Scarica Storia dell'Inghilterra dal XVII al XVIII secolo e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! JAMES I Succeeded Elizabeth to the throne, was the first Stuart king of England He reduced the danger of civil war. He ignored parliament and his rule was based on the theory that the king has the divine right. As a monarch he represented god on earth. He united Scotland, England and Wales in one kingdom, Great Britain, and gave it a flag, the Union Jack. He signed a peace treaty with Spain to stop the Spanish attack. He also ordered a new translation of the Bible but later Catholics had been excluded from Hampton Court, so a group of them did the GUNPOWDER PLOT to assault the parliament on November 1605. After this episode, plotters were executed and the the government encouraged public celebrations of the failure of the gunpowder plot. Then many dissenters emigrated to the New World. CHARLES I James I was succeeded from his son, Charles I. He avoided parliament and ruled eleven years without it. He issued the Petition of Rights 1632 because of the contrast with the commons (strongly protestants, he was catholic) that stated that the king couldn’t imprison without trial and couldn’t impose taxes without the consent of the Commons. Later he dismissed it because he thought he was the king by a divine right. In 1635 he issued the Ship Money, a tax on coastal towns. Was elected a New Parliament, the Long Parliament that reflected the change from the aristocracy to a rising middle class of small landowners. Parliament passed laws to reduce the power of the king. Later, a civil war begun between the Royalists (of the king), and the Parliamentarians (king’s opponent) THE CIVIL WAR There were battles between Royalists and Parliamentarians between 1642 and 1649. Royalists were also called Cavaliers and Parliamentarians were also called Roundheads. Royalists: Wales, Cornwall and the west of England Parliamentarians: London, sea ports, eastern England The parliamentarian army (New model army) was the strongest: it was made up of professional soldiers a cavalry. Its commander was Oliver Cromwell. In the parliament remained 121 radical members and this was called the Rump Parliament. In 1648 Charles was captured and in 1649 was executed. THE COMMONWEALTH The Rump parliament abolished the monarchy and declared in the United Kingdom a republic, the commonwealth. Cromwell defeated the Scottish Royalist, who crowned Charles II, son of Charles I, King of Scotland (who escaped in France). Cromwell gave himself the title of Lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1665 he divided the country into eleven military regions. In 1651 Parliament passed the Navigation acts giving a monopoly of trade to British ships. Cromwell died and then the parliament invited Charles II to come back from France to became king and the monarchy was restored. CHARLES II After his exile in France, when Cromwell died, he was called from England to became king. He established a court devoted to pleasure. There was a newly elected parliament, the Cavalier parliament. A series of acts were issued: the corporation act (excluded the dissenters from public offices), the act of uniformity (imposed the book of common prayer), the test act (all the public employees conform to the church of England). In 1665 there was a great bubonic plague. In 1666 there was the great fire of London. Charles II asked Sir Christopher wren to rebuild the city and St Paul’s Cathedral was his masterpiece. He also received aid from France. When Charles died, his brother James succeeded him. FROM JAMES II TO THE JOINT MONARCHS In 1685 James II came to the throne. He had two protestant daughters: Mary and Anne, but then married Mary of Modena and had a Catholic son. Whigs and Tories were alarmed because another civil war could have broken out. James, Mary and their son went to France while William III of Orange were marching to England with his wife Mary. In 1689 William and Mary became joint monarchs at the request of the parliament. This was a revolution: the monarchs had been chosen from the parliament and not by a divine right. This was called the Bloodless or the glorious Revolution. William and Mary issued a series of acts: the toleration act, the bill of rights, the petition of right and a triennial act. Meanwhile James II landed in Ireland and in 1690 William defeated him in the battle of the Boyne. William and Mary had no children, so they issued an act, the act of settlement that excluded Catholics from the throne. The throne passed to Mary’s sister, Anne. QUEEN ANNE Was a popular and loved queen. In 1707 was passed the act of union that united England and Scotland in the United Kingdom. Ireland remained a separate kingdom. The treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713 with France. After that, the British empire was emerging. Queen Anne died and after her George I went to the throne. GEORGE I George I didn’t speak a word in English, in fact he relied upon a cabinet (where stayed the most important ministers). Sir Robert Walpole This period was considered a golden age. Corruption in politics and society was told in the satire of Daniel Defoe. There were also coffee houses where for the price of a coffee people could be updated on gossips and news and could discuss with other people on the latest periodicals and pamphlets. In this period there was a greater social mobility There was also a religious movement, the Methodism, that wanted to help the poor establishing the Sunday schools were people could study bible and learning to read and to write.
