III.

KEY EVENTS IN BRITISH HISTORY

 annotations:
o BC – before Christ
o AD – Anno Domini (in the years of our Lord)
o Gregorian Calendar
 BCE (used for BC)- before common/current era
 CE (used for AD) – common era

HISTORICAL PERIODS
 PREHISTORY (6000 BC)
o firstly British Isles (all over) were settled by Nomads
o Britain and its hunter-gatherers (Nomads) separated from the European mainland as the
sea level rose (by 127m)
o Doggerland was a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected Great Britain
to mainland Europe
o 14 000BC Ireland originally connected with Britain

 THE BRONZE AGE (2000 BC)

o mysterious stone circles lining the British landscape started to appear (Stonehenge –
2400BC, the most mysterious archaeological site in the world – no one know how it was
built with the technology of the time, stones from Wales 200 miles far away)
 Celtic tribal kingdoms
o the Beaker people - ceramics

 THE IRON AGE (500 BC)

o the first wave of proto-Celtic settlers in Britain could have arrived in the Late Bronze Age
period, between 1500 BC at the earliest to around 1000 BC
o Celtic tribal kingdoms by 500BC
o we begin to speak of Britons or Brythons (celtic people)
o spoke insular Celtic (a vaguely common language)
o Britain, as the name is pronounced today, appears to be a Roman alteration of a Brythonic
word starting with a 'p', retained today by the Welsh as Prydein
o Prydein (Prettania / Britannia / Britain)

 THE IRON AGE (500 BC) – THE CELTS

o came from Central Europe
o advanced farmers, artistic metalwork
o defensive hill forts
o trade with Europe (exported tin x imported wine)
o druid priests – polytheistic religion
o the Picts - a tribal confederation of peoples who lived in eastern and northern Scotland
o the word "Pict" means "painted people", probably referring to the Pictish custom of either
tattooing their bodies or embellishing themselves with "warpaint"

 THE ROMAN EMPIRE (43 AD)

o 43410 AD
o first invasion - Caesar's first raid in 55 BC - the Roman general, Emperor Julius Caesar
invaded Britain, returned to France
o for the next century, the relationship was one largely based on trade and diplomacy
o The Roman Conquest 43 AD - Emperor Claudius vs. Britons - Roman province of
Britannia (that’s how Romans called the area) covered England and Wales + southern part
of Scotland
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 o they left there their way of life and culture – the used the exiting Celtic aristocracy to govern
and encouraged the ruling class to adopt Roman dress and Roman language (Latin),
organized villages, towns, built roads, influenced mainly towns, people in countryside lived
still the same way
o as the invaders marched through the kingdoms of the Celts, they founded forts, built roads,
and established cities and palaces
o came to Britain looking for riches - land, slaves, and most of all, iron, lead, zinc, copper,
silver and gold
o celtic aristocracy (Britons in England, Wales) adopted Roman way of life (dress, language)
even citizenship through service
o technology, architecture, language - literacy, government, census, town/urban planning,
sewage system (Londinium, Bath, York, Chester)
o religion: the Romans brought their state gods to Britain (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva), i.e. they
were polytheists too and they were willing to allow the Celts to worship their old gods
o however persecuted Christianity (In 313AD the Emperor Constantine granted Christians
freedom of worship. Persecution ended and during the 4th century Christianity became
widespread in England.)
o Iceni:
 Boudica (/ˈbuːdɨkə/; alternative spelling: Boudicca), also known as Boadicea /boʊdɨ
ˈsiːə/, AD 60 or 61) - queen of the British Iceni /aisi:nai/ tribe, a Celtic tribe who led
an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire
 she slaughtered a Roman army, torched Londinium, leaving a charred layer almost
half a meter thick that can still be traced under modern London
 according to the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, her army killed as many as
70,000 civilians in Londinium, Verulamium and Camulodunum, rushing 'to cut
throats, hang, burn, and crucify’
 rebellion supressed, Boudica killed herself
o the end of the Roman Empire:
 122 AD - Hadrian’s Wall – wall built by the Romans across the northern border of
their province of Britannia in order to protect their territory form Scots and Picts
(Celtic tribes in Scotland)
 395 AD - Roman Empire divided
 407 AD - the last Roman soldiers left Britain leaving the Celts to defend themselves
against the Picts and Irish
 410 AD - End of Roman Empire
 476 AD - Fall of Western Roman Empire

