last attempt at major legislation took place in 1748 (defeated in Lords). From the 1750s Catholic groups organized campaigns against restrictions. See also CATHOLIC RELIEF AND EMANCIPATION, IRELAND.
ANTI‐CORN LAW LEAGUEA pioneering pressure group founded by businessmen in MANCHESTER, England, in 1839 to agitate for FREE TRADE, particularly repeal of the protective CORN LAWS. Led by Richard COBDEN and John BRIGHT, the League staged mass meetings throughout Great Britain, distributed pamphlets and lobbied MPs. It disbanded after achieving its main objective (1846).ANTI‐VIVISECTIONISMVivisection (experiments on living animals) was criticized in Great Britain from the 18th century. As experiments proliferated, Frances Cobbe (1822–1904) campaigned against vivisection from 1863. In 1875 a royal commission was appointed, and Cobbe founded the Victoria Street Society in London to intensify pressure. The Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876 introduced licensing for vivisection. In 1897 Cobbe’s society was renamed the National Anti‐Vivisection Society; it agreed to accept increased controls on vivisection prior to abolition. Cobbe responded by founding the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (1898). Both societies continued in the 21st century, along with other anti‐vivisection organizations. See also SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.ANTONINE WALLA Roman defensive wall across the FORTH–CLYDE ISTHMUS in N Britain (modern Scotland). It was built after c.142 at the instigation of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (138–61), replacing HADRIAN'S WALL as the formal northern limit of ROMAN BRITAIN. It consisted of turf laid on a stone foundation. Punctuated by forts, it was 37 mi (60 km) long. The wall’s history is uncertain: the evidence suggests that it was probably abandoned gradually in favour of Hadrian's Wall in the later 150s or 160s.APPEALS, ACT IN RESTRAINT OFIn England, legislation by the REFORMATION PARLIAMENT, promoted by Thomas CROMWELL, passed in April 1533. It described England as an ‘Empire’, meaning that all jurisdiction depended on the king. It banned appeals to the papal court in Rome concerning matrimony, testaments and tithes, effectively removing England (and Wales) from papal jurisdiction. The Act enabled the first marriage of King HENRY VIII to be annulled without subsequent appeal to the Pope. See also GREAT MATTER; REFORMATION, ENGLAND.APPEASEMENT
The policy of negotiation and concession adopted by the British government towards GERMANY, ITALY and JAPAN in the 1930s. It aimed to prevent war by satisfying grievances within legally binding arrangements. Examples include: the ANGLO‐GERMAN NAVAL AGREEMENT (June 1935), HOARE–LAVAL PACT (Dec. 1935), and Munich Agreement (Sept. 1938; see MUNICH CRISIS). Great Britain also accepted Japanese conquest of Manchuria (1931) and acquiesced in German occupation of the Rhineland (1936), absorption of Austria (13 March 1938), and invasion of CZECHOSLOVAKIA (15 March 1939). Overt appeasement ended with the ANGLO‐POLISH GUARANTEE (31 March 1939).
Appeasers were influenced by popular PACIFISM. Some thought the treaty of VERSAILLES (1919, following WORLD WAR I), too harsh. Others wanted disengagement from Continental Europe. The GREAT DEPRESSION hindered rearmament against the threat from Nazi Germany. Britain also felt uneasy about confronting three potential enemies simultaneously.
Appeasement has been defended for securing necessary ‘extra time’ for rearmament before the outbreak of WORLD WAR II (Sept. 1939). It has also been damned as a shameful attempt to buy peace at others’ expense. Many historians think it was the only realistic strategy for an overstretched power. See also CHAMBERLAIN, NEVILLE; HALIFAX, VISCOUNT; DAWSON, GEOFFREY; CHURCHILL, WINSTON; EDEN ANTHONY.
APPELLANTS
Name given initially to three English MAGNATES – the duke of Gloucester (Thomas of Woodstock), earl of Arundel (Richard FitzAlan), and earl of Warwick (Thomas Beauchamp) – who ‘appealed’ against five favourites of King RICHARD II at a royal Council on 17 Nov. 1387. Later joined by the earl of Derby (Henry Bolingbroke) and earl of Nottingham (Thomas Mowbray), they defeated a royalist army at Radcot Bridge (Oxfordshire) on 20 Dec. and had the favourites convicted for TREASON in the MERCILESS PARLIAMENT (1388).
