England is the largest of the four political divisions that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are the other three political divisions of the United Kingdom, which is often called the U.K. or Britain. England is the industrial and trading center of the United Kingdom.
England lies in the southern and eastern part of the island of Great Britain. It covers about three-fifths of the island. England has much charming countryside, with green pastures and neat hedges. But most of the English people live in sprawling cities. London, the capital, is England’s largest city.
England has a rich history. The Industrial Revolution, a period of rapid industrialization, began there in the 1700’s. English sailors, traders, explorers, and colonists helped found the British Empire—the largest empire in history. England produced William Shakespeare, who is considered the greatest dramatist of all time, and Sir Isaac Newton, one of history’s most important scientists.
The English people have a long history of freedom and democracy. Their democratic ideas and practices have influenced many countries, including the United States and Canada. Most English people take great pride in their history and have deep respect for England’s customs and traditions.
This article traces England’s history up to 1707, when England and Wales first officially joined with Scotland to form what we now know as the United Kingdom. For a discussion of the United Kingdom as a whole and of its history since 1707, see United Kingdom.
Government
England is the leading political division of the United Kingdom. The government of the United Kingdom serves as England’s government.
The United Kingdom is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. Parliament, the chief lawmaking body of the United Kingdom, meets in London. Parliament consists of the monarch, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. The monarch acts as the official head of state, but a group of senior members of Parliament called the Cabinet actually governs the United Kingdom. The prime minister leads the government.
The House of Commons is the more powerful house. Its 650 members are elected from each of the four political divisions that make up the United Kingdom. England supplies a great majority of the members. The House of Lords has limited power. Most of its members are honorary appointees. For more information on British government, see United Kingdom, Government of the.
For purposes of local government, England is divided into a number of administrative units. These units include counties, metropolitan counties, and unitary authorities. The counties are further divided into shire districts, and the metropolitan counties into metropolitan districts. The Greater London area is divided into 32 boroughs and the City. The City is the oldest part of London and serves as London’s financial district.
Each government unit has its own elected council. The government councils deal with such matters as education, housing, recreation, refuse collection, and road construction and maintenance. Most of the money for these services comes from council taxes, which are paid by local residents, and from grants from the national government.
People
Population.
Almost all of England’s people live in urban areas. More than a third live in the seven metropolitan areas.
Greater London is the largest metropolitan area in England and one of the largest such areas in the world. It covers 614 square miles (1,590 square kilometers) and has about 9 million people. The six metropolitan counties, with the largest city of each in parentheses, are (1) Greater Manchester (Manchester), (2) Merseyside (Liverpool), (3) South Yorkshire (Sheffield), (4) Tyne and Wear (Newcastle upon Tyne), (5) West Midlands (Birmingham), and (6) West Yorkshire (Leeds).
Until the mid-1800’s, most of the English people lived in the countryside. During the Industrial Revolution, huge numbers of people moved to cities and towns to work in factories, mines, and mills. By the beginning of the 1900’s, about four-fifths of the people lived in cities.
During the 1800’s and early 1900’s, millions of people left England to settle elsewhere. From the 1930’s to the 1960’s, the number of people moving to England outnumbered those leaving. Since the 1970’s, however, the number leaving has been slightly larger than the number of people entering England. Most of the English emigrants have gone to the United States or to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or other countries that were once part of the British Empire.
Refugees from Europe flowed into England before and after World War II (1939-1945). Since the 1950’s, a large number of immigrants have come from Pakistan and from countries in Asia and the Caribbean that belong to the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is an association of countries and other political units that were once part of the British Empire. Most of the immigrants have settled in cities and towns already facing housing shortages. During the early 1960’s, the British government began restricting immigration. The wives and children of immigrants already living in England make up about half of the new immigrants who are accepted each year.
Ancestry.
Celtic-speaking people lived in what is now England by the mid-600’s B.C. Over the next 1,700 years, the land was invaded by the Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. The Normans, the last people to invade England, came in A.D. 1066. Each group of invaders added its own traditions and speech to English civilization and helped shape the character of the English people.
Language.
English is the official language of the United Kingdom. It developed mainly from the Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French languages. For a discussion of the English language, including the history of its development, see English language.
Many English words have different meanings in England than they have in the United States. In England, for example, freight cars are trucks and trucks are lorries. Gasoline is called petrol. Elevators are lifts, and cookies are called biscuits.
The way English is spoken varies throughout England. For example, people in the western part of England speak with a flatter accent and pronounce the letter r more clearly than do people in other areas. In east Yorkshire, in the northern part of England, the accent is soft and rather musical. People in the East End section of London speak a harsh dialect called cockney.
Way of life
City life.
About 95 percent of the English people live in urban areas. The city centers are business and entertainment districts with modern buildings. They are crowded with shoppers, office workers, and people going to restaurants, theaters, and other places of relaxation and entertainment. On the edges of the cities lie suburban areas of well-kept brick houses with neat gardens. Gardening is a favorite hobby of the English. Most of the houses are detached (separate) or semidetached (two houses sharing a common wall).
