Е.В. Воевода

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

Великобритания:история и культура

Great Britain: Culture across History

Учебное пособиедля студентов II курса

факультета МЭО

МОСКОВСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ИНСТИТУТМЕЖДУНАРОДНЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ (УНИВЕРСИТЕТ) МИД РОССИИ

Кафедра английского языка № 2

Е.В. Воевода

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

Великобритания:история и культура

Great Britain: Culture across History

Учебное пособиедля студентов II курса

факультета МЭО

Издательство«МГИМО-Университет»

2009

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ББК 81.2Англ В63

В63 Воевода Е.В. Великобритания: история и культура = Great Britain: Culture across History : учеб. пособие по англ. яз. для студентов II курса фак-та МЭО / Е.В. Воевода. Моск. гос. ин-т междунар. отношений (ун-т) МИД России, каф. англ. яз. № 2. — М. : МГИМО-Университет, 2009. — 223 с. ISBN 978-5-9228-0540-7 Настоящее учебное пособие по страноведению Великобритании адресо-вано студентам факультета МЭО МГИМО(У) МИД России, обучающихся по программе II курса бакалавриата и изучающих английский язык как ос-новной иностранный. Пособие призвано расширить и углубить фоновые знания студентов экономического профиля в области истории и культуры страны изучаемого языка, освещая историко-экономические события, происшедшие на Британ-ских островах, зарождение и развитие английского языка и особенности английской культуры: литературы, музыки, архитектуры, живописи.

ББК 81.2Англ

ISBN 978-5-9228-0540-7 © Московский государственный институт международных отношений (университет) МИД России, 2009 © Воевода Е.В., 2009

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CONTENTSPage

Предисловие …………………………………………………………… 4Методическая записка ……………………………………………….. 5SECTION 1 Britain in ancient times. England in the

Middle Ages ……………………………………………..

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CHAPTER 1. The British Isles before the Norman Conquest. ………………………………………………... 7CHAPTER 2. The Norman Conquest of Britain. ….......... 35CHAPTER 3. England in the late Middle Ages. ………... 54ASSIGNMENTS. ………………………………….......... 74

SECTION 2 The English Renaissance …………………………….. 77CHAPTER 4. The Tudor age. ……………….......... 77CHAPTER 5. The development of drama and the theatre in Elizabethan England……………………...………….. 98CHAPTER 6. Stuart England. …………………………... 113ASSIGNMENTS. ………………………………….......... 130

SECTION 3 Britain in the New Age. Modern Britain ……………. 132CHAPTER 7. Britain in the 18th century ………….......... 132CHAPTER 8. From Napoleonic wars to Victorian Britain. ……………………………………….........

150

CHAPTER 9. Britain in the 20th century. …………….. 167ASSIGNMENTS. ………………………………….......... 189

GLOSSARY. ……………………………………………………………. 191CROSS-CULTURAL NOTES. ………………………………………… 202Key to Tests …………………………………………………………… 219References …………………………………………………………… 220

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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Учебное пособие по страноведению Великобритании “Great Britain: Culture Across History” адресовано студентам II курса факультета МЭО (1 семестр), изучающих английский язык как основной иностранный (уровень B1) по следующим направлениям подготовки: «Экономика», «Международные финансы и кредит». «Коммерция». Пособие соответствует программе подготовки бакалавров по дисциплине «Иностранный язык» и применяется в лекционно-семинарском курсе в сочетании с мультимедийной программой «История и культура Великобритании» (авторы: Е.В. Воевода, Т.В. Сильченко, А.А. Артемов), разработанной в МГИМО.

Пособие состоит из трех блоков (Sections), включающих девять глав (Chapters). Каждая глава рассчитана на одну неделю изучения после прослушивания аудиторной лекции и работы с мультимедийной программой. Каждая глава завершается разделом «Знаете ли вы, что…?», предлагающим информацию, способствующую расширению кругозора студентов.

После изучения каждого блока предлагается тест на кон-троль усвоения фактического материала, который студенты могут проверить по ключу, вопросы для обсуждения на семинарских занятиях и темы для студенческих презентаций. В пособии также дается глоссарий и лингвострановедческий комментарий к каждой главе.

При написании пособия использовались текстовые отрывки и карты из опубликованных работ, приведенных в разделе “References” в качестве иллюстраций (в широком смысле) в объеме, оправданном поставленной целью пособия и методикой, в соответствии с Законом Российской Федерации об авторском праве от 9 июля 1993 г. № 5351-1.

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МЕТОДИЧЕСКАЯ ЗАПИСКА

В настоящее время профессиональные требования к владению иностранным языком для выпускника факультета международных экономических отношений не могут быть сведены лишь к овладению речевыми навыками в рамках языка специальности. Успешное сотрудничество с зарубежными партнерами предполагает знание и оперирование такими понятиями, которые отражают видение мира и национальную культуру представителя того или иного народа. Поэтому при обучении иностранным языкам необходимым элементом является обучение культурологическому аспекту.

Предлагаемая автором методика изучения страноведческого материала о стране изучаемого языка содействуют развитию компетентностей, связанных с коммуникацией, творческим и критическим анализом, независимым мышлением и коллективным трудом в поликультурном контексте, когда творчество основывается на сочетании традиционных знаний и навыков с современными информационными технологиями.

Весь предлагаемый материал разбит на три крупных блока (Sections), каждый из которых включает аудиторную интерактив-ную лекцию, сопровождаемую мультимедийной программой. После прослушивания лекции студентам рекомендуется ознако-миться с более полной версией материала по теме в предлагаемом пособии, изучить лингвострановедческий комментарий и ознакомиться с незнакомыми словами в глоссарии.

Повторяемость лексики в каждом блоке, употребление новых лексических единиц в тексте, в лекциях, заданиях и тестах, при подготовке к семинарским занятиям и докладам способствует усвоению студентами богатого рецептивного словаря, что преду-смотрено кафедральной программой по английскому языку.

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После каждых трех лекций проводятся два семинарских занятия, вопросы к которым даны в заданиях (assignments 1-3). Задания включают в себя образцы тестов по изученной тематике (с ключами), вопросы к семинарским занятиям и темы для презентаций. После первичного контроля (выполнения тестовых заданий) студенты переходят к составлению собственных сообщений по предложенной теме. Окончательный контроль усвоения материала осуществляется преподавателем в аудитории в форме дискуссии, проверки устных докладов или письменных сообщений (в отдельных случаях) и студенческих коллективных презентациях.

Студенты делятся на «команды» (teams), включающие трех-четырех докладчиков и такое же количество оппонентов. Задача докладчиков – используя основной материал учебного пособия и дополнительно найденный материал по теме, так организовать его презентацию, чтобы она была интересна аудитории, чтобы в ней участвовали все три докладчика, чтобы она сопровождалась собственной мультимедийной программой в Power Point. Задача оппонентов – подготовить вопросы докладчикам с целью получения дополнительной или уточняющей информации, если возможно – оспорить какие-то положения презентации, представив свои аргументы. Как и докладчики, оппоненты готовятся и выступают сообща, развивая умение работать в команде. Семинары позволяют глубже обсудить изучаемый материал, в том числе использовать информацию, самостоятельно найденную студентами.

Презентации, подготовленные студентами, – это новая и перспективная форма семинарской работы, развивающая навык социального общения.

Работа с пособием способствует развитию у студентов аналитической, коммуникативной, лингвострановедческой компетенций, являющихся профессионально значимыми для будущего экономиста-международника.

Автор

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1. The Earliest Settlers

SECTION 1

Britain in ancient times.

England in the Middle Ages.

The IberiansAbout 3 thousand years before our era the land we now call Britain was not separated from the continent by the English Channel and the North

Sea. The Thames was a tributary of the Rhine. The snow did not melt on the mountains of Wales, Cumberland and Yorkshire even in summer. It lay there for centuries and formed rivers of ice called glaciers, that slowly flowed into the valleys below, some reaching as far as the Thames. At the end of the ice age the climate became warmer and the ice caps melted, flooding the lower-lying land that now lies under the North Sea and the English Channel. Many parts of Europe, including the present-day British Isles, were inhabited by the people who came to be known as the Iberians. Some of their descendants are still found in the North of Spain, populating the Iberian peninsular. Although little is known about the Iberians of the Stone Age, it is understood that they were a small, dark, long-headed race that settled especially on the chalk downs radiating from Salisbury Plain. All that is known about them comes from

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CHAPTER 1

The British Isles before the Norman Conquest

archaeological findings – the remains of their dwellings, their skeletons as well as some stone tools and weapons. The Iberians knew the art of grinding and polishing stone.

On the downs and along the oldest historic roads, the Icknield Way and the Pilgrim’s Way, lie long barrows, the great earthenworks which were burial places and prove the existence of marked class divisions. Other relics of the past are the stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury on Salisbury Plain. Avebury is the grandest site while Stonehenge is the best known. The name of the place comes from the Saxon word Stanhengist, or “hanging stones”. Stonehenge is fifteen hundred years older than the Egyptian pyramids. It is made of stone gates standing in groups of twos. Each vertical stone weighs fifty tons or more. The flat stones joining the gates weigh 7 tons. Nobody knows why that huge double circle was build, or how primitive people managed to move such heavy stones. Some researchers think that it was built by the ancient Druids who performed their rites in Stonehenge. Others believe that it was built by the sun-worshippers who came to this distant land from the Mediterranean when the Channel was a dry valley on the Continent. Stonehenge might also have been an enormous calendar. Its changing shadows probably indicated the cycle of the seasons and told the people when it was time to sow their crops.

People and crops have vanished, but the stones stand fast and stubbornly keep their secrets from us.

The CeltsThe period from the 6th to the 3rd century BC saw the migration

of the people called the Celts. They spread across Europe from the East to the West and occupied the territory of the present-day France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland and Great Britain. (See Map 1.) The Celtic tribes that crossed the Channel and landed on the British Isles were the Britons, the Scots, the Picts and the Gauls. The Britons populated the South, the Picts moved to the North, the Scots went to Ireland and the rest settled in between. Later, the Scots

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returned to the main island and in such numbers that the northern part of it got the name of Scotland. The history of the Picts and their struggle with the Scots was beautifully described by R.L. Stevenson in the ballad Heather Ale.

Map 1(From S.D. Zaitseva. Early Britain. Moscow, 1975.)

In reality, the Picts were not exterminated but assimilated with the Scots. As for the Iberians, some of them were slain in battle, others were driven westwards into the mountains of Wales, the rest assimilated with the Celts. The last wave of the Celts were the Belgic tribes which arrived about 100 BC and occupied the south-east of the main island.

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The Celts are known from the Travelling Notes by Pytheus, a traveller from Massilia (now – Marseilles). He visited the British Isles in the 4th century BC. Later, Herodotus wrote that even in the 5 th

century BC Phoenicians came to the British Isles for tin, which was used for making bronze. The British Isles were then called the Tin Islands.

Another person whom we owe reminiscences about early Britain is Guy Julius Caesar. In 55 BC his troops first landed in Britain. According to Caesar’s “Commentaries on the Gallic War,” the Celts, against whom he fought, were tall and blue-eyed people. Men had long moustaches (but no beards) and wore shirts, knee-long trousers and striped or checked cloaks which they fastened with a pin. (Later, their Scottish descendants developed it into tartan.) Both men and women were obsessed with the idea of cleanliness and neatness. As is known from reminiscences of the Romans, “neither man nor woman, however poor, was seen either ragged or dirty”.

Economically and socially the Celts were a tribal society made up of clans and tribes. The Celtic tribes were ruled by chiefs. The military leaders of the largest tribes were sometimes called kings. In wartime the Celts wore skins and painted their faces blue to make themselves look more fierce. They were armed with swords and spears and used war chariots in fighting. Women seem to have had extensive rights and independence and shared responsibility in defending their tribesmen. It is known that when the Romans invaded Britain, two of the largest tribes were ruled by women.

The Celts were pagans and their priests, the Druids, who were important members of the ruling class, preserved the tribal laws, religious teachings, history, medicine and other knowledge necessary in Celtic society. They worshipped in sacred places (on hills, by rivers, in groves of trees) and their rites sometimes included human sacrifice.

The Celts lived in villages and practised a primitive agriculture: they used light ploughs and grew their crops in small square fields.

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They knew the use of copper, tin, and iron, kept large herds of cattle and sheep which formed their chief wealth.

The Celts traded both inside and beyond Britain. On the Continent, the Celtic tribes of Britain carried on trade with Celtic Gaul. Trade was also an important political and social factor in relationship between tribes. Most trade was conducted by sea or river. It is no accident that the capitals of England and Scotland appeared on the river banks, in place of the old trade routes. The settlement on the Thames, which existed before London, was a major trade outpost eastwards to Europe.

The descendants of the ancient Celts live on the British Isles up to this day. They are the Welsh, the Scottish and the Irish. The Welsh language, which belongs to the Celtic group, is the oldest living language in Europe. In the Highlands of Scotland, as well as in the western parts of Ireland, there is still a strong influence of the Celtic language. Some words of the Celtic origin still exist in Modern English. Scholars believe that about a dozen common nouns are of the Celtic origin; among these are cradle, bannock, cart, down, loch (dial.), coomb (dial.), mattock. Most others are geographical names. These are the names of Celtic settlements which later grew into towns: London, Leeds and Kent which got its name after the name of a Celtic tribe. There are several rivers in England which still bear Celtic names: Avon and Evan, Thames, Severn, Mersey, Derwent, Ouse, Exe, Esk, Usk. The Celtic word loch is still used in Scotland to denote a lake: Loch Ness, Loch Lomond.

Celtic borrowings in English

Modern English Celtic meaningAvon, Evan amhiun riverOuse, Exe, Esk, Usk uisge water

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Dundee, Dumbarton, Dunscore; the Downs

dunhill; bare, open highland

Kilbrook coill woodBatcombe, Duncombe comb deep valleyBen-Nevis, Ben-More bein mountain

For almost four centuries Britons were ruled by the Romans, who called their country Britanni or Britannia. It was the most westerly and northerly province of the Roman empire.

The Romans, led by Julius Caesar, came to the British Isles in BC 55 and a year later returned to the Continent as the Celtic opposition was strong. In BC 54 he returned with 25,000 men. The Romans crossed the Thames and stormed the Celtic capital of Cassivellaunus. Caesar then departed, taking hostages and securing a promise to pay tribute.

In the ninety years between the first two raids and the invasion of the Romans in AD 43, a thorough economic development in South-East Britain went on. Traders and colonists settled in large numbers and the growth of towns was so considerable that in AD 50, only seven years after the invasion of Claudius, Verulamium (now St. Albans) was granted the full status of a Roman town (municipium) with self-government and the rights of Roman citizenship for its inhabitants.

It would be wrong to assume that the Celts eagerly surrendered to the invaders. The hilly districts in the West were very difficult to subdue, and the Romans had to set up many camps in that part of the country and station their legions all over Britain to defend the province.

The Celts fought fiercely against the Romans who never managed to become masters of the whole island. In AD 61-62 Queen Boadicea (Boadica) led her tribesmen against the Romans. Upon her husband’s death, she managed to raise an army which raided the occupied territories slaying the Romans and their supporters, burning

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2. Roman Britain

down and ruining the Roman towns and nearly bringing an end to the Roman rule of Britain as such. It was only when she was captured by the Roman soldiers and took poison that peace was restored in the province. The Romans were also unable to conquer the Scottish Highlands, or Caledonia as they called it, thus the province of Britain covered only the southern part of the island. From time to time the Picts from the North managed to raid the Roman part of the island, burn their villages, and drive off their cattle and sheep. During the reign of the Emperor Hadrian a high wall was built in the North to defend the province from the raids of the Picts and the Scots. (See Map 2.) The wall, known as Hadrian’s Wall, stretches from the eastern to the western coast of the island. With its forts, built a mile apart one from another, the wall served as a stronghold in the North. At the same time, when the Northern Britons were not at war with the Romans, the wall turned into an improvised market place for either party.

In AD 139 – 42 the Emperor Antoninus Pius abandoned Hadrian’s Wall and constructed a new frontier defence system between the Forth and the Clyde – the Antonine Wall – but its use was short-lived and Hadrian’s Wall was again the main northern frontier by AD 164.

One of the greatest achievements of the Roman Empire was its system of roads, in Britain no less than elsewhere. When the legions arrived in Britain in the first century AD, their first task was to build a system of roads. Stone bridges were built across rivers. Roman roads were made of of stones, lime and gravel. They were vital not only for the speedy movement of troops and supplies from one strategic center to another, but also allowed the movement of agricultural products from farm to market.

Map 2

(From S.D. Zaitseva. Early Britain. Moscow, 1975.)

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Within a generation the British landscape changed considerably. London became the chief administrative centre. From it, roads spread out to all parts of the province. Some of the roads exist up to this day, for example Watling Street which stretched from Dover to London, then to Chester and into the mountains of Wales. Unlike the Celts, who lived in villages, the Romans were city-dwellers. The Roman army built legionary fortresses, forts, camps, and roads, and assisted with the construction of buildings in towns. The Romans built most

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towns to a standardized pattern of straight, parallel main streets that crossed at right angles. The forum (market place) formed the centre of each town. Shops and such public buildings as the basilica, baths, law-courts, and temple surrounded the forum. The paved streets had drainage systems, and fresh water was piped to many buildings. Houses were built of wood or narrow bricks and had tiled roofs.

The chief towns were Colchester, Gloucester, York, Lincoln, Dover, Bath and London (or Londinium). It is common knowledge that London was founded by the Romans in place of an earlier settlement.

Roman towns fell into one of three main types: coloniae, municipia and civitates. The coloniae of Roman Britain were Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester, York, and possibly London, and their inhabitants were Roman citizens. The only certain municipia was Verulamium (St. Albans), a self-governing community with certain legal privileges. The civitates, towns of non-citizens, included most of Britain’s administrative centres.

The Romans also brought their style of architecture to the countryside in the form of villas. Some very large early villas are known in Kent and in Sussex.

Both public buildings and private dwellings were decorated in imitation of the Roman style. Sculpture and wall painting were both novelties in Roman Britain. Statues or busts in bronze or marble were imported from Mediterranean workshops, but British sculptures soon learned their trade and produced attractive works of their own. Mosaic floors, found in towns and villas, were at first laid by imported craftsmen. But there is evidence that by the middle of the 2nd century a local firm was at work at Colchester and Verulamium, and in the 4th century a number of local mosaic workshops can be recognized by their styles.

When Christianity gained popularity in the Empire, it also spread to the provinces and was established in Britain in the 300s. The first English martyr was St. Alban who died about 287.

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In 306, Constantine the Great, the son of Constantine Chlora and Elene (Helen), the daughter of a British chief, became the Roman Emperor. He stopped the persecution of Christians and became a Christian himself. All Christian churches were centralised in Constantinople which was made the capital of the Empire. This religion came to be known as the Catholic Church. (‘catholic’ means ‘universal’.) Greek and Latin became the languages of the Church all over Europe including Britain.

Literary evidence suggests that Britons adopted Latinized names and that the elite spoke and wrote Latin. The largest number of Latin words was introduced as a result of the spread of Christianity: abbot, altar, angel, creed, hymn, idol, organ, nun, pope, temple and many others. The traces of Latin are still found in modern English:

Latin borrowings in English

Modern English Latin meaningChester, Doncaster, Gloucester

castra camp

street, Stratford strata via a paved roadwall vallum a wall of

fortificationsLincoln, Colchester colonia colonyDevonport portus port, havenNorwich, Woolwich vicus villageChepstow; Chapman caupo a small tradesmanpound (pondo) pondus (measure of) weightmile millia passum 1000 stepspiper pepper перецwine vinum виноbutter butyrum маслоcheese caseus сырpear pirum грушаmill molinum мельница

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Despite the growth of towns and all the other essentials of civilization that came with the Roman conquest, the standards of living changed little. Britain was an agricultural province, dependent on small farms. Peasants still built round Celtic huts and worked in the fields in the same way. Despite the 400 years of Roman influence, Britain was still largely a Celtic society.

The conquest of Britain by the Roman Empire lasted up to the beginning of the 5th century. In 410 the Roman legions were called back to Rome, and those that stayed behind were to become the Romanized Celts (Britons) who faced the invasion of the barbarians – the Germanic tribes of Angles and Saxons.

The InvasionGermanic tribes had raided the British

shores long before the withdrawal of the Roman legions. But the 5th century became the age of increased Germanic expansion and

by the end of the century several West Germanic tribes had settled in Britain. The first invaders, in fact, came at the request of a British king who needed their assistance in a local war. The newcomers soon overran their hosts, and other Germanic tribes followed them in families and clans. At first they only came to plunder: drive off the cattle, seize the stores of corn and be off again to sea before the Celts could attack them. But as time went by they would come in larger numbers, and begin to conquer the country.

First came the Jutes, and then the Angles and the Saxons. (See Map 3.) The latter came from the territory lying between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers which was later called Saxony. The Jutes and the Angles came from the Jutland Peninsular. The beginning of the conquest was in 449 when the Jutes landed in Kent. Eventually, Britain held out longer than the other provinces of the Roman Empire.

Map 3

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3. The Anglo-Saxon period

(From David MacDowell. An Illustrated History of Britain, Longman.)

It was only at the beginning of the 7 th century that the invaders managed to conquer the greater part of the land. The Angles settled down to the north of the Thames, the Saxons – to the south of the Thames, the Jutes spread in the extreme south-east – the Kent Peninsular and the Isle of White.

The pagan tribes did not spare their enemies. The Celtic historian Gildas described the Anglo-Saxon invasion as ‘the ruin of Britain’. The invaders lived in villages and soon destroyed or neglected the Roman roads, villas, baths and towns. London, which

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had been the main trading centre, saw its decline. The invaders killed or enslaved Britons, most of the British Christians were put to death, and others took refuge in the distant parts of the country where they lived as hermits or in groups of brethren.

After a century and a half of resistance, the Celts were driven off to Wales and Cornwall, as well as to the northern part of Scotland, where they later founded independent states and spoke their native language. The Anglo-Saxons called the northern part of the country weallas (Wales) meaning ‘the land of foreigners’ and the Celts were called welsh which meant ‘foreign’. The Celts of Ireland also remained independent. Some of the Celtic tribes crossed the Channel and settled down on the French coast giving it the name of Brittany.

Political and economic development The period covering the 5th – 11th centuries saw transition from

the tribal and slave-owning system to feudalism. By the beginning of the 7 th century, 7 kingdoms had been

formed on the conquered territory which later came to be known as England. These were Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex (the lands of the South, West and East Saxons), Northumbria (the land that lay to the north of the river Humber, hence the name North-Humbrian), Mercia and East Anglia. (See Map 3.) The kingdoms were constantly at war for the supreme power in the country. At the beginning of the 7 th

century Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex dominated the other four kingdoms.

In the 8th century Mercia developed important diplomatic and commercial ties with the Continent. King Offa of Mercia became powerful enough to claim ‘kingship of English’. He managed to make a huge dyke along the border with Wales to protect his kingdom from the Celtic raids. Parts of this earth wall still exists and is known as Offa’s Dyke. After Offa’s death, though, Mercia lost its supremacy.

Social changes in the Anglo-Saxon society took a long time to come. It is recognised that the Anglo-Saxons were far less civilized

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than the Romans, yet they had their own institutions. Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the members of the Witan, the Council of Chieftains, and in their decisions were advised by the councillors, the great men of the kingdom. In return for the support of his subjects who paid taxes and gave him free labour and military service, the king granted them land and protection.

Originally, all Saxon men had been warriors. From the very beginning English society had military aristocracy, or thanes. The rest of the population were peasants who cultivated the land. The division of labour led to a class division: thanes got more land and privileges from the king, and became lords, while peasants took an inferior social position and finally turned into serfs.

The basic economic unit was the feudal manor which grew its own food and carried on some small industries to cover its needs. The lord of the manor administered justice and collected taxes. It was also his duty to protect the farm and its produce. The word ‘lord’ meant ‘loaf ward, or bread keeper’ and the word ‘lady’ meant ‘loaf kneader, or bread maker’.

In agriculture, the Anglo-Saxons introduced the heavy plough which made it possible to cultivate heavier soils. All the farmland of the village was divided into two fields. When one field was used for planting crops, the other was given a ‘rest’ for a year so as not to exhaust the land. After harvest time, both would be used as pasture land. That is known as the two-field system. The Saxon methods of farming remained largely the same for many centuries to come, until the 18th century.

Christianity in England

By the end of the 6th century England had become Christian due to the energy of the Christian missionaries from Ireland and the efforts of Pope Gregory who decided to spread his influence over England. The Roman mission headed by the monk Augustine (‘St. Augustine’s mission’) landed in Kent in 597 and built the first church in the capital town of Canterbury. Augustine became the first

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Archbishop of Canterbury in 601. Ever since that time, Canterbury has been the religious centre of major importance in Britain.

Later, Christianity spread over to Northumbria where there were still some traces of the influence of the first Celtic Christians. Soon the Roman Church prevailed over the Celtic Church. The Church established monasteries, or minsters (Yorkminster, Westminster), which became centres of learning and education. It was there that men could be educated and trained both for theological and civil studies. The unified organisation of the Church was an important factor in the centralisation of the country.

With the arrival of St. Augustine and his forty monks, England resumed direct contact with the life and thought of the Continent, especially its Mediterranean part. Benedict Biscop, founder of Jarrow monastery (Northumbria), on several occasions brought manuscripts from Rome, and his pupil, the Venerable Bede (?673-735), had access to all the sources of knowledge brought from continental Europe. Bede was a prominent religious and public figure of the period, who contributed to the development of English history and law. He is considered to be the first English historian. He is the author of Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) dated 731, which was the only book on Anglo-Saxon history of the time. It is the source of almost all information on the history of England before 731.

The Church enhanced the status of kings. At the time when the eldest son of a king did not automatically inherit the throne, it was the Witan that chose the next king. Evidently, it was important for the king to obtain the support of the Church and arrange for his chosen successor to be crowned at a Christian ceremony led by a bishop. If a bishop supported the king, royal power was hard to be questioned. In their turn, kings rendered support to the Church. The first baptised Anglo-Saxon king, Aethelberht I, recognized the right to church shelter in his Code of Laws in 600.

In a way, the Church contributed to the economic development of the country. Villages and towns that appeared around monasteries

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increased local trade. The monks and bishops who were invited to England, came from the biggest monasteries of the Frankish lands (France and Germany) which lay on Europe’s main trade routes. They used Latin, which spread in England as the official language of the church and official documents, and that encouraged closer contact with Continental countries. England exported cheese, hunting dogs, wool and metal goods. It imported pepper, jewelry, wine, and wheel-made pottery.

The second wave of Christianity brought into the language such loan-words as arithmetic, mathematics, theatre, geography, school, paper, candle.

Anglo-Saxon cultureThe development of Anglo-Saxon culture is inseparable from

the development of Christianity in England. During the time of Pope Gregory there appeared a new form of

plainsong which came from Europe and was called Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant remained the musical symbol from the 6 th to the 9th

centuries. In architecture, there developed a new style in church building.

One of the most completely preserved Saxon churches in England is St. Laurence in Bradford-on-Avon, built probably between the 7 th and the 10th centuries. With its thick walls, narrow rounded arches and small windows it represents typical Anglo-Saxon church architecture.

The monasteries of Northumbria possessed rich collections of manuscript books which were brightly illuminated, bound in gold and ornamented with precious stones. One of the best known manuscripts of the period is St. Luke’s Gospel made at the Northumbrian island of Lindisfarne in about 698.

The first Anglo-Saxon writers and poets imitated Latin books about the early Christians. Although it was customary to write in Latin, in the 7th century there appeared a poet who composed in English. Caedmon, a shepherd from Whitby, a famous abbey in Yorkshire, composed in English for mere want of learning. One of

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the few recorded pieces of Caedmon’s poetry is a nine-line hymn, an English fragment in Bede’s History. It may be considered as the first piece of Christian literature to appear in Anglo-Saxon England. The hymn is especially notable because, according to the Venerable Bede, it was divinely inspired. Much of Old English poetry was intended to be chanted or sung by scops, or bards. One night, at a feast, when each of the guests was asked to sing a song, Caedmon quietly stole out and lay down in the cow-shed, ashamed that he had no gift of singing. In his sleep he heard a voice telling him to stand up and sing the Song of Creation. Caedmon obeyed the mysterious voice and sang the verses he had never heard before. When he woke up, he returned to the guests and sang the song to them. That made him so famous that Caedmon was invited to the abbey where he spent the rest of his life composing religious poetry. Almost all this poetry was composed without rhyme, in a characteristic line of four stressed syllables alternating with a number of unstressed ones.

Old English poetry was mainly restricted to three subjects: religious, heroic and lyrical. The greatest heroic poem of the Anglo-Saxon period was Beowulf, an epic poem written down in the 10 th

but dating back to the 7th or 8th century. It is valuable both from the linguistic and the artistic point of view. Beowulf is the oldest poem in Germanic literature. Although Beowulf is essentially a warrior’s story, it serves as a source of information about the customs and ways of the ancient Jutes, their society and their feasts and amusements.

The poem consists of several songs arranged in three chapters and numbers over 3,000 lines. It is based on the legends of Germanic tribes and describes the adventures and battles of legendary heroes who had lived long before the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. The scene is set among the Jutes and the Danes. The poem describes the struggle of a Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, who destroyed the monster Grendel, Grendel’s evil mother and a fire-breathing dragon. The extraordinary artistry with which fragments of other Scandinavian sagas are incorporated in the poem and with which the plot is made symmetrical has only recently been fully recognised.

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Formation of the English language

As a result of the conquest, the Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population. Their religion and languages became predominant. The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were much alike in speech and customs. When the Angles and the Saxons migrated to the British Isles, their language was torn away from the continental Germanic dialects and started its own way of development. At first, the Germanic invaders spoke various dialects but gradually the dialect of the Angles of Mercia prevailed. They also intermixed with the surviving Celts and gradually merged into one people – the Anglo-Saxons as they were called by the Romans and the Celts. Already in the 8th century they preferred to call themselves Angelcyn – Anglish/English people, and called the occupied territories Angelcynnes land – land of the Anglish/English people, which later transformed into England. The language they now spoke was called Anglish/English.

The 5th century marks the beginning of the history of the English language. The history of the English language can be divided into four periods:

Old English period (OE) – from the mid-5th to the late 11th century Middle English period (ME) – from the late 11th to the late-15th

century New English period (NE) – from the late 15th century up to the 21st

century, including Modern English period – from the 19th century and up to now.

Germanic tribes used runic writing – a specifically Germanic alphabet with runes carved in stone, bone or wood with vertical or slanted lines. The number of runes in different Old Germanic languages varied: from 16 or 24 runes on the Continent to 28 or 33 runes in Britain. Runes were never used in everyday writing. The word ‘rune’ itself originally meant ‘secret, mystery’ that is why the main function of runes was to make short inscriptions on objects, which was thought to give them some magic power. The number of

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objects with runic inscriptions in Old English is about forty: amulets, coins, weapons, rings, tombstones, fragments of crosses. The two best preserved records of Old English runic writing are the text on the Ruthwell Cross in the village of Ruthwell in Scotland, and Franks Casket – a whalebone box found in France, which was given as a gift to the British Museum by a British archeologist A.W. Franks.

Later, Christian missionaries introduced the Latin alphabet to which several runic letters were added to mark the sounds [Y] and [T]. These were the letters Þ and T as well as the letter G which in certain positions was pronounced as [g] or [j]: GeonG [jeong] – young, Grene [grene] – green. The OE verbs sittan, beran, teran, findan, sinGan are quite recognisable. The first English words written down with Latin letters were personal names and place names which were inserted into Latin texts.

The Germanic tribes were pagans who worshipped the Sun, the Moon and a whole number of gods. Their principal gods were those of later Norse mythology – Tiw, Woden, and Thor. They are remembered in the day-names Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as well as a number of place-names (Tuesley, Wednesbury, Thursley) which were presumably cult centres. Even when converted to

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Christianity, the Saxons named one of the main church festivals, Easter, after their old dawn-goddess Eostre.

The origin of day names

Day names Germanic god(dess)

His / her status Roman / Greek gods

Planets and stars

Monday – – – the MoonTuesday Tiw The god of

warMars / Ares –

Wednesday Woden The god of commerce

Mercury / Hermes

–

Thursday Thor / Thur The God of thunder

Jupiter / Zeus

–

Friday Frigg / Freya

Woden’s wife / the

goddess of prosperity

– –

Saturday – – – the Saturn

Sunday – – – the Sun

The Anglo-Saxon word-stock consisted mainly of words of the Germanic origin. Most of them have correlations in the Indo-European languages:

Words belonging to the Indo-European Family of languages

Latin Modern German

Old English Modern English

Russain

pater Vater fWder father (патриарх)mater Mutter modor mother матьfrater Bruder broTor brother братunus ein an one одинduo zwei tu, twa two дваtres, tria drei Þri, Þrie three триjunior jung GeonG young юный

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novus neu neowe new новыйdies Tag dWG day день

The invaders were engaged in farming and cattle-breeding. The names of Anglo-Saxon villages usually had the root ham meaning ‘home, house’ or ‘protected place’: Nottingham, Birmingham. The Saxon ton stood for ‘hedge’ or ‘a place surrounded with a hedge’, as in Brighton, Preston, Southampton. The Saxon for ‘fortress, town’ was burG or burh which we now see in Canterbury, Salisbury, Edinburgh; feld meant ‘open country, field’ and it is seen in the names of Sheffield, Chesterfield, Mansfield.

Danish raidsFrom the end of the 8th and then during

the 9th and the 10th centuries Western Europe faced a new wave of barbarian attacks. (See Map 5.) The barbarians came from the North –

Norway and Denmark – and were called Northmen. In different countries they were also known as the Vikings, the Normans and the Danes. The word Viking, or pirate was used by their victims and referred equally to the invaders from Norway and Denmark. As Britain was mostly raided from Denmark, in British history the invaders came to be known as the Danes.

Map 5

(From David MacDowell. An Illustrated History of Britain, Longman.)

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4. The Danish Invasion of Britain

The expansion of the Scandinavians is a European phenomenon, of which the raids on England and Ireland made only one part. Although they mostly lived in tribes, they were not totally barbarians. They were involved in trade and had regular ties with the nations living to the west and south. Many adventurers must have heard stories about the fertile lands and the rich monasteries overseas which were easy to plunder. The Northmen were well-armed skilful warriors and sailors and could easily cross the sea in search of fortune. But although they were prepared to fight, they usually aimed not at fighting but at getting loot. At the time, Ireland was the chief gold producing country of Western Europe. Moreover, it had not been invaded either by the Romans or the Anglo-Saxons. Now it was one of the first countries to be raided by the Norwegians.

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In 793 the Danes carried out their first raids on Britain. In the three successive years they devastated three of England’s most holy places – Lindisfarne, Jarrow and Iona – with the treasures their monasteries possessed. The earliest raids were for plunder only. Cattle was driven off, houses were burnt, monasteries plundered and people slain. Then the invaders would return home for the winter. But a big raid on Kent in 835 opened three decades in which attacks came almost yearly, and which ended with the arrival of an invading army. Thus began the fourth conquest of Britain.

The struggle of England against the Danish attacks lasted over 300 years. During that period of time over half of England was occupied by the invaders and then regained by the English again. The Danish raids were successful because the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had neither a regular army nor a fleet of ships in the North Sea to resist the invaders. Besides, there were few roads and fortresses as the Anglo-Saxons had destroyed them. Thus, even if a settlement resisted the Danes for some time, it took their messenger several weeks to reach the nearest king and bring help. Soon the Danes conquered Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia. London was raided in 842 and 851, and in 872 it fell to the invaders. Only Wessex was left to face the enemy. Historically, it was Wessex that became the centre of resistance to the Danes. King Alfred the Great

In 878 King Alfred, known in history as Alfred the Great (871-899), managed to win a decisive victory over the Danes and by the peace treaty England was divided into two parts: Wessex, ruled by Alfred, and the north-eastern part of England which was called Danelaw (Danelagh), under the rule of the Danish kings. (See Map 6.)

