British history
Late Medieval
Welsh uprising 1400 - 1416
Owain Glyn Dwr began a major revolt against English dominance in September 1399. Descended from the Princes of Powys (but a former servant of Richard II) his revolt was closely connected to Henry IV's difficulties in establishing a regime. Glyn Dwr co-operated with the English opposition to Henry IV (particularly the great lords of the Welsh march, the Mortimers, who had a claim to be Richard II's heirs). He mobilised Welsh national sentiment and anti-English feeling and was proclaimed Prince of Wales in September 1400.
Backed by French military aide, Glyn Dwr took Carmarthen and Cardiff in 1403 and Harlech and Aberystwyth in 1404. With the Papacy in schism, Glyn Dwr was also able to secure Papal sanction from Avignon to separate the Welsh church from its English counterpart.
In 1404, Glyn Dwr presided over the first Welsh Parliament but, as Henry IV eliminated English opposition, so superior resources and weaponry were turned on the Welsh under the leadership of the king's son (the future Henry V). By 1409, the revolt was broken. Glyn Dwr lost the towns and castles he had taken and turned to guerrilla warfare until his obscure death in 1416.
Opposition to Henry IV 1403 - 1413
The Percies, a great northern family, had supported Henry in 1399, but had not expected Richard to be deposed and murdered. They rebelled in 1403, but Henry 'Hotspur' Percy - acting prematurely and with inadequate support - was defeated and killed by the king at Shrewsbury in 1403. Conspiracies continued: Henry IV arrested and executed Archbishop Scrope of York in 1405, and Hotspur's father, the Earl of Northumberland, was crushed at Bramham Moor in 1408.
Even as the Lancastrian regime consolidated, Henry IV faced opposition from Parliament over the composition of the royal council and mismanagement of the royal finances. In 1410, Prince Henry took control of the council and rallied a new generation of aristocrats to his support. However, an attempt in 1411 to force Henry IV's abdication was misconceived and, in December 1411, the king resumed full power.
Lollard revolt 1414
A group of Lollard supporting knights close to the centres of power had existed since the 1380s. By the accession of Henry V (1413-22), persecution by the bishops and the royal courts had taken a heavy toll on the religious dissidents. So, in 1414, a desperate rebellion under Sir John Oldcastle occurred but was easily put down by the king.
Oldcastle himself was executed as a traitor and heretic in 1417.
The Battle of Agincourt and English claims to the French Crown 1415 - 1422
Although he had to withstand early conspiracies by dissident parties, Henry V's accession was chiefly notable for the reactivation of the English claim to the French throne. France was vulnerable because of a civil war between the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, and Henry was able to capture the port of Harfleur in 1415. He then marched a small army through France but was caught by a considerably larger French army at Agincourt. Henry defeated the French against the odds and it ended it in a massacre with Henry capturing key French nobles (including the Duke of Orleans). The victory assured Henry of the reputation and finances to continue the war.
In 1417, Henry V again landed in France and besieged and took Caen. In January 1419, Rouen fell to English forces and with that the whole of Normandy - perhaps the richest province in France - was under English control
.The King of France, Charles VI, had fallen under the control of the Burgundians, who negotiated the Peace of Troyes with Henry in 1420. The English king married Charles's daughter Katherine, and was recognised as Regent and heir to the French kingdom in Paris. Henry died in 1422, still trying to implement the treaty by conquering the rest of France.
Henry VI and the Dual Monarchy of England and France 1422
Succeeding both his father, Henry V, and his grandfather Charles VI, Henry VI (1422-61) became king of both England and France in 1422 - while still under one year of age.
England was ruled effectively by a Regency Council, while in France, the king's uncle, John, Duke of Bedford, continued the conquest begun by Henry V. Scots armies played a key role in maintaining French resistance south of the Loire, despite Bedford's great victory at Verneuil in 1424. Following the raising of the siege of Orleans by Joan of Arc in 1429, and the Burgundian desertion of the Dual Monarchy in 1435, the English were forced back into Normandy.
James I, King of Scotland 1424
In 1406, Prince James of Scotland had been sent to France for his own safety (principally from his uncle, the Duke of Albany, who had already murdered James's elder brother, David). James never reached France as he was captured by English shipping off King's Lynn. James spent the next eighteen years of his life in the Tower of London, at the English court and in English military service in France.
On the death of Henry V, the king's ransom was negotiated and James returned to Scotland (with an English wife, Joan Beaufort). Over the next seven years, the king reformed Scottish administrative practice and engaged in a massive blood-letting exercise against the relations of Albany.Neither the reforms nor the vendetta endeared the king to his (extremely depleted) nobility. The situation was made worse by the fact that, after 1431, James became increasingly lazy in terms of government. In 1437, at the Blackfriars Monastery in Perth, James was surprised by a group of discontented lords (led by the king's uncle - thus brother of Albany - the Earl of Atholl) and brutally stabbed to death in a blocked up sewer.
Henry VI's personal rule, end of the Hundred Years' War 1436
Even after Henry VI came of age in 1436, he was uninterested in the conventional business of government.
Thus although he founded Eton School and King's College, Cambridge, he refused to take a personal hand in the French war. Increasingly, a narrow court faction led by the Earl (later Duke) of Suffolk dominated the young king (though an unpopular peace policy with France was probably Henry's own initiative). The English resolutely held Normandy until 1444, when Henry sought a twenty-year truce and a French wife. As a result of this initiative, Henry married the French king's niece, Margaret of Anjou, and signed the Truce of Tours. However, in 1449, the English sacked the Breton town of Fougeres. This was a flagrant breach of the French truce, and the English had neither the men nor the money to fight the general war which resumed.
Normandy was lost by 1450, and the English were finally driven out of Bordeaux in 1453. These victories effectively decided the Hundred Years' War.
James II, King of Scotland, and the Douglases 1437 - 1460
Following James I's murder, the regency was accepted by Archibald, fifth Earl Douglas, the leader of the most powerful family in Scotland. Since the days of Robert I, the Douglases had been extremely prominent and, at times, had rivalled the authority of the Stewart crown. James I, while attacking his own extended family, had relied on the Douglases as a counter-balance to his aims. James II (1437-60), however, perceived the authority of the Douglases as a threat.
On the death of the fifth earl, in 1439, the sixth earl (a young boy) and his brother were invited to Edinburgh Castle whereupon, following the 'Black Dinner' - when they were served a black bull's head (a symbol of impending death) they were murdered by supporters of the King. Although the seventh earl died naturally in 1450, the eighth earl was invited by the King to dine at Stirling Castle (under the protection of a safe-conduct). During the meal, James II lent over and stabbed the earl.The king's supporters ensured the earl did not survive. From then until 1455 (and the forfeiture of the ninth and final Earl Douglas), the crown undertook a series of military expeditions to overpower the family and acquire their lands and strongholds. James II's militarism was not only directed at his own subjects.
