Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
William died in 1087, succeeded by his son William II who died in a hunting
accident in 1100. The next significant king was Henry II, the first of the Plantagenet
family, who came to the throne in 1154. This French nobleman had made strategic
marriages and, when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, he owned more of France than
the French king. Eleanor was a formidable character, as portrayed in the 1968 film
The Lion in Winter.
Together they had eight children, among them Richard the Lion-
heart and his younger brother King John.
Richard I, who came to the throne in 1189, is regarded as a romantic hero in the
stories of Robin Hood and his merry men, who were said to have lived in
Sherwood
Forest
near Nottingham. Hollywood films have portrayed Richard as much loved by
his subjects—ironic because he didn't like cold, wet England and preferred to fight
for Christianity in the Crusades. When he died in 1199, John succeeded him, but
Bad King John was so unpopular that the Norman barons, whose families had been
given their land by William I after the conquest, forced him to sign the Magna Carta
in 1215 to limit his power. The Magna Carta gave all freemen (barons) rights and
liberties, but, more importantly, meant English monarchs were no longer above the
law. This became the basis of the English Constitution, and later the American Bill
of Rights.
The Plantagenets ruled for the next 200 years, with King John's son Henry III
succeeding him in 1216, aged 9, and setting up the first English Parliament in
1258. He rebuilt
Westminster Abbey
and built the first Palace of Westminster
where Parliament still sits today (p. 103). This was the period when the nobility started
to consider themselves English rather than French, although they still spoke French.
(Only the Saxon peasants spoke English.) Henry III died in 1272, and his son Edward
I was a much stronger monarch. He marched into Wales, defeated Llewelyn ap Gruff-
ydd, the Prince of Wales, and incorporated Wales into England in 1284.
He built the superb Welsh medieval castles of
Beaumaris,
on Anglesey
(p. 732;
Conwy,
which still has its town walls (p. 735);
Caernarfon
(p. 729),
which is where Prince Charles was invested as the present Prince of Wales in
1969; and Harlech. All were built as a response to the second Welsh rebellion of
2
1997
London swings again. The
Labour Party ends 18 years of
Conservative rule with a landslide
election victory. The death of
Diana, Princess of Wales.
2005
Suicide bomb attacks devastate
London.
2007
Tony Blair steps down; Gordon
Brown becomes prime minister.
2009
England suf ers economic
slowdown.
1998
Prime Minister Tony Blair launches
“New Britain”—young, stylish,
and informal.
2010
Conservative David Cameron
narrowly becomes prime minister
thanks to a coalition with the
Liberal Democrats.
1999
England rushes toward the 21st
century with the Millennium Dome
at Greenwich.
2011
Prince William marries Kate
Middleton.
2000
London presides over millennium
celebration; gays allowed to serve
openly in the military.
2012
Summer Olympic Games
in London.
2002
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen
Mother, dies at age 101.