Map 6

(From S.D. Zaitseva, Early Britain, Moscow, 1975.)

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The old Roman road from London to Wales called Watling Street served as the boundary between Danelaw and Wessex; in the North it did not even reach Hadrian’s Wall. The invaders founded new villages and towns in the north of England, which were inhabited by a mixed population of the English and the Danes.

In the Danelaw, the Danes established a society of their own governed by the Danish law. Even when the Danelaw was christianized and brought under English rule, there remained certain peculiarities: land measurement, law and social differentiation.

In 886 King Alfred the Great began to win back Danish-occupied territory by capturing the former Mercian town of London.

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Four years later he introduced a permanent militia and army. Alfred the Great wasthe first English king to establish a regular army: all noblemen and free peasants were trained to fight. The only way of combating raids from the sea was to build ships. Alfred is said to have founded the English navy. He built ships, which were bigger than the Vikings’, carrying 60 oars or more. The places that could be easily attacked by the enemy were fortified. By the late 880s Wessex was covered with a network of roads and burghs, or public strongholds which could be described as planned fortified towns. The neighbouring landowners were responsible for maintainig the fortifications. In return, they were able to use the defences for their own purposes. The 33 fortified towns soon began to play an important part in the local rural economy.

King Alfred devoted the last ten years of his life to reviving literacy and learning in the country. He carried out his programme of education through court intellectuals and priests who were all obliged to know Latin. Alfred’s own contribution to this programme was one of his greatest achievements. He was the only English king before Henry VIII who wrote and translated books. King Alfred drew up a code of Anglo-Saxon laws and translated into English Bede’s Ecclesiastical History as well as the Bible. To him the English owe the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which may be called the first prose in English literature. King Alfred died in Winchester, the capital of Wessex, in 901. He is the only king in English history called ‘the Great’.

End of the Danish ruleAt the end of the 10th century the Danish invasions were

resumed. The English tried to buy off the Vikings, and as a result, the Danes imposed on them a heavy tax called the Danegeld in 991. In that year alone, 10,000 pounds of silver were paid.

A new form of local government was introduced at about the same time. The country was divided into shires with one of the king’s

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local bailiffs (‘reeves’) in each shire appointed ‘shire-reeve’ or sheriff. The sheriff was responsible for collecting royal revenues, in the shire court he announced the king’s will to the local noblemen and took an active part in everyday business. Sheriffs belonged to the growing community of local nobility.

At the beginning of the 11th century the whole of England was conquered by the Danes. The Danish king Cnut, or Canute, became king of England, Denmark and Norway (1016-1035). Canute preserved many of the old Saxon laws collected by Alfred. He became a Christian and a protector of monasteries. Although Canute made England his residence, he often had to leave England for Denmark. Canute had to make English government function during his absence that is why he divided the kingdom into 4 earldoms: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. The king appointed an earl to rule an earldom. Gradually, the earls became very powerful. They were both Danes and Anglo-Saxon noblemen. Supported by the Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, Canute reigned in England until he died.

Culture and language of the period The influence of the Danes on the development of English

culture and the language should not be underestimated. During the Danish invasion of England, the language underwent considerable changes. The Danes were of the same Germanic origin as the Anglo-Saxons themselves and came from the same part of the Continent. As the roots were the same in English and Danish and the languages assimilated, case endings were dropped and new grammar forms developed to show relations of words. The dropping of endings meant that the stress was changed, the sound and rhythm of the language became different. Many English words are of the Scandinavian origin:

English Scandinavianfellow feolaGa

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husband husbondalaw laGu

wrong wrangto call kallato take taka

The Scandinavian borrowings in English are such adjectives as happy, low, loose, ill, ugly, weak; the nouns sister, sky, window, leg, wing, harbour. The names of Danish settlements often ended in –by or –toft/thorp(e) which meant ‘village, settlement’. Thus we have Derby, Grimsby, Whitby, Lowestoft, etc.

Old English was a synthetic language. It expressed relations between words and expressed other grammatical meanings with the help of suffixes, prefixes and interchanges in the root. The noun had the categories of number, gender (masculine, feminine, neutral), declension (ending in different letters), and case (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative). Strong and weak verbs were conjugated in the Present and the Past. A future action was expressed by means of a Present tense. During the Danish invasion prepositions and pronouns were used more often than before.

`

The Danish dynasty ruled England up to 1042 when the English throne went to Edward the Confessor the eldest son of the Saxon king Aethelred and Emma of Normandy. He restored

the Saxon rule but boosted Norman influence in England. During the Danish rule Edward lived in Norman exile. When he

returned to England as king, he brought a large number of Norman monks and noblemen to whom he began to give the richest lands and high government positions. Edward did not only speak French himself but insisted on it being spoken at his court. During his reign there was a constant struggle between the Norman influence at court and the power of Saxon earls. Edward was unable to control the nobility, especially Earl Godwin, whose daughter was his wife.

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5. Edward the Confessor

Edward himself was more interested in the Church than in state affairs and led a monastic life building churches. By the time he died, there was a church practically in every English village. King Edward also founded Westminster Abbey.

Upon the death of Edward the Confessor, the Saxon Witan was to decide who would get the English throne. One of the claimants was Harold, the son of Earl Godwin. The other was William, the Duke of Normandy.

DO YOU KNOW THAT Bath, the famous resort, was founded by the Romans. The first English non-runic texts written in Latin

letters were glosses, or translations of Latin religious texts written between the lines in Gospels.

The Danes introduced in England the use of chairs, benches and beds.

The game of chess was brought to England by the Danes.

The first English uniform currency based on silver pennies was introduced in 973.

?

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Origin of the Normans

In the 9th century, while the Danes were plundering England, another branch of Northmen, also related to the Danes, were

raiding the northern coast of France. They came to be called Normans, a variation of the word ‘Northmen’. The Danes settled down in the conquered part of England called the Danelaw. Likewise, the Normans settled down on the land conquered from the French king – a territory which is still called Normandy.

As time went by, the Danes mixed with the Anglo-Saxons, who were themselves of Germanic origin, and retained their Germanic language, customs and traditions. As for the Normans, they were now quite different from their Teutonic forefathers. They lived among the French who were a different people and spoke a different language – belonging to the Romance group. The Normans assimilated with the French population of the conquered territories, adopted their culture and a certain dialect of the French language. The establishment of the feudal system in France had been completed by the 11 th century, and the Norman barons had come into possession of large tracts of land and a great number of serfs.

The Normans lived under the rule of the Duke of Normandy. In the 11th century, the Dukes of Normandy officially acknowledged the King of France as their overlord, but, like other dukes and counts of France, they had made themselves practically independent. They

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CHAPTER 2England in the early Middle Ages

1. Beginning of the Norman

invasion

were as strong as the king himself, whose domain was smaller than the Duchy of Normandy. They coined their own money, made their own laws, held their own courts and built their own castles. As a well-trained cavalry, the Norman knights were the best in Europe. They were formidable fighters and would wage wars so as to seize new lands and serfs.

Claimants to the English throneThe question who should follow Edward the Confessor as king

was one of the most important in English history.

In the last ten years of his rule, King Edward heavily relied on his brother-in-law, Harold Godwin. Being childless, the English monarch is believed to have named Harold as his successor. At the same time, it was known that Edward had promised the English crown to his grand-nephew William, the Duke of Normandy, in return for his support. Edward’s death started the struggle for the English throne. The third claimant for the English throne was King Harold Hardrada of Norway.

When the Witan, or council of wise men, chose Harold Godwin as King of England, William of Normandy began preparations for the war. He sent messengers far and wide to invite the knights of Europe to his army. William called upon all Christians in Europe to help him gain the rights to the English throne. He also gained the support of the Pope promising to strengthen the influence of Rome in England. Although no pay was offered, the army was raised quickly because William promised land.

Harold Godwin reigned for less than a year. In the summer of 1066 the Norwegians headed by Harold Hardrada invaded Northumbria and occupied York. Harold Godwin marched northwards and met Hardrada at Stamford Bridge where the Norwegians were defeated in a fierce battle on September 25. Three days later Duke William’s fleet, which had been delayed by bad weather, landed at Pevencey. On hearing the news, King Harold had to rush south 250 miles in nine days.

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Battle of HastingsThe English and Norman armies met on October 14, 1066, in

the neighbourhood of Hastings. The Normans outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon forces and were superior in quality. The Normans used a skilful combination of heavy-armoured cavalry and archers. First, the archers would break up the ranks of the enemy, then followed a charging cavalry which decided the victory.

Map 7

The Anglo-Saxons had a small cavalry which was mainly Harold’s bodyguard. The English footmen usually fought in a mass standing close together, so as to form a wall of shields to protect themselves. The hastily gathered peasants were armed with pitchforks, axes or thick oak poles and could not hold out long against the well-armed and armoured Normans. Even the skilled

37

Saxon archers did not pose danger to the Normans who wore armour, as there was little chance that many of them could be killed by Saxon arrows.

The battle lasted the whole day. Despite their tiredness after a long march, the English had the initial advantage, since they were fighting for their independence. But in the end the Normans’ discipline prevailed. Harold died fighting, cut down by a sword (not, as often said, struck by an arrow). Gradually the Saxon rows thinned and finally the Normans succeeded in breaking the line of defence. The battle was over. William ordered Harold to be buried with all the royal honours and then marched to London.

Harold’s death ended England’s 600 years of rule by Anglo-Saxon kings. The Witan proclaimed William king of England and on Christmas Day 1066 the Duke of Normandy was crowned as William I in the new church of Westminster Abbey. In history he is more often referred to as William the Conqueror. He ruled England for 21 years, from 1066 to 1087.

Lands and vassalsAs a result of the Norman invasion, England

did not only receive a new royal family but also a new ruling class, a new culture and a new language. The victory at Hastings was only the

beginning of the Conquest. Despite the surrender of London and Winchester it took William and his barons over 5 years to subdue the whole of England. There were risings against Norman rule in every year from 1067 to 1070. William ruthlessly put down local revolts. His knights raided villages and towns, burning and slaying everything and everybody. After several risings in the North, the lands of Northumbria were raised to the ground. Every house or cottage between Durham and York was burnt down, people were massacred, crops were destroyed and cattle were driven off. It took Northumbria almost a century to recover.

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2. The Norman

Conquest

William organised his English kingdom in accordance with the feudal system which was based on ownership of land. The Conqueror declared that all the lands of England belonged to him by right of conquest. One-seventh of the country was made the royal domain which consisted of 1420 estates. The monasteries were granted 1700 estates. The Anglo-Saxon landowners and clergy were turned out of their houses, estates and churches. More than 4,000 Saxon lords were replaced by a group of less than 200 Norman barons. By 1086 there were only two surviving English lords of any importance.

While all land was owned by the king, part of it was held by the king’s vassals, in return for services and goods. Those were the knights who had taken part in the Conquest, and the Anglo-Saxon lords who supported the Conqueror. The greater nobles gave part of their lands to lesser nobles and other “freemen”. Some freemen paid for the land by doing military service, while others paid rent. The noble kept “serfs” to work on his own land. They were not free to leave the estate, and were often little better than slaves.

The two basic feudal principles implied that every man had a lord, and every lord had land. On getting his estate, each Norman nobleman became the king’s vassal as he swore an oath of allegiance which said: “I become your man from this day forward, and to you shall I be true and faithful, and shall hold faith for the land I hold from you.” William made both the great barons and their vassals swear allegiance to him directly. In 1086, at a gathering of knights in Salisbury, William made them all take a special oath to be true to him against his enemies. Thus, the European rule “my vassal’s vassal is not my vassal’ was broken in England. In other words, if a baron rebelled against the king, his immediate vassals were obliged to fight for the king.

The Domesday Book

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By 1086 the Conqueror wanted to know exactly who owned which piece of land, and how much it was worth. The Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle says: “In 1086 William the Conqueror sent his men all over England, into every shire to find out what property every inhabitant of England possessed in land, or in cattle, and how much money this was worth.” He needed this information to know

how much was produced and how much he could ask in tax. That was the first registration and complete economic survey in England. Each manor was described according to value and resources. Every man who owned or rented land was questioned and threatened to be punished on doomsday if he did not answer the questions of the king’s men as to how much land there was; who owned it; how much it was worth; how many families, ploughs and sheep there were, etc. As a result of the registration, the majority of the population were registered as unfree peasants, or serfs. They made 79 per cent of the total population of England.

Domesday was one of the greatest administrative achievements of the Middle Ages. It assisted the royal exploitation of crown lands and feudal rights, and provided the new nobility with a formal record and confirmation of their lands thus putting a final seal on the Norman occupation.

The original copy of the Domesday Book, in several volumes, still exists, and provides an extraordinary amount of information about England at that period of time.

CastlesTo further strengthen his power, William built

78 castles throughout the country. Ironically, the Normans used the labour of the conquered Anglo-Saxons to erect the fortresses which would be used to suppress the native population. The main purpose

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of the castle was to house the Norman cavalry which would find shelter inside in time of danger and from which they could start on their raids.

A Norman castle was often built on a hill or rock. First, the peasants would dig out a moat and make a drawbridge, and then use the removed soil to make the hill higher. Then they would build a wooden tower on top of the hill and surround it with a wooden wall, wide enough for archers to walk along. The outer wall was strengthened with towers built on each corner. Later the wooden structures were replaced by stone keeps. The castle usually dominated the nearest town, village or countryside.

Most of the castles were royal property. A baron could build a castle only if he was granted the king’s special permission. The first Norman stone castles were the Tower of London, the castle of Durham and Newcastle on the river Tyne. Some castles, such as Windsor Castle, are still used as residences.

Royal powerWilliam I began the rule of a dynasty of

Norman kings (1066-1154) and entailed the replacement of the Anglo-Saxon nobility with Normans, Bretons and Flemings, many of whom

retained lands in northern France. Instead of the Saxon Witan, William established the Curia Regis (1066) which existed until the end of the 13th century. It had the functions of government and king’s court in the early medieval times. Although William let the English keep their own courts and laws, the judges were Norman.

Another change introduced by William was the abolition of the earldoms of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex, which had been established by King Canute. Now the country was divided into counties which were ruled by sheriffs appointed by the king.

Between 1066 and 1144 England and Normandy were united under one king-duke. The result was the formation of a single cross-

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3. England in the Middle

Ages

Channel political community. Since Normandy was a principality ruled by a duke who recognised the king of France as his overlord, this also meant that from now on English politics became part of French politics. The two countries shared not only a ruling dynasty, but also a single Anglo-Norman aristocracy. It lasted until 1204.

After his death in 1087, William I was succeeded by his sons and nephew (William II, Henry I, Stephen) and finally by his granddaughter’s husband Henry II of the House of Anjou also known as the Plantagenet. Royal power was strengthened and the Anglo-Norman kings acquired new territories both on the British Isles and on the Continent.

As duke of Normandy, duke of Aquitaine (by his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine), and count of Anjou Henry II had inherited lordship over the respective and neighbouring territories. In England, he managed to strengthen royal power and win back the northern English territories which had been occupied by Scotland. Henry II was king of an empire stretching from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees, probably the most powerful ruler in Europe, who was richer than the emperor of the king of France. (He was the lord of Paris, Blois, Normandy, Flanders, Brittany, Burgundy, Champagne, Anjou, Aquitaine, Gascony and Toulouse on the Continent and of England and part of Ireland across the Channel.) The source of his wealth was in England, his wife’s homeland, but the heart of the empire lay in Anjou, the land of his fathers. Out the thirty-five years of his reign, Henry II spent twenty-one on the Continent. In England, he confiscated or ruined the castles built without royal authority and curbed the power of the nobles. He introduced trial by jury and established Anglo-Saxon common law as the law of England.

Church and StateDuring the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) there happened an

event which had a powerful effect on the history of English Church and social life in the country.

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In order to strengthen monarchy, Henry II made his friend Thomas Becket first Chancellor and then Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket, a merchant’s son, was known to be a sinner and an ardent supporter of the king. But when Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury he got completely reformed. Within a few years he became one of the most respected priests in England. The greatest problem was that now he was trying to prove to Henry that royal power was inferior to God’s power and Papal power, and that was quite the opposite to what Henry had expected him to do. The former friends turned into bitter enemies, and finally Becket had to flee to France. He visited Rome where he got the Pope’s blessing and several years later returned to England to continue strengthening the position of the Church. He landed in an unexpected place and avoided Henry’s men, who had been sent to kill him. Shortly afterwards, in 1171, Thomas Becket was killed in Canterbury Cathedral by the four barons sent by the king. The murder in the Cathedral shook the country. Henry had to admit that it was a political murder, an assassination. But Henry II had achieved his aim and royal power was strengthened. In two years’ time Becket’s tomb became a centre of pilgrimage, and in 1173 Thomas Becket was canonised.

One of the masterpieces of English literature, “The Canterbury Tales” written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14 th century, is based on the stories told by a group of pilgrims travelling to the tomb of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Two outstanding figures in world literature of the 20th century, Jean Anouilh of France and T.S. Eliot of Britain, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote respectively “Thomas Becket” and “Murder in the Cathedral”. The central idea of each piece is the antagonism between friendship and duty, friendship and treachery for the sake of the state.

Henry II’s son Richard known as Richard the Lion Heart was one of England’s most popular kings, although he spent only six months of his reign in England. He was brave, cruel and generous, and inspired loyalty. With other Christian leaders Richard I headed the

43

Third Crusade against Muslim rule in the Holy Land and secured Christian access to the holy places. Richard was a superb military leader and a fine troubadour-style lyric poet, but his wars on the Continent cost England a lot of money and weakened the crown which, during his absence, was usurped by his wicked brother John.

Magna Carta and the beginning of ParliamentAfter Richard’s death, when John became lawful king of

England, he lost Normandy and other territories in the wars against the king of France. His vassals came over to England to receive lands and titles. John began to give the lands and castles of the first Norman barons, who had come with the Conqueror, to the newcomers. Hatred for King John united the old barons, bishops and the Anglo-Saxons in their almost open struggle against the king. In the civil war which broke out, the barons worked out a programme which King John was finally forced to sign and seal. Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, was signed on June 10, 1215. The document was a detailed statement of how the king’s government ought to work and what kind of relations there ought to be in a feudal state between the monarch and his vassals. Instead of paying their lords in services, some vassals paid them in money. Vassals were beginning to turn into tenants. Feudalism, the use of land in return for service, was weakening. But it took three hundred years more to get rid of feudalism.

Magna Carta was the first document to lay the basis for the British Constitution.

When the throne went to Henry III, he tried to centre all power in his hands. Several times he demanded money from the Great Council but the barons refused to grant money. The first attempt to curb the power of the king and his foreign advisers was made by Simon de Montfort, the leader of the lesser barons and the new merchant class and poorer clergy. In 1258 they took over the government and elected a council of nobles which de Montfort called parliament (from the French word “parler” - “to speak”). The nobles

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were supported by the towns, which wished to be free of Henry’s heavy taxes. In 1264 a civil war began and the incompetent king was defeated. In 1265 de Montfort became the virtual ruler of the country and called “two knights from every shire, two burgesses from every borough” to his parliament The first Parliament was quite a revolutionary body. It represented the interests of barons, the clergy and the new class of merchants.

During the reign of Henry III’s son, Edward I, it was granted by the king that no new taxes would be raised without the consent of Parliament. At the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th

centuries, Parliament was divided into the Lords (the barons) and the Commons (the knights and the burgesses). The alliance between the merchants and the squires paved the way to the growth of parliamentary power. Edward I conquered Wales and made it a principality of England (1284), passed exclusively to the heir to the English throne (Prince of Wales; 1301).

The Norman period in the English language, which lasted from the 11th to the 15th century, is known as Middle English. The Conquest was not only a historical event, it was also the greatest single event in the history of the

English language.One of the most significant consequences of the Norman

domination was the use of the French language in many spheres of English political, social and cultural life. But though the court and the barons spoke Norman-French and the clergy spoke and wrote Latin, the invasion of these two Romance languages could not subdue the popular tongue spoken by peasants and townsfolk all over England. The two main languages, French and English, intertwined and by the end of the 14th century made one language, which was used both in speech and in writing. English was bound to survive and win in this linguistic battle as it was the living language of the people in their native land, and part of their culture. At the same time,

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4. Language of the Norman

Period

Norman-French was torn away from its roots and had to surrender, although it greatly influenced English.

Three hundred years after the Norman Conquest, in 1258, Henry III issued a “Proclamation” to the counsellors elected to sit in Parliament from all parts of England. It was written in three official languages: French, Latin and English. This was the first official document to be written in English. In 1349 it was ruled that schooling should be conducted in English and Latin. In 1362 Edward III gave his consent to an act of Parliament proclaiming that English should be used in the law courts because French had become “much unknown in the realm”. In the same year Parliament, for the first time, was opened with a speech in English.

But the three hundred years of French domination in many spheres of life affected the English language more than any other single foreign influence before or after. The impact of French upon the vocabulary can hardly be exaggerated: the numerous borrowings reflect the spheres of Norman influence on English life.

The phonetic structure of the language was, naturally, affected. It is, however, controversial whether it was only the French language that affected the grammatical structure of English. The need to bring together the language of the new lords of the land and the language of those who cultivated the land brought about considerable changes in the grammar of the Old English language. Endings began to give way to auxiliary verbs. Thus Middle English is known as the period of levelled endings, a transitional period from synthetic forms (with various endings) to analytical forms (the use of auxiliary verbs).

In its turn, the French language brought in a number of new suffixes and prefixes: -ance, -ence: ignorance, experience -ment: government, agreement -age: village, marriage -able: available, admirable dis-: disbelieve, disappear, distaste.

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The suffixes gave an abstract meaning to the words and were also used to form new words from the English roots: unbearable, readable, etc.

It was during the Middle English period that the indefinite article a/an, stemming from the Old English numeral an (one), came into use. Spelling changed altogether. Instead of the Germanic runes Þ and T the Normans introduced the digraph th. The Old English u was changed into ou or ow as in hus>house, mus>mouse, cu>cow. It should be noted that at the time ou/ow was pronounced as [u:] and the diphthongs [ou]/[au] appeared later.

The Norman period enriched the English language with synonyms. Linguistic practice shows that words denoting the same object or the same idea cannot coexist in the same language, that is why there practically can be no full synonyms in a language. With the inflow of French words into the language, English retained the Anglo-Saxon words denoting things or concepts that the language had had before, and borrowed the French words which gave a new idea or a new shade of meaning. Thus the words ‘to eat, land, house’ come from Old English, but ‘to devour, territory, building’ come from French. The words describing feudal relations or related to the law courts and governing were borrowed from French: to command, to obey, baron, council, to accuse, court, crime, arms, guard, battle, victory, etc.

Even if both Anglo-Saxon and French words remained in the language, they were at least slightly different in meaning. This was illustrated by Walter Scott in Ivanhoe: a domestic animal in the charge of a Saxon serf was called by its Anglo-Saxon name, but when it was sent to the table of a Norman baron it changed it name into French. Thus the English language still has such pairs of words as ‘ox – beef’, ‘calf – veal’, ‘sheep – mutton’, ‘swine – pork’.

Some synonymous words are used in different styles. The English words usually give a homelier idea, while the French ones are mostly used in formal speech: ‘to give up – to abandon’, ‘to give

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in – to surrender’, ‘to come in – to enter’, ‘to begin – to commence’, ‘to go on – to continue’.

As a result, the stock of synonyms in English is larger than in any other European language, and the English word-stock is the largest in Europe.

The 11th-12th centuries was a period of significant changes in English culture due to the Norman Conquest and the influence of Norman culture on the English court and the nobility. It

was a transitional period from Old English and Anglo-Saxon literature of the conquered on the one hand, and the Norman French and continental French literature and the conquerors, on the other hand, to a new language and a new people, with their specific culture.

The 13th century in Britain witnessed an intellectual development which established Britain’s reputation as equal to the continental centres of learning. Central to this was the founding of the two great universities at Cambridge and Oxford.

First universitiesOriginally, the first universities in Europe appeared in Italy and

France. A fully developed university comprised four faculties: three superior faculties – Theology, Canon law, Medicine – and one inferior (primary) faculty of Art where music, grammar, geometry and logic were taught. University graduates were awarded with 3 degrees: Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts and Doctor. Towards the end of the 13th century there appeared colleges where other subjects were taught. It became a custom with students to go about from one great university to another, learning what they could from the most famous professors of the time.

Already at the end of the 11th century Oxford was a centre of learning. In the middle of the 12th century, after controversial debates at Paris University, a group of professors were expelled. They went over to England and in 1168 founded schools in Oxford which

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5. The development

of culture

formed the first university. Students and scholars were attracted to to Oxford where they tried to recreate the style of learning they had experienced in Europe. However, the plague, which devastated whole towns, led to a temporary dispersion of the schools. In 1214 the university received a charter from the Pope, and by the end of the 13 th

century four colleges had been founded: University, Balliol, Merton and St. Edmund Hall. There were already 1500 students and the university was famous all over Europe.

Another university was founded in Cambridge. It is generally considered to date from 1209, when a group of students who had been driven out of Oxford by serious rioting came to Cambridge to continue their studies. Following a Papal Bull of 1318, Cambridge was declared a ‘studium generale’ or place of general education, which meant that degree holders could teach in any Christian country.

Unless a university student was a member of a religious house, it was necessary for him to provide for his own board and lodgings, and usually he would reside with a family in town. This caused certain problems: the young students, who were usually 14 or 15 years old, were often ill-disciplined and needed supervision and financial aid as the landlords often charged them more than other tenants. That led to the opening of colleges, with their hostels and the first student grants which were paid by benefactors and charity funds.

The nobles generally had no use for university education in the Middle Ages. It was the sons of the lower middle-class families who hoped to better their stations in life by getting an education. Most of the English writers and poets of the time had university education.

Literature of the 11th-13th centuriesThe Norman barons were followed to England by the

churchmen, scribes, minstrels, merchants and artisans. Each rank of society had its own literature. Monks wrote historical chronicles in Latin. Scholars in universities wrote about their experiments - also in Latin. Even religious satires were written in Latin. The aristocracy

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wrote their poetry in Norman-French. But the peasants and townspeople made up their songs and ballads in Anglo-Saxon.

The literature of the 11-12th centuries was represented by the romance, the ballad, the fable and the fabliau. The fable and the fabliau were typical literary forms of the townsfolk. Animal characters in fables mocked out human evils and conveyed a moral. Fabliaux were short funny stories about cunning crooks and unfaithful wives written as metrical tales.

The influence of continental literature was marked by the increasing popularity of French chivalric romances – a form already popular in France and Germany, which revolved around the love of a knight for a lady, with definite religious undertones. In southern France the lyric poets of the Middle Ages called ‘troubadours’ wrote dancing-songs called ‘ballads’ (stemming from the same root as ‘ballet’).

The most famous poet in the reign of Henry II was the Norman poet Wace. An educated person who had studied theology at Paris University, he was a clergyman, a secretary, a teacher, a writer and a poet. His chief works were two rhyming chronicles written in form of romance: Brut, or the Acts of the Britts and Rollo, or the Acts of the Normans.

Of great importance was the introduction into English of the Arthurian legend, first in 1140 by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Britons) and then by Wace who translated History of the Britons into French. Geoffrey of Monmouth had been brought up in Wales and lived close to the myth of King Arthur, the legendary Celtic chief.

Later, in the 13th -15th centuries there appeared a series of legends about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. The best-known legends are “Arthur and Merlin”, “Lancelot of the Lake”, “Percival of Wales”, “Sir Tristram” and others. In the 15 th century Thomas Malory collected Arthurian stories and arranged them in twenty books.

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Soon another powerful myth gained popularity, that of Robin Hood and his merry men, the outlaws who would not accept Norman rule but lived free in Sherwood Forest.

Norman kings, who were fond of hunting, turned vast territories into King’s Forest. (The word ‘forest’ comes from the Latin word ‘fores’ which means ‘out of doors’.) It was not a wood, though some parts of King’s Forest were wooded. King’s Forest was carefully guarded: peasants could neither make their living by hunting nor cut trees or shrubs nor pick firewood. Sheep and cattle that had the right to feed in the forest were branded with a special mark and their owners paid taxes. Unbranded animals, if caught, were made royal property. No goats were allowed in the forest as deer hated their smell and would not feed in the place where goats had walked. A man who killed a deer in the forest was either blinded, or had his fingers or arm cut off, or even put to death.

No wonder rebellious peasants, serfs and people who were driven to despair by hunger and need hunted in the forest, thus becoming outlaws.

Ballads describe Robin Hood, the famous legendary outlaw of the period as a strong, brave and skilful archer. Robin Hood was presumably a Saxon nobleman who had been ruined by the Normans. Together with his merry men (Little John – a gigantic manly fellow, brother Tuck – a stray friar and the others) they fought against Norman nobles and clergy and would appear wherever the poor were in need of help. Ballads about Robin Hood were composed and sung throughout the 12th and the 13th centuries. Robin is supposed to have lived in the reign of King Henry II and his son Richard the Lion Heart. All through the ballads goes the idea of Robin waiting for Richard the Lion Heart to return. Then he would lay his bow at the king’s feet and subdue to the lawful king, whose wicked brother John had taken his place while Richard went crusading.

Art and architecture in Norman England

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Art and architecture in the 12th century were especially influenced by continental developments. In addition, crusaders returning from the Holy Lands brought back Byzantine influences. One of the four most unusual churches, the Round Church in Cambridge, is the oldest of the four surviving Norman churches built in 1130. The style was introduced by the returning crusaders in remembrance of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The production of illuminated manuscripts increased as new religious orders and monasteries were founded. The use of elaborate initials of these manuscripts was accompanied by a variety of depictions of events, monsters and people which became increasingly sophisticated as the century progressed, until this Romanesque illumination became Gothic. In architecture, the 12 th and 13th

centuries also experienced this transition, with the development of the early Gothic style. It was in this style that the original Westminster Abbey was constructed from 1245.

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DO YOU KNOW THAT

King Harold Godwin’s elder daughter Gytha married Prince Waldemar of Novgorod, later King Waldemar of Kiev, and became Queen.

William the Conqueror, the illegitimate son of the Norman duke Robert the Devil, was also known as William the Bastard.

The Bayeux Tapestry (1067-1077), an embroided wall-hanging in coloured wool on linen, narrating the events leading up to the invasion of England by William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is believed to have been made by William’s wife Matilda and her ladies in waiting.

In 1940, when Britain was desperately fighting against fascist Germany, there circulated a rumour that King Arthur, who would never die, had come again to drive out the expected invader.

?

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In England the period of the 14 th and 15th

centuries is known as the period of war, plague and disorder. The country waged long and costly wars with France and the Low Countries on the

Continent as well as with Scotland and Wales within the British Isles. The period also saw the longest civil war in English history, the Wars of the Roses. Like nowhere else in Western Europe, the English regularly murdered their kings and the children of their kings. Famine, disease and plague dramatically reduced the population of the country by the beginning of the 15 th century. Spiritual uncertainty led to the spread of heresy which swept the country. The oppression of peasants led to numerous revolts.

At the same time, the Continental wars gave Englishmen a sharper sense of national identity and the civil wars finally resulted in the establishment of an absolute monarchy. The peasants’ revolts led to the abolition of serfdom. Some heretical priests turned into famous poets.

The growing economic development of England turned it into one of the strongest European powers.

PopulationEnglish society was headed by the king and based

upon ownership of land. The richest landowner was the king who was followed by the landed nobility:

dukes, earls and knights who were no longer heavily armed horsemen but had turned into ‘gentlemen farmers’ or ‘landed gentry’.

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CHAPTER 3

England in the late Middle Ages

1. General characteristic of

the period

2. Society

King

LandownersLords

dukes earls knights Clergy

monasteries bishopsFreemen

Town Countryside merchants lawyersartisans workers

peasantsfarmworkers

Serfs

By the order of king Edward I all those with an income of 20 a year were made knights, even some of the yeomen farmers and formers esquires became part of the ‘landed gentry’. The word esquire was commonly used in written addresses. Vast lands belonged to the clergy – monasteries and bishops.

Freemen from towns could make a fortune through trade. A serf could become a freeman if he worked for seven years in a town craft guild. Merchants, lawyers and artisans were forming a new middle class. It was knights from the country and merchants from towns that formed the House of Commons in Parliament. The alliance between the landed gentry and merchants made Parliament more powerful.

Judicial power was exercised by the king’s courts as well as justices of the peace who were first appointed by King Edward III to deal with smaller crimes and offences. The JPs were usually less important lords of representatives of the landed gentry. Through the system of JPs, the landed gentry took the place of the nobility as the local authority. The JPs remained the only form of local government in rural areas until 1888. They still exist within the British judicial system.

By the end of the 13th century, England’s population reached its peak of about four million. As there was not enough cultivated land

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to ensure all peasant families with an adequate livelihood, low living standards and poor harvests led to poverty, disease and famine.

The Black DeathLonger lasting and more profound were the consequences of a

terrible disease called the ‘pestilence’. It was bubonic plague commonly known as the Black Death. The first attack occurred in southern England in 1348 and by the end of 1349 it had spread north to central Scotland. Two more outbreaks of plague fell on 1361 and 1369.

The disease was brought over to England from France in rat-infected ships. There was no escape from it: those affected died within 24 hours. By 1350, the Black Death reduced England’s population by about a third. About 1,000 villages were destroyed or depopulated.

With the reduction of labour available to cultivate the land, land owners were forced to offer wages instead of the old feudal traditions to keep their tenants. The remaining craftsmen and traders charged higher rates. All that brought the possibility of social change in the former strictly stratified society.

In 1351 Parliament passed a law called ‘The Labourers’ Statute’ which obliged any man or woman from 16 to 60 to work on the land if they had no income of their own. Those who disobeyed were executed. The law was the first attempt to control wages and prices by freezing wages and the prices of manufactured goods and by restricting the movement of labour. The peasants who survived the Black Death were forced by drastic measures to till the land of their lords for the same pay that had existed before the epidemic.

In 1377, 1378 and 1360 Parliament voted for the Poll Tax: it was a fixed four-penny tax paid for every member of the population (‘poll’ meant ‘head’). Both ‘The Labourers’ Statute’ and the Poll Tax were significant factors leading to the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt.

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Peasants’ RevoltIn 1381 the impoverished peasants and townsmen revolted.

Sixty thousand people led by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw marched from Essex and Kent to London. They besieged the Tower of London where King Richard II and his court had found refuge. Central power was paralyzed. The rebels destroyed the Royal Courts, several prisons, killed the king’s men, beheaded the archbishop of Canterbury and nailed his head to the gates of the Tower. On June 14 the rebels met the king at Mile End, in the suburbs of London. Wat Tyler handed Richard their demands which later became known as the ‘Mile End Programme’. Richard, who was only 14 years of age at the time, met all their demands. He abolished the ‘Labourers’ Statute’ and serfdom. Part of the rebels left the place, bearing the king’s charters which granted them freedom. But the more radical part remained and continued the talks on the following day, in Smithfield. It was there, in Smithfield, that the leader of the revolt, Wat Tyler, was treacherously killed. The rebels were dispersed and punished. Over 100 of them were hanged. But as a result, serfdom was practically done away with by the end of the 14 th century. It paved the way to a new social system.

Already between the 12th and the 14th centuries, new economic relations began to take shape within the feudal system. The peasants were superseded by the copy-holders, and ultimately, by the rent-paying tenants. The crafts became separated from

agriculture, and new social groups came into being: the poor townsmen (artisans and apprentices), the town middle class and the rich merchants, owners of workshops and money-lenders. The peasants who wished to get free from their masters migrated to towns. The village craftsmen travelled about the country looking for a greater market for their produce. They settled in the old towns and founded new ones near big monasteries, on the rivers and at cross-roads.

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3 Economic development of England

Agriculture and industry In the late Middle Ages, England’s wealth was its land.

Farming and cattle breeding were the main rural occupations. Corn and dairy goods were the main articles of agricultural produce.

England’s most important industry, textiles, was also based on the land, producing the finest wool in Europe. By 1300 the total number of sheep in England is thought to have been between 15 to 18 million.

