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Historical survey

From pre-history to the Romans

During the Stone Age people migrated to what is now Britain across the land bridge that joined it to the rest of Europe. These tribes were eventually left to develop their own culture when the (...)

During the Stone Age people migrated to what is now Britain across the land bridge that joined it to the rest of Europe. These tribes were eventually left to develop their own culture when the sea rose and cut Britain off from the continent.
Stone circles, Neolithic tombs and tools have been found from Cornwall in the south to the north of Scotland. The best known site is Stonehenge, which was in continuous use for a period of about two thousand years starting around 3100 BCE.
Julius Caesar came to Britain in 55 BCE and again the following year, but nearly a century passed before the Romans arrived in force in 43 CE. At the time the country was ruled by many separate tribal leaders, none strong enough to oppose the invaders. By 60 CE the Romans controlled most of the southern half of Britain.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

The Anglo-Saxon period

In 410 CE Emperor Constantine recalled the Roman legions from Britain to defend the Rhine frontier. Breakdown of Roman law and civilisation followed. Towns suffered raids from continental (...)

In 410 CE Emperor Constantine recalled the Roman legions from Britain to defend the Rhine frontier. Breakdown of Roman law and civilisation followed. Towns suffered raids from continental pirates, Vikings, Picts and Scots. To help counter these threats, towns encouraged the immigration of Angles and Saxons from northern Germany to serve as soldiers. Ultimately the mercenaries took over as occupiers.
The new Anglo-Saxon invaders were not organised centrally. They slowly colonised northwards and westwards, pushing the native Britons into Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. Christianity was thus forced to the periphery, and it was only in 597 that missionaries arrived from Pope Gregory to bring the religion to the heathen Anglo-Saxons. Within half a century, though, the church was well established.
Britain started to come under attack from Viking raids in the 830s, with a full scale invasion in 865. The kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia fell; only Wessex survived under its king Alfred the Great. He and his descendents ultimately succeeded in driving the Vikings North and out of Britain in 954, but raids resumed within a few decades.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

The Middle Ages

By the reign of Edward the Confessor the country was effectively divided into competing earldoms. Harold, the most powerful of the earls, claimed the throne when Edward died in 1066. His claim (...)

By the reign of Edward the Confessor the country was effectively divided into competing earldoms. Harold, the most powerful of the earls, claimed the throne when Edward died in 1066. His claim was disputed by William, Duke of Normandy. William invaded England, defeated Harold at the battle of Hastings, and was crowned king on Christmas day, 1066.
The Norman conquest brought a new ruling class and a new language to England. The church was reorganised under new leadership. Disputes began between kings and archbishops, going as far as murder in 1170 when Thomas Becket was killed before the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral by knights of Henry II. Participation by Richard the Lionhearted in the Crusades helped to ease tensions, but the Pope was upset with both King John and the Archbishop of Canterbury when the Magna Carta, limiting the power of the sovereign, was signed in 1215.
In the late 14th century the Oxford theologian John Wyclif and his followers the Lollards gave early warning of the religious upheaval to come, attacking the power and doctrine of the church. Their impact was relatively limited, however. English kings were engaged in trying to rule France (but by 1453 only Calais remained under their control) and then in the Wars of the Roses (1455-87), fought between the rival houses of Lancaster and York.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

The Reformation

King Henry VIII tried to secure the Pope’s permission to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. When the Pope did not co-operate, Henry took over jurisdiction of the English Church in 1534. The (...)

King Henry VIII tried to secure the Pope’s permission to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. When the Pope did not co-operate, Henry took over jurisdiction of the English Church in 1534. The subsequent ‘Dissolution of the Monasteries’ greatly reduced the power of the Church. Steps were taken to reform doctrine, and royal permission was granted for a vernacular version of the Bible. The introduction of Protestant ideas, however, had to wait for his son, Edward VI. An English Prayer Book was produced to define the sole legal form of worship, which became progressively more Protestant.
Edward VI died young and was succeeded by his Catholic half-sister Mary, whose unpopular efforts to restore Catholicism earned her the epithet ‘Bloody Mary’. Elizabeth, the new queen, came to the throne in 1558. Though Protestant, she was also a pragmatic traditionalist. She led the Anglican Church down what would later be called the via media: Catholic and reformed, but neither Roman nor Calvinist. The ‘Elizabethan settlement’ was not secure for another century, but it marked the distinctive character of English religion and culture.
In Scotland, the Reformation took a different path. John Knox had studied in Geneva and the Scottish church rejected bishops in favour of a presbyterian structure. Wales had been peaceably incorporated into the realm by the Acts of Union under Henry VIII. Ireland remained a problem: fiercely tribal, loyal to the Catholic Church, it resisted all attempts to impose Protestantism. Elizabeth was unwilling to see an independent Ireland under Spanish patronage and sent the army to subjugate the country.
Under Elizabeth, Britain became more than just an island off the coast of Europe. Exploration, colonisation and victory in war (notably the defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588) brought growing world importance. The arts flourished: this was the age of Shakespeare, Marlow and Bacon. By the time of Elizabeth’s death in 1603, Parliament – the voice of the landed classes – was gaining in influence.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

