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Permission to use Heritage History documents or images for commercial purposes, or more information about our collection of traditional history resources can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected] Original Copyright 1909 by Samuel Harding. 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS QUEEN ANNE, THE LAST OF THE STUARTS (1702-1714) ..... 119 THE FIRST HANOVERIAN KINGS ......................................... 123 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 4 WINNING THE BRITISH EMPIRE ........................................... 126 BRITAIN AND THE BRITONS .................................................... 5 GEORGE III. AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION .................. 131 THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN ....................................................... 8 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CHANGES .................................... 136 THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH .............................................. 12 ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION .......................... 142 THE ENGLISH ACCEPT CHRISTIANITY ................................... 15 A PERIOD OF REFORM (1815-1837) .................................... 149 KING ALFRED AND THE DANES ............................................ 20 THE EARLY REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA............................. 154 THE NORMANS CONQUER ENGLAND .................................... 25 GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI................................................. 159 THE RULE OF THE NORMANS ................................................ 29 ENGLAND AND IRELAND ..................................................... 163 HENRY II. THE FIRST PLANTAGENET KING ........................... 34 THE BRITISH EMPIRE UNDER EDWARD VII. ....................... 167 RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED AND THE CRUSADES ............. 38 KING JOHN AND THE GREAT CHARTER ................................. 43 THE BARONS' WARS AGAINST HENRY III ............................. 47 THE FIRST TWO EDWARDS ................................................... 49 THE RISE OF PARLIAMENT .................................................... 53 EDWARD III. AND THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR .................... 56 RICHARD II., THE LAST PLANTAGENET KING ....................... 60 THE CLOSE OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR ......................... 65 THE WARS OF THE ROSES (1455-1485) ................................ 70 HENRY VII., AND THE BEGINNING OF MODERN TIMES ......... 74 HENRY VIII. AND THE SEPARATION FROM ROME ................. 78 THE REFORMATION ESTABLISHED ........................................ 83 ENGLAND UNDER ELIZABETH .............................................. 88 JAMES I., THE FIRST STUART KING ...................................... 93 CHARLES I. AND PARLIAMENT .............................................. 96 WAR BETWEEN KING AND PARLIAMENT (1642-1649) ........ 100 COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE (1649-1660) ........ 103 CHARLES II. AND THE RESTORATION (1660-1685) ............. 107 JAMES II. AND "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" (1685-1689) ..... 111 THE REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY (1689-1702) ............. 115 Original Copyright 1909 by Samuel Harding. 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 stronger peoples. That part of it which the Romans knew as the island of Britain was given up when Rome's troubles came thick CHAPTER I upon her. The English then came over from the Continent of Europe and took possession. And it is from them that we now give the name "England" to the greater part of the island. INTRODUCTION We begin our story first with an account of the island itself, and then of the different peoples who lived there before The story of the English is the story of our forefathers. the English came. Afterward we will trace the story of the Most of us in America, if we try to learn something of our English, as they grow from small beginnings to their present grandfathers, and of their grandfathers before them, find that the great strength. story takes us back to some town or county in England. We find ourselves descended from some smith, or weaver, or tailor, or some other honest man of that "tight little isle." And when, in addition, we ask where we got our government, our church organization, and our ways of living, we are again led back by many a path to the island of Great Britain. So, if we wish truly to know how we came to be what we are, we must first ask who the English are,—where they came from, what their country is like, and what their history has been. We must see how they began with a very simple life. How, little by little, through many long wars, they changed from heathens to Christians, and built great and beautiful churches. How they have become industrious and energetic, building great ships and railways, warehouses and factories, helping to make the powers of nature bow to the will of man. And how, from living in wild and scattered tribes, they came to have one strong and free government; and how its area spread until now their power is felt in many lands, and millions of men are proud to say that they are of English or British race. The English began their story at a time when the story of the Romans was coming to a close. The Romans were great conquerors for some time before the birth of Christ, and they ruled the lands about the Mediterranean Sea, and beyond, for hundreds of years. But at last they were obliged to give up that task. Their empire was broken into many parts, which were taken by barbarous but Original Copyright 1909 by Samuel Harding. 4 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 The sea took the people of these islands for its own. It CHAPTER II shut them off from their enemies in the early days of their weakness. It gave them plenty of warm rains, which makes grass and grain grow green and tall. It gave them abundance of fish for BRITAIN AND THE BRITONS food; and when they became stronger as a people, it furnished them broad highways by which they might trade with other POINTS TO BE NOTICED nations. So the people of Great Britain have put their trust in the sea, looking to it for their wealth and their strength. The great The things which fitted the British Isles to be the home of poet Shakespeare speaks of their land as— civilized men. "This fortress built by Nature for herself, What kind of people the early inhabitants were; why they were overcome. Against infection and the hand of war; Who the Britons were; whence they came; how they lived; their This happy breed of men, this little world, chief weakness in government. This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall From the city of Calais, on the northern coast of France, Or as a moat defensive to a house, one may look over the water on a clear day and see the white Against the envy of less happy lands." cliffs of Dover, in England. At this point the English Channel is But Great Britain has many advantages besides the sea, only twenty-one miles wide. But this narrow water has else it would be no better off than many other islands. dangerous currents, and often fierce winds sweep over it, so that small ships find it hard to cross. This rough Channel has more First, its climate is excellent, neither very cold in winter than once spoiled the plans of England's enemies, and the nor very warm in summer. The British Isles are as far north as English people have many times thanked God for their the bleak peninsula of Labrador in North America, yet the protecting seas. summers in England are about as warm as in Northern Minnesota, and their winters are only as cold as in Virginia. The Indeed, the British Isles belong more to the sea than to reason is that along the western coasts of Ireland and Scotland the land. They once formed a peninsula, jutting out