1.
Godfrey Kneller
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Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in the Free City of Lübeck, the son of Zacharias Kniller, a portrait painter. Kneller studied in Leiden, but became a pupil of Ferdinand Bol, the brothers came to England in 1676, and won the patronage of the Duke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of, Charles II, in England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until William Hogarth, nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was appointed Principal Painter to the Crown by Charles II, in the 1690s, Kneller painted the Hampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received his knighthood from William III. He produced a series of Kit-cat portraits of 48 leading politicians and his paintings were praised by Whig luminaries such as John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Alexander Pope. On the landing in Horsham Museum hang works of art from the Museums extensive painting collection, featuring a large 18th-century portrait of Charles Eversfield and his wife, in the painting Eversfield is giving his wife some violets which signifies fidelity, love and honesty. It is likely that the picture was cut down at some time as it was unusual to stop just below the knee and he married a widow, Susanna Grave, on 23 January 1704 at St Brides Church, London. She was the daughter of the Reverend John Cawley, Archdeacon of Lincoln and Rector of Henley-on-Thames, Kneller died of fever in 1723 at Great Queen Street and his remains were interred at Twickenham. He had been a churchwarden at St Marys, Twickenham when the 14th-century nave collapsed in 1713 and was active in the plans for the reconstruction by John James. His widow was buried at Twickenham on 11 December 1729, a memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey. Knellers will gave a pension of £100 a year to his assistant Edward Byng, Byng also inherited the drawings in Knellers studio. Kneller and his wife had no children together, the site of the house Kneller built in 1709 in Whitton, near Twickenham, became occupied by the mid-19th century Kneller Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Music. As to thinking better or worse of mankind from experience, some cunning people will not be satisfied unless they have put men to the test, there is a very good story told of Sir Godfrey Kneller, in his character of a Justice of the peace. In his hometown Lübeck there are works to be seen in the St. Annen Museum and his former works at St. Marys Church were destroyed by the Bombing of Lübeck 1942. A large oil portrait of James VII of Scotland hangs on the staircase of private members Club, The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia
2.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
3.
Roundhead
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Roundhead was the name given to the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against Charles I of England and his supporters, the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy, the goal of the Roundhead party was to give the Parliament supreme control over executive administration. Most Roundheads sought constitutional monarchy in place of the absolutist monarchy sought by Charles I, englands many Puritans and Presbyterians were almost invariably Roundhead supporters, as were many smaller religious groups such as the Independents. However many Roundheads were Church of England, as were many Cavaliers, Roundhead political factions included the proto-anarchist Diggers, the diverse group known as the Levellers and the apocalyptic Christian movement of the Fifth Monarchists. Some Puritans, but by no means all, wore their hair closely cropped round the head or flat, during the war and for a time afterwards, Roundhead was a term of derision—in the New Model Army it was a punishable offence to call a fellow soldier a Roundhead. This contrasted with the term Cavalier to describe supporters of the Royalist cause, Roundheads appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when the debates in Parliament in the Clergy Act 1640 were causing riots at Westminster. The demonstrators included London apprentices and Roundhead was a term of derision for them because the regulations to which they had agreed included a provision for closely cropped hair. However, Richard Baxter ascribes the origin of the term to a made by Queen Henrietta Maria of France at the trial of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Referring to John Pym, she asked who the man was. The principal advisor to Charles II, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, remarked on the matter and they who were looked upon as servants to the king being then called Cavaliers, and the other of the rabble contemned and despised under the name of Roundheads. By the end of this period some Independent Puritans were again using the term Roundhead to refer to the Presbyterian Puritans. Likewise during the Exclusion Bill crisis, the term Cavalier was replaced with Tory, an Irish term introduced by their opponents, the History of England from the Accession of James II. Historical Memorials Relating to the Independents Or Congregationalists, From Their Rise to the Restoration of the Monarchy, religious Thought in England, from the Reformation to the End of Last Century, A Contribution to the History of Theology. Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, The Reason Behind Rhyme, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Anonymous
4.
Charles I of England
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Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was the son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England. He became heir apparent to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones on the death of his brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Two years later, he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France instead, after his succession, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the right of kings and thought he could govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent and he supported high church ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to aid Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years War. From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War, after his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors demands for a constitutional monarchy, re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwells New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a called the Commonwealth of England was declared. The monarchy was restored to Charless son, Charles II, in 1660, the second son of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. James VI was the first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth I of England, in mid-July 1604, Charles left Dunfermline for England where he was to spend most of the rest of his life. His speech development was slow, and he retained a stammer, or hesitant speech. In January 1605, Charles was created Duke of York, as is customary in the case of the English sovereigns second son, Thomas Murray, a Presbyterian Scot, was appointed as a tutor. Charles learnt the usual subjects of classics, languages, mathematics, in 1611, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Eventually, Charles apparently conquered his physical infirmity, which might have been caused by rickets and he became an adept horseman and marksman, and took up fencing. Even so, his public profile remained low in contrast to that of his stronger and taller elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. However, in early November 1612, Henry died at the age of 18 of what is suspected to have been typhoid, Charles, who turned 12 two weeks later, became heir apparent
5.
English Civil War
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The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of Englands government. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The term English Civil War appears most often in the singular form, the war in all these countries are known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Unlike other civil wars in England, which focused on who should rule, this war was more concerned with the manner in which the kingdoms of England, Scotland, the two sides had their geographical strongholds, such that minority elements were silenced or fled. The strongholds of the royalty included the countryside, the shires, on the other hand, all the cathedral cities sided with Parliament. All the industrial centers, the ports, and the advanced regions of southern and eastern England typically were parliamentary strongholds. Lacey Baldwin Smith says, the words populist, rich, at times there would be two groups of three lines allowing one group to reload while the other group arranged themselves and fired. Mixed in among the musketeers were pikemen carrying pikes that were between 12 feet and 18 feet long, whose purpose was to protect the musketeers from cavalry charges. The Royalist cavaliers skill and speed on horseback led to early victories. While the Parliamentarian cavalry were slower than the cavaliers, they were better disciplined. The Royalists had a tendency to chase down individual targets after the initial charge leaving their forces scattered and tired, Cromwells cavalry, on the other hand, trained to operate as a single unit, which led to many decisive victories. The English Civil War broke out fewer than forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, in spite of this, James personal extravagance meant he was perennially short of money and had to resort to extra-Parliamentary sources of income. Charles hoped to unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland into a new single kingdom, many English Parliamentarians had suspicions regarding such a move because they feared that setting up a new kingdom might destroy the old English traditions which had bound the English monarchy. As Charles shared his fathers position on the power of the crown, at the time, the Parliament of England did not have a large permanent role in the English system of government. Instead, Parliament functioned as an advisory committee and was summoned only if. Once summoned, a continued existence was at the kings pleasure. Yet in spite of this role, Parliament had, over the preceding centuries. Without question, for a monarch, Parliaments most indispensable power was its ability to tax revenues far in excess of all other sources of revenue at the Crowns disposal
6.
Ship money
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Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs could levy by prerogative without the approval of Parliament. The Plantagenet kings of England had exercised the right of requiring the maritime towns and counties to furnish ships in time of war, in 1619 James I aroused no popular opposition by levying £40,000 of ship money on London and on other seaport towns. In 1634, Charles made a treaty with Philip IV of Spain to assist him against the Dutch. To raise funds for this assistance William Noy, the Attorney-General, the distinctive feature of the writ of 1634 was that it was issued, contrary to all precedent, in time of peace. This demand excited growing popular discontent, which now began to see in it a determination on the part of the King to dispense altogether with parliamentary government. The judges again, at Charless request, gave an opinion favourable to the prerogative, Ship money was enough of a financial success to help Charles to meet peacetime government expenditures in the 1630s. Payment was, however, refused by John Hampden, a wealthy Buckinghamshire gentleman landowner, Hampden was defended by Oliver St John and Robert Holborne. The Solicitor-General, Sir Edward Littleton, and the Attorney-General, Sir John Banks, Hampden lost the case, seven judges to five. The narrowness of the case encouraged others to refuse the tax, as matters deteriorated in England and Scotland starting with the Bishops War, ship money would prove insufficient to finance the kings military needs. It would later be stopped by the Long Parliament when they voted the Ship Money Act 1640, Hampden went on to Parliamentary and Civil War leadership, only to die early on at the Battle of Chalgrove Field. Finally, half a century later, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, the Ship Money Act 1640 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Law Quarterly Review 52, p.546, the Ship Money Case, The Case of Shipmony, and the Development of Henry Parkers Parliamentary Absolutism. The Historical Journal, Vol.32, No
7.
