The Fall of theFeudal System

1. Characteristics of the House of Plantagenets

1-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. It was to remain elusive and retain its independence until late in the reign of the Stuart kings.

2-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.

3-The period also saw the development of new social institutions and a distinctive English culture. Parliament emerged and grew, while the judicial reforms begun in the reign of Henry II were continued and completed by Edward I.

4-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, with surviving examples including Salisbury Cathedral. 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.

5-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.

6-The price rises and labour shortage which resulted led to social unrest, culminating in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

7-These were barbaric times. The punishments of hanging, drawing and quartering and burning at the stake were both invented in England during this period.

8-The slow loss of dictatorial power of the English kings coupled with the introduction of parliamentary democracy. (Magna Carta and Simon de Montfort etc)

9-The continuous battle between English Kings and the Church in Rome for the legal high ground. For example, King Henry 2nd and Thomas Becket.

10-The corruption and unchristian like the behaviour of the Church headquartered in Rome particularly through the Inquisition Office which ordered mass killings of peaceable people like the Cathars and the cash payments demanded of the laity to guarantee their passage to heaven.

11-The development of Universities, particularly Oxford and Cambridge as centres of free thought. For example, John Wycliffe and his Lollards were a product of Oxford, demonstrating freedom of religious thought.

12-The steady increase in power of Islamic forces in the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, Turkey and the Balkans and the disastrous efforts of European Christian forces who often fought each other (Rome v Constantinople) in their attempts to save Jerusalem and their trading routes to the Far East. Even though 1000 miles away, the English were often closely involved both with the Pope’s Crusades e.g. Richard 1st and being directly asked for military support (Henry 4th)

2. Henry II's Rule (1154-1189)

Henry was born in Le Mans Anjou, France in 1133. He owed his Kingship of England to his Norman mother Matilda, daughter of Henry 1st and his vast lands to his father Count of Anjou and his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou. His father Geoffrey was called Plantagenet because of the sprig of broom (in Latin Planta genista) he habitually wore in his hat. Eleanor had been previously married to the King of France, Louis 7th and was the richest woman in Europe. When crowned King of England, Henry became the ruler of the largest realm in Europe also the richest and most powerful. In those days, this meant he was continuously in the saddle and indeed he made sure there were a number of horses always available to him at strategic points in his empire. He would generally travel with his court which at the minimum was 100 people. Henry, in a similar manner to most Kings since 1066, spent more time in France than England as Anjou was an area of culture, learning, art, music and poetry. Eleanor, his wife of two years when he was crowned, was 32 on her wedding day and already a royal mother having been wife to the French King but divorced on the grounds of their close blood relations in 1152. Henry had a lot of women in his life, perhaps because of his marriage for political purposes to a woman 10 years older than himself. However, they produced 9 children which with the 2 she had produced with the French King shows the poor woman had a total of 11. Henry had time to sire 12 other children, 3 with a woman called Ikenai and the remainder with 6 other women. In addition to these mistresses and after 21 years of marriage to Eleanor, Henry eventually found the love of his life the 16 year old “fair Rosamund” who, hidden away in a house at Woodstock (near Oxford England) produced him a son.

2.1. Law and Order

Henry is, unfortunately, best remembered for causing the murder of his Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. This must be seen as part of the actions he took to restore law and order which had gone to put under his predecessor King Stephen. Firstly, he had to deal with the Barons who under Stephen were fighting each other from their new castles on confrontational land. Henry ordered these to be demolished. Then the church needed to respect the law to give a good example to the people. To help him, Henry installed one of his best friends as Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Henry wished to tighten up, on all the standard of biblical rules, murder, stealing or adultery. It is known, even today, that priests are only human and commit such offences. Then Henry wanted wayward priests to be tried by the same courts as the rest of the population. Becket insisted priests were above common law and should be tried by the church courts which then as now tend to be lenient. Unfortunately, four Knights overheard Henry saying “who will rid me of this turbulent priest” and taking him at his word went to Canterbury and killed him in the cathedral. Henry was devastated and ordered he himself be lashed hundreds of times as penance.

The main benefits in law under and following Henry 2nd.

 Henry introduced trial by Jury for the first time.

 He also set up civil courts in each county shire.

 Henry brought the church under the rules of the civil courts. (His arguments with Becket.) Prior to this, backed by the Pope, the Church was literally getting away with murder.

 He forbade any appeal to the Pope without his consent.

 He introduced the law that no man can be tried for the same offence twice.

 No tenant-in-capite should be excommunicated without the Kings consent.

 Both Barons and Bishops must come under feudal rules i.e. they pay their taxes in cash in preference to kind.

 Forfeited goods (eg confiscated as a state fine) could not be squirrelled away in Churches.

 That church revenues in the diocese, when Bishops are absent, should be collected by the King.

