Ian Graham - Great Britons, a Very Peculiar History

Title Page

GREAT BRITONS, A VERY PECULIAR HISTORY

With added stiff upper lip

Written by

Ian Graham

Created and designed by David Salariya

Publisher Information

First published in Great Britain in MMXI by Book House, an imprint of

The Salariya Book Company Ltd

25 Marlborough Place, Brighton BN1 1UB

www.salariya.com

www.book-house.co.uk

Digital edition converted and distributed in 2012 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

Editor: Jamie Pitman

Assistant editor: Jodie Leyman

The Salariya Book Company Ltd MMXI

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Dedication

To Alex

IG

Quotes

I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a King of England too...

Queen Elizabeth I, addressing her troops at Tilbury, at the time of the attack on England by the Spanish Armada in 1588.

The English are not happy unless they are miserable, the Irish are not at peace unless they are at war, and the Scots are not at home unless they are abroad.

George Orwell

If the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour.

British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, in a speech he made in 1940 to prepare the British people for the great struggle that was expected when Nazi Germany defeated France and turned its full might against Britain.

If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country which has taken lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

In the end it may well be that Britain will be honoured by historians more for the way she disposed of an empire than for the way in which she acquired it.

Lord Harlech

England is a nation of shopkeepers.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves.

James Thompson

CHAPTER EIGHT: Kings & Queens

Englands various tribes were unified under a single ruler, Offa, in AD 757. Since then, England, and then Britain, has had an almost unbroken line of kings and queens. Some of them were unremarkable. Others left an indelible mark on history.

Alfred the Great (849899)

The only English king to be known as the Great. Noted for his defence of England against the Vikings and burning those cakes. Alfred became King when his brother, King Ethelred of Wessex, was killed at the battle of Merton. England was in the grip of a Viking invasion. After several defeats at the hands of the Vikings, Alfred was forced to make peace with them. However, the fighting started again. In one battle, Alfred was lucky to escape. According to legend, he was taken in by a peasant woman. She didnt know who he was and she left him to watch cakes cooking on her fire, but he let them burn.

At this time, Wessex was the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom that had not been conquered by the Vikings. Alfred fought back and repelled the Vikings, gaining more land in West Mercia and Kent. He went on to reorganise the army, navy, laws and taxation and he encouraged education. He also began the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , writings that tell the history of Anglo-Saxon England. Copies were sent out to monasteries, which had to keep them up to date. Nine copies have survived to the present day. Alfred made English the official written language.

Henry V (c13871422)

English king famous for his victory at the Battle of Agincourt. Within two years of being crowned king of England in 1413, Henry faced a plot to unseat him. However, he was informed of the plot and its leaders were captured and executed. Henry turned his attention to France, where his forces captured Harfleur. Then, while his army was heading for Calais, a French army met them near the village of Agincourt. Henrys army defeated them in a famous victory. He followed this success by taking Normandy. In 1420, the French accepted Henrys claim to the French throne and he married Catherine of Valois, the French kings daughter. He died from dysentery during his next military campaign in France.

Henry was almost killed in battle in 1403 when he was struck in the face by an arrow. Its metal tip lodged deep in his face. His surgeon, John Bradmore, had a special tool made. It was pushed into the wound and screwed into the hollow arrow tip, then pulled out. In an era without anaesthetics, it would have been excruciatingly painful!

Henry VIII (14911547)

The English king known for his six wives and creating the Church of England. Henry VIII was Englands second Tudor monarch. In his youth, Henry was slim and athletic. He played tennis and hunted on horseback, but as he grew older, his health declined and he became obese. He spoke French, Latin and Spanish, played musical instruments, composed music and wrote a best-selling book. The book, in support of the Catholic Church, earned Henry the title Defender of the Faith from the Pope, a title the British monarch still holds today.

It was essential for Henry to produce a male heir to succeed him as king. When each of his wives failed to give birth to a son, Henry found a way to end the marriage and move on to a new wife. Jane Seymour bore him a son, but she died two weeks later. When the Catholic Church refused to end Henrys first marriage so he could re-marry, he responded by breaking from the Catholic Church and establishing the Church of England, an event called the Reformation. He closed hundreds of monasteries across the country and took their lands and possessions, which were sold off.

The fate of King Henry VIIIs six wives

Catherine of Aragon: (14851536) Divorced

Anne Boleyn: (c15011536) Executed

Jane Seymour: (15081537) Died

Anne of Cleves (15151557) Divorced

Katherine Howard (c15211542) Executed

Catherine Parr (c15121548) Survived