The Coercion Acts were Acts passed by the British parliament for the purpose of enforcing law and order in Ireland. Since the Union in 1800 the British Parliament was obliged to pass several Coercion Acts, especially towards the middle of the 19th century, when the Fenian Society aroused English feeling by various outrages.
In 1880 and 1881, when the agrarian movement in Ireland developed into something resembling a system of organised terrorism, culminating in the Phoenix Park murders, Gladstone's government, so as to put a stop to the state of lawlessness prevailing in the country, passed the Coercion Act of 1881, and the Crimes Act of 1882. By the first, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland was empowered to arrest any person on meresuspicion, for treason and intimidation. A Coercion Bill, introduced by Balfour in 1887, was put in force in 1918, when the need again arose for the repression of crime in Ireland. Research Coercion Acts
The Habitual Criminals Act was passed in 1869 granting powers to the police to apprehend habitual criminals on suspicion. The objective being to be more effective in the prevention of crime. This statute was, however, repealed two years later and replaced by a more comprehensive act known as the Prevention of Crime Act. Research Habitual Criminals Act
The Meal Tub Plot was a plot in 1679 against the then duke of York, afterwards James II, contrived by a man called Dangerfield, who hid a bundle of seditious letters in the lodgings of colonel Maunsell, and then gave customs officers information that smuggled goods were hidden there. Dangerfield was arrested on suspicion of forging the letters, and subsequently papers were found hidden in a meal tub at the house of a woman with whom he cohabited, which contained the scheme to be sworn to, accusing the most eminent Protestants at the time, who were opposed to the duke of York's succession, of treason. Particularly accused were the earls of Shaftsbury, Essex and Halifax. Dangerfield had been previously whipped for a similar offence, and so on this occasion on the 1st of June 1685 he had one of his eyes struck out, the punishment conducted by the barrister Robert Francis. This caused Dangerfield's death, and his assailant was hanged. Research Meal Tub Plot
Abbas II (Hilmi Pasha) was khedive of Egypt. He was born in 1874 and died in 1944. He became in 1892 and held the position until he was deposed by the British in 1914 under suspicion of plotting with Turkey against British rule in Egypt. Research Abbas II
Ceasar Germanicus was a distinguished Roman. The son of NeroClaudiusDrusus and the younger Antonia, a niece of Augustus, he was born in 15 BC and died in 19 AD. He was adopted by Tiberius, his paternal uncle, and married Agrippina, the granddaughter of Augustus. When Augustus died, in 14 AD, Germanicus was invited by the rebellious legions on the Rhine to assume the sovereignty, but refused, and quelled the revolt. He then crossed the Rhine, surprised and defeated the Marsi with great slaughter. Next year a campaign against the Catti and the Germans, led by Arminius, resulted in a series of victories. The following year he again made his way into Germany, defeated the Cherusci twice, and made an incursion into the country of the Marsi. Tiberius now became jealous of the glory of Germanicus, called him home under pretence of granting him a triumph, then, to get rid of him, sent him into the East to compose the disturbances in Armenia and Cappadocia. This he performed in 18 AD, visited Egypt the following year, and died on his return to Syria under some suspicion of having been poisoned by Cn. Piso, the governor of Syria. Research Caesar Germanicus
In Scottish history, Covenanters is the name given to the party which struggled for religious liberty from 1637 on to the revolution; but more especially applied to the insurgents who, after the passing of the act of 1662 denouncing the Solemn League and Covenant as a seditious oath, took up arms in defence of the Presbyterian form of church government. The Presbyterian ministers who refused to acknowledge the bishops were ejected from their parishes and gathered round them crowds of their people on the hillsides, or any lonely spot, to attend their ministrations. These meetings, called 'conventicles,' were denounced as seditious, and to frequent them or to hold communication with those frequenting them was forbidden on pain of death. The unwarrantable severity with which the recusants were treated provoked them to take up arms in defence of their opinions. The first outbreaks took place in the hill country on the borders of Ayr and Lanarkshire. Here at Drumclog, a farm near London Hill, a conventicle was attacked by a body of dragoons under Graham of Claverhouse, but were successful in defeating their assailants in 1679. The murder of Archbishop Sharp on Magus Moor, and this defeat, alarmed the government, who sent a large body of troops under the command of the Duke of Monmouth to put down the insurgents, who had increased in number rapidly. The two armies met at Bothwell Bridge, where the Covenanters were totally defeated on June the 22nd, 1679.
