Emma of Normandy

 Emma of Normandy had the honour, if that's what you want to call it, of being married to two kings of England and mother to another two. The first of her husbands was Aethelred II, better known to history as Aethelred The Unready. His reign was a complete and utter disaster. Unlike previous Anglo Saxon kings who fought against Viking raiders valiantly, Aethelred was hopelessly out of his depth. Bribery was his main method of staving off further devastation in his kingdom which failed dismally. In 1002, Aethelred made an ill advised decision in a desperate attempt to show he could fight back. That year, he ordered an indiscriminate slaughter of Danes leaving peacefully in England. Men and women, young and old were killed. Among the victims was the sister of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard and her husband. Furious, Sweyn would make Aethelred's life a misery for the next decade until he eventually he deposed and exiled the English king in late 1013. Sweyn didn't enjoy power in England for long and in early February 1014, he died. Aethelred returned from exile but Sweyn's son Cnut took up his father's cause. On Aethelred's death in 1016, the throne of England would be up for grabs between Cnut and Aethelred's son Edmund Ironside. Emma was now widowed but not for long. In 1017, she married Cnut after he had successfully seen off the challenge of Edmund who had been murdered at the end of 1016.  Emma was now Queen of England for a second time.

With Aethelred, Emma had produced three children. Edward, who would be known to history as Edward The Confessor, Alfred, who would be murdered quite horribly in the mid 1030s and a daughter called Godgifu who became Countess of Bolougne. With Cnut, Emma produced two more children. A daughter, Gunhilda, who married the German king and would-be Holy Roman Emperor Henry III and a son named Harthacnut who, like his half brother Edward The Confessor, would also become king of England. Emma's father was Count of Rouen and her mother, a woman named Gunnor. During her lifetime, a book was written in praise of her called the Ecomniun Emmae Reginae which, as the image shows was actually presented to her. As one can imagine, it's lavish in it's praise of it's subject. Emma is described as being of the "greatest nobility and wealth" and praised her beauty. She was also apparently a shrewd woman as well.  When Cnut sent messengers seeking her hand in marriage, Emma played a canny game. She knew that Cnut had sons from an earlier relationship with another woman. This meant, if Emma was to produce more sons for the king of England,  then their's, as well as Emma's, futures would be very uncertain if Cnut died. Emma wanted guarantees for her and her offprings future before she accepted his marriage proposal. Cnut agreed to her terms and they were married.

According to the Ecomniun, there was great rejoicing at the marriage between Emma and Cnut. This may be a bit of an exaggeration. Cnut was, in effect, a conqueror and his popularity would have been far from universal with the Anglo Saxons. But over time, Cnut grew in confidence and, with sensible governance, he established his authority. He reigned for nearly 2 decades in England and his reign can be certainly considered a success, especially when stood in contrast with the reign of Aethelred The Unready. But with Cnut's death in 1035, came uncertainty for Emma. It was Harold Harefoot, Cnut's son from his first marriage, who seized power. The heavily biased Ecomniun accuses Harold of using threats of force to claim  the crown and the author also blames the nobility for abandoning Emma's sons. With Harthacnut preoccupied in Denmark, Emma wrote to her sons from her first marriage, Edward and Alfred, who had remained in Normandy after their father's deposition in 1013. Emma urged them, or at least one of them, to return to England and remove Harold Harefoot from power. Emma knew she faced political extinction if things carried on the way they were. Edward and Alfred though, would heed her call.

In 1036, Edward and Alfred arrived in England but disaster soon befell them. There are different versions of what happened. One is that Alfred and Edward were attacked almost as soon as they landed. Another is that they were brought to Guildford by Earl Godwine, the most powerful man in England at the time, where scores of Edward and Alfred's retinue were violently attacked by King Harold's men. Among the victims was Alfred who had been blinded in such hideous fashion he died of his injuries not long after.  Edward escaped the violence but, in keeping with Emma's sensible advice, he swiftly returned to Normandy. Emma too came to the realisation that England was becoming an increasingly dangerous place for her and she too crossed the Channel, making her way to Flanders. Emma was greeted with warmth by the Count of Flanders and here she could plot potential revenge on Harold Harefoot. 

