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Richard I ‘the Lionheart’ King of England Duke of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Tourraine, Gascony and Aquitaine, Count of Poitou 1189-99 Duke of Brittany 1169-89 Character • • • • • Possibly the finest warrior king England has ever produced, the relatively success of the Third Crusade (1189-92) was primarily due to him. He was widely regarded as the greatest king of his time by contemporaries for his combination of personal valour, astute generalship and piety. He was not especially brutal by the standards of his day – even his wholesale massacre of Moslem prisoners was seen as normal behaviour. He was however a one-dimensional character who lived for war, his relationship with his father and Phillip II Augustus showed he was capable both of treachery and being manipulated by more bale diplomats. He had neither affection nor a sense of duty towards his English realms – he barely spent three months there in his entire reign and valued it solely for its tax income and its crown. Coronation 1189 • • • • Richard had already taken the crusading vow before he became king. Thus from the moment his father died his actions were designed to stabilise the Angevin empire and extract funds from it for his Crusade. He thus released his mother and her supporters in a gesture of conciliation. He radiated Majesty at his coronation in Sept 1189 but the limits of his power were exposed by his inability to prevent a hideous massacre of the Jews in England caused by crusading hysteria immediately afterwards. He attempted to stabilise his new throne in his impeding absence by massively enriching his brother John and banishing him for three years whilst making his nephew Arthur of Brittany Archbishop of York thereby debarring him from succession. Journey to the Holy Land • Richard emptied the royal treasury (£75,000) and sold every office he could to raise funds for the Crusade. He is reported to have said ‘I would sell London if I could find anyone rich enough to buy it’. This deprived the monarchy of any financial reserve and was to have grave implications for his successor. • He and his ally Phillip Augustus departed for the Holy Land in July 1190, en route discovering that the third partner, Frederich Barbarossa had drowned en route leaving them as joint leaders. The Third Crusade • • • Richard’s progress was spectacular – he recaptured Cyprus for the Byzantine Empire, captured the vital port of Acre, defeated the Moslem’s leader Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf and recaptured most of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Holy City alone eluded him. Two diplomatic gaffs blemished Richard’s record however – ordering his men to tear down Leopold of Austria’s banner at Acre led to a grudge that was to have far reaching consequences, whilst a quarrel over candidates for the throne of Jerusalem led to Phillip Augustus’ early departure from the Crusade in 1191 back to France where he conspired with Richard’s adversaries including his brother John. Because of the later situation Richard was obliged to depart in October 1192 leaving the capture of Jerusalem for another crusade which in fact he never made. Chaos and imprisonment 1191-3 • • • Richard had left control of England to Justiciar and Bishop of Ely William Longchamp. However at his mother’s urging he relented on exiling John and as a result a power struggle between the two developed in Richard's absence. A botched attempt by Longchamp to arrest Geoffrey Plantagenet, Archbishop of York caused the former to be driven into exile and replaced by the more conciliatory Walter of Coutances. However Richard’s capture by Leopold of Austria on his way home plunged the Angevins into a fresh crisis. John, stirred up by Phillip Augustus attempted to depose Richard, offering Vexin, Gisors and a pledge of fealty in return for support. Ultimately his failure to convince Eleanor, Coutances and most barons that his brother was dead doomed his attempt. Bargaining and release 1193-94 • • • • • Richard found himself at the centre of a bizarre bargaining process in which Coutances and Eleanor in one party and Phillip Augustus and John on the other both bid against each other to purchase him off the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, the former to relapse him, the latter to incarcerate him permanently. In the meantime the French seized Gisors and were only prevented from taking the rest of Normandy by the determined resistance of its capital Rouen. John meanwhile found himself besieged in Windsor castle by troops loyal to Richard. Finally Richard was relapsed into Eleanor's custody on the payment of 34 tonnes of silver and the nominal enfeoffement of England to Emperor Henry IV who demanded a yearly rent of 5,000 marks henceforth. An already weakened Angevin treasury was thus left deeply indebted, a situation not helped by the pogrom of many of the Jewish money lenders of England in 1189. Richard returned to England in March 1194. Consolidation and reconquest 1194 • • • • All John’s fortresses save Nottingham surrendered immediately on Richard’s return, the siege of the former and the time thus spent in the vicinity of Sherwood forest may account for part of the Robin Hood legend. In April 1194 Richard reaffirmed