 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS

o Anglo-Saxons
 5th6th century
 450 AD first invasions of the Jutes from Jutland, (today´s Denmark + Germany),
Angles (gave name to England) from South of Denmark and Saxons from Germany
 they settled mostly in England and didn’t go to Wales (Weallas – the country of
foreigners) or Scotland, in the western part of their territory army of King Arthur
 Britain is divided up into the Seven Kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia,
Wessex, Essex, Sussex and Kent
 597 AD St. Augustine brings Christianity to England from Rome » King Æthelberht
of Kent gave him land in Canterbury to build a church, Æthelberht became the first
Anglo-Saxon king to turn his back on paganism and become Christian
 Administration
 Shire – what is now a county
 Shire reeve (sheriff)
o Vikings and Danes
 in the 8th century another wave of Germanic invasions – Vikings and Danes from
Scandinavia

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  they conquered and settled in Scotland and Ireland and wanted to settle England as
well, but they were defeated by king Alfred the Great (king of the Saxon kingdom
of Wessex)
 those fights were extremely cruel – never before has such an atrocity been seen
and lasted over 200 years
 after that the England was divided between Wessex in the south and west and
Danelaw (where English and Danish Vikings were equal in law) in the north and
east
 however, differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were small – 10th century
England was united as one kingdom, also Scotland was united Gaelic kingdom

 THE NORMAN INVASION

o Normans were descended from Vikings, gave their name to Normandy – region northern in
France, Norman Britain 1066-1154
o Edward the Confessor (religious) – penultimate Anglo-Saxon King dies 1066 childless =
heirless, without a successor
o 1066 Battle of Hastings was the start of Norman invasion and also the most famous date in
British history, when Normans defeated English and Norman duke William of Normandy
was crowned kind of England (in Westminster Abbey)– he was known as William the
Conqueror
↓
 THE NORMAN BRITAIN
o strict feudal system was imposed and it also was the beginning of the English class system:
 KING – NOBLES AND BARONS (French-speaking Normans)
 LESSER LORDS (owning a village, French-speaking Normans)
 PEASANTS (duties and obligations to lords, forbidden to travel, English-speaking
Saxons)
o work starts on Canterbury Cathedral and The Tower of London
o 1077 Bayeux Tapestry illustrating the Battle of Hastings is completed
The Bayeux Tapestry is the primary visual source for the Battle of Hastings and the most
important pictorial document of the 11th century
 embroidered cloth, 70m long, depicting Battle of Hastings 1066
o two languages – Germanic language English and Norman French, English
became dominant in all classes of society in England
o Domesday Book (1085-6) – manuscript that records a great survey – how many villages,
citizens there were and how much people possessed, William needed
information about the country he was king of

 THE MIDDLE AGES

o 1154 –1485
o King John on the throne, he didn’t want to hear people or to do something for their welfare
and this leaded to an important document in 1215 Magna Carta in which the king agreed to
follow certain rules of government, even he didn’t follow it, Magna Carta is considered as
very first idea of sharing the power of the monarch (monarch and the parliament)
o in 1295 the very first parliament (assembly of nobles) is created – elected urban a rural
areas representatives (model parliament)
o Model Parliament:
 House of Lords (nobility)
 House of Commons (commoners – lower gentry, knights, wealthy free men, etc.)
o struggle between Church and State – money and power
o matter of who answers to whom, church demanding authority over not only spiritual but also
earthly affairs, even kings answerable to God
o Scottish War of Independence
 in 14th century Scotland and Wales were still independent kingdoms – first idea
to put them together Edward I. – attempts to subdue (podmanit) Scotland – Wars
of Independence (in Scotland William Wallace, they didn’t want to join England)
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  Declaration at Arbroath (1320) – Scots wanted to convinced the English pope (the
highest authority) that Scotland was independent, declaration was signed by many
Scots
 Scots had also an agreement with French to help each other (Scotland in the
Hundred War on the side of French) – The Auld Alliance, that is why Scottish
system now is more like the French one
 Scotland joined England in 1707 – The Act of Union
 in 1282 Edward I. annexed (obsazuje) Wales when his son is made Prince of
Wales
 Wales joined England in 1536
o First Black Death Epidemic
 plague than continued to appear periodically for another 300 years
 shortage of labours, but the country needed them, so the rest of the labours felt
stronger and wanted to increased their rights
 Peasant’s Revolt (1381) = major uprising (vzpoura) in England, not just of labours,
but also many people were unsatisfied with increasing taxes after the Hundred Years
War
o Hundred Years War
 middle ages are also known for fights and wars between French and England
because of territory (Flanders, south-west France) and because Edward III.
(English king) was rejected to be on the French throne – The Hundred Years War
 war lasted for 116 years (not fluent fights) and England lost almost all French
territories
 Beginning of the TUDOR ERA – Henry V.

