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187-715: Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician, and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to
374-840: A brewer from Glamorgan , Wales, who settled at Putney and married Katherine Cromwell (born 1482), the sister of Thomas Cromwell , who would become the famous chief minister to Henry VIII. The Cromwells acquired great wealth as occasional beneficiaries of Thomas's administration of the Dissolution of the Monasteries . Morgan ap William was a son of William ap Yevan of Wales. The family line continued through Richard Williams (alias Cromwell) , ( c. 1500–1544), Henry Williams (alias Cromwell) , ( c. 1524 – 6 January 1604), then to Oliver's father Robert Williams, alias Cromwell ( c. 1560–1617), who married Elizabeth Steward ( c. 1564–1654), probably in 1591. They had ten children, but Oliver,
561-694: A forest . In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 Huntingdonshire became an administrative county , with the newly-formed Huntingdonshire County Council taking over administrative functions from the Quarter Sessions . The area in the north of the county forming part of the municipal borough of Peterborough became instead part of the Soke of Peterborough , an administrative county in Northamptonshire . In 1965, under
748-583: A yeoman farmer. In 1636 Cromwell inherited control of various properties in Ely from his uncle on his mother's side, and his uncle's job as tithe -collector for Ely Cathedral . As a result, his income is likely to have risen to around £300–400 per year; by the end of the 1630s Cromwell had returned to the ranks of acknowledged gentry. He had become a committed Puritan and had established important family links to leading families in London and Essex . Cromwell became
935-513: A British island' and Κεφ. γʹ Ἀλβουίωνος νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις , Albouíōnos nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis , 'Ch. 3, position of Albion, a British island'. In Arabic geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world , the British Isles are known as Jazāʾir Barṭāniya or Jazāʾir Barṭīniya . Arabic geographies, including the Kitāb az-Zīj of al-Battānī , mention
1122-736: A Catholic king pushing for religious tolerance in opposition to a Protestant parliament in England. The king's army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne and at the militarily crucial Battle of Aughrim in Ireland. Resistance held out, eventually forcing the guarantee of religious tolerance in the Treaty of Limerick . However, the terms were never honoured and a new monarchy was installed. The Kingdoms of England and Scotland were unified in 1707 creating
1309-705: A Cavalierish interest than a Scotch interest; I had rather be overthrown by a Scotch interest than an Irish interest and I think of all this is the most dangerous". Cromwell's hostility to the Irish was religious as well as political. He was passionately opposed to the Catholic Church, which he saw as denying the primacy of the Bible in favour of papal and clerical authority, and which he blamed for suspected tyranny and persecution of Protestants in continental Europe . Cromwell's association of Catholicism with persecution
1496-664: A Scottish Covenanter attached to Manchester's army, who objected to Cromwell's encouragement of unorthodox Independents and Anabaptists. He was also charged with familism by Scottish Presbyterian Samuel Rutherford in response to his letter to the House of Commons in 1645. At the critical Battle of Naseby in June 1645, the New Model Army smashed the King's major army. Cromwell led his wing with great success at Naseby, again routing
1683-522: A broad-brush, tolerant national church. However, the Rump vacillated in setting election dates, although it put in place a basic liberty of conscience, but it failed to produce an alternative for tithes or to dismantle other aspects of the existing religious settlement. According to the parliamentarian lawyer Bulstrode Whitelocke , Cromwell began to contemplate taking the Crown for himself around this time, though
1870-521: A complex geology that records a huge and varied span of Earth's history. Of particular note was the Caledonian orogeny during the Ordovician and early Silurian periods, when the craton Baltica collided with the terrane Avalonia to form the mountains and hills in northern Britain and Ireland. Baltica formed roughly the north-western half of Ireland and Scotland. Further collisions caused
2057-601: A degree, immediately after his father's death. Early biographers claim that he then attended Lincoln's Inn , but the Inn's archives retain no record of him. Antonia Fraser concludes that it is likely that he did train at one of the London Inns of Court during this time. His grandfather, his father, and two of his uncles had attended Lincoln's Inn, and Cromwell sent his son Richard there in 1647. Cromwell probably returned home to Huntingdon after his father's death. As his mother
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#17327654455482244-475: A fierce defence but was eventually forced to surrender on terms, as did many other towns like New Ross and Carlow , but Cromwell failed to take Waterford , and at the siege of Clonmel in May 1650 he lost up to 2,000 men in abortive assaults before the town surrendered. One of Cromwell's major victories in Ireland was diplomatic rather than military. With the help of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery , he persuaded
2431-668: A gold and beribboned hunting horn on a green field, was registered by the Flag Institute in June 2009. Huntingdonshire District Council's headquarters are located in Pathfinder House in Huntingdon. The council consists of 52 councillors. Until 2018, district council elections were held in three out of every four years, with a third of the 52 council seats coming up each time. Elections since have been held for all seats every four years. The Conservative party had
2618-435: A majority on the council from 1976 until 2022, after which a joint administration took control of the council. Huntingdonshire is the birthplace of bandy , now an IOC accepted sport. According to documents from 1813, Bury Fen Bandy Club was undefeated for 100 years. A club member, Charles Tebbutt , wrote the first official rules in 1882 and helped to spread the sport to other countries. Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club
2805-406: A mild climate and varied soils, giving rise to a diverse pattern of vegetation. Animal and plant life is similar to that of the north-western European mainland . There are however, fewer numbers of species, with Ireland having even less. All native flora and fauna in Ireland is made up of species that migrated primarily from Great Britain. The only window when this could have occurred was prior to
2992-528: A new charter for the town. As a result, he was called before the Privy Council in 1630. In 1631, likely as a result of the dispute, Cromwell sold most of his properties in Huntingdon and moved to a farmstead in nearby St Ives . This move, a significant step down in society for the Cromwells, also had significant emotional and spiritual impact on Cromwell; an extant 1638 letter from him to his cousin,
3179-731: A number of unusual arrangements between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. For example, citizens of Northern Ireland are entitled to the choice of Irish or British citizenship or both, and the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom consult on matters not devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive . The Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland also meet as
3366-561: A personal crisis during the late 1620s and early 1630s. In 1628 he was elected to Parliament from the Huntingdonshire county town of Huntingdon . Later that year, he sought treatment for a variety of physical and emotional ailments, including valde melancholicus (depression), from the Swiss-born London doctor Théodore de Mayerne . In 1629, Cromwell became involved in a dispute among the gentry of Huntingdon involving
3553-581: A pro- Royalist Scottish army (the Engagers ) who had invaded England. At Preston , in sole command for the first time and with an army of 9,000, he won a decisive victory against an army twice as large. During 1648, Cromwell's letters and speeches started to become heavily based on biblical imagery, many of them meditations on the meaning of particular passages. For example, after the battle of Preston, study of Psalms 17 and 105 led him to tell Parliament that "they that are implacable and will not leave troubling
3740-544: A problem until the 17th century. By the 18th century, most of Britain's forests were consumed for shipbuilding or manufacturing charcoal and the nation was forced to import lumber from Scandinavia, North America, and the Baltic. Most forest land in Ireland is maintained by state forestation programmes. Almost all land outside urban areas is farmland. However, relatively large areas of forest remain in east and north Scotland and in southeast England. Oak, elm, ash and beech are amongst
3927-409: A property franchise of £200 per annum in real or personal property value set as the minimum value which a male adult was to possess before he was eligible to vote for the representatives from the counties or shires in the House of Commons. The House of Commons representatives from the boroughs were elected by the burgesses or those borough residents who had the right to vote in municipal elections, and by
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#17327654455484114-646: A recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England , Huntingdonshire was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough . The Lieutenancy county was also merged. At the same time, St Neots was expanded westwards over the river into Eaton Ford and Eaton Socon in Bedfordshire . In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 , Huntingdon and Peterborough merged with Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely to form
4301-745: A role in some of this group's political manoeuvres. In May 1641, for example, he put forward the second reading of the Annual Parliaments Bill, and he later took a role in drafting the Root and Branch Bill for the abolition of episcopacy . Failure to resolve the issues before the Long Parliament led to armed conflict between Parliament and Charles I in late 1642, the beginning of the English Civil War . Before he joined Parliament's forces, Cromwell's only military experience
