1.Ancient Br.The Celts. Br. became an island after the end of the last Ice Age.

Br was peopled by small groups of hunters, gatherers and fishers.The same people lived on the Continent.In Br they settled few homes, but seemed to have followed the herds of deer, which provided them with food and clothing.About 3000 BC the New Stone Age people or Neolithic people came to Br.,crossed the narrow sea from Europe in small round boats of bent wood. Each boat could carry 1 or 2 people.They kept animals,grew corn crops and made new pottery.They came from either the Iberian or Spanish peninsula or even from the North African coast. They were small,dark people with long form of the head.One more name for them is the Iberians.After 2400 BC new groups of people came to Southeast Br.from Europe.They were round-headed and strongly built, taller than Neolithic people.Their influence was soon felt and as they were more advanced in development, they became leaders of the society. Their arrival is marked by the first individual graves and they decorated them with pottery beakers, from which these people got their names-the Beaker people. They spoke an Indo-European l-ge, they have accepted many of the old ways and habits of old people. They had introduced the skills of making bronze tools and those began to replace stone ones. There are some monuments of this period. After 3000 BC the Chalk Land people started to build great circles of earth banks. Inside they erected (built) wooden buildings and stone circles. This was called hedges and they were the centers of religious, political and economic power. But the main monument of the Ancient Period-Stonehenge. A group of stones, some of them in the form of vertical columns. It was started at about 2600 BC.As the people who started S. were very primitive they used no metal, their tools were made of stone and wood, bone. Was built in 3 stages.1.was rectangle, surrounded by a circular ditch. Outside the Rectangle an enormous stone. The builders dug 56 little holes called Aubrey Holes, situated in a circle round the rect. 2. was stared about 200 years later. The builders brought about 80 stones called Blue Stones and put them in the form of horseshoe in the middle of the rect.Bl. Stones were not very big.3.is the one we can see today. The builders took down these big Blue st. and put up a circle of a new type of stones called Sarsen Stone. Inside they built a sarsen horseshoe.They put some of the Blue st. back between the outer circle and the horseshoe. At the end of the construction, the Beakers added a new circle of 30 stone columns, connected with stone crosspieces. The richest graves of the Beaker people were found here. St. remained the most important centre until 1300 BC. There are many theories about St.1 it was built as a centre of enormous electrical energy. But there are no evident to support this opinion. There is one fact, no one can argue. If you stand in the centre of St on the morning of Midsummers, there are 24 different ways of discovering the days of Midsummer, midwinter, the spring and autumn equinoxes by watching the rising and setting of the Sun and the Moon. We can say it was a primitive calendar, which was very important for primitive people, to indicate the times for agricultural activities2. it was a temple with some religious functions and a commentary with graves and monuments above them.The Celts During the period from the 6-3rd cen BC people called the C.spread across Europe from the east to the west.A commonly accepted theory-they came in 3 ways:1.the 1st group was called the Gaels.They were driven by later invaders into the less fertile and more mountainous parts in the west and in the North;2.The 2nd wave was called the Brithonic Celts or the Brithons. They arrived in England between 600500BC and settled in the South of Br in Wales, North West England and South-West Scotland;3. The 3rd wave was called the Belgae. They came from Northern Gaul and occupied the central part of the island. The native tribes were unable to fight back the attacks of the C. Most of the local people were driven to the mountains or mixed with the C. The book of Julius Caesar The commentaries on the Gallic War. He wrote that the C. were tall ad blue-eyed.They wore long flowing mustaches, but no beards. In the 1 cen BC they lived in tribes and were ruled by their chiefs,who were military leaders. Some of them were very powerful.The C.used copper,tin;kept large herds of cattle and sheep,which formed their main wealth.Archeology reveals that there were some less advanced people,but they all shared the same Celtic l-ge and similar culture.The C worshipped nature.Believed in nameless spirits,who lived in rivers,woods and so on; believed in life after death.The religious teachers and leaders were called druids.

2The Roman Conquest. 400 years Br. Was part of R.t.-one of the mightiest empire in the world.It conqured Mediterranian coast colonists, the last country was Gaul. In the course of this campaign Caesar reached the Eng channel and crossed it. The1-st reason of the invasion was political.The British supported the Gauls in their war with the Romans.The2-nd economic reason Br. Became an important food producer because of using cattle to plough the and thanks to its mild climate.At that time Br exported corn,animals,hunting dogs and slaves.The Romans wanted to use British food for their army.In 55 BC 10000 Roman soldiers crossed the Channel.The Celts saw their ships approaching and attacked the invaders in the sea,they couldnt even land.The Celts made a great impression on the R. who saw them in the battle for the 1 st time.In 54BC Caesar came to BR. again with the army of 25000 people.He came to Br. twice,he wasnt able really to conquer it.He tride to impose tribute,but it was never paid. In his 2 brief campaigns Ceasar put Br on the map and set important precedents for intervention in Br. In 43AD Claudius sent the army to Br,it conquered the southern part of the island and made Br,a province of the RE.For more than 400 years it was an integral part of a single political system, stretching from Turkey to Portugal and from the Red Sea to Scotland.The invasion met with fierce resistance from some of the Br. Tribes.Others dissatisfied with former rulers.The campaign was crowned by the submission of 11 Br-sh kings to the Emperor.The whole period big groups of the Celts fought through against the Romans who never managed to become the masters of the island. One of the examples of development of national feeling was the Celtic king Caractacus (he tried to fight R.,but was defeated;lost his family,troops and was taken to prison;). To defend their province,the R stationed the legions in Br.Almost whole Br. was under strict control of R., but there were areas which R. couldnt fully control.The R started to build towns.Each town was held by a legion of about 7000 men.The total R. army in Br was about 40000 people.The R couldnt conquer Caledonia(now Scotland).So they spent over a centure,trying to conquer it. Straight roads were built so that the legions could march quickly to any part of the county.Stone bridges were built wherever a road crossed the river. The Picts and the Scots from time to time rated the Roman part of the island,burnt villages and drove off their cattle.To guard the province a high wall was built in the North. It was called Hadrians Wall(It was the name of Emperor).Alongside the wall small forts were built a mile apart. The R soldiers were constantly marching between this forts. When the northern Britons werent at war,they often came to the wall and traded with them, and the R. would go hunting to the mountains.There had been no towns before the R. period.The civilized Romans were city-dwellers,they started to build towns,public bath.The main towns were York,London,Lincoln.The towns were the basis of Roman civilization and administration.At first they had no walls.The Romans built about 20 towns with 5000 inhabitants and 100 of smaller ones..The streets were planned,there was a forum,market,shops,low courts, council chambers,the public baths, were built,public monuments and figures,theatres,amphitheatres. 6 of the Roman roads met in London(20000 inhabitants).Outside L. the biggest change-the growth of villas,which belonged to wealthy R. and Br.Each villa had a lot of workers,all villas were connected with roads,close to towns,so that the crops could be sold easily.Br. was exporting corn,cattle and iron.Later the policy shifted away from invasion to trade relations. Though the Br. were paying heavy customs on their import and export.There were a growing difference between the rich and the poor.Most of the population still lived in the same round huts in the villages,which the Celts had been living.In 34AD the power of the Romans gradually weakened. In 407-410 the Roman religions were recalled from Britain to defend the central provinces of their Empire from the attacks of Barbarian tribes.As the result of the conquest some signs of civilization spread all over Br.The 2nd gave the beginning of Christianity. The language which we study today was greatly influenced by Latin.The R. brought the skills of writing and reading. This period had given the significant growth of population.When the R. left it was 5mln people in Br,as many as its peak in the Middle Ages because of peace and increased economic life.

