L2S3 THE BRITISH ISLES AFTER 1485

Tudor Dynasty

Tudor Dynasty

The ruling dynasty in England from 1485 to 1603, consisting of monarchs Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I.

Reformation

The religious movement that took place in Europe, starting in Germany, during the 16th century, resulting in the creation of Protestant churches and the break from the Catholic Church.

Evolution of the Union

Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 / Scotland & England in 1603 (James VI) / Union with Ireland in 1801.

What happened at the beginning of the Tudor period ?

Battle of Bosworth 1485 => Ended the War of the Roses, Richard III defeated by Henry VII, so he was crowned in 1485 and ruled for 23y.

What was Henry VII’s main goal ?

Securing the throne from the nobles & the other past rulling families (Lancaster & York), started colonisation & building ships.

How did Henry VII secure his throne from nobles ?

Attainders : laws implemented to seize titles and possessions of nobles incase of disloyalty & civil death => financial control over the nobles + indebtedness to the crown.

Treason Act of 1495

What was Henry VII’s government like ?

Personal gov. w/ his advisers, rulling by degrees & proclamations, limited use of the Parliament. Lavish court (musicians, artists, …)

What were the 2 parts of his foreign policy ?

Careful about succession : marriage (Catherine of Aragon, Ferdinand II’s daughter) + not aggressive.

Careful about the lack of money (taxes on the nobles)

But to prevent conflicts, he also signed…

Truces => France : Treaty of Redon, 1492. + reduction of tariffs

Scotland : 3 year truce, 1486.

Spain : Medina del Campo 1489.

Henry VIII’s gov. under Wolsey (1515-1530)

Taxes, legal reforms, financial reforms, peacemaker of Europe.

Henry VIII’s gov. under Thomas Cromwell (1530s)

Managed the king’s divorce, attacked financial abuses in the Catholic Church. / Bureaucratic gov. ex : the Exchequer. / Royal council : national finances. / Use of the parliament to legalise the break w/ Rome + strengthen royal authority in outlying regions.

What did Elizabeth I change in the monarchy ? (1559-1603)

Toned down the extravagance of the court, reluctant to mariage.

Elizabeth’s government

Privy council of 20 members + her confidence, 4 main roles => offer advice, administer public policy, coordinate government work, and act as a royal court of law.

Which crisis did she go through ?

End of 16th c. => plague, economic difficulties (food lack & price, riots). / Threats from Spain (Philip II) & France bc of protestantism + support to Dutch. Anglo-Spanish war 1585-1604, defeated in 1588. / Tensions w/ Ireland => 1590, policy of plantation.

The 2 reasons for the Reformation

Eco : the church was a huge landowner, wealthy, no control over it since linked to Rome, taxes.

Human : Catherine of Aragon + Henry VIII = no male heir, 1526 daughter => divorced, helped by Wolsey. But the Pope didn’t accept.

1531

Head of the church of England.

Act of Supremacy

1534 => Henry VIII head of the Church of England and establishing it as the state church. Infinite power, increased prerogatives. + 26 bishops in House of Lords.

Act of Succession

23 March 1534 removing succession to Catherine of Aragon's heirs and declaring Henry VIII's children with Jane Seymour as the rightful heirs to the throne.

Dissolution of Monasteries

Between 1536 and 1539 by Henry VIII to make money and gain popularity among the rising classes since Catholicism was still popular, and selling the catholic lands to them.

Irish Parliament

In 1541 by Henry VIII to ensure Ireland's allegiance to England and impose the English church on Irish Catholics.

Fall of Cromwell

In 1540 due to the population's resistance to the new church and extreme Protestant ideas.

The pause of the Reformation

1540-1547 : persecution of protestants.

After Henry VIII's death in 1547 = suppression of Protestant ideas.

1553-1558 : Mary restored the roman faith, inspired by Philip II.

Elizabethan Settlement

Establishment of a religious settlement in 1558-1563 to heal the division between Catholics and Protestants and increase her control over the Church.