4488-517: A similar nature. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements, particularly along the east coast of Ireland, the west coast of modern-day Scotland and the Isle of Man. Though the Vikings were eventually neutralised in Ireland, their influence remained in the cities of Dublin , Cork , Limerick , Waterford and Wexford . England, however, was slowly conquered around
4675-471: A smaller Council of State also having some executive functions. Cromwell remained a member of the Rump and was appointed a member of the council. In the early months after Charles's execution, Cromwell tried but failed to unite the original "Royal Independents" led by St John and Saye and Sele, which had fractured during 1648. Cromwell had been connected to this group since before the outbreak of civil war in 1642 and had been closely associated with them during
4862-439: A year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes. In 1654, Cromwell said, "I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity." Oliver Cromwell was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St John's Church , and attended Huntingdon Grammar School . He went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos. He left in June 1617 without taking
5049-556: Is Loch Lomond at 27.5 square miles (71 km ), and Loch Ness (by volume) whilst Loch Morar is the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles, with a maximum depth of 310 m (1,017 ft). There are a number of major rivers within the British Isles. The longest is the Shannon in Ireland at 224 mi (360 km). The river Severn at 220 mi (354 km) is the longest in Great Britain. The climate of
5236-682: Is a team chosen from each national team and undertakes tours of the Southern Hemisphere rugby-playing nations every four years. Ireland plays as a united team, represented by players from both Northern Ireland and the Republic. These national rugby teams play each other each year for the Triple Crown as part of the Six Nations Championship . Also, since 2001, the professional club teams of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa compete against each other in
5423-570: Is also true for birds and insects. Notable exceptions include the Kerry slug and certain species of woodlouse native to Ireland but not Great Britain. Domestic animals include the Connemara pony, Shetland pony, English Mastiff, Irish wolfhound and many varieties of cattle and sheep. England has a generally high population density, with almost 80% of the total population of the islands. Elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland, high density of population
5610-542: Is based in Huntingdon . Huntingdonshire's boundaries were established in the Anglo-Saxon era. It was divided into four hundreds . The county did not have an independent sheriff, instead being combined with neighbouring Cambridgeshire. Huntingdonshire became an administrative county when they were established in 1889. In 1965 it was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough , which
5797-642: Is in The Histories of Polybius , who referred to them as: αἱ Βρεταννικαί νήσοι , romanized : hai Bretannikai nēsoi , lit. 'the Brettanic Islands' or 'the British Isles';. According to Rivet and Smith, this name encompassed "Britain with Ireland". According to Thomas O'Loughlin in 2018, the British Isles was "a concept already present in the minds of those living in continental Europe since at least
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5984-788: Is limited to areas around a few large cities. The largest urban area by far is the Greater London Built-up Area with 9 million inhabitants. Other major population centres include the Greater Manchester Built-up Area (2.4 million), West Midlands conurbation (2.4 million) and West Yorkshire Urban Area (1.6 million) in England, Greater Glasgow (1.2 million) in Scotland and Greater Dublin Area (1.9 million) in Ireland. The population of England rose rapidly during
6171-558: Is served by BBC East and ITV Anglia broadcasting from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Radio stations for the area are BBC Radio Cambridgeshire , Heart East , Greatest Hits Radio East , Star Radio and HCR FM , a community based station that broadcast from its studios in Huntingdon . The Hunts Post is the local weekly newspaper. The whole district is divided into civil parishes . The parish councils for Godmanchester, Huntingdon, Ramsey, St Ives and St Neots take
6358-401: Is supposed to have said "you are no Parliament, I say you are no Parliament; I will put an end to your sitting". At least two accounts agree that he snatched up the ceremonial mace , symbol of Parliament's power, and demanded that the " bauble " be taken away. His troops were commanded by Charles Worsley , later one of his Major Generals and one of his most trusted advisors, to whom he entrusted
6545-542: Is taken to be one of the 20 minor counties of English and Welsh cricket , but it has never played in the Minor Counties Championship . It has its own Cricket Board and played in the English domestic one-day competition from 1999 to 2003.The county played seven List A matches during this period, with the final List A match it played coming against Cheshire . In terms of television, Huntingdonshire
6732-473: Is temperate marine, with cool winters and warm summers. The North Atlantic drift brings significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C (20 °F) above the global average for the latitude. This led to a landscape that was long dominated by temperate rainforest, although human activity has since cleared the vast majority of forest cover . The region was re-inhabited after the last glacial period of Quaternary glaciation , by 12,000 BC, when Great Britain
6919-472: Is well within the tradition of earlier authors who pair a smaller Ireland with a larger Britain as the two Brettanic Isles". In the second book of Ptolemy's Geography ( c. 150 AD ), the second and third chapters are respectively titled in Greek: Κεφ. βʹ Ἰουερνίας νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις , romanized: Iouernías nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis , lit. 'Ch. 2, position of Hibernia,
7106-623: The Bishops' Wars , lack of funds forced him to call a Parliament again in 1640. Cromwell was returned to this Parliament as member for Cambridge , but it lasted for only three weeks and became known as the Short Parliament . Cromwell moved his family from Ely to London in 1640. A second Parliament was called later the same year and became known as the Long Parliament . Cromwell was again returned as member for Cambridge. As with
7293-878: The Eastern Association under the Earl of Manchester . Cromwell gained experience in successful actions in East Anglia in 1643, notably at the Battle of Gainsborough on 28 July. He was subsequently appointed governor of the Isle of Ely and a colonel in the Eastern Association. By the time of the Battle of Marston Moor in July 1644, Cromwell had risen to the rank of lieutenant general of horse in Manchester's army. His cavalry's success in breaking
7480-721: The European beaver has been reintroduced in parts of Scotland. Wild boar have also been reintroduced to parts of southern England, following escapes from boar farms and illegal releases. Many rivers contain otters and grey and common seals are numerous on coasts. There are about 250 bird species regularly recorded in Great Britain, and another 350 that occur with varying degrees of rarity. The most numerous species are wren , robin , house sparrow , woodpigeon , chaffinch and blackbird . Farmland birds are declining in number, except for those kept for game such as pheasant , red-legged partridge , and red grouse . Fish are abundant in
7667-636: The Good Friday Agreement , the term "these islands" is used. The earliest known references to the islands as a group appeared in the writings of seafarers from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia . The original records have been lost; however, later writings, e.g. Avienius 's Ora maritima , that quoted from the Massaliote Periplus (6th century BC) and from Pytheas 's On the Ocean (around 325–320 BC) have survived. In
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7854-584: The Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents. Thus weakened, the remaining body of MPs, known as the Rump Parliament , agreed that Charles should be tried for treason. Cromwell was still in the north of England, dealing with Royalist resistance, when these events took place, but then returned to London. On the day after Pride's Purge, he became a determined supporter of those pushing for
8041-596: The Indo-European family . The Insular Celtic languages of the Goidelic sub-group ( Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic ) and the Brittonic sub-group ( Cornish , Welsh and Breton , spoken in north-western France ) are the only remaining Celtic languages —the last of their continental relations were extinct before the 7th century. The Norman languages of Guernésiais , Jèrriais and Sercquiais spoken in
8228-698: The Isle of Man , the Inner and Outer Hebrides , the Northern Isles ( Orkney and Shetland ), and over six thousand smaller islands. They have a total area of 315,159 km (121,684 sq mi) and a combined population of almost 72 million, and include two sovereign states , the Republic of Ireland (which covers roughly five-sixths of Ireland), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . The Channel Islands , off
8415-409: The Kingdom of Great Britain . Following an attempted republican revolution in Ireland in 1798 , the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were unified in 1801 , creating the United Kingdom . The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining outside of the United Kingdom, but with their ultimate good governance being the responsibility of the British Crown (effectively the British government). Although
8602-415: The New Model Army . The Leveller or Agitator movement was a political movement that emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance. These sentiments were expressed in the 1647 manifesto: Agreement of the People . Cromwell and the rest of the "Grandees" disagreed with these sentiments in that they gave too much freedom to the people; they believed that
