The word great was added to britain in the

Great Britain
1707–1800
Flag Coat of arms (1714—1801)
Anthem: «God Save the King»[a] (since 1745)
Royal coat of arms in Scotland:
Great Britain in 1789; administered territories and personal union in light green
Capital	London 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51.500°N 0.117°W
Official languages	English, Law French[b]
Recognised regional languages	Scots Welsh Scottish Gaelic Norn Cornish
Religion	Protestantism (Church of England,[2] Church of Scotland)
Demonym(s)	British
Government	Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
Monarch
• 1707–1714[a]	Anne
• 1714–1727	George I
• 1727–1760	George II
• 1760–1800[b]	George III
Prime Minister (select)
• 1721–1742	Robert Walpole (first)
• 1783–1800	William Pitt the Younger (last of GB)
Legislature	Parliament of Great Britain
• Upper house	House of Lords
• Lower house	House of Commons
Historical era	Early modern
• Treaty of Union	22 July 1706
• Acts of Union	1 May 1707
• Union with Ireland	1 January 1801
Currency	Pound sterling
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of England Kingdom of Scotland United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Today part of	United Kingdom
^ Monarch of England and Scotland from 1702 to 1707. ^ Continued as monarch of the United Kingdom until 1820.

The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially known as Great Britain^[c], was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707^[4] to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England (which included Wales) and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single parliament at the Palace of Westminster, but distinct legal systems—English law and Scots law—remained in use.

The formerly separate kingdoms had been in personal union since the 1603 «Union of the Crowns» when James VI of Scotland became King of England and King of Ireland. Since James’s reign, who had been the first to refer to himself as «king of Great Britain», a political union between the two mainland British kingdoms had been repeatedly attempted and aborted by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. Queen Anne (r. 1702–1714) did not produce a clear Protestant heir and endangered the line of succession, with the laws of succession differing in the two kingdoms and threatening a return to the throne of Scotland of the Roman Catholic House of Stuart, exiled in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The resulting kingdom was in legislative and personal union with the Kingdom of Ireland from its inception, but the Parliament of Great Britain resisted early attempts to incorporate Ireland in the political union. The early years of the newly united kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings, particularly the Jacobite rising of 1715. The relative incapacity or ineptitude of the Hanoverian kings resulted in a growth in the powers of Parliament and a new role, that of «prime minister», emerged in the heyday of Robert Walpole. The «South Sea Bubble» economic crisis was brought on by the failure of the South Sea Company, an early joint-stock company. The campaigns of Jacobitism ended in defeat for the Stuarts’ cause in 1746.

The Hanoverian line of monarchs gave their names to the Georgian era and the term «Georgian» is typically used in the contexts of social and political history for Georgian architecture. The term «Augustan literature» is often used for Augustan drama, Augustan poetry and Augustan prose in the period 1700–1740s. The term «Augustan» refers to the acknowledgement of the influence of classical Latin from the ancient Roman Republic.^[5]

Victory in the Seven Years’ War led to the dominance of the British Empire, which was to become the foremost global power for over a century. Great Britain dominated the Indian subcontinent through the trading and military expansion of the East India Company in colonial India. In wars against France, it gained control of both Upper and Lower Canada, and until suffering defeat in the American War of Independence, it also had dominion over the Thirteen Colonies. From 1787, Britain began the colonisation of New South Wales with the departure of the First Fleet in the process of penal transportation to Australia. Britain was a leading belligerent in the French Revolutionary Wars.

Great Britain was merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801, with the Acts of Union 1800, enacted by Great Britain and Ireland, under George III, to merge with it the Kingdom of Ireland.

Etymology[edit]

The name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474.^[6]

The use of the word «Great» before «Britain» originates in the French language, which uses Bretagne for both Britain and Brittany. French therefore distinguishes between the two by calling Britain la Grande Bretagne, a distinction which was transferred into English.^[7]

The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be «United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain»,^[8] and as such «Great Britain» was the official name of the state, as well as being used in titles such as «Parliament of Great Britain».^[c][9] The websites of the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, and others, including the Historical Association, refer to the state created on 1 May 1707 as the United Kingdom of Great Britain.^[10] Both the Acts and the Treaty describe the country as «One Kingdom» and a «United Kingdom», leading some publications to treat the state as the «United Kingdom».^[11] The term United Kingdom was sometimes used during the 18th century to describe the state.^[12]

Political structure[edit]

The kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century (with England incorporating Wales in the 16th century), were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a personal union in 1603, when James VI of Scotland became king of England under the name of James I. This Union of the Crowns under the House of Stuart meant that the whole of the island of Great Britain was now ruled by a single monarch, who by virtue of holding the English crown also ruled over the Kingdom of Ireland. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws. Various smaller islands were in the king’s domain, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

This disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament.^[13] Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800 took effect. The Union of 1707 provided for a Protestant-only succession to the throne in accordance with the English Act of Settlement of 1701; rather than Scotland’s Act of Security of 1704 and the Act anent Peace and War 1703, which ceased to have effect by the Repeal of Certain Scotch Acts 1707. The Act of Settlement required that the heir to the English throne be a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover and not a Roman Catholic; this brought about the Hanoverian succession of George I of Great Britain in 1714.

Legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland.^[14] In practice, it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the same location in Westminster, expanded to include representation from Scotland. As with the former Parliament of England and the modern Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of Great Britain was formally constituted of three elements: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Crown. The right of the English peers to sit in the House of Lords remained unchanged, while the disproportionately large number of Scottish peers were permitted to send only sixteen representative peers, elected from amongst their number for the life of each parliament. Similarly, the members of the former English House of Commons continued as members of the British House of Commons, but as a reflection of the relative tax bases of the two countries the number of Scottish representatives was fixed at 45. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain, and their successors, had the right to sit in the Lords.^[15]

Despite the end of a separate parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws and system of courts, as also its own established Presbyterian Church and control over its own schools. The social structure was highly hierarchical, and the same ruling class remained in control after 1707.^[16] Scotland continued to have its own universities, and with its intellectual community, especially in Edinburgh, the Scottish Enlightenment had a major impact on British, American, and European thinking.^[17]

Role of Ireland[edit]

As a result of Poynings’ Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, and after 1707 to the Parliament of Great Britain. The Westminster parliament’s Declaratory Act 1719 (also called the Dependency of Ireland on Great Britain Act 1719) noted that the Irish House of Lords had recently «assumed to themselves a Power and Jurisdiction to examine, correct and amend» judgements of the Irish courts and declared that as the Kingdom of Ireland was subordinate to and dependent upon the crown of Great Britain, the King, through the Parliament of Great Britain, had «full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient validity to bind the Kingdom and people of Ireland».^[18] The Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782.^[19] The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom. However, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which sought to end the subordination and dependency of the country on the British crown and to establish a republic, was one of the factors that led to the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.^[20]

Merging of Scottish and English Parliaments[edit]

The deeper political integration of her kingdoms was a key policy of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch of England and Scotland and the first monarch of Great Britain. A Treaty of Union was agreed in 1706, following negotiations between representatives of the parliaments of England and Scotland, and each parliament then passed separate Acts of Union to ratify it. The Acts came into effect on 1 May 1707, uniting the separate Parliaments and uniting the two kingdoms into a kingdom called Great Britain. Anne became the first monarch to occupy the unified British throne, and in line with Article 22 of the Treaty of Union Scotland and England each sent members to the new House of Commons of Great Britain.^[21][16] The Scottish and English ruling classes retained power, and each country kept its legal and educational systems, as well as its established Church. United, they formed a larger economy, and the Scots began to provide soldiers and colonial officials to the new British forces and Empire.^[22] However, one notable difference at the outset was that the new Scottish members of parliament and representative peers were elected by the outgoing Parliament of Scotland, while all existing members of the Houses of Commons and Lords at Westminster remained in office.

Queen Anne, 1702–1714[edit]

During the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–14) England continued its policy of forming and funding alliances, especially with the Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire against their common enemy, King Louis XIV of France.^[23] Queen Anne, who reigned 1702–1714, was the central decision maker, working closely with her advisers, especially her remarkably successful senior general, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. The war was a financial drain, for Britain had to finance its allies and hire foreign soldiers. Stalemate on the battlefield and war weariness on the home front set in toward the end. The anti-war Tory politicians won control of Parliament in 1710 and forced a peace. The concluding Treaty of Utrecht was highly favourable for Britain. Spain lost its empire in Europe and faded away as a great power, while working to better manage its colonies in the Americas. The First British Empire, based upon the English overseas possessions, was enlarged. From France, Great Britain gained Newfoundland and Acadia, and from Spain Gibraltar and Menorca. Gibraltar became a major naval base which allowed Great Britain to control the entrance from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.^[24] The war marks the weakening of French military, diplomatic and economic dominance, and the arrival on the world scene of Britain as a major imperial, military and financial power.^[25] British historian G. M. Trevelyan argued:

That Treaty [of Utrecht], which ushered in the stable and characteristic period of Eighteenth-Century civilization, marked the end of danger to Europe from the old French monarchy, and it marked a change of no less significance to the world at large,—the maritime, commercial and financial supremacy of Great Britain.^[26]

Hanoverian succession: 1714–1760[edit]

In the 18th century England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rose to become the world’s dominant colonial power, with France as its main rival on the imperial stage.^[27] The pre-1707 English overseas possessions became the nucleus of the First British Empire.

«In 1714 the ruling class was so bitterly divided that many feared a civil war might break out on Queen Anne’s death», wrote historian W. A. Speck.^[28] A few hundred of the richest ruling class and landed gentry families controlled parliament, but were deeply split, with Tories committed to the legitimacy of the Stuart «Old Pretender», then in exile. The Whigs strongly supported the Hanoverians, in order to ensure a Protestant succession. The new king, George I was a foreign prince and had a small English standing army to support him, with military support from his native Hanover and from his allies in the Netherlands. In the Jacobite rising of 1715, based in Scotland, the Earl of Mar led eighteen Jacobite peers and 10,000 men, with the aim of overthrowing the new king and restoring the Stuarts. Poorly organised, it was decisively defeated. Several of the leaders were executed, many others dispossessed of their lands, and some 700 prominent followers deported to forced labour on sugar plantations in the West Indies. A key decision was the refusal of the Pretender to change his religion from Roman Catholic to Anglican, which would have mobilised much more of the Tory element. The Whigs came to power, under the leadership of James Stanhope, Charles Townshend, the Earl of Sunderland, and Robert Walpole. Many Tories were driven out of national and local government, and new laws were passed to impose greater national control. The right of habeas corpus was restricted; to reduce electoral instability, the Septennial Act 1715 increased the maximum life of a parliament from three years to seven.^[29]

George I: 1714–1727[edit]

During his reign, George I spent only about half as much of his time overseas as had William III, who also reigned for thirteen years.^[30] Jeremy Black has argued that George wanted to spend even more time in Hanover: «His visits, in 1716, 1719, 1720, 1723 and 1725, were lengthy, and, in total, he spent a considerable part of his reign abroad. These visits were also occasions both for significant negotiations and for the exchange of information and opinion….The visits to Hanover also provided critics with the opportunity…to argue that British interests were being neglected….George could not speak English, and all relevant documents from his British ministers were translated into French for him….Few British ministers or diplomats…knew German, or could handle it in precise discussion.»^[31]

George I supported the expulsion of the Tories from power; they remained in the political wilderness until his great-grandson George III came to power in 1760 and began to replace Whigs with Tories.^[32] George I has often been caricatured in the history books, but according to his biographer Ragnhild Hatton:

…on the whole he did well by Great Britain, guiding the country calmly and responsibly through the difficult postwar years and repeated invasions or threatened invasions… He liked efficiency and expertise, and had long experience of running an orderly state… He cared for the quality of his ministers and his officers, army and naval, and the strength of the navy in fast ships grew during his reign… He showed political vision and ability in the way in which he used British power in Europe.^[33]

Age of Walpole: 1721–1742[edit]

Robert Walpole (1676–1745) was a son of the landed gentry who rose to power in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1742. He became the first «prime minister», a term in use by 1727. In 1742, he was created Earl of Orford and was succeeded as prime minister by two of his followers, Henry Pelham (1743–1754) and Pelham’s brother the Duke of Newcastle (1754–1762).^[34] Clayton Roberts summarizes Walpole’s new functions:

He monopolized the counsels of the King, he closely superintended the administration, he ruthlessly controlled patronage, and he led the predominant party in Parliament.^[35]

South Sea Bubble[edit]

Corporate stock was a new phenomenon, not well understood, except for the strong gossip among financiers that fortunes could be made overnight. The South Sea Company, although originally set up to trade with the Spanish Empire, quickly turned most of its attention to very high risk financing, involving £30 million, some 60 per cent of the entire British national debt. It set up a scheme that invited stock owners to turn in their certificates for stock in the Company at a par value of £100—the idea was that they would profit by the rising price of their stock. Everyone with connections wanted in on the bonanza, and many other outlandish schemes found gullible takers. South Sea stock peaked at £1,060 on 25 June 1720. Then the bubble burst, and by the end of September it had fallen to £150. Hundreds of prominent men had borrowed to buy stock high; their apparent profits had vanished, but they were liable to repay the full amount of the loans. Many went bankrupt, and many more lost fortunes.^[36]

Confidence in the entire national financial and political system collapsed. Parliament investigated and concluded that there had been widespread fraud by the company directors and corruption in the Cabinet. Among Cabinet members implicated were the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Postmaster General, and a Secretary of State, as well as two other leading men, Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland. Walpole had dabbled in the speculation himself but was not a major player. He rose to the challenge, as the new First Lord of the Treasury, of resolving the financial and political disaster. The economy was basically healthy, and the panic ended. Working with the financiers he successfully restored confidence in the system. However, public opinion, as shaped by the many prominent men who had lost so much money so quickly, demanded revenge. Walpole supervised the process, which removed all 33 company directors and stripped them of, on average, 82% of their wealth.^[37] The money went to the victims. The government bought the stock of the South Sea Company for £33 and sold it to the Bank of England and the East India Company, the only other two corporations big enough to handle the challenge. Walpole made sure that King George and his mistresses were not embarrassed, and by the margin of three votes he saved several key government officials from impeachment.^[36]

Stanhope and Sunderland died of natural causes, leaving Walpole alone as the dominant figure in British politics. The public hailed him as the saviour of the financial system, and historians credit him with rescuing the Whig government, and indeed the Hanoverian dynasty, from total disgrace.^[37][38]

Patronage and corruption[edit]

Walpole was a master of the effective use of patronage, as were Pelham and Lord Newcastle. They each paid close attention to the work of bestowing upon their political allies high places, lifetime pensions, honours, lucrative government contracts, and help at election time. In turn the friends enabled them to control Parliament.^[39] Thus in 1742, over 140 members of parliament held powerful positions thanks in part to Walpole, including 24 men at the royal court, 50 in the government agencies, and the rest with sinecures or other handsome emoluments, often in the range of £500 – £1000 per year. Usually there was little or no work involved. Walpole also distributed highly attractive ecclesiastical appointments. When the Court in 1725 instituted a new order of chivalry, the Order of the Bath, Walpole immediately seized the opportunity. He made sure that most of the 36 men honoured were peers and members of parliament who would provide him with useful connections.^[40] Walpole himself became enormously wealthy, investing heavily in his estate at Houghton Hall and its large collection of European master paintings.^[41]

Walpole’s methods won him victory after victory, but aroused furious opposition. Historian John H. Plumb wrote:

Walpole’s policy had bred distrust, his methods hatred. Time and time again his policy was successful in Parliament only because of the government’s absolute control of the Scottish members in the Commons and the Bishops in the Lords. He gave point to the opposition’s cry that Walpole’s policy was against the wishes of the nation, a policy imposed by a corrupt use of pension and place.^[42]

The opposition called for «patriotism» and looked at the Prince of Wales as the future «Patriot King». Walpole supporters ridiculed the very term «patriot».^[43]

The opposition Country Party attacked Walpole relentlessly, primarily targeting his patronage, which they denounced as corruption. In turn, Walpole imposed censorship on the London theatre and subsidised writers such as William Arnall and others who rejected the charge of political corruption by arguing that corruption is the universal human condition. Furthermore, they argued, political divisiveness was also universal and inevitable because of selfish passions that were integral to human nature. Arnall argued that government must be strong enough to control conflict, and in that regard Walpole was quite successful. This style of «court» political rhetoric continued through the 18th century.^[44] Lord Cobham, a leading soldier, used his own connections to build up an opposition after 1733. Young William Pitt and George Grenville joined Cobham’s faction—they were called «Cobham’s Cubs». They became leading enemies of Walpole and both later became prime minister.^[45]

By 1741, Walpole was facing mounting criticism on foreign policy—he was accused of entangling Britain in a useless war with Spain—and mounting allegations of corruption. On 13 February 1741, Samuel Sandys, a former ally, called for his removal.^[46] He said:

Such has been the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, with regard to foreign affairs: he has deserted our allies, aggrandized our enemies, betrayed our commerce, and endangered our colonies; and yet this is the least criminal part of his ministry. For what is the loss of allies to the alienation of the people from the government, or the diminution of trade to the destruction of our liberties?^[47]

Walpole’s allies defeated a censure motion by a vote of 209 to 106, but Walpole’s coalition lost seats in the election of 1741, and by a narrow margin he was finally forced out of office in early 1742.^[48]

Walpole’s foreign policy[edit]