In 1460, he undertook a seige of Roxburgh Castle (one of only two Scottish Castle - with Berwick - still in English hands. Although the seige was successful, a cannon being fired in celebration exploded and a wedge of wood severed the King's leg. James II bled to death.
Lancastrian collapse and the Wars of the Roses 1450
Notwithstanding English reluctance to shoulder the financial burden of defending Normandy and Guyenne, public opinion regarded their loss as completely unnecessary. Henry VI's regime never recovered from the loss of credit. In 1450, Kent rebels under Jack Cade seized London and overthrew the ministry of the Duke of Suffolk (who was murdered while fleeing).
In 1450 and 1452, Richard, Duke of York, challenged the government but he only managed to take control after Henry went mad in 1453.
Henry VI's servants rallied under Queen Margaret and the Duke of Somerset, and moved against the Duke of York and his allies (after the king recovered his sanity). York resisted and defeated the Lancastrians at St Albans in 1455 as the struggle becameincreasingly embittered. In 1459, the Yorkists were forced to flee when their army would not fight Henry VI at Ludford Bridge.
The Yorkist assumption of power 1460 - 1461
The Yorkist Earl of Warwick re-took London in 1460 and captured Henry VI. Subsequently the Duke of York returned to claim the throne in Parliament but was recognised only as Protector and heir to the throne.
Weeks later he marched north to enforce this settlement, but was killed at Wakefield. A large Lancastrian army swarmed south, overwhelming Warwick at Northampton and liberating the mad-again Henry. Fearful Londoners would not admit the Lancastrian troops, and the Duke of York's son, Edward, earl of March, arrived to support the capital just in time. With littleto lose, the Yorkists acclaimed March as Edward IV (1461-83), and he cemented his accession by annihilating the Lancastrian army at Towton (outside York) in April 1461 - perhaps the most vicious battle ever fought on English soil. Henry VI and the other Lancastrian leaders were fugitives.
Edward IV and Warwick the Kingmaker 1464 - 1469
Edward IV suffered the same problems of consolidation as Henry IV.
In 1463-64 he crushed Lancastrian challenges and in 1464 Henry VI was recaptured and sent to the Tower. Edward owed his throne to his own military prowess in 1460 and 1461, rather than to his chief ally, his uncle the Earl of Warwick.
However, Warwick was a great magnate and major figure in the government, and when he became alienated after 1464, serious problems developed. The initial cause of the rupture was Edward's secret marriage with a widow of Lancastrian background and little political importance, Elizabeth Wydeville. Warwick could not be excluded easily from the regime and the breakdown of trust between him and the king came to dominate politics.
The 'readeption' of Henry VI 1470 - 1471
After several conspiracies and rebellions, Warwick and Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, fled to France where Louis XI brokered an agreement between them and the Lancastrian exiles, led by Queen Margaret.
Backed by Louis, Warwick returned, took London and ruled in Henry VI's name with his uneasy Lancastrian allies. Edward IV fled to Holland and prepared his counterstroke. Henry VI's second reign is known as the 'Readeption'. When Edward IV returned in 1471 he was able to rally the Yorkist party and defeat first Warwick at Barnet, and then the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury. All the Lancastrian leaders of any significance were now dead, most notably Henry VI's son, Edward, Prince of Wales. Henry himself was soon murdered in the Tower.
Edward IV's second reign 1471 - 1483
After regaining the crown, Edward decentralised considerable power to regional councils organised around his most loyal supporters. Thus his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became Edward's lieutenant in the north. Edward resumed the French war in 1475, only to allow himself to be bought off with a large French pension. In the 1470s, William Caxton began printing in English at Bruges, and later brought printing to London. Sir John Fortescue wrote The Governance of England, William Worcester wrote Itineraries, and Sir Thomas Mallory wrote the Morte d'Arthur.
Richard III and the Princes in the Tower 1483
When Edward IV died suddenly in April 1483, the Yorkists expected his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to assume the regency as Protector until the young Edward V (1483) came of age.
However, Richard took them by surprise when he seized the young king at Stoney Stratford and executed his companions. He wooed the remainder of his brother's servants by telling them that he was only against the family of his brother's widow, the Wydevilles. But soon after several of the most important were summarily executed in their turn (probably for refusing to support Richard's bid for the throne). Richard III (1483-85) was crowned on 26 June, and, soon after, he probably had his young nephews murdered in the Tower of London.
The Battle of Bosworth Field 1485
After the murder of the young princes in 1483, loyal Yorkists began to look for a focus of opposition. A rebellion under Richard's former ally, the Duke of Buckingham, failed in 1483 and, after his execution, many older Yorkists fled abroad.
Anti-Richard support gradually gravitated to the last Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor - hitherto largely unimportant. Richard's support narrowed, so when he faced a small invasion force at Bosworth Field in 1485, few magnates would fight for him.
Tudors
Henry Tudor crowned 1485
In August 1485, Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven in Wales (from exile in France) and, with the help of French troops, invaded England. He marched unopposed into central England where, on 22 August, he met Richard III at Bosworth Field. Richard was defeated and killed and Henry was proclaimed King as Henry VII (1485-1509). Henry marched on London and, on 30 October, was crowned king.
A matter of months later, in January 1486, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, helping to unify the two factions of York and Lancaster
The Tudors 1485 - 1602
The early modern period of British history is dominated by the Tudors in England and the Stewarts in Scotland. In both realms, as the century progressed, there were new ways of approaching old problems. Henry VIII and James IV were both bellicose, cultured, educated Renaissance princes with a love of learning and architectural splendour. As contemporaries and brothers-in-law, they treated the problems of the Reformation in different ways - James remained staunchly Catholic while Henry broke away from the Catholic Church to form the Church of England (of which he had himself proclaimed Head).By the turn of the century, both realms were strongly Protestant and under the control of two long reigning monarchs - Elizabeth and James VI. The early modern period was definitely an era where women exercised more influence.
Despite the odd voice to the contrary, such as John Knox, Catherine de Medici in France, Elizabeth and Mary in England and Mary in Scotland ruled as their male counterparts had done before them - all intent on securing the best political, military and diplomatic outcomes for their respective realms.
Lambert Simnel and the end of the Wars of the Roses 1487
Henry VII was not unopposed as king. In May 1487, Lambert Simnel - claiming to be Edward, Earl of Warwick, the nephew of Edward IV - was crowned as King Edward VI of England in Dublin. Formally recognised as the real Warwick by Margaret of Anjou (wife of Henry VI) and backed by Irish troops and German mercenaries, Simnel invaded England but was defeated at the Battle of Stoke in June 1487. Henry considered him harmless and, instead of being executed, he was allowed to live out his life in the royal kitchens.