Richard took revenge from 1397: Gloucester was murdered in CALAIS, Arundel was executed, and Warwick was exiled (Sept.); Bolingbroke and Nottingham were banished (1398). But soon afterwards Bolingbroke overthrew Richard (see HENRY IV).
APPROPRIATION OF CHURCHES, ENGLAND
Appropriation was the legal transfer of a church’s revenues from its incumbent priest to a religious corporation, usually a monastery which already possessed the church. It was widespread in the 1180s–1230s to combat inflation, but continued until the early 16th century. About a third of livings were appropriated in England.
A portion of a church’s revenues, often ‘small tithes’ on livestock and minor produce, was usually reserved for the incumbent, who was styled ‘vicar’. (Incumbents who retained full revenues were styled ‘rector’.) The appropriator received ‘great tithes’ of grain and hay. After the DISSOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES (1530s), most appropriated incomes were acquired by laymen, who were known as ‘lay rectors’ or impropriators. See also TITHE; CHURCH, MEDIEVAL ENGLAND.
APPROPRIATION OF CHURCHES, IRELANDMainly from the 13th century, revenues intended for the clergy of local churches, principally TITHES, were often transferred to monasteries, with a small proportion retained for local clergy (see MONASTICISM, MEDIEVAL IRELAND). An estimated 60% of livings were ‘appropriated’ (legally acquired), though proportions varied regionally with the highest in E Ireland. Following the DISSOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES (16th century), monastic livings were acquired by secular lords, who were known as ‘impropriators’. Some revenues were restored to the Church of IRELAND in the early 17th century (see LAUDIANISM, IMPACT ON IRELAND). See also CHURCH, MEDIEVAL IRELAND.APPROPRIATION OF CHURCHES, SCOTLAND
In the 12th and 13th centuries the endowing of monasteries and cathedral clergy usually included the formal appropriation of rectories (clergy livings), whose revenues (mainly TEINDS) were diverted to the new legal owners. To support clergy, rectories were replaced by vicarages (lower stipends). Vicarages were also appropriated (replaced by small allowances). By c.1300 the revenues of half of Scotland's parishes had been appropriated; more were later appropriated for COLLEGIATE CHURCHES and university colleges (see UNIVERSITIES, SCOTLAND). By 1550, 86% of rectories and 56% of vicarages had been appropriated.
From the late 15th century appropriated incomes increasingly passed temporarily to laymen through the COMMENDATION OF ABBEYS. In 1587 many appropriated revenues were annexed to the Crown by King JAMES VI, who used them to form new secular lordships. See also CHURCH, MEDIEVAL SCOTLAND.
APPROPRIATION OF CHURCHES, WALESBetween c.1070 and 1400 Welsh monasteries appropriated the revenues of many parish churches, to which they appointed poorly paid vicars. At the DISSOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES (1536–9), the revenues passed to the Crown which sold them (mainly 1539–58). Most purchasers were GENTRY who thereby controlled clerical appointments (until 1920), though the percentage of appropriated livings was much smaller than in England. See also CHURCH, MEDIEVAL WALES.ARBROATH, DECLARATION OFA letter dated at Arbroath (E Scotland) on 6 April 1320 from 39 Scottish nobles to Pope John XXII, who had put Scotland under an interdict because King ROBERT I had refused a truce with King EDWARD II of England. Famous since the 17th century, it powerfully argues Scotland's case for independence from England. See also SCOTTISH–ENGLISH RELATIONS 1290 TO 1357.ARCHITECTURE, BRITAIN
Among earlier structures are prehistoric stone monuments (e.g., STONEHENGE, c.2000 BC), BRONZE AGE and IRON AGE settlements, and sites from ROMAN BRITAIN (e.g., HADRIAN’S WALL). In the 7th–11th centuries the Anglo‐Saxons, influenced by Continental architecture, built small plain churches and larger abbeys (e.g., at WINCHESTER). Romanesque architecture, imported by the NORMANS in the late 11th century, brought a new scale and confidence to Church architecture (e.g., DURHAM Cathedral) and in CASTLES. Gothic architecture was