Walpole secured widespread support with his policy of avoiding war.^[49] He used his influence to prevent George II from entering the War of the Polish Succession in 1733, because it was a dispute between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs. He boasted, «There are 50,000 men slain in Europe this year, and not one Englishman.»^[50] Walpole himself let others, especially his brother-in-law Lord Townshend, handle foreign policy until about 1726, then took charge. A major challenge for his administration was the royal role as simultaneous ruler of Hanover, a small German state that was opposed to Prussian supremacy. George I and George II saw a French alliance as the best way to neutralise Prussia. They forced a dramatic reversal of British foreign policy, which for centuries had seen France as England’s greatest enemy.^[51] However, the bellicose King Louis XIV died in 1715, and the regents who ran France were preoccupied with internal affairs. King Louis XV came of age in 1726, and his elderly chief minister Cardinal Fleury collaborated informally with Walpole to prevent a major war and keep the peace. Both sides wanted peace, which allowed both countries enormous cost savings, and recovery from expensive wars.^[52]

Henry Pelham became prime minister in 1744 and continued Walpole’s policies. He worked for an end to the War of the Austrian Succession.^[53] His financial policy was a major success once peace had been signed in 1748. He demobilised the armed forces, and reduced government spending from £12 million to £7 million. He refinanced the national debt, dropping the interest rate from 4% p.a. to 3% p.a. Taxes had risen to pay for the war, but in 1752 he reduced the land tax from four shillings to two shillings in the pound: that is, from 20% to 10%.^[54]

Lower debt and taxes[edit]

By avoiding wars, Walpole could lower taxes. He reduced the national debt with a sinking fund, and by negotiating lower interest rates. He reduced the land tax from four shillings in 1721, to 3s in 1728, 2s in 1731 and finally to only 1s (i.e. 5%) in 1732. His long-term goal was to replace the land tax, which was paid by the local gentry, with excise and customs taxes, which were paid by merchants and ultimately by consumers. Walpole joked that the landed gentry resembled hogs, which squealed loudly whenever anyone laid hands on them. By contrast, he said, merchants were like sheep, and yielded their wool without complaint.^[55] The joke backfired in 1733 when he was defeated in a major battle to impose excise taxes on wine and tobacco. To reduce the threat of smuggling, the tax was to be collected not at ports but at warehouses. This new proposal, however, was extremely unpopular with the public, and aroused the opposition of the merchants because of the supervision it would involve. Walpole was defeated as his strength in Parliament dropped a notch.^[56]

Walpole’s reputation[edit]

Historians hold Walpole’s record in high regard, though there has been a recent tendency to share credit more widely among his allies. W. A. Speck wrote that Walpole’s uninterrupted run of 20 years as Prime Minister

is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of British political history… Explanations are usually offered in terms of his expert handling of the political system after 1720, [and] his unique blending of the surviving powers of the crown with the increasing influence of the Commons.^[57]

He was a Whig from the gentry class, who first arrived in Parliament in 1701, and held many senior positions. He was a country squire and looked to country gentlemen for his political base. Historian Frank O’Gorman said his leadership in Parliament reflected his «reasonable and persuasive oratory, his ability to move both the emotions as well as the minds of men, and, above all, his extraordinary self-confidence.»^[58] Julian Hoppit said Walpole’s policies sought moderation: he worked for peace, lower taxes, growing exports, and allowed a little more tolerance for Protestant Dissenters. He avoided controversy and high-intensity disputes, as his middle way attracted moderates from both the Whig and Tory camps.^[59] H.T. Dickinson summed up his historical role:

Walpole was one of the greatest politicians in British history. He played a significant role in sustaining the Whig party, safeguarding the Hanoverian succession, and defending the principles of the Glorious Revolution (1688) … He established a stable political supremacy for the Whig party and taught succeeding ministers how best to establish an effective working relationship between Crown and Parliament.^[60]

Age of George III, 1760–1820[edit]

Victory in the Seven Years’ War, 1756–1763[edit]

The Seven Years’ War, which began in 1756, was the first war waged on a global scale and saw British involvement in Europe, India, North America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, and coastal Africa. The results were highly favourable for Britain, and a major disaster for France. Key decisions were largely in the hands of William Pitt the Elder. The war started poorly. Britain lost the island of Minorca in 1756, and suffered a series of defeats in North America. After years of setbacks and mediocre results, British luck turned in the «miracle year» («Annus Mirabilis») of 1759. The British had entered the year anxious about a French invasion, but by the end of the year, they were victorious in all theatres. In the Americas, they captured Fort Ticonderoga (Carillon), drove the French out of the Ohio Country, captured Quebec City in Canada as a result of the decisive Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and captured the rich sugar island of Guadeloupe in the West Indies. In India, the John Company repulsed French forces besieging Madras. In Europe, British troops partook in a decisive Allied victory at the Battle of Minden. The victory over the French navy at the Battle of Lagos and the decisive Battle of Quiberon Bay ended threats of a French invasion, and confirmed Britain’s reputation as the world’s foremost naval power.^[61] The Treaty of Paris of 1763 marked the high point of the First British Empire. France’s future in North America ended, as New France (Quebec) came under British control. In India, the third Carnatic War had left France still in control of several small enclaves, but with military restrictions and an obligation to support the British client states, effectively leaving the future of India to Great Britain. The British victory over France in the Seven Years’ War therefore left Great Britain as the world’s dominant colonial power, with a bitter France thirsting for revenge.^[62]

Evangelical religion and social reform[edit]

The evangelical movement inside and outside the Church of England gained strength in the late 18th and early 19th century. The movement challenged the traditional religious sensibility that emphasized a code of honour for the upper class, and suitable behaviour for everyone else, together with faithful observances of rituals. John Wesley (1703–1791) and his followers preached revivalist religion, trying to convert individuals to a personal relationship with Christ through Bible reading, regular prayer, and especially the revival experience. Wesley himself preached 52,000 times, calling on men and women to «redeem the time» and save their souls. Wesley always operated inside the Church of England, but at his death, it set up outside institutions that became the Methodist Church.^[63] It stood alongside the traditional nonconformist churches, Presbyterians, Congregationalist, Baptists, Unitarians and Quakers. The nonconformist churches, however, were less influenced by revivalism.^[64]

The Church of England remained dominant, but it had a growing evangelical, revivalist faction in the «Low Church». Its leaders included William Wilberforce and Hannah More. It reached the upper class through the Clapham Sect. It did not seek political reform, but rather the opportunity to save souls through political action by freeing slaves, abolishing the duel, prohibiting cruelty to children and animals, stopping gambling, and avoiding frivolity on the Sabbath; evangelicals read the Bible every day. All souls were equal in God’s view, but not all bodies, so evangelicals did not challenge the hierarchical structure of English society.^[65]

First British Empire[edit]

The first British Empire was based largely in mainland North America and the West Indies, with a growing presence in India. Emigration from Britain went mostly to the Thirteen Colonies and the West Indies, with some to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Few permanent settlers went to British India, although many young men went there in the hope of making money and returning home.^[66]

Mercantilist trade policy[edit]

Mercantilism was the basic policy imposed by Great Britain on its overseas possessions.^[67] Mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires. The government protected its merchants—and kept others out—by trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries to maximise exports from and minimise imports to the realm. The government had to fight smuggling—which became a favourite American technique in the 18th century to circumvent the restrictions on trading with the French, Spanish or Dutch. The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses, so that gold and silver would pour into London. The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in London and other British ports. The government spent much of its revenue on a superb Royal Navy, which not only protected the British colonies but threatened the colonies of the other empires, and sometimes seized them. Thus the Royal Navy captured New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1664. The colonies were captive markets for British industry, and the goal was to enrich the mother country.^[68]

Loss of the 13 American colonies[edit]

During the 1760s and 1770s, relations with the Thirteen Colonies turned from benign neglect to outright revolt, primarily because of the British Parliament’s insistence on taxing colonists without their consent to recover losses incurred protecting the American Colonists during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began, as the Americans trapped the British army in Boston and suppressed the Loyalists who supported the Crown. In 1776 the Americans declared the independence of the United States of America. Under the military leadership of General George Washington, and, with economic and military assistance from France, the Dutch Republic, and Spain, the United States held off successive British invasions. The Americans captured two main British armies in 1777 and 1781. After that King George III lost control of Parliament and was unable to continue the war. It ended with the Treaty of Paris by which Great Britain relinquished the Thirteen Colonies and recognized the United States. The war was expensive but the British financed it successfully.^[69]

Second British Empire[edit]

The loss of the Thirteen Colonies marked the transition between the «first» and «second» empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa.^[70] Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Great Britain after 1781^[71] confirmed Smith’s view that political control was not necessary for economic success.

Canada[edit]

After a series of «French and Indian wars», the British took over most of France’s North American operations in 1763. New France became Quebec. Great Britain’s policy was to respect Quebec’s Catholic establishment as well as its semi-feudal legal, economic, and social systems. By the Quebec Act of 1774, the Province of Quebec was enlarged to include the western holdings of the American colonies. In the American Revolutionary War, Halifax, Nova Scotia became Britain’s major base for naval action. They repulsed an American revolutionary invasion in 1776, but in 1777 a British invasion army was captured in New York, encouraging France to enter the war.^[72]

After the American victory, between 40,000 and 60,000 defeated Loyalists migrated, some bringing their slaves.^[73] Most families were given free land to compensate their losses. Several thousand free blacks also arrived; most of them later went to Sierra Leone in Africa.^[74] The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the Saint John and Saint Croix river valleys, then part of Nova Scotia, were not welcomed by the locals. Therefore, in 1784 the British split off New Brunswick as a separate colony. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created the provinces of Upper Canada (mainly English-speaking) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking) to defuse tensions between the French and English-speaking communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Great Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution.^[75]

Australia[edit]

In 1770, British explorer James Cook had discovered the eastern coast of Australia whilst on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific. In 1778, Joseph Banks, Cook’s botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement. Australia marks the beginning of the Second British Empire. It was planned by the government in London and designed as a replacement for the lost American colonies.^[76] The American Loyalist James Matra in 1783 wrote «A Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South Wales» proposing the establishment of a colony composed of American Loyalists, Chinese and South Sea Islanders (but not convicts).^[77] Matra reasoned that the land was suitable for plantations of sugar, cotton and tobacco; New Zealand timber and hemp or flax could prove valuable commodities; it could form a base for Pacific trade; and it could be a suitable compensation for displaced American Loyalists. At the suggestion of Secretary of State Lord Sydney, Matra amended his proposal to include convicts as settlers, considering that this would benefit both «Economy to the Publick, & Humanity to the Individual». The government adopted the basics of Matra’s plan in 1784, and funded the settlement of convicts.^[78]

In 1787 the First Fleet set sail, carrying the first shipment of convicts to the colony. It arrived in January 1788.

India[edit]

India was not directly ruled by the British government, instead certain parts were seized by the East India Company, a private, for-profit corporation, with its own army. The «John Company» (as it was nicknamed) took direct control of half of India and built friendly relations with the other half, which was controlled by numerous local princes. Its goal was trade, and vast profits for the Company officials, not the building of the British empire. Company interests expanded during the 18th century to include control of territory as the old Mughal Empire declined in power and the East India Company battled for the spoils with the French East India Company (Compagnie française des Indes orientales) during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s. Victories at the Battle of Plassey and Battle of Buxar by Robert Clive gave the Company control over Bengal and made it the major military and political power in India. In the following decades it gradually increased the extent of territories under its control, ruling either directly or in cooperation with local princes. Although Britain itself only had a small standing army, the company had a large and well trained force, the presidency armies, with British officers commanding native Indian troops (called sepoys).^[79]

Battling the French Revolution and Napoleon[edit]

With the regicide of King Louis XVI in 1793, the French Revolution represented a contest of ideologies between conservative, royalist Britain and radical Republican France.^[80] The long bitter wars with France 1793–1815, saw anti-Catholicism emerge as the glue that held the three kingdoms together. From the upper classes to the lower classes, Protestants were brought together from England, Scotland and Ireland into a profound distrust and distaste for all things French. That enemy nation was depicted as the natural home of misery and oppression because of its inherent inability to shed the darkness of Catholic superstition and clerical manipulation.^[81]

Napoleon[edit]

It was not only Britain’s position on the world stage that was threatened: Napoleon, who came to power in 1799, threatened invasion of Great Britain itself, and with it, a fate similar to the countries of continental Europe that his armies had overrun. The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which the British invested all the moneys and energies it could raise. French ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy.^[82]

Ireland[edit]

The French Revolution revived religious and political grievances in Ireland. In 1798, Irish nationalists, under Protestant leadership, plotted the Irish Rebellion of 1798, believing that the French would help them to overthrow the British.^[83] They hoped for significant French support, which never came. The uprising was very poorly organized, and quickly suppressed by much more powerful British forces. Including many bloody reprisals, the total death toll was in the range of 10,000 to 30,000.^[84]

Prime minister William Pitt the Younger firmly believed that the only solution to the problem was a union of Great Britain and Ireland. The union was established by the Act of Union 1800; compensation and patronage ensured the support of the Irish Parliament. Great Britain and Ireland were formally united on 1 January 1801. The Irish Parliament was closed down.^[85]

Parliament of Great Britain[edit]

The Parliament of Great Britain consisted of the House of Lords (an unelected upper house of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal) and the House of Commons, the lower chamber, which was elected periodically. In England and Wales parliamentary constituencies remained unchanged throughout the existence of the Parliament.^[86]

Monarchs[edit]

Anne was from the House of Stuart and the Georges were from the House of Hanover.
Anne had been Queen of England, Queen of Scots, and Queen of Ireland since 1702.

• Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1707–1714)
• George I of Great Britain (1714–1727)
• George II of Great Britain (1727–1760)
• George III of Great Britain (1760–1800)

George III continued as King of the United Kingdom until his death in 1820.

See also[edit]

• List of British monarchs
• Great Britain in the Seven Years’ War
• Timeline of British history (1700–1799)
• History of the United Kingdom § 18th century
• Early Modern Britain
• Georgian era
• Jacobitism

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Black, Jeremy (2016). Politics and Foreign Policy in the Age of George I, 1714–1727. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1-317-07854-8.
• Brumwell, Stephen; Speck, W.A. (2001). Cassell’s Companion to Eighteenth Century Britain. ISBN 978-0-304-34796-4.
• Costin, W. C.; Watson, J. Steven, eds. (1952), The Law & Working of the Constitution: Documents 1660–1914, vol. I: 1660–1783, A. & C. Black
• Hoppit, Julian (2000). A Land of Liberty?: England 1689–1727. ISBN 978-0-19-822842-4.
• James, Lawrence (1994). The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Abacus. ISBN 978-0-349-10667-0. OL 9642159M.
• Langford, Paul (1989). A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727–1783.
• Marshall, Dorothy (1974). Eighteenth-Century England (2nd ed.).
• Plumb, John H. (1950). England in the Eighteenth Century.
• Robertson, Charles Grant (1911). England under the Hanoverians. ISBN 978-0-598-56207-4.
• Speck, W.A (1977). Stability and Strife: England, 1714–1760. ISBN 978-0-674-83350-0.
• Williams, Basil (1962), The Whig Supremacy: 1714 – 1760 (2nd ed.), ISBN 978-7-230-01144-0

Further reading[edit]

• Black, Jeremy (2002). Britain as a Military Power, 1688–1815. ISBN 978-1-138-98791-3.
• Brisco, Norris Arthur (1907). The economic policy of Robert Walpole. ISBN 978-0-231-93374-2.
• Cannon, John (1984). Aristocratic century: the peerage of eighteenth-century England. ISBN 978-0-521-25729-9.
• Colley, Linda (2009). Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-0-300-15280-7.
• Cowie, Leonard W (1967). Hanoverian England, 1714–1837. ISBN 978-0-7135-0235-0.
• Daunton, Martin (1995). Progress and Poverty: An Economic and Social History of Britain 1700–1850. ISBN 978-0-19-822281-1.
• Hilton, Boyd (2008). A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People?: England 1783–1846. ISBN 978-0-19-921891-2.
• Hunt, William (2019) [1905]. The History of England from the Accession of George III – to the close of Pitt’s first Administration. ISBN 978-0-530-51826-8. also Gutenberg edition
• Langford, Paul (1976). The Eighteenth Century, 1688-1815. ISBN 978-0-7136-1652-1.
• Leadam, I. S (1912). The History of England From The Accession of Anne to the Death of George II.
• Marshall, Dorothy (1956). English People in the Eighteenth Century.
• Newman, Gerald, ed. (1997). Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714–1837: An Encyclopedia. ISBN 978-0-8153-0396-1.
• O’Gorman, Frank (1997). The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688–1832.
• Owen, John B (1976). The Eighteenth Century: 1714–1815.
• Peters, Marie (2009). «Pitt, William, first earl of Chatham [Pitt the elder] (1708–1778)». Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22337. Retrieved 22 September 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Porter, A.N.; Stockwell, A.J. (1989) [1986], British Imperial Policy and Decolonization, 1938-64, vol. 2, 1951–64, ISBN 978-0-333-48284-1
• Plumb, J. H (1956). Sir Robert Walpole: The Making of a Statesman.
• Porter, Roy (1990). English Society in the Eighteenth Century (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-0-140-13819-1.
• Rule, John (1992). Albion’s People: English Society 1714–1815.
• Simms, Brendan (2008). Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714–1783. ISBN 978-0-465-01332-6.
• Speck, W.A (1998). Literature and Society in Eighteenth-Century England: Ideology, Politics and Culture, 1680–1820.
• Taylor, Stephen (2008). «Walpole, Robert, first earl of Orford (1676–1745)». Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28601. Retrieved 22 September 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Ward, A.W.; Gooch, G.P., eds. (1922). The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783–1919. Vol. 1, 1783–1815. Cambridge, The University press.
• Watson, J. Steven (1960). The Reign of George III, 1760–1815. Oxford History of England.
• Williams, Basil (1939). The Whig Supremacy 1714–1760.
  • —— (April 1900). «The Foreign Policy of England under Walpole». The English Historical Review. 15 (58): 251–276. doi:10.1093/ehr/XV.LVIII.251. JSTOR 548451.
  • —— (July 1900). «The Foreign Policy of England under Walpole (Continued)». English Historical Review. 15 (59): 479–494. doi:10.1093/ehr/XV.LIX.479. JSTOR 549078.
  • —— (October 1900). «The Foreign Policy of England under Walpole (Continued)». English Historical Review. 59 (60): 665–698. doi:10.1093/ehr/XV.LX.665. JSTOR 548535.
  • —— (January 1901). «The Foreign Policy of England under Walpole». English Historical Review. 16 (61): 67–83. doi:10.1093/ehr/XVI.LXI.67. JSTOR 549509.
  • —— (April 1901). «The Foreign Policy of England under Walpole (Continued)». English Historical Review. 16 (62): 308–327. doi:10.1093/ehr/XVI.LXII.308. JSTOR 548655.
  • —— (July 1901). «The Foreign Policy of England under Walpole (Continued)». English Historical Review. 16 (53): 439–451. doi:10.1093/ehr/XVI.LXIII.439. JSTOR 549205.

