History of English Monarchs

(400 AD – 2010)

This chart covers the most important periods of British history. It shows the chief inhabitants or invadors of England until the Middle Ages, then the royal houses of England and of Britain.

The Celts		900—55 B.C.
The Romans		55 B.C.— 450 A.D.
The Anglo-Saxons		450—1066	Offa (8th century)
	The Viking Invaders	8th—11th centuries
	The Normans	1066—1154	William the Conqueror (1066—1087)
The Middle Ages	The Plantagenets	1154—1399	Henry II (11 54—1189) Edward 1(1212—1307)
	The House of York and Lancaster	1399—1485
	The Tudors	1485—1603	Henry VII (1485—1509) Henry VIII (1509—1547) Mary 1 ("Bloody Mary") (1553—1558) Elizabeth 1 (1558—1603)
	The Stuarts The Civil War	1603—1649 1628—1649	James/(1603—1625) Charles 1 (1625—1649)
	The Republic	1649—1660	Oliver Cromwell (1649—1658)
	The Stuarts	1660—1714	William and Mary (1688—1702)
	The Hanoverians	1714—1901	"Georgian period" (1714—1830) Victoria (1837—1901) ("Victorian period")
	The House of Saxe-Coburg	1901—1910	Edward VII (1901—1910) ("Edwardian period")
	The House of Windsor	1910—	Elizabeth 1/(1952—

Kings of England

William I (1066-1087)

William II (1087-1100)

Henry I (1100-1135)

Stephen (1135-1154)

Henry II (1154-1189)

Richard I (1189-1199)

John (1199-1216)

Henry III (1216-1272)

Edward I (1272-1307)

Edward II (1307-1327)

Edward III (1327-1377)

Richard II (1377-1399)

Henry IV (1399-1413)

Henry V (1413-1422)

Henry VI (1422-1461, 1470-1471)

Edward IV (1461-1470, 1471-1483)

Edward V (9 April – 25 June 1483)

Richard III (1483-1485)

Henry VII (1485-1509)

Henry VIII (1509-1547)

Edward VI (1547-1553)

Lady Grey (10-19 July 1553)

Mary I (1553-1558)

Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

James I (1603-1625)

Charles I (1625-1649)

Charles II (1660-1685)

James II (1685-1688)

William III and Mary II (1689-1702, 1689-1694 respectively)

Anne (1702-1714)

George I (1714-1727)

George II (1727-1760)

George III (1760-1820)

George IV (1820-1830)

William IV (1830-1837)

Victoria (1837-1901)

Edward VII (1901-1910)

George V (1910-1936)

Edward VIII (20 January – 11 December 1936)

George VI (1936-1952)

Elizabeth II (1952-)

Introduction English Monarchs (400AEM603)

The history of the English Crown up to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 is long and eventful.

The concept of a single ruler unifying different tribes based in England developed in the eighth and ninth centuries in figures such as Offa and Alfred the Great, who began to create centralised systems of government.

Following the Norman Conquest, the machinery of government developed further, producing long-lived national institutions including Parliament.

The Middle Ages saw several fierce contests for the Crown, culminating in the Wars of the Roses, which lasted for nearly a century. The conflict was finally ended with the advent of the Tudors, the dynasty which produced some of England's most successful rulers and a flourishing cultural Renaissance.

The end of the Tudor line with the death of the 'Virgin Queen' in 1603 brought about the Union of the Crowns with Scotland.

Anglo Saxons In the Dark Ages during the fifth and sixth centuries, communities of peoples in Britain inhabited homelands with ill-defined borders. Such communities were organised and led by chieftains or kings.

Following the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from the provinces of Britannia in around 408 AD these small kingdoms were left to preserve their own order and to deal with invaders and waves of migrant peoples such as the Picts from beyond Hadrian's Wall, the Scots from Ireland and Germanic tribes from the continent.

King Arthur, a larger-than-life figure, has often been cited as a leader of one or more of these kingdoms during this period, although his name now tends to be used as a symbol of British resistance against invasion.

The invading communities overwhelmed or adapted existing kingdoms and created new ones - for example, the Angles in Mercia and Northumbria. Some British kingdoms initially survived the onslaught, such as Strathclyde, which was wedged in the north between Pictland and the new Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.

By 650 AD, the British Isles were a patchwork of many kingdoms founded from native or immigrant communities and led by powerful chieftains or kings. In their personal feuds and struggles between communities for control and supremacy, a small number of kingdoms became dominant: Bernicia and Deira (which merged to from Northumbria in 651 AD), Lindsey, East Anglia, Mercia, Wessex and Kent.

Until the late seventh century, a series of warrior kings in turn established their own personal authority over their kings, usually won by force or though alliances and often cemented by dynastic marriages.

According to the later chronicler Bede, the most famous of these kings was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616), who married Bertha, the Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first English king to be converted to Christianity (St Augustine’s mission from the Pope to Britain in 597 during Ethelberht’s reign prompted thousands of such conversions).

Ethelberht’s law code was the first to be written in any Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence extended both north and south of the river Humber: his nephew became king of the East Saxons and his daughter married king Edwin of Northumbria (died 633). In the eighth century, smaller kingdoms in the British Isles continued to fell to more powerful kingdoms, which claimed rights over whole areas and established temporary primacies: Dalriada in Scotland, Munster and Ulster in Ireland. In England, Mercia and later Wessex came to dominate, giving rise to the start of the monarchy.

Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the succession was frequently contested, by both the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and leaders of the settling Scandinavian communities. The Scandinavian influence was to prove strong in the early years.

It was the threat of invading Vikings which galvanised English leaders into unifying their forces, and centuries later, the Normans who successfully invadedtin 1066 were themselves the descendants of Scandinavian 'Northmen'.

Edward the Confessor, 1042 to 1066 Edward the Confessor was king of England from 1042 to 1066. Edward's death was to transform Medieval England and led to the reign of the Norman William the Conqueror with all that his rule meant to Medieval England - castles, the Domesday Book and feudalism. Edward the Confessor was born in about 1003. Edward's father was Ethelred the Unready and his mother was Emma of Normandy. Edward spent the first part of his life in Normandy. He grew up with deep religious views and gained the nickname "Confessor". However, away from his family and in a strange land, it is said that Edward's childhood was not a happy one.

In 1040, Edward was re-called to England by his half-brother Hardicanute who had succeeded Ethelred in the same year. Hardicanute died after a drinking party in 1042 and Edward became king of England.

According to those who compiled the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the first thing Edward did, despite his religious views, was to deprive his mother of all of her estates and reduce her to relative poverty. It is said that Edward blamed her for his miserable and lonely childhood. Edward married in 1045. His wife, Edith, was the daughter of Godwin of Wessex, the most important nobleman in England. They had no children as Edward had taken a vow of celibacy.

In 1051, a number of Normans were killed in a brawl in Dover, Kent. Edward still had influential friends in Normandy and he wanted the people of Dover punished for this. Edward ordered Earl Godwin to do this. Godwin refused and raised an army against the king instead. Two other senior noblemen, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, remained loyal to Edward, and outnumbered, Godwin agreed to leave England and live with his family in

Flanders

Between 1051 and 1052, Edward increased the number of Normans who advised him at court. This angered the Witan - a body of English advisors made up of the most important noblemen in England - and in 1052, Earl Godwin returned to England with an army. This army was commanded by his two sons, Harold and Tostig. Edward was unable to raise an army to fight Godwin as no nobleman was willing to support the king. Edward was forced to send back to Normandy his Norman advisors and he had to return to Godwin all his estates and accept him back into the kingdom. Despite being king of England, Edward had no choice but to do this.

In 1053 Godwin died. His title was taken by Harold who became known as Harold of Wessex. He was the most powerful nobleman in England.

Between 1052 and 1066, Edward contented himself with putting all of his energy into the building of Westminster Abbey in London. The Witan maintained its political and advisory power. Having 'tasted' its power once in 1052, Edward had no desire to challenge it again. Harold of Wessex commanded the king's army when it was required and gained a reputation as a skilled leader.

In January 1066, Edward died. He did not have any children and the fight for who should succeed him led to the Norman invasion of October 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.

King Harold II, 1066 Last of the Saxon Kings Harold had become the Earl of East Anglia in 1044. Upon his father's death in April 1053, he succeeded to the Earldom of Wessex and from then on, was at the right hand of the king. In 1063, supported by his brother, Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, he commanded a brilliantly conducted campaign against the Welsh. He was successful in bringing them into submission, and by doing so, solidified his reputation as an able general.

Harold acted as an emissary from Edward the Confessor to the court of William of Normandy in 1064, during which time he allegedly swore an oath of fealty to William, relinquishing any personal claim to the throne. This oath, which may have been given lightly, or possibly under duress, would figure directly in William's own claim, two years later. He would claim that the promise Harold made to him had been broken, giving William the right to challenge Harold in a battle for the crown.

While on his deathbed, the Confessor named Harold as his successor, overlooking his grandson, the rightful heir, Edgar the Atheling and ignoring a promise that he allegedly made (according to French sources) to William of Normandy. Upon Edward's death, Harold wasted no time securing ecclesiastical blessing on his claim by having himself crowned immediately.

Harold's brother, Tostig, had been exiled since the autumn of 1065 and had joined with Harald Hardrada of Norway. A combined force landed in Yorkshire in September 1066. Until this time, Harold's attention had been directed toward the south and the invasion that he knew would come from Normandy. But, now, Harold had to break away and march north to meet the new threat that had come. He defeated the forces of his traitorous brother and the King of Norway decisively at the battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September. Meanwhile, the favorable winds that the Normans had been waiting for had come and they had set sail across the channel, landing at Pevensey on the 28th. As soon as Harold heard this distressing news, he marched his force at top speed to the south. He reached London on October 5 and stopped to give his weary troops a rest and to gather reinforcements for the battle which lay ahead.

The story of these events and the decisive Battle of Hastings has been presented exquisitely in the Bayeux Tapestry and it need not be repeated, here. Suffice it to say that William won the day, and with it, the kingdom. The English fought fiercely and well, since they understood that not only their lives were at stake, but their country, also. Perhaps, if the English had been fresh and at full strength, they might have won easily, but they were tired and depleted after Stamford Bridge and the subsequent march south.

During his brief reign, the government continued to function as before, but there is no reliable way to judge what Harold might have been like as a king. He was certainly a capable field commander and a leader who inspired loyalty and confidence. His death has been recorded as coming in the midst of the final battle by way of a Norman arrow that penetrated his eye. Whether or not that is true, his memory lingers on as the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings and the last monarch of England to suffer defeat at the hands of a foreign invader.

King William I, the Conqueror, 1066 to 1087 King of England, was the natural son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and was born at Falaise, in 1027. He was brought up at the court of the King of France, and succeeded to the duchy at the age of eight. But during his minority there were frequent revolts of the nobles, and his authority was not fully established for many years. On the death of Edward the Confessor, King of England, William made a formal claim to the crown, alleging a bequest in his favour by Edward, and a promise which he had extorted from Harold. His claim being denied he at once prepared for an invasion of England, effected a landing at Pevensey, September 28, 1066, while Harold was engaged in opposing the Norwegians in the north, and fortified a camp near Hastings. The decisive battle of Hastings (or, more properly, Senlac) was fought on Saturday, October 14, 1066 Harold was defeated and slain, and the Norman Conquest was commenced. William's rival, Edgar Atheling, was supported by some of the leading men for a short time, but they all made sub mission to William at Berkhampstead, and on the following Christmas-day he was crowned at Westminster by Aldred, archbishop of York, a riot occurring, in which some lives were lost and some houses burnt.

The first measures of the new king were conciliatory, but served merely for a show for a short time. The inevitable conflict was not long deferred. Early in 1067 William went to Normandy, leaving the government of his new dominions in the hands of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and William Fitz-Osbern. Tidings of revolt in various quarters recalled him, and be was occupied through most of his reign in the conquest of the country. Of the military events the most terribly memorable is his campaign in the north in 1069 when he mercilessly devastated the whole district beyond the Humber with fire and slaughter, so that from York to Durham not an inhabited village remained, and the ground for more than sixty miles lay bare and uncultivated for more than half a century afterwards. The order established was that of death; famine and pestilence completing what the sword had begun. This campaign was followed in 1071 by the attack on the fortified camp of Hereward, the resolute and unconquered chieftain, in the Isle of Ely.

The settlement of the country was as cruel as the conquest. The English were dispossessed of their estates, and of all offices both in church and state; Winiam assumed (the feudal proprietorship of all the lands, and distributed them among his followers, carrying the feudal system out to its fullest development; garrisoned the chief towns, and built numerous fortresses; re-established the payment of Peter's-pence, indignantly refusing, however, to do homage to the Pope; and converted many districts of the country into deer parks and forests. The most extensive of these was the New Forest in Hampshire, formed in 1079. He ordered a complete survey of the land in 1085, the particulars of which were carefully recorded, and have come down to us in the 'Domesday Book'.

According to tradition the 'Curfew Bell¹ was introduced by the Conqueror; and the attempt was made to supersede the English by the Norman French language, which was for some time used in official documents. In his latter years William was engaged in war with his own sons, and with the King of France; and in August, 1087, he burnt the town of Mantes. Injured by the stumbling of his horse among the burning ruins, he was carried to Rouen, and died in the abbey of St. Gervas, 9th September. He was buried in the cathedral of Caen, where a monument was erected to him by his son William II. This monument perished during the Huguenot wars. William married, while Duke of Normandy, his cousin Matilda, daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, by whom he had four sons, two of whom, William and Henry, became kings of England, and several daughters. The building of the Tower of London was begun by William I. about 1080. Battle Abbey was also built by him in commemoration of his victory at Hastings. A statue of William I. was erected at Falaise, in 1853. 'Domesday Book' has been recently reproduced by the photo zincographic process, under the direction of Sir H. James.(year =1867)

King William II, Rufus, 1087 to 1100 William II earned the nickname Rufus either because of his red hair or his propensity for anger. William Rufus never married and had no offspring. The manner in which William the Conqueror divided his possessions caused turmoil among his sons: his eldest son Robert received the duchy of Normandy, William Rufus acquired England, and his youngest son Henry inherited 5000 pounds of silver. The contention between the brothers may have exerted an influence on the poor light in which William Rufus was historically portrayed. Many Norman barons owned property on both sides of the English Channel and found themselves in the midst of a tremendous power play. Hesitant to declare sides, most of the barons eventually aligned with Robert due to William Rufus cruelty and avarice. Robert, however, failed to make an appearance in England and William Rufus quelled the rebellion. He turned his sights to Normandy in 1089, bribing Norman barons for support and subsequently eroding his brother's power base. In 1096, Robert, tired of governing and quarreling with his brothers, pawned Normandy to William Rufus for 10,000 marks to finance his departure to the Holy Land on the first Crusade. Robert regained possession of the duchy after William Rufus¹ death in 1100.

William Rufus employed all the powers of the crown to secure wealth. He manipulated feudal law to the benefit of the royal treasury: shire courts levied heavy fines, confiscation and forfeitures were harshly enforced, and exorbitant inheritance taxes were imposed. His fiscal policies included (and antagonized) the church - William Rufus had no respect for the clergy and they none for him. He bolstered the royal revenue by leaving sees open and diverting the money into his coffers. He treated the Church as nothing more than a rich corporation deserving of heavy taxing at a time when the Church was gaining in influence through the Gregorian reforms of the eleventh century. Aided by his sharp-witted minister, Ranulf Flambard, William Rufus greatly profited from clerical vacancies. The failed appointment and persecution of Anselm, Abbot of Bee, as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093 added fuel to the historical denigration of William II; most contemporary writings were done by monks, who cared little for the crass, blasphemous king.

On August 2, 1100, William Rufus was struck in the eye by an arrow and killed while hunting. Whether the arrow was a stray shot or premeditated murder is still under debate. 1066 and All That, a satire on medieval government, remembers William II in a unique manner: "William Rufus was always very angry and red in the face and was therefore unpopular, so that his death was a Good Thing."

King Henry 1,1100 to 1135 Henry I, the most resilient of the Norman kings (his reign lasted thirty-five years), was nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for his above average education. During his reign, the differences between English and Norman society began to slowly evaporate. Reforms in the royal treasury system became the foundation upon which later kings built. The stability Henry afforded the throne was offset by problems in succession: his only surviving son, William, was lost in the wreck of the White Ship in November 1120.

The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy. William the Conqueror divided his kingdoms between Henry's older brothers, leaving England to William Rufus and Normandy to Robert. Henry inherited no land but received J5000 in silver. He played each brother off of the other during their quarrels; both distrusted Henry and subsequently signed a mutual accession treaty barring Henry from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert departed for the Holy Land on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry was the obvious heir. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of August 2, 1100 when William Rufus was killed by an arrow. His quick movement in securing the crown on August 5 led many to believe he was responsible for his brother's death. In his coronation charter, Henry denounced William's oppressive policies and promising good government in an effort to appease his barons. Robert returned to Normandy a few weeks later but escaped final defeat until the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106; Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner.

Henry was drawn into controversy with a rapidly expanding Church. Lay investiture, the king's selling of clergy appointments, was heavily opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church but was a cornerstone of Norman government. Henry recalled Anselm of Bee to the archbishopric of Canterbury to gain baronial support, but the stubborn Anselm refused to do homage to Henry for his lands. The situation remained unresolved until Pope Paschal II threatened Henry with excommunication in 1105. He reached a compromise with the papacy: Henry rescinded the king's divine authority in conferring sacred offices but appointees continued to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king maintained the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked a point where kingship became purely secular and subservient in the eyes of the Church. By 1106, both the quarrels with the church and the conquest of Normandy were settled and Henry concentrated on expanding royal power. He mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown and appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. By raising men out of obscurity for such appointments, Henry began to rely less on landed barons as ministers and created a loyal bureaucracy. He was deeply involved in continental affairs and therefore spent almost half of his time in Normandy, prompting him to create the position of justiciar - the most trusted of all the king's officials, the justiciar literally ruled in the king's stead. Roger of Salisbury, the first justiciar, was instrumental in organizing an efficient department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer held sessions twice a year for sheriffs and other revenue-collecting officials; these officials appeared before the justiciar, the chancellor, and several clerks and rendered an account of their finances. The Exchequer was an ingenious device for balancing amounts owed versus amounts paid. Henry gained notoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financial disputes (weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords) and curb errant sheriffs (weakening the power bestowed upon the sheriffs by his father). The final years of his reign were consumed in war with France and difficulties ensuring the succession. The French King Louis VI began consolidating his kingdom and attacked Normandy unsuccessfully on three separate occasions. The succession became a concern upon the death of his son William in 1120: Henry's marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leaving his daughter Matilda as the only surviving legitimate heir. She was recalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the death of her husband, Emperor Henry V of Germany. Henry forced his barons to swear an oath of allegiance to Matilda in 1127 after he arranged her marriage to the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou to cement an Angevin alliance on the continent. The marriage, unpopular with the Norman barons, produced a male heir in 1133, which prompted yet another reluctant oath of loyalty from the aggravated barons. In the summer of 1135, Geoffrey demanded custody of certain key Norman castles as a show of good will from Henry; Henry refused and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law and rebellion on the horizon - in December 1135.

King Stephen, 1135 to 1154 Stephen (c. 1096-1154) was king of England from 1135 to 1154. His claim to the throne was contested by his cousin Matilda, and his reign was disturbed by civil war. He eventually accepted Matilda's son Henry as his heir.

Stephen was the third son of Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres, and Adela, daughter of William I of England. His uncle, King Henry I of England, gave him lands in England and Normandy and in 1125 arranged his marriage to Matilda, heiress of the Count of Boulogne. She brought him not only her rich and strategically important county but also large estates in England; Stephen became one of the most powerful men in England.

In December 1126 King Henry, having no legitimate male heir, made the nobility do homage to his daughter, Matilda, widow of Emperor Henry V, as Lady (Domina) of England and Normandy. Stephen was the first to swear, but on King Henry's death (Dec. 1, 1135) he hurried to England, gained the support of the citizens of London, and at Winchester, where his brother was bishop, won over the heads of the administration, the justiciar and the treasurer. On December 22 Stephen was crowned by the archbishop of Canterbury. Stephen bought, or rewarded, support by issuing a charter of liberties, promising reforms, and confirming to the bishops "justice and power" over the clergy.

At first Stephen appeared secure. His rival, Matilda, seems to have been unpopular, and she was now married to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, a hereditary enemy of the Normans. Stephen marched against Geoffrey in 1137, but his army was demoralized by the defection of the powerful Earl of Gloucester, illegitimate son of King Henry, who soon declared openly for Matilda, his half sister. Stephen left Normandy, and it was conquered piecemeal by Geoffrey.

In 1138 King David I of Scotland, Matilda's uncle, launched an attack on England; though defeated at the Battle of the Standard in August, he remained a rallying point for the opposition. In 1139 Stephen arrested (by trickery) the heads of the royal administration: Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, his son, and his two nephews. The Church was upset by the incident because three of the four were bishops; the nobility, because it made the King seem untrustworthy.

On Sept. 30, 1139, Matilda landed at Arundel, and Stephen quixotically gave her safe conduct to the Earl of Gloucester's castle at Bristol. She had little success until, in February 1141, Stephen was captured by the earl in battle at Lincoln. Matilda was recognized by the Church as Lady of England, but she was driven from Westminster before her intended coronation, and in September the earl was captured. The earl and the King were then exchanged, and from that time a stalemate was established. The southwest was controlled by the earl for Matilda; most of the rest of England was ruled by Stephen. But everywhere new castles were built from which landowners could defend their property and defy authority, and there were pockets of resistance throughout the country which Stephen could not eliminate; Wallingford was held for Matilda during the whole of his reign, and Framlingham from 1141 onward. Though the royal chancery functioned and the Exchequer may have met, orders could not always be enforced or money collected. Traitors could not be punished or violence controlled.

In these circumstances, the decisive factor was the conquest of Normandy by the Count of Anjou, who made over the duchy to his son Henry in 1150. The nobles of England were mostly Normans; they were anxious for a negotiated peace so that they could preserve their Norman properties. At the same time the bishops refused to consecrate Stephen's elder son Eustace as cornier and heir to the throne unless they had permission from the Pope, and the Pope was hostile. After the death of Eustace (Aug. 17, 1153) Stephen met Henry at Winchester and on November 6 recognized his hereditary right to the throne of England, retaining the kingdom for himself for life. He adopted Henry as his "son and heir," thus excluding his younger son from the succession. Stephen died on Oct. 25, 1154, and Henry took peaceful possession of England (as Henry II).

Empress Matilda, 1141 to 1142 Empress Matilda born in 1101, the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I was betrothed to the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They were married on 7th January 1114. She was twelve and Henry was thirty two. Upon his death in 1125, the couple had remained childless and Matilda was summoned to her father's court.

Matilda's only brother had been killed in 1120 and she was now her father's only hope for the continuation of his empire. The barons swore an oath of allegiance to the young Princess and promised to make her queen after her father's death. In April of 1127, Matilda married the thirteen year old Prince Geoffrey of Anjou and Maine. It was not a happy marriage but the relationship had born Matilda three sons in four years.

In 1135, Matilda's father passed away while she was absent from his court. Seeing an opportunity her Cousin, Stephen, seized the throne away from Matilda in her absence. With encouragement from her husband and supporters in England, Matilda set about reclaiming what was rightfully hers with the help of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester.

In February of 1141, Empress Matilda at last gained the upper hand over Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln where he was captured. Matilda was declared Queen or "Lady of the English" at Winchester and immediately began to isolate and alienate the people of London with arrogant manner.

After a several months, the populace of London had had enough of her arrogance and joined in an attempt orchestrated by Stephen's Queen, to oust Matilda from power while still at Winchester. She managed to escape but in doing so her half brother, Robert, who was protecting her rear, was captured.

