Lecture 4

The Great Charter and late middle ages

 First Norman king of England, 1066-1087

 Ended Anglo-Saxon rule by defeating King Harold Godwinson at Battle of Hastings, 1066

Effects of Norman conquest

 William ruled autocratically – brought church & barons under his personal control

 Replaced English bishops with Normans

 Anglo-Saxon aristocracy had been replaced by Norman

 Built castles throughout England to control hostile population (He ensured that there
were obvious signs of his power. He was a foreigner who had forced his way to London.
He was not popular with the people of England and he had to use force to maintain his
control on England.)

 Distributed land to reward his followers (William could not rule every part of the
country himself – this was physically impossible. William divided up England into very
large plots of land. These were ‘given’ to those noblemen who had fought bravely for
him in battle. The land was not simply given to these nobles. They had to swear an oath
of loyalty to William, they had to collect taxes in their area for him and they had to
provide the king with soldiers if they were told to do so. )

 Beginnings of English Feudalism

 William had no permanent residence

 He travelled around England to survey his domain and demonstrate his power

 He held court & a major festival 3 times a year in 3 different towns (Christmas, Easter
and Whitsun)

 Normans were a foreign army of occupation

 They built many castles to protect themselves and control the population

 King William ordered a survey of land & property in England in 1085

 He used it to set taxes & divide large estates among his followers
Normans and Anglo-Saxons

 Anglo-Saxon nobility was mostly killed or fled

 Anglo-Saxon commoners mostly became serfs

 Normans Kept their own language & many of their customs

 3 languages in England: French (spoken by nobility), Old English/Anglo-Saxon

(commoners), Latin (scholars & church)

 First there was Some oppression of Anglo-Saxons, then they intermingling

 Normans & Anglo-Saxons gradually became united people

William II

 William the Conqueror was succeeded by 3 sons (After he died in 1087 he left
Normandy to his oldest son Robert, England to his second son William (known as
William Rufus or William II, and all his money he left to his son Henry, who later became
known as Henty I)

 William II was illiterate, brutal, & an excellent warrior & hunter

 His nobles revolted in 1088 (The division of William the Conqueror's lands into two parts
presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the English
Channel. Since the younger William and his brother Robert were natural rivals, these
nobles worried that they could not hope to please both of their lords, and thus ran the
risk of losing the favour of one ruler or the other, or both.[11] The only solution, as they
saw it, was to unite England and Normandy once more under one ruler. The pursuit of
this aim led them to revolt against William in favour of Robert in the Rebellion of 1088,
under the leadership of the powerful Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was a half-brother of
William the Conqueror.[12] As Robert failed to appear in England to rally his supporters,
William won the support of the English with silver and promises of better government,
and defeated the rebellion, thus securing his authority) & he invaded Scotland in 1097

 Killed by an arrow while hunting (Unfortunately for him, he was killed in a hunting
accident when he was only in his 40s. Although theories still circulate that he was
murdered by his younger brother, who followed him to the throne as Henry I)

Henry I

 Youngest son of William the Conqueror

 Suppressed serious revolt of barons, then ruled land in peace for over 30 years

 Helped unite Saxons & Normans

 Wise & just ruler

 On William's death in 1087 Henry was left landless. He purchased the County in
western Normandy. He gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied
himself with William against Robert.
 After the death of William II, Henry seized the English throne, promising to correct
many of William's less popular policies. He married Matilda of Scotland and they had
two children, William and Matilda. Robert invaded England in 1101, disputed Henry's
control of England; this military campaign ended in a negotiated settlement that
confirmed Henry as king. The peace was short-lived, and Henry invaded the Duchy of
Normandy in 1105 and 1106, finally defeating Robert. Henry kept Robert imprisoned for
the rest of his life.
 Henry was a harsh but effective ruler and he skillfully manipulated the barons in
England and Normandy. In England, he strengthened the existing Anglo-Saxon system of
justice, local government and taxation. Henry encouraged church reform. He selected
the senior clergy in England and Normandy.
 He declared his daughter Matilda his heir and married her to Geoffrey Plantagenet (of
Anjou). Despite his plans for Matilda, the King was succeeded by his nephew, Stephen of
Blois, resulting in a period of civil war known as the Anarchy.