Historiography[edit]

• Black, Jeremy (1987). «British foreign policy in the eighteenth century: A survey». Journal of British Studies. 26 (1): 26–53. doi:10.1086/385878. JSTOR 175553. S2CID 145307952.
• Devereaux, Simon (2009). «The Historiography of the English State during ‘the Long Eighteenth Century’: Part I–Decentralized Perspectives». History Compass. 7 (3): 742–764. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00591.x.
• —— (2010). «The Historiography of the English State During ‘The Long Eighteenth Century’Part Two–Fiscal‐Military and Nationalist Perspectives». History Compass. 8 (8): 843–865. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00706.x.
• Johnson, Richard R. (1978). «Politics Redefined: An Assessment of Recent Writings on the Late Stuart Period of English History, 1660 to 1714». William and Mary Quarterly. 35 (4): 691–732. doi:10.2307/1923211. JSTOR 1923211.
• O’Gorman, Frank (1986). «The recent historiography of the Hanoverian regime» (PDF). Historical Journal. 29 (4): 1005–1020. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00019178. S2CID 159984575.
• Schlatter, Richard, ed. (1984). Recent Views on British History: Essays on Historical Writing Since 1966. pp. 167–254.
• Simms, Brendan; Riotte, Torsten, eds. (2007). The Hanoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837. ISBN 978-0-521-15462-8.

External links[edit]

• The Treaty of Union, Scottish Parliament
• Text of Union with England Act
• Text of Union with Scotland Act

Другие языки

LECTURE 2.

       The very first stages of the existence of people on the British Isles are frequently described as prehistoric and referred to as unwritten history of Britain.

     The geographical position of the land was both a blessing and a problem: on the one hand the insular position protected the country from invasions; and on the other — the lowland facing the continent always invited invasions.

      The first ever inhabitants are believed to be hunters of the Old Stone Age who came from the Continent and the Beaker people who were called because they were able to make the clay mugs or «beakers». The beginning of the Stone Age coincided with the arrival of new invaders, mainly from France. They were the Celts. Reputed to be tall, fair and well built, they had artistic skills and were good craftsmen. Their dialects were imposed on the native population: the Gaelic form was spread in Ireland and Scotland, and the Brythonk in England and Wales. It was the Brythonic tribe of the Celts that gave its name to the whole country. The culture of Celts in the Iron Age was not altogether barbaric. Their Priests, the Druids, were skillful in teaching and administration.

      The chief significance of this period for people in Britain today is the sense of mystery, which finds its focus in astonishing monumental architecture. Such places as Silbury Hill or Stonehenge have a special importance for those interested in the cultural and religious practices of pre-historic Britain.

The Roman Period (43-410)

In 55 and 54 BC the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar carried out two expeditions to Britain but the Romans were able to occupy Britain almost a century later in 43 AD when Emperor Claudius sent his legions over the seas. The occupation lasted more than three centuries. The Romans saw their mission of civilizing the country. They imposed their own way of life & culture. The British were not conquered easily. There was a resistance in Wales and the Romans destroyed the Druids, a class of Celtic priests (or witch- doctors).

There was a revolt in East Anglia, where Queen Boadicea (Boudicca) and her daughters were fighting against Roman soldiers and were defeated. The Roman occupation was spread mainly over England, while Wales, Scotland and Ireland remained unconquered areas of the Celtic fringe — preserving Celtic culture and traditions.

The Romans imposed Pax Romana,— Roman peace — which stopped tribal wars, and protected Britain from the attacks of outsiders — Picts in the North, Saxons from overseas.    

The Romans also brought Christianity to Britain and the British Church became a strong institution.

On the whole they left very little behind – neither a system of law & administration nor the language. Most of their villas, baths & temples, their impressive network of roads, & the cities they founded including Londinium were soon destroyed. Almost the only reminder of their presence are place names like Chester, Lancaster which include variations of the Roman word castro – a military camp.

By the fifth century the Roman Empire was beginning to disintegrate and the Roman legions in Britain had to return back to Rome to defend it from the attacks of the new waves of barbaric invaders. Britain was left to defend and rule itself.

The Germanic Invasions (410-1066)

One reason why Roman Britannia disappeared so quickly is probably that its influence was largely confined to the towns. In the countryside, where most people lived, Celtic speech & culture continued to be dominant. The Roman occupation had been a matter of colonial control rather than large-scale settlement. But during the 5^th century a number of tribes from the north-western European mainland invaded & settled in large numbers. Tho of these tribes were the Angles & the Saxons. They soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. In the west their advance was halted by the legendary King Arthur & his people. Nevertheless, by the end of the 6^th century, they & their way of life predominated in nearly all England & in parts of southern Scotland. They pay little attention to towns, the Anglo-Saxons had a great effect on the countryside where they introduced new farming methods & founded thousands of villages.    

     The Anglo-Saxon England was a network of small kingdoms. The seventh century saw the establishment of seven kingdoms: Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), East Anglia (East Angles), Kent, Mersia and Northumbria and the largest three of them — Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex — dominated the country at different times.

The Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the members of the Council of Chief- tains (the Witan) and they ruled with the advice of the councilors, the great men of the kingdom. In time it became the custom to elect a member of the royal family, and the power of the king grew parallel to the size and the strength of his kingdom.

     By the end of the eighth century the British Isles were subjected to one more invasion by non Christian people from Scandinavia. They were called Norsemen or Danes, or the Vikings. The Vikings were brilliant sailors, they had the fastest boats in Europe, that were moving powered by sail. They crossed the Atlantic, and founded a colony in North America 500 years before Columbus. They had repeatedly raided the Eastern Coast of England, and by the middle of the ninth century almost all English Kingdoms were defeated by the Danes. In 870 only Wessex was left to resist the barbaric Danes. At that time the West Saxons got a new young King, his name was Alfred, later he was called Alfred the Great. And no other king has earned this title. Alfred forced the Danes to come to terms — to accept Christianity and live within the frontiers of the Danelaw — a large part of Eastern England, while he was master of the South and West of England.

King Alfred created an efficient army and built a fleet of warships. Viking invaders were forced to go South and settle in Northern France, where their settlement became known as Normandy, the province of the Northmen.

     The England of King Alfred the Great received a new Code of laws which raised the standards of English society. New churches were built, foreign scholars were brought, schools were founded, King Alfred himself translated a number of books from Latin, including Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica and began the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, a year-by year history of England.

      Alfred the Great saved England from the Danish conquest, but in the 10th— 11th centuries the Danes managed to expand their possession in Great Britain and from 1013 to 1042 the Danish royal power triumphed in England. King Canut‘s empire included Norway, Denmark and England. In 1042 Edward the Confessor was elected king by the Witan. He was half Norman and William the Duke of Normandy was his cousin and a close friend, Edward the Confessor was a religious monarch and devoted his attention to  the construction of churches and most of all to the building of Westminster Abbey. Edward the Confessor died in 1066 without an obvious heir.

And the Witan elected Harold, a Saxon nobleman from the family of the Godwine, the king of England. Harold’s right to the English throne was challenged by William the Duke of Normandy who claimed the English Kingdom as his rightful inheritance which had been promised to him by the late King Edward the Confessor.

1066 was a crucial year for the Saxon King, and for the history of the English.

   Harold had to fight against two enemies at the same time. In the South Wiliam of Normandy was preparing to land in England, in the North, in Yorkshire, the Danes renewed their attacks against England.

After a hard and long struggle Harold and his brothers were killed in the battle of Hastings.

William captured London and was crowned King of England in Westmister Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066, The Norman period in English history had begun.

The Norman period.

The successful Norman invasion of England in 1066 brought the country into the mainstream of western European culture. The Norman soldiers were given the ownership of land & the people who lived on it. A strict feudal system was imposed. All land in the country belonged to the Crown. The king was the greatest landowner in the country. He gave away the land to the great landowners. Great nobles, or barons, were responsible directly to the king. Lesser lords each owning a village were directly responsible to a baron. Under them were the peasants, the English-speaking Saxons. The lords & the barons were the French-speaking Normans. This was the beginning of the English class system. It was the time of the political unification of the country, the centralization of the government, the supreme power of the king over all his vassals, an emergence of English common law, the making of Parliament to which representatives from rural & urban areas were elected.

The brightest evidence of the situation in the country was the Domesday Book (1086), a survey of England’s land and people; according to it Norman society still rested on «lordship, secular and spiritual, and the King, wise or foolish, was the lord of lords, with only Lord in Heaven and the Saints above him.»

William I The Conqueror (1066-1087) (the Norman Dynasty) died as a result of falling from his horse in a battle in France, was succeeded by his two sons, one after the other: William II (1087-1100) was cruel but a brave soldier, little loved and little missed when he died. 
Henry I (1100-1135) was scholarly and well educated. His daughter was married to the German Emperor Henry V, and later upon his death to Geophrey of Anjou; the son of Geophrey of Anjou (Angevin) became the first Plantagenet (Planta genista –Latin for «broom”).
Henry II was the first king to have a conflict with the church. His reign was one of constitutional progress & territorial expansion.

John (Lackland) (1199-1216), the youngest son of King Henry II, continued the dynasty’s rule. He  was the most unpopular king: he lost most of his French possessions; he broke his father’s heart with his misbehavior, he rebelled against his brother, quarrelled with the Pope, etc. The list of his stupidities and misdemeanors was endless but he did one good thing (or was forced to do it). In 1215 the barons made him seal the Magna Carta, which, though it limited the prerogative of the Crown and extended the powers of the Barons, has since become the foundation stone of an Englishman’s liberty.

The 13th century was described by historians as a Plantagenet spring after a grim Norman winter. It was the century of the new gothic style in architecture, of Salisbury Cathedral, foundation of universities, the development of the Common Law & the Parliament, and the emergence of English as the language of the nation.  But the following two centuries were filled with wars, discord and discontent.

The 14th century brought the disasters of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) the Peasants’ Revolt 1381, the extermination of the population by the Black death (1348-1349) and punitive execution of the participants, with positive achievements in literature (Geoffrey Chaucer completes the Canterbury Tales (1393)),—architecture,—and further strengthening of the English language.

The 15th century saw a development of folklore — ballads of Robin Hood’s were dramatized on the village commons; singing and other musical arts, dramatic arts, portrait painting left wonderful examples for us to admire.The 15th century saw the continuation of the struggle for the crown and the establishment of the Lancaster dynasty in the person of Henry IV, King of England (1399-1414).    

So, in the 15th century for all the conflicts, the forces of progress were breaking through, laying foundations for destroying feudalism, for developing capitalism and formation of the English national economy.

   The end of the Wars of the Roses, the victory of Henry Tudor at Bosworth field and his marriage with Princess Elizabeth, heiress of the House of York (1485) were the events that symbolized the end of the Middle Ages in Britain. The year of 1485 is traditionally considered the watershed and the beginning of the Tudor Age.

The 16^th century.

The Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) established the system of government departments, staffed by professionals who depended for their position on the monarch. As a result the feudal barons were no longer needed for implementing government policy. Parliament was split into two Houses. The House of Lords consisted of the feudal aristocracy & the leaders of the church. The House of Commons consisted of representatives from the towns & the less important landowners in rural areas.

There was the rise of Protestantism in England. Henry VIII wanted a divorce which the Pope wouldn’t give him. The King rejected the Roman Church & made himself head of the Church of England. All church lands came under his control and gave him a large new source of income. In 1534 the Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy declaring him the Supreme Head of the Church of England. His Chancellor Sir Thomas More refused to recognize the Act and that cost him his life — he was charged with high treason and executed in the Tower.

With the help of his new Chancellor Thomas Cromwell Henry VIII ordered to suppress the monasteries, he captured the wealth of the monasteries that had been dissolved and destroyed. The lands of the monasteries were either sold or given to the new supporters who turned out to be enthusiastic protestants all of a sudden.

In 1536 he managed to unite Wales with England. It was the first Act of Union in the history of Britain. Henry died in 1547. Henry VIII had destroyed the power of the Pope in England, but he didn’t change the religious doctrine. He appointed Protestants as guardians of the young Edward VI (1547-1553) and they carried out the religious reformation.

After the death of Edward VI there was a highly unstable situation in the country. In his will which contradicted his father’s bequest King Edward VI disinherited his sisters and proclaimed Lady Jane Grey the Queen of England (1553). Jane Grey ruled only for nine days. But the people opposed her reign and supported the claim of Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon.

Queen Mary I was determined to return England back to the Pope, as she was a fanatic Roman Catholic. She crushed the rebels and pursued an aggressive policy against protestants: more than 300 people were executed in the worst traditions of the Inquisition — she burned them. That is why she earned the nickname Bloody Mary.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, succeeded her half-sister to the great delight of the people. Her first steps were to restore the moderate Protestantism of her father.

In 1587 Mary Queen of Scots was executed. But Elizabeth blamed her death on her officials.

In the 16th century the economic growth was getting faster, though still limited by feudal relations. Trade and Industry were growing. The Royal Exchange was founded in 1571, East India Company — in 1600.

Education was further developing. Many Grammar schools were founded in the 16th century. New foundations like Harrow and Rugby admitted clever boys as well as rich ones, and could rightly be called «public schools». Elizabeth gave her name to the historical period, her reign (1558-1603) was described as «the Golden Age of Elizabeth», the most colorful and splendid in English history. She was the embodiment of everything English, and the English had found themselves as a nation.

In the last decade of Elizabeth’s reign Shakespeare wrote about 20 plays, from Henry VI to Hamlet.

The 17^th century.

«The ideology of the rising classes  in England at the beginning of the 17th century was Puritanism, it was a form of democratic religion similar to the Calvinist views: denying the supremacy of a man over religious faith, demanding a direct contact with God without any mediators, without anyone between Man and God, thus denying Church as an unnecessary institution. It was a challenge to the Church of England and the Monarch as its head, to the absolute Monarchy altogether.

James VI King of Scots — born in 1566, crowned King of Scots in 1567, became James I (1603-1625) of England. When James I became the first king of the Stuart dynasty, the crowns of  England & Scotland were united. Although their parliaments & administrative & judicial systems continued to be separate, their linguistic differences were lessened in this century.

The Stuart Kings were less successful than the Tudor Monarchs. James I, and later his son Charles I were extravagant and wasteful.

Charles I Stuart (1625-1649) was in a constant conflict with Parliament. The Parliament, when convened, refused to give the King financial support, and Charles I ruled for 11 years without Parliament (1629-1640). That Period of Personal Government, during which the King did not receive the usual financial aid and had to raise money as best as he could: pawned Crown Jewels, gave out honors, etc.; came to an end when he became involved in a war with Scotland for which he couldn’t pay.

The King (Charles I) was forced to convene a meeting of the Great Council and later to call a Parliament. And he had to concede to this Parliament almost all that it asked, so badly he was in need of money. Parliament established its supremacy over the monarchy in Britain. Anger grew in the country at the way that the Stuart monarch raised money. People thought the luxurious lifestyle of the king & his followers was immoral. This conflict led to Civil War, which ended with complete victory for the parliamentary forces.

 Charles I was brought to trial for High Treason, his supporters were not allowed to be present. He was sentenced to death, «and in a hushed silence on a cold January morning the King of England met his death with a courage and dignity that commanded respect.» He was beheaded in Whitehall on the 30 of January 1649.

The House of Lords was abolished, some famous Royalists were captured and beheaded.

        A Council of State was created to govern the country, which consisted of forty one members. On December 16th in Westminster Oliver Cromwell publicly accepted the title of Lord Protector of a United Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland and the colonies.

       Oliver Cromwell was a unique blend of country gentleman and professional soldier, of religious radical and social conservative. He was at once the source of stability and the ultimate source of instability. With his death the republic collapsed as his son and successor Richard lacked his qualities and was deposed 6 months after the beginning of his rule.

The new parliament voted to recall Charles II and store the Monarchy in Britain.

James II became the King of England after his brother’s death in 1685. He had two daughters — Mary and Ann — from his first Protestant wife, and they were Firm Protestants. Mary was married to her first cousin, William of Orange, a Dutch prince and a militant Protestant.

 When the Catholic second wife of James II gave birth to a baby son, the English Parliament and the Protestant bourgeoisie were alarmed by the prospect of Catholic succession of Monarchs.

