NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS

3 candidates for the English throne

Edward the Confessor dies in January 1066

Earl Harold Godwinson

Harold Hardrada of Norway

Duke William of Normandy

Why did William of Normandy invade?

At the beginning of 1066, the King of Anglo-Saxon England, Edward the Confessor, was old and sick.

He had no children or brothers and sisters – the question was: who would succeed him?

On his deathbed, he named Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, as his successor - according to Harold.

He was not a blood relative but he was the commander of the King’s army and the other Saxon nobles approved Edward’s decision.

Harold was crowned on January 7, 1066.

However, Harold was not the only one who thought he should be the next king of England.

William, Duke of Normandy, claimed that Edward had promised him the throne in 1051.

Then, in 1064, Harold had been shipwrecked off the Normandy coast. (William gave him shelter)

William said that Harold had promised to help him become the next king of England.

Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway, wanted the throne because, before Edward, Norway and Denmark had provided the Viking kings of England between 1016 and 1042.

Therefore, the next king should also be a Viking – Harald Hadrada.

He was supported by Tostig, Harold Godwinson’s brother. (He had quarrelled with Harold and now wanted revenge.)

HARDRADA INVADES

Harold kept an army on the south coast waiting for William’s invasion during the summer of 1066.

An unfavourable wind meant that William could not launch his invasion fleet and on September 8th, Harold sent his army home.

On September 18th, he received news that Hadrada had landed in the Humber Estuary with 300 ships.

Harold marched north to confront him with his elite troops, the housecarls. Others joined on the way.

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS

On September 29th, just four days after Harold’s victory at Stamford Bridge, near York, William landed his army near Hastings.

The vast fleet of 700 ships carried 7000 infantry and cavalry.

Harold marched quickly south with his force of 7000 – of which only 2000 were the highly-trained housecarls.

Why did William win?

The Normans had knights on horseback while the Saxons did

not.

Harold’s men were very tired.

Harold was killed, demoralising the Saxons.

The Normans had archers, the Saxons did not.

Some of Harold’s best troops had been killed at Stamford

Bridge.

Hardrada invaded England shortly before William.

(1066-87) Reign of William I the Conqueror

Soldiers rewarded: The Normans received from William lands and titles in return for their service in the invasion.

All land was the king’s: William claimed ultimate possession of virtually all the land in England and asserted the right to dispose of it as he saw fit.

Land confiscation: William confiscated the lands of all English lords who had fought and died with Harold and redistributed most of them to his Norman supporters.

These initial confiscations led to revolts, which resulted in more confiscations, in a cycle that continued virtually unbroken for five years after the Battle of Hastings.

Fort and castle building: To put down and prevent further

rebellions, the Normans constructed a variety of forts, castles.

Heir designation: If an English landholder died, the King could

designate the heir, and often chose a successor from Normandy.

Inheritance control: William and his barons also exercised

tighter control over inheritance of property by widows and

daughters, often forcing marriages to Normans.

No English in upper society: The Normans displaced the native

aristocracy and took control of the upper ranks of society. By

1086, French names predominated even at the lower levels of

the aristocracy.

THE DOMESDAY BOOK

In 1085, William sent his clerks to all manors in order to make a record of all property in the kingdom.

This record is known as the Domesday Book and is actually the first statistical survey for tax purposes.

THE DOMESDAY BOOK

The Domesady Book lists all the manors and their value.

MANOR

Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding farm land.

ADMINISTRATION

William governed England directly through his sheriffs and indirectly through the feudal contract with his vassals.

The basic unit of administration was the Saxon shire, which the Normans called county.

KINGS OF HOUSE OF NORMAN, ANJOU, PLANTAGENET

Henry II Witnessed a long

period of peace Steady increase in

trade and in population.

Reformed the courts and law.

Introduced the jury system

made the law common

Weakened the power of the lords and knights

Cancelled the feudal services of forty days

Asked the lords to pay a special tax.

Hired professional soldiers.

William I

Robert Henry William II

Matilda Stephen

Henry II

Richard I

King John

Henry III

Edward I

Edward II

…

WILLIAM’S SUCCESORS

When William died in 1087 while at war.

