Everything about Early Modern Britain totally explained
Early Modern Britain is the
history of the island of
Britain roughly corresponding to the
16th,
17th, and
18th centuries. Major historical events in Early Modern British history include the
English Renaissance, the
English Reformation and
Scottish Reformation, the
English Civil War, the Restoration of
Charles II, the
Glorious Revolution, the
Treaty of Union, the
Enlightenment and the formation of the
First British Empire.
England during the Tudor period (1486-1603)
English Renaissance
The term "
English Renaissance" is used by many historians to refer to a cultural movement in England in the 1500s and 1600s that was heavily influenced by the
Italian Renaissance. This movement is characterized by the flowering of English music (particularly the English adoption and development of the
madrigal), notable achievements in drama (by
William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe, and
Ben Jonson), and the development of English epic poetry (most famously
Edmund Spenser's
The Faerie Queene and
John Milton's
Paradise Lost).
The idea of the Renaissance has come under increased criticism by many
cultural historians, and some have contended that the "English Renaissance" has no real tie with the artistic achievements and aims of the northern Italian artists (
Leonardo,
Michelangelo,
Donatello) who are closely identified with the
Renaissance.
Other cultural historians have countered that, regardless of whether the name "renaissance" is apt, there was undeniably an artistic flowering in England under the
Tudor monarchs, culminating in Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
The rise of the Tudors
Some scholars date the beginning of Early Modern Britain to the end of the
Wars of the Roses and the crowning of
Henry Tudor in
1485 after his victory at the
battle of Bosworth Field. Henry VII's largely peaceful reign ended decades of civil war and brought the peace and stability to England that art and commerce need to thrive. A major war on English soil wouldn't occur again until the English Civil War of the seventeenth century.
During this period Henry VII and his son
Henry VIII greatly increased the power of the English monarch. A similar pattern was unfolding on the continent as new technologies, such as
gunpowder, and social and ideological changes undermined the power of the feudal nobility and enhanced that of the sovereign. Henry VIII also
made use of the
Protestant Reformation to seize the power of the
Roman Catholic Church,
confiscating the property of the monasteries and declaring himself the
head of the new
Anglican Church. Under the Tudors the English state was centralized and rationalized as a bureaucracy built up and the government became run and managed by educated functionaries. The most notable new institution was the
Star Chamber.
The new power of the monarch was given a basis by the notion of the
divine right of kings to rule over their subjects.
James I was a major proponent of this idea and wrote extensively on it.
The same forces that had reduced the power of the traditional aristocracy also served to increase the power of the commercial classes. The rise of trade and the central importance of money to the operation of the government gave this new class great power, but power that wasn't reflected in the government structure. This would lead to a long contest during the seventeenth century between the forces of the monarch and parliament.
Elizabethan era (1558-1603)
The
Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and is often considered to be a
golden age in
English history. It was the height of the
English Renaissance and saw the flowering of
English literature and
poetry. This was also the time during which
Elizabethan theatre flourished and
William Shakespeare, among others, composed plays that broke away from England's past style of plays and theatre. It was an age of expansion and exploration abroad, while at home the
Protestant Reformation became entrenched in the national mindset.
The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly because of the contrasts with the periods before and after. It was a brief period of largely internal peace between the
English Reformation and the battles between
Protestants and
Catholics and the battles between
parliament and the
monarchy that engulfed the seventeenth century. The Protestant/Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the
Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and parliament wasn't yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.
England was also well-off compared to the other nations of Europe. The
Italian Renaissance had come to an end under the weight of foreign domination of the peninsula. France was embroiled in its own religious battles that would only be settled in 1598 with the
Edict of Nantes. In part because of this, but also because the English had been expelled from their last outposts on the continent, the centuries long conflict between France and England was largely suspended for most of Elizabeth's reign.
The one great rival was Spain, with which England conflicted both in Europe and the
Americas in skirmishes that exploded into the
Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604. An attempt by
Philip II of Spain to invade England with the
Spanish Armada in 1588 was famously defeated, but the tide of war turned against England with a disastrously unsuccessful attack upon Spain, the
Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589. Thereafter Spain provided some support for Irish Catholics in a draining
guerilla war against England, and Spanish naval and land forces inflicted a series of defeats upon English forces. This badly damaged both the English Exchequer and economy that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeth's prudent guidance. English colonisation and trade would be frustrated until the signing of the
Treaty of London the year following Elizabeth's death.
England during this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government, largely a result of the reforms of
Henry VII and
Henry VIII. Economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade.
Scotland from 15th century to 1603
Scotland advanced markedly in educational terms during the
fifteenth century with the founding of the
University of St Andrews in
1413, the
University of Glasgow in
1450 and the
University of Aberdeen in
1495, and with the passing of the
Education Act 1496.