3The Anglo-Saxon Conquest. When the Romans departed, they left the country without any defence. The 5 th cent is considered the starting point if the history of English nation, as it was the time, when the Germanic tribes(Anglos, Saxons and Jutes) arrived in the country. They brought their l-ge and traditions.The Celts had no army of their own, in the year 447 the chiefs called a group of Anglo-Saxons warriors to protect the country from the sea pirates.In fact those tribes were pirates themselves.In return for help the A-S were given some land to settle upon.They fulfiled their mission very well, but when they were asked to leave,they refused to go home.Quite the opposite in the course of time,more A,S,J came to BR.The A-S society was less civilized than Roman. As a result the country found itself in the state of distraction, devastation. Almost every trace of Roman civilization dissapered, but the new comers had new institution that proved to be effective.The Celts tried to fight the invaders.As the Celts opposed the invasion it took the A-S a century to subdue the country. Gradually, the Celts were pushed westwards, northwards and to Ireland.The Northern Scotland remained the Picts and the Scots.In the 11 century the Scots conquered the Picts and there appeared a united Scotish kingdom.The Celts in Wales also organized their own state which A-S called Wellas or Weallas. The Anglos settled on the North and East,their kingdoms wereNorthumbria, Mercia, East Anglia.The Saxons settled in the Centre and the South, occupied the S with the kingdoms Wessex,Sussex,Essex.The Jutes created the kingdom of Kent(South-East).The A-S and Jutes were close in l-ge and customs. The A-S families were big-the population grew dynamically. The links inside families and between them were very strong. The dominant occupation was agriculture. They understood the importance of towns. Towns occupied focal points of the road system and could defend as their walls were strong.The majority were churches(have their own piece of land).Local rules were made by a local meeting called moot. Villages were grouped into hundreds, hundreds were grouped into shires. The leader of the shire was called shire reeve(sheriff)-a local administrator, appointed by the King, became local aristocracy. Changed the shape of agriculture.The Celts have kept small fields,suitable to the light plough. AS had much heavy ploughs that were advanced in technology,they allowed to cultivate heavy soils.Heavy ploughs were difficult to turn the corners.The village land then was divided into 2-3big fields and those were cut into thin strips. Each family owned a number of strips.The A-S created the 1st consultive institution-a Witan-a queens council.The Queen could disagree with the decision of W,but very rarely did so,because the W was a formal body,which issued laws and charters. The authority of W was based on its right to choose kings and to agree the use of the Kings laws.The early kingdoms were constantly at war with one anoth and with the Celts,Civil wars also occurred inside each kingdom,between rivals for the Crown.By the middle of the cent the most powerful were Northumbria,Wesser,Mercia.8 cen-one of the Kings of Mercia managed to unite these states.He was the 1-st to do this.The re-introduction of Christianity was started by Pole Gregory in 597.He sent a monk Augustin by name to Canterbury,because the wife of the King was brought from Europe ad was a Christian.In 601 Augustin became the 1 st archbishop of Canterbury.Quickly on A-S territory appeared lots minsters-the places of learning and education, as well as practical knowledge, craft.The adoption of Christianity was officially proclaimed as The Synod of Whidbey in 664.The most important features of A-S heritage1.a number of kingdoms2institutions3administration divisions4.christianity.The struggle against the DanesTowards the 8th cent new raids were tempted by Br-s wealth.The pirates raided the coasts, mernt churches and monasteries in Scotl,Wales and Ireland at first.In 835 the attacked Kent and that started 3decades during which raids came annually. The D at that time were far from being barbarians. They were heavily involved in trade for some generations. The population of their country grew rapidly and it became difficult to find reasonable living at home. After 865 more and more Danes went to Britain to conquer and settle.The settlements in Ireland, Wales were mostly Norwegian, while those in Engl. and France were mostly Danish. The Vikings quickly accepted Christianity and didnt disturb the local population.The A-S kingdoms were constantly at war. End6-beg7 cent-the most significant was Kent.7-Nothambria,8-Mercia,beg 9-Wessex.During the rule of the King Elbert small kingdoms were united into one state. This unit can be explained by outside and inside reasons. Inside-the country the feudal aristocracy needed strong state to keep their power over peasants. From other side, the constant danger of Normans demand joined efforts to resist occupation. Wessex became the centre of such resistance.The reign if Alfred (the Great) started badly.He suffered series of small defeats and had to buy the Danes off(o).The 3rd attack on Wessex came in 878.It was a surprise attack and the position of Alfred seemed hopeless, but he managed to gather people to built a fortress and to persuade neighbors to help him. With the bigger army he attacked in 878 and gained a decisive victory,8 years later he captured London. The end of 10cent-king Sweyn, managed to unite the states of Denmark and Norway. The invaders demanded money as the condition of their withdrawal. Ethelred decided to pay. To find the money he set attacks on all his people called-Danegeld or Danish money. This money was paid several times and formed a huge amount. D. became a permanent property tax. The Danish invasion prompted the development of feudalism. The big landlords used a considerable part of lands and a lot of peasants became their serfs. But the development of feudalism was much slower than in Europe. The next kingCanute -the son of Sweyn was one of the most powerful Danes and controlled much of England. The royal council (Witan) feared disorder most of all. So it offered the crown to C. He set out to rule not a conjurer, but as rightful English king. He married Eths widow, but killed his elder son. He fought ruthlessly to secure his throne. Some important English were killed and some were sent out of the country. He changed himself from a Wildman into a Christian. He issued laws,built monasteries. In 1019 his brother who ruled in Northern Europe died and C. inherited the Great Empire of which England was only a part. He chose 4 earls 3.and divided the country into 4 pars: Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, Wessex. C. died in 1035.his 2 sons didnt rule long and Witan chose one of the Eths son Edward to rule (Edward the Confessor)

