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[edit] Introduction

Welcome to the Wikijunior book on Kings and Queens of England.

In this book we start by looking at the very first Anglo-Saxon Kings of England. We then move on to show how the Crown changed hands many times as a result of conquest. We see some powerful kings and some weak ones. We see how the Crown has battled Parliament. We look at the period where power finally did transfer to Parliament through to the times of our current queen, Elizabeth II. At the end we also look at who the next kings of England may be.

We will find out about eleven Kings called Edward and nine called Henry. We will find out about a nine-day queen and a King Philip, who most people have now forgotten about. But first let's start way back in 871 with the Anglo-Saxons and the only king of England to be called "Great", Alfred.

[edit] The Anglo-Saxons (871-1016)

The first Kings of England were Anglo-Saxons. Before them, England was divided into a number of different kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons united a number of these to form something like the country we know today, although Cornwall and the North were not controlled by them, and later the Danes controlled much of the east coast. Anglo-Saxon rule of England went on for around 140 years, before being challenged by a series of Danish kings. The first Anglo-Saxon king we look at is Alfred.

[edit] Alfred the Great (871-899)

Alfred the Great was born between the year 847 and 849 in Wantage in what is now Oxfordshire. He died on 26 October 899. Alfred was the fourth son of King Ethelwulf of Wessex and became king of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in 871, when his brother Ethelred I died. Alfred is famous for his defence of the kingdom against the Danes, who were also known as the Vikings. He is the only English monarch to be known as "the Great". He was the first King of Wessex to call himself "King of England". Alfred was an educated man who encouraged education and improved the kingdom's law system.

[edit] Public life

Nothing is known about what Alfred did during the short reigns of his two eldest brothers, but when his third brother, Ethelred, became king in 866, Alfred became active in public life. In particular, he worked hard to free England from the influence of the Danes, and Alfred became appointed as Ethrelred's successor.

In 868 Alfred tried unsuccessfully to relieve the middle England kingdom of Mercia from Danish influence. For nearly two years after that, though, the Danes did not attack Alfred's native Wessex. At the end of 870 this changed, and this period became known as "Alfred's year of battles". Wessex fought nine battles in 870 and 871, some of which were won, some lost. In April 871 Ethelred died, and Alfred became king. The Danes then defeated the English in a battle, whilst Alfred was away burying his brother, the old king. The English were then beaten again under Alfred's command in May.

After that Alfred agreed a peace, and for the next five years the Danes were busy in other parts of England. But in 876, the Danes, under a new leader, Guthrum, attacked Wareham and then went on to Exeter. Here Alfred blockaded them, and after the Danes lost many ships in a storm, the Danes retreated to Mercia. Then in January 878 they suddenly attacked Chippenham, where Alfred was. Alfred himself then retreated to Athelney in Somerset.

There is a story that whilst he was hiding in the marshes of Athelney, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who didn't recognise who he was. She left him to watch some cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the problems of the kingdom, Alfred let the cakes burn, and the peasant woman complained when she returned. When she realised who Alfred was, she apologised, but Alfred insisted that he was the one who had to apologise.

In the middle of May, Alfred and the Danes met at the Battle of Edington in Wiltshire, which Alfred won. England became split into two, the far south-western parts being controlled by the Saxons under King Alfred, and the rest of England, including London, being controlled by the Danes. This part became known as the Danelaw. By 879, the Danes had been forced out of Wessex and much of Mercia. For the next few years there was peace, partly because the Danes were being kept busy in Europe. Then, after a Danish uprising in East Anglia, which Alfred put down, he went on to take London in 885 or 886. Then in 892 or 893 the Danes attacked England again, but were ultimately repelled in 896 or 897, with only those Danes with connections to England remaining in East Anglia and Northumberland.

[edit] Marriage and children

In 868 Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of Aethelred Mucill, who was ealdorman of the Gaini, a people who lived in Lincolnshire around the town of Gainsborough. She was the granddaughter of a former King of Mercia, and they had five or six children, one of whom was Ethelfleda, who was later queen of Mercia in her own right.

[edit] Death and legacy

After the Danes retreated, Alfred turned his attention to the royal navy, and ships were built according to the king's own designs. This is not, as some say, the beginning of the English navy, although both the Royal Navy and the United States Navy claim Alfred as the founder of their traditions. Alfred most probably died in 899, though the year is not certain. How he died is unknown. He was originally buried in the Old Minster, then moved to the New Minster, and then moved to Hyde Abbey in the year 1110.

[edit] Edward the Elder (899-924)

Edward the Elder was the king of England after Alfred. He reigned from 899 to his death in 924. Edward the Elder was Alfred's son.

Edward was born between 868 and 877. He married Ecgwynn around 893, and they had a son Athelstan and a daughter who married Sihtric, the Danish King of York. However, Ecgwynn's status was not royal enough, and so, when Edward became king in 899, he set Ecgwynn aside and married Elflaed, a daughter of the ealdorman of Wiltshire. Their son was the future king Ethelweard. They had six daughters and possibly a son, Eadwine, who was drowned in 933. Two daughters became nuns and the rest married quite well. Eadgifu married Charles III, "The Simple", who was King of France. Eadhild married Hugh "The Great", Duke of Paris. Eadgyth married the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I. Aelfgifu was a wife of Conrad, King of Burgundy.

Edward was married for a third time, in about 919, to Eadgifu, the daughter of the ealdorman of Kent. They had three sons and two daughters. In total Edward had about fifteen children from his three marriages, and he may have had an illegitimate child too.

As king, Edward spent his early reign fighting his cousin Aethelwald, son of Ethelred I. He also got rid of the Danelaw. He died in 924 and was buried at Winchester.

[edit] Ethelweard (924)

Ethelweard was born in Wessex around the year 904. He did not have a long reign. According to one version of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, Ethelweard was appointed king on 17 July 924 after the death of his father, Edward the Elder. He died sixteen days later on 2 August 924. Some claim that he was killed on the orders of his half-brother Athelstan, who became the next king. Ethelweard never married. He was buried at Winchester.

[edit] Athelstan (924-939)

Athelstan was born around the year 895 and became King, first of Mercia, in 924 and then of Wessex in 925. He was the son of King Edward the Elder. Political alliances were high on Athelstan's agenda. A year after becoming king, he had a sister married to Sihtric, the Viking King of York. Sihtric died a year later, and Athelstan took the chance to capture Northumbria. This was a bold move, and made him the king of a larger territory than any Anglo-Saxon king before him, roughly equivalent to modern England, except for Cornwall. The rulers of the territories neighbouring Athelstan's then appear to have submitted to him at Bamburgh. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle noted that these included " Hywel, King of the West Welsh [that is, the Cornish], and Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owain, King of the people of Gwent, and Ealdred...of Bamburgh". Owain, King of Strathclyde, may well also have been present. Similar events are recorded along the western parts of Athelstan's domain. Because his realm covered most of modern-day England, except for Cornwall, Athelstan is generally regarded as the first king of England. He achieved considerable military successes over his rivals, including the Vikings, and extended his rule to parts of Wales and Cornwall. Although he established many alliances through his family, Athelstan never married and had no children of his own. He fostered Hakon, who later became known as Hakon the Good, King of Norway. Athelstan was religious and gave generously to the Church. When he died in 939 at Gloucester he was buried at Malmesbury Abbey rather than with his family at Winchester. He was succeeded by his younger half-brother, King Edmund I.

[edit] Edmund the Magnificent (939-946)

Edmund I, other wise known as Edmund the Magnificent or Edmund the Deed-Doer, was born in 921 in Wessex. He was a son of Edward the Elder and half-brother of Athelstan, and succeeded to the throne when Athelstan died on 27 October 939.

Shortly after his proclamation as king he had to face several military threats. King Olaf I [of Dublin] conquered Northumbria and invaded the Midlands. However, when Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the Midlands, and he reconquered Northumberland in 944. In 945 Edmund conquered Strathclyde in Scotland, but gave up his rights to territory to King Malcolm I of Scotland in exchange for a treaty of mutual military support. This ensured that the northern borders were safe. Edmund's reign also saw a revival of monasteries in England.

Edmund was murdered on 26 May 946 by Leofa, an exiled thief. He had been having a party in Pucklechurch, when he spotted Leofa in the crowd. When Leofa refused to leave, the king and his advisors fought Leofa. Both Edmund and Leofa were killed. He was buried at Glastonbury. Edmund was succeeded as king by his brother Edred. Later, two of Edmund's sons became kings of England – Edwy and Edgar – who you can read about below.

