About the author

Ed Adams was educated at Sutton Valence School and the University of Exeter, where he gained degrees in Law and Medieval Studies. He lives in Kent.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the staff at Galore Park for helping to make this possible, and most especially Frances and Emily.

Ed Adams

The publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:
Photo credits p.137 Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy
Acknowledgements Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

Although every effort has been made to ensure that website addresses are correct at time of going to press, Galore Park cannot be held responsible for the content of any website mentioned in this book. It is sometimes possible to find a relocated web page by typing in the address of the home page for a website in the URL window of your browser.

Hachette UK’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Orders: please contact Bookpoint Ltd, 130 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4SB. Telephone: +44 (0)1235 827827. Lines are open 9.00a.m.–5.00p.m., Monday to Saturday, with a 24-hour message answering service. Visit our website at www.galorepark.co.uk for details of other revision guides for Common Entrance, examination papers and Galore Park publications.

Published by Galore Park Publishing Ltd
An Hachette UK company
338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH
www.galorepark.co.uk

Text copyright © Ed Adams 2014

The right of Ed Adams to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First edition published 2009
Second edition published 2012
This edition:

Impression number | 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
| 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014

All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the copyright owner or a licence permitting restricted copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

Typeset in 11.5/13 pt ITC Officina Sans by DC Graphic Design Limited, Swanley Village.
Illustrations by DC Graphic Design Limited, Swanley Village.
Cartoons by Ian Douglass
Printed in Spain

A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978 1 471809 02 6
eISBN: 978 1 471809 04 0

Contents

Introduction

    Part A    Medieval Realms: Britain 1066–1485

Chapter 1   The Norman Conquest

1.1 Background to the Conquest

1.2 Preparations for the invasion

1.3 The Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066

1.4 The Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066

Chapter 2   Conquered England

2.1 Medieval rule and the Feudal System

2.2 Revolts and rebellions

2.3 New buildings

2.4 The Domesday Book

2.5 Life in the manor

Chapter 3   The sons of William I

3.1 William II (1087–1100)

3.2 Henry I (1100–35)

3.3 Matilda

3.4 The Church

3.5 Monasteries and nunneries

Chapter 4   From civil war to Henry II

4.1 Stephen (1135–54)

4.2 Henry II (1154–89)

4.3 Thomas Becket

4.4 Eleanor of Aquitaine and the sons of Henry II

Chapter 5   Richard I, the Crusades and King John

5.1 The First Crusade

5.2 Richard I (1189–99) and the Third Crusade

5.3 John and the Angevin Empire

5.4 John and the Church

5.5 Magna Carta

Chapter 6   Henry III and the Edwards

6.1 Henry III (1216–72)

6.2 Edward I (1272–1307)

6.3 Wales and Scotland

6.4 Edward II (1307–27)

6.5 The fall of Edward II

6.6 Edward III (1327–77)

6.7 The Battle of Crécy, 26 August 1346

6.8 The last years of Edward III

Chapter 7   Life in the Middle Ages

7.1 Castles

7.2 The Jews

7.3 Medieval women

7.4 Medieval health and the Black Death

Chapter 8   Richard II and life in the towns

8.1 Richard II (1377–99) and the Peasants’ Revolt

8.2 The fall of Richard II

8.3 Towns

8.4 Guilds

8.5 Town government, law and order

Chapter 9   The three Henrys

9.1 Henry IV (1399–1413)

9.2 Henry V (1413–22)

9.3 The Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415

9.4 Joan of Arc

9.5 Henry VI (1422–71)

9.6 The coming of civil war

Chapter 10 The Wars of the Roses

10.1 The first war (1459–61)

10.2 Edward IV (1461–83)

10.3 The second war (1470–71)

10.4 Edward V and Richard III (1483–85)

10.5 The Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485

    Part B  The Making of the United Kingdom: 1485–1750

Chapter 11 Henry VII (1485–1509)

11.1 Securing the throne

11.2 The two pretenders

11.3 The tax rebellions

11.4 Foreign policy

Chapter 12 Henry VIII (1509–47)

