England is a nation which has had a significant impact on, and in fact, has played a significant role in shaping human civilization for hundreds of years, and today, in this video, we're going to take a look at that history and explore just what England is, who its people are, and how it became the world changing nation that it is today. So, to start you, have to know exactly What England is, and I'm guessing if you click on this video, you've probably heard of England before, and that's great. But a lot of people don't know the difference between England and Britain, or England and The United Kingdom, and things like that so, really quickly here: Here's the island that we call "Great Britain". The term "Great" isn't about ego, It's about geography. Here is England. It's important to understand Scotland (here) and Wales (here) are also British. This whole thing is Britain. So, while all English are British, not all British are English. The confusion typically comes from the fact that today these three countries are all united into one single country - The United Kingdom, which also includes Northern Ireland and used to include the rest of Ireland for reasons that we'll get into today. But because England is the seat of the union, the seat of the kingdom, the term "British" is often mistakenly only applied to England. So, with that out of the way, let's focus on that part of the island which we call England, and let's go back a little over two thousand years. At this time, England was inhabited by various Celtic tribes not "Sel-tik", "Kel-tic". Compared to the Mediterranean nations of Europe around at the time, such as the Romans, the people here were primitive though not as primitive as you would imagine. The Celtic tribal societies of early England were fairly complex agricultural societies. They were in contact with the European mainland, and on the bright side of this trade made its way to and from Pre-Roman England, but on the dark side, they were at times invaded by tribes from the European mainland. Though they all spoke a similar language and followed similar religion, which was a predecessor of Modern Celtic languages such as Welsh, for example, they were not united societally as a people. Accordingly, of course, they waged war with each other. During those wars that would build defensive structures much like the one shown here, called "Maiden Castle", dating back long before the Romans even arrived on the island. The religion practiced here was similar to much of Northwestern Europe at the time, in fact, the Romans noted that the religion that they practice in England was very similar to the one which they practiced in Gaul, also known as modern France. It was a Pagan religion. But, what's very interesting about it to most people is the Druidism that was practiced here, and the rest of Britain and Ireland as well, as The Druids were (kind of ) unique to the British isles. The Druids were a very interesting group of people. They were religious authorities of course, but they weren't just priests. They were also politically involved, they were doctors, they were judges, they were historians, they were advisors, things like that. They were very much a group of elite in iron age England, and their opinion had considerable impact on the early societies here. Much of what we know about the societies of this time comes to us from the Romans and their records of the Island, and we see evidence of the impacts that the Druids had on their society when the Romans do come to the island that they call "Britannia". Now, it's fair to have mixed opinions on the religion that was practiced here and throughout the rest of the British isles called simply "Celtic Paganism". There was some human sacrifice involved which is to most of us today pretty abhorrent. The Romans back then didn't like it either. They were appalled by it, they discussed how horrendous it was that the Celts would do such a thing during their gladiator fights. We've actually found some evidence of this human sacrifice in the United Kingdom and Ireland This is a picture of a decently preserved corpse of an individual who was a part of these practices on these times. This individual, however, is the Tollund Man from Denmark. On the upside though, as I've explained before the Pagan Celtic beliefs stuck around in various ways to Influence us today. The most notable example is perhaps Halloween - the Celtic night of Samhain, which was Christianized and became modernized to the holiday that we know today. There was no writing in the society, in fact the Druids, when confronted with writing, were fine without it. They claimed that writing things down was bad for your memory, so, a lot of what we know about England at this time comes to us from archaeological finds, or, as I said, the accounts of the Romans. And it is when the Romans invade Britain that we really get to understand the world here at the time. In 55 BC, Julius Caesar invaded Britain and again in 54 BC, but he was unsuccessful both times, essentially gaining No territory. Part of the justification he had for invading island was that the people of this region had assisted the Gauls against Rome due to their economic relationship with them. They were both Celts, they both related to each other, they traded, and things like that. Remember, also, that I said that the British tribes were not isolated from the rest of Europe, Like one might think they were. But, the true age of Roman Britain comes about 90 years later in 43 AD When forty thousand Roman soldiers set sail from the province of Gaul to invade the Island. Now there were a number of obvious benefits to be obtained from invading and capitulating Britannia - trade and resources and the expansion of the Empire and all that - but a huge motivation here was that the emperor at the time wanted to improve his image. Emperor Claudius came to become emperor, and he was quite justifiably insecure. He was seen as kind of weak and even moronic by his peers and by the population. He thought that if he could go to Britain and conquer it, and effectively, do what Julius Caesar did not do, he would bolster his image quite significantly. And so, he ordered the operation and put his brother-in-law in command of it. The Roman soldiers were Admittedly frightened about his prospects before they left records tell us that the morale was kind of low britain at this time was the edge of the unknown so they were obviously very scared they were concerned that the island harbored for His savages and demons and such things morale though did change in the roman set sail for britain landing in Modern-day kent Unfortunately for the native britons though when the romans landed they made a mistake The Britons actually caught wind of the fear among the romans and assume that there would be a mutiny before the Romans could land So one of the most powerful tribes on the island the kind of aloni did not make a proper move to defend the shore They simply assumed the invasion will dissolve before it arrived But it did not and the romans landed and established a fort and even a triumphal arch of educating such things and then they pressed into the rest of the Island now there was obviously a good deal of Conflict as the romans pressed into the rest of Britannia there were at times a number of Revolts amongst occupied tribes But a significant amount of tribes about Eleven in fact actually surrendered to the romans during this time before conflict even emerged why well the Roman military machine as Historians