Stuarts (1603-1714)

January 1644

21,000 Scots again invaded under Alexander Leslie, the largest of the war, probably preventing a royalist victory, and reversing the military balance in the north.

August 1648

A Scottish army invaded and was crushed by Cromwell.

1639

A stand-off between the English and Scottish Covenanter armies. Charles was forced to call a Parliament, but it refused to raise taxes and was dissolved after three weeks, leading to riots in London, mainly aimed at the Catholic Archbishop Laud, but also Henrietta Maria, Charles's wife, living at Saint James's.

1695

Abolition of press controls, leading to the populization of literature and novel writing. Book prices fell as a result.

January 1645

Archbishop Laud was beheaded.

July 1647

Army commanders offered Charles a relatively conciliatory settlement, the "Heads of the Proposals", offering tolerance for Anglicans, moderate treatment for royalists and biennial parliaments and the army was to be controlled by parliament for 10 years, after which the crown would resume control. Charles eventually spurned the deal, believing he could bargain for better terms.

1636

Charles 1st commanded a Prayer Book to be used in Scotland, modelled on Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer.

1629

Charles 1st dismissed Parliament (which had held the Speaker down and locked a king's messenger out whilst it passed 3 bills criticising the king's policy, leading to the Speaker to knock on the door today) and so ruled without it for eleven years. Charles circumvented this by ruling through the Star Chamber, which he strengthened and he invented new taxes, such as the Ship Money, theoretically an emergency levy to bolster defence, which became a test case. John Hampton, MP for Buckinghamshire, took his case to the courts becoming part of national myth. The 11 years of "tyranny", as opponents called it, led inevitably to civil war, though some called them halcyon days, a period of easing anxieties for most people, with little violence, rare murders and no Scottish incursions.

January 1651

Charles 1st's eldest son, Charles, was crowned at Scone proclaimed king by royalist forces in Edinburgh and Dublin, and marched south but only attracted 2,000 extra soldiers to army of 12,000.

May 1660

Charles I's son, Charles II was unanimously declared king (r. 1660-1685) and was invited back France on the "Royal Charles" with Samuel Pepys to rule wifromth Parliament, entering London on a horse on his 30th birthday. John Evelyn wrote "So joyful a day and so bright, was never seen in this nation". The Royal Society was founded, as a result of political relaxation, to promote discussion amongst the gentlemanly amateurs pioneering scientific experiment.

1662

Charles II married the Portuguese, Catherine of Braganza, which was loveless, but Charles had many mistresses, including Nell Gwynne and had at least 14 illegitimate children.

1642

Charles left London. He had proved an inept politician, misunderstanding opposition, detesting debate and neglecting public opinion, preferring authoritarianism. "Very brave, but not enterprising", wrote his apologist Edward Hyde, Lord Clarendon, but that didn't save him, but it made him the perfect martyr as his enemies were eventually more hated than him.

August 1642

Charles raised his standard at Nottingham to rally supporters. The army hesitantly formed, though most of the counties petitioned for compromise; five counties refused to raise an army. Both sides were keen not to fire the first shot in the first clash.

July 1644

Charles sent Prince Rupert marched north to meet the invading Scots and met them outside York at the Battle of Marston Moor. The Roundheads won, largely due to Scottish infantry and Cromwell's East Anglian army, killing 6,000 royalists, probably the biggest battle on English soil, owing to recorded numbers. Parliament took control of the north. The seige of Corfe Castle took place, defended by Lady Banks.

November 1647

Charles slipped way from Hampton Court, aiming for France but ended up on the Isle of Wight and politely interned at Carisbrook Castle where he was able to negotiate with the Irish and Scots, promising a union of the kingdoms. His escape triggered uprisings in London , Kent, South Wales and East Anglia in a 2nd civil war.

1661

Charles was crowned as Charles II, though Parliament planned to have more say. Nicknamed "The Merry Monarch", held the first-ever yacht race on the Thames and was a patron of the arts and sciences.

