ASSIGNMENT

Course: History of England (303)

Prepared for: Afsana Afrose Moon

Submitted by

Name: Shayla Akter

ID: 1914 2210 31

Date: 23rd April 2021

Department of English
University of Information Technology & Sciences
 Hundred Years of War

Between England and France, the Hundred Years of War was fought which
lasted from 1337 to 1453. Historians call it Hundred Years of War for making
it an approximate time but it was actually a hundred and sixteen years of the
war. It was a series of battles where we can find a long period of peace
between the two countries. England and France were friends before this
Hundred Years of War because Edward III’s father married the French Queen
Isabella. So, in 1337, King Edward III of England claimed the throne of France
since his mother Queen Isabella was from France. But French people didn’t
accept their King who is from another country. It was the major reason for
this battle and from then the dispute came between them and the battle
started.

The control over the valuable wool trade and certain areas of land were the
minor reason behind this Hundred Years of War. Previous King of France King
Charles IV who was the grandfather of Queen Isabella died without a male
heir and Edward III took the chance to proclaim the throne of France as his
mother married an England king.
Instead of Edward III, the French chose Philip to be their king and when King
Philip VI took control of Aquitaine from the English, Edward III decided to
invade France. Edward III wanted the throne of France because he was so
furious and all he wanted is to control, suppress the people, to take over their
lands and wealth, not to conquer the country. He wanted to create a conflict
and the people of France to starve so he burned the crops land, destroyed the
cities. His intention was to make the French scared and make them surrender
themselves that’s why he caused havoc.

In the 1350s, the son of Edward III, Richard II take over the control because
his father was aged then and Richard II led the English a major victory over
France. After that, he became very famous to the English and was known for
his chivalry. He was known as “The Black Prince” in the 1350s. At the battle of
Poitiers, the Black Prince defeated King John II and released him for a ransom
of three million crowns and some additional land. After winning against King
John II, Richard II created an environment of peace for both of the countries.
After the death of Richard II, Henry V became the king of England in 1413
through the battle of Agincourt. He once again claimed the throne of France
and broke the peace treaty which was created by Richard II after winning
against King John II. Henry V defeated the France force of 25000 with only
6000 soldiers, won a pivotal battle, and became the king of France in 1415.

In this Hundred Years of War, we see that the fathers Edward III, Henry V
were fond of war although they won every war against France but their sons
Richard II, Henry VI was peace-loving. After Henry V, his son Henry VI who
was very pious and peace-loving inherited the throne of France only at just
one-year-old. A series of wars happened between England and France where
all the battles won English and the French were continuously defeated but in
1455, Henry VI lost a battle against a girl named Joan of Arc who was only 17
years old.

From 1428, the English started to invade The French but the 17-year-old girl,
Joan, took the leadership of the French army and led the victory at Orleans
against the English. She led the French several victories before she was
captured by the English burned at the stake. She claimed to have seen a vision
from God.

The most important part of this Hundred Years of War is, only a girl of 17
years of old brings so many victories and even sacrificed her life for the
country which the earlier French kings couldn’t do. Later, she became an
inspiration for the whole French. They learned from the chivalry attitude, the
courage from Joan and kept fighting back against the English. Finally, the
French pushed the English army out of France in 1453, signing the end of the
Hundred Years of War.
 War of the Roses

War of the Roses broke out when Joan of Arc defeated Henry VI during the
time of the Hundred Years of War. It was a series of fifteenth-century English
civil war for the control of the throne of England. War of the Roses was
between two rival parties; the House of Lancaster which was represented by a
red rose, the House of York represented by a white rose.

Both of the parties were from the same royal family and the heir of Edward III
who started Hundred Years of War. The conflict lasted through many episodes
between 1455 and 1487. Because of the party name’s symbol, this war is
named the War of the Roses. Though historians have different opinions about
the reason when and where this conflict concluded, the general consent is that
the War of the Roses ended in 1485 with the battle of Bosworth, when Henry
Tudor(VII) first Tudor king defeated and killed Richard III.

Elizabeth of York married Henry VII on 18 January 1486 after his victory at
the Battle of Bosworth Field which marked the end of the War of the Roses.
Mainly, getting married in the same family abolished the lust to control the
throne of England from both the rival parties and ensured the power of the
throne to be in their control. Henry VII and Elizabeth, together they have
seven children.
 What is Renaissance?

