Unit 3.

OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

1. THE EARLY TIMES

1.1. Britain’s prehistory

50,000 BC first people arrived in the islands.

10,000 BC small groups of hunters, gatherers and fishers.
3000 BC Neolithic (or New Stone Age), people kept animals and grew corn crops, and made pottery.
barrows: burial mounds, made of earth or stone.
henges: great circles of earth banks and ditches, inside there were wooden buildings and stone
circles. Centres of religious, political and economic power. Stonehenge. The can be
found all over the islands.
1300 BC settled farming class, knew how to enrich the soil with natural waste, metalworking skills.
hill-forts: family villages and fortified enclosures.
From this time, power seems to have shifted to the Thames valley and southeast Britain.

1.2. The Celts

Around 700 BC the Celts arrived from probably central Europe.

Ancestors of many of the people in Highland Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall today.
Celtic languages, which have been continuously used in some areas since that time, are still spoken.
They were organised into different tribes.
They were technically advanced: They knew how to work with iron and practised farmers.
They were skilful traders, across tribal borders and Ireland and Europe.
The tribes were ruled over by a warrior class of which the priests, or Druids, were particularly important
members. They could not read or write, but they memorised all the religious teachings, the tribal laws,
history, medicine and other knowledge necessary in Celtic society.

1.3. The Romans

The name Britain comes from the word "Pretani" (Greco-Roman word) and "Britannia".
55 BC, Julius Caesar came to gather information about the island
AD 43, Emperor Claudius decided to incorporate it into the Roman Empire.
- the Celts of Britain were working with the Celts of Gaul against them.
- under the Celts Britain had become an important food producer because of its mild climate.
Romano-British culture covered from the River Humber to the River Severn.
The Romans could not conquer "Caledonia" (Scotland), Hadrian's Wall.
In AD 409 Rome pulled its last soldiers out of Britain.
The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain.
The most obvious characteristic of Roman Britain was its towns, with a grid-like plan, and the basis of
Roman administration and civilisation. They were connected by a network of roads.
Outside the towns there were large farms, called villas.

1.4. The Saxon invasion

Three powerful Germanic tribes, warlike and illiterate, invaded Britain in the early 5th century:
the Jutes, settled mainly in Kent and along the south coast,
the Angles, settled in the east, and also in the north Midlands, occupying the biggest area,
the Saxons, settled in a band of land from the Thames Estuary westwards.
The Anglo- Saxons established seven kingdoms, a Heptarchy: Kent, Essex (East Saxons), Sussex
(South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), East Anglia (East Angles), Mercia and Northumbria.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 1

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

The British Celts were driven into the mountains. The legend of King Arthur arose at this time, and he is
supposed to have stood firm against his people's enemies.

The Saxons created institutions which made the English state strong for the next 500 years.
Witan or king’s council, made up of senior warriors and churchmen to whom kings turned for advice or
support on difficult matters.
The land was divided into new administrative areas, based on shires, with a local administrator or shire
reeve ("sheriff")
In each district was a manor or large house, where taxes were paid, justice was administer, and men join
the army.

Anglo-Saxon technology changed the shape of English agriculture. Both the land and the oxen were
shared on a co-operative basis.

Spring crops Autumn crops [left to rest for a year]

Christianity had been introduced in the century of Roman government. In 597 Pope Gregory the Great
sent a monk, Augustine, to re-establish Christianity in England. He became the first Archbishop of
Canterbury.
Establishment of monasteries, or minsters, places of learning and education for men to work in the
administration of the country.

1.5. The Vikings

The Vikings, who came from Norway and Denmark, started raiding the island towards the end of the 8th
century and invaded it in 865.
They quickly accepted Christianity and did not disturb the local population. They ruled in the east and
north of England, the Danelaw; the south of the country was ruled by the Saxons.
Edward “the Confessor” died in 1066 without an obvious heir. He had spent almost all his life in Normandy
and had brought many Normans to his English court from France.
After fights with other candidates to the throne, William landed in England with a well armed, organised
army and won the battle of Hastings in 1066.

2. THE MIDDLE AGES

This period covers from the 11th to the 15th: early period (11th-13th) and late period (14th-15th).

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 2

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

2.1. Government

With William I (1066-1087) now crowned king, the Anglo-Saxon rebellion continued.
William organised his English kingdom according to the feudal system:
- The vassals had to: serve the king in war up to 40 days, give him part of his produce of the land,
and serve on the Grand council.
- The lord had to give his vassals land and protection.