8789-444: The North/South Ministerial Council to develop policies common across the island of Ireland. These arrangements were made following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement . Another body established under the Good Friday Agreement, the British–Irish Council, is made up of all of the states and territories of the British Isles. The British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly ( Irish : Tionól Pharlaiminteach na Breataine agus na hÉireann ) predates
8976-447: The Northern Ireland Assembly , the States of Jersey , the States of Guernsey and the High Court of Tynwald (Isle of Man). The Council does not have executive powers but meets biannually to discuss issues of mutual importance. Similarly, the Parliamentary Assembly has no legislative powers but investigates and collects witness evidence from the public on matters of mutual concern to its members. Reports on its findings are presented to
9163-487: The P being an abbreviation for Protector , and soon others started to address Cromwell as "Your Highness". As Protector, he had to secure a majority vote in the Council of State. As the Lord Protector he was paid £100,000 a year (equivalent to £20,500,000 in 2023). Although Cromwell stated that "Government by one man and a parliament is fundamental," he believed that social issues should be prioritised. The social priorities did not include any meaningful attempt to reform
9350-472: The Province of Maryland , and islands in the West Indies . Cromwell soon secured the submission of these and largely left them to their own affairs, intervening only to curb other Puritans who had seized control of Maryland Colony at Severn battle , by his confirming the former Roman Catholic proprietorship and edict of tolerance there. Of all the English dominions, Virginia was the most resentful of Cromwell's rule, and Cavalier emigration there mushroomed during
9537-402: The Quaternary Period , the most recent being the Devensian . As this ended, the central Irish Sea was deglaciated and the English Channel flooded, with sea levels rising to current levels some 8,000 years ago, leaving the British Isles in their current form. There are about 136 permanently inhabited islands in the group, the largest two being Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain is to
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#17327654455489724-494: The Reformation had not gone far enough, that much of England was still living in sin, and that Catholic beliefs and practices must be fully removed from the church. It appears that in 1634 Cromwell attempted to emigrate to what became the Connecticut Colony in the Americas, but was prevented by the government from leaving. Along with his brother Henry, Cromwell had kept a smallholding of chickens and sheep, selling eggs and wool to support himself, his lifestyle resembling that of
9911-487: The Siege of Wexford in October, another massacre took place under confused circumstances. While Cromwell was apparently trying to negotiate surrender terms, some of his soldiers broke into the town, killed 2,000 Irish troops and up to 1,500 civilians, and burned much of the town. After taking Drogheda, Cromwell sent a column north to Ulster to secure the north of the country and went on to besiege Waterford , Kilkenny and Clonmel in Ireland's south-east. Kilkenny put up
10098-429: The Silurian period, the north-western regions collided with the south-east, which had been part of a separate continental landmass. The topography of the islands is modest in scale by global standards. Ben Nevis , the highest mountain, rises to only 1,345 metres (4,413 ft), and Lough Neagh , which is notably larger than other lakes in the island group, covers 390 square kilometres (151 sq mi). The climate
10285-438: The Tusker Tunnel between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard proposed by The Institute of Engineers of Ireland in 2004. A rail tunnel was proposed in 1997 on a different route, between Dublin and Holyhead , by British engineering firm Symonds. Either tunnel, at 50 mi (80 km), would be by far the longest in the world, and would cost an estimated £15 billion or €20 billion. A proposal in 2007, estimated
10472-432: The United Rugby Championship . The Ryder Cup in golf was originally played between a United States team and a team representing Great Britain and Ireland. From 1979 onwards, this was expanded to include the whole of Europe. London Heathrow Airport is Europe's busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic, and the Dublin-London route is the busiest air route in Europe collectively, the busiest route out of Heathrow and
10659-411: The Variscan orogeny in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, forming the hills of Munster , south-west England, and southern Wales. Over the last 500 million years the land that forms the islands has drifted north-west from around 30°S, crossing the equator around 370 million years ago to reach its present northern latitude. The islands have been shaped by numerous glaciations during
10846-422: The 1640s. Only St John was persuaded to retain his seat in Parliament. The Royalists, meanwhile, had regrouped in Ireland, having signed a treaty with the Irish known as Confederate Catholics . In March, the Rump chose Cromwell to command a campaign against them. Preparations for an invasion of Ireland occupied him in the subsequent months. In the latter part of the 1640s, Cromwell came across political dissidence in
11033-417: The 19th and 20th centuries, whereas the populations of Scotland and Wales showed little increase during the 20th century; the population of Scotland has remained unchanged since 1951. Ireland for most of its history had much the same population density as Great Britain (about one-third of the total population). However, since the Great Irish Famine , the population of Ireland has fallen to less than one-tenth of
11220-548: The 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus has Prettanikē nēsos , "the British Island", and Prettanoi , "the Britons", describes Julius Caesar as having "advanced the Roman Empire as far as the British Isles" (Greek: μέχρι τῶν Βρεττανικῶν νήσων , romanized: mékhri tôn Brettanikôn nḗsōn ), and remarks on the region "about the British Isles" ( τὸ περὶ τὰς Βρεττανικὰς νήσους , tò perì tàs Brettanikàs nḗsous ). According to Philip Freeman in 2001, "it seems reasonable, especially at this early point in classical knowledge of
11407-400: The 2nd–cent. CE". Historians today, though not in absolute agreement, largely agree that these Greek and Latin names were probably drawn from native Celtic-language names for the archipelago. Along these lines, the inhabitants of the islands were called the Πρεττανοί ( Priteni or Pretani ). The shift from the "P" of Pretannia to the "B" of Britannia by the Romans occurred during
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#173276544554811594-442: The British Isles is mild, moist and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. It is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of north-west Europe. The North Atlantic Drift ("Gulf Stream"), which flows from the Gulf of Mexico, brings with it significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C (20 °F) above
11781-407: The British Isles as twelve islands. John Skelton 's English translation of Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica , written in the middle 1480s, mentions the British Isles as the yles of Bretayne . Thomas Twyne 's English translation of Dionysius Periegetes 's Orbis descriptio , published in 1572, mentions the British Isles as the Iles of Britannia . The earliest citation of
11968-445: The British Isles were repeatedly submerged beneath an ice sheet which extended into the middle of the North Sea, with a larger ice sheet that covered a significant proportion of Scandinavia on the opposite side. Around 1.9 million years ago these two ice sheets frequently merged, essentially creating a land bridge between Scandinavia and northern Great Britain. Further south, there was a direct land bridge, now known as Doggerland , which
12155-403: The British Isles, the most prominent of which is association football. While this is organised separately in different national associations, leagues and national teams, even within the UK, it is a common passion in all parts of the islands. Rugby union is also widely enjoyed across the islands with four national teams from England , Ireland , Scotland and Wales . The British and Irish Lions
12342-400: The British Isles: Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . Ireland, sometimes called the Republic of Ireland, governs five-sixths of the island of Ireland, with the remainder of the island forming Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to simply "the United Kingdom", which governs
12529-407: The British sense of citizenship proposed to end this arrangement, arguing that "the right to vote is one of the hallmarks of the political status of citizens; it is not a means of expressing closeness between countries". In addition, some civil bodies are organised throughout the islands as a whole—for example, the Samaritans , which is deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on
12716-430: The British–Irish Council and was established in 1990. Originally it comprised 25 members of the Oireachtas , the Irish parliament, and 25 members of the parliament of the United Kingdom , with the purpose of building mutual understanding between members of both legislatures. Since then the role and scope of the body has been expanded to include representatives from the Scottish Parliament , the Senedd (Welsh Parliament),
12903-437: The British–Irish Council's work. The United Kingdom and Ireland have separate media, although British television, newspapers and magazines are widely available in Ireland, giving people in Ireland a high level of familiarity with the culture of the United Kingdom. Irish newspapers are also available in the UK, and Irish state and private television are widely available in Northern Ireland. Certain reality TV shows have embraced
13090-420: The Channel Islands are similar to French, a language also spoken there. A cant , called Shelta , is spoken by Irish Travellers , often to conceal meaning from those outside the group. However, English, including Scots , is the dominant language, with few monoglots remaining in the other languages of the region. The Norn language of Orkney and Shetland became extinct around 1880. 2.5 million years ago
