Download Narrative History of England

PENGANTAR SEJARAH INGGRIS
Compiled by:
Romel Noverino
Faculty of Letters
Gunadarma University
This compilation is used by and for internal parties only
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Narrative History of England
Introduction by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
Naturally, our study will be concerned with the lives of the men and women who
contributed to the history of their great nation, for good or for ill. We will look, at the
growth of England's political institutions, its Kings, Queens and chief ministers, and its
technical and scientific marvels (phenomena) that put Britain ahead of its contemporaries
in so many areas and gave the world the industrial and agricultural revolutions that
changed peoples' lives forever. We will also discuss the important battles that determined
the fate of the English nation.
We will look at the great men of literature who wrote in a language that is now being
understood and copied in almost every area of the world. And we mustn't forget those
who fought against the establishment in so many different areas, those men (and women)
whose revolutionary ideas helped change the face of government, brought down kings
and parliaments, and introduced modern democracy. Then there were those who were
responsible for advances in medicine, psychology, sanitation, road-building, military
reform, shipbuilding -- the list seems endless. Perhaps we should begin our account right
at the beginning, long before recorded history began.
Part 1: The Prehistoric Period by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
Pre-Roman Britain
Though the scribes (writers) that accompanied the Roman invaders of Britain gave us the
first written history of the land that came to be known as England, its history had already
been writ large in its ancient monuments and archeological findings. Present-day Britain
is riddled with evidence of its long past, of the past that the Roman writers did not record,
but which is etched in the landscape. Looking out on the green and cultivated land, where
it is not disfigured by the inevitable cities and towns and villages of later civilizations,
strange bumps and mounds; remains of terraced or plowed fields; irregular slopes that
bespeak ancient hill forts; strangely carved designs in the chalk; jagged teeth of
upstanding megaliths; stone circles of immense breadth and height and ancient,
mysterious wells and springs.
Man lived in what we now call the British Isles long before it broke away from the
continent of Europe, long before the great seas covered the land bridge that is now known
as the English Channel, that body of water that protected this island for so long, and that
by its very nature, was to keep it out of the maelstrom that became medieval Europe.
Thus England's peculiar character as an island nation came about through its very
isolation. Early man came, settled, farmed and built. His remains tell us much about his
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lifestyle and his habits. Of course, the land was not then known as England, nor would it
be until long after the Romans had departed.
We know of the island's early inhabitants from what they left behind on such sites as
Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, and Swanscombe in Kent, gravel pits, the exploration of which
opened up a whole new way of seeing our ancient ancestors dating back to the lower
Paleolithic (early Stone Age). Here were deposited not only fine tools made of flint,
including hand-axes, but also a fossilized skull of a young woman as well as bones of
elephants, rhinoceroses, cave-bears, lions, horses, deer, giant oxen, wolves and hares.
From the remains, we can assume that man lived at the same time as these animals which
have long disappeared from the English landscape.
So we know that a thriving culture existed around 8,000 years ago in the misty, westward
islands the Romans were to call Britannia, though some have suggested the occupation
was only seasonal, due to the still-cold climate of the glacial period which was slowly
coming to an end. As the climate improved, there seems to have been an increase in the
number of people moving into Britain from the Continent. They were attracted by its
forests, its wild game, abundant rivers and fertile southern plains. An added attraction
was its relative isolation, giving protection against the fierce nomadic tribesmen that kept
appearing out of the east, forever searching for new hunting grounds and perhaps, people
to subjugate and enslave.
The Neolithic Age
The new age of settlement took place around 4,500 BC, in what we now term the
Neolithic Age. Though isolated farmhouses seem to be the norm, the remarkable findings
at Skara Brae and Rinyo in the Orkneys give evidence of settled, village life. In both
sites, local stone was used extensively to make interior walls, beds, boxes, cupboards and
hearths. Roofs seem to have been supported by whale bone, more plentiful and more
durable than timber. Much farther south, at Carn Brea in Cornwall, another Neolithic
village attests to a lifestyle similar to that enjoyed at Skara Brae, except in the more
fertile south, agriculture played a much larger part in the lives of the villagers. Animal
husbandry was practiced at both sites.
Very early on, farming began to transform the landscape of Britain from virgin forest to
ploughed fields. An excavated settlement at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire shows us that its
early inhabitants kept cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and dogs. They also cultivated various
kinds of wheat and barley, grew flax, gathered fruits and made pottery. They buried their
dead in long barrows -- huge elongated mounds of earth raised over a temporary wooden
structure in which several bodies were laid. These long barrows are found all over
Southern England, where fertile soil allied to a flat, or gently rolling landscape greatly
aided settlement.
To clear the forests, it is obvious that stone-axes of a sophisticated design were produced
in great numbers. Many of these axes were obtained by trading with other groups or by
mining high-quality flint. Both activities seem to have been wide-spread, as stone-axes
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appear in many areas away from the source of their manufacture. At Grimes Graves, in
Norfolk (in the eastern half of Britain), great quantities of flint were mined by miners
working deep hollowed-out shafts and galleries in the chalk.
At the same time the Windmill people practiced their way of life and other farming
people were introducing decorated pottery and different shaped tools to Britain. The
cultures may have combined to produce the striking Megalithic monuments, the burial
chambers and the henges. The tombs consisted of passage graves, in which a long narrow
passage leads to a burial chamber in the very middle of the mound; and gallery graves, in
which the passage is wider, divided by stone partitions making stall-like compartments.
Some of these tombs were built of massive blocks of stone standing upright as walls, with
other huge blocks laid across horizontally to make a roof. They were then covered with
earthen mounds which have in many cases, completely eroded. One of the most
impressive of these tombs is New Grange in Ireland. They are the oldest manmade stone
structures known, older than the great Pyramids of Egypt.
Sometime in the early to middle Neolithic period, groups of people began to build camps
or enclosures in valley bottoms or on hilltops.
Perhaps these were originally built to pen cattle
and later used for defense, settlement or simply
meeting places for trading. Perhaps they were
built for religious purposes. Soon, these
enclosures began to evolve into more elaborate
sites that may have been used for religious
ceremonies, perhaps even for studying the night
stars so that sowing, planting and harvesting
could be done at the most propitious times of the year. Whatever their purpose, we call
these sites, most of which are circular or semi-circular in pattern, henges. They include
banks and ditches; the most impressive, at Avebury, in Wiltshire, had a ditch 21 metres
in width, and 9 metres deep in places.
Many of the timber posts that defined these henges have long disappeared, but many sites
still contain circles of pits, central stones, cairns or burials and clearly defined stone or
timber entrances. It was not too long before stone circles began to dot the landscape,
spanning the period between the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Ages (c 3370 - 2679
BC). Outside these circles were erected the monoliths, huge single standing stones that
may have been aligned on the rising or setting sun at midsummer or midwinter. Some of
these, such as the groups of circles known as the Calva group in present day Scotland,
were also used for burials and burial ceremonies. Henges seem to have been used for
multiple purposes, justifying the enormous expenditure of time and energy to construct
them.
The arrival of the so-called "Beaker people" named after the shape of their most
characteristic pottery vessel, brought the first metal-users to the British Isles. Perhaps
they used their beakers to store beer, for they grew barley and knew how to brew beer
from it. At the time of their arrival in Britain, they seem to have mingled with another
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group of Europeans we call the "Battle-axe people," who had domesticated the horse,
used wheeled carts and smelted and worked copper. They also buried their dead in single
graves, often under round barrows. They also may have introduced a language into
Britain derived from Indo-European.
Prehistoric Earthworks and the "Wessex Culture"
The two groups seem to have blended together to produce the
cult in Southern England that we call the 'Wessex Culture.'
They were responsible for the enormous earthwork called
Silbury Hill, the largest manmade mound in prehistoric
Europe. Silbury is 39 metres high and was built as a series of
circular platforms; their purpose still unknown. Nearby is the
largest henge of all, Avebury, consisting of a vast circular
ditch and bank, an outer ring of one hundred standing stones and two smaller inner rings
of stones. Outside the monument was a mile-long avenue of
standing stones.
Stonehenge, in the same general area as Silbury and Avebury, is
perhaps the most famous, certainly the most visited and
photographed of all the prehistoric monuments in Britain. We can
only guess at the amount of labor involved in its construction, at
the enormous complexity of the task which included transporting
the inner blue-stones from the Preseli Hills in Wales and erecting of the great lintelled
circle and horseshoe of large sarsen stones, shaped and dressed. The architectural
sophistication of the monument bears witness to the tremendous technological advances
being made at the time of the arrival of the Bronze Age.
Grave goods also attest to the sophistication of the Wessex culture: These include wellmade stone battle axes, but also metal daggers with richly decorated hilts, precious
ornaments of gold or amber, as well as gold cups, amulets, even a sceptre with a polished
mace-head at one end. To make bronze, tin came from Cornwall; gold came from Wales,
and products made from these metals were traded freely both within the British Isles and
with peoples on the continent of Europe. Bronze was used to make cauldrons and bowls,
shields and helmets, weapons of war, and farming tools. It was at this time that the Celtic
peoples arrived in the islands we now call Britain.
The Celts
Before the arrival of the Celts in Britain, iron-working had begun in the Hittite Empire, of
Asia Minor. Those who practiced the trade kept it a closely guarded secret, but shortly
after 1200 BC, the Hittites were overthrown and knowledge of the miracle metal began to
leak out. In Central Europe, a culture known as "Urnfield" developed and prospered. It
quickly adapted the iron-working culture known as "Hallstatt," after a site in Austria.
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One of the most significant elements in the new culture
was the system of burial. Important people were buried
along with their most precious possessions in timber built
chambers under earthen barrows. The Hallstatt people
were highly-skilled craftsmen, who used iron, bronze and
gold, and produced fine burnished pottery. At some time
they reached the British Isles and their culture began to
infiltrate those foggy, wet, but mineral-rich islands off the
Continent.
From their contact with Mediterraneans, the Hallstatt people had advanced their
technology and culture developing into what is called "La Tene" after a site in
Switzerland. The La Tene style, with its production of beautiful, handsomely-made and
decorated articles, came into existence around the middle of the fifth century BC. It was
produced by the Celts, the first people in the islands of Britain whose culture and
language survive in many forms today.
Of the Celtic peoples, Hermann Noelle wrote:
The Celtic culture as a whole, developing very early on about 1000 BC, and reaching its
finest expression around 500 BC, is a fundamental part of Europe's past. This is not to
underrate the subsequent influence of the Latin and Germanic peoples on this part of
Europe. But the Celtic foundation was already present. Thus, European culture is
inconceivable without the Celtic contribution. Even when the presence of the Celts in
their original territory is no longer obvious, we must acknowledge the fact: they are at the
root of the Western European peoples who have made history. (Die Kelten und Ihre Stadt
Manching, cited in Cunliffe, 214)
The arrival of people into the British Isles from the Continent probably took place in
small successive waves. The Greeks called these people Keltoi, the Romans Celtai. In
present-day Yorkshire, "the Arras Culture" with its La Tene chariot burials attests to the
presence of a wealthy and flourishing Celtic society in Northeast Britain. In the
southwest, cross-Channel influence is seen. Here, a culture developed that was probably
highly involved in the mining and trading of tin; it is characterized by a certain type of
hill fort that is also found in Britanny.
Hill Forts
Hill Forts from the Iron-Age, the age of the Celts, are found everywhere in the British
Isles. Spectacular relics from prehistoric times, hill forts had as many purposes as sites.
They varied from shelters for people and livestock in times of danger, purely local
settlements of important leaders and their families, to small townships and administrative
centers. Long practiced in the art of warfare, the people of these isolated settlements were
responsible for some of the finest known artistic achievements. In addition to their
beautifully wrought and highly decorated shields, daggers, spears, helmets and sword,
they also produced superb mirrors, toilet articles, drinking vessels and personal jewelry of
exquisite form and decoration.
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The Celts in Britain used a language derived from a branch of
Celtic known as either Brythonic, which gave rise to Welsh,
Cornish and Breton; or Goidelic, giving rise to Irish, Scots Gaelic
and Manx. Along with their languages, the Celts brought their
religion to Britain, particularly that of the Druids, the guardians of
traditions and learning. The Druids glorified the pursuits of war,
feasting and horsemanship. They controlled the calender and the
planting of crops and presided over the religious festivals and
rituals that honored local deities.
Many of Britain's Celts came from Gaul, driven from their
homelands by the Roman armies and Germanic tribes. These were
the Belgae, who arrived in great numbers and settled in the
southeast around 75 BC. They brought with them a sophisticated
plough that revolutionized agriculture in the rich, heavy soils of their new lands. Their
society was well-organized in urban settlements, the capitals of the tribal chiefs. Their
crafts were highly developed; bronze urns, bowls and torques illustrate their
metalworking skills. They also introduced coinage to Britain and conducted a lively
export trade with Rome and Gaul, including corn, livestock, metals and slaves.
Of the Celtic lands on the mainland of Britain, Wales and Scotland have received
extensive coverage in the pages of Britannia. The largest non-Celtic area, at least
linguistically, is now known as England, and it is here that the Roman influence is most
strongly felt. It was here that the armies of Rome came to stay, to farm, to mine, to build
roads, small cities, and to prosper, but mostly to govern.
Part 2: The Roman Period by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
Changes in Empire and at Home
The first Roman invasion of the lands we now call the British Isles took place in 55 B.C.
under war leader Julius Caesar, who returned one year later, but these probings did not
lead to any significant or permanent occupation. He had some interesting, if biased
comments concerning the natives: "All the Britons," he wrote, "paint themselves with
woad, which gives their skin a bluish color and makes them look very dreadful in battle."
It was not until a hundred years later that permanent settlement of the grain-rich eastern
territories began in earnest.
In the year 43.A.D.an expedition was ordered against Britain by the Emperor Claudius,
who showed he meant business by sending his general, Aulus Plautius, and an army of
40,000 men. Only three months after Plautius's troops landed on Britain's shores, the
Emperor Claudius felt it was safe enough to visit his new province. Establishing their
bases in what is now Kent, through a series of battles involving greater discipline, a great
element of luck, and general lack of co-ordination between the leaders of the various
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Celtic tribes, the Romans subdued much of Britain in the short space of forty years. They
were to remain for nearly 400 years. The great number of prosperous villas that have
been excavated in the southeast and southwest testify to the rapidity by which Britain
became Romanized, for they functioned as centers of a settled, peaceful and urban life.
The highlands and moorlands of the northern and western regions, present-day Scotland
and Wales, were not as easily settled, nor did the Romans particularly wish to settle in
these agriculturally poorer, harsh landscapes. They remained the frontier -- areas where
military garrisons were strategically placed to guard the extremities of the Empire. The
stubborn resistance of tribes in Wales meant that two out of three Roman legions in
Britain were stationed on its borders, at Chester and Caerwent.
Major defensive works further north attest to the fierceness of the Pictish and Celtic
tribes, Hadrian's Wall in particular reminds us of the need for a peaceful and stable
frontier. Built when Hadrian had abandoned his plan of world conquest, settling for a
permanent frontier to "divide Rome from the barbarians," the seventy-two mile long wall
connecting the Tyne to the Solway was built and rebuilt, garrisoned and re-garrisoned
many times, strengthened by stone-built forts as one mile intervals.
For Imperial Rome, the island of Britain was a western breadbasket. Caesar had taken
armies there to punish those who were aiding the Gauls on the Continent in their fight to
stay free of Roman influence. Claudius invaded to give himself prestige, and his
subjugation of eleven British tribes gave him a splendid triumph. Vespasian was a legion
commander in Britain before he became Emperor, but it was Agricola who gave us most
notice of the heroic struggle of the native Britons through his biographer Tacitus. From
him, we get the unforgettable picture of the druids, "ranged in order, with their hands
uplifted, invoking the gods and pouring forth horrible imprecations." Agricola also won
the decisive victory of Mons Graupius in present-day Scotland in 84 A.D. over Calgacus
"the swordsman," that carried Roman arms farther west and north than they had ever
before ventured. They called their newly-conquered northern territory Caledonia.
When Rome had to withdraw one of its legions from Britain, the thirty-seven mile long
Antonine Wall, connecting the Firths of Forth and Clyde, served temporarily as the
northern frontier, beyond which lay Caledonia.. The Caledonians, however were not
easily contained; they were quick to master the arts of guerilla warfare against the
scattered, home-sick Roman legionaries, including those under their ageing commander
Severus. The Romans abandoned the Antonine Wall, withdrawing south of the betterbuilt, more easily defended barrier of Hadrian, but by the end of the fourth century, the
last remaining outposts in Caledonia were abandoned.
Further south, however, in what is now England, Roman life prospered. Essentially
urban, it was able to integrate the native tribes into a town-based governmental system.
Agricola succeeded greatly in his aims to accustom the Britons "to a life of peace and
quiet by the provision of amenities. He consequently gave private encouragement and
official assistance to the building of temples, public squares and good houses." Many of
these were built in former military garrisons that became the coloniae , the Roman
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chartered towns such as Colchester, Gloucester, Lincoln, and York (where Constantine
was declared Emperor by his troops in 306 A.D.). Other towns, called municipia ,
included such foundations as St. Albans (Verulamium).
Chartered towns were governed to a large extent on that of Rome. They were ruled by an
ordo of 100 councillors (decurion ). who had to be local residents and own a certain
amount of property. The ordo was run by two magistrates, rotated annually; they were
responsible for collecting taxes, administering justice and undertaking public works.
Outside the chartered town, the inhabitants were referred to as peregrini , or non-citizens.
they were organized into local government areas known as civitates , largely based on
pre-existing chiefdom boundaries. Canterbury and Chelmsford were two of the civitas
capitals.
In the countryside, away from the towns, with their metalled, properly drained streets,
their forums and other public buildings, bath houses, shops and amphitheatres, were the
great villas, such as are found at Bignor, Chedworth and Lullingstone. Many of these
seem to have been occupied by native Britons who had acquired land and who had
adopted Roman culture and customs.. Developing out of the native and relatively crude
farmsteads, the villas gradually added features such as stone walls, multiple rooms,
hypocausts (heating systems), mosaics and bath houses..The third and fourth centuries
saw a golden age of villa building that further increased their numbers of rooms and
added a central courtyard. The elaborate surviving mosaics found in some of these villas
show a detailed construction and intensity of labor that only the rich could have afforded;
their wealth came from the highly lucrative export of grain.
Roman society in Britain was highly classified. At the top were those people associated
with the legions, the provincial administration, the government of towns and the wealthy
traders and commercial classes who enjoyed legal privileges not generally accorded to
the majority of the population. In 2l2 AD, the Emperor Caracalla extended citizenship to
all free-born inhabitants of the empire, but social and legal distinctions remained rigidly
set between the upper rank of citizens known as honestiores and the masses, known as
humiliores. At the lowest end of the scale were the slaves, many of whom were able to
gain their freedom, and many of whom might occupy important govermental posts.
Women were also rigidly circumscribed, not being allowed to hold any public office, and
having severely limited property rights.
One of the greatest achievements of the Roman Empire was its system of roads, in Britain
no less than elsewhere. When the legions arrived in a country with virtually no roads at
all, as Britain was in the first century A.D., their first task was to build a system to link
not only their military headquarters but also their isolated forts. Vital for trade, the roads
were also of paramount important in the speedy movement of troops, munitions and
supplies from one strategic center to another. They also allowed the movement of
agricultural products from farm to market. London was the chief administrative centre,
and from it, roads spread out to all parts of the province. They included Ermine Street, to
Lincoln; Watling Street, to Wroxeter and then to Chester, all the way in the northwest on
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the Welsh frontier; and the Fosse Way, from Exeter to Lincoln, the first frontier of the
province of Britain.
The Romans built their roads carefully and they built them well. They followed proper
surveying, they took account of contours in the land, avoided wherever possible the fen,
bog and marsh so typical in much of the land, and stayed clear of the impenetrable
forests. They also utilized bridges, an innovation that the Romans introduced to Britain in
place of the hazardous fords at many river crossings. An advantage of good roads was
that communications with all parts of the country could be effected. They carried the
cursus publicus, or imperial post. A road book used by messengers that lists all the main
routes in Britain, the principal towns and forts they pass through, and the distances
between them has survived: the Antonine Itinerary.. In addition, the same information, in
map form, is found in the Peutinger Table. It tells us that mansiones were places at
various intervals along the road to change horses and take lodgings.
The Roman armies did not have it all their own way in their battles with the native
tribesmen, some of whom, in their inter-tribal squabbles, saw them as deliverers, not
conquerors. Heroic and often prolonged resistance came from such leaders as Caratacus
of the Ordovices, betrayed to the Romans by the Queen of the Brigantes. And there was
Queen Boudicca (Boadicea) of the Iceni, whose revolt nearly succeeded in driving the
Romans out of Britain. Her people, incensed by their brutal treatment at the hands of
Roman officials, burned Colchester, London, and St. Albans, destroying many armies
ranged against them. It took a determined effort and thousands of fresh troops sent from
Italy to reinforce governor Suetonius Paulinus in A..D. 6l to defeat the British Queen,
who took poison rather than submit.
Apart from the villas and fortified settlements, the great mass of the British people did
not seem to have become Romanized. The influence of Roman thought survived in
Britain only through the Church. Christianity had thoroughly replaced the old Celtic gods
by the close of the 4th Century, as the history of Pelagius and St. Patrick testify, but
Romanization was not successful in other areas. For example, the Latin tongue did not
replace Brittonic as the language of the general population. Today's visitors to Wales,
however, cannot fail to notice some of the Latin words that were borrowed into the
British language, such as pysg (fish), braich (arm), caer (fort), foss (ditch), pont (bridge),
eglwys (church), llyfr (book), ysgrif (writing), ffenestr (window), pared (wall or
partition), and ystafell (room).
The disintegration of Roman Britain began with the revolt of Magnus Maximus in A.D.
383. After living in Britain as military commander for twelve years, he had been hailed as
Emperor by his troops. He began his campaigns to dethrone Gratian as Emperor in the
West, taking a large part of the Roman garrison in Britain with him to the Continent, and
though he succeeded Gratian, he himself was killed by the Emperor Thedosius in 388.
Some Welsh historians, and modern political figures, see Magnus Maximus as the father
of the Welsh nation, for he opened the way for independent political organizations to
develop among the Welsh people by his acknowledgement of the role of the leaders of
the Britons in 383 (before departing on his military mission to the Continent) The
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enigmatic figure has remained a hero to the Welsh as Macsen Wledig, celebrated in
poetry and song.
The Roman legions began to withdraw from Britain at the end of the fourth century.
Those who stayed behind were to become the Romanized Britons who organized local
defences against the onslaught of the Saxon hordes. The famous letter of A.D.410 from
the Emperor Honorius told the cities of Britain to look to their own defences from that
time on. As part of the east coast defences, a command had been established under the
Count of the Saxon Shore, and a fleet had been organized to control the Channel and the
North Sea. All this showed a tremendous effort to hold the outlying province of Britain,
but eventually, it was decided to abandon the whole project. In any case, the
communication from Honorius was a little late: the Saxon influence had already begun in
earnest.
Part 3: Arthurian Britain by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
The Dark Ages
From the time that the Romans more or less abandoned Britain, to the arrival of
Augustine at Kent to convert the Saxons, the period has been known as the Dark Ages.
Written evidence concerning the period is scanty, but we do know that the most
significant events were the gradual division of Britain into a Brythonic west, a Teutonic
east and a Gaelic north; the formation of the Welsh, English and Scottish nations; and the
conversion of much of the west to Christianity.
By 4l0, Britain had become self-governing in three parts, the North (which already
included people of mixed British and Angle stock); the West (including Britons, Irish,
and Angles); and the South East (mainly Angles). With the departure of the Roman
legions, the old enemies began their onslaughts upon the native Britons once more. The
Picts and Scots to the north and west (the Scots coming in from Ireland had not yet made
their homes in what was to become later known as Scotland), and the Saxons, Angles,
and Jutes to the south and east.
The two centuries that followed the collapse of Roman Britain happen to be among the
worst recorded times in British history, certainly the most obscure. Three main sources
for our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon permeation of Britain come from the 6th century
monk Gildas, the 8th century historian Bede, and the 9th century historian Nennius. From
them, and from archeological evidence, it seems that the Anglo-Saxon domination of
Britain took place in two distinct phases. I have hesitated to use Bede's term of
"Conquest" for sound reasons.
One analogous situation with events in Britain as recorded by its English historians can
be found by looking at the history of Israel. Recent archeological discoveries in the
troubled land have cast into doubt the veracity of the Biblical accounts of the conquest of
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Canaan. Let's face it, history is written by the victors anxious to boast of their triumphs,
to magnify their successes, and to denigrate the enemy. The Israelite bards and scribes
certainly telescoped the events of the gradual subjugation of the Canaanite kingdoms,
transforming what modern archaeologists have recognized as a gradual recrystallization
of settled life into a great literary epic of conquest.
Referring to Israel, but in general terms, Neil Silberman wrote: "Archeology's real
contribution has been, and will continue to be, the recognition that our biblical heritage is
drawn from a complex mosaic of cultures, ideologies, and economies, and that some of
our most profound spiritual and cultural traditions were forged in the vibrant diversity of
the ancient Near Eastern world." As far as British history is concerned, we find English
historians, especially Bede, doing the same thing as the biblical scribes. No matter how
reliable an historian, Bede's bitter prejudice against the native Britons was honed by his
religious beliefs and his praise of the English peoples' successes in colonizing the island
of Britain.
Bede (672-735) spent his life at Jarrow, in Northumbria. In many ways a trustworthy
historian, he was also a theologian. Acting as a bard of his own tribe in Northumbria, hIs
intense hostility made him a partisan witness when he wrote of the British people, for
they had retained a form of Roman Christianity which was anathema to him. He called
members of the Celtic Church "barbarians," " a rustic, perfidious race," and is thus
regarded by many modern historians (but especially Welsh writers) as a "fancy monger"
especially for his account of the year of 708 that has been slavishly followed by countless
generations of English historians throughout the centuries with nary a question. Nor do
Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth escape censure, certainly not the writers of the
English Chronicle., all of whom subscribe to the notion that the British people were
driven out of their homelands into Wales and Cornwall as a result of a catastrophic event
known as "the Anglo-Saxon conquest."
The heritage of the British people cannot simply be called Anglo-Saxon; it is based on
such a mixture as took place in the Holy Land, that complex mosaic of cultures,
ideologies and economies. The Celts were not driven out of what came to be known as
England. More than one modern historian has pointed out that such an extraordinary
success as an Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain "by bands of bold adventurers" could
hardly have passed without notice by the historians of the Roman Empire, yet only
Prosper Tyro and Procopius notice this great event, and only in terms that are not always
consistent with the received accounts.
In the Gallic Chronicle of 452, Tyro had written that the Britons in 443 were reduced "in
dicionen Saxonum" (under the jurisdiction of the English). He used the Roman term
Saxons for all the English-speaking peoples resident in Britain: it comes from the Welsh
appellation Saeson ). The Roman historians had been using the term to describe all the
continental folk who had been directing their activities towards the eastern and southern
coasts of Britain from as early as the 3rd Century. By the mid 6th Century, these peoples
were calling themselves Angles and Frisians , and not Saxons.
12
In the account given by Procopius in the middle of the 6th Century (the Gothic War,
Book 1V, cap 20), he writes of the island of Britain being possessed by three very
populous nations: the Angili, the Frisians, and the Britons.. "And so numerous are these
nations that every year, great numbers . . . migrate thence to the Franks . . ." There is no
suggestion here that these peoples existed in a state of warfare or enmity, nor that the
British people had been vanquished or made to flee westwards. We have to assume,
therefore, that the Gallic Chronicle of 452 refers only to a small part of Britain, and that it
does not signify conquest by the Saxons. According to a recent study, the Institute of
Molecular Biology, Oxford (reported in Realm, March/April, 1999) has established a
common DNA going back to the end of the last Ice Age which is shared by 99 percent
from a sample of 6,000 British people, confirming that successive invasions of Saxons,
Angles and Jutes (and Danes and Normans) did little to change that make-up.
Thus we have to agree with Professors John Davies and A.W. Wade-Evans that the
Saxons did not sweep away the entire population of the areas they overran. The myth was
especially promulgated by 19th century historians in their attempts to stress the essential
teutonic nature of the English people, and their attempts to disassociate what they
considered to be the politically mature, emotionally stable, enlightened English from their
unreliable, untrustworthy Welsh, Scottish and Irish neighbors who apparently shared
none of the former's redeeming characteristics.
It was not only Bede of course, who contributed to the confusion concerning the
momentous events of the years 400 to 600, for the most influential document written
during the period was that of the monk Gildas written about 540: De Excidio Britanniae
(Concerning the Fall of Britain). Here, in some 25, 000 words, Gildas gives us a sermon
that pours scorn on his contemporaries, the kings of Britain. He tells us that the coming of
the Saxons was an act of God to punish the native Britons for their sins. As we discover
from reading Gildas, there is a great lack of reliable written evidence from the period, and
we have to turn to literature to inform ourselves of its important events, literature written
before Bede's prejudiced history. Much of this literature was produced in what is now
Scotland.
The Britons of the North produced two great poets Taliesin and Aneirin, both of whom
lived in the area now known as Strathclyde in Scotland, but whose language is
recognizable as Old Welsh Their poems are part of the heroic tradition that praise the
warrior king and his brave followers in their constant battles against the Germanic
invaders.. They also celebrate honor in defeat. Taliesin's poetry praises the ideal ruler
who protects his people by bravery and ferocity in battle but who is mangnanimous and
generous in peace. Aneirin is best remembered for Y Gododdin, commemorating the
feats of a small band of warriors who fought the Angles at Catraeth and who were willing
to die for their overlord. the poem is the first to mention Arthur, described as a paragon of
virtue and bravery. In the Annales Cambriae, drawn up at St.David's in Wales around
960, Arthur is recorded as having been victorious at the Battle of Badon in 5l6 against the
Saxons.
13
Another collection of stories collected around 830 that relate the events of the age is the
Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) ascribed to Nennius. Arthur is also
mentioned, as is Brutus, described as the ancestor of the Welsh. Perhaps the most
authentic of the early Arthurian references is the entry for 537 in the Annales that briefly
refers to the Battle of Camlan in which Arthur and Medrawd were killed. Prose accounts
of the enigmatic British leader are entirely tales of fancy. It was not until the highly
imaginative works of Geoffrey of Monmouth (1090-1155) that the Arthurian romances
provided the basis for a whole new and impressive tradition of European literature.
It is the coming of Christianity, however, that overshadows the literary achievements of
the age. In most of lowland Britain, Latin had become the language of administration and
education, especially since Celtic writing was virtually unknown. Latin was also the
language of the Church in Rome. The old Celtic gods had given way to the new ones
such as Mithras introduced by the Roman mercenaries; they were again replaced when
missionaries from Gaul introduced Christianity to the islands. By 3l4, an organized
Christian Church seems to have been established in most of Britain, for in that year
British bishops were summoned to the Council of Arles. By the end of the fourth century,
a diocesan structure had been set up, many districts having come under the pastoral care
of a bishop.
In the meantime, however, missionaries of the Gospel had been active in the south and
east of the land that later became known as Scotland (It was not until the late tenth
Century that the name Scotia ceased to be applied to Ireland and become transferred to
southwestern Scotland) The first of these was Ninian who probably built his first church
(Candida Casa: White House ) at Whithorn in Galloway, ministering from there as a
traveling bishop and being buried there after his death in 397 A.D. For many centuries his
tomb remained a place of pilgrimage, including visits from kings and queens of Scotland.
It was during the time of the Saxon invasions, in that relatively unscathed western
peninsular that later took the name Wales, that the first monasteries were established (the
words Wales and Welsh were used by the Germanic invaders to refer to Romanized
Britons). They spread rapidly to Ireland from where missionaries returned to those parts
of Britain that were not under the Roman Bishops' jurisdiction, mainly the Northwest..
Though preceded by St Oran, who established churches in Iona, Mull and Tiree, Columba
was the most important of these missionaries, later becoming a popular saint in the
history of the Christian Church, but even he built the nave of his first monastery facing
west and not east. For his efforts at reforming the Church, he was excommunicated by
Rome. His banishment from Ireland became Scotland's gain.
The island of Iona is just off the western coast of Argyll, in present-day Scotland. It is
been called the Isle of Dreams or Isle of Druids. It was here that Columba (Columcille
'"Dove of the Church" ) with his small band of Irish monks landed in 563 A.D. to spread
the faith, and it was here that the missionary saint inaugurated Aidan as king of the new
territory of Dalriata (previously settled by men from Columba's own Ulster). Iona was
quickly to become the ecclesiastical head of the Celtic Church in the whole of Britain as
well as a major political center. After the monastic settlement at Iona gave sanctuary to
14
the exiled Oswald early in the seventh century, the king invited the monks to come to his
restored kingdom of Northumbria. It was thus that Aidan, with his twelve disciples, came
to Lindisfarne, destined with Iona to become one of the great cultural centers of the early
Christian world.
In 574, Columba is believed to have returned to Ireland to plead the cause of the bards,
about to be expelled as trouble-makers. According to legend, he sensibly argued that their
expulsion would deprive the country of an irreplaceable wealth of folklore and antiquity.
He also refused to chop down the ancient, sacred oak trees that symbolized the old
druidic religion. Although the bards were allowed to remain, they were forced to give up
their special privileges as priests of the old religion (Some modern writers, such as
Robert Graves have seen the old traditions underlying much Celtic literature throughout
the long. long years since the 6th century).
In this period, the 5th and 6th Centuries, numerous Celtic saints were adopted by the
rapidly expanding Church. At the Synod of Whitby in 664, however, the Celtic Church,
with its own ideas about the consecration of its Bishops, tonsure of its monks, dates for
the celebration of Easter and other differences with Rome, was more or less forced by
majority opinion of the British bishops to accept the rule of St.Peter, introduced by
Augustine, rather than of St.Columba. From this date on, we can no longer speak of a
Celtic Church as distinct from that of Rome. By the end of the seventh century we can
also begin to speak of an Anglo-Saxon political entity in the island of Britain, and the
formation and growth of various English kingdoms.
Part 4: The Anglo Saxon Period by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
Commonly ascribed to the monk Gildas, the "De Excidio Britanniae" (the loss of
Britain), was written about 540. As previously mentioned, it is not a good history, for it is
most mere polemic. Closely followed by Bede, the account is the first to narrate what has
traditionally been regarded as the story of the coming of the Saxons to Britain. Their
success, regarded by Gildas as God's vengeance against the Britons for their sins, was a
theme repeated by Bede isolated in his monastery in the north. We note, however, that
Gildas made the statement that, in his own day, the Saxons were not warring against the
Britons. We can be certain that the greater part of the pre-English inhabitants of England
survived, and that a great proportion of present-day England is made up of their
descendants.
To answer the question how did the small number of invaders come to master the larger
part of Britain? John Davies gives us part of the answer: the regions seized by the
newcomers were mainly those that had been most thoroughly Romanized, regions where
traditions of political and military self-help were at their weakest. Those who chafed at
the administration of Rome could only have welcomed the arrival of the English in such
areas as Kent and Sussex, in the southeast.
15
Another compelling reason cited by Davies is the emergence in Britain of the great
plague of the sixth century from Egypt that was particularly devastating to the Britons
who had been in close contact with peoples of the Mediterranean. Be that as it may, the
emergence of England as a nation did not begin as a result of a quick, decisive victory
over the native Britons, but a result of hundreds of years of settlement and growth, more
settlement and growth, sometimes peaceful, sometimes not. If it is pointed out that the
native Celts were constantly warring among themselves, it should also be noted that so
were the tribes we now collectively term the English, for different kingdoms developed in
England that constantly sought domination through conquest. Even Bede could pick out
half a dozen rulers able to impose some kind of authority upon their contemporaries.
So we see the rise and fall of successive English kingdoms during the seventh and eighth
centuries: Kent, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. Before looking at political
developments, however, it is important to notice the religious conversion of the people
we commonly call Anglo-Saxons. It began in the late sixth century and created an
institution that not only transcended political boundaries, but created a new concept of
unity among the various tribal regions that overrode individual loyalties.
In 597, St. Augustine was sent to convert the pagan English by Pope Gregory, who was
anxious to spread the Gospel, and enhance papal prestige by reclaiming former territories
of Rome. Augustine received a favorable reception in the kingdom of Ethelbert, who had
married Bertha, daughter of the Merovingian King and a practicing Christian. Again, it is
to Bede that we owe the story of the conversion of England to the new faith (the older
Roman Christian Church remained in parts of Britain, notably Wales and Scotland as the
Celtic Church). Augustine's success in converting a large number of people led to his
consecration as bishop by the end of the year.
Pope Gregory had drawn up a detailed plan for the administration of the Church in
England. There were to be two archbishops, London and York (each to have 12 bishops).
As the city of London was not under the control of Ethelbert, however, a new See was
chosen at Canterbury, in Kent. It was there that Augustine, promoted to archbishop, laid
down the beginnings of the ecclesiastical organization of the Church in Britain. It was
Gregory's guiding hand, however, that influenced all Augustine's decisions; both Pope
and Bishop seemed to know little of the Celtic Church, and made no accommodations
with it.
The establishment of the Church at York was not possible until 625; the immense task of
converting and then organizing the converted was mostly beyond the limited powers of
Augustine, well-trained in monastic rule, but little trained in law and administration.
Edwin of Northumbria's wife chose Paulinus as Bishop and the See of York was
established, though later attacks from Penda of Mercia meant that only a limited kind of
Christian worship took place in the North until around the middle of the eighth century.
In 668 when a vacancy arose at Canterbury, the monk Theodore of Tarsus was appointed
as archbishop. His background as a Greek scholar meant that he had to take new vows
and be ordained in custom with the Church in the West. He then attacked his work with
16
vigor. Assisted by another Greek scholar Hadrian, he set up the basis of diocesan
organization throughout England and carried out the decisions made at Whitby.
When Theodore arrived at Canterbury, there was one bishop south of the River Humber
and two in the North: Cedda, a Celtic bishop and Wilfred of Ripon, who had argued
successfully for the adoption of the Roman Church at Whitby. Theodore consecrated new
bishops at Dulwich, Winchester and Rochester, and set up the Sees of Worcester,
Hereford, Oxford and Leicester. Wilfred of Ripon reigned supreme in Northumbria as the
exponent of ecclesiastical authority, but when he quarreled with King Ecgfrith, he was
sent into exile. Theodore seized his opportunity to break up the North into smaller and
more controllable dioceses. Over the next twenty years bishoprics were established at
York, Hexham, Ripon and Lindsey. Theodore also re-established the system of
ecclesiastical synods that disregarded political boundaries.
One of Theodore's great accomplishments was to create the machinery through which the
wealth of the Celtic Church was transferred to the Anglo-Saxon Church. This wealth was
particularly responsible for the late seventh century flowering of culture in Northumbria,
which benefitted from both Celtic and Roman influences. In that northern outpost of the
Catholic Church, a tradition of scholarship began that was to have a profound influence
on the literature of Western Europe. It constituted a remarkable outbreak with equally
remarkable consequences.
It all began with a Northumbrian nobleman, associated with monastic life, Benedict
Biscop, who founded two monasteries, Wearmouth (674) and Jarrow (681). Both were to
play important parts in this cultural phenomenon. Biscop made six journeys to Rome,
acquiring many valuable manuscripts and beginning what can be termed a golden age in
Northumbria. Its greatest scholar was Bede.
Known to posterity as "the Venerable Bede," the monk lived from 673-735. He entered
Jarrow at the age of seven. Never traveling further than York, he became the most
learned scholar of his time. Working in the library with the manuscripts acquired by
Benedict Biscop, he added greatly to its store of knowledge through his voluminous
correspondence. His contemporary reputation rested on his biblical writings and
commentaries on the Scriptures as well as his chronological works that established a firm
system of calculating the date of Easter. Bede's greatest work was his Ecclesiastical
History of the English Nation.
Bede's audience was a newly-forged nation; the English were anxious to hear of their past
accomplishments and of the lives of their great people; Bede provided them with both.
His history shows the stages by which the Anglo-Saxon people became Christian. He
sifted his evidence carefully, preserving oral traditions where they complemented his
written material, and he often indicated his sources. Abounding in anecdotes, guides for
memory, his concept of history set a new standard for future writers, though as noted
earlier, his prejudices against the Britons (Welsh) mar his work.
17
Before leaving the Anglo-Saxon religious scene, we must mention the enormous
influence the English Church had on the continent. Rulers such as Charles Martel and
Pepin III were pursuing aggressive policies against the Germanic tribes, and missionaries
from the highly advanced English Church were extensively recruited. Wilfred of Ripon
found a new calling after his expulsion from Northumbria, and he and others such as
Willibrod carried out their conversions with approval from Rome. The greatest of the
missionaries was Boniface, who established many German Sees from his archbishopric at
Mainz. From York came Alcuin, one of the period's greatest scholars. All in all, we can
say that the Anglo-Saxon Church provided an important impetus for the civilizing of
much of the Continent. In particular, it provided the agent for the fusing of Celtic and
Roman ideas, and its work in Europe produced events that had repercussions of profound
importance.
In the meantime, events were rapidly changing the political face of Anglo-Saxon
England. There were separate kingdoms in England, settled by Angles, Saxons and Jutes
whose areas, bit by bit, extended into the Celtic regions: Northumbria in the north;
Mercia westwards to the River Severn and Wessex into Devon and Cornwall. In the
southeast, the kingdoms of Sussex and Kent had achieved early prominence.
Hengist and Horsa had arrived in Kent with a small fleet of ships in around 446 AD to aid
the Britons in the defense of their lands. They had been invited by British chief Vortigern
to fight the northern barbarians in return for pay and supplies, but more importantly, for
land. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates Hengist's assumption of the kingdom of Kent to
455 AD; and though it also records the flight of the Britons from that kingdom to
London, it probably refers to an army, not a people. The invaders, who were Jutes, named
the capital of their new kingdom Canterbury, the borough of the people of the Cantii.
Only nine years after their arrival, they were in revolt against Vortigern, who awarded
them the whole kingdom of the Cantii with Hengist as king to be succeeded by his son
Oisc.
Thus the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain was an Anglo-Celtic kingdom, peopled by
Anglo-Celts. The dynasty founded there by Hengist lasted for three centuries. However,
with the death of joint kings Aethelbert and Eadberht, it was time for other kingdoms to
rise to prominence. Only thirty years after the arrival of Hengist to Britain, another
chieftain named Aelle came to settle. The leader of the South Saxons; Aella ruled the
kingdom that became Sussex. Other kingdoms were those of the East Saxons (Essex); the
Middle Saxons (Middlesex), and the West Saxons, (Wessex) destined to become the most
powerful of all and one that eventually brought together all the diverse people of England
(named for the Angles) into one single nation.
When Bede was writing his History, he was residing in what had been for over a century
the most powerful kingdom in England, for rulers such as Edwin, Oswald and Oswy had
made Northumbria politically stable as well as Christian. Edwin, the first Christian king
of Northumbria, was defeated by Cadwallon, the only British King to overthrow a Saxon
dynasty, who had allied himself to Penda of Mercia, the Middle Kingdom. Oswald
restored the Saxon monarchy in 633, and during his reign, missionaries under Aidan
18
completed the conversion of Northumbria (an account of the early Christian Church in
the North can be found in my "Brief History of Scotland," Chap. 2).
It was during the reign of Oswy (645-70) that Northumbria began to show signs of order.
The growth of institutions guaranteed permanency, so that the continuation of royal
government did not depend upon the outcome of a single battle or the death of a king. He
also defeated pagan king Penda and brought Mercia under his control, opening up the
whole middle kingdom to Celtic missionaries. Then, in 663 under his chairmanship, the
great Synod of Whitby took place, at which the Roman Church was accepted as the
official branch of the faith in England. It was Oswy's forceful backing that secured the
decision for Rome.
Northumbria's dominance began to wane at the beginning of the eighth century. It was
hastened by the defeat and death of Ecgfrid in 685. The kingdom had been threatened by
the growing power of Mercia, whose king Penda had led the fiercest resistance to the
imposition of Christianity. After Penda's defeat, his successor Wulfhere turned south to
concentrate his efforts on fighting against Wessex where strong rulers prevented any
Mercian domination. However, the situation began to change in the early eighth century
with the accession of two strong rulers, Aethelbold and Offa.
Aethelbold (726-57) called himself "King of Britain." Bede tells us that "all these
provinces [in the South of England] with their kings, are in subjection to Aethelbald, king
of Mercia, even to Humber." Whatever his claims to sovereignty, however, it was his
successor Offa (757-96) who could call himself "king of all the English," for though
Wessex was growing powerful within itself, Offa seems to have been the senior partner
and overlord of Southern Britain. His many letters to Charles the Great (Charlemagne)
show that the Mercian king regarded himself as an equal to the Carolingian ruler (his son
Ecfrith was the very first king in England to have an official coronation). Offa's
correspondence with the Pope also shows roughly the same attitude. It was Offa who
inaugurated what later became known as Peter's Pence (those financial contributions that
became a bane to later rulers who wished to have more control over their finances and
sources of revenue).
Both Aethelbold and Offa insisted on being called by their royal titles; they were very
much aware of the concept of unity within the kingdom of Mercia. Offa was the first
English ruler to draw a definite frontier with Wales (much of the earthen rampart and
ditch created in the middle of the eighth century, still exists). The creation of a
metropolitan archbishopric at Lichfield attested to his influence with Rome. Under his
reign an effective administration was created (and a good quality distinctive coinage).
The little kingdom of Mercia found itself a member of the community of European states.
Though Offa's descendants tried to maintain the splendors (and the delusions) of his
reign, Mercia's domination ended at the battle of Ellendun in 825 when Egbert of Wessex
defeated Beornwulf.
It was time for Wessex to recover the greatness that had begun in the sixth century under
Ceawlin. Wessex borders had expanded greatly and Ceawlin had was recognized as
19
supreme ruler in Southern England. A series of insignificant kings followed Ceawlin, all
subject to Mercian dominance. The second period of dominance began under kings
Cadwalla and Ine. Cadwalla (685-88) was noted for his successful wars against Kent and
his conquest of Sussex. Wessex also expanded westward into the Celtic strongholds of
Devon and Cornwall. Both Cadwalla and Ine abdicated to go on religious pilgrimages,
but their work was well done and they left behind a strong state able to withstand the
might of Mercia.
A new phase began in 802 with the accession of Egbert and the establishment of his
authority throughout Wessex. The dominance of Mercia was finally broken, the other
kingdoms defeated in battle or voluntary submitted to his overlordship, and Egbert was
recognized as Bretwalda, Lord of Britain, the first to give reality to the dream of a single
government from the borders of Scotland to the English Channel. An ominous entry in
the "West Saxon Annals" however, tells us that in the year 834 "The heathen men harried
Sheppey." During the centuries of inter-tribal warfare, the Saxons had not thought of
defending their coasts. The Norsemen, attracted by the wealth of the religious
settlements, often placed near the sea, were free to embark upon their voyages of plunder.
The first recorded visit of the Vikings in the West Saxon Annals had stated that a small
raiding party slew those who came to meet them at Dorchester in 789. It was the North,
however, at such places as Lindisfarne, the holiest city in England, lavishly endowed with
treasures at its monastery and religious settlement, that constituted the main target.
Before dealing with the onslaught of the Norsemen, however, it is time to briefly review
the accomplishments of the people collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, especially in
the rule of law.
From the Roman historian Tacitus we get a picture of the administration of Saxon law
long before they came to settle in Britain. His "Germania" tells us of the deliberation of
the chiefs in smaller matters and the deliberation of all in more important ones. "Yet even
those matters which are reserved for the general opinion are thoroughly discussed by the
chiefs... in the assembly, actions may be brought and capital crimes prosecuted. They
make the punishment fit the crime."
It was not long after the conversion of the Saxon peoples to Christianity that written laws
began to be enacted in England to provide appropriate penalties for offenses against the
Church (and therefore against God). In Kent, King Aethelbert (601-04) was the first to set
down the laws of his people in the English language; his laws constitute by far the earliest
body of law expressed in any Germanic language. They show no sign of Roman
influence but are more in common with the Lex Salica issued by Clovis for the Salian
Franks.
The basis of Kentish society in Aethelbert's time was the free-peasant landholder, without
any claim to nobility, but subject to no lord below the king himself, an independent
person with many rights. Throughout early English history, society seems to have rested
on men of this type. As head of a family, he was entitled to compensation for the
breaking of his household peace. If he were to be slain, the killer had to compensate his
20
kinfolk and also pay the king. The king's food-rent was the heaviest of the public
burdens. Early on, it had consisted of providing a quantity of provisions sufficient to
maintain a king and his retinue for 24 hours, due once a year from a particular group of
villages. Long after Aethelbert's reign, the king's servants of every degree were still being
quartered on the country as they traveled from place to place to carry out their duties.
Other Kentish laws date from the reigns of Hlothhere and Eadric, brother and eldest son
of Egbert. These were mainly enlargements of previous laws. They show a somewhat
elaborate development of legal procedure, but they also recognized a title to nobility
which is derived from birth and not from service to a king. More significant, however, is
the fact that the men who direct the pleas in popular assemblies are not ministers of the
king, but "the judges of the Kentish people." All in all, the laws show a form of society
little affected by the growth of royal power or aristocratic privilege.
Under Wihtraed (695-96), laws were set down mainly to deal with ecclesiastical matters.
They were primarily to provide penalties for unlawful marriages, heathen practices,
neglect of holy days or fast days, and to define the process under which accused persons
might establish their innocence. The Church and its leading ministers were given special
privileges, including exemption from taxation. The oath of a bishop, like those of a king,
is declared uncontrovertible, and the Church was to receive the same compensation as the
king for violence done to dependents. Within 90 years, the Church which Aethelbert had
taken under his protection had become a power all but equal with the king himself.
By the early part of the 10th century, the government had begun to regard the kin as
legally responsible for the good behavior of its members, though respect for the kin did
not mean that the ties of kindred dominated English law. There had been earlier passages
which ignored or deliberately weakened this primitive function of kin. For example, a
ceorl who wished to clear himself at the altar must produce not a group of his kinsmen,
but three men who are merely of his own class. Mere oaths from his own family circle
were looked upon with suspicion by the authorities, and thus encroachments upon the
power of the kin to protect its own members constituted a rapid advancement of English
law even before the end of the seventh century.
From the laws of Ine (688-95), the strongest king in Southern England during his long
reign, it is clear that he was a statesman with ideas beyond the grasp of his predecessors.
His code is a lengthy document, covering a wide range of human relationships, entering
much more fully than any other early code into the details of the agrarian system on
which society rested. They were also marked by the definite purpose of advancing
Christianity. Not merely a tariff of offenses, it is the result of a serious attempt to bring
together a body of rules governing the more complicated questions with which the king
and his officers might have to deal. It stands for a new concept of kingship, destined in
time to replace the simple motives which had satisfied the men of an earlier age.
Ine's laws point to a complicated social order in which the aristocratic ideal was already
important. The free peasant was the independent master of a household. He filled a
responsible position in the state and the law protected the honor and peace of his
21
household. He owed personal service in the national militia (the fyrd); and unlawful entry
through the hedge around his premises was a grave offense. In disputes concerning land
rights, which he farmed in association with his fellows, it was necessasry for the King
and his Council to provide settlement. The free peasant was thus responsible to no
authority below the king for his breaches of local custom.
By the year 878 there was every possibility that before the end of the year Wessex would
have been divided among the Danish army. That this turn of events did not come to pass
was due to Alfred. Leaving aside the political events of the period, we can praise his laws
as the first selective code of Anglo-Saxon England, though the fundamentals remained
unchanged, those who didn't please him, were amended or discarded. They remain
comments on the law, mere statements of established custom.
In 896, Alfred occupied London, giving the first indication that the lands which had lately
passed under Danish control might be reclaimed. It made him the obvious leader of all
those who, in any part of the country, wished for a reversal of the disasters, and it was
immediately followed by a general recognition of his lordship. In the words of the
Chronicle, "all the English people submitted to Alfred except those who were under the
power of the Danes." The occasion marked the achievement of a new stage in the
advancement of the English people towards political unity, the acceptance of Alfred's
overlordship expressed a feeling that he stood for interests common to the whole English
race. Earlier rulers had to rely on the armed forces at their disposal for any such claims.
The Code of Alfred has a significance in English history which is entirely independent of
its subject matter, for he gives himself the title of King of the West Saxons, naming
previous kings such as Ine, Offa and Aethelberth whose work had influenced his own.
The implication is that his code was intended to cover not only the kingdom of Wessex,
but also Kent and Mercia. It thus becomes important evidence of the new political unity
forced upon the English people by the struggle against the Danes. In addition, it appeared
at the end of a century during which no English king had issued any laws. Following
Alfred's example, English kings, unlike their counterparts on the Continent, retained their
right to exercise legislative powers. As a footnote, Alfred insisted that to clear himself, a
man of lower rank than a kings' thegn must produce the oaths of 11 men of his own class
and one of the Kings' thegns.
