Oxford illustrated history of britain pdf

Focuses on the political, social, cultural, and religious changes that occured in Great Britain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Looks at life in 16th and 17th century England, covering all major historic events. First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, John Morrill's Very Short Introduction to Stuart Britain sets the Revolution into its political, religious, social, economic, intellectual, and cultural contexts.

It thus seeks to integrate what most other surveys pull apart. T he y were called "paid fighters" , the pope's choice of archbisho p. He "soldier" co mes. A t th e same time many lords ca lled o n his lords to fi ght for him, but they no preferred the ir vassals to pay th em in money rather lon ger truste d hi m. They march ed to London , than in services. Vassals we re gradually beg inn ing where they were joined by angry merch ant s.

But river. John was forced to sign a new agree me n t. But afte r A nselrn's deat h John 's reign also marked th e end of the long Henr y man aged to delay the appoint ment of a new struggle between C hurch and sta te in Englan d. T he struggle betwe en that Wi lliam had promised to acce pt him as his C hurch and state continued. William refused to accept th is cla im. He had created Norman bishops and given them The crisis came when Henry Il's friend Thomas land on condition th at they paid hom age to him.

Becket was appointed A rchbishop of Canterbury in As a result it was not clea r whethe r the bishops Henr y hoped th at T homas would hel p him should obe y the C hurch or th e king. T hose kings bring the C hurch more und er h is control.

At fi rst and popes who wished to avo id conflict left the Becket refused , and then he gave in. Later he matter alone. But some kin gs and popes wanted to changed his mind again and ran away to Fran ce , increase the ir autho rity. In such ci rcumstances and it seemed as if Henry had won. But in trouble could not be avo ided. Becker returned to Eng land determined to resist the king. Hen ry was very angry, and four knights who The struggle was for bot h powe r and mon ey.

During heard hi m spea k out went to C anterbury to murder the eleventh and twe lfth centuries th e Church Becker. They killed him in the holiest place in the wanted the kings of Europe to accept its aut hority cat hedra l, on the altar steps. Kings, on A ll C hrist ian Europe was shocked , and T homas the othe r han d , chose as bisho ps men who wou ld Becket became a saint of the C hurch.

For hundreds be loyal to them. Henr y was forced to ask the and An selm, the man he had made A rchb ishop of pope 's forgiveness. He also allowed himself to be Cante rbury. A nselm, with seve ral o ther bishops , whip ped by monks. T he pope used th e event to fearin g the kin g, had escaped from Eng land.

After take back some of the C hurch's privileges. William's successor , Henry I. Henry, meanwhile, Luckil y for Henry, the nobles were also invol ved in had created several new bishops but they had no the argument , and Henr y had the nobles on his spiritual authority witho ut the blessing of the side.

Usually the C hurch preferred to suppor t the archb ishop. This left the kin g in a difficul t position. King John's mistake forty Finally the king agreed tha t only the C hurch co uld years later was to upset bo th C h urch and nob les at create bishops.

But in retu rn the C hurch agreed the same time. In th ey too k o ver th e govern ment to keep to the agree ment. The nob les rebelled and and electe d a cou nc il of nobles.

De Montfort ca lled soon pushed John out of th e southeast. But civ il it a parliament, or parlement, a Frenc h wo rd mea ning war was avoided because John died sudde nly in a "discussion meet ing". This "parliament" too k 12 The nohles were supported Durin g th e first sixteen years as king he was und er by the town s, wh ich wished to be free of Henry's the con trol of powerful nob les, and tied by Magna heavy taxes.

Ca rta. But some of the nobles did no t support the Henry was finally ab le to rule for him self at th e revolution ary new counc il, and rem ain ed loyal to age of twenty-five. It was und erstandable that he Henry. With th eir hel p Henry was finally ab le to wanted to be comp letely independen t of th e peop le defeat and kill Simon de Monrfort in O nce who had controlled h is life for so lon g.

He spen t his again he had full royal aut hor ity, altho ugh he was time with foreign friends, and became involved in careful to acce pt th e balan ce wh ich de Mon tfort expe nsive wars supporting th e pope in Sicily and had created between kin g and nobles, W he n Henry also in France. Edward I's parliament Edward sits in front of his nobles, bishops and shire knights. Be,ond Alexander and Uewelyn sit [he archbishops of CanleTbury and York, and [heTe are more bishops on the left of the picture, a reminder of the political andeconomic strength of the Church os rhis time.

