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ТОЛЬЯТТИНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ  УНИВЕРСИТЕТ 
 

Гуманитарный  институт

Теории и практики преподавания иностранных языков и  культур 

Специальность 031202 Перевод и переводоведение 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

РЕФЕРАТ 

По дисциплине «История страны изучаемого языка»

На тему: Женщины в истории Британии. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

      Выполнил:

Студенты группы ПП-201АФ-1

Пыжова  И., Артамонова А.В., Ширяева О.В. 

Преподаватель

Шередекина  О.А. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Тольятти, 2008 г.

 

Содержание

 

1. Introduction

History of the world is written by the great people. Biographies of these outstanding characters are worthy talking about to be taught numerous lessons. It so happens that most of these people are men and one can think it is men who drive the wheel of history. And thus it is even more interesting to find out that besides every great man turning the Wheel there have always been a great woman not letting the wheel get loose. That's why we think our topic is actual and intricating for those who likes History which itself is a Woman for it is called the Mother of All Science.

 

2. Main part

2.1 Boudica

"a terrible disaster occurred in Britain. Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to Rome. Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon the Romans by a woman, a fact which in itself caused them the greatest shame....But the person who was chiefly instrumental in rousing the natives and persuading them to fight the Romans, the person who was thought worthy to be their leader and who directed the conduct of the entire war, was Buduica, a Briton woman of the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women."

Queen of the Iceni, a people who lived in the present-day counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. She led a rebellion against the Roman authorities as a result of their mistreatment of her family and people after the death of her husband, Prasutagus, who may have been a Roman client-ruler, in 60 AD.

Boudicca, assisted by other disaffected tribes, sacked the cities of Colchester, St. Albans and London and, it is estimated, massacred approximately 70,000 Roman soldiers and civilians in the course of the glorious, but ill-fated rebellion. The rebels were finally defeated in battle by a force led by the Roman governor of Britain, Suetonius Paulinus, after which Boudicca took her own life by ingesting poison. A memorial statue by Thorneycroft of Boudicca, riding in her war chariot, stands alongside the Thames River in London, in the shadow of Big Ben.  

2.2 Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon was the youngest surviving child of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. As was common for princesses of the day, her parents almost immediately began looking for a political match for her. When she was three year old, she was betrothed to Arthur, the son of Henry VII of England. Arthur was not even quite two at the time. 

When she was almost 16, in 1501, Catherine made the journey to England. It took her three months, and her ships weathered several storms, but she safely made landfall at Plymouth on October 2, 1501. Catherine and Arthur were married on 14 November 1501 in Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Catherine was escorted by the groom's younger brother, Henry. 

After the wedding and celebrations, the young couple moved to Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border. Less than six months later, Arthur was dead, possibly of the 'sweating sickness'. Although this marriage was short, it was very important in the history of England, as will be apparent. 

Catherine was now a widow, and still young enough to be married again. Henry VII still had a son, this one much more robust and healthy than his dead older brother. The English king was interested in keeping Catherine's dowry, so 14 months after her husband's death, she was betrothed to the future Henry VIII, who was too young to marry at the time. 

By 1505, when Henry was old enough to wed, Henry VII wasn't as keen on a Spanish alliance, and young Henry was forced to repudiate the betrothal. Catherine's future was uncertain for the next four years. When Henry VII died in 1509 and one of the new young king's actions was to marry Catherine. She was finally crowned Queen of England in a joint coronation ceremony with her husband Henry VIII on June 24, 1509. 

Shortly after their marriage, Catherine found herself pregnant. This first child was a stillborn daughter born prematurely in January 1510, but this disappointment was soon followed by another pregnancy. Prince Henry was born on January 1, 1511 and the was christened on the 5th. There were great celebrations for the birth of the young prince, but they were halted by the baby's death after 52 days of life. Catherine then had a miscarriage, followed by a short-lived son. On February 1516, she gave birth a daughter named Mary, and this child lived. There were probably two more pregnancies, the last recorded in 1518. 

Henry was growing frustrated by his lack of a male heir, but he remained a devoted husband. He had at least two mistresses that we know of: Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn. By 1526 though, he had begun to separate from Catherine because he had fallen in love with one of her ladies (and sister of one of his mistresses): Anne Boleyn. 

It is here that the lives of Henry's first and second wives begin to interweave. By the time his interest in Anne became common knowledge, Catherine was 42 years old and was no longer able to conceive. Henry's main goal now was to get a male heir, which his wife was not able to provide. Somewhere along the way, Henry began to look at the texts of Leviticus which says that if a man takes his brother's wife, they shall be childless. As evidenced above, Catherine and Henry were far from childless, and still had one living child. But, that child was a girl, and didn't count in Henry's mind. The King began to petition the Pope for an annulment. 

At first, Catherine was kept in the dark about Henry's plans for their annulment. When the news got to Catherine, she was very upset. She was also at a great disadvantage since the court that would decide the case was far from impartial. Catherine then appealed directly to the Pope, which she felt would listen to her case since her nephew was Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. 

