Országismeret [antikvár]

THE HISTORY @P EKGLAND A "BIRD'S-BYB YIBW Britaia has .uffarad from aaveral invadsra In the paatj tfce Romans who stayed for nearly four hundred years« the Anglo-Saxons who made it England /"Angle-land"/, the Danes who made it part of the Danish Empire and then, the last of the invaders, the Bonnansv who made it part of the Norman possessions, a part on which they forced their civilisation and to some extent their language» Gradually, the colony became more important than the homo-land. When the igniible Jshn had lost the French peaseseions /1214/ and whan, in 1453, J'San of Are defeated the English in Pr^nc® and caused the English kings to abandon their claims to the French throne, England became the only possession of the English kings and had a chance to develcsp its own affairs. Meanwhile, in the "iara of the Roses" /1455 - 85/ the powerful end war-lilco nobles more or lesa wiped out each other so that tha king's power became Bupramo. Hanry VII /¦1485 - 1509/ crushed any remaining eppasitian and increased the power and wealth of the Grown. His son, the much-married Henry VIII /he liad iix wives/, quarreled with the Pope over one of his marriages /ar rather divoroes/ and founded the Church of England, the first of those national churches where the king is the head of the Ghut*oh. This helped Henry in many ways. It gave him wealth /which he tsok from the monasteries/ and popularity with the rising merchant class, which disliked "foreign" interference. After a troubled time under Henry's daughter Mary, wh® married Philip II of Spain, was fanatically Roman Catholic and executed a large numbar of Protestants, the eouatry was ruled by Elisabeth, who married no one, bad no very deep religious convictions, and showed a measure of toleration to all, Elizabeth /155a -¦ 16§3/ was a woman of remarkable character and intelligence, and was surrounded by great statesmen like Burleigh and Walsingham, bold sailprs and adventurers like Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins, and men of genius like Shakespeare, Spenser, 5672646 - 3 -