In
1468 the last great acquisition of Scottish territory occurred when
James III married
Margaret of Denmark, receiving the
Orkney Islands and the
Shetland Islands in payment of her dowry.
After the death of James III in
1488, during or after the Battle of Sauchieburn, his successor
James IV successfully ended the quasi-independent rule of the
Lord of the Isles, bringing the Western Isles under effective Royal control for the first time. In
1503, he married
Henry VII's daughter,
Margaret Tudor, thus laying the foundation for the
17th century Union of the Crowns. James IV's reign is often considered to be a period of cultural flourishing, and it was around this period that the European
Renaissance began to infiltrate Scotland. James IV was the last known Scottish king known to speak
Gaelic, although some suggest his son could also.
In
1512, under a treaty extending the Auld Alliance, all nationals of Scotland and France also became nationals of each other's countries, a status not repealed in France until
1903 and which may never have been repealed in Scotland. However a year later, the Auld Alliance had more disastrous effects when James IV was required to launch an invasion of England to support the French when they were attacked by the English under
Henry VIII. The invasion was stopped decisively at the
battle of Flodden Field during which the King, many of his nobles, and over 10,000 troops —
The Flowers of the Forest — were killed. The extent of the disaster impacted throughout Scotland because of the large numbers killed, and once again Scotland's government lay in the hands of regents. The song
The Flooers o' the Forest commemorated this, an echo of the poem
Y Gododdin on a similar tragedy in about 600.
When
James V finally managed to escape from the custody of the regents with the aid of his redoubtable mother in
1528, he once again set about subduing the rebellious Highlands, Western and Northern isles, as his father had had to do. He married the French noblewoman
Marie de Guise. His reign was fairly successful, until another disastrous campaign against England led to defeat at the
battle of Solway Moss (
1542). James died a short time later. The day before his death, he was brought news of the birth of an heir: a daughter, who became
Mary I of Scotland (or 'Mary, Queen of Scots'). James is supposed to have remarked in
Scots that
"it cam wi a lass, it'll gang wi a lass" - referring to the House of Stewart which began with Walter Stewart's marriage to the daughter of Robert the Bruce. Once again, Scotland was in the hands of a regent, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Within two years, the
Rough Wooing, Henry VIII's military attempt to force a marriage between Mary and his son, Edward, had begun. This took the form of border skirmishing. To avoid the "rough wooing", Mary was sent to France at the age of five, as the intended bride of the heir to the French throne. Her mother stayed in Scotland to look after the interests of Mary — and of France — although the
Earl of Arran acted officially as regent.
In 1547, after the death of Henry VIII, forces under the English regent
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset were victorious at the
Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, the climax of the
Rough Wooing and followed up by occupying Edinburgh. However it was to no avail since of Scotland in a hostile environment. She didn't do well and after only seven turbulent years, at the end of which Protestants had gained complete control of Scotland, she'd perforce to abdicate. Imprisoned for a time in Loch Leven Castle, she eventually escaped and attempted to regain the throne by force. After her defeat at the
Battle of Langside in 1568 she took refuge in England, leaving her young son,
James VI, in the hands of regents. In England she became a focal point for Catholic conspirators and was eventually executed on the orders of her kinswoman
Elizabeth I.
Protestant Reformation
During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a
Protestant Reformation. In the earlier part of the century, the teachings of first
Martin Luther and then
John Calvin began to influence Scotland. the execution of a number of Protestant preachers, most notably the Lutheran influenced
Patrick Hamilton in 1528 and later the proto-Calvinist
George Wishart in 1546 who was burnt at the stake in St. Andrews by
Cardinal Beaton for heresy, did nothing to stem the growth of these ideas. Beaton was assassinated shortly after the execution of George Wishart.
The eventual Reformation of the Scottish Church followed a brief civil war in 1559-60, in which English intervention on the Protestant side was decisive. A Reformed confession of faith was adopted by Parliament in 1560, while the young
Mary Queen of Scots was still in France. The most influential figure was
John Knox, who had been a disciple of both John Calvin and George Wishart.
Roman Catholicism wasn't totally eliminated, and remained strong particularly in parts of the highlands.
The Reformation remained somewhat precarious through the reign of Queen Mary, who remained Roman Catholic but tolerated Protestantism. Following her deposition in 1567, her infant son
James VI was raised as a Protestant. In 1603, following the death of the childless Queen
Elizabeth I, the crown of
England passed to James. He took the tle
James I of England and James VI of Scotland, thus unifying these two countries under his personal rule. For a time, this remained the only political connection between two independent nations, but it foreshadowed the eventual 1707 union of Scotland and England under the banner of the
Great Britain.
