Monarchy Since 1066

In this essay I will look at how the power of Monarchs has changed in Britain since 1066. I will explain how their power has changed and the differences between them.The first Monarch I will look at is William the Conqueror. William reigned from 1066 until 1087. There are many different qualities to William other than power, he was also very lucky and made good preparations.

He won the battle of Hastings on the 14th of October 1066, which proves he is very powerful.One of the main reasons William won the battle is because of his good luck. William couldn’t cross the English Channel because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, but luckily the wind changed at a perfect time for William and was able to go across the channel and land in Hastings. This was also lucky because Harold was still fighting in the North, so it gave William a lot of time to prepare for the battle, also some of Harold’s best soldiers had been killed fighting the Norwegians and the rest were exhausted and not ready for battle. At a key moment in the battle, Harold was killed. This was also lucky for William, because with Harold being killed, there was no leader for the English.

This was an advantage for William to use his skilful tactics.One of the other main reasons was good leadership. William encouraged his army of brave men to use a clever tactic of retreating to make the English come down from the hill. This was a good tactic because if the English were not on top of the hill, then the Normans had a better chance of surrounding and killing them. Also William was very brave.

At an awkward time in the battle he led his army back up the hill to attack the English.Finally, William won the battle of Hastings because of his good preparation. William had made a great army including a large number of knights on horses, which gave William and the Normans good attacking power. Also he had a large store of weapons and had built many ships to carry his army across the sea.

William had also arranged his army in rows of archers, soldiers and Calvary. This is good because it gave William a lot of power.Also all of his army were prepared for the battle, so there was a better chance of the Normans winning.In conclusion, I gave William 9 out of 10 for power. I think William’s power won him the battle. This was mainly because of his good preparation and leadership.

If someone had good leadership and preparation then they must have a lot of power to lead an army.The second Monarch I will look at is Elizabeth I. Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25 and reined for 45 years. Elizabeth was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17th November 1558 until her death.

Elizabeth was very popular. She had a lot of support, even though some people attempted to kill her. People considered her reign as a golden age, because everything was going well. Some people were even relieved when she died, but that’s because she was queen for so long.

Elizabeth had a lot of power. She got on with parliament well, and could do what she wanted.The only real problems she had at home came from Mary Queen of Scott’s, but Elizabeth demonstrated how powerful she was by having her executed. The real threat from Elizabeth came from Spain, but in 1588 she defeated the Armada. This is still remembered today as one of England’s greatest victories.

Her speech during the Armada showed her to be very powerful. Elizabeth I is one of our most famous Monarchs, and she ruled for a very long time. She was the first woman to run the country effectively, and still protect England from other countries. The fact that she did not get married or have a son meant that she failed to look after the throne properly.

In conclusion, I have gave Elizabeth 9 out of 10 for power because she has a lot of power because she could do whatever she wanted and got on with parliament, so there was nothing stopping her.The next Monarch I will look at is Charles I. Charles I, who was the second son of James VI, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 27th of March 1625 until his execution. Charles I was the king of Great Britain and Ireland until he was executed for treason in 1649.He reined for 24 years and had a good amount of power.

Charles was beheaded on Tuesday, 30 January 1649. There were lots of causes of the Civil war against Oliver Cromwell and Charles such as the divine right of kings. Charles believed he was chosen by God to rule England. Because of this, Charles thought that Parliament should do what he told them to, but Parliament didn’t agree.

Also Parliaments power was growing. By the 1620’s Parliament had lots of power.If the kings needed money he had to ask for Parliaments permission, and Charles didn’t like this. Charles’s wife was called Henrietta Maria, she was a Catholic and people worried that Catholicism would become the main religion again. Also in 1628 Parliament refused to give Charles money so he closed Parliament.

He then ran the country for eleven years without Parliament and with very little money, which proves he was a good king. In addition, Charles introduced a new tax to improve the Navy. It was meant to be paid by the counties on the coast. In 1635 Charles demanded ship money from all counties, and those who did not pay would be arrested. Charles made William laud archbishop.

Laud did not like Puritans and tried to make the church more Catholic. This worried people who were scared of a return to the Catholic Church. In addition, Laud changed the Church of England and introduced more decoration.This again made people more scared of the church becoming Catholic. Also Charles and Laud tried to force their changes onto the Scottish churches. Many Scotts were angry with the changes and attacked England.

Charles had no money to defend England so had to call Parliament back to ask for money. After that the members of Parliament demanded more power. In order for them to give Charles money, the parliament demanded more power and wanted to take some away from Charles. Then in January 1642 Charles tries to arrest 5 MPs, who he felt were his main opponents. They had been warned and escaped down the River Thames. This made MP’s think that Charles was trying to get rid of Parliament.

Afterwards, In March Parliament took control of the army from Charles. They were scared that Charles may use the Army against them.Finally, Parliament went too far. Parliament passed a set of demands called the Nineteen Propositions; these would again limit Charles’s power. He said they would make him ‘a mere phantom of a king’.

After parliament passed the Nineteen Propositions, Charles decided it was too much and began to form an army, Parliament did the same. Then the Civil War had begun. Oliver Cromwell and the Round heads won the Civil War and decided to have Charles executed.At the execution it is said that he wore two cotton shirts to prevent the cold weather causing any noticeable shivers that the crowd could have mistaken for fear or weakness. His last words were, "I shall go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be."It was common practice for the head of a traitor to be held up and exhibited to the crowd with the words "Behold the head of a traitor!"Although Charles's head was exhibited, the words were not used.