In the centre are wool5acks, symbolic of England's wealth. Simon de Monrforr's co unc il had been called a parliament, but it included on ly nob les, It hall been able to make statutes, or written laws, and it had been able to make poli tical decision s.

However , th e lords were less able to provide the king with money, except what th ey had agreed to pay hi m for the lands th ey held under feuda l arra ngeme nt. In the days of Henry I 35 ,85 per cent of the king's inco me had co me from the land. By Z inco me from th e land was less than 40 per cent of the royal incom e. The king co uld on ly raise the rest by taxation. Since the rules of feudalism did not include taxati on, taxes could on ly be raised with the agreement of tho se wealthy enough to be taxed.

The mountainous COUnfry of Snoudonia in the the mon ey he needed. This institution becam e the background U' IS a place of safety for the Welsh rebels.

While it ucs exrremely chfficuI! U n like th e House of Lords it alsoimpossible forsuch rebels ever to capture castles as strong as Harlech. T hese were the two broad classes of people who produ ced and controlled England 's wealth. In Edward I commanded eac h sh ire and each became nece ssary for th e making of all sta tutes, and town or borough to send two representatives to all special taxat ion additiona l to regular taxes.

These "com moners" would have stayed away if th ey could, to avo id giving Edward mon ey. But few da red risk Edward's anger. T hey became unwi lling repre sentatives of the ir local Dealing with the Celts commun ity. This, rather th an Magna C art a, was Edward I was less interested in winning back part s the beginning of th e idea that th ere sho uld be "no of France than in bringing the rest of Britain under taxation with out representation".

W illiam I had allowed h is lords to win land by In o ther parts of Europe , similar "pa rliame nt s" kept conq uest in W ales. These Nonnans slowly all the gentry separate from the commo ners. T he y built castles as to the feudal ruling class and merch ants and they went forward, and mixed with and married the freemen who did not.

The co -operation of these Wel sh d uring the eleventh , twelfth and thi rtee nt h groups, through the House of C ommons, became ce nturies. A new class grew up, a mixture of the importa nt to Brita in's later political and social Nor man and W elsh rulers, who spoke No rman develop ment. During the years following Fren ch and Welsh, but not English.

They all Edward's death the agreement of th e C ommons became vassals of the English king. They were led by Llewelyn ap out of doors, a habit they on ly gave up in the G ruffvdd, pr ince of G wynedd, who tr ied to beco me sixtee nt h century.

T he A nglo-lrish lords, on th e indepen dent of the English. Edward was determined other han d, built strong stone castles, as the y had m defeat him an d brin g Wa les completely und er his don e in Wa les. But th ey also became almost co ntrol.

In Llewelyn was captured and killed. A lthough years to complete. Scott ish kings had so met imes accepted the English In Edwnrd uni ted west W ales with England, kin g as the ir "ov erlo rd", th ey were much stro nger brin ging th e English co unty system to the newly than th e man y We lsh kin gs had been.

By th e conquered lands. But he did not interfere with the eleventh century there was o nly one king of Scots , areas th e Nor mans had conquered ea rlier on th e and he ruled over all the south and east of Scot - English-Welsh border, because th is wou ld have led land. O nly a few areas of the western coas t were to trou ble with his nobles.

In Ireland and W ales Nor man part of England for all pract ical purposes. If th e kn ights were strong en ough to fight local ch iefs on Welsh wanted a prince , th ey cou ld have one. At a th eir own. But only th e English king with a large public ceremony at Caernarfon Edward I made his army cou ld hope to defeat the Scots.

Most English own baby son later Edward 11 Prince of Wales. Fro m that ti me the eldest so n of th e ruling kin g o r queen has usually been made Prin ce of Wales. The Sco tt ish kin gs were closely connected with Englan d. Since Saxo n times, marriages had Ireland had been conquered by Norman lords in frequently ta ken place betwee n th e Sco tt ish and 11 They had littl e difficulty in defeating the English royal families.

At th e same t ime, in order Irish kings and tribes. Henry 11 , afraid that his lords m establ ish strong govern ment, the Sco tt ish kin gs mi gh t becom e too independen t, we nt to Ireland offered land to Norman kni ghts from England in him self. He forced th e Irish ch iefs and Nor man return for th eir loyalty.

Scotland followed England lords m accept his lordship. He did so with th e in creat ing a feudal sta te. On the whole C eltic authority of the pope, who hoped m bring th e Irish society acce pted thi s, probab ly beca use the Celt ic C hurch unde r his own co ntrol.