Areas of substandard housing lie between the central business districts and the outer suburbs of many English cities, especially in northern England. Some of these areas consist of factories surrounded by blocks of terraced houses (identical houses in a row), which were built cheaply in the late 1800’s. Many of the factories are abandoned or only partially used, and many of the houses are in poor condition. Some of the areas have apartment buildings called council flats that were built in the 1960’s and 1970’s by local authorities as public housing. Many of these buildings were built inexpensively, using poor construction methods, and have become rundown. Lack of housing and an increase in the number of homeless people are issues of concern in many cities in England. Other concerns in large urban areas include unemployment and problems resulting from the heavy use of automobiles, such as traffic congestion and air pollution.
Rural life.
Only about 5 percent of the English people live in rural areas. The rural areas of England, where farming is an important activity, include much of Devon and Cornwall in southwestern England; a broad strip of land in eastern England around a bay of the North Sea called The Wash; and the northern Pennines mountains. The people live in isolated rural dwellings or in country villages or towns. 
Much of southeastern England and the areas surrounding England’s northern and central cities appear rural. But the economies of these areas are actually extensions of cities. Most of the workers who live in these areas commute to jobs in the nearby cities. Area residents often visit the cities for shopping, dining, and entertainment.
Food and drink.
Traditional English cooking is simple. The English like roasted and grilled meats and use fewer spices and sauces than do other Europeans.
On Sunday, the midday meal, which is called dinner, traditionally consists of a joint (roast) of beef, pork, or lamb; roasted or boiled potatoes; a vegetable; and a sweet (dessert)—often fruit pie topped with hot custard sauce. Yorkshire pudding, a batter cake baked in meat fat, is often served with beef. Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, peas, and carrots are common vegetables because they are easily grown in England’s climate.
Other popular English dishes include roast chicken, steak and kidney pie, shepherd’s pie, and bangers and mash. Steak and kidney pie is a stew made of beef and kidneys and topped by a pastry crust. Shepherd’s pie is a casserole of ground meat and mashed potatoes. Bangers and mash are thick sausages served with mashed potatoes.
The English also like fish, especially cod, Dover sole, haddock, herring, and plaice. Fish and chips is a favorite dish for lunch, the late afternoon meal called tea, or supper. It consists of fried fish and French fried potatoes and is sold at specialty shops throughout England.
The favorite alcoholic drink in England is beer, which includes lager, ale, bitter, and stout. Many English people also like Scotch whisky. A popular nonalcoholic drink in England is squash, which is made by adding water to a concentrate of crushed oranges or lemons.
Recreation.
Many English people, like people elsewhere, spend the evening watching television. Others visit their neighborhood pub (public house). The pub, or the local, as many people call it, is an important part of social life in England. At a pub, people may drink beer or other beverages, talk with friends, or play a game of darts or other pub games.
Many English people enjoy sports and outdoor activities, and they have many opportunities to participate in and watch organized sports. Others enjoy simply taking long hikes through the woods or countryside or working in their gardens.
England’s most popular organized sport is football, the game Americans call soccer. During the football season, which lasts from August to May, about 20 million spectators watch the games. Millions of English people bet on the results of each week’s football games by filling out pools coupons. The chances of winning are small, but winners have collected large amounts of money. At the end of the season, two teams battle for the Football Association Cup. International matches are held in England throughout the season.
Cricket has been popular in England for hundreds of years. It is played by two 11-member teams using bats and a ball. The English probably began playing cricket as early as the 1300’s. Today, almost all towns and villages have cricket teams. Highlights of the cricket season are the international competitions called test matches between a team representing England and a team from Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or the Caribbean.
Rugby, a game that uses an oval ball, is played throughout England from late summer to late spring. People of all ages, but especially older people, enjoy bowls, a sport similar to bowling. There are thousands of bowls clubs in England. Other favorite sports include golf, horse racing, rowing, sailing, swimming, and tennis.
Hunting, horseback riding, fishing, and shooting are popular in the English countryside. Some wealthy people shoot game birds such as grouse, partridge, pheasant, snipe, and woodcock. Most game birds are found on private land. Fox hunting, a traditional English sport in which hunters on horses follow a pack of hounds chasing a wild fox, was popular among the wealthy. However, a law restricting hunting with dogs, which included a ban on using the dogs to kill the fox, took effect in 2005.
Education.
All English children between the ages of 5 and 16 must attend school. About 90 percent of the students go to schools supported entirely or partly by public funds. The rest attend private schools. The Department of Education and Science and local education authorities supervise England’s school system.
For many years, every child had to take an 11-plus examination after attending elementary school from ages 5 through 11. This test determined which of three specialized high schools—grammar, secondary-modern, or technical—a child would attend from ages 11 through 16. Grammar schools prepared students for college entrance. Secondary-modern schools provided a general education. Technical schools offered vocational training. But in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the English educational system gradually changed. Most grammar, secondary-modern, and technical schools have been replaced by comprehensive schools. These schools provide all three types of education.
England’s public schools are actually private schools. But they are called public schools because the earliest of them were established for the children of the middle classes. Most of the public schools are boys’ boarding schools. Students generally attend these schools from about ages 11, 12, or 13 up to 18 or 19. The leading public schools include Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, St. Paul’s, and Winchester. Such schools traditionally have helped train students for high-ranking positions in the government, the Church of England, the armed forces, or the practice of law. To pass the difficult entrance examinations of the public schools, some young boys attend private prep (preparatory) schools from about age 5 to 11, 12, or 13. 