Empress Matilda (Maud)

 Daughter of Henry I

 Henry wanted her to succeed him

 Nephew Stephen took throne instead

 Maud’s attempt to seize throne led to civil war

 Matilda was nominated by her father as the heir to the throne of England, but in 1135
Stephen of Blois claimed that his uncle had changed his mind on his deathbed,
recognizing Stephen instead as his successor to the throne. The English nobles backed
this claim.
 Stephen did not have the ruthless temperament required to control the chaos as civil
war broke out when Matilda tried to regain the throne. This period of civil war became
known as ‘The Anarchy’ and lasted for 19 years.
 But Stephen was more popular than Matilda, as she was viewed by most of the people
as a foreigner
 After several battles between Stephens’s and Matilda’s troops in 1153 Stephen agreed
to the Treaty of Westminster with Matilda’s son Henry of Anjou. This stated that
Stephen should remain king for life (in the event this was less than one more year) and
then Henry should succeed him.
 Upon Stephen’s death in 1154, Henry was crowned King Henry II, the first of the
Plantagenet line of kings.

 Stephen’s reign full of strife – called “the Anarchy”

  Stephen & Maud both gave away land & titles to buy support

 Stephen finally forced to recognize son of Maud as his successor

Henry II

 Grandson of Henry I & son of Maud (Matilda)

 Father was Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

 Henry II founded Plantagenet Dynasty

 Henry & successors sometimes called Angevins (from Anjou, France)

 Married Eleanor of Aquitaine, most famous woman of the age

Henry II was the first king of the House of Plantagenet. By his marriage to a French princess
he got the western half of France.

 Continued grandfather’s policy of limiting power of nobles & centralizing his power

To help him rule the large kingdom he strengthened the Great Council. The chief member
was called the Chancellor and was in charge in the administrative and judicial system. The
present day Lord Chancellor is his successor.

 Made Anglo-Saxon common law supreme law of land – based on precedent decisions of
circuit courts

He divided country into 6 circuits, and appointed judges for these circuits. There was no
written law to tell judges how to deal with each case , the judges had to make decisions by
relying on social customs. But the decision, that was made by the circuit court, that was
established by Henry II, was regarded as precedent which other courts had to follow when
dealing with similar offence. These court decisions became the basis of English “Common
law”.

 Introduced jury system to replace trial by ordeal or battle

The circuit court led to the founding of the jury system. The juries were persons from local
freemen. The jury system replaced primitive English trials – trials by ordeals.

 Tried to force Roman Catholic Church to submit to his authority

In 1164 he introduced a Constitution of Clarendon - code of 16 rules designed to increase the

king's influence over the bishops and the Church courts. Henry demanded that, if the Church
court found a cleric guilty, they had to hand him over to the king's court to be punished
properly. He felt the appointment of Becket as Archbishop assured him of his aim. But the
appointment of his friend and crony Thomas Becket was Henry’s biggest mistake. Thomas
Becket betrayed Henry II. Becket refused to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon. Becket was
found guilty of treason. Becket even excommunicated three bishops who supported Henry. In
rage, Henry is said to have shouted: Who shall rid me of this troublesome priest? Four knights
heard this and murdered Becket at the altar of the Cathedral in 1170. Shortly afterwards the
Pope, for ever ready in case he could do Britain some damage, made Becket a saint.
Immediately, people began to say that miracles had happened at Becket's tomb. Pilgrims would
come to Becket’s tomb from all over country. Henry had to give up on the Constitutions of
Clarendon. He had failed to reduce the power of the Church.

In those days lived a famous English writer and poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Widely considered the
greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer
has been styled the "Father of English literature". Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were written
about a group of pilgrims on their way to the temple of St Thomas at Canterbury.