Henry II (1154-1189) was ruler of far more land than any previous king.

Richard I, “lionheart”, (1189-1199) has always been one of England's most popular kings.

John (1199-1216) was very unpopular with the three most important groups of people: the nobles, the
merchants and the Church.
He was forced to sign Magna Carta: an important symbol of political freedom, but actually a limitation of
the powers of the King.

Henry III (1216-1272), an elected council of nobles formed a parliament.

Edward I (1272-1307) brought together the first real parliament. He created the House of Commons, a
mixture of gentry and merchants from the towns, who could provide the king with money. There were two
representatives from each shire and town.
Edward I was determined to bring under his control Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland, there was a
resistance movement, first led by William Wallace and later by Robert Bruce.

Edward II (1307-1327) continued his father’s fights.

Edward III (1327-1377) started what was later known as the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).
He and his son, the Black Prince, represent the age of chivalry. It is in this period when interest in the
legendary King Arthur grew.

In the following years there were continuous fights between members of the House of Lancaster and the
House of York to have the crown.
Shakespeare has reflected in several of his plays aspects of the life of most of the kings in these periods:
Richard II (1377-1399, Henry V (1413-1422) and Richard III (1483-1485).

In 1485 Henry Tudor claimed the throne and he did not find much opposition to be crowned king.

2.2. Life in the Middle Ages

Since the time of William I there had been a struggle between Church and state over both power and
money.
The most important crisis came when Henry II's friend Thomas Becket was appointed Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1162.
Four knights killed Thomas Becket in the holiest place in the cathedral, on the altar steps (Murder in the
Cathedral, T. S Eliot) and pilgrimage to his grave started (Canterbury Tales, G. Chaucer).

Towards the middle of the period, there was a growing discontent with the Church.

At this time many monasteries continued to be established, as well as nunneries. They were centres of
wealth and learning.

The 13th C brought a new movement, the "brotherhoods" of friars, who were wandering preachers.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 3

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

During the 14th C there were several plagues affecting both animals and people. The worst of these
plagues was known as Black Death (1348-49).

Popular revolts, especially the 14th century.

Being an agricultural society, England was almost self-sufficient and there was a good deal of trade inside
the country. England also needed things from abroad such as salt or spices.
England had always been famous for its wool, and most of it was exported to the Low Countries or other
parts of Europe. Much of the wool industry was built up by the monasteries, which kept large flocks of
sheep on their great estates.
However, around the middle of the period, finished cloth had replaced wool as England's main export.

Towns had managed to free themselves from feudal ties and interference as kings gave many towns
charters of freedom.
Within towns and cities, society and the economy were mainly controlled by guilds, or brotherhoods of
different kinds of merchants, or of skilled workers.
These guilds later developed into craft guilds, where all the members of each of these guilds belonged to
the same trade or craft.

A new middle class was developing in the towns: lawyers, merchants, cloth manufacturers, exporters,
esquires, gentlemen and yeoman farmers were increasingly forming a single class of people with interests
in both town and country.

During this period literacy grew due to the establishment of schools of learning.
At the end of the 12th C two schools of higher education were also established: Oxford and Cambridge.
In Scotland, in the 15th century: St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Latin, was the educated language of almost all Europe. With the arrival of the Normans many French
words became part of the English language. In this period, English continued to be spoken by ordinary
people but was no longer written. By the end of the 14th C English was once again a written language.
Two writers helped in the rebirth of English literature. William Langland, who wrote Piers Plowman, and
Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote The Canterbury Tales.
At the end of the Middle Ages, William Caxton set up the first English printing press in 1476. Printing
standardised spelling and grammar. It also encouraged literacy.

3. THE TUDORS

The Tudors ruled in England for over a century from 1485 to 1603 with the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII,
Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 4

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

This is probably one of the most popular periods in English history:

- Henry VIII and Elizabeth I
- the church reformation
- a great artistic period: philosophers (Thomas More, Utopia, painters (Holbein), writers: poets like
Spenser, Sidney and Raleigh; playwrights like Marlowe, Jonson, Shakespeare.

Henry VII (1485-1509) was very important in establishing the new monarchy, he based royal power on
good business sense and managed to make the Crown financially independent.