Institutions of higher education in England include two of the most famous universities in the world, Oxford and Cambridge. The largest traditional university in England is the University of London. England’s Open University has more students, but it has no regular classrooms. Instruction is carried out through correspondence, television, the Internet, and other distance learning technologies.
Religion.
The Church of England, or Anglican Church, is the official church in England. The British monarch must belong to it and is its worldly head. All other English people may worship as they choose. The spiritual head of the Church of England is the archbishop of Canterbury, who is known as the primate of all England. The archbishops of Canterbury and York and 24 bishops have seats in the House of Lords. This gives the Church of England an official link with the British government. About 15 percent of England’s people identify themselves as belonging to the Church of England. 
Many people in England belong to other Protestant churches, which are called Free Churches. The largest Free Churches include the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Reformed churches. About 8 percent of England’s population is Roman Catholic. The Catholic Church is headed by the archbishop of Westminster.
About 7 percent of England’s population is Muslim. Most Muslims live in London and other large cities. England also has large Hindu, Jewish, and Sikh populations. About 40 percent of England’s population identify themselves as having no religion.
The arts.
The English enjoy motion pictures, plays, and concerts. London is the center of English music and drama. But Birmingham and other major cities also have a growing number of music and theater companies.
England has a history of producing outstanding artists. It has been the birthplace of many noted architects, painters, and composers. But its greatest artists have probably been writers. Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and many other English authors wrote masterpieces of literature.
English architects have developed many different styles over the years. The Norman style began after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Buildings designed in the Norman style have heavy columns and semicircular arches. The Tudor style became popular for houses in the late 1500’s, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Tudor was the family name of the queen. Characteristics of the Tudor style include flat arches; many windows, gables, and chimneys; and timber frames filled in with brick and plaster.
During the 1600’s, two of England’s greatest architects were Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren. Jones designed the Queen’s House in Greenwich and remodeled St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Wren rebuilt St. Paul’s and many other churches after they were destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Georgian architecture, which began during the 1700’s, uses much brick and stone and has a simple, balanced design.
For hundreds of years, English painters followed the styles of other European artists. But during the 1700’s, such painters as Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth, and Sir Joshua Reynolds began to develop their own individual styles. During the 1800’s, John Constable and Joseph Turner produced beautiful landscapes. Important English painters of the 1900’s included Duncan Grant, David Hockney, Paul Nash, Ben Nicholson, John Piper, and Graham Sutherland.
Loading the player...Renaissance music: Greensleeves
The English have always loved music, and many of their old folk songs are still sung throughout the English-speaking world. During the 1500’s and early 1600’s, such composers as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd wrote excellent church music. Henry Purcell, who lived in the late 1600’s, is considered one of England’s greatest classical composers. In the 1870’s and 1880’s, Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote many popular satirical operettas. Leading English composers of the 1900’s included Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, Sir Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Sir William Walton. Two English groups, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, had enormous influence on the development of rock music. Loading the player...
English folk dance
English furniture makers were the best in Europe during the 1700’s. Furniture collectors today prize the beautifully designed works of Thomas Chippendale, George Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton. Also during the 1700’s, Josiah Wedgwood and Josiah Spode produced lovely chinaware. Wedgwood and Spode pottery is still one of the United Kingdom’s important exports.
For more information, see the separate articles on Architecture; Classical music; Drama; English literature; Furniture; Painting; Rock music; and Theater.
The land
England, Scotland, and Wales occupy the island of Great Britain. The River Tweed and the Cheviot Hills form England’s northern border with Scotland. Wales lies west of England. The Irish Sea separates England and the island of Ireland, and the English Channel and the North Sea divide England from Europe’s mainland.
Land regions.
England has three main land regions. They are the Pennines, the Southwest Peninsula, and the English Lowlands.
The Pennines
are England’s main mountain system, often called the backbone of England. They extend from the Scottish border about halfway down the length of England. They are also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills. The flanks of the Pennines are rich in coal. West of the Pennines lies the Lake District, an area known for its beautiful mountain scenery and its many lakes. The highest point in England, 3,210-foot (978-meter) Scafell Pike, is in the Lake District. 
The Southwest Peninsula
consists of a low plateau with highlands rising above it. Several of the highlands are composed of granite. Near much of the coast, the plateau ends sharply in cliffs that tower above the sea. The westernmost point in England, Land’s End, and the southernmost point in the United Kingdom, Lizard Point, are both on the peninsula.
The English Lowlands
cover all of England outside the regions of the Pennines and the Southwest Peninsula. The Lowlands have most of England’s farmable land, industry, and people.
The rich plains of Lancashire lie in the northwestern part of the region, and those of Yorkshire lie in the northeastern part. A large plain called the Midlands occupies the center of the English Lowlands. England’s chief industrial cities are in the Midlands. South of the Midlands, a series of hills and valleys crosses the land to the valley of the River Thames.
Most of the land north of the Thames and up to a bay of the North Sea called The Wash is low and flat. This area has rich farmland. A great plain called The Fens borders The Wash. South of the Thames, long, low lines of hills called scarplands cross the land. Between the scarplands are lowlands of clay. The scarplands consist of layers of chalk and other forms of limestone. Along the English Channel, the hills drop sharply and form steep cliffs. The most famous are the white cliffs of Dover. 