He gave England to his second son, William II Rufus, and Normandy to his eldest son, Robert (c. 1054-1134).

Henry, his third son, in due time got both England in 1100, when William II died in a hunting accident in the New Forest, and Normandy in 1106 by conquest.

HENRY I

Henry I had no male heir at his death, and his daughter Matilda and her cousin Stephen waged a devastating civil war for the succession in England

Matilda was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England.

The Civil war

When Henry I died, there were two contenders to the throne: Henry’s daughter Matilda and Henry’s nephew Stephen.

The civil war (1135-1154).

HENRY II

Although Stephen became king, he was forced to recognise Matilda’s son Henry as his heir.

During the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) the Anglo-Norman state reached its zenith.

HENRY II

Henry ruled a vast feudal empire in England, France and Ireland.

He sent a Welsh Norman, Richard de Clare, nicknamed Strongbow to subdue Ireland.

In France he had more land than the French king whose vassal he was.

Henry introduced several administrative reforms in England.

COMMON LAW

He is regarded as the founder of English Common

Law.

Henry wanted to restore control over the church.

THOMAS BECKET

He appointed his chancellor Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, hoping that he would help him control the church.

However, Becket disappointed the king because he supported Pope Gregory VII’s idea of church supremacy over lay institutions.

BECKET’S DEATH

On 29 December 1170, four of the King’s knights murdered the Archbishop in front of the altar of the Canterbury Catghedral.

The Burial of Thomas Becket

Overnight Thomas Becket became a martyr who symbolised resistance to the oppressive authority of the State.

PILGRIMAGES

Becket’s tomb became the object of pilgrimages.

Geoffrey Chaucer immortalised these pilgrimages in his greatest work, The Canterbury Tales

Foundation of Oxford University (1167) - by scholars from Sorbonne

Foundation of Cambridge University 1209

RICHARD I

Henry II’s successor was Richard (1189-1199), nicknamed the Lionheart, who spent most of his time out of England on cusades.

only 6 months of his reign in England.

Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest and his Merry Men - paradox of Richard

RICHARD I

JOHN LACKLAND (1199-1216)

After Richard’s death the English throne was taken by his brother John, who was one of the most unpopular kings of England

weak, cruel and cowardly, already in power during Richard's absence.

KING JOHN

King John, nicknamed the Lackland, lost most of his French possessions.

He quarrelled with the barons, who forced him to sign the Great Charter (Magna Carta) in 1215.

In Magna Carta, King John promised to limit the power of the King, and give all free men the right to a fair and legal trial.

The events leading up to Magna Carta

In 1209, John had been excommunicated in a dispute over the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He had used this as an excuse to confiscate church property and sell it back to his bishops at a profit.

This gave the discontented barony their opportunity. They chose as their leader the East Anglian baron, Robert FitzWalter, who styled himself 'Marshal of the Host of God and the Holy Church'.

MAGNA CARTA

After an opening chapter guaranteeing the rights of the Church, the next 15 chapters were provisions designed to curb the king's exploitation of loopholes in feudal custom

A further ten chapters dealt with finances, and another important block confirmed people's rights under the Common Law.

It is these latter that have been seen as crucial, as they subjected the king to the law of the land for the first time in Britain's history, and this clause is the only one that remains on the statute books today.

Magna Carta lasted less than three months.

By November 1215, John had the rebels' backs to the wall.

The rebels, for their part, had offered the crown of England to Prince Louis of France, and he hurried reinforcements into London.

At this point, the fate of Britain hung in the balance. If John failed, the kingdom of England would have fallen into French hands. And he failed…. But…

John died during the night of 18 October 1216. His death pulled the rug out from under the feet of Prince Louis.

With John out of the way, the regency council, led by William Marshal, declared John's son as king Henry III and reissued Magna Carta, removing a major part of the rebels' platform. All those barons who had been prepared to oppose John now flocked to his son's standard, and the conflict shifted from a civil war over baronial rights to a war of resistance against foreign invasion.

MAGNA CARTA

Magna Carta influenced many common law and other documents, such as the United States Constitution, and is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.