In November of the same year, Matilda was obliged to trade Stephen for Robert thus returning the King to the throne of England. In 1148, after the death of her half-brother, Matilda returned to Normandy, leaving her son, who, in 1154, would become Henry II, to fight on in her absence. She died at Rouen, France on 10th September 1169 and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey.

King Henry II, 1154 to 1189 Henry, the eldest son of Matilda, the daughter of Henry I, and Geoffrey Plantagent, Count of Anjou, was born in Le Mans in 1133.

Although he married twice, Henry only had two legitimate children, William and Matilda. (He had at least another twenty outside marriage.) When his son William drowned in 1120, Henry decided to ask his barons to accept his daughter as the country's next ruler. The barons were not happy about this but after much discussion they accepted Henry's request. When Henry I died in 1135, some of the barons did not keep their promise to support Matilda. The Normans had never had a woman leader. Norman law stated that all property and rights should be handed over to men. To the Normans this meant that her husband Geoffrey of Anjou would become their next ruler.

The people of Anjou (Angevins) were considered to be barbarians by the Normans. Most Normans were unwilling to accept an Angevin ruler and instead decided to help Stephen, the son of one of William the Conqueror's daughters, to become king.

When Stephen died in 1154, Henry became king of England. Henry spent the early part of his reign establishing control over England's powerful barons. His first step was to destroy all the castles that had been built during Stephen's reign. Henry II also announced that in future castles could only be built with his permission.

From an early age Henry had been trained as the next king of England. Queen Matilda had employed the best scholars in Europe to educate her son. Henry was a willing student and never lost his love of learning. When he became king Henry arranged for the world's best scholars to visit his court so that he could discuss important issues with them. One of his close friends said that Henry had a tremendous memory and rarely forgot anything he was told.

Henry spent many hours studying Roman history. He was particularly interested in the way Emperor Augustus had successfully managed to gain control over the Roman Empire. Henry realised that, like Augustus, his first task must be to tackle those that had the power to remove him.

This meant that Henry had to control England's powerful barons. His first step was to destroy all the castles that had been built during Stephen's reign. Henry also announced that, in future, castles could only be built with his permission. The new king also deported all the barons' foreign mercenaries.

Henry then took action to unite the people of England. He allowed several of Stephen's officials to keep their government posts. Another strategy used by Henry was to arrange marriages between rival families.

A great deal of Henry's reign was spent at war with rivals who wanted to take over the territory he controlled in Europe. Not only did Henry manage to successfully protect this territory, but was able to add to his empire making him the most powerful monarch in Western Europe.

When Henry was in England he spent most of the time travelling. Henry believed that it was important that people saw their ruler as much as possible. He argued that this encouraged the people to remain loyal to their king.

Henry, unlike most kings, cared little for appearances. He preferred hardwearing hunting clothes to royal robes. Henry also disliked the pomp and ceremony that went with being king.

Henry believed people had to earn respect. He was often rude to members of the nobility. He was quick to lose his temper and often upset important people by shouting at them. Yet, when dealing with the poor or a defeated enemy, Henry had a reputation for being polite and kind. He also had a great sense of humour and even enjoyed a joke at his own expense. An extremely intelligent man with tremendous energy, Henry made several important legal reforms and is considered to be the founder of English common law. Henry's attempts to reform the courts controlled by the church led to conflict with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

King Richard I, Lionheart, 1189 to 1199 Richard was a king of England, later known as the 'Lion Heart', and famous for his exploits in the Third Crusade, although during his 10-year reign he spent only six months in England. Richard was born on 8 September 1157 in Oxford, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He possessed considerable political and military ability. However, like his brothers, he fought with his family, joining them in the great rebellion against their father in 1173. In 1183 his brother Henry died, leaving Richard heir to the throne. Henry II wanted to give Aquitaine to his youngest son, John. Richard refused and, in 1189, joined forces with Philip II of France against his father, hounding him to a premature death in July 1189. As king, Richard's chief ambition was to join the Third Crusade, prompted by Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187. To finance this, he sold sheriffdoms and other offices and in 1190 he departed for the Holy Land. In May, he reached Cyprus where he married Berengaria, daughter of the king of Navarre. Richard arrived in the Holy Land in June 1191 and Acre fell the following month. In September, his victory at Arsuf gave the crusaders possession of Joppa. Although he came close, Jerusalem, the crusade's main objective, eluded him. Moreover, fierce quarrels among the French, German and English contingents provided further troubles. After a year's stalemate, Richard made a truce with Saladin and started his journey home.

Bad weather drove him ashore near Venice and he was imprisoned by Duke Leopold of Austria before being handed over to the German emperor Henry VI, who ransomed him for the huge sum of 150,000 marks. The raising of the ransom was a remarkable achievement. In February 1194, Richard was released. He returned at once to England and was crowned for a second time, fearing that the ransom payment had compromised his independence. Yet a month later he went to Normandy, never to return. His last five years were spent in intermittent warfare against Philip II. While besieging the castle of Chalus in central France he was fatally wounded and died on 6 April 1199. He was succeeded by his younger brother John, who had spent the years of Richard's absence scheming against him.

King John, Lackland, 1199 to 1216 John was born on Christmas Eve 1167. His parents drifted apart after his birth; his youth was divided between his eldest brother Henry's house, where he learned the art of knighthood, and the house of his father's justiciar, Ranulf Glanvil, where he learned the business of government. As the fourth child, inherited lands were not available to him, giving rise to his nickname, Lackland. His first marriage lasted but ten years and was fruitless, but his second wife, Isabella of Angouleme, bore him two sons and three daughters. He also had an illegitimate daughter, Joan, who married Llywelyn the Great, Ruler of All Wales, from which the Tudor line of monarchs was descended. The survival of the English government during John's reign is a testament to the reforms of his father, as John taxed the system socially, economically, and judicially.

The Angevin family feuds profoundly marked John. He and Richard clashed in 1184 following Richard's refusal to honor his father's wishes surrender Aquitane to John. The following year Henry II sent John to rule Ireland, but John alienated both the native Irish and the transplanted Anglo-Normans who emigrated to carve out new lordships for themselves; the experiment was a total failure and John returned home within six months. After Richard gained the throne in 1189, he gave John vast estates in an unsuccessful attempt to appease his younger brother. John failed to overthrow Richard's administrators during the German captivity and conspired with Philip II in another failed coup attempt. Upon Richard's release from captivity in 1194, John was forced to sue for pardon and he spent the next five years in his brother's shadow.

John's reign was troubled in many respects. A quarrel with the Church resulted in England being placed under an interdict in 1207, with John actually excommunicated two years later. The dispute centered on John's stubborn refusal to install the papal candidate, Stephen Langdon, as Archbishop of Canterbury; the issue was not resolved until John surrendered to the wishes of Pope Innocent III and paid tribute for England as the Pope's vassal. John proved extremely unpopular with his subjects. In addition to the Irish debacle, he inflamed his French vassals by orchestrating the murder of his popular nephew, Arthur of Brittany. By spring 1205, he lost the last of his French possessions and returned to England. The final ten years of his reign were occupied with failed attempts to regain these territories. After levying a number of new taxes upon the barons to pay for his dismal campaigns, the discontented barons revolted, capturing London in May 1215. At Runnymeade in the following June, John succumbed to pressure from the barons, the Church, and the English people at-large, and signed the Magna Carta. The document, a declaration of feudal rights, stressed three points. First, the Church was free to make ecclesiastic appointments. Second, larger-than-normal amounts of money could only be collected with the consent of the king's feudal tenants. Third, no freeman was to be punished except within the context of common law. Magna Carta, although a testament to John's complete failure as monarch, was the forerunner of modern constitutions. John only signed the document as a means of buying time and his hesitance to implement its principles compelled the nobility to seek French assistance. The barons offered the throne to Philip II's son, Louis. John died in the midst of invasion from the French in the South and rebellion from his barons in the North. John was remembered in elegant fashion by Sir Richard Baker in A Chronicle of the Kings of England: "...his works of piety were very many ... as for his actions, he neither came to the crown by justice, nor held it with any honour, nor left it peace."

King Henry III, 1216 to 1272 Henry III, the first monarch to be crowned in his minority, inherited the throne at age nine. His reign began immersed in the rebellion created by his father, King John. London and most of the southeast were in the hands of the French Dauphin Louis and the northern regions were under the control of rebellious barons - only the midlands and southwest were loyal to the boy king. The barons, however, rallied under Henry's first regent, William the Marshall, and expelled the French Dauphin in 1217. William the Marshall governed until his death in 1219; Hugh de Burgh, the last of the justiciars to rule with the power of a king, governed until Henry came to the throne in earnest at age twenty-five.

A variety of factors coalesced in Henry's reign to plant the first seeds of English nationalism. Throughout his minority, the barons held firm to the ideal of written restrictions on royal authority and reissued Magna Carta several times. The nobility wished to bind the king to same feudal laws under which they were held. The emerging class of free men also demanded the same protection from the king's excessive control. Barons, nobility, and free men began viewing England as a community rather than a mere aggregation of independent manors, villages, and outlying principalities. In addition to the restrictions outlined in Magna Carta, the barons asked to be consulted in matters of state and called together as a Great Council. Viewing themselves as the natural counselors of the king, they sought control over the machinery of government, particularly in the appointment of chief government positions. The Exchequer and the Chancery were separated from the rest of the government to decrease the king's chances of ruling irresponsibly.

Nationalism, such as it was at this early stage, manifested in the form of opposition to Henry's actions. He infuriated the barons by granting favors and appointments to foreigners rather than the English nobility. Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester and Henry's prime educator, introduced a number of Frenchmen from Poitou into the government; many Italians entered into English society through Henry's close ties to the papacy. His reign coincided with an expansion of papal power P the Church became, in effect, a massive European monarchy P and the Church became as creative as it was excessive in extorting money from England. England was expected to assume a large portion of financing the myriad officials employed throughout Christendom as well as providing employment and parishes for Italians living abroad. Henry's acquiescence to the demands of Rome initiated a backlash of protest from his subjects: laymen were denied opportunity to be nominated for vacant ecclesiastical offices and clergymen lost any chance of advancement. Matters came to a head in 1258. Henry levied extortionate taxes to pay for debts incurred through war with Wales, failed campaigns in France, and an extensive program of ecclesiastical building. Inept diplomacy and military defeat led Henry to sell his hereditary claims to all the Angevin possessions in France except Gascony. When he assumed the considerable debts of the papacy in its fruitless war with Sicily, his barons demanded sweeping reforms and the king was in no position to offer resistance. Henry was forced to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, a document placing the barons in virtual control of the realm. A council of fifteen men, comprised of both the king's supporters and detractors, effected a situation whereby Henry could do nothing without the council's knowledge and consent. The magnates handled every level of government with great unity initially but gradually succumbed to petty bickering; the Provisions of Oxford remained in force for only years. Henry reasserted his authority and denied the Provisions, resulting in the outbreak of civil war in 1264. Edward, Henry's eldest son, led the king's forces with the opposition commanded by Simon de Montfort, Henry's brother-in-law. At the Battle of Lewes, in Sussex, de Montfort defeated Edward and captured both king and son - and found himself in control of the government.

Simon de Montfort held absolute power after subduing Henry but was a champion of reform. The nobility supported him because of his royal ties and belief in the Provisions of Oxford. De Montfort, with two close associates, selected a council of nine (whose function was similar to the earlier council of fifteen) and ruled in the king's name. De Montfort recognized the need to gain the backing of smaller landowners and prosperous townsfolk: in 1264, he summoned knights from each shire in addition to the normal high churchmen and nobility to an early pre-Parliament, and in 1265 invited burgesses from selected towns. Although Parliament as an institution was yet to be formalized, the latter session was a precursor to both the elements of Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Later in 1265, de Montfort lost the support of one of the most powerful barons, the Earl of Gloucester, and Edward also managed to escape. The two gathered an army and defeated de Montfort at the Battle of Evasham, Worcestershire, de Montfort was slain and Henry was released; Henry resumed control of the throne but, for the remainder of his reign, Edward exercised the real power of the throne in his father's stead. The old king, after a long reign of fifty-six years, died in 1272. Although a failure as a politician and soldier, his reign was significant for defining the English monarchical position until the end of the fifteenth century: kingship limited by law.

Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, 1272 to 1307 Eldest son of Henry III. Born 1239. Crowned, with his Queen, Eleanor of Castile, at Westminster, August 19th, 1274, two years after his accession, at which time he was absent in the Holy Land, and being there wounded, did not land in England till the month before his Coronation.

With the reign of Edward I. begins "modern England, the constitutional England in which we live"; that wisest of the first Edwards who summoned the barons for the discussion of any matter which affected them, and in like manner the representatives of the boroughs and towns for the discussion of any matter which affected them, the outcome of which was our Parliament of Lords and Commons, born of the Great Council of former reigns, and which that patriotic baron Simon of Montfort, Earl of Leicester (^ftemp. Henry III.), had done so much to fashion and to found.

Wales first came under the dominion of the English kings in Edward I.'s reign. His second son, who, by the death of his eldest brother, became Edward II., born at Carnarvon, was created Prince of Wales, a title borne by the heir to the Crown of England ever since. "No man was more acute in council, more fervid in eloquence, more self-possessed in danger, more cautious in prosperity, more firm in adversity," than this, the "greatest of the Plantagenets." Those whom he once loved he scarcely ever forsook; but he rarely admitted into his favour any that had excited his dislike. "His liberalities were magnificent." Thus the chroniclers.

Among minor matters of interest these may be added: King Edward I. loved not rich apparel, nor the wearing of his crown, holding it "absurd to suppose that he could be more estimable in fine, than in simple apparel." The Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey was brought by him to England from the Abbey of Scone, in Scotland.

Finally, the name Charing Cross is a perpetual memorial of himself and of Queen Eleanor his much-loved wife. Those interested may see a copy of the first Eleanor Cross of the village of Charing of Plantagenet times, in the railway station yard most familiar to Londoners. Edward I. lies buried in Westminster Abbey. His favourite device, Pactum serva ("Keep troth"), is no unworthy epitaph of this politic, vigilant, and enterprising king.

Edward II, 1307 to 1327 Edward II lacked the royal dignity of his father and failed miserably as king. He inherited his father's war with Scotland and displayed his ineptitude as a soldier. Disgruntled barons, already wary of Edward as Prince of Wales, sought to check his power from the beginning of his reign. He raised the ire of the nobility by lavishing money and other rewards upon his male favorites. Such extreme unpopularity would eventually cost Edward his life. Edward I's dream of a unified British nation quickly disintegrated under his weak son. Baronial rebellion opened the way for Robert Bruce to reconquer much of Scotland. In 1314, Bruce defeated English forces at the battle of Bannockburn and ensured Scottish independence until the union of England and Scotland in 1707. Bruce also incited rebellion in Ireland and reduced English influence to the confines of the Pale.

Edward's preference for surrounding himself with outsiders harkened back to the troubled reign of Henry III. The most notable was Piers Gaveston, a young Gascon exiled by Edward I for his undue influence on the Prince of Wales and, most likely, the king's homosexual lover. The arrogant and licentious Gaveston wielded considerable power after being recalled by Edward. The magnates, alienated by the relationship, rallied in opposition behind the king's cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster; the Parliaments of 1310 and 1311 imposed restrictions on Edward's power and exiled Gaveston. The barons revolted in 1312 and Gaveston was murdered - full rebellion was avoided only by Edward's acceptance of further restrictions. Although Lancaster shared the responsibilities of governing with Edward, the king came under the influence of yet another despicable favorite, Hugh Dispenser. In 1322, Edward showed a rare display of resolve and gathered an army to meet Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire. Edward prevailed and executed Lancaster. He and Dispenser ruled the government but again acquired many enemies - 28 knights and barons were executed for rebelling and many exiled.

Edward sent his queen, Isabella, to negotiate with her brother, French king Charles IV, regarding affairs in Gascony. She fell into an open romance with Roger Mortimer, one of Edward's disaffected barons, and persuaded Edward to send their young son to France. The rebellious couple invaded England in 1326 and imprisoned Edward. The king was deposed in 1327, replaced by his son, Edward III, and murdered in September at Berkeley castle. Sir Richard Baker, in reference to Edward I in A Chronicle of the Kings of England, makes a strong indictment against Edward II: "His great unfortunateness was in his greatest blessing; for of four sons which he had by his Queen Eleanor, three of them died in his own lifetime, who were worthy to have outlived him; and the fourth outlived him, who was worthy never to have been born."

Edward III, 1327 to 1377 The fifty-year reign of Edward III was a dichotomy in English development. Governmental reforms affirmed the power of the emerging middle class in Parliament while placing the power of the nobility into the hands a few. Chivalric code reached an apex in English society but only masked the greed and ambition of Edward and his barons. Social conditions were equally ambiguous: the export of raw wool (and later, the wool cloth industry) prospered and spread wealth across the nation but was offset by the devastation wrought by the Black Death. Early success in war ultimately failed to produce lasting results. Edward proved a most capable king in a time of great evolution in England.

Edward's youth was spent in his mother's court and he was crowned at age fourteen after his father was deposed. After three years of domination by his mother and her lover, Roger Mortimer, Edward instigated a palace revolt in 1330 and assumed control of the government. Mortimer was executed and Isabella was exiled from court. Edward was married to Philippa of Hainault in 1328 and the union produced many children; the 75% survival rate of their children - nine out of twelve lived through adulthood - was incredible considering conditions of the day.

War occupied the largest part of Edward's reign. He and Edward Baliol defeated David II of Scotland and drove David into exile in 1333. French cooperation with the Scots, French aggression in Gascony, and Edward's claim to the disputed throne of France (through his mother, Isabella) led to the first phase of the Hundred Years¹ war. The naval battle of Sluys (1340) gave England control of the Channel, and battles at Crecy (1346) and Calais (1347) established English supremacy on land. Hostilities ceased in the aftermath of the Black Death but war flared up again with an English invasion of France in 1355. Edward, the Black Prince and eldest son of Edward III, trounced the French cavalry at Poitiers (1356) and captured the French King John. In 1359, the Black Prince encircled Paris with his army and the defeated French negotiated for peace. The Treaty of Bretigny in 1360 ceded huge areas of northern and western France to English sovereignty. Hostilities arose again in 1369 as English armies under the king's third son, John of Gaunt, invaded France. English military strength, weakened considerably after the plague, gradually lost so much ground that by 1375, Edward agreed to the Treaty of Bruges, leaving only the coastal towns of Calais, Bordeaux, and Bayonne in English hands.

The nature of English society transformed greatly during Edward's reign. Edward learned from the mistakes of his father and affected more cordial relations with the nobility than any previous monarch. Feudalism dissipated as mercantilism emerged: the nobility changed from a large body with relatively small holdings to a small body that held great lands and wealth. Mercenary troops replaced feudal obligations as the means of gathering armies. Taxation of exports and commerce overtook land-based taxes as the primary form of financing government (and war). Wealth was accrued by merchants as they and other middle class subjects appeared regularly for parliamentary sessions. Parliament formally divided into two houses - the upper representing the nobility and high clergy with the lower representing the middle classes - and met regularly to finance Edward's wars and pass statutes. Treason was defined by statute for the first time (1352), the office of Justice of the Peace was created to aid sheriffs (1361), and English replaced French as the national language (1362). Despite the king's early successes and England's general prosperity, much remained amiss in the realm. Edward and his nobles touted romantic chivalry as their credo while plundering a devastated France; chivalry emphasized the glory of war while reality stressed its costs. The influence of the Church decreased but John Wycliff spearheaded an ecclesiastical reform movement that challenged church exploitation by both the king and the pope. During 1348- 1350, bubonic plague (the Black Death) ravaged the populations of Europe by as much as a fifty per cent. The flowering English economy was struck hard by the ensuing rise in prices and wages. The failed military excursions of John of Gaunt into France caused excessive taxation and eroded Edward's popular support.

The last years of Edward's reign mirrored the first, in that a woman again dominated him. Philippa died in 1369 and Edward took the unscrupulous Alice Perrers as his mistress. With Edward in his dotage and the Black Prince ill, Perrers and William Latimer (the chamberlain of the household) dominated the court with the support of John of Gaunt. Edward, the Black Prince, died in 1376 and the old king spent the last year of his life grieving. Rafael Holinshed, in Chronicles of England, suggested that Edward believed the death of his son was a punishment for usurping his father's crown: "But finally the thing that most grieved him, was the loss of that most noble gentleman, his dear son Prince Edward . . . But this and other mishaps that chanced to him now in his old years might seem to come to pass for a revenge of his disobedience showed to his in usurping against him. . .^fl

Richard II, 1377 to 1399 Richard II, born in 1367, was the son of Edward, the Black Prince and Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent. Richard was but ten years old when he succeeded his grandfather, Edward III; England was ruled by a council under the leadership of John of Gaunt, and Richard was tutored by Sir Simon Burley. He married the much-beloved Anne of Bohemia in 1382, who died childless in 1394. Edward remarried in 1396, wedding the seven year old Isabella of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, to end a further struggle with France.

Richard asserted royal authority during an era of royal restrictions. Economic hardship followed the Black Death, as wages and prices rapidly increased. Parliament exacerbated the problem by passing legislation limiting wages but failing to also regulate prices. In 1381, Wat Tyler led the Peasants' Revolt against the oppressive government policies of John of Gaunt. Richard's unwise generosity to his favorites - Michael de la Pole, Robert de Vere and others - led Thomas, Duke of Gloucester and four other magnates to form the Lords Appellant. The five Lords Appellant tried and convicted five of Richard's closest advisors for treason. In 1397, Richard arrested three of the five Lords, coerced Parliament to sentence them to death and banished the other two. One of the exiles was Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV. Richard travelled to Ireland in 1399 to quell warring chieftains, allowing Bolingboke to return to England and be elected king by Parliament. Richard lacked support and was quickly captured by Henry IV.

Deposed in 1399, Richard was murdered while in prison, the first casualty of the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York. Henry IV (1399-1413 AD) Henry IV was bom at Bolingbroke in 1367 to John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. He married Mary Bohun in 1380, who bore him seven children before her death in 1394. In 1402, Henry remarried, taking as his bride Joan of Navarre.

Henry had an on-again, off-again relationship with his cousin, Richard II. He was one of the Lords Appellant who, in 1388, persecuted many of Richard's advisor-favorites, but his excellence as a soldier gained the king's favor - Henry was created Duke of Hereford in 1397. In 1398, however, the increasingly suspicious Richard banished him for ten years. John of Gaunt's death in 1399 prompted Richard to confiscate the vast Lancastrian estates; Henry invaded England while Richard was on campaign in Ireland, usurping the throne from the king.

The very nature of Henry's usurpation dictated the circumstances of his reign - incessant rebellion became the order of the day. Richard's supporters immediately revolted upon his deposition in 1400. In Wales , Owen Glendower led a national uprising that lasted until 1408; the Scots waged continual warfare throughout the reign; the powerful families of Percy and Mortimer (the latter possessing a stronger claim to the throne than Henry) revolted from 1403 to 1408; and Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, proclaimed his opposition to the Lancastrian claim in 1405.

Two political blunders in the latter years of his reign diminished Henry's support. His marriage to Joan of Navarre (of whom it was rumored practiced necromancy) was highly unpopular - she was, in fact, convicted of witchcraft in 1419. Scrope and Thomas Mawbray were executed in 1405 after conspiring against Henry; the Archbishop's execution alarmed the English people, adding to his unpopularity. He developed a nasty skin disorder and epilepsy, persuading many that God was punishing the king for executing an archbishop. Crushing the myriad of rebellions was costly, which involved calling Parliament to fund such activities. The House of Commons used the opportunity to expand its powers in 1401, securing recognition of freedom of debate and freedom from arrest for dissenting opinions. Lollardy, the Protestant movement founded by John Wycliffe during the reign of Edward III , gained momentum and frightened both secular and clerical landowners, inspiring the first anti-heresy statute, De Heritico Comburendo, to become law in 1401.