As the demand for wool and cloth rose, Britain began to export woollen cloth produced by the first big enterprises – the manufactures. Landowners evicted peasants and enclosed their lands with ditches and fences, turning them into vast pastures. Later, Thomas More wrote about the sheep on pastures: ‘They become so great devourers and so wylde that they eat up and swallow down the very men themselves’. (The phrase is often quoted in Russian as “овцы съели людей”.) In English history this policy is known as the policy of enclosures.

Other industries were less significant in creating wealth and employing labour, although tin-mining in Cornwall was internationally famous.

The new nobility, who traded in wool, merged with the rich burgesses to form a new class, the bourgeoisie, while the evicted landless farmers, poor artisans and monastic servants turned into farm laborers and wage workers or remained unemployed and joined the ranks of paupers, vagrants and highway robbers.

Wool tradeTrade extended beyond the local boundaries. The burgesses (the

future bourgeoisie) became rich through trading with Flanders, the present-day Belgium. The English shipped wool to Flanders where it was sold as raw material. Flanders had the busiest towns and ports in Europe and Flemish weavers produced the finest cloth. Flemish weavers were often invited to England to teach the English their

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trade. However, it was raw wool rather than finished cloth that remained the main article of export. All through the period Flanders remained England’s commercial rival.

As the European demand for wool stood high, and since no other country could match the high quality of English wool, English merchants could charge a price twice as high as in the home market. In his turn, the king taxed the export of wool as a means of increasing his own income. Wool trade was England’s most profitable business. A wool sack has remained in the House of Lords ever since that time as a symbol of England’s source of wealth.

European contactsLondon merchants derived great incomes from trade with

European countries, as London was one of the most important trading centres in Europe. It had commercial ties with the Mediterranean countries as well as the countries of Northern Europe. (See Map 8.) With the beginning of crusades the demand for oriental goods increased. Every year Venetian ships loaded with spices and silks sailed through the Straight of Gibraltar and up to the English Channel on their way to Flanders. But before they reached Flanders, they always called at ports on the southern coast of England. English merchants bought luxurious oriental goods and sold them again at a high profit. Particularly profitable was the trade in spices, which often cost their weight in gold.

As England traded with the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, an important sea route ran across the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Hull, Boston, Dover, Newcastle, Ipswich had long been important trade centres.

The merchants of the Hanseatic League as well as traders from the Baltic states and Flanders settled in London, Hull and other English ports. Closer contacts with the Continent meant more goods available for exchange. In the 14th century, the list of imports was considerably increased. From France England imported wines, salt

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and building stone for castles and churches; a greater quantity and variety

Map 8

(From S.D. Zaitseva. Early Britain. Moscow, 1975.)

of cloths and spices was brought from the East. In its turn, England exported wool, tin, cattle and lead. At first, the bulk of the export trade was in the hands of the Venetian and Flemish merchants, but

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4. Growth of towns

with the growth of trade at the beginning of the 14th century, more than half the trade fell into the hands of English merchants.

During the 14th century English merchants began to establish trading stations called ‘factories’ in different places in Europe. Often they replaced the old town guilds as powerful trading institutions. In 1363 a group of 26 English merchants who called themselves the Merchant Staplers, were granted the royal authority to export wool to the Continent through the French port of Calais. In return, they promised to lend money to English monarchs. The word ‘staple’ became an international term used by merchants to denote that certain goods could be sold only in particular places. Calais became the staple for English wool and defeated rival English factories in other foreign cities. The staple was a convenient arrangement for the established merchants, as it prevented competition and was a safe source of income for the Crown, which could tax exports more easily.

Free towns

The changes in the economic and social conditions were accompanied by the intermixture of people coming from different regions, the

growth of towns with a mixed population, and the strengthening of social ties between the various regions.

The growth of trade promoted the growth of towns. (See Map 9) London, the residence of the Norman kings, became the most populous town of England. Two centuries before, kings had realised that towns could become effective centres of royal authority and balance the power of the local nobility. As a result, many towns got ‘charters of freedom’ which freed them from feudal duties to the local lord. These charters, however, had to be paid for, but they were worth the money. Towns could then raise their own taxes on coming goods. They could also have their own courts, controlled by the town merchants, on condition that they paid an annual tax to the king. People who lived inside the town walls were practically free from

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feudal rule. It was the beginning of a middle class and a capitalist economy.

Map 9(From S.D. Zaitseva, Early Britain, Moscow, 1975.)

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Guilds

In towns, the central role was played by guilds. These were brotherhoods of merchants or artisans. The word ‘guild’ came from the Saxon word ‘gildan’ which meant ‘to pay’, as members of guilds had to pay towards the cost of the brotherhood. The right to form a guild was sometimes included in a town’s charter of freedom. It was from the members of the guild that the town’s leaders were usually chosen. The guilds defended the rights of their members and saw to the high standards of the trade.

During the 14th century, as larger towns continued to grow, there appeared craft guilds: all members of each of the guilds belonged to the same trade or craft. The earliest craft guilds were those of weavers in London and Oxford. Each guild tried to protect its own trade interests. Members of the guilds had the right to produce, buy or sell their particular goods without paying special town taxes. But they also had to make sure their goods were of a certain quality, and had to keep to agreed prices so as not to undermine the trade of other members of the guild.

In London the development of craft guilds went further than elsewhere. The rich upper part of the craft community, the so-called livery companies, developed into large financial institutions. Today they pay an important role in the government of the City of London, and the yearly choice of the Lord Mayor of London.

Causes of the warThe 14th and 15th centuries were also marked by

the Hundred Years War which lasted from 1337 to 1453. The causes of the war were both political

and economic. Politically, King Edward III of England claimed the French throne and wanted to get back the English possessions in France which had already been lost. It was a good enough reason for starting a war. But there were far more important reasons. The king of France, who ceased Gascony and Burgundy, and the French feudal

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5. The Hundred Years War

lords who wanted to better themselves by seizing the free towns of Flanders, deprived England of its traditional wool market. England could not afford the destruction of overseas trade. The threat to their trade with Flanders persuaded the English merchants that war against France was inevitable. In 1337 Edward III declared war on France.

The beginning of the campaign was rather successful for England because of its military supremacy. Due to the newly invented cannons the English defeated the French army in several battles, the most important of which were the battles at Crecy in 1346 and at Poitiers in 1356. By 1360, the English had regained their lands on the Continent. But then the tide of war turned and the territories gained at the beginning of the war were lost in the next fifteen years. At the beginning of the 15th century, Henry V, who is remembered as the most heroic of English kings, undertook successful military campaigns in France. In 1415 he won the battle of Agincourt, in which the French outnumbered the English by more than three to one. In accordance with the Treaty of Troyes (1420), Henry V of England was recognized as heir to the French king. Moreover, Henry married the French king’s daughter Katherine of Valois. But Henry V never took the French throne as he died a few months before the French monarch. His nine-month-old son inherited the crowns of England and France.

Joan of Arc After Henry V’s death in 1422, Joan of Arc rallied the French and

had Charles II of France crowned as the lawful King of France. The English were gradually expelled from France, until only Calais remained in their possession.

Joan of Arc, or the Maid of Orleans, is the French national heroine. She claimed to hear voices urging her to help the dauphin, Charles II, to regain the French crown from the English. Joan convinced Charles of her mission, and led a large army to raise the siege of Orleans in 1429. Charles was crowned in Reims the same year. In 1430 Joan was captured by the Burgundians who sold her to

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the English. Joan was tried for heresy and sorcery by an ecclesiastical court at Rouen. She was condemned and burned at stake. King Charles II of France, who could have saved her, turned a blind eye on the trial and the execution. He was evidently frightened that he had been assisted by a witch. Joan’s condemnation was annulled in 1456 and she was canonized in the 20 th century, in 1920. The feast is celebrated on May 30.

After the end of the Hundred Years War, the feudal lords and their hired armies came home from France, and life in England became more turbulent than ever. The baronial families at the

king’s court, the House of York and the House of Lancaster started a series of wars fighting for possession of the throne. In the 19 th

century the novelist Walter Scott named them the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) after their emblems – the white rose, which was the emblem of the House of York, and the red rose, which symbolized the House of Lancaster. During the wars, more than sixty aristocratic families controlling England divided into the Yorkists and the Lancastrians. Many of them were related by marriage. Most noblemen still kept their private armies after returning from the war in France and subdued the local population into obeying them. Thus the struggle for the throne turned into a civil war.

King Henry VI, who was the founder of Eaton college (1440) and King’s College at Cambridge, was a scholarly man but suffered from insanity. Thus true power was in the hands of rival ministers of the Houses of York and Lancaster, notably Richard, Duke of York, and Edmund Beaufort, the Second Duke of Somerset, both descendants of Edward III.

The war began when Richard, Duke of York, claimed the protectorship of the crown after the mental breakdown of King Henry in 1454. In 1455 Richard defeated the King’s army at St. Albans, the first battle in the Wars of the Roses, and in 1460 claimed the throne to himself. As for Henry VI, he was murdered in the Tower in 1471.

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6. Wars of the Roses

After Richard’s death in battle, the throne went to his son Edward IV. When Edward IV died, his two young sons were put in the Tower by their uncle Richard who took the crown as Richard III. The two princes were never heard of again. Richard III was unpopular both with the Yorkists and the Lancastrians that is why when in 1485 Henry Tudor, a challenger with a very distant claim to royal blood landed in England with Breton soldiers to claim the throne, he was joined by many Lancastrians and Yorkists. Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at Bosworth and was crowned king in the battlefield.

The Wars of the Roses lasted thirty years and ended with the establishment of a stronger royal power under Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty. In 1486 Henry VII married the daughter of Edward IV of the York house, thus uniting the rival houses. The wars demonstrated the danger of allowing powerful nobles to build up private armies. As a reminder of the war, today the floral symbol of England is the red Tudor rose.

Church and religionA popular discontent with the Catholic

church went side by side with the Lollard movement which opposed the traditional

doctrine of the English clergy. The word ‘lollard’ was probably derived from lollaer, ‘a mumbler of prayers’. It was a nickname given to the poorer priests who travelled from place to place propagating the ideas of John Wycliff, the only university intellectual in the history of medieval heresy and a forerunner of the English Reformation. Wycliff gained reputation and support among noblemen, courtiers and scholars for his criticism of the Church’s wealth and the unworthiness of too many of its clergy. His increasingly radical ideas led to his condemnation and withdrawal from Oxford. Wycliff was the first priest to deny the basic principle of the Roman Catholic Church – the miraculous change of things from one substance into another, particularly the conversion of bread

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7. Pre-renaissance in England

and wine into the body and blood of Christ. After Wycliff’s death, the Pope ordered his works to be destroyed, his body to be dug out and burnt, and the ashes to be thrown into the river.

Rebirth of English literatureOne of the most famous Lollard priests was William Langland

(1334-1400) who is remembered for his poem The Visions of William Concerning Piers the Ploughman (now known as Piers Plowman), a dream allegory popular in the Middle Ages. The poem deals with the vision of a peasant, Piers Ploughman, who describes the hard life of the common people. He explains that it is the peasant who works to keep the lord and the monks in comfort. The author stresses the idea that every person is obliged to work – be it a peasant, a lord or a priest. Every now and then the author suddenly darts from allegory to real history. The main characters of the poem are human qualities, such as Virtue, Truth and Greed. The written text of the poem is dated 1362. Before and during the revolt of 1381 the text of the poem was used in proclamations which easily spread among the peasants and townspeople.

Another follower of Wycliff was John Ball, one of the leaders of the peasants’ revolt. He is best remembered for his proclamations in which he used quotations from ‘Piers Ploughman’ and Wycliff’s works. He often ended his speeches with Wycliff’s famous words which then turned into a saying:

When Adam delved and Eve spanwho was then the Gentleman?

Geoffrey ChaucerThe greatest writer of the 14 th century was Geoffrey Chaucer

(1340-1400). Whereas his predecessor, Langland, expressed the thoughts of the peasants and Wycliff – the protest against the church, Chaucer was the writer of the new class, the bourgeoisie. He was not, however, the preacher of bourgeois ideology but just a writer of the world: he wrote about the things he saw, and described the people he

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met. Chaucer was the first to break away from medieval forms and paved the way to realism in literature.

Geoffrey Chaucer was supposedly born in 1340 in London, shortly after the Hundred Years War broke out. John Chaucer, his father, was a London vintner (a wine merchant). Very little is known about Chaucer’s early years. We do know, however, that his parents always lived in rented houses and gave their son some education. He is said to have gone to St.

Paul’s school. Although some researchers claim that he must have been educated at Oxford or Cambridge, no data can prove that. Most probably he had no university education.

His father, who had some connections with the court, hoped for a courtier’s career for his son. At the age of 16 or 17 Geoffrey was page to a lady at the court of Edward III. From an old account book we learn that Geoffrey Chaucer received several articles of clothing ‘of his lady’s gift’ and that now and then he was paid small sums of money ‘for necessaries’. Those facts indicate that he was a favourite with the royal family.

During the Hundred Years War, when he was about 20, Chaucer was in France serving as an esquire (an arms-bearer) to a knight. He was then taken prisoner by the French. When his friends raised money to ransom him, even Edward III contributed 16 pounds towards his ransom.

On his return to England, Chaucer passed into attendance on John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of the king. It was there that he met a young lady named Phillipa who became his wife in 1366. At about the same time Chaucer started writing his first poems. It is peculiar that he never wrote a single line of poetry to his young wife: probably, the marriage was not a romantic one.

At different periods of his life Chaucer was a student, a courtier, a soldier, a diplomat, a customs official and a Member of Parliament for Kent. He mixed freely with all sorts of people and in his works gave a true and vivid picture of contemporary England.

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Chaucer’s earliest poems were written in imitation of French romances. He translated from French the famous allegorical poem of the 13th century, “The Romance of the Rose”. These years are usually described as the first, or the French period of Chaucer’s writings.

The second period is known as Italian. In the early 1370s Chaucer travelled much and lived a busy life. He made three trips to Italy where he acquainted himself with Italian literature. Italy made a deep impression on him. Italian literature opened to Chaucer a new world of art and taught him to appreciate the value of national literature. It was then that he wrote The Parliament of Birds, an allegorical poem satirizing Parliament, Troilus and Cressid, the first psychological novel in English, and The Legend of Good Women, a dream poem which describes nine famous women of twenty. The poem forms a bridge between the Italian period and the next, English period.

When Chaucer came back to England, he received the post of the Controller of the Customs for wool and hides in the port of London. He held this position for ten years and apparently had little time to write. Much of his work remained unfinished. But Chaucer’s fame as a poet was spreading although his writings were copied by hand and were very expensive. The court admired his graceful way of writing and his ability of being satirical without being unkind.

In the late 1370s Chaucer was appointed Knight for the shire of Kent, that is became a Member of Parliament representing Kent. Chaucer often had to travel from London to Kent and back and could observe the pilgrimage to the tomb of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Travelling was dangerous at the time, and several times Chaucer was robbed of all the money that was in his possession. Later he described his experiences in The Canterbury Tales, the greatest work that brought him world fame.

However, his duties grew very tedious to the poet and several times he petitioned the king for permission to give up his post. Finally, the king granted him a pension. But when his patron John of Gaunt went to Spain, Chaucer lost his pension and became so poor

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that he even had to borrow money for food. When the new king, Henry IV, came to the throne in 1399, the poet addressed him with the poem The Complaints of Chaucer to His Empty Purse. As a result, his old pension was given back to him and a new one granted. Chaucer died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

Chaucer’s greatest work, The Canterbury Tales, is a series of stories told by a number of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. In the Prologue Chaucer makes a rapid portrait of 30 men and women from all walks of life. Nearly all of them are described with such particularity that suggests the idea that Chaucer was drawing his portraits from individuals in real life.

In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer sums up all types of stories that existed at the time: the Knight tells a romance, the Nun – a story of a saint, the Miller – a fabliau, the Priest tells a fable and so on. The Canterbury Tales is as popular in England as Decameron is on the Continent.

Chaucer did not only overshadow all his contemporary writers. He is rightly considered to be the greatest English writer before the age of Shakespeare.

In many modern manuals on the history of the English language and English literature, Chaucer is described as the founder of the English literary language. He wrote in a dialect which in the main coincided with that used in documents produced in London shortly before his time and for a long time after. Although he did not actually ‘create’ the literary language, as a poet of outstanding talent, he made better use of it than his contemporaries. He set up a pattern of literary language to be followed in the 14th and 15th centuries. Chaucer’s literary language based on the mixed dialect of London is known as classical Middle English. Chaucer’s poems were copied so many times that over 60 manuscripts of The Canterbury Tales have survived up to this day. His books were among the first to be printed in England, a hundred years after their composition. A hundred years

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later, William Caxton, the first English printer, called him ‘The wonderful father of our language.’

William Caxton

The 15th century saw an event of outstanding cultural significance in Europe. In 1438 Johannes Gutenberg printed in Germany the first European book known as The Gutenberg Bible. The idea of printing quickly spread all over Europe. The first English printer was William Caxton.

Caxton was a farmer’s son born in Kent in 1422. At the age of 16 he went to London where he

became an apprentice to a company of London merchants who traded in silk and woollen cloth. When his master left for Flanders, William followed him and spent over three decades of his life in Bruges. The boy quickly learned several European languages: French, Italian and German. He read a lot for pleasure and translated books from French into English. When his master died, he left most of his money to Caxton, who had become his partner by the time. During a visit to Cologne, William saw a printing press and learned the method of printing. In 1473 he bought a printing press of his own and in 1476 printed the first English book. It was Caxton’s

own translation of the ancient story of Troy. A few years later Caxton moved to London and set his printing press at Westminster. Later, he bought another printing press which was set up at Oxford. During the next 15 years Caxton printed 65 books, both in the original and in translation. One of the first books to be

printed was Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. In 1484 William Caxton printed Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Athur, the fullest record of the adventures of the knights of the Round Table.

Caxton made a great contribution to standardizing the English language. The concept of the norm had not existed before, it only

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appeared and was accepted as printed books spread all over England. The development of the printing technique promoted the spread of literacy and the literary norm.

The development of literacy and the English languageLate medieval literacy was not confined to the noble, clerical or

government classes. Some artisans, merchants, tailors, mariners could also read and write. Already in the 1470s, the rules and regulations of some craft guilds insisted on a recognized standard of literacy for their apprentices. The fact that wealthy laymen owned small libraries of poems, prophecies, chronicles and even recipes reflects their reading habits. Books were carefully listed in their wills.

The spread of literacy and the increased use of the English language were twin developments of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. They reflected the feelings of patriotism and nationhood. The causes of this quiet linguistic revolution were complex, but among them was patriotism generated by the long French war, the popularity of Lollardy, the lead given by the Crown and the nobility and the greater participation of the English speaking men in the affairs of Parliament. A further factor was the emergence in the 14 th

century of London as the settled capital of the kingdom, with York as another important administrative centre and Bristol as the second commercial centre. The regional dialect that was spoken in each of the three centres inevitably had to become comprehensible to the others. The dialect of London prevailed although it was greatly influenced by the Midlands dialect.

Music, theatre and artThe 15th century witnessed a new wave of Robin Hood ballads.

It was also the time of minstrels as English poetry was meant to be chanted and sung. The nobles were taught to play musical instruments, sing and dance. Even at a barber’s, an English lord or a knight might see a lute and take a few cords. Sometimes barbers invited musicians to attract more clients. Folk songs took the form of

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carols, or polyphonic songs. Polyphony greatly influenced the prominent English composer of the 15th century John Dunstable. The popularity and importance of music was so great that in the 16 th

century Oxford and Cambridge universities introduced the degrees of Doctor and Bachelor of Music.

Huge audiences were attracted by plays and performances of different kinds: mysteries and miracles, or plays about the miraculous things performed by saints. Another type of play was moralite where the characters were abstract ideas, such as Friendship, Death, Power, Kindness, Virtue, etc. These plays were performed in market squares and during town fairs. The performances were arranged and paid for by merchants and artisans. Already in the 15 th century actors were professional.

In the 14th and 15th centuries the English art of portrait painting made a leap forward. The portraits acquired individual characters and features. The most famous work of art of the period is the portrait of Richard II painted in the 1390s. It shows a young man in royal attire whose face is not yet spoiled by power and passion. The portrait of Margaret Beaufort belonging to the second half of the 15 th century, depicts a grieving young woman concentrated on her prayer.

The 14th and 15th centuries are known as the period of Pre-Renaissance in England.

DO YOU KNOW THAT When Richard I was taken prisoner, over half the price of

his ransom was paid in wool. Any book printed before 1501 is called an incunabula. The first English book was printed in Bruges, Flanders. Caxton was the first to introduce the use of the

apostrophe as a norm.

?

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ASSIGNMENTS (1)

1. Review the material of Section 1 and do the following test.

Check yourself by the key at the end of the book.

Test 11. The Anglo-Saxon tribes were

a. the Angles; b. the Scots; c. the Britons; d. the Jutes.2. The Romans lived in

b. villages; b. towns3. The Tower of London was built by

a. the Normans; b. the Celts; c. the Romans.4. The English “chester” (as in Manchester) comes from the ___ word “castra”.

b. Latin; b. Saxon; c. Norman.5. The days of the week take their names from the names of ___ gods.

a. Germanic; b. Celtic; c. Roman.6. Christianity was brought to England ___ 1066.

b. before; b. after.7. The Venerable Bede wrote

a. the first Anglo-Saxon history; b. the first code of laws; c. the Bible in English.

8. “Beowulf” is a poem about the adventures of a ___ hero.a. Scandinavian; b. Anglo-Saxon; c. Celtic.

9. William the Conqueror won the battle atb. Waterloo; b. Hastings; c. Trafalgar.

10. The first registration of the population was held undera. the Romans; b. the Danes; c. the Normans.

11. The first English printer was _____ . a. Johannes Gutenberg; b. William Caxton; c. Geoffrey Chaucer

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12. The process of evicting peasants and turning farmlands into pastures is known as the policy of _____ .

a. the open field; b. manufactures; c. enclosures2. Get ready to speak on the following topics:1. The first settlers on the British Isles. Stonehenge. The Celts on the

British Isles; traces of Celtic culture in present-day Britain.2. The Roman conquest of Britain. The impact of the conquest on the

development of culture on the British Isles; traces of Roman culture in present-day Britain.

3. The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain. The origin of the English language. The impact of Christianity on the Anglo-Saxon culture. Anglo-Saxon literature (Caedmon, the Venerable Bede, Beowulf).

4. The Scandinavian invasion of Britain, its impact on the political and cultural life of the country (Danelaw, King Canute). The role of King Alfred the Great in the history of Britain.

5. Distinctive features of the language in the Old English period. Celtic, Latin and Scandinavian borrowings in the English language. The history of English place-names.

6. The Norman conquest of Britain, its impact on the political and cultural life of the country. The Domesday Book. The first universities. Magna Carta and the beginning of Parliament. Thomas Becket. English literature of the 11 th-13th centuries (Robin Hood, King Arthur). Changes in the language.

7. The economic development of England in the 14 th-15th centuries. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381; the abolition of slavery. The Hundred Years War. The Wars of the Roses. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. Changes in the language in the Middle English period. William Caxton.

III. Topics for presentations: The invasions of early Britain and their impact on the political,

economic and cultural development of the country. The Norman Conquest and its impact on various spheres of life

in England.

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England’s economic growth in the 14th-15th centuries.

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SECTION 2

The English Renaissance

The 16th century, also known as the Tudor age, was a highly remarkable period in English history. The Tudors restored peace and order after a long period of feudal wars, formalized

Protestantism, and presided over increased trade, exploration and naval strength that set England on the path to world power. Тhe Tudor epoch was a time of resolute changes in the English state system. The first Tudor king Henry VII established absolute monarchy; his son Henry VIII broke away from Rome bringing in Reformation; and his granddaughter Elizabeth I brought glory to the country defeating Spain and promoting the spread of Renaissance in England. During the reign of the Tudor dynasty England turned gradually into a modern national state – centralized, sovereign, based on uniform system of the general law with the Church subordinated to the state.

It was the time of great geographical discoveries and the beginning of colonization of America.

The old trade routs between Europe and Asia were not only long but implied transshipment of

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CHAPTER 4The Tudor age

2. The Great Discoveries

1. General characteristic of

the period

goods: all goods were passed on from merchant to merchant along the rout, each taking a substantial profit. The sea voyages were purely coastal as the ships were primitive basin-shaped vessels. The high cost of transportation of goods made it unprofitable to carry bulky merchandise. The imported goods were mainly objects of luxury. And yet, trade with the East, which was in the hands of small groups of merchants or towns, like the Hanseatic towns, flourished. Each route was a jealously guarded monopoly and the so-called ‘owners’ guarded them even by armed force.

For Europe, the 15th century was the time when nation states were growing up in place of the old Duchies. The new states had strong centralized governments which had no share in the old routs and were anxious to develop new routs of their own and destroy the monopoly of Venice, Genoa and the Hanseatic League.

The 15th century witnessed great changes in the technique of ship-building and navigation. Spain and Portugal developed the caravel for coastal trade in the Atlantic. The compass, known since the 12th century, was perfected. In 1492 Columbus reached the West Indies. Six years later, Vasco da Gama made a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope. When he returned to Lisbon from India with a cargo which repaid sixtyfold the cost of his voyage, the effect was shattering. Overseas voyages followed in a quick succession. These events were the climax of a long series of changes transforming the relations between Europe and the East and the beginning of European contacts with the American continent. The American continent proved to be rich in gold and silver beyond any dreams. As it was impossible to keep the precious metals within Spain and Portugal, they spread over Europe stimulating the commerce of Spain’s rivals: France, Holland and England. England was not strong enough to challenge Spain or Portugal in the Spanish Main and was forced to look for ways of her own. Then England turned her attention to the North-East, and in 1553 a group of London merchants sent an expedition round the north of Norway. Some of the men perished in the ice, but the others reached the city

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of Archangel and established regular trade relations with Muscovy. The Muscovy Company was founded in 1649; it got a charter allowing it to monopolise trade between England and Russia.

Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty, felt that he had to restore the English Crown to its former position. The Wars of the Roses had undermined agriculture, trade and industry.

Moreover, they had undermined confidence in monarchy as an institution: the king was seen as unable, or unwilling, to protect the rights of all his subjects. The royal government was manipulated by individuals who fell in and out of favour. The king had to restore his right not only to reign, but also to rule.

Henry VII firmly believed that wars damaged the development of trade. Remembering the lessons of the civil war he forbade any nobleman to keep armed men. At the same time, the king built a regular army that obeyed nobody but himself. Henry strengthened England’s prestige and wealth by six commercial treaties that restored England’s position in the European market. Realising that England’s future depended on international trade, Henry freely spent money on building ships for a merchant fleet.

Henry VII made peace with France. In order to avoid military conflicts with Spain and Scotland he married his elder sons Arthur, and after his death, Henry, to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, and his daughter Margaret to King James IV of Scotland. It was also during his reign that England started its famous policy of ‘divide and rule’, preventing any country of Europe from becoming overwhelmingly strong.

Although Henry refused to help Columbus who approached him in search of financial support, the king backed the voyages of James Cabot, a Venetian sailor in the English pay, who in 1497 discovered

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3. Absolute monarchy

Newfoundland and sailed along part of the North American coast. That stirred England’s interest in North America.

Henry VII was known for the efficiency of his financial and administrative policies. He introduced new methods of government concentrating all power in his hands. The ministers were personally selected by the king for their ability, shrewdness and loyalty. The king was preoccupied with utmost economy. In a relatively short period of time he managed to establish a system of checks, the record of which never left his hands. He personally looked through all the record books and signed every page. When Henry VII died in 1509, he left about 2 million pounds, a vast sum equal to at least 15 years’ ordinary revenue at the time.

Henry VII is known as the founder of an absolute monarchy.

Henry VIII’s reignOne of the major events of the 16 century was

the Reformation – a grandiose revolution in consciousness of people, revision of substantive

provisions of Christian dogmas and of divine service. The reformation split Europe, having opposed to each other blocks of the Protestant and Catholic countries, and England was steadily involved

in the conflict with powerful Catholic powers.King Henry VIII waged costly wars on the

Continent and in Scotland. He centralized administrative authority, made use of Parliament’s powers and incorporated Wales into England. Henry also built a modern Royal Navy and got the nickname ‘Father of the English Navy’. Upon his death, he left a

modern fleet of 53 warships. He patronized the arts and astronomy and was well-read in theology. At the same time, he was pleasure-seeking and wasteful with money. He spent so much on maintaining a magnificent court and wars, that his father’s money was soon gone. Gold and silver from America added to the economic inflation. In

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4. Reformation

order to raise more money, Henry ordered to reduce the amount of silver used in coins. Although this step resulted in immediate profit, it led to a dramatic rise in prices. Within twenty-five years, the English coinage was reduced to a seventh of its value.

Church and stateAlthough Henry VIII’s father had become powerful by taking over

his nobles’ lands, the lands owned by monasteries and abbeys remained untouched. The Church was a huge and powerful landowner. Since it was controlled from Rome, it was an international organization with Spain and France struggling for control over Papacy. For one thing, the Catholic Church could work against the king’s authority, for another, taxes paid to the Church reduced the king’s income. At the same time, the Church was losing its respect and popularity with the population as the clergy often failed to perform church services but lived in wealth, comfort and sin.

But the European ideas of Reformation proclaimed by Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Geneva were not very popular in England, although the English humanists demanded reform of the Church from within. In 1521 the king got the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ from the Pope for his best-selling book criticizing Luther’s teaching. But a break with Rome became a political necessity five years later.

Break with RomeIn 1526, Henry VIII decided to obtain a divorce from his wife,

Catherine of Aragon, or, strictly speaking, a papal declaration that his marriage was invalid since Catherine had previously been married to his brother. One of the real reasons for the divorce was the fact that Catherine could not provide a male heir to secure the future of the Tudor dynasty. Their only surviving child was Princess Mary. Another reason was that Henry was planning an alliance with France against Spain and Catherine was a Spanish princess. There would

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have been no problem for Henry with the Pope if Rome had not just been taken by Cathrine’s nephew, King Charles V of Spain. For political and family reasons the king of Spain objected to the divorce. Pope Clement did not want to anger either Charles V or Henry VIII. When he finally forbade the divorce, Henry broke away from Rome by the Act of Supremacy (1534) which declared that the king of England was supreme head of the Church of England. Through several Acts of Parliament, England became politically a Protestant country, even theough the popular religion was still Catholic. Henry VIII established the Protestant Reformation in England by creating the Church of England with the monarch as the supreme head.

When the Church was brought under the control of the State, the king took the English Reformation further. He ordered to have a careful survey of all Church property, the first properly organised tax survey since the time of the Domesday Book. Henry VIII closed down 823 monasteries and confiscated their property. As Church lands and property were sold to the rising classes of merchants and landowners, Henry’s policy made him popular with them. Monastery buildings were either neglected or destroyed and the stone was used as building material. The suppression of monasteries was the greatest act of official destruction in British history.

Henry VIII’s family lifeAs for Henry VIII’s family life, he married Anne Boleyne who

bore him a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I. Anne was suspected of adultery and beheaded in 1536 and Henry married Jane Seymour who died in 1537 leaving him a son. Then came Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves which was latter annulled. Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery in 1542. His last marriage was to Catherine Parr who survived him and died in 1548, a year after his death. Henry VIII died of leg ulcer which made his last years a misery.

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Henry VIII’s son Edward, who came to the throne at the age of 9, reigned only 6 years and died of tuberculosis. There was an unsuccessful attempt to shift the royal succession of the Tudor

to the Dudley family. Although Edward’s cousin Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen, she was never crowned as Henry VIII’s elder daughter took control of the kingdom and had Lady Jane Grey executed in the Tower of London. The crown went to Mary Tudor also known as Bloody Mary. The only surviving child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary was a Catholic. She reestablished Roman Catholicism as the nation’s only creed and burned 283 Protestant martyrs. After marrying King Philip of Spain she joined Spain in a war against France and lost the remaining English possession on the Continent, Calais (1558). Upon her death, the throne went to her half sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyne.

Renaissance in EuropeTogether with the ideas of the Reformation

came the ideas of the Renaissance. Emerging from feudal despotism, the Renaissance in

Europe developed all that was original in medieval ideas by the light of antique arts and literature. The literature and the fine arts of the Renaissance were notable for their glorification of man and the discovery of his virtues. The names of Dante, Petrarch, Bocaccio, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo in Italy; Rabelais in France; Erasmus in the Netherlands; Copernicus in Poland; Thomas More, Francis Bacon and Shakespeare in England make the treasure throve of world cultural heritage.

The great geographical discoveries evoked a lively interest in nature, history and life in other countries. There was hardly any man of importance at the time who had not travelled extensively, who did not speak four or five languages, who did not shine in a number of

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5. Counter-Reformation

6. Renaissancehumanists

fields. Albrecht Durer was a painter, an engraver, a sculptor and an architect. Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, a mathematician and an engineer. Machiavelli was a statesman, a historian, a poet and the first notable military author of his time.

The wave of progress reached the shores of England only in the 16th century. Foreign scholars and artists appeared in England during the reign of Henry VIII. In painting and music, the first period of the Renaissance was that of imitation. Painting was represented by the German artist Holbein, and music by Italians and the French. With literature the situation was different. Much of the new learning was popularized by native English poets and dramatists. The freedom of thought of English humanists revealed itself in anti-feudal and even anti-bourgeois ideas, showing the life of their own people as it really was.

Thomas More The most prominent figure of the time was Thomas More

(1478-1535), the first English humanist of the Renaissance. The son of a prominent judge, he was educated at Oxford and could write a most beautiful Latin and Greek. On his return to London in 1494, More continued to study law at Lincoln’s Inn and in 1501 became barrister. While he was at Lincoln’s Inn, More decided to dedicate

himself to monastic service. It was only his sense of duty and responsibility that made him serve the country in the field of politics.

In 1499 More made friends with Erasmus of Rotterdam who spent a number of years in England teaching at Oxford and Cambridge and greatly influenced the ideas of English scholars and philosophers. Their acquaintance turned into a lasting friendship and correspondence. When Erasmus wrote his famous work Praise of Folly in 1509, he dedicated it to Thomas More.

During the reign of Henry VII, he became Member of Parliament (1504 or 1505) and later was made Speaker of the House

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of Commons (1523). As Speaker he helped the establish the parliamentary priviledge of free speach. One of his first acts as an MP was to urge a decrease in a proposed appropriation for Henry VII. Although the Tudor monarchy was absolute, and Parliament had little power to resist the king, there was one privilege which Parliament enjoyed: to grant money to the monarch. When Henry VII wanted Parliament to grant him 800,000 pounds, the Members of Parliament sat silent until Thomas More spoke up and urged that the request should be refused. After a long discussion, a sum less than half the amount originally requested, was granted and that sum was to be spread over a period of 4 years. In revenge, the king imprisoned More’s father who was released only after the king’s death in 1509.

During the next decade, More attracted the attention of Henry VIII. He accompanied the king on his visit to Flanders, was made a member of the Privy Council and finally was knighted in 1521. Thomas More was an earnest Catholic and helped Henry VIII in writing his Defence of the Seven Sacraments criticising Luther. In 1529 Thomas More was made Lord Chancellor, the presiding officer in the House of Lords and the highest judge.

But when Henry VIII broke with Rome Thomas More refused to swear allegiance to him as the head of the Church of England. Neither could he recognize the legitimacy of Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyne. Soon More fell a victim to the king’s anger. He was accused of treason, thrown into the Tower, and finally beheaded in 1535. His last words were: ‘The King’s good servant, but God’s first.’ He was canonized in 1935.

‘Utopia’Thomas More wrote both in Latin and in English. His English

writings include discussions and political subjects, biographies and poetry. The work by which he is remembered today is Utopia which was written in Latin in 1516. By now it has been translated into all European languages. Utopia, which in Greek means ‘nowhere’, is the name of a non-existing island. The author gives a profound and

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truthful picture of the people’s sufferings, points out the social evils existing in England and presents his idea of what the future society should be like. The word utopia has become a byword to denote an unattainable ideal, usually in social and political matters. Thomas More’s Utopia was the first book to proclaim the ideas of communism. It was highly esteemed by all the humanists of Europe in More’s time and grew popular again in the 19 th century.

