England is a country that is part of the United
Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland
to the north and Wales to the west. The Irish
Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic
Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated
from continental Europe by the North Sea to
the east and the English Channel to the south.
The country covers five-eighths of the island
of Great Britain, which lies in the North
Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands,
such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of
Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited
by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic
period, but takes its name from the Angles,
a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the
Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th
and 6th centuries. England became a unified
state in the 10th century, and since the Age
of Discovery, which began during the 15th
century, has had a significant cultural and
legal impact on the wider world. The English
language, the Anglican Church, and English
law – the basis for the common law legal
systems of many other countries around the
world – developed in England, and the country's
parliamentary system of government has been
widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial
Revolution began in 18th-century England,
transforming its society into the world's
first industrialised nation.England's terrain
is chiefly low hills and plains, especially
in central and southern England. However,
there is upland and mountainous terrain in
the north (for example, the Lake District
and Pennines) and in the west (for example,
Dartmoor and the Shropshire Hills). The capital
is London, which has the largest metropolitan
area in both the United Kingdom and the European
Union. England's population of over 55 million
comprises 84% of the population of the United
Kingdom, largely concentrated around London,
the South East, and conurbations in the Midlands,
the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire,
which each developed as major industrial regions
during the 19th century.The Kingdom of England
– which after 1535 included Wales – ceased
being a separate sovereign state on 1 May
1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect
the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the
previous year, resulting in a political union
with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the
Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain
was united with the Kingdom of Ireland (through
another Act of Union) to become the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922
the Irish Free State seceded from the United
Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland.
== Toponymy ==
The name "England" is derived from the Old
English name Englaland, which means "land
of the Angles". The Angles were one of the
Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain
during the Early Middle Ages. The Angles came
from the Anglia peninsula in the Bay of Kiel
area (present-day German state of Schleswig–Holstein)
of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use
of the term, as "Engla londe", is in the late-ninth-century
translation into Old English of Bede's Ecclesiastical
History of the English People. The term was
then used in a different sense to the modern
one, meaning "the land inhabited by the English",
and it included English people in what is
now south-east Scotland but was then part
of the English kingdom of Northumbria. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that the Domesday
Book of 1086 covered the whole of England,
meaning the English kingdom, but a few years
later the Chronicle stated that King Malcolm
III went "out of Scotlande into Lothian in
Englaland", thus using it in the more ancient
sense. According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
its modern spelling was first used in 1538.The
earliest attested reference to the Angles
occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus,
Germania, in which the Latin word Anglii is
used. The etymology of the tribal name itself
is disputed by scholars; it has been suggested
that it derives from the shape of the Angeln
peninsula, an angular shape. How and why a
term derived from the name of a tribe that
was less significant than others, such as
the Saxons, came to be used for the entire
country and its people is not known, but it
seems this is related to the custom of calling
the Germanic people in Britain Angli Saxones
or English Saxons to distinguish them from
continental Saxons (Eald-Seaxe) of Old Saxony
between Weser and Eider rivers in Northern
Germany. In Scottish Gaelic, another language
which developed on the island of Great Britain,
the Saxon tribe gave their name to the word
for England (Sasunn); similarly, the Welsh
name for the English language is "Saesneg".
An alternative name for England is Albion.
The name Albion originally referred to the
entire island of Great Britain. The nominally
earliest record of the name appears in the
Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th-century
BC De Mundo: "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules
is the ocean that flows round the earth. In
it are two very large islands called Britannia;
these are Albion and Ierne". But modern scholarly
consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle
but to Pseudo-Aristotle, i.e. it was written
later in the Graeco-Roman period or afterwards.
The word Albion (Ἀλβίων) or insula
Albionum has two possible origins. It either
derives from a cognate of the Latin albus
meaning white, a reference to the white cliffs
of Dover (the only part of Britain visible
from the European mainland) or from the phrase
the "island of the Albiones" in the now lost
Massaliote Periplus, that is attested through
Avienus' Ora Maritima to which the former
presumably served as a source. Albion is now
applied to England in a more poetic capacity.
Another romantic name for England is Loegria,
related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr,
and made popular by its use in Arthurian legend.
== History ==
=== 
Prehistory and antiquity ===
The earliest known evidence of human presence
in the area now known as England was that
of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately
780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human
bones discovered in England date from 500,000
years ago. Modern humans are known to have
inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic
period, though permanent settlements were
only established within the last 6,000 years.
After the last ice age only large mammals
such as mammoths, bison and woolly rhinoceros
remained. Roughly 11,000 years ago, when the
ice sheets began to recede, humans repopulated
the area; genetic research suggests they came
from the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
The sea level was lower than now and Britain
was connected by land bridge to Ireland and
Eurasia.
As the seas rose, it was separated from Ireland
10,000 years ago and from Eurasia two millennia
later.
The Beaker culture arrived around 2,500 BC,
introducing drinking and food vessels constructed
from clay, as well as vessels used as reduction
pots to smelt copper ores. It was during this
time that major Neolithic monuments such as
Stonehenge and Avebury were constructed. By
heating together tin and copper, which were
in abundance in the area, the Beaker culture
people made bronze, and later iron from iron
ores. The development of iron smelting allowed
the construction of better ploughs, advancing
agriculture (for instance, with Celtic fields),
as well as the production of more effective
weapons.
During the Iron Age, Celtic culture, deriving
from the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures,
arrived from Central Europe. Brythonic was
the spoken language during this time. Society
was tribal; according to Ptolemy's Geographia
there were around 20 tribes in the area. Earlier
divisions are unknown because the Britons
were not literate. Like other regions on the
edge of the Empire, Britain had long enjoyed
trading links with the Romans. Julius Caesar
of the Roman Republic attempted to invade
twice in 55 BC; although largely unsuccessful,
he managed to set up a client king from the
Trinovantes.
The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD during
the reign of Emperor Claudius, subsequently
conquering much of Britain, and the area was
incorporated into the Roman Empire as Britannia
province. The best-known of the native tribes
who attempted to resist were the Catuvellauni
led by Caratacus. Later, an uprising led by
Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, ended with Boudica's
suicide following her defeat at the Battle
of Watling Street. This era saw a Greco-Roman
culture prevail with the introduction of Roman
law, Roman architecture, aqueducts, sewers,
many agricultural items and silk. In the 3rd
century, Emperor Septimius Severus died at
Eboracum (now York), where Constantine was
subsequently proclaimed emperor.There is debate
about when Christianity was first introduced;
it was no later than the 4th century, probably
much earlier. According to Bede, missionaries
were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the
request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain
in 180 AD, to settle differences as to Eastern
and Western ceremonials, which were disturbing
the church. There are traditions linked to
Glastonbury claiming an introduction through
Joseph of Arimathea, while others claim through
Lucius of Britain. By 410, during the Decline
of the Roman Empire, Britain was left exposed
by the end of Roman rule in Britain and the
withdrawal of Roman army units, to defend
the frontiers in continental Europe and partake
in civil wars. Celtic Christian monastic and
missionary movements flourished: Patrick (5th-century
Ireland) and in the 6th century Brendan (Clonfert),
Comgall (Bangor), David (Wales), Aiden (Lindisfarne)
and Columba (Iona). This period of Christianity
was influenced by ancient Celtic culture in
its sensibilities, polity, practices and theology.
Local "congregations" were centred in the
monastic community and monastic leaders were
more like chieftains, as peers, rather than
in the more hierarchical system of the Roman-dominated
church.
=== Middle Ages ===
Roman military withdrawals left Britain open
to invasion by pagan, seafaring warriors from
north-western continental Europe, chiefly
the Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Frisians who
had long raided the coasts of the Roman province
and began to settle, initially in the eastern
part of the country. Their advance was contained
for some decades after the Britons' victory
at the Battle of Mount Badon, but subsequently
resumed, over-running the fertile lowlands
of Britain and reducing the area under Brythonic
control to a series of separate enclaves in
the more rugged country to the west by the
end of the 6th century. Contemporary texts
describing this period are extremely scarce,
giving rise to its description as a Dark Age.
The nature and progression of the Anglo-Saxon
settlement of Britain is consequently subject
to considerable disagreement. Roman-dominated
Christianity had, in general, disappeared
from the conquered territories, but was reintroduced
by missionaries from Rome led by Augustine
from 597 onwards. Disputes between the Roman-
and Celtic-dominated forms of Christianity
ended in victory for the Roman tradition at
the Council of Whitby (664), which was ostensibly
about haircuts and the date of Easter, but
more significantly, about the differences
in Roman and Celtic forms of authority, theology,
and practice (Lehane).
During the settlement period the lands ruled
by the incomers seem to have been fragmented
into numerous tribal territories, but by the
7th century, when substantial evidence of
the situation again becomes available, these
had coalesced into roughly a dozen kingdoms
including Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, East
Anglia, Essex, Kent and Sussex. Over the following
centuries, this process of political consolidation
continued. The 7th century saw a struggle
for hegemony between Northumbria and Mercia,
which in the 8th century gave way to Mercian
preeminence. In the early 9th century Mercia
was displaced as the foremost kingdom by Wessex.