4.The Norman Conquest and rule.They were people from Northern France(Northmandy).The children of the Vikings, who settled there,but soon became French in their l-ge and Christian in religion. They were wellknown for their fighting skills. The new king Edward was a descendant of the old English royal line.25 years of his childhood and youth in Normandy. When Ed returned to Br he brought a number of N. counselors and clerics with him.Church building was one of his main interests. By the time he died there was a church in almost every village. His main achievement was the building of Westminster Abbey. After his death, the Pope gave him the title of Confessor.The more powerful saxon aristocracy didnt like the Normans, whom Edw brought with him. The most important of the Saxons was Earl Godwing of Wessex- a cunning man. He contrived that the king should marry his daughter and succeeded. But his daughter couldnt give a birth to a son. But Earl G was powerful enough to oppose the King in financial matters and political influence. When G died in 1052 he was succeeded by his son Herald.2 years later E died and the Witan chose H as the King. He called upon all the Christian kings of Europe to help him gain his right and punish Hs wickedness in breaking the oath. He started to prepare the invasion. H. faced two dangers-from the North and from the South. The Danish(N) hadnt given up their claim to the English throne, too.In summer 1066 H. fought the Danes and succeeded in this, but soon after learnt that William was going to land in English with army.When September came h/ decided that enemy wouldnt come that year and demobilized his men (it was the time of harvest).Late in summer W. who had been delayed by bad weather, landed near Hastings. On 14 th of October 1066-the decisive battle at Hastings. Though the Saxon army fought bravely it was defeated (The greatest disaster in Br history).The forces were equal in number, but Normans were superior in quality. H. hurriedly gathered peasants detachment and armed his loyal knight. The major feudals, earls of Middle, Northern and Eastern England refused him their support.The decisive moment came when H was killed by an arrow. Dismayed by this,the forces were faltered and the Normans brought the line.After that W and his army proceeded to London,but he didnt make a direct attack, he crossed the Thames at night and circled London from the North.The English magnates came out and made their submission. was crowned a king on the 25th December,1066 at Westminster as William 1,but in history-William the conjurer.Then came the time for rewards and punishments.Those who supported H. were forfeited and given to the Normans,who took part in the conquest. Rebellions at Exerts led by Hs family and in the Northern Midlands gave W. excuse for more repressions and confiscations. The lighting lasted for 5 years.There was an AngloSaxon relation. The small Norman army went from village to village,destroying places it wouldnt control and building forts to guard the others.For at least 20 years it was a true army of occupation.The most serious peasants uprisings-in 1069,2 in 1071 in Danelaw,where most of people were free landowners. The Normans suppressed them,burnt villages, killed inhabitants. The flourishing York Volley and the most part of Durham country stayed deserted for some dozen years, after that. Whenever W. uncounted opposition, he seized the lands of his enemies and established fortified castles.By such methods he ended all opposition to his rule.400 Saxon landlords were replaced by 400 Normas.The state organization of the country was built around Ws power.The basis of F. society was the holding of land and its main purpose was economic. The central idea was that all land was owned by the king,but was held by others,called vassals in return for services and goods.They had to serve him in war for up to 40 days a year.The greater nobles gave part of their lands to lesser ones,knights and other free men.Some free men paid for land rent, some paid by doing military service. The serfs were little better than slaves.F was based on 2 principles.Every man had a lord and every lord had land.The king was connected through this chain of people to the lowest men in the country.At each level a man had to promise loyalty and service to his lord.On the other hand,each lord had responsibilities to his vassals. He had to give them land and protection.By 1086 W decided to register exactly who owned the land and how much it as worth.He needed this information to plan his economy, to find out how

5. Britain in the Middle Ages (XI XIV centuries) a)The whole economic development of the country illustrates the increasing degree of exploitation of the peasant by the feudal lords, as well as by the church. Trade was increasing throughout the country with merchants and middleman ).The towns grew rapidly in size, importance and wealth and became centers of handicraft production of all kinds. The lords of the manor () began to increase their wealth by the sale of agricultural products at the country markets.b) In the 12 th cent a new dynasty was established in England Plantagenet. Henry II became king of England when he was 21 and ruled for 35 years. Besides being the king of England he was lord of half France because his wife Elenor was a French princess and he on his own right was the Duke of Normandy. He possessed a lot of lands. Soon he added some Scotch territory and established his lordship over Wales. Also Henry became the lord of Ireland.He prohibited private wars, which weakened the country. He rewrote all the laws and customs. He organized Juercy, which consisted of 12 knights who had to swear justice in solving the conflict. He allowed paying money instead of military service. Chancellor Thomas Becket was born in a simple family but received a very good education in business and diplomacy.Henry decided that the church has too much power and in order to weaken it and consolidate () the state appointed Thomas Becket archbishop of Canterbury. But Becket began to defend the church against the king, he was very popular among people. Henry and Becket became enemies. On December in 1117 4 knights killed Becket. The whole Christian World reacted with great emotions and Becket was proclaimed a saint. Henry died in 1189 he was defeated be French king.c)Henry was followed by Richard the Lionhearted. Richard was seen as one of the most popular European kings he was famous as a brave solder and a perfect ruler, fair and honest. He ruled 10 years.He spent his time either in Crusades or at war. He went to the Holly land () to make war on Muslims. On his way back he was captured by the Duke of Austria with whom he quarreled. The Duke demanded a big ransom, he spend two years in England to raise this money. In 1199 he was killed in France. d) On Richards death his brother became king and ruled from 1199 1216. He was known as John Lackland. He lost a lot of lands which were gained by his father and brother. He used the most evil means for forcing money out of his people. The church was made to pay all kinds of taxes and fines. The Catholic church was extremely powerful.The kings of France and Scotland made war on him. On June 15, 1215at a field called Runnymede by the river Thames John signed the programme of demands expressed by the barons in a document known as Magna Charta or the Great Charter. This document of 63 sections provided that the church and the barons got their old rights and liberties. The ancient liberties of London and of other towns were guaranteed. One of the important points of Magna Charta was the setting up of a permanent committee of 25 barons to see that Johns promises were kept. It was the first case in British history when the nobles were acting in cooperation with a merchant class and thus it was the first step towards postfeudal relations.e)The peasants revolt of Wat Tyler. There were a lot of problems of discontent in the Middle Ages. In the 14th century the feudal system was in the state of Crisis followed the Black Death. In 1348 people had to pay extrataxes for the war in France. In 1381 the king imposed a graduate tax on every person over the age of 50.Peasants began to burn manor house, attacked and killed lords. The leader Tyler on the 12 th of June 1381 headed a huge army.They occupied London. The king promised to fulfill the demands but soon Tyler was killed. Richard II quitened down the crowd.Kings army started repressions including some punishment and killing participants.f) The work of John Wycliffe There was a growing dissatisfaction of the church. The members of the church hierarchy were among the richest. The first fundamental attack on the position of the church was undertaken by John Wycliffe. He attacked bishop, the pope, he pointed at their palaces, their riches and their sinful way of life. He attacked the corruption in the church.The lollards supported John. They were procecuted by the church. Lollardy became as a social protest, but it was not organized effectively to oppose a church.