Though much of Alfred's collection of laws came from earlier codes, there were some
that were not derived from any known source and may thus be considered original.
Showing the religious nature of one who had once depended upon the loyalty of his men
for survival, the laws include provisions protecting the weaker members of society
against oppression, limiting the ancient custom of the blood-feud and emphasizing the
duty of a man to his lord.
It is now time to turn back to the Danish (Viking or Norsemen) invasion of England, and
the part Alfred was to play in his country's defense and eventual survival. The West
Saxon Annals (utilized as part of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" that Alfred began around
890), tell us that the Vikings (also known as Norsemen or Danes) came as hostile raiders
22
to the shores of Britain. Their invasions were thus different from those of the earlier
Saxons who had originally come to defend the British people and then to settle. Though
they did settle eventually in their newly conquered lands, the Vikings were more intent
on looting and pillaging; their armies marched inland destroying and burning until half of
England had been taken, and it seemed as if there was no one strong enough to stop them.
However, just as an earlier British leader, perhaps the one known in legend as Arthur had
stopped the Saxon advance into the Western regions at Mount Badon in 496, so a later
leader stopped the advance of the Norsemen at Edington in 878. This time, our main
source is more reliable; the leader was Alfred of Wessex.
Much of what we know about King Alfred, the only English monarch in all history to
have received the appellation "the Great," comes from Life of Alfred by his Bishop
Asser. It is a work of incomparable worth in its account of English history. During the
reign of Elizabeth I, it was also decided that the Annals of St. Neots were also the work
of Asser, and thus an authoritative source was given to many legends concerning the
English king that appeared in the Annals. The strength of his Wessex Kingdom made it
the ideal center for the resistance of Alfred to the Danish plans of conquest.
Before Alfred, the Danes had been relatively unopposed. They came in a huge fleet to
London in 851 to destroy the army of Mercia and capture Canterbury, only to receive
their first check at the hands of Aethelstan of Wessex. But this time, instead of sailing
home with their booty, the Danish seamen and soldiers stayed the winter on the Isle of
Thanet on the Thames where the men of Hengist had come ashore centuries earlier. Like
their Saxon predecessors, the Danes showed that they had come to stay.
It was not too long before the Danes had become firmly entrenched seemingly
everywhere they chose in England (many of the invaders came from Norway and Sweden
as well as Denmark). They had begun their deprivations with the devastation of
Lindisfarne in 793, and the next hundred years saw army after army crossing the North
Sea, first to find treasure, and then to take over good, productive farm lands upon which
to raise their families. Outside Wessex, their ships were able to penetrate far inland; they
sailed with impunity up the Dee, Humber, Ribble, Tyne, Medway and Thames, and
founded their communities wherever the rivers met the sea.
In the West, Aethelwulf succeeded Egbert continuing his father's role as protector of the
English people. He was succeeded by Aethelred, who continued to hold his lands against
the ever-increasing host of the Danes, now firmly in control of Northumbria, including
York. In 867, the Danes also made incursions into Mercia and had conquered all of East
Anglia. Of all the English kingdoms, Wessex now stood almost alone. Armies under
Aethelred and the young Alfred fought the Danes to a standstill, neither side claiming
complete victory, but the borders of Wessex remained secure.
Alfred was born in 849. He became King of Wessex in 871 the year the Danes defeated a
large English force at Reading. The invaders had already shown their strength by splitting
their forces in two: one remaining in the North under Halfdene, where they settled down
as farmers and the lords of large estates; and the other moving southwards under King
23
Guthrum, anxious to add Wessex to his territories. Before Alfred, the results of battles
against the Danes often depended upon chance; there was no standing army in England
and response to threats without meant the calling up of the "fyrd" or the local levies. The
Danes marched westward without opposition. Not strong enough to offer total resistance,
Alfred was forced to pay tribute to buy off the Danish army until he could build up his
supporters. Taking refuge on the Isle of Athelney, he conducted a campaign of guerilla
warfare against the foreign occupiers of his kingdom; it wasn't long before the men of
Wessex were ready to reassert themselves.
The turning point took place in 878. From the Chronicle, we learn of the decisive event
that took place at Edington (Ethandune), when Alfred "fought with the whole force of the
Danes and put them to flight, and rode after them to their fortifications and besieged them
a fortnight. Then the Danes gave him hostages as security, and swore great oaths that
they would leave his kingdom; and they promised him that their king should receive
baptism. And they carried out their promises..." Wessex had been saved.
Alfred's successes were partly due to his building up the West Saxon navy into a fleet
that could not only meet the Danes on equal terms, but defeat them in battle. According
to the Chronicle of 896, when the enemy attacked the south coast of Wessex "with the
warships which they had built many years before," Alfred "bade build long ships against
the Danish warships: they were nearly twice as long as the others: some had sixty oars,
some more: they were both swifter and steadier and higher than the others. They were
built neither on the Frisian pattern nor on the Danish, but as it seemed to the king that
they might be most serviceable." The Chronicle also records one of his victories in 882,
though he was later defeated by a large Danish force of the mouth of the River Stour.
Alfred also fortified the key English towns.
East Anglia and Southern Mercia remained in Danish hands. In 896, however, Alfred
occupied London, giving the first indication that the lands which had lately passed under
Danish control might be reclaimed. His success made him the obvious leader of all those
who, in any part of the country, wished for a reversal of the disasters, and it was
immediately followed by a general recognition of his lordship. In the words of the
Chronicle, "all the English people submitted to Alfred except those who were under the
power of the Danes." Furthermore, the city of London, on the southeastern edge of
Mercia became a national symbol of English defiance. Its capture made Alfred truly the
first king of England.
Alfred's greatness lay not so much in his defeat of the Danes but in his other major
accomplishments, of which historians write glowingly and are generally listed as four: his
uniform code of laws for the good order of the kingdom; his restoration of the monastic
life of the Church, which had been severely disrupted by the arrival of the Norsemen; his
enthusiastic patronage of the arts and learning; and the respect that he gained on the
Continent of Europe for himself and his kingdom.
Alfred's strenuous efforts to rebuild the fabric of the Church also met with great success,
as recorded by his biographer, Welsh monk Asser. He filled Church positions with men
24
of intelligence and learning; he increased the number of monasteries and made personal
efforts to restore learning to the English nation that are recorded in his own words in a
prose preface to the new edition of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, which he translated into
English. King, warrior, law-giver and scholar, Alfred was also responsible (with other
learned men) for the translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Orosius' History of the
Ancient World, as well as De Consolatione Philosophiae of Boethius. Outside Wessex,
however, most of England remained under Dane Law, ruled by Scandinavian kings.
Had Alfred been defeated, all of England would have passed under the rule of the Danish
kings; the future identity of the English people as a separate island nation would have
been very much in question. As it was, however, the occupation of London by the King
of Wessex marked a new stage in the advancement of the English people towards
political unity, the acceptance of his overlordship expressed a feeling that he stood for
interests common to the whole English race.
The treaty with King Guthrum that followed Alfred's capture of London delineated a
frontier between England and Danes, a frontier that even today is reflected in a NorthSouth divide. The phrase "except those who were under the power of the Danes" is very
significant, however, for it includes all of England outside Wessex and much of Mercia.
Much of the task of winning back these lands passed to Alfred's son Edward the Elder,
who became King of Wessex in 899. Before the end of his reign, every Danish colony
south of the River Humber had become annexed to Wessex.
The Chronicle reports that the Scottish King and people, all the people of Wales, all the
people in Mercia and all those who dwelt in Northumbria submitted to him "whether
English, or Danish, or Northmen, or others, the king of the Strathclyde Welsh, and all the
Strathclyde Welsh." They all recognized Edward's authority and agreed to respect his
territories and to attack his enemies. The creation of this simple bond between Edward
and the rulers of every established state in the Island of Britain thus gave to the West
Saxon monarchy a new range and dignity which greatly strengthened its claim to
sovereignty in England.
During Edward's reign, there were advances made in the administration of law, some of
these in the king's favor. For example, some of his measures strengthened royal authority;
the Kings' Writ, dating back to the time of Ine, was enforced to punish attacks on the
king's dignity and privilege. Wherever the king had enjoined or prohibited a certain
course by express orders, failure to obey made the offender liable to pay the heavy fines
proscribed. Use of the Writ was responsible for an unparalleled growth of the King's
official responsibility for the enforcement of law and order.
Under Edward, the Crown was no longer seen as a remote providence, under which the
moots (law courts) worked in independence, but as an institution which had come to
intervene, to watch over the workings of the law, and to punish those who rebeled.
Edward further ordered that the hundred courts were to meet every four weeks under a
king's reeve for the administration of customary law.
25
Even during the long and protracted Danish Wars, and maybe because of them, trade in
England prospered. The foundation of many new boroughs offered traders bases for their
operations that were much more secure than the countryside. Towns allowed merchants
the means to establish the validity of their transactions by the testimony of responsible
persons of their own sort. On their part, rulers were anxious to keep trade restricted to a
limited number of recognized centers. One of Edward's laws prohibited trade outside a
port, and ordered that all transactions be attested to by the portreeve or by other trusty
men.
The significance of the above is clear. By the end of Edward's reign, it is probable that
every place of trade which was more than a purely local market was surrounded by at
least rudimentary fortifications. The normal "port" of the king's time was also a borough,
and the urgency with which Edward commanded traders to resort to it explained its
military importance. A derelict "port" was a weak point in the national defenses and the
era saw a rapid rise in boroughs that combined military and commercial factors.
Edward the Elder died in 924, to be succeeded by his son Aethelstan, recognized as King
in Wessex and probably in Mercia independently of his election in Wessex. He took the
important and strategic city of York from the Danes, and thus, under conditions which no
one could have foreseen, a king supreme in southern England came to rule in York. He
soon extended his influence further, and the western and northern kings of Britain and the
Welsh princes came to regard him as their lord. Though Alfred and Edward the Elder had
been forced to watch the continental scene from the outside, Aethelstan won prestige and
influence in contemporary Europe that resulted from his position as heir to the one
western kingdom which had emerged in greater strength from the Danish wars.
At the Battle of Brunanburgh in 937, the site of which has never been satisfactorily
determined, Aethelstan won a great victory for his English army over a combined force
of Danes, Scots and Irish. At his death, however, new threats faced the new King
Edmund. Danish control of the five great boroughs of Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham,
Derby and Stamford -- all in the Midlands -- created an effective barrier between
Northumbria and Wessex. Edmund acted. Taking an army north, he retook the five
boroughs for the English and drove out two Danish kings from Northumbria. In the truly
Viking city of York, however, Eric Bloodaxe had set himself up as an independent king.
Wessex remained the stronghold of the English during the next twenty years of
increasing Viking attacks, but when King Edgar was slain by supporters of his brother
Ethelred, disaster came to the whole country.
Once again, the Danish fleets and armies seemed unstoppable. They were found in
northeastern England, northwestern England, Wales, Devon and Cornwall. Ethelred
could only achieve peace by buying off the Danes, a move that backfired for it only led to
more raids, more slaughter and more Danish settlement. Following the example of
Alfred, Ethelred then managed to get the Danish leader Anlaf baptized at Andover, but
only at the enormous cost of the complete depletion of the treasury of England. Anlaf
could only laugh at his good fortune. Ethelred's weakness in dealing with the Danish
26
leaders have earned him the title of "the unready," (rede-less) the one who lacked good
counsel.
In a sea battle in 1000 AD, Anlaf, now known as Olaf, King of Norway, was defeated by
the Danish King Sweyn who continued his rivals raids on England, and who in turn, was
offered huge sums by Ethelred. But the Danes refused to stop their raids. Giving
command of a great army to his son Cnut, Sweyn marched on and conquered Winchester
and Oxford and forced Ethelred to flee to France, only returning to England upon the
death of Sweyn in the year 1003. More fighting continued under Edmund, who succeeded
his father Ethelred by appointment of the citizens of London, anxious to be led by one
who was called Edmund Ironside on account of his great strength. Edmund won many
important victories, but the strength of the Danes forced him to make peace with Cnut,
and at Alney, it was agreed that Edmund should be King of Wessex and Cnut of Mercia.
Upon Edmund's death, that same year, Cnut became king of all England. Formally taking
the reins of power in 1017, he married Ethelred's widow that same year.
Meanwhile, there had been important developments in the administration of English law
that would have profound effects upon the future legal system. Changing social
conditions led to Aethelstan issuing many new laws. He had to deal in legislation with
lords who "maintained" their men in defiance of right and justice. Under Edgar, who
became King in Wessex in 954, a semblance of order was restored, and England was
made secure at least temporarily. It is recorded that eight kings in Britain came to him on
a single day to acknowledge his supremacy. He was the first English King to recognize in
legislation that the Danish east of England was no longer a conquered province, but an
integral part of the English realm.
Legal customs from the Scandinavian North were practiced throughout the eastern
counties of England; villages were combined into local divisions for the administration of
justice. These divisions were known as wapentakes. The word first appeared when Edgar
refered in general terms to the buying and selling of goods in a borough or a wapentake.
There seems to have been no essential difference of function between the courts of the
wapentake and those of the more familiar hundred. Under Ethelred, the wapentake court
appeared as the fundamental unit in the organization of justice throughout the territory of
the five boroughs. The authority of a ruler universally regarded as king of England was
placed over the local courts.
The most interesting feature of the organization was the aristocratic jury of presentment
which initiated the prosecution of suspected persons in the court of the wapentake. In
what is known as the Wantage Code of Ethelred, one passage states that the twelve
leading thegns in each wapentake were to go out from the court and swear that they
would neither accuse the innocent nor protect the guilty. Thus the sworn jury, hitherto
unknown to English law, came into being in a most important document in English legal
history. The fate of the suspect, however, was still settled by ordeal, not by the judgment
of the thegns who presented them.
27
The strength of the Crown, with the king becoming arbiter of the law continued during
the reign of Cnut, the first Viking leader to be admitted into the civilized fraternity of
Christian Kings, and one who was determined to rule as the chosen king of the English
people as well as King of Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden. It is generally agreed
that he turned the part of conquering Viking ruler into one of the best kings ever enjoyed
by the English people. Ruler of a united land, he kept the peace, enforced the laws,
became a generous patron of the Church and raised the prestige of England to
unprecedented levels on the Continent of Europe. Upon his death, he had become part of
the national heritage of England, his favorite realm.
Cnut and his successors became heirs to the English laws and traditions of Wessex. At a
great assembly in Oxford in 1018, he agreed to follow the laws of Edgar; his Danish
compatriots were to adopt the laws of their English neighbors, be content as subjects of a
Danish king in an English country. Cnut ruled England as it had long been ruled: he
consulted his bishops and his subjects. He even traveled to Rome in 1027 to attend the
coronation of the new Holy Roman Emperor but also to consult with the Pope on behalf
of all his people, Englishmen and Danes. He made atonement for the atrocities of the past
wrought by Danish invaders by visiting the site of the battle with Edmund Ironside at
Ashingdon and dedicating a church to the fallen. His eighteen-year rule was indeed a
golden one for England, even though it was part of a Scandinavian empire. Cnut died in
1035 and was buried in the traditional resting place of the Saxon Kings, at Winchester.
Chaos and confusion were quick to return to England after Cnut's death, and the ground
was prepared for the coming of the Normans, a new set of invaders no less ruthless than
those who had come before. Cnut had precipitated problems by leaving his youngest,
bastard son Harold, unprovided for. He had intended to give Denmark and England to
Hardacnut and Norway to Swein. In 1035, Hardacnut could not come to England from
Denmark without leaving Magnus of Norway a free hand in Scandinavia.
. A meeting of the Witan (King's council) met to decide the successor to Cnut. One
faction, including the men of London chose Harold Harefoot, but others, led by the
powerful Godwin of Wessex chose Hardacnut, whose mother, Emma was to reside at
Winchester holding Wessex in her son's name. Emma was a sister to the Duke of
Normandy; before marrying Cnut, she had been the wife of Ethelred. When Ethelred's
younger son Alfred came to Winchester, Godwin's fears of losing his control of Wessex,
had him captured and blinded. The unfortunate Alfred lived out his life as a monk at Ely,
unable to claim the throne of Wessex.
Hardacnut arrived in England in 1040 on the death of Harold; he brought a large army
with him. He was welcomed in Wessex, where Godwin rained supreme as his
representative. Prince Edward, Alfred's older brother, sought protection at Winchester,
and when Harthacnut died suddenly, after reigning for only one year, Edward, son of
Ethelred, was acclaimed as king. Thus English kings came to rule in England once again.
The uniting of the houses of Wessex and Mercia through marriage had produced an
English ruler after a quarter of a century of Danish rule. The two peoples had blended to
become a single nation.
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Although the two hundred years of Danish invasions and settlement had an enormous
effect on Britain, bringing over from the continent as many people as had the AngloSaxon invasions, the effects on the language and customs of the English were not as
catastrophic as the earlier invasions had been on the native British. The Anglo-Saxons
were a Germanic race; their homelands had been in northern Europe, many of them
coming, if not from Denmark itself, then from lands bordering that little country. They
shared many common traditions and customs with the people of Scandinavia, and they
spoke a related language.
There are over 1040 place names in England of Scandinavian origin, most occurring in
the north and east, the area of settlement known as the Danelaw. The evidence shows
extensive peaceable settlement by farmers who intermarried their English cousins,
adopted many of their customs and entered into the everyday life of the community.
Though the Danes and Norwegians who came to England preserved many of their own
customs, they readily adapted to the ways of the English whose language they could
understand without too much difficulty. There are more than 600 place names that end
with the Scandinavian -by, (farm or town); some three hundred contain the Scandinavian
word thorp (village), and the same number with thwaite (an isolated piece of land).
Thousands of words of Scandinavian origin remain in the everyday speech of people in
the north and east of England.
In administrative matters, too, there were great similarities between Saxon and
Scandinavian. First, both were military societies. The Saxon chief's immediate followers
and bodyguards were the heorth-werode, the hearth-troop, who followed him in war,
resided at his hall and were bound by ties of personal friendship and traditional loyalty.
The Scandinavians had a similar system that employed the hus-carles or house-troop (the
Danish word carl being close to the Saxon ceorl, a free man). The two people shared the
tradition of government by consultation and the reinforcement of loyalty by close
collaboration between the leader and his followers. It has been pointed out that though
the separate identity and language of at least part of the Britons lives on in Wales, the
identity of the Scandinavians is totally lost among the English: the merging of the two
people was total.
Under the Saxon kings, the man who held great power under the crown was the
alderman, who assisted the king. The Danish leaders were the jarls, who became the
English earls, mostly replacing the aldermen. In addition, the old Saxon system of
taxation had been inefficient to say the least. The pressure of the Danish invasions, and
the need to buy off the invaders in gold and silver meant that the kings' subjects now had
to be taxed in terms of real money, rather than the material goods supplied formerly to
the King's household. Under Ethelstan, and certainly under Cnut, we had the beginning of
the civil service. Clerks and secretaries were employed by both rulers to strengthen and
communicate authority and raise and collect taxes efficiently.
There was another very important feature of the Scandinavian settlement which cannot be
overlooked. The Saxon people had not maintained contact with their orginal homelands;
in England they had become an island race. The Scandinavians, however, kept their
29
contacts with their kinsman on the continent. Under Cnut, England was part of a
Scandinavian empire; its people began to extend their outlook and become less insular.
The process was hastened by the coming of another host of Norsemen: the Norman
Conquest was about to begin.
Part 5: Medieval Britain by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
Norman England
Hardacnut was the last Danish king of England. He died in convulsions at a wedding
feast. Edward the Atheling, who succeeded him, was the legitimate heir of Alfred the
Great. Known as Edward the Confessor, he was perhaps one of the most misunderstood
monarchs in the history of England. Though he took adequate steps to provide for a
smooth succession to the throne, events that followed his death have spoiled his
reputation as a wise, effective ruler. The circumstances that eventually led to the arrival
of William the Norman had been set in place long before 1066.
Ever since Edward's father had married Emma of Normandy in 1002, England had been
wide open to Norman influences. Edward's cousin was the father of Duke William. The
young Edward himself had been brought up in Normandy. A popular choice as king, he
collaborated with the leading earls of the country to dispossess his mother Emma of her
wealth at Winchester. A motive was provided by her support of the King of Norway's
claim to the English throne, a threat renewed when Harold Hardrada, uncle of Magnus
became king of Norway in 1048. But there were more pressing problems for Edward at
home.
Godwin of Wessex was the most powerful man in England after the King, whom he
supported in the raid on the treasures at Winchester, but who tried his utmost to run the
country as family fiefdom. He plotted to have Edward marry his daughter Edith, a union
to which the king consented to keep Godwin happy and allied in the face of continued
Scandinavian threats. Edward was double Edith's age; the marriage did not produce an
heir, for the saintly king had earlier taken a vow of chastity (a hunting accident had left
him impotent in any case). Edward wanted his Norman relatives to gain the throne of
England. The handing over of power to William became his obsession. But there were
other claimants from the house of Earl Godwin that contested the king's wishes.
From 1046 to 1051, Edward was engaged in a power struggle with the Godwins. He was
forced to take action. First, he exiled Swein, the ruthless treacherous eldest son who had
abducted an abbotress among his other nefarious deeds. He next exiled Godwin and all
his sons, two of whom joined their father and Swein in Bruges and two of whom went to
join the Vikings in Dublin. Thus temporarily freed from Godwin influence, in the
pinnacle of his power, Edward was left alone to appoint Norman bishops to many vacant
English Sees. Then Godwin returned.
30
Civil War was averted only because the King restored Godwin and his sons to their
earldoms. Edward was also humiliated by having to purge his Norman bishops. He then
was forced to appoint Stigand, Godwin's nominee to Canterbury in place of Robert of
Jumieges. Edward shied away from provoking an all-out war with his hated enemy
Godwin. He was spared a decision by the death of Godwin on Easter Monday 1053 and
the succession of Harold Godwinson as Earl of Wessex. The enmity between the Crown
and the House of Godwin continued unabated, especially over the appointing of bishops
and the leadership of the armies raised to fight Gruffudd of Wales who had been
successful in winning back many border areas previously lost to the English. Harold
himself raised an army to punish Gruffudd. But the main problem remained, that of
succession. Matters were not helped by the suspicious death of Edward the Atheling,
younger son of Edmund Ironside, who had been smuggled out of England as a babe to
escape Cnut, and who had returned in 1057. Only the king and the late Athelings' two
children remained of the ancient house of Cerdic of Wessex. By his defeat of Gruffudd in
Wales, Harold then made himself the premier military leader in England. In 1064, he
visited Normandy.
The Bayeux Tapestry, woven after 1066, depicts the events leading up to the Norman
invasion of that year as well as the great culminating battle. It shows Harold receiving
instructions from King Edward, embarking for Normandy, aiding William in an
expedition, saving trapped knights in a river crossing and being knighted by the Norman
Duke, to whom he swears an oath of loyalty. Next is shown the death and burial of
Edward, the coronation of Harold, the appearance of a comet and the invasion and
culminating battle.
It is highly probable that Edward did send Harold to Normandy with the formal promise
that the kingdom would pass to William upon Edward's death. Harold would thus act as
regent until the Norman leader could arrive to claim his throne. However, before the
death of Edward, who had done everything in his power to hold the ambitions of the
Godwins in check and to ensure the peaceful transition of power to William, he could not
have foreseen the wave of nationalist feeling which greeted Harold's bid for the crown.
The saintly king had completely overlooked English resentment at the ever-growing
Norman influences in their island nation. The "Chronicle" went so far as to justify
Harold's seizure of power by stating that Edward had entrusted the kingdom to him. On
January 6, 1066, the funeral of Edward and the coronation of Harold, henceforth held in
contempt by the Normans as an untrustworthy bond-breaker, took place at the newly
consecrated Abbey at Westminster.
William of Normandy must have been furious. His people called themselves Franks or
Frenchmen. They had come to France centuries before as Viking invaders when their
brothers were busy ravaging the coast of England. In many ways, their new homeland
was similar to the English Dane-Law, an area also settled by invaders from the North. It
had been recognized in 911 at a treaty between Charles, the Simple and Rollo, the
Norwegian. Rollo had then converted to Christianity and ruled his territory as a Duke, a
subordinate of the French king. In 1002, as we have seen, Emma, sister of Richard Duke
31
of Normandy and a descendant of Rollo, became the second wife of English King
Ethelred.
The Norman invasion of England was unlike that involving massive immigrations of
people seeking new lands in which to settle and farm as marked by the Anglo-Saxon and
Danish invasions. This new phenomenon was practically an overnight affair. William's
victories were swift, sudden and self-contained. No new wave of people came to occupy
the land, only a small, ruling aristocracy.
It is tempting to surmise the path England would have taken had William's invading force
been beaten off. King Harold had taken concrete steps to enforce his rule throughout the
country. According to the account of Florence of Worcester, Harold immediately began
to abolish unjust laws and make good ones, to patronize churches and monasteries, pay
reverence to religious men, to show himself as pious and humble, to treat wrong doers
with great severity, to imprison all thieves and to labour for the protection of his people.
In order to do all this, however, he first had to reconcile the houses of Godwin of Wessex
and Leofric of Mercia.
After dealing with the perfidy of his exiled brother Tostig, who had raised an army to
plunder England's coast line Harold then had to deal with far more serious threats. Harold
Hardrada, King of Norway, was raising a massive invasion fleet and William of
Normandy, was also busy raising his own army of invasion. Hardrada, wishing to surpass
even Cnut as the great ruler of a Scandinavian Empire, had failed to conquer Denmark;
he mistakenly thought England would be an easier target. He crossed the North Sea to
make his landing near York. King Harold then showed his military prowess by marching
his army northwards and completely destroying the over-confident forces of Hardrada
and Tostig at Stamford Bridge.
There was no rest for the victors. Three days later, William of Normandy, with his huge
host of fighting men, landed unopposed in the south, at Pevensey. Harold had to march
southwards with his tired, weakened army and did not wait for reinforcements before he
awaited the charge of William's mounted knights at Hastings. The resulting Norman
triumph depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry shows Harold's death from an arrow, his
bodyguard cut down and Duke William triumphant.
The only standing army in England had been defeated in an-all day battle in which the
outcome was in doubt until the undisciplined English had broken ranks to pursue the
Normans' feigning retreat. The story is too well-known to be repeated here, but when
William took his army to London, where young Edgar the Atheling had been proclaimed
king in Harold's place, English indecision in gathering together a formidable opposition
forced the supporters of Edgar to negotiate for peace. They had no choice. William was
duly crowned King of England at Westminster on Christmas Day, 1066.
Had Harold Hardrada won at Stamford Bridge, England would surely have become part
of the Scandinavian Empire with all its attendant problems. Had Harold of Wessex won
at Hastings, and it was touch and go all day, then the future course of England would
32
have been certainly different. We can only guess at further isolation from the Continent
and the making of a truly island nation at this very early date. We do know that William
of Normandy won and changed the face of the nation forever. Not only was the land now
governed by a foreign king and subjected to a foreign aristocracy, for the next four
hundred years it wasted its resources and manpower on futile attempts to keep its French
interests alive while, at the same time, becoming part of (and contributing to) the
spectacular flowering of European culture.
The Conquest meant a new dynasty for England and a new aristocracy. It brought
feudalism and it introduced changes in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, with the attendant
change in the relations of Church and State. In the early part of the 11th century, mainly
under the Cluniac Order, there had been a tremendous monastic revival in the Dukedom
of Normandy. This came about as a result of close cooperation between King and Church
in what was basically a feudal society, and one which was transferred to England in 1066
lock, stock and barrel.
William's victory also linked England with France and not Scandinavia from now on.
Within six months of his coronation, William felt secure enough to visit Normandy. The
sporadic outbreaks at rebellion against his rule had one important repercussion, however:
it meant that threats to his security prevented him from undertaking any attempt to
cooperate with the native aristocracy in the administration of England.
A rising at York in which the Danes also took part was easily crushed and the land
harried unmercifully in revenge. Duke William showed that he meant business; he ruled
with ruthless severity. On his absences in Normandy, he left strong, able barons to deal
with any rebellions, including powerful church leaders such as Lanfranc of Canterbury.
Through attrition, in the futile attempts at resistance, the old Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
was severely depleted. The years 1066-1075 were a period of trial and experiment, with
serious attempts at cooperation between Saxon and Norman, but these attempts were
entirely given up in favor of a thoroughly Norman administration. By 1075, the only
Anglo-Saxons to remain in authority were Ecclesiastes. By 1086, other than small-estate
holders, there were in the whole of the land only two Englishmen holding estates of any
dimension.
By the time of William's death in 1087, English society had been profoundly changed.
For one thing, the great Saxon earldoms were split: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and
other ancient kingdoms were abolished forever. The great estates of England were given
to Norman and Breton landowners, carefully prevented from building up their estates by
having them separated by the holdings of others. In addition, William's insistence that the
prime duty of any man holding land from the king was to produce on demand a set quota
of mounted knights produced a new ruling class in England, one entirely different from
that which had been in place for so long.
This was not the Saxon way of doing things: it constituted a total revolution. The simple
rents of ale and barley or work upon the lord's manor were now supplemented by military
service of a new kind: one that had been practiced only by and thus familiar to a Norman.
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In such a system, those at the bottom suffered most, losing all their rights as free men and
coming to be regarded as mere property, assets belonging to the manor. In all intents and
purposes, they were no more than slaves. In addition, further restrictions and hardship
came from William's New Forest laws and his vast extension of new royal forests in
which all hunting rights belonged to the king. The peasantry was thus deprived of a
valuable food source in times of bad harvests. The most emphatic proof that the old
freedoms were gone was the remarkable survey of England known as the "Domesday
Book."
Begun in 1080, the unique "Domesday Book" (the book of unalterable judgments), was
an attempt to provide the king with every penny to which he was legally entitled. It
worked only too well, reckoning the wealth of England "down to the last pig." To
determine how the country was occupied and with what sort of people, William sent his
men into every shire and had them find out how many hundred hides there were in the
shire, what land and cattle the king should have in the country, and what dues he ought to
have in twelve months from the shire.
William was also determined to find out how much land was owned by the archbishops,
bishops, abbots and earls. "So very narrowly did he have it investigated, that there was no
single hide nor virgate of land, nor indeed... one ox nor one cow nor one pig which was
left out, and not put down in his record; and all these records were brought to him
afterwards." The book names some 13,000 places, many for the first time. A veritable
Who's Who of the century, the "Domesday Book" is a remarkable accomplishment
indeed, packed with exhaustive detail on every holding in the entire country and its value.
We have briefly noted the efforts to reorganize the Church in Normandy even before the
Conquest of England. William had presented his invasion to the Pope as a minor crusade
in which the "corrupt" Saxon Church in England would be reformed. Lanfranc was
chosen as the instrument of reform, an exceptional man whose work was profound As
Archbishop of Canterbury, he infused new life into the Church made moribund under
such as Stigand (deposed by William), giving it a tighter organization and discipline.
Lanfranc had been Abbot of Cannes; he was a distinguished scholar and an expert on
civil law. He had been prominent in the negotiations leading to William's marriage with
the daughter of the Duke of Flanders. A practical administrator, he and the Conqueror
seemed to have a close sympathy in aims and ideals. They agreed on the nature of the
reforms necessary for the Church in England, especially that the influence and intrusion
of the Papacy should be resisted and that real power should lie with the metropolitan
dioceses. Asserting his authority and declaring that England was not merely a papal fief,
Lanfranc was supported by the king. He held synods regularly, corrected many
irregularities, and righted long-standing abuses. His most persistent problem was that of
clerical marriage.
In Anglo-Saxon England, the marriage of priests had been recognised. Household
functions had taken priority over Church ceremony; such marriages had been defensible
from folk-law, if not canon law. Lanfranc as a lawyer familiar with current canon law and
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Church law as practiced on the Continent, introduced many new rules into England that
were copied and followed throughout the land, but they did not include marriage of
clerics. One important innovation of Lanfranc was the transfer of the seats of bishops to
the new, growing towns and centers of trade. The growing dispute between the powers of
the ecclesiastical courts and the secular courts remained a thorn in the Archbishop's side
and soon came to a head in the reign of Henry II.
Apart from the cultural and political legacy of the Norman occupation, the effects on
architecture and language were also immense. The Anglo-Saxons were not noted for
castle-building nor for great cathedrals and churches. Not much remains of their building.
But all over the landscape, we see physical reminders of the Norman presence, not only
in the military strongholds, which meant a castle in just about every town, but also in the
cathedrals, abbeys and monasteries that so effectively symbolize the triumph of the new
order. Everywhere in England, a frenzy of church building took place, in which the style
we call "Romanesque" dominated. On the borders of Wales and Scotland, in particular,
we see that combination of church and castle, abbey and town that demonstrate only too
well the genius of this hardy breed of seafarers, explorers, settlers, administrators, law
givers and builders who were never more than a tiny majority. But what they built was
meant to stay.
Changes in language also became permanent. The new nobility knew no English and
probably did little to learn it (in contrast to the situation on the borders of Wales where
many Norman lords freely fraternized and married local inhabitants and learned the
Welsh language). Though English continued to be spoken by the great majority, it was
the language of the common people, not those in power, a situation that wasn't to change
until the 14th century.
There was still the matter of how to deal with the Celtic kingdoms of Britain, those
beyond the borders, those that were not occupied by the Saxons and where the language
and customs remained more or less untouched: Scotland and Wales. William seemed to
regard Scotland as an area best left alone. Though he claimed, as king of England, some
degree of influence over Scotland and took control of Cumbria in 1092, he did not bother
to venture further north. Wales was a different matter.
Various Welsh princes were still vying for power. The last ruler who could truly call
himself King of Wales, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, was killed in 1063. The country was then
rent by a series of inter-family squabbles and William seized his opportunity to establish
a firm western frontier by giving away lands along the border to some of his most loyal
supporters. These so-called border barons or Marcher Lords were left free to add to their
territories as they wished. Their castles and fortified manors in all the important border
towns attest to their power and influence. The lordships of Chester, Shrewsbury,
Hereford and Glamorgan kept a tight grip on any aspirations of Welsh princes to re-assert
control of their nation. Yet such was the power of the Welsh longing to be independent
and so cleverly had they mastered the art of guerilla warfare from their mountain
strongholds, that by the time of the death of William's son, Rufus (King from 1087-1100)
that Welsh control had been re-asserted over most of Wales.
35
Continued Welsh efforts to drive out the Normans from their border territories was of
great concern to England's rulers. In 1095, William II started sending royal armies into
Wales and the practice was continued by Henry I. The great expense of such adventures
meant that an easier way to keep Wales in check was to preserve the territories of the
Marcher lordships, which remained in existence for over four hundred years.
In the meantime, in England, Norman Rule not only affected political and social
institutions, but the English language itself. A huge body of French words were
ultimately to become part of the English vocabulary, many of these continuing side by
side with their English equivalent, such as "sacred" and "holy", "legal" and "lawful,"
"stench" and "aroma," etc. Many French words replaced English ones, so that before the
end of the 14th century Chaucer was able to use a vast store of new words such as
"courage" in place of "heartness," and so on. English became vastly enriched, more
cosmopolitan, sharing its Teutonic and Romance traditions. Norman influence on
literature was equally profound, for the developments in French literature, the leading
literature of Europe, could now circulate in the English court as it did in France.
In retrospect, William's rule can be seen as harsh, but in some ways just. The king was
determined to stay in firm control, and he certainly brought a new degree of political
unity to England. Those huge, forbidding Norman castles which even today, in ruin,
dominate the skyline of so many towns and cities had the effect of maintaining law and
order. Even a Saxon scribe wrote that "a man might walk through the land unmolested,"
and compared to the lawlessness and abuses which were apparent in the reign of his
successor William II, the Conqueror's reign was almost a golden age. Trouble came
immediately upon his death.
William II, Rufus (1087-1100)
Despite the cohesion and order brought to England by the Duke of Normandy, the new
administrative system outlived him by less than fifty years. Though William respected
the elective nature of the English monarch, perfunctorily recognised at his own
coronation, on his deathbed in Normandy he handed over the crown to William Rufus,
his favorite son, and sent him to England to Archbishop Lanfranc. He reluctantly granted
the Duchy of Normandy to Robert, his eldest, and bequeathed a modest sum to Henry
Beauclerk, his youngest. There were bound to be problems.
The dominions ruled by William lI, Rufus, were closely knit together by the family. The
King of England and the Duke of Normandy had rival claims upon the allegiance of
every great land-holder from the Scottish borders to Anjou. And these great land-holders,
the Barons and Earls made it their business to provoke and protract quarrels of every kind
between their rulers. It was a rotten state of affairs that could only be settled through the
English acquisition of Normandy. In addition, Norman lands were surrounded by
enemies eager to re-conquer lost territories. One of these foes was the Church of Rome
itself, rapidly increasing in power and prestige at the expense of the feudal monarchies.
Both William Rufus and his successor Henry l had to deal with problems that eventually
lay beyond their capabilities to solve.
36
The leading Barons acquiesced in the coronation of William Rufus by Lanfranc in
September of 1087, taking their lead from the archbishop but also demonstrating the
immense power that was accruing to the Church in England. The new king was an
illiterate, avaricious, impetuous man, not the sort of ruler the country needed at this or at
any other time. According to William of Malmesbury, he had already sunk below the
possibility of greatness or of moral reformation. It seems that the only profession he
honored was that of war; his court became a Mecca for those practiced in its arts; his
retainers lived lavishly off the land and took what they wished from whom they wished.
To entertain his retinue, the king had a huge banqueting hall built in Westminster.
An early rebellion was inevitable. Taking place in 1088, it was led by Bishop Odo of
Bayeux, an old foe of Lanfranc, who wished to install Robert of Normandy on the throne
of England. To meet the threat, Rufus called upon his English subjects. He promised
them better laws than they had ever had before; the remission of all novel dues and taxes,
the repeal of many aspects of the hated forest laws. He had no intention of fulfilling his
promises, but with them he was able to raise an army of the people and defeat the
scattered rebel forces. With the tide running against him, Duke Robert quickly lost
interest in the affair. Odo's army, penned up at Rochester, petitioned for a truce and the
bishop himself was forced to depart for Europe. Lanfranc's death then removed the only
person strong enough to protest against Rufus for failing to live up to his promises. The
king could now appoint any advisor of his own choosing and accordingly, Ranulf
Flambard found himself treasurer of England.
Despite the faults of William ll, England was governed well compared to Normandy,
where a constant state of anarchy prevailed and where Duke Robert was unable to control
his barons who waged private wars, built castles without license and acted as petty,
independent sovereigns. Rufus seized the opportunity to invade the province with a large
force in 1090 to take vengeance on Robert's part in the rebellion two years earlier. He
was aided by Philip of France, bribed to drop his support of Robert.
A land grab by Malcolm of Scotland in 1092 then forced Rufus back to England where he
established a stronghold at Carlisle, on the Scottish border. During the following year, the
Scottish king was killed at Malcolm's Cross by Earl Mowbray. Subsequent events in
Scotland, in which Donaldbane allied with the Norwegians under Magnus, then created a
new threat to William. Affairs in Normandy, however, took his full attention for the next
three years.
In Normandy, Duke Robert decided to honor Pope Urban's call for a Crusade to win back
the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks to allow free access to pilgrims. To raise the
necessary funds, he mortgaged his Duchy to William for 10,000 marks, a sum that could
only be raised with difficulty in an England already drained by every method of extortion
that could be devised by Flambard. The Church was particularly hit hard. "Have you not
gold and silver boxes full of dead men's bones?" asked the king contemptuously when his
bishops protested.
37
Yet the absence of Robert of Normandy on his adventures in the Middle East meant good
fortune for the King of England. He was able to depose Donaldbane in Scotland in favor
of his vassal Edgar, subdue the rebellious Welsh princes mainly through his sale of the
Earldom of Shrewsbury to one of his Norman Barons and begin his campaign to add
France to his kingdoms. In August, 1100, however, on a hunting expedition in the New
Forest, William was killed. The throne of England now passed to his brother Henry.
Henry I (1100-1135)
Of the three sons of the Conqueror, Henry was the most able. A competent administrator
at home, he succeeded in the conquest of Normandy. Though much of the blame for the
death of his brother William was attributed to Walter Tyrrell, who fled the country, it is
significant that Henry was present in the hunting party. He wasted no time in claiming the
throne, riding to seize the treasure at Winchester just ahead of William of Bretueil, a
supporter of the claim of Duke Robert of Normandy. His supporters quickly elected
Henry King of England and he was crowned by the Bishop of London in the absence of
the exiled Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury. Henry ensured the support of his English
subjects by issuing a solemn charter promising to redress grievances, especially those
involving the selling of vacant benefices to the highest bidder.
That Henry I of England, much in the manner of William Rufus, failed to keep "the law
of Edward" as promised, did not seem to matter as much as did his success in keeping the
peace. He had the hated Flambard thrown into prison. He brought back Anselm to
Canterbury, and thus helped heal the breach between the Church and the Crown, though
the big problem of lay investiture remained, as well as Anselm's refusal to honor the
appointments made by Henry during his exile. The archbishop did mollify the situation
by officiating at the popular marriage of Henry to Edith, a descendant of Edward the
Confessor and a most suitable choice as Queen of England. Anselm wisely chose to
ignore the fact that Edith had taken holy orders as a nun, preferring to believe that she
had only done this to protect herself from importunate suitors rather than to fulfil a desire
to enter a convent.
Many of the leading Barons of Normandy who held lands in England came to Henry's
court to pay homage, though many of them preferred Robert as their lord and schemed to
replace Henry with their choice. They were aided by the ex-treasurer of England, Ranulf
Flambard, who had escaped his captors and returned to Normandy to help organize an
expedition to capture the English throne. King Henry could count on the support of his
English subjects; his leading barons would wait to see which side could benefit them
most. Robert duly landed at Portsmouth in 1101 to begin his march on London.
Losing his nerve, the Duke decided to treaty instead of fight, accepting a pension of 3,000
marks and a promise of help to recover his rebellious dependency of Maine. The terms of
the Treaty of Alton, needless to say, were never honored by Henry, who immediately
began to punish those barons who had sided with Robert. It took all of England's
resources to deal with the ensuing rebellion of the powerful house of Montgomery, aided
by the Welsh princes. Henry promised South Wales to Lorwerth ap Bleddyn, forcing the
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Montgomerys to negotiate for peace. Henry was uncompromising, however, and stripped
Robert, Arnulf and Roger of all their holdings in England. The king was now supreme in
his rule, free from any serious rival. He could now turn his attention to withholding royal
authority from the encroachments of the Church in Rome, growing ever more ambitious
under a series of able popes.
For the king, the customs of the realm of England took precedence over the claims of the
Church. In this, he was aided by Gerard the Archbishop of York, who argued that the
Mother of Churches was Jerusalem, not Rome, and that the Papacy was an institution of
merely human ordinance. Predating Wycliffe, Gerard argued that the Scriptures alone
could give religious instruction; there was no need to have the will of God expounded by
a Pope. Kings were ordained by God to rule the Church no less than the State.
The struggle between Anselm and Henry was abetted by the new Pope Paschal; all three
were obdurate, with the English archbishop even moving to France unable to satisfy his
king. In the meantime, Henry appropriated Church revenues and enacted measures that
led the bishops to beg for Anselm's return. Continued trouble with Normandy, however,
put the Church-Crown struggle temporarily on hold.
Normandy had become a Mecca for just about all of those opposed Henry of England,
who now resolved to dispossess his brother. He started by bribing the Count of Flanders
and the King of France to transfer their allegiance. The conquest of Normandy began in
the spring of 1105, climaxing in the one-hour battle at Tinchebrai when Robert
surrendered. Normandy now belonged to Henry, King of England. Thus the English
soldiers, who had formed a large part of Henry's army, could now say that the Battle of
Hastings was avenged. Robert was held captive in Cardiff Castle in Wales to spend the
remainder of his life a closely-guarded prisoner.
Henry could now introduce into the anarchy that had been Normandy some of the order
and economy that he had established in England. His one great mistake was to entrust the
infant son of Robert, William the Clito, to the charge of one who would later raise a
rebellion against him, and for twenty years, the policies of Henry and his Norman
possessions was determined by those who continued to plot against him.
Back in England, the Church-Crown struggle continued; fear of excommunication led the
King to finally agree to a compromise with Anselm. Henry renounced the right of
investing prelates, but would continue to receive their homage for their temporal
possessions and duties. The treaty, nonetheless, did nothing to settle the question of the
English Church's longed-for independence from the Crown. But it left Henry at the
pinnacle of his power. The death of Anselm meant that the King could appoint a
successor more favorable to his own views.
Flambard, restored to Durham, remained too unpopular to cause any trouble for the king.
In addition, Henry kept in check the powers and ambitions of the great Barons by
judiciously exercising his feudal rights. He prohibited the custom of private war, forbade
the building of castles or fortified dwellings without his license and insisted that every
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under-tenant regard the King as his chief lord. Above all, he insisted on the rule of law.
When Henry first acceded to the throne, there had been different laws for different folks
according to where they resided, for example, West Saxons were treated differently from
Mercians. But the King's Court, the "Curia Regis" of Henry, refused to recognize these
differences. The rule was that the law of the King's Court must stand above all other law
and was the same for all. The king's justices travelled into the shires to see that his
mandate was carried out. Before Henry died, the most distinctive of the old provincial
differences had disappeared.
From all the varying tribes that dwelled in England, with their mutually incomprehensible
dialects and varying legal customs and traditions, a new nation was being forged out of
the common respect for the King's writ, out of their submission to and increasing
attachment to the same principles of law and their trust in the monarchy to protect them
against oppression. Henry, the "Lion of Justice" thus propelled his English possessions
towards a sense of national unity totally lacking in other lands. However, trouble returned
upon the king's death in 1135.
Return to Anarchy: Stephen (1135-1154)
The order of Henry l's reign soon disintegrated under his successor Stephen of Blois.
Events had started in 1128 when Geoffrey the Fair, nicknamed Plantagenet on account of
a sprig of broom (genet) he wore in his cap, and soon to be the Count of Anjou, married
the Empress Matilda, daughter and designated heiress of Henry, King of England and
Duke of Normandy. When Henry died and his nephew and favorite Stephen seized the
throne and the dukedom, the houses of Anjou and Blois began their long struggle for
control of both. Briefly, in this struggle, Matilda concentrated on England and Count
Geoffrey on Normandy, where he became Duke in 1144. Events reluctantly forced
Stephen to acknowledge Geoffrey in his Dukedom as well as Matilda's son Henry as heir
to his English throne.
Stephen gained early notoriety by running away from Antioch during the First Crusade.
He later more than made up for this at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141 when he fought on
foot long after much of his army had fled, wearing out a battle axe and a sword before
being captured. His adherence to the code of chivalry led him to give safe conduct to
Matilda, entirely at his mercy, to her brother's castle at Bristol, a grievous error. Matilda,
as wife of Geoffrey, had a secure base in Anjou and later in Normandy and Stephen was
made to pay dearly for his act of benevolence (or stupidity).
In 1126, Stephen, one of the wealthiest of the Anglo-Norman landholders, had taken an
oath to accept the succession of Matilda, an oath he quickly forgot when he seized the
treasury at Winchester and had himself crowned King. Acceptance of his Dukedom
quickly followed from the Norman barons and early in 1136, Stephen's position seemed
secure. Even Matilda's half brother, Earl Robert of Gloucester paid him homage at his
Easter Court. Then it all unraveled for this good knight who was also, in the words of
chronicler Walter Map, a fool. His courtesy and chivalry were not matched by efficacy in
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governing, and his political blunders were legion. Prominent features of his reign,
accordingly, were civil wars and local disturbances.
The war of succession began when Matilda's uncle, David, King of Scotland invaded
England on her behalf in 1135. It was under the rule of David, the ninth son of Malcom
III, that Norman influence began to percolate through much of southern Scotland. David
was also Prince of Cumbria, and through marriage Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon.
Brother-in-law to the King of England, he was raised and educated in England by
Normans who "polished his manners from the rust of Scottish barbarity." In Scotland, he
distributed large estates to his Anglo-Norman cronies who also took over important
positions in the Church. Into the Lowlands he introduced a feudal system of land
ownership, founded on a new, French-speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy that remained
aloof from the majority of the Gaelic-speaking Celtic population.
It is to David that Scotland's future as an independent kingdom can be traced. When
conflict arose between the new (and weak) English King Stephen and the Empress
Matilda, David took the opportunity to reassert old territorial claims to the border lands,
including Cumbria. At the Treaty of Durham in 1136, he retained Carlisle (which he had
earlier seized). His invasion of England took him into Yorkshire. However, fierce
resistance, to what has been called his needless, gleeful violence led to his defeat at
Northallerton in the "Battle of the Standard." Yet, due mainly to Stephen's troubles, the
Scottish king was able to gain practically all of Northumbria at a second treaty of
Durham in 1139. At David's death in 1153, the kingdom of Scotland had been extended
to include the Modern English counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and
Westmoreland, territories that were in future to be held by the kings of Scotland.
In the meantime, Matilda landed at Arundel in 1139 with a large army. Stephen was
captured at the battle of Lincoln in 1141, when his Barons deserted him, only to be
exchanged for Robert of Gloucester after Matilda had incurred the enmity of the citizens
of London, and the Queen had raised an army to defend the city. Despite Matilda's being
proclaimed "Domina Anglorum" at Winchester, the civil wars continued intermittently,
with Matilda and her supporters firmly entrenched in the West country, normally on the
defensive, often desperately close to being defeated, but Stephen ultimately was unable to
dislodge them.
The wars of succession in England, caused by Stephen's failure to recognize Matilda as
rightful monarch, were not happy times. Both armies relied heavily on foreign
mercenaries, anxious to set up their own private fiefdoms in England and on occasion,
managing to do so. In contrast to the peace of Henry's reign, the English countryside now
suffered the sad consequences of an unremitting struggle with lawless armies on the
rampage and barons paying off old scores. Matilda, finally despairing at her failure to
dislodge Stephen, left for Normandy, never to return.
A more successful campaign was then carried out by Matilda's son Henry, beginning in
1153. When his eldest son Eustace died the same year, Stephen agreed to a compromise.
He was to continue as king so long as he lived and to receive Henry's homage. In turn,
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Henry was to be recognized as rightful heir. In the meantime, complete anarchy prevailed
in which the functions of central government quickly broke down. Fragmentation and
decentralization were the order of the day. The situation called out desperately for a
strong able ruler. Henry II came along just in time.
Henry II (1154-1189)
Henry had become Duke of Normandy in 1150 and Count of Anjou after his father's
death in 1151. When he married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, he ruled her duchy as
well, thus becoming more powerful than his lord, King Louis of France. Eleanor had
been divorced from Louis VII after her spell of adultery with her Uncle Raymond of
Antioch, notwithstanding the efforts of the Pope to keep the marriage whole. She was
several years older than Henry, but she was determined on the union and made all the
initial overtures. The turbulent marriage of the able, headstrong, ambitious Henry to an
older woman, equally ambitious and proud, was famous for its political results.
King Louis, fearful of his loss of influence in France, made war on the couple, joined by
Henry's younger brother Geoffrey who claimed the inheritance of Anjou. Their feeble
opposition, however, was easily overcome and Henry acquired a vast swathe of territory
in France from Normandy through Anjou to Aquitaine. The stage was set for the greatest
period in Plantagenet history.
In England, Stephen was unable to garner the support he needed from his Barons, fearful
that a victory for either side would be followed by a massive confiscation of lands. He
had quarreled with his Archbishop of Canterbury in 1147, and the Church had
consequently refused to recognize his son Eustace as his heir. After Eustace's premature
death in 1154, when Stephen was forced to meet Henry at Wallingford, the great Barons
decided to shift any allegiance away from the King of England to the one he was more or
less forced to acknowledge as his successor. Henry was duly crowned with general
English acclaim. The problems of succession did not go away, however, for the union of
Henry and Eleanor produced four sons, all thirsty for power and not averse to any means
whatsoever to get it, even if it meant allying with Louis VII and Philip ll of France
against their father.
In the meantime, however, Henry ll was making his mark as one of the most powerful
rulers in Europe. His boundless energy was the wonder of his chroniclers; his court had to
rush like mad to keep up with his constant travels and hunting expeditions. But he was
also a scholar and Churchman, founding and endowing many religious houses, though he
was castigated for keeping many bishoprics vacant to enjoy their revenues for himself. To
posterity, he left a legacy of shrewd decisions in the effective legal, administrative and
financial developments of his thirty-five year reign.
Leaving a greater impress upon the institutions of England than any other king, perhaps
Henry's greatest accomplishment was to take the English system of law, much of it rooted
in Anglo-Saxon custom, a cumbersome, complex and slow accumulation of procedures,
and turn it into an efficient legal system closely presided over by the royal court and the
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king's justices. Making much use of the itinerant justices to bring criminals to trial, Henry
replaced feudal law by a body of royal or common law. A major innovation was the
replacement of the older system of a sworn oath or an ordeal to establish truth by the jury
of 12 sworn men.