Her first move was to write to Harthacnut to inform him of the great injustice that had befallen her, Edward and Alfred and she implored him to come to her aid. But in 1040, Harefoot died, leaving the path clear for Emma and Harthacnut to travel to England. In their eyes, Harefoot was a usurper. There were serious question marks over Harefoot's birth and even if he was really the son of Cnut. His brutal treatment of Alfred made him little more than a tyrant and Harthacnut showed the world what he thought of Harefoot by having his corpse dug up and thrown in a bog. Harthacnut had far more brotherly affection for Edward and the two had a good relationship during the former's brief reign. 

After years of turbulence, Emma may have looked forward to a period of stability. At the time of Harthacnut's death in 1042, she was well into her 50s but with the succession of her one remaining son,Edward,  further strife would befall her. The all too powerful Earl Godwine began to whisper false accusations about Emma to King Edward, even suggesting treason and, for a time, it worked. Emma lost lands and titles but she eventually came back into the king's favour. She died in 1052. The wife of two  kings of England, the mother of another two kings of England, Emma had been right at the centre of English politics for half a century.

The Life and Reign of Henry IV

 

Henry IV was born in 1367 in Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire. His parents were John of Gaunt, the third son of Edward III, and Blanche of Lancaster, Gaunt's first of three wives. It was through this marriage to Blanche that Gaunt would gain control of Lancaster, first as Earl and then as Duke. When John died in 1399, he would pass on the inheritance of the duchy of Lancaster to his son Henry. It was a dispute over this that would lead to Henry Bolingbroke becoming king. But for Henry growing up, the opportunity to become king would have seemed remote. Up until 1376, Edward III's heir was his oldest son, Edward, The Black Prince. And The Prince too had an heir; a boy by the name of Richard who was born in the same year as his cousin Henry. However, when the Black Prince died in 1376, the throne moved that bit closer to Henry. It was Richard, though, who succeeded Edward III in 1377 as Richard II.

John of Gaunt was not a popular man. He was the richest and most powerful man in England and there was civil unrest. In 1381, the Peasants Revolt exploded in a fire of rage and fury of discontented lower class men and women, outraged at the burdens of taxation that was being thrust upon them. They marched on London, destroying and killing as they went. Powerful figures like the chancellor and treasurer met their grisly ends at the hands of the peasants. John was lucky, in a fashion, as he was on campaign in the north and escaped much of the wrath. He would have been one of the first on the rebels hit list if he had been in reach. His palace at Savoy was destroyed though. But Gaunt's son Henry was not so fortunate. He was in London, holed up at the Tower of London whilst the revolt was taking place, alongside the king. But once the rebels had made their way into the Tower, the fourteen year old Henry was in serious danger. If the rebels couldn't get their hands on the despised Gaunt, then they well might target his son and heir. There are a couple of versions of events that describe Henry's narrow escape. One is that, with the rebels closing in on him, Henry was hastily shoved into a closet to hide by a soldier guarding the Tower. Another was that a guard pleaded for the young boy's life and succeeded. Either way, Henry was saved by the quick thinking of a tower guard.

Despite successfully seeing off the Peasants Revolt before the whole country went up in flames, Richard II's reign soon descended into chaos and largely because of the young king's over inflated ego. In 1385, Richard, now 18, plotted against John of Gaunt and wanted him done away with. Richard was threatened by his over-mighty uncle. Gaunt, rather sensibly, took himself out of harm's way and placed himself in Pontefract Castle and made sure he had plenty of men and provisions to see out this crisis. Relations between he and his nephew were at an all time low. Another welcome distraction for Gaunt was Castile. After his first wife Blanche had died, he'd married again, a woman by the name of Constance of Castile, and he now claimed the title of King of Castile through right of this marriage. He made preparations for his expedition.

 Meanwhile, discontent at Richard's reign was growing. Henry, and other members of the nobility, accused members of Richard's government of treason, a most grave charge. The discontented noblemen became known as the Lords Appellant. Matters continued to decline and there was a skirmish at a place called Radcot Bridge. It's given the title of battle but it really was no more than a skirmish. From Radcot Bridge one of the men who had most irked the Lords Appellant, Robert De Vere, was forced to flee. Only a tiny handful of men were killed. But in the Merciless Parliament of 1388, a number of close advisers to the king were executed after they had been formally accused of Treason. To make matters worse, the men accused were not given proper trials and died a traitors death. Richard was not a man who forgave easily and the shadow of this parliament would hang over England for the years to come.

