English Kings
SAXON KINGS
EGBERT 827 – 839
AETHELWULF 839-856
AETHELBALD 856 – 860
AETHELBERT 860 – 866
AETHELRED I 866 – 871
ALFRED THE GREAT 871 – 899 – son of AETHELWULF
EDWARD (The Elder) 899 – 924
ATHELSTAN 924 – 939
EDMUND 939 – 946
EADRED 946 – 955
EADWIG 955 – 959
EDGAR 959 – 975
EDWARD THE MARTYR 975 – 978
AETHELRED II THE UNREADY 978 – 1016
EDMUND II IRONSIDE 1016 – 1016
CANUTE (CNUT THE GREAT) THE DANE 1016 – 1035
HAROLD I 1035 – 1040
HARTHACANUTE 1040 – 1042
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR 1042-1066
HAROLD II 1066
Decorated: A term applied to the medieval architecture in England prevailing during the reigns of the first three Edwards. It followed the Early English period.
Ornamented English: That phase of Medieval architecture in England generally called the Decorated period; it occurred chiefly in the reigns of the three first Edwards.
Anglo-Saxon: The pre-Romanesque architecture of England before the Norman Conquest (1066), which survived for a short time thereafter, characterized by massive walls and round arches.
NORMAN KINGS
WILLIAM I (The Conqueror) 1066-1087
Battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066. The Domesday Book was compiled. On November 1, 1083, wife Matilda died. William died on September 9, 1087 in Rouen.
WILLIAM II (Rufus) 1087- 1100
HENRY I 1100-1135
STEPHEN 1135-1154
Norman gallery: Gallery running in front of the windows, typical of Anglo-Norman architecture.
Norman Conquest: The conquest of England by the Normans under William the Conqueror, in 1066.
Norman architecture: The Romanesque architecture of England from the Norman conquest (1066) until the rise of the Gothic around 1180.
French Revival style: The picturesque French Revival incorporated stylistic features from a broad period of French architecture spanning several centuries, but found its essence in the landed country estates of Brittany and Normandy. The most distinctive identifying features are the steeply pitched hipped pavilion roof, conical tower, and French doors. This popular style, lasting well into the 1940s, was used for high-style country estates and smaller suburban houses throughout America.
Norman: A style of buildings erected by the Normans (1066 – 1154) based on the Italian Romanesque. It was used principally in castles, churches, and abbeys of massive proportions. Sparsely decorated masonry and the use of the round arch are characteristic.
Caen: Soft, fine-grained, easily-worked limestone from near Caen, Normandy, used in several English medieval buildings…
Caen stone: A stone from Caen, in Normandy, used in some medieval buildings in England.
cubiform capital: In medieval, especially Norman, architecture, a cubic capital with its lower angles rounded off.
angle shaft: A column within the right-angled recesses of Norman door and window jambs. 2. A decorative member, such as a colonnette or enriched corner bead, attached to an external angle of a building.
interrupted arched molding: A common Norman molding consisting of a series of interrupted arches.
beak head: An ornament; any of several fantastic, animal-like heads with tapered, downpointed beaks; frequently used in richly decorated Norman doorways. Also see catshead.
beakhead: An ornament; any of several fantastic, animal-like heads with tapered, downpointed beaks; frequently used in richly decorated Norman doorways. Also see catshead.
beak-head: An ornament; any of several fantastic, animal-like heads with tapered, downpointed beaks; frequently used in richly decorated Norman doorways. Also see catshead.
beak-head molding: One common in Norman architecture, using grotesque heads in a series, all heads terminating in a pointed chin or beak.
billet: A common Norman or Romanesque molding formed by a series of circular (but occasionally square) cylinders, disposed alternately with the notches in single or multiple rows. 2. A timber which is sawn on three sides and left rounded on the fourth. 3. A narrow, generally square, bar of steel, forged or hot-rolled from an ingot or bloom.
billet molding: A molding used chiefly in Norman architecture.
prismatic billet molding: A common Norman molding consisting of a series of prisms with alternate rows staggered.
roll billet molding: A common Norman molding consisting of a series of billets, which are cylindrical in cross section, usually staggered in alternate rows.
square billet: A Norman molding consisting of a series of projecting cubes, with spaces between the cubes.
cable pattern: Convex rope-like molding found in Norman architecture. Sometimes also refers to similar decoration in goldsmiths’ work.
chevron molding: A molding adorned with chevrons, or zigzags, as in Norman and some Romanesque portals. The chevrons are usually of cylindrical section, and alternately convex and concave.
bâtons rompus: Short, straight pieces of convex molding, as those forming Norman or Romanesque chevrons and zigzags.
open heart molding: A common Norman molding consisting of a series of overlapping shapes resembling the outlines of a heart.
medallion molding: A molding consisting of a series of medallions, found in the later and richer examples of Norman architecture.
nebule: A form of ornament characteristic of Norman architecture – in band or corbel table – the lower edge of which is undulating.
rose molding: An ornament used especially in Norman architecture, chiefly during its later and richer period.
bezantee: A molding of the Norman period simulating Byzantine coins or bezants.
star molding: A common Norman molding whose surface is a succession of projecting starlike shapes.
twining stem molding: A common Norman molding consisting of a half round entwined by a stylized tendril.
reversed zigzag molding: A common Norman molding consisting of a series of zigzags.
besant: A circular-disk ornament in series upon a molding; common in Norman architecture.
groined: The angle formed by meeting or intersection of two vaults. In the Norman era (1066 – 1300) these were left plain, but during the Gothic era these were almost invariably covered with ribs. For the Baroque architects, these were very ornate.
edge shafts: Shafts which sustain arches, united by their sides and back to the nearest wall or arch, so they appear to support their edge only; abundantly used in Norman architecture.
colmbage: Norman term for half-timber construction.
pillar: An upright structure that supports an arch or a superstructure or provides a decorative element. Pillars are massive in the Norman period, and have a wide variety of decorated, square, rounded and ornate patterns. Pillars can have bases and capitals.
pillars: An upright structure that supports an arch or a superstructure or provides a decorative element. Pillars are massive in the Norman period, and have a wide variety of decorated, square, rounded and ornate patterns. Pillars can have bases and capitals.
