administration of justice in existing county courts, and sent members of
his own court to conduct important trials. However, the introduction of
Church courts, the mix of Norman/Roman law and the differing customs led to
a continuing complex legal framework. More severe forest laws reinforced
William's conversion of the New Forest into a vast Royal deer reserve.
These laws caused great resentment, and to English chroniclers the New
Forest became a symbol of William's greed. Nevertheless the King maintained
peace and order. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1087 declared 'he was a very
stern and violent man, so no one dared do anything contrary to his will ...
Amongst other things the good security he made in this country is not to be
forgotten.' William spent the last months of his reign in Normandy,
fighting a counter-offensive in the French Vexin territory against King
Philip's annexation of outlying Normandy territory. Before his death on 9
September 1087, William divided his 'Anglo-Norman' state between his sons.
(The scene was set for centuries of expensive commitments by successive
English monarchs to defend their inherited territories in France.) William
bequeathed Normandy as he had promised to his eldest son Robert, despite
their bitter differences (Robert had sided with his father's enemies in
Normandy, and even wounded and defeated his father in a battle there in
1079). His son, William Rufus, was to succeed William as King of England,
and the third remaining son, Henry, was left 5,000 pounds in silver.
William was buried in his abbey foundation of St Stephen at Caen.
Desecrated by Huguenots (1562) and Revolutionaries (1793), the burial place
of the first Norman king of England is marked by a simple stone slab.
WILLIAM II (KNOWN AS WILLIAM RUFUS) (1087-1100)
Strong, outspoken and ruddy (hence his nickname 'Rufus'), William II
(reigned 1087-1100) extended his father's policies, taking royal power to
the far north of England. Ruthless in his relations with his brother
Robert, William extended his grip on the duchy of Normandy under an
agreement between the brothers in 1091. (Robert went on crusade in 1096.)
William's relations with the Church were not easy; he took over
Archbishop Lanfranc's revenues after the latter's death in 1089, kept other
bishoprics vacant to make use of their revenues, and had numerous arguments
with Lanfranc's popular successor, Anselm. William died on 2 August 1100,
after being shot by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest.
HENRY I (1100-1135)
William's younger brother Henry succeeded to the throne. He was crowned
three days after his brother's death, against the possibility that his
eldest brother Robert might claim the English throne. After the decisive
battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 in France, Henry completed his conquest of
Normandy from Robert, who then (unusually even for that time) spent the
last 28 years of his life as his brother's prisoner. An energetic,
decisive and occasionally cruel ruler, Henry centralised the administration
of England and Normandy in the royal court, using 'viceroys' in Normandy
and a group of advisers in England to act on his behalf when he was absent
across the Channel. Henry successfully sought to increase royal revenues,
as shown by the official records of his exchequer (the Pipe Roll of 1130,
the first exchequer account to survive). He established peaceful relations
with Scotland, through his marriage to Mathilda of Scotland. Henry's name
'Beauclerc' denoted his good education (as the youngest son, his parents
possibly expected that he would become a bishop); Henry was probably the
first Norman king to be fluent in English. In 1120, his legitimate sons
William and Richard drowned in the White Ship which sank in the English
Channel. This posed a succession problem, as Henry never allowed any of his
illegitimate children to expect succession to either England or Normandy.
Henry had a legitimate daughter Matilda (widow of Emperor Henry V,
subsequently married to the Count of Anjou). However, it was his nephew
Stephen (reigned 1135-54), son of William the Conqueror's daughter Adela,
who succeeded Henry after his death, allegedly caused by eating too many
lampreys (fish) in 1135, as the barons mostly opposed the idea of a female
ruler.
STEPHEN AND MATILDA (1135-1154)
Though charming, attractive and (when required) a brave warrior, Stephen
(reigned 1135-54) lacked ruthlessness and failed to inspire loyalty. He
could neither control his friends nor subdue his enemies, despite the
support of his brother Henry of Blois (Bishop of Winchester) and his able
wife Matilda of Boulogne. Henry I's daughter Matilda invaded England in
1139 to claim the throne, and the country was plunged into civil war.