Elizabeth I’s reignThe most significant period of the

Renaissance falls on the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). The daughter of Henry VIII and

Anne Boleyne, she was born out of wedlock and later legitimized by an act of Parliament. Upon her mother’s execution, she fell out of

favour and was allowed to appear at court only when Henry married Catherine Parr. During the reign of her half sister Mary I, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower.

When she came to the throne in 1558, she faced the problems of religious strife, unstable finance, a war with France and tense relations with Scotland. She ended the war with France and re-established the Church of

England. She imprisoned her rival – Mary, Queen of Scots – and in 1587 had her executed for treason.

Elizabeth was a strong and cautious ruler who set her enemies against one another in order to strengthen the position of England. During her reign, England established itself as a major European power in politics, commerce and the arts. Her reign is considered by many as the Golden Age of English history, producing not only a gallery of authors of genius, some of whom have never been surpassed, but also prosperity for the entire nation. Merchants formed the East India Company in 1600. Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and other daring English adventurers explored the West

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Elizabethan Age

Indies and the coasts of North and South America. The English explored and colonized distant lands, and wealth from the colonies poured into England.

For different reasons Elizabeth never got married and came to be known in history as the Virgin Queen. Long before her death, she had transformed herself into a powerful image of female authority, regal magnificence and national pride. She portrayed the image of herself as the humble wife to her superior husband, England, and as a servant of the people. Through controlling access to herself, Elizabeth had built her success on her ability to divide and conquer. Elizabethans

The Elizabethan Age was a time of great achievement in England. England’s success in commerce brought prosperity to the nation and gave a chance to many people of talent to develop their

abilities. Explorers, men of letters, philosophers, poets and famous dramatists appeared in rapid succession. The great men of the so-called ‘Elizabethan age’ distinguished themselves in many fields and displayed a thirst for knowledge. They were often called the Elizabethans. Among the favourites of the Queen was the celebrated traveler Sir Walter Raleigh, who wrote

poetry and history. Sir Walter organized expeditions to colonize North America. It was he who introduced tobacco and potatoes to England. He also founded a colony on the American coast which he called Virginia in honour of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. In 1595 he led an unsuccessful expedition to the Orinoco River (the present-day Venezuela) in search of gold. Later, during the reign of James I, he fell out of favour and spent 12 years in the Tower. There he wrote his famous History of the World. After the failure of his second expedition to the Orinoco in 1617, he was executed. Now the capital of North Carolina, USA, bears his name.

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The Queen also favoured Sir Francis Drake (1540-96), Admiral of Her Majesty’s Navy. He was the most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan Age – a pirate, a navigator, one of the greatest

English sea captains in history. Drake made several slave-trading expeditions to West Africa and the Spanish Main. In 1577-1580 he circumnavigated the globe on board the Golden Hind.

Searching for the passage around the north of America he was the first European to sight the west coast of present-day Canada. Then he sailed across the Pacific to the Philippines, and headed

across the Indian Ocean for the Cape of Good Hope. In 1580 returned into Plymouth Harbour with treasure and spices aboard.

Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake were the typical ‘new men’ of the Tudor making. The Queen and the government adapted themselves to the new existing circumstances. Where the interests of the nation were concerned, they relied on able men of all classes. The queen received treasures from her subjects even if they had been obtained through piracy.

Defeat of the Invincible ArmadaFor years Elizabeth played a diplomatic game with the rival

interests of France and Spain. During the Elizabethan age, preying on Spanish ships became almost a national pastime. By 1580 it was clear that England couldn’t avoid a direct military confrontation with Spain. The Spanish king Philip II began to assemble an enormous fleet to conquer Protestant England. Spain had the strongest fleet of ships called the Invincible Armada, which had never been defeated. In July 1588 the Invincible Armada reached England’s waters. Fornunately for England, Spanish ships were not built for sea-battles, while the English vessels were capable of maneuvering and fighting under sail: for Drake, the ship was a fighting unit. In 1588 the queen’s 30 ships lead by Francis Drake defeated the enemy fleet, and a terrible storm destroyed what was left of it.

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The defeat of the Armada was announced in the first newspaper printed in England specially for the occasion. The idea was then forgotten and revived about 50 years later. The great victory inspired a burst of patriotism that was reflected in the poetry and especially the drama of the period.

The development of culture and science

During Elizabeth's reign, England experienced the true cultural reawakening of thought and art. Elizabeth's court was a magnet, which attracted the most talented individuals of the era. Music, poetry, literature and drama flourished under Elizabeth's reign, largely due to the Queen's love of the arts. The Queen's tastes set the standards for the aristocracy and the rest of society; they fostered an atmosphere in which many of England's greatest writers found encouragement and financial support. A newly rich merchant class as well as the nobility wanted entertainment and fine arts and were willing to pay for them. Writers, painters, and musicians flocked to London, making it a European cultural centre. Elizabeth’s court became a center for poets, musicians, and scholars.

Elizabethan architecture changed the medieval styles of earlier times, bringing out the beauty of the Renaissance. More houses than churches began to

be built. The most significant architectural features of the period were classical symmetry and ornateness. This was the Elizabethan visual expression of order and harmony. If you were to walk into a Renaissance house and glance up at the ceiling, you would see an example of this ornateness. Elizabethans typically made the ceilings and fireplaces extremely ornate. Instead of having art on the walls, they made the walls their own art form. Tall houses and towers were accented by elaborate gardens and stables. The most famous architect of the period, Inigo Jones, was famous for building Banqueting House of Whitehall in London.

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architecture

The Elizabethans created an elaborate system of activities and events to keep themselves entertained. Queen Elizabeth was fond of hunting parties, dancing

and music. Musical literacy was expected in the upper class of society. Many Elizabethans made their own music. The laborers would sing while they worked, and the townspeople would sing or play music after meals. The lute, virginal, viola, recorder, bagpipe and the fiddle were favored instruments of that time. A popular form of entertainment in the countryside was the ringing of church bells. In the major towns, official musicians gave free public concerts. The wealthy people hired musicians to play during dinner.

Music of this period became increasingly expressive and refined, and a knowledge and appreciation of music set apart the truly genteel members of the high social classes. In addition, court musicians gradually moved into their own music houses and guilds. Several different instruments became popular during the Elizabethan era, including the lute (a forerunner of the guitar, the viol (predecessor to the violin), viola da gamba (an early type of the cello) and the virginal (an English modification of the clavichord). The new form of secular music was the madrigal which originally came from Italy. The first English musician to compose madrigals was William Byrd. He founded one of the strongest and most famous musical schools, especially in virginal playing.

The Elizabethan era was a period of great advances in world exploration, medicine, and the study of the universe. The period brought great advances in

medical science, particularly in the study of human anatomy and and surgical operations. Inventions of the period include the graphite pencil, the modern calendar, wind-powered sawmill, and the thermoscope (primitive thermometer).

In natural philosophy, Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), completed the break from the medieval scholastic method, laid down for the first time the classification of the natural sciences, and prepared

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music

science

the way for modern experimental science. Francis Bacon was a statesman, a philosopher and an essayist. He made a distinguished parliamentary career under Elizabeth I. As a scholar, he wrote mostly in Latin as he believed English would not last. He is also known for his Essays – a collection of brief witty observations on various subjects: reading, education, death, revenge, gardens, etc. The essays are admirably clear and simple and some statements are as memorable as poetry: ‘God Almighty first planted a garden’, ‘Revenge is a kind of wild justice’, ‘Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark’. According to some critics (or fanatics?), it was F. Bacon who wrote Shakespear’s plays among other things.

EntertainmentsFrom the beginning to the end of each year, Elizabethans found

ways to keep themselves entertained. They were a creative group of people who pursued leisure activities with great passion. A major part of the Elizabethan lifestyle was connected with feasts and festivals. Every season of the year had special days that drew the people together to celebrate. One of the greater festivals of the year was held at Easter time. The Mayday celebration consisted of the decorating of the maypole and dancing around it. In the summer, bonfires were burned and dances were held to celebrate Midsummer's Eve on June 24. The winter holidays began with Christmas, ran through New Year's Eve and ended on the Twelfth Night, January 5. These holidays included gifts, bonfires, music and jollity.

Dancing was a popular activity and varied according to social class. The upper class favored courtly dances while ordinary people were more likely to do traditional ‘country’ dances.

Sports played a major role in the leisure time of the Elizabethan Age. Some of the indoor games included dice, chess, checkers and a variety of card games. Some of the outdoor sports and games included golf, horse racing, swimming, fishing, hunting, fencing, duelling and cricket. At that time a man was supposed to be skilled at tennis, bowling, archery and hunting. While the upper class enjoyed

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tennis, common people preferred football. All levels of society enjoyed the sport of hunting. Horses, dogs and hawks were kept and trained for hunting deer, rabbits and other wildlife.

Elizabethan literatureBy the middle of the 16th century, education was spreading

among the sons of common citizens. The development of literary competence of the language and advances in education were followed by new printing techniques. Accelerated output of printed books made lyric poetry and prose publicly available.

The Tudors badly needed educated diplomats, statesmen and officials. The new learning implied a systematic schooling in Latin and Greek authors.

English poetry and prose burst into sudden glory in the late 1570s. The greatest literature created during the Elizabethan Period falls into two categories: poetry and drama. Influenced by the Italian sonnets, which had been introduced into the English language by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) during the reign of Henry VIII, English poets began to construct their own variations on the intricate, highly structured poetic form. Influenced by Italian sonnets, English writers of the period began introducing complicated poetic structures in both verse and prose. Writing was a social fashion of this time, a pastime enjoyed by the nobles as well as by men of lower stations.

The other great literary achievement of the Elizabethan Period was the drama, a form which was rooted in centuries of popular folk entertainment and which had been adapted into the religious plays of the Middle Ages.

Elizabethan drama was greatly influenced by Roman authors whose works were translated from Latin into English. Lawyers at the Inns of Court translated the works of Seneca and in their spare time tried to imitate the Roman philosopher. University students translated Roman plays into English and tried to write plays of their own imitating the Roman patterns. The nobility took pleasure in translating Latin poetry: the Earl of Surrey translated Virgil using

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blank verse. Comedy was developed in the Royal Court itself, in the entertainments given by the Children of St. Paul’s and other choir schools before the Queen. These children, only boys, actred plays written by the first ‘polite’ comic dramatist of the period, John Lyly (1554?-1606). Elizabeth I was a patrom of drama and encouraged its development by frequently attending performances, whether in the Inns of Court, University, or at the royal levels.

The most famous pre-Shakesperian writers of drama were George Peele, Robert Greene (comedies), Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe (tragedies). They belonged to the group known as the ‘University Wits’.

The University Wits were, as the name suggests, graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, men with learning and talent but no money. Unlike the church clerks of the Middle Ages, they could not make a career in the Church as monasteries had been dissolved by Henry VIII. (The monastery had always been taken for granted as a safe place for a penniless scholar who did not wish to become a priest.) All that suggested itself was novel writing and writing plays for the stage.

Ancient literature taught the playwrights to seek new forms and to bring in new progressive ideas. The new drama represented characters and problems topical of the time. Most plays were written in verse. The second period of the Renaissance in England was characterized by the splendour of its poetry. Highly emotional lyrical poetry became widespread. Blank verse and the Italian sonnet were introduced. A new, English form of verse appeared – the nine-line stanza. The country was often called ‘a nest of singing-birds’.

The three great poetic geniuses of Elizabethan times were Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare. All were typical Renaissance men, trained in the classics, fond of fine living, full of restless energy and ideas. Today the fourth name can be added, John Donne. Edmund Spenser

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The most prominent poet of the pre-Shakespearean time was Edmund Spenser. He was born in London in 1552 to the family of a free journeyman for a merchant’s company. When Edmund came of age, he went to Cambridge University as a sizar, a student who paid less for his education than others and had to wait on the wealthier students at mealtimes.

While at college, he acted in the tragedies of the ancient masters and this inspired him to learn and to write poetry.

Spenser began his literary work at the age of 17. Once, a fellow-student introduced him to the famous Sir Philip Sydney, who encouraged him to write. Sydney himself was the author of an allegorical romance in prose called “Arcadia” which had become very popular as light reading at court. At the age of 23, Spenser took Master’s degree and shortly after graduating from Cambridge fell in love with ‘a fair widow’s daughter’. Although his love was not returned, it inspired him to write his first poem The Shepherd’s Calendar. The publication of the poem made Spenser the first poet of the day. His poetry was so musical and colourful that he was called the poet-painter. Spenser was brought to the notice of the Queen where he was given royal favour and appointed secretary to the new Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

It was in Ireland that Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, an epic poem describing a 12-day feast honouring the Queen of Fairyland. It was a public poem addressed to Elizabeth I. The poem is a combination of the medieval allegory and the Italian romantic epic, of Christian belief and mythology of King Arthur. Spenser imitated antique verse which was supposed to remind the reader of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, whom Spenser greatly

admired. When Spenser presented ‘his simple

song’, as he called it, to the Queen, the success of the poem was tremendous. The

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Queen rewarded him with a pension of 50 pounds, but his position remained unchanged. Poetry was regarded as a noble pastime, but not a profession. Edmund Spenser had to go back to Ireland. Spenser died in 1599. He will always be remembered and appreciated for the beauty of his verse.

Christopher Marlowe One of the first dramatists of the time was Christopher Marlowe

(1564 – 1593). He lived a short life and died at the age of 29. Marlowe was born to the family of a shoemaker and was able to go to Canterbury Grammar School when he was 14. Upon graduating a few years later, he won a scholarship which enabled him to go to Cambridge University. There he got acquainted with Sir Philip Sydney, the leader of the University Wits. Like most of the University Wits, Marlowe had a wild reputation – he was believed to be an atheist, to keep mistresses and to be acquainted with thieves. Yet, this reputation may have been a clever and deliberate disguise: it is possible that he was a secret agent for the Queen’s Government. Marlowe died a young man. He was stabbed to death in a ‘tavern brawl’ under strange circumstances, and his death still remains a mystery. Christopher Marlowe was a great poet and dramatist who might have become as great as Shakespeare had he not been killed so untimely.

Marlowe started his career as an actor at The Curtain, but after he had broken a leg during a performance, he had to give up acting and took to writing plays. He was the first in England to approach history from a political point of view. Marlowe’s reputation as a dramatist rests on four plays: Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta and Edward II.

Marlowe sums up the New Age: the old restrictions of the Church no longer exist, limitations on knowlegde have been destroyed, the world is opening up. Marlowe’s plays convey the spirit of human freedom, enterprise and limitless human power. He was fascinated by power: Tamburlaine is the embodiment of

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tyrannical power; the Jew of Malta stands for the power of money; Edward II suffers from loss of power and Faustus represents the power which supreme knowledge can give.

The University Wits, including Marlowe, paved the way to Shakespeare, the greatest of all humanists who marks the highest

point of English Renaissance drama.

John DonneThe Elizabethan Age produced a poet whose

works were fully appreciated only in the 20 th

century, who seems to be the product of the Atomic Age. John Donne (1573-1631) started as ‘Jack Donne’, a soldier, lover, drinker, writer of passionate amorous verses. He ended as Doctor

John Donne, bishop, Dean of St. Paul’s, great preacher and one of the most respected men in the country. And yet these two extremes coexisted in him all his life. As a passionate lover, he was always analytic and thoughtful, tryoing to explain his passion almost scientifically. As a priest, he addressed God with the fierceness of a lover. Donne invented many new verse forms of his own.

In his poetry, which reflects his character, extremes meet. When his passion is most physical, he expresses it most intellectually. He is always startling and always curiously modern. It is from his poem For Whom the Bell Tolls that E. Hemingway borrowed the title for his novel.

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DO YOU KNOW THAT

King Henry VIII introduced family names in Wales. The Welsh used to have their own family names with those of their father and grandfather. From 1535 the Welsh were forced to use the British name model in law courts and on official papers.

King Edward VI (born 1537 – died 1553), the only surviving son on Henry VIII was the protagonist of the Prince in the novel “The Prince and the Pauper” by M. Twain. He reigned only 6 years, 160 days.

Foreign visitors noted that women had greater freedom in England than anywhere else in Europe. Although they had to obey their husbands, theu were not kept hidden in their homes. When a guest – even a stranger – appeared in the house, he was received with a kiss by all, when he left, again he was sent with a kiss.

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LECTURE 5

The Elizabethans created an elaborate system of activities and events to keep themselves entertained. One of the favourite entertainments was watching theatrical performances. Since

ancient times there existed two principle stages on which dramatic art developed in Europe. These were the church and the market place. In the 15th century, the plays called moralities, were sometimes acted even in town halls. Church performances of mysteries and miracles were directed by priests and acted by the boys of the choir. Since then, it became a long-time tradition to have only men-actors on the English stage.

At the time of Henry VIII, when Protestants drove actors out of the church, acting became a profession in itself. As soon as people heard the sounds of a trumpet announcing the beginning of a play, they would run in crowds to the inn-court which served as an improvised stage. Indeed, an inn-court was best suited for the purpose, with its large open court surrounded by galleries. In the middle of the yard, actors put up a platform with dressing-rooms at the back. The so-called ‘clean’ public sat in the galleries which later came to be known as ‘boxes’, some even sat on the stage. The poorer spectators stood in front of the stage, in the stalls. To make the audience pay for the entertainment, the actors took advantage of the most thrilling moment in the plot and sent a hat round for a collection.

The development of drama in England was closely connected with the development of the theatre. From the very beginning, the

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CHAPTER 5.The development of drama and the theatre

in Elizabethan England

1. The first playhouses

regular drama was divided into comedy and tragedy. Most companies of players had their own playwrights who were also actors. As plays became more complicated, there appeared special playhouses. The first regular playhouse in London appeared on the premises of the former Blackfriars Monastery where miracles had been performed even before the Reformation. That playhouse was built in 1576 by the actor James Burbage who called it The Theatre. The Theatre was an

Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch, just outside the City of London. The Theatre is considered to have been the first playhouse built in London for the sole purpose of theatrical productions. The Theatre's history includes a number of important acting troupes including the Lord Chamberlain's Men which employed Shakespeare as actor and playwright. After a

dispute with the landlord, the theatre was dismantled and the timbers were used in the construction of the Globe Theatre on Bankside.

The design of The Theatre was possibly adapted from the inn-yards that had served as playing spaces for actors. The building was an almost round wooden building with three galleries that surrounded an open yard. The Theatre is said to have cost £700 to construct. It was a considerable sum for the age. Later, there appeared other playhouses – The Rose, The Curtain, The Swan, The Globe. There was a time when there were 9 playhouses in London alone. The playhouses did not belong to any definite company of actors. They traveled from place to place and hired a playhouse for their performances.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Poor Laws provided that paupers, beggars and vagabonds should be sent to prison as tramps. The

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2. Actors and Society

profession of a travelling actor became dangerous. Theatrical companies had to find patrons among the nobility. With a letter of recommendation from their patron, they got the right to travel and perform. Thus, some actors called themselves ‘The Earl of Leicester’s Servants’, others – ‘The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’. In 1583 the Queen appointed certain actors ‘Grooms of the Chamber’. And though the word ‘groom’ originally meant a man or a boy in charge of horses, now it got a new meaning – that of a provincial actor.

The worst enemies of actors were Puritans. They formed a religious sect which wanted to purify the Church of England from some forms which the Church had retained from Roman Catholics. Petty bourgeoisie needed a “cheaper Church” and hoped that they would become wealthy through careful and modest living. These principles, though highly moral at first sight, resulted in a furious attack upon the stage. Actors were actually locked out of the city because Puritans considered acting to be a menace to public morality.

The wealthy merchants also attacked the drama because plays and playgoers caused them a lot of trouble: the profits on beer went to the proprietors of the inns, not to the brewers. Also, all sorts of unwelcome people came to the playhouses. It turned out that beggars, bullies, pickpockets, drunkards and thieves were as fond of entertainment as ladies and gentlemen. What is more, during the hot months of the year, the strolling actors spread plague. That is why Town Councils and other administrative bodies quite reasonably wanted to get rid of actors.

Had it not been for the Queen herself and her courtiers, whose way of life provided more time for entertainment, the Corporation of London might have succeeded in prohibiting plays and actors altogether. As it was, the Queen and her court patronized and protected the more reputable theatrical companies. Even so, the Corporation of London made things hard enough for them, and to avoid some of their difficulties, actors tended more and more to set up their stages not in the City itself, but just outside, where the Lord Mayor had less control.

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Towards the end of the 16th century, most of the playhouses were removed from the city proper. A typical playhouse of the time was circular, with three galleries running along the walls. Inside,

there was a wooden stage with a roof over it, which was supported by two columns, or pillars. The open yard in front of the stage was cobbled and provided standing room for those paying a penny. The stage itself was high, with a skirt of cloth, hanging down to the ground. There used to be several sets of hangings – in different colours for different plays. Black hangings were used for tragedies; comedies, histories or pastoral plays used red, white or green hangings. At the back of the stage there were two doors which led to the ‘tiring house’ where actors changed costumes, or attired themselves. Actors usually wore expensive clothes which they got as gifts or bought at a low price from their patrons. Today, it is called backstage. The doors were large, so that the scenic properties could be easily carried through. An old playhouse inventory lists trees, thrones, tombs, chariots and other things. Actors usually wore expensive clothes which they got as gifts or bought at a low price from their patrons.

Every playhouse had a flag, and if a performance was expected, the flag was hoisted above the theatre. On the previous day, notices advertising the play would have been put up. Plays were not put on for a run, as they are nowadays. Two or three consecutive performances of the same play would be an exception. There were many revivals of the established favourites, but, needless to say, new plays were always a great attraction, and for these the fee was usually doubled. At the end of the 16th century, there was an entrance fee already.

Theatres or playhouses were usually situated on the southern bank of the Thames. Before and after a play, the Thames boatmen gathered at landings to pick up customers.

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3. London theatres

The audience entered a playhouse through the main entrance, as a rule, though certain privileged people were admitted through the tiring-house door at the back of the stage. They paid the highest prices to be allowed to sit in the gallery over the stage, or even sometimes – upon the stage itself. According to one contemporary writer, they were often a nuisance, not because they took up too much room, but because by talking and playing cards and showing off their clothes they drew too much attention to themselves. But the ordinary people went in through the main gate and paid a penny which enabled them to go into the yard. It was the cheapest part of the house and the spectators were contemptuously called ‘groundlings’. For another penny, the audience were allowed into the galleries where they either stood or, for a third penny, could sit on a stool. One of the galleries was divided into small compartments that could be used by the wealthy and aristocrats. The sitting capacity of Shakespeare’s famous theatre, The Globe, was about 2500 people. The audience consisted chiefly of men. Women did sometimes go to public playhouses, suitably escorted, but generally it was not considered to be respectable and proper for them to do so.

Before the beginning of a performance, one of the actors would blow the trumpet three times. At the third sounding, the play would begin. After the performance there came the Jig, which was a jolly dance. A German visitor wrote about the Jig: ‘At the end of the play, two or three actors in men’s clothes and two in women’s clothes performed a dance, as is their custom, wonderfully well together.’ This customary after-piece was usually a rhyming farce on some topical theme. After that, the audience would leave. The boatmen ferried people back to the city

Now let us speak about the greatest of all dramatists of the English Renaissance – William Shakespeare. Various ages have found various things in Shakespeare. The 18th century writers of

the Enlightenment saw in him “just observation of general nature”.

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4. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

The Romantic age admired his freedom from literary convention. The later 19th century critics admired the delicate and complicated psychological insight of his characterization. All ages have admired his command of the language. By modern critics he is presented as the writer and philosopher who is deeply concerned with the moral basis of life. The key concepts of his plays are Nature, Order, Truth, Right and Wrong.

But did this man of genius really exist? Some critics claim that it was not Shakespeare but another person, or a group of people who wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare . If he did exist, they say, how did he manage to write 37 plays, 4 poems and 154 sonnets? Why weren’t they all published during his life-time?

One of the possible explanations is that at the time no-one even thought of publishing drama. Each dramatist wrote for his company of actors, and as long as the company had the text, it had the monopoly for staging the play. Publishing it, would have only played into the hands of the rival companies. Yet, 20 plays, several poems and sonnets were published during Shakespeare’s lifetime. After his death, his friends published several other plays in what is known as the ‘First Folio’.

As for the question ‘How was one man able to write so many plays?’ – the answer is fairly simple. Like any other dramatist of the time, Shakespeare mostly did patching and was known as a play-patcher. That is, he took well-known stories and adapted them for the stage. In 1577 Holished published his Chronicles which served as a major source for Shakespeare’s history plays. Two years later, in 1579, there came a publication of North’s translations from Plutarch – that was yet another source for Shakespeare.

What do we actually know about the man called William Shakespeare?

Childhood and youthHe was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, in 1564. John

Shakespeare, the poet’s father, was engaged in wool industry. He had

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some pasture land of his own, and also rented a house and land belonging to Robert Arden, whose younger daughter Mary later became his wife. John Shakespeare was elected alderman and by the time their eldest children were born, he acted as bailiff. Some documents of the time indicate that John Shakespeare was illiterate and in documents marked his name with a cross. John and Mary Shakespeare had 8 children – 4 boys and 4 girls. The first two daughters died in infancy. The third child born to them was a son who was named William.

William was a boy of free and open nature, much like his mother, who was a woman of a lively disposition. In his boyhood and youth, William was an inquisitive child: he knew the name of every plant in the woods and in the fields. Later, when he started writing plays, he displayed that knowledge. For example, in Hamlet, when Ophelia goes mad and walks pretending to pick flowers, she mentions the wild flowers that used to grow in Stratford and the neighbourhood. At the age of 7, William was sent to the local Grammar School where the boys were taught ‘the three R’s’: reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. Besides, they learned elementary Latin and Greek. As his contemporary, Ben Johnson, later wrote, ‘Shakespeare knew little Latin and even less Greek’. Ben Johnson had every reason to say so as he himself had gone to the best London school and could freely speak those two languages. On the other hand, William’s teachers were university graduates and gave him the basic knowledge of literature, history and geography which he deepened later.

In Shakespeare’s time, there was much guesswork in the way children were taught to read. Reading was sometimes the same as learning by heart. The first book was called The Horn-Book. The hornbook was a form of ABC book. It consisted of a piece of parchment or paper pasted onto a wooden board and protected by a sheet of horn. The text usually started with a cross in the top left-hand corner. It was followed by an alphabet, vowels, syllables, and the Lord’s prayer. Shakespeare mentions the Hornbook in his play Love’s Labours Lost.

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William saw performances produced by travelling actors who came to Stratford. He was still a boy when he began to set and produce plays even though he had to work hard in his father’s business. Probably, it was also the influence of what he had seen when the Queen visited the nearby castle of Kenilworth. The stately ceremonies, the shows and plays were given in her honour, must have been imprinted in his memory. Later he showed both professional travelling actors and amateurs as characters of his plays. Travelling actors come to the Castle in Hamlet and perform a tragedy, as required by Hamlet. In the comedy Midsummer Night’s Dream a group of amateurs are busy preparing a play for the Duke to be performed on his wedding day.

Upon the wide margin of the Bible belonging to Shakespeare, one can see some drafts of play-bills. One of the play-bills announces that a sad play is to take place in Ann Hathaway’s land. Ann Hathaway was the daughter of a farmer in the village of Shottery, a short distance off Stratford. She was 8 years older than William, but they fell in love with each other and got married in 1582. At that time, Shakespeare was already writing poems. Poetry was so popular and common that Ann Hathaway expressed her feelings towards Shakespeare in verse:

And proud thy Anna well may beFor queens themselves might envy meWho scarce in palaces can findMy Willie’s form with Willie’s mind.

The first child born to them was their daughter Susanna (1583). Two years later Ann bore him twins, a boy and a girl – Hamneth and Judith. (Unfortunately, Hamneth died at the age of 11.) It was then that the Shakespeares faced hard times. The rich landlord Sir Thomas Lucy, started a conflict with the Shakespeares over the land they had. The trouble was that William was an actor, though an amateur and Sir Thomas Lucy was a Puritan. As a result, the Shakespeares lost their land and became poor. William worked as an assistant teacher in the

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Grammar School, but the pay was low and he had to look for another job. Shortly after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left for London.

Starting a career in LondonLittle is known about the next years of his life.

There is evidence that he worked as a secretary to a nobleman, bought and sold houses, was a buccaneer, an actor and a playwright. Once a year he would return to Stratford and then leave for London again. His plays King Henry VI and King Richard III were performed in London. It was there that Shakespeare met the actor Richard Burbage, whose father had built the Theatre and whom he had met in Stratford before. Burbage

became his friend and the leading actor of the company. Shakespeare was quite a good actor himself, but it often happens even now that the playwright takes the shortest part for himself, leaving the principle ones to others. Thus, in Shakespeare’s company, the first Othello and the first Romeo was Richard Burbage. As for Shakespeare, we only know that he played the part of the Ghost of Hamlet’s father.

Shakespeare soon won the reputation of a play-patcher, then he began to write plays of his own, based on familiar stories. If, at the time, you had asked a Londoner where to find master Shakespeare, he would have shrugged his shoulders. But if you had asked him about Hamlet, he would have explained that that was a Danish prince who had gone mad and had been sent to England. The Londoner would have shown you The Globe where the play was often performed.

‘Lord Chamberlain’s Men’, the company Shakespeare belonged to, had to pay almost all the money they earned to the owners of playhouses. That is why it was decided to build a playhouse especially for the company and let the actors get a fair share of the profit. The Globe opened in the autumn of 1599 with Julius Caesar – one of the first plays staged. Most of Shakespeare's greatest plays were written for the Globe, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear.

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TragediesAt that time, Shakespeare was already quite famous. Towards

the end of the 16th century, the London stage shook with his plays – comedies and, especially, tragedies. They were performed at the royal court, in noblemen’s houses, in universities. Once, Hamlet was performed on board a ship. Shakespeare was known on the Continent, even as far as Bohemia (the present-day Czech Republic). Who did he write for? – Mostly, for the audience that would come to The Globe. Shakespeare could please both the groundlings and the lords. If we look back at his most tragic plays, Hamlet and King Lear, let alone comedies – The Twelfth Night, for instance, – we will see that one of the characters is a fool, or a jester. The most moving scenes are mixed with ‘indecent jesters’. Once, at the request of a Lady of Honour, Shakespeare dropped out the graveyard scene from Hamlet. The audience roared wild, threatening to bury the actors, the lady and the author, if the grave-diggers were not restored.

One of the most exciting and moving tragedies is Romeo and Juliet. It has long become a symbol of love and devotion. The name Romeo has become nearly synonymous with “lover.” Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, does indeed experience a love of such purity and passion that he kills himself when he believes that the object of his love, Juliet, has died. Romeo’s deep capacity for love is merely a part of his larger capacity for intense feeling of all kinds. Love compels him to sneak into the garden of his enemy’s daughter, risking death simply to catch a glimpse of her. Anger compels him to kill his wife’s cousin to avenge the death of his friend. Despair compels him to commit suicide upon hearing of Juliet’s death. Such extreme behavior dominates Romeo’s character throughout the play and contributes to the ultimate tragedy that befalls the lovers.

As for Juliet, she is presented as a young girl, barely 14 years of age, who is suddenly awakened to love. After Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished, Juliet does not follow him blindly. She makes a logical

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and heartfelt decision that her loyalty and love for Romeo must be her guiding priorities. Essentially, Juliet cuts herself loose from her parents and her social position in Verona—in order to try to reunite with Romeo. When she finds Romeo dead, she does not kill herself out of weakness, but rather out of an intensity of love. Juliet’s development from a naïve, wide-eyed girl into a loyal and capable woman is one of Shakespeare’s early triumphs of characterization. It also marks one of his most confident and treatments of a female character.

Shakespeare’s tragedies, and sometimes comedies, might have been the result of deep personal experience. It is known that, apart from his very young days, he was not a very happy man. We can only trace the history of his mind by his works. The ideals of the Renaissance, the world-wide problems are always focused in his characters. As compared with the classical Greek tragedy which presents model heroes acting according to the law and duty, Shakespeare’s characters are made of flesh and blood. They are full of passions and the problem of choice between virtue and evil. How can evil be overcome is virtue is too passive? This problem is raised in Sonnet 66.

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,As, to behold Desert a beggar born,And needy Nothing trimm’d in jollity,And purest Faith unfaithfully forsworn,And gilded Honour shamefully misplaced,And maiden Virtue rudely strumpeted,And right Perfection wrongfully disgraced,And Strength by limping Sway disabled,And Art made tongue-tied by Authority,And Folly doctor-like controlling Skill,And simple Truth miscall’d Simplicity,And captive Good attending captain ill:

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Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

At the same time, the effort to avenge the wrong, only creates new crimes – that is shown in Julius Caesar. Shakespeare stresses that murder is not a way out. And in search of an answer there comes Hamlet. In the tragedy man’s existence itself is questioned. The famous line from Hamlet’s soliloquy ‘to be or not to be’ has long become a saying.

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing, end them.

In the same soliloquy, Hamlet says: ‘Thus conscience does make cowards of us all’. In another tragedy, Macbeth is also tortured by the pangs of conscience. Thus, it is conscience that appears to be the driving force of the Shakespearean tragedy. ‘A sea of troubles’ which Hamlet speaks about brings into collision different people. By the end of each tragedy, the stage is full of corpses – again, unlike in the Greek tragedy. But Shakespeare shows that the noble heroes do not kill for the sake of revenge only, they kill for the sake of justice and then they perish, too.

SonnetsShakespeare raised the same problems in his sonnets which he

began to write in the 1590s. All 154 sonnets were published in 1609. Many of them were written to a friend whose name remained unknown. Another personage of the sonnets is ‘The Dark Lady’. It was believed that the Dark Lady was Mary Fitton, for a time – one of the ornaments of the Queen’s court. Now it is thought that the Dark Lady was Emilia Bassano, the daughter of a royal. It was to her that Shakespeare wrote:

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,

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Coral is far more red than her lips red,If snow be white, well, then her breasts are dun,If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

(Sonnet 130)Another well-known sonnet that ranks among the best is Sonnet

90 (‘Then hate me if thou wilt…’). The atmosphere of misery and the musical effect of the Sonnet are achieved through a frequent use of long vowels (which number 22) and diphthongs (which number 34). The sonnet was masterfully translated into Russian by Samuel Marshak.

Old age and deathShakespeare never considered himself a man of genius. He had

his ups and downs, had to be a pawnbroker, he even had to quarrel with his fellow actors. The prospect of dying poor frightened him that is why in 1597 he bought two houses in Stratford and was proud that he would die an esquire. He enjoyed fame and was flattered when he was received by King James I. (The king discussed with him his plays, especially “Macbeth” in connection with the role of monarchy.) At the end of his life, Shakespeare suffered a terrible blow: in 1613 The Globe burnt down. Shakespeare returned to Stratford, where he lived three more years. The remaining years of his life were anything but happy. He suffered from asthma. One of his daughters was still unmarried and had grown bitter. Anne Hathaway, or Mrs. Shakespeare, had turned into an old grumbler. But in her own way, she was attached to him. Shakespeare died in 1616, presumably on his birthday. He was buried in the yard of the same church where he had been baptized and married. The painted bust on his grave shows him as he was in the last year of his life – a typical town burger, bald and wrinkled. But everybody, in their mind’s eye, sees their own Shakespeare.

Reading Shakespeare in the original is no easy matter. Although the language of his time already

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5. Shakespeare

and the language

belongs to New English period, it is known as the Early New English. When reading Shakespeare, we must remember, that pronouns in the 2nd person singular and plural had different forms: thou, thee, thine, thy – for the singular, and you, your, yours – for the plural. Verbs in the Present forms took the ending -(e)st in the 2nd person singular: thou speakest, thou hast. Auxiliary verbs ended in –t in the 2nd person singular: thou art, thou shalt, thou wilt. There were 2 inflexions for the 3rd person singular, -s and -(e)th: he speaks and he speaketh; he has and he hath. The use of auxiliary verbs in questions was not absolutely necessary: Spake you with him? What say you?

