Файл: Great Britain_0816044740.pdf

supporters quickly assured her succession, and she began the process of Catholic restoration. Elizabeth was seen as a potential leader of a Protestant coup, and she was more than once put under guard. When Mary died in 1558, Elizabeth easily succeeded to the throne, though once there she had serious issues to face.

Her religious settlement was a compromise; the queen favored Protestant theology and feared Catholic enemies at home and abroad. She replaced Mary’s BISHOPs, resumed the headship of the church, and by 1563 she had restored the prayer book and the articles of religion. Only diplomacy kept her from excommunication until 1570: Philip of Spain, her sister’s widower, considered another English royal marriage while other powers sought alliances, and the papacy waited until these alternatives were exhausted. Meanwhile, MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS had made her own claim to the English throne, but by 1568 she had been forced to flee to ENGLAND, becoming Elizabeth’s uninvited guest and resident conspiracy suspect. A series of plots, ending with that of Anthony BABINGTON in 1586, forced the queen’s decision to execute her cousin.

Elizabeth tried to preserve England’s position in a Europe engulfed in religious hostility. She reluctantly supported some expeditions to aid Protestants (French and Dutch), and she allowed PRIVATEERs such as Sir Francis DRAKE to attack Spanish shipping. Then in 1588 she had to face the awesome threat of the Spanish ARMADA. Philip of Spain launched what was in effect a crusade against the heretic queen, one which might have ended in England’s defeat. The English fleet, thanks to rough weather, enemy errors, and English maritime skill and determination, beat the invaders and forced a retreat. The victory became decisive when several later invasion attempts failed to reach English waters.

In her later career, Elizabeth, who had never married (mainly because of the incredibly complex diplomatic situation) was unwilling to name a successor. The logical candidate, whom she did eventually acknowledge, was the son of her cousin Mary, JAMES VI of Scotland. The queen’s later years saw the extension of English power in

IRELAND, the affirmation of PARLIAMENT’s role in the constitution, and the continued advance of English maritime power on the world stage.

Elizabeth II (1926– )

queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The daughter of George, duke of York, Elizabeth suddenly became the heiress to the throne with her father’s coronation as GEORGE VI after the ABDICATION CRISIS in 1936. Her schooling was entrusted to governesses, and she spent the war years at Windsor. In 1947 she married her cousin Philip Mountbatten, and their first child, Prince CHARLES, was born in 1948. Her coronation in 1953 was the first to be shown on television, an augury for a reign that was always to be under media scrutiny. The press was a looming presence in a series of royal marriages and divorces, from those of Princess Margaret, her sister, to her daughter, Princess Anne, to Prince Charles and Lady DIANA. An attempt for more openness encouraged the prying of the public eye: the film Royal Family in 1966 and a number of television spectacles (the investiture of Charles as PRINCE OF WALES, 1969; the wedding of Charles and Diana, 1981) fed a growing public appetite. The press, having lost its inhibitions and found its audience for the sensational, became a threat to royal discretion and privacy. There was still very strong public support for the Crown, and especially for the queen, despite some murmurings of republican sentiments. In a poignant tragedy, a fire tore through WINDSOR Castle in 1992, and it opened the door to lengthy debate over royal finances: where was the boundary between the royal family’s private finances and public funding for their activities? As a result, the queen accepted the need to pay tax on certain royal revenues, and she arranged to open part of BUCKINGHAM PALACE to tourists to help to defray the costs of repairs at Windsor. In her reign, Elizabeth has also presided over the shrinking BRITISH EMPIRE and over the successor Commonwealth, of which she remains the titular head.