Henry, ailing from leprosy and epilepsy, watched as Prince Henry controlled the government for the last two years of his reign. In 1413, Henry died in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey. Rafael Holinshed explained his unpopularity in Chronicles of England : "... by punishing such as moved with disdain to see him usurp the crown, did at sundry times rebel against him, he won(himself more hatred, than in all his life time ... had been possible for him to have weeded out and removed." Unlikely as it may seem (due to the amount of rebellion in his reign), Henry left his eldest son an undisputed succession.

Henry IV, 1399 to 1413 Henry IV (possibly 3 April 1366 - 20 March 1413) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (1399-1413). Like other kings of England, at that time, he also claimed the title of King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence the other name by which he was known, Henry (of) Bolingbroke His father, John of Gaunt, was the third son of Edward III, and enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of Richard II. Henry's mother was Blanche, heiress to the considerable Lancaster estates.

Henry experienced a rather more inconsistent relationship with King Richard II than his father had. First cousins and childhood playmates, they were admitted together to the Order of the Garter in 1377, but Henry participated in the Lords Appellant's rebellion against the King in 1387. After regaining power, Richard did not punish Henry (many of the other rebellious Barons were executed or exiled). In fact, Richard elevated Henry from Earl of Derby to Duke of Hereford.

Henry spent a full year of 1390 supporting the unsuccessful siege of Vilnius (capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) by Teutonic Knights with his 300 fellow knights. During this campaign Henry Bolingbroke also bought captured Lithuanian princes and then apparently took them back to England. Henry's second expedition to Lithuania in 1392 illustrates the financial benefits to the Order of these guest crusaders. His small army consisted of over 100 men, including longbow archers and six minstrels, at a total cost to the Lancastrian purse of Ј4,360. Much of this sum benefited the local economy through the purchase of silverware and the hiring of boats and equipment. Despite the efforts of Henry and his English crusaders, two years of attacks on Vilnius proved fruitless. In 1392/93 Henry undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he made offerings at the Holy Sepulchre and Mount of Olives. Later he was to vow to lead a crusade to free Jerusalem from the "infidel", but he died before this could be accomplished.

However, the relationship between Henry Bolingbroke and the King encountered a second crisis. In 1398, a remark by Bolingbroke regarding Richard II's rule was interpreted as treason by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The two dukes agreed to undergo a duel of honor (called by Richard II) at Gosford Green near Coventry. Yet before the duel could take place, Richard II instead decided to banish Henry from the kingdom (with the approval of Henry's father, John of Gaunt) to avoid further bloodshed. Mowbray himself was exiled for life.

John of Gaunt died in 1399. Without explanation, Richard cancelled the legal documents that would have allowed Henry to inherit Gaunt's land automatically. Instead, Henry would be required to ask for the lands from Richard. After some hesitation, Henry met with the exiled Thomas Arundel, former Archbishop of Canterbury, who had lost his position because of his involvement with the Lords Appellant. Henry and Arundel returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland. With Arundel as his advisor, Henry began a military campaign, confiscating land from those who opposed him and ordering his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire. Henry quickly gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV, to imprison King Richard, who died in prison under mysterious circumstances, and to bypass Richard's seven-year-old heir- presumptive, Edmund de Mortimer. Henry's coronation, on 13 October 1399, is notable for being the first time following the Norman Conquest that the monarch made an address in English.

Henry consulted with Parliament frequently, but was sometimes at odds with the members, especially over ecclesiastical matters. On Arundel's advice, Henry passed the De heretico comburendo and was thus the first English king to allow the burning of heretics, mainly to suppress the Lollard movement.

Early in his reign, Henry hosted the visit of Manuel II Palaiologos, the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, from December 1400 to January 1401 at Eltham Palace, with a joust being given in his honour. He also sent monetary support with him upon his departure, to aid him against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1406, English pirates captured the future James I of Scotland off the coast of Flamborough Head as he was going to France. James remained a prisoner of Henry for the rest of Henry's reign.

Henry V, 1413 to 1422 Eldest son of Henry IV. Born 1388. Crowned at Westminster, April 9th, 1413. "When Prince of Wales," says history, he "was committed to prison for affronting one of the King's judges."

Elsewhere, we timidly refer to what a king's minister said of "History" - not to be repeated. Both stories may be equally false.

Certain it is that history has truthfully related the great Victory of Agincourt, not to be discredited by dry-as-dust researches in rolls or records. That made King Henry V popular. He was but twenty-seven years of age (1415) when he won that great victory against overwhelming odds. "If God give us the victory," he said, "it will be plain that we owe it to His grace. If not, the fewer we are, the less loss to England."

Did he who undoubtedly spake those words strike "in the very seat of judgment" the Lord Chief Justice, who was like "as a father to my youth," when he was crowned king? Hall, the chronicler, relates the incident. Shakespeare wrote Part II. of "Henry IV." (from which we quote) 1600-1, nearly two hundred years after the date (1412) when it is said to have taken place.

Ten years later (1422) "the greatness of Henry V. had reached its highest point," and he reigned but nine years. "He had won the Church by his orthodoxy, the nobles by his warlike prowess, the whole people by his revival of the glories of Crecy and Poitiers." Whatever his moral delinquencies, they were forgotten and forgiven. He was almost worshipped by the people. The nobles were fascinated by his knightly qualities; the Commons generously aided him with supplies; the Church esteemed him for his piety and devotion to its interests. "A King and an Englishman" the recorded verdict; "the noblest representative of the House of Lancaster."

He died at Bois de Vincennes near Paris at the age of thirty-four from dysentery contracted during the siege of Meaux. Catherine returned Henry's body to London where he was buried in Westminster Abbey on 7 November 1422. Whatsoever man might do for his country, that did Henry V as England's King. His abilities were no less conspicuous in the council than in the field.

Henry VI, 1422 to 1461, 1470 to 1471 Only son of Henry V. Born 1421. Ascended the throne 1422. Proclaimed King of France the same year. Crowned at Westminster King of England, November 6th, 1429-a child in his eighth year, who during his minority was under the guardianship of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. One of the most unfortunate of the sovereigns of the House of Lancaster, whose reign was a continued succession of misgovernment, violence, and anarchy; partly the results of an "intellectual weakness," supposed to have been attributable to an inherited infirmity (epilepsy) traceable to his grandfathers on both sides.

It has been said of Henry VI. that he was better fitted for a cloister than a crown; to have been a monk rather than the ruler of a kingdom. In that event, the name of Henry of Windsor might have been enrolled in the calendar of saints, as one who had aimed at the religious regeneration of that part of the world in which his life was spent.

Of this side of his character we are reminded by "the College of our Lady of Eton, beside Windsor," and King's College in Cambridge; the one for centuries the nursery of the other. "A man of pure simplicity of mind," 'tis said, "without the least deceit or falsehood"; who "always spoke truth and performed every promise he made." A simple man of noble thoughts, and of gentle, unselfish, and forgiving disposition; thrice made prisoner, twice deposed, and finally murdered in the Tower.

The siege of Orleans (1428-9), recalling "God's holy maid," Jeanne D'Arc, and her martyrdom at Rouen, were of his reign, toward the close of which, of all the possessions in France which this king's predecessors had held, Calais alone remained. The ruinous issue of the great struggle with France roused England to a burst of fury against the Government, to whose weakness it attributed its disasters. Jack Cade's insurrection was one of the immediate results. The Wars of the Roses were to follow; Henry having sunk into a state of idiocy, which made his rule, even feeble as it was, no longer possible. The rival House of York appeared in the field, and the cause of the House of Lancaster was lost at the battle of Towton, near Tadcaster, in Yorkshire (1461). With the Yorkist victory there gained, the crown passed to Edward, Duke of York, who boasted of a double descent from Edward III. Betrayed into the hands of his enemies, Henry VI. was finally deposed (1461), and passed to his death (1471) in the Tower of London. He was laid to rest at Chertsey, where later Henry VII caused his remains to be removed to St. George's Chapel at Windsor.

Edward IV, 1461 to 1470, 1471 to 1483 First King of the House of York. Born 1441. His grandfather was Richard, son of Edmund, fifth son of Edward III.; and his grandmother was Anne, great grand-daughter of Lionel, third son of the same king. Elected King of England, March 5th, 1461; but before his Coronation was obliged to take the field, and fight the battle of Towton as aforesaid (March 29th, 1461). Crowned at Westminster three months later, June 29th, 1461. Among the ablest, the most ruthless and pitiless of the leaders of that civil war, by which he secured the crown. There is "no reasonable doubt" that Henry VI., Edward, Prince of Wales, that king's son, and the Duke of Clarence - "false, fleeting, perjured Clarence," his own brother (of the traditional butt of Malmsey) - were murdered by King Edward IV.'s orders. The ancient baronage of England, according to history, was never more powerful than after the battle of Towton. More powerful than any of those barons who then overawed the crown was he who for a while became master of England: Warwick, the "King Maker," killed at the battle of Barnet. The "Last of the Barons," he. King Edward IV. is said to have met Prince Edward's cry for mercy at the battle of Tewkesbury with a blow from his gauntlet. He was stabbed by Yorkist lords, to whom the act had seemed invitation to the deed. "A goodly personage and very princely to behold," was written of King Edward IV.; "of visage lovely, of body mighty, strong, and clean made"; who courted and married Elizabeth Woodville (widow of Sir John Grey), and had to mistress Jane Shore, one, it is said, of many concubines, his thoughts being much employed upon "the ladies, on hunting, and dressing." His winning manners and carelessness of bearing secured him a popularity which was denied to nobler kings. He was not particular as to some of the companions of his leisure, and mixed familiarly with all classes, at all events towards the close of his reign. To the dissoluteness of his life was attributed his comparatively early death at the age of forty-one. He was buried at Windsor, 1483. There his corpse was discovered undecayed in 1789; "his dress nearly perfect, as were the lineaments of his face." More important than all, Caxton set up his printing press in the Almonry of Westminster in this king's reign.

Edward V, 9 April to 25 June 1483 The eldest son of Edward IV, whose person, at that king's death, was seized by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of Edward IV.; which act marks the beginning and the end of this unfortunate prince's career as successor to the throne at the age of twelve. In 1594, there was published in London, "The True Tragedie of Richard the Third; wherein is showne the death of Edward the Fourth; with the smothering of the two young Princes in the Tower; with a lamentable end of Shore's wife, an example for all wicked women. And, lastly, the conjunction and joyning of the two Noble Houses, Lancaster and York. As was played by the Queenes Majesties Players."

Not Shakespeare's tragedy, this, but another's. Its title tersely sums up the main historical incidents of Edward V.'s brief life of thirteen years. The two young princes were the brothers, Edward V. and Richard, Duke of York, murdered (so history relates) by their uncle's order. Bones of two youths were discovered under a staircase in the White Tower in 1674.

A preliminary of that crime was the summary execution of Lord Hastings, principal minister of the late king, and the loyal adherent of his sons. "Talk'st thou to me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor! Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul, I swear I will not dine until I see the same." Thus Shakespeare, following the chronicles nearest the event related.

Within two months of Hastings' execution, there was no longer an Edward V. to be crowned, after the manner of his ancestors, in Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Gloucester, presently to become Richard III., was the youthful Edward's guardian, appointed Protector by the Council.

It is a moot point whether his original motive in consigning his charge to the Tower was other than to have him under his own eye in safe keeping, apart from state factions and intrigues. Whatever the motive may have been, certain is it that the "two young Princes" there lodged were foully done to death:

"James Tyrrel having devised that they should be murthered in their beds and no blood shed... Within a while they smothered and stifled them; and their breaths failing, they gave up to God their innocent souls into the joys of Heaven."

Their "murtherers" buried them at "the stair-foot, meetly deep in the ground." Thus Holinshed, who adds that Richard gave James Tyrrel "great thanks," "and (as men say) there made him knight."

Richard III, 1483-1485 Younger brother of Edward IV. Born 1450. Made Protector of England, as aforesaid, 1483; elected King by his supporters, June 27th of that year; and crowned at Westminster the month following. His age, therefore, was thirty-three when he ascended the throne, which he held for two brief years, being killed at the battle of Bosworth in the struggle with the Earl of Richmond, Tudor-heir of the House of Lancaster.

The Duke of Buckingham's revolt in the first year of King Richard's reign had paved the way to that final issue of the enmity of many of the nobility towards him. Buckingham and Richmond joined hand with hand to dethrone Richard. Buckingham failed, and was beheaded; Richmond succeeded; and to the victor belonged the spoils-the Tudor succession to the crown of England.

Baynard's Castle, by St. Paul's, was the scene of that solemn farce recorded, in which Richard assumed the royal dignity at the invitation of Buckingham, and in obedience to the pretended wishes of the citizens-a scene, among others, pictorially represented on the ambulatory walls of London's Royal Exchange.

The murder of the princes proved the overflowing of the already full cup of Richard's iniquities. It roused indignation wherever known-that "crowning deed of blood." "He was close and secret, a deep dissembler, lowly of countenance, arrogant of heart, outwardly companionable when he inwardly hated, not letting to kiss whom he thought to kill, vindictive and cruel, not for evil always, but often for ambition and increase of his estate. Friend and foe were alike indifferent where his advantage grew; he spared no man's death whose life withstood his purpose." Thus Sir Thomas More, in his "Life of Richard III." The best, perhaps, that has been recorded of him is that he met a soldier's death. He hewed his way on the field of Bosworth into the very presence of his rival. There he fell overpowered by the numbers of those who hated and feared him, eager to have the mastery, and along with it his life.

He had actually worn the crown in battle, "which was found as the struggle ended near a hawthorn bush, and placed on the head of the conqueror," amidst shouts of "King Henry!" So, in 1485, came the first of the Tudor line to the throne of England.

Henry VII, 1485to 1509 Son of Edmund, eldest son of Owen Tudor, by Katharine, widow of Henry V. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, was great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt. Born 1456. Came to the throne, as aforesaid, on the field of Bosworth. Crowned at Westminster, October 30th, 1485. Married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.; and so were blended in one the white and red roses of York and Lancaster, henceforth to be the badge of Tudor regality. The inheritance of the Crown was "to be, rest, and abide in King Henry VII. and his heirs." Thus Parliament declared, November 7th, 1485; and it was so.

But this prince of both Houses was to be no more restful in his realm than his predecessors. Within two years of his election, Lambert Simnel, a boy of eighteen, son of an Oxford tradesman, was persuaded to lend himself to the imposture of being Edward, Earl of Warwick, said to have escaped from the Tower, who was the son of George, Duke of Clarence, of the royal line of Edward III.

That insurrection put down, another pretender arose - Perkin Warbeck - who was also in due order of events overthrown. Warwick and Warbeck were both prisoners in the Tower, and having (as was said) tired and vexed the King with plans and plots, were sent to death. The execution of the Earl is held to have been "the one judicial murder" of King Henry VII’s reign.

Parsimony and avarice are considered to have been his chief failings. As was usual with many of England's earlier kings, Henry invaded France. Eventually he received large sums of money from the French king for abandoning the war.

"He made the very insurrections and conspiracies against him not only pay for their suppression, but become actual sources of revenue." The chief aim of the King was not to be compelled to appeal to Parliament for money. He worked his way by the revival of "dormant claims of the Crown, by the exaction of fines for the breach of forgotten tenures, and by a host of petty extortions" - not for the greedy desire of riches, he said, or hunger of money; but "to bring low and abate the high stomachs of those of his subjects who had too much or enough money and to spare."

The more ostentatious a nobleman (among others) in his style of living, the likelier he to attract Henry's attention; all illegal, hut not without profitable warnings and lessons. This Henry Tudor was One of the most skilful and far-sighted of rulers.

Henry VIII, 1509 to 1547 Only surviving son of Henry VII. Born 1491. The most married king of England. In the year of his accession married, by Papal dispensation, Catherine of Aragon, his deceased brother Arthur's wife. Crowned at Westminster, June 24th, 1509. Received the title of Defender of the Faith, 1521, and styled Head of the Church ten years later. Divorced Queen Catherine, May 23rd, 1533, and married Anne Boleyn, who was crowned Queen the month following. Catherine died at Kimbolton in 1536.

Queen Anne Boleyn, on whose character he had stamped the infamy of adultery, if not a worse crime, was executed, and the King three days after (May 20th, 1536) married the Lady Jane Seymour, who died in childbed, 1537.

Three years later he married Anne of Cleves, whom he divorced in little more than six months; whereupon he married Catherine Howard, his fifth wife.

Two years later she was sent to the block, and in 1543 he married his sixth wife, Catherine Parr.

It is said that he dressed himself in white on the day of Anne Boleyn's execution, to display his contempt for her, little divining that her child would be known in history as the most famous of his House, and one of the greatest of Queens the world has ever known. The Reformation, and the dissolution of the monasteries, its natural outcome, is to be reckoned the most notable event of Henry VIII’s reign, abiding in its consequences. The most famous statesman of the times was Cardinal Wolsey, the King's Chancellor and most able and trusted first Minister of State; son of a wealthy townsman of Ipswich, memorials of whom remain to our time Christ Church, Oxford, Hampton Court Palace, and in that well- known London thoroughfare Whitehall, the site in part of York House, his principal palace. "Haughty beyond comparison,".

In raising his clerical favourite (ambitious, it was said, to become Pope) to the head in Church and State, King Henry "gathered all religious as all civil authority into his personal grasp."

Wolsey's downfall came. "There was never legate or cardinal that did good to England," said the Duke of Suffolk, when Wolsey's doom was sealed by the wrath of his master in the business of Queen Catherine's divorce. Wolsey died in 1530.

Henry henceforth had to think and act without him. The ten years that followed were among the most momentous in English history. "The one great institution which could still offer resistance to the royal will was struck down." That institution was the Church in England and Henry himself became its "Supreme Head."

Thus came the formation, under the inspiration (for so it is recorded) of Thomas Cromwell, able Secretary of the Cardinal, and after his death Henry's Prime Minister, whose fall was as sudden as Wolsey's.

Edward VI, 1547 to 1553 Son of Henry VIII. by Jane Seymour. Born 1537. Crowned at Westminster, February 20th, 1547, at the age of ten. Died at the age of sixteen. Was by his father's will placed under the guardianship of a Council of Regency, of whom the youthful Edward's uncle, Lord Hertford, after-wards Duke of Somerset, was the chief, subsequently assuming the title of Protector. His period of office was marked by a struggle between adherents of the old religion (Catholic) and of the new (Protestant); the use of the Book of Common Prayer which, with slight alterations, is still that of the Church of England, and of the Missal and Breviary from whose contents it is mainly drawn; such, historically, were the points of religious conflict at the beginning of the reign of Edward VI., here noted because they occupied men's minds and provoked disorder and bloodshed throughout the kingdom during the most of his brief reign. Edward VI.'s character partook of the obstinacy of his father's, which was formalised in the son by weak health, early ending in consumption. His faults assuredly did not lie on the side of an excess of feeling, as is shown by his indifference to the execution of both his uncles, the Protector and Lord Seymour, and in the cool way in which he notes the fact of their death in the journal which he kept Had he lived, he might have turned out a respectable but right. His reign seems to have ended neither too early nor too late. "Whom the gods love die young." Let that be his all-sufficient epitaph.

He is best remembered by his grammar schools, of which he founded eighteen, the greatest of which is Christ's Hospital, for considerably over three centuries remaining in one place- Newgate Street, London, but now removed to Horsham.

St. Bartholomew's, St. Thomas's, Bridewell, and Bethlehem - the so-called "royal hospitals" - were of Edward's institution. He was not a little of a "bigot" religiously, pardonable enough in one who had but just "come to years of discretion" when he died. He was prone, we are told, to lecture others much older than himself on principles of theology. He dictated to his sister Mary, a bigot herself, on the rules of her own conscience: "Although her good sweet King," said she, "hath more knowledge than any other of his years, yet it is not possible that he can be judge of these things." Edward VI. died at Greenwich, and lies in Westminster Abbey.

Lady Jane Grey (10-19 July 1553) The accession of Lady Jane Grey as Queen was engineered by the powerful Duke of Northumberland, President of the King's Council, in the interests of promoting his own dynastic line.

Northumberland persuaded the sickly Edward VI to name Lady Jane Grey as his heir. As one of Henry VIII’s great-nieces, the young girl was a genuine claimant to the throne. Northumberland then married his own son, Lord Guilford Dudley, to Lady Jane.

On the death of Edward, Jane assumed the throne and her claim was recognised by the Council. Despite this, the country rallied to Mary, Catherine of Aragon^fs daughter and a devout Roman Catholic.

Jane reigned for only nine days and was later executed with her husband in 1554.

Mary I (1553-1558) Mary I was the first Queen Regnant (that is, a queen reigning in her own right rather than a queen through marriage to a king). Courageous and stubborn, her character was moulded by her early years.

An Act of Parliament in 1533 had declared her illegitimate and removed her from the succession to the throne (she was reinstated in 1544, but her half-brother Edward removed her from the succession once more shortly before his death), whilst she was pressurised to give up the Mass and acknowledge the English Protestant Church.

Mary restored papal supremacy in England, abandoned the title of Supreme Head of the Church, reintroduced Roman Catholic bishops and began the slow reintroduction of monastic orders.

Mary also revived the old heresy laws to secure the religious conversion of the country; heresy was regarded as a religious and civil offence amounting to treason (to believe in a different religion from the Sovereign was an act of defiance and disloyalty).

As a result, around 300 Protestant heretics were burnt in three years - apart from eminent Protestant clergy such as Cranmer (a former archbishop and author of two Books of Common Prayer), Latimer and Ridley, these heretics were mostly poor and self-taught people.

Apart from making Mary deeply unpopular, such treatment demonstrated that people were prepared to die for the Protestant settlement established in Henry's reign.

The progress of Mary's conversion of the country was also limited by the vested interests of the aristocracy and gentry who had bought the monastic lands sold off after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and who refused to return these possessions voluntarily as Mary invited them to do. Aged 37 at her accession, Mary wished to marry and have children, thus leaving a Catholic heir to consolidate her religious reforms, and removing her half-sister Elizabeth (a focus for Protestant opposition) from direct succession.

Mary's decision to marry Philip, King of Spain from 1556, in 1554 was very unpopular; the protest from the Commons prompted Mary's reply that Parliament was 'not accustomed to use such language to the Kings of England' and that in her marriage 'she would choose as God inspired her'.

The marriage was childless, Philip spent most of it on the continent, England obtained no share in the Spanish monopolies in New World trade and the alliance with Spain dragged England into a war with France.

Popular discontent grew when Calais, the last vestige of England's possessions in France dating from William the Conqueror's time, was captured by the French in 1558.

Dogged by ill health, Mary died later that year, possibly from cancer, leaving the crown to her half-sister Elizabeth.

Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch - was born at Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Her early life was full of uncertainties, and her chances of succeeding to the throne seemed very slight once her half-brother Edward was born in 1537. She was then third in line behind her Roman Catholic half-sister, Princess Mary. Roman Catholics, indeed, always considered her illegitimate and she only narrowly escaped execution in the wake of a failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554.

Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister's death in November 1558. She was very well-educated (fluent in six languages), and had inherited intelligence, determination and shrewdness both parents"

Her 45-year reign is generally considered one off the most glorious in English history. During it a secure Church of England in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

Elizabeth herself refused to 'make windows into men's souls ... there is only one Jesus Christ and all the rest is a dispute over trifles'; she asked for outward uniformity.

Most of her subjects accepted the compromise as the basis of their faith, and her church settlement (probably saved England from religious wars like those which France suffered in the second half of the 16th century.

Although autocratic and capricious, Elizabeth had astute political judgement and chose her ministers these included Burghley (Secretary of State), Hatton (Lord Chancellor) and Walsingham (in charge of intelligence and also a Secretary of State).

