The Tudors and the
Stuarts
Henry VII
Henry VII, who
came to the English throne, was the first king of the Tudor dynasty. During his
reign he made the monarchy supreme. Henry's foreign policy aimed at making England's
trading position stronger. He also laid the foundations of English naval power
by spending money on building of ships so that England could have its own merchant
fleet well as increase its military strengh.
The Reformation
Henry VIII
succedeed his father; the main event during his reign was the Reformation. The
religious revolution arose from Henry's quarrel with the Pope. Henry had been
married by special dispensation to Catherine of Aragon, who some years later
had guven him a daughter, Mary, but was now unlikely to bear him a son. He had fallen
in love with Anne Boleyn and asked the Pope for a divoirce. When it was clear
that the Pope would not the clear his first marriage invalid, Henry broke with Rome and declared himself "Supreme Head of the Church"in England. The
social charities such as schools and hospitals for the poor mostly disappeared.
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, who had given Henry VIII a daughter, Elizabeth, was
executed, and the king remarried four more times.
Mary I
During the
short reign of her half-brother Edward VI Mary I lived in retirement and
refused to conform to the new religion, since she was a devout Catholic. When
she became Queen in 1553 she repealed anticatholic legislation and revived
catholic practices. Her unpopular marriage to Philip II of Spain was
followed by the persecution of 300 protestants, wich
earned her the name of "Bloody Mary".
Queen Elizabeth I
In 1558 Elizabeth became queen of
a divided nation, the majority of wich was
anticatholic and antispanish. Elizabeth brougth unity and defeated England's enemies at home and
abroad. Elizabeth ruled wisely through her Privy Council of about 20
members, great nobles and career officials, she moved round her country on
royal journeys, staying with the principal noblement, 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 on honour her. The Queen was unmarried and
used this as political weapon, encouraging the hopes of European princes with
whom it was important to keep good terms.
The defeat of the Spanish Armada
Elizabeth recognised Spain as her
main trade rival and enemy. At first open war was avoided and explorations and
overseas trade expanded, making England
a commercial and seafaring power. English sea-captains were secretly euncouraged
by the queen, who took a shareof the profits. 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 bad weather.
King by divine right
James VI of
Scotland became the first Stuart king in England. He was a protestant and he
based his rule on the theory of the "divine rigth of kings". He summoned parliament
only to ask for money. Religion was the most urgent problem of the new reign:
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 were against any form of entertainment and underlined the
importance of invidualism in religion.
England's expansion abroad
Peace with Spain made it possible to lay the foundations of
English colonial possessions in North America.
In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers, religious dissenters who had first taken shelter
in Holland, 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 goods which were exchanged for American products like
tobacco.
The Civil war
Charles I
suceeded his fhather James I in 1625; he could not avoid direct confrontation
with the puritan party, whose members mainly belonged to the middleclasses, 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. In 1642 the King was aked to give up the command of the armed
forces; he refused and the Civil War broke out. The forces were divided into
Royalists and supporters of Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell. The former had
long hair and were known as Cavaliers. The latters were called Roundheads. The
King was made prisoner in 1647; Cromwell took control of London and expelled or arrested more than 100
members of the House of Lords. The remaining members voted for the execution of
the King on January 30, 1949. After Charles I's execution, monarchy was
abolished and the country was ruled as a rapublic, known by the name of
Commonwealth.
The restoration of the monarchy
In 1660
Parliament ivited Charles II to return to his kingdom end the republic was
over. The restoration of monarchy was greeted with relief by most Englishmen,
who had felt oppressed by the strict rules of the Puritans. Charles II's court
was moust immoral in English history, so when the two catastrophes of the
plague and the Great Fire hit the country, the Puritans interpreted them as
God's punishment for the king's immorality. London was struck in 1665 by an aoutbreak of
bubonic plague. A year later, a fire destroyed most of the city in four days.
The Glorious Revolution
Cooperation
between Crown and Parliament became effective only with the so-called Glorious
Revolution. The reign of
William and Mary (1689) 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 transport were improved; markets were replaced by shops, and
the towns which had shops grew larger. However, no othee English town
approached the population of London.
The prominence of London was due to many
factors: most of England's
foreign trade passed through its port; the great trading companies were based
in the city. Nevertheless, the reasons for the influence of London were not only economic, but political,
social, legal and cultural. Every session of Parliament gathered over 400
members and their families; the inns of court, the
city schools and the entertainment drew many people as well.