Henry VIII (1509-1547), unlike his father, was cruel, wasteful with money and self-indulgent. He spent a lot
of money on maintaining a magnificent court and on pointless wars and the money his father had saved
was soon gone.
At the time, the Church was a huge landowner; however, monasteries were no longer important to
economic and social growth.
Henry disliked the power of the Church in England because he could not control it, and because of taxes
paid to it.
Henry had married Catherine of Aragon, who had not had a son who survived infancy and Henry tried to
persuade the pope to allow him to divorce Catherine. When Henry was not allowed to divorce he got very
angry and persuaded the bishops to make him head of the Church in England, and this became law after
Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534.
Henry's break with Rome was purely political, but he did not approve of the new ideas of Reformation
Protestantism introduced by Martin Luther in Germany or John Calvin in Geneva.
Even though the popular religion was still Catholic, between 1532 and 1536, England became politically a
Protestant country through several Acts of Parliament.
Then Henry took the English Reformation a step further. He closed monasteries and other religious
houses, then he gave or sold the land to the rising classes of landowners and merchants.

In Ireland, the English Church Reformation was not accepted. English and Scottish Protestants were
given land in Ulster, the Plantation.

Wales became united to England by means of the Acts of Union in 1536 and 1542.

Henry died leaving behind his sixth wife, and three children: Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon;
Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn; and Edward, son of Jane Seymour.

During Edward VI’s reign (1547-1553) the reformation process continued.

A new prayer book, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments, was introduced
by means of the Act of Uniformity of 1549.

Mary (1553-1558) was a Catholic and she often behaved cruelly towards Protestants.

Elizabeth I (1558-1603) continued the reformation process and made sure that the Church was under her
authority and made the Church part of the state machine:
- the "parish", the area served by one church, usually the same size as a village, became the unit of
state administration;
- people had to go to church on Sundays by law;
- sermons taught the people that rebellion against the Crown was sin against God.

Elizabeth and her advisers considered trade the most important foreign policy matter. Spain was her main
trade rival and enemy. Spain at the time ruled the Netherlands, where many people were Protestant and
were fighting for their independence.
English ships had already been attacking Spanish ships as they returned from America loaded with silver
and gold.
Philip decided to conquer England in 1587 and built a great fleet of ships, an Armada. But Francis Drake
attacked and destroyed part of this fleet in Cadiz harbour. Philip started again and built a great fleet. The

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 5

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

Spanish Armada was eventually defeated more by bad weather than by English guns, and, blown
northwards by the wind, many wrecked on the rocky coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

Elizabeth encouraged English traders to settle abroad and to create colonies. This policy led directly to
Britain's colonial empire of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Towards the end of her reign the economic situation had become very difficult. Parliament passed the
first Poor Law in 1601.

Elizabeth died heirless and one of the candidates was James VI of Scotland, a Stuart, who was
connected with the Tudors.
Throughout the Tudor period, the Scottish kings had done their best to avoid war with England.
The Scottish nobles had welcomed Protestantism for both political and economic reasons. The Scots were
careful not to give the monarch authority over the new Protestant "Kirk": a more democratic organisation,
governed by a General Assembly.
Mary Queen of Scots or Stuart, at war with her Scottish opponents, was captured and imprisoned.
In 1568 she escaped to England. Elizabeth kept Mary as a prisoner for almost twenty years and she had
her executed in 1587.
Mary's son, James VI, started to rule at the age of twelve in 1578.

4. THE STUARTS

This period covers from 1603 to 1714, and the reigns of James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, Mary II
and William III, and Anne.
This century saw the change from "absolute monarchy" to "parliamentary monarchy". In the meanwhile,
there had been a civil war, a republic, and different problems between the kings and Parliament.
To reach these political changes, it was necessary to have changes in society too.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 6

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

James I (1603-1625) tried to rule without Parliament as much as possible as he believed in the divine right
of kings.
The individual reading of the Bible led to the formation of a large number of small new religious groups,
the Nonconformists.
One of these groups was the Puritans, who demanded a more democratic Church and whose influence
increased particularly among the merchant class and lesser gentry.
‘James I Bible’ in 1611.
Other groups were the Baptists and the Quakers, who did important reforming work in the 18th century.
Some Nonconformists could not bear the opposition to their beliefs and left Britain in 1620 to
Massachusetts on board of the Mayflower.

