CULTURE UNITED KINGDOM

Lecture 1 Introduction

GENRAL OUTLINE OF THE COURSE

1. Introduction to the course
2. The Legacy of the Early Invasions.
3. The Make-Up of the UK: Union and Disunion.
4. From Monarchy to Parliamentary Democracy
5. The education system
6. Religion(s) in the UK: Catholics, Anglicans and Dissenters.
7. Music and politics: 1960’s and 70’s: the punk movement
8. Music and politics: 1980’s and Thatcherism
9. Cinema and TV
INTRODUCTION DEFINITION OF TERMS
Culture is a term whose meanings has changed over centuries:
• Cultivation of animals and crops
• A process of growth of mind and personality in human beings
• A general state or habit of the mind, with the idea of human perfection

• The intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development of an individual

group or society.
• The general body of the arts. Intellectual and artistic activities and their products (literature, film, art, theatre,

symbols, institutions, architecture, and media).

Which country are we talking about?

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Definition of Terms:
a. Using the right words
b. Geographical terms:
The British Isles=
- Great Britain (British)
- Ireland (Irish)
Political terms:
 - The UK of Great Britain and Ireland (British)
- The Republic of Ireland
BRITISH and ENGLISH are NOT synonyms
The United Kingdom (UK) = Britain
The UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland --> Scotland + Wales + England
(GB) + Northern Ireland (4 nations)
Definition of terms 2
NB: Make the difference btw: British Island, The Republic of Ireland, UK, Great
Britain and England
 Great Britain = Scotland + Wales + England UK = + North Ireland
 British /= English
Nations Nationality

England English

Scotland Scottish

Northern Ireland Northern Irish

Wales Welsh

Citizenship British and the State Britain/ the UK

The United kingdom is a STATE composed of 4 countries, called the HOME

NATIONS
But it is not a federal state. The 4 countries depend on the UK Parliament in
London.

GREAT BRITAIN --> What is “Great Britain” ?

GB is composed of England, Wales and Scotland.

The Great Britain is the largest island of the British Isles

England + Scotland + Wales = 3 NATIONS and 1 State
NB: The Britain Britain // The United Kingdom or the UK

 Different flags between the nations

The Welsh flag is not represented because in 1536, England and Wales had
became the same state: The Kingdom of England and Wales.
a. 12th century: Wales is under English control
b. 1536 – 42: Acts of Union between England and Wales (under henry VIII,
a Tudor)
c. 1603: Union of the Crowns (James VI of Scotland becomes James I of
England)
d. 1707: Act of Union with Scotland (political)
e. 1801: Act of Union with Ireland
f. 1921: partition of the Ireland division between Northern Ireland and the
Irish Free State.

UK
 The United Kingdom are a Constitutional Monarchy under the Queen
Elizabeth II (1952 – infinite)

 A common currency: The Pound Sterling (£)

 A common parliament: Westminster “The British Parliament”

 Since 1998, devolution of power regional parliament in Cardiff,

Edinburgh and Belfast

 England doesn’t have a Parliament

  The national anthem of UK is “God save the Queen”

The British Isles

g. Great Britain
h. The Isle of Ireland (Northern Ireland and the republic of Ireland)
i. All the other isles: the Shetslands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Isle of
man, the isle of Wight, the channel Islands (Guersney and Jersey)

What is the national anthem of the UK?

• God Save the Queen

In 1921 (Anglo-Irish Treaty), the isle of the Ireland was divided into:

Northern Ireland 6 countries = capital is Belfast (Conte Antrim)

remained in the UK

The republic of Ireland (Eire) 26 countries = capital Dublin (Co. Dublin)

became independent
POPULATION OF BRITAIN = 67 million people
UK population – 2017

