England History

Effective family research requires understanding the historic events that affected your family and the records about them. Learning about wars, migrations, settlement patterns, and economic or religious trends may help you understand family movements. Your ancestors may be more interesting to you if you learn about the events that shaped their lives.

Some key dates and events in English history are:

1300 BC The genealogy of the Druid Kings of Britain begins with Aedd Mawr and his son Brydain in 1300 BC. Brydain named the Islands after himself-Britain. Britain means "Covenant Race". The complete genealogy is printed out on the chart "One Royal Line of Judah" by Albert F. Schmuhl.

1113 BC Brutus of Troy conquered King Pandrasus of Greece, married his daughter and took a group of Trojans and Greeks to Gaul. Brutus conquered the King of Gaul and founded Tours. Brutus then brought his group of Trojans, Greeks and Celts to Britain. He conquered the indigenous race of giants who lived on the Islands. In this record Brutus claims naming the Islands Britain. Ref. "Victoria County History of Lancanshire pp. 1-20"

In Camden's History of England, Britain was settled by the descendants of Japeth who went into Europe, Gaul and into Britain. Camden wrote his history 450 years after Jeffery of Monmouth, Archdeacon of Monmouth. By the time Camden wrote his history, the records from which Jeffery of Monmouth quoted were destroyed. but Jeffery's written history of England survived.

750 BC The tribe of Judah invaded Ireland and the British Isles. They established their Kings and people in in Ireland and Britain. The tribe of Judah is represented in the Royal Coat of Arms of England by the rampant lion.The Irish Kings decending from Judah through Ireland are printed out on the chart"One Royal Line of Judah" by Albert F. Schmuhl.

700-600 BC Celts from Gaul invade Britain and took control of the country. The Druid priests presided in their culture, but were not warriors. The Druid priests educated their people and officated in the religious practices. The Druid priests were the ruling community officals and religious leaders. The commanding warriors were a part of the community council. The Celts were of the tribe of Ephraim and are represented in the Royal Coat of Arms of England by the white unicorn.

37 AD Joseph of Arimathea and his group of 11 other adults landed at Glastonbury. They built the first Christain Church in the world named St. Mary. King Avairgas gave 12 hides of land to the Church of St. Mary at Glastonbury to be held tax free forever. These 12 hides and Church of Glastonbury were listed in the Doomesday Book of William the Conqueror. Joseph's daughter Anna married Bran the Blessed and they became the progenators of the royal lienage of Wales. In 1954, the government authorized an archeological excavation of the site. The foundations of the orginal church were found to measure 37' X 50 ' long. A stone was found with the inscription of Jesus/Maria, the Challess Well, and six wattle homes all dating to the time period. The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea was also found with the body placed in a silver casket in the Church of St. John the Baptist. The tomb of King Arthur was previously found and his body enturned in London. Despite the archeological evidence, modern day historians call this story a myth. I have included this history because Lawrence Gardner, the Royal Genealogist of England includes the genealogy of Joseph of Arimathea as one of the Royal ancestors of England and Wales. These genealogies are printed out in his book, "Bloodline of the Holy Grail".

43 AD Rome invaded Britain and conquered the souther part of Britain before their army was recalled to Gaul.The Celts of Gaul were such fierce fighters that it took the who army of Rome to finally conqueror the blue painted warriors. After the war was ended in 44 AD, Mary Magdalene went to Gaul to live where her descendants became the Fisher Kings of Gaul.

65-68 AD Rome invaded Britain but were repulsed by the fighting Islanders.

100 AD Rome invaded and conquered Britain. Many Christains were fed to the lions and killed by the gladiators. 325 AD Council of Nicea. The British bishops attended the Council of Nicea and since Britain had built the first Christain church, the British bishops were given first priority to speak. They presented their concept of the Godhead, but the Greek concept was accepted by Constantine. As a result of the Niceen Creed and the Roman rule, Catholic Bishops replaced the British ones and taught the country Catholic doctrine. The country gradually converted to the Catholic religion. However, many held on to their Celtic beliefs.