Act of Supremacy & Act of Uniformity

1558-1559, Supreme Governor of the Church, impose peace between the faiths and prevent a civil war. + Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis 1559

Emprisonment of clergy rebels, oath of loyalty.

57 rules concerning churches & practices + compulsory attendance.

What is the Act of supremacy about ?

one long sentence = secure sovereignty, the throne, the church & swell the treasuries. Personal dimension = divorce, need to re-organize the state, foreign policy against the Hapsburg, expand the frontiers of the kingdom. = used Parliament to enact it.

First book of common prayer

1549, criticized as too catholic-like.

Second book of common prayer

1552, included baptism & communion.

Plantation Process

The confiscation of Irish Catholic lands and imposition of Protestant faith in Ireland from the 15th to 16th centuries, also later in 17th c.

Treaty of Cateau Cambresis

The peace treaty signed between France and Spain in 1559, influencing Elizabeth's foreign policy and religious settlement.

Elizabeth's Foreign Policy

Elizabeth's foreign policy focused on maintaining relationships with foreign countries and asserting England's sovereignty as described in the Act of Supremacy.

Preamunire

prohibited the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, or any other foreign jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the supremacy of the monarch

The Act in Restraint of Appeals

1533, forbade all appeals to the Pope in Rome on religious or other matters, making the King the final legal authority in all such matters.

What was The Tree of Commonwealth ?

By Dudley, Henry VII’s financial’s agent = effective ways to govern.

Art representation of England’s values

T. More’s Utopia : perfect/imaginary society, egalitarian society for the good of every inhabitant, no poverty. In book 1, truth and justice are dealt with & in book 2, vices and virtues are analysed.

The Armada Portrait by George Gower (1588) = power & authority, empress of the world & commander of the sea (pearls) + ref to virginity.

John Cabot

1497 : sent by Henry VII, claimed CAN for EN.

2 Cultural Changes

Intellectual : scholars like Edmund Spencer, learn about Rome, translate ancient greek & latin works, printing “Golden Age of Lit”, more than ¼ could read & write.

Artistic : paintings => Erasmus & Hans Holbein The Ambassadors 1533 / Music => Luth, Thomas Tallis Magnificat / telescope, clothes, architecture : Wollaton Hall, gardens.

Origins of British Empire

Henry VII => peacemaker, truces/peace treaties to prevent wars + large fleet of merchant ships to support the dev. of trade. / Henry VIII => war ships, guns + trade, ambitious policy. / Elizabeth => trade + foreign policy.

New values : economists, Mercantilism, custom wars.

= Strong kingdom structure, sea power, conquer.

Trade rivals : FR + Spain.

Fall of Calais

Used to be English from 1347 to 1558, hub of exchange, leading England to search for new lands and contributing to the unification of the British Isles to present as strong.

Propaganda literature

Promotes the idea of exploration, discovery of new lands. Richard Eden, Treatise of the New India 1553 + Thomas Wyndham Trade w/ Africa.

Royal exchange

1565, first bourse by Thomas Gresham

What are Chartered companies ?

16th century, establish trade in specific regions in exchange for giving some of their profits to the crown. Ex : The Merchant Adventurers Company

The diffrent chartered companies

1rst = 1553, the Muscovy Co (Russia) / 1579, The Eastland Co (Scandinavia and the Baltic) / 1581, The Levant Co (Ottoman Empire) / 1588, The Africo Co (Slaves) / 1600, The East India Co.

Sir W. Raleigh

Discovered Trinidad, Florida and Guyana in 1595.

Sir Francis Drake

Discovered the Pacific Ocean and circumnavigated the globe from 1577-1580.

Martin Frobisher

Jamaica in 1655, then Labrador & Terre Neuve.

Impact of the Empire on Britain

Development of cities, factories, industries, banks, harbours, slavery & child work, acts such as the Navigation Acts in 1651, trade routes.

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations 1776) = tariffs had to be imposed to hoard gold + on products. England had to sell their goods & sell nothing in return bc he thought it could rely on its own produce.

Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901) = 1/5 of the world’s land.