Tories, Whigs and Anglicans began to look for a Protestant rescue. They invited William of Orange to invade Britain. The political events of 1688 were called «the Glorious Revolution» as they had realized the bourgeois theories of the nature of government. Parliament immediately drew up a Bill of Rights which limited some of the powers of the monarch.            

 The seventeenth century was the age of the Stuarts — their rise in 1603, their tragedy and defeat from 1648-1660, their restoration in 1660, their constant struggle against the Parliament which resulted in their forced compromise and the victory of the Parliament, the victory of the new ruling classes.

The economy of Britain by the end of the century was developing freely, new economic institutions like the Bank of Britain (1695) were founded. Trade and colonies were flourishing. The East India Company was the greatest corporation in the country.

The religious struggle and conflicts gave freedom to all Protestants.

After the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London came the efforts of Sir Christopher Wren and the achievements of science made by I. Newton and other members of the Royal Society. By the end of the century Britain was becoming a prosperous country.

Politically, this century was stable. The new British flag united the flags of England and Scotland combining the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. Scotland retained its legal system and the established Church and also gained free trade with England.

England, Scotland and Wales were united and became Great Britain.

Queen Anne was the last Stuart monarch, she died in 1714; and according to the Act of Settlement, she was succeeded by Protestants of Hanoverian Dynasty.

Within Parliament there appeared two opposed groups – the Whigs & the Tories. The Whigs supported the Protestant values of hard work & thrift, believed in government by monarch & aristocracy together. The Tories had a greater respect for the idea of the monarchy & the importance of the Anglican Church. This could be said to be the beginning of the party system in Britain.

There were military conflicts near Lexington and Concord near Boston. The Congress of the United Colonies at Philadelphia elected George Washington, of Virginia commander of their armed forces (1775). A year later, on the 4 of July, 1776, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

2. Complete this text about Great Britain and learn it by heart.
Use the words: mild, large, falls, rain, sightseeing, Western, Atlantic,temperature, pound, population, Highlands, English, London.

Great Britain is a (1) …. country, a kingdom in (2) …. Europe. It lies on several islands and has a (3) …. of about 57 mln people. Great Britain’s capital is (4)…. and the national currency is a (5) …. . (6) …. is the language that people speak in the country. The climate in Great Britain is very (7) …. . There are a lot of (8) …. falling out all the year round. The wind brings rain from the (9) …. Ocean. Snow only (10) …. occasionally and doesn’t stay for long except in the (11) …. of Scotland. The usual (12) …. in England and Wales are + 4°C in January and + 16°C in July and August. A lot of tourists come to Great Britain every year to do some (13) …. in its big and small towns.

Британия тарихы (“British History”) тақырыбында ағылшын тілінен

жасаған таңдау курстың бағдарламасы.

Елімізде білім беру саласында демократияландыру, ізгілендіру іске асырылып жатқан кезеңде, мектепте өзге пәндермен бірге шетел тілін ана тілімен қоса оқып үйрену, оқушының сөйлеу дағдысын қалыптастырып қана қоймайды, оны өзін қоршаған ортамен, айналасындағы адамдармен қарым-катынас мәдениетіне де үйретеді. Оқушының шетел тілінде сөйлеу қабілетін жетілдіру — сабақта берілетін бүкіл білім мазмұнының негізгі мақсаты болып табылады.

Шетел тілі пәндері, басқа да жалпы білім беретін пәндер сияқты, тәрбиелік, білімдік және жетілдіру сияқты адамзаттың басты байлықтарын беру міндетін атқарады. Оқушыларға шет тілінде оқуды, жазуды, сөйлеуді, бір тілден екінші тілге аударуды үйреткенде біз оларға басқа халықтың мәдениетін , әрі дүние жүзі мәдениетін білуге жол ашамыз, яғни басқа халықтармен қарым-қатынас жасауға мүмкіндік туады. Сөйтіп, орта мектептегі шетел тілі қазіргі кезде біздің қоғамымыздың әлеуметтік-эканомикалық, ғылыми-техникалық және жалпы мәдени прогрестің іс жүзіндегі факторына айналуда. Демек, қазіргі таңда шетел тілінің жалпы білім беретін пән ретінде орта мектепте атқарар қызметі, оқушыларды өздері үйреніп жатқан тілде сөйлейтін халықпен түсіністік, ортақ көз-карас орнатуға дайындап, тәрбие, білім беріп, әрі жеке басын, өмірге деген көз қарасын жан-жақты дамыту болып саналады.

Сол себепті оқушылармен жүргізілетін оку-тәрбие жұмыстарында әр түрлі оқыту бағдарламалары жаслуда..Осы үсынылып отырған бағдарламаның міндеті ағылшын тілін оқып үйреніп жатқан оқушылар арасында, осы тілдің негізін калыптастыру мен оқушының жазылған мәтіндерді түсініп оқуға, жаза білу және қоршаған ортаға(әлемге) байланысты әңгімеге араласу мүмкіндіктерін туғызу. Сондай — ақ окушыларды қолдай отырып, пікірталастарға, рөлдік ойындарға қатысуға ынталандыру және сөйлеу, тыңдау, оқу, жазу дағдыларын қалыптастыру, сонымен бірге өз ойын ортаға салып, еркін пікірлей білуге үйрету.

Бағдарлама жасау барысында, жалпы білім беретін орта мектеп бағдарламасының білім стандарты жүйесіне сүйене отырып қазақ тілі, тарих, география және басқада пәндермен байланыс жүзеге асырылды.

Қолданбалы және таңдау курстары аптасына бір сағатқа жоспарланған болса бұл бағдарлама ағылшын тілін дәстүрлі түрде үйрету тәсілдері граматиканы талдау мен түсіндіруді әр түрлі практикалық іс-әрекеттер арқылы қарастыруға, коммуникативті-функциональды тәсілдер арқылы оқушылар ережелерді өздері қорытындылап, кез келген мәселелерді шешуге өз пікірін жеткізе білуге бағытталған.

Бағдарламада жинақталған тақырыптар, мәтіндер мен жаттығулар оқушының өзін қоршаған ортаға ара қатынасына, этикалық-эстетикалық әдеттерді бойына жинап, патриот болып қалыптасуына және өзінің болашақ мамандық таңдауына ықпал етуі сөзсіз.

Бағдарлама 34 сағатқа жоспарланған.

Әр негізгі тақырыптан соң оқушының алған білімін тексеру мақсатында жаттығулар мен бақылау жұмыстары қойылған.

Бағдарламаның мазмұны

«Британия тарихы» бағдарламасы осы елдің өте ерте кезеңдерінен бастап қазіргі күндеріне дейінгі деректерді қамтыған. Жинақталған мәліметтер қысқа да ықшам түрде, баланың түсінігіне жеңіл болуы көзделген. Бұл бағдарлама бірнеше бөлімдерден тұрады.

Олар: -Early Britain — The Tudors

— Roman Britain -The Stuarts

— Anglo-Saxon Times -The 18^th Century

— The Normans -The 19^th Century

— The Plantagents — The 20^th Century

Бұл бөлімдерді оқи отырып оқушы өзі тілін үиреніп жатқан елдің тарихымен танысады.

Сол елдің мәдениеті мен салт-дәстүрінен хабардар болады.Британияның өте ерте жылдарынан бастап қазіргі қазіргі кезеңге дейінгі деректер топтамасын оқиды. Оқушы бұл елдің өткені мен қазіргісін салыстыра отырып ой толғауға мүмкіндік алады.

Британия тарихында кездесетін кейбір тарихи эпизодтар баланың қызығушылығын арттырады. Мысалы үшін: “Titanic”, “Battle of Britain” тағы да басқа осы сияқты әңгімелер балалар қызығып оқитын тақырыптар. Сонымен бірге бұл ел, тарихи ескерткіштерге өте бай ел. Олардың пайда болу тарихына үңілсек көптеген қызықты деректерге кездесеміз. Сондай ақ тарихи тұлғалар жайлы оқып үйренеміз. Олардың өз заманында еткен ерліктері,өнегелі істері, халқына жасаған қызметі, артында қалған өшпес іздері туралы білеміз. Осы елдің әлеуметтік жағдайы, мәдениеті, әдет ғұрптары туралы оқып үйренеміз. Ең бастысы баланың сөздік қоры молайып, тілдік дағдысы ,патриоттық тәрбиесі қалыптасады.

. Бағдарламаны іске асырудан күтілетін нәтижелер.

— Шет тілін үйрену кезінде өзі тілін үйреніп жатқан елдің тарихын оқып білу , оқушының қызығушылығын арттырады.

— Тарихи деректерді оқи отырып өз бетінше тұжырым жасап ой түйіндеуге үйренеді.

— Тұлғалар мне құбылыстарды салыстырып өздерінің логикалық ойлау қабілеттерін шыңдайды.

— Өзі тілін үйреніп жатқан елмен қатар, өзінің туған өлкесімен салыстыра отырып жақсы мен жаманды , әділдік пен әділетсіздік туралы түсінікке ие болады.

— Бала патриоттыққа тәрбиеленеді.

— Түрлі байқауларда өз тұжырымын еркін жасауға үйренеді.

Оқушының білім біліктілігіне және дағдыларына қойылатын талаптар.

1. Оқушылар төмендегідей дағдыларды игеруі қажет.

— Оқушының тіл үйренуге деген қызығушылығының артуы.

— Баланың сөздік қоры молайып , тілдік дағды қалыптасуы.

— Кестелер , диаграммалармен жұмыс істей білуі.

— Өз білімдерін керек жерінде қолдана білуі.

— Берілген тапсырмалар бойынша баяндама, рефераттар , хабарламалар дайындай білуі.

2. Оқушылардың білімі мен біліктілігіне қойылатын талаптар.

— Өзі оқып білген тарихи деректерді ағылшын тілінде жеткізіп баяндап бере білуі.

— Оқу кезінде кездесетін тарихи тұлғалардың қай салада, қай заманда өмір сүргенін , олардың өмірлік мұратын, ерекшеліктерін білу.

— Осы тарихи деректерді оқып үйреніп, ағылшын тілінде хабарламалар жасап оны қорғай білу.

— Басқада көркем әдебиеттерді ағылшын тілінде оқып, саралай білуге үйрену.

— Ағылшын тілінде еркін сөйлеп ойын толық жеткізуге дағдылану.

Ж О С П А Р

Р.с	Мазмұны.	с а ғ а т ы	Әдебиеттер	Оқушының білімін тексеру	К ү н і
British History
1	Early Britain	1
	—Prehistoric Times -Stonehenge -Brutus the Trojan	1	К.Васильев. История Велико- британии Санкт-Петербург 2004	Жаттығулар	6.09
2	Roman Britain	3
	Roman names and Landmarks Boudicca’s Revolt The Roman Legacy The Scots and Picts	1 1 1	СА.П.Беларучева Topics Москва .2007	Жаттығулар	13.09 20.09 27.09
3	Anglo –Saxon Times	4
	The Anglo-Saxons and the Juets King Arthur Christianity Ring Alfred Earl Godwine and Edward the confessor Harold II, The Last Anglo -Saxon King	1 1 1	К.Васильев. История Велико- британии Санкт-Петербург 2004	Жаттығулар	4.10 11.10 18.10
	Test 1	1			25.10
4	The Normans	2
	William I and His Sons The Normans Tower of London	1 1			1.11 15.11
5	The Plantagenets	4
	The Plantagenets Richard I and King John Edward I William Wallace The Principality of Wales The British Peerage Edward III and Richard II The Hundred Years’ War The Wars of the Roses	1 1 1	К.Васильев. История Велико- британии Санкт-Петербург 2004	Жаттығулар	22.11 29.11 6.12
	Test 2	1
6	The Tudors	4
	—The House of Tudor —Thomas More —Church of England —Reformation —Elizabeth -Francis drake -The Spanish Armada -Mary Stuart	1 1 1	СА.П.Беларучева Topics Москва .2007 .	Жаттығулар	13.12 20.12 27.12
	Test 3	1			10.01
7	The Stuarts	4
	-The house of Stuarts -Gunpowder Plot -Charles I -Duke of Buckingham -Oliver Cromwell -Christopher Wren -St Paul’s Cathedral -Monument for Great Fire of London -Greenwich -Queen Anne	1 1 1	К.Васильев. История Велико- британии Санкт-Петербург 2004	Жаттығулар	17.01 24.01 31.01
	Test 4	1			7.02
8	The 18th Century	4
	—The Royal Society -The War of the Austrian Succession — The battle of Culloden -Black Hole of Calcutta -The Royal Academy of Arts -James Cook -The War of American Independence	1 1 1 1	К.Васильев. История Велико- британии Санкт-Петер- бург 2004		14.02 21.02 28.02 7.03
9	The 19thy Century	4
	Horatio Nelson “Victory” Peninsular War William IV Queen Victoria National Gallery Trafalgar Square Great Exhibition Crimean War The house of Windsor George V	1 1 1	СА.П.Беларучева Topics Москва .2007	Бақылау жұмысы	14.03 4.04 11.04
	Test 5	1			18.04
10	The 20th Century	4
	Herbert Asquith Armistice Day Labor Party Ramsay MacDonald House of Commons Winston Churchill Elizabeth II Westminster Abbey Oxford University British Library Beatles Margaret Thatcher	1 1 1	К.Васильев. История Велико- британии Санкт-Петер- бург 2004 СА.П.Беларучева Topics Москва .2007	Реферат	25.04
	Test 6	1		23.05

E a r l y B r i t a in.

Prehistoric Times.

The earliest inhabitants of Britain lived in caves. They hunted animals and gathered plants. They made tools and weapons out of flint and bone. From about 2500 BC a farming people began to cross to the British Isles from mainland Europe. Farming Largely replaced hunting.

Bronze was in use from about 2000 BC. Bronze was made by mixing copper with tin. This discovery resulted in better utensils, weapons and tools with a sharp cutting edge. During the Bronze age most people lived in small villages made up few families. Archaeological evidence shows that from about 1000 BC fortified settlement were built.

Iron was brought by the first of the Celts who began to invade Britain around 700 Bc. During the Iron Age people belonged to tribes ruled by chiefs. Celtic priests , known as druids, made human and animal sacrifices to their gods. Druids also acted as teachers and judges . druidic rites were held in clearings in oak forests.

The Celts developed a system of Kingdoms by the time when the Romans under Julius Caesar first to Britain.

S t o n e h e n g e.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain. It dates back tj about 2000 BC. Structure is a circle of upright stones, some of which are still linked by horizontal lintels on top. The stones align with the position of the sun. perhaps the circle was used for astronomical calculations or sacred rites.

B r u t u s t h e T r o j a n.

Brutus the Trojan was the legendary founder of London. Tradition has it that he arrived in Britain from Troy and destroyed the race of giants inhabiting it. The only surviving giants , Gog and Magog, were brought by Brutus to London and porters at the gate of his palace.

R o m a n B r i t a i n .

Roman Names and Landmarks.

The ancient times of Britain was Albion . first mentioned in the 4^th century BC, it was probably of Celtic origin. The Romans assumed that Albion was derived from albus (white) and referred it to the chalk cliffs at Dover.

Britain comes from the roman Britannia, which in its turn derived from the Celtic Britto, the name of one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles. Today the name indicates England, Scotland and Wales.

Hadrian’s Wall was the biggest Roman fortification in Britain. It was built in AD 122-126. It marked the northern boundary of Roman Britain and was a defensive barrier against the Picts and Scots, warlike tribes of the north. The Wall extended from the River Tyne in the east to the Solway Firth in the west for at least 74 miles. The Wall was named after Hadrian the roman emperor who authorized the construction. It was abandoned in about 383. Parts of Hadrian’s Wall still exist.

B o u d I c c a ’ s R e v o l t .

Boudicca was the queen of a British tribe. Her husband had been a tributary of the Romans. After his death the territory of the tribe was annexed.

Boudicca raised her people in revolt, burning several Roman towns. Her troops were annihilated by the regular Roman army and she poisoned herself not to be taken prisoner. Boudicca is also known in history by the Latin form of her name Boudicea.

T h e R o m a n L e g a n c y .

The Romans brought writing into Britain. They introduced their alphabet which is still in use. Almost half the words in modern English derive from Latin, the language of the Romans. Britain enjoyed the Roman sophisticated legal system. Roman towns were fortified settlements with houses that had a drainage and a form of central heating. Their roads, built of stone, were long and straight and they linked London with all parts of Britain.

At the beginning of the 5^th century the Emperor Constantine III withdrew the Roman forces to mainland Europe. He needed troops to defend Rome from barbarian invasion. After the departure of the army Roman civilization in the British Isles gradually fell into decay.

T h e S c o t s a n d P I c t s .

Originally, Scotia denoted Ireland, whose inhabitants were Scotti.

Fron the 2^nd century AD waves of migrant Scots crossed the North Channel and settled in northwestern Britain. In the 5^th century they formed a kingdom known as Dalriada. The Scots subjugated the Picts and in the 11^th century they established their rule over the territory roughly corresponding to that of modern mainland Scotland came to be the name for the whole land and since that time all its inhabitants have been called Scots.

The Picts were an ancient people of pre-Celtic times, living in what is now eastern Scotland. They were first Mentioned in AD 297, when a Roman writer spoke of the m attacking Hadrian’s Wall. Their warfare with the Romans was almost continual. They developed two kingdoms, which merged in the 7^th century. In 843 , Kenneth Mac Alpin, King of the Scots , spread his rule over the Pictish territory and united the Picts with the Celtic Scots in a new kingdom of Alba, which evolved into Scotland.

ANGLO- SAXONS TIMES.

