Transcript PowerPoint ****

History of the UK
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Part II
Week Three
By Han Linye
School of English
Studies
Chapter Outline
II. The Shaping of the Nation
the Plantagenet Dynasty
the Great Charter
Beginning of Parliament
The Hundred Year’s War
The Black Death
The Wars of Roses
Edward the Confessor (1005-1066)—King of
England 1042-1066, Anglo-Saxon King of England,
ruling from 1042 until his death
The Norman Conquest
• When Edward was on his
death-bed, several men
laid claim to the English
throne: the King of
Norway, the Duke of
Normandy
(Edward’s
cousin),
and
Harold
Godwinson (brother of
Edward’s
wife)
and
Harold was chosen as the
King by the Witan.
William the Conqueror
•
William, the Duke of
Normandy, claimed that
Edward had promised the
crown to him and landed
his army in England in
September 1066.
• Harold was killed in the
battle of Hastings and
William (the first AngloNorman King of England)
was
crowned
in
Westminster Abbey on
Christmas Day, 1066.
The Battle of Hastings
• took place on
October 14, 1066
• is considered as the
decisive battle,
resulting in the
Norman conquest of
England.
William the Conqueror
• secured control of the country by ruthlessly
crushing any rebellion;
• constructed 50 castles by 1087;
• built Tower of London as a military fortress;
• replaced the Witan with the Great Council.
William the Conqueror
• replaced the English bishops with Normans
and made himself Head of the Bishops;
• completed the establishment of the feudal
system in England;
• Sent his clerks to compile a property
record known as Domesday Book in 1085.
(The book stated the extent, value,
population and ownership of the Land).
Feudal System
King
Lords
Knights/Soldiers
Commoners/Farm-workers
William’s Government
• Winchester Castle—
Sheriff
Seat of Government;
Rank of Lord
• Sheriff—King’s
representatives;
ruled over county
courts;
• Even some lords have
County
their own courts— County
courts
Manor courts.
Church Reform
Archbishop of
Canterbury
Bishops
Rank of Lord
Church
courts
•William appointed
an experienced
lawyer called
Lanfranc as A of C;
•Church courts are
tied to the laws of
Rome.
French Influence
• buildings and fortifications;
• changes to the English language;
• a shift in the upper levels of society and the
church;
• adoption of some aspects of continental church
reform;
• possible changes in law, royal administration,
trade, agriculture, the peasantry, women's roles
and rights, and education.
the House of Plantagenet
• When William I died in 1087, he gave England to his
second son (William II) and Normandy to his eldest
son (Robert). Henry, his third son, got England in
1011 and Normandy in 1106.
• In 1135, Henry’s nephew Stephen seized the throne
instead of Henry’s daughter Matilda.
• Henry’s grandson, Henry Plantagenet (First King of
the House of Plantagenet) succeeded as Henry II in
1154.
Broom or
Plantagenet
Geoffrey of Plantagenet,
Count of Anjou
Henry II
got Normandy
from his mother,
Anjou from his
father
Henry II
• strengthened the Great Council;
• established a new tax system based on annual
rents and chattels (movable property)
• appointed circuit judges; founded the jury
system;
• gathered the Common Law; precedents—the
basis of English Common Law;
• by the end of the 12th century, all the royal
offices moved from Winchester to
Westminster.
Henry II
Rule of Law
Thomas Becket
• His plan to reform the church courts was in
collision with Thomas Becket (the king’s chief
secretary; Archbishop of Canterbury).
• Becket was exiled and returned 6 years later
and was murdered by Henry II’s followers.
Angevin Empire安茹帝国
Henry II got
Aquitaine by his
marriage to Eleanor of
Aquitaine
part of Ireland by
military conquest
Richard I
• Richard I succeeded Henry II in 1189;
• known as Richard the Lionheart even before his
accession, because of his reputation as a great
military leader and warrior;
• He spoke very little English and spent very little time
in England (he lived in the southwest of France). He
was busy with the 3rd Crusade in his lifetime. He
remains one of the very few Kings of England
remembered as an enduring, iconic figure in England.
