Letteratura Inglese 1

House of Tudor

From 1485 to 1509 England was ruled by Henry VII, who did much to restore political stability in the nation, however he allowed some economic policies that ravaged the nation.

Going on, there was Henry VIII (1509-1547), very famous because of his many marriages and his many divorces. To begin with, he was married with Catherine of Aragon, who didn’t give him the baby boy he so much wanted - he was desperate for a son because he wanted an heir for the throne. Catherine of Aragon gave him a little girl, Mary, so Henry VIII decided to divorce her and to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. At that time it was unacceptable for the Roman Catholic Church so, in order to marry her and to divorce from Catherine of Aragon, he separated the English Church from the Church of Rome and doing so he created the Church of England and he placed himself as the head of it. So, thanks to this, Henry VIII married many times, so he had many wives and also had many wives beheaded. Finally, he did manage to have the son he so much wanted with his last wife, Catherine Parr.

When Henry VIII died, the throne went to his son, Edward VI (1547-1553). He acquired the throne when he was a child. He was a Protestant and he couldn’t be any different since he was born only because his father separated the Church of England from the Church of Rome. He died very young but, before his death he named a Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir, so he didn’t want nor Mary nor Elizabeth (his sisters) to go to the throne. Mary didn’t like that at all, so she managed to obtain the throne because she was rightful, and as a consequence Lady Jane Grey was beheaded.

At the death of Edward VI, the throne belonged to Mary (1553-1558), who became ‘Mary I’, she was also known as ‘Bloody Mary’. She was a Catholic, whereas her sister Elizabeth was a Protestant. For this reason, Mary tried to lead England back to Catholicism and she even had her sister imprisoned in the tower of London in order to prevent her from claiming the throne.

When Mary married the king of Spain, English people began to dislike her and so, Elizabeth (1558-1603) became Mary’s successor and she led England to its Golden Age. She never married, she had no children and she was known as ‘The Virgin Queen’. Her throne was threatened by her cousin, Mary Stuart, so Elizabeth had Mary beheaded, but since she had no children – so no heir – when she died James I became king.

House of Stuart

With James I (1603-1625) the throne is no longer occupied by Tudor but by Stuart. James I was the son of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, so with him the crowns of England and Scotland were united. James I was a scholarly minded monarch and it was him who allowed the definite translation of the Bible in English.

When James I died, the crown passed to his second son, Charles I (1625-1649). He tried to rule as a tyrant, and doing so he tried to limit the role of Parliament and he taxed his people without asking the Parliament consent. So, eventually, his behaviour led to the civil war and especially to his own execution. It was the first time ever that an English king was executed, since traditionally kings were believed to be chosen by God himself.

After Charles I death, a Republican Period started in England, and the Republic, called the Commonwealth, was over Oliver Cromwell. When he died, the Parliament decided to call back the son of Charles I, who returned in England from France and became king Charles II (1660-1685). This phenomenon is known as ‘Restoration’, because monarchy was restored.

After Charles II there were: James II (1685-1688), Mary II (1689-1694), William of Orange (1689-1702) and Queen Anne (1702-1714) who was the last member of House of Stuart. Many important things happened during Queen Anne’s period and one of these it’s the ‘Act of Union’ (1707) which put England and Scotland under the title of Great Britain.

House of Hanover

Anne Stuart died childless, so the English throne went to the great-grandson of James I, George I (1714-1727), who became king quite old. He wasn’t fluent at all in English, since he was German and the same happened to his son George II (1727-1760).

After him, the throne passed to George III (1760-1820) and under his reign Britain lost its 13 colonies in America, with the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. With George III we no longer talk about Great Britain, but we talk about United Kingdom of Great Britain, because a second Act of Union was passed at the beginning of the 19th century.

George III died after years suffering a mental illness and he was succeeded by George IV (1820-1830), then by William IV (1830-1837); under his reign there were two important events:

• The abolition of slavery in almost all the colonies of the British Empire;
• The passing of the first Reform Bill (1832) which extended the right to vote.

The last representative of House of Hanover was a lady: Queen Victoria (1837-1901) who, just like Elizabeth, gave her name to an age of British political dominance and of artistic achievement: the Victorian Age.

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

When Victoria died, her son Edward VII (1901-1910) took her place. His father was the Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, so king Edward VII opened a new House, which began and ended with him, because during the World War I, in a reaction of anti-German sentiment, the name was changed with the name Windsor.

House of Windsor

House of Windsor began with the son of Edward VII, George V. When he died the crown passed to Edward VIII (1936) who ruled for a short time, and he abdicated in order to be with the person he had fallen in love with.

Then, he was succeeded by George VI (1936-1952), who was inspirational for the nation during the dark years of World War II. Finally, there was Queen Elizabeth II (1952-present).