Although anarchy never spread over the whole country, local feuds were
pursued under the cover of the civil war; the bond between the King and the
nobles broke down, and senior figures (including Stephen's brother Henry)
freely changed allegiances as it suited them. In 1141, Stephen was captured
at Lincoln and his defeat seemed certain. However, Matilda's arrogant
behaviour antagonised even her own supporters (Angevins), and Stephen was
released in exchange for her captured ally and illegitimate half-brother,
Earl Robert of Gloucester. After the latter's death in 1147, Matilda
retired to Normandy (which her husband, the Count of Anjou had conquered)
in 1148. Stephen's throne was still disputed. Matilda's eldest son, Henry,
who had been given Normandy by his father in 1150 and who had married the
heiress Eleanor Duchess of Aquitaine, invaded England in 1149 and again in
1153. Stephen fought stubbornly against Henry; Stephen even attempted to
ensure his son Eustace's succession by having him crowned in Stephen's own
lifetime. The Church refused (having quarrelled with the king some years
previously); Eustace's death later in 1153 helped lead to a negotiated
peace (the treaty of Wallingford) under which Henry would inherit the
throne after Stephen's death.
THE ANGEVINS
Henry II, the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet and Henry I's daughter
Matilda, was the first in a long line of 14 Plantagenet kings, stretching
from Henry II's accession through to Richard III's death in 1485. Within
that line, however, four distinct Royal Houses can be identified: Angevin,
Plantagenet, Lancaster and York.
The first Angevin King, Henry II, began the period as arguably the most
powerful monarch in Europe, with lands stretching from the Scottish borders
to the Pyrenees. In addition, Ireland was added to his inheritance, a
mission entrusted to him by Pope Adrian IV (the only English Pope). A new
administrative zeal was evident at the beginning of the period and an
efficient system of government was formulated. The justice system
developed. However there were quarrels with the Church, which became more
powerful following the murder of Thomas а Becket.
As with many of his predecessors, Henry II spent much of his time away
from England fighting abroad. This was taken to an extreme by his son
Richard, who spent only 10 months of a ten-year reign in the country due to
his involvement in the crusades. The last of the Angevin kings was John,
whom history has judged harshly. By 1205, six years into his reign, only a
fragment of the vast Angevin empire acquired by Henry II remained. John
quarrelled with the Pope over the appointment of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, eventually surrendering. He was also forced to sign the Magna
Carta in 1215, which restated the rights of the church, the barons and all
in the land. John died in ignominy, having broken the contract, leading the
nobles to summon aid from France and creating a precarious position for his
heir, Henry III.
HENRY II CURTMANTLE (1154-1189)
Henry II ruled over an empire which stretched from the Scottish border
to the Pyrenees. One of the strongest, most energetic and imaginative
rulers, Henry was the inheritor of three dynasties who had acquired
Aquitaine by marriage; his charters listed them: 'King of the English, Duke
of the Normans and Aquitanians and Count of the Angevins'. The King spent
only 13 years of his reign in England; the other 21 years were spent on the
continent in his territories in what is now France. Henry's rapid movements
in carrying out his dynastic responsibilities astonished the French king,
who noted 'now in England, now in Normandy, he must fly rather than travel
by horse or ship'. By 1158, Henry had restored to the Crown some of the
lands and royal power lost by Stephen; Malcom IV of Scotland was compelled
to return the northern counties. Locally chosen sheriffs were changed into
royally appointed agents charged with enforcing the law and collecting
taxes in the counties. Personally interested in government and law, Henry
made use of juries and re-introduced the sending of justices (judges) on
regular tours of the country to try cases for the Crown. His legal reforms
have led him to be seen as the founder of English Common Law. Henry's
disagreements with the Archbishop of Canterbury (the king's former chief
adviser), Thomas а Becket, over Church-State relations ended in Becket's
murder in 1170 and a papal interdict on England. Family disputes over
territorial ambitions almost wrecked the king's achievements. Henry died in
France in 1189, at war with his son Richard, who had joined forces with
King Philip of France to attack Normandy.
RICHARD I COEUR DE LION ('THE LIONHEART') (1189-1199)
Henry's elder son, Richard I (reigned 1189-99), fulfilled his main
ambition by going on crusade in 1190, leaving the ruling of England to
others. After his victories over Saladin at the siege of Acre and the
battles of Arsuf and Jaffa, concluded by the treaty of Jaffa (1192),
Richard was returning from the Holy Land when he was captured in Austria.
In early 1193, Richard was transferred to Emperor Henry VI's custody. In
Richard's absence, King Philip of France failed to obtain Richard's French
possessions through invasion or negotiation. In England, Richard's brother
John occupied Windsor Castle and prepared an invasion of England by Flemish
mercenaries, accompanied by armed uprisings. Their mother, Queen Eleanor,
took firm action against John by strengthening garrisons and again exacting
oaths of allegiance to the king. John's subversive activities were ended by
the payment of a crushing ransom of 150,000 marks of silver to the emperor,
for Richard's release in 1194. Warned by Philip's famous message 'look to
yourself, the devil is loosed', John fled to the French court. On his
return to England, Richard was recrowned at Winchester in 1194. Five years
later he died in France during a minor siege against a rebellious baron. By
the time of his death, Richard had recovered all his lands. His success was
short-lived. In 1199 his brother John became king and Philip successfully
invaded Normandy. By 1203, John had retreated to England, losing his French
lands of Normandy and Anjou by 1205.