13277-447: The Channel Islands to this day. A century later, the marriage of the future Henry II of England to Eleanor of Aquitaine created the Angevin Empire , partially under the French Crown . At the invitation of Diarmait Mac Murchada , a provincial king, and under the authority of Pope Adrian IV (the only Englishman to be elected pope), the Angevins invaded Ireland in 1169. Though initially intended to be kept as an independent kingdom,
13464-462: The Civil Wars, Cromwell believed that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God's approval and defeats as signs that God was pointing him in another direction. In December 1648, in an episode that became known as Pride's Purge , a troop of soldiers headed by Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of
13651-519: The Commonwealth and Cromwell's dominance of the new regime. In December 1653, he was named Lord Protector, a position he retained until his death in September 1658, when he was succeeded by his son Richard , whose weakness led to a power vacuum . This culminated in the 1660 Stuart Restoration , after which Cromwell's body was removed from Westminster Abbey and displayed at Tyburn . His head
13838-545: The Crown dependencies, any resident can vote in general elections, but in Jersey and the Isle of Man only British citizens can run for office. These pre-date European Union law, and in both jurisdictions go further than what was required by European Union law (EU citizens may only vote in local elections in both states and European elections in Ireland). In 2008, a UK Ministry of Justice report investigating how to strengthen
14025-462: The Crown of Ireland also. The subsequent 17th century was one of political upheaval, religious division and war. English colonialism in Ireland of the 16th century was extended by large-scale Scottish and English colonies in Ulster . Religious division heightened, and the king of England came into conflict with parliament over his tolerance towards Catholicism. The resulting English Civil War or War of
14212-649: The Crowns , Acts of Union 1707 and Acts of Union 1800 aimed to consolidate Great Britain and Ireland into a single political unit, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining as Crown Dependencies . The expansion of the British Empire and migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in the dispersal of some of
14399-664: The Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom. During the February 2008 meeting of the British–Irish Council, it was agreed to set up a standing secretariat that would serve as a permanent 'civil service' for the Council. Leading on from developments in the British–Irish Council, the chair of the British–Irish Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Niall Blaney , has suggested that the body should shadow
14586-611: The Hiberni and Picts. In time, Anglo-Saxon demands on the British became so great that they came to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain, though recent genetic evidence suggests Britons still formed the bulk of the population. This dominance created what is now England and left culturally British enclaves only in the north of what is now England , in Cornwall and what is now known as Wales. Ireland had been unaffected by
14773-595: The Irish, for Diodorus or his sources to think of all inhabitants of the Brettanic Isles as Brettanoi ". Strabo used Βρεττανική ( Brettanike ), and Marcian of Heraclea , in his Periplus maris exteri , used αἱ Πρεττανικαί νῆσοι ( the Prettanic Isles ) to refer to the islands. According to A. L. F. Rivet and Colin Smith in 1979 "the earliest instance of the name which is textually known to us"
14960-466: The King at the Treaty of Newport , that convinced him that God had spoken against both the King and Parliament as lawful authorities. For Cromwell, the army was now God's chosen instrument. The episode shows Cromwell's firm belief in Providentialism —that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of "chosen people" (whom God had "provided" for such purposes). During
15147-733: The King of England from being vassal of the King of France . In 1534, King Henry VIII, at first having been a strong defender of Roman Catholicism in the face of the Reformation, separated from the Roman Church after failing to secure a divorce from the Pope. His response was to place the King of England as "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England ", thereby removing the authority of
15334-405: The King would acquiesce to if his authority was restored. The King appeared to be willing to compromise, so Cromwell employed his son-in-law, Henry Ireton, to draw up proposals for a constitutional settlement. Proposals were drafted multiple times with different changes until finally the " Heads of Proposals " pleased Cromwell in principle and allowed for further negotiations. It was designed to check
15521-476: The King's trial and execution, believing that killing Charles was the only way to end the civil wars. Cromwell approved Thomas Brook's address to the House of Commons, which justified the trial and the King's execution on the basis of the Book of Numbers, chapter 35 and particularly verse 33 ("The land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it."). Charles's death warrant
15708-683: The Kingdoms of England and Scotland . Power in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms , Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland . A similar situation existed in the Principality of Wales , which was slowly being annexed into the Kingdom of England by a series of laws. During the course of the 15th century, the Crown of England would assert a claim to the Crown of France, thereby also releasing
15895-620: The Kirk (the Scottish Church) did not have the backing of the civil courts to impose its rulings, as it had previously. Cromwell was away on campaign from the middle of 1649 until 1651, and the various factions in Parliament began to fight amongst themselves with the King gone as their "common cause". Cromwell tried to galvanise the Rump into setting dates for new elections, uniting the three kingdoms under one polity, and to put in place
16082-669: The Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628–1629, as a client of the Montagu family of Hinchingbrooke House . He made little impression: parliamentary records show only one speech (against the Arminian Bishop Richard Neile ), which was poorly received. After dissolving this Parliament, Charles I ruled without a Parliament for the next 11 years. When Charles faced the Scottish rebellion in
16269-650: The Netherlands, where he remained until 1660. To fight the battle, Cromwell organised an envelopment followed by a multi-pronged coordinated attack on Worcester, his forces attacking from three directions with two rivers partitioning them. He switched his reserves from one side of the river Severn to the other and then back again. The editor of the Great Rebellion article of the Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition) notes that Worcester
16456-408: The Parliament of 1628–29, it is likely that he owed his position to the patronage of others, which might explain why in the first week of the Parliament he was in charge of presenting a petition for the release of John Lilburne , who had become a Puritan cause célèbre after his arrest for importing religious tracts from the Netherlands. For the Long Parliament's first two years, Cromwell was linked to
16643-485: The Parliament of Saints, or more commonly and denigratingly called Barebone's Parliament after one of its members, Praise-God Barebone , was tasked with finding a permanent constitutional and religious settlement (Cromwell was invited to be a member but declined). However, the revelation that a considerably larger segment of the membership than had been believed were the radical Fifth Monarchists led to its members voting to dissolve it on 12 December 1653, out of fear of what
16830-555: The Pope from the affairs of the English Church. Ireland, which had been held by the King of England as Lord of Ireland, but which strictly speaking had been a feudal possession of the Pope since the Norman invasion was declared a separate kingdom in personal union with England. Scotland meanwhile had remained an independent Kingdom. In 1603, that changed when the King of Scotland inherited the Crown of England , and consequently
17017-468: The Protectorate. Cromwell famously stressed the quest to restore order in his speech to the first Protectorate parliament . However, the Parliament was quickly dominated by those pushing for more radical, properly republican reforms. Later, the Parliament initiated radical reform. Rather than opposing Parliament's bill, Cromwell dissolved them on 22 January 1655. The First Protectorate Parliament had
17204-845: The Protestant Royalist troops in Cork to change sides and fight with the Parliament. At this point, word reached Cromwell that Charles II (son of Charles I ) had landed in Scotland from exile in France and been proclaimed King by the Covenanter regime. Cromwell therefore returned to England from Youghal on 26 May 1650 to counter this threat. The Parliamentarian conquest of Ireland dragged on for almost three years after Cromwell's departure. The campaigns under Cromwell's successors Henry Ireton and Edmund Ludlow consisted mostly of long sieges of fortified cities and guerrilla warfare in
17391-676: The Romans 10:12–15 on the need to send Christian preachers to the Jews. The Presbyterian William Prynne , in contrast to the Congregationalist Cromwell, was strongly opposed to the latter's pro-Jewish policy. British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe , consisting of the islands of Great Britain , Ireland ,
17578-572: The Romans except, significantly, for being Christianised —traditionally by the Romano-Briton, Saint Patrick. As Europe, including Britain, descended into turmoil following the collapse of Roman civilisation, an era known as the Dark Ages, Ireland entered a golden age and responded with missions (first to Great Britain and then to the continent), the founding of monasteries and universities. These were later joined by Anglo-Saxon missions of