400 AD Abbott Bean of Glastonbury wrote five volumes of "Britain's History Prior to Christainity". He had a library of over 200 books. Glastonbury Church of St. Mary with its library was enlarged to become the largest church in the British Isles. St. Mary's Church trained priests like St. Patrick who took Christanity to Ireland. The church and its vast library was burned in 1184 to destroy the records of the inferior race which William the Conqueror subugated. King William gave orders that once the Norman Churches were constructed the Saxon churches were to be burnt. Before it was burnt, William of Malmsbury read the records of the library and recorded the history from Joseph of Arimathea to the 1100's. William of Malmsbury made a historical summary of Glastonbury.

603 AD King Arthur, his knights, and army had successfullt defeated the invasions of the Saxons over the years. A family war between King Arthur and his son near Hadrians Wall took the British armies to the north. Both were killed in the battle. King Arthur's body was taken back to Glastonbury, Somersetshire to be buried. While their family was embattled in war, the Saxons conquered Britain.

603 AD Saxons conquered Britain. The Saxons set up their own Kings and rulers in Britain. The Saxons named their newly conquered land England. They moved all their people from Germany to England. The Saxons were from the tribe of Ephraim mixed with some of Judah.

740 AD The Norwegian Vikings invaded England and fought for 40 years before being defeated. Part of the army returned to Norway and part was incorporated in the peoples of England. The fusion of the Vikings into England brought about another infusion of the tribe of Ephraim into England.

865 AD The Danish Vikings invaded both France and England. They forcibly took one forth of France and set up Normandy as their new conquered kingdom. The Danish kings gave descent to William the Conquerer who ruled one forth of France with his brothers. In England, the Danish vikings conquered three forths of England before being defeated in 698 AD. The Danes made York, Yorkshire their headquarters. Their army was incorporated into England giving rise to names with "son" suffixes like Rawson, Dawson, Anderson, and Janson. This incorporations of the Danish army gave England another infusion of the tribe of Ephraim.

1050 AD The Danish Vikings invade and conqueror England. King Harold fought off an invasion by his brother in 1066 AD with his army marching to northern England. After defeating his brothers army, King Harold marched his army south to meet the army of William the Conqueror. The armies met at Hastings and fought a bloody battle in which King Harold was killed and his army defeated. Duke William conquered England in 1066.

'''1066 : Norman Conquest. William of Normandy (the Conqueror) invaded and was crowned King of England. '''

1077 Provost Alwin Child came from France and set up churches and religious Cluny orders of monks. The cluny Church of France was the largest church in the world with the largest library built in the 800 AD period. It was surpassed in size in the 1600's when St. Peters was built in Rome. Alwin Child built the Church of the Savior, the Church of Mary Magdalene and the Palace for William the Conqueror and his son William Ruffus. Alwin Child lived in the palace with the Kings and over saw its operation for the King until his death in 1082. Alwin was the Chancellor of Religion for the new Kings of England. Alwin left his will in 1082, Bermondsay, (London) Surrey, England. Alwin's son Alwin Child brought the Cluny monks from France in 1089 before he died in 1094. Alwin Child's son Roger Infans or Child went on the first crusade to Jerusalem and assisted in its capture from 1096-1098. Roger Infans returned to England to run the Royal Castle of Rockingham in Northamptonshire. He served as commander of the royal guard and was a baron over more than ten manors. More French were brought into England to be Royal Judges or Provosts over cities. Knights predided over 1-9 manors, and Franklins over a manor. The feudal system was instituted upon the English by the French with the gentry and noblity classes as rulers. The English were made serfs or slaves and confined to the manors in which they live. A series of judical courts were instituted from the manorial, Provost or city and shire level. Royal or country matters were brought before the Royal Court of Judges.

King William Ruffus was murdered leaving no heir to the throne. Henry Plantagent was brought from France to be the next King with Eleanor as his wife. The Knights Templar returned from Jerusalem to England and built castles and churches. They were good businessmen and established businesses in England.

