*In 1453 the Hundred Years' War ended with England withdrawing from France (except the port city of Calais, which they held until 1558).  The war had made the institutions of the English monarchy stronger, as the English kings had gathered all the reins of government into their hands.  However, while the monarchy might have been strong, the monarch himself was not.

*The Hundred Years' War had begun in the rein of Edward III, who ruled so long that he outlived all of his sons, thus leaving no clear successor.

*The Prince of Wales (Edward, the Black Prince) had a son who became Richard II (1377).  He became unpopular with certain nobles and was deposed (1399) and eventually murdered (1400).

*Edward's second son, the Duke of Lancaster, had a son, Henry IV, whose son, Henry V, conquered most of France, but whose own son, Henry VI, lost it (although, having become king of England and France at 9 months of age, he could hardly be expected to be a strong or wise ruler).

*Edward's third son, the Duke of York, had a grandson, Richard, about ten years older than Henry VI. 

*Even before the Hundred Years' War had ended, supporters of the Houses of York and Lancaster, had been fighting for power in England, partly because Henry VI was not only a weak ruler, but actually suffered from periodic episodes of insanity (at one point he could not recognise his own son; his wife Margaret often had to goad him to fight; during a major battle he was found singing and dancing).  Both sides sometimes used roses as symbols of their factions, Red for Lancaster and White for York, and so the conflict that followed came to be known as the Wars of the Roses.

*In 1455, outright fighting broke out between the followers of King Henry VI of Lancaster and Richard, Duke of York.

*Richard was killed in battle in 1460, but his supporters defeated Henry VI and made his son King Edward IV in 1461. Henry was imprisoned, rescued and escaped to Scotland, then recaptured and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

*Throughout the 1460s, the Lancastrians fought back (until almost all were killed) and some of Edward's supporters turned against him, and in 1470 was forced to flee the country.  Henry again became king, but was murdered in 1471 and Edward returned to England.
He in turn fell ill and died (possibly poisoned) in 1483 and his 15-year-old son, Edward V, became king.

*For their protection, Edward and his brother Richard, were put under guard in the Tower of London by their uncle Richard.  They vanished a few months later, presumably murdered, possibly by their uncle, who became King Richard III.

*It would have seemed the Richard III would be secure as king, as almost all the Lancastrians had been killed.  However, a distant relative (the great-great great-grandson of Edward III through the Duke of Lancaster; also the great-grandson of the king of France and grandson of Henry V's wife by a second marriage), Henry Tudor of Wales. Furthermore, Henry was married to his third cousin, Edward V's older sister, Elizabeth of York.

*In 1485, Henry returned from exile in France and landed in Wales, his family's homeland and a traditional area of Lancastrian support.  After two weeks, on 22 August, his forces met Richard's at Bosworth Field, where, after brutal fighting (largely decided by the late arrival of two armies who had been neutral until they decided to back Henry at the last minute), Richard III died in battle (the last English king to do so).  Henry VII was crowned on 30 October, 1485, beginning the Tudor dynasty, that took as its symbol a red rose with a white rose inside it, uniting the symbols of Lancaster and York (just as Henry VII had united the houses with his marriage to Elizabeth of York).

*Henry VII spent his rein promoting peace and prosperity.  Within the realm, he kept taxes on his nobles and merchants low (to prevent civil war and promote business) but collected them more efficiently.  He also kept spending low (to make the most of the taxes he did collect).  He made treaties and agreements with France (a traditional enemy), the Holy Roman Empire, the Pope, and Spain (newly united and a rising power).  He arranged for his son Arthur to marry princess Catharine of Aragon and his daughter Margaret to marry King James IV of Scotland. 

*Despite his desire for peace, he also prepared for war, subsidising a navy (with a dry dock at Portsmouth that still stands today), laying the basis for England's rise to dominance of the seas under the rule of his granddaughter.  He also abolished private armies, to keep his nobles under control.

*Henry's later life was saddened by the death of his son Arthur (1502).  In a rare move, Henry was able to get permission from the Pope for Catharine to marry Henry's second son, Henry.  Shortly afterwards (1503), his wife died.  Henry VII died (perhaps of a broken heart) in 1509.

*King Henry VIII was a true Renaissance man.  As a younger son, he had originally been trained (with the best possible education) for the church.  When his older brother died, though, he became the heir to the throne and a married man—and the marriage was reportedly a happy and romantic one, at least at first.

*Henry was athletic (he once wrestled the King of France during a major political meeting).  He was a hunter, hawker, and jouster, and tennis player.  He wrote music and poetry and could play music and sing—some of his songs are still known today (although the legend that he wrote the song “Greensleeves” is probably false).

*He founded or supported several colleges and schools that still operate today.

