Unit 17. The Continuation of the Hundred Years` War. Henry V 2 страница
I. Read the text, translate it into Russian.
II. Memorize the words, answer the questions:
| studious - прилежный | When was Mary made Princess of Wales? |
| disrupt - разрушать | How old was Mary when she came to the throne? |
| bastard - незаконнорожденный | Why did she marry Philip of Spain? |
| strip smb. of smth. – лишать к-л ч-л | Why was she hated by her subjects? |
| insurrection - восстание | What laws did Mary revive? |
| slander - клеветать | What territories in France did she lose? |
| heretic - еретик |
Unit 23. Elizabeth I and the English Renaissance
Mary was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth - the daughter of Henry VIII by his marriage to Ann Boleyn. Elizabeth`s reign was notable for its longevity. She came to the throne at the age of 25 and reigned for about 44 years. Her accession was greeted heartily by people. The queen began at once to form her government and issue proclamations. She reduced the size of the Privy Council, in part to purge some of its Catholic members and in part to make it more efficient as an advisory body; she began a restructuring of the big royal household; she carefully balanced the need for substantial administrative and judicial continuity with the desire for change; and she assembled a core of experienced and trustworthy advisers, including William Cecil, Nicholas Bacon, Francis Walsingham, and Nicholas Throckmorton. Chief among these was Cecil (afterward Lord Burghley), whom Elizabeth appointed her principal secretary of state on the morning of her accession and who was to serve her with remarkable sagacity and skill for 40 years.
To obtain sufficient revenue to govern, the queen had to request subsidies and taxes from Parliament. Under these difficult circumstances, Elizabeth developed a strategy of rule that combined imperious command with an extravagant cult of love. The cult of Elizabeth as the Virgin Queen wedded to her kingdom was a gradual creation that unfolded over many years. When she became queen, everybody began speaking about her possible marriage, and the available options became a matter of grave national concern. If Elizabeth died childless, the Tudor line would come to an end. The nearest heir was Mary, Queen of Scots, the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. Mary was a Catholic whose claim was supported by France and other powerful Catholic states, which was impossible for the Protestants. The queen's marriage was critical not only for the question of succession but also for the tangled web of international diplomacy. Important suitors eagerly came forward: Philip II of Spain, who hoped to renew the link between Catholic Spain and England; Archduke Charles of Austria; Erik XIV, king of Sweden; Henry, Duke d'Anjou and later king of France; Francois, Duke d' Alencon and others. Many scholars think it unlikely that Elizabeth ever seriously intended to marry any of these men, for there were more dangers than benefits, but she skillfully played one off against another and kept the marriage negotiations going for months, even years. She had love affairs, one of the most famous of them was with Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. When in September 1560 Leicester's wife, Amy Robsart, died in a suspicious fall, the favourite seemed poised to marry his royal mistress but, the decisive step was never taken. Elizabeth's resistance to a marriage she herself seemed to desire may have been politically motivated, for Leicester had many enemies at court. Probably at the core of Elizabeth's decision to remain single was an unwillingness to compromise her power. Sir Robert Naunton recorded that the queen once said to Leicester, when he tried to insist upon a favour, "I will have here but one mistress and no master."
Elizabeth restored England to Protestantism. The Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament and approved in 1559, revived the antipapal statutes of Henry VIII and declared the queen supreme governor of the church. The Act of Uniformity established a revised version of the second Edwardian prayer book as the official order of worship. But the queen needed only the formal obedience and was not interested in the real beliefs. Many of the nobles and gentry, along with a majority of the common people, remained loyal to the old faith. In the late 1560s and early '70s a series of crises took place. In 1569 a rebellion of feudal aristocrats and their followers in the Catholic north of England was put down by savage military force; while in 1571 the queen's informers and spies uncovered an international conspiracy against her life, known as the Ridolfi Plot. Both threats were linked at least indirectly to Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been driven from her own kingdom in 1568 and had taken refuge in England. At the age of 15 Mary got married to Francis II of France. After his death she returned to Scotland and claimed the English throne. She was a catholic and during her life she made plots against Elizabeth. She married an English aristocrat, who was the father of her son James. Elizabeth had to capture Mary, but even in custody the latter continued her activity. In 1586 the Babington Plot, another conspiracy to murder Elizabeth, was uncovered. The Queen of Scots was doomed. Mary was tried and sentenced to death. For years Elizabeth had cannily played a complex diplomatic game with the rival interests of France and Spain, a game comparable to her domestic manipulation of rival factions. State-sanctioned privateering raids, led by Sir Francis Drake and others, on Spanish shipping and ports alternated with conciliatory gestures and peace talks. But by the mid-1580s it became increasingly clear that England could not avoid a direct military confrontation with Spain. It became known that the Spanish king, Philip II, had begun to assemble an enormous fleet that would sail to the Netherlands, join forces with a waiting Spanish army led by the duke of Parma, and then proceed to an invasion and conquest of Protestant England. The queen authorized sufficient funds during her reign to maintain a fleet of maneuverable, well-armed fighting ships, to which could be added other vessels from the merchant fleet. When in July 1588 the Invincible Armada reached English waters, the queen's ships, in one of the most famous naval encounters of history, defeated the enemy fleet, which then in an attempt to return to Spain was all but destroyed by terrible storms.