Sons of Henry II

 In his later years, Henry’s sons often rebelled against him

 Two of them became the next 2 kings (John and Richard)

 Statue of King Richard I, the “Lion-Hearted” - Outside the Houses of Parliament there
stands a statue of Richard I seated on his horse as testimony that he was one of
England’s bravest and greatest kings

Richard I, 1189-1199, spent most of his reign overseas

By the age of 16, Richard had his own army. He earned the title ‘Coeur-de-Lion’ or ‘Lion Heart’
as he was a brave soldier, a great crusader, and won many battles against Saladin, the leader of
the Saracens who were occupying Jerusalem at that time. Richard and his brothers campaigned
against their father in France. King Henry was defeated in battle and surrendered to Richard,
and so on the July 5th 1189, Richard became King of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of
Anjou.. Richard was a central Christian commander during the Third Crusade, leading the
campaign and achieving considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, Richard
led crusade to capture Jerusalem, although he did not retake Jerusalem from Saladin.
Kidnapped by Austrian duke on way home from crusade. He was Held as prisoner & released
for ransom. He Fought war with France & killed during siege of a French castle, 1199. King
Richard died at the age of 41 from this wound. The throne passed to his brother John.

King John

 Became king on death of brother Richard I in 1199

 Tyrannical & greedy – generally viewed as one of England’s worst kings

He had a bad reputation for his treachery and misbehavior. He greedily collected money for
himself.
  Lost nearly all of England’s holdings in France in 1205

By 1206, John had lost Normandy and other parts of France that belonged to England. These
failures damaged his prestige and he was determined to win them back. This required money,
so increased taxes and he began to exploit his feudal rights ever more harshly.

This increased baronial discontent. Negotiations between John and his barons failed and civil
war broke out in May 1215. John was compelled to negotiate and, on 19 June 1215 he accepted
the baronial terms embodied in the Magna Carta, which limited royal power, ensured feudal
rights and restated English law. It was the first formal document stating that the monarch was
as much under the rule of law as his people, and that the rights of individuals were to be upheld
even against the wishes of the sovereign.

Magna Carta

 1. King observes rights of barons; barons observe rights of their vassals

 2. No taxes without consent of Great Council; farmers & merchants protected from too
harsh fines

 3. Right to jury trial (no free man shall be imprisoned or punished unless convicted by a
jury )

 4. Merchants can move freely

 Protects only freemen (12% of population) (Though the Great Charter protected only
freemen who made up only 12% of population, it was still a turning point in the
development of English history)

 Later extended to serfs

 Social order now regulated by law – begins to end feudal despotism

Legend of Robin Hood dates to reign of King John

Robin Hood is a legendary heroic criminal. Robin Hood and his “Merry Men” lived in Sherwood
forest. Merry men were other outlaws who followed Robin Hood.
According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer. He is said to have robbed from the rich and
given to the poor. Perhaps the legend reflects the oppression of the Anglo-Saxons at the hands
of the Normans. Like the King Arthur story, there is a parallel in Chinese literature – Song Jiang.
Water Margin (also known as Outlaws of the Marsh or All Men Are Brothers) is a bandit roman
story developed from folktales about the real life rebel Song Jiang who led a peasant uprising in
the early twelfth century. These Chinese bandits have much in common with Robin Hood and
his Merry Men. Just like Hollywood and BBC keep remaking Robin Hood tales, people of
Chinese cultural sphere keep retelling the adventures of Song Jiang and his 108 bandits.
King Henry III
After the death of Henty II his nine-year-old son was put on the throne as Henry III. But he
didn’t rule until 1227. Fickle tyrant who surrounded himself with foreign influences.
 Taxed & robbed the people – he planned to regain the land lost by his father, for this
purpose he needed money, so increased taxes. But this was against the Magna Carta.
 Obeyed Pope – he showed too much obedience to the Pope and this hurt the national
feeling of many English people who preferred to be independent in the religious affairs.
 Foolish policies alienated him from the most number of people

