Royal Britain's Interesting History During The 15th & 16th
Century
Devinder Patel
From 1370 to 1413 many revolutions took place in Britain (not
yet "Great") at this time and ultimately the House of Lancaster
grabbed the English Throne, but Henry V's reign was quite short
(and colourful) from 1413 to 1422.
Territorial gains that the Battle of Agincourt in France brought
were very soon lost, even Gascony and then by 1453, Calais
remained as the only English possession in Europe.
The loss started a series of bloody events that were horrible in
Medieval (or is it MediEVIL !) Britain and it again lost its
glory, until Tudor Henry VII came to the throne after winning
the battle of Market Bosworth in 1485 and starting another
century's history in Britain.
Later Henry VIII could not divorce his wife, as the Roman Pope
would not allow it, so in reprisal he burned the Roman Catholic
Churches in England and created his own church The Church of
England.
According to his new Church, of which of course he was the head,
he could divorce his wife Queen Catherine and remarry again
whomever he pleased and as many times as he pleased, since he
had no descendant/offspring/heirs for the Royal Throne yet.
He was a ruthless ruler hearing nobody but himself, so he burned
all the Catholic Monasteries in Britain and the landowners lost
their property forever.
He did after all have the King's Divine Right to do this, as
this was given to him by God when he was born.
After Henry's death, his daughter Mary took over, but she is
mostly hated as she tried to undo everything that her father had
done and acted as a Queen Tyrant.
But she left no offspring, so after her death her Protestant
half-sister Elizabeth gained control of England.
Her rule is considered to be the Golden Period in Britain's
history as she led colonization, explorations, victory in wars
and also the arts flourished during this period with writers
like Shakespeare and Bacon.
But same as her sister she also faced many revolts like the
serious one in 1601 which led to great financial losses for her.
Drake started his voyage in 1577, in search of Australia, he did
not find it, but got a lot of wealth by looting the Spanish
processions in the Pacific and cargoes of spices. He was the
first Briton to sail across the world.
Eventually it led to a full fledged war between Britain and
Spain. King Philip of Spain assembled the largest fleet the
world had ever seen and set it for sail against the heretical
Britains.
His aim was to conquer and/or loot Britain in 1588, but the
British vessels tried hard to stop him and he reached Calais and
anchored there. English fire ships were sent firing and making
him retreat and the Spanish Armada went north of Scotland and
the Irish coast.
Unfortunately for the Spanish (not for the English) the entire
fleet of ships and 20, 000 men vanished without trace,
humiliating Spain in the eyes of the world. So much so that they
never tried it again.
The Spanish wars had cost Britain lots of money and Elizabeth
had to go begging for more money to the English Parliament which
got them angry at the Royal Charters that she had granted to her
favorites and she gave them a humble "Golden Speech" that made
the Parliament realize their mistake.
After some time she fell ill and also she lost to the rebels of
Ireland, distorting her health further and as she had no
successor, and when she was on her death bed she chose James
Stuart, The King of Scotland as the next successor to the
English Crown.
When she died, Queen Elizabeth 1 was £400, 000 in debt.
About the author:
Devinder Patel has lived and worked in London for 42 years and
would love to hear from any incoming UK Visitors who need
transportation http://www.london-airport-shuttle.co.uk