*Henry successfully fought small wars against France and Scotland and commissioned what may have been the first purpose-built warship—certainly the first that could fire a broadside cannonade—the Mary Rose.

*Many legal reforms also took place during Henry's reign.  The Laws in Wales Acts (1535-1542) made Wales part of England.  This gave Welshmen more rights in certain respects (they could carry weapons, elect representative to Parliament, and could enjoy equality under the law (instead of being ruled directly by the king or by various powerful English lords), but it also attempted to eliminate Welsh national identity:  the Welsh language could not be used for official business (which all had to be in English), and Wales itself was meant to cease to exist as a political entity (although, in fact, its borders became more clear, as new counties were created and old ones consolidated in a more orderly fashion).  Overall, this was meant to be for Wales's own good (the Tudors were Welsh, you know), but many Welshmen felt they were given the benefits of English laws at the expense of Welsh nationality.

*Under the Tudor dynasty as a whole, Parliament began to take its modern form and its relationship with the king came to be more clearly defined.

*Although the Tudors were powerful, they all realised that they needed the support of the nobility and the middle classes, particularly so they could raise money without causing revolts.  The nobility and the middle class were represented in two houses of Parliament.

*The House of Lords (as it came to be known) held (until 1999) all the Lords Temporal—the nobility of England (including Wales after the Laws of Wales Acts)--and all the Lords Spiritual (Archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors—until monasteries were abolished).  The Wars of the Roses had wiped out much of the nobility, though, and the Protestant Reformation ended up wiping out much of the clergy, so by the end of the the 1500s, the House of Lords was fairly small—but very influential (it would later grow to be quite large, but fairly uninfluential).

*The House of Commons contained two MPs from each country and two from each burrough (certain towns and cities). Starting in the 1600s, certain universities and their graduates also got to elect MPs.  All these were elected by relatively wealthy men (perhaps 3% of the population), and if they lived in one constituency and owned land in another, they might vote in for two different MPs (or even a third if they were also university graduates).  Members of Parliament were not paid (until 1911) and they could not resign their seats unless given a job directly under the king's patronage.  Parliament met when the king called for it, met as long as he permitted it, and was dissolved when he said so.  All votes for Members were public, some elections were rigged or bribed, but many were serious, democratic contests (at least by the standards of the time).  Englishmen came to see themselves as the freest people in the world.

*Either house might introduce a bill to become law.  If so, a majority vote in both houses must approve it, after which the monarch must give his assent or veto.  Several laws were vetoed in the 1500s and 1600s, but none since 1707 (although the Queen's representative in Australia used the power in 1975). 

*Taxes were reformed during Henry VIII's reign, as his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, developed one of the first income taxes, taking one shilling from each pound of income, which reduced the tax burden on the poor while increasing overall revenues by making accounting simpler.  He also made certain courts outside the jury system—like the Star Chamber and the Chancery Court more powerful, so that they could judge fairly poor people who might be afraid to go to court against powerful men, but also so they could be used to attack the King's enemies without the protection of a jury.  During the first half of his reign, Cardinal Wolsey was one of Henry VIII's most important and powerful advisors.

*Most taxes had to be approved by Parliament, although kings had ways to raise some taxes on their own, and also had vast estates to draw income from as well. In short, although kings had great power still (in part because they could still influence people through their ability to appoint people to lucrative or prestigious positions), that of Parliament was growing.

*Henry and Catharine had a happy marriage—at first.  However, although she bore him five children, only one daughter, Mary, survived infancy.  Henry, though, needed an heir. 

*He had at least two mistresses (aside from mistresses he later married), one of whom gave him a son, whom Henry considered recognising as a legitimate heir, but he died relatively young.  This, of course, was not good enough.

*Desperate, Henry VIII asked the Pope for an annulment in 1525.  Pope Clement VII refused, although perhaps because he was imprisoned by Charles V, Catherine's nephew (and even once he was free, he was still influenced by the Holy Roman Emperor).  Henry sent Cardinal Wolsey to try again, but he failed (and even began secret plans—later discovered--to have Anne Boleyn exiled).  Dissatisfied with him, and under pressure from a new mistress, Anne Boleyn, he removed him from office, and he died while awaiting trial for treason.  "If I had served my God", the Cardinal said remorsefully, "as diligently as I did my king, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs."

*Henry replaced Wolsey with Sir Thomas More, author of Utopia and a prominent lawyer, scholar, and politician, who at first supported Henry strongly and denounced Wolsely, but later came to have his doubts.

*Thomas Cranmer, a friend of the Boleyns, was made Archbishop of Canterbury.

*In 1530 Catherine was banished from the royal palace.  Henry and Anne secretly married in 1532.