The Anglo –Saxons and Juts.

Anglo – Saxons were North German invaders who with the Jutes conquered Britain between the 5^th and 7^th centuries. After the conquest seven kingdoms were set up: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. The Kingdoms were united in the early 9^th century under the overlordship of Wessex.The Angles gave England its name.

The Jutes were a German tribe that invaded the southeastern part of Britain in the 5^th century. The Jutes established a kingdom in Kent making Canterbury their capital.

King Arthur.

Arthur, the legendary Celtic warrior , was first mentioned in a 9^th century chronicle speaks of his 12 victories over the invading Anglo-Saxons. The story of the Round Table first appeared in 1155. In medieval times Arthur’s legend was retold by many authors and Thomas Malory gave his account in prose, Known as “death of Arthur”.

Christianity.

Christianity was introduced into Britain by the Romans in the 3^rd century. The first Christian martyr of England was St Alban.According to tradition, Alban served in the Roman army at Verulamium. Converted to Christianity, he was beheaded for his faith in 303. In the 8th century an abbey was founded on the site of Alban’ s execution. Round this abbey the city of St Albans grew up.

St George, patron saint of England, is believed to have been martyred by the Emperor Diocletian in Palestine. The cult of St George was introduced into Western Europe by the crusaders and he was proclaimed patron saint of England in the reign of Edward ।।।. It is thought that the execution took place on the 23^rd of April, 303, and this date was made the feast day of St George.

King Alfred.

Alfred became king of Wessex in 871. Ht repelled several Danish attacks on Wessex and after years of effort he defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington (878). This victory helped to bring about peace with the Danes . In 886, Alfred captured London and was accepted king in all England except the north and east that were held by Danes.

Alfred established a strong army , he constructed fortresses along the south coast and built a fleet of ships. An able administrator, he also promoted education and his own translations from Latin are part of the earliest English literature.

Earl Godwin and Edward the Confessor

Godwin became a favorite of the Danish king, Canute the Great, who made him Earl of Wessex about 1018. When Edward came to the throne , Godwin dominated him and was the most powerful man in England during the first years of Edward’s reign.

In 1045 Earl Godwin married his daughter to the king. Godwin’s son Harold succeeded to Edward’s throne in 1066 as Harold ।।.

Edward became king of England in 1042 when the Danish royal line died out. During the first years of his reign he was influenced by Godwin and then by his Norman favourites who were granted high positions in his government.

When dying in 1066, King Edward on his deathbed named Godwin’s son, Harold , as his successor. However William, duke of Normandy, claimed that the crown had already been promised to him . William led an invasion and killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

Edward was canonized in 1161. Ht was nicknamed the Confessor because of his piety.

Harold II, the Last Anglo-Saxon King.

The last Anglo – Saxon king of England was Harold II ( 1020-66). Son of Godwin, he inherited his father’s earldom in 1053. In 1063, Harold and his brother subjugated Wales.

On his deathbed Edward the Confessor left the throne to Harold.

A strong ruler and a skilled general, Harold held the crown for only nine months. William Duke of Normandy , claimed the English throne insisting that Edward had promised it to him.

William crossed the English Channel with his Norman troops and landed in England in September 1066. Harold attacked him near Hastings and was killed in battle.

Test paper 1.

1 . Put in the missing prepositions.

1. The Celts migrated … the British Isles … the Continent.

2. Druidic rites were held … clearings … oak forests .

3. Hadrian’s Wall extended … at least 74 miles.

4. The wall was a defensive measure … the Scots and Picts.

5. The wall was named … the Emperor Hadrian.

6. St Alban suffered … the Emperor Diocletian.

7. Offa founded an abbey … the site of Alban’s execution.

8. The city of St Albans grew up … the abbey.

9. The chronicle speaks … Arthur’s victories … the Saxons.

10. Alfred repelled several Danish attacks … Wessex.

2. Make nouns from the verbs using the suffixes -al, -ance, -ant, -ion, -ment.

1. achieve 2 arrive 3. calculate 4. civilize

5. crucify 6. dominate 7. educate 8. excavate,

9. execute. 10. fortify. 11. found. 12. inhabit.

13. introduce. 14. invade. 15. migrate. 16. move.

17. proclaim. 18. profess. 19. promote. 20. Reject.

3. Put the verbs in brackets in the passive voice.

1. Iron ( introduce) around 700 BC.

2. The giants (put) at the gate of Brutus’ palace.

3. The wooden effigies can (see) in the Guildhall , London.

4. Some uprights still (link) by horizontal lintels on top.

5. The stones (arrange) in a circle.

6. Stonehenge could (use) for astronomical calculations.

7. Druidic rites (hold) in clearings in oak forests.

8. St George (proclaim) patron saint of England.

9. It (think) that the execution took place in AD 303.

10. St George (believe, martyr) under Diocletian.

4. Select the correct answer.

1. Boudicca’s army was defeated and she … .

a) was beheaded

b) was crucified.

c) poisoned herself

2. The Jutes established a Kingdom in … .

a) Central Britain

b) Kent

c) Scotland

3. The Synod of Whitby rejected … .

a) Celtic Christianity

b) Roan Rule

c) Viking overlordship

4. The seven Anglo –Saxon Kingdoms were united under the

overlordship of … .

1. Mercia

2. Essex

3. Britons

5. Alfred defeated the … at the Battle of Edington.

a) Picts

b) Danes

c) Britons

6. The last Anglo-Saxon king of England was … .

a) Edward the Confessor

b) Harold II

c) Godwin

7. England was Largely Christianized by … .

a) St Augustine

b) St George

c) St Patrick

A n s w e r K e y .

Test paper I.

1. 1. to, from. 2. in, in. 3. for. 4. against 5. after. 6. under. 7. on. 8. round.

9. of. over. 10. on.

2. 1. achievement. 2. arrival. 3. calculation. 4. civilization. 5. crucifixion.

6. dominance. 7. education. 8. excavation. 9. execution. 10. fortification.

11. foundation. 12. inhabitant. 13 introduction. 14. invasion. 15. migration.

16. movement. 17. proclamation. 18. profession. 19. promotion. 20 rejection.

3. 1. was introduced. 2. were put. 3. can be seen. 4. are still linked.

5. are arranged. 6. could have been used. 7. were held. 8. was proclaimed .

9. is thought. 10. is believed to have been martyred.

1. 1.c. 2. b. 3. a. 4. c. 5 . b. 6. b. 7. a

T H E N O R M A N S .

William I and His Sons.

On the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, claimed the English throne. He led an invasion and defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings. Crowned as King William I of England, he crushed the Saxon resistance and transferred most of the land to his Norman followers. He introduced into England a new social system , feudalism , and organized a strong central government.

William became known in history as the Conquer. Born in 1027, William died in France in 1087 after a fall from his horse.

William II (1056-1100) , the 3-d son of William I, inherited England in 1087. He spent much of his reign trying to conquer Normandy from his brother Robert. He crushed a few baronial revolts. William was killed, perhaps by design, while hunting.

Henry I (1068-1135), the youngest son of William I, succeeded his brother William II in 1100. Henry was a skillful administrator and intelligent monarch who brought about order and progress.

The Normans.

The Normans or Norsemen, were descended from Vikings who had settled in northern France. In 911, they accepted the French king as their overlord and were granted the area known as Normandy. The Normans converted to Christianity and adopted the French language and culture.

In 1066, the Normans, led by William, duke of Normandy , crossed the English Channel, landed in the south and defeated the army of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. They conquered England and then made raids on Scotland . By 1100 the Normans controlled most of Wales.

Hastings: Holiday resort in Sussex on the English Channel . The Battle of Hastings between the invading Normans and the English under Harold II took place 6 miles inland. It was fought on 14 October, 1066.

Domesday Book: Survey of the land holiday in England . King William I sent commissioners into each shire, or county , to make a survey of all the estates. They made elaborate accounts fro which rthe King’s clerks compiled, in 1086, a summary in two large volumes. The survey, known officially as the “description of England” , received the popular name Domesday Book, that is , the book of the last judgement . The survey enable d the king to demand taxes from each shire in proportion to how rich it was.

Tower of London

Royal fortress and London landmark on the north bank of the river Thames. The central keep , known as the White Tower , was begun in 1078 on the site of British And Roan fortifications. It was one of the earliest Norman castles. The White tower is surrounded by two strong walls. The inner wall has 13 towers , of which the best known are the Bloody tower , the Beauchamp tower and the Wakefield tower. The outer wall, with six towers and two bastions, is surrounded by a moat , now dry. The main entrance is nicknamed traitors’ Gate because numerous prisoners were brought through it to the tower , which was used as a state prison. Any prisoners were murdered or executed there, either on Tower Green or outside the castle on tower Hill. Among them were Thomas More, Walter Raleigh, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, Essex, Strafford and Monmouth. The Tower was Royal residence until the 17^th century. It has also housed the Royal Mint , the Royal Observatory, the Public Records and the Royal Menagerie. The British Crown jewels and regalia are on display in the jewel House. The Tower’s museum of armoury is a fine collections of arms and armour from the early Middle Ages to modern times. There is a Resident Governor , who lives in the Queen’s House on Tower Green. The Governor is in charge of the Yeomen Warders, or beefeaters , as they are popularly called. The Yeomen Warders have a number of ceremonial duties which include a daily pared and the ritual ceremony of locking the tower for the night at 10 pm.

The Plantagenets

Henry II (1133-89) was the first of the Plantagenet Kings. Plantagenet comes from the Latin planta genista (broom Plant) , the emblem of Henry’s father , Geoffery Planta genet, count of Anjou. King Henry curbed the power of the barons changed the legal system introducing hearings in proper courts. Henry wanted priests to be tried in civil courts instead of Church courts, but was opposed by Thomas Becket , Archbishop of Canterbury. The King’s conflict with the Church brought about the murder of the Archbishop: four of Henry’s knights killed Becket in 1170.

Richard I and King John

Richard I (1157-99) , the third son of Henry II, twice rebelled against his father. He succeeded to the crown of England in 1189. Richard joined the 3^rd crusade (1191-92) and was nicknamed the Lionheart (Арыстанжүрек) for courage. On his way to back to England, he was captured by the Duke of Austria and was held as a prisoner until a large ransom was raised . His later years were spent in warfare in France where he died while besieging a French fortress.

John (1167-1216) the youngest son of Henry II, came to the throne in 1199 after Richard’s death. He lost almost all English possessions in France hence his nickname Lackland ( Жерсіз). John clashed with the Pope over the choice of a new archbishop and the Pope excommunicated him in 1208. He angered the barons who rebelled and made him sing Magna Carta in 1215.

Edward I

Edward I (1239-1307), the eldest son of Henry III, commanded the royal forces that defeated Simon de Montfort in 1265. Edward succeeded to the throne in 1272. He established English rule in Wales and attempted to extend it to Scotland , but the Scots under the leadership of Wallace and Bruce resisted fiercely the English invasion.

Edward’s reign the English Parliament acquired roughly the form which it has today. From 1295 each town and country sent two spokesmen to a meeting called a parliament; the word Parliament comes from the French parler which means to speak.

The Principality of Wales

The principality of Wales is a component country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Wales occupies a peninsula jutting westwards from England into the Irish Sea. The administrative boundary with England was established in 1536 as part of the act of Union that linked England with Wales . The Native language, welsh, is spoken today by less than one-fifth of the population. The capital city is Cardiff.

The title of Prince of Wales was first granted to Prince Edward in 1301. Since that time it has been normally conferred on the monarch’s eldest son. Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth’s son , was invested as the 21^st Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle in 1969.

The Hundred Years’ War

The Hundred years’ war was a series of military actions between England and France which lasted from 1337 to 1328. In 1328 the French king died without an heir and Edward III claimed the French crown. War broke out in 1337 and at first the English were victorious at the Battles of Crecy (1346 ), Calais (1347) and Poitiers (1356). After 1369 the French prevailed and when Edward III died in 1377, only Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne were in English hands.

Henry V renewed the struggle. He invaded France in 1415 and routed the French at the battle of Agincourt : after 3 hours of fighting about 1,500 French knights and 4,500 men-at-arms were killed. The French heroine Joan of Arc raised the siege of Orleans in 1429 and French continued their successful counter-offensive until 1453 when the war ended and Calais remained The only English possession in France.

The Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were the civil wars, fought in 1455-85 between the rival houses of York and Lancaster for the possession of the English throne. The Lancastrians used the red rose as the badge and the Yorkists’ emblem was the white rose.

The strife began in the reign of Henry VI of house of Lancaster. The first battle was fought at St Albans in 1455 and the Yorkists, led by Richard of York , defeated their rivals.

The Lancastrians were crushed again in 1461 at Towton and the Yorkist claimant acceded to the throne as Edward IV. A temporary Lancastrian restoration took place in 1470-71 when Henry VI regained the crown .

The Yorkist rule ended in 1485 with the death of Richard II . Henry Tudor , a Lancastrian , defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth and became Henry VII. He married the Princess Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the two Houses.

Test paper 2

1. Put in the missing prepositions.

1. William transferred most of the land … his followers.

2. Henry II tried to establish his control … the church.

3. Their long quarrel ended … Becket’s murder.

4. Richard I was nicknamed the Lionheart … his courage.

5. He was captured … his way back to England.

6. Richard was held prisoner … a large ransom was paid.

7. His Later years were spent … warfare in France.

8. The French regained control … the English Dominions.

9. The Scots … Bruce defeated the English in 1314.

10. Cade led a rebellion … the government of Henry VI.

1. Make appropriate nouns from the verbs in brackets.

1. William led an (invade).

2. He crashed the Saxon (resist).

3. He gave most of the land to his Norman (follow).

4. His reign marked the (establish) of feudalism in England.

5. The (compile) of the Domesday Book took place in 1086.

6. It was a (describe) of English land holdings.

7. After Wallace’s (execute) Robert the Bruce rose again.

8. The Scots Under his (lead) defeated the English in 1314.

9. The (arrive) of fresh troops decided the battle.

10. A temporary Lancastrian (restore) took place in 1470.

1. Put the verbs in brackets in the simple past using the active or passive voice.

1. The Duke of Normandy claim) the English throne.

2. The English (defeat) at the Battle of Hastings.

3. William (crown) as King William I of England.

4. The Domesday Book ( compile) in 1086.

5. William II (kill) while Hunting.

6. Richard I ( capture) on his return Journey.

7. John (oblige) to accept and sing Magna Carta.

8. Becket (murder) in Canterbury Cathedral.

9. The battle (fight) near Towton on 29 March , 1461.

10. Edward and his brother (shut up) in the Tower.

1. Select the correct answer.

1. King John sealed … .

a. the doesday Book

b. Magna Carta

c. a peace treaty with France

2. John lost almost all English possessions in France hence his

nickname … .

a. the Lionheart

b. Lackland

c. the Black Prince

3. Henry V defeated the French at the Battle of … .

a. Crecy

b. Poitiers

c. Agincourt

4. The Lancastrian badge was the … .

a. shamrock

b. red rose

c. white rose

5. Jack Cade’s Insurgents rebelled against … .

a. high taxes and prices

b. the roll tax

c. Henry III’s misrule

6. The Battle of Towton was Fought … .

a. north of London

b. in Yorkshire

c. near Eton

7 they reserve scholarships for some … at Cambridge University.

a. Edwardians

b. Edonians

c. Lancastrians

Answer Key

I 1. to 2. over .3. with. 4. for. 5.on. 6. until . 7. in 8. over. 9. under

10. against.

II. 1. invasion. 2. resistance. 3. followers. 4. establishment 5. compilation.

6. description 7. execution. 8. leadership. 9. arrival. 10. restoration.

III 1. claimed. 2. were defeated 3. was crowned. 4. was compiled.

5. was killed. 6. was captured . 7 was obliged . 8. was murdered.

9. was fought. 10. were shut up.

IV. 1.b. 2. b. 3. c. 4. b 5. a. 6. b. 7. b.

T H E T U D O R S

The House of Tudor

The reign of the royal dynasty of Tudor extended from 1485 to 1603. Henry VII was the first Tudor monarch. He was succeeded by Henry VIII and then followed Henry VIII’s children by different wives: Edward VI;

Mary I and Elizabeth I, the last of the line.

Henry VII (1457-1509) , the first king of the Tudor dynasty, lived in France until 1485 , when he landed in England , raised a rebellion and defeated and killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. To secure his hold on the throne , he married Edward IV’s daughter Elizabeth of York.. He put down two rebellions and restored order after the wars of the Roses by means of the Star Chamber. He imposed heavy fines and accumulated a large fortune. Henry avoided foreign wars. He made Peace treaties with Spain , France and Scotland.

Henry VIII (1491-1547) succeeded his father Henry VII in 1509 and married Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his elder brother Arthur. During the first years of his reign he was active in foreign policy, largely under the guidance of Cardinal Wolsey. Henry disgraced him, however, in 1529, when Wolsey had failed to persuade the Pope to grant Henry a divorce from Catherine.

With Parliament’s approval Henry renounced the papal supremacy, proclaimed himself Head of the Church and dissolved the monasteries. Henry had six wives. Catherine of Aragon, the mother of the future Queen Mary I, was divorced in 1533 and the king married Anne Boleyn who was executed in 1536 for alleged adultery. Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, died in 1537 in childbirth. Then the king married and quickly divorced Anne of Cleves, beheading Thomas Cromwell, his chief assis­tant, who had found him the bride.

Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was executed in 1542 and the following year Henry married Catherine Parr, who outlived him.