This bronze
statue of
Richard I
stands outside
the Palace of
Westminster
in London.
The
Official
Coat of
Arms of
the United
Kingdom
of Great
Britain
and
Northern
Ireland
King John of England
• King John, Richard’s younger brother, succeeded
the throne when he died without issue;
• King John—the “Lackland” and “Soft-sword”;
• Robin Hood: a legendary outlaw, a contemporary
of King John (serious social injustice and
problems);
• The barons, discontented with John’s tyranny and
misgovernment, forced King John in 1215 to sign
and observe the Magna Carta (The Great Charter).
Magna Carta
• It tried to establish a legal relation between the
king and his barons by defining their respective
rights and obligations.
• According to Magna Carta, no tax should be
made without the approval of the council; no
freeman should be arrested or imprisoned
except by the law of the land.
• It was the first document forced onto an English
King by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an
attempt to limit his powers by law and protect
their privileges.
• Magna Carta in the medieval period mostly did
not limit the power of Kings; but by the time of
the English Civil War it had become an important
symbol for those who wished to show that the
King was bound by the law.
Impact of Magna Carta
• as important to English people as the Declaration
of Independence to the Americans;
• regarded as the corner stone of English History;
• the first step of constitutional experiment and
rule of law;
• influenced the development of the common law
and many constitutional documents, including
the United States Constitution.
Beginning of Parliament
• Henry III (King John’s son) showed too much
obedience to the Pope and hurt the national
feeling of many English people.
• Simon de Montfort, (Henry III’s brother-inlaw) , a defender of the Great Charter,
rebelled with his barons and forced the king to
sign the Provisions of Oxford.
Provisions of Oxford
• are often regarded as England’s first written
constitution
• were installed in 1258 by a group of barons led by
Simon de Montfort
• The provisions forced King Henry III to accept a
new form of government in which power was
placed in the hands of a council of twenty four
members, twelve selected by the crown, twelve
by the barons. The twenty four members
selected were to pick two more men to oversee
all decisions.
Beginning of Parliament
• Montfort reformed the Great Council: each
county sends two knights and each town
sends two representatives to join the Great
Council at Westminster.
• The first meeting, held in 1265, was regarded
as the earliest English Parliament.
Prince of Wales
• Henry III was succeeded by his son Edward I.
• Under his rule, England conquered Wales.
• Edward I gave his son the title Prince of Wales,
a title held by the heir to the throne ever since.
The Hundred Years’ War
(1337-1453)
• War between France
and England from
1337 to 1453;
• Continued
intermittently
for
more than 100 years
and ended in Victory
for France;
• Caused by territorial
and
economic
disputes.
The Hundred Years’ War
• Edward III claimed that he should succeed to the
French throne and was refused by the French
nobles.
• During the initial stage, the English won great
victories and the tide of the war was turned
after the death of Henry V (recognized to the
French throne in 1420).
• The war ended in defeat for the Anglo-Normans
in 1453.
The Hundred Years’ War
• Guns and gunpowder
were first used in the
war. (Gunpowder dealt
a blow to the Knights:
pillars of feudal order/
flower of feudalism)
• Joan of Arc: a national
heroine in French
history.
The Black Death (1348-1349)
• during the Hundred Years’ War;
• a deadly epidemic disease;
• started in Italy and soon spread to other parts
of Europe;
• population fell from 4 million to 2 million;
• resulted in the shortage of labor.
The Wars of Roses (1455-1485)
• a factional struggle for
accession to the Crown
between two branches
of the Plantagenet family;
• red rose—House of
Lancaster (nobles of the
Scottish
and
Welsh
border);
• white rose—House of
York ( progressive south).
The Wars of Roses (1455-1485)
• backward landowners in the North and West Vs
commercial-minded gentry in the South;
• The last war: between Richard III and Henry Tudor;
• ended in Henry Tudor’s (the founder of Tudor
Monarchy) victory in 1485;
• a deadly blow to feudalism in England;
• the ending of Middle Ages in European history and
beginning of the modern world history.