Later in that century escalating attacks by
the Danes culminated in the conquest of the
north and east of England, overthrowing the
kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia.
Wessex under Alfred the Great was left as
the only surviving English kingdom, and under
his successors, it steadily expanded at the
expense of the kingdoms of the Danelaw. This
brought about the political unification of
England, first accomplished under Æthelstan
in 927 and definitively established after
further conflicts by Eadred in 953. A fresh
wave of Scandinavian attacks from the late
10th century ended with the conquest of this
united kingdom by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013
and again by his son Cnut in 1016, turning
it into the centre of a short-lived North
Sea Empire that also included Denmark and
Norway. However, the native royal dynasty
was restored with the accession of Edward
the Confessor in 1042.
A dispute over the succession to Edward led
to the Norman conquest of England in 1066,
accomplished by an army led by Duke William
of Normandy. The Normans themselves originated
from Scandinavia and had settled in Normandy
in the late 9th and early 10th centuries.
This conquest led to the almost total dispossession
of the English elite and its replacement by
a new French-speaking aristocracy, whose speech
had a profound and permanent effect on the
English language.Subsequently, the House of
Plantagenet from Anjou inherited the English
throne under Henry II, adding England to the
budding Angevin Empire of fiefs the family
had inherited in France including Aquitaine.
They reigned for three centuries, some noted
monarchs being Richard I, Edward I, Edward
III and Henry V. The period saw changes in
trade and legislation, including the signing
of the Magna Carta, an English legal charter
used to limit the sovereign's powers by law
and protect the privileges of freemen. Catholic
monasticism flourished, providing philosophers,
and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge
were founded with royal patronage. The Principality
of Wales became a Plantagenet fief during
the 13th century and the Lordship of Ireland
was given to the English monarchy by the Pope.
During the 14th century, the Plantagenets
and the House of Valois both claimed to be
legitimate claimants to the House of Capet
and with it France; the two powers clashed
in the Hundred Years' War. The Black Death
epidemic hit England; starting in 1348, it
eventually killed up to half of England's
inhabitants. From 1453 to 1487 civil war occurred
between two branches of the royal family – the
Yorkists and Lancastrians – known as the
Wars of the Roses. Eventually it led to the
Yorkists losing the throne entirely to a Welsh
noble family the Tudors, a branch of the Lancastrians
headed by Henry Tudor who invaded with Welsh
and Breton mercenaries, gaining victory at
the Battle of Bosworth Field where the Yorkist
king Richard III was killed.
=== Early modern ===
During the Tudor period, the Renaissance reached
England through Italian courtiers, who reintroduced
artistic, educational and scholarly debate
from classical antiquity. England began to
develop naval skills, and exploration to the
West intensified.Henry VIII broke from communion
with the Catholic Church, over issues relating
to his divorce, under the Acts of Supremacy
in 1534 which proclaimed the monarch head
of the Church of England. In contrast with
much of European Protestantism, the roots
of the split were more political than theological.
He also legally incorporated his ancestral
land Wales into the Kingdom of England with
the 1535–1542 acts. There were internal
religious conflicts during the reigns of Henry's
daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The former
took the country back to Catholicism while
the latter broke from it again, forcefully
asserting the supremacy of Anglicanism.
Competing with Spain, the first English colony
in the Americas was founded in 1585 by explorer
Walter Raleigh in Virginia and named Roanoke.
The Roanoke colony failed and is known as
the lost colony after it was found abandoned
on the return of the late-arriving supply
ship. With the East India Company, England
also competed with the Dutch and French in
the East. During the Elizabethan period, England
was at war with Spain. An armada sailed from
Spain in 1588 as part of a wider plan to invade
England and re-establish a Catholic monarchy.
The plan was thwarted by bad coordination,
stormy weather and successful harrying attacks
by an English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham.
This failure did not end the threat: Spain
launched two further armadas, in 1596 and
1597, but both were driven back by storms.
The political structure of the island changed
in 1603, when the King of Scots, James VI,
a kingdom which had been a long-time rival
to English interests, inherited the throne
of England as James I, thereby creating a
personal union. He styled himself King of
Great Britain, although this had no basis
in English law. Under the auspices of King
James VI and I the Authorised King James Version
of the Holy Bible was published in 1611. It
has not only been ranked with Shakespeare's
works as the greatest masterpiece of literature
in the English language but also was the standard
version of the Bible read by most Protestant
Christians for four hundred years until modern
revisions were produced in the 20th century.
Based on conflicting political, religious
and social positions, the English Civil War
was fought between the supporters of Parliament
and those of King Charles I, known colloquially
as Roundheads and Cavaliers respectively.
This was an interwoven part of the wider multifaceted
Wars of the Three Kingdoms, involving Scotland
and Ireland. The Parliamentarians were victorious,
Charles I was executed and the kingdom replaced
by the Commonwealth. Leader of the Parliament
forces, Oliver Cromwell declared himself Lord
Protector in 1653; a period of personal rule
followed. After Cromwell's death and the resignation
of his son Richard as Lord Protector, Charles
II was invited to return as monarch in 1660,
in a move called the Restoration. After the
Glorious Revolution of 1688, it was constitutionally
established that King and Parliament should
rule together, though Parliament would have
the real power. This was established with
the Bill of Rights in 1689. Among the statutes
set down were that the law could only be made
by Parliament and could not be suspended by
the King, also that the King could not impose
taxes or raise an army without the prior approval
of Parliament. Also since that time, no British
monarch has entered the House of Commons when
it is sitting, which is annually commemorated
at the State Opening of Parliament by the
British monarch when the doors of the House
of Commons are slammed in the face of the
monarch's messenger, symbolising the rights
of Parliament and its independence from the
monarch. With the founding of the Royal Society
in 1660, science was greatly encouraged.
In 1666 the Great Fire of London gutted the
City of London but it was rebuilt shortly
afterwards with many significant buildings
designed by Sir Christopher Wren. In Parliament
two factions had emerged – the Tories and
Whigs. Though the Tories initially supported
Catholic king James II, some of them, along
with the Whigs, during the Revolution of 1688
invited Dutch prince William of Orange to
defeat James and ultimately to become William
III of England. Some English people, especially
in the north, were Jacobites and continued
to support James and his sons. After the parliaments
of England and Scotland agreed, the two countries
joined in political union, to create the Kingdom
of Great Britain in 1707. To accommodate the
union, institutions such as the law and national
churches of each remained separate.
=== Late modern and contemporary ===
Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain,
output from the Royal Society and other English
initiatives combined with the Scottish Enlightenment
to create innovations in science and engineering,
while the enormous growth in British overseas
trade protected by the Royal Navy paved the
way for the establishment of the British Empire.
Domestically it drove the Industrial Revolution,
a period of profound change in the socioeconomic
and cultural conditions of England, resulting
in industrialised agriculture, manufacture,
engineering and mining, as well as new and
pioneering road, rail and water networks to
facilitate their expansion and development.
The opening of Northwest England's Bridgewater
Canal in 1761 ushered in the canal age in
Britain. In 1825 the world's first permanent
steam locomotive-hauled passenger railway
– the Stockton and Darlington Railway – opened
to the public.
During the Industrial Revolution, many workers
moved from England's countryside to new and
expanding urban industrial areas to work in
factories, for instance at Birmingham and
Manchester, dubbed "Workshop of the World"
and "Warehouse City" respectively. England
maintained relative stability throughout the
French Revolution; William Pitt the Younger
was British Prime Minister for the reign of
George III. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon
planned to invade from the south-east. However
this failed to manifest and the Napoleonic
forces were defeated by the British at sea
by Lord Nelson and on land by the Duke of
Wellington. The Napoleonic Wars fostered a
concept of Britishness and a united national
British people, shared with the Scots and
Welsh.
London became the largest and most populous
metropolitan area in the world during the
Victorian era, and trade within the British
Empire – as well as the standing of the
British military and navy – was prestigious.
Political agitation at home from radicals
such as the Chartists and the suffragettes
enabled legislative reform and universal suffrage.
Power shifts in east-central Europe led to
World War I; hundreds of thousands of English
soldiers died fighting for the United Kingdom
as part of the Allies. Two decades later,
in World War II, the United Kingdom was again
one of the Allies. At the end of the Phoney
War, Winston Churchill became the wartime
Prime Minister. Developments in warfare technology
saw many cities damaged by air-raids during
the Blitz. Following the war, the British
Empire experienced rapid decolonisation, and
there was a speeding up of technological innovations;
automobiles became the primary means of transport
and Frank Whittle's development of the jet
engine led to wider air travel. Residential
patterns were altered in England by private
motoring, and by the creation of the National
Health Service (NHS) in 1948. The UK's NHS
provided publicly funded health care to all
UK permanent residents free at the point of
need, being paid for from general taxation.
