Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
Henry's VIII's most far-reaching act was his
Dissolution of the Monasteries
; a programme to
close down the country's monasteries and appropriate their assets, commenced in 1536 in
order to bump up the royal coffers. Medieval London boasted over a hundred places of
worship and some twenty religious houses, with two-thirds of the land in the City belonging
to the Church. The Dissolution changed the entire fabric of both the city and the country:
London's property market was suddenly flooded with confiscated estates, which were quickly
snapped up and redeveloped by the Tudor nobility.
Grey, the religious pendulum swung the other way for the next five years with the
accession of “
Bloody Mary
” (1553-58). This time, it was Protestants who were
martyred with abandon at Tyburn and Smithfield.
Despite all the religious strife, the Tudor economy remained in good health for the
most part, reaching its height in the reign of
Elizabeth I
(1558-1603), when the
piratical exploits of seafarers Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher and John
Hawkins helped to map out the world for English commerce. London's commercial
success was epitomized by the millionaire merchant Thomas Gresham, who erected
the
Royal
Exchange
in 1571, establishing London as the premier world trade market.
The 45 years of Elizabeth's reign also witnessed the e
orescence of a specifically
English Renaissance
, especially in the field of literature, which reached its apogee in
the brilliant careers of
Christopher Marlowe
,
Ben Jonson
and
William Shakespeare
. he
presses of
Fleet Street
, established a century earlier by William Caxton's apprentice
Wynkyn de Worde, ensured London's position as a centre for the printed word. Beyond
the jurisdiction of the City censors, in the entertainment district of Southwark,
whorehouses, animal-baiting pits and theatres flourished. The carpenter-cum-actor
James Burbage designed the first purpose-built playhouse in 1576, eventually
rebuilding it south of the river as the
Globe Theatre
, where Shakespeare premiered
many of his works. The theatre has since been reconstructed (see p.228).
From Gunpowder Plot to Civil War
On Elizabeth's death in 1603, James VI of Scotland became
James I
(1603-25) of
England, thereby uniting the two crowns and marking the beginning of the
Stuart
dynasty
. His intention of exercising religious tolerance after the anti-Catholicism of
Elizabeth's reign was thwarted by the public outrage that followed the
Gunpowder Plot
of 1605, when Guy Fawkes and a group of Catholic conspirators were discovered
attempting to blow up the king at the state opening of Parliament. James, who clung to
the medieval notion of the divine right of kings, inevitably clashed with the landed
gentry who dominated Parliament, and tensions between Crown and Parliament were
worsened by his persecution of the Puritans, an extreme but increasingly powerful
Protestant group.
Under James's successor,
Charles I
(1625-49), the animosity between Crown and
Parliament came to a head. From 1629 to 1640 Charles ruled without the services of
Parliament, but was forced to recall it when he ran into problems in Scotland, where he
was attempting to subdue the Presbyterians. Faced with extremely antagonistic MPs,
1512
1534
1553-58
1561
1571
Royal Dockyards
established in
Woolwich
Henry VIII breaks
with the Roman
Catholic Church
Queen Mary
reinstates
Catholicism
Lightning strikes Old St
Paul's and the spire falls
to the ground
The opening of the
Royal Exchange in
the City