PLANTAGENET KINGS
HENRY II 1154-1189
Pope gives English king authority to invade Ireland for purpose of reforming church in 1155.
Thomas Becket murder in 1170.
RICHARD I (The Lionheart) 1189 – 1199
JOHN 1199 – 1216
HENRY III 1216 – 1272
Monarchs of England and Wales
EDWARD I 1272 – 1307
EDWARD II 1307 – deposed 1327
EDWARD III 1327 – 1377
RICHARD II 1377 – deposed 1399
HOUSE OF LANCASTER
HENRY IV 1399 – 1413
HENRY V 1413 – 1422
HENRY VI 1422 – deposed 1461 Beginning of the Wars of the Roses
HOUSE OF YORK
EDWARD IV 1461- 1483
EDWARD V 1483 – 1483
RICHARD III 1483 – 1485 End of the Wars of the Roses
THE TUDORS
Elizabethan architecture: In the United States, the term often refers to late-19th- and early-20th-century English Revival architecture that used “black-and-white” half-timbering. Based vaguely on late medieval, rambling English cottages, it is often used interchangeably with Tudor.
Domestic Revival: Offshoot of the cult of the Picturesque and the Gothic Revival, it was essentially a style of domestic architecture that incorporated forms, details, and materials found in English vernacular buildings, including steeply-pitched tiled roofs, dormers, timber-framing and jettied construction, small-paned mullioned and transomed windows (often with leaded lights), tile-hung walls, tall chimneys (often of the Tudor type in carved and molded brick), and carefully contrived asymmetrical compositions.
Elizabethan: In the United States, the term often refers to late-19th- and early-20th-century English Revival architecture that used “black-and-white” half-timbering. Based vaguely on late medieval, rambling English cottages, it is often used interchangeably with Tudor.
Jacobean Revival Sometimes, the architecture during King James’s reign (Jacobean), also, Renaissance, is included in Tudor style.Neo-Tudor:The 19th century revival of late-English medieval architecture of the period 1485-1547, particularly associated with the early-19th c. Gothic Revival, Domestic Revival, Old English, and Tudorbethan styles, and the Arts-and-crafts Movement. Tudor vernacular architecture was also revived (1920s and 1930s).
Tudor: A style of English architecture prevalent during the reigns of the Tudors (1485-1558); transitional between Gothic and Palladian, with emphasis on privacy and interiors.
Tudor Revival: A masonry or stucco style that recalls the English architecture of the Tudor period (1485-1588), featuring steep roofs, cross gables, and massive chimneys.
Tudor Revival style: A masonry or stucco style that recalls the English architecture of the Tudor period (1485-1588), featuring steep roofs, cross gables, and massive chimneys.
Tudor style: A style of English architecture prevalent during the reigns of the Tudors (1485-1558); transitional between Gothic and Palladian, with emphasis on privacy and interiors.
Victorian styles: The primary Victorian styles and their origins are as follows: Gothic Revival – English Middle Ages, i.e., the Tudor dynasty; Italianate – Rural Italy; Second Empire – French Baroque Revival during Napoleon III’s reign; Stick – Alpine architecture; Queen Anne – 17th century England; Richardsonian Romanesque – American adaptation of Romanesque style; Shingle – American return to English Colonial style in the New World where forests were easily accessible for building; Colonial Revival – H. H. Richardson-inspired examination of American roots in New England; Renaissance – not to be confused with the Second Renaissance Revival, a Beaux Arts substyle.
medieval door: A door with rounded, pointed-head, or Tudor-headed tops used with medieval styles.
Tudor door: A door with a Tudor arch top.
proudwork: Masonry, found occasionally in Tudor-Gothic work, similar to flushwork, except that the freestone patterns and tracery stand in higher relief than the flint panels. From proud, meaning ‘projecting from a plane surface’ – probably only used in limited geographical areas.
Tudor rose: A conventionalized rose pattern, usually with five petals, a superposition of white and red roses, the heraldic emblem of the Tudor dynasty.
linenfold panelling: Wooden paneling in which the individual panels are carved with a motif like the vertical folds of linen, from the Tudor period.
black and white work: Exposed timber framing with white infill, as seen on Elizabethan and Tudor houses.
pargeting: Elaborate plasterwork; especially an ornamental facing for plaster walls, sometimes decorated with figures in low relief or indented; often used on the exterior of houses in the Tudor period. 2. An interior lining of a flue to provide a smooth surface and to aid in fire protection.
pargework: Elaborate plasterwork; especially an ornamental facing for plaster walls, sometimes decorated with figures in low relief or indented; often used on the exterior of houses in the Tudor period. 2. An interior lining of a flue to provide a smooth surface and to aid in fire protection.
barge-board: A board, often elaborately carved, attached to the projecting edge of a gable roof. Also called a verge-board. Common to the Gothic Revival, Elizabethan, and Tudor styles.
black-and-white: Exposed timber framing with white infill, as seen on Elizabethan and Tudor houses.
four-centered arch: A shallow pointed arch struck from four centers, as in a Tudor arch.
four-centered pointed arch See Tudor arch.Tudor arch: A low, wide, pointed arch common in the architecture of Tudor England.