17th century
Union of the Crowns
The
Union of the Crowns refers to the
accession of
James VI,
King of Scots, to the throne of the
England in March
1603, thus uniting Scotland and England under one monarch. This followed the death of his unmarried and childless cousin,
Queen Elizabeth I of England, the last monarch of the
Tudor dynasty. The term itself, though now generally accepted, is misleading; for properly speaking this was merely a
personal or
dynastic union, the
Crowns remaining both distinct and separate until the
Acts of Union in
1707 during the reign of the last monarch of the
Stuart Dynasty,
Queen Anne.
This event was the result of an event in August 1503:
James IV, King of Scots, married
Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of
Henry VII of England as a consequence of the
Treaty of Perpetual Peace, concluded the previous year which, in theory, ended centuries of English-Scottish rivalry. This marriage merged the
Stuarts with England's
Tudor line of succession. Almost 100 years later, in the last decade of the reign of
Elizabeth I of England, it was clear to all that James of Scots, the great-grandson of James IV and Margaret Tudor, was the only generally acceptable heir.
From 1601, in the last years of Elizabeth I's life, certain English politicians, notably her chief minister
Sir Robert Cecil, maintained a secret correspondence with James in order to prepare in advance for a smooth succession. Cecil advised James not to press the matter of the succession upon the queen but simply to treat her with kindness and respect. The approach proved effective: "I trust that you won't doubt," Elizabeth wrote to James, "but that your last letters are so acceptably taken as my thanks can't be lacking for the same, but yield them you in grateful sort." In March 1603, with the queen clearly dying, Cecil sent James a draft proclamation of his accession to the English throne. Strategic fortresses were put on alert, and London placed under guard. Elizabeth died in the early hours of 24 March. Within eight hours, James was proclaimed king in London, the news received without protest or disturbance.
The
Jacobean era refers to a period in
English and
Scottish history that coincides with the reign of
James I (
1603 –
1625). The Jacobean era succeeds the
Elizabethan era and precedes the
Caroline era, and specifically denotes a style of
architecture,
visual arts,
decorative arts, and
literature that's predominant of that period.
The
Caroline era refers to a period in
English and
Scottish history that coincides with the reign of
Charles I (
1625—
1642). The Caroline era succeeds the
Jacobean era, the reign of Charles's father
James I (
1603–
1625); it was succeeded by the
English Civil War (1642–1651) and the
English Interregnum (1651–1660).
English Civil War
The
English Civil War consisted of a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians (known as
Roundheads) and Royalists (known as
Cavaliers) between 1642 and 1651. The
first (1642–1646) and
second (1648–1649)
civil wars pitted the supporters of
King Charles I against the supporters of the
Long Parliament, while the
third war (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of
King Charles II and supporters of the
Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the
Battle of Worcester on
3 September 1651.
The
Diggers were a group begun by
Gerrard Winstanley in
1649 who attempted to reform the existing
social order with an
agrarian lifestyle based upon their ideas for the creation of small
egalitarian rural communities. They were one of a number of
nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around this time.
The
English Interregnum was the period of
parliamentary and
military rule in the land occupied by modern-day
England and
Wales after the English Civil War. It began with the
regicide of
Charles I in
1649 and ended with the
restoration of
Charles II in
1660.
The Civil War led to the trial and
execution of Charles I, the exile of his son
Charles II, and the replacement of the English monarchy with first the
Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then with a
Protectorate (1653–1659), under the personal rule of
Oliver Cromwell, followed by
the Protectorate under
Richard Cromwell from
1658 to
1659 and the second period of the
Commonwealth of England from
1659 until
1660.
The monopoly of the
Church of England on Christian worship in England came to an end, and the victors consolidated the already-established
Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established a precedent that British monarchs couldn't govern without the consent of Parliament, although this concept became firmly established only with the deposition of
James II of England, the
Glorious Revolution of 1688, the passage of the
English Bill of Rights, and the
Hanoverian succession. For the remainder of the century, Britain was ruled by
William III of England, until 1694 jointly with his wife and first cousin, the daughter of James II,
Mary II of England.
18th century
Peace between England and the Netherlands in 1688 meant that the two countries entered the
Nine Years' War as allies, but the conflict - waged in Europe and overseas between France, Spain and the Anglo-Dutch alliance - left the English a stronger colonial power than the Dutch, who were forced to devote a larger proportion of their military budget on the costly land war in Europe. The 18th century would see England (after 1707, Britain) rise to be the world's dominant colonial power, and France becoming its main rival on the imperial stage.
In 1701, Britain, Portugal and the Netherlands sided with the
Holy Roman Empire against
Spain and
France in the
War of the Spanish Succession. The conflict, which France and Spain were to lose, lasted until 1714. The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, Britain gained
Newfoundland and
Acadia, and from Spain,
Gibraltar and
Minorca.