often refer to it was simply too powerful the Romans were susceptible to Guerrilla warfare of course but out on the open field tribes Like those in Britain at the time did not have much of a chance to bolster This image of being a powerful and unstoppable Invasion Force when Claudius actually comes to visit britain he enters on an elephant a beast which the people of this region had obviously never Seen before they were astonished Roman occupation sets in and Britannia Modern-day England again becomes a province a defining moment in early history not everyone is so satisfied with being occupied however Boudicca a woman of the ice sonny tribe in particular was not satisfied Boadicea was the wife of a very important tribal figure who maintained an alliance with the Romans however after her husband's death? The Romans turn on them She was beaten and her two daughters were raped and ended in that she did not easily forget around 60 ad Boudicca Gathered Forces from multiple British tribes Primarily the isis unny in turn Avanti's as well some others and led a revolt against the Romans the revolt was not a minor incident Her forces would cause extreme chaos in the province as she killed thousands of inhabitants and burned down three Seas Including londonium if that name sounds familiar to you the situation was becoming so extreme that the emperor at the time Nero considered What's drawing from Britain entirely? However, Boudicca was eventually defeated She was never captured by the Romans rather It was likely that she committed suicide to Avoid capitulation following this incident Britannia was firmly Roman the Romans would hold on to this province until 410 ad Now talking about history so far back that might not seem like such a long time, but keep in mind that was 350 years you had it states today for comparison is only 241 years old, so it was a decent span of time So after that fairly turbulent time period Conflict with the pics to the north and other rebellions and disorder such things rome starts to become Weakened in its homeland. It simply can't afford to spare troops or supplies to defend this and provinces like Britannia So when rome starts become weakened and the province starts to face threats from the picts and the dramatic tribe is threatening Britain the emperor Honorius basically tells them that they're on their own which was shocking to the british people and the Roman empire just Altogether fell 66 years later though the Romans had technically left britain It's important to consider what the Romans had left behind at this point roads infrastructure cities like London, Manchester, New York and of course Christianity which will play a major role in English history and Following the fall of the Roman Empire we begin to see a rise from the struggle the beginnings of what will be Eventually called England but not quite yet Following 410 it's not like as soon as the Roman military left The British Society is suddenly reverted back to its pre Roman state was of course still roman britain the aristocracy still held its power Structure was still Roman the britons were still Christians latin were still spoken, ETc, Etc What had happened was that the britons were just suddenly given self-rule mostly against their wishes But it was what they were stuck with they pleaded multiple times for the romans to come back following 410 but knows with no such Thing happening they set up their own military and defense Modeled of course off rome's so even though the roman empire is a gun these people are still identifying as romans romans To sidle structure as I said is still in place, and I will continue even after the roman empire has fallen Despite their efforts to defend themselves They're not very successful picks from Scotland Irish from Ireland and other Raiders tear apart the country So the people of former Roman britain come up with a very Roman solution to the issue Hire Mercenaries To deal with it, and that's what they do They hire a group of very effective Mercenaries Ax had already been fighting on the side of the romans as mercenaries from Northern Germany known as the Anglo-Saxons three ships of these people are sent over to deal with the picts and deal with them They do indeed the Tick's are deep They're badly defeated and driven back into Modern-day scotland as tribute for the service the britons give the saxon some land in Modern-day Kent which leads to many more sections coming over to settle in the land thousands of them in fact And it's not just war your mercenaries coming over anymore it's women and children and that means they're seeing adding on to this it's entirely likely that the Anglo-Saxons and other North germanic Peoples had already been living on the island for a while before all these incidents Unfortunately though after the pics are dealt with the britons discover that the saxons aren't very good neighbors. They're pagans. They're considerably different They don't see eye to eye on the worst things and eventually the whole thing backfires on the britons and the saxons invade them Conflict erupts and the British are led by a leader named Ambrosius or le honest a romana Briton considered to be one of the last? Romans and so the two sides go to war over what will become? England eventually after a sustained war the two sides meet at the battle of mom's bed oconus around the year 500 probably near the Modern City of Bath, this is a very important battle It's here that the britons finally defeat the saxons and secure their existence against total domination Following this battle the sections are left With the east of England where they develop around 30 kingdoms to the west though the britons actually keep on living their land is named Saxon word for foreigner wales is during this conflict also that we begin to hear legends of King arthur and in fact it's said that a figure known as arthur was responsible for the British Victory at the battle of mons Batiatus and Also for the long period of peace with the Saxons which followed how much of this legend is true well? what really happened in detail is pretty unclear obviously these major events and Territorial changes and battles and such things really did happen but it probably wasn't as much of a solidifying clean cut and division between britons and saxons as Tales tend to tell in fact probably a lot of britons just Assimilated into saxon culture as they were invaded in more saxons emigrated to the new lands king arthur may have been real he may represent an actual figure again, though the truth remains unfortunately unclear But historians are emphasizing that following his conflict and such it wasn't as much of a saxon invasion as it was a saxon migration there's Evidence in fact with Saxons and Britons living together in circumstances and just eventually the britons who did not go to wales just kind of adapted to the dominant Saxon culture and language and Traditions and things like that the angles and the saxons were just two of the North germanic peoples to settle England They were also primarily joined by the jews and some DNa evidence suggested the Friesians from Modern-Day Holland join them as well these tribes followed very similar religions and very lightly spoke very similar languages and in fact they had little difficulty communicating with each other through Time these dramatic tribes would cease to think of themselves as different from each other and reach a point of integration at which point They would simply prefer to call themselves the anglo-Saxons or in their