English cottage: The English cottage underwent a revival in the first few decades of this century. This picturesque cottage featured asymmetrical massing of steeply pitched roofs, stucco walls with clean edges, unusual window patterns, tall chimneys, and English detailing—all calculated to produce a charming, moderately rustic design. On plan, rooms were often clustered around a hall, and room sizes and shapes differed so as to provide new spatial experiences and opportunities for built-in furniture, a window treatment, and perhaps access to a terrace or a porch. These different interior spaces often projected from the main body of the house. Specific detailing included brick trim around openings, the use of Tudor framing in gables, some changes in materials, clipped gables, and high-contrast coloration…
type: Exemplar, pattern, prototype, or original work serving as a model after which a building or buildings are copied. 2. Something exemplifying the ideal characteristics of, say, a temple, so some would hold that the Parthenon is the very type of a Greek-Doric temple. 3. Tester. 4. Top of a small cupola or turret, e.g. the crowning part of a Tudor turret, such as those of the White Tower, Tower of London (1532). Form or character that distinguishes a class or group of buildings (building-type), e.g. church, mausoleum, town-hall, temple.
HENRY VII 1485 – 1509
When Richard III fell at the Battle of Bosworth, his crown was picked up and placed on the head of Henry Tudor. He married Elizabeth of York and so united the two warring houses, York and Lancaster. He was a skillful politician but avaricious. The material wealth of the country increased greatly. During Henry’s reign playing cards were invented and the portrait of his wife Elizabeth has appeared eight times on every pack of cards for nearly 500 years.
Monarchs of England, Wales and Ireland
HENRY VIII 1509 – 1547
The best known fact about Henry VIII is that he had six wives! Most school children learn the following rhyme to help them remember the fate of each wife: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived”. His first wife was Catherine of Aragon, his brothers widow, whom he later divorced to marry Anne Boleyn. This divorce caused the split from Rome and Henry declared himself the head of the Church Of England. The Dissolution of the Monasteries began in 1536, and the money gained from this helped Henry to bring about an effective Navy. In an effort to have a son, Henry married four further wives, but only one son was born, to Jane Seymour. Henry had two daughters both to become rulers of England – Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn.
Knole House: In Kent, England. A magnificent seat, the main house dating from the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII…
Tudor architecture: The final development of English Perpendicular Gothic architecture, during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII (1485-1547), preceding Elizabethan architecture and characterized by four-centered arches.
EDWARD VI 1547 – 1553
The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was a sickly boy; it is thought he suffered from tuberculosis. Edward succeeded his father at the age of 9, the government being carried on by a Council of Regency with his uncle, Duke of Somerset, styled Protector. Even though his reign was short, many men made their mark. Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer and the uniformity of worship helped turn England into a Protestant State. After Edward’s death there was a dispute over the succession. As Mary was Catholic, Lady Jane Grey was named as the next in line to the throne. She was proclaimed Queen but Mary entered London with her supporters and Jane was taken to the Tower. She reigned for only 9 days. She was executed in 1554, aged 17.
Edwardine: Of the time of King Edward VI.
MARY I (Bloody Mary) 1553 – 1558
Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. A devout Catholic, she married Philip of Spain. Mary attempted to enforce the wholesale conversion of England to Catholicism. She carried this out with the utmost severity. The Protestant bishops, Latimer, Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer were among those burnt at the stake. The place, in Broad Street Oxford, is marked by a bronze cross. The country was plunged into a bitter blood bath, which is why she is remembered as Bloody Mary. She died in 1558 at Lambeth Palace in London.
ELIZABETH I 1558-1603
The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was a remarkable woman, noted for her learning and wisdom. From first to last she was popular with the people and had a genius for the selection of capable advisors. Drake, Raleigh, Hawkins, the Cecils, Essex and many many more made England respected and feared. The Spanish Armada was decisively defeated in 1588 and Raleigh’s first Virginian colony was founded. The execution of Mary Queen of Scots marred what was a glorious time in English history. Shakespeare was also at the height of his popularity. Elizabeth never married.
Elizabethan architecture: In the United States, the term often refers to late-19th- and early-20th-century English Revival architecture that used “black-and-white” half-timbering. Based vaguely on late medieval, rambling English cottages, it is often used interchangeably with Tudor.
Elizabethan: In the United States, the term often refers to late-19th- and early-20th-century English Revival architecture that used “black-and-white” half-timbering. Based vaguely on late medieval, rambling English cottages, it is often used interchangeably with Tudor.
Elizabethan Revival: During the 1830s Elizabethan architecture provided precedents for those in search of an English national style…
E plan: That especial plan, as for a large country house, whose general outline resembles the capital letter E. It is attained by arranging two larger pavilions at the two ends of the main building and a smaller one halfway between them; although in English country houses the end pavilions have rather the aspect of breaks in the main building which seems to be returned at right angles at either end, the lines of cornice, roof, etc., being continuous or nearly so. It has been though that this plan was sometimes used in compliment to Queen Elizabeth.
H-plan: Plan shaped like an H, as in Elizabethan houses such as Montacute House, Som. It was a variation on the E-plan in that it was like two Es placed back to back, with the wings extending symmetrically in both directions.
long gallery: A gallery in the upper stories of an Elizabethan or Jacobean manor house; often used as a promenade or family room.
balcony stage: A balcony used as a playing area, as in the Elizabethan theatre.
