Ten Minute English and British History #11 - King John and the Magna Carta

$11.99 in king richard the lionheart is dead Richard left no heirs and so his dominions all of this was to be inherited by either his brother John who Richard her chosen or by his nephew Arthur of brittany arthur began a rebellion but nothing came of it and john managed to get the french king to accept his territorial claims after becoming King John had his first marriage annulled and instead married Isabella of angel' M in 1202 fighting resumed between the kings of England and France because by this point they were both getting pretty good at it John attempted to mount a defense of his lands but due to financial constraint and the fact that he often insulted his nobility his ability to do so was lacking by the end of 1204 philippe augustus had conquered both Normandy and Anjou whereas Brittany had broken away from Anne ship in orbit on its own thus within five years of John coming to the throne only Aquitaine remained of his inheritance naturally many of the remaining Nobles in England were very unhappy that they had just lost some of their Continental lands the peasantry of England also found themselves upset when John levied extremely heavy taxes to pay for an attempted reconquest so by 1205 John was dishonored and disliked by his Nobles but at least he still had good relations with the church right nope the main issue between John and the church occurred during the election of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1205 John wanted a friend and a lo of his to become the new archbishop whereas the clerics at Canterbury Cathedral did not the Pope Innocent the third was appealed to in his answer was that they were in fact both wrong and the Pope instead consecrated a man called Stephen Langton John was furious about this and so banned lankton from entering England and seized Canterbury's assets and revenues many clergymen saw this as a step too far and when they complained to John he essentially declared them traitors and seized their property as well the Pope attempted to convince the king to agree to Langdon's appointment but the king still refused and so in 1208 the Pope ordered that church services in England were to be halted which they were for six years in 1209 the Pope went further and excommunicated John as well 12:09 was an eventful year for John and England's is before his excommunication he invaded Scotland fearing that its King King William the lion was planning on forging an alliance with France the invasion went well and William agree to pay John and would stop claiming Northumbria so there was one success at least this year also saw the establishment of another Center of Education at Cambridge thus the two major centers of learning in England had been founded both of which would dominate English intellectual and political life for centuries to come in 1210 the barons of Ireland revolted and John crossed the sea and crushed them shortly of course it was brony rebellion which would ultimately define John's brain and so unsurprisingly this would not be the last it's important to note the bearings have a justification to revolt against John because he had been excommunicated technically lords owed no allegiance to their superiors who lived outside of the boundaries of the Christian faith in practice the reasons for revolts weren't so theological in 1212 John forged a series of alliances against King Philippe to prepare for an invasion of France the most notable ally being the Count of Flanders Philippe made the first move and attacked Flanders and was himself preparing to invade England John's barons weren't very supportive and only due to a pre-emptive English attack didn't invasion not occur by this time John had realised that he needed his barons onside who would the convenient excuse of excommunication to refuse his service in 1213 he and Pope Innocent came to an agreement the king would repay the church for everything he took and importantly it was decided that John held England as a papal fief what this meant is that technically England belonged to the Pope and John simply ruled over it as the Pope is appointed keeper the next year John had secured more alliances in his war with France the most notable being the Holy Roman Emperor Otto the fourth the decisive battle was in July the 27th the Battle of the boovie which was a decisive French victory this battle forever ruined John's chances of recovering his northern French territories as well as earning him the nickname John Lackland Jude mostly to his lack of land Phillipe Augustus was now the undisputed ruler of these territories marking an important turning point in the rise of France John's problems went from bad to worse upon his return to England in 1215 John Snow was revolted against him plunging England into chaos the rebellious Nobu's approach was not to replace the king but to force reforms the rebels were led by Robert Fitzwater who he made 1215 March what the rebels had made the army of God into London John knew this wasn't going to end well and so whilst Archbishop Langton to organize peace talks what happened at these talks is one of the most famous and important events in English history the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede which is here Magna Carta which is Latin for Great Charter sought to restrict John's powers over the dispensing of justice which John had up until that point mostly used to make money it's also importantly stated that if John was to abandon his promises within Magna Carta his barons could use force against him John did sign the Magna Carta but make no mistake he had no intention of abiding by it and quickly asked the Pope who was technically John's Lord to annul the agreement which the Pope did John's parents were not too happy about this and so on the Baron's knew that John would never accept their demands and so they invited a new claimant to the throne whom they could rally behind this man was Louie the son and heir of the French King Philippe Augustus Louie arrived in England in May 1216 within a few months had taken all of this territory little more happened to her John died in October of the same year and for many of the rebellious barons the reason for the war had died with the King John had a young son Henry who many of the rebellious barons flocked to the reason for this was that Henry at this point was only nine years old and thus was much less of a threat to noble interest than Louis could be Henry