First came Crecy, in 1346. Here, a larger force of French knights was defeated through use of Britain’s secret weapon – longbow men. Longbow men were middle-class soldiers who trained their whole life using a six-foot bow, which could fire three times as fast as the French crossbows. In 1360, at the battle of Potiers, another large army of French knights was destroyed by English longbow men. Finally, a huge French army was defeated at Agincourt in 1415, once again because its knights made a daring but stupid charge into another formation of longbow men. These battles had a disastrous effect on France, as the thousands of knights who died as a result of these battles were the nobles, the leaders of society. In 1429, a French peasant girl named Joan of Arc lead a relief force that saved the French Army, under siege at Orleans. Even though Joan was captured by the British, accused of heresy and burned at stake, a new French King was crowned and quickly the tide of the war was turned. By 1452, England held only a tiny province in the north of France.

In years 1348 – 1349, Great plague - Black Death reached almost whole country, 33% of population died.

Richard II – Edward’s son, Black Prince’s son. The uncles of the young King Richard II were John, Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt), Edmund, Duke of York and Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. In 1399, Richard II was deposed and later murdered in Pontefrat Castle by ambitious nobles. Richard's body was displayed in the old St Paul's Cathedral for all to see that he was really dead, and he was then buried in Kings Langley Church. His body was eventually moved to Westminster Abbey in 1413.

The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) were collectively an intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house, tracing their descent from King Edward III. The name Wars of the Roses was not used at the time, but has its origins in the badges chosen by the two royal houses, the Red Rose of Lancaster, whose retainers tended to favour red coats or red roses as their symbol, and the White Rose of York, whose men often sported white coats or white rose insignia.

The Tudors (1485 - 1603)
The Wars of the Roses ended when Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, and thus he joined the two houses.
Henry VIII is known as a king who had 6 wives and established the Church of England.
Catherine of Aragon - Henry VIII’s first wife and mother of Mary I
Anne Boleyn - Henry VIII’s second wife and mother of Elizabeth.
Jane Seymour - Henry VIII's third wife and mother or Edward VI.
Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife. She was divorced after six months.
Kathryn Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife. She was executed for adultery after two years of marriage. Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife. She outlived Henry and died in 1548.

He had three children: Mary I (Bloody Mary), Elizabeth I, Edward VI. Edward VI was only 9 years, when he became king and died when he was 16.

Mary I
After him ascended the throne the first queen after Mathilda - Mary I. Mary became Queen in 1553 following the death of her brother Edward and the deposement of Jane Grey. Her nickname was Bloody Mary, because she was very cruel and burnt Protestants.
Elizabeth I (1533-1603) became Queen of England in 1558 after her sister Mary died.
She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and had had a troubled childhood. Her mother had been executed when she was three years old and her father had married four more times. She enforced the Protestant religion by law. England became the leading power on the sea, which led to colonial development of the English power in America and East India. The Renaissance came to its height because of the works of many important artists (Shakespeare).

Mary, Queen of Scots
When Elizabeth's sister Mary, a Catholic, came to the throne in 1553 she made England Catholic again and Elizabeth was put into the Tower of London so that she could not lead a Protestant rebellion against Mary and take her place on the throne. In 1558 she married French king’s son. In 1561 she returned to Scotland and became queen and widow. Then she married Lord Darnley, she had him murdered by her lover Bothwell and married him. In 1568 she escaped to England for safety and was prisoner for 19 years by Elizabeth I. In 1603 she died - it was the end of Tudor period.

THE STUARTS ( 1603 – 1714 )
James I, the first Stuart king on the English throne, united England and Scotland. Nevertheless, the next period was full of political and military fighting.

Charles I had to oppose the growing power of the Parliament. Because of this he dissolved the Parliament in 1629. But then he needed money for his wars, so he had to summon the Parliament again in 1640. But instead of giving him money, they petitioned for a peaceful settlement with Scotland. So it was dissolved again. But a few years later the Parliament was summoned again and it opposed the king very much. Charles I tried to arrest some leaders of the Parliament and this was the beginning of civil war in England. It was won by the Parliament. He was forced to sign Petition of Right. The King could only impose new taxes through parliament consent.

Charles II (1660-1685)
In 1666 was the great fire of London.