Wanderer, THE
SEAFARER, and other poems. In
these works, a happy past is
contrasted with a precarious and
desolate present. The Finnsburgh
fragment, THE BATTLE OF
MALDON, and THE BATTLE OF
BRUNANBURH which are all based
on historical episodes, mainly
celebrate great heroism in the face of
overwhelming odds. In this heroic
poetry, all of which is anonymous,
greatness is measured less by victory
than by perfect loyalty and courage in
extremity.
Christian influence
• Much of the Old English Christian poetry
is marked by the simple belief of a
relatively unsophisticated Christianity; the
names of two authors are known.
Cædmon—whose story is charmingly
told by the Venerable Bede, who also
records a few lines of his poetry—is the
earliest known English poet. Cædmon is
responsible for poetic narrative versions
of biblical stories, the most dramatic of
which is probably Genesis B.
Prose
• Old English literary prose dates from the
latter part of the Anglo-Saxon period.
Prose was written in Latin before the reign
of King Alfred (reigned 871–99), who
worked to revitalize English culture after
the devastating Danish invasions ended.
As hardly anyone could read Latin, Alfred
translated or had translated the most
important Latin texts. He also encouraged
writing in the vernacular. Didactic,
devotional, and informative prose was
written, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
probably begun in Alfred's time as an
historical record, continued for over three
centuries. Two preeminent Old English
prose writers were Ælfric, Abbot of
Eynsham, and his contemporary
Wulfstan, archbishop of York. Their
sermons (written in the late 10th or early
11th cent.) set a standard for homiletics.
9
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Literature Of The Times
The Middle Ages in the English
literature includes more than 800
years from the end of the 7th
century up to the end of the 15th
century. This period is divided into
two parts: the earlier centuries are
called the Dark Ages while the
later centuries are referred to as
the Middle Ages and they
represent the peak of the
European history. English ME
includes two different periods of
literature, the Old English and the
ME. These two periods are
divided by the Norman Conquest
in 1066
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Another piece of literary and historical
work we owe to Alfred, and that is the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In almost every
convent the monks were accustomed to
set down what seemed to them the most
important events, such as the death of a
king, an attack by the Danes, an
unusually high tide, or an eclipse of the
sun. One of these lists of events was
kept in the convent at Winchester,
Alfred's capital city, and the idea
occurred to him of revising this table,
adding to it from Bede's Ecclesiastical
History and other sources, and making it
the beginning of a progressive history
of his kingdom. It is possible that Alfred
himself did this revising, and it can
hardly be doubted that he wrote at least
the accounts of some of his own battles
with the Danes.
SUMMARY
King Alfred
Poetry
Our English ancestors lived in Jutland and the
northern part of what is now Germany. They were
savage warriors, but loved song and poetry. After their
feasts the scop, or poet, sang of the adventures of
some hero. Little by little these songs were welded
together and became an epic. One epic, Beowulf, has
been preserved, though much changed by the
teachings of the missionaries who came to England in
597. Anglo-Saxon verse was marked by alliteration
instead of rhyme.
1. Besides Beowulf, little remains of the Anglo-Saxon
poetry except what is contained in the Exeter
Book and the Vercelli Book.
2. The first poet whom we know by name was the
monk Caedmon (seventh century), whose chief
work was a paraphrase of the Scriptures. The
greatest of the early poets was "Cynewulf (eighth
century).
Prose
1. One of the most famous pieces of English prose,
a translation of the Gospel according to St. John,
was written by the monk Bede (seventh and eighth
centuries). He wrote on many subjects, but his
most valuable work is his Ecclesiastical History.
Alcuin (eighth century) carried on English
scholarship in France. England was harassed by
the Danes, but after King Alfred (ninth century)
had brought about peace.
2. King Alfred made several valuable translations.
The preface of one of them is the earliest piece of
English prose that we still possess. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle was formally begun in his reign.
10
EXERCICIOS
1. Responda as seguintes perguntas
com base nos textos desta unidade.
a) Quem eram os Celts? Destaque duas
características desses povos importantes para
a compreensão da história dos povos da
Bretanha
................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
b) O que eram as Stonehenges?
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................................................................................
c) Quem eram os anglo-saxões?
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d) De que viviam os anglo-Saxoes?
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e) Por volta de 600 a.D. quais foram os cinco
principais reinos anglo-saxões?
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2. A partir das diferentes imagens dos anglo-
saxônicos nesta unidade, e baseado na
leitura dos pequenos fragmentos, responda:
a) Como eram as casas dos anglo saxões?
.................................................................................
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.................................................................................
.................................................................................
b) Qual forma de religião era adotada pelos
celtas e Anglo-saxoes?
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c) O que era o Witan?
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d) Descreva como era a igreja celta e como
esta sobreviveu as ondas de invasões dos
primeiros povos?
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11
EXERCICIOS

3. Preencha as lacunas no parágrafo 4. Classifique os reinos anglo-saxões

(mostrados nas caixas) nos três títulos de
abaixo. Cada palavra será usada uma vez!
"Angles", "Saxons" e "Jutes", com base em
Há uma palavra que não precisa usar. quais tribos eles se originaram.

Warriors - Mead -
Crafting - Epic -
Writing Wessex – Mercia - East
Anglia – Middlesex –
Anglo-Saxons were great at Sussex – Essex –
c__________________, making Middlesex - Northumbria
jewellery and decorating weapons. In a
similarly creative vein, Anglo-Saxons
loved to tell stories. This would both
be done in ____________________,
and through spoken word. Storytelling Angles Saxons Jutes
would take place in Great Halls, where
bards would tell
____________________ stories of
great ____________________.

5. A quem se refere cada afirmação a seguir:

ALFRED THE GREAT; JÚLIO CÉSAR – REI
CNUT - KING EDWARD - HAROLD
HARDRADA - WILLIAM, THE CONQUEROR
a Ele não teve filhos. Ele morreu em 1066.
b Ele era o rei da Noruega. Em 1066 seu exército
invadiu a Inglaterra.
c Ele era um normando. Ele se tornou rei de
Inglaterra.
d Ele era um grande líder romano.
e ele derrotou os vikings e os mandou embora da
Grã-Bretanha.
f Ele era um rei viking da Inglaterra.

12
EXERCICIOS

5. Ache no Wordsearch as palavras-chave da Unidade 1

13
 Credits
1
2

1. O período anglo-saxão é compreendido entre as datas 6. A literatura anglo-saxônica sobreviveu na forma de:
de
a) poesia falada
a) 55 a 43 dC
b) pergaminhos
b) AD 1 a 449
c) ícones
c) 449 a 1066
d) Revistas
d) 1066 a 1485

7. Beowulf é o mais antigo poema épico inglês conhecido.

2. Durante o período anglo-saxão, a Inglaterra foi
invadida por todos os seguintes povos, EXCETO os: a) Verdade

a) Celtas b) Falso

b) Vikings
c) Jutos 8. Por qual cultura antiga a narrativa de Beowulf foi
composta?
d) Saxões
a) Anglo-saxônica
b) Celta
3. Que grupo de invasores aterrissou nas ilhas em 1066?
c) Germânica
a) Os normandos
d) Romana
b) Os Vikings
c) Os romanos
9. A poesia do período anglo-saxão foi passada através de
d) Os gregos que meios?
a) Pergaminhos
4. O primeiro arcebispo de Canterbury foi: b) Tradição Oral
a) Thomas a Becket c) Minstrels
b) Tomás de Aquino d) Tradição escrita
c) Santo Agostinho •
d) O Venerável Bede • Quem eram os povos mais antigos da Grã-Bretanha?
5. Qual é outro termo para a língua anglo-saxônica? • Celtas
a) Inglês arcaico • Romanos
b) Inglês moderno • Anglo-saxão
c) Inglês frísio • Franceses
d) Inglês antigo

14
 Licenciatura em Letras/Inglês
Módulo IV

UNIDADE 2
THE MIDDLE AGES
1066 -1485 AD
The Conquest and the Feudal System; Norman Invasion; William the Conqueror; Feudalism in England;
how Feudalism worked; The doomsday book; The Early middle Ages; The Normans seek to establish; The
spread of Christianity; The State and Church affairs; The Shrine of Canterbury; The spirit of Crusades;
England goes on Crusades; The Late Middle Ages; Hard times for England; The Black death; The Pesant’s
Revolt; The 100 years war; King john I; The Magna Carta; Springboad to literature; The Chaucer’s age; The
Canterbury tales; King Arthur; The ballads; Robin Hood
THE CONQUEST
AND FEUDAL
SYSTEM
The Norman Invasion
1. The Normans were the next invaders of
England. They came from France but
were originally Vikings themselves. In
fact, after the Romans all the invaders of
Britain were basically of the same
cultural group.
2. The Normans came to England as
conquerors after they had already settled
in an area of France on either side of the
Seine. The Normans learned many things
from their French enemies. Foremost
among these French acquisitions were
methods of warfare and organization.
3. The Normans when they invaded
England had already learned to fight on
horseback with a sword instead of on
foot with a battle-axe as their ancestors
had done. The Normans had also
adopted the French means of defense, a
kind of a castle that consisted of a high
circular mound with a wooden fortress
around it. Directly connected to these
wooden fortresses was the way they
ruled.
Unit 2 The Middle Ages (1066 -1485 AD)
The Conquest and the Feudal System; Norman
Invasion; William the Conqueror; Feudalism in England;
how Feudalism worked; The doomsday book; The Early
middle Ages; The Normans seek to establish; The
spread of Christianity; The State and Church affairs;
The Shrine of Canterbury; The spirit of Crusades;
England goes on Crusades; The Late Middle Ages;
Hard times for England; The Black death; The Pesant’s
Revolt; The 100 years war; King john I; The Magna
Carta; Springboad to literature; The Chaucer’s age; The
Canterbury tales; King Arthur; The ballads; Robin Hood
William the Conqueror
1. Although William was now crowned king. His
conquest had only just begun and the fighting
lasted for another five years. There was an
Anglo Saxon rebellion against the Normans
every year until 1070. The small Norman
army marched from village to village,
destroying places it could not control, and
building forts to guard others. It was a true
army of occupation for at least twenty years.
The north was particularly hard to control,
and the Norman army had no mercy. When
the Saxons fought back, the Normans burnt,
destroyed and killed. Between Durham and
York not a single house was left standing, and
it took a century for the north to recover.
2. These northern pirates gave a look about
them, and straightway they began to follow
the customs of the people whom they had
conquered. They embraced the Christian
religion and built churches and monasteries
as if they had been to the manner born. They
forgot their own language and adopted that
of France. They intermarried with the French
and in a century and a half a new race had
arisen with the bravery and energy of the
Northmen and an aptitude for even more
courtly manners and even wider literary
culture than the French themselves.
16
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM

Feudalism in England How Feudalism worked

1. William organized his English

kingdom according to the
feudal system which had
already begun to develop in
England before his arrival.
The word "feudalism" comes
from the French word feu,
which the Normans used to
refer to land held in return
for duty or service to a lord.
The basis of feudal society 1. Feudalism, then, was a kind of government in
was the holding of land, and which the state did not act directly on its
its main purpose was subjects, but rather there was a series of
economic. contractual agreements between lords and
vassals arranged in more or less hierarchical
2. The central idea was that all system with the king at the top of what has
land was owned by the king been call the feudal pyramid.
but it was held by others. 2. These contractual obligations of lord to vassal
called "vassals", in return for only applied to the noble-class that which
services and goods. The king included the king and the lords, bishops and
gave large estates to his main abbots and their vassals. There was no
particular shame attached to being a vassal. In
nobles in return for a promise fact William, I was king of England, but in his
to serve him in war for up to role as Duke of Normandy he was the vassal
forty days. The nobles also of the king of France. In any case, most of
had to give hi m part of the the population, that is the peasants, were
produce of the land. The outside the feudal system.
greater nobles gave part of
the inlands to lesser nobles,
knights. and other "freemen".
Some freemen paid for the
land by doing military service.
While others paid rent. The
noble kept "serfs" to work on
his own land. These were not
free to leave the estate, and
were often little better than
slaves.

17
THE DOOMSDAY BOOK
And the Doomsday book
came up
1. The feudal system was a
social, economic and political
system that was found
throughout Western Europe
in the Medieval Ages. The
feudal system enabled kings to
keep control of their lands by
contracting others to do the
controlling for them.
2. At the top of the feudal
system was the king. Chosen
by God, the king had a ‘divine
right’ to rule. The king gave
his lands and fiefs to
important lords. In return for
the fiefs, the lords or nobles
became the king’s vassals and
swore an oath of loyalty and
paid homage to him.
Homage consisted of the
vassal surrendering himself to
the lord, symbolized by his
kneeling and giving his joined
hands to the lord, who clasped
them in his own, thus
accepting the surrender.
3. This meant that the
nobles promised never to go
to war against the king and to
provide the king with money,
soldiers, accommodation or
advice (counsel) when needed.
The nobles also included
powerful members of the
church such as bishops,
because the church was one
of the most important
medieval landowners.
4.
How the Doomsday survey worked
1. The lord also had vassals who were called
knights. Again in return for fiefs, the vassals
made promises, the most important of which
was to serve the lord as a soldier of 40 days a
year. The vast majority of people were
peasants who worked directly for the knights,
who paid rents and taxes to him and who
fought for him in time of war. The knights
also provided for law and order and justice
through the courts.
2. One of the most important tasks, which these
advisers carried out in the name of the king,
was the Domesday Survey of 1086. William
had this survey undertaken to see what he
owned, literally, since as king everything was
his. He wanted to know exactly what everyone
down to the last peasant had so that he could
decide what taxes he could exact. Everything
was recorded in the Domesday Book (the
book in which the results of this survey were
recorded), how many acres of land, how
many sheep, how many oxen, how many
ploughs, how many villeins (the peasants
without rights in the feudal world) and even
how many priests and churches. This attempt
to record all property was greatly resented and
the name `Domesday' means 'the Day of
Judgment' and was given to this survey since it
reminded many of that horrible day.
18
 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (1066-1300)
The Normans seek to
establish
1. With the coronation of
William the Conqueror in
1066 a new age began for
England. The new King
managed to crush the
remaining Anglo-Saxon
resistance and distributed land
to his Norman nobles,
organising the country
according to the feudal
system: land was held in
return for duty or service to
one's lord. All land belonged
to the King, but he gave it to
nobles in exchange for a part
of the produce of the land
and a promise to serve him in
war for a certain period each
year.
2. In their turn, the nobles gave
part of their lands to knights
or other freemen, who
contributed military service or,
in some cases, rent. The last
link in the chain were the serfs
who worked on the land but
were not free to leave it and
were little more than slaves.
One of William's outstanding
achievements was a complete
economic survey of the
country, which was popularly
known as the Domesday
Book, already mentioned.
The spread of Christianity
1. No one knows exactly when the first
Christian missionaries arrived in
Britain, but by AD. 300 the number of
Christians on the island was significant.
Over the next two centuries,
Christianity spread to Ireland and
Scotland, including the Picts and
Angles in the north. In 597, a Roman
missionary named Augustine arrived in
the kingdom of Kent, where he
established a monastery at Canterbury.
2. From there, Christianity spread so
rapidly that by 690 all of Britain was at
least nominally Christian, though many
held on to some pagan traditions and
beliefs.
3. Monasteries became centers of
intellectual, literary, artistic, and social
activity. At a time when schools and
libraries were completely unknown,
monasteries offered the only
opportunity for education. Monastic
scholars imported books from the
Continent, which were then
painstakingly copied. In addition,
original works were written, mostly in
scholarly Latin, but later in Old
English.
4. When Vikings invaded in the late
eighth and ninth centuries, they
plundered monasteries and threatened
to obliterate all traces of cultural
refinement. Yet Christianity continued
as a dominant cultural force for more
than a thousand years to come.
19
 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (1066-1300)