1651

Charles was defeated at Worcester by an army of 40,000. Charles fled and famously hid in an oak tree in Boscobel House in Staffordshire, then escaped abroad to France, then Holland. Overall, 86,000 died in combat and a further 129,000 from associated diseases, the most lethal conflict since the Conquest, proportionately higher losses than WW1.

20th January 1649

Charles was tried over seven days in Westminster Hall. The President, John Bradshaw, wore an armoured hat. Fairfax stayed away, though his wife was there. Charles refused to recognise an "arbitrary and illegal court", though he was prepared to "shipwreck my person rather than my beliefs" in martyrdom. Charles's stubbornness led to judicial intransigence. 59 signed the death warrant and Cromwell himself eventually wrote the order for execution.

1673

Charles's heir, James, married the Catholic Duchess of Modena, raising further fears of popery, (a political as well as a religious concept). The marriage was unpopular because she was a protege of the "ill-example of France", leading eventually to the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

1603-1611

Construction of the King James Bible by fifty scholars at Oxbridge and London, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft and Lancelot Andrews over a period of 350 man years, in a revision of what Tyndale did single-handedly. 80%, however, remained Tyndale's work. Early editions were rushed out with typos, such as "do commit adultery". It epitomised a Protestant plain English "speak as common men do, think as wise men do". A standard of noble simple English became common across the country, unlike in France where Latin Mass was retained and French remained a foreign language until well into the 19th century, thus becoming a national unifier "at 11.08 on Sunday morning everyone in the land was intoning the same psalm".

August 1649

Cromwell invaded Ireland, attacking royalist ports such as Drogheda and Wexford. 5,000 royalist soldiers were killed, including 300 accidental drownings at Wexford, staining his record.

March 1657

Cromwell was offered the kingship, which he refused, seen as a triumph of principle over ambition, though it would have limited his power.

1694

Death of Mary 2nd, aged 32 childless. The Triennial Act required general elections every 3 years, making the crown more subject to law. Repeated wars made regular Parliament more necessary and England and Holland became the most heavily taxed countries in Europe, and smuggling became a major industry. The Bank of England was established, modelled on the Bank of Amsterdam, whose purpose was to raise finance for wars through shares by channeling investment into interest-bearing bonds.

1714

Death of Queen Anne in August with no surviving children. Parliament had already decided that the throne would go to the Electress, Sophia of Hanover, who was James 1st's grand-daughter, who was Protestant. James 2nd's son, James Francis Edward Stewart, and his grandson Charles ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") had a better claim, but they were Catholic, so Parliament forbade. This was the end of the Stuart line and the start of the Hanoverian line. Sophia had recently died, so the succession passed to her son, George 1st (r.1714-1727) who peacefully inherited 2 kingdoms and 12 colonies. For the 1st time since the 1450s, England became a continental power, delineated by the Elbe and Weser rivers. Half of taxation in 1714 went towards servicing the permanent national debt, from which the government funded wars. More investment meant lower interest rates for the government's global strategic commercial purposes.

October 1642

Edgehill, the first battle, fought in Warwickshire, costing 1,500 lives. Parliamentary leaders, largely peers and their sons, were a decade older than royalists. Every town and village was divided, many changed sides. The New Model Army contained many turncoats, either from self-interest or from principle. The country stumbled into war. Cathedrals were the Roundheads' main targets, with 15 of the 26 damaged.

1707

England and Scotland became one nation through the Act of Union. Since James I, the two countries had been under one ruler, but governed by two Parliaments; the Act of Union united the Parliament in Westminster. The vote passed unanimously in Westminster and was passed in Scotland, lubricated by English bribery. England and Scotland legally ceased to exist and was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain, ruled from Westminster. Many felt that England lost its autonomy as we had to take account of events in Scotland, Wales and later, Ireland.

February 1649

England became a Republic, by act of 150 MPs of the Rump Parliament and its Speaker became Head of State, Oliver Cromwell. During this time parliament fought the Dutch, French and Spanish, mainly over trade and empire, as well as Royalist armies in Scotland and Ireland.