6. Britain in the Middle Ages (XI-XIV) a) The 15th cent was the age of contrasts. It was marked by two parallel processes: while feudalism was declining, bourgeois relations were developing rapidly. The wars of roses were an expression of the energy of this period, it was from 1455- 1485. They started on the back-ground of Englands defeat in the Hundred Years War. It was a series of wars which lasted counting intervals of peace for hundred years 1337 1453 in Europe. The struggle resulted from the English procession of territory in France. That began with William the Conquere and from that time France and French kings were eager to drive out the invaders. The English king Edward II claimed the French throne. He was a grandson of the late French king. When the Hundred Year War was over, England lost everything except the Port of Calais. A general crisis of feudalism took the form of dynasty struggle between the two powerful feudalists: the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Lancasters had the red rose as their emblem and the Yorks had the white rose. This gave the name of the war. At the time when England lost the war in Europe it was ruled by king Henry VI. He was civilized gentleman and he hated his war like nobles. Probably he was improper king for such a violent time and such a violent society, he was bad at choosing advices and sometimes he was given to periods of mental illness. The discontent nobility were divided between those who were loyal to Henry VI they were Lancastrians and the opposition Yorkisters ( the Duke of York). There were more than 60 noble families who controlled England. Most of them were related to each other through marriages. Some of the nobles continued to keep their own army.e.g. Duke of Buckinham has his private army of two thousand people. After the death of Duke of York in battle in 1460 his son Edward took up the struggle and owned the throne in 1461. He became Edward IV. Edward put Henry VI into the Tower of London where Henry spent 5 years. After that a new Lancastrian army liberated him and chased () Edward of the country. Edward raised another army and returned to England in 1471, defeated the Lancastrians and imprisoned Henry VI again, soon he died. Edward IV felt free and ruled until 1483,after his death he left he two sons: the elder was 12. Edwards brother Richard of Glochester was a very ambitious and decisive man. During the rule of his brother he always defended him against enemies with courage and was loyal with him. Edward made him protector of his children in the case of his death. But when Edward died two princes were taken to the Tower and and murdered. Richard was a very powerful man and nobody tried to object him. Parlament offered him a throne and he became Richard III.R. III was the king for two years. He was hated by both parties. In 1485 the Lancastrian Henry Tudor invaded England from France and during the battle R. III was killed.Henry Tudor was crowned on the battle field and became king Henry VII. He married yorkist princess Elithabeth, the sister of those two sons killed in the tower. This marriage put the end to the War of Roses. The War of Roses took place for about 15 months out of 30 years. The most negative effect on the country was the loss of respect towards the kings power.Henry VII ruled 24 years and when he died in 1809 the power was peacefully taken by his son. It was a new dynasty.The second half of the 15th century was the period when the towns in Britain achieved their greatest prosperity. The money was given to town building and improvement. One of the great developments was gradual emansipation of serfs(). The Black Death reduced the population of Britain from 4 mln to 2,5 mln. This raised the value of labor. The peasants demanded much higher wages. There was also a rule, that if a serf lived in a town for 7 years he became free. As far more and more people got freedom, manufacture and trade grew faster.Henry VII was very careful not to be involved in war conflicts. He was supported by two classes: the gentry was the name for the mass of country gentleman. A gentryman hadnt noble origin, he might be a merchant, a knight or a successful lawer, they owned some land and nad about 20pound income a year. The Yeomen were a rural class coming below gentry but above peasants. Merchants were a very small fraction of the society. They were half pirates half adventures and trades. The three classes were increasingly forming a single class of people with interests both in town and in the country, it was a unique feature of English life.It was the time of Great Intellectual Awakening, the language was changing. In 1476 appeared printing. William Coxton brought the first printing press from Northern lands, he printed the books of Choser, Malary. The print presses were established in Oxford and Cambridge. It was cultural revolution. The books became cheaper and that eccouraged education. Printing began to establish standarts in Grammar and Spelling. Henry VII encouraged the development of navigation. In 1496 he organized expedition.

7.Henry VIII. Reformation. During the 15th cent. England passed from being a producer of wool to being a producer manufacturer of cloth. The clothing industry became a decisive factor of English economical life. A lot of peasants were removed from their lands. This process has known as Enclosures( ).The reign of Henry VIII (1509- 1537) is connected with very important event the beginning of Reformation. Up to the first decades of the 16th cent there had been two brunches of Christianity: Catholicism and Orthodoxy. These two brunches always differed in many ways, but some basic things they had always had in common. There must be a strong church organization and clergy functioning. At the beg of the 16 th cent there appeared another doctrine that stated that everyone must stand and give account() before God himself rather than before church and clergy. The movement was called Protestantism and it spread 7.over Europe.The English court of that time had more learned people than any University. Among them was Thomas More was chancellor of state().Unlike his father Henry VIII was cruel, wasteful and too much interested in pleasing himself. He spent so much on maintaining of his magnificent court that his fathers carefully saved money was soon gone. In this serious financial crisis he was looking for the way out. His father was powerful by taking over the noble lands but the lands of the church and monasteries hadnt been touch. Henry was against the power of church because since it was international organization, he couldnt control it. The taxed paid to the church reduced his own income. Henry also had another reason for hating church. He married Catherine of Aragon. She was the widow of his elder brother and the daughter of the Spanish king. It was a political marriage By 1526 she hadnt had a son and H. used it as a pretence for a divorce. H. turned his attention to Anna Boleyn and made an attempt to persuade the judges to allow his divorce with Catherine.But pope Clement V of Spain, who was Catherines nephew, forbad the divorce. The question was rather conflict. The opposition to the king was led by T. More. This man was very famous and extremely popular, he printed in 1516 Utopia. At first More was silent at divorce but when H. pressured upon him, he refused to agree with kings point of view. H. was infuriated an aimed his anger against Wolsey and dismissed him from the post. IN 1561 H. persuaded the bishops to make him the Head of the Church of England and this became law. Parliament passed the law of Supremacy which gave H. the right to regulate the church affairs( ). It was a popular decision before H. was free to divorce Katherine he had secretly married Avolane in 1563. He declared the first marriage annulled and proclaimed Avolane a new queen. T. More refused to accept it. He was found guilty and executed. In 400 years he was made a saint. H.s broke with Rome was purely political, he simply wanted to control the church and to keep its wealth in the country. H. didnt approve the new ideas of reformation, Protestantism introduced by Martin Luther and John Celvin in Genive. still believed in the catholic faith and even criticized Luther teaching. Later pope excommunicated Henry and that made him for changes. He ordered that the services in the church should be performed in English and that the English form of Bible should be printed. The activities of the parliament set for 7 years also drew Britain to Protestantism. They passed laws cutting all from the English clergy to the Pope. Between 1532-1536 England became a protestant country politically even though the majority of population were still catholic. During these7 years its experience helped to build up traditions of the Modern House of Commons. In Henrys parliament the debate was fairly free at least in the matters the king wished the parliament to deal with. Minister Tomas Cromwell and H. made a detail survey. Between 1536-1539 they closed 500 monasteries and other religious institutions. H. did this in order to make money, but he also wanted to satisfy the rising classes of landowners.Avolane bore Elithabeth but soon was beheaded. Hs third wife Jane Seymour was probably the only woman he loved. She bore a child and died. Henry married Anne of Clevers but was dissatisfied and divorced. Later he married Catherine Howard who was convicted for misconduct. His last wife Catherine Parr outlived him. Henry died in 1537 and left three children: Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. Edward became Edward VI when he was a child, the country was ruled by council. All members were from new nobility created by the Tudors they were landlorders and by their believes protestants.Edward died when he was 16 and the queen became his sister Mary. At the very beginning of her rule a group of nobles tried to put Jane Gray on the thrown. Mary succeeded in entering London in time and took control over the kingdom. Catholics supported her.She decided to marry king Philip, who was extremely unpopular. She asked the parliament for the approval of her marriage. Unwillingly the parliament agreed but under the conditions that Philip would be accepted as a king during Marys life. Under the influence of Philip Mary started burning Protestantism.After her death the queen became Elizabeth. Mary wanted to kill her, Elizabeth was wise not to express her opinion openly, she was one of the favourite rulers.