The state and church The Shrine of Canterbury

affairs
1. There was great conflict
between Church and State in
this period: the King tried to
gain more control over the
Church, and in particular the
appointment of bishops.
Henry's friend Thomas a
Becket became Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1162, but soon
argued with Henry and left the
country. He returned in 1170
when four of Henry's knights 1. A rudimentary form of Parliament, a council
murdered him in Canterbury of nobles who took control of finances,
Cathedral. began in 1265, instigated by Simon de
Montfort, in opposition to Henry III, but it
2. The result was that Thomas was in the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) that
became a saint and the first real representative institution was
Canterbury an international created, with two 'commoners' (freemen) from
shrine, where pilgrims flocked each town or shire. Its function was to
from all over Europe. Henry provide money for the King by means of
was made to capitulate to the taxes. Edward also brought Wales under his
control and engaged in a long struggle with
Pope, who managed to Scotland, without
recover some Church
privileges. Henry was followed
by Richard I (the Lionheart) PILGRIMS
who spent most of his time
fighting in the Crusades and 1. Sometimes the people in the middle ages did
bad things, and if they wanted to be forgiven
died in 1199. He was followed the normally went to a pilgrimage to pray.
by his brother John, an Most of them went to Italy or to the Holy
unpopular King who taxed the Land in Jerusalem. The travel sometimes was
people heavily. In 1215, he dangerous, because they went to new places,
was forced to sign the historic and they didn’t know anything.
document, 'Magna Carta',
which limited the King's
powers and showed that
feudalism was beginning to
decline (although it would be
another 300 years before it
disappeared completely).

20
 THE SPIRIT OF THE CRUSADES
The age of faith inspires…
1. The Age of Faith also inspired wars
of conquest. In 1093, the Byzantine
emperor Alexius Comnenus sent an
appeal to Robert, Count of
Flanders. The emperor asked for
help against the Muslim Turks.
They were threatening to conquer
his capital, Constantinople.
Goals of the Crusades
1. The Crusades had economic, social,
and political goals as well as
religious motives. Muslims
controlled Palestine (the Holy
Land) and threatened
Constantinople. The Byzantine
emperor in Constantinople
appealed to Christians to stop
Muslim attacks. In addition, the
pope wanted to reclaim Palestine
and reunite Christendom, which
had split into Eastern and Western
branches in 1054.
2. The First and Second Crusades
Pope Urban’s call brought a
tremendous outpouring of religious
feeling and support for the
Crusade.
3. According to the pope, those who
died on Crusade were assured of a
place in heaven. With red crosses
sewn on tunics worn over their
armor and the battle cry of “God
wills it!” on their lips, knights and
commoners were fired by religious
zeal and became Crusaders.
4. By early 1097, three armies of
knights and people of all classes
had gathered outside
Constantinople. Most of the
Crusaders were French, but
Bohemians, Germans, Englishmen,
Scots, Italians, and Spaniards came
as well.
England’s goes on the Crusades
The Third Crusade The Third Crusade to
recapture Jerusalem was led by three of Europe’s
most powerful monarchs. They were Philip II
(Augustus) of France, German emperor Frederick
I (Barbarossa), and the English king, Richard the
Lion-Hearted. Philip argued with Richard and
went home. Barbarossa drowned on the journey.
So, Richard was left to lead the Crusaders in an
attempt to regain the Holy Land from Saladin.
Both Richard and Saladin were brilliant warriors.
After many battles, the two agreed to a truce in
1192. Jerusalem remained under Muslim control.
In return, Saladin promised that unarmed
Christian pilgrims could freely visit the city’s holy
places.
Richard the Lion-Hearted 1157–1199
Richard was noted for his good looks, charm,
courage, grace—and ruthlessness. When he heard
that Jerusalem had fallen to the Muslims, he was
filled with religious zeal. He joined the Third
Crusade, leaving others to rule England in his
place. Richard mounted a siege on the city of
Acre. Saladin’s army was in the hills overlooking
the city, but it was not strong enough to defeat the
Crusaders.
When finally the city fell, Richard had the Muslim
survivors—some 3,000 men, women, and
children—slaughtered. The Muslim army watched
helplessly from the hills
21
 THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1300-1485)

Hard times for England The Black Death

1. The fourteenth century was a

difficult period for England:
because of both the Black Death
(bubonic plague) and a long series
of wars, which had disastrous
effects on the economy and led to
the existence of large armed gangs
which terrorized the countryside
and destabilized the political
situation. Kings were frequently
deposed or murdered.
2. The Hundred Years War, which
lasted from 1337 to 1453, had many
ups and downs but its end result
was that England lost all its
possessions in France apart from
the port of Calais. The outbreak of
plague in 1348-9 probably killed
one third of the whole population
of Britain, and it was followed by
other minor epidemics. In the
fourteenth century as a whole the
population fell from about 4
million to less than 2 million.
3. This decrease in population, however,
favored the poorer laborers: the
shortage of manpower meant that
they could sell their services at a
higher price and peasant life became
more comfortable, with stone houses
rather than wooden. The King and
Parliament tried unsuccessfully and
repeatedly to control increases in the
cost of labour and the larger
landowners were eventually forced to
rent their land for longer and longer
leases. The latter was a decisive factor
in the breakdown of the feudal
system: by the end of the Middle
Ages the great landlords had almost
disappeared and a new class, the
'yeomen', or smaller farmers, had
become the backbone of English
society.
1. The Black Death appeared in China, but in
1348, the Black Death appeared in England
too. The reason for this plague was the fleas
that lived in the rats. The fleas bit the people
and in their armpits apear a strange spots, and
after that, they died. Doctors didn’t know how
exterminate this plague, so people was dying
and doctors said that they only knew to cure it
with herbs.
2. It lasted for two years and killed one and half
million people (England at that time had a
population of only 4,000,000). Besides the
immediate tragedy, the Black Death was the
cause of great social unrest in the decades that
followed. With almost half the population
dead, the price of labour nearly doubled,
following the law of supply and demand.
Those people who worked the land began
asking for more. More and more villeins
wanted to be free to pay money instead of
working for their lords. Freemen wanted
higher wages. The lords, who now had large
tracts of land that went unfarmed, needed to
squeeze more money from those lands that
were still farmed; they insisted on paying the
same wages and they refused to allow villeins
to stop working for them for money.

22
 THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1300-1485)
The Pesant’s revolt in 1381
1. The Peasant's Revolt in 1381
was the result of an ill-advised
'poll-tax' payable by everyone
in the Kingdom. The leader
of the rebellion, Wat Tyler,
called for better treatment for
the poor: 'We are men formed
in Christ's likeness and we are
kept like animals,' he said. The
rebellion lasted four weeks
and peasants took control of
much of London. In a famous
episode the young King
Richard II confronted an
angry crowd and promised to
satisfy all the peasants'
demands and abolish serfdom.
The crowd dispersed, satisfied
with these concessions, but
the King promptly changed
his mind, executed the leaders
of the revolt and refused to
honour his promises.
The 100 years’ war
1. The Black Death appeared in China, but in
1348, the Black Death appeared in
England too. The reason for this plague
was the fleas that lived in the rats. The
fleas bit the people and in their armpits
apear a strange spots, and after that, they
died. Doctors didn’t know how
exterminate this plague, so people was
dying and doctors said that they only knew
to cure it with herbs.
2. This decrease in population, however,
favoured the poorer labourers: the
shortage of manpower meant that they
could sell their services at a higher price
and peasant life became more comfortable,
with stone houses rather than wooden.
The King and Parliament tried
unsuccessfully and repeatedly to control
increases in the cost of labour and the
larger landowners were eventually forced
to rent their land for longer and longer
leases. The latter was a decisive factor in
the breakdown of the feudal system: by
the end of the Middle Ages the great
landlords had almost disappeared and a
new class, the 'yeomen', or smaller farmers,
had become the backbone of English
society.
23
 THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1300-1485)
King John of England
1. King John of England signed
the Magna Carta in 1215. This
marked the first of a series of
concessions by which English
monarchs ceded parts of their
power in the face of baronial
challenges to their authority.
By 1277, Parliament had
become established in
England and kings could no
longer levy new taxes without
its consent.
2. I n 1200, King John became
involved in a drawn-out war
with France. His failures in
France, especially the defeat at
Bouvines in 1214, tarnished
his prestige. His quarrel with
Pope Innocent III over his
refusal to accept the
appointment of English
cardinal Stephen Langton as
Archbishop of Canterbury in
1207, was also damaging, as
England was placed under an
Interdict, which theoretically
forbade the holding of almost
all church services in the
country. In November 1209,
the Pope excommunicated
John, absolving all his
subjects— including the
barons—of their oath of
allegiance to him.
The Magna Carta
1. The increasing level of financial exactions
needed to pay for the unpopular French
war crystallized opposition to John around
a group of northern nobles, including
William de Mowbray. A meeting between
John and his tenants-in-chief in November
1213 did little to resolve the situation and
by the time John returned to England in
October 1214, three months after
Bouvines, the demands for a scutage (a tax
paid in place of military service) of three
marks for each knight’s fief (land) had
further inflamed matters.
Magna Carta
1. The baronial revolt looked likely to be
settled without violence when the Magna
Carta was accepted by King and barons on
June 15, 1215 (see pp.86–87). The charter
protected the barons from undue
exactions by the Crown, but certain of its
provisions, such as the choice of 25 of
their number who could, in the event of
the King breaking the terms of the Magna
Carta, seize the King’s castles and lands,
were never likely to be allowed to stand by
John.
24
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Literature Of The Times
The Age of Chaucer
1. The most famous writer of
medieval times, “the father of
English literature,” was
Geoffrey Chaucer, a poet
who demonstrated the
potential of English as a
literary language.
2. Drawing on sources as
diverse as French poetry,
English songs, Greek classics,
contemporary Italian tales,
and Aesop’s fables, Chaucer
masterfully blended old with
new, all in the natural rhythms
of Middle English, the
spoken language of the time.
an english masterpiece The
Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s
best-known work, displays his
ability as a storyteller, his
keen sense of humor, and his
sharp eye for detail.
3. A collection of tales ranging
from irreverent to
inspirational, it is held
together by a frame story
about a group of pilgrims
who pass time on their
journey to the shrine of
Thomas à Becket by telling
stories.
The Canterbury Tales
The pilgrims’ characters are revealed through the
stories they tell and their reactions to one
another’s tales. Though Chaucer apparently
intended to have each of the 30 pilgrims tell 4
stories apiece, he died having completed only 24
of the tales. Chaucer lived during a time of
change and turmoil in England. He was born just
a few years after the outbreak of the Hundred
Years’ War and was still a small child when the
bubonic plague hit Europe. The Black Death, as it
was known, greatly reduced the population, which
led to a shortage of laborers. In turn, serfs
realized their new value and left the land to work
in towns and on neighboring estates. This shift led
to the decline of feudalism and the growth of a
new middle class, to which Chaucer’s family
belonged. In addition, the war with France had
spurred the re-emergence of the English language
among the ruling class. With its cast of characters
ranging across British society, from the “perfect
gentle Knight” to a common miller, and its use of
everyday English rather than elevated Latin or
French, The Canterbury Tales reflected all of
these developments.
25
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Literature Of The Times
Medieval Romance
1. Medieval romances, stories of
adventure, gallant love,
chivalry, and heroism,
represent for many readers
the social order and ideals of
the Middle Ages. Yet tales
such as those of the good
King Arthur and his sword
Excalibur, Merlin the
magician, Queen Guinevere,
and Sir Lancelot and the
Knights of the Round Table
were set in an idealized world
quite unlike the real medieval
England, with its plagues,
political battles, and civil
unrest.
2. In fact, while it is true that
chivalry and courtly love were
ideals made popular during
the medieval period, the real
Arthur was not of this age. a
legendary hero From what
little is known of him, Arthur
was a Briton, a Romanized
descendant of the long-
haired, bluedyed warriors
who fought Caesar’s army. A
Latin history writtenaround
a.d. 800, two hundred years
or more after Arthur’s death,
first mentions “Artorius” as a
leader in the sixth-century
battles against Anglo-Saxon
invaders.
King Arthur
1. For centuries, oral poets in Wales
celebrated their legendary hero
Arthur just as Anglo-Saxon scops
celebrated Beowulf. Then, about
1135, the monk Geoffrey of
Monmouth produced a Latin
“history” based on old Welsh
legends. Geoffrey’s book caught
the fancy of French, German, and
English writers, who soon created
their own versions of the legends,
updating them to reflect then-
current notions of chivalry.
2. While the traditional tales focused
on Arthur himself and on his
courage and success in battle, these
new romances used Arthur and his
court as a backdrop for stories
about knights who go through
trials and perform great feats—
often (influenced by the idea of
courtly love) in the service of a
lady.
26
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Literature Of The Times
Medieval Romance
1. About 1375, an anonymous
English poet wrote Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight,
recounting the marvelous
adventures of a knight of
Arthur’s court who faces a
series of extraordinary
challenges. Exciting,
suspenseful, and peopled by an
array of memorable characters,
from the mysterious green giant
who survives beheading to the
all-toohuman Sir Gawain, the
2,500-line poem is easy to
imagine as a favorite of
troubadors and their audiences.
2. A century later, in Le Morte
d’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory
retold a number of the French
Arthurian tales in Middle
English. Despite its title, which
means “The Death of Arthur,”
Malory’s book includes many
episodes in the life of the
legendary king and is considered
a precursor to the modern
novel. Oddly enough, it was
printed just weeks before the
final battle in the Wars of the
Roses, the last English battle
ever fought by knights in armor.
Fittingly then, the literary fall of
Camelot coincided with the real-
life end of chivalry—and the
end of the Middle Ages as well.
Ballads – Robin Hood
1. Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw
originally depicted in English folklore and
subsequently featured in literature and film.
According to legend, he was a highly skilled
archer and swordsman. In some versions of
the legend he is depicted as being of noble
birth, and having fought in the Crusades
before returning to England to find his
lands have been taken by the Sheriff. In
other versions this is not the case and he is
instead born into the yeoman class.
Traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln
green, he is said to have robbed from the
rich and given to the poor.
2. The Story of Robin Hood Nobody knows
for sure who the real Robin Hood was or
when, exactly, he lived. Some scholars
believe that the legend of Robin Hood is
based on two different “Robin Hoods.” The
heroic outlaw probably lived during the
reign of King John (1199–1216).
3. His popularity spread so far and wide that
his true identity was soon lost. During the
13th and 14th centuries, there were many
cases of outlaws calling themselves Robin
Hood and Little John. Whatever the truth
may be, Robin Hood’s popularity suggests
that people believed that the English king
had become tyrannical and deserving of
retribution. “Forest laws,” alluded to in this
ballad, were detested. These strict laws gave
royalty control over vast forestlands that
included some cultivated areas.
27
EXERCICIOS

Responda as seguintes perguntas com Baseado na leitura dos pequenos

fragmentos, responda:
base nos textos desta unidade.

