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    A Concise History of Britain

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    of 112
    / Kenneth Brodey a A CONCISE HISTORY OF MODERN LANGUAGES Contents Prehistory... ExFIE5 orn Tine Anglo-Saxons, the First Northern Tribes Exercise... ‘The Normans: another Northern Tribe Invades Britain. Exercises. England Becomes a Nation Exercises. Tudor England andthe Consolidation of the Nation State Exercises. The Stuarts andthe Chl War Exercises. The Eighteenth Century fom Trade to industy. EXEFIBES on Revolution, Reform and Empire. Erercises. The Decine of Great Britain in Two World Wars. Exercises. ‘ter the Second Word War to the Recent Yeas Exercises. es Appendix Magna Carta (1215) Bill of Rights (1689) . 108 Texts and exercises Kenneth Brodey * Rachel J. Roberts ‘Language and historical consultant Joseph Patwell Editing P&V Printed in Italy by Romagna Grafica © 2007 ELI - Modern languages tel, +39 02 21 87 240 — fax +39 02 21 57 833 ~ info @laspigalang.com ELI—Recanati, Italy tel. +39 071 750701 — eli@fastnet.it Aight osorved No pat f his book may be reproduced, sored ina eteval system o ransmted, In any means, eectonle,ohotocopying, mechanical recording of ater, wthout the pe passion a he copyright nn. CHAPTERT Prehistory THE STUDY OF PREHISTORY History, which is man’s written record of himself, began for ‘Western’ civilization around 3000 BC in the Tigris- Euphrates valley, while our direct ancestors can be traced back to maybe 3,000,000 yearsago. Clearly ‘History’ isan extremely recent event int the total history of mankind. Even more recentis the stady of prehistory’. Prehistory as ascriousscientific field ofstudy began during the nineteenth century when certain geologists and biologists began to, discover that the world and its inhabitants changed over time and that there was not just one ‘creation’, but an on going creation that continues to this day. The most important and revolutionary of these scientists was the Englishman, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) who showed in his book The Origin of the Species (1859) how animals, man included, could change over time. At the same time scholars in other countries were beginning to put together and interpret skeletal remains and artifacts, such as hand-axes, figurines and flint implements) of prehistoric man. With this mass of new data and Darwinian ideas about change over time by ‘natural selection, prehistory was divided into three phases, which represent phasesin man’s technological development as represented in the archaeological findings: Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), and Neolithic (New Stone Age). These periods are not absolute and, since they reflect technological achievements, may vary ftom place to place. For example, as we shall see, agriculture did not arrive in Britain until around 3000 BC while in the Near East agriculeure can be traced back to more than 5,000 years carer. fee, a sa Qe OS pe Early technology. BRITAIN BECOMES AN ISLAND ‘During the Paleolithic age, which began over 2,000,000 yearsago in Africa and about 500,000 yearsago in Europe, ‘men used stones that were naturally suited for the work dione, but were not worked into useful shapes by man himself. Later, around 100,000 years ago, Neanderthal man appeared and began to make flake tools and spears with flint tips. Around 40,000 BC more advanced flint blades were used. The antlers of deer and the bones of animals were used 2s tools, weapons and ornamental objects. All during these ages the land that is now Britain received prehistoricman easily as he wandered over Europe in search of game. Britain was not yet an islands the chalk. downs of Dover formed one range that was connected to the chalk downs of Calas, and the Thames flowed into the lower Rhine, which flowed into the Arctic Ocean, ‘The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, began around cight or nine thousand years ago following the retreat of the glaciers of the last great ice age. New animals were hunted and men adapted to the new conditions. More importantly for the story we are telling here, during this period, around 5000 or 6000 BC, Britain was cut off rom the mainland and became an island. Among the evidence ‘of man during this time are microliths, tiny fints used for arrowheads. But man in Britain stil lived by hunting game and gathering wild plants. Agriculture had yet to arrive. FARMING COMES TO BRITAIN The Neolithic or New Stone Age began around 3500 BC in Britain and is marked by the beginning of agriculture. The first farmers settled along the chalk hills of Sussex and the South of England where the sol was light and easy to plough. Bread was made, and wild cattle and pigs were tamed. Some of the artifacts of these people that we have found are ground stone axes and polished implements Other indications of the presence of these people are pottery and barrows (large mound graves) in that have beeen found the remains of entre families, This isthe time when people first setled down. Thisis also the time when we find the first evidence of trade. One of the important archaeologic sites of this period is at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands, where the foundations of a neolithic village were found. Another neolithic people were the Megalith people or Great Stone People so called because their graves were marked with huge slabs. Traces ofthese people can be found all along the Atlantic coast from Portugal to Scandinavia, Bronze is a metal made from smelting together copperand tin. Its use marks the beginning ofthe nextage in the prehistory of man, the Bronze Age. It began about 2400 BC in Britain, more than 5,000 years after it had begun in Mesopotamia. The people who first brought the technology of smelting bronze into Britain are called the Beaker Folk because of the kind of pottery they made. ‘They came from the Low Countries and the middle Rhine. ‘They buried their dead in round barrows,often witha sword or dagger; we can suppose that these weapons were to serve the dead in the next world. The Beaker Folk also introduced barley into Britain. Barley isa grain that grow well in a wide variety of conditions and therefore helped spread agriculture even further in Britain, During this period trade increased and was controlled by the chieftains of Wessex. Besides bronze, gold was also worked. There is evidence of trade with distant places: beads from Egyptand amber from the Baltic were brought to Britain in this period, andamber beads from Wessex have been found in the shaft-graves at Mycenac in Greece. The hills and downs of southern England seem to hhave been much travelled by men of the Bronzeage. Infict,theareaaround the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire is an area where archaeologists have found ‘many graves and settlements. The most famous archaco- logical site of this areais Stonehenge. It is group of huge stone slabs placed in concentric circles, The stones seem to come from a site in western Wales about three hundred miles away. The arrangement of these massive stones hhas caught modern imagination because they seem to be arranged so as to follow the rising and setting of the sun and the moon, Some have speculated that it was the trading connection with Mycenae that inspired the people that lived on the Salisbury plain to build Stonehenge. Stonehengeisjustone ofmany circular structures that were first built around 3000 BC. A ‘henge? consisted ofa great circle ofditches and earthen banksin which were wooden buildings and smaller stone circles, The henges Celtic horned helmet and ceremonial shield. must have been centres of political and religious activity at the time. Around 1300 BC the Beaker Folk added a new circle of stone columns that gave Stonchenge the appearance bywhich we knowit today. However, at about the same time it seems that the henges as centres of politics and religious began to give way toa new farming culture. These farmers had earned to use natural waste products to fertilize. They began to build hill forts and villages containing many families, Atfirst these farmersprobably ‘grew in importance as suppliers ofthe hhenges. Laterthey themselves became more powerful, and the central power ofthe henges disappeared, Iris alsoin this period that the chalk uplands, which had been the first areas to be farmed, became drierand unproductive so that the power of Britain, moved to the Thamesvalley and southeast Britain where it has remained to this day. A GROUP OF PEOPLES WE CALL THE CELTS Tron, like so many of the other important discoveries of mankind, seems to have first been used in the rich river valleys of the East. It was broughtto Britain byagroup ofpeople known as the Celts. The Celts are not cone people but groups of tribes that spoke related Indo-European languages; Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Trish Gaclic, Manx (the language of the Isle of Man), Cornish and Breton are all descendants of these Celtic languages. The Celts began to artive in Britain during the centuries 700- 400 BC. This Celtic invasion was part of a huge migrations of the Celtic people all over Western Europe, The Celtsare one ofthe first groups that we know anything about in detail because ‘of the testimony of Julius Caesar who fought these people during his expedition to England in 55 BC. They used iron to make ‘weapons and axes, With these axes they began clearing the forests of Britain, They also built hill forts to defend themselves against invaders. ‘Another Celtic group, the Belgae, began arriving in Britain around 200 BC. The main group of Belgae came to Britain in 75 BC: they were probably fleeing because of the Germanic and Roman invasions of Gaul. They were able to conquer large part of southeast England, Around the time of Christ, Cunobelinus (Cymbeline) was their king. They established the first towns in England and struck coins, which they had learned about from the Romans in Gaul. They brought with them to Britain: ind of plough that could be used to cutinto the heavier soils ofthe river bottoms. Before them agriculture had been limited to the lighter soils of the hill tops of the south and west of England. 