In Shakespeare's day, English grammar and spelling were less standardised than they are now, and his use of language helped to shape modern English. Samuel Johnson quoted him more often than any other author in his Dictionary of the English Language, the first serious work of its type. Shakespeare enriched the English language to such a great extent that today it has the biggest vocabulary of all the European languages. Lines from his works have become idioms: ‘all’s well that ends well’, ‘a sea of troubles’, ‘all that glistens is not gold’, ‘to be or not to be?’ and many others.

The language in Shakespeare’s plays depends on the kind of play. In his early comedies, the verse is light and the lines are often rhymed. The jesters use the language of the common people spoken in the street and in taverns. But the language of the noblemen in the first plays is rather heavy. In the plays of the second period, Shakespeare often uses blank verse. The language is full of metaphors. He freely uses conversion (transition of words from one part of speech into another): sister – to sister, father – to father, etc. and forms new words in accordance with the existing rules: to smile – smilet, that is ‘a faint smile’.

Shakespeare’s contribution to literature, and culture in general, is enormous. Charles Dickens drew 25 of his titles from Shakespeare’s works. There are about 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare’s works. Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites. The psychoanalyst

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Sigmund Freud drew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature.

Shakespeare created a new epoch in world literature. His work greatly influenced later poetry and prose. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation, plot, language, and genre. Until Romeo and Juliet, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events; but Shakespeare used them to explore characters’ minds.

Shakespeare was the greatest dramatist of the Renaissance. The time called for a giant to give an upsurge to English literature, and there came Shakespeare. Literary critics now say that the role of literature in Europe was so high only twice – in the 16 th century England and in the 19th century Russia.

DO YOU KNOW THAT The Globe Theatre (named ‘Shakespeare’s Globe’) was

reconstructed in London in 1997 approximately 230 metres from the site of the original theatre.

The last of Shakespeare’s grandchildren, Lady Elizabeth Hall Bernard, died childless in 1670.

?

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The 17th century was a period of constant change in English history. The political crises which were caused by the civil wars, the king’s execution, Restoration and the Glorious Revolution affected

the lives of every single person and were reflected in all spheres of the creative arts. Foreign policy and trade

Elizabeth’s death in 1603 resulted in the Union of the Crowns as James VI of Scotland became James I of England. He was the first Stuart king of England, the son of the rebellious Mary, Queen of Scots.

Like all the Tudors, Elizabeth had appreciated the importance of trade, and of securing the support of the merchant class. James I, who came from Scotland with its underdeveloped industry and negligible foreign trade, quickly threw them into opposition by his cautious and frankly pro-Spanish policy. After all the years of England’s struggle for domination over Spain, James had no desire to see the Spanish monarchy humiliated to the greater glory of English trade.

In 1604 the war with Spain was ended with a peace treaty that was openly criticized in England, because it did not specifically secure the right of trade with Spanish colonies. Soon peace with Spain passed into a policy of actual alliance, which infuriated the merchants and the Protestants. The navy was neglected. Traders complained of the attacks of pirates even in the English Channel. By that time, the Dutch had already driven Portugal from the East Indies,

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CHAPTER 6.Stuart England

1. The reign of James I

called ‘the Spice Islands’, and soon Holland began to replace Spain as England’s chief rival at sea.

The importance of spices can only be understood if we remember that during the greater part of the winter months, the population of England had to live on salted meat. Turnips and hay were little used, so the shortage of fodder made it necessary every autumn to kill off cattle and sheep and salt their meat. Although salt was expensive, and imported to England from abroad, the salting was usually so liberally done, that a good amount of spices was necessary to make the meat edible.

The Gunpowder PlotA change in James I’s foreign policy led to a complete reversal

of the situation at home. Under Elizabeth and up to the time of the Gunpowder Plot the Catholics had been in active opposition to the Crown. In 1605 a group of the king’s opponents wanted to blow up Parliament during the king’s speech from the throne. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, or the Powder Treason, as it was known at the time, was a failed attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics to kill King James I, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The plot was intended to begin a rebellion during which James' nine-year-old daughter (Princess Elizabeth) could be installed as a Catholic head of state.

Guy Fawkes assisted in filling the room with gunpowder which was concealed beneath a wood store under the House of Lords building in a cellar. The 36 barrels contained 1800 pounds of gunpowder. If they had been successfully ignited, the explosion could have destroyed many of the buildings in the Old Palace of Westminster complex, including the Abbey, and would have blown out windows in the surrounding area of about a 1 kilometre radius.

Fawkes was left in charge of executing the plot, while the other conspirators left London to await news. Once the parliament had been

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destroyed, the other conspirators planned to start a revolt in the Midlands.

During the preparation, several of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who would be present on the appointed day, and inevitably killed. One of the conspirators betrayed the plot by writing an anonymous letter of warning to his brother-in-law Lord Monteagle. The letter read: “I advise you to find some excuse not to attend this parliament, for they shall receive a terrible blow, and yet shall not see who hurts them”.

The tip-off led to a search of the vaults beneath the House of Lords, during the night of November 4. At midnight on November 5 a party of armed men discovered Fawkes not far from about twenty barrels of gunpowder, posing as “Mr. John Johnson”. Fawkes was arrested. Far from denying his intentions during the arrest, Fawkes stated that it had been his purpose to destroy the King and the Parliament. He was taken to the Tower of London and there interrogated under torture. All the Conspirators were executed.

Today the English still mark Guy Fawkes’ Night with bonfires and crackers and the following rhyme:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November – Gunpowder Treason and plot.For I see no reason why Gunpowder TreasonShould ever be forgot.

With the development of friendly relations with Spain and, later, after the marriage of Charles I to the French Henrietta Maria, Catholics enjoyed a period of court favour. Both James I and his son Charles I were the descendants of the rebellious Mary Queen of Scots. No wonder they were supported by Scotland and by English Catholics. The Pilgrim Fathers

At the same time, the Puritans, who had developed their religious views in the relative freedom of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, were outlawed by James I. In 1620 a large group of Puritans had to escape

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first to Holland, and then to America. They sailed on board the Mayflower which carried them from Plymouth to their new life in North America. The Pilgrim Fathers, as they later came to be known, hardly survived the first winter. It was the aid of the American Indians that saved them from death: the Indians taught the Pilgrims to grow maize which later became the main grain crop for hundreds of years. In 1621 the Pilgrims harvested a good crop and celebrated the first anniversary of their stay in North America by giving thanks to the Lord – that was the first Thanksgiving Day celebration.

The Puritans, as well as the Protestants, were drawn from the classes which had been the main supporters of the Tudors. They opposed the regime of James I which, they believed, was working to restore Catholicism. In this way, opposition to the Crown became identified with patriotism, and support of the monarchy – with those who were connected with England’s foreign enemies. By their foreign policy, the Stuarts lost what had been the main source of the Crown’s strength – its alliance with historically the most progressive class in the country.

In the 17th century, England was still largely an agricultural country: only the East and the South were industrially developed. Yet, the bourgeoisie was powerful enough to put up a

struggle against the monarchy, because it had the support of farmers and the new nobility – the gentry. The enclosure of common lands ever since the 15th century made the English village a cradle of capitalism. Rich farmers were connected with the wool market, and their interests were the same as those of the bourgeoisie. Likewise, the English bourgeoisie was not separated from the nobility. Only the eldest son of a nobleman inherited his father’s title and land, and could sit in the House of Lords. All the younger sons were commoners: they could go into the professions and go to university for the purpose, they could serve in the army, they could become

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2. Strengthening of Parliament

sailors or traders. Their interests were the same as those of the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, ever since the 14 th century, the money derived from trade had become an easy way to Parliament. Successful townsfolk bought county-seats and rose to the ranks of nobility. They were called the new nobility, or the gentry.

During the last years of Elizabeth’s reign, Parliament became very powerful. All through James’ reign, the Commons quarreled with the King who assumed monopolies and raised taxes without the consent of Parliament. The struggle began anew when in 1625 Charles I took his father’s place on the throne.

King Charles I revived some feudal laws, which provoked a strong feeling of opposition. He also set Parliament against the royal family by marrying the sister of the French king, who was

a Catholic. The English had not forgotten the Spanish marriage of Bloody Mary and the Catholic reaction that followed. Charles was eager to support the French king in his wars, and asked Parliament for money, explaining that England was in danger. Before granting him the money, the Commons wanted to know who the enemy was. Charles got out of the predicament by dismissing Parliament. Then he decided to send a fleet of ships to plunder Spanish treasure-ships. Loans, raised by the king himself, were followed by patriotic arguments. But the expedition was mismanaged and failed. England owed her defeat mainly to George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham. Out of sheer incapacity, Buckingham soon involved the country in a war with France. After a final defeat at La Rochelle, Charles made peace with Spain and France as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the struggle with Parliament went on. When Charles summoned the second Parliament to ask for money, the Commons drew up a long list of grievances, and tried to check the King’s prerogatives. In a few months, the second Parliament was also dissolved. Charles I dissolved Parliament several times. Finally, the Commons put forward a list of demands: no taxation without the

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3. Charles I and Parliament

consent of Parliament, no billeting of soldiers on citizens, no imprisonment without trial, responsibility of ministers, appointed by the king, to Parliament. Charles had to sign ‘The Petition of Rights’ but he was no nearer to getting money from Parliament than before. The next day, the King, angry at the opposition, sent a message to the Speaker to dissolve Parliament. This act produced a storm in the House of Commons. Two of the boldest members stood one on either side of the Speaker’s chair, holding the Speaker down by force and preventing him from reading the King’s message. Parliament refused to be dissolved. The infuriated King came down to Westminster himself. By the time he arrived, the resolutions had been passed and the members agreed to go home. Charles arrested the leaders of the Opposition and decided never to call another Parliament.

For eleven years following 1628, the King ruled without Parliament. He chose as his advisers Archbishop Land and the Earl of Strafford. They represented Charles in his relations with Scotland and Ireland. The harshness of their rule gave rise to a number of rebellions. In Parliament, the Puritans formed two parties: the Presbyterians and the Independents. The leader of the Independents was Oliver Cromwell, the man who later changed the course of events in English history.

In 1639, Scotland started a war against England. The need to have an army made the King call Parliament in 1640. The Commons criticized the King for mismanaging the country. Charles got angry and dissolved Parliament. In history, this Parliament is known as the “Short Parliament”. But the Scotch marched on into the North of England, and Strafford, who had been recalled to England, advised Charles to summon Parliament again, so as to get money to raise an army. This parliament is known as the “Long Parliament” because it lasted for 19 years. Parliament passed an Act saying that the King’s ministers should be responsible to Parliament, and that Parliament could be dismissed only by its own consent. The Commons brought Strafford and Land to trial for their cruelties. Both were found guilty and executed. But the King still believed that he could turn the

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current of events in his favour by force. The following episode from the film Oliver Cromwell gives us an idea of what the situation was like.

Charles I believed that he could turn the current of events in his favour by force. He took no notice of the masses of artisans and workmen who crowded round his palace. Even the armed clashes between the Cavaliers and the ‘Roundheads’ in the streets of London did not make him feel that he was loosing the battle for power. When the commander of the City arsenal disobeyed the King and refused to give up his post, Charles left London. He went to the North of England, where he had the support of the old feudal nobility. But the industrially developed parts of England – the East and the South, were on the side of Parliament.

In the summer of 1642, the King raised his standard at Nottingham. That marked the beginning of the Civil War between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, or the

Roundheads. At the beginning, the war was favourable to the King. The Roundheads were brave enough but inexperienced in fighting, while the Cavaliers were all trained warriors. The Royalist leader was the King’s nephew, Prince Rupert who had come from Germany to help his uncle. The most famous Parliamentarian general was

Oliver Cromwell, who was a landowner from Huntingdonshire and a Member of Parliament. Cromwell soon began the military leader of the army. Until the Revolution broke out, nobody had known, even himself, that he had a talent for military leadership. Cromwell trained a body of soldiers, “a regiment on horse”, about whom he wrote: “I would rather have a plain captain that

knows what he fights for that that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else; a few honest men are better than numbers”.

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4. The Civil War

Cromwell’s army of a “New Model” was well-disciplined. His soldiers were called “Ironsides” because they were never beaten. Cromwell won two great battles against the Royalists – at Marston Moor, in 1644, and at Naseby, in 1645. These two battles made Parliament supreme in the North and in the Midlands. Finally, the King’s army was destroyed. Charles wanted to join the Scotsmen, and begged them to help him win back his kingdom. But they were bribed by Cromwell and handed Charles over to Parliament.

The High Court was assembled together to try the King and to put an end to the war. The trial was held in Westminster Hall, and lasted several days. The King was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence read: “… the court, being satisfied in conscience that he, Charles Stuart, is guilty of the crimes of which he has been accused, doth adjudge him as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of the nation, to be put to death by severing his head from his body.” Three days later, on January 30, 1649, Charles I was beheaded. England was proclaimed a Commonwealth (a Republic) and Oliver Cromwell got the title of the Lord Protector.

When the Puritans came to power, they introduced a number of measures, which were to become moral rules for everyday life. Games and theatrical performances were prohibited. It was thought that they proceeded from the devil. Statues and pictures were taken out of the churches. The music that followed services was excluded. Cromwell himself prohibited the celebration of Christmas. There were two reasons for all that. To begin with, it was a form of protest against the King’s church which was very costly, and, secondly, it was a political platform. It was during the time of the Commonwealth that pews and pulpits were placed in churches to make it easier for the people to listen to long sermons.

Ten years later, in 1661, monarchy was restored, and the throne went to Charles II, the son of Charles I. Although he shared his father’s belief

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5. Restoration of monarchy

in the divine origin of royal power, Charles II managed his return with skill and wisdom. Unlike his father, he made peace with parliament. Many MPs were given high positions. The King punished only those who were directly responsible for his father’s death.

Charles was knowledgeable and witty, as well as pleasure-seeking. He patronized trade, arts and science.

An interesting legend is connected with Charles II’s return to London. On his return to London, Charles II stayed in the Tower, one of the royal residences. There, looking out of the window, he saw a flock of ravens on the lawn and ordered them to be shooed away. The soldiers started shooting them when the royal astrologist rushed into the king’s chamber exclaiming, “Your Majesty! Don’t you know that when the last raven leaves the Tower, great misfortunes will befall England?” Charles knew that the greatest misfortune that could befall England and him, personally, could be a loss of his head – and ordered the ravens to be left in peace. Ever since that time special provisions have been made for the ravens: they are fed and looked after by the Ravensmaster.

In the 17th century, different regions of England became more economically integrated. No place in the country was more than 75 miles from the sea, and by the end of the century, few places

were more than 20 miles from a river or a canal. These waterways became the most important means of transport which made it possible for different regions to produce and sell various kinds of goods. For example, Kent, which was called “the garden of England”, grew more vegetables and fruit to export to other regions.

Improved trade resulted in new forms of buying and selling. Besides market places and fairs, which had been the sole way of selling goods, there appeared the first shops which promoted the growth of towns. London remained far larger than any other town; its population grew up to 500,000 people by the middle of the century. London controlled almost all the sea trade with other countries. Other

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6. Trade in the 17th century

large cities, Norwich, Newcastle and Bristol, had only 25,000 each. The great plague of 1655 killed 68,000 people in half a year which was almost equal to the population of three large towns of the time.

In the 1670s, the most active sections of the population were the commercial classes. They took the lead in England’s home and, especially, foreign policy. Members of Parliament formed

the first political parties. One party promoted foreign trade and supported the interests of merchants and the bourgeoisies. They were also supported by the Dissenters – a religious sect which had separated from the official Anglican Church. The other party, which consisted mostly of landowners, supported the interests of the gentry and the clergy.

The two parties hated each other so much that they gave their opponents abusive nicknames. Thus, the merchants were called ‘the Whigs’ and the landowners – ‘the Tories’. The word ‘Whig’ comes from the Scottish exclamation ‘Whiggam’ which was used in driving horses. And ‘Tory’ was the name given to Irish highway robbers. Later, these names came to be used by the parties themselves in their speeches and in cartoons satirizing the other party.

ScienceThe Stuart age was also the age of a

revolution in scientific thinking. For the first time in history England took the lead in

scientific discoveries. The Stuarts encouraged scientific studies. The Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge was founded in 1645 and became an important centre for scientists and thinkers where they could meet and exchange ideas. Now it is Britain’s oldest and most prestigious scientific institution.

Already at the beginning of the century, Francis Bacon argued that every scientific idea should be tested by experiment. Charles II

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7. Political parties

8. Science, Art and Music

gave a firm direction “to examine all systems, theories, principles, … elements, histories and experiments of things natural, mathematical and mechanical”. The English scientists of the 17 th century put Bacon’s ideas into practice.

In 1628 William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood. This led to great advances in medicine and in the study of the human body. The scientists Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke used Harvey’s methods when they made discoveries in the chemistry and mechanics of breathing.

In 1666 the Cambridge Professor of Mathematics, Sir Isaac Newton, began to study gravity. He published his important discovery in 1684. And in 1687 he published “Principia”, on “the mathematical principles of natural philosophy”. It was one of the greatest books in the history of science. Newton’s work remained the basis of physics until Einstein’s discoveries in the 20 th century.

Newton’s importance as a “founding father” of modern science was recognized in his own time. Alexander Pope summed it up in the following verse:

Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night:God said, “Let Newton be!” and all was light.

Newton was encouraged and financed by his friend, Edmond Halley, who is mostly remembered for tracking a comet in 1683. The comet has ever since been known as Halley’s Comet. In the 17 th

century there was a great deal of interest in astronomy. Charles II founded the Royal Observatory at Greenwich which was equipped with the latest instruments for observing heavenly bodies. Architecture and art

It was no incident that the greatest English architect of the time, Sir Christopher Wren, was also Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. Now he is better known as the designer of St. Paul’s Cathedral in

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London which was built anew after the Great Fire of London (1666). The larger part of the City was destroyed, and when it was rebuilt, a new law made Londoners build new houses of stone and brick. Sir Christopher Wren was ordered to rebuild the churches destroyed in the Fire. The jewel of the new city was St. Paul’s Cathedral. Almost every other church in the centre of London was designed by Wren or his assistants. Wren also designed the Royal Exchange and the Greenwich Observatory.

Another prominent architect and theatrical designer of the century was Inigo Jones (1573-1651) whose buildings are notable for their beauty of proportion. They include the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace in London and the Queen’s House at Greenwich.

In the 17th century, English painting was greatly influenced by Flemish artists, especially Van Dyck. He spent a number of years at the court of Charles I, who was his patron. Towards the middle of the century, the name of the Englishman William Dobson became as well known as the name of his Flemish colleague. Another native-born English painter was Francis Barlow, who specialized in animal subjects, or scenes of country sports. One of his famous pictures is ‘Monkeys and Spaniels Playing’ (1661). This kind of subject matter was to become immensely popular in the 18 th and 19th centuries.

MusicIn music, Viola da Gamba gave way to the violin, and the

English finally produced a national composer who wrote operas. Henry Purcell, ‘the father of the English opera’, may be compared to Bach and Handel. Purcell was also a talented keyboard player and song-composer.

His most famous opera was ‘Dido and Aeneas’ is based on the ancient Roman story about a Trojan leader who escaped to Carthage after Troy was captured by the Greeks. There he met Queen Dido who fell in love with him. Dido killed herself when Aeneas left her.

We must also mention here John Bull, the English organist and composer, one of the founders of contrapuntal keyboard music. He is

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credited with composing the English national anthem, “God Save the King / Queen”. But don’t think that it is to him that we owe the traditional nickname given to Englishmen. “John Bull”, the symbol of a typical Englishman, is the name of a farmer from the pamphlet of John Arbuthnot.

JournalismThe political struggle, involving broad

masses of England’s population, favoured the development of political literature and laid the

basis for journalism. People took a lively interest in all kind of information about the political events of the time. There appeared leaflets with information (the so-called ‘relations’) as well as periodical press. As a result of the rapid spread of literacy and the improvement in printing techniques, the first newspapers appeared in the 17th century. (In fact, the first newspaper was issued to announce the defeat of the Spanish Armada.) The newspaper was a new way of spreading ideas – scientific, political, religious and literary. The social revolution brought about a turn from poetry to prose because it was easier to write about social and political events in prose rather

than in verse.

John Milton (1608-1674)The greatest of all publicists of the

Puritan Revolution was John Milton. He was born to a prosperous family on December 9, 1608. Milton’s father, who had received a good education, was an admirer of music and a composer. The poet’s mother is said to have been ‘a woman of incomparable virtue and goodness’.

Milton’s childhood was very different from that of other children. He was little interested in games and outdoor amusements. His father took care of his early education. John learned to love music

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9. Literature

and books. Milton attended St. Paul’s school. He read and studied so intensely that at the age of 12 he had already developed a habit of working till midnight. At the age of 16 he went to Cambridge University where he got a Bachelor’s and then a Master’s degree. Upon graduation, Milton was asked to remain at the University as an instructor. But he refused, because for him that meant taking Holy Orders – that is becoming a clergyman. He left Cambridge and retired to his father’s country-place Horton, in Buckinghamshire. There, he gave himself up to studies and poetry. Many of Milton’s poems were written in Horton. They form the first period in his creative work.

Milton had always wished to complete his education by travelling, as was the custom of the time. He longed to visit Italy, and his mother’s death, John got his father’s consent to go on a European tour. He visited Paris, Genoa and Florence. The latter won his enthusiastic admiration. The city itself and the language fascinated him. The men of literature, whom he met in Florence, gave him an opportunity to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. Rome, where he went after Florence, made a great impression on him. Milton knew the Italian language to perfection. He spent whole days in the Vatican library. In Italy, he visited and talked to the great Galileo, who was no longer a prisoner of the Inquisition, but was still under the supervision of the Church. Milton’s meeting with the great Martyr of Science is mentioned in Paradise Lost, and in an article about the freedom of the press. After visiting Naples, he wanted to continue his travels, but the news from home hastened his return. Milton considered it wrong to be travelling abroad for personal enjoyment, while his countrymen were fighting for freedom. He returned to England in 1639. For some time, he had to do some teaching. The result of it was a treatise on education.

At the age of 34, Milton married Mary Powell, the daughter of a wealthy royalist. The union proved to be unhappy. She was a young and lively girl, little fitted to be the companion of such a serious man. They had only been married a month, when the young wife got Milton’s permission to visit her parents, and did not come back. It

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turned out that her relatives had agreed to her marriage to a Republican, when their party seemed to be losing power. They changed their mind when a temporary success of the Royalists revived their hopes. Milton did not see his wife for four years. During that time, he reflected much on marriage and divorce. He also wrote a treatise on divorce. In it, without mentioning his own drama, Milton regarded marriage and divorce as a social problem. An unexpected turn in the political situation of the country brought about a reconciliation of the couple, and Mary returned.

Milton kept a keen eye on the public affairs of the time. The years between 1640 and 1660 were the period of his militant revolutionary journalism. His views on civil and religious liberty served the interests of the revolutionary party, and Milton became the most prominent publicist of the Revolution.

When a Republican government was established in 1649, Milton was appointed Latin Secretary of the Council of State. He translated diplomatic papers from Latin and into Latin. He also continued writing pamphlets and treatises. In his excellent pamphlets The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, Defence of the People of England and Image Breaker, he made Europe realize that the Revolution was not just a great rebellion, as the Royalists insisted, but that it was the only force that could give the people rights and freedom. The execution of Charles I was not just the cruel bloodshed, but the only means by which the people could free themselves from the monarchy. He explained that the King was not a martyr, but the worst reactionary in the cause of liberty.

During the years of his work as Latin Secretary and journalist, Milton wrote only a few sonnets, one of them was To the Lord General Cromwell.

Milton had had poor eyesight even as a child, and now doctors warned him that unless he stopped reading and writing entirely, he would lose eyesight. To this Milton replied that he had already sacrificed poetry and was now ready to sacrifice his eyesight for the liberty of his people. He lost his sight in 1652. In the same year, his

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wife died in childbirth. Milton was left with three young daughters. Four years later, he married Catherine Woodcock, the daughter of a Republican this time, but that happiness did not last long. Catherine died within a year of their marriage.

The death of Cromwell in 1660 was followed by the restoration of monarchy, and Milton was discharged from his office. The work of all his lifetime was destroyed. All his famous pamphlets were burnt by the hangmen. But Milton’s spirit was not crushed. With his family, he retired to a small house in the suburbs of London where he began to write poetry again.

The years of Milton’s retirement became the third period in his literary career. During that period, he created the things that made him one of the greatest poets of England. These were Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Unfortunately, two of his daughters refused to help him in his work. Only his youngest daughter Deborah was willing to read Latin books to her blind father. With the help of a few loyal friends, Milton completed Paradise Lost in 1663.

The characters of the poem are God the Almighty, Satan, three guardian-angels and the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. This epic poem written in 12 parts is a revolt against God who autocratically rules the universe. The revolutionary spirit is shown in Satan, who revolts against God and is driven out of Heaven. Though banished from Paradise, Satan is glad to get freedom. Milton gives Satan human qualities. His Satan is determined to go on with his war against God. Milton’s Adam and Eve are not just Biblical characters, but Man and Woman who are full of energy, who love each other and who are ready to face whatever the earth has in store for them, rather than part.

The revolutionary poets of the 19 th century said that Milton was the first poet who refused to accept the conventional Bible story, but turned Adam and Eve into human beings.

When Milton’s fame reached the Court of Charles II, the King’s brother (the future King James II) paid a visit to the blind poet and asked if he did not regard the loss of his eyesight as a judgment

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inflicted by God for what he had written against the late King Charles I. Milton replied: ‘If your Highness thinks that the calamities which befall us here are indications of the anger of God, in what manner are we to account for the fate of the King, your father? The displeasure of God must have been much greater against him than me, for I have lost my eyes, but he lost his head.’

Milton’s third wife was Elizabeth Minshel. She was not very well educated, but she willingly assisted her blind husband, and he dictated his last works to her. Milton died on November 8, 1674, and was buried in London. Many years afterwards, a monument to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey.

Milton’s works form a bridge between the poetry of the Renaissance and the poetry of the classicists of a later period. He was attracted by the poetry of ancient mythology and drama, like the writers and poets of the Renaissance. At the same time, he was a champion of the revolutionary cause and thought that only a Republican government could provide a foundation for freedom.

DO YOU KNOW THAT

Charles II’s nickname was the Merry Monarch – he was pleasure-seeking and disloyal to his wife and ministers. Charles’s wife had no children but he acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses.

Many 17th-cecntury newspapers included advertisements, once Charles II advertised for the loss of his dog.

Women appeared on the English stage only in the 17 th

century.

?

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ASSIGNMENTS (2)

I. Review the material of Section 2 and do the following test. Check yourself by the key at the end of the book.

Test 21. The Renaissance in England falls on the _____ century. a. 14th; b. 15th; c. 16th; d. 17th 2. The Invincible Armada was defeated by ___ a. Francis Drake; b. Charles I; c. Admiral Nelson3. The Fairy Queen was written by ___ a. W. Shakespeare; b. Ch. Marlowe; c. E. Spenser 4. W. Shakespeare was ____ a. an actor; b. a playwright; c. a literary critic 5. The Gunpowder plot was in ___ a. 1515; b. 1605; c. 16496. The Pilgrim Fathers were___ a. Catholics; b. Protestants; c. Puritans7. The King who dismissed Parliament several times was___ a. Henry VIII; b. James I; c. Charles I8. After the establishment of the Commonwealth, O. Cromwell was proclaimed

a. King; b. Lord Protector; c. Lord Chancellor9. John Milton wrote ____

a. Paradise Lost; b. The Fairy Queen; c. Much Ado About Nothing

10. “The Father of the English Opera” was ____ a. William Byrd; b. Henry Purcell; c. John Bull11. As a result of the Civil War, England became ____ a. a parliamentary monarchy; b. a republic; c. an absolute monarchy12. The Great Fire of London was in _______ .

a. 1666; b. 1605; c. 1649

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II. Get ready to speak on the following topics: 1. Reformation in England. Henry VIII. Mary Tudor (“Bloody

Mary”).2. The Elizabethan age. England’s relations with Spain. The

geographical discoveries in 16th century. The development of philosophy, literature and the theatre (Thomas More, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare).

3. The reign of James I: the Gunpowder plot, the Pilgrim Fathers.4. The Civil War and the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell. The

Restoration.5. The Great Fire of London. The development of literature (John

Milton), arts (William Dobson, Christopher Wren, Henry Purcell) and science (Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley) in the 17th century.

3. Topics for presentations: The history of the English language. The Elizabethan age. Science in the 17th century England.

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SECTION 3

Britain in the New Age.

Modern Britain.

In Europe the 18th century was a turbulent age marked with revolutions, a tremendous upheaval in literature, philosophy and science all over the continent. It was the age when England gained the dominant place in the Channel and in the seas and became the world’s main market. It was the age of the Industrial Revolution which resulted in England’s economic growth. It was also the age of continental and colonial wars. The wars waged on the continent were the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). The wars for colonial expansion in India and North America went on without interruption. England’s rivals were Holland, France and Spain. The 18th century was a period of transition which saw the transfer of political power in Britain from absolute to parliamentary monarchy.

But before we turn to the 18 th century we must speak about the event which laid the basis for England’s further development – the Glorious Revolution. For different reasons (mainly political and economic), many English historians consider the late 1680s as the beginning of the 18th century in the history of England.

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CHAPTER 7.Britain in the 18th century

In 1688, the bourgeoisie managed to bring the royal power, the armed forces and taxation under the control of Parliament. The arrangement is known as the Revolution of 1688, or the

Glorious Revolution. King James II who succeeded to the throne after the death of his brother, Charles II, introduced pro-Catholic reforms and, finally, converted to Catholicism himself. All that which provoked Protestant hostility in the country. James II’s opponents sparked off the Glorious Revolution by inviting a Protestant – William, the Prince of Orange, to take the English crown. William of Orange arrived with an invasion force. In fact, William II, as he came to be known, was one of the legal heirs to the throne: he was the grandson of Charles I, and his wife Mary was James II’s daughter and Charles I’s granddaughter. King James II had to flee to France in 1689. Parliament declared that James II had abdicated and William and Mary accepted the throne. The attempts to restore James II to the throne failed in 1690.

William III proved to be an able diplomat but a reserved and unpopular monarch. In 1689, William and Mary accepted the Bill of Rights curbing royal power and granting the rights of parliament. It also restricted succession to the throne only to Protestants. The Bill of Rights laid the basis for constitutional monarchy. William and Mary ruled jointly until Mary’s death in 1694. Her husband died after a fall from his horse in 1702. The most important result of the Glorious Revolution is the transition from absolute to parliamentary monarchy. In 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne, Act of the Union created a single Parliament for England and Scotland.

The 18th century was a sound-thinking and rational age. Life was ruled by common sense. It was the proper guide to thought and conduct in commerce and industry. This period saw a

remarkable rise in the fields of philosophy, natural sciences and

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1. The Glorious Revolution

2. Political and economic

development of the country

political economy. Adam Smith (1723 – 1790), the Scottish economist, wrote his Wealth of Nations in 1776. His ideas dominated the whole of industrial Europe and America until the revival of opposing theories of state control and protection. Adam Smith was one of the founders of political economy which evolved, as a science, in the 18th century. Smith’s ideas were further developed by David Ricardo.

During the reign of George I, government power was increased because the new king spoke only German and relied on the decisions of his ministers. The most influential minister, who remained the greatest political leader of Britain for twenty years, was Robert Walpole. He is considered to have been Britain’s first Prime Minister. Moreover, it was R. Walpole who fathered the idea of using banknotes. As Britain was waging a series of costly wars with France, the government had to borrow money from different sources. In 1694, a group of financiers agreed to establish a bank if the government pledged to borrow from it alone. The new bank, called the Bank of England, had authority to raise money by printing ‘bank-notes’. But the idea was not entirely new. For hundreds of years, ever since the 12th century, money dealers had been giving people so-called ‘promissory notes’ signed by themselves. The cheques that are used today developed from those promissory notes. Walpole also promoted a parliamentary act, which obliged companies to bear responsibility to the public for the money, which they borrowed by the sales of shares.

In politics, Walpole was determined to keep the Crown under a firm parliamentary control. He realized that with the new German monarchy that was more possible than ever before. Walpole stressed the idea that government ministers should work together in a small group called the Cabinet. He insisted that all Cabinet ministers should bear collective responsibility for their decisions. If any minister disagreed with a Cabinet decision, he was expected to resign. The rule is still observed today. Walpole opposed wars, and increased taxes on objects of luxury including tea, coffee and chocolate.

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R. Walpole’s most influential enemy was William Pitt who stressed the importance of developing trade and strengthening Britain’s position overseas even by armed force. His policies lead to a number of wars with France. In the war of 1756, Pitt declared that the target was French trade which was to be taken over by Britain. In Canada, the British army took Quebec, which gave Britain control over fish, fur and timber trades. The French army was also defeated in India and a lot of Britons went to India to make their fortunes. Britain became the most powerful country in the world. British pride was expressed in a national song written in 1742, Rule, Britannia.

At the beginning of the 18th century, England was becoming the main commercial centre of Europe. In 1700 England and Wales had a population of about 5.5 million people. By the end of the century

it reached 8.8. million. Including Ireland and Scotland, the total population was about 13 million people.

England was still a country of small villages. The big cities of the future were only beginning to emerge. After London, the second largest city was Bristol. Its rapid growth and importance was based on the triangular trade: British-made goods were shipped to West Africa, West African slaves were transported to the New World, and American sugar, cotton and tobacco were brought to Britain.

By the middle of the century Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds were already big cities. But administratively and politically, they were still treated as villages and had no representation in Parliament.

All towns, old and new, had no drainage system; dirt was seldom or never removed from the streets. Towns often suffered from epidemics. In London, only one child in four grew up to become an adult. The majority of the poorer population suffered from drinking as the most popular drink was gin. Quakers started developing the beer industry and promoting the spread of beer as a less damaging drink. Soon beer drinking became a national habit.

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3. Life in town

As England was becoming the main commercial centre of Europe, London was turning into the centre of wealth and civilization. Ships came up the Thames which resembled a forest of masts.

There was a great deal of buying, selling and bargaining in the open.The City, or the Square Mile of Money, became the most

important district of London. The Lord Mayor was never seen in public except in his rich robe, a hood of black velvet and a golden chain. He was always escorted by heralds and guards. On great occasions, he appeared on horseback or in his gilded coach. A commonly used phrase said, “He who is tired of London is tired of life”. But the 18th century London was, naturally, different from what it became later. The streets were so narrow that wheeled carriages had difficulty in passing each other. Houses were built of brick or stone, as well as of wood and plaster. The upper part of the houses was built much further out than the lower part, so far out that people living on the upper floors could touch each other’s hands by stretching out over the street. Houses were not numbered as the majority of the population were illiterate. Shops, inns, taverns, theatres and coffee-houses had painted signs illustrating their names. The most typical names and pictures were “The Red Lion”, “The Swan”, “The Golden Lamb”, “The Blue Bear”, “The Rose”.

Londoners preferred to walk in the middle of the streets so as to avoid the rubbish thrown out of the windows and open doors. In rainy weather the gutters that ran along the streets, turned into black torrents, which roared down to the Thames, carrying to it all the rubbish from the City. The streets were not lighted at night. Thieves and pickpockets plied their trade without fear of being punished. It was difficult to get about even during the day, let alone at night.

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4. London and Londoners

Wealthier Londoners preferred using the river. The boatmen dressed in blue garments waited for customers at the head of the steps leading down to the waterside. Another way of getting about London was in a sedan-chair. It was put on two long horizontal poles which were carried by two men. When ladies went out to pay visits, the lid of the sedan-chair had to be opened to make room for the

fashionable hair-dresses and hats.The introduction of coffee, tea and chocolate as common drinks

led to the establishment of coffee-houses. These were a kind of first clubs. Coffee-houses kept copies of newspapers, they became centres of political discussion. Every coffee-house had its own favourite speaker to whom the visitors listened with great admiration. Each rank and profession, each shade of religious or political opinion had its own coffee-house. There were earls and clergymen, university students and translators, printers and index-makers. Men of literature and the wits met at a coffee-house which was frequently visited by the poet John Dryden. Here one could also meet Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Johnson and other celebrities.