August 1645

England's only ever mass witch-hunt, the product of fear and dislocation. The main believers were, ironically, the self proclaimed enemies of superstition, particularly Scottish Presbyterians. Some even believed that Prince Rupert's poodle, "Boy", killed at Marston Moor was his "familiar spirit". Matthew Hopkins became the self-appointed witchfinder general, hanging 200 mainly women. Charles began touching people with the "king;s evil", scrofula, copied from French monarchs, which was sometimes effective.

1604

English colonies were set up in North America, and Scottish and English Protestants settled in Ireland, particularly in Ulster, which presented later difficulties. Despite being married to Anne of Denmark and having seven children, one of James's foibles was that he had a series of male favourites such as George Villiers, whom James made the Duke of Buckingham.

February 1660

General Monk, with whom royalist emissaries had made contact, marched south from Scotland amid popular rejoicing, summoning all MPs and Charles 2nd, from Holland, promised the conciliatory "Declaration of Breda", promising pardons and payment of arrears, a "general pardon, indemnity and oblivion", though 9 regicides were executed and the rest were pursued throughout the reign.

July 1690

James II and King William face to face at the Battle of the Boyne, near Dublin, still present in Irish memories. The Dublin parliament passed penal laws to punish the Jacobite aristocracy, poisoning relations for generations. Thousands of Catholic Irishmen fled to France "the wild geese". William won, generously allowing James II to flee to France, dying in 1701. William was unpopular; small, stooped and ugly. Calcutta was founded in 1690 by an agent of the East India Company, who had married an Indian.

1603

James VI of Scotland, where he had been king since aged one, became James I of England, aged 37, (r.1603-1625), since his mother, Mary, gave up the throne. Despite Mary being Catholic, James was Protestant, which was welcomed as he was married with many heirs. James called himself King of Great Britain and wanted to unite the two countries. His father, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, had been blown up. James possessed bulging eyes and a tongue too big for his mouth; "the wisest fool in Christendom"; proud but timid, swore and was clumsy. His Protestant upbringing and the desire for a peaceful succession, made him welcome and there was a lack of alternatives. He was keen on arts and encouraged Shakespeare (who now began writing about Britain rather than England from this time in Macbeth, Henry 5th and Cymbeline, for example). Shakespeare, educated at Stratford Grammar in the humanist tradition and educated in Ovid and Virgil and interested in rhetorical forms, such as "to be or not to be". He went beyond Chaucer in linking England with contemporary European thinking and culture, though he was unread abroad for over 150 years after his death. He was an inventor of 1,700 words and expressions, such as: fat of the land, signs of the times, as bald as a coot, fast and loose, too much of a good thing, the game is up, dead as a doornail, truth will out, love is blind, tower of strength, good riddance, fair play, creating a common cultural identity.

June 1688

James and Mary of Modena produced a son after 15 years of marriage, a Catholic heir who took precedence over the Protestant Mary and Anne, born to his first wife, Anne Hyde.

May 1688

James passed the "Declaration of Indulgence" giving Catholics the free exercise of religion to be read out twice from every pulpit of every church.

1614

James said "I am surprised that such an institution should ever be permitted to have come into existence", speaking of Parliament and so betraying the Stuarts' overall haplessness.

1621

James, politically and personally opposed to a European bloodbath, dissolved the Commons and imprisoned two MPs who advocated war and personally ripped up their protests. He insisted that the privileges of the Commons depended on him and favoured a dynastic marriage to his daughter, Elizabeth, leading to his and Buckingham's failed undercover trip to the Spanish embassy in Madrid. England, however, stayed out of the 30 Years', profiting from both sides.

1678

John Bunyan, who had been imprisoned for illegal preaching, wrote the "Pilgrim's Progress" as Dissenters went underground and turned inwards, a work of Puritan piety. It ends with the Godly triumphing after many trials.

1708

Marlborough won the Battle of Oudenard, which led to the fall of fortress of Lille and the possible march on Paris.