Gibraltar, which is still a
British overseas territory to this day, became a critical naval base and allowed Britain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the
Mediterranean.
Treaty of Union
The first step towards a
United Kingdom of Great Britain occurred on May 1st, 1707, shortly after the parliaments of
Scotland and
England had approved
Acts of Union combining the two parliaments and the two royal titles. Deeper political integration had been a key policy of
Queen Anne (reigned 1702–14), the last Stuart monarch of
England and
Scotland and the only Stuart monarch of the
Kingdom of Great Britain). Under the aegis of the Queen and her advisors a
Treaty of Union was drawn up, and negotiations between England and Scotland began in earnest in 1706.
The circumstances surrounding Scotland's acceptance of the
Bill are to some degree disputed. Scottish proponents of union believed that failure to accede to the Bill would result in the imposition of union under less favourable terms and months of fierce debate on both sides of the border followed. In Scotland the debate on occasion dissolved into civil disorder, most notably by the notorious '
Edinburgh Mob'. The prospect of a union of the kingdoms was deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large but, following the financially disastrous
Darien Scheme, the near-bankrupt
Parliament of Scotland reluctantly accepted the proposals. Financial incentives to Scottish parliamentarians and English army manoeuvers in the North of England also played their part in the vote.
The Acts of Union received
royal assent in 1707, uniting the separate Parliaments and crowns of England and Scotland and forming the
Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne became formally the first occupant of the unified British throne and Scotland sent 45 MPs to the new
parliament at Westminster.
Jacobite risings
The major Jacobite Risings were called the Jacobite Rebellions by the ruling governments. The "First Jacobite Rebellion" and "Second Jacobite Rebellion" were known respectively as "The Fifteen" and "The Forty-Five", after the years in which they occurred (
1715 and
1745).
Although each Jacobite Rising has unique features, they all formed part of a larger series of military campaigns by
Jacobites attempting to restore the Stuart kings to the thrones of
Scotland and
England (and after
1707,
Great Britain) after James VII of Scotland and II of England was deposed in
1688 and the thrones claimed by his daughter
Mary II jointly with her husband, the Dutch born
William of Orange. The risings continued, and even intensified, after the
House of Hanover succeeded to the
British Throne in
1714. They continued until the last Jacobite Rebellion ("the Forty-Five"), led by
Charles Edward Stuart (the Young Pretender), was soundly defeated at the
Battle of Culloden in
1746, ending any realistic hope of a Stuart restoration.
British Empire
The
Seven Years' War, which began in 1756, was the first war waged on a global scale, fought in Europe, India, North America, the Caribbean, the Philippines and coastal Africa. The signing of the
Treaty of Paris (1763) had important consequences for Britain and its empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power there was effectively ended with the ceding of
New France to Britain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under British control) and
Louisiana to Spain. Spain ceded
Florida to Britain. In India, the
Carnatic War had left France still in control of its
enclaves but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British client states, effectively leaving the future of India to Britain. The British victory over France in the Seven Years War therefore left Britain as the world's dominant colonial power.
During the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the
Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's ability to tax American colonists without their consent. Disagreement turned to violence and in 1775 the
American Revolutionary War began. The following year, the colonists
declared the independence of the United States and with economical and naval assistance from France, would go on to win the war in 1783.
The loss of the United States, at the time Britain's most populous colony, is seen by historians as the event defining the transition between the "first" and "second" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa.
Adam Smith's
Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that
free trade should replace the old
mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783 confirmed Smith's view that political control wasn't necessary for economic success.
During its first century of operation, the focus of the
British East India Company had been trade, not the building of an empire in India. Company interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the British East India Company struggled with its French counterpart, the
La Compagnie française des Indes orientales, during the
Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s. The
Battle of Plassey, which saw the British, led by
Robert Clive, defeat the French and their Indian allies, left the Company in control of
Bengal and a major military and political power in India. In the following decades it gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or indirectly via local puppet rulers under the threat of force of the
Indian Army, 80% of which was composed of native Indian
sepoys.
In 1770,
James Cook had discovered the eastern coast of Australia whilst on a scientific
voyage to the South Pacific. In 1778,
Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of
Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of
convicts set sail, arriving in 1788.
At the threshold to the 19th century, Britain was challenged again by France under
Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two nations.
It wasn't only Britain's position on the world stage that was threatened: Napoleon threatened invasion of Britain itself, and with it, a fate similar to the countries of continental Europe that his armies had overrun. The
Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones that Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the
Royal Navy, which won a decisive victory over the French fleet at
Trafalgar in 1805.
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