17765-702: The Royalist cavalry. At the Battle of Langport on 10 July, Cromwell participated in the defeat of the last sizeable Royalist field army. Naseby and Langport effectively ended the King's hopes of victory, and the subsequent Parliamentarian campaigns involved taking the remaining fortified Royalist positions in the west of England. In October 1645, Cromwell besieged and took the wealthy and formidable Catholic fortress Basing House , later to be accused of killing 100 of its 300-man Royalist garrison after its surrender. He also took part in successful sieges at Bridgwater , Sherborne , Bristol, Devizes , and Winchester , then spent
17952-399: The Three Kingdoms led to a revolutionary republic in England. Ireland, largely Catholic, was mainly loyal to the king, but by military conquest was subsumed into the new republic. Following defeat to the parliament's army, large scale land distributions from loyalist Irish nobility to English commoners in the service of the parliamentary army created a new Ascendancy class which obliterated
18139-650: The UK as a whole. Ireland, the United Kingdom and the three Crown dependencies are all parliamentary democracies , with their own separate parliaments. All parts of the United Kingdom return Members of Parliament (MPs) to parliament in London . In addition to this, voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland return members to a devolved parliament in Edinburgh and in Cardiff and an assembly in Belfast . Governance in
18326-442: The UK or Ireland. The Mercury Music Prize is handed out every year to the best album from a British or Irish musician or group. Many globally popular sports had their modern rules codified in the British Isles, including golf, association football , cricket , rugby , snooker and darts, as well as many minor sports such as croquet , bowls , pitch and putt , water polo and handball . A number of sports are popular throughout
18513-412: The aldermen and councilors of the boroughs. Cromwell's second objective was reforms on the field of morality and religion. As a Protectorate, he established trials for the future parish ministers, and dismissed unqualified ministers and rectors. These triers and the ejectors were intended to be at the vanguard of Cromwell's reform of parish worship. This second objective is also the context in which to see
18700-408: The basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise sectarian or political divisions. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity that operates a lifeboat service, is also organised throughout the islands as a whole, covering the waters of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. The Northern Ireland peace process has led to
18887-550: The brutality of his 1649 campaign in Ireland . The debate over his historical reputation continues. First proposed in 1856, his statue outside the Houses of Parliament was not erected until 1895, most of the funds being privately supplied by Prime Minister Lord Rosebery . Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Steward. The family's estate derived from Oliver's great-great-grandfather Morgan ap William,
19074-647: The brutality of the Cromwell military campaign in Ireland. Parliament had planned to re-conquer Ireland since 1641 and had already sent an invasion force there in 1647. Cromwell's invasion of 1649 was much larger and, with the civil war in England over, could be regularly reinforced and re-supplied. His nine-month military campaign was brief and effective, though it did not end the war in Ireland. Before his invasion, Parliamentarian forces held outposts only in Dublin and Derry . When he departed Ireland, they occupied most of
19261-581: The charge in quelling these rebellions. After quelling Leveller mutinies within the English army at Andover and Burford in May, he departed for Ireland from Bristol at the end of July. Cromwell led a Parliamentary invasion of Ireland from 1649 to 1650. Parliament's key opposition was the military threat posed by the alliance of the Irish Confederate Catholics and English royalists (signed in 1649). The Confederate-Royalist alliance
19448-578: The colonies of North America that would become the United States of America were lost by the start of the 19th century, the British Empire expanded rapidly elsewhere. A century later, it would cover one-third of the globe. Poverty in the United Kingdom remained desperate, however, and industrialisation in England led to terrible conditions for the working classes. Mass migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in
19635-807: The commission for reconsideration in 1995. The commission recommended the creation of a Peterborough unitary authority, but proposed that Huntingdonshire remain part of the shire county of Cambridgeshire, noting that "there was no exceptional county allegiance to Huntingdonshire, as had been perceived in Rutland and Herefordshire." David McKie writing in The Guardian in October 1994 noted that "Writers-in demanded an independent Huntingdon; but MORI's more broadly based poll showed that most Huntingdonians – that is, most of [Prime Minister] John Major 's electors – were content to stay part of Cambridgeshire." After
19822-654: The constitutional experiment of the Major Generals that followed the dissolution of the first Protectorate Parliament. After a Royalist uprising in March 1655 , led by Sir John Penruddock , Cromwell (influenced by Lambert) divided England into military districts ruled by army major generals who answered only to him. The 15 major generals and deputy major generals—called "godly governors"—were central not only to national security , but also viewed as Cromwell's serious effort in exerting his religious conviction. Their position
20009-574: The cost of building a bridge from County Antrim in Northern Ireland to Galloway in Scotland at £3.5bn (€5bn). British-Irish Isles, the (geography) see British Isles Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire ( / ˈ h ʌ n t ɪ ŋ d ən ʃ ər , - ʃ ɪər / ; abbreviated Hunts ) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire , England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to
20196-550: The countryside, with English troops suffering from attacks by Irish toráidhe (guerilla fighters). The last Catholic-held town, Galway , surrendered in April 1652 and the last Irish Catholic troops capitulated in April 1653 in County Cavan . In the wake of the Commonwealth's conquest of the island of Ireland, public practice of Roman Catholicism was banned and Catholic priests were killed when captured. All Catholic-owned land
20383-480: The distribution of the islands' population and culture throughout the world and a rapid de-population of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with the six counties that formed Northern Ireland remaining as an autonomous region of the UK. There are two sovereign states in
20570-752: The district council. Original historical documents relating to Huntingdonshire are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office in Huntingdon . The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (1992) considered in the 1990s the case for making a Huntingdonshire unitary authority as part of a general structural review of English local government that led to unitary authorities in two other English counties that had been abolished: Rutland and Herefordshire . The Draft Recommendations envisaged three possible scenarios for structural change in Cambridgeshire:
20757-539: The earliest evidence of human activity on the island of Ireland dates from 12,500 years ago. At the time of the Roman Empire, about two thousand years ago, various tribes, which spoke Celtic dialects of the Insular Celtic group, were inhabiting the islands. The Romans expanded their civilisation to control southern Great Britain but were impeded in advancing any further, building Hadrian's Wall to mark
20944-602: The east and covers 83,700 sq mi (217,000 km ). Ireland is to the west and covers 32,590 sq mi (84,400 km ). The largest of the other islands are to be found in the Hebrides , Orkney and Shetland to the north, Anglesey and the Isle of Man between Great Britain and Ireland, and the Channel Islands near the coast of France. The most densely populated island is Portsea Island , which has an area of 9.5 sq mi (25 km ) but has
21131-502: The eastern and northern parts of the country. After he landed at Dublin on 15 August 1649 (itself only recently defended from an Irish and English Royalist attack at the Battle of Rathmines ), Cromwell took the fortified port towns of Drogheda and Wexford to secure logistical supply from England. At the Siege of Drogheda in September 1649, his troops killed nearly 3,500 people after the town's capture—around 2,700 Royalist soldiers and all
21318-507: The establishment of the Commonwealth of England , he ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658. Although elected MP for Huntingdon in 1628 , much of Cromwell's life prior to 1640 was marked by failure. He briefly contemplated emigration to New England , but became a religious Independent in the 1630s and thereafter believed his successes were the result of divine providence . In 1640, Cromwell
21505-484: The evidence for this is retrospective and problematic. Ultimately, he demanded that the Rump establish a caretaker government in April 1653 of 40 members drawn from the Rump and the army, and then abdicate; but the Rump returned to debating its own bill for a new government. Cromwell was so angered by this that he cleared the chamber and dissolved the Parliament by force on 20 April 1653, supported by about 40 musketeers. Several accounts exist of this incident; in one, Cromwell
21692-543: The failure of the Irish High King to ensure the terms of the Treaty of Windsor led Henry II, as King of England, to rule as effective monarch under the title of Lord of Ireland . This title was granted to his younger son, but when Henry's heir unexpectedly died, the title of King of England and Lord of Ireland became entwined in one person. By the Late Middle Ages , Great Britain was separated into
21879-489: The failure to revive the unitary authority, a Huntingdonshire Society was set up to promote awareness of Huntingdonshire as a historic county and campaign for its reinstatement as an administrative and ceremonial entity. In 2002 it established an annual "Huntingdonshire Day" on 25 April, the birthday of Oliver Cromwell . After a campaign by the Huntingdonshire Society, the county flag of Huntingdonshire ,
