The East India Company

 

The East India Company

Queen Elizabeth was much interested in starting a network of colonies in different parts of the world. As part of her plan she granted a Royal Charter to the East India Company to establish trade links with India. The company was started with the capital of 70,000 dollars contributed by 125 shareholders.

In 1640, the East India Company bought some land in the northern part of Chennai from the Raja of Chandragiri. Francis Day constructed a fort there called Fort St. George. This was the origin of the Presidency of Madras.

In 1661, the East India Company bought the marshy land in Bombay for an annual rent of just ten pounds. Then, the Governor General Aungler converted the marshy land into a beautiful town with a natural harbor. Many trading companies were shifted to Bombay. This was the beginning of the Presidency of Bombay.

In 1690, the famous British Agent Job Charnock built a fort at Calcutta. It was called Fort William. Many factories were shifted to this place. This was the beginning of the Presidency of Bengal. Thus the company gained a foothold in three key centres in India.

The company turned its attention to the goal of ruling India. The instability consequent on the collapse of the Mugal Empire gave opportunities to the East India company to attain its goal. In the south India, Dupleix, the French and Robert Clive, the Englishman had a competition to gain control over Hyderabad and Karnataka. Clive gained the control. By winning the battle of Plassey, Clive captured Bengal. He became the first Governor of Bengal. The company won the Maratha wars and destroyed Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan. Similarly, the Sikh leaders were destroyed by the company.

To streamline the irregularities of the East India Company, the Governor of Bengal was made Governor General. The company’s mismanagement was still rampant, so Queen Victoria abolished the powers of the East India Company. The government of India was taken over by the Queen herself. This brought the rule of the East India company in India to a close.

The company was in India for 258 years. It changed the life style of Indians. All walks of life were Westernized.  Macaulay made English the medium of instruction in Indian colleges and universities. Governor General  William Bentinck abolished the barbarous practice of Sati. Raja Ram Mohan Roy assisted the same. The British government brought about revolutionary changes such as the use of the railways, the post and telegraph and other means of communication. At the same time valuable Indian literary works such as the ‘Bhagavad Gita and Thirukural’ attracted foreign scholars. They were translated into English.

The Elizabethan Theatre

 

The Elizabethan Theatre

Elizabethan drama was the dominant art form that flourished during and a little after the reign of Elizabeth I, who was Queen of England from 1558 to 1603. 

The Elizabethan Theatre was a booming business. People loved the theatre. The Elizabethan plays and theatres were so popular. Huge amounts of money could be made. The inn-keepers increased their profits by allowing plays to be shown on temporary stages erected in the yards of their inns. Soon purpose-built playhouses and great open theatres were being constructed. The history of the Elizabethan Theatre started in 1576.

In 1576, James Burbage obtains lease and permission to build ‘The Theatre’ in London. Another open air amphitheatre called ‘The Curtain’ opened in 1577. In 1587, Surrey opened an amphitheatre called ‘The Rose’. In 1593, theatres were closed due to the Plague. In 1599, ‘The Globe’ was opened on Bankside.

The Globe was very popular in the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays for this theatre. This theatre was a wooden structure. It was hexagonal outside and round within. The stage was divided into four parts. The front stage projected far into the auditorium. This part of the stage served as a street or battlefield or garden. It was open to the sky. The back stage was the part behind the pillars. It served as a large room, a palace hall, an office or a tavern as required. The walls of this part of the stage were hung with tapestry, black for tragedy and blue for comedy. There was a screened inner stage. This served as the bedroom scene in ‘Othello’ and ‘Macbeth’. The fourth part of the stage was over the inner stage. It was the balcony or the upper stage. It served as the window in Shylock’s house form which Jessica threw the casket on the street.

The Elizabethan theatre had no front curtain. Therefore, a scene began with the entrance of the actors and ended with their exit. The theatre was bare. There was not much scenery on the stage. Shakespeare used poetry to create the necessary atmosphere. It is poetry which creates the picture of the shipwreck in ‘The Tempest’.