Overall, Elizabeth's administration consisted of some 600 officials administering the great offices of state, and a similar number dealing with the Crown lands (which funded the administrative costs). Social and economic regulation and law and order remained in the hands of the sheriffs at local level, supported by unpaid justices of the peace.

Elizabeth's reign also saw many brave voyages of discovery, including those of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert, particularly

prepared England for an age of colonisation and trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognised by establishing the East India Company in 1600.

The arts flourished during Elizabeth's reign. Country houses such as Longleat and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high pointy theatres thrived - the Queen attended the first performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Tallis worked in Elizabeth's court and at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.

The image of Elizabeth's reign is one of triumph and success. The Queen herself was often called 'Gloriana', 'Good Queen Bess' and 'The Virgin Queen'.

Investing in expensive clothes and jewellery (to look the part, like all contemporary sovereigns), she cultivated this image by touring the country in regional visits known as 'progresses', often riding on horseback rather than by carriage. Elizabeth made at least 25 progresses during her reign.

However, Elizabeth's reign was one of considerable danger and difficulty for many, with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France through Scotland. Much of northern England was in rebellion in 1569-70. A papal bull of 1570 specifically released Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance, and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots against her life were discovered.

One such plot involved Mary, Queen of Scots, who had fled to England in 1568 after her second husband's murder and her subsequent marriage to a man believed to have been involved in his murder.

As a likely successor to Elizabeth, Mary spent 19 years as Elizabeth's prisoner because Mary was the focus for rebellion and possible assassination plots, such as the Babington Plot of 1586.

Mary was also a temptation for potential invaders such as Philip II. In a letter of 1586 to Mary, Elizabeth wrote, 'You have planned ... to take my life and ruin my kingdom... I never proceeded so harshly against you.' Despite Elizabeth's reluctance to take drastic action, on the insistence of Parliament and her advisers, Mary was tried, found guilty and executed in 1587. In 1588, aided by bad weather, the English navy scored a great victory over the Spanish invasion fleet of around 130 ships - the 'Armada'. The Armada was intended to overthrow the Queen and re­establish Roman Catholicism by conquest, as Philip II believed he had a claim to the English throne through his marriage to Mary.

During Elizabeth's long reign, the nation also suffered from high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s. The war against Spain was not very successful after the Armada had been beaten and, together with other campaigns, it was very costly.

Though she kept a tight rein on government expenditure, Elizabeth left debts to her successor. Wars during Elizabeth's reign are estimated to have cost over Ј5 million (at the prices of the time) which Crown revenues could not match - in 1588, for example, Elizabeth's total annual revenue amounted to some Ј392,000.

Despite the combination of financial strains and prolonged war after 1588, Parliament was not summoned more often. There were only 16 sittings of the Commons during Elizabeth's reign, five of which were in the period 1588-1601. Although Elizabeth freely used her powef to veto legislation, she avoided confrontation and did not attempt to define Parliament's constitutional position and rights.

Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies.

However, the 'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, 'married'. Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called 'Golden Speech' of 1601 when she told MPs: There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.' She seems to have been very popular with the vast majority of her subjects. Overall, Elizabeth's always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive leadership brought successes during a period of great danger both at home and abroad. She died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, having become a legend in her lifetime. The date of her accession was a national holiday for two hundred years.

James VI. of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, great grandson of James IV. of Scotland, by Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. of England. Born 1566. Crowned King of Scotland, 1567. Married Anne, Princess of Denmark, 1589. Succeeded to the crown of England, March 24th, 1603.

First styled King of Great Britain 1604, when he came to London, being then in the thirty- seventh year of his age. Right glad was he to enter that southern "Elysium "-where he became freer from the somewhat harsh tutelage and control which had marked his earlier youthful experiences as King of Scotland.

He was the son (as above said) of the accomplished and "voluptuous" Mary, and the foolish and debauched Darnley; his mother, during her pregnancy, had seen Rizzio assassinated before her face; he had for his tutor Buchanan, who made him a pedant, "which was all," he said, "that he could make of him"; he was a King at the age of one; and he continued more or less childish (according to contemporary chroniclers, of whom many have described his peculiarities and weaknesses) as long as he lived: at once clever and foolish, confident, and in some respects of no courage.

A great hunter, this first of the Stuarts, clad all in grass green with a green feather; big head, slobbering tongue, rickety legs, quilted, "stiletto-proof" clothes, which he would wear to rags, none too cleanly in his person, addicted to drinking, not ordinary light French and Spanish wines, but strong Greek wines; "the bottle governed him; the favourite governed him; his horse and dogs governed him; pedantry governed him; passion governed him; and when the fit was over repentance governed him as absolutely." Thus has James I.'s character been summed up. "His shrewdness and learning only left him, in the phrase of Henry IV., the wisest fool in Christendom.'"

"As it is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do, so it is presumption and a high contempt in a subject to dispute what a King can do, or to say that a King cannot do this or that." From a Star Chamber declaration of James I., touching the "Divine right of Kings"; of which more was to be heard later in the reign of one of his successors.

A breach firstly with the Puritans was followed by a breach with the Catholics: the outcome of which was "the Gunpowder Plot." Barrels of powder were placed in the vaults of the Parliament House, with the intent to blow up King and Ministry, on November 5th, 1605-a conspiracy that failed; Guido Fawkes (a soldier of fortune), Garnet, and others, prime movers in it, all being either killed or sent to the block.

Buckingham, Bacon (the great Chancellor), and Carr, Earl of Somerset, were notable personages of this reign. James it was who beheaded Raleigh!

Charles I. 1625 to 1649 Only surviving son of James I. Born 1600. The year of his accession married Henrietta, daughter of Henry IV. of France. Crowned at Westminster, February 2nd, 1626, and at Edinburgh, 1633.

The court of Charles was decorum and virtue itself, in comparison with that in which he had been reared. Drunkenness disappeared, and there were no scandalous favourites such as Carr, and he on whose neck James loved to loll; though George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, retained his ascendancy as the friend and assistant of Charles as king. Of a much less jovial temperament was he than his father, and of more virtue; though there was still (we read) a good deal of "private licence" at Whitehall. "Oaths!" exclaimed Charles II., "Oaths! Why, your Martyr was a greater swearer than I am."

It has been questioned also, whether, in other respects, Charles I.'s private conduct was so "immaculate" as the solemnity of his latter years and his unhappy fate have led people to conclude. Whose private conduct, prince or peasant, in early life is immaculate? Why kings more than their subjects?

Charles I. might, unpolitically, have been less unpopular, but for his unsympathetic nature, his stiffness and reserve, a certain "frigid haughtiness," and his profound belief in his own wisdom, which could gain little or nothing from being brought into touch with the opinions of other men. He had been schooled, politically speaking, to look upon government as the "Divine right" of the King, independent of the will of the governed a lesson taught him by his father. But with all his faults he was "a diligent and earnest reader of books." Not a few faults are atoned by that excellent quality. Moreover, he was a connoisseur and patron of art. Adversity rather than prosperity shows Charles I. in the more favourable light. The great events of his reign are familiar to everyone: his attempt to seize the five members of the House of Commons (1641-2); his standard raised at Nottingham the same year, the beginning of the Civil War; his traffic with the Scots and betrayal (1646); his seizure by Colonel Joyce at Holmby (1647); his retreat to the Isle of Wight, and confinement in Hurst Castle (1648); his removal to Windsor, and then to St. James's Palace; and, finally, his trial in Westminster Hall, and execution before Whitehall, January 30th (1649), aged forty-nine. He lies buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Charles II, 1660 to 1685 Born 1630. On May 19th, 1649, the year in which Charles I. was beheaded, a Commonwealth was declared. Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector, 1653-8, and Richard Cromwell, his son, 1658-9, what time Charles II. remained in exile.

Charles, who, together with his brother James, Duke of York, had escaped from St. James's Palace (April 23rd, 1648), landed in Scotland (1650), and was crowned at Scone the year following. Crossed over into England, and was defeated at the battle of Worcester; went ' 12.5

afterwards to Holland. Landed at Dover May 29th, 1660 and restored to the throne. Crowned at Westminster, April 13th, 1661, and the year following married Catherine, Infanta of Siain. The Restoration marks the birth of "Modern England "-that England yet in the full of her fame, whose eventual destiny under the greater and more comprehensive name and title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the seas; India, the Dominion of Canada, Australasia, United South Africa, and the lesser British Dependencies: whose eventual destiny as an Empire none could have forecast. Though the British Empire would later crumble, it was perhaps the wealthiest and most powerful Empire the world has ever known.

By far the ablest of the House of Stuart was Charles II.: "Of great quickness of conception, great pleasantness of wit, with great variety of knowledge, more observation, and truer judgment of men than one would have imagined... He desired nothing but that he might be easy himself and that everybody else should be so." Thus Sir William Temple, the well- known statesman of the Restoration period.

Everyone who has read Pepys knows all about Charles II., his court, his mistresses, children, dogs and ducks, dress, jokes, debts, theatre-going, horse-racing, gambling, and so on. His transactions with France and Holland are discussed in like manner by Pepys; the naval victories of the Dutch, and the money payments of the French king.

Nor are the "Regicides" forgotten, twenty-eight of whom were brought to trial, and thirteen executed, for their share in the trial and death of the late King, whose "Divine right" did not greatly trouble his son and successor. His object was to carry on the Government of England peacefully and pleasantly; to rest, in a word, being brought out of great tribulation, and be thankful.

James II, 1685 to 1688 James VII. of Scotland. Second son of Charles I. Born 1633.

Married, firstly, Anne Hyde, daughter of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon; and, secondly, after her death, Mary, Princess of Modena, to whom a son was born, June 10th, 1688, some five months before the coming of William of Orange. Crowned at Westminster the year of his accession. Monmouth's (natural son of Charles I. by Lucy Walters) rebellion took place the same year. He was defeated at Sedgemoor, near Bridgewater, and beheaded on Tower Hill (1685).

The "Bloody Circuit" of Chief Justice Jeffreys through Somerset and Dorset, which brought infamy to his name, followed; the which series of judicial murders had not a little to do with the deposition of King James II.; that infamous vengeance - "this marble is not harder than the King's heart," said one of his generals - and the committal to the Tower of the "Seven Bishops."

James II fled from St. James's Palace on the night of December 12th, 1688, was seized soon after at Feversham, and brought back. He finally left England, December 23rd of the same year. After an abortive attempt to regain his kingdom by landing in Ireland (Kinsale), 1689, he returned to France, 1690, and died at St. Germains in 1701.

"To preserve the government, both in Church and State, as it is now by law established," was the promise made by James II. at the date of his Accession. Before the three years of his brief reign had expired, he had succeeded in breaking it in almost every particular. It would not be easy to say which king's promises were the least to be relied on, Charles I.'s or James II.'s. Certain is it that the memory of the first is generally regarded with more consideration than that of the second. Although the Civil War undoubtedly caused more Sos bloodshed in the kingdom, the second Stuart tyranny" provoked more hatred among the common people. It may be doubted whether the "Bloody Circuit" and its judge have their counterpart for ruthless injustice and cruelty in the pages of English history. "Do you not know that I am above the law? " said James to one of his court on a notable occasion. "You may be, your Majesty, but I am not," was the reply. A king who could speak thus, in the concluding years of the seventeenth century, having regard to his father's fate, was obviously not likely to reign over long "above the law" of the land, which law he had promised to maintain.

Three years proved sufficient. Had King James II. reigned longer, a second civil war would

probably have been the result. When he slipped away first from St. James's Palace, most

people were glad to be rid of him, and sorry when he was brought back.

The second occasion, he got away for good, and ended his days in exile plotting his

restoration.

William III and Mary II, 1689-1702,1689-1694 respectively William III. was son of William, Prince of Orange, by Mary, daughter of Charles I. Born 1650. Mary II., his wife, was daughter of James II. Born 1662. A brief interregnum, from December 11th, 1688, to February 13th, 1689. National discontent with the policy and conduct of James II. culminated in a national rising in support of the landing of William of Orange, who had been invited over by leading English statesmen to accept the crown vacated by James's flight.

The Prince landed at Torbay, with an army of thirteen-thousand men, November 5th, 1688, and, marching on Exeter, was hailed with joyous enthusiasm by its citizens, other cities and towns throughout the kingdom following the example of the West of England in hailing the revolt with delight. Everywhere in England it was triumphant.

In due order of events, the Prince's army reached Salisbury, and presently entered London, and the Revolution of 1688 became an accomplished fact; the expression of the national feeling being in favour of a "Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion." After debate it was agreed by Parliament that William and Mary should be acknowledged as joint-sovereigns, but that the actual administration should be left with William alone. The memorable "Declaration of Rights" was drawn up, and on February 13th, 1689, presented to William and Mary in the Banqueting-house, Whitehall.

In full faith that its principles would be accepted and maintained by the Prince and Princess of Orange, the Crown was tendered to them. They were declared King and Queen, and crowned in Westminster Abbey April 11th following.

Those who would read the character of William III. at length should turn to Macaulay's History: a brave and successful commander, an able and high-minded statesman, and a noble man; Mary, his wife, a good and sensible woman, lively and affable, self-sacrificing, devoted to her husband, who was also deeply attached to her. A small gold locket containing "a lock of the hair of Mary," was found nearest his heart when he died. He was tried as few English kings have been tried; frequently plotted against by Jacobites, and more than once threatened with assassination; but remained the same sincere, energetic, and brave King to the last; not altogether popular, but by sheer force of character gaining men's admiration and esteem.

The famous siege and relief of Londonderry, and the battle of the Boyne, were of King William's reign; but much more famous than these is the fact that all claim of the King's “Divine Right,” or of his “hereditary right, independent of the law,” was formally put an end to by the crowning at Westminster of William and Mary.

Anne of Great Britain Anne (6 February 1665 - 1 August 1714} became Queen regnant of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law and cousin, William III of England and II of Scotland. Her Catholic father, James II and VII, was deemed by the English Parliament to have abdicated when he was forced to retreat to France during the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III & II and Mary II. After Mary's death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until his own death in 1702.

On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union 1707, England and Scotland were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne became its first sovereign, while continuing to hold the separate crown of Queen of Ireland and the title of Queen of France. Anne reigned for twelve years until her death in August 1714. Therefore she was, technically, the last Queen of England and the last Queen of Scots.

Anne's life was marked by many crises, both personal and relating to succession of the Crown and religious polarisation. Because she died without surviving children, Anne was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. She was succeeded by her second cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover, who was a descendant of the Stuarts through his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, daughter of James I and VI.

Early life Anne was born at St. James's Palace, London, the second daughter of James, Duke of York (afterwards James II), and his first wife, Lady Anne Hyde. Her paternal uncle was King Charles II and her older sister was the future Queen Mary II. Anne and Mary were the only children of the Duke and Duchess of York to

survive into adulthood.

As a child, Anne suffered from an eye infection. For medical treatment, she was sent to France, where she lived with her grandmother, Henrietta Maria of France at the Chateau de Colombes near Paris. Anne later lived with her aunt, Henriette, Duchess of Orleans, following her grandmother's death in 1669. She grew up with her cousins Marie Louise and Anne Marie d'Orleans, fixture maternal grandmother of Louis XV. Anne returned to England in 1670 at the death of her aunt Henriette Anne.

In about 1673, Anne made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who became her close friend and one of her most influential advisors. Jennings later married John Churchill (the future Duke of Marlborough), who was to become Anne's most important general.

In 1673, Anne's father's conversion to Roman Catholicism became public. On the instructions of Charles II, however, Anne and her sister Mary were raised as Protestants.

On 28 July 1683, Anne married the Protestant Prince George of Denmark, brother of King Christian V of Denmark (and her second cousin once removed through Frederick II). Though it was an unpopular union, it was one of great domestic happiness. ^J Sarah Churchill became Anne's Lady of the Bedchamber. By Anne's desire to mark their mutual intimacy and affection, all deference due to her rank was abandoned and the two ladies called each other Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman.

The "Glorious Revolution" Forbidden by James to pay Mary a projected visit in the spring of 1688, Anne corresponded with her and was no doubt aware of William's plans to invade the country. On the advice of the Churchills (Anne's conduct during this period was probably influenced a great deal by them; ^J she refused to show any sympathy for James after William landed in November and wrote instead to William, declaring her approval of his action. Churchill abandoned the king on the 24th of that month, Prince George on the 25th, and when James returned to London on the 26th, he found that Anne and her lady-in-waiting had done likewise the previous night. He put the women under house arrest in the Palace of Whitehall. However, escaping from Whitehall by a back staircase they put themselves under the care of the bishop of London, spent one night in his house, and subsequently arrived on 1 December at Nottingham, where the princess first made herself known and appointed a council. Then she travelled to Oxford, where she met Prince George in triumph, escorted by a large company. Like Mary, she was reproached for showing no concern at the news of the king's flight, but her justification was that "she never loved to do anything that looked like an affected constraint." She returned to London on 19 December, where she was at once visited by her brother-in-law William.

In 1689, a Convention Parliament assembled and declared that James had abdicated the realm when he attempted to flee, and that the Throne was therefore vacant. The Crown was offered to Mary, but accepted jointly by William and Mary, who thereafter ruled as the only joint monarchs in British history. The Bill of Rights 1689 settled succession to the Throne; Princess Anne and her descendants were to be in the line of succession after William and Mary. They were to be followed by any descendants of William by a future marriage.

During this period, Prince George and Princess Anne suffered great personal misfortune. By 1700, the future Queen had been pregnant at least eighteen times; thirteen times, she miscarried or gave birth to stillborn children. Based on her foetal losses and physical symptoms, a medical historian has diagnosed disseminated lupus erythematosus.

Of the remaining five children, four died before reaching the age of two years. Her only son to survive infancy, William, Duke of Gloucester, died at the age of eleven on 29 July 1700, precipitating a succession crisis. William and Mary had not had any children; thus, Princess Anne, the heir apparent to the Throne, was the only individual remaining in the line of succession established by the Bill of Rights 1689. If the line of succession were totally extinguished, then it would have been open for the deposed King James or his son James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender") to claim the Throne.

Thus, to preclude a Catholic from obtaining the Crown, Parliament enacted the Act of Settlement 1701, which provided that, failing the issue of Princess Anne and of William III by any future marriage, the Crown would go to Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and her descendants, who descended from James I of England through Elizabeth Stuart. Dozens of genealogically senior claimants were disregarded due to their Catholicism. Anne acquiesced to the new line of succession created by the Act of Settlement.

Anne's reign A William III died on 8 March 1702 and Anne was crowned on 23 April 1792.

The War of the Spanish Succession almost as soon as she succeeded to the throne, Anne became embroiled in the War of the Spanish Succession. This war, in which England supported the claim of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor to succeed to the Spanish Throne, would continue until the last years of Anne's reign and dominated both foreign and domestic policy.

Soon after her accession, Anne appointed her husband Lord High Admiral, giving him control of the Royal Navy. Anne gave control of the army to Lord Marlborough, whom she appointed Captain- General. - Marlborough also received numerous honours from the Queen; he was created a Knight of the Garter and was elevated to the ducal rank. - The Duchess of Marlborough was appointed to the post of Mistress of the Robes, the highest office a lady could attain.

The Act of Union In passing the Act of Settlement, in 1701, the English Parliament neglected to consult with the Parliament of Scotland or Estates of Scotland, which, in part, wished to preserve the Stuart dynasty and its right of inheritance to the Throne. - The Scottish response to the Settlement was to pass the Act of Security, a bill which stated that — failing the issue of the Queen — the Estates had the power to choose the next Scottish monarch from amongst the numerous descendants of the royal line of Scotland. The individual chosen by the Estates could not be the same person who came to the English Throne, unless various religious, economic and political conditions were met. Though it was originally not forthcoming, Royal Assent to the act was granted when the Scottish Parliament refused to impose taxes and threatened to withdraw Scottish troops from the Duke of Marlborough's army in Europe.

In its turn, the English Parliament — fearing that an independent Scotland would restore the Auld Alliance with France — responded with the Alien Act 1705, which provided that economic sanctions would be imposed and Scottish subjects would be declared aliens (putting their right to own property in England into jeopardy), unless Scotland either repealed the Act of Security or moved to unite with England. Eventually, the Estates chose the latter option, and Commissioners were appointed by Queen Anne to negotiate the terms of a union between the two countries. Articles of Union were approved by the Commissioners on 22 July 1706, agreed to by an Act of the Scottish Parliament passed on 16 January 1707 and an act of the English Parliament passed on 6 March 1707. Under the Acts, England and Scotland became one realm, a united kingdom called Great Britain, on 1 May 1707.

Two-party politics Anne's reign was further marked by the development of a two-party system as the new era of parliamentary governance unfolded and matured. Anne personally preferred the Tory Party, but "endured" the Whigs.

Because of Anne's personal preferences, her first ministry was primarily Tory. It was headed by Sidney Godolphin, 1st Baron Godolphin and Anne's favorite John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, both moderate Tories. However, it also contained such high Tories as Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and Anne's uncle Laurence Hyde 1st Earl of Rochester.

The Whigs vigorously supported the War of the Spanish Succession and became even more influential after the Duke of Marlborough won a great victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Most of the High Tories, who had opposed British involvement in the land war against France, were gradually removed from office. Godolphin, Marlborough, and Harley, by now a Secretary of State, who formed the ruling "triumvirate", were forced to rely more and more on support from the Whigs, and particularly from the Junto Whigs whom Queen Anne particularly disliked. In 1706, Godolphin and Marlborough forced Anne to accept Lord Sunderland, a Junto Whig and Marlborough's son-in-law, as Harley's colleague as Secretary of State.

Although this strengthened the ministry's position in Parliament, it weakened the ministry's position with the Queen, as Anne became increasingly irritated with Godolphin and with her erstwhile favorite, the Duchess of Marlborough. The Queen turned for private advice to Harley, who was uncomfortable with Marlborough and Godolphin's turn towards the Whigs and was moving closer to supporting the Tory "blue water" policy on the war. She also turned to Abigail Hill, a cousin of the Duchess who became more amenable to Anne as her relationship with Sarah deteriorated.

The division within the ministry came to a head in February 1708, when Godolphin and Marlborough insisted that the Queen had to either dismiss Harley or do without their services. When the Queen seemed to hesitate, Marlborough and Godolphin refused to attend a cabinet meeting on 8 February. When Harley attempted to lead business without his erstwhile colleagues, several of those present, including the Duke of Somerset refused to participate until Godolphin and Marlborough returned.

Her hand forced, the Queen dismissed Harley on 11 February. But Godolphin and Marlborough's victory was a hollow one, as their personal relationship with Anne would never recover from the blow. Furthermore, they found themselves increasingly at the mercy of the Junto leaders. Whereas previously they had been able to determine war policy largely as they liked, their total parliamentary dependence on the Whigs meant that they had to consult with Junto leaders Lord Somers and Lord Halifax. This dependence on the hated Junto only increased the Queen's dislike of the ministry.

Death of her husband Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, died in October 1708. His leadership of the Admiralty was unpopular amongst the Whig leaders. As he lay on his deathbed, some Whigs were preparing to make a motion requesting his removal from the office of Lord High Admiral. Anne was forced to appeal to the Duke of Marlborough to ensure that the motion was not made.

Anne was devastated by the loss of her husband, and the event proved a turning point in her relationship with her old friend, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. The Duchess arrived at Windsor shortly after George had died, and forced the Queen to leave the castle and move to St. James's Palace against her will. Anne pleaded to be left alone, and resented the Duchess for insisting that the grieving Queen be attended at all times.

The Whigs used the Prince's death to their own advantage. With Whigs now dominant in parliament, and Anne over bowed by the loss of her husband, they forced her to accept the Junto leaders Lord Somers and Lord Wharton into the cabinet. Their power was, however, limited by Anne's insistence on carrying out the duties of Lord High Admiral herself, and not appointing a member of the government

to take Prince George's place, Undeterred, the Junto demanded the appointment of the Earl of Qrford, another member of the Junto and one of Prince George's leading critics, as First Lord of the Admiralty, Anne daily refused, and chose her own candidate, the moderate Tory "Thomas Herbert, 8th fcarl of Pembroke on 29 November 1708.