In consequence of the rebellious protest called the Sanquhar Declaration, put forth in 1680 by Cameron, Cargill, and others, as representing the more irreconcilable of the Covenanters (known as Cameronians), and a subsequent proclamation in 1684, the government proceeded to more severe measures. An oath was now required of all who would free themselves of suspicion of complicity with the Covenanters; and the dragoons who were sent out to hunt down the rebels were empowered to kill anyone who refused to take the oath. During this 'killing time', as it was called, the sufferings of the Covenanters were extreme; but notwithstanding the great numbers who were put to death, their fanatic spirit seemed only to grow stronger. Even after the accession of William some of the extreme Covenanters refused to acknowledge him owing to his acceptance of Episcopacy in England, and formed the earliest dissenting sect in Scotland. Research Covenanters
David Rizzio was an Italian musician. He was born in 1533 at Pancalieri and died in 1566. He went to Scotland as an attendant of an Italian envoy and while there attracted the attention of Mary Queen of Scots, who gave him an appointment in her court, first as a singer in the chapel, then as a valet de chambre, and finally as secretary. The promotion of a Roman Catholic foreigner aroused suspicion of a Popish plot, and Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, suspected Mary and David Rizzio of being lovers and took little persuasion from other jealous nobles that he should be murdered. On March the 9th 1566 at Holyrood, David Rizzio was dragged from Mary's presence and murdered, suffering 56 separate injuries in a frenzied attack. Research David Rizzio
Elizabeth I was queen of England from 1558 to 1603. She was born in 1533 at Greenwich and died in 1603. Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Almost immediately after her birth, Elizabeth was declared heiress to the crown. After her mother had been beheaded in 1536, both Elizabeth and her sister Mary were declared bastards, and she was finally placed after Prince Edward and the Lady Mary in the order of succession.
On the accession of Edward VIElizabeth was committed to the care of the queen-dowager Catherine; and after the death of Catherine and beheadal of her consort Thomas Seymour she was closely watched at Hatfield,where she received a classical education under William Grindal and Roger Ascliam. At the death of Edward VIElizabeth vigorously supported the title of Mary against the pretensions of Lady Jane Grey, but continued throughout the whole reign an object of suspicion and surveillance. In self-defence she made every demonstration of zealous adherence to the Roman Catholic faith, but her inclinations were well known. On the 17th of November, 1558, Mary's reign came to a close, and Elizabeth was immediately recognized queen by parliament.
The accuracy of Elizabeth's judgment showed itself in her choice of advisers, Parker, a moderate divine (Archbishop of Canterbury 1559), aiding her in ecclesiastical policy; while William Cecil, LordBurleigh, assisted her in foreign affairs. The first great object of her reign was the settlement of religion, to effect which a parliament was called on the 25th of January, and dissolved on the 8th of May, its object having been accomplished - the return of England to Protestantism, the royal supremacy asserted, and the revised prayer-book enforced by the Act of Uniformity. Freed from the tyranny of Mary's reign the Puritans began to claim predominance for their own dogmas, while the supporters of the Established Church were unwilling to grant them even liberty of worship. The Puritans, therefore, like the Catholics, were made irreconcilable enemies of the existing order, and increasingly stringent measures were adopted agsinst them. But the struggle against the Catholics was the most severe, chiefly because they were supported by foreign powers; so that while their religion was wholly prohibited, even exile was forbidden them, in order to prevent their intrigues abroad. Many Catholics, particularly priests, suffered death during this reign; but simple nonconformity, from whatever cause, was pursued with the severest penalties, and many more clergymen were driven out of the church by differences about the position of altars, the wearing of caps, and such like matters, than were forced to resign by the change from Rome to Reformation.
Elizabeth's first parliament approached her on a subject which, next to religion, was the chief trouble of her reign, the succession to the crown. They requested her to marry, but she declared her intention to live and die a virgin; and she consistently declined in the course of her life such suitors as the Duc d'Alencon, Prince Erik of Sweden, the Archduke Charles of Austria, and Philip of Spain. While, however, she felt that she could best maintain her power by remaining unmarried, she knew how to temporize with suitors for political ends, and showed the greatest jealousy of all pretenders to the English succession.
With the unfortunate Mary, queen of Scots, were connected many of the political events of Elizabeth's reign. On her accession the country was at war with France. Peace was easily concluded in 1559; but the assumption by Francis and Mary of the royal arms and titles of England led to an immediate interference on the part of Elizabeth in the affairs of Scotland. She entered into a league with the Lords of the Congregation, or leaders of the Reformed party; and throughout her reign this party was frequently serviceable in furthering her policy. She also gave early support to the Huguenot party in France, and to the Protestants in the Netherlands, so that throughout Europe she was looked on as the head of the Protestant party. This policy roused the inplacable resentment of Philip, who strove in turn to excite the Catholics against her both in her own dominions and in Scotland.