Jacobean Mannerist garden: Until 1603, when James VI of Scotland ascended to the Throne as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, England had been to some extent isolated from artistic developments on the Continent during the reign of Elizabeth I. With the ascension of the Stuarts, however, contacts were renewed with Italian art… The inspiration for the Mannerist fountain-and-grotto mania which gripped Jacobean England was the celebrated garden of Pratolino, outside Florence, filtered through French gardens such as those at Fontainebleau and St Germain-en-Laye…
collegiate architecture: Architecture having the characteristics of a college; particularly used of the style employed in mediaeval and Elizabethan colleges of the great British universities, with their quiet courtyards or quadrangles, mullioned windows, battlemented parapets, picturesque chimneys, bays, and oriels.
Jacobean architecture: English architectural and decorative style of the early 17th century, adapting the Elizabethan style to continental Renaissance influences; named after James I (1603-1625), but continuing beyond his death.
Tudor architecture: The final development of English Perpendicular Gothic architecture, during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII (1485-1547), preceding Elizabethan architecture and characterized by four-centered arches.
Elizabethan Revival: During the 1830s Elizabethan architecture provided precedents for those in search of an English national style…
English Renaissance: A period of architecture which Sir Banister Fletcher divides into two parts: Elizabethan (1558-1603) and Jacobean (1603-1625).
Jacobean: A style named for James I (1603-25), one of the English Revival styles popular with the gentry at the turn of the 20th century. Characterized by stone construction, steep roofs, and shaped parapet gables. The occasional result of combining its features with an Elizabethan motif has been slyly called Jacobethan.
Jacobethan: Revivalist architecture of 19th c. and early 20th c., in which Elizabethan and Jacobean elements were freely mixed. William Burn specialized in the style for his country-houses.
prismatic rustication: In Elizabethan architecture, rusticated masonry with diamond-shaped projections worked on the face of every stone.
interlacing ornament: A method of ornamentation, especially characteristic of the time of Elizabeth in England, composed of a capricious interlacing, folding, and interpenetration of bands or fillets, sometimes represented as cut with foliations.
strap work: A method of ornamentation, especially characteristic of the time of Elizabeth in England, composed of a capricious interlacing, folding, and interpenetration of bands or fillets, sometimes represented as cut with foliations.
black and white work: Exposed timber framing with white infill, as seen on Elizabethan and Tudor houses.
barge-board A board, often elaborately carved, attached to the projecting edge of a gable roof. Also called a verge-board. Common to the Gothic Revival, Elizabethan, and Tudor styles.
black-and-white Exposed timber framing with white infill, as seen on Elizabethan and Tudor houses.
prodigy-house Large, showy, late-Elizabethan or Jacobean house with North-European Renaissance detailing and certain post-Gothic features, such as mullioned-and-transomed windows…
British Monarchs
THE STUARTS
JAMES I and VI of Scotland 1603 -1625
James was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley. He was the first king to rule over Scotland and England. James was more of a scholar than a man of action. In 1605 the Gunpowder Plot was hatched: Guy Fawkes and his Catholic friends tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, but were captured before they could do so. James’s reign saw the publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible, though this caused problems with the Puritans and their attitude towards the established church. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers sailed for America in their ship The Mayflower.
Jacobean Mannerist garden: Until 1603, when James VI of Scotland ascended to the Throne as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, England had been to some extent isolated from artistic developments on the Continent during the reign of Elizabeth I. With the ascension of the Stuarts, however, contacts were renewed with Italian art… The inspiration for the Mannerist fountain-and-grotto mania which gripped Jacobean England was the celebrated garden of Pratolino, outside Florence, filtered through French gardens such as those at Fontainebleau and St Germain-en-Laye…
Jacobean architecture: English architectural and decorative style of the early 17th century, adapting the Elizabethan style to continental Renaissance influences; named after James I (1603-1625), but continuing beyond his death.
Early English Colonial style: Establishing their first settlements in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, some half a million colonists had emigrated to America from England, Scotland, and Ireland by the end of the 17th century. With them came a thoroughly British pattern of social and cultural values that soon traversed the Atlantic seaboard. Building characteristics varied from colony to colony and town to town. However, a broad distinction can be drawn between the New England village, which comprised individual houses grouped around a town green, and the isolated southern plantation, a self-sufficient enterprise supported by slave labor and complete with a forge, carpentry shop, and perhaps a brickyard. New England settlers were primarily middle-class yeoman families. Most came from a single area of England (East Anglia), and they continued a well-entrenched tradition of heavy timber-framed buildings. Settlers of the Virginia tidewater region and farther south came from more diverse areas and included a significant number of bricklayers and masons. Lime, used for mortar, was also readily available in the South, so masonry construction was more typical. Until about 1700, all early English Colonial houses shared a distinct postmedieval character, most noticeable in steep pitched roofs (a holdover originally designed to support thatch), immense stacked chimneys, and small casement windows. The plan was typically a one-room, all-purpose “fireroom,” or “hall,” used for cooking, eating, and sleeping, or a two-room layout with a central chimney dividing the hall and parlor or kitchen. Additional sleeping chambers were located above.
Jacobean: A style named for James I (1603-25), one of the English Revival styles popular with the gentry at the turn of the 20th century. Characterized by stone construction, steep roofs, and shaped parapet gables. The occasional result of combining its features with an Elizabethan motif has been slyly called Jacobethan.
Jacobean Revival: Sometimes, the architecture during King James’s reign (Jacobean), also, Renaissance, is included in Tudor style.
English Renaissance: A period of architecture which Sir Banister Fletcher divides into two parts: Elizabethan (1558-1603) and Jacobean (1603-1625).
Jacobethan: Revivalist architecture of 19th c. and early 20th c., in which Elizabethan and Jacobean elements were freely mixed. William Burn specialized in the style for his country-houses.
Jacobethean style: Derived from a style of housing popular in 17th century England, using masonry and symmetry with interior courtyards, transom windows, and gabled dormers.
