History of England

Introduction to History of England

England's first known inhabitants were cave dwellers who hunted and fished and lived under Stone Age conditions until after 2000 B.C. They probably were a blend of various peoples who came from the continent of Europe before glaciers separated the British Isles from the continent.

Celtic tribes from central Europe apparently came in large numbers from about 600 B.C. They knew how to make weapons of iron and bronze and soon became dominant. Among the Celts were the Brythons (Britons), after whom the Romans called the area Britain. The Celtic Belgae settled in the island's eastern part in the first century B.C.

The Roman Occupation

Julius Caesar landed in Britain in 55 B.C. with a few legions and returned the next year with a larger army. He defeated the Celts, led by the Belgae, but soon left. The Romans did not return for almost a century.

In 43 A.D. Roman soldiers under Emperor Claudius occupied Britain. In the second century Emperor Hadrian and Emperor Antoninus Pius built great walls in the north to protect their Roman province from the fierce, unconquered Caledonians (later known as Picts), in Caledonia (Scotland).

The Roman occupation ended in 407, when the legions were recalled to defend Italy from the Visigoths. Despite more than 300 years of occupation, few traces of Roman civilization remained in Britain, except for the fine Roman roads and the ruins of Roman cities.

Anglo-Saxon England

Even before the Romans withdrew, Angles and Saxons and Jutes—Germanic tribes from north Germany and Denmark—had begun raiding the island. There were also invasions of Britain by the Picts from northeast Scotland and by the Scots from Ireland and west Scotland.

The Britons tried to repel the new invaders. (Scholars believe the legend of King Arthur was inspired by the deeds of one of the leaders of this resistance.) But the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes became dominant. The area they won came to be called Anglaland, or Englaland, from which comes England.

For several centuries the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes often fought each other. A number of kingdoms were formed: Wessex, Essex, and Sussex by the Saxons; Kent by the Jutes; and East Anglia, Mercia, Deira, and Bernicia by the Angles. Northumbria later was formed from Deira and Bernicia.

Christianity had spread to the British Isles during the Roman occupation. It disappeared from England when the Romans left, but survived in Ireland and Scotland as the Celtic Church. Saint Augustine and other missionaries from the Roman Church re-introduced Christianity into England in 597. Although conversion was fairly rapid, rivalry developed between Celtic and Roman Christianity. The Synod of Whitby in 664 ended the rivalry by deciding that the Church in England would follow Roman Christianity.

In the ninth century, Egbert, king of Wessex, conquered the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and became overlord of Anglo-Saxon England. In 829 he unified Wessex and Mercia through conquest.

England Under the Danes

Vikings—primarily Danes, but also some Norwegians—began plundering England's coasts in 793. By 877, Danes held East Anglia, Northumbria, and much of Mercia. In 878 Alfred the Great of Wessex, after a great victory at Edington, compelled the Danes to withdraw from Saxon lands in the west into an area in the east that came to be called the Danelaw.

Alfred's West Saxon successors finally established their supremacy over the Danelaw in 954, when a united England under Anglo-Saxon rule came into being. In 994 the Danes began the conquest of England. It was completed in 1016 when Knut (Canute) became the first of three Danish kings of England. Danish rule ended in 1042 when Hardecanute died and Edward the Confessor, a Saxon, became king.

The Norman Conquest

Edward was succeeded by Harold II. However, William, duke of Normandy, claimed the throne on the basis of family connections and promises he claimed had been made to him by Edward and Harold. After a cross-channel invasion from Normandy, William defeated Harold's forces in the Battle of Hastings (1066). Harold was killed. As William I, the Conqueror, the Norman duke became king.

William I was an efficient ruler. The Domesday Book, a survey of landholdings in England, was compiled during his reign, probably for tax purposes. He introduced Norman-French ideas and customs, including the feudal system, to England.