anglo-Saxon language Anglican why not sexist or sex when considering the Great importance of the Saxon Tribe? Well again the gradual integration made a distinction less important Interesting to note though even today in many celtic languages the name for England is still based off the saxon people Shoshanna for example in Modern Irish the four hundred or so years following the roman Empire's fall is a period marked by very large migrations of people across Europe in general and England continued to absorb immigrants from Northern Germany anglo-Saxon England through the 500 to the 880 was ruled by scores of in a very turbulent and admittedly confusing landscape that in fact It's not just confusing to us today There's reports of foreigners from the mainland being confused by it the names of some kingdoms in fact are lost to history But the major ones included one such as kent wessex Sussex, Mercia and Northumbria throughout the Seventh Century idea the Anglo Saxon people began to convert to Christianity the remnants of this Conversion lasts to this day Though the Roman Empire had fallen to pagan invaders the descendants of these pagans across Europe did in fact end up obviously Converting to Christianity and pressures from the mainland wales and also Ireland which had already been to birth Christianity Led to the Anglo-Saxons adopting the religion as well and through Christianity they connected themselves to the larger European picture in a critical time when post Roman Europe was forming Despite conflicts and lack of political unity among the early English this was a time of economic stability and prosperity There was a time period In which anglo-saxon language religion culture society and such things could begin to take root unfortunately at the same time that the Anglo-Saxons were taking root in England another force not far from their island was beginning to take flight a force which due to Geography the English would bear the full brunt Oh, and this forest would permanently alter the course of English development this force developing in Modern-day, Denmark Sweden and Norway we know stay as the vikings to elaborate a little bit here the word Viking more correctly refers not to the norse people but to the North's raiders and explorers who wreaked Havoc on Europe for over 250 years a period known as the Viking age and England would be forever changed by it and in fact the viking age would begin in England off the coast of Northumbria on an Island known as Lindisfarne now We've already talked about the vikings on this channel before so I won't go, too Into depth on their origins if you're interested in that I have videos on my channel already I made a mistake of breaking them into like five separate videos But you know it's the same content essentially so these vikings arrived out of scandinavia - as I said the island of lindisfarne Lindisfarne was a small island home to an Abbey of monks who are living there? It was not a well defended area and that was actually kind of as I've said the politics in England at this time were very turbulent and unstable you've had kings and kingdoms being the victims of and The propagators of these plots and conflicts that seem to continue without cessation so churches essentially just kind of wanted to be in isolation Away from all that now the attack on Lindisfarne in which these vikings just showed up and essentially slaughtered or enslaved all of these defenses monks was not the first viking raid on the British isles not even really the first raid technically on England But it was the first specifically recorded major incident is recorded in what are called the anglo-Saxon chronicles? And that's why it marks the beginning of the viking age for the next 60 years England will be plagued by viking raids now It's not as if the English kings did nothing about this eventually it did wise up and prepare defenses against the Vikings which were Effective in fact many viking raiders just kind of gave up on England I started going to weaker Scotland and Ireland But the lack of political unity in England prevented any united response against the viking raids in the beginning now I said 60 years I don't mean to mislead you to think that after these 60 years the things got better on the contrary they got worse The Vikings say instead of raiding England let's just go and take it over and so in the year 865 a few viking leaders actually assemble an army to go and do this. It's not clear how large the army was it might have been about a thousand warriors it might have been over a thousand it might have been even Less than a thousand so not a magnificently large army keep in mind There was no single norse nation at the time to raise such an army it was more like a coalition of a bunch of different viking groups coming together out of a mutual interest who would and all Likelihood not Associate much after England had been conquered it was a small army, but it was a considerably devastating one So here is England at the time as you can see there are fewer kingdoms here than was the case in the seventh century It's mostly dominated by this time by Murcia, Northumbria And wessex what the celts to the west and north and some other anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the east here? so the vikings land in the territory of one of these smaller Eastern Saxon Kingdoms East Anglia the East Anglian Centrally put up much of a fight at first they sort of just surrounded and like let the vikings pass through their land and aged 66 they moved to attack nor some bria they took the city of york and the northumbrian essentially surrendered - and the vikings put a puppet king on the Northumbrian throne he saying leo later rejects his viking domination and stands against them of their crushed and her leader king Edmund was killed So by now as you can see the vikings have made very significant progress into england with actually very little conflict now they move to invade the kingdom of mercia the mersey ins put up quite a fight and they call an Assistance in the kingdom of wessex to do so in the year aged 70 a viking named bags egg brings Reinforcements called a great summer army with a viking army now strengthens they begin to pillage England and move toward the kingdom of wessex the king of Wessex at this time the king named Ethelred and he leads an army along with his younger brother Alfred only 22 at the time to take on the vikings. They were at first not very successful But eventually they met at what is remembered as a battle of ashdown Ethelred and alfred split their forces into two the vikings began to advance across the field but ethelred Insisted on praying before advancing to meet them alfred on the other hand felt that there was no time for prayer And he charged toward the vikings with his half of the army and what the help of his brother who later did join him? He was victorious and the vikings retreated back to the land which they had conquered in England referred to as the danelaw shown here Ethelred actually died that same year and alfred rises to become king the vikings though defeated at his val were definitely not done And they continue to threaten Mercia and wessex alfred at first paid them off, but eventually in the year 1840 of back to the Danelaw and it was clear that England would remain Accordingly alfred gets two very important titles placed to him in history the first is the great He is only one of two monarchs in English history to be called the great the Second is that he goes from being called