22066-416: The fifth child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Cromwell's paternal grandfather, Sir Henry Williams, was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire . Cromwell's father was of modest means but still a member of the landed gentry . As a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300
22253-723: The first half of 1646 mopping up resistance in Devon and Cornwall . Charles I surrendered to the Scots on 5 May 1646, effectively ending the First English Civil War . Cromwell and Fairfax took the Royalists' formal surrender at Oxford in June. In February 1647, Cromwell suffered from an illness that kept him out of political life for over a month. By the time he recovered, the Parliamentarians were split over
22440-545: The global average for the islands' latitudes. Most Atlantic depressions pass to the north of the islands; combined with the general westerly circulation and interactions with the landmass, this imposes a general east–west variation in climate. There are four distinct climate patterns: south-east, with cold winters, warm and dry summers; south-west, having mild and very wet winters, warm and wet summers; north-west, generally wet with mild winters and cool summers; and north-east with cold winters, cool summers. The islands enjoy
22627-552: The godly group of aristocrats in the House of Lords and Members of the House of Commons with whom he had established familial and religious links in the 1630s, such as the Earls of Essex , Warwick and Bedford , Oliver St John and Viscount Saye and Sele . At this stage, the group had an agenda of reformation: the executive checked by regular parliaments, and the moderate extension of liberty of conscience. Cromwell appears to have taken
22814-413: The highest point on the islands at 1,345 m (4,413 ft). Other mountainous areas include Wales and parts of Ireland, although only seven peaks in these areas reach above 1,000 m (3,281 ft). Lakes on the islands are generally not large, although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is an exception, covering 150 square miles (390 km ). The largest freshwater body in Great Britain (by area)
23001-579: The hope that they would help speed up the recovery of the country after the disruption of the Civil Wars. There was a longer-term motive for Cromwell's decision to allow the Jews to return to England, and that was the hope that they would convert to Christianity and therefore hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, ultimately based on Matthew 23 :37–39 and Romans 11 . At the Whitehall conference of December 1655, he quoted from St. Paul's Epistle to
23188-418: The influence of the Earls of Warwick and Holland . A place in this influential network proved crucial to Cromwell's military and political career. The couple had nine children: Little evidence exists of Cromwell's religion in his early years. His 1626 letter to Henry Downhall, an Arminian minister, suggests that he had yet to be influenced by radical Puritanism. But there is evidence that Cromwell underwent
23375-665: The island of Ireland. This area required formal recognition in 1997 during the course of negotiations for the Amsterdam Treaty of the European Union, and (together with the Crown dependencies) is now known as the Common Travel Area . As such, Ireland is not part of the Schengen Area , which allows passport-free travel between most EU member states, and is the only member state with an opt-out from
23562-451: The islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Much of Brittonic-occupied Britain was conquered by the Roman Empire from AD 43. The first Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century, and eventually they dominated the bulk of what is now England. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements and political change, particularly in England. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 and
23749-422: The islands' population and culture throughout the world, and rapid depopulation of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with six counties remaining in the UK as Northern Ireland. As a term, "British Isles" is a geographical name and not a political unit. In Ireland,
23936-415: The issue of the King. A majority in both Houses pushed for a settlement that would pay off the Scottish army, disband much of the New Model Army, and restore Charles I in return for a Presbyterian settlement of the church. Cromwell rejected the Scottish model of Presbyterianism, which threatened to replace one authoritarian hierarchy with another. The New Model Army, radicalised by Parliament's failure to pay
24123-463: The land may be speedily destroyed out of the land". A letter to Oliver St John in September 1648 urged him to read Isaiah 8, in which the kingdom falls and only the godly survive. On four occasions in letters in 1648 he referred to the story of Gideon 's defeat of the Midianites at Ain Harod. These letters suggest that it was Cromwell's faith, rather than a commitment to radical politics, coupled with Parliament's decision to engage in negotiations with
24310-447: The later Angevin partial conquest of Ireland from 1169 led to the imposition of a new Norman ruling elite across much of Britain and parts of Ireland. By the Late Middle Ages , Great Britain was separated into the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland, while control in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms , Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland , soon restricted only to The Pale . The 1603 Union of
24497-399: The mace. After the dissolution of the Rump, power passed temporarily to a council that debated what form the constitution should take. They took up the suggestion of Major-General Thomas Harrison for a " sanhedrin " of saints . Although Cromwell did not subscribe to Harrison's apocalyptic , Fifth Monarchist beliefs—which saw a sanhedrin as the starting point for Christ's rule on earth—he
24684-450: The melting of the ice bridge between the two islands 14,000 years ago approaching the end of the last ice age. As with most of Europe, prehistoric Britain and Ireland were covered with forest and swamp. Clearing began around 6000 BC and accelerated in medieval times. Despite this, Britain retained its primeval forests longer than most of Europe due to a small population and later development of trade and industry, and wood shortages were not
24871-445: The men in the town carrying arms, including some civilians, prisoners and Roman Catholic priests. Cromwell wrote afterwards: I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbrued their hands in so much innocent blood and that it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the future, which are satisfactory grounds for such actions, which otherwise cannot but work remorse and regret. At
25058-664: The most common trees in England. In Scotland, pine and birch are most common. Natural forests in Ireland are mainly oak, ash, wych elm , birch and pine. Beech and lime , though not native to Ireland, are also common there. Farmland hosts a variety of semi-natural vegetation of grasses and flowering plants. Woods, hedgerows , mountain slopes and marshes host heather , wild grasses, gorse and bracken . Many larger animals, such as wolves, bears and European elk are today extinct. However, some species such as red deer are protected. Other small mammals, such as rabbits , foxes , badgers , hares , hedgehogs , and stoats , are very common and
25245-458: The most signal mercies God hath done for England and His people". The following year, Charles II and his Scottish allies made an attempt to invade England and capture London while Cromwell was engaged in Scotland. Cromwell followed them south and caught them at Worcester on 3 September 1651, and his forces destroyed the last major Scottish Royalist army at the Battle of Worcester . Charles II barely escaped capture and fled to exile in France and
25432-402: The new non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire . A Huntingdon district was created based closely on the former administrative county borders, with the exclusion of the Old Fletton urban district, which became part of the Peterborough district, as did the part of Norman Cross Rural District in Peterborough New Town. The district was renamed Huntingdonshire on 1 October 1984 by a resolution of
25619-464: The norm is by majority rule; however, Northern Ireland uses a system of power sharing whereby unionists and nationalists share executive posts proportionately and where the assent of both groups is required for the Northern Ireland Assembly to make certain decisions. (In the context of Northern Ireland, unionists are those who want Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom and nationalists are those who want Northern Ireland to join with
25806-433: The north coast of France , are normally taken to be part of the British Isles, even though geographically they do not form part of the archipelago . Under the UK Interpretation Act 1978, the Channel Islands are clarified as forming part of the British Islands , not to be confused with the British Isles. The oldest rocks are 2.7 billion years old and are found in Ireland, Wales and the north-west of Scotland. During
25993-442: The north of England for the Parliamentarians but failed to end Royalist resistance. The indecisive outcome of the Second Battle of Newbury in October meant that by the end of 1644 the war still showed no sign of ending. Cromwell's experience at Newbury, where Manchester had let the King's army slip out of an encircling manoeuvre, led to a serious dispute with Manchester, whom he believed to be less than enthusiastic in his conduct of
26180-476: The north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the east, South Cambridgeshire to the south-east, Central Bedfordshire and Bedford to the south-west, and North Northamptonshire to the west. The district had a population of 180,800 at the 2021 census , and has an area of 354.3 square miles (918 km ). After St Neots (33,410), the largest towns are Huntingdon (25,428), St Ives (16,815), and Yaxley (9,174 in 2011). The district council
26367-409: The northern frontier of their empire in 122 AD. At that time, Ireland was populated by a people known as Hiberni, the northern third or so of Great Britain by a people known as Picts and the southern two thirds by Britons. Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century AD . Initially, their arrival seems to have been at the invitation of the Britons as mercenaries to repulse incursions by