Struggle Over Royal Power

After William's death there began a struggle over who would wield the most power—the king or the nobles—and how much authority the king should have over the church. William II and Henry I, sons of William the Conqueror, strengthened the crown at the expense of the nobility. The barons regained much of their power under King Stephen but lost it again under Henry II (ruled 1154-89), in part because of their frequent fights among themselves.

Henry was the first of the Plantagenet kings. He extended the authority of the royal courts and fostered the growth of English common law. Henry established the jury of presentment—ancestor of the grand jury system—which presented charges against suspected criminals. (Formerly charges had to be brought by private individuals.)

Henry's effort to gain greater authority over the church led to a bitter conflict with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. Becket was murdered in 1170 by knights from Henry's court. Pope Alexander III, enraged at Becket's murder, required Henry to do penance, even though there was no proof that he ordered the murder.

The Magna Charta

The power struggle between king and nobles reached an important climax during the reign of King John. Enraged by John's despotic policies, nobles and church officials revolted in 1215 and forced the king to issue the Magna Charta, or Great Charter. It set limits on the king's power in many areas, and established the principle that the king was subject to the law. Just before his death in 1216 John disavowed the charter. Later kings, however, were held to its principles. During John's reign England lost most of its possessions in France.

The Growth of Parliament

John's successor, Henry III, agreed in 1258 that a council of nobles and church officials would have power to override his decisions, but he repudiated this agreement in 1261. The barons then revolted against the king.

The barons, led by Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, defeated Henry in 1264 and imprisoned him. To govern the country, de Montfort in 1265 summoned a parliament that included not only barons and church officials, but also knights of the shires (counties) and representatives of the boroughs (towns). The broadening of representation in this assembly, called de Montfort's Parliament, was an important development in the evolution of the parliamentary system.

Troops led by Henry's son, Edward, defeated de Montfort's forces at Evesham in 1265. Edward became king in 1272. He carried out many legal reforms, extending the jurisdiction of the royal courts at the expense of feudal and church courts. During his reign, English troops conquered Wales and invaded Scotland.

Edward summoned a parliament in 1295 to raise money for his wars. This assembly was later known as the Model Parliament because it was the most representative body yet summoned and set a precedent for later assemblies.

The power of Parliament increased under Edward II, a weak king. Scotland regained independence by defeating his armies at Bannockburn, in 1314.

Era of the Hundred Years' War

In 1337, during the reign of Edward III, the series of wars known as the Hundred Years' War began between England and France. The immediate cause was Edward's claim to the French throne. During the early phase of the war, England won many battles. This phase ended with the Peace of Bretigny (1360). France recognized Edward's sovereignty over much French territory in return for the renunciation of his claim to the French throne. War resumed in 1369, and by 1375 most of the territory secured by the Peace of Bretigny had been lost.

Meanwhile, the Black Death (an epidemic of bubonic plague) struck England in 1348. As much as half the population died. Labor became scarce and wages and prices rose as a result.

In 1415 Henry V reasserted the English claim to the French throne. After defeating the French at Agincourt, he became regent of France. His son, Henry VI, was crowned king of France in 1431. English rule was ended by the victories of Joan of Arc and by internal conflict in England. By 1453, the English held only Calais.

Important social changes occurred in England during the era of the Hundred Years' War. The rise of towns and commerce brought money into free circulation, leading to the end of the manorial and feudal systems.

The Tudor Period

In 1447 a 38-year struggle for the throne began between two royal families, the houses of Lancaster and York. This struggle, called the Wars of the Roses, took its name from the family symbols—red rose for Lancaster, white for York. The conflict ended in 1485 when Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian party was crowned Henry VII after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field. His marriage to Elizabeth of York united the rival families.

Under Henry VII royal power again became strong. Parliament did not resist him even though he ruled almost as a despot. Henry was succeeded by his son, who became Henry VIII, in 1509. National prosperity declined because of his costly foreign wars. When he sought to have his first marriage annulled because it failed to produce a male heir, the church opposed him. During 1529-36, Henry severed all ties with the Roman Catholic church and formed the Church of England, making himself its head.