Battle of Sauchieburn 1488
James III, King of Scots, was an unpopular monarch.
Despite his reign seeing the addition of the Orkney and Shetland Isles to the Scottish kingdom (as mortgaged lands by the Danish king instead of a dowry for his daughter), by 1488, James III had survived several attempts to limit his authority by discontented members of his nobility.On 11 June 1488, however, the discontented nobles united behind the king's son (later IV) and met James III in battle. The king's army was defeated and James III fled the field. Resting in a mill adjacent to the battlefield, he was stabbed to death by an opponent disguised as a priest.James IV (1488-1513) was proclaimed king but regretted the action he had taken against his father - for the rest of his adult life, he wore an iron chain around his waist as penance for his deed.
Perkin Warbeck and the English throne 1491 – 1499
In November 1491, a second claimant to Henry VII's throne arrived in Ireland.
Perkin Warbeck (possibly an illegitimate son of Edward IV) initially claimed to be Edward, Earl of Warwick (as Lambert Simnel had before him) but soon changed his story and claimed to be Richard, Duke of York - the brother of Edward V and the younger Prince in the Tower.Various European monarchs - Charles VIII of France, Margaret of Burgundy, Maximillian I of the Holy Roman Empire and James IV of Scotland - accepted Warbeck's claims in order to pursue diplomatic objectives against Henry VII. In 1495, 1496 and 1497, Warbeck attempted to invade England (in 1497 trying to maximise discontent from Cornwall where some local men had rebelled earlier in the year against high taxes) but, in October 1497, he was captured and taken to the king at Taunton.In November 1499 both Warbeck and the real Edward, Earl of Warwick (who had been imprisoned by Henry VII in 1485) were executed for treason.
Royal patronage of John Cabot 1496
The later fifteenth century was an age of maritime discovery. In 1488, the Portuguese Bartholemew Diaz had rounded the Cape of Good Hope (southern Africa); and in 1492, Christopher Columbus, in the service of the King of Spain, had discovered the Caribbean islands of the New World.
Not wishing to miss out on any new land (and wealth), Henry VII supported John Cabot in a bid to sail across the Atlantic. Although driven back by poor weather in 1496, Cabot (with his son Sebastian) sailed from Bristol to Cape Breton, Newfoundland, in 1497. In 1498, John Cabot and his fleet of five ships set out on a further voyage but were never heard of again. The following year, Sebastian Cabot, led a search expedition and extensively explored the North American coast from Labrador to the Grand Banks off Carolina.
The Renaissance in Britain c.1500
The Renaissance ('new birth') began in the Mediterranean countries and spread across Europe during the course of the fifteenth century.
By the sixteenth century, - as well as heralding a burgeoning of art and culture - it represented the rebirth of learning and of free enquiry, the exaltation of the individual (both in mind and body) and a focus on 'life', instead of the medieval preoccupation with the soul and death. It is arguable how much of this physical and spiritual expansion had immediate effect on the great majority of the population of Britain. However, the Renaissance certainly influenced court life, courtly manners and architectural building, and Henry VII and Henry VIII in England, and James IV, James V and Mary in Scotland, were, in their own ways, Renaissance monarchs.
Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose 1503
In August 1503, James IV, King of Scots, married Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII of England. Celebrated in poetry as the union of the Thistle and the Rose, the event was to lead the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the English throne in 1603 as the senior living descendent of Henry VII.
Accession of Henry VIII 1509
Henry VIII is one of the best known English monarchs.
Although a great athlete, strong soldier and accomplished Renaissance prince in his youth, it is mainly for his marital exploits that he is remembered.
Henry married six times in an increasingly desperate bid to produce a male heir to secure the English throne for the Tudor dynasty. His first wife, Katherine of Aragon (June 1509-May 1533) had previously been married to Henry's elder brother (Arthur, Prince of Wales) and although she produced a son for the king in January 1511, he only survived seven weeks.By 1533, Katherine had given Henry a daughter, Mary, but no further male offspring. In January 1533, before his divorce from Katherine was formalised, Henry secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn (January 1533-May 1536). She gave birth to Elizabeth in September 1533 but was beheaded in May 1536, accused of adultery.
Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour (May 1536-October 1537), produced the longed for male heir - the future Edward VI - but died following complications brought on by the birth. Anne of Cleves (January 1540-July 1540), a Protestant German princess, was not the bride Henry had hoped for and was divorced quickly - shortly before his marriage to his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, the niece of the Duke of Norfolk (Henry's chief minister).As Henry grew older, he became more and more overweight and more and more diseased. By the end of his reign, it is highly unlikely that Henry would have been able to produce any children by his wives.Catherine Howard (July 1540-February 1542) was also beheaded for adultery and Henry's final wife, Catherine Parr (July 1542-January 1547) was more of a nursemaid for the king than a bedding partner. She survived Henry.
James IV, King of Scots, and the Battle of Flodden 1513
While Henry was campaigning on the continent in 1513, the Scottish king broke a Treaty of Perpetual Peace with his uncle, Henry VIII, and invaded England (in French interests). James IV was a popular monarch and took a sizeable army into Northumberland. He was met by English troops under the leadership of the Earl of Surrey. In the ensuing battle, on 9 September 1513, James IV deployed his resources poorly. The Scots were massacred with the king, the Archbishop of St Andrews (James IV's son), eight earls and over twenty lords among the dead.
Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal Archbishop of York 1515
The son of an Ipswich butcher, in the early 1500s, Wolsey established himself as an indispensable administrator both for the crown and the English church.
A court chaplain from 1507, in 1509 he was made royal almoner and, effectively, royal secretary.In 1514, Wolsey was created Archbishop of York and, a year later, he was made a cardinal by the Pope and Lord Chancellor by Henry VIII. By 1518 he held legatine powers in England but in 1522 (when Adrian VI was elected) and 1523 (Clement VII) he was passed over for Pope. He spent lavishly and built palatial residences at York House (Whitehall) and Hampton Court. Wolsey dominated Henrician court and patronage and took an active interest in judicial and financial review.This caused his downfall as, when he was unable to accomplish Henry's divorce from Katherine of Aragon, there was no one else to blame.