1. Em que ano começou a invasão 4. De que povos os normandos originalmente

normanda da Inglaterra? vieram?

1776 a) Francos
b) Kievan Rus
1066
c) Mouros
1171
d) Anglo-saxões
1069
e) Vikings
2. William construiu muitos _____
para solidificar seu governo na
Inglaterra. 5. Qual foi a principal batalha entre ingleses e
normandos?
Castelos
a) Batalha de Hastings
Navios b) Batalha de Londres
Igrejas c) Batalha da Noruega
Canhões d) Batalha da Normandia
e) Batalha de Stamford Bridge
3. A morte de que o rei inglês levou à
invasão normanda? 6. Sobre o que consistia o Domesday Book?
Haroldo II a) Havia a lista de pessoas que lutaram
contra William de Normandy
Edward o confessor
b) Uma história de como os ingleses foram
Henry VIII conquistados pelos normandos
William I c) Um livro de contos assustadores sobre os
normandos para crianças
d) Uma lista de quem possuía terras na
Inglaterra

28
EXERCICIOS
Responda as seguintes perguntas com
base nos textos desta unidade.
1. Qual é o nome popular de William, o
Duque da Normandia?
a) William, o Grande
b) William, o conquistador
c) Guilherme, o Confessor
d) William, o sábio
2. O que é feudalismo?
a) Um sistema de troca entre um senhor e
seus homens
b) Um empréstimo de terra e uma promessa
de proteção em troca de uma parte dos
impostos e uma promessa de ajuda
militar
c) Uma forma de governo baseada na terra
d) Todas as respostas estão corretas
3. A morte de que rei inglês levou à invasão
normanda?
a) Haroldo II
b) Edward o confessor
c) Henry VIII
d) William I
4. “ The small Norman army marched from
village to village, destroying places it could
not control, and building forts to guard
others. It was a true army of occupation for
at least twenty years. The north was
particularly hard to control, and the Norman
army had no mercy”. Podemos inferir do
fragment que:
Faça a leitura dos pequenos fragmentos e
responda
a) O exercito normando era superior
em armas
b) A conquista real levou muitos anos
para se efetivar
c) A parte norte resistiu por mais
tempo
d) Todas podem ser inferidas no texto.
5. “ The nobles also had to give hi m part of
the produce of the land. The greater nobles
gave part of the inlands to lesser nobles,
knights. and other "freemen". Some freemen
paid for the land by doing military service.
While others paid rent. The noble kept
"serfs" to work on his own land. These were
not free to leave the estate, and were often
little better than slaves”.
A diferença entre servos (serfs) e
escravos ( Slaves) no Sistema feudal
consistia basicamente:
a) Os servos possuíam certa liberdade
enquanto os escravos não possuíam
nenhuma
b) Os servos possuíam terras em troca
de sua lealdade e os escrevaos
moravam nas terras
c) Os servos possuíam pequenos
exércitos e os os escravos eram
usados como soldados
d) Nenhuma das alternativas
29
EXERCICIOS
Responda as seguintes perguntas com
base nos textos desta unidade.
1. O Sistema Feudal era baseado nas
obrigações entre os vassalos e o Rei. Os
cavaleiros tinha a obrigação de:
a) Permancer fiel e leal ao Rei
b) Fornecer serviço military ao Rei
c) Dar sinheiro em ocasiões especiais
d) Todas estao corretas
2. “With the coronation of William the Conqueror
in 1066 a new age began for England. The new
King managed to crush the remaining Anglo-Saxon
resistance and distributed land to his Norman
nobles, organising the country according to the feudal
system: land was held in return for duty or service to
one's lord. All land belonged to the King, but he gave
it to nobles in exchange for a part of the produce of
the land and a promise to serve him in war for a
certain period each year”.
Com base no fragment acima, qual estratégia
politica William utilizou para consolidar
conquista na Inglaterra?
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
…………………………………………
3. A morte de que o rei inglês levou à invasão
normanda?
a) Haroldo II
b) Edward o confessor
c) Henry VIII
d) William I
Faça a leitura dos pequenos fragmentos e
responda
4) Com base no texto da pagina (.....)
intitulado “The state and church affairs”
descreva a causa do conflito entre o poder
real e a igreja no period medieval.
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
…………………………………………
5. “ The nobles also had to give hi m part of
the produce of the land. The greater nobles
gave part of the inlands to lesser nobles,
knights. and other "freemen". Some freemen
paid for the land by doing military service.
While others paid rent. The noble kept
"serfs" to work on his own land. These were
not free to leave the estate, and were often
little better than slaves”.
A diferença entre servos (serfs) e escravos (
Slaves) no Sistema feudal consistia
basicamente:
a) Os servos possuíam certa liberdade
enquanto os escravos não possuíam
nenhuma
b) Os servos possuíam terras em troca de
sua lealdade e os escrevaos moravam nas
terras
c) Os servos possuíam pequenos exércitos e
os os escravos eram usados como
soldados
d) Nenhuma das alternativas
30
CREDITS
Unidade 2 The Middle Ages (1066 -1485
AD)
Excerpts taken from BRODEY, Kenneth.
Tudor England and the Consolidation of the
Nation State in: BRODEY, Kenneth. History
of England: from the Old Stone Age to the
present. La Spiga languages. ISBN 88-7100-
294-6. Translated by SOUSA, R. N. as
“História da Inglaterra: da antiga Idade da
Pedra ao present”. P. 30-37.
Excerpts taken from ALLEN, Derek.
SMITH, Paul. The Middle Ages in: ALLEN,
Derek. SMITH, Paul. English and American
Literature. La Spiga Languages. Série
Dossier. Translated by SOUSA, R. N.
Literatura Americana e Inglesa. p. 12-14
Material suplementar sugerido
Documetario BBC
Série de documentários em três partes da BBC que
analisa a extraordinária expansão e ambição
desmedida desse povo guerreiro entre os séculos X
e XIII. Apresentado pelo historiador e medievalista
Robert Bartlett, a série traz a história dos
Normandos de volta à vida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF2kr31ZK
Nw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NyTdtJPdx0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh_nZHbKlf
g
A historia da Inglaterra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGV5wSzwO
i8
apgraga bulbonica the black death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySClB6-OH-
Q
The Canterbury Tales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtX7hmZ6t
XE&has_verified=1
31
 Licenciatura em Letras/Inglês
Módulo IV

UNIDADE 3
THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
1485 -1798 AD
The 16th and 17th centuries; The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . The Monarchy
Power; The Rise of Protestantism; Tudors. The Reformation in England. Queen Elizabeth
I; Turmoil, religion, politics Civil War and Restoration The Glorious Revolution.
Springboard to Literature: William Shakespeare’s Century; other distinguished poets; The
puritans in the English colonies; Literature in colonial beginnings .
 THE 16TH AND
17TH
CENTURIES
The Monarchy power
1. The power of the English monarch
increased in this period. The strength of
the great barons had been greatly
weakened by the Wars of the Roses.
Bubonic plague (known in England as
the Black Death) contributed to the
reduction of their power. It killed about
a third of the population in its first
outbreak in England in the middle of the
fourteenth century and continued to
reappear periodically for another 30
years. The shortage of labour which this
caused, and the increasing importance of
trade in the towns, helped to weaken the
traditional ties between feudal lord and
peasant.
2. The Tudor dynasty (1485-1603)
established a system of government
departments, staffed by professionals
who depended for their position on the
monarch. As a result, the feudal barons
were no longer needed for implementing
government policy. They were also
needed less for making government
policy. Parliament was traditionally split
into two 'Houses'. The House of Lords
consisted of the feudal aristocracy and
the leaders of the Church; the House of
Commons consisted of representatives
from the towns and the less important
landowners in rural areas. It was now
more important for monarchs to get the
agreement of the Commons for policy-
making because that was where the newly
powerful merchants and landowners (the
people with the money) were
represented.
Unit 3 The 16th and 17th centuries
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . The
Monarchy Power; The Rise of Protestantism;
Tudors. The Reformation in England. Queen
Elizabeth I; Turmoil, religion, politics
Civil War and Restoration The Glorious
Revolution. Springboard to Literature: William
Shakespeare’s Century; other distinguished
poets; The puritans in the English colonies;
Literature in colonial beginnings .
The rise of Protestantism
1. Unlike in much of the rest of Europe, the
direct cause of the rise of Protestantism in
England was political and personal rather
than doctrinal. Henry VIII wanted a divorce
which the Pope would not give him. Also, by
making himself head of the 'Church of
England', independent of Rome, all church
lands came under his control and gave him a
large new source of income.
2. This rejection of the Roman Church
accorded with a new spirit of patriotic
confidence in England. The country had
finally lost any realistic claim to lands in
France, thus becoming more consciously a
distinct 'island nation'. At the same time,
increasing European exploration of the
Americas and other parts of the world meant
that England was closer to the geographical
centre of western civilisation instead of
being, as previously, on the edge of it. It was
in the last quarter of this adventurous and
optimistic century that Shakespeare began
writing his famous plays.
33
THE TUDORS
The Tudors
HENRY VII
With his victory at the Battle of
Bosworth Field in 1485, Henry Tudor
(crowned King Henry VII) ushered in a
new dynasty and a new period of
prosperity and stability for England. The
Wars of the Roses were at an end and
Henry was able to build a new nation-
state on the ruins of the old nobility
which had practically wiped itself out
during the wars.
He remains rather a shadowy figure and
has not caught the popular imagination
like Henry VIII or Elizabeth I but he
certainly laid the foundations for one of
the most fruitful periods in English
history. His diplomatic skill in avoiding
quarrels with his neighbours (Scotland,
France), his careful handling of state
finances and the building of a powerful
merchant fleet, thanks to which,
England was able to dominate
international trade in the future, were all
important steps in the establishment of
England as a world power.
HENRY VIII
His son Henry VIII was a completely
different individual: though a brilliant
scholar and ambitious in European
politics, he was self-centred and
extravagant, and quickly dissipated his
father's carefully accumulated savings.
His efforts to make England politically
important in Europe as the balance of
power between Spain and France came
to nothing. ruled between 1509 and
1547.
The Reformation in England
He was the most famous English monarch of all,
he is best known for his six wives, the result of a
desperate drive to produce healthy male heirs to
carry the Tudor dynasty forward. Another
consequence of this need was the English
Reformation, as Henry split the English church
away from the Pope and Catholicism in order to
divorce. Henry’s reign also saw the emergence of
the Royal Navy as a powerful force, changes in
government, which bound the monarch tighter to
parliament, and perhaps the apogee of personal
rule in England. He was succeeded by his only
surviving son, Edward VI.
Henry VIII was always looking for quick ways to
raise money. The Church was very rich and
monasteries were no longer an important factor in
the economic growth of the country. The power
of the Church in England as an international
organization, was resented. Henry, although he
had been nominated 'Defender of the Faith' for
his theological work as a young man, had little
influence on the Pope, and the Church could
work against his authority.
These problems came to a head when Catherine
of Aragon, his first wife, failed to supply him with
a male heir (giving birth only to Mary Tudor).
Henry sought a divorce but a Papal dispensation
was not forthcoming because Charles V of Spain,
who was Catherine's nephew, had great influence
with the Pope.
34
THE TUDORS
The Reformation in
The Reformation in England
England
Henry became very angry with
Cardinal Wolsey, his chief minister,
who would almost certainly have
been executed if he had not died on
the way to court. Henry persuaded
the English bishops to make him
head of the Church in England
(Act of Supremacy 1534). Henry
was now free to divorce Catherine
and marry Anne Boleyn. This break
was only political: Henry VIII did Edward VI was too young to reign when
not approve of Continental Henry died so the country was governed
Protestantism (as expressed by by a council, composed of members of
Luther or Calvin); and was still a the new nobility created by the Tudors,
Catholic. and therefore in favour of Protestant
Henry gradually severed all links reform (mainly because they had benefited
with Rome, and England became from the dissolution of the monasteries).
politically Protestant, although the Public opinion was not too happy with the
popular religion was still Catholic. new religious principles (in particular a
With his new minister, Cromwell, new prayer book introduced in I 552
Henry carried out a survey of all sought to ensure that the Protestant
the property of the Church in religion was followed by all churches).
England, and the so-called Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary), the Catholic
'Dissolution of the monasteries' daughter of Henry VIII's first wife,
took place between 1536 and 1539: Catherine of Aragon, became Queen on
Henry closed these religious Edward's death at the age of 16 in 1553.
institutions and confiscated their Mary was inflexible and imprudent:
riches, distributing their lands although her Catholicism was approved of
among other landowners and by the people, she mishandled her
merchants. Thus, at a stroke, Henry marriage to Philip of Spain and the
had solved some of his financial common people rebelled against this,
problems and also ensured his thinking that it gave too much influence to
popularity with a large and foreign powers.
increasingly influential section of
the population.
Henry died in 1547 after six
marriages and left three heirs:
Edward, Mary and Elizabeth Tudor.