The UK 66 milions (France abt 67)

j. England 55,6 million 84% of pop ( London 7 million)
k. Scotland 5,4 million 8% of pop
l. Wales 3,1 million 5% of pop
m. Northern Ireland 1,9 million 3% of pop
Largest cities in the Great Britain
 London
 Birmingham
 Leeds
 Glasgow
 Liverpool
 Sheffield
 Manchester
 Bradford
 Edinburgh, Bristol
 Lecture 5
FROM ABSOLUTE MONARCHY TO CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY AND
DEMOCRACY
From Absolute Monarchy to Constitutional
Outline
Introduction: Definition of Terms
1) The Struggle over Political Power: Monarchy vs. Parliament (13-18 c.)
A) Magna Carta: Curtailing Regal Power (1215)
B) The Emergence of Parliament (1265-1350)
C) Consolidation of Royal Power: the Union of Church and State (Henry VIII)
D) The End and Restoration of the Monarchy (1649- 1660)
E) The Glorious Revolution (1688): End of Absolute Monarchy, Beginning of
Constitutional Monarchy

- Introduction: Definition of Terms

What is an “autocracy”?
A. a system in which a country is ruled by several electing people.
B. a system in which a country ruled by one person with absolute power.
C. a democratic system of government
D. a democratic system in which a country ruled by a monarchy and a
parliament.

What are the characteristics of the British Constitution?

1. Like the French and American constitutions, the British constitution is
written. It is a single document.
2. Britain has no form of constitution at all.
3. Britain’s constitution is unwritten or uncodified, for it is not contained in a
single document.

Constitutional Monarchy, Constitution, Absolute Monarchy, Democracy,

Autocracy, Republic, Universal suffrage

1) The Struggle over Political Power Monarchy vs. Parliament 138 c.

A) Magna Carta Libertatum “The Great Charter of Freedoms’ (1215): Curtailing

Regal Power (for the 1st time)

Who was John Lackland?

A) He was King of England of 1199 to 1216 and wrote Magna Carta

MAGNA CARTA LIBERTATUM “The Great Charter of freedoms” (1215)

John Lackland (King) vs. The Baron (The great Council)
What was Magna Carta?
1. It was a document written by the Barons in 1215 to curtail royal power.
2. It was a document ratified by the King in 1215 to limit royal power
 Lecture 6
FROM ABSOLUTE MONARCHY TO
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY AND DEMOCRACY

B) The Emergence of Parliament 13th - 14th. C.

THE SECOND BARONS’ WAR (1263-1265)

Simon de Montfort, Henry III’s brother-in-law, and the Barons vs Henry III
(1216-1272) and royal a
1265: “Parliament”
King + Barons
+ leaders of the Church
+ 2 elected representatives for each borough (town)
EMERGENCE OF A TWO-HOUSE SYSTEM
1350: Parliament divided into 2 chambers (bicameral):
- The House of Lords
Barons + Churchmen => unelected, hereditary,
appointed
- The House of Commons “Commoners” => elected

The members of the House of Commons i.e. Commoners, (until the 19 TH )

A. were elected democratically.
B. were elected by a tiny minority of the population (aristocrats).
C. were hereditary.
D. were appointed by the King.

C) Reconsolidation of Royal Power: The Monarch as Head of the Church of

England
HENRY VIII (1509-1547)
1534: Act of Supremacy
• Creation of the Anglican Church
• Break with Rome
• Monarch as ” Supreme Head of Church of England”

D) The End and Restoration of the Monarchy (1649-1660)

1. The Civil War and the Regicide (1642-1649)
ABSOLUTISM: DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS
JAMES I (1603-1625)
Believed in the absolute power of the monarchy, and had a rocky relationship
with the parliament
CHARLES I (1625-1649)
Continued his father's hostile relationship with the parliament, quarreling over
the right to levy taxes

“politicaldoctrine in defense ofmonarchical absolutism,which asserted that

kings derived their authority from god and could not therefore be held
accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament.”

THE CIVIL WAR (1642-1649)

James I (1603-1625)
Charles I (1625-1649)
=> Absolutist + Catholic
Royalists (led by Charles I) vs.
Parlementarians (led by Oliver Cromwell)
The Execution of Charles I (Jan 30,1649)
The Execution of Charles I at Whitehall by Gonzales Coques(1614-1684) Charles
was tried for treason in 1649, before a parliament whose authority he refused
to ackacknowledge.
2, Oliver Cromwell’s Republic (1649-1660)
“Commonwealth and Free State”
“Lord Protector”
=> a Republic? Despotism, autocracy
3. The Restoration of the Monarchy: Charles II (1660-1685)
1679
• Creation of Political Parties => Tories
=> Whigs
• The Habeas Corpus Act
A text which put an end to arbitrary arrests
“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or
possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other
way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so,
except by the lawful
judgment of his equals."

