Angevin Kings of England: Rulers of the Angevin Empire

the man known to history as king henry ii of england was born on the 5th of march 1133 at la moore in normandy in northern france his father was jeffrey count of anger to reign and maine and in that capacity he was the ruler of much of northwestern and central france particularly those regions to the west of paris at a time when france was divided into a number of powerful principalities jeffrey was known by the epithet the handsome or the fair henry's mother was matilda known as empress matilda she was the daughter of king henry the first of england and had previously been married to the holy roman emperor henry v matilda's lineage was pivotal for the future of her son's life her father henry the first was the fourth son of william the conqueror the duke of normandy who in 1066 had crossed to england and conquered the country for the normans as a younger son henry had not succeeded to any of his father's lands when william died in 1087 but when his older brother william rufus died in 1100 henry seized the throne of england in due course his own son and successor william was in line to succeed him but in 1120 when henry was already in his early 50s william died in a naval accident known as the white ship disaster and the issue of the succession was now thrown wide open matilda as one of henry's daughters provided one potential line of succession although it was generally accepted that a woman could not succeed to the throne at the time this aside henry the first concluded as he aged that matilda would indeed provide his successor through her marriage to her husband jeffrey thus despite some family quarrels between the king and his daughter and son-in-law there was a strong claim that the two-year-old henry should succeed his grandfather when henry the first died after a brief illness on the 1st of december 11 35 however this would not happen and the virtual usurpation of the english throne by henry the first's nephew stephen of blue ushered in a period of civil war which would last for nearly 20 years the nearly two decade long period from henry the first's death in 1135 to the eventual full ascent to power of henry ii in 1154 is often referred to as the anarchy stephen of blue's seizure of power in the aftermath of henry the first's death and the competing claims of the infant henry driven by his mother matilda and father jeffrey ensured that there would be no stable succession while stephen was the nephew of william the conqueror having been born to the conqueror's daughter adela his accession was not accepted without hesitation by his english and welsh subjects it would cause the first stages of a crisis between the english monarchy and the english barons which would escalate for decades to come with rebellions arising within wales and border clashes with scotland occurring during the course of the 1130s and 1140s then most forcefully matilda and jeffrey began to press their claim and that of their infant son in 1139 matilda led a direct invasion of southern england with several key noble allies while she and jeffrey and their allies were unable to achieve a complete victory over stephen at this time they did secure key footholds in the south of england and using their bases of support in france particularly around au jus they were able to continue the conflict in such a way that the anarchy would continue for many years to come into the 1140s the anarchy continued as it did henry was growing up oblivious to the wars being fought across the english channel in his name his first years were spent largely in france as indeed the vast majority of henry's life would be this he shared with many of the early anglo-norman kings of england whose power base lay largely in normandy and the other french possessions later from the age of seven he resided at his father's home in honju where he was educated by peter of saul a well-regarded grammarian and scholar of the mid-11th century but when he was nine years of age a more active involvement for the young would-be monarch was decided upon by his parents he was sent to bristol which was one of the principal towns of england in late medieval times as well as a focus of support for henry's cause in england in the 1140s this transfer of henry to england was at once political and also somewhat dangerous placing him within reach of stephen's armies in england but galvanizing matilda and jeffrey's supporters who for a time knew that the child on whose behalf they were fighting was in england itself here henry continued his education for some time before returning to france in 1144 where he received his later education as he entered his teenage years under william of course a scholastic philosopher who was a leading early figure in the christian humanist movement by 1147 henry was taking a more active involvement in affairs that year he led a military expedition himself to england from normandy the beginning of a period in which he would press his own claims to the throne of england and in addition he was also gaining powerful friends from the late 1140s king david the first of scotland was a prominent ally although an attempt to seize the northern capital at york from stephen's forces failed in 1149 thereafter matters in france distracted from a full prosecution of the war in england the french king louis vii who had been absent in the orient for some time as one of the principal leaders of the second crusade now returned to western france and was immediately troubled by the possibility that henry would unite normandy on zhu and the family's other french possessions as well as england all under his rule such a king would be possessed of as greater domain as louis himself and would actually command greater resources than him accordingly war followed but a resolution was quickly patched up in 1151 whereby henry paid homage to louis as his feudal overlord and provided the french king with a number of small properties belonging to the duchy of normandy the title to which henry had officially been granted in 1150. when henry's father jeffrey of on-jew died in september 1151 henry united the disparate french territories of his mother and father under his own rule including normandy anjou and maine these extensive properties in the north and northwest of france were soon added to when henry married in 1152 his bride was eleanor of aquitaine a woman who at thirty years of age was eleven years henry's senior she had also been married previously to none other than king louis vii of france as the daughter of william the tenth duke of aquitaine a man who died without a son in 1137 elena had ascended as duchess of the large duchy of aquitaine which extended across a large part of western france she had married louis the same year but by 1152 the union had only produced two daughters and as female successors were excluded in the succession to the french monarchy neither could succeed louis despairing of an heir and with eleanor seemingly having lost interest in their marriage louis successfully acquired an annulment in march 1152 within weeks the reason for eleanor's apathy towards louis was clear to all as she married the young duke of normandy just 12 weeks after her marriage ended louis was furious at both this insult to his honor and at the fact that henry now had a claim through his marriage to a further large territory in western france the fallout from henry's marriage to eleanor led briefly to renewed conflict between the young duke and king louis in france yet this only lasted for a few months and by 1153 with an unprecedentedly large power base in northern and western france henry was in a position to decisively challenge stephen in england by that time nearly two decades after the civil strife between stephen and henry's supporters had begun the english king was in control of large parts of the north east and south of england including london while henry's base lay in the west particularly around the river seven valley he also had a number of prominent allies including the powerful northern lord ran off of chester however by 1153 when he arrived in england the war situation was profoundly different to how it had been for so many years henry was no longer a child but was a very powerful french lord in his own right this combined with a lack of support from amongst his nobility in england enjoined the king after a limited campaign to agree a treaty with henry under the terms of the treaty of winchester or the treaty of wallingford as it is sometimes referred to and which was formally signed in 1154 stephen would remain as king of england but upon his death henry would succeed him finally after 20 years and limited bloodshed in its final stages the anarchy had come to an end henry did not have to wait long for the terms of the treaty of winchester to be implemented in 1154 stephen was no longer a young man exactly how old he was by this time is not 100 clear but he was at least in his late 50s and possibly in his early 60s at the time a relatively old age for the 12th century stephen might well have viewed the treaty as a temporary expedient during which time he could regroup and muster support for his son william's cause to succeed him over henry but if this was the case ill health scuppered his plans then in the late autumn of 1154 he fell ill from a serious stomach ailment while in kent and died shortly afterwards on the 25th of october henry by a rather fortuitous series of events had gone from being at war with stephen in early 1153 to succeeding him as king of england just a year and a half later it was the culmination of a meteoric ascent which had seen henry acquire vast territories through succession marriage diplomacy and military action between 1150 and 1154 henry is generally deemed to have been the first of the english kings known as the plantagenets although this term was not used to refer to the english royal family until the 15th century over 300 years after henry's accession the plantagenet designation divides henry and his successors from the kings of england who ruled from william the conqueror in 1066 through to henry's own accession and lasts up to the outbreak of the wars of the roses in the 15th century the term plantagenet is something of a lingual construct rather than being a family name in and of itself it derives from a nickname which henry's father jeffrey count of onju and duke of normandy was given during his lifetime in recognition of a bright yellow flowering plant which he used to wear as a symbol of his house the name plantagenet is derived from this as the latin for the same common broom plant is plantagenista which subsequently through common usage became the french term plant genest and was then further anglicized as plandagenet as a result the dynasty of english kings which held the throne from henry's eventual accession in 1154 through to the advent of the tudors in 1485 is known as the plantagenets upon his succession henry became the ruler of what has become known as the orgsvan empire or the possessions of the orangevang kings of england this empire would be held by himself and two of his sons this imperial designation was granted to henry's dominions as an acknowledgement of both the extent of the territories he ruled as well as their cosmopolitan nature by the time he ascended to the throne in 1154 henry ruled all of england and virtually the entirety of northern and western france including the duchy of normandy the county of honju from which the anger imperial title was derived the duchy of aquitaine by right of his wife as well as extensive territories in maine and gascony in france the english crown had virtually secured control over wales as well by this time a process which had started under william the conqueror nearly a century earlier while england's long history of involvement in scotland ensured that henry had a certain amount of influence here also this combined with a role within brittany in northwest france through a manage arrangement in the 1180s as well as the rapid conquest of much of ireland in the early 1170s ensured that by the middle years of his reign henry ii was the ruler of a vast empire for its time one which stretched from dublin to london and south as far as the pyrenees just who was the new king of this vast expanse of territory in western europe to begin with his name itself was somewhat ambiguous in the late medieval period individuals were very often referred to by a place with which they were associated or a sobriquet for instance the first anglo-norman king of england had been william of normandy prior to his conquest of england and subsequently became known as william the conqueror and as we have seen subsequent generations would come to refer to henry and the royal family which he created as the plantagenet but at the time and indeed in chronicles and government records for hundreds of years to come he was more usually referred to by the quite unusual name of henry fitz empress this was in honor of the fact that henry's claim to the throne and that of his successors descended by right of his being the son of the empress matilda furthermore unlike some of his predecessors we have a clear idea of what henry fitz empress looked like he was of an average height but was clearly a well-built individual with a large chest albeit somewhat stooped as the years went by and not uncommon development for individuals who spent long periods of their life on horseback he had blue grey eyes and reddish hair which he kept short by temperament the new king was said to be at once gentle and friendly to those within his inner circle while also being possessed of a fiery and even explosive temper one which he often employed to get his way when he met with resistance from his advisors and senior nobility he was also an extremely energetic individual one who rarely rested in the same place for prolonged periods of time at ease as many other monarchs of his own day and later would do indeed one of his common traits was his preference for standing at court rather than sitting moreover his leisure time was often spent hunting and hawking however henry also possessed a sense of humor as at court he procured the services of a flatulist roland the farter who would perform one jump one whistle and one fart for the king and it is recorded that he was rewarded with the manor house at hemingstone in suffolk for his services along with 30 acres of land but as well as this henry was also possessed of an intellect he was well read could engage in debate with scholars and would have traveled across much of europe without the need for interpreters such was the breadth of languages he spoke furthermore chroniclers of the times attest to his loyalty towards those who were equally loyal to him but that he displayed unwavering resentment against those whom he felt had betrayed him in time this latter trait would create enormous difficulties for his rule and tarnish the legacy of what was otherwise a highly successful reign whilst henry had finally secured the throne after years of struggling with stephen and brought the political anarchy which had subsumed england to an end henry's reign was quickly confronted by a fresh challenge and it came from his own brother jeffrey in december 1155 jeffrey initiated a revolt in france calling for parts of the family's french possessions to be handed over to him now that henry had assumed power in england specifically the counties of honju maine and tehran an extensive family conference in france in february 1156 failed to resolve the conflict but within months without any major military action henry managed to crush his brother's ambitions in part by making geoffrey the new count of naunt and in the end the challenge proved beneficial to henry's cementing of his rule he used the opportunity presented by jeffrey's revolt to crush the independence of some of those french knights and nobles under his dominions who had sided with jeffrey and when jeffrey himself died in 1158 the time proved opportune to fully cement henry's control over his french possessions now henry would have unequivocal control of the growing organ empire a hegemony which would not be challenged for nearly 20 years in part henry's success came about because of his own boundless energy combined with a shrewd pragmatism the young king knew what was achievable and worked to implement it but his accomplishments in bringing stability to england and france after so many years of turmoil must also be attributed to the intelligence with which he selected his advisors significant amongst them was his mother matilda who had done so much to champion henry's cause in his youth at a time when he barely knew what it was that was being fought over she worked extensively with the church and patronized the cistercian reform movement throughout the 1150s and 1160s until her own death in 1167. other close advisors included henry's uncle reginald of cornwall the earl of arundel william dorbany and the justicia's robert earl of leicester and richard delusi several senior bishops were also brought into the administration but no figure was as ubiquitous and influential in the young king's government than the man he made lord chancellor of england thomas beckett a protege of the archbishop of canterbury theobaldo beck beckett was recommended to henry in the mid-1150s and quickly became an indispensable part of his regime increasing henry's revenues throughout england what each of these advisors offered was experience and administration which the young henry otherwise lacked these years would also see the almost continuous growth of henry's family and eventually henry and eleanor would have eight children in total surprisingly in a time of high infant mortality all but one of the eight survived infancy and by 1170 their surviving four sons and three daughters ranged in age from 15 years old to just three years old the elder daughters matilda and eleanor were married to the duke of saxony named henry the lion and alfonso the king of castile respectively while the third daughter was joanna the eldest son was henry's namesake who was married to margaret the daughter of the king of france louis vii henry jr's younger brothers were richard jeffrey and john two of whom even as younger sons of the king would eventually go on to have extremely consequential lives and careers and their own right richard not least as a king and the lionheart who would battle with saladin in the sands of the holy land on the third crusade and john as a future king of england whose famous clash with his barons and nobles in the early 13th century would result in the fashioning of the magna carta the great charter henry's relationship with his