No women came forward to play women’s roles in the Elizabethan age. Young boys were employed to play female roles. Shakespeare did not tax the boy actors. In his romantic comedies, the heroine appeared in male guise in most scenes.

The performances were held in the afternoon because there was no artificial light. There was also no scenery to speak of, and the costumes let the audience know the social status of the characters. Because sumptuary laws restricted what a person could wear according to their class, actors were licensed to wear clothing above their station.

The majority of the Elizabethan audience  were uneducated riff-raff. Their tastes were crude. They enjoyed vulgar jokes. To please them Shakespeare used plenty of such jokes. Even in tragedies he used comic scenes and comic characters.

AN OUTLINE STORY OF SILAS MARNER

 

 

AN OUTLINE STORY OF SILAS MARNER       

 

            Silas Marner lives a solitary life in Lantern Yard. He is a weaver. During ‘fits’ he is not aware of the happenings around him. Silas loves a servant-woman by name Sarah. His friend name is William Dane. William says that Silas comes under the influence of Satan when he falls into fits. An old deacon dies when Silas is fast asleep by his bed. Silas is unjustly accused of theft by his own friend, so he leaves Lanten Yard and settles in Ravelo. In Ravelo, he takes pleasure in earning through weaving and counting the shining coins that he has kept hidden in the floor of his cottage.

            The most important family in Ravelo is the family of Squire Cass. His eldest son Godfrey has secretly married a disreputable opium addict by name Molley Farren. It is said that Godfrey would marry Nancy Lammeter. Dunstan blackmails Godfrey with threat to reveal the marriage to their father. Godfrey gives 100 pounds to Dunstan. The money given by Godfrey is the rent money paid one of their father’s tenants. Since neither brothers are not able to raise the money. They decide to sell Godfrey’s horse, Wildfire to repay the loan. Dunstan rides Wildfire over a fence. The horse falls and dies. Knowing the rumors of Silas’s hoard, Dunstan makes plans to intimidate the weaver into lending him money. His walk home takes him by Silas’s cottage, and, finding the cottage empty,

Dunstan decides to steal Silas Marner’s hidden gold. He takes the gold and goes out stumbling through the night. He falls into an abandoned quarry pit and is killed. Nobody knows what has happened to Dunstan. Godfrey tells his father about the rent money he has given Dunstan and about the loss of the valuable horse Wildfire, which has been found dead.

            Silas is utterly disconsolate at the loss of his gold and numbly continues his weaving. Some of the town people offer their condolences and advice to Silas. Among them Dolly Winthrop encourages Silas to go to church.

            On New Year’s Eve, Molley, Godfrey’s secret wife is making her way to the Cass’ house to reveal the secret marriage. She has their two-year old daughter in her arms. Tiring after her long walk, Molley takes opium and dies in the snow. Seeing Sila’s Cottage and drawn by the light of the fire, Molley’s little girl wanders through the open door and falls asleep at Silas hearth. Because of fits, Silas doesn’t notice the child enter his cottage. Returning from an errand, Silas sees a golden gleam in front of his hearth which he mistakes for his lost gold. On closer examination, he discovers a sleeping baby. Following the child’s tracks through the snow, he comes upon the body of the dead woman.

When Silas goes to the Squire’s house with the baby to find the doctor, Godfrey recognizing his daughter and has no courage to claim the baby for his own. Silas adopts the child. He grows increasingly attached to the child and names her Eppie, after his mother and sister. With Dolly Winthrop’s help, Silas raises the child lovingly. Eppie begins to serve as a bridge between Silas and the rest of the villagers, who offer him help and advice and have come to think of him as an exemplary person because of what he has done. Eppie also brings Silas out of the benumbed state he fell into after the loss of his gold. In his newfound happiness, Silas begins to explore the memories of his past that he has long repressed.