8.Elizabeth I. The Anglo-Spanish Rivalry. The Renaissance. Elizabeth reigned in 1588-1603. Her reign is often called the Golden Age or Elizabethen Age. It was the time of great development. E. made the church of England the main church in the country. She sustained peace and balanced on the edge of conflict with catholic powers for a long time. English economy flourished. Es court became a center of knowledge and culture.She was an outstanding orator. She mustered Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish and English, writing beautiful poetry in it.Her political technique was one of postponing, she never decided on the spur of the moment.She never married, but always used her single state as a weapon in her policies. She was preoccupied with the interests of her country.She could cope with complicated problems. When E. became a queen she inherited the problem of catholic-protestant struggle. Her sister Mary started a 8.war with France a year before her death. Englands economy at that time was poor. They had no money even for routine cost of government. E. ended the war with France with the help of her Chief Adviser She secretly sent money to the scotish protestants. She was looking for peaceful ways of solving these problems She signed several laws called: The Religious Settlement of 1559. The main law was renewed act of supremacy which Mary abolished in the attempt to make England catholic. The Act of Suprimathy once again proclaimed the church of England independent of Rome. One more law called the Act of Uniformity approved a new prayer book and enforced this use. Alongside with the bible it thought that rebellion against the monarchy was a sin against God. The unit of state administration became the parish ( ) and the parish priest called parson or vicar became almost as powerful as the landowners. People had to go to church on Sundays and they were fined if the didnt. E. tried to avoid conflict with Spain and France. Both kings wanted to marry her because of political reasons. She didnt want to repeat Marys first mistake and was very careful not to quarrel with the pope. One more problem was the danger from Scotland, where ruled Mary Steward. Mary was a catholic she was Es cousin and a closest relative. She made enemies with nobles and protestants and after two unsuccessful marriages made the situation more difficult. After her supporters were defeated she escaped to London. E. welcomed her but made prisoner for almost 20 years. From time to time the secret plots were discovered aiming to make Mary queen in place of E. Finally in 1587 E. reluctantly agreed to Marys execution. Mainly because Mary named the Spanish king Philip her heir to the English thrown. This claim gave Philip of Spain grounds to start invasions against Britain. Leaving Mary alive was becoming dangerous. By this time the Catholic plots and the catholic thread of invasion had changed peoples feelings. By 1585 English people believed that being a catholic meant being an enemy of England. In 1585 E. sent army to fight Spain.When Mary Steward was executed king Philip II of Spain used it as accuse of invasion and gathered a big fleet called Armada. E. made Sir Fransis Drake Vice admiral. He destroyed about 30 Spanish ships and then attacked the Great Armada in the Chanel. 129 ships were destroyed by smaller English ships or by storm. There began the rebellion in Ireland. The state of economy worsened. E. had personal problems she fall in love with the Earl of Essex, but refused to give him much power.Unwillingly, she nodded the agreement to make him her successor. He became the king of England under the name James I. Stewards started a new dynasty. Renaissance. Time of great changes in political and economic life, culture and art. The R. means the rediscovery of the beauty of the Greek art, the spreading of direct knowledge, of classical literature, the acquaintance with Greek philosophy, the acceptance of man as the main value in life. These ideas arose in the 14-15th centuries and gave a great impulse to the development of arts, agriculture, literature, medicine and technical experience.The English R. had three periods: 1.the end of the first part of the16th cent. The appearance of the New Learning. The ideas of the New Learning spread very quickly and on all levels of the society. The government should introduce reforms. A Dutch catholic priest Erasmus of Rotterdam had much influence in spreading these ideas, he taught students at Oxford and published the first Greek addition of New Testament.The second period lasted from the reign of Elizabeth I including the activities of W. Shakespeare(1564-1660) The development of English language. The instrument was prose and poetry. The drama was the glory of literature of this period. Morality plays were very popular. In 1566 the theatre was built in London. Shakespeare was rather critical and skeptical towards ruling classes. Christopher Marlowe Doctor Faustus. The third period after Shs death and until the period of puritan revolution. John Flethcer and Francis Beaumont. The quick development of science, engineering and medicine. Jone Gale the treatment of wounds. Francis Becone his work Advancement of Learning. The creation of Royal Society in 1662 it was the body which united scientific forces of the country.

9. 17th CENT. IN ENGLAND. THE CIVIL WAR & THE REPUBLIC Since the 12th cent.- struggle btw. the crown & the Parl-t. In the 17th cent. The Tudors tried to establish personal monarchy (James 1). Charles 1 (1625-1649) wanted more power - $ needed: taxes, heavy customs & fines. 1628 Parl. dissatisfied, made him sign the Petition Act (King must act acc. to the law only), but soon forgotten. The Parl. protested Ch.1 resolved it. Absolute mon-chy for 11 yrs. The prosecution of Puritans made the sit-n worse. They demanded stricter discipline & more modest life & church services. The relig. mov-nt turned into a pol. one (interests of bourjousy). Scot. (Presbyterian church) rebelled against the introduction of the Anglican church. 1639 Ch.1 attacked Scot., but lost. He needed $ & summoned the Parl. ( Long Parl. sat for 13 yrs. abolished illegal taxes, brought to trial Kings chief ministers, the Bill (the Parl. meets every 3 yrs.)). 1642 Ch.1 declared war on the Parl. People didnt support any side. The H. of Lords with the King (Cavaliers), the H. of commons against him (the rond-heads) with the navy, merchants & Londonerers. The King had no $ - supporters ran away. 1645- at Naseby final agreement signed. Cromwell headed the Parl.s army of a new pattern, very strong. Ch.1. was executed in 1649. 1649-60 the Commonwealth of Engl. (republic), unsuccessful. Cruel gov-nt, no H. of Lords or 9.Anglican church. Parl. dissolved in 1653. Cromwell Lord-protector, ruled alone, unpopular (only merchants & lower mid. class). Tension in the army. 1658-61 famine. 1658- Cr. died, son weak, power drifted to Prince Charles from France. Ch.2 had limited power (the Merry Monarch), lazy& funloving, Cath.1679Habeas Corpus Act against illegal imprisonment. The beg. Of the pol. Parties: the Whigs (mid. class & upper class nobility) with Parl., the Tory Party (lesser nobility & gentry) with King. 1685 Ch.2 died, his brother James 2- King (power for him & Roman church). He had 2 daughters-protnts, but son Cath. The eldest Mary was offered the crown by Whigs & Tories & army. J.2 couldnt resist (Glorious Rev-n) Parliamentary monchy. 1689 the Bill of Right (freedom of speech in P., no interference with elections, no illegal use of the army. 1689 the Toleration Act (freedom of prot-nt groups, but couldnt take part in gov-nt). 1691 the Act of Settlement (no Cath. Can be a ruler of Br.).

10. 18th CENT. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. Br. was as powerful as France; growth of industries, trade, the strongest navy in the world. The kings ministers ruled the country, represented a certain class. Wealth agricult. & industr. rev-n. A few people became richer, most poor (enclosures families driven off land). Invention of machinery cottage industries destroyed, factories created, growth of cities (Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, etc.). Mass production. Many landless workers. Little fuel for machines. Iron & steel production (John Wilkison). James Watt improved steam engine & made engine with a turning motion. Cotton & wool cloth were popular abroad. 1764- spinning machine invented. 1785- machines for weaving. Handwork replaced. Waterways dug btw. towns. Workers wanted to protect their rights= riots. 1799- Luddites started to break machines & were punished by death. 1714 Queen Ann of the Stuarts died. James 2s son James 3 was Cath., but wanted the crown (Tories with him). George 1 was Prot-nt. J.3 started to fight, but the Jacobites lost. The Whigs formed G.s gov-nt. He wasnt interested in Br. Robert Walpole was the most powerful minister, wealthy (1694 the Bank of Engl. printed bank notes & lent $ (promissory notes) to the gov-nt & people= cheques). Investments to the West&East Indies= profit. 1720- South Sea Company paid the nat. debt & got monopoly to trade in the South Sea, but went bankrupt with all share-holders. Parl. was a real power, Walpole made min-ters work together (the Cabinet). King couldnt be Cath., couldnt change laws & depended on the Parl. $. Walpole put taxes on luxury goods, but nat. debt remained- hes unpopular. 1733-Fr.+ Spain=alliance. 1756 war with Fr. for trade routes started. In Canada the BR. took Quebec & Montreal (fish, fur & wood) & in India Bengal (=many Br. immigrants), etc. Br. confidence grew. 1760 George3 on the throne, peace with Fr. Trade increased. G.3 wanted to choose minters. Only house owners with certain income could vote. MP John Wilkes criticized G.3, was arrested, went to court & won. 1750-70 many newspapers appeared= pol. discussions, public opinion, pol. activity of people. 1764- conflict with America (taxes). 1773-Boston Tea Party. 177583 war= Br. lost. Sit-n in Ireland was bad. Cath-cs discriminated & needed more freedom. In Ulster Prot-ts formed Orange Lodges(against Cath-cs). 1801- The Dublin Parl. closed, Br. control for 120 yrs. 1789 rev-n in France, Br. gov-nt is afraid of new ideas. Calls for reforms. Tom Paine called for the rights of an ordinary man. Army camps built to reduce dang