[edit] Edred (946-955)

King Edred or Eadred was born in Wessex around the year 923 and became King of England in 946. He was a son of King Edward the Elder. Like both of his older brothers, Edred enjoyed military success over the Vikings. He was a religious man, but his health was poor and he could barely eat his food. He died on 23 November 955 at Frome in Somerset, and was buried at Winchester Cathedral. He never married, and was succeeded by his nephew, Edwy.

[edit] Edwy the Fair (955-959)

Edwy All-Fair or Eadwig was born in Wessex around the year 941 and became King of England in 955 when the nobility chose him to succeed his uncle, King Edred. Edwy was the eldest son of King Edmund I. His short reign was marked by disputes with his family, the Thanes, who were the king's retainers, and the Roman Catholic Church. Frustrated by the king's impositions, and supported by Odo, the Archibishop of Canterbury, the Thanes of Mercia and Northumbria switched their allegiance to Edwy's brother Edgar in 957. Edwy was defeated in battle at Gloucester, but rather than see the country descend into civil war, an agreement was reached among the nobles by which the kingdom would be divided along the Thanes, with Edwy keeping Wessex and Kent in the south and Edgar ruling in the north. In the few remaining years of his reign, Edwy was a better king and made significant gifts to the Church. He died, however, at the age of 18 or 19 on 1 October 959. He was married to Elgiva, but the marriage was annulled. Edwy was succeeded by his brother and rival, Edgar, who reunited the kingdom. He was buried at Winchester Cathedral.

[edit] Edgar the Peaceable (959-975)

King Edgar was born around the year 942 in Wessex. He was the younger son of King Edmund I. Because of his peaceful reign Edgar is known as "the Peaceable". He was a stronger king than his elder brother, Edwy, from whom he took the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia in 958. Edgar was named as King of England north of the Thames by a group of Mercian nobles in 958, but officially succeeded when Edwy died in October 959. Edgar was crowned at Bath, but not at the start of his reign. His coronation was in 973, and was planned as the culmination of his reign. The symbolic coronation was an important step, and six other kings of Britain, including the kings of Scotland and of Strathclyde, came and gave their allegiance to Edgar shortly afterwards at Chester. Edgar married twice, first to Ethelfled, and later to Elfrida. He had several children. When he died on 8 July 975 at Winchester he left two sons, both of whom became Kings of England. His eldest son, Edward, by his first wife, succeeded him on his death, and a second son, called Ethelred, by his second wife, succeeded his half brother. Edgar was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. There is some belief that Edgar married his mistress, Wulfryth, in between his other two wives, and that she produced a daughter, Eadgyth, who became the Abbess at Wilton.

[edit] Edward the Martyr (975-978)

King Edward the Martyr was born around the year 962 in Wessex. He succeeded his father Edgar as King of England in 975, but was murdered after a reign of only a few years in 978. As the murder was attributed to "irreligious" opponents, whereas Edward himself was considered a good Christian, he was made a Saint, Saint Edward the Martyr, in 1001. He never married.

Edward's kingship was contested by a group of nobles led by his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who wanted the king to be her infant son, Ethelred, who later became king and is now known as Ethelred the Unready. Edward, however, had more support, and was confirmed king by the council of nobles known as the Witan.

At the time a great famine was raging through the land and violent attacks were stirred up against monasteries by noblemen who were looking to get and keep control of the lands which Edward's father King Edgar had given to them. Many of these monasteries were destroyed, and the monks forced to flee, but the king stood firm with archbishop Dunstan in defence of the Church and the monasteries. Because of this, some of the nobles decided to remove him and replace him with Ethelred.

[edit] Death and legacy

On 18 March 978 the king was hunting with dogs and horsemen near Wareham in Dorset. During this trip the king decided to visit Ethelred who was being brought up in the house of his mother Elfrida at Corfe Castle nearby. King Edward went alone. Whilst still on his horse in the lower part of the castle, his stepmother, Elfrida, offered Edward a glass of mead, and while he was drinking it, he was stabbed in the back by one of the queen's party. Ethelred himself was then only ten years old, so was not involved in the murder. An alternative account claims that Elfrida herself committed the murder.

Immediately following the murder, the body of the murdered king slipped from the saddle of his horse and was dragged with one foot in the stirrup until it fell into a stream at the base of the hill on which Corfe Castle stands. The stream was later found to have healing properties, particularly for the blind. The queen then ordered the body to be hidden in a nearby hut. A woman who was blind from birth lived in the hut. During the night, she suddenly received her sight. The church of St Edward at Corfe Castle now stands on the site of this miracle. At dawn the queen ordered King Edward's burial in a marshy place near Wareham. A year after the murder however, a pillar of fire was seen over the place where the body was hidden, lighting up the whole area. This was seen by some of the inhabitants of Wareham, who raised the body. Immediately a clear spring of healing water sprang up in that place. Accompanied by what was now a huge crowd of mourners, the body was taken to the church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Wareham and buried at the east end of the church. This took place on 13 February 980. Other miracles also became attributed to King Edward.

Edward was officially made a saint by the All-English Council of 1008, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Ethelred ordered that the saint's three feast days should be celebrated throughout England. Shaftesbury Abbey was rededicated to the Mother of God and St Edward. Shaftesbury was renamed "Edwardstowe" only reverting to its original name after the Reformation of the Monastries under the reign of King Henry VIII many centuries later. Many miracles were recorded at the tomb of St Edward including the healing of lepers and the blind.

During the sixteenth century, St. Edward's remains were hidden so as to avoid desecration during the Reformation. In 1931, they were discovered. They were later placed in a church in Brookwood Cemetery, in Woking, Surrey. The church is now named St Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church.

[edit] Ethelred the Unready (978-1013, 1014-1016)

Ethelred the Unready was born around the year 968 in Wessex and died in 1016. He was King of England between 978 and 1013, and then again between 1014 and 1016. He is also known as King Ethelred II. His nickname "The Unready" does not mean that he was ill-prepared, but comes from the Anglo-Saxon unræd meaning "without counsel" or "indecisive". This could also be interpreted as a pun on his name, Æðelræd, which may be understood to mean "noble counsel". Ethelred became king when he was aged about 10 after the death of his father, King Edgar, and the murder of his half-brother King Edward.

[edit] Conflict with the Danes

England had experienced a long period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw. However in 991 Ethelred was faced with a Viking fleet larger than any since Guthrum's a century earlier. This fleet was led by Olaf Trygvasson, a Norwegian with ambitions to reclaim his country from Danish domination. After initial military setbacks, Ethelred was able to agree to terms with Olaf, who returned to Norway to try to gain his kingdom with mixed success. While this agreement won him some time, England soon faced further Viking raids. Ethelred fought these off, but in many cases followed the practice of earlier kings, including Alfred the Great, in buying them off by payment of what was to become known as Danegeld. However, on 13 November 1012, Ethelred ordered the massacre of the Danes living in England. This drew an angry response which led to Sweyn Haraldsson leading a series of determined campaigns to conquer England. He succeeded in this, deposing Ethelred, who fled to Normandy, where he sought the protection of his brother-in-law, Robert of Normandy. However, Sweyn died shortly afterwards, and in February 1014, Ethelred returned as king.

[edit] Marriage and children

Ethelred's first marriage was to to Ælflaed, daughter of Thored, the ealdorman of Northumbria; she was the mother of four sons, including Edmund Ironside (later King Edmund II). In 997, he married Ælfgifu, daughter of ealdorman Aethelberht, who gave him two sons. His third and final marriage, in 1002, was to Emma of Normandy, whose grandnephew, William I of England, would later use this relationship as the basis of his claim on the throne.

[edit] Death and legacy

Ethelred died on 23 April 1016, in London, where he was buried. He was succeeded by his son, Edmund Ironside. Despite the steady stream of Viking attacks, Ethelred's reign was far from the disaster described by chroniclers writing well after the event. Ethelred introduced major reforms to the machinery of government in Anglo-Saxon England, and is responsible for the introduction of Sheriffs. The quality of the coinage, always a good indicator of the prevailing economic conditions, remained very high during his reign.

[edit] Edmund Ironside (1016)

Edmund II was born sometime between 988 and 993. He was king of England from 23 April 1016 until his death later that year on 30 November. He was nicknamed "Ironside" for his efforts to fend off the Danish invasion led by King Canute. After the death of Ethelred the Unready, although he succeeded to the throne, Edmund had little support from the London nobility, whilst Canute enjoyed greater support, particularly from the Southampton nobility.

