Early Modern

• Early modern England
• The part 1300 700 wake change in England and English society
• Changes in England


  • Changes in government
  • Changes in religion
• As the start of the 1500s, England was Catholic
• Henry VIII became head of the Church of England
• The Act of Supremacy made the monarch the head of the Church of England
• Protestants disagreed with the teachings of the Catholic Church and set up their own churches
• Privateers were sailors licensed by a government to attack enemy ships and take the goods they carried
• Trading companies developed routes to Africa, Europe and India
• Privateering increased
• Merchants traded a wide range of goods, and the cloth trade dominated England's prosperity
• The transatlantic slave trade began, with people being taken from Africa and sold into slavery in the Caribbean and America
• New laws supported the growth of trade and set up trading companies
• Jews, who had been expelled in 1290, were allowed to return by Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate
• Some Jews remained in England even after they were expelled in 1290. Outwardly, they converted to Christianity but privately followed their faith
• By the 1650s, Jews were facing increasing anti-Semitism and persecution in Europe
• The English economy was weak. Allowing Jews to return would encourage successful Jewish merchants to migrate. Their expertise could strengthen the economy
• In 1656, Cromwell allowed Jews to return
• Romani (also known as 'Gypsies) were nomadic people who travelled throughout England and Europe
• English governments regarded them as vagrants and beggars and passed laws to make them stay in one place
• Most Romani ignored the laws because their lifestyle made it hard for them to comply
• Hundreds were hanged as a punishment
• In the 1650s the government began transporting Romani people into slavery in North America and the Caribbean
• Most migrants had very few skills and were poor
• Many Jews who had been expelled in 1290 did not return to England
• Anti-Semitism meant that Jews were forbidden to serve in the army, work as lawyers or attend universities
• Shylock is a character in the play The Merchant of Venice, written in this period. Shylock is Jewish and is portrayed by Shakespeare as a mean and greedy moneylender
• Huguenots attending Huguenot churches were seen to be respectable because of the similarities with English Protestantism. This helped religious toleration
• Cornelius Vermuyden was a Dutch engineer employed to drain the Fens. He became an English citizen in 1633
• The invention of the printing press took control of knowledge away from the Church and enabled new ideas to spread. By 1535, about two-thirds of those working in the book trade in England were European
• The Walloon weavers were very successful as they produced quality cloth. By 1600 over 3,000 Walloons were living and working in Canterbury, almost one-third of the population
• Walloons developed new trades, like silk dying and diamond cutting, that didn't previously exist in the city. Trade in the area improved greatly and Canterbury prospered
• Huguenots were able to keep their own cultural identity such as language, clothes and food. Their religion was an important part of this
• The Huguenots asked the authorities for permission to build their own churches. By 1700, nine had been built
• Links between the churches meant that Huguenots knew about other immigrants, including new arrivals, so they could help anyone who had fallen on hard times
• Huguenots were more readily accepted into English society than some other migrants. This was because they were seen as having Protestant values: church-going, respectable and hardworking. This helped English people to develop a more tolerant attitude towards migrants
• Charles II offered Huguenots 'denizen' status. This and the Foreign Protestants Nationality Act (1708) gave Huguenots in England more security
• William and Mary were Protestants. They became joint monarchs in 1689 and took a special interest in the Huguenots
• In 1689 William issued a Declaration stating that he would support, aid and assist Huguenots to make their lives 'comfortable and easy'
• Between 1689 and 1693, William and Mary donated £39,000 to help Huguenot settlement in London