King of the west saxons Which is wessex - king of the anglo-saxons this idea of anglo-Saxon unity begins to take root here? And it continues on with his successors in the year nine Ten Alfred's son took the even greater limits he conquered the vikings shown here in east Anglia and the Vikings here in Murcia as well And began moving northward eventually capturing you Now as you can see Edward had control of a considerable amount of Modern England he ruled over many of the formerly divided Anglo-Saxons, and this is where we begin to see the title king of england be truly accurately used edwards son appleton continues The expansion of this kingdom and his neighbors don't really like it in fact the scottish and Irish kingdoms of the day get kind of concerned about this rising English problem They unite with the vikings temporarily and take on FSN at the battle of bruna burr in 937 which the English won thus preventing the progress from being fractured for the moment anyway in 978 the Vikings returned on the Leadership of Harald Bluetooth And the king of England known promptly as elf already unready was unfit to face in order to even maintain England's existence He was forced to pay tribute to them for 20 years which greatly crippled the English economy in the year 1000 1 Fo red married the daughter of a viking king the king of Norway, but in 1,000 - he foolishly ordered the Massacre of Norse settlers in his territory who were politically more aligned with the rising nation of Denmark than just more the ambiguous term? Norse which led to another 10-year conflict with the danish vikings ethelred floods in norway where he subsequently died in? 1014 the same Year as Spain fourth beards the King of the - Now the throne of England was up in the air and knut the son of spain defeated ethelred son Edmond and claimed the throne for himself becoming king of England in 1016 knut wasn't done there two years later He claimed the son of Denmark and in 1028 the sort of Norway as well Thus founding the North Sea Empire also known as the Anglo Scandinavian Empire though knut subsequently became the Second and only other king in English history to be known as the great his empire did not last pass his death in 1035 in fact it essentially was over with his last breath knut sons did succeed him in England his line continued until 1042 when in English Saxon Edwards confessor took the throne Edward ruled until 1066 where after he died without an heir which quite obviously was going to cause some problems to Solve this Harold Godwinson The richest man in England and English accent to whom he likely did actually the throne Succeeded him in fact he hastily crown himself the day of Edwards funeral regardless though God Winston's reign was doomed from the start and many people of the day believed it Especially is how his comments had passed by England during this time it was seen as an obvious Omen that same year England was invaded by Harald Hardrada the king of Norway who had the intention of restoring the North Sea Empire? The viking forces met the English Saxons at the battle of Stamford bridge where they were Brutally defeated in heard Radha was killed by an arrow the better of the two heralds had won his death and the failure of the vikings conquest marks the end of the viking age the vikings did not have an Insignificant impact on England though in fact their influence affected English history permanently they contributed Significantly to the English language they set up a number of settlements in the british isles Including the city of Dublin which would become the capital of Ireland their culture and general presence shaped anglo-Saxon England into the nation that it would become and they even laid the seeds for England's next invader the Normans It was not even a month after Harold Godwinson Victory over the vikings that in 1066 William the conqueror the Duke of Normandy invaded England in fact it was only three days later part of the justification for this was that William actually had a claim to the English throne he was related to Harold's predecessor Edward and William and in fact much of Europe believed that the throne ought to have gone to him William was very confident in his ability to conquer, England Tales were later told his mother had dream of a great tree Extending over normandy in England the night that he was conceived now here is normandy as today a part of France But it's important to remember Normandy was culturally and linguistically in such very similar to france But the Normans themselves including William or in French guillaume were the descendants of vikings who had carved out that territory about 150 Years early and simply integrated themselves into front society in fact the name normandy is related to Northland ie the vikings so william invades england with around 10,000 or so men and within a few weeks He needs harold Godwinson who commended maybe around 8,000 men at the battle of hastings Harold and William were extremely eager to meet each other in fact reports tell that william actually put his armor on Backwards at first to rush to meet him the battle lasted for most of the in the Normans Outgunned with having more archers and cavalry and likely outnumbered the anglo-saxons the anglo-saxons were defeated at this bell Godwinson was likely killed Toward the end of it and soon thereafter Hope of victory against and Normans was lost William the conqueror now ruled one of the most powerful and stable kingdoms in Europe of the Day Hastings went down as one of the most significant battles in English history major changes called the spell never again with an anglo-Saxon rule England the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy - had largely been dispossessed and replaced with Norman Aristocrats and well Saxon English was now the language of the peasantry the ruling elites spoke Norman French and would actually continue to for some time but Norman French and English would not remain separate they would merge in fact modern English has a heavier influence from Norman French than the Anglo-Saxon Old English giving us a plethora of words Many Anglo Saxon Nobles simply left a country and moved to scan the Navy or Scotland or Ireland including some of Harold Godwinson Family who moved to Ireland the Normans moved in to capitulate the anglo-saxons by asserting their dominance they built churches and castles Including London tower they documented the entire country revealing to us great detail about the societal structure of England a thousand years ago They gradually eliminated slavery in England a time reporting perhaps 10% of the population was formerly enslaved But rebellion brewed in the North William faced in English sex and Rebellion which was assisted by the danish which he brutally suppressed The Normans would face other rebellions - as well as an invasion from France But their hold over England would remain firm William died the 9th of september in the year 1087 his Successors when they weren't busy trying to hold on to the ring would continue to rule England and eventually moved into Scotland and invade wales In Ireland William's successors were not quite as successful as he was though Civil war broke out over successions and monarchy would become considerably unstable and following two invasions in Scotland England enters into a period call to the anarchy Wherein King Henry the first nephew Stefan and his daughter fought for control the throne large because Henry the first son had unfortunately died unexpectedly This period