When Edmund recovered Wessex from Canute's previous invasion in 1015, Canute responded by laying siege to London, a siege won by Edmund. Despite the victory, conflict continued until Edmund was defeated on 18 October 18 by Canute at Ashingdon in Essex. After the battle the two kings negotiated a peace in which Edmund kept Wessex while Canute held the lands north of the River Thames. In addition, they agreed that when one of them died, their kingdom would be ceded to the one still alive. On 30 November 1016, King Edmund II died of natural causes, either in Oxford or London. His kingdom was therefore ceded to Canute who then became king of England. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset. Edmund's two children by his wife Ældgyth, Edward and Edmund, both escaped to Hungary.

[edit] References

• Wikipedia

[edit] The Danes (1016-1042)

[edit] Sweyn Haraldssen (1013-1014)

Sweyn Haraldssen was born in Denmark around the year 960. His nickname is "Forkbeard" which is a nickname that probably was used during his lifetime, and refers to a long, pitchfork-like moustache, rather than a full beard. Such a moustache was fashionable at the time, particularly in England. Sweyn succeeded his father, Harold I "Blåtand" (Bluetooth), as king of Denmark, probably in late 986 or early 987. Following the death of Norway's king Olaf I Tryggvason in the Battle of Svolder in 1000, Sven established Danish control over most of Norway.

Sweyn was almost certainly involved in the raids against England in 1003 to 1005, 1006 to 1007, and 1009 to 1012, following the massacre of England's Danish inhabitants in November 1002 during the reign of Ethelred the Unready. Sven is thought to have had a personal interest in these due to his sister, Gunhilde, being amongst the victims. Sven acquired massive sums of Danegeld as a result of the raids, and in 1013 personally led the Danish fleet in a full-scale invasion.

The Laud Chronicle says that "before the month of August came king Sweyn with his fleet to Sandwich. He went very quickly about East Anglia into the Humber's mouth, and so upward along the Trent till he came to Gainsborough. Eorl Uhtred and all Northumbria quickly bowed to him, as did all the folk of Lindsey, then the folk of the Five Boroughs. (...) He was given hostages from each shire. When he understood that all the people had submitted to him, he ordered that his force should be provisioned and horsed; he went south in full force, and entrusted his ships and the hostages to his son Canute. After he came over Watling Street, they worked the most evil that a force might do. They went to Oxford, and the town-dwellers soon bowed to him, and gave hostages. From there they went to Winchester, and did the same." However, when he came to London, the Londoners destroyed the bridges that spanned the River Thames. It is this action that is referred to in the song London Bridge is Falling Down. Sweyn suffered heavy losses and had to withdraw. King Sweyn then went to Wallingford, over the Thames to Bath, and stayed there with his troops. The leading noblemen there all bowed to Sweyn and gave hostages. London withstood the assault of the Danish army, but the city was now alone. King Ethelred the Unready fled to Normandy in late 1013. With the acceptance of the Anglo-Saxon council, the Witan, London finally surrendered to Sweyn, and he was declared "king" on Christmas Day.

Sweyn based himself in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire and began to organize his vast new kingdom, but he died there on 3 February 1014, having ruled England unopposed for only five weeks. His body was subsequently returned to Denmark and buried at Roskilde Cathedral. He was succeeded as King of Denmark by his eldest son with his wife Gunhilde. The Danish fleet proclaimed his younger son Canute as King of England, but they and he returned to Denmark, and Ethelred the Unready became King of England again.

[edit] Canute the Great (1014, 1016-1035)

Canute (or Cnut) I, or Canute the Great was born in 994 or 995 in Denmark. He was king of England, Denmark and Norway and overlord of Schleswig and Pomerania. He was Sweyn Forkbeard's son. Canute accompanied his father on his invasion of England in August 1013, and Canute was proclaimed king by the Danish fleet on Sweyn's death the following February. However, he went back to Denmark in April 1014 once King Ethelred the Unready was restored by the Witenagemot. Canute invaded England again in August 1015, and after a series of inconclusive conflicts he won a decisive victory over the new English king, Edmund II, in October 1016. This led to a meeting with Edmund on an island in the River Severn, where they agreed to divide the kingdom, with the kingdom to be reunited again under the survivor when the first one of them died. When Edmund died in November 1016, this left Canute as sole ruler, and he was acclaimed as king of England by the Witenagemot in January 1017.

As king of England, Canute combined English and Danish institutions and personnel. His mutilation in April 1014 of the hostages taken by his father in pledge of English loyalty is remembered above all as being uncharacteristic of his rule. In 1017 Canute divided England into the four great earldoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria, and he started the system of territorial lordships which would underlie English government for centuries. The very last Danegeld ever to be paid, a sum of £82,500, was paid to Canute in 1018. He felt secure enough to send the invasion fleet back to Denmark with a payment of £72,000 that same year.

In order to associate his line with the overthrown English dynasty and to insure himself against attack from Normandy, where Ethelred's sons, Edward and Alfred, were in exile, in July 1017 Canute married Ethelred's widow, Emma of Normandy, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy. Canute later made his son by Emma, Harthacanute, his heir in preference to Harold Harefoot, his illegitimate son by Aelgifu of Northampton.

[edit] Denmark and Norway

In 1018 or 1019 Canute succeeded his elder brother, Harold II of Denmark, as king of Denmark, and appointed his brother-in-law Ulf Jarl as the earl of Denmark. When the Swedish king, Anund Jakob, and the Norwegian king, Olaf, took advantage of Canute's absence and attacked Denmark, Ulf convinced the freemen to elect Harthacanute king, since they were miscontent with Canute's absenteeism. This was a ruse from Ulf since his role as the caretaker of Harthacanute would make him the ruler of Denmark. In 1026, Canute returned to Denmark and with Ulf Jarl's help, he defeated the Swedes and the Norwegians at the Battle of Helgeå. However, Canute had not forgiven Ulf Jarl for his earlier actions, and at a banquet on 24 December 1026, the two started arguing with each other whilst playing chess. The next day, Canute had one of his household troops kill Ulf Jarl in the church of Trinity. In 1028, Canute conquered Norway with a fleet of fifty ships from England, though his attempt to govern Norway through Aelgifu and his other son by her, Sweyn, ended in rebellion and the restoration of the former Norwegian dynasty under Magnus I.

[edit] Commanding the waves to go back

He is perhaps best remembered for the story of how he commanded the waves to go back. According to the legend, he grew tired of flattery from his courtiers. When one such flatterer gushed that the king could even command the obedience of the sea, Canute proved him wrong by actually going into the sea at Thorney Island and proving that he couldn't: a king's powers have limits. This legend is now usually misunderstood to mean that he believed himself so powerful that the natural elements would obey him, and that his failure to command the tides only made him look foolish. Whether this event really happened or not is unknown.

[edit] Death and legacy

Canute is generally regarded as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributable to his good treatment of the church, which controlled the history writers of the day. The image that has come down from them is that he was a religious man, despite the fact that he lived openly in what was effectively a bigamous relationship, and despite his responsibility for many political murders.

Canute died in 1035, at Shaftesbury in Dorset, and was buried at Winchester. On his death, Canute was succeeded as King of Denmark by Harthacanute, who reigned there as Canute III. Harold Harefoot became King of England, then after his death in 1040, Harthacanute became King of England too.

[edit] Harold Harefoot (1035-1040)

Harold I Harefoot was born in Denmark around the year 1012. earned the name "Harefoot" for his speed and skill at hunting. He was the illegitimate son of King Canute by his concubine Aelgifu. Harold's younger half-brother Harthacanute, the son of Canute and his queen, Emma of Normandy, was the legitimate heir to the thrones of both Denmark and England at Canute's death 1035. However, because Denmark was threatened with invasion from Norway, Harthacanute was unable to travel to England and instead sent as regents Emma and Harold Harefoot. Harold took effective power in England and in 1036 secured recognition by Harthacanute as regent during the latter's absence in Denmark. Harold and Emma argued over who should govern the kingdom. The powerful Earl Godwin sided with Harold, and in 1037, after Emma had fled, Harold seized the treasury at Winchester and thus the throne, and was crowned at Oxford.

In general little is known about his reign and he appears to have been a colourless and weak character. His period of rule is associated with the blinding and death of Alfred the Aethling, Emma's son by King Ethelred the Unready, following Alfred's return to the kingdom (possibly in an attempt to take the throne) with his brother Edward the Confessor. Harold never married, but he had an illegitimate son, Elfwine, who became a monk on the continent. Harold died in Oxford in 1040, just as Harthacanute was preparing an invasion. He was buried at St Clement Danes Church, Westminster, but Harthacanute later had his body dug up, beheaded, and thrown into a fen bordering the River Thames.