Five Members
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When rumours reached the court that they were also planning to impeach the Queen for alleged involvement in Catholic plots, Charles decided to arrest them for treason. The counterclaim was that the King had an Irish army set to reduce the kingdom, the Speaker of the House during the Long Parliament was William Lenthall. On Tuesday,4 January 1642, the King entered the House of Commons to seize the Five Members, and sat in the speakers chair. Lenthall fell on his knees and replied, May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in place but as the House is pleased to direct me. However, he consented to appear as a witness against Thomas Scot in the wave of prosecutions of the regicides in 1660 which followed the Restoration of the Monarchy. The action of the king was the catalyst for the Civil War, the beheading of the king, after his failure to capture the Five Members and fearing for his familys lives, King Charles left London for Oxford. Most of the royalist members of Parliament joined him there, where they formed the Oxford Parliament, the Long Parliament continued to sit during and beyond the Civil War without its royalist members, because of the Dissolution Act. The power of the system was further undermined in the second half of the fourteenth century in the Black Death. Her 1588 Tilbury speech shows the relationship between monarch and people of the day, a ruler somewhat constrained by the will of the people. Thus it was that Speaker Lenthalls reply to the King implemented the effect of the Triennial Act, at his approach the doors to the Commons Chamber are slammed in his face, symbolising the rights of parliament and its independence from the monarch. He bangs forcefully with the end of his ceremonial staff three times on the doors which are then opened to him. This is a show of the refusal by the Commons ever again to be entered by force by the monarch or one of their servants when the House is sitting, simkin, John, Five Members, Spartacus Educational, retrieved May 2013
8.
House of Commons of England
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In 1801, with the union of Great Britain and Ireland, that house was in turn replaced by the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Parliament of England developed from the Magnum Concilium that advised the English monarch in medieval times and this royal council, meeting for short periods, included ecclesiastics, noblemen, as well as representatives of the counties. The chief duty of the council was to approve taxes proposed by the Crown, in many cases, however, the council demanded the redress of the peoples grievances before proceeding to vote on taxation. The first parliament to invite representatives of the towns was Montforts Parliament in 1265. At the Model Parliament of 1295, representatives of the boroughs were admitted, thus, it became settled practice that each county send two knights of the shire, and that each borough send two burgesses. Any show of independence by burgesses would thus be likely to lead to the exclusion of their towns from Parliament, the knights of the shire were in a better position, although less powerful than their noble and clerical counterparts in what was still a unicameral Parliament. They formed what became known as the House of Commons, while the clergy, although they remained subordinate to both the Crown and the Lords, the Commons did act with increasing boldness. The Commons even proceeded to some of the Kings ministers. Mare was soon released after the death of King Edward III, during the reign of the next monarch, Richard II, the Commons once again began to impeach errant ministers of the Crown. They began to insist that they could control both taxation and public expenditures, despite such gains in authority, however, the Commons still remained much less powerful than the Lords and the Crown. The influence of the Crown was increased by the wars of the late fifteenth century. Both houses of Parliament held little power during the years. The domination of the monarch grew further under the House of Tudor in the sixteenth century and this trend, however, was somewhat reversed when the House of Stuart came to the English throne in 1603. The first two Stuart monarchs, James I and Charles I, provoked conflicts with the Commons over issues such as taxation, religion, and royal powers. The differences between Charles I and Parliament were great, and resulted in the English Civil War, in which the forces of Parliament were victorious. In December 1648 the House of Commons was purged by the New Model Army, prides Purge was the only military coup in English history. Subsequently, King Charles I was beheaded and the Upper House was abolished, in 1653, when leading figures in this Parliament began to disagree with the army, it was dissolved by Oliver Cromwell. However, the monarchy and the House of Lords were both restored with the Commons in 1660, the influence of the Crown had been decreased, and was further diminished after James II was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Bill of Rights 1689 was enacted
9.
Glorious Revolution
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The crisis facing the king came to a head in 1688, with the birth of the kings son, James Francis Edward Stuart, on 10 June. This changed the line of succession by displacing the heiress presumptive with young James Francis Edward as heir apparent. The establishment of a Roman Catholic dynasty in the kingdoms now seemed likely, stadtholder William, the de facto head of state of the Dutch United Provinces, feared a Catholic Anglo–French alliance and had already been planning a military intervention in England. After consolidating political and financial support, William crossed the North Sea and English Channel with an invasion fleet in November 1688. After only two minor clashes between the two opposing armies in England, and anti-Catholic riots in several towns, Jamess regime collapsed, however, this was followed by the protracted Williamite War in Ireland and Dundees rising in Scotland. In Englands distant American colonies, the led to the collapse of the Dominion of New England. By threatening to withdraw his troops, William in February 1689 convinced a newly chosen Convention Parliament to make him, the Revolution permanently ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England. The Revolution led to limited tolerance for Nonconformist Protestants, although it would be some time before they had political rights. Internationally, the Revolution was related to the War of the Grand Alliance on mainland Europe and it has been seen as the last successful invasion of England. It ended all attempts by England in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century to subdue the Dutch Republic by military force, the expression Glorious Revolution was first used by John Hampden in late 1689, and is an expression that is still used by the British Parliament. The Glorious Revolution is also termed the Bloodless Revolution, albeit inaccurately. Jamess greatest political problem was his Catholicism, which left him alienated from both parties in England. The low church Whigs had failed in their attempt to pass the Exclusion Bill to exclude James from the throne between 1679 and 1681, and Jamess supporters were the high church Anglican Tories. In Scotland, his supporters in the Parliament of Scotland stepped up attempts to force the Covenanters to renounce their faith, when James inherited the English throne in 1685, he had much support in the Loyal Parliament, which was composed mostly of Tories. His Catholicism was of concern to many, but the fact that he had no son, Jamess attempt to relax the Penal Laws alienated his natural supporters, however, because the Tories viewed this as tantamount to disestablishment of the Church of England. The majority of Irish people backed James II for this reason, by allying himself with the Catholics, Dissenters, and Nonconformists, James hoped to build a coalition that would advance Catholic emancipation. In May 1686, James decided to obtain from the English courts of the law a ruling that affirmed his power to dispense with Acts of Parliament. He dismissed judges who disagreed with him on this matter as well as the Solicitor General Heneage Finch, eleven out of the twelve judges ruled in favour of dispensing power
10.
Bill of Rights 1689
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The Bill of Rights is an Act of the Parliament of England that deals with constitutional matters and sets out certain basic civil rights. It sets out certain rights of individuals including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, furthermore, the Bill of Rights described and condemned several misdeeds of James II of England. These ideas reflected those of the political thinker John Locke and they became popular in England. It also sets out—or, in the view of its drafters, restates—certain constitutional requirements of the Crown to seek the consent of the people, a separate but similar document, the Claim of Right Act 1689, applies in Scotland. The Bill of Rights 1689 was one of the inspirations for the United States Bill of Rights, along with the Act of Settlement 1701, the Bill of Rights is still in effect in all Commonwealth realms. Following the Perth Agreement in 2011, legislation amending both of them came into effect across the Commonwealth realms on 26 March 2015, during the early modern period, the power of the Parliament of England continually increased. Passage of the Petition of Right in 1628 and Habeas Corpus Act in 1679 established certain liberties for subjects, the idea of a political party took form with groups debating rights to political representation during the Putney Debates of 1647. The English Civil War was fought between the King and an oligarchic but elected Parliament, in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, a group of English Parliamentarians invited the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau to overthrow King James II of England. Williams successful invasion with a Dutch fleet and army led to James fleeing to France and this assembly called for an English Convention Parliament to be elected, which convened on 22 January 1689. On 2 February a committee specially convened reported to the Commons 23 Heads of Grievances and it passed the Commons without division. On 13 February the clerk of the House of Lords read the Declaration of Right, William replied for his wife and himself, We thankfully accept what you have offered us. They then went in procession to the gate at Whitehall. The Garter King at Arms proclaimed them King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, whereupon they adjourned to the Chapel Royal and they were crowned on 11 April, swearing an oath to uphold the laws made by Parliament. They were also to maintain the laws of God, the profession of the Gospel. This replaced an oath which had deferred more to the monarch, the previous oath required the monarch to rule based on the laws and customs. Granted by the Kings of England, the Declaration of Right was enacted in an Act of Parliament, the Bill of Rights 1689, in December 1689. The Act declared James flight from England following the Glorious Revolution to be an abdication of the throne and it listed twelve of Jamess policies by which James designed to endeavour to subvert and extirpate the protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom. The Bill of Rights is commonly dated in legal contexts to 1688 and this convention arises from the legal fiction that an Act of Parliament came into force on the first day of the session in which it was passed
11.
Victorian era
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The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victorias reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities, the era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period. The later half of the Victorian age roughly coincided with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe, culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts. The end of the saw the Boer War. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts in the direction of political reform, industrial reform. Two especially important figures in period of British history are the prime ministers Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone. Disraeli, favoured by the queen, was a gregarious Conservative and his rival Gladstone, a Liberal distrusted by the Queen, served more terms and oversaw much of the overall legislative development of the era. The population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901, Scotlands population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. However, Irelands population decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the Great Famine. Between 1837 and 1901 about 15 million emigrants departed the UK permanently, in search of a life in the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia. During the early part of the era, politics in the House of Commons involved battles between the two parties, the Whigs/Liberals and the Conservatives. These parties were led by such prominent statesmen as Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, Gladstone, Disraeli, Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign until 1901 was mainly a time of peace, Britain reached the zenith of its economic, political, diplomatic and cultural power. The era saw the expansion of the second British Empire, Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era as Britains Golden Years. There was prosperity, as the income per person grew by half. There was peace abroad, and social peace at home, opposition to the new order melted away, says Porter. The Chartist movement peaked as a movement among the working class in 1848, its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade unions
12.