which lasted 17 years is remembered for its savage violence and bloodshed Henry's daughter have divorced the holy roman emperor and had married Geoffrey two countable you which becomes a very important detail in 1033 she has a son with the count whom she named Henry Henry was destined to succeed his father But as his mother Matilda had great hopes that he would one day become king of england as well after a considerable amount of conflict with both sides coming Close to victory and the nobility switching sides accordingly each time The Civil war eventually ends in 1152 was stephen becoming king his rule was uneasy as if that wasn't obvious Following almost 20 years of Civil war but his succession was also unclear and furthermore his reign included england losing lands as scottish and welsh invaders despite these Troubles even reigned until that 11:54 two years after the anarchy officially ends by this time Henry Matilda's son was now the ruler of anjou and much of western France and he had married eleanor of aquitaine Unfortunately for Stephen his son eustace had died earlier in a year 1153 leaving him without a successor He reached an agreement with Henry of anjou Henry would succeed him and there will be peace in England regarding the succession Henry was coronated on the 25th of October Becoming Henry The second and founding the Plantagenet, Dynasty which would rule over the islands of an empire Encompassing lands which stretched from Northern England to the pyrenees so once again England had more french-speaking rulers from France in fact Henry only ever spoke very poor English French and Latin were all that the ruler of england of the day needed Henry. II was known for his great temper He was power-hungry ambitious energetic and impulsive to his benefit He used his traits to secure power from the barons back to the monarchy and allowed him to expand his empire into Scotland wales Brittany and Ireland, but to his degradation He would cause much of his own family to turn on him It would have a number of shocking incidents such as a death of thomas becket The Archbishop of Canterbury that gate in the king had been feuding for years and following a transgression It's recorded that the King said in front of his men Something along the lines of what miserable drones and traitors have a nourished and brought my household to have let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a lowborn cleric Henry's knights overhearing these words took them literally and Assassinated becket soon after an event which would ruin Henry's image across Europe now obviously Henry had no intention of actually killing the Archbishop of Canterbury But he could not control his anger and his men mistook him in 1189 Henry will be succeeded by his third son Richard the first it become to be said of Richard that he possessed a crew of deleon or the heart of a lion Because of his great success in battle most notably during the third crusade where he fought against salahuddin the Sultan of egypt in Syria But also of course in defending his father from rebellion in his youth and also in the battlefields of france defending his territories there Despite being king of England rich would spend per house as little as six months of his reign actually in England if I could didn't Have a whole lot of interests in england itself he preferred to see it as a territory which supported his much larger, European empire Richard would die in 1199 from an error wound which became infected while fighting in France He was succeeded by his younger brother John it was less of a popular ruler in fact he isn't Remembered as a very good ruler at all in English history He first rebelled against his father Henry while he was still king and then later against his brother Richard while he was King failing of course both times John was deeply concerned about being the youngest son of the royal family But when placed in positions of power such as in Ireland. He displayed greed and power hungriest despite This he still became king. It's during John's reign the tale of Robin hood is placed You know the government so bad that it's seat is actually praised John Committed quite a few mistakes during his reign he fought multiple losing wars and in fact lost Normandy to France and the all-Japan Empire really began to collapse with John Accordingly John replaced heavy taxes on the lower classes to pay for these wars and would seize land from the nobility in the church to augment his power he would even go so far as to rape the daughters of his noble subjects and personally murder a Contender to the throne while he had him imprisoned the nobles decided that they can't just sit by and let this happen in the church Was pretty unhappy, too So eventually a band of these nobles supported by the church Gathered an army and rebels against a king and they march on London and the Archbishop of Canterbury Drafts a treaty or a new rulebook that would settle the dispute the magna Carta in English the great charter it contains 63 new laws which the King was obligated to follow with regard to the church and the treatment of his barons not with so much Focus on the common people just yet, but it was a start towards Limiting the power of the government King John signed it on the 15th of June 1215 now John was essentially forced to sign it he had no intention of actually following through with it And he really didn't the pope annulled it and in fact civil war would eventually break out between John and the barons and John would continue denying the legitimacy of it until his death in 1217 even though the Principles laid out by the magna Carta had a rough start it remains a significant document as being the first time in English history that certain ideals were proposed it puts forth the idea of rule of law that the Decision of a nation should be made with great focus on the benefit of the nation not as much the ruling elite it proposes that The King may be above the laws of men But not the laws of God the king cannot be murderous in Tyrannical without being reprimanded it created a system where many of the King's decisions has to be Cross-checked with the nobles of England a system which would lead to the modern parliament quite obviously many of these principles are Central to England to this day John some Henry the third would also fight over the legitimacy of the magna Carta and would actually call Together the first equivalent of a parliament Henry would be succeeded by his son Edward the first Longshanks or a long late because he was a considerably tall and intimidating individual in 1272 this is the King from the famous movie Braveheart And I won't go incredibly into detail about that in this video because I've already done a video on the true story of that already But edward did indeed invade scotland during his reign earning him the nickname the hammer' of the scots, but he did more than that Too as prince he took part in the ninth crusade and would fight a fight in the conflicts Surrounding the magna Carter and such at the time on his coronation at Westminster Abbey Which was built by his father Edward was crowned and declared that he was only adorn the crown once again when all the lands lost by his father were his he was intent on dominating the British isles as king he put down rebellions in wales reformed English law and Reaffirmed the power of the monarchy while at the same time setting up parliament's permanent? Parliament gave him a route to taxes subjects provide funding for his various wars on off the