Rivers and lakes.
England’s rivers flow from the central uplands to the seas. The rivers that flow east to the North Sea include the Tees, Thames, Tyne, and a group of rivers that join and form the Humber. The rivers that flow west into the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel include the Mersey, Dee, Severn, and Avon. Several shorter streams flow south from the uplands into the English Channel.
The Thames is the longest river entirely in England. It is 210 miles (340 kilometers) long. The Severn is about the same length. Most of it is in England, but part is in Wales. England’s next longest river, the Trent, is 170 miles (274 kilometers) long. All three rivers are navigable for part of their length and are connected by canals. England has more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) of inland waterways. Many of England’s rivers empty into broad inlets that make excellent harbors. London, Liverpool, and other English ports are on or near such inlets.
England’s largest natural lakes are in the Lake District, where 16 lakes lie within a circle about 30 miles (48 kilometers) in diameter. The largest lake, Windermere, is about 101/2 miles (17 kilometers) long and about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide at its widest point. 
Islands.
England has a number of offshore islands. One of the most important is the lovely Isle of Wight, near the southern coast. The colorful Isles of Scilly lie off Land’s End in southwestern England. The Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea, and the Channel Islands, in the English Channel, are British crown dependencies but are not part of England. These islands are largely self-governing, though the British government takes responsibility for their defense and foreign affairs.
For more information about the geography of England, see The land section of United Kingdom. For information on England’s climate, see the Climate section of United Kingdom.
Economy
England has been a leader in manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution began there in the 1700’s. England produces most of the United Kingdom’s industrial and farm products. England’s ideal location on the busy North Atlantic shipping lanes—and its many excellent harbors–have helped make it the United Kingdom’s center of trade. Service industries are also an important part of England’s economy.
Service industries
employ about 80 percent of English workers. England’s most important service industries include banking and insurance. London is an international financial center. Its major financial institutions include the Bank of England, the United Kingdom’s national bank; the London Stock Exchange, one of the world’s busiest stock exchanges; and Lloyd’s, the famous worldwide insurance organization. Other important service industries in England include tourism, transportation and communications, education, and health care.
Manufacturing
provides jobs for about 7 percent of the work force. Most of the United Kingdom’s exports are goods manufactured in England. For many years, almost all of England’s factories were built near coal fields, close to their source of power. Today, electricity, oil, and gas are being used more and more. As a result, many new industries have developed around London and in the southeastern section of England, where there is little coal.
England’s chief manufactured products include chemicals, electronic equipment, food and beverages, machinery, metal products, motor vehicles, paper, pharmaceuticals (medicinal drugs), and woolen cloth and other textiles. England is also a leader in printing and publishing.
Agriculture and fishing.
England’s chief agricultural products include barley, cattle, chickens and eggs, fruits, milk, potatoes, sheep, sugar beets, and wheat. England’s shallow coastal waters provide excellent fishing. Bass, crabs, lobsters, scallops, sole, and whelks are among the principal fishing catches. Much of the fishing catch comes off the eastern and southwestern coasts of England.
Mining.
Oil deposits and fields of natural gas lie in the North Sea, east of the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom began pumping natural gas from North Sea wells in 1967, and it began pumping petroleum from the sea in 1975. The production of natural gas and petroleum has increased rapidly since then and has greatly benefited England’s economy.
England once ranked as a major coal producer. The largest coal fields extend along both sides of the Pennines into the Midlands. Coal output has been declining steadily, however, because of the increased use of oil, natural gas, and nuclear power. England’s coal industry has also suffered competition from lower-priced coal imported from Russia and other countries.
England’s iron ore production, which was once important to the steel industry, has declined. Most deposits of high-grade ore have been exhausted, and most of the ore that England uses has to be imported.
Southwestern England has fine china clay, which is used in making pottery. Southeastern England has deposits of chalk, which is used to make cement.
Transportation and communication.
England has an extensive system of motorways (expressways) that link London with other major industrial centers. Roads and railroads carry passenger and freight traffic. Birmingham, London, and Manchester all have international airports. England has dozens of ports of commercial significance. The most important include Grimsby and Immingham, Liverpool, London, Southampton, and Tees and Hartlepool. England also has a widespread inland waterway system, but these rivers and canals are more important for recreational boating than for transporting freight.
Ferry services carry passengers across the English Channel between England and France. In 1994, the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel, opened. The Chunnel is a railroad tunnel beneath the English Channel that links the United Kingdom and France. (see Channel Tunnel).
England has dozens of daily newspapers. A number of them, including the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, and The Sun, circulate throughout the United Kingdom.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a public corporation, provides radio and television services. The BBC has no commercials. It is financed chiefly by yearly license fees paid by television owners. Commercial radio and television stations also broadcast throughout England.
For more information on England’s economy, see the Economy section of the United Kingdom article.
History
Scholars do not know when the first people arrived in what is now England. But they do know that prehistoric people lived in caves in the region during the Old Stone Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. Scientists believe that the sea was lower at that time, and what is now the island of Great Britain was part of the European mainland.
