Winston Churchill
The New World
(Complete Edition)
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2018 OK Publishing
ISBN 978-80-272-4222-1
Table of Contents
Book IV: Renaissance and Reformation
Chapter V: The Break with Rome
Chapter VI: The End of the Monasteries
Chapter VII: The Protestant Struggle
Chapter IX: The Spanish Armada
Chapter III: Charles I and Buckingham
Chapter V: The Revolt of Parliament
Chapter VI: The Great Rebellion
Chapter VII: Marston Moor and Naseby
Chapter I: The English Republic
Chapter II: The Lord Protector
Chapter VII: The Catholic King
Preface
Far-reaching events took place in the two centuries covered by this volume. The New World of the American continent was discovered and settled by European adventure. In the realms of speculation and belief, poetry and art, other new worlds were opened to the human spirit. Between 1485 and 1688 the English peoples began to spread out all over the globe. They confronted and defeated the might of Spain. Once the freedom of the seas had been won the American colonies sprang into being. Lively and assertive communities grew up on the western shores of the Atlantic Ocean, which in the course of time were to become the United States. England and Scotland adopted the Protestant faith. The two kingdoms of the Island became united under a Scottish dynasty. A great civil war was fought on abiding issues of principle. The country sustained a Republican experiment under the massive personality of Oliver Cromwell. But, at the nation’s demand, the royal tradition was revived. At the end of this volume the Protestant faith has been secured under a Dutch monarch, Parliament is far advanced on the road to supremacy in the affairs of State, America is fast developing, and a prolonged and world-wide struggle with France is close at hand.
W. S. C.
CHARTWELL
WESTERHAM
KENT
September 4, 1956
Book IV: Renaissance and Reformation
Chapter I: The Round World
We have now reached the dawn of what is called the sixteenth century, which means all the years in the hundred years that begin with fifteen. The name is inevitable in English, but confusing. It covers a period in which extraordinary changes affected the whole of Europe. Some had been on the move for a long time, but sprang into full operative force at this moment. For two hundred years or more the Renaissance had been stirring the thought and spirit of Italy, and now came forth in the vivid revival of the traditions of ancient Greece and Rome, in so far as these did not affect the foundations of the Christian faith. The Popes had in the meanwhile become temporal rulers, with the lusts and pomps of other potentates, yet they claimed to carry with them the spiritual power as well. The revenues of the Church were swelled by the sale of “Indulgences” to remit Purgatory both for the living and the dead. The offices of bishop and cardinal were bought and sold, and the common people taxed to the limit of their credulity. These and other abuses in the organisation