Britain and Ireland: A Concise History

307 Pages·2022·34.994 MB·English

by  Jürgen Kramer

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Britain and Ireland
Britain and Ireland recounts the history of the two states – the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Éire) – and four
nations – the Irish, the Welsh, the Scottish and the English – from prehistory to the
present.
Chapters are organised chronologically starting in 4000 BCE, coming through the
Roman occupation, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution and the formation
of the British Empire. Coming up to the present day, this new edition has expanded
material on post- 1800 Irish history, with particular emphasis on the Famine, Home
Rule, the Irish Civil War, partition, the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement and the
Brexit fallout. Later chapters also have increased emphasis on national developments
including Thatcherism, Blairism, monarchy, austerity, devolution, the Scottish ref-
erendum and international relations with the US, Europe and the Commonwealth,
ending with the ongoing impact of COVID- 19 and climate change.
Accompanied by illustrations and information boxes, and with an increased selec-
tion of documents with questions to challenge students of British and Irish studies, the
book presents not only the story of what happened in the British Isles, but its inter-
dependence with Europe and the rest of the world.
Jürgen Kramer is Emeritus Professor of British Cultural Studies at the University
of Dortmund. He is the author of Culture and Intercultural Studies (1990), British
Cultural Studies (1997) and Taking Stock: 35 Essays from 35 Years of Studying
English- Speaking Cultures (2011). A collection of essays entitled Empire, Exile and
the Exotic: Studies on Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad and the Sea is in prep-
aration. He co- edited the Journal for the Study of British Cultures (1994– 2006).
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Britain and Ireland
A Concise History
Second Edition
Jürgen Kramer
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Cover image: Edwin Hayes. The Fishing Fleet off the Irish Coast. British School,
19th century. Artepics / Alamy Stock Photo.
Second edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Jürgen Kramer
The right of Jürgen Kramer to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2007
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Kramer, Jürgen, 1946– author.
Title: Britain and Ireland : a concise history / Jürgen Kramer.
Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
“First edition published by Routledge, 2007.” | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022020115 (print) | LCCN 2022020116 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367650339 (hbk) | ISBN 9780367650322 (pbk) |
ISBN 9781003127512 (ebk) | ISBN 9781000762686 (adobe pdf) |
ISBN 9781000762693 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Great Britain–History. | Ireland–History.
Classification: LCC DA27.5 .K73 2023 (print) |
LCC DA27.5 (ebook) | DDC 941–dc23/eng/20220427
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022020115
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022020116
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 65033- 9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 65032- 2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 12751- 2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003127512
Typeset in Sabon
by Newgen Publishing UK
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Contents
List of illustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Britons, Celts and Romans, c.4000 BC– 410 CE 4
Prehistoric Europe and the British Isles 4
The Romans in Britain: invasion, conquest, settlement 13
2 Saxons, Danes and Normans, 410– 1154 21
Angles, Jutes and Saxons 21
The Scandinavians 27
The Normans 30
Oral cultures – recordings of the past – ‘literary’ beginnings 34
3 Late- medieval struggles: within the British Isles and on the
Continent, 1154– 1485 35
Political struggles in the Isles, 1154– 1272 36
Political struggles on the Continent and in the Holy Land 42
Political struggles in the Isles, 1272– 1485 44
The Hundred Years War, 1328– 1453 51
Medieval changes in agriculture 52
The Black Death 53
Society and culture 53
4 Renaissance – reconnaissance – reformation – revolution,
1485– 1688/ 89 57
The Protestant reformations 61
State and society under the Tudors 67
International relations, 1485– 1603 75
State and society, 1603– 1689 76
International relations, 1603– 1689 88
Thought and culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 91
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vi Contents
5 Towards internal stability and external expansion, 1689– 1789 97
From Union to Union 98
Eighteenth- century society 104
The Enlightenment 107
The transatlantic economy 115
Britain, Europe and the world 118
6 Political reforms, Industrial Revolution, imperial rule,
1789– 1914 123
European perspectives 123
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 128
The British Empire 147
7 The twentieth century: devastation and decline, reconstruction
and reorientation, 1914– 1999 152
Wartime devastations and peacetime difficulties 155
Reconstruction and its limits 163
Empire, Commonwealth and decolonisation 170
Devolution 177
The Isles in Europe 187
8 The twenty- first century: challenges and perspectives 190
Terrorism, domestic and international 190
The financial crash, 2007– 2012 191
The COVID- 19 pandemic 193
Climate change 194
The British monarchy 196
Brexit 198
Strengthening and enriching democracy: the idea of citizens’
assemblies 201
Documents 202
Chronology 273
Glossary 283
A guide to further reading 285
Documentary sources 288
Index 290
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Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Plan of Stonehenge. © Historic England Archive 8
1.2 Stonehenge World Heritage site, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, UK,
aerial view. Skyscan Photolibrary / Alamy Stock Photo 9
1.3 The Christian chi- rho emblem. Part of a wall painting from a
Lullingstone’s Roman villa. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
All rights reserved 19
3.1 The English and French monarchies in the late Middle Ages 39
4.1 Y Beibl Cys- segr- Lan: sef Yr Hen Destament, a’r Newydd/ The Welsh