By about 6000 B.C., Great Britain had become an island. In the mid-3000’s B.C., people in England began to grow crops and raise cattle, pigs, and sheep. The knowledge of farming and livestock raising probably came from people who lived along the lower Rhine River in what are now Germany and the Netherlands and in present-day Brittany in northwestern France.
In the early 1000’s B.C., people in England mined tin and made bronze tools. They also built large circular monuments with stones. Scholars believe these monuments were religious structures. Stonehenge, the most famous monument, still stands near Salisbury.
Historians are not certain when the Celtic language was first used in England, but it had been introduced there by about the mid-600’s B.C. A form of Celtic called Brythonic was spoken throughout the island of Great Britain.
The Celtic-speaking people worshiped nature gods through priests called Druids. They used iron and mined tin. They probably brought the knowledge of ironmaking to England in the mid-600’s B.C. from continental Europe. They also made woolen cloth, which they dyed bright colors. They traded with the Gauls in what is now France and with other Celtic-speaking tribes in Ireland.
The Roman conquest.
In 55 B.C., the great Roman general Julius Caesar sailed across the English Channel from Gaul with a small force to explore England. He returned the next year with an invading army and defeated some of the native tribes before returning to Rome.
In A.D. 43, the Roman emperor Claudius ordered Roman armies to invade Britannia, as the island was then called. The Romans easily conquered the native tribes in the southeast. In A.D. 61, the Roman forces put down a revolt led by Boudicca (sometimes spelled Boadicea), queen of a tribe of Britons called the Iceni. During the A.D. 80’s, the Romans completed the conquest of the southern part of the island of Great Britain, including present-day England and Wales. They were never able to completely subdue what is now Scotland.
The Romans made the part of the island under their control a province of their huge empire. They built camps and forts throughout the land and constructed roads to connect the camps. The most famous road, which became known as Watling Street, ran from Richborough, near Dover, to Chester and passed through the settlements that became Canterbury and London. The Romans also built walls and forts across northern England to protect the province from the warlike peoples of Scotland. The most famous of the walls was Hadrian’s Wall, named after the Emperor Hadrian. It was built in the A.D. 120’s and extended from Solway Firth to the mouth of the River Tyne. 
England prospered under the Romans. Trade flowed along the Roman roads, and towns sprang up around the armed camps. London, then called Londinium, began to develop as a port city. During the Roman period, Christianity came to England. A number of items bearing Christian symbols and dating from the A.D. 300’s have been found in various places in England. In addition, an early Christian chapel has been discovered in a Roman villa in Kent.
The Germanic invasions.
The Roman soldiers left England in the early 400’s to help defend Rome against Germanic invaders. With the Romans gone, the Britons could not protect themselves against invasion by people from Scotland called Picts and people from Ireland called Scots. But the greatest danger came from seafaring Germanic tribes, especially the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. These tribes first raided the coast. In the mid-400’s, they began to establish permanent settlements. The Jutes were probably the first tribe to land. They settled in southeastern England, in what is now the county of Kent, and in south-central England on the Isle of Wight and in what is now southern Hampshire. The Angles and Saxons followed the Jutes and set up kingdoms throughout southern and eastern England. The name England comes from the Anglo-Saxon words meaning the Angle folk or land of the Angles.
The Germanic tribes gradually pushed the Britons north and west. The Britons held out for a number of years under a tribal chief who may have been the inspiration for the King Arthur legends. However, the Britons were beaten repeatedly until they controlled only the mountain areas of the extreme western and northern parts of England. Those Britons remaining in southern, eastern, and central Britain were gradually absorbed into the culture of their Anglo-Saxon conquerors.
In 597, Saint Augustine << AW guh `steen` or aw GUHS tihn >> of Canterbury traveled from France to Kent and converted Kent’s King Ethelbert, also spelled Aethelberht, to Christianity. Christianity had died out in most of England as a result of the Germanic invasions. The Germanic invaders were not Christians. Augustine built a monastery near Canterbury. Canterbury eventually became the main religious center in England. Augustine’s followers spread Christianity in southern and central England. Celtic missionaries, who had begun converting tribes in Scotland during the 500’s, converted many people in northern England.
The Anglo-Saxon period.
The Angles and Saxons soon became the most powerful tribes in England. Each tribe became divided into separate nations. The Saxons, who occupied much of southern England, were organized into East Saxons, Middle Saxons, South Saxons, and West Saxons. The Angles lived mainly in northern, central, and eastern England. Their nations were called Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria.
In time, the tribal nations developed into seven main kingdoms called the Heptarchy. These kingdoms were East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex, and Wessex. In the 800’s, under King Egbert, also spelled Ecgbehrt, Wessex became the most powerful kingdom in the Heptarchy. Egbert is sometimes considered the first monarch of England because his reign laid the basis for the unification of England under his heirs. For a list of English monarchs, beginning with Egbert, see Kings and queens of the United Kingdom (table: Rulers of England).
Danish raiders began to attack England in the late 700’s. During the 800’s, they easily conquered all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms except Wessex. Alfred the Great, the king of Wessex, resisted most of the attacks. In 886, he defeated the Danes and forced them to withdraw to the northeastern third of England. The area ruled by the Danes became known as the Danelaw.
Alfred was an effective ruler who made his territory a united country. He supported Christianity, encouraged education, and issued a code of laws. He also built a fleet of ships, established fortified towns, and reorganized the army to protect his kingdom from the Danes.