Nor mans married into local Celtic noble families. Henry 11 made Dublin , the old Viking town , the The feudal syste m, however, did not develop in the capita l of h is new co lony. Much of western Ireland Highlands, where the tribal "cla n " system remained in the hands of Irish ch iefs, whi le co nt inued.

Some Sco ttis h kings held land in Norman lords governed most of the east. Edward I England, just as English kin gs held lands in Fran ce. As a promising loyalty m th e English king for that lan d.

By it In a crisis took place over th e succession m was able to provide the English king with on ly the Scott ish thro ne. T he re were thirteen possible one- th ird of rh e amou nt it had been able m give in heir s. A mong these th e most likely m succeed were T he Nor man nobles and Irish ch iefs quietly avo ided English aut hor ity as much as possible. In orde r to avoid civil war th e Sco tt ish nobles invited Edward I m settle th e and a small area around it, kn own as "the Pale".

In he had arranged Bruce , bur he died on the way north in O n for his own son to marry Marga ret, the heir to the Edward' s grave were written the words "Edward, the Scottish throne, but she had died in a sh ipwreck. Ham mer of the Sco ts". He had intend ed to Now he had anot he r cha nce.

He to ld bot h men hamm er th em in to th e ground and dest roy them , that th ey must do homage to him , and so acce pt his but in fact he had hamm ered the m into a nation. He then inv aded Sco tland and put one of England. Bruce had time to defeat his Scottish them, John de Ball iol , on th e Sco ttis h throne.

First, Scots. He the n began to win back th e castles st ill Edward made him provide mon ey and troops for held by th e Eng lish. W he n Edward 11 in vaded the English army and the Scottish nob les rebelled. Sco tla nd in in an effort to help the last Then Edward inv aded Scotland again, and captured English-held castles, Bruce destroyed h is army at all the main Scottish castles.

During the invasion Bannockburn, near St irling. Six years later, in Edward sto le th e sacred Sto ne of Dest in y from , the Sco ts cle rgy meeti ng at A rbroarh wrote Scone Ab bey on which , so th e legend said, all to th e pope in Rome to te ll h im th at they would Scott ish kin gs must sit.

Edward believed th at never accept English authority: "for as long as even without th e Stone , any Sco tt ish coro nation would one hundred of us remain alive, we will neve r be mean ingless, and tha t his own possession of th e consent to subject ourselves to the domi nion of the Stone would persuade th e Sco ts to acce pt hi m as English. However, ne ither he no r his successors Edward "s cororuttion dUlir.

Edward' s treatm ent of th e Scots create d a popular resistanc e movement. At fi rst it was led by W illiam Wallace, a N orman-Scott ish kni ght. But afte r one victory against an Eng lish army, Wallace's "people's army" was itself destroyed by Edward in The Scots had formed rings of spea rmen whic h stood firm against the English cavalry attacks, but Edward's Wel sh longbowmen broke the Scotti sh formation s, and the cavalry the n charged down on them.

It seemed as if Edward had won afte r all. He captured Wallace and executed hi m, putt ing his head on a pole on Lon don Bridge. Edward tried to make Sco tla nd a part of England , as he had don e with Wales. Some Sco tt ish nob les accepted h im, but th e people refused to be ru led by the English king. Sco ttish nationalism was born on the day Wallace died. A new leade r took up th e struggle. T h is was Robert Bruce, who had compe ted with John de Balliol for the th ron e.

He was ab le to raise an army and defeat the English army in Sco tland. The king's W illiam th e Conqueror had govern ed England and administration kept a careful watch on noble Normandy by travelling from o ne place to another families.

It made sllte the king claimed mon ey to make sure that his author ity was acce pted. He, every ti me a young noble too k o ver the lan ds of his and th e kin gs afte r him , raised some of th e money fathe r, or whe n a noble's daughter married.

In the y needed by trying cases and finin g people in th e every possible way th e kin g always "had his hand in royal courts. The king's "househ old" was th e his subject's pocket". The ad ministrat ion also governme nt, and it was always o n the mo ve. T he re checked the towns and the potts to make sure that was no teal capita l of th e kin gdom as there is toda y. When Will iam and the kings afte r him Most important of all, the officials in Westminster mov ed around the co un try staying in towns and had to watch the econo my of the country carefully.

Wherever they went th e local people most effecti ve way? Suc h quest ions led to important had to give them food and somewhe re to stay. It cha nges in taxation between and In co uld have a terrib le effect.