4 ROMAN BRITAIN: THE BEGINNINGS OF HISTORY Romans decided to conquer Britain for two reasons. First, the British Celts were aiding the Celts of Gaul against the Romans;the British Celts gave the Celts of Gaul food and also place to hide from Roman attacks. The second reason Rome was attracted by Britain was because Britain was, especially in the southeast, a very productive island. At the time there were stil important deposits of gold and other valuable metals. Britain’s mild climate, due to the Gulf Stream, together with the advanced ploughs of the Celts, permitted the Celts to export grain as well as slaves and hunting dogs to the Continent. With the invasions of Julius Caesar in $5 and $4 BC, Britain entershistory tor the first time. Julius Caesar’saccounts of the peoples he met are the fist written descriptions in British history. But even with his descriptions itis not until after the Saxon settlements of fifth century AD that we can speak of a real written history of Britain. Throughout the Roman presence in Britain, there are many written sources but most of what we know still comes from archaeological digs. “The people that Caesar met were probably Belgie tribes, those peoples that had fled from Gaul under pressure fiom the Germansand the Romans. They already hada fairly advanced culture: they minted coins, used potter’s wheels and had ploughs thatenabled them to farm the heavy soils of the river valleys. Some ofthese tribes had a nobility that did not have to work the land. There were also slaves, The tribes alsoappear to have hacl a priestly class, the Druids, Cacsarsays thatthese Druids had theirshrinesin grovesofoakwhere they performed various rites, They had a lunar calendar and their time unit, the fortnight (two weeks) still exists, Butnotall of the tribes that Cacsar encountered were so civilized. He believed that some of the tribes of tht interior lived on meat and milk and wore skins, Their great ferocity in battle made a great impression on Caesar Inany case, Julius Caesarle without conqueringand ‘twas not until almost 100 years later, in AD 43 under the ‘mperor Claudius tharthe Romanscameto Britainwith four legions (a legion was made up of7,000 men) ro conquer the country. The native Britons were no match forthe organized Roman legions and, at least in the southern part of Britain, Rome ruled. In AD 61 Boudicea the queen ofthe Iceni, one ofthe Celtic tribes, led one ofthe last great rebellions against the Romans. She managed to defeat a Roman legion and destroy the Roman towns of Colchester, St. Albans and London before being defeated. Afier conquering southern England, the Romans ‘went ontoconquer Wales, Chesterin the north and Caerleon- ‘on-Usk in the south. They also conquered what is now Scotland but did not have enough mento holdit;so they built wall across the island to keep the Scots from coming south. ‘This wall, known as Hadrian’s wal, is 73 miles long and stretches from Newcastleto Solway Firth. Itwas builtbetween AD 122 and AD 128. Longstretchesofitarestillinexistence today. Once the Romans had conquered what they could, they immediately began to civilize the people they considered barbarians. ‘The southeastern Belgic tribes, who were mostly farmers living in settlements, accepted Roman civilization, while the hill dwellers led an unsettled pastoral lfeand never werewillingto give up their freedom to become civilized Romans. Tulius C Britain became a Roman province with privileged municipalities that were self-governing. Each municipality had jurisdiction overan area aboutas large as. present-day county. There were five of these governing municipalities or cities: York, Gloucester, Lincoln, Colchester and Verulamium, The rest of Britain was divided into cantons that corresponded to Celtic tribal areas. This was part of the Roman policy thattried to bring the Celtic people into the empire by maintaining tribal territories and by giving power to Celtic chief The presence of Rome revolutionized life in Britain, at least in part, The presence of the Roman army created & large demand for many goods such as leather and grain. Iris, estimated that the 60,000 Roman soldiers required at least 100,000 acres of cultivated land. The improved farming technology of the Romans made it possible to meet the new. demand. Another of the civilizing instruments of ancient Rome was the road. The Roman roads, many of which are stil in existence to this day, were built to transport Roman legions quickly from one part ofthe island to another, but theyalso made iteasy to transport goodsand information, ‘The most famous of these roads is now known as Watling, Street, and it ran from what is now known as Dover to Chesterand through the settlements that were to become Canterbury and London. ‘The Romans also founded many towns, among which was London. These towns were modelled after the Roman towns of Italy with its forum in the center, its public baths and amphitheatres, All together about 20 large towns of about 5,000 inhabitants and nearly 100 smaller towns were established by the Romans. Many of these towns were originally ‘casta’, that is, army camps, and those modem townswithnamesendingiin ‘caster, ‘chester, oor ‘cester’ (from ‘castra’) such as Lancaster, Gloucester, Winchester et were, in fact, originally Romar army camps In the end, even though the Romans were to rule in Britain for almost 400years, they left ew lasting markson the country. They had occupied the south and east while the north and west remained almost completely outside oftheir control. Since the south and east were the easiest areas t0 conquer for the Romans, they also proved to be the easiest areas for future invaders to conquer. The result was thatthe areas that were Celtic during the Roman period remained Caltic when the Anglo-Saxons came, and the Roman areas became Anglo-Saxon EXERCISES a 1 Complete the following sentences according to the information in the text. Ex: Written history began around 3000 BC in .. the Tigris-Euphrates river valley. 1. The Romans built roads primarily to transport soldiers easily but these roads also made it easier 2, Stonehenge fascinates us today because it seems to 3. Charles Darwin’s bookchanged foreverhow wesee the world. Instead of a world of man and animals created once and for all, we see now that life... 4, Since the Beaker Folk we can guess that the Beaker Folkbelievedinsome kind of life after death, 5. At first but later man began to fashion tools for himself. 6. History based on written documents can be said to have begun ... so : eee buteven so, mostof ourintormation fromthis period of British history comes from .. 7, Britain became an island when 8. We know more about the Celts than other early in habitants of Britain because... 9. Even though Rome controlled Britain for .... vinnie , Rome's influence on Britain was not great because 10. Rome wished to conquer Britain because 11, The study of prehistory began when 12. Rome tried to bring the Celts into the Roman Empire by 2 Choose the correct definition or synonym for the following words or expressions. Ex:to be suited 1a. to be appropriate ¥ b. to be made c.to be found d.to be taken flint a, akind of soft metal b. a kind of stone that is easily worked «. the bone of a wild animal d. the teeth of a wild pig 2.totame ‘a. t0 kill for food or clothing b. to put in a cage , to domesticate d. to eat 3. plough ‘a. a farming tool for breaking the soil b. a farming too! used for planting seeds ¢. a farming tool used for cutting grain d. a kind of carriage used for transporting grain and fruit 4.shrines ‘a. aplace where wild animals live and are hunted b. aplace that is considered important for religious reasons c.a place where men of great power discuss problems of government d. a place where people gather for bathing 5. fortnight a. a windy and stormy night b. a fortress c. a period of two weeks d. the shortest night of the year EXERCISES 6. Druids a, Celtic warriors b. Celtic priests ©. Celtic money d. a Celtic language still spoken in Wales 7.to wander a. to move about without a fixed goal or purpose b. to hunt cto run away from danger 4. to search for food 8 digs ‘a. museums . containers . excavations d. expeditions 9.s0i a. rock b. bone c. fertilizer dearth 10. they were no match for a. they were not similar to b. they did not like very much ¢. they did not leatn anything from 4. they were not a worthy adversary 11. pottery a. round vesselsand other containers made outof baked clay , knives and other sharp instruments used for hunting c. axes and other sharp instruments used for cutting down trees 4. war carriages pulled by two oxen during battle 12, aslab a. a large piece of wood used to make boats b. a large hole in the ground ©. a tock used for hunting 4. a large flat piece of stone 18. glacier a.a small river b. a large mass of ice that moves down a mountain ¢. aplace used for burying people d. a boat made from a trunk 14, a mound a. a pile of stones or earth b. a hunting dog cc. a kind of knife made of flint d. drawings made by prehistoric man 15. to flee a. to inrfest with insects b. to run away, to escape ¢.tosteal d. to run quickly 16.a grove ‘a. a group of trees b.avoyage ©. akind of bird d. an instrument of measuring distances 3 Change the following nouns into adjectives that are suitable for the following sentences. Ex: The Origin of the Species was a . book. (revolution) The Origin of Species was a revolutionary book. 1 man wandered over to Britain looking for herds of wild animals. (prehistory) 2. Caesar said that some of the Celtic tribes were particularly .. (ferocity) 3. The ancient Celts thought that the Druids were very... ..