Combined, these changes prompted the reform
of local government in England in the mid-20th
century.Since the 20th century there has been
significant population movement to England,
mostly from other parts of the British Isles,
but also from the Commonwealth, particularly
the Indian subcontinent. Since the 1970s there
has been a large move away from manufacturing
and an increasing emphasis on the service
industry. As part of the United Kingdom, the
area joined a common market initiative called
the European Economic Community which became
the European Union. Since the late 20th century
the administration of the United Kingdom has
moved towards devolved governance in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland. England and Wales
continues to exist as a jurisdiction within
the United Kingdom. Devolution has stimulated
a greater emphasis on a more English-specific
identity and patriotism. There is no devolved
English government, but an attempt to create
a similar system on a sub-regional basis was
rejected by referendum.
== Governance ==
=== Politics ===
As part of the United Kingdom, the basic political
system in England is a constitutional monarchy
and parliamentary system. There has not been
a government of England since 1707, when the
Acts of Union 1707, putting into effect the
terms of the Treaty of Union, joined England
and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great
Britain. Before the union England was ruled
by its monarch and the Parliament of England.
Today England is governed directly by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, although
other countries of the United Kingdom have
devolved governments. In the House of Commons
which is the lower house of the British Parliament
based at the Palace of Westminster, there
are 532 Members of Parliament (MPs) for constituencies
in England, out of the 650 total.In the United
Kingdom general election, 2017, the Conservative
Party won 317 seats (the Speaker of the House
not being counted as a Conservative), more
than any other party, though not enough to
achieve an overall majority. The Conservative
party, headed by the prime minister Theresa
May, won 55 more seats than the Labour Party,
led by Jeremy Corbyn. The Scottish National
Party (Scotland only) won 35 out of 59 Scottish
seats in the House of Commons.
As the United Kingdom is a member of the European
Union, there are elections held regionally
in England to decide who is sent as Members
of the European Parliament. The 2014 European
Parliament election saw the regions of England
elect the following MEPs: 22 UK Independence
Party (UKIP), 17 Conservatives, 17 Labour,
3 Greens, and one Liberal Democrat.
Since devolution, in which other countries
of the United Kingdom – Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland – each have their own
devolved parliament or assemblies for local
issues, there has been debate about how to
counterbalance this in England. Originally
it was planned that various regions of England
would be devolved, but following the proposal's
rejection by the North East in a referendum,
this has not been carried out.One major issue
is the West Lothian question, in which MPs
from Scotland and Wales are able to vote on
legislation affecting only England, while
English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate
on devolved matters. This when placed in the
context of England being the only country
of the United Kingdom not to have free cancer
treatment, prescriptions, residential care
for the elderly and free top-up university
fees, has led to a steady rise in English
nationalism. Some have suggested the creation
of a devolved English parliament, while others
have proposed simply limiting voting on legislation
which only affects England to English MPs.
=== Law ===
The English law legal system, developed over
the centuries, is the basis of common law
legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries
and the United States (except Louisiana).
Despite now being part of the United Kingdom,
the legal system of the Courts of England
and Wales continued, under the Treaty of Union,
as a separate legal system from the one used
in Scotland. The general essence of English
law is that it is made by judges sitting in
courts, applying their common sense and knowledge
of legal precedent – stare decisis – to
the facts before them.The court system is
headed by the Senior Courts of England and
Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal,
the High Court of Justice for civil cases,
and the Crown Court for criminal cases. The
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the
highest court for criminal and civil cases
in England and Wales. It was created in 2009
after constitutional changes, taking over
the judicial functions of the House of Lords.
A decision of the Supreme Court is binding
on every other court in the hierarchy, which
must follow its directions.Crime increased
between 1981 and 1995 but fell by 42% in the
period 1995–2006. The prison population
doubled over the same period, giving it the
highest incarceration rate in Western Europe
at 147 per 100,000. Her Majesty's Prison Service,
reporting to the Ministry of Justice, manages
most prisons, housing over 85,000 convicts.
=== Regions, counties, and districts ===
The subdivisions of England consist of up
to four levels of subnational division controlled
through a variety of types of administrative
entities created for the purposes of local
government. The highest tier of local government
were the nine regions of England: North East,
North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East
Midlands, West Midlands, East, South East,
South West, and London. These were created
in 1994 as Government Offices, used by the
UK government to deliver a wide range of policies
and programmes regionally, but there are no
elected bodies at this level, except in London,
and in 2011 the regional government offices
were abolished. The same boundaries remain
in use for electing Members of the European
Parliament on a regional basis.
After devolution began to take place in other
parts of the United Kingdom it was planned
that referendums for the regions of England
would take place for their own elected regional
assemblies as a counterweight. London accepted
in 1998: the London Assembly was created two
years later. However, when the proposal was
rejected by the northern England devolution
referendums, 2004 in the North East, further
referendums were cancelled. The regional assemblies
outside London were abolished in 2010, and
their functions transferred to respective
Regional Development Agencies and a new system
of Local authority leaders' boards.Below the
regional level, all of England is divided
into 48 ceremonial counties. These are used
primarily as a geographical frame of reference
and have developed gradually since the Middle
Ages, with some established as recently as
1974. Each has a Lord Lieutenant and High
Sheriff; these posts are used to represent
the British monarch locally. Outside Greater
London and the Isles of Scilly, England is
also divided into 83 metropolitan and non-metropolitan
counties; these correspond to areas used for
the purposes of local government and may consist
of a single district or be divided into several.
There are six metropolitan counties based
on the most heavily urbanised areas, which
do not have county councils. In these areas
the principal authorities are the councils
of the subdivisions, the metropolitan boroughs.
Elsewhere, 27 non-metropolitan "shire" counties
have a county council and are divided into
districts, each with a district council. They
are typically, though not always, found in
more rural areas. The remaining non-metropolitan
counties are of a single district and usually
correspond to large towns or sparsely populated
counties; they are known as unitary authorities.
Greater London has a different system for
local government, with 32 London boroughs,
plus the City of London covering a small area
at the core governed by the City of London
Corporation. At the most localised level,
much of England is divided into civil parishes
with councils; in Greater London only one,
Queen's Park, exists as of 2014 after they
were abolished in 1965 until legislation allowed
their recreation in 2007.
== Geography ==
=== Landscape and rivers ===
Geographically England includes the central
and southern two-thirds of the island of Great
Britain, plus such offshore islands as the
Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly. It
is bordered by two other countries of the
United Kingdom: to the north by Scotland and
to the west by Wales. England is closer to
the European continent than any other part
of mainland Britain. It is separated from
France (Hauts-de-France) by a 21-mile (34
km) sea gap, though the two countries are
connected by the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone.
England also has shores on the Irish Sea,
North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
The ports of London, Liverpool, and Newcastle
lie on the tidal rivers Thames, Mersey and
Tyne respectively. At 220 miles (350 km),
the Severn is the longest river flowing through
England. It empties into the Bristol Channel
and is notable for its Severn Bore (a tidal
bore), which can reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in
height. However, the longest river entirely
in England is the Thames, which is 215 miles
(346 km) in length. There are many lakes in
England; the largest is Windermere, within
the aptly named Lake District.Most of England's
landscape consists of low hills and plains,
with upland and mountainous terrain in the
north and west of the country. The northern
uplands include the Pennines, a chain of uplands
dividing east and west, the Lake District
mountains in Cumbria, and the Cheviot Hills,
straddling the border between England and
Scotland. The highest point in England, at
978 metres (3,209 ft), is Scafell Pike in
the Lake District. The Shropshire Hills are
near Wales while Dartmoor and Exmoor are two
upland areas in the south-west of the country.
The approximate dividing line between terrain
types is often indicated by the Tees-Exe line.
In geological terms, the Pennines, known as
the "backbone of England", are the oldest
range of mountains in the country, originating
from the end of the Paleozoic Era around 300
million years ago. Their geological composition
includes, among others, sandstone and limestone,
and also coal. There are karst landscapes
in calcite areas such as parts of Yorkshire
and Derbyshire. The Pennine landscape is high
moorland in upland areas, indented by fertile
valleys of the region's rivers. They contain
two national parks, the Yorkshire Dales and
the Peak District. In the West Country, Dartmoor
and Exmoor of the Southwest Peninsula include
upland moorland supported by granite, and
enjoy a mild climate; both are national parks.The
English Lowlands are in the central and southern
regions of the country, consisting of green
rolling hills, including the Cotswold Hills,
Chiltern Hills, North and South Downs; where
they meet the sea they form white rock exposures
such as the cliffs of Dover. This also includes
relatively flat plains such as the Salisbury
Plain, Somerset Levels, South Coast Plain
and The Fens.
=== Climate ===
England has a temperate maritime climate:
it is mild with temperatures not much lower
than 0 °C (32 °F) in winter and not much
higher than 32 °C (90 °F) in summer. The
weather is damp relatively frequently and
is changeable. The coldest months are January
and February, the latter particularly on the
English coast, while July is normally the
warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather
are May, June, September and October. Rainfall
is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.
