Getting Year 7 to vocalise responses to the murder of Thomas Becket. From human-scale to abstract analysis: Year 7. The Norman Conquest: why did it matter? Edward the Confessor and the Norman Conquest. Thinking from the inside: Je suis le roi.
Membership Contact us Support us About us. Historical Periods A-level topic guides Transition to university Choosing history Careers with history Competitions. Working with schools Guide to history in schools Public outreach Transition to university Publish with us About us. The fundamental principles laid down in these clauses proved central to the establishment of the English legal system. The original document was adapted several times in subsequent years and three of the clauses from the original Magna Carta still remain on the statute books today.
In an attempt to restore his grasp on the kingdom Edward II amassed a large body of troops to relieve Stirling Castle, which had been besieged by the forces of Robert the Bruce.
The battle took place on 23 and 24 June Although the English force boasted greater numbers, the Scottish were well trained and well led, fighting on land they were motivated to defend. English casualties were heavy and Edward was forced to retreat. In Robert finally gained papal recognition as king of Scotland. The summer of saw the first outbreak of the bubonic plague in England, leading to an epidemic of huge proportions.
The disease is estimated to have killed between a third and a half of the population — a devastating and unprecedented death rate. Known as the Black Death , the bubonic plague was caused by a bacterium now know as yersinia pestis. Without any knowledge of how it was transmitted the disease spread like wildfire, particularly in urban areas.
After this, livid black spots appeared on the arms and thighs and other parts of the body. Few recovered. The dramatic death toll had a significant impact on the social and economic landscape of Britain in the following decades. The revolt was prompted by the introduction of a third poll tax raised to fund the war against France , which had a particularly damaging effect on the poor.
As events escalated, government ministers were attacked and their homes destroyed. They called for the abolition of serfdom and outlawry, and the division of lordship among all men. They also railed against the corruption of the church, demanding that its wealth be distributed among the people. Soon after becoming king of England in , the ambitious young Henry V turned his attention to expanding his realm.
Despite this the French death toll was significant and Henry claimed victory. Agincourt has gone down in history as a legendary victory for England and for Henry. However, historian Ralph Griffiths suggests that it was in fact a close-run and far from decisive battle. However, patriotic Agincourt propaganda undoubtedly had sticking power in the Middle Ages.
But by this period Scotland, like England, could function effectively without a king for long periods. The church and its leading institution, the papacy, like the monarchy so strong in the 12th and early 13th centuries, also became weak and disorganised in the later Middle Ages.
The conflict between Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket, who was killed in his cathedral church at Canterbury in by royal knights, was an early manifestation of church-state struggle in this period. A more legalistic approach was followed by Edward I, whose Statute of Mortmain in was designed to prevent the 'dead hand' of the church gaining further gifts of land to add to its already large land-base, thereby enabling land to circulate within lay society, and making land more easily taxable by the crown.
The exile of the papacy from Rome to Avignon from distanced the English from a papacy seen to be dominated by an increasingly powerful French monarchy. Almost all the Avignon popes and cardinals were French. In , a schism developed in the church, with rival popes based in Avignon and Rome.
Inevitably Christendom split and predictably France and Scotland were on the side of Avignon, and England on that of Rome. When the Conciliar movement of the early 15th century was established, no fewer than three rival popes had to be deposed by the Council of Constance in , which duly elected a fourth, Martin V.
Division in the papacy exacerbated growing nationalism in western countries. Throughout Europe, bloody civil wars resulted as rival magnates fought for power during this period. When the war was over, rival groups of magnates in England fought among themselves. Lancastrians, who had usurped the throne from Richard II in , against Yorkists, whose forebears had a better claim in Upheavals occurred lower down the social scale following the Black Death and during the wars.
The Peasants' Revolt of was one manifestation of this, while Jack Cade's rebellion in another. In France, the peasant girl Joan of Arc moved centre stage for two years, advising the heir to the French throne and even leading forces in war from until , when she was captured and burnt as a heretic and sorcerer by the English. War against France and Scotland continued, while Ireland remained semi-independent.
At the end of the Wars of the Roses at Bosworth in , England actually came under a Welsh dynasty. Much of the bad press of the s derives from Tudor propaganda. There was, in fact, much to praise in 15th-century Britain. The deafening clash of arms produced as many heroes as villains. The extraordinary Grace Dieu , Henry V's giant ship of 1, tons, not rivalled again until the reign of Charles II and Victory , was a unique achievement and brought peace to the Channel, discouraging invasion.
The renaissance of Chaucer, Gower, Barbour and Dunbar percolated society. Libraries, such as that of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, were established and the art of biography began. Universities increased in number and scope. Oxford and Cambridge were joined by Scotland's St Andrews in and two other Scottish universities by Ideals of internationalism faltered, including crusading, the universal church, monasticism.
Nationalism triumphed. Royalty in many respects were as disreputable at the beginning of the period as at the end. War and depopulation allowed women to contribute much more effectively and influentially to society.
Throughout England much that we recognise today was established and survives: the parish churches with their towers, now fossilised in their late medieval form by the Reformation; oak-framed timber buildings scattered across the country; universities and schools. Ireland, Scotland and Wales all enjoy similar cultural characteristics. Maybe it was the wars of the period that led the Scots to place their faith in education with their several universities and the Welsh and Irish to develop their bardic and oral traditions during a turbulent but heroic period of British and Irish history.
And what of the ordinary people? The period between the Black Death of and was, among much else, a golden age for women. War and depopulation allowed them to contribute much more effectively and influentially to society.
Author, broadcaster and lecturer Professor Tom Beaumont James teaches archaeology and history at the University of Winchester. He has published special studies of the Black Death as a turning point in history, and of medieval palaces. Search term:. Read more.
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