(wisdom) 4, The queen of the Iceni was a very... person. (bravery) 5. Notallofthe tribes that Caesarencountered were . (civilization) 6 civilization did not change Britain very much. (Rome) 7. Many objects made in England have been found inancient... nnn FAVE SitES. (Greece). 8. The ages of the ancient world are established according to their .. ea achievements, (technology). 9. Stonehenge is just one of many structures made at the time. (circle) 10. The.. 0 Belgic tribes accepted Roman rule. (southeast) 11. Primitivemanwas. before the arrival of agriculture. (migration) 12, The land along rivers was very evvrvnve Dut Before the use of effective ploughs was not farmed. (production) 13. TheCeltshadahighly developed. religion. (tribe) | CHAPTER IT ROME ABANDONS BRITAIN “When the Goths, Huns and Franks began attacking Gaul, modern day France, the Romans had to begin with: drawing theirlegions tom Britain. The troopsthatremained in Britain were not numerous enough to defend against the Saxon and Pictish attacks. In410 the Britons asked the ‘emperor Honorius for help, buthe told them to lookafter their own defense. This was the end of Roman rule in Britain, Atfrst litle changed, but gradually various groups began to conduct raids. First came the Pics from the north, then the Scots, who were originally from Ireland | and finaly some tribes from Germany and Jutland (part of ‘modern day Denmark) the Angles and the Saxons. These Germaniciibesfirstcame to Batainas 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 battie at Mons Badonicus (the leader of the Britons was supposedly a certain Arthur, the king famous in myth for his iendship with the magician Merlin and forhiskaights of the round table). In any case, the Roman Celts were pushed steadily westward until they lived only in the mountainous region called by the Saxons ‘Wealas’ or ‘Wales’ meaning land ofthe foreigners’, Ober Celts were clriven into the lowlands of what s now known as Scotland In England itself very little remains of Celtic culture except fora few names of vers suchas the Thames and the Mercy ‘Aer the Saxons had plundered and conquered, they began to bring ther families. Most of te eastern half of England \vas settled by them between AD 450 and AD 550. ‘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 groupshad many thingsin common. They were organized in family groups where loyalties to the family and the lord ofthe tribal group where the most importantsocial bonds. | Twas 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 vietim’s rank in society, The wergild ‘was away of eliminating some of the violence that plagued Anglo-Saxon society. ‘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. The Anglo-Saxons, the First Northern Tribes An Anglo-Saxon king and witan: the dispensers of justice. ANGLO-SAXON CULTURE AND GOVERNMENT “The Anglo-Saxons did notcomeinorganizedlegions as the Romans had. They came in scattered bands that ‘would sail up rivers and attack and pillage any towns they could find. These groups were led by a king and his followers called ‘thegns’. The relationship between aking his thegnsis evealed to usin the great Anglo-Saxon poem, “Beowulf. Beowulf, the hero of the poem, enters the service of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, Hrothgar attracts, followers by giving them wonderful gifts. In return the “thegn’ becomesthe eternal enemy ofall the king’senemics. Beowulf says at one point in the poem that it is better £0 avenge the death of friend than to mourn him for along, time. ‘The way of life thar emerged under the Anglo Saxons and in particular under the rule of the kings of Wessex would have a great influence on the history of England. For example, the country was divided up into a system of shires (a bureaucratic land district). ‘The shires were governed by aldermen, shire-reeve (a reeve isa high officer ourword sheriffcomes from the word shire-reeve) anda bishop. Through this sophisticated organization the will ofthe king reached all parts of his realm right down to the individual peasant farmer. Another Saxon institution was the Kings’ Council known as the ‘Witan’, In the beginning the Witan was an informal group of advisers made up of church man and senior warriors. The Saxon kingscouldignore any advice the Witan gave, but it was often to the king’s advantage to have the support ofimportant members of the community. By the tenth century the Witan had become an official government body that had the right to issue charters and laws. To this day the British royalty asa ‘Privy Council’, adirect descendent of the Witan. More importantly, the Witan can be consiceredasanancestor of Parliament. ‘The Saxons also changed the way in which land was farmed, which in turn changed the way in which the land was ruled. Before the Saxons came the Celtsused smalllight ploughs that could be pulled by one animal or bytwo persons. These ploughs turned easily, and asa result the Celts tended to divide up their land into small square plots that were farmed by individual families thatwerenotbound by administrative connections. The Saxonson the other hand used heavier loughs that could plough heavier ils but that required as many as ight oxen to pull them. In order to rake it easier to use these useful but awkward ploughs, the land around cach village was divided up into three sections, Each of these three sections wasthen divided up into narrow strips suitable for the Saxon plough. One of three main sections was used forspring ‘crops, the second for autumn erops and the third was left fallow. On the fallow section and the other sections after harvest, the animals ofthe village were allowed to forage. The strips within each section were assigned to various families who altogether would have about 20 acres of land to work. This system of farming had many advantages. For example, by leaving, one third of the land fallow theland never wore out; and by using the Saxon plough, large areas were cultivated forthe firsttime. The Saxons were so successfl in bringing new land under cultivation that nearly al of the agricultural villages of the ighteenth century were already in ‘existence in eleventh-century Saxon England. ‘As can be readily seen, the ‘Saxon way of farming wasmuch more complicated than the square family plots of the Celts and therefore required a sophisticated form of administration that centered around the manor (the house) of the local lord or ‘alderman’, ‘The alderman administered justice, made sure that the land was properly divided, collected taxes from the villagers and organized the Anglo-Saxon army known as the ‘fjrd’. Under Danish rule the aldermen, who were often warriors, were called ‘earls’; both names survive today, but with completely different meanings. Inany ‘case, we can see the beginnings of a class system consisting of the king, lords (aldermen orearls), soldiersand peasants. The other class, which came from the Christian church, wasthat of the men of learning, EARLY CHRISTIANITY ‘The Britons fled to Cornwall and Wales, Some went toa 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 Jucaea, spread throughout the Empire and finally in 312 ‘AD 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. In any case, the Celtic church continued after the Romans left and continued to send out missionaries ‘One ofthe 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 hhe returned to Ireland and began to convert the Irish. He is given the credit for bringing the Christian faith to the Irish. Ireland, once converted, sent out its own ‘issionaries. St. Columba is perhaps the most famous. A shundred years after St. Patrick, he sailed across the Irish sea and founded a monastery on the island of Tona. Together with is dsipes he went all over Scotland, converting the ts ‘Meanwhile the Angles and Saxons became dominant in England. The Saxons, who controlled southern England, were divided into the West Saxons, East Saxons, Middle ‘Saxonsand South Saxons. The Angles occupied thenorthem, and easter parts of Britain, which were divided into areas called Mercia, East Angliaand Northumbria. The boundaries, ‘of these tribal nations fluctuated as one dominated or fell to The fabulous illuminated text of the Book of Kells. Evidence of the high cultural achievement of the Irish Celtic church. II EEEIIIISSTTES the other. After some time these tribal nations developed into seven differentkingdoms called the Heptarchy. These kingdoms were East Anglia, Essex (East Saxons), Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex (South Saxons) ,and Wessex (West Saxons). “An apocryphal story relates how the Pope saw some English boy’ for sale ina slave marketat Rome. These boys were very fairand good-looking. The Popeasked who they were. He was told that they were Angles to which he replied ‘Not Angles, but Angels if they only had the gospel’. In 597 Pope Gregory the Great sent a monk, Augustine, to England to bring Christianity back 10, England. Augustine firstwentto Canterbury, the capital of the kingdom of Kent. He went there because the king’s ‘wife came from Europe and was already Christian. This technique was successful and repeated several times by other missionaries. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 601 and wasable towin over several other royal families. However, Augustine and his monks had very little success with the common people while the Irish missionaries awe have described above had already had great success. ‘These Irish missionaries travelled around the countryside on footpreaching, They lived a simple life, which appealed to the people, In this way they managed to convert Northumbria and then began to send out even more Image of the Venerable Bede from a medieval manuscript. missionaries to other parts of Britain, Unfortunately, the ‘Celtie Church and the Roman Church eame into conflict. ‘The Roman Church like its ancestor the Roman Empire wanted all other churches to submittoits authority. Atthe ‘Synod of Whitby (664) representatives ofthe two churches met to discuss when Easter should be celebrated. The question, even if it seems trivial to us today, had great meaning at the time. ‘The question was decided by King ‘Oswy of Northumbria in fivourof Rome. From thatpoint ‘onward the Roman Church would be dominantin Britain, thereby opening the way for the superior organization of the Roman Church. Before that century was over most of England was Christian. Soon some of the newly founded monasteries progressed quite rapidly and became centers of learning, themselves. Famous among these monasteries was that of Jarrow in Northumbria where the Venerable Bede (673- 735) resided. He mastered all the learning of his day and ‘wrote during his life 45 volumes, the most famous being “The Ecclesiastical History ofthe English’ sin fact, much of ‘what we know of thisperiod of English history comes from, Bede's history, which modern archaeology has proven to be reliable in most of its details. Bede also translated the Gospel of John into English. He also calculated all the dates of history known atthe time from the birth of Christ andso, through hisworks, theuse ofa Christian chronology became commonin Europe. Bede became famous through ‘out Europe, and fora while Northumbria was far in advance of the south in civilization, Besides learning, the Roman Church developed a parish system in England and planted churches all over England. Oftentimes these new churches ‘were built within deserted Roman towns and forts. Canterbury, Worcester, York, and Winchester cathedrals were all built within the remains of Roman defenses. ‘These churches with their ministers attracted tradesmen, craftsmen and servants; small communities began toform = these are the first English towns. Lastly, the Roman Church contributed greatly to the power ofkings in England. At first, as we have seen, the first missionaries tried to gain the support of kings through their wives and by other ‘means, butitsoon became apparent thatthe (Church gave the king the ‘support of God” During this period the succession of kings wasnotanestablished matter: the oldestson ofaking did notautomatically become king uuponthedeath ofhis father, Any member of the royal family who had enough armed supporters might become king, Therefore, a coronation ceremony aciministered by @ bishop added a great deal oflegitimacy to a new king. Another source of power that the Church brought was learning. If laws and land grants were written down, those people who could not read, the poor peasants, would be excluded from power. 10 ers SRSR ESTER SASS ya ba pat aS or ‘Thechurchestablished ‘minsters' (monasteries) which became centersofleaming. Besides workssuchas the history of Bede, the minsters also helped procluce systems of law that further ‘expanded the power of the English state and the Church, Finally, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms benefited from the economic growth around the various monasteries. Not only was local trade helped but also trade with the was further fi Continent, Many of the bishops and monks asked over to England were fromimportant lands present-day France and Germany). Since the offical language of the Church was Latin all over Europe, trade tated. England at this time was famous for itsmetal goods, woolen goods, pottery, hunting dogsand cheese. In return, England imported from the Continent jewellery, fish, wine and pepper. ingtownsin the Frankish ANOTHER NORTHERN TRIBE INVADES ENGLAND, THE VIKINGS The kingdoms of England described above fought constantly for control of the island. In the seventh century Northumbria was dominant; in the cight century Mercia was dominant, and in the ninth century Wessex became dominant. Under the kings of Wessex England was finally united into one kingdom. The first of these ‘English’ kings from Wessex was Egbert. In825 he managed to overrun Cornwall, defeat the kingdom of Merciaand control the entiresouthem. coast of England from Cornwall to Kent. Once again, however, England ‘was to be invaded, This time England wasinvaded by tribes from Scandinavia called Vikings or Danes. They went about conquering much the way the Anglo: The success of Wessex lasted until the end ofthe tenth century when the Danes once again attacked. This time they were much more organized and commanded an army of well-trained professional soldiers. Their attacks began a few years after the accession to the throne of Wessex of Ethelred “the Unready’ in 979. Fle was a weak kingand wasnotable toresist. He was forced to pay ‘Danegeld? to ransom land conquered by the Danes. This Danegeld, which was a kind of direct taxation, was paid from money extorted from the peasants, Later, under the rule of King Canute, it became a kind of a war fax, and then under William the Conqueror it became one of the main sources of revenue and was calculated on the basis of a famous census called The Domesday Book. So, afier years of fighting and defeats, in 1016 Ethelred’sson Edmund signed atreaty with the Danes that gave all of England but Wessex to the Danes. When Edmund died shortly thereafter, Canute the Danish king became king of all England, Viking ship. Saxons hhad done. They sailed th long, narrow boats up the rivers and then’ went about their plundering, ‘They plundered and made desolate large areas of Ireland, France and Britain, Even fortified towns were not safe against the Vikings. In the 840s they attacked Parisand sacked London, Bat, just as the Anglo-Saxons before them, they began tosettlein the areas they plundered. In 865 a huge force of Danes known as the ‘Great Army" ttied to conquer all of England. They were able to conquer Fast Anglia and Northumbria, Mercia had to pay a kind ransom, which was called “Danegeld’. Only Wessex resisted. Alfred, who had become king, of Wessex in 871, fought long and hard against the Danes. Evenafterthe THE DANES Canute tumed out to be a strong king, but nota ruel king. The usual destruction and plundering of conquerors were replaced by the payment of Danegeld. The Anglo: Saxons remained in important positions, and Canute even issued a collection of Anglo-Saxon laws, But as was often the case before the Norman conquest, the state of the kingdom depended mostly on who Daneshad completely overrun Wessex he managed to rally his forces and defeat the Danes in a battle near Ethandune in 878. The Danish king Guthrum agreed to leave Wessex, in peace. The Danes established an area under their jurisdiction called the Danelawin the northeast of England, but Alfred had prevented them from conquering the entire island and ‘Wessex stood preeminent among the Kingdoms of England. Besides defeating the Danes, Alfred reorganized the finances of his kingdom and promotedlearning, The compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began during his reign, He also began a kind of cavalry and designed a system of burgs, a kind of, fortified town, \wastheking, Canute hadincorporated England into his Nordic Empire, which included his possessions in Scandinavia. But when Cannte died in 1042, thisempire, which depended on Canuite’s personal abilities, went to pieces, and England’s ties with Scandinaviawere broken aswell. From this moment on, England would be directed towards the Continent, and cls France in particular. ul EXERCISES a 1 ‘As we have seen the Anglo-Saxons contributed to modern British society in many ways, not the least of which is their language. Many modern English words derive from the Anglo-Saxon language. Below on the left is a list of words in Anglo-Saxon. Match the Anglo-Saxon wordwith its modern English descendent on the left. straet strong aeppel head crit love tutu knife strang street cit hat fit apple heafod knight haett lite 2 Choose the best endings to complete the following sentences. Ex: After the Anglo-Saxons plundered and conquered, they ‘a. would sell what they had taken back to their homes. . would bring their families over to England. . would hold great feasts in which they made human sacrifices. d. would ask pardon from local monks. 