Alfred died in 899. During the early 900’s, Alfred’s successors reconquered the Danelaw. But in the late 900’s, during the reign of King Ethelred II, Danish attacks resumed. In 1016, Canute, a brother of the king of Denmark, became king of England. Canute, like Alfred, ruled as a wise and just king until his death in 1035. Two of Canute’s sons followed him on the throne before the old Anglo-Saxon dynasty was restored.
The last great Anglo-Saxon king was Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred II. He ruled from 1042 until his death in 1066. Edward built the first church on the site of what is now Westminster Abbey in London.
The Norman Conquest.
Edward the Confessor died without a direct heir to the throne. The English nobles chose Harold, Earl of Wessex, as king. But a French nobleman, William, Duke of Normandy, claimed that Edward had promised him the throne. Soon after Harold became king, William invaded England. His Norman knights killed Harold and defeated his forces in the historic Battle of Hastings on Oct. 14, 1066. On Christmas Day, William, who became known as William the Conqueror, was crowned king of England. 
William I established a strong central government in England. He formed an advisory council, the curia regis, to help him govern. William appointed Norman nobles to the council and to other high positions. He kept some of the conquered land for himself and divided most of the rest among his Norman followers.
During William’s reign, many cathedrals and castles were built. The construction of the Tower of London began. Shortly before his death in 1087, William ordered a survey conducted to determine how much land and other property there was in England, who held it, and what taxes and services the landholders owed the king for their property. The record of William’s survey became known as the Domesday Book and is a rich source of information about medieval England.
Although most Anglo-Saxons became serfs under the Normans, they kept their language and many of their customs. Through the years, the differences between the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans gradually decreased. For example, the Normans spoke French at first. But eventually, their language blended with that of the Anglo-Saxons. In time, the Normans and Anglo-Saxons became a united people. The modern English language developed from their blended languages.
Struggles for power.
During the late 1000’s and early 1100’s, a struggle developed in England between the kings and the nobles. The nobles tried to increase their own power. However, the kings wanted to keep supreme authority over the country. Similar disputes occurred in most other European nations. But in England, unlike in the other countries, the kings at first won the struggle.
In 1088, William II, son of William the Conqueror, put down a revolt of Norman barons. Henry I, William II’s brother, became king in 1100. He was also determined to keep the nobles in check and, in fact, strengthened the king’s control over the country. But civil war broke out after Stephen, William the Conqueror’s grandson, became king in 1135. The nobles and religious leaders became almost independent during the conflict.
Henry II, Henry I’s grandson, followed Stephen as king in 1154. He regained the power that Henry I had held, and he increased it. He kept the Norman tradition of a powerful king. But he combined the tradition with the Anglo-Saxon system of local rule and expanded the system of jury trials. Under the Anglo-Saxons, each local court had decided cases mainly on the basis of local laws and customs and earlier cases. Henry sent judges to all parts of England to administer the same laws throughout the land. The judges’ decisions became the basis for the English system of common law—that is, law that applied equally anywhere in England. Today, English common law is the basis of the legal system in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and many other countries.
Henry II wanted to control the church in England. This led to a bitter and famous conflict between Henry and Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. The quarrel ended when four of Henry’s knights killed Becket in 1170 while he was at prayer in his cathedral. The people were so angered by the murder that Henry granted many special rights to religious leaders.
Magna Carta.
Henry II’s son Richard I, who was called Richard the Lion-Hearted, reigned from 1189 to 1199. But he spent only six months of his reign in England. Richard went to the Holy Land to fight in a military campaign called the Third Crusade, and he fought a war with France. He forced the people to pay high taxes to support his armies. 
During his absence, Richard left the government in the care of ministers, but his brother John plotted to gain power. John was cruel and treacherous. The legendary Robin Hood supposedly fought against John’s officers. John became king after Richard’s death in 1199. During his reign, John made enemies among the barons and religious leaders, lost much of the land England held in France, and quarreled with Pope Innocent III. In an attempt to reduce John’s power, a group of barons and church leaders demanded reform and then rebelled. They forced John to agree to a settlement in 1215 that became known as Magna Carta (Great Charter). It placed the king under English law and limited his power.
The beginnings of Parliament.
Parliament became important in the late 1200’s, during the reign of John’s grandson Edward I. Like earlier kings, Edward called meetings of leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government problems. But Edward enlarged the meetings to include knights from the shires, less important church leaders, and representatives of the towns. In 1297, Edward agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm. He also strengthened the royal court system.
Edward I brought Wales under English control. His army conquered the Welsh in 1283 after killing their leader, the Prince of Wales, late in 1282. In 1284, Edward issued the Statute of Rhuddlan, which reorganized Welsh lands and placed them under the control of the king and English nobles. In 1301, Edward gave the title Prince of Wales to his son, who had been born in Caernarfon, Wales, and who later became Edward II. Since then, nearly all male heirs to the throne have received that title.
Edward I also tried to conquer Scotland. In 1296, he invaded the country and proclaimed himself king of Scotland. But the Scots rebelled continually. Edward II’s disastrous defeat in the famous Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 assured Scotland’s independence for more than 300 years.