Years pass now Silas cottage takes on a new appearance. Dolly brings her son Aaron to play with Eppie. Godfrey marries Nancy, but it is a childless union. For sixteen years Godfrey secretly carries with him the thought of his child growing up under the care of Silas. An old stone quarry which is drained now is brought by Godfrey. The work men find a skeleton identified by Dunstan watch. Beside the skeleton is Silas’s bag of gold which is stolen on the night of Dunstan’s disappearance. At the same Godfrey confesses the story of Eppie’s birth, Nancy agrees with him that they should go to Silas and Eppie with their tale. Hearing this strange story of Eppie’s parentage. Silas opens the way for Eppie to take her wealthy heritage. But Eppie refuses the offer and informs Mr and Mrs Godfrey of her decision to marry the working man Aaron who has promised to retain Silas. After the marriage, Silas cottage is enlarged at the expense of the landlord Godfrey Cass.

 

The Tudor Navy and Spanish Armada

 

The Tudor Navy and Spanish Armada

Elizabeth’s conquest of the Spanish Armada is one of her important achievements. It made the supremacy of England’s navy.

Cause of the naval battle

Queen Elizabeth remained a virgin all her life. She gave false promises of marriage to a large number of men in order to keep them subordinate to herself. It was her trick in the political game. Philip II, the king of Spain, was one of the men. He was deeply disappointed when she abandoned him. It created a friction between the two countries.

Spain was monarch of the sea for long. Spanish traders were troubled by English pirates.These  pirates were called sea-dogs. Philip’s galleon had colonized Portugal, Southern and Central America, and Indies. The Spanish galleons looted these countries and brought their gold and silver to Spain.

The Tudor monarchs wanted to have a share in the growing maritime trade. Henry VIII supported John Calbot who discovered Labrador. A team of private merchants from England established trade contacts with South America. A new English company called ‘The Company of Merchant Adventures’ was formed. Sebestian Calbot, son of John Calbot was the Chief of the company. It had trade with Baltic and Scandinavian markets.

John Hawkins, was a famous navigator, who brought negroes in West Africa and sold them at a huge profit to the Spaniards in America to work in their mines. Philip disliked the intrusion of Hawkins and tried to capture him. Hawkins escaped and returned to England. In the same way Fancis Drake and Martin Frobisher also looted the Spaniards. Queen Elizabeth supported Hawkins, Drake and Frobisher and gave them jobs in her navy.

Philip sponsored Mary, Queen of Scots. He planned to throw out Elizabeth and make Mary the queen of England. Her execution and the suppression of the Catholics in England angered Philip. Drake sailed into the harbor of Cadiz and sank a Spanish ship, so Philip declared an open war against England.

The Spanish fleet called the Armada anchored in the shape of the crescent moon. It was captained by the Duke of Medina Sidonia. It consisted of one hundred and thirty ships. The horns of the crescent were seven miles long. The Spanish ships were huge merchant ships. They were unfit for war. The English fleet was captained by Lord Howard of Effingham and assisted by Hawkins, Drake and Frobisher.

The Spanish ships were anchored off Calais. At night the English admiral set fire to some old ships of his and let the wind carry them. The ships were loaded with inflammable material. On seeing this moving inferno, the Spanish sailors panicked. They sailed in confusion. The English sailors pursued them and destroyed most of them. This was a decisive victory for England.

The victory of England was greeted by the Protestants both in England and abroad. They considered this as God’s punishment for Philip’s action. Having gained naval supremacy, England was able to establish many colonies unhindered by rivals. After this, Elizabeth started to concentrate on internal problems and work for the progress of England.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

 

 

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

The monasteries were centres of learning many centuries ago. The monks who lived there were devoted to the cause of education. It functioned as hospitals. The poor and orphaned were taken care of there. But in course of time the monasteries degenerated. Martin Luther, a German monk objected the commercialization of the church. All the protesters against the corrupt Roman church stood behind Luther. The anger of the people against the monasteries reached the boiling point in the age of Henry VIII. In England the clash was due to personal reasons, so the king decided to dissolve the monasteries. The monks were the supporters of the Pope. The closing down of the monasteries and disbanding of the unfaithful monks was Henry’s indirect revenge on the Pope. Henry’s treasury was empty, because of his several wars with France and other neighbouring countries. To satisfy the demands, he seized the wealth of the monasteries.