sons would soon come to dominate the latter half of his reign although he was very often distant from his english dominions henry ii took a decidedly strong interest in the administration of his kingdom and the oversight of the courts there for instance he initiated a series of inquests and issued many royal edicts which led to the development of a more coherent and centralized bureaucracy for instance an ordinance of 1170 brought local officials such as sheriffs and major local landholders under greater royal scrutiny and made it clear that wide-scale corruption would no longer be tolerated even if henry was absent in france or elsewhere and other regulations standardized some specific elements of oversight for instance the size of the forest act of 1184 brought the regulation of forests and the taking of wood from the same into a formal and standardized form of royal control other extremely important laws in this regard provided new prohibitions around the ability of landlords to simply eject tenants from their lands and around how freeholds could be created and maintained these new regulations also evolved the system which allowed 12 knights to adjudicate on disputes at the local level which eventually would lead to the development of the modern jury system in terms of taxation henry increased the rates payable based on a night's service from as early as 1166 based on a document known as the kartai baronem or the baronial chart this was the first country ride listing of dues which were owed to the crown by knights and was used by henry's exchequer officials to increase the potential yield from military taxation some of these taxes were gradually increased during the course of the 1180s to pay for exchequer increases which were necessary to support the crusades to the holy land as the muslim lord saladin was threatening to recapture jerusalem and the crusader states there ultimately henry's administrative reforms are most clearly defined by the uniformity which he lent to the kingdom's courts and taxation in the early 12th century a series of competing judicial systems still existed in england in large part owing to the overlapping anglo-saxon norman and viking traditions in use across the kingdom but by the end of henry's reign a much greater degree of uniformity have been lent to the system of administration in the end henry ii's managerial policies were leading to a situation at the local level where a system had been created which one historian has defined as a species of self-government at the king's command meaning that local courts and administrators could govern themselves as long as they gave ultimate authority to the king henry was perhaps above all else an innovator as a king of england in contrast to william the conqueror and his immediate successors in that henry understood how to manifest and display the royal power which he had attained in an effort to impress his contemporaries he employed numerous building programs and other measures which in more modern times would be referred to as acts of propaganda for instance henry had a great leper house or lazarus constructed in car in france in the early 1160s whilst there were many other royal building projects underway throughout normandy aquitaine on zhu main and england which commanded the enormous respect of contemporaries such was their grandeur these displays of wealth and power were intended to convey an order of strength and prosperity and were designed to indicate that a strong monarchy had returned after the years of anarchy which preceded henry's full accession and henry was well attuned to the statement architecture could make an enormous keep was built above the cliffs of dover which greeted so many visitors to england as they sailed to kent from northern france this building program also extended into the ecclesiastical sphere henry acting as a patron of a great many impressive church establishments both in france and in england all of this served to cement and aggrandize henry's rule something which was much needed in the aftermath of the anarchy of stephen's reign having secured his rule during the course of the 1150s and introduced a number of highly effective reforms to consolidate his grip on the archival empire in the years that followed henry might have looked forward to a more sanguine peaceful time in the 1160s one in which he could enjoy the fruits of his earlier accomplishments however it was not to be so the 1160s were largely defined in henry ii's reign by conflict and it came from the strangest of places we have already seen that one of the individuals in whose hands henry placed great power in the first years of his reign was thomas becket whom he made lord chancellor of england this patronage of becket reached its height in 1162 when following the opening of a vacancy in the position he promoted beckett to become the archbishop of canterbury as archbishop beckett was the senior ecclesiastical officer in all of england and was theoretically answerable only to the pope in rome in the management of many church affairs henry's reasoning for this promotion was clear he wanted an individual who would do his bidding as archbishop yet it would prove to be one of his few bad moves a year later in the summer of 1163 at a major confidence held at woodstock beckett first quarreled with henry by attacking the king's effort to turn an annual payment which was paid to sheriffs by the church into a form of royal revenue this was an extraordinary clash vitriolic in its anger during the course of which henry turned in fury on the archbishop and stated that by the eyes of god it shall be given as a revenue and entered in the royal rolls to which beckett responded that by the reverence of the eyes by which you have sworn my lord king there shall be given from all my land or from the property of the church not a penny it was just the first step in an increasingly intense rivalry between the king and england's most senior religious figure this was all very different to what henry had expected in 1162 when he promoted beckett he expected a compliant senior cleric who would act in unison with him as king the conflict would drag on for the remainder of the 1160s and eventually formed one of the most turbulent and controversial aspects of henry's reign one which is still widely remembered and written about today over 800 years later soon after the initial clash between the pair at the council of woodstock the king and the archbishop quarrelled yet again over the issue of beckett's right to excommunicate tenants in chief on the church's vast lands throughout england without first seeking out royal approval henry perceiving beckett's behavior in this respect to be a breach of his royal position began to pressurize the bishops of england to acknowledge his superior authority over such matters compared to that of beckett as primate of the english church these clashes culminated in the constitutions of clarendon at 1164 where henry presided over a synod which sought to reduce clerical independence ultimately it was no surprise when beckett resisted any efforts by henry to weaken the church's jurisdiction and rights and henry responded by stripping becket of several large estates which beckett held by right of his previous role as lord chancellor of england a tit for tat exchange followed throughout the mid-1160s with beckett trying with some considerable success to interfere in henry's marriage arrangements for his wider family an issue which the archbishop of canterbury had some significant jurisdiction over and henry for his part taking over beckett's personal residence at birkemsted and using it henceforth as a royal christmas retreat thereafter as things ratcheted up in the mid-1160s the struggle between the pair became increasingly personal some distance was maintained between the pair following the constitution of clarendon and the various scuffles of the mid-1160s but the ultimate conflict was simply being delayed largely by pope alexander iii who was himself an exile in france owing to political strife in mainland europe involving the holy roman emperor frederick barbarossa and who had advised beckett to keep his distance from henry nor was the king inclined to let the mata go and so from 1164 onwards he attempted to break beckett's political resistance by imposing a series of highly punitive financial fines on the archbishop some of which concerned his previous exercising of the office of the lord chancellor of england and which culminated in the charging of an obscene bill of 30 000 pounds against beckett the equivalent of tens of millions of pounds in today's money rather than accept such measures beckett entered into outright opposition to henry fleeing to flanders in the low countries or modern day belgium now the pair would not see each other directly again for five years beckett variously spending time in flanders and at the papal court of pope alexander iii in exile during the late 1160s it is difficult to know on whom the majority of the blame for what had already occurred and what subsequently occurred should be placed henry was certainly an autocratic monarch but beckett was also a cleric who thrived on being at the heart of political intrigue moreover the archbishop liked the fact that he was the center of much of europe's political correspondence as the king of england fought with his senior ecclesiastical official henry for his part hated this need for celebrity in beckett and yet a rapprochement was eventually reached in july of 1170 as the leading monarchs of western europe and the pope intervened to make the king of england and the archbishop of canterbury c eye to eye it was ultimately an ephemeral piece when beckett landed in kent in the south of england on the 1st of december 1170 after five years in exile on the continent he cannot have expected what would happen disputes over land yet again arose and within days it was clear that henry desired to be rid of beckett once and for all four knights who were followers of henry from northern france duly took up the charge on the afternoon of the 29th of december 1170 they entered canterbury cathedral and murdered the archbishop within the church the clash had residual consequences for henry the conflict between the church and the king of england intensified and pope alexander iii quickly had beckett canonized in 1173 one of the swiftest acts of bestowing sainthood ever undertaken by the roman catholic church yet henry tried his level best to separate himself from the murder which he did not orchestrate directly with a diplomatic drive amongst the monarchs of western europe ultimately henry feared his excommunication by the pope whereby he even as one of europe's leading monarchs would be officially excluded from taking the sacraments and receiving the services of the catholic church although a general reproduction was worked out between henry and the pope in the course of 1172 and 1173 it was a chastening experience overall the clash with beckett must be remembered as one of the least successful and dire aspects of henry's reign he had sought to increase his control over the church particularly its land and wealth and succeeded in little other than creating a church and state crisis which dragged on for an entire decade yet it was a significant moment in english ecclesiastical affairs one which foreshadowed the more significant rupture which occurred over three centuries later during the reign of henry viii while the clash with beckett generally dominated the 1160s and early 1170s for henry another major aspect of his reign was playing out during these years one which would have enduring consequences for england and britain down to the present day this involved the island to the west ireland had never been conquered by the romans and it remained largely aloof from britain too during the early middle ages although it too had experienced various viking encroachments from the late 8th century onwards nevertheless by the mid 12th century it was still a land largely made up of competing irish kingdoms controlling different parts of the country such as the provinces of leinster and connect yet this rivalry between small kingdoms was about to have an enormous bearing on england's involvement with ireland as in 1166 the king of leinster dermot mcmakada pressed acclaim to the high kingship of ireland and when this was successfully resisted by rory o'connor the king of connect dermot petitioned for outside help from henry ii although henry did not directly offer aid he did allow some of his subjects particularly those in wales to consider aiding dermot this was to be the beginning of much strife in ireland in 1169 one of the major canberra norman lords of wales richard fitzgilbert or richard declare who was also known as strongbow and who had succeeded in 1148 as earl of pembroke in wales was successfully solicited by dermot to undertake a military incursion into ireland to ally with dermot against his irish enemies in a bewilderingly quick military campaign between 1169 and 1171 when strongbow and his allies beginning with robert fitzsteven first began arriving in ireland they succeeded in conquering large swathes of the country for instance waterford was quickly seized by strongbow upon his first landing in the south of the country in the early autumn of 1170 and he then moved on to capture dublin itself as a result dermot was able to consolidate his position within ireland and was soon challenging his rivals in connect and the broader west of the country as the cambro normans in the south and east of the country were consolidating their position one which would not diminish in one form or another for over 700 years moreover dermot's death in 1171 removed him as the driving force behind strongbow's invasion and created a situation in which declare and his allies could begin to carve out their own principalities and act upon their own initiatives all of this quickly agitated henry who now perceive declare as becoming a potential threat as an over mighty subject across the sea in ireland accordingly he mounted his own expedition to ireland in the autumn of 1171 as rory o'connor was himself attempting to strike back against strongbow and his allies around dublin and waterford in the months that followed henry ii succeeded in firstly asserting his control over strongbow and his other subjects in ireland who may have begun to view themselves as lying outside of his jurisdiction in britain while also receiving the submission of a very large number of the more powerful regional irish rulers and kings ultimately this campaign of henry's between the autumn of 1171 and the late spring of 1172 transformed the nature of the english intervention in ireland what was originally a campaign by some opportunistic mercenaries led by strongbow became a concerted political intervention in ireland by the english crown although henry quickly left ireland in 1172 three years later the treaty of windsor was negotiated with the irish lords which effectively acknowledged the english crown as the ruler of leinster meath dublin waterford and wexford as time went by this rule extended further north to incorporate east ulster leaving the english crown in control of over half of ireland and cementing its role there for centuries to come while the irish conquest must be viewed as a huge success for henry's reign at least from the anglo-norman perspective if not from that of the irish it was soon followed by further turbulence within henry's wider dominions this fresh unrest following quickly upon the near-decade-long controversy surrounding beckett must have stung henry even more than the perceived betrayal of the man he had promoted to lord chancellor and then archbishop of canterbury it came from within the king's own family as we have seen henry and eleanor's union had produced many children by the end of the 1160s it was customary in western europe in the 12th century that a ruler who held such extensive territories as henry did would begin to hand over control of some of these to his sons as they came of age henry himself had been granted the duchy of normandy by his father while he was still a teenager now the king's eldest surviving son and namesake typically called henry the young king having turned 17 in 1172 began to grow restless at his father's failure to devolve some power to him despite naming him as his legal heir in 1170. the young henry was encouraged in this resentment by two sources one was his father-in-law henry ii's on off nemesis king louis vii of france whose daughter margaret the young henry had married the other was shockingly his own mother and king henry's wife eleanor of aquitaine this unrest soon turned into outright plotting and then civil war one which would come to dominate much of the mid-1170s throughout the anger van empire during it henry's consummate abilities as a tactician and diplomat were yet again on display before he was fully aware of what the young henry eleanor and king louis were even plotting a massive alliance had been formed against him which included the kingdom of scotland and the powerful counts of bologna flanders drier and blue in france and the low countries moreover to add insult to injury eleanor had succeeded in drawing king henry's other sons including richard the lionheart who was also of a substantial age like young henry into the conspiracy but despite this array of enemies king henry pulled through the count of bologne was knocked out of the conflict when he was killed by a crossbow bolt in the summer of 1173 while this also effectively removed the count of flanders the count of bolognese brother from the war similarly the back of the rebellion was broken in britain when king william the first of scotland was captured at the battle of anak in northumberland in july 1174. henry studiously stayed away from these conflicts and oversaw events from afar allowing his enemies to damage their own efforts through overt involvement but surely the most significant moment in the war came when eleanor was captured as she was traveling to paris from poitu and this combined with the military defeats of their allies forced the young henry and his brothers to concede to their father in 1174. yet despite the victory of henry if its empress over his family many of the familial problems which had brought about the rebellion would remain and continued to fester in the years that followed henry never forgave eleanor and in 1175 he sought to obtain an annulment of their marriage from the papacy a move which was protested vigorously against by his sons henry richard and jeffrey and which was in any event blocked by pope alexander iii nevertheless it was a clear indication of how