Creating a Dynastic State in England

From the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy to a Recognizable Monarchy, 410-1603

Anglo Saxon Britain

• Just prior to Visigoth sack of Rome in 410, Roman troops were withdrawn from England (408)

• Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invade British Isles• Age of many kings, but no king of England• Sometimes a given king would have great power

over other kingdoms—such as Aethelberht, King of Kent.

• Seven Kingdoms emerge

ANGLO-SAXON HEPTARCHY

Laws of Aethelberht

1.[Theft of] God's property and the church's shall be compensated twelve-fold; a bishop's property eleven-fold, a priest's property nine-fold; a deacon's property six-fold, a clerk's property three-fold. Breach of the peace shall be compensated doubly when if affects a church or a meeting place. 2.3. If the king is feasting at anyone's house, and any sort of offense is committed there, two-fold compensation shall be paid. 3.4. If a freeman robs the king, he shall pay back a nine-fold amount. 4.5. If one man slays another on the king's premises, he shall pay 50 shillings compensation. 5.6. If a man slays a free man, he shall pay 50 shillings to the king for infraction of his seignorial rights. 6.10. If a man lies with a maiden belonging to the king, he shall pay 50 shillings compensation. 7.11. If she is a grinding slave he shall pay 25 shilllings [if she is of the] third [class], [he shall pay] 12 shillings compensation. 8.13. If one man slays another on the premises of a nobleman, he shall pay 12 shillings compensation. 9.14. If a man lies with a nobleman's serving maid. he shall pay 12 shillings compensation.

Alfred the Great (871-899)

• King of Wessex who wielded power over all of Heptarchy

• Defeated Vikings (Danes)

• Issued a Code of Laws for all the realm

• Began the English Navy

• Commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (measure of stability)

Alfred the Great

From Alfred to William, 899-1066

• Alfred’s successors were not great rulers—Ethelred the Redeless (stupid), for example—and the Vikings under King Cnut actually assumed control of the realm.

• Cnut’s successor had no heirs and created a question of who would become king

• 3 candidates: Harold Hardrada, Harold Godwinson of Wessex, William, Duke of Normandy

• William wins Battle of Hastings, October 1066

Battle of Hastings—Gory but Important

William I—King of England (1066-1087)

• Introduced Norman Feudalism into England—emphasized power of King (Salisbury Oath)

• Domesday Survey

• Great Council created out of Witan

• Curia Regis established

• Much central authority compared to earlier governmental arrangements in England

Henry I (1100-1135)—further growth in Monarchical Power

• Curia Regis grows in power

• Nobles’ Revolt Crushed

• Kings Court established with system of Itinerant Justices (uniform laws)

• Office of Exchequer (Treasury)

• His death is followed with 19 years of civil war

Henry II (1154-1189)

• Ended Civil War, broke baronial power

• Extensive landholdings in France as well as England

• Further legal reforms including extending common law through realm

• Struggled with Church over whose law governed a churchman accused of a crime—led to murder of Thomas Becket

Henry II (1154-1189) and Eleanor

English nobles reclaim power—1189-1272

• Richard spent time on Crusades; John was weak and had to sign Magna Carta

• Henry III (1216-1272) was dominated by pope and barons

• Henry’s main contribution to the English monarchy was fathering a son, Edward I (1272-1307)

Edward I (1272-1307)

• This is “Longshanks” in Braveheart

• Justinian of England

• 1295—Model Parliament (King rules with advice and consent of the realm)

• Statute of Mortmain (1297)—no lone could leave land to church without permission

Edward II (1307-1327)

• Weak ruler—nobles assert power

• Blamed for loss to Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314

• Murded by Isabella (his own wife) and her lover Roger Mortimer (Earl of March)

Edward III (1327-1377)

• Strong King, quelled baronial revolt

• Public ceremonies popular with commoners and nobles

• Fought 100 Years War against French Nobles

Edward III—The Warrior King

Pattern of History?

• Strong Kings built institutions (curia regis) and political culture (king ruling with parliament) that survived weak kings

• How to break cycle of strong king/weak king• Richard II (weak), Edward IV (Strong but died

young), Edward V (dominated by French advisors), Richard III (shady character but vilified more by those who came after him)

• Wars of the Roses-Tudor Dynasty

Tudor Dynasty

• Henry VII (1485-1509)

• Henry VIII (1509-1547)

• Edward VI (1547-1552)

• Mary (1552-1558)

• Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

• Tudor Revolution in Government

• Propaganda

Propaganda and William Shakespeare

• Shakespeare and Tudors create effective national mythology within context of political culture

• Richard II, Edward IV, and Edward IV are seen as either excessively weak or dominated by French Advisors

• Shakespeare suggests that English nation is better off with Tudors

Church & State in England

• Distance from Rome gave state leverage on Church

• Church was dominant institution from 400-871

• Powerful kings avoided alienating church—stealing lands, for example; only Henry II challenged church leaders in the Middle Ages.

• Kings put institutions in place that didn’t challenge church but provided for stronger monarchical government

• By the time a true dynastic state emerged (Tudor Dynasty) the church as a political force was losing ground to emerging nationalism and the Reformation