Ludzie pragną czasami się rozstawać, żeby móc tęsknić, czekać i cieszyć się z powrotem.
supreme legislative and executive power in
association with Parliament and the Council of
England
State during the interregnum before Charles II
When the Romans finally withdrew from Britain,
ascended the throne, restoring the monarchy.
the lowland regions were invaded and settled by
Angles, Saxons and Jutes (tribes from what is now
Parliamentary reform was a recurrent issue in the
north-western Germany). England takes its name
18th and 19th centuries. The 1832 Reform Act
from the first of these. To begin with, the Anglo-
began the process of dismantling the old
Saxon kingdoms were fairly small and numerous,
parliamentary system and extending the franchise,
but as time went on they formed themselves into
while the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 gave the
fewer but larger areas of control. Eventually the
vote to a gradually wider section of the
southern kingdom of Wessex came to dominate,
population. During the 20th century, the
mainly because it played a leading role in resisting
Representation of the People Acts took the process
the Viking invasions of the 9th century. Athelstan
still further. In 1918, women over the age of 30
(who reigned from 924 to 939) used the title of
were enfranchised and in 1928 the Equal Franchise
‘King of all Britain’, and from 954 there was a
Act lowered the voting age for women to 21.
single kingdom of England.
Universal suffrage for all eligible people over
18 (see page 31) was granted in 1969.
In 1066 the last successful invasion of England
took place. Duke William of Normandy defeated
Northern Ireland
the English at the Battle of Hastings and became
Henry II of England invaded Ireland in 1169. He
King William I, known as ‘William the
had been made the country’s overlord by the
Conqueror’. Many Normans and others from
English Pope Adrian IV, who wanted the Irish
France came to settle; French became the language
Church to be fully obedient to Rome. Although
of the ruling classes for the next three centuries;
Anglo-Norman noblemen controlled part of the
and the legal and social structures were influenced
country during the Middle Ages, little direct
by those in force across the Channel.
authority came from England.
When Henry II, originally from Anjou, was king
The Tudor monarchs tended to intervene in Ireland
(1154–89), his ‘Angevin empire’ stretched from the
far more, and during the reign of Elizabeth I there
river Tweed on the Scottish border, through much
were several attempts to deal with rebellion. The
of France to the Pyrenees. However, almost all of
northern province of Ulster was particularly subject
the English Crown’s possessions in France were
to unrest, but in 1607, after the rebel leaders had
finally lost during the late Middle Ages.
been defeated and had fled, Protestant immigrants
went to settle there from Scotland and England.
In 1215 a group of barons demanded a charter of
liberties as a safeguard against the seemingly
The English civil wars (1642–51) coincided with
arbitrary behaviour of King John. The rebels
further uprisings in Ireland, which Oliver
captured London and the King agreed to
Cromwell suppressed. More fighting took place
negotiate. He eventually attached his seal to a
after the overthrow of King James II, a Roman
document containing their demands and the
Catholic, in 1688. At the Battle of the Boyne
resulting formal royal grant became known as the
(1690) the Protestant William of Orange (later
Magna Carta. Among other things, the charter
King William III) defeated the forces of James II
promised that ‘To no one will we sell, to no one
who was trying to regain the English throne from
deny or delay right or justice’. It established the
his power base in Ireland.
4
The United Kingdom and its people
1 The United Kingdom
In 1782 the Government in London gave the Irish
In 1972, when terrorism and violence reached its
Parliament power to legislate on Irish affairs. This
peak, the British Government decided to take back
Parliament, however, represented only the Anglo-
direct responsibility for law and order. The
Irish minority. Following the unsuccessful
Northern Ireland Unionist Government resigned
rebellion of Wolfe Tone’s United Irishmen
in protest, the regional government was abolished
movement in 1798, Great Britain took back control
and direct rule from Westminster began; this was
of Ireland under the 1800 Act of Union. The Irish
to last until devolved powers were given back to
Parliament was abolished in 1801 and Irish
a Northern Ireland Assembly in December 1999
interests were represented by members sitting in
(see page 14).
both Houses of the Westminster Parliament.
Scotland
The question of ‘Home Rule’ for Ireland remained
Evidence of human settlement in what is now