precarious the familial situation was in the aftermath of the civil war of the mid-1170s and more tangibly elena was kept effectively under imprisonment by henry in the years that followed although his sons were given more leeway for instance richard was given some authority over the duchy of aquitaine after 1174 and when jeffrey married constance of brittany and effectively brought that duchy in north west france into the anger sphere of influence in 1181 he too was afforded some control over the region the young henry though as the leader of the rebellion was never truly forgiven when he died prematurely in 1183 in his late 20s he had not been given control of any major territory while the period from 1173 through to the young henry's death a decade later had been largely characterized by instability during king henry's reign primarily wrought by his own family the death of the king's heir opened up a period of full-blown political crisis in part this was driven by conflict between the sons themselves each of whom had ambitions to succeed to various parts of the ajwa empire and could benefit at the expense of the others this tension became more extreme with the death of the young henry in 1183 now richard was king henry's heir but the question remained as to what territories would pass to him and which would be cut off from the wider anger inheritance and granted to jeffrey and john and as ever the court at paris looked on waiting to see what would happen in 1180 louis vii was succeeded by his son philip ii or philip augustus as he was more commonly known and it was in this new monarch's best interest to ensure the entire inheritance was split amongst henry's sons a move which would weaken them compared to his own power base in central and eastern france although in this respect phillips aims were hampered in august 1186 when jeffrey was killed in a jousting accident there were now just two sons richard and john amongst whom henry could split his dominions the result of jeffrey's death was war between henry and philip augustus one which would prove the last significant military and political engagement of his life he hired large numbers of welsh mercenaries the very kind who had driven the conquest of ireland nearly 20 years earlier to launch a campaign into france in the course of 1187 aided in this instance by the counts of flanders and blah the enemies of an earlier time however now he was joined in his efforts by richard and john as the burgeoning plantagenet dynasty showed some rare unity in the face of this act of overt aggression by the french king then a meeting between the two kings in april 1187 failed to reach a compromise and in the summer lengthy clashes occurred in central france around the region of beri the resulting engagements were sporadic for two weeks the opposing armies skirted next to each other around the river andre while diplomatic efforts to avoid a full pitched battle continued it is a remarkable feature of this time the degree to which henry and the french kings attempted to avoid major engagements which would fully resolve their conflicts and then yet again before a major conflagration occurred a temporary peace was patched up again the diplomatic armchairs seemed to have shifted and henry's son richard had apparently intervened with the french king while the conflict had temporarily abated the succession issue still remained unresolved but what would come to be the last months of henry's reign in 1188 and 1189 lent a final degree of resolution to it when the french king philip yet again invaded berry a renewed unity was achieved between henry and his eldest surviving son richard the fighting brought henry himself out of england and into france with renewed forces of english and welsh troops war erupted all along the frontier between phillips french dominions and those of the extended anger empire in northern and western france large settlements were attacked and largely destroyed eventually a temporary piece was finally patched up in the early winter of 1188 when the ever powerful and influential counts of blue and flanders refused to engage any further in the hostilities which pertained in france details of a piece were worked out in the weeks that followed and managed negotiations between richard and phillips royal family were further brought under consideration these negotiations would still be underway when henry's life entered its final chapter a parley occurred between the respective sides in may 1189 but behind the scenes king henry was preparing for renewed war with the french as ever extensive mercenary units from wales had been recruited at the end of the pali fighting broke out again but henry was unable to prosecute the war which followed his health had been failing for some time the result of a severe ulcer diminished physically and perhaps worn out psychologically owing to the continuous conflicts with his family members so many of whom had pre-deceased him henry appeared at a final confidence with philip with whom richard was now unequivocally allied in july 1189 at this meeting henry was visibly ill as a result he agreed to some conciliatory terms but was said by a contemporary chronicler gerald of wales to have defiantly whispered in his eldest surviving son's ear god grant that i may not die until i have my revenge on you if he did say this and the account may be spurious he would never live to see that wish fulfilled two days later henry the second the man who had ruled england for 35 years and had created the original empire died at the age of 56 just hours before he collapsed into a final fever he learned that his other son john had joined richard's new rebellion as a result many chroniclers and scholars have judged that this final act of betrayal had all proved too much after years and years of family strife he was buried in the abbey of fontrevo in the county of onju despite the massive difficulties which had arisen in henry's family relations throughout the 1170s and the 1180s the succession to his rule would not prove as fraught as had been that which followed the death of henry the first over a century earlier with its nearly 20 years of anarchy before henry's own accession in 1154 but the succession in 1189 was complicated nonetheless henry's eldest surviving son richard curder leon or richard the lionheart as he is more commonly known had already taken the crusaders cross in france in 1187 and committed himself to traveling to the holy land to try to secure jerusalem from the great arab lord saladin who would eventually reconquer the city that year after nearly a century of it being in christian hands although he was still in western europe when his father died and was duly crowned as king of england at westminster on the 3rd of september 1189 two months after his father's death he soon set off for the holy land in january 1190. he would not return for several years and in the interim his younger brother john assumed a great degree of authority in england it was the beginning of a period of renewed unrest within england one which worsened after john succeeded richard in his own right in 1199 and which culminated in a major baronial revolt in england the first barons war in 1212. consequently the political consensus which henry ii managed to create for much of his reign quickly broke down following his death henry ii must surely have a place amongst the english kings who are most difficult to decipher there is little doubting his achievements for instance the very act of his accession and consolidation of power ended a period of nearly 20 years during which england and its french possessions had been racked by political anarchy owing to the insecure succession to king henry the first by way of contrast henry ii not only secured his ascent to power in his youth but consolidated his power in such a way as to set england on the path to becoming the most centralized state in late medieval europe beyond this his marriage to eleanor and his intervention in ireland created the so-called anger empire a political entity which spanned england wales substantial parts of ireland and much of france including normandy maine honju and aquitaine all of this is a formidable achievement but against it must be considered the failings of his rule notably his inability to control the ambitions of his children and even his own wife as a result a state of civil war essentially existed within his kingdom throughout much of the 1170s and 1180s but perhaps most significantly his clash with thomas beckett and the murder of an archbishop of canterbury during his reign stands considerably against him for these reasons we might say that henry ii was an enigmatic ruler a king who aspired to greatness and whose reputation was irrevocably tarnished by one or two key failings what do you think of king henry ii was he one of england's greatest kings or other aspects of his reign most notably his clash with thomas becket which tarnish him beyond repair please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Music] the man known to history as richard the lionheart was born on the 8th of september 1157 in england possibly at beaumont palace in oxford one of the royal residences of the orangeven royal family during the 12th century his father was king henry ii of england who was born in 1133 henry had taken possession of the french territories of the successes of william the conqueror in the 1140s including the duchy of normandy and the county of maine and the north of france but he had contested for years with his cousin king stephen the first for possession of england and wales then three years prior to richard's birth he finally ascended to these territories when stephen died bringing the extended civil war to an end richard's mother was eleanor of aquitaine a formidable woman herself who had earlier been married to king louis vii of france before divorcing him and marrying henry in 1154 as the successor to the duchy of aquitaine in western france she had brought this territory to the marriage expanding the territory ruled by henry to cover much of northern and western france in addition to england and wales and the dynasty which richard was born into is known to posterity as the plantagenets after a flower of the order of plantogynista which henry ii's father used to wear this family now ruled extended territories on either side of the english channel and richard's life would be spent straddling these two worlds where the plantagenets were the royal family of england as well as a major noble family in france richard's early life was typical of a family which ruled over a very disparate dominion king henry ii was the king of england and lord of wales much as the modern day state of england has included a close connection with wales for centuries but the plantagenet dominions stretched much further still as the descendant of william the conqueror henry ruled over the duchy of normandy in northern france along with several other territories in northern and western france such as the county of maine moreover as we have seen his marriage to eleanor had brought the duchy of aquitaine into the plantagenet sphere of control as a consequence henry's dominions were nearly as extensive as those of the french monarchy in france with the south and east of the country ruled by the french kings from paris however owing to the peculiarities of france's territorial divisions the kings of england swore allegiance to the french kings as subjects as dukes of normandy even while simultaneously challenging the french crown for political and military predominance throughout france as well as this henry ii oversaw the establishment of a new english lordship across the irish sea during richard's youth thus what is known as the orangevin empire stretched across england wales ireland and most of northern and central france it was this disparate territory which richard would one day come to rule over during his youth many would not have countenanced the idea that young richard would one day succeed to the kingship as he had an older brother named henry after the king himself while he also had two younger brothers jeffrey and john and three sisters matilda eleanor and joan each of whom would play a consequential part in richard's life at one time or another as was typical for the age the upbringing of richard and his siblings was the responsibility of his mother much of it was entrusted to a nurse named hadiyana to whom richard later granted a substantial pension and recognition of her service as is typical of the time little concrete evidence is available for richard's youth and education but we know that he would have received a conventional education for a royal son insofar as it focused on the art of war yet he was able to read and speak latin to a very high level while he also evidently had a keen interest in poems and music moreover several muslim writers would later attest to him having an interest in arab culture although it is unclear of this evinces some previous learning on his part or was cited by muslim authors as a way of suggesting the english king was possessed of a considerable cultural tolerance richard's adult life was overwhelmingly connected with france rather than england and this association began early in june 1172 he was formally made the duke of aquitaine when he was just 14 years old a year later he was implicated in the first of a series of internal wars within the plantaginate family as eleanor and her sons allied with king louis vii of france against their father during this rebellion richard was actually knighted by king louis and in the summer of 1173 he saw his first significant military action in normandy just weeks later his father offered richard full possession of several major castles in france and half of the revenues of aquitaine to which he had ascended largely just in name the previous year this was initially rejected by richard however the nature of the rebellion changed in november 1173 when eleanor was captured by henry ii the fighting continued for months thereafter until henry the younger and king louis elected to make peace with king henry in 1174 and richard who was already showing a surprising degree of independence for a teenager finally submitted himself in september 1174. terms were given to the sons but elena would effectively remain her husband's prisoner for years to come as a means of offsetting further unrest within the family henry ii was evidently impressed by his second eldest son's performance during the war this was a time when familial rivalry which spilled over into actual rebellion was not entirely uncommon and the king would not have viewed his son's revolt as marking a fatal break with them accordingly in the aftermath of the revolt henry gave richard full control of some of the armed forces of the duchy of aquitaine with orders to reduce any rebels who emerged there to peace this was the first experience of genuine power and rule which richard would enjoy from 1175 onwards through to the late 1180s much of this work focused on quelling any independent streaks among the nobility of western and central france notably emar the vi count of limoges and guiom the count of anguillaim both of whom were inclined to challenge plantagenet primacy in the region in 1176 and 1177 this military campaigning even extended as far south as the borders of navarre a small basque kingdom straddling the pyrenees in both france and spain consequently richard began to develop his reputation for military prowess at a very young age as he was still shy of his 20th birthday at this time when he undertook these campaigns it was this military ability which later earned him the name of richard cor de leon or richard the lionheart a name which was entering into widespread use by the mid to late 1180s we know a lot about the character of the individual who was emerging at this time from several chronicles composed on him by contemporary or near contemporary historians and writers such as ralph of koggeshol and benedict of peterborough richard was evidently exceptionally tall by the standards of the 12th century standing well over six foot high he was handsome with reddish blonde hair and a pale complexion he was known to have a character which favored military prowess and he cultivated an image of himself as a great warrior one who patronized troubadours and poets though somebody who was also prone to pride and greed and was sometimes quick to anger he married later in his life after lengthy negotiations to have him wedded to berengaria the eldest daughter of sancho the sixth at navarre although the union would never produce any children this latter lack of children combined with some contemporary allusions to richard's sexuality have led 20th century historians to query whether richard was in fact gay and did not produce any children with berengaria for this reason but this is still open to debate with the sources proving ambiguous leading other historians to conclude that he might have actually been bisexual the late 1170 and early 1180s saw richard's relationship with his father strengthening despite the rebellion years earlier in 1176 and 1177 he campaigned as far away as northern spain in order to shore up the anchova empire's southern boundaries in aquitaine simultaneously his actions could often prove overly heavy-handed and there are many instances of his crushing of local rebellions and in particular the pulling down of castles of those whose loyalties were suspected leading to resentment and unrest as one poet of the period bertrand de borne noted he besieges and pursues them takes their castles and smashes and burns in every direction even by the standards of an age which expected war-like behavior of its rulers there is the inference here that young richard the lionheart's tactics were excessive resentment of this brutal suppression of any signs of revolt culminated most notably in the outbreak of a major rebellion within gascony in southwestern france in the late 1170s and early 1180s and in the le musa region towards central france richard continued to suppress these instances of unrest though the degree to which he was responsible for causing them through his own heavy-handed rule over aquitaine is debatable given the manner in which his actions were often depicted in an overly positive light by later chroniclers underlying all of this activity in the late 1170s and into the early 1180s was continuing familial conflict amongst richard his brothers and their father aggravated by henry ii's ongoing imprisonment of their mother eleanor and much of this increasingly focused on the issue of the succession as henry ii neared his 50th year which would have been considered the