2.2. Henry and his Family Feuds

Henry had had 9 children including 6 sons, two of them became kings of England: Richard and John. Neither were good sons nor indeed good kings. After some 20 years of rule, 3 of his sons Henry, Richard and Geoffrey egged on by their mother, started a separatist rebellion against him in Plantagenet France supported by Louis 7th the French King. This family rebellion was ruthlessly crushed by Henry within a year. A year later, there was a Barons revolt in England supported by the King of Scotland against Henry’s efforts to bring the Barons under the rule of law. This rebellion was swiftly crushed with the help of the loyal Baron Ralph de Glanville. 10 years after the first rebellion by his sons, they did it again. As before crushed by Henry but this time two of his sons, Henry and Geoffrey died. A third rebellion, headed by Richard and supported by Phillip the King of France, succeeded in ousting Henry from Touraine France. When Henry learnt that his favourite son John was also involved with this rebellion, he died within the year of a broken heart. Henry, therefore, can be remembered as being the most powerful King in Europe at this time but with dreadful family life; his sons, egged on by their mother, rebelled against him. The writing was therefore on the wall for the loss of his French territories because:

-His son Richard wanted to rule the French territories himself in opposition to his father.

-This was initially supported by the King of France, Philip Augustus who was destined to become the greatest king for France during this period.

-Richard and then his brother John, when they became King of England were useless territorial defenders.

Ireland 1166

Early in his reign, Henry was visited by one of the rulers of Ireland, Dermot King of Leinster, (Ireland was still divided into small tribal Kingdoms), who asked him to come to Ireland to sort out an inter-tribal quarrel. Henry sort advice from the Pope who gave him permission to invade and conquer Ireland with the religious objective of bringing the renegade Irish Church under the strong arm of Rome. Henry, who had many more important things to do, sent one of his Barons, Richard de Clare, The Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed Strongbow, who quickly reinstalled Dermot who then conveniently died. Strongbow rapidly filled the vacuum making himself King of Leinster in his place. Henry, jealous of his vassal’s rise to fortune, visited Ireland with sufficient show of strength to persuade Strongbow and the other Kings of Ireland to pay him homage. Henry’s territory in Ireland was small only some 5th of the land and centred around Dublin which became known as the “English Pale”. Oxford University

In 1168, some English scholars were expelled from Paris. When they returned home, they were permitted by Henry to set up a University at Oxford. Along with Cambridge, these have remained the premier universities in Britain until this day.

3. Richard I (1189-1199)

The majority of earlier historians show Richard “The Lion Heart” as a hero wearing a Crusaders red cross on a white shirt with a sword in his hand, obviously a popular king. (His statue still stands adjacent to the Houses of Parliament.) But this is far from the reality. He loved fighting and out of his 10 years reign he only spent 10 months in England; he was either leading the Third Crusade, in prison and only latterly fighting to retain his French territories. So his English subjects hardly knew him. England went to pot and his vast empire embracing England, Ireland and half of France lost its centre of authority and became restless, setting the scene for the loss of all the French territories in the reign of his brother John. Crusades were expensive but popular as the Roman Church absolved Crusaders of their sins where otherwise huge fines would have been paid to the Church. (Penance money also had to be paid by Kings. The Third Crusade was seen to be successful. As Richard negotiated the right for Christian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem but failed to regain the rule of the city of Jerusalem as the occupying Islamic army under Saladin was too strong for him. On his way back to England, he was captured by the German Emperor and ransomed for a huge sum. (Capturing Knights and princes and if possible Kings was a favourite occupation in the Middle Ages as huge sums could be raised. This habit saved many lives in battle as a dead Knight was worth nothing but captured alive and he could be ransomed). Richard remained in prison for two years until the amount required could be raised in England. In the meantime, Philip Augustus of France made key gains in England’s French territories. Thus, as far as England was concerned, the Third Crusade was a disaster because:

1-Cash was raised by selling assets in England to finance the trip. For example, selling Church and Crown lands and selling the right of self-government to certain towns. Not a recipe to maintain central control.

2-Cash was raised to get Richard out of prison. (100,00 Marks) Both were huge sums, each similar in magnitude to two years taxes. Poor men had to sell their pigs and the Church their expensive plate.

3-Richard, as was customary at the time, appointed a “ruler” in his absence called a Justiciar, William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. Unfortunately, Richard’s brother John soon took control in Richard’s absence and under his corrupt leadership, all the good laws introduced by their father Henry 2nd were ignored. It can be said that if John had been a better ruler the Magna Carta would not have been required. Robin Hood England’s favourite outlaw lived in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, in Richards reign, or so the story goes. As with the legend of King Arthur, it is likely that a character similar to Robin Hood existed in these turbulent times.

4-Rich outlaws were quite common after the Norman conquest because they were Anglo-Saxon landowners who kicked off their property to make way for Norman/French Barons.

5-An outlaw was anybody who the Kings courts wished to try but who disappeared. Quite easy when the population was so low and most of the land was a forest.