Queen Elizabeth II (Hulton/Archive)

Emmet, Robert (1778–1803)

Irish rebel

Emmet joined the UNITED IRISHMEN in 1798, and when the rebellion of that year failed, he went to France and began to work on the reconstruction of the movement. He was convinced that the French would send aid to another Irish rebellion against British rule, and he led a small uprising in July 1803. It was easily crushed, there was no French aid, and Emmet was exe-

cuted after a long state trial. His speech from the dock was published and became a classic text for Irish patriots.

enclosure

In medieval ENGLAND the typical form of LAND distribution was one of open fields—i.e., lands cultivated in common, with portions of waste and common land for general use by people of

the PARISH. Portions of this land were later converted into private holdings, and at several periods there were extensive transfers. The first was in the 16th and 17th centuries, when large areas of land were taken by large landowners and converted to pasture to raise sheep. This activity aroused local opposition and sometimes brought government restriction. By the 18th century, with great demand for more efficient agricultural production, the government supported enclo- sures—dividing off common land into individually owned areas—by way of parliamentary acts. In the second half of the century there were thousands of private acts, converting perhaps 20 percent of the arable land. These acts deprived small tenants and laborers of traditional rights to common land. On the other side, the acts facilitated the transformation of English agriculture to more modern methods and greater productivity. By the later 19th century, the open fields had almost completely disappeared.

Engagement, the

In 1647 CHARLES I and some Scottish PRESBYTE- RIAN leaders signed a treaty known as The Engagement. The king, who was the captive of the Parliamentary army, promised to institute Presbyterian government in England for three years in exchange for an armed effort to restore him to power. The army of the Engagers was intercepted and beaten at Preston in 1648, ending the so-called “second civil war.”

The term was also used in 1650 when the RUMP PARLIAMENT required an oath of allegiance to the republic from all men over 18. This caused a bitter controversy and led to purges of some local offices before the requirement was repealed in 1653.

England

England was the creation of its monarchs, its boundaries a function of those monarchs’ interactions with Germans, CELTS, Scandinavians, and Frenchmen. Early Germanic invaders (Angles,

Saxons) established small tribal kingdoms in the sixth to eighth centuries. These in turn succumbed to Norse and Danish invasions in the ninth century, and the surviving kingdom of Wessex began a long process of recovery. That recovery saw an enlarged English kingdom emerging by the 10th century, a kingdom that was a target of further Danish rule (1016–35) and of the NORMAN CONQUEST (1066). But by that time the royal court, the social structure, and the system of administration and taxation were sufficiently entrenched so that the infrastructure was preserved—indeed, invaders coveted its revenue and other features.

The territory now known as England was the part of the British Isles settled by the Germanic invaders, contested in the west by the Welsh and the north by the Scots. The island of IRELAND was outside the orbit of early rulers and ignored by the Normans until the incursion of Henry II in 1171. A period of Anglo-French rule lasted until 1453. England was part of a larger European federation with continental territories such as Normandy, Anjou, Poitou, Brittany, and Gascony. Only with the end of the HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR was the kingdom of England restricted to the island of BRITAIN, and in the next two centuries it became ever more entangled with its archipelago neighbors: conquest (1300) and annexation (1543) of WALES; invasion (1540) and conquest (1610, 1690) of Ireland; and dynastic (1603) and parliamentary union (1707) with SCOTLAND. Through this experience, the English constitu- tion—the COMMON LAW and royal courts, the king’s PARLIAMENT, and the royal administration— formed the essential core of government. The monarchs themselves came from varied origins: the Welsh line of the TUDORs, the Scottish ancestry of the STUARTs, the Dutch king WILLIAM III, and the Germans from HANOVER, beginning with GEORGE I. Yet their birthplaces were not an insurmountable problem in an age of aristocratic kingroups, which was also the age before the modern national state.

It was with the Tudor and Stuart dynasties (1485–1714) that modern England emerged:

with its own church, its precocious Parliament, and its maritime ambitions. The

ENGLAND, with the sovereign as supreme head, put a unique Protestant label on the country, one which many (even rulers) resisted, but no one (save Oliver CROMWELL) removed. The English Parliament, alone of like institutions in Europe, fought its way to a state of parity with the Crown by the end of the 17th century. It did so partly by means of warfare, but more effectively by means of indispensible fiscal power. That power was the central fact of the next 200 years of England’s history.

Global commerce, industrial power, and a relatively open social and political structure marked the England of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was still England that dominated the British Isles and the BRITISH EMPIRE, although in retrospect it is easy to see major contributions from the Welsh, Scots, and Irish. The infrastructure of Crown, church, LAW, and administration was thoroughly anglicized, but it was in imperceptible decline. The crown of Queen VICTORIA, though the title “Empress of India” had been added, had lost any real political power between her accession in 1837 and her death in 1901. The church had always had rivals, but the 19th century saw them recognized in law while steps were taken to disestablish the church in Ireland and Wales (see DISESTABLISHMENT). Law and administration held more firmly to the English mold until the 20th century.