On 4 November 1530, Wolsey was arrested at Cawood Castle, Selby, near York. He died at Leicester, en route to London to be tried for treason
Field of the Cloth of Gold 1520
Wolsey and Henry VIII pursued an aggressive continental foreign policy. Although at war in the early 1510s, by later that same decade a grand alliance between England, France, Spain, the Papacy and the Empire was envisaged. Although the diplomacy ultimately foundered, one of the high points in discussion was the meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold outside Calais in 1520. The meeting lasted over two weeks, with temporary pavilions and sumptuous tents bedecked in cloth of gold material. Tilts, jousts and other chivalric entertainment occurred daily and temporary fountains were plumbed to flow with red wine for the duration of the meeting.
Henry made 'Defender of the Faith' 1521
On 23 October 1516, at Wittenberg (in modern Germany), Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theses condemning papal indulgences to the door of a church. Later, this was considered the pivotal action marking the start of the religious reformation in Europe. England and Scotland both rejected Luther's ideas and remained supporters of the Catholic church. In 1521, as a reward for attacking Lutheran ideas, Pope Leo X conferred the title of fidei defensor (defender of the faith) on Henry VIII. Although the title relates to the Catholic Church, it is still held by current British monarchs and can be seen as the abbreviation FD on current coinage. Lutheran ideas could not be kept out of a continental trading nation like England very easily and, from 1526, German-printed vernacular versions of the Bible (produced by William Tynedale) were circulating extensively.
The Reformation of Parliament 1529 - 1536
A non-contemporary description of the parliament which met throughout the Reformation crisis of the early 1530s. In its first session (November-December 1529), the parliament petitioned Henry to take action against Cardinal Wolsey. Subsequently, the parliament passed acts which defined the nature of the break with Rome and the foundation of the Church of England. In 1532 (a year after Henry VIII had been recognised as Supreme Head of the Church in England), the Commons openly opposed the authority of Church courts and stated that no ecclesiastical laws could be promulgated without the authority of the King.A year later, in the Restraint of Appeals, they codified the legal independence of the realm of England from Rome. As Henry's 'great matter' (his marriage to his brother's widow, Katherine of Aragon) became more problematic, parliament continued to support the wishes of their king over the Pope in Rome.
Henry VIII and the Act of Supremacy 1534
Henry wished to divorce Katherine of Aragon as he was conscious that the Old Testament forbade a man from lying with his brother's wife. Henry saw his lack of male heir by Katherine as a judgement from God as to his sinfulness.The first discussions concerning the subject had taken place in secret in May 1527 but, by July 1529, the Pope had declared that the matter could only be settled in Rome. After further inquiries, Clement VII refused to grant permission for divorce, so Henry began the process of a split with the Catholic Church.In May 1533, his marriage to Katherine was annulled - although, the previous January, he had bigamously (and secretly) married Anne Boleyn. Aided by his new chief administrator, Thomas Cromwell, Henry was confirmed as 'Supreme Head of the Church of England'following a parliamentary Act of Supremacy in November 1534.
Wales incorporated into England 1536
An act of parliament in 1536 (followed by a second in 1543) attempted to regularise the relationship between Wales and England. The Marcher Lordships - on the border of England and Wales - were abolished; new counties were established; and Justices of the Peace (on the English model) were empowered to undertake judicial roles. Although a Council of Wales (with enhanced powers) was retained, English was made the official language of administration and daily use.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries 1536 - 1540
Between 1536 and 1540, Henry dissolved all the monasteries that had not previously been dissolved. This proved very unpopular, as despite individual abuses, monasteries still played a major role both in the spiritual life of the population and in local economies. Furthermore, it led to exaggerated rumours that Henry intended to despoil the parish churches and to tax cattle and sheep.
As a result, in 1536 there were major risings in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (30,000 strong) and, in 1537, a further rising in Norfolk. The rebels called for an end to the dissolution of the monasteries, for the removal of Cromwell, for the restoration of papal authority and for the Catholic Mary Tudor to be named as successor. Henry's promise of pardon and concessions led the rebels to disband, but the king reneged on his promise and the rebel leaders were executed in 1537. Waltham Abbey was the last monastery to be dissolved in March 1540.
David Beaton, Cardinal Archbishop of St Andrews 1538
Despite urging from his brother-in-law, James V did not follow the same path as Henry VIII in splitting with the Catholic Church. Indeed, if anything, James V drew himself closer to Rome.
With England on the verge of breaking away, James was able to extract financial and religious concessions from the Pope which meant that James was, in his own way, as powerful a leader in terms of the Scottish Church as Henry was in terms of the English.James was certainly open to the same abuses - appointing various of his illegitimate offspring to positions of authority within the Church so that the Crown could extract the annual rentals and income from the benefices.One of the major achievements in the Reformation period was the appointment, in December 1538, of James's chief counsellor, David Beaton (later Archbishop of St Andrews), as a cardinal. Beaton was a cruel persecutor of Lutheran supporters and had personally witnessed several being burned at the stake. Following James's death, Beaton exercised considerable political influence in Scotland but was, almost universally, hated.On March 1 1546, the noted Scottish reformer, George Wishart was burnt at the stake in front of the episcopal palace.
Three months later, religious reformers within St Andrews stormed the palace and, in revenge for Wishart's death, killed the cardinal.
Henry VIII, King of Ireland 1541
The Tudors had always been concerned with the Irish situation. In 1494, Henry VII had sent Edward Poynings to Ireland as deputy in order to strengthen links with England. Within a matter of weeks the Irish Parliament, meeting at Drogheda, had passed Poyning's Law which stated that Irish legislation was only valid when confirmed by the English Privy Council.Despite this, Ireland continued to be a cause of some concern. In the aftermath of the English Reformation, the Irish parliament recognised Henry VIII not as 'Lord of Ireland' (the traditional style) but as 'King of Ireland' and, also, Head of the Irish Church.
Battle of Solway Moss and the 'Rough Wooing' 1542
In November 1542, a Scottish army entered the border marshes of Scotland and England. They were met by an English force led by Sir Thomas Wharton, and routed. James V was ill at Falkland Palace, and the news of the defeat, coupled with the birth of a daughter, Mary, rather than the son the king longed for, is traditionally said to have led him to turn his face to the wall and die.Peace between the two countries was agreed in the 1543 Treaty of Greenwich. This allowed for the one-year-old Mary to be married to Edward, Prince of Wales. Before the year was out, the Scottish parliament, under Beaton's direction, changed policy and repudiated the Treaty of Greenwich.
Henry and, after his death, Somerset, then undertook a series of military invasions into southern Scotland - an operation that subsequently came to be known as the 'Rough Wooing'.
Edward VI and the Act of Uniformity 1547 – 1553
Edward VI (1547-53) was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour (Henry's third wife). He became king on Henry's death in 1547, at the age of nine, and the government was entrusted to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset. Somerset fell from power in 1549 and was replaced by the Earl of Warwick, later created Duke of Northumberland. Northumberland was primarily concerned with the enforcement of the Act of Uniformity which imposed the First Book of Common Prayer on English worshippers. Hostility to this book and the Protestantism it represented caused rioting in the south-west.
