Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scot's

• Elizabeth heard that she was to become queen on November 17, 1558.
• Elizabeth was molested by her guardian's husband, Thomas Seymour when she was only 14.  
• After her guardian's death, Seymour wanted to marry her and it was rumored that she was pregnant with his child.  
• When her Catholic half-sister, Mary, took the throne Elizabeth did not want her to be queen. 
• Elizabeth plotted to get Mary out of power, but the plan backfired and Elizabeth was sent to the tower. 
• She talked her way out of being held captive, but she was kept under close watch. 
• When Mary died childless, Elizabeth took the throne. 
• People said that she seemed full of "manly authority."
• Elizabeth did everything that woman weren't supposed to do.  She looked men in the eye and spoke out of turn. 
• Elizabeth had a tutor who taught her the art of rhetoric and public speech. 
• William Sessel constantly had to remind her that the people needed her to have a husband. 
• In the 16th century it was thought that prolonged virginity would bring about "green sickness"
• Robert Dudley was believed to be Elizabeth's true love.  
• Dudley was extremely good looking, which was important to Elizabeth, and they were very similar.
• Dudley's wife was found at the bottom of a staircase with a broken neck.  It was an accident that seemed to be too coincidental to be an accident. 
• People believed that Dudley had pushed his wife down the stairs. 
• Elizabeth sent him away to avoid the questions from people, but it changed something in their relationship. 
• Elizabeth used Dudley in politics, but she never married him. 
• Elizabeth decided to have Dudley marry her cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. 
• Mary Stewart is called Mary I just like Elizabeth's dead half-sister.  
• Mary Queen of Scots was beautiful, while her cousin was not.  
• To Elizabeth Mary was a menace. 
• Mary was a Catholic and as a Catholic she did not recognize Elizabeth as being Queen of England. 
• Elizabeth was rude and mean to Mary.  
• Things could've been better for them if Mary could have accepted Robert Dudley as a husband, but Mary did not want to be told what to do. 
• Mary married Henry Stuart instead
• This was a mistake because he was a drunk and could not help Mary with even the smallest tasks. 
• In 1566 a group of 
• They stabbed 
• Then they turned the pistol on Mary who was pregnant with child. 
• Mary was strangely calm.  
• She knew that she had her strongest weapon inside her womb.
• On June 19, 1566, Mary had a son named James. 
• On March 9, 1567 the house where Darnly was asleep was blown up.  Darnly tried to escape, but he ran right to the plotters and was murdered. 
• He knew she needed a husband and he offered himself up. 
• Bothwell abducted Mary and took her to his castle. 
• Mary married Bothwell.  
• Mary let herself be turned into a "whore."
• On the verge of battle Mary was left by herself because her husband went off to "collect reinforcement."
• She was accused of being a "mermaid," another word for prostitute. 
• Married was forced to renounce her throne and give it up to her baby son.  
• She was 25 years old. 
• Mary crossed over to England, expecting to only stay a year at the most. 
• She ended up staying for 19 years. 
• Elizabeth was angry that Mary was now on English soil. 
• The first thing that Elizabeth did was to order an inquiry into the murder of Mary's husband. 
• This turned into a trial. 
• Mary was treated as a prisoner.  Elizabeth had to keep Mary far away from the coast, Scotland, and London so that she could not be rescued. 
• A certain group of political nobles that were close to Elizabeth's government wanted to have Mary as their king. 
• Elizabeth planned to have Mary's marriage to Bothwell annulled and to have her be married her to Thomas Norfolk.  
• Norfolk had a plot against Elizabeth though and as soon as she heard of this she had him sent to the Tower. 
• The religious war was still going on. Catholics in the north were rebelling. 
• 12,000 troops were mustered to crush the rebellion of the Catholics.  
• Mary was accused of plotting against Elizabeth and ultimately executed.  

The Burning Times and The Reformation

• The Tudor Rose 
• Union between York and Lancaster
• Henry VIII wanted to get divorced. The Vatican said "No." Henry VIII says "Fine then. I'll split the Church of England from the Catholic Church."
• What winds up happening is that there are years of bloody conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.  

The Burning Times:

• Anne Boleyn returned to England at age 22 as a sophisticated woman.  
• She was not considered to be very beautiful.  She was average.  
• She was extremely charming though.  
• Henry VIII had to work hard to get Anne.  He wrote many letters in his attempt to woe her.  
• She was young, vibrant, and she gave Henry the opportunity of having a son.  
• Henry was estranged from his wife Catherine.  She could not give him what he really wanted; a son. 
• Henry wanted a son so that he could pass on his family name.  
• However, Catherine did produce a daughter named Mary. 
• Anne would not be his mistress, so Henry tried to divorce Catherine. 
• Thomas Wolsey
• He was the Archbishop in England. 
• He could not get the Pope to give Henry a divorce and this angered Henry. 
• He got rid of Thomas Wolsey.  
• Wolsey was convicted of high treason and he died within a year.  
• The Vatican would not allow an annulment of the marriage.  
• Anne gave Henry documents from the early church that said that there was royal supremacy.  
• Henry's ego began to grow.  
• The word "imperial" started to be used a lot.  
• Henry was compared with Caesar. 
• He was very similar to him.  
• He built 50 grand palaces and had many servants and other workers. 
• The Church found itself on the wrong side of a nasty argument. 
• Henry married Anne in secret. 
• In 1532 there was a submission of the Clergy.  From now on the laws of the Church would be governed by the will of the king.  This document made it so that the King of England was the ruler of the Church of England instead of the pope.
• The Protestant Church of German had not yet influenced Henry.  
• Henry made it so that divorce be allowed.  
• Anne was soon crowned queen and she became pregnant.
• Henry gives Catherine the title of Princess Dowager and sent her off to a castle somewhere.  
• Princess Mary was bastardized.  
• The English Church separated from the Church.  
• This was a reformation of sorts, but no real documents or traditions of the church changed.  
• Things might have remained the same, but they didn't.  