his authority at a ‘crown wearing’ ceremony in which he informed office holders that they had merely leased their positions and would have to buy them again. Thus plus huge taxes levied by Hubert Walter, Justiciar and Archbishop of Canterbury refinanced the Angevin treasury to the extent that Richard was able to return to Normandy tor recover the lands lost to Phillip Augustus. The 1194 campaign saw him achieve his objectives, defeat and almost kill Phillip at the Battle of Freteval and effect a reconciliation with John who deserted Philip in July. Richard also captured documents revealing the names of rebel barons in Angevin France. In a rapid campaign in the summer of 1194 the chief rebel strongholds in Poitou and Angouleme were overrun and 40,000 prisoners taken. War with France 1194-99 • • • • To eliminate his enemy Phillip Augustus, Richard undertook a series of diplomatic inanities designed to isolate the French king. Using funds from jousts Richard persuaded the Rhineland princes to do him homage thereby threatening France’s eastern border. Similarly he gained the support of the south by marrying his sister Joan to Count Raymond of Toulouse. He used economic embargo to force Baldwin of Flanders to change sides too, completing the encirclement. Richard was also able to recruit papal support from Innocent III in return for managing a campaign against the election of one of the over-mighty Hohenstaufen family to the Imperial throne in 1197. Having thus isolated Phillip Augustus, Richard built the great fortress of Chateau Gaillard in just two years from 1196-98 thereby closing the gap in Norman defences opened by the capture of Gisors. Phillip resorted to guerrilla warfare but having nearly been captured at Courcelles-les-Gisors in September 1198 he accepted a truce in 1199. Death and legacy 1199 • The Angevin empire was in a strong position in 1199, peace promised sufficient prosperity for tax and war ravaged land to recover behind Richard’s defensive network of castles. • Richard lost his life unexpectedly in March 1199 over a petty quarrel with the lord of Chalus aged 41. He had reigned for less than ten years. • Although the Angevin Empire was on the offensive in 1199, it would almost entirely collapse just five years afterwards. Like his father, Richard did not give the Empire any innate strength, it was at heart still a faction ridden collection of states loosely bound by personal union. Only a strong ruler could bind it together, and Richard’s successor John was not such a man. Richard’s neglect of his wife Berengaria and consequent failure to provide an heir may thus be counted as his greatest failing. John ‘Softsword’ King of England Duke of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Tourraine, Gascony and Aquitaine, Count of Poitou 1199- 1214 King of England and Duke of Gascony thereafter to 1216 Character • • • • • Heavily condemned by contemporaries, the character of John has been obscured. His plotting against his father and his brother Richard indicate a deceitful side to his character, but his brothers were just the same. He inherited his father’s energy and was a good solider; although not as able as his brother; and a very able administrator His failings were in his relationships with individuals – he alienated the Church, mishandled his barons and allowed himself to be politically outmanoeuvred by Phillip Augustus. He also possessed his father’s temper and had a cruel streak. His dire reputation is perhaps because he died at the climax of his misfortunes – had he lived another 10 years at least a partial rehabilitation seems likely. Succession and Coronation • Richard I’s sudden death meant that John’s succession was not guaranteed, the alternative eyeing Arthur of Brittany. John succeeded because of the support of the two most powerful men in the empire – Archbishop Hubert Walter and statesman William Marshal who believed Arthur would be unacceptable to the English. • However the central French provinces of the empire declared for Arthur meaning that even at his coronation in 1198 John faced a divided empire. • • • • • Calm in France 1200 John sought a lasting peace in France, persuading Arthur to be content with the Duchy of Brittany and opening peace negotiations with Phillip Augustus. He underestimated the latter however, who only wanted peace to give him chance to build up his forces. The Treaty of Le Goulet thus confirmed John’s possessions in France except for strategically significant parts of eastern Normandy in return for a succession duty of 20,000 marks and the marriage of John’s niece Blanche to Louis the Dauphin. As a further step in the process of consolidation, John invalidated his first childless marriage and took a second wife from Aquitaine – Isabella of Angouleme. October 1200 saw a joint coronation and a progress around England during which he secured the homage of William the Lion, King of Scots. He was criticised for the peaceful nature of his diplomacy during this period which his barons said made him look weak, hence ‘Softsword’, but there was nothing in 1200 that suggested disaster was looming. Deterioration in France 1201-2 • John’s problems began with his wife’s ex-fiancée's family, the Lusignans who rose in rebellion in Aquitaine. • After initial conciliation, John invited they Lusignans to