Upon his succession, Henry immediately took steps to reduce the power of the barons,
who had built up their estates and consolidated their positions during the anarchy under
Stephen. He refused to recognize any land grants made by his predecessor and ruled as if
Stephen had not even existed. Any attempts at opposition were suppressed so that by
1158, four years into his reign, he ruled supreme in England.
Henry then turned his attention to the Church, shrewdly relying on his close ally
Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury to carry out his religious policies. England began to
prosper under its able administrators closely watched and guided by their king.
Particularly noticeable were the growth of boroughs, the new towns that were to
transform the landscape of the nation during the century and that were ultimately to play
such a strong part in its political and economic life.
The growth of towns, the new trading centers, was greatly aided by the stimulation of the
First Crusade that revived the commerce of Europe by increased contact with the
Mediterranean and especially through the growth of Venice. Improvements in agriculture
included the introduction of the wheeled plough and the horse collar, both of which were
to have enormous influence on farming methods and transportation. For one thing, the
horse collar made it possible to efficiently transport the heavy blocks of stone for the
building of the great cathedrals. The drift into towns meant a weakening of serfdom and
the Lord's hold upon his demesne; serfs left the land to become traders, peddlers and
artisans.
Great changes in Europe also had their effects on the English political system. Motivated
by hatred and fear of the Moslems, and stimulated by the Crusades, the Italian city-states
grew in influence and prosperity. Sicily had been conquered by the Normans by 1090,
opening up the Western Mediterranean to trade. This in turn stimulated the growth of the
towns, which soon led to demands for more say in their own government and the
inevitable clash with the Church, ever anxious to protect its own areas of interest and
those of the merchant classes and rapidly forming guilds. The continuing clash between
Church and King was another matter altogether.
There seem to have been three main factors in the quarrel between Archbishop Becket
and King Henry: their differing personalities, political implications and the intolerance of
the age. As chancellor for eight years from 1154, Becket was a firm friend of the king
with whom he had been a boyhood companion. He was energetic, methodical and
trustworthy, supporting his king in relations with the Church. There was hardly any
indication that the relationship of Church and State would be completely changed upon
Becket's appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury upon Theodore's death in 1161, a
position in which he now displayed the same enthusiasm and energy as before, but now
sworn to uphold ecclesiastical prestige against any royal encroachments. Resigning the
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chancellorship, he began in earnest to work solely in the interests of the Church, opposing
the king even on insignificant, trivial matters, but especially over Henry's proposal that
people in holy orders found guilty of criminal offences should be handed over to the
secular authorities for punishment.
The king was determined to turn unwritten custom into written, thus making Becket
liable for punishment, but Henry's insistence that it was illegal for Churchmen to appeal
to Rome gave the quarrel a much wider significance. After Henry had presented his
proposals at Clarendon in January 1164, Becket refused to submit and his angry
confrontation with the king was only defused with his escape to exile in France to wage a
war of words. He found very little support from the English bishops who owed their
appointments to royal favor and who were heavily involved on the Crown's behalf in
legal and administrative matters. They were not willing to give up their powers by
supporting the Archbishop, whose intransigence made him, in their eyes, a fool. After six
years in exile, however, a compromise was reached and Becket returned to England.
Showing not a sign of his willingness to honor the compromise, Becket immediately
excommunicated the Archbishop of York and the other bishops who had assisted at the
coronation of Henry's oldest son. When the news reached Henry in Normandy, his anger
was uncontrollable and the four knights who sped to Canterbury to murder Becket in his
own cathedral thought that this was an act desired by the King. Instead, the whole of
Europe was outraged.
The dead archbishop was immensely more powerful than the live one, and more than
Henry's abject penance made the murdered Becket the most influential martyr in the
history of the English Church. The triangle of Pope, King and Archbishop was broken.
Canon law was introduced fully into England, and an important phase in the struggle
between Church and State had been won. Henry was forced to give way all along the
line; as a way out, he busied himself in Ireland, sending his son John as "Lord of Ireland"
to conduct a campaign that was a complete fiasco.
Taking advantage of their father's weakness, his sons now broke out in open rebellion,
aided by the Queen, though their lack of cooperation and trust in each other led to Henry
eventually being able to defeat them one at a time. For her part, Eleanor was imprisoned
for the remainder of the king's life. During her husband's many absences, she had acted as
regent of England. Her particular ally against Henry was Richard, heir to the duchy of
Aquitaine. During the last three years of Henry's life, his imprisoned queen once more
began to plot against him, and upon his death in 1189, she assumed far greater powers
than she had enjoyed as his queen.
Under pressure from resistance in Britanny and Aquitaine, and possible rebellion from
his sons, aided by their ambitious, scheming mother, Henry had worked out a scheme for
the future division of his kingdoms. Henry was to inherit England, Normandy and Anjou;
Richard was to gain Poitou and Britanny was to go to Geoffrey. John was to get nothing,
but later was promised Chinon, Loudon and Mirebeau as part of a proposed marriage
settlement. This decision was strongly contested by Prince Henry and was a leading
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factor in the warfare that ensued between the King and his sons. It was in Normandy that
Henry fell ill; he died after being forced to accept humiliating terms from Philip of
France and his son Richard, who succeeded him as King of England in 1189.
Richard l (1189-1199): The Warrior King
Showing but some of his father's administrative capacity, Richard l, the Lionheart,
preferred to demonstrate his talents in battle. His ferocious pursuit of the arts of war
squandered his vast wealth and devastated the economy of his dominions. On a Crusade
to the Holy Land in 1191-2, he was captured while returning to England and ransomed in
prison in Germany. But upon his release, he went back to fighting, this time against
Philip ll of France. In a minor skirmish in Aquitaine, he was killed. That almost sums up
his reign, but not quite.
Philip had been a co-Crusader with Richard, but his friendship turned to hostility when
the Lionheart rejected his betrothed, Philip's sister Alice, in favor of Princess Berengaria
of Navarre. Unfortunately, this match, consummated for purely political reasons, did not
produce an heir and left the way open for the numerous conspiracies hatched by Richard's
brother John, Count of Mortain (who had been miserly treated in the dispositions of their
father, Henry II). All in all, the reign of one called by a contemporary as the "most
remarkable ruler of his times," was anything but remarkable, unless the exploits of this
violent and selfish man deserve mention. One of these involves the conquest of Cyprus
after Berengaria's ship had sheltered near Limassol and had been threatened by the
island's ruler. Richard, in fact, married his plain, but prudent bride, in that Cypriot port.
King Richard spent all of six months in England. To raise the funds for his adventures
overseas, however, he appointed able administrators who carried out his plans to sell just
about everything he owned: offices, lordships, earldoms, sheriffdoms, castles, towns, and
lands. Even his Chancellor William Longchamps, Bishop of Ely, had to pay an enormous
sum for his chancellorship. William also taxed the people heavily in the service of his
master, making himself extremely unpopular and being removed by a rebellion of the
Barons in 1191.
The most able of Richard's ministers, and certainly the most important, was Hubert
Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, Justiciar and Chancellor. He helped keep the country
more or less stable during the absence of the adventurer king despite being grievously
threatened by the townspeople's protests against taxes and the nobles' protests against
Richard's plans to establish a standing army. The system that had been developed by
Henry ll enabled the country to function quite well, despite the occasional troubles caused
by Richard's scheming and ambitious brother John. Though Richard outlawed or
excommunicated John's supporters when he returned from overseas, he forgave his
brother and promised him the succession.
One favorable legacy that Richard left behind was his patronage of the troubadours, the
composers of lyric poetry that were bringing a civilized tone to savage times and whose
influence charted the future course that literature in Europe was to take. A sad note is that
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Richard's preparations for the Third Crusade against the Moslems provoked popular
hostility in England towards its Jewish inhabitants (who had been formerly encouraged to
come from Normandy). A massacre of the Jewish inhabitants of York took place in
March, 1190, and Richard's successor, John placed heavy fines which led to many Jews
fleeing back to the continent, a process that continued into the reign of Edward l, when
they were expelled from England.
Richard was fortunate to have loyal, experienced men to represent him in England,
Normandy, Anjou, Poitou and Gascony, as well as in the duchy of Aquitaine. The
successes enjoyed in the Third Crusade against the forces of Saladin, a most formidable
foe, were mainly due to the English king's abilities as politician and military leader. But
his dominions were constantly threatened by enemies, who included Philip II of France,
Raymond of Toulouse and his brother John.
It is a pity that Richard got himself captured in Germany, for he had made ample
arrangements for the government of his domains. His ransom was massive; it included his
recognition of Henry VI of Germany, son of Frederick Barbarossa, as feudal overlord of
England. Nonetheless, thanks to such as Longchamps in England, he was able to raise
sufficient funds to recover all that Philip had gained in Normandy and to keep his lands
intact. He died in the siege of a minor castle in a foolish attempt at inspecting his troops.
John lost very little time in losing everything that his brother had fought so hard to
protect.
Disaster under King John (1199-1216)
There are quite a number of ironies connected with the reign of John, for during his reign
all the vast Plantagenet possessions in France except Gascony were lost. From now on,
the House of Anjou was separated from its links with its homeland, and the Crown of
England eventually could concern itself solely with running its own affairs free from
Continental intrigue. But that was later. In the meantime, John's mishandling of his
responsibilities at home led to increased baronial resistance and to the great concessions
of the Magna Carta, hailed as one of the greatest developments in human rights in history
and the precursor of the United States Bill of Rights. It was also in John's reign that the
first income tax was levied in England; to try to recover his lost lands in France, John
introduced his tax of one thirteenth on income from rents and moveable property, to be
collected by the sheriffs.
To be fair to the unfortunate John, his English kingdom had been drained of its wealth for
Richard's wars in France and the Crusade as well as the exorbitant ransom. His own
resources were insufficient to overcome the problems he thus inherited. He also lacked
the military abilities of his brother. It has been said that John could win a battle in a
sudden display of energy, but then fritter away any advantage gained in a spell of
indolence. It is more than one historian who wrote of John as having the mental abilities
of a great king, but the inclinations of a petty tyrant.
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John alienated his vassals in Aquitaine by divorcing his first wife, Isabella of Gloucester
(who had failed to give him a son and heir), and taking as his second wife the teenage
daughter of the Count of Angouleme, a political move that brought him no gain. The
young woman was already betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan of Poitou, and John was
summoned to appear before Philip ll his nominal overlord in France. After all his lands in
France were forfeited for his refusal to appear, John seized the initiative, marching to
Poitier, and seizing young Arthur (and releasing Eleanor of Aquitaine, held captive). He
then threw everything away by releasing the most dangerous of his prisoners, who
continued the revolt against him and worse, he had Arthur of Britanny killed.
When Arthur was murdered, it was the end for John's hopes in France. The act alienated
just about everybody, and Philip now pressed home his advantage. The King of England's
ineptitude and lack of support, despite winning some victories in some provinces,
eventually caused him to flee across the Channel, never to return. It was the greatest
reverse suffered by the English Crown since the Battle of Hastings in 1066. When John
reached England, the only French lands left to him, apart from Gascony, was the Channel
Islands (these nine island have remained under the British Crown ever since and were the
only part of the United Kingdom occupied by Nazi forces in World War II).
Philip had not been the only one to be upset by John's repudiation of Isabella. The
English barons were also indignant. They had begun to lose confidence in their feudal
lord. After Richard's death, they had little faith in a victory over the King of France and
became weary of fighting John's wars, deserting him in droves. When John began to
direct his attention to matters in England, he was unable to gain their confidence. William
the Lion of Scotland seized the opportunity to reassert his country's claim to
Northumberland and Cumberland, though his age and lack of allies prevented him from
achieving his aims. John's greatest problems, apart from the mistrust of his barons, lay
not with Scotland, but with the Church of Rome, now under a strong and determined
Pope, Innocent III.
Innocent, Pope from 1198 to 1216 was the first to style himself "Vicar of Christ." He
proved to be a formidable adversary to the English King. Their major dispute came over
the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury at the death of Hubert Walter in
1205. John refused to accept Stephen Langton, an Englishman active in the papal court at
Rome. He was punished by the Interdict of 1208, and for the next five years, English
priests were forbidden from administering the sacraments, even from burying the dead.
Most of the bishops left the country.
York had been without an archbishop since 1207 when John's half brother Geoffrey had
fled to the continent after a quarrel over church taxes. In 1209, Innocent excommunicated
John, who was eventually forced to submit by accepting Langton as his primary Church
leader. Not only that, but he had to place England under the direct overlordship of the
papacy, and it was this humiliation that completely destroyed his political credibility. In
the meantime, however, John had successfully dealt with the problem of Ireland.
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The King had already been in Ireland, sent by his father to try to complete Henry's plans
to bring the feuding Irish chiefs and independent Norman lords to order. He had failed
miserably, and the behavior of his undisciplined troops quickly led to his ignominious
withdrawal from that troubled land. The campaign of 1210 was more successful. Many
Anglo-Norman lords had consolidated major landholdings and were in defiance of royal
authority. John's efforts to bring them to heel proved to be one of the few successes of his
seventeen-year reign. He allied himself with the Irish chiefs, and with their help was able
to dispossess the powerful Walter and Hugh de Lacy. He placed the royal Justiciar in
charge of Ireland and had castles built at Carrickfergus and Dublin to strengthen English
control over the country.
It was time for the king of England to turn back to France. In 1212, John's plans to reconquer his former French possessions led to the revolt of his barons. His request for
money and arms was the flash point. When the northern barons refused to help, John took
an army to punish the rebels. Only Langton's intervention effected a reconciliation. The
expedition to Poitou then proceeded, but ended in total failure with the defeat by Philip at
Bouvines. His continued disregard of feudal law and customs, allied to the disgrace of the
defeat in France and loss of lands, were now seized on by the majority of English barons
who presented their grievances at Runnymede, on June 15, 1215.
The Magna Carta, the "Great Charter" was something of a compromise, a treaty of peace
between John and his rebellious barons, whose chief grievance was that of punishment
without trial. Archbishop Langton drew up the grievances into a form of statements that
constitute a complex document of 63 clauses. Though John's signature meant that
baronial grievances were to be remedied, in later years, the charter became almost a
manifesto of royal powers. In fact, for the next 450 years, even though John reluctantly
signed the charter, all subsequent rulers of England fundamentally disagreed with its
principles. They preferred to see themselves as the source of all laws and thus above the
law.
For posterity, however, the two most important clauses were 39, which states that no one
should be imprisoned without trial and 40, which states that no one could buy or deny
justice. Also of particular interest is the provision that taxes henceforth could not be
levied except with the agreement of leading churchmen and barons at a meeting to which
40 days notice was to be given. In addition, restrictions were placed on the powers of the
king's local officials to prevent them from abusing their financial, administrative and
judicial powers. Weights and measures were regulated, the safety of merchants ensured
and the privileges of the citizens of London were confirmed. The most lasting effect of
the somewhat vague conditions of the Magna Carta was the upholding of individual
rights against arbitrary government.
Baronial rebellion in England was not crushed by the provisions signed at Runnymede.
John spent the rest of his reign marching back and forth trying to stamp out opposition
that was led by Prince Louis of France, son of Philip ll, but achieving little. One
persistent legend is that he lost all his baggage train, including the Crown jewels in the
marshy area known as the Wash in the county of Norfolk. The angry and frustrated king
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died in October 1216. His burial at Worcester, however, showed that the centre of
Plantagenet rule was now firmly established in England, and not France (both Henry II
and Richard I had been buried in Anjou).
Henry III (1216-1272)
And so it was that John's young heir, Henry lll, came to the throne, to rule for 56 years,
most of which were also spent in futile battles with the leading barons of England and his
failure to recapture the lost Plantagenet lands in France. Henry also tried to take
advantage of the Pope's offer of the kingdom of Sicily by making his youngest son
Edmund king of that far-off island. To raise the funds to pay the ever increasing demands
of the Bishop of Rome, Henry asked for taxes in a repeat of his revenue-raising efforts
that had failed to bring military success in France and a crisis soon erupted. He had to
agree to a meeting of "parliament" in which the opposition was led by his brother-in-law
Simon de Montfort.
Henry had already alienated his leading barons by marrying Eleanor of Provence, who
brought many of her relatives to England to create an anti-foreigner element into the
realm's political intrigues and helped solidify baronial resentment and suspicion of the
incompetent, but pious king. The Barons showed their power by drawing up the
Provisions of Oxford. Henry capitulated; he was forced to acquiesce to the setting up of a
Council of Fifteen, with himself as a "first among equals." When the king later tried to
reassert his authority, the barons once again rebelled. Under de Montfort, they captured
Henry, and set up de Montfort as temporary ruler.
Henry's son Edward, showing much more resolve and military skills than his father, then
raised an army, and at the decisive battle of Evesham in 1265, defeated de Montfort to
restore Henry, who enjoyed his last few years in peace. He was especially gratified at the
completion of Westminster Abbey and the reburial of the remains of Edward the
Confessor there.
During Henry III's long reign, great progress was made in the direction of the English
Church, not the least of which was the completion of the great cathedrals at Durham,
Wells, Ely and Lincoln and the erection of the magnificent edifice at Salisbury with its
spire lasting for many centuries as the tallest man-made structure in England. Most
notable among many learned clerics of the period was Robert Grosstested, Bishop of
Lincoln, who become Oxford University's first chancellor, setting that institution on the
road to its eventual greatness and its enormous influence upon the nation's future leaders.
Henry's reign also saw the movement away from the monastic ideal to that of the Church
working among the people. The Franciscans and Dominicans were particularly prominent
in charitable work in the rapidly growing towns and villages of England. In the country,
an important innovation was the introduction of windmills from Holland, which greatly
aided in the draining of marshes and the milling of grain.
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Though Henry lll in many ways was a weak and vacillating king, his reign produced a
great milestone in the history of England, for the opposition of de Montfort and the
Barons, though ultimately defeated, had produced a parliament in which commoners sat
for the first time, and it was this, much more than the Magna Carta of John, that was to
prove of immense significance in the future of democracy in England, and of
"government by the people and for the people."
Edward I (1272-1307)
Seen by many historians as the ideal medieval king, Edward l enjoyed warfare and
statecraft equally, and was determined to succeed in both. Henry's eldest son, he had
conducted the ailing king's affairs in England during the last years of his father's life.
Known as Edward Longshanks, he was a man whose immense strength and steely resolve
had been ably shown on the crusade he undertook to the Holy Land in 1270. The death of
Henry forced his return from Sicily, though it took him two years to return.
When he finally did arrive to claim his throne, King Edward immediately set about
restoring order in England and wiping out corruption among the barons and royal
officials. His great inquiry to recover royal rights and to re-establish law and justice
became the largest official undertaking since the "Domesday Book" of two hundred years
earlier. The proceedings took place under the Statute of Gloucester on 1278 and the
Statute of Quo Warranto of 1290. The Statute of Mortmain of 1279 had decreed that no
more land might be given into the hands to the church without royal license. All these
efforts and the great statutes of Westminster of 1275 and 1285 were so successful in
reforming and codifying English law that Edward was given the title of the "English
Justinian." Of equal importance in the future development of the English civilization was
Edward's fostering of the concept of representation in a people's parliament. Knights of
the shire and burgesses of the boroughs were called to attend many of the king's
parliaments. In 1295, his gathering contained all the elements later associated with the
word "parliament," the writs issued to the sheriffs to call the knights and burgesses made
it clear that they were to act according to common counsel of their respective local
communities.
Ever anxious to raise funds for his never-ending wars, the king also established a longlasting alliance between the Crown and the merchant classes, giving them protection in
return for a grant of export duties on wool and other agricultural products. The wily king
even granted foreign merchants freedom of trade in England in return for additional
customs revenues. He desperately needed this income to fight his Welsh and Scottish
wars.
The Conquest of Wales
Visitors to the Wales of today are sometimes astonished to see the extent of Edward's
castle-building campaign. Huge forbidding castles, such as Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech
and Beaumaris are listed as World Heritage Sites along with others such as Flint and
Rhuddlan. They show the extent to which Edward was determined to crush any Welsh
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aspirations of independence and to bring the country firmly under royal control.
The stubborn Welsh were a thorn in the side of Edward whose ambition was to rule the
whole of Britain. They were a proud people, considering themselves the true Britons.
Geoffrey of Monmouth (1090-1155) had claimed that they had come to the island of
Britain from Troy under their leader Brutus. He also praised their history, written in the
British tongue (Welsh). Another Norman-Welsh author, Giraldus Cambrensis (11461243) had this to say about his fellow countrymen:
The English fight for power: the Welsh for liberty; the one to procure, gain, the other to
avoid loss. The English hirelings for money; the Welsh patriots for their country.
When the English nation forged some kind of national identity under Alfred of Wessex,
the Welsh put aside their constant infighting to create something of a nation themselves
under a succession of strong leaders beginning with Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great) who
ruled the greater part of Wales by the time of his death in 877. Rhodri's work of
unification was then continued by his grandson, Hywel Dda (Howell the Good 904-50),
whose codification of Welsh law has been described as among the most splendid
creations of the culture of the Welsh.
Hywel was a lawgiver, not a military leader. In order to keep the peace throughout his
kingdoms, he had to accept the position of sub-regulus to Athelstan of Wessex. In 1039,
however, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn became king of Gwynedd and extended his authority
throughout Wales, setting a precedent that was to continue throughout the Norman
invasion of Britain. Under Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Wales was forged into a single political
unit. In 1204, Llywelyn married King John's daughter Joan and was recognised by Henry
III as pre-eminent in his territories. At his death, however, in 1240, fighting between his
sons Dafydd and Gruffudd just about destroyed all their father had accomplished, and in
1254, Henry's son Edward was given control of all the Crown lands in Wales that had
been ceded at the Treaty of Woodstock in 1247.
The situation was restored by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, recognised as Prince of Wales by
Henry in 1267 and ruler of a kingdom set to conduct its own affairs free from English
influence. The tide of affairs then undertook a complete reversal with the accession of
Edward I to the throne of England in 1272.
Edward's armies were defeated when they first crossed Offas's Dyke into Wales. The
English king's determination to crush his opposition, his enormous expenditure on troops
and supplies and resistance to Llywelyn from minor Welsh princes who were jealous of
his rule, soon meant that the small Welsh forces were forced into their mountain
strongholds. At the Treaty of Aberconwy of 1287, Llywelyn was forced to concede much
of his territories east of the River Conwy. Edward then began his castle-building
campaign, beginning with Flint right on the English border and extending to Builth in
mid-Wales.
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Llywelyn was not yet finished. When his brother Dafydd rose in rebellion against the
harsh repression of his people's laws and customs, Llywelyn took up the cause.
According to one chronicler, the Welsh "preferred to be slain in war for their liberty than
to suffer themselves to be unrighteously trampled upon by foreigners." Sadly, however,
despite initial successes, Llywelyn was slain at Cilmeri, near Builth, when he was
separated from his loyal troops, and Edward's troubles with the Welsh were at an end.
Their "impetuous rashness" was now severely punished by the English king, intent on
ridding himself of these stubborn people once and for all.
At the Statute of Rhuddlan, 1284, Wales was divided up into English counties; the
English court pattern set firmly in place, and for all intents and purposes, Wales ceased to
exist as a political unit. The situation seemed permanent when Edward followed up his
castle building program by his completion of Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech. In 1300,
Edward made his son (born at Caernarfon castle, in that mighty fortress overlooking the
Menai Straits in Gwynedd) "Prince of Wales." The powerful king could now turn his
attention to those other troublemakers, the Scots.
The Scots' Road to Independence
At roughly the same time that the people of Wales were separated from the invading
Saxons by the artificial boundary of Offa's Dyke, MacAlpin had been creating a kingdom
of Scotland. His successes in part were due to the threat coming from the raids of the
Vikings, many of whom became settlers. The seizure of control over all Norway in 872
by Harald Fairhair caused many of the previously independent Jarls to look for new lands
to establish themselves. One result of the coming of the Norsemen and Danes with their
command of the sea, was that Scotland became surrounded and isolated. The old link
with Ireland was broken and the country was now cut off from southern England and the
Continent, thus the kingdom of Alba established by MacAlpin was thrown in upon itself
and united against a common foe.
In 1018, under MacAlpin's descendant Malcolm II, the Angles were finally defeated in
this northerly part of Britain and Lothian came under Scottish rule. The same year saw
the death of the British (Celtic) King of Strathclyde who left no heir; his throne going to
Malcolm's grandson Duncan. In 1034, Duncan became King of a much-expanded
Scotland that included Pict-land, Scotland, Lothian, Cumbria and Strathclyde. It excluded
large tracts in the North, the Shetlands, Orkneys and the Western Isles, held by the
Scandinavians. There was still no established boundary between Scotland and England.
It was under the rule of David l, the ninth son of Malcom III, that Norman influence
began to percolate through much of southern Scotland. David, King of Scotland, was also
Prince of Cumbria, and through marriage, Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon. Brotherin-law to the King of England, he was raised and educated in England by Normans who
"polished his manners from the rust of Scottish barbarity." In Scotland, he distributed
large estates to his Anglo-Norman cronies who also took over important positions in the
Church. In the Scottish Lowlands he introduced a feudal system of land ownership,
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founded on a new, French-speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy that remained aloof from
the majority of the Gaelic-speaking Celtic population.
At David's death in 1153, the kingdom of Scotland had been extended to include the
Modern English counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland, territories
that were in future to be held by the kings of Scotland. Alas, the accession of Henry II to
the English throne in 1154 had changed everything.
David had been succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm IV an eleven-year old boy He was
no match for the powerful new King of England. At the Treaty of Chester, 1157 Henry's
strength, "the authority of his might," forced Malcolm to give up the northern counties
solely in return for the confirmation of his rights as Earl of Huntingdon. The Scottish
border was considerably shifted northwards. And there it remained until the rash
adventures of William, Malcolms' brother and successor, got him captured at Alnwich,
imprisoned at Falaise in Normandy, and forced to acknowledge Henry's feudal
superiority over himself and his Scottish kingdom. In addition, to add insult to injury, the
strategic castles of edinburgh, Stirling, Roxburgh, Jedburgh and Berwick were to be held
by England with English garrisons at Scottish expense.
Henry II's successor was Richard I, whose main concern was the Third Crusade.
Desperately needing money to finance his overseas adventures, Richard freed William
from all "compacts" extorted by Henry and restored the castles of Berwick and Roxburgh
for a sum of 10,00 marks of silver. Thus the humiliation of the Falaise agreement was
cancelled. Richard showed little interest in running his English kingdom, less interested
in Scotland and departed for the crusade in 1189. Once again, Scotland was a free and
independent country.
A new struggle for control of Scotland had begun at the death of Alexander III in 1286,
leaving as heir his grandchild Margaret, the infant daughter of the King of Norway.
English King Edward, with his eye on the complete subjugation of his northern
neighbors, suggested that Margaret should marry his son, a desire consummated at a
treaty signed and sealed at Birgham. Under the terms, Scotland was to remain a separate
and independent kingdom, though Edward wished to keep English garrisons in a number
of Scottish castles. On her way to Scotland, somewhere in the Orkney, the young
Norwegian princess died, unable to enjoy the consignment of sweetmeats and raisins sent
by the English King. The succession was now open to many claimants, the strongest of
whom were John Balliol and Robert Bruce.
John Balliol was supported by King Edward, who believed him to be the weaker and
more compliant of the two Scottish claimants. At a meeting of 104 auditors, with Edward
as judge, the decision went in favor of Balliol, who was duly declared the rightful king in
November, 1292. The English king's plans for a peaceful relationship with his northern
neighbor now took a different turn. In exchange for his support, he demanded feudal
superiority over Scotland, including homage from Balliol, judicial authority over the
Scottish king in any disputes brought against him by his own subjects and defrayment of
costs for the defence of England as well as active support in the war against France.
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Even Balliol rebelled at these outrageous demands. Showing a hitherto unshown courage,
in front of the English king he declared that he was the King of Scotland and should
answer only to his own people and refused to supply military service to Edward.
Overestimating his strength, he then concluded a treaty with France prior to planning an
invasion of England.
Edward was ready. He went north to receive homage from a great number of Scottish
nobles as their feudal lord, among them none other than Robert Bruce, who owned estates
in England. Balliol immediately punished this treachery by seizing Bruce's lands in
Scotland and giving them to his own brother-in-law, John Comyn. Yet within a few
months, the Scottish king was to disappear from the scene. His army was defeated by
Edward at Dunbar in April 1296. Soon after at Brechin, on 10 July, he surrendered his
Scottish throne to the English king, who took into his possession the stone of Scone, "the
coronation stone" of the Scottish kings. At a parliament which he summoned at Berwick,
the English king received homage and the oath of fealty from over two thousand Scots.
He seemed secure in Scotland.
Flushed with this success, Edward had gone too far. The rising tide of nationalist fervor
in the face of the arrival of the English armies north of the border created the need for
new Scottish leaders. With the killing of an English sheriff following a brawl with
English soldiers in the marketplace at Lanark, a young Scottish knight, William Wallace
found himself at the head of a fast-spreading movement of national resistance. At Stirling
Bridge, a Scottish force led by Wallace, won an astonishing victory when it completely
annihilated a large, lavishly-equipped English army under the command of Surrey,
Edward l viceroy.
We can imagine the shock to the over-confident Edward and the extent to which he
sought his revenge. At Falkirk, his re-organized army crushed the over-confident Scottish
followers of Wallace, who was now finished as an effective leader and forced into hiding.
Following the battle, a campaign began to ruthlessly suppress all attempts at reasserting
Scottish independence. It was time for Robert Bruce to free himself from his fealty to
Edward and lead the fight for Scotland.
At a meeting between the two surviving claimants for the Scottish throne in Greyfriar's
Kirk at Dumfries, Robert Bruce murdered John Comyn, thus earning the enmity of the
many powerful supporters of the Comyn family, but also excommunication from the
Church. His answer was to strike out boldly, raising the Royal Standard at Scone and, on
March 27, 1306, declaring himself King of Scots. Edward's reply was predictable; he sent
a large army north, defeated Bruce at the battle of Methven, executed many of his
supporters and forced the Scottish king to become a hunted outlaw.
The indefatigable Scottish leader bided his time. After a year of demoralization and
widespread English terror let loose in Scotland, during which two of his brothers were
killed, Bruce came out of hiding. Aided mightily by his Chief Lieutenant, Sir James
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Douglas, "the Black Douglas," he won his first victory on Palm Sunday, 1307. From all
over Scotland, the clans answered the call and Bruce's forces gathered in strength to fight
the English invaders, winning many encounters against cavalry with his spearmen.
The aging Edward, the so-called "hammer of the Scots," marched north at the head of a
large army to punish the Scots' impudence; but the now weak and sick king was
ineffectual as a military leader. He could only wish that after his death his bones would
be carried at the head of his army until Scotland had been crushed. It was left to his son
Edward to try to carry out his father's dying wish. He was no man for the task.
Edward ll was crowned King of England in 1307. Faced by too many problems at home
and completely lacking the ruthfulness and resourcefulness of his father, the young king
had no wish to get embroiled in the affairs of Scotland. Bruce was left alone to
consolidate his gains and to punish those who opposed him. In 1311 he drove out the
English garrisons in all their Scottish strongholds except Stirling and invaded northern
England. King Edward finally, begrudgingly, bestirred himself from his dalliances at
Court to respond and took a large army north.
On Mid-Summer's Day, the 24th of June, 1314 occurred one of the most momentous
battles in British history. The armies of Robert Bruce, heavily outnumbered by their
English rivals, but employing tactics that prevented the English army from effectively
employing its strength, won a decisive victory at Bannockburn. Scotland was wrenched
from English control, its armies free to invade and harass northern England. Such was
Bruce's military successes that he was able to invade Ireland, where his brother Edward
had been crowned King by the exuberant Irish. A second expedition carried out by
Edward II north of the border was driven back and the English king was forced to seek
for peace.
The Declaration of Arboath of 1320 stated that since ancient times the Scots had been
free to choose their own kings, a freedom that was a gift from God. If Robert Bruce were
to prove weak enough to acknowledge Edward as overlord, then he would be dismissed
in favor of someone else. Though English kings still continued to call themselves rulers
of Scotland, just as they called themselves rulers of France for centuries after being
booted out of the continent, Scotland remained fully independent until 1603 (when James
Stuart succeeded Elizabeth I).
Misrule in England under Edward II (1307-27)
Edward II's miserable failure in Scotland was matched by equal ignominy at home. Quite
simply, as one chronicler put it: "He did not realize his father's ambition." One problem
was the resurgence of baronial opposition. It didn't help much that the king was overly
fond of his male companions, especially enjoying a passionate relationship with the
French Piers Gaveston, whom he made Earl of Cornwall. The disaster at Bannockburn
added to the king's ever-plummeting reputation for incompetence and opposition
gathered under the Earl of Lancaster.
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Meanwhile, Edward's wife Isabella and their young son had gone to the French court to
start their own revolt against the profligate, homosexual king. She took as her lover the
powerful Mortimer, and in 1326 their combined forces landed in England to begin active
resistance to Edward. The unfortunate king, without any support, was forced to surrender
his crown in favor of his young son. His gruesome death in prison need not be recounted
here, but it received dramatic attention at the hands of the gifted Marlowe (1564-1593).
England Revives Under Edward III (1327-77)
The murdered king's successor, Edward III began his reign at the age of fourteen. He
ruled for fifty years, years marked by the king's restoration of royal prestige, the
beginnings of what is known as "The Hundred Years War" with France, the growth of
parliamentary privilege in England and the devastating results of the plague known as the
Black Death.
The Hundred Years War began when Edward took up arms against his overlord, Philip
IV. It began over the duchy of Gascony, the only fragment left to the Angevin kings of
England (apart from the Channel Islands) of their French possessions. Gascony was held
by the king, however, as a vassal of his powerful overlord, the King of France. It was an
extremely valuable asset, for its chief port Bordeaux shipped huge quantities of wine that
provided a much needed source of income for the English Crown in customs revenues. It
was to avoid confiscation of the duchy by the French king that Edward decided to invade.
Edward also re-enforced his claim to the French crown by assuming the title of King of
France, a move that would also help to provide sanction for his French supporters (the
title was only given up by the British monarchy in 1802).
Briefly, Edward's policy of launching lightning raids deep into France was initially
successful, and his tactic of using men-at-arms and longbowmen produced the
outstanding victories at Crecy in 1346 and at Poitiers in 1356. At Crecy, Edward's son,
the Prince of Wales, known as The Black Prince," for the color of his armor, gained his
motto "Ich Dien" (I serve), used as part of the insignia of the present Prince of Wales.
Edward was also successful in capturing Calais in 1347 which was to remain in English
hands for over two hundred years. In 1360, the English king made a peace settlement by
which he received southwest France in full sovereignty. Charles V of France had other
ideas, however, and brought his full military might to repudiate the settlement. By 1375,
following a costly war of attrition, Edward had lost most of his gains. Edward had no
control over the outbreak of the Black Death that devastated most of Europe by bringing
bubonic plague, carried by the black rat and transmitted to humans by fleas and the
pneumonia that inevitably followed. It arrived in England in 1348, quickly spreading
inland from its port of entry and within one year had affected all of Britain. Perhaps as
many as one half of the country's population died before the scourge suddenly came to an
end in 1350. It left behind a greatly depleted population, made laborers scarce and thus
drove up wages, creating a situation in which many workers could offer their services to
the highest bidder. A floating population of traveling workers came into being.
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The third major phenomenon, the growth of Parliament, came about as a result of
Edward's constant need for finances to support his continental adventures. The assembly
of nobles and administrators who offered advice to the king had begun to insist that they
had a right to be summoned. A crisis occurred in 1341-43 over Edward's finances.
Parliament took action to curtail many royal perquisites; many statutes were passed to
increase the powers of the nobles, but the Commons, also depended upon for revenue,
also increased its influence at the expense of the king. The earlier conflict of 1321
between Edward II and his barons had led to the Statute of York one year later that
clearly limited the king's powers. It had been the combined assembly of prelates, knights
and burgesses, in fact, that had shown their own increasing power by demanding the
abdication of Edward in 1326.
The Magna Carta had been primarily a concern of the barons to protect their interests
against the king. Since then, however, the so-called gentry, the middle class landholders
in the various counties were also taking part in the political debate. From 1299 on, they
had been summoned by the king and parliament to authorize taxes to pay for the military.
When Edward I also imposed heavy taxes on the clergy and offered special favors to the
merchants, both these classes then expected some recognition in return. It was apparent
that a new political society had been brewing ever so gradually but ever so strongly in
England; its kings had to come to terms with it, as Edward II learned of his peril and
ultimate death. The beginning of rule by consensus was firmly established by the time of
Edward III's death.
Another important phenomenon taking place in England in the 14th century must not be
overlooked. In 1362, Parliament passed an act to make English the official language of
pleadings in the law courts, rather than French. Resistance from the lawyers prevented its
full implementation, but the English language continued to be used in parliamentary rolls
and statutes and ultimately replaced French to become the official language of the
country. Because Latin was a spoken language among clerics and men of learning, an
enormous number of borrowings came into English at this time from Latin. This, too, was
the age of Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, John Barbour, Sir John Mandevill, and John
Wycliffe, all of whom wrote in the English language. By the end of the 14th century, the
vast variety of Middle English dialects notwithstanding, a standard form of written
English had come into being.
The last ten years of the glorious reign of Edward lll, highly praised by his
contemporaries as a period without parallel in the history of England for its "beneficent,
merciful and august rule," was marred by constitutional crises. That the king himself was
in his dotage hardly helped matters. Edward the heir to the throne was painfully ill and
dying. The gradual disintegration of royal authority brought about by diplomatic and
military failures produced the serious confrontation of the so-called Good Parliament of
1376.
There were many grievances to be dealt with by the Good Parliament and a committee
was set up of leading prelates and nobles to deal with them. A speaker was appointed to
act as the Commons' chairman and representative, and the first use of the judicial
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procedure known as impeachment took place. The principal grievance was that Edward's
councillors and servants "were not loyal or profitable to him or the kingdom." The
resulting dismissal of some of the king's advisors and financiers meant that it was the
commons, not the barons, who had now taken the initiative in ousting royal favorites.
The Good Parliament had also seen one of the most serious attacks on the Crown during
the whole later Middle Ages. Though King Edward, through his powerful Councillor
John of Gaunt, sought some measure of revenge by nullifying almost everything the
parliament had sought to put in place, in summing up his long reign, we can praise his
remarkable ability to accommodate the interests of so many of his subjects. No wonder a
cult of Edward lll as a wise and benevolent king quickly grew in England. It was a cult
that made it very difficult for his successors.
A King is Deposed: Richard II (1377-99)
One sorrowful day in August, 1399, King Richard stood on the ramparts of Flint Castle,
in its lonely position on the Dee estuary in Northeast Wales, watching the soldiers of
Henry, Duke of Lancaster, advance from the direction of Chester. Flint townspeople still
relate that the king's ever-present companion, his greyhound Math, betrayed his master
that day by running to greet the triumphant Henry. Richard had already been betrayed by
the Earls of Northumberland and Arundel who had persuaded him to leave the safety of
Conwy Castle to journey to Flint. Math's ghost is now said to howl nightly in the ruins of
the ancient castle.
Poor Richard! He certainly had delusions of grandeur, but many of his attempts to
establish a realm of royal absolutism were to come to fruition only in the reign of his
successor. His own reign saw the unleashing of forces completely beyond his control.
Great economic and political developments were changing the face of Europe forever.
The king's own lack of judgement only precipitated his eventual abdication, enforced
after a rule of 22 years of great social unrest and baronial discontent. His reign also
coincided with the period of the French Wars, that ate away at his treasury and caused
constitutional crises at home.
Richard had become king at the age of ten. England, still held shackled by great war
debts, was governed by a powerful council of nobles, supervised by the Richard's uncle,
John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by virtue of his first marriage, to Blanche of Lancaster.
The Duke's second marriage was to Constanza of Castile, a union that forced a great deal
of his attention to acquiring the throne of that Spanish kingdom.
Four years after Richard acceded to the throne, he was faced with the mass popular
uprising known as the Peasants' Revolt. To raise funds for the French war, a poll tax was
adopted by the government the unfair distribution of which caused massive resistance
(much like the one initiated by the government of Margaret Thatcher many hundreds of
years later). An outbreak of rioting followed attempts to collect the tax from the poorer
classes.
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The rebels marched on and occupied London. Richard and his advisors hastily promised
charters of emancipation and redress of grievances to the rebel leaders, promises, it
turned out, that they had no intention of keeping. The young king pacified the angry mob
when their leader Wat Tylor was killed; he then showed he meant business by having
their leaders executed. Perhaps scared for the safety of his Crown, he then squandered the
support of his lords in Parliament by going too far. His despotic measures, in an attempt
to reassert royal prerogative, alienated the barons, who sided with Duke Henry of
Lancaster.
Richard's major problem was that he had high ideas of his own dignity and of the power
of the divine right of kings. This not only brought him into conflict with his barons,
leading to his ultimate deposition, but also with the powerful English Church, whose
leaders could always appeal to Rome against any royal encroachment on their privileges.
Richard devoted all his energies to the establishing of a despotism that was out of place in
the England of his time. Neither the time nor the place was right for the establishment of
an absolute monarchy.
The nobles had grown too powerful and Richard's insistence that he was the sole source
of English law, not bound by custom, did not sit too highly with those who thought
otherwise. The kings' tampering with the will of Parliament, nullifying measures passed
by both Lords and Commons, coupled with his attempts to create a written constitution
that would serve the rights of the crown for ever, and his assertion that it was high treason
to try to repeal his statutes, his appeals to the Pope to obtain confirmation of his measures
all combined to force the barons to acquiesce in his deposition. The last straw was
Richard's attempt to make Parliament the instrument of destruction of its own liberties (a
political move carried out with much greater success by Henry VIII many generations
later).
It did not help Richard, who introduced the handkerchief to England, that his nobles had
regarded with loathing his patronage of the arts, his extravagant tastes, his choice of
favorites and his effeminate ways. In 1386, the king had given the title of Marquis of
Dublin to Robert de Vere, a greedy, arrogant man. A group of nobles known as the Lords
Appellant, including the Dukes of Lancaster and Norfolk demanded trial for Richard's
friends, including de Vere. When de Vere raised an army, he was defeated, and the
"Merciless Parliament of 1388 tried an executed many of Richard's followers. Richard
was outraged, but in 1389, coming of age, began his majority by dispensing with a
council altogether.
Richard regarded his coronation as giving him the right to keep royalty from being
dishonored by any concessions to anyone, from the Pope himself, through the leading
barons, down to the poorest of is subjects. His will directed that he be given a royal
funeral. It seems that his ideas, originally formed into a system of defence against the
papacy (growing increasingly powerful in the affairs of Europe) were formulated into a
doctrine of absolute monarchy. He was repudiated by his nation.
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When he found a pretence to banish both Bolingbroke and Mowbray (Dukes of Lancaster
and Norfolk), Richard believed he had a free hand to begin his aim of ruling by absolute
fiat. He raised a private army, imposed additional taxes, lavished gifts upon his favorites
and spent huge sums of money on extravagant court feasts. He also incurred the enmity
of the citizens of London, without whose support no king of England could now
successfully govern.
The great revolution of 1399 was an assertion of the rights of Englishmen to
constitutional government, thus it bears an uncanny resemblance to the great revolt of the
American Colonies some centuries later. The principal grievances were the same. The
articles of deposition setting forth the charges against the king were just as
uncompromising as his own absolute doctrine. Richard had greatly overreached his
powers by appropriating the lands of the Duchy of Lancaster after the death of John of
Gaunt in 1399. This was the ultimate blunder that led directly to its downfall. If the great
house of Lancaster could lose its property to the king, then no man's land was safe in
England. The future Henry IV was thus acting as the champion of property rights when
he met Richard at Flint Castle.
By elevating Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt and grandson of
Edward lll to the throne, the nobles passed over Richard's nearest heir. They thus asserted
the right of Parliament to elect the fittest person from within the royal family. For a short
time at least, constitutionalism triumphed in England. Unfortunately for the future of the
kingdom, the passing over of the elder branch of the royal house in favor of the House of
Lancaster meant the eventual reasserting of the claims of the House of York and the
consequent Wars of the Roses with their attendant anarchy.
England Triumphant: Henry IV (1399-1413)
Henry of Bolingbroke was renowned as a fighting man. He had travelled extensively in
Europe and the Mediterranean before overthrowing the unpopular Richard (who died a
mysterious death, probably due to starvation while in prison). One problem with Henry's
usurpation of the throne was the setting of a dangerous precedent: a rightful king,
properly anointed and recognized by the Church, had been deposed (a theme that
provided Shakespeare with so much material in his "Richard II"). It was thus up to Henry
to consolidate the powers of the monarchy, and it was to his advantage to utilize
Parliament to bolster his position and counter the ever-present threats to his throne and
challenges to his position as chief lawgiver. Through this alliance, as troubled as it was
by constant wrangling over the king's expenses, he was able to overcome most of the
troubles that were a legacy from Richard.
Of the serious threats he had to deal with, Henry was most troubled by the revolt of the
Welsh under Owain Glyndwr. Social unrest and racial tension underlay much of the
resentment of the Welsh people, ever mindful that they were the true Britons,
descendants of Brutus and rightful heirs to the kingdom. Uncertainty as to the future of
Wales and the repressive measures of successive English kings following Edward IÍs
conquest of their nation found expression in the general uprising under Owain, at first
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successful in reclaiming much Welsh territory and capturing English strongholds on and
within the borders.
A tripartite alliance among Owain, the Earl of Northumberland and Henry Mortimer
looked as if it would succeed in dismembering England, ridding its people of its usurper
monarch. Military aid was promised from the king of France. Glyndwr (Owen
Glendower) had himself crowned Prince of Wales and called a parliament at
Machynlleth. Then it all unraveled for the conspirators. Henry Percy of Northumberland
(Hotspur) was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury, Louis of Orleans was assassinated and
the promise of French aid was not fulfilled. Owain's other ally, the King of Scotland was
taken prisoner by the armies of England, commanded by the ever resourceful, ever able
military strength of young Prince Henry, later Henry V.
Owain's fight for Welsh independence was betrayed by fellow Welshman David Gam,
fighting for the English, and his cause was lost. Wales had to wait almost 600 years for
its next people's assembly. King Henry then quickly dealt with other rebellions, including
one led by Archbishop of York, Richard Scrope, who was executed for his audacity. Thus
Henry succeeded in keeping his shaky throne intact. He died after a long illness in 1413,
leaving the throne to the charismatic warrior, King Henry V.
Henry V (1413-22)
The reign of Lancastrian hero Henry V was not a long one. It could have been a glorious
one, certainly if we think of him solely as a warrior-king, fearless in leading his troops
into battle and winning his military victories against seemingly-impossible odds. His
conquest of Normandy and his acquisition of the throne of France made him a legend in
his own time. Who can find fault with his dream of ultimately uniting all of Christian
Europe against the infidel?
Henry's brief reign, however, did not get off to a good start at home. Two rebellions had
to be dealt with: one led by Sir John Oldcastle, of a prominent Welsh border family, who
was disgruntled by his excommunication and imprisonment for heresy; the other led by
Richard, Earl of Cambridge, husband of Anne Mortimer, sister of Edmund Mortimer the
nearest legitimate claimant to the throne by descent from Edward lll, and younger brother
of the Duke of York. The first one owed a great deal to the earlier attempts of English
monarchs to make their country more independent of Rome; the second to the continuing
claims of the heirs of Richard ll to the Crown of England.
The Catholic Church had been steadily increasing its demands upon the English treasury,
but it had been meeting with increasing resistance. During the reign of Edward lll,
reformer John Wycliffe, had declared that the Bible, and not the Church, was the true
guide to faith. The English king could welcome this novel idea as long as it didn't lead to
attacks on his own prerogative. After all, it needed a representative of Rome at
Canterbury to sanction the accession to power of the English monarch.
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There was also the matter of the Papal Schism, with rival popes in Rome and Avignon.
This was hardly a situation that created confidence in the Holy Catholic Church. Wycliffe
went so far as having the Bible translated into English, making it accessible to all who
could read, and not just the classically educated clergy. His ideas were then preached
with great zeal by the Lollards, all of who condemned many practices of the established
Church. Their demands were premature, for religious dissent also constituted a grave
threat to the stability of the realm, and King Henry IV, with the able assistance of ultraconservative Archbishop Arundel had undertaken stern measures to combat their ideas,
including burning Lollards at the stake.
Oldcastle, a boyhood friend of Henry V, after escaping from the Tower of London, was
accused of organizing a Lollard rebellion. After years in hiding, he was eventually
betrayed, captured and executed and his followers dispersed. The rebellion of Richard,
Earl of Cambridge, against the Royal House of Lancaster, also suffered the same fate.
Both plots were foiled by the decisive action of the king's supporters and Henry,
supported by an effective, disciplined royal council, was thus free to embark on his
French adventures.
Contemporary events in France greatly favored the implementation of Henry's claims in
that country, especially the incompetence of Charles V's son and heir Charles VI, who
also suffered from bouts of insanity. Bitter rivalries tore asunder the French Court, one
headed by the king's younger brother, Louis of Orleans and the other by the king's uncle,
Philip of Burgundy. The latter had designs on complete control of the government of
France, a cause aided by the assassination of Orleans in 1407. The resulting outbreak of
civil war paralyzed France for a generation. In the meantime, the King of England took
immediate advantage and took his army across the Channel.
Forgetting anything or everything they had learned at Crecy in the previous century, the
French army attacked the motley crew that made up the English forces at Agincourt using
the same tactics that failed them in the earlier slaughter. The result was an even bigger
disaster for the over-confident French with appalling losses among their heavily armed,
mounted knights completely unable to maneuver in the marshy lands and cut down by the
skill of Henry's mercenary archers, many recruited in Wales.
Following Agincourt, the way was open for Henry to take possession of Normandy. The
Dauphin fled Paris, leaving Queen Isabella (during one of her husband fits of insanity) to
come to term with the victorious English king. The powerful Duke of Burgundy, whose
support had been crucial for Henry, was fatally stabbed by a former supporter of the
murdered Orleans while arranging the negotiations, but the English king had no serious
rivals in France to thwart his ambition.
By the Treaty of Troyes of 1420, it was declared that on the death of Charles VI his
throne should be given to "his only true son," Henry V of England, now married to the
Princess Catherine. We can only surmise what the political future of both France and
England might have been had Henry not died during one of his French campaigns in
1422, leaving the Duke of Gloucester as regent in England and the Duke of Bedford as
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regent in France. The heir to the English throne was less than one year old. Queen
Catherine, remaining in England, took as her next husband Owen Tudor of Wales, with
consequences we shall deal with later.
Henry VI (1422-71)
In a reign lasting almost fifty years, Henry VI lost two kingdoms, his only son and on
many occasions, his reason. Perhaps we can blame bad luck for the king's misfortunes,
certainly his bad judgement, but Henry was never a ruler in his own person. He had come
to the throne as an infant, the country being governed by a regency dominated first by his
uncles of the House of Lancaster and later by the Beauforts. In addition to being
dominated by the Duke of Suffolk, he was also controlled by his wife Margaret of Anjou.
During bouts of mental illness, England was ruled by Richard, Duke of York as protector.
In marked contrast to the good order of his father, the complete fiasco of the reign of
Henry Vl ultimately led to that sad period in English history known as "The Wars of the
Roses."
In France, despite a few desultory successes after the death of Henry V, things went from
bad to worse for the English occupiers. Under the inspired leadership of a peasant girl
from Domremy, known as Joan of Arc, French resistance was revitalized, Orleans
relieved and the Dauphin crowned at Reims as Charles VII. Joan was eventually captured
by the ever-treacherous Burgundians and sentenced to death for heresy by a Church
court, becoming a national martyr after she had nobly perished in the bonfire at Rouen in
1431.
The fires that burned Joan also ignited the latent forces of French nationalism. After 1435
and the death of the Duke of Bedford, the English armies found themselves virtually
leaderless in the face of increasing French strength. During the long years of attrition that
followed, they were gradually forced to give up all they had gained under Henry V except
the single port of Calais. Agincourt might as well not have happened.
In England, at the same time, despite the avowed saintliness of the king, the monarchy
was rapidly losing its prestige. Though he was interested in education, and both Eton
College and Kings College, Cambridge were founded during his reign, Henry's
employment of ambitious, self-serving courtiers and advisors only hastened the onset of
civil war. In particular, the constant feuds of the kings' relatives, descended from Edward
lll, created a situation bordering on anarchy. Richard of York, heir to the son of Richard
II, the boy whose rights had been passed over by parliament in 1399, led the antiLancastrian party. The Wars of the Roses began in 1453, when the birth of a son to King
Henry precluded the possibility of a peaceful succession.
Richard of York, whose family had adopted its emblem a white rose as a Yorkist badge,
raised the standard of revolt to begin the thirty-year period of civil war that wracked the
whole nation. Never really involving more than armed clashes between small bands of
noblemen with their private retainers, the bloody conflict nevertheless managed to
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exterminate most of the English aristocracy as its fortunes swung back and forth between
the two sides.
