HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN

England

Many historians start the story of human rights with a ceremony at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames in England.

In 1215, King John was forced to accept Magna Carta - the Great Charter of Liberties.

Magna Carta was revolutionary as from now on the king, as his people, was subjected to the law; and ist most important article may be regarded as the first expression of "modern" human rights:

No free man shall be taken, or imprisoned, or despossessed or outlawed, or banished, or in any way injured, except by the legal judgment of his equals by the law of the land.

And most Englishmen were free in that sense. Magna Carta was important not just at the time but in later centuries.

For example, in the seventeenth century, Parliament thought that Charles I was becoming to powerful. The quarrel led to the Civil War. During the quarrel, Parliament quoted Magna Carta against the king. In the same century several other important documents were drawn up in England, listing the rights of subject against the king.

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King John (1199-1216) was a most unpopular ruler. His demands for high taxes to pay for his wars and wish to appoint the Archbishop of Canterbury himself brought him into conflict with the powerful barons and the Church.

The bishop and the barons met and drew up a list of demands, the Magna Carta, which John was forced to sign in 1215.

As the result, the powers of the Council of barons and bishops greatly increased.

Later "two knights from each shire and two burghers from each borough" were invited to join the barons and bishops in the Council or, to use the French word, Parliament.

This first happened in 1265, and soon the holding of parliaments became a regular custom.

In the 14^th century both groups began to meet separately. Thus Parliament came to be divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

A new wife and a new Church

Henry VIII (1509-1547) had six wives and had two of them executed. His marriages had

far-reaching consequences. As the Pope had not allowed him to divorce his first wife, Henry was unable to remarry. The people didn`t approve of his divorce, but the Church of Rome had become very powerful, and many people objected to the interference of the Pope in national affairs.

So it was with the support of Parliament that Henry finally broke with Rome and made himself Head of the Church in England.

A century of struggles followed, until Britain`s religious and political independence was firmly established by the Glorious Revolution.

Shakespeare`s life

He was born on April 23^rd, 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon, as son of John Shakespear, who was a glover and held a high position as High Bailiff and Chief Alderman in his small town. But John S. fell into debt and had to mortgage his wife`s farm.

Wiliam was educated at the Grammar School of Stratford. In 1582 at the age of 18, he married Ann Hathaway, a farmer`s daughter who was eight years senior. Three children were born to them.

In 1586 Shakespear went to London, where he joined the Blackfriars' Acting Company. When the Blackfriars built a summer-theatre, "The Globe" he became a shareholder in his enterprise. He became very prosperous and after a while he was able to buy a property in his home town, where he retired in 1611. He was able to support his father and his own family and was respected and a well-done-citizen.

He wrote about Comedy/Romance, History and Tragedy.

Comedy/Romance

Midsummer Night`s Dream

Merchant of Venice

Measure for Measure

Much Ado about nothing

History

Henry VIII (IV, V, VI)

Richard II, III

Tragedy

Romeo and Juliet

Hamlet

Othello

Julius Caesar

Macbeth

Shakespeare for a Penny

In the time of Elizabeth I theatre-going was very popular. Plays were performed without scenery, and sometimes a signboard was carried across the stage to indicate where the action was supposed to take place.

The better-off people sat on the balcony, while the poorer people, called groundlings, paid a penny to stand around the stage, drinking beer and smoking pipes, which were passed from hand to hand, booing if the play was bad and cheering or shouting if they liked it.

What people expected was s good mixture of violence, bloodshed and romance and, last but not least, a good deal of fun, so that even in tragedies, clowns used to appear on the stage between the acts of the play to entertain the audience with their jokes.

All these elements were integrated in Shakespeare`s plays, which were among the most popular.