Palace of Westminster
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The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and for ceremonial purposes, the building is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker. The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, part of the New Palaces area of 3.24 hectares was reclaimed from the Thames, which is the setting of its nearly 300-metre long façade, called the River Front. Barry was assisted by Augustus Pugin, an authority on Gothic architecture and style. The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom, Westminster has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, the Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Palace of Westminster site was important during the Middle Ages. Known in medieval times as Thorney Island, the site may have been first-used for a residence by Canute the Great during his reign from 1016 to 1035. St Edward the Confessor, the penultimate Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, Thorney Island and the surrounding area soon became known as Westminster. Neither the buildings used by the Anglo-Saxons nor those used by William I survive, the oldest existing part of the Palace dates from the reign of William Is successor, King William II. The Palace of Westminster was the principal residence in the late Medieval period. The predecessor of Parliament, the Curia Regis, met in Westminster Hall, simon de Montforts parliament, the first to include representatives of the major towns, met at the Palace in 1265. The Model Parliament, the first official Parliament of England, met there in 1295, in 1512, during the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII, fire destroyed the royal residential area of the palace. In 1534, Henry VIII acquired York Place from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, renaming it the Palace of Whitehall, Henry used it as his principal residence. Although Westminster officially remained a royal palace, it was used by the two Houses of Parliament and by the various law courts. Because it was originally a residence, the Palace included no purpose-built chambers for the two Houses. Important state ceremonies were held in the Painted Chamber which had originally built in the 13th century as the main bedchamber for King Henry III. The House of Commons, which did not have a chamber of its own, the Commons acquired a permanent home at the Palace in St Stephens Chapel, the former chapel of the royal palace, during the reign of Edward VI
13.
State Opening of Parliament
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The State Opening of Parliament is an event which formally marks the beginning of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It includes a speech from the known as the Queens Speech. The State Opening is an elaborate ceremony showcasing British history, culture and contemporary politics to large crowds and it takes place in the House of Lords chamber, usually in May or June, in front of both Houses of Parliament. The monarch, wearing the Imperial State Crown, reads a speech that has prepared by his or her government outlining its plans for that year. A State Opening may take place at times of the year if an election is held early due to a vote of no confidence in the government. In 1974, when two general elections were held, there were two State Openings, Queen Elizabeth II has opened every session of Parliament since her accession, except in 1959 and 1963 when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward respectively. Those two sessions were opened by Lords Commissioners, headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, empowered by the Queen, the Lord Chancellor read the Queens Speech on those occasions. The State Opening is a ceremony of several parts, First. The Plot of 1605 involved an attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the Protestant King James I. Since that year, the cellars have been searched, now largely, the peers assemble in the House of Lords wearing their robes. They are joined by representatives of the judiciary and members of the diplomatic corps. The Commons assemble in their own chamber, wearing ordinary day dress, before the monarch departs Buckingham Palace the Treasurer, Comptroller and Vice-Chamberlain of the Queens Household deliver ceremonial white staves to her. The tradition stems from the time of Charles I, who had a relationship with Parliament and was eventually beheaded in 1649 during the Civil War between the monarchy and Parliament. A copy of Charles Is death warrant is displayed in the room used by the Queen as a ceremonial reminder of what can happen to a Monarch who attempts to interfere with Parliament. Before the arrival of the sovereign, the Imperial State Crown is carried to the Palace of Westminster in its own State Coach, from the Victoria Tower, the Crown is passed by the Queens Bargemaster to the Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlains office. It is then carried, along with the Great Sword of State, traditionally, members of the armed forces line the procession route from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. The Royal Standard is hoisted to replace the Union Flag upon the Sovereigns entrance, Black Rod turns and, under the escort of the Door-keeper of the House of Lords and a police inspector, approaches the doors to the Chamber of the Commons. Since that time, no British monarch has entered the House of Commons when it is sitting, on Black Rods approach, the doors are slammed shut against him, symbolising the rights of parliament and its independence from the monarch
14.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
15.
Hampden House
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Hampden House is a country house in the village of Great Hampden, between Great Missenden and Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. It is named after the Hampden family, the Hampdens are recorded as owning the site from before the Norman conquest. They lived continually in the house until 1938, the core of the present house is Elizabethan. However the south wing known, for some reason, as King Johns tower dates to the 14th century. This tower is constructed of clunch, a building material peculiar to Buckinghamshire, the tower has traceried Gothic windows and the remains of the original spiral staircase. A legend, relevant to this part of the house, is that King Edward III, during the stay the prince and his Hampden host were jousting, when a quarrel arose, during which the prince was punched in the face by his host. This act of lèse majesté caused the king and Prince to quit the place in great wrath, there is, however no documentary evidence for this act, or of the subsequent revenge although the Black Prince is known to have possessed land in nearby Princes Risborough during his life. The greater part of the house was rebuilt in brick in the 17th century. The East wing overlooking the gardens is of a severe classical 18th century style, the chief feature of the grounds is The Great Avenue through the woods bordered by rhododendrons and ancient oaks. It is terminated by two small lodges known, because of their design, as the Pepper Pots and this style predates the so-called invention of Strawberry Hill Gothic at Horace Walpoles house by nearly twenty years. The interior of the house was remodelled at this time, when a suite of magnificent state rooms were created with remarkable rococo ceilings. One fireplace is of especial note carved by Sir Henry Cheere, the 60-foot-long, panelled, Great Hall with its huge fireplace is the largest room in the house. He had earlier achieved fame and notoriety by his refusal to pay the Ship Money tax, Hampden was prosecuted for refusing to pay the tax on his lands in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. He was tried and found guilty, and consequently became a public hero, the spot where he refused to pay is marked by a monument in the grand avenue at Hampden House, although the exact location of the actual site is in dispute. Like many old and aristocratic families the Hampdens, for generations closely associated with the Whig party, large parts of the estate were sold until only the house and its immediate surroundings remained in the familys hands. The family never regained its former position or wealth. The true male line of the Hampden family eventually died out, in 1824 the 5th Earl of Buckinghamshire inherited Hampden House and its estates from the heirless Hampden family. His ancestor, Sir John Hobart, 3rd baronet, had married Mary Hampden, the 5th Earl then joined the Hampden name to his own
16.
Great and Little Hampden
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Great and Little Hampden is a civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, about three miles south-east of Princes Risborough. It incorporates the villages of Great Hampden and Little Hampden, Great Hampden is the ancestral home of the Hobart-Hampden family, the most famous of whom was the English Civil War hero John Hampden. The villages were first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and it was also at about this time that Hampden House, the house belonging to the Hobart-Hampden family was rebuilt. After the death of John Hampden, a cross was erected just above the lane leads from Hampden House to the nearby village of Prestwood. Where the cross stands is reputed to be the spot where John Hampden stood when he first refused to pay the Ship Money tax in 1636, however the nearby village of Great Kimble also claims to be the place where he refused to pay the tax. From the cross there is a view of the Chiltern Hills, Hampden himself is buried at the church in Great Hampden, in an unmarked grave. His first wife had a tablet in her honour erected in the chancel. In the 19th century the floor below this tablet was lifted, Great Hampden church stands a mile or so from the village. Its isolation made it a location for some scenes in the 1970 film Cromwell. In more modern times Hampden House was used extensively by the Hammer film studios as the perfect backdrop for many of their films. The nave of Little Hampden Church was built in the 13th Century, there are 13th century wall paintings of saints inside that were discovered in 1907, however they are incomplete due to a major rebuild of the chancel in 1859. Opposite the church is Manor Farm which is white plastered, Hampden, Massachusetts St Mary Magdalenes, Great Hampden Great Hampden grid reference SP845015 Little Hampden SP859037
17.
Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
18.
Norman conquest of England
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Williams claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor, who may have encouraged Williams hopes for the throne. Edward died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, within days, William landed in southern England. Harold marched south to confront him, leaving a significant portion of his army in the north, Harolds army confronted Williams invaders on 14 October at the Battle of Hastings, Williams force defeated Harold, who was killed in the engagement. Although Williams main rivals were gone, he faced rebellions over the following years and was not secure on his throne until after 1072. The lands of the resisting English elite were confiscated, some of the elite fled into exile, to control his new kingdom, William granted lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints throughout the land. More gradual changes affected the classes and village life, the main change appears to have been the formal elimination of slavery. There was little alteration in the structure of government, as the new Norman administrators took over many of the forms of Anglo-Saxon government. In 911 the Carolingian French ruler Charles the Simple allowed a group of Vikings under their leader Rollo to settle in Normandy as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for the land, the Norsemen under Rollo were expected to provide protection along the coast against further Viking invaders and their settlement proved successful, and the Vikings in the region became known as the Northmen from which Normandy and Normans are derived. The Normans quickly adopted the culture, renouncing paganism and converting to Christianity. They adopted the langue doïl of their new home and added features from their own Norse language, in 1002 King Æthelred the Unready married Emma of Normandy, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their son Edward the Confessor, who spent many years in exile in Normandy, childless and embroiled in conflict with the formidable Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his sons, Edward may also have encouraged Duke William of Normandys ambitions for the English throne. When King Edward died at the beginning of 1066, the lack of a clear heir led to a succession in which several contenders laid claim to the throne of England. Edwards immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, Harold was immediately challenged by two powerful neighbouring rulers. William and Harald at once set about assembling troops and ships to invade England, in early 1066, Harolds exiled brother, Tostig Godwinson, raided southeastern England with a fleet he had recruited in Flanders, later joined by other ships from Orkney. Threatened by Harolds fleet, Tostig moved north and raided in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, but he was back to his ships by the brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia. Deserted by most of his followers, he withdrew to Scotland, King Harald Hardrada invaded northern England in early September, leading a fleet of more than 300 ships carrying perhaps 15,000 men. Haralds army was augmented by the forces of Tostig, who threw his support behind the Norwegian kings bid for the throne
19.
