# data[].attributes.body
The reign of James' oldest son, Charles Stuart -- characterized by disagreements with Parliament and alliances between forces loyal to the Royal Court ('Royalists'/'Cavaliers') and those loyal to Parliament ('Roundheads'). Charles' reign ends in a series of civil wars. He is executed in January 1649.

image: Portrait of Charles Stuart, Gerrit von Honthorst, 1628

wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.body
Throughout the 1640s, forces loyal to the Royal Court under Charles I and forces loyal to the Parliament fought at least three armed conflicts against one another. This period eventually ends with the execution of Charles I and power in the hands of a "Lord Protectorate of the Commonwealth" Oliver Cromwell, who attempts to rule England as a republic.

image: Battle of Naseby. Artist Unknown.

wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.headline
1649-1660: The Interregnum (Commonwealth of England)

# data[].attributes.subject
1649-1660: The Interregnum (Commonwealth of England)

# data[].attributes.body
After the execution of Charles I, Parliament attempted to establish a republic, called a Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was organized under Oliver Cromwell, who was given the title Lord Protector. "Interregnum," which means between the reign of kings, is a term often given to this period, though not one used at the time -- obviously because no one knew that the monarchy would return.

image: Portrait of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Cooper, 1656

wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.headline
1660: Restoration of Monarchy (under Charles the II)

# data[].attributes.subject
1660: Restoration of Monarchy (under Charles the II)

# data[].attributes.body
Following the death of Cromwell and the leadership crisis that followed, Parliament feared the political and military power that Charles Stuart's son (also Charles) had amassed while in exile in France and among former enemies in Scotland. In 1659, Parliament began working on a plan that would restore Charles to the English throne if he agreed to some limits on the spending power of the monarchy. An agreement was reached and Charles was restored to the throne in 1660.

image: Portrait of Charles Stuart II (as a young man in exile), Phillipe de Champaigne, 1653

wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.headline
1530s: English Reformation of the Church under Henry VIII

# data[].attributes.subject
1530s: English Reformation of the Church under Henry VIII

# data[].attributes.body
When Pope Clement finally denied King Henry VIII the clear annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry took the nearly unthinkable step of formally breaking with Roman Catholic Church and establishing an English Church with the English monarch at its head. This Reformation was a complicated, often chaotic and violent process, and its effects were far-ranging for English and world history.

Pictured are two royal portraits by Hans Holbein. On the left is Henry the VIII, King of England from 1509 to 1547. On the right is Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife. His determination to marry Boleyn set in motion the English Reformation.

image credit: wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.headline
1558-1603: Elizabethan Period (Reign of Elizabeth I)

# data[].attributes.subject
1558-1603: Elizabethan Period (Reign of Elizabeth I)

# data[].attributes.body
Considered by many to be England's greatest monarch, Elizabeth reigned with intelligence and power over a tumultuous but vibrant era of English life. Her reign saw the emergence of England as major European naval, political, and cultural power. It also saw a rebirth of English poetry and the popularity of the English stage drama.

image credit: wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.body
The Romans conquered and controlled much of what is now England in the mid-first century AD. They called it Britannia, and their name for the Celtic people already inhabiting the island was Britons. The Romans held onto Britannia until the Fall of the Roman Empire in the early 5th century.

The photo is of the Roman-era ruins at St. Albans in southern England. This was a major Roman settlement named Verulamium, which included a Roman amphitheater.

image source: bbc.co.uk/history

# data[].attributes.body
After the Romans decamped from Britain in the early 5th century, the remaining celtic Britons began squabbling for supremacy in the power vacuum left by the Romans. Some of these warring Celtic tribes hired mercenaries from across the North Sea to help them fight each other. Big, big mistake.

Sensing an opportunity, these Germanic warriors soon brought over more of their own warlike people, intent on occupying and colonizing this fertile land. The major Germanic tribes that came to England were the Angles, the Saxon, and the Jutes. Their movement into, and conquering of, England has come to be known as the Anglo-Saxon Invasion. It is a dialect of the Anglo-Saxon language which is the earliest ancestor of the modern day English that we speak. And the Angle tribe also gives us the name England (i.e., "angle-londe").