King Henry and Margaret had adopted the red rose as the symbol of the House of
Lancaster. They managed to force Richard of York into exile, but when Henry was later
captured at the Battle of Northampton, Richard returned to claim the throne for himself.
A compromise was then effected that would allow him to reign after Henry's death, but
York was killed at Wakefield when Margaret led an army against him in 1460. His son
Edward was then supported in his claims by the formidable Earl of Warwick (Warwick
the kingmaker). Henry had been recaptured by his "manly queen, used to rule..." but he
was driven into exile one year later when Warwick had the Yorkist prince crowned as
Edward lV.
There were now two kings ruling England, and thus a battle was necessary to try to settle
the matter. It duly took place in 1461 at Towton, the bloodiest engagement of the whole
war and a disaster for the House of Lancaster. Henry and Margaret had to flee to
Scotland. When his wife left to drum up support in France, Henry stayed behind as
fugitive, only to be imprisoned once more. Warwick then switched his allegiance to
Margaret and their joint invasion forced King Edward to flee to the Continent. They
released the poor, bewildered Henry from the Tower of London to be recognized as king
again.
No wonder Henry had fits of insanity. His joy at being restored to the throne was shortlived, for Edward was not finished. He returned to England in 1471, with aid from
Charles the Bold of Burgundy and at Barnet in 1471, he defeated and killed Warwick. At
the battle of Tewkesbury, he then defeated Queen Margaret and killed her husband's son
Edward. Henry found himself back in prison at the Tower where he was executed. Later
chroniclers praised his good qualities and Henry VII even sought his canonization, but
the former Henry had completely failed as a ruler. His reign had not only seen civil war,
but also had to deal with the serious revolt of the middle classes led by Jack Cade,
seeking to redress government abuses and the lack of input into the arbitrary decisions of
the king and council. Though the rebellion failed, it showed only too clearly that arbitrary
decisions by those in power could be strongly protested by those without.
Edward lV (1461-83)
Edward began his reign in 1461 and ruled for eight years before Henry's brief return. His
reign is marked by two distinct periods, the first in which he was chiefly engaged in
suppressing the opposition to his throne, and the second in which he enjoyed a period of
relative peace and security. Both periods were marked also by his extreme licentiousness;
it is said that his sexual excesses were the cause of his death (it may have been typhoid),
but he was praised highly for his military skills and his charming personality. When
Edward married Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner of great beauty, but regarded as an
unfit bride for a king, even Warwick turned against him. We can understand Warwick's
switch to Margaret and to Edward's young brother, the Duke of Clarence, when we learn
that he had hoped the king would marry one of his own daughters.
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Clarence continued his activities against his brother during the second phase of Edward's
reign; his involvement in a plot to depose the king got him banished to the Tower where
he mysteriously died (drowned in his bath). Edward had meanwhile set up a council with
extensive judicial and military powers to deal with Wales and to govern the Marches. His
brother, the Duke of Gloucester headed a council in the north. He levied few subsidies,
invested his own considerable fortune in improving trade; freed himself from
involvement in France by accepting a pension from the French King; and all in all,
remained a popular monarch. He left two sons, Edward and Richard, in the protection of
Richard of Gloucester, with the results that have forever blackened their guardian's name
in English history.
Richard III (1483-85)
Richard of Gloucester had grown rich and powerful during the reign of his brother
Edward IV, who had rewarded his loyalty with many northern estates bordering the city
of York. Edward had allowed Richard to govern that part of the country, where he was
known as "Lord of the North." The new king was a minor and England was divided over
whether Richard should govern as Protector or merely as chief member of a Council.
There were also fears that he may use his influence to avenge the death of his brother
Clarence at the hands of the Queen's supporters. And Richard was supported by the
powerful Duke of Buckingham, who had married into the Woodville family against his
will.
Richard's competence and military ability was a threat to the throne and the legitimate
heir Edward V. After a series of skirmishes with the forces of the widowed queen,
anxious to restore her influence in the north, Richard had the young prince of Wales
placed in the Tower. He was never seen again though his uncle kept up the pretence that
Edward would be safely guarded until his upcoming coronation. The queen herself took
sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, but Richard had her brother and father killed.
Edward's coronation was set for June, 1483. Richard planned his coup. First he divided
the ruling Council, convincing his own followers of the need to have Lord Hastings
executed for treason. (It had been Hastings who had informed him of the late King's
death and the ambitions of the Queen's party). He then had his other young nephew
Richard join Edward in the Tower. One day after that set for Edward's coronation,
Richard was able to pressure the assembled Lords and Commons in Parliament to petition
him to assume the kingship. After his immediate acceptance, he then rode to Westminster
and was duly crowned as Richard III. His rivals had been defeated and the prospects for a
long, stable reign looked promising. Then it all unraveled for the treacherous King.
It is one thing to kill a rival in battle but it is another matter to have your brother's
children put to death. By being suspected of this evil deed, Richard condemned himself.
Though the new king busied himself granting amnesty and largesse to all and sundry, he
could never cleanse himself of the suspicion surrounding the murder of the young
princes. He had his own son Edward invested as Prince of Wales, and thus heir to his
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throne, but revulsion soon set in to destroy what, for all intents and purposes, could have
been a well-managed, competent royal administration.
It didn't help Richard much that even before he took the throne he had denounced the
Queen "and her blood adherents," impugned the legitimacy of his own brother and his
young nephews and stigmatized Henry Tudor's royal blood as bastard. The rebellion
against him started with the defection of the Duke of Buckingham whose open support of
the Lancastrian claimant overseas, Henry Tudor, transformed a situation which had
previously favored Richard.
The king was defeated and killed at Bosworth Field in 1485, a battle that was as
momentous for the future of England as had been Hastings in 1066. The battle ended the
Wars of the Roses, and for all intents and purposes, the victory of Henry Tudor and his
accession to the throne conveniently marks the end of the medieval and the beginning of
England's modern period.
Part 6: From Reformation to Restoration
by Peter N. Williams, Ph. D.
Henry VII (1485-1509)
The victor at Bosworth Field was Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Though his claim to
the throne was tenuous and few in England could even hope that stability had at last come
to that troubled land, he was to begin a dynasty that lasted 118 years. At the beginning of
Henry VII's reign the Wars of the Roses were still pitting the Houses of York and
Lancaster against each other for the throne. By the end of t Elizabeth IÍs reign, the last of
the Tudors, the kingdom of Britain had become a great sea-power, enjoyed an
unparalleled growth in literature and drama, experienced vast economic and social
change and suffered (and more or less settled) the tumultuous problems of the great
European Reformation. Little England had become unrecognizable in its unswerving path
toward world domination in so many different areas.
Henry had a lot to think about when he defeated Richard. His victory was due as much to
the king's allies deserting him on the field of battle as much as it was to Henry's own
determination and courage, and in the face of his weak claim to be the legitimate ruler, a
desperate gamble. After all, on his mother's side, he was descended from the offspring of
John of Gaunt and his mistress, specifically barred from the succession. His grandfather,
Welshman Owen Tudor, had been a household clerk of Catherine of Valois, whom he
married after the death of her husband Henry V. Their son Edmund was granted the title
of Earl of Richmond, and Henry himself, brought up in France, had the good sense to
marry Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward lV, thus bringing together the white
rose of York and the red of Lancaster.
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It was not easy going for the new king. He effectively dealt with the early Yorkist threat
to the throne when he defeated a conglomeration of rebels under Lambert Simnel, pushed
forward to claim the throne as the supposed Earl of Warwick, nephew of Edward lV and
Richard III. Henry's victory at Stoke, in 1487 marked the last battle of the Wars of the
Roses. Then he dealt with Perkin Warbeck, who posed as the younger of the princes who
had been murdered in the Tower. Along with the support of the King of Scotland, James
VI, Warbeck foolishly led an army composed mostly of Cornishmen against Henry but
was defeated and beheaded. The problem of Wales was more easily settled.
Henry had landed in West Wales to begin his march that culminated at Bosworth, in the
English Midlands. The people of Wales showed little interest one way or the other, after
all, the problem of the succession was an English one, but when Henry assumed the
throne, it was generally felt in the principality that a Welsh ruler had now come to the
land. Much of Wales, especially the gentry, now rejoiced in Henry's victory. They
identified with the new ruler, a quarter Welsh (a quarter French and half English), who
seemed proud of his Welsh lineage and showed that he recognized it. Consequently,
Wales and the Marches were quite content to be ruled by the King's Council. It certainly
helped that Henry named his son and heir Arthur, a name of great historical significance
to the people of Wales, ever conscious of their long history as true Britons and heirs of
the illustrious King Arthur.
The king could now concentrate on his governmental reforms, cementing in place not
only the combined power of monarch and Parliament, centred in Westminster, but also
reinvigorating the administration of law on both the national and local level. At
Westminster, he revived the Court of the Star Chamber to deal with problems that mostly
involved the nobility, and he reinvigorated the system of Justices of the Peace to keep
tight control of the towns and parishes and ensure respect for the Crown. Henry also took
control of the government's finances; his use of statutes to raise money raised some
hackles, but he always had the excuse of needing extra cash to fight the French (who, in
any case, paid him handsomely to stay away).
Henry secured his position as king by firm and effective government, soundly supported
by adequate finances and backed by a strong legal system. The country was at peace and
able to enjoy a great increase in trade with the Continent. John Cabot's voyages put the
English flag on the shores of North America, the great mariner-explorer was supported by
the king's grants of money and ships. Henry was also interested in books and learning. It
was Henry who introduced the Yeomen of the Guard, the colorful "beefeaters" still to be
seen at the Tower. His prudence, caution and wisdom were praised by historian Polydor
Vergil as best suited to his age; they were qualities highly sought in a king.
All seemed well, but it was not. The premature death of Prince Arthur, who had married
Catherine of Aragon when both were in their teens, had unforeseen consequences. The
marriage may not have been consummated, but the subsequent remarriage of the Spanish
Princess to Arthur's younger brother (who later became Henry VIII) created a major
problem with the Catholic Church, which was having problems of its own trying to
remain independent from the growing power of European monarchies. In one way, the
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repercussions of Arthur's premature death can be said to have led to the later success of
the Reformation in England. It also meant the eventual unification of the Scottish and
English Crowns, for Henry's daughter Margaret married King James IV of Scotland. But
all this was later.
Henry VIII (1509-1547)
After the reign of the avaricious, duplicitous Henry Tudor, it was a welcome relief when
he was succeeded by the amiable, athletic Henry VIII. He was a man who loved music,
the military arts, and was interested in building England's navy. Considered by his
contemporaries as a true renaissance prince, Henry proved just as ruthless as his father, a
man who brooked no opposition, real or imagined. Right away he began his policy of
"dynastic extermination," showing his bent by getting rid of the Duke of Buckingham,
the Countess of Salisbury (sister to the Earl of Warwick) and in 1546, the poet Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey, the grandson of Buckingham.
In understanding the spate of executions and the ridding of even those with the slightest
of claims to the throne, we have to remember the infertility of the Tudors, a curse that
was to haunt them. All male children born to Catherine and Henry had died. Henry had
no heir of his own other than Princess Mary; it was unthinkable at the time that a woman
should rule England. As Henry had married his brother's widow, the solution seemed
simple enough: he would have to get his marriage annulled and marry the young,
attractive, willing and it was to be hoped, fertile Anne Boleyn. But the king had not
reckoned on the obstinacy of Charles V, the most powerful monarch in Europe, the
nephew of Catherine and, more importantly, the virtual keeper of the Pope. Henry was
just as obstinate, and those who failed to support his efforts to have the marriage annulled
were quickly to feel his wrath.
Cardinal Pole, son of the Countess of Salisbury led the opposition to the king; thus his
family was chosen for elimination. Pole had earlier gone to Paris in 1529 to seek a
favorable opinion of Henry's claims in the matter of the divorce. He later sided with
Charles V against the king, becoming elected cardinal for his spirited attack on the
English monarch. He then appeared as a legate at the Council of Trent and played no
significant part in English affairs until the accession of Mary. In the meanwhile, the son
of an Ipswich butcher began his rapid rise to some of the highest offices in the land.
Thomas Wolsey joined the king's council in 1509, the first year of Henry's long reign. As
the king enjoyed other pursuits, he left much of the administration in Wolsey's able
hands, appointing him Lord Chancellor in 1515. The ambitious Wolsey then acquired
other offices in rapid succession, including those of Archbishop of York, Cardinal and
Papal Legate, in the words of a Venetian ambassador, "ruling the kingdom." It was in
Henry's own interest to give free reign to his chief minister, but only so far.
Wolsey, like so many others in the kingdom, was completely undone by his failure to get
Henry his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Again, it was the Emperor Charles V that
presented the biggest obstacle, for he had just defeated his major European rival Francis l
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and taken Pope Clement VII prisoner. To be fair to Charles, he was more interested in
Italy than what happened to his aunt, but Henry had been given the title "Defender of the
Faith" by Pope Clement for his efforts to keep the forces of Protestantism at bay in
England. Charles was not the only one who obviously felt that monarchs should live up to
their titles, however earned.
In his passion for the beautiful Anne and his desire for a male heir, Henry made it quite
plain that he wished for a quick divorce. Because of Wolsey's failure in the matter he was
banished from court and eventually summoned to trial on a charge of treason. He died on
his way to face the king. All his acquisitions of wealth and power had come to nought to
the king's benefit, however, Wolsey had greatly increased the work of the Court of
Chancery and the Star Chamber, a court by which the nobility was kept in check. On two
occasions, he tried to get himself elected Pope, but the dilemma of the royal divorce
ultimately proved too much for him. He was thus discarded when he was no longer useful
to the king. His dismissal and the charges against him also point out only too well the
declining influence of the universal Church in politics. The growth of nation-states
independent from Rome would be a recurring theme of Europe for the next few hundred
years.
Perhaps the break away of England was inevitable. The medieval church was moribund,
in a fossilized state, out of touch with the vast changes that had been taking place in
economics, politics and social conditions. We have already had an inkling of what was to
come when John Wycliffe, during the reign of Edward III, had preached his revolutionary
idea that grace could come from a reading of the Bible and not from the benefit of
Church and clergy. Dissenters known as the Lollards were also increasing their attacks on
the malpractices of the Catholic bishops, and William Tyndale was busy translating the
New Testament into English. Now, with Henry at variance with the imprisoned and
demoralized Pope, and the Catholic Church in disarray, with the teachings of Martin
Luther reaching into all corners of Europe, the floodgates of the Reformation were let
loose.
Henry obtained his divorce regardless of Charles V and the Pope. He simply used the
authority of the state and the so-named Reformation Parliament that was first called in
1529 and that, for the next seven years, effectively destroyed the medieval church in
England. In 1533, Henry married the pregnant Anne Boleyn and upon the death of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed Thomas Cranmer to do his bidding in that office.
The official break with Rome came in April 1533 with the passing of the Act of Restraint
of Appeals that decreed "this realm of England is an empire." One month later
Archbishop Cranmer declared that the Kings' marriage to Catherine of Aragon was null
and void. Ann Boleyn was duly crowned Queen, giving birth to Elizabeth but three
months later. The Pope duly excommunicated both Cranmer and Henry.
After 1534, events moved even more rapidly. The Act of Supremacy of that year declared
that the king was the Supreme Head of the Church of England and the Pope officially
designated merely as the Bishop of Rome. There was no Catholic uprising in Britain;
Henry still considered himself a staunch Catholic, retaining his title of "Defender of the
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Faith" and obviously proud of such an appellation. There was no break with Rome on
matters of dogma, the king himself had no great desire for a complete separation, but
matters came to a head with the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell, considered by many
to be the architect of the English Reformation.
Cromwell was ruthless in carrying out the policies of Henry, but it is safe to say he
probably sneaked in many of his own. Though Sir Thomas Moore, a man initially
beloved of the king and Bishop Fisher were executed for refusing to acknowledge
Henry's claim as Head of the Church in England, twenty-two other Englishmen were also
burned at the stake for refusing to accept Catholicism. Then, when fears arose of an
expected invasion from France, the dissolution of the monasteries in Britain proceeded at
a rapid pace, for they were an easy target to satisfy Henry's need for vast amounts of
money for coastal defenses and for the strengthening the navy. Wolsey himself had begun
the matter, mainly for ready cash to found chanceries and schools, but the work was
willingly carried to a rapid fruition by Cromwell.
The picturesque ecclesiastic ruins found all over the English landscape can give but little
hint of the former grandeur and wealth of the great monasteries. Perhaps they had owned
as much as one quarter of the arable land of the nation, and the amount of jewels, church
plate, relics and gold artifacts they also possessed must have been enormous, to say
nothing of their vast herds and flocks and huge swathes of the best arable land in the
country. Henry was determined to have it all, thus the monasteries were destroyed and
their lands taken over by the Crown. In three years, two acts of dissolution brought to an
end hundreds of years of monastic influence in the island of Britain. A feeble protest
from Catholics in the North, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace was easily suppressed.
An orgy of iconoclasm now took place in the land. In 1538, the same year that the last
monasteries were dissolved, Henry's chief minister and architect of the Reformation in
England issued injunctions stating that every parish church should have an English bible
and shrines were to be destroyed. Thomas Cromwell relished his new duties in seeing
that the crown replaced the pope as the arbiter of religious affairs throughout England.
The destruction of so much that was a priceless heritage of an ancient nation is to be
lamented. The value of so much art, books and architecture meant nothing to those who
carried out Cromwell's work and the smashing of holy places even included the shrine of
Thomas Becket, perhaps the holiest place of pilgrimage in all of Britain.
Many beside the king and his nobles were happy to see the monasteries disappear and the
power of the Church diminished. Abbots lived like princes; their dwellings were more
like baronial palaces than religious houses. Piety seemed notably absent from their
magnificent edifices and vast land holdings. The bishop's house at St. David's rivaled the
cathedral itself in grandeur. It wasn't only the great scholar Erasmus who decried the
obscene wealth of the great religious houses in England, writing of them, in his well-read
"Enchiridion" (1504), that "the monastic life should not be equated with the virtuous life
"and that the monasteries themselves were "a backward-looking anachronism, out of date,
out of sympathy, and ripe to fall." And fall they did. Their vast land-holdings were now
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sold off to those who could afford them and a new, rich landed aristocracy was set in
place to dominate England's rural scene for centuries.
As the long period of monasticism ended in England, the nation of Wales also lost any
hopes of regaining its independence. An expression that describes a Welshman who
pretends to have forgotten his Welsh or who affects the loss of his national identity in
order to succeed in English society or who wishes to be thought well of among his friends
is "Dic-Sion-Dafydd." The term was unknown in 16th century Wales but, owing to the
harsh penal legislation imposed upon its inhabitants, after the revolt of Owain Glyndwr in
the previous century, it had become necessary for many Welshmen to petition Parliament
to be "made English" so that they could enjoy privileges restricted to Englishmen,
including the right to buy and hold land according to English law.
Such petitions may have been distasteful to the patriotic Welsh, but for the ambitious and
socially mobile gentry rapidly emerging in Wales and on the Marches, they were a
necessary step for any chance of advancement. In the military, of course, Welsh
mercenaries, no longer fighting under Glyndwr for an independent Wales, had been
highly sought after by Henry V for his campaigns in France, and the skills of the Welsh
archers in such battles as Agincourt are legendary. Such examples of allegiance to their
commander, the English sovereign, went a long way in dispelling any latent thoughts of
independence and helped paved the way for the overwhelming Welsh allegiance to the
Tudors.
When Henry Tudor ascended the throne as Henry VII, the foundations of the great Welsh
landed-estates had been laid and much of the day-to-day affairs of the nation were
controlled by its landed squires, many of whom had descended from English families and
intermarried with their Welsh counterparts. Their loyalties were with the Crown or
Parliament or both, but not with their native country; they came to associate the latter
with loyalty to the Tudor sovereigns. Either the Welsh realized the hopelessness of their
position; or their leaders, in true "Dic-Sion-Dafydd" style, were too busy enjoying the
fruits of cooperation with London. The year 1536 produced no great trauma for the
Welsh; all the ingredients for its acceptance had been put in place long before.
The so-called "Act of Union" of that year, and its corrected version of 1543 seemed
inevitable. More than one historian has pointed out that union with England had really
been achieved by the "Statute of Rhuddlan" in 1284. The new legislation was welcomed
by many in Wales, by the gentry, commercial interests and religious reformers alike, and
why not? Didn't it state that "Persons born or to be born in the said Principality ... of
Wales shall have and enjoy and inherit all and singular Freedoms, Liberties, Rights,
Privileges and Laws ... as other the King's subjects have, enjoy or inherit."
By the Act, "finally and for all time" the principality of Wales was incorporated into the
kingdom of England. A major part of this decision was to abolish any legal distinction
between the people on either side of the new border. From henceforth, English law would
be the only law recognised by the courts of Wales. In addition, for the placing of the
administration of Wales in the hands of the Welsh gentry, it was necessary to create a
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Welsh ruling class not only fluent in English, but who would use it in all legal and civil
matters.
Thus inevitably, the Welsh ruling class would be divorced from the language of their
country. But, as pointed out earlier, their eyes were focused on what London or other
large cities of England had to offer, not upon what remained as crumbs to be scavenged
in Wales itself. The Welsh people were without a government of their own, a capital city,
or even a town large enough to attract an opportunistic urban middle class, and saddled
with a language "nothing like nor consonant to the natural mother tongue used within this
realm." A language that persistently refused to die.
The rise of the Welsh middle classes was mirrored in England, where the political
privileges of the old nobility were being drastically curtailed and a new class was rising
rapidly. Through his chief ministers, Henry continued to increase the powers of the Star
Chamber at the national level, and saw to it that the Justices of the Peace, recruited from
the gentry, carried out the king's commands at the local level. The king's foreign intrigues
meant that he was forced to sell off most of his newly acquired monastic possessions. The
landed gentry were the beneficiaries in more ways than one; for the king's repeated
demands upon them for cash, and their repeated insistence on the granting of privileges in
return, led only to an increase in the powers of parliament at the expense of the Crown. In
1544, the name "The House of Lords" first appeared, an indication of the rapid rise of the
other, lower house "The House of Commons," which from now on was always ready to
challenge the Lords' power (as well as the King's).
Much of Henry's need for money came from his wars in Scotland during the years 1542
and 1546 and with Scotland's ally, France. In 1488 in Scotland, James IV had come to the
throne at the age of fifteen, with Earl Douglas acting as Regent. The EarlÍs cronies and
conspirators received rich rewards for their services. One of these was the minor Laird
Hepburn of Hailes, who became Earl of Bothwell and Lord High Admiral. We shall read
more about the Bothwell later.
James IV had grand ambitions. His country enjoyed enormous prestige holding the
balance of power between constantly warring England and France. He believed that
Scotland could lead the way in the glorious cause of freeing Constantinople from the
Turks. Accordingly, as a start, he had a large fleet built, including the mighty warship the
Great Michael. He thus began a Scottish ship building industry that would become the
envy of the world in a later era. In order to carry out his grandiose schemes in Eastern
Europe, James first had to establish peaceable relations with England, his powerful
neighbor to the south.
In 1501, James was twenty-eight years old. It was time to marry. He chose Margaret
Tudor, the fourteen year-old daughter of Henry VII, following an agreement signed
between the two monarchs that promised to be a treaty of perpetual peace. The Pope
undertook to excommunicate whoever broke his pledged word. The ceremony took place
at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, attended by many dignitaries from England. All seemed
well.
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James continued to use his kingdom as peacemaker between England and France. His
efforts gave him the title "Rex Pacificator." When the Pope, the King of Spain and the
Doge of Venice formed a Holy League against France, it was joined by Henry VII of
England, the father-in-law of the King of Scotland. James did not join the league,
however; he was convinced that the survival of France was essential to the stability of
Europe. Thus he renewed the Auld Alliance that had begun in 1422 under the Regency of
Albany. When France appealed to Scotland for help, as it had done when Buchan
responded so magnificently in an earlier time, James unwisely sent an ultimatum to the
English king.
Henry's response, though typical of the English monarch, must have startled James and
the whole of Scotland. He declared himself to be "the verie owner of Scotland," a
kingdom held by the Scottish king only "by homage." This was too much for a proud
Scot to bear, and it was answered by James's march on England at the head of a large
army in September 1513. So much for the peace treaty that was "to endure forever." The
result was Flodden, one of the most disastrous battles in Scottish history.
James' own natural son, Alexander, thousands of the best and brightest young men, many
of its bravest and strongest Highland chiefs, great Church leaders, and many Earls and
Lords lost their lives in the calamitous battle at Flodden. Though no one knows what
happened to James's body, a legend quickly developed in Scotland to match those in
Wales concerning Arthur and Glyndwr, he was not dead, but one day James would return
to lead his country again. Thus a typical Celtic myth grew out of what people saw as the
refusal of a Welsh King (Henry VIII) to secure a proper burial for the body of a Scottish
king (James IV).
Scotland now had no king and no army. As James V was still a baby, Queen Margaret
assumed the Regency. However, in 1514, in a move that brought a surprising change of
fortune for the country for which she showed little affection, she married the Earl of
Angus and was succeeded as Regent by the French-educated Duke of Albany, the
nephew of James III. Albany (who headed the National or French Party), continued the
alliance with France, a country that had somehow extricated itself from its previous grave
danger by the failure of its enemies to formulate a united front. After a series of plots
against Albany by Margaret and her husband were foiled, the miserable, unfortunate
Queen was forced to flee to England (the couple had planned to kidnap the young James
V). This gave Margaret's brother Henry one more excuse to continue his policies of
interfering in Scottish affairs. In 1524, Albany returned to France.
Chaos returned to Scotland. A series of battles between the Douglases and the Hamiltons,
including one fought in the streets of Edinburgh, had left the mighty Douglas clan in
control of the young king and thus of Scotland. James, however, who had declared
himself ready to rule at the age of fourteen, escaped his captors and arrived at Stirling. He
vowed vengeance against Angus Douglas whom he drove out of Scotland to seek refuge
with the English king. James V could now begin to restore order to his suffering nation.
He started by wisely agreeing to a truce with England.
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In the meantime the effects of the Reformation were beginning to have their serious and
long-lasting effects upon Scotland. In the struggle of Protestantism versus Catholicism,
there was a mad scramble for a marriage alliance with the Scottish king. Keeping the idea
of the Auld Alliance in mind, he elected for Madeleine, the daughter of the French King
Francois I and when she died six months later, he took as his bride another French
princess, Marie de Guise-Lorraine. Sadly for future Scottish history, she bore him no
sons.
Henry VIII of England had the same seeming misfortune in lacking a male heir. He
became more and more aggressive in his policies toward Scotland. By 1534 he had
broken with Rome, was getting ready to totally absorb Wales into the English realm and
had plans to turn Scotland against France by making it into a Protestant nation. When
James was offered the crown of Ireland in 1542, Henry took an army north and
proclaimed himself Lord Superior of Scotland. He met with and defeated the small,
dispirited army of James at Solway Moss.
From his retreat at Falkland, the sad King James heard the news that his longed for heir
was not to be; his wife had given him a daughter. Upon his consequent death, the young
girl was proclaimed Queen of Scotland. So in 1542, Mary, Queen of Scots entered the
world in much the same sad circumstances as she was to leave it forty-five years later.
After James' death, Mary's mother, Marie de Guise, was determined to rule with a strong
hand, but by her attempts to stamp out Protestantism in Scotland, she only invited further
English activities in her country. Marie failed, for though an invading English army
arrived too late to rescue a Protestant garrison holed up at St. Andrew's, it crushed the
Royal Scottish army at Pinkie, near Edinburgh. Further hostilities were ended in 1549 by
the Treaty of Boulogne between England and France that also effected the withdrawal of
English troops from Scotland.
By that time, Henry VIII had been dead for two years. Jane Seymour had died soon after
giving birth to Edward and Henry had remarried three times. Thomas Cromwell then
chose Anne of Cleves as a bride for Henry, a bad choice for the Lord Chancellor and for
the king, who despised his plain "Flanders Mare." The marriage was never consummated
and quickly annulled by Parliament. Cromwell lost his head over the affair, but he had
done his work for his master the king. The Reformation had been firmly established in
England and the power of the Catholic Church irrevocably broken. The aging, goutridden, obese Henry had then married Catherine Howard, soon to be beheaded for
adultery and Catherine Parr, his last wife, who outlived him
Edward VI (1547-1553)
Another great "if" for English history was presented by the early death of Edward. At the
time, no one could possibly see that the greatest Tudor monarch of them all would turn
out to be Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the ill-fated Ann Boleyn. English hopes for a
strong monarchy centered on Edward's survival. During his minority, despite Henry's
wish that a council of ministers should govern, the Duke of Somerset (Edward's uncle)
made himself Lord Protector. He continued the late king's policy of religious changes,
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furthering the Protestant reforms. Cranmer's "Book of Common Prayer" was made
compulsory in all churches and the Latin mass abolished. These acts that were
strenuously resisted in many Catholic areas of the country, not to mention Ireland,
forever faithful to Rome, and because of this, Ireland was forever suspect in English eyes
as a center of rebellion.
In England, attempts to impose the new Prayer book led to a serious revolt in Cornwall
and Devon. This was joined by another uprising in Norfolk against rising prices and
social injustices. To add to Somerset's woes, he embroiled England in a war with
Scotland, as ever allied to France, and got himself defeated in battle and deposed and
executed at home. Of the state of affairs, Sir Thomas Moore regarded the fight for
influence and spoils between the great families of England as nothing more than "a
conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of a
commonwealth."
After Somerset's death, however, the country was then run by a much more able
administrator, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland. He extricated
his country from the disastrous war with Scotland, returned Boulogne to France and reestablished social order in England. Protestantism now became official with the new
Prayer book of 1552 and a new Act of Uniformity passed. But sickly Edward was dying.
To Northumberland's great chagrin, the rightful heir to the throne was Mary, Henry's only
surviving child by Catherine of Aragon and a committed Catholic. He thus persuaded
Edward to declare Mary illegitimate and to name Lady Jane Grey as heir (the
granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister and married to his son Dudley). Poor Lady Jane, shy
and unsuited for her role, was not supported by the country, who rallied to Mary, a Tudor
and thus rightful sovereign. Mary arrived in London to great acclaim to take her throne.
Mary Tudor (1553-1558)
Mary took her throne with high hopes of restoring England to Catholicism. It has been
said that she took her religion too seriously. In any case, she was too late, the
Reformation had taken firm root throughout Northern Europe and in much of England,
where her sacred duty to return the country to the Catholic fold was sure to be violently
opposed. There were not too many in England who wished to return to a church that, as
late as 1514, had condemned a dead man for heresy. To further her aims, Mary, already
middle-aged, married Philip of Spain, the son of Charles V, who had defended her
mother Catherine's marital rights. To most Englishmen, this act presaged an inevitable
submission of their country to foreign rule. It was not a popular marriage.
Pious Mary then set about having Parliament repeal the Act of Supremacy, reinstate
heresy laws and petition for reunion with Rome; the Latin Mass was restored and
Catholic bishops reinstated. Rebellion was inevitable, and though easily crushed, the
peasant uprising of Thomas Wyatt convinced the Queen that obedience to the throne had
to be established by fire and sword. The orgy of burnings of heretics began.
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The fires that Mary ordered to be lit at Smithfield put to death such Protestant leaders and
men of influence as Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and Hooper, but also hundreds of lesser
men who refused to adopt the Catholic faith. The entire country became enraged and
fearful. Mary's failure as Queen was ensured. Her marriage to Philip only made matters
worse for it intensified the English hatred of foreigners, and by this time, of Catholicism
in general. Parliament was rushed to declare that should Mary die without an heir, Philip
would have no claim to the English throne. The Hapsburg Philip himself spent as little
time in "obstinate" England as possible, got himself all involved in war with France in
which Calais, England's last continental outpost, was lost forever. Calais hadn't been
much of a possession but its loss was a grievous insult to the English nation. When
"Bloody Mary" died in November, 1558, it seemed as if the whole country rejoiced.
The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth l (1558-1603)
Elizabeth became Queen of England at the age of twenty-five determined to show that it
was neither unholy nor unnatural for "a woman to reign and have empire above men."
She had many problems to settle, for the whole nation had gone through a period of
social discord, political shenanigans and international failures, and was still in a state of
revulsion over the Smithfield martyrs. Fortunately, the determined, charismatic and
reasoned woman was adequately equipped for the enormous tasks ahead of her.
Furthermore, though insistent on restoring royal supremacy and severing the ties with
Rome, she was also willing to compromise on certain religious issues, putting her in
another league from the late unmourned Mary.
The new queen was astute enough to realize that she needed the support of the common
people, the majority of whom were overwhelmingly Protestant and anti-Rome. Her own
feelings had to be put aside, though she did allow some of the ceremonies associated with
Catholicism to remain. The communion service could be a Mass for those who wished.
The religious settlement may have not satisfied everyone, but it satisfied most; above all,
there was to be no return to the great distress and acrimony of Queen Mary's unfortunate
reign. Even the rebellion of the Catholic nobility in the North created no great trauma for
the Queen, for her nobles were better Englishmen than Catholics. Loyalty to England,
expressed through her Queen, was stronger than loyalty to Rome. Those who bucked the
trend, such as the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland paid for their insolence
with their heads.
Elizabeth was served well by loyal citizens. One of her greatest assets was her ability to
choose the right people to carry out her policies. In this, she had the luck of her father
Henry, but unlike him, she was also able to have such men serve her loyally and
efficiently for life, rather than carry out their own self-serving policies. She was
particularly fortunate in finding William Cecil, who served first as her principal secretary
and later as her lord treasurer. He was a man of amazing talents and industry; quite
simply, he made governing into an honored profession. It has been astutely pointed out
that, unlike Lords Leicester and Essex and the others who flattered the Queen, Cecil was
no court ornament. His ability to compromise in matters of religion also stood him in
good stead, and put him, like Elizabeth herself, slightly ahead of his time.
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It was obvious to Elizabeth that in order to govern effectively, she needed to find a
middle way between the extremes of Geneva and Rome. As Queen, she insisted on the
retention of royal privilege. Her anti-Catholicism was heavily influenced by her desire to
keep her country free from domination by Spain, rather than by any personal dictates of
conscience. She thus chose the middle way of the Anglican Church, rather than accept the
harsh doctrines of such men as Calvin and Knox, who would destroy much that was
precious and holy in men's minds.
John Knox had arrived back in Scotland in 1544 carrying his huge two-handed sword
along with his Bible. From the teachings and intractability of such men, the Reformation
in Scotland had taken a much different path than it was to take in England after Mary, for
Elizabeth was no Calvinist. Remaining the head of the Church, she promised not to
"make windows into men's souls," and her Supremacy Bill and the Uniformity Bills of
1559, that made the Church of England law, substituted fines and penalties for
disobedience, not the usual burnings and banishment.
One irritating and persistent problem that Elizabeth had to face was that of Mary, Queen
of Scots. We have noted the success of John Knox in Scotland, and when the Protestant
Nobles attacked the French-backed government forces of Mary, Elizabeth was naturally
delighted when the French were driven out of Scotland. Queen Mary was not so happy.
In 1548, the Auld Alliance had been immeasurably strengthened when as little Princess
Mary, she had ended her period of moving from place to place for safety by going to
France as future bride of the Dauphin. "France and Scotland," stated the French King,
(reportedly leaping 'for blitheness') are now one country."
Catholic Mary returned to Scotland as Queen in August 1561. Widowed at age eighteen,
she was no longer Queen of France, but thoroughly French in outlook and education.
Scotland had undergone a major transformation in her absence. Knox had done his work
well. The Queen's sprightly, impulsive (and apparently highly-sexed) nature quickly put
her at odds with the austere, Puritan divines who wished to keep a tight hold on the hearts
and minds of the newly-converted majority of Scottish people.
Edward VI protestant reforms book of common prayer catholic sir thomas moore john
dudley lady jane grey mary tudor act of supremacy bloody mary virgin queen Elizabeth I
smithfield martyrs william cecil john knox church of england auld alliance mary queen of
scots In 1565, Mary's complete lack of foresight caused her to marry her younger cousin,
Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, who had practically nothing to commend him either as
husband or king. It wasn't only Protestants who were furious. When Darnley, immature
and seemingly completely lacking in wisdom and intelligence, stabbed to death Mary's
Italian secretary Riccio in a fit of teenage jealousy, the fires were lit for a never-ending
saga of intrigue and misfortune. In 1567, Darnley's body was found in the wreckage of
his house at Kirk o Field which had been destroyed in a mysterious explosion. He had
been strangled to death.
Heavily implicated in the murder was a "bold, reckless Protestant of considerable charm"
James Hepburn, fourth Earl of Bothwell, Lord High Admiral of Scotland. Mary then
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made her second grievous error: she married Bothwell. Now it was the turn of Mary's
Catholic subjects to be furious. The young Queen, upon whom so many hopes had
depended, had managed to alienate everybody. A Protestant army was raised to force
Mary to abdicate and at age twenty-four, after she had been led in humiliation through the
streets of Edinburgh, Mary Queen of Scots gave up her throne in favor of her baby son,
who was immediately crowned as James VI. Bothwell's life was saved only by his escape
to Norway. The Earl of Moray, Mary's half-brother James Stewart, now became Regent.
Mary, who had been held prisoner by the Scottish lords, made her escape from Lochleven
Castle, but the small army she managed to raise was defeated by Moray. She then made
another grievous error when she fled to England to seek refuge with the proud and easily
jealous Queen Elizabeth who promptly imprisoned her unfortunate cousin. Mary should
have gone to France, for as long as she lived, her own claim to the English throne made
her a potentially deadly rival to Elizabeth l. Her endless schemes to recover the Scottish
throne and to depose Elizabeth, including the Ridolfi Plot that got the unwise Duke of
Norfolk executed for complicity, and the Throgmorton Plot, in which Pope Gregory XIII
may have been involved, finally ensured her execution in 1587.
Elizabeth had far less trouble with Wales, peaceably incorporated into the realm of
England by the Acts of Union under Henry VIII. Welsh men were found in strategic
positions in court, specially favored by the Queen. Welshman William Cecil and others
were included in the partnership that was forming a new and imperial British identity. In
the expansion of England overseas, Welshman John Dee played an important part, for his
accounts of Prince Madoc's supposed voyages to the New World were eagerly seized by
Elizabeth's Court officials as justification for their war against Spain and proof of their
legitimacy of their involvement in the Americas. Dee claimed that Elizabeth was rightful
sovereign of the Atlantic Empire.
Welsh people were proud of their contributions to the nation. They were also people of
"the Book," having received the Holy Bible in their own language and any attempts to
make the Counter-Reformation productive in Wales failed miserably. William Salesbury
had published his translation of the main texts of the Prayer Book into Welsh in 1551.
When John Penry pleaded with the Queen and her Parliament to have the whole Bible
translated, he found a sympathetic audience, for by this method, Protestantism could be
firmly established in Wales, a country that formed a natural bulwark between England
and the ever-rebellious Ireland.
Wales got her Bible in 1588, the brilliant achievement of Bishop William Morgan eleven
years after Jesus College had been founded at Oxford to channel the flood of Welsh
scholars flocking to the universities. With its own Bible and its language secure, there
was little need for the Welsh to join in the fight to try to restore England to Catholicism.
Besides, in the Tudors, they had members of their own national clan in firm charge of the
whole nation.
The difficulties with Wales and Scotland were smoothed out. Ireland remained a
problem. It was a far different country, almost a different world, one in which time had
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stood still for centuries. Fiercely tribal, loyal to the Catholic Church, it was a country that
resisted all attempts to impose Protestantism. It was a country that England did not know
how to govern, for it was a country that did not know how to govern itself. Yet, England's
war with Spain meant that Ireland had to be controlled somehow, and it was somehow
that Elizabeth extended her authority over a wide area of her Western neighbor.
Sorrowfully, the Elizabethan dream of creating a loyal, modernized state of Ireland,
perhaps in the Welsh model, completely failed despite the well-intended efforts of some
of her most able men.
The great Irish chieftains were courted by Elizabeth in the hope that they could be used to
bridge the gap between the native Irish and those that were sent from England on their
"civilizing" mission. One of them, Hugh O'Neill, the second Earl of Tyrone (who was a
personal friend of Sir Philip Sydney), in return for his loyalty to the Crown, demanded
that chieftain rule be preserved and that the Irish people should be allowed freedom of
worship as Roman Catholics. Elizabeth's refusal forced Tyrone to appeal to Philip of
Spain for help.
Though the armada sent by Philip was turned back by storms, it encouraged the Irish to
rebellion, driving out the English from all their lands except the Pale, a small strip along
the east coast. The Queen's response to this threat of an independent Ireland under
Spanish patronage was to send the Earl of Essex at the head of a large army. He failed
miserably and returned to England in disgrace. It was left to Charles Blount, Lord
Mountjoy, to restore the situation, and his successful attempts at pacification and the
surrender of Tyrone in 1603 completed the Elizabethan subjugation of Ireland. The best
we can say about the whole sorry adventure is that those who were busy trying to bring
civil order to Ireland used the experience in their planting and colonizing of the New
World, where they found a population far less able to withstand these ventures.
Alongside that of the ever-troublesome, unsolvable Irish question, how to deal with
Mary, Queen of Scots, and the problem of the religious settlement, Elizabeth also had the
task of defending the realm. This meant a twenty-year war against Spain, the most
powerful nation in Europe. Again, the Queen of England was lucky, for Philip II of Spain
had proved his incompetence as a ruler time and time again. He had practically ruined
Spain in material resources, despite the bounty of wealth streaming in from South and
Central America.
The theocracy that was Spain, decadent and moribund, despite its large armies and
uncountable wealth, would prove no match for the vibrant, economically self-sufficient,
fiercely proud and loyal island nation that was England under Elizabeth. Her navy, grown
modern and efficient under Henry VIII was able to run rings around the cumbersome, illled, poorly trained forces put out by Philip in his attempt to conquer England. In 1588,
the defeat of the seemingly-invincible Armada, though aided by the intolerable English
weather, was inevitable. Its defeat also sealed the fate of any Catholic revival in England;
from now on, a return to Rome would be out of the question. (A lesson that the later
Catholic Stuarts were slow to learn).
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It was thus that England was saved from domination by foreign powers, be they that of
Rome or that of Spain (or a combination of both) or even Scotland. Elizabeth's long reign
also saw her country undergo a remarkable economic growth, and a complete sea-change
from the financial and political chaos (in addition to the religious quagmire) that had been
the norm when she first took the Crown. Industry and trade prospered under the guidance
of men such as Secretary Cecil (later Lord Burghley), one of the most efficient
administrators that England was ever privileged to enjoy. His son Robert was one of the
chief ministers responsible for carrying out the policies of James l. And in an interesting
note, one of the same family, Lord Cranborne, a senior hereditary peer in the House of
Lords, was dismissed from the shadow cabinet of that august body by Tory leader
William Hague in December, 1998 for agreeing to a compromise deal with Labour leader
Tony Blair over the reform of the House.
Remarkably free from corruption, Cecil became rich and prosperous in the service of the
Crown and his loyalty was assured. It didn't do his economic policies any harm either,
when the Duke of Alva began his reign of terror in the Netherlands, for the bankers and
capitalists of Antwerp flocked to London to find a new and more secure international
money and credit market. Only a year after the Northern Rising, Thomas Gresham had
opened his new institution in London, the Royal Exchange, later to make the city the
financial capital of the world. Cecil also encouraged the fishing industry, the source of
England's navy and backbone of its sea power. Compulsory weekly fish days were
increased from two to three "so the sea coast should be strong with men and habitations
and the fleet flourish."
With such encouragement, English sailors began their mastery of the world's oceans. If
William Cecil can be regarded as the great conservator of the Queen's strength, her
seamen can be seen as its great expanders. It can be safely said that whatever Cecil did as
pilot of the ship of state was made possible through English sailors. Though little more
than pirates, these seamen laid the foundations of their nation's naval superiority which
was to last, with few exceptions, for centuries and which later led to the acquisition of
Britain's vast overseas empire. One of them, Sir John Hawkins, from the Plymouth family
of sailor adventurers, was the first to show that English mariners could outmatch those of
Spain, and it was not too long before the so-called Spanish monopoly in the New World
was successfully challenged. The papal grant of 1493 that had divided newly-discovered
lands and oceans between Spain and Portugal was conveniently ignored by Englishmen,
and not just for religious reasons.
Hawkins was no John Cabot, who had discovered Newfoundland in 1497 in search of a
Northwest Passage; he was no more than a slave trader, in search of riches. But so was
Martin Frobisher, who made a series of voyages to Canada in the 1570's. So were those
intrepid sailors and merchants who braved the Baltic to establish the Muscovy Company
in 1555 to trade with Russia. On one of his voyages of plunder, some of Hawkins' ships
had been captured in the Gulf of Mexico by the Spanish viceroy. Only two ships escaped,
but one of them had young Francis Drake aboard.
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A Spanish embargo then had the effect of the English rag-tag navy playing havoc with
Spanish merchandise and shipping in the English Channel. Drake, now an experienced
mariner grown bold, and others of his ilk then turned their attentions to disrupt the
Spanish treasure fleets returning from South America. There followed a veritable
explosion of English maritime achievements. For example, Drake's search for treasures
led to his circumnavigating the globe (1577-78), Sir Humphrey Gilbert took settlers to
Newfoundland in 1583; Sir Walter Raleigh organized his expedition to Virginia four
years later, John Davis travelled into the northern regions of the world, John Cavendish
emulated Drake's epic voyage by sailing around the world, the East India Company was
founded and English culture and ideas spread east and west.
In the midst of all these successes, in which England thought of herself as divinely
favored, perhaps we should also point out, that the passage of the Elizabethan Poor Law
of 1601 showed only too well that in the midst of prosperity and the rise of a wealthy
middle class, poverty was everywhere rearing its ugly head in the land. The transition of
the English landscape by the enclosures of land (mainly to aid the wool industry) had
thrown the traditional life of the yeoman farmer into turmoil.
The large market for English cloth on the Continent, brought in through Antwerp,
increased the speed of land enclosures. The acquisition of vast land holding became a
commercial venture and unemployment became rife. Thousands of landless peasants
were now thronging into the cities and towns looking for handouts. It is astonishing that
the Queen and her Council were able to ride out the climate in which a major revolt
seemed inevitable. Fear of foreign intervention played its part in keeping England
internally peaceful. It had also experienced a remarkable artistic renaissance, perhaps
made possible by the growth of a large, new lawyer and gentry class.
Young Henry VIII had been considered a "Renaissance Prince," skilled in the military
arts, deeply interested in music, theology and learning. Under Elizabeth, herself skilled in
music and master of more than a few languages, courtiers became patrons of the arts,
inviting great European artists such as Holbein and Hillard to paint their portraits.
Traditional medieval music gave way to new forms of composition and performance
under the skilled guidance of William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons. Great houses such as
Longleat, Hatfield, Hardwick Hall followed Wolsey's magnificent palace at Hampton
Court, in which to show off the new paintings, decorative arts and advances in
architectural technique. There were great achievements in literature and drama.
Poetry was led by Edmund Spenser (1552-99) whose masterpiece The Faerie Queen was
inspired by Elizabeth herself, and in which she is portrayed as a symbol of the English
nation. In addition to producing Spenser, her reign was the age of Shakespeare, Marlowe,
Raleigh, Sir Philip Sydney, Francis Bacon and John Donnne, to mention a few of those
who would have been great in any age. In the midst of this outpouring of talent, the
Virgin Queen found herself replacing the Virgin Mary as an object of devotion among
many of her English subjects.
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A Golden Age indeed, yet at the time of Elizabeth's death in 1603, it was possible to see
the end of the Tudor system of government. The high costs of wars, years of depression
brought on by high taxes, bad harvests, soaring prices, peasant unrest and the resulting
growth of parliamentary influence and prestige in becoming the instrument by which the
will of the landed classes could not only be heard but carried out against the royal
prerogative meant that great political changes were afoot in the land. The Stuarts were to
suffer from the increase in Parliamentary power and the diminution of the royal
prerogative.
James VI (1603-1625)
Elizabeth's reign finally came to an end. The mighty Queen was laid to rest in March
1603 with James of Scotland declared as rightful heir. James journeyed to London to
claim what he had longed for all his life, the throne of England. He greatly favored a
union of the two kingdoms and the new national flag, the Union Jack, bore the crosses of
St. Andrew and St. George. But though the Estates passed an Act of Union in 1607, it
was a hundred years before a treaty was signed. After the glorious successes enjoyed
under Elizabeth, marred by the failure to bring Ireland into her fold, there were many in
England who had no wish to merge their identity with what they considered to be yet
another inferior nation, let alone one that had been allied with Spain and France for such
long periods in its history.
Whatever the English thought of their northern neighbors, the Scottish king had taken the
throne of England without rancor. James VI was perfectly happy in the seat of power at
Whitehall. His troubles with the Scottish Presbyterians, however, were nowhere near at
an end. James' attempt to impose the Five Articles on the Scots, dealing with matters of
worship and religious observances was met with strong opposition. He went ahead
anyway, and pushed through his reforms at a in 1618. Typically, they were systematically
ignored throughout Scotland.
It is important to remember that during the reign of James as King of both Scotland and
England, the two nations retained their separate parliaments and privy councils. They
passed their own laws and enjoyed their own law courts, had their own national church,
their own ways of levying taxes and regulating trade and to a certain extent, they could
pursue their own foreign policies. Scotland itself was practically two distinct nations.
There was a huge division between Highland and Lowland. JamesÍ attempts to persuade
the clan chiefs to adopt the Protestant faith was a failure. They clung to the military
habits of their ancestors and continued the Gaelic tongue when most of Scotland had
abandoned it in favor of English.
Despite such setbacks, James' twenty-year experience as the King of Scotland should
have put him in good stead as monarch in London. But England was not Scotland; its
government had progressed along different lines. In particular, the concept of the divine
right of kings was not a major belief of those who held power at Westminster. There, it
was king and Parliament that was the source of all laws, not the king alone. There was
also the continuing religious problem, with both Catholic and Protestant factions vying
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for his support. James called an early conference at Hampton Court to listen to their
arguments.
In Scotland, James had insisted that his powers were divinely bestowed as one way of
counteracting the demands of both Presbyterians and Catholics. He carried this idea with
him when he came south. He did not wish to have the English state made subordinate to
any Church, whatever its religious preference. The example of Scottish Presbytery still
rankled and the English Puritans' demand for a "reduced episcopacy" made him
suspicious of their desires. James stated emphatically, "No bishop, no king."
Accordingly, the convocation of the clergy insisted on excommunicating anyone who
impugned the royal authority, the Anglican prayer books, or the Thirty-Nine Articles that
had been confirmed by statute in 1571 during Elizabeth's reign. For the age, these were
moderate demands indeed. What was more important was the decision to issue a new
translation of the Bible, and in 1611 the world received that most magnificent of all its
holy books, the so-called King James Bible, the Authorized Version.
Moderate as James considered himself in matters of religion, he still promised to harry
the Puritans out of the land. The consequent flight of many so-called Pilgrims to the
Netherlands, and in 1630 their voyage from there to the New World, along with many of
their compatriots from England, led to the establishment of the New England colonies.
But more of this later. In the meanwhile, the Catholics in England were not as
accommodating. When James reintroduced the recusancy laws that meted out penalties
for not attending Church of England services, a group of Catholics took action. Their
failure, in the notorious Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when they tried to blow up king and
Parliament did more than merely ensure the commemoration by burning Guy Fawkes in
effigy every November 5th, but also led to the demands for an oath of allegiance from
Catholic recusants. This was a severe setback to their cause and an increase in the hatred
of the Catholic religion in England and those who continued to practice it.
It is to James that we can attribute much of the sorry mess in Ireland that also continues
to divide Catholics and Protestants, Nationalists and Loyalists. Anxious to expand
Scotland's influence overseas, as well as to try to establish some sense of order in a
country not willing to join Wales and Scotland as part of the British nation, the king
unwisely encouraged the plantation of Ulster, beginning in 1610. Thousands of Scots
settled on lands that rightly belonged to the native Catholic population. Their influence
gave Ulster that staunchly Presbyterian character that so strongly resists attempts at Irish
reunification today. James also encouraged Scottish emigration to Arcadia, one of the
maritime provinces of Canada, part of which became Nova Scotia (New Scotland).
It wasn't only the matter of a religion, nor the vexing problem of what to do with Ireland
which James had to deal. It was during his reign that the House of Commons first began
to question the rights of the monarchy on matters of privilege. Elizabeth had replied most
forcibly to the Common's interference on matters touching her prerogative and yet by the
end of James' reign, the situation had changed altogether. The House of Commons now
not merely being a legislative body performing this task for the monarch, or giving
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advice, or granting such taxes as he needed, but possessing remarkable administrative and
legislative powers of its own. The change had come about gradually but the writing on
the wall was set firmly in place even at the very beginning of James' reign in the matter
of "Goodwin v. Fortescue."