Scottish Baronial: The 19th century style evolved during the Jacobethan Revival in England, with a distinctly Scottish flavor, incorporating battlements, tourelles, machicolations, and conical roofs. Derived from medieval fortified tower-houses and castles…
nulling: A quadrant-shaped detail on decorative moldings, especially in Jacobean architecture.
Wyatt window: Tripartite window resembling a serliana, but with the arch omitted and the entablature carried over the wider central window, named after its inventor, James Wyatt. It may be placed in a segmental-headed recess, or may be capped by a pediment…
long gallery: A gallery in the upper stories of an Elizabethan or Jacobean manor house; often used as a promenade or family room.
prodigy-house: Large, showy, late-Elizabethan or Jacobean house with North-European Renaissance detailing and certain post-Gothic features, such as mullioned-and-transomed windows…
CHARLES 1 1625 – 1649 English Civil War
The son of James I and Anne of Denmark, Charles believed that he ruled by Divine Right. He encountered difficulties with Parliament from the beginning, and this led to the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. The war lasted four years and following the defeat of Charles’s Royalist forces by the New Model Army, led by Oliver Cromwell, Charles was captured and imprisoned. The House of Commons tried Charles for treason against England and when found guilty he was condemned to death. His death warrant states that he was beheaded on Tuesday 30 January 1649. Following this the British monarchy was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared.
THE COMMONWEALTH
declared May 19th 1649
OLIVER CROMWELL, Lord Protector 1653 – 1658
Cromwell was born at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in 1599, the son of a small landowner. He entered Parliament in 1629 and became active in events leading to the Civil War. A leading Puritan figure, he raised cavalry forces and organised the New Model Army, which he led to victory over the Royalists at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. Failing to gain agreement on constitutional change in government with Charles I, Cromwell was a member of a ‘Special Commission’ that tried and condemned the king to death in 1649. Cromwell declared Britain a republic ‘The Commonwealth’ and he went on to become its Lord Protector.
Cromwell went on to crush the Irish clans and the Scots loyal to Charles II between 1649 and 1651. In 1653 he finally expelled the corrupt English parliament and with the agreement of army leaders became Lord Protector (King in all but name)
RICHARD CROMWELL, Lord Protector 1658 – 1659
Richard was the third son of Oliver Cromwell, he was appointed the second ruling Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, serving for just nine months. Unlike his father, Richard lacked military experience and as such failed to gain respect or support from his New Model Army. Richard was eventually ‘persuaded’ to resign from his position as Lord Protector and exiled himself to France until 1680, when he returned to England.
Protectorate: The period of the Commonwealth (1649-60) in the British Isles when Oliver and then Richard Cromwell held the title of Lord Protector. It gave its name to the Protectorate style of architecture found in several country-houses of the period…
THE RESTORATION
CHARLES II 1660 – 1685
Son of Charles I, also known as the Merry Monarch. After the collapse of the Protectorate following the death of Oliver Cromwell and the flight of Richard Cromwell to France, the Army and Parliament asked Charles to take the throne. Although very popular he was a weak king and his foreign policy was inept. He had 13 known mistresses, one of whom was Nell Gwyn. He fathered numerous illegitimate children but no heir to the throne. The Great Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666 took place during his reign. Many new buildings were built at this time. St. Paul’s Cathedral was built by Sir Christopher Wren and also many churches still to be seen today.
JAMES II and VII of Scotland 1685 – 1688
The second surviving son of Charles I and younger brother of Charles II. James had been exiled following the Civil War and served in both the French and Spanish Army. Although James converted to Catholicism in 1670, his two daughters were raised as Protestants. James became very unpopular because of his persecution of the Protestant clergy and was generally hated by the people. Following the Monmouth uprising (Monmouth was an illegitimate son of Charles II and a Protestant) and the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffries, Parliament asked the Dutch prince, William of Orange to take the throne.
William was married to Mary, James II’s Protestant daughter. William landed in England and James fled to France where he died in exile in 1701.
WILLIAM III 1689 – 1702 and MARY II 1689 – 1694
On the 5 November 1688, William of Orange sailed his fleet of over 450 ships, unopposed by the Royal Navy, into Torbay harbour and landed his troops in Devon. Gathering local support, he marched his army, now 20,000 strong, on to London in The Glorious Revolution. Many of James II’s army had defected to support William, as well as James’s other daughter Anne. William and Mary were to reign jointly, and William was to have the Crown for life after Mary died in 1694. James plotted to regain the throne and in 1689 landed in Ireland. William defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne and James fled again to France, as guest of Louis XIV.
William & Mary: Architectural style of the reigns of King William III (r.1689-1702) and Queen Mary II (r.1689-94) in Great Britain, coming mid-way between the French-inspired Baroque of the Restoration and the Queen-Anne period. It embraced influences from William’s own country, The Netherlands, and was leavened by themes from France brought over by Huguenot refugees after the Revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes (1598 – which had given French Protestants equality of citizenship). It also included an exotic thread in that it had a taste for oriental motifs from China which led to the beginnings of Chinoiserie.
ANNE 1702 – 1714
Anne was the second daughter of James II. She had 17 pregnancies but only one child survived – William, who died of smallpox aged just 11. A staunch, high church Protestant, Anne was 37 years old when she succeeded to the throne. Anne was a close friend of Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough. Sarah’s husband the Duke of Marlborough commanded the English Army in the War of Spanish Succession, winning a series of major battles with the French and gaining the country an influence never before attained in Europe. It was during Anne’s reign that the United Kingdom of Great Britain was created by the Union of England and Scotland.