JOHN (1199-1216)
John was an able administrator interested in law and government but he
neither trusted others nor was trusted by them. Heavy taxation, disputes
with the Church (John was excommunicated by the Pope in 1209) and
unsuccessful attempts to recover his French possessions made him unpopular.
Many of his barons rebelled and in June 1215 they forced the King to sign a
peace treaty accepting their reforms. This treaty, later known as Magna
Carta, limited royal powers, defined feudal obligations between the King
and the barons, and guaranteed a number of rights. The most influential
clauses concerned the freedom of the Church; the redress of grievances of
owners and tenants of land; the need to consult the Great Council of the
Realm so as to prevent unjust taxation; mercantile and trading
relationships; regulation of the machinery of justice so that justice be
denied to no one; and the requirement to control the behaviour of royal
officials. The most important clauses established the basis of habeas
corpus ('you have the body'), i.e. that no one shall be imprisoned except
by due process of law, and that 'to no one will we sell, to no one will we
refuse or delay right or justice'. The Charter also established a council
of barons who were to ensure that the Sovereign observed the Charter, with
the right to wage war on him if he did not. Magna Carta was the first
formal document insisting that the Sovereign was as much under the rule of
law as his people, and that the rights of individuals were to be upheld
even against the wishes of the sovereign. As a source of fundamental
constitutional principles, Magna Carta came to be seen as an important
definition of aspects of English law, and in later centuries as the basis
of the liberties of the English people. As a peace treaty Magna Carta was
a failure and the rebels invited Louis of France to become their king. When
John died in 1216 England was in the grip of civil war.
THE PLANTAGENETS
The Plantagenet period was dominated by three major conflicts at home
and abroad. Edward I attempted to create a British empire dominated by
England, conquering Wales and pronouncing his eldest son Prince of Wales,
and then attacking Scotland. Scotland was to remain elusive and retain its
independence until late in the reign of the Stuart kings. In the reign
of Edward III the Hundred Years War began, a struggle between England and
France. At the end of the Plantagenet period, the reign of Richard II saw
the beginning of the long period of civil feuding known as the War of the
Roses. For the next century, the crown would be disputed by two conflicting
family strands, the Lancastrians and the Yorkists.
The period also saw the development of new social institutions and a
distinctive English culture. Parliament emerged and grew. The judicial
reforms begun in the reign of Henry II were continued and completed by
Edward I. Culture began to flourish. Three Plantagenet kings were patrons
of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry. During the early part of
the period, the architectural style of the Normans gave way to the Gothic,
in which style Salisbury Cathedral was built. Westminster Abbey was rebuilt
and the majority of English cathedrals remodelled. Franciscan and Dominican
orders began to be established in England, while the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge had their origins in this period.
Amidst the order of learning and art, however, were disturbing new
phenomena. The outbreak of Bubonic plague or the 'Black Death' served to
undermine military campaigns and cause huge social turbulence, killing half
the country's population. The price rises and labour shortage
which resulted led to social unrest, culminating in the Peasants' Revolt in
1381.
THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTIES
1216 - 1485
HENRY III
= Eleanor, dau. of Count of Provence
(1216–1272)
Eleanor, =
EDWARD I
dau. of
(1272–1307)
FERDINAND III,
King of Castile
and Leon
EDWARD
II = Isabella, dau.
(1307–1327) of PHILIP IV,
King of France
EDWARD III = Philippa, dau. of Count
(1327–1377) of Hainault and Holland
Edward, Prince = Joan, dau. of Earl Lionel, Duke = Elizabeth
Blanche of = John, Duke = Katharine Swynford,
of Wales, of Kent (son of Clarence de
Burgh Lancaster of Lancaster dau. of Sir
Roet
The Black Prince of EDWARD I)
of Guienne
RICHARD II Edmund, = Philippa
Mary = HENRY IV John Beaufort,
(1377–1399) Earl of March
Bohun (1399–1413)
Roger, Earl = Eleanor HENRY V
(1) = Katherine, dau. John Beaufort,
of March Holland
(1413–1422) of CHARLES VI, Duke of Somerset
Richard, Earl = Anne
HENRY VI Margaret Beaufort =
Edmund Tudor,
of Cambridge Mortimer
(1422–1461,
Earl of Richmond
1470–1471)
Richard, Duke = Cecily
Elizabeth of York, = HENRY
VII
of York Neville
dau. of EDWARD IV
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