Category: History

The role of the monarchy has changed radically over the ages and the public execution of King Charles I (1600-49) set a precedent that is credited with constricting any subsequent tendency towards tyranny. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) from Cambridgeshire was one of the parliamentarians who signed the King’s death warrant and it was he who led the country as its ‘Lord Protector’ in its first spell as a republic (1653-58).

However, the old ways lingered on and his son Richard (1626-1712) inherited the job, in true bloodline fashion. Having no training or fellow republican heads of state to emulate, he resigned in 1659 and the monarchy was restored in 1660. The new king, Charles II (1630-85), revengefully ordered the exhumation of Oliver Cromwell’s body from Westminster Abbey and the setting of his head on a spike for all to see. The Irish also hated Cromwell for massacres perpetrated at two of the 28 Irish towns he and his army overran in 1649-50.

The 1,200 laws Cromwell introduced were binned as not having received Royal Assent. Nevertheless, his legacy included a new religious tolerance which could not be suppressed even after his death. He was himself utterly driven by his Puritanical beliefs and was probably a man of ideals corrupted by power.

(Image: Dave Smethurst at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

During the Vikings‘ explorations spanning N.America to the Middle East, Britain did not go unnoticed and in fact proved quite a draw for some 250 years until the Norman Conquest of 1066. ‘Viking’ is a later name applied to these Scandinavian adventurers from across the North Sea. Their first incursions, in the 790s, were violent thefts and murders at soft targets ~ the monasteries of N.England, Scotland and Ireland.

The sight of the distinctive Viking longships powering their way towards shore became a regular portent of pillage and upheaval each summer, until they eventually decided to settle here in the 850s. They took control of various kingdoms in the upper part of Britain, roughly north of a line from London to Bedford. Wessex in the south stood firm and King Athelstan defeated them in 927, thereby uniting the country of England.

Eirik Bloodaxe (typical Viking nickname ~ others include Bluetooth, Ironside, Skullsplitter, Boneless, Red, Buttered-Bread) had briefly retaken Northumbria but was killed in 954. Back for more in 1013, the Vikings now tussled for total rule and for a while had the Danish King Cnut (or ‘Canute’) on the English throne, in 1016-35. Naturally, they left their mark culturally, linguistically and in the family trees of many Britons.

(Image [cropped]: alh1 at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963) took many years to develop his plan for social reform as detailed in ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ (1942), later known as ‘The Beveridge Report‘. His conviction is illustrated by the Report’s declaration that the main objective of any government should be to ensure “the happiness of the common man”. He saw the post-WW2 period as the ideal time to enact a redistribution of national income such that a person’s dignity would be upheld, not demeaned by dependence on hand-outs.

Beveridge was born in ‘British India’, excelled at the University of Oxford and joined the Civil Service before becoming a distinguished Director at the London School of Economics, during 1919-37. He then returned to a position at Oxford and his mid-war Report was a boon to public spirit. It proposed a plan whereby small weekly contributions (‘social insurance’) would be heavily subsidised by government to fund a system of welfare benefits for the unemployed, old and sick, with free medical treatment and children’s allowances.

Beveridge became a Liberal MP in 1944 but it was a Labour government that broadly implemented his recommendations for assistance “from cradle to grave” in tackling the “five giants” of Want, Ignorance, Idleness, Squalor and Disease.

(Image of Sir William Beveridge in 1943: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

European and British monarchies’ intertwinement led to an incongruous English claim on parts of a disunited France in the 14th and 15th centuries. Five successive generations of Kings and nobles squabbled and fought, mainly on French soil, over French titles and land. The term ‘The Hundred Years War‘ is shorthand for many skirmishes and battles throughout this period, which were to spawn a pride in nation on both sides of the Channel.

It began in 1337 when the French King Philip VI confiscated the English possession of Aquitaine in south-west France, a royal inheritance which had long irritated the French. The English King Edward III (1312-77) successfully used his valid claim to the French throne as a bargaining chip in the ensuing hostilities and was given not just Aquitaine but other regions too. Many years of gains and losses followed, bringing confusion and unrest to the French people.

Battles won by the English included Agincourt in 1415, an overwhelming victory. Eventually, the French were inspired by a young woman, Joan of Arc, to pull together, repel the intruders and support their King. Despite another English-French royal marriage, the English left in 1453 with just the town of Calais still under their control, held until 1558.

(Top image of longbow demonstration: Peter Trimming at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The 19-year reign of King Stephen (c.1097-1154) was the last of the House of Normandy. Born in France, he was raised as a charming, intelligent and genial lad but, as grandson of King William I (c.1028-87), fate would pit him against a cousin who was his opposite in every way. She was Matilda (c.1102-67), daughter of Stephen’s uncle, King Henry I (c.1068-1135) and her son would become King Henry II (1133-89).