His son Charles I (1625-1649) found himself quarrelling even more bitterly, mainly over money, and he
dissolved Parliament on several occasions, but his need for money forced him to recall Parliament again.
In 1637 serious religious disagreements emerged:
- many of the Members of Parliament (MPs) were Puritans,
- the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, tried to bring some Catholic practices,
- the Scottish Kirk did not accept the same organisation as the Church in England,
- in 1641, Ireland exploded in rebellion against the Protestant English and Scottish settlers.

Charles and Parliament quarrelled over who should control an army to defeat the rebels. London locked its
gates against the king, and Charles moved to Nottingham, where he gathered an army. The Civil War had
started.
Charles’s supporters, the Royalists or Cavaliers controlled most of the north and west.
Parliament army, the Roundheads controlled East Anglia and the southeast, including London.
At the battle of Naseby, in 1645, the Royalist army was finally defeated.

Once the king had been defeated the Parliamentarian leaders had two possibilities:
- to bring Charles back to the throne,
- to create a new political system.
The king was put to trial, found guilty and executed in 1649.

The Republic, 1649-1660, led by Oliver Cromwell, created a government far more severe than Charles's
had been. They ruled increasingly by decree and instituted direct military rule.
Disagreements between the army and Parliament resulted in Parliament's dissolution in 1653 and
Cromwell became Lord Protector, with far greater powers than King Charles had had.
He became very unpopular.
People were also forbidden to celebrate Christmas and Easter, or to play games on a Sunday.
Cromwell died in 1658; his son was not able to take over the power.
One of the army commanders arranged for free elections and invited Charles II to return to his kingdom.

Charles II’s (1660-1685) return to England meant the beginning of a new period: the Restoration.
This period was especially important for Drama (Wycherley, Congreve, Dryden, Etherege, Otway,
Shadwell, Behn).
Charles was attracted to the Catholic Church and Parliament passed the Test Act in 1672, which
prevented any Catholic from holding public office.
During the reign of Charles II the first political parties appeared in the country:
- the Whigs, who were afraid of an absolute monarchy, and of the Catholic faith,
- the Tories upheld the authority of the Crown and the Church, and were natural inheritors of the
royalist position.
At the same time, different political theories which said that Parliament, not the king, should be the
overall power in the state started to develop.

James II (1685-1688) quite soon he tried to bring back the Catholic Church.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 7

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

When in 1688 James had a son, William of Orange –married to James’s daughter Mary and Protestant
ruler of Holland– was invited to invade Britain.
The Glorious Revolution was thus achieved without bloodshed. The crown was offered to Mary II (1688-
1694) and William III (1688-1703).
Parliament was now beyond question more powerful than the king. Its power over the monarch was written
into the Bill of Rights in 1689.

James went to Ireland. In Dublin a Catholic parliament passed an act taking away all the property of
Protestants in Ireland.
King William landed in Ireland in 1690, and defeated James's army at the River Boyne.
A new Protestant parliament in Dublin passed laws to prevent the Catholics from taking part in national life
(parliament, university, navy, etc.)

In 1701 Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, to make sure only a protestant could inherit the crown.

Anne, Mary’s sister, became queen (1703-1714).

In 1707 the union of Scotland and England was completed by Act of Parliament. Scotland kept its own
separate legal and judicial system, and its own separate Church.

Apart from the revolution in politics and religion that had taken place during the century, there was also a
revolution in scientific thinking:
- Francis Bacon argued that every scientific idea had to be tested by experiment.
- In 1628 William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood.
- Isaac Newton studied gravity and he published Principia.
- Christopher Wren, the architect who rebuilt London after the Great Fire, was also a Professor of
Astronomy at Oxford.
- The Royal Society was founded by the Stuart monarchy.

The first newspapers also appeared in the 17th century due to the spread of literacy and the improvement
in printing techniques.

5. THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES IN THE UK AND IRELAND

New ruling house, the Hanoverians: George I (1714-27), George II (1727-60), George III (1760-1820),
George IV (1820-30), William IV (1830-37), Victoria (1837-1901).

Throughout these two centuries Britain

- underwent an agricultural and an industrial revolution, and
- built a large trading empire,
- power moved from kings to ministers, and
- in the 19th century, many political reforms, giving more power to the middle classes.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 8

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

5.1. Government

First part of the 18th century, two unsuccessful ‘Jacobite’ revolts in favour of the Stuarts.

American War of Independence (1775-83), reign of George III, resulting in the loss of all colonies in
America, except Canada.

The French Revolution started in 1789. When most of Europe fell under Napoleon's control, Britain
decided to fight France at sea. Nelson fought the French in Egypt and Spain (Trafalgar). Wellington fought
him in Spain and finally defeated him at Waterloo in 1815.