The 17th century

England and Scotland were brought together under the Stuart monarchs following the death of Elizabeth (though they were not formally joined until the Act of Union 1707). Religious tensions (...)

England and Scotland were brought together under the Stuart monarchs following the death of Elizabeth (though they were not formally joined until the Act of Union 1707). Religious tensions persisted; the failed ‘Gunpowder Plot’ to blow up Parliament led to anti-Catholic riots in 1605. Charles I came into conflict with Parliament, and a Civil War followed (1642-45) between royalists and ‘Roundheads’, the Puritan Parliamentary forces. Charles was captured, put on trial and executed.
Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary army, came to power during the ‘Commonwealth’. In 1655 he allowed Jews (who had been expelled in 1290) to live in England. Liberalism was uncharacteristic of his Puritan rule, however, and the national experiment with republicanism was not successful. In 1660 Charles II (son of Charles I) was restored to the throne.
Charles II produced no legitimate heirs and was succeeded by his Catholic brother James II. James was suspected of wanting to return England to Catholicism, and in 1688 he was driven from the country in the ‘Glorious Revolution’. The subsequent Bill of Rights Act (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701) excluded Catholics from the throne. The Toleration Act (1689) allowed Protestant Nonconformists to worship freely, but still excluded them from public office, and did not extend the same freedoms to Catholics or Unitarians.
British rule over Ireland was consolidated during the 17th century. Extensive immigration, particularly by Scottish Presbyterians, gave the northern counties a substantial Protestant population.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

Industry and Empire

Britain prospered during the 18th century. Overseas territories were gained, though the American colonies were lost. The industrial revolution began. Between his evangelical conversion in 1738 (...)

Britain prospered during the 18th century. Overseas territories were gained, though the American colonies were lost. The industrial revolution began. Between his evangelical conversion in 1738 and death in 1791, John Wesley preached a revivalist message to a growing group of ‘Methodist’ followers.
By the end of the century Napoleon was building his empire in Europe, but Wellington’s victory at Waterloo in 1815 made Britain the dominant power. Campaigns led by evangelical orators such as Wilberforce brought about the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and of slavery in British colonies 26 years later. Legislation in 1828-32 began to remove many features of church establishment and the corresponding limitations on the rights of non-Anglicans. Jews were admitted to Parliament in 1858. Immigration from Ireland produced a major increase in the Catholic population.
During her long reign (1837-1901), Queen Victoria presided over a great age of industry, science, conquest, literature and public religion, both ‘high church’ and evangelical. By the beginning of the 20th century Britain had the largest navy in the world and used it to control an empire on which ‘the sun never set’. The challenge of German military power led European countries to arm themselves and to form a series of alliances, however, and these tensions led to war in 1914.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

Modern times

The First World War helped to precipitate an era of social change, starting with votes for women. Ireland was partitioned in 1921; the six northern counties (where Protestants were in a (...)

The First World War helped to precipitate an era of social change, starting with votes for women. Ireland was partitioned in 1921; the six northern counties (where Protestants were in a majority) remained part of the United Kingdom, while the south became independent.
The inter-war years were marked by economic recession and large scale unemployment. World War II started in 1939; the threat of German invasion ended with the Battle of Britain, but bombing of cities continued throughout the war.
Dramatic social change followed the end of the war. Churchill was voted out of office and a new Labour government nationalised many industries, created a publicly-funded health service, and instituted the modern welfare state. Colonies gained their independence, starting with India in 1947. Large scale immigration from former colonies on the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean and Africa changed the cultural and religious composition of Britain.
The United Kingdom entered the Common Market – now the European Union – in 1973. Separate governments were created in Scotland and Wales in the late 1990s. Years of violence in Northern Ireland have been followed by an uneasy peace, with the province still polarised between mainly Catholic Republicans (hoping for union with Ireland) and mainly Protestant Unionists (supporting the union with Britain).

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

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