11. The Napoleonic Wars. Chartism. The French Revolution had created fear all over the world. The British government was so afraid that revolution would spread to Britain that it imprisoned radical leaders. As an island, Britain was in less danger than other European states to make war on French Republic. But in 1793 Britain went to war after France had invaded the Low Countries ( Belgium and Holland). One by one the European countries were defeated by Napoleon, and forced to ally themselves with him. Most of Europe fell under Napoleons control. Britain decided to fight France at sea because it had a stronger navy.The commander of the British fleet, Admiral Horatio Nelson who won brilliant victories over the French navy, near the coast of Egypt, at Copenhagen and finally near Spain, at Trafalgar in 1805, where he destroyed the FrenchSpanish fleet. Nelson became one of Britains greatest national heroes. In the same year as Trafalgar, in 1805, a British army landed in Portugal to fight the French. This army, with Portuguese and Spanish allies, was eventually commanded by Wellington.After several victories against the French in Spain he invaded France. Napoleon, weakened by his disastrous invasion of Russia, surrendered () in 1814. But the following year he escaped and quickly assembled an army in France. Wellington with the help of the Prussian army, finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium in June 1815. Until 1850, Britain was in greater danger at home than abroad. The Napoleonic Wars had turned the nation from thoughts of revolution to the need to defeat the French. They had also hidden the social effects of the industrial revolution. Britain had sold clothes, guns, and other necessary war supplies to its allies armies as well as its own. All this changed when peace came in 1815. Suddenly there was no longer such a need for factory-made goods, and many lost their jobs. Unempoyment was raising.At the same time, the landowning farmers own income had suffered because of cheaper imported corn. These farmers persuaded the government to 11.introduce laws to protect locally grown corn and the price at which it was sold. The cost of bread rose quickly and this led to increases in the price of almost everything. While prices doubled, wages remained the same.In 1834 a new poor law was introduced to improve the help given to the needy. But central government didnt provide enough money and many people received even less help than before. Only those who lived in the workhouses were given any help at all.They were crowded and dirty. The inhabitants had to work from early morning till late at night. The sexes were separated so families were divided. In order to avoid workhouse many looked for a better life in the towns. Between 1815 and 1835 Britain changed from being a nation of country to a nation of mainly of townspeople. In the first thirty years of the 19 th cent cities like Birmingham and Sheffield doubled in size, while Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds more than doubled. But although these cities grew fast, London remained the largest. The rich feared the poor in the fastgrowing towns. Several riots took place and the government reacted nervously. The Whigs (for reforms) better understood than the Tories the need to reform the law in order to improve social conditions. Like the Tories they feared revolution, but unlike the Tories they believed it could only be avoided by reform. It had been started by early radicals, and encouraged by the American War of Independence, and by the French Revolution. The radicals believed that the Parliament should represent the people. The Tories believed that Parliament should represent property and the property of owners. The Tories hoped that the House of Lords would protect the interests of the property owners. When the Common agreed to the reform in 1830 it was turned down by the House of Lords. But the Tories fell from power the same year, and Lord Grey formed a Whig government. In 1832 the Lords accepted the Reform Bill, but more because were frightened by the riots in the streets outside than because they now accepted the idea of reform. They feared that the collapse of political and civil order might lead to revolution. Since 1824 workers had been allowed to join together in unions. Most of these unions were small and weak. Although one of their was to make sure employers paid reasonable wages, they also tried to prevent other people from working in their particular trade. As a result the working classes still found it difficult to act together. Employers could easily defeat strikers who refused to work until their pay was improved.A judge found these men guilty. In London 30 000 workers and radicals gathered to ask the government to pardon them, but they were punished. Working together for the first time, unions, workers and radicals put forward a Peoples Charter in 1838. The Charter demanded rights that are now accepted by everyone: the vote for all adults; the right for a man without property of his own to be MP; voting in secret; payment for MPs, and an election every year. All these demands were refused by the House of Commons. The Chartists were not united for long. They were divided between those ready to use violence and those who believed in change by law means only. But riots and political meetings continued. The governments severe actions showed how much it feared that the poor might take power, and establish a republic. Robert Peel, the Prime Minister of the time was able to use the improved economic conditions in the 1840s to weaken the Chartist movement, which slowly died. Britain was successful in avoiding the storm of revolution.

12. The Victorian Age. By 1850 Britain was producing more iron than the rest of the world together. Britain became powerful because it had enough coal, iron and steel for its own enormous industry, and could even export them in large quantities to Europe. With these materials it could produce new heavy industrial goods like iron ships and stream engines.Britain made and owned more than half the worlds total shipping. This great industrial empire was supported by a strong banking system developed during the 18th cent. Industrialists had built the railways to transport goods in order to bring down the cost of transport. By 1840 2 400 miles of track had been laid connecting not only the industrial towns of the north, but also Birmingham, London. In 1851 the government made the railway companies provide passenger trains which stopped at all stations a fare of one penny per mile.In the second half of the 18th cent middle class(was a small class of merchants, traders, and small farmers) increased with the rise of industrialists and factory owners. In the19th cent the middle class grew quickly and included differences of wealth, social position and kinds of work. The cities and towns were overcrowded and unhealthy. In 1832 outbreak of cholera killed 31 000 people. From 1846 the most important political figure was Lord Palmerston. P. was known for liberalism in his foreign policy. He believed that despotic states discouraged free trade, and he openly supported European liberal and independent movements.From 1865 developed two parties, Tory or Conservative and Liberal. New voters began to choose a different kind of MP, men from commercial rather than the landowning class. Gladstone the new Liberal leader had been a factory owner.Queen Victoria came to the throne as a young woman in 1837 and reigned until her death in 1901. Victoria married a German, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, but he died of 42 in 1861. She couldnt get over at his death and for a long time refused to been seen in public. Newspapers began to criticize her. Many radicals believed the end of monarchy.So she took a more 12.public interest in the business of the kingdom and soon became an extraordinarily popular.Queen and empire. Britains had first been built on trade and the need to defend this against rival European countries. Britain watched the oceans carefully to make sure its trade routes were safe, and fought wars to protect its areas of interest.After about 1850 Britain was driven more by fear of growing European competition than by commercial need. This led to the taking of land, the creation of colonies, and to colonial wars. Fear that Russia would advance southwards towards India resulted in a disastrous war in Afghanistan (1839-1842), in which one army was destroyed by Afghan forces in the mountains. When Russia and Ottoman Turkey went to war Britain joined to the Turks against Russia in Crimea in 1854, in order to stop Russian expansion into Asiatic Turkey in the Black Sea area.In Africa, Britains first interest had been the slave trade on the west coast.Christianity became a tool for building a commercial and political empire in Africa. Wales, Scotland and Ireland. As industrialisation continued, the areas at the edge of British economic power became weaker. Wales had fewer problems than either Scotland or Ireland. In south Wales there were rich coal mines which quickly became the centre of a rapidly growing coal and steel industry. By 1870 Wales was mainly an industrial society.The parliamentary reforms of the19th cent gave Wales a new voice. Wales was divided between the industrial areas and the unchanged areas of old Wales, in the center and the north. Scotland was also divided between a new industrial area, around Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the Highland and Lowlands. Around the two great cities there were coal mines and factories producing steel and iron. Scotland became Liberal when its workforce gained voting rights. The Irish experience was worse than that of Scotland. The struggle for Irish freedom from English rule became a struggle between Catholic and Protestant. The first great victory for Irish freedom was when Catholics were allowed to become MPs in 1829. Ireland suffered the worst disaster in its entire history. For three years 1845, 1846, 1847 the potato crop which was the main food of the poor, failed. 20 % of people died of hunger. Most settled in the United States. Now emigration from Ireland continues.Education and culture. In 1875 and in 1891 two education acts were passed. As a result of these all children had to go to school up to the age of 13, where they were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. In Scotland there had been a state education system since the time of the Reformation. There were 4 Scottish universities.England started to build redbrick universities. They taught more science and technology. The face of the towns had changed in the middle of the century. Apart from museums, parks, swimming pools and libraries recently opened in towns, the real popular social centre remained pub. From the middle of the century many people had started to use the railway to get to work. By the end of the19th cent two sports -cricket and football became popular.

