British History - What Happened Next? Quiz

Answer: He fought William at the Battle of Hastings and was killed

King Harold II (also known as King Harold Godwinson) fought William of Normandy for the crown of England at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. Harold was killed during the battle, supposedly as a result of an arrow being shot through his eye, and his throne was taken by William - who is now known to history as William the Conqueror.

Harold faced numerous threats to his reign in late 1066 as he had to fight King Harold Hardrada of Norway and his brother Tostig Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire and then the Normans shortly afterwards in Sussex.

The events of 1066, from Harold's coronation in January to the Battle of Hastings in October are depicted in the latter parts of the Bayeux Tapestry.

Answer: Thomas Becket

Although King Henry II's exact words are the subject of much academic debate, it is generally accepted that his statement was interpreted as a direct order by four of his knights. The result of Henry's careless words was the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral. Becket was canonised as a saint in 1173 by Pope Alexander III.

Becket's relationship with the king had been severely strained after he was convicted of 'contempt of royal authority' in 1164 and forced to flee to France. His exile ended in 1170, but the truce was short-lived when his opposition to the coronation of Henry the Young King, as a junior monarch to his father, prompted the king to make the fatal pronouncement.

Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Wolsey were all prominent statesmen during the reign of King Henry VIII. Cranmer was also an ill-fated Archbishop of Canterbury who was executed during the reign of Queen Mary I.

Answer: The Peasants' Revolt

The Peasants' Revolt began as a protest against the unpopular poll tax but soon encompassed other demands such as the abolition of serfdom and the execution of leading government figures. Although the violence originated in Essex and Kent, the rebels (under the leadership of Wat Tyler) soon marched on London, forcing the 14 year old King Richard II to take refuge in the Tower of London.

Richard rode out to meet the rebels and agreed to many of their demands. However, at a second meeting a fight broke out and Wat Tyler was killed. The main rebellion in London collapsed after the death of its leader and Richard soon raised a large enough force to suppress the remaining rebellions that had broken out around the country. The concessions he had initially made to the rebels were also hastily overturned.

The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt to assassinate King James I; the Monmouth Rebellion was a plot against King James II; and the Glorious Revolution resulted in the successful overthrow of James II, replacing him with his son-in-law (and nephew) King William III and daughter Queen Mary II.

Answer: Perkin Warbeck

Perkin Warbeck, whose real name and history are unproven, made several failed attempts to invade England during the 1490s. He claimed to be Prince Richard, the son of the late King Edward IV, who was one of the 'Princes in the Tower'. Warbeck had significant support from several European monarchs, including King Charles VIII of France and King James IV of Scotland, and was recognised by Edward IV's sister Margaret as her missing nephew. In 1497, Warbeck convinced the Cornish lords to launch a second uprising against King Henry VII, but he fled before he had to face battle against the king's forces. He was captured, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and executed in 1499.

Lambert Simnel also initially claimed to be Prince Richard but later declared that he was Richard's cousin, Edward of Warwick. He was the figurehead of a rebellion against Henry VII in 1487. James and Charles Stuart (otherwise known as 'The Old Pretender' and 'The Young Pretender') were the son and grandson of King James II by his second wife Mary of Modena. They were excluded from the line of succession and subsequently led the Jacobite rebellions.

Answer: Sir Christopher Wren

The Great Fire of London, which started in a bakery in the aptly named Pudding Lane, is estimated to have destroyed over 13,000 homes and nearly a hundred religious buildings, including St Paul's Cathedral. The extent of the damage was partly due to strong winds fanning the flames, inefficient fire-fighting techniques, and the large number of tightly packed wooden buildings.

Although Wren was officially granted the task of rebuilding St Paul's Cathedral in 1669, the building was not finally declared completed until 1711. However, the building was consecrated in 1697 and services were resumed at that point.

Sir Charles Barry designed the Houses of Parliament, Sir John Vanbrugh was responsible for the design of Blenheim Palace and Inigo Jones redesigned parts of the version of St Paul's Cathedral that was destroyed by the Great Fire of London.

Answer: King James VI

In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded his cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England and also became known as King James I of England. However, the two nations remained separate, with each maintaining separate parliaments, laws and churches. The process of becoming a single nation was not simple and several attempts at unification occurred in the period between 1603 and 1707.

The Acts of Union were controversial, particularly in Scotland where a number of men involved in the negotiations were accused of bribery and many of the people were against unification. However, Queen Anne became the first monarch of the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain (or the United Kingdom of Great Britain) in 1707.

A further union with Ireland in 1801 led to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which then became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland following the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

Answer: Spain

In 1731 Robert Jenkins had his ear cut off by the captain of a Spanish ship off the coast of Florida, which was then part of the Spanish empire. The incident came to prominence seven years later when Jenkins' testified before Parliament as part of a wider investigation into Spanish conduct against British merchant vessels. The results of this investigation ultimately ended with Britain declaring war on Spain.

The war was not dubbed the War of Jenkins' Ear until 1858, when the historian Thomas Carlyle used the term in his book 'History of Friedrich II'. Friedrich II was King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786 and led his country in the War of the Austrian Succession, into which the War of Jenkins' Ear merged in 1742.

Answer: It was tied to the mast in a barrel of brandy

Although Lord Horatio Nelson was a revered commander, his body was not put on display on board his flagship HMS Victory, either on deck or in his personal cabin. The decision was taken to return his body to England and therefore the body was preserved by placing it in a barrel of brandy. HMS Victory was badly damaged in the battle and had to be towed to Gibraltar for repairs. Once there, Nelson's body was transferred into a more traditional coffin for the rest of the journey home.

Lord Nelson was given a state funeral and thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral in London on 9 January 1806.

Answer: Waterloo

Napoleon Bonaparte (or Napoleon I) surrendered in April 1814 following the capture of Paris by the forces of a coalition of European nations, including Britain. He was exiled to the Italian island of Elba under the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau and King Louis XVIII of the House of Bourbon was restored to the French throne.

Napoleon regained control of France after his escape from Elba and ruled for a period now known as the 'Hundred Days'. After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, by the joint forces of the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian commander Gebhard von Blucher, Napoleon abdicated for a second time and was imprisoned by the British. He was then exiled to the island of St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (which proved to be a considerably more secure place to stash him) where he died in 1821.

Borodino, Copenhagen and Marengo were all other battles of the Napoleonic wars. The song 'Waterloo' launched the pop career of the Swedish group ABBA.

Answer: Coal miners

The coal industry in Britain had been in decline since the end of the First World War and was in desperate need of modernisation to compete in the world market. However, the response of mine owners to falling profit was to increase miners' working hours and reduce their pay. In 1925 the government provided a subsidy to prop up miners' wages, but its subsequent removal nine months later led to nearly a million coal miners being locked out of their jobs after they demanded "not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day".

Three days later, on 4 May 1926, a general strike began in support of the mine workers, organised by the Trades Union Congress. It was a complete failure as the nine days of disruption achieved nothing for the coal miners, who were left to continue their strike alone. The most notable effect of the General Strike was the 1927 Trades Disputes Act which outlawed the practice of secondary action, i.e. sympathy strikes, and also banned strikes with political aims.