English history

• William the Conqueror defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings.
• Magna Carta limited royal power by establishing that everyone is subject to the law, including the king.
• John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, making it accessible to more people.
• Prehistory: there are no records of the events, no written records.
• Historians learn from remains only.
• History: once writing was introduced.
• In the case of the UK, writing was introduced by the Romans.
• Prehistory covers from the first human appearance in the British Isles to the beginning of written records.
• Britain experienced extremes of climate in prehistoric times over millions of years, from the Mediterranean-like conditions to long stages of cold weather when ice covered the British Isles.
• The problem of religion in Britain was about determining the state religion and whether other faith traditions should be tolerated.
• The problem of local control in Britain was about determining the proper relationship between the central government in London and the English localities, as well as the relationships between that government and those of Scotland and Ireland.
• Britain had so many new colonies that it was now in competition with earlier colonial nations, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.
• The decision about the state religion of England was made by the king, Parliament, the bishops, local communities, or a combination of all four.
• Landscapes changed because of these extremes too, for example coastlines.
• Britain’s inhabitants had to adapt and sometimes they vanished.
• There were at least 10 separate waves of occupation, but people were driven away by extreme changes in the environment.
• Britain has not always been an island.
• It became one only after the end of the last ice age.
• 10.000 years ago, there was a land bridge between Britain and Europe.
• Humans and animals freely crossed and also inhabited the area known as Doggerland.
• The temperature rose and the ice cap melted, flooding the lower-lying land that is now under the North Sea and the English Channel and the land bridge to Britain was totally gone.
• In May 2013, a storm uncovered a series of fossilised footprints on the beach in Norfolk, which happened in Happisbourgh.
• The Paleolithic (Early Stone Age) was finished by 10.000 BC.
• The Mesolithic period lasted from 10.000-4.500 BC and was characterised by hunting and gathering tools made of flake stones.
• The Neolithic (New Stone Age) period lasted from 4.500-2.500 BC and was characterised by agriculture and cattle raising, with humans living in villages and developing a productive economy.
• Henry VII established the Tudor dynasty through his marriage to Elizabeth of York.
• Skara Brae is a Neolithic Village discovered in 1850 and located in Orkney, Scotland from 3000 BC - 2.500 BC.
• During the Tudor period, power moved from the House of Lords to the House of Commons, formed by merchants and landowners.
• Elizabeth passed Poor Laws in 1597 and 1601, making local people responsible for the poor in their own area.
• The Tudors enacted laws to try to prevent beggars, also known as vagrants, but they simply involved punishing poor people.
• The old system of representation in the Commons, with two men from each county and two from each "borough", remained the rule until the end of the Tudor period.
• The Tudors introduced changes in Wales, such as the use of an English system of names and the joining of Wales and England under one administration.
• During the Tudor period, Parliament was supposed to agree to the taxes needed, make the laws which the Crown suggested, and advise the Crown, only when asked to do so.
• In the sixteenth century, England experienced greater social and economic problems than ever before, with the population increasing, unused land being cleared for sheep, and large areas of forest being cut down to provide wood for the growing shipbuilding industry.
• The Tudors aimed to bring Wales, Ireland and Scotland under English control, with Henry VII trying to keep his Welsh background alive and Henry VIII focusing on power and authority through direct control.
• The Tudors fought four wars during the period to make the Irish accept their authority and their religion.
• The poor and the sick had nowhere to go if they could not provide for themselves or fell ill, leading many to become beggars and vagrants.
• In Ireland, the monasteries and the Church were still an important part of economic and social life, and the Irish nobility and gentry felt it was too dangerous to take monastic land.
• Devout Catholics mourned the end of Catholic practices such as prayers for the dead performed in monasteries.
• Nuns were not allowed to work in churches or marry, suffering great hardships and resorting to begging.