[edit] Harthacanute (1035-1037, 1040-1042)

Harthacanute (sometimes Hardicanute or Hardecanute) was born in 1018 or 1019. He was the only son of Canute the Great and his queen Emma of Normandy. His name means Canute the Hardy. He succeeded his father as King of Denmark in 1035, reigning as Canute III, but conflict with Magnus I of Norway prevented him from sailing to England to secure his position there so it was agreed that his elder illegitimate half-brother Harold Harefoot would be regent in charge of England.

Harold, after Harthacanute's continued absence, took the English crown for himself in 1037. In 1038 or 1039 Harthacanute settled the situation in Scandinavia through an agreement with Magnus in which they agreed that if either of them should die without an heir, the other would be his successor. He then prepared an invasion of England to depose Harold, and in 1039 arrived in Bruges in Flanders (modern-day Belgium), where his exiled mother was. An invasion was not necessary though as Harold died in March 1040 before it could occur. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Harthacanute then landed at Sandwich in June with a fleet of 62 warships. Being unable to exact revenge on Harold while he was still alive, he had the dead Harold dragged up and thrown into a fen.

Harthacanute was a harsh and very unpopular ruler. He severely increased the rate of taxation to pay for his fleet, and perhaps the most notable event of his reign in England was a revolt at Worcester in 1041 against these high taxes. This revolt was crushed, with the near-destruction of Worcester. The story of Lady Godiva riding naked through the streets of Coventry to persuade the local earl to lower taxes may come from the reign of Harthacanute.

Harthacanute never married and had no children. In 1041, Harthacanute invited his half-brother, Edward the Confessor, who was Emma's son by King Ethelred the Unready, back from exile in Normandy to become his co-ruler and heir. In June 1042, Harthacanute died at Lambeth and was buried at Winchester. Edward became king on Harthacanute's death, thereby restoring the Anglo-Saxon royal line.

[edit] References

Wikipedia

[edit] The Anglo-Saxons, again (1042-1066)

[edit] Edward the Confessor (1042-1066)

Edward the Confessor was born in Islip, Oxfordshire around the year 1004. He was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon King of England and the last of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 until his death in 1066. His reign marked the continuing disintegration of royal power in England, which was replaced by more power going to the great territorial earls.

Edward along with his brothers was taken to Normandy by his mother, Emma, sister of the Duke of Normandy, Richard II, in 1013 to escape the Danish invasion of England. In his quarter-century of Norman exile, Edward developed an intense personal piety, and gained a familiarity with Normandy and its leaders that was to influence his later rule.

In 1036 he returned to England with his brother Alfred to try to displace Harold Harefoot as king, but this failed, Alfred was caught and brutely killed by Earl Godwin with a red hot poker.Luckly, Edward escaped back to Normandy. In 1041 he was invited back by the Anglo-Saxon lay and ecclesiastical nobility to be co-ruler with Harthacanute, and when Harthacanute died in June 1042, Edward ascended the throne and he was crowned at Winchester Cathedral on 3 April 1043.

[edit] Edward's reign

Edward's reign was marked by peace and prosperity, but to rule effectively, Edward had to come to terms with three powerful nobles. The first of these was Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who was firmly in control of Wessex, which had formerly been the heart of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy. Next there was Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and in the north there was Siward, Earl of Northumbria.

Edward favoured Normans, however, and this frustrated both Saxon and Danish nobles, and fuelled the growth of anti-Norman opinion led by Godwin, who had become the king's father-in-law in 1045. The breaking point came when Edward appointed the then Bishop of London, the Norman, Robert Jumièges, as Archbishop of Canterbury, rather than Godwin's preferred choice. There was a bloody riot at Dover between the townsfolk and Edward's kinsman, Eustace, Count of Boulogne. After Godwin refused to punish the townsfolk, Leofric and Siward backed King Edward, and Godwin and his family were all exiled in September 1051. Edward's queen, Eadgyth, who was also Godwin's daughter, was sent to a nunnery at Wherwell. Godwin returned with an army a year later, however, forcing the king to restore his title and send away his Norman advisors. Godwin died in 1053 and a Norman, Ralph the Timid, was given Herefordshire, but his son Harold accumulated even greater territories for the Godwins and later became Edward's successor.

[edit] Marriage and heirs

Edward married Godwin's daughter, Eadyth of Wessex, on 23 January 1045. However, they never had children. His nearest heir would have been a nephew, also called Edward, who was born in England, but spent most of his life in Hungary. He had returned from exile in 1056 and died not long after, in February the following year. So Edward made his great nephew Edgar Atheling his heir, but Edgar did not have much of a following among the nobles and this led to Harold Godwinson being declared king

[edit] Death and legacy

Edward died in January 1066. The cult that grew up around him in the mediaeval period under the later Plantagenet kings has had a lasting impact on English history. Edward had founded Westminster Abbey, where he was buried, sometime between 1045 and 1050, and it was consecrated on 28 December 1065. When Henry II came to the throne in 1154, he united the Saxon and Norman royal lines. To reinforce his legitimacy, the cult of King Edward the Confessor was promoted. Westminster Abbey was redesigned to contain a shrine to Edward, which remains there to this day. After much lobbying, Edward was made a saint by Pope Alexander III in 1161. At the time when Edward was made a saint, there were two types: martyrs and confessors. Martyrs were people who died in the service of the Lord, and confessors were people who died natural deaths. Since Edward died a natural death, he was styled Edward the Confessor.

The Roman Catholic Church now regards Edward the Confessor as the patron saint of kings, difficult marriages and separated spouses. After the reign of Henry II, Edward was considered the patron saint of England until 1348 when he was replaced in this role by Saint George. He remains the patron saint of the Royal Family.

[edit] Harold Godwinson (1066)

Harold Godwinson or Harold II of England was born around the year 1022 in Wessex. He ruled from 5 January to 14 October 1066, when he was killed at the Battle of Hastings. Harold's father was Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wessex. Godwin married twice and it was his second marriage that produced Harold, Tostig and Edith.

Harold was made Earl of East Anglia in 1045, and then accompanied his father, Godwin, into exile in 1051. A year later he helped Godwin regain his position. When Godwin died in 1053, Harold inherited the earldom of Wessex, which made him the second most powerful figure in England after the king. In 1058 Harold also became Earl of Hereford, and he replaced his late father as the focus of opposition to growing Norman influence in England under the restored Saxon monarchy of Edward the Confessor. In 1062 and 1063 Harold then successfully fought a series of campaigns against the ruler of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, who had conquered all of Wales. About 1064, Harold married Aldith, daughter of the Earl of Mercia, and widow of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. By Harold, Aldith had two sons, Harold and Ulf. Harold also had several illegitimate children by his mistress, Eadgyth.

In 1064, Harold was shipwrecked in Normandy and was turned over to the court of Duke William. William considered himself to be the successor of the childless Edward the Confessor, and got Harold to swear an oath to support William as the future king of England. In 1065 Harold supported a Northumbrian rebellion against taxes levied by his brother Tostig and replaced him with Morcar, the Earl of Northumbria. This strengthened his acceptability as Edward's successor, but divided his own family. Tostig went into alliance with King Harald Hardrada of Norway. In January 1066, upon Edward's death, Harold was proclaimed king by the Witenagemot who, under Anglo-Saxon law held the ultimate authority to convey kingship.

[edit] Harold's reign

Harold's position as king, though, was much disputed and the country was invaded, first by Harald Hardrada of Norway and then by William, Duke of Normandy. Harold offered his brother, Tostig, a third of the kingdom, and Tostig asked what Harold would offer the king of Norway. "Six feet of ground or as much more as he needs, as he is taller than most men," was Harold's response according to Henry of Huntingdon. Invading what is now Yorkshire in September, 1066, Harald Hardrada and Tostig defeated the English earls, Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria, at the Battle of Fulford near York on 20 September. But they were in turn defeated and killed by Harold's army five days later at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold now forced his army to march 240 miles to meet William, who had landed about 7,000 men in Sussex, on 28 September. Harold established his army near Hastings, and on 14 October the two armies clashed at the Battle of Hastings, near the present town of Battle. Harold was killed and his forces routed. According to tradition, Harold was killed by an arrow in the eye, but the victim depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry is anonymous. Whether he did, indeed, die in this manner, or was killed by the sword, is unknown.

[edit] Edgar Atheling (1066)

Edgar Atheling was born around the year 1051. Born in Hungary, he was also known as Edgar the Outlaw. The Anglo-Saxon name Atheling means "man of noble blood, chief, prince" and was used to designate the sons of the king. Edgar was the only son of Edward the Exile, heir to the English throne and grandson of King Edmund II Ironside. Upon his father's death in 1057, Edgar was nominated as heir apparent by the King Edward the Confessor. Edgar was brought up at Edward's court, together with his sisters, Margaret and Christina. However he was too young at the time of the king's death in January 1066 to defend the country against invasion, and his election as king after Harold's death was no more than a symbolic token of defiance against the invading Norman forces. However, after Harold II's death he was proclaimed, but never crowned, King of England. Edgar relied largely for his support upon Archbishop Stigand and upon Earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria and, when this weakened within a matter of days of the witan that proclaimed him king, Edgar was forced to submit to William at Berkhamstead in either late November or early December 1066.

