by Alex David
Death:
1 December 1135 in Saint-Denis-en-Lyons, Normandy, France.
54
Key Facts:
An unexpected king of England, Henry healed the rift between the Anglo-Saxon population and its Norman
foreign rulers by repealing many of the unfair, unpopular laws passed by the previous two kings against the native-born. He also gained popularity by marrying Matilda of Scotland, a descendant of the House of Wessex, and so uniting the Norman and Anglo-Saxon royal blood lines.
He established state bureaucracy in Medieval
England and made it the most efficient in Europe in several ways: he founded the Exchequer as the centre of a new revenue system; he centralised the existing justice system inherited from the Saxon state and promoted fair and just laws for everyone, earning him the nickname of
‘Lion of Justice’; and he created a new class of
professional clerics based on merit alone who
administered state business on his behalf. Under Henry, the Royal Court became firmly established as the centre of English government.
In 1120 he lost his only son and heir, William Adelin, in the White Ship shipwreck disaster. Henry immediately remarried, in his early 50s, to produce more male heirs but was he not successful, despite the fact that ironically he had already produced over a dozen illegitimate
55
children. In the end, he tried to solve the succession problem by naming his daughter Matilda heir to the
throne instead, making his barons swear allegiance to her as a future monarch during his own lifetime.
Peculiar Fact:
A just but ruthless man, Henry allowed two of his own illegitimate granddaughters to be blinded in retaliation for a similar act their parents had performed on a young boy. The enraged girls’ mother, Henry’s own illegitimate daughter, then tried to kill Henry by shooting him with a crossbow arrow as he entered her castle, barely missing him.
56
Stephen
Reign:
22 December 1135 – 25 October 1154
Birth:
Between 1092 and 1097 (exact date unknown). Son of
Stephen-Henry, Count of Blois, and of Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror.
Queen:
Matilda of Boulogne (c.1103/5-1152), daughter of Count Eustace III of Boulogne.
Death:
25 October 1154, in Dover, Kent.
Key Facts:
He seized the English crown after the death of his
uncle, Henry I, despite having previously sworn an oath that he would support the succession of Henry’s
daughter, Matilda, who was abroad when her father
57
died. When Matilda arrived in England in 1139 to claim the throne a 15-year civil war ensued between her and Stephen, later called The Anarchy. Lawlessness and
fighting ravaged England, with medieval chroniclers describing the period as a time ‘when Christ and his saints slept’.
England was split in two for most of his reign, with Stephen controlling most of the east of the country and Matilda controlling the west. Their armies gained the upper hand at different times throughout the civil war.
Stephen was captured in Lincoln in February 1141, then he was released in September of the same year after his wife personally led an army against Matilda’s forces in Winchester. Then Matilda was kept under siege in Oxford in 1142 and forced to flee the town. After fighting eventually came to a stalemate in the late 1140s, Stephen agreed that Matilda’s son would succeed him on the
throne after he died, instead of his own son.
Known for his personal qualities including courtesy and chivalry, Stephen was a good commander on the
battlefield. However he lacked the political skills necessary to rule which caused him to lose followers during the civil war and prolonged the conflict. Besides England, he also lost control of Wales during his reign.
58
Peculiar Fact:
In an odd twist during the military fighting, Stephen in 1147 bailed out his adversary, Matilda’s son, the future Henry II, when he could not pay for the mercenary troops he had brought to England to fight with him. Stephen paid the troops himself and allowed Henry to leave the country to regroup, before he could come back to
England fight Stephen again.
59
Henry II
Reign:
25 October 1154 – 6 July 1189
Birth:
5 March 1133, in Le Mans, France. First son of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and of Matilda, former Empress of
Germany and daughter of King Henry I.
Queen:
Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122/24-1204), daughter of Duke William X of Aquitaine.
Death:
6 July 1189 at Chinon Castle, Touraine, France.
Key Facts:
The son of Henry I’s daughter Matilda, Henry
inherited the crown as a compromise to end the fighting between his mother and King Stephen. As king he re-established order in England after the Anarchy, brought 60
renegade nobles under control, and reformed the
currency. He also instituted landmark legal reforms like trial by jury and documentation of legal precedent, and is generally considered the father of English Common Law.