In the 20th century England and its UNITED KINGDOM engaged in two devastating world wars, which weakened the imperial structure and strengthened the identities of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Irish separation and partition of 1920–22 was the first major blow. The political and administrative DEVOLUTION of Wales and Scotland (1945–99) were much less abrupt and not at all violent; however, they too marked the recession of the old, anglocentric federation. This did of course allow a clearer view of “England” at the end of the millennium: a kingdom, economy, and society which kept its precedence in the British Isles and struggled to

decide its relation to the EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY and its world role in ever-changing circumstances.

English language

The language of the Angles and Saxons was spoken in the fifth and sixth centuries. This initial form of Old English had little apparent interaction with Celtic languages. The early uses of the language were evident in legal documents and, from the time of Alfred the Great, in literature as well. In the ninth to 11th centuries there was very extensive interaction with Old Norse, introduced by Scandinavian invaders and settlers. Probably the similarities between them facilitated exchange. The influence of Norman and later French contact (on Middle English) was marked mainly in LAW and administration. English slowly regained prestige as a language of literature in the 14th and 15th centuries. The coincidental impact of the RENAISSANCE, the REFORMATION, and the advent of printing were powerful stimulants. Modern English was still a fluid language with numerous dialect variations, and the 17th and 18th centuries saw the beginning of standardization (i.e., the King James BIBLE, Samuel JOHNSON’s Dictionary) At the same time, however, the language began to travel the globe and to add different forms even as it began to build an international base.

English reformation

The marital problems of HENRY VIII (or of his wives) sometimes overshadow the story of religious reform in ENGLAND. It is accurate to call the English experience of REFORMATION “erastian”— formed or directed by the state, as opposed to the experiences of Lutheran or Calvinist reforms growing out of preaching and proselytizing by churchmen. But the contrast is less than it seems. The king did try to annul his marriage (using biblical texts), he did coerce his clergy into obedience (see CROMWELL, THOMAS; SUBMIS-

SION OF THE CLERGY), and he did have PARLIAMENT

enact his ROYAL SUPREMACY. All of these things were done before he made any gestures toward reform of religion. But having taken these steps, the king was forced into an involuntary alliance with reformers, because honest Catholics (Thomas MORE, John FISHER) rejected his supremacy. Consequently, Cromwell, Thomas CRANMER, Miles COVERDALE and others became the king’s religious advisers, and he was edged more and more into progressive public positions on the faith. His son EDWARD VI was schooled by Protestant tutors, and thus in 1547 there was a distinct move toward more advanced Protestant views. This trend was abruptly reversed by MARY I and then reversed again by ELIZABETH I. Thereafter the English church remained Protestant, despite periods of fear for its true nature, especially in the 17th century.

Enlightenment

A self-conscious movement of thinkers which extolled the power of human reason. The term is usually applied to the French, German, and Scottish authors of the 18th century (Voltaire, Diderot, Kant, and HUME, for example). They had in common a sense of liberating the intellectual world from the “darkness” of medieval tradition. Their work ranged from philosophy to politics to history and art. The roots of the movement lay in the 17th century, with the observations of Sir Isaac NEWTON, the rationalism of René Descartes, and the empiricism of Francis BACON.

entente

Because of GREAT BRITAIN’s 19th-century policy of holding a BALANCE OF POWER, she discouraged any formal alliances. Meanwhile the great powers of Europe had drawn up a system of opposing groups: the triple alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy against the dual alliance of France and Russia. Britain’s status changed with the AngloJapanese alliance of 1902, but reaching agreement with one of the powers of Europe was bound to be more complicated. Since there was a naval arms race with Germany, and since there

had been steps toward accommodation with France (see FASHODA), the cross-channel neighbors were able to settle a number of issues and make an informal agreement short of an alliance in 1904—an “entente.” A similar agreement with Russia in 1907 made Britain a quasi-member of the dual alliance. Further naval talks with France by 1912 made actual British commitments that pushed her toward full alliance but left her formal status unclear. Thus, in 1914 Britain’s entry into WORLD WAR I and her alliance with France and Russia were only decided at the last minute.