After Anne’s death the succession went to the nearest Protestant relative of the Stuart line. This was Sophia, daughter of Elizabeth of Bohemia, James I ‘s only daughter, but she died a few weeks before Anne and so the throne succeeded to her son George.
Queen Anne architecture: The architecture existing in England during the short reign of Anne, 1702 to 1714. The more important structures of the reign were generally the completion of designs fixed in all of their parts before her accession, and but little that was monumental begun in her time… The buildings which are especially associated with the style are the minor country houses and many houses in the suburbs of London, built frequently of red brick, and characterized by sculpture in relief, molded or carved in the same material…
Queen Anne: An architectural style characterized by: irregularity of plan and massing, variety of color and texture, variety of window treatment, multiple steep roofs, porches with decorative gables, frequent use of bay windows, chimneys that incorporated molded brick or corbelling, and wall surfaces that vary in texture and material used.
Queen Anne style: An architectural style characterized by: irregularity of plan and massing, variety of color and texture, variety of window treatment, multiple steep roofs, porches with decorative gables, frequent use of bay windows, chimneys that incorporated molded brick or corbelling, and wall surfaces that vary in texture and material used.
Queen Anne detail: Design evoking historic styles of the Victorian era.
Queen Anne sash: A window sash with many small geometrically shaped panes running along its edges; popular in the late-1800s and early-1900s.
Queen Anne window: A window sash with many small geometrically shaped panes running along its edges; popular in the late-1800s and early-1900s.
Queen Anne arch: An arch over the triple opening of the so-called Venetian or Palladian window, flat over the narrow side lights, round over the larger central opening.
Queen Anne cottage: An organic cottage with Queen Anne style motifs.
THE HANOVARIANS
German Order Type of 18th c. Corinthian Order, also called the Britannic Order, the volutes replaced by winged lions and unicorns and the fleuron superseded by the Crown. Its incorporation of Royal emblems led to its association with the House of Hanover, hence its name.
GEORGE I 1714 -1727
Son of Sophia and the Elector of Hanover, great-grandson of James I. The 54 year old George arrived in England able to speak only a few words of English with his 18 cooks and 2 mistresses in tow. George never learned English, so the conduct of national policy was left to the government of the time with Sir Robert Walpole becoming Britain’s first Prime Minister. In 1715 the Jacobites (followers of James Stuart, son of James II) attempted to supplant George, but the attempt failed. George spent little time in England – he preferred his beloved Hanover, although he was implicated in the South Sea Bubble financial scandal of 1720.
GEORGE II 1727 – 1760
Only son of George I. He was more English than his father, but still relied on Sir Robert Walpole to run the country. George was the last English king to lead his army into battle at Dettingen in 1743. In 1745 the Jacobites tried once again to restore a Stuart to the throne. Prince Charles Edward Stuart, ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’. landed in Scotland. He was routed at Culloden Moor by the army under the Duke of Cumberland, known as ‘Butcher’ Cumberland. Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped to France with the help of Flora MacDonald, and finally died a drunkard’s death in Rome.
GEORGE III 1760 – 1820
He was a grandson of George II and the first English-born and English-speaking monarch since Queen Anne. His reign was one of elegance and the age of some of the greatest names in English literature – Jane Austen, Byron, Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth. It was also the time of great statesmen like Pitt and Fox and great captains like Wellington and Nelson. in 1773 the ‘Boston Tea Party’ was the first sign of the troubles that were to come in America. The American Colonies proclaimed their independence on July 4th 1776. George was well meaning but suffered from a mental illness due to intermittent porphyria and eventually became blind and insane. His son ruled as Prince Regent after 1811 until George’s death.
GEORGE IV 1820 – 1830
Known as the ‘First Gentleman of Europe’. He had a love of art and architecture but his private life was a mess, to put it mildly! He married twice, once in 1785 to Mrs. Fitzherbert, secretly as she was a Catholic, and then in 1795 to Caroline of Brunswick. Mrs. Fitzherbert remained the love of his life. Caroline and George had one daughter, Charlotte in 1796 but she died in 1817. George was considered a great wit, but was also a buffoon and his death was hailed with relief!
Georgian architecture: The prevailing style of the 18th century in Great Britain and the North American colonies, so named after George I, George II, and George III (1714-1820), but commonly not including George IV. Derived from classical, Renaissance, and Baroque forms.
Regency style: The colorful neoclassic style, often combined with oriental motifs, prevalent in England between 1811 and 1830, during the Regency and reign of George IV.
Colonial architecture: Architecture transplanted from the motherlands to overseas colonies, such as Portuguese Colonial architecture in Brazil, Dutch Colonial architecture in New York, and above all English Georgian architecture of the 18th century in North American colonies.
Georgian architecture The prevailing style of the 18th century in Great Britain and the North American colonies, so named after George I, George II, and George III (1714-1820), but commonly not including George IV. Derived from classical, Renaissance, and Baroque forms.
Adam The first “American” style of architecture, based on English Georgian.
Early Classical Revival The Early Classical Revival style (1770-1830) can be considered a transitional style between the Federal and Greek Revival styles. In common with Georgian and Federal houses, an Early Classical Revival house usually has its long axis parallel with the street and a symmetrical facade; but the front facade usually features a portico or entrance porch supported by columns of Greek or Roman design, and the rooms are often arranged less symmetrically than in Georgian and Federal houses.
Federal The first “American” style of architecture, based on English Georgian.
Federal style The first “American” style of architecture, based on English Georgian.
Georgian Revival A rediscovery of Georgian Colonial architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as part of the broader Colonial Revival, which Georgian Revival is sometimes called.
Georgian Revival style Georgian Revival is sometimes referred to as Colonial Revival (1870-1920). The English Georgian style was the most prevalent type of Colonial buildings, but certainly not the only one. Two obvious exceptions are styles that were used by the Dutch and French.