12.1 Early life and reign

12.2 Thomas Wolsey

12.3 The rise of Protestantism

12.4 The King’s Great Matter

12.5 Cromwell and the Reformation

12.6 The six wives of Henry VIII

Chapter 13 Edward VI (1547–53) and Mary I (1553–58)

13.1 Edward VI and the Protestant surge

13.2 Lady Jane Grey and Mary I

13.3 Wyatt’s Rebellion (1554)

13.4 The Catholic resurgence

Chapter 14 Elizabeth I (1558–1603)

14.1 Early life and reign

14.2 The Elizabethan Settlement

14.3 Mary, Queen of Scots

14.4 War with Spain

14.5 Elizabeth’s government

Chapter 15 Life in the sixteenth century

15.1 Trade

15.2 Poverty and the Poor Laws

15.3 Town and country

15.4 Women in the sixteenth century

Chapter 16 James I (1603–25) and Charles I (1625–49)

16.1 James I and religion

16.2 James I and Parliament

16.3 Charles I and religion

16.4 Charles I and Parliament

16.5 Causes of the Civil War

Chapter 17 Civil War (1642–49) and the Interregnum (1649–60)

17.1 The English Civil War

17.2 The Battle of Marston Moor, 2 July 1644

17.3 Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army

17.4 The trial and execution of Charles I

17.5 Cromwell and Parliament

17.6 Ireland and Scotland

17.7 Richard Cromwell and the Restoration

Chapter 18 Charles II (1660–85) and James II (1685–88)

18.1 Charles II

18.2 Plague and fire

18.3 Charles II and religion

18.4 James II and the Monmouth Rebellion

18.5 The Glorious Revolution

18.6 Culture and science

Chapter 19 William III and Mary II (1689–1702) and Anne (1702–14)

19.1 William III and Mary II

19.2 Ireland and France

19.3 The Act of Settlement (1701)

19.4 Anne and war with France

19.5 The Battle of Blenheim, 13 August 1704

19.6 The Act of Union (1707)

Chapter 20 George I (1714–27) and George II (1727–60)

20.1 George I and the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion

20.2 Parliament and Walpole

20.3 Trade and the empire

20.4 George II and war with Europe

20.5 The 1745 Jacobite Rebellion

    Part C  Britain and Empire: 1750–1914

Chapter 21 The Seven Years’ War

21.1 Background

21.2 William Pitt the Elder

21.3 Wolfe and the fall of Quebec

21.4 British victories and the end of the campaign

Chapter 22 The American Rebellion and World War

22.1 Background

22.2 The outbreak of war

22.3 The early war

22.4 The later war

Chapter 23 The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars

23.1 The French Revolution

23.2 William Pitt the Younger

23.3 Horatio Nelson

23.4 The Trafalgar campaign

23.5 Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

23.6 The Waterloo campaign

Chapter 24 Dissent and calls for political reform, 1815–48

24.1 The rise of protest

24.2 The Reform Acts

24.3 Chartism

Chapter 25 The Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions

25.1 The Agricultural Revolution

25.2 The Industrial Revolution

25.3 Public health

Chapter 26 The transportation revolution

26.1 Roads

26.2 Canals

26.3 Rail

26.4 Telford and Brunel

Chapter 27 Social and industrial reform

27.1 The slave trade

27.2 The abolition movement

27.3 Prison reform

27.4 Poor Law reform

27.5 Employment reform

Chapter 28 Religious life, 1750–1914

28.1 Catholicism and the Oxford Movement

28.2 Methodism and the Evangelical movement

Chapter 29 Victorian England: success, war and politics

29.1 Victoria’s life

29.2 Victorian politics

29.3 The Great Exhibition

29.4 The Crimean War

29.5 Seacole and Nightingale

29.6 Women’s suffrage

Chapter 30 The British Empire and the road to war

30.1 India

30.2 The Indian Mutiny

30.3 South Africa

30.4 The Anglo-Boer War, 1899–1902

30.5 Great Power rivalries, 1871–1914

Essay question answers

Test yourself answers

Appendix 1 – Timelines

The monarchs of England, 1066–1485

The monarchs of England, 1485–1750

The monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, 1750–1900

Appendix 2 – Family trees

For Chapters 1–2

For Chapters 3–5

For Chapter 6

For Chapters 8–11

For Chapters 12–14

For Chapters 16–20

For Chapters 21–30

Introduction

This revision guide covers all three periods of the ISEB History syllabus for Common Entrance at 13+.

