Lecture 5. The Normans.

Britain from 1066 to 1660. Norman Conquest to Cromwell

With the Normans, England became a unified country for the first time since the Romans had left 600 years earlier. The Norman kings consolidated their hold on England, then took control of Wales and Ireland. There followed a long period during the Middle Ages of squabbling over the throne, culminating with the Wars of the Roses, the house of Lancaster against the house of York. The Battle of Bosworth on 1485 saw the end of these wars with the victory of Henry VII.

The rule of the Tudors, including Henry VIII, Mary and Elizabeth I, represented a period of rising English influence on the world - a series of continental wars and the age of the British navy. Colonisation of the Americas began.

The death of Elizabeth left no immediate successor, and the throne of England was offered to the Scottish King James. He was James VI of Scotland and became James I of England. This united England and Scotland for the first time in history though the official Act of parliament, the Act of Union was not passed for another hundred years.

The Stuart kings believed that they had a divine right to govern, and in a world that even then was starting to become democratic, this view caused increasing resentment. The struggle for supremacy between Parliament and the King as to who really ruled the country led to Civil War in 1641. The king, Charles I was defeated, and executed in 1649. Oliver Cromwell became head of state, and Britain continued with this form of government only for a brief period. Cromwell died, his son became head of state, but was not a popular choice. Parliament invited the son of the dead king to re-take the throne. So Britain resumed a monarchy under Charles II in 1660

Wars in France, revolt in England, Civil War in England

After Henry II, English in started running into problems, either with the Barons, the people or from pretenders to the throne.

King John was defeated by the barons and only kept the throne by signing the Magna Carta, which stated that the king was not above the law, that he only ruled by the will of the people, and that if he broke his part of the contract, then the people had the right to overthrow the king. The whole episode amounted to a civil war, and was probably not so cosy. Gontinental wars continued to cost England more money than it could afford. England soon lost all itsFrench possessions apart from Gascony (Bordeaux). Edward ‘s II forays into Europe did not succeed in re-conquering any ground. Between 1370 and 1413, kings were dethroned, peasants revolted and the House of Lancaster seized the throne. Henry's V reign was brief and colourful (1413-22).

The English are a nation for remembering victories and forgetting defeats. Henry’s V victory at Agincourt, thanks to Shakespeare, is well remembered. "Cry God for Harry, England and St George" But the territorial gains that Agincourt brought were soon lost, and even Gascony had fallen. By 1453 only Calais remained as an English foothold in Europe The consequence of the loss of the French territories was that the Royal House of Lancaster became discredited. A series of coups and counter-coups, intrigue and murder gripped the throne. A litany of kings came and went between the battle of St Albans in 1455 and the battle of Bosworth in 1485. The result was a new royal house - the Tudors. Henry VII seized the throne on winning the battle of Bosworth and England was to enter a new period of history

History is written by the victors, and sometimes by Shakespeare. The victors were the Tudors and they wrote of the defeated king's epitaph. Nobody will ever now know whether he did murder the little princes in the tower. He probably was not a hunch back, but his body was flung into an unmarked grave after the battle so we will never know that either.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-15