England became an important center of learning during the 1200’s. Oxford and Cambridge universities received royal charters, and students from many countries flocked to them. During the 1200’s, England also produced two of the greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon and John Duns Scotus.
The Hundred Years’ War
broke out between England and France in 1337. It lasted until 1453. Edward II’s son Edward III became king in 1327. His mother was the sister of three French kings. The war began in 1337, when the French king, Philip VI, declared he would take over lands held by Edward in France. Edward, in turn, formally claimed the French throne. The first important battle was fought in 1346 at Crecy, in France, where Edward won a brilliant victory over the French. His son Edward, who was called the Black Prince, won the next great English victory, at Poitiers in 1356.
In spite of England’s victories, the war dragged on. The English people began to oppose the long war, and Parliament refused to approve the high taxes needed to support it. In 1381, a man named Wat Tyler led a peasants’ revolt against forced labor and heavy taxation. Forces of King Richard II, a son of the Black Prince, put down the rebellion.
During the 1390’s, Richard tried to undermine the power of Parliament. But he governed so badly that the country turned against him. In 1399, he was forced to abdicate (give up the throne). Parliament chose his rival, the Duke of Lancaster, to rule as Henry IV.
Henry IV spent much of his time fighting small wars against English nobles and paid little attention to the war with France. But his son Henry V gained popular support for continuing the Hundred Years’ War.
Henry V won a great victory at Agincourt in 1415. He then forced the king of France to accept him as regent (temporary ruler) and heir to the French throne. After Henry died in 1422, the French disputed the English claim to the throne, and the war flared again. By 1428, the English had swept through northern France. But the tide turned in 1429, when French forces led by a young peasant woman, Joan of Arc, defeated the English army in the Battle of Orleans. French successes continued. By the time the war ended in 1453, the English held only the city of Calais.
Great advances in literature and education occurred in England during the Hundred Years’ War. English poetry became important for the first time. William Langland wrote The Vision of Piers Plowman, one of the first major poems in English. Geoffrey Chaucer helped shape the English language with such works as The Canterbury Tales. In 1440, Henry V’s son, Henry VI, established Eton College.
The Wars of the Roses.
A struggle for the throne began to develop near the end of the Hundred Years’ War. Henry VI of the House (family) of Lancaster had become king in 1422. He was a weak ruler, and the nobles of the House of York decided to overthrow him. The wars that resulted came to be called the Wars of the Roses because York’s emblem was a white rose and Lancaster’s a red rose. The wars began in 1455. Edward IV of York won the throne from Henry VI in 1461, but Henry won it back in 1470. In 1471, Edward again defeated Henry and became king. Henry was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he died.
When Edward died in 1483, his two sons were still children. His brother Richard of York imprisoned the boys in the Tower of London and declared himself King Richard III. Some historians believe he had the boys murdered. But there is no proof of such a crime, and no one knows what happened to the boys.
Soon after Richard became king, Henry Tudor claimed the throne as heir of the House of Lancaster. His forces killed Richard and defeated the Yorkists in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Many historians consider this battle as marking the wars’ end. Other scholars view the Battle of Stoke, won easily by Henry in 1487, as the wars’ final engagement.
Henry Tudor ruled as King Henry VII. In 1486, he helped ensure future peace by marrying Edward IV’s daughter, and so uniting the houses of Lancaster and York.
Henry VII was a stern, clever ruler. He held strong control over the nobles, cooperated with Parliament, and respected the interests of England’s growing middle class. He also strengthened England’s position among other nations by arranging marriages between his daughter and James IV of Scotland and between his son Arthur and Catherine of Aragon of Spain. After Arthur died, the king arranged Catherine’s marriage to his second son, Henry.
The English Reformation.
Henry VIII inherited great wealth when he became king in 1509. His father, Henry VII, had been a thrifty ruler. Henry VIII was talented and popular, but he was also selfish and wasteful. He enjoyed luxury, sports, good food, and music.
Early in his reign, Henry VIII made Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, archbishop of York, responsible for much of the country’s management. But then, Henry wanted to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives. Wolsey was unable to get the pope to dissolve the marriage, so in 1529, Henry took away Wolsey’s authority. During the 1530’s, Thomas Cromwell became Henry’s chief adviser. In 1534, Henry had Parliament pass a law declaring that the king, not the pope, was supreme head of the church in England. These actions occurred while the Reformation, the religious movement that gave birth to Protestantism, was spreading across northern Europe.
Following Henry’s actions, English church leaders made changes in Roman Catholic services that gradually led to the formation of the Church of England. A number of Henry’s subjects who opposed him were imprisoned or executed for treason.
During Henry VIII’s reign, England and Wales were finally united. The Welsh people had revolted against the English several times after Edward I had conquered Wales in the 1280’s. But the Welsh gradually accepted the idea of union with England. In acts of 1536 and 1543, Henry joined both countries under one system of government.
Parliament passed more church reforms during the short reign of Edward VI, Henry’s son. But in 1553, Edward’s half sister Mary became queen. Mary was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and was a Roman Catholic. As queen, she reestablished Catholicism as the state religion.
The reign of Elizabeth I
is often called the Golden Age of English history. Elizabeth became queen in 1558 after Mary, her half sister, died. Elizabeth was a strong but cautious ruler who played her enemies off against one another. One of her first acts was to reestablish the Church of England. 