1216 King John and the Magna Carter                                                                                                             King John replaced Henry and ruled by absolute monarchy. King John retained all the land and power unto himself. The barons, viscounts, and earls who officated over the shires rebelled against King John. The Lords of the shires all met and wrote up the Magna Carter. By signing the Magna Carter in 1216, King John was force to give up land and power to the Lords of the shires. The Magna Carter gave representation into parilament from each shire.

''' Parilament. '''The Lords of the shires established parilament as the House of the Lords. The House of Commons was established giving the gentry class two representatives from each shire. These representatives were usually knights or esquires. Pariliament would meet every twenty years or as needed with their elected counterparts. The Parliament building was eventually built from Coteswold stone in Westminister.

'''1300 Wars. '''The English invaded Ireland and subjugated the country placing it under the English control. The English also invaded Wales and tricked their leader to give himself up but killed him instead. After fighting for many years into the 1400's England conquerored Wales. On orders of the Pope, the English killed all the Knights templars on their soil and then made war with Scotland to destroy all the Knights Templars. The Scots fought fiercly and defeated the English in the Battle of Bannockburn. The Scots established their own kings and remained a seperate county from England.

1400's. Parliament establishes classes of Gentry and Lords depending on how much land a person own. Knights who were not actively serving, became esquires.

100 years war with France with battles won by both sides. War of the Roses 1458-1487 between the Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of York. The Duke of Lancaster won the war by killing the Duke of York.

1484 Parliament declared all men to be freeman! The serfs and common people of England were now free to own land, to come and go, leave at will, but still had to pay taxes and obey the laws of the land. Prior to this time the records were in Latin. English was established as the spoken and written language. Rules of writing and speaking followed as English evolved. The Catholic Church retained their services in Latin.

'''1538 King Henry VIII orders parishes to begin keeping vital records within their parishes. '''Not all the churches started keeping christenings, marriage, and burial records.

1542 Thomas Cromwell established the Church of England as the state religion by overthrowing the Catholic Church. King Henry VIII had killed any one who opposed him including the Earl of Montgomery and the Abbott of Glastonbury. The king had destroyed all the statues of saints, did away with priories, nunneries, monks, nuns, established divorce and created his new church called the Church of England. King Henry had his wives killed who bore him daughters and Thomas Cromwell for finding him a wife who bore a girl. King Henry's only son Henry died at the age of 18 leaving Mary(Catholic) and Elizabeth(Church of England) to fight over the throne.

'''1215: The Great Charter. Barons forced King John I to sign the Magna Carta.'''

'''1536 : England and Wales united politically. '''

'''1642–1660: Civil War. Charles I was executed in 1649. Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England. Bishop’s courts were abolished. Many other changes affected record-keeping.'''

'''1660 : Charles II restored as monarch, ending civil strife. Bishop’s courts restored. '''

1688–1689: William of Orange from Holland crowned King of England.

1707: England and Wales united with Scotland to form the United Kingdom.

1733: English replaced Latin in official records.

'''1752: England adopted the new Gregorian calendar. The first day of the year started on 1 January.'''

'''1756–1765 : The first English navigation canals appeared. The Industrial Revolution began and cities grew with the invention of the steam engine and the spinning jenny. '''

1800: Ireland became part of the United Kingdom.

'''1830 : First railways appeared in England. '''

'''1834: Poor law unions took poor relief responsibilities away from parishes. Workhouses established.'''

'''1837: Civil registration began on 1 July. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901.'''

'''1841 : The first genealogically useful census taken. '''

1858: Principal Probate Registry began handling all English probates.

1882: Married women were given the right to use and dispose of their own property.

Websites

 * http://www.historyofengland.net/
 * http://www.britainexpress.com/History/index.htm
 * http://www.britannia.com/history/narintrohist.html
 * http://home.earthlink.net/~lfdean/austen/history/index.html