trial by combat and as suzerain Phillip Augustus stepped in, John refused to accept his mediation and in May 1201 war broke out between the Angevins and the French. • Phillip Augustus made an alliance with Arthur of Brittany and the two attacked the Angevin Empire – Philippe assaulting Normandy and Arthur Aquitaine in 1202. • John was hard pressed but managed to restore the situation by the end of 1202 by capturing Arthur and the leading Lusignans causing Philip Augustus to retreat to his own territory. The collapse of Angevin consensus winter 1202-3 • The winter of 1202 saw John lose his initiative by a series of political misjudgements. He quarrelled with and attempted to unseat William des Roches, the leading Angevin general who responded by rebelling and seizing Angers and Tours. • He also had Arthur of Brittany murdered which caused Brittany to rise in rebellion and gave Phillip Augustus a diplomatic gift. • Although John balanced this by reaching an accommodation with the Lusignans he entered the 1203 campaigning season at a disadvantage. • • • • 1203-1204: Philippe's offensive Philippe Augustus combined a gift for diplomacy with military skills. Accordingly when he attacked Normandy in spring 1203 John was attacked form several sides at once as many Norman barons switched sides and declared for the French. John had to cancel a counter-attack when Chateau Gaillard was placed under siege – William Marshall’s failed attempt to relieve it plus yet more rebellion caused by his sacking of the Breton town of Dol caused John to retreat to England in December 1204 to gather resources. He was successful in this, persuading the barons at Oxford to donate a sizeable tax but before he could return to Normandy in March 1204 Chateau Gaillard fell to the French. Normandy was open to invasion. A combined Breton/French attack assailed Normandy from both sides and it fell, the capital Rouen surrendering last in June 1204. Only the Channel islands remained in Angevin hands. 1204-6: Stabilisation • With the fall of Normandy and Brittany both Aquitaine and England were threatened with invasion. Large taxes were levied and the entire male populations enlisted for the militia. The navy was also built up. These measures were successful but they did deprive John of the means to mount a planned counter-invasion of northern France in 1205. • Despite this John was able to mount a reasonably successful campaign in central France which regained the frontier fortresses of Aquitaine in summer 1206. 1207-11: The Papal Interdict • • • • The death of Hubert Walter in 1205 was a major setback to John, and he tried to get his secretary John de Gray elected, but an argument with the monks of Canterbury who had their own candidate Prior Reginald led to intervention by Pope Innocent III, re-opening the controversy over jurisdiction that had so damaged Henry II. Stephen Langton, a compromise candidate put forward by Innocent was rejected by John who enflamed the situation by seizing the assets of Canterbury and driving its monks into exile. This direct challenge to papal authority led Innocent to pronounce an Interdict over England in March 1208. John responded with financial penalties against the clergy for which he was excommunicated in November 1211. Excommunication was more dangerous than Interdiction as it formally absolved all of John’s subjects from obedience to him allowing rebellious barons and Philippe Augustus to attack him without fear of reprisal. All bar one bishop, faced with an impossible situation, fled into exile leaving the English Church paralysed. Effects of the Interdict • • • • The interdict and excommunication did not affect John as greatly as was once thought. There were indeed murmurs of rebellion in Ireland and Nottingham but John was able to put them down. He only faced outright defiance from one individual, the hermit Peter of Wakefield and he was put to death. John lost the standoff in 1212 when the Papacy threatened its ultimate weapon – a letter of deposition ordering Philippe Augustus to depose John and requiring John’s nobility to support him. On William Marshal’s advice John submitted to the papal demands to acknowledge Langton, allow his bishops to be reinstated, to pay a fine of 100,000 marks and indeed went further. When he met Legate Pandulf at Dover on Ascension Day 2013 he offered an oath of fealty to the Pope for England which he received as an enfeoffment on payment of 1,000 marks annually. Innocent immediately called off the intended French invasion and vigorously supported both the reigns of John and his son Henry III. Ironically within two years Langton had been suspended by the Pope. • • • • • British wars 1209-1212 Despite his homage to John, William the lion of Scotland still agitated for possession of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland. Accordingly in 1209 John resolved to confront a now aging William. William backed down, renewed his homage and and allowed his son and heir Alexander and two daughters to become John’s hostages. In return John ensured the peaceful succession of Alexander II in 1214 and prevented an Irish backed pretender from invading. In 1210 John faced defiance from the Norman Lords of western Ireland including the usually faithful William Marshall. Marshall was defeated and gave up two sons as