Civilizing misson

Rule Britannia = British patriotic song, James Thomson + Thomas Arne, 1740 = ref to the nations, UK, slaves, never submitted to another nation, god supported this colonizing process, king’s mission to expand the church.

The White Man’s Burden, 1899 Rudyard Kipling : ref to the Philippines, Imperialism (= policy, ideology, political, economic control). “Child” repeated = refers to need to be educated. Paternalistic aspect, religion as a tool through education.

Threats to Gaelic society

James VI, Basilikon Doron, 1599. “implanting colonies” “reform and civilize”, stereotypes linked to the Scots.

“barbarous”, “kept the English from implanting its feudal system in Ireland”, “The Brehon Laws” codified everything in Irish society.

Caricatures in punch magazines.

What were Gaelic societies like ?

Social organisation was based on tribes & clans, druids, bards & musicians. / slightly different language between the 2 + similarities. / end of the 12th c. around 300 000 Scottish Highlanders spoke Gaelic. / druids = history, laws, medicine. / bards = songs, legends, dances, tales, musicians + doctors. / small villages, clans-like small kingdoms / specific tartan depending on their clan.

The Bull of Pope Adrian IV

Authorized the invasion of Ireland by Henry II in the 12th century / his pov : Catholicism wasn’t taught properly in Ireland. / “one penny” = no taxes imposed in Ireland, impose taxes for Rome.

How was Ireland conquered ?

12^th c., didn’t look like a conquest. / “The Pale”, small part where English soldiers remained until the 17^th c in Dublin.

Ireland divided in 4 : Ulster, Connaught, Munster, Leinster.

1583 = plantation of Munster, displacement of Catholic families, land given to protestants.

Some of the battles during Gaelic colonialism

1603 : William of Orange peaceful links between Ireland & England; oath of religion to him -> James Francis Stuart reconquer his father’s throne, Jacobite army in Ireland + supported James II = Battle of Culloden in 1746, failure.

1609 : flight of the earls = English gained more land.

1649 : O. Cromwell removed remaining Irish leaders & almost complete the conquest.

1690 : Battle of the Boyne, William the Orange vs. James II. EN faced FR who supported the Irish, victory for EN, conquest completed.

Conquest of all gaelic society

O. Cromwell’s “New Model Army” 1649.

1609 : Status of Iona, pop. in Scotland to accept the Anglican Church + finance + send sons in Ionas not Highlands, bc could be resistance.

1597 – 1616 : suppress the clans, to claim territory = show the official papers. 1616 : no lands if didn’t speak/read/write EN. language = political tool.

Scot. excluded from trade w/ colonies = Navigation acts between 1651 - 1661 = loss of wealth.

Penal laws

Laws imposed against Catholics in Britain and Ireland = penalties, fines, loss of social and political rights.

Emigration

1815 : Clearances, Highland farmers replaced by sheep => 22 000 emigration until 1838. / 1816-1825 : bad harvests. / Passenger Vessels act 1846-1856, price of fares increased. / 1840s : Great Hunger = 8.4 million 1844 => 6.6 million 1851. / 1815-45, 1 million people emigrated. 1846-1855 : 2.5 million. 1856-1914 : 4 million.

Catholic Emancipation Act

1829, granted political rights + religious freedom to Catholics in Ireland, end of religious discrimination against Catholics.

The Great Exhibition

1851, idea of Prince Albert + Q. Victoria, Hyde Park = society changed, evolving, Britain’s success & power, colonies, factories mastered new techniques.

Opening speech by Prince Albert : political role, “the national undertaking”, “success”, “Your Majesty’s dominions”, “Majesty’s colonies”, “Works of Industry”, “raw material, machinery, fine art, manufacture”. Ends with a ref to novelty = leader in Europe.

Science aspect of the VictEra

Victorian Era -> dominated by technology + progress, spirit of invention & innovation, ex : railways, steam, trains, physics. / Mathematics : Kelvin, basis of modern physics. / Biology : Charles Darwin, The Origins of Species (1859) -> natural selection, struggle for life, adapt to specific context, linked to society.