35
THE TUDORS

Queen Elizabeth I

The century of Tudor rule (1485-1603)

is often thought as the most glorious
period in English history. Elizabeth was
the one who truly defined this period,
“The Golden Age”. She brought glory
to the new state by defeating the
powerful Spanish Armada in 1588. This
marked the arrival of England as a great
European sea power, leading the way to
the development of the empire over the
next two centuries. It also marked the
limits of Spain’s ability to recapture
Protestant countries for the Catholic ruled between 1558 and 1603. She was
Church. Also, under Elizabeth, England Henry VIII’s youngest daughter, Elizabeth
experienced one of the greatest artistic survived the plotting which threatened
periods in history.
Mary, and which in turn cast doubt on the
Elizabeth was a force for peace, for young princess, to become Queen of
reconciliation, and for prosperity. She England. One of the nation’s most highly
made the Church part of the state regarded monarchs, Elizabeth returned the
regime and tried to avoid open quarrels
with Spain or France (both Catholic country to the Protestant faith, fought
countries), or marriages with their kings wars against Spain and Spanish backed
(so as not to disturb the delicate forces to protect England and other
equilibrium of power in Europe). There Protestant nations, and cultivated a
was even a possibility that the Pope powerful image of herself as a virgin
might persuade them to attack England. queen wedded to her nation. She remains
Other dangers focussed on Mary Queen
of Scots, who was the ( Catholic) heir to masked to historians, her true feelings and
the English throne. Elizabeth kept her thoughts hidden away.
prisoner for 20 years and was then
forced to have her killed to avoid “I know I have the body of
Catholic plots and invasions. Philip of a weak and feeble woman,
Spain decided to attack and conquer but I have the heart and
England in 1587 as part of an overall
strategy to defeat rebels in the stomach of a king.”
Netherlands. He built one of the largest
fleets ever known to move his troops None of Henry VIII’s children had any
across the English channel. Although offspring of their own, and when
the English were outnumbered, their Elizabeth I died she was the last of the
ships were faster and more agile than the Tudor monarchs. She was followed by
Spanish troop ships and a combination
of bad weather and military- skill James Stuart from Scotland, the first of
inflicted a humiliating defeat on Philip. the Stuart dynasty and a descendent of
Henry VIII’s eldest sister, Margaret.

36
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

The English Civil War

Turmoil, religion, politics

• When James I became the first

English king of the Stuart dynasty, he
was already king of Scotland, so the
crowns of these two countries were
united. Although their parliaments
and administrative and judicial
systems continued to be separate,
their linguistic differences were
lessened in this century. The kind of
Middle English spoken in lowland
Scotland had developed into a written
language known as `Scots'. However,
the Scottish Protestant church 1. Puritans regarded many of the
adopted English rather than Scots practices of the Anglican Church, and
bibles. This, and the glamour of the also its hierarchical structure, as
English court where the king now
sat, caused modern English to
immoral. Some of them thought the
become the written standard in luxurious lifestyle of the king and his
Scotland as well. followers was immoral too. They were
also fiercely anti-Catholic and
• In the sixteenth century religion and
politics became inextricably linked. suspicious of the apparent sympathy
This link became even more intense towards Catholicism of the Stuart
in the seventeenth century. At the monarchs.
beginning of the century, some
people tried to kill the king because 2. This conflict led to the Civil War (r
he wasn't Catholic enough (see The Civil War), which ended with
chapter 23) . By the end of the complete victory for the
century, another king had been killed, parliamentary forces. The king
partly because he seemed too (Charles I) was captured and became
Catholic, and yet another had been
forced into exile for the same reason.
the first monarch in Europe to be
executed after a formal trial for
• This was the context in which, during crimes against his people. The leader
the century, Parliament established its of the parliamentary army, Oliver
supremacy over the monarchy in
Britain. Anger grew in the country at Cromwell, became 'Lord Protector'
the way that the Stuart monarchs of a republic with a military
raised money, especially because they government which, after he had
did not get the agreement of the brutally crushed resistance in Ireland,
House of Commons to do so first. effectively encompassed the whole of
This was against ancient tradition. In the British Isles.
addition, ideological Protestantism,
especially Puritanism, had grown in
England

37
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Fight Catholics and Protestants

The Glorious Revolution

• But when Cromwell died, he, his

system of government, and the
puritan ethics that went with it
(theatres and other forms of
amuse¬ment had been banned) had
become so unpopular that the son
of the executed king was asked to
return and take the throne. The
Anglican Curch was restored.
However, the conflict between
monarch and Parliament soon re-
emerged. The monarch, James II, James II, meanwhile, had fled to
tried to give full rights to Catholics, Ireland. But the Catholic Irish army
and to promote them in his
government. he gathered there was defeated. Laws
were then passed forbidding
• The 'Glorious Revolution'
(`glorious' because it was bloodless)
Catholics to vote or even own land.
followed, in which Prince William In Ulster, in the north of the country,
of Orange, ruler of the large numbers of fiercely anti-
Netherlands, and his Stuart wife Catholic Scottish Presbyterians settled
Mary, accepted Parliament's invita- (in possession of all the land).
tion to become king and queen. In
this way it was established that a The descendants of these people are
monarch could rule only with the still known today as Orangemen
support of Parliament. Parliament
immediately drew up a Bill of (after their patron William of
Rights, which limited some of the Orange). They form one half of the
powers of the monarch (notably, tragic split in society in modern
the power to dismiss judges). It also Northern Ireland, the other half
allowed Dissenters (those who did
not agree with the practices of being the 'native' Irish Catholics
Anglicanism) to practise their
religion freely. This meant that the
Presbyterian Church, to which the
majority of the lowland Scottish
belonged, was guaranteed its
legality. However, Dissenters were
not allowed to hold government
posts or be Members of Parliament.

38
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Shakespeare's Century
Revival of learning in Europe.
For three hundred years after the
Norman Conquest, English writers were
inclined to follow French models. Then
came Chaucer, who, thoroughly English
as he was, retold Italian stories, and was
for some years greatly influenced by
Italian literature.
Italy was looked upon as the land of
knowledge and light, and it was the
custom for Englishmen who wished for
better educational advantages than
Oxford or Cambridge could afford, to
go to that country to study in some one
of the great universities.
Italian scholars were deeply interested in
the writings of the Greeks and Romans.
For many years they had been collecting
ancient manuscripts, and in 1453 an
event occurred which brought more of
them to Italy than ever before. This
event was the capture of Constantinople
by the Turks. Constantinople had been
the home of many Greek scholars, who
now fled to Italy and brought the
priceless manuscripts with them. Then
there was study of the classics indeed.
More and more students went from
other countries to Italy. More and more
copies of those manuscripts were
carried to different parts of Europe.
Among the ancient writings was clear,
concise prose, so carefully finished that
every word seemed to be in its own
niche ; there were beautiful epics and
much other poetry ; there were essays,
histories, biographies, and orations.
Printing had come at just the right time
to spread this new ancient knowledge
over the Continent and England. All
western Europe was aroused.
Sonnets, plays, life
People felt a new sense of boldness and freedom.
They felt as if in the years gone by they had been
slow and stupid. Now they became daring and
fearless in their thought. They were eager to learn,
to do, to understand. This movement was so
marked that a name was given to it, the
Renaissance, or new birth, for people felt as if a
new life had come to them. The Renaissance did
not affect all countries alike. In Italy, the minds of
men turned toward sculpture and painting; in
Germany, to a bold investigation of religious
teachings in England, toward religion and
literature.
William Shakespeare’s Historical Plays.
After some merry, sparkling comedies, such as A
Midsummer Night's Dream and The Comedy of
Errors, there came a time when the poet seemed
fascinated by the history of his own land. In
writing historical drama Shakespeare was never a
student-author; Elizabethan life moved too rapidly
for much searching of old manuscripts and
records. Shakespeare's special power as a dramatist
of history lay in his sympathetic imagination by
which he understood the men of bygone days. He
read their motives, he pictured them as he could
imagine himself to have been in their
circumstances and with their qualities ; and more
than once his interpretation of some historical
character, opposed as it was to the common belief
of his time, has been proved by later investigation
to be correct.
39
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Shakespeare in the
seventeenth century.
1. In 1603, Queen Elizabeth died
and James of Scotland became
the sovereign of England. The
inspiration of the age of
Elizabeth lingered for some years
after her death, and the work of
Shakespeare, its greatest glory,
extended far into the reign of
James. His genius broadened and
deepened, and he gave to the new
century his deeper comedies and a
superb group of tragedies,
Hamlet, King Lear, and others.
2. His plays grow more intense,
more powerful. Sometimes he
uses bitter irony. Stern retribution
is visited upon both weak and
wicked. There is a touch of
gloom. Magnificent as these
dramas are, it is good to come
away from them to the ripple of
the sea, to the breeze of the
meadow land, to his last group of
plays, the joyous and beautiful
romantic dramas, such as the
Winters Tale, Cymbeline, and,
last of all, it may be.
3. The Tempest, that marvellous
production in which a child may
find a fairytale, a philosopher
suggestion and mystery and that "
solemn vision " of life that comes
in the midst of the wonders of
the magic island. When
Shakespeare's sonnets were
written and to whom they were
written is not known.
Other distinguished poets
Phiplip Sidney
Christopher Marlowe
Sir Philip Sidney, 1554-1586.
Sir Philip belonged to a noble family ; he received
every advantage of education and travel ; he was of so
singularly sweet a nature and so brilliant an intellect
that he was loved and admired by every one who knew
him. Yet he was not at all spoiled, he felt only the
more eager to prove himself worthy of this love and
admiration. When only twenty-three, he was sent to
Prague as the ambassador of his country. He was even
thought to be a fit candidate for the throne of Poland,
but here Queen Elizabeth .said no. " I will not brook
the loss of the jewel of my dominions," declared this
autocratic sovereign.
Sir Philip's book was named Arcadia, or as it was
usually called. The Countess of Pembroke s Arcadia. It
is a kind of pastoral romance, wherein young written
and maidens wander about in a beautiful forest. They
fall in love with one another; they are taken by pirates
and have encounters with bears; and all this occurs in a
fabulous country, a wilderness of faerie.
Christopher Marlowe, 1564-1593.
Such a writer was Christopher, or "Kit," Marlowe, one
of the "university wits," as one group of playwrights
was called, because nearly all of them had been
connected with one or the other of the great
universities. He is thought to have lived in somewhat
Bohemian fashion, but little is certainly known of his
life save that he took his degree at Cambridge. His
Tamburlaine was acted in 1587 or 1588. Five years
later, Marlowe died; but in those five years he wrote at
least three plays, the Jew of Malta, the Tragical History
of Doctor Faustus, and Edward II, which showed
what magnificent use could be made of blank verse.
40
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Other distinguished poets
Ben Jonson, 1573 9-1637.
1. When Shakespeare returned to
Stratford he left London full of
playwrights. Many of them had great
talent in some one line. Ford and
Webster had special power in
picturing sorrow and suffering ;
Beaumont and Fletcher, who worked
together, constructed their plots with
unusual skill and wrote most
exquisite little songs ; Chapman has
many graceful, beautiful passages ;
Dekker, as Charles Lamb said, had "
poetry enough for anything : " but
there was no second Shakespeare.
John Donne, 1573-1631.
1. This is precisely what came to pass ;
but in this variety of literary
productions there was hardly an
author who was not influenced by
the writings of a much admired
preacher and poet named John
Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's. His
life covered the reign of James and
two thirds of that of Elizabeth, but
just when his poems were written is
not known. They are noted for two
qualities.
John Milton, 1608-1674.
1. Of the poets who wrote between
1625 and 1660, John Milton stands
for the poetry of meditation. He was
born in 1608, the son of a wealthy
Londoner. The father was anxious
that his son should devote himself
to literature and when he saw how
perfectly the boy's wishes
harmonized with his own, he left
him absolutely free to follow his
own will.
The puritans in England
John Donne
John Milton
Increasing power of the Puritans.
1. A second reason for the decadence of the drama is
so intertwined with the first that they can hardly
be separated, namely, the ever-increasing power of
the Puritans. Even before 161 1, their influence
had become so strong that in numerous places
besides Stratford it was forbidden to act plays.
Many years earlier, even before Shakespeare first
went to London, some of the Puritans wrote most
earnestly against play-acting.
2. One spoke of " Poets, Pipers, Plaiers, Jesters, and
such-like caterpillars of a Commonwealth; " but he
had the grace to except some few plays which he
thought of better character than the rest. One
strong reason why the Puritans opposed plays at
that time was because they were performed on
Sundays as well as week-days, and people were
inclined to obey the trumpet of the theatre rather
than the bell of the church. Sunday acting was
given up, and as the years passed, not only the
Puritans, but those among their opponents who
looked upon life thoughtfully, began to feel that
the theatre, with the immorality and indecency of
many of the plays then in vogue.
3. Theatrical was no place for them. It was
abandoned to the thoughtless, to those who cared
little for the character of a play so long as it
amused them, and to those who had no dislike for
looseness of manners and laxness of principles.
Such was the audience to whom playwrights had
begun to cater. In 1642 came war between the
king and the people. In 1649 King Charles was
beheaded, and until 1660 the Puritan party was in
power.
41
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US HISTORY
Puritans Create a “New
England”
After King Henry VIII (1491–1547)
broke with Roman Catholicism in the
1530s, the Church of England was
formed. Although the new church was
free of Catholic control, one religious
group, the Puritans, felt that the church
had kept too much Catholic ritual. They
wanted to “purify,” or reform, the
church by eliminating all traces of
Catholicism. Some Puritans, called
Separatists, wanted to separate from the
English Church. They often met in
secret to avoid the punishment inflicted
upon those who did not follow the
Anglican form of worship.
One congregation of Separatists, known
today as the Pilgrims, eventually
migrated to America. There, in 1620,
this small group of families founded the
Plymouth Colony, the second permanent
English colony in North America. Their
Mayflower Compact, named for the ship
on which they sailed to North America,
became an important landmark in the
development of American democracy.
THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY
COLONY
Other Puritans who were not Separatists
turned their thoughts toward New
England in the 1620s. They felt the
burden of increasing religious
persecution, political repression, and
dismal economic conditions. In 1630, a
group of Puritans established the
Massachusetts Bay Colony along the
upper coast of North America. The port
town of Boston soon became the
colony’s thriving capital. Settlers
established other towns nearby and
eventually incorporated the Plymouth
Colony into the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.
The puritans in the English
colonies
The Puritans believed they had a special
covenant, or agreement, with God. To fulfill
their part, they were to create a moral society
that would serve as a beacon for others to
follow. Puritan leader John Winthrop
expressed the sense of mission that bound the
Puritans together, in a sermon delivered
aboard the flagship Arbella: “We [in New
England] shall be as a City upon a Hill; the
eyes of all people are on us.”
Although Puritans made no effort to create a
democracy, the Massachusetts Bay Company
extended the right to vote to all adult male
members of the Puritan church—40 percent
of the colony’s men. As their system of self-
government, so did the close relationship
between the government and the Puritan
church. The Puritan view dominated
Massachusetts society: taxes supported the
Puritan church, and laws required church
attendance.
Settlement of the Middle Colonies
While English Puritans were establishing
colonies in New England, the Dutch were
founding one to the south. As early as 1609,
Henry Hudson—an Englishman employed by
the Dutch—had sailed up the river that now
bears his name. The Dutch soon established a
fur trade with the Iroquois and built trading
posts on the Hudson River.
42
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US HISTORY
Puritans Create a “New
England”
THE DUTCH FOUND NEW
NETHERLAND
In 1621, the Dutch government granted
the newly formed Dutch West India
Company permission to colonize New
Netherland and expand the thriving fur
trade. New Amsterdam (now New York
City), founded in 1625, became the
capital of the colony. In 1655, the Dutch
extended their claims by taking over
New Sweden, a tiny colony of Swedish
and Finnish settlers that had established
a rival fur trade along the Delaware
River. To encourage settlers to come and
stay, the colony opened its doors to a
variety of ethnic and religious groups.
In 1664, the English took over the
colony without a fight. The duke of
York, the new proprietor, or owner, of
the colony, renamed it New York. The
duke later gave a portion of this land to
two of his friends, naming this territory
New Jersey for the British island of
Jersey.
THE QUAKERS SETTLE
PENNSYLVANIA
The acquisition of New Netherland was
one step in England’s quest to extend its
American empire after 1660, when the
English monarchy was restored after a
period of civil war and Puritan rule. The
new king, Charles II, owed a debt to the
father of a young man named William
Penn. As payment, Charles gave the
younger Penn a large property that the
king insisted be called Pennsylvania, or
“Penn’s Woods,” after the father.
Following this, in 1682, Penn acquired
more land from the duke of York, the
three counties that became Delaware.
The puritans in the English
colonies
William Penn belonged to the Society of Friends,
or Quakers, a Protestant sect that held services
without formal ministers, allowing any person
to speak as the spirit moved him or her. They
dressed plainly, refused to defer to persons of
rank, opposed war, and refused to serve in the
military. For their radical views, they were
scorned and harassed by Anglicans and
Puritans alike.
Penn wanted to establish a good and fair society
in keeping with Quaker ideals of equality,
cooperation, and religious toleration. Penn
guaranteed every adult male settler 50 acres of
land and the right to vote. His plan for
government called for a representative
assembly and freedom of religion. Like Roger
Williams before him, Penn believed that the
land belonged to the Native Americans, and he
saw to it that they were paid for it. England
and Its Colonies Prosper.
THIRTEEN COLONIES
Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, more British
colonies in North America were founded, each
for very different reasons. In 1632, King
Charles I granted land north of Chesapeake
Bay to George Calvert, the first Lord
Baltimore. Calvert’s son Cecil, the second Lord
Baltimore, named the colony Maryland, after
Queen Henrietta Maria, Charles’s wife. In
1663, King Charles II awarded a group of key
supporters the land between Virginia and
Spanish Florida, a territory that soon became
North and South Carolina.
43
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US HISTORY