Edward VI, Henry's son, succeeded to the throne upon his father's death in 1547. Edward was only 10 years old at the time of his succession, and various regents acted on his behalf. During his reign, the Church of England took on a Protestant character. Edward was succeeded by Mary I, a daughter of Henry VIII, in 1553. Mary, a Catholic, attempted to reimpose Roman Catholicism and persecuted Protestants. She came to be known as “Bloody Mary” because she ordered the execution of nearly 300 Protestants during her reign.

The last Tudor ruler was Elizabeth I, Mary's sister and a Protestant. During her reign of 45 years commerce flourished. The works of such writers as William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon marked the Elizabethan era as a golden age for English literature. Elizabeth made England a Protestant nation again. The English navy's triumph over the Spanish Armada in 1588 established England as a sea power.

The Stuarts and Civil War

Elizabeth's death in 1603 brought James VI of Scotland to the English throne as James I, but Scotland and England remained separate countries. James, a Protestant, was the first king of the Stuart dynasty. During his reign the King James version of the Bible was prepared, the first permanent English colony in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia, and the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

James insisted that his right to rule came from God and therefore no earthly person or agency had the right to oppose his wishes. This doctrine, later called “the divine right of kings,” brought him into conflict with Parliament. The political struggle between James and Parliament became merged with a religious conflict that developed from persecution of the Puritans and other Protestants who rejected the beliefs and practices of the Church of England.

Charles I, son of James I, came to the throne in 1625. He dissolved Parliament in 1629 and did not call it into session again until 1640, when he needed money. In return for granting him money, Parliament made Charles agree not to adjourn or dissolve Parliament without its consent. Hostility between king and Parliament increased until the Great Rebellion, a civil war, erupted in 1642. The Parliamentary forces, led by Oliver Cromwell, defeated the king's forces and in 1649 Charles was tried for treason, convicted, and beheaded.

Commonwealth and Protectorate

After Charles' execution, a commonwealth, or republic, was proclaimed. In theory, all power was held by Parliament and a council of state created by it. Oliver Cromwell, however, was the real ruler. Under him, England made great commercial progress, especially in shipping. His foreign policy strengthened England's position in the world.

In 1653 the Protectorate was formed, giving Cromwell dictatorial powers over Parliament. The protectorate did not last long after Cromwell died in 1658. His son Richard, who succeeded him as Lord Protector, was too weak to cope with ambitious generals. Opposition to Puritanism grew. Richard resigned within a year.

In 1660 the Commonwealth Parliament was forced out by an army under George Monk, who had served with the elder Cromwell. Monk reconvened the Parliament of 1648, which then restored the monarchy under Charles II, who reigned 1660-85.

The Supremacy of Parliament

James II (reigned 1685-88) was the last Catholic monarch of England. His appointment of Catholics to high offices and the birth of a male heir caused widespread fear that he would destroy the Church of England and attempt to reimpose Roman Catholicism. This led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Parliamentary leaders invited William of Orange and his wife, Mary, daughter of James II, to take the throne; both were Protestant. They ruled jointly as William III and Mary II. They accepted the Bill of Rights, proclaimed by Parliament in 1689, which made clear the supremacy of the legislative body. William ruled alone for eight years after his wife died in 1694.

In 1701 Parliament adopted the Act of Settlement, which required that future rulers belong to the Church of England. Meanwhile, there was an expansion of English trade with the continent of Europe and growth of English power in the New World.

Union With Scotland

William III died in 1702 and was succeeded by Anne, another daughter of James II. Under Anne, last of the Stuarts, the union of Scotland and England was achieved in 1707. Scotland ceased to have a separate parliament and elected its own members to the Parliament in London. England and Scotland became a united kingdom known officially as Great Britain.