Jane Grey, 'The Nine Day Queen' 1553
In regards to the succession, Edward had dismissed the claims of his half sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, arguing that they were both illegitimate. Instead he nominated Lady Jane Grey - Henry VIII's Protestant great-niece - as his successor. She was married to one of Northumberland's sons and was proclaimed Queen when Edward died - after horrendous illness - in 1553 (aged fifteen). However, Mary simultaneously proclaimed herself Queen in Norfolk and began raising troops. Northumberland set out to defeat her but, as support rallied to Mary, he surrendered and was executed (as eventually were Lady Jane and her husband).
Mary I and Philip II 1553
Daughter of the Katherine of Aragon, Mary (1553-58) became queen in 1553.
Determined to return the country to its religious position at the beginning of her father's reign, Mary agreed to marry Philip II of Spain. By the end of 1554, and despite protest, England had a Spanish king, and was once again subject to the Pope. Some 300 people were burnt for heresy including several leading churchmen and even Archbishop Cranmer of Canterbury (who was burnt at the stake in Oxford).Mary undertook military action on the continent in support of Spanish ambition. Although the English forces came close to capturing Paris in August 1557, within six months they had been forced back and, on 7 January 1558, Calais - the last English continental possession - fell to the French
Accession of Elizabeth I 1558
Elizabeth (1558-1603), the Protestant daughter of Anne Boleyn, acceded to the throne on Mary's death in 1558. After she was crowned, her first task was to bring about a broad religious settlement, accepting those aspects of Protestant doctrine which were consistent with order, and rejecting those which were not.
It was not until the 1580s that the Reformation gained general acceptance. Elizabeth did not condemn the contemporary stereotype of women as inferior to men - in 1558, John Knox (a Scottish minister) had published the wonderfully titled 'First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women' (Monstrous Regiment meaning unnatural rule) - but instead claimed that she was an exceptional woman, chosen by God as his instrument.
Personal rule of Mary, Queen of France, and Queen of Scots 1559 - 1565
Mary had been married to Francis, dauphin of France (son of Henry II) in 1558. Although Francis became King (and Mary Queen) of France in 1559, he ruled for a little over a year before dying from an ear infection.Mary, dowager of France, was no match to the political influence of Henry II's dowager queen, Catherine de Medici. Before the marriage ceremony in Notre Dame, Mary had secretly signed away Scotland's sovereignty and declared that, if she died before her husband, Scotland would become subject to the French crown.
Faced with the death of Francis in 1560, Mary now had to return to her kingdom - a realm she had not seen since she was five. On her return to Scotland (landing at Leith on 19 August 1561), Mary was faced with a problem concerning the religion of the nation.For the next four years, while actively Catholic in private, she did little to oppose the Protestant religion in public. Indeed, in October 1562, she placed an army in the field to combat her leading Catholic nobleman, George Gordon, Earl of Huntly. Only with her marriage to Henry, Lord Darnley, in 1565, can Mary's policies be seen to be going wrong.
Scottish Reformation Parliament 1560
Meeting without the sanction of the Crown, a group of noblemen and burgh representatives met in Edinburgh in August 1560 to enact bills to define the Reformation in Scotland.
Tensions had been mounting since the mid 1550s with an active civil war being undertaken by Mary of Guise (the dowager queen and regent) backed by French forces and the Lords of Congregation (Protestants) backed by English forces. The confrontation had been settled (with a broadly neutral result) by the Treaty of Berwick in February 1560 but the death of Guise four months later effectively left the field clear for the reformers.In August, the parliament abolished Papal jurisdiction over Scotland and Approved a Calvinist Confession of Faith. Because the parliament met without the authority of the Crown, Mary, Queen of Scots, refused to ratify the acts on her return to the kingdom. Only on Mary's deposition in 1567 were the acts really implemented.
Beginnings of the Slave Trade 1562
On a voyage to West Africa in 1562, Captain John Hawkins, an English trader and naval commander, began English involvement in the Slave Trade.
From West Africa, Hawkins proceeded to the Caribbean where he sold a number of people he had either captured or purchased while trading in Africa.
Deposition of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Scottish Civil War 1567
In May 1565, Mary, Queen of Scots, married her cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. This antagonised not only Elizabeth of England but also a group of Scottish noblemen. Although a son, Charles James (the future James VI), was born of the marriage in July 1566, circumstances soon escalated. Darnley was an unpopular, disease-riddled, drunk. Since her return to Scotland, Mary had relied heavily on a group of continental servants and this provoked a reaction from the discontented noblemen (using Darnley as a figurehead).
On 9 March 1566 (with Mary five months pregnant), the lords broke into the Queen's chamber at Holyrood and stabbed her Italian secretary, David Rizzio, to death. Although Mary recovered and attempted to reconcile the discontented factions - notably at Prince Charles's baptismal ceremony at Stirling in December 1566 - by early 1567 the situation had only deteriorated. On 10 February 1567, Henry, King of Scots, was strangled and blown up in a house on the outskirts of Edinburgh.Although the Queen claimed innocence, her position was not helped when, three months later, she married the unpopular James, fourth Earl Bothwell - the man widely suspected of killing her former husband. Forces were raised and at Carberry Hill, a month after her marriage, Mary surrendered to the discontented lords. As Bothwell escaped to exile (and imprisonment) in Denmark, Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, where on 24 July 1567 - the day after she miscarried twins - she was forced to abdicate.
The queen's opponents crowned her one-year old son as James VI (1567-1625). Mary was in prison for eleven months whereupon she escaped and again raised forces. These were decisively beaten at the Battle of Langside (13 May 1568) and Mary fled south.Although she may have been trying to reach France, in the end Mary threw herself on the mercy of Elizabeth of England. Elizabeth imprisoned her for the next nineteen years. Meanwhile in Scotland, the forces still backing Mary and those backing James undertook a frenetic civil war which lasted until the Pacification of Perth and the fall of Edinburgh Castle in 1573.
Plots against Elizabeth I 1569 - 1586
Although Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor monarchs, she was occasionally under threat from dissident factions who sought to depose her and place an alternative monarch (usually, Mary, Queen of Scots), in her place. In 1569, the Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned in the Tower for plotting to marry himself to Mary, Queen of Scots, and thus provide a strong Catholic phalanx within England. A month later, Durham was seized by the Catholic earls of Westmorland and Northumberland, thus giving substance to the idea of Catholic plotting. In September 1571, the Ridolfi plot - to depose Elizabeth, replace her with Mary and restore Catholicism - was revealed; in 1583, the Throckmorton plot (with similar aims but the backing of the King of Spain and the Duke of Guise) was exposed.In 1586, the Babington Plot, which ultimately led to the execution of Mary, was 'discovered' by Walsingham, only a matter of weeks after the Scots had signed the Treaty of Berwick.