Puritans Create a “New The puritans in America

England”
In 1732, an English philanthropist
named James Oglethorpe, along with
several associates, received a charter for
a colony he hoped could be a haven for
those imprisoned for debt. Oglethorpe
named the colony Georgia, after King
George II.
Few debtors actually came to Georgia,
and the British Crown assumed direct
control of the colony in 1752. By that
time, the Crown had begun to exercise
more and more control over colonial The key to this process was the establishment of
economies and governments. colonies. Colonies provided products,
especially raw materials, that could not be
The thirteen British colonies existed
found in the home country.
primarily for the benefit of England.
The colonies exported to England a rich In 1651, England’s Parliament, the country’s
variety of raw materials, such as lumber legislative body, moved to tighten control of
and furs, and in return they imported the colonial trade by passing a series of measures
manufactured goods that England known as the Navigation Acts. These acts
produced. The thirteen colonies that enforced the following rules:
became the original United States were
founded over a period of 125 years. • No country could trade with the colonies unless
Together, the colonies represented a the goods were shipped in either colonial or
wide variety of people, skills, motives, English ships.
industries, resources, and agricultural • All vessels had to be operated by crews that were
products. at least three quarters English or colonial.
MERCANTILISM AND THE • The colonies could export certain products,
NAVIGATION ACTS including tobacco and sugar—and later rice,
Beginning in the 16th century, the molasses, and furs—only to England.
nations of Europe competed for wealth • Almost all goods traded between the colonies
and power through a new economic and Europe first had to pass through an
system called mercantilism, in which the English port.
colonies played a critical role. According
to the theory of mercantilism, a nation The system created by the Navigation Acts
could increase its wealth and power in obviously benefited England. It proved to be
two ways: by obtaining as much gold and good for most colonists as well. By restricting
silver as possible, and by establishing a trade to English or colonial.
favorable balance of trade, in which it
sold more goods than it bought. A
nation’s ultimate goal was to become
self-sufficient so that it did not have to
depend on other countries for goods.

44
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US LITERATURE
Literature in Colonial
Beginnings
The story of American literature begins
in the early 16005, long before there
were any “Americans”. The earliest
writers were Englishmen describing the
English exploration and colonization of
the New World (America). THOMAS
HARIOT’s Briefe and True Report of
the New—Found Land of Virginia
(1588) was only the first of many such
works. Back in England, people planning
to move to Virginia or New England
would read the books as travel guides.
But this was dangerous because such
books often mixed facts with fantasy‘.
For example, one writer (WILLIAM
WOOD) claimed that he had seen lions
in Massachusetts. It is probable that
these “true reports” had a second kind
of reader. People could certainly read
them as tales of adventure and
excitement. Like modern readers of
science fictions, they could enjoy
imaginary voyages to places they could
never visit in reality.
The writings of CAPTAIN JOHN
SMITH ( I 58071 631) probably satisfied
readers of both kinds. A real adventurer,
he had fought the Turks in Hungary,
where he was wounded and taken
prisoner. He was sold as a slave and
escaped by killing his master. In I607, he
helped found3 Jamestown, the first
English colony in America. Although the
details are not always correct, his True
Relation of Virginia (I608) and
Description of New England (1616) are
fascinating “advertisements” which try
to persuade the reader to settle In the
New World.
Literature and religion
The Puritans“, for instance, studied his
Description of New England carefully and
then decided to settle there in I620. Smith was
often boastful about his own adventures in
his books. His General Historie of Virginia,
New England and the summer the Isles I 624)
contains the story of his rescue by a beautiful
Indian princess. The story is probably untrue,
but It is the first famous from American
literature.
Almost from the beginning, as the English settled
along the Atlantic coast of America, there
were important differences between the
Southern and the New England colonies. In
the South, enormous farms or “plantations”
used the labor of black slaves to grow tobacco.
The rich and powerful plantation owners were
slow to develop a literature of their own. They
preferred books imported from England. But
in New England, the Puritan settlers had come
to the New World in order to form a society
based on strict Christian beliefs. Like the
Puritans in England, who were fighting against
the English king (in a war that lasted from I642
to I652), they believed that society should be
based on the laws of God. Therefore they had
a far stronger sense of unity and of a “shared
purpose”. This was one of the reasons why
culture and literature developed much faster
than in the South.
45
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US LITERATURE

Literature in Colonial Literature and religion

Beginnings
William Bradford (1590-1657)
William Bradford was elected governor
of Plymouth in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony shortly after the Separatists
landed. He was a deeply pious, self-
educated man who had learned several
languages, including Hebrew, in order to
"see with his own eyes the ancient
oracles of God in their native beauty."
His participation in the migration to
Holland and the Mayflower voyage to
Plymouth, and his duties as governor, She preferred her long, religious poems on
made him ideally suited to be the first conventional subjects such as the seasons, but
historian of his colony. His history, Of contemporary readers most enjoy the witty
Plymouth Plantation (1651), is a clear poems on subjects from daily life and her
and compelling account of the colony's warm and loving poems to her husband and
beginning. children. She was inspired by English
metaphysical poetry, and her book The Tenth
Bradford also recorded the first
Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650)
document of colonial self-governance in
shows the influence of Edmund Spenser,
the English New World, the "Mayflower
Philip Sidney, and other English poets as well.
Compact," drawn up while the Pilgrims
were still on board ship. The compact Edward Taylor (c. 1644-1729)
was a harbinger of the Declaration of
Independence to come a century and a Like Anne Bradstreet, and, in fact, all of New
half later. England's first writers, the intense, brilliant
poet and minister Edward Taylor was born in
Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612-1672) England. The son of a yeoman farmer -- an
independent farmer who owned his own land -
The first published book of poems by
- Taylor was a teacher who sailed to New
an American was also the first American
England in 1668 rather than take an oath of
book to be published by a woman --
loyalty to the Church of England. He studied
Anne Bradstreet. It is not surprising that
at Harvard College, and, like most Harvard-
the book was published in England,
trained ministers, he knew Greek, Latin, and
given the lack of printing presses in the
Hebrew. A selfless and pious man, Taylor acted
early years of the first American
as a missionary to the settlers when he
colonies. Born and educated in England,
accepted his lifelong job as a minister in the
Anne Bradstreet was the daughter of an
frontier town of Westfield, Massachusetts, 160
earl's estate manager. She emigrated with
kilometers into the thickly forested, wild
her family when she was 18. Her
interior. Taylor was the best-educated man in
husband eventually became governor of
the area, and he put his knowledge to use,
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which
working as the town minister, doctor, and civic
later grew into the great city of Boston.
leader.

46
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US LITERATURE
Literature in Colonial
Beginnings
Samuel Sewall (1652-1730)
Easier to read than the highly religious
poetry full of Biblical references are the
historical and secular accounts that
recount real events using lively details.
Governor John Winthrop's Journal
(1790) provides the best information on
the early Massachusetts Bay Colony and
Puritan political theory.
Samuel Sewall's Diary, which records the
years 1674 to 1729, is lively and
engaging. Sewall fits the pattern of early
New England writers we have seen in
Bradford and Taylor. Born in England,
Sewall was brought to the colonies at an
early age. He made his home in the
Boston area, where he graduated from
Harvard, and made a career of legal,
administrative, and religious work.
Cotton Mather (1663-1728)
No account of New England colonial
literature would be complete without
mentioning Cotton Mather, the master
pedant. The third in the four-generation
Mather dynasty of Massachusetts Bay,
he wrote at length of New England in
over 500 books and pamphlets. Mather's
1702 Magnalia Christi Americana
(Ecclesiastical History of New England),
his most ambitious work, exhaustively
chronicles the settlement of New
England through a series of biographies.
The huge book presents the holy Puritan
errand into the wilderness to establish
God s kingdom; its structure is a
narrative progression of representative
American "Saints' Lives." His zeal
somewhat redeems his pompousness: "I
write the wonders of the Christian
religion, flying from the deprivations of
Europe to the American strand."
Literature and religion
Roger Williams (c. 1603-1683)
As the 1600s wore on into the 1700s, religious
dogmatism gradually dwindled, despite
sporadic, harsh Puritan efforts to stem the tide
of tolerance. The minister Roger Williams
suffered for his own views on religion. An
English-born son of a tailor, he was banished
from Massachusetts in the middle of New
England's ferocious winter in 1635. Secretly
warned by Governor John Winthrop of
Massachusetts, he survived only by living with
Indians; in 1636, he established a new colony
at Rhode Island that would welcome persons
of different religions.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
The antithesis of John Woolman is Jonathan
Edwards, who was born only 17 years before
the Quaker notable. Woolman had little formal
schooling; Edwards was highly educated.
Woolman followed his inner light; Edwards
was devoted to the law and authority. Both
men were fine writers, but they reveal opposite
poles of the colonial religious experience.
Edwards was molded by his extreme sense of
duty and by the rigid Puritan environment,
which conspired to make him defend strict and
gloomy Calvinism from the forces of
liberalism springing up around him. He is best
known for his frightening, powerful sermon,
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
47
EXERCICIOS

Responda as seguintes perguntas com Faça a leitura dos pequenos fragmentos e

responda
base nos textos desta unidade.

1. Quais foram as causas do enfraquecimento 4. Elizabeth é considerada uma da rainhas

do poder econômico e politico dos barões do mais respeitada da nação. De tres razoes
sistema feudal da Inglaterra? porque a mesma alcançou tamanho
prestigio junto aos ingleses.
……………………………………………
…………………………………………… ……………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………
……………
2. A dinastia Tudor (1485-1603) estabeleceu
um sistema de governo nos quais os barões
feudais não eram mais necessários para 5. De todos os monarcas inglesa, Henrique
implementar a política governamental. VII é o mais famoso. A que é atribuída sua
Assim o parlamento era composto de “ The fama?
house of Lords” e The House of
Commons”. Explique a diferença entre as ……………………………………………
duas casas? …………………………………………
…………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… ……………
……………………………………………
………………………………………… .6.O que levou a uma guerra civil do século
17 na Inglaterra, e qual foi sua principal
3. Ao contrário de grande parte do resto da questão?
Europa, a causa direta da Reforma
protestante na Inglaterra era política e
pessoal, e não doutrinária. Qual a desculpa ……………………………………………
usada para romper com Roma? Como a …………………………………………
reforma contribuiu para aumentar a riqueza …………………………………………
da Inglaterra? …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
…………………………………………… …………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
…………………………………………

48
EXERCICIOS

Responda as seguintes perguntas com Faça a leitura dos pequenos fragmentos e

responda
base nos textos desta unidade.