The modern language closest to that of the Celtic Britons they replaced is Welsh.

image source: britishmuseum.org

# data[].attributes.headline
circa 1000: Beowulf is committed to print for the first time

# data[].attributes.subject
circa 1000: Beowulf is committed to print for the first time

# data[].attributes.body
While medieval scholars aren't sure of the exact date that the oral epic poem Beowulf was first written down, current thinking places it at about the turn of the second millennium, in 1000 AD.

The epic was almost certainly written down by a monk trained as a scribe -- one of the few people in southeast England who would possess the skill of writing -- but the story itself was probably already over 300 years old at that point. It would have been passed along orally by performing poets called scops (pronounced "shops").

While Beowulf has become the landmark epic of Old English, keep in mind that the story that it depicts takes place entirely in what is now Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The poem was a story that reminded the Anglo-Saxons in Britain of their ancestral homelands across the North Sea as well as the customs and values that they had brought with them to their new home hundreds of years earlier.

image source: janam.net

# data[].attributes.body
In 1588, the Spanish sent what was thought to be the greatest naval force in the world to assist a planned attack on England, which was supposed to depose Elizabeth and install a Catholic monarch on the English throne.

The Armada's commanders, however, made several blunders early in the attack and were outmaneuvered by the smaller but quicker British navy. The battle strategy employed by the British commanders, particularly that of Francis Drake, revolutionized naval battle tactics and gunnery.

Finally, a storm off the coast of Ireland heavily damaged the already weakened Armada, and it returned to Spain having lost a third of its ships and having failed to land the invading force. Many in England saw the defeat of the Armada as a sign that God was behind Elizabeth and a Protestant monarchy.

Pictured is a photograph of a modern recreation of Francis Drake's ship, The Golden Hind, with an inset portrait of Francis Drake.

image credit: boats.glo.co.uk

# data[].attributes.body
In terms of world culture, the most important product of the Jacobean Period was the appearance of the King James Bible in 1611. The product of many years and many scholars (some argue that even Shakespeare contributed to it), the Bible was created to be the official English Bible of the Church of England. As King and head of the church, King James was recognized as its official sponsor.

The King James Version of the Bible is still a widely used and quoted translation, far beyond the Anglican/Episcopal Church. It is without question the single most influential document of written English.

# data[].attributes.headline
1066: The Battle of Hastings, beginning of the Norman-French Conquest

# data[].attributes.subject
1066: The Battle of Hastings, beginning of the Norman-French Conquest

# data[].attributes.body
In the 1060s, a sickly English King was about to die without any clear line of succession. Under Duke William of Normandy (in Northern France), the French Normans were at the height of their military and cultural power. On October 14th, 1066, William's Norman forces defeated and killed the English king Harold II in a huge battle near the seaside town of Hastings in Southeast England. Harold's forces were routed; he would be the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

William's victory eased the path to the Norman's political domination of England, Wales, and large parts of Scotland. Norman French slowly replaced Anglo-Saxon customs among the wealthy and powerful, but at the common level the languages began to meld together into what we now call Middle English.

The image is a portion of the famous Bayeux tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings. This portion highlights the death of Harold II.

image source: wikipedia.org

# data[].attributes.body
The Romantic Period in England is remarkable for being the only historical period that is now commonly identified by an artistic and philosophical approach rather than by the rule of a monarch or political situation. The Romantic Period is notable for an upswell in democratic ideals, a focus on individual autonomy, a prizing of what is deeply felt, a renewed interest in both the large and small workings of the natural world (against the increasing industrialization of English life), and a renewed interest in poetry as the highest linguistic art. The word "romantic" in the name Romantic Period can often mislead students to think that the writers of this period were especially focused "romance" or sexual love. In fact, the major works of this era are notable for NOT being all that interested on 'romance' as we call it today, especially compared to Elizabethan or Cavalier poetry. Rather, Romanticists tended to focus on aspects of the natural world. Major writers of the Romantic period include William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Samuel Coleridge, William Blake, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron.