Under Elizabeth, England advanced in many areas. Merchants formed a great trading company, the East India Company, in 1600. Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and other daring English adventurers explored the Caribbean and the coasts of North and South America. English literature flowered during Elizabeth’s reign with the works of such great writers as Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, and—above all—William Shakespeare.
In 1588, England won a great sea battle against Spain, the most powerful nation in Europe. King Philip II of Spain built a huge fleet called the Armada to conquer England. But an English fleet led by Admiral Lord Howard of Effingham defeated the Armada.
The first Stuarts.
After Elizabeth I died in 1603, her cousin James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne. James belonged to the House of Stuart, which had ruled Scotland since 1371. As king of England, he took the title of James I. Although England and Scotland became joined in a personal union under James, he ruled each country as a separate kingdom. During his reign, English colonists founded the Jamestown and Plymouth settlements in America.
The English people disliked James. He increased royal spending, went into debt, and raised taxes. He quarreled frequently with Parliament because he wanted to rule as an absolute monarch. He believed in the divine right of kings—that is, that kings got their right to rule directly from God.
Under James’s son, Charles I, the struggle between the king and Parliament became more intense. Three groups—Puritans, lawyers, and members of the House of Commons—united against the king. In 1628, Charles reluctantly agreed to the Petition of Right, a document that limited the power of the king. However, Charles had no intention of keeping the agreement.
The Civil War.
Charles I did not call Parliament into session from 1629 to 1640. When Parliament finally met in 1640, it refused to grant the king any funds unless he again agreed to limit his power. Charles reacted angrily, and civil war broke out in 1642.
People who supported the king in the war were called Royalists or Cavaliers. Many of Parliament’s greatest supporters were Puritans, who were called Roundheads because they cut their hair short. The Puritans closed the theaters, changed the structure of the Church of England, and tried to force many of their religious beliefs on the people. During the war, Oliver Cromwell emerged as a leader in the army and in Parliament. In 1646, Charles surrendered to Scottish troops, but the next year, they turned him over to the English Parliament. Attempts to negotiate a settlement between the king and Parliament failed. In 1647 and 1648, the army removed the more moderate members from Parliament. The remaining members set up a special court, which condemned Charles to death. He was beheaded in 1649.
After Charles’s execution, England became a republic called the Commonwealth of England. A committee of Parliament ruled the country. Cromwell ended the Commonwealth of England in 1653 by forcibly disbanding the Long Parliament. The Parliament was called Long because part of it had been meeting since 1640. England then became a dictatorship called the Protectorate, with Cromwell as lord protector. During his rule, Cromwell brought Scotland and Ireland under the control of England. His armies swept through both countries and put down all resisting forces.
The Restoration.
Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, and his son Richard was named lord protector. But Richard could not handle the affairs of government. In addition, the people were dissatisfied with the Protectorate and wanted a monarchy again. George Monck, a general who had served under Oliver Cromwell, overthrew the government in 1660. A new Parliament, elected in 1660, restored the monarchy under Charles II, the son of Charles I.
Under Charles II, Parliament kept most of the powers it had won, and authority was divided between the king and Parliament. Charles died in 1685, and his brother became King James II. James, a Roman Catholic, wanted to restore Catholicism and absolute monarchy in England. The people disliked his ideas but put up with him. They expected James’s Protestant daughter, Mary, to become queen after he died. Above all, they did not want another civil war. But when James had a son, people realized the restoration of Catholicism would be permanent. Leading politicians invited William of Orange, Mary’s husband and ruler of the Netherlands, to invade England with Dutch forces and restore English liberties. In 1688, William landed in England. James fled to France and lost his throne in what is called the Glorious Revolution.
In 1689, William and Mary became joint rulers of England after accepting what became known as the Bill of Rights. This famous document assured the people certain basic civil rights. It also made it illegal for the king to keep a standing army, to levy taxes without Parliament’s approval, or to be a Roman Catholic.
War with France.
During the late 1660’s, France became the strongest nation on the European mainland. William III had fought against France when he ruled the Netherlands. As king of England, he made alliances with other countries to keep France from growing even more powerful. William died in 1702. His wife’s sister Anne, who was also a daughter of James II, became queen. In 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession had broken out, with England and most other European countries joining forces against France and Spain. The allied armies, led by England’s Duke of Marlborough, defeated France. Under the peace treaty, signed at Utrecht in 1713, England won Newfoundland, mainland Nova Scotia, and the territory around Hudson Bay from France. England also got full control of the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, previously divided with France, and gained Gibraltar and the island of Minorca from Spain.
The Augustan Age.
During Queen Anne’s reign, literature reached a height that many scholars considered similar to that reached in ancient Rome under Emperor Augustus. For this reason, her reign is said to mark the start of the Augustan Age. The literary masters of the period included Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope, Richard Steele, and Jonathan Swift. During Anne’s reign, England’s commercial prosperity also continued to grow, and Parliament won unquestioned control over the monarchy.
In 1707, the Act of Union joined the Kingdom of England and Wales with the Kingdom of Scotland to form a “united kingdom of Great Britain.” The history of England then became part of the history of the United Kingdom. For the story of the United Kingdom, see United Kingdom.