William treated Edgar well. Seeing political advantage, he kept him in his custody and eventually took him back to his court in Normandy. However, Edgar joined in the rebellion of the earls Edwin and Morcar in 1068 and, defeated, he fled to the court of Malcolm III of Scotland. The next year Malcolm married Edgar's sister Margaret, and agreed to support Edgar in his attempt to claim the English crown. In exchange, Edgar married Malcolm's sister, another Margaret. Edgar now made common cause with Sweyn Estridson, the king of Denmark and nephew of Canute, who believed he was the rightful king of England. Their combined forces invaded England in 1069, and they captured York. William marched on the north, devastating the land as he went. He paid the Danes to leave, and Edgar fled back to Scotland. He remained there till 1072 when William forced Malcolm to accept a peace treaty that also required Edgar to be exiled. Edgar eventually made his peace with William in 1074, but he never fully gave up his dreams of regaining the throne of England. He supported Robert, Duke of Normandy, against William II in 1091 and again found himself seeking refuge in Scotland. He also supported his nephew, Edgar, in gaining the Scottish throne, overthrowing Donald III.

Around 1098 he went to Constantinople, where he may have joined the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Empire. Later that year he was given a fleet by Emperor Alexius I so he could help in the First Crusade, and Edgar brought reinforcements to the crusaders at the Siege of Antioch. He was taken prisoner during battle in 1106 whilst fighting for Duke Robert against King Henry I of England. He returned to England where Henry pardoned him, and he retired to his country estate in Hertfordshire. His niece Edith (renamed Matilda) had married Henry I in 1100. Edgar is believed to have returned to the Kingdom of Scotland late in life, perhaps around the year 1120, and was still alive in 1125, but may have died soon after, in his early seventies.

[edit] References

Wikipedia

[edit] The Normans (1066-1154)

In this Chapter we take a look at the Normans. The Normans came to power after invading England in 1066, and they continued in power until 1154, when the throne passed through the female line to the Plantagenets. There were four Norman kings – William I, William II, Henry I and Stephen, and, briefly, one female ruler – Matilda. We look at these in turn below.

[edit] William I (1066-1087)

William I, also known as William the Conqueror and William the Bastard, was born around the year 1028 in Falaise in Normandy, in what is now Northern France. He was the only son of Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, and his mistress Herleva. William was also the grandnephew of Queen Emma, the wife of King Ethelred the Unready, and later wife of King Canute of England. William became Duke of Normandy aged seven, when his father died in 1035. With responsibility thrust on him so young, William had his fair share of guardians, as well as would-be assassins. William had to learn to deal with physical threats from an early age, and three of his guardians died trying to protect him. When William was 15, King Henry I of France made him a knight, and by the time he turned 19 he was himself successfully dealing with threats of rebellion and invasion. With the assistance of King Henry, William finally secured control of Normandy by defeating the rebel Norman barons at Caen in the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047.

[edit] The Norman Conquest of England

In 1066 the Anglo-Saxon king, King Edward the Confessor, died. William, who was Edward's cousin, claimed that Edward, who had no children himself, had named him heir during a visit to France, and that the other claimant to the throne, Harold Godwinson, had pledged to support William when he was shipwrecked in Normandy, though William's tale may well not be true. After a meeting of England's leading notables approved it, Harold was crowned on 5 January. William, however, obtained the Pope's support for his cause. He built a Norman invasion fleet of around 600 ships and an army of 7000 men. He landed at Pevensey in Sussex on 28 September 1066 and assembled a prefabricated wooden castle near Hastings as a base. This prompted Harold to respond immediately and in haste rather than await reinforcements in London.

King Harold Godwinson was in the north of England and had just defeated another rival, King Harald Hardrada of Norway, who was supported by Harold Godwinson's own brother Tostig. Harold marched an army of similar size to William's 250 miles in 9 days to challenge him in battle at Senlac, which later became known as the Battle of Hastings. This took place on 14 October 1066. According to some accounts, perhaps based on an interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the Norman victory, Harold was killed by an arrow through the eye, and the English forces fled giving William victory, although it is more likely that Harold was cut down by swords. Unable to enter London immediately, William travelled to Wallingford, and this is where the first set of Anglo-Saxon noblemen surrendered to William's will. The remaining Anglo-Saxon noblemen surrendered to William at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire and he was acclaimed King of England there. William was then crowned on Christmas Day 1066 in Westminster Abbey .

[edit] Overcoming resistance

Although the south of England submitted quickly to Norman rule, resistance continued, especially in the North for six more years until 1072. Harold's illegitimate sons attempted an invasion of the south-west peninsula. Uprisings occurred in the Welsh Marches and at Stafford, and there were separate attempts at invasion by the Danes and the Scots. The last serious resistance to Norman rule came with the Revolt of the Earls in 1075. It is estimated that one fifth of the people of England were killed during these years by war, massacre or starvation. During William's reign, ownership of nearly all land, and titles to religious and public offices in England were given to Normans. Many surviving Anglo-Saxon nobles emigrated to other European kingdoms. He also ordered many castles, keeps and moats, among them the Tower of London, to be built across England to ensure that the rebellions by the English people or his own followers would not succeed. His conquest also led to Norman French replacing English as the language of the ruling classes, for nearly 300 years.

[edit] Domesday Book

In December 1085, in order to find out the true extent of his new dominions and to maximise taxation, William commissioned the Domesday Book (pronounced "doomsday book"), which was a survey of England's productive capacity similar to a modern census. It was completed in August 1086. The name "Domesday", which is the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday", only came about in the 12th century to emphasise the book's definitiveness and authority (the analogy refers to the Christian notion of a Last Judgement). The Domesday Book is really two independent works. One, known as Little Domesday covers the English counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. The other, Great Domesday, covers the rest of England, except for lands in the north that would later become Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland and County Durham (partly because some of these lands were under Scottish control at the time). There are also no surveys of London, Winchester and some other towns. In each county the list opened with the holding of the king himself (which had possibly formed the subject of separate inquiry); then came those of the churchmen and religious houses; next were entered those of the lay tenants-in-chief (barons); and last of all those of women, of the king's serjeants (servientes), of the few English thegns who retained land, and so forth. Apart from the wholly rural portions, which constitute its bulk, Domesday contains entries of interest concerning most of the towns, which were probably made because of their bearing on the tax-raising rights of the Crown therein.

[edit] Children

In 1053 William married his cousin Matilda of Flanders, against the wishes of the pope, Pope Leo IX. He was 26, she was 22. William and Matilda had four male children. The first-born was Robert Curthose and The second was William. The third was called Richard, who died in 1085 whilst William I was alive, and the last was Henry. William I and Matilda also had a number of daughters, but it is not known exactly how many there were.

[edit] Death and legacy

William died at the age of 60, at the Convent of St Gervais, near Rouen, France, on 9 September, 1087. He died from injuries to his abdomen after he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes and was buried in St. Peter's Church in Caen, Normandy, but only after his fat body exploded as a number of bishops tried to prod it into the stone tomb that had been prepared of him. This created a foul smell and made the mourners leave. When King William I died he divided his lands and riches among his three remaining sons. The eldest, Robert, became Duke of Normandy; the second, William, became King of England; the youngest, Henry, received silver, but he was to become king later, after William II died.

[edit] William II (1087-1100)

William II was born in Normandy sometime between the years 1056 and 1060. He was nicknamed "Rufus", which is Latin for "red", perhaps because of his red-faced appearance. He was the second son of William the Conqueror and was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers also over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending his control in Wales.

[edit] Power struggles

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 Channel. Since William Rufus and Robert were natural rivals, these nobles worried that they could not hope to please both of them, and thus ran the risk of losing the favour of one ruler or the other (or both of them). The only solution, as they saw it, was to unite England and Normandy once more under one ruler. They therefore revolted 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. Robert failed to appear in England to rally his supporters, and William won the support of the English with silver and promises of better government, and defeated the rebellion, thus securing his authority. In 1090 he invaded Normandy, crushing Robert's forces and forcing him to give up a portion of his lands. In 1091, Henry, William's younger brother, attempted to depose William. After this Robert and William made up their differences and William agreed to help Robert recover lands lost to France. Later Robert appointed William to rule Normandy on his behalf when Robert went away on the First Crusade in 1096.