In 1660 Parliament offered to restore the monarchy if charles would agree to

concession for religions toleration.

WHEN WAS CHARLES I EXECUTED?

E. At the end of the Civil War, in 1649.
1. Magna Carta increased the power of the monarch
2. The Habeas Corpus Act made arbitrary detention of people illegal.
A. 1 and 2 are true. 1 predates 2.
B. 1 and 2 are true. 1 postdates 2.
C. 1 and 2 are false. 1 predates 2.
D. 1 is false and 2 is true. 1 predates 2.
E. 1 is true and 2 is false. 1 postdates 2.

What does « regicide » mean?

A. the killing of a member of Parliament
B. the coronation of a monarch
C. the election of Parliament
D. the execution of a monarch
 BRITISH CIVILSATIONS
Lecture 7
Constitutional Monarchy and Democracy

The Rise of Democracy and Constitutional Monarchy

E) The Glorious Revolution (1688): End of Absolute Monarchy, Beginning
of Costitutional Monarchy.
IV) The Institution of the Monarchy Today
• Ceremonial and Symbolical Role
• advisory Role
• The Rules of succession to the Throne
V) The Institution of Parliament Today
• the house of commons
• the house of Lords

E) The “Glorious Revolution” (1688): End of Absolute Moarchy, Birth of

Constituional Monarchy
After restoration JAMES II (1685-1688) vs. Parliament
James II, Charles II’s brother, was a Catholic , and tried to re-estabilish the
rights of Catholics. This rallied the Whigs and Tories against him.
“in the name of the protestant religionv and of the freedom of parliament”
Parliament extended an invitation to the firmy Protestant William and Mary of
orange to take the english throne.
November 5th, 1688: invasion of William of orange and Mary (James II’s
daughter)

Who became Monarch of England and Scotland after James II fled to France
in 1688?
C. William and Mary

King William III and Queen Mary II

“Glorious Revolution”
Birth of Constitutional Monarchy
1689: The Bill of Rights (Gave the parliament power over the monarchy, Bill of
Rights presented to William III and Mary II (18th-century engraving)
and 1701: Act of Settlement
• Hereditary
• Rule of primogeniture
• Monarch could not be Catholic
• Marriage to a Catholic forbidden

The Rise of Democracy:

When was universal suffrage in Britain?
• In 1918
ELECTORAL REFORMS
1832: Great Reform Act
1867: Second Reform Act
1884: Third Reform Act
1918: The Representation of the People Act => universal male suffrage
1928: The Equal Franchise Act =>universal suffrage (= democratic system)

IV) The Institution of the Monarchy Today:

QUEEN ELIZABETH II (1952-...)
-The Coronation of Elizabeth II (June 1953)
-Diamond Jubilee(2012): the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the
accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne.

B) Ceremonial and Symbolical Role

She “reigns but does not rule”. She:
o is Head of State
o summons or dissolves Parliament
o delivers the Queen’s Speech
o appoints the PM.
o is Head of the Church of England
o is Fountain of Honours
o is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces o grants the “Royal Assent”
o is Head of the Commonwealth
=> No decision-making or political power

Opening of Parliament 2016-The Queen’s Speech (House of Lords)

B) Advisory Role
She is politically neutral, but She has “the right to be informed, to advise and
to warn”.
C) Modernising the Monarchy
1. Rules of Succession to the Throne
2013: Succession to the Crown Act
“Succession to the Crown [does not] depend on gender. In determining the
succession to the Crown, the gender of a person born after 28 October 2011
does not give that person, or that person’s descendants, precedence over any
other person (whenever born).”
“A person is not disqualified from succeeding to the Crown or from possessing
it as a result of marrying a person of the Roman Catholic faith.”

Who is second in line to the throne?

• Prince William
Costing Less and Being Closer to the people
Income tax paied
800,00 / year
The Queen volunteered to pay taxes
1993: Queen ---> taxes on income
2012: End of Civil List (7,9 million)
Civilist- The amount of money, a fixed annual payment, provided by parliament
to meet the official exoenses of the Queen’s Household
Replaced by sovereign support grant, a portion of the Grown Estate’s revenue