Thomas More

Томас Mop

Thomas More (1478-1535), a writer and statesman, was favoured by Henry VIII who employed him on foreign embassies. In 1523, More became Speaker of the House of Commons and in 1529 he succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor. A devout Catholic, More refused to recognize Henry VIII as Head of the Church and the king had him imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed. More’s «Utopia», written in Latin in 1516, describes an ideal state. Thomas More was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1935 Thomas

Church of England Also called the Anglican Church, it originated during the Roman occupation in the 2nd century AD. The Celtic Christian church fused later with the missionary church of St Augustine who founded the See of Canterbury in 597. At the Reforma­tion, Henry VIII replaced the Pope, assuming the right to appoint arch­bishops and bishops. In England, the Church is organized into 2 ecclesi­astical provinces, Canterbury and York. The provinces are headed By the Archbishops. Each province is divided respectively into 29 and 14 bishoprics. Rus: Англиканская церковь.

Reformation The movement which ended the religious unity of Western Europe and resulted in the establishment of the Prot­estant churches. The Reformation began in Germany in 1517 with Mar­tin Luther’s protest against the sale of indulgencies. The English Refor­mation was begun during the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry repudi­ated the authority of the Popes in 1534 and dissolved the monasteries. Protestantism was established under Edward VI. After a reaction during Mary’s reign, the process was completed by Elizabeth I. The Scottish Reformation triumphed in 1560. Rus: Реформация

Elizabeth I

Елизавета I

Elizabeth (1533-1603) was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She lived in retirement in the reign of her half-sister Mary, whom she succeeded in 1558. Elizabeth enforced the Reformation and in 1570 Pope Pius V excommunicated her. Elizabeth confronted Catho­lic Spain, encouraging English seamen to raid Spanish colonies in America and intercept Spanish treasure-fleets. •

The Dutch rebelled against Spanish rule in 1585 and Elizabeth sent an army to help them. Philip II of Spain retaliated by supporting Catho­lic conspiracies in England. Mary, Queen of Scots, became involved in one of the plots and Elizabeth had her tried and beheaded in 1587. Philip’s Armada, sent in 1588 «to punish the English heretics», was annihilated by the English off the coast of France.

The arts flourished under Elizabeth’s patronage and her long reign, called the Elizabethan Age, is considered to be the high point of the English Renaissance.

Francis Drake (1540-96)

Most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan Age, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. I le made a few voyages to the West Indies and in 1572 obtained from the Queen a commission, which allowed him to plunder in the Spanish American colonies. He returned to England with a considerable booty. In 1577, Drake sailed in the «Golden Hind» round the world, plunder­ing Spanish ships on his way, and completed the circumnavigation in about 3 years. When the Spanish ambassador demanded Drake’s pun­ishment, Queen Elizabeth knighted him on the deck of the «Golden Hind». He made a raid on the Spanish naval base at Cadiz in 1587. This attack delayed the sailing of the Armada for a year. During the fight with the Armada in the English Channel (1588) he served as a vice-admiral in the «Revenge». Drake sailed on his last expedition to the West Indies in I 595 and died at sea, off Puerto Bello, Panama. Rus: Фрэнсис Дрейк

The Spanish Armada

Испанская Армада

Philip II of Spain built a vast fleet, called the Armada , in order to invade England. It comprised 129 ships which were manned by 8,000 sailors and carried 19,000 soldiers and 2,000 cannon. In July 1588, the Armada was sighted off the coast of Cornwall: the ships were sailing in a crescent seven miles long from horn to horn. The English fleet awaited it off Plymouth. A general battle took place off the French coast. The celebrated seamen Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher took part in the fight­ing. The English sent fire-ships and set many Spanish ships on fire. A gale from the northeast helped to scatter the Armada. What remained of the Spanish fleet escaped round the north of Scotland and west of Ireland, suffering many losses on the way by storm and shipwreck.

Mary Stuart

Мария Стюарт

Mary Stuart (1542-87) was the only child of King James V of Scotland and his French wife. Mary inherited the Scottish crown on her lather’s death when she was only six days old. At the age of five she was sent to France, where she married the dauphin, later Francis II. After his

death Mary returned to Scotland.

Her marriage to the Earl of Darnley in 1565 did not last long and ended dramatically. Darnley instigated the murder of Mary’s secretary Rizzio, and in 1567 he was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy formed by the Earl of Bothwell. It provoked a rebellion among the Scottish nobles.

Mary abdicated and fled to England. Elizabeth I held her a prisoner, while the Roman Catholics formed several plots to place her on the English throne. Mary’s involvement in the conspiracies led to her trial and execution. She is usually called Mary, Queen of Scots.

TESTPAPER 3

I. Put in the missing prepositions.

1. Henry Tudor landed… England.

2. He defeated Richard III …the Battle of Bosworth.

3. Henry restored order… means of the Star Chamber.

4. Henry VIII had a few children … different wives.

5. Enemies plotted … the new Tudor dynasty.

6. Henry VIII was active… foreign policy.

7. He acted largely… the guidance of Cardinal Wolsey.

8. The Pope did not grant him a divorce … Catherine.

9. James IV unified Scotland … royal control.
10, His reign was disturbed … wars with England.

II. Put in the missing prepositions,

1. Relations… England and Scotland were stabilized.

2. James IV came… conflict with Henry VIII.

3. Edward VI succeeded his father … the age often.

4. He wanted to prevent his sister Mary… becoming queen.

5. Lady Jane Grey was accused… high treason.

6. There was a plot to place her… the throne.

7. An insurrection broke out… the leadership of Wyatt.

8. Mary revived the laws … heresy.

9. Many Protestants were burned … the stake.
10. The Bible was translated … Latin … English.

III. Make appropriate nouns from the verbs in brackets.

1. At first Henry acted under the (guide) of Wolsey.

2. Tyndale was a religious (reform) and (translate).

3. Wolsey had a rapid (advance) under Henry VIII.

4. The Anglican Church dates from the Roman (occupy).

5. The youth was a (support) of the Reformation.

6. Edward yielded to Northumberland’s (persuade).

7. He named Lady Jane Grey his (succeed).

8. Wyatt’s (intend) was to crown Lady Jane Grey.

9. Cranmer was an (advise) to Henry VIII and Edward VI.
   10. The Reformation ended the religious (unite) of Europe.

IV. Select the correct answer.

1. Henry VII restored order after the …

a. Hundred Years’ War b. Wars of the Roses c. Peasants’ Revolt

2. Perkin Warbeck was a … to the English throne.

a. successor b. pretender c. contender

3. The Anglican Church originated during the….

a. Roman occupation b. Middle Ages c. Reformation

4.Henry VIII dissolved ….

a. the Star Chamber b. monasteries c. Parliament

5. Drake was the first Englishman to ….

a. visit Japan b. circumnavigate the globe c. sail in the Caribbean

6. The Lord Chancellor is ….

a. an ecclesiastic b. the Speaker of the House of Lords c. the head of the Cabinet

. 7. Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed for ….

a. murdering her secretary b. involvement in a conspiracy ‘ c. killing her husband

The Stuarts

The House of Stuart

Дом Стюартов

The House of Stuart was the royal dynasty of Scotland from 1371 шні of England from 1603. James VI, King of Scots, inherited the Eng­lish throne through his great-grandmother Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII. In 1603, after the death of Elizabeth I, he was crowned as King James I of England.

James’s son, Charles I, was deposed and after his execution in 1649 the Stuarts were excluded from the throne until the restoration of Charles

II in 1660.

Charles II was succeeded in 1685 by his brother James II. James, a Ionian Catholic, alienated Parliament and the nation, and in 1688 William, Prince of Orange, was invited to come «to the rescue of the laws «lid religion of England». James II fled and spent the rest of his life in « чііс. The Act of Settlement, passed in 1701, denied the crown to any Roman Catholic, and James’s descendants were excluded from the throne.

But the Stuarts still ruled in England and Scotland, as William was the son of Charles II’s sister, and his wife Mary was James II’s elder daughter. They became joint sovereigns as William III and Mary II. They left no issue and the Act of Settlement secured the succession to Mary’s sister Anne. The Stuart line ended in 1714 with Queen Anne’s death. She had no children and according to the Act of Settlement the crown passed to George of the House of Hanover.

The first of the Stuarts on the English throne was James I (1566-1625), the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley. He was proclimed King of Scotland as James VI on his mother’s abdication in I567.He succeeded to the English throne in 1603 on the death of Eliza­beth I, His reign saw the Gunpowder Plot (1605) and the publication of the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611). James was a strong advocate of royal absolutism and his conflicts with Parliament resulted later in the dethronement of his successor, Charles I.

Gunpowder Plot

Пороховой заговор

The Gunpowder Plot was a conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill James I. Robert Catesby, a zealous Roman Catholic, and the other conspirators were angered by James’s refusal to grant more religious toleration to Catholics in England. They rented a cellar that extended under Westminster Palace. Guy Fawkes concealed 20 barrels of gunpowder in the cellar. The explosion was planned for 5 November, 1605. The government learnt about the plot and Fawkes was discovered in the cellar on the night of 4 November. He revealed the names of his accomplices under torture. Catesby and three others were killed while resisting arrest. The rest were tried and executed. In January 1606, Par­liament established 5 November as a day of public thanksgiving. Guy Fawkes Day is still celebrated with bonfires and fireworks. «Guys», effi­gies of Guy Fawkes, are carried through the streets and burned.

Charles I (1600-49). He succeeded James I, his father, in 1625. He attempted to rule without Parliament, dissolving it in 1625 and 1626, and finally arresting its leaders in 1638. The nation was alien­ated by his taxation and the activities of the Star Chamber, which sup­pressed opposition. The Long Parliament, which met on 3 November, 1640, abolished the Star Chamber and voted that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. Charles withdrew from London in 1642 and declared war on Parliament. His army was defeated at Naseby in June 1645 and Charles surrendered, in May 1646, to the Scots, who handed him over, the following year, to Parliament. In 1649, the House of Commons set up a high court of justice, which tried Charles I and condemned him to death. He was beheaded on 30 Junuary, 1649, in front of the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall. Rus: Чарльз I.

Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628) Royal favourite and statesman who virtually ruled England during the last years of King James I and the opening years of the reign of Charles I. Buckingham persuaded James to go to war with Spain, but the expedition he sent against the port of Cadiz in 1625 was so poorly organized that it disinte­grated before it could storm the city. In June 1627, Buckingham person­ally took command of an English force sent to relieve La Rochelle, a Protestant stronghold in France. After 4 months of fighting with French government troops his shattered army was compelled to withdraw. Par­liament tried to force Charles to dismiss the favourite, but the king was loyal to his friend. Buckingham was assassinated at Portsmouth while he was organizing another expedition to La Rochelle. Buckingham’s aggres­sive foreign policy and quarrels with Parliament increased the tensions that led to the Civil War. Rus: герцог Бакингем.

Oliver Cromwell

Оливер Кромвель

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was a military leader and statesman of outstanding gifts. He was one of the leading generals on the parliamentary side in the Civil War. He defeated the royalists at Marston Moor (1644) with his well-disciplined cavalry troops, which were called «Ironsides» by Cromwell’s rivals. The Ironsides formed the core of the New Model Army and they inflicted a decisive defeat on the royal forces at Naseby (1645).

Oliver Cromwell was a member of the commission, which tried King Charles I and condemned him to death. Under a constitution, drawn up by the army leaders, Cromwell assumed the title of Protector, with al­most royal powers. He ruled the republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1653 to 1658. Cromwell raised England’s sta­tus to that of a leading European power. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, but his body was removed in 1661 after the Restoration

Christopher Wren (1632-1723). Eminent architect. He studied mathematics and later taught astronomy at Oxford. His opportunity as an architect came after the Great Fire of London. Wren pre pared a plan for rebuilding the City, but had to satisfy himself with re building dozens of London’s churches. His main achievement was S Paul’s Cathedral erected in 1675-1720. The most noteworthy of his City churches are St Michael’s, St Bride’s and St Mary-le-Bow. His other buildings include the Royal Exchange, Marlborough House and the Chelsea Hospital. Wren’s works outside London are the Sheldonian Theatre and Queen’s College library at Oxford.

Rus: Кристофер Рен.

St Paul’s Cathedral

Biggest cathedral of the Church of England. Designed by Christopher Wren, it was constructed between 1675 and 1710. The building replaced Old St Paul’s, completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The church is 111.3 m high and dome is 34 m in diameter. Many eminent people are buried in St Maul’s, including Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Christopher Wren himself. Rus: собор Св. Павла.

Great Fire of London Worst fire in London’s history. It broke out accidentally in a baker’s shop in Pudding Lane near t London Bridge. It started on 2 September, 1666, and raged for 4 days.

The fire destroyed a large part of the City of London, including old St i ‘dill’s Cathedral. About 100,000 people were made homeless before the fire was finally mastered.

Rus: Великий лондонский пожар

Monument Column 202 feet high, designed by Christopher Wren and constructed in 1671-77 to commemorate the Great fire of London. When the Monument was erected, the inscription on the column ascribed the Fire to «the treachery and malice of the popish

faction.» The inscription stood until 1831, when the words were erased as objectionable.

Rus: Памятник.

Greenwich Borough of Greater London. It became famous because of the Royal Observatory founded there in 1675. The first Nau­tical Almanac, published by the Astronomer Royal in 1767 for the use of navigators and astronomers, was based on the meridian that passes through Greenwich. In 1884, the Greenwich meridian was accepted a the prime meridian of the world: its longitude is marked as 0°. The «Cutty Sark», the celebrated tea clipper, is moored at Greenwich and preserved as a museum of sail. Rus: Гринвич.

Queen Anne

Королева Анна

Queen Anne [am] (1665-1714) succeeded William III in 1702. She was influenced by Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, who persuaded Anne to desert her father, James II, for her brother-in-law, William of Orange, during the revolution of 1688.

One of the outstanding events of her reign was the War of the Spanish Succession, fought for the Spanish crown. The chief claimant was Louis XIV of France, who wanted to place his son on the Spanish throne An anti-French alliance, formed in 1701, included England, the Dutch Republic, Prussia, Hanover and Portugal. The Duke of Marlborough won a few victories from 1704 to 1709 and the Battle of Blenheim was his greatest success. The army of 52,000 English and Austrian troop defeated the French and Bavarians numbered 60,000. The Franco-Bavarian army suffered heavy losses with about 18,000 killed and wounded

Another historic event of Anne’s reign was the union of the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707.

TEST PAPER 4

I. Put in the missing prepositions.

1. James Stuart was proclaimed king… his mother’s abdication.

2. His policy resulted… the fall of his successor, Charles I.

3. Thousands of settlers were introduced … Ulster from Britain.

4. Bacon was accused of taking presents …suitors.

5. According to the Act, the crown passed… George.

6. A king cannot abdicate… the consent of Parliament.

7. He revealed the names of his accomplices …torture.

8. Fairfax retired… politics.

9. He did not serve… the commission that tried Charles.
10. The term Puritan came… use after 1564.

. Put the verbs in the simple past using the active or passive voice

1. James (inherit) the English throne.

2. In 1603, he (crown) as King James I of England.

3. The Stuarts (exclude) from the throne.

4. James (alienate) Parliament and the nation.

5. The Prince of Orange (invite) to replace him.

6. James (flee) and (spend) the rest of his life in exile.

7. The fire (break) out accidentally in a bakery.

8. The fire (destroy) a large part of the City of London.

9. Many people (make) homeless before the fire (master).
10. The Monument (erect) in 1671-77.

111. Make appropriate nouns from the verbs in brackets.

1. The (inscribe) on the column was later erased.

2. The (disappear) of plague was attributed to the Great Fire.

3. The Whig (oppose) wanted Monmouth to succeed.

4. Greenwich is famous because of the Royal (observe).

5. It was transferred as London’s smoke obscured (observe).

6. Dampier accomplished a third (circumnavigate) in 1707.

7. The chief (claim) to the throne was Louis XIV.

8. An anti-French (ally) was formed in 1701.

9. At the (revolve) of 1688 he deserted James II.

10. He was granted an estate in (recognize) of his services.

IV. Select the correct answer.

1. Cromwell’s cavalry troops were called the…

a. Roundheads *’

b. Cavaliers

c. Ironsides

2. The post of the Chancellor of the Exchequer corresponds to the…

-•i other countries.

a. Minister of Finance

b. Prime Minister

c. Secretary of State

3. The «Mayflower» sailed from …, England.

a. London

b. Plymouth 1

c. Southhampton

4. The Act of Settlement assigned the crown to the House of… in . «• Queen Anne died without issue.

a.Tudor

b.Stuart

c. Hanover

5. The highest point in the British Isles is ….

a. Ben Nevis

b.Big Ben

6. The… is included in the Union Flag of the United Kingdom.

c. Castle Rock

The 18th Century

The House of Hanover

Ганноверская династия

The House of Hanover is a royal British dynasty of Ger man origin. It is descended from George Louis, elector of Hanover, who came to the British throne in 1714 as George I.

The Hanoverian [,һагпоиМәгіәп] dynasty provided six monarchs George I (reigned 1714-27), George II (1727-60), George III (1760-1820) George IV (1820-30), William IV (1830-37) and Victoria (1837-1901) It was succeeded by the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which was re named the House of Windsor in 1917.

The first two Georges were considered foreigners, especially by man Scots, and the Stuart claimants twice tried to return to power. The Jacobite rising of 1715 was headed by James Edward, the Old Pretender, and of 1745 his son, Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, led an abortive re- bellion. The electorate of Hanover, the home country of the dynasty was joined to the British crown until 1837.