Oliver Cromwell
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Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Cromwell was born into the gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIIIs minister Thomas Cromwell. Little is known of the first 40 years of his life as only four of his letters survive alongside a summary of a speech he delivered in 1628. He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a conversion in the 1630s. He was a religious man, a self-styled Puritan Moses. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short and he entered the English Civil War on the side of the Roundheads or Parliamentarians. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles Is death warrant in 1649 and he was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–1650. Cromwells forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country, during this period, a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics, and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651, as a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the Royalists returned to power in 1660, and they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell, sponsored by military historian Richard Holmes was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. Katherine married Morgan ap William, son of William ap Yevan of Wales, Henry suggested to Sir Richard Williams, who was the first to use a surname in his family, that he use Cromwell, in honour of his uncle Thomas Cromwell. They had ten children, but Oliver, the child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Jasper was the uncle of Henry VII and great uncle of Henry VIII, Cromwells paternal grandfather Sir Henry Williams was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire. Cromwells father Robert was of modest means but still a part of the gentry class, as a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300 a year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes, Cromwell himself in 1654 said, I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity. He was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St Johns Church and he went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos
20.
The Crown
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The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their sub-divisions, although the term is not only a metonym for the State. The Crown is a sole that represents the legal embodiment of executive, legislative. These monarchies are united by the union of their monarch. The concept of the Crown developed first in the Kingdom of England as a separation of the crown and property of the nation state from the person. The concept spread through English and later British colonisation and is now rooted in the lexicon of the other 15 independent realms. In this context it should not be confused with any physical crown, the concept of the Crown took form under the feudal system. Though not used this way in all countries that had this system, in England, all rights, land, for instance, was granted by the Crown to lords in exchange for feudal services and they, in turn, granted the land to lesser lords. One exception to this was common socage—owners of land held as socage held it only to the Crown. The Crown as ultimate owner of all property also owns any property which has become bona vacantia, the monarch is the living embodiment of the Crown and, as such, is regarded as the personification of the state. He office cannot exist without the office-holder, the Crown also represents the legal embodiment of executive, legislative, and judicial governance. While the Crowns legal personality is usually regarded as a sole, it can, at least for some purposes. Historically, the Crown was considered to be indivisible, two judgments—Ex parte Indian Association of Alberta and Ex parte Quark —challenged that view. The Crown in each of the Commonwealth realms is a similar, because both Canada and Australia are federations, there are also crowns in right of each Canadian province and each Australian state. The Succession to the Crown Law 2013 defined the Crown, for the purposes of implementing the Perth Agreement in Jersey law, as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Jersey. Legislation in the Isle of Man also defines the Crown in right of the Isle of Man as being separate from the Crown in right of the United Kingdom and this constitutional concept is also worded as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The reserve powers of the Crown for each territory are no longer considered to be exercisable on the advice of the UK government, often cases are brought by the Crown according to the complaint of a claimant. The title of the case follows the pattern of R v Y. Thus R v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union is R v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, where Miller is Gina Miller, in Scotland, criminal prosecutions are undertaken by the Lord Advocate in the name of the Crown
21.
Thame
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Thame /teɪm/ is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 9 miles east of the city of Oxford and 7 miles southwest of the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury. It derives its toponym from the River Thame which flows along the side of the town. The parish includes the hamlet of Moreton south of the town, the 2011 Census recorded the parishs population as 11,561. Thame was founded in the Anglo-Saxon era and was in the kingdom of Wessex, Thame Abbey was founded in 1138 for the Cistercian Order, the abbey church was consecrated in 1145. In the 16th century Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey was suppressed, Thame Park was built on the site, incorporating parts of the abbey including the early-16th-century abbots house. Its interior is one of the earliest examples of the Italian Renaissance in England, a Georgian west wing was added in the 18th century. In about 1840 parts of the foundations of the church were excavated, it was 77 yards long and 23 yards wide. The earliest feature of the Church of England parish church of Mary the Virgin is the 12th-century base of the font, the fonts octagonal bowl was re-cut in the 13th century. The present church is a building that was built in the 13th century. The chancel is Early English Gothic and was built in about 1220, with six windows in its north wall. Whatever lancet windows may have been in the south wall were replaced with three two-light Decorated Gothic windows with reticulated tracery, and a double piscina was added at the same time. The transepts and tower arches are also early 13th century, the nave has five-bay north and south aisles whose arcades were built in about 1260. The aisles were widened in the 14th century, when they acquired their Decorated Gothic windows, the Decorated Gothic south porch has two storeys and a two-bay quadripartite vault. The Perpendicular Gothic clerestory is 14th or early 15th century, in the 15th century the tower piers were strengthened and the two upper stages of the tower were built. In 1442 the north transept was rebuilt with five-light Perpendicular Gothic north, at about the same time the south transept acquired similar windows and was extended eastwards to form a chapel with a 15th-century piscina. The Perpendicular Gothic nave west window was inserted in 1672–73, making it an example of Gothic survival, in 1838 the north aisle north wall was rebuilt under the direction of George Wilkinson. The tower has a ring of eight bells, all cast by Mears, the Prebendal House is known to have existed by 1234, The Early English Gothic chapel was built in about 1250. The solar is also 13th-century but was enlarged in the 14th, the rest of the Prebendal House dates is 15th centuries
22.
Commoner
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The terms common people, common man, commoners, or the masses denote a broad social division referring to ordinary people who are members of neither royalty nor nobility nor the priesthood. Since the 20th century, the common people has been used in a more general sense to refer to typical members of society in contrast to highly privileged. In Europe, a concept analogous to common people arose in the Classical civilization of ancient Rome around the 6th century BC. The division may have been instituted by Servius Tullius, as an alternative to the clan based divisions that had been responsible for internecine conflict. The ancient Greeks generally had no concept of class and their leading social divisions were simply non-Greeks, free-Greeks, with the growth of Christianity in the 4th century AD, a new world view arose that would underpin European thinking on social division until at least early modern times. Saint Augustine postulated that social division was a result of the Fall of Man, the three leading divisions were considered to be the priesthood, the nobility, and the common people. Sometimes this would be expressed as those who prayed, those who fought, the Latin terms for the three classes – oratores, bellatores and laboratores – are often found even in modern textbooks, and have been used in sources since the 9th century. This threefold division was formalised in the system of social stratification. They were the third of the Three Estates of the Realm in medieval Europe, consisting of peasants, social mobility for commoners was limited throughout the Middle Ages. Generally, the serfs were unable to enter the group of the bellatores, commoners could sometimes secure entry for their children into the oratores class, usually they would serve as rural parish priests. There were cases of serfs becoming clerics in the Holy Roman Empire, though from the Carolingian era, of the two thousand bishops serving from the 8th to the 15th century, just five came from the peasantry. Up until the late 15th-century European social order was relatively stable, there were periods where the common people felt oppressed in certain regions, but often they were content with their lot. The social and political order of medieval Europe was shaken by the development of the cannon in the 15th century. Up until that time a noble with a force could hold their castle or walled town for years even against large armies -. Once effective cannons were available, walls were of far less defensive value and this change of orientation among the nobles left the common people less content with their place in society. A similar trend occurred regarding the clergy, where many priests began to abuse the power they had due to the sacrament of contrition. An early major social upheaval driven in part by the common peoples mistrust of both the nobility and clergy occurred in Great Britain with the English Revolution of 1642, after the forces of Oliver Cromwell triumphed, movements like the Levellers rose to prominence demanding equality for all. According to historian Roger Osbourne, the Colonels speech was the first time a prominent person spoke in favour of male suffrage
23.