1. The Roman Church contributed greatly to the growth of the English state by ‘a. giving kings the ‘support of God’ and by ‘educating the upper classes. b. making kings respect the word of the Lord. . supplying weapons othe king andhis followers. d. making beer and wine in their monasteries. 2, The Venerable Bede calculated all dates in history a. with the best calendar he could find. b. with the help of a great historian from Rome, «. from the birth of Christ d. by the use of the sun and the moon, 3. Christianity originated in a. the southern half of Italy. b. the Roman province of Judaea. ©. the northem islands of Scotland. . Rome. 4.The Celtic Church was better than the Roman Church, at a. raising large sums of money. b. organizing libraries and universities. ©. increasing trade with the Continent. d. converting the common people to Christianity. 5. Ireland, once it had been converted to Christian ity, a tied to conquer the English kingdoms. . began to send out its own missionaries to convert other peoples. «. tried to dominate the Roman Church. d tried to gain the approval of the English kings. 6. Latin made it easier for England to trade with the Continent because a, people respected people who knew more than one language. b. people thought that someone who knew Latin would produce quality products. . Latin was a kind of universal languages that \was understood by the upper classes all over Europe. d technical books of the day were written in Latin. 7. The Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans all a. came from islands in the North Sea. b. spoke the same language. c. belonged to the same cultural group. d. were members of the Roman Church. 8. Danegeld was a, money paid by an assassin to the family of the porson he had killed. b. the common currency used by the Vikings. c. a kind of cheese exported from England to Denmark. d. a ransom paid by the king of a conquered kingdom to the Danes. 9. England under the reign of King Canute ‘a. became the most powerful country in the worl. b. was just one province of Canute's Nordic empire, which included his possessions in Scandinavia. «. tried to invade the Frankish lands. d. began to trade with countries of the East. 10. Tiw, Woden, Thor, and Freya are ‘a. thenames of fourdays of the week of the Anglo Saxon calendar. b. four Anglo-Saxon gods. . are the four principal advisers of the king of Wessex. d. are names of the four social classes at the beginning of the tenth century. 11. King Arthur ‘a, might have been a real king of the Britons who fought against the Germanic tribes. was the Danish king who conquered England after the departure of the Romans. ‘was the king of Wessex who defeated the Danes. the first English king to accept the Roman Church, ». «. an- 5 to 9s. the han atin hat ver tin, the 110 red rid, dic jlo- J of the iho ind the ian 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 ofthe same cultural group. As H.G. Wells said in his Outline of History “There were very small racial and social differences between Angle, Saxon, Jute, Dane or Norman; and though these changes loom large in the imaginations of the English, they are seen to be very light rufflings indeed of the stream of history’. The tendency to travel and conquer took these Nordic tribes to different places at different times, and here lies the main difference The Normans: another Northern Tribe Invades Britain ‘The Normans came to England as conquerorsafter they had already settled in an area of France on either side ofthe Seine. The Normans learned many things from thei Frenchenemies, Foremostamongthese French acquisitions were methods of warfare and organization. The Normans when they invaded England had already leamed to fight on, horseback with a sword instead of on foot with a battle axe astheirancestorshad done. The Normanshad alsoadopted the French means of defense, a kind of a castle that consisted of high circular mound with a wooden fortress around it. Directly connected to these wooden fortresses among them. Tastead of asystem of power based on obligations and gifts, as was often the case with the Anglo-Saxons, the Norman system of power was based on territory. When William Duke of Normandy conquered England, the land became is, literally. He gave out this land to his followers with the agreement that they perform precise services for him, often military in nature, in return for the right to hold the land. These men who held the land directly from theking were called tenants-in-chief or barons and were his*vassals). Tn turn these tenants-in- chief divided up the land they held from the king among other people who then owed services to the tenants- in-chief. The people who held lands from the tenants-in-chief were often military men called knights,and these knights then divided up their lands among an even lower class of people, the peasants. These knights were obliged to follow the baronsand king into war.In this way all the land was tied to the king by a series of obligations. ‘This. system is now referred to as feudalism. Feudalism is itself a fairly modern term that was first used in the seventeenth century by lawyers and later by Mars to describe the stage in history tharcame before *Capitalism’. Here, however, wwe shall use it in its more historical sense to describe the varied and ever- changing system with which the Normansruled England. A thirteenth-century knight paying homage to his lord. Christians still adopt this same Position when paying homage to their lord ~ God. LL was the way they ruled, Feudalism, then, was a kind of governmentinwhich the state didnot act directly on its subjects, but rather there was a series of contractual agreements between lords and vassals arranged in more or less hierarchical system with the king at the top of ‘what has been call the feudal pyramid, ‘These contractual obligations ofllord to vassal only applied to the noble- class that which included thekingand the lords, bishops and abbots and their vassals. There was no particular shame attached to being a vassal. In fact William I was king of England, but in his role as Duke of Normandy hewas the vassal ofthe king of France. In any case, most of the poptlation, that isthe peasants, were outside the feudal system, 13 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM OF RULE From the cighthcentury on- wards a ceremony of homage was developed to symbolize the vassal’s dependence onhislord and thelord’s tie to his vassal. In this ceremony the vassal kneeled before his lord and then placed his hands between those ofhis lord and declared himself to be the lord’s man, Then there was an ‘oath of fealty, sworn by the vassal on the Bible or sacred relics. Finally, in the investiture, the lord gave to the vassal a piece of earth to symbolize the transfer of the fief (the land granted by the lord) to the vassal. In this way a sacred bond was formed between lord and vassal. During the ‘Middle Ages the position of homage described above was adopted by west European Christians for praying to God, their lord and protector and has been used ever since, To return to our story, after the death of Canute, an Anglo-Saxon became king of an independent England. He was known as Edward the Confessor. Edward had grown up in Normandy, and when he returned to England to rule, he brought with him his Norman friends and his Norman ways. Obviously, the English resented the favoritism showed by Edward toward the Normans. Godwin, earl of Wessex, who had placed Edward on the throne, fought with Edward, Edward banished Godwin and his sons, even though the English preferred them to Edward. When Edward died, Harold, the son of Godwin, became the king of England, Harold did not have an easy time of t though. His brother Tostig hhad arranged with the King of Norway, Harald Hardrada, to invade England at the same time that Wiliam Duke of Normandy: (later William 1) was planninganinvasionofEngland, Flarold ‘was therefore under attack from the north and the south, At frst Harold waited for William’s attack, but he received news of the arrival of Harald ‘Hardrada and his brother Tostig in Yorkshire. Harold defeated themarthe battle at Stamford Bridge and then, with his army reduced and tired, returned south to meet William and his aniy of 5,000 men that had landed at Pevensey.’ Harold’s infantry chose to mectthecavalryof William ona fortified hill about six miles northwest of Hastings. On October 14, 1066 the twoforcesmet,and forawhileitscemed as if Harold from his hilltop fortress would beabletorepulse William. Inthe cend it was the Norman archers and the Norman knightson horsebackthatwon the day. By nightfall most of Harold’s men had been killed, and Harold him- ‘The Battle of Hastings as shown on the Bayeux Tapesti by William’s half-brother soon after th THE DOMESDAY SURVEY One of the most important tasks which these advisers selthad been killed by narrow thathad gone through his eye. After this battle William, now known as William the Conqueror, haad little rouble subjugating the rest of England, England at that time was not at all a unified country, it was a series of independent kingdoms with cach one trying initsown way tomake peace with William, Therefore there ‘was never an organized resistance to Wiliam and his knights. In fact, itis quite amazing to consider that around five thousand knights were able to conquer and subdue over one million people. Alltheland William conquered became his to distribute among the knights and barons who followed him. England thus was thoroughly organized under the feudal system ‘with everyone in some way oranother beholden to the king, The tenants-in- chicf (the men who held land directly from the king) were expected to give the king military aid and sometimes financial aid. The king also had great -y. The tapestry 1¢ battle took place. carried out in the name of the king was the Domesday Survey ‘of 1086, William had this survey undertaken to sce what he owned, literally, since as king everything was his. He wanted toknow exactly what everyone down to the ast peasant had: wasrecorded in the Domesday Book (the bookin which the resul how many sheep, how many oxen, how many ploughs, how many vill 50 thathe could decide what taxes he could exact. ts ofthis survey were recorded), how many acres ofland ins (the peasants without rights in the feudal control over all inheritances and matriages; for example a tenant-in- chief's heir had to pay a kind of tax called relief to the king in order to have his inheritance. If there was no direct heir, the king was given possession of the land, or he could give it to whomever he chose, and normally the king gave such land co someone who paid him. In fact, any- body who wanted anything from an offical - position or land or simply the right to get married ~ had to pay the king, This patronage system paid very well and was William’s most effective means of governing, Another of the duties of the tenants-in-chief was to advise the king. ‘Theseadvisers formed the consilium or catia, Even though the cutia had litle power over William at the time, they helped the king make decisions, and they kept him in contact with all the different parts of his realm. This cutia, ‘which had such modest beginnings, is the beginning of many of England’s political institutions. was commissioned verything 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. ‘Theland divisions used in the Domesday Survey reflect the feudal system. The Anglo-Saxon shire wasmaintained asa way of dividing up land, but within each shire the unit used was the land held by a tenant-in-chief ofthe king. This basic economic unit was not the village but the manor of the baron, comparable to a modern factory as a unit oF production. twas the tenant-in-chief who was taxed by the king accorsing.to the land he held. The tenant-in-chiefthen “Obtained the money he needed by working his villeins. 14 Tr the king, lide they and I the Bs, nds The vlleins were serfs bound to the soil by birth. They had to give part oftheir crop to their lord. Besides work. and financial obligations, the villeins had to ask the lord of the manor’s permission to get married or to have his sons and daughters mattied. Ifthe lord gave a villein permission, the villein had to pay the lord money called a mezchet. In fact, most parts of the villein’s life were governed by the lord of the manor, but the lord had to act according to the established customs of the day. There was a manorial court that met in the manor house about once a month to decide problems that arose on the manor estate. This court did not mean thatthe villein had any real rights, but a least, when the courts worked well, the villein knew exactly what his responsibilities were. Irshould be noted that the King who was the lord of this entire system made his presence felt by travelling from ‘one end of his realm to the other. Al his officials, servants and knights went with him. During this period people were not very happy to have the king pass through their farms and villages because the great royal host often times would plunder and steal as it went. Obviously, the presence of such a great host could not be tolerated for long so the king also traveled so as not to create too much hostility among the local people. Another aspect of the royal rule that should be kept in mind is that government was extremely personal ~ everything centered around the king and his travelling houschold. Oftentimes men that served the kingin his household ‘were great masters in their own homes. The commanders of the armies were household knights, THE BIRTH OF ENGLISH, A LINGUISTIC HYBRID Before we go on to look at the reign ofHenry II, one ofthe mostimportant kings in English history, we should note one more contribution of the Norman invasion, the English language. The Normans spokea kind of French and considered the Anglo- Saxon language a lowly language becanse it was the language of the cispossessedoftheisland. Thekingand his court spoke French and the clergy used Latin, The only people whospoke both languages were the king’s men who had to deal with the villeins Gradually, over the next two hundred years the distinctions faded between the ruling Normans and the ruled Anglo-Saxons; as a result their two languages merged, producing the Janguagewe know call English. English todayis grammatically simplified kind of Anglo-Saxon with many words of French origin, particularly those words that deal with art, cooking, hunting, religion, justice (for example judge, jury and court), politics and, of course, war. In addition, we can still see some traces of the clas division that existed between the Anglo-Saxonsand the rul- ing Normans. For example, the word ‘stool’, which derives from Anglo- Saxon, is a humbler form of a ‘chair? which’ derives from Norman French. Another exampleis the less polite word “belly' which comes rom Anglo-Saxon compared to the more polite Norman French ‘stomach’ HENRY II, THE FIRST OF THE PLANTAGENETS Afier William the Conqueror died in 1087, he was succeeded by his son William Rufus who tried to exploit his feudal rights to the fullest. He ‘wasshor by an arrow and killed while hunting in his private reserve, His brother HenryT becamekingin 1100 and ruled until1135, Upon his death there was a great conflict as to who would succeed Henry ~ Matilda, Henry's daughter or Stephen, Matilda's cousin. Stephen became king, but duving his reign there w civil war,and the barons (the tenants- in-chief} did whatever they wanted — they plundered and took the lands that they desired. Finally in 1154 Henry II, Matilda’sson, becamekking Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, became kingin 1154. He was the first ofthe Plantagenet kings and was truly a foreign king, just as his Breat-grandfather, William the Conqueror, had been. He brought to England with him the best European learning of the day, which included the jurisprudence that was then spreading northward from the great Italian universities. Besidesnew learning, Henry also had inherited much landin France from his mother and father, and he was a vassal ofthe King of France even though his great holdings made him a more powerful ruler. With his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, he acquired even more lands. England was, therefore, the largest province of the great Angevin Empire that stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees. It was the power Henry II gained from all these holdings that allowed him to subdue the barons who had been rulingduring Henry 1 argues with Thomas @ Becket. the reign of Stephen. Still, England ‘was the most backward partof Heny’s holdings. The communities of the Seine, Loire and Garonne river valleys were centers of culture. In fact, itis during this period that French poewy and music displaced Anglo-Saxon poetryandmusic-thepoemofBeowulf gave way to the French romances. Just as with the English language itself, the forms ofthe great English poctry from Chaucer onward are a result of the blending of Anglo-Saxon with French art, with French art being dominant. Li 15 o neal pa EARLY COURTS ‘Henry 1 had, therefore, the power to assume more and more control of his English holdings. He gave greater power to the kings courts and took away power fom the barons and sheriffs, Certain serious crimes, like murder and cattle-rustling, had always been dealt with by the king, but with the with the Assize Clarendon in 1166 (an *Assize’ isa royal decree issued during an ‘assize” which is a session of high-ranking men) new methods of legal procedure were given to the royal judges for the trial of serious crimes. In addition these royal judges (in the bewinning, these royal judges were royal officials who petformed many other tasks) began to mectso frequently around the country that a ‘common law? for the entire country began to develop. Anotherimportantlegalinnovation which appeared under Henry II was trial by jury. ‘The first jurymen did nov judge the merits of a person’s case during a trial but were themselves witnesses to the fact. At first these jurymen .wereused incasesinvolving property. Before thisparticular innovation property cases were decided by battle~the two parties ina case would fight until one of them cried outthe ‘word ‘craven’, meaning thathe had enough. Another type of jury of the time was called the jury of presentment or accusation. Once again