The Royal Society

Королевское общество

The Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowl­edge was founded in 1660 and it is one of the oldest scientific societies in Europe. Among the eminent members of the Society were the math­ematician John Wallis, the physicist Robert Hooke, the architect Chris­topher Wren. Isaac Newton was elected to the Society in 1671 and Edmond Halley, the astronomer, in 1678. In 1768, the Society spon­sored the first scientific expedition to the Pacific, under James Cook, and in 1919 it sent an expedition to photograph the solar eclipse of 29 May from Principe Island in the Gulf of Guinea, which verified Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Five medals are awarded by the Society every year. One of them is the Copley Medal, the most honoured scientific award in Great Britain. The membership in the Royal Society includes more than 1,000 fellows and 90 foreign members.

The War of the Austrian Succession

Война за австрийскую корону

The War of the Austrian Succession broke out in 1740 when Prussia invaded Silesia, one of Austria’s provinces. The invasion was supported by France. At the same time Austria was at war with Spain over control of northern Italy.

In 1741, Britain joined the War by allying with Austria against France in order to protect the balance of power. A British army was sent in support of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria. The army won a major victory over the French at Dettingen in Bavaria. It was led by George II and it the last time that a British king commanded on the battlefield.

The War ended in 1748. Britain had prevented the domination of
France in Europe.

The Battle of Culloden

Каллоденское сражение

Culloden is a stretch of moorland in the county of Inver­ness, Scotland. The last battle of the Jacobite rebellion, led by Charles Edward Stuart, was fought there on 16 April, 1746. His army of 5,000 Highlanders was defeated by the British troops under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. About 1,000 of the Young Pretender’s army were killed. Prince Charles fled and wandered over Scotland for 5 months, | hunted by troops and spies, before escaping to France and final exile.

British Museum One of the most famous museums ­ in the world, it has vast collections of sculptures, antiquities, prints and drawings, coins and medals. It also has a colossal library of books and manuscripts. The museum was created by an Act of Parliament in 1753, when the art collection and library of Hans Sloane were acquired by the government for £20,000. The museum and library were opened to the public in 1759. The present building was built in 1823-52. Rus: Британский музей.

The Royal Academy of Arts

Королевская академия искусств

The Academy is a self-governing society founded in London in 1768 by George III to encourage the fine arts (painting, sculpture and archi­tecture). The first president of the Academy was Joshua Reynolds. The membership of the Academy is limited to 80 Royal Academicians, all of I hem painters, sculptors, architects or engravers. There are annual Royal Academy exhibitions for the works of contemporary artists

James Cook [‘d3eimz’kuk] (1728-79) Navigator and explorer. He Joined the Royal Navy in 1755 and in 1768 was given command of an expedition to the South Pacific to observe the transit of the planet Venus across the Sun. He reached Tahiti in 1769, then sailed round New Zealand charting its coasts. He made a detailed survey of the east coast of Australia, naming Botany Bay because of the interesting plants found on its shores. In 1772, Cook set out on his second voyage, revisiting New Caledon and discovering, among others, New Caledonia and Norfolk Inland. The object of his third expedition (1776) with the «Resolution» and «Discovery» was to find the northwest passage from the Pacific end. I le reached as far as the Bering Strait, when the way was blocked by ice. Cook was murdered at Hawaii, where his ships anchored early in 1779. One of the boats was stolen by the natives and Cook was clubbed in a scuffle on the beach when trying to recover it. Rus: Джеймс Кук.

The War of American Independence

Война североамериканских колоний за независимость

During the 17th century England founded 13 colonies along the east­ern coast of North America. By the end of the 18th century the colonists grew to resent British control and this led to the War of Independence and resulted in the establishment of the USA.

The first shots of the revolt were fired on 19 April, 1775, at Lexing­ton, where British troops, sent to seize illegal military stores, were at­tacked by the local militia. The first battle was fought later that year at Bunker Hill. George Washington was appointed to command the Ameri­can forces and on 4 July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was issued. An American assault on Quebec was repulsed, but a British force surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga.

In the summer of 1778, France and Spain entered the war as America’s allies. Peace negotiations opened in 1782 and Britain recognized Ameri­can independence in September 1783.

The 19th Century

Horatio Nelson

Горацио Нельсон

Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) was an admiral and the naval commander in the wars with France. He entered the Navy in 1770 and from 1793 to 1800 was almost continuously on active service in the Mediterranean.

•* Nelson lost his right eye in 1794, leading an attack on a French fort, and he had his right arm amputated in 1797. He was awarded the rank of rear-admiral in 1797 for his share in the victory over a Spanish fleet off Cape St Vincent, where he served under Admiral John Jervis. In 1798, he tracked the French fleet to Aboukir Bay, Egypt, and destroyed most of it at the Battle of the Nile.

* Nelson was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral on his return to England and created a viscount after he defeated the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen. In 1803, he received the Mediterranean command and for nearly 2 years blockaded the French port of Toulon.

On 21 October, 1805, Nelson totally defeated the combined Spanish and French fleets off Cape Trafalgar, where he was killed by enemy fire on board the «Victory». His body was brought to London and buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Nelson is also known for his love affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton, while they both were married. Emma Hamilton (Эмма Хамильтон) was born in 1765. A beauty of humble birth, she became a courtesan and after several liaisons was married, in 1791, to William Hamilton, the British envoy at Naples.

y She met Nelson in 1798, when he returned to Naples from the Nile and their love affair became the talk of the contemporaries and poster­ity. After the death of her husband and lover, Lady Hamilton was im­prisoned for debt, but later escaped to France, where she died in 1815 in poor circumstances.

«Victory» Flagship of Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. Launched at Chatham in 1765, HMS «Victory» was a ship of the line with a length of 186 ft and a displacement of 2,162 tons. Armed with 100 guns, she had a crew of 850 men. She saw action during the War of American Independence and French Revolutionary wars. In 1782, she flew the flag of Admiral Richard Howe in the Mediterranean against France and its allies. In 1793, she served under Admiral Samuel Hood. In 1797, the «Victory» was the flagship of Admiral John Jervis at the Battle of Cape Saint Vincent. At the Battle of Trafalgar the «Victory» was Lord Nelson’s flagship and she led one of the two columns that cut the larger enemy fleet into three. Her signalman hoisted Nelson’s fa­mous signal «England expects that every man will do his duty.» Nelson’s last signal to the fleet was «Engage the enemy more closely» and the «Victory» herself attacked two French ships. A sharpshooter from the topmast of one of them fired the shot that mortally wounded Nelson. The admiral was carried below and put in the ship’s cockpit among the wounded. He heard the news of the victory before dying. The «Victory» carried Nelson’s body to London, where he was buried in St Paul’s Ca­thedral. She continued to serve until the 1830s, when she was withdrawn from service and moored at Portsmouth. In 1922, the ship was placed in a dry dock and restored to the condition she had under Nelson. Now she lies in the dock as a museum. Rus: «Победа».

Peninsular War That part of the Napoleonic Wars, which was fought in the Iberian Peninsula. In 1807, Napoleon invaded Portugal and Spain and placed his brother on the Spanish throne. Armed revolts followed all over the Peninsula and a British force under Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal and defeated the French at the Battle of Vimeiro. Then John Moore took command. He advanced into Spain, but was forced to retreat and evacuate his army. Wellesley took a new army to Portugal in 1809 and advanced on Madrid. During 1810-11, Wellesley, now Viscount Wellington, stood on the defensive. In 1812, he occupied Madrid and forced the French forces to leave southern Spain. In 1814, Wellington’s army entered France. The war was ended by Napoleon’s abdication. Rus: Иберийская война.

William IV

Уильям IV

William (1765-1837) was the third son of George III. He ascended the throne in 1830, succeeding his brother George IV.

William entered the Royal Navy at the age of 13, fought in the Ameri­can Revolution, and, while serving in the West Indies, formed a close friendship with the future naval hero Horatio Nelson; all of which led to his being nicknamed the «Sailor King».

In 1832, he accepted the Reform Act, which transferred representa­tion from depopulated «rotten boroughs» to industrialized districts, thus reducing the power of the British crown and the landowning aristocracy over the House of Commons.

William had ten illegitimate children by an actress. His marriage in 1818 to Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen produced two daughters, both of whom died in infancy, so on his death the British crown passed to his niece, Princess Victoria, who succeeded him in 1837 as Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria

Королева Виктория

Victoria (1819-1901) acceded to the throne in 1837 on the death of her uncle William IV. In 1840, she married prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, her cousin, and had four sons and five daughters by him. Prince Albert died in 1861 and for many years Victoria was in retirement, staying a good deal of time at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands and at Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, her favourite places, both designed

by Prince Albert.

She was proclaimed Empress of India in 1876 by Disraeli. During . her reign Britain’s colonial expansion reached its zenith, though the older dominions, such as Canada and Australia, were granted independence (1867 and 1901, respectively).

Her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 became a historical event in Britain.

Victoria died at Osborne House and was buried at Windsor.

National Gallery Art gallery housing the British na­tional collection of European paintings. It was founded in 1824, when Parliament voted £57,000 for the purchase of a private collection of 38 paintings. The new museum initially occupied a house in Pall Mall. The present building on the north side of Trafalgar Square, designed by Wil­liam Wilkins, was opened in 1838. The gallery has the biggest collection of Italian Renaissance paintings outside Italy and various painters from the 15th to the 19th century. Rus: Национальная галерея.

National Gallery Art gallery housing the British na­tional collection of European paintings. It was founded in 1824, when Parliament voted £57,000 for the purchase of a private collection of 38 paintings. The new museum initially occupied a house in Pall Mall. The present building on the north side of Trafalgar Square, designed by Wil­liam Wilkins, was opened in 1838. The gallery has the biggest collection of Italian Renaissance paintings outside Italy and various painters from the 15th to the 19th century. Rus: Национальная галерея.

Trafalgar Square The site was conceived originally as a square by John Nash and it was to be named after King William IV.

The more popular name Trafalgar Square was suggested later. The square & is dominated by Nelson’s Column erected in 1840-43. It stands 56 m

high and includes the statue of Nelson 5 m high. At the base of the f column there are 4 identical lions sculptured by Edwin Landseer. The

National Gallery lies along the north side of the square. Trafalgar Square 4 is associated with pigeons, political rallies and a large Christmas tree

sent each December from Norway. Rus: Трафальгарская пяощадь.

— ^U

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London symbolized the economic supremacy of Britain called «the work-shop of the world». The exhibition was housed in a huge glass and iron building nicknamed the Crystal Palace. The objects on display came from all parts of the world, including India and the countries with recent white settlements, such as Australia and New Zealand, that constituted the British Empire. Rus: Всемирная выставка.

Crimean War . War of 1853-55 between Russia and the allied powers of Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia. It was fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula where the allies landed in September 1854. They began a siege of Sevastopol, which lasted about a year. Major engagements were fought at the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman. On 11 September, 1855, the Russians blew up the forts, sank the ships of the Black Sea fleet and evacuated Sevastopol. Secondary operations of the war were conducted in the Caucasus and in the Baltic Sea. The British lost 19,600 men, most of them by disease. Rus: Крымская война.

The House of Windsor

Виндзорская династия

The royal dynasty of Windsor succeeded the House of Hanover on the death of its last representative, Queen Victoria, in 1901. From that year till 1917 it was known under the name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which was the dynastic name of Prince Albert, Victoria’s German husband.

During the anti-German atmosphere of World War I, George V de­clared by royal proclamation that all descendants of Queen Victoria in Britain would adopt the surname of Windsor.

The dynasty has included Edward VII (reigned 1901-10), George V (1910-36), Edward VIII (1936), George VI (1936-52) and the present queen, Elizabeth II, who was crowned in 1953.

George V .(1865-1936) Second son of Edward VII, he became heir to the English throne on the death of his elder brother in 1892. In 1893 he married Princess Mary and had 5 sons and a daughter. He succeeded his father in 1910. During World War I he visited the front in France several times and the public reaction was that of affec­tion and admiration. In 1917 he changed the official name of the reign­ing dynasty from the House of Saxe-Coburg to the House of Windsor. Besides the World War his reign saw the emergence of the Irish Free State and the first Labour government. Rus: Джордж V.

TEST PAPER 5

I. Put in the missing prepositions.

1. Walpole remained … power for twenty years.

2. George relied… Robert Walpole’s judgement.

3. The king died … a stroke on a trip to Hanover.

4. Newton busied himself… optics.

5. It was the last time a king commanded… the battlefield.

6. Flora was staying in the Hebrides… some friends.

7. Wolfe took part in an expedition … the French.

8. In 1772, Cook set out… his second voyage.

9. The square was to be named … King William IV.
10. Florence Nightingale was born … wealthy parents.

II. Put the verbs in the past using the active or passive voice.

1. The Jacobite rising of 1715 easily (suppress).

2. The shuttle (pass) through the threads by hand.

3. The attackers (force) the defenders to flee.

4. The weavers (riot) as the machinery (displace) them.

5. Moore (advance) into Spain, but (force) to retreat.

6. The bridge (open) in 1817 and (name) after Waterloo.

7. Victoria (proclaim) Empress of India in 1876.

8. It was in his government that the Mutiny (suppress).

9. Livingstone (choose) to lead an expedition to East Africa.
10. The «Titanic» (collide) with an iceberg.

III. Make appropriate nouns from the words in brackets.

1. The Victoria Cross is the highest decoration for (brave).

2. The (receive) add the letters VC after their names.

3. Britain’s colonial (expand) reached its zenith.

4. Her (manage) reduced the deathrate in the hospitals.

5. The book did not agree with the biblical story of (create).

6. Many soldiers died because of inefficient (treat).

7. «The Black Hole» was used for petty (offend).

8. Irish peasants refused to have (deal) with Boycott.

9. The Exhibition showed the economic (supreme) of Britain.
10. At the (collide) five compartments were ruptured.

IV. Select the correct answer.

1. The Victoria Falls were discovered by….

a. David Livingstone

b. James Cook

c. Samuel Baker

2. Nelson’s last signal to the fleet was ….

a. «England expects that every man will do his duty»

b. «Rule, Britannia»

c. «Engage the enemy more closely»

3. The steam locomotive, built’for the world’s first public railway,
was called the….

a. «Victory»

b. «Locomotion»

c. «Rocket»

4. Peel reformed the Tory party under the name of….

a. Labour

b. Liberal

c. Conservative

5. Darwin sailed round the world as naturalist on the….

a. «Discovery» f

b. «Beagle»

c. «Terror»

6. The Victoria Cross is made of….

a. bronze

b. gold

c. silver

7. …was nicknamed the Lady of the Lamp.

a. Grace Darling

b. Florence Nightingale

c. Emmeline Pankhurst

The 20th Century

Herbert Asquith (1852-1928). Liberal statesman and Prime Minister in 1908-16. Elected member of Parliament in 1886, he was Home Secretary in Gladstone’s cabinet. His governments enacted social reforms, including old-age pensions (1908), and limited the power of the House of Lords by the Parliament Act of 1911. Asquith led Britain during the first 2 years of World War I, but he had to give way to Lloyd George in 1916. At the 1918 election Asquith and his followers were heavily defeated and he lost his seat in Parliament. He resigned the lead­ership of the Liberals in 1926, following dissensions over the general strike. Asquith was created Earl of Oxford and Asquith in 1925. Rus: Херберт Асквит.

George Curzon [‘d3o:d3^fka:zn] (1859-1925) Conservative statesman and administrator. He was Viceroy of India in 1899-1905, a member of Lloyd George’s war cabinet in 1916-18, and Foreign Secretary in 1919-24. Rus: Джордж Керзон.

David Lloyd George [‘deivid’loid^fd3o:d3] (1863-1945) Liberal states­man. He was member of Parliament from 1890 to 1944 and as Chancel­lor of the Exchequer (1908-11) he introduced social insurance. The First World War obliged him to head a coalition government and he domi­nated the British political scene in the latter part of the war. He was subsequently one of the main figures at the Versailles peace conference. Lloyd George led a policy of intervention in Soviet Russia. He began negotiations with Irish nationalist parties and they culminated in Irish independence in December 1921. Rus: Дэвид Ллойд Джордж.

Labour Party Socialist political party that has strong links with the trade unions. It made its first appearance in the general election of 1892 as the Independent Labour Party. In 1900 it cooperated with the Trades Union Congress and the Fabian Society to establish the Labour Representation Committee, which took the name Labour Party in 1906. The party gained strength rapidly and joined in the coalition govern­ments of World War I. The general election of 1918 showed it to be the second largest party in the House of Commons, and by 1922 it was rec­ognized as the official Opposition. Rus: Лейбористская партия.

House of Commons The House of Commons was beginning to appear by the end of Edward Ill’s reign. The first known Speaker was elected in 1377. Proceedings are public, except on extremely rare occasions. By the Parliament Act of 1911, the maximum duration of both Houses is 5 years. The members of the House of Commons are elected by universal adult suffrage. The United Kingdom is divided into

: constituencies and in each constituency the candidate who obtains the largest number of votes is elected to the Commons. Of the present 651 seats, there are 524 for England, 38 for Wales, 72 for Scotland and 17 for Northern Ireland. Rus: Палата общин.

Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) . First Labour Prime Minister of Great Britain. He joined the Fabian Society and in 1894 he enrolled in the newly founded Independent Labour Party. He became the first secretary of the Labour Representation Committee, which transformed itself into the Labour Party in 1906. In 1922, MacDonald was chosen to lead the Labour opposition and he became Prime Minister and also Foreign Secretary. Under his leadership, Great Britain granted recognition to the Soviet regime in Russia and agreed to cancel the debt owed by the Irish Free State. Rus: Рамсей Макдональд.

