- •What great monuments of prehistory still exist in the British Isles?
- •What are the mysteries of Stonehenge?
- •When did the Celts arrive in Britain? What Celtic tribes do you know? Where did they settle?
- •What were the Celts like? How did they organize their family life? What gods did they worship? Who were the Druids? What functions were performed by them?
- •What Celtic languages are still spoken in the British Isles? What is the most flourishing Celtic language today? What are its peculiarities?
- •What historical events are these dates associated with? 55 bc, 54 bc, 43 ad, 410 When and why did the Romans leave Britain?
- •What event in the history of Britain is associated with the Iceni people and their queen? How did the Romans try to defend themselves against the Celtic tribes?
- •What is the most spectacular memorial of the Roman presence in Britain?
- •What did the Romans introduce in the life of the ancient islanders? What languages were spoken in Roman Britain?
- •What Germanic tribes invaded Britain from the Continent in the 5th century?
- •What do you know about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table? What was Merlin famous for?
- •When was Britain converted into Christianity? Why does the tradition of visiting Canterbury Cathedral continue to this day? How did the new faith influence the life of the Anglo-Saxons?
- •Which of the Anglo-Saxon kings deserved the title of ‘Great’? What were his great accomplishments?
- •What languages were spoken in Anglo-Saxon Britain? What is the great mythological poem written in the West Saxon dialect of Old English? What is it about?
- •When did the Scandinavian invasion begin? Who were the Vikings?
- •How did the Viking rule in Britain affect the life of the islanders?
- •Who was the Anglo-Saxon king before the Norman Conquest? What were the reasons for the Norman invasion?
- •Why were the English forces defeated in the Battle of Hastings? Why is it said that the Battle of Hastings changed the course of English history?
- •What marks the place of the Battle of Hastings?
- •What do you know about William the Conqueror?
- •What did the Normans do to make themselves safe in the new lands?
- •What are some famous castles in Britain? What do you know about them?
- •What is ‘Domesday Book’? What was it written for?
- •What languages were spoken in Norman Britain?
- •What were the most important political, economic and cultural changes after the Norman Conquest?
- •Who was the first Plantagenet King? Why was Thomas Becket murdered? How did the Christian world react to Becket’s martyrdom?
- •What role did Geoffrey Chaucer play for the development of the English language? What languages were books written in before Chaucer in England?
- •What do you know about the Magna Carta?
- •How did King Edward I manage to impose English rule on Wales? What is Caernarfon Castle famous for?
- •What were the reasons for the War of the Roses? Who gave the war its name?
- •Characterise Henry VIII as a man and as a king
- •Why did the English people dislike Queen Mary I?
- •What is the Renaissance? When did it begin in Britain? What spheres of life did the Renaissance influence?
- •Why was the reign of Queen Elizabeth I called ‘the Golden Age’? What were the prominent writers, poets, painters, philosophers and scientists of that period?
- •Why did Elizabeth support many English seamen that caused trouble to Spanish ships? Who were the most famous seamen of the time?
- •What were the reasons and the results of the sea battle between the Armada and the English fleet?
- •What were the reasons for the conflict of the Stuarts with the Parliament?
- •How did the Civil War develop and end? What was King Charles I accused and found guilty of? What was his execution like?
- •What social groups supported Oliver Cromwell? What new kind of army did he create? How did o. Cromwell govern the country?
- •Why did Scotland agree to the union with England in 1707? What was the new official name of the united state?
- •What military heroes glorified Great Britain in the Napoleonic Wars?
- •Why was colonizing foreign lands important? What colonies did Britain have in North America, in the West Indies and India?
- •What did the British government and the American colonies quarrel over? When did the American War of Independence begin? What was the result of the war?
- •What new ideas did the War of Independence bring? What were the revolutionary changes in art in the 18th century?
- •What is the Industrial Revolution? Why did it begin in Britain? What branches of industry were progressing in the 18th century?
- •What new social classes appeared in the 18th century? What caused social unrest in the country? What do you know about Chartism?
- •What disasters did Ireland suffer in 1845, 1846 and 1847? What country did many Irish emigrate to?
- •What were the greatest cultural achievements of the Victorian Age?
- •What moral values are called ‘Victorian’?
- •When did the Windsor family come to power? What important events of the 20th and 21st century did they witness?
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Why did the English people dislike Queen Mary I?
Mary I (1516 - 1558) Queen Mary I of England was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his first of six wives, Catherine of Aragon
1) Mary first began to earn her unofficial title of “Bloody Mary” when she had her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, executed to prevent any possible power struggle. It is generally believed that Mary might have spared(сохранить) Jane's life if it had not been for the intervention of the Spanish diplomats who conditioned Mary's marriage to their king on her executing Jane.
2) Mary had always rejected and resented the break with Rome that her father had instituted and his subsequent establishment of the Anglican Church that had flowed from her half-brother's Protestantism, and she tried to turn England back to Roman Catholicism. This effort was carried out by force, and hundreds of Protestant leaders were executed. (e.g.Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, who was primarily responsible for the printing of the “Great Bible”. )Hundreds more followed in Mary’s bloody reign of terror. This earned the queen the title of “Bloody Mary”.
3) Mary's devotion to Roman Catholicism inspired her to institute social reforms, but these were largely unsuccessful. Her marriage to Philip II of Spain, in 1554, was unpopular even with her Catholic subjects. Philip spent very little time with Mary, once he realized that she was not able to bear a child. Then she drew England in to Spain's wars to please her husband even though the people were against it. The war was costly, both in terms of money and territory. The loss of Calais was a major blow to England as it was their last stronghold in France and had been English territory for over three hundred years.
4) The method of execution of many of the Protestants was execution by burning. This was the favored execution method of the Catholic Spanish Inquisition. Mary Tudor married King Phillip II of Spain. The English people were terrified that the Inquisition would be introduced into England.
5) The reign of Queen Elizabeth I also saw the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada. Under these circumstances the name of the Catholic Mary Tudor, wife of the hated Spanish King, was totally blackened. Queen Mary Tudor was given the name 'Bloody Mary'. And this is how she is still referred to in England.
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What is the Renaissance? When did it begin in Britain? What spheres of life did the Renaissance influence?
Renaissance is the French word that means a rebirth. It used to describe the period of European history from about 1340-1600. The Renaissance was the period when the middle ages came to an end and the modern world began. During that time great changes took place in Literature, painting, sculpture, architecture and science. Until that time men’s chief concerned was God. The men of Renaissance saw themselves in the center of all the things. They thought less of death but more of life and this made them eager to find out all they could, opening up completely new possibilities. People became less attached to the Church and more to their country. The artistic and literally movement was full of love of life and respect for the freedom of the human mind.
New ideas were accomplished by new inventions: printing by Johannes Gutenberg, which influenced on Literary most of all. (Quick mass reproduction of texts meant a wider audience. Textbooks were cheaper, and therefore more widely available to get), gunpowder, the Microscope (Hans Lippershey, Netherlands), etc. There was a growing use of money and with it grew trade and the wealth of the bankers and marchers. Modern Science grew out of the Renaissance when scholars began to carry out experiments and to observe. England felt the effect of the Renaissance later than much of Europe because of its insular position.
The outstanding men of the Renaissance:
- Sir Thomas More – Lord Chancellor of England, scholar and Saint
- William Shakespeare – England dramatist and poet regarded as the greatest writer in English literature
- Christopher Marlowe - poet, dramatist, government spy
- Francis Bacon -an outstanding English lawyer , statesman and philosopher
- Sir Walter Raleigh- a courtier, explorer and writer