Category: History

Ulster planters

In its empire-building phase of the sixteenth century, England took control of its neighbour, Ireland. When King James VI of Scotland also […]

In its empire-building phase of the sixteenth century, England took control of its neighbour, Ireland. When King James VI of Scotland also became James I of England, he was very aware of the tensions between the religions. Ireland was Catholic and he feared that they were plotting against him.

So he decided, in 1609, to encourage ‘planters‘ ~ settlers ~ of the part of Ireland that was closest to Scottish shores, that being Ulster in the north. The Irish leaders had recently fled to Europe and so their lands were confiscated and handed out as incentives to Britons to move in and populate the territory with English-speaking, Protestant farmers and townspeople.

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Six of the northern counties now form Northern Ireland, while the rest forms the Republic of Ireland.

Some of the ‘planters’ were not happy in Ireland and they took the long trip over to the north American colonies.

(Top image: Kenneth Allen at geograph.ie / CC BY-SA 2.0)

12/11/2018
2 min
6 years
160 words

History

The Peasants’ Revolt

English village peasants – poor workers owned by rich landowners – had finally taken enough harsh treatment by 1381. The Peasants’ Revolt […]

English village peasants – poor workers owned by rich landowners – had finally taken enough harsh treatment by 1381. The Peasants’ Revolt was the result.

Although many peasants had died from the Black Death, the survivors were forbidden by a new law to ask for higher wages. Instead, the landowners made more money from the scarcity value of their goods. Not only that, but the peasants were expected to pay a new ‘poll tax’ to help with the cost of the war against France. When the tax was tripled to cover a shortfall, there were riots, killings and arson attacks, and thousands of people marched to London to see the King.

The young King Richard II (1367-1400) faced them and agreed to their demands, but after they had gone home his army searched out hundreds of protesters and executed them. However, the Peasants’ Revolt was not in vain, as the cap on wages was later removed and the poll tax abolished. Peasants were also able to buy their freedom.

07/11/2018
3 min
6 years
166 words

Discoveries / History

The stone circles at Avebury

The Neolithic stone circles at Avebury, roughly 23 miles from Stonehenge in Wiltshire, were among many hundreds of such circles in Britain. […]

The Neolithic stone circles at Avebury, roughly 23 miles from Stonehenge in Wiltshire, were among many hundreds of such circles in Britain. There are numerous theories as to how they were built and what they were used for, including the idea that they match certain features on Mars…

At Avebury there is a massive henge with a stone circle placed just inside its perimeter. This is Britain’s largest stone circle, having a diameter of over 1,000ft.. Inside that circle were two smaller circles but not much remains of these. At least one of the stones weighed over 100 tons.

It is thought that there were ninety-eight stones originally at Avebury. However, in the early 14th century and again in the late 17th/early 18th century, spates of religious zeal saw local people destroying them. One man was crushed to death under one of the stones as it fell and he was not able to be given a religious burial. It was this event which halted the first bout of destruction.

Inside the henge is the very picturesque 400-year-old Red Lion pub.

*Image: Steve Daniels at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0*

(Top image: Rxfelix at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0)

04/11/2018
3 min
6 years
197 words

History

Queen Boudica (or Boadicea)

Queen Boudica (the exact spelling is uncertain) was born in 30AD and died just 31 years later. Her name was probably a […]

Queen Boudica (the exact spelling is uncertain) was born in 30AD and died just 31 years later. Her name was probably a nickname, meaning ‘victory’. Her husband, Prasutagus, was the king of the Iceni tribe in East Anglia. When he died in 60/61AD, the Romans no longer saw any reason not to help themselves to Iceni land. They publicly flogged Queen Boudica and raped her two daughters.

Incensed, she led an uprising which attacked the Roman settlements at Colchester, London and St. Albans, killing 70,000 Roman soldiers in the process. However, the tribes were defeated at the Battle of Watling Street, where a well-equipped, more efficient Roman army awaited them. Boudica and her daughters either died of their wounds or poisoned themselves at the scene.

The statue of ‘Boadicea and her Daughters’, pictured above, is situated in the middle of London, ironically one of the places she destroyed!

(Image of Boudica statue in Westminster: Paul Walter at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

26/10/2018
2 min
6 years
159 words

History

Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart, 1542-87) had a most unfortunate, tragic life. She became Queen of Scotland just six days after […]

Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart, 1542-87) had a most unfortunate, tragic life. She became Queen of Scotland just six days after her birth. She married three times. Her French mother, Mary of Guise (1515-60) and her first husband, King Francis II of France (1544-60) died in the same year, when she was only 17 years old. Her second husband, Lord Darnley (1546-67) was murdered, probably by her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell (1534-78), who ran off to Norway after Mary was obliged to abdicate and he died in a Danish prison.

After 19 years of house arrest in England, she was finally found guilty of treason against her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. She is said to have told the executioner at her beheading, “I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles.”