Drake circumnavigates the globe 1578 – 1580
On 13 December 1577, Francis Drake, on board his ship the Pelican, left Plymouth on a voyage that would take him round the world.
In August 1578, Drake passed through the Magellan Strait (the south of South America) and entered the Pacific Ocean. By June 1579, Drake had landed on the coast of modern California (which he claimed for England as 'New Albion'). On 26 September 1580, the navigator returned to Plymouth in his ship, renamed as the Golden Hind. The following April, Drake was knighted by Elizabeth on board ship.
Elizabeth I and the Low Countries 1584
From 1584, Elizabeth played an active role in assisting the Protestant Dutch rebels of the Low Countries (modern Netherlands and Belgium) to oppose their monarch, Philip II of Spain. A treaty of alliance with the Dutch, under William of Orange, had been signed as early as 1579, but it was not until 1584 that English troops were dispatched.
In 1585, Elizabeth formally took the Netherlands under her protection (following the assassination in July 1584 of Protestant leader, William of Orange), ten years after she had refused an offer of full sovereignty. Beside the official English troops under leaders such as the Earl of Leicester, there were also a number of English, Irish and Scottish mercenaries who fought in the Dutch wars both on the Protestant side and the Catholic side (and when the situation merited, both sides!).
Roanoke 1585
In 1585, 600 English colonists, under the guidance of Walter Raleigh, were established on Roanoke Island on the Carolina Outer Banks. The colony lasted less than a year and, although a further colony was established in Virginia in 1587 (of 110 people), the threat of the Spanish Armada meant that they could not be resupplied. In 1590, when an expedition did attempt to find the settlers, they found the colony had vanished.
Treaty of Berwick 1586
On 6 July 1586, Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland (for England), and Francis Stewart, Earl Bothwell (for Scotland) secured a mutual defensive alliance between the two countries guaranteeing aide and support should either be invaded.
Seen by some as a forerunner to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots - only after the treaty was signed did Walsingham 'discover' a plot by Anthony Babington against Elizabeth - its more important purpose was to secure the English succession.
Although nothing is said in the treaty concerning this, an appendix was agreed whereby James VI, King of Scots, would receive an annual pension of £4,000 from the English state. James, rightly or wrongly, perceived this 'pension' as recognition of his rights in England.
Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots 1587
On 8 February 1587, at Fotheringhay Castle, Elizabeth's heir, Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed for treason after becoming involved in the Babington Plot. Mary had been in English custody since her escape from Scotland in 1568. At the age of forty-four, she was no longer the dazzling beauty she had once been - disease had filled out her frame and she had lost her strong auburn hair.
As Mary went to the block, she revealed that she was wearing a scarlet smock - the colour symbolised Catholic martyrdom.
The Spanish Armada 1588
Elizabeth's support for the largely Protestant Dutch rebellion against her former half-brother-in law, Philip of Spain, and her apparent connivance in raids on Spanish colonies and trade, led to war with Spain from 1585. In 1588, Philip sent an Armada - a massive force of 130 ships and 19,000 troops - from Lisbon to Calais.The English (under the admiral, Howard of Effingham and his lieutenants, Francis Drake and John Hawkins) mounted a night-time attack with fireships against the fleet at Calais and then inflicted considerable damage in a battle off Gravelines. However, weather conditions forced the Armada back to Spain, round the north of Scotland and the west coast of Ireland - suffering heavy looses from storms and shipwrecks on the way. Further fleets were sent in 1596 and 1597, but both were stopped by storms
First known London performance of Shakespeare plays 1590
Originally from Stratford-upon-Avon, England's 'greatest playwright' flourished at the end of Elizabeth I's reign and the beginning of James I's reign.
Not only did Shakespeare write plays but he also acted in them and part-owned some of the theatres in which they were produced. In 1590, there are known performances of Henry VI and Titus Andronicus.
Poor Relief Act 1598
Building on an act from the reign of Edward IV, the Poor Relief Act gave Justices of the Peace responsibility for the administration of poor relief on a local level. Local poor rates were defined. Although preference was given to assisting people within their own homes, the act of 1598 allowed for the setting up of work houses in urban areas. Along with a further act of 1601, the provisions of 1598 remained the only provision for the poor in England until the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.
Foundation of the East India Company 1600
On 31 December 1600, the East India Company was founded to challenge Dutch and Portuguese dominance in the spice trade. The major force behind British Imperial expansion throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was not really until the establishment of voyages made on a joint-stock basis and the granting of factory concessions, in the early seventeenth century, that the company began to boom.
Essex Rebellion 1601
Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex was a dazzling courtier who captivated Elizabeth. The step-son of the Earl of Leicester (one of Elizabeth's earlier favourites), and the husband of Sir Philip Sidney's widow, he tried to draw on the legacies of those around him to increase his favour. Throughout the 1590s, Essex had played on his favour with the Queen and had risen quickly through military ranks to be appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1599. Essex was unable to deploy successfully the fullest and best equipped Tudor army ever sent to Ireland and, in September 1599, he signed an unauthorised truce with the leading Irish rebel, the Earl of Tyrone.
Elizabeth was furious, ordered his arrest and stripped him of his titles. In January 1601, the rebel earl led an abortive raid against the Queen and London but was captured and, on 25 February, executed for treason.
Death of Elizabeth 1603
On 24 March 1603, at Richmond Palace, Elizabeth I died. To the end, she had resolutely refused to name her heir. The administrators around her, however, were in no doubt as to her intended successor and James VI, King of Scots, was proclaimed as James I, King of England.
Stuarts
The accession of James I and the end of the war with Spain
Upon the death of Elizabeth I, James VI, King of Scots (son of Mary, Queen of Scots), succeeded as James I, King of England, thereupon uniting the crowns but not the governments of England and Scotland.
To mark the union of the crowns, a new ensign was designed superimposing the red cross of St George on the white cross of St Andrew. Closer union of the nations parliaments, for example, was rejected by the commons and abandoned after 1607.One of James I's first acts of foreign policy was to bring the long war with Spain to an end. Although this greatly helped the depleted English treasury (and helped enforce James's reputation as rex pacificus), the policy was, in part, unpopular because peace meant that both the English and the Dutch had to acknowledge the Spanish claim to a monopoly of trade between their own South American colonies and the rest of the world.