british isles But problems regarding the power of the monarchy was what great regard to this would continue even after his rule? He ordered the expulsion of the jews from the country a ban which lasted until the 17th century Edward would have a very and costly war in scotland leaving the figures such as willy most But a number of other scottish Nobles and leaders as well even though prior to this period Scotland England lived in relative peace during us war though Edward procured the stone of scone The stone on which all Scottish Kings had thus far been coronated and took it to England who owns it to the state though it Is now kept in scotland though he maintained his kingdom with a strong hand his weaker son, Edward II lacked his strength his son edward who is only one of the 15 children that he had would ultimately lose the lands that his Father had won in Scotland to Robert the bruce and would be a generally weak leader He was a very obvious Homosexual which angered the barons of this day and likely contributed to his great? Difficulties with his wife who would betray him with Roger mortimer of wales. He neglected it came with duties He had the unfortunate coincidence of being a king during bad weather Ie a two-year famine which killed off 10% of English population, and he was just eventually deposed in 1327 Mortimer and his wife isabella world until Edward the second son Edward killed Mortimer and imprisoned his mother becoming edward the third Edward the thirds early reign consisted of war with scotland in which he had a decent amount of success But eventually agreed to a truce with a scottish Part of the reason for the war which Edward the third found himself in with his scottish was a looming threat which England was right in the middle of an alliance between Scotland and France Perhaps middle medieval England's two greatest enemies with fears of a full-on invasion of england from France and with France Interfering with English trade and with the rest of the continent Edward knew that he would have to take action against france And he'd have to do it soon to counter the Franco's Scottish alliance known as the alt alliance Edward would ally himself with other European Nations notably with portugal the alliance with portugal and as a matter of fact would endear as one of the longest lasting alliances in World history That's not all though as the king of france Philippe the sixth took the duchy of aquitaine Edward would not solely just resist this invasion on his former territory He would be so bold as to claim the throne of france for himself Edward was incise related to the French monarchy Philippe the sixth was his uncle But he did not have that much of a legitimate claim to the French throne Edward was technically the closest living relative the charles affords the last king from to pay But Charles's instructions were for the nobility to choose the next king of france nachos filly to Vi marking the beginning of the house of Valois and Perhaps notably Edwards actions were very obviously a response more to the political situation of the day but Edward would still regardless press his rights as King and would indeed invade France even changing his royal standard to include Lions of England and the Fleur-De-lys of France as shown here the war for the throne of France would not be an insignificant One fact it would last for over a hundred years and Thus historians have creatively named it the hundred years war two important points regarding the name hundred years of war though the first is that it wasn't a Hundred years exactly with a hundred sixteen years the second it wasn't just one long endless war It was more like four wars with a series of side war as I suppose you could say involved in this 116 year dispute the four Main Wars were the Edwardian war 1337 213 60 the Caroline War 1369 and 1389 the Lancastrian War 1415 to 1420 and the Second Lancastrian were 1420 to 1453 in 1348 Word and his son Edward who would be known as a black prince invade France to not only defend the English Gazette' possessions that England had in France But of course to claim the crown of France with england busy and france scotland moved in and retook much of their former territory But their success in war against england during this war would not last forever The English and the French met at the bow of Crecy on August 26 1346 the Battle of Crecy was a disaster for the French forces the English would lose perhaps around 200 men the French would lose perhaps 6,000 obviously with this defeat the French king was outraged, but how did this catastrophic defeat happen? Edward was fighting war differently for much of European warfare leading up to this battle for hundreds of years a horseman was a Master of the Battlefield against archer and infantrymen they were difficult to defeat Edward prepared for this though he had his men dig holes in the ground which would cause a horse's trip he would put up stakes To deter a kill enemy horseman and crucially he employed the English longbow the English longbow which was likely person in wales Had a greater strength range in speed in the crossbows which the french and their genoese Mercenaries were using they were in truth a deciding factor of this battle leading to a brutal french defeat even though they outnumbered English forces Edward was also not fighting a stereotypical war either Rather than having a series of battles as had been in the case and warfare leading up at this point again He preferred to simply Skirmish the French relentlessly Not long after this battle the black death ravaged as much of Europe including England France the your cina, Pestis Bacteria Traveling across Europe from Central Asia through hitching a ride on pests would kill a victim within a matter of days it began in 1348 and lasted until 1349 but it claimed the lives of six million English alone half of the population at the time france, too Lost perhaps half of its population it would return in the 1360s again killing millions Regardless of the circumstances of the war would continue Philippe. De six died in 1350 and was succeeded by his son John II on september 1913 56 the English and French would meet at the battle of poitier's where again the french would suffer a devastating defeat Not only would they lose thousands to again minimal English losses, but their king was captured and was later Ransom in 1360 the English and French signed the treaty of Bretton II which heavily favored the English allowing them to keep all the land which they Had won and on the French side well at least at end of the conflict this piece would only last nine years Though and the hundred years war would start once again and even during this peace Conflict in Brittany which involved both England and France would be occurring I mentioned some new Developments in how this war was being fought that were very innovative and revolutionary for the time But long bows were not the only innovation artillery had a significant role in this war and gunpowder was making its debut Albeit awkwardly Beyond that though societies were changing even though this was a war considering the power of monarchs and nobility nationalistic tendencies were evolving in France in England people Felt a sense of duty not only to their king but also to their nation this attitude was quite certainly Influenced by the introduction of standing armies prior to this armies will be raised by the king and Nobleman temporarily for Wars But because of the longevity of this conflict the English and French