The political and legal debate continued for six years. Catherine was adamant in saying that she and Arthur, her first husband and Henry's brother, did not consummate their marriage and therefore were not truly husband and wife. Catherine sought not only to retain her position, but also that of her daughter Mary. 

Things came to a head in 1533 when Anne Boleyn became pregnant. Henry had to act, and his solution was to reject the power of the Pope in England and to have Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury grant the annulment. Catherine was to renounce the title of Queen and would be known as the Princess Dowager of Wales, something she refused to acknowledge through to the end of her life. 

Catherine and her daughter were separated and she was forced to leave court. She lived for the next three years in several dank and unhealthy castles and manors with just a few servants. However, she seldom complained of her treatment and spent a great deal of time at prayer. 

On January 7, 1536, Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle and was buried at Peterborough Abbey (later Peterborough Cathedral, after the dissolution of the monasteries) with the ceremony due for her position as Princess Dowager, not as a Queen of England. 

2.3 Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, the second Queen of Henry VIII, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, afterwards Earl of Wiltshire, and Lady Elizabeth Howard. Anne was thus the maternal niece of Henry's courtier-statesman, the Duke of Norfolk. She spent some years at the French Court, before 1522, when she first seems to have attracted the notice of King Henry. Her elder sister, Mary, was, for a short time, the King's mistress at about that date. Anne was sought in marriage by the heir of the Percys and was perhaps privately contracted to him. By 1525, however, the King was secretly courting her.

At what date Anne actually became the King Henry’s mistress we do not know for certain. From 1527 onwards, it was publicly known that Henry was seeking a divorce from Catherine of Aragon and it soon became evident that, in spite of Wolsey's remonstrances, he intended Anne to take her place as Queen. She travelled about with him and had magnificent apartments fitted up for her wherever he was until her marriage with him, which took place privately some time on 25th January 1533. We do not even know precisely where the marriage took place - either Whitehall or Westminster - or by whom it was celebrated. But it was made public at Easter and Cranmer, as Archbishop, held an inquiry into its validity, in favour of which he pronounced. Anne was crowned with great magnificence on Whit Sunday.

The hatred of all but the most servile courtiers for Anne and for all the Boleyns was open and avowed. Her only surviving child, afterwards Queen Elizabeth I, was born in the September. But Henry was already tired of Anne and it is pretty clear that she was but a vulgar coquette of neither wit nor accomplishments and, strange to say, without any extraordinary beauty. As to her chastity, both before and after her marriage, it is difficult to pronounce with certainty. Acts of adultery, and even of incest, were alleged against her at her trial, which took place before a court of peers, with her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, as president, in May 1536; but, though sentence was unanimously given against her, it could hardly be called a fair trial, as some of her alleged accomplices had been previously convicted and put to death. She was beheaded on Tower Hill on 19th May 1536.

2.4 Mary I of Scotland

Mary, Queen of Scots is an enigma, to say the least. Her guilt or innocence in the murder of her husband has been debated for centuries. As many historians point out, every argument in favor of her innocence can be countered by one against. Most of the calumnies heaped against her in her own lifetime were the work of Scots scholar George Buchanan.

Mary was born at Linlithgow in 1542, the daughter of James V and Mary de Guise (who had been courted by Henry VIII of England). The princess became queen at the age of six days upon the death of her father. At age six, Mary was betrothed to Henry VIII's son, the ill-fated Edward, but with what results history will never disclose, the proposed union was nullified by a pro-French and Roman Catholic faction. The ire of the English king, exemplified by the period of invasions of his Scottish neighbours known as "the rough wooing," resulted in the defeat of the Scots at Pinkie (1547) and Mary's being sent to France.

In 1558, now a beautiful, blossoming 16 years of age, Mary married the heir to the French throne, the Dauphin Francis (who was only 14). She secretly agreed, if she were to die without a child, her Scottish kingdom would go to the French monarch. At the premature death of Francis, one year after he had become King, the firm hand of Catharine de Medici took control of France. Despite a revolution in Scotland that had rejected the French alliance and the supremacy of the Pope, Mary returned to Scotland.

The plot then thickened. When Elizabeth I became queen, Mary became heir presumptive to the English throne as the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor. Not only that, but Roman Catholics throughout Europe considered her to be a better claimant to the Crown of England than the queen herself, for they believed that Elizabeth's mother Ann Boleyn had been married illegally to King Henry.

Mary's reign started out well. Though she absolutely refused to recognize the Protestant Church. She took the advice of James Stuart, Earl of Moray and William Maitland in conceding recognition to the reformed church and modest endowment while continuing her own Catholic worship in private. Mary might have forfeited her Scottish throne had her husband not died in 1560, but her return, despite her early caution, had raised Protestant fears. These fears were partly allayed when, though negotiations were afoot for her marriage to Catholic Philip II of Spain, she settled on her first cousin, Lord Darnley. The marriage turned out to be a grievous error.

