- THE TUDORS AND THE STUARTS

Henry's foreign policy aimed at making England's trading position stronger.

He also laid the foundations of English naval power.

THE REFORMATION

Henry VIII succeeded his father. The main event during his reign was the Reformation.

As a young man, he had been  married to Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, who some years later had given him a daughter, Mary, but was now unlikely to bear him a son.

He had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting, and asked the Pope for a divorce i 656j92g n order to marry her.

But the Pope would not declare his first marriage invalid, and so Henry broke with Rome and declared himself "Supreme Head of the Church" in England.

The king dissolved the monasteries and took their wealth.

The social charities such as schools and hospitals for the poor mostly disappeared.

Another consequence of Henry's policy was that Ireland remained a Catholic country and this marked the beginning of the Irish question.

Anne Boleyn, who had given Henry VIII a daughter, Elizabeth, was executed, and the king remarried four more times.

MARY I

Mary I, during the short reign of Edward VI, refused to conform to the new religion, since she was a devout Catholic.

In 1553, she became Queen. She repealed anti-catholic legislation and revived Catholic practices.

Her marriage to Philip II of Spain was followed by the persecution of 300 Protestants, which earned her the name of "Bloody Mary".

QUEEN ELIZABETH I

In 1558, Elizabeth, became Queen of a divided nation, the majority of which was anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish. She was a political genius of the first rank.

After twenty years of religious discord, economic depression and social upheavel, the country needed order and harmony. Elizabeth brought unity and defeated England's enemies at home and abroad.

She ruled wisely through her Privy Council of about 20 members, she moved round her country on royal journeys, staying with the principal noblemen, so that a great deal of her people could see her.

Her court was brilliant, and poets, musicians and actors were anxious to entertain and honour her.

She was unmarried, she used to say that "the Queen was married to her people".

THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA

Elizabeth recognised Spain as her main trade rival and enemy.

English sea-captains like Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh captured the Spanish ships that carried precious metals, tobacco and slaves from America and Africa.

In 1588 the war against Spain started. 130 Spanish galleons appeared in the English channel, they were slow and heavy, while the English ships were lower, faster and armed with long-range-guns.

However, the Spanish Armada was also defeated thanks to the help of the bad weather.

KING BY DIVINE RIGHT

With the death of Elizabeth in 1603, the Tudor line died out and James VI of Scotland, became the first Stuart king of England.

He was a Protestant and instead of basing his rule on "the love of his people", he based it on the theory of the "divine right of kings", in the belief that, as a monarch, he was the representative of God on earth.

He summoned the Parliament only to ask for money, but its members refused to levy any taxes unless the money was needed for war.

Catholics were fined if they refused to attend the Church of England and the Puritans disapproved of both the rites and bishops of the Church of England.

These Puritans had  a high sense of duty and morality. They underlined the importance of individualism in religion.

ENGLAND'S EXPANSION ABROAD

In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers left England for America on the Mayflower.

Left England for America on the Mayflower and founded New Plymouth.

The new world provided a convenient ground for unwanted religious and political agitators and also a valuable market for English goodswhich were exchanged for American products like tobacco. During the same period the East India Company set up trading posts in India and in the region now called Indonesia.

THE CIVIL WAR

Charles I succeeded his father James I in 1625; he could not avoid direct confrontation with the Puritan party, whose members mainly belonged to the middle classes, and which had given rise to a social and political movement holding a considerable majority in Parliament.

Puritans wanted a true balance of power between King and Parliament, but Charles I believed he was King by divine right.

His reign was therefore troubled by the continuous clash with the Parliament.

In 1642 the Civil War broke out. The forces were divided into Royalists and supporters of Parliaments, led by Oliver Cromwell. The former  were known as Cavaliers. They included the lords, the gentry and the Church of England. The latter were called Roundheads. London, the ports, the Navy, the new gentry and small landowners, artisans and puritans sided with Parliament.

The King was made prisoner; Cromwell took control of London and expelled or arrested more than 100 members of The House of Lords.

In 1649, Charles I was executed, monarchy was abolished and the country was ruled as a republic, known by the name of Commonwealth.  (Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector of England, Scotland, Ireland)

THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY

In 1660, the Parliament invited Charles II to return to his kingdom from his exile in France and the republic was over.