The values of the VictEra

Philanthropy : money to ppl in need, nothing in return ≠ Individualism -> Robert Owen, New Lanark in Scot., mills + ideal society, social + welfare programs, helped workers, built schools.

Religion : Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (1794), pamphlets. Ppl tried to link evolution + moral progress, Deism. He believed in spn occurrences in bible -> new at the time, said stimes Church was corrupted + institutionalized. = low atttendance to Mass even if compulsory + rise of atheists. / British beehive

Middle Classes = Bourgeois

Major role in dev. the country. Decline in the former agrarian wealth, turned into an increase of banks. Ex : lawyers, civil servants, clerks, shop owners. Between aristocracy and inferior class (workers, craftsmen), in 1851 : 18%.

Specific social position -> easy to access higher positions, make fortune before married (late 20s/early 30s) = dev of prostitution, curse = Jack The Ripper. / puritan laws, pillars of society, respectable man, virtue and social values. / Contradictory time, no legislation to protect children. = hypocrisy.

Disraeli : imperialism + tory democracy, Sybil or the Two Nations (1845) = social organisation, growing economic disparities btwn the rich, richer and poorer, inequalities within Victorian society. 

Victorian Family

Element of purity, ideal rep of English society. Father at the core of the family structure, master, strict idea the family. The Indu. Rev. led to changes but the family was against changes. Segregation btwn sexes, each member had its own responsibility. Girls → piano, sing, draw, future marriage. / feared for French Rev. ideas

Mother : look after children, nice atmosphere @ home, look after servants, “influence in every sphere”, “good cooks”, “domestic management”, “general”, “manager”.

Mrs Beeton, Household management, 1861.

Women's place

🚫vote, stay at home → distress towards their status bc depicted as weak, belonged to their husbands / married → loss of rights.

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women = feminist mov., point the things that didn’t work well in society. / claimed education system → negative for women → frivolous + incapable. / if same as boy → capable workers in many professions ← rev. / supported radical reforms, political + education. / early 20^th century → suffragette mov. / divorce : 1855

Women writers under pennames, ex : the Bronte sisters, Currer/Ellis/Acton Belt => Charlotte/Emily/Anne Bronte.

Towns and Cities

Crisis in countryside → migration to urban areas = more job opportunities. Electricity, harvests organised differently. The old agrarian society changed w/ the new hierarchy + wealth of the time. / 1851 => population in towns > population in the countryside. / 1901 => ¾ of the population in towns.

Goods brought from the colonies thanks to steam engines, new transportations. Cities appeared bc of new industries : Liverpool, Glasgow, Leeds → core of British society.

Cities divided according to their inhabitants’ social status; bourgeois → outskirts of the city. New habits : day migrations (commuting). Stamps = ppl linked btwn cities. / overcrowded.

Victorian Architecture

Philip Hardwick (railway) / William Henry Barlow. Britain changed the way it looked, new understanding of architecture influenced by renaissance, classical +gothic style = eclectic. / New building materials.

Railway stations : Euston Station (1836-38) / St Pancras (1876). / Birmingham railway : world's first long-distance railway w/ steam traction.

Bourgeois’ support to Anglican Church → built churches.

Pugin, Contrast, 1836 : his taste regarding churches.

Balliol College, Oxford / St. Giles, Cheadle / House of Lords = power

Arts & Craft mov

Arts and craft movement : William Morris, evolution in homes, display how their families were happy + wealthy / cluttered, loud, velveted wallpapers and tapestries, chandeliers.

The Pre-Raphaelite

John Ruskin, the Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) = inspired the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood / painted + presented elements of architecture / inspo from gothic Middle Age, considered as a time of order and moral values. / William Morris also supported this mov., poet, 💔 the GE, machines, standardized goods, consumers society = build his red house in Upton in contrast of the era. / Imported in FR, America = linked later to Art Nouveau.

Pre-Raphaelite : 😡royal academy, back to paintings close to nature + perfection, spiritural purity main painter : Raphael. / Exs : Ophelia by Millais, The Awakening Conscience by Holman Hunt.

Dante Rosseti, Proserpine, 1874