13. Constitutional monarchy. Parliament and the government. Britain is a constitutional democracy. That means, it is a country governed by a king or a queen who accepts the advice of a parliament. It is also a parliamentary democracy. That is, it is a country whose government is controlled by a parliament, which has been elected by the people. Britain is almost alone among modern states where there is no constitution at all. Instead, the principles and procedures by which the country is governed and from which peoples rights are derived come from a number of different sources. Some of them are written down in Acts of Parliament (also called laws or statutes), others are regulated by conventions, which are commonly accepted assumptions about the way things should be done, mostly based on precedents. So, all the rules and laws are based on historic events. Parliament in GB has its own history. A thousand years ago the AngloSaxon kings consulted the Great Council, in 1215 the nobles forced King John to accept Magna Carta, which took away some of the kings powers. In 1258 the nobles, under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, took over the government and elected a council. De Montfort called it a parliament.This parliament took control of the treasury and forced Henry 3d to get rid of his foreign advisors. Edward I brought together the first real parliament. He was the first to create a representative institution for establishing taxes. This institution became the House of Commons. In 1275 Edward I commanded each shire and each town to send two representatives to his parliament. In the 14 th century, when Edward III asked for money from his parliament, they asked to see the royal accounts. It was an important development because for the first time the king allowed himself to be accountable to Parliament. Parliament became organized in two parts: the Lords and the Commons, which represented the middle class. The Tudors (1485-1603) tried to call Parliament only when they had a particular job for it. Henry VII started to use Parliament for regular law making. Henry VIII, by inviting Parliament to make new laws for the Reformation, gave it a level of authority it had never had before. During the 16th century power moved from the House of Lords to the House of Commons.Until the end of the Tudor period Parliament was supposed to do three things: agree to the taxes needed; make the laws which the Crown suggested; and advise the Crown, but only when asked to do so. In order for Parliament to fulfill its functions, MPs were given important rights: freedom of speech.King James II had ruled for two years without a parliament, and had used powers that almost all sections of the people considered to be unjustified. By the end of 1688 he found himself deserted, even by his army, 13.and he left for France.Parliament made William king.Parliament was now beyond the question more powerful than the king, and would remain so. The following acts gave the parliament its power - The Bill of Rights (1689) was the first legal step towards constitutional monarchy. This Bill prevented the monarch from making laws without Parliaments approval, guaranteed freedom of speech in Parliament.The power of Parliament has grown steadily, while the power of the monarch has weakened. Today the reigning monarch is not only head of state but also symbol of the unity of the nation. The monarchy is hereditary, the succession passing automatically to the oldest male child, or in the absence of males, to the oldest female offspring of the monarch.The powers of the monarch are to summon(or suspend until the next session) and dissolve Parliament; to give royal assent to legislation passed by Parliament; to appoint government ministers, judges officers of the armed forces, governors, diplomats and bishops of the Church; to confer honours.The parliament consists of two chambers the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The life of Parliament is divided into periods called sessions.The Commons hold their seats 5 years, elected either at a general election, which takes place after a Parliament is dissolved and a new one is summoned by the Sovereign, or at by-election held when a vacancy occurs in the House as a result of the death of an MP or as a result of elevation a member to the House of Lords.The Speaker is the chief officer of the House of Commons. The Speaker has two main functions: representing the House in its relations with the Crown, the House of Lords and other authorities and presiding over the House and enforcing the observance of all rules which govern its conduct. The Speaker controls discussion in the House. The work of the House of Commons is regulated by an elaborate code of procedure set out in Standing Orders, but there are also practices established by custom and precedent. The Leader of the House (appointed by the government) agrees with the Prime Minister the general business, including debates, which they want. The Government determines the order in which the business will be taken, after consultation with the Opposition. Twenty opposition days each session allow the Opposition to choose the subject for debate.The British Parliament is the legislative body, which makes laws. Every bill brought in by the Government has been approved first by the Cabinet, and a minister is put in charge of it. A draft law takes the form of a parliamentary bill. The preparation of the text may take many months, with long consultations involving civil servants in the ministers department on the one hand and Parliamentary Counsel on the other. The bills go through a number of stages. The First Reading is just a formal announcement that the bill is coming forward, with no debate. After the text has been in circulation for a week at least, a day is provided in the timetable for the debate on the Second Reading. The House debates the general principles and objectives of the bill and takes a vote. The most important thing about this stage is not the final decision, but the arguments for and against, the discussion from many points of view. At the Committee stage, a committee of MPs examines the details of the bill and votes on amendments to parts of it. Then comes the Report stage, when the House itself repeats the committee stage, though taking much less time. The House has before it the new text of the bill, incorporating the committees amendments. These amendments are now decided upon, or withdrawn again, pending further discussion in the House of Lords. The Third Reading considers the revised bill in its final form; the debate is fairly short and the vote is taken if necessary. Then the bill is sent to the House of Lords, where it goes through the same stages. If the Lords make new amendments, these will be considered by the Commons. After both Houses have reached agreement, the bill is sent to the Queen for royal assent and becomes an Act of Parliament that can be applied as part of the law. Parliament has other things to do as well as pass bills. The Government cannot legally spend any money without the permission of the House of Commons. This permission is given in the form of Acts of Parliament. Before the annual Appropriation Bill is passed the House of Commons votes on some two hundred items of expenditure. The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by a prominent Opposition MP, examines the departmental accounts with the help of the National Audit Office. The House of Commons still keeps in close contact with taxation. Each year the taxes are authorized by a Finance Act, which is based on the Budget presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in March. The House of Lords used to have and has got now no elected members and no fixed numbers. Members of the House of Lords consist of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. Law Lords (senior judges) also sit as Lords Temporal. Throughout history there had been two main categories of members of the house: 1) Those who succeeded to hereditary peerages, and thus hold their seats by right of succession; 2) Those who have been created as peers (or bishops); that is, those on whom peerages, with the right to sit in the House of Lords, have been conferred by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister in office at the time of the conferment.One of the oldest functions of the House of Lords is judicial as the highest and final Court of Appeal.

