The British History-Lecture Notes - ke zkoušce

Magna Carta 1215 /ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːtə/

• fundamental law for E

• law must protect all free men (not serfs! ← property)

  • supremacy of law (for the freemen of course)

• fair and legal trial for all free men

• very democratic (for that time)

• aristocracy developed ↓

• boys were educated in this system

  • trained how to fight, behave, also riding...

  • 12 (age) → sent to serve to their sovereign /ˈsɒvrɪn/

• obligation to defend their sovereign

chivalry /ˈʃɪvəlri/

• = young aristocrat was put into a household of a nobility as a sort of apprentice, he prepared here for life

code of honour

• knight protect woman, justice, purity, discrete, generous, generous, love poems

• no sexual love – only kiss at most

BTW: "people in that time lived much shorter"

Crusades

• to bring back holy places

  • lasted 300 years

  • right to visit Jerusalem (forbidden by Muslims)

  • initially successful → but in the end defeated → Saladin → Jerusalem back in the hands of Muslims

• western knight came in contact with oriental cultures (at that time much more sophisticated)

  • diversity (food, spices... also hygiene

    • commerce

  • literature (stories... e.g. One Thousand and One Nights)

• knights died or got imprisoned

  • e.g. Richard the Lionheart

• young men were gone to fight

The Hundred Years War 1337 – 1453

William the Conqueror was a duke in France (feudal system) and the King of England at the same time.

• → France claimed England.

• caused economic problems (on both sides)

• more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years'_War

The Wars of Roses (roses in emblems)

• The House of York (white rose)

• The House of Lancaster (red rose)

"When 2 fights, the 3rd usually wins..."

• Richard III was the last king from Lancaster (the last king who died on a battlefield).

→ The House of Tudor /ˈtjuːdə(r)/ --------------> (until 1603 --> end of Tudor Dynasty)

• Henry VII

  • descended through his mother from a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster

  • an economical man

    • careful about money (they do not have enough finances, his court should not spend much money)

    • He realised that the country was exhausted (destroyed) after so much wars → they needed peace

    • encouraged building of cities

    • commerce

  • he realised that E is an island → so, they should have a powerful fleet

    • power of England is not in terrestrial army, but in navy army

• Henry VIII

  • no successors = instability, war, enemies – he needed to solve it → wanted a divorce → the church didn't grant him permission

  • he separated (he also took its property) Church from the Roman catholic church = Anglicans → the Pope didn't have control over E

    • many people didn't accept it

    • the church should be poor, modest → no gold and silver, decorations etc. (simple life)

    • his son died before him → a woman on the throne

1534 - Act of Supremacy

• It granted King Henry VIII supreme head of the Church of England

• Elizabeth I

  • she was excommunicated → she faced a great danger

  • she was smart

  • used secret police

  • she was an Anglican, but tried not to oppress the Catholics (much more tolerating)

  • not from a lawful marriage → bad relations with Vatican