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TALLINN FRENCH SCHOOL Overview of the British history Project task Aap Korp XB TALLINN 2011 Pre-historic Britain 6000 BC the English Channel was formed -> early settlers on the isles. Iberians - about 3000 BC, first inhabitation. From the Iberian peninsula. Stone age - they used stone axes and made antlers and bones into leatherworking tools. Little is known about them, but some burial chambers and dwellings have been found. Other archaeological excavations also reveal something about their Stonehenge - a megalithic monument on Salisbury Plain. Built in several stages from about 3000 BC. Nobody knows how they were built. The purpose might be connected so some rituals, especially about the sun. Consists of two stone circles and two stone horseshoes. Bronze age - 2100 - 1650 BC. Gold was mined and the items found from the graves show the wealth of the tribes. Celts came in two waves: Gaels around 600 BC and Cymri or around 300 BC. Brought the technique of smelting iron. Lived in villages, built wellprotected forts. Had no private property, were agricultural, caught fish, tamed animals. Warriors and Druids were the most improtant people. Lived in clans and were excellent warriors. Created largescale artwork. Their celtic language is the ancestor of the Irish, Welsh and Gaelic languages. Roman Britain Julius Caesar reached the English Channel in 55 BC and made two successful raids in 55 BC and 54 BC. Had to withdraw his forces due to a rebellion in Gaul. Emperor Claudius in 43 AD successfully invaded Britain and during the 350year occupation, Britain was only a colony. The free Celts were now slaves and had to pay heavy taxes and work for the conquerors. Queen Boudicca was the leader of the Iceni tribe, which first joined forces with the Romans but later, as the Romans betrayed her she led a revolt against them in AD 61. Romans created new and important towns (York, London, St Albans, Bath), which were connected with a new system of paved roads, the most important one, Watling Street, ran across England from Dover to Wales. Former military camps can now be distinguished by their names, which end in -caster or chester. Even some villas were built, for example the Roman baths in Bath around a natural hot spring. Hadrian's wall in the north was built in 122 to keep out the raiding Picts and Scots. Roman soldiers and traders brought Christianity, the Christian Church in Britain was established in the 4th century. Anglo-Saxon Britain After the Romans left Britain in 410, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes soon began raiding Britain. Within 100 years Saxon kingdoms like Wessex, Mercia and The new settlers disliked town and destroyed Roman villas, living in small farming communities. By the 7th century, they too started to establish towns. Towns from that period can be recognized by the ending 'ham' which means 'home'. The Celts were absorbed or driven away so that the new Saxon settlers started the language, which is the ancestor of English. Angles gave the name to the land. They were agricultural, had self-sufficient villages, no shops and little trading. In the 6th century, the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons into Christianity began. St Augustine from Rome became the Archbishop of Canterbury. Christianity also brought about important changes in the life of the Anglo-Saxons. Roman culture was spread across the country, bishops and monasteries were granted much land; libraries and schools for the clergy were established. The most important writer from this period is a monk called The Venerable Bede who wrote "Ecclesiastical History of the English People", a book on Anglo-Saxon history. Another important writing is the heroic epic poem "Beowulf", which gives us an overview of the Anglo-Saxon everyday life. From this period also come the legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. The strongest Anglo-Saxon state was Wessex. As more and more Vikings invaded Britain, they mixed their culture with the Anglo-Saxon one. The Vikings came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In 871 the Danes invaded Wessex, which lead to the resistance of the local people who under Alfred the Great stopped the invasion. Danelaw was founded in the northern part with York as the capital. Alfred the Great could read and write, wanted his people to be educated and translate books so that people could understand them. Ordered the history of England to be written - the AngloSaxon Chronicle. Canute was a strong Danish King who in the 11th century conquered England and divided England into territorial lordships, provided a unified government and ended the paying of the tax Danegeld. After Canute, the throne soon passed to Edward the Confessor who restored the Saxon line of kings. Norman Conquest There were three claimants to the throne: Harold Godwin, who claimed that Edward the Confessor had promised him the throne