The Reformation

• Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer were the two people that started the reformation.  
• Without either the reformation would not have happened or would have been different. 
• Cromwell was chief minister. He solidified Henry's rule. 
• He made it so that if someone said something against the Church of England it would be considered treason.
• For the first time in English law it was a crime to say anything against the royal family. 
• Cromwell and his men enjoyed their work of disciplining people that spoke against the Church too much.  
• Many innocent men and women were executed. 
• Anne's first child was a girl named Elizabeth.  
• Soon after this Catherine of Aragon dies. 
• Cromwell realizes that if anything would happen to Henry the Kingdom would go to his first born daughter, Mary.  
• 15 months after the birth of her daughter, Anne was pregnant again. On the 29th of January Anne miscarried. Had the baby lived, it would've been a boy.  
• Cromwell is scared that Anne Boleyn will not leave Henry a male heir.  He decides that she must be executed.  
• The price of peace would be to re-legitimize Mary. 
• Anne was accused of being an adulteress and witchcraft. 
• Cromwell said Anne had had sex with many of the people who served the king, were friends with the king, and even her own brother. 
• All of Anne's so called lovers were also executed. 
• Anne was extremely brave. She was executed by having her head chopped off. 
• Henry married again.  Her name was Jane Seymour.  
• She gave Henry a son, named Edward, but she died 12 days after his birth.
• A law was made so that only noblemen and priests could read the English Bible. 
• In 1540 Cromwell had fallen.  He was executed after his schemes for an alliance with a Lutheran princess fell through. 
• To the dismay of the reformers, the pure Catholic beliefs, were Henry's too. 
• Henry re-legitimizes both Mary and Elizabeth. 
• Henry died in the 1540's.  
• Edward (VI), the heir apparent, and his half sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, would have differences on religion. 
• the 9 year old boy king was led by Thomas Cranmer.
• This was the start of the real Reformation. 
• All the customs and ceremonies of the old church were banned.  The cults of saints were forbidden.  Images, statues, stained glass, and paintings were attacked with chisels and lime wash. 
• In 1550, the priests invited the people to partake in communion for the first time.  
• This radical transformation would not have been possible without Edward VI. 
• Edward's views differed from Mary's. Mary was Catholic. 
• She ignored all of Edward's bans on Catholicism.  
• Catherine of Aragon was Catholic so Mary was raised Catholic.
• Mary was also raised outside of England.  She grew up in France. 
• Within English society she was also an outcast. 
• Anne Boleyn was Protestant so Elizabeth was raised Protestant.  
• Mary waited for Edward to die childless so that she could take over. 
• Edward died in 1553. 
• Mary I then took the throne.  
• She wanted to turn England back to the Catholic Church.  
• She countered all of Edward's policies. 
• She goes out of her way to say to the people of England, "either you return to the fold, or die."
• Religious wars broke out all over England. 
• Mary leads a bitter campaign against what she considers to be heretics. 
• She restored churches and went back to the Vatican.  
• Mary needed to have an heir to keep Catholicism in England.
• She married Phillip from Spain.  
• Mary tried to undo Edward's Reformation as much as she could.
• 260 men and 60 women were burned on Mary's bonfires. 
• Mary I is known as "Bloody Mary."
• There was an immense amount of public support for Elizabeth. 
• Mary I died childless though, so Elizabeth then took the throne. 
• Mary died from a disease.  She was NOT executed. 
• Elizabeth reinstates the ways of her father and half-brother. 
• Elizabeth had a sister named Mary, who will come into play later on.  
• Protestantism and patriotism was one in the same. 
• Being Protestant was a way of England. 
• Catholics now had to choose between their Church or their queen. 
• There was also conflict between Spain and England now.  
• Catholicism - What was once the national church would become a faith on the run.
• Once the troubles with the Spanish are done, Elizabeth's reign is known for it's peace and prosperity, a rise in the sense of Englishness, and an increase in the arts. 
• Catholicism will not have a strong hold during this time. 
• Shakespeare lived during this time. 
• A "wall" is formed between Protestant England and Catholic France and Spain. 

Part III: The Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor

After many years of fighting
Between the Lancastrians and the Yorks
There came a day,
A fateful day,
Where things would finally end. [1]

The Battle of Bosworth Field was this day.
Where I, Henry Tudor, with my army of 5,000 men
Came to meet King Richard III.
We were vastly outnumbered, 10,000 to 5,000,
But we would never give up.

King Richard was an evil man.
He was not fit to be king.
He was evil in his ways,
Sly, two-faced, and mean.
It was I who needed to take him down.

I would be a good king
Kind, loving, and fair.
Unlike King Richard,
I would bring my people harmony,
Instead of torment and despair. [2]

So I brought my army of 5,000 men.
We were ready for a fight.
We knew we might have to give up our life
But we were ready to make that sacrifice
For our country and it's people.

We came to the bottom of the hill
And what a sight did we see
Above us stood the Kings army
An imposing group of men.
But we would not lose hope.