 THE 16TH CENTURY – THE TUDORS

o The War of the Roses – the throne of England was claimed by two rival groups – the
Lancastrians (symbol – red rose) and the Yorkists (symbol – white rose), in the end Tudor
dynasty (1485-1603)
o Parliament Split
 the power of the monarch increased
 a system of government departments staffed by professionals who depended for
their position on the monarch was established
 feudal barons then no longer needed for implementing (realizování) government
policies so the parliament was split into two Houses:
 the House of Lords consisted of the federal aristocracy and the leaders of
the Church
 the House of Commons consisted of representatives from the towns and
landowners in rural areas (more powerful)
o Henry VIII. and Anglicanism – Reformation
 rise of Protestantism in England
 Henry VIII. wanted to divorce and the Pope didn’t give him his approval so he
made himself the head of the ‘Church of England’ independent of Rome (also new
large source of income) – 1534 The Act of Supremacy (nadvláda) makes Henry
VIII. the head of the Church in England – religion and politics linked
 Anglicanism = a form of Protestantism in England, not so very different form
Catholicism in its organization and ritual
 Scotland (lowlands) it was Calvinism or also Presbyterianism – insistence on
simplicity and its dislike of ritual and celebration, but in some parts of Scotland
(highlands) remained Catholicism – a gulf (propast) between the two parts of the
nation
 Ireland Catholicism, Protestantism was identified with the English, who at time
were making attempts to control the whole country
o Elizabeth I.
 a daughter of Henry VIII., also the 1st of three queens in British history (also
Victoria and Elizabeth II.), also called the virgin queen because she never married
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 only used its possibility as a diplomatic tool, Virginia in the USA called after her
English explorer
 during her reign (vláda) – skilful diplomacy, stability and firm Protestant England
 Ulster Plantations in Ireland – colonization of Ireland
 Scotland – Scottish kings vs. their nobles – Clans (šlechta)
 sea power – she supported many sailors, for example Francis Drake, British East
India Company was established (spices), Walter Raleigh – US settler, tobacco to
UK

 THE 17TH CENTURY – CIVIL WAR AND REVOLUTION, STUARTS

o James I. of England (also James IV. of Scotland) from Stuart Dynasty (Catholic)– the
crowns of two countries were united, but they still stayed separated – The Union of Crowns
(1603) also Ireland, he didn’t want to have parliament
o Charles I. was his son on and had the same attitude and believed their power was never-
ending because it was given by God – 11 years of Personal Rule – (without the help of
parliament)
o rising conflicts:
 Stuart monarchs (Charles I.) raised money (because of Spain war) without the
agreement of the House of Commons – Naysayers – members of the Parliament
who refused to pay higher taxes (for example John Hampton)
 James and also Charles didn’t care about the Parliament
 amount of Puritans (simplicity) had increased and they went against Anglicanism
(wealthy) that was in their opinion still a lot Catholic and Catholicism of the Stuart
monarchs
 Charles I. didn’t even visited Scotland – one of his kingdoms – regularly
 Charles I. wanted the Scots to have a prayer book to make them Anglican more, they
wrote down a document in which they described how their king should be, Charles
I. started war with them, but he lost a didn’t have any money – called the Parliament
but they were mad at him and sent him the list of complaints in 1641 The Grand
Remonstrance, he tried to arrest five leaders of the Parliament, civil war broke out
o all of this leaded to the Civil War (1642-1651) – Cavaliers vs. Roundheads