surety for good behaviour. William de Braose was more problematic because John refused to pardon the family for an unknown reason, instead a large Angevin army landed in Ireland in June 1210 and systematically deprived de Braose and his allies of their castles. This plus the building of a new royal castle in Dublin marked the formal submission of semi-independent Ireland to the Angevin crown, a major achievement on John’s part. John undid much of his success by his malicious conduct towards the de Braose family. His wife Matilda and eldest son were imprisoned in Windsor castle where they died, possibly starved to death on John’s orders. William de Braose died a heartbroken exile. This treatment was intended to terrify the barons, in fact it incensed them. John did similarly well in Wales in 1210. Here the normally divided princes had been unified under Llewellyn of Gwynedd ‘the Great’, fearing this power John invaded and trapped Llewellyn in the high ground around Carmarthenshire in 1212. Only the rebellion of the English barons saved him as John was obliged to withdraw. • French wars renewed 1213-14 Both John and Philippe Augustus were spoiling for war in 1213, the former for revenge the latter wanting to invade England. • John attempted to rekindle the encircling alliance of duchies that Richard I had used to restrain France making alliances with both Flanders and Boulogne. Flanders was savagely attacked by the French in July 1212 and in support of his ally John invaded with a huge fleet of 500 ships. John’s forces scored a great victory, surprising and destroying the French fleet at anchor in the Battle of Damme lifting the French siege of Bruges. • John followed this up with an alliance with Holy Roman emperor Otto IV and intended to march inland in the direction of Poitou. • However in his moment of victory the English barons’ patience snapped and they refused either to send troops or pay further scutage. Why did John fall out with the English barons? • • • • As previously mentioned, John’s unprecedented savagery to the de Braose family, one of the oldest Norman dynasties; made the other nobles feel threatened. John was something of a micromanager – her travelled more extensively around his realm than any other monarch. He presided over his father’s efficient and reformist Chancery system of government and he had a particular concern for justice, in many cases acting as a judge himself. This had the effect of bringing him into direct conflict with the nobility who resented the fines he exacted and praecipe writs (formal orders such as arrest warrants). John also levied large and regular taxes; in many ways circumstances meant he had no choice; particularly scutage ‘shield tax’ – a cash payment in return for the abrogation of armed service. Henry II levied only eight scutages in 35 years, Richard two in 9 years – John levied 11 in 15 years. They were also higher than his predecessors owing to 300% inflation in the preceding 50 years. Other additional taxes included tallages on royally controlled manors, property taxes known as ‘gracious aids’ and in both 1203 and 1207 a tax on moveable goods and revenues. Finally in 1212 he instituted an inquiry into how much land was held by the Crown, which his noble subjects interpreted as an attempt to resume control over alienated land. Had this vast revenue bought victory the noble sense of grievance would have been lessened; indeed the ransoms and spoil of victory might have made the war pay for itself; but his war record was at best one of costly stalemate. As a result resentment grew. Ironically it was only after he finally achieved victory at Damme in 1213 that resentment actually turned to defiance. • • • • The Bouvines Campaign 1214 John met his barons at Oxford and the impasse was resolved – some sort of compromise agreement was reached, possibly in the form of a charter limited terms of service and payment of scutage, a proto-Magna Carta. But he realised that he could no longer compel them to serve him in France; many of them had a conflict of interest as vassals of Philippe Augustus in any case; and thus his army was largely mercenary. Despite this John enjoyed relative success. As part of a two-pronged campaign with his ally Otto IV John raided former Angevin territory in Poitou, Anjou and Brittany bringing renewed oaths of fealty from local lords including the rebellions Lusignans and occupying much of Poitou. However he was stalled at the siege of Roiche-au-Moine castle. This enabled Philippe Augustus to transfer all his field army eastwards to confront Otto IV. Otto and Philippe met at the Battle of Bouvines. Here a composite Flemish, German and English army was defeated and destroyed effectively bringing the war to an end. John concluded a relatively honourable truce negotiated by the Papacy who wanted to organise a fresh crusade. The indirect effect of Bouvines on John was catastrophic. He attempted to raise funds for another war by payment of scutage from all the tenants in chief who had refused to fight in France. This plus the appointment of abrasive Frenchman Peter des Roches as Justiciar pushed the barons into outright rebellion. • • • • • • Baronial Rebellion 1214-15 Led by a faction of northern nobles who felt particularly resentful over scutage, many English nobles simply refused to pay