image: daffodils in the Lake District of England. wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.headline
1603-1625: Jacobean Period (Reign of James I)

# data[].attributes.subject
1603-1625: Jacobean Period (Reign of James I)

# data[].attributes.body
Queen Elizabeth was never married and was celebrated as "Virginia," the Virgin Queen. (And, yes, that's why the American colony was named Virginia). So by the time she died, her ministers had been at work for many years devising a plan for peaceful succession. Elizabeth's second cousin was James the VI of Scotland (his mother Mary Queen of Scots had been executed by Elizabeth, but Mary had also conspired to have Elizabeth assassinated. Family, right?). While James had been born into a Catholic family, he was raised and educated as a Protestant and had been the target of unsuccessful Catholic assassins as well. James promised to rule as a Protestant monarch and did. Thus, you will often see him listed a James the I (VI of Scotland. Tip: never refer to him as "James the First"  while in Scotland or to anyone Scottish. Same goes for saying "Elizabeth II" of the current monarch. The current Elizabeth is the Scots' first Elizabeth).

While James was not the skillful politician or the intellectual equal of Elizabeth, he succeeded in being a relatively stable King. He became a patron of the London theater (eventually sponsoring Shakespeare's troupe The King's Men) and wrote his own treatise on witchcraft (he was paranoid about witches, which partly inspired Shakespeare's Macbeth).

image credit: David Paul Kirkpatrick, davipaulkirkpatrick.com

# data[].attributes.headline
1215: King John agrees to the precepts of Magna Carta

# data[].attributes.subject
1215: King John agrees to the precepts of Magna Carta

# data[].attributes.body
In 1215, a powerful group of landed nobles (called "rebel barons") was unhappy with the leadership of a politically weak king named John Lacland (yes, this is the King John of the "Robin Hood" myths). Unlike his older brother Richard I, John was an unsuccessful military king after he came to the throne, and he most notably lost the region of Normandy to another French King.

Trying to ward off an outright rebellion by the rebel barons, the Archbishop of Canterbury arranged a meeting between John and the rebel barons that might find some sort of peaceful accord. This meeting occurred on June 15, 1215 near Windsor.

The text of this accord was called the Magna Carta Libertatum, or "The Great Charter of Liberties" -- "magna carta" for short. While the popular history of the Magna Carta holds that it enshrined the principles of individual liberty, due process of justice, and respect for property rights into English law - thus limiting the absolute power of the king and creating a legislative body - this view is not quite accurate to what is in the document. In any case, the Pope immediately declared the charter invalid, which did lead to an open revolt.

The basic concepts of the Magna Carta, however, remained popular among the nobility, and John's heir to the throne, Henry III reissued a stripped down version of the Magna Carta the next year -- an act that would begin a tradition of English king's renewing the spirit of the document.

The image below shows a scroll of one of the drafts of the original Magna Carta held in the British Museum.

image source: britishmuseum.co.uk

# data[].attributes.headline
1688: The Glorious (Or Bloodless) Revolution

# data[].attributes.subject
1688: The Glorious (Or Bloodless) Revolution

# data[].attributes.body
By the time Charles II died in 1685, he had no legitimate children as heirs to the English throne. Thus, his younger brother James rose to the throne as James II.

James, however, had converted to Catholicism in the mid- 1660s and prioritized expanding religious liberties for practicing Catholics upon his rise to power.

He immediately feuded with Parliament and fomented public distrust about his intentions with respect to the English church. Although James already had two children, they had been raised as Protestants by orders of his older brother. When James' second wife produced a male Catholic heir in the 1680s, James' eldest daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange (Netherlands) mounted an invasion backed by popular English support.