The last decade of Elizabeth's reign, when her control over her country's political, religious, and economic forces and over her representation of herself began to show severe strains. There was high inflation rate. Bad harvests, persistent inflation, and unemployment caused hardship and a loss of public morale. A series of disastrous military attempts to subjugate the Irish culminated in a crisis of authority with her last great favourite, the Earl of Essex. Essex returned from Ireland against the queen's orders, insulted her in her presence, and then made a desperate, foolish attempt to raise an insurrection. He was tried for treason and executed in 1601.
Elizabeth`s government took very important social measures. In 1563 the Statute of Artificers made masters responsible for the education of their apprentices for a period of 7 years. The Poor Laws of 1597 and 1601 obliged the parishes to provide for the sick and unemployed. These were attempts to regularize conditions in the craft industries. Elizabeth`s reign saw the founding of many grammar schools, hospitals and alms-houses. During Elizabeth`s reign London was a lively city of 200 000 people. Oxford and Cambridge were great centers of Classical and theological studies. It coincided with a highly productive phase in English literature which was to continue through the reign of James I. It was the time of Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlow, Ben Johnson, William Shakespeare etc.
Elizabeth`s reign produced many adventurers who continued the exploration of the New World. From 1577 to 1580 Sir Frances Drake completed the circumnavigation of the globe. Sir Walter Raleigh landed in the place which he called Virginia in America.
Elizabeth was getting older and her advisers asked James VI of Scotland to become the king of England. He was the son of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, but he was brought up a protestant. Having agreed to indicate James as her successor, Elizabeth died in 1603. The nation enthusiastically welcomed its new king.
I. Read the text, translate it into Russian.
II. Memorize the words, answer the questions:
| Renaissance – Ренессанс, Возрождение | How long did Elizabeth rule? |
| longevity - долголетие | Who was Elizabeth`s chief minister? |
| proclamation - прокламация | What lady was Elizabeth`s enemy and rival? |
| trustworthy – заслуживающий доверия | What social measures did Elizabeth and her government take? |
| circumstance - обстоятельство | Who completed the circumnavigation of the globe during Elizabeth`s reign? |
| parish – церковный приход | Who followed Elizabeth on the English throne? |
| plot - заговор | |
| doomed - обреченный |
Unit 24. The Stuarts` accession. James I
Elizabeth was followed by James I, king of Scots. James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Lord Darnley. Eight months after James's birth his father died when his house was destroyed by an explosion. After her third marriage, to Earl of Bothwell, Mary was defeated by rebel Scottish lords and abdicated the throne. James, one year old, became king of Scotland on 24th of July, 1567. Mary left the kingdom in 1568, and never saw her son again. The young king was kept fairly isolated but was given a good education until the age of 14 and turned into a learned man fond of literature and writing. For several years James remained the puppet of contending faction leaders, who tried to win the country for Mary. When James became the king his chief purpose was to establish his claim to succeed the childless Elizabeth I upon the throne of England. In 1586 James concluded an alliance with England. He remained true to this policy, and even Elizabeth's execution of his mother in 1587 drew from him only formal protests. James's rule of Scotland was basically successful. When James succeeded to the English throne on the death of Elizabeth I, he was already "an experienced king" with a clearly defined theory of royal government. But James did not understand the rights or the temper of the English Parliament, and he thus came into conflict with it. He had little contact with the English middle classes. His 22-year-long reign over England was unfortunate for the Stuart dynasty. He established peace by ending England's war with Spain in 1604. But then difficulties began. When Parliament refused to grant him a special fund to pay for his extravagances, James placed new customs duties on merchants without Parliament's consent. James dissolved Parliament in 1611. During the following years the king summoned and dissolved Parliament several times. During these years the king succumbed to the influence of his favourites hated by people, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset and George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham. He established a sort of alliance with Spain much hated in England. When Sir Walter Raleigh, who had gone to Guiana in search of gold, came into conflict with the Spaniards James gave an order to behead Raleigh. He adopted the Independent Church of England, but he condemned the Puritans and made them leave the country. Some of them sailed to North America. In 1620 the ship "Mayflower" landed in Americas and the crew founded 6 colonies. In 1604 the so-called conference of Hampton Court took place. One of its results was commission to make a new translation of the Bible. In 1611 was completed the so-called Authorized Version of King James` Bible. Catholics in their turn hoped for favour from James but did not get them and made a plot to blow up the king (Guy Fawkes Night).