1645

Oliver Cromwell organised Parliament's army into an efficient fighting force under the control of Thomas Fairfax who had trained with the Swedish army, the most efficient in Europe. The New Model Army, of 22,000 men, was formed, under central, not local control, excluding foreign mercenaries and harsh discipline shaped it with harsh penalties for drunkenness, etc.

1653

Oliver Cromwell, who became the leader of the "Commonwealth of England", aged 29 was religious and a Puritan. Devastated Ireland belonged to it, whilst Scotland came under General Monk. The army controlled an ineffectual Rump Parliament. it led to intellectual output, such as Thomas Hobbes's "Leviathan", which described life as "nasty, brutish and short" and intended to promote consensus insisting that religious life must be subordinate to civil power. He was Charles 2nd's tutor, and today it is accepted as the masterpiece of English political thought. John Milton, however, drew from classical thought and proposed an enlightened oligarchy, such as in Venetian and Dutch Republics, advocating freedom of the press in the Republic. "Paradise Lost" was an allegory of the self-destruction of the Puritan cause through corruption. Cromwell dismissed one parliament and appointed another having attempted to convert England into a democratic republic, but was frustrated by parliamentary self-interest, blocking reforms.

December 1648

Parliament decided to put Charles 1st in trial when Charles tried to raise a further army.

Novembr 1644

Parliament offered peace terms, but this included the abolition of bishops and cathedrals and the imposition of Scottish-style Presbyterians, measures against Catholics and banning stage plays. When these were rejected, Parliament intensified the war, passing the "Act of Attainder" aimed at the Catholic Archbishop Laud, from which a retroactive accusation of treason was invented.

February 1649

Parliament paid the Scots army to go home. Charles was handed over and comfortably interned in Leicestershire, though he fatally overplayed his hand over the next two years, convinced of his own rightness.

November 1641

Parliament's two great adversaries, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, the king's strongman in Ireland and Archbishop Laud were sacrificed. The king reluctantly signed Strafford's death warrant, leading to sectarian warfare in Ireland, and made the Catholics fearful of Protestant domination. 150,00 were killed, raped and mutilated, the nearest Britain got the 30 Years' War. This led to the Commons, led by Pym, to draw up the "Grand Remonstrance", a rambling attack on Charles's reign, accusing Charles of undermining ancient liberties. It was passed after a 24 hour debate, which led to Charles trying to arrest Lord Kimbolton, John Pym and 5 MPs. Charles now believed he had lost control of London.

1644

Parliamentary setback at Lostwithiel, where the Earl of Essex was surrounded by Charles's army and forced to surrender. A self-defence group, called the "Clubmen" emerged, aiming to keep troops from both sides out of their homes, whilst Puritans attracted opposition by attempting to abolish Christmas " an occasion for carnal and sensual delights".

August 1649

Regicide inspired The "Diggers", who first appeared on a common in Surrey, led by Gerard Winstanley, following alleged visions about "Millinarianism" (End of the World), whilst the "5th Monarchists" wanted the adoption of the Law of Moses, whose insurrectory wing had 20 members.

July 1637

Riot at Saint Giles's Cathedral in Edinburgh, at the first use of Charles's Book of Common Prayer. Stools were thrown at the clergy, fearing "Popery".

1611

Shakespeare's "Winter's tale' and "The Tempest" were published, supported by James 1st, who supported religious diversity, who also patronized the erotic poetry of John Dunne.

1710

Sir John Vanburgh, a pioneer of the new English "naturalistic" style completed Blenheim Palace, which emphasized an optimism and beauty of the natural world, (rather than a decaying one in which mankind had been condemned as a result of the "sins of Adam") and which reached a literary peak with Wordsworth in the 19th century.

3rd November 1640

The "Long Parliament" met, so-called because it met on and off over 20 years, during the Civil War and during Cromwell's rule. Catholic peers were exempted the Recusancy Laws, which affronted them, leading to a powerful Catholic network

1618

The 30 Years' War between Catholics and Protestants broke out in Prague, drawing in nearly all of Europe. This was brought closer to home when James I's daughter, Elizabeth, married Frederick V, King of Bohemia and Elector of the Palatinate. Thousands from England enlisted, rather like the "International Brigades" in the Spanish Civil War.