Simon de Montfort
He was a nobleman of French origin and a king’s brother in law, he was the defender of Magna
Carta, and led the baronial rebellion against the rule of King Henry III. He became de facto ruler
of the country, and played a major role in the constitutional development of England. He
reformed the Great Council. Now each town had to send two representatives to the Great
Council.
 In 1265 he held the first English parliament
 Invited commoners for first time, the commons participated in the debated but were
despised and laughed at because of their low status. They got unhappy about it and
started to meet in a separate chamber, which gradually became known as the House of
Commons.
 House of Lords most important at first, but the importance of the House of Commons
gradually increased.
 It could offer Advice & present petitions to the king at first
 Major step in evolution of parliamentary government
King Edward I
Henry was succeeded by his son Edward I. Under his rule England conquered Wales. The
Statute of Wales places Wales under English law and Edward I gave his son the title Prince of
Wales, a title held by the heir to the throne ever since.
 Built many castles along Welsh border
 Devoted most of his reign to conquering Scotland
England in the Late middle ages
King Edward II
 Son of Edward I
 Incompetent ruler
 In 1314 he invaded Scotland only to decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at
Bannockburn, Loss at Bannockburn guaranteed Scottish independence
 Forced by Parliament to abdicate (quit, resign), 1327
 Brutally murdered shortly afterward in prison
King Edward III

 Son of Edward II

 Claimed throne of France, 1337

 Landed army in Normandy to begin Hundred Years’ War

Hundred years’ war

 English loss of Normandy by King John in 1204 was the basic cause of war, because the
English nobility was eager to get that territory back

 Edward III suspected that France had been giving aid to the Scots in their opposition to
England

 The war was directly caused by the dispute over the succession to the French throne.
Edward III, after the death of the French king, claimed that he should succeed, but
French nobles denied. In 1337 Edward III landed in Normandy with the English army.
The war broke out.

 War lasted during reigns of 5 English & 5 French kings

 During the initial stage of war the English won great victories

Edward, the Black Prince

 Son of King Edward III

 Father of King Richard II

Edward earned distinction as one of the most successful English commanders during
the Hundred Years' War, being regarded by his contemporaries as a model of chivalry and one
of the greatest knights of his age.

 Wore black armor

 Commanded wing of army at Crecy at age 16

 Defeated French army at Poitiers & captured French king

Battle of Crecy, 1346

 France had 3 times the wealth, supplies, & manpower of English

 French knights sought glory rather than good battle plan

 English fought mainly with archers & infantry

  Great English victory

In the fighting, the superiority of the English longbow was demonstrated as Edward's archers
killed many of the French nobility. At the battle, Philip lost around 13,000-14,000 men, while
Edward suffered only 100-300. Among those who proved themselves at Crécy was the Black
Prince who became one of his father's most trusted field commanders.

Battle of Poitiers, 1356, great English victory, French king captured

On September 19, 1356, the Black Prince won a dramatic victory at the Battle Poitiers and
captured King John II of France, who died in captivity in 1364.

Black Death (Bubonic Plague)

During the Hundred Years’ war England was struck by another disaster, the deadly bubonic
plague. The epidemic, called the Black Death, added to the horrors of the war. It started in Italy
and soon spread to other parts of Europe.

 Called “Pestilence” or “Great Mortality”

 1348-1349 in England
 Both bubonic & pneumonic types made plague much worse
 Wiped out a third to half the population (population fell from 4 mln to 2 mln people)
 Seen as Wrath [roth] (anger) of God
 2 or 3 more plagues by end of century

Black Death

 Deaths from plague created labor shortage

 Surviving peasants had better bargaining power, so they demanded better wages &
working conditions

 Government refused to help peasants so English could preserve serfdom

 Led to widespread peasant unrest

Richard II

 Son of Edward, the Black Prince

 King at age 10

 John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster) real ruler at first

  In 1381 the government imposed a new tax on peasants to fund the Hundred Years’
War, this led to peasant rebellion

Peasants’ Revolt, 1381

 Peasants angry at forced labor & heavy taxes

 New tax led to revolt

 Blacksmith Wat Tyler led protest movement

 Tyler led 100,000 peasants who marched on London & demanded to see king

 Riots & violence broke out all over England

 14-year old king faced mob alone (royal advisors had deserted him), but he decided to
play a trick on the protesters

 King listened to peasants’ demands

 Peasants demanded to end the serfdom, low rents on land, & the end of oppressive
labor laws

 King pretended to agree to their demands

 Most peasants went home

 But Wat Tyler remained with 30,000 supporters to make further demands

On June 15 King Richard II met the rebels again but the mayor of London killed Wat Tyler during
the negotiations. The King sent troops to kill those who refused to leave.