Important influences on the climate of England
are its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its
northern latitude and the warming of the sea
by the Gulf Stream. Rainfall is higher in
the west, and parts of the Lake District receive
more rain than anywhere else in the country.
Since weather records began, the highest temperature
recorded was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on 10 August
2003 at Brogdale in Kent, while the lowest
was −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on 10 January
1982 in Edgmond, Shropshire.
=== Major conurbations ===
The Greater London Built-up Area is by far
the largest urban area in England and one
of the busiest cities in the world. It is
considered a global city and has a population
larger than other countries in the United
Kingdom besides England itself. Other urban
areas of considerable size and influence tend
to be in northern England or the English Midlands.
There are 50 settlements which have been designated
city status in England, while the wider United
Kingdom has 66.
While many cities in England are quite large,
such as Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester,
Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Bradford, Nottingham,
population size is not a prerequisite for
city status. Traditionally the status was
given to towns with diocesan cathedrals, so
there are smaller cities like Wells, Ely,
Ripon, Truro and Chichester. According to
the Office for National Statistics, the ten
largest, continuous built-up urban areas are:
== Economy ==
England's economy is one of the largest in
the world, with an average GDP per capita
of £22,907. Usually regarded as a mixed market
economy, it has adopted many free market principles,
yet maintains an advanced social welfare infrastructure.
The official currency in England is the pound
sterling, whose ISO 4217 code is GBP. Taxation
in England is quite competitive when compared
to much of the rest of Europe – as of 2014
the basic rate of personal tax is 20% on taxable
income up to £31,865 above the personal tax-free
allowance (normally £10,000), and 40% on
any additional earnings above that amount.The
economy of England is the largest part of
the UK's economy, which has the 18th highest
GDP PPP per capita in the world. England is
a leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical
sectors and in key technical industries, particularly
aerospace, the arms industry, and the manufacturing
side of the software industry. London, home
to the London Stock Exchange, the United Kingdom's
main stock exchange and the largest in Europe,
is England's financial centre, with 100 of
Europe's 500 largest corporations being based
there. London is the largest financial centre
in Europe, and as of 2014 is the second largest
in the world.
The Bank of England, founded in 1694 by Scottish
banker William Paterson, is the United Kingdom's
central bank. Originally established as private
banker to the government of England, since
1946 it has been a state-owned institution.
The bank has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes
in England and Wales, although not in other
parts of the United Kingdom. The government
has devolved responsibility to the bank's
Monetary Policy Committee for managing the
monetary policy of the country and setting
interest rates.England is highly industrialised,
but since the 1970s there has been a decline
in traditional heavy and manufacturing industries,
and an increasing emphasis on a more service
industry oriented economy. Tourism has become
a significant industry, attracting millions
of visitors to England each year. The export
part of the economy is dominated by pharmaceuticals,
cars (although many English marques are now
foreign-owned, such as Land Rover, Lotus,
Jaguar and Bentley), crude oil and petroleum
from the English parts of North Sea oil along
with Wytch Farm, aircraft engines and alcoholic
beverages.
Most of the UK's £30 billion aerospace industry
is primarily based in England. The global
market opportunity for UK aerospace manufacturers
over the next two decades is estimated at
£3.5 trillion. GKN Aerospace – an expert
in metallic and composite aerostructures is
involved in almost every civil and military
fixed and rotary wing aircraft in production
is based in Redditch.BAE Systems makes large
sections of the Typhoon Eurofighter at its
sub-assembly plant in Salmesbury and assembles
the aircraft for the RAF at its Warton plant,
near Preston. It is also a principal subcontractor
on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter – the world's
largest single defence project – for which
it designs and manufactures a range of components
including the aft fuselage, vertical and horizontal
tail and wing tips and fuel system. It also
manufactures the Hawk, the world's most successful
jet training aircraft.Rolls-Royce PLC is the
world's second-largest aero-engine manufacturer.
Its engines power more than 30 types of commercial
aircraft, and it has more 30,000 engines currently
in service across both the civil and defence
sectors. With a workforce of over 12,000 people,
Derby has the largest concentration of Rolls-Royce
employees in the UK. Rolls-Royce also produces
low-emission power systems for ships; makes
critical equipment and safety systems for
the nuclear industry and powers offshore platforms
and major pipelines for the oil and gas industry.Much
of the UK's space industry is centred on EADS
Astrium, based in Stevenage and Portsmouth.
The company builds the buses – the underlying
structure onto which the payload and propulsion
systems are built – for most of the European
Space Agency's spacecraft, as well as commercial
satellites. The world leader in compact satellite
systems, Surrey Satellites, is also part of
Astrium. Reaction Engines Limited, the company
planning to build Skylon, a single-stage-to-orbit
spaceplane using their SABRE rocket engine,
a combined-cycle, air-breathing rocket propulsion
system is based Culham.
Agriculture is intensive and highly mechanised,
producing 60% of food needs with only 2% of
the labour force. Two-thirds of production
is devoted to livestock, the other to arable
crops.
=== Science and technology ===
Prominent English figures from the field of
science and mathematics include Sir Isaac
Newton, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Robert
Hooke, James Prescott Joule, John Dalton,
Lord Rayleigh, J. J. Thomson, James Chadwick,
Charles Babbage, George Boole, Alan Turing,
Tim Berners-Lee, Paul Dirac, Stephen Hawking,
Peter Higgs, Roger Penrose, John Horton Conway,
Thomas Bayes, Arthur Cayley, G. H. Hardy,
Oliver Heaviside, Andrew Wiles, Francis Crick,
Joseph Lister, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Young,
Christopher Wren and Richard Dawkins. Some
experts claim that the earliest concept of
a metric system was invented by John Wilkins,
the first secretary of the Royal Society,
in 1668.As the birthplace of the Industrial
Revolution, England was home to many significant
inventors during the late 18th and early 19th
centuries. Famous English engineers include
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known for the
creation of the Great Western Railway, a series
of famous steamships, and numerous important
bridges, hence revolutionising public transport
and modern-day engineering. Thomas Newcomen's
steam engine helped spawn the Industrial Revolution.
The Father of Railways, George Stephenson,
built the first public inter-city railway
line in the world, the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, which opened in 1830. With his role
in the marketing and manufacturing of the
steam engine, and invention of modern coinage,
Matthew Boulton (business partner of James
Watt) is regarded as one of the most influential
entrepreneurs in history. The physician Edward
Jenner's smallpox vaccine is said to have
"saved more lives ... than were lost in all
the wars of mankind since the beginning of
recorded history."Inventions and discoveries
of the English include: the jet engine, the
first industrial spinning machine, the first
computer and the first modern computer, the
World Wide Web along with HTML, the first
successful human blood transfusion, the motorised
vacuum cleaner, the lawn mower, the seat belt,
the hovercraft, the electric motor, steam
engines, and theories such as the Darwinian
theory of evolution and atomic theory. Newton
developed the ideas of universal gravitation,
Newtonian mechanics, and calculus, and Robert
Hooke his eponymously named law of elasticity.
Other inventions include the iron plate railway,
the thermosiphon, tarmac, the rubber band,
the mousetrap, "cat's eye" road marker, joint
development of the light bulb, steam locomotives,
the modern seed drill and many modern techniques
and technologies used in precision engineering.
=== Transport ===
The Department for Transport is the government
body responsible for overseeing transport
in England. There are many motorways in England,
and many other trunk roads, such as the A1
Great North Road, which runs through eastern
England from London to Newcastle (much of
this section is motorway) and onward to the
Scottish border. The longest motorway in England
is the M6, from Rugby through the North West
up to the Anglo-Scottish border, a distance
of 232 miles (373 km). Other major routes
include: the M1 from London to Leeds, the
M25 which encircles London, the M60 which
encircles Manchester, the M4 from London to
South Wales, the M62 from Liverpool via Manchester
to East Yorkshire, and the M5 from Birmingham
to Bristol and the South West.Bus transport
across the country is widespread; major companies
include National Express, Arriva and Go-Ahead
Group. The red double-decker buses in London
have become a symbol of England. There is
a rapid transit network in two English cities:
the London Underground; and the Tyne and Wear
Metro in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland.
There are several tram networks, such as the
Blackpool tramway, Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield
Supertram and Midland Metro, and the Tramlink
system centred on Croydon in South London.
Rail transport in England is the oldest in
the world: passenger railways originated in
England in 1825. Much of Britain's 10,000
miles (16,000 km) of rail network lies in
England, covering the country fairly extensively,
although a high proportion of railway lines
were closed in the second half of the 20th
century. There are plans to reopen lines such
as the Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge.
These lines are mostly standard gauge (single,
double or quadruple track) though there are
also a few narrow gauge lines. There is rail
transport access to France and Belgium through
an undersea rail link, the Channel Tunnel,
which was completed in 1994.
