Henry VII dies; Henry VIII becomes king, and marries Catherine of Aragon.
Henry severs links with Rome, divorces Catherine, and marries Anne Boleyn.
The " Pilgrimage of Grace " Northern rebellions against the reformation. The first Act of union of England and Wales.
Second Act of union of England and Wales.
Death of Henry VIII. Accession of Edward VI
Edward VI dies. Lady Jane Grey is queen for 9 days. Accession of Mary I.
Loss of Calais; death of Mary I, and accession of Elizabeth I.
Scots outlaw the mass; Scotland becomes a Protestant country.
Mary Queen of Scots returns to Scotland.
Mary Queen of Scots is deposed and imprisoned. Her 13-month-old son is crowned James VI of Scots.
Rebellion by dukes of Westmorland and Cumberland defeated.
The Spanish Armada.
Death of Elizabeth I. James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England.
The Gunpowder Plot
Death of James I; Charles I becomes king.
The civil war.
Battle of Naseby.
Charles I is beheaded. The beginning of the Commonwealth.
Oliver Cromwell takes the title "Lord Protector"
Oliver Cromwell dies; his son Richard is the new Lord Protector.
The Restoration : Charles Stuart is recalled from abroad by parliament, and is proclaimed King Charles II. The Royal society is founded.
The great plague of London.
The great fire of London.
The " Popish Plot "
Death of Charles II; James II becomes king. Sedgemoor; Monmouth's rebellion crushed.
The " Glorious Revolution "; James II is deposed and flees to France.
William III and Mary II become joint rulers.
Massacre at Glencoe.
Mary II dies. William III continues as sole ruler.
William III dies after falling from a horse; The accession of Queen Anne.
Treaty & Act of Union with Scotland.
George II
The Jacobite rebellion in Scotland.
1536 and 1543 In 1536 Henry VIII divided Wales into 13 counties, and incorporated them with England, so that they sent members to the English parliament, and had the same laws as England. The law was not carried out straight away. In 1543 there was another law, adding more details to the first law.
Fourth wife of Henry VIII. Henry had been impressed by her portrait, but was disappointed when they met. Married 1540, divorced later the same year.
(Catherine of) See Catherine of Aragon.
Elizabethan Stuart - Christopher Wren, 1632 - 1723 Georgian In Georgian times, increasing wealth allowed some to build expensive mansion houses, such as Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in Baroque style. - Rococo style Followers of Vitruvius. The grand tour. Gothic church architecture.
A great fleet assembled and dispatched by King Philip II of Spain in an attempt to invade England in 1588. It was defeated by the English Fleet at the battle of Gravelines on August 8, and was one of the great achievements of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and helped bring about the subsequent decline of the Spanish Empire.
Elizabethan Shakespeare Restoration theatre. Stuart - Inigo Jones - Grinling Gibbons, wood carvings. - Capability Brown, landscaping. Georgian - Rococo, Baroque. See also Architecture, theatre.
Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in Baroque style. The appearance of the Grounds was planned by "Capability" Brown.
( Anne) Henry VIII's second wife, and mother of Elizabeth I.
(Robert) 1627 - 1691. An Irish scientist, who discovered the law connecting the volume of a gas with the pressure exerted on it.
Henry VIII's first wife, and mother of Mary I. Because she did not bear a son, and because Henry had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, he tried to obtain a divorce from her. Catherine had previously been the widow of prince Arthur, Henry's brother, and Henry argued that it was wrong for a man to marry his brother's wife. The Pope rejected this, but Henry went through with the divorce anyway.
The supporters of the king during the civil war were called cavaliers. The word means horseman.
Born 1600; king 1625 - 1649. Defeated in the civil war against parliament, and beheaded on a charge of treason.
Born 1630, king from 1660 to 1685. He became king when parliament ended his exile by inviting him to return, an event known as the restoration. A charismatic, pleasure-loving king who was intelligent enough to cope with the crises of his reign and leave the monarchy strong. He founded the Royal Society.
1642 - 1646, 1648. Marston Moor, Lostwithiel 1644, Naseby 1645
Jesuits.
(Oliver) Leader of the parliament against the king in the civil war. He began as a brilliant general in the parliamentary army. He took the title "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth " after Charles I was beheaded.