We moved forward up the hill
Rushing to attack our foes
Showers of arrows and canons came flying down
But we pressed onward anyway
The battle had begun. [3]

It was a bloody battle
With slaying and slicing all around
My men faired well against the mighty king
We only lost a hundred
While we killed 1,000.

King Richard joined the battle
He came down with a vengeance
Ready to attack
But we would not let him in
Near enough to penetrate our camp.[4]

Richard was slain at Sandeford
His head chopped off his neck.
Without their leader the King's army was a wreck.
They could not fight us back.
Finally the battle had come to an end [5]

I was the champion,
The victor, conquerer, and vanquisher.
I had won the battle, that I should've lost.
My foe was now deceased.
I would be the King of England.


[1] Region, By. "Book 1, Ch. 7 - Henry VII and Henry VIII | British History Online." British History Online. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46724&strquery=Battle of Bosworth#s2>.

[2] "Richard III Society- Bosworth Sources, Foreign." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/chron3.html>.

[3] "Richard III Society-Bosworth, Independent English Reporters." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/chron2.html>.

[4] "Richard III Society- The Ballad of Bosworth Field." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/ballad.html>

[5] "Richard III Society-Bosworth, Government Sources and Common Intelligence." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/chron1.html>.

Part III: The Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III

Long before this great battle
A war had already been started
Between two houses of royal England
The Yorks and Lancastrians.

It all began when Henry Bolingbroke,
Angry with Richard's political ways
Did what he thought was just
And deposed of King Richard II.

After many years of fighting
Over to whom the throne rightly belonged,
There came a day, a turning point
In the Wars of the Roses. [1]

August 22, 1485,
A day that changed history.
On this day the Lancastrian and Yorkist blood was shed
At the Battle of Bosworth Field.

I, the noble King Richard came to fight,
With my army of 10,000 men,
Sir Tudor and his lads as well,
Of only 5,000 strong. [2]

I being experienced and wise,
Came to the battle with a plan.
I took to the hilltop with my men,
So that I could see all the land.

Henry Tudor on the other hand
Was new to this game.
He was vastly outnumbered
And his army was quite amateur. [3]

Henry's army made the first move
Advancing toward the hill
Upon which my huge army stood
Looking down, casually at that teeny army.

But to my surprise they put up a great fight.
Each side fought viciously,
Wanting to win with all their might.
We stabbed and sliced, with delight. [4]

In mid fight
I did fall
Never giving up
And fighting valiantly until the end.

Henry Tudor and his army prevailed;
Winning the battle
Taking the throne and
Changing the course of history.

But even then,
My Yorks did fight hard.
Always staying true and loyal
To me, their fallen king. [5]

I did my best
To remain as King of England,
But in the end my efforts were not enough.
I lost my precious title and even more, my life.

[1] Region, By. "Book 1, Ch. 7 - Henry VII and Henry VIII | British History Online." British History Online. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46724&strquery=Battle of Bosworth#s2>.

[2] "Richard III Society- Bosworth Sources, Foreign." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/chron3.html>

[3] "Richard III Society- The Ballad of Bosworth Field." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/ballad.html>

[4] "The Battle of Bosworth." The Wars of the Roses. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.wars-of-the-roses.com/content/battles/bosworth_field.htm>.

.
[5] "Richard III Society-Bosworth, Independent English Reporters." Richard III Society - American Branch. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.r3.org/bosworth/chron2.html>.

Part II

Why did Shakespeare portray Richard III the way he did?

Shakespeare was a Lancastrian, while Richard was a Yorkist.  These two branches of the Royal House of Plantagenet were at odds with each other.  Shakespeare did not like the Yorkists so naturually he did not like Richard III.  This is why he portrayed him in the way that he did. He wanted to make Richard out to be deformed and villainous. 


Answer the following: With regard to the history of Richard III, what is meant in distinction between "Traditionalist" or "Revisionist" source? What is meant between "Lancastrian" and "Ricardian"?


Traditionalists do not like change.  They like to keep things the way they are and follow traditions.  They follow the rules and do exactly what they are told.  A revisionist is someone who does not "follow the crowd."  They stay true to their own beliefs and are not afraid to speak up or defend themselves.  


A Lancastrian is someone of the House of Lancaster.  A Ricardian is someone who wants to change the bad image that Richard III has been given by writers and historians.  Ricardians are fans of Richard III who was a Yorkist, so essentially they are also Yorkists.  The Lancastrians and Yorkists were at odds with each other ever since the beginning of the Wars of the Roses.  They fought over which house would take the throne after King Henry VI died.  The Yorkists won, leaving the Lancastrians bitter. 


Sources:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditionalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardian_(Richard_III)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancastrians




Lancastrian vs. Ricardian


Polydore Virgill: 


Virgill writes about Richard III in a Lancastrian point of view.  When talking about how Richard locks his nephews in the Tower of London Virgill says, "And so was thinnocent chyld pullyd owt of his mothers armes. Richard having by this meane obtaynyd almost his hartes desire, convaighed his nephewys from the bysshop of Londons howse unto the Towr." Virgill uses phrases like, "thinnocent chyld pullyd owt of his mothers armes," which makes the reader feel sympathetic towards the children and view Richard as being evil.  Virgill also says, "And this way his dryft, that, whyle stayng and tarying made the people desyrus of this solemne sight, he, by consultinge from poynt to poynt, might sound and serche out how the nobylytie was affected, saying alway that he did not seke the soveraigntie, but referryd all his dooings to the profyt of the realme. Thus covering and cloking certane days his desire, under the colour and pretence of common welthe, he so enveglyd the myndes of the nobilitye..." meaning that Richard tried to cover up what he was doing, by saying that it was all for the good of the Kingdom.  He is basically saying that Richard was a liar and that he was sneaky.  