England has extensive domestic and international
aviation links. The largest airport is Heathrow,
which is the world's busiest airport measured
by number of international passengers. Other
large airports include Manchester Airport,
Stansted Airport, Luton Airport and Birmingham
Airport. By sea there is ferry transport,
both local and international, including to
Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium. There
are around 4,400 miles (7,100 km) of navigable
waterways in England, half of which is owned
by the Canal and River Trust, however, water
transport is very limited. The Thames is the
major waterway in England, with imports and
exports focused at the Port of Tilbury in
the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's
three major ports.
== Healthcare ==
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly
funded healthcare system in England responsible
for providing the majority of healthcare in
the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948,
putting into effect the provisions of the
National Health Service Act 1946. It was based
on the findings of the Beveridge Report, prepared
by economist and social reformer William Beveridge.
The NHS is largely funded from general taxation
including National Insurance payments, and
it provides most of its services free at the
point of use, although there are charges for
some people for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions
and aspects of personal care.The government
department responsible for the NHS is the
Department of Health, headed by the Secretary
of State for Health, who sits in the British
Cabinet. Most of the expenditure of the Department
of Health is spent on the NHS—£98.6 billion
was spent in 2008–2009. In recent years
the private sector has been increasingly used
to provide more NHS services despite opposition
by doctors and trade unions.
The average life expectancy of people in England
is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for
females, the highest of the four countries
of the United Kingdom. The South of England
has a higher life expectancy than the North,
however, regional differences do seem to be
slowly narrowing: between 1991–1993 and
2012–2014, life expectancy in the North
East increased by 6.0 years and in the North
West by 5.8 years, the fastest increase in
any region outside London, and the gap between
life expectancy in the North East and South
East is now 2.5 years, down from 2.9 in 1993.
== Demography ==
=== Population ===
With over 53 million inhabitants, England
is by far the most populous country of the
United Kingdom, accounting for 84% of the
combined total. England taken as a unit and
measured against international states has
the fourth largest population in the European
Union and would be the 25th largest country
by population in the world. With a density
of 424 people per square kilometre, it would
be the second most densely populated country
in the European Union after Malta.The English
people are a British people. Some genetic
evidence suggests that 75–95% descend in
the paternal line from prehistoric settlers
who originally came from the Iberian Peninsula,
as well as a 5% contribution from Angles and
Saxons, and a significant Scandinavian (Viking)
element. However, other geneticists place
the Germanic estimate up to half. Over time,
various cultures have been influential: Prehistoric,
Brythonic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking (North
Germanic), Gaelic cultures, as well as a large
influence from Normans. There is an English
diaspora in former parts of the British Empire;
especially the United States, Canada, Australia,
South Africa and New Zealand. Since the late
1990s, many English people have migrated to
Spain.
In 1086, when the Domesday Book was compiled,
England had a population of two million. About
10% lived in urban areas. By 1801, the population
was 8.3 million, and by 1901 30.5 million.
Due in particular to the economic prosperity
of South East England, it has received many
economic migrants from the other parts of
the United Kingdom. There has been significant
Irish migration. The proportion of ethnically
European residents totals at 87.50%, including
Germans and Poles.Other people from much further
afield in the former British colonies have
arrived since the 1950s: in particular, 6%
of people living in England have family origins
in the Indian subcontinent, mostly India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. 2.90% of the population
are black, from Africa and the Caribbean,
especially former British colonies. There
is a significant number of Chinese and British
Chinese. In 2007, 22% of primary school children
in England were from ethnic minority families,
and in 2011 that figure was 26.5%. About half
of the population increase between 1991 and
2001 was due to immigration. Debate over immigration
is politically prominent; 80% of respondents
in a 2009 Home Office poll wanted to cap it.
The ONS has projected that the population
will grow by nine million between 2014 and
2039.England contains one indigenous national
minority, the Cornish people, recognised by
the UK government under the Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities
in 2014.
=== Language ===
As its name suggests, the English language,
today spoken by hundreds of millions of people
around the world, originated as the language
of England, where it remains the principal
tongue spoken by 98% of the population. It
is an Indo-European language in the Anglo-Frisian
branch of the Germanic family. After the Norman
conquest, the Old English language was displaced
and confined to the lower social classes as
Norman French and Latin were used by the aristocracy.
By the 15th century, English was back in fashion
among all classes, though much changed; the
Middle English form showed many signs of French
influence, both in vocabulary and spelling.
During the English Renaissance, many words
were coined from Latin and Greek origins.
Modern English has extended this custom of
flexibility when it comes to incorporating
words from different languages. Thanks in
large part to the British Empire, the English
language is the world's unofficial lingua
franca.English language learning and teaching
is an important economic activity, and includes
language schooling, tourism spending, and
publishing. There is no legislation mandating
an official language for England, but English
is the only language used for official business.
Despite the country's relatively small size,
there are many distinct regional accents,
and individuals with particularly strong accents
may not be easily understood everywhere in
the country.
As well as English, England has two other
indigenous languages, Cornish and Welsh. Cornish
died out as a community language in the 18th
century but is being revived, and is now protected
under the European Charter for Regional or
Minority Languages. It is spoken by 0.1% of
people in Cornwall, and is taught to some
degree in several primary and secondary schools.When
the modern border between Wales and England
was established by the Laws in Wales Acts
1535 and 1542, many Welsh-speaking communities
found themselves on the English side of the
border. Welsh was spoken in Archenfield in
Herefordshire into the nineteenth century,
and by natives of parts of western Shropshire
until the middle of the twentieth century
if not later.State schools teach students
a second language, usually French, German
or Spanish. Due to immigration, it was reported
in 2007 that around 800,000 school students
spoke a foreign language at home, the most
common being Punjabi and Urdu. However, following
the 2011 census data released by the Office
for National Statistics, figures now show
that Polish is the main language spoken in
England after English.
=== Religion ===
In the 2011 census, 59.4% of the population
of England specified their religion as Christian,
24.7% answered that they had no religion,
5% specified that they were Muslim, while
3.7% of the population belongs to other religions
and 7.2% did not give an answer. Christianity
is the most widely practised religion in England,
as it has been since the Early Middle Ages,
although it was first introduced much earlier
in Gaelic and Roman times. This Celtic Church
was gradually joined to the Catholic hierarchy
following the 6th-century Gregorian mission
to Kent led by St Augustine. The established
church of England is the Church of England,
which left communion with Rome in the 1530s
when Henry VIII was unable to annul his divorce
to the aunt of the king of Spain. The church
regards itself as both Catholic and Protestant.
There are High Church and Low Church traditions
and some Anglicans regard themselves as Anglo-Catholics,
following the Tractarian movement. The monarch
of the United Kingdom is the Supreme Governor
of the Church of England, which has around
26 million baptised members (of whom the vast
majority are not regular churchgoers). It
forms part of the Anglican Communion with
the Archbishop of Canterbury acting as its
symbolic worldwide head. Many cathedrals and
parish churches are historic buildings of
significant architectural importance, such
as Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Durham
Cathedral, and Salisbury Cathedral.
The 2nd-largest Christian practice is the
Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Since its
reintroduction after the Catholic Emancipation,
the Church has organised ecclesiastically
on an England and Wales basis where there
are 4.5 million members (most of whom are
English). There has been one Pope from England
to date, Adrian IV; while saints Bede and
Anselm are regarded as Doctors of the Church.
A form of Protestantism known as Methodism
is the third largest Christian practice and
grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley.
It gained popularity in the mill towns of
Lancashire and Yorkshire, and amongst tin
miners in Cornwall. There are other non-conformist
minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists,
Unitarians and The Salvation Army.The patron
saint of England is Saint George; his symbolic
cross is included in the flag of England,
as well as in the Union Flag as part of a
combination. There are many other English
and associated saints; some of the best-known
are: Cuthbert, Edmund, Alban, Wilfrid, Aidan,
Edward the Confessor, John Fisher, Thomas
More, Petroc, Piran, Margaret Clitherow and
Thomas Becket. There are non-Christian religions
practised. Jews have a history of a small
minority on the island since 1070. They were
expelled from England in 1290 following the
Edict of Expulsion, only to be allowed back
in 1656.
Especially since the 1950s, religions from
the former British colonies have grown in
numbers, due to immigration. Islam is the
most common of these, now accounting for around
5% of the population in England. Hinduism,
Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, adding
up to 2.8% combined, introduced from India
and South East Asia.A small minority of the
population practise ancient Pagan religions.
Neopaganism in the United Kingdom is primarily
represented by Wicca and Witchcraft religions,
Druidry, and Heathenry. According to the 2011
UK Census, there are roughly 53,172 people
who identify as Pagan in England, and 3,448
in Wales, including 11,026 Wiccans in England
and 740 in Wales.