One of the leaders, Oliver Cromwell, allowed the King's head to be sewn back onto his body so the family could pay its respects. Charles was buried in private on the night of 7th of February 1649, inside the Henry VIII vault in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.In conclusion, I have gave Charles a 7 out of 10 for power because he managed to rule England by himself for quite a long time without Parliament, which showed he had a lot of power. Also he managed to raise an Army and fight against Oliver Cromwell.

Even though he lost, he still showed a lot of power.The next monarch I will look at is William III. William III (14 November 1650-8 March 1702) was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. William of Orange was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on the 14th November 1650. He was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal.

From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland and as William II over Scotland. William won the English, Scottish, and Irish crowns following the Glorious Revolution. In the British Isles, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694. William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV.

Today William III is mostly remembered for his association with the Battle of the Boyne. He only got involved in Ireland to further his aims in Europe. It was his determination to beat France above all else that saved Britain from a century of chaos. The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thrones - the Catholic King James and the Protestant King William, who had deposed James in 1688. The battle took place on the 1st of July 1690, just outside the town of Drogheda on Ireland's east coast. The armies stood on opposing sides of the River Boyne.

William's forces defeated James’s recruits. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known battles in British and Irish history.The army at the Boyne was about 36,000 strong, composed of troops from many countries. Around 20,000 troops had been in Ireland since 1689, commanded by Schomberg. William himself arrived with another 16,000 in June 1690. William's troops were generally far better trained and equipped than James's.

The best infantry were from Denmark and the Netherlands, professional soldiers equipped with the latest flintlock muskets. William had landed in Carrickfergus in Ulster on 14 June 1690 and marched south to Dublin. James only fought a delaying action there and chose instead to place his line of defense on the River Boyne, around 30 miles from Dublin. Williams’s troops reached the Boyne on 29 June.

The day before the battle, William himself had a narrow escape when he was wounded by artillery while checking out the water where the troops were going to cross. The battle itself was fought on July 1st for control on the Boyne at Oldbridge, near Drogheda. William sent about a quarter of his men to cross at a place called Roughgrange, near Slane, about 6 miles from Oldbridge. James panicked when he saw that he might be outflanked and sent half his troops, along with most of his cannon, to counter this move.

At the main river at Oldbridge, William's infantry led by the elite Dutch Blue Guards forced their way across the river, using their superior firepower to slowly drive back the enemy foot-soldiers, but were pinned down when James’s cavalry counter-attacked.Having secured the village of Oldbridge, some of Williams’s infantry held off successive cavalry attacks while others were driven into the river. William's second-in-command, the Duke of Schomberg, and George Walker were killed in this phase of the battle. Williams’s troops were not able to resume their advance until their own horsemen managed to cross the river and, after being badly mauled, held off by James’s cavalry, William had a chance to trap them as they retreated across the River Nanny at Duleek, but his troops were held up by a successful rear-guard action.

Out of the 50,000 participants, about 2,000 died. Three quarters of the deaths were James’s troops. James’s troops were badly upset by their defeat, and many of the Irish infantrymen were deserted. Williams’s troops triumphantly marched into Dublin two days after the battle.

James’s army abandoned the city and marched to Limerick, behind the River Shannon.After his defeat, James did not stay in Dublin. He returned to exile in France, even though his army left the field hardly hurt. James's loss of nerve and speedy exit from the battlefield enraged his Irish supporters, who fought on until the Treaty of Limerick in 1691.In conclusion, I gave William 7 out of 10 for power.

This is because he managed to defeat his opponent, James. Also the battle must have been easier for them than other battles were for others because hardly any of his troops were hurt, and if they were hurt, not very badly.The next monarch I will look at is Elizabeth II, our queen today.Elizabeth became queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in 1952. In addition she is head of the Commonwealth.

Elizabeth was born on the 21st of April 1926 in London, the first child of Albert, Duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She initially had little prospect of succeeding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated in December 1936. Her father then became George VI and she became heir. Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret were educated at home. On the outbreak of war in 1939, they were evacuated to Windsor Castle.

In 1945, Elizabeth joined the war effort, training as a driver in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married a distant cousin, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, who was created duke of Edinburgh. The couple have four children.Despite the scandals surrounding her children and other members of the royal family, she remains a respected head of state. In 2002, Elizabeth celebrated her golden jubilee (50 years on the throne) and in 2006 her 80th birthday. Queen Elizabeth II has wide ranging powers across her Realms, including, powers to: dismiss and appoint Prime Ministers, dismiss and appoint Governor Generals, call elections across her nations, open and close parliaments, and dissolve parliaments.

In conclusion I gave Elizabeth 4 out of 10 for power. I gave her this because monarchs before her could do so much more than she can do today, which is good in some ways and bad in others. Also she has to discuss her views in private and doesn’t really have a say in much, although she is very popular.Overall, I think Elizabeth I and William the Conqueror are the most powerful.

I chose two monarchs because they are powerful in different ways. Elizabeth I has a lot of power because she could do whatever she wanted and got on with parliament, so there was nothing stopping her, where as William has a lot of power because William’s power won him a battle. I think Elizabeth II has the least power out of all of the monarchs because monarchs before her could do so much more than she can do today, which is good in some ways and bad in others. Also, if she cannot do as much, that means that parliament has most of the power over Elizabeth, which doesn’t make her very powerful.

The power of the Monarchy has decreased since 1066. The earlier monarchs got to do more than our queen today, and had a bigger say in things. Most of the earlier monarchs also had crueller consequences, because they are in charge and do what they want to do; where as Elizabeth II has to ask for permission. I think that past monarchs were far more powerful and had far more say, because they used to spend more time fighting for the rights of the land and people. Whereas today, I feel that they have less need to protect the land, and spend far more time protecting the rights of the people living there.