7. A Rainha Elizabeth subiu ao trono 10. Por que a "Revolução Gloriosa" foi
depois do reinado de sua meia-irmã, importante para a Inglaterra?
_____. ……………………………………………
…………………………………………
Maria I …………………………………………
a) Ana Bolena …………………………………………
…………………………………………
b) Katharine …………………………………………
…………………………………………
c) Mary Queen of Scotts …………………………………………
…………………………………………
………………………………………
8. Mary I, rainha dos escoceses,
também era conhecida como: 11. Quem foi o responsavel pela idealização
a) Maria Sangrenta da: Commonwealth e Protectorate do
século XVII?
b) Mary Stuart
……………………………………………
c) Maria III …………………………………………
…………………………………………
d) Maria de Castela …………………………………………
…………………………………………
…………………………………………
…………………………………………
9. Maria, Rainha dos Escoceses, ……………
ganhou o trono escocês depois de(a)
_____.
a) morte de seu pai 12. Quem eram os Tories e Whigs no
Parlamento do século XVII?
b) Usurpar o trono de seu pai ……………………………………………
c) Usurpar o trono de …………………………………………
…………………………………………
Elizabeth I …………………………………………
d) Ser nomeada rainha da …………………………………………
…………………………………………
França …………………………………………
……………

49
 Licenciatura em Letras/Inglês
Módulo IV

UNIDADE 4
THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
1701 - 1900 AD
The 18th century political context; Social changes; War with France; The Industrial
Revolution; Early and Late Industrial Revolution; The Empire; The Victorian Age;
The Empire Foreign Policy; Springboard to the US History (The intolerable Acts;
The Boston Tea Party; The Revolutionary war; The Declaration of Independence; The
American Civil War; Puritans in the USA) Springboard to English and American
Literature
 THE 18TH AND
19TH
CENTURIES
The 18th century
political context
1. Politically, this century was stable.
Monarch and Parliament got on quite
well together. One reason for this was
that the monarch's favourite politicians,
through the royal power of patronage
(the ability to give people jobs), were able
to control the election and voting habits
of a large number of Members of
Parliament (MPs) in the House of
Commons.
2. Within Parliament the divisions of the
previous century, though far less bitter
than before, were echoed in the
formation of two vaguely opposed loose
collections of allies. One group, the
Whigs, were the political 'descendants' of
the parliamentarians. They supported the
Protestant values of hard work and
thrift, were sympathetic to Dissenters
and believed in government by monarch
and aristocracy together.
3. The other group, the Tories, had a
greater respect for the idea of the
monarchy and the importance of the
Anglican Church (and sometimes even a
little sympathy for Catholics and the
Stuarts). The two terms, Whig and Tory,
had in fact first been used in the late
67os and allegiance to one side or the
other was more often the result of family
or regional loyalty than of political
beliefs. This could be said, however, to
be the beginning of the party system in
Britain
Unit 4 The 18th and 19th centuries
The 18th century political context; Social
changes; War with France; The Industrial
Revolution; Early and Late Industrial Revolution;
The Empire; The Victorian Age; The Empire
Foreign Policy; Springboard to the US History
(The intolerable Acts; The Boston Tea Party;
The Revolutionary war; The Declaration of
Independence; The American Civil War;
Puritans in the USA) Springboard to Literature
The Parliament
1. The modern system of an annual budget
drawn up by the monarch's Treasury officials
for the approval of Parliament was
established during this century. So, too, was
the habit of the monarch appointing one
principal, or 'Prime', Minister from the ranks
of Parliament to head his government.
2. At the beginning of the century, by
agreement, the Scottish Parliament joined
with the English and Welsh Parliament at
Westminster in London. However, Scotland
retained its own system of law, more similar
to continental European systems than to that
of England. It does so to this day.
3. The only part of Britain to change radically
as a result of political forces in this century
was the highlands area of Scotland. This area
twice supported failed attempts to put a
(Catholic) Stuart monarch back on the throne
by force. After the second attempt, many
inhabitants of the highlands were killed or
sent away from Britain and the wearing of
highland dress (the tartan kilt) was banned.
51
THE 18th century – social changes
The 18th century ….
1. It was cultural change that was most
marked in this century. Britain
gradually expanded its empire in the
Americas, along the west African
coast and in India. The increased
trade which resulted from the links
with these new markets was one
factor which led to the Industrial
Revolution. The many technical
innovations in the areas of
manufacturing and transport during
this period were also important
contributing factors.
2. In England, the growth of the
industrial mode of production,
together with advances in agriculture,
caused the greatest upheaval in the
pattern of everyday life since the
Anglo-Saxon invasions. Areas of
common land, which had been
available for use by everybody in a
village for the grazing of animals
since Anglo-Saxon times, disappeared
as landowners incorporated them into
their increasingly large and more
efficient farms. (Some pieces of
common land remain in Britain today,
used mainly as public parks. They are
often called 'the common'.) Hundreds
of thousands of people moved from
rural areas into new towns and cities.
3. Most of these new towns and cities
were in the north of England, where
the raw materials for industry were
available. In this way, the north, which
had previously been economically
backward compared to the south,
became the industrial heartland of the
country. The right conditions for
industrialisation also existed in
lowland Scotland and south Wales,
which accentuated the differences
between those parts of these
countries and their non-industrialised
areas.
war with France
In the south of England, London came to dominate,
not as an industrial centre but as a business and trading
centre. By the end of the century, it had a population
close to a million.
WAR WITH FRANCE
Apart from a brief interlude in 1802¬3, England
remained at war with France from 1793 to 1815. Pitt's
primary objective in financing a costly war in the form
of coalitions abroad (only in the later stages were
British troops sent to fight overseas) was not the
overthrowing of the Revolutionary government or
Napoleon, but to preserve the balance of power in
Europe and protect the interests of British trade.
Three French invasion attempts in the late 1790s
proved vain, and despite the mounting costs of the
war (covered by heavy tax increases and the
introduction of an income tax) British forces prevailed.
French efforts to prevent England trading with
Europe through the so-called 'Continental System'
were economically damaging, but proved ultimately
futile because the English navy blockaded the ports it
wasn't allowed to enter. Admiral Nelson destroyed
combined French and Spanish naval forces at
Trafalgar in 1805, and the world-wide hegemony of
the British navy was never again called into question
until after the First World War in 1914. The superiority
of French land forces crumbled in the wake of a
humiliating defeat at the hands of the Russians, and
Wellington hammered home the final nail in the coffin
of revolutionary despotism at Waterloo in Belgium in
1815.
52
The industrial revolution
The industrial revolution
1. By 1815 Britain had eclipsed France as
the world's most powerful nation. Her
trading interests abroad were secure and
no other single nation was in any position
to challenge her world-wide commercial
hegemony. At home the so-called
'revolution' in industry and agriculture
resulted in greater efficiency, lower costs
and vastly improved productivity levels:
all this at considerable human cost. The
prevailing economic philosophy of
laissez-faire (i.e., no direct governmental
interference in the free operation of
economic laws) was conducive to what
might be called a gospel of trade and
competition. Despite the hardship of the
labouring classes, this philosophy was
adhered to closely and was to remain
virtually unchallenged for many decades,
even by prospective reformers of the
period.
2. Although the possession of property was
still very much the yardstick by which a
man was measured and valued, and
Parliament was still the smoking room of
the landed interests, a new breed of
middle-class, large-scale employers and
commercial traders was creeping to the
fore. Their entrepreneurial spirit was
liberated by a lack of effective
governmental regulations, a vastly
improved transport and communications
network, a number of challenging, new
inventions and a steady flow of available
capital.
3. These were the men whose achievements
constituted further evidence of Britain's
violent transition from a primarily
agricultural society to that of the first
truly modern industrial nation, a nation
which at its zenith in later Victorian times
was to become known as the 'workshop
of the world'.
Early and late Industrial
Revolution
Early industry
Early 18th century British industries were
generally small scale and relatively
unsophisticated. Most textile production, for
example, was centred on small workshops or in
the homes of spinners, weavers and dyers: a literal
‘cottage industry’ that involved thousands of
individual manufacturers. Such small-scale
production was also a feature of most other
industries, with different regions specialising in
different products: metal production in the
Midlands, for example, and coal mining in the
North-East.
Factories
The spinning of cotton into threads for weaving
into cloth had traditionally taken place in the
homes of textile workers. In 1769, however,
Richard Arkwright patented his ‘water frame’, that
allowed large-scale spinning to take place on just a
single machine. This was followed shortly
afterwards by James Hargreaves’ ‘spinning jenny’,
which further revolutionised the process of
cotton spinning.
The weaving process was similarly improved by
advances in technology. Edmund Cartwright’s
power loom, developed in the 1780s, allowed for
the mass production of the cheap and light cloth
that was desirable both in Britain and around the
Empire. Steam technology would produce yet
more change.
53
The 19th century – The Empire

The empire The Victorian Age

1. Not long before this century began,

Britain had lost its most important
American colonies in a war of
independence. When the century
began, the country was locked in a
war with France, during which an
invasion by a French army was a real
possibility. Soon after the end of the
century, Britain controlled the biggest
empire the world had ever seen (see
chapter t 2).
2. One section of this empire was
Ireland. During this century it was, in
fact, part of the UK itself, and it was
during this century that the British
culture and way of life came to
predominate in Ireland. In the t 84os,
the potato crop failed two years in a
row and there was a terrible famine. William IV was succeeded by his niece
Millions of peasants, those with Irish VICTORIA, who was only eighteen. She was to
Gaelic language and customs, either reign for 64 years and become the symbol of a
died or emigrated. By the end of the whole era, which was called VICTORIAN AGE.
century almost the whole of the When Victoria ascended the throne she found a
remaining population were using country in difficult circumstances: there was much
English as their first language. discontent among the working classes which led
3. Another part of the empire was made to about ten years of widespread misery (the
up of Canada, Australia and New “hungry forties”). a direct consequence of this
Zealand, where settlers from the crisis was the birth of the CHARTIST
British Isles formed the majority of MOVEMENT (1837), so called because it asked
the population. These countries had for a Charter of social reforms.
complete internal self-government but Trade Unions were legalized in 1825-1826, and in
recognized the overall authority of the 1875 the TRADE UNION ACT, passed by
British government. Another was Disraeli’s government, finally gave legality and
India, an enormous country with a status to the Unions.
culture more ancient than Britain's.
Tens of thousands of British civil Queen Victoria’s reign saw a succession of great
servants and troops were used to Prime Ministers, some belonging to the Tories (or
govern it. called Conservatives, like Peel and Disraeli) and
some to the Whigs (or called Liberals, like
Gladstone and Palmerstone). The two parties had
different views of current problems and offered
different solutions.

54
The 19th century -

The empire The Victorian Age

1. When the SECOND REFORM BILL

was passed in 1867, the town
labourers obtained the right of vote,
while the agricultural labourers and
miners obtained the right of vote in
1884 when the THIRD REFORM
BILL was passed. [Suffrage was
extended to all male workers]
2. In 1892 the
INDIPENDENT LABOUR PARTY
was formed, and the working classes
were able to compete for political But an association was formed, the “Anti-
power, and it paved the way for the Corn-Law League” which combined working and
MODERN BRITISH LABOUR middle class interests and obtained the REPEAL
PARTY, which was founded in 1900. of THE CORN LAWS, in 1846 (with the support
3. IRELAND a great political of the Conservative Prime Minister Peel)
problem of the time was IRELAND. 1. SOCIAL REFORMS and ACHIEVEMENTS
Its population, mostly consisting of
Catholics, was very poor. Ireland was
an agricultural country and the worst 2. -The FACTORY ACTS, which improved the
problems were STARVATION and conditions of workers in factories.
widespread EMIGRATION. To stop
3. -The TEN HOURS’ ACT (1847), which
emigration to both England and
limited working hours to ten a day.
America, Charles S. Parnell, a famous
Nationalist leader, demanded HOME 4. -The MINES ACT (1862), which prohibited
RULE (i.e. Home Government) for the working of women and children in mines.
Ireland in 1880. Unfortunately the
IRISH HOME RULE BILL 5. -The PUBLIC HEALTH ACT (1875), which
(introduced by the English Prime improved health conditions.
Minister) was twice rejected by the 6. -The EDUCATION ACTS (1870)(1876),
Conservatives. which re-organized elementary education.
4. CORN LAWS The price of corn 7. -PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, through the
was another social question of the introduction of the secret ballot.
time. It was kept high (while it was
kept down during the English 8. -The EMANCIPATION OF ALL
Romantic Period) by the Government RELIGIOUS SECTS (1871), by which the
through PROTECTIVE TARIFFS, Catholics were finally allowed to enter Oxford
the CORN LAWS, which restricted and Cambridge and work in government jobs;
the importation of foreign corn.
9. -The ADOPTION OF THE FAMOUS
ENGLISH WEEK (1850), by which Saturday
afternoon was devoted to pleasure and
entertainment.

55
The 19th century – The Empire Foreign Policy
FOREIGN POLICY
1. INDIAN MUTINY (1857)
During the Victorian Age the Great
British Colonial Empire took its final
form. After the INDIAN MUTINY of
1857, the East India Company was
abolished and India passed under the
control of the British Government. [In
1876 Queen Victoria became Empress of
India]
1. The British Empire involved even
Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
India, Cyprus, Malta, and so on.
2. THE BOER WAR (1899-1902)
3. After 1875 England penetrated into
Africa extending British rule over
Uganda, Kenya and Niger territories.
From 1899 and 1902 England was at
war with SOUTH AFRICAN
PROVINCES (Orange and the
Transvaal) where gold and diamonds
had been discovered. These regions
were ruled by Dutch colonists called
BOERS. The war lasted about 3 years,
it ended in 1902 giving England
SUPREMACY over the TWO
DUTCH COLONIES.
THE CRIMEAN WAR (1854-1856)
The Crimean War originated in a dispute
between Turkey and Russia. France and
England DECLARED WAR on Russia,
taking the side of TURKEY. (because
they feared the growing power of Russia
in the Balkans). Russia was defeated, but
the expeditions exposed the
disorganization of the English supreme
command. Public opinion was horrified at
the news of the terrible conditions in
which sick soldiers were kept.
The Victorian Age
In 1901 QUEEN VICTORIA died, and an age
died with here. In her long life she had
represented all the civil and domestic virtues that
England believed in: DUTY, MORALITY and
LOVE FOR THE FAMILY.
The Victorian Age was a complex age, marked by
political, social and religious unrest.
The class that benefited most from the changes
of the time was the middle class. Made up of
manufacturers, merchants and bankers, it
increased in power and it was also favoured by
progress in industrial and technological fields.
OPTIMISM Colonial expansion was fostered,
scientific research was encouraged and
transportation spread and improved; These
technical progress led to an optimistic view.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS The Victorians were
proud of their welfare, and of their middle-class
values, and tended to ignore the problems which
still afflicted England. There was, in fact, a part of
society, where misery were still widespread.
Families were crowded into single rooms, the
number of slums where growing and this caused a
lot of health problems, and occasionally led to
cholera.
Poverty was virtually regarded as a crime and
penalized as such. Debtors, for example, were still
kept in jail. Education, too, had its problems.
Teachers were often incompetent and corporal
punishment was still regularly applied to maintain
discipline.
56
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US HISTORY
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts of 1774 was one
of the major reasons for the existence
of the American Revolutionary War in
the first place. These Acts came from
Britain as a way for the UK to try to
control the American colonies. The
American colonies opposed such acts,
because the colonies believed that they
didn’t have enough political
representation in the British Parliament
and they felt such acts violated their
rights as colonists. These acts existed as
a way to allow the British Empire to
extract taxes from the American colonies
to end the debt that the 7 Years War
called. The four British disciplinary acts
placed on Americans by the British were
that: The Boston Port Act closed
Boston’s harbors due to the Tea Party,
The second act allowed British officials
to hold Americans to trial in other
colonies (even in Britain called the
Administration of Justice Act), the
Quebec Act of 1774 banned trading
between the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers, and the last act was to allow the
British to have colonist soldiers (or the
Coercive Acts). There was the
Quartering Act was extended to publicly
occupied buildings or that Boston must
house the British troops sent to enforce
the Coercive Acts. The Quartering Act
allowed British soldiers to live in any
colonial home without any permission,
which was wrong.
The Boston Tea Party happened in
December 16, 1773 in Boston,
Massachusetts. It was a political protest
done by the Sons of Liberty
organization. The Sons of Liberty
wanted political independence from the
British Empire. It had members from all
thirteen colonies and it opposed the
taxation from the British government.
The Boston Tea Party
They fought the Stamp Act of 1765 as well.
Controversy between Great Britain and the
colonies arose in the 1760's when Parliament
sought, for the first time, to impose a direct tax
on the colonies for the purpose of raising
revenue (because of the Seven Years War, etc.).
Some colonists, known in the colonies as Whigs,
objected to the new tax program, arguing that
it was a violation of the British Constitution
(as no colonies could be taxed without consent
from colonial assemblies).This protest was
against the Tea Act of May 10, 1773.
The Tea Act came from Parliament. It was created
to help the British East India Company, which
faced economic problems. It also wanted to
prevent illegal tea that was smuggled into the
North American colonies. Tea smugglers
continued to work in New York and
Philadelphia. Whigs in the colonies opposed
the Tea Party.
They resisted the consignees who were assigned
to enforce the Tea Act too. The Boston Tea
Party involved colonists (some of them
disguised themselves as Native Americans) to
board tea ships anchored in the harbor. Later,
they dumped the tea cargo overboard.
The British Parliament and King George were
furious, so they enacted the Coercive Acts.
These acts were used to punish Massachusetts
for its resistance and it established the
appointment of George Thomas Gage as royal
governor of Massachusetts.
57
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US HISTORY