Much of William's reign was spent feuding with the church; after the death in 1086 of Lanfranc, who was the Italian-Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, William delayed appointing a new archbishop while keeping some of the church's money for himself, and it was onlywhilst William was seriously ill in 1093 that he appointed another Norman-Italian, Anselm of Bec, as the next Archbishop. All this led to a long period of animosity between church and state. William and Anselm disagreed about many things, and the English clergy, who relied on the king for their living, were unable to support Anselm publicly. William called a council at Rockingham in 1095 to bring Anselm to heel but the churchman appealed to Rome. In October 1097, Anselm went into exile, taking his case to the Pope. The new pope was Pope Urban II who was not in a position to make further royal enemies. The Emperor of Germany supported an antipope, and Urban came to an agreement with William. William recognised Urban as pope and Urban accepted William's position in his disputes with Anselm. William kept the income from archbishopric of Canterbury as long as Anselm remained in exile, and Anselm remained in exile until the reign of William's successor, Henry I.

William argued with the Scottish king, Malcolm III, forcing him to pay homage in 1091 and seizing the north-western county of Cumbria in 1092. At the Battle of Alnwick on 13 November 1093 Malcolm and his son were slain. William gained effective control of the Scottish throne after Malcolm's death, when he backed a man called Edgar to become king, a position he filled from 1097 to 1107. On the home front William had a number of disputes with the Norman nobles. In 1095, William had to lead an army against the earl of Northumbria. Another noble, William of Eu, was also accused of treachery and blinded and castrated. In the same year William II also led an unsuccessful campaign into Wales. He tried again in 1097 with an equal lack of success. He went to Normandy in 1097 and from then until 1099 campaigned in France, enjoying some limited success. At the time of his death he was planning to occupy Aquitaine in south-western France.

[edit] Death and legacy

William II was killed whilst hunting in the New Forest on 2 August 1100. The circumstances remain unclear. During the hunt, the party spread out as they chased their prey, and William, in the company of Walter Tirel (or Tyrell), Lord of Poix, became separated from the others. It was the last time that William was seen alive. William was found the next day by a group of local peasants, lying dead in the woods with an arrow piercing his lungs. William's body was abandoned by the nobles at the place where he fell, because the law and order of the kingdom died with the king, and they had to flee to their English or Norman estates to secure their interests. Legend has it that it was left to a local charcoal-burner named Purkis to take the king's body to Winchester Cathedral on his cart. A stone known as the Rufus Stone marks the spot where some believe he fell.

According to the writers in the years after the event, William's death was not murder. Walter and William had been hunting together when Walter let loose a wild shot that, instead of hitting the stag he aimed for, struck William in the chest. Walter tried to help him, but there was nothing he could do. Fearing that he would be charged with murder, Walter panicked, leapt onto his horse, and fled, ending up in France. As William II never married, and so had no legitimate heir, the next king was his brother, Henry.

[edit] Henry I (1100-1135)

Henry I of England was born sometime between May 1068 and May 1069, probably in Selby, Yorkshire. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror, and he was King of England from 1100 to 1135. He became known as Henry Beauclerc because of his scholarly interests, and by the nickname "Lion of Justice" because of the legal reforms he made. Henry I became king after the death of his brother, William II, which happened when his older brother, Robert Curthose, who was meant to succeed William II, was away on the First Crusade. It was Robert's absence, along with his poor reputation among the Norman nobles, that allowed Henry to take the throne. After being accepted as king by the leading barons, Henry was crowned three days later. He was able to keep the support of the barons by issuing the Charter of Liberties, which promised the barons certain rights. His reign is noted for Henry I's political skills, improvements in the machinery of government, the integration of the divided Anglo-Saxon and Normans within his kingdom, and his reuniting of the dominions of his father. Henry I was probably the first Norman ruler to be fluent in the English language.

[edit] Henry's reign

In 1101, a year after Henry became king, his older brother, Robert, invaded England in an attempt to become king. They agreed a peace in the Treaty of Alton, in which Robert accepted Henry as King of England and returned peacefully to Normandy. In return Henry agreed to pay Robert 2000 marks each year. Four years later, though, Henry took an army across the English Channel. In 1106, he defeated his brother's Norman army decisively at Battle of Tinchebray. He imprisoned his brother Robert, and claimed the Duchy of Normandy as a possession of England, as a result reuniting his father's lands.

Henry tried to reduce his problems in Normandy by marrying his eldest son, William Adelin, to the daughter of Fulk V, Count of Anjou, who at the time was an enemy of Henry's. Eight years later, after William's death, Henry married his daughter Matilda to Fulk's son, Geoffrey Plantagenet. This later led to the two countries uniting under the Plantagenet kings.

Henry needed money to strengthen his position, and this led to more central government. Henry also made a number of legal reforms, including the Charter of Liberties, and restoring many of the laws of King Edward the Confessor.

Henry was also known for some brutal acts, most notably in 1119, after King Henry's son-in-law, Eustace de Pacy, and Ralph Harnec, the constable of Ivry, who had taken each other's children prisoner, agreed to release them. Eustace blinded Harnec's son, after which Harnec demanded vengeance. King Henry therefore allowed Harnec to blind and mutiliate Eustace's two daughters, who were also Henry's own grandchildren. Eustace and his wife, Juliane, were outraged and threatened to rebel. Henry arranged to meet his daughter, only for Juliane to draw a crossbow and attempt to kill her father. She was captured and confined to the castle, but escaped by leaping from a window into the moat below. Some years later Henry made it up with his daughter and son-in-law.

[edit] Marriages and children

In 1100 Henry married Edith, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland. Since Edith was also the niece of Edgar Atheling, whose son was the King Edgar that William II installed on the throne of Scotland, the marriage united the Norman line with old Anglo-Saxon line of kings. The marriage greatly displeased the Norman barons, however, and to try to please them Edith changed her name to Matilda upon becoming queen. Henry I had two children by Edith-Matilda, who died in 1118 - Matilda, who was born in February 1102, and William Adelin, who was born in November 1103. William, however, died when the White Ship was wrecked off the coast of Normandy in 1120. In 1121, Henry I married for a second time. His new wife was Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey I of Leuven, Duke of Lower Lotharingia and Landgrave of Brabant, but there were no children from this marriage. Although King Henry I had only two legitimate children, is famed for holding the record for the largest number of acknowledged illegitimate children born to any English king, with the number being around 20 or 25.

[edit] Death and legacy

Henry visited Normandy in 1135 to see his young grandsons. He took great delight in his grandchildren, but soon argued with his daughter and son-in-law and these disputes led him to stay in Normandy far longer than he originally planned. It was here that he died of food poisoning from eating foul lampreys in December 1135 at St. Denis le Fermont in Normandy. His body was returned to England and buried at Reading Abbey, which Henry had founded 14 years before.

Left without legitimate male heirs after his son William died, Henry made his barons swear to accept his daughter Empress Matilda, who was also the widow of Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, as his heir. However her sex and her remarriage into the House of Anjou, an enemy of the Normans, allowed Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, to come to England and claim the throne with popular support.

[edit] Stephen (1135-1141, 1141-1154)

Stephen was born around the year 1096 in Blois in France. He was the son of Stephen, Count of Blois, and Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. He was the last Norman King of England, and reigned from 1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin, Henry II, the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings. At around the age of 10, Stephen went to be brought up at the English court of his uncle, King Henry I. After marrying a daughter of the Count of Boulogne, who was called Matilda, he became joint ruler of Boulogne in 1128. After Henry I died in 1135, Stephen seized the throne before Empress Matilda, Henry I's daughter, could become queen.

[edit] The Anarchy

Once Stephen was crowned, he gained the support of most of the barons as well as Pope Innocent II. The first few years of his reign were peaceful, but by 1139 he was seen as weak and indecisive, setting the country up for a civil war against Matilda, commonly called The Anarchy. In February 1141 Stephen fought the Battle of Lincoln against Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester and Empress Matilda's half-brother, and Ranulph de Gernon, the second Earl of Chester. Stephen was defeated, captured and imprisoned at Bristol by Empress Matilda, who became England's ruler under the title "Lady of the English". See below for more on Empress Matilda. Empress Matilda did not keep control for long though. She soon was forced out of London, and after her ablest lieutenant, the Earl of Gloucester, was captured, Matilda was forced to release Stephen. Stephen regained his throne in November 1141, and by December 1142, he was besieging Matilda at Oxford, but she managed to escape.

In 1147, Empress Matilda's son, Henry, decided to help his mother by raising a small army and invading England. Rumours of this army's size terrified Stephen's supporters, although in truth the force was very small. However, Henry was defeated twice in battle, and with no money to pay his soldiers, Henry asked his uncle Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester for help but was turned away. Maud was finally forced to return to France, following the death of Robert of Gloucester.