beginnings of old age in the 12th century whilst henry was his eldest son and heir designate according to the principle of primogeniture the disparate nature of the orangev empire and the antagonistic relationship between henry and his sons ensured that there was much confusion as to who would succeed to which parts of henry's dominions and perennial tensions as a result richard for instance clearly hoped to secure aquitaine for himself over his elder brother this all boiled over in the winter of 1182 when king henry asked richard to pay homage to his elder brother henry this required richard to acknowledge that henry would have some say over the duchy of aquitaine in time to come whereas richard was clearly pressing to have the duchy separated from the wider anjavan empire and made his own fiefdom upon his father's death when this became clear henry sent the third eldest son jeffrey to richard's territories to prepare a family confidence however this backfired and instead jeffrey entered into a new rebellion with henry the younger 1183 witnessed a dramatic shift in the diplomatic arrangements within the orangevin empire on the 11th of june that summer henry ii's eldest surviving son and namesake sometimes referred to as henry the young king died of dysentery while yet again in rebellion against his father in central france richard was now his father's eldest surviving son and the new heir of the orangevin territories in england wales ireland and much of france on the surface the reduced number of suns should have made the family rivalries more stable particularly so when the king's third jeffrey also died in 1186 in largely unclear circumstances surrounding a jousting tournament yet this did not bring an end to the plantagenet family squabbles and in the years that followed the king began to increasingly favor his younger son john particularly so following jeffrey's death henry now wished for john to inherit the duchy of aquitaine while richard would take the rest of his father's lands conversely richard would not easily agree to his father's wishes in this respect not least because his long-standing ties to aquitaine had created a personal attachment to the duchy for him it was thus in an effort to force his father's hand in this respect that richard allied with the french king philip ii in 1187 it would be the last rebellion between henry and one of his sons the rebellion of 1187 proceeded quickly philip ii had succeeded to the throne of france in 1180 when he was just 15 years of age he and richard would have a long-standing rivalry for over a decade between when they first allied with each other and richard's own death over a decade later yet during the late 1180s it was a highly amicable relationship a combined military campaign by richard and philip against henry ii in early 1189 culminated in a major military defeat of henry in the summer of 1189 at a final conference henry was visibly ill and is believed to have cursed richard he died days later on the 6th of july 1189 leaving richard as his clear successor and the new king moved quickly to secure his patrimony he was invested as the duke of normandy two weeks later on the 20th of july later that summer he made one of the few very brief visits he ever made to england and was crowned as king there on the 3rd of september 1189 finally after over 15 years of internal strife the political landscape of the ancient empire seemed to be settling down richard had only his brother john as a rival he might have posed little threat but now just at the moment of his final victory richard was preparing to head to a new challenge one very far away a call had come from the crusader states of the holy land the crusades were an ongoing series of wars which european christians had been engaged in since the late 11th century to reclaim the holy land around palestine and syria especially jerusalem for the christian powers for centuries after the rise of christianity throughout the roman empire in the third and fourth centuries the holy land had remained in christian hands specifically as part of the byzantine empire however in the 7th century these territories were quickly overrun and conquered by the arabs and assimilated into their caliphate which was soon ruled from baghdad yet while the loss of the holy places associated with jesus and his followers was a blow for christian europe it was mitigated by the general tolerance of the muslim powers which allowed christian pilgrims from europe to visit the holy land relatively unimpeded but in the course of the 11th century this equilibrium changed as the seljuk turks an aggressively expansionist people from central asia conquered most of the middle east threatening the byzantine empire's capital at constantinople and reducing access for christians to the holy land in response the byzantine imperial government appealed to the christian powers of western europe to come to their aid against the turks the resulting response led to two centuries of crusading activity between the 1090s and the 1290s in 1095 pope urban ii first preached the need for a crusade to reclaim the holy land for christianity this met with a highly enthusiastic response and tens of thousands took the crusader cross and headed eastwards including numerous senior nobles from france england and germany and by 1099 this first crusade had resulted in the conquest of the holy land and the establishment of several crusader states including a newly established kingdom of jerusalem these kingdoms and principalities flourished for decades until a muslim force re-conquered the city of edessa in 1144 triggering a second crusade between 1147 and 1150 although king louis vii of france and king conrad iii of germany went east on this occasion the second crusade met with little success and things were calm again for years afterwards but in the 1170s and early 1180s a new muslim ruler from kurdistan succeeded in uniting the disparate muslim kingdoms of syria and egypt thus encircling the crusader kingdoms this war lord's name was yusuf ibn ayub but he is more widely known by his honorific title saladin meaning the goodness of faith in the summer of 1187 his forces won a great victory at the battle of hattin and that autumn jerusalem was recaptured from the christians the call now went out from the remaining crusader states help was needed from europe if they were to survive and retake jerusalem richard had already determined to head to the holy land on crusade as early as 1187 as news of saladin's victory at the battle of hattin had trickled into europe and in the months that followed king philip of france and indeed king henry ii prior to his death had committed to doing the same these were not untypical acts for leading european monarchs and lords who wished to appear committed to the crusading ideal but in this particular instance the western european monarchs were wholly committed to doing so and richard remained committed to undertaking his quest to the middle east following his accession as king and so plans were underway to depart throughout the summer and autumn of 1189 and into the winter the primary goal here was to raise sufficient financing for the initiative one which would require a considerable fleet to convey troops across the mediterranean as well as massive logistical support over several years a tithe or 10 percent tax was raised to that end to fund the crusade known as the saladin tithe one which had been begun by henry ii before his death simultaneously the church hierarchy of england and of the various angeven territories in wales ireland and france were coerced into providing thousands of pounds of funding towards the third crusade which richard was now committed to undertaking in 1190 there were some final preparations to be made in england and france before richard could depart the goal here was to put in place individuals in the regions particularly the various dutchies and counties under his control in france who would prop up richard's rule during what was sure to be a lengthy absence in the holy land thus william fitzralph a stalwart of henry ii's rule and one who had shown considerable support for richard since his accession was confirmed as seneschal of the duchy of normandy effectively making him the governor of the large territory of northern france payne de rochefour was appointed as his counterpart as seneschal of anjou in western france but most significant was the appointment of william de longchamp the lord chancellor of england as the head of the government there during richard's absence it was a cutting rebuke of richard's brother john who might have hoped to be given a greater role in the governance of his brother's dominions during his absence and his dissatisfaction at this development would lead to several years of unrest while richard was away during which john would seek to continually undermine his brother principally by attempting to usurp his position as king in england normandy and elsewhere after months of preparations the crusade was finally ready to depart by the summer of 1190 at this early stage it would be effectively co-led by richard and the french king philip ii and the two kings left vezilay in central france together on the 4th of july 1190. they separated at lyon where philip led his contingents by land over the alps through italy while richard elected to make for marseille to sail along the italian coastline to sicily from the southern french port there were extensive delays during these passages as much of the fleet which had been sent from england and western france around the iberian peninsula had been delayed in entering the mediterranean sea notably a drunken spree by the soldiers while in lisbon and portugal had particularly slowed the proceedings and so richard had to hire other ships marseille to send much of his forces to the holy land ahead of him and he then conducted a lengthy tour of the italian coastline to visit locations in the region such as the medical school of salerno a trip which evinced richard's interest in the new learning of the 12th century renaissance which was underway in italy finally he arrived to messina in sicily on the 23rd of september 1190 here richard conferred with philip before the french monarch quickly headed away to the holy land richard however had matters to attend to in sicily before leaving himself in 1177 richard's sister joan had married king william ii of sicily known as william the good william died in november 1189 and the crown was quickly usurped by an illegitimate contender named tankred this tank red then imprisoned joan fearing she would become a focus of resistance to his reign having arrived in sicily richard quickly secured her release but there were serious issues still to be resolved concerning jones dowry and valuable household plate tensions quickly escalated in late september and early october and by the 2nd of october richard had ordered his troops to disembark fully from their ships and prepare for battle if necessary when skirmishes broke out between richard and tangrid's troops two days later richard ordered an attack on the city of messina one which quickly proved successful peace terms were agreed on the 6th of october whereby tankrid paid a huge sum of money to richard and a formal alliance was agreed between the two simultaneously ships were sent to spain to bring richard's long-promised bride berengaria of navarre to sicily so that the pair could have their long-awaited marriage during the winter of 1190 as they waited to set off for the holy land however it would not happen here when richard finally left his base at messina it was several days more before berengaria finally arrived to sicily richard's crusader army finally left italy on the 10th of april 1191 consisting in total of over 200 ships and 17 000 soldiers and mariners it soon ran into difficulties but in the long run these would prove highly fortuitous on the third day out from sicily a severe storm scattered the fleet and by the time the ships rendezvoused near the large greek island of crete it was clear that dozens of ships had either been lost or had gone astray in their navigations and these included one of the royal ships transporting richard's would-be bride berengaria and his sister joan this particular ship could not simply be abandoned and a wide-ranging search throughout the eastern mediterranean was now undertaken to locate it eventually it was discovered to be at anchor in the port of limassol on the island of cyprus cyprus had long been a possession of the eastern byzantine empire and was governed by isaac ducas commenos com nenos had recently developed delusions of grandeur and had proclaimed himself emperor of cyprus independently of constantinople now in the summer of 1191 he seized several of the scattered crusader ships and was considering doing the same with the ship on which joan and berengaria were travelling it would prove a fateful mistake in early may richard arrived in cyprus when the self-proclaimed emperor komnenos refused to release the captured ships and prisoners richard decided on immediate military intervention and attacked the city of limassol a surprise knight attack quickly saw the capital completely overrun although the emperor managed to escape this effectively robbed him of his treasury and military support and in the weeks that followed further resistance was mopped up and cyprus was brought under the control of the crusaders much of this was achieved by richard linking up with the leaders of the crusader states in the holy land one of their primary leaders ghida lucian having received word of events in cyprus arrived with several contingents of hardened crusader warriors de lucio was the titular king of jerusalem albeit he was a king without a city since the fall of the holy city to saladin several years earlier and he was challenged amongst the nobles of the crusader states for primacy notably by conrad de montferra a claimant to the kingdom of jerusalem ghee and conrad would prove to be the most significant figures other than richard and saladin in the events which followed in the holy land by the beginning of june richard had seized control over the entirety of cyprus a rich island nation with notable trade links and one which would serve as a crucial base for the crusaders in years to come in the broader term cyprus became an independent christian kingdom one which was ruled by the lucinos for decades to come and as an independent christian kingdom down to the late 15th century making its conquest arguably the most tangible result of richard's entire crusade the conquest of cyprus and the subsequent sojourn there during the summer of 1191 also provided the opportunity for richard to finally wed berengaria the wedding ceremony was held at limassol on the 12th of may 1191 at the chapel of saint george there the marriage was designed to potentially unite navarre and the duchy of aquitaine and thus make it part of the wider ongevin empire in the long run but this plan would prove elusive richard and berengaria never had any children they would remain distant from one another and it has even been questioned whether the marriage was consummated at all nevertheless the union was celebrated with great fanfare and ceremony throughout cyprus in the early summer of 1191. overall these events would foretell great success for richard when he finally reached the holy land a great kingdom had already been won for the crusaders and the new leader arrived as a successful warrior newly married the reality though would prove more complex richard finally landed near the city of acre on the 8th of june 1191 over a year after he and king philip had first left france on the crusade the crusader states had been sieging acre one of the key cities of the holy land in what today is northern israel since 1189 this siege was the first major counter-attack undertaken by the crusaders since their defeat by saladin at the battle of hattin in 1187 and the fall of jerusalem the siege was largely driven in its early stages by gui de lucion the king of jerusalem and his primary rival for power amongst the crusader noble households conrad de montford they had been joined in april by the king of france now with richard's additional strength added to their efforts the siege finally proved too much to withstand for the arab holders on the 4th of july the defenders surrendered terms were negotiated in the days that followed which allowed much of the arab garrison to leave unharmed in return for a substantial bounty and the provision of prisoners as sureties for payment of the same the end of the siege also led quickly to philip's decision to return to france he had nearly died of dysentery outside acre and was willing to return to western europe ahead of richard where he could make major efforts to undermine richard while his rival for power in france remained absent in the holy land richard was now the undisputed leader of the third crusade but he had yet to meet saladin openly on the field of battle this would soon come as richard continued his efforts to secure the coastline of palestine in order to use it to solidify the crusader position and to use it for a fresh drive to retake jerusalem and as he prepared to move towards jerusalem a notorious atrocity was committed near acre in late august by this time saladin had missed the payment of the first installment of the ransom which he had promised for the safe passage of the arab defenders from acre weeks earlier and it was owing to this and the difficulties of transporting large numbers of prisoners in land towards jerusalem that richard and his fellow crusader leaders such as gida lucille and conrad de montferra elected in late august to summarily execute upwards of 3000 muslim prisoners before leaving acre richard was evidently heavily involved in this decision although there is significant debate down to this day as to what extent the action violated the laws of war as practiced in the late 12th century this done richard led his forces south towards jaffa on the 22nd of august with his army staying close to the coast where they could be reinforced by the crusader fleet and its ample resources in the eastern mediterranean this latter movement would finally lead to richard meeting saladin in the field in the foremost direct engagement between the two leaders of the third crusade the battle of arsuf was fought on the 7th of september on the route to jaffa for days saladin with a force of some 25 000 men largely light cavalry had been harrying richard's numerically inferior but better equipped and trained force of roughly ten thousand infantry and upwards of fifteen hundred heavy cavalry the latter were the foremost fighting forces