The Declaration of Independence

The Revolutionary War

The actions by the Parliament from

British further increased tensions. The
colonists have said that they were
experiencing “taxation without
representation” as the colonists had
virtual no representation in the British
Parliament to really have a say in policies
politically. The North Ministry failed to
make the colonists and the Parliament to
reconcile amicably. Samuel Adams
defended the Boston Tea Party.
The Beginning of the Revolutionary and when British troops entered Lexington on the
War morning of April 19, they found 77
Minutemen formed up on the village green.
The American Revolutionary War lasted
Shots were exchanged, killing several
from 1775 to 1783. It was one of the
Minutemen. The British moved on to
most serious wars in human history. The
Concord, where a detachment of three
war was between Great Britain and the
companies was engaged and routed at the
thirteen of the North American colonies
North Bridge by a force of 500 minutemen.
who had declared themselves the
As the British retreated back to Boston,
independent United States of America.
thousands of militiamen attacked them along
The conflict expanded into the
the roads, inflicting many casualties before
Caribbean, India, and other places.
timely British reinforcements prevented a total
America had allies in France, Spain, and
disaster.
the Netherlands. The war started in
1775. The Declaration of Independence was a
document created by the American colonies to
As early as February of 1775, Parliament
establish the proclamation of independence
declared Massachusetts as in a state of
from the British Empire. It was created in the
rebellion. Lieutenant General Thomas
midst of the early parts of the American
Gage was the British North American
Revolutionary War. One-third of America
commander in chief. He commanded
supported the Revolution while two-thirds
four regiments of British regulars (or
were either neutral or Loyalist. There were
about 4,000 men) from his headquarters
attempts to end the war, but they failed. Many
in Boston. The countryside was
colonies opposed the British Stamp Act of
controlled by the revolutionaries. On
1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767. The
April 14, Gage was ordered to disarm
colonists were restricted of representation in
the rebels and arrest their leaders. It was
Parliament. The Thirteen colonies announced
during the night of April 18, 1775 that
that they wanted to be independent sovereign
things would change forever in America.
states. So, the document was very historic. It
On that date, General Gage sent 700
was adopted by the Second Continental
men to seize munitions sorted by the
Congress meeting at Philadelphia,
colonial militia in Concord,
Pennsylvania. John Adams was a leader in
Massachusetts. Riders including Paul
pushing for independence. On June 7, 1776,
Revere alerted the countryside,
there was Lee’s Resolution.

58
SPRINGBOARD TO THE US HISTORY

American Civil War Battle of Gattyburg

In the 1860s, the United States went

to war over slavery and states’ rights.
The Northern states, where slavery
was already illegal, wanted it
abolished throughout the country.
However, the Southern states wanted
to keep slavery, since they relied on
African slaves to farm their crops of
cotton and tobacco. It was a bloody
battle that tore the country apart
before slavery was finally abolished. African-American soldiers
Union versus Confederate About 180,000 African-Americans served in the
Union army, making up approximately 10
The Civil War resulted in a great loss percent of the total force (about 40,000 of
of American life. About 620,000 whom died). Toward the end of the war, the
Americans died, more than in any South even raised the possibility of forming
other conflict, including both world African-American battalions, although these
wars combined. The two sides were never materialized.
the Union (Northern states) and the
7 southern states broke away from the Union at
Confederacy (Southern states)
the start of the war. These were later joined by
23 states remained loyal to another 4 states, making 11.

the Union at the start of the • Population: 9 million

war. Another two, Nevada and • Soldiers: 1.1 million

West Virginia, joined during • Number of deaths: 260,000

• Cost of war: $4 billion
the conflict, making 25.
• Soldier’s monthly pay: $11
• Population: 22 million
• Soldiers: 2.1 million
Battle of Gettysburg
• Number of deaths: 360,000
Union and Confederate troops clashed thousands
• Cost of war: $6.2 billion of times over the course of the war. A major
turning point came in July 1863, when Union
• Soldier’s monthly pay: $13 troops halted the South’s advance (below) at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. About 51,000
soldiers on both sides were killed

59
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE

THE CENTURY OF Distinguished writers

PROSE
Alexander Pope, 1688-1744.
This boy's name was Alexander Pope.
His father was a retired merchant who
was exceedingly proud of his precocious
son while his mother looked upon him
as the most marvellous boy that ever
lived. The family were Roman Catholics,
and therefore he would not have been
allowed to enter either of the universities
even if he had been well ; but he did a
vast amount of reading and studying,
though with very little formal Daniel Defoe, 16619-1731.
instruction. Before he was twenty-one
Swift would have looked upon it as the very irony of
he had published several poems, he was
fate if he had known that his most bitter satire had
well known among the literary men of become a book for children; but Daniel Defoe would
the time, and associated with them upon have been pleased, though perhaps a little amused, to
equal terms. In 171 1, when he was only find that his Robinson Crusoe, which he published as
twenty- three, his Essay on Criticism a real account of a real man, had become not only a
came out. children's book but a work of the imagination.
Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745.
There were two men of the time of Robert Burns, 1759-1796.
Queen Anne whose names are familiar Burns was the son of an intelligent, religious farmer.
to-day chiefly because each wrote a book His years of school were few, but he was by no means
that children like. The name of the first an ignorant man, for he had a shelf of good books,
was Jonathan Swift, that of the second and he had long evenings of conversation with" his
was Daniel Defoe. The first time that father, a man of no common mould.
Addison saw Swift was at a coffee-
house. A tall stranger in the garb of a Another thing was of the utmost value to him who
was to become the poet of Scotland, and that was his
clergyman stalked into the room, laid his
mother's familiarity with the ballads and songs of the
hat on a table, and began to stride back olden time, and the fairy tales and legends with which
and forth. After half an hour he paid the the mind of one Betty Davidson, a member of the
usual penny at the bar and walked away. family, was stocked.
This was the eccentric clergyman who
had come from his home in Ireland to Burns's most notable work. The songs of Burns have
make a visit to England. been sung wherever English is spoken. They are so
simple and sincere that they go straight to the heart,
Gululllver's Travels was written as a so-musical that they almost make their own Songs of
satire, and Travels, expressed his hatred melody. Songs of such intense feeling a " My luve is
and scorn of men perhaps more fiercely like a red, red rose,"
than any other of his writings.

60
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
THE CENTURY OF
THE NOVEL
The " Lake Poets." The three qualities
that were so clearly manifested in the
poetry of Burns, namely, interest in man,
love of nature, and impatience of
restraint, become even more apparent in
the writings of the nineteenth century.
Individuality increased. It is less easy to
label writers as belonging to a certain "
school."
The three poets of the first of the
century who are usually classed together
as the "Lake School "have little in
common except their friendship and the
fact that they lived in the Lake Country.
These three were William Wordsworth,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert
Southey.
Lyrical Ballads, 1798. The two men
agreed to bring out a little book, Lyrical
Ballads, and go to Germany with its
proceeds ; and this was done.
Coleridge's best work. Coleridge's best
poetry was written about the time of the
publication of Lyrical Ballads. It was
then that he composed Christabel, the
mystic tale of the innocent maiden who
is enthralled by the power of magic.
Lord Byron, 1788-1824.
George Gordon, Lord Byron, whose
Childe Harold brought Scott's narrative
poetry to an end, was the son of a
worthless profligate and a mother who
sometimes petted him, sometimes
abused him, and was capable of flying
into storms of anger at a moment's
warning. He was so sensitive about his
lameness that as a tiny child he struck
Hours of fiercely with his whip at a
visitor who ventured to express some
pity for him.
Mary Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792-1822.
The works of two poets of this time, Percy Bysshe
Shelley and John Keats, are so strongly marked by
their love of beauty and their ability to express it as to
separate them from the others. Shelley's whole life was
a revolt against restraint. After five months at Oxford
he wrote a pamphlet against the Christian religion, and
was promptly expelled. At nineteen he married a
young girl, three years his junior, because he thought
she was tyrannized over in being required to obey the
rules of her school.
Shelley loved the world, and he longed to have all
things pure and beautiful; but he fancied that the one
change needed to bring about this state of purity and
beauty was to abolish the laws and the religion in
which men believed. It is hard for ordinary mortals to
understand his way of looking at matters; but those
who prometiieus knew him best were convinced of his
honesty. Prometheus Unbound is one of his best long
poems. He pictures the hero as rebelling against the
gods, indeed, but as loving man
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1
February 1851) was an English novelist, short story
writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel
writer, best known for her Gothic novel
Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).
She also edited and promoted the works of her
husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy
Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political
philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the
philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft..
61
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
THE CENTURY OF
THE NOVEL
Charles Dickens, 1812-1870.
The first nine years of Charles Dickens's
life were very, happy ; but his father's
salary was cut down, and before long he
was imprisoned for debt. The rest of the
family established themselves in the
prison, and there the little boy spent his
Sundays. Through the week he was left
to work all day in a cellar and spend his
nights in an attic. It is no wonder that
throughout his life he had deep
sympathy for lonely children. After a
while came a few years of prosperity,
and the boy was sent to school.
He wrote Oliver Twist, and his other
novels appeared in quick succession. He
edited several periodicals, he wrote
sketches of travel, and in 1850 he
published David Copperfield, the work
that he loved best, and a book that those
who love its author cannot help finding
most pathetic in the pictures that it gives
his own younger days. For twenty years
his work went on.
The public were more and more
charmed with each story ; and well they
might have been, for every page was
sparkling with merriment or throbbing
with a pathos that came so straight from
the writer's. own heart that it could not
fail to move his readers. When his
characters blunder, they blunder
delightfully. When they are sad, we
sympathize with them ; but when they
are merry, then comes a full tide of
rollicking fun that " doeth good like a
medicine."
Charles Dickens
1. David Copperfield is the eighth novel
by Charles Dickens. The novel's full title
is The Personal History, Adventures,
Experience and Observation of David
Copperfield the Younger of
Blunderstone Rookery (Which He
Never Meant to Publish on Any
Account).
2. It was first published as a serial in 1849–
50, and as a book in 1850. The novel
features the character David
Copperfield, and is written in the first
person, as a description of his life until
middle age, with his own adventures and
the web of friends and enemies he
meets along his way. Copperfield finds
career success as an author, and is a
person of deep emotions.
3. Many elements of the novel follow
events in Dickens's own life, and it is
often considered his veiled
autobiography. It was Dickens' favourite
among his own novels. In the preface to
the 1867 edition, Dickens wrote, "like
many fond parents, I have in my heart
of hearts a favourite child. And his
name is David Copperfield."
62
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
American romanticism
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)
A US writer of essays and poems. He
greatly influenced religion and
philosophy, especially with his idea of
Transcendentalism, which said that
God’s nature was in every person and
thing. After being a Unitarian minister
(= church leader) in New England, he
settled in 1834 in Concord,
Massachusetts, where he worked closely
with Henry David Thoreau and others.
Emerson’s essay Nature (1836) explained
Transcendentalism as the unity of
nature.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
A US writer and poet who believed
strongly in the rights of individual
people. As an experiment he lived a
simple life for two years (1845–7) in a
small wooden house near Concord,
Massachusetts, and then wrote about
this in Walden, or Life in the Woods
(1854). He also wrote the essay Civil
Disobedience (1849), a work that
influenced such leaders as Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin Luther King to
protest in a peaceful way.
Washington Irving (1783- 1859)
"the father of American literature," as
the first internationally recognized
American writer and he made great
contribution to the form of short story
in American literature. He was extremely
popular in Europe.
He is indifferent to the immediate reality
and wrote for pleasure and to produce
pleasure as he regards literature as a self-
contained amusement. He gave an
impetus both to the American humor
and to the urbane wit.
Romanticism in America
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a fifth generation American of
English descent, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, a
wealthy seaport north of Boston that specialized in
East India trade. One of his ancestors had been a
judge in an earlier century, during trials in Salem of
women accused of being witches.
Hawthorne used the idea of curs on the family of an
evil judge in his novel The House of the Seven Gables.
Many of Hawthorne’s stories are set in Puritan New
England, and his greatest novel, The Scarlet Letter
(1850), has become the classic portrayal of Puritan
America. It tells of the passionate, forbidden love
affair linking a sensitive, religious young man, the
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and the sensuous,
beautiful townsperson, Hester Prynne. Set in Boston
around 1650 during early Puritan colonization, the
novel highlights the Calvinistic obsession with
morality, sexual repression, guilt and confession, and
spiritual salvation. For its time, The Scarlet Letter was
a daring and even subversive book
It treated issues that were usually suppressed in
19thcentury America, such as the impact of the new,
liberating democratic experience on individual
behavior, especially on sexual and religious freedom.
The book is superbly organized and beautifully
written. Appropriately, it uses allegory, a technique the
early Puritan colonists themselves practiced.
63
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE
Distinguished writers
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Benjamin Franklin, whom the
Scottish philosopher David Hume
called America's "first great man of
letters," embodied the Enlightenment
ideal of humane rationality. Practical
yet idealistic, hard-working and
enormously successful, Franklin
recorded his early life in his famous
Autobiography . Writer, printer,
publisher, scientist, philanthropist,
and diplomat, he was the most
famous and respected private figure
of his time. He was the first great
self-made man in America, a poor
democrat born in an aristocratic age
that his fine example helped to
liberalize.
Washington Irving (1789-1859)
The youngest of 11 children born to
a well-to-do New York merchant
family, Washington Irving became a
cultural and diplomatic ambassador
to Europe, like Benjamin Franklin
and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Despite
his talent, he probably would not
have become a full-time professional
writer, given the lack of financial
rewards, if a series of fortuitous
incidents had not thrust writing as a
profession upon him. Through
friends, he was able to publish his
Sketch Book (1819-1820)
simultaneously in England and
America, obtaining copyrights and
payment in both countries.
Distinguished writers
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Herman Melville, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a
descendant of an old, wealthy family that fell
abruptly into poverty upon the death of the
father. Despite his patrician upbringing, proud
family traditions, and hard work, Melville found
himself in poverty with no college education. At
19 he went to sea. His interest in sailors' lives grew
naturally out of his own experiences, and most of
his early novels grew out of his voyages.
In these we see the young Melville's wide,
democratic experience and hatred of tyranny and
injustice. His first book, Typee, was based on his
time spent among the supposedly cannibalistic but
hospitable tribe of the Taipis in the Marquesas
Islands of the South Pacific. The book praises the
islanders and their natural, harmonious life, and
criticizes the Christian missionaries, who Melville
found less genuinely civilized than the people they
came to convert.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale , Melville's
masterpiece, is the epic story of the whaling ship
Pequod and its "ungodly, god-like man," Captain
Ahab, whose obsessive quest for the white whale
Moby-Dick leads the ship and its men to
destruction. This work, a realistic adventure novel,
contains a series of meditations on the human
condition.
64
SPRINGBOARD TO LITERATURE