End of Peasant’s Revolt

 King ignored his earlier promises

 Ruling class continued to oppress peasants

 Though the uprising failed, serfdom slowly begins to die out after revolt, peasants
didn’t have to pay poll tax

 Labor shortage from Black Death & peasant revolt weakens feudalism

 New class of yeoman (free) farmers begins to emerge, paving the way for the
development of capitalism.

King Henry V

 Eldest son of Henry IV

  Very popular warrior king

 Deeply religious (Catholic)

 Renewed Hundred Years’ War with France in 1415. He was recognized to the French
throne in 1420.

Changing warfare

 Early English victories were won by archers & foot soldiers with long pikes

 Hundred Years’ War led to evolution of artillery

 Gunpowder changes nature of warfare

It’s said that gunpowder and guns were first used in this war. The effectiveness of English
cavalry with bows and arrows was reduced. Besides, many French peasants joined in the war
under the leadership of Joan of Arch. English troops began to lose ground until they were
driven out of France. The war ended in1453 in defeat of Anglo-Normans.

King Henry VI, 1422-1461

 Last English king of House of Lancaster

 King of both England & France when he was 1 year old

 Deeply religious & gentle ruler, but weak, with attacks of insanity

Joan of Arc

 French peasant girl who claimed saints spoke to her

 Led French army to rescue Orleans from English, 1429

 Escorted French king to coronation at Reims Cathedral

 National heroine

 Captured by Burgundians & turned over to English

 Convicted of witchcraft & burned at the stake

 Her death inspired French peasants to victory

 But English army already exhausted & country nearly bankrupt

Results of War

 English kings lost nearly all their French territory

 English kings now free to focus on England

  English language now spoken by all classes in England, the separation of the two states
helped to develop separate English and French identities, English language was
reestablished as the official language and French language was no longer used in daily
life.

 England exhausted, bankrupt

 The ending of the war also sped up the declining of feudalism

Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485

Two years after the ending of the Hundred Years’ War, England was thrown into a series of civil
wars, known as the Wars of Roses.

 English nobles took advantage of weakness of Henry VI & misgoverned England in their
own selfish interests

 Popular uprising in 1450 further divided & weakened England

 2 rival branches of Plantagenet family:

The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England
between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster,
both members of the age-old royal Plantagenet family. Waged between 1455 and 1485,
the Wars of the Roses earned its flowery name because the white rose was the badge of
the Yorks, and the red rose was the badge of the Lancastrians. After 30 years of political
manipulation and brief periods of peace, the wars ended and a new royal dynasty
emerged.

 Wars mostly between “rival gangs of nobles”

 Common people largely indifferent

 Reduced noble class through death in war & executions

 Helped feudalism to die

 Strengthened central government & power of king

King Richard III, 1483-1485

 Brother of Edward IV

 Last Plantagenet king

 Reign brought on revolt that ended Wars of the Roses

 Governed well, but people tired of too much war

  Lancastrian nobles plotted against him

The Wars of Roses lasted 30 years and ended in 1485 when Richard III, the last Yorkist king, was
defeated at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 by Henry Tudor founder of the house of Tudor.

House of Tudor

 Henry Tudor became King Henry VII*

 Descended from House of Lancaster

 Married daughter of Edward IV, uniting Houses of Lancaster & York

 Tudor family replaced Plantagenet family

 Tudors rule England next 118 years

End of the Middle Ages

 Many historians consider end of Wars of Roses as the end of Middle Ages & beginning of
modern world history in England

 But Henry VII changed very little

 His son Henry VIII also changed very little during his first 20 years as king

 Both Henrys strengthened the power of the king

 But the Medieval Roman Catholic church still dominated religious beliefs

 Middle Ages really didn’t end until the Renaissance & especially the Protestant
Reformation

 This will take place in England mostly in the 1530s