it. John attempted to resolve the situation in London in January 1215 by meeting the ringleaders. They demanded the affirmation of Henry I’s coronation charter and Edward the Confessor’s laws; an early use of precedent to reinforce their case; but John prevaricated. He was waiting for his suzerain Innocent III’s response. Innocent, keen to start a new crusade, demanded that the barons pay scutage in April 1215. They did not and instead began arming themselves for war. Anxious to prevent this, John agreed to a meeting at Wallingford in April. Here his emissaries and those of the rebels conferred, when the latter learned John would not agree to their demands they renounced their fealty and defied him openly, occupying Bedford in a gesture of defiance. By May the country was in a state of civil war. Lacking clear boundaries, the war initially seemed to be going in John’s favour until the rebels captured and looted London on 17 May. A stand-off emerged, the rebels in positions of strength in London, the south west and the midlands, but John threatened them from Windsor with a growing army of mercenaries plus the promise of papal support. Runnymede and Magna Carta • • • • The Great Charter ‘Magna Carta’ was the result of negotiation by William Marshal and Stephen Langton between the two sides who met at the neutral ground of Runnymede meadow on 15 June 1215. The Magna Carta was extremely ambitious in conception – binding not only the king but tenants-inchief to treat their vassals fairly, establishing a counsel of 25 barons who could vet all future royal demands for taxation and there was to be no arbitrary imprisonment without trial. Crucially if John failed to keep to its principles, the barons reserved the right of rebellion and would confiscate John's castles and wealth until he desisted. The Magna Carta was also publicised on an unprecedented scale – on John’s instructions copies were sent to every shire. Key Clauses • 1 – The English Church is to be free – origin of freedom of religion • 7-8 – Widows allowed to retain their dowry on the death of their husband and not forced to remarry – the first ever declaration of women’s rights. • 13- The right of self government of London and other incorporated towns and cities is upheld. • 39 – No imprisonment without trial ‘by the lawful judgement of his peers’ - the origin of juries. • 61- A council of 25 barons established to scrutinise royal government – the ancestor of Parliament. Short term – marginal significance? • • • John appeared sincere in the weeks after Magna Carta, even instructing his sheriffs to swear fealty to the Barons’ Council. However an extreme baronial faction led by Geoffrey de Mandeville wanted further concessions including control of the Tower of London. This plus the refusal of the barons to leave London gave John the pretext he needed to renounce Magna Carta with the support of his suzerain Innocent annulled Magna Carta in September just three months after its creation. The objurate barons were threatened with excommunication and a new field army was formed. A brief and brutal siege of Rochester castle in autumn 1215 brought the surrender of most rebels. De Mandeville and his clique fled to France and offered the English throne to Philippe's son Louis. In the ensuing First Barons’ War Magna Carta was largely forgotten. Long term: the foundation of liberty? • • • More than its provisions, what made Magna Carta unique was its universality – its provisions covered everyone in England and it laid down for the first time formal limits to the power of monarchy. Crucially Henry III reissued Magna Carta in 1225 and during his long reign it was ingrained as the foundation of English law. Part of it is still in force today. It thus set a precedent for universally applied law and representative government – the bedrock of the modern state. Although not immediately apparent, these sentiments would mark the end of the arbitrary, strictly divided world of the Norman and Angevin kings. In the future England would become increasingly homogenous, the divide between Norman and Englishman would lessen then evaporate in the 14th century, national spirit would revive and the notion of representative government would steadily grow in importance until it assumed pre-eminence over monarchy at the end of the 17th century. Epitaph – John’s last year • • • • • In May 1216 John was under tremendous pressure – a French invasion fleet had landed in England; the first and only time since 1066; Alexander II of Scotland had invaded northern England and two thirds of barons deserted and did homage to Louis. As a result Louis was able to occupy London in June. John was leading a successful counteroffensive in October when he was struck by two final disasters – his treasure was lost in the Wash and he contracted fatal dysentery, dying on 19 October 1216. A government headed by the aging William Marshal expelled Louis and ensured the succession of John’s young son Henry III. Although not without its troubles, Henry III’s reign saw a restoration of stability and prosperity in England and her surviving province of Gascony. Meanwhile Philippe Augustus cemented control of what would become modern France. John’s successors would fight the longest war in history in the 14th and 15th centuries in a doomed bid to get it back.