German/Swiss Colonial style Germanic housing in the colonies was typically well built and designed for efficiency. One of the earliest Germanic building types in Pennsylvania was the tripartite house, which reflected the Old World tradition of combining a house, a threshing area, and a stable under the same roof. For convenience, a springhouse was often incorporated directly into a dwelling, which might also include an attic meat-smoking room, or Rauchkammer, connected to the chimney stack. Particularly practical building types were the bank house and bank barn, built into a ground slope to provide cool lower-level storage rooms. The majority of early Germanic houses in America were simple, well-built log dwellings, although it is mostly the stone buildings that have survived. Stone, considered a status symbol, was favored primarily by the rural gentry. The typical Germanic plan was asymmetrical three-room layout, placing the kitchen (Kich, in Pennsylvania German) on the main level, usually to the right of the chimney. To the left was the stove room (Schtupp), with a sleeping chamber (Kammer) in the rear. By the mid-1700s, many Germanic settlers had adopted the Georgian center-hall plan.
Neo-Georgian Late-19th and early-20th c. English and American architecture inspired by 18th c. Georgian domestic architecture, usually featuring brick facades with rubbed-brick dressings, sash-windows, and door-cases with fanlights. Sometimes the inspiration was more Colonial than English, on both sides of the Atlantic, and vernacular elements were mixed with the underlying Classicism…
Northern Renaissance Revival Late-19th c. revival (especially in England) of the Renaissance and Mannerist styles of Flanders, The Netherlands, and Northern Germany, notably by Sir Ernest George and other contemporaries, also termed Pont-Street Dutch or Flemish Revival. IT frequently incorporated details made of terracotta.
Regency style The colorful neoclassic style, often combined with oriental motifs, prevalent in England between 1811 and 1830, during the Regency and reign of George IV.
Renaissance Classicism This school of architecture is based on the dictates of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architects who codified what they believed were the “correct” designs and proportions for classical columns and other design elements. Renaissance Classicism is formal and symmetrical, and appealed primarily to the intellect and reason of the 18th-century architects (and homeowners) who embraced it. Georgian and Federal are Renaissance Classical styles. When the excavation of ancient ruins in the late 18th century began to reveal a great deal of variety in Greek and Roman architecture, the popularity of Renaissance Classicism waned in favor of the Neoclassical or Romantic styles (which see).
drab A light greyish-brown or greenish-brown color, popular for Georgian paintwork.
Queen-Anne arch Arch formed of a central semicircular arch flanked by two ‘flat’ arches constructed of brick rubbers set over tall thin side-lights on either side of a wider semi-circular-headed window, a variation on the Palladian or Venetian window known as a serliana… It is commoner in the Georgian period than in the Queen Anne.
Colonial cottage From 1870 to 1940 several Colonial Revival houses developed; this section deals with two of them. The fervor for American culture that swept the country after the 1876 Centennial resulted in the revival of two house types, the New England eighteenth-century cottage of English medieval origins, and the Georgian. Well into the twentieth century the vernacular tradition included these in its inventory, as well as the Dutch gambrel, the so-called Cape Cod, and the large hipped and pedimented cottages with colonial motifs, which are all discussed in other sections…
WILLIAM IV 1830 – 1837
Known as the ‘Sailor King’ (for 10 years the young Prince William, brother of George IV, served in the Royal Navy), he was the third son of George III. Before his accession he lived with a Mrs. Jordan, an actress, by whom he had ten children. When Princess Charlotte died, he had to marry in order to secure the succession. He married Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg in 1818. He had two daughters but they did not live. He hated pomp and wanted to dispense with the Coronation. The people loved him because of his lack of pretension. During his reign Britain abolished slavery in the colonies in 1833. The Reform Act was passed in 1832, this extended the franchise to the middle-classes on a basis of property qualifications.
VICTORIA 1837 – 1901
Victoria was the only child of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Edward Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. The throne Victoria inherited was weak and unpopular. Her Hanovarian uncles had been treated with irreverence. In 1840 she married her cousin Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Albert exerted tremendous influence over the Queen and until his death was virtual ruler of the country. He was a pillar of respectability and left two legacies to the UK, the Christmas Tree and the Great Exhibition of 1851. With the money from the Exhibition several institutions were developed, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, Imperial College and the Royal Albert Hall. The Queen withdrew from public life after the death of Albert in 1861 until her Golden Jubilee in 1887. Her reign saw the British Empire double in size and in 1876 the Queen became Empress of India, the ‘Jewel in the Crown’. When Victoria died in 1901, the British Empire and British world power had reached their highest point. She had nine children, 40 grand-children and 37 great-grandchildren, scattered all over Europe.
tea-garden: Connected with Japanese rituals in Zen Buddhism from the 15th c., the setting for the tea-ceremony… 2. Fashionable garden in Victorian times where ladies might take tea and meet friends…
Victorian architecture: A building style popular in England during the reign of Queen Victoria (1840-1901), it is characterized by picturesque forms inspired by medieval buildings.
American Renaissance: The Beaux-Arts style, also called the American Renaissance, is about as formal as architecture can get. Based on classical European precedents primarily French and Italian palaces and palazzos of the 16th to the 18th century – this grandly formal style transformed America’s major cities between the 1880s and the 1920s after being introduced at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to an eager nation that had begun to tire of Victorian excesses.
Collegiate Gothic style: Collegiate Gothic, which followed Victorian Gothic, was much more precise. It emulated Oxford and Cambridge more directly.
General Grant: The good general was a passive participant in this mid-Victorian eclectic melange – usually ornate wood houses with mansard roofs.