After over a century of subjection and political and social discrimination as a colony, Ireland was united
with Britain in 1801 and Dublin Parliament was closed.

During the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) Britain became one of the most powerful countries in
the world, economically strong and with a huge empire.

5.2. Political reforms in the 19th century

Reform Bill of 1832: it increased the number of voters and many towns were represented in Parliament
for the very first time.

People's Charter (1838), put forward by union workers and radicals.

It demanded: universal male suffrage; the right for a man without property of his own to be an MP; vote by
secret ballot; equal electoral districts; payment for MPs. These demands were rejected.

Liberalism defended the need for free trade and for social and political reform.

The foundations for a modern state were established in the 1860s and 1870s:
- the number of voters increased,
- there was a rapid growth in party organisation,
- voting became secret,
- the growth of newspapers strengthened the importance of popular opinion,
- a regular civil service was established,
- the army, the administration of law and local government were reorganised.

5.3. The agricultural and industrial revolution

In the 18th century trade gave wealth to the country and made possible an agricultural and an industrial
revolution.
In the countryside, the process of enclosing common land, which had started in the Tudor period, was
still going on. It left many people without their lands. Technological improvements had made the land more
profitable.
Several circumstances brought about the British Industrial Revolution:
Money came from trade and the agricultural revolution.
People coming from the countryside became the labour of factories.
They had demand of different manufactured products.
Improvement in the use of fuel made possible producing iron and steel in large quantities and of high
quality. New machinery for other industries could be produced.
John Wilkinson built large ironworks and James Watt invented the steam engine, which was vital for the
development of industry; new machines for the cloth-making industry were invented.
Improved transport by means of canals or roads, and later the railway.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 9

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

Despite periods of crisis (Poor Law, 1834), in the second half of the 19th century, Britain became the
‘workshop’ of the world.

In England, industry developed in the north and north Midlands.

In Wales, coal mines and a rapidly growing coal and steel industry.
In Scotland, an industrialised area grew around Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Ireland remained a rural society. Because of famine (1845-47) many Irish emigrated to the United States
and other countries.

A new social class the "proletariat", or factory workers, appeared. Workers tried to join together in
combinations, later unions.

Use of child labour in factories, as they were useful workers. Some Christian groups managed to improve
their conditions.

5.4. The British Empire

Britain had been expanding its territory beyond the seas since the 16th century.
Britain's empire had first been built on trade and the need to defend this against rival European countries.
In the 19th century the empire had more to do with political control than with trading for profit.
After the loss of the American colonies in 1783, Britain did not create new colonies.
After 1850 the growing European competition led to the creation of colonies, and to colonial wars:
- In Asia, there had been the ‘Opium Wars’ in China. In India, the ‘jewel in the Crown’, there were
continuous British-Indian confrontations, which resulted in the ‘Indian Mutiny’ in 1857.
- Britain decided to take ‘civilisation’ to Africa, at the same time creating a commercial and political
empire.
The white colonies (Canada, Australia and New Zealand), an outlet for the ever-growing population of
Britain were allowed to govern themselves.

5.5. Life in the 18th and 19th Centuries

The middle class now included greater differences of wealth, social position and kinds of work.

The growth of industry brought the growth of towns, which due to the lack of drainage, became centres of
disease. The main city areas were northwest England, where the new cotton industry was based, the
north Midlands, the area around Glasgow, and south Wales.

Victorian, often implies a regard for hard work and thrift, strict morality and family virtues, as well as
prudery, bigotry and hypocrisy.

Now middle class and some working people had some leisure time to enjoy themselves. Museums, parks,
swimming pools and libraries were built; people also started to travel for pleasure and sports also grew in
popularity.

5.6. Education and culture

In 1870 and 1891 two Education Acts were passed and all children had to go to school up to the age of
thirteen.
"Redbrick" universities were built in the new industrial cities and they taught more science and technology
to feed Britain's industries.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 10

Unit 3. OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES

Literature produced many important writers: from Jane Austen and the Romantic poets (Keats, Byron,
Shelley) to the Victorian novelists (the Brontë sisters, Gaskell, Dickens, Thackeray).
In 1857 Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. The publication of this book had different
consequences:
- crisis in the Church and battle between "faith and reason",
- colonialism.

History & culture of English-speaking countries - María José Coperías Aguilar 11