26554-505: The obligation to join the Schengen Zone. Reciprocal arrangements allow British and Irish citizens specific voting rights in the two states. In Ireland, British citizens can vote in General and local elections, but not in European Parliament elections, constitutional referendums or presidential elections (for which there is no comparable franchise in the United Kingdom). In the United Kingdom, Irish and Commonwealth citizens can vote in every election for which British citizens are eligible. In
26741-505: The order for the actual beheading, so they brought their dispute to Cromwell...Oliver seized a pen and scribbled out the order, and handed the pen to the second officer, Colonel Hacker who stooped to sign it. The execution could now proceed." Although Fairfax conspicuously refused to sign, Charles I was executed on 30 January 1649. After the King's execution, a republic was declared, known as the Commonwealth of England . The "Rump Parliament" exercised both executive and legislative powers, with
26928-416: The other. The Putney Debates broke up without reaching a resolution. The failure to conclude a political agreement with the King led eventually to the outbreak of the Second English Civil War in 1648, when the King tried to regain power by force of arms. Cromwell first put down a Royalist uprising in south Wales led by Rowland Laugharne , winning back Chepstow Castle on 25 May and six days later forcing
27115-421: The phrase Brytish Iles in the Oxford English Dictionary is in a work by John Dee dated 1577. Other names used to describe the islands include the Anglo-Celtic Isles , Atlantic archipelago (a term coined by the historian J. G. A. Pocock in 1975 ), British-Irish Isles , Britain and Ireland , UK and Ireland , and British Isles and Ireland . Owing to political and national associations with
27302-460: The population of the British Isles. The famine caused a century-long population decline, drastically reduced the Irish population and permanently altered the demographic make-up of the British Isles. On a global scale, this disaster led to the creation of an Irish diaspora that numbers fifteen times the current population of the island. The linguistic heritage of the British Isles is rich, with twelve languages from six groups across four branches of
27489-436: The powers of the executive , to set up regularly elected parliaments, and to restore a non-compulsory episcopalian settlement. Many in the army, such as the Levellers led by John Lilburne , thought this was not enough and demanded full political equality for all men, leading to tense debates in Putney during the autumn of 1647 between Fairfax, Cromwell and Ireton on the one hand, and Levellers like Colonel Rainsborough on
27676-430: The preferred option and the third option had a unitary Huntingdonshire, whilst the second option would have seen Huntingdonshire combine with Peterborough and Fenland to form a "Peterborough and Huntingdonshire" unitary authority. The Final Recommendations of the Commission for Cambridgeshire recommended no change in the status quo in Cambridgeshire. The districts of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire were referred back to
27863-528: The radicals might do if they took control of the Assembly. After Barebone's Parliament was dissolved, John Lambert put forward a new constitution known as the Instrument of Government , closely modelled on the Heads of Proposals . This made Cromwell undertake the "chief magistracy and the administration of government". Later he was sworn as Lord Protector on 16 December, with a ceremony in which he wore plain black clothing, rather than any monarchical regalia. Cromwell also changed his signature to 'Oliver P', with
28050-450: The ranks of the Royalist cavalry and then attacking their infantry from the rear at Marston Moor was a major factor in the Parliamentarian victory. Cromwell fought at the head of his troops in the battle and was slightly wounded in the neck, stepping away briefly to receive treatment but returning to help secure the victory. After Cromwell's nephew was killed at Marston Moor, he wrote a famous letter to his brother-in-law . Marston Moor secured
28237-429: The ranks. Cromwell was on the brink of evacuating his army by sea from Dunbar . However, on 3 September 1650, unexpectedly, Cromwell smashed the main Scottish army at the Battle of Dunbar , killing 4,000 Scottish soldiers, taking another 10,000 prisoner, and then capturing the Scottish capital of Edinburgh . The victory was of such a magnitude that Cromwell called it "A high act of the Lord's Providence to us [and] one of
28424-401: The remainder of the archipelago with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The Isle of Man and the two Bailiwicks of the Channel Islands, Jersey and Guernsey , are known as the Crown Dependencies . They exercise constitutional rights of self-government and judicial independence; responsibility for international representation rests largely with the UK (in consultation with
28611-447: The remnants of Old English (Hiberno-Norman) and Gaelic Irish nobility in Ireland. The new ruling class was Protestant and English, whilst the populace was largely Catholic and Irish. This theme would influence Irish politics for centuries to come. When the monarchy was restored in England, the king found it politically impossible to restore the lands of former landowners in Ireland. The " Glorious Revolution " of 1688 repeated similar themes:
28798-631: The respective governments); and responsibility for defence is reserved by the UK. The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent parts : England, Scotland and Wales, forming Great Britain, and Northern Ireland in the northeast of the island of Ireland. Of these, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved governments, meaning that each has its own parliament or assembly and is self-governing with respect to certain matters set down by law. For judicial purposes, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales (the latter being one entity) form separate legal jurisdictions, with there being no single law for
28985-466: The rest of Ireland.) The British monarch is the head of state of the United Kingdom, while in the Republic of Ireland the head of state is the President of Ireland . Ireland is the only part of the isles that is a member state of the European Union (EU). The UK was a member between 1 January 1973 and 31 January 2020, but the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were not. Since the partition of Ireland , an informal free-travel area has existed across
29172-668: The rivers and lakes, in particular salmon, trout, perch and pike . Sea fish include dogfish , cod, sole , pollock and bass, as well as mussels, crab and oysters along the coast. There are more than 21,000 species of insects. Few species of reptiles or amphibians are found in Great Britain or Ireland. Only three snakes are native to Great Britain: the adder , the barred grass snake and the smooth snake ; none are native to Ireland. In general, Great Britain has slightly more variation and native wildlife, with weasels, polecats , wildcats, most shrews , moles , water voles , roe deer and common toads also being absent from Ireland. This pattern
29359-459: The second-busiest international air route in the world. The English Channel and the southern North Sea are the busiest seaways in the world. The Channel Tunnel , opened in 1994, links Great Britain to France and is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world. The idea of building a tunnel under the Irish Sea has been raised since 1895, when it was first investigated. Several potential Irish Sea tunnel projects have been proposed, most recently
29546-400: The social order. Small-scale reform such as that carried out on the judicial system were outweighed by attempts to restore order to English politics. Tax slightly decreased, and he prioritise peace and ending the First Anglo-Dutch War . England's overseas possessions in this period included Newfoundland , the New England Confederation , the Providence Plantation , the Virginia Colony ,
29733-405: The surrender of Tenby . The castle at Carmarthen was destroyed by burning; the much stronger castle at Pembroke fell only after an eight-week siege. Cromwell dealt leniently with ex-Royalist soldiers, but less so with those who had formerly been members of the parliamentary army, John Poyer eventually being executed in London after the drawing of lots. Cromwell then marched north to deal with
29920-402: The term is controversial , and there are objections to its usage. The Government of Ireland does not officially recognise the term, and its embassy in London discourages its use. "Britain and Ireland" is used as an alternative description, and "Atlantic Archipelago" has also seen limited use in academia. In official documents created jointly by Ireland and the United Kingdom, such as
30107-416: The third highest population behind Great Britain and Ireland. The islands are at relatively low altitudes, with central Ireland and southern Great Britain particularly low-lying: the lowest point in the islands is the North Slob in County Wexford , Ireland, with an elevation of −3.0 metres (−9.8 ft). The Scottish Highlands in the northern part of Great Britain are mountainous, with Ben Nevis being
30294-404: The time of Julius Caesar. Greco-Egyptian Claudius Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania ) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania ) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). According to Philip Freeman in 2001, Ptolemy "is the only ancient writer to use the name "Little Britain" for Ireland, though in doing so he
30481-407: The turn of the first millennium AD, and eventually became a feudal possession of Denmark . The relations between the descendants of Vikings in England and counterparts in Normandy , in northern France, lay at the heart of a series of events that led to the Norman conquest of England in 1066 . The remnants of the Duchy of Normandy , which conquered England, remain associated to the English Crown as