Episcopal Church of Scotland

When the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION of 1688 was followed by the establishment of the Presbyterian CHURCH OF SCOTLAND in 1690, those who believed in a church governed by BISHOPs were forced to leave, especially the JACOBITES, supporters of the late king. They held secret consecrations of bishops, and by 1712 they were given the legal authority to preach, provided they took an oath to oppose the Jacobites. Most refused (see NON- JURORS) and had to endure persecution until the dynastic cause was defeated. With the death of the last STUART pretender in 1788, the episcopal ministers gave their allegiance to GEORGE III, and in 1792 they were able to exercise their religion openly. Meanwhile, the Scottish bishops had played an important role in the history of the Episcopal church in the United States. In 1784 the Scottish bishops consecrated Samuel Seabury as the first bishop there, since the late rebellion prevented English bishops from doing so.

equity See COURTS OF LAW.

Erskine, Thomas (1750–1823) lawyer

A BARRISTER who represented a number of controversial defendants, Erskine was counsel for Thomas PAINE, whose publication The Rights of Man was condemned in 1792. He was also the counsel for Thomas HARDY, the leader of the

London Corresponding Society who was acquitted in a famous treason trial in 1794. Erskine

defended Queen CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK at her

trial in 1820. He was a MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT and briefly held the post of LORD CHANCELLOR in 1806–07.

esquire See SQUIRE.

Essex, earls of

1.Walter Devereux (1541–76) led a force to put down the NORTHERN REBELLION (1569). His expedition to ULSTER (1573) failed, but he became earl-marshal of Ireland in 1575.

2.Robert Devereux (1567–1601), a soldier who fought in the Netherlands, became a member of the PRIVY COUNCIL. He captured Cadiz in 1596 and led a mission to Ulster in 1599 but failed to defeat Hugh O’NEILL. When he returned to ENGLAND he was imprisoned. He tried to raise a rebellion in LONDON and was executed for treason.

3.Robert Devereux (1591–1646) commanded the forces of PARLIAMENT in the early years of the CIVIL WAR. He had served under the king but took the side of parliament, fought at

EDGEHILL, and won the first Battle of Newbury (1644). He resigned his command after

the SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE (1645).

European Community (EC)

Originating in the wake of WORLD WAR II, the European Community was the organization that included the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Commission (EAEC). These bodies were consolidated in 1967, creating four main organs of government: a European Commission (in Brussels), a Council of Ministers, a European Parliament (in Strasbourg), and a European Court of Justice (in Luxembourg). In 1992 in the Treaty of Maastricht, the member states created a European Union, with a single market for free move-

ment of goods and capital. In 1993 they planned a monetary union, which 11 countries entered in 1999, adopting the uniform currency known as the euro. After several false starts, Great Britain joined the EEC (or Common Market) in 1972, a move that was endorsed by a referendum in 1975. As of 2002, Britain had not adopted the euro.

evangelical

Refers to the Protestant belief in strict adherence to the teaching of the BIBLE, specifically the four gospels. The term has been applied to churches, to movements, and to individuals, but it is not theologically exclusive. Its forms in the life of the churches have at different times included PURI-

TANs, ARMINIANs, and METHODISM.

exchequer

The royal financial and accounting office, so named because of the checked cloth on which the accounts of the SHERIFFS and other officials were tallied. The accounts were recorded in a roll of parchment. It was described in an account written in the 1170s, the Dialogue of the Exchequer. The office functioned both as a treasury and as a court of justice. The former activity moved to a separate office in the 17th century, and the judicial functions were terminated in the 1870s.

exclusion

Refers to the crisis in 1679–81 when PARLIAMENT passed bills in three successive sessions to exclude the duke of York (subsequently JAMES VII AND II) from the royal succession. finally decided not to summon another parliament when that body expressed fears that James would impose his Roman Catholic faith upon the country. These fears were enhanced by the concurrent POPISH PLOT and suspicions of the king’s policy toward France, embodied in the Treaty of DOVER. The crisis was reminiscent of the events leading up to the CIVIL WAR, but this time the parties formed on both sides of the question did not