The 18th century gave birth to the Industrial Revolution: it brought about the mechanization of industry and the consequent changes in social and economic organization.

The change from domestic industry to the factory system began in the textile industry. It was transformed by such inventions as Kay’s flying shuttle (1733), Hargreave’s spinning jenny (1764) and others. Newcomen’s steam engine (1705) perfected by Watt (1765) provided a power supply. Communications were

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5. The Industrial

Revolution

improved by the locomotives invented by Stephenson. The 18 th

century improvements in agricultural methods freed rural labour for industry and increased the productivity of the land. That was followed by the rapid growth of towns, mostly near coal-fields. Miserable working and housing conditions later inspired the Luddites, or workers who deliberately smashed machinery in the industrial centres in the early 19th century. The followers of Ned Ludd, an 18th century riot leader, believed that the use of machines caused unemployment. They fought against unemployment in a most primitive way which, to them, seemed effective.

At the end of the 18 th century the struggle of the 13 American colonies for independence from British rule turned into the War of American Independence (1775 – 1783). The war was caused

by the British attempts to tax the colonies for revenue and to make them pay for a standing army. The colonies revolted under George Washington and declared their independence in 177. In 1778 – 1780 France, Spain and the Netherlands, one by one, declared war on Britain. Military operations were held on the American continent. In 1781 Britain lost command of the sea, and her army was finally defeated at Yorktown. In 1783 the war ended with the Treaty of Paris, in which the independence of the USA was officially recognized. George Washington became the country’s first president. The war discredited the government of George III, weakened France financially, and served as an inspiration for the French Revolution and for revolutions in the Spanish colonies in America.

It should be noted that the War of Independence was won by the Americans largely due to the French support. The famous poet and playwright Bomarchet, who was a secret agent of the French government, shipped arms and ammunition over the Atlantic Ocean to the insurgents. In Paris, he met Benjamin Franklin, who was the American ambassador to France. Franklin is one of the prominent figures in American history. To begin with, he helped to draft the

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6. The Colonial Wars

Declaration of Independence in 1776. Besides being one of the founding fathers of the American nation, Franklin gained a worldwide reputation for his scientific discoveries, which included a new theory of the nature of electricity, and for his inventions, among which there was the lightning conductor.

PaintingBritain’s naval supremacy in the 18 th century gave rise to marine painting. Victories at sea led to a steady demand for pictures of sea-battles, and

marine painters made a good living from naval commissions. Another factor that promoted marine painting was a changing attitude towards the sea and the seashore. Many of the novelists, poets and artists turned to the sea as a source of inspiration.

The 18th century was also the great age of British landscape and portrait painting. Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough were the greatest masters of the century. They debated whether painting should follow poetry.

Sir Joshua Reynolds was more academic in his views and manner of painting. That English portrait painter dominated English artistic life in the middle and late 18th century. Through his art and teaching, he attempted to lead British painting away from the indigenous anecdotal pictures of the early 18th century toward the formal rhetoric of the continental Grand Style. With the founding of the Royal Academy in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first president and knighted by King George III.

Thomas Gainsborough was known for his portraits of fashionable society in the late 18th century and for his landscapes of the English countryside. His art could be described as “natural”. One of Gainsborough’s celebrated works is his portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews featuring a wealthy Suffolk landowner and his wife against the background of their estate. William Hogarth was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist. He is best

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7. The Development

of arts

known for his moral and satirical engravings and paintings and may well be called a painter and engraver of modern moral subjects.

All three of them unmistakably are recognized as the 18 th

century greatest English artists whose pictures belong to the treasure-trove of European painting. Music

In music, the leading musician of the century was George Frederick Handel (1685 – 1759). He was a musician and composer of German birth and a naturalized Englishman. He composed with extreme facility. For example, “Messiah” was written in 21 days. His immense output includes over 40 operas (the best known of which is “Rinaldo”), about 20 oratorios, organ concertos, vocal and choral music and a great mass of chamber and instrumental music. Even his religious and formal music is dominated by the influence of the theatre. His music expresses the full range of human feelings; it is profoundly psychological and subtle.

As Handel was patronized by the king, he sometimes fell victim to the intrigues of courtiers and politicians who wanted him to support their cause in front of the king. Handel was bitterly criticized by a group of playwrights and composers who promoted a national way in English music. Among them was John Gay (1685 – 1732), a poet and playwright. His most famous work, a lyrical drama “The Beggar’s Opera” was turned into a music piece by John Pepusch, another German composer, mostly known for his vocal music. The new musical comedy, based on the plot suggested by Jonathan Swift, was a bitter political satire on politicians, witty and joyful. Handel was mocked at in the second act, when a group of robbers marched to the music from his opera “Rinaldo”. “The Beggar’s Opera” was a tremendous success. During the winter season of 1728 it was performed 62 times.

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The problem of vital importance for the 18 th

century philosophers and writers was the study of man and the origin of his good and evil qualities. Human nature, they claimed, was virtuous and any

deviation from virtue was due to the influence of a vicious society. Formulated in this way, the problem acquired social importance. The survivals of feudalism, on the one hand, and the evils of the new system of production, on the other hand, were to be seen everywhere. Progressive writers explained that vice was caused by ignorance and the way out was to enlighten the people. Thus, the 18 th century English writers started a public movement of Enlightenment. They hoped to improve the world by teaching and bringing the light of knowledge to the population. The enlighteners rejected Church dogmas and class distinctions.

The movement of the Enlightenment appeared in England, and then spread to the Continent. Later, France produced eminent writers who fought for enlightening the people: Voltaire, Rousseau and others In every country, supporters of the Enlightenment shared the same views: a deep hatred for feudalism and its survivals, systematic education for all, self-government and liberty. They all spoke up for the ordinary people particularly for peasants whose fate was to be decided in the 18th century.

Notwithstanding these common features, there was a difference between the ideas expressed by the English and those expressed by the French writers of the period: an intellectual calm is felt in English literature because the English were past their revolution, while in France the turbulent spirit of the fight for freedom was only beginning. The French literature of the Enlightenment prepared the French for the Great Revolution which broke out at the end of the 18th century.

Literature of the EnlightenmentIn England, the period saw the transition from the poetic age of

Shakespeare to the prosaic age of essayists. The style of prose

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8. The Enlightenment

became clear, graceful and polished. Writers accepted such literary forms as were intelligible to all. Satire gained popularity. The period also saw the rise of the political pamphlet. Most of the authors of the time wrote political pamphlets, but the best came from the pens of Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift. Among the best known essayists were Steele and Addison. Periodical newspapers had been published since the Civil War, and in 1702 the first daily newspaper was established.

Much of the drama was written in prose, and the leading form of literature was the novel. The hero of the novel was no longer a prince, but a representative of the middle class. That had never happened before – ordinary people had usually been represented only as comical characters.

Towards the middle of the century there appeared a new literary trend – sentimentalism. Richardson, Goldsmith, Fielding – those names evoked a lively response in the hearts of readers both in Europe and across the Atlantic. The first writer of the sentimental school in Europe was Samuel Richardson. His novels Pamela, Clarissa and History of Sir Charles Grandison were the works that showed the inner world of the characters. Richardson appealed to the hearts of the readers and made them sympathize with his unfortunate heroes. The novels were a tremendous success in the 18 th and 19th

centuries all over Europe.We can say that the English writers of the Enlightenment

formed two groups. Those who hoped to better the world merely by teaching were Joseph Addison (who wrote essays), Richard Steele (who wrote essays, comedies), Daniel Defoe (the author of Robinson Crusoe), Alexander Pope (the author of The Rape of the Lock), Samuel Richardson (the author of Pamela). The other group included the writers who openly protested against the vicious social order. Those were Jonathan Swift (the author of Gulliver’s Travels), Henry Fielding (who wrote The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling), Oliver Goldsmith (the author of The Vicar of Wakefield), Richard Sheridan (the author of The School for Scandal), Tobias Smollett

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(the author of Peregrine Pickle), Robert Burns (who wrote Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect).

The poetry of the 18th century was didactic and satirical. It was the poetry of the town and its fashionable life as well as the poetry of worldly wisdom. The leading poet of the century was Alexander Pope – one of the first English classicists. He had little contact with the average reader because in order to read and enjoy Pope one had to be familiar with the works of Horace, Virgil and the Greek poet Theocritus. In 1715 Pope published his translations of the Iliad and the Oddysey by Homer, which made him famous. Pope had a delicate sense of style, which he polished to the last degree of gleaming finish. His poems, such as The Rape of the Lock, are notable for their elegant style.

Pope organized a society of literary men who called themselves the “Martin Scriblerus’ Club”. Martin Scriblerus was an imaginary personage: anyone who wished to publish a satire in a magazine was allowed to use the name of Martin Scriblerus as a pseudonym. Pope hoped that when put together those stories would make an interesting book. But they remained isolated compositions. Yet, it was Martin Scriblerus that inspired Swift to write the famous novel Gulliver’s Travels.

Robert Burns (1759-1796)Robert Burns, who is rightly considered to be

the national pride o f Scotland, began writing poetry at the age of 15. But it was only 10 years later that his first volume of poems was published – Poems: Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The book won him immediate success. The source of Burns’ poetry is Scottish folklore. Burns was deeply

aware of the dignity and equality of men. He wrote epigrams on idle noblemen and at the same time composed tender lyrical verses.

Oh my luve’s like a red, red rose…, John Barleycorn, The Tree of Liberty, Auld Lang Syne – these famous poems and songs have

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been popular for two centuries. The Burns festival is held every year with people coming from all over the world.

Most of Burns' poems were written in Scots. They document and celebrate traditional Scottish culture. Burns wrote in a variety of forms: letters to friends, ballads, and songs. He is well known for the over three hundred songs which celebrate love, friendship, work, and drink with often hilarious and tender sympathy. Even today, he is often referred to as the National Bard of Scotland. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Doctor Johnson is little known outside Britain. But in his time he was a popular English poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer and a critic of English Literature.

In the words of a modern scholar, he was a “great literary personality”. He compiled and published the Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Despite common assumptions that Dr. Johnson wrote the first dictionary of the English language, there had been nearly twenty "English"

dictionaries in the preceding 150 years. Johnson's dictionary was to rise above all these because of his meticulous research; his depth and breadth of definitions and his careful use of description.

Samuel Johnson was the son of a poor bookseller. He attended Lichfield Grammar School and a few weeks after he turned nineteen, he became a student of Oxford University. After thirteen months, however, poverty forced him to leave Oxford without taking a degree and he returned to Lichfield. Just before the publication of his Dictionary, Oxford University awarded Johnson the degree of Master of Arts. In 1775, Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate.

The two outstanding figures in the 18th century literature of England were Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

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Swift was an Irish-born Englishman who spent a large part of his life in Ireland. He got a Bachelor’s degree in 1686 and for a long time had to work as a private secretary and accountant to Sir William Temple, a statesman and a courtier, who resided at Moor Park, not far from London. And although Sir William liked the young man, the ambitious Swift considered that he was treated just a little better than a servant. In 1692 he went to Oxford to take his Master’s degree. After that he became a vicar at a little parish

church in Ireland. Later, he returned to Sir William Temple and continued working for him and writing pamphlets and satires in his spare time. Swift was one of the most critical and sarcastic journalists of the time. One of his best-known pamphlets was The Tale of the Tub.

Swift was wonderfully popular in England and especially in Ireland. The Lord Governor of Ireland once said that all he managed to do in Ireland was done with the kind permission of Mr. Swift. But his life could hardly be called happy. By the end of his life he became even more embittered and satirical than before. Swift's misfortunes and the death of his wife undermined his health. In 1740 his memory and reason were gone. He became completely deaf. He wouldn't touch food if there was anyone present in the room. He died in Dublin in 1745.

What brought Swift real fame was his book Gulliver's Travels. In that book Swift satirized the evils of the existing society. It was altogether a novelty in English literature.

At first Swift intended to publish the book as the story of Martin Scriblerus. But later he heard of a farmer called Gulliver, who was a real giant, so strong and tall that he could carry a horse across a fence. That impressed Swift tremendously, and that is how his favourite character got his name.

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The first two travels – to the land of Lilliputs and to the land of Brobdingnag (the giants) – are well-known as children's entertaining reading. In the description of the third voyage – to the floating island of Laputa, and the fourth – the land of the intelligent horses, Swift abandons delicate fancy and unmasks the selfish and brutal nature of humanity. He shows the stupidity of the so-called academicians and the true nature of human civilization. In the land of the intelligent horses, humans, called Yahoos, are shown as filthy degenerated creatures, unable to speak clearly or do any decent work. The book is written with wonderful energy and polemical skill. It has been translated into many languages and is read and enjoyed by thousands of readers.

Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)D. Defoe was born in London to the family

of a butcher who was a Dissenter, that is, a non-conformist. Their family name was Foe. Daniel was about 40 years of age when he first changed his signature of D. Foe into De Foe and then Defoe. Daniel got the best education his father could afford. The boy was to become a minister in the Nonconformist Church; therefore, at the age of 14, he was placed in an academy for a full course of five years. But when his training was completed, he refused to devote himself to the Church. In his opinion, it was neither honourable and pleasant, nor profitable. He decided to start business as a merchant. But though he was energetic and practical, a businessman to his fingertips, Defoe never succeeded in business. He went bankrupt several times. What he used to say was, “Thirty times I was rich and poor”. The only branch of business in which he proved to be successful was journalism and literature.

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When Defoe was 23, he started writing pamphlets. Usually he was very outspoken and wrote what he thought. That’s why his pamphlets sometimes got him into trouble. In 1685 he took part in the revolt led by the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II, against James II. Monmouth hoped to get the Crown with the help of the Protestants. The rebellion was put down, and Defoe had a narrow escape.

When the Protestant king, William III, came to power in 1688, Defoe wrote pamphlets praising his policy. It was the beginning of his literary career. Defoe anticipated the greatest public improvement of modern times; higher education for women, the protection of seamen, the construction of highways and the opening of savings-banks. He urged the establishment of a special academy to study literature and languages.

Owing to the fact that William III was the king of the Whig party, he was attacked by the Tories, who called him Dutch William. Some Tories demanded in pamphlets that the English race should be kept pure. Opposing this foolish idea, Defoe wrote the pamphlet The True-Born Englishman in which he proved that a true-born Englishman did not exist, since the English nation consisted of Danes, Picts, Scots, Angles, Saxons, Normans and other peoples. He said “A true-born Englishman is a contradiction in speech, an irony, in fact, a fiction.” The king personally thanked Defoe for the pamphlet.

During the reign of Queen Anne, persecution of the Dissenters began again. In 1702 Defoe wrote a pamphlet in defence of the Dissenters (The shortest Way With the Dissenters) in which he attacked the Tories and the established Church. But the irony was so subtle that the enemy did not recognize it at first. They considered it to be next best to the Bible. When they realized the real character of the pamphlet, Defoe was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. To disgrace him even more, the Tories subjected him to standing in the pillory in a public square. Before he went to prison, he wrote his Hymn to the Pillory, in which he demanded a fair trial. Though the

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Hymn was not published, Defoe’s friends made it popular. It was sung on street corners on the day of the public execution. Many of the poorer Londoners, who knew Defoe well, gathered round the pillory, forming a live fence and preventing the crowd from tormenting him. Women threw flowers to him. When the time came to set him free, people cheered him and carried him from the square on their shoulders. That was the climax of his political career - and the end of it.

After his release he worked as an editor of a journal, which supported the ruling party - his former enemies. After the death of Queen Anne, the Whigs came to power, and Defoe continued serving the new ruling party. All this time he was regularly receiving money from the government. But the English government never paid money for nothing - only for some services. Later, it turned out that Defoe had been in her Majesty’s Secret Service.

In 1719 he tried his hand in fiction and wrote the famous novel about the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The idea of writing about a man who had to live on a desert island was taken from a story published in Steele's magazine “The Englishmen”. It was about a sailor Alexander Selkirk, who had spent four years and four months on a desert island. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe spent 26 years alone on his island. The novel is praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature. Labour and fortitude help Robinson to endure hardships. They save him from despair. The very process of hard work gives him satisfaction.

Defoe is a great master of realistic detail. When reading his description of Crusoe’s life and work, one feels that the author must have lived through all the adventures himself. The charm of the novel lies in Robinson as a person. He develops into a strong-willed man, able to withstand all the calamities of life.

The novel is a study of man, a great work showing man in relation to nature and civilization.

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When Robinson Crusoe was published, Defoe became famous and came into money. He was now able to pay his debts. He built himself a house and kept a coach and a pleasure-boat.

It is said that not long before his death Defoe fell victim to a serious mental disease. In 1729 he was at work on a new book. Part of it was in print when he broke off abruptly and fled. He was very fond of his wife and daughters, but did not want them to know his hiding-place. For two years he lived in poverty and quite alone, and died in 1731. The inscription on his gravestone says, "Daniel Defoe. Author of Robinson Crusoe..."

DO YOU KNOW THAT The Bank of England was founded in 1694 by William

Paterson, a Scotsman.

The Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695 by John Holland, an Englishman. The first English coffeehouse, named Angel, was established in Oxford, be a certain Jewish entrepreneur named Jacob, in 1650.

Oxford coffeehouses developed into “penny universities”, which occupied a significant position in Oxford academic life

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In the 1790s, the wars of the French Revolution turned into the Napoleonic wars, as Napoleon Bonaparte took over the French government. The war caused a boom in farm production and in

certain industries. At the same time, it caused rapid inflation. In 1797 the Bank of England was forced to stop payment of gold for paper currency, and Parliament voted the first income tax.

The war did not go well for Britain. During the Napoleonic wars it had to form four coalitions. Three coalitions collapsed and Napoleon was planning to invade Britain. It was Admiral Nelson's victory in the dramatic battle of Trafalgar in 1805 that prevented the invasion. The battle was won at the price of Nelson's life, but the French forces never stepped on the British soil. Admiral Nelson was buried in Westminster Abbey, and the column set up in Trafalgar Square in the center of London is topped with a bronze statue of the national hero.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 led to the fourth coalition, which brought together the armies of Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Britain's contribution included an army led by The Duke of Wellington, who first fought in Spain and later won the Battle of Waterloo. Wellington proved to be a capable commander early in the war. Unlike the majority of the officers of the allied forces, he did not believe either in the genius of Napoleon himself or in the invincibility of his army. He insisted that Napoleon usually won his victories largely due to the psychological effect produced by

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CHAPTER 8.

From Napoleonic wars to Victorian Britain

1. Napoleonic Wars

his army and his personality. On his appointment as commander of the British army he wrote about the French, “I am not afraid of them. I suspect that all the continental armies were more than half beaten before the battle was begun. I, at least, will not be frightened beforehand.” At the beginning of March 1815, the Emperor Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France. He reformed his army with astonishing speed, and determined to conquer Holland as the first move in rebuilding his empire. The representatives of the allied European countries that met at the Congress of Vienna mobilized their armies to stop him, but only two armies could be brought to Flanders in time: the Prussian army commanded by Marshal Blucher, and a mixed army of British, Dutch and German troops under the command of the Duke of Wellington. They were all divided in their languages, loyalties and experience, so it was largely due to Wellington's military talent that the allied forces defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, in Belgium, on June 18, 1815. The battle of Waterloo brought about Napoleon's downfall. Wellington is rightly considered to be a national hero, like Admiral Nelson.

At the beginning of the century Britain enlarged its colonial territories, adding to the empire the former Dutch possessions of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope.

In the 1820s, Prime Minister Robert Peel turned his attention to the problem of crime by establishing a regular police force for London in 1829. The government employed a specially trained army of men to catch criminals. Although at first Londoners laughed at the blue-uniformed men in their top-hats, during the next thirty years almost every other town and country started a police force of their own. The new police units soon proved themselves successful, as much crime was pushed out of larger cities, then out of towns and finally out of the countryside. Robert Peel was able to show that certainty of punishment was far more effective than cruelty of punishment.

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2. The political and economic

development of the country

The beginning of the century also saw the innovations of Robert Owen, a factory owner from Scotland, who gave his workers shorter working hours and encouraged trade unions. He built his factory in the countryside, away from the smog and dirt of the big cities, and

provide d good housing for workers and a school for their children. Owen was able to prove that his workers produced more goods in less time than those forced to work longer hours. Better working and living conditions resulted in an increase in labour productivity.

Owen’s ideas and example were supported and put into life by other reformers, like Authur

Cadbury, the owner of the famous Birmingham chocolate factory, who built first-class housing for workers.

The main political issue of the 1830s was the Reform Bill, which became law in 1832. The bill set up a system of registration that encouraged political party organization, both locally and nationally. That measure weakened the monarch and the House of Lords. Other reforms came in a quick succession. In 1833 slavery was abolished. By the New Poor Law of 1834 workhouses were opened. They were meant to provide the homeless people with work and shelter. Abandoned children were also taken care of in workhouses. But although the new system involved supervision by a central board (or Committee), working and living conditions of people in workhouses were even worse than those of slaves. As the country's industry was rapidly developing, child labour became common practice. Children from poor families started working at the age of 4 or 5. They worked in textile factories and in mines for 16 hours a day. There were cases when little workers had to stay at work for 18 hours. They worked and slept in the same place. But the worst fate was of those children who worked as chimneysweeps. They seldom lived to become adults. It was only in 1849, during the reign of Queen Victoria, that an act of Parliament limited the working hours of children under the age of 10 – to 10 hours a day.

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In 1836 a special law placed the registration of births, deaths and marriages in the hands of the state rather than the Church. All attempts on the part of the state to influence and subsidize education were strongly opposed by the Church.

During the economic depression of 1837 the reform spirit declined. Working conditions became even worse. The protest organization, known in history as the Chartist movement, came into being. The Chartists demanded the immediate adoption of the People's Charter, which might have transformed Britain into a political democracy with universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts and the secret ballot. It was also expected to improve living standards. Millions of workers signed Charter petitions in 1839, 1842 and 1848. Some Chartist demonstrations turned into riots. Parliament repeatedly rejected the People's Charter and the idea was never realized.

In the 1820s Britain welcomed the independence of Spain's South American colonies and aided the Greek rebellion against the Turkish rule. The events in Greece were praised and

supported by Romantic writers and poets. Extending from about 1789 until 1837, the Romantic age stressed emotion over reason. In English literature the Romantic age was characterized by the subordination of reason to intuition and passion, as well as the cult of nature (much as the word is understood now). Individual will was superior to social norms of behaviour, immediate experience was more important than generalized and typical experience.

The first Romantics were the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth adored and idealized the countryside and nature. Another Romantic poet and novelist was Sir Walter Scott. At the beginning of his literary career he wrote poetry. After the publication of the poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Scott became the most famous poet of the day. Later though,

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3. Romanticism

he turned to novels. Walter Scott is known as the founder of the historical novel in English literature.

Walter Scott was a faithful son of Scotland and studied the past of his native land through documents, history and legends. His most famous novels are Ivanhoe, Rob Roy and Quentin Durward. When his business partner died leaving Scott to pay

the debts, the writer had to start working day and night. That explains the fact why Scott's later novels are less elaborately worked out than the earlier ones.

Unlike Coleridge, Wordsworth and Scott the next generation of Romantic poets were full of revolutionary spirit. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) exemplifies a personality in tragic revolt against society. Byron was born to an aristocratic family and educated at Harrow College. The boy was not very tall and, what is more, he was lame. That is why he gave much of his time to sports – in order to compensate for his physical deficiency. He also traveled a lot – both in England an on the Continent. When his first book of poems (Hours of idleness) was published in 1807, he was bitterly criticized in the press. But that didn’t stop him. He retorted with an epigram and continued writing.

Byron traveled a lot – both in England an on the Continent. In 1809-1811 he travelled to Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Greece. The earliest fruits of his travels were the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812). The poem brought him immediate success and established his reputation as a great poet of England. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is partly autobiographical. The hero is a disillusioned rebel, demanding absolute personal freedom, who quickly became the symbol of the vanguard literary thought in Europe. Byron let his hero travel from country to country, filling the poem with vivid descriptions and satirical remarks.

Between 1813 and 1816 Byron wrote Oriental Tales, which included 4 pieces. In 1816 he left England and up to 1823 lived in

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Switzerland and Italy, where he at first supported and later joined the Carbonari movement. He wrote two more cantos of Childe Harold, Manfred and the most famous of his poems, Don Juan, which was not finished.

In the 1820s Byron got particularly interested in the struggle of Greece against Turkey. He financed the buying of medicines and arms for the Greeks and then joined them in person. He participated in the defence of the Fortress of Missolungui. There he went down with a fever and died.

Byron produced a tremendous impact on A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, W. Goethe and other European poets. They translated and imitated Byron's poems. Pushkin described Oneguin as “москвич в гарольдовом плаще”, “вторым Онегин Чильд Гарольдом”. Byron's poem My Soul Is Dark was wonderfully well translated by M. Lermontov.

The Romantic movement was also reflected in art. Landscape painting especially acquired new importance, notably in Britain, and its greatest exponents were among the leaders of

Romanticism. It was the time of the great English painters John Constable and William Turner. They are both famous for their landscapes, but Turner is especially known for his remarkable light effects. Sketching all over Europe during a long life, Turner produced a succession of water-colours and oil painting of great subtlety and power. Constable reinvented the medium of oil paint as a vehicle for his personal sensations in front of English rural scenery. And though his painting met with little success at the Royal Academy exhibitions, his idea of making art from direct observation of nature brought profound changes to painting later in the 19 th century. Unlike Constable, Turner was hugely successful in his own time, partly because the works he exhibited basically corresponded to the prevailing academic theory that in art landscape should be transformed by the artist's imagination. Even so, his extraordinary use

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4. Art and artists

of colour and light, and his dramatic innovations in the painting of stormy seas and effects of weather, made him controversial throughout his career.

Other artists set out to explore the inner world of the mind. William Blake developed a whole private mythology to investigate the meaning of human life and its place in God's creation. Blake was a poet, an artist, a professional engraver and a mystic. His early works (Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience), although Romantic, were never free from symbolism. Some of his poems were published only in 1925. Most of his books were self-illustrated.

During the Victorian Age, the British Empire reached its height and covered about a fourth of the world's land. Industry and trade expanded rapidly, and railways and canals crossed the country.

Science and technology made great advances. The size of the middle class grew enormously. By the 1850s, more and more people were getting an education. In addition, the government introduced democratic reforms.

MonarchyBy the late 1830s the monarchy was beginning to

look a disreputable and even unnecessary institution. Kings were not expected to rule but to reign. From this low point the monarchy was rescued by Queen Victoria, one of the most notable figures in British royal history. She came to the throne in 1837 and reigned u ntil her death in 1901. Her achievement was restoring respect and usefulness to the Crown, and then going further by becoming the symbol of the nation.

Victoria first learned about her future role during a history lesson when she was 10 years old. The future queen reacted to the discovery by declaring, "I will be good." She took an active interest in the policy of her ministers. Her relations with Prime ministers Peel and Disraeli

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5. Victorian Age

were excellent but she was not on good terms with Palmerston and Gladstone. The Queen’s conscientious approach to her duties did much to raise the reputation of the monarchy. One should never forget about the impact of Victoria’s private life on the country’s policy. In 1839 Victoria fell in love with her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They were married in February 1840, and Albert soon developed a keen interest in governing his new country. Prince Albert served as his wife’s private secretary. Being an active patron of the arts and sciences he was the prime organizer of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert also favored the expansion of education, and he served as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He became a great champion of strengthening and modernizing Britain's armed forces. Though Prince Albert was respected by most of his new countrymen, he was not loved; many resented him because he was a foreigner. For Victoria, however, her husband represented perfection, and the two were very happy together. The royal couple offered an example of family life that contrasted sharply with the images of the previous British monarchs. They took an intense personal interest in the upbringing of their children, and enjoyed a private family life.

Victoria partly owed her success to the fact that she possessed shrewd commonsense and high principles. In many ways the Queen was a very contradictory person. She idolized family life, but felt uncomfortable in the presence of little children. She had no interest in social issues, and yet the 19th century in Britain was an age of reform. She resisted technological change at the time when technological innovations reshaped the face of European civilization. And a lot of technological initiatives came from Britain. Most significantly, Victoria was a queen determined to retain political power; yet unwillingly she greatly contributed to the transformation of the monarch’s political role into a ceremonial one and thus preserved the English monarchy. In a period when middle-class values were of greatest importance, Victoria embodied the qualities that the middle classes most admired – devotion to family

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and friends, integrity and reliability. Everything that was summed up in the word “respectability”. Nowadays we use the word “Victorian” not only in the meaning of “old-fashioned”, but also to characterize efficiency, high morals and good business practice. But Victoria’s most important asset was her devotion to the nation. Even when she became an elderly woman, she continued to execute her duties.

Victoria early became a widow as Prince Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861. The Queen wanted to retire from public life completely but the sense of duty and responsibility made her emerge from retirement to perform her royal duties. In the last 20 years of her reign she became as completely loved and idolized as Elisabeth I had been. Victoria was often called “the grandmother of Europe” because by her children’s marriages she was related to every royal house of Europe.

Home and Foreign PolicyIn the 19th century the British Empire was constantly expanding

and reforming its political relations with old colonies. In 1837 there was a rebellion in Canada. That led to working out the system of self-government for Canada. In 1855, a similar system was applied to the other two territories with white populations, Australia and New Zealand. Later, Prime Minister Gladstone became convinced that there should be Home Rule for Ireland and introduced a Bill in Parliament in April 1886. But the Bill was lost.

The British Empire managed to acquire new territories in various regions of the world. Particularly successful was the conquest of India. Due to internal disputes India’s rulers found themselves completely unprepared for a well-elaborated British invasion. It was Prime Minister Disraeli and his government that gave Queen Victoria the title of Empress of India in 1877.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the purchase of a half-share in the enterprise aroused British interest in the affairs of Egypt and the Sudan. In fact, the British government did not have any

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elaborated policy towards Africa until the end of the century. They did not want extra territories to administer at great coast. Muсh of the exploration of Africa was left to private individuals: missionaries and businessmen. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary explored much of East and Central Africa. Cecil Rhodes, an explorer, businessman and settler, aimed to establish a great empire for Britain in Africa and to build a railroad from Cairo to the Cape. British influence was similarly extended to Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda through private companies.

The situation in the Near East was also far from being stable. There were serious collisions between the Russian and British Empires about the control other the territory of Afghanistan. Neither of the two succeeded in conquering the country, but a very bitter feeling remained and affected the relations between Russia and Britain.

The Crimean War (1854-1856)Britain’s only war with a great power in the 19th century was

the Crimean War with Russia. It lasted from 1854 to 1856 and was aimed at the reduction of Russian influence in the Balkan region. The war revealed that the British army was very inefficient compared to other European armies.

The most important battles were fought at Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman. The first Victoria crosses were awarded. The siege and defence of Sevastopol brings to the Russian mind the names of admirals Kornilov, Nakhimov, and the first Russian nurse Daria Mikhailova. To the English mind, it brings the name of Florence Nightingale, the first English

nurse. Her work in organizing field hospitals in the Crimea pioneered modern nursing methods and promoted the recognition of nursing as a respected profession.

After a long siege Sevastopol was taken by the allies in 1855 and the war was ended by the Treaty of Paris (1856). The Treaty

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provided for the demilitarization of the Black Sea. Neither Russia nor Turkey was allowed to have a fleet of ships in the Black Sea. The position of the British Empire was strengthened again. The Russian Black Sea fleet was rebuilt only 16 years later.

The Boer WarAt the end of the century (1899 – 1901), Britain waged a war in

South Africa known as the Boer War. The presence of British emigrants in the two Dutch Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and the question of their civic rights under the Boer rule, worsened Anglo-Boer relations. In 1899, the Boers under Kruger, the Transvaal President, declared war on Britain. It was the first war overseas to split the public opinion. Moreover, public opinion in Europe and America turned against Britain as in opened the first internment camps. The war led to a demand for army reform and to a reaction against imperialism.

The war was won by Britain and the two Dutch republics became part of the British Empire, but Queen Victoria did not live to celebrate the victory. She died in 1901, and her death marked the end of an age – Britain’s summer.

The development of industry and science.Victoria’s reign saw the rapid industrialization of Britain, and a

vast growth of national wealth, reflected in the imperialism of the late 19th century. Britain became the strongest colonial power in the world. Its trade with colonies flourished. British businessmen wanted to buy cheap and sell dear, but they were blocked by various preferences granted to colonial produce. Thus foreign markets were growing more important than colonial.

The development of industrial production and trade stimulated the development of transport. The railroad network more than doubled during the mid-Victorian years. And although originally the railroads were built to carry goods, they also catered for passengers. The number of passengers carried annually increased 7 times by the

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middle of the century. A boom in steamship building began in the 1860s. The value of British exports went up 3 times and overseas capital investments increased 4 times.

The Great Exhibition of 1851, held at Crystal Palace in London, was the first world's fair and symbolized Britain’s industrial supremacy.

Working class living standards improved. The growth of trade unionism led to the establishment of the Trades Union Congress in 1868.

The Victorian age was the peak of the so-called “English summer”. And not only due to the industrial development and colonial expansion of the country. It was also the age of rapid development of science. Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday are two of the most distinguished figures in the history of British science.

In 1857 Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. His theory of evolution based upon scientific observation, was welcomed by many as proof of mankind’s ability to find a scientific explanation for everything. But for religious people, who made the majority of the middle class, the idea that all living-beings, including human-beings, had developed from simpler creatures was intolerable. It

led to a crisis in the Church. The battle between “faith” and “reason” lasted for the rest of the century. Reforms in education

The country’s developing economy needed skilled workers, technicians and engineers to meet the demands of the growing industrial centres. From the 1870s to the 1890s, several Education Acts were passed by Parliament. In 1870 schooling was made compulsory. All children up to the age of 13 were supposed to go to school, where they were taught reading, writing, arithmetic and sometimes – elementary science. In Scotland, there had been a state education system since the time of the Reformation. There were 4

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Scottish universities, three of them dating from the Middle Ages. In Wales, schools had begun to grow rapidly in the middle of the 19 th

century, partly for nationalist reasons. By the middle of the century Wales had a university and a smaller university college.

The government began to build “redbrick” universities (and schools) in the new industrial centres. The term “redbrick” distinguished the new universities, usually built of red brick, from older, mainly stone-built universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The new universities had a more pragmatic approach to education, and taught more science and technology to feed Britain’s industries.

Social lifeFrom the early 1850s to the early 1870s, with occasional years

of high unemployment and business failure, almost all sections of the population seemed to be benefiting from relative prosperity. Profits rose, and so did wages and incomes from land. Indeed, those supporters of protection who had argued in the 1840s that free trade would ruin British agriculture were mocked by the mid-Victorian prosperity of agriculture. It was during these years that Victorianism, came to represent a cluster of moral attributes such as “character”, “duty”, “will”, earnestness, hard work and respectable behaviour. These virtues were not only embraced by the striving bourgeoisie, but all of them also made an appeal to other class sections of the population, aristocratic or trade-unionist. But in spite of that, there was always a Victorian underworld. Belief in the family was accompanied by the spread of prostitution, and in every large city there were districts where every Victorian value was ignored. Many Victorians were as eager to read about crime as to read the Bible.

The Late Victorian period was a time of security, the age of house parties and long weekends in the country. Different variants of socialist theories spread in Great Britain including Marxism.

London remained the financial, political and cultural centre of Britain. Moreover, it was one of the country’s industrial centres. You

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can now watch an old documentary showing London at the end of the 19th century.

Victorian LiteratureThe Victorian age gave rise to a new trend in literature – critical

realism. The best-known poets of the period were Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning and Robert Louis Stevenson. Alfred Tennyson made his mark very early with Poems, Chiefly Lyrical (1830) and Poems (1832). In his early work Tennyson brought an exquisite lyric gift to late-Romantic subject matter, but in the major poems of his middle period Tennyson combined the larger scale required by his new ambitions with his original gift or the brief lyric by building long poems out of short ones.