Horace Warpole:


Warpole speaks from a more Ricardian point of view.  He talks about Richard's appearances.  He does not believe that Richard was deformed and ugly as many famous historians and writers have said he was.  Warpole uses an example of the countess of Desmond.  Warpole says, "The old countess of Desmond, who had danced with Richard, declared he was the handsomest man in the room except his brother Edward, and was very well made."  Warpole also says, "The truth I take to have been this. Richard, who was slender and not tall, had one shoulder a little higher than the other: a defect, by the magnifying glasses of party, by distance of time, and by the amplification of tradition, easily swelled to shocking deformity; for falsehood itself generally pays so much respect to truth as to make it the basis of its superstructure."  He says that Richard's looks have been over exaggerated.  He has been made out to be a "monster" and to have had a huge hump-back and deformities, when it really was not that bad.  

Thomas Wolsey, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine of Aragon Biographies

Thomas Wolsey

Thomas Wolsey

Thomas Wolsey was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a political figure in England during the late 1400's and early 1500's.  Wolsey became Henry VII's almoner. An almoner is a church officer who was in charge of distributing alms to the poor.  His power continued to grow and by 1514 he was in charge of almost all the matters of the state. He was extremely powerful within the Church.  His highest political position was as Lord Chancellor, the King's chief advisor.  In the Church he became Archbishop of York and he was made a cardinal in 1515.  

Wolsey was close with the King until he could not get the Vatican to allow Henry to divorce Katherine.  Wolsey didn't agree with Protestantism and he did not want it in England.  In a letter from Anne Boleyn to Wolsey, Anne says, "I cannot comprehend, and the king still less, how your reverent lordship, after having allured us by so many fine promises about divorce, can have repented of your purpose, and how you could have done what you have, in order to hinder the consummation of it."  From that point on Wolsey was not on good terms with the King.  In 1529, Wolsey's government position and property were taken from him.  At Cawood, he was accused of treason and ordered to go to London.  On the way there he fell ill and died on Novemeber 29, 1530. 

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wolsey
http://englishhistory.net/tudor/letter8.html

Image from:

http://www.nndb.com/people/585/000094303/thomas-wolsey-1-sized.jpg

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533-1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII. She was a key figure in the English Reformation. Anne started out as the maid of honor for Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Henry began to pursue Ann in 1525, and he wanted to annul his marriage to his wife Catherine so that he could marry Anne. The Vatican would not allow Henry to annul his marriage to Catherine; this began the breaking down of the power of the Catholic Church in England. Anne gave Henry documents from the early Church that said that the king had royal supremacy. This is what started the English Reformation, because Henry decided that he would split away from the Catholic Church in order to divorce Catherine and marry Anne, which is what he ended up doing.

http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/boleyn.html#Biography
http://englishhistory.net/tudor/ab-percy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Boleyn

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon was born in 1485 in Spain. She later moved to England and married Arthur, Prince of Wales. After he died of sickness, Catherine then married his brother, Henry VIII, who would become King of England, with Catherine as his queen. From the years 1509 - 1533, she ruled the land beside Henry. Through the years, Catherine became pregnant a total of six times, but only one girl, Mary, survived past infancy. When Catherine became to old to bear any more children, Henry divorced her for Anne Boleyn, a much younger woman with whom he was smitten, in 1533 (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cramner-hen8.html). Three years later, Catherine of Aragon died on January 7 in Kimbolton Castle, after writing a letter to the ex-husband whom she still loved (http://englishhistory.net/tudor/letter5.html).

"Catherine of Aragon." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon>.

Part 1

King Henry V
(1387-1422)
Henry V was crowned king in 1413.  He invaded France three times; 1415, 1417-1421, and 1422.  The highlight of his reign was the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415.  Henry defeated the French army even though he was vastly outnumbered.

King Henry VI
(1421-1471)
He was crowned king of England and France when he was only a baby.  Henry fought with Richard over who would rule England, starting the Wars of the Roses.  In 1460 he was forced to acknowledge Richard as ruler and in 1461 he lost the throne to Richard's son Edward IV.  He was captured by Edward and exiled to the Tower of London where he was murdered on May 21, 1471.

King Edward IV
(1442-1483)
Edward defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimor's Cross in 1461.  He became king after this victory.  Edward defeated the Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.  He had Henry VI executed in 1471 as well.

King Edward V
(1470-1483)
Edward was supposed to be crowned king on May 4, 1483, but his uncle, Richard III, stopped him on his way to it.  He kept Edward V in the Tower of London and brought Edward's brother, Richard, there too. Both boys were murdered sometime during that year.

King Richard III
(1452-1485)
Richard III was the younger brother of Edward IV.  When Edward IV died in 1483, he became the guardian of his brother's sons and had them murdered in the tower of London in 1483.  Richard III was crowned king that year. Richard was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 by Henry VII.

King Henry VII
(1457-1509)
Henry VII was crowned in 1485.  He was the first ruler from the Tudor line. In August of 1485, Henry defeated the Yorkist army and killed Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field.  Henry built Richmond Palace and rebuilt the Chapel of Westminister Abbey.


