William the

The Norman Conquest Conqueror

1028 - 1087

Reigned from
1066

The “First”
King of
England

The
“Normandy”
region in
France, from
which the
Norman
dynasty draw
their name
October 14th, 1066 — The Battle of Hastings

William defeated Harold, the Anglo-Saxon king

Scenes
from the
Bayeaux
Tapestry
 The House of
Normandy

The Tower of
London, built by
William in 1078
1085-1086
The
Doomsday
Book
November 25th,
1120

England loses its

The Sinking of heir to the Throne
the White Ship
 Henry V,
Holy
Roman
Emperor
Empress Matilda
1102 – 1165

Empress Consort
of the Romans
1114 - 1125

“Lady of the English”

1141 - 1148
Geoffrey
Plantagenet,
Duke of
Anjou,
 King Stephen
1090s - 1154

Reigned from 1135

The Anarchy
1136 - 1153

“Christ and his saints

were asleep”

The Siege of Oxford

1142
 Henry II
1133-1189
Reigned from 1154

And the “Angevin Empire”

Eleanor of Aquitaine 1152
Duchess of Aquitaine Eleanor has her
marriage annulled
Born 1122
Eight weeks later, she
marries Henry II
Educated in Arithmetic,
Astrology, and History 1154 - 1189
Eleanor is Queen of
England
1137
Inherits the duchy of 1173-74
Aquitaine from her father, Eleanor leads a
and is married to Louis VII, rebellion against Henry!
King of France

1137 - 1152 Imprisoned until 1189, she

Eleanor is Queen returns to power and serves
as advisor to her sons,
of France Richard and Henry - even
ruling in their absence!
1147 - 1149
Eleanor crusades in Dies 1204 at the age of 82!
Jerusalem and the Levant
 King
Richard
“The
Lionheart”

Henry and
Eleanor’s
first son

Famous
for his
crusading
wars in the
Holy Land
and his
rivalry with
Salladin
 King John
Henry and Eleanor’s second son
and the
Magna Carta
1215
 Edward I Edward II

Edward III

Isabella, Prince Edward,

“She-wolf of France” “The Black Prince”

The hundred years war 1337 - 1453

The 14th century was… rough…
First, the
great
Richard II famine
1367-1400 ravaged
Inherits the England
crown from his from
Grandfather 1315-13
Edward III in 17
1377, and
everything
goes wrong…

Then, the Black Death So, by the time

plague afflicts europe from of Richard’s
1346 – 1353 and kills ⅓ of reign, England
the population. is in Chaos. In
1381, Peasants
revolt and
execute the
archbishop of
And through all of this, the 100-years Canterbury
war with France rages on!
But it wasn’t all bad…

John of Gaunt
Son of a King,
Father of a King
The “Eleanor of his Time”

“The Canterbury Tales”

Written between 1387
and 1400

Geoffrey Chaucer
1340s to 1400
The “Father of English
Literature”
 John of Gaunt
begins to be
dissatisfied with Henry Bolingbroke
1367-1413
his nephew,
working against After John of
Gaunt’s death in in
him in 1399, Henry
parliament returned to England
from his banishment
in France and led a
rebellion - initially
only to regain his
father’s house, but
quickly realizing how
much support he
Richard, had, he overthrew
fearing the Richard and ruled as
ruled as “King Henry
power and IV” thereafter.
money of the
house of
Lancaster,
banishes
John’s son
Henry
 Henry IV’s son
Henry V
1386-1422
Reigned from 1413

Could finally turn

his attention back
to France and
settle the 100
years war, winning
the final victory at
the legendary
battle of Agincourt
in 1415.

Marrying the
princess of France,
and named heir to
the throne, it looked
like Henry was
going to finally
unite the two
kingdoms in a
single political
union.

Unfortunately, he
died of illness
 Henry VI
1421-1471,
Reigned from
1422-1461
And again from
1470-71,
Became king
as a baby and
was unable to
keep any of the
lands in France
that his father
Henry V had
won, sending
things right
back to the
status quo. His
manipulative
advisors
competed with
each other, and
as Henry was
considered
weak…
 The “Wars of the Roses” ravaged
England from 1455 - 1487,
as two branches of the Plantagenet
family, the “Red Rose” Lancasters and
the “White Rose” Yorks, competed over
the throne.
Ultimately, Richard III, a
White Rose of York,
takes power in 1483, but
he is killed by Henry VII,
another descendant of
John of Gaunt, in the
battle of Bosworth field
in 1485
 How did Henry VII end
the war of the roses and
maintain peace? How did
he settle the question of
who had the better
claim?
 Henry VIII
1491 - 1547
Reigned from 1509