[edit] Children

Besides Eustace, Stephen and his queen, Matilda, had two other sons, Baldwin, who died sometime before 1135, and William, who became Count of Mortain and Boulogne and Earl of Surrey or Warenne. They also had two daughters, Matilda and Marie of Boulogne. In addition to these children, Stephen had at least three illegitimate children.

[edit] Death and legacy

Stephen kept an uneasy hold on the throne for the rest of his life. In 1150 Stephen stepped down as ruler of Boulogne, and in 1151, his son and heir Eustace took over. However, Eustace died in 1153, and it was after this that he agreed a compromise with Empress Matilda so that her son Henry would be the next king of England. On 25 October 1154 Stephen died in Dover. He was buried in Faversham Abbey, which he had founded in 1147. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said this about Stephen's reign:

"In the days of this King there was nothing but strife, evil, and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose against him. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a good-humoured, kindly, and easy-going man who inflicted no punishment, then they committed all manner of horrible crimes . . . And so it lasted for nineteen years while Stephen was King, till the land was all undone and darkened with such deeds, and men said openly that Christ and his angels slept".

The Chronicle said of The Anarchy, "this and more we suffered nineteen winters for our sins".

[edit] Matilda (or Maud) (1141)

Empress Maud is the title by which Matilda, the only daughter and second child of King Henry I of England, is known. This is because Matilda was a very common name at the time, and this way we can tell her apart. Matilda is the Latin form of the name "Maud". She was the first ever female ruler of England.

[edit] Life

Matilda (also later known as the 'Empress Maud'), daughter of Henry I,, was the only remaining legitimate heir to the throne after her brother William Atheling drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120. At the age of eight, she was sent to Germany as the future bride of Henry V, the Holy Roman emperor. They married when she was 12. Matilda was involved in government from a young age – for example, left in charge of affairs in Italy in her husband's absence. When Henry died in 1125, Matilda returned to England, keeping the title 'empress' – an indication of her innate arrogance. In 1127, the English nobles swore to accept her as Henry I's successor, but her marriage the following year to Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, didn't help her cause: the Angevins and Normans were long-time enemies. Her failure to win over many leading nobles forced them into the arms of her cousin Stephen, who was proclaimed king on Henry's death. She did have one key supporter, her half-brother Robert of Gloucester, and at his suggestion, she crossed the Channel in 1139 in pursuit of her claim. The ensuing civil war tore England apart for the next 14 years. Matilda's main chance to seize the crown came after Stephen was captured at Lincoln in 1141 – she declared herself 'Lady of the English' and was elected queen at Winchester on 8 April. But she alienated potential support in London by her arrogance and by her refusal to consider a demand for tax cuts. In less than three months, she was chased out of town. After Stephen was restored to the throne, Matilda evaded capture twice: at Winchester by riding away astride a horse; and at Oxford Castle by crossing ice and snow in white clothing. In 1148, finally realising that she would never truly be queen, she retreated to Normandy. When her son – hitherto known as 'Henry FitzEmpress' – became king as Henry II, in 1154, she ruled the duchy in his absence. She died 13 years later, in Rouen.

[edit] Death and legacy

She retired to Rouen, in Normandy. She intervened in the arguments between her eldest son Henry and her second son Geoffrey, but peace between the brothers was brief. Geoffrey rebelled against Henry twice before his sudden death in 1158. Maud died at Rouen on 10 September 1167, and was buried in the cathedral there. Her epitaph reads, "Here lies the daughter, wife and mother of Henry".

[edit] References

This text is based on information in the Wikibook UK Constitution and Government and in Wikipedia.

[edit] The Plantagenets (1154-1399)

[edit] Henry II (1154-1189)

Henry II was born on 5 March 1133 in Le Mans. He ruled as Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy and as King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. Following the disputed reign of King Stephen, Henry's reign saw efficient consolidation. Henry II has a reputation as one of England's greatest medieval kings. At various times he controlled parts of Wales, Scotland, eastern Ireland, and western France. He was the first of the Plantagenet or Angevin Kings. Before becoming king Henry already controlled Normandy and Anjou. Whilst king, he had an empire, known as the Angevin Empire, that stretched from the Solway Firth almost to the Mediterranean and from the Somme to the Pyrenees. His mother was Empress Matilda, and his father was her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. He was brought up in Anjou, which is where the name Angevin comes from, though he visited England in 1149 to help his mother with her claim to the English throne.

[edit] Appearance

Peter of Blois left a description of Henry II in 1177: "...the lord king has been red-haired so far, except that the coming of old age and gray hair has altered that colour somewhat. His height is medium, so that neither does he appear great among the small, nor yet does he seem small among the great... curved legs, a horseman's shins, broad chest, and a boxer's arms all announce him as a man strong, agile and bold... he never sits, unless riding a horse or eating... In a single day, if necessary, he can run through four or five day-marches and, thus foiling the plots of his enemies, frequently mocks their plots with surprise sudden arrivals...Always are in his hands bow, sword, spear and arrow, unless he be in council or in books."

[edit] Early reign and Thomas Becket

Henry II's first task as king was to wrest more control from the barons, who had gained more power during King Stephen's reign. Castles that were built by barons during Stephen's reign without permission were torn down.

Henry II also made many legal reforms. Henry established courts in various parts of England. His reign saw the production of the first written legal textbook, providing the basis of today's Common Law. By 1166 trial by jury became the norm. The legal reforms also reduced the power of church courts. The church opposed this, and their most prominent spokesman was Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who used to be a close friend of Henry's who was made archbishop as Henry wanted to avoid conflict. Becket went into exile in 1164, but after a reconciliation with Henry in 1170, came back. However, Becket again argued with Henry, this time over the coronation of Prince Henry, and Henry II is famously reported to have said, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Four knights took the king literally and travelled immediately to Canterbury, where they killed Becket in the Cathedral on 29 December 1170. In penance, Henry made a pilgrimage in sackcloth to Becket's tomb.

[edit] Marriage and children

In 1152 he married Eleanor of Aquitaine and added on her lands to his, therefore increasing the size of his empire. They had five sons and three daughters. Their first son died in infancy. Their second, Henry, was crowned king at age fifteen in 1170, when Henry II was still king, and was known as the Young King, but he never actually ruled and does not figure in the list of the monarchs of England. They also had Richard and John who both later became Kings of England. Henry also had a number of illegitimate children by various women.

[edit] Revolting sons and death

Henry II's attempt to divide his titles amongst his sons but keep the power that came with them provoked them into trying to take control of the lands assigned to them in the Revolt of 1173-1174. In Henry's eyes, this was treason.

When Henry's legitimate sons rebelled against him, they often had the help of King Louis VII of France. Henry the Young King died in 1183, after which there was a power struggle between the three sons that were left. Finally, Henry's third son, Richard the Lionheart, with the assistance of Philip II Augustus of France, attacked and defeated Henry on 4 July 1189. Henry died at the Chateau Chinon two days later and was laid to rest at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon in the Anjou Region of present-day France. Richard then became King of England.

[edit] Richard I (1189-1199)

Richard I was born in 1157 in Oxford. He was King of England from 1189 to his death in 1199, and is often known as Richard the Lionheart or its French equivalent, Coeur de Lion.

He was brought up, mostly by his mother in France. Richard was able to compose poetry in French and in the Provençal language. He was also very attractive. He was blond, blue-eyed, and his height estimated at six feet four inches (1.93 m) tall. He gloried in military activity.

His father, Henry, made him Duke of Aquitaine in 1168, and of Poitiers in 1172. He therefore learned to defend these territories from an early age. In 1173, Richard joined his brothers, Henry and Geoffrey, in a revolt against their father. They were planning to dethrone their father and leave Richard's brother Henry as the ruling king of England. Henry II invaded Aquitaine twice. At the age of seventeen, Richard was the last of the brothers to hold out against Henry, though, in the end, he refused to fight his father face to face and humbly begged his pardon. In 1174, after the end of the failed revolt, Richard gave a new oath of subservience to his father.

After this, Richard concentrated on putting down internal revolts by the nobles of Aquitaine. His increasing cruelty led to a major revolt of Gascony in 1183. The rebels hoped to dethrone Richard and asked Richard's brothers Henry and Geoffrey to help them succeed. Their father feared that the war between his three sons could lead to the destruction of his kingdom. He led the part of his army that served in his French lands in support of Richard. The death of Richard's brother Henry in 1183, ended the revolt.

