18. Outline of English History. The visitor to the metropolis of Great Britain, whether from the western hemisphere, from the antipodes, or from the provinces of that country itself, will at almost every step meet with interesting historical associations; and it is to a great extent on his acquaintance with these that the enjoyment and instruction to be derived from his visit will depend. We therefore give a brief table of the chief events in English history, which the tourist will often find convenient as an aid to his memory. In the following section will be found a sketch of the rise and progress of London itself. В.С. 55-445 43 A.D. 78-85. 412. 445. 445-1066. ROMAN PERIOD. Of Britain before its first invasion by Julius Cæsar in B.C. 55 there is no authentic history. Cæsar repeats his invasion in B.C. 54, but makes no permanent settlement. Emp. Claudius undertakes the subjugation of Britain. Britain, with part of Caledonia, is overrun by the Roman general Agricola, and reduced to the form of a province. Roman legions recalled from Britain by Honorius. The Britons, deprived of their Roman protectors, are unable to resist the attacks of the Picts, and summon the Saxons, under Hengist and Horsa, to their aid. ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD. 445-585. The Saxons, re-inforced by the Angles, Jutes, and other Germanic tribes, gradually overcome Britain on their own account, until the whole country, with trifling exceptions, is divided into the seven kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy (585). To this period belong the semi-mythical exploits of King Arthur and his knights. 835-871. 871-901. 979-1016. 1013. 1017-1035. 1035-1040. 1040-1042. Christianity re-introduced by St. Augustine (597). The Venerable Bede (d. 735). Caedmon (about 680). Contests with the Danes and Normans, who repeatedly invade England. Alfred the Great defeats the Danes, and compels them to make peace. Creates navy, establishes militia, revises laws, reorganises institutions, founds university of Oxford, is a patron of learning, and himself an author. Ethelred the Unready draws down upon England the vengeance of the Danes by a massacre of those who had settled in England. The Danish king Sweyn conquers England. Canute the Great, the son of Sweyn, reigns over England. throne. Hardicanute, son of Canute. The Saxon line is restored in the person of 1042-1066. 1066. 1066-1154. 1066-1087. Edward the Confessor, who makes London the capital of England, and builds Westminster Abbey (see p. 193). His brother-in-law and successor Harold loses his kingdom and his life at the Battle of Hastings, where he opposed the invasion of the Normans, under William the Conqueror. NORMAN DYNASTY. William the Conqueror, of Normandy, establishes himself as King of the English. Introduction of Norman (French) language and customs. 1087-1100. 1100-1135. William II., surnamed Rufus, after a tyrannical reign, is accidentally shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell while out hunting. Henry I., Beauclerc, defeats his elder brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, at the battle of Tenchebrai (1106), and adds Normandy to the possessions of the English crown. He leaves his kingdom to his daughter Matilda, who, however, is unable to wrest it from 1135-1154. Stephen, of Blois, grandson of the Conqueror. David, King of Scotland, and uncle of Matilda, is defeated and taken 1138. prisoner at the Battle of the Standard. Stephen appoints as his successor Matilda's son, Henry of Anjou or Plantagenet (from the planta genista or broom, the badge of this family). 1154-1485. HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET. 1154-1189. Henry II. Strife with Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, over the respective spheres of the civil and ecclesiastical powers. The Archbishop excommunicates the 1170. King's followers, and is murdered by five knights at 1172. Canterbury. Ireland is conquered by De Coucy. Robin Hood, the forest outlaw, flourishes. 1189-1199. Richard I., Coeur de Lion, takes a prominent part in the Third Crusade, but is captured on his way home, and imprisoned in Germany for upwards of a year. He carries on war with Philip II. of France. 1199-1216. John, surnamed Lackland, is defeated at Bouvines by Philip II. of France, and loses Normandy. Magna Charta, the groundwork of the English constitution, is extorted from him by his Barons (comp. pp. 186, 336). 1216-1272. 1272-1307. Henry III., by his misrule, becomes involved in a war with his Barons, headed by Simon de Montfort, and is defeated at Lewes. His son Edward gains the battle of Evesham, where De Montfort is slain. Hubert de Burgh defeats the French at sea. Roger Bacon, the philosopher. Edward I., Longshanks, conquers the Welsh under Llewellyn, and annexes North Wales. The heir apparent to the English throne thenceforward bears the title of Prince of Wales. Robert Bruce and John Baliol struggle for the crown of Scotland. Edward espouses the cause of the latter (who swears fealty to England), and overruns Scotland. The Scots, led by Sir William Wallace, offer a determined 1308. resistance. Wallace executed at London. The Scots defeated at Falkirk and Methuen, and the country subdued. Establishment of the English Parliament in its modern form. 1307-1327. Edward II. is signally defeated at Bannockburn by the 1314. Scots under Robert Bruce the younger, and is forced to retire to England. The Queen and her paramour Mortimer join with the Barons in taking up arms against the King, who is deposed, and shortly afterwards murdered in prison. 1327-1377. Edward III. defeats the Scots at Halidon Hill and Neville's Cross. Lays claim to the throne of France, and invades that country, thus beginning the hundred years' war between France and England. Victories of Sluys (naval), Crécy (1346), and Poitiers (1356). John the Good 1364. of France, taken prisoner by the Black Prince, dies in captivity. After the death of the Black Prince, England loses all her French possessions, except Calais and Gascony. Order of the Garter founded. Movement against the pretensions and corruption of the clergy, headed by the early reformer John Wycliffe. House of Commons holds its meetings apart from the House of Lords. 