Source:

"Wars of the Roses: Royalty."WarsOfTheRoses.com - Wars of the Roses. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2010. <http://www.warsoftheroses.com/

Shakespeare's Richard III

• King Edward was sick and so was his kingdom.  
• Everyone hated each other. 
• His brother wanted to become king. 
• Richard III was two faced. He deceived many people around him.   
• He wanted the throne and he came up with a plan to get the throne.   
• Shakespeare writes Richard III as being deformed.  In Lancastian literature they say he was deformed as well. 
• He wants to marry Ann.  He woes her by telling her that he killed Henry because he wanted her because of her beauty.  
• Richard locked his own brother in the tower.  He had him murdered.  
• Richard brings the Prince of York to the castle and locks him and his brother in the tower. 
• With the two princes locked up in the tower his way to the throne was clear. 

9/20/10 - Richard III and the Wars of the Roses

• Richard III becomes King. There is much deceit and manipulation of political events. 
• Henry Tudor attempts to take over the kingship. 
• Background: 
• Richard II had stepped down.  He was replaced by Henry IV.
• Henry IV's heir was Henry V. 
• Henry V dies unexpectedly and his son Henry VI takes over.  
• Henry VI was a weak king because he was only a young boy.  
• They develop a group of people around him to vie for the throne.  
• It unleashes a war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. 
• Wars of the Roses: 
• There was something at stake even though the fighting seemed very immature: the need to take the English monarchy back to what it was before. 
• The Wars of the Roses were making England a bad place to make and keep small fortunes. 
• Paston family
• Peasants that were able to climb the social ladder because of the Black Death.
• They became wealthy and noble in 2 generations. 
• As they became influential and rich, they were attracting enemies. 
• The Duke of Norfolk wanted to take their castle. 
• The Pastons had no choice, but to surrender their castle. 
• It took a seven year legal battle for the Pastons to get their house back. 
• People like the Pastons had been at the bottom and they knew that they could get through anything thrown at them. 
• There was a great disconnect between the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the people working for them.  
• The ultimate result of the Wars of the Roses was the rise of the Tudor family.  
• It gives us the England that we recognize from the Renaissance. 
• Rise of extremely strong monarchs.  
• Coupling of religion and nationalism
• Caused religious conflicts. 

• Catholic England
• For generations, Catholic England was just another way of saying Christian England. 
• What happened to Catholic England?
• From Henry VIII on, England is mainly an Anglican and Protestant country. 
• There have been generations of warfare, burning, and conflict between Protestants and Catholics. 
• The concept today of a "Catholic" England, would not really make sense to an English person. 
• From the eve of the Reformation, Catholicism was very popular in England.  
• The Tudors were regularly and devote Pilgrims.
• William Tindale was the first to take on the task of translating and printing an English translation of the New Testament. 
• In 1524, Tindale fled London for mainland Europe. 
• His English New Testament was completed by January 1526.  
• In weeks, copies were on sale in England. 
• Book burnings, arrests, denunciations, etc, went on.  
• One man was convicted of smuggling a New Testament.  He was burned. 
• In 1530 there was no reason to think that anything would ever change.  
• Henry without really meaning to, turned England into a Protestant nation. 
• For start, he was never supposed to be king, but when his older brother died he becomes heir apparent he acquires his brothers wife, Katherine of Eragon, Princess of Spain. 
• It was a political marriage. They wanted an alliance between England and Spain so that they could control areas around France. 
• Henry was 17 when his father died and he became king.
• Starts the Reformation by divorcing his wife. 

The fall of Richard III represents the end of the Plantagent line. 
It is replaced by the Tudor line, which will continue up until the beginning of the 17th century. 

DBQ #2: What do primary sources during and after the plague suggest about the direct effect of the Black Death on European society?

The Black Plague caused a great shortage of labor, which allowed workmen to be able to control wages, changing the order of society, but the Ordinance of Laborers was created to control this; there was also an uprising by the peasants in France called "Jacques," who were angry at they're rulers for not protecting them, so they rebelled, killing many of the elite in France; and the Jews, who have always been persecuted throughout history, were again persecuted by being blamed for the Black Plague.

The Ordinance of Laborers was issued in 1349 by King Edward III. Before the law was made workers were exploiting the situation that the landowners were in. The Black Plauge had killed millions of workers causing a shortage in labor. The surviving workers were wanted by landowners to work their fields so that the land wouldn't go to waste. It was the law of supply and demand. There was a limited supply of workers, but there was a high demand for them. So naturally the wages of workers rose. This raise in wages caused goods to be more expensive to produce. The King came up with the Ordinance of Laborers to control this. The document said that "every man and woman of our realm of England....within the age of threescore years, not living in merchandise, nor exercising any craft, nor having of his own whereof he may live, nor proper land, about whose tillage he may himself occupy, and not serving any other, if he in convenient service, his estate considered, be required to serve." This basically says that everyone under 60 years old has to work. It also said "...take only the wages, livery, meed, or salary, which were accustomed to be given in the places where he oweth to serve, the twentieth year of our reign of England, or five or six other commone years next before." This says that the workers can only receive wages that are higher than what they were before the plague. The ordinance also required that; food may not be over priced and that employers may not hire more workers than they needed, among a few other things. The Ordinance of Laborers is a valid source of information. It was a document of laws from 1349 made by the King of England himself. The Black Plague changed the economic structure of England.