At the end of his reign his son prince Charles decided most issues. James died at his favourite country residence, Theobalds, in Hertfordshire in 1625. Besides the political problems that he left to his son Charles, James left a body of writings which, though of mediocre quality as literature, entitle him to a unique place among English kings since the time of Alfred. Chief among these writings, for example, are political treatises, in which he expounded his own views on the divine right of kings.
I. Read the text, translate it into Russian.
II. Memorize the words, answer the questions:
| puppet - марионетка | Whose son was James I? |
| contend - оспаривать | Why was he not popular with English people? |
| grant -даровать | Why did James order to behead Sir Walter Raleigh? |
| unique - уникальный | Why did the Catholics decide to blow the king? |
| divine - божественный | On what ship did the Puritans leave England? |
| condemn - приговаривать | What did the king leave to his son? |
| treatise - трактат |
Unit 25 Charles I. England before the Civil War
Charles I was the king of Great Britain and Ireland (1625-1649), whose authoritarian rule and quarrels with Parliament provoked a civil war that led to his execution. Charles was the second son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. He was a sickly child, devoted to his elder brother, Henry, and to his sister, Elizabeth. He became lonely when Henry died (1612) and his sister got married in 1613. All his life Charles had a Scots accent and a slight stammer, he was always shy and struck observers as being silent and reserved. He was a patron of the arts and brought both Van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens to England. From his father he acquired a stubborn belief that kings are intended by God to rule and he was incapable of compromising with Parliament. When his first Parliament met, trouble immediately arose because of the general distrust of Buckingham, who was also the new king`s friend. The Spanish war was a failure but Charles did not want to explain to Parliament his foreign policy or its costs. He had problems with the Puritans, who predominated in the House of Commons. Parliament refused to vote him the right to impose new taxes. The second Parliament of the reign, meeting in February, 1626, proved even more critical of the King's government. Buckingham was blamed for the failure of a naval expedition against the Spanish and the Commons tried to impeach him for treason. To prevent this, Charles dissolved Parliament. Largely through the incompetence of Buckingham, the country now became involved in a war with France as well as with Spain and, in desperate need of funds, the King imposed a forced loan, which his judges declared illegal. He dismissed the chief justice and ordered the arrest of more than 70 knights and gentlemen who refused to pay money. This disagreement continued for several years and finally Parliament passed three resolutions condemning the King's conduct. Charles dissolved Parliament again and ruled his kingdom without calling a Parliament. In order that he might no longer be dependent upon parliamentary grants, he now made peace with both France and Spain. He ordered administrative reforms. On the whole, the kingdom prospered until 1639, when Charles became involved in a war against the Scots. His decision in 1637 to impose upon his northern kingdom a new liturgy, based on the English Book of Common Prayer, although approved by the Scottish bishops, met with concerted resistance. When many Scots signed a national covenant to defend their Presbyterian religion, the King decided to enforce his ecclesiastical policy with the sword. He was outmanoeuvred by a well-organized Scottish army and lost the war. Charles had to summon Parliament that met in April, 1640 - later known as the Short Parliament-in order to raise money for the war against Scotland. The House showed itself opposed to a renewal of the war; so the King dissolved Parliament again. A Scottish army crossed the border in August and the King's troops were defeated. Charles summoned another Parliament, the Long Parliament, which met at Westminster in November 1640.The new House of Commons condemned Charles's recent actions and made preparations to impeach his ministers for treason. Charles was forced to agree that the existing Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. But while making these concessions, he visited Scotland in August to try to enlist anti-parliamentary support there. He agreed to the full establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland and allowed the Scottish estates to nominate royal officials. At the same time news of a rebellion in Ireland had reached Westminster. Leaders of the Commons planned to gain control of the army. The king ordered the arrest of one member of the House of Lords and five of the Commons for treason and went with about 400 men to enforce the order himself. After it he left London for the north of England. Both Royalists and Parliamentarians enlisted troops and collected arms, although Charles had not completely given up hopes of peace. The King settled in York, where royalist members of both houses gradually joined him. In June the majority of the members remaining in London sent the King the Nineteen Propositions, which included demands that no ministers should be appointed without parliamentary approval, that the army should be put under parliamentary control, and that Parliament should decide about the future of the church. But in July both sides were making ready for war. The King formally raised the royal standard at Nottingham in August and fighting soon broke out all over the kingdom.
