新英美概况 教学课件 齐智英2 unit 10.pptVIP

Unit Ten Significant Events of the UK and the USA Contents Unit Ten 10.1 Significant Events Before World War I 10.1. 1 Significant Events in the UK Before World War I The Magna Carta King John’s reign caused much discontent among the barons. In 1215, he was forced to sign a document, known as Mangna Carta, or the Great Charter. It has 63 clauses. Though it has long been regarded as the foundation of English liberties, its spirit was the limitation of the king’s powers, keeping them within the bounds of the feudal law of the land. The Great Charter contained three sets of provisions: a) that the king was not to exact extra payments from the feudal vassals (or towns) without their consent; b) that laws were not to be modified by the arbitrary action of the king; and c) that should the king attempt to free himself from law, the vassals had the right to force the king to obey it, by civil war or otherwise. Unit Ten The Hundred Years’ War The Hundred Years’ War was a prolonged conflict between two royal houses for the French throne, vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois, and the House of Plantagenet. The House of Valois claimed the title of King of France, while the Plantagenets from England claimed to be Kings of France and England. The Plantagenet Kings in England, also known as the House of Anjou, had their roots in the French regions of Anjou and Normandy. French soldiers fought on both sides, with Burgundy and Aquitaine providing notable support for the Plantagenet side. The conflict lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453. The war was punctuated by several brief periods of peace, and two lengthy periods of peace, before it finally ended in the expulsion of the Plantagenets from France ( except the Calais Pale). Subtracting the two long periods of peace of 1360–1369 and 1389–1415, the war was fought for about 81 years. Unit Ten The war was in fact a series of confl