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Hist S.. 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS HOW MEN LIVED FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO ..................... 4 HENRY VII AND THE AGE OF DISCOVERY ............................... 9 HOW HENRY VII RULED ENGLAND ...................................... 13 HOW HENRY VIII CHANGED THE OLD ORDER ...................... 16 THOMAS CROMWELL AND THE MONASTERIES ...................... 20 VIOLENT CHANGES (1547-1558) .......................................... 27 QUEEN ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS ................. 34 SPAIN AND THE SEA-ROVERS ................................................ 37 THE SPANISH ARMADA (1588) ............................................. 40 THE DOINGS OF ELIZABETH'S SAILORS ................................. 47 ENGLAND'S GREATNESS IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH ........... 49 THE GREAT DRAMA OF THE STUART PERIOD ........................ 54 ENGLAND THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO ............................. 57 WHAT GUNPOWDER PLOT WAS (1605) ................................ 64 THE MISRULE OF THE STUARTS—JAMES I ........................... 69 THE MISRULE OF THE STUARTS—CHARLES I ....................... 72 THE MISRULE OF THE STUARTS—ELEVEN YEARS' RULE ..... 75 THE STORY OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT ................................ 78 THE GREAT CIVIL WAR ........................................................ 82 TRIAL AND DEATH OF CHARLES I ......................................... 90 OLIVER CROMWELL AND THE COMMONWEALTH .................. 93 THE REIGN OF CHARLES II .................................................... 99 JAMES II AND THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION ........................ 104 WILLIAM III AND THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT .............. 107 QUEEN ANNE AND MARLBOROUGH .................................... 110 A REVIEW OF LIFE AND PROGRESS IN STUART TIMES ......... 113 THE TUDOR KINGS AND QUEENS. SUMMARY OF CHIEF DATES ................................................ 116 QUESTIONS AND COMPOSITION EXERCISES ......................... 117 Original Copyright 1912 by M. B. Synge and F.R. Hist S.. 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 What was life in England like during these five reigns? CHAPTER I We must first imagine a country without many of those modern comforts which to-day we look upon as necessaries. To begin with, there were no trains, no motors, no cabs, no steamers or HOW MEN AND WOMEN LIVED FOUR bicycles. Thus people had to ride on horseback or walk or row HUNDRED YEARS AGO on the rivers to get from one place to another. There was no electric light or gas; so the Tudors had either to go to bed with the sun, or work by means of candles and lamps. There were no pavements or shops till Elizabeth's reign; the people bought and sold on market-days in the open market or made what they needed at home. There were no libraries; books were expensive even for the rich; many of the poor people were taught by the religious orders and the clergy were largely recruited from the ranks of the labouring classes. There were no letters or newspapers or post- offices or pillar-boxes. Letters and messages were carried from place to place by men on horseback, and no telegraph or telephone wires disfigured the country. Then again they had no tea or coffee to drink. All the people (from monarch to peasant) drank beer; they drank beer KING HENRY VIII, AT THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD. for breakfast, beer for dinner and beer for supper at six. They had no potatoes, no cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots or lettuces; It is always easier to grasp the great movements of they had no strawberries or rhubarb, no currants or lemons. history when the figures moving across the ever-shifting scenes Neither had they tobacco to smoke, or soap to wash with, or appear as real men and women; when we can picture to pencils to write with, or pianos to play. ourselves their dress and their food, their manners and their customs, the houses in which they lived, and the work in which And yet, without these things, which play so large a part they were employed. Thus, and thus only can we live again in in our lives to-day, it was a "Merrie England" in the days of the the ages that are past. Tudors, except when insurrections and religious persecution brought misery to many homes. The monarchs delighted in the It is four hundred and thirty years since the first Tudor rich display of pomp, in royal journeys through the land, in began to reign. The period, known to history as the Tudor tournaments, and in Christmas revels, when England rang with period, begins with Henry VII in 1485 and ends with Queen mirth from end to end. "Sports and fooleries, feasts and frolics, Elizabeth in 1603. During this interval a whole family reigned in games and revels filled the joyous days from All Hallows' Eve to turn, Henry VII, his son Henry VIII, and his three grandchildren the Feast of Pentecost." Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. Original Copyright 1912 by M. B. Synge and F.R. Hist S.. 4 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 The beating of drums, the shrill blast of trumpets, the of furs, frills, ruffs and feathers; they wore doublets, or stuffed ringing of many bells were as music in their ears. And when we garments, of gold-coloured cloth, coats of crimson satin, long read that the musicians of Queen Elizabeth's household included hose, fur-lined hoods, rings, brooches, chains, jewelled caps and eighteen trumpeters, seven violinists, six men who played flutes broad-toed shoes with Tudor ribbon roses on the instep. A and six who played sackbuts, we feel there must have been some pointed beard and a large ruff marked the courtier of the want of refinement in this matter. sixteenth century. Ruffs were also worn by women during the But the people were light-hearted. Dancing was a very reign of Elizabeth—their whole dress was stiff and unnatural. favourite amusement; every one danced, from the kings and They wore large round petticoats stiffened with whalebone, so queens to the milkmaids; even grown men and women danced large round the hips that a sort of table was formed on which the round the May-pole every May Day. arms could rest, while the upper part of the figure was squeezed into a stiff pointed bodice with low neck and full sleeves.