Goodwin had been denied his place in the Commons by the Court of Chancery. When the
Commons vigorously protested, James had to back down from his position that the whole
institution of Parliament was dependent upon the royal powers. Following the Goodwin
case and one concerning another Member of the Commons, Sir Thomas Shirley, the
Commons were led to state what they considered to be their privileges in "The Form of
Apology and Satisfaction." In it, they stated that James, as a foreign king, did not
understand their rights which they enjoyed by precedent and not by royal favor. It was a
sign of things to come in the long struggle between king and parliament that came to a
head in the reign of Charles l.
Most of the troubles that beset James in his fight with Parliament, apart from his sexual
preferences for men such as George Villiers, whom he appointed to many high offices,
concerned the raising of money. The king's extravagance became legendary and the costs
of running the Court and the war with Spain, which James at least had the foresight to
end in 1604, led to the levying of additional customs duties. The matter of John Bate, a
merchant who had refused to pay an imposition caused a deep split between those who
believed that impositions were part or the king's absolute power and those who
considered them to be a parliamentary privilege.
In the dispute, Chief Justice Edward Coke thought that the judges should mediate
between king and parliament. His insistence on "a higher law background," that is the
preference of common law (common right and reason) over an act of Parliament, had an
enormous effect on the future direction of law both in England and in the American
Colonies, where a supreme court could annul legislation or executive acts as contrary to a
constitution. The king could dissolve parliament, or call it "addled," but it had to be
recalled when the need arose once more to finance England's entry into the snares of the
great European conflict.
James tried hard to keep the peace in Europe. His daughter Princess Elizabeth married
Frederick the Elector Palatine of the Rhine. He also wished to marry his surviving son
Charles, to the Spanish princess Donna Maria, but the German Catholic League,
supported by Spain, drove the Protestant Frederick out of his lands. The Commons
wanted a war with Spain, and a new dispute arose as to the exercise of free speech in
Parliament when James resisted their efforts to discuss foreign policy.
To avoid war, Prince Charles visited Madrid to court the Infanta but returned humiliated
along with Villiers, now Duke of Buckingham, who urged immediate war. James then
turned to France to arrange a marriage between Charles and the French Catholic Princess
Henrietta Maria (James' oldest son, Prince Henry, had died in 1612). The Thirty Years'
War began with England's disastrous attempt to recover the Palatinate for Frederick and
Elizabeth. The scholarly and intelligent James, the most learned of all who sat on the
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throne of England, so full of promise when he came to the throne, and so disappointed by
so many failures at the end of his reign, died in 1625. The failures on the Continent, and
in the struggle with Parliament continued in the reign of Charles l. The success of The
Authorized Version , however, remained a magnificent legacy of the James l, the
unfortunate monarch.
Charles I (1625-1649)
At the death of James, the throne passed to Charles l, who had only himself to blame for
the troubles that would later befall him. His support of Buckingham, who continued his
disastrous attempts at making war against France and Spain, as well as his own marriage
to a Catholic princess, did not stand him in good stead with Parliament, who refused to
grant him money until he got rid of Buckingham. The king dismissed his Parliament to
save his friend, using the Crown's emergency powers to raise his revenues until expenses
grew too great and Parliament had to be recalled. Its members promptly drew up a
Petition of Right to emphasize the ancient rights of the English people, to assert that no
man could be imprisoned without trial and other clauses that later became the foundation
of the United States Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Charles despaired of enforcing his rule on Parliament and from 1629 until 1630, he tried
to rule without it. He ended the wars with France and Spain. But as so often in history,
politics were dominated by economics, and poor harvests in England, coupled with a
serious decline in the cloth trade with the Netherlands, led to Charles's attempts to
enforce the collection of Ship Money over the whole country. He won his case against
Charles Hampton, who had refused to pay, but alienated many of the country gentry
without the support of whom his later fight with Parliament was doomed. Charles also
increased the power of the clergy, and when, under Archbishop Laud, they began to
renew persecution of the ever-growing Puritan sect, including the torture of William
Prynne and other divines, a further exodus to New England took place in the 1630's that
became known as the Great Migration.
Attempts to bring the Scottish Presbyterians into line spelled the beginning of the end for
Charles, ironically at the height of his powers in 1637 with an efficient administration,
more-or-less financially secure and doing quite nicely without Parliament. Although born
a Scot, the Stuart Charles had very little understanding of Scottish affairs and even less of
prevailing Scottish opinion. Of the Highlands, he knew nothing at all: of the Lowlands,
not enough. A devout Episcopalian, he distrusted the Kirk and Presbyterians and greatly
mistrusted democratic assemblies, religious or not. He completely failed to try to
understand his Scottish subjects; nor did he wish to. As one who ruled by Divine right, he
believed he had the sacred duty to bring the Scottish Kirk in line with the Church of
England. It was an obligation that eventually was to cost him dearly.
The Act of Revocation, decreed by Charles in 1625, restored the lands and titles to the
Church which had been distributed among the Scottish nobles during the upheavals of the
Reformation. It did nothing to endure the king to those who could have given him support
in Scotland. Neither did his outright, and to the Scots, outrageous demand of 1629 that
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religious practice in Scotland conform to the English model. It was as if Charles were
deliberately setting out to antagonize everyone north of the border. His elaborate
coronation as King of Scotland at St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1633 was
sufficiently "high church" to smack of popery to the assembled congregation. It was the
wrong time to raise the question of the liturgy. Charles and Archbishop Laud went ahead
anyway.
In July, 1637, the first reading of the Revised Prayer Book for Scotland was met with
nothing more than a riot. Even the Privy Council had to seek refuge from the angry mob
in Holyroodhouse. The Bishop of Brechin was able to conduct only with the aid of a pair
of loaded pistols aimed at the congregation. Charles' answer was simply to demand
punishment for those who refused to obey his orders concerning the use of the new
Prayer Book. All petitioners against the Book were to be dispersed, and all the nobles
who had resisted its use were to submit to the King's Will. The unwise and ill-advised
King of England and Scotland had not reckoned with the strength of his opposition.
In Edinburgh, the National Covenant was drawn up by a committee made up of
representatives from the clergy, the nobles, the gentry and the Scottish burghs. It was
known as the Tables. Briefly, the document, signed on what was called "the great
marriage day of this nation with God," pledged to maintain the True religion." Copies of
the Covenant were carried throughout the country; its theological implications often lost.
Though it had been signed "with His Majesty's Authority," it served almost as a
declaration of independence from English rule, and let it be known that it was not
Charles' representative in Scotland who made decisions, but the Lords of the Tables.
In November 1638, Charles met with the General Assembly in Glasgow. He didn't know
what he was in for. The Assembly deposed or excommunicated all bishops, abolished the
Prayer Book as "heathenish, Popish, Jewish and Armenian." Completely unwilling to
compromise his position on the Church, Charles once again showed his naivete by
brusquely informing the Assembly that all their decisions were invalid. To enforce his
commands, he decided on war. By this further example of rashness, he sealed his fate.
In contrast to the poorly prepared, poorly led and poorly motivated armies of the English
king in the early summer of 1639, the Scots had great numbers of experienced soldiers
returning from overseas campaigns. And they had a worthy general, Alexander Leslie,
who had commanded the army of the Swedes after the death of Gustavus Adolphus. The
First Bishop's War, as it was called, was settled, most unwillingly by Charles (who had
no other choice), by the Pacification of Berwick, by which the King agreed to refer all
disputed questions to the General Assembly or Parliament.
The Scottish Parliament wasted no time in abolishing episcopacy and freeing itself from
the King's control. When it took measures to weaken the Committee of Articles by which
Charles had tried to control it, the king again foolishly took up arms, and the Second
Bishops' War began. Without an effective army, Charles was forced to summon the
English Parliament to beg for funds. When it met, it did nothing to please the King: the
famous Long Parliament impeached and executed two of his chief supporters, Strafford
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and Laud. It also guaranteed its own existence against periods of personal rule by the
monarch, for it stated that no more than three years could pass between Parliaments.
More important, however, it stated that the present Parliament could not be adjourned
without its own consent. With this further whittling away of royal prerogative, civil war
threatened in England.
Off to Scotland again went Charles to try to gain support against his own Parliament. In
the land that he had hitherto so blatantly antagonized, he distributed titles freely and
reluctantly agreed to accept the decisions of the General Assembly and the Scottish
Parliament. He had no choice. In England, where he had more support from the landed
gentry, his obstinacy in resisting the Long Parliament and his stubborn insistence on
Divine Right created the conditions for the actual outbreak of war in 1642. The Grand
Remonstrance presented by Parliament had contained a long list of political and religious
grievances. Charles had the audacity to try to arrest five members of Parliament but his
attempts to locate them, and the speaker of the Houses' refusal to disclose their hiding
place marked the beginning of the Speaker's independence from the crown, another
landmark in the growth of Parliament.
At first, Scotland had no wish to get involved. The desires of the Covenanters were
theological, not political. There was also a split developing between the extremists, who
viewed practically anything at all of piety as "popery," and the moderates, led by
Montrose, who reaffirmed both his belief in the Covenant, but also his loyalty to the
King. Meanwhile, Charles had gathered enough supporters to gain many early victories
against the forces of Parliament, mainly untrained levies from the shires. Scotland was
again seen as a source of aid, but this time, it was the English Parliament, and not the
king, who made the request.
Because the Covenanters wanted to establish presbytery in Ireland and England, as well
as in Scotland, the offer from the English Parliament was too good to refuse. The
agreement known as the Solemn League and Covenant, was signed in the autumn of
1643, the Scottish army was to attack the forces of Charles in England. In return, they
would receive not only 30,000 pounds a month, but also the agreement that there would
be "a reformation of religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in doctrine,
worship, and government." (Wales was considered as part of England). One term of the
agreement was that popery and prelacy were to be completely extirpated from the whole
realm.
The conditions of the agreement now had to be imposed upon the English Church.
Accordingly, the Westminster Assembly was summoned to establish uniformity of
worship in Scotland, England (and Wales) and Ireland. The task was much easier in
Scotland, where even to this day, the Westminster Confession of Faith continues to serve
as the basis for Presbyterian worship. It was not as easy to implement in England and
almost impossible in Ireland. A good beginning, however, was the heavy defeat of the
Royalist forces at Marston Moor by the Parliamentary army under an up-and-coming
cavalry officer named Oliver Cromwell, that had been greatly augmented by a large force
of disciplined and well-armed Scotsmen.
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Then an about face took place. Montrose had been greatly disturbed by the forces of
extremism. The ancient theory of Divine Right of Kings was being severely tested. And
in the Highlands of Scotland, Presbytery did not run deep. The powerful Lord
accordingly, aided by many in Ireland and a few loyalists from the Lowlands, raised an
army of Highlanders to win Scotland for the King. The nationalist spirit was still beating
in some Scottish hearts after all, and Montrose's army, without cavalry and with no
artillery, managed to completely rout an army of Covenanters led by Lord Elcho at
Tippermuir. He then occupied Glasgow.
The Royalists in England were not faring as well. Cromwell's rag-tag armies had now
become the well-trained, well-armed New Model Army (nicknamed "the Roundheads).
Following their success at Marston Moor, they won a second smashing victory over
Charles at Naseby. They then turned towards Scotland and stopped the string of successes
of Montrose and his Highlanders at Philiphaugh. Then, in May 1646, news came of the
King's surrender to the Scottish forces at Newark. There was little left for Montrose but
to take ship for Norway and his followers went back to their homes. The victorious Scots
army, after having turned Charles over to the English Parliamentary Commissioners, also
returned north of the border. Everything seemed settled.
Despite their military successes, the Covenanters were not happy with the situation.
There was little likelihood that Cromwell would establish Presbytery in England. Perhaps
Charles would have been their best chance after all. So at the end of 1647, an agreement
was made between the Scottish Parliament and the king, whereby he would give
Presbyterianism a three-year trial in England in return for an army to help him against the
Parliamentarians. Charles' joy at this unexpected help soon turned to grief. The Scots
army, led by the Duke of Hamilton duly came south. It was utterly defeated by Cromwell
at Preston, its leader executed and its followers dispersed. Cromwell and his officers,
even before the battle, had decided that it was their duty to call Charles Stuart to account
for the blood he had shed and the mischief he had done against the Lord's cause. There
was to be no room for the king in the post-war settlement.
After Preston, the Commons passed the final ordinance establishing Presbyterianism. A
purge of the moderates in Parliament, however, left the radical elements in the so-called
"Rump Parliament" that created a High Court of Justice to bring Charles to trial for high
treason. His execution, held in public before a saddened crowd at Charles' own
banqueting hall in Westminster, whose only reaction was a loud and mournful groan, was
a foregone conclusion. The Rump then proclaimed a republican form of government.
First called the "Commonwealth and Free-State," and later the "Protectorate," it lasted
only eleven years.
Republican Government in England (1649-1660)
Charles I sincerely believed that he died in the cause of law and the Church. His death
may have been thought of by Cromwell as a political necessity, but it created an
atmosphere that was to haunt his own efforts to build a new godly society. When his
Parliament, the Rump, abolished the monarchy, on the grounds that it was unnecessary,
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burdensome and dangerous, and then meted out the same fate to the House of Lords, for
being useless as well as dangerous, it was destroying more than a thousand years of
English history. Yet for many, even these measures had not gone far enough; the socalled Levellers wanted more, wishing for biennial parliaments with strictly limited
powers, a vast increase in the electorate and no established church or doctrine.
The demands of the Levellers put them way ahead of their time. Cromwell was
determined to crush them in a show of force. Determined to bring in an era of firm
government, he quickly and forcibly suppressed any revolts and attempts at challenging
his authority. He also had to deal with the Scots, seething with anger at the execution of
their King whom he had promised to preserve and defend by the Solemn League and
Covenant of 1644.
Cromwell had come to Edinburgh to receive a hero's welcome, but the news of the
unprecedented execution of Charles, a few days later, sent a tidal wave of dismay over
much of Scotland. After all, the unfortunate man had been king of their country, too. And
regicide was still an act against God. Taking immediate action, Argyll continued the
strange alliance of King and Convenanter and had the 18 year-old Prince Charles
proclaimed King at Edinburgh.
In 1650, Charles II duly arrived in Scotland to claim his Kingdom. Eventhough, in an
opportune "conversion," he had allowed himself to be crowned by the more powerful
Presbyterian faction, this was totally unacceptable to Oliver Cromwell, who had assumed
the title of Lord Protector. Cromwell invaded Scotland, defeated the Scots under General
Leslie at Dunbar and marched on Edinburgh. The Covenanters, no doubt trusting that
God would preserve their cause, would not admit defeat and on New Year's Day, 1651
they crowned Charles II at Scone and raised a sizeable army to defend him. Mainly
composed of Highlanders, it was utterly defeated by the more disciplined, better trained
Roundheads at Inverkeithing.
Cromwell now occupied all of Scotland south of the Firth of Forth. He then departed to
deal with the Scottish army that had been looking for support in England, leaving General
Monck in charge. Cromwell caught up with the Scottish army at Worcester on September
3, 1651. He destroyed it. A few days earlier, Monck had captured the Committee of the
Estates (the remnant of the Scottish Parliament and had occupied Dundee). The continent
now became a refuge for yet another Scottish monarch, as Charles II fled to France in the
time-honored fashion of so many Scots rulers. He was to return after nine years in exile.
It is interesting to note that General George Monck is on record as being "the first
professional soldier of the unique school which believes that the military arm should be
subordinate to the civil" a doctrine followed by non other than General Dwight D.
Eisenhower during his presidency of the United States some three hundred years later.
While the king in exile "went on his travels," as he put it, Cromwell was busy setting up
an efficient system of government in both kingdoms. He saw that a Treaty of Union in
1652 united Scotland with England and made it part of the Commonwealth. At the
beginning of his "reign," sanctioned by the Rump Parliament, he had dealt severely with
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insurrection in Ireland, where his cruelty and butchery in reducing the towns of Drogheda
and Wexford made his name so hated that it is spoken in a dreaded whisper even today.
Cromwell was determined to prevent any of the Stuarts from gaining a foothold in
Ireland. Through his ruthless campaigning, he forced it to accept the authority of the
rulers of England. Following the precedent set by James l's land grants at the expense of
the native Irish, many more English landowners were able to take advantage of the
confiscation and sale of sizable Irish properties, a situation that was later to lead to the
blight known as "Absentee Landlordism." One result, however was that his military
successes made it possible to integrate Scottish, Welsh, English and Irish MP's into a
truly British Parliament, a remarkable achievement that lasted until the first quarter of the
20th century.
Under Cromwell, England was also able to strengthen its position abroad. As the signs of
civil strife became apparent, Charles l had married his daughter Mary, to William, Prince
of Orange, perhaps to show his commitment to Protestantism. Like the Scots, the Dutch
people were horrified at the news of the king's execution. To propose a union between the
two republics, the Rump Parliament sent envoys to Holland who were deliberately
insulted and thus the opportunity and the excuse was presented for English commercial
interests to engage in a trade war.
Consequently, the Rump passed a Navigation Act in 1654 designed to cripple Dutch
trade. The resulting war brought forth one of England's great military leaders, Admiral
Blake, who blockaded the Dutch ports and defeated and killed Admiral van Tromp in a
sea battle before peace came in 1654. War with Spain a year later resulted in the British
capture of Jamaica and the destruction of a large Spanish fleet at Tenerife.
In retrospect, Cromwell has been seen as an evil genius, at odds with the other impression
that saw him as a godly man, interested in the establishment of a lasting democracy that
practiced tolerance. He was certainly a man caught between opposing forces. He had
gained his power through the army, yet he wished to rule through a much less radical
parliament. He truly found himself "sitting on bayonets," as one historian has remarked.
In 1653, unable to satisfy the demands of both factions, in true monarchical fashion, he
even dissolved Parliament, but after the lack of progress of the interim "Barebones"
Parliament, he resumed his power as head of the government of a nation that consisted of
England and Scotland, Ireland and Wales. On 12 December, 1653, after he had refused an
offer of the Crown, "Old Noll" Cromwell, virtual dictator of England, received the title of
Lord Protector. He instigated a period of government remarkable for its religious
tolerance to all except Roman Catholics, still regarded as enemies of the realm. Under his
protectorate, Jews were allowed back into England for the first time since their expulsion
under Edward I. Many Jewish families were to do much to support later English
governments financially. The Society of Friends or Quakers, began to flourish under the
inspired leadership of George Fox. Perhaps more remarkable was the permission granted
to congregations to choose their own form of worship, the Anglican Book of Common
Prayer was replaced by the Directory of Worship.
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Even these measures were not enough to satisfy everyone. In 1655, a Royalist uprising
forced Cromwell to divide England into eleven military districts to keep down
insurrection and to rigidly enforce the laws of the Commonwealth. Many of these leaders
were responsible for the so-called "blue laws" creating a land of joyless conformity,
where not only drinking, swearing and gambling became punishable offences, but in
some districts, even going for a walk on Sundays. The unpopularity of these puritanical
justices, mostly army colonels, led to their dismissal in 1657.
The same year saw Parliament nominate Cromwell's son Richard as his successor, an
unfortunate choice, for the young man, nicknamed "Tumbledown Dick," didn’t have the
experience nor the desire to govern the nation. When he retired to his farm in the country,
a period of great confusion between the various political factions and indecisive
government resulted in the decision of General Monck to intervene. Always a Cavalier at
heart "Old George" Monck brought his army from Scotland to London, where he quickly
assembled a parliament and invited Charles ll to take over the reigns of the kingdom. The
Republic of Great Britain and Ireland came to an abrupt end.
Charles ll (1660-1685)
Though a London mob had thrown down a statue of Charles l outside the Royal
Exchange and placed the words "Exit Tyrannus" over the empty space, the same mob was
to lustily cheer "God Bless King Charles ll" at the arrival of General Monck's army. The
people had never been happy at the interregnum. The great diarist Samuel Pepys has
adequately described the rejoicing when the monarchy, "laid aside at the expense of so
much blood, returned without the shedding of one drop." Charles must have thought that
the tumultuous welcome accorded him gave him carte blanche to govern as he thought
fit; it did not. There was still Parliament.
The king got off to a good start. England was tired of being without a king, such an
integral part of their history and a source of great national pride when things went well.
Charles was crowned in April 1660 and within the same year married Catherine, the
daughter of the King of Portugal, an act, nevertheless, which did nothing to diminish his
reputation as a philanderer. Sadly enough, though he sired at least fourteen illegitimate
children, but he was not able to produce a legitimate heir. A cynic in morals and a
pragmatist in politics, he was shrewd enough to change his beliefs when he saw an
advantage. In his earlier attempts at winning the throne, he had courted the Scots
Presbyterians, but in later life, he reverted to his Catholic preferences.
Charles could not, of course, claim to rule by divine right. That era in English history had
gone forever. The Crown could not enforce taxes without the consent of Parliament, nor
could it arbitrarily arrest M.P.'s as Charles l had attempted. The two houses of
Parliament, Lords and Commons were restored, as was the Church of England and the
bishoprics. Many of those who had plotted against Charles l, known as "regicides" were
executed, but there was no orgy of revenge and many prominent anti-Royalists, such as
the poet John Milton, were allowed to escape punishment. The restoration of the
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supremacy of the Anglican Church, however, meant the upswelling of resistance from
those outside its embrace.
Protestants were grouped together under many names. There were Baptists,
Congregationalists and Quakers, all of who resisted strenuous efforts to get them to toe
the line by conforming to the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Action against them came in the
form of the Clarendon Code, a collection of different restrictive measures completed
during 1664-5, that cut off the dissenters from professional advancement in all the
professions, except business. Perhaps this may have led to the close alliance of Dissent
and the world of Business that so characterized later England and has been seen as the
foundation for its commercial success. In any case, it only strengthened the desire of the
new and various Protestant sects to worship in the way they pleased.
Unlicensed preachers became a thorn in the side of government who regarded them as
something akin to traitors. In 1660, John Bunyan, who preached, as he stated so
emphatically, by invitation of God, and not of any bishop, went to prison for twelve
years. The result was first, "Grace Abounding" and then "Pilgrim's Progress" completed
in 1675. The pious, humble Quakers were particularly singled out for ridicule and harsh
treatment. But the worst fears, and most severe recriminations were reserved for the
Catholics.
During the period known as Carolingian England, after Charles had made his triumphant
return from the Continent, it seems that there was no end to the anti-papal processions in
London, the burning of the pope and cardinals in effigy, the hunting down of Catholic
priests, the closing of their schools and search for their secret meeting places. Great
Catholic families had been particularly loyal to Charles l; they had become anathema
during the inter-regnum, and there was little that Charles II could do to restore their
former dignity and favor. Catholic priests went into hiding, in constant peril of death or
were forced to fall to the Continent.
After 1668, Charles began to turn more and more toward the Catholic religion. He
concluded treaties with Louis XIV of France and agreed to reconcile himself with the
"Church of Rome." In 1672, he issued a Declaration of Indulgence allowing freedom of
religion for Catholics as well as non-conformists (Dissenters). He then joined the French
king in a war against the Dutch, who flooded their lands successfully and resisted
invasion. The failure caused a return of English resentment of Catholics and the passing
of the Test Act of 1673 compelling public office holders to take the sacrament of the
Church of England.
In 1678, when Protestant Clergyman Titus Oates, known as an habitual liar, heard rumors
of the possible conversion of England to Catholicism by an invasion of French troops, he
whipped up public feeling to frenzied heights by graphically embellishing the false tale.
(Note: in World War II, the author as a small boy remembers the rumors being put about
of an invasion of German paratroopers who had, it was said, already landed in Scotland:
it was probably started when Nazi leader Hess parachuted into Scotland to give himself
up to British authorities). Panic swept the land.
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In the orgy created by rumors of plots to kill Charles and burn down Parliament,
Catholics were hunted down and killed, and the legitimate heir, James Duke of York, was
excluded from the throne by Parliament because he was a Catholic. Those who supported
him were called "Tories" after Catholic outlaws in Ireland. Those who opposed James
were the "Whigs" after Whiggamores, fiercely Protestant Scottish drovers. The Whigs
supported the claim of The Protestant Duke of Monmouth, one of Charles' illegitimate
sons. Another civil war seemed imminent before anti-Catholic feelings managed to die
down in the absence of the "threatened" invasion. Yet even then, Charles continued his
secret intrigues with the King of France.
Fortunately for the profligate, but Machiavellian English King, when a Whig plot to
murder him and James, he had a reason to execute his opponents. Popular opinion then
allowed him to bring back James to England where he regained his earlier position as
Lord High Admiral. Charles was then able to live out the rest of his reign in peace mainly
free from the political and religious struggles that had occupied so much of his reign.
These struggles, mostly involving the degree to which Protestantism had taken hold in
Britain, had been particularly manifest in England's relations with Scotland. Alas, like his
father, the new king had little interest in Scotland, preferring to govern it through a Privy
Council situated in Edinburgh and a Secretary at London. Despite his early support by the
Scots Presbyterians, he considered Presbytery as "not a religion for gentlemen." It is a
constant source of astonishment to the modern reader how little Charles knew about how
deep the roots of Presbyterianism had been planted in Scotland and how strongly the
Covenanters would fight all attempts to return Scotland to episcopacy. His years in exile
had taught him very little.
As King of Scotland, Charles had signed two Covenants in 1649 merely to secure his
own coronation. When he restored James VI's method of choosing the Committee of
Articles, he had the intention, not only of strengthening his position in relation to
Parliament, but also of bringing back the bishops and restoring the system of patronage
that chose ministers. All ministers chosen since 1649 were required to resign and to
reapply for their posts from the bishops and lairds. One third of all Scottish ministers
refused and held services in defiance of the law. Troops were sent to enforce the
regulations but made the Calvinist Covenanters even more eager to serve God in their
own way. In 1679, claiming to be obeying a command from on high, they murdered
Archbishop Sharp.
The government decided to intervene to bring the rebels to heel. An army was sent to
deal with them under the command of James, Duke of Monmouth. He defeated the
Covenanters at Bothwell Brig and the survivors were dealt with severely. The reaction
and counter-reactions that followed gave the period of the 1680's the title of "The Killing
Time." The troubles continued when Charles died in 1685 to be succeeded by his brother
James VIl (James ll of England) an openly-avowed Catholic who was welcomed in the
Highlands, ever true to the legitimate monarch. And thus the seeds were sown for the
Jacobite opposition that blossomed under the next king, the Dutchman, William of
Orange.
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Before the accession of James II, however, we have to mention the three great disasters
that befell the England of Charles: plague, fire and war, all of which took place in three
consecutive years, and all of which were recorded in graphic detail by diarist Pepys. The
great outbreak of plague began in 1665, bringing London to a standstill and causing panic
at the numbers of dead and the lack of any knowledge as to how to deal with the terrible
scourge. Those who could afford to, simply packed up and went to live in the country.
The Great Fire of London, catastrophic as it was to the city, may have helped destroy the
dwelling places of the brown rat, the carrier of the deadly fleas and thus brought the
plague to an end. Though it destroyed the massive St. Paul's cathedral, it gave a chance
for architects such as Christopher Wren to rebuild, transforming the old, unhealthy
medieval, infested warrens into a city worthy of being a nation's capital, with fine, wide
streets, memorable public buildings and above all, its magnificent new churches,
including the present St. Paul's.
The third catastrophe was the continuation of the war against Holland. This time, with the
Royal Navy mutinous over poor pay and atrocious conditions aboard its ships, the Dutch
navy was able to sail with impunity into the Medway at the mouth of the Thames and
burn many of the English ships moored at idle anchor. After the triumphs of Admiral
Blake in the First Dutch War (1652-4), the Second Dutch War (1665-7) was a national
disgrace.
Charles II died in February 1685 of a heart attack no doubt brought on by a life style that
today' medical men (and religious leaders) would style nothing less than debauched. Of
his reign, and that of his successor, more than one historian has seen all the political
struggles, culminating in the Revolution of 1688 and the triumph of Parliament over the
Crown, as springing partly from their attempts to grant to Catholics a greater degree of
tolerance than would be countenanced by their other English subjects. They came to a
head during the reign of James II.
James ll (1685-1688)
James was yet another of those who have only themselves to blame for their downfall.
His reign lasted only three years. He too, had learned nothing from his predecessors, for
his attempts to re-introduce Catholicism into a country that had become a bastion of
Protestantism meant with disaster far worse than any plague or fire or minor skirmishes
on the Continent. Unlike Charles II, who could modify his beliefs to suit the occasion and
ride the swells of political change, James could not; his morality, some say his highhandedness, prevented him. In his own words, he admitted that had he kept his religion
private, he could have been one of the most powerful kings ever to reign in England, but
he would think of nothing "but the propagation of the Catholic religion."
Things went well at first. He was able to get Parliament to grant him adequate finances.
He recognized the Church of England as the established church and defeated a rebellion
led by James, the Duke of Monmouth who had foolishly landed on the southern coast of
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England and declared himself king. Though many of the people of the southwest came to
his support, Monmouth's rag-tag army was defeated at Sedgemoor and soon came to
suffer the reprisals handed out by the infamous "Bloody " Judge Jeffries who had
hundreds executed and hundreds more transported overseas as convicts, mainly to the
New World.
King James was misled by his early success. He began to implement policies that not
only gave religious toleration to nonconformists, but also, and especially to, Catholics.
Enlightened as this policy seems to us, James had chosen the wrong time and the wrong
country. By replacing Protestants as heads of universities, military leaders and in
important offices of state, the king dug his own grave. He ignored all Protestant pleas for
concessions. One of the last straws was his 1687 Declaration of Indulgence which aimed
at complete religious toleration. This too, was an act far ahead of its time; it only
furthered the resentment of, and increased the fears of, the nation's Protestant majority.
Non conformists and Anglicans reformed their alliance against the religious policies of
the king. He had learned nothing from Charles II, who had done his best to keep this
alliance alive; thus ensuring that his last years were peaceful ones.
James, on the other hand, was too anxious to foment change; he did not take into account
the anti-Catholic sentiments of much of the British nation; constant wars with continental
powers, i.e. Catholic, had built a strong, nationalistic British (and Protestant) state. James'
plans for equal civil and religious rights for Catholics were out of the question; his efforts
to win widespread support for his policies were totally unsuccessful.
On the continent, the Protestant ruler, the Dutch King William III of Orange was engaged
in a duel with the French King Louis XIV for military success and diplomatic influence
in Western Europe. Charles II of England had fought against the Dutch in a series of
skirmishes for commercial hegemony, but a rapprochement followed the marriage of
William and his first cousin Mary, James's eldest daughter in 1677. William made his
decision to intervene in England in early 1688, hoping to be seen as a liberator, not as a
conqueror; but his first invasion attempt in mid-October was easily defeated, mainly by
the English weather which destroyed most of his ships and supplies.
Yet it was precisely this weather, and the strong northeasterly wind, that later prevented
the British fleet from intercepting the Dutch armies of William landing at Brixham on 5
November, 1688. King James, despite having numerical strength in soldiers was forced
on the defensive. His weak resolve, poor judgment, ill health and probably poor advice,
caused him to retreat to London instead of attacking William's vulnerable army.
In the meantime, a series of provincial uprisings did nothing to bolster the morale of
James' forces; Derby, Nottingham, York, Hull and Durham declared for William whose
army marched towards London. Showing a complete failure of nerve, James fled to
France in mid-December; his forces, twice the size of those of William, rapidly
disintegrated. It was widely believed that William allowed James to escape, not wishing
to make the King another English martyr. In what historians have called the "Glorious
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Revolution" William and Mary, in a joint monarchy, became rulers of Britain. James II
and his baby son were debarred from the succession, as were all Catholics.
Part 7: The Age of Empire
Preparation for Empire Building: The Growth of the Commons
In 1690 John Locke published his highly influential "Two Treatises of Civil
Government;" its theory of limited monarchy had vast appeal to the majority of
Englishmen, but especially to Parliament, always anxious to increase its own powers and
give special favors to its members. According to Locke, "The liberty of man in society is
to be under no other legislative power but that established by consent in the
commonwealth, nor under the domination of any will, or restraint of any law, but what
that legislative shall enact according to the trust put in it."
Prior to the great electoral reforms of the later 19th century, the legislative in England
was restricted to a very limited class. But it was a powerful class indeed that came to
dominate the House of Commons, and it was the House of Commons that made the
Empire, for it was an empire based on trade. While England's great rival, the kingdom of
Spain may have had mixed motives in its overseas conquests, the lure of gold perhaps as
equally important as the saving of souls, those who governed Britain did not disguise
their motives.
The power of the Commons, and its control by the business and trade oriented middleclass, aided and abetted by a rapidly growing stratum of lawyers, had been building
steadily; it looked for opportunities in whatever part of the world they could be found
(and exploited). They were aided by the constitutional crisis that occurred when James II
fled to France in 1688.
A Convention Parliament offered the throne to William and Mary (elder daughter of
James II) as joint sovereigns; hereditary succession was replaced by parliamentary
succession. A Bill of Rights was drawn up that guaranteed free speech, free elections and
frequent meetings of Parliament, the consent of which was made necessary to raise taxes,
keep a standing army and proscribe ecclesiastical commissions or courts, and royally
suspend and dispense power. In short, the Bill re-affirmed the will of the English people
(or at least of those who represented them in Parliament) against the arbitrary powers of
the monarchy.
One of the most important milestones in English law had already taken place. The
"Habeas Corpus Act" of 1679 had obliged judges to issue upon request a writ of habeas
corpus directing a gaoler (jailer) to produce the body of any prisoner and to show cause
for his imprisonment. The Act went on to state that a prisoner should be indicted in the
first term of his commitment, be tried no later than the second term and once set free by
order of the court, should not be imprisoned again for the same offense. Thus at a single
stroke, hundreds of years of abuse of the prisoner by the authorities, often capricious and
vengeful, came to an end. The Act remains an integral part of the Commonwealth's legal
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system today and has been widely copied in many other countries including the United
States.
Also of considerable interest and lasting importance was the creation of a fixed Civil List
for both the Crown's household and administrative expenditures, a novelty which the
monarchs may have chafed at ever since, but which was made necessary to keep their
expenditures under parliamentary control. Parliament had come a long way since the days
of Henry VII. It is worth while to take a brief look at what had been taking place in the
winning of the initiative by the House of Commons.
In the reign of Henry VIII Parliament had become increasingly important in the scheme
of government for it gave confirmation and authority to the royal wishes when needed. If
the King wished to go slow on his promises of treaties, it gave him a convenient way of
retreat; in the struggle with foreign and domestic interests, it strengthened his hands.
Much more than a formality of government and a mere income-generating body,
Parliament began to be recognized as the voice of public opinion, a voice that the Tudors
may not always have liked, but one which they wisely never wholly failed to heed.
The Tudors had encountered some opposition from the Commons, but during most
Parliamentary sessions it had not been enough to cause any great anxiety to the Crown or
the Council. There were simply too many members in the Lower House who regarded
opposition to the Crown as disloyal. In any case, Henry VIII was ruthless in dealing with
those who opposed him. Yet the Members in Commons could become vociferous,
especially when the Crown asked for money. Privileges began to be exchanged for
promises of ready cash: once granted, it was hard for future monarchs to refuse them.
The Upper House, as expected, was a firm ally of the Council. The leaders of the House
of Lords were usually landed magnates who had often helped the Council in formulating
Crown policy. The Lords seldom resisted the wishes of the Council, and much legislation
was put first through the Upper House; then brought to the Commons, who dutifully
followed along, for their seats often depended upon the support of local magnates. It was
during the troublesome reign of Mary Tudor that the Commons became more
contentious. Her determination to reverse the trend of events in religion brought her into
conflict with her Parliaments, where something like a Protestant Party began to form to
voice its opposition. Members began to speak out, and Mary had to go out of her way to
dragoon them into acquiescence with her unpopular policies. In Elizabeth's long reign,
the House of Commons grew in leadership, though the whip hand remained firmly in the
hands of the Queen and Council. It was in matters where the Queen expressed no opinion
that the House was subtly, but surely, able to gain in power. The Puritan element in
Parliament began to exert more and more influence; it was especially alarmed at
Elizabeth's middle-of-the road religious policies. For the time being, however, under the
strong hand of the Privy Council, and especially during the time of the Cecils, the
Commons remained quiet, duly supportive of Royal legislation, kept firmly in control by
the carefully groomed Speaker. Yet even his power had declined by the end of Elizabeth's
reign with the dramatic increase in the use of the committee system.
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By the time of the early Stuarts, essential changes had taken place in the growth of the
English Constitution, changes in the day to day business and in the way of doing things.
Between the time of Elizabeth I and the Long Parliament of Charles I, a great change had
taken place in the relation of the Royal Council to the Commons. Almost unnoticed,
Privy Councillors had ceased to guide the Lower House, in which there came into power
a group of leaders who had no official connection with the government. It was this
leadership that established the real initiative in legislation. The Commons had become a
dominant force in government; its dynamic, forceful leaders had made the institution
almost unrecognizable from the old, acquiescent body that had been afraid to cross the
Tudors.
Parliament had further grown in strength when James I failed to keep a sufficient number
of his own men in the Commons, which became increasingly vociferous in expressing its
grievances. James himself was seen as a meddler; unlike Elizabeth, he was not content
with staying in the background, and his constant interference meant that his words lost
their weight, and royal prerogative began to be sneered at openly. Resentment led to
opposition. The King's penchant for elevating his supporters to the House of Lords also
left him with inexperienced, untried members to speak for him in the Commons.
The leadership exercised by Elizabeth's able Councillors was wholly absent during James'
reign. The Commons could only benefit from the hiatus; its members were no longer
subservient to the Royal Will; many were lawyers who brought new initiatives along with
their legal skills into the committee system. Their presence ensured that the Commons no
longer served as a recruiting ground for the service of the Crown, but was seen as a
dignified profession for wealthy and powerful country gentlemen. Their allegiance was
primarily to common law, not to the whims of their monarch.
A new interest in precedent also searched for ways to establish the privileges, rights and
powers of the Commons on a firm basis, rapidly changing it from a mere ratifying body
to one that formulated and passed laws. The Commons eventually showed that it not only
could decide who could sit on the throne of England, it could even dispense with the
monarchy altogether. It also had to deal with Scotland.
The Jacobites in Scotland and Ireland
It was all-too-soon apparent that William's success in England did nothing to ensure the
compliance of Scotland and Ireland. The cause of the exiled Stuarts became known as
Jacobitism, from the Latin for James, Jacobus. Though King James and his supporters
controlled parts of Britain including most of Ireland, they failed miserably in their cause.
In a series of strategically-sound campaigns, William succeeded in driving them from
their bases in both Ireland and Scotland, thus forcing them to become reliant on foreign
support. The campaigns against William's rule in overwhelmingly-Catholic Ireland began
the period of close cooperation of that country with France, both military and political. It
continued right up the '45 rebellion.
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The first battle against the new King William of England was fought in Scotland. In July,
1689, at Killiecrankie, the most active of James' supporters, Viscount Dundee, defeated a
much larger royal army led by General Mackay. "Bonnie Dundee" was killed in the
battle, but the Highlanders' success led the hitherto hesitant clans to flock to James'
standard. It was a success that gave them false hopes; without Dundee in command, they
were unable to exploit their initial victory.
The decisive battles involving the Jacobite cause were not fought in Scotland, but in
Ireland, more accessible to French naval power, and thus to troops and supplies. In a
desperate attempt to regain his throne, James II left France for Ireland in March 1689. His
armies soon won most of the country, but a prolonged resistance was put up by the
people of Derry, where the Protestant apprentice boys had slammed the city gates shut
against the Catholic army. Starving Derry (Londonderry) was eventually relieved by an
English fleet in July 1689, a day still celebrated with much pomp and pageantry in
Northern Ireland. In August, mainly as a consequence of the resistance of Derry and
Enniskillen, William's army, mostly Danish and Dutch mercenaries, occupied Belfast.
In June 1690 William marched on Dublin. His way was blocked by the Jacobite forces on
the banks of the River Boyne, which became the site of the battle so vividly remembered
and celebrated by Ulster's Protestant majority. James' outnumbered forces were cast
aside. Once more showing a failure of nerve, in time-honored fashion for a Scottish ruler,
he fled to France, and William easily took Dublin. Other successes were enjoyed by John
Churchill, Earl of Marlborough, aided by the Dutch General Ginkel with Hugh Mackay
as his second-in-command. At Limerick, what was left of the Jacobite cause suffered
another catastrophic defeat; all their forces in Ireland consequently surrendered, with
about 11,000 Irishmen, the so-called Wild Geese, going to France to continue the fight for
James.
James had not given up hope of regaining his kingdom. He still enjoyed the strong
support of Louis XIV, and in June 1690, his hopes were raised when a large French naval
force managed to defeat an Anglo-Dutch fleet. As so often in the past, however, the
Jacobite victory was not followed up. French control of the Channel was not exploited
and the initiative was soon lost. When Louis finally decided to invade England in May
1692, it was too late; his fleet was sent packing. One result of the hostilities was entirely
unexpected but had an enormous result on subsequent world history.
In 1694, the costs of the war led to the formation of the Bank of England, a Whig jointstock company that raised funds from the public and loaned it to the government in
exchange for the right to issue bank notes and to discount bills. The loan did not have to
be repaid as long as the interest was raised by imports duties. Thus a funded national debt
came into being. The method of borrowing money at interest, instead of taking it by
taxation for nothing was established as a normal practice. It took a while to catch on in
other countries, but catch on it did, as soon as respective governments saw the
advantages. The foundation of a society to write marine insurance formed by merchants
and sea captains at Lloyd's Coffee House in 1688 was also of enormous importance; the
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practice of underwriting enormous expenditures in overseas ventures and shipping, dates
from this time.
Another revolutionary idea was the granting of monopolies in trade by Parliament, and
not by the time-honored system of royal dispensation to favorite courtiers. The 1698
Parliament showed its strength by announcing that such grants could no longer be granted
as a general rule by royal charter but only though an act of Parliament. The new East
India Company came about as one of the first results of these acts, seen by many as the
greatest event in the organization of British foreign trade. This company, together with
the newly-formed Bank of England, showed only too well the growing power of the
British traders and financiers over the state government.
For many, the resolution of May 26, 1698 was as important as the "Magna Carta" of
1215, for it gave the granting of powers and privileges for carrying on the East India
trade to Parliament. And if the trading classes could control Parliament, they could make
their own terms, which is precisely what happened over and over again in subsequent
British history. It became one of the ever-increasing problems for the country's
government: the interference of trade with legislation and administration was to become
an inevitable part of the future. Yet it was the desire for trade and overseas markets that
led to the expansion of the Empire.
On the Continent, French King Louis, having enough of the war against the stubborn
Dutch and their allies, made peace at Rijswijk in 1697, recognizing William as King of
England and his sister-in-law Anne as heiress presumptive. A period of peace between
France and England, however, came to an end with Louis's recognition of the prince born
in 1688 as the future King James III, an act regarded by historian Arthur Bryant as one of
"megalomaniac folly." Prospects for the Jacobites, however, were not helped by the War
of the Spanish Succession which tied up Catholic forces in the Netherlands and forced
France to withdraw to its own borders.
As important as William's victories were in Scotland and Ireland, he was more concerned
with the fate of the Spanish Netherlands that looked likely to fall to France upon the
death of the childless Charles II of Spain. After Louis agreed that his grandson Phillip V
would rule the Spanish Empire, William formed his Grand Alliance against France in
1701. We have to remember that William's main purpose in taking on the throne of
England was to utilize its resources and military forces to defend his beloved Netherlands
against the French King. When William died in 1702 after falling from his horse (young
Queen Mary had died of small pox in 1694), Princess Anne succeeded him; the war in
France continued.
Queen Anne (1702-14) The Foundations of Empire
It was evident during the reign of dull, gouty Anne that Britain was also fast becoming a
nation thoroughly Protestant, though the inevitable differences in worship continued.
Anne was an Anglican, a member of the Established Church of England. King James had
been forced to make a number of concessions to the Nonconformists (or Dissenters) in
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order to win political support. Though the times were not yet ripe for complete religious
toleration, the Toleration Act of 1689 had broken the monopoly of English Protestantism
hitherto enjoyed by the Established Church.
The rise of the Dissenters and the spread of Unitarianism accompanied the so-called
Scientific Revolution in England associated with the upsetting (to Churchmen)
discoveries of such men as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle. The Established Church no
longer played a major role in national politics. The accession of William, a Dutch
Calvinist, had been instrumental in helping sever that special relationship long enjoyed
between Church and Crown.
Though the quarrels within and without the Church continued, in an age noted for the
prolific rise in pamphleteering and electioneering chicanery, the time of Daniel Defoe
and Dean Swift and the intense and bitter political between Whigs and Tories, it was the
war with France that dominated Queen Anne's reign. William's accession had meant that
the island nation of England had become inextricably part of the Continent. The war
brought forth one of England's great military leaders, John Churchill, the husband of
Queen Anne's close friend Sarah.
Churchill succeeded King William as leader of the English and Dutch forces in the Grand
Alliance. Under his leadership as the Duke of Marlborough, England became the leading
military power in Europe for the first time since the Hundred Years' War. Though the
Dutch feared an invasion by France, Marlborough went ahead and attacked the French
army at Blenheim, a name that is remembered in England as one of the greatest victories
in its long history.
The annihilation of the French army at Blenheim was followed by the English capture of
Gibralter in 1704; another smashing victory at Ramillies was then followed by additional
successes at Oudenarde and Malplaquet. A grateful nation built Blenheim Palace for the
Duke (a sumptuous residence in which Winston Churchill, a direct descendant of John
Churchill, was born in 1874). The victorious Wellington was satirized by Scot John
Arbuthnot in his "The History of John Bull" (1712) that introduced the name John Bull as
a symbol of England.
England and the New World: An Expanding Empire
In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht firmly established England's commercial and colonial
supremacy, for it gave her new possessions in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Minorca
as well as Gibralter and the sole right to supply slaves to Spanish colonies. Britain's
interests in the New World had begun early. An indication of its eventual triumph in
Virginia had been the founding of the College of William and Mary in 1693.
Success in colonizing North America had not come without its terrible costs, yet in
retrospect it seemed extremely rapid. It is a sobering fact that the first voyage of
Christopher Columbus took place only 20 years after Scotland had finally acquired the
Orkneys and Shetlands from Norway. Columbus had visited England in 1477 to try to
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obtain backing for a voyage to discover a new route to the Indies but had been turned
down (his brother Bartholomew was also rejected by the English Court in 1485). Yet
only five years after Columbus had landed in the Bahamas, John Cabot reached Labrador
aboard the Matthew. His 35 day voyage marks the beginning of British domination of
North America.
In 1496, John and Sebastian Cabot, sailing from Bristol, took their little fleet along the
coasts of what were later called Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Some English scholars
maintain that the name America comes from Richard Amerik, a Bristol merchant and
Customs officer, who helped finance the Cabot voyages. The elder Cabot recorded the
vast fishing grounds later known as the Grand Banks.
Interest in finding new lands may have been initiated by the publication of "Utopia" by
Thomas More in 1515, that described the benefits of a new land. It must certainly have
been influenced by the Spanish discoveries of maize, tobacco and the potato, all of which
they introduced in Europe, along with oranges from the Orient. Another deciding factor
was the planting of the French flag in the Gaspe Peninsular, Canada and on lands along
the St. Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534. Much of Britain's investment in
North America may have been simply to prevent French influence.
Further interest in the New World was surely sparked by the explorations of Franciscan
missionary de Niza who returned to Spain in 1539 with glowing accounts of the "seven
cities of Cibola." One year later, Dutchman Jo Greenlander discovered that early settlers
had been in what was later named Greenland. Hernando de Soto landed at Tampa Bay
and Coronado explored the American southwest. In 1541 Pizarro completed his conquest
of Peru and de Soto discovered the Mississippi. Perhaps the most consequential discovery
of the century was that of the silver mine at Potosi by the Spanish in 1545 that fueled the
commercial activity of Europe during the following century.
The efforts of Spain and Portugal in the same area also spurred further English interest in
the Americas. It was especially so since the writings of Welshman John Dee had claimed
the New World for Elizabeth I as Queen of an Atlantic Empire, and successor to Madoc,
a Welsh prince purported to have landed in what later became known as Mobile Bay in
the 12th century and whose followers, it was claimed, intermingled with the Mandans in
the upper Mississippi Valley.
England's own era of exploration, initiated by the Cabots, was expanded by the journeys
of Hugh Willoughby to seek a Northeast Passage to China and the spice trade. He
reached Moscow by way of the White Sea and Archangel in 1553. As a result, the
Muscovy Company was founded by Richard Chancellor to trade with Russia in 1555.
One year later, in what many non-smokers now consider "a year of infamy," tobacco
seeds reached Europe, brought from Brazil by a Franciscan monk.
In 1561, Jean Nicot (who gave his name to nicotine) sent seeds and powdered leaves of
the tobacco plant to France. Such imports to Europe seized the imagination of John
Hawkins who began his career of high-jacking Portuguese and Spanish ships in 1562.
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Hawkins' exploits, along with similar exploits of his fellow mariners, led to England's
entering the Slave Trade despite Queen Elizabeth's dramatic speech against it (she later
took shares in his company and even lent him a ship).
Tobacco found its way to England when John Hawkins brought some home from Florida
in 1565. Three years later, David Ingram explored from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada
and reported finding vines with grapes as large as a man's thumbs. A great boost to
exploration then came from the publication, in 1569, of the Flemish geographer
Mercator's projection map of the world which represented the meridians of longitude by
equally spaced parallel lines and which greatly increased the accuracy of navigational
maps. English mariner Francis Drake then undertook his daring voyage of 1572 to
capture the Spanish treasure fleet returning from Peru, a feat surpassed by his even
greater haul one year later.
English exploration of North America continued in 1576 when Martin Frobisher
discovered Baffin's Land and Frobisher's Bay on his search for a Northwest Passage to
China. Two years later Queen Elizabeth gave a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to
"inhabit and possess at his choice all remote and heathen lands not in the actual
possession of any Christian prince." The search for the famed Northwest Passage
continued unabated.
In 1580, Drake arrived back in Plymouth having circumnavigated the globe in the
Pelican, renamed the Golden Hinde after the gallant ship had passed through the Straits
of Magellan. Drake was then knighted by the Queen after capturing the richest prize ever
taken at sea. Gilbert then tried unsuccessfully to create the first English settlement in the
New World at Newfoundland. The Virginia colony was established in 1584 at Roanoke
by Sir Walter Raleigh. One year later, Chesapeake Bay was discovered by Ralph Lane
and Davis Strait by John Davis.
In 1585, the first oriental spice to be grown in the New World, Jamaican ginger, arrived
in Europe. In 1586, Sir Richard Cavendish became the third man to circumnavigate the
globe when his ship the Desire reached England after a voyage of over two years. During
the same year, Raleigh planted potatoes on his estate near Cork, Ireland; and Virginia
Dare was born on Roanoke Island, the first English child to be born in North America.
In 1594, after deaths from scurvy in the Royal Navy had become epidemic, Sir Richard
Hawkins recommended orange and lemon juice as antiscorbutics. It eventually became
standard practice in the Royal Navy to add citrus juice to the diet (conquest of scurvy
played a big part in England's later domination of the seas). When the Portuguese closed
its spice market in Lisbon to Dutch and English traders, the Dutch East India Company
was created to obtain spices directly from the Orient.
English exploration of the New World continued, receiving a bonus when Richard
Hakluyt produced a recognizable map in 1599. In 1600, the Honourable East India
Company was chartered to make annual voyages to the Indies and to challenge Dutch
control of the spice trade. The smoking of tobacco became fashionable in London this
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year. When the first spice fleet leaving for the Orient arrived at the Cape of Good Hope,
James Lancaster dosed his sailors with lemon juice to make them the only crew in the
entire fleet not decimated by scurvy. Coffee joined tobacco as a London fad.
In 1602, English sailor Bartholomew Gosnold explored what was later to be called "New
England." He brought sassafras back, but left smallpox behind to decimate many of the
native peoples, mistakenly called "Indians." After James I had made peace with Spain in
1604, he re-directed England's efforts at colonizing North America, and the Plymouth
and London Companies sent ships and colonists. Jamestown, Virginia was founded in
1607. During the same year, Henry Hudson sought a route to China and sailed round the
Eastern Shore of Greenland to reach Spitzbergen. In 1610, Hudson's ship Discovery
reached the strait later to be known as Hudson Bay, Canada.
In 1612, John Smith published his "Map of Virginia" describing the colony, which
eventually managed to produce an extremely profitable export commodity in tobacco. In
1614, Smith also explored the New England coast and renamed a native village, calling it
Plymouth. Next, when he ventured to a latitude of over 77 degrees north to seek the
Northwest Passage, William Baffin sailed farther north than any other explorer for the
next 236 years. In 1616, John Smith published his "Description of New England",
providing a further impetus to would-be settlers.
In 1618, the first legislative body in the New World convened at Jamestown, the Virginia
House of Burgesses. This was also a year in which small pox ravaged the native
population of the English North American colonies, including Chief Powhatan. One year
later, the first black slaves arrived in Virginia, and the first American day of
Thanksgiving was celebrated on the English ship Margaret at the mouth of the James
River.