In 1665 London was struck by the bubonic plague and a year later a fire destroyed most of the City in four days. The Puritans interpreted them as God's punishment for the King's immorality. During the plague more than 100,000 people died.

THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION

In 1689, the Parliament offered the Crown to the Dutch William of Orange and his wife Mary.

The reign of William and Mary was a time of economic progress for England; London was becoming the financial capital of the world.

THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF LONDON

In the 17th century trade and transports were improved.

- THE FIRST HANOVERIANS -

THE WHIGS AND THE TORIES

The Whigs and the Tories were the first political parties in Britain.

The Tories had emerged in 1679 and descended from the Royalists; they supported the divine right of monarchy and opposed religious toleration; the Church of England and the landowners sided with them.

They enjoyed a period of power during the reign of Queen Anne, but went into decline after the Hanoverian succession. The title 'Tory' has survived as a nickname for 'conservative'.

Also the Whigs emerged in 1679, as descendents of the Parliamentarians. They were in power continuously from 1714 to 1760 and pressed for industrial and commercial development, a vigorous foreign policy, and religious toleration. Their party was supported by many of the wealthy and commercial classes.

Whig ministers used to meet without the King, and their meetings developed into the kind of government by Cabinet, which Britain still has today. The leading minister in the Cabinet came to be known as the Prime Minister.

THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER

The first Prime Minister was Sir Robert Walpole.

He was a Whig; he was in power for over twenty years and until the end of his period of office, managed to keep England out of foreign conflicts so that trade could flourish and taxes could be kept down. 

Trade was stimulated by the removal of customs duties on exports and on imports of raw material, but in 1723 tea, chocolate and coffee became subject to taxation.

From 1726 Walpole was attacked in the opposition newspaper The Craftsman and his government was accused of corruption.

He did survive a change of monarch, when George I died and was succeeded by his son, George II.

The new king relied more and more on Walpole and gave him a house in Westminster, which is still the official residence of the Prime Minister.

In Walpole's England there were already signs of the forthcoming Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions.

Industrial progress was delayed by a lack of capital and banks and by poor transport facilities.

THE WHIG WILLIAM PITT

In 1735 the Whig William Pitt entered Parliament as an opponent of Walpole and became Prime Minister in 1766. He started a mercantilist policy, to make England a strong and economically competitive country.

This led to the establishment of a new set of values based on power, wealth and prestige.

The new middle-class man of Pitt's age would be reflected in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.

In this period England expanded its possessions in India, North America and the Caribbeans.

ENGLISH SOCIETY IN THE 18TH CENTURY

The expansion of the middle-class, which had begun in the previous century continued throughout the 18th century and strongly influenced the social life of the Augustan Age.

The wealthy merchants supported Sir Robert Walpole in politics, bought large estates to gain prestige and enable their children to marry into the aristocracy.

The artisans and craftsmen filled the gap between the upper class and the poor. They worked long hours for a very low wage.

Below them was the mass of the urban population who had no political rights and lived in terrible conditions. Diseases like smallpox, scurvy and typhus affected the poorest areas. The children who survived were hired as apprentices by the parishes from the age of seven. Many of them became chimney-sweepers.

For adult people the parishes built workhouses.

Life in the countryside was affected by the enclosure system. It caused the misery of a great many labourers who were to become the urban proletariat.

THE COFFEE-HOUSES

One of the most significant traits of London's social life were the coffee-houses.

Under the Commonwealth a number of  coffee-houses had been opened: they were associated with news and gossip and provided entertainment.

They served as a box member for advertisers in the newspaper and as meeting places for the most important companies. In the Augustan Age, fashionable and artistic people began to frequent the houses, which became gathering points where people exchanged opinions. It was mainly through the coffee-houses that public opinion and journalism began to evolve. The coffee-houses were almost exclusively attended by men, though women were slowly showing signs of emancipation.

- THE RISE OF JOURNALISM -

The Tatler came out three times a week until 1711 and its articles were written in a casual and conversational style.

The Spectator was published daily except for Sunday, from March 1711 to December 1712.

'Mr Spectator' belonged to an imaginary club and commented upon all the customs and morals, the vices and virtues of the society of the time.

The