Scottish Protestants greatly feared that even the marriage to Darnley would mean a resurgence of Catholicism. They were not prepared to stomach that reversal of fortune. The Reformation in Scotland had taken place partly because it seemed as if the country was rapidly becoming nothing more than an appendage of France. Protestantism represented, in a very real manner, Scottish independence. The Darnley marriage ceremony was a Roman Catholic one. Moray raised a rebellion, easily crushed, but Protestants were further incensed when the Queen foolishly began to rely heavily upon non-Protestant, foreign courtiers, including her Italian secretary David Riccio, suspected of being a papal agent.

In 1566, Riccio was murdered by a group of Protestant lords, Darnley being implicated. In the same year, Prince James was born (later to reign as James VI of Scotland and James I of England). Mary, tiring of Darnley, began to show affection to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, whose guilt in the murder of Darnley, along with that of Mary, is set out in the notorious Casket Letters, now considered a forgery.

Mary went ahead in a second disastrous marriage, this time to Bothwell, who had abducted her and divorced his wife. For the proud Scottish nobles, this was too much, and they forced Mary to abdicate her throne in favor of her young son. A feeble attempt by Mary to regain the throne was defeated at Langside, following which the unfortunate (and some say, foolhardy) queen fled to England and the protection of Elizabeth.

After the Bothwell marriage, the Queen's supporters had been placed at a decided disadvantage compared to those influenced by the ballad writer Robert Sempill, who attacked Mary as an adulterous whore, and thereby justified her forced abdication. Queen Elizabeth, in the meantime, made sure that Mary's shortcomings were made the only criteria of her fitness to rule, and Mary's reputation was consequently so besmirched that even Catholics found it difficult to support her.

The most savage attacks on Mary's character came from George Buchanan, who sought very successfully to completely undermine her right to rule by showing that her reckless and malicious behavior proved her to be unworthy of her title. In the long run, however, such attacks on Mary's immorality could only play second fiddle to the much more important question of her religion, of her threat to Protestantism through her claim to the English throne. In her supporters' eyes, too, Mary's so-called immorality was a minor issue compared to her steadfast Catholicism. Her character and career as Queen of Scots was defended by no less than John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who also supported her particular claim to succeed Elizabeth as Queen of England.

After Mary's execution, which was finally ordered by Elizabeth following a series of ill-conceived plots against the English Queen, the accession of a Protestant sovereign finally brought to an end the hopes of a return to Catholicism that Mary had personified. It also ended the vitriolic attacks on the person of Mary herself. Even leading Protestant writers now began to depict her as an unfortunate queen whose downfall had been brought about more through the caprice of fortune than by defects in her morals. More than one historian has pointed out that Mary's modern resurgence as a handsome, brave and proud woman, defeated through ill-circumstance and powerful enemies, seems to bear out her personal motto: "In my end is my beginning."

2.5 Elizabeth I of England

Queen Elizabeth I was an influential Queen of England reigning during a time of economic, political and religious upheaval. She presided over an era of economic and political expansion, which lay the framework for Britain’s later dominance as a world power. It was Queen Elizabeth who also established the supremacy of Protestantism in England.

Major achievements of Queen Elizabeth I:

1) United the country in a period of suspicion between Catholics and Protestants

2) Inspired troops to defeat the Spanish Armada

3) Presided over a period of cultural and literary development in England

Life of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich, England on 7th September 1533. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn was Henry’s second wife. He divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragon after she had failed to produce a male heir. Unfortunately Anne Boleyn also failed to produce a male heir and would be executed for treason when Elizabeth was only 2 years old.

Elizabeth was brought up at Hatfield house, Hertfordshire. Later she would be brought up in London with Catherine Parr (Henry’s sixth wife) acting as step mother. As a child Elizabeth proved to be precocious and quick to learn. She excelled in academic studies and also sports; she learnt the art of public speaking, which proved to be most significant later in her reign.

Following the death of Henry VIII and his only son Edward, there was uncertainty about who would inherit the throne. For 9 days a cousin of Edward, Lady Jane Grey was made queen before being disposed and then executed by Mary I. Mary’s reign was unpopular as she sought to revert England to Catholicism. Her popularity was further weakened by her distant marriage to Phillip of Spain. At one time Elizabeth’s life was in danger and Mary I had her half sister arrested and kept in the Tower of London. However Elizabeth was able to convince Mary she posed no threat to her throne and eventually Mary came to trust the protestant Elizabeth and named her successor to the throne.

In 1558 Mary died leaving Elizabeth as queen. Despite Mary exhorting her to retain the Catholic faith, Elizabeth ignored her wish, and she re-established Protestantism as the faith of England. However Elizabeth wished to avoid the religious extremes of Mary and Edward’s reign and she sought to allow people to practise their religion of choice in private. However, later in her reign, it was alleged Catholic plotters were seeking to kill the Queen. As a consequence laws against Catholics were tightened. One figure head for the potential Catholic rebellion was Mary Queen of Scots. As a sign of her real perceived threat, Elizabeth eventually agreed to her capture and later execution (in 1587.)