But the dominant form of literature during the Victorian period was the novel. Early Victorian literature includes some of the greatest and most popular novels ever written. Political novels, religious novels, historical novels, sporting novels, Irish novels, crime novels, and comic novels all flourished in this period. Most novelists of the period wrote long works with many characters.

Charles Dickens (1812–1870), the greatest master of the century, exhibited an astonishing ability to create living characters. His novels Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Great Expectations and others put among the best writers in worlds literature. His exposures of social evils and his powers of caricature and humour have won him a vast readership. Even during his lifetime Dickens became the national symbol of the country. He invented the theatre for one author, and gave public readings from his novels.

Another master of characterization, William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1883), the author of Vanity Fair, was a popular writer, working for the enlarged reading public of his day, and

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especially for serial publication. Both authors were humourists, sentimentalists and social satirists. But instead of writing about the lower classes and social injustice, Thackeray satirized romantic sentimentality and the snobbishness of upper-class life.

The 19th century saw a surprisingly big number of women-writers who did not only write for pleasure, but left a substantial trace in English literature. One of them was Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma. She had a witty mind and wrote about right judgement, right behaviour and the formation of character.

Elizabeth Gaskell remains best-known for the novel Mary Barton in which she describes with realism and sympathy the lives of industrial and agricultural workers in the wake of the Chartist movement.

George Eliot is the pen-name of Mary Ann Evans. Her best-known novels are The Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner. Eliot was the first among the English novelists to develop an interest in factors that contribute to making people what they are, the first to analyze these factors and to show them at work. The idea is manifested in Silas Marner, which is a wonderful study of English provincial life, rural speech and character.

The famous Brontё sisters, Charlotte and Emily, brought up in poor surroundings, wrote the books which rank among the most popular novels of the century. Charlotte Brontё’s Jane Eyre describes the life of a poor and plain-looking girl who has a strong character and wins her happiness. Charlotte’s sister, Emily Brontё, is the author of one of the greatest English novels, Wuthering Heights. In the opinion of some critics no woman could have written it. The novel has been compared to Shakespeare’s King Lear, chiefly because of its immense and uncontrollable passions.

The Irish-born intellectual Oscar Wilde was a poet, a writer and a dramatist. He led an eccentric life that fuelled his witty satires and epigrams on Victorian society. As a member of the aesthetic movement in literature, Wilde advocated the idea of art for art’s sake.

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His works include two collections of fairy stories, the only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, a few poems and four comedies – Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest. The plays sparkle with clever paradoxes and witty dialogues. Pre-Raphaelites

In the middle of the century, in 1848, a group of seven young men, led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (‘PRB’). They aimed to revolutionize British art by painting serious subjects directly from nature, with vivid realism of detail. Their chosen name reflected their wish to return to the sincerity and simplicity of the artists of the Middle Ages. Their subjects were to tackle modern social problems – drink, prostitution, gambling and so on. They often had a religious message, as in Holman Hunt’s “The Awakening Conscience”. The young woman in the picture is the kept mistress of the man. She had jumped up from her lover’s lap and is staring out of the window at the brilliant light we can see reflected in the large mirror behind her. The light symbolizes Christ, and Hunt’s title indicates that she has had a crisis of conscience and has realized the moral horror of her situation. The Pre-Raphaelites illustrated history, mythology and literature; they brought a new concern for truth to life and human psychology.

DO YOU KNOW THAT The name of Wellington got into the English language

thanks to the high boots he used to wear. In Modem English the word “wellingtons” means high rubber boots.

It was after the first name of Robert Peel (Robert – Bob – Bobby) that London policemen were nicknamed

?

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‘bobbies’. The world’s highest award to a nurse today is the

Florence Nightingale medal.

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At the beginning of the 20th century the British did not realize that they were living at the end of an age – the age of Britain’s glory also known as the “English summer”. At the time,

Britain was no longer as powerful as it had been. Britain was losing its leading role in the world. Polar expeditions

The exploration of the world went on carrying explorers to Polar regions – the Arctic and the Antarctic. Here Britain’s most serious rivals were Russia and Norway. At the beginning of the century Robert Scott, a British naval officer and explorer led two expeditions

to Antarctica. On the first expedition, in 1901 – 1904, he carried out surveys of the Ross Sea and on the second (1910 – 1912) he led a sledge journey to the South Pole. Scott tried to use motor sledges, but unfortunately they failed him. He reached the South Pole on the 18 th of January 1912, shortly after Roald Amundsen, the

Norwegian explorer. Robert Scott and his four companions died on the return journey.

European problemsIn Europe, Germany had become very strong. Its economic

prospects were clearly greater than Britain’s. Like the USA, it was producing more steel than Britain, which enabled it to develop its industrial potential and build a strong navy. Britain, though did not lag behind in building its army and navy and producing aircraft and submarines for military purposes. And although London was still the

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CHAPTER 9.

Britain in the 20th century

1. The beginning of the

century

center of the world financial system, Britain found that other countries, especially France, Germany and the USA were increasingly competing with her. Why did Britain lose the advantages it used to have? There seem to have been a number of reasons. Other countries, particularly Germany, had more natural resources, including coal and iron, as well as wheat-producing lands. As a result of the growth in international trade, Britain became less self-sufficient, and as a result of growing American and German competition she began to trade more with the less competitive countries.

Between 1902 and 1907, Britain concluded treaties and agreements with Russia, France and Japan to strengthen friendship and prevent the threat of conflicts. But Britain failed to sign a treaty with Germany and the Ottoman Empire (the present-day Turkey). And in fact, Germany was the country Britain feared most of all, particularly the German navy. Being an island, Britain could not possibly survive for long without food and other essential goods which were delivered by sea.

By 1914 the balance of forces in Europe had developed into an extremely dangerous situation. Britain was even drawn into partnership with France, its historical rival and enemy. A dreadful

chain of events in the summer of 1914 led to the beginning of the First World War which started with the murder of the Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo. Britain hoped that it would not be dragged into the military conflict, but the leading politicians realized that only a miracle could prevent the country from being dragged into the war. But no miracle occurred.

In August 1914 Germany’s attack on France took the German army through Belgium. But by the treaty of 1838, Britain was supposed to guarantee Belgium’s neutrality, so Britain had to declare war on Germany. There was another reason for Britain to get involved in the war. She was afraid that Germany’s ambitions, just like Napoleon’s a century earlier, would completely change the map

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2. Britain in World War I

of Europe. And as a result of the war, the map of Europe was really changed, but in a way different to anybody’s expectations.

Apart from the Crimean war, it was Britain’s first European war in fifty years. It turned into four years of bitter fighting. Fortunately, no military actions occurred on the British Isles. Britain fought overseas – on the Continent and in the Middle East. It was during that war that Britain produced the first tank – Mark I. It was a monstrous machine which scared the enemy with its mere exterior. The tanks could crawl at a speed of 5 kilometres an hour, which was more than enough to scare the enemy.

It is clear that the war at sea was much more important for Britain than the war on land, because defeat at sea would have inevitably resulted in British surrender. From 1915 German submarines started to sink merchant ships bringing supplies to Britain. They managed to sink 40 per cent of Britain’s merchant fleet and at one point brought Britain to within six weeks of starvation.

The feeling of hatred to Germany and Germans in Britain was so strong that when Germany offered to make peace at the end of 1916, neither Britain nor France welcomed the idea. In 1917 the attacks of German submarines on neutral shipping drew America into the war against Germany. The arrival of American troops in France and Italy ended Germany’s hopes and it surrendered in November 1918.

Britain’s losses in the war were fifty times more than in the twenty-year war against Napoleon: 750,000 died and 2,000,000 were seriously wounded.

Public opinion demanded no mercy for Germany. Hence, when France and Britain met to discuss peace at Versailles in 1919, Germany was not even invited to the conference. The prominent British economist of the time, John Keynes, argued that it was foolish and short-sighted to punish Germany as Europe’s economic and political recovery was impossible without Germany. But his advice was neglected. Later on, Germany took revenge in the economic and

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3. Social issues in the 1920s

political sphere in the 1930s when it started preparations for the next world war.

In 1918 Parliament voted for universal suffrage for men. The struggle of women for equal rights, which had begun at the end of the

19th century gained new force as British women were determined to win voting rights. In fact, it was recognized that in Britain women were treated worse than anywhere else in Europe. A man treated his wife and daughters as if they were his property. Wife beating was one of the social problems. And although suffragettes had been demanding equal rights since 1897, the violent and sometimes vulgar methods they used caused a feeling of hostility. The war of 1914 changed everything. Britain would have been unable to continue the war without the women who took men’s places in the factories and mines, who nursed them in hospitals. By 1918 29 per cent of the total workforce in Britain was female. But it was not until 1928 that British women got voting rights.

The liberation of women also took other forms – they started to wear lighter clothes, shorter hair and skirts, began to smoke and drink openly and began to wear cosmetics. Married women wanted smaller families. Divorce became easier. From 1910 to 1939 the number of divorces increased ten times over. Social issues could not fail to be expressed in literature.

Economically, the mid-twenties and the beginning of the thirties were marred by a general decline in the economic situation. The men who had won the First World War had been promised “a

land fit for heroes”, but it was easier said than done. The cost of the war had led to increased taxation and a fall in the living standards. In 1926 popular discontent led to a general strike. As the government could not control the situation, businessmen were allowed to make quick profits, particularly in textile and engineering industries, and in

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4. The General Strike

and Depression

the shipyards. As a result, from 1930 to 1933 Britain, like most European countries and the USA was severely hit by the economic crisis known as the Depression. Over 3 million people lost their jobs. The effect of the depression was even worse in Germany, Britain’s most important market. The economic collapse of Germany led to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Powerful new Nazi and Fascist governments were taking over in Germany, Italy, Austria and Spain. In the middle of the 1930s the British economy began to recover. It depended a great deal on Britain’s growing motor industry.

When George V died in 1936, the crown went to Edward VIII. But he abdicated the same year in order to marry American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. The throne went to George VI who

remained king up to 1952. When he died, elder daughter Elizabeth became Britain’s next monarch. King George’s wife, Queen Elizabeth, whom everybody knew as the Queen Mother, died in 2002.

In 1935 it was already clear that Germany was preparing to regain its position in Europe, and if necessary, by force. The government was faced with the problem of rebuilding the army and the

navy. This meant huge investments in heavy industry. By 1937, British industry was producing weapons, aircraft and equipment for war. Financial aid was rendered by the United States of America.

At the same time Germany and its European and Asian allies (the Axis powers) – Italy and Japan – were taking advantage of Britain and France’s indecision and started occupying territories of other states. There was good evidence that Germany’s demands could not be easily satisfied. In order to avoid a war, Britain cooperated with Germany in the take-over of the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia by Germany. On his return from Munich, the British Premier said that for the country it meant a temporary peace. Six months later Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. Britain,

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5. The Abdication

6. Britain in World War II

realizing that the war was inevitable, gave a guarantee of support to Poland in case of a German invasion. In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, and Britain declared a war.

Few people in Britain realized how strong the German army was. (The first period of the war – the end of 1939 was relatively quiet for Britain as it was not involved in any military action. That period is known as the phony war.) But in May 1940 Germany attacked the allied British and French forces, defeated the French army and drove the British army into the sea on the beaches of Dunkirk. At Dunkirk, a small French port, the British army was saved by thousands of private boats that crossed the Channel. Dunkirk was a miraculous rescue from a military disaster. In the same year, 1940, the Germans started bombing British cities. The colloquial name for the series of air-raids by the German Air Force is known as the Blitz. The purpose of the raids was to weaken British resistance to projected invasion. The cities of London and Coventry were particularly badly damaged.

Battle of the Atlantic began the same year. The German strategy was to cut off Britain’s supplies of food and munitions by submarine action. Rationing for essential items of food, clothing and fuel was introduced.

In 1941 Britain received first shipments of food and arms from the USA as part of the Lend-Lease Plan.

The war had begun as a traditional European struggle where Britain fought to save the balance of power” but it quickly became world-wide. Both sides wanted to control the oil fields in the Middle East and the Suez Canal, which was Britain’s route to India.

In 1941, Japan, which was Germany’s ally, attacked Britain’s colonial possessions in Malaya, Burma and India. As a result, the soldiers of the Empire had to fight against the Axis of Germany, Italy and Japan practically all over the world.

In 1941 two most powerful world nations had to join the war – the USSR and the USA. The Allied Forces joined their efforts in fighting against the common enemy.

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In February 1945, the leaders of the Allied Forces, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, met for a conference in Yalta, where the final defeat of Germany was planned. Germany was to be demilitarized and divided into 4 zones of occupation. The Allied leaders also agreed that it was necessary to establish the United Nations Organization. It was set up in 1945 to maintain world peace and foster international cooperation.. At the Yalta Conference, the USSR agreed to enter the war against Japan.

As you know, the war in Europe ended in 1945 when the allied troops defeated Germany. Germany signed the Act of Capitulation on May 8, 1945, that is why May 8 is celebrated in Europe and the USA as Victory Day. But World War II ended only in September. When Japan refused to surrender, the USA dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which resulted in the immediate death of over 110,000 civilians. Many thousands more died later from the after-effects.

The war cost Britain 303,000 soldier and 60,000 civilians.Strange as it may seem, in the 1940s Britain produced a writer

whose literary career actually started during the war. James Aldridge worked as a war correspondent and visited Norway, Greece, Egypt, Lybia, Iran and the Soviet Union. His first novels, Signed with Their Honour and The Sea Eagle were based on his war experiences. After the war, Aldridge mainly wrote about the national liberation movement in the former colonial countries. The writer’s anti-colonial views were expressed in his novel The Diplomat.

After the war, the victorious Allies created the United Nations. The Allies formed themselves into a Security Council into which they invited some less powerful nations. They hoped that the

success of wartime alliance would be carried into peacetime. But the idea of common purpose which had previously united them, no longer existed.

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7. Britain in the post-war period

In 1948-49 the Soviet Union stopped all road and rail traffic to West Berlin. It was only due to a huge airlift of essential supplies from the West that West Berlin survived the blockade which lasted almost a year. As a result of the struggle for West Berlin, two opposing alliances were set up: the NATO of the western nations and the Warsaw Treaty Organization, or the Warsaw Pact of the eastern bloc.

In 1950, the United Nations faced a problem in the Far East. Troops of North Korea started a war against South Korea. British troops formed part of the United Nations force which defended South Korea. Only fear on both sides limited the level and extent of the war. But while Britain became more fearful of Soviet intentions, it also became unhappy with the forceful attitude of its ally, the United States of America.

Britain’s foreign policy was also concerned with finding a new part to play in the changing world. It had to get used to changing relations with its friends, particularly with America, with the European countries, and with members of the Commonwealth, a new association of former British possessions.

At the end of World War II, the German colonies in Africa, as well as Iraq and Palestine in the Middle East, were added to Britain’s area of control. The empire was now bigger than ever

before and covered a quarter of the entire land surface of the world.The UN Charter in 1945 called for an end to colonialism and for

progress towards self-government. In India, there had been a growing demand for freedom back in the 1920s and 1930s. The national liberation movement was led by Mahatma Gandhi. In 1947 the British troops and officials finally left India. The first Indian President was J. Nehru. The former colony split into a Hindu state called India and a smaller Muslim state called Pakistan. Later, in 1971, part of Pakistan broke away to form Bangladesh. Ceylon became independent in 1948 and changed its name into Sri Lanka in 1972.

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8. The fall of the colonial system

Britain also left Palestine where it was unable to keep the promises either to the Arab or to the Jewish population. As a result of the establishment of a new independent state of Israel in 1948, Palestinian Arabs were left not only without a state, but without a territory or even autonomy of their own.

For most of the 1950s Britain managed to keep its other possessions, but after the Suez conflict it began to give them up. Until 1956, Britain had controlled the Suez Canal, but in 1956 Egypt decided to take it over. Britain, together with France and Israel, attacked Egypt. But the rest of the world, particularly the USA, loudly disapproved of Britain’s actions and forced Britain to withdraw troops from Egypt.

The 1960s are known in history as the decade of decolonization and bitter struggle of colonies for independence. Between 1945 and 1965, 500 million people in the former British colonies became independent. As a result, the former British possessions, which greatly depended on Britain economically, and even more politically, formed the Commonwealth of Nations.

In 1982 Britain went to war in the Atlantic to win back the Falkland Islands from Argentina, after Argentina had invaded the islands. The operation, which was denounced for the useless casualties by

the majority of the countries, was quite popular in the United Kingdom. Once more Britain felt that it was a world power capable of defeating the enemy. The war itself cost 900 million pounds, and the total cost of defending the islands from 1982 to 1987 rose to 3 billion pounds.

Ever since the 17th century Britain traded more with its colonies than with its neighbours. It was after the fall of the colonial system that Britain turned its attention to its European neighbours.

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9. The Falklands War

10. Britain in international

relations

In 1949 Britain joined with other European countries to form the Council of Europe in order ‘to achieve greater unity between its members.’ But that aim was never achieved. In fact, in 1957 Britain refused to join the other six European countries in the creation of the European Common Market. As time went by, Britain’s financial and economic difficulties increased and it could no longer stay out of the united Europe. But it was too late: when Britain tried to join the European Community in 1963 and then again in 1967, the French president General de Gaulle refused to allow it. Britain only became a member in 1973, after de Gaulle’s retirement.

After World War II Britain found itself unable to keep up with the military arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It soon gave up the idea of an independent nuclear deterrent, and in 1962 took American ‘Polaris’ nuclear missiles for British submarines. As a result, Britain was tied even more closely to the USA.

Britain supported the USA in many political matters which alarmed its European partners. In 1986 Britain allowed US aircraft to use British airfields from which the Americans attacked the Lybian capital, Tripoli. One thing was clear to Europeans: Britain still had not made up its mind whether its first political loyalty lay across the Atlantic or in Europe. As a result of this pro-American policy Britain lost its position in Europe.

At the end of the 1970s unemployment rose rapidly, reaching 3.5 million by 1985. It was highest in the industrial north of England and in Belfast, Clydeside and southeast Wales – the same places that had suffered most during the Great Depression in the 1930s. In 1979-1981 the country

was hit by an economic crisis. In 1984 coal miners launched a general strike in protest against pit closures. They were supported by workers in other industries, especially by dock workers and those in the shipbuilding industry. After a year of violence, during which

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11. Britain’s economic

development at the end of the

century

miners fought with the police, the strike was called off. The government headed by Margaret Thatcher won a victory in the greatest industrial conflict of the century. The years of ‘Thatcherism’ finally brought the country out of the deadlock economically, no matter how unpopular her measures might have seemed at moments.

Margaret Thatcher was elected to Parliament as the Tory leader in 1979 and resigned her post to another Tory, John Major, in 1990. It was also during her rule that Britain established closer relations with the USSR. Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister who actually put an end to the Cold War in Europe.

In February 1991 the British troops were involved in the Gulf War, where they assisted American and other coalition forces to drive Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army out of the occupied Kuwait. The economy showed signs of deep recession. High inflation and sagging production were now accompanied by rising unemployment, which even affected the City ‘yuppies’ (young urban professionals). And finally the Tories lost a general election and Tony Blair became the new Labour Prime Minister.

Blair started his first term of office with introducing a poll tax which at once made him far less popular than during the election campaign, and announcing that Britain was going to build socialism. The idea, though, was soon forgotten.

Probably the most unpopular move of the Blair government so far has been Britain’s involvement in the Iraqi war. But recent events have shown again that Britain still remains the most faithful ally of the USA.

Britain experienced new social problems, particularly after the arrival of immigrants in Britain. Most immigrants lived together in poor areas of large cities. By 1985, almost half this

black population had been born in Britain.

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12. Social issues

One of the problems still topical today is unemployment. Black people find it harder to obtain employment. The government passed laws to prevent unequal treatment of ‘coloured’ people, as well as control the number of immigrants coming to Britain every year. Sometimes, in order to fully carry out these laws, immigration officers resorted to such measures as detention of people at airports or separation of members of the same family. These barbaric measures were explained by the fact that the huge inflow of immigrants, especially to the old 19th-century industrial centres caused economic problems which finally led to riots and inter-racial clashes.

If we look back at Victorian literature, we can see that the English novels of the 19 th century were written at a time of great confidence in British society, culture and political organization. The

writers of the 20th century could not share this confidence. The changes in beliefs and political ideas were influenced strongly by the events of the two World Wars and by the events across the world that led to the disappearance of the British Empire.

FictionThe leading writers at the beginning of the 20 th century were

Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, David Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Aldous Huxley, John Galsworthy and George Bernard Shaw.

Rudyard Kipling, who was born in India and was a true Briton, a patriot and an advocate of the ideology of the British Empire. He is the author of The Jungle Book, Kim and numerous stories. H.G. Wells , the author of The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, the War of the Worlds, was interested in the scientific advances of his age and looked ahead to imagine what the results might be in the future. David Lawrence, the author of Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, felt it was the writer’s job to show how an individual’s personality was affected by conventions of the language, family and religion. Aldous

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13. 20th-century literature

Huxley, the author of Brave New World, gave a picture of a society so heavily organized and controlled that the only way for people to be themselves lay in escape. James Joyce was born and educated in Ireland and spent most of his adult life in Europe, mainly in France, Italy and Switzerland. His first stories, published as Dubliners, are realistic on the surface but also carry a deeper meaning. His most famous book, Ulysses, is regarded as one of the most important novels written in English in the 20 th century. In Ulysses, Joyce created a completely new style of writing which allows the reader to move inside the minds of the characters. He presents their thoughts and feelings in a continuous stream, breaking all the usual rules of description, speech and punctuation. This style is known as “interior” monologue or “stream of consciousness”, and it has had a powerful influence on the work of many other writers. The novel is funny, touching and often satirical; some events are clearly fanciful, while other parts of the book are completely realistic.

Virginia Woolf also attempted to explore the consciousness of her characters (in fact, she was the original inventor of the style known as “the stream of consciousness”) But she did not attempt to deal with so many types of people and situations as James Joyce was.

The writer who vividly depicted the problems of social and family relations of the period was John Galsworthy (1868-1933). He was one of the last representatives of critical realism in English literature – a novelist, dramatist, short-story writer and essayist taken together. His mastery as a writer lies in his criticism of national prejudices, exciting plots and a realistic observation of life and

characters. His works give the most complete and critical picture of English middle-class (mostly upper-middle class) society at the beginning of the 20th century. The Forsyte Saga followed by The Modern Comedy describes three generations of the Forsyte family – its ups and downs. The elder generation saw the coronation of Queen Victoria, their children saw her funeral. Soames Forsyte, the Man of

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Property, possesses all characteristic features typical of the English society at the turn of the century. The Forsytes live through the social and political changes that shook the British society: the movement for women’s rights, the Victorian reforms, the Boer War and the First World War. They see the end of Britain’s glory.

Although Galsworthy excelled as a novelist he is as well known as a dramatist, the author of numerous plays. In his creative work Galsworthy was strongly influenced by Russian and French literature.

Galsworthy enjoyed popularity in his lifetime. Much of his energy was devoted to the Pen-club, an association of writers of which he was president until his death in 1933.

The first notable post-war trend in English literature was represented by the so-called ‘Angry Young Men’ in the 1950s and 1960s. This group included the novelists John Waine, John Braine and Kingsley Amis. They attacked outmoded social values left over from the pre-war world. Another ‘angry young man’ was John Osborne. In his play Look Back in Anger he shows Jimmy Porter, a young man from a middle-class family whose protest took a ridiculous form and made him feel his own uselessness.

Among other prominent writers of the post-war period was Charles Percey Snow who wrote Strangers and Brothers, The Affair, Corridors of Power – the title has ever since become a byword.

John Boynton Priestley, who started writing in the late 20s, lived well into the 80s. To him we owe the plays Time and the Conways, The Inspector Calls, the novels Festival at Farbridge, The Lost Empire, The Magician, Angel Pavement and many others.

George Orwell is mostly known for his anti-utopian novels Animal Farm and 1984. William Golding, the author of a wide inventive range of fiction, explored human evil in his novels Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors and The Paper Men. Golding won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. John Le Carre (the pen-name of David Cornwell) won popularity for his complex spy-stories The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, The Russia House and The Night Manager.

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The 20th-century classic of English literature, Graham Greene, was born in 1904 and died in 1991. His first book, The Man Within, was written while he was still an Oxford student. Since 1930 onwards he devoted himself entirely to literary work. Before World War II he became known as the author of the novels The Lawless Roads and The Power and the Glory. In 1941 he was sent by the Foreign Office on a mission to Sierra Leone where he remained until 1943. In 1944 he wrote for an anti-fascist journal which was illegally published in France.

After the war, he wrote The Heart of the Matter (where the action is set in Africa), The Quiet America (Vietnam), Our Man in Havana (a mock spy-story), Travels with my Aunt and many others. One of his last novels was Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party. In all, Graham Greene wrote some 30 novels, entertainments, plays, children’s books, travel books, collections of essays and short stories.

PoetryTwo of the most remarkable poets of the 20 th century who

continued tradition and experiment in their work were William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot.

W.B. Yeats, the Irish poet, was the more traditional of the two. In his romantic poetry written at the turn of the century, he exploited ancient Irish traditions, and then gradually developed a powerful and rich poetic language. He reached his maturity in the late 1920s and the 1930s. Yeats was a Nobel Prize winner.

T.S. Eliot was born in the USA in 1888. After graduating from Harvard University, he went to England where he worked as a teacher in a boys’ school and later worked at Lloyd’s Bank in London.

Eliot is not just the most discussed poet of our time; he is, perhaps, the most important figure in the modern poetic tradition. In 1948 Mr. Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize ‘for his work as a trail-blazing pioneer of modern poetry.’ His best-known things are Four Quarters, Murder in the

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Cathedral (describing the murder of Thomas Becket), The Family Reunion, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (which was made into a musical) and The Cocktail Party – these are plays in verse. The musical Cats is still on in London.

DramaGeorge Bernard Shaw, the most prominent dramatist of the

century, was born in Ireland but spent most of his long adult life in England. He started his career with writing critical articles on music and literature. In the late 1880s he took to reading literature on social subjects, including The Capital by Karl Marx. At the same time he took an active part in the work of Fabian Society, which aimed at turning Britain into a socialist society.

Bernard Shaw satirized the faults of the British system of government and was justly nicknamed “the bad boy of the nation”. An important aim of his plays was to face the audience with completely new points of view. Shaw vividly described the evils of contemporary society in his Plays Unpleasant, which included Widower’s Houses and Mrs. Warren’s Profession. He enjoyed the shock and offence this often produced, particularly when his ideas were expressed with much wit. Even in Plays Pleasant (Pygmalion, Arms and the Man, The Apple Cart) he remained true to himself. He delighted in saying and showing the opposite of what his audiences expected. (In The Devil’s Disciple the man whom conventional society thought of as evil and selfish was ready to sacrifice himself for others.) Pygmalion is particularly well known because it was the basis for the musical play and film My Fair Lady. In the story of the professor who takes a flower-girl from the London streets and makes her into a lady, it is behaviour and not only the language that really shows the difference between the characters. For Eliza, the flower-girl, the most important thing in human relationships

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is that people care about each other. For Professor Higgins, the most important thing is that they help each other to improve themselves. Shaw delights in showing opposing attitudes in sharp and witty language that often turn upside down the accepted opinion of his time.

Apart from the later plays by George Bernard Shaw, the most important drama produced in English in the first half of the 20th century came from another Irish writer, Sean O’Casey, who continued the movement known as the Irish Renaissance. Later, there came to the front another Irish-born novelist and dramatist – Samuel Beckett who got the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969. He lived for a long time in France and wrote his laconic symbolic works in French and then translated them himself into English. His most famous play is Waiting for Godot (1952). Both English and American audiences enthusiastically received the plays by Tom Stoppard. His plays, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966) is often staged by Moscow theatres. Music

Although classical music in Britain is a minority interest, Britain has made its contribution to its development in the 20 th

century. The leading British composer was Benjamin Britten, the author of the opera Peter Grimes and a world masterpiece – The War Requiem, which became one of the major anti-war music pieces. Britten was also an outstanding pianist and conductor.

In the 1960s, British musicians also influenced the development of European and even world music: The Beatles signified a new tendency in popular music. The group brought unprecedented sophistication to rock music and symbolized the personal and political rebellion and search for identity of many teenagers and young adults of the 1960s. The group was formed in 1960 and dissolved in 1970, it consisted of four Liverpool-born musicians: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and, after 1962, Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). From the simple, fresh style of early songs such as I Want to Hold Your Hand, the Beatles progressed to

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innovative, experimental works such as the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Since the 1960s, popular music in Britain has been an enormous and profitable industry.

Changes in the languageIn recent decades the English language in the UK has undergone certain phonetic, lexical and grammatical changes:

o Instead of the sound [W] we now hear [a] in the words ‘apple, sand, Trafalgar Square’. The sound [e] as in the words ‘letter, send’ has become more open – [E].

o There is a general tendency to use the verb ‘to arrive’ rather than ‘to come’; the phrase ‘I would like’ instead of ‘I want’ and, naturally, the words ‘joyful, lively’ instead of ‘gay’ which is now used in the meaning of ‘homosexual’

o 1. The verb ‘will’ has distinctly become purely modal, especially in what we used to know as the Future Indefinite (Simple) Tense. Hence, most linguists now prefer to speak about the ways of expressing a future action (including “will” for a future action) rather than speak about the use of Future Indefinite. At the same time, Future Continuous is being increasingly used. 2. The difference in use between the modal verbs ‘can’ and ‘may’ denoting permission has practically disappeared.

The spread of English. Variants of English.Historically, the British colonial expansion brought about a

quick spread of English to the new territories. The American continent, Australia and New Zealand, South-East Asia and part of the Middle East were conquered by English in no time. At the same time, English became the language spoken in the former Celtic territories – Wales, Scotland and Ireland. When Ireland gained

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14. The development of

the English language

independence and proclaimed a republic, it made Irish its state language, but English remains as the second state language.

The four centuries of more or less independent development of the English language on the American continent have left their traces in the language. To begin with, American English is not a separate language, it is just a variant of English, just like Canadian English, Australian English and even UN English.

The following charts show major spelling, phonetic, lexical and grammatical differences between the British and American variants of English.

A. Spelling differences

British English American English-our-re-ogue-amme-ough-ce-s--lling

colourcentre, theatredialogue, monologueprogrammethough, throughdefence, offencerealise, organizationtravelling

-or-er-og-am – -se-z--ling

colorcenter, theaterdialog, monologprogramtho, thrudefense, offenserealize, organization traveling

B. Phonetic differences

Word British English(traditional / modern)

American English

duty ['dju:tI] ['du:tI]tune [tju:n] [tu:n]stop [stop] [stAp]

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year [jIR] [jER]apple [Wpl] / [apl] [Wpl] sand [sWnd] / [sand] [sWnd]

C. Lexical differences

Word British English American Englishcornbug

зерноклоп

кукурузажук

лифтконфетысзадиметротротуартрамваймагазинпосылать по почтеосеньдве неделизаполнять анкетуубирать комнатуотличный от…в выходныев больнице (-у)принимать ваннувзять отпусксделать перерыв

liftsweetsbehindundergroundpavementtramshopto sendautumntwo weeksto fill in / out a formto do up a roomdifferent from / toat the weekendin / to hospitalto have a bathto have a holidayto have a break

elevatorcandyback ofmetro, subwaysidewalkstreetcarstoreto mailfallfortnightto fill out a formto do over a roomdifferent from /thanon the weekendin / the hospitalto take a bathto take a vacationto take a break

D. Grammatical differences

British English American EnglishAbsence of necessity:

needn’t / don’t need to don’t need to

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After demand, insist, etc.:should do subjubctive

(should is not used)Regular and irregular verb:

1. burn – burned – burned burn – burnt – burnt2. spell – spelled – spelled spell – spelt – spelt 3. get – got – got

1. burn – burned - burned

2. spell – spelled – spelled

3. get – got – gotten An action in the past with a result at the moment of speech:

Present Perfect Present Perfect or Past Indefinite

Today English is increasingly being used as a global language. Non-native speakers of English now outnumber native speakers 3 to 1. The new English speakers aren’t just passively absorbing the language – they are shaping it. New Englishes are mushrooming all over the globe, ranging from “Englog,” spoken in the Philippines, to “Hinglish” the mix of Hindi and English that now crops up everywhere from fast food advertisements to South-Asian college campuses. In South Africa, many Blacks have adopted their own version of English as a sign of freedom – in contrast to Afrikaans, the language of oppression. The English-Spanish hybrid spoken in the United States and Mexico is known as Spanglish. All languages are works in progress. But English’s globalization, unprecedented in the history of languages will revolutionize it in ways we can only begin to imagine.

DO YOU KNOW THAT Elizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent

states known as the Commonwealth realms. All together,

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these countries have a combined population, including dependencies, of over 129 million. She holds each crown separately and equally in a shared monarchy, and carries out duties in and on behalf of all the states of which she is sovereign. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice, and in accordance with convention, she rarely intervenes in political matters.

During World War II, Princes Elizabeth Windsor trained as a driver and mechanic, drove a military truck, and rose to the rank of Junior Commander. She is, at present, “the only living head of state who served in uniform during World War II”.

Although the first recorded proposal for a metric system was made in 1668 and the adoption of metric units has been discussed regularly by Parliament since 1818, the United Kingdom is still currently using non-metric units. The use of non-metric units as supplementary units is likely to continue beyond the projected end date of 2009. Informal usage of Imperial units remains widespread among people of all ages and the media, particularly for describing body measurements.

?

ASSIGNMENTS (3)

I. Review the material of Section 3 and do the following test. Check yourself by the key at the end of the book.

Test 31. The Romantic writers and poets were

a. W. Scott; b. R. Burns; c. G. Byron; d. W. Wordsworth; e. O. Goldsmith

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2. The Chartist movement appeared in the … century.a. late 18th; b. early 19th; c. middle of the 19th; d. late 19th

3. Florence Nightingale is the heroine of the … war.a. Napoleonic; b. Crimean; c. Boer

4. The Victorian age falls on the … century.a. late 18th; b. early 19th; c. late 19th; d. 19th

5. Disraeli wasa. an artist; b. a prime minister; c. a musician

6. The writers of the Victorian age area. Goldsmith; b. Dickens; c. Maugham; d. Ch. Bronte; e. Milton; f.

Thackeray7. The women-writers are

a. G. Eliot; b. E. Gaskell; c. P. Shelley; d. J. Austen; e. A. Tennyson; f. E. Bronte

8. J. Constable and W. Turner were outstanding Englisha. artists; b. writers; c. musicians; d. politicians

9. English policemen are called “bobbies” aftera. Robert Peel; b. Robert Browning; c. Robert Walpole

10. A workhouse wasa. a factory for poor workers; b. a prison for homeless children; c.

a public institution for sheltering homeless people in return for work

11. The fall of the colonial system camea. after World War I; b. after World War II; c. in the 1980s.

12. American English is a. a separate language; b. a variant of English; c. a dialect of English.

II. Get ready to speak on the following topics: 1. The Industrial Revolution and the development of England’s economy in the 18th century.2. English Enlightenment.3. Britain in the two World Wars.

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4. Great Britain between the two world wars. The development of the economy. The Great Depression. The general strike. 5. The fall of the colonial system and the British Empire.6. Britain’s political an economic relations with European countries and the USA in the post-war period.7. Literature and Arts in the 20th century.8. Changes in the English language. Variants of English. The spread of English.

III. Topics for presentations: The Industrial Revolution in England. The Victorian age. The 19th century British society. The history of monarchy in Britain The Church of England. British society today.