felt it necessary to have a more And disciplined fighting Force and the monarchs of these nations revise things like their taxation methods to support this in 1369 the War was Back on Propagated by the French this time under Charles offit's hence it became known as the Caroline war The pope pleaded with the combatants to find peace where the church was preoccupied and was unable to truly convince the two to cease hostilities edwards son Edward the Black Prince would die in 1376 and Edward a third in 1377 and were the third would therefore be succeeded by his grandson who became Richard a second in 1377 Richard was only 10 years old at a time however and therefore regency under John of gaunt Richard's uncle was instated in 1381 Following the stresses of the black death when the stresses of the taxes used to pay for the war the English peasantry Revolted Led by Walt Tyler of kent the revolt itself was not very successful and was over within half a year but it showed the socio-economic strain on england during this age three years later in the 1384 War with Scotland Began again And the king was forced to raise taxes making King Richard even more unpopular Meanwhile the French carved back into many of their territories which have been lost in the first phase of the hundred years war bringing the English to accept the truce in 1389 the French had won the second phase of the war and peace would continue until 1415 Richard II was dethroned in 1399 and replaced with John Agon son Henry the fourth Henry the fourth was interestingly the first King since Harold Godwinson Whose mother tongue was English not french and very significantly he was the first king of the lancastrian Branch of the house of Plantagenet? he would rule until 1413 when he was succeeded by his son Henry V who would play a major role in the hundred years war he too would assert his claim over the french throne and after making Alliance with the Burgundians in 1415 Henry would Invade Normandy and very unfortunately for the French there king Charles's six was insane He was essentially unable to rule and this caused a great divide between the French nobility about his succession the into a bit of civil War in this very crucial time on October the 25th of that same year the battle of agincourt took place And this was a third great French military disaster English tactics and technology succeeded again and the English Loss perhaps While the french law is very likely over 8,000 henri presses into france and in fact finally in a sense secures the French throne Henri is declared to be following a treaty of troyes the heir of charles is 6 the king of France to secure this further He marries the King's daughter Catherine but then something unexpected happens Henri dies young from dysentery in 1422 only two months before Charles of 6 days now Henry's Heir was his son also named Henry but the French did not Recognize young Henry as the heir they instead named their king's son Charles who would be charles the Seventh king and so of course war continues It would have been very interesting to have seen what would have happened if Henry V had not died young and would have gone on To become king of france, but of course that's not what happened with war back on though a new hero Or rather heroine would rise this scene this time on the side of the french a young girl from the lower classes named Jang dok or in English Joan of Arc Joan had claimed to have had a vision from Saints telling her that it was her duty to drive out the English And france and she try to tell the king of Francis the king was not interested at first until she made an accurate prediction regarding an upcoming battle After this the king decided to listen and she claimed that she had to lead of the french army to relieve the city of orly Off from a siege she did so and she was victorious and was subsequently made a commander of the French post Forces now in this time period The French would have been reluctant to accept a farm girl as a commander But France was running out of options at this point and she seemed to be succeeding not long into the war when she was only 19, though, the Burgundians captured her and sold her to the English and the English found her guilty of heresy and burned her at the stake The English had finally captured joan of Arc, but her effect was irreversible and the French were now winning the war the war technically ends in 1453 at the Battle of Castile where England lost all land in modern France except for Calais and france secured its victory even though officially speaking the two nations would remain at war with each other for twenty more years or so and England would continue to claim the crown of France for many years to come Following this war england would begin to enter the early modern, Era the social technological and governmental and such aspects of English society And changing and would continue to change following the hundred years war but another conflict have been brewing throughout the hundred years war however an internal conflict in England one which would surface following the end of the war and the end of the reign of Henry the six who was considered a poor king and Exacerbated by his wife margaret of anjou the wars of the roses of the came to be called the wars of the roses were a series of civil conflicts fought for the control of the store on between the two houses of the Plantagenet Dynasty the lancastrians represented by a red Rose and the Yorkists Represented by a white rose the conflict was not so cut and dry as it's often portrayed in tales at the time especially those from Shakespeare and even though it lasted for thirty years It wasn't a brutal agonizing war on the part of the English people in the year 1485 the conflict comes to an end as Henry the seventh Slaves Richard the third at the battle of Bosworth field a battle which only claimed the lives of 2,000 or so men but marked the end of the English middle ages for good Henry the seventh the Lancastrian with questionable heritage those merges the two houses of york and lancaster into the house of tudor by marrying the daughter of Henry The 4th Elizabeth which he represents with the white and red rose as shown here and england moves on into a new age though now the Ruler of renaissance England Henry the Seventh still had to clean up from the middle ages the wars of the roses had fractured England's government And he struggled to hold on to his crown quite wisely henry pursued a peaceful foreign policy trying to improve ties with both Scotland and France Henry the seventh died on april 21st 1509 he was succeeded by his 17-year old son who became Henry the eighth thereby securing the continuation of the tudor dynasty Henry would be a very busy king though in the eyes of many of the day not the best one his older brother Arthur had died seven years prior leaving the kingly duties to him in fact Henry would simply Marry his widow Catherine of Aragon daughter of the King and Queen of Spain Catherine would bear him two sons but both would be Stillborn The inability to produce an heir would trouble henry very much concern was securing his accession and would not only trouble Henry But would cause a good amount of trouble for England in years to come in the meantime Henry would engage in conflict with the french largely for personal glory as these wars that she's really little at the same time Scotland would invade England which would be another Relatively pointless war for what Henry would take the credit and winning even though