on his deathbed; William, the Duke of Normandy, who said that Edward had promised him the throne, too, when he visited England in 1051 and Harald Hardraada, the King of Norway, who tried to take the throne by force. In 1066, a battle started between Normans and Anglo-Saxons near Hastings, King Harold died. William marched into London and was crowned in Westminster Abbey as William the Conqueror. The battle is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry. The Normans had a feudal system which treated the native Anglo-Saxons as serfs. In 1086 the Domesday Book was created to collect taxes. French became the language of the aristocracy while English became the language of the peasants. Today, some castles of Norman England have remained, for example White Tower in London. William had three sons: Robert, William and Henry. William died in a hunting accident and while Robert was on a crusade, Henry seized the power. He was followed by his daughter Matilda who married Geoffrey Plantagenet and by giving birth to Henry II, started the Plantagenet dynasty. The Plantagenets Henry II inherited the English kingdom and Normandy from his mother Matilda; Anjou, Maine and Touraine from his father Geoffrey and vast areas of central and south-western France through his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was a strong and majestic ruler. Struggle between the Church and the state for ultimate control and let to the murder of Thomas Becket. Followed by son Richard (Lionheart) who spent a lot of time in the crusades. John I (Lackland) lost almost all of the areas of the nobles in France while he had been raising the taxes. Lost the quarrel with the Church and was also forced to sign the Magna Carta, the predecessor of the Constitution. It limited the king’s power and made way to giving freedom to the people. Henry III reigned for a long time, not successful as a ruler and failed to get back the French areas. Improved Westminster Abbey, built Salisbury Cathedral, patronized arts. The first parliament was summoned in 1265. Edward I annexed Wales in 1282 and also Scotland for some time. Married his son Edward II to Philip IV’s daughter Isabella. Marriage was unsuccessful and Edward II abdicated in favour of his son Edward III who soon seized power from his mother. Edward III was very successful as he restored royal authority and developed the parliament. During his reign, the 100 Years' War was held because Edward III believed he was the rightful claimant to the French throne. Another horrible event was The Black Death. During the war, the English language spread and Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the “Canterbury Tales”. John Wycliffe translated the Bible. Lay education was started with Winchester College. Edward and his son the Black Prince were admired and symbolized the code of chivalry. He also founded the order of the garter. Richard II was not popular because as a child, his advisers governed for him, making bad decisions like the taxation of everyone over 15, which lead to the Peasant’s Revolt. The Wars of the Roses were the quarrels between Lancastrians and Yorkists to gain control of the throne. After the Yorkist kings Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III, Henry VII was crowned the King of England. He married Edward IV’s daughter and thus united the rival houses. The Tudors Henry VII (1457-1509) founded the Tudor dynasty and united the Lancastrians and Yorkists. As a wise man, he gathered riches and made England a wealthy and powerful monarchy. Made important alliances through marriages and kept England out of wars. Henry VIII (1491-1547) spent his father’s wealth and led a lustful life. Formed the Anglican Church and declared himself as the head of Church. Had six wives and only one legitimate son – Edward VI who was also his descendant to the throne but died at a young age. His cousin Jane Gray ruled for only 9 days because the Privy Council changed it’s mind. Mary Tudor (1516-1558) or Bloody Mary tried to restore Catholicism in England and used very violent methods – she enacted a policy of persecution against Protestants. Married King Philip of Spain. Elizabeth I (1533-1603) tried to bring England together in religious problems and made England a very powerful country. Defeated the Spanish Armada, culturally prosperous period – many great writers like Shakespeare and Marlow. Successful era of discovering the world and creating important business routes; first colony in North America – Virginia – was established. The Stuarts Mary Stuart (1542-1567) was the Queen of Scotland. She married Francis II, Dauphin of France but after his death returned to Scotland. Married her first cousin Lord Darnley who was also the father of her son James I. She soon got tired of her husband, had him murdered and married the murderer. Quite unpopular due to her behaviour, catholicisim and French culture. Was believed to have been involved in three plots against