The material is arranged according to the structure set out in History for Common Entrance: Medieval Realms Britain 1066–1485, History for Common Entrance: The Making of the UK 1485–1750, and History for Common Entrance: Britain and Empire 1750–1914, following a strictly chronological format. This, we believe, is the clearest, simplest and most useful way of learning the subject, and we hope it works for you.

This book will give you all the facts you need to know, and you should learn them thoroughly, but your success in the exam will depend on what you do with these facts. Do read the section below, which will give you advice on how to write strong answers in the exam and how to revise most effectively.

You will also find many opportunities throughout this book to test both your knowledge of the facts and your skill at writing answers.

History is a fascinating subject but has gained a reputation for being one of the harder ones to tackle. It can certainly be challenging, but need not be impossible. A good grasp of the skills that make a good historian will show your future teachers – and perhaps, future employers – that you have the necessary discipline to succeed in plenty of areas.

So make the most of this opportunity to show them. Good luck!

How to use this book

•  Throughout this book you will find revision tips. These will give you suggestions about different tools you can use to help you remember the key facts/events/dates, and so on. Everybody learns differently and these boxes will give you some ideas on different approaches you can use. Although they are only suggestions, they will hopefully help you think of different ways that work for you. All these tips are taken from Study Skills by Elizabeth Holtom, published by Galore Park, and you can get details of all the different suggestions, as well as finding out what sort of learner you are, from that book.

•  Read a page of this book, then cover it up and write down as many of the ideas as you can remember. Then look at the page again.

•  Once you have finished reading a chapter, try the ‘Test yourself’ questions. This will show whether you have remembered the historical facts. Check your answers against those at the back of the book. Keep doing this over time to check that you have retained the information.

•  Try the sample essay questions. These are written in exactly the same way as the questions in the exam. Suggested answers are given at the back of the book.

•  Use the family trees (see pages 187–193) to see how the important historical figures are related to each other. This will help you to understand the tricky issues surrounding royal succession.

•  Practice makes perfect, so get a copy of History for Common Entrance 13+ Exam Practice Questions. It contains over a hundred evidence and essay questions, giving you plenty of opportunity to develop your answer-writing skills.

The syllabus and your exams

For Common Entrance History, you will sit an exam lasting an hour, for which you will need to answer one question from Section 1 and one question from Section 2.

Section 1: the evidence question

•  The evidence question is worth 20 marks and it is recommended that you spend five minutes reading the sources and 20 minutes writing your answer to the question.

•  You will be presented with three sources. These may include an entry from a historical chronicle, an extract from a book written by a modern historian or a piece of correspondence from the time. At least one of the sources will be pictorial, either produced at the time or a modern reconstruction.

•  The question will ask you to look at all the sources and use your own knowledge in order to answer it. So it will help you to give a strong, full answer if you know at least a little about the topic, for example the background to it, the events of the time and any future consequences.

•  In answering the question you will need to consider the reliability of each source. To do this effectively you will need to understand the issues of provenance, first-hand evidence and hindsight.

•  Provenance is the issue of where a source comes from. An account of the Battle of Hastings written by a Norman source would be very different from one written by an English source. A Norman author would write from a winner’s perspective. He might exaggerate the bravery and skill of the Norman soldiers, or the cowardice and incompetence of the English. An English writer would write from a loser’s perspective, and might argue that the Normans won purely by luck and that the battle was a great tragedy for England.

•  First-hand evidence is that produced by an author who was actually present at the events described. An author who actually fought at the Battle of Hastings might write differently from an author who heard about the battle from another person. Sometimes authors write based on folk tales that have been passed through hundreds of people. Detail can be lost and exaggerations added. But a story that has been passed on before being written down may still have important things to say about another person’s perception of events.

