Royal Britain's Interesting History During The 15th & 16th Century
Author: Devinder Patel

From 1370 to 1413 many revolutions took place in Britain
(not yet "Great") at this time and ultimately the House of
Lancaster grabbed the English Throne, but Henry V's reign
was quite short (and colourful) from 1413 to 1422.

Territorial gains that the Battle of Agincourt in France
brought were very soon lost, even Gascony and then by 1453,
Calais remained as the only English possession in Europe.

The loss started a series of bloody events that were
horrible in Medieval (or is it MediEVIL !) Britain and it
again lost its glory, until Tudor Henry VII came to the
throne after winning the battle of Market Bosworth in 1485
and starting another century's history in Britain.

Later Henry VIII could not divorce his wife, as the Roman
Pope would not allow it, so in reprisal he burned the Roman
Catholic Churches in England and created his own church The
Church of England.

According to his new Church, of which of course he was the
head, he could divorce his wife Queen Catherine and remarry
again whomever he pleased and as many times as he pleased,
since he had no descendant/offspring/heirs for the Royal
Throne yet.

He was a ruthless ruler hearing nobody but himself, so he
burned all the Catholic Monasteries in Britain and the
landowners lost their property forever.

He did after all have the King's Divine Right to do this,
as this was given to him by God when he was born.

After Henry's death, his daughter Mary took over, but she
is mostly hated as she tried to undo everything that her
father had done and acted as a Queen Tyrant.

But she left no offspring, so after her death her
Protestant half-sister Elizabeth gained control of England.

Her rule is considered to be the Golden Period in Britain's
history as she led colonization, explorations, victory in
wars and also the arts flourished during this period with
writers like Shakespeare and Bacon.

But same as her sister she also faced many revolts like the
serious one in 1601 which led to great financial losses for
her. Drake started his voyage in 1577, in search of
Australia, he did not find it, but got a lot of wealth by
looting the Spanish processions in the Pacific and cargoes
of spices. He was the first Briton to sail across the world.

Eventually it led to a full fledged war between Britain and
Spain. King Philip of Spain assembled the largest fleet the
world had ever seen and set it for sail against the
heretical Britains.

His aim was to conquer and/or loot Britain in 1588, but the
British vessels tried hard to stop him and he reached
Calais and anchored there. English fire ships were sent
firing and making him retreat and the Spanish Armada went
north of Scotland and the Irish coast.

Unfortunately for the Spanish (not for the English) the
entire fleet of ships and 20,000 men vanished without
trace, humiliating Spain in the eyes of the world. So much
so that they never tried it again.

The Spanish wars had cost Britain lots of money and
Elizabeth had to go begging for more money to the English
Parliament which got them angry at the Royal Charters that
she had granted to her favorites and she gave them a humble
"Golden Speech" that made the Parliament realize their
mistake.

After some time she fell ill and also she lost to the
rebels of Ireland, distorting her health further and as she
had no successor, and when she was on her death bed she
chose James Stuart, The King of Scotland as the next
successor to the English Crown.

When she died, Queen Elizabeth 1 was £400,000 in debt.


About the Author:

Devinder Patel has lived and worked in London for 42 years
and would love to hear from any incoming UK Visitors who
need transportation
http://www.london-airport-shuttle.co.uk