I. Read the text, translate it into Russian.
II. Memorize the words, answer the questions:
| authoritarian - авторитарный | What painters were brought to England by Charles I? |
| stammer - заикаться | What problems did Charles have with Parliament? |
| impose – налагать, навязывать | What was the cause of disagreement between the king and Parliament? |
| consent - согласие | Where did the king raise his royal standard? |
| concession - уступка | Was the king right in opposing Parliament? What is your own opinion? |
| dissolve - распускать | |
| enlist –вербовать, включать в списки |
Unit 26 The Civil Wars
Charles I was a brave man but no general, and he was deeply perturbed by killing people on the battlefield. In 1643 the royal cause prospered, particularly in Yorkshire and the southwest. At Oxford, where Charles had moved his court and military headquarters, he dwelt pleasantly enough in Christ Church College. The King seems to have assented to a scheme for a three-pronged attack on London-from the west, from Oxford, and from Yorkshire-but neither the westerners nor the Yorkshiremen were anxious to leave their own districts. In the course of 1643 a peace party of the Parliamentarian side made some approaches to Charles in Oxford, but these failed and the Parliamentarians concluded an alliance with the Scottish Army. The entry of a Scottish army into England in 1644 thrust the King's armies upon the defensive and the plan for a movement on London was abandoned. Charles successfully held his inner lines at Oxford and throughout the west and southwest of England, while he dispatched his nephew, Prince Rupert, on cavalry raids elsewhere. For about a year the King's forces were successful. The year 1645 was decisive. The highly disciplined and professionally led parliamentary army organized and commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax with Oliver Cromwell as his second in command, defeated the King and Prince Rupert at the Battle of Naseby. This was the first of a long row of defeats the King's forces suffered through the summer and fall. Charles returned to Oxford in November and by the spring of 1646 Oxford was surrounded. Charles left the city in disguise and ran to the Scottish camp. But the Scots handed over Charles I to parliamentary commissioners. He was held in Northamptonshire, where he lived a placid, life and, learning of the quarrels between the Army and Parliament, hoped to come to a treaty with one or the other and regain his power. But a junior officer with a force of some 500 men seized the King and carried him away to the army headquarters at Newmarket. After the army marched on, the King was moved to Hampton Court. He escaped, but was captured. Charles found himself in the Isle of Wight, where the governor was loyal to Parliament and kept him under surveillance at Carisbrooke Castle. There Charles surreptitiously conducted complicated negotiations with the army leaders, with the English Parliament, and with the Scots; he did not scruple to promise one thing to one side and the opposite to the other. Charles then twice refused the terms offered by the English Parliament and was put under closer guard, from which he vainly tried again to escape. In 1648 the last of Charles's Scottish supporters were defeated at the Battle of Preston and the second Civil War ended. The army now began to demand that the King should be put on trial for treason as "the grand author of our troubles" and the cause of bloodshed. He was removed to Hurst Castle in Hampshire at the end of 1648 and thence taken to Windsor Castle for Christmas. In January, 1649, he was brought before a specially constituted high court in Westminster Hall. Cromwell insisted on the execution of the king and Charles was beheaded.