House of Mountbatten Windsor

The children of Queen Elizabeth II have the surname Mountbatten (father’s side) and the surname Windsor (mother’s side), so they gave birth to House of Mountbatten Windsor. The first in line of succession to the British throne is Charles (Prince of Wales), the second in line is William (Duke of Cambridge) and the third in line is George.

1688: The Glorious Revolution

The ‘Glorious Revolution’ is also called ‘the Bloodless Revolution’ because it was a revolution that happened without violence. It all happened because of James II, who was a strong Catholic supporter and he was very close to France. Then, in order to protect the country, Parliament favoured the crowning of William of Orange and his wife Mary II – James II’s daughter -, mainly because they were Protestants. In order to become sovereigns, the couple accepted the restrictions of Parliament, which wanted to prevent the country from tyranny so, for this reason, Mary II and William of Orange signed a declaration of rights, the ‘Bill of Rights’, which guaranteed the freedom of speech, the free election and, most of all, the regular Parliament. We can say that it was England’s first step toward the Constitutional Monarchy. The consequences of the Glorious Revolution were several:

• The cooperation between Whig and Tory, which destroyed the state with their constant fighting;
• The balance between the power of the Parliament and the power of the sovereigns;
• The reorganization of the tax and credit system on modern basis;
• The right to vote only to rich landowners, bourgeois manufacturers and merchants. These ones were a small portion of population: about 3%.

1701: Act of Settlement

The ‘Act of Settlement’ was passed by Parliament under the reign of William of Orange. According to this Act no sovereign could succeed on the throne unless Protestant. This was done in order to avoid problems similar to those experienced during the reign of James II.

1707: The Act of Union

During the reign of Queen Anne, Parliament passed the ‘Act of Union’; that was the moment in which we started talking about Great Britain and the two crowns were officially united and Queen Anne was the first official sovereign. The Hanoverian succession and the Union were ratified by Scottish Parliament not for free, in fact they wanted something in return: they stated that Queen Anne successor would not be the same from England and Scotland unless the English guaranteed the Scottish the access to the English plantation in North America. So, once England gave the consent, the Act of Union and the succession were ratified.

Change in Society

During the 17th century and the 18th century, Britain became the leader in world trade and the world’s leading naval and colonial power and as a consequence of Britain growing role, English people developed a strong sense of national pride. Important dates:

• 1689 > Bill of Rights;
• 1701 > Act of Settlement;
• 1707 > England + Scotland = Great Britain;
• 1801 > Ireland + Great Britain = United Kingdom of Great Britain.

London from the 1700s: Morality and Urban Features

In order to have a look at morality in the 1700s we can use some engravings – drawings made upon hard surfaces and done through incisions – by the artist William Hogarth, who used them to criticize the vices and the faults of the society that was contemporary to him. The two characters of the famous engravings of William Hogarth, “A Harlot’s Progress” and “A Rake’s Progress”, both travel to London, the girl in search of a job and the boy in search of amusement, but both end up swallowed by the corruption of London City life.

A Harlot’s Progress

‘Harlot’ is another term for ‘prostitute’ so, as the title suggests, the engravings tell us the life of this prostitute from when she arrived to London until her death. The story is made up by six engravings. The main character is a young lady called Moll, who travelled to London in order to find a job as seamstress, but the first person she met when she arrived in the city was a brothel-keeper.

We can notice two striking things in the 1st engraving: the first is that Moll dressed in white, which means that when she arrived to London she was a pure girl, the second is the fact that on the left side there is a priest who is preaching to some ladies without paying attention to the brothel-keeper, so this suggests that at that time corruption was very normal.

The 2nd engraving shows that Moll has already changed: she is no longer pure, she is the mistress of a rich merchant and she lives in luxury.

In the 3rd engraving Mall is in a room of the brothel, so probably the merchant has rejected her. She is showing a jewel that she has stolen or received from a client. In the right side we can see a magistrate with other men who are coming to arrest her.

In the 4th engraving we can see Mall’s corruption: she is now in prison and she’s forced to heat hemp for hangman’s noose.

In the 5th engraving Moll is very ill, she’s about to die and she appears draped in a sheet next to a woman, who is helping her, and a little boy, who is her son. There are other three people: two doctors that are arguing on how to cure her and a woman who is looking through Moll’s things in order to still whatever she can.

In the 6th and final engraving Moll is dead and her son is playing underneath her coffin and all the women in the room are probably prostitutes, since all of them have spots on their faces.

A Rake’s Progress

It is the story of a boy called Tom, the son of a rich merchant who has just died. The plot is made up by 8 engravings.