in the holy land during the crusades but they lacked the maneuverability of saladin's light cavalry a fact exacerbated by richard's unwillingness to move far from his baggage trains and risk losing their water supplies when on the 7th of september a full-scale battle was finally entered into saladin's troops succeeded in breaking the crusaders formation early on however a counter-attack in the afternoon by richard roused the christian lines opening gaps in their infantry lines for the heavy cavalry to strike forward at the much more vulnerable light cavalry after three charges of this kind the arab armies were broken and fled into the adjoining hills and forests contemporary accounts of the casualties are wildly exaggerated but it is estimated that as many as five or six thousand of saladin's men were killed for under a thousand of richards our soof was the foremost victory in the field for richard during the third crusade it opened the route to jaffa which the crusaders reached three days later the walls had been dismantled on saladin's orders a decision which effectively surrendered the city to the christians but which also ensured that richard had to spend weeks here until makeshift walls were erected to protect the town for the crusaders it was while he was here that richard began envisaging that the key to securing the holy land might lie in striking at saladin's core dominions in egypt and in particular by seizing cairo and this was a strategy which was eventually widely accepted as being the best available to the crusaders many years later during the 13th century but for now richard was overruled by ghee conrad and his fellow crusaders who wished to strike directly at jerusalem thus the early winter was spent seizing and garrisoning several castles on the route inland from jaffa to jerusalem consequently by the end of 1191 richard's crusade had succeeded in conquering cyprus for the christian cause as well as retaking the palestinian coast from acre to jaffa with the route to jerusalem being prepared for a strike at the holy city the latter campaign though would never be undertaken by richard early in 1192 richard's role in the crusades began to inexorably wind down on the 20th of january 1192 he reached ascalon where plans were initiated to begin re-fortifying the site as a base from which the muslim powers caravans traveling across the holy land between syria and egypt could be attacked yet when disputes broke out here amongst the leading crusaders about how this should be funded richard withdrew to acre here further disputes arose between the crusader contingents particularly the merchants representing the major trading powers of italy on whose financing and supply much of the crusader states depended about how to proceed consequently by the late spring richard was increasingly faced with the futility of trying to motivate the disparate leaders and groups involved to act in concord moreover it was while at acre that he received disconcerting news from western europe that fresh unrest had arisen back home in his dominions his brother john was now openly plotting with the french monarchy and richard's continued presence in the holy land on the crusades threatened his position as king of the orjvin empire back home it was these combined factors which in the spring of 1192 led him to take the decision to return home without capturing the ultimate prize of jerusalem there remained a number of things which needed to be resolved in the holy land before richard could leave first and foremost amongst these was the issue of the leadership of the crusade after the english king left would gi de luciano the acknowledged king of jerusalem or conrad de montfacha his would-be challenger succeed richard as the head of affairs in an effort to resolve this richard summoned a council where he attempted to establish conrad as the next head of the crusader states in return richard sold cyprus to gee for a sum of sixty thousand peasants but no sooner had this arrangement been loosely worked out then conrad was killed by a pair of assassins in late april it is unclear to this day who had hired these assassins with everyone from richard to saladin being suspected for varying reasons what is clear is that this cast affairs into further chaos then saladin's recapture of the town of jaffa the end of july before richard himself could relieve the siege sealed his decision to leave the holy land on the 2nd of september a three-year truce was agreed between richard and his mortal foe richard would surrender ascalon but the entirety of the coast from jaffa to acre was back in christian hands as well as cyprus and christians were guaranteed free access to jerusalem hence it was that richard departed the holy land on the 9th of october having failed to achieve ultimate success by capturing jerusalem but having achieved a great deal richard's return to europe was not straightforward by november 1192 he had reached the greek island of corfu and at this point elected to travel back to western europe through germany rather than westwards through italy richard was conscious in all of this that he was passing through the territory of several princetons which were opposed to him notably leopold of austria leopold was a staunch ally of henry vi the holy roman emperor a would-be leader of any future crusades and he consequently viewed richard as his enemy aware that to pass through leopold's territory would involve the threat of falling into henry's hands richard hired several galleys at corfu and headed north accompanied by a relatively small retinue of his most trusted followers hoping to avoid detection while pretending to be traveling pilgrims on their way back from the holy land but the subterfuge did not work their ships crashed on the istrian coastline and while heading for moravia in austria they aroused suspicion as a result they were finally apprehended near vienna while passing through leopold's country in december 1192 within days news had been sent to the emperor henry that king richard of england had been apprehended and was being held by leopold in the castle of dernstein northwest of vienna the emperor had more than one reason to have apprehended richard for henry was also loosely allied with king philip of france accordingly we find the emperor writing to philip within days to inform the french king of the good news that he had apprehended the english king back in england john also became aware of this and moved to pay homage to philip in an effort to bolster his claims to succeed his brother however the church authorities which maintained that all crusaders were protected against attacks or caesar when traveling to or from the holy land on crusade were less impressed and extensive pressure was now applied on leopold and henry to release richard hence it was that weeks of protracted negotiations to see whether richard would be released by his german capitals and on what terms were entered into finally in late february 1193 terms were concluded in spair after richard successfully defended himself against trumped-up claims of having abandoned the crusade nevertheless richard still had to pay a ransom of 100 000 marks and promised to supply the emperor with 50 galleys and the service of 200 knights annually resources which henry utilized to launch his own crusade in the years that followed further negotiations on these terms ensued such that richard was unable to depart germany until early in 1194 well over a year after first leaving the holy land richard now set off on the last leg of his journey home not everything which had occurred during his absence had disadvantaged his position with regards to john in 1192 king philip had stirred up a rebellion in the duchy of aquitaine but this event had demonstrated the strength of some of richard's alliances on this occasion his wife bedingaria's brother sancho of navarre to the south and the basque region intervened during richard's absence to suppress the revolt indeed sancho went even further and launched a punitive raid against toulouse to demonstrate that richard's french possessions were not open targets while he was in the holy land or making his way home and back home in england many senior officials who had been loyal to richard before he departed on the crusade remained so and did their best to thwart john's efforts to undermine his brother nevertheless other developments did not bode well for richard in april 1193 king philip finally inflicted a considerable defeat on richard's cause when he seized gessor in normandy perhaps because the castellan a senior official there had proved willing to surrender in the belief that john would soon succeed richard as duke of normandy all of this indicates that there was fresh unrest as richard arrived back to western europe in the early months of 1194. richard left germany in february 1194 and reached england on the 13th of march he passed through the rhineland on his way on which journey he renewed some alliances with the princes and lord of western germany and the low countries around modern day belgium having landed in england resistance to his resumption of the crown was strikingly limited a result perhaps of john himself being overseas in the duchy of normandy richard first visited the religious shrines of canterbury amberis and edmunds before proceeding to the famous nottingham castle to confront the center of john's supposed rebellion fighting did occur before the castle surrendered on the 28th of march thereafter richard resumed the full regalia of his english kingship and presided over several meetings of the government at winchester before departing for france in early may to confront john head on in normandy he left the government of england to hubert walter who had accompanied richard on crusade and who had been made archbishop of canterbury in 1193. richard would never return to england an indication of the degree to which he viewed france as the core component of his dominions much as his ancestors as far back as william the conqueror had where england had seen little resistance to richard's return as king and had been quickly stabilized the crusader king's return would prove far less seamless in france john had dug himself into normandy where he relied on a close alliance with the french king to cement his position thus by the time that richard arrived in northern france in the early summer of 1194 john and king philip had flooded the region with french troops holding a number of key strategic sites across normandy as well as other sites and the french king proved the more loyal and reliable of richard's opponents conversely no sooner had the english king landed in normandy then his brother and would-be rival quickly rushed to beg forgiveness from his brother this richard agreed to claiming john had been ill-advised by his counselors for his part john would remain loyal to richard for the remainder of his reign thereafter thus within just days of his arrival the conflict switched from a pseudo-civil war between richard and john to a more traditional war between the king of england and the king of france and in this richard was quickly aided by his familial allies from navarre and by mid-june tour in central france had been retaken by richard the campaign then moved into the loire river valley and after a swift campaign here he moved south into aquitaine by late july he had captured tayborg and marsilak the city of angulem montignac and lachaise thus largely completing richard's reconquest of his western french territories three months after sailing to france from england richard's conquest of his french territories though would prove more ephemeral than first appeared in particular his hold over normandy was tenuous and his efforts to fully re-establish his control over the duchy would dominate much of his subsequent reign in his drive southwards to restore control of aquitaine and the summer of 1194 richard had left several castles in the hands of king philip several of these were major strongholds that had been heavily garrisoned in such a way which would require extensive and costly sieges to remove the french accordingly in the late summer of 1194 a truce was agreed whereby these sites would be allowed to remain in the french king's hands until the winter of 1195 but there would be no fighting between richard and phillips troops on the surface this arrangement provided both monarchs with advantages it gave philip time to rethink his strategic stance now that the chances of replacing richard with john altogether seemed implausible while for richard this new arrangement would give him a period of 15 months to cement his newly resumed rule and deal effectively with those who had supported john in his attempt to usurp richard the truce of 1194 between richard and the french king proved short-lived within weeks of it being agreed border tensions and skirmishes were breaking out in places throughout france while by the summer of 1195 full-scale war had effectively recommenced richard's approach to this resumed conflict was to concentrate his forces on seizing control of the yovern and berry towards central france in the border region between richard's french territories and those of the french monarchy an approach which quickly bore fruit by the early autumn of 1195 philip had indicated that he would relinquish control of any of richard's territories which he had seized during the king's absence on crusade in return for a marriage alliance between richard's niece eleanor and philip's son and heir louis this proposal though proved abortive and as fighting continued to rage richard made further conquests ensuring that philip had to agree to a treaty in january 1196 then under the terms of this treaty of luviere phillip relinquished all of his major gains from richard's period of absence except the vexa in northwestern france and a handful of border castles this ended the conflict in central france to an extent that fresh tensions would continue elsewhere in the country in the years ahead as 1196 progressed the war between richard and philip changed dramatically as philip built up a new alliance of powers to combat richard's rapid ascendancy on either side of the english channel these included several major lords from the low countries notably the counts of flanders pontia and bologna who were joined in the north atlantic by the duchy of brittany in northwestern france and this new confederacy was now able to apply extensive pressure on richard's shipping lines and logistical supplies in the english channel in order to offset this threat richard needed to divert much of his land forces to an invasion of brittany in mid-1196 yet even this setback was only temporary eventually richard was able to force count baldwin of flanders to change sides firstly by launching a massive embargo on trade on the supply of goods and then by offering a favorable alliance of his own thus baldwin went from blockading orangevin shipping in the channel to invading artois in northeastern france on richard's behalf and seizing the considerable french town of doue then in a remarkable course of events an alliance of german princes petitioned richard that they would put forward richard's nephew otto son of richard's sister matilda and her husband henry of bavaria and saxony as a potential successor for the office of holy roman emperor an astonishing diplomatic coup for richard while 1197 and 1198 had seen these further successes for richard he would not be alive long enough to enjoy their fruits in the autumn of 1198 richard elected to complete the final reduction of the vexa a small county near paris itself from philip following the expiration of a new truce with the french king pressured by the count of flanders in the north east and by richard and the west philip twice came perilously close to being captured in the campaign which followed including nearly drowning on one occasion this virtually completed the conquest of the vexa bringing richard back into possession of all the lands he had previously held before heading to the holy land and placing him in the strongest position any english monarch had held with respect to the french monarchy for decades this conquest also initiated a major building program in the region notably the chateau gayar 95 kilometers northwest of paris and one of the most impressive medieval castles ever built in northern france along with major work to develop the port of portsmouth it constitutes one of the only major acts of administration and government which can be associated with richard's kingship a reign which was ultimately characterized almost entirely by war whether in the holy land or back in western europe in january 1199 king richard met with his french counterpart king philip in a meeting brokered by pope innocent iii a five-year truce was now agreed to one which would see richard's dominions entering into an unprecedented period of peace and stability it is entirely peculiar that it was during this period of harmony that richard would be killed while still in his early forties on the 26th of march 1199 he was shot by a crossbow boat while campaigning to put down a small regional revolt by viscount aymar v of limoges in the days that followed without the benefits of modern medicine the wound turned gangrenous and on the sixth of april he died from the illness he was subsequently buried at fontethro richard was succeeded by john whom richard named as his successor during his final illness the would-be usurper's accession would spell the end of the conflict with philip when in 1200 the treaty of lagule saw john confirmed in his french territories in return for acknowledging philip as his liege lord in france itself however it would prove a short-lived piece and in the years that followed the french crown would begin to reconquer several parts of the orangevin empire from the english monarchy the beginning of a long process which ultimately would take until the 1550s to complete overseas richard's efforts proved just as transiently successful further crusades followed in the years and indeed decades to come into the late 13th century some of these produced variable levels of success in places other than the holy land for instance in 1204 a christian army seized the byzantine capital of constantinople and established a western roman catholic christian state in the balkans for decades to come others attempted to seize egypt as the strategic key to the holy land much as richard had envisaged in 1191 the sixth crusade in the late 1220s finally succeeded in capturing jerusalem richard's ultimate goal which he had been unable to achieve nevertheless this was a fleeting success and within 15 years the holy city was back in muslim