Magdalen College, Oxford
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Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. As of 2014, the college had a financial endowment of £180.8 million. Magdalen stands next to the River Cherwell and has within its grounds a deer park and Addisons Walk. The large, square Magdalen Tower is an Oxford landmark, and it is a tradition, dating to the days of Henry VII, Magdalen College was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. The founders statutes included provision for a foundation of men and boys. The college received another substantial endowment from the estate of Sir John Fastolf of Caister Castle in Norfolk, another unrelated college named Magdalen Hall adjacent to Magdalen College eventually became part of Hertford College. Magdalens prominence since the mid-20th century owes much to such famous fellows as C. S. Lewis and A. J. P. Taylor, women were first admitted to the college in 1979. In 2015, Magdalen topped Oxfords Norrington Table of college undergraduate examination results, the college has large grounds, close to the city centre. They stretch north and east from the college, and are most of the bounded by Longwall Street, the High Street. This large meadow occupies most of the north west of the grounds, from the New Buildings. During the winter and spring, it is the home of a herd of Fallow Deer and it is possible to view the meadow from the path between New Buildings and Grove Quad, and also from the archway in New Buildings. In the 16th century, long before the introduction of the deer, the grove consisted of gardens, orchards, during the Civil War, it was used to house a regiment of soldiers. At one point in the 19th century it was home to three traction engines belonging to the department of the college. By the 20th century it had become well-wooded with many large trees and this triangular meadow lies to the east of the college, bounded on all sides by the River Cherwell. In the spring, it is filled with the flower Fritillaria meleagris and these flowers grow in very few places, and have been recorded growing in the meadow since around 1785. Once the flowering has finished, the deer are moved in for the summer, in wet winters, some or all of the meadow may flood, as the meadow is lower lying than the surrounding path. All around the edge of the meadow is a tree-lined path and it is a beautiful and tranquil walk, favoured by students, dons, and visitors alike. It also links the college with Holywell Ford, and the Fellows Garden, located to the north east of the Meadow, directly behind the new building of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
24.
Inner Temple
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The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales and it is located in the wider Temple area of the capital, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London. The Inn is a body that provides legal training, selection. It is ruled by a council called Parliament, made up of the Masters of the Bench, and led by the Treasurer. The Temple takes its name from the Knights Templar, who leased the land to the Temples inhabitants until their abolition in 1312. The Inner Temple was a society from at least 1388. After a disruptive early period it flourished, becoming the second largest Inn during the Elizabethan period, the Inner Temple expanded during the reigns of James I and Charles I, with 1,700 students admitted between 1600 and 1640. The First English Civil Wars outbreak led to a suspension of legal education. Following the English Restoration the Inner Templars welcomed Charles II back to London personally with a lavish banquet. After a period of decline in the 18th century, the following 100 years saw a restoration of the Temples fortunes, with buildings constructed or restored, such as the Hall. Much of this work was destroyed during The Blitz, when the Hall, Temple, Temple Church, rebuilding was completed in 1959, and today the Temple is a flourishing and active Inn of Court, with over 8,000 members. The Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court, along with Grays Inn, Lincolns Inn, and the Middle Temple. The Inns are responsible for training, regulating, and selecting barristers within England and Wales, the Temple is an independent, unincorporated organisation, and works as a trust. It has approximately 8,000 members and around 450 apply to join per year, the original Temple covered much of what is now the northern part of Chancery Lane, which the Knights created to provide access to their new buildings. The old Temple eventually became the London palace of the Bishop of Lincoln, after the Reformation it became the home of the Earl of Southampton, and the location is now named Southampton Buildings. The first group of lawyers came to live here during the 13th century, the Knights fell out of favour, and the order was dissolved in 1312, with the land seized by the king and granted to the Knights Hospitaller. The Hospitallers probably did not live on the property, but rather used it as a source of revenue through rent, during the 12th and 13th centuries, the law was taught in the City of London, primarily by the clergy. As a result, the system of education fell apart
25.
Parliament of England
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The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Over the centuries, the English Parliament progressively limited the power of the English monarchy which arguably culminated in the English Civil War, the Act of Union 1707 merged the English Parliament with the Parliament of Scotland to form the Parliament of Great Britain. When the Parliament of Ireland was abolished in 1801, its members were merged into what was now called the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under a monarchical system of government, monarchs usually must consult, early kings of England had no standing army or police, and so depended on the support of powerful subjects. The monarchy had agents in every part of the country, however, under the feudal system that evolved in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the laws of the Crown could not have been upheld without the support of the nobility and the clergy. The former had economic and military bases of their own through major ownership of land. The Church was virtually a law unto itself in this period as it had its own system of law courts. In order to seek consultation and consent from the nobility and the clergy on major decisions. A typical Great Council would consist of archbishops, bishops, abbots, barons and earls, when this system of consultation and consent broke down, it often became impossible for government to function effectively. The most prominent instances of prior to the reign of Henry III are the disagreements between Thomas Becket and Henry II and between King John and the barons. Becket, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury between 1162 and 1170, was murdered following a long running dispute with Henry II over the jurisdiction of the Church. John, who was king from 1199 to 1216, aroused such hostility from many leading noblemen that they forced him to agree to Magna Carta in 1215, johns refusal to adhere to this charter led to civil war. The Great Council evolved into the Parliament of England, the term itself came into use during the early 13th century, deriving from the Latin and French words for discussion and speaking. The word first appears in documents in the 1230s. As a result of the work by historians G. O. Sayles and H. G. Richardson, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the kings began to call Knights of the Shire to meet when the monarch saw it as necessary. A notable example of this was in 1254 when sheriffs of counties were instructed to send Knights of the Shire to parliament to advise the king on finance, initially, parliaments were mostly summoned when the king needed to raise money through taxes. Following the Magna Carta this became a convention and this was due in no small part to the fact that King John died in 1216 and was succeeded by his young son Henry III. Leading peers and clergy governed on Henrys behalf until he came of age, among other things, they made sure that Magna Carta would be reaffirmed by the young king
26.
Cornwall
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Cornwall is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, Cornwall has a population of 551,700 and covers an area of 3,563 km2. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the south-west peninsula of the island of Great Britain, and this area was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. It continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age peoples, there is little evidence that Roman rule was effective west of Exeter and few Roman remains have been found. In the mid-19th century, however, the tin and copper mines entered a period of decline, subsequently, china clay extraction became more important and metal mining had virtually ended by the 1990s. Traditionally, fishing and agriculture were the important sectors of the economy. Railways led to a growth of tourism in the 20th century, however, the area is noted for its wild moorland landscapes, its long and varied coastline, its attractive villages, its many place-names derived from the Cornish language, and its very mild climate. Extensive stretches of Cornwalls coastline, and Bodmin Moor, are protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cornwall is the homeland of the Cornish people and is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. Some people question the present constitutional status of Cornwall, and a nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the United Kingdom in the form of a devolved legislative Cornish Assembly. On 24 April 2014 it was announced that Cornish people will be granted minority status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The modern English name Cornwall derives from the concatenation of two ancient demonyms from different linguistic traditions, Corn- records the native Brythonic tribe, the Cornovii. The Celtic word kernou is cognate with the English word horn. -wall derives from the Old English exonym walh, the Ravenna Cosmography first mentions a city named Purocoronavis in the locality. This is thought to be a rendering of Duro-cornov-ium, meaning fort of the Cornovii. The exact location of Durocornovium is disputed, with Tintagel and Carn Brea suggested as possible sites, in later times, Cornwall was known to the Anglo-Saxons as West Wales to distinguish it from North Wales. The name appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 891 as On Corn walum, in the Domesday Book it was referred to as Cornualia and in c.1198 as Cornwal. Other names for the county include a latinisation of the name as Cornubia, the present human history of Cornwall begins with the reoccupation of Britain after the last Ice Age. The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods and it continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age people. The Common Brittonic spoken at the time developed into several distinct tongues
27.
Wendover (UK Parliament constituency)
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It was represented by two Members of Parliament, and was considered a classic example of a pocket borough. Wendover first sent members to Parliament in 1300, but after 1308, hakewill himself was elected for Amersham in 1624. The borough consisted of most of the town of Wendover in Buckinghamshire. It was one of the smallest boroughs in England, in 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 802, the right to vote was exercised by all inhabitant householders not receiving alms, which amounted to about 130 voters in 1831
28.
Short Parliament
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The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks. After 11 years of attempting Personal Rule, Charles recalled Parliament in 1640 on the advice of Lord Wentworth and he was forced to call the Short Parliament primarily to obtain money to finance his military struggle with Scotland in the Bishops Wars. John Hampden, in contrast, was persuasive in private, he sat on nine committees, charless attempted offer to cease the levying of ship money did not impress the members of parliament. A flood of petitions concerning abuses were coming up to Parliament from the country and it was followed by the Long Parliament. List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1640 List of Parliaments of England David Plant, The Short Parliament John Hampden in the Short Parliament
29.