The Jacquerie was a great rebellion by the Jacques. They set out to kill rich nobles, knights, and squires because they felt that they were not doing their job. They were angry with the rulers of their country. The Jacques did terribly gruesome things to the elite. They burnt down their houses and castles. They would rape the women multiple times before killing them. They would kill whole families; men, women, and children. They killed the person in torturous and disgusting ways and before the person's family members. In the article Jean Froissart: on the Jacquerie, 1358, it says, "...they slew a knight and after did put him on a broach and roasted him at the fire in the sight of the lady his wife and his children; and after the lady had been enforced and ravished with a ten or twelve, they made her perforce to eat of her husband and after made her to die an evil death and all her children." The Jacques killed a knight and roasted his body over a fire in front of his wife and children. They then raped the wife ten or twelve times and then forced her to eat her husband before killing her and all of her children. These happenings were absolutely awful. The Jacques were crazy with anger. France was in a state of anarchy. In order to regain control leaders would have to give the Jacques what they wanted changing the workings of society.The article by Jean Froissart is a reliable source. It is his account of what he witnessed of the Jacquerie.

People were extremely afraid of the Black Plague. They did not know how it came to be or how to stop it. They blamed it on the Jews, saying that the Jews had poisoned wells and other water sources. Jews confessed to this accusation in order to escape being tortured. This added to the hatred of Jews throughout history. Several towns and cities, including Berne, Zofingen, Freiburg, and Basel, banished Jews or burnt them. In Strasbourg the town-council did not want to harm the Jews. They were kicked out of office though and a new town-council was formed. The new council gave in to the mob and had the Jews burnt. They also said that the Jews were not allowed to come back for 200 years. The article, "Jewish History Sourcebook: The Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349 CE" describes the burning of the Jews. It says, "On Saturday - that was St. Valentine's Day-they burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. There were about two thousand people of them. Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared. [Some say that about a thousand accepted baptism.] Many small children were taken out of the fire and baptized against the will of their fathers and mothers. And everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled, and the Jews had to surrender all pledges and notes that they had taken for debts." It was another truly awful and unjust event that happened during the Black Plague. Blaming the Jews for the Black Plague was just another thing that built up more prejudice against the Jews that would come out at later points in history.

Richard II 9/17/10

• The Boy King
• Richard II was king only by name, but his uncle John had actual power. 
• He was too young to really rule the kingdom. 
• He was only 10. 
• Peasants Revolt
• The people who started it weren't really peasants at all.  They were actually the village elite. 
• They were the ones who had something to lose. 
• Peasants were going to create an army in order to gain higher wages.  
• It was a class war. 
• There was a huge rebellion. 
• They marched. 
• On June 12, 1381, an army of 10,000 strong was camped on a hill that overlooked the city of London. 
• They were going to destroy anything of the rich and wealthy. 
• Prisons were broken open, churches looted, and palaces destroyed. 
• They decapitated people on the streets. 
• On the 13 of June the young king looked out at London from a tower. He saw the city of London being destroyed. 
• Richard was very brave. 
• Before meeting with the rebels, he prayed at the shrine of Edward. 
• He went to Smith Field to meet with the rebels. 
• The rebels wanted a new Magna Carta. 
• A young man in Richards army called Tyler a theif.  
• A fight broke out.  
• They killed Tyler, but they made sure that the rebel camp could not see what was going on.  
• Richard rode to the rebels saying, "You shall have no captain, but me."
• To the rebels, the words meant that Richard was now their leader, which was what they always wanted.  That is not necessarily what it meant. 
• A week after this, another group of rebels met with Richard. They found a very different king. He told them that they did not deserve to be equal to lords and that they would now be treated worse.  They had to decide to either fight or agree.  They decided to surrender to the king.
• Richard was subject to mood swings at time of crisis.
• He was 6' tall with long flowing blonde hair.  Instead of cheating on his wife, he remained loyal to him.  Richard did not build fortresses or fight bloody battles. He was very different from the other Plantagenet kings before him.
• Richard made it know that he liked to be addressed as "Majesty" and "Highness." 
• He was more refined and he liked being at a level far above everyone else. 
• The Barrons saw that Richard had lost touch with what the country wanted and was only thinking of himself. 
• He held his peace for nearly 10 years, but when his queen died he decided to get revenge.  He brutally disposed of the ringleaders of the parliament. 
• Richard even had his own uncle murdered. 
• Richard discovered that people were frightened of him and he liked it. 
• He would dispose of anyone that he thought was not loyal to him. 
• He remained very insecure though. 
• When John of Gordon finally died, Richard increased a duke's punishment to banishment for life. 
• Richard went on to try to take Ireland.  He did not leave enough troops at home there. 
• Bollingbrook brought an army to England and some of Richard's most trusted supporters switched to the other side. 
• It took a month of painful negotiations to get Richard, who was now a prisoner, to finally give up the throne. 
• Henry Bollingbrook became King Henry IV. 