Before he became king he married the greatest land
heiress of the age, Eleanor of Aquitaine, which gave him control of her vast lands of Aquitaine in southwest France. These, together with England, the French lands he inherited from his father and later conquests gave Henry the largest empire in Medieval Europe, stretching from Scotland in the north to the Pyrenees in the south, including half of France.
He clashed repeatedly with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Becket, a former friend, over control of the English Church. He famously caused Becket’s death by wishing aloud to be rid of him, after which four knights murdered the Archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral in
1170. He was later forced to do public penance at
Becket’s tomb.
His reign was famously marred by family squabbles
over power. His wife Eleanor and his three eldest sons rebelled against him in 1173-74, and after defeating them Henry imprisoned Eleanor on house arrests for the rest of his reign. Although he reconciled with his sons, his unwillingness to share power with them caused more
61
rebellions later in his reign. The last family revolt was led by his son Richard the Lionheart in 1189, in the midst of which Henry died a broken and defeated man.
His most troublesome foreign legacy was the
invasion of Ireland he launched in 1171, inaugurating 700
years of English domination in Irish affairs. Henry encouraged English settlement of the island, built castles, and imposed his own allies as chiefs upon the population.
The most poisonous dynamics of Anglo-Irish
relationships, like dispossession of local rulers and English disdain towards the Irish population, began during his reign.
Peculiar Fact:
Henry had an explosive temper and his fits of anger were legendary. On one occasion people saw him tear off his clothes in a fit of rage and roll naked on the floor chewing straw (medieval house floors were strewn with straw for cleanliness). It was during one of these uncontrollable rages that Henry wished aloud for the death of Thomas Becket.
62
Richard I
Reign:
6 July 1189 – 6 April 1199
Birth:
8 September 1157 at Oxford. Second son of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Queen:
Berengaria of Navarre (c.1163/65-1230), daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre.
Death:
6 April 1199, in Chalus, Limousin, France.
Key Facts:
Richard was one of greatest knights of his age,
known for his military skills and courage in battle.
Howe
ver he spent only six months of his 10-year reign in England, preferring instead to travel through his French domains. He treated his English kingdom primarily as a source of revenue for his foreign military enterprises, 63
including a crusade to the Holy Land and the defence of his French possessions against King Philip II of France.
His greatest achievement was his leadership of the
Third Crusade between 1191-92 during which he
achieved renown by defeating the Muslim leader Saladin in battle and won Christian pilgrims access to Jerusalem.
Coming back to Europe, he was taken prisoner by one of his enemies in Austria and had to be ransomed with 34
tonnes of gold, raised primarily through high taxes and confiscations in England.
He died during a minor military siege in France after getting struck by an arrow as he carelessly exposed himself to the enemy. Despite the fact that as a monarch he both neglected and exploited his English kingdom, his fame as the greatest knight of his generation meant that he is instead remembered as one of England’s greatest kings.
Peculiar Fact:
Richard was a patron of French troubadours, played
music, and composed songs himself. Whilst kept prisoner in Austria in 1192-93 he composed a troubadour lament entitled Ja Nus Hons Pris Ne Dira (No man who is prisoner can tell) which became a popular medieval song and is still performed today.
64
John
Reign:
6 April 1199 – 19 October 1216
Birth:
24 December 1166, at Oxford. Fourth son and youngest child of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Queen:
Isabella of Angouleme (c.1187-1246), daughter of Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angouleme.
Death:
19 October 1216, in Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire.
Key Facts:
Reputed to have had some of the worst qualities of
any monarch, John is said to have been cruel, greedy and lustful. As a young prince he rebelled against his father Henry II, and during his brother Richard I’s reign he usurped royal power whilst Richard was fighting abroad.
65
After he became king he murdered his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, who had a better claim than him to the English throne.
He lost most of the vast French domains amassed by
his father Henry II through poor leadership and poor political judgements. By 1204 Normandy, joined to the English crown since 1066, had been lost permanently to France, and by 1206 only Aquitaine remained in English possession. Although he spent the rest of his reign trying to re-capture territories from the French King Philip II, his efforts came to nothing and culminated in a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.
He quarrelled with Pope Innocent III over the English Church’s rights to appoint bishops and to own property.
The quarrel led to the pope excommunicating John in 1209 and placing England under an interdict, forbidding administration of the holy sacraments. The English
population was denied Mass and other church rites for three and a half years until the dispute was finally resolved in 1213 after John submitted to the pope’s authority.