King, 1547 - 1553. Sickly boy of 10 at accession, died aged 16. Zealous Protestant.
Queen of England 1558 - 1603. During her reign there was a flowering of the arts, including William Shakespeare. She was clever and well served by advisers. She tried to steer a middle course between Catholicism and Puritanism. She survived several plots, and an attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada.
(George) 1624 - 1691. Founder of the Religious Society of Friends, who became known as the Quakers.
1660 - 1727. King from 1698 to 1727. The first Hanoverian king of Great Britain. Before becoming king he was the Elector of Hanover. He spoke no English, and left the job of governing Britain to ministers.
The name of the period from 1714 to 1830, when there were four kings, one after another, all called George. For George I and George II see above. Georgian architecture is distinctive.
A place in Scotland where a massacre took place in 1692
In 1688 seven leading Protestants invited William of Orange to come to England for an "investigation"; they wanted him to replace the Catholic James II as king. William landed with a small army at Torbay in November. James marched his army out of London to do battle, but many of his army deserted, and he lost his nerve. He sent his family to France, then followed after them. During his escape he was caught and sent back to London, but William allowed him to go, and he finally escaped to France. These events were called the Glorious Revolution by the leading Protestants because, with very little bloodshed, they resulted in a Protestant king who was willing to allow parliament to exercise power.
(Edmund) 1656 - 1742. An English astronomer who calculated the movements of comets, and predicted the reappearance of one which became known as Halley's comet. He also investigated the movement of planets.
The first Tudor king of England, reigning from 1485 to 1509. He became king after defeating Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field. By marrying Elizabeth of York he united the houses of Lancaster and York, ending the Wars of the Roses, and he presided over a long period of peace. He created a secure, wealthy monarchy.
King of England from 1509 to 1547. There were many sides to his character. He was six feet tall, athletic, and enjoyed tennis and dancing. He mostly left the job of running the country to Cardinal Wolsey. He later became a tyrant and charged Wolsey with treason. Henry had six wives, of whom two were divorced by him and two were beheaded. His divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, led to a break with Rome, and the reformation of the Church of England, with Henry proclaiming himself its head. He abolished the monasteries, using their lands to enrich his supporters. His wives were Catherine of Aragon, (divorced) Ann Boleyn, (beheaded) Jane Seymour (died) Anne of Cleves (divorced), Catherine Howard (beheaded) and Catherine Parr (survived)
The period from 1649 to 1660 when England did not have a king. In 1649 parliament declared England to be a " Commonwealth and free state", so that the period from 1649 until 1653, when parliament was dismissed, was known as the Commonwealth. In 1653 Oliver Cromwell ruled, taking the title "Lord Protector", and England was therefore described as a "protectorate". When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 his son Richard was protector for a short time, but resigned in 1659. England was once again a commonwealth, until May 1660, when Charles Stuart was recalled from Europe and crowned as Charles II.
1607 rising Catholic rebellion 1641 - slaughter of Protestants. massacre at Drogheda 1649 Battle of the Boyne 1690
King of Scotland 1567 - 1625, and of England 1603 - 1625. The son of Mary Queen of Scots, James became king of Scotland at the age of one, when his mother abdicated in 1567. Thirty-six years later, he was chosen by the dying queen Elizabeth to follow her as ruler of England. He was James VI of Scotland, and James I of England. He maintained peace, but clashed with the house of commons and with Scottish nobles, and mismanaged finances.
1603 - 1701. King of England, 1685 to 1688. The younger brother of Charles I. James II was Britain's last Catholic king. After Monmouth's rebellion he seemed safe, but he tried to govern without parliament. He appointed Catholics to important positions, and when his son was born several Protestant nobles, unhappy at the prospect of a Catholic succession, invited William of Orange to become king. James fled to France in 1688 when William of Orange entered the country with a small army. - See " Glorious Revolution ". He later invaded Ireland, but was defeated at the battle of the Boyne.
( Inigo) 1573 - 1652. The architect who established Renaissance architecture in England. He produced classic designs with balanced and carefully proportioned units. He designed a great palace for Charles I, of which only the banqueting house was built (1619-22). He also built the Queen's house, Greenwich and St. Paul's church, Covent Garden.
Clothing and appearance. Social system.