This was the first successful step in English history towards limiting the power of the King.

HENRY III

Although Henry was charitable and cultured, he lacked the ability to rule effectively.

He concluded an agreement with Pope Innocent IV (1243–54), offering to finance papal wars in Sicily if the Pope would grant his infant son, Edmund, the Sicilian crown.

Four years later Pope Alexander IV (pope 1254–61) threatened to excommunicate Henry for failing to meet this financial obligation. Henry appealed to the barons for funds, but they agreed to cooperate only if he would accept far-reaching reforms.

Henry III

During the reign of King Henry III, in 1258, the nobles under the leadership of Simon de Monfort, earl of Leicester (1208–65), elected a council called parliament (from French parler – to discuss).

In 1258 Henry III forced by the

barons the king grants The Provisions of Oxford

THE PROVISIONS OF OXFORD

The provisions forced King Henry III of England:

to accept a new form of government in which power was placed in the hands of a council of twenty-four members, twelve selected by the crown, twelve by the barons.

The selected men were to supervise ministerial appointments, local administration and the custody of royal castles.

Parliament, meanwhile, which was to meet three times a year, would monitor the performance of this council.

MONTFORT vs HENRY III

Montfort was actually a Frenchman married to the king’s sister Eleanor and godfather to the king’s eldest son, Edward.

After capturing the king and his heir, Prince Edward, at the battle of Lewes in 1264, Montfort established a much tighter and more baronial government for England

Edward escaped from captivity, defeated and killed Montfort

Henry faded into the background, and Edward was the effective ruler of the country for the rest of Henry’s reign until he succeeded to the throne at Henry’s death in 1272.

EDWARD I (1272–1307)

Edward was the first king of England since the conquest with an English name (after Edward the Confessor)

Edward I restored royal control and made several reforms:

He limited the barons' right to hold their own courts of law;

gave English common law and most important,

used and developed Parliament, which was essentially the king's feudal council with a new name and an enlarged membership

PARLIAMENT

The Model Parliament of 1295, following Montfort's pattern of 1265, consisted of great barons, bishops, abbots, and representatives of counties and towns. In 1297, to get money for his wars, Edward accepted the Confirmation of Charters, agreeing that taxes must be agreed by the Parliament.

In the following century, Parliament divided into two houses, Lords and Commons, and made good claim to control taxation and to participate in the making of statutes.

PARLIAMENT

dealt with judiciary, legislation, taxation

possibility of impeachment for state dignitaries

monarchy and parliament are in equal position

Composition:

97 bishops, abbots

65 earls and barons

39 judges

reps of lower clergy - summoned

reps of counties, cities and boroughs - summoned

EDWARD’S WELSH CAMPAIGN 1277-1284

Edward conquered northwest Wales (1284), ending the rule of its native princes. He built stone castles, adopted the Welsh longbow as an English weapon, and named his oldest son the Prince of Wales (1301).

EDWARD’S SCOTTISH CAMPAIGN 1291-1307

He intervened in Scottish affairs, even claiming the Scottish throne. Having fought the Scots often but with little effect, Edward died in 1307 without having subdued the northern kingdom.

1290s - dynastic problems in Scotland - Scottish noblemen (BALLIOL and BRUCE) invite Edward I to settle matters in Scotland

1291 - John Balliol elected by Edward I as king of Scotland (Scotland treated as a vassal state)

John Balliol deposed but Scots are defeated in the Battle of Dunbar (1296).

1297 - the resistance of William Wallace

Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297) - victorious; Wallace marches southward

Battle of Falkirk (1298) - defeat of Wallace

1305 Braveheart is captured and executed in Edinburgh.

the birth of Scottish nationalism

1306 - Robert the Bruce becomes the king of Scotland, causing another campaign of Edward I

1307 - Edward I dies during the Scottish campaign at Carlisle

EDWARD II (1307-1327)

His son, Edward II, gave up the campaign.

official recognition of Scotland as an independent nation by the English and the papacy - 1329.

Edward II was a weak king, partly influenced by favourites

Although he freed himself of baronial rule in 1322, he was forced to abdicate in 1327.

European famine from 1315