Food ran out, and well over half of Henry I's mon ey came from prices rose. T h is form of gove rn ment could on ly work well for a O ne hund red and fifty years later, over half of small kingdom. By the time the English kings were Edward Its money came from [ax es, bu t o n ly one- ruling half of Fran ce as well the y cou ld no longer third came from his land and only one-tenth from travel everywhe re themselves.

Instead , they sent his feudal vassals. It is no wond er th at Edward nobles and kni gh ts from th e royal househ old to act ca lled to his parliament representati ves of th e as she riffs. But eve n th is syste m needed people who peop le whom he cou ld tax most effectively. It was obviously not practi cal It is not surprising, either, th at the admin istrat ion for all th ese people to follow the king ever ywhere.

When W illiam I At first th is "administration" was based in inva ded Britain he needed on ly a few clerks to Wi nc hester, but by the time of Edward I, in , manage h is pape rwork. Most business, including it had moved to Westminste r. It is st ill the re today. But the need for paperwo rk grew Westminster th e real capi ta l of England was st ill "in rapidl y.

In only th e king Edward th e th e kin g's saddle". Confessor had a seal with which to "sign" official papers. Henry 11 , the expec ted to have a seal in order to sign official most powerful English king of th e twelfth century, papers, even if he co uld not read.

From 11 99 th e was known in Europe for th e high standa rds of his administration in West minster kept co pies of all the law co urts. In , at the beginning of Henry Ill's reign , 1. Forty years By the end of th e twelfth century the judges were later, in , thi s had risen to 14 kg weekly.

A nd men with real knowledge and expe rience of the government administration has been growing ever law. Na turally these judges, travelling from place to since. This might seem obvious now, but since Law and justice Saxon times local customs and laws had varied from one place to ano the r. The law admin istered by The king, of course , was respon sible for law and th ese travelling judges beca me kn own as "common justice. But kings usually had to leave the law", because it was used everywhe re.

In Saxon tim es every distr ict had had used co mmon law. Centurie s later. England's its own laws and customs, and justice had often common law system was used in the United States been a family matter.

A fte r th e Nor man Co nquest the North A mer ican co loni es and in many ot her nobles were allowed to administer justice among British co lon ial possessions, and acce pted whe n the villages and peop le on th eir lands. Usually they these becam e nat ion s in their own right. In ot her mixed Norm an laws with th e old Saxon laws. T hey parts of Europe legal practice was based on the C ivil had freedom to act more or less as th ey liked. More Law of the Roman Empire, and th e Cano n Law of serious offences , however, were tried in the king's the C hurch.

But although English lawyers referred courts. In thi s way tradit iona l local laws family matter but a breaking of th e "king's peace". It was th erefore th e kin g's duty to try people and This mixture of experience and custom is the basis punish the m. At fi rst th e nobles acted for th e king of law in England eve n today. Modern judges st ill on th eir own lands, but Henry wanted th e same base their deci sions on the way in which similar kind of justice to be used everywhere.

So he cases have been dec ided. T hese T he new class of judges was also interested in how travelling , or "circuit" , judges st ill exist today. From Anglo-Saxon ti mes over property. In thi s way the king slowly too k over the re had bee n two ways of decidin g difficul t cases the admin istratio n from the no bles, when it was not clear if a man was innocen t or guilty. The accused man could be tested in battle At fi rst the king's judges had no special kn owledge against a skilled fighter, or tested by "ordeal".

A or traini ng. T hey were simply tru sted to use typical "ordeal" was to put a ho t iron on the man's common sense. Many of them were nob les o r tongu e. If the burn mark was st ill there three days bisho ps who followed dir ectl y the orders of th e later he was th ough t to be guilty. It was argued that king. But it was still common to find a priest tongue. Such a system worked on ly as lon g as who "k ept a girl in h is house who lit his fi re but put peop le believed in it.

By the end of the twelfth o ur his virtue. T h is was parti cu larly with trial by orde al. The jury idea dat ed back to th e Danes of nunn ery. O ne reason for en tering a re ligious house Dan elaw, but had o nly been used in disputes over was the increasing difficulty during this period of lan d.

Henry 11 had alread y int roduced the use of living on the land. As the population grew, more juries for some cases in the second half of the and more people found they could not feed the ir twelfth century. But it was not the kind of jury we who le family easily. If the y co uld enter a son or know today. In he allowed an accused man in daughter into the local religious house there would certain cases to claim "trial by jury".

Th e man be fewer mo uths to feed. Indeed, it may have been could cho ose twelve neighbo urs, "twelve good men the econo mic difficultie s of raising a family which and true".