The modern House of Lords is a forum for public discussion. Because its members do not depend on party politics for their position, it is sometimes able to bring important matters that the Commons has been ignoring into the open.The debates in the House of Lords are part of the general process of discussion in the nation as a whole, and may stimulate government action.The PM chooses a committee of ministers called the Cabinet. The modern government is arranged in about fifteen departments. (The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, education etc.).Most governments consist of about one hundred ministers, but the essential core is the Cabinet, the sixteen to twenty-four senior ministers invited by the Prime Minister to belong to it. Each member of the Cabinet is a minister responsible for a government department. The Prime Minister decides who is to be in each committee, what each one has to do, and what matters are included in the full cabinets agenda. He or she has also the power to appoint all ministers, and to dismiss any of them at any time. Cabinet government demands collective responsibility and confidentiality. In theory it has two.aspects, in its modern form. First, the House of Commons may force any minister to resign. Second, because the ministers responsibility is not only individual but collective, if the Commons force one minister to resign the others either disown him or resign as well.The country is divided into counties, boroughs and parishes. Cities and large towns in England and Wales are divided into 36 Metropolitan Districts and 32 London Boroughs are responsible for: collection of council tax; planning; roads and traffic; housing; building; regulations; safety in public places; collection of rubbish; disposal of rubbish; education; social services; libraries; leisure and recreation. The rest of England and all the Scotland is divided into 10 Regions (Scotland) 47 Counties (England and Wales) and they are responsible for practically the same things. All local authorities derive their existence and their powers and functions from Parliament and the central government. Parliament can take powers away or add to them, and even abolish any particular authority. The system of local government is very similar to the system of national government. There are elected representatives, called councillors (the equivalent of MPs). They meet in a council chamber in the Town Hall or County Hall (the equivalent of Parliament), where they make policy, which is implemented by local government officers (the equivalent of civil servants).Every local council has its presiding officer, chosen by the whole council for one year only. In metropolitan and London boroughs the presiding officer has the title Mayor or Lord Mayor; so too in those districts which are called boroughs or cities.All local councils work through committees. Each council has a committee for each of the main sections of its work; for example the general management of the schools in a county or a metropolitan district is under the control of the education committee of the county or district council. Local councils are allowed to collect one kind of tax. This is a tax based on property. All other kinds of taxes are collected by central government.Local councils are unable to raise enough money in this way for them to provide the necessary services. And about half of a local councils income is given to it by central government in the form of grants, fixed by complex formulae and paid for out of national tax revenues. The rest is raised locally, by local taxation and by the collection of rents, fees and payments on property or services provided by the council.

14. The earliest political parties - informal groups supporting powerful figures in Parliament. By the 1640s - 2parties in the country: supporting King CharlesI - the Cavaliers, the supporters of Parliament - the Roundheads. By the late 17th century these groups had evolved into 2definite parties, the Royalists and those supporting parliamentary supremacy. The opponents - the Royalists Tories. The Tories retorted by calling the Parliamentarians Whigs. The Whigs party emerged in 1679 voicing the interests of the financial and trading classes, which were opposed to the policy of CharlesII, who tried to restore the absolute powers of monarchy after the English revolution (1640-60). The Liberal Party, which used to be 1 of the2 major parties, traces its origins to the Whigs, Peelites and Radicals - political groups of the 17th-18th centuries. The Conservative Party emerged from the Tories in the 1830s on the basis of political groups of the English landed aristocracy and was officially organized in 1867. These parties, later known as the Conservatives and the Liberals. The Whigs were for limited monarchy, the supremacy of Parliament, the Toleration Act and the Protestant succession, hostility to France, the development of commerce, and the security of property. Their political allies - the Dissenters, the members of a religious union who did not accept the ornate complexities of the Church of England as the only possible house of God. In 1868, William Gladstone, the famous British politician of the 19th century, was elected Liberal prime minister, which suggests that by this date the party was well established in British political life. Since the first half of the 19th century - two-party system. Until 1918 the Conservatives (Tories) and Liberals (formerly Whigs) took turns at holding power. The Labour Party, formed in 1900 in alliance with the Liberals, replaced them as the 2nd major party. Since 1945 one of the big parties has, by itself, controlled the government, and members of these two parties have occupied more than 90% of all the seats in the House of Commons. During the 19thc - the habit that the party, which did not control the government, presented itself as an alternative government. The leader of the2nd biggest party in the Hof Commons receives the title Leader of Her Majestys Opposition.Today the two-party contest-between the Conservative P and the Labour P, which emerged at the end of the 19thc.The L.party proves current political issues containing measures, which the future Labour government intends to implement if the party takes office as result of the general elections. It tends to put the collective wellbeing of society above individual freedom. At each conference the unions and other sections of the party elect 28 representatives on the National Executive Committee (NEC), which makes decisions week by week. 14.The leader and the deputy leader of the party are elected by an electoral college consisting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, affiliated organizations (largely trade unions), and individual members.The Conservative Party (the official name The National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations) is the party of the Right, identified with the idea of economic freedom, minimal government interference in the economy. It gives emphasis to the maintenance of strong armed forces to protect British interests. It has no official permanent programme.The Scottish National Party and its Welsh equivalent Plaid Cymru usually succeed in winning a few seats in their countries. Plaid Cymru(formed in 1925)emphasizes Welsh cultural autonomy. The SNP(1934) supports a separate Scottish Parliament and is willing to consider total independence from the UK. The referendum on devolution held in 1997 in Scotland and Wales received approval in both countries and led to the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly of Wales.The foundations of the electoral system were laid in the Middle Ages. The franchise (right to vote) became universal for men by stages in the 19th century. In 1832 The Great Reform Bill abolished very small boroughs, where electors could easily be persuaded who to vote for. About 5% of the adult 19. population had the right to vote in elections. In 1867 the franchise was extended to include most of the male workers in towns. In 1872 the secret ballot was introduced; until then voting had been by a show of hands. In 1918 women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote, and in 1928 women were given the franchise on the same basis as men. All adults over 21 then obtained the right to vote. In 1969 the minimum voting age was reduced to 18. For electoral purposes the UK is divided into constituencies, each one of which elects a MP to sit in the H of Commons. All British citizens may vote.Voting is not compulsory.At an election the people choose a Parliament for five years and no more.Voting is held on the same day (usually a Thursday) in all constituencies.MPs are normally chosen by the constituency branch of the party, from a list of suitable candidates issued by the party headquarters. The candidate in a constituency who gains most votes is returned as Member to the Commons.The Trade Union Congress is a single nationwide organization with about 80unions affiliated to it and a total union membership of 9 million. One of the main powers of these union bodies is to decide how to vote at the annual Labour Party conferences, not only on questions of party policy but also on the choice of the unions members of the Partys National Executive Committee. More than a third of the Labour MPs are sponsored by 1 or another of 8 big unions. And abt a dozen other unions have one or more sponsored MPs to represent their interests in the House of Commons.