was crowned King Henry the third at Gloucester but he was too young to govern and so the respected nobleman William Marshall acted as his Regent being Regent meant that Marshall would act with the Kings Authority until the king was old enough to do so himself Marshalls first act would be to reissue Magna Carta in Henry's name to assure the other Nobles that their rights would be upheld Louis was of course not going to give up his claim to England and so the war carried on the war was not going in Henry's favor until 1217 when Willy Marshall marched on Lincoln in an all-or-nothing battle the Battle of Lincoln saw many of Louie's French nobleman killed Robert fitzwater was captured and afterwards the town was thoroughly looted as a result Menino was defected from Louis to Henry and after a few more battles Henry's throne was secured and Louis renounced his claim Henry's early reign was not without its problems many nobles had pledged their loyalty but weren't so keen on actually providing it some had built castles illegally during the rebellion and refused to abandon and demolished them to reassure Henry's Authority the Pope allowed him to be coronated again this time in London and most of his Lords pledged allegiance and a pain of excommunication some still refuse to pledge their loyalty and so at the help of his just akia hubert de burgh henry crushed them in 1224 lui now King Louie the eighth for France invaded Henry's French territories and quickly seized part two of most of Gascony the nobles agreed to help fund an army to reinforce Gascony on the condition the Magna Carta was reissued again which it was in 1225 this time Magna Carta was issued willingly by a king who agreed to be bound by the laws and the advice of his know was a significant stepping stone in the history of the English monarchy in 1226 Louie the eighth for France died and the throne passed to his son whose name you'll never guess unless you also guess Louis this new king was only 12 and so his position was weak many of the nobles in Normandy Anjou and Britain he asked for Henry to invade and reclaim his inheritance in 1227 the Regency ended and Henry began his personal rule three years later he landed in Paris me with the large English army he would remain in France until 1234 and would leave having achieved nothing a great cost when Henry left for France he had placed Hubert de baron charge Hubert was not particularly popular in the faction which opposed him rally behind a man who pitted the rush in 1231 after his return to England Peter wrote to Henry claiming that Hubert was corrupt and so Henry had Hubert arrested and Peter was made to stickier Peter almost immediately began seizing his opponents land which angered a certain Richard Marshall the son of William who complained that the king was neglecting his promises from Magna Carta naturally there would only be one outcome of this disagreement civil war in the end Henry agreed to remove Peter and wood from then onwards rule on his own Henry was so keen for peace because he was worried that during the Civil War Louis would invade and conquer Brittany which he did anyway so Henry believed that his predecessors mostly his father had allowed royal authority and dignity to be eroded and he sought to restore it in 1236 Henry married Eleanor of Provence in order to forge an alliance in the South of France three years later Eleanor gave birth to a son Edward named after Edward the Confessor who Henry revered is the paragon of English kingship so Henry made sure to look after his wife's family and eventually they were invited over and some of them are giving important positions an example being Ellen his uncle Boniface he was made Archbishop of Canterbury all of this preferential treatment for people who weren't the English nobility was upsetting for the English nobility since they felt these rewards were theirs by rights needless to say Henry was well on his way to annoying his barons again so in 1241 Henry stepfather rebelled against the French King and called for Henry to land with an army to assist which Henry did eventually Henry slow response meant that the rebellion collapsed and during the campaign there Henry's army was soundly defeated at the Battle of tiberg as a result of this Henry's French relatives by marriage ended up leaving France and coming to England in 1247 these relatives were granted numerous lands which further annoyed the English nobility by 1258 Henry was extremely unpopular he had financially ruined the kingdom the most notable event occurring in 1252 when the Pope offered Henry Sicily providing he paid off the Pope's debt which he agreed to without consulting his Lords furthermore Henry also travelled to Paris where he agreed to renounce his claims to his lost territories the anger of his noble was culminated in rebellion again led by Simon de Montfort the rebels demanded Henry abandon his personal rule and allow the nobles to control the government and Institute reforms these reforms are summed up in the provisions of ox which limited the powers at the king in the major Nobles but most importantly set up an elected group of barons who would run the kingdom these form of government broke down after Henry had asked for the Pope's help in denouncing it in 1263 the second barons war broke out long story short the war waged for four years Henry and his son Edward were captured at the Battle of Lewes Edward eventually escaped and later won a victory at the Battle of Evesham which saw de Montfort killed by 1267 the Barons had surrendered and the war was over leaving a now unwell Henry to rebuild Prince Edward was given great to say over the running of the kingdom until he went on a crusade in 1270 Henry died in 1272 when Edward was declared king and upon his return to England he was crowned king yet with the first Edward however is better known either as Edward Longshanks or more famously as malleus Scott Horan the hammer of the Scots I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching there are some book recommendations in the description if you'd like to know more you

Channel: History Matters

Views: 1,518,292

Keywords: Ten, Minute, History, 10, British, English, Documentary, Animated, short, England, France, Ireland, Gascony, Aquitaine, Angevin, Plantagenet, Conquest, Philip Augustus, Anglo-French war, Bouvine, King John, John Lackland, King Henry III, Edward I, Crusade, Angevin Empire, King Louis

Id: tycBBN2f2j0

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2018