Elizabeth I and was executed because of that. James I (1566-1625) inherited Scotland from Mary and united England and Scotland after Elizabeth died in 1603. Had a bad personality: very paranoid and suspected everyone of plotting against him. He believed in his divine right to overrule parliament and raise money without giving something back. A Catholic conspiracy called the Gunpowder Plot was organized to blow up the Parliament and the king, it failed. Charles I (1600-1649) dissolved Parliament three times and ruled alone. He was very unpopular and when in 1640 he asked Parliament for money, the English Civil War started between the supporters of the king (Cavaliers) and the supporters of the parliament (Roundheads). As the parliament won, Oliver Cromwell led the anti-monarchist movement. He dissolved parliament and started his own period of dictatorship (1645-1660). His son was a weak ruler and Charles II was invited to return from exile. Charles II (1630-1685) was a strong and peaceful king. During his time, first political parties were created (“Tories” and “Whigs”). In 1665 was the Great Plague and in 1666 was the Great Fire of London. His brother James II was next to rule but his reign proved disastrous and as the parliament elected James’ daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange to come to the throne, the Glorious Revolution happened – the parliament now had more power than the king. When Mary died, Anne succeeded and during her reign, the Act of Union united Scotland with England and Wales. Parliamentary elections actually had the more important role. Georgian Era George I and George II were of little importance as they didn’t speak English and were just the figures in front of the country. George I let the Whigs form the government and the parliament had the true power over the country. Robert Walpole was a strong politician who let the Cabinet and made most of the political decisions of that time – he was the so-called Prime Minister. George III was the first Hanoverian king who spoke fluent English and was able to rule the country as an English king. He defeated France and England became the most important power in North American colonies and India. During his reign, the American War of Independence was lost and the United States of America were established. Some important parts of the loss of the American colonies were the quarrel over taxation, which lead to the Boston Tea Party, in July 1776 the Declaration of Independence was issued and the war ended in 1783. He also led a series of wars against Napoleon who was finally defeated in 1815 at Waterloo. The defeat required several coalitions between England and many other European countries. The wars also had a devastating effect on Britain itself but after 1815 things started to pick up and England industrialized. Many new cities such as Manchester emerged and now the electoral system needed to be changed. Victorian Era Queen Victoria (1819-1901) is the longest reigning monarch in the history of Great Britain. She became the ruler of many lands that belonged to the British Empire, the largest in the world. During her 21 years of marriage to Prince Albert, they had many children which mostly married into different royal families of Europe. After Albert’s death she went into permanent mourning. The empire had many wars going on around the globe. In 1854 there was the Crimean war where Florence Nightingale made nursing a respectable profession. In 1857 there was a mutiny in India and in 1876 Victoria became the Empress of India. The Industrial Revolution spread throughout Britain. Manual labour was replaced by machinery. Trade became more important, began the building of railways. An elementary education system was developed for children aged 5-10. Many big inventions and discoveries: in 1851 the Great Exhibition, Charles Darwin published his book about evolution, electric lighting, the telephone etc were invented. People of that time had very high standards and values. Many important writers such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Rudyard Kipling. Edwardian Age Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria, became king at the age of 59. He was successful, travelled in Europe and tried to keep good relationships. The Edwardian Age was a period of art and fashion, it corresponds to the French “Belle Époque” period. Art nouveau was an important influence for the culture and the role of the Church became smaller. Some noteworthy writers are Galsworthy and Shaw. Although Edward VII died in 1910 and George V came to the throne, the Edwardian era extends until the end of the First World War, including such events as the sinking of the Titanic, the World War itself and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, also the fight for women’s suffrage which led to the gain of the women’s right to vote in 1918. The dominions of Great Britain were given complete independence from Britain in 1931.