The 16th and 17th centuries in England., Appunti di Inglese

Scarica The 16th and 17th centuries in England. e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The 16th and 17th centuries in England JAMES I In 1603, when Queen Elizabeth died (of course heirless), James the VI of Scotland (Mary of Scotland's son, 1566-1625) became king with the title of James the I of England. (1603-1625) He was a protestant and based his rule on the theory of the 'divine right of kings'. He believed that, as a monarch, he was the representative of God on earth and God himself had chosen to make him king. He was interested in witchcraft and the supernatural, and in his treatise Daemonologie, he declared his belief in black magic. He only summoned Parliament to ask for money, but its members refused to levy any taxes unless the money was needed for war. Parliament was divided into the House of Lords (composed of bishops, appointed by the king) and the House of Commons (mostly puritans). The Puritans* were extreme protestants who disapproved of both the rites and the bishops of the Church of England. These Puritans had a high sense of duty and morality and they did not want to live in a country which they believed was going to fall into moral decline. So a hundred of them, the Pilgrim Fathers*, left England for America and founded New Plymouth. In 1605, some radical Catholics plotted to blow up the king in the Houses of Parliament. The failure of the 'Gunpowder Plot'* is still commemorated in England on 5th November. The Puritans believed that the Bible was God's true law, and that it provided a plan for living. Puritans stripped away the traditional formalities of Christianity which had been slowly building throughout the previous 1500 years. Theirs was an attempt to "purify" the church and their own lives. The doctrine of predestination kept all Puritans constantly working to do good in this life to be chosen for the next eternal one. God had already chosen who would be in heaven or hell, and each believer had no way of knowing which group they were in. Those who were wealthy were obviously blessed by God and were in good standing with Him. CHARLES I (1600-1649) (youngest son of James) New style in London (public didn’t like his spending habits and that he was too powerful) Roads built Modernised the country Swamps were drained Patron of art Like his father, Charles I was a firm believer in the divine right of kings. He was painfully, shy, stuttler ( balbettava) From the start he quarreled with parliament. At the beginning of his reign Charles I married a French Roman Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria. However marrying a Catholic was very unpopular move with the Puritan Charles also fought unsuccessful wars vs Spain and France. In 1625 Parliament strongly criticized his policies and refused to raise extra taxes to pay for the Spanish war. ( he wanted to revise money for the war, but the king didn’t have the right to decide about) Charles angrily dissolved parliament and raised money by levying forced loans. He imprisoned, without trial, anyone who refuse to pay. (In 1628 the Parliament made him sign the Bill of Rights. according to this treaty, nobody could levy taxes without asking the parliament first and nobody could be imprisoned without a trial) He signed it, but then decided to dismiss the Parliament and ruled on his own for a short period of time, and started levying the ship money to the cities.) Charles wanted to restore the catholicism but Scotland didn’t agree rebellion William Laud instead imposed the english system and this caused a rebellion in Scotland. However matters came to a head in 1637. In 1634 the king began levying ship money. This was a traditional tax raised in coastal towns to enable the king to build ships when more were needed. However in 1635 Charles began levying ship money in inland areas. In April 1640 Charles summoned parliament again, hoping they would agree to raise money for his Scottish campaign. Instead parliament simply discussed its many grievances. Charles dissolved parliament on 5 May and it became known as the Short parliament because it met for such a short time. Charles was forced to abandon all attempts to impose religious changes on Scotland. In return the Scots withdrew from northern England. Meanwhile, desperate for money, Charles was forced to call parliament again in November 1640. This parliament became known as the Long Parliament. Ship money was also abolished. Parliament also took revenge on the king's hated adviser (personal cancelor), Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. (10 th November). They passed a special act declaring Strafford was a traitor. The people of London took to the streets demanding his execution. He was sent to the tower but they needed the king’s signature: Charles feared for his and his families safety and he was forced to sign the act (but he felt giulty) Strafford was executed on 12 may 1641. Unfortunately parliament then divided. Opposition to the king was led by John Pym but many began to fear he was going too far. On the 3 rd of January 1642 Charles ordered to arrest 5 MPs for treason (including Pym) but they escaped The English Civil War The first major battle took place at Edgehill on 23 October 1642 the parliamentarians started by firing artillery. Prince Rupert, the king's nephew then led a cavalry charge. They chased the parliamentary cavalry off the field. Then infantry then fought but neither side could gain the upper hand. By the time the royalist cavalry returned to the field it was growing dark so the battle ended indecisively. Cavaliors king and his supporters (royalists) Roundheads Parliamentarians The parliamentarians then decided to reform their army. In December 1644 they passed the Self Denying Ordinance, which stated that all MPs (except Oliver Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton) must give up their commands. Early in 1645 parliamentary forces were reorganized and became the New Model Army. Decisive battle: 14 th June 1645. Battaglia di Naseby 14 giugno 1645 That left the problem what to do with the king? Most people did not wish to abolish the monarchy but it was difficult to keep the king but limit his power. Charles made things worse, as usual, by being obstinate and refusing to compromise. (they didn’t want to kill