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GLOSSARY

Chapter 11. archbishop [Q:tS'bISRp] –

архиепископ

2. arms оружие3. brethren ['breTrRn] – братство (религ.)4. bronze [brOnz] – бронза5. case endings – падежные окончания6. cattle – скот7. 'chariot – колесница 8. the clergy – духовенство9. to con'vert (to) – обращать (в)10. copper – медь11. correlation [LkOrI'leISn] –

соответствие

12. descendant [dI'sendRnt]–

потомок

13. drainage ['dreInIdG] – 1. дренаж; 2. канализация

14. to drive off (away) – выгонять, сгонять15. dwelling – жилище16. earl [R:l] – эрл, ярл17. fierce ['fIRs] – свирепый18. glacier ['gleISR] – ледник19. to grind [graInd] – 1. шлифовать; 2. молоть20. hermit ['hR:mIt] – отшельник21. heir [ER] – наследник22. to in'habit – населять23. legion ['li:dGn] – легион

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24. mammoth ['mWmRY] –

мамонт

25. martyr ['mQ:tR] – мученик26. monk [mANk] – монах27. pagan ['peIgRn] – язычник; языческий28. to 'persecute – преследовать29. plough [plau] – плуг30. to plunder ['plAndR] – грабить31. pre'dominant – преимущественный32. pre'dominantly – преимущественно33. pre'vailing – преобладающий34. raid – набег35. reminiscence [LremI'nIsns]–

воспоминание

36. to resist [rI'zIst] – сопротивляться37. revival [rI'vaIvl] – возрождение38. the Rhine [raIn]– Рейн (река)39. rite – обряд40. 'Roman – римский41. rune [ru:n] – руна42. 'runic – рунический43. to slay (slain) – убивать44. slanted ['slQ:ntId] – косой (о линиях)45. to sow – сеять46. spear [spIR]– копье47. to surrender [sR'rendR]–

покориться

48. sun-worshipper – огнепоклонник49. sword [sO:d] – меч50. temple – храм51. tin – олово52. tool – орудие53. tribe – племя

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54. tributary ['trIbjutRrI] – приток55. troops – войска56. to Lunder'estimate – недооценивать57. 'valley – долина58. weapons [wepnz] – оружие59. whale [weIl] – кит60. whalebone – китовая кость61. to worship ['wR:SIp] – молиться на,

обожествлять

Chapter 21. 'archer – лучник2. armour ['Q:mR] – броня, латы3. axe [Wks] – топор4. arrow ['Wrou] – стрела5. to besiege [bI'si:dG] – осаждать 6. to bless – благословлять7. 'borrowing – заимствование 8. brand [brWnd] – клеймить9. calf [kQ:f] – теленок10. canon ['kWnRn] law – каноническое право11. cavalry ['kWvRlrI] – кавалерия12. county ['kauntI] – графство13. crusade [kru:'seId] – крестовый поход14. cru'sader – крестоносец15. deer (deer) – олень(-и)16. to de'feat – нанести поражение17. domain [dR'meIn] – владение(-я)18. drawbridge ['drO:brIdG] –

подъемный мост

19. duke – герцог20. duchy ['dAtSI] – герцогство21. to exaggerate преувеличивать

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[Ig'zWdGIreIt] 22. friar ['fraIR] – монах нищенствующего

ордена, «брат»23. feudal [fju:dl] – феодальный24. to flee – бежать (спасаясь)25. goat [gout] – коза, козел26. holy – священный 27. inferior [In'fIRrIR] (to) –

(быть) ниже (к-л/ч-л)

28. to intertwine [IntR'twaIn]

переплетаться

29. knight [naIt] – рыцарь30. 'merchant – купец31. 'minstrel – менестрель 32. moat [mout] – ров33. mutton ['mAtn] – баранина34. outlaw ['autlO:] – разбойник; человек,

объявленный вне закона35. ox (oxen) – буйвол(ы), вол(ы)36. peasant ['pezRnt] – крестьянин37. 'pitchfork – вилы (с/х)38. pole – шест, дубина39. the Pope – папа римский40. pork – свинина41. to re-affirm [LrIR'fR:m] –

подтверждать

42. to re'pent – раскаиваться43. serf (serfs) – крепостной(-ые)44. shire ['SaIR] – шир (графство)45. siege [si:dG] – осада46. stem – основа47. to stem from – происходить от 48. to subdue [sRb'dju:] – подчинять49. superior [sju:'pIRrIR] (быть) выше (к-л/ч-л)

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(to) 50. to swear [swER] (swore, sworn) an oath –

принести присягу, дать клятву

51. Teutonic [tju: 'tOnIk] –

тевтонский (германский)

52. theology [YI'OlRdGI] – теология53. tomb [tu:m] – могила, гробница54. treachery ['tretSRrI] – предательство55. 'vassal – вассал56. veal телятина

Chapter 31. to annul [R'nAl] – аннулировать2. apprentice [R'prentIs] – ученик 3. artisan ['Q:tIzRn] – мастеровой4. bourgeoisie [LbuRGwQ:'zi:]-

буржуазия

5. burgess ['bR:dGRs] – горожанин, бюргер6. to burn at stake – сжечь на костре7. 'cannon – пушка8. cloth [klOY] – ткань, полотно9. to condemn [kRn'dem] –

осуждать, порицать

10. 'craftsman – ремесленник11. dauphin ['dO:fIn] – дофин, наследник

престола12. to deprive [dI'praIv] (of) -

лишать (ч-л)

13. to devour [dI'vauR] – пожирать14. devourer [dI'vauRrR] – пожиратель 15. to en'close (land) – огораживать (землю)16. enclosure [In'klouGR] –

огораживание

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17. to e'vict – сгонять (с земли)18. famine ['fWmIn] – голод 19. feudal duty – феодальная пошлина,

налог20. greed – жадность21. heresy ['heresI] – ересь22. to im'pose – навязывать23. lead [led] – свинец24. luxurious [lAg'zjuRrIRs] –

роскошный

25. to merge [mR:dG] (with) –

смешиваться (с)

26. 'miller – мельник27. 'miracle – миракль (религ.-театр.)28. to 'mumble – бормотать29. 'mystery – мистерия (театр.)30. nun – монахиня31. plague [pleIg] – чума32. 'pestilence – моровая язва, мор33. poll [poul] tax – подушной налог34. to pro'mote (sth) – способствовать (ч-л)35. to rally ['rWlI] – (зд.) собрать,

объединить36. to re'bel – поднять мятеж37. 'rebel – мятежник38. re'bellion – мятеж39. to re'volt (against) – восстать (против)40. re'volt – восстание41. to 'ransom – выкупать42. 'ransom – выкуп43. raw material(s) – сырье44. rent – аренда45. rival [raIvl] – соперник

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46. siege [si:dG] – осада47. 'sorcery – колдовство 48. spices – специи49. to super'sede – заменять, вытеснять50. 'tenant – арендатор51. to try – судить; пытать52. to 'undermine – подрывать (перен.)53. vagrant ['veIgrRnt] – бродяга; бродячий 54. virtue ['vR:tju:] – добродетель55. 'weaver – ткач

Chapter 41. adultery [R'dAltRrI] – супружеская измена2. alliance [R'laIRns] – союз3. 'basin-shaped 'vessels – суда, имеющие форму

таза4. to be'head – обезглавить5. 'bulky – объемистый,

громоздкий6. 'caravel ('carvel) – каравелла7. 'cargo – груз8. to Lcircum'navigate the world –

совершить кругосветное путешествие на корабле

9. 'coastal – прибрежный10. to de'feat (sb) – нанести поражение (к-

л)11. to 'execute – казнить12. exe'cution – казнь13. to flourish [flArIS] – процветать14. to fall a victim (to) – пасть жертвой 15. (il)legitimate [(I)lI'dGItImRt] –

(не)законный

16. luxury ['lAkSRrI] – роскошь

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17. to maneuver [mR'nu:vR] –

маневрировать

18. merchandise ['mR:tSRndaIz] –

товары

19. nation-states – города-государства20. overwhelming [LouvR'welmIN] –

несметный, огромный

21. Papacy ['peIpRsI] – папство, папский престол

22. 'Papal – папский, католический23. to 'perish – погибнуть24. predecessor ['predesesR] –

предшественник

25. to prey (on) – охотиться (на)26. to re'pay sixtyfold (sth) - в 60 раз перекрыть (ч-л)27. to re'vive – возрождать28. slave trade – работорговля29. 'stumbling block – камень преткновения30. to sur'vive – выжить, пережить31. treason ['tri:zn] – государственная измена

Chapter 51. to attribute – приписывать2. 'bailiff – судебный пристав3. beggar – попрошайка4. evil [i:vl] – зло5. ferry / to ferry – паром / переправлять на

пароме, лодке6. ghost [goust] – дух, привидение7. to hoister a flag – поднять флаг8. horn – рог9. inncourt – гостиничный двор10. inquisitive [in'kwIzItIv] любознательный

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–11. jester – шут, дурак12. the Jig – джига (танец)13. menace ['menRs]– угроза14. pauper ['pO:pR] – нищий15. pawnbroker – ростовщик16. pickpocket – вор-карманник17. playwright – драматург18. soliloquy [sR'lIlRkwI] – монолог (театр.)

Chapter 61. to billet (soldiers) – расквартировывать

(солдат, войска)2. to brand – клеймить3. county ['kauntI] – графство4. cradle [kreIdl] – колыбель5. edible ['edIbl] – съедобный6. gentry ['dGentrI] – нетитулованное мелко-

поместное дворянство7. hos'tility – враждебность8. inca'pacity – неспособность9. maize – кукуруза10. to 'persecute – преследовать11. perse'cution – преследование12. pew [pju:] – церковная скамья13. pre'dicament – затруднение14. pillory – позорный столб15. pulpit ['pulpit] – кафедра (церк.)16. to survive [sR'vaIv] – выжить17. treatise ['tri:tIz] – трактат18. to whip [wIp] – бить кнутом19. nation-states – города-государства20. overwhelming несметный, огромный

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[LouvR'welmIN] 21. Papacy ['peIpRsI] – папство, папский

престол22. 'Papal – папский, католический23. to 'perish – погибнуть24. predecessor ['pri:desesR]

предшественник

25. to prey (on) – охотиться (на)26. to re'pay sixtyfold (sth) -

в 60 раз перекрыть (ч-л)

27. to re'vive – возрождать28. slave trade – работорговля29. 'stumbling block – камень преткновения30. to sur'vive – выжить, пережить31. treason ['tri:zn] – государственная измена

Chapter 71. 'turbulent – бурный, беспокойный2. a se'dan-chair – портшез3. 'rural labour – сельская рабочая сила4. spinning jenny – прялка «дженни»5. flying shuttle – летающий челнок 4. 'revenue – доход5. a standing army – постоянная армия6. Lammu'nition – боеприпасы7. in'surgents – мятежники, инсургенты8. lightning conductor – громоотвод9. ma'rine painter – художник-маринист10. survivals of feudalism – пережитки феодализма11. minister – (зд.) священник12. 'pillory – позорный столб13. En'lightenment – Просвещение

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Chapter 81. boom – бум, быстрый подъем2. income tax – подоходный налог3. 'workhouse – работный дом4. 'chimneysweep – трубочист5. universal male 'suffrage – всеобщее

избирательное право для мужчин

6. 'watercolour – акварель 7. lame – хромой8. engraver – гравёр

Chapter 91. motor sledges механические сани2. to be marred [mQ:d] by sth

быть омраченным ч-л

3. a general strike всеобщая забастовка4. to 'abdicate / abdi'cation отречься от трона /

отречение от трона5. to with'draw troops from вывести войска из6. to de'nounce осуждать7. an 'ally союзник8. de'tention задержание, удержание

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CROSS-CULTURAL NOTES

Chapter 1 1. Iberians [aI'bi:rjRnz] – иберы/иберийцы (древние племена, жившие на территории Британских островов и Испании; в III–II вв. до н.э. завоеваны римлянами и романизированы.

2. Druids ['dru:Idz] – друиды, жрецы у древних кельтов, ведали жертвоприношениями, выполняли также судебные функции, были врачами, учителями, прорицателями.3. Celts [kelts] – кельты, древние индоевропейские племена, обитавшие во 2-й половине I тысячелетия до нашей эры на территории Западной Европы, а также частично на территории Венгрии и Болгарии.

4. 'Britons – бритты, Picts – пикты, Scots – скотты, Gauls [gO:lz] – гэлы, галлы – кельтские племена, населявшие в древности Британские острова.

5. Pytheus ['pIYjRs] – Пифей, древнегреческий мореплаватель, в IV в. до н. э. Совершил плавание вдоль берегов Западной Европы; сообщил первые достоверные сведения о природе и занятости населения Британских островов.

6. Marseilles [mQr'seIj] – Марсель, крупный город-порт во Франции на берегу Средиземного моря.

7. Herodotus [he'rOdRtRs] – Геродот, древнегреческий историк, прозванный “отцом истории”.

8. Hadrian’s ['heIdrIRnz] Wall – Адрианов вал, фортификационное сооружение (насыпной вал) в Шотландии, построенное римлянами в период правления императора Адриана.

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9. Offa’s Dyke ['OfRzLdaIk] – вал Оффы, древний земляной вал в Уэльсе, сооруженный по приказу короля Менсии Оффы в VIII в.; проходит от устья реки Ди до устья реки Уай.

10. St. Alban [snt'O:lbRn] – святой Олбан (погиб в 287 г.), первый английский христианин-мученик, признанный святым. День святого Олбана празднуется 22 июня.

11. Angles [WNglz] – англы, 'Saxons – саксы, Jutes [dGu:ts] – ютты – германские племена, заселившие остров Великобритания в V в..

12. Jutland ['dGu:tlRnd] Peninsular [pI'nInsju:lR] – Ютландия, полуостров в Дании и ФРГ между Северным и Балтийским морями.

13. Sussex ['sAsIks] – Суссекс, Wessex ['wesIks] – Уэссекс, Essex ['esIks] – Эссекс, Kent – Кент, Mercia ['mR:SjR] – Мерсия, East Anglia ['WNglIR] – Восточная Англия, Northumbria [nO:'YAmbrIR] Нортумбрия, – семь королевств, образованных англо-саксами на территории Великобритании в конце VI – и начале VII в.

14. 'Brittany – Бретань, полуостров на западном побережье Франции, омывается проливом Ла-Манш.

15. Ruthwell ['rITl] Cross – Рутвельский крест (каменный крест с древнеанглийской надписью в дер. Рутвел, Шотландия).

16. Old English – древнеанглийский язык (V–XI вв.); Middle English – среднеанглийский язык (XI–XV вв.); New English – новоанглийский язык (XV–XXI вв.)

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17. Caedmon ['kWdmRn] – Кэдмон, поэт и монах из Уитби, автор стихов и известного церковного псалма (XII в.).

18. the Venerable Bede [bi:d] – Беда Достопочтенный (672–735), англосаксонский летописец, монах из Ярроу, создатель первой английской истории – «Церковной истории народа англов».

19. “Beowulf” ['beIRwulf] – «Беовульф», древний англо-саксонский эпос, названный по имени главного героя, легендарного короля скандинавского племени на юге Швеции.

20. Danelaw (Danelagh) ['deIn'lO:] – датские законы, существовавшие в северо-восточной Британии в IX–X вв.; область, где действовали эти законы (область датского права).

21. Danegeld ['deIngeld] – налог на землю, введен в 991 г. во время скандинавского завоевания Британии в качестве платы за мирное соглашение с захватчиками. Налог был отменен в 1012 и возрожден норманнами в 1163 г.

22. Canute (Cnut) [k(R)'nu:t] – Кнут, король Англии, Дании и Норвегии (1016–1035). После его смерти королевство распалось.

23. Edward ['edwRd] the Confessor [kRn'fesR] – Эдуард Исповедник, английский король (XI в.), при котором началось строительство Вестминстерского аббатства.

Chapter 2

1. Normandy – Нормандия, область на севере Франции, преимущественно на полуострове Нормандия

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2. William the Conqueror ['kONkRrR] – Вильгельм Завоеватель (Вильгельм I), король Англии, организовавший вторжение в Британию и коронованный вскоре после победы в битве при Гастингсе.

3. Battle of Hastings ['heIstINz] – битва при Гастингсе (1066), решающее сражение между армией англо-саксов под предводительством короля Гарольда Саксонца и армией герцога Нормандии Вильгельма. Победа Вильгельма ознаменовала начало Нормандского завоевания Британии.

4. Domesday ['du:mzdeI] Book – Книга Страшного Суда, документ, содержащий сведения, собранные во время первой переписи населения в Англии.

5. Richard the Lion Heart (Richard Lion-Hearted) – Ричард Львиное Сердце, английский король (1189–1199), большую часть жизни провел вне Англии, преимущественно в крестовых походах.

6. Thomas 'Malory – Томас Мэлори, английский писатель XV в., автор сборника легенд о короле Артуре и рыцарях Круглого стола. «Смерть Артура» была одной из первых печатных книг в Англии.

7. Thomas a Beckett – Томас Беккет, канцлер Англии, архиепископ Кентерберийский. Выступал против политики Георга II, направленной на подчинение церкви светской власти.

8. Magna Carta ['mWgnR'kQ:tR] (the Great Charter) – Великая хартия вольностей, грамота, подписанная в 1215 г. королем Иоанном Безземельным, ограничивала права короля в пользу аристократии и предоставляла некоторые привилегии рыцарству, верхушке свободного крестьянства и городам.

9. Simon de Monfort ['saImRndR'mOntfOt] – Симон де Монфор, один из основателей английского парламента,

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руководитель мятежных баронов, заставивших короля Иоанна Безземельного подписать Великую хартию вольностей.

10. 'levelled endings – нивелированные окончания, одна из характерных особенностей языка в среднеанглийский период.

11. syn'thetic forms – синтетические формы, характеризуются разнообразием флексий (окончаний).

12. ana'lytical forms – аналитические формы, характеризуются использованием вспомогательных глаголов вместо флексий.

13. romance [rou'mWns/rRmWns] – романс, литературный и музыкальный жанр эпохи средневековья; роман (любовный).

Chapter 3

1. the Low Countries – территория современных Бельгии,Нидерландов и Люксембурга.

2. gentry ['dGentrI] – мелкое и среднее дворянство, особенно нетитулованное.

3. guild [gIld] – гильдия, в средневековой Европе – объединение купцов, ремесленников, защищавшее интересы своих членов и добивавшееся правовых и таможенных льгот.

4. copyholder – копигольдер (буквально: арендатор, права которого зафиксированы в протоколах манориального суда); платил помещику ренту и нес другие повинности в его пользу. Копигольдеры фактически исчезли а процесе огораживания, однако юридически копигольд как форма владения землей или другой недвижимостью была отменена только в 1925 г.

5. Flanders ['flWndRz] – Фландрия, в средние века – графство, затем провинция Нидерландов; один из наиболее экономически

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развитых районов средневековой Европы. Flemish – фламандский, диалект нидерландского языка во Фландрии.

6. Venice ['venIs] – Венеция, город в Северной Италии; в средние века – крупный центр посреднической торговли между Западной Европой и Востоком. Venetian [vI'ni:SRn] – венецианский.

7. Hanseatic League [LhWnsI'WtIk'li:g] – Ганза, или Лига ганзейских городов, в XIV–XVI вв. торговый и политический союз северо-немецких городов во главе с Любеком. Ганза осуществляла торгово-посредническую торговлю между Западной, Северной и Восточной Европой.

8. Yeomanry ['joumRnrI] – иомены, территориальная добровольческая часть, состоявшая в основном из крестьян.

9. Rouen [rwQ:] – Руан, город во Франции.

10. Wars of the Roses – Война Алой и Белой розы, междоусобная феодальная война в Англии, принявшая форму борьбы за престол между Ланкастерами (в гербе алая роза) и Йорками (в гербе белая роза).

11. 'Lollards – лолларды, народные проповедники, участники антикатолического движения в Англии, сыграли важную роль в подготовке крестьянского восстания 1381 г.

12. Petrarch [pe'trQ:rk], Boccaccio [bou'kWtSIou] – Петрарка, Боккаччо, итальянские поэты эпохи Возрождения.

13. incunabula [LInkju:'nWbju:lR] or incunable [In'kju:nRbl] (pl. incunables) – инкунабула, одна из первопечатных книг, изданных по 1500 г. включительно.

Chapter 4

1. Cape of Good Hope – мыс Доброй Надежды.

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2. the West Indies – острова в южной части североамериканского континента (Багамские, Антильские и т.п.)

3. John Cabot ['kWbRt] – Джон Кабот, итальянский мореплаватель на английской службе; совершил плавание через Атлантический океан и достиг берегов Северной Америки в районе Ньюфаундленда.

4. Reformation – Реформация: 1. Проведение церковных преобразований в духе протестантизма. 2. Общественное движение в Центральной и Западной Европе в XVI в., имевшее антифеодальный характер и принявшее форму борьбы против католической церкви. Основные идеологи Реформации – М. Лютер, Ж. Кальвин, Т. Мюнцер.

5. Catherine of 'Aragon – Екатерина Арагонская; Anne Boleyne ['bulIn, bu'lIn, bu'leIn] – Анна Болейн; Jane Seymour ['si:mR] – Джейн Сеймур; Anne of Cleves [kli:vz] – Анна Клевская; Catherine Howard ['hauRd] – Екатерина Говард; Catherine Parr [pQ:] – Екатерина Парр – жены короля Генриха VIII.

6. Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) – Мария Тюдор (Кровавая Мэри), королева Англии, дочь Генриха VIII и Екатерины Арагонской. Мария Тюдор восстановила католицизм в качестве государственной религии и казнила около 300 видных протестантов, за что получила прозвище «Кровавая Мэри».

7. Mary Stuart ['stjuRt] or Mary Queen of Scots – Мария Стюарт, шотландская королева (1542-87), претендовавшая также на английский престол. Во время восстания кальвинистской знати отреклась от престола и была вынуждена бежать в Англию, где по приказу Елизаветы I была заключена в тюрьму, затем предана суду и казнена.

8. Dante ['dWntI] – Данте; Leo'nardo da Vinci ['vIntSI] – Леонардо да Винчи; Michelangelo [maIkl'WndGelou] –

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Микеланджело; Rabelais [rRb'leI] – Рабле; Erasmus [I'rWzmRs] of 'Rotterdam – Эразм Роттердамский; Copernicus [kou'pR:nIkRs] – Коперник; Francis Bacon – Фрэнсис Бэкон; Albrecht Durer ['dju:rRr] – Альбрехт Дюрер; Machiavelli [LmWkjR'velI] – Маккиавели; Hans Holbein ['hOlbaIn] – Ганс Холбейн – деятели эпохи Возрождения.

9. Thomas More [mO:] – Томас Мор, английский гуманист, государственный деятель и писатель; основоположник утопического коммунизма, автор «Утопии» (“Utopia” [ju:'toupjR]).

11. Elizabethans – елизаветинцы, условное название группы английских писателей конца XVI– начала XVII в., в последние 20 лет царствования Елизаветы I и первое десятилетие царствования Якова I: Э. Спенсер, Ф. Сидни, К. Марло, Дж. Донн, Т. Кид, Б. Джонсон, У. Шекспир.

12. Walter Raleigh (Raleigh) ['rO:lI] – сэр Уолтер Ралей (Рэли), английский мореплаватель, организатор пиратских экспедиций, поэт, драматург, историк, фаворит Елизаветы I.

13. the Invincible [In'vInsRbl] Ar'mada – Непобедимая армада, крупный военный флот, созданный в 1586-1588 гг. Испанией для разгрома Англии; потерпел поражение в 1588 г.

15. virginal ['vR:dGInRl] – вёрджинел, разновидность клавесина

16. William Byrd [bR:d], Thomas Weelkes ['wi:lkIs], John Bull [bul] – Уильям Бэрд, Томас Уилкис, Джон Булл – английские композиторы конца XVI и начала XVII в.

Chapter 5

1. Puritans ['pju:rItRnz] – пуритане, последователи кальвинизма в Англии в XVI–XVII вв., выступавшие за углубление

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Реформации, против абсолютизма. Пуритане призывали к упрощению церковных обрядов, отказу от роскоши и строгому соблюдению норм морали.

2. Poor Laws – Законы о бедных (XVI в.), обязывавшие безземельных крестьян работать на землевладельца, предусматривали суровое наказание за бродяжничество и попрошайничество.

3. Richard Burbage ['bз:bIdG] – Ричард Бёрбедж, английский актер эпохи Возрождения, первый исполнитель ролей Гамлета, Отелло, Макбета. Его отец, Джеймс Бёрбедж, построил в Лондоне первый английский театр.

4. William Shakespeare ['SeIkspIR] – Уильям Шекспир, выдающийся английский поэт и драматург эпохи Возрождения.

5. Ben Johnson – Бен Джонсон, английский драматург эпохи Возрождения.

6. Plutarch ['plu:tQ:k] – Плутарх (ок. 45 – ок. 127), древнегреческий писатель и историк, автор «Сравнительных жизнеописаний» выдающихся греков и римлян (50 биографий).

7. “Love’s Labours Lost” («Напрасные усилия любви»), “Hamlet” («Гамлет»), “Midsummer Night’s Dream” («Сон в летнюю ночь»), “Macbeth” («Макбет»), “King Lear” («Король Лир») – пьесы У. Шекспира.

8. Dark Lady – Смуглая Леди, незнакомка, часто упоминаемая в сонетах У. Шекспира.

Chapter 6

1. James I – Яков I, английский король, сын Марии Стюарт. В период его правления обострилась борьба между короной и парламентом.

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2. Gunpowder Plot – Пороховой заговор, неудавшаяся попытка свержения Якова I в 1605 г. Один из заговорщиков, Гай Фокс, был схвачен в подвале Вестминстерского дворца рядом с бочонками пороха, которые он должен был поджечь, с целью уничтожить короля во время его выступления в парламенте. Гай Фокс был казнен.

3. Pilgrim Fathers – отцы-пилигримы (группа пуритан, покинувших Англию в 1620 г. вследствие религиозных преследований и основавших колонию в Америке).

4. Thanksgiving Day – День благодарения, американский праздник, отмечается в четвертый четверг ноября в память об Отцах-пилигримах, которые вознесли благодарность Богу за спасение и богатый урожай в 1621 году; также отмечается как праздник, в который благодарят Бога за все его милости.

5. Charles I – Карл I, английский король из династии Стюартов; низложен и казнен в ходе английской буржуазной революции XVII в.

6. “Short Parliament” – «Короткий парламент», просуществовал 2 месяца в 1640 г.; распущен Карлом I.

7. “Long Parliament” – «Долгий парламент», созван Карлом I в 1640 году; фактически стал законодательным органом начавшейся Английской буржуазной революции; распущен Оливером Кромвелем в 1653 г.

8. Oliver Cromwell – Оливер Кромвель, деятель английской буржуазной революции, один из главных организаторов парламентской армии, содействовал казни короля и провозглашению республики. В 1653 г. установил режим единоличной военной диктатуры – протекторат и получил титул лорда-протектора.

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9. Cavaliers [LkWvR'lIR(r)] – кавалеры, сторонники короля времен гражданской войны XVII в. в Англии.

10. Roundheads – «круглоголовые», сторонники парламента времен гражданской войны в Англии.

11. Ironsides – «железнобокие», солдаты и командиры армии О. Кромвеля времен Гражданской войны XVII в.

12. Commonwealth – Содружество, английская республика времен О. Кромвеля, провозглашена после казни Карла I в 1649 г. и существовала вплоть до реставрации монархии в 1660 г.

13. Restoration – Реставрация, восстановление монархии в Англии в 1660 г.

14. Whigs – виги, английская политическая партия, возникла в 80-х годах XVII в. как группировка обуржуазившейся дворянской аристократии и крупной торговой и финансовой буржуазии. В середине XIX века на ее основе сложилась Либеральная партия.

15. Tories – тори, английская политическая партия, возникла в конце 70-х – начале 80-х годов XVII в. Выражала интересы земельной аристократии и высшего духовенства англиканской церкви. В середине XIX в. на ее основе сложилась Консервативная партия.

16. William Harvey – Уильям Гарвей; Robert Boyle – Роберт Бойль; Robert Hook – Роберт Гук; Isaac Newton ['aizRk'nju:tn] – Исаак Ньютон; Edmund Halley ['hWlI] – Эдмунд Галлей – ученые и исследователи XVII в.

17. Christopher Wren [ren] – Кристофер Рен, астроном и архитектор, автор проекта собора Святого Павла в Лондоне.

18. Great Fire of London – Большой лондонский пожар (1666), во время которого выгорела почти вся центральная часть Лондона.

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19. Van Dyck [LvWn'daIk] – Ван Дейк; William Dobson – Уильям Добсон; Francis 'Barlow – Фрэнсис Барлоу – художники XVII в.

20. Henry Purcell ['pз:sl] – Генри Пёрселл, известный английский композитор, создатель английской национальной оперы.

21. John Bull [bul] – Джон Булл, английский композитор, предположительно автор национального гимна «Боже, храни короля (королеву)!».

22. John Milton – Джон Мильтон, английский поэт и политический деятель XVII в., автор поэм «Потерянный рай» (“Paradise Lost”), «Возвращенный рай» (“Paradise Regained”).

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Chapter 7

1. Quakers – квакеры, религиозная христианская секта «Общество друзей». Квакеры не признают религиозных церемоний, не имеют священников, проповедуют пацифизм и ненасилие.

2. the Luddites – луддиты, или разрушители машин, – промышленные рабочие в Англии начала XIX в., разрушавшие станки в знак протеста против безработицы и низкой оплаты ручного труда, вызванных механизацией производства.

3. Kay’s flying shuttle – Кэй изобрел «летающий/летучий челнок», который перебрасывался ударами ракеток с одной стороны станка на другую. Это позволило повысить производительность труда и начать производить более широкие ткани, поскольку ранее ширина ткани ограничивалась размахом рук рабочего.

4. Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth ['hougQ:Y], Thomas Gainsborough ['geInsbRrR] – Джошуа Рейнольдс, Уильям Хогарт, Томас Гейнсборо – английские художники XVIII в.

5. George Frederick Handel (1685–1759) – Фредерик Гендель –английский композитор немецкого происхождения, автор многочисленных ораторий и оркестровой музыки.

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6. Nonconformist Church – неконформистская церковь (методисты, баптисты) – одно из сектантских ответвлений протестантизма в Англии. По сравнению с англиканской церковью в неконформистской церкви обрядовость более скромная, отсутствуют епископы и архиепископы.

Chapter 8 1. Napoleon [nR'pouljRn] – Наполеон I, или Наполеон Бонапарт (1769–1821), французский полководец и император (1804–1815), вел захватнические войны в Европе и Африке (Египет). После окончательного разгрома французской армии при Ватерлоо (1815) был сослан на остров Cв. Елены, где содержался в качестве пленника до своей смерти.

2. the Battle of Trafalgar [trR'fWlgR] – битва при Трафальгаре (1805) между франко-испанскими военно-морскими силами и британским флотом под командованием адмирала Горацио Нельсона (Horatio Nelson), завершилась победой англичан. В ходе битвы англичане захватили 20 кораблей неприятеля, адмирал Нельсон погиб.

3. the Duke of Wellington – герцог Веллингтон, британский полководец, государственный деятель, премьер-министр (1828–1830). Приобрел известность как полководец во время Наполеоновских войн, в особенности после разгрома французской армии в битве при Ватерлоо (1815).

4. Robert Owen ['ouIn] – Роберт Оуэн, британский философ и социалист-реформатор начала XIX в. Пропагандировал идею о влиянии социальной среды на становление характера. В 1799 г. приобрел несколько текстильных фабрик в Шотландии, где установил современное оборудование, сократил рабочий день, построил общежития и школы для рабочих и их детей и открыл первый кооперативный магазин. В 1848 г. активно участвовал в создании профсоюза (The Grand National Consolidated Trades

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Union). Идеи Р. Оуэна поддерживал и развивал Артур Кэдбери (Arthur Cadbury), основатель и владелец фабрики по производству шоколада.

5. Chartist movement – чартистское движение, чартизм (Chartism) – рабочее движение за политические реформы в Великобритании в первой половине XIX в. Чартисты ставили целью заставить парламент рассмотреть и принять предложения, содержавшиеся в «Народной хартии» (People's Charter): всеобщее избирательное право для мужчин, тайное голосование, оплата труда парламентариев, отмена имущественного ценза и др. Большинство требований чартистов было реализовано в ходе викторианских реформ, хотя сама «Народная хартия» парламентом не рассматривалась.

6. William Wordsworth ['wR:dswRY] – Уильям Вордсворт (1770–1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge ['koulrIdG] – Самуэль Тейлор Кольридж (1772–1834), английские поэты-романтики, принадлежавшие к так называемой «Озерной школе» (Lake School), получившей свое название от Озерного края (the Lake District) на северо-западе Англии, где жили первые поэты-романтики.

7. Walter ['wOltR] Scott – Вальтер Скотт (1771–1832), шотландский поэт и романист, основатель жанра историческиго романа в английской литературе. Наиболее известны его романы «Роб Рой» (Rob Roy), «Айвенго» (Ivanhoe ['aIvRnhou]), «Квентин Дорвард» (Quentin Durward ['dR:wRd]).

8. George Gordon Byron – Джордж Гордон Байрон (1788-1824), выдающийся английский поэт-романтик, один из наиболее популярных европейских поэтов начала XIX в., автор поэм «Путешествие Чайльд Гарольда» (Child Harold's Pilgrimage), «Дон Жуан» (Don Juan), «Манфред» (Manfred).

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9. Carbonari [LkQ:bO'nQ:rI] – карбонарии, члены тайной организации, созданной на юге Италии в 1802 г. и распространившей свое влияние на Францию и Испанию в 1820 г. Карбонарии участвовали в борьбе за единую и независимую Италию в период Наполеоновских войн.

10. John Constable – Джон Констебль (1776–1837), William Turner – Уильям Тернер (1775–1851), английские художники-пейзажисты первой половины XIX в., представители романтизма в живописи.

11. William Blake – Уильям Блейк (1757-1827), английский поэт, художник, график, представитель символизма и мистицизма в поэзии и живописи.

Chapter 9 1. The Ottoman Empire – Османская империя, или Порта Оттоманская, – название султанской Турции. В период наибольшего расцвета включала, кроме собственно Турции, весь Балканский полуостров, значительную территорию на севере Африки, Месопотамию и др. Распалась в результате Первой мировой войны.

2. Lsuffra'ggettes – суфражистки (в Великобритании и США в начале ХХ в.) – боролись за предоставление женщинам права голоса, в основном стараясь привлечь общественное внимание к своим действиям. Например, в знак протеста они приковывали себя к оградам публичных зданий.

3. the phony war (Brit.)– «ненастоящая война»: первые 6 месяцев Второй мировой войны в 1939-–1940 гг., когда Великобритания практически не вела наземных военных операций.

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4. the Land Lease Plan – ленд-лиз: система передачи Соединенными Штатами Америки взаймы или в аренду вооружения, боеприпасов, стратегического сырья, продовольствия и др. странам-союзницам по антигитлеровской коалиции в период Второй мировой войны.

5. the Allied Forces, the Allies – страны антигитлеровской коалиции: СССР, Великобритания, Франция, США

6. the Commonwealth of Nations (the British Commonwealth) – Британское содружество наций – организация, включающая около 50 стран, большинство из которых были в прошлом колониями Великобритании. Создана, чтобы способствовать развитию торговли и дружественных отношений между странами-участницами.

7. John Galsworthy ['gO:lzw3:TI] – Джон Голсуорси, английский писатель, драматург, эссеист первой половины ХХ в., представитель критического реализма; автор трилогий «Сага о Форсайтах» и «Современная комедия».

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Key to Tests

Test 1: 1-a,d; 2-b; 3-a; 4-b; 5-a; 6-b; 7-a; 8-a; 9-b; 10-c; 11-b; 12-c.Test 2: 1-c; 2-a; 3-c; 4-a,b; 5-b; 6-c; 7-c; 8-b; 9-a; 10-b; 11-b; 12-a.Test 3: 1-a,c,d; 2-c; 3-b; 4-d; 5-b; 6-b,d,f; 7-a,b,d,f; 8-a; 9-a; 10-c; 11-b; 12-b.

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Учебное издание

Воевода Елена Владимировна

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

Великобритания:история и культура

Great Britain: Culture across History

Учебное пособиедля студентов II курса

факультета МЭО

Художник М.М. Петухова

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