Edward’s treatment of the Scots led to the creation a popular resistance [ri`zistзns] movement. At first it was led by William Wallace [`wolis], a Norman-Scottish knight. But after one victory against English army, Wallace’s ‘people’s army’ was destroyed by Edward in 1297. Wallace was captured [`kæpt∫зd], brought to London and executed. He gained by his death the martyr’s [`ma:tзz] crown.
Edward tried to make Scotland a part of England, as he had done with Wales. Soon Scottish nobles accepted him, but the people refused to be ruled by the English king. A new leader took up the struggle. This was Robert Bruce. He was able to raise an army and defeat the English army in Scotland. Edward I gathered another great army and marched against Robert Bruce, but he died on the way north in 1307. On Edward’s grave were written the words “Edward, the Hammer of the Scots”. One historian said that Edward had intended to hammer the Scots into the ground and destroy them, but in fact he had hammered them into a nation.
After Edward’s death Bruce had enough time to defeat his Scottish enemies, and make himself accepted as king of the Scots. He then began to win back the castles still held by the English. When the son of his old enemy Edward II invaded Scotland in 1314 Bruce destroyed his army near Stirling Castle. This battle assured Scottish independence for a further three centuries.
Vocabulary
medieval – средневековый
realm – королевство
Llywelyn – Ллиуэлин
homage – принесение феодальной присяги
recompense – компенсация
successive – следующий один за другим
feudal – феодальный
crisis – кризис
John de Balliol – Джон де Бейллиол
Robert Bruce – Роберт Брюс
relic – реликвия
Scone Abbey – аббатство Скун
Stone of Destiny – камень Судьбы
resistance movement – сопротивление
William Wallace – Уильям Уоллес
capture – захватить
execute – казнить
martyr – мученик
Stirling Castle – замок Стирлинг
6. The Hundred Years’ War
In the first half of the 14th century the king of England was Edward III (1327–1377). He was a powerful king. And he was wise, courageous and ruthless [`ru:θlis].
Edward III possessed the ability and determination to restore royal authority [o:`θoriti] in England. His reign was a long and great one. He reformed the law, improving justice for ordinary people. He made English, not French the official language of law and Parliament. He was successful in his dealings with the barons; he had no favourites, and he brought many of the leading barons into the royal circle as Knights of the Order of the Garter [`ga:tз], which he established in 1348.
Edward III was a great and popular soldier. His war was wholly [`houli] with France. Through his mother Isabella [,izз`belз], the only surviving child of the French king Philip IV [`filip], he had a claim to the throne of France. This claim was not allowed by the French, who claimed that women by the ‘Salic law’ [`sælik] were shut out from the throne. So in 1337 Edwart III claimed the right to the French Crown and declared war on France. Thus began the war, later called the Hundred Years’ War, which did not finally end until 1453, with the English Crown losing all its possessions in France except for Calais [`kælei], a northern French port.
In 1346 Edward invaded France. At first the English were far more successful than the French on the battlefield. The English army was experienced through its wars in Wales and Scotland. It had learnt the value of being lightly armed, and rapid [`ræpid] in movement. Its most important weapon was the Welsh longbow [`loŋbou]. It was very effective on the battlefield because of its quick rate of fire. Such arrows could go through most armours. The value of the longbow was proved in two victories, at Crecy [`kresi] in 1346 and at Poitiers [`pwa:tjei] in 1356, where the French king himself was taken prisoner. The English captured [`kæpt∫зd] a huge quantity of treasure, and it was said that after the battle of Poitiers every woman in England had a French bracelet [`breislit] on her arm. The French king bought his freedom for 500 000 pounds, an e`normous amount of money in those days.
By the treaty [`tri:ti], in 1360, Edward III gave up his claim to the French throne because he had re-established control over areas previously held by the English Crown. The French recognized his ownership of all Aquitaine [,ækwi`tein], including Gascony [`gæskзni]; parts of Normandy [`no:mзndi] and Brittany [`britзni], and newly captured [`kæpt∫зd] port of Calais [`kælei].
But the war did not end, the fighting soon began again. Most of this land, except for the port of Calais [`kælei], was taken back by French forces during the next fifteen years.
Henry V (1413–1422), the second king from the House of Lancaster [`læŋkзstз], reopened war with France. In 1415, Henry and his army sailed to France. Henry V was a brilliant leader. he arranged his army so intelligently, and inspired them so powerfully, that at the battle of Agincourt [`æd3inko:], they defeated a mounted [`mauntid] French army three to five times the size of the English force. Only about 500 English soldiers were killed, compared with about 7 000 French soldiers. More brilliant victories followed, until in 1419 the French king made peace. The two kings signed a treaty, which allowed Henry to keep all the land he conquered. It also gave him the French king’s daughter, Catherine, in marriage, and made him heir to the French throne. But Henry died before he could be crowned King of France.
In 1428 the English laid siege [si:d3] to Orleans [`o:rli:зnz], and its fall seemed at hand, when France was saved as if by miracle [`mirзkl]. From the town of Domremy [do:nrз`mi:] came a girl of sixteen years, Joan of Arc [,d3oun зv `a:k], who claimed she had been sent by God. She led a force to Orleans, and with but a few men reached the city and defeated the English. Later she was captured [`kæpt∫зd] and burnt after being found guilty of witch-craft and heresy [`herзsi]. She was made a saint in 1920.
To England nothing was left but Calais [`kælei] and thus ended the Hundred Years’ War.