Renaissance means rebirth, reform. The English Renaissance was a cultural

and artistic movement from the late 15th to the early 17th century. When the
battle of Bosworth Field ended the War of Roses and inaugurated the Tudor
Dynasty, in continuation of that the English Renaissance began.

The peak time of the English Renaissance was the period of Elizabeth. Portrait
of Queen Elizabeth I, standing in a white embroidered gown with large bustle
and sleeves and small waist, with a high lace collar. She is holding a folded fan
and a pair of gloves and standing on top of a world map. Queen Elizabeth, I
always used to wear heavy jewelry and gowns, and most of the time she used
to be dolled up because she was a virgin Queen who wanted to make herself
the strongest lady ruler without any King and wanted to rule the whole world.
So through her heavy dress-up and jewelry, she wanted to show her power.

English Renaissance and Italian Renaissance were different in several ways.

Italian Renaissance started in the 14th century where the English Renaissance
started far later in the 15th century. In English Renaissance, music and
literature development was mostly dominant and in the Italian Renaissance
visual arts was significant.

Renaissance is coming to the light from a dark age. Dark age means war,
ignorance, famine, pandemics, lack of education, superstitions, development
everywhere. But in the Elizabethan era, there were so many developments in
music, literature, humanism, etc. People started to get an education, people
started to believe in science in spite of superstitions, people started to accept
mathematics, astronomy, theology. New ideas, inventions, exploration around
the countries started which is called the Age of Discovery. A man is the center
of his own universe, this humanism was promoted in the Renaissance period.
Several kinds of talents, explorations were made in the Renaissance time.

Humanism motivated Europeans to question the Roman Catholic Church

during the Renaissance. Since people learned to write, read and interpret
ideas, they began to closely examine and critique religion. The printing press
allowed for Bible to be easily reproduced and widely read by the people. As a
result, a new form of Christianity, known as Protestantism, was created.

Shakespeare, Marlowe, Webster, Jonson, Spenser, Donne are the talents of the
Renaissance period. Shakespeare used to write for the country to impress
Elizabeth.

What is Reformation?

Reformation means forming a new formate, create a new rule or system. The
English Reformation was a major movement which is brought by Henry VIII in
the 16th century. The reformation was the start of Protestantism.

Roman Catholic Church and the Pope(who used to consider himself as the
representative of Jesus Christ) was the supreme head of the country. Being a
king, Henry VIII couldn’t accept the divine power of the Pope. Henry VIII
wanted to divorce his first wife and remarry because his first wife Catherine
of Aragon could not give him a male heir who will sit on the throne after his
death. So from Henry VIII’s perspective, his decision was logical but the Pope
and Church didn’t let him. As per the law of Roman Catholics, divorce was not
allowed and no one remarries without giving divorce to his first wife. Henry
VIII decided to protest against the Church and gave proclamation that Roman
Catholics, the Pope is dismissed and he will be the supreme head of England,
who would exercise his power on everything or anyone without any obstacle.
From then, the Roman Catholics were abolished, and Protestantism reformed.
For this reason, the Reformation was named The Protestant Reformation or
the European Reformation.

The papal authority was a doctrine of the Catholic Church which was founded
by the Pope. The Church, Bishops, priests including the king all were
controlled by the Pope. The English Reformation took place in the 16th
century when England broke every relation with the papal authority, the
Pope, the Roman Catholics when Henry VIII associated Protestantism.

The base of the Reformation was from a religious perspective, but it had
political purposes from both sides. The Pope didn’t want Henry VIII to divorce
his wife because after his death his daughter will be on the throne so they can
easily exercise their supreme power over the Queen but if Henry VIII
remarries and has his male heir, it won’t be that easy to rule over a king.
Henry VIII dismissed the Catholics because he wanted to leave his wife but his
political view was to get the supreme power and control over England. So it
was not just a religious change; it was a political, financial change as well.
After the Reformation, Protestantism was the religion, politically the king had
the divine power, and financially Rome wouldn’t get any Church taxes from
England which they were having when the Pope, the Church was in power.

The break with Rome was effected by a series of acts of Parliament. This
Reformation shaped the ruling system, the authority in a new structure for
which whoever had the throne could make rules, religious changes according
to him/her.