The Act 1536 empowered the king to dissolve 276 small monasteries at first. The Duke of Suffolk led the military force to destruct a monastery in Lincolnshire. The Pilgrimage of Grace in Yorkshire was popular. In 1536, it was destructed. A lawyer called Robert Aske joined with the rebellious monks and captured York. Seeing the strength, the king offered a general pardon of the rebels. But the King reacted ferociously in 1539. He ordered the soldiers to kill the rebels. Following this, many abbeys were dissolved in 1539. The famous shrine of Becket at Canterbury was looted and its offerings confiscated in 1538

Effects of the Dissolution

The monastic income was one-third of the total income of England. The king and his greedy courtiers swallowed most of it. A new middle class arose. They bought monastic land at a cheap rate and remained loyal to the king. The original abbey buildings were ruthlessly destroyed. Most of the noblest monuments were lost. The libraries in many abbeys had rare manuscripts. They were all destroyed. Monks became jobless. The gentlemen helped by the monasteries were now abandoned. The destruction of the Sea-side abbeys left the nation unprotected.

Thus in many ways the dissolution of the monasteries caused an heavy loss to the nation. It was all due to the sloth and luxury of the monks.

THE REFORMATION

 

THE REFORMATION

Introduction

 The Reformation was a world- wide religious movement. It started in Germany and spread to other nations.

The Reformation in Germany

The Pope and other dignitaries of the church led luxurious lives. They did not show any interest in preaching or in promoting the welfare of congregation. As a result, people had dissatisfaction against the church. In the meantime, Pope Julius decided to construct a grand new Basilica by demolishing the old medieval church. The next Pope Leo X, was ready to pardon the sinners if they donated money towards the construction of St.Peter’s Basilica. People who had the superstitious belief were ready to pay money to the Pope to escape from their sins. A German monk by name Martin Luther objected to the commercialization of the church. He prepared ninety-five objections against the practice of church. All the protesters against the corrupt Roman Church stood behind Luther. Thus was born the Protestant religion.

The Reformation in England

The German Reformation was due to Martin Luther’s doctrinal clash with the Pope, whereas in England the clash was purely due to personal reasons. In the beginning the English King Henry VIII was a strong supporter of Pope Leo X. He showed his loyalty to the Pope by banning Luther’s controversial works in England. He also published his ‘Assertion of the Seven Sacraments’ rebutting Luther’s charges point by point. The Pope was pleased of the King’s support and bestowed the title Defender of the Faith on Henry.

     The harmonious relationship between Henry with Rome was broken when the King wanted to divorce his wife Catherine of Rome and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope did not grant permission to the proposal, so the king decided to cut down his relationship with the Pope. He convened a Parliament which was favourable to him. It came to be called the Reformation Parliament. He passed a series of Acts which curtailed the powers of the Pope. By passing the Act of Supremacy in 1534, Henry became the supreme head of the Church in England. Sir Thomash More and Bishop Fisher adamantly refused to accept the supremacy of Henry. They were beheaded and their heads were displayed on London Bridge to threaten all dissenters into submission. This incident turned people against Henry

Dissolution of monasteries

Henry dissolved all the monasteries and seized their wealth. To show himself as a supporter of Catholic he passed some articles in favour of Catholics.

Reformation during Edward VI regime

The next king Edward VI followed Henry’s footprint. He dissolved the chantries also. In 1549, the prayer book prepared by Archbishop Cranmer was prescribed. The prayer book contained nothing new.

Reformation during Mary Tudor regime

She abolished the English Prayer book enforced by Edward VI. She tried to wipe out Protestantism by burning its supporters. Among three hundred people who were burnt were John Roger, Cranmer and the preacher Latimer. These ruthless measures earned her the nick name ‘Bloody Mary’. She was succeeded by Elizabeth

Reformation during Elizabeth regime

Elizabeth took measures to correct the mistakes committed by Henry VIII and Mary. At the same time she was particular about maintaining the sovereignty of England. Later, the Roman church was stripped of its powers gradually by successive rulers. Through her mild measures Queen Elizabeth established the superiority of the Church of England to the Roman Church. She did not beheaded or burn anybody, so she was adored by the people.