The Hundred Years War

• The war started in 1337
• In 1204 King John signed away the English claim to lands in Normandy and Anjou. 
• Henry III signed the Treaty of Paris, giving all of Northern France away to the French in 1259. 
• The English did not give up Gascony though. 
• It was fought over by the English dukes and monarchs constantly
• England could not respond to what was happening there because of fighting with the Scots. 
• France allied itself with the Scots to destabilize England. 
• Edward I was fighting the Scots, but then decided to challenge King Phillips right to the throne in France.  
• Edward declares himself king of France. 
• Edward III and the Black Prince
• Edward III sees that many of the Fre
  nch princes are dissatisfied with the monarchy at home so he lures them into his alliance.
  There were raids back and forth between England and France at this time.
  Edward III stroke a major victory at the city of Crécy, in 1346 followed by the successful siege of the city of Calais.
• Edward's heir becomes known as the Black Prince.
• He was fighting in Bordeaux 
• He captured the heir to the French throne
• He makes an attempt at taking Rheims, but they hold fast and they do not let the English
  penetrate the city.
• There is a treaty for the Hundred Years War called the Treat of Bretigny. . It said that the French should pay the British and for that Edward will step down from his claim to the French
  throne.
• By 1375, the French have a new king, Charles V. He and his great constable, Bertrand du Guesclin, succeeded in wresting from the English the greater part of the principality of Aquitaine.
• But Charles V dies only 11 or so years into this. 
• Richard II is the new king
• He nearly gained a permanent peace with France. 
• However, he winds up losing the kingship. 
• The rising aristocracies in both England and France look like they're going to plunge the countries into even deeper war. 
• In 1413, Henry V takes the British back into France for the purpose of ending the war. 
• Henry V meets the French at Agincourt in Picardy on October 25, 1415.
• The English army is vastly outnumbered by the French. 
• Henry V gave a famous speech to his troops before fighting the French. 
• They defeat the French. It is one of the greatest victories in English history. 
• The battle of Agincourt does not completely end the 100 Years War, but it does greatly improve the moral of the English. 
• It is seen as the turning point of the war. 
• After the battle the French lose multiple cities to the English. 
• Henry VI dies and his uncle, the Duke of Bedford, takes up the leadership of the English in France.
• The plan was to go into the Loire valley and battle.
• There was an alliance between the French and the Scots. 
• John Duke of Bedford defeated the horses at the Battle Verneuil in August 1424. 
• The English Troops besieged the town or Orleans in 1428. 
• It looked like they would be able to starve out the French army in the city. 
• The English would surround the town and burn the crops so that the people would not have any food.
• Joan of Arc had voices in her head that told her to lead the troops against the English.  
• She convinces the French to take on the English in the Loire Valley. 
• She was a woman that a lot of people thought God was speaking through. 
• She was only 17 or 18 years old at this time. It is said that she had a lot of charisma, so even though she was a woman they let her lead the troops. 
• Ultimately, she was captured by the English 
• She was put on trial and then burned at the stake. 
• The end of the war
• The French take the Loire Valley back thanks to Joan of Arc. 
• The Treaty of Tours
• Henry VI of England and the French princess Margaret of Anjou were supposed to get married as part of the truce. 
• in 1449, an English force sacked and looted Fougeres in Brittany. 
• Charles VII declared himself no longer bound by the terms of the truce. 
• His forces overran Normandy during 1449-1450. 
• IN 1451 he repeated this success in Gascony.  
• on July 17, 1453, his army was defeated at Castillon and Talbot was killed. 
• Result of the war: 
• Nationalism developed during the Hundred Years War.  
• No longer were people defined by their village or town.  They were now defined by their king or queen and their country. 
• This is the beginning of modern Europe. 

Black Plague Notes 9/14/10

• Began in 1348
• Plague came to Britain in the guts of infected fleas.
• Came on ships through black rats and cargo. 
• Plague was all over Asia and spreading to Europe
• Once it arrived by sea to Italy, it spread quickly to mainland Europe. 
• It would take about 6 days from the bite of an infected flea for the victim to show symptoms. 
• Crowded cities were breeding grounds for the plague. 
• The youngest and oldest members of the communities died first.  
• In the first wave of the plague, 300 died every day. 
• The dead were thrown into pits by the masses instead of being put in individual graves during the plague. 
• By 1359 the plague had spread throughout England and Scotland and it then spread to Ireland. 
• The people believed that the plague was caused by miasma. 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory_of_disease
• People worked on antidotes, but they did not work to cure the disease. 
• Entire families were wiped out
• Survivors claimed that they were being punished for turning away from God. 
• The countryside after the black death was a irreversibly adverse world. 
• There were not many serfs .
• there was a desperate labor shortage. 
• Serfs could now set the deal and ask for payment. 
• The social order was shaken, with lords having to listen to the demands of their workers if he didn't want to watch his lands go to waste. 
• The plague made the rich realize that "King Death" did not care if they were rich and powerful. 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_tomb <--- burials for royal people
• The crown was passed on to Richard

Video Notes

• In 1315 Scottish army came to Ireland as "liberators"
• In 1315 there was a terrible famine
• Scottish took what they needed from Irish villages and resorted to digging up fresh graves and eating the decaying flesh.
• Irish turned against the Scots because of the famine.
• Edward Bruce wanted to be king of Dublin
• In 1318 Edward Bruce was killed and the Scots left.
• The Irish were being used in someone elses quarrel.
• Anglo Norman colonies stopped expanding from it's base.
• The Bruce's gave the Irish leaders their ability to stand up for freedom.
• Robert the Bruce outlived both Edwards and while the war with England would continue, the Scots' kingdom had been recognized.
• Edward I dream was not fufilled.
• Edward II was killed by his wife for betraying the community.

English Views of the Scots and Scots' Views of Themselves

The sources tell us that the English looked down upon the Scots. They believed that the Scots should be under their rule because they were smarter, weatlthier, and more powerful than them.

The Scots believed that they had a right to independence. They wanted to rule themselves and they thought that they were capable of doing that. They felt sympathetic for themselves because they had been under the cruel rule of the English. For example, when speaking of why they should be set free in the Declaration of Arboath they say, "who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling-place at all, and covet nothing but our own."

The English didn't like the Scots because they thought they were cruel, savage, and inhumane. They had heard about the evil acts that Willam Wallace and Robert the Bruce commited.

The Scots didn't like the English because the English were trying to take over their land. They felt that they were civilized and able to run themselves well.