James II fled England and William and Mary were installed as dual monarchs in 1688. Because this revolution occurred without a formal battle or execution, it is often referred to as the 'Bloodless' revolution.

image: Portrait of William and Mary, c.1690

wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.body
Bounded by the very long reign of Queen Victoria, the Victorian Period resumes the British historical custom of defining periods based on the ruling monarch.

Queen Victoria was presented as a very maternal figure -- focused on family, home, and social propriety. Following the romantic era of European Revolution, Britain in the Victorian period looked to public ideals of order, custom, self-discipline, industry, and responsibility.

It may seem strange to you, then, that the Victorian period was a historical period of great and successful social change: campaigns for ending the practice of slavery, gaining greater political rights for women, advocating for child labor laws, and many other ideas of the romantic period were put into effect during the Victorian. It was also an era of intellectual and scientific discovery, when London becomes one of the first truly global cities as Britain's colonial project reaches its apex. The colonial wars during this period, however, signal the eventual collapse of Britain's empire that will follow.

image: Painting of Victorian Era London. npr.org

# data[].attributes.headline
1455-1487: War of the Roses (Lancaster vs. York)

# data[].attributes.subject
1455-1487: War of the Roses (Lancaster vs. York)

# data[].attributes.body
The most tumultuous struggle for the rightful claim to the kingship of England took place over the course of 30 years during the late Middle Ages. The number of characters, families, and events involved is so complicated that it can only be properly explained in several volumes of history, but the basics are these: two rival branches of the ruling Plantagenet family -- the Lancasters and the Yorks -- each believed that they had a better claim to the throne of England after the death of Henry the V and the ascension of his infant son Henry VI.

The two families battled back and forth for nearly the entire 15th century, but the largest conflicts occurred during the period commonly associated with the phrase "war of the roses." At the Battle of Bosworth field in 1487, the Lancaster loyalists decisively defeated the York forces and placed a distant Welsh relative of the Lancasters, Henry Tudor, on the throne as Henry the VII -- father of Henry the VIII and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth.

The phrases "War of the Roses" was not used during the conflict and was not coined until the 19th century. It was popularized by novelist Walter Scott and referred the heraldic badges of each house: the White Rose of the Yorks and the Red Rose of the Lancasters. But while the Yorks did use a White Rose as their heraldry during the conflict, it was only at the very near end of the conflict that the Lancasters adopted the red rose. Thereafter, the Tudor family heraldry contained both the red and the white rose together, known as the Tudor Rose.

The image below is the heraldic design for the Tudor Rose, which contains the York white rose within the Lancastran red rose.

image source: wikimedia.org

# data[].attributes.body
British Modernism is often defined in relation to the dates of the first and second world wars, though many experts disagree with this time frame.

Still, the modern period is characterized by a general sense in the arts of intense disillusionment with many of the institutions and aspects of British life that grew strong during the Victorian period. The term anomie, meaning the falling away of intellectual and spiritual energy or standards, rings true for many artists during this period.

Common literary themes include disillusionment with both religious transcendence AND scientific progress; a horror at mechanized work and warfare; the fear of social upheaval; a sense of disenchantment or emptiness; and an interest in disintegrated or simplified representation. Major British writers of this period include T.S. Eliot (American), Virginia Woolf, W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden, James Joyce, and George Orwell.

image: Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893). The Tate Modern. theartstory.com

# data[].attributes.headline
1690 - 1745: The Neoclassical or Augustan Age

# data[].attributes.subject
1690 - 1745: The Neoclassical or Augustan Age

# data[].attributes.body
Under the rule of William and Mary and later Queen Anne, British public culture began to style itself after the Roman period of Empire during and after the reign of Caesar Augustus in the first century AD.

The art of this period is characterized by an intense public spiritedness, ornateness, civic pride, precision, praise of reason, and intellectual and moral seriousness. It borrowed lavishly on the art and ideas of 1st century Rome.

image: Intellectuals conversing in a London Coffeehouse, c. 1720s

telegraph.co.uk