6-Generally outlaws of this origin would have been popular with the locals and would have been skilled with the bow and the sword for defending themselves and poaching the Kings deer or wild boar. In Robin Hoods case robbing the corrupt rich to give to the poor. King Richard joined Philip 2nd Augustus on the Third Crusade but only played a small part militarily as he was more interested in getting his French lands back from the rule of English Kings.

Richard had no children although he married a Spanish princess while celebrating his victory over fellow Christians in Cyprus which was then under the rule of Christian Constantinople. The marriage was a surprise to Richard as his mother, Eleanor, turned up unannounced in Cyprus with the said princess and they were married in Limassol. Richard died while fighting Philip Augustus’ forces in France.

4. John 1199-1216

John was the younger brother of King Richard and the youngest son of Henry 2nd. He is best remembered for losing all the English lands in France to the King of France Philip 2nd Augustus and for the Magna Carta. In effect, a thoroughly bad king. One has to remember that history in those days was written by monks. In truth, John was a much better king than the Christian favourite Richard and Stephen who ignored the problems of the country. John at least tried to deal with them energetically travelling the lands to check his instructions were being carried out. He should be noted for building up the navy, the sea defences and improving the economy.

The loss of English territory in France

Following the well-managed rule of Henry 2nd, his two sons Richard and John were both a disaster for England, while the French-produced Philip 2nd who can be compared to Henry in terms of effective government and military acumen.

5. Philip II Augustus 1165 to 1233

 Hence Philip’s life spanned that of Henry II, Richard I and John.

 Richard I as a boy fought with Philip against his father Henry. Henry won these battles.

 Richard and Philip went on the 3rd Crusade together.

 Philip soundly beat English King John (even though he was supported by Otto 4th of Germany) in battles for French territory to the extent that Philip produced modern-day France and John and his Barons had to resign themselves to ruling only England and some of Ireland.

 Philip was requested by the Pope to help in the Crusade to rid southern France of the Christian fundamentalists the Cathars. He refused but the Cathars were exterminated other than those very few who had travelled to England

 Philip improved the prosperity and the human rights of the average man in France through economic reform and checking the power of the nobles.

 Philip died in 1233, John in 1216

6. John and Magna Carta

Many historians put Magna Carta or the “Great Charta” as one of the turning points in English history which put England on the road to a democratic state and introduced the lawyers in England to the concept of Human Rights. It really put England ahead of the rest of Europe and probably the world in social justice and fair government. Norman and Plantagenet Kings ruled like dictators ignoring the safeguards which had been developed by the Anglo-Saxon Kings with their parliament called the Witan. In King John’s case, he demanded excessive taxes from the Barons which had to be collected also from the Baron’s territories and people to finance his unsuccessful wars in France. These wars were of extreme importance to the Barons as in many cases it was their land the English forces were defending.

Two important agreements were made:

 The King could no longer act as a dictator but had to discuss and agree on all new taxes and indeed all important issues with a council of 25 chosen Barons. If the King could not agree with his Barons they had the right to declare war on him.

 The King could only ask for money for himself, if he was kidnapped and ransomed, at the knighthood of his eldest son and the marriage of his eldest daughter.

7. John’s Reign, a Chronological Summary.

-1166: John was born in Oxford England, Henry II's fourth son. His elder brother Richard was also born in Oxford of the same mother, the Franco file, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard was 9 years older.

-1177: John was appointed King of Ireland aged 11.

-1189: Richard became King of England and Ruler of half of France and immediately goes on a Crusade. William Longchamp is made Justicar. Prince John is 23 years old and gets married to Isabella from Gloucester making John Earl of Gloucester and King of Ireland. This was a marriage of convenience. John being the youngest son of Henry II had no land as it had been already given away. Isabella brought him most of the land of Gloucester. This loveless marriage was one of the reasons John had so many mistresses, some 12 in total producing as many illegitimate children.

-1191: John ousts Longchamp and takes over as ruler of England in Richards absence. John is 25. He is energetic but could be cruel and unjust.

-1194: Richard returns to England but only stays a few months before he returns to his beloved France to defend the lands being attacked by King Phillip of France.

-1199: Richard is killed in France and John becomes King of England and 50% of France. John is now 33. But the coronation is disputed by Prince Arthur John’s elder brother Geoffrey’s son. Arthur is supported by the powerful Phillip King of the other 50% of France.

-1200 :John having failed to produce any children has time to fall in love for the first time, a 12 year old French princess, another Isabella but of Angouleme and granddaughter of the previous King of France. They eventually produce 5 children.

-1200-03: Fighting in France. John and the English Barons against his nephew Arthur and Phillip of France. The Battle for who rules in western France, the English or the French. And for the identity of the English, are they half-French of solely English. John lost. It is not reported that John was a useless general but more that Philip was particularly good.