The Stuarts 1603 - 1713
Charles I, unable to work with Parliament, attempted to rule without it. Eventually he was to raise his standard against the parliamentary forces, leading to civil war and his eventual judicial murder.
England was to be a republic until the collapse of Cromwell's Commonwealth and the restoration of Charles II in 1660. Shortly afterwards, a devastating plague swept through the country followed by the Great Fire of London.
Compromise between the crown and Parliament finally achieved a balanced government and the two
kingdoms of England and Scotland became joined in the 1707 Act of Union.
The Gunpowder Plot 1605
On 5 November 1605, a plot was discovered to blow up parliament, at its opening, with a stash of gunpowder stored in the cellars below the House of Lords. Although the event is closely linked to the name of Guy (or Guido) Fawkes, he was not the leader of the group of conspirators. Instead, Robert Catesby was acknowledged as the foremost of the Catholic conspirators.
James, who had already escaped assassination attempts in Scotland (such as the 1600 Gowrie conspiracy), declared 5 November a day of national celebration. Guy Fawkes Day is still celebrated today (although the symbolic figure initially burned was the Pope rather than the plot's agent).
New colonies and trading posts 1607
Royal favour was shown to those companies and individuals seeking to establish settlements in North America. The first permanent British colony in North America was Jamestown, Virginia, established by Captain John Smith in 1607 with 105 pioneers. This was known as a 'tobacco' colony. Another tobacco colony was founded in Maryland in 1632.
The first British trading post in Africa was acquired in the Gambia in 1686, during the brief reign of James VII and II.
Plantation of Ulster 1609 - 1613
The defeat of rebel Irish earls in the early 1600s, convinced James I that the only way to solve the Irish problem (which had plagued England for over three centuries) was to replace Gaelic culture with English and Scottish protestant culture. Previous attempts at plantation had largely been unsuccessful, so James organised not only settlers (from England and Scotland) but also new government administrators. Land was reserved for the Protestant Church of Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin, and - in Derry - the City of London livery companies (who renamed their chief settlement, Londonderry).Throughout James's reign plantation spread from Ulster further into the south of Ireland, encompassing Leinster and Leitrim.
King James' Bible 1611
The 'Authorised Version' of the Bible (or King James Bible) was guaranteed to be found in almost all Protestant British homes from its initial publication until the nineteenth century.
Copies can still be purchased today. The version was commissioned following the 1604 Hampton Court Conference between Anglicans and Puritans and took seven years to complete.
James in Scotland and the Five Articles of Perth 1617 – 1618
When James left Edinburgh in 1603, he guaranteed the Scots that he would return every three years. He did not. Instead, he returned only once, between 13 May and 4 August 1617. The visit (a large part of which was spent hunting and carousing) was overshadowed by James's insistence on attempting to pass the 'Five Articles of Perth' through both the Scottish Parliament and the Kirk General Assembly.
These articles were seen by the strongly Presbyterian Kirk as an attempt to introduce Anglicanism/Popery to the pure Scottish Church. The articles were eventually forced through a General Assembly in Perth in 1618 and parliament in 1621. The circumstances helped to convince various Scots that James had lost touch with his northern kingdom.
Sailing of the Mayflower 1620
In August 1620, a group that became known as the Pilgrim Fathers and that were attempting to escape religious persecution in England, sailed from Southampton for the New World. They landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts (although they had been aiming for Virginia). Often portrayed as the founders of the modern United States, they were far from the first British settlers on the North American continent.
Indeed, only a year before at Jamestown, a colonial assembly had met - the first of its kind.
Charles I and Parliament 1625 - 1640
Charles I (1625-49) inherited a fairly run-down state when he became King of Great Britain and Ireland on his father's death in 1625. Friction between the throne and Parliament began almost at once. The Parliaments of 1625 and 1626 refused to grant funds to the King without redress for their grievances. Charles responded to these demands by dissolving the parliaments and ordering a forced loan.
In 1628, Charles was desperate for funds and was forced to call a third parliament.
This parliament presented him with the Petition of Right - a bill that declared forced loans, imprisonment without trial and martial law illegal. Charles accepted this bill but, in 1629, after criticism of his illegal taxation and support of the Arminians in the church, he dissolved parliament and imprisoned its leaders. For eleven years, Charles ruled without parliament - a period described as 'the Eleven Years' Tyranny'.
Charles's advisers, Strafford and Laud, with the support of the Star Chamber, suppressed opposition by persecuting the Puritans. In 1640, with Scotland already in revolt, the Short Parliament was summoned but it refused to grant money until grievances were redressed. It was speedily dissolved.
As Scots forces advanced into England and forced their own terms on Charles, the Long Parliament (beginning in November 1640) rebelled and declared extra-Parliamentary taxation illegal, the Star Chamber abolished and that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. Laud and other ministers were imprisoned, and Strafford condemned to death.
Science under royal patronage 1628
Charles I was a great patron of the Arts and Sciences. A great breakthrough in the research of physiology came in 1628, when a correct explanation of how blood circulated was supplied by William Harvey (1578-1657). During the Civil War, Harvey had been supplied with animals for his research by Charles I, who had taken an intense interest in his work. Harvey became a tutor for Charles's sons and probably made substantial contribution to Charles II's life-long interest in scientific affairs.
Charles II was a patron of the arts and science, and both flourished following his succession to the throne. A group of Oxford men formed the nucleus of the Royal Society, founded under royal patronage. These men included Robert Boyle, (1627-1691), who demonstrated that the volume of gases varied in precisely inverse proportion to the pressure upon them.Other scientists of this century included Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who laid the foundations of physics as a modern discipline, making many discoveries (including the law of gravity) and Edmund Halley, the Astronomer Royal, (1656-1742).
Prayer Book riots, National Covenant and Bishops' Wars 1637 – 1638<
On 23 July, in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, the first readings from a Book of Common Prayer prepared to Anglican ideals by Scottish Bishops provoked a riot. Within months, a petition (the National Covenant) advocating Scottish Presbyterianism as opposed to Episcopalianism had been circulated throughout Scotland and signed by much of the political community.
The General Assembly of the Kirk declared Episcopacy abolished and Charles I sent troops into Scotland to restore order. By June 1639, this had been achieved and the sides had been reconciled by the Treaty of Berwick. On reflection (and with English prompting) Charles decided to renege on his promises and launched a fresh mobilisation against his opponents.He was not only defeated but humiliated and, further, he was forced to pay a considerable indemnity to the Scots. Not only did this mean his reputation in Scotland decreased, but also it left Charles with fewer Loyalists in England (as they saw the level of his competence demonstrated).
Irish rebellion 1641
The plantation of Ireland under James I and Charles I had not proved popular with the indigenous Irish population and with the generations of 'Old English' - families who had been in the country for generations.