hands thereafter the fate of the crusader states dwindled despite efforts by major european monarchs to undertake fresh efforts to reclaim the holy places for the christian cause with the fall of the city of tripoli in 1289 and the siege of acre in 1291 100 years after richard had landed there in 1191 the crusader cause was extinguished in the holy land it was due in some considerable way to richard's efforts though that these christian kingdoms lasted here for as long as they did richard the lionheart is one of england's most acclaimed kings a somewhat strange development given the shortness of his reign he ruled for just 10 years half of which period was spent far overseas in sicily cyprus the holy land and germany yet it is this period which has also gained him his reputation and made him most famous for two years in the mediterranean world richard led the crusader effort in the wake of years of losses for the christian states there as well as successive defeats to saladin it is unsurprising that richard has captured the imagination in this way not least because he finally offered a counterpoint to the seemingly invincible muslim warlord after the stalemate of the second crusade in the middle of the 12th century richard was depicted as the first major crusader leader to have made significant conquests and territorial gains in the holy land since the first crusade over 90 years earlier for successive generations of chroniclers and historians since the late 12th century itself this appearance of the valorous crusader warrior named the lionheart for his courage was made all the starker when contrasted with the supposedly scheming specter of his brother john who back in western europe conspired with the french to usurp richard while his brave brother was away but while this is the idealized version of richard and the basis for so much of his legacy there is also much to criticize about the lionheart criticisms which have dominated studies of the king by historians in recent decades first and foremost his reign was dominated by warfare this had started long before his own accession with the conflicts with his father in the 1170s and 1180s it continued through his involvement in the crusades and eased after returning from the holy land while much of the latter conflict can certainly be blamed on others for having usurped some of his territory while he was absent in the east the reality is that richard could have negotiated a peace settlement with king philip long before 1199 if he had been willing to compromise slightly on how many castles in france he wanted to hold by way of contrast there is little else of interest within richard's reign other than his wars he did build some castles which again had a military purpose and left plans when he left england in 1194 for some work to be carried out in his name but his reign is remarkably bereft of any signature efforts to reform the judiciary new taxation systems other than those designed to fund his military endeavors or offer any form of civil government policy which might have substantially improved the administration of his dominions or the lives of his subjects perhaps the most balanced appraisal of richard the lionheart is one which takes stock of both extremities of his reign richard can certainly be criticized for having done little other than make war throughout his life but that was after all substantially perceived to be the duty and responsibility of a european monarch during the high middle ages moreover while it is fair to suggest that he could have established peace with france more quickly in the mid-1190s and moved on from there to working on taxation and issues of noble rights which plagued john's subsequent reign it is also only fair to note that richard was responding to aggression which was committed by others the third crusade was launched in response to saladin's conquests in the holy land and richard's wars in france were the result of philip and john's conspiracies while richard was away on crusade finally while there is no doubting that richard was over lionized by historians and chronicles for centuries after his death it is also true to say that he was the most successful leader of the crusades in over 90 years when he arrived the crusader states were facing extinction in the holy lands but when he left in 1192 the christian cause had been rejuvenated and expanded ensuring its survival for another century perhaps in this respect his most exaggerated legacy is also paradoxically his most genuine what do you think of richard the lionheart does his brief reign constitute one of the great missed opportunities of english kingship or are his abilities as a king exaggerated please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Laughter] [Music] the man known to history as king john was born during christmas tide in 1166 near either london or oxford john was the eighth and last child and the fifth boy born to his parents john's father was king henry ii of england born on the 5th of march 1133 the eldest son to jeffrey count of anger to reign and maine in what is today france john's mother eleanor of aquitaine was born in 1122 near bordeaux she was the eldest daughter of william the tenth of aquitaine and enor of chatelaireau her father took special pride in his precocious daughter who not only received a traditional female education but was taught to read and write latin in addition she learned the workings of government first hand by sitting at her father's side as he managed his holdings when her father died in 1137 eleanor found herself in a precarious situation and needed assistance to protect her father's lands she appealed to king louis vi who promptly betrothed her to his son the king died soon after and louis vii and eleanor were crowned king and queen on christmas day 11 37 although they had two daughters it was a loveless marriage largely because louis vii was so pious indeed he had intended to be a monk in march of 1152 the council under the archbishop of sauls declared their marriage annulled on the grounds that they were third cousins this released eleanor to find a husband to her liking she did not wait long eight weeks after her divorce she married a man she had seen paying homage to her then husband the year before henry duke of normandy they married in may of 1152 and were destined to become the stuff of legend they were the ultimate power couple ambitious headstrong and formidable it proved to be a tumultuous yet fruitful relationship eleanor bore eight children five boys and three girls for her sons she was not only a force to reckon with but also a powerful influence on their lives during john's lifetime there were no true nation-states as we know them today only a series of ducal and baronial land holdings controlled by powerful leaders who continually fought each other for the right to rule and to expand their power base a king was only the most powerful baron in that region and could be overthrown at any moment by another baron through armed conflict society was organized around a hierarchical structure what philosophers called the great chain of being in this great chain were three main links those who work these being the peasants and artisans those who fight such as kings nobles and knights and those who pray including the christian clergy bishops and the pope in addition to these divisions there were those who were free or not bound to the land and those who were unfree serfs who were bound to the land controlled by a king baron or bishop and did his bidding in addition to these layers there was also a hierarchy of obligation where the king could ask his barons for soldiers and resources to help him wage war and those barons would then press those below him for the people and goods needed to fulfill this feudal commitment those who suffered most during conflicts were those who worked or were bound to the land because the powerful considered them expendable women also played a limited role in society only those women connected to powerful men through marriage or family ties or those who served as nuns could have any significant influence on historical events such as john's mother eleanor who knew how to pull the levers of power and wield military force as well as any man she was the exception however most women served as pawns in the power games of men who routinely used marriage as a way to gain control over more land or build key political connections because of this most women of this time remain anonymous to us today during this period society also experienced explosive population growth that exerted new pressures resulting in heightened creativity economic growth and increased wealth to accommodate this change huge trade networks formed all over europe and into africa and asia christian religious art and gothic architecture achieved some of their greatest magnificence innovative ideas in political philosophy likewise blossomed these developments changed how people saw their world and their role within it a few of these political ideas led to the societal thunderbolt known today as the magna carta which had lasting implications on how government should be structured including the enduring ideal that no one was above the law not even a king being the fifth son john was not given much consideration by his father on matters of inheritance and marriage in fact his father would joke that john was sors terr hence the sobriquet lackland that would follow john throughout his life as a small child john was taken to the monastery at fontevro near chino france accompanied by his sister joan pontevro had some unique attributes that made it possible for john to receive the very best in literate education at that time first it was founded by robert of abricelle whose preaching attracted women from all walks of life he became so popular that in around 1101 he established a unique benedictine monastery that housed both men and women but unlike most other church structures here it was the women who supervised the men secondly it received patronage from the counts of honju and was considered their spiritual home elena's family also had a connection there john and his sister joan were not abandoned but instead were surrounded and supported by people who functioned as an extension of their immediate family it was an important enough place to the family that eleanor henry ii richard the first and several of john's sisters were buried there it was a perfect place for john to get the rudiments of education in a nurturing environment john learned to read and write both latin and french based upon the books he owned we know he had a grounding in topics such as astronomy geography biology agriculture medicine and pharmaceuticals the properties of metal and stone art and painting john had a lifelong fascination with gemstones which were often given to him as gifts from those seeking his favor in addition he had read widely in philosophy and literature including authors like pliny saint augustine and hugh of saint victor he played chess regularly and loved to hunt according to some historians john was probably one of the best educated men of his era furthermore he was not completely alienated from his family he did travel to england and to other parts of the realm for holidays and important ceremonies at age 12 his family sent john to live with the household of ranoff de glonville a trusted member of henry ii's government and the man who served as his justicia or chief minister in charge of administration in england when he was away on the continent de glanville was a powerful man and expert in government administration and finance he even wrote a manual titled the treaties on the laws and customs of england by living in this man's household john learned important lessons in finance taxation and administration that he would bring with him when he ruled as king he also learned from glanville how to manipulate that system for gain even if it meant misrepresenting the facts or destroying others without just cause in order to reach some larger objective it is striking that although john did have an education in the martial arts and could fight it had never been the focus of his education unlike his older brothers this would have profound implications during his rule what he gained from his education was an expertise in administration having taken his lessons from the glanville to heart john's grandmother on his father's side was matilda the daughter of henry the first king of england and granddaughter of william the conqueror she was her father's sole legitimate heir when her father died in 1135 the barons who had sworn failed to her reneged on their allegiance and placed her cousin stephen on the throne she fought a bitter civil war over the next 20 years known as the anarchy trying to regain the throne that was rightfully hers in 1144 her husband jeffrey conquered normandy in 1150 jeffrey passed the title of duke of normandy on to his son henry who was then 17 years old henry had come of age during this conflict and the lessons he learned during the anarchy created a formidable person both in military prowess and in political adeptness he married eleanor of aquitaine in 1152 adding one of the wealthiest regions in what would later become france to his land holdings the following year henry invaded england to claim his mother's birthright when stephen's only son died later that year he declared henry as his heir to the throne of england stephen died in october 1154 and henry assumed the throne later that same year on the 19th of december in a ceremony at westminster abbey henry now controlled land from the border with scotland and the north to the pyrenees in the south more than any other king at that time this made him one of the wealthiest landholders in europe and as a result the most powerful ruler in christendom although henry ii was technically a vassal to the king of france since he only ruled as a duke or count over his continental holdings and was obligated to pay homage he chose to ignore this legal technicality and function as if he were king over all of his territory much to the annoyance of the french kings energetic and authoritative henry spent his entire reign restoring order after the anarchy consolidating power and creating bureaucratic systems to manage his vast land holdings and raising funds to support his government and the army that enforced it this governmental system laid the foundations for what would happen during john's reign henry also deftly managed many conflicts as king including a rebellion of his sons and wife although he had five sons only two outlived him richard nicknamed the lionheart and john although john was the youngest son henry had not forgotten about him in fact there is some evidence that john was his favorite son yet henry had an equity problem having already divided his lands between his other three living sons because the treaty of montmerey required him to do so he lacked additional land to give john so he looked to marriage as a way to ensure his youngest son's inheritance even though john was only six henry betrothed him to alice heiress of humbert iii count of marien and savoy at the time it was a good political move for henry but alice died the following year in 1174 while henry beat back a rebellion led by his sons and wife once he pacified his sons imprisoned his wife and restored order in his kingdom he searched for another solution for john's livelihood henry took advantage of the deaths of reginald earl of cornwall and william earl of gloucester since neither one had sired sons who could inherit their lands he betrothed isabella of gloucester to john set aside maintenance funds for the other girls and gave the estates to john then he realized the perfect solution might be found to the west in ireland he had acted there before having invaded in 1155 and again in 1171 following these invasions a few english barons had established estates there in 1177 henry called a council at oxford with the express purpose of pronouncing john as king of ireland at only 10 years old john received direct homage from the english barons with irish holdings even so he remained largely uninvolved in his father's court this changed in 1183 john's brothers were jockeying for dominance on the continent in this case literally waging war on one another richard resented the fact that henry the oldest living brother had been crowned the young king with his coronation in 1170 during one engagement the young king became ill with dysentery and died on the 11th of june 1183 suddenly the whole inheritance situation fell apart henry made richard his direct heir giving him the lands that henry the young king had held john was to receive aquitaine which had been under richard's control this reshuffling proved a disaster as richard refused to give up aquitaine having garnered support from the people there neither richard nor henry would yield on this issue that winter henry ordered john and his older brother jeffrey to wage war on richard the two brothers made little headway against their more skilled older brother yet this skirmish bought henry time to rethink the situation his solution was to bring all three sons to england with the excuse that a new archbishop had to be chosen the real intent however was to present a public show of unity among himself and his sons when the new archbishop presented the kiss of peace on all four men it strengthened the appearance of solidarity henry then sent jeffrey to normandy and kept richard and john with him in england it was clear to richard he would not be moving directly into henry's role as the new young king however as far as henry was concerned with the situation modified for now it was time to revisit ireland although the pope had yet to agree to john's becoming king of ireland henry pressed ahead anyway settling on the title of lord of ireland for his son like much of europe at that time ireland was not governed as a nation but was instead in a constant political turmoil with boundaries of kingdoms continually shifting while the english had established some centers of dominance their hold was precarious henry's representative there was hugh de lacy who controlled the irish kingdom of meath and the city of dublin through sheer determination and active involvement in irish politics de lessie also gained control of leinster under orders from henry preparations to travel to ireland began in earnest in the summer of 1184 including sending john cummin the archbishop of dublin with instructions to prepare for john's arrival philip of worcester a key military leader under henry ii became the commander of the expedition on the 31st of march 1185 henry knighted john at windsor castle a clear