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... o invade England and closed every church in England. Finally in 1214 John gave in. In 1215 John hoped to recapture Normandy, but his nobles lost their trust in him and did not want to fight.
Magna Carta and the decline of feudalism John was forced to sign a new agreement called magna carta. This promised protection for all freemen. It was not for the entire population, because the nobles only thought for themselves. Magna Carta was recognized by every king after John and was used until the sixteenth century. Chapter 5 The power of the kings of England Johns reign marked the end of the struggle between Church and state. This struggle was for both power and money.
The Church wanted the kings of Europe to accept its authority over both spiritual and earthly affairs and argued that even kings were answerable to God. Kings on the other hand, chose bishops as men who could be loyal to them. John died in 1216. His son Henry III was only nine years old and tied to magna carta, He was ruled by nobles for the first sixteen years. Henry was able to rule at twenty-five. He spent lots of money and the nobles were upset.
Under the leadership of one of the French nobles parliament was founded in 1258. It forced Henry to get rid of his foreign advisers. Henry died in 1272 and his son Edward took over the throne. Edward I brought the first real parliament together... He also created the house of commons (representative institution), which could provide the money he needed. The house of commons was a mixture of inhabitants of Britain.
All common people. Edward I was less interested in bringing back France than uniting Britain under his control. In 1284 Edward united west Wales with England. Ireland was conquered by Norman Lords in 1169. They had little problem defeating the Irish kings and tribes.
Henry II went to Ireland himself to ensure his lords would not become to independent. He made Dublin the capitol of his new colony. The English crown only ruled Dublin and a small surrounding area called the pale. In Scotland things were very different. They were stronger than the welsh and they had their own king who ruled most of Scotland. This king was to powerful and most English kings did not try to defeat him, but Edward I was different.
In 1290 there was a crises. There were thirteen heirs to the throne. Robert Bruce and John de Balliol were both Norman-Scottish knights. They invited Edward to avoid civil war. Edward was willing to help if they would accept him as their overlord.
He put John de Balliol on the throne, but it was no succes, the Scottish nobles rebelled against him. William Wallace, a Scottish knight rebelled against Edward and was quite succesful, but Edward expected Wallace and it seemed he had won after all. Robert Bruce was the new leader of the movement. Edward died in 1307. He tried to hammer down the Scots, but hammered nationalism in the Scots instead. Edward II, his son went back to England and Robert Bruce managed to become king of Scotland.
The form of government changed when England had also captured France and the usual way wasnt very good anymore. They needed one central point and it is still there in Westminster. The king kept all records in Westminster. The officials in Westminster had to keep an eye on the economy of the country and the kings needs. Government administration kept a copy of each letter they had sent and had grown enormously since William I.
Every lord had his own laws for their land, only for serious crimes there was a kings court. Henry I introduced that all crimes should be punished equally. The king slowly took over the power of the nobles. By the end of the twelfth century there were men educated for this purpose and they were experts on law and order. England had a different law system from the rest of Europe which still used the Roman laws. Britain introduced a jury to decide whether a man was guilty or innocent These early juries are different from now.
The accused man could choose twelve neighbours or friends to convict he was innocent. This changed and lawyers were introduced to guide the jury, which had no sense of law at all. The Churches in villages were different from the Church the king had to deal with. Most priests were married and gave their position to their sons when they died.
This changed. Priests werent allowed to get married and convicts were founded for nuns and monks who were willing to keep this promise. In the thirteenth century friars were brought up. They existed of preachers who went from village to village, they were interested in the normal soul and lived with the poor.
Life in the countryside was hard. Men had to work all their lives until they were unable to work any longer. The poor were divided from their masters by the feudal class system. See page 37. The growth of towns as centres of wealth (see page 38) Language, literature and culture (see page 41) Scotland and France became allies, to protect themselves from England. France tried to make England less powerful, by influencing the trade with other countries.
England declared the war to France, because they could not afford to miss their trade with Flanders (belgium). Edward III declared the war in 1337, claiming the right to the French Throne. The war did not end until 1453 and England lost all French property except for Calais. At first there was peace after this war, but the fighting started again in the fifteenth century. Code of chivalry = the way a perfect knight should behave. Chivalry was a useful way of persuading young men to fight by creating the idea that war was a noble and glorious thing.
They could benefit from it, but usually, war was nothing more than cruelty and death. The black prince was feared in France for its cruelty. The year 1348 brought the plague (black death) It wasnt the first natural disaster and it wasnt the last. One third of Britains population died.
There were more plagues after this which killed most the young and the healthy. After the Black death there were so few workers left, they could ask for a higher pay. This led to the end of serfdom. Life became more agreeable after this, even for peasants. Lots of Flanders came to England after the industry collapsed there. They came to search for work encouraged by Edward III.
When Edward III died his grandson Richard II became king. He was very young and advisors decided to ask taxes for every person above fifteen. After the third time ordinary people in the cities started rebellions and refused to pay. The man who made this up Wat Tyler got killed and Richard II met the peoples wishes and made peace. He did not enforce the tax, but he did not give them more rights.
The Church wasnt popular, because of its greed. Priests and Monks lived in wealth. They also became aware of their English ness and the pope was a foreigner. They were convinced that their taxes helped the French, because the pope was living in France. The Church also had to much power.
Religious leaders were often chancellors of the king. Another threat was the spread of religious writings and there was one man who decided everyone should be able to read the bible so he translated it into English. Chapter 8 The crisis of Kings and nobles During the fourteenth century there was a continuous struggle between the king and his nobles. 1327 - king Edward II got killed. His son Edward III was only eleven years old. Richard II had made himself very unpopular by his choice of advisors. He imprisoned John of Gaunt third son of Edward III, he died in prison.
Henry of Lancaster, took revenge and Richard was put down. Henry IV became king. He divided the country in two parts, Lancastrians and Yorkists. Own Glyndwr was the first and only prince to be widely supported in Wales.
He descended from two royal families and created the idea of a welsh nation. He wasnt strong enough to defeat the English, but he created a feeling of national identity. When Henry IV died he passed the throne to his son Henry V, The kingdom was peaceful and united. Henry V became one of England's most beloved kings. Henry V won back most of France and married the French kings daughter Katherine of Valois.
He was seen as the heir of France, but he died earlier than the king. His nine month old son inherited the thrones of England and France. England fought France to enlarge its kingdom, but they were defeated twice by the French and lost everything except Calais. It's not a complete summary of the book, but the first few chapters are there... Bibliography: illustrated history of britain
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Research essay sample on House Of Commons Magna Carta