these were not jurors in the modern sense but witnesses who testified before the king's judge about the reputation of the accused. The ‘presentment’ ofthese jurorsdelivered the accused over to the ordeal by hotiton— ithe survived, by the hand of God, hhewasto leave the realm, ifhe did not survive, by the hand (of God, well, then he was dead. In 1215 Pope innocent IIL forbade ll priests to take partintrials by ordeal, which helped greatly to develop the system of trial by jury in England, THOMAS A BECKET THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE Hienty 11 also wished to exert greater control over the ‘Church. This struggle had begun in 1066 when Wliam I refused t0 become the vassal of the pope. William then went on to ordain Norman bishops on his own if they ‘promised to pay homage to him. This ereated the possibilty Thomas & Becket is murdered while praying at the altar for much confusion and much tension between the church. and the Norman king, The bishops, on their part, were not always ure if they owed theirallegiance o the church or the state, Oftentimes this situation was simply ignored so a8 to avoid conflict, burpowerand money connected with church made it inevitable that a conflict would arise. “The fist serious fight occurred between Henry I, the son of William I, and Anselm, the man William Rufus had made Archbishop of Canterbury. When William Rufus died, Anselm and some other bishops fled from England because they feared the new king. Henry then created several new bishops, butthese new bishops had no spiritual authority unless they eceived the blessing ofthe Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, Henry found himselfin a difficult position, and it took seven years before Henry and the ‘Church reached an agreement. Under this new agreement Henry agreed that only the Church had the power to create new bishops, but that the bishops owed homage to the king for the lands possessed by their bishoprics. “Therefore ske Henry continued to maintain power over the bishops, and later when Anselm died, Henry was able to delay the appointment of a new archbishop so that he could exploit the wealth of Canterbury. “This struggle continued and came to a head under Henry II, Henry 1’s grandson, When the Archbishop of Canterbury died in 1162, Henry 1 made his friend ‘Thomas Becket, who had been chancellorsince 1155, successor, The Archbishop is the head of the Church in England, and Henry expected Becket to follow his orders. In particular, Henry wanted the King’s courtto beable to judge many of the cases which had been considered cases to be tried in the Church courts. Becket, however, as Archbishop of Canterbury, refused to give up any of the Church's powers to the Crown, Henry became furious, and Becker, after he had. been convicted in a royal court on false charges and had his lands taken away, had to escape to the Continent. In 1170 Becket returned to Canterbury and began to excommunicate all those people who had sided with ‘Henry against him. When news of Becket’s action reached ‘Henry in France he shouted out to his knights “Will none ‘of these cowards rid me of this turbulent priest?” Henry, ‘who was known for his violent temper, may or may not have meant for his knights to assassinate Becket, but they took him at his word and went to Canterbury. On 29 December 1170, in front ofthe high altar ofthe cathedral of Canterbury the knights killed Thomas a Becket. The reaction against this crime in Christendom was great, and Becket was made a saint shortly thereafter. ‘The sons of Henry, who had been angry with him about their inheritance, took the oceasion to ally themselves with the 1g of Scotland against their father. Henty was forced to repent for his crime. He went to Canterbury dressed only in a shirt and cape and went barefoot to the cathedral ‘where his friend iad been killed. There he confessed what hhe had done and had himself whipped in sign of penitence. ‘Thomas a Becket became a saint. The cathedral became place of pilgrimage during, the Middle Ages. One such pilgrimages described by Chaucerin his famous Canterbury “Tales. Despite allthis, Henry’s power was not at all affected, and during the early 1170s his power was at its height. 16 hurch, renot orthe Jas to burch, ‘bury, Je had ad his 1170 n to with | ached y not | t they RICHARD I AND THE FIRST CRUSADE Richard, known as the Lion-hearted, succeeded his father Henry I in 1189. Richard was more interested in fighting than in ruling the great empire his father had established. In particular, he wanted to participate in the great Crusades to drive out the Turks from the Holy Land, Let us take a brieflook at these Crusades that were to have such an important influence on Europe for both material and ideological reasons. The great Christian power in East was the Byzantine Empire, which was also the last viable remnant of the Roman Empire. In fact its leader was both emperor and. head of the Eastern Church, In 1071 the Byzantine army suffered a terrible loss against the Turks at Melasgird. The Eastern Emperor, Michael VIT appealed to Pope Gregory VII for help. Gregory VII had his own problems, and so it fellto his successor, Urban II, to help his eastern brothers. ‘There had been a break between the Eastern and Western Church in 1054 over certain doctrinal points, but the threat of the non-Christian Turks and certain other advantages convinced Urban IL to act. In particular, Urban TL saw a chance for the Latin (Western) Church to. dominate over the Byzantine (Eastern) Church and to spread ts influence over Egypt, Syriaand Palestine. Urban Trreceived the envoys of Alexius at Piacenza and the next year (1095) at Clermont held another great council in which he organized his holy war against the Moslems. There wasa great response to Urban’s call to arms, 4 huge popular movement, completely new in the history of Europe. Infact, this crusade is often called ‘the people's crusade’, Great mobs of leaderless people went towards the East, ‘They committed many atrocities along the way. In Hungary, for example, one crowd of crusaders was estroyed by the Hungarians because of their rampaging and plundering, Another group started a great pogrom of the Jews in the Rhineland. Another group miraculously made its way to Constantinople where they looted and Killed, ‘The Emperor Alexius had them sent across the Bosporoswhere they were completely exterminated by the ‘Turks in 1096. This then is the first sign we have of the People, i.e. not just scattered villages and kingdoms, butone People connected by certainideas and ideals. This people at the time was knowns Christendomand wasaresult ofthe Roman Church’s efforts to create a world kingdom under the peace of Christ as St. Augustine had dreamed. Urban ITis shown on his way to the council of Clermont; on the right, Urban IT can be seen urging the council to fight a crusade against the Moslems. Furthermore, the Crusades brought Europe into contact with the highly developed cultures of the East which would bring about the Renaissance. It was also during the Crusades that Venice became a great trading, power; the merchants of Venice, like Marco Polo, for example, brought to Europe the spices and silks of the East. Afier this ‘people’s crusade’ a more organized «crusade was made which is referred to asthe First Crusade. ‘The Normans were the main force behind this crusade Unlike the ‘people’s crusade’ they were quite successful ‘On15 July 1097 they conquered Jerusalemafier besieging itfor more than a month, The massacre was awful, and the conquering crusaders rode through streams of blood, but Jerusalem was once more in Christian hands. The king- dom of Jerusalem was established, and in the subsequent ‘crusades its borders were extended, In 1169 Saladin became the ruler of Egypt. Saladin joined the forces of Baghdad and Egypt and preached a Jehad, a holy war, or in other words, a crusade. This was to be a Moslem crusade against the Christian crusade. Saladin was able to excite the same popular feclingsamong, hispeople that Urban IThad been able to excite among his. In 1187 Jerusalem was taken again by the Moslems. This, ‘of course, provoked another Christian crusade, the Third Crusade, which was planned jointly by Emperor Frederick 1 (Frederick Barbarossa), the King of France and Richard the Lion-heartedofEngland. They ailedtoretake Jerusalem, for the Christians Richard, toreturn to our particularcomerofhistory, had ahard time getting back to England from this crusade. He was taken prisoner in Austria, and the English had to pay a huge sum of money for his ransom. Almost immediately after his arrival in England, he went off again to fight in France, where he was killed. All told, Richard had spent only about ten months of his ten-year reign in England. 