1701

The Act of Settlement which excluded Catholic claimants to the throne in favour of the closest Protestant, who was a grand-daughter of James 1st, Sophia, the Electress of Hanover and her heirs on condition they were Protestant and married to Protestants. This act remains in force and was the most fundamental assertion of the primacy of the nation over its monarch. It removed at a stroke the cause of 150 year's instability.

1611

The Act of Union, joining England and Scotland, called "Great Britain" The word "tyrant' was expunged from the King James Bible, introduced a Union flag and common coinage, minting a 22-shilling piece, called "The Unite".

June 1645

The Battle of Naseby in Leicestershire, where 13,500 Roundheads under Fairfax and Cromwell beat 9,000 royalists (despite one real regiment being described as a "wall of brass"). Charles's support collapsed, with 20 strongholds falling. Charles fled to Scotland, but Scotland handed him back. One of the last strongholds was Basing House in Hampshire, seat of the Catholic Marquis of Winchester.

1643

The Battle of Newbury took place. Isaac Newton published his "Principia".

1706

The Battle of Ramillies was won, which excluded France from the Spanish Netherlands.

June 1667

The Dutch defeated the English by sailing up the Medway, sinking the fleet and towed way the flagship, the Royal Charles.

1642-1649

The English Civil War, which took place in all four countries of the British Isles over seven years; proportionately England's costliest.

1666

The Great Fire of London, destroying 13,200 houses and 82 churches, described by Pepys, leading to Christopher Wren redesigning London. Parliament began to suspect that Charles was becoming a Catholic, like his brother James. Charles denied it but made an alliance with France, (his mother, wife and mistress were all Catholics) promising to favour Catholics and support France in exchange for financial help, which meant he could do without Parliament latterly, causing him to eventually lose popularity; "He never said a foolish thing, but never did a wise one".

1665

The Great Plague, carried by rats, killed 70,000 people in London.

1605

The Gunpowder Plot, a Catholic conspiracy to blow up Parliament, who had hoped that James would fully restore Catholic freedoms, rather than simply turning a blind eye, which they felt led to emasculation. The aim was to kill the entire Parliament at its opening on the 5th November, and seize James's ten year old daughter, Elizabeth, who was staying in Warwickshire. After the discovery of a ton of 36 barrels of gunpowder, Guy Fawkes was convicted and hung, drawn and quartered. One conspirator, Robert Tresham, wrote anonymously to his brother in law, Lord Monteagle, urging him stay away, which led to the discovery and Guy Fawkes was found in the cellars, admitting his intention. Catesby and the gang were found in Warwickshire and killed. James believed in the Divine Right of Kings as in Scotland, and tried to rule through his favourites, setting the Stuarts on a collision course with Parliament, which was disastrous for his successor, Charles 1st.

November 1642

The King's army marched on London, but was halted at Turnham Green by the London militia, withdrawing to Oxford. No great strategic objective existed thereafter which decided the war, leading to a sporadic war of sieges, attacks on country houses, etc. Charles appointed able commanders with continental experience, including his nephew, Prince Rupert, son of the king of Bohemia, a veteran of the 20 Years' War.

December 1648

The Palace of Westminster was occupied by Colonel Pride's troops in "Pride's Purge" and arrested 41 MPs, reducing the House to a rump of 150 members acceptable to the army, asserting the right to try the king.

1647

The Putney Debates, whose aim was to reach agreement on the army's political position; "I think that the poorest he has as equal right as the poorest he" said Colonel Rainborrow, making him a democratic hero, though radical thoughts inevitably tended towards godly authoritarianism resting on armed force.

1672

The Roundheads were not allow to run parishes and towns, the "Test Act" requiring all public employees to take oaths of allegiance to Anglican orthodoxy. Charles signed the Treaty of Dover with France, to prepare for a joint war against Holland, including a secret agreement to restore England to Catholicism with French military aid, however implausible.