message to all that john now 18 was ready for adult responsibilities this would prove premature however on april the 24th john and his entourage sailed to ireland arriving the following day the young officers in his group approached the irish leaders with disdain poking fun at their huge beards and even going so far as to tug on them following this display of disrespect these leaders now turned against english rule john compounded the problem further by taking the land of irish supporters as if it were his own and redistributing it to his english cohorts leading to reprisal raids by the irish de lacy who might have modified the situation did little to stop it these conflicts required john to expend the available funds for defense by early autumn he returned to england financially ruined his venture had proved a folly as a result richard rose in henry's eyes a new crisis hit the onjven dynasty the following year on august the 19th 1186 henry's fourth son jeffrey died during a tournament in paris suddenly john found himself even closer to the throne richard clearly saw the threat john posed to him then to make things even worse for henry the french king philip augustus who had become king in 1180 after his father louis vii had died declared that jeffrey's lands in brittany were to be given back to the french crown if henry failed to relinquish them philip threatened to take normandy by force for the next three years philip continued to cause trouble richard also pestered his father to declare him official heir even allying himself with philip the situation deteriorated to the point that father and son were at war with each other just before he died on the 6th of july 1189 while on his deathbed henry asked for a list naming all those who had allied themselves against him as the story goes the first name on the list was his favored son john many chroniclers at the time declared it was this shock that killed the king richard's first action as the heir apparent was to attend the burial of his father at fontrevo he then settled his estates on the continent after richard officially became duke of normandy he returned to england richard knew that john could either be his best friend or his worst foe in an attempt to curry favor richard granted john land in both england and on the continent and permitted him to marry isabella of gloucester on the 3rd of september 1189 richard held his coronation at westminster abbey with both john and their mother eleanor in attendance the next day john along with other nobles of the realm paid homage and swore failty to the new king richard declared john to be the lord john the king's brother to everyone it appeared that the two brothers would rule england with filial love now richard had to settle his affairs because he had promised the pope he would go on a crusade to the holy land he did not put john in charge because he did not feel his brother was ready for the position he selected two cogestecias instead william de mandeville earl of essex and hugh de prisay bishop of dudham both men were older and exceptional talents in government administration they had also proven consistently loyal to the angevins and more importantly to richard initially richard appointed john as the head of the army john received his first mission which was to pacify a rebellion in south wales led by rhys app grifford the king of the southern welsh at first things appeared to be going well but then disaster struck william de mandeville died that december and richard now had to find a replacement he appointed william de longshore a long time richard loyalist who had a prickly personality richard's behavior towards john began to change soon after this appointment the question of naming his heir became even trickier especially as he was losing faith in john but richard did have other options their brother jeffrey had a son named arthur and by the rule of english royal inheritance arthur had a stronger claim although he was only two years old richard's troubles compounded further as his two justice years could not get along early in 1190 he put da puisse in charge of the north and appointed de longshore the sole justicia richard then took john to normandy and ordered him to stay on the continent he would not be permitted to enter england without richard's specific permission richard left on crusade on the 15th of july 1190 and while in sicily declared arthur as his true heir de longshorm continued maneuvering behind the scenes against john including getting the king of the scots to support arthur's claim to the throne de longshore also placed de puisse under arrest unaware of de longchamp's behavior richard asked pope clement iii to make de longshore a legate of the apostolic sea after this he began acting above his station and often behaved as if he were king at this time he was making powerful enemies including john by the spring of 1191 the conflict between john and de longchamp had become public when de longchamp attacked holdings of john's supporters john counter-attacked he did what he could to keep longchamp's aggressive behavior at bay when the archbishop of canterbury died confusion erupted over who to appoint richard wanted william of monreal but de los champ wanted the position for himself during this controversy richard began to understand that all was not well in his kingdom he asked one of the men in his group of crusaders a long-time orangevin supporter who had served four orangevin kings walter of countance to return to england to regain order john continued to play the role of a dutiful brother determined to support richard and his kingdom what finally led to the removal of de longchamp was his arrest and brutal treatment of the archbishop of york after a great council reviewed the events de longshorm was removed as justicia this council also agreed that john be made supreme governor of the whole realm with the consent of walter the archbishop of roma now the new chief justicia with the assistance of william marshall another trusted orangevin supporter who had served in many key government posts under henry ii to longsharp protested mightily against his ill treatment and declared his downfall the result of the scheming john john found himself in the seat of power and knew that richard might not return from the crusade so he began to solidify his support being careful not to make de longchamp's mistakes the realm appeared quiet and secure for a short time under john's care until philip augustus now king of france returned early from the third crusade although richard and he had made a peace treaty while they were on crusade philip chose not to keep his word and began maneuvering to take back lambs from the english king that he felt rightfully belonged to him rumors flew about john and who he might truly support de longchamp even reappeared briefly under a bribing scheme that john supposedly used to gain supporters some rumors hinted that john had gone over to philip's side in an attempt to take the throne richard left the holy land on the 9th of october 1192. he made great progress until he was captured near vienna by duke leopold of austria who passed him to the holy roman emperor henry vi who held richard hostage and demanded a ransom to be paid for his release john learned about this in january of 1193 his impulsive nature failed him this time for he thought that this meant that richard might never return and it was his chance to claim the throne john went to paris to create an alliance with king philip then returned to england and did the same with the king of scots eleanor his mother built up the defenses along the coast in kent and prepared to repel flemish or french invaders philip attacked normandy only to be repelled civil war broke out in england but was stopped by the new archbishop of canterbury hubert walter who had instructions on how the ransom was to be paid he insisted that the effort now had to be the raising of the necessary funds to get richard released resulting in john leaving england to meet with philip in order to re-establish the truths between the king and richard in the end henry vi released richard on the 4th of february 1194. in april john and richard met in lisia with their mother mediating john begged forgiveness and richard provided a patronizing response to his younger brother according to chroniclers he said john have no fear you are a child and you had bad men looking after you despite john being 27 years old both richard and eleanor did not see good things in john eleanor said that john had the shallow mind of an adolescent richard's assessment that john lacked the ability to stand up to someone who opposed him proved prophetic richard pulled lands away from john as punishment it took time for richard to forgive john for his betrayal but eventually he did john gradually played more important roles in richard's court starting in may 1195 when richard returned john's lands to him in gloucester and morton by july 1197 richard had forgiven john for his poor judgment and declared that he was to be his preferred successor john received more land grants and other signs of favor from his brother john also began to pull powerful allies around him including two men hubert walter and william marshall the rumor that jon had fallen into phillips camp never died in early 1199 philip told richard this and showed him some documents that backed up his claim when john heard of this accusation he sent two knights to the french court to repudiate the charges richard was relieved by this and again declared john his true and only heir it proved an important moment as on the 6th of april 1199 richard died of gangrene after being hit by a crossbow bolt in his shoulder while attacking the castle of shalu chabrol in limosa although richard's wishes had to be taken into consideration it did not mean that powerful men had to honor them it did not help that richard throughout his reign had been fickle in his opinion on the matter presenting both arthur and otto brunswick the son of their sister matilda as possible heirs during this succession confusion elena made sure that john received the region of aquitaine another problem stemmed from the fact that no one in the realm fully trusted john especially after his power grab during richard's captivity it took the stellar reputations of hubert walter and william marshall to ensure john obtained the english crown and with it the ongevin lands on the 25th of april john was invested as the duke of normandy his mother then moved to secure the rest of the continental lands meanwhile philip moved his troops against normandy but failed to make any headway john hurriedly sailed to england to secure his position as king on the 27th of may 1199 ascension day john became the anointed king of england crowned by hubert walter at westminster abbey after he received oaths of allegiance from his barons and established his administration it was time to address outstanding issues on the continent namely arthur at this time english kings had a peculiar relationship with the king of france they did not have full control over the anduven lands but had to pay homage to the king of france this is why john always signed his letters as king of england lord of ireland duke of normandy and aquitaine and count of onju for obvious reasons this created great strain between the two rulers and philip augustus unlike his forebears had determined he would fight until he had returned all angevin continental lands to his direct control removing the component of the english king if possible or finding a more pliable puppet if not philip saw the perfect tool to do so by supporting arthur as the true heir to the english throne for john although he served as the king of england his ancestral heart was in zhu and aquitaine so losing these lands would hurt him personally john headed to normandy to meet with philip their three-day meeting started on the 17th of august and did not go as either one would have liked philip did not negotiate in good faith and made it clear whom he had chosen to support since arthur paid homage to philip for his control over onju puerto main terrain brittany and normandy philip insisted that john relinquish control over these lands especially the most eastern portion of normandy the vexa the vexa region had been fought over for years because the river seine which connected paris with the sea flowed through there for philip's security it was critical that the french king controlled it but john balked at all of philip's demands it was clear that john had to marshal his continental supporters to block attacks from philip john also contacted foreign leaders for their support including the count of flanders as well as his nephew otto of brunswick by august john had received enough homage from many of richard's former supporters in his continental realms that it appeared that he had the upper hand when philip tried to test their resolve such as in le mans john's supporters repelled his attack john at one point almost had arthur in his grasp until he and his mother fled back to britain john also used his time to arrange for himself a new wife after his marriage to isabella of gloucester had been annulled due to their being related soon after his coronation he settled on 12 year old isabella daughter of the count of angulem and heiress to his lambs isabella was already betrothed to count hugh lebron of the lucion family but that did not seem to deter john because he saw the alliance with her father as strategically expedient he failed to consider that he might alienate the powerful lucio clan by his actions john would pay for his impulsiveness since jon had now solidified his control over the southern portion of his realm he focused on addressing the issue of who controlled normandy john and philip met in a place called le goulet the resulting treaty of lagulae completed in may 1200 proved to be a triumph for john not only did philip acknowledge that john was richard's rightful heir but it also placed brittany firmly in the hands of john with his nephew arthur obligated to pay him homage moreover jon retained his claim on both puerto and onju for these benefits john gave philip some key concessions these included john's refusal to aid his nephew otto in his struggle against philip the counts in flanders and bologna had to pay homage to the french king and the treaty instituted a complete ban on castle building throughout normandy he also agreed to pay philip fees of 20 000 mark sterling although they established a new border in the vexa neither side got what they wanted to cement the deal john's niece blanche daughter of his sister eleanor was betrothed to philip's son and heir louis john pleased with his diplomatic work headed south to collect his bride lebron furious that no one consulted him nor compensated him for his financial loss switched to arthur's camp john and isabella were hastily married on st bartholomew's day the 24th of august 1200 at the sao pierre cathedral in ongolem once she reached childbearing age isabella and john would have five children two of them boys not everyone saw john's actions at le goulet or in angulem as a strategic success with the high payment to king philip losing portions of the vexa and other concessions they felt he had given away too much a few resurrected the nickname richard once gave john soft sword implying that he had let philip walk all over him as his brother said john had a hard time standing up to others and john had made powerful enemies with his impulsive short-sighted actions such as alienating lebron who fermented trouble throughout honju and aquitaine king philip saw an opportunity in this rebellion tensions increased so much that john returned to normandy and began private conversations with philip while remaining polite on the surface philip worked behind the scenes providing support to anyone in the region that asked for his help against john he also began a campaign of defaming john declaring he had mistreated his men and was not fit to rule he insisted that jon gave up his lands in puerto ongju and aquitaine to emphasize this point he knighted arthur and pronounced him the liege lord of these lands fighting increased since arthur's supporters now had the french king's public support and a reason to fight that is to push jon out it did not help that isabella's father the count of odoma died in july elena john's mother clearly understood the gravity of the situation and moved to mirabeau in puerto in august 1202 to manage the war effort only to find herself under siege by her own nephew arthur upon discovering this john dropped everything and raced 90 miles to rescue her with overwhelming force and surprise on their side john managed to crush arthur's troops and save his mother an added bonus was his capture of both lebron and arthur yet the troubles did not end there another siege arose at this time it was against shinon where his wife was visiting her mother this rebellion was put down and he and his wife stayed with count robber of says in also thinking all was well they left to head north but philip had been waiting to pounce the day after john left philip seized this strategic city angered john moved arthur to raw castle in april 1203 following this arthur disappeared and rumors began to fly around europe some said john tried to talk reason with him but then killed him in a drunken rage throwing him into the scene the more lurid tales included poking out arthur's eyes and cutting off his genitals before disposing of his body in the river following this incident john's bad reputation plummeted even further john now worked to repair the damage on the continent but had little success although he was able to get the new pope innocent iii support to help mediate his disputes with philip the discussions went nowhere as philip knew he had a chance to remove the english from france he attacked normandy in earnest and removed john as his vassal in this region effectively eliminating his right to the territory the barons there had to choose between following a disgraced duke or upholding their legal duty by supporting their liege lord seeing no other option jon returned to england making landfall on the 7th of december 1203 this action was a mistake on two accounts first his supporters who were left behind to continue the fight against philip felt abandoned by their king second it reinforced the view that john had no backbone john assumed he would be back soon after he had raised funds and marshaled enough troops to continue the fight he also pulled in allies abroad including ottowa brunswick and sent delegations to the pope asking for assistance pope innocent wrote to philip to cease his attack on normandy or face harsh