7 Despite the absence of Richard from country through the work of Hubert Walter. and Justiciar (Chief Official) of the Cro charters of self-rule to various towns. In the country he used the knights, by th kind ofcountry gentry, to enforce the King’speace. In this wa ~ the sheriff was substituted by the gentry. These King’s offic to defend the King’s financial and legal rights in each shire. ‘Coroners, a small but important first step towards representative government. KING JOHN AND MAGNA CARTA ¥ spa rag Hei eg HG ihn rh Eas araee mika Us The Third Ci between King Ri Evenafter the neglect of Richard the Lion-hearted, the institutions of his father Henry II had survived under the care of Hubert Walter. Under the rcign of his brother John, however, things would be different. Since John was only one of several inhcritorsofthe great Angevin Empire, John spent much of his time fighting wars on the continent trying to become sole possessor of the ‘Angevin possessions, Hewas notable to handle the difficult continental politics as he father had done, and bit by bit he lost his possessions. Finally, in 1204, he lost Normandy, the land of his father, Having lost everything ‘on the continent, he was the first truly English king. ‘When the Pope chose Stephen Langton to be the Archbishop of ‘Canterbury, King John refused to let thenew Archbishop enter the country. The Poperesponded to hisimpudence by placing the entire kingdom under interdiet, which meant that none of the Church’s functions could be performed — people could not be marticd, baptized or buried. ‘This Jasted for six years. Besides laying an interdict upon the land, the Pope la ana sade is shown in the Luttrell Psalter as a fight chard and Saladin. took a far more worldly step against John, He asked the King of France to invade Englandand depose John. With two such formidable enemies King John had to give in; he allowed Langton to become the new ‘Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘The climax of King John's trouble with France came when he tried once again to recapture Normandy and instead met defeat at Bouvines in 1214. This defeat aggravated his problems at home. A {group of barons went to London to demand changes from King John. John was forced to concede to their demands and on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede, anisland inthe Thames, he signed a document, later known as ‘Magna Carta. Magna Carta is seen as the beginning of political liberty in England, butatthe timeitwasmerely a document by which the barons bound King John to respect certain feudal laws and customs of the day. John had demanded more military service than earlier kings had; he had raised taxes without the approval ofthe barons, and he had imposed his will on thecourtswithnorespectforthewritten haw. England during most of his reign, he was to have a great influence on the Hubert Walter was appointed by Richard as both Archbishop of Canterbury own, twas Hubert Walter who ruled during Richard’s absence, He granted his time no longera military caste but ¥y the system offustice ofthe great barons was circumvented feers were called Coroners. Itwas the Coroners who were Tn addition it was the gentry themselves who chose the According to Magna Carta, the king was not to impose any extraordinary ‘scutage or aid? (kinds cof taxes) ‘unless by common council ofkingdom’. This ‘common council’ meant an assembiy of the barons, and it did not include the freemen or the villeins who made up most of England’s population, but it was, nonetheless, a first step towards the idea of a real parliament and of the idea of ‘taxation with representation’. ‘Another article of Magna Carta states that no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or be sent out of the country or his property illegally taken except by the lawful judgment of his peers and/or the law ofthe land. idea of due process oflaw was derived from this article, ‘Other articles of Magna Carta gave the barons the right to force the king to keep his promises; if the King violated the charter, the council had the right to raise an army to enforce the provisions the King had violated. ‘Another important aspect of the Magna Carta was the alliance that the barons were forced to make with the other classes of English society at the time. Henry If had been so successful in subduing the barons, and his successors had been so successful in substituting baronial powers with kingly powers (the Coroners substituting the sheriffs, for example), that the barons needed the supportofall theclasses, itheractively as with the clengy or passively as was the case with the freemen, if they hoped to have their demands met. In this way, Magna Carta, inadvertently became 2 kind of national document. In addition, Magna Carta marks the beginning of the end of Bnglish feudalism. We should remember that feudalismwasseries of contractual rel- tionships between individuals ~ kins ‘was lord of his realm because he had many vasals, each one with a special contractual agreement with the kin ‘The barons had acted together a8 & class against King John, which 988 something quite new, indeed. 18. jury and protection from illegal imprisonment. into the United States’ Constitution. h vgn. 2 aS fouths st nel vice aufh ne youmncelfveen prenee ont dualtrce ifee referte Fed fre animate phafiv du chenalier. € fae (ete colic Weds. cntaite ROME Ne: nesefecon cnufesceoy aie gcc fore rf Nowa? Rv The Parliament of Edward I. ‘Henry 111, John’s son and successor, continued to have problems with the baronage and the Chucch just as his father had. He depleted the English treasury even further With his own wars to recapture his continental holdings J} andtosaid thepope. Inthis way Henry II furtherincreased the anger of the barons In 1258 Henry 111 was deposed and the Earl af Leicester, ‘Simon de Montfort took over. But Simon de Montfort was Ho betteraleader than Henry III,and in 1265 Henry’sson Edward gathered around him the king’s forces. At the battle of Evesham, Montfort was killed and his forces ste hme poiner Besides the immediateimportance of Magna Carta, itwas to be referred to in the future as an important precedent inthe battle against royal despotism, In the 1600s Parliament used itasa legal support for the argument that Parliament had to give its consent to all laws and taxation. They also said that Magna Carta supported their demands for trial by In the 1700s the great lawyer, Sir William Blackstone declared in his Commentaries on the Laws of England that these ideals were the rights of the people, and the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, greatly influenced by Blackstone and their readings of English history, incorporated some of Blackstone’s interpretations of Magna Carta ‘THE BEGINNINGS OF PARLIAMENT defeated. Edward became king and reigned according to feudal custom. Withoutanyone particularly noticing, England’s Parliament was born in this period, Nobody particularly noticed its birth because Parliament grew quite naturally outofanalready existing feudal institution, the Royal Curia, The Royal Curia was the gathering of the King’s advisers, generally lords and bishops, presided over by the King himself, and already at the time of Henry IIL, it was common practice to call up two or more knights elected in cach Shire Court. The royal curia was a common feature of most of the monarchies of northern Europe, and the elected knights had bbeen doing business with the Royal Curia forncarly 50-years when Edward I became King. Thebiginnovation was Montfon’s, who decided to call up theclected knights collectively, together with two representatives of each of the chartered boroughs. Edward I continued. this practice of calling up collectively the knights and burghers because it made it ‘easier to discover the taxable capacity of cach districtand to keep in touch with his kingdom at large. Atfirstthe knights and townsmen did not come very willingly to these first meetings fParliament, which were, after all, jst plenary meetings of the Royal Curia where the Kings, the Lords and Bishops dic all the talking. The knights, burghersand other freemen could, how- ‘ever, talk among themselves before the sessions of the Royal Curia; this then is the origin of the House of Commons. ‘Once the members ofthis carly House of ‘Commons began to realize the power they possessed of connecting the redress of grievances (besides tax assessments of their communities, the knights and burgher brought up piles of petitions of grievances to bbe dealt with by the Royal Curia) with the paying of taxes, they came more and more willingly. The knights and burghers who came to these early Parliaments also gained more prestige in their local communities because of their contact with the King and his court. But pethaps the most important result of calling together all the elected knights, and burghers was to mold them into a group capable of resisting the Lords and the King, 19 I EN 4 Read the following descriptions and decide who or what it is. Ex: This is a form of government whereby the ruler was connected to his subject by a series of individual agreements. Often these agreement provided for the transfer of land from the ruler to his subject in return for certain services, often military in nature. 1, This person was an important person within the Church and also a friend of the king. When he had tochoose between his triendship tothe kingandhis allegiance to the Church, he chose the Church. The king then became very angry and had this man killed. Shortly after, this man was made a saint by the Church. 2, This person was both a vassal to @ king anda king himself. He led the last successful invasion of England in history. 3. This Moslem leader alledtora crusade against the Christians who had previously called for a crusade against him. 4. This man was the chief official of an English king that spent practically no time in England at all. He

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