== Education ==
The Department for Education is the government
department responsible for issues affecting
people in England up to the age of 19, including
education. State-run and state-funded schools
are attended by approximately 93% of English
schoolchildren. Of these, a minority are faith
schools (primarily Church of England or Roman
Catholic schools). Children who are between
the ages of 3 and 5 attend nursery or an Early
Years Foundation Stage reception unit within
a primary school. Children between the ages
of 5 and 11 attend primary school, and secondary
school is attended by those aged between 11
and 16. After finishing compulsory education,
students take GCSE examinations. Students
may then opt to continue into further education
for two years. Further education colleges
(particularly sixth form colleges) often form
part of a secondary school site. A-level examinations
are sat by a large number of further education
students, and often form the basis of an application
to university.
Although most English secondary schools are
comprehensive, in some areas there are selective
intake grammar schools, to which entrance
is subject to passing the eleven-plus exam.
Around 7.2% of English schoolchildren attend
private schools, which are funded by private
sources. Standards in state schools are monitored
by the Office for Standards in Education,
and in private schools by the Independent
Schools Inspectorate.
Higher education students normally attend
university from age 18 onwards, where they
study for an academic degree. There are over
90 universities in England, all but one of
which are public institutions. The Department
for Business, Innovation and Skills is the
government department responsible for higher
education in England. Students are generally
entitled to student loans to cover the cost
of tuition fees and living costs. The first
degree offered to undergraduates is the Bachelor's
degree, which usually takes three years to
complete. Students are then able to work towards
a postgraduate degree, which usually takes
one year, or towards a doctorate, which takes
three or more years. Since the establishment
of Bedford College (London), Girton College
(Cambridge) and Somerville College (Oxford)
in the 19th century, women also can obtain
a university degree.
England's universities include some of the
highest-ranked universities in the world;
University of Cambridge, University of Oxford,
Imperial College London, University College
London and King's College London are all ranked
in the global top 30 in the 2018 QS World
University Rankings. The London School of
Economics has been described as the world's
leading social science institution for both
teaching and research. The London Business
School is considered one of the world's leading
business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme
was ranked best in the world by the Financial
Times. Academic degrees in England are usually
split into classes: first class (1st), upper
second class (2:1), lower second class (2:2),
third (3rd), and unclassified.
The King's School, Canterbury and King's School,
Rochester are the oldest schools in the English-speaking
world. Many of England's most well-known schools,
such as Winchester College, Eton, St Paul's
School, Harrow School and Rugby School are
fee-paying institutions.
== Culture ==
=== 
Architecture ===
Many ancient standing stone monuments were
erected during the prehistoric period; amongst
the best known are Stonehenge, Devil's Arrows,
Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg. With the
introduction of Ancient Roman architecture
there was a development of basilicas, baths,
amphitheaters, triumphal arches, villas, Roman
temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades
and aqueducts. It was the Romans who founded
the first cities and towns such as London,
Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps
the best-known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching
right across northern England. Another well-preserved
example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset.Early
Medieval architecture's secular buildings
were simple constructions mainly using timber
with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture
ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno–Saxon
monasticism, to Early Christian basilica and
architecture characterised by pilaster-strips,
blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular
headed openings. After the Norman conquest
in 1066 various Castles in England were created
so law lords could uphold their authority
and in the north to protect from invasion.
Some of the best-known medieval castles are
the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham
Castle and Windsor Castle.
Throughout the Plantagenet era, an English
Gothic architecture flourished, with prime
examples including the medieval cathedrals
such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster
Abbey and York Minster. Expanding on the Norman
base there was also castles, palaces, great
houses, universities and parish churches.
Medieval architecture was completed with the
16th-century Tudor style; the four-centred
arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining
feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically.
In the aftermath of the Renaissance a form
of architecture echoing classical antiquity
synthesised with Christianity appeared, the
English Baroque style of architect Christopher
Wren being particularly championed.Georgian
architecture followed in a more refined style,
evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal
Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples
of this. With the emergence of romanticism
during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival
was launched. In addition to this, around
the same time the Industrial Revolution paved
the way for buildings such as The Crystal
Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist
forms have appeared whose reception is often
controversial, though traditionalist resistance
movements continue with support in influential
places.
=== Folklore ===
English folklore developed over many centuries.
Some of the characters and stories are present
across England, but most belong to specific
regions. Common folkloric beings include pixies,
giants, elves, bogeymen, trolls, goblins and
dwarves. While many legends and folk-customs
are thought to be ancient, for instance the
tales featuring Offa of Angel and Wayland
the Smith, others date from after the Norman
invasion; Robin Hood and his Merry Men of
Sherwood and their battles with the Sheriff
of Nottingham being, perhaps, the best known.During
the High Middle Ages tales originating from
Brythonic traditions entered English folklore
and developed into the Arthurian myth. These
were derived from Anglo-Norman, Welsh and
French sources, featuring King Arthur, Camelot,
Excalibur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round
Table such as Lancelot. These stories are
most centrally brought together within Geoffrey
of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History
of the Kings of Britain). Another early figure
from British tradition, King Cole, may have
been based on a real figure from Sub-Roman
Britain. Many of the tales and pseudo-histories
make up part of the wider Matter of Britain,
a collection of shared British folklore.
Some folk figures are based on semi or actual
historical people whose story has been passed
down centuries; Lady Godiva for instance was
said to have ridden naked on horseback through
Coventry, Hereward the Wake was a heroic English
figure resisting the Norman invasion, Herne
the Hunter is an equestrian ghost associated
with Windsor Forest and Great Park and Mother
Shipton is the archetypal witch. On 5 November
people make bonfires, set off fireworks and
eat toffee apples in commemoration of the
foiling of the Gunpowder Plot centred on Guy
Fawkes. The chivalrous bandit, such as Dick
Turpin, is a recurring character, while Blackbeard
is the archetypal pirate. There are various
national and regional folk activities, participated
in to this day, such as Morris dancing, Maypole
dancing, Rapper sword in the North East, Long
Sword dance in Yorkshire, Mummers Plays, bottle-kicking
in Leicestershire, and cheese-rolling at Cooper's
Hill. There is no official national costume,
but a few are well established such as the
Pearly Kings and Queens associated with cockneys,
the Royal Guard, the Morris costume and Beefeaters.
=== Cuisine ===
Since the early modern period the food of
England has historically been characterised
by its simplicity of approach and a reliance
on the high quality of natural produce. During
the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance
period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent
reputation, though a decline began during
the Industrial Revolution with the move away
from the land and increasing urbanisation
of the populace. The cuisine of England has,
however, recently undergone a revival, which
has been recognised by food critics with some
good ratings in Restaurant's best restaurant
in the world charts. An early book of English
recipes is the Forme of Cury from the royal
court of Richard II.Traditional examples of
English food include the Sunday roast, featuring
a roasted joint (usually beef, lamb, chicken
or pork) served with assorted vegetables,
Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Other prominent
meals include fish and chips and the full
English breakfast (generally consisting of
bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried bread,
black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and
eggs). Various meat pies are consumed, such
as steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie,
cottage pie, pork pie (usually eaten cold)
and the Cornish pasty.
Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers
and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot
is a well-known stew originating in the northwest.
Some of the more popular cheeses are Cheddar,
Red Leicester, Wensleydale, Double Gloucester
and Blue Stilton. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid
dishes, curries, have been created, such as
chicken tikka masala and balti. Traditional
English dessert dishes include apple pie or
other fruit pies; spotted dick – all generally
served with custard; and, more recently, sticky
toffee pudding. Sweet pastries include scones
(either plain or containing dried fruit) served
with jam or cream, dried fruit loaves, Eccles
cakes and mince pies as well as a wide range
of sweet or spiced biscuits.
Common non-alcoholic drinks include tea, the
popularity of which was increased by Catherine
of Braganza, and coffee; frequently consumed
alcoholic drinks include wine, ciders and
English beers, such as bitter, mild, stout
and brown ale.
=== Visual arts ===
The earliest known examples are the prehistoric
rock and cave art pieces, most prominent in
North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria,
but also feature further south, for example
at Creswell Crags. With the arrival of Roman
culture in the 1st century, various forms
of art such as statues, busts, glasswork and
mosaics were the norm. There are numerous
surviving artefacts, such as those at Lullingstone
and Aldborough. During the Early Middle Ages
the style favoured sculpted crosses and ivories,
manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery,
demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven
designs such as in the Staffordshire Hoard
discovered in 2009. Some of these blended
Gaelic and Anglian styles, such as the Lindisfarne
Gospels and Vespasian Psalter. Later Gothic
art was popular at Winchester and Canterbury,
examples survive such as Benedictional of
St. Æthelwold and Luttrell Psalter.The Tudor
era saw prominent artists as part of their
court, portrait painting which would remain
an enduring part of English art, was boosted
by German Hans Holbein, natives such as Nicholas
Hilliard built on this. Under the Stuarts,
Continental artists were influential especially
the Flemish, examples from the period include
Anthony van Dyck, Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller
and William Dobson. The 18th century was a
time of significance with the founding of
the Royal Academy, a classicism based on the
High Renaissance prevailed, with Thomas Gainsborough
and Joshua Reynolds becoming two of England's
most treasured artists.The Norwich School
continued the landscape tradition, while the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, led by artists
such as Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and John Everett Millais, revived the Early
Renaissance style with their vivid and detailed
style. Prominent amongst 20th-century artists
was Henry Moore, regarded as the voice of
British sculpture, and of British modernism
in general. Contemporary painters include
Lucian Freud, whose work Benefits Supervisor
Sleeping in 2008 set a world record for sale
value of a painting by a living artist.