Life not guilty. Slowly, during th e later Middle A ges, was be tte r as a monk within the safe walls of a the work of these juries gradually changed from monastery than as a poor farmer outs ide. A monk giving evidence ro judging the ev idence of o thers. They were and shelter. The mon asteries were centres of wealth ordinary people using o rdinary co mmon sense.

It and learn ing. As a In there were fifty religious houses in England, result law schools grew up during th e thirteenth home for perhaps 1, mon ks and nuns. By the cent ury, produ cing lawyers who could advise juries beginn ing of th e fourteenth cent ury there were about th e point s of law.

Even though the populat ion in the Religious beliefs fourteenth ce ntury was three times larger than it T he C hurch at local village level was sign ificantly had been in , the growth of the mon asteri es is different from the politically powerful organ isation impressive. At th e time of W illiam I T he thirteenth century brought a new movement , th e ord inary village priest could hardl y read at all, the "brotherh oods" of friars. These friars were and he was usually one of the peasant co mmun ity.

Th ey were interested not in His church belonged to the local lord , and was C hurch power and splendo ur, but in the souls of often built next to th e lord's house. A lmost all ordina ry men and women.

They lived with the poor priests were married , and many inherited the ir and tried to bring th e co mfort of C hristian ity to position from thei r fathe r.

They lived in contrast with the wealth and However, even at village level the C hurch wished power of the monaste ries and cathedra ls, the local to replace the lord's author ity with its own, but it centres of the C hurch.

In man y places the lord co ntinued to choose the local priest. It also tells us th at 80 per cent of th e th e way the system worked between one estate and land used for farming at the beginn ing of the anot he r, one region and ano ther, and between one twent ieth century was already being ploughed in period and ano ther. Local customs and bo th local In fact it was not unt il the n ineteenth and nation al economic pressures affected the way centu ry th at the cult ivated area becam e greater things worked.

The manorial system is often thought to be Life in th e cou ntrys ide was hard. Most of the Norman , but in fact it had bee n growing slowly populat ion still lived in villages in southern and throughout the A nglo-Saxon period. T he Normans eastern parts of England. In the north and west inh erited the system and deve loped it to its fullest there were fewer people, and th ey often lived apart ext ent. But the Normans were blamed for the bad from eac h ot he r, on sepa rate farms.

Most people aspects of th e manorial system because they were lived in th e simp lest houses. The walls were made foreign masters. The In the early days of the Conquest Saxons and roofs were made of thatch , with reeds or corn stalks Normans feared and hated each ot he r.

For laid th ick ly and skilfully so th at the rain ran off example, if a dead body was found , th e Saxons had easily. People ate cereals and vegetables most of the to prove that it was not the bod y of a murdered time, with pork mea t for special occasions.

T hey N orman. If they could not prove it, th e Nor mans worked from dawn to dusk every day of th e year, would burn the nearest village. The Norman ruling every year, unt il th ey were unable to work any class on ly really began to mix with and marry th e longer. Until a man had land of his own he would Saxons, and consider th em selves "English" rathe r usually not marry. Howe ver, men and women often than Fren ch , afte r King John lost No rmandy in slept toge ther before marriage , and once a woman Even th en , dislike remain ed between the was expe cti ng a ch ild, the co uple had no cho ice but rulers and the ruled.

Every schoo lch ild kn ows the story of Rob in Hood, The poor were d ivided from their maste rs by th e which grew out of Saxon hatred for Norma n rule. T he basis of th is "manor ial Accord ing to the legend Robin Hood lived in system" was the exc ha nge of land for labour. The She rwood Forest near Nottingham as a criminal or landlord expected th e villagers to work a fi xed "ou tlaw", outside feuda l society and the protect ion number of days o n h is own land , th e "home farm".

He sto le from the rich and gave to the Th e rest of the ti me they worked on their small poor , and he stood up for the weak against th e strips of land, part of the village's "common lan d" powerful.

His weapo n was not the sword of nobles on wh ich they grew food for themselves and th eir and knights, but the longbow, the weapon of the family. The Domesday Book tells us that ove r co mmo n man.

They were not free to leave th eir lord's service or In fact, most of the story is legen d. The on ly th ing his lan d wit hout permission. Isabel Archer, the female protagonist of The Portrait of a Lady, ends her life with a tragedy.

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Full coverage is given. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Covers the different geographical areas of the Viking world, and traces the Viking story from the first raids on isolated coastal communities toward the end of. It is one of America's most beloved national parks, and now you can make visiting it even better.