30668-399: The vote should extend only to the landowners. In the Putney Debates of 1647, the two groups debated these topics in hopes of forming a new constitution for England. Rebellions and mutinies followed the debates, and in 1649, the Bishopsgate mutiny resulted in Leveller Robert Lockyer 's execution by firing squad. The next month, the Banbury mutiny occurred with similar results. Cromwell led
30855-411: The wages it was owed, petitioned against these changes, but the Commons declared the petition unlawful. In May 1647 Cromwell was sent to the army's headquarters in Saffron Walden to negotiate with them, but failed to agree. In June 1647, a troop of cavalry under Cornet George Joyce seized the King from Parliament's imprisonment. With the King now present, Cromwell was eager to find out what conditions
31042-458: The war. Manchester later accused Cromwell of recruiting men of "low birth" as officers in the army, to which he replied: "If you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them ... I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else". At this time, Cromwell also fell into dispute with Major-General Lawrence Crawford ,
31229-404: The whole of the islands, for example The X Factor , seasons 3, 4 and 7 of which featured auditions in Dublin and were open to Irish voters, whilst the show previously known as Britain's Next Top Model became Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model in 2011. A few cultural events are organised for the island group as a whole. For example, the Costa Book Awards are awarded to authors resident in
31416-475: The wife of Oliver St John, gives an account of his spiritual awakening at this time. In the letter, Cromwell, describing himself as having been the "chief of sinners", describes his calling as among "the congregation of the firstborn". The letter's language, particularly the inclusion of numerous biblical quotations, shows Cromwell's belief that he was saved from his previous sins by God's mercy, and indicates his religiously Independent beliefs, chief among them that
31603-426: The word British , the Government of Ireland does not use the term British Isles and in documents drawn up jointly between the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is referred to simply as "these islands". British Isles is the most widely accepted term for the archipelago. The British Isles lie at the juncture of several regions with past episodes of tectonic mountain building. These orogenic belts form
31790-584: The wounds of the 1640s and deepened antipathies to the regime. In late 1654, Cromwell launched the Western Design armada against the Spanish West Indies , and in May 1655 captured Jamaica . As Lord Protector, Cromwell was aware of the Jewish community's involvement in the economics of the Netherlands, now England's leading commercial rival. It was this—allied to Cromwell's tolerance of the right to private worship of those who fell outside Puritanism—that led to his encouraging Jews to return to England in 1657, over 350 years after their banishment by Edward I , in
31977-405: Was a battle of manoeuvre compared to the early Civil War Battle of Turnham Green , which the English parliamentary armies were unable to execute at the start of the war, and he suggests that it was a prototype for the Battle of Sedan (1870) . In the final stages of the Scottish campaign, Cromwell's men under George Monck sacked Dundee, killing up to 1,000 men and 140 women and children. Scotland
32164-437: Was attracted by the idea of an assembly made up of men chosen for their religious credentials. In his speech during the assembly on 4 July, Cromwell thanked God's providence that he believed had brought England to this point and set out their divine mission: "truly God hath called you to this work by, I think, as wonderful providences as ever passed upon the sons of men in so short a time." The Nominated Assembly, sometimes known as
32351-418: Was confiscated under the Act for the Settlement of Ireland of 1652 and given to Scottish and English settlers, Parliament's financial creditors and Parliamentary soldiers. Remaining Catholic landowners were allocated poorer land in the province of Connacht . Cromwell left Ireland in May 1650 and several months later invaded Scotland after the Scots had proclaimed Charles I's son Charles II as King. Cromwell
32538-409: Was deepened with the Irish Rebellion of 1641 . This rebellion, although intended to be bloodless, was marked by massacres of English and Scottish Protestant settlers by Irish ("Gaels") and Old English in Ireland , and Highland Scot Catholics in Ireland. These settlers had settled on land seized from former, native Catholic owners to make way for the non-native Protestants. These factors contributed to
32725-432: Was further harmed by a tax proposal by Major General John Desborough to provide financial backing for their work, which the second Protectorate parliament —instated in September 1656—voted down for fear of a permanent military state. Ultimately, however, Cromwell's failure to support his men, sacrificing them to his opponents, caused their demise. Their activities between November 1655 and September 1656 had, however, reopened
32912-405: Was gradually submerged as sea levels rose. However, the Irish Sea was formed before Doggerland was completely covered in water, with Ireland becoming an island roughly 6,000 years before Great Britain did. The first evidence of human activity on the islands dates from 840,000 or 950,000 years ago, based in flint tools found near Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast of Great Britain. In contrast,
33099-423: Was in the trained bands, the local county militia. He recruited a cavalry troop in Cambridgeshire after blocking a valuable shipment of silver plate from Cambridge colleges that was meant for the King. Cromwell and his troop then rode to, but arrived too late to take part in, the indecisive Battle of Edgehill on 23 October 1642. The troop was recruited to be a full regiment in the winter of 1642–43, making up part of
33286-417: Was in turn merged with Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely in 1974 to form Cambridgeshire, of which Huntingdonshire is now a district. The area corresponding to modern Huntingdonshire was first delimited in Anglo-Saxon times. Its boundaries have remained largely unchanged since the 10th century, although it lost its administrative function in 1974. On his accession in 1154 Henry II declared all Huntingdonshire
33473-410: Was judged to be the biggest single threat facing the Commonwealth. However, the political situation in Ireland in 1649 was extremely fractured: there were also separate forces of Irish Catholics who were opposed to the Royalist alliance, and Protestant Royalist forces that were gradually moving towards Parliament. Cromwell said in a speech to the army Council on 23 March that "I had rather be overthrown by
33660-453: Was much less hostile to Scottish Presbyterians , some of whom had been his allies in the First English Civil War, than he was to Irish Catholics. He described the Scots as a people "fearing His [God's] name, though deceived". He made a famous appeal to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland , urging them to see the error of the royal alliance—"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken." The Scots' reply
33847-411: Was placed on a spike outside the Tower of London , where it remained for 30 years, and ultimately reburied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , in 1960. Winston Churchill described Cromwell as a military dictator, while others view him a hero of liberty. He remains a controversial figure due to his use of military force to acquire and retain political power, his role in the execution of Charles I and
34034-493: Was returned as MP for Cambridge in the Short and Long Parliaments . He joined the Parliamentarian army when the First English Civil War began in August 1642 and quickly demonstrated his military abilities. In 1645, he was appointed commander of the New Model Army cavalry under Sir Thomas Fairfax , and played a key role in winning the English Civil War . The death of Charles I and exile of his son , followed by military victories in Ireland and Scotland , firmly established
34221-413: Was robust: "would you have us to be sceptics in our religion?" This decision to negotiate with Charles II led Cromwell to believe that war was necessary. His appeal rejected, Cromwell's veteran troops went on to invade Scotland. At first, the campaign went badly, as Cromwell's men were short of supplies and held up at fortifications manned by Scottish troops under David Leslie . Sickness began to spread in
34408-411: Was ruled from England during the Commonwealth and was kept under military occupation, with a line of fortifications sealing off the Highlands which had provided manpower for Royalist armies in Scotland. The northwest Highlands was the scene of another pro-Royalist uprising in 1653–55, which was put down with deployment of 6,000 English troops there. Presbyterianism was allowed to be practised as before, but
34595-413: Was signed by 59 of the trying court's members, including Cromwell (the third to sign it). Though it was not unprecedented, execution of the King, or regicide , was controversial, if for no other reason than the doctrine of the divine right of kings . Thus, even after a trial, it was difficult to get ordinary men to go along with it: "None of the officers charged with supervising the execution wanted to sign
34782-423: Was still part of a peninsula of the European continent . Ireland may have been connected to Great Britain by way of an ice bridge before 14,000 BC, and was not inhabited until after 8000 BC. Great Britain became an island by 7000 BC with the flooding of Doggerland . The Gaels (Ireland), Picts (northern Great Britain) and Britons (southern Great Britain), all speaking Insular Celtic languages , inhabited
34969-530: Was widowed, and his seven sisters unmarried, he would have been needed at home to help his family. Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier (1598–1665) on 22 August 1620 at St Giles-without-Cripplegate , Fore Street, London. Elizabeth's father, Sir James Bourchier, was a London leather-merchant who owned extensive lands in Essex and had strong connections with Puritan gentry families there. The marriage brought Cromwell into contact with Oliver St John and leading members of London's merchant community, and behind them
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