consequences but philip ignored this on the 1st of march 1204 one of the strongest fortresses in normandy fell the chateau gayard by june king philip had full control over normandy and john had lost all of his continental inheritance at first he had interpreted this as the result of god's anger and tried to appease him through payments to holy houses such as the cistercian abbey of beuli feeling he had bribed god enough he then focused all of his efforts on regaining his inheritance he took everything he had learned from de glanville and began to pull money from his barons the royal forests and even the church in order to raise funds for an invasion force in july the faithful hubert walter the archbishop of canterbury died john saw this as an opportunity to replace him with a trusted supporter john de gray the bishop of knowledge the monks who usually played a key role in this decision wanted their sub-prior reginald to be the new archbishop instead the pope disagreed on both counts preferring stephen lankton who was a scholar of theology in paris and had promoted new ideas about the rights of kings tensions grew however because no one in england wanted langton meanwhile john made preparations to return to puerto throughout 1205 and into 1206 he also worked on a flurry of correspondence with the pope including sending a delegation to try to persuade the pope to understand that a king must have some say in a political appointment as important as the archbishop of canterbury in june 1206 john set sail to la rochelle his goal was to regain his lost homeland but phillip made sure he did not while john did have some success in regaining gascony and some of puerto he did not pull his father's homeland of onju away from philip john sailed home with a two-year truce and a better understanding of what kind of military he would need to build in order to defeat philip throughout 1207 john developed innovative ways to extract funds from his barons church and royal forests to finance an attack on france while he did raise a great deal of money it also led to the decrease of coinage in the country which increased the cost of living hurting everyone financially it was at this time that isabella gave birth to john's first son henry on the 1st of october 1207. pope innocent determined it was time to press john into accepting langton as the new archbishop and had him consecrated john's reaction was a military one taking canterbury by force innocent sent letters to english barons and bishops insisting they convinced jon to accept langton between john also pressing his case and the pope demanding compliance the english bishops split over who to support this was a consequential issue for them as the ability to control who could select leaders in the church was at stake in march 1208 while john prepared again to go to puerto the pope placed england under an interdict which meant that the sacraments could no longer be administered in england denying the populace the comforts of the church rather than bowing to this pressure as innocent had hoped he might john saw it as an opportunity to seize church property to raise funds for his military campaign in france and to shore up his english defenses he pressed his countrymen for money even harder including calling in all debts from his barons in england threatening to throw them into prison if they failed to pay he even attacked long time supporters such as richard's point man william de bruys and even william marshall john also increased fines and fees for legal actions and violations in royal forests the situation in england continued to deteriorate when isabella gave birth to their second son richard on the 5th of january 1209. in august john headed north to confront william king of scotland after hearing rumors of an alliance between scotland and france confronted with military force william yielded to john's demands and submitted his country to england through the treaty of norham to ensure william's compliance his two daughters were taken as hostages meanwhile furious that john still refused to yield to his demands innocent excommunicated him in november 1209 placing john in grave political danger in desperation he set to flush out the enemies in his midst first in 1210 john returned to ireland to collect debts and to reaffirm his control of the region this turned ugly especially john's treatment of debris and fearful of his life debris fled to normandy in response john arrested his wife and son throwing them into the stronghold of courth on the southern coast of england where he starved them to death as the story goes the jailer found them holding each other as they died but it appeared that lady de bruys had nibbled on her son's face in hungary desperation in 1211 with ireland under his control john then turned to wales where he put down a rebellion led by lewellyn aberworth of gwyneth who was forced to submit to john and recognize him as overlord of wales although these actions appeared to be violent acts of a desperate man john had managed to pull all four countries together under one sovereign for the first time in history by the summer of 1212 john's efforts to build his military and naval fleet had gone well his diplomatic efforts had also borne fruit with agreements with the count of bologna the duke of limburg the count of flanders and his nephew now emperor otto iv in place to help him defeat philip john felt ready to head back to france to regain his birthright but more pressing issues intruded with the people increasingly exasperated with their excommunicated king and his brutal taxation rumors spread across the country that a prophet peter of wakefield predicted that john could not survive past ascension day the 23rd of may 1213. if this story had not made him paranoid then the discovery of a real plot to murder him surely did hatched by disgruntled northern nobles the plot was put down but the culprits escaped capture as a result of this incident john realized he had gone too far and began to relax some of his harshest administrative actions john also clearly understood that philip wanted to go beyond sweeping him out of france he wanted to sweep him out of england and was making preparations to achieve this philip could easily acquire the support of the pope to depose an excommunicated king and so in late 1212 john sent representatives to pope innocent to negotiate early compromises were struck including permitting the church to fill vacancies and the priests could perform last communion on the dying yet innocent insisted that john agree to his terms including allowing langton to become archbishop with the threat of philip on the horizon john capitulated on the 15th of may 1213 john not only submitted to the pope officially via his papal legate pando ferraccio but handed all of england and ireland into the care of the pope and agreed to pay him one thousand marks per year on ascension day 1213 john celebrated his return to the christian fold he had survived the prophecy of his demise however philip ignored recent events and continued to prepare his ships to sail to england on the 30th of may while philip attacked the city of ghent the english navy pulled up to the near empty french ships in the harbour and set them ablaze destroying philip's fleet known today as the battle of dumb when word of this action reached john it must have felt as if he had regained god's favor and so he prepared to sail to la rochelle to reclaim his family's patrimony john planned a pincer-like attack to squeeze philip on two fronts using his forces in southern france and his allies forces in the north he arrived in la rochelle on the 15th of february 1214 to great praise from the mayor and citizens he began to work his way through aquitaine and puerto including taking down key supporters of philip such as the lucinol family and capturing philip's cousin robert of drew things moved quickly until july during his siege of rashomon for some unknown reason john after hearing that philip's son louis was on his way retreated fearing a large force surprisingly louis had made the same decision because he was not prepared to attack john in an open engagement yet on the 15th of july when john wanted to re-engage he asked former supporters who had not turned out to come to his aid but no one arrived to support him and so john turned south to solidify his control there meanwhile a decisive open field battle happened several hundred miles away in bhuvan north of paris where a coalition of key western european powers attacked philip on the 27th of july 1214 in what would become known as the battle of bhuvan it was a brutal conflict with numerous casualties on both sides in the end it was philip who came out on top not only was it one of the most critical battles in the lives of john and philip but it also helped to reshape the map of europe upon hearing the result of this battle john headed home arriving in court on the 18th of october 1214 while he had been away unrest amongst the barons of northern england had arisen john wanting to engage them military discovered he had few financial resources at his disposal because almost no one had made their payments to the exchequer he had little choice but to meet with his barons with the first meeting scheduled for january 1215 at that meeting the delegation of barons explained to john that he had to agree to henry the first's charter john delayed responding by agreeing to meet again on the 26th of april which he did not honor he also failed to respond to the baronial demands denoted in a document that would become known as the unknown charter which read like the charter of henry the first but with additional clauses added meanwhile john prepared for war against his barons knowing that innocent wanted a fifth crusade john contacted the pope and pledged himself to go on crusade much to innocence delight the pope responded with two letters one to the barons telling them to back down and swear allegiance to their king and the second to langton and his bishops ordering them to ensure a peaceful settlement everyone now knew that john had papal support and therefore might not negotiate in good faith on the fifth of may the barons renounced their feudal obligations in response and armed themselves john then issued two letters one stating that disputes should be brought before the pope who would act as arbiter the other stated that during the time of negotiations there would be a moratorium on military engagement against his barons on the 17th of may the barons responded by taking control of london cheered on by the citizens of the city now that john no longer controlled his capital he had to parlay with his barons he could stall no longer and john asked lankton to facilitate negotiations it was agreed to meet at a neutral place called runnymede along the thames river between windsor castle and stains on the 10th of june john offered safe conduct to the barons but just for a short duration to permit time for talks yet most of the negotiations had already happened between langton and the barons the document that was placed before john on that fateful day of the 15th of june 1215 was a document called the articles of the barons which spelled out their demands a few days later on the 19th of june a group of the barons met john at runymed where they paid homage to the king and renewed their oaths of loyalty the document they agreed upon promised access to swift justice to the barons it limited the king's rights over taxation and feudal payments as well as providing protection from unlawful imprisonment and protection of church rights there was also a security clause whereby the barons could check that john was adhering to the demands laid down by the charter these articles form the basis of what we today know as the magna carta or the great charter in english and this document would be rewritten and elaborated over the coming years although the magna carta is seen today as one of the cornerstones of western liberty an inspection of the document itself demonstrates that it lacks the poetic verses of the declaration of independence as it was in essence a peace treaty between john and his barons which simply listed the limitations of john's power indeed the magna carta would be reissued several times after john's death each time in a shorter format eliminating the most contentious clauses john did not sign the document because that was not typical at the time instead the document was folded and formally sealed with john's royal seal the sealed document had to be revised to sound like it came from the king before it was copied and distributed throughout the land yet no one believed this was the end of the conflict between john and the barons king john sent a copy of the document to the pope complaining about the barons the pope shocked that a king would have to capitulate to his subjects declared the charter null and void and by september a civil war had broken out with the king laying siege to the strategically critical rochester castle which was under the control of the barons meanwhile some of the barons asked louis to become their king since many of the rebellious barons hailed from the northern counties they chose to pay homage to alexander ii the son of william who was the new king of scotland and asked him to move south to support them john finally took rochester castle and then built upon that success by making other conquests in both east anglia and the northern counties of england yet his naval blockade had failed to stop louis from landing in england on the 21st of may 1216. a few days later louis triumphantly entered the city of london his troops then besieged dover lincoln and windsor while scottish forces wreaked havoc in the north john did his best to keep up the defenses and keep the french troops away with the help of guala bichiri the papal legate who was sent by the pope to protect jon from the french while louis found himself bogged down at dover castle in late summer john swept through the loyal heartlands in the western and central parts of england trying to rally support to push the french out on the 9th of october john arrived in east anglia and was received well by those at lynn who invited him to a large feast at which john contracted dysentery even though he was starting to feel ill he continued to move north on the 12th of october near the nunnery of swine's head he received word that a portion of his baggage train had been lost in the wash and quicksand of the welsh stream estuary apparently john's mobile altar including holy relics along with his crown were lost by the 14th of october he was too sick to get out of bed and wrote letters to the new pope onorius iii explaining the situation requesting aid and reminding honorius that england had been placed under papal care on the 16th of october too sick to ride john was transported on a litter to newark although medical administrations such as bleeding were applied nothing could be done to help the king on the 18th of october john furiously worked to settle his estate reward his stalwart supporters and ensure the safety of his two sons king john died on the 19th of october 1216 knowing his reign had been a catastrophic failure at his request he was buried in the cathedral of worcester where his crypt can be seen today although his death did not end the baronial civil war it did change the stakes considerably it was no longer a fight to rid england of john but the question remained of who would replace him the choice became either the french louis or the english heir nine-year-old henry william marshall had been made guardian of john's sons henry and seven-year-old richard having served several onjaven kings he knew what the stakes were henry iii's first coronation hurriedly took place in gloucester on the 18th of october with guala bichiri performing the ceremony no one in the land could dispute the integrity or the ability of the now regent william marshall who was 70 and would rule for the benefit of the young king with the assistance of a council of 13 able barons and bishops now that king john was dead louis assumed that he had won and stopped at dover castle to demand that hubert de berg a staunch orangevin loyalist should come out and talk deburg refused and prepared to continue fighting while louis just walked away the final nails and the coffin for louise kingship in england were two decisive battles the battle of lincoln castle where the forces under marshall resoundingly defeated the baronial and french adversaries on the 20th of may 1217 and the battle of sandwich in which the naval forces under de berg defeated the french on the 24th of august on the 20th of september the treaty of lambeth ended the hostilities and louis headed home to france although the document that would become known as the magna carta had failed in its original intent william marshall and gowalla betty clearly understood its importance as a tool to create a covenant between the king and his people they reissued the document on the 6th of november 1217 along with the charter of the forest a similar agreement about the king's right to use and tax royal forest lands in 1225 henry iii reissued both documents in his request to tax movable items and in 1232 henry again presented the document at a meeting in westminster that had been promoted as a parliament the angevins had abused their power to promote their own personal interests at the expense of their nobles and the common people of england tension had built with each successive reign john an excellent administrator but a poor strategist took this abuse to new heights and forced the barons to turn on their king yet the resulting agreement became an important tool to reach mutual agreements without bloodshed as we know from english history it did not always work out that way even so the magna carta established a written covenant between the people and their rulers that served as a model for the democratic governments we treasure today what do you think of king john was he truly evil and the worst king england ever had or was he a victim of circumstance and a product of the time in which he lived please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching you

Channel: The People Profiles

Views: 738,465

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel, biography channel, biography documentary channel, biography tv, biography documentary, biography a&e, biography channel documentary, bio, biography full episode, full biography, biography full documentary, life story, biography of famous people, mini biography, history, full documentary biography, biography series on tv, full episode

Id: nFSVwckiGGM

Length: 186min 45sec (11205 seconds)

Published: Wed May 18 2022