Bible (1588). Title page ref i r. (frontispiece). By permission of llyfrgell
Genedlaethol Cymru/ The National Library of Wales 65
4.2 Great Chain of Being engraving published in 1579 in ‘Rhetorica
Christiana’ by Friar Diego Valadés (1533– 1582). Universal Art
Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 73
4.3 Sir Walther Raleigh, The History of the World, W Stansby for W Burre
1614. Private Collection © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images 95
5.1 Mr and Mrs Andrews, c.1748– 49 (oil on canvas), Thomas
Gainsborough (1727– 1788). National Gallery, London, UK/ Bridgeman
Images 106
D.1 Equestrian portrait of Charles I, c.1637– 38. Anthony van Dyck
(1599– 1641). National Gallery, London, UK/ Bridgeman Images 219
D.2 Execution of Charles I (1600– 1649) at Whitehall, 30 January 1649.
German School, (17th century). Private Collection/ Bridgeman Images 222
D.3 Interior of a London Coffee House, Anonymous. © The Trustees of the
British Museum. All rights reserved 234
D.4 ‘Europe supported by Africa and America’, from Narrative, of a Five
Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam by John
Gabriel Stedman (1744– 1797). William Blake (1757– 1827). Private
Collection © Archives Charmet/ Bridgeman Images 236
D.5 The slave ship Brookes of Liverpool, published by J. Robertson,
Edinburgh, 1791 (wood engraving and letterpress). English School
(18th century). Private Collection © Michael Graham- Stewart/
Bridgeman Images 237
D.6 Workhouse for 300 paupers – ground plan, no1. (E). Work
ID: cegnmse7. Wellcome Collection 260
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viii List of illustrations
Maps
1.1 Human Colonization of Europe and the Middle East 5
1.2 Expansion of Modern Humans 6
1.3 Hallstatt culture (800– 400 BCE) 10
1.4 The tribes of Britain at the start of the Roman period 12
1.5 The Roman Empire c.115 ce 14
1.6 Britain in the first century CE 15
2.1 Migrations across Europe from 400 ce 22
2.2 England in 800 from R. F. Treharne and H. Fullard (eds), Muir’s
Historical Atlas: Ancient Medieval and Modern (1976), vol. II, p. 7 27
3.1 Crusader states c.1100 44
6.1 The British Empire by the 1890s 148
7.1 The partition of Ireland, 1922 181
Tables
4.1 The social order in sixteenth- century England 71
5.1 The main colonial possessions of the major European powers after the
Treaty of Utrecht (1713) 116
6.1 Numbers of adult males able to vote after the various Reform Acts.
Chris Cook and John Stevenson, The Longman Handbook of Modern
British History, 1714–2001, 4th edn (Harlow/London: Longman,
2001), p. 81 135
7.1 Military effort of the Empire/Commonwealth in the First World
War. Material from Chris Cook and John P. Paxton, Commonwealth
Political Facts (London: Macmillan, 1979), 207. Reproduced with
permission of SNCSC 157
7.2 Military effort of the Commonwealth in the Second World War.
Material from Chris Cook and John P. Paxton, Commonwealth
Political Facts (London: Macmillan, 1979), 207. Reproduced with
permission of SNCSC 161
7.3 Consumer durables: availability in households (%) (n/a = not
available). Derrick Murphy (ed.), Britain, 1914–2000 (London:
HarperCollins, 2000), 350. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins
Publishers Ltd © 2000, Derrick Murphy 165
7.4 Share of income by household group, 1977–92. Derrick Murphy (ed.),
Britain,1914–2000 (London: HarperCollins, 2000), 352. Reprinted by
permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd © 2000, Derrick Murphy 167
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Acknowledgements
For their help with the first edition I thanked my (then) research assistants Lisa
Gajewski, Daniel Kramer (no relation), Monika Schulze and Anika Steffenhagen,
whose contributions to the boxes and the selection of pictures I deeply appreciated.
Ellen Grünkemeier was a particularly inspiring and reliable collaborator. Her stimu-
lating contributions to the selection of documents and pictures, to the boxes and
to the working questions were invaluable, and so was her technical expertise with
scanner and computer. Bernd Lenz (Passau), Edzard Obendiek and Hans Peters (both
Dortmund) read most of the chapters in that edition, and kindly let me profit from
their comprehensive knowledge and astute criticism. The second edition I had to do
on my own; in the German university system an emeritus professor is not entitled
to any helping hands. But I owe a huge debt to my friend and colleague Bernd Lenz
from Passau University, who read and discussed the entire script with me and made a
number of invaluable suggestions for improvement.
At Routledge, Gillian Oliver originally commissioned the book, two generous
anonymous readers saved me from some embarrassing slips and errors and provided
useful hints for improvement, Margaret Hill expertly proof- read the first edition, and
Eve Setch and Katherine Davey saw it safely through its production. For their help with
this edition I would like to thank at Routledge Jennifer Morrow, Edward Gibbons and
especially Eve Setch who suggested this second edition. At Newgen Publishing I am
indebted to Ed Robinson and Emily Bonden at the helm of production, Alison Davies
for her impressive artwork and, above all, Laura Macy for her thoughtful, competent
and creative copy- editing. Any remaining faults are own. I dedicated the first edition
to my Dortmund colleagues and students; the second edition I dedicate to my two
grandchildren, Masha and Vince, who were born immediately before the Covid pan-
demic began, and who have been constantly delightful companions since then.
The author and publishers wish to thank the following for their permission to
reproduce material from the following works:
Tacitus, ‘Civilization or Servitude’ from K. Morgan (ed.) (1993) The Oxford
Illustrated History of Britain. © Oxford University Press, 1993. Reproduced with
permission of the Licensor through PLSclear. D. Whitelock’s English Historical
Documents, Vol. I (1996), reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK.
D. C. Greenaway and G. W Greenaway, English Historical Documents, Vol. II (1993),
reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK. H. Rothwell, English
Historical Documents, Vol. III (1996), reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis
Books UK. C. H. Williams, English Historical Documents, Vol. V (1996), reproduced
by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK. U. Sauerbaum, Das elizanbethanische