When in 1188 Henry II planned to concede Aquitaine to his youngest son John Lackland, later King John of England, Richard allied himself with Philip II of France. In return for Philip's help against his father, Richard promised to concede his rights to both Normandy and Anjou to Philip. Richard gave an oath of subservience to Philip in November of the same year. In 1189 Richard attempted to take the throne of England for himself by joining Philip's expedition against his father. They were victorious, and when Henry II died on 6 July 1189, Richard I succeeded him as King of England.

[edit] Reign

Soon after his accession to the throne, inspired by the loss of Jerusalem to the Muslims under the command of Saladin, Richard decided to join the Third Crusade, Afraid that during his absence the French might usurp his territories, Richard persuaded Philip to join the Crusade as well. Richard finally started his expedition to the Holy Land in 1190, and for England he appointed as regents Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex, who soon died and was replaced by Richard's chancellor William Longchamp.

In September 1190 both Richard and Philip arrived in Sicily, where they became embroiled in a war for the succession after the death of King William II of Sicily the year before. As part of the peace treaty that ended the conflict, Richard officially proclaimed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, who was only four at the time, as his heir. After signing the treaty Richard and Philip left Sicily. The treaty undermined England's relationships with the Holy Roman Empire and caused the revolt of Richard's brother John, who hoped to be proclaimed heir instead of their nephew. Although his revolt failed, John continued to scheme against his brother after this point.

In April 1191, Richard overthrew the ruler of Cyprus, gaining a major supply base for the Crusade that was not under immediate threat from the Turks as was Tyre. Richard looted the island and massacred those trying to resist him. Meanwhile, Richard married Berengaria, first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre. There were no children from the marriage, although Richard did have at least one illegitimate child.

Richard and most of his army left Cyprus for the Holy Land early in June. King Richard arrived at Acre in June 1191, where he and his forces captured the city. Saladin dragged negotiations on certain points of the surrender of Acre. As Richard's army could not move until 2,600 prisoners of war that he had taken hostage were disposed of, Richard took this to be a deliberate attempt to bottle the Crusaders up in Acre. In what history records as a fit of impatience, Richard ordered all 2,600 prisoners killed.

Richard was also involved in other disputes with his allies, Duke Leopold V of Austria and King Philip II of France. Leopold and Philip no longer supported Richard's Crusade. Still, Richard continued to march south, and Saladin's men were unable to harass the Crusader army into an impulsive action which might not have gone their way. However, the desertion of the French king had been a major blow, from which they could not hope to recover. Realising that he had no hope of holding Jerusalem even if he took it, Richard ordered a retreat. Despite being only a few miles from the city, he refused, thereafter, to set eyes on it, as he had vowed to look upon it only once he had conquered the city.

After the retreat from Jerusalem, there was a period of minor skirmishes with Saladin's forces while Richard and Saladin negotiated a settlement to the conflict: both had realised that their positions were growing untenable. In particular, both Philip and John were taking advantage of Richard's absence to make themselves more powerful at home. He and Saladin finally came to a settlement of the conflict on 2 September 1192.

[edit] Captivity and return

Bad luck dogged Richard on his return home. Bad weather forced his ship to put in at Corfu, the territory of the Byzantine Emperor, who was still angry at Richard for his annexation of Cyprus. Disguised as a Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants in a pirate ship, which wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his party into a dangerous land route through central Europe.

On his way to the territory of Henry of Saxony, his brother-in-law, Richard was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 only a few miles from the Moravian border, near Vienna, by Leopold V of Austria. Richard and his retainers had been travelling disguised as pilgrims, complete with flowing beards and tattered clothes. Richard himself was dressed like a kitchen hand, but was identified because he was wearing a magnificent and costly ring no menial worker could afford. The Duke handed him over as a prisoner to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.

His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, worked tirelessly to raise the exorbitant ransom of 150,000 marks demanded by the German emperor, of which 100,000 had to be paid before release, with the remainder after. 150,000 marks represented twice the annual income for the English Crown. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from other taxes too. John, Richard's brother, and King Philip offered 80,000 marks for the Emperor to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. The emperor turned down the offer. Finally, on 4 February 1194 Richard was released.

One fictional aspect to Richard's life is the legend of his minstrel, Blondel, who, after Richard's capture, travelled Europe, going from castle to castle and loudly singing a song known only to the two of them. Eventually, the story goes, he came to the place where Richard was being held, and heard the song answered with the appropriate refrain, thus revealing where the king was.

[edit] Death and legacy

After his many famous battles, it was a minor skirmish with the rebellious castle of Châlus-Charbrol in Limousin, France on 26 March 1199 that would take Richard's life. Richard, who had removed some of his chainmail, was wounded in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt launched from a tower. Gangrene set in and Richard asked to see his killer, who he ordered to be set free and awarded a sum of money. However as soon as Richard died, with his 77-year-old mother Eleanor at his side, on 6 April 1199, the killer was flayed alive and then hanged. Richard's bowels were buried at the foot of the tower from which the shot came, his heart was buried at Rouen, while the rest of his remains were buried next to his father at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon, France.

During Richard's absence abroad, John had come close to seizing the throne. However, Richard had forgiven him, and named him as his heir in place of Arthur. So it was John who became the next king. However, Richard's French territories initially rejected John as a successor, preferring his Arthur instead. However, the lack of any direct heirs from Richard was the first step in the disolution of the Angevin Empire. While England continued to press claims to properties on the continent, it would never again command the territories Richard I inherited.

In the long run Richard's legacy includes the capture of Cyprus, which proved valuable in keeping the Frankish kingdoms in the Holy Land viable for another century. Secondly, his absence from England meant that the highly efficient government created by his father was allowed to entrench itself. Another part of Richard's legacy was romantic and literary. No matter the facts of his reign, he left an indelible imprint on the imagination extending to the present, in large part because of his military exploits. Indeed, due to his bravery, savagery, and fame in the Arabic world, Richard became a bit of a bogeyman in the Middle East for centuries after his death. Mothers would occasionally threaten unruly children with the admonition "King Richard will get you" well into the late 19th century.

On the downside, Richard has been criticised for doing little for England, and instead using the kingdom's resources to support his journeys away on Crusade in the Holy Land. He spent only six months of his ten year reign in England, claiming it was "cold and always raining". During the period when he was raising funds for his Crusade, Richard was heard to declare, "If I could have found a buyer I would have sold London itself".

[edit] John (1199-1216)

John was born, probably in the year 1166, in Oxford. He was the fifth son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He reigned as King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I. John acquired the nicknames of "Lackland" and "Soft-sword".

King John's reign has been traditionally characterised as one of the most disastrous in English history: he lost Normandy to Philip II of France in his first five years on the throne, and his reign ended with England torn by civil war, with him on the verge of being forced out of power. In 1213, he made England a papal fief to resolve a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, and his rebellious barons forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, the act for which he is best remembered.

In 1185, John became the ruler of Ireland, whose people grew to despise him, causing John to leave after only eight months. During Richard's absence on the Third Crusade from 1190 to 1194, John tried to overthrow Richard's regent, despite having been forbidden by his brother to leave France. However, on his return to England in 1194, Richard forgave John and named him as his heir.

[edit] John's reign as King

After Richard's death, John did not gain immediate universal recognition as king. As we have seen above, some regarded his young nephew, Arthur of Brittany, as the rightful heir. Arthur enjoyed the support of King Philip II of France, and the two sides fought. The war upset the barons of Poitou, who sought help from the King of France, who was King John's feudal overlord in respect of some of his territories on the Continent. In 1202, King John was summoned to the French court to answer the charges. King John refused and, under feudal law, because of his failure of service to his lord, the French King claimed the lands and territories ruled by King John as Count of Poitou. The French promptly invaded Normandy, King Philip II invested Arthur with all those fiefs King John once held (except for Normandy), and betrothed him to his daughter Mary. As part of the war, Arthur attempted to kidnap his own grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, at Mirebeau, but was defeated and captured by John's forces. Arthur was imprisoned first at Falaise and then at Rouen. No one is certain what happened to Arthur after that, but the rumour that he was murdered caused Brittany and later Normandy to rebel against King John.

John functioned as an efficient ruler, but he won the disapproval of the English barons by taxing them in ways that were outside those traditionally allowed by feudal overlords. John was a very fair-minded and well informed king, however, often acting as a Judge in the Royal Courts, and his justice was much sought after. John is also said to have founded the modern Royal Navy. In 1203 he ordered all shipyards in England to be responsible for at least one ship, with places such as the newly-built Portsmouth being responsible for several. By the end of 1204, he had 45 large galleys available to him, and from then on an average of 4 new ones every year. It was during John's reign that big improvements were made in ship design. He also created the first big transport ships.

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