An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
1. Objectives
1) To help the students get a diachronic overview of
British history from 1066 to 1500.
2) To enable the students to discover the causes of the social
changes of England and how its governmental systems
operated.
Survey of Britian by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
2. Questions for discussion

In which century was British feudal system completely
established? Who established it?
 Have you ever heard of Magna Carta? What is it?
How is it related to the establishment of the English Parliament?
 Who is Joan of Arc? What event in English history does she
remind us of?
 How do you interpret the two terms:
1. Black Death？
2. Wars of the Roses？
Survey of Britian by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
Feudal system
(the hierarchical order of its power)
King (William 1066-1087)
Owned all the land personally
Gave his barons large estates
Barons (tenants-in-chief)
Promised military service to the king.
Gave a proportion of the land produce to the King
Parceled out the land to the lesser nobles
Knights & Freemen
Provided goods and services for the barons
Villeins (unfree peasants)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
Feature of the feudal system:
All landowners took the oath of allegiance for the land they held both to their
immediate lord and to the king.
Succession
2nd son, William Rufus (1087-1100)
3rd son, Henry I (1100-35)
Henry’s grandson and Stephen co-ruled (1153-54)
(Henry I’s daughter, Matilda, was involved in the wars against her cousin, King
Stephen. After a civil war, Stephen got control of the Crown but was forced to
accept Matilda’s son, Henry, as joint ruler. Stephen died the following year. )
Henry II (1154-89)
Survey of Britian by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
• Henry II (1154-89)
Founder of the Angevin dynasty - the
Plantagenet dynasty
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
• Henry II (1154-89)
Legal reform
--strengthened his Court and Extended its judicial work.
★Established a common law — unwritten & case-based.
★Introduced a 12-men jury system --- replacing the old
English ordeals.
（its function???)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
• Henry II (1154-89)
Church reform
. --Reformed abuses in Church government (resulted in his clash with
Thomas Becket)
Canterbury Tales
— Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
Murder in the Cathedral
— T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
• Tomas Becket
--Archbishop of Canterbury
--Chancellor of England
--the King’s chief secretary
*
*
Becket’s tomb — a place of pilgrimage
Henry’s penance
*
Becket’s canonization, 1173.
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
• Magna Carta and the Parliament

Origin of Magna Carta
*
*

Results
*
*

Enormous drain upon financial resources
Confrontation between King John and his barons
Follow-up actions taken by the barons
*

Wars between England and France for territories；
Three great crusades against the Islamic Empire of the Turks for the
possession of the Christian holy city of Jerusalem.
Presentation of grievances to King John
Magna Carta (1215)
Significance (see overleaf)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)

Significance
1. Foundation of English liberties
2. Statement of the feudal and legal relationship
--- Crown and the barons
3. Freedom of the Church and Limitation

Founding of Parliament (1265)
King John
Simon de Montfort
Henry III
Westminster
Function
(to p13)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)




Cause
Defy of Magna Carta by King John
Effect
Retaliation of the barons (help from Louis of France )
Cause
Three things done by Henry III (John's son):
1. Filling the most important offices in Church and state with foreign
favourites.
2. Undertaking an expensive war with France in 1242, and lost of the
whole
3. Demanding for money in 1258 to enable his son to be crowned King of
Sicily
Effect
1. Rebellion of the barons (led by Simon de Montfort, Henry III's
brother-in-law)
2. Henry and his son’s acceptance of the Provisions of Oxford.
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)



Cause
Henry’s objection to the Provisions of Oxford.
Effect
* Civil War (ended in victory with the king taken as a prisoner)
* Establishment of the early Parliament (1265, Simon de Montfort,
Westminster (meeting place of the Great council---the Lords and the
Commons.
Features and role of the Parliament
No elections, no parties.
House of Lords —the most important part of Parliament.
Limitation of the king’s power (only to offer advice, not to make
decisions).
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
The Hundred Year‘s War with France
(1337-1453: Edward III，1327-77—Richard II, 77-99, Henry VI)
(intermittent)
Causes
Territorial
The English kings possessed the large duchy of Aquitaine. The French kings
wanted this piece of land
Economic
The Flemish cloth manufacturing towns were the importers of English wool but
they owed political allegiance to the French king.
Political
* England wanted to stop France from giving aid to the Scots & a sense of
national consciousness grew in the English.
* The French refused to let Edward III claim the French Crown
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
The Hundred Year‘s War with France
(1337-1453: Edward III，1327-77—Richard II, 77-99, Henry VI)
(intermittent)
Main events of the war

England won a great naval victory

England occupied Calais.

England won victory over the French king, took the king as prisoner &

gained more French territory
 Edward III died & lost French territory
 Henry V renewed the war & won, was recognized to the French throne in
 1420
Withdraw of the English (1453) & significance
 1422, Joan of Arc
 Calais
Survey of Britian by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
The Hundred Year‘s War with France
(1337-1453: Edward III，1327-77—Richard II, 77-99, Henry VI)
(intermittent)
Significance of the withdrawal
“… had they (the English) remained, the superior size and wealth of France
would certainly have hindered the development of a separate English national
identity, while French national identity was hindered so long as a foreign
power occupied so much French territory.”
(Yu Zhiyuan(ed.). English-Speaking Countries: A Survey [M]. Beijing: Foreign
Language Teaching and Research Press, 1996:39)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
The Black Death (1348-49)
(Edward III)
Definition
 an epidemic disease spread by rat fleas
Time
 14th century
Impact & Consequence
 Huge reduction of the population
 Peasant Uprising （1381）
—Richard II (see overleaf)
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
Plantagenet （Angevin） 1154—1399
金雀花王朝（安茹王朝）
Henry II
（1133-1189）
King of England
（1154-1189 ）
Edward I（12391307）
King of England
（1272-1307）
Richard I
（1157-1199）
King of England
（1189-1199）
Edward II
（1284-1329）
King of England
（1307-1327）
John
（1167-1216）
King of England
（1199-1216）
Edward III
（1312-1377）
King of England
（1327-1377）
Henry III
（1207-1272）
King of England
（1216-1272）
Richard II
（1367-1400）
King of England
（1377-1399）
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
Wars of the Roses
Causes

Ambition of the nobles

Henry VI’s loss of reason
Period

People involved
Two noble families

The House of Lancaster

The House of York

Death of Richard III

Union of the two houses through marriage
（Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York ）

Death blow on Feudalism

Great loss of the lives of the nobles

Increase of the king’s power
Result
Impact
1455-1485
Survey of Britian by Zhang Haiyan
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An outline of British history (1066-1500)
(Session 4)
Assignment
Watch Henry VIII and write a review in your learning
log. Comment on the role of Jane Seymour.
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