(he’s big, he’s bad)

Spend his reign changing the

constitution, expanding royal
power, accusing his enemies of
treason or heresy, and
developing the doctrine of the

“Divine Right of Kings”

 When the Pope
refuses to grant
Henry a divorce,
Henry responds
by instituting the
English
Reformation,
breaking away
from Rome and With this, the
establishing a medieval order
new protestant came to an end.
church with Henry dissolved
Henry himself, all the convents
not the pope as and monasteries
the supreme and used their
leader money to spend
extravagantly
and increase the
crowns power
 After his death,
Henry’s two
daughters
competed for
power: Mary I was a
catholic, who
married the king of
Spain and
attempted to
reverse the english
reformation,
burning protestants
at the stake

Her younger sister

Elizabeth I was a
protestant, who
reversed Mary’s
reversal and
restarted the
reformation!
The reign of
Elizabeth
the I
brought
England into
the modern
era.

What can you

surmise
about
Elizabeth’s
reign from
this
painting?
 William Shakespeare
1564 – 1616

Widely considered the

greatest writer in the
English language

Played an important role in

the English Renaissance
under Elizabeth
A

B
 James the I and VI (???) of
England and Scotland.
Elizabeth’s Successor, rules
from 1603 to 1625.
Unites England and Scotland in a
“Personal Union”
 King Charles I
1600-1649
Reigned from 1625

Married Henrietta Maria of

France in 1625

Fights with his own

parliament, who want to curb
his powers.

Though Protestant, he does

not support the wars in
Europe and his religious
policies start a rebellion

Tensions rise as he attempts

to consolidate his power and
control the English and
Scottish parliaments and
Church
 In 1642, the English Civil War begins!

The Royalists,
AKA
“The Cavaliers”
supported king Charles
and the institution of
Monarchy

The Parliamentarians,
AKA
“The Roundheads”
opposed the monarchy and
supported the institutions
of parliament instead

Eventually Charles is defeated,

but he refuses to negotiate a
constitutional Monarchy and tries
to continue the war..
In January, 1649,
Charles I is
executed by
beheading in
London

Having been found

guilty of attempting
to “"uphold in himself
an unlimited and
tyrannical power to
rule according to his
will, and to
overthrow the rights
and liberties of the
people"
The Interregnum (1649-1660):

Oliver Cromwell
1599-1658

Was the main advocate for

Charles’ execution, and
was elected “Lord
Protector of the
Commonwealth” after his
death. Britain now had an
entirely new system of
government… or did it?

Cromwell is remembered
The Flag of “The Commonwealth”
for for his political genius,
1653-1659
using the army to take
power, and his brutal
campaigns in Ireland
(1649). After his death, his
son took over as Lord
Protector
The Restoration (1660):
Following the failure of the Government,
Charles II is “invited” to take the
throne. Returning from exile on his 30th
birthday with great celebration from the
public, he began the “restoration” of the
monarchy… and English culture

Aphra Behn
1640-1689
It was "as though the pendulum
Was the first woman to make a living as a
[of England's morality] swung
writer she wrote plays about daily life
from repression to licence for a london audience as well as early
more or less overnight" novels about many topics, including
Literature roared back into calvary and colonization in “Oroonoko”
popularity: the theaters (1688)
reopened and comedies
returned to the stage. Stories
dealt with class, sex, and taboo
topics. England continued its
globalization, with Charles
using his connections with the
european continent and the
government continuing to
colonize North America and
the Caribbean
The Glorious Revolution (1688):

Charles II’s brother James the II and VII was

a Catholic. Once again, the King was feuding
with his Parliament over issues of religion and
royal power. Everyone was terrified that there
would be another war. But this time would be
different.

Fearing a future Catholic Dynasty after

James had a son, Leading members of the
parliament and the church secretly
invited the husband of James’ protestant
daughter Mary, William of Orange (in the
Netherlands) to invade England

With James’ son disinherited, the House of

Hanover – Mary’s familial line – took over, and
the rulers of England have been protestants to
this day. In 1707 the act of Union with Scotland
finally unified the kingdoms, and great Britain
became “The United Kingdom”
The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg,
Virginia, established by royal charter in 1693
and still operating today