(Martin) Martin Luther was one of the leading Protestant reformers. 95 Theses
1516 - 1558. Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Queen, 1553 - 1558. First reigning English queen. Lost Calais. Brought back Roman Catholicism, and burned three hundred Protestants, including bishops Ridley and Latimer.
Joint ruler with William III. See William and Mary.
Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland when she was eight days old. In 1558, at the age of 15, she married the French Dauphin (heir). By 1559 she was Queen of France, but she returned to Scotland in 1561 when her husband died. In 1565 she married Lord Darnley. In 1567 she was deposed. 1568 Fled to England, and was imprisoned for nineteen years, until in 1587 she was executed.
(John) Oliver Cromwell's secretary, a campaigner for puritanism, and a poet, the author of Paradise Lost. He lost his job during the restoration, and was lucky not to lose his life, having been one of the first people to defend the death sentence passed on Charles I.
The idea that there should be a single ruler, free to rule without restrictions. This was gradually replaced by the idea of a "constitutional monarchy ", in which the king or queen lets parliament or ministers do the ruling.
Failed rebel against James II.
( Sir Thomas) 1478 - 1535. Lord Chancellor of England. He opposed king Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and was executed when he went on to oppose Henry's break with the Roman Catholic church. He was a philosopher, and welcomed visits from continental philosophers such as Erasmus. He wrote "utopia", a book which describes an imaginary communistic state.
Oliver Cromwell's army.
(Thomas) 1663 - 1729.
( Isaac) 1642 - 1727. A scientist and mathematician who discovered the laws of gravity, and found that the force which keeps planets in their orbits is the same as the force which makes objects on earth fall from a height. He produced explanations of the tides, and investigated light. He developed new mathematical methods, including differential and integral calculus. His finding of so many natural scientific laws gave great impetus to the scientific revolution, but he was also fascinated by alchemy and other occult philosophy. He had many bitter arguments with other scientists. After quarrelling with Robert Hooke, a member of the Royal Society, he refused to be made president of the society until Hooke was dead.
After the 1661 Act of Uniformity enforced use of the Book of Common Prayer, many Presbyterian ministers were driven from the Church of England. These, together with more radical Protestant sects such as the Baptists and the Quakers, were classed as nonconformists.
In general, kings did not like to call parliament, preferring to rule without restriction. Parliaments were only called when the king needed money and there was no other way to raise it. In the fifteenth century Protestants became more powerful within parliament, and opposition to the king grew, until in 1642 a civil war began. The parliamentary forces, led by Oliver Cromwell, were ultimately victorious and King Charles I was executed in 1648. Any supporters of the king within parliament were dismissed and the remainder, called the rump parliament, continued until 1653, when cromwell dismissed it and took the title "Lord Protector". After the restoration of the Monarchy, relations between the king and parliament were still rocky until after the " glorious revolution ". Then William III, with his substantial Dutch interests, and later the Hanoverian kings, with their German background, were happy to allow the English parliament to have wide powers. In particular, George I spoke very little English, and was more interested in his German lands than in Britain.
(Samuel) A secretary of the admiralty, most famous for his diary, which gives a fascinating picture of life in Restoration England. It was written in code, and contains things which he thought would always be a secret.
A revolt in the northern counties against the reformation in 1536. The rebels occupied Lincoln, demanding an end to the dissolution of monasteries, and the dismissal of heretic bishops. A larger group from Yorkshire made similar demands. They were persuaded to disperse, and later about 250 of them were executed.
The main political change was the increase in the power of parliament and the transformation of the monarchy into a constitutional monarchy.
In 1678 Titus Oates claimed that there was a plot by the Jesuits to kill the king and introduce Catholicism. The plot did not exist - it had been invented by Oates. Nevertheless, thirty-five people were executed for alleged involvement in this " Popish plot ", and harsh anti-Catholic laws were enforced.
Until the Restoration, most puritans belonged to the Church of England, although they wanted to see it "purified". After the Restoration, they were driven out to form their own churches, and became " nonconformist s" or "dissenters".
A member of the "Religious Society of Friends", founded by George Fox in
A person who refused to attend Church of England services.