Picture mounted on Pembroke, Godolphin and the Queen from the dissatisfied Junto Whigs, and Pembroke was forced to resign after less than a year in office. Another month of arguments followed before the Queen finally consented to put the Admiralty in control of the Earl of Orford in November 1709.

Later years

As the expensive War of the Spanish Succession grew unpopular, so did the Whig administration. Harley, now in opposition, was particularly skillful in using the issue of the cost of the war to motivate the electorate. The Queen, increasingly disdained by her ministry's policy of "no peace without Spain", finally took the opportunity to dismiss Godolphin in August 1710. Hie Junto Whigs (Sunderland, Somers, Wharton, and Orford) were also removed from office, although Marlborough, for the moment, remained as commander of the army. In their place, she appointed a new ministry, headed by Harley, which began to seek peace with France. Harley and the Tories were ready to compromise by giving Spain to the grandson of the French King, but the Whigs could not bear to see a Bourbon on the Spanish Throne. In the parliamentary elections which soon followed, Harley used government patronage to create a large Tory majority.

The dispute was resolved by outside events. The elder brother of Archduke Charles (whom the Whigs supported) died in 1711 and Charles then inherited Austria, Hungary and the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. To give him also the Spanish throne was no longer in Great Britain's interests. But the proposed Treaty of Utrecht submitted to Parliament for ratification did not go

as far as the Whigs wanted to curb Bourbon ambitions. In the House of Commons, the Tory majority was unassailable, but the same was not true in the House of Lords. Seeing a need for decisive action — to erase the Whig majority in the House of Lords — Anne created twelve new peers. Such a mass creation of peers was unprecedented. Indeed, Elizabeth I had granted fewer peerage dignities in forty-four years than Anne did in a single day. This allowed for ratification of the Treaty and thus ended Great Britain's involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Death Anne died of suppressed gout, ending in erysipelas, at approximately 7 o'clock on 1 August 1714. She was buried in the Henry VII chapel on the South Aisle of Westminster Abbey but her body was so swollen and large that it had to be bourne in a vast almost-square coffin.

Anne died shortly after the Electress Sophia (8 June, the same year); the Electress's son, George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British Crown. Pursuant to the Act of Settlement 1701, the crown was settled on George as Electress Sophia's heir, with the possible Catholic claimants ignored. However, the Elector of Hanover's accession was relatively stable: Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1719 both failed.

The age of Anne was also one of artistic, literary, and scientific advancement. In architecture, Sir John Vanbrugh constructed elegant edifices such as Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. Writers such as Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift flourished during Anne's reign.

Her name also remains associated with the world's first substantial copyright law, known as the Statute of Anne (1709), which granted exclusive rights to authors rather than printers.

Titles and styles

6 February 1665 - 28 July 1683: Her Highness The Lady Anne

28 July 1683 - 8 March 1702: Her Royal Highness Princess Anne of Denmark

8 March 1702 -1 May 1707: Her Majesty The Queen [of England, Scotland and Ireland]

1 May 1707 -1 August 1714: Her Majesty The Queen [of Great Britain and Ireland]

The official style of Anne before 1707 was "Anne, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." (The claim to France was only nominal, and had been asserted by every English King since Edward III, regardless of the amount of French territory actually controlled.) After the Union, her style was "Anne, by the Grace of God, Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc."

The reign of Anne was marked by an increase in the influence of ministers and a decrease in the influence of the Crown. In 1708, Anne became the last British Sovereign to withhold the Royal Assent from a bill (in this case, a Scots militia bill). Preoccupied with her health (she may have suffered from porphyria), Anne allowed her ministers, most notably Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, as well as her favourites (Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail Masham) to dominate politics. - Hie shift of power from the Crown to the ministry became even more apparent during the reign of George I, whose chief advisor, Sir Robert Walpole, is often described as the "first Prime Minister."

George I,1714 to 1727 First sovereign of the House of Hanover. Son of the Elector of Hanover, by Sophia, daughter of Elizabeth, daughter of James I., in whose line the Act of Settlement (1701), passed on the death of the last surviving child of the Princess Anne (afterwards Queen), vested the Crown of the United Kingdom.

By that Act of Settlement it was enacted (among other matters) that every Sovereign of England must thereafter be in communion with the Church of England "as by law established."

George I. was born 1660. Created Duke of Cambridge, 1706. Proclaimed King, August 10th, 1714. Landed at Greenwich, September 18th following. Crowned at Westminster. It should be of interest to remind that Queen Anne was the last English sovereign

who presided in person at the Cabinet Councils of Ministers. With the accession of King George I. began that practice now existing, of those councils being reserved to the private meeting of members of the Ministry in power. In brief, the kingdom now began to be governed, not by the King, but by the Ministers of the Crown.

"It was lucky for us that our first Georges were not more high-minded men; especially fortunate that they loved Hanover so much as to leave England to have her own way. Our chief troubles began when we got a king who gloried in the name of Briton, and being born in the country proposed to rule it."

- Thus wrote that great weekday preacher, Thackeray, who had the rare gift of making

history very delightful reading, and of writing sermons which thousands never discovered

were sermons, even after they had paid one shilling monthly for the privilege of reading

them. He had the happiest knack of disguising his sermons. But this by the way.

George I., as Charles II., liked to be left alone. So long as Ministers did not trouble him, he

did not trouble Ministers; a state of things which admirably suited the plans of Sir Robert

Walpole, chief of the Whigs, and along with him the country generally.

With the exception of a Jacobite rising in 1715, soon quelled, and the well-known "South

Sea Bubble," which brought ruin to innumerable homes, George I's reign was generally

pacific and restful. The duration of Parliament to seven years dates from his time.

He died at Osnaburgh, on a journey to his beloved Hanover, in 1727, having ruled his new kingdom peacefully for thirteen years.

George II, 1727 to 1760 Only son of George I. Born 1683. Created Prince of Wales 1714. Married the Princess Caroline of Anspach 1705. Ascended the throne 1727. Crowned at Westminster. The wisdom of Walpole's measures of finance had been made apparent in the last reign by a rapid upgrowth of commercial prosperity and a steady reduction of the nation's indebtedness. In brief, Walpole's ministerial policy throughout was a peace policy; to encourage industry and trade, and promote economy; and the result had been a notable increase in national wealth and prosperity. He was Prime Minister in 1727, when George II. came to the throne - hated, feared, and loved by him in turn.

So much, indeed, did the King dislike his father's chief ministerial adviser that, if it were not for the Queen, Walpole would probably have been obliged to resign.

But if King George II. feared that able statesman much, he feared his wife more. And as she had determined that no change should be made, Walpole remained in power. He remained in power so long that no Prime Minister of England has ever exceeded Sir Robert Walpole^fs continuous period of office, which extended to twenty years-fifteen in the service of George II.

A lover of peace and liberty, a great statesman, good citizen, and patriot, who kept the nation out of war and brought it much-needed rest, enlarged freedom, and did his best to promote British commerce, as well at home as abroad.

What wonder, then, that this "choleric little King" got to love that Minister whom he had first hated and later feared? It left him more leisure to "talk and to talk," old soldier as he was, about his earlier campaigns. "He is wild, but he fights like a man," said his father. At Oudenarde and Dettingen he had fought bravely. Nor was he in the least degree alarmed in the '45 by the arrival of the Pretender in his Kingdom. He quarrelled with his son Frederick, Prince of Wales, "as thoroughly worthless as it is possible for a mere fool to be," who died in 1751.

For the rest, when Walpole went, there was war: war with Prussia, fighting in India, and with the French in Canada; and finally "the Seven Years' War" began (1756). "No war has had greater results on the history of the world, or brought greater triumphs to England; but few have had more disastrous beginnings." William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, was the statesman at the helm of affairs when that war began. It had not ended when George II. died at Kensington Palace.

George III, 1760 to 1820 Son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George IL Born 1738. Created Prince of Wales on the death of his father in 1751. Succeeded his grandfather, George II., 1760. Proclaimed King, October 26th, 1760. Married the following year, Charlotte Sophia, Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Crowned at Westminster, September 22nd, 1761. Fifteen children were the issue of the marriage. George III. reigned for fifty-nine years, the longest period of any sovereign of England, except Queen Victoria. During the latter years of his reign there was a Regency, owing to the King's mental derangement. Some of the most momentous events in history occurred during George III.'s reign: the French Revolution; the Napoleonic wars; the Declaration of American Independence; the birth of England's Empire in the East; the Conquest of Canada; Captain Cook's voyages, and the discovery of Australia and New Zealand and their annexation by Great Britain; the Union with Ireland; the fall of Napoleon; the American War of 1812.

Nelson and Wellington stand foremost in the annals of George III.'s times, in leading its navy and army from victory to victory, culminating in those of Trafalgar and Waterloo. Of the great events of George III.'s long reign, and of the great men - statesmen, orators, admirals, generals, lawyers, authors, men of science and the like - that belonged to it, it is not possible to refer to otherwise than merely incidentally. "I know that I can save the country," prophesied the great William Pitt, who died in 1778. And he did save it, and that, too, with the whole nation at his back.

A just king, a religious king, a king who stuck steadily to his work; of kindly nature and domesticated habits, essentially a "good man"; such, in brief, was George III.; but he was Retired from active service with the rank of rear-admiral, and was later gazetted, in turn, vice and full admiral, and admiral of time fleet. Presided at the Admiralty for a while with the title of Lord High Admiral - the last who bore that title. Was associated with Nelson during part of his sea-service.

In 1818, married Adelaide, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, by whom he had two daughters, both of whom died in infancy; consequently the succession to the Crown fell to the Princess Victoria, daughter of the Duchess of Kent, wife of Edward, Duke of Kent, the King's brother, who predeceased her.

King William IV., who came to the throne in 1830, at the age of sixty-five, was popular with all classes of his subjects; generally known among them as "the Sailor King"; a bluff-spoken, garrulous, kind-hearted man, who "exhibited oddities," distinguished himself by making long and somewhat absurd speeches, and by "a morbid official activity" whilst in the Navy. Neither as prince nor king did he show any remarkable interest in political affairs; "he was reasonable and tractable, presided very decently at the Council, and looked like a respectable old admiral," as he was. So notes Greville in his gossiping pages.

He looked after old friends and companions; and, in short, was a kindly, good-natured king, whose early experiences, and by no means luxurious life aboard ship, had taught him many useful lessons, not less profitable to princes than lesser people.

The most important political event of William IV's reign was the passing of the Reform Bill (1831-2) by Earl Grey; a measure which had taken many years to convince Parliament was essential to the fair and adequate representation of all classes of the King's subjects in the House of Commons.

So great was the agitation produced by its rejection by the House of Lords, that it was finally allowed to pass, and became law; King William himself being favourable to the popular demand for such reform.

Victoria (r. 1837-1901) Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. She was the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. Her father died shortly after her birth and she became heir to the throne because the three uncles who were ahead of her in succession - George IV, Frederick Duke of York, and William IV - had no legitimate children who survived.

Warmhearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and painting; educated by a governess al home, she was a natural diarist and kept a regular journal throughout her life. On William IV^fs death in 1837, she became Queen at the age of 18.

Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.

In the early part of her reign, she was influenced by two men: her first Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and her husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in 1840. Both men taught

her much about how to be a ruler in a 'constitutional monarchy' where the monarch had very few powers but could use much influence.

Her marriage to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children married into other Royal families of Europe.

Edward VII (born 1841), married Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844) married Marie of Russia. Arthur. Duke of Connaught (born 1850) married Louise Margaret of Prussia. Leopold, Duke of Albany (born 1853) married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

Victoria, Princess Royal (born 1840) married Friedrich III, German Emperor. Alice (born 1843) married Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Helena (born 1846) married Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Louise (born 1848) married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll. Beatrice (born 1857) married Henry of Battenberg.

Victoria bought Osborne House (later presented to the nation by Edward VII) on the Isle of Wight as a family home in 1845, and Albert bought Balmoral in 1852.

Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she sank into depression after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black.

Until the late 1860s she rarely appeared in public; although she never neglected her official Correspondence, and continued to give audiences to her ministers and official visitors, she was reluctant to resume a full public life.

She was persuaded to open Parliament in person in 1866 and 1867, but she was widely criticised for living in seclusion and quite a strong republican movement developed.

Seven attempts were made on Victoria's life, between 1840 and 1882 - her courageous attitude towards these attacks greatly strengthened her popularity.

With time, the private urgings of her family and the flattering attention of Benjamin Disraeli. Prime Minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880, the Queen gradually resumed her public duties.

In foreign policy, the Queen's influence during the middle years of her reign was generally used to support peace and reconciliation. In 1864, Victoria pressed her ministers not to intervene in the Prussia-Austria-Denmark war, and her letter to the German Emperor (whose son had married her daughter) in 1875 helped to avert a second Franco-German war.

On the Eastern Question in the 1870s - the issue of Britain's policy towards the declining Turkish Empire in Europe - Victoria (unlike Gladstone) believed that Britain, while pressing for necessary reforms, ought to uphold Turkish hegemony as a bulwark of stability against Russia, and maintain bi-partisanship at a time when Britain could be involved in war.

During Victoria's long reign, direct political power moved away from the sovereign. A series of Acts broadened the social and economic base of the electorate.

These acts included the Second Reform Act of 1867; the introduction of the secret ballot in 1872, which made it impossible to pressurise voters by bribery or intimidation; and the Representation of the Peoples Act of 1884 - all householders and lodgers in accommodation worth at least Ј10 a year, and occupiers of land worth Ј10 a year, were entitled to vote.

Despite this decline in the Sovereign's power, Victoria showed that a monarch who had a high level of prestige and who was prepared to master the details of political life could exert an important influence.

It was during Victoria's reign that the modern idea of the constitutional monarch, whose role was to remain above political parties, began to evolve. But Victoria herself was not always non-partisan and she took the opportunity to give her opinions, sometimes very forcefully, in private.

After the Second Reform Act of 1867, and the growth of the two-party (Liberal and Conservative) system, the Queen's room for manoeuvre decreased. Her freedom to choose which individual should occupy the premiership was increasingly restricted.

In 1880, she tried, unsuccessfully, to stop William Gladstone - whom she disliked as much as she admired Disraeli and whose policies she distrusted - from becoming Prime Minister. She much preferred the Marquess of Harrington, another statesman from the Liberal party which had just won the general election. She did not get her way.

She was a very strong supporter of Empire, which brought her closer both to Disraeli and to the Marquess of Salisbury, her last Prime Minister.

Although conservative in some respects - like many at the time she opposed giving women the vote - on social issues, she tended to favour measures to improve the lot of the poor, such as the Royal Commission on housing. She also supported many charities involved in education, hospitals and other areas.

Victoria and her family travelled and were seen on an unprecedented scale, thanks to transport improvements and other technical changes such as the spread of newspapers and the invention of photography. Victoria was the first reigning monarch to use trains - she made her first train journey in 1842.

In her later years, she almost became the symbol of the British Empire. Both the Golden (1887) and the Diamond (1897) Jubilees, held to celebrate the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the queen's accession, were marked with great displays and public ceremonies. On both occasions, Colonial Conferences attended by the Prime Ministers of the self-governing colonies were held.

Despite her advanced age, Victoria continued her duties to the end - including an official visit to Dublin in 1900. The Boer War in South Africa overshadowed the end of her reign. As in the Crimean War nearly half a century earlier, Victoria reviewed her troops and visited hospitals; she remained undaunted by British reverses during the campaign: 'We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.'

Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901 after a reign which lasted almost 64 years, the longest in British history.

She was buried at Windsor beside Prince Albert, in the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum, which she had built for their final resting place. Above the Mausoleum door are inscribed Victoria's words: 'farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again'.

Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 Eldest son of Queen Victoria, and of Albert, Prince Consort. Born 1841. Succeeded to the Throne, January 22nd, 1901. Married, March 10th, 1863, Princess Alexandra (Queen Alexandra, 1901), eldest daughter of King Christian IX. of Denmark; and had issue three sons (of whom the youngest died soon after birth) and three daughters. Crowned at Westminster, August 9th, 1901. The King's eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, created Duke of Clarence and Avondale, born 1864, died in 1892.

At the King's accession, his second son, Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert (born 1865), became Prince of Wales; who married, July 6th, 1893, the Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, daughter of Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, daughter of the Duke of Cambridge, son of George III.

Of the political events of King Edward VII.'s reign, the most important were the successful termination of the South African War, and an increasing tendency on the part of the Colonies towards the consideration of Imperial Federation for defensive and trade purposes. A United South Africa, under the British Crown, was the final outcome of the Boer War. In respect of Home affairs, perhaps the most noteworthy political movement was the agitation in behalf of Women's Suffrage. For the rest, King Edward's brief reign of nine years was peaceful, which happy condition of things for the country he was actively helpful 2 in promoting, so that he was often referred to as "the Peacemaker."

No English king has ever been so popular with every section of the community-high, low, rich, and poor-as Edward VII. It might with much truth he added that no reigning sovereign has been so popular in foreign countries, or, indeed, throughout the world. No more tactful prince than he sat on the throne of England. The affection felt for him by his subjects was sincere and widespread, and embraced every class, so that it was said that no man dare say anything disparagingly of him, in the hearing of his fellows, in the worst haunts and slums of London.

One of the most genial and kind-hearted of men was King Edward; and withal an indefatigable worker; all things considered-affairs of state, meetings, travel, sport, reviews, banquets, functions, fetes, commemorations, all things considered, one of the hardest- worked men, whether as Prince of Wales or King, in his dominion.

In one way or another he appealed to the loyalty and attachment of every class; by his neutral attitude in respect of politics and creeds; by his unfailing courtesy and geniality; by the interest he showed in measures of charity; by the unaffected simplicity of his home-life. No better word could be found to sum up the character of King Edward VII than the expressive word "gentleman." A truer English gentleman never lived.

George V George V was born at Marlborough House on 3 June 1865. His parents were Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. He was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of the Commonwealth Realms and Emperor of India from 6 May 1910 until his death on 20 January 1936.

As a younger son of the Prince of Wales (as Edward VII then was), he was not expected to become king. However, as George was born only fifteen months after his brother Prince Albert Victor, it was decided to educate both royal princes together. Given the importance of Prince Albert Victor's expected future role as king, both brothers were given a strict programme of study, although neither did well at their studies.

Later the royal brothers served as Naval cadets on HMS Bacchante. They toured the British Empire, visiting the colonies in Australia and the Far East, and also getting tattooed in Japan. When they returned to the UK, the brothers were parted with George joining the Royal Navy and Albert Victor attending Trinity College, Cambridge. George served in the navy until 1891. He travelled the world and visited many areas of the British Empire. He also got many more tattoos, and a parrot that he took home to England with him.

In 1892 Queen Victoria made George the Duke of York. As Duke and Duchess of York, George and May carried out a wide variety of public duties. In 1900, they toured the British Empire, visiting Australia, where the Duke opened the first session of the Australian Parliament on the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

In 1901, Queen Victoria died and George became next in line to the throne. His father, Edward VII, made him Prince of Wales later that year. In contrast with Queen Victoria, who excluded Edward from state affairs, George was given wide access to state documents and papers. He often read over the papers with his wife, Princess May, who was cleverer than him. May also helped write speeches for her husband.

On 6 May 1910, King Edward VII died and George became George V. Princess May became Queen Mary. On 11 December 1911, the King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar, where they were presented to Indian dignitaries and princes as the Emperor and Empress of India. George wore the newly-created Imperial Crown of India at the ceremony. Later, the Emperor and Empress travelled throughout India visiting their new subjects.

As King and Queen, George and Mary saw Britain through World War I. This war was fought against Germany, amongst others, which made it a difficult time for the Royal Family, as they had many German relatives. On 17 July 1917 he changed the name of the British Royal House from the German-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor. He also renounced all use of German titles and styles for his British relatives.

World War I took its toll on George's health, which rapidly worsened. He had always had a weak chest, which was not helped by his smoking. An illness saw him go to the seaside, by Bognor Regis in Sussex, where Queen Mary helped nurse him back to health (however, reputedly the King's last words, upon being told that he would soon be well enough to revisit Bognor Regis were "... bugger Bognor!") He did live to see the Silver Jubilee of his reign, in 1935, by which time he had become a well-loved king.

George died on 20 January 1936 at Sandringham House in Norfolk. He was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. It is said his death was hastened by his doctor giving him a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine, both to end the King's suffering and to make sure he died by midnight so that his death could be announced in the morning newspapers.

Edward VIII, 20 January to 11 December 1936 Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor; 23 June 1894 - 28 May 1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V (1910-36), on 20 January 1936, until his abdication on 11 December 1936. He was the second monarch of the House of Windsor, his father having changed the name of the Royal house from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1917.

Before his accession to the throne, Edward VIII held the titles of Prince Edward of York, Prince Edward of York and Cornwall, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, and Prince of Wales (all with the style Royal Highness). As a young man he served in World War I, undertook several foreign torn on behalf of his father, and was associated with a succession of older married women.

Only months into his reign, Edward forced a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king, his ministers opposed the marriage arguing that the people would never accept her as queen.

Edward knew that the Government of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead; this could have dragged the King into a general election thus ruining irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch (a self-inflicted lese majeste, in essence). Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, he chose to abdicate. Edward VIII is the only monarch of Britain to have voluntarily relinquished the throne. He is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history, and was never crowned. After his abdication he reverted to the style of a son of the sovereign, The Prince Edward, and was created Duke of Windsor on 8 March 1937. During World War II he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France, but after private accusations that he was pro-Nazi, was moved to the Bahamas as Governor and Commander-in-Chief. After the war he was never given another official appointment and spent the remainder of his life in retirement.

George VI, 1936 to 1952 George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 - 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India (until 1947) and the last King of Ireland (until 1949).

As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward (known as David to his family and close friends). He served in the Royal Navy during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth (who succeeded him as Queen Elizabeth II) and Margaret. At the death of their father in 1936, his brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII. Less than a year later Edward VIII abdicated to marry the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. The British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, had informed Edward that he could not marry Mrs. Simpson and remain king. By reason of this abdication, unique in British history, George VI ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor.

Within 24 hours of his accession the Irish parliament (the Oireachtas) passed the External Relations Act, which essentially removed the power of the monarch in Ireland. Further events greatly altered the position of the British monarchy during his reign: three years after his accession, the British Empire was at war with Nazi Germany. In the next two years, war with Italy and the Empire of Japan followed.

A major consequence of World War II was the decline of the British Empire, with the United States and the Soviet Union rising as pre-eminent world powers. With the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, and the foundation of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, King George's reign saw the acceleration of the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth.

Elizabeth II (1952-) Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. All together, these countries have a combined population, including dependencies, of over 129 million. She holds each crown separately and equally in a shared monarchy, and carries out duties in and on behalf of all the states of which she is sovereign. She is also Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice, and in accordance with convention, she rarely intervenes in political matters.

Her long reign of 5g years has seen sweeping changes, including the dissolution of the British Empire (a process that began before her accession) and the consequent evolution of the modern Commonwealth of Nations. Elizabeth became Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952. As other British colonies gained independence from the United Kingdom, she became queen of several newly independent countries. She has been the sovereign of 32 individual nations, but half of them subsequently became republics.

Elizabeth married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren. She is one of the longest-reigning British monarchs, after Victoria (who reigned over the United Kingdom for 63 years), George III (who reigned over Great Britain for 59 years), and James VI (who reigned over Scotland for over 57 years).