Long Parliament
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The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament which had held for three weeks during the spring of 1640, and which in its turn had followed an 11-years parliamentary absence. In September 1640 writs were issued summoning a parliament to convene on 3 November 1640 by King Charles I, the parliament was summoned to pass financial bills, a step that was necessary as a result of the cost of the Bishops Wars. It sat from 1640 until 1648, when it was purged by the New Model Army and this cleared the way for a new Parliament to be elected, which was known as the Convention Parliament. But many of original members of Long Parliament, such as were barred from the final acts of the Long Parliament. He believed its republican principles made it a precursor to the American Revolutionary War, instead, the Parliament quickly proceeded to impeach William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, of high treason, on 18 December. John Finch was impeached the following day, and he fled to the Netherlands with Charless permission on 21 December. The Parliament was initially influenced by John Pym and his supporters, Pym rose in his place and entered into a particular enumeration of the troubles of the kingdom. Early in the Long Parliaments proceedings, the house also unanimously accused the Earl of Strafford of high treason and this marked a new unanimity in Irish politics, whereby Old English, Gaelic Irish and New English settlers joined together in a legal body to present evidence against governor Strafford. However, the evidence supplied indirectly by Henry Vane the Elder through his son in relation to Straffords alleged improper use, Vane the Elder, on the Kings Privy Council, remained completely loyal to his King. These handwritten notes of the elder Vane obtained by Henry Vane the Younger were confirmed by independent testimony, Pym immediately moved a Bill of Attainder, asserting Straffords guilt and ordering that he be put to death. Charles, however, promised Strafford that he would not sign the attainder, the Lords opposed the severity of the death sentence imposed upon Strafford, but increased tensions and an attempted army coup in support of Strafford began to sway the issue. On 21 April, the Bill went virtually unopposed in the Commons, Charles, fearing for his familys safety, signed the death warrant on 10 May. Strafford was beheaded two days later, with the King having been implicated, the Long Parliament passed the Triennial Act, also known as the Dissolution Act, in May 1641, to which the Royal Assent was readily granted. In the meantime both Parliament and the King agreed to an independent investigation of royal involvement in Straffords plot. This Triennial Act required Parliament to be summoned at least once every three years, and stipulated that when the King failed to issue proper summons, the members could assemble on their own. The very doctrine of modern freedoms have, to some degree, on 3 May, Parliament issued the Protestation of 1641, attacking the wicked counsels of Charless government. Those who signed the petition undertook to defend the reformed religion, Parliament, and the kings person, honour
30.
John Eliot (statesman)
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Sir John Eliot was an English statesman who was serially imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he eventually died, by King Charles I for advocating the rights and privileges of Parliament. The son of Richard Eliot and Bridget Carswell, he was born at Cuddenbeak and he was baptised on 20 April at St Germans Church, immediately next to Port Eliot. The Eliot family were an old Devon family that had settled in Cornwall and he also spent some months travelling in France, Spain and Italy, in company, for part of the time, with young George Villiers, afterwards 1st Duke of Buckingham. Eliot was only twenty-two when he began his career as Member of Parliament for St Germans in the Addled Parliament of 1614. It was not long before the energy with which he performed the duties in his office involved him in difficulties. A few weeks after his release, Eliot was elected Member of Parliament for Newport, in the first Parliament of Charles I, in 1625, he urged the enforcement of the laws against the Roman Catholics. Meanwhile, he had continued the friend and supporter of Buckingham, Buckinghams incompetence, however, and the bad faith with which both he and the King continued to treat the parliament, alienated Eliot. Distrust of his former friend quickly grew in Eliots mind to a certainty of his criminal ambition and he immediately demanded an inquiry into the recent disaster at Cádiz. On 27 March, he made an open and daring attack upon Buckingham and his administration. On 8 May, he was one of the managers who carried Buckinghams impeachment to the Lords and, on 10 May, he delivered the charges against him, next day, Eliot was sent to the Tower. When the Commons declined to proceed with business as long as Eliot and Sir Dudley Digges were in confinement, they were released, in February the great question of the right of the King to levy tonnage and poundage came up for discussion. In consequence, Eliot, with eight members, was imprisoned on 4 March in the Tower. He refused to answer in his examination, relying on his parliamentary privilege and, while some of the prisoners appear to have had certain liberty allowed to them, Eliots confinement in the Tower was made exceptionally severe. In the spring of 1632, he fell into a decline, in October he petitioned Charles for permission to go into the country, but leave could be obtained only at the price of submission and was finally refused. He died of consumption on 27 November 1632, and was buried at St Peters Ad Vincula Church within the Tower. When his son requested permission to move the body to St Germans, Charles refused, saying, Eliot was a great orator, inspired by enthusiasm and high ideals, which he was able to communicate to his hearers by his eloquence. In 1668, the House of Lords reversed his conviction, restating the law in Strodes case, affirming that the conviction. was an illegal judgment, Richard Eliot was the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot and Rhadigund Geddy. Richard went to the University of Oxford at his fathers suggestion and he became embroiled at Oxford in various difficulties, which are mentioned without further detail in his fathers writings
31.
John Pym
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John Pym was an English parliamentarian, leader of the Long Parliament and a prominent critic of Kings James I and then Charles I. He was one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest by King Charles I in the House of Commons of England in 1642 sparked the Civil War, in addition to this Pym went ahead and started to accuse William Laud of trying to convert England back to Catholicism. Pym was born in Brymore, Cannington, Somerset, into minor nobility and his father died when he was very young and his mother remarried, to Sir Anthony Rous. Pym was educated in law at Broadgates Hall in 1599 and went on to the Middle Temple in 1602. In May 1614, he married Anne Hooke of Bramshott in Hampshire, aunt of Robert Hooke and daughter of John Hooke and Anthony Rouss sister Barbara, who bore five of his children. This marriage established Pym as a member of the Rous circle and he entered politics through the influence of the Earl of Bedford, working for the Exchequer in Wiltshire before entering Parliament for Calne, Wiltshire in 1614. Despite his Puritanism he gained a reputation in Parliament, although he was relentless in his campaigning against Roman Catholics. After the dissolution of Parliament in 1621 he was one of those placed under house-arrest in January 1622, in 1624 he changed his seat, representing Tavistock, Devon, for the rest of his career. In 1626 he was one of the movers of the attempted impeachment of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. He also supported Edward Coke who presented the Petition of Right to Charles in 1628, Charles I later granted Maynwaring and Sibthorpe royal pardons and signaled his support by naming Sibthorpe a royal chaplain. In the interval between Parliaments he was treasurer of the Providence Island Company from 1630, linking him to a small, intense group of Puritan opponents to the King. In the Short Parliament of 13 April to 4 May 1640 he made one of the speeches that led to its dissolution, what would become the Long Parliament first met in November 1640—Pym had avoided an accusation of treason and rose to leader of the opposition to the king. He was notable in defending the powers of Parliament, he initiated the attacks on the Earl of Strafford and William Laud. It is probable that he used popular supporters to stage riots. However, many moderate Members of Parliament were alienated by the radical momentum, led by the Puritan opposition to Charles I. Pym was one of Five Members sought for arrest when the King entered the House of Commons on 5 January 1642 but, forewarned, they had already fled, to return to some acclamation a week later. This shows how great an emphasis Charles placed on Pyms leadership of the Puritan opposition group, when the English Civil War began in 1642, Pym became involved in solving the financial problems of the Parliamentary side, heading the Committee of Safety from 4 July 1642. These two things laid firm foundations for Parliaments success in 1645–6 because it now had financial and military resources far beyond those of the Royalists, Pym died, probably of cancer, at Derby House on 8 December 1643 and was buried in Westminster Abbey
32.
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
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Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, KB, PC was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the 17th century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, however, he was unable and unwilling to score a decisive blow against the Royalist army of King Charles I. He was eventually overshadowed by the ascendancy of Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax, Robert Devereux was the son and heir of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, the courtier and soldier from the later reign of Queen Elizabeth I. His mother was Frances Walsingham, the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. He was born at the home of his grandmother, Lady Walsingham, in Seething Lane and he was educated at Eton College and Merton College, Oxford, being created MA by the university in 1605. The 2nd Earl led a rebellion against Elizabeth in 1601. He was subsequently executed for treason and the family lost its title, however, King James I chose to restore it after he became King of England. In 1604, Robert Devereux became the 3rd Earl of Essex, the young earl became a close friend of Henry Stuart, Prince of Wales, who was three years Essexs junior. Essex was married at age 13 to the 14-year-old Frances Howard, he was sent on a European tour from 1607 to 1609. Meanwhile, his wife began an affair with Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester, after Essexs return, Frances sought an annulment on the grounds of impotence. Essex claimed that he was impotent with her and had been perfectly capable with other women, adding that she reviled him, and miscalled him, terming him a cow and coward. The divorce was a spectacle and it made Essex a laughing-stock at court. The annulment was granted on 25 September 1613, and Frances Howard married her lover, Both were condemned to death, but the sentence was never carried out. On 11 March 1630 Essex married Elizabeth Pawlett, daughter of Sir William Pawlett, of Edington, Wiltshire, past High Sheriff of Wiltshire and cousin of William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester. Elizabeth was introduced at Court during the Great Parliament of 1628/29 just after her father died, back from travels in military service on the Continent Robert was also pressured to marry again to show the Court the humiliation from his first marriage could be overcome. This marriage was also a disaster and failed, though not as publicly and they separated in 1631, the Countess remaining at Essex House in the Strand, London, Robert playing soldiers at his estates. There was a son from the union, Robert, styled Viscount Hereford, Elizabeth, through her funeral oration by her second husband Sir Thomas Higgons vigorously denied this. It has recently suggested that Essex suffered from male hormone deficiency, leading to failure to consummate his first marriage
33.