1659

The Rump Parliament was recalled but only 42 turned up.

1683

The Rye House Plot, when republicans planned to assassinate Charles and James as they returned from Newmarket races, leading to a grass-roots backlash to whigs and dissenters.

August 1678

The Titus Oates Plot, devised by an ex-Jesuit and crook who fantasised of a plot to assassinate Charles and put James on the throne in order to discredit Catholics and implicate James. There was a violent public and political reaction, leading to the execution of 24 Catholics and 5 Catholic peers were impeached. Lord Shaftesbury and his secretary John Locke demanded the exclusion of Catholics from Parliament and aimed to exclude James from the throne. Locke was later claimed as the champion of intellectual freedom by Samuel Johnson, believing in "nothing beyond reason, including faith".

November 1648

The army commanders decided at Windsor to bring parliament to heel and marched on London, believing, overall, that regicide was the least worst option as Charles had too much continuing support in Scotland and Ireland.

September 1628

The assassination of George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham by a religious fanatic rather than a jealous aristocrat, one of Charles's favourites, just like his father. Parliament's "Bill of Rights" signalled that imprisonment without trial by royal order was illegitimate. The "Rule of Law" became central to the English idea of civilization.

August 1640

The collapse of royal authority was caused by the invasion of the Scottish Covenanter army led by Alexander Leslie, which occupied Yorkshire. Their ambition was to impose militant Protestantism throughout the islands and forced Charles to call another Parliament.

1625

The death of James I and the accession of Charles 1st, James 1st's eldest surviving son (r. 1625-1649), aged 25, following the death of his eldest brother, Henry Frederick. Like his father, he believed in the Divine Right of Kings. The first clash with parliament was over the Duke of Buckingham's leading England into a disastrous war with Spain; Charles refused Parliament's request to dismiss him. The marriage treaty with Henrietta Maria of Spain, which gave her the right to practise Catholicism raised fears that Charles was drawing closer to Rome. She practised ostentatiously and got Inigo Jones to design a sumptuous chapel in the Strand.

September 1658

The death of Oliver Cromwell. His request to be painted "warts and all", encapsulates his honesty, though others saw him as a zealot, though he was good at consensus and religious tolerance (bar Catholics). He was an excellent general and eventually subsided into acceptance of religious Providence. His son was was offered the position of Lord Protector, but resigned after eight months. England had lost is way as a Republic.

30th January 1649

The execution of Charles 1st with a 2nd shirt on outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall "Truly I desire the people's liberty and freedom as much as anybody whatsoever" he said.

July 1685

The first Whig Protestant attempt on the throne, led by the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles 2nd, who rallied 4,000 untrained West Country Dissenters, who were slaughtered at Sedgemoor. Monmouth was beheaded and Judge Jefferies oversaw 1,336 cases in Somerset. Politically, the event strengthened James, his aim now was to waste no time to legalise Catholicism to make it more difficult to reverse when his Protestant daughter Mary came to the throne.

1689

The joint monarchs had to agree that no Catholic could become a monarch and no monarch could marry a Catholic. This was called the Bill of Rights, the most important agreement since the Magna Carta, enshrining trial by jury and the frequency of Parliament. In an attempt to reverse 1688, the French sent army to Ireland to rebel with supporters of the exiled James 2nd ("Jacobites", from Latin for James), planning to gather support, invade Scotland and march on London, however they failed to take the port of Derry. The McDonalds failed to swear loyalty to William and were massacred at Glencoe.

December 1653

The new parliament (Barebone's) reluctantly accepted the title of "Lord Protector", greeted with indifference. Cromwell became gradually more king-like and used the army increasingly.

July 1643

The royalists took Bristol, from which many Pilgrims sailed westwards. It was England's 2nd port and Charles cleared the south-west.

February 1685

The sudden death of Charles 2nd, aged 55, and accession of his Catholic younger brother James 2nd (r. 1685-1688), welcomed by the majority, though James was more authoritarian the Charles and more brutal though less intelligent, intending to turn England into a Catholic state. He had married twice, to Anne Hyde and Mary Beatrice of Modena, giving birth to two girls, Mary and Anne, who later married Protestant princes of Europe, William of Orange and George of Denmark respectively. James 2nd determined to make England Catholic again and put seven Protestant bishops on trial.

