Edward II was father to Edward III of England, whose claim to the throne of France resulted in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). The end of the war found England defeated and retaining only a single city of France: Calais.

Fifteenth-century miniature depicting the English victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt.

During the Hundred Years War an English Identity was seen to develop, contrasting with the previous split between the Norman Lords and their Anglo-Saxon subjects, in the context of the sustained hostility to the increasingly nationalist French whose kings and other leaders notably the charismatic Joan of Arc used a developing sense of French Identity to help to draw people to their cause. The Anglo-Norman became separate from their cousins who held lands mainly in France who mocked them for their archaic and bastardised spoken French. English also became the language of the law courts during this period.

The Kingdom had little time to recover before entering the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), a series of civil wars over possession of the throne between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, different branches of the descendants of Edward III. The end of the wars found the throne held by a female line descendant of the House of Lancaster married to the eldest daughter of the House of York. Henry VII of England and his Queen consort Elizabeth of York were the founders of the Tudor dynasty which ruled the Kingdom from 1485 to 1603.

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Tudors and Stuarts

Meanwhile, Wales retained the distinct legal and administrative system that had been established by Edward I in the late 13th century. The second of the Welsh origin Tudor dynasty, Henry VIII of England, merged Wales into England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. Wales ceased to be a personal fiefdom of the King of England but was annexed to the Kingdom of England and was represented in the Parliament of England.

During Henry VIII's reign in 1541 the Parliament of Ireland proclaimed him King of Ireland, thus bringing the Kingdom of Ireland into personal union with the Kingdom of England.

Portrait of Elizabeth made to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), depicted in the background. Elizabeth's international power is symbolized by the hand resting on the globe.

During the reign of Mary I of England, eldest daughter of Henry VIII, Calais was captured by Francis, Duke of Guise on January 7, 1558.

The House of Tudor ended with the death of its last monarch, Elizabeth I of England, on March 24, 1603. Without any direct heir to her throne, James VI, King of Scots, a distant Protestant relative of Elizabeth from Scotland's Stuart dynasty, acceded to the throne of England as King James I of England. Despite this Union of the Crowns, the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland remained separate and independent states under this personal union, until 1707.

In 1707, the Acts of Union ratified by both the Parliament of Scotland and Parliament of England created the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1801). Queen Anne, the last monarch from the House of Stuart, became the first monarch of the new kingdom. Both the English and Scottish Parliaments were merged into the Parliament of Great Britain, located in Westminster, London. At this point, England ceased to exist as a separate political entity and has since had no national government. Legally, however, the jurisdiction continued to operate as England and Wales (just as Scotland continued to have its own laws and law courts) and this continued also after the Act of Union of 1800 between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland which created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. (Later going on to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

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Commonwealth and Protectorate

Cromwell at Dunbar. Oliver Cromwell united the whole of the British Isles by force and created the Commonwealth of England.

England was a monarchy for the entirety of its political existence since its creation about 927 up to the 1707 Act of Union, except for the eleven years of English Interregnum (1649 to 1660) that followed the English Civil War.

The rule of executed King Charles I of England was replaced by that of a republic known as Commonwealth of England (1649–1653). The most prominent general of the republic, Oliver Cromwell, managed to extend its rule to Ireland and Scotland.

The victorious general eventually turned against the republic, and established a new form of government known as The Protectorate, with himself as Lord Protector until his death on September 3, 1658. He was succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell. However, anarchy eventually developed, as Richard proved unable to maintain his rule. He resigned his title and retired into obscurity. The Commonwealth was re-established but proved unstable. The exiled claimant Charles II of England was recalled to the throne in 1660 in the English Restoration.

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References

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See also

• List of monarchs of England
• Royal English Navy
• Crown Jewels of England
• England and Wales
• Kingdom of Cornwall (Kernow)
• Anglo-Norman language

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