Go: Pejorative term used by some Victorian commentators to describe work of Rogue Goths that was restless, animated, acrobatic, and embarrassing…
Regency: A period of French architectural style roughly corresponding to the term of 1715-1723, when Philip of Orleans was regent; a period of transition from the style of Louis VIX to that of Louis XV. In England the term covers the architecture of more than their Regency (1811-1820); it extended from 1800 to the early years of Victoria’s reign.
Twentieth Century Commercial style: In the early 1900s a new commercial style developed as a reaction to the ornate Victorian architectural styles of the late 19th century. This style became popular because of its adaptability to a variety of building types, especially the new one-story, flat roofed commercial building, which appeared in the City of Buffalo in the early 1900s. The character of the Early Twentieth Century Commercial buildings is determined by the use of patterned masonry wall surfaces, shaped parapets at the roofline that were often uninterrupted by a project cornice and large rectangular windows arranged in groups. The “Chicago window,” a three-part window with a wide, fixed central light flanked by two narrower double-hung sashes, is a common feature. Identifying features of this style include a plain, flat appearance that is relieved by the use of panels of brick laid in patterns and sparingly used inset accents of tile, concrete, limestone or terra cotta.
Victorian: A loosely defined catchall word. The architecture of the Industrial Revolution was largely coincidental with the reign of Victoria (1837-1901), which spanned from carpenter Greek Revival to the steel-framed skyscraper.
Victorian era: The reign of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which commenced upon the coronation of Queen Victoria on June 20, 1837 and concluded upon her death on January 22, 1901 (Victoria was also crowned the Empress of India on May 1, 1876). These years marked the height of both the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution, when the United Kingdom became a global power, and its culture, including its architecture, assimilated influences from all over the world.
Victorian Gothic: High Victorian Gothic.
Victorian Romanesque: A polychromatic exterior finish combined with the semi-circular arch highlight the Victorian Romanesque style. Different colored and textured stone or brick for window trim, arches, quoins and belt courses relieve the rock-faced stone finish. Decorated bricks and terra cotta tiles in conjunction with stone trim also may be used. The round arches usually supported by short polished stone columns. Foliated forms, grotesques, and arabesques decorated capitals, corbels, belt courses and arches. Windows vary in size and shape.
Victorian styles: The primary Victorian styles and their origins are as follows: Gothic Revival – English Middle Ages, i.e., the Tudor dynasty; Italianate – Rural Italy; Second Empire – French Baroque Revival during Napoleon III’s reign; Stick – Alpine architecture; Queen Anne – 17th century England; Richardsonian Romanesque – American adaptation of Romanesque style; Shingle – American return to English Colonial style in the New World where forests were easily accessible for building; Colonial Revival – H. H. Richardson-inspired examination of American roots in New England; Renaissance – not to be confused with the Second Renaissance Revival, a Beaux Arts substyle.
fernery: Collection of ferns, or the place where ferns are grown, especially rock- and woodland gardens, popular in the Victorian period. 2. Glass-house or conservatory to house ferns brought from warm climes…
fern-house: Collection of ferns, or the place where ferns are grown, especially rock- and woodland gardens, popular in the Victorian period. 2. Glass-house or conservatory to house ferns brought from warm climes…
filicetum: Collection of ferns, or the place where ferns are grown, especially rock- and woodland gardens, popular in the Victorian period. 2. Glass-house or conservatory to house ferns brought from warm climes…
spindlework: The use of multiple decorative spindles as architectural ornaments, along porch and stair railings, for example. Wood spindles are made from doweling turned on a lathe, shaped somewhat like the spindles used in spinning yarn. Associated with Queen Anne and other Victorian styles.
stop-chamfer: A triangular termination to a chamfer, bringing a three-sided form back to a right angle. A popular feature in early English and Victorian architecture.
Queen Anne detail: Design evoking historic styles of the Victorian era.
sunburst: An ornamental motif resembling the rays of the sun; found most often on the facades of late-Victorian buildings.
sunburst motif: An ornamental motif resembling the rays of the sun; found most often on the facades of late-Victorian buildings.
imbricated: Bearing overlapping shingles or plates arranged as in the scales of a fish. Victorian roofs, both mansard and single-gabled, frequently were imbricated in several colors.
vergeboard: The original name for bargeboard, vergeboard was used in early English wood construction. Now it is term for the decorative wooden edging on Gothic Revival and Victorian houses.
vergeboards: The original name for bargeboard, vergeboard was used in early English wood construction. Now it is term for the decorative wooden edging on Gothic Revival and Victorian houses.
conical roof: Used in Victorian and Queen-Anne type buildings, has an exterior surface shaped like a cone.
iron cresting: A decorative ornament along the top of a roof. Iron cresting was popular in the Baroque era and also in Italianate, Victorian, Second Empire and Queen Anne styles of architecture.
cottage orne: A rustic, romantic Victorian house using tree trunks and branches as columns and brackets.
cottage ornee: A rustic, romantic Victorian house using tree trunks and branches as columns and brackets.
orne: A rustic, romantic Victorian house using tree trunks and branches as columns and brackets.
octagon house: A Victorian house having eight sides; especially found in the Hudson Valley of New York.
HOUSE OF SAXE-COBURG AND GOTHA
EDWARD VII 1901 – 1910
Edwardian architecture: Architecture of the British Empire in the reign of King Edward VII, often characterized by an opulent Baroque revival or Wrenaissance…
Edwardian: Also see Edwardian Classicism.
HOUSE OF WINDSOR
Name changed in 1917
GEORGE V 1910 – 1936
EDWARD VIII June 1936 – abdicated December 1936
GEORGE VI 1936 – 1952
ELIZABETH II 1952 –
Also see Architecture index.