*Also in 1532, Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry's main advisers, began introducing bills in Parliament that criticised church abuses and ultimately forced the church to recognise the king's authority over them.  Among other things, this let the king cut off funds sent to the Pope.

*Sir Thomas More opposed this, and was removed from the office of Lord Chancellor.

*By 1533, Anne Boleyn was pregnant, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared Henry and Catherine's marriage null and void and the wedding of Henry and Anne to be good and valid. Shortly afterwards, Anne was crowned queen and gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth.

*In 1534, Cromwell led Parliament to pass the Act of Supremacy, stating that the King of England was the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.  Disagreeing with this act was treason, punishable by death (as Sir Thomas More discovered in 1535; in 1935 he was made a saint).

*This began the English Reformation.  It maintained most of the liturgy and traditions of the Catholic Church, but transferred supremacy to the King. The liturgy was held in English.  Furthermore, priests were allowed to marry, and the monastic life was brought to an end by the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1542, in which the king seized a lot of church land for himself or as gifts for his followers.  As time passed, shrines of saints were demolished as the English Reformation moved further from traditional Catholicism.

*Unfortunately, all of this was for nothing.  Anne Boleyn did not give Henry a male heir, either, and she was eventually executed on trumped-up charges (incest, treason) not long after Henry took on a new mistress.

*Jane Seymour gave Henry the son he wanted, Edward VI.  However, Jane died of an infection contracted during childbirth.

*Thomas Cromwell arranged a fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves, sister of a German Protestant duke.  When Henry met her, though, he declared her to be as ugly as a horse.  He soon wished to annul that marriage, and the annulment was granted.  Cromwell, who was behind the marriage, fell out of favour and was eventually beheaded.

*On the same day Cromwell was executed, Henry married Catherine Howard, first cousin to Anne Boleyn.  She soon had an affair, however, which Archbishop Cranmer brought to the King's notice, and she was beheaded.

*The next year, Henry married a wealthy widow, Katherine Parr.  They argued over religious reform, as Henry was still conservative at heart, and she was a reformer.  Eventually she learnt to be quiet (to save her life) and she even helped Henry improve his relationship with his daughters (whom he had declared illegitimate years before).  Katherine Parr would ultimately outlive Henry (as would Anne of Cleves, who got a castle of her own as part of the annulment proceedings).

*By the end of Henry's reign he had gone from a promising young prince to an egotistical tyrant, using his power to execute his enemies.  In later life his health also declined, as a jousting accident in 1536 led to an ulceration in his leg and excessive weight gain.

*Upon his death in 1547 (aged 55), Henry was succeeded by his young son, Edward VI.  Since he as only nine, he was placed under the care of 16 executors to rule in his stead until the age of 18 (which he never reached).

*The most powerful men on the Regency Council supported more reform of the church than Henry had.  Purgatory was removed from Anglican doctrine, statues, ornaments, fancy vestments, and stone altars (replaced with wooden tables) were removed.  An Act of Uniformity required that all churches use the Book of Common Prayer, and that it only be used in English (which caused protests in Cornwall and Devon, both Catholic-leaning (and in Cornwall, non-English-speaking) areas).

*The English Reformation came to a halt with the death of Edward VI at age 15 in 1553. 

*Edward was succeeded by his half-sister, Mary I.  She was a strict Catholic married to a strict Catholic, Philip II of Spain (with whom she fell in love upon seeing his portrait; his view of their marriage was strictly political—England could be a valuable ally and a valuable kingdom to pass on to his children).  Philip was styled King of England, but had no real power, and soon went back to Spain, leaving Mary in England.

*Mary set out to undo her father's break with Rome.  Parliament slowly agreed to retract most of the laws that enabled the English Reformation and the Pope recognised Mary and a new Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury (Thomas Cardinal Pole), after Mary had Archbishop Thomas Cranmer executed.

*Cranmer was one of three Anglican bishops to be burnt at the stake, as were many Protestants of lesser rank.  Over the course of five years, Mary used the courts to have numerous (perhaps 270 or more) people found guilty of heresy.  For her violence against her own people (which was probably exaggerated for religious and politcal propaganda), she came to be known as Bloody Mary.

*Twice during her rule, Mary suffered phantom pregnancies, probably caused by tumours.  She died in 1558 at age 42 during what she believed to be childbirth, but might have been another phantom pregnancy (perhaps caused by ovarian cancer).

*Mary was followed by her half-sister Elizabeth I. 

*One of her first actions was to confirm the Church of England as a Protestant church with herself as Supreme Governor.  This is known as the Elizabethan Religious Settlement.  It established the Church of England as independent from Rome, instituted the use of the Book of Common Prayer, and required people to attend Sunday Church, but also reduced the harshness of laws against Catholics, brought back vestments and communion rites similar to those of the Catholic Church, and generally tried to create a state in which most people could be reasonably satisfied.  Then she lived for four decades and made it stick.