Early life Elizabeth was the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth. She was born by Caesarian section at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London, and on 29 May 1926, was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Lang. Her godparents were her paternal grandparents King George V and Queen Mary; her aunts, Princess Mary and Lady Elphinstone; her great-great-uncle, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn; and her maternal grandmother, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Elizabeth was named after her mother, great-grandmother Queen Alexandra, and grandmother Queen Maryland called ^“Lilibet^” by her close family. She had a close relationship with her grandfather, and was credited with aiding in his recovery from illness in 1929.Her only sibling was Princess Margaret, born in 1930. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as "Crawfie". To the dismay of the royal family, Crawford later published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses. The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, and her attitude of responsibility. Such observations were echoed by others. Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant." Her cousin, Margaret Rhodes, described her as "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved".

World War II In September 1939, World War II broke out. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret, stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, from September to Christmas 1939, until they moved to Sandringham House, Norfolk. In May 1940, they moved to Windsor Castle, where they stayed for most of the next five years. There was some suggestion that the two princesses be evacuated to Canada, where they, along with their parents, would have lived at Hatley Castle in British Columbia. This plan never came to fruition; to the proposal, Elizabeth's mother made the famous reply: "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave." The children remained at Windsor, where they staged pantomimes at Christmas, to which family and friends were invited, along with the children of Royal Household staff. It was from Windsor that Elizabeth, in 1940, made her first radio broadcast during the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities. She stated: We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.

In 1945, Elizabeth accompanied her parents on visits to Commonwealth service personnel, and began to carry out solo duties, such as reviewing a parade of Canadian airwomen. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, as No. 230873 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor. She trained as a driver and mechanic, drove a military truck, and rose to the rank of Junior Commander.

At the end of the war in Europe, on VE Day, Elizabeth and her sister mingled anonymously with the celebratory crowds in the streets of London. She later said in a rare interview, "we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised ... I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief." Two years later, the Princess made her first official overseas tour, when she accompanied her parents to Southern Africa. On her 21 st birthday, in a broadcast to the British Commonwealth from South Africa, she pledged: "I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."

Marriage Elizabeth married Philip on 20 November 1947. The couple are second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, the surname adopted by his mother's family. Just before the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style of His Royal Highness.

The marriage was not without controversy: Philip was Greek Orthodox, had no financial standing, and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Elizabeth's mother was reported. The wedding was seen as the first glimmer of a hope of rebirth. Elizabeth and Philip received over 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. Her page boys were her young paternal first cousins, Prince William of Gloucester and Prince Michael of Kent. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for any of the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters. Elizabeth's aunt, Princess Mary, Princess Royal, allegedly refused to attend because her brother, the Duke of Windsor (who abdicated in 1936), was not invited due to his marital situation; she gave ill health as the official reason for not attending.

Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948, several weeks after letters patent were issued by her father allowing her children to enjoy a royal and princely status to which they otherwise would not have been entitled. Though the Royal House is named Windsor, it was decreed through a British Order-in-Council in 1960, that those male-line descendants of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip who were not princes and princesses of the United Kingdom should have the personal surname Mountbatten-Windsor. In practice, however, all of their children have used Mountbatten-Windsor as their surname. A second child, Princess Anne was born in 1950.

Following their wedding, the couple leased their first home, Windlesham Moor, until 4 July 1949, [28] when they took up residence at Clarence House. However, at various times between 1949 and 1951, the Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in Malta (at that time a British Protectorate) as a serving Royal Navy officer. He and Elizabeth lived intermittently, for several months at a time, in the Maltese hamlet of Gwardamangia, at the Villa Gwardamangia, the rented home of Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma. During their Maltese visits, the children remained in Britain.

Queen George VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth was soon frequently standing in for him at public events. In October of that year, she toured Canada, and visited the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, in Washington, D.C.; on that trip, the Princess carried with her draft accession declaration for use if the King died while she was out of the United Kingdom. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand via Kenya. At Sagana Lodge, about 100 miles north of Nairobi, word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father on 6 February. Philip broke the news to the new queen. Martin Charteris, then her Assistant Private Secretary, asked her what she intended to be called as monarch, to which she replied: "Elizabeth, of course. "As Elizabeth was proclaimed queen in the various countries where she had acceded to the throne, the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom, and the new Queen and Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.

In the midst of preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret informed her sister that she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner sixteen years older than Margaret, with two sons from his previous marriage. The Queen asked them to wait for a year; in the words of Martin Charteris, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the Princess, but I think she thought - she hoped - given time, the affair would peter out." After opposition from the Commonwealth prime ministers, and a British minister's threat of resignation should Margaret and Townsend marry, the Princess decided to abandon her plans.

Despite the death of the Queen's grandmother Queen Mary on 24 March 1953, the Queen's coronation went ahead in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, in accordance with Mary's wishes. The entire ceremony was televised throughout the Commonwealth, and watched by an estimated twenty million people, with twelve million more listening on the radio. Elizabeth wore a gown commissioned from Norman Hartnell, which consisted of embroidered floral emblems of the countries of the Commonwealth: the Tudor rose of England, the Scots thistle, the Welsh leek, shamrocks for Ireland, the wattle of Australia, the maple leaf of Canada, the New Zealand fern, South Africa's protea, two lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.

Continuing evolution of the Commonwealth Elizabeth witnessed, over her life, the ongoing transformation of the old British empire into the new British Commonwealth, and its modern successor, the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of Elizabeth's accession in 1952, her role as nominal head of multiple independent states was already established. She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen the Queen. Throughout her reign Elizabeth has undertaken state visits to foreign countries, as well as tours of each Commonwealth country, including attending all Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM). Elizabeth II is the most widely-travelled head of state in history.

In both 1957 and 1963, the Queen came under criticism for appointing the Prime Minister on the advice of a small number of ministers, or a single minister. In 1965, the Conservatives adopted a formal mechanism for choosing a leader, thus

relieving her of the duty. The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led in 1957 to the first real personal criticism of the Queen. In a magazine, which he owned and edited, Lord Altrincham accused her of being "out of touch". She made a state visit to the United States that year, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly. On the same tour she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the first Canadian monarch to open a parliamentary session. Two years later, she revisited Canada and the United States. In 1961, she toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Iran. During a trip to Ghana, she refused to keep her distance from President Kwame Nkrumah, despite him being a target for assassins. Harold Macmillan wrote at the time: "the Queen has been absolutely determined all through. She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as... a film star... She has indeed the heart and stomach of a man'... She loves her duty and means to be a queen."

Elizabeth's pregnancies with both Andrew and Edward, in 1959 and 1963, marked the only times Elizabeth did not perform the State Opening of the British Parliament during her reign. She delegated the task to the Lord Chancellor instead. Elizabeth inaugurated the first Canadian trans-Atlantic telephone cable (part of one devised to link all the Commonwealth countries) in 1961, by calling Canadian Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, from Buckingham Palace with the words "are you there Mr. Prime Minister?", In 1965, Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith declared unilateral independence from Britain. Although the Queen dismissed Smith in a formal declaration and the international community applied sanctions against Rhodesia, Smith's regime survived for another eleven years. In 1969, Elizabeth sent one of 73 Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages to NASA for the historic first lunar landing; the message is etched on a tiny silicon disc that still rests on the moon's surface. She later met the crew during their world tour. In 1976, she became the first monarch to e-mail.

In February 1974, an inconclusive United Kingdom general election result meant that, in theory, the outgoing Prime Minister, Edward Heath, whose party had won the popular vote, could stay in office if he formed a coalition government with the Liberals. Rather than immediately resign as Prime Minister, Heath explored this option, and only resigned when discussions on forming a cooperative government foundered, after which the Queen asked the Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.

Health and reduced duties The Queen's reign is longer than those of her four immediate predecessors combined (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and George VI). She is the third longest reigning British or English monarch, the second-longest-serving current monarch of a sovereign state (after King Bhumibol of Thailand), and the oldest reigning British monarch.

At the time of her 80th birthday, the Queen made it clear that she had no intention of abdicating. For a number of years, both Prince Charles and Princess Anne had been standing in for their mother at events such as investitures, and acting as Counsellors of State. This led to some speculation in the British press that Prince Charles would start to perform many of the day-today duties of the monarch while Elizabeth effectively went into retirement. However, Buckingham Palace announced that Elizabeth would continue with her duties, both public and private, well into the future.

Finances Elizabeth's personal fortune has been the subject of speculation for many years. Forbes magazine estimated the amount at around US$600 million (GBЈ330 million), but official Buckingham Palace statements called estimates of Ј100 million "grossly overstated ". Though the Royal Collection is worth an approximate

Ј10 billion, it is held in trust for her successors and the British nation, as are Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the other occupied palaces within the United Kingdom. As with many of her predecessors, Elizabeth is reported to dislike Buckingham Palace as a residence, and considers Windsor Castle to be her home. Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle are privately owned by the Queen, having inherited them from her father on his death, along with the Duchy of Lancaster, itself valued at Ј310 million and which transferred a private income to the monarch of Ј9.811 million in 2006.

Titles and styles Elizabeth has held a number of titles throughout her life, as granddaughter of the monarch, as a daughter of the monarch, through her husband's titles, and eventually as sovereign of multiple states. In common practice, she is referred to most often as simply The Queen or Her Majesty; if a distinction is necessary, this may be modified to be Her Britannic Majesty, Her Australian Majesty, Her Canadian Majesty, etc., as is called for. When in conversation with the Queen, the practice is to initially address her as Your Majesty and thereafter as Ma'am. Following tradition, she is additionally titled Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Normandy, and is also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of many of her realms, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, and is styled Defender of the Faith in various realms for differing reasons.

Education in GB

Introduction Education in England is not as perfect as we, foreigners think. There are plenty of stereotypes, which make us think, that British education is only Oxford and Cambrige, but there are also many educational problems. During the last fifteen years or so, there have been unprecedented changes in the system of education in England and Wales. I'll try to explain the changes and the reasons for them. In my work I will also give a description of the system of education, which differs from that in Russia very much.

The story of British schools For largely historical reasons, the schools system is complicated, inconsistent and highly varied. Most of the oldest schools, of which the most famous are Eton, Harrow, Winchester and Westminster, are today independent, fee-paying, public schools for boys. Most of these were established to create a body of literate men to fulfil the administrative, political, legal and religious requirements of the late Middle Ages. From the sixteenth century onwards, many 'grammar' schools were established, often with large grants of money from wealthy men, in order to provide a local educational facility.

From the 1870s local authorities were required to establish elementary schools, paid for by the local community, and to compel attendance by all boys and girls up to the age of 1 3. By 1900 almost total attendance had been achieved. Each authority, with its locally elected councillors, was responsible for the curriculum. Although a general consensus developed concerning the major part of the school curriculum, a strong feeling of local control continued and interference by central government was resented. A number of secondary schools were also established by local authorities, modelled on the public schools.

The 1944 Education Act introduced free compulsory secondary education. Almost all children attended one of two kinds of secondary school. The decision was made on the results obtained in the 77 plus' examination, taken in the last year of primary school. Eighty per cent of pupils went to 'secondary modern' schools where they were expected to obtain sufficient education for manual, skilled and clerical employment, but where academic expectations were modest. The remaining 20 per cent went to grammar schools. Some of these were old foundations which now received a direct grant from central government, but the majority were funded through the local authority. Grammar school pupils were expected to go on to university or some other form of higher education. A large number of the grammar or 'high' schools were single sex. In addition there were, and continue to be, a number of voluntary state-supported primary and secondary schools, most of them under the management of the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church, which usually own the school buildings.

By the 1960s there was increasing criticism of this streaming of ability, particularly by the political Left. It was recognised that many children performed inconsistently, and that those who failed the 11 plus examination were denied the chance to do better later. Early selection also reinforced the divisions of social class, and was wasteful of human potential. A government report in 1968 produced evidence that an expectation of failure became increasingly fulfilled, with secondary modern pupils aged 14 doing significantly worse than they had at the age of eight. Labour's solution was to introduce a new type of school, the comprehensive, a combination of grammar and secondary modern under one roof, so that all the children could be continually assessed and given appropriate teaching. Between 1965 and 1980 almost all the old grammar and secondary modern schools were replaced, mainly by coeducational comprehensives. The measure caused much argument for two principal reasons. Many local authorities, particularly Conservative-controlled ones, did not wish to lose the excellence of their grammar schools, and many resented Labour's interference in education, which was still considered a local responsibility. However, despite the pressure to change school structures, each school, in consultation with the local authority, remained in control of its curriculum. In practice the result of the reform was very mixed:

the best comprehensives aimed at grammar school academic standards, while the worst sank to secondary modern ones.

One unforeseen but damaging result was the refusal of many grammar schools to join the comprehensive experiment. Of the 174 direct-grant grammar schools, 119 decided to leave the state system rather than become comprehensive, and duly became independent fee-paying establishments. This had two effects. Grammar schools had provided an opportunity for children from all social backgrounds to excel academically at the same level as those attending fee-paying independent public schools. The loss of these schools had a demoralising effect on the comprehensive experiment and damaged its chances of success, but led to a revival of independent schools at a time when they seemed to be slowly shrinking. The introduction of comprehensive schools thus unintentionally reinforced an educational elite which only the children of wealthier parents could hope to join.

Comprehensive schools became the standard form of secondary education (other than in one or two isolated areas, where grammar schools and secondary moderns survived). However, except among the best comprehensives they lost for a while the excellence of the old grammar schools.

Alongside with the introduction of comprehensives there was a move away from traditional teaching and discipline towards what was called 'progressive' education.- This entailed a change from more formal teaching and factual learning to greater pupil participation and discussion, with greater emphasis on comprehension and less on the acquisition of knowledge. Not everyone approved, particularly on the political Right. There was increasing criticism of the lack of discipline and of formal learning, and a demand to return tc old-fashioned methods.

From the 1960s there was also greater emphasis on education and training than ever before, with many colleges of further education established to provide technical or vocational training. However, British education remained too academic for the less able, and technical studies stayed weak, with the result that a large number of less academically able pupils left school without any skills or qualifications at all.

The expansion of education led to increased expenditure. The proportion of the gross national product devoted to education doubled, from 3.2 per cent in 1954, to 6.5 per cent by 1970, but fell back to about 5 per cent in the 1980s. These higher levels of spending did not fulfil expectations, mainly because spending remained substantially lower than that in other industrialised countries. Perhaps the most serious failures were the continued high drop-out rate at the age of 16 and the low level of achievement in mathematics and science among school-leavers. By the mid-1980s, while over 80 per cent of pupils in the United States and over 90 per cent in Japan stayed on till the age of 18, barely one-third of British pupils did so.

Primary and secondary education Schooling is compulsory for 12 years, for all children aged five to 16. There are two voluntary years of schooling thereafter. Children may attend either state- funded or fee-paying independent schools. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the primary cycle lasts from 5 to 11. Generally speaking, children enter infant school, moving on to junior school (often in the same building) at the age of seven, and then on to secondary school at the age of 11. Roughly 90 per cent of children receive their secondary education at 'comprehensive' schools. For those who wish to stay on, secondary school can include the two final years of secondary education, sometimes known in Britain (for historical reasons) as 'the sixth form'. In many parts of the country, these two years are spent at a tertiary or sixth-form college, which provides academic and vocational courses.

Two public academic examinations are set, one on completion of the compulsory cycle of education at the age of 16, and one on completion of the two voluntary years. At 16 pupils take the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), introduced in 1989 to replace two previous examinations, one academic and the other indicating completion of secondary education. It was introduced to provide one examination whereby the whole range of ability could be judged, rather than having two classes of achievers; and also to assess children on class work and homework as well as in the examination room, as a more reliable form of assessment. During the two voluntary years of schooling, pupils specialise in two or three subjects and take the General Certificate of Education (always known simply as 'GCE') Advanced Level, or 'A level' examination, usually with a view to entry to a university or other college of higher education.

New examinations Advanced Supplementary (AS) levels, were introduced in 1989, to provide a wider range of subjects to study, a recognition that English education has traditionally been overly narrow. The debate about the need for a wider secondary level curriculum continues, and Labour is likely to introduce more changes at this level. These examinations are not set by the government, but by independent examination boards, most of which are associated with a particular university or group of universities. Labour may replace these boards with one national board of examination.

A new qualification was introduced in 1992 for pupils who are skills, rather than academically, orientated, the General National Vocational Qualification, known as GNVQ. This examination is taken at three distinct levels: the Foundation which has equivalent standing to low-grade passes in four subjects of GCSE; the Intermediate GNVQ which is equivalent to high-grade passes in four subjects of GCSE; and the Advanced GNVQ, equivalent to two passes at A level and acceptable for university entrance.

The academic year begins in late summer, usually in September, and is divided into three terms, with holidays for Christmas, Easter and for the month of August, although the exact dates vary slightly from area to area. In addition each term there is normally a mid-term one-week holiday, known as 'half-term'.

Arguments about the purpose of education There is a feeling that the schools are not succeeding - that standards are too low, that schools are not preparing young people with the skills, knowledge and personal qualities which are necessary for the world of work, and that schools have failed to instill the right social values. These are the criticisms and therefore there have been changes to meet these criticisms.

However, the criticisms take different forms. First, there are those who believe that standards have fallen, especially in the areas of literacy and numeracy - and, indeed, unfavourable comparisons are made with the other countries as a result of international surveys. For example, the recent Third International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) placed in England and Wales very low in mathematical achievement at 13 - although very high in science. Therefore, these critics emphasize «back to basis» and the need for more traditional teaching methods.

Second, there are those who argue for a rather traditional curriculum which is divided into «subjects» and which calls upon those cultural standards which previous generations have known - the study of literary classics (Shakespeare, Keats, Wordsworth) rather than popular multi-cultural history, classical music rather than popular music, and so on. Since there are many children who would not be interested in or capable of learning within these subjects, there is a tendency for such advocates of traditional standards to support an early selection of children into "the minority"

who are capable of being so educated, separated off from "the majority" who are thought to benefit more from a more technical or practical education.

Third, there are those who question deeply the idea of a curriculum based on these traditional subjects. Many employers, for instance, think that such a curriculum by itself ill - serves the country economically. The curriculum ought to be more relevant to the world of work, providing those skills, such as computer, numeracy and literacy skills, personal qualities (such as cooperation and enterprise) and knowledge (such as economic awareness) which make people more employable.

A very important speech which expressed those concerns and which is seen as a watershed in government policy was that of Prime Minister Callaghan at Ruskin College, Oxford, in 1976.

«Preparing future generations for life)) was the theme and he pointed to the need for greater relevance in education on four fronts:

• the acquisition by school leavers of basic skills which they lacked but which industry needed;

• the development of more positive attitudes to industry and to the economic needs of society;

• greater technological know-how so that they might live effectively in a technological society;

• the development of personal qualities for coping with an unpredictable future.

In what follows I give details of the different contexts in which this concern for change was discussed.

Economic Context It is generally assumed that there is a close connection between economic performance and the quality and context of education and training, and that therefore the country's poor performance economically since the second world war (compared with some other countries) is due to irrelevant and poor quality education. During the thirty years from the end of the Second World War not enough pupils stayed on beyond the compulsory school leaving age. There were too many unskilled and semi-skilled people for a much more sophisticated economy. Standards of literacy and numeracy were too low for a modern economy. There was not enough practical and technical know-how being taught.

As a result, it was argued that there must be much closer links between school and industry, with pupils spending time in industry, with industrialists participating in the governance of schools, and with subjects and activities on the curriculum which relate much more closely to the world of work.

Furthermore, there should be a different attitudes to learning. So quickly is the economy that people constantly have to update their knowledge and skills. There is a need for a "learning society" and for the acquisition of "generic" or "transferable" skills in communication, numeracy, problem- solving, computer technology, etc.

Social Context There are anxieties not just about the future economy but also about the future of society. Preparing young people for adult life was what the Ruskin speech was about, and there is much more to adult life than economic success - for example, living the life of a good citizen, of a father or mother, of involvement in social and political activity. Therefore, schools are required to prepare young people for a multicultural society, to encourage tolerance between different ethnic groups, to promote social responsibility, to encourage respect for the law and democratic institutions, to develop sensibilities towards the disadvantaged and to ensure girls enjoy equal opportunities with boys. And schools have. Indeed, responded with programs of social education, citizenship, and parenthood. Moreover, they have often done this in practical ways such as organizing projects.

Standards The need for educational change arises partly from a concern about academic standards. The sense that Britain is declining has been reinforced by statements from employers. According to them, Britain's workforce is under- educated, under-trained and under-qualified! These criticisms of standards are pitched at different levels. First, there are worries about low standards of literacy and numeracy. Second, international comparisons give weight to misgivings about the performance of British schoolchildren in mathematics and science. And, therefore, the subsequent changes have tried to define standards much more precisely, and o have regular assessment of children's performance against these standards.

Changing Political Control after 1944 The key educational legislation, until recently, was the 1944 Education Act. That Act supported a partnership between central government (Local Education Authorities or LEAs), teachers and the churches - with central government playing a minimal role in the curriculum.

The 1944 Education Act required the Secretary of State to promote the education of the people of England and Wales and the progressive development of institutions devoted to that purpose and to secure the effective execution by local authorities, under his control and direction, of the national policy for providing a varied and comprehensive educational service in every area.

In the decades following the Act, «promotion» was perceived in very general terms - ensuring that there were resources adequate for all children to receive an education according to "age, ability and aptitude", providing the broad legal framework and regulations within which education should be provided (for example, the length of the school year or the division of education into primary and secondary phases), and initiating major reports on such important matters as language and mathematics teaching.

Within this framework, the LEA organized the schools. The LEA raised money through local taxation to provide education from primary right through to further and indeed higher education, and made sure that the schools and colleges were working efficiently. They employed and paid the teachers. And ultimately they had responsibility for the quality of teaching within those schools.

The Churches were key partners because historically they (particularly the Church of England) had provided a large proportion of elementary education and owned many of the schools.

The 1944 Act had to establish a new partnership between state, LEAs and the church schools.

After 1980 However, the changing economic, social and cultural conditions outlined in the previous section caused the government to reexamine the nature and the composition of that partnership. The questions being asked during the 1980's included the following:

Has central government the power to make the system respond to the changing context? Are the local authorities too local for administrating a national system and too distant for supporting local, especially parental, involvement in school? Have the parents been genuine partners in the system that affects the future welfare of their children? And what place, if any, in the partnership has been allocated to the employers, who believe they have a contribution to make to the preparation of young people for the future?

New governing bodies Various Acts of Parliament since 1980 have made schools more accountable. Teachers, employers and parents have been given places on the governing bodies. Governors have to publish information about the school that enables parents to make informed choices when deciding to which school they should send their child. Each LEA has to have a curriculum policy that must be considered and implemented by each governing body. Schools also must have a policy on sex education and must ensure that political indoctrination does not take place. This accountability of schools and LEAs has to be demonstrated through an annual report to be presented to a public meeting of parents. The government gave parents the right to enrol their children - given appropriate age and aptitude - at any state school of their choice, within the limits of capacity. Parents already sent their children to the local school of their choice. The decision to publish schools' examination results, however, gave parents a stark, but not necessarily well-informed, basis on which to choose the most appropriate school for their child. Increasingly parents sought access to the most successful nearby school in terms of examination results.

Far from being able to exercise their choice, large numbers of parents were now frustrated in their choice. Overall, in 1996 20 per cent of parents failed to obtain their first choice of school. In London the level was 40 per cent, undermining the whole policy of 'parental choice' and encouraging only the crudest view of educational standards. Schools found themselves competing rather than cooperating and some schools, for example in deprived urban areas, faced a downward spiral of declining enrolment followed by reduced budgets. Thus the market offered winners and losers: an improved system for the brighter or more fortunate pupils, but a worse one for the 'bottom' 40 per cent. Schools in deprived parts of cities acquired reputations as 'sink' schools. As one education journalist wrote in 1997, There is a clear hierarchy of schools:

private, grammar, comprehensives with plenty of nice middle-class children, comprehensives with fewer nice middle-class children and so on.'