•  Hindsight is the knowledge gained about an event after it has taken place. An author writing on the day after the Battle of Hastings might write differently from an author writing a hundred or even a thousand years later, who does so with the benefit of hindsight. Sometimes details may be forgotten or changed over time. But don’t assume that a source will always be less reliable because a lot of time has passed. Modern historians – who generally write a long time after the event – can have a better overall view of the historical events.

•  When you consider each source, you will need to look at these issues and see which ones are relevant. It is important to remember that there is often no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer. You are being asked to argue your opinion, based on the evidence presented.

Section 2: the essay question

•  The essay question is worth 30 marks and it is recommended that you spend 35 minutes on it.

•  You will have a wide variety of questions to choose from and they may be applied to any topic of your choice.

•  The questions are worded in a few ways but generally you will be asked to ‘explain’.

•  When you are asked to ‘explain’ you will still need to know the historical facts and understand the chronology of the events.

•  It will help to include the dates of the events you describe. This will prove to the examiner that you have learnt the material properly and will earn you more marks.

•  You should write your answer in the past tense.

•  When you are asked to explain the reasons for something, you will need to consider why something happened and state your opinion, using sources to back up your claims.

•  You need to look at the causes behind the event or the consequences of it.

•  You will earn most marks for giving a balanced opinion. Try to argue two different opinions, then come to a conclusion where you reject one in favour of the other.

•  There is never a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer, only ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ ones. Another pupil could arrive at a completely different conclusion and receive the same number of marks. The examiner is looking for evidence that you understand the causes or consequences of an event, know how to analyse them properly and can back up your analysis by reference to the sources.

•  When using historical sources to back up your claims, make sure you consider how reliable they are by considering provenance, first-hand evidence and hindsight. This could affect your conclusion.

Tips on revising

Get the best out of your brain

•  Give your brain plenty of oxygen by exercising. You can revise effectively if you feel fit and well.

•  Eat healthy food while you are revising. Your brain works better when you give it good fuel.

•  Think positively. Give your brain positive messages so that it will want to study.

•  Keep calm. If your brain is stressed it will not operate effectively.

•  Take regular breaks during your study time.

•  Get enough sleep. Your brain will carry on sorting out what you have revised while you sleep.

Get the most from your revision

•  Don’t work for hours without a break. Revise for 20–30 minutes then take a five-minute break.

•  Do good things in your breaks: listen to your favourite music, eat healthy food, drink some water, do some exercise and juggle. Don’t read a book, watch TV or play on the computer; it will conflict with what your brain is trying to learn.

•  When you go back to your revision, review what you have just learnt.

•  Regularly review the facts you have learnt.

Get motivated

•  Set yourself some goals and promise yourself a treat when the exams are over.

•  Make the most of all the expertise and talent available to you at school and at home. If you don’t understand something ask your teacher to explain.

•  Find a quiet place to revise and make sure you have all the equipment you need.

•  Organise your time so that you revise all subjects equally.

Know what to expect in the exam

•  Use past papers to familiarise yourself with the format of the exam.

•  Make sure you understand the language examiners use.

Before the exam

•  Have all your equipment and pens ready the night before.

•  Make sure you are at your best by getting a good night’s sleep before the exam.

•  Have a good breakfast in the morning.

•  Take some water into the exam if you are allowed.

•  Think positively and keep calm.

During the exam

•  Have a watch on your desk. Work out how much time you need to allocate to each question and try to stick to it.

•  Make sure you read and understand the instructions and rules on the front of the exam paper.

•  Allow some time at the start to read and consider the questions carefully before writing anything.

•  Read all the questions at least twice. Don’t rush into answering before you have a chance to think about it.

•  If a question is particularly hard move on to the next one. Go back to it if you have time at the end.

•  Check your answers make sense if you have time at the end.

For more tips on how to get the best from your revision and your exams, see Study Skills (9781902984599) by Elizabeth Holtom, published by Galore Park.