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
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Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English statesman who served as Lord Chancellor to King Charles II from 1658, two years before the Restoration of the Monarchy, until 1667. He was loyal to the king and built-up the royalist cause and he was one of the most important historians of England, as author of the most influential contemporary history of the Civil War, The History of the Rebellion. He was the grandfather of two monarchs, Queen Mary II and Queen Anne. Hyde was the son of Henry Hyde of Dinton and Purton. Henrys brother was Sir Lawrence Hyde, Attorney General, the family of Hyde was long established at Norbury in Cheshire. Hyde was fond of his mother and idolised his father, whom he called the best father, the best friend, and the wisest man I have known. He was educated at Gillingham School, and in 1622 entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, having been rejected by Magdalen College, Oxford, and graduated BA in 1626. Intended originally for holy orders in the Church of England, the death of two brothers made him his fathers heir, and in 1625 he entered the Middle Temple to study law. Of the most excellent men in their several kinds that lived in that age and these included Ben Jonson, John Selden, Edmund Waller, John Hales and especially Lord Falkland, who became his best friend. From their influence and the reading in which he indulged, he doubtless drew the solid learning. The diarist Samuel Pepys wrote thirty years later that he never knew anyone who could speak as well as Hyde and he was one of the most prominent members of the famous Great Tew Circle, a group of intellectuals who gathered at Lord Falklands country house Great Tew, Oxfordshire. In 1633 he was called to the bar, and obtained quickly a good position and practice, both his marriages gained him influential friends, and in December 1634 he was made keeper of the writs and rolls of the Court of Common Pleas. In April 1640, Hyde was elected Member of Parliament for both Shaftesbury and Wootton Bassett in the Short Parliament and chose to sit for Wootton Bassett. Hyde opposed legislation restricting the power of the King to appoint his own advisors, viewing it unnecessary and he gradually moved over towards the royalist side, championing the Church of England and opposing the execution of the Earl of Strafford, Charless primary advisor. Following the Grand Remonstrance of 1641, Hyde became an advisor to the King. He left London about 20 May 1642, and rejoined the king at York, in February 1643, Hyde was knighted and was officially appointed to the Privy Council, the following month he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. Despite his own opposition to the King he found it hard to forgive anyone, even a close friend, who fought for Parliament. His view of the conflict and of his opponents was undoubtedly coloured by the death of his best friend Lord Falkland at the First Battle of Newbury in September 1643
34.
Lord Chancellor
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The Lord Chancellor, formally the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. They are appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, the Lord Chancellor is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking after only the Lord High Steward. Prior to the Union there were separate Lords Chancellor for England and Wales, the Lord Chancellor is a member of the Cabinet and, by law, is responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts. In 2007 there were a number of changes to the legal system, the current Lord Chancellor is Elizabeth Truss, who is also Secretary of State for Justice. One of the Lord Chancellors responsibilities is to act as the custodian of the Great Seal of the Realm, a Lord Keeper of the Great Seal may be appointed instead of a Lord Chancellor. The two offices entail exactly the same duties, the distinction is in the mode of appointment. The seal is then said to be in commission, since the 19th century, however, only Lord Chancellors have been appointed, the other offices having fallen into disuse. The office of Lord Chancellor of England may trace its origins to the Carolingian monarchy, in England, the office dates at least as far back as the Norman Conquest, and possibly earlier. Some give the first Chancellor of England as Angmendus, in 605, other sources suggest that the first to appoint a Chancellor was Edward the Confessor, who is said to have adopted the practice of sealing documents instead of personally signing them. A clerk of Edwards, Regenbald, was named chancellor in some documents from Edwards reign, in any event, the office has been continuously occupied since the Norman Conquest. The chancellor headed the office or chancery. Formerly, the Lord Chancellor was almost always a churchman, as during the Middle Ages the clergy were amongst the few men of the realm. The Lord Chancellor performed multiple functions—he was the Keeper of the Great Seal, the royal chaplain. Thus, the position emerged as one of the most important ones in government and he was only outranked in government by the Justiciar. As one of the Kings ministers, the Lord Chancellor attended the curia regis or Royal Court, if a bishop, the Lord Chancellor received a writ of summons, if an ecclesiastic of a lower degree or, if a layman, he attended without any summons. The curia regis would later evolve into Parliament, the Lord Chancellor becoming the prolocutor of its upper house, as was confirmed by a statute passed during the reign of Henry VIII, a Lord Chancellor could preside over the House of Lords even if not a Lord himself. The Lord Chancellors judicial duties also evolved through his role in the curia regis, petitions for justice were normally addressed to the King and the curia, but in 1280, Edward I instructed his justices to examine and deal with petitions themselves as the Court of Kings Bench. Important petitions were to be sent to the Lord Chancellor for his decision, by the reign of Edward III, this chancellery function developed into a separate tribunal for the Lord Chancellor
35.
Cavalier
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It was later adopted by the Royalists themselves. Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles Is cavalry, is considered to be an archetypal Cavalier. Cavalier derives from the same Latin root as the French word chevalier, Cavalier is chiefly associated with the Royalist supporters of King Charles I in his struggle with Parliament in the English Civil War. Charles, in the Answer to the Petition 13 June 1642 speaks of Cavaliers as a word by what mistake soever it seemes much in disfavour, Cavalier was not understood at the time as primarily a term describing a style of dress, but a whole political and social attitude. Most Parliamentarian generals wore their hair at much the length as their Royalist counterparts. The best patrons in the nobility of Charles Is court painter Sir Anthony van Dyck, probably the most famous image identified as of a cavalier, Frans Hals Laughing Cavalier, shows a gentleman from the strongly Calvinist Dutch town of Haarlem, and is dated 1624. These derogatory terms also showed what the typical Parliamentarian thought of the Royalist side – capricious men who cared more for vanity than the nation at large. Although they did not share the same outlook on how to worship God as the English Independents of the New Model Army, if I forget Thee, do not forget me. However, the word was coined by the Roundheads as a propaganda image of a licentious, hard drinking and frivolous man. It is this image which has survived and many Royalists, for example Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, fitted this description to a tee. Of all his qualifications dissimulation was his masterpiece, in which he so much excelled and this sense has developed into the modern English use of cavalier to describe a recklessly nonchalant attitude, although still with a suggestion of stylishness. Likewise during Exclusion Bill crisis the term Roundhead was replaced with Whig, an example of the Cavalier style can be seen in the painting Charles I, King of England, from Three Angles by Anthony van Dyck. The mascot of Cavalier has been commonly used in the sports world. Most prominently it has been that of the professional Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA since 1970 and it has also been adopted by smaller organizations such as Johnson County Community College, Kankakee Community College, St. Gregorys University, and the University of Virginias College at Wise. Cavaliers have been represented as a class and subclass of role-playing character since 1983 in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Cavalier Generals, King Charles I and His Commanders in the English Civil War, 1642–46. Going to the Wars, The Experience of the British Civil Wars 1638-1651, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Goring, George Goring, Lord. Clarendon, Edward Hyde, 1st earl of, the history of the rebellion and civil wars in England. The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution 1688, the Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660
36.
Committee
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A committee is a body of one or more persons that is subordinate to a deliberative assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to them more fully than would be possible if the assembly itself were considering them. Committees may have different functions and the type of work that each committee does would depend on the type of organization, a deliberative assembly may form a committee consisting of one or more persons to assist with the work of the assembly. For larger organizations, much work is done in committees and they may have the advantage of widening viewpoints and sharing out responsibilities. They can also be appointed with experts to recommend actions in matters that require specialized knowledge or technical judgment, a governance committee is formed as a separate committee to review the performance of the board and board policy as well as nominate candidates for the board. Coordination and administration A large body may have smaller committees with more specialized functions, examples are an audit committee, an elections committee, a finance committee, a fundraising committee, and a program committee. Large conventions or academic conferences are organized by a coordinating committee drawn from the membership of the organization. Research and recommendations Committees may be formed to do research and make recommendations on a potential or planned project or change, discipline A committee on discipline may be used to handle disciplinary procedures on members of the organization. However, this could be considered a dilatory tactic, generally, committees are required to report to their parent body. Committees do not usually have the power to act unless the body that created it gives it such power. When a committee is formed, a chairman is designated for the committee, sometimes a vice-chairman is also appointed. It is common for the chairman to organize its meetings. The chairman is responsible for running meetings, duties include keeping the discussion on the appropriate subject, recognizing members to speak, and confirming what the committee has decided. Using Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, committees may follow informal procedures, the level of formality depends on the size and type of committee, in which sometimes larger committees considering crucial issues may require more formal processes. Minutes are a record of the decisions at meetings and they can be taken by a person designated as the secretary. For most organizations, committees are not required to keep formal minutes, however, some bodies require that committees take minutes, especially if the committees are public ones subject to open meeting laws. Committees may meet on a basis, such as weekly or more often. The frequency of the meetings depend on the work of the committee, when the committee completes its work, it provides the results in a report to its parent body
37.