I. Read the text, translate it into Russian.
II. Memorize the words, answer the questions:
| prosper - преуспевать | Which force prevailed at the beginning of the war? |
| headquarters – штаб-квартира | Which army was more disciplined and better organized? |
| behead-обезглавить | What did Parliament accuse the king of? |
| bloodshed - кровопролитие | Who demanded the king`s execution? |
Part III
Texts for Independent Studies
Text 1.The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell
The execution of the king aroused hostility not only in England but also throughout Europe. Despite opposition and continued external threats, the government of the Commonwealth was declared in May, 1649, after acts had been passed to abolish the monarchy and the House of Lords. Political power resided in a Council of State, the Rump Parliament (which swelled from 75 to 213 members in the year following the king's execution), and the army. The military was now a permanent part of English government. The first task of the new government was to pacify Ireland. Oliver Cromwell, with a large detachment of troops, defeated royalist and Catholic forces at Drogheda and Wexford (1649). Large parts of the northern Irish provinces were confiscated. It was a very cruel deed. Cromwell's reputation soared, and he became the chief commander of the forces. In 1650 Charles I`s son, Charles, landed in Scotland, was declared king, and assembled an army. Cromwell's military skills were in evident then, where his outnumbered forces decisively defeated the Scots. Charles II barely escaped with his life. Victorious wars against the Irish, Scots, and Dutch made the Commonwealth a feared military power. But little was done to reform the law. An attempt to abolish the court of chancery created chaos in the central courts. Little agreement could be reached on religious matters. Nothing at all had been done to set a limit for the sitting of the Rump and to provide for the election of a new Parliament. This had been the principal demand of the army, and the more the Rump protested the difficulty of the problem, the less patient the soldiers became. Cromwell marched to Westminster and dissolved Parliament. The Nominated Parliament (1653) was no better. After five months it dissolved itself and returned power to Cromwell and the army. The problems that beset both Rump and Nominated parliaments resulted from the diversity of groups that supported the revolution. The failure of the Nominated Parliament led to the creation of the first British constitution, the Instrument of Government (1653). Drafted by John Lambert, the Instrument created a lord protector, a Council of State, and a reformed Parliament that was to be elected at least once every three years. Cromwell was named protector, and he chose a civilian-dominated Council to help him govern. The Protectorate tackled many of the central issues of reform. Social legislation against swearing, drunkenness, and stage plays was introduced. Steps were taken to provide for the training of a godly ministry, and even a new university at Durham was begun. The Parliament of 1654 immediately questioned the entire basis of the newly established government, with the republicans vigorously disputing the office of lord protector. The Parliament of 1656, despite the exclusion of many known opponents, was no more pliable. But now it was apparent that the regime was held together by Cromwell alone. As a member of Parliament from 1640 he respected the fundamental authority that Parliament represented, but as a member of the army he understood power and the decisive demands of necessity. When he died in 1658, all hope of continued reform died with him. For a time Richard Cromwell was elevated to his father's titles and dignity. But he was no match in power or skill. The republicans and army saw that the protectorate had come to resemble nothing so much as the old monarchy. By 1659 then there was a vacuum of power at the center; Richard Cromwell, incapable of governing, simply left office. It became clear that only the restoration of Charles II could put an end to the political chaos that now gripped the state. In February, 1660, the Long Parliament was invited to return to their seats under army protection. A month later the Long Parliament dissolved itself, paving the way for the return of the king.
I. Read the text, translate it into Russian.
II. Ask 5 questions to the text.
III. Summarize the text in 8 sentences.
Text 2. The Restoration of the Monarchy. Charles II
The restoration brought Charles II to the throne. He was the eldest son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France. In his youth he had to fight his father's battles in the west of England in 1645; he resisted the attempts of his mother and his sister to convert him to Catholicism and remained openly loyal to his Protestant faith. In 1648 he made efforts to save his father. After Charles I's execution in 1649, he was proclaimed Charles II by the Scots. It took him 10 years to be restored on the throne of England.
Charles issued in 1660 his Declaration of Breda, expressing his personal desire for a general amnesty, liberty of conscience, and settlement of land disputes. In 1660 Charles summoned the Convention Parliament, which was composed of members of the competing religious and political parties that contended for power during the period of the Commonwealth. The Convention declared the restoration of the king and lords, disbanded the army, established a fixed income for the king and returned to the crown and the bishops their confiscated estates. But it made no headway on a religious settlement. Despite Charles's desire to treat all the confessions leniently and to find a broad church settlement, the Cavalier Parliament(1661-1679) established a rigid Anglican orthodoxy. His efforts to extend religious toleration to his Nonconformist and Roman Catholic subjects were sharply rebuffed in 1663, and throughout his reign the House of Commons rejected the more generous impulses of his religious policy. It began the alliance between squire and parson that was to dominate English local society for centuries. The bishops were returned to Parliament, a new prayer book was authorized, and repressive acts were passed to compel conformity.
A more pervasive and damaging limitation was on his financial independence. The money the Parliament established to pay was not regularly paid and the king was always in debt. With the expensive disasters of the Anglo-Dutch War of 1665-1667 the reputation of the restored king sank to its lowest level. His vigorous attempts to save London during the Great Fire of 1666 could not make up for the bad administration. His reign had made only modest contributions to England's commercial advancement. The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663, which had been prompted by the threat to British shipping of the rise of the Dutch carrying trade, were valuable extensions of Cromwellian policies, and the capture of New York in 1664 was one of his few gains from the Dutch.