*Elizabeth never married, although she often received offers of marriage from important English nobles and foreign princes and kings (including Philip II).  She ultimately accepted none of them, because she feared she would lose her power over England, and perhaps even England's independence.  Some of her advisers felt this was short-sighted, as it might lead to civil war upon her death.

*Elizabeth's foreign policy was defensive.  Over a century after the Hundred Years' War, English still could not afford a major foreign conflict—Mary had even lost Calais.  To avoid fighting on land, Elizabeth built on her father and grandfather's navy, encouraging and promoting adventurers and privateers who raided Spain's shipping and colonies.  Among the most famous of these 'Sea Dogs' was Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.

*She even supported Sir Walter Raleigh's attempts to establish a colony in the new world named in her honour:  Virginia.

*Despite her attempts to avoid war, Elizabeth had two major rivals:  Scotland and Spain.

*Scotland and France had, for centuries, shared the Auld Alliance, and during Elizabeth's reign, France encouraged Scotland to harass England.  There was a particular concern than Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots (and granddaughter of Henry VII), might be persuaded to try to seize the English throne, to which she had the next best claim after Elizabeth.

*Mary seemed suspicious to both the English and the Scottish, as she was Catholic and had been raised in France.  Eventually Mary became involved in plots against Elizabeth and England, and was captured (partly with the help of Protestant Scotsmen), imprisoned, and beheaded.

*A greater worry than her cousin was Elizabeth's former brother-in-law, Philip II, King of Spain.  In 1585 England signed a treaty with the Dutch, who were trying to win independence from Spain.  This sparked a 19-year-conflict between Spain and England.

*In 1588, Philip gathered a vast fleet, known as the Invincible Armada.  It was to sail from Spain, meet up with 30,000 Spanish troops in the Netherlands, and invade England, with the support of Pope Sixtus V, who regarded it as a crusade against protestantism.

*The fleet was made up of 130 warships and converted merchant vessels, 8,000 sailors, 18,000 soldiers, 2,500 guns, and was commanded by the highly experienced Alvara de Bazan, but right before the Armada's departure, he died and was replaced by a man not his equal.

*The Spanish fleet was met by a smaller, but better organised, English fleet led by Sea Dogs like Sir Francis Drake.  The English also used fireships to disrupt the Spanish lines of battle and eventually to scatter out of fear in the night.  Once scattered, the smaller but more manoueveable English ships closed with the Spanish and outfought them—the English were better cannoneers and marines.

*As the Spanish fleet was divided and weakened, it tried to sail home around Scotland and Ireland, where North Atlantic storms sank and shipwrecked more vessels (and many sailors who made it to shore were killed by English soldiers in Ireland).  This storm was later called the Protestant Wind (Philip said "I sent the Armada against men, not God's winds and waves").

*This did not end Spain's power, but it weakened it.  After this, England, the Netherlands, and France could begin to explore and colonise the world successfully, and although Spain would remain wealthy for centuries, her military would never enjoy the pre-eminence it had held for nearly a century.  It was also seen as a great symbolic victory for Protestants everywhere.

*The Elizabethan Era is often seen as a golden age in England, as the beginning of England's rise to world prominence and global dominance.  It was also a time of flourishing literature and drama, which helped to define the English language.

*Early Modern English developed from Middle English in the 1300s, as the English kings began speaking English and Norman French fell out of favour. 

*Between 1300 and 1600, the Great Vowel Shift changed the pronunciation of many English words.

*William Caxton began printing in London in 1476, and eventually London's centrality in the printing business gave Southern England's dialect national prominence.

*Later, other printers and the nationwide publication and mandated use of the Book of Common Prayer brought a standardised language throughout the country.

*On the other hand, printing solidified the spellings of some words before their pronunciation had reached its modern standard; it is not that many English words are not spelled as the are pronounced, it is that they are spelled as they WERE pronounced centuries ago.

*Early Modern English still had different pronunciations and diction than Modern English (post 1650 or so), such as thee and thou for second person informal singular, and the conjugations for 2nd and 3rd person singular verbs (thou takest, he taketh).  Also, my became mine and thy became thine before a vowel (e.g. 'that is mine apple, it is not thine apple').

*Discuss hither, here, and hence.

*The long and short s remained in printing for centuries.

*The King James Bible would keep Early Modern English around for centuries after it died out in common speech, and Shakespeare, although sounding different from 21st century English is still essentially understandable without a specialised dictionary or glossary.  After all, Shakespeare was among the great writers of the Elizabethan era who helped define the English language as we know it today.