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
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George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, KG, was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite—and a lover—of King James I, George Villiers was born in Brooksby, Leicestershire, on 28 August 1592, the son of the minor gentleman Sir George Villiers. His mother Mary, daughter of Anthony Beaumont of Glenfield, Leicestershire, was left an early and educated him for a courtiers life. Villiers took very well to the set by his mother, he could dance and fence well, spoke a little French. Bishop Godfrey Goodman declared Villiers to be the man in all of England, his limbs so well compacted, and his conversation so pleasing. In August 1614 at age twenty-one, Villiers caught the eye of James I at a hunt in Apethorpe, opponents of the kings favourite Robert Carr saw an opportunity to usurp the Earl of Somerset and began promoting Villiers. Money was raised to purchase Villiers a new wardrobe, and intense lobbying secured his appointment as Royal Cupbearer, a position that allowed him to make conversation with the king. Villiers began to appear as a dancer in masques from 1615, in which he could exhibit his grace of movement and beauty of body, under the kings patronage Villiers advanced rapidly through the ranks of the nobility, and his court appointments grew in importance. In 1615 he was knighted as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, in 1616, when he was made Master of the Kings Horses, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Whaddon, Viscount Villiers, and made a Knight of the Garter. The next year he was made Earl and in 1618 promoted Marquess of Buckingham, Villiers new rank allowed him to dance side by side with the royal heir Charles I, with whom his friendship developed through his tutoring of the prince in dance. Villiers was appointed Lord Admiral of the Fleet in 1619, since reductions in the peerage had taken place during the Tudor period, Buckingham was now the highest-ranking subject outside the royal family. The personal relationships of James are much debated, with Villiers the last in a succession of handsome young favourites the king lavished with affection, contemporaneous evidence is interpreted by some to suggest that Villiers was James lover. Edward Peyton wrote, the king sold his affections to Sir George Villiers, Jamess nickname for Buckingham was Steenie, after St. Stephen who was said to have had the face of an angel. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, Christ had John, and I have George. In a letter to Buckingham in 1623, the King ends with, God bless you, my child and wife. Restoration of Apethorpe Palace in 2004–8 revealed a previously unknown passage linking his bedchamber with that of James, until James I died in 1625, Buckingham was the kings constant companion and closest advisor, enjoying control of all royal patronage. Buckingham used his influence to enrich his relatives and advance their social positions. In his rise to power, Buckingham became connected with the philosopher, Bacon wrote letters of advice to the young favourite and drafted the patent of nobility when Buckingham ascended to the peerage
38.
Hampshire
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Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
39.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
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Territory claimed but never administered by the colonial government extended as far west as the Pacific Ocean. The earlier Dutch colony of New Netherlands disputed many of these claims, arguing that they held rights to lands beyond Rhode Island up to the side of Cape Cod. The Massachusetts Bay Colony began in 1628 and was the second attempt at colonization. The colony was successful, with about 20,000 people migrating to New England in the 1630s, the population was strongly Puritan, and its governance was dominated by a small group of leaders who were strongly influenced by Puritan religious leaders. Its governors were elected, and the electorate were limited to freemen who had been examined for their religious views, as a consequence, the colonial leadership exhibited intolerance to other religious views, including Anglican, Quaker, and Baptist theologies. The colonists initially had decent relationships with the local Indian populations and these led first to the Pequot War and then to King Philips War, after which most of the Indians in southern New England made peace treaties with the colonists. The colony was successful, engaging in trade with England. A shortage of currency in the colony prompted it to establish a mint in 1652. Political differences with England after the English Restoration led to the revocation of the charter in 1684. King James II established the Dominion of New England in 1686 to bring all of the New England colonies under firmer crown control, Sir William Phips arrived in 1692 bearing the charter and formally took charge of the new province. The political and economic dominance of New England by the state of Massachusetts was made possible in part by the early dominance in these spheres by the Massachusetts Bay colonists. The total Indian population in 1620 has been estimated to be 7,000 with the population of New England at 15–18,000, the land-use patterns of the natives included plots cleared for agricultural purposes, and woodland territories for the hunting of game. Land divisions between the tribes were well understood, during the early 17th century, several European explorers charted the area, including Samuel de Champlain and John Smith. Plans began in 1606 for the first permanent British settlements on the east coast of North America, on April 10,1606, King James I of England granted a charter forming two joint-stock companies. Under this charter, the first Colony and the second Colony were to be ruled by a Council composed of 13 individuals in each colony, the charter provided for an additional council of 13 persons to have overarching responsibility for the combined enterprise. No name was given to either the company or council governing the respective colonies, the first Colony ranged from the 34th- to 41st-degree latitude north, the second Colony ranged from the 38th- to 45th-degree latitude. The London Company proceeded to establish Jamestown, the Plymouth Company under the guidance of Sir Ferdinando Gorges covered the more northern area, including present-day New England, and established the Sagadahoc Colony in 1607 in present-day Maine. The experience proved exceptionally difficult for the 120 settlers, however, Gorges noted that there was no more speech of settling plantations in those parts for a number of years
40.
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
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Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick was an English colonial administrator, admiral, and Puritan. Rich was the eldest son of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and his wife Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich, and succeeded to his fathers title in 1619. Early developing interest in colonial ventures, he joined the Guinea, New England, and Virginia companies, as well as the Virginia Companys offspring, the Somers Isles Company. Warwicks enterprises involved him in disputes with the British East India Company and with the Virginia Company, in 1627 he commanded an unsuccessful privateering expedition against the Spaniards. Warwicks Puritan connections and sympathies gradually estranged him from the court, in 1628 he indirectly procured the patent for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and in 1631 he granted the Saybrook patent in Connecticut. Meanwhile, in England, Warwick opposed the loan of 1626, the payment of ship money. His Richneck Plantation was located in what is now the independent city of Newport News, the Warwick River, Warwick Towne, Warwick River Shire, and Warwick County, Virginia are all believed named for him, as are Warwick, Rhode Island and Warwick Parish in Bermuda. In 1642, following the dismissal of the Earl of Northumberland as Lord High Admiral, as commander of the fleet, in 1648, Warwick retook the Castles of the Downs for Parliament, and became Deal Castles captain 1648–53. Robert Rich married firstly, in February 1605, Frances Hatton, daughter and heir of Sir William Newport alias Hatton and Elizabeth Gawdy, a double portrait of her and her sister Lady Essex Rich by Anthony van Dyck exists. Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick Lady Lucy Rich, later Countess of Radnor, who married John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor Charles Rich, 4th Earl of Warwick, Lady Essex Rich, part of a double portrait with her sister Anne, by Anthony van Dyck. A Family History Comprising the Surnames of, Rich, Robert, second earl of Warwick. Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton, media related to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick at Wikimedia Commons
41.
Connecticut
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Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Connecticut is also often grouped along with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-State Area and it is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital city is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport, the state is named for the Connecticut River, a major U. S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word Connecticut is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for long tidal river, Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, the Provisions State, and it was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Connecticuts center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, Connecticuts first European settlers were Dutch. They established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park, initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by England, the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, the Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along the Long Island Sound have given Connecticut a strong maritime tradition which continues today. The state also has a history of hosting the financial services industry, including insurance companies in Hartford. As of the 2010 Census, Connecticut features the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index, and median household income in the United States. Landmarks and Cities of Connecticut Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and third largest city is Hartford, and other cities and towns include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich. Connecticut is slightly larger than the country of Montenegro, there are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut. The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state, the highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet, on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts. At the opposite extreme, many of the towns have areas that are less than 20 feet above sea level. Connecticut has a maritime history and a reputation based on that history—yet the state has no direct oceanfront
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Saybrook Colony
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Winthrop the Younger was designated Governor by the original settlers, including Colonel George Fenwick and Captain Lion Gardiner. They claimed possession of the land via a deed of conveyance from Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick. The colony was named in honor of Lords Saye, or William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, early settlers of the colony were ardent supporters of Oliver Cromwell and of democracy. Even as late as the 1770s, residents of Old Saybrook still talked about which town lots would be given to prominent Parliamentarians, settlement preparations included sending a ship with an unusual cargo of ironwork for a portcullis and drawbridges, and even an experienced military engineer. Saybrook’s fort was to be the strongest in New England, however, they soon found the countrie full of reports of their going and were worried that they would not be allowed to sell their estates and take ship. By 1638, the plans for Saybrook were abandoned, cromwells financial difficulties had been cleared up by an inheritance and he moved from Huntingdon to nearby Ely. Thus, the sponsors remained in England and played their respective political and military roles in the English Civil War, as a consequence, the colony struggled and, by 1644, Fenwick agreed to merge the colony with the more vibrant Connecticut Colony a few miles up river. In 1647, Major John Mason assumed command of Saybrook Fort, the fort mysteriously burned to the ground, but another improved fort was quickly built nearby. He spent the next twelve years there and served as Commissioner of the United Colonies, its chief officer, Magistrate. He was continually called upon to negotiate the purchase of Indian lands, write a treaty, or arbitrate some Indian quarrel. Lower Connecticut River Valley — Connecticut planning region covering the area Alfred A. Young, English Plebeian Culture and 18th Century American Radicalism in Margret Jacob and James Jacob, the Origins of Anglo American Radicalism (New Jersey, Humanities Press International,19910, page 195 Richard C. Dunn, Puritans and Yankees Ward, Harry M, the United Colonies of New England, 1643-90. The Colonial Period of American History - The Beginnings of Connecticut 1632-1662
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hampden, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 900–902.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 