Central control The government has looked for ways of exercising greater influence over what is taught in schools. New legislation gave the government powers to exercise detailed control over the organization and content of education. The 1988 Education Act legislated a National Curriculum and a system of National Assessment. In addition, significant changes were enacted to make possible the central financing and thus control of schools through creating a new kind of school outside LEA control (first, the provision of City Technology Colleges 9CTC), and, second, the creation of Grant Maintained Schools (GMS)). The government also significantly reduced the power of local authorities by transferring the management of schools from the LEA to the schools themselves (known as the local management of schools or LMS).

At the same time, within this more centralized system, parents have been offered greater choice through the establishment of different kinds of schools (GMS and CTC), through the delegation of management to the governing bodies of the schools (LMS) and through the granting of parental rights to send their children to the school of their choice.

The various Parliamentary Acts (but especially the 1988 Act) gave legal force to a massive change in the terms of the education partnership. First, the Secretary of State now has powers over the details of the curriculum and assessment. Second, a mechanism has been created whereby there can be more participation by parents (and to a much smaller degree by employers), in decisions that affect the quality of education. Third, the LEAs have been required to transfer many decisions over finance, staffing, and admissions to the schools and colleges themselves. Fourth, the LEA responsibility for the curriculum has been transferred to the Secretary of State.

Employer involvement The voice of the consumers will be heard more, and the consumer includes the employer. Several initiatives encouraged employer participation. First, and possibly the most important in the long run, has been the encouragement of business representatives on governing bodies of schools. Second, there has been a range of initiatives which have given employers a greater say in the purposes which schools are expected to serve and in the means of attaining them.

The role of assessment The government decided to develop a reformed system of examinations which would specify the standards against which the performance of individual schools and of pupils might be measured.

The 1988 Education Act legislated for assessment of pupils at the ages of 7, 11, 14 and 16, using attainment targets which all children should normally be expected to reach at these different ages in different subjects - especially in the «foundation subjects» of English, mathematics and science. The assessments relied partly on moderated teacher-assessment, but more importantly on national, externally administrated tests.

As a result of these national assessments, exactly where each child was in relation to all other children in terms of attainment in each subject. And it would be possible to say how each school was succeeding in these measured attainments in relationship to every other school. These assessments, have subsequently, provided the basis of national comparisons and league tables of schools.

In the reform of National Curriculum in the early 1990's, it was decided that, because of public examinations at 16, the national assessment should finish at 14.

Inspection For over one hundred years, there had been an independent inspection service. The inspectors were called Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) to indicate that ultimately they were accountable to the Queen, not to the government from whom they ardently preserved their independence. Until about ten years ago, HMI numbered about 500. They inspected schools and they advised the government.

Senior HMIs were based at the Department of Education and Science (now the department for Education and Employment) but the big majority were scattered over the whole country so that they could advise locally but also be a source of information to central government. Indeed, they were known as «the ears and the eyes of the Minister».

Much of this has now changed as government has sought greater central control. HMI has been cut back to about one third of its previous size. The Chief Inspector is now a political appointment, not someone who has arisen from the ranks of an independent inspectorate. A new office has been created, the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), to which HMI now belong and which is much more at the service of government policy.

Under OFSTED a very large army of «Ofsted inspectors» has been created - often teachers - who, after a brief training, are equipped to inspect schools. The initial plan was to inspect all 25,000 schools every four years and to publish a report which would be accessible to everyone. Every teacher is seen and graded. OFSTED is able to identify «failing schools» and «failing teachers».

It has been very difficult to get rid of very poor teachers. It is now hoped that, with more regular inspection and with clearer criteria for success and failure, it will be easier to sack teachers who are consistently under performing.

The recent changes are increasingly redescribed in managerial and business terms, as the educational system is managed as part of the drive to be more economically competitive.

However, one must be aware of the doubts and dismay of many in this «philosophy». First, there is little consideration of the aims of education - the values which make the relationship between teacher and learner an educational encounter, not one of «delivering a service». Second, the new language of «education» is drawn from an entirely different activity, that of business and management. The language of control, delivery, inputs and outputs, performance indicators and audits, defining products, testing against product specification, etc. Is not obviously appropriate to the development of thinking, inquiring, imagination, creativity, and so on. Third, the key role of the teacher is made peripheral to the overall design; the teacher becomes a «technician» of someone else's curriculum.

The changing economic and social context in Britain seemed to require a closer integration of education, training, and employment; at the same time, a sharper focus on personal development; greater concentration of the partnership to include employers and parents; and a dominant position given to central government in stipulating outcomes were all factors which led the framework of the system is adapting to the new contexts.

The public system of education might be illustrated as follows:

Age Type of school National exams and assessments

4 Nursery school(optional

and where available)

Beginning of compulsory education

5 Primary school Baseline assessment

6 Primary school

7 Primary school Assessment Key Stage 1

8 Primary school of Middle

school

9 Primary school of Middle

school

10 Primary school of Middle

school

11 Primary school of Middle Assessment Key Stage 2

school

12 Secondary school of

Middle school

13 Secondary school of

Middle school

14 Secondary school Assessment Key Stage 3

15 Secondary school Start of GCSE course

16 Secondary school GCSE exams

End of compulsory education

17 Secondary School Sixth Start of A-level course

Form

College of Further GNVQ

Education

Work Training Scheme NVQ

18 Secondary School Sixth A-level exams

Form GNVQ

College of Further NVQ

Education

Work Training Scheme

Schools and the post-16 curriculum At the age of 16 people are free to leave scлool if they want to. The maintenance of such a curriculum has been a major function of the examination system at 16, which was originally designed as a preparation for the post-16 courses leading to A- level. It is taken in single subjects, usually not more than three. These three subjects, studied in depth, in turn constituted a preparation for the single or double subject honors degrees at university. In this way the shape of the curriculum for the majority has been determined by the needs of the minority aspiring to a university place. Alongside «А» Levels, there have been, more recently, «AS» (Advanced Supplementary) Level examinations. These are worth half an «А» Level and they enable very bright students to broaden their educational experience with a «contrasting» subject (for example, the science specialist might study a foreign language).

The present «А» and «AS» Level system, however, is thought to be in need of reform. First, it limits choice of subjects at 16 and 17 years, a time, when a more general education should be encouraged. Second, approximately 30% of students either drop out or fail - a mass failure rate amongst a group of young people from the top 30% of academic achievement who find that after two years they have no qualification. Third, the concentration on academic success thus conceived has little room for the vocationally relevant skills and personal qualities stressed by those employers who are critics of the education system. Fourth, there are over 600 «А» Level syllabuses from eight independent examination boards often with overlapping titles and content, making comparability of standards between Boards difficult.

The private sector By 1997 8 per cent of the school population attended independent fee-paying schools, compared with under 6 per cent in 1979, and only 5 per cent in 1976. By the year 2000 the proportion may rise to almost 9 per cent, nearly back to the level in 1947 of 10 per cent. The recovery of private education in Britain is partly due to middle-class fears concerning comprehensive schools, but also to the mediocre quality possible in the state sector after decades of inadequate funding.

Although the percentage of those privately educated may be a small fraction of the total, its importance is disproportionate to its size, for this 8 per cent accounts for 23 per cent of all those passing A levels, and over 25 per cent of those gaining entry to university. Nearly 65 per cent of pupils leave fee-paying schools with one or more A levels, compared with only 14 per cent from comprehensives. Tellingly, this 8 per cent also accounts for 68 per cent of those gaining the highest grade in GCSE Physics. During the 1980s pupils at independent schools showed greater improvement in their examination results than those at state schools. In later life, those educated at fee- paying schools dominate the sources of state power and authority in government, law, the armed forces and finance.

The 'public' (in fact private, fee-paying) schools form the backbone of the independent sector. Of the several hundred public schools, the most famous are the 'Clarendon Nine', so named after a commission of inquiry into education in 1861. Their status lies in a fatally attractive combination of social superiority and antiquity, as the dates of their foundation indicate: Winchester (1382), Eton (1440), St Paul's (1509), Shrewsbury (1552), Westminster (1560), The Merchant Taylors' (1561), Rugby (1567), Harrow (1571) and Charterhouse (1611).

The golden age of the public schools, however, was the late nineteenth century, when most were founded. They were vital to the establishment of a particular set of values in the dominant professional middle classes. These values were reflected in the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, written in tribute to his own happy time at Rugby School. Its emphasis is on the making of gentlemen to enter one of the professions: law, medicine, the Church, the Civil Service or the colonial service. The concept of 'service', even if it only involved entering a profitable profession, was central to the public school ethos. A career in commerce, or 'mere money making' as it is referred to in Tom Brown's Schooldays, was not to be considered. As a result of such values, the public school system was traditional in its view of learning and deeply resistant to science and technology. Most public schools were located in the 'timeless' countryside, away from the vulgarity of industrial cities.

After 1945, when state-funded grammar schools were demonstrating equal or greater academic excellence, the public schools began to modernise themselves. During the 1970s most of them abolished beating and 'fagging', the system whereby new boys carried out menial tasks for senior boys, and many introduced girls into the sixth form, as a civilising influence. They made particular efforts to improve their academic and scientific quality. Traditionally boarding public schools were more popular, but since the 1970s there has been a progressive shift of balance in favour of day schools. Today only 16 per cent of pupils in private education attend boarding schools, and the number of boarders declines on average by 3 per cent each year.

Demand for public school education is now so great that many schools register pupils' names at birth. Eton maintains two lists, one for the children of 'old boys' and the other for outsiders. There are three applicants for every vacancy. Several other schools have two applicants for each vacancy, but they are careful not to expand to meet demand. In the words of one academic, 'Schools at the top of the system have a vested interest in being elitist. They would lose that characteristic if they expanded. To some extent they pride themselves on the length of their waiting lists.' This rush to private education is despite the steep rise in fees, 31 per cent between 1985 and 1988, and over 50 per cent between 1990 and 1997 when the average annual day fees were J5,700 and boarding fees double that figure. Sixty per cent of parents would probably send their children to fee-paying schools if they could afford to.

In order to obtain a place at a public school, children must take a competitive examination, called 'Common Entrance'. In order to pass it, most children destined for a public school education attend a preparatory (or 'prep') school until the age of 13.

Independent schools remain politically controversial. The Conservative Party believes in the fundamental freedom of parents to choose the best education for their children. The Labour Party disagrees, arguing that in reality only the wealthier citizens have this freedom of choice. In the words of Hugh Gaitskell, the Labour leader in 1953, 'We really cannot go on with a system in which wealthy parents are able to buy what they and most people believe to be a better education for their children. The system is wrong and must be changed.' But since then no Labour government has dared to abolish them.

There can be no doubt that a better academic education can be obtained in some of the public schools. In 1993 92 of the 100 schools with the best A-level results were fee-paying. But the argument that parents will not wish to pay once state schools offer equally good education is misleading, because independent schools offer social status also. Unfortunately education depends not only on quality schools but also on the home environment. The background from which pupils come greatly affects the encouragement they receive to study. Middle-class parents are likely to be better able, and more concerned, to support their children's study than low-income parents who themselves feel they failed at school. State-maintained schools must operate with fewer resources, and in more difficult circumstances, particularly in low-income areas. In addition, the public school system creams off many of the ablest teachers from the state sector.

The public school system is socially divisive, breeding an atmosphere of elitism and leaving some outside the system feeling socially or intellectually inferior, and in some cases intimidated by the prestige attached to public schools. The system fosters a distinct culture, one based not only upon social superiority but also upon deference. As one leading journalist, Jeremy Paxman, himself an ex-public schoolboy remarked, The purpose of a public school education is to teach you to respect people you don't respect.' In the words of Anthony Sampson, himself an ex-pupil of Westminster, the public school elite 'reinforces and perpetuates a class system whose divisions run through all British institutions, separating language, attitudes and motivations'.

Those who attend these schools continue to dominate the institutions at the heart of the British state, and seem likely to do so for some time to come. At the beginning of the 1990s public schools accounted for 22 out of 24 of the army's top generals, two-thirds of the Bank of England's external directors, 33 out of 39 top English judges, and ambassadors in the 15 most important diplomatic missions abroad. Of the 200 richest people in Britain no fewer than 35 had attended Eton. Eton and Winchester continue to dominate the public school scene, and the wider world beyond. As Sampson asks, 'Can the products of two schools (Winchester and Eton), it might be asked, really effectively represent the other 99.5 per cent of the people in this diverse country who went to neither mediaeval foundation?' The concept of service was once at the heart of the public school ethos, but it is questionable whether it still is. A senior Anglican bishop noted in 1997, 'A headmaster told me recently that the whole concept of service had gone. Now they all want to become merchant bankers and lawyers.'

There are two arguments that qualify the merit of the public schools, apart from the criticism that they are socially divisive. It is inconceivable that the very best intellectual material of the country resides solely among those able to attend such schools. If one accepts that the brightest and best pupils are in fact spread across the social spectrum, one must conclude that an elitist system of education based primarily upon wealth rather than ability must involve enormous wastage. The other serious qualification regards the public school ethos which is so rooted in tradition, authority and a narrow idea of 'gentlemanly' professions. Even a century after it tried to turn its pupils into gentlemen, the public school culture still discourages, possibly unconsciously, its pupils from entering industry. 'It is no accident,' Sampson comments, 'that most formidable industrialists in Britain come from right outside the public school system, and many from right outside Britain.'

Britain will be unable to harness its real intellectual potential until it can break loose from a divisive culture that should belong in the past, and can create its future elite from the nation's schoolchildren as a whole. In 1996 a radical Conservative politician argued for turning public schools into centres of excellence which would admit children solely on ability, regardless of wealth or social background, with the help of government funding. It would be a way of using the best of the private sector for the nation as a whole. It is just such an idea that Labour might find attractive, if it is able to tackle the more widespread and fundamental shortcomings of the state education system.

Further and higher education «Preparation for adult life» includes training in the skills required for a job. These skills can be pitched at different levels - highly job-specific and not requiring much thought in their application, or «generalisable» and applicable to different kinds of employment.

Vocational courses are concerned with the teaching of job-related skills, whether specific or generalisable. They can be based in industry, and «open learning»

techniques make this increasingly likely, although in the past, they have normally been taught in colleges of further education, with students given day release from work. Vocational training has not been an activity for schools. But some critics think that schools should provide it for non-academic pupils. One major initiative back in 1982, was the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in which schools received money if they were able to build into the curriculum vocationally-related content ant activities - more technology, business studies, industry related work and visits, etc. But all this got lost in 1988 with the imposition of a National Curriculum was reformed, providing opportunities for vocational studies to be introduced at 14.

But the real changes in vocational training were to be seen outside the schools. The curriculum in colleges of further education has been closely determined by vocational examination bodies which decide what the student should be able to do in order to receive a qualification as, for example, a plumber or a hairdresser. These qualifications were pitched at different levels - from relatively low-skilled operative to higher-skilled craft and technician. Obtaining these qualifications often required an apprenticeship, with day release in a college of further education for more theoretical study.

Vocational training always has had a relatively low status in Britain. The «practical» and the «vocational» have seldom given access to university or to the prestigious and professional jobs.

Further education has traditionally been characterised by part-time vocational courses for those who leave school at the age of 16 but need to acquire a skill, be that in the manual, technical or clerical field. In all, about three million students enrol each year in part-time courses at further education (FE) colleges, some released by their employers and a greater number unemployed. In addition there have always been a much smaller proportion in full-time training. In 1985 this figure was a meagre 400.000, but by 1995 this had doubled. Given Labour's emphasis on improving the skills level of all school-leavers, this expansion will continue. Vocational training, most of which is conducted at the country's 550 further education colleges is bound to be an important component.

Higher education has also undergone a massive expansion. In 1985 only 573,000, 16 per cent of young people, were enrolled in full-time higher education. Ten years later the number was 1,150,000, no less than 30 per cent of their age group.

This massive expansion was achieved by greatly enlarging access to undergraduate courses, but also by authorising the old polytechnics to grant their own degree awards, and also to rename themselves as universities. Thus there are today 90 universities, compared with 47 in 1990, and only seventeen in 1945. They fall into five broad categories: the medieval English foundations, the medieval Scottish ones, the nineteenth-century 'redbrick' ones, the twentieth-century 'plate-glass' ones, and finally the previous polytechnics. They are all private institutions, receiving direct grants from central government.

Oxford and Cambridge, founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries respectively, are easily the most famous of Britain's universities. Today 'Oxbridge', as the two together are known, educate less than one-twentieth of Britain's total university student population. But they continue to attract many of the best brains and to mesmerize an even greater number, partly on account of their prestige, but also on account of the seductive beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings.

Both universities grew gradually, as federations of independent colleges, most of which were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In both universities, however, new colleges are periodically established, for example Green College, Oxford (1979) and Robinson College, Cambridge (1977).

In the nineteenth century more universities were established to respond to the greatly increased demand for educated people as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Britain's overseas empire. Many of these were sited in the industrial centres, for example Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Bristol.

With the expansion of higher education in the 1960s 'plate-glass' universities were established, some named after counties or regions rather than old cities, for example Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and Strathclyde. Over 50 polytechnics and similar higher education institutes acquired university status in 1992. There is also a highly successful Open University, which provides every person in Britain with the opportunity to study for a degree, without leaving their home. It is particularly designed for adults who missed the opportunity for higher education earlier in life. It conducts learning through correspondence, radio and television, and also through local study centres.

University examinations are for Bachelor of Arts, or of Science (BA or BSc) on completion of the undergraduate course, and Master of Arts or of Science (MA or MSc) on completion of postgraduate work, usually a one- or two-year course involving some original research. Some students continue to complete a three-year period of original research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The bachelor degree is normal classed, with about 5 per cent normally gaining First, about 30 per cent gaining an Upper Second or 2.1, perhaps 40 per cent gaining a Lower Second, or 2.2, and the balance getting either I Third, a Pass or failing. Approximately 15 per ceil fail to complete their degree course.

In addition there are a large number of specialise higher education institutions in the realm of the performing and visual arts. For example, there a four leading conservatories: the Royal Academy Music, the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.

There are a large number of art colleges, of why the most famous is the Royal College of Art, where both Henry Moore and David Hockney once studied. Other colleges cater for dance, film-making and other specialist areas in arts.

In spite of the high fees, Britain's universities, Fl colleges and English language schools host a number of foreign students, in 1996 there were fewer than 158,000.

Female undergraduates have greatly increased proportionately in recent years. In the mid-1960 they were only 28 per cent of the intake, became 41 per cent by the early 1980s, and were 51 per cent by 1996. There is still an unfortunate separation of the sexes in fields of chosen study, arising from occupational tradition and social expectations. Caring for others is still a 'proper¹ career for women; building bridges, it seems, is not. Unless one believes women's brains are better geared to nursing and other forms of caring and men's to bridge-building, one must conclude that social expectations still hinder women and men from realizing their potential. Students from poorer backgrounds are seriously underrepresented in higher education. Although more in social categories C, D and E are now enrolled, it is the more prosperous social categories A and В which have benefited most from university expansion. For Labour there are two issues here:

equality of opportunity, and maximizing all of society's intellectual potential.

Ethnic minorities representation is growing: 1 3 per cent in 1996 compared with only 10.7 per cent in 1990. It is noteworthy that their university representation exceeds their proportion within the whole population, a measure of their commitment to higher education.

In 1988 a new funding body, the University Funding Council, was established, with power to require universities to produce a certain number of qualified people in specific fields. It is under the UFC's watchful eye that the universities have been forced to double their student intake, and each university department is assessed on its performance and quality. The fear, of course, is that the greatly increased quantity of students that universities must now take might lead to a loss of academic quality.

Expansion has led to a growing funding gap. Universities have been forced to seek sponsorship from the commercial world, wealthy patrons and also from their alumni. The Conservative Party also decided to reduce maintenance grants but to offer students loans in order to finance their studies. However, the funding gap has continued to grow and Labour shocked many who had voted for it by introducing tuition fees at 1,000 pounds per annum in 1998. Although poorer students were to be exempted it was feared that, even with student loans, up to 10 per cent of those planning to go to university would abandon the idea. One effect of the financial burden is that more students are living at home while continuing their studies: about 50 per cent at the ex-polytechnics, but only 15 per cent at the older universities.

Today many university science and technology departments, for example at Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Imperial College London, and Strathclyde, are among the best in Europe. The concern is whether they will continue to be so in the future. Academics pay has fallen so far behind other professions and behind academic salaries elsewhere, that many of the best brains have gone abroad. Adequate pay and sufficient research funding to keep the best in Britain remains a major challenge.

As with the schools system, so also with higher education: there is a real problem about the exclusivity of Britain's two oldest universities. While Oxbridge is no longer the preserve of a social elite it retains its exclusive, narrow and spell­binding culture. Together with the public school system, it creates a narrow social and intellectual channel from which the nation's leaders are almost exclusively drawn. In 1996 few people were in top jobs in the Civil Service, the armed forces, the law or finance, who had not been either to a public school or Oxbridge, or to both.

The problem is not the quality of education offered either in the independent schools or Oxbridge. The problem is cultural. Can the products of such exclusive establishments remain closely in touch with the remaining 95 per cent of the population? If the expectation is that Oxbridge, particularly, will continue to dominate the controlling positions in the state and economy, is the country ignoring equal talent which does not have the Oxbridge label? As with the specialisation at the age of 16 for A levels, the danger is that Britain's governing elite is too narrow, both in the kind of education and where it was acquired. It is just possible that the new Labour government, which itself reflects a much wider field of life experience in Britain, will mark the beginning of significantly fuller popular participation in the controlling institutions of state.

Present situation The educational system - its organization, its control, its content - is changing rapidly to meet the perceived needs of the country - the need to improve standards and to respond to a rapidly changing and competitive economy. Those changes might be summarized in the following way.

First, there is much greater central control over what is taught. Second, what is taught is seen in rather traditional terms - organized in terms of subjects rather than in response to the learning needs of the pupils. Third, however, there is an attempt to be responsive to the economic needs of the country, with an emphasis upon vocational studies and training. Fourth, there is a rapid expansion of those who stay in education beyond the compulsory age, making use of the «three-track system» of «А» Level, GNVQ (General National Vocational Qualifications) and NVQ (National Vocational Qualifications). Fifth, although the content of education is centrally controlled, its «delivery» pays homage to the «market» by encouraging choice between different institutions so that funding follows popular choice (i.e. the more popular the school with parents, the more money it gets, thereby providing an incentive to schools and colleges to improve their performance.

Conclusion Education under Labour Education was the central theme of the new Labour government. It promised a huge range of improvements: high-quality education for all four-year-olds whose parents wanted it and lower pupil-teacher ratios, in particular that children up to the age of eight children would never be in classes of over 30 pupils. It also declared that all children at primary school would spend one hour each day on reading and writing, and another hour each day on numeracy, the basic skills for all employment. When Labour took office only 57 per cent of children reached national literacy targets by the time they left primary school, and only 55 per cent reached similar targets in maths. The government pledged to raise these proportions to 80 per cent and 75 per cent respectively. It also established a new central authority responsible for both qualifications and the curriculum, to ensure that these were, in the government's own words, 'high quality, coherent and flexible'. It warned that it intended to evolve a single certificate to replace A levels and vocational qualifications, and possibly to reflect a broad range of study rather than the narrow specialism of the A-level system. Because 30 per cent of students who started A-level courses failed to acquire one, it also wanted to create a more flexible system that would allow students still to attain recognised standards of education and training on the road to A levels. However, unlike France or Germany, an increasing proportion of those taking exams at this standard were actually passing.

The government also promised to improve the quality of the teaching staff, with a mandatory qualification for all newly appointed heads of schools, to improve teacher training, to establish a General Teaching Council, which would restore teacher morale and raise standards, and to introduce more effective means of removing inefficient teachers. It also promised to look at the growing problem of boys underachieving at school compared with girls. Finally, Labour asked for its record to be judged at the end of its first term in office, in 2005.

The king’s College of our lady of Eton beside Windsor

ETON

COLLEGE

Windsor, Berkshire SL4 6DW

The Principal Eton: Mrs Little.