It was due to Mary’s French relations and time spent living in France that the spelling of her original surname, Stewart, was changed to Stuart. Her son with Lord Darnley, James Stuart, inherited the Scottish throne as a baby and went on to also become King of England (styled King James VI and I) after the death of Elizabeth.

(Image: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)

22/10/2018
3 min
6 years
213 words

Culture / English language / History

Samuel Pepys’s diary

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was born and lived most of his life in London and began writing his famous diary every day from […]

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was born and lived most of his life in London and began writing his famous diary every day from lst January 1660 until nine years later, when he stopped for the sake of his eyesight. The diary gives us a personal view of life in London at the time. Pepys also witnessed and wrote about three disasters – the Great Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the English navy’s defeat to the Dutch in 1667.

Pepys was a high-ranking naval administrator and helped to improve the navy’s standards. He has been described as “the father of the modern Navy” (Royal Museums Greenwich, 2018). The image above is of his statue in the City of London.

He left his complete library of 3,000 books, including his diary, to Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge.

(Image: Matt Brown on Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

19/10/2018
2 min
6 years
145 words

History / Politics / Religion

The English Civil War

The English Civil War took place in the middle of the 17th century and was a struggle between different religions for dominance, […]

The English Civil War took place in the middle of the 17th century and was a struggle between different religions for dominance, along with a struggle between the monarchy and Parliament.

“Across the country as a whole, it was religion which ultimately divided the two parties. Puritans everywhere supported the Parliament, more conservative protestants – together with the few Catholics – supported the King.” (Stoyle, bbc.co.uk/history, 2011)

*King Charles I (Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)*

Parliament’s army, known as the ‘Roundheads’, eventually defeated the King’s forces, called the ‘Cavaliers’, and King Charles I (1600-49) was publicly executed for treason in 1649. This was delayed a few hours while Parliament hurriedly put through a Bill to stop his son (Charles II (1630-85)) from immediately inheriting the throne. However, Oliver Cromwell‘s Republic eventually failed, the monarchy was reinstated in 1660 with the return of King Charles II to the throne in a period called ‘The Restoration‘.

There are several re-enactment societies who commemorate various battles of the Civil War on the anniversary dates. The photograph above shows one such society re-enacting the siege of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire which took place in the autumn of 1643.

(Top image: Dave Hitchborne at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

18/10/2018
3 min
6 years
204 words

Geography & Environment / History

Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian’s Wall was constructed in the 2nd century and stretched 73 miles coast-to-coast in northern England. It marked one of the borders […]

Hadrian’s Wall was constructed in the 2nd century and stretched 73 miles coast-to-coast in northern England. It marked one of the borders of the Roman Empire at that time and it took at least six years to build. Parts of it can still be seen today ~ at Birdoswald, for example, which has the longest remaining stretch.

Publius Aelius Hadrianus (76-138AD) was one of the more stable Roman Emperors and his policy was to consolidate the Empire’s territories rather than expand them as his predecessor had done. He was crowned in 117AD and visited Britain 5 years later. It is unclear whether the Wall was already under construction amidst rebellions and raids from the “barbarians” in Scotland, or if it was this visit that prompted Hadrian’s decision to build. A fairly recent discovery of an engraved artefact suggests that the Wall was called ‘Vallum Aelii’ (rampart of Aelius), confirming the connection with Hadrian.

Most of the Wall was of stone but some of it was turf (like the 39-mile ‘Vallum Antonini’ built later on, further north). The remains give only a tiny impression of the enormous structure that it once was, with many forts, gateways and living quarters for soldiers, families and traders.

(Image: Oliver Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

16/10/2018
3 min
6 years
213 words

History

1066 and King Harold II

1066 was an extraordinary year for King Harold II (c.1020/22-66), the last of the Saxon kings. In January, after years of political […]

1066 was an extraordinary year for King Harold II (c.1020/22-66), the last of the Saxon kings. In January, after years of political and military wranglings, he was crowned King of England but there were others who wanted this title. Harold and his army readied themselves and waited all summer on the south coast for the expected invasion attempt by William, Duke of Normandy.

In September, the Vikings and Harold’s brother Tostig arrived in 300 ships from Norway, so Harold and his army had to quickly march 200 miles north to fight them off. They succeeded in a terrible battle which saw both Harold’s brother and the last king of the Vikings killed.

Harold then received news that the expected cross-Channel invasion had started! His army had to rush all the way back to fight off the Normans …. but this time they failed, as they were exhausted and did not wait for more men to join them. Harold was killed in this battle, known as the Battle of Hastings. It is thought that one of his wounds was an arrow in the eye. Some Englishmen refused to live under Norman slavery and sailed off to fight Normans in southern Europe.

(Image from the Bayeux Tapestry: Trevor Huxham at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

15/10/2018
3 min
6 years
211 words

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Quoting Neil Oliver...

I love Britain more than anywhere else in the world. With all my heart I declare that those of us born here, or who have made a home here by choice, are the luckiest, most blessed of all people. I am British. I will always be British.