Katherine had managed and matter while Henry wasn't friends Katherine was still failing to produce a male heir though she had produced a daughter Mary Mary would be the only one of seven of Katherine's children who would live to adulthood this deeply concerned Henry a female heir in itself Was a concern for 16th century nation let alone one for a nation which had just come out of the wars of the roses Henry was determined to have a male heir so determined in fact that he would make an incredibly bold move he was essentially left with Three options he could legitimize one of his illegitimate sons which would have been problematic he could have attempted to have a grandson to inherit the throne which would have also been problematic or He could divorce his wife and marry a new one. He chose a third option in 1527, but the pope did not approve So how does Henry respond he leaves the church altogether and starts his own church? Not while the English reformation at its called was incredibly audacious it did occur at the same time as the much larger Protestant reformation though the English reformation was quite obviously less about religion and more about politics Henry was very serious about this or in the rest of england to convert to his religion and in fact Executing many who actively resisted this schism would change English history permanently throwing them into religious disagreement between Europeans for centuries Henry would then Marry Anne Boleyn who would give birth to a daughter Elizabeth and also very unfortunately a Stillborn son How does Henry respond to this not very? Maturely he was convinced that he was cursed and he accused emmalin-- of witchcraft and had her executed Who had then married Jane Seymour who would finally give him a son Edward? Unfortunately though Jane Seymour would die from Postpartum Complications soon after Henry would marry three more times after her death producing only Mary Elizabeth and his son Edward who would succeed him as edward the six and 1547 in cruel Irony though Edward would Die before the age of sixteen from Tuberculosis leaving only Mary and Elizabeth to inherit the throne mary after doing away with Lady Jane Grey Became queen in 1553 there was an interesting twist of this though Mary was a catholic It was quite Adamant about return England to catholicism So after the English have been bullied and faced death for resisting Anglicanism now Mary turned it around and bullied and executed anglicans refused to convert back to catholicism this was not the time to be openly pious and mary burns nearly 300 protestants alive as a Result she was given the Nickname Bloody Mary Mary died in 1558 and The English did not miss her Despite attempts to secure a catholic on the throne including philip her husband the king of Spain she would be succeeded by her Protestant house sister Elizabeth Elizabeth would rule for nearly 50 years Assuring in a Golden age in English history known as the elizabethan era one of Elizabeth's first acts was of course return England to protestantism This led to the pope declaring her illegitimate and a heretic yet elizabeth quite wisely was not as aggressive concerning protestantism as her Predecessors have been she was more tolerant of Catholics and accordingly she maintained a decent amount of peace in England between a different religious groups Of the day Elizabeth never married and had no children earning her the title the virgin queen Later on the English would name a North American colony after her, Virginia Why she chose to never Marry is unknown she claimed that her husband was England and her children were the English people Was very likely linked to the political instability that a marriage might have caused especially for a queen But she did in fact have many suitors and she fell in love with a man named Robert Dudley under Elizabeth's reign English renaissance Culture would flourish the most notable figure of this time being william Shakespeare considered perhaps one of the greatest writers in human history just because Elizabeth was more tolerant towards English Catholics does not mean that foreign Catholic nations were tolerant towards her and She would be forced to deal with the plots and complex of other major Catholic powers of the day such as france and Spain One of her first moves regarding this political and religious situation was to spread protestantism in Scotland thereby Attempting to break the Franco Scottish alliance knowing that france could use scotland as an ally in a potential war as it had done many times throughout history part of the reason for this threat came from Mary the queen of scots who had also been the queen of France for only a Year
and furthermore the great-granddaughter of Henry the Seventh of England Catholic Europe recognized Mary A Catholic as the rightful ruler of England she married Henry stuart an English Catholic with Into the English throne as well quite naturally this concerned elizabeth greatly and she would spend years feuding with her Eventually mary was actually ousted by the Scottish nobility and she fled to england for protection Elizabeth would not have it though I'm she imprisoned Mary for eighteen and a half years until finally she had her executed for plotting to assassinate her Elizabeth would attempt to Avoid conflict throughout her reign though She did send forces to assist Dutch protestants against the Catholic Spanish Rulers while Spain accordingly supported the catholic Irish against the English Meddling like this would lead to the anglo-Spanish war in 1585 the Situation was exacerbated in 1587 when Mary the queen of scots was executed this outraged King philip of Spain Mary had left in her will that Philip would inherit her claim to the English throne should she be killed and Philip vowed to put A catholic Monarch on the English throne and in fact received support from the pope to overthrow her he began preparing a fleet however it Was Sabotage by Sir Francis drake a year later the Spanish were a pair in set sail for England? But English tactics as well as unfavorable weather Successfully repelled the Spanish Armada while under the command of Charles howard and again Francis drake while addressing her forces in Preparation for a potential Spanish invasion on the Island Elizabeth is quoted as saying my loving people We have been persuaded by some tSAr careful of our safety to take heed How we commit ourselves to armed multitude for fear of treachery But I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman But I have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of England, too And I think foul scorn that parma or spain or any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm Elizabeth's had defended the protestant religion in England and she had ascended it from foreign rule as well she led England during a time in which great figures such as shakespeare Francis Bacon and Francis Drake were alive and by Successfully challenging Spanish power she paved the way for England to become a greater power thereby opening a road to the Americas She died in 1603 as the last tudor monarchy she would be succeeded by king James at first who was also king of scotland being a son of Mary Queen of Scots Despite being the son of an ardent Catholic James had converted to protestantism And was intent on keeping England that way will take up a what happens with James in the next video for more videos like this and videos on Many other subjects be sure to check out fire learning and subscribed. Thank you for watching