In 1620, the Mayflower arrived off Cape Cod with 100 Pilgrims and two children born at
sea. The Plymouth Colony celebrated its first Thanksgiving Day, but the colonists did not
entertain their Indian guests at the dinner until the following year. In 1628 John Endicott
arrived as the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thousands more English
settlers went to the American colonies during the reign of Charles l. In 1632, Maryland
received its charter by a grant from King Charles to Cecil Calvert. Four years later,
Providence was founded as a Rhode Island settlement by Roger Williams, and Harvard
College came into existence.
In 1639 the first Smithfield hams arrived in England from Virginia, now starting to
thrive, and the following year, Massachusetts Bay Colony began to export codfish. In the
West Indies, sugar cane was grown for profit, supplying Britain with a substitute for
honey, now rare after the dissolution of the monasteries, which had produced most of
British honey for centuries. The manufacture of Rum from sugar cane was established in
Barbados. Britain began to concentrate on the West Indies and the Americas, leaving the
East Indies to the Dutch, but competing with France (and to some extent the Dutch) for
North America.
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In 1649, after the defeat of the armies of King Charles l, many Royalists emigrated to
Virginia. In 1655, Admiral Penn captured Jamaica from the Spanish. In 1664, Nieuw
Amsterdam was renamed New York after its capture from the Dutch. A year later, the
New Jersey Colony was founded by English colonists. The Treaty of Westminster of
1674 returned New York and Delaware to England, freeing the English to expand their
trade and grow prosperous on it.
In 1681, Pennsylvania had its beginning in the land grant given to Admiral Penn's son,
the Quaker William, who wished to call it New Wales, but settled for the Welsh word for
head (Pen) and the Latin for woods (Sylvania). The Frame of Government for the new
colony contained an explicit clause that permitted amendments, an innovation that made
it a self-adjusting constitution, as the US Constitution itself later came to be.
In a move that has been ignored by many historians, England readmitted Roman
Catholics to the army in 1686, thus allowing many thousands of Irish peasants and Scots
Highlanders to join the forces that would be needed to expand and control England's
ever-growing empire. In 1696, William Dampier published his general survey of the
Pacific, "Voyage Round the World." One year later, Parliament opened the slave trade to
British merchants who began their triangular trade from taking rum from New England to
Africa, slaves to the Caribbean and sugar and molasses to New England. In 1698,
Dampier sailed on his Pacific expedition to explore the West Coast of Australia.
Further emigration from England to the American Colonies was encouraged during
Queen Anne's reign by the 1702 publication of Cotton Mather's "Magnalia Christi
Americana," a history of New England designed to show that God was at work in the
colonies. A French-Indian attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, however, was a precursor
of the later war to come. Queen Anne, of a most "ordinary" character, and the last
monarch of the ill-fortuned House of Stuart, died in 1714. She was succeeded by
Hanover's Prince George Louis, a great-grandson of James I. During her reign,
developments had taken place in England that were to shortly make it the world's leading
industrial power. But first came political union with Scotland.
The Act of Union with Scotland: May 1, 1707
James II's youngest daughter Anne, whose last surviving child, Princess Anne did not
survive; thus there was no direct successor to the throne. London was afraid that unless a
formal, political union with Scotland was firmly in place, as distinct from the existing
dynastic union (which had been established with the accession of the Stuart James VI of
Scotland as James I of England in 1603), the country might choose James Edward Stuart,
Anne's exiled Catholic half-brother.
The English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement in 1701 to ensure that Anne's heir
was to be the Electress Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James l. Consequently,
when William died in 1702, he was succeeded by Queen Anne, a true daughter of the last
legitimate monarch, James II. On William's deathbed he had recommended union with
Scotland. In 1703, the Scottish Parliament passed the Act of Security that provided for a
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Protestant Stuart succession upon Anne's death, unless the Scottish government was freed
from "English or any foreign influence."
The English Parliament responded with an Alien's Act that prohibited all Scottish imports
to England unless the Scots accepted the Hanoverian succession. When union was
strongly urged by Lord Godolphin, the Scots reluctantly acquiesced in order to gain the
advantage of free trade with the new British common market; the Act of Union merely
cemented what had been a growing interdependence between the two countries. Union
with Scotland became official on May 1, 1707 by act of Parliament. There were
advantages for both countries in the Union, seen in retrospect as an act of policy, not of
affection.
Sometimes overlooked while discussing the reasons for Scotland's agreeing to the union
is the terrible beating taken by that unfortunate nation in the Darien affair. The Scottish
Parliament's grandiose scheme to finance a rival to the East India Company and its
attempt to found a colony on the isthmus of Darien, or Panama, met with hostility from
the English Parliament. Disease and Spanish interference brought a quick and sad end to
the scheme, in which practically the whole Scottish nation had shown interest. Much of
the blame was cast upon "Dutch William" and his English advisors, but Scottish
mercantile interests were forced by the experience to find a workable solution. Perhaps it
would be better, they reasoned, to give up a separate and divergent economic policy in
favor of a merger that would be of equal benefit to both Parliaments. Not all on either
side were happy with the Union that many historians see as a result of "judicious
bribery". The mercantile interests in Edinburgh did not represent the whole nation. The
people of the Highlands certainly were not consulted in the matter. In particular, the
nation had to balance the loss of its ancient independence against the need to open itself
up to a wider world and greater opportunities than it could provide by itself. For its part,
England gained a much-needed security, for no longer could European powers use
Scotland as a base for an attack on its southern neighbor.
Scotland kept its legal system and the Presbyterian Kirk, but gave up its Parliament in
exchange for 45 seats in the House of Commons and 16 seats in the House of Lords. The
Act proclaimed that there would be "one United Kingdom by the name of Great Britain"
with one Protestant ruler, one legislature and one system of free trade. The Act of Union
settled the boundaries of a state known as Great Britain whose people, despite their
differences in traditions, cultures and languages, were held together simply because they
felt different from people in other countries.
The people of Britain also felt superior; they were constantly being compared with those
of other countries in Europe as being better fed, better housed and better governed. Part
of the feeling of superiority came from the acquisition of so much overseas territory; part
came from government propaganda and the need to suppress dissent, part came from
technical advances that already heralded the coming of both the agricultural and
industrial revolutions.
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Eighteenth Century England
The Electress of Hanover, Sophia, died the same year as Anne. When her son George left
Hanover to come to England, knowing but a few words of the English language, there
were many who wished a restoration of the Stuart monarchy. In this period of rapid
Anglicization of Scotland and the acceptance, through the Union, of the political and
economic situation that prevailed in Protestant England, the Stuarts were not yet finished.
In 1708, their hopes were raised once again when an invasion of Scotland, launched from
France managed to avoid the British fleet. Unfortunately, and by now predictably, the
opportunity was lost; the troops landed too far north to be effective in taking Edinburgh.
Then, in 1715, James II's son, James Edward Stuart, who was James III to his supporters
was persuaded to undertake an invasion of England, "the fifteen."
It had been highly apparent that attempts at restoring the Stuarts would have meant the
replacement of a Protestant monarchy, however foreign and dull it appeared, with a
Roman Catholic dynasty, for one thing, and it was far too late for that. For another, the
restoration would have to be accomplished by a foreign (and Catholic) army of
occupation. The Stuarts were backed by France, Britain's most obvious and strongest
enemy, a Popish enemy at that. The British press was full of the horrors of life in the
Catholic states of Europe and the blessings that the island nation enjoyed under its
Protestant rulers. Despite the nostalgia and the romanticism attached to the exiled Stuarts,
and their wide support in Scotland, it was unthinkable for most Britons to contemplate
their return. The majority of people in the nation were not in the mood for what surely
would be a bloody and prolonged civil war. They certainly did not welcome the idea of a
Jacobite army that would be mainly composed of French troops marauding through their
land. In addition, it seemed as if the struggle of Whig against Tory that had brought the
country to the verge of civil war had exhausted everyone. The attempt of the Pretender to
regain the throne for the Stuarts in 1715 thus fizzled out like a damp squib.
George I (1714-1727)
The first great crisis of the reign of George I, that fool of a king (who was ridiculed for
his eccentric behavior and poor English), was the Jacobite Rebellion. He was lucky that
his nation was in no mood for another civil war. James Stuart was sent back to France
after failing to rally Scotland behind him. It was left to the Young Pretender, Charles
Edward to try again during the reign of George II. The other crisis that affected the reign
of the first Hanoverian monarch of England was known as the South Sea Bubble.
Briefly, the South Sea Company, founded in 1711, had acquired a monopoly in the
lucrative Spanish slave trade and other trading ventures in South America. Prices of its
shares increased dramatically when the government announced that the company, and not
the Bank of England, should finance the National Debt. Dozens of irrational schemes
came into being as the result of the ridiculously high prices of company shares. They all
crashed in October of 1720 when shares began to tumble; many investors were ruined.
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The fiasco, involving many government ministers, needed someone to straighten things
out, and the right person appeared in Robert Walpole, who defended the ministers and the
Crown, being rewarded with the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer and leading the
House of Commons for 20 years. Walpole straightaway reduced import and export duties
to encourage trade and took care of the financial crisis by amalgamating the South Sea
Company stock with that of the Bank of England and the East India Company. An astute
business man, he kept England at peace and he increased the powers and privileges of
Parliament.
At the Act of Settlement of 1701, Parliament had insisted that there should be a Privy
Council of 80 members. King George reduced it to 30, and from these, a smaller group
formed the cabinet, and an even smaller group, the inner cabinet. And it was here that the
important decisions were made. As "German George" knew little English, understood
practically nothing of the English constitution and stayed away from cabinet meetings,
Walpole rose to a position of chief minister. He continued his leading role after the death
of George I in 1727. Walpole's day-to-day supervision of the administration of the
country, unhampered by royal interference, gave him such influence that he is
remembered as England's first Prime Minister (The title originated as a term of abuse
when his opponents mockingly used it to describe his extraordinary power).
George II (1727-1760)
Among the many events that took place during the reign of George II, there were two that
were to have a profound influence, not only upon his kingdom of Britain, but upon much
of the world outside its borders. The first of these events began in 1728 when Yorkshire
carpenter John Harrison created a working model of a practical, spring-driven timekeeper
that would win the prize offered by the London's Board of Longitude to solve a centuriesold puzzle; how to make the accurate determining of longitude possible. (In 1676, the
Greenwich Observatory had been established to study the position of the moon among
the fixed stars and to set a standard time to help sailors fix their longitude). In 1730, John
Hadley invented the reflecting quadrant that made it possible to determine latitude at
noon or by night. Extremely accurate, it was quickly adopted by the admiralty.
In 1736, Harrison presented his ship's chronometer to London's Board of Longitude;
accurate to with one-tenth of a second per day. Made weatherproof and placed aboard
ships, along with the observations of astronomer Nevil Maskelyne, published in 1763 that
calculated longitude at sea from lunar distances, the chronometer was to revolutionize the
world's shipping. It was to prove of particular importance to English navigators in their
constant, unending search for new markets for English products, new trading centers and
eventually, new lands to settle her surplus criminals and poor, unemployed citizens. (The
chronometer was proved to be a success aboard HMS Deptford in 1761).
The second major event began at Oxford University, also in 1728, when a group of
students began to call divinity student Charles Wesly a "Methodist," because of his
methodical study habits. Charles was to help found a holy club with his brother John and
others for strict observance of sacrament and the Sabbath, along with reading the New
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Testament and undergoing fasting. Brother John was to begin preaching Methodism at
Bristol in 1739.
The first conference of Methodists was held in 1744. From then on, the movement, aided
by his indefatigable preaching and wide spread travels in the British Isles, spread rapidly.
The new religious ideas were to take root in North America where ideas of political
independence from Britain were to merge with ideas of religious independence from the
Church of England.
At home, as strong-willed as George II seemed to be, he could be controlled by his wife,
Caroline of Anspach, whose influence ensured that Walpole keep his position as prime
minister in the new regime. When Caroline died in 1737, it was increasingly difficult for
Walpole to keep England out of war with Spain, brought about by the continual
harassment of British trading ships by the Spanish. When a certain Captain Jenkins
presented the sight of his sun-dried (or pickled) ear, supposedly cut off by the Spanish in
1731, Parliament was enraged and demanded action. Walpole was unable to effect a
compromise and England went to war in 1739. At the same time, the War of the Austrian
Succession had broken out on the Continent.
Because George II feared a French invasion of his beloved Duchy of Hanover, England
was forced to involve itself in the war that primarily involved the coalition of Central
European powers, supported by France, to despoil Maria Theresa, the new Arch Duchess
of Austria, of her possessions. To the dismay of the jingoistic Parliament, George signed
a treaty with France to protect Hanover, Walpole was held responsible and defeated in
Parliament after losing support of the Commons. Walpole had coined the term "balance
of power" in a speech in Parliament in June 1741; it gave expression to the principle that
was to guide British foreign policy for decades to come.
Despite King George's attempts to stay neutral in the European conflict, he had to fight.
At Dettingen, he personally led his forces, and won a great victory over the French. When
France declared war on England in 1744, believing that she was the cause of most of her
troubles, Parliament was forced on the defensive. As so many times before in the island
nation's history, however, the notorious British weather helped destroy a French invasion
fleet in 1744. It was now time for the Jacobite Cause to resurrect itself.
The Last Gasp of the Jacobites
Incredibly enough, after the farce of the last attempt to regain the throne, the Stuarts were
to try again. Despite having endured so many years of ill-fortune, the Jacobite cause was
still powerful enough to be considered the greatest threat to Britain in mid-century. In
1718, the Spanish government, in the conflict with Britain for control of trade, had
sponsored an abortive raid on Scotland. Though the attempt ended in a defeat for the
Highlanders at Glenshiel, an English newspaper argued in 1723 that the people of the
Scottish Highlands "will never fail to join with foreign Popish powers..."
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As if to fulfill this prophecy, 22 years later, Charles Edward seized his opportunity. At a
time when George II was away in his beloved Hanover and the bulk of the British Army
fighting in Flanders and Germany, the Stuart prince landed in the Hebrides in July 1745.
He was encouraged by promise of support from France, and indeed some ships did reach
Scotland with supplies and artillery. By September, Charles had rallied thousands of
Highlanders, was aided by the Provost's who had secretly left a gate open and had taken
the city of Edinburgh (where he assured the Presbyterian clergy of religious toleration),
captured Carlisle, and defeated a small British force at Prestonpans where his soldiers
employed their broadswords in the famous Highland charge.
Flushed with victory over the obviously ill-trained and ill-prepared British force of
General Cope, the Scottish army marched south to England, hoping to rally support all
along the way. Yet, it soon became apparent that Charles Edward was not going to be
successful in raising the men and money necessary to sustain the invasion. Even in the
Scottish Lowlands, support had not been forthcoming. Interests of commerce overrode
those of patriotism. Despite Charles Edward's bold plans to advance on London, Lord
Murray argued for a return to Scotland. The Prince reluctantly admitted the lack of
support from English Jacobites. In addition, misleading reports about the strength of the
English forces convinced the majority of the Council to return to Scotland.
An English force that caught up with the retreating Scottish army was soundly defeated at
Clifton, the last battle to be fought on English soil. Once again, a concentrated Highland
charge managed to dislodge British dragoons. Scottish success, however, only
strengthened the resolve of the pursuing troops under Cumberland, who was determined
to use his superior fire power and strength of numbers to his advantage the next time. The
battle also led to a feeling among the Highlanders that they were invincible in a charge
involving hand-to-hand fighting. They were almost correct. On the bumpy, uneven
pasture lands of Culloden in April 1745 with a considerable distance to cover under fire
before they could reach the ranks of the English troops, the bravery of the charging
Highlanders would not be enough.
The enormous casualties suffered by the Highlanders in their futile charges against the
entrenched infantry, and the slaughter of their wounded was followed by a brutal
aftermath. "Bliadna Thearlaich," Charlie's Year to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders, was
finished. The Jacobites were left without any hope of reorganizing, though they still
hoped for support from the Bourbons in Spain and France. This was not forthcoming, for
struggles in Europe were shifting to those for control of North America.
After Culloden, Scotland was ready to play a major role in the expansion of the British
Empire. In particular, the fighting qualities and heroic traditions of the Highlanders were
put to good use in British armies sent to fight in Europe and further afield. The Seven
Years War (1756-63) that closely followed the failure of the Jacobite Rebellion was the
most dramatically successful war ever fought by Britain. Success followed success
(mostly at the expense of France) in Canada, India, West Africa and the West Indies, and
the tiny North Atlantic island of Britain found itself at the head of a vast, world empire in
which the Scots played a leading part.
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A New Role for the Island Kingdom
The War of the Austrian Succession was ended by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
But Britain was still anxious to fight for possession of new lands and trade routes. After
Walpole's resignation, the country was led by William Pitt ("the elder"), a man who
believed that the strength of the nation's economy depended upon overseas expansion as
well as the defence of its trading outposts. Thus Britain found itself at war with France
again, only the theatres of war were now primarily in North America and India. In the
Seven Years War, England's ally Prussia was relied upon to conduct operations against
France and Austria in Europe. In the sub-continent of India, Robert Clive won important
victories to establish British presence at the expense of the French.
In other areas, at first, the wars went badly. Admiral Byng was disgraced when he lost
Minorca to the French in 1757. In North America, the British colonists suffered defeats at
the hands of the French, who began Fort Duquesne; in Europe, the French occupied
Hanover. Then William Pitt took over, the person described by Frederick the Great as
having been "a man brought forth by England's labor," and under his direction of
Parliament, his countries' armed forces began a string of victories that made them seem
invincible.
In 1747 James Lind had reported on the success of citrus juice in combating scurvy, and
ten years later The Royal Navy received the new sextant created by John Campbell. (In
1775, upon his return from the Pacific, Captain James Cook received a medal from the
Royal Society for finally conquering scurvy; he had brought 118 men "through all
climates for three years and 18 days with the loss of only one man.) He had succeeded
with sauerkraut: the Royal Navy ordered all its ships to give out lime juice as a daily
ration in 1795.
In North America, British troops captured Fort Duquesne and renamed it Fort Pitt (later
Pittsburgh); other victories occurred at Senegal, the centre of the French West African
slave trade and at Guadeloupe in the West Indies. In Canada, General Wolfe captured
Louisburg and then Quebec, in 1759, a victory that was followed up by General Amherst
to complete the surrender of Canada to Britain.
At the time of King George II's death in 1760, England was growing rich from profits
made in sugar, tobacco, sea-island cotton and other products produced by slave labor. A
new leisured class was rapidly developing that would eventually demand its say in
government. Britain's prosperity had come about despite the favoring of Hanover by King
George; it reflected the growing influence of the mercantile classes in Parliament. It also
reflected the indomitable energy and initiative of William Pitt.
Pitt gathered all power into his own hands; he controlled finance, administration and the
military. He understood fully the threat from France for hegemony in North America, and
he took the vital steps to counter it. His war with France has been seen by many
historians as the First World War; it certainly involved more than a mere redistribution of
strategic forts and a re-shuffling of frontiers. It also took considerable toll on England's
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resources and a general war-weariness gave fodder to those enemies of Pitt who worked
for his downfall.
George III (1760-1820)
The new king saw himself as a kind of savior; freeing the country from the tyranny of a
corrupt Parliament and restoring it into the hands of a virtuous, honorable, "thoroughly
English" monarch, one who was perfectly capable of choosing his own ministers. Lord
Bute was more to his liking than William Pitt. When peace negotiations began with
France, Pitt refused to desert Prussia. France then turned to Spain for an alliance to help
her regain her North American possessions. Pitt's urging of war with Spain met with
fierce resistance in the Commons and he was forced to resign.
Seen by historian Carlyle, as "King of England for four years," William Pitt undoubtedly
was one of England's great leaders, a true statesman with a vision expanding far beyond
the political boundaries of England. His successor in Parliament, Lord Bute, had nothing
of Pitt's political acumen, wide-ranging vision or experience. Only months after Pitt's
resignation, England was forced to declare war on Spain, but despite a series of
overwhelming victories, including those by Admiral Rodney in the Caribbean, that made
her mistress of the world and master of the seas, Bute did not wish to further antagonize a
severely weakened France and Spain. Besides, the king wished to end what he called " a
bloody and expensive war."
Britain gained handsomely at the Treaty of Paris of 1763, yet France and Spain came off
rather well. It took a considerable amount of political chicanery and bribery to ensure the
ratification of the treaty by Parliament, for it was denounced by Pitt as giving too much
away and for containing the seeds of future war. Britain did gain Canada, Nova Scotia,
Cape Breton; the right to navigate the Mississippi; the West Indian Islands of Grenada,
St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago in the West Indies; Florida (from Spain); Senegal in
Africa; and the preservation in India of the East India Company's monopoly; and in
Europe, Minorca.
To Pitt's dismay and fears for the future, France was appeased with the islands of St.
Pierre and Miquelon, islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, fishing rights off
Newfoundland (the nursery of the French navy, later to play such a decisive role in the
American War of Independence) and the rich sugar islands of Guadeloupe and
Martinique. Spain, in turn, received Havana, which controlled the sea-going trade in the
Caribbean and Manila, a center of the trade with China. Thus France's naval power had
been left untouched. Britain was later to pay dearly in the loss of its American colonies.
As George insisted on picking his own ministers, he appointed four different men to lead
the country in the 1760's: the Earl of Bute, George Grenville, the Marquee of
Rockingham, and the Elder Pitt. His last choice, his personal favorite, was Lord North.
Between them, they lost America.
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The American War of Independence
The final revolt of Britain's American colonies was a long time coming: it certainly could
have been foreseen and better prepared for by the intransigent London government. The
enormous expense of the Seven Years War, and the protection of the Colonies from the
designs of France, led Parliament to insist that Americans should pay for their own
defence. It therefore could justify the infamous sugar tax of 1764 and the stamp duty one
year later. But these taxes were only the latest in a long history of repressive measures
that were designed solely to benefit England's mercantile, industrial and agricultural
interests.
In 1651, the Navigation Act forbade importation of goods into England or her colonies
except by English vessels or by vessels of the countries producing the goods. This was
passed to help the nation's merchant navy in their struggle against the Dutch. It was still
too early to be a bone of contention with the Colonies. In 1660, Charles I sought to
strengthen the Navigation Acts in that certain "enumerated articles" from the American
colonies may be exported only to the British Isles. These articles include tobacco, sugar,
wool, molasses and many other essential items of American livelihood; the result was
widespread economic distress and political unrest, especially in Virginia.
In 1663, a Second Navigation Act forbade English colonists to trade with other European
countries. In addition, European goods bound for America had to be unloaded at English
ports and reshipped. Export duties and profits to middlemen then made prices of the
goods prohibitive in the Colonies. In 1672, Parliament imposed customs duties on goods
carried from one American colony to another. Even though not many colonists were
engaged in the woolen industry, it was mostly restricted to their individual homes, further
resentment came with the Woolens Act of 1699 that prevented any American colony
from exporting wool, wool yarn, or wool cloth to any place whatsoever."
Trading restrictions continued in 1733 when the Molasses Act taxed British colonists on
the molasses, rum and sugar imported from non-British West Indian islands. The price of
rum, a drink heavily favored because of its supposed therapeutic properties increased
dramatically in the Colonies. A hint of later rebellion was provided in 1741 when Salem
sea captain Richard Derby avoided the British Navigation Acts by sailing his schooner
Volante under Dutch colors. Six years later, London marine insurance companies began
to charge exorbitant rates on ship and cargo from New England to Caribbean ports, but
large profits were made by American merchantmen carrying cod from the Newfoundland
banks.
In 1750, the Cumberland Gap through the Appalachians was discovered by English
physician Thomas Walker. Colonists could now break out of their relatively narrow
coastal areas and move westward; ideas of breaking away from the Mother Country were
sure to follow the pioneers as they moved over the mountains in search of new lands to
settle, farther away from English interests. By 1763, the Mississippi River was
recognized as the boundary between the British colonies and the Louisiana Territory.
Meanwhile, the raising of the bounty on whales by the English government in 1750 did
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much to encourage the New England fishing industry, not to be overlooked in the
growing aspirations for independence.
In the meantime, the population of the American Colonies was enjoying a rapid
population increase, due to the high birth rate and high rates of immigration, especially
from Germany, Ireland and other countries not disposed to favor keeping ties with
Britain. A rolling iron mill established in New Hampshire also gave notice that the
colonists could engage in an industry that had hitherto been an English monopoly.
In 1757, after a visit to England, Benjamin Franklin was able to report to the Colonies
just how far American importers could safely go in flouting London's mercantile acts. In
1763, there was an angry reaction to George III's decree that Colonists must remain east
of the sources of rivers that flow into the Atlantic. The decree was honored only in the
breach and further intensified the Colonists' growing desires for independence from the
dictates of London. The king had not wished to antagonize Spain and France; the landhungry Colonists were indifferent.
In April 1763, Parliament passed the Sugar Act and sent customs officials to order
colonial governors to enforce it. In May, the Currency Act then forbade the Colonies
from printing paper money. Also in May, Boston lawyer James Otis denounced "taxation
without representation," and urged the colonies to unite to oppose Britain's new tax laws.
During the same month, Boston merchants organized a boycott of British luxury goods
and initiated a policy of non-importation. As the colonists had contributed little tax
support to England, the government decided at this juncture to take a harder line
American industry, in the meanwhile, received a great boost by the invention of
Pennsylvania mechanic James Davenport that could spin and card wool.
Events started moving to a head in 1765. First, Parliament passed the Quartering Act
ordering colonists to provide barracks and supplies to British troops (quite fair
considering the expense of maintaining the defence of the Colonies). The Stamp Act,
passed in March, was particularly resisted: it was the first measure to impose direct taxes
in the Colonies. It required revenue stamps on all newspapers, pamphlets, playing cards,
dice, almanacs and legal documents. In May, in the Virginia House of Burgesses, Patrick
Henry stood up to denounce the Act, despite cries of "Treason" from other delegates. The
Act was also denounced in Boston, where the Sons of Liberty formed clubs to show their
resistance. In October a Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to protest taxation
without representation and resolved to import no goods that required payment of duty.
Ironically, the greatest protest against the Act came, not in the Colonies, but in England,
where merchants complained that it was contrary to the true commercial interests of the
Empire.
Self-confident American colonials were beginning to flex their muscles. In Philadelphia
the opening of the first American medical school, later to become the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, showed only too well that the fledgling nation could develop its
own institutions. In commerce, shipping interests were booming. Exports of tobacco,
bread and flour, fish, rice, indigo and wheat were streaming out of the ports of Boston,
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New York and Providence. Philadelphia, with over 25,000 inhabitants, had become the
second largest city in the British Empire.
Early in 1766, it seemed that reconciliation was in the offing when Parliament, partly in
response to the persuasive powers of visiting Benjamin Franklin, repealed the Stamp Act.
However in March, the Declaratory Act rekindled the flames of colonial resentment, for
it declared that the King, by and with the consent of Parliament, had the authority to
make laws and to bind the British colonies in all respects.
Though William Pitt had returned as Prime Minister, his powers were no longer as
effectual, and the arrogant Lord Townsend introduced the infamous Townsend Act, a Bill
that imposed duties on American imports of paper, glass, lead and tea. Rebellion may not
have been immediately on the minds of the Colonists and John Dickinson's "Letters from
a Farmer" advised caution and loyalty to King and Empire, but the Townsend Act would
be on the minds of the merchant classes. They were now beginning to despair of bringing
the British Government to reason through limited resistance.
In 1767, Daniel Boone took his party through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, thus
defying the 1763 decree of King George, completely out of touch with the aspirations of
the American Colonists. Two years later he was emulated by a party of Virginians
moving into what later became Tennessee (10 years later, Boone led a party to break the
Wilderness Road to be used by more than 10,000 pioneers pouring into the new
territories of Western Tennessee and Kentucky).
When delegates from 28 towns in Massachusetts met at Faneuil Hall, Boston in
September to draw up a statement of grievances, following anti-British riots, infantry
regiments were brought in from Canada. More riots broke out in Boston the following
June when Customs officials seized a sloop belonging to John Hancock. In the meantime,
Cherokee lands were ceded to the Crown in the Carolina and Virginia Colonies, as were
lands of the Iroquois between the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. Another pioneering
journey was that of a fleet of American whalers into the Antarctic Ocean to begin a new
and most profitable industry.
In 1769, a huge step towards independence was taken by the Virginia House of Burgesses
that issued its resolutions rejecting Parliament's right to tax British colonists. When the
governor dissolved the assembly, its members met in private and agreed not to import
any duty-liable goods. In January, 1770, at the Battle of Golden Hill, New York, the first
blood was shed between British troops and the colonists.
In March, the so-called "Boston Massacre" further inflamed passions, already being
incited to rebellion by radicals in many of the Colonial governments (aided by such Whig
newspapers as "The Massachusetts Spy"). The repeal of the Townsend Acts by newlyappointed Prime Minister Lord North, came too late to assuage those who had already
made up their minds that the future of their country was as an independent nation,
completely freed from its political links with Britain.
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Events moved fitfully towards an inevitable conclusion. The so-called Boston "TeaParty" in December 1773 had protested British taxes on American imports and in
September 1774, the first Continental Congress of twelve colonies met in Philadelphia. It
is interesting to note that the protest was organized by Samuel Adams, supported by John
Hancock, whose smuggling of contraband tea had been made unprofitable by the
measures passed in Parliament. "Men of Sense and property" such as George
Washington, however, deplored the actions of those who staged the "Boston Tea-Party"
and it is safe to say, at this juncture, that the majority of the colonists opposed
independence, or at least, were not willing to fight Britain to gain it.
The first Continental Congress quickly adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances,
but no less than George Washington himself wrote that "... no thinking man in all of
North America desires independence." Benjamin Franklin also cautioned against a break
with the mother country, for despite its unkindness "of late," the link was worth
preserving. The radicals were still few in number and all measures taken by the Colonies
were undertaken to pressure the British Government to listen to their grievances, not to
force its hand. However, when news of the Bostonian's "tea-party" reached Parliament,
outrage by many of its members produced its coercive acts in a failed attempt to bring the
colonists to heel. Boston Harbor was closed until the East India Company was
reimbursed for its lost tea and until trade could be resumed and duties collected. The acts
were a fatal blunder by the Prime Minister, Lord North. As nothing else, they united the
colonies against the government.
Other "tea-parties" followed Boston's example, and many colonies sent supplies to help
the Bostonians survive the closing of its port. 1774 can be called the year of the
pamphlets, with huge amounts of tracts being written and distributed throughout the
American Colonies, arguing the pro's and con's of independence. In March, 1775, Patrick
Henry made his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, and the dye had been cast.
The war began in April 1775 when a force of redcoats, sent to seize war material stored at
Concord, were met by a force of patriots. The resulting skirmishes of Lexington and
Concord meant that there would be no turning back for either side.
The War of Independence can be summarized briefly. The strong determination of the
colonists to make themselves completely independent would surely have succeeded in the
long run, but they were aided enormously by incompetent English generals. One George
Washington in charge of English redcoats would have quickly ended the rebellion. In
addition, without the notoriously corrupt Earl of Sandwich in charge at the Admiralty, the
Royal Navy would have surely held the seas against the French relief forces. Yet even
with these crippling burdens, the war started well for the government.
In June, the Second Continental Congress had followed after the urging of Richard Henry
Lee of Virginia to make foreign alliances and form a confederation. The resolutions were
adopted on July 2, 1776. Efforts to end the war by negotiation broke off. At first, the
colonists were no match for the better trained, better armed and better disciplined regulars
of the British army, augmented by King George's Hessians, despite the incompetence of
its generals.
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The publication of The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson which was
signed by 56 delegates was no doubt influenced by the publication of Thomas Paine's
Common Sense written in July 1776. It created a major shift in political emphasis. One of
its immediate effects was to create a will and strength to see the thing through. Before the
Declaration, the revolutionaries had seen their cause as mainly fighting for their rights as
British subjects against a stubborn English Parliament; after the Declaration, they saw
their fight as necessary to protect their natural rights as free men against a tyrannical and
out-of-touch king. This indeed was a cause worth fighting for.
To aid in the fight, General Washington appointed Polish military expert Kosciusco to
help train the volunteers, "the citizen-soldiers" who made up the bulk of the American
armies. Following many early defeats, it was a surprising victory over the Hessians at
Trenton on Christmas Day, 1776 which provided a stirring impetus to continue. In
January, Washington followed up his victory at Trenton by defeating Cornwallis at
Princeton. Later in the year, however, when he lost the Battle of Brandywine and
retreated to Valley Forge, General Howe failed to consolidate his victory, preferring to sit
out the winter in Philadelphia, and the American army was miraculously able to recover.
In Parliament, Lord North expressed his dismay at the poor leadership shown by the
British commanders in America. When the British forces, surrendered one of its armies
under Burgoyne at Saratoga, who returned to England, it was the beginning of the end for
the valiant redcoat armies. Poorly led, forced to march and counter-march through
untracked wildernesses, dispersed over hundreds of miles of unknown territory and
harassed every step of the way, they had been betrayed by the incompetence of their
officers as much as by the determination of the Colonists under Washington's inspired
leadership. The victory at Saratoga galvanized into action the French government, who
followed up its policy of aiding the Colonists with money and supplies by recognizing
American independence and forming an alliance with the fledgling nation. The French
fleet was to prove decisive in the struggle and ultimate victory of the Americans. In 1779,
Spain and Holland, for reasons of their own, also provided aid in the form of money,
supplies and military hardware. Not only that, but sympathetic (and profit-hungry) British
merchants, including Robert Walpole, were engaged in smuggling arms and provisions to
the Americans through the West Indies.
When Cornwallis surrendered his troops at Yorktown, after foolishly digging in where he
had no natural defences except the sea, which was blocked the French fleet, no further
military operations of any consequence took place. The British armies in North America
were exhausted. The War was over. Signed on September 3rd, 1783, the Treaty of Paris
recognized the independence of the American Colonies. Britain's great age of Empire,
paradoxically was just about to begin.
The Growth of Empire
The long struggle between Britain and France for world supremacy continued to be
fought all over the globe. For 23 years, Britain was at war with the greatest military
power on earth, led by its great military genius Napoleon. Its results were to destroy the
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ambitions of the French dictator, to impose a New Order on the whole of Europe by force
and to vindicate Britain's equally firm resolve to not only resist, but to uphold the
imposition of order only through international law.
United in their Protestantism more than anything else, the Welsh and Scots and English
thought of themselves as British; it was their Protestantism (and perhaps their
representatives in Parliament) that held them together; they thought of themselves as a
united, religious and moral people. Thus it was only right for them to go out as bringers
of enlightenment, mainly through the conflicting aims of trade and religious conversion
(the latter always second to the former) to the far corners of the earth. The anarchy and
confusion that prevailed in France during its Revolution were looked on with revulsion in
England, now having come to terms with the loss of its American colonies and having
become more of a united kingdom in the painful process.
On the Continent, the armies of France crushed those of Austria, repelled those of Prussia
and helped establish a French Republic. (The monarchy was abolished by the National
Convention in September, 1791: King Louis XVI was executed in January, 1793.) When
France invaded the Netherlands, England was asked to help protect the navigation rights
to the Dutch. The French Republic then declared war on Britain, Holland and Spain who
formed an alliance. Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Rome in 1796, made the Pope a
prisoner and the same year assembled an army to invade England. He went to Egypt
instead, where his forces captured Alexandria and Cairo from the Mamelukes. Two years
later, he defeated the Turks, with their British allies at Abukir. He then left to take
command of his armies in Europe as first consul and dictator of France.
Napoleon continued his victories in Europe, defeating the Austrians at Marengo, 1800,
but a temporary peace signed at Amiens in March, during the following year gave Britain
control of Trinidad and Ceylon in exchange for its other maritime conquests. A renewal
of hostilities and the need for France to find adequate finances led to the doubling of the
United States by its "Louisiana Purchase" in 1802.
Napoleon once more contemplated invading England by assembling a fleet at Boulogne
and negotiating with Robert Emmet to lead a rebellion in Ireland. In India, another British
victory was achieved by Arthur Wellesly over native forces. In France, in May 1804,
Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor. Spain then declared war on Britain. Early in 1805,
Viscount Nelson blockaded a French fleet intent on invading England.
On October 21, 1805 one of the greatest sea victories in England's long history took place
at Trafalgar, when Admiral Nelson defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet near
Gibralter. All French pretensions as a great sea power were effectively ended by this
decisive battle during which Nelson was mortally wounded. (It is to be noted that the
British crews were now free of scurvy which continued its deadly toll on enemy ships).
On land, however, the French armies continued their string of victories, with Napoleon
defeating the Austrians and Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz in December. Early in
1806, the Holy Roman Empire came to an end after a thousand years when the
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Confederation of the Rhine was set up under French control. Prussia now joined the fight
against Napoleon's grandiose ambitions. Napoleon's Berlin Declaration inaugurated the
Continental system designed to cut off food and supplies reaching Britain from the
Continent. When British ships bombarded Copenhagen in September for joining the
Continental system, Denmark allied with France and Russia declared war on Britain.
French troops then marched into Spain to prevent occupation by Britain, who invaded
Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesly, soon to succeed Sir John Moore as British
Commander. It was the beginning of the end for the armies of Napoleon despite a costly
victory over the Austrians at Wagram, leading to the Treaty of Schonbrunn that ended
hostilities between the two countries. In March 1810, Napoleon married the Austrian
Archduchess Maria Luisa. No-one in Paris witnessing the construction of the Arc de
Triomphe could have guessed the fate soon to overtake their triumphant Emperor.
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, the same year that Britain and the United States began
a 30 month war over issues that included the impressment of US seamen. Wellesly
continued his success in Spain against the French armies, and when Napoleon reached
Moscow, he found the Russian armies had prudently withdrawn and the city almost
empty. The European war then seesawed back and forth; Austria renewed its enmity with
France; Napoleon won at Dresden, was utterly defeated at Leipzig, and Wellesly
continued his successes in Spain to cross the borders into France.
An alternating series of defeats and victories then followed for the French armies, now
opposed by the formidable Prussian leader Marshall von Blucher as well as Wellesly,
promoted to Duke of Wellington. Napoleon's abdication was followed by his internment
at Elba. His escape from Elba and consequent defeat at Waterloo in June, 1815 at the
hands of Blucher and Wellington finally ended his European dreams. The war came to an
end during the same year when the Congress of Vienna rewrote the map of Europe.
Similarly, the Treaty of Ghent ended the ''War of 1812' between Britain and the United
States. With her armies victorious in Europe, England was now poised to assume the
mantle of world leadership in many areas.
Leadership implied responsibility and created a dilemma as to which side England should
support in the conflicts of Europe. Was France, the known, or Russia, the unknown, the
more dangerous rival? In 1854, however, common interests brought Britain and France
together in defense of the crumbling Empire of Turkey against the ever-increasing
aggressiveness of Russia. Britain, in particular, wanted to keep Russia out of the Straits
and away from the Mediterranean. The result was the costly muddle known as the
Crimean War that began in 1854 and that solved nothing.
The horrors of the War have been well documented. The refusal of the Duke of
Wellington to initiate reforms in the army, the general incompetence of the military
leaders such as Lord Cardigan of the Light Brigade fame, the lack of an efficient central
authority to manage supplies, send reinforcements and ensure adequate training created
disaster after disaster in the field. The main enemy proved to not be the incompetent
Russian armies, but the numbing cold aided by cholera, dysentery, typhus and scurvy as
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well as the lack of adequate food, clothing and shelter. Florence Nightingale and her
gallant nurses did their best to remedy the appalling hospital conditions and the army's
resentment at their "interference." The war ended when the allies took Sebastopol after a
costly siege and Russia, to prevent Austria from joining the allies, agreed to the peace
terms.
Other areas in which English soldiers were involved included India, where they had to
deal with the great mutiny; but a war with China over British export of opium from India
in exchange for silks and tea. The Chinese forbade the opium trade, rashly fired on a
British warship and were bombarded by a Royal Navy squadron. The Opium War ended
with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 that opened up five "Treaty Ports" for trade and gave
Hong Kong to Britain. The second war with China came in 1857 out of an incident
involving the Arrow, a Hong Kong schooner sailing under a British flag. Palmerston won
an election on the issue, vowing to punish the insolent Chinese for arresting the ship on a
piracy charge. An Anglo-French force captured forts leading to Tientsin and Peking, won
concessions from the Chinese, including more "treaty ports," gained diplomatic
representation and the right for Christian missionaries to practice their trade in China.
Palmerston continued his "gun-boat" policy by later aiding Garibaldi's invasion of Sicily
and the Neapolitan mainland by sending warships. His government also compensated the
United States for the mischief caused by the Confederate raider Alabama built on
Merseyside.
The Agricultural Revolution
King George III had shown such a great interest in the agricultural improvements taking
place in England that he was known as "Farmer George." He had much to be proud of;
his countrymen were at the forefront of creating changes in the way the land was farmed
and livestock raised that would dramatically change the face of agriculture, an
undertaking that had for so long been traditionally conservative and opposed to change.
In 1600 "Theatre d'agriculture des champs" had been published in France by Huguento
Ollver de Serres recommending revolutionary changes in crop growing methods. It had
been mainly ignored by all, but there were some in England who took notice. There, land
enclosures had been taking place steadily since the dissolution of the monasteries under
Henry VIII, with the great barons amassing huge swathes of the best agricultural lands
when the king sold them off. Massive numbers of peasants and small landowners were
displaced.
A riot against the enclosures in Elizabeth's reign was severely dealt with, and the
enclosures continued apace. Notorious winter weather continued to plague a system that
was reluctant to introduce major changes except to increase the amount of land available
for the raising of sheep and cattle. Potatoes had been planted in the German states as
early as 1621 though much of Europe remained in fear of the tubers' spreading leprosy
but their food value was too great to be ignored.
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By 1631, potato production in Europe was so great that a population explosion ensued. In
England, population growth had been more or less increasing at the same slow rate for
hundreds of years, but began a rapid rise in the 18th century. It was simply a matter of the
nation being better fed. Land enclosures may have been protested vigorously by the
peasantry, but they did result in better management, allowed for selective breeding of
stock and experiments with fertilization and machinery that produced better crops.
In 1701 Jethro Tull's seed-planting drill had enormously increased crop production and
lessened waste. Tull had studied farming methods on the continent and was not reluctant
to introduce them into England. In 1733 he invented the two-wheeled plough and the
four-coulter plough, both of which, strenuously resisted at first by his labourers, had a
great impact on future methods of cultivation.
Another great pioneer was "Turnip" Townsend, Secretary of State under George II and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Townsend also studied foreign methods of land use and
introduced the practice of crop rotation into England, using turnips and clover to
revitalize land left fallow and to provide winter feed for livestock, whose manure in turn
fertilized his fields. Townsend was followed by Thomas Coke who worked on the
principle "No fodder, no beasts: no beasts, no manure; no manure, no crops." At
Holkham, Coke continually worked on ways to improve crop yield, contributing greatly
to better breeds of both cattle and sheep.
It is to Robert Bakewell, however, that most of England's outstanding success in
producing better breeds of sheep and cattle is to be attributed. Bakewell pioneered
methods of selection and the secret of breeding, including breeding the new Leicester
sheep. Farm animals became fatter, hardier and healthier. Britain became a meat-eating
nation, but it also enjoyed better and more reliable supplies of bread and vegetables.
Even as early as 1707, England was enjoying the fruits of its explorations and settlements
in India. The opening of Fortnum and Mason's in London in that year attests to the
increased demand for foreign delicacies, English farmers having produced sufficient
basic necessities. In particular, farmers had realized that beef and mutton would be more
profitable than powers of draught and quantities of wool. In the latter part of the century,
Arthur Young's tenure as Secretary of the Board of Agriculture ensured that the new
farming methods were accepted throughout the nation (though it took many years for
English farmers to utilize the iron plow, developed in 1784 by James Small).
In 1786, Scotsman Andrew Meilde developed the first successful threshing machine. In
addition, following the publication of Lady Montagu's "Inoculation Against Smallpox" in
1718, and after the work of Edward Jenner in the 1790's, the killing disease began to be
eliminated in England. Hand in hand with the vast improvements in agriculture and
medicine, an industrial revolution was taking place that would also change the world
forever. Progress in agriculture was to be dwarfed by what took place in industry.
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The Industrial Revolution
The progress of the industrial revolution is a long catalog of mechanical inventions by
which the labor and skill of the human worker was replaced by machines. It had its
beginnings in the depletion of England's forests in Elizabethan times to provide timber to
build its great navies. Coal was a ready substitute as fuel and it was abundant. The early
part of the 17th century brought a new emphasis on coal mining though effective methods
of extracting it had to wait until developments in the steam engine took place and mines
could be drained of their ever-present water. The enormous increase in the price of
firewood fueled a rush to find and extract more coal. By 1655, even under the most
primitive mining conditions, Newcastle was producing half a million tons a year.
But coal was expensive and dangerous to mine. In 1627, Edward Somerset had invented a
crude steam engine. This was of little use, but in 1698, English engineer Thomas Savery
improved matters with his crude steam-powered "miner's friend" to pump water out of
coal mines. A further advance came in 1705, when Cornish blacksmith Thomas
Newcomen produced his steam engine to pump water out of mines. In 1709 a major
breakthrough occurred when Abraham Darby, who made iron boilers for the Newcomen
engine, discovered that coke, made from coal, could substitute for wood in a smelting
furnace to make pig and cast iron. The industrial revolution was on its way, the whole
process being geared to producing for profit and ushering in a totally new economic
system.
In 1739, Benjamin Huntsman rediscovered the ancient method of making crucible steel at
Sheffield, soon to become a major British steel producer. In 1754, the first iron rolling
mill was established in Hampshire, the same year that the Society for the Encouragement
of Arts and Manufacture was formed. In the 1760's the Bridgewater Canal was opened to
link Liverpool, England's major port (which had profited enormously from the slave
trade) with Leeds, a centre of manufacturing. It heralded an era of rapid canal building,
joining cities and towns all over the nation and enabling manufactured goods and raw
supplies to be shipped anywhere they were needed.
In 1765, James Watt produced his steam engine, a far more efficient source of power than
that of Newcomen. During the same year, Brindley's Grand Truck Canal began
construction to link the western and eastern coastal ports of Britain. In 1769, Watt entered
into partnership with Mathew Boulton to produce his steam engines which would
revolutionize industry and the world. In 1782, English ironmaster Henry Cort perfected
his process of puddling iron, completely changing the way wrought iron is produced,
totally freeing it from its dependence upon charcoal for fuel, and giving further impetus
to the search for coal. The mining industry benefited greatly from Humphrey Davy's
invention of a safety lamp for miners in 1815.
At the same time that coal mining and iron manufacturing were making such rapid
progress, the textile industry was also changing English society. Labor costs had been
halved by the invention of Kay's flying shuttle in 1733, the first of the inventions by
which the textile industry was transformed. The same year saw the invention of a
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spinning machine by Wyatte and Paul that redressed the gap between spinning and
weaving. In 1765, Hargreave's spinning jenny completed the balance, for it allowed
enough thread to be produced for the weavers. A single worker could now operate a
number of spindles to produce several threads at once.
The move away from cottage industry to the factory system was further hastened in 1769
with Arkwright's invention of a frame that could produce cotton thread hard and firm
enough to produce woven fabric. English cotton mills began to proliferate in Lancashire
and Yorkshire. Both English and US economies were to benefit from Eli Whitney's
cotton gin of 1792. In 1805, Scotsman Patrick Clark developed a cotton thread that was
to replace linen thread on Britain's looms. The woolen industry was also to benefit
enormously from the new machinery, especially in Yorkshire. In 1779, Samuel Crompton
devised his spinning mule, a landmark in the industrial revolution.
With the steam engine replacing animal, wind, or water power, the Golden Age of
domestic industry was now over, and the lines of the factory system laid down. Sporadic
riots against the employment of the new machinery did nothing to halt their proliferation
and with the increase came a shift in the way industry was financed. (The Luddites began
their activities in earnest in 1811 to no avail; quick execution of their leaders brought the
movement to an end with only sporadic outbreaks). The factory system was responsible
for the development of the joint capitalist enterprise that became such a powerful force in
the nation's economic affairs. The steam engine also affected and completely transformed
transportation and though the canals had their glorious years, they were soon to be
eclipsed by the railroad.
James Watt patented his double-acting rotary steam engine in 1782, a great improvement
on his earlier invention. It was used to drive machinery of all kinds, beginning two years
later at a textile factory in Nottinghamshire. Women and children now left their homes
and their spinning wheels and looms to work in the mills, at first furnished by the rapidly
flowing streams of the North, but more and more powered by steam.
The 1780's saw the introduction of steam to power riverboats, in which the work US
inventors John Fitch, James Rumsey and Robert Fulton and the Scot William Syminton
led the way. The adaptation of Richard Trevithick's high pressure steam engine to propel
a road vehicle in 1800 is a major milestone in the development of the railroad. In 1804, in
a trial run, Trevithick carried 10 tons of iron and 70 men by steam engine run on rails at
Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The locomotive had arrived on the world's scene. Only three
years later the first paying passengers were taken on the mineral railroad world linking
Mumbles with Swansea, South Wales, using horses for power (It lasted until 1960 when
its electric trams were discontinued). English inventor George Stephenson ran his steam
locomotive on the Killingworth colliery railway in 1814, the first to go into regular
service. In September 1825, the world's first steam locomotive passenger service began
as the Stockton and Darlington Railway. (Ironically, this was the same year that the Erie
Canal opened in the US to link the Great Lakes with the Hudson and the Atlantic: only
two years later, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, using rolling stock and rails imported
mainly from Wales, began its challenge to the Erie Canal).
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The S.S. Aaron Manby, the world's first iron steamship was launched in April, 1822 but it
took many years for iron to displace wood in the world's navies. During the same year,
the first iron railroad bridge was completed by George Stephenson for the pioneering
Stockton-Darlington line.
The introduction of the hot blast by Scot James Neilson in 1828 made it possible not only
to use coal without having it coked first, but also to use anthracite to smelt iron. Huge
coal fields were thus made available in Scotland and Wales, though the biggest gains
came in Pennsylvania when Welsh iron master David Thomas built his first furnace on
the Lehigh in 1839. In 1830, the invention of the flanged T-rail by Robert Stevens in New
Jersey laid the foundations of all future railroad track developments. In the meantime,
road transportation began to benefit enormously through the improvement of highways
brought about by the experiments of Scot MacAdam after 1815.
The snowball effect of all these inventions continued throughout the century. In 1856
Bessemer introduced his revolutionary steel-making process, and a new industry was
given to England and the world. In 1864, Siemens invented the regenerative furnace,
improving the strength and durability of steel, needed for the vast networks of railroads
sprouting up all over England. In 1879, an important advance came when GilchristThomas was able to remove phosphorous from the ores used in smelting (Germany and
the US with great deposits of iron ore were particularly grateful for this invention).
During Britain's rise to world supremacy in so many areas, it is sad to relate that so many
of its leading citizens made their fortunes from the slave trade. The nefarious business
played a crucial role in the development of Britain's mercantile interests.
England's Role in the Slave Trade
Only two years after Columbus discovered the New World, he brought back more than
500 Caribbean's to Spain to be sold as slaves. In 1501, African slaves were first
introduced into Hispaniola by Spanish settlers; the natives had already been severely
decimated, resulting in a labor shortage in the plantations. In 1511, African slaves were
taken to Cuba. The nasty business had begun in earnest.
By 1518 huge numbers of African slaves were arriving at Santo Domingo to harvest
sugar cane. The 1545 discovery of the Potosi silver mines as well as epidemics of typhus
and smallpox hastened the decline of the natives, used as slave labor and increased the
importation of African slaves to replace them. In 1560, Portugal also imported slaves into
Brazil to replace native labor in the sugar plantations.
English participation in the lucrative slave trade seems to have begun when John
Hawkins hijacked a Portuguese ship carrying Africans to Brazil in 1562. Hawkins traded
the slaves at Hispaniola for ginger, pearls and sugar, making a huge profit which could
not be ignored by his countrymen. One year later, Hawking sold a cargo of Black slaves
in Hispaniola and the floodgates were opened. Though Queen Elizabeth spoke out against
the dark business, she later took shares in Hawkins'' ventures, even lending him one of
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her ships in the enterprise that pitted her adventurous navigators against those of Spain,
Portugal, and the Netherlands (It was Hawkins who introduced tobacco into England in
1565).
In 1570 large scale exports of slaves to the Americas began. Ironically it was maize,
introduced into Africa from Brazil that ensured a steady food crop that fueled the
population growth to furnish a steady supply of slaves. In Europe a growing appetite for
sugar as a sweetener for the newly introduced beverage, tea (begun to be drunk in earnest
in England in the mid-1600's), and as a preservative for fruit, meant a great increase in
sugar plantations in the Caribbean and thus the need for more slaves. The Virginia colony
received its first Black slaves in 1619. From this time on they began to play a role in the
North American economy. In 1627 English settlers colonized Barbados and soon began
to transform into the largest sugar grower in the islands.