1680

The terms "Whig" and "Tory" were introduced to describe the political divide. It came from "whigamores" which were Scottish Presbyterian rebels and "Tories", who were Irish Catholic rebels and were applied to the King's supporters. All Tories agreed on the principle of the Divine Right of the Stuarts "one who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state and the apostolic hierarchy of the Church of England" and were reluctant to accept the parliament or people who could depose monarchs as the Roundheads had done. Whigs, political descendants of the Roundheads, were unambiguous supporters of The Glorious Revolution, therefore of William and Mary and later, Anne.

1712

Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine, which permitted the pumping out of deep coal mines, fuelling the mining in Cornwall and Wales.

1713

Treaty of Utrecht, signed as a peace treaty with France, ending a period of extreme instability in European affairs. It aimed at a "balance of power" with France conceding lands in America and requiring France to recognise the Protestant succession in England and to expel the exiled Stuarts, who had sought refuge in Lorraine, Avignon, and finally Rome. The Spanish Netherlands was ceded to the Hapsburgs, safeguarding Holland. Britain gained tracts of North America, Gibraltar and Minorca.

August 1704

War continued off and on for 25 years. The 9 Years' War, 1688-1707, was followed by the war of Spanish Succession, 1701-1714, fought to prevent Spain and its empire falling into French hands, which would have acquired Spanish Italy, The Netherlands and much of South America. The Battle of Blenheim was won by Marlborough in support of the Holy Roman Empire, with a largely German army. He was a painstaking organiser and paid for food by London's fundraising. It was the 1st great victory since the Armada in 1588 and was seen as a Protestant Christian triumph over an immoral Louis XIV, religious persecutor. Anne became popular as Britain's power increased in Europe as a result of four victories and Sarah Churchill was Marlborough's wife and a supporter of Queen Anne. Blenheim Place was a gift to the Duke of Marlborough in gratitude.

1702

William 3rd, who was frail and unprepossessing, and who spoke imperfect English throughout his reign, died, aged 52, as a result of his horse tripping over a molehill in Richmond Park: "The little gentleman in the black velvet jacket" and the accession of Queen Anne, (r. 1702-1714) James II's younger daughter (Mary II's sister) a staunch Protestant who was acceptable to many who had rejected William. She was aged 37 and became heir as William and Mary were childless. It was the first time that Parliament decided who would reign, and she was styled "Monarch of Great Britain" and was the last of the true Stuarts. She was popular, plump and unthreatening and had to be hoisted onto the throne and married the Prince of Denmark. She had 18 pregnancies, but 13 were born dead and none survived beyond 12. She touched with scrofula, one beneficiary being a youthful Samuel Johnson.

November 1688

William of Orange's fleet of 463 and 20,000 troops "blown down the Channel by a Protestant wind" landed at Torbay, then marched on London without blood being spilt. James had a sort of breakdown, sent his wife and son to France, threw the Great Seal into the Thames and sought asylum in France with Louis 14th. The "Glorious Revolution", re-established Anglo-Saxon liberty and embodied the whig view of the continuous struggle to defend ancient freedoms. A caricature of the whig view is Sellar and Yeatman's "1066 and All That", which described almost every event as a "good thing" and advanced England's inevitable progress to top nation. 88 ended monarchical absolutism, preserved the Protestant religion and was the most momentous invasion; part-conquest, part liberation since 1066, ending James II's reign and saw the accession of Mary and William's joint reign (r. 1688-1694 and 1702 respectively), which created an alliance against Louis 14th's France, who retaliated by giving troops to aid James to recover the throne, starting another "100 Years' War," ending in 1815. James was declared to have broken the original contract between the king and people and to have abdicated.

1711

Wren's new Saint Paul's was consecrated and the year saw the publication of the Spectator, an example of a freer press.