9/7/10 Homework

1. What does the reign of Henry II suggest about the future of English foreign relations?
Henry II wanted as much territory as possible. He wanted to control everything, causing him to have many things on his plate. When different problems would arise in multiple areas of control he would often slack off on helping certain areas that needed him. He would come to help only when he was desperately needed so that he could still have control of his land. This suggests that in the future England will not be very popular with other countries. It suggests that the relations will be based on what those in control want and not what the common people need.

2. Does the common conception of Richard as 'good' and John as 'bad' hold up to reality?
No. In reality they were both good kings, but John had some tragic flaws. While Richard was charismatic and brave, John was untrusting, self-conscious, and cowardly. He was smart and perfectly able to be king, but he did not have the social skills or “flair” to be a good one, like Richard. John’s tragic flaws led him to failure, but in reality he really could’ve been a great king.

3. How did the Magna Carta change the relationship of the Monarch and his subjects?
The Magna Carta made it so that the king is subject to the same laws as everyone else. It took power away from the king and gave more to the Barron's. Now, because of the signing of the Magna Carta, the Monarch does not have any political power.

Family Histories: In the Style of Thucydides and Herodotus

Thucydides:

The fighting in Europe during World War II displaced many families.  Thousands of people had to leave their homes in order to not be killed; either because they were hated or going to be caught in the middle of the battle.  Wilma Koslowski and her family were one family that had to flee their home. 

On September 1, 1939, Germany and Slovakia attacked Poland. The war had come to Poland.  Three of Wilma’s brothers were drafted into the army and Wilma’s father was called into work as a translator for the German police.  In1944, the war was coming to the Koslowski family farm in Klajpedka, Poland.  Klajpedka is located in north-eastern Poland. It is close to the border with Lithuania. Wilma’s family was Protestant.  This made them ethnic Germans.  They were not hated, but because the war was coming they had to leave their home.

The family farm in Klajpedka, Poland.

Klajpedka is a very rural area.  The Koslowski’s didn’t have running water, much less a car to travel in.  They had to pack up as much as they onto two wagons and then either ride or walk alongside them.  Wilma and her family traveled to Germany.  They first went to Krakow and then Angerberg.  After accidently being split up for a short time, the two wagons found each other and continued on to Bremen.  There was an intersection in the road.  Luckily the family took the road that led into western Germany, away from the Communism in eastern Germany.  The family then settled down in Wallhöffen, a town north of Bremen.  Soon after arriving two or Wilma’s brothers and her father found the family through the Red Cross.  One of Wilma’s brothers never came back though.  He was declared MIA in 1948. 

Wilma (right) and Martha on the boat to America. 

           In 1955, Wilma’s sister decided to emigrate to the United States.  Wilma’s brothers Julius and Martin had already emigrated a few years before.  Wilma’s mother convinced her to go with Martha.  They were sponsored by a church and within a few weeks were on a boat traveling to America.  It took 9 days for them to come to America.  Wilma and Martha came into New York City like millions of others had before them. They had made it to America.

Sources: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war_2#War_breaks_out_in_Europe
Luft, Emily. An Immigration Story: A Personal History of Wilma and Her Family. 2010 



Herodotus:

My grandmother, Wilma Luft (maiden name, Koslowski) who my family calls “Omi”, has told me of her life growing up in Poland and having to leave her home and come to America.  She speaks English very well, but you can tell she is Polish from her heavy accent.  She is a sweet old woman, but she is also very strong-willed.  She had to be, in order to survive the tough times she had to experience as a young girl.

Omi was born on May 5, 1931. She grew up on a farm in Klajpedka, Poland.  She had 8 brothers and 4 sisters.  A few of her siblings died at young ages though.  She says they had goats, chickens, pigs, cows, and horses.  At only eight years old, she was milking cows; something many children today could never imagine having to do.  Omi and her siblings had to help out with the chores on the farm.  Everyone pitched in to help keep it running.  Omi loved the farm.  She says that it was a beautiful place to live in, but they had to leave when the war came.  They had to leave in 1944. They were given one day to pack up and leave. Omi’s family had two covered wagons pulled by horses that they traveled in.  It was similar to the settlers moving west in America during the 1800’s.  On their way they would stop in different towns for a few weeks.  They would stay in apartments or barns, sharing them with other families.  The two wagons were split up at one point because at a crossroad, they each took a different path.  They found each other and they eventually made it to a town called Wallhöffen north of Bremen, where they settled down.

Four of Omi’s brothers and her father were taken before the war.  Her father and three of her brothers found the family in Germany, but Omi’s brother, Eduard, was never seen again.  He had been taken to a work camp before the war.  He ended up escaping, but he was trapped behind the Berlin Wall.  He could not contact Omi and her family.  They had thought he was dead, but just a few years ago we learned that he had been alive the whole time and even had a family.  Omi was happy to find out that he had been alive, but she was sad that she hadn’t gotten to see him again.

          After settling down and getting back into the swing of things, Omi’s sister Martha decided to emigrate to America.  Two of their brothers had previously emigrated and she wanted to too.  In 1955, Omi’s mother convinced Omi to emigrate too because of the new opportunities she would have there.  Omi was sponsored by a church to come over.  They got the papers and in seven weeks they were ready to go. They came over on a transport boat.  There were German people, Polish people, and many other ethnicities on the boat coming to America.  The trip took nine days.  They didn’t get seasick once.  When Omi say the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor she thought to herself “America!”  She was not nervous, but excited to be there.  She only had $12, but she was ready to start her new life.