He abused many English barons through
extortionate fining, imprisonment and personal
humiliations. After the barons rebelled, John was forced to sign Magna Carta in 1215, a new contract between the 66
king and his subjects guaranteeing baronial rights, individual rights, and the freedom of the Church. John repudiated Magna Carta shortly after signing it however, and a civil war broke out between the parties later which was later called The First Barons War.
John died in the midst of the war, right after the
barons invited Prince Louis of France to invade England and take over the English throne. Shortly before his death, he famously lost most of his jewels whilst
travelling in the sea marshes of East Anglia. He left the country in complete chaos with royal, baronial and
French armies all marching across the land.
Peculiar Fact:
John was made Lord of Ireland by his father at the age of 10. Initially an absentee Lord, he finally visited Ireland at the age of 19 and caused great offense by making fun of the local chieftains’ long beards, even going as far as pulling them for laughs. This damaged royal alliances and the expedition turned out a failure.
67
Henry III
Reign:
19 October 1216 – 16 November 1272
Birth:
1 October 1207, at Winchester Castle. First child of King John and Queen Isabelle of Angouleme.
Queen:
Eleanor of Provence (c.1223-1291), daughter of Count Raymond-Berengar IV of Provence.
Death:
16 November 1272, at the Palace of Westminster,
London.
Key Facts:
Henry was only nine years old when he ascended the
throne, at the height of the First Barons War. A regency of knights and lords ruled the country in his name during the first ten years of his reign. These capable regents 68
ended the First Barons War, expelled the invading French army, and rebuilt England after the chaos of John’s reign.
After he assumed personal rule at his majority he
provoked much resentment among English nobles by
favouring foreign relatives, and the foreign relatives of his wife. His poor leadership at home, poor foreign policy and high taxation caused a new rebellion among the
barons called the Second Barons War, with opposition led by Henry’s own brother-in-law Simon de Montford.
He was taken prisoner by Simon De Montford at the
height of the Second Barons War after losing the Battle of Lewes in 1264. De Montford and his allies then governed the country briefly in place of Henry and during that time they presided over the first Parliament in English history in 1265. Henry regained power shortly after when his son, Prince Edward, defeated and killed De Montford at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Henry however
acknowledged the emergence of Parliament and
continued to call it into session for the rest of his reign.
A deeply pious man, he rebuilt Westminster Abbey
in the new gothic style, and rebuilt a new shrine to Saint Edward the Confessor to whom he was strongly devoted.
His reign of 56 years was the longest of any English monarch until the 19th century, and saw the settling of 69
national government in London around Henry’s favourite area of Westminster.
Peculiar Fact:
Henry was the only monarch in English history to be crowned twice. The first coronation was a rushed affair in Gloucester Abbey to proclaim him king immediately after his father died, since French invading forces were in control of London. There were no proper crown jewels available and he was crowned with one of his mother’s gold circlets. He was later re-crowned in Westminster Abbey after London was freed from French forces.
70
Edward I
Reign:
16 November 1272 – 7 July 1307
Birth:
17 June 1239, at the Palace of Westminster, London. First son of King Henry III and Queen Eleanor of Provence.
Queens:
1. (1272-1290) Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290), daughter of King Ferdinand III of Castile.
2. (1299-1307) Margaret of France (c.1279-1318), daughter of King Philip III of France.
Death:
7 July 1307, at Burgh by Sands, Cumberland.
Key Facts:
As a young prince, Edward led his father’s army in
the Second Barons War and restored his father to the throne after defeating Simon de Montford at the Battle 71
of Evesham in 1265. Before his accession he went on Crusade to the Holy Land where he was the subject of an assassination attempt in Acre that failed when Edward wrestled the assassin and killed him.
As
king, he conquered Wales by defeating local
rulers and subduing the area militarily. Afterwards he made the country a principality of England in 1283, encouraged English settlement of the land, and made his son Edward the first Prince of Wales. To keep the most rebellious part of the country in the north under control he built numerous castles which loomed over the land.
He tried to bring Scotland under English control by numerous means in an effort to unite the whole island of Britain under one crown. First, in 1292, after he was asked to act as arbiter on a disputed Scottish royal succession, he favoured one candidate, John Balliol, whom he tried to make a puppet king. Then when the