The Protestant reformers, Luther and Calvin, wanted to make many changes in the church, clearing away what they saw as corruption. After Henry VIII made a break with Rome, many changes in the English church were made towards Lutheranism, and the Scottish Church became mainly Calvinist. These changes were called the Reformation.
The north was largely Catholic - c.f. rebellion by earls of Westmorland and Cumberland, 1569. It was also much poorer than the south.
Henry VIII's break with Rome caused by failure to obtain a divorce. Edward VI's parliament passed anti-Catholic laws. 1566 Elizabeth jailed clergymen for not wearing approved vestments. See also reformation.
See Anglican, Presbyterian, Protestant, Puritan, reformation, religious change, Roman Catholic.
The return of Charles Stuart from exile to become Charles II in 1660. During the interregnum Puritans had been in positions of influence and had closed theatres and other places of entertainment. Charles, being a pleasure-loving king, had them reopened and there was a flood of plays. William Congreve was the greatest of the restoration dramatists, with plays marked by brilliant wit and complicated plots.
The whole of the medieval church was organised on hierarchical lines, and in the West the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, was acknowledged as head. Because it had a continuity and stability lacking in monarchies, it was able to accumulate wealth. It was called Catholic, which means universal. The term " Roman Catholic " refers to the fact that it was centred on Rome. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was practically the only source of learning, and many books exist today only because of the efforts of monasteries in copying them and keeping them safe. However, some people were attracted by the wealth and power of the church, and corruption became widespread. Sometimes there was more than one person claiming to be Pope, and this had a damaging effect. In some areas a break was made with Rome - see Reformation. In England, Henry VIII made this break in 1533. There was also a movement to reform the church from within - see Counter-reformation.
One of the parliamentary soldiers in the civil war. Many were Puritans and wore their hair cut close; ( They were named after the round helmets which they wore.)
The " Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge" was founded in 1660 by Charles II, intended to bring together scientists and other intellectuals of the time. It is the oldest scientific society in Great Britain. The free expression which was allowed at its meetings was a great impetus to the scientific revolution, and the society became greatly respected both at home and abroad. Members included Isaac Newton and Christopher Wren.
Also called the "barebones parliament ". See parliament.
Royal Society. Bacon, Boyle, Halley, Newton, Darby's blast furnace, Newcomen's steam engine.
1640 defeat for English.
English poet and playwright, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists.
Restoration led to return of theatre in 1663.
The idea that people of different religions should be allowed to live together, and not be discriminated against. Toleration was not popular during the age covered here, because most people thought that a ruler could not govern effectively if there were people who did not agree with his or her religion.
Originally, a term of abuse applied to monarchist supporters of James II.
Acts of Union 1536 and 1543 1567 Book of Common prayer & Bible translated into Welsh.
The dissolution of the monasteries led to many landowners acquiring more land and wealth. Taxable wealth was concentrated in the south, close to the centre of government and convenient for trade with the continent. Bath's wealth came from mainly from the slave trade.
At first, the Whigs were opponents of James II. Later, they became a loose alliance of large landowners and nobility.
William of Orange and his wife Mary Stuart, the daughter of James II, ruled jointly from 1688 to 1694. Both their portraits appeared on coins. In 1694 Mary died, and William continued to rule, as William III.
King from 1688 to 1702. Before that he was prince William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant. His claim to the throne was based on the fact that his wife was Mary Stuart, the daughter of James II, so he shared the reign with her (as " William and Mary "), until she died in 1694. " Glorious Revolution ". Glencoe. Battle of the Boyne.
1650 - 1702. A Protestant Dutch prince who later became William III.
(Thomas) Cardinal, Archbishop of York, and Henry VIII's chief minister. Wolsey looked after the affairs of government which Henry was reluctant to take on. He became the most powerful politician in England, and had Hampton court palace built. He fell from power when he failed to arrange the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
( Sir Christopher) 1632 - 1723. The architect who planned to rebuild London after the great fire of 1666. He was not able to carry out his plan fully because of the high cost of buying the sites, but he did design about fifty of the city's churches, Chelsea and Greenwich hospitals, the Royal Exchange and Temple Bar. St. Pauls's Cathedral, which took thirty-six years to build, is his masterpiece. He was also a scientist and inventor, and was made president of the Royal Society in 1680.
Copyright 1997 M. Gradwell, Ambition Data Services Ltd.
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