1377-1399. Richard II. Rebellion of Wat Tyler, occasioned by increase of taxation (see p. 96). Victory over the Scots at Otterburn or Chevy Chase. Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, leads an army against the King, takes him captive, and according to popular tradition, starves him to death in Pontefract Castle. Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry, flourishes. 1399-1461. 1399-1413. HOUSE OF LANCASTER. Henry IV., Bolingbroke, now secures his election to the crown, in right of his descent from Henry III. Outbreak of the nobility, under the Earl of Northumberland and his son 1403. Henry (Percy Hotspur), is quelled by the victory of Shrewsbury, at which the latter is slain. 1413-1422. 1422-1461. Henry V. renews the claims of England to the French crown, wins the battle of Agincourt, and subdues the N. of France. Persecution of the Lollards, or followers of Wycliffe. Henry VI. is proclaimed King of France at Paris. The Maid of Orleans defeats the English and recovers French possessions. Outbreak of the civil contest called the 'Wars of the Roses', between the houses of Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose). Henry becomes insane. Richard, Duke of York, grandson of Edward III., lays claim to the throne, joins himself with Warwick, the 'King-Maker', and wins the battle of Northampton, but is defeated and slain at Wakefield. His son Edward, however, is appointed King. Rebellion of Jack Cade. 1461-1485. 1461-1483. HOUSE OF YORK. Edward IV. wins the battles of Towton, Hedgley Moor, and Hexham. Warwick takes the part of Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., and forces Edward to flee to Holland, whence, however, he soon returns and wins the victories of Barnet and Tewkesbury. Henry VI. dies sud1471. denly in the Tower. Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, is said to have been drowned in a butt of malmsey. 1483. 1483-1485 Edward V., the youthful son of Edward IV., is declared illegitimate, and murdered in the Tower, along with his brother (p. 120), by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, who takes possession of the throne as Richard III., but is defeated and slain at Bosworth by Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a scion of the House of Lancaster. 1485-1603. 1485-1509. 1509-1547. 1547-1553. 1553-1558. 1558-1603. HOUSE OF TUDOR. Henry VII. marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., and so puts an end to the Wars of the Roses. The pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. Henry VIII., married six times (to Catherine of Arragon. Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr). Battles of the Spurs and Flodden. Separation of the Church of England from that of Rome. Dissolution of monasteries and persecution of the Papists. Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell, all-powerful ministers. Whitehall and St. James's Palace built. Edward VI. encourages the Reformed faith. Mary I. causes Lady Jane Grey, whom Edward had appointed his successor, to be executed, and imprisons her own sister Elizabeth (pp. 123, 182). Marries Philip of Spain, and restores Roman Catholicism. Persecution of the Protestants. Calais taken by the French. Elizabeth. Protestantism re-established. Flourishing state of commerce. Mary, Queen of Scots, executed after a 1587. long confinement in England. Destruction of the Spanish 1588. 'Invincible Armada'. Sir Francis Drake, the celebrated circumnavigator. Foundation of the East India Company. Golden age of English literature: Shakspeare, Bacon, Spenser, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Marlowe, Drayton, 1603-1714. 1603-1625. HOUSE OF STUART. James I., King of Scots, and son of Mary Stuart, unites by his accession the two kingdoms of England and Scotland. Persecution of the Puritans and Roman Catholics. Influence of Buckingham. Gunpowder Plot. Execution of Sir Walter Raleigh. 1625-1649. Charles I. imitates his father in the arbitrary nature of his rule, quarrels with Parliament on questions of taxation, dissolves it repeatedly, and tyrannically arrests five leading members of the House of Commons (Hampden, Pym, etc.). Rise of the Covenanters in Scotland, Long Parliament. Outbreak of civil war between the King and his adherents (Cavaliers) on the one side, and the Parliament and its friends (Roundheads) on the other. The King defeated by Oliver Cromwell at Marston Moor and Naseby. He takes refuge in the Scottish camp, but is betrayed to the Parliamentary leaders, tried, and executed at Whitehall (p. 182). 1649-1653. 1653-1660. Commonwealth. The Scots rise in favour of Charles II., but are defeated at Dunbar and Worcester by Cromwell. Protectorate. Oliver Cromwell now becomes Lord Protector of England, and by his vigorous and wise government makes England prosperous at home and respected abroad. John Milton, the poet, Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher, and George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, live at this period. 1658. On Cromwell's death, he is succceded by his son Richard, who, however, soon resigns, whereupon Charles II. is restored by General Monk. 1660-1685. Charles II. General amnesty proclaimed, a few of the regicides only being excepted. Arbitrary government. The Cabal. Wars with Holland. Persecution of the Papists after the pretended discovery of a Popish Plot. Passing of the Habeas Corpus Act. Wars with the Covenanters. Battle of Bothwell Bridge. Rye House Plot. Charles a pensioner of France. Names Whig and Tory come into use. Dryden and Butler, the poets; Locke, the philosopher. 1685-1688. 1688-1702. 1702-1714. James II., a Roman Catholic, soon alienates the people by his love for that form of religion, is quite unable to resist the invasion of William of Orange, and escapes to France, where he spends his last years at St. Germain. William III. and Mary II. William of Orange, with his wife, the eldest daughter of James II., now ascends the throne. The Declaration of Rights. Battles of Killiecrankie and The Boyne. Sir Isaac Newton. Anne, younger daughter of James II., completes the fusion of England and Scotland by the union of their parliaments. Marlborough's victories of Blenheim, Ramilies, |