=== Literature, poetry, and philosophy ===
Early authors such as Bede and Alcuin wrote
in Latin. The period of Old English literature
provided the epic poem Beowulf and the secular
prose of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, along
with Christian writings such as Judith, Cædmon's
Hymn and hagiographies. Following the Norman
conquest Latin continued amongst the educated
classes, as well as an Anglo-Norman literature.
Middle English literature emerged with Geoffrey
Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, along
with Gower, the Pearl Poet and Langland. William
of Ockham and Roger Bacon, who were Franciscans,
were major philosophers of the Middle Ages.
Julian of Norwich, who wrote Revelations of
Divine Love, was a prominent Christian mystic.
With the English Renaissance literature in
the Early Modern English style appeared. William
Shakespeare, whose works include Hamlet, Romeo
and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's
Dream, remains one of the most championed
authors in English literature.Christopher
Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Thomas
Kyd, John Donne, and Ben Jonson are other
established authors of the Elizabethan age.
Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes wrote on empiricism
and materialism, including scientific method
and social contract. Filmer wrote on the Divine
Right of Kings. Marvell was the best-known
poet of the Commonwealth, while John Milton
authored Paradise Lost during the Restoration.
Some of the most prominent philosophers of
the Enlightenment were John Locke, Thomas
Paine, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham.
More radical elements were later countered
by Edmund Burke who is regarded as the founder
of conservatism. The poet Alexander Pope with
his satirical verse became well regarded.
The English played a significant role in romanticism:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, John
Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
William Blake and William Wordsworth were
major figures.In response to the Industrial
Revolution, agrarian writers sought a way
between liberty and tradition; William Cobbett,
G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc were main
exponents, while the founder of guild socialism,
Arthur Penty, and cooperative movement advocate
G. D. H. Cole are somewhat related. Empiricism
continued through John Stuart Mill and Bertrand
Russell, while Bernard Williams was involved
in analytics. Authors from around the Victorian
era include Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters,
Jane Austen, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling,
Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells and Lewis Carroll.
Since then England has continued to produce
novelists such as George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence,
Virginia Woolf, C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton,
Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett,
J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling.
=== Performing arts ===
The traditional folk music of England is centuries
old and has contributed to several genres
prominently; mostly sea shanties, jigs, hornpipes
and dance music. It has its own distinct variations
and regional peculiarities. Wynkyn de Worde
printed ballads of Robin Hood from the 16th
century are an important artefact, as are
John Playford's The Dancing Master and Robert
Harley's Roxburghe Ballads collections. Some
of the best-known songs are Greensleeves,
Pastime with Good Company, Maggie May and
Spanish Ladies amongst others. Many nursery
rhymes are of English origin such as Twinkle
Twinkle Little Star, Roses are red, Jack and
Jill, London Bridge Is Falling Down, The Grand
Old Duke of York, Hey Diddle Diddle and Humpty
Dumpty. Traditional English Christmas carols
include "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "The
First Noel" and "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen".
Early English composers in classical music
include Renaissance artists Thomas Tallis
and William Byrd, followed up by Henry Purcell
from the Baroque period. German-born George
Frideric Handel became a British subject and
spent most of his composing life in London,
creating some of the most well-known works
of classical music, The Messiah, Water Music,
and Music for the Royal Fireworks. One of
his four Coronation Anthems, Zadok the Priest,
composed for the coronation of George II,
has been performed at every subsequent British
coronation, traditionally during the sovereign's
anointing. There was a revival in the profile
of composers from England in the 20th century
led by Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Frederick
Delius, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams
and others. Present-day composers from England
include Michael Nyman, best known for The
Piano, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals
have achieved enormous success in the West
End and worldwide.In the field of popular
music, many English bands and solo artists
have been cited as the most influential and
best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such
as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd,
Elton John, Queen, Rod Stewart and The Rolling
Stones are among the highest selling recording
artists in the world. Many musical genres
have origins in (or strong associations with)
England, such as British invasion, progressive
rock, hard rock, Mod, glam rock, heavy metal,
Britpop, indie rock, gothic rock, shoegazing,
acid house, garage, trip hop, drum and bass
and dubstep.Large outdoor music festivals
in the summer and autumn are popular, such
as Glastonbury, V Festival, and the Reading
and Leeds Festivals. The most prominent opera
house in England is the Royal Opera House
at Covent Garden. The Proms – a season of
orchestral classical concerts held primarily
at the Royal Albert Hall in London – is
a major cultural event in the English calendar,
and takes place yearly. The Royal Ballet is
one of the world's foremost classical ballet
companies, its reputation built on two prominent
figures of 20th-century dance, prima ballerina
Margot Fonteyn and choreographer Frederick
Ashton.
=== Cinema ===
England (and the UK as a whole) has had a
considerable influence on the history of the
cinema, producing some of the greatest actors,
directors and motion pictures of all time,
including Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin,
David Lean, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh,
John Gielgud, Peter Sellers, Julie Andrews,
Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Helen Mirren,
Kate Winslet and Daniel Day-Lewis. Hitchcock
and Lean are among the most critically acclaimed
filmmakers. Hitchcock's first thriller, The
Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926),
helped shape the thriller genre in film, while
his 1929 film, Blackmail, is often regarded
as the first British sound feature film.Major
film studios in England include Pinewood,
Elstree and Shepperton. Some of the most commercially
successful films of all time have been produced
in England, including two of the highest-grossing
film franchises (Harry Potter and James Bond).
Ealing Studios in London has a claim to being
the oldest continuously working film studio
in the world. Famous for recording many motion
picture film scores, the London Symphony Orchestra
first performed film music in 1935.The BFI
Top 100 British films includes Monty Python's
Life of Brian (1979), a film regularly voted
the funniest of all time by the UK public.
English producers are also active in international
co-productions and English actors, directors
and crew feature regularly in American films.
The UK film council ranked David Yates, Christopher
Nolan, Mike Newell, Ridley Scott and Paul
Greengrass the five most commercially successful
English directors since 2001. Other contemporary
English directors include Sam Mendes, Guy
Ritchie and Steve McQueen. Current actors
include Tom Hardy, Daniel Craig, Benedict
Cumberbatch and Emma Watson. Acclaimed for
his motion capture work, Andy Serkis opened
The Imaginarium Studios in London in 2011.
The visual effects company Framestore in London
has produced some of the most critically acclaimed
special effects in modern film. Many successful
Hollywood films have been based on English
people, stories or events. The 'English Cycle'
of Disney animated films include Alice in
Wonderland, The Jungle Book and Winnie the
Pooh.
=== Museums, libraries, and galleries ===
English Heritage is a governmental body with
a broad remit of managing the historic sites,
artefacts and environments of England. It
is currently sponsored by the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport. The charity National
Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural
Beauty holds a contrasting role. 17 of the
25 United Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Sites
fall within England. Some of the best-known
of these are: Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge,
Avebury and Associated Sites, Tower of London,
Jurassic Coast, Saltaire, Ironbridge Gorge,
Studley Royal Park and various others.There
are many museums in England, but perhaps the
most notable is London's British Museum. Its
collection of more than seven million objects
is one of the largest and most comprehensive
in the world, sourced from every continent,
illustrating and documenting the story of
human culture from its beginning to the present.
The British Library in London is the national
library and is one of the world's largest
research libraries, holding over 150 million
items in all known languages and formats;
including around 25 million books. The most
senior art gallery is the National Gallery
in Trafalgar Square, which houses a collection
of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th
century to 1900. The Tate galleries house
the national collections of British and international
modern art; they also host the famously controversial
Turner Prize.
== Sports ==
England has a strong sporting heritage, and
during the 19th century codified many sports
that are now played around the world. Sports
originating in England include association
football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league,
tennis, boxing, badminton, squash, rounders,
hockey, snooker, billiards, darts, table tennis,
bowls, netball, thoroughbred horseracing,
greyhound racing and fox hunting. It has helped
the development of golf, sailing and Formula
One.
Football is the most popular of these sports.
The England national football team, whose
home venue is Wembley Stadium, played Scotland
in the first ever international football match
in 1872. Referred to as the "home of football"
by FIFA, England hosted the 1966 FIFA World
Cup, and won the tournament by defeating West
Germany 4–2 in the final, with Geoff Hurst
scoring a hat-trick. With a British television
audience peak of 32.30 million viewers, the
final is the most watched television event
ever in the UK.