In the 1st engraving Tom is having his clothes measured by some of his servants and he’s also sending away the girl who is in love with him.

In the 2nd engraving Tom is in London and he is partying in this house richly adorned with paintings. So, we can understand that he is spending all the money he has inherited from his father living an extravagant life.

In the 3rd engraving Tom is in a brothel and he is taking part of an orgy.

In the 4th engraving Tom has been arrested and he is saved by the young girl that he had refused in the first engraving, but he still refuses the love of the girl.

In the 5th engraving Tom is marrying an old rich lady and on the left side we can see the young girl with her mother who are trying to stop the wedding.

In the 6th engraving Tom is desperate, he is on the floor on his knees and he is praying on the sky because he is gambled and he lost all the money of his wife.

In the 7th engraving Tom has been arrested and he is in the debtor’s prison. He is starting to go mad, as the strange expression on his face suggests.

In the 8th and final engraving Tom is locked up in an asylum. On the right side we can see two rich young girls who are enjoying the suffering of the people in there – it was a custom for High Classes’ people to go to asylums and enjoy themselves looking at the people's sufferance.

Both stories give us a glimpse of the degraded morality of a poor girl and a rich boy who both lead a life without virtue and eventually end up dying or locked up in an asylum.

1735: Engravers’ Copyright Act

Engravings are not just important because they show us the morality of the 1700s, but they are important because they paved the way to the ‘Engravers’ Copyright Act’, which is also known as ‘Hogarth’s Act’, because they are linked to him. Hogarth’s engravings became so famous that people began to produce them in high quantities and Hogarth didn’t like that his works were used without any recognitions to him. Then, his campaigning in favour of copyright resulted in this Act of 1735.

The Evolution of London

London is the capital city of England, it is located in the southern part of England. London is the city where the royals live and it is also the political centre - since the Houses of Parliament are there. One of the first transformations of London was because of the Great Fire, which happened in 1666 and devastated completely the whole city, so what we see today in London is mostly the result of reconstruction that took place after that tragedy.

Until the 17th century, London still presented a huge portion of countryside, but by the 1700s onwards, the country was sacrificed for houses and for buildings of different nature. The presence of the port allowed the coming of traders and merchants who contributed to a change in economy but also in society. For this reason, London became an attraction for ambitious and venal people. As a result, the East, the West and the North of London were rapidly expanding and the South remained different; it was due to the River Thames, which had created a natural barrier between North and South. The West became the most aristocratic area of London.

As the Industrial Revolution took place, the Thames became more crowded and often even the goods transports were damaged because of it, and times were heavily delayed. To avoid economic repercussions, more docks were built in London during the 1700s. The population in the capital had grown over 6 million, so urban changes were required. Other changes came from the 1850s onwards, with the introduction of the railway lines and the underground railway lines, which made movements and transports easier and quicker.

An important event occurred in 1829 with the passing of the “Metropolitan Police Act”, wanted by Sir Robert Peel. Thanks to this Act, the streets of London began to be patrolled by policemen, who dressed in blue and wore long cylinder hats. Those policemen were nicknamed ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ because of Sir Robert Peel. He was a reformer and he saw the need to change in order to adapt to the quick and changing life of England.

During 1855, in order to cope with the constantly and incessantly growth of the society, a project of sewage was devised. The sewer was all sent into the Thames, it produced an awful smell and terrible hygienic conditions, so the engineer Joseph Bazalgette worked to provide the city with an efficient and working sewage system.

London became the global city that it is still today, it also became the home of the Irish who left Ireland during the period of famine, and the home of people who lived in the colonies and moved to the mother country.

An Era of Revolution, from the 13 Colonies to Independence: The Birth of Federal Republic

The American Revolution was a ‘wall’ between the 13 British colonies in the U.S. and Great Britain. The colonies that rebelled were: Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. They declared war to Great Britain because they didn’t feel represented by the British government, which asked them many high taxes, and, of course, people of colonies didn’t like that but mostly they didn’t like the fact that they just had to accept them without the possibility of saying anything – so they had no say.

The war was from 1775 to 1783, until the British recognized the independence of the colonies. The independence was stated on 4th July 1776 with the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. The choice of government was the Federal Republic.

The French Revolution and the Declaration of Rights

The French Revolution lasted 10 years – from 1789 to 1799. The result of this Revolution was the overthrowing of monarchy by the people of that time and the outcome of this Revolution was to take control of the government. The French Revolution officially began on 14th July 1789, when the revolutionaries stormed the prison of the Bastille.

Before the Revolution, the French society was divided into 3 social classes, which were called ‘estates’:

• The first estate included the clergies;
• The second estate included the nobles;
• The third estate included the commoners. This one was the class which...