CAVALIERS ROUNDHEADS
PARLIAMENTARIST or PURITANS or
ROYALISTS or TORIES
WHIGS
upper class – aristocracy, nobles rich, but not as the Cavaliers, lawyers, historians
thought that king Charles I. could rule without
supported the Parliament
the parliament
House of Lords, Noble Men House of Commons
expensive clothes, long hair plain clothes, short hair
religious traditional Puritans
conservative radicalism
later Conservative party later Labour party
o Course of the Civil War
 First Civil War (1642-1646): Parliament had the support of the south-east England,
merchants (obchodníci), London and the navy, leader of Roundheads Oliver
Cromwell
 Oliver Cromwell set up New Model Army and won decisive victories
 Second Civil War (1648-1649): Charles I. tried to defeated the Parliament for the
second time but failed
 Parliament put him under the trial for treason and in 1649 was executed
 England was a republic for the next 11 years and ruled by Oliver Cromwell also
known as “Lord Protector”
 Third Civil War (1649-1651): supporters of Charles II against supporters of the
Parliament
 when Cromwell died, his system of the government and the puritan ethics became
unpopular

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  son of Charles I. – Charles II. took the throne and the monarchy and the Anglican
Church was restored 1660 – he wanted it to be even more Catholic and he also
didn’t want the Parliament to help him rule
o The Glorious Revolution (1688)
 called glorious because it was bloodless
 Prince William of Orange (the ruler of Netherlands) and his Stuart wife Mary
accepted parliament invitation to become king and queen instead of James II.
 it was established that the monarch could rule only with the support of the
Parliament
 Parliament immediately drew up a Bill of Rights 1689, which limited some of the
powers of the monarch – Parliament more powerful than the monarch – notably
(zejména) the power to dismiss (zamítnout) judges, also those who did not agree
with the practises of Anglicanism were allowed to practise their religion freely (but
couldn’t become Members of Parliament)
 Jacobites in Scotland – they wanted to restore Catholic James II. as a king of
England, Battle at the Boyne in Ireland – fight James II. (Catholic) against William
(Protestant) – William won
 Penal laws = laws that tried to force Irish Catholics and Protestants to Anglican
Church
 Orange Lodges = Protestant organization in Ireland, non-Protestants couldn’t
become members unless they converted
 Highland Clearances = significant displacement of people in Scottish Highlands as
a result of agricultural revolution – land used for grazing sheep or farming

 THE 18TH CENTURY – EMPIRE AND SEA POWER

o politically this century was stable
o beginning of the party system in Britain – two opposed groups Whigs (descendants of the
parliamentarians) and Tories (royalists that respected the idea of the monarchy and
importance of Anglican Church)
o monarch also appointed one principal from the Parliament to lead his government – idea of
Prime minister, government power increased – Cabinet – first prime minister Robert
Walpole
 The Act of Union 1707 – Scottish Parliament joined with the English and Welsh
Parliament at Westminster in London, however, Scotland kept its own system of law –
Great Britain
 1800 the separate British Parliament closed – United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland is formed
 Industrial Revolution – many technical innovations, manufacturing, transport, also growth
of industrial production, people moved from rural areas to the cities – growth of cities
(Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds) – industry mainly in the north, London business and trading
centre
o Britain gradually expanded its empire – America, south coast of Africa, India – True
Empire and in 1801 Britain first census (sčítání lidu)

 THE 19TH CENTURY – VICTORIAN BRITAIN

o Biggest Empire – world’s foremost economic power
o Colonization
o Queen Victoria
 1837 – 1901
 social structure – much more varied thanks to Industrial Revolution
 new set of values – the most important family and hard work
 personification of contemporary morals
 the idea that monarch should set an example to the people
o reforms in political and public life, for example:
 1842 Income Taxes introduced
 1870 Free Primary Education
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  1870 Sick pay and old-age pensions
o Suez Canal opens, patent for radio communication awarded, electric light used

 THE 20TH CENTURY

o by the beginning of the 20th century Britain was no longer the world’s richest country
(Victorian reforms)
o first 20 years of the century extremism in Britain – for example women demanded the
right to vote, government’s introduction of new types and levels of taxation
o by the end of the First World War those extremism died out (accept the Irish problem –
they disobeyed the government)
 two world wars, economic pressures in the 30s and 70s
 the withdrawal from the Empire
 growing nationalism
 isolationism

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