Unlike Scotland and England, those who rose against the King's authority in Ireland tended to be Catholic. News reached Charles I of the Irish rebellion late in 1641 - at a period of high tension in England (where the populace was already worried concerning Popish conspiracies). The rebellion continued throughout the period of the English Civil War - causing the rebellion to be considered as part of 'The War in Three Kingdoms'. It was only finally subdued during Cromwell's oppressive campaigns in Ireland.
English Civil War 1642
In 1641/2, parliament was increasing worried concerning the prospects of Charles controlling military action against his Irish rebels. Charles, on the other hand, was confident that he had substantial support (especially among those who felt that parliament was becoming too radical and zealous).
In January 1642, the king entered the House of Commons and attempted to arrest five of his staunchest opponents. The Commons stood firm and, in June 1642, presented Charles with Nineteen Propositions seeking to control his authority. The King withdrew from London, and in August 1642, declared war on parliament by raising his standard at Nottingham. The impending conflict caused parliament to split (royal loyalists set up a parliament in Oxford) and families to declare their allegiances. In the first conflicts of the Civil War, Charles's forces (under the command of the King's nephew, Rupert of the Rhine) were largely successful - at Powick Bridge and Edgehill. As time moved on, the confrontation first became more balanced and then swung decisively in favour of the parliamentary forces.
However, not until the defeat at Naseby in 1645 was all hope of a royalist victory ended. In 1646, Charles surrendered at Newark, to a Scots army that had been camped in northern England for most of the war. They, in return for £400,000 backpay, agreed to hand him over to parliamentary commissioners on 30 January 1647.On 3 June 1647, George Joyce of the (more republican) army seized the king and carried him off to Newmarket, then Hampton Court, then, from November 1647, Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight.
Charles I's surrender and execution 1649
In November 1647, after intriguing for a Scottish invasion, Charles escaped from imprisonment, and with the assistance of a Scots invasion force took up the Civil War again. Throughout the summer of 1648, Charles attempted to regain some initiative but, despite limited successes with the capture of Pembroke, Berwick and Carlisle, his ambitions were ultimately thwarted at Preston in August 1648.
In January 1649, the House of Commons set up a high court of justice, which condemned the King to death by beheading. On 30 January, outside Banqueting House in Whitehall, Charles I was executed.
Cromwell and the Commonwealth 1649 - 1660
Oliver Cromwell, Puritan leader of the Parliamentary side of the Civil War, declared England a republic, or the 'Commonwealth', in 1649. As Lord Protector, (he refused the title, 'King'), from 1653, Cromwell established greater religious toleration and raised England's prestige in Europe on the basis of an alliance with France against Spain. He was quick to curb any opposition, and in 1649, he executed the leaders of the Levellers, (an influential democratic party in the English Civil War), following their demand for radical reform. Cromwell also crushed Irish resistance in 1649-50, and defeated the Scots - who had acknowledged Charles I's son as king - at Dunbar in 1650, and in Worcester in 1651.
The Scottish parliament was suspended and Scottish representatives attended a united parliament in Westminster.Cromwell's response to opposition became increasingly similar to Charles I's: he tended to expel any member (and dissolve any parliament) which challenged his views. After a period of military dictatorship, his last parliament offered him the crown; he refused because he feared the army's republicanism.When Cromwell died in 1658, he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. As the Commonwealth collapsed into financial chaos and disputes between the military and administration increased, parliament was dissolved and Richard Cromwell was overthrown.
Charles II and the restoration of the monarchy 1660
In 1660, parliament accepted the restoration of the monarchy after the collapse of the Commonwealth (along with Charles II's promise in the form of the 'Declaration of Breda' to establish a general amnesty and freedom of conscience).
Already King in Scotland since 1651, Charles (1660-85) was proclaimed King of England on 8 May 1660. When a new Westminster parliament was elected, no representatives from Scotland were requested - the Cromwellian Union lapsed. Charles's desire to become absolute caused him to favour Catholicism for his subjects as most consistent with absolute monarchy. In 1672, he issued the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending all penal laws against Catholics and Dissenters. His plans to restore Catholicism in Britain led to war with the Netherlands between 1672-74, in support of Louis XIV of France.In 1673, parliament forced Charles to withdraw the Indulgence and accept a Test Act excluding all Catholics from office, and in 1684 to end the Dutch war.
Charles dissolved parliament again in 1681, and Louis XIV then supported Charles financially.
Pentland Rising 1666
In Scotland, a group of over a thousand discontented religious radicals marched on Edinburgh to protest concerning the Restoration government's favourable policy towards Episcopalianism. The rebels were met in the Pentland Hills by a force of government troops and defeated. The rising caused the government to reconsider its views and, under John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, they began a policy of granting concessions to the discontented groups.
Plague, population and economy 1665
In spring 1665, parishes began to report deaths attributable to the bubonic plague, which had already attacked London several times early in the century (the population would already have been weakened by an exceptionally hard winter during which the River Thames had frozen). By November 1665, when the epidemic ceased in the cold weather, the lives of over 100,000 people had been lost.
Read more about the plague in 1665. This contributed to what was arguably the most influential change of the seventeenth century - that of population. For the first half of the century the population continued to grow, reaching a peak of about six to seven million. This put pressure on food resources, land and jobs, and increased price inflation.By contrast, the late seventeenth century saw the easing, if not the disappearance of these problems. Research has placed the most emphasis on family-planning habits as the cause of this change, but new methods of farming, which dramatically increased the yield per acre and the extension of the acreage under plough also played a significant part.
From the 1670s, England became an exporter as opposed to a net importer of grain. The seventeenth century is also probably the first in English history in which more people emigrated than immigrated, although there was a massive influx of the Protestant Huguenots in 1685, following persecution in France. (It is thought that over 20,000 Huguenots settled in London, forming five per cent of the population).
The Great Fire of London and Christopher Wren 1666
In September 1666, a fire broke out at night in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane, near the Billingsgate fish market in London. Fanned by a high wind, the fire quickly became uncontrollable and in four days the heritage of centuries was reduced to ashes. Two thirds of the city within the walls was destroyed although the slums outside remained untouched.
Within three weeks of the fire, a young architect named Christopher Wren had presented plans for rebuilding much of the city. Strongly influenced by the Italian Renaissance style, Wren became responsible for the rebuilding of over fifty of London's churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, plus a Palace for Charles II at Greenwich and the Royal Hospital at Chelsea.
The Test Acts, Titus Oates and the Popish Plot 1673 – 1681
In 1673, a Test Act was passed to try to help differentiate between Anglicans and Catholics. Public officeholders were required to swear an oath of allegiance (wh
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