At club level, England is recognised by FIFA
as the birthplace of club football, due to
Sheffield F.C. founded in 1857 being the world's
oldest club. The Football Association is the
oldest governing body in the sport, with the
rules of football first drafted in 1863 by
Ebenezer Cobb Morley. The FA Cup and The Football
League were the first cup and league competitions
respectively. In the modern day, the Premier
League is the world's most-watched football
league, most lucrative, and amongst the elite.As
is the case throughout the UK, football in
England is notable for the rivalries between
clubs and the passion of the supporters, which
includes a tradition of football chants. The
European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) has
been won by several English clubs.
Cricket is generally thought to have been
developed in the early medieval period among
the farming and metalworking communities of
the Weald. The England cricket team is a composite
England and Wales, team. One of the game's
top rivalries is The Ashes series between
England and Australia, contested since 1882.
The climax of the 2005 Ashes was viewed by
7.4 million as it was available on terrestrial
television. England has hosted four Cricket
World Cups (1975, 1979, 1983, 1999) and will
host the 2019 edition, but never won the tournament,
reaching the final 3 times. However they have
hosted the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009, winning
this format in 2010 beating rivals Australia
in the final. In the domestic competition,
the County Championship, Yorkshire are by
far the most successful club having won the
competition 31 times. Lord's Cricket Ground
situated in London is sometimes referred to
as the "Mecca of Cricket".William Penny Brookes
was prominent in organising the format for
the modern Olympic Games. In 1994, then President
of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, laid a
wreath on Brooke's grave, and said, "I came
to pay homage and tribute to Dr Brookes, who
really was the founder of the modern Olympic
Games". London has hosted the Summer Olympic
Games three times, in 1908, 1948, and 2012.
England competes in the Commonwealth Games,
held every four years. Sport England is the
governing body responsible for distributing
funds and providing strategic guidance for
sporting activity in England.
Rugby union originated in Rugby School, Warwickshire
in the early 19th century. The England rugby
union team won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, with
Jonny Wilkinson scoring the winning drop goal
in the last minute of extra time against Australia.
England was one of the host nations of the
competition in the 1991 Rugby World Cup and
also hosted the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The
top level of club participation is the English
Premiership. Leicester Tigers, London Wasps,
Bath Rugby and Northampton Saints have had
success in the Europe-wide Heineken Cup.
Rugby league was born in Huddersfield in 1895.
Since 2008, the England national rugby league
team has been a full test nation in lieu of
the Great Britain national rugby league team,
which won three World Cups but is now retired.
Club sides play in Super League, the present-day
embodiment of the Rugby Football League Championship.
Rugby League is most popular among towns in
the northern English counties of Lancashire,
Yorkshire and Cumbria. All eleven English
clubs in Super League are based in the north
of England. Some of the most successful clubs
include Wigan Warriors, Hull F.C. St. Helens,
Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants; the
former three have all won the World Club Challenge
previously.
Golf has been prominent in England; due in
part to its cultural and geographical ties
to Scotland, the home of Golf. There are both
professional tours for men and women, in two
main tours: the PGA and the European Tour.
England has produced grand slam winners: Cyril
Walker, Tony Jacklin, Nick Faldo, and Justin
Rose in the men's and Laura Davies, Alison
Nicholas, and Karen Stupples in the women's.
The world's oldest golf tournament, and golf's
first major is The Open Championship, played
both in England and Scotland. The biennial
golf competition, the Ryder Cup, is named
after English businessman Samuel Ryder who
sponsored the event and donated the trophy.
Nick Faldo is the most successful Ryder Cup
player ever, having won the most points (25)
of any player on either the European or US
teams.
Tennis was created in Birmingham in the late
19th century, and the Wimbledon Championships
is the oldest tennis tournament in the world,
and widely considered the most prestigious.
Wimbledon is a tournament that has a major
place in the British cultural calendar. Fred
Perry was the last Englishman to win Wimbledon
in 1936. He was the first player to win all
four Grand Slam singles titles and helped
lead the Great Britain team to four Davis
Cup wins. English women who have won Wimbledon
include: Ann Haydon Jones in 1969 and Virginia
Wade in 1977.
In boxing, under the Marquess of Queensberry
Rules, England has produced many world champions
across the weight divisions internationally
recognised by the governing bodies. World
champions include Bob Fitzsimmons, Ted "Kid"
Lewis, Randolph Turpin, Nigel Benn, Chris
Eubank, Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis, Ricky Hatton,
Naseem Hamed, Amir Khan, Carl Froch, and David
Haye. In women's boxing, Nicola Adams became
the world's first woman to win an Olympic
boxing Gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Originating in 17th and 18th-century England,
the thoroughbred is a horse breed best known
for its use in horse racing. The National
Hunt horse race the Grand National, is held
annually at Aintree Racecourse in early April.
It is the most watched horse race in the UK,
attracting casual observers, and three-time
winner Red Rum is the most successful racehorse
in the event's history. Red Rum is also the
best-known racehorse in the country.
The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone
was the first race in the newly created Formula
One World Championship. Since then, England
has produced some of the greatest drivers
in the sport, including; John Surtees, Stirling
Moss, Graham Hill (only driver to have won
the Triple Crown), Nigel Mansell (only man
to hold F1 and IndyCar titles at the same
time), Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson
Button. It has manufactured some of the most
technically advanced racing cars, and many
of today's racing companies choose England
as their base of operations for its engineering
knowledge and organisation. McLaren Automotive,
Williams F1, Team Lotus, Honda, Brawn GP,
Benetton, Renault, and Red Bull Racing are
all, or have been, located in the south of
England. England also has a rich heritage
in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the premier
championship of motorcycle road racing, and
produced several World Champions across all
the various class of motorcycle: Mike Hailwood,
John Surtees, Phil Read, Geoff Duke, and Barry
Sheene.
Darts is a widely popular sport in England;
a professional competitive sport, darts is
a traditional pub game. The sport is governed
by the World Darts Federation, one of its
member organisations is the BDO, which annually
stages the Lakeside World Professional Championship,
the other being the Professional Darts Corporation
(PDC), which runs its own world championship
at Alexandra Palace in London. Phil Taylor
is widely regarded as the best darts player
of all time, having won 187 professional tournaments,
and a record 16 World Championships. Trina
Gulliver is the ten-time Women's World Professional
Darts Champion of the British Darts Organisation.
Another popular sport commonly associated
with pub games is Snooker, and England has
produced several world champions, including
Steve Davis and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The English are keen sailors and enjoy competitive
sailing; founding and winning some of the
worlds most famous and respected international
competitive tournaments across the various
race formats, including the match race, a
regatta, and the America's Cup. England has
produced some of the world's greatest sailors,
including, Francis Chichester, Herbert Hasler,
John Ridgway, Robin Knox-Johnston, Ellen MacArthur,
Mike Golding, Paul Goodison, and the most
successful Olympic sailor ever Ben Ainslie.
== National symbols ==
The St George's Cross has been the national
flag of England since the 13th century. Originally
the flag was used by the maritime Republic
of Genoa. The English monarch paid a tribute
to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards so
that English ships could fly the flag as a
means of protection when entering the Mediterranean.
A red cross was a symbol for many Crusaders
in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became
associated with Saint George, along with countries
and cities, which claimed him as their patron
saint and used his cross as a banner. Since
1606 the St George's Cross has formed part
of the design of the Union Flag, a Pan-British
flag designed by King James I. During the
English Civil War and Interregnum, the New
Model Army's standards and the Commonwealth's
Great Seal both incorporated the flag of Saint
George.
.
There are numerous other symbols and symbolic
artefacts, both official and unofficial, including
the Tudor rose, the nation's floral emblem,
and the Three Lions featured on the Royal
Arms of England. The Tudor rose was adopted
as a national emblem of England around the
time of the Wars of the Roses as a symbol
of peace. It is a syncretic symbol in that
it merged the white rose of the Yorkists and
the red rose of the Lancastrians—cadet branches
of the Plantagenets who went to war over control
of the nation. It is also known as the Rose
of England. The oak tree is a symbol of England,
representing strength and endurance. The Royal
Oak symbol and Oak Apple Day commemorate the
escape of King Charles II from the grasp of
the parliamentarians after his father's execution:
he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection before
safely reaching exile.
The Royal Arms of England, a national coat
of arms featuring three lions, originated
with its adoption by Richard the Lionheart
in 1198. It is blazoned as gules, three lions
passant guardant or and it provides one of
the most prominent symbols of England; it
is similar to the traditional arms of Normandy.
England does not have an official designated
national anthem, as the United Kingdom as
a whole has God Save the Queen. However, the
following are often considered unofficial
English national anthems:
Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory (used for
England during the 2002 Commonwealth Games),
and I Vow to Thee, My Country. England's National
Day is 23 April which is St George's Day:
St George is the patron saint of England.
== See also ==
Outline of England
Outline of the United Kingdom
== Notes