She spent her teenage years married to the ‘Holy Roman Emperor’ in Germany and is thus known as Empress Matilda. After she was widowed her father forced her to marry a young French aristocrat, Geoffrey Plantagenet (1113-51), with whom she had three sons. While she was pregnant, she heard of her father’s death and of her cousin Stephen being persuaded to take the throne by noblemen who did not want a Queen, let alone an Empress.

Enraged by her disinheritance, the feisty Matilda effectually moved herself and an army to England and began a long campaign ~ called ‘The Anarchy’ ~ of battles, skirmishes, castle sieges, imprisonments and criminality which terrorised the ordinary English folk. In 1153 Stephen’s only son Eustace died, so he at last relented and nominated Matilda’s son as his heir.

(Images: Internet Archive Book Images at Flickr.com and Wikimedia Commons / Public domain both)

King George I (1660-1727) was the first German monarch of Great Britain & Ireland after he skyrocketed up the line of succession, overtaking fifty-one Catholic claimants to the throne. This was due to the Act of Settlement of 1701 which ensured that the monarchy remained Protestant. In selecting him after the death of childless Queen Anne (1665-1714), Parliament took the unusual step of following the female line from a previous monarch, not the male.

George was born and lived in Hanover, Germany, and was unhappily married to his cousin Sophia (1666-1726), whom he incarcerated in a castle for thirty years until she died. Both of them were great-grandchildren of  King James VI&I (1566-1625). George was reluctant to accept the throne as he could barely speak English and the weather was colder than in his homeland.

When he eventually arrived in London in September 1714 he was accompanied by two mistresses and eighteen cooks. His two legitimate children ensured the royal line’s continuity but they resented what he had done to their mother. He was described as stubborn, moody and unintelligent, but he ticked other important boxes. He came to depend on the Whigs in Parliament and they were largely in control by the time of his death.

(Image of painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

King Edward III (1312-77) had thirteen children, the eldest of whom was Edward of Woodstock (1330-76), known posthumously as the Black Prince. He was destined never to sit on the throne due to his early death, probably from dysentry. He married his cousin, Countess Joan of Kent (1326-85) and had two sons. The eldest died aged 6, so it was their second son, Richard of Bordeaux (1367-1400), who succeeded his grandfather when he was only 10 years old.

The Black Prince had several other titles, including the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, and he was one of the first Knights of the Garter. He fought valiantly in battle from age 16 and after victory at the Battle of Poitiers in France he became Prince of Aquitaine. He also fought in Spain to help Don Pedro the Cruel regain his throne.

His reward was a large red spinel gemstone which is now part of the Crown Jewels. It is known as the Black Prince’s Ruby and has been worn in the battles at Agincourt and Bosworth Field. Oliver Cromwell sold it to a jeweller who then sold it back to King Charles II (1630-85) in 1660. It is now a centrepiece of the Imperial State Crown.

(Top image of the tomb of the Black Prince at Canterbury Cathedral: Peter Trimming at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Bruce Reynolds (1931-2013) and Gordon Goody (1930-2016) masterminded the audacious Great Train Robbery, which took place on 8th August 1963 in Buckinghamshire and netted some £2.5 million in cash. Essential to their plan was the inside knowledge of a Post Office employee, nicknamed ‘The Ulsterman’ and eventually named in 2014 as Patrick McKenna.

It was McKenna who supplied the information that the train from Glasgow to London on the 8th would be carrying more cash than their original choice of the 7th and it was McKenna who knew that there were no alarms yet fitted in the carriages. He was never caught but most of the 15-strong gang were, after fleeing their farmhouse hideout. They were given sentences of up to 30 years, though most served no more than 10.

They made several mistakes, one of which was knocking the train driver unconscious with a crowbar. The poor man was then woken up and forced to drive the front carriages to their unloading spot at Bridego Bridge because their own retired train driver, recruited by Ronnie Biggs (1929-2016), was not familiar with the new controls. Biggs was one of the minor gang members but became the most famous, as he escaped prison and lived abroad for 36 years.

(Image [cropped]: Bradford Timeline at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC 2.0)

Of the many historic battles between the Scottish and English armies, the Battle of Bannockburn is the one most cherished in Scotland. Political parties campaigning for Scottish independence hold an annual Bannockburn Rally to commemorate the victory of Robert the Bruce’s army over that of King Edward II (1284-1327). For England, this was yet another failure in Edward’s calamitous reign. It was a time of rebellion and discord, but Edward was wrapped up in his personal relationships.

Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) was one of many claimants to the Scottish throne, vacant for ten years, and it seems he was the most determined, stabbing his final rival on his way to the top in 1306. By 1314 his consolidation of power culminated in his siege of Stirling Castle, held by the English.

Edward II was no tactician and although he had previously accompanied his father to Stirling, he completely underrated the difficulty of the Castle’s surrounding boggy parkland and the Bannock Burn stream. The English were caught out, confused and unable to retreat, so were slaughtered mercilessly, horses and all. The park and stream were full of steaming corpses. No prisoners were taken and thousands of horses and men lay dead by nightfall on 24th June 1314.

(Image of Robert the Bruce statue at Bannockburn: Kim Traynor at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)