In 1672, English privateers in the slave trade gave way to the Royal company, formed
expressly to take slaves from Africa to the Americas. In the North American Colonies,
especially after "King Philip's War" of 1676, the fast-swindling supply of native slaves
was augmented by Africans who were bought and sold at enormous profits. In 1698,
Parliament opened the slave trade to British merchants who began the triangular trade,
taking rum from New England to Africa, and from there, slaves to the Caribbean, from
there West Indian sugar and molasses was shipped to New England to produce more rum.
By 1709, Britain was taking as many as 20,000 Black slaves a year to the Caribbean.
However, the most active period in its participation in the trade began when the South
Sea Company received a grant to import 4,500 slaves a year into Spain's New World
colonies for the next thirty years.
As the industrial and agricultural revolutions in England began to show enormous profits
for many individuals, more and more investment took place in the slave trade. A new
triangular trade began, mainly centered in Liverpool, in which cotton was sent to West
Africa, where it was sold for slave. The slaves were then taken to the American South,
where they were sold for raw cotton which was taken back to Liverpool to be processed
in the mills of Lancashire. The business of cotton helped create hundreds of banks in
England, including the giants Barclays and Lloyds, and, after 1773, a booming stock
exchange appeared. British slavers began taking Xhosa (Bantu) slaves to Virginia
plantations in 1719. By the 1750's, a whole new leisured class had been created in
England from profits gained mainly from island cotton, sugar and tobacco grown with
slave labor. At this time, English Quakers did not follow the practices of their Friends in
the American Colonies who excluded slave traders from their Society.
Perhaps the beginnings of public protest against the slave trade in England began in 1763
when the badly beaten slave that Granville Sharp nursed back to health was kidnapped
and sold (three years later, none other than George Washington exchanged an unruly
slave for rum). A turning point in British toleration of slavery occurred in 1772 when
James Somerset escaped from his master. Britain's Lord Chief Justice William Murray
ruled that "as soon as any slave sets foot in England he becomes free."
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The first motion to outlaw slavery in Britain and her colonies was heard in the Commons
in 1776; it failed, perhaps due to pre-occupation of the House with the American War of
Independence. English Quakers were also very active in their denunciation of the trade. A
speech in the Commons by William Wilberforce in 1789 strongly condemned the practice
of shipping Africans to the West Indies, but insurrections in some of the islands
prevented a motion from being passed in 1781 that forbade the practice.
British cotton manufactures were also profiting greatly from slave labor in the American
South that gained enormous benefits from the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney
in 1792. Though the US and Britain had agreed to cooperate in suppressing the slave
trade in the Treaty of Ghent (that ended the War of 1812), the new, speedy Baltimore
clipper ships continued to deliver cargoes of slaves.
In 1823, all the elements of the anti-slavery movement in England coalesced when
William Wilbeforce and Thomas Buxton formed an antislavery society in London.
Prominent Welsh reformer and factory owner Robert Owen also publicly advocated the
abolition of slavery. In 1830, British authorities in the Bahamas declared that slaves from
the wrecked schooner Comet were free, despite American protests.
Sharp's rebellion in Jamaica took place in 1831, but a drop in sugar prices had made
slavery unprofitable on the island and news of the savage reprisals shocked British
consciences. Parliament finally ordered the abolition of slavery in the British colonies to
take effect by August 1, 1834 (three days after the death of Wilberforce). England and its
empire was at last free from its terrible curse, During the same year, the Factory Act
forbade the employment of children under 9 and proscribed the number of hours children
were to work in the textile mills.
Political Reform
Between the death of George III in 1820 and the accession of Victoria to the throne in
1837, England was ruled first by the Prince Regent, during the dotage George of then
under his own rule as George IV ending in 1830 and by his Uncle, William IV from 1830
to 1837. There is not much to say about George IV except that he suffered from a
disastrous marriage and that he exercised a fine artistic taste. During his reign, Windsor
Castle and Buckingham Palace were renovated and extended and under the architect John
Nash, St. James' Park and Regent's Park laid out, and the extravagant Royal Pavilion built
at Brighton. When the Catholic Emancipation Bill became law, George threatened to
abdicate, only reluctantly agreeing to prevent civil war in Ireland. George had no male
children; his daughter had died in 1817, and his second brother was childless. The throne
thus went to his third brother, who became William IV who ruled from 1830-1837.
Progress in the Arts
The first half of the 18th century had given us the "Augustans," following the ideals of
classical Rome. Alexander Pope led the school that included Jonathan Swift, John Gay,
Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne and James Boswell;
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and the "common sense" philosophy of Dr. Samuel Johnson. England produced the
painters Gainsborough and Reynolds and crrated a climate for musicians such as Handel
to receive Royal patronage.
The transition was most apparent in the writings of philosopher David Hume "Enquiry
Concerning Human Understanding," 1748; the historian Edward Gibbon "The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire," 1776; and politician Edmund Burke "Reflections on the
Revolution in Francem" 1791. The new class of poets included William Cowper and
Robert Burns. English poets and painters, in their revolt against "common sense," began
to follow the brilliant explorations of poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827).
The brilliant landscape artist John Constable died the same year that Victoria became
queen. J.M.W. Turner was still alive. As members of the so-called Romantic Movement,
they had been part of an astonishing artistic revolution that accompanied the topsy-turvy
develpments in politics and the gradual displacement of the aristocracy by the middle
class trading interests in the seat of power. Wordsworth and Coleridge, Keats, Shelley
and Byron all followed in rapid succession bringing a new depth to English literature,
changing it from one concerned primarily with "reason" to one that we now call
"romantic." Instinct and emotion took the place of the old rationalism. The idealization of
the "noble savage," could only have come about however, when England's explorers and
missionaries journeyed to new, and hitherto unknown lands.
Expansion of Empire: Australia
One result of the separation of the American colonies was that the British legal system
lost one of the places to which convicts could be transported (Canada's climate was too
severe for plantations and thus slave or convict labor). After considering the coasts of
Africa, the British government decided that the lands called Botany Bay would be
suitable and in 1788, the first shipload of 750 convicts arrived in that most inhospitable
area of Australia.
Dutch sailors had landed on the coast of Australia in 1606, but they were driven off by
natives. It wasn't until 1770 that Captain James Cook explored the eastern coast of what
was then called "New Holland." Cook took possession of the island continent in the name
of George III; he named his landfall Botany Bay on account of the great variety of plants
he found there. The whole of Australia may have had no more than 250,000 natives at
that time. There was lots of room to accommodate British convicts, further shiploads of
which caused the early settlement to move to an area to be named Sydney, in the colony
now named New South Wales.
It wasn't just land to resettle criminals that Britain needed. Both the agricultural and
industrial revolutions had contributed to an enormous growth in population. There just
were not enough jobs to go around, and as one historian has pointed out, in Ireland "there
were neither enough tenements nor enough potatoes." Following the peace of 1815 at the
end of the Napoleonic Wars, there was a great increase in the population of the British
Isles, so much so that a feeling of alarm spread through government ranks.
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A growing population which had hitherto been regarded as one of the strengths of the
nation now found itself looked on as something of a curse. There simply were too many
people to feed (and control). Increasing pauperism and distress, along with monstrously
bad harvests, massive unemployment and public debt, severely strained the limited
resources available, and drastic remedies were sought by the folks in Westminster.
Perhaps the easiest solution was emigration. In 1822, an article by James Mill on
"Colonization" in the "Encyclopedia Britannica" offered emigration as a remedy for overpopulation. It was eagerly read and avidly discussed by M.P.'s such as Robert Horton,
who spent quite a few years of his time in the House of Commons trying to convince his
colleagues of the merits of his emigration schemes. In the years 1823- 25, attempts were
made to put his plans into practice, especially because the Government wished to settle
British people in new lands that could be contested by other nationalities. Though most of
the emigrants chosen for government-assisted passages in these early years were Irish
(one way to get rid of those troublesome Catholics) many Scots were attracted by the
offers of free land overseas.
Despite its reputation as a penal colony, in the very early years of the 19th century, the
island continent of Australia had more and more begun to appear as a practical
proposition for settlement. Australia offered an alternative to the vast wildernesses of
loyalist Canada. Attitudes in Parliament began to shift with the publication of Captain
Alexander McConochie who recommended that Britain look to the Pacific Ocean to
expand its commerce. He particularly advocated a settlement of New South Wales that
would open up new markets as well as absorb what he termed Scotland's "superabundant
population." McConochie's "A Summary View" of 1818 gave the people of power in
Scotland, especially the commercial interests, an awareness of the potential awaiting
them in Australia.
By 1815, the Blue Mountains had been crossed and the vast interior revealed, an interior
suited to sheep farming. The introduction of the merino sheep was to lay the foundation
for the great Australian wool industry. The native Aborigines were ignored, especially in
Tasmania, where they were hunted down and killed off for possession of their lands.
Thousands of convicts continued to arrive each year, and from 1820-60 new colonies
were established. These new colonies included : South Australia, Van Diemen's Land
(later named Tasmania); the Swan River Colony (later part of Western Australia);
Victoria, transformed by the discovery of gold at Ballarat and Bendigo and Queensland,
created in 1859 out of New South Wales. The rapid increase in the number of free settlers
led to demands for some kind of self-government as had been granted to Canada. A
Parliamentary Committee condemned the convict system and gradually each Australian
colony banned their importation. In 1856 all four colonies were granted constitutions
which gave them responsible self-government; Queensland and Western Australia soon
followed suit.
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New Zealand
In 1642 Dutch captain Abel Tasman discovered what he named Van Diemen's Land after
the governor general of the Dutch East Indies. Four months later, Tasman discovered the
islands of New Zealand. In 1769, Captain Cook arrived to charter the coasts and to
discover that the country consisted of two main islands. He reported that they were fertile
and well-suited for colonization. Gradual penetration by settlers, whalers, convicts and
missionaries followed, and in 1813 the islands were proclaimed as dependencies of New
South Wales under British protection. Mainly due to missionary activity anxious to
protect the native Maori population from exploitation, in 1840 Captain William Hobson
was sent out from London to negotiate with the Maori chiefs for the cessation of
sovereignty to the Crown.
There were many land disputes between the Maori and the white settlers, but under the
leadership of Sir George Grey, 1845-53, native lands and possessions received some kind
of protection. The Maori had banded together in the face of increasing immigration from
Britain and elsewhere, and for almost twelve years, a military police action against them
eventually led to their being granted full citizenship rights, including fair prices for their
land and equal treatment under the law. The Treaty of Waitingo was signed by many
Maori chiefs, and though some resentments linger among the Maori people, who number
about 12 percent of the country's population, it remains an important symbol for the equal
partnership between the races that is the foundation of New Zealand's national identity.
New Zealand particularly owes a great debt to John Mackenzie, who had left Ardross,
Ross-shire in 1860 to become a farmer in his new country. In Scotland he had developed
a deep antagonism towards the power of the landlords to dispossess small farmers, a
phenomenon that was destroying much of the traditional life of the Highlands.
Witnessing the same kind of activity in New Zealand, Mackenzie entered politics to
prevent it from happening in his adopted land. He was elected to Parliament in 1881 as a
Liberal, becoming Minister of Lands and Immigration in 1891 under Prime Minister John
Ballance, equally committed to protecting the small farmers against encroachment by the
large landowners.
In 1892, Mackenzie won passage of the Lands for Settlement Act, opening up Crown
land for leasing. An amendment in 1894 compelled the owners of large estates to sell
parts of their lands. The same year, the Advances to Settlers Act greatly expanded the
supply of credit available for small farmers. He also sponsored a plan to use the
unemployed to clear and then lease land holdings. In addition to his sponsorship of
legislation to aid the small farmers and break up the large estates (something that had
never been achieved in his native Scotland), Mackenzie used his political clout to
promote scientific methods of agriculture. Also to his credit was the laying of the
foundation of the New Zealand ministry of agriculture. There were many more Scots of
influence in the islands; they did much to make the country prosperous, as well as
keeping it closely tied with and proud of its association with, Great Britain.
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In l880, New Zealand began to export huge quantities of frozen mutton and lamb to
Britain. By l902, this process began to flood the English market. Alas, Scots settlers
stripped millions of acres of lush, sub-tropical forests to create their sheep pastures, and
the ruinous effects of the subsequent soil erosion are still very much in evidence.
Canada
Captain James Cook had made three exploratory voyages to the West Coast of Canada
between 1768 and 178l. Because the Chinese were very interested receiving fur in
exchange for the tea, silks and porcelain in so much demand in Europe, the lucrative fur
trade beckoned further English interest. In 1788, a group of English traders settled on
Vancouver Island (discovered by Cook 10 years before). Spain still claimed the whole
West Coast of America up to the boundary of what is now Alaska, but after a
confrontation at Vancouver between the two countries, England presented an ultimatum
to the Spanish whose lack of allies, and an effective navy, forced them to accept its terms.
The Spanish recognition of British trading and fishing rights in the area opened the way
for the establishment of British Columbia and the creation of a British North America
stretching from ocean to ocean. There still remained the thorny question of the borders
with the United States.
Many thousands of Empire loyalists left the United States after its independence to settle
in Canada, mainly in the eastern Maritime Provinces. Many of the kilted soldiers who
conquered Quebec for Britain had been Jacobites and followers of Prince Charles
Edward. It has been suggested that their victory at Quebec was sweet revenge for
France's general indifference to and failure to help the Jacobite cause.
Perhaps the Canadian province most closely connected with Scotland is Nova Scotia New
Scotland. The land had been discovered by John Cabot in 1497 and claimed for Britain.
The vast territory of Acadia was seized by Captain Argall in the name of James VI of
Scotland (James I of England), in 1613. Part of this lovely land became the first
permanent North American settlement north of Florida when Scotsman Sir William
Alexander, friend of the king, was granted a charter in 1621. In his book describing the
colony, Sir William deplored the ancient proclivity of Scotsmen to expend their energies
in foreign wars and encouraged them instead, to send swarms of emigrants "like bees" to
New Scotland. Over 300 years later, seven eighths of its people acknowledge British
ancestry, mainly Scottish.
The West was still unknown territory. In 1809, Welsh-born fur trader David Thompson
surveyed and mapped more than 1 million square miles of territory between Lake
Superior and the Pacific. The War of 1812 seems to have begun over the impressment of
US seamen, but frontiersmen on both sides were intent on territorial gains in many
disputed areas.
The naval battles on Lake Erie showed only too well US interest north of the established
borders. The Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 limited US and British naval forces on the Great
Lakes. One year later, the US-Canadian border was established by a convention, making
the 49th parallel the boundary to the Rockies while Thompson continued his survey. The
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two countries agreed to a joint occupation of the Northwest Territories for a 10-year
period. The treaty was extended in 1828 for an indefinite period.
Back east however, a French Canadian rebellion against British rule, led by Papineau and
Mackenzie took place in 1837. It was crushed after some desultory skirmishes. In 1839,
in his Report on the Affairs of British North America, the Earl of Durham proposed a
union of Upper and Lower Canada and the granting of self-government. Durham argued
for putting the government of Canada into the hands of the Canadians. The Union Act
was passed in July, 1840. Two years later, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty finalized the
Maine-Canadian border.
Still in dispute was the boundary of the Oregon Territory, which received thousands of
American immigrants after John Fremont mapped the Oregon Trail guided by Kit
Carson. Other settlers from the US arrived in the Columbia River Valley, claimed by
Britain. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty granted land south of the 49th parallel to the US, thus
extending the frontier to the Pacific and granting British Columbia and Vancouver to
Britain.
In 1847, Lord Elgin was made Governor of the newly united colony of Canada. By the
1860's, the fear of economic and political subordination to the US stimulated the
movement to combine the eastern Maritime Provinces to the rest of Canada. In 1867 the
British North America Act united Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in
the Dominion of Canada with its capital at Ottawa, first settled in 1827.
A Scots-Canadian, John Alexander Macdonald, who had led the federation movement
became the first premier. Within six years, the Dominion was joined by Manitoba, British
Columbia and Prince Edward Island (Newfoundland joined in 1949). The Canadian
Pacific Railway begun in 1880 then became a crucial link in the chain of confederation,
making it possible for the addition of the two prairie provinces to join in 1905, Alberta
and Saskatchewan. In June, 1880, the anthem "Oh Canada" was sung for the first time in
Quebec; it received official English lyrics in 1908.
Other Maritime Provinces were also heavily influenced by Scottish settlers. Prince
Edward Island was captured from the French by Lord Rollo, a Scottish Peer, in 1758 and
parceled out among a number of landed proprietors, including many Scots. One was John
Macdonald of Glenaladale, who conceived the idea of sending Highlanders out to Nova
Scotia on a grand scale after Culloden.
New Brunswick also became the home for many Scots. In 1761, Fort Frederick was
garrisoned by a Highland regiment. The surrounding lands surveyed by Captain Bruce in
1762 attracted many Scotch traders when William Davidson of Caithness arrived to settle
two years later. Their numbers were swelled by the arrival of thousands of loyalists of
Scottish origin, both during and after the American Revolution. A continual influx of
immigrants from Scotland and Ulster meant that by 1843, there were over 30,000 Scots in
New Brunswick.
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A large group of Scots chiefly from Ross-shire arrived in 1802 on the Nephton to settle in
the Quebec province. Many of their descendents have become prominent in the business,
financial and religious activities of Montreal ever since. The great centre of the Scottish
Loyalists, however, was not in Quebec, but in Upper Canada, the Glengarry Settlement in
what is now Ontario. Here, in what was then wilderness, many of the early settlers had
come from Tryon County in New York State. They were joined by many Highlanders
during the Revolution, and after the War had ended, by a whole regiment of the "King's
Royals."
Unemployment and suffering that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars caused the
British government to reverse its former policies and to actively encourage emigration. In
1815, three loaded transports thus set sail from Greenock for Upper Canada: the Atlas,
the Baptiste Merchant and the Borothy. After the end of the War of 1812, they were
joined by many soldiers from the disbanded regiments. In 1816, further arrivals from
Ulster helped swell the Scottish element in what was at first a military settlement. Many
Perth families became prominent in both state and national governments.
The list of Scots who influenced Canada's history is indeed a long one. We can only
mention a few more who contributed in so many different areas. Explorer Alexander
Mackenzie completed the first known transcontinental crossing of America north of
Mexico. John Sandfield Macdonald (1812-72) became Prime Minister of the province of
Canada in 1862 and the first Prime Minister of Canada in 1867. Sir John Macdonald
(1815-91), who emigrated in 1820, became the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of
Canada, leading the country through its period of early growth. Under his leadership, the
dominion expanded to include Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. Sir
Richard McBride (1870-1917) was Premier of British Columbia from 1903 to 1915,
where he introduced the two-party system of government and worked tirelessly on behalf
of the extension of the railroad.
The list seems endless. Immigrant Alexander Mackenzie was the first Liberal Prime
Minister of Canada (1873-78). Another Scot, William Lyon Mackenzie, who led the
revolt in Upper Canada against the Canadian government in 1858, became a symbol of
Canadian radicalism. His rebellion dramatized the need for a reform of the country's
outmoded constitution and led to the 1841 Confederation of Canadian provinces.
British India
In India, Robert Clive had defeated pro-French forces at Arcot in 1751 thus helping his
East India Company to monopolize appointments, finances, land and power. The British
victory led to the withdrawal of the French East India Company. Then, six years later,
faced with native opposition, opportunist Clive defeated the local Nabob at Plassey to
become virtual ruler of Bengal and opened up much of the country to further exploitation
and control by the East India Company. When Clive was recalled to England, Warren
Hastings took over to strengthen British interests in India and to establish a basic pattern
of government that remained virtually unchanged for 100 years. Hastings was impeached
by Parliament for enriching himself unduly in India. His trial, in which he refused to
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admit his mistakes, was closely studied in January 1999 by members of the US Senate in
their own impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.
India was regarded as the "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire; over two thirds of
the vast sub-continent was ruled by the East India Company. Its finances and its troops
were used to protect British interests, even overthrowing native Indian princes. Much of
the country, however, was chafed under English practices, there were simply too many
differences in social and religious customs between the two countries. In 1857,
simmering discontent flared into a great mutiny, when sections of the army of Bengal
attacked British settlers.
After atrocities on both sides, the revolt was finally crushed by November 1858, the
majority of Indians, having remained loyal. The British government then took over the
administration of India from the East India Company and the British Governor General
became the Viceroy of India to represent the Crown. A proclamation from the Queen
then ensured the Indian people that their religious practices and customs would not be
interfered with, that the titles of their Indian princes would be recognized and that in the
future they would be able to participate in the government of their country.
At the same time, a network of roads, railroads and telegraphs (in addition to the
ubiquitous civil servant) helped unite the sprawling subcontinent, and an educated,
English speaking elite emerged to further westernize its peoples. Queen Victoria was
proclaimed Empress of India in 1877 by Prime Minister Disraeli. India did not gain its
independence until after the Second World War when it fought alongside other countries
of the British Empire.
South Africa
South Africa came to the attention of Europeans when a Dutch ship, Haarlem, broke up at
Table Bay in 1648 and the survivors, back in Holland, urged authorities to establish a
settlement for provisioning their East India fleets. In 1652, a small group of Dutch settlers
founded Cape Town. In 1815, Britain gained its long-desired "half-way house" on the sea
route to India when the Dutch ceded the Cape of Good Hope. The British arrived in 1820
when the Albany settlers founded Grahamstown in the eastern coastal region. By 1826,
Britain's Cape Colony had extended its borders to the Orange River. In 1834, Xhosa
tribesmen revolted against Dutch encroachments on their lands but were defeated. The
seeds of later conflict, however, involving British, Dutch and native Africans were sown.
Soon after Britain abolished slavery in its Empire in 1834, Dutch cattlemen in South
Africa began their great Trek north and east of the Orange Rivers. In the next two years,
some 10,000 Boers (Dutch colonists) moved to new lands beyond the Vaal River. They
were to found Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In 1838, they were forced to
defeat the Zulu at the Battle of Blood River in Natal. Britain then repulsed the Boers and
made Natal a British colony in the pretense of protecting the natives. In 1854, the British
withdrew from lands north of the Orange River and the Boers seized the Orange Free
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State. In 1856, Britain made Natal a Crown colony; and the Boers established the South
African Republic (Transvaal) with Pretoria as its capital.
Events came to a head between Boers and Brits when diamonds were discovered in the
Orange Free State. The British disregarded Boer claims to the territory, annexing the
district to Cape Colony in 1871. Six years later, Britain annexed the South African
Republic in violation of the Sand River Convention of 1852 that recognized the
independence of the Transvaal. The Boers demanded a restoration of their independence
and fully expected it from British Prime Minister Gladstone, always concerned with
doing what was right and moral. His slowness, however, in getting a reluctant Parliament
to act led to the Boers taking up arms. In December 1880 a Boer Republic independent of
Britain's Cape Colony was proclaimed by Paul Kruger. After a British defeat at Majuba
Hill a year later, the Treaty of Pretoria gave independence to the Boer Republic but under
British suzerainty.
When gold was discovered in the Transvaal in 1886, the drive to annex the Boer
republics began in earnest. Cecil Rhodes (who had founded the De Beers Mining
Corporation in 1880) was determined that the riches being discovered in South Africa
were not going to the Boer farmers. Rhodes dreamed of extending British rule in Africa,
building a railroad from the Cape to Cairo but the Boers were in the way, controlling the
key areas of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Using his great wealth, amassed in
the diamond and gold fields, Rhodes with other imperialists established British colonies
to the north of the Boer territories. Both Northern and Southern Rhodesia (settled by
English workers for Rhodes's British South Africa Company who founded Salisbury in
1890) were granted charters by London.
The Outsiders (Uitlanders, who flocked to the gold fields soon began to outnumber the
Boers (sometimes called Afrikaners), who took retaliatory measures which included
excessive laws against the newcomers that led to Rhodes intervening in the abortive
"Jameson Raid," late in 1895. When Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain tried to get
Kruger to accept British supremacy, the attempt ended in yet another humiliation for his
government. War began in 1899 as a result of British diplomatic pressure and a military
build up on the borders of the Transvaal.
The highly mobile guerrilla units of the Boers were immediately successful in defeating
much larger units of the British Army. Their big error, and one that may have cost them
the war, was not to invade Natal, but to lay siege to a large British force penned up in
Ladysmith, an error they repeated in the sieges of Kimberley and Mafeking (of BadenPowell fame). Yet overwhelming Boer victories occurred when British commander
Redvers Buller split up his forces.
Victory for Britain only came when Buller's replacement, Lord Roberts took the war into
the enemy heartland, putting the Boers on the defensive. The capture of Bloemfontein
and Pretoria effectively ended the gallant efforts of the Transvaal Field Army of the
Boers, so successful in small engagements but heavily outgunned an out numbered in
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larger battles. Kruger went into exile and the two Boer republics were annexed to the
British crown in 1900.
Yet the war dragged on. Under skilful leaders such as de Wet, Botha and Smuts, the
Boers utilized commandos to strike at British lines of communication in determined
efforts to fight to the last for their independence. The British resorted to a scorched earth
policy to deny the Afrikaners food and supplies, burning their farms and crops and
removing masses of farming families to concentration camps. Losses to attrition and
demands from Liberals in the government at Westminster to stop the barbarism led to
negotiations and the Peace of Vereenigning in May 1902. The Boers accepted British
sovereignty with a promise of future self-government.
The war was costly for both sides, but especially the British. Deaths from disease greatly
outnumbered those from bullets, and a series of defeats showed only too clearly the
deficiencies in leadership, operational planning, training, equipping and supplying of
troops that had been so evident in the Crimean War. The red jackets of English soldiers
had made them easy targets for Boer marksmen on the high Veldt, and their lack of
knowledge of how to survive on the land was to lead Baden-Powell to found the Boy
Scout movement primarily as a form of early outdoor military training for youths born
and bred in the unhealthy cities spawned by the industrial revolution.
Further Expansion of Empire
Britain's rise to a world power meant that she found interests everywhere. Not only was
she now head of the self-governing colonies, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand
(mostly settled by British newcomers in addition to the relatively tiny native
populations); but also the vast Empire of India and a veritable host of dependent
territories all over the world's oceans. Most of these had been acquired somehow to
protect the merchants and traders of England, or areas in which their missionaries and
explorers (mostly Scots such as self-promoting David Livingstone or English brave
hearts such as Richard Burton and John Speke) had established their outposts.
Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1874 with the idea of expanding the Empire
and taking up the "White Man's Burden" (as Rudyard Kipling described it) to not only
create trade and bring profit, but also to spread British ideas of democracy and law, as
well as the Christian (and Protestant) religion. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, offered a
5,000 mile shortcut from Britain to India and the east, to Australia and New Zealand and
Disraeli persuaded his government to buy the khedive of Egypt's majority shares with a
loan from the Rothschild banking house.
Because of Britain's control of Egypt it got involved in the war against the Mahdi,
preaching a holy war in the Sudan (a dependency of Egypt), and the defeat of General
Gordon at Khartoum. It was also Disraeli who backed British military intervention in the
Transvaal in 1877, in the Zulu War two years later and in the ill-fated attempt to support
the ruler of Afghanistan against Russia in 1878.
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Britain had become involved in Afghanistan, that graveyard of so many foreign troops,
when the expansion of Russian power in the Near and Middle East in the 1820's and 30's
alarmed the East India Company. An attempt by the British government to control the
mountainous land in 1839 by placing a pretender on the Afghan throne proved a complete
disaster. A whole British army was destroyed, the puppet ruler assassinated and the
British envoys murdered. Not much was learned from the experience.
In a further attempt to control the northwest approaches to India, another British invasion
against the legitimate ruler (considered too friendly to Russia) took place in 1880 under
Gladstone's government. The murder of the British Resident in Kabul brought another
British force to remedy the situation under General Roberts. It managed to extricate itself
after dealing with rival claimants to the throne. The Northwest frontier between the
Punjab and Afghanistan was finally drawn up in 1901 under the British viceroy in India,
Lord Curzon.
1901: The End of an Era
In 1897, Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee. She died in 1901. Britain had
undergone enormous changes in the 60 years of her reign. It had become the workshop of
the world, yet, to many of its inhabitants, the days of prosperity and optimism were over,
the future was uncertain. Commerce was flourishing, industrial productivity was
booming, exports were soaring, the nation led the world in manufacturing, the Empire
had expanded across the globe. Yet there were many cracks in the wall and skeletons in
the closet.
The great movement in population from the countryside to the towns and the urban
squalor and poverty it created has been well-documented by such writers as Charles
Dickens. Not even the Royal family could escape the dreaded cholera, rampant in
London due to its tainted water supplies. Victoria's uncle, William IV's had two daughters
die in infancy and disease was rampant in the squalid slums of the rapidly growing cities
and manufacturing towns.
The constant refusal of landlords to improve their properties, install proper sanitary
facilities and relieve the burden of high rents was matched by the indifference of the
factory and mine owners to the terrible working conditions of those they employed.
Those who did care about their workers, such as Robert Owen, were few and far between.
The government was forced to step in; only law could change the intolerable conditions.
Reforms had tentatively begun under the Tory Party, which dominated in Parliament
from 1812 to 1827 and under the dynamic Robert Peel as Home Office Minister. Peel
reformed the criminal code, abolished the death penalty for over 100 offences, improved
prison conditions and created the London Police force, the so-called "Bobbies."
It was only a beginning. Reforms were greatly needed in every sector of British society.
Not everyone had benefited from the improvements in agriculture and industry.
Increasing enclosures of land had thrown hundreds of thousands of small landowners
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onto the mercy of the Parish or drawn them into the fast-growing cities to replenish the
stock of poor and unemployed. Lord Byron, a hereditary peer in the House of Lords was
not the only one to speak out against the evils of industrialization. The poor had no
representation in Parliament, for the system had long ago failed to represent anyone
except a small privileged class. It was time for major changes.
In 1832, the Duke also had to acquiesce in the passing of the great Reform Bill of 1832
that, while doing nothing for the poorer classes, at long last recognized the right of the
new manufacturing magnates and the middle-classes to govern England. It was a right
long overdue, for the manufacturers and merchants had long been the chief factors in the
economic life (and success) of England. Their agitation was their demand to be admitted
into the elite of the ruling set. As the first formal change in electoral law, however, since
an Act of 1430, it heralded further inevitable changes in the relationship between the old
aristocratic oligarchy and the new men from the boroughs and manufacturing towns.
The British working classes were still without representation in Parliament: they turned to
Chartism to redress their grievances. Early attempts at forming workers' unions had failed
miserably, their leaders denounced as "gin-swilling degenerates" and their members
expelled from their work places. The workers then turned to violence, forming groups
such as the "Scotch Cattle" that destroyed property and threatened workers. The great
depression of 1829, with its massive unemployment and wage cuts led to the great
Merthyr Rising in South Wales, now heavily industrialized and influenced by many of its
Irish immigrants. Order was brought into the area by the military and punishment was
severe. Dic Penderyn was hanged for wounding a soldier, becoming a martyr for the
Welsh workers.
The Chartists now began to recruit in earnest. The movement was named after the radical
London reformer William Levett, who drafted a bill known as "The People's Charter" in
May 1838. The Chartists hoped to bring about a democratic parliament and an
enfranchised working class. They staged demonstrations in many towns and when the
government refused to consider the six points of the Charter presented in June 1839 took
to arms. The biggest demonstration took place in South Wales, at Newport, where
thousands of marchers, coming into the town in columns from the coal-mining valleys,
were shattered by well-directed volleys from a body of troops (chiefly recruited in
Ireland) stationed in the Westgate Hotel.
The repeal of the infamous Corn Laws in 1846 and the consequent availability of cheap
bread meant that people were less inclined to revolution. The Chartist Movement, faced
with the might of the British military and a recalcitrant government, was fading by the
late 1850's. In 1857 an Act declared that property qualifications were no longer necessary
for a seat in Parliament, and the first great democratizing point of the Charter had been
conceded by the government.
Not to be overlooked, was the introduction of canned foods, created for the Royal Navy,
but sold commercially by the London firm of Donkin-Hall in 1814 that eventually helped
alleviate shortages caused by bad harvests (the industry took advantage of the vacuum
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pan recently invented by Edward Howard). In 1867, the Great Reform Bill finally ended
the Chartist Movement, for in that year, nearly one million voters were added to the
register, nearly doubling the electorate. Forty-five new seats were created, and the vote
given to many working men as well as tenants of small farms. From henceforth,
governments had to heed the voice of the middle and lower classes; its resources had to
be used to benefit all of society, not just the privileged few, and the State came to play a
leading part in the lives of Britain's citizens.
The Continuing Problem of Ireland
One of the major cracks in Britain's armor was Ireland, a country so near and yet so far.
A country that remained an enigma to most Britons, unable to understand the depth of
nationalist (and Catholic) feeling that kept their neighboring island out of the mainstream
of the Empire in so many ways. Even the revolutionary effects of the coming of industry
to Britain had little effect upon Ireland, which remained rural and agricultural. AngloIrish relations had been bitter ever since the ruthless policies of Cromwell. The Ulster
Plantations of James I, and the failure of the Jacobite rebellions had not helped matters.
In 1791 Wolfe Tone and others established The Society of United Irishmen to follow the
lead of the Americans to agitate for independence from Britain. A French fleet set sail for
Ireland in December, 1793 to aid the Irish rebels. A mighty storm dispersed the ships and
no invasion took place, but the French tried again in 1795, after the Battle of Vinegar Hill
had broken Irish resistance to British rule. Once again, however, they were defeated; this
time by troops under Cornwallis.
On January 1, 1801, the Act of Union of 1801 created the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, establishing one single Parliament. Primarily due to the obstinacy of
George III, who did not wish to give full emancipation to Irish Catholics, the union had
little chance of success. Catholics could vote in elections, but only for Protestant
candidates, no Catholic could be a Member of Parliament, nor become a minister or
servant of the Crown. The problem could not be continually put on the back burner by the
Parliament in London; the work of Daniel O'Connell saw to that.
O'Connell gave voice to the political aspirations of the Irish people. In 1823, he founded
the Catholic Association, to provide the funds for a national movement, and in 1823 a
Catholic Relief Bill was passed by the Commons. Its rejection by the Lords, however,
meant further agitation by O'Connell who returned unopposed from County Clare, and in
1829, the Catholic Emancipation Bill was pushed through Parliament by the Duke of
Wellington over strong Tory opposition. The Bill opened up the right to sit in Parliament
and to hold any public office (with few exceptions) to Catholics.
The Act settled one grievance, but it did nothing to settle the major one: that of the
unpopular Union of 1801. O'Connell wanted nothing less than the restoration of an Irish
Parliament. Despite the Irishman's eloquent oratory and strong support in Parliament,
however, Robert Peel refused to budge on the question, and in time-honored fashion, sent
troops to Ireland to quell disturbances. O'Connell's activities had him convicted for
conspiracy, but the verdict was reversed on appeal. His influence waning, he died in
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1847. Meanwhile, Peel's proposals to alleviate the problems in Ireland, were met with
hostility from both Protestants and Catholics alike. A Bill introduced in 1845 to give Irish
tenants the right to compensation for improvements to their holdings was opposed in
Parliament. The Great Famine prevented its implementation for over thirty years.
There had been many warnings of the problems that could result for the Irish from their
reliance on a single food crop. Potatoes had come to their country in 1586, planted on his
estate near Cork by Sir Walter Raleigh. They seemed to be an admirable food to supplant
wheat, so dependent upon the weather. They were easily grown, easily stored, easily
cooked. In 1770, they were sold publicly in London. In less than one hundred years, their
value as a food source had helped fuel a population increase in many parts of Europe but
especially in Ireland, an increase that was most dramatic after 1800. By 1841, there were
almost eight and a half million people in Ireland depending upon potatoes, but as early as
1830 William Cobbett had warned of over reliance on the crop.
In 1845, over one half the Irish potato crop, mostly grown on nearly 2 million acres in
spade-cultivated plots of less than one acre, was lost to a fungus. The harvest failed, and
the peasants saw their winter food supplies go to rot. A greater tragedy came with the
second failure a year later. The British government did very little; it believed that
economic forces must work themselves out with as little interference as possible and
threw the burden of relief onto the local Irish Poor Law authorities. The repeal of the
Corn Laws (passed to aid the British farmer) in 1846 did practically nothing to solve the
problem.
For the majority of the Irish, the answer was starvation or emigration, and between 1848
and 1851 over a million left for the United States, taking with them their resentment of
the British government and its feeble attempts to solve the mass starvation in Ireland.
Unlike the Scots, bereft of their lands in the Great Clearances, they did not remain loyal
to the Empire. Meanwhile, the "Problem of Ireland" intensified for successive British
governments during the second half of the century.
In the 1860's a new force entered Irish politics, the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood,
founded in the USA, that became known as the Fenians. Its aims went a lot further than
those of O'Connell, for it sought nothing less than complete separation from Britain and
the setting up of an independent republic. It also promoted violence as a means to achieve
its aims. In 1868, Gladstone promised to "pacify Ireland," and began a program of
moderate reforms including the disestablishment of the Protestant Church of Ireland. In
1870, Gladstone enacted a Land Act to prevent eviction of tenants (except for nonpayment of rent), and to give compensation for the improvements made to land or
property. The only problem was that landlords consequently raised their rents (and could
thus have an excuse for evictions). The Prime Minister responded to the resulting
violence by the Coercion Acts that further antagonized the poor Irish. Gladstone's desire
to give the Irish Catholics their own university was defeated by a narrow margin in
Parliament.
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Disraeli was not married to a Welsh girl as was Gladstone; he had less sympathy to the
people of Ireland. During his 1874-80 ministry, the Irish Home Rule League was
founded, to demand repeal of the Union of 1801 and the restoration of an Irish Parliament
at Dublin. It was supported by 59 Home-Rulers elected to the Commons in 1874. When
Parnell took over the reigns, the League became a powerful political force. In 1879,
another movement began: the Irish National Land League was founded by Michael Davin
to boycott landlords and to work for ownership of all Irish land by Irish peasant farmers.
Like the Home Rule League, the INLL was backed by huge sums of money raised in the
US by Fenian societies.
Between 1880 and 1895, at the height of its imperial powers, Britain suffered the
humiliation of having four out of six governments being defeated as a direct result of
Irish affairs. Parnells' power block of 80 or so Irish M.P.'s was a crucial factor.
Determined to press for Home Rule for Ireland, their constant side switching in an
attempt gain their aims led to the Irish Home Rule Crisis of 1886 which split the Liberal
Party in two and kept the Conservatives in power. Unfortunately, despite their passage of
a Land Purchase Act in 1891, the government implemented strict measures to try to
improve law and order in Ireland, all of which were vigorously opposed by Parnell. After
Parnell's disgrace in 1891 (over an affair with a divorcee), Gladstone continued to press
for a Home Rule Bill. His final attempt passed the Commons in 1893 but was rejected by
the stubborn, myopic House of Lords. Ireland's problems, and the inability of the English
government to deal with them continued well into the next century, one in which the
accomplishments of Britain began to be matched by other countries, and one in which its
mighty empire disintegrated.
Part 8: England in the 20th Century
Changes in Empire and at Home
The popular,aged Victoria was succeeded by Edward VII, who reigned for nine years
(1901-10). The jovial, popular, avuncular Prince of Wales had waited a long time to
accede to the throne. Known as Edward the Peacemaker for his diplomacy in Europe, he
used his knowledge of French, Spanish, Italian and German to good advantage. Matters
seemed fine in the island kingdom of Britain, feeling secure as the head of the largest
empire the world had ever known. Yet the image of splendid and carefree easy living
portrayed by the King was in direct contrast to the growing forces of discontent and
resentment felt by too many members of British society.
England in the Edwardian Age existed in a twilight zone; the balance of power in so
many areas was shifting in a Europe in which the decisive factor was the rise of a united
Germany, and in a world in which the United States would soon dominate. To prepare for
the future, one politician, Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister 1902-5, saw that Britain needed
to advance its educational system and to strengthen its defenses. His Education Bill of
1902 abolished the School Boards and placed primary, technical and secondary education
under the control of local authorities. This helped to create an "education ladder" by
which abler children were able to win scholarships to enter the secondary grammar
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schools (the mis-named Public Schools continued as private enclaves for the rich and
very rich). The Civil Service was thus able to find itself enriched by a steady stream of
educated, qualified young men (and later young women).
Balfour made effective the Committee of Imperial Defence to carry out the reforms made
necessary after the humiliations of the Boer War. The Committee also improved Britain's
naval defenses; and under John Fisher, the Admiralty began building the Dreadnought a
new type of heavily-armed warship. To further meet the threat from the new German
fleet, he also concentrated the Royal Navy in home waters instead of having it dispersed
all over the world. Balfour, however, was completely unable to prevent the inevitable.
Though many historians see the death of King Edward as marking the dividing line
between the security and stability of the 19th century and the uncertainties of the
twentieth, there had been ominous warnings before 1910.
In Wales, conditions in the tin plate industry had been severely depressed by the 1891
McKinley Tariff of the United States; the deplorable conditions endured by coal miners
led to the creation of a new force in British politics: the trade union. There had been
many earlier attempts to form unions, mostly unsuccessful because of determined
resistance from the mine and factory owners. Workers had been fired for trying to form
unions; their leaders were once denounced by the leading Welsh newspaper as "ginswilling degenerates." In 1834, when Robert Owen had attempted to improve factory
conditions and the lives of the workers through his Grand National Consolidated Trade
Union, six English farm laborers were sentenced to deportation for secretly forming a
branch of the GNCTU (they were the famous Tolpuddle Martyrs).
In Lancashire, in 1869, the formation of the Amalgamated Association of Miners led to
fierce resistance from the coal owners and was forced to disband. A united front against
the unionists was then forged by the formation of the Monmouthshire and South Wales
Coal Owners Association in which 85 companies owned over 200 mines. The workers
persisted in their attempts to form unions, however, and in 1877 the Cambrian Miners
Association began in the Rhondda Valley under the inspired leadership of William
Abraham (Mabon). Abraham was elected Lib-Lab M.P. for Rhondda in 1885 and kept the
peace between owners and miners for twenty years. (The Lib-Labs represented an
informal agreement with local Liberal organizations to run a number of trade union
candidates, rather than a party of organized labor.)
In 1888, a successful strike of girls in the sweated trade of match-box making occurred.
One year later the Gas Workers Union secured a reduction from twelve to eight hours in
their working day. A strike by London Dock workers the same year was equally
successful. Their disciplined behavior won them widespread support When their demands
were finally conceded, the Dockers Union gave considerable stimulus to recruiting for
other trade unions, who were quick to see the strike as a means to solve their grievances.
The Fabian Movement began in 1884, its composition of middle-class intellectuals
(including dramatist and critic George Bernard Shaw) giving it considerable weight as an
instrument in bringing forth political and social reform. As a response to poor working
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conditions, the Independent Labour Party was formed in 1893. Six years later the Miner's
Federation of Great Britain began at Newport, South Wales. The Federation argued for
the creation of a Board of Arbitration to replace the infamous sliding scale and the
restriction of the work day to eight hours (also that year the Women's Social and Political
Union was formed by Emmeline Pankhurst with the goal of achieving voting rights for
women. In 1918, women over thirty were granted the right to vote, following their efforts
as factory workers taking the places of men called up for the military).
When judgement was given in favor of the owners and against the striking workers in the
Taff Vale Railway Company dispute of 1900, the huge costs levied against the union
practically ensured the creation of a new party in British politics. The unions saw clearly
that they had to have legislation to guarantee their rights, and thus they needed
representation in Parliament. The Labour Representative Committee answered their
needs: in 1906, it became known as the Labour Party, but it took many years before it
could muster enough strength to offer a worthy challenge to the Liberal and the
Conservative Parties.
George V (1910-1936)
The new King, George was the second son of Edward VII and Queen Alexander, Prince
Albert Victor had died in 1892. It was George who changed his family name from the
German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to that of the English Windsor. With his wife Mary, he did
much to continue the popularity of the monarchy. They were helped enormously by the
advent of the BBC in 1922 which probably did more to perpetuate the national sense of
common identity than any other factor save war. In 1934, George began his broadcasts to
Britain and the Empire. Radio, newspapers (and later television) all added to the
mystique and prestige of the royal family when so much more was in a state of flux, and
old traditions were being challenged everywhere.
The pre-War years saw major changes in England's domestic policies. The question of
tariff reform divided the Conservatives. One group wished to use the tariff to protect
British industries and boost inter-imperial trade and co-operation; the other, fearing the
social and political consequences that higher food prices would bring as a result of the
tariff, was in favor of Free Trade. A crisis occurred in 1906.
In that year, left-wing Liberal, Welshman David Lloyd George became Chancellor of the
Exchequer and pushed through Parliament his "People's Budget" that proposed a tax on
the rich to pay for reforms and the rebuilding of the Royal Navy. The rapid rise of such
men as Lloyd George from humble origins to high positions in the government showed
only too clearly the changing nature of political life in the country, a change that the
House of Lords was slow to accept. The Upper House, packed with its hereditary peers,
was particularly upset by what it considered the socialistic and confiscatory nature of the
budget and rejected it.
Two general elections were held to resolve the deadlock. The Liberals were able to win a
landslide victory and remained in power until the wartime coalition government was
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formed in 1915. In the interim, the Lords continued to reject the Budget, which finally
passed in 1911 when the Commons approved the Parliament Bill to limit the delaying
power of the House of Lords. From now on, the Lords could no longer reject bills
outright and there was to be a general election every five years (instead of seven).
The year 1911 saw the greatest industrial unrest in Britain's history. Nationwide strikes of
dock workers, railway men and miners brought the country to a standstill. The
government was forced to respond. The National Insurance Act was passed to ensure that
the worker, the employer and the government all contributed to a general fund to pay for
free medical treatment, sick pay, disability and maternity benefits. It also introduced a
measure of unemployment benefits, free meals for school children as well as periodic
medical exams. Through the efforts of Winston Churchill there had been the setting up of
Labour Exchanges where the unemployed worker could sign on for vacant jobs.
Foundations were being laid for a veritable sea of change in the way the state was to
assume responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.
Many reforms took place in a veritable flood of "socialist experiment." The introduction
of a salary for M.P.'s allowed the entry of working class members to Parliament; the trade
unions were freed from the liability for strike damage and allowed to use their funds in
politics. Hours and conditions of labor were regulated, slum -clearances effected, eightythree labor exchanges set up, and old-age pensions inaugurated as the first installment of
social security. All this cost a great deal of money. it came from the pockets of the rich.
They were further incensed by the Home Rule Bill of 1912.
Irish M.P.'s had helped the Liberals gain power; they wanted their reward in Home Rule.
To the Conservatives, however, the idea of Britain splitting up (in the face of increasing
German hostility) seemed ludicrous, to be avoided at all costs. They were aided by the
Protestant forces of Ulster (most of Northern Ireland), equally alarmed at the prospect of
being ruled from Dublin. A major civil war loomed in Ireland, and the British Army
regulars made it clear in the so-called "mutiny" at the Curragh, that they would not fight
against their brothers in Ulster. In 1914, the Home Rule Bill was finally pushed through,
but the outbreak of the Great War pushed everything else aside; it was said that "the
public had forgotten the Irish for the Belgians."
World War I (1914-1918)
By the turn of the century, it had become increasingly apparent to many, both in and out
of government, that the possession of an Empire would not be enough to cure Britain's
domestic problems. Gladstone, in particular, had the wisdom (and the courage) to admit
that though the Empire was a duty and responsibility that could not be shrugged off, there
could be little advantage, and possibly only future problems, in expanding it. For him, in
contrast to the imperialist Disraeli, and later, the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain,
Britain's strength lay in its own people, in their own land. Foreign adventures could only
waste the nation's resources, sorely needed to aid its own people. He had been proved
right in the costly adventures in Afghanistan, the Sudan and South Africa. (As a sideline,
the poor physical condition of the British soldiers in South Africa during the fight against
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the Boer farmers, led Baden-Powell, who had successfully defended Mafeking, to found
the Boy Scout Movement in 1908.)
In the heady day of Empire, William Ewart Gladstone had believed in peace with justice.
He respected the rights of small nations to seek their own forms of government; hence his
support of Home Rule for Ireland. He died in 1898, four years after being defeated in
Parliament. He had relentlessly condemned the Conservative government's overseas
policies. Sadly, though he recognised what was going on in Ireland, he had failed to see
that a genuine nationalist movement had surfaced in Egypt, where Britain was forced to
stay, once involved, until the middle of the next century. He had noticed, however, that
Germany's support of the Boer farmers, in the way of arms and guns, boded ill for future
relations between the two countries. A new rivalry developed over their respective
navies. More than one historian has pointed out that the German navy was floated on a
tide of Anglophobia.
It was thus that Britain's foreign policy, during the first few years of the new century,
changed drastically. Instead of the old cordiality towards Germany and fear of a
combined France and Russia, she now became friendly towards France and Russia and
hostile to Germany. An Anglo-French agreement in 1904, mainly over their respective
interests in Egypt and Morocco, alarmed the Germans. The new Liberal government's
Foreign Secretary, Lord Grey, had no intention of dissolving its association with France
(and with Japan and Russia, who were at war with one another in 1905).
The question now arose of what would be Britain's response should Germany attack
France over a dispute concerning Morocco. The answer can be found in the summer
maneuvers of the English army that assumed Germany, not France, would be the enemy.
Germany also felt humiliated by the Treaty of Algeciras that temporarily settled the
Morocco question, and felt surrounded by hostile powers, a feeling that grew alarmingly
after the 1906 Anglo-Russian Entente. Its reply was to build up its navy, including the
Dreadnought, a threat to England's long-held supremacy at sea. World War I broke out in
August 1914, when Germany declared war on Russia. Trouble in the Balkans precipitated
the outbreak of hostilities, but they had been stewing for a long time.
Perhaps the War came about as the result of a breakdown in the European diplomatic
system -- the bad judgment of a number of individual politicians. Perhaps it was
inevitable -- the result of the profound economic changes that had been at work that had
caused a "structural failure" of European society. In England, domestic problems, as
much as the crisis in the Ottoman Empire, had dictated foreign policy decisions. In any
case, Britain was not willing to see Germany defeat France again; nor did she want to
lose her position as the world's leading power. The troubles began in Bosnia.
Austria seized Bosnia in 1908; Italy then took Tripoli, Cyrenaicia and some islands to
show that Turkey could no longer defend what was left of her empire in Europe. Russia,
Austria-Hungary, and Germany were all hungry for spoils in the area. When Greece
allied with Serbia and Bulgaria (all satellites of Russia), to defeat the Turks, Austria
became alarmed; her own empire contained many Slavic peoples. Germany, too, feared
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Russian expansion in the Balkans. A conference in London in 1913 failed to pacify the
region, in which the late victorious Balkan states were now quarrelling among
themselves. Serbia's successes further alarmed empire of Austria-Hungary.
With the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June, 1914, all hell broke
loose. The military chiefs of many nations were all ready to go to war. Historians have
succinctly pointed out that an inexorable military machine quickly overwhelmed the
improvisations of diplomacy. With the Kaiser's support, Austria declared war on Serbia.
Germany declared war on Russia and on France, creating a huge dilemma for Britain:
should she give full military support to France and her allies or to stay out of Europe
altogether in a policy of complete neutrality. The latter policy would have opened the
door for Germany, however, and when that country violated the neutrality of Belgium in
August, Britain went to war on the side of France. The decision to aid Belgium, one of
small-statured Lloyd George's "little 5-foot-5 nations," marked the beginning of the end
for his country's world dominance.
The length of the war, and its enormous toll on life and resources, was completely
unpredicted. A German plan for a rapid victory in the West was thwarted by the
combined French-British armies at the Marne. When the German offensive began down
the North Sea coast of Belgium, the battles at Ypres managed to stem their advance, but
at heavy cost. The years of trench warfare then began in a costly war of attrition with
neither side gaining any real advantage.
At sea, the war produced one large-scale battle and a few smaller engagements. The
action at Jutland, despite British losses, resulted in the German fleet heading for home,
allowing the Royal Navy to continue to dominate the sea routes, to supply new fronts in
the Eastern Mediterranean (with limited successes), and to impose an economic blockade
upon Germany and her allies. In reply, the consequent German submarine campaign
showed only too well the strengths of this new kind of weapon. The sinking of the
Lusitania off Kinsale Head, Ireland in May 1915, however, had enormous consequences
for the later stages of the war. In the meantime, in order to aid rapidly weakening Russia,
the allies decided to strike at Turkey and the rear of Austria-Hungary by way of the
Balkans.
Both Lloyd George and Winston Churchill argued for the Gallipoli campaign of 1915.
The campaign was designed to attack weaker spots of the enemy's front by combining
military and naval forces; to force Turkey to abandon her support of Germany,
circumvent Bulgaria's entry into the war, and bring Greece into the side of the allies. In
the campaign, failure to co-ordinate their activities, however, left great numbers of
British, New Zealand and Australian troops stranded on the Gallipoli Peninsular unable
to break through the Turkish defenses. All the objectives of the bold but totally
mismanaged campaign were lost (much hostility resulted in the attitude of Australia and
New Zealand that is still evident today in their progress towards republican status, despite
lingering affection for the mother country). On the Western front, allied losses also
caused great concern.