Year of the basis of school Eton: 1440

Creed: Anglican church.

The status of School: For boys 13-18.

Quantity of pupils: 1304, (full board) 1304. Boys 1304.

Eton College (Eton) - one their most well-known schools, giving secondary education in England.

It is known as a smithy of outstanding statesmen - from here has been let out eighteen prime ministers of the Great Britain, one - Northern Ireland and one - Thailand.

Besides formation always includes aesthetic education, scientific work in England.

Eton pays to it special attention, and the result is obvious - here at various times studied Georges Oruell, Persi Shelley, Robert Boyle, Stefan Tungsten. And volume number Sir Alexander Douglas Home (Lord Home of the Hirsel), Douglas Hurd, Harold Macmillan, Lord Hailsham, Lord Carrington, Antony Powell, Humphrey Litteleton, Matthew Pinsent...

Eton - one of the most known colleges in the world, guaranteeing practically absolute receipt in prestigious university (Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Sorbonne).

Eton - a boarding school which for more than five and a half of centuries of the existence has got various traditions,

Steady reputation and reliable education system.

The college has been based in 1440 by King Henry VI («Royal College of the Sacred Mother of god in Eton near Windsor»).

In Eton princes, prime ministers, writers and set of very rich or simply rich people were trained.

The diploma of Eton is a miss in a circle of elite, it is a sign on the status.

But the most important is really good formation. Therefore to Eton sent to study in XV century and continue to send in XXI. However, study in Eton is not for poor.

One year of training costs nearby 20 thousand pounds sterling (the full board enters into cost, but charges on the trustee, clothes, a school uniform, air tickets do not enter,

Ski or years trips with school, and also pocket money).

Certainly, in college there are also so-called royal grant-aided students - some tens especially presented children which the state pays training in prestigious Eton.

The good terminator here are abilities of the child. If they are not present, no money will help the child to cross through a threshold of Eton, unless with fact-finding excursion.

One more terminator - entrance examinations in college.

For example, such small nuance: wishing to be trained in Eton it is necessary to hand over some foreign languages - Latin, French and English.

And if French and English are included into a circle of attention of parents Latin is absolutely unusual, and very few people reflects on it. And here in fact - it is necessary.

Arrangement Eton

Eton College is located in the same city of Eton, a county Berkshire on the river Thames in 20 miles to the West from London and nearby from Windsor.

School Eton College School Eton College Eton College has been based in 1440 by King Henry VI with the purpose of preparation of young men to service to the God and the state. Originally in college was only 70 royal pupils or Collegers, which lived in College and coming pupils from small town Eton - Ophidians which should pay for the formation were trained free of charge, and some.

All graduates continued the training in King's College in Cambridge. On July, 1st, 1444 the unique friendly agreement (amicabilis concordia) between Eton College, King's College in Cambridge, Winchester College and New College Oxford has been signed. Mutual relations between Winchester and New College became the sample for Eton and King's. Four colleges have agreed always to support each other "in common causes, courts and disputes".

To this day representatives of colleges invite each other to anniversaries and other actions. The majority of ancient school buildings Eton College including church, a chapel, younger school and the basic building, constructed during creation of college have sunk into oblivion.

Today Eton - the civilized enclave representing an integral modern architectural complex. It is one of the most equipped schools in England. The set of school buildings is located in a city boundaries in an environment of fine parks, game fields for tennis, a golf and football. Eton College has some libraries with remarkable collections of rare books and manuscripts. The big collective of the highly skilled teachers possessing in huge academic potential influences results of training. Outstanding examination successes of students allow the majority of them to continue training in (Oxbridge) .Students show fine results in special traditional competitions Eton Wall Game and Eton Field Game by various kinds of sports both on the open areas, and in sports halls.

Traditionally Eton is considered as a training platform for ruling class of the Great Britain. In past Eton named «main nursemaid English statesmen».

Eton College is famous for high academic parameters, high percent acting in Oxford, Cambridge and other outstanding universities. Eton remains the most aristocratic school of the Great Britain. For five existences with superfluous centuries it has brought up outstanding figures in all spheres of human activity.

On peak of the influence in the end XIX and the beginning of XX century graduates of Eton made more than 50% of the government of conservatives. The prestige of school is high, as before - both the son of Prince Charles - William and Harry have finished Eton.

Today in Eton studies about 1,300 boys from thirteen till eighteen years. All students live in a hostel that is characteristic for prestigious English schools. Parents of the majority of students constantly live in the Great Britain, but also there is a quantity of foreign students.

1200 students are paid with the training and, by tradition, they are called Ophidians and 70 children study as grants, and them name Colleges or King's Scholar.

Features The Arms of college Eton (Arms Of Eton College).

According to the document, Date on January, 1st 1449, King Henry of the sixth has ordered to college to have the arms with the image of three silvery lilies on a black background.

King has wished again formed college to prosper eternally and to work in glory of king of England and France which symbolize a flower of France on an azure background and the going leopard.

One of the oldest colleges of Cambridge University King's College has received the arms with the description word for word repeating the description of the arms of Eton, but with three roses instead of three lilies.

The motto of Eton - Floret Etona that in translation can sound, as «Yes Eton» let prospers.

Training at school Eton College Age of students from 13 till 18 years. The majority of students are enlisted in school Eton in the age of 13 years and, in unusual cases, in 16 years. Approximately 30% of students are children of former students.

To be registered in school it is necessary in the age of up to ten and a half of years, and in 11 years to pass preliminary testing and interview.

In the age of 12-13 years the registered candidates hand over entrance examinations (common entrance).

For transfer in 16 years students should have estimations and at least in six academic subjects of program GCSE (including subjects A-level).

No requirements on possession of special knowledge and skills and are present religious restrictions, though the school is sponsored by Anglican Church.

On program GCSE in Eton College the basic subjects (English and mathematics, three main sciences - biology, chemistry, the physics, two languages - French and Latin or Greek are studied all Later are added German, Spanish, Russian and Japanese.

Boys also study religion, history and a number of practical and creative disciplines - designing and technology, information technology, art, a drama and music. In the senior classes the choice of languages for studying is offered: ancient, European, east and Arabian. On program AS-level of 26 subjects, on program A-level 22 subjects.

Subjects on A-level: mathematics and higher mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology, design and technologies, psychology, electronics, Latin, Greek, ancient history, classical civilizations,

French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, history, history of arts, theology, geography, economy, management and a policy, English, the English literature, theatrical training, art, music, musical technologies, sports training. Also students continue rate General Studies including divinity, up to four subjects at the choice of, morning assemblies, assemblies and private business.

As studying English, the English literature and mathematics and 5 or 6 subjects on a choice.

99% of graduates act in universities, from them of 30% to Oxford and Cambridge.

4% choose medicine and veterinary science, 20% natural sciences and engineering, 74% humanitarian and social studies, 1% of art and design,

1% music and theatre. The School uniform is obligatory everywhere during all training. Regular visiting school church if parents will not ask about the return is

provided.

Strict discipline - at default of a homework the student will be obliged to execute additional exercises. Noticed in smoking hashish at schools will be expelled immediately from.

More than 40 clubs and communities unite students of all conceivable interests and hobbies. Since 1863 each trimester is published the newspaper " the Chronicle of College Eton

Students Eton College are improbably strong in music a drama and art. More than 600 students play on musical instruments.

20 musical include three orchestras, 4 choruses, 2 jazz orchestras, 5 chamber ensembles.

At specially constructed theatre Farer two drama schools in which about 20 performances annually are put work. Trips on an exchange will annually be organized to Germany, France, Spain, Russia and Japan. Some students in a year visit on an exchange of the USA and India.

Residing in Eton College

Today in Eton College 1,283 boys are trained, everyone live in houses (boarding houses), in territory of school. All students have a separate room. This room is their personal space,

And the pupil can decorate a room to the taste, but observing restrictions certain by the senior tutor approximately half of students accept food in central dining room Boynton, and the others in their table hostels. Also the second breakfast and after-dinner tea is given. Heads of houses watch for observance of rules.

In territory of college the qualified nurses and doctors live. Visits to nearby city are resolved. School territory Eton College is surrounded by set of athletic fields.

Sports always played an essential role in Eton and, speak, that the victory over fight Wellington with Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 has been won on athletic fields of Eton.

Each pupil of Eton can try itself in set of kinds of sports.

The choice is really enormous, beginning from football, Rugby football, hockey, cricket, rowing, athletics and squash up to less known «rekets » and «faivsa».

Here too there are the unique kinds of sports cultivated only in Eton, for example game Wall and Field.

More than 30 game kinds of sports under direction of skilled trainers are accessible to boys in Eton.

The result of all these expenditure can become the diploma of Eton, and it not simply start in life, it is an air liner submitted directly to a threshold.

Eventually Eton knowingly names a smithy of gentlemen, that is - a smithy of the managerial personnel (in fact the gentleman is not only that, who is obliged to name a cat a cat even having attacked it in darkness, but the one who should «conduct behind itself people at an o'clock of tests »).

British Universities

There are 46 universities in Britain. The oldest and best known are located in Oxford, Cambridge, London, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Southampton, Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham.

British universities differ greatly from each other. They differ in date of foundation, size, history, tradition, general organization, methods of instruction, way of student life.

The two intellectual eyes of Britain — Oxford and Cambridge universities — date back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The Scottish universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth centuries the so-called Redbrick universities were founded. These include London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Birmingham. During the late sixties and the early seventies some 20 "new" universities were set up. Sometimes they are called "concrete and glass" universities. Among them are the universities of Sussex, York, East Anglia and some others.

Good "A" Level results in at least two subjects are necessary to get a place at a university. However, good exam passes alone are not enough. Universities choose their students after interviews, and competition for places at university is fierce.

For all British citizens a place at university brings with it a grant from their Local Education authority. The grants cover tuition fees and some of the living expenses. The amount depends on the parents' income. If the parents do not earn much money, their children will receive a full grant which will cover all their expenses.

There is an interesting form of studies which is called the Open University. It is intended for people who study in their own free time and who "attend" lectures by watching television and listening to the radio. They keep in touch by phone and letter with their tutors and attend summer schools. The Open University students have no formal qualifications and would be unable to enter ordinary universities.

The academic year in Britain's universities is divided into three terms, which usually run from the beginning of October to the middle of December, from the middle of January to the end of March, and from the middle of April to the end of June or the beginning of July.

After three years of study a university graduate will leave with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine, etc. Later he may continue to take the Master's Degree and then the Doctor's Degree. Research is an important Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest and the most prestigious universities in Great Britain. They are often called collectively Oxbridge to denote an elitarian education. Both universities are independent.

The tutorial is the basic mode of instruction at Oxford and Cambridge, with lectures as optional extras.

The normal length of the degree course is three years, after which the students take the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (B. A.). Some courses, such as languages or medicine, may be one or two years longer. The students may work for other degrees as well. The degrees are awarded at public degree ceremonies. Oxford and Cambridge cling to their traditions, such as the use of Latin at degree ceremonies. Full academic dress is worn at examinations.

Oxford and Cambridge universities consist of a number of colleges. Each college is different, but in many ways they are alike. Each college has its name, its coat of arms. Each college is governed by a Master. The large ones have more than 400 members, the smallest colleges have less than 30. Each college offers teaching in a wide range of subjects. Within the college one will normally find a chapel, a dining hall, a library, rooms for undergraduates, fellows and the Master, and also rooms for teaching purposes.

Oxford is one of the oldest universities in Europe. It is the second largest in Britain, after London. The town of Oxford is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 911 A.D. and it was popular with the early English kings (Richard Coeur de Lion, or Lion Hearted was probably here). The university's earliest charter is dated back to 1213. There are now 24 colleges for men, five for women and another five which have both men and women members, many from overseas studying for higher degrees. Among the oldest colleges are University College (founded in 1249), All Souls (founded in 1438) and Christ Church (founded in 1525).

The Cambridge University started during the thirteenth century and grew until today. Now there are more than twenty colleges.

On the river bank of the Cam willow trees weep their branches into the water. The colleges line the right bank. There are beautiful college gardens with green lawns and lines of tall trees. The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284, and the most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King's College (founded in 1441) because of its magnificent chapel, the largest and the most beautiful building in Cambridge and the most perfect example left of English fifteenth-century architecture.

The University was only for men until 1871, when the first women's college was opened. In the 1970s, most colleges opened their doors to both men and women. Almost all colleges are now mixed.

Many great men studied at Cambridge, among them Desiderius Erasmus, the great Dutch scholar, Roger Bacon, the philosopher, Milton, the poet, Oliver Cromwell, the soldier, Newton, the scientist, and Kapitza, the famous Russian physicist.

The universities have over a hundred societies and clubs, enough for every interst one could imagine. Sport is part of students life at Oxbridge. The most popular sports are rowing and punting.

A Brief History of the Oxford University Oxford is a unique and historic institution. As the oldest English-speaking university in the world, it lays claim to eight centuries of continuous existence. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.

In 1188, the historian, Gerald of Wales, gave a public reading to the assembled Oxford dons and in 1190 the arrival of Emo of Friesland, the first known overseas student, initiated the University's tradition of international scholarship. By 1201, the University was headed by a magister scolarum Oxonie, on whom the title of Chancellor was conferred in 1214, and in 1231 the masters were recognized as a universitas or corporation.

In the 13th century, rioting between town and gown (students and townspeople) hastened the establishment of primitive halls of residence. These were succeeded by the first of Oxford's colleges, which began as medieval 'halls of residence' or endowed houses under the supervision of a Master. University, Balliol and Merton Colleges, established between 1249 and 1264, were the oldest.

Less than a century later, Oxford had achieved eminence above every other seat of learning, and won the praises of popes, kings and sages by virtue of its antiquity, curriculum, doctrine and privileges. In 1355, Edward III paid tribute to the University for its invaluable contribution to learning; he also commented on the services rendered to the state by distinguished Oxford graduates.

In 1530, Henry VIII forced the University to accept his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. During the Reformation in the 16th century, the Anglican churchmen Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley were tried for heresy¹ and burnt at the stake in Oxford.

In the late 17th century, the Oxford philosopher John Locke, suspected of treason, was forced to flee the country.

The University assumed a leading role in the Victorian era, especially in religious controversy. One of its leaders, John Henry Newman, became a Roman Catholic in 1845 and was later made a Cardinal. In 1860 the new University Museum was the site of a famous debate between Thomas Huxley, the champion of evolution, and Bishop Wilberforce.

From 1878, academic halls were established for women, who became members of the University in 1920. Since 1974, all but one of Oxford's 39 colleges have changed their statutes to admit both men and women. St Hilda's remains the only women's college.

In the years since the war, Oxford has added to its humanistic core a major new research capacity in the natural and applied sciences, including medicine. In so doing, it has enhanced and strengthened its traditional role as a focus for learning and a forum for intellectual debate.

Structure of the University Oxford is an independent and self-governing institution, consisting of the central University and the Colleges.

The Vice-Chancellor, who holds office for seven years, is effectively the 'Chief Executive' of the University. Three Pro-Vice-Chancellors have specific, functional responsibility for Academic Matters, Academic Services and University Collections, and Planning and Resource Allocation. The Chancellor, who is usually an eminent public figure elected for life, serves as the titular head of the University, presiding over all major ceremonies.

The principal policy-making body is the Council of the University, which has 26 members, including those elected by Congregation, representatives of the Colleges and two members from outside the University. Council is responsible for the academic policy and strategic direction of the University, and operates through four major committees: Educational Policy and Standards, General Purposes, Personnel, and Planning and Resource Allocation.

Final responsibility for legislative matters rests with Congregation, which comprises over 3600 members of the academic, senior research, library, museum and administrative staff.

Day-to-day decision-making in matters such as finance and planning is devolved to the University's five Academic Divisions - Humanities, Life and Environmental Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Medical Sciences and social sciences Each division has a full-time divisional head and an elected divisional board. Continuing Education is the responsibility of a separate board.

The Colleges, though independent and self-governing, form a core element of the University, to which they are related in a federal system, not unlike the United States. In time, each college is granted a charter approved by the Privy Council, under which it is governed by a Head of House and a Governing Body comprising of a number of Fellows, most of whom also hold University posts. There are also six Permanent Private Halls, which were founded by different Christian denominations, and which still retain their religious character. Thirty colleges and all six halls admit students for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Seven other colleges are for graduates only; one, All Souls, has fellows only, and one, Kellogg College, specialises in part-time graduate and continuing education.

Oxford's current academic community includes 78 Fellows of the Royal Society

and 112 Fellows of the British Academy. A further 100 Emeritus and Honorary College Fellows are Fellows of the Royal Society and 145 Emeritus and Honorary College Fellows are also Fellows of the British Academy.

Staff Oxford's current academic community includes 78 Fellows of the Royal Society and 112 Fellows of the British Academy. A further 100 Emeritus and Honorary College Fellows are Fellows of the Royal Society and 145 Emeritus and Honorary College Fellows are also Fellows of the British Academy.

The University of Oxford has more academic staff working in world-class research departments (rated 5* or 5 in the RAE 2001) than any other UK university.

Students The University of Oxford's total student population numbers just over 16,500 (students in residence, 2000-2001).

Almost a quarter of these students are from overseas.

More than 130 nationalities are represented among our student body.

Almost 5,000 students are engaged in postgraduate work. Of these, around 3,000 are working in the arts and humanities.

Every year more than 16,500 people take part in courses offered by the University's Department for Continuing Education.

Oxford has a higher number of first degree graduates (36%) entering further training than the national average (20%).

Students and staff are currently involved in over 55 initiatives, including visits to more than 3,700 schools and colleges, to encourage the brightest and best students to apply to Oxford, whatever their background.

The University of Oxford has more academic staff working in world-class research departments (rated 5* or 5 in the RAE 2001) than any other UK university.

Across both the Arts and the Sciences, Oxford research is consistently in the top rank both nationally and internationally. As well as being in the forefront of scientific, medical and technological achievement, the University has strong links with research institutions and industrial concerns both in the United Kingdom and overseas. The University's income from externally funded research grants and contracts in 2000-1 totalled over 142-4 million. The University's great age also allows its teaching staff and research students to draw on a heritage of magnificent library and museum collections.

In all these fields, Oxford attracts scholars from many parts of the world to join its teaching and research staff, and values also the important role of overseas graduate students (approximately one quarter of the total graduate body) in providing intellectual stimulation and creating and maintaining academic links with colleagues abroad. A hundred countries are at present represented in this way.

Graduate courses The University offers a wide range of taught graduate courses and research degrees, ranging from one to three or more years in length. While the Master of Studies (MSt) degree is awarded after examination at the end of three terms' work, three or more years are normally required to complete a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

For all diplomas and degrees, except the few offered as part-time courses, students must spend a period in residence - which means postgraduate students live in term time within 25 miles of Oxford. There are no external degrees and there are only a few part-time courses in specific subjects. The minimum period of residence for most diplomas or the degrees of MSc or MSt is three terms. The minimum period of residence for the degrees of MPhil (BPhil in Philosophy), MLitt, or DPhil is normally six terms.

The academic year runs from October to September and is divided into three terms, Michaelmas, Hilary, and Trinity, and three vacations. The dates of FullTerms, eight-week periods during which lectures and other instruction are given, are as follows for the next two years:

Academic year 2003-4 Academic year 2004-5

Michaelmas Term 12 Oct to 6 Dec 10 Oct to 4 Dec

Hilary Term 18 Jan to 13 Mar 16 Jan to 12 Mar

Trinity Term 25 Apr to 19 June 24 Apr to 18 June

The graduate, however, unlike the undergraduate, will normally be in residence for most of the year. In many departments formal lectures, seminars and classes for graduates continue into the vacations.

Life in Oxford; The city of Oxford Oxford lies about 57 miles (90km) north-west of London. A medium-sized city with a large student population, Oxford has a lively and cosmopolitan atmosphere, with excellent cultural, leisure, sport and retail amenities.

Oxford's historic architecture is well renowned. Amongst its beautiful buildings and modern facilities are parks, gardens and waterways. In addition to those offered by the University, the city of Oxford has its own cultural facilities, including the Museum of Oxford and the Museum of Modem Art. Drama productions are performed at, amongst others, the Oxford Playhouse, and the Apollo Theatre, and there are several cinemas. Sports fans enjoy county cricket in the University Parks and third-division football at Oxford United, as well as punting, swimming, and ice-skating in the city centre.

There is heavy traffic in Oxford, and much of the city centre is now closed to private traffic. Fortunately, most of the University area can be comfortably covered on foot or bicycle. Secondhand bicycles can be hired or bought and local bus services are excellent.

Oxford is also well served by national road and rail links. A direct 24-hour coach service connects the city with London, and with Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

The city and surrounding area are home to various industries including a growing number of high-technology companies in areas such as IT and biosciences, which have developed from University research or are attracted by the proximity of the University. Oxford is also a major tourist centre.

Sports The University provides a spring-board for sportsmen and women to achieve at county, national and international level, partly because of excellent sporting facilities at college and University level. The majority of colleges provide sports grounds, squash courts and boat houses on the river Isis for the annual inter-college rowing competition, 'Eights'.

The University provides generous sporting facilities in all areas including sports not normally available at college level, such as volleyball, athletics, fencing and judo. Many of these facilities are located at the Iffley Road Sports Complex, which also boasts a modern multi-gym, an all-weather track, and a newly-opened artificial hockey pitch. Association football, lawn tennis and rugby are also catered for at this site, along with a rowing tank and gymnasium. A 25-metre swimming pool should be completed soon.

Sources of Knowledge Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library is the principal library of the University, taking its name from Sir Thomas Bodley who refounded it on the site of an earlier library. It was opened in 1602 and has an unbroken history from that time. When publishing and copyright became subject to statute the Bodleian became, and remains, one of the libraries of legal deposit. Material published elsewhere than in Great Britain and Ireland is extensively acquired, mainly by purchase.

Reading rooms on the central site contain on open access selected material on English language and literature, history, theology, classics, bibliography, education, music, geography, philosophy, politics and economics, management studies, Latin American studies and Slavonic and East European studies. Western manuscripts and early printed books are normally consulted in Duke Humfrey's Library within the Old Library, and the Modern Papers reading room in the New Library. Oriental books and manuscripts are consulted in the Oriental Reading Room.

Books on science and medicine, law, South Asian studies, Japanese studies, the Middle East and China (teaching and loan collection) and Eastern Art, and American and Commonwealth history, are kept in other libraries within the group, described separately below.

Students formally registered with the University are entitled to readership upon complying with certain formalities; arrangements will be made through their colleges. The central Bodleian is not a lending library, nor are readers in general admitted to the bookstacks. There are facilities for reading microform material, and photographic and photocopying services. Readers may use their own laptop computers.

Oxford is the UK pioneer in developing a university intellectual property policy.

As one of the leading international universities, Oxford attracts scholars from all over the world to join its teaching and research staff and collaborates with institutions in around 80 countries. This includes good relationships with the Far East (including China), India, South Africa, the USA and Latin America. Over 130 nationalities are represented among our student body and almost a quarter of our students are from overseas.

The University has a small number of formal academic and research collaborative agreements with international universities (currently with Jagiellonian University, Krakow; Kyoto University; Leiden University; Tokyo University; Seoul National University; National Taiwan University; Australian National University and Peking University). In addition, Oxford and Princeton University recently announced a major collaboration to create new research partnerships, increase staff and student exchanges, and provide opportunities to share resources for cutting- edge academic ventures.

Oxford also has links with many European universities through SOCRATES (ERASMUS) exchange programmes; membership of the Coimbra Group of European universities;

membership of the Europaeum, a group of leading universities promoting staff and student exchange, joint research, and conferences and summer schools in European Studies.

International Scholarships

A range of scholarships offer support for international students, including specific schemes for Western Europe, Central/Eastern Europe, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Pakistan, the countries of the Arab League, and developing countries.