The Celts

The first inhabitants of England were the Celts, from the northern Europe. They were divided into tribes.

Their priests and judges were the druids.

In battles they used to paint their body and to fight naked.

They believed in destiny and in a life after death.

Romans ruled in Britain from the III century to the V century.

Julius Caesar Conquered Britain in 55 B.C.

The Romans

Saint Augustine spread Christianity in Britain.

He estabilished monasteries.

The monasteries were centre of cultur.

Documents started being written (Anglo-Saxon culture was based on an oral tradition.)

Saint Augustine

The Saxons settled in England after the Celts

They came from Germany.

They were conquered by Normans in 1066 in the Battle of Hastings.

The Saxons

Alfred The Great

Alfred the Great was the most important king of the Anglo-Saxons from 871 to 899. He defended his kingdoms the Vikings. He was the only British king called "the Great“.

Beowulf

Beowulf is the greatest Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the 11th century.

The author is anonimous.

It is about the fight between a hero and a monster, but its themes are motherly love and nostalgia.

It celebrates honesty, honour and courage.

HUNDRED YEARS WAR

The war was between England and France,started in 1337 and finished in 1453without a real winner.

THE TUDOR DYNASTY

The dynasty of Tudor

ruled England from

1435 until 1603.The first

monarch Henry Tudor

took the power after the

“War of two Roses”.

The Tudor coats

Henry VIII and The Act of Supremacy

Henry VIII (reign 1509 to 1547) was the son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. His reign was revolutionary because of the Act of Supremacy in 1534 which cut the connection between England and the Pope in Rome: he divorced from Catherine of Aragon to get married with Anne Boleyn and the Pope did not approve it because Catherine was Spanish and Spain was a great supporter of the Pope in Rome.

Steven van der Meulen c. 1563

Elizabeth I, called the Gloriana, was Queen of England and of Ireland from 1558 to 1603;

with her death ended the Tudor dinasty. One of her first moves as queen was to support the

establishment of an English Protestant Church.

Elizabeth became famous for her virginity , in fact she never married because she said she

was married to England.

Elizabeth I , "Darnley Portrait", c. 1575

Her first foreign policy was against Scotland in order to oppose

French. She knew that Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scots, wanted

the crown of England, so Elizabeth chopped off her head.

Then the Queen led several milatary compaigns in France and Ireland and defeated the Spanish

Invincible Armada. In 1603 the queen felt sick and died after few

days.

George Gower c. 1588

CIVIL WAR 1642

During Charles I reign there is a conflict between the Catholics ( the upper gentry and the aristocracy) and the Puritans ( the new middle classes sided with the Parliament).

John Donned: Holy Sonnets.

In Europe:Cervantes’s Don Quixote.

COMMONWEALTH

The Puritans win the Civil War and their leadership institutes the Republic called Commonwealth.

Oliver Cromwell enforces his moral code in society: suppresses the theatre, punishes drunkenness and licentiousness.

On his death in 1658 no one succeeds him.

THE RESTORATION - 1660

After Cromwell’s death, the Parliament calls Charles II from France.

He promises to respect the Commons’ decisions about religious and constitutional issues.

In this period the Great Plague kills many Londoners.

Hobbes. Pepys, Milton, Dryden, Locke. Science:Keplero, Bacon; Galileo

Descartes, Newton. Europe: Lope de Vega (theatre),

Calderon De La Barca, Moliere,Pascal.

THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION -1688-

When Charles II dies James II comes to the throne.

There is a bloodless revolution, called “Glorious Revolution”, to remove the absolute power of the monarch.

William of Orange succeeds James II Stuart.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS -1689-

William of Orange is invited by the Parliament to sign the Bill of Rights to limite the power of the monarchy.