Vocabulary
ruthless – безжалостный
authority – зд. авторитет
favourite – фаворит
Knight of the Order of the Garter – Кавалер Ордена Подвязки
Isabella – Изабелла
Philip IV – Филипп IV
‘Salic law’ – Салический закон
rapid – быстрый
longbow – лук в рост человека
Crecy – Креси
Poitiers – Пуатье
bracelet – браслет
enormous amount – огромное количество
treaty – договор
re-establish – восстановить
ownership – право собственности
Aquitaine – Аквитания
Gascony – Гасконь
Normandy – Нормандия
Brittany – Бретань
the House of Lancaster – дом Ланкастеров
Agincourt – Азинкур
mounted – конный
lay siege – осадить
Orleans – Орлеан
miracle – чудо
Domremy – Домреми
Joan of Arc – Жанна д’Арк
witch-craft – колдовство
heresy – ересь
7. The war of White and Red Roses in England
The Hundred Years’ War, in which England lost practically all its lands in France, ended in 1453, but there was no peace in the country. Long before the end of this war, a feudal [fju:dl] struggle had broken out between the descendants [di`sendзnts] of Edward III. During the reign of Richard II (1377–1399), the last king of the Plantagenet [plæn`tæd3init] dynasty [`dinзsti], Henry Bolingbroke [`boliŋbruk], Duke of Lancaster [`læŋkзstз], seized [si:zd] the crown and became the first king of the Lancaster dynasty, Henry IV (1399–1413).
The interests of the House of Lancaster supported by the big barons collided [kз`laidid] with the interests of the lesser barons and merchants [`mз:t∫зnts] of the towns, who supported the House of York. The feudal struggle grew into an open war between the Lancastrians [,læŋ`kæstriзnz] and the Yorkists [`jo:kists]. The Lancasters had a red rose in their coat of arms, the Yorks had a white rose. That’s why the war between them got the name of the War of the Roses. This war, which lasted for thirty years (1455–1485), turned into a big struggle for the Crown, in which each party murdered every likely heir to the throne of the opposite party. It was a dark time for England, a time of anarchy [`ænзki], when the kings and nobles were busy fighting and murdering each other and had no time to take care of the common people, who suffered greatly.
Henry VI, the last king from the House of Lancaster, was a gentle man, but weak both physically and mentally. In 1461 Edward, the new duke of York and leader of the Yorkists, marched to London at the head of an army. Henry VI was put to the Tower of London and Edward himself crowned king.
In 1470 the Lancastrians revolted [ri`voultid] against Edward IV, and Henry VI was briefly reinstated [`ri:in`steitid] as king. But soon the Lancasterians were defeated and Henry VI was murdered.
Edward IV was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V. As the king was too young to rule himself, his uncle, Richard Gloucester [`glostз], was made Protector. But Gloucester was going to take the throne for himself. He claimed that his brother’s marriage had been unlawful and that his children were bastards [`bæstзdz]. Edward V and his younger brother Richard, the Duke of York, were put to the Tower of London. There the boys were murdered and their bodies were buried at the staircase foot. Years afterwards the bones of two boys, of the age of the young princes, were found in the White Tower beneath the stairs. They were brought to Westminster and buried as Edward V and Richard, Duke of York.
Richard Gloucester became King Richard III. His reign was short. The War of the Roses ended with the battle of Bosworth [`bozwзθ] in 1485. King Richard III of the House of York was killed in the battle, and, right in the field, Henry Tudor [`tju:dз], Earl of Richmond [`rit∫mзnt], of the Lancastrian line, was proclaimed King of England.
Henry Tudor was the head of the House of Lancaster. A year later, in 1486, he married the Yorkist heiress Princess Elizabeth [i`lizзbзθ] of York. This marriage was of great political importance. It meant the union of the red rose of the House of Lancaster with the white rose of the House of York.
England now had a new dynasty, the Tudors.
Vocabulary
descendant – потомок
Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster – Генри Болингброк, герцог Ланкастерский
seize – захватывать, завладевать
collide (with) – сталкиваться (с)
the House of York – дом Йорков
Lancastrians – сторонники дома Ланкастеров
Yorkists – сторонники дома Йорков
coat of arms – герб
anarchy – анархия
revolt – восставать
Richard Gloucester – Ричард Глостер
Protector – протектор
bastard – незаконнорожденный, бастард,
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond – Генри Тюдор, граф Ричмонд
Elizabeth of York – Елизавета Йоркская
8. The Tudors’ England
Henry VII was a strong, learned and thoughtful king, who was very good at making and keeping money. Henry created the court of justice, which was named the Court of the Star Chamber after the stars painted on its ceiling. His long rein (1485–1509) brought peace and prosperity [prзs`periti] after many troubled years.
The power of English monarch [`monзk] increased in this period. The Tudor [`tju:dз] dynasty [`dinзsti] (1485–1603) established a system of government departments, staffed by professionals who depended for their position on the monarch. Parliament was traditionally split into two ‘Houses’. The House of Lords consisted of the feudal [fju:dl] aristocracy [,æris`tokrзsi] and the leaders of the Church; the House of Commons consisted of representatives from the towns and the less important landowners in rural [`ruзrзl] areas. It was now more important for monarchs to get the agreement of the Commons for policy-making because that was where the newly powerful merchants [`mз:t∫зnts] and landowners (the people with the money) were represented.
Henry VII had two sons. Arthur, the elder son, had died young, and so his brother, Henry, became the next king (1509–1547). Henry VIII was handsome and charming, and was welcomed by people. He married Arthur’s young widow, a Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon [,kæθerin зv `ærзgзn], and seemed destined [`destind] – предназначен – for a happy rein. But being quite unlike his father, Henry was wasteful with money. He spent so much on maintaining [mein`teiniŋ] a rich court and on wars, that his father’s carefully saved money was soon gone.