Mary, Queen of Scots, threatened by rebellion in Scotland, fled to England only to be mprisoned by Elizabeth I in 1567 and this led to a series of conspiracies, beginning with that under the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, and ending with the plot of Babington, which finally determined Elizabeth to make away with her captive. The execution of Queen Mary in 1587, though it has stained her name to posterity, tended to confirm her power among her contemporaries and led to outright war with Spain. In 1588 Philip of Spain's invasion fleet, the ' Armada', was defeated. There were two further Armadas in the 1590s, and an Irish revolt in 1595, assisted by Spain, which was eventually put down in 1601. The financial strains caused by the war against Spain (made worse by poor harvests) meant that Elizabeth did not try to put the Crown on a permanently solvent basis. In addition to sharp debates over revenue-raising measures such as monopolies, Parliament continued its pressure on the Queen to deal with the question of the succession.
During her reign the splendour of her government at home and abroad was sustained by such men as Burleigh, Bacon, Walsingham, and Throgmorton; but she had personal favourites of less merit who were often more brilliantly rewarded. Chief of these were Dudley, whom she created Earl of Leicester, and whom she was disposed to marry, and Essex, whose violent passions brought about his ruin. He was beheaded in 1601, but Elizabeth never forgave herself his death. Her own health soon after gave way and she died on the 24th of March, 1603, naming James VI of Scotland as her successor.
To Queen Elizabeth I may be traced the origins of the English colonisation of North America .In 1578 she granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert letters patent to conquer and possess any heathen lands not already in the hands of Christians. Humphrey Gilbert's expedition failed, but in 1584 Elizabeth granted a similar charter to Walter Raleigh. In 1585, with the Queen's assistance, Walter Raleigh sent seven vessels and 100 colonists to settle in Virginia, which had been taken in the Queen's name under the charter of 1584 and named by Elizabeth. In 1603 Gosnold named one of the Elizabeth Islands for her. Research Elizabeth I
Francois de Bassompierre was Marshal of France. He was born in 1579 and died in 1646. In 1602 he made his first campaign against the Duke of Savoy, and he fought with equal distinction in the following year in the imperial army against the Turks. In 1622 Louis XIII appointed him Marshal of France, and became so much attached to him that Luynes, the declared favourite, sent him on embassies to Spain, Switzerland, and England. After his return he became an object of suspicion to CardinalRichelieu, and was sent to the Bastille in 1631, from which he was not released until 1643, after the death of the cardinal. During his detention he occupied himself with writing his memoirs, which shed much light on the events of that time. Research Francois de Bassompierre
Garcilaso de la Vega (properly Garcias Laso de la Vega) was a Spanish poet, He was born in 1600 0r 1503 at Toledo and died in 1536. He went in his youth to the Spanish court, and in 1529 distinguished himself in the Spanish corps serving against the Turks in Austria. An intrigue with a lady of the court led to his imprisonment on an island in the Danube, where several of his poems were composed. In 1529 he was engaged in the expedition against Soliman, and in 1535 in that against Tunis. He was made commander of thirty companies of infantry in 1536, and accompanied the imperial army against Marseilles, but was mortally wounded in attempting to scale a tower near Frejus. He died at Nice in that year, and was buried at Toledo. His name is associated with that of his contemporary Boscan in the impetus given to Spanish literature by the imitation of the Italian poetic style as exemplified in Petrarch, Ariosto, and Sannazaro. His works, which consist of eclogues, epistles, odes, songs, sonnets, etc, are graceful and musical.
Garcilaso de la Vega; or Garcias Laso de la Vega was a Peruvian historian. The son of Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the conquerors of Peru, and a princess of the race of the Incas, he was born in 1530 or 1540 at Cuzco, Peru and died in 1616 or 1620. Having fallen under the groundless suspicion of the Spanish government he was sent home in 1560. His great work on the history of Peru is in two parts: the first entitled Los Comentarios Reales que tratan delOrigen de los Incas, etc (published in Lisbon in 1609); the second, the Historia general delPeru (published in Cordova in 1616). He wrote also Historia de la Florida (published in Lisbon in 1609). Research Garcilaso de la Vega
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Coercion Acts