Horror The dark side

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Edgar Allan Poe, a southerner, shares
with Melville a darkly metaphysical
vision mixed with elements of
realism, parody, and burlesque. He
refined the short story genre and
invented detective fiction. Many of
his stories prefigure the genres of
science fiction, horror, and fantasy so
popular today.
Poe's short and tragic life was The aristocrats play musical
plagued with insecurity. Like so many instruments or read ancient
other major 19th-century American
writers, Poe was orphaned at an early books while they brood on
age. Poe's strange marriage in 1835 to tragedies, often the deaths of
his first cousin Virginia Clemm, who
was not yet 14, has been interpreted
loved ones. Themes of death-
as an attempt to find the stable family in-life, especially being buried
life he lacked. alive or returning like a
vampire from the grave, appear
Poe believed that strangeness was an in many of his works, including
essential ingredient of beauty, and his "The Premature Burial,"
writing is often exotic. His stories and
poems are populated with doomed, "Ligeia," "The Cask of
introspective aristocrats (Poe, like Amontillado," and "The Fall of
many other southerners, cherished an the House of Usher." Poe's
aristocratic ideal).
twilight realm between life and
These gloomy characters never seem
to work or socialize; instead they bury death and his gaudy, Gothic
themselves in dark, moldering castles settings are not merely
symbolically decorated with bizarre decorative. They reflect the
rugs and draperies that hide the real
world of sun, windows, walls, and overcivilized yet deathly
floors. The hidden rooms reveal interior of his characters
ancient libraries, strange art works,
and eclectic oriental objects. disturbed psyches. They are
symbolic expressions of the
unconscious, and thus are
central to his art.

65
20TH CENTURY BEGAN….
A new century began….
On Queen Victoria's death in 1901 her
son Edward VII succeeded to the throne
and ushered in an age of flamboyant
hedonism, where the strict moral code
of Victorian England began to give way
to modern influences. However, at the
beginning of the twentieth century
Victorian ideals of progress and reform
continued: 'New Liberal' governments
instituted a series of important social
reforms: free school meals for children,
the first old age pensions and also
Labour Exchanges where the
unemployed could look for jobs. In 1911
national insurance was introduced: all
working people contributed to hinds
which would protect the sick or the
unemployed. These were the beginnings
of the so-called welfare state, which was
to reach its apex under the Labour
Government after the Second World
War.
Important Parliamentary reform also
occurred: in 1911 with the Parliament
Act the House of Lords lost the right to
disagree to financial legislation approved
by the House of Commons and had its
powers limited in other matters too: it
could now only delay legislation for a
maximum of two years and not prevent
it altogether. The rise of the Labour
party also began: by 1906 there were
twenty-nine Labour MPs in Parliament.
First World War
THE FIRST WORLD WAR.
The crucial event in the period was of course the
build-up to the First World War. Germany was
now unified and became increasingly strong,
expanding its industries and in particular its navy.
Britain's domination of world affairs in Victorian
times was now called into question: its natural
resources appeared limited compared to other
countries, such as France and the USA, and it
dropped behind in education for science and
technology. The rigid class system also ensured
that the working classes were never motivated to
feel they really participated in Britain's greatness.
The South African war in 1899-1902, in which the
rest of Europe sided with the Boers against
Britain, led the government to seek agreements to
ensure the balance of power within Europe,
including treaties with France, Japan and Russia.
Tension in Europe increased steadily: Germany
and the Austro-Hungarian empire, on the one
hand, and Russia and France, on the other,
formed military alliances. The murder of an
Austrian noble in Serbia led to the declaration of
war between these two countries; Russia was
forced to defend Serbia and Germany then came
to the aid of the Austro-Hungarian empire. When
Germany marched through Belgium, which was
neutral territory, in order to attack France, Britain
was dragged into the war.
66
20TH CENTURY STARTED….
HOPE FOR PEACE
The bitter trench warfare, which
characterized the First World War,
leading to a total of 750,000 dead and
two million seriously injured among the
British, not only destroyed the flower of
European youth but left indelible scars
on European life for generations.
At the close of the war in 1918 Europe
was shattered and exhausted; both
winners and losers. There was great
hope for peace and progress, and serious
disillusionment with the patriotic ideals
which had been current before 1914: the
suffering and cruelty of war was there
for all to see.
BETWEEN THE WARS, 1918-1939
One important corollary of the war was
the rapid rise of the Labor party, which
from 57 seats in 1918 rose to 191 in
1923. Although not a truly socialist
party, the working classes in Britain
showing notable resistance to the
revolutionary ideology of Marx and
Engels, the Labor Party strove to change
things by constitutional methods,
refusing to be associated with the
Communist Party formed after the
Russian Revolution in 1917.
The Liberal party was in serious decline
and was virtually annihilated by Labor’s
performance in 1924, its members
defecting to either the Conservative or
Labor camps.
The second World War
The economic effects of the war were devastating.
Taxation had rocketed and industrial unrest
increased sharply after the war. Strikes were the
order of the day and the Government often used
troops to break strikes and force the workers
back. This tension culminated in the General
Strike of1926, which lasted 9 days and ended with
a humiliating defeat for the TUC (Trades Union
Congress), thanks also to the middle classes'
willingness to break the strike by covering
essential services like transport and energy.
A deep depression set in, reaching its peak in the
early thirties, when there were more than three
million unemployed in Britain. Areas in the North
of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland were
particularly hard hit. However, a peculiar kind of
innate conservatism of the British people meant
that a violent revolution was still a long way off.
During the second half of the decade the
economy recovered somewhat, mostly because of
the boom created by rearmament for a new war
with Hitler's Germany, which was rapidly taking
control of Europe in the thirties.
A weak policy of 'appeasement', accepting the
German take-over of Czechoslovakia in the hope
of avoiding outright war, was just one year later,
in September 1939, shown to be a false illusion,
when Germany invaded Poland and Britain was
forced to declare war. The Second World War had
begun.
67
EXERCICIOS

Responda as seguintes perguntas com Faça a leitura dos pequenos fragmentos e

responda
base nos textos desta unidade.

1. Caracterize o contexto politico do século 18 4. Caracterize a Era Vitoria, destacando os aspectos

com base no texto da pagina 51, parágrafos 1 e 2 mais relevantes na politica e na economia do
império de acordo com os textos das paginas 54-
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2. Quem eram os Tories e Whigs no Parlamento …………………………………………………
do século XVII? …………………………………………………
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5. O que foram os “ Intolarable Acts” que viriam a
causar a revolução Americana?
3. Quais os impactos trazidos pela revolução
industrial do seculo 18? Utilize textos das paginas ……………………………………………………
52 -53 …………………………………………………
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68
EXERCICIOS

Responda as seguintes perguntas com Faça a leitura dos pequenos fragmentos e

responda
base nos textos desta unidade.

6. Na sua opinião, a Revolução Industrial foi uma 9. A quem a Lei da Reforma de 1832 estendeu a
coisa positiva ou coisa negativa para a pessoa votação sobre a representação parlamentar?
média na Inglaterra do século 19? Utilize
argumentos com base nos textos das paginas 15- a) as classes trabalhadoras
57 b) mulheres
………………………………………………… c) as classes médias mais baixas
…………………………………………………
………………………………………………… d) escravos
………………………………………………… e) latifundiários conservadores
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7. Como a Revolução Industrial afetou o governo
…………………………………………………
e / ou política da Inglaterra?
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……………………………………………… 10. O que foram os “ Intolarable Acts” que viriam a
causar a revolução Americana?
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3. Quais das seguintes foram invenções e
…………………………………………………
desenvolvimentos provocados durante a era
…………………………………………………
vitoriana?
…………………………………………………
a) trens operados a vapor ………………………………………………
b) anestésicos
c) exportação de algodão
d) colonização de um quarto do território da
Terra
e) todos menos a letra A

69
MATERIAL BIBLIOGRÁFICO CONSULTADO
WORKS CITED
WORKS CITED
ALLEN, Derek. SMITH, Paul. The Anglo Saxon
period in: ALLEN, Derek. SMITH, Paul. English and
American Literature. La Spiga Languages. Série
Dossier. p. 5-6
_______.The Middle Ages in: ALLEN, Derek. SMITH,
Paul. English and American Literature. La Spiga
Languages. Série Dossier. p. 12-14
_______.The Renaissance in: ALLEN, Derek. SMITH,
Paul. English and American Literature. La Spiga
Languages. Série Dossier.p. 35-38
_______.The Eighteenth Century in: ALLEN, Derek.
SMITH, Paul. English and American Literature. La
Spiga Languages. Série Dossier. p. 109-112
BRODEY, Kenneth. The anglo-Saxons, The first
Northern Tribes in: BRODEY, Kenneth. History of
England: from the Old Stone Age to the present. La
Spiga languages. ISBN 88-7100-294-6. P. 8-12.
_______. Tudor England and the Consolidation of the
Nation State in: BRODEY, Kenneth. History of
England: from the Old Stone Age to the present. La
Spiga languages. ISBN 88-7100-294-6. P. 30-37.
_______. Tudor England and the Consolidation of the
Nation State in: BRODEY, Kenneth. History of
England: from the Old Stone Age to the present. La
Spiga languages. ISBN 88-7100-294-6. P. 38-41.
_______. The Stuarts and the Civil War in: BRODEY,
Kenneth. Tudor England and the Consolidation of the
Nation State in: BRODEY, Kenneth. History of
England: from the Old Stone Age to the present. La
Spiga languages. ISBN 88-7100-294-6. P. 42-51.
CRYSTAL, DAVID. English as a Global Language,
2nd ed Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2003
CROWTHER, JONATHAN Oxford Guide to
British and American Culture (New Edition)
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005
O’DRISCOLL J. Britain for Learners of English 2nd
edition – Oxford University Press 2010
RABLEY, STEPHEN Customs and Traditions in
Britain: Stage 2. Longman. 1987
WORKS CITED
REDMOND, RENE. A História dos Estados
Unidos, São Paulo, Martins Fontes, 1989
TOMSCHA, TERRY American Customs and
Traditions. London: Longman. 1994
TYLOR, Edward B. Primitive culture: researches into
the development of mythology, philosophy, religion,
art, and custom.1871
The Norton Anthology o f E nglish Literature 8th
edition V O L U M E 1. New York, London.
The Norton Anthology of American literature 8th
edition V O L U M E 1. New York, London. University
of Maryland, College Park
BANCROFT-Hunt, Norman. Living in the Middle
Ages / Norman Bancroft Hunt. p. cm. -- (Living in the
ancient world)
Outline of the US History. Bureau of International
Information Programs U.S. Department of State
http://usinfo.state.gov/ 2005
HUTTON, Ronald Brief History Of Britain 1485–
1660. Robinson Publishing
Invaders of Britain.
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk//year7links/doneforus
e.shtml
MITCHELL, Sally, 1937– Daily life in Victorian
England / Sally Mitchell. — 2nd ed. p. cm. —
(Greenwood Press “Daily life through history” series
BURGESS, Anthony. English Literature. Longman
Classic Stories. The Story of Britain. BBC Magazine.
Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited, 2016 –
ISSN: 1469 8552
POPLAWSKI, Paul. English Literature in context.
Cambridge University Press. 2008
FRICK, Carole, Collier. Enlightment. World History.
University of California, Los Angeles .1999.
70
MATERIAL BIBLIOGRÁFICO CONSULTADO
WORKS CITED
WORKS CITED
Roma - Construindo um Império
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFZ_ihWq8CY
Mundos Perdidos: Os Vikings (Dublado)
Documentáriohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqadPb
3hja0
Construindo um Império: Grã-Bretanha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Gm7FReokQ
DINASTIA TUDOR E A RAINHA ELIZABETH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqrScQO91A8
Mundos Perdidos - O Reinado de Henrique VIII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Iv0wV67LM
História da Inglaterra - Documentário
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGV5wSzwOi8&t=11
3s
The Normans (1 of 3) Men from the North
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM4TiaDnnYM
The Normans (2 of 3) Conquest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z64Qq9LNfn8
The Normans (3 of 3) The Normans of the South
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcjMnfPWxIg
WORKS CITED
Puritanism (an overview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLP1T1RA_A
The New England Colonists The Pilgrims and Puritans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ei0YRv57eI
The Pilgrims Mayflower Compact Social Studies Video PBS
LearningMedia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9-BYimjk1s
Os Celtas – Documentario completo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CuNoP7C9so
• Os Celtas- Historias e Tradições
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYHAh6qo1_Q
• Mundos Perdidos – os primeiros cristãos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKXzJqKm6_4
• Os Anglo-Saxoes documentário
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eF3nLnzQQU
• Os Vikings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9P9iGpjv1g
• Bárbaros – Saxoes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBdS5VLLxQ0
• Mais sobre os Celtas
https://www.estudopratico.com.br/quem-foram-os-celtas-e-
qual-a-sua-influencia-na-cultura-atual/
• Anglo Saxon language
https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/anglo-saxon-
language
71