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The German attack at Ypres, where gas was used for the first time, and the failure of the
British counter-offensive, brought a government crisis in Britain. Lloyd George became
minister of Munitions and Arthur Henderson, Secretary of the Labour Party was admitted
to the Cabinet, a decision that clearly showed the growing importance of organized
labour. A German offensive at Verdun then blunted the allied plans for a simultaneous
attack; and the Battle of the Somme ended in disaster for the allies, who lost around
600,000 men in futile attacks against a firmly entrenched enemy. At the same time, the
Russian state began to show signs of collapse.
In late December, 1916, Lloyd George took charge of a coalition ministry in which he
showed the energy and capacity for getting things done in a time of great crisis. The
conduct of the war, the losses incurred, and the difficulties in Ireland (where the brutal
suppression of the Easter Rising almost certainly turned that nation against Britain when
a more just solution may have kept the nation loyal to the Crown), needed drastic
measures. Military deadlock, the successful U-boat offensive, as well as the onset of
revolution in Russia, provided a new test of character of the British people.
The introduction of an organized convoy system put a huge dent in the success rate of the
German submarines in sinking allied supply ships. British efforts were rewarded by the
entry of the United States into the War in April, 1917. The great French offensive early
1917 failed hopelessly. It was followed by an equal failure of Haig's offensive in Flanders
and the misery of the mud at Passchendaele Ridge. The Italians were then overwhelmed
by the German-Austrian army at Caporetto before stabilizing their line with help from
British and French troops. To make matter worse for the allies, the new Russian
revolutionary government made peace with Germany, freeing nearly fifty German
divisions for service on the Western front.
Things then began to change. German intrigue with Mexico (still simmering over the loss
of much of its territory to its powerful northern neighbor) along with the unrestricted
submarine warfare of 1917 brought the USA into the war. President Wilson's "Fourteen
Points," set forth in an address to Congress, had a great impact on world opinion at the
time when all belligerents except the US were exhausted by the war effort. In the spring
of 1918, the Germans planned their great offensive to capture the Channel ports. In spite
of early successes, however, attrition had taken its heavy toll. Aided by their new weapon
the tank, British forces turned the tide at Amiens, a battle that German Commander
Ludendorf decided was critical.
Britain's seizure of Palestine from the Ottoman Turks (aided by the successes of the
famed Lawrence of Arabia), was followed by the Balfour Declaration of November 11,
1917 that favored the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
Further allied successes on the Eastern front, the defeat of the Bulgarians, the capitulation
of Turkey, a victory by the Italians at Vitoria Veneto, a mutiny of the German fleet at
Kieland a revolt by the German people against their military leaders, all convinced the
German high command to enter into peace negotiations. The abdication of the Kaiser was
followed by the imposition of severe armistice terms by the allies at Compiegne. They
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were accepted on November 11, 1918; what had been the costliest war in human history
was over.
The cost to Britain was the loss of an entire generation, one whose contribution to
national life was to be sadly missed during the political mismanagement of the postwar
years. The blood baths of the Somme and Passchendaele could never be adequately
described by the nation's poets and prose writers, most of whom had been conscripted
into the army when the regulars, as a fighting force, had ceased to exist. So many of
Britain's physical and intellectual best were killed off in the endless fighting to gain a few
yards of muddy ground.
During the War, there was also unrest at home, particularly in the industrial belt of
Scotland where Intense labor conflict gave the name "Red Clyde" to its shipbuilding
region. A series of episodes took place there that have since assumed legendary
proportions, almost on the scale of the Jacobite rebellion. The conflicts, pitting
management's use of semi- or unskilled labor against the militant unions, produced such
well-known activists as James Maxton, John Wheatley, John Maclean and Emmanual
Shinwell. The troubles culminated in the George Square riot in Edinburgh of 1919 that
practically ensured the Labour Party's national victory in the General Election of 1922.
They have been regarded by many in the Labour Movement as forming part of the "glad,
confident morning" of Scottish socialism.
As noted earlier, however, it was the Liberal Party under Lloyd George that was most
effective in bringing needed changes to Britain. The introduction of salaries for M.P.'s in
1911l meant that the Labour Party could now field many candidates from the ranks of the
trade unions. Scotsman Keir Hardie, the socialist ex-miner, had been elected to
Parliament by the Merthyr constituency (South Wales) in 1891. In the hallowed halls of
Westminster, he defiantly chose to wear his cloth deer-stalker hat (transmogrified by
legend into a working man's cloth cap) in place of the usual top hat.
It wasn't only conditions in industry that were being transformed by the growth of
Labour. There were also many changes taking place in British agriculture during the early
years of the century. A rapid increase in population due to a declining death rate meant
that farmers were unable to meet the increasing demand for butter, cheese, margarine and
lard (used for cooking until the switch to vegetable oil right up until the 1960's), and a
reliance grew upon Denmark for these products. English farmers turning to market
gardening and fruit growing. Fuel shortages in 1916 motivated Parliament to pass a
"summer time" act, advancing clocks one hour to make the most of available light.
Farmers protested in vain.
To meet domestic demand, imports of US pork, Argentine beef and New Zealand lamb
continued to rise, but a significant contribution to raising protein levels of urban English
diets came with the introduction of the fish and chip shop. It utilized the product of fast,
deep-sea trawlers that packed their catch in ice and rapidly shipped it to British markets.
A new addition to the British diet was baked beans, first test marketed in Northern
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England by the American Heinz Company in 1905, but which became a staple of British
diets beginning in 1928 when the first canning factory began at Harlesden, near London.
Between the Two World Wars
Following the Armistice of 1918, the first order of the day for the victorious allies
(Britain, France, the USA, Italy, Japan and to a lesser extent Russia) was to hammer out
the peace terms to be presented to the defeated powers (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria,
Turkey and Hungary). At Versailles, Lloyd George represented Britain; pressing for
severe penalties against the Germans, he came up against the idealism of US President
Wilson, anxious to have his plans for a League of Nations implemented; and Clemenceau
of France, who wished for even more severe recriminations against Germany.
The final treaty came in June, 1919. The reparations and "war-guilt" clauses were later
seen by English economist John Maynard Keynes as a future cause of discontent; they
later became an excuse for Herr Hitler to begin his efforts to countermand them. The US
did not ratify the treaty, and the disunity that prevailed after its signing did not bode well
for the future of Europe. In addition, the United States and Russia did not join the League
of Nations that met for the first time in Geneva in November, 1920.
The matter of Ireland then became a serious source of hemorrhage to the confidence of a
seemingly-united Great Britain. The war had presented the opportunity the Irish
nationalists had been waiting for since the postponement of the Home Rule Act of 1914.
When they seized their opportunity to attack British rule in Ireland, the execution of
many of their leaders following the Easter Monday Rising in Dublin, made reconciliation
between the two countries impossible.
The British government failed to separate its important Irish prisoners. An internment
camp at Frongoch, in North Wales, later known as "Sinn Fein " University, brought
together many who would later become key figures in the fight for independence,
including Michael Collins (later to become Director of Intelligence as well as chief
organizer) and Richard Mulcahy (later to become Chief of Staff). Prisoners were inspired
by hearing the Welsh language all around the camp declare a republic in which Gaelic
would be the national language. In 1918, following the General Election, the successful
Sinn Feiners refused their seats at Westminster and formed the Dail Eireann that
proclaimed the Irish Republic on January 21, 1919.
The war against British rule then began, lasting until December 1920 when atrocities and
counter atrocities by both sides (not only those committed by the infamous "Black and
Tans.") finally led to the Government of Ireland Act. The Act divided Ireland into
Northern Ireland (containing the largest part of Ulster) and Southern Ireland, giving both
parts Home Rule, but reserving taxation powers for the Westminster Parliament. It
seemed that no one in Ireland was satisfied and guerrilla warfare intensified. The
coalition government in London was finally convinced that a policy of reconciliation was
needed and a truce in July, 1921 was followed by the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December.
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Mainly through a threat of an all-out war, Lloyd George somehow managed to persuade
the Irish delegation, led by Michael Collins, to accept the offer of Dominion status within
the Commonwealth rather than hold out for an independent republic, and the Irish Free
State came into being. A basic British condition was that the six counties of Northern
Ireland, mainly Protestant (who equated Home Rule with Rome Rule) should not be
coerced into a united Ireland, the other 32 counties, mainly Catholic.
Eamon De Valera (one of the participants in the Easter Rising, but who had escaped from
Lincoln Gaol) objected to the oath of allegiance to the Crown and formed a new party,
the Republican Party against the government of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. It
began a bitter civil war in which Collins, leader of the Dail's military forces and a much
revered Irish patriot lost his life leading the Free-State forces against the Republicans.
The bloody civil war ended in April 1923 when De Valera, who had been elected
President of the Irish Free State in 1919, ordered a cease fire. Eire was finally declared a
republic in April 1948, with Northern Ireland remaining as part of the United Kingdom.
The Great Depression
In the meantime, there had been a major downturn in the British economy since the end
of the World War. Government promises of a better society in which there would be a
higher standard of living and security of employment had not been fulfilled. The
productivity rate was falling rapidly behind that of other nations; there was simply too
much reliance on the traditional industries of cotton, coal mining and shipbuilding, all of
which were finding it difficult to compete in world markets and all of which were
managed by those who could not adapt to more modern methods. Many countries which
had been dependent upon British manufactured goods were now making their own. A
great slump in which millions were unemployed was left to work itself out when planned
government expenditure would have helped mobilize the unused resources of the
economy.
The Liberal Party, which had done so much to alleviate conditions of poverty and had
made so many significant strides in improving social conditions in general, began to lose
its standing in the polls after 1922. The political program of the Labour Party advocated
increased social security measures, including a national minimum wage, the
nationalization of basic industries such as coal, railways and electricity; and the
imposition of higher taxation to pay for social welfare and to reduce the burden of the
National Debt. The "dole" (unemployment benefit) allowed workers to survive while
unemployed (it was probably the reason why there was not greater social unrest or even
revolution).
Labour had become the chief challenger to the Conservative Party, and formed its first
government in 1924 under James Ramsey MacDonald. In October of that year, however,
Britain once more turned to the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin. As had Labour,
however, it proved ineffective to handle the nation's industrial problems.
149
Further mass unemployment resulted when Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston
Churchill returned Britain to the gold standard in 1925. The return was made at the old
pre-war gold and dollar value of the pound. As a result, the pound was devalued; British
goods (coal, steel, machinery, textiles, ships, cargo rates and other goods and services)
became over-priced, and Britain's share of the world export market declined rapidly. The
resulting unemployment and wage cuts caused serious repercussions in the industrial
areas, where strikes became common. Iron, steel, coal, cotton and ship building suffered
the most, the very industries that Britain's free trade economy relied upon to provide the
bulk of the consumer and capital goods exported to provide for the large imports of food
and raw materials. A general strike took place in 1926.
A huge drop in coal exports, the government's refusal to nationalize the coal industry and
the setting of wages by the pit-owners triggered the unrest. In April of that year, the
miners' leader, A.J. Cook coined the phrase "not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the
day." The mine owners refused to compromise. A showdown came about when the
government indicated that it would not continue negotiations under the threat of a general
strike. On May 4, 1926 the great strike went into effect, but lack of support for the
unions, the use of volunteers to keep essential services going, the intransigence of the
government, and the gradual wearing away of the resistance of the miners by the coal
owners eventually ended the stoppage. But grievous harm had been done to the miners,
who came out of the business with longer hours and less pay.
Under the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin, only a modest program of social
reform took place, mainly to appease working class opinion. The Widows, Orphans and
Old Age Health Contributory Pension schemes extended the Act of 1911 and insured
over 20 million people. In 1928, the Equal Franchise Act gave the parliamentary vote to
all women over twenty one. Under Health Minister Neville Chamberlain, the Local
Government Act of 1929 reduced the number of local government authorities and
extended the services they provided. There was still lacking a coherent policy to deal
with the relief of unemployment. A Labour government, elected in 1929, came to power
at the beginning of a world-wide depression triggered by the Wall Street Crash, but like
the Conservative government before it, could do little to remedy the situation at home.
In the 1930's things improved a little under a national government comprised of members
from all parties, led by Ramsey MacDonald. The abandonment of the gold standard and
the decision to let the pound find its own value against the US dollar made British export
prices more competitive in world markets. Agriculture was aided by the adoption of a
protective tariff and import quotas in 1931. A building boom followed the increase in
population that new health measures made possible. Old industries were replaced by
newer ones such as automobiles, electrical manufactures, and chemicals. There were also
changes made in the relationship of Britain to her colonies.
Since the Durham Report of 1839, the white-settled colonies of Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa had been virtually independent of Britain. The Statute of
Westminster, passed in November, 1931, removed much legal inferiority not addressed in
1839. The independence of the Dominions was now established. The Crown remained as
150
a symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth. The
Imperial Economic Conference met in Ottawa, Canada in July 1932 to hash out the
problems of Dominion economic policies and to settle the matter of their exports to
Britain.
At the conference, Britain agreed to abandon free trade, imposing a 10 percent tariff on
most imported goods, but exempting Commonwealth nations. In turn, they were to
provide markets for British exports, including textiles, steel, cars and telecommunications
equipment (thereby discouraging innovation in many industries, which was to put Britain
further behind other countries).
The colonies had come of age; the conference showed only too well that Britain was no
longer a magnet for Commonwealth goods. In 1932, however, King George initiated the
Christmas Day radio broadcasts that served to link the Commonwealth countries in a
common bond with England. Their loyalty was to be proven in World War II during the
reign of George VI. George had come to the throne in 1936 after the abdication of his
older brother Edward VIII (tradition ensured that the Edward had to renounce the throne
if he were to marry the American divorcee Mrs. Simpson).
In the late 1930's Britain's foreign policy stagnated; there were too many problems to
worry about at home. While domestic policies still had to find a way out of the
unemployment mess, it was vainly hoped that the League of Nations would keep the
peace, and while the aggressive moves by Germany, Italy and Japan may not have been
totally ignored in Westminster, their implications were not fully grasped. It seems
incredible, in retrospect, how all the signs of a forthcoming major war were conveniently
ignored.
In Germany, Hitler had become Chancellor in July 30, 1934 on a rising tide of
nationalism and economic unrest. After he proclaimed the Third Reich in March, his
regime was given dictatorial powers. Also in March, the Nazis opened their first
concentration camp for Jews, gypsies and political prisoners. In August, Hitler became
President of the Reich at the death of Hindenburg. He announced open conscription early
in 1935, in defiance of the conditions laid down at Versailles. Unencumbered by obsolete
equipment and even more obsolete thinking that hindered the British and the French, the
German republic was able to rebuild her army and airforce from scratch. They were soon
to be used in a bid to dominate Europe.
Italy had entered the scramble for Africa in 1881 by taking over Assab in northern
Ethiopia. It then expanded its holdings in the East African highlands. In 1887 the ItalianEthiopian War began. Three years later, Italy made Assab the basis of an Eritrean colony.
By 1896, however, a series of defeats led to the Italians withdrawing from their
protectorate. In 1906, a Tripartite Pact declared the independence of Ethiopia but divided
the country into British, French, and Italian spheres of interest.
In Italy, in November 1922, general fears of communism led King Victor Emmanuel to
summon Benito Mussolini to form a ministry in which he would be given dictatorial
151
powers to restore order and bring about reforms. Earlier in the year, Mussolini had led his
black-shirts Fascists into Rome. He secured his fascist Dictatorship the following year
through political chicanery and began protesting the terms of Versailles in 1930.
When Italian and Ethiopian troops clashed on the frontier between Italian Somaliland and
Ethiopia in 1934, Mussolini had an excuse to invade Ethiopia. After his troops had
occupied Addis Abbaba, he announced the annexation of Ethiopia and joined Eritrea and
Italian Somaliland to create Italian East Africa. The League of Nations proved totally
ineffective to prevent this seizure of the last bastion of native rule in Africa.
Lack of British resolve against the ambitions of Mussolini may have spurred Hitler to act.
In March, 1936, at the height of the crisis in Ethiopia, he sent his armies into the
Rhineland. France was afraid to react without British support. It proceeded to fortify its
Maginot Line as Hitler began to fortify the Rhineland. The dictators of Germany and
Italy then signed the pact known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. Both leaders then supported
General Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Britain and France stood
back for fear of precipitating a general European war; in their efforts to appease, they
protested but did nothing except to embolden Hitler even further. His troops marched into
Austria in March, 1938.
Hitler's next move was first to surround Bohemia and then to demand modifications to
the Czech frontier, including the Sudetenland (with a large German population). Fearing
a catastrophic war, and with the vivid memory of the carnage of World War I in mind,
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain then agreed, along with the French Premier,
to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany. He thought he had bought "peace with honor."
Hitler then showed his true intention by seizing the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlains
finally saw what Germany intended, to dominate Europe, and his extension of a
guarantee to Poland practically ensured war.
World War II
In the late 1930's Britain's foreign policy stagnated; there were too many problems to
worry about at home. While domestic policies still had to find a way out of the
unemployment mess, it was vainly hoped that the League of Nations would keep the
peace. While the aggressive moves by Germany, Italy and Japan may not have been
totally ignored in Westminster; their implications were not fully grasped. It seems
incredible, in retrospect, how all the signs of a forthcoming major war were conveniently
ignored.
In Germany, Hitler had become Chancellor on July 30, 1934, on a rising tide of
nationalism and economic unrest. After he proclaimed the Third Reich in March, his
regime was given dictatorial powers. Also in March, the Nazis opened their first
concentration camp for Jews, gypsies and political prisoners. In August, Hitler became
President of the Reich at the death of Hindenburg. He announced open conscription early
in 1935, in defiance of the conditions laid down at Versailles. Unencumbered by obsolete
equipment and even more obsolete thinking that hindered the British and the French, the
152
German republic was able to rebuild her army and airforce from scratch. They were to be
used soon in a bid to dominate Europe.
Italy had entered the scramble for Africa in 1881 by taking over Assab in northern
Ethiopia. It then expanded its holdings in the East African highlands. In 1887 the ItalianEthiopian War began. Three years later, Italy made Assab the basis of an Eritrean colony.
By 1896, however, a series of defeats led to the Italians withdrawing from their
protectorate. In 1906, a Tripartite Pact declared the independence of Ethiopia but divided
the country into British, French and Italian spheres of interest.
In Italy, in November 1922, general fears of the spread of Communism led King Victor
Emmanuel to summon Benito Mussolini to form a ministry in which he would be given
dictatorial powers to restore order and bring about reforms. Earlier in the year, Mussolini
had led his black-shirt Fascists into Rome. He secured his fascist dictatorship the
following year through political chicanery and began protesting the terms of Versailles in
1930.
When Italian and Ethiopian troops clashed on the frontier between Italian Somaliland and
Ethiopia in 1934, Mussolini had an excuse to invade Ethiopia. After his troops had
occupied Addis Abbaba, he announced the annexation of Ethiopia and joined Eritrea and
Italian Somaliland to create Italian East Africa. The League of Nations proved totally
ineffective to prevent this seizure of the last bastion of native rule in Africa.
Lack of British resolve against the ambitions of Mussolini may have spurred Hitler to act.
In March 1936, at the height of the crisis in Ethiopia, he sent his armies into the
Rhineland. France was afraid to react without British support. It proceeded to fortify its
Maginot Line as Hitler began to fortify the Rhineland. The dictators of Germany and
Italy then signed the pact known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. Both leaders then supported
General Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936- 39). Britain and France stood
back for fear of precipitating a general European war; in their efforts to appease, they
protested but did nothing except to embolden Hitler even further. His troops marched into
Austria in March 1938. There was no resistance.
Hitler's next move was to surround Bohemia and then demand modifications to the Czech
frontier, including the Sudetenland (with a large German population). Fearing a
catastrophic war, and with the vivid memory of the carnage of World War I in mind,
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agreed, along with the French Premier, to
hand over the Sudetenland to Germany. He thought he had bought "peace with honor."
Hitler then showed his true intention by seizing the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain
finally saw what Germany intended to dominate Europe, and his extension of a guarantee
to Poland, a country which geography he was incapable of aiding, practically ensured
war.
In Britain, though there were two million unemployed, but things were generally looking
prosperous following the slump of the Great Depression. Nevertheless, it was a totally
unprepared Britain that declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939; two days after
153
Hitler's armies had invaded Poland. Conscription was ordered for all men 20 years and
older. Somewhat better prepared France followed Britain by declaring war on Germany.
German armies swept through Poland in 18 days. The allies turned to Russia for support,
but Stalin had ideas of his own, coming to a marriage of convenience with Hitler in
which Poland became a pawn in the hands of both. Stalin also took advantage of the
situation to attack Finland.
Britain then prepared for total war. Cities were blacked out, rationing was imposed and
rigidly enforced; children from the larger cities were moved into the countryside, clouds
of barrage balloons filled the English skies, housewives turned in their pots and pans for
scrap, iron fences, railing and gateposts disappeared into blast furnaces, gas masks were
issued to every single person, including babies; total blackout was imposed and
rigorously enforced by air Ðraid wardens. While the country waited to see if the French
could successfully resist the Nazi armies, British beaches were mined, protected by
barbed wire; tank traps and other obstacles to invading forces appeared everywhere; air
raid shelters were dug in back gardens and London subway stations prepared for their
influx of nightly sleepers.
Trapped behind their so-called "impenetrable" Maginot Line, the French could not hold
back the German tide, and the new weapon of war, the Blitzkrieg, swept all through it.
Hitler's legions first occupied Denmark and then brushed aside a Franco-British force
sent to help Norway.
Beginning their march to the Channel in the Ardennes, after they had easily bypassed the
Maginot Line, German forces took only five days to take Holland. They then raced
forward at lightning speed to capture Paris. In one of the most successful campaigns in
the history of war, German forces soon controlled France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway and Romania, leaving Britain alone in the West to face
the Nazi hordes.
In May 1940, after a disastrous British attempt to force the Germans out of Narvik,
Norway, a humiliated Chamberlain (who had earlier crowed that "Herr Hitler had missed
the boat") resigned in favor of Winston Churchill. The 65-year-old veteran of many a
political campaign was to prove a remarkable leader. The country quickly rallied behind
him to expend its "blood, toil, tears and sweat" to eventually emerge victorious in what
was to become a long, bloody war that, if it did not involve nearly every country on earth,
certainly affected them.
British industry mobilized every person not on military service into production. Even the
old and retired were called on to play their part as plane spotters, air-raid wardens and
night watchmen. But single women played a major role. They had to report immediately
to work in war industries or to work on the nation's farms in the so-called Women's Land
Army. Women also entered the armed services by the thousands, to work as radar
operators, mechanics, truck drivers and pilots in non-combat roles, even the retired.
154
After the complete collapse of France in June 1940, when it signed an armistice,
Mussolini entered the war on the side of Germany, believing that Britain was doomed
and that he could pick up rich spoils in Africa. When France fell, the British army was
forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk, but somehow halting a German division at
Arras, managed to save most of its cadre to train millions of new soldiers it needed to
defend its Empire. One of the strangest fleets in history had rescued the bulk of the
British Expeditionary Force from the burning beaches of Dunkirk. In the meantime,
Soviet troops entered the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to incorporate
them into the USSR.
New Prime Minister Winston Churchill informed the British people that the Battle for
France was over: the Battle for Britain was about to begin. He stressed that Hitler would
have to break Britain in order to win the war, and that no nation would be safe from
sinking into the resulting darkness, not even the United States.
When France formed a "Vichy" government under Marshal Petain, the Royal Navy
destroyed the French fleet anchored at Oran in North Africa. In the Atlantic, German Uboats were destroying thousands upon thousands of tons of allied shipping, but Britain
precariously held out (those of us who were living in Britain at the time realize just how
near to collapse we were). All Britain could do was to hang on, to fight on until the
situation might eventually change. Hitler expected Britain to come to terms, but
Churchill's defiant riposte was that he wasn't on speaking terms with Adolph Hitler.
Realizing that she would not come to terms, Hitler then planned an invasion of England,
but first he would have to destroy the Royal Air Force. The task seemed easy enough; he
had a decided advantage in the number of planes and in trained pilots. From airfields in
conquered France, the English coast was only a few minutes away. At a time when the
war at sea was rapidly turning in Germany's favor, the Battle of Britain began with an
attack of German bombers on England, July 10, 1940 and artillery began shelling the
English coast. The final assault was planned for August 13th. Hitler planned to have
125,000 men ashore by the end of the second day. Plans were meticulously drawn up for
the government of a conquered Britain.
There was great fear throughout Britain during that late summer. In many villages,
church bells rang in the mistaken belief that the invasion had begun. There wasn't much
to stop the invader. Though 1,500,000 men in Britain had joined the Home Guard, they
had only 70,000 rifles; the regular army had left most of its hardware behind in the
evacuation from France. All that stood between the German armies and the planned
invasion of Britain was the Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force.
During the early air war, the German Air Force conducted over 1500 missions a day over
England, concentrating mainly on airfields and radar installations. Hitler's second-incommand Herman Goering miscalculated the resilience of the Royal Air Force. When
British planes bombed Berlin to retaliate for bombs dropped on London (the German
pilots had lost their way and missed their intended targets), Hitler determined to teach the
155
British people, those "night gangsters, " a lesson. Insisting on a thousand-fold revenge, he
ordered the Luftwaffe to destroy London. It was a grave error.
The British Air Force did not rise to the bait to defend London; they conserved what was
left of their strength. More important, their airfields (and pilots) were given a muchneeded respite to rebuild. Skilled use of a secret new weapon, Radar, then gave them a
decided advantage over incoming German airplanes.
Though almost exhausted and down to its last few pilots, the RAF fought on in what was
becoming a war of attrition in the air. Eventually, the heavy losses sustained by the
Luftwaffe put an end to any real chances of German forces crossing the Channel. On
September 17, following decisive losses, Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain. Instead
of keeping up the pressure, the frustrated German dictator decided to ignore Goering's
pleas for just a few more days to destroy Britain's air forces and turned eastward, to
attack Russia.
In June 1941 when the German armed divisions poured into the east, Britain breathed a
huge sigh of relief. Hitler's hatred of Communism blinded him to the risks involved; it
was a colossal mistake. His involvement in the Balkans, where he feared a British attack
against his flank from Greece, had delayed his assault on Russia. The oncoming winter
would prove to be a deciding factor in the holocaust that ensued.
In September 1940, following a total blockade of the British Isles ordered by Hitler, Uboats sank 160,000 tons of British shipping. (In a time of great food shortages, even the
Royal Family was issued ration books). These were called "the happy times" for German
U-boat crews, idolized by adoring crowds as they set out into the Atlantic to wreak havoc
on merchant ships bringing supplies from America. The British people, huddled in their
air-raid shelters awaited the worst. Their defiance of the might of the German air force,
their courage in carrying on "business as usual" and their slogan "London can Take it""
(relayed to the United States by radio commentators such as Edward R. Murrow) had a
profound effect upon American opinion, especially upon the President.
In opposition to many in America who still thought that Britain's total defeat was only a
mater of time, and a very short time at that, President Roosevelt came to the aid of the
beleaguered island nation. He ordered his fleet to sink German submarines on sight. To
meet the U-boat challenge, the US then provided Britain with Lend-Lease supplies in
addition to handing over to the Royal Navy 50 much-needed destroyers. In November,
British ships destroyed the Italian fleet at Taranto, putting it, like most of the French fleet
before it, out of action for the rest of the war. Mussolini's grand boast of dominating what
he called "mare nostrum" was defeated. The Royal Navy managed to keep control of the
Mediterranean throughout the war.
In September, Japan had concluded a pact with the Axis powers in order to fulfil her
designs on the Pacific, ranging from Hong Kong to Australia. On December 7, 1941 she
seized her opportunity to attack. On the "day of infamy" so strongly proclaimed by
Roosevelt, the Imperial Air force crippled the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. On December
156
11, Germany declared war on the US. Japanese forces then captured the British
possessions of Malaya, Burma, Hong Kong and Singapore, the great symbol of the
British Empire. They then advanced practically unopposed to the borders of India in the
West and Australia in the South.
The Turn of the Tide
It seemed that the Japanese were unstoppable, but as had the Germans, they over-reached
themselves. A string of successes was halted in May 1942 when they sustained heavy
losses in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Germany too, suffered its first defeat when Hitler
underestimated the strategic importance of Egypt. There, the British Eighth Army (the
"Desert Rats") under Montgomery destroyed a German fighting machine of 250,000 men
at the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. After being blocked by the winter snows and
the fierce resistance of the Russians, in February 1943, a huge German army surrendered
at Stalingrad.
Later in the year, Allied forces recaptured Sicily to invade Southern Italy, and all through
the year, Russian troops continued to inflict heavy casualties on the Germans, who lost
over 2,000 tanks and 1,392 airplanes at the decisive Battle of Kursk. The tide of war had
turned irrevocably on the side of the allies. It was still heavy going in Italy, but bit by bit
allied armies advanced up the peninsular, despite determined German resistance,
recapturing Rome to bring Italy out of the war. The whole country had been taken by the
spring of 1945. It was now time for the allies to invade fortress Europe.
On the sixth of June 1944, "D-Day" the invasion of the Continent by allied forces in
Operation Overlord marked the beginning of the end of the war in the West. Years of
meticulous planning and careful preparation paid off and hundreds of thousands of allied
soldiers were landed within a few days with their equipment. Deceptive messages had led
the Germans to concentrate their forces around the port of Calais. An expected German
counterattack at the landing beaches did not come.
Some failures in the re-conquest of western Europe inevitably ensued, notably the efforts
of Montgomery to end an early stalemate in Normandy by the airborne attempt to capture
bridges over the Rhine, but steady progress brought British, Canadian, French and
American forces into Germany. A failure of allied intelligence to spot 24 Nazi divisions
gave the enemy temporary success in the Ardennes, at the Battle of the Bulge, but it was
beaten back with heavy German losses. Hitler's exhausted forces in the west were finally
brushed aside.
Back home, Londoners were once again forced into their underground shelters as V-1
rockets began to fall upon the city with terrifying effects. By September 1944, Germany
still had enough resources to produce a thousand V-2 rockets a month, most of which
were directed toward London. Only defeat of Germany would end the threat. In March
1945, the allies crossed the Rhine. In the east, a new Russian offensive began with
3,000,000 men polishing off one German division after another on an inexorable march
157
to Berlin. In April, east met west as allied forces met with the Russians at the Elbe. On
May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.
The fall of Saipan in July had the same effect in the East. The War in Europe came to an
end on May 8. The news eclipsed the news from Burma, where British forces under
William Slim had stopped the Japanese efforts to invade India through Assam. By May 6,
1945, Burma had been retaken. The re-conquest was the most successful of all the
campaigns British forces had undertaken during the whole war. It was the climax of a
most difficult but brilliantly executed campaign.
The War in the Pacific came to an end on August 14, 1945. Japan surrendered only after
the American Airforce dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Post-War Years
The great social-leveling influence of the War meant that Britains were anxious for
change. Countless thousands of returning soldiers and sailors wanted a turn-around in the
status quo. Members of British armed forces were considerably better educated than they
had been in World War I. The soldier returning from the war was no longer in awe of his
leaders; he had mixed loyalties. He was resentful of unemployment, wishing for a greater
share in the nation's post-war restructuring, and he did not trust a Conservative
government to tackle the enormous social economic and political problems, that they had
done very little to solve between the wars. He wished for a change.
As a consequence, Winston Churchill, who led Britain to victory during the war, found
himself as a member of the opposition when the election of 1945 returned the Labour
Party to power with a huge majority. Under the Parliament of Clement Attlee, the new
government began some of the greatest changes in Britain's long history---nothing less
than a reconstruction of the nation.
The Labour Government struggled heroically to deal with the problems: to improve
standards of living, move to a "mixed economy." close the trade gap, maintain its armed
forces in sufficient strength to meet a new threat from Communist Russia, and to keep of
its overseas bases. It succeeded in these aims remarkably well. During the dark early days
of the War, economist William Beveridge had put forward proposals for postwar "cradleto-grave" social security. The Government had taken on an emergency welfare
responsibility; it provided milk for babies; orange juice and cod-liver oil for children.
It was now time for Labour to put the Beverage Plan into full operation. Family
allowances had already been introduced before the War's end. A National School Lunch
Act was passed in June, 1946. In 1948, the government introduced the National Health
Service to proved free medical treatment for all, from the spectacles and false teeth, to
maternity and child welfare services. Nationalization of the hospitals made nationwide
care available for the injured and seriously ill. The "Welfare State" had begun.
158
The second major change brought about by the Labour Government, under Attlee, was to
take control of industry and public utilities, and a two-year period beginning in 1946, saw
the nationalization of the Bank of England; the coal industry; electricity and gas; air
transport, along with road, rail and waterways. A total of 20 percent of all British industry
had been taken into public ownership by 1950. (In August, 1947, the government
operated its first atomic pile, at Harwell). Central control of the economy, which had
proved so successful in wartime, was now a major undertaking in peacetime. It was
achieved under terribly adverse economic conditions. Another crisis occurred in 1947.
Stringent financial measures, imposed to meet the enormous war debt, caused undue
hardship that was only made worse by one of the worst winters on record, monstrous
gales and floods wiped out farms and destroyed agricultural products. A fuel shortage
severely curtailed exports, food was still severely rationed, and in 1948 even bread and
potatoes were rationed (both had been exempt during the War). The author remembers
well the little ditty "It had to B.U." that parodied a popular song of the time by referring
to the Bread Unit.
In 1947, relief appeared in the form of the Marshall Plan, introduced by the US to help
the European Economy recover. Along with the devaluation of the pound and an
expansion of world markets, there was a revival of the spirit that had united the country
during the War. The introduction of the Land-Rover to world markets in 1948 was a
godsend for British exports. Britain was even able to join with the US in ferrying supplies
to Berlin in the famous "Airlift" that began in July of that year. By 1950, rationing began
to be phased out, though not until 1954 was meat rationing abolished.
Though the Labour Government did very little to develop the private sector, it can take
credit for the building of giant hydro-electric schemes in the later 1940's, especially in the
undeveloped areas of Scotland and Wales. In 1951, the Conservatives resumed control of
the government. Under its slogan "You've Never Had It So Good," led by the aging
Winston Churchill, economic prospects seemed to be on the upturn. In less than one year,
the balance of payments deficit had become a surplus.
Compared to those of the developing nations of Southeast Asia and the rebuilt economies
of Japan and Germany, however, Britain's pre-war industrial strength was severely
weakened. The much-heralded Festival of Britain, held in London in 1951 has been seen
by many in retrospect, not as a demonstration of the nation's strength, but as a product of
British postwar weakness and a signal pointing to further decline. A fashionable joke at
the time was that, like the Festival's Skylon, the country had no visible means of support.
The Nation and the Commonwealth mourned the death of King George VI, who along
with his queen Elizabeth, had done much to bring back dignity and honor to the
monarchy. Yet there was a mood of optimism that received an another upturn with the
coronation of the young queen Elizabeth, the first such ceremony to be televised.
Something of a miracle occurred just when the world's oil producing nations doubled the
cost of their product: Britain herself became a major oil producer. Since 1962, she had
been conducting seismic prospecting for oil and natural gas in the North Sea, and full159
scale activities had begun in 1964, the first oil find came five years later. Great expansion
of the oil fields then took place in the 1970's so that in 1979, the country's oil production
exceeded its imports for the first time. Britain's ports also adapted to the new container
vessels, spelling the end for such great traditional ports as Liverpool, Glasgow and East
London.
Continuing violence between Catholics, committed to union with Eire and Protestants,
committed to retaining their British identity, led to the Government imposing direct rule
over Northern Ireland, but hopes for peace were shattered on "Bloody Sunday" when
British troops opened fire on protesters at Londonderry (January 30, 1972). The IRA
brought their violence to Britain, killing a leading Conservative M.P. in March. In
Ireland, violence continued and Lord Mountbatten was killed by an IRA bomb in August.
In 1974, the whole of Britain felt itself under siege from a vicious bombing campaign.
Violence continued almost unabated. In 1985 the Anglo-Irish Agreement was an attempt
to end it, with both Britain and the Irish Republic agreeing to confer over the problems
and to work together against terrorism. It took the outrage of the Inniskillen bombing in
1998, however, to shock both sides into realizing that governments could do little; peace
had to come from the initiatives of the people themselves.
Along with most of the industrialized nations of the world, Britain entered a period of
depression in the 1970's. A tremendous blow to British pride came in February, 1971
when Rolls-Royce declared bankruptcy, forcing the government to bail out the company
to avoid job losses and to restore national prestige. Britain's post-war lead in the
production of motor-cycles had long been surrendered to the Japanese. In 1974, the great
strike by the country's coal miners (over the government's "freeze" on wages) caused the
Conservatives to lose the general election but under Labour, inflation spiraled and
economic decline continued despite the social contract between the government and the
trade unions.
Bitter confrontation between unions and government continued to escalate. A strike by
London dock workers idled hundreds of ships and prevented goods from being exported.
In March, 1979 Prime Minister Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by one vote in the
House of Commons and Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher became the nation's first
woman Prime Minister in May. Her promises to cut income taxes, scale down social
services and reduce the role of the state in daily life had wide appeal and gave her a large
majority. Many in Britain also wished to curb the power of the unions, which they
believed had grown into a monster, almost out of control.
Margaret Thatcher
Though married to a millionaire, Margaret Thatcher was perceived as a grocer's daughter,
hard-working and thrifty, a complete no-nonsense person. She was the first female Prime
Minister in the nation's history and gained her reputation as "the iron lady" for her tight
control of Britain's monetary policy. Her emphasis on "self-help" encouraged private
enterprise, but her cutting back of expenditures on health, social services and education
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made her extremely unpopular with the masses. Then, in 1982, Argentina invaded the
Falkland Islands, claiming sovereignty over the small group of islands they called the
Islas Maldivas in the South Atlantic that was home to a few thousand British settlers.
Prime Minister Thatcher sent a task force to recapture the islands; and after two months,
the better-trained and disciplined British infantry, aided by its highly maneuverable
airplanes (launched from carriers), won the day. The nation was jubilant, and Mrs.
Thatcher was regarded as something of a national hero. The problems resulting from the
country fast-becoming multi-national, with whole areas of the larger cities occupied by
those whose religion, dress, food and social mores were considered "anti-British" were
swept aside in a euphoria of jingoism.
Mrs. Thatcher's government was also helped by the splitting off of some Labour
members to the Social Democratic Party, who later joined with the Liberals in "the
Alliance." Then, in Mrs. Thatcher's second government, begun on such an optimistic
note, the miners went on strike to protest the closing of many pits deemed unprofitable.
Under their dynamic and outspoken leader Arthur Scargill, the miners also protested
against overtime work. The bitterness caused by the strikes and the insensitivity of the
government to their demands deeply divided the whole of British society. The
Conservatives, once again helped by a split in opposition ranks, retained their control of
the government. Its legislation, the closing of so many pits, and the switch to oil, had
defeated the unions.
Mrs. Thatcher continued her policies of tight economic control, the privatization of
industry and "dismantling" (when possible) of the Welfare State. Privatization of British
Gas, British Telecom, the Water Authorities, British Airways and the electricity industry
(termed by Macmillan as 'the family silver") proved a godsend to government revenues
and also created a new class of British shareholders. The 1980's indeed, despite riots in
the deprived areas of some of England's biggest cities, and continued IRA terrorist
attacks, were a decade of prosperity (many immigrants, at the bottom of the social scale,
especially those from the West Indies and some African states would disagree).
The number of videos acquired by British families was far greater than those in the US or
Europe. The British were, on the whole, better fed, better housed, better clothed, cleaner
and warmer than at any time in their history. No wonder the Labour opposition was in
complete disarray. Spirits were also warmed in July, 1981 when Prince Charles married
Lady Diana Spencer (and another kind of spirit benefited from the "real-ale" campaign
that protested against the mass production of pasteurized beer).
In addition, many promising development in science occurred. In 1974, mainly with
income derived from the sale of Beatles records, the computed axial tomography scanner
was developed in England, revolutionizing diagnostic medicine in immunology,
(essential for organ transplants). In July, 1978, British doctors at London's Oldham
Hospital created the world's first "test tube baby" Louis Brown. British scientists retained
their lead. The 1990's saw the birth of the famous sheep Dolly (the first mammal
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produced from a donor cell taken from an adult rather than from an embryo), and then
Polly, a transgenic animal produced through cloning.
Britain was also busy creating its own "silicon valleys" adapting the new micro-chip
technology to replace traditional industries. In 1981, the Humber Bridge was completed;
at 4,626 feet the world's longest Suspension Bridge. The world's longest high-speed
optical fiber link connected Birmingham with London. British television projected an
image of quality throughout the world. In addition, one of Britain's oldest shoe
companies, now named Reebok, made impressive gains in the world market in
competition with Nike.
General optimism, however, was tempered with distrust of one who was acquiring almost
dictatorial powers, and in 1990, the Iron Lady's imposition of the "Poll Tax" caused
unrest and street demonstrations. (The tax was an attempt to reform local government and
finance by replacing household rates, which made each voter bear a full share of the costs
incurred by prodigal spending). Inflation and interest rates also remained alarmingly
high. Mrs. Thatcher's decision to send British land and sea forces into the Gulf to
participate in the United Nations multi-national task force raged against the government
of Iraq divided the country, especially when it was learned that English casualties came
mostly from "friendly" (i.e. US) fire.
The government was mainly split by the question of integration into Europe, with some
prominent members disagreeing with the purchase of the Westland Helicopter by
Americans rather then Europeans. Other such issues, heightened by what Sir Geoffrey
Howe (deputy leader of her own party) called her anti-European paranoia, brought a
challenge to Thatcher's leadership, and in November, 1990, the Thatcher Era came to an
end. The longest ministry of the century, it had glorified the Victorian values of self-help
and nationalism.
For many, the main achievement of the Iron lady was to free her country from the iron
grip of the trade unions. For others, it was the restoration of British pride in the victory in
the Falklands. For most, it was apparent that Britain was beginning to come to terms with
the loss of much of its heavy industry and the increasing reliance on finance,
communications, oil, insurance, tourism, accounting and other service industries.
John Major & Tony Blair
John Major then took over the reigns of the Conservative Party as Prime Minister. He
was committed to keeping "Thatcherism" alive. The unions were not going to regain their
former powers, despite public sentiment in favor of the miners and as debatable as the
benefits of privatization had proved, there was no going back to the old days of
nationalized industries (and council houses, which had been offered for sale to private
owners).
What must not be overlooked in the polices of "Thatcherism" was the influence upon
intellectuals and government policymakers alike of "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A.
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Hayek (first published in 1944). On Hayek's 90th birthday, Mrs. Thatcher wrote that none
of what her government had achieved would have been possible without the values and
beliefs "that set us on the right road and provide the right sense of direction." As a result
of reading the book, Anthony Fisher founded the Institute of Economic Affairs in London
which was to be the most important source of free-market ideas in Britain. By the mid90's, there was very little to divide the Labour and Conservative parties on the central
principles of economic management.
When Major was first elected, Britain was still saying "No" to socialism. By the general
election of 1992, leading magazines (particularly in the US) wrote of the death of the
Labour Party eventhough it had abandoned its policy of nuclear disarmament, forgotten
that it had preached in favor of public ownership of the means of production and
exchange, embraced the European community and purged from within the
unrepresentative labor bosses. Its motto "It's Time for a Change" seemed to appeal to
most Britons; not a single poll showed the Conservatives winning. But once again, the
desire for continuity overrode the desire for change, John Major was returned to power.
Yet as early as 1993, the winds of change were blowing strong. Many Conservative
M.P.'s were in open rebellion over Europe. They were told to support Major's European
policy or bring down the government. The warm afterglow of the Gulf War had
dissipated rapidly and continuing economic problems and uncertain leadership ate away
Major's popularity.
Leading Tories wanted to scuttle any deals Britain had made at Maastricht; they feared
that British industry would be subject to European regulations in working conditions and
labor relations. Hundreds of Tory candidates were in open rebellion over Major's fence
straddling on Europe; the Euro-skeptics determined to sabotage their leader. Why should
they force Britain to enter a stagnant Europe? In addition, continuing revelations in the
daily newspapers about scandals involving leading Tories doomed Mr. Major.
Despite the fact that the economy was recovering and inflation was at a 30-year low, the
sale of tens of thousands of public housing (at bargain prices), perhaps the greatest gift of
wealth to the working class in British history, putting the country far ahead of the US and
Europe in the percentage of housing units owner-occupied, and despite the highest
growth rate and the lowest unemployment in Europe, Labour won a landslide victory in
1997. Tony Blair was thus able to inherit an economy free from the dreaded "British
disease" (militant trade unions, over-regulation, vacillating government policies and a
foolish disdain toward enterpreneurship).
The election took place only two years after Labour had rid itself of the clause in its
constitution that called for the "common ownership of production, distribution and
exchange." It was particularly anxious to keep the billions of dollars that had been
invested annually in the UK by the US, Japan, Korea and others during the 16 years of
Conservative rule. The new brand of socialism was hardly distinguishable from that of
Mrs. Thatcher but the move of Labour to the center was expedited by the popularity of its
leaders.
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The question of just how much should Britain integrate itself into Europe remained a
thorny issue with the new government. It was now joined by a much more ancient
problem: that of devolution with the British Isles, with powerful voices being raised in
Scotland and Wales for more self-government, and the seemingly insoluble problem of
Northern Ireland casting a deep shadow over the entire so-called United Kingdom.
On March 1, 1979 (St. David's Day) the people of Wales voted overwhelmingly against
devolution. The reasons were many (they are discussed in full in my "Brief History of
Wales" and "The Referendum of 1979." Too many feared changes in the statues quo; the
work of the anti-devolutionists, led by such influential Welsh M.P.'s as Neil Kinnock
(with his eyes on the Prime Minister's job) was done only too well. But in 1997 a new
referendum was held in which, by a small majority, the people of Wales chose an
Assembly of their own, despite heavily financed campaigns against it. This time, they had
been supported by the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair.
Scotland, meanwhile, voted overwhelmingly in favor of its own Assembly. The reasons
are given at length in my "Brief History of Scotland," but are also summarized below:
Though very much a minority party, and still suffering from the stigma attached to the
very idea of nationalism during war years, (the Scottish National Party) SNP had begun
to build its organizational skills and work on political strategy; its share of the vote
steadily grew. This was also a period of intense activity in Wales by members of Plaid
Cymru, the Party of Wales, and by the fervent and some say overzealous and destructive
activities of the Welsh Language Society Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg. In any case,
discontent in both areas of Britain led to a feverish proliferation of committees soon at
work in Westminster looking at further measures of devolution for Scotland and Wales.
The government published its proposals for a devolved Scottish assembly in November
1975. It would have no revenue raising powers and sovereignty would be retained in
Westminster. Though prospects for passage looked good, the wide range of competing
priorities for government attention took away the time needed for the Callaghan
government to devote to the issue. Labour, fearing loss of support in Scotland to the SNP,
was also still deeply divided on the question and the extent of devolution. The
government's program was bound to fail: the Bill was headed for defeat.
Eighteen years later, the results were reversed. On September 11, 1997, four days after
the trauma of Lady Diana's funeral, the referendum resulted in the decision to give back a
Parliament to Scotland by a 3-1 margin. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose
Labour Party had actively campaigned for passage of the devolution bill, called the
results a step in the process of "modernizing Britain." Hollywood movie star, Scotsman
Sean Connery (who did not appear in "Braveheart") campaigned hard and contributed a
great deal of cash to the campaign, invoking the 1370 Declaration of Arbroath, "It is not
for glory, riches or honours we fight, but only for liberty, which no good man loses but
with his life."
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The decision gives Scotland an Assembly with tax-levying powers, unlike the much
weaker "talking-shop" that the Welsh are going to be saddled with as the result of their
own (barely) successful referendum. The Scots will be given the broad authority to
legislate in a host of sectors, but Westminster has the right to "reserve" or "withhold"
many powers (constitutional matters, foreign policy, defense, and national security,
border controls, monetary and fiscal matters, common markets for goods and services,
employment law, and social security).
For the people of Wales and Scotland (and no less, the people of England), the decision
to approve the Labour Government's plans for separate assemblies, may prove to be one
of the most important ones in their long histories. In the councils of Europe, three voices
will be heard instead of one: three equal voices, sharing a unique British heritage, but
each proud of its own distinctiveness as cultural and political units. Westminster must
have breathed a sigh of relief that the problems of devolution for Wales and Scotland
were settled so amicably. Would the Irish question follow the same road? The problem of
Europe remained for Tony Blair; in addition, there was the age-old question of what to do
about the House of Lords.
In many ways, the Upper Chamber had become an anachronism. The very idea of nonelected, hereditary legislators seemed ridiculous in a country that prided itself on its
democratic institutions. The old arguments about the need for a second chamber to act as
a brake on any impetuousness showed by the government of the day had long since
disappeared. Time and time again the Lords had obstructed legislation that would have
surely benefited the nation. Their defense of ancient privilege had often blinded them to
the realities of British political life since the time of Oliver Cromwell. Their record on
Ireland was appalling, with their obstruction of Home Rule Bills, but it could be matched
by many other areas in which they had excelled in their obstinacy.
Leaving aside century after century of attacks on the privileges (and power) enjoyed by
the Lords, it was the budget of Lloyd George in 1909 that really stirred up the pot. The
landed aristocracy saw his attempts to tax the rich as the beginning of the end of all rights
of property. When the Lords rejected his bill, Lloyd George threatened to swamp them
with five hundred new peers. Yet all attempts at reform eventually died down lacking a
concerted opinion as to what kind of second chamber the country should support. The
Parliament Bill of 1911 was thus a weak compromise: all the hereditary peers and
bishops would stay in the House, but their powers of delay would be reduced to two
years: it continued to remain a powerful revising chamber.
The advent of the First World War postponed the move to exclude hereditary peers from
the Upper House. A conference held in 1917, however, faced the old difficulty of "the
paralysing perplexity of so many alternatives." The Commons also feared that an elected
upper chamber would offer a serious challenge to its own powers. In 1922, Lloyd George
became notorious for selling lordships to the highest bidder; and the old aristocracy found
itself rapidly outnumbered by the new captains of industry and leading financiers on the
benches of the chamber. The newcomers proved just as anxious to preserve their newlygained privileges as their hereditary colleagues.
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Another crisis occurred in 1960 when Antony Edgwood Benn, a promising and ambitious
Labour M.P. was duly elevated to the peerage upon the death of his father (who had been
appointed as a Labour peer only twenty years before). As a peer, the younger Benn was
refused admission to the Hose of Commons when he came to take his usual seat. A
private bill, to allow him to resign his peerage, was defeated. It took four years of
contentious debate to settle the matter, but it was evident that the House of Lords needed
some drastic changes. The days of complacency were over.
In 1967, the Labour Party announced its plans to reduce the powers of the Lords and to
eliminate its hereditary basis. Once again, however, it was willing to compromise in the
uncertainly of what was to replace the second chamber. Many Labour M.P.'s wished to
abolish the Upper House altogether, but a compromise was reached: only minor changes
were effected. In the late 1990's, the government of Tony Blair and is centrist Labour
Party, is still grappling with the problem of the Lords, a problem that perhaps exemplifies
the struggle of Britain to adjust itself to the modern world.
There is nothing in the nation's proud past that would prevent a satisfactory solution to
the problem of the privileges enjoyed by the House of Lords. While England my no
longer Rule the waves, it is perfectly capable of putting its own house in order, as Wales
and Scotland have shown. The past two thousand years have shown a resilient people,
proud and independent; a people who will continue to give so much to the world, in art,
literature, politics, science and technology, exploration, social welfare and sport; but
above all, in the difficult art of compromise.
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Reference:
Williams,
Peter.
2007.
Narrative
http://www.britannia.com/history/
Histories.
Retrieved
from
Peter Williams Ph.D Biography
< back to Peter's The History of England
Peter N. Williams was born in Mancot, a little village in Flintshire, North Wales, just
inside the border with England. Brought up in the industrial town of Flint, he was
educated at King¹s School, Chester and at the University College, Swansea, South Wales.
After arriving in the United States in l957, Peter served with the US Army in Germany
with an artillery unit. Following his military service, he taught high school in Delaware
for a number of years before completing his Ph.D. at the University of Delaware. He then
taught English at the university before becoming chairman of the English Department at
Delaware Technical and Community College. He is now the editor of Celticinfo.com
Celtic_Worlds.com and The Eagle and Dragon (the official publication of the National
Welsh American Foundation).
Founder of the Welsh Society of Delaware, and a director of the National Welsh
American Foundation, Peter was honored for his work on behalf of Wales and Welsh
Americans by being made a member of the Gorsedd at the National Eisteddfod of Wales
in 1999. He is the author of The Sacred Places of Wales; From Wales to the Lehigh, the
David Thomas Story; the Seven Wonders of Wales: a New look; The History of Wales in
Verse; Wales from A to Y; and the editor of 38 Hymns in Welsh and English.
Visit Peter’s website CelticInfo.com
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