Battle of Britain Series of air battles over Britain, which lasted from 10 July to 31 October 1940. The raids of the German air force after the fall of France were intended to prepare the way for a Ger­man invasion of Britain, called «Operation Sea Lion». At first the at­tacks were directed against British ports and other coastal targets. Be­ginning in August, the Germans mostly attacked airfields and other in­stallations of the Royal Air Force. In September they began daylight at­tacks on London and other cities, chiefly by heavy bombers. Although the Royal Air Force was greatly outnumbered, it succeeded in repulsing the attacks, destroying 1,733 German planes. Rus: Битва за Британию

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) . Statesman. A descendant of John Churchill, the great Duke of Marlborough, he saw ac­tive service in some minor campaigns and worked as a war correspon­dent for the «Morning Post» during the Boer War in South Africa. In 1910, he became Home Secretary and in 1911 Asquith appointed him First Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill ordered naval mobilization on i. the eve of war without waiting for a Cabinet approval. He was Minister of Munitions under Lloyd George in 1917. In the post-war years he held the posts of Secretary for War and Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the 1st day of World War II he went back to his old post at the Admiralty and in May 1940 he was chosen to head a coalition government. One of Churchill’s decisive steps during the war was his broadcast announce­ment on 22 June, 1941, that Britain allied herself with the Soviet Union. In February 1945, Churchill met Stalin and Roosevelt in the Crimea, and agreed on the final plans for victory. On 8 May, 1945, he announced the unconditional surrender of Germany. In July the Conservatives were defeated in the general election and Churchill resigned office. The gen­eral election of 1951 brought him back to power as Prime Minister. Also an outstanding writer, Churchill won the Nobel prize for literature in 1953. Rus: Уинстон Черчилль.

Elizabeth II

Елизавета Вторая

* Elizabeth II, the elder daughter of George VI, was born in 1926 and came to the throne in 1952 after her father’s death.

Princess Elizabeth served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during «he Second World War. In 1947 she married Prince Philip, and they have four children: Charles, Prince of Wales (1948), Princess Anne (1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964). Her coronation took ! lace on 2 June, 1953, and her official title is Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith…

Westminster Abbey

The present magnificent cathedral replaces a very old church and a more recent Benedictine mon­astery. Edward the Confessor built a new church on the site in his reign (1042-66) and it was later rebuilt, enlarged and redecorated under many monarchs. In 1560, it was proclaimed the Church of St Peter in West­minster by Queen Elizabeth I, The western towers were the last addition to the building (completed in 1745). Since William the Conqueror every British sovereign has been crowned in the Abbey, except Edward V and Edward VIII (who were not crowned at all). Kings and queens were also buried there till 1760; since then they have been buried at Windsor. Westminster Abbey is crowded with the tombs and memorials of fa­mous British people. Part of the south transept is known as Poets’ Cor­ner, while the north transept has many memorials to British statesmen. The grave of the Unknown Warrior, whose remains were brought from Flanders in 1920, is in the centre of the nave near the west door. Rus: Вестминстерское аббатство.

Oxford University

Oldest of the British univer­sities, an autonomous institution of higher learning at Oxford. It was established during the 12th century with initial faculties of theology, law, medicine and the liberal arts. In 1571, the university was granted a charter by an Act of Parliament. The first women’s college, Lady Marga­ret Hall, was founded in 1878, and women were first admitted to full membership in the university in 1920. The University is governed by the Congregation. There are about 10,000 students who are usually called undergraduates. Members and graduates of the University are often re­ferred to as Oxonians. Rus: Оксфордский университет.

Northern Ireland

Self-governing country within the United Kingdom, established in 1920, with the capital in Belfast. It oc­cupies an area of 14,120 sq km, the estimated population for 1992 is 1,610,000. The recent history of Northern Ireland dates from the early 17th century when Protestant Scottish and English settlers occupied the north of Ireland and formed a society with an outlook very different from the rest of the island where the Roman Catholic tradition strongly prevailed. Separation came and since 1920 Northern Ireland has had its own parliament — the House of Commons which elects the Senate, the upper chamber. There is a governor, representing the British sovereign, and a cabinet, consisting of a prime minister and 9 ministers. The Ulster Unionist party has been in power since 1920, ruling in the interests of the Protestant majority. In the mid-1960s, civil-rights protests of the Roman Catholic minority sparked violent conflicts between the two groups. In the early 1970s the British government had to send troops to keep peace and the constitution was suspended. The terrorist Irish Re- -publican Army (IRA) reacted with a campaign of bombings and shootings. In 1994 formal talks began between the British government and the IRA in an effort to find a political solution to this sectarian state. The country is often referred to as the province of Ulster, though it in­cludes only part of the historic Ulster. Rus: Северная Ирландия. ‘

Margaret Thatcher

Маргарет Тэтчер

Margaret Thatcher was born in 1925. A Conservative politi­cian, she became Britain’s first woman Prime Minister in 1979.

She entered Parliament in 1959 and held the post of Secretary for Education under Prime Minister Edward Heath (1970-74). Thatcher suc­ceeded Heath as Conservative leader in 1975. The Conservatives’ deci­sive victory in the general elections of 1979 elevated her to the prime ministry.

Thatcher became leader of the right wing of the Conservative Party, advocating greater independence of private business. In 1982, Britain recaptured the Falkland Islands following Argentine occupation and Thatcher’s decisive leadership during the Falklands crisis helped her to win a landslide victory in the general election of 1983.

Margaret Thatcher pursued the policies that earned her the nick­name of «Iron Lady». She was in office for 11 years, resigning her post in 1990. In the same year she received the Order of Merit and in 1992 she was created a baroness.

Windsor Castle Famous British royal residence on the Thames in the county of Berkshire. A Saxon royal home at Windsor was rebuilt, enlarged and redesigned by William I, Henry II, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Charles II. Edward III built St George’s Chapel for the Order of the Garter, established by him in 1348. In his reign some for­tress buildings were converted to residential apartments for the monarchs. St George’s chapel, besides keeping the insignia of the Order, be­came a royal mausoleum and contains the bodies of Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Charles I, Edward VII and George V. The Albert Memorial Chapel, built by Henry VII and restored by Queen Victoria, is also a mausoleum: George III, George IV and William IV are buried there. The tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is in Home Park by the Castle. The library of Windsor Castle contains a collection of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Hans Holbein the Younger and other old masters. In November 1992 a fire broke out destroying a part of the Castle, but most of the paintings, furniture and other movable treasures were saved. Rus: Виндзорский замок.

TEST PAPER 6

I. Put in the missing prepositions.

1. Britain declared war … Germany on 4 August, 1914.

2. The Liberals had dissensions … the general strike.

3. The negotiations culminated… Irish independence.

4. The «Lusitania» was sunk… the south coast of Ireland.

5. The George Cross can be bestowed… military personnel.

6. Chamberlain went to Germany… three occasions.

7. George VI died after an operation … lung cancer.

8. The Allies crossed from Sicily… the Italian mainland.

9. Churchill ordered naval mobilization … the eve of war.
   10. The Abbey is crowded … the tombs of famous people.

II. Put the verbs in the past active or passive.

1. Covent Garden (lay out) to the design of Inigo Jones.

2. Prince Philip (raise) and (educate) in England.

3. He (adopt) the surname Mountbatten.

4. English miners (strike) against pit closures.

5. The market (move) to a more spacious site.

6. The invasion troops (surrender) to the British command.

7. The Beatles (enjoy) worldwide popularity.

8. In November 1992 a fire (break out) in the Castle.

9. The Saxon palace at Windsor (rebuild) and (enlarge).
10. The submarine link officially (open) by the Queen.

III. Make appropriate nouns from the words in brackets..

1. Queen Elizabeth’s (crown) took place in June 1953.

2. The (disturb) in Ulster began in October 1968.

3. The party rules in the interests of the Protestant (major).

4. In 1986, corporal (punish) in schools was banned.

5. The two (explode) in Belfast killed several people.

6. The Beatles stayed at the top of (popular) charts.

7. Their public (perform) ended in 1966.

8. Football (rule) were set up by the Football Association.

9. The library contains some (draw) by Leonardo da Vinci.
10. The Tunnel is a submarine transport (connect).

IV. Select the correct answer.

1. The Cenotaph is the national war memorial in … .

a. Westminster Abbey

b. St Paul’s Cathedral

c. Whitehall

2. The British Prime Minister’s residence is in … .

a. Downing Street

b. Whitehall

c. Trafalgar Square

3…. was the first Labour Prime Minister of Great Britain.

a. Churchill

b. MacDonald

c. Lloyd George

4. The maximum duration of the House of Commons and the House
of Lords is … years.

a. four

b. five

c. seven

5. Churchill worked as a war correspondent for the … during the Boer War.

a. «Times»

b. «Morning Post»

c. «Guardian»

6. Chaplin first appeared …at the age of 5.

a. on television

b. in a silent film

c. on stage

The
English language belongs to the West Germanic branch of the
Indo-European family of languages. The closest undoubted
living relatives of English are Scots and Frisian. Frisian is
a language spoken by approximately half a million people in
the Dutch province of Friesland, in nearby areas of Germany,
and on a few islands in the North Sea.

The history of
the English language has traditionally been divided into
three main periods: Old English (450-1100 AD), Middle English
(1100-circa 1500 AD) and Modern English (since 1500). Over
the centuries, the English language has been influenced by a
number of other languages.

Old
English (450 — 1100 AD): During
the 5th Century AD three Germanic tribes (Saxons, Angles, and
Jutes) came to the British Isles from various parts of
northwest Germany as well as Denmark. These tribes were
warlike and pushed out most of the original, Celtic-speaking
inhabitants from England into Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall.
One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where
their descendants still speak the Celtic Language of Breton
today.

Through the years, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes
mixed their different Germanic dialects. This group of
dialects forms what linguists refer to as Old English or
Anglo-Saxon. The word «English» was in Old English
«Englisc», and that comes from the name of the
Angles. The Angles were named from Engle, their land of
origin.

Before the Saxons the language spoken in what
is now England was a mixture of Latin and various Celtic
languages which were spoken before the Romans came to Britain
(54-5BC). The Romans brought Latin to Britain, which was part
of the Roman Empire for over 400 years. Many of the words
passed on from this era are those coined by Roman merchants
and soldiers. These include win
(wine),
candel
(candle),
belt
(belt),
weall
(wall).
(«Language
Timeline», The British Library Board)

The
influence of Celtic upon Old English was slight. In fact,
very few Celtic words have lived on in the English language.
But many of place and river names have Celtic origins: Kent,
York,
Dover,
Cumberland,
Thames,
Avon,
Trent,
Severn.

The
arrival of St. Augustine in 597 and the introduction of
Christianity into Saxon England brought more Latin words into
the English language. They were mostly concerned with the
naming of Church dignitaries, ceremonies, etc. Some, such as
church,
bishop,
baptism,
monk,
eucharist
and presbyter
came indirectly through Latin from the Greek.

Around
878 AD Danes and Norsemen, also called Vikings, invaded the
country and English got many Norse words into the language,
particularly in the north of England. The Vikings, being
Scandinavian, spoke a language (Old
Norse) which, in origin at
least, was just as Germanic as Old English.

Words
derived from Norse include: sky,
egg,
cake,
skin,
leg,
window
(wind eye),
husband,
fellow,
skill,
anger,
flat,
odd,
ugly,
get,
give,
take,
raise,
call,
die,
they,
their,
them.
(«The
Origin and History of the English Language»,
Kryss Katsiavriades)

Several
written works have survived from the Old English period. The
most famous is a heroic epic poem called «Beowulf».
It is the oldest known English poem and it is notable for its
length — 3,183 lines. Experts say «Beowulf»
was written in Britain more than one thousand years ago. The
name of the person who wrote it is unknown.

Middle
English (1100-circa 1500 AD):
After William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded
and conquered England in 1066 AD with his armies and became
king, he brought his nobles, who spoke French, to be the new
government. The Old French took over as the language of the
court, administration, and culture. Latin was mostly used for
written language, especially that of the Church. Meanwhile,
The English language, as the language of the now lower class,
was considered a vulgar tongue.

By about 1200, England
and France had split. English changed a lot, because it was
mostly being spoken instead of written for about 300 years.
The use of Old English came back, but with many French words
added. This language is called Middle English. Most of the
words embedded in the English vocabulary are words of power,
such as crown,
castle,
court,
parliament,
army,
mansion,
gown,
beauty,
banquet,
art,
poet,
romance,
duke,
servant,
peasant,
traitor
and governor.
(«Language
Timeline», The British Library Board)

Because
the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the
words for most domestic animals are English (ox,
cow,
calf,
sheep,
swine,
deer)
while the words for the meats derived from them are French
(beef,
veal,
mutton,
pork,
bacon,
venison).
(«The
Origin and History of the English Language»,
Kryss Katsiavriades)

The
Middle English is also characterized for the beginning of the
Great
Vowel Shift. It
was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels of
English. Basically, the long vowels shifted upwards; that is,
a vowel that used to be pronounced in one place in the mouth
would be pronounced in a different place, higher up in the
mouth. The Great Vowel Shift occurred during the fifteenth to
eighteenth centuries.

The most famous example of
Middle English is Chaucer’s «The
Canterbury Tales»,
a collection of stories about a group of thirty people who
travel as pilgrims to Canterbury, England. The portraits that
he paints in his Tales give us an idea of what life was like
in fourteenth century England.

Modern
English (1500 to the present):
Modern English developed after William Caxton established his
printing press at Westminster Abbey in 1476. Johann Gutenberg
invented the printing press in Germany around 1450, but
Caxton set up England’s first press. The Bible and some
valuable manuscripts were printed. The invention of the
printing press made books available to more people. The books
became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also
brought standardization to English.

By the time of
Shakespeare’s
writings
(1592-1616), the language had become clearly recognizable as
Modern English. There were three big developments in the
world at the beginning of Modern English period: the
Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the British
Colonialism.

It was during the English
Renaissance that
most of the words from Greek and Latin entered English. This
period in English cultural history (early 16th century to the
early 17th century) is sometimes referred to as «the
age of Shakespeare» or
«the Elizabethan era»,
taking the name of the English Renaissance’s most famous
author and most important monarch, respectively. During the
reign of Queen Elizabeth I there was an explosion of culture
in the form of support of the arts, popularization of the
printing press, and massive amounts of sea travel.

England
began the Industrial Revolution (18th century) and this had
also an effect on the development of the language as new
words had to be invented or existing ones modified to cope
with the rapid changes in technology. New technical words
were added to the vocabulary as inventors designed various
products and machinery. These words were named after the
inventor or given the name of their choice (trains,
engine,
pulleys,
combustion,
electricity,
telephone,
telegraph,
camera
etc).

Britain was an Empire for 200 years between the
18th and 20th centuries and English language continued to
change as the British Empire moved across the world — to the
USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Asia and Africa. They
sent people to settle and live in their conquered places and
as settlers interacted with natives, new words were added to
the English vocabulary. For example, ‘kangaroo‘
and ‘boomerang‘
are native Australian Aborigine words, ‘juggernaut‘
and ‘turban‘
came from India. (See
more borrowings from different languages.)

English
continues to change and develop, with hundreds of new words
arriving every year. But even with all the borrowings from
many other languages the heart of the English language
remains the Anglo-Saxon of Old English. The grammar of
English is also distinctly Germanic — three genders (he, she
and it) and a simple set of verb tenses.

Нужно срочно !!!!!
Вот текст :

Great Britain

The history of Great Britain

In prehistoric times Britain was a part of the continent.The first people came there over dry land.The present English Channel which separates Britain from Europe appeared at the end of the Ice Age.

The first inhabitants of the island came from the Iberian peninsula where Spain is located after 3000BC.After 2000BC people from the east of Europe entered the country.The two peoples intermixed.

After 800BC the Celts arrived from Central Europe.The name “Britain” comes from the name of a Celtic tribe known as the Britons.

In 55BC Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler, invaded Britain.The Celts fought well.He left the country.

In 54BC he invaded the country with a larger army.The Celts were defeated.He made the Celts pay a regular tribute to Rome.In AD43 the country was conquered by the Romans.The Romans built many towns and connected them by good roads.The largest of the towns was called Londinium.The town was build on the River Thames.The occupation continued till the beginning of the 5th century (AD410).

By the end of the 5 th century the greater part of the country was occupied by Germanic tribes: the Jutes, the Saxons and Angles.In 829 the greater part of the country was united under the name England.The Northern part was called Scotland.In the 11 th century a united Scottish kingdom was formed.

In 1066 William the Conqueror and his people came to England from Normandy in France.The French language became the official language of the ruling class for the next three centuries.England began to spread its power on Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1603 the son of Mary Queen of Scots James Stuart became James I of England.The unification of Scotland and England took place in 1707.They formed a single parliament in London.The country became known as Great Britain.

The adoption of Christianity in England took place in 664.In the 16 th century Henry VIII of England quarreled with Rome and declared himself head of the Anglican Church, which was a Protestant Church.The Irish people were divided into two religious groups: Catholics and Protestants.

Henry VIII tried to force Irish Catholics to become Anglican.After a long struggle the southern part of Ireland remained part of the UK.

But even now there are problems there connected with religion.
Вот вопросы:
Answer the questions: 1. How did the first people come to Britain? 2. When did the English Channel appear? 3. When did the Celts arrive to Britain? 4. Where did the name «Britain» come from? 5. When did Julius Caesar invade Britain? 6. What did the Romans build in Britain? 7. How long did the occupation by the Romans continue? 8. What was the largest of the towns called? 9. What tribes occ