Whilst the situation in England remained grim, Henry decided to go on Crusade on two occasions in the 1390s. Henry took part in the Northern Crusades, an effort to Christianise the parts of Northern Europe that remained Pagan. Whilst Henry's efforts were not overly successful, he made something of a name for himself through his deeds and he also made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. But whilst these adventures would have been tremendously exciting for a young man in his 20s, the political reality of England could not be delayed forever. Rather than forgiving the Lords and attempting to bring some desperately needed stability to England, Richard sought revenge. Among those to die were the Earl of Arundel and Thomas of Woodstock, his own uncle. Then, after Henry had fallen into dispute with a man by the name of Thomas Mowbray, Richard had them prepare to joust to solve the matter. Before the two came to blows, Richard, in an act full of drama, stood up and sentenced the pair to exile. Henry for 10 years, Mowbray for life. Mowbray died in 1399 of the plague but Henry, as we now know, would return. Richard had descended into tyranny. There was no legal basis for him to act this way but his ego was still bruised from a decade earlier. Gaunt died in 1399 and the Duchy of Lancaster, the wealthiest in the land, should now have passed to Henry. But with Henry now in exile, Richard decided to enrich himself and keep the duchy. Fortunately Richard wasn't very bright and chose this moment in time to go to Ireland, leaving his kingdom vulnerable. Henry seized his chance. He landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire to seize his inheritance. But Richard had alienated a lot of people. The crown was there for the taking and so Henry, after capturing Richard in Wales, took his cousin to the Tower of London, formally deposed him and sent Richard to Ponterfract castle. He starved to death the following year. Bolingbroke was now Henry IV.

Henry is praised for his kingly qualities. Wise and prudent, he is said to have had good judgement. If this is indeed the case then Henry must have known, as a usurper, that he had set a precedent and that if he could depose a king, then he too would be vulnerable. A plot to assassinate Henry at Windsor Castle and restore Richard was soon unearthed. The perpetrators were caught and executed and this would have confirmed to Henry the necessity to remove Richard for good, cousin or not. What might have especially concerned Henry is the range of men behind the plot. Not just knights but also members of the clergy too. The most persistent of problems for Henry came from Wales and a man by the name of Owain Glyndwr. Glyndwr claimed lands that were rightfully his were being denied to him and so he went into open rebellion. Henry marched into Wales and put down these first flames of revolt but Glyndwr would remain a nuisance for the entirety of Henry's reign. Henry then received at his court a most remarkable visitor. This was Manuel II, the Byzantine Emperor. Manuel was the only Eastern Roman Emperor to ever visit England which shows the desperate nature of his plight. The Byzantine empire was in decline and at constant danger from the Ottomans. He came seeking aid, which Henry provided and whom treated Manuel with the hospitality a man of his stature demanded. But for all the assistance Henry and other western rulers provided for Manuel, there was, by this stage, no long term hope for the Byzantine empire and it would fall just over half a century later.

Henry, at this stage, was unmarried. His first wife Mary, mother of his eventual successor Henry V, had died some years earlier. His second wife, and now queen, was Joan of Navarre, whom he married in 1403. That same year, Henry faced his next serious rebellion. This came in the form of a powerful nobleman in the north, a man called Henry Percy. He is better known to history as Harry Hotspur. Hotspur's forces engaged the King's men in battle at Shrewsbury. Perhaps trying to live up to his name, Hotspur charged into battle and was cut down and the king's army was victorious. More worryingly for Henry though was the injury suffered by his son, Prince Henry. The 16 year old had taken an arrow to the face. He survived but was permanently scarred. Henry's reign continued to be dogged by revolts. Hotspur's successor, another Henry Percy, stirred up trouble in the North of England and Henry even had to execute his Archbishop of York. Despite being quite successful in the North, Henry had far greater difficulty in subduing Wales. Glyndwr continued to pester him and, to add insult to injury, Henry lost vast treasure during thunderstorms, including his crowns. Wales had always been a difficult country to keep in line and Henry was finding that out for himself. In 1406, the Scottish king, the 12 year old James I, was captured on his way to France and brought to Henry IV. If the Scots now wished to cause trouble, Henry had a powerful weapon to use. Also that year was the long parliament where after a painstaking amount of time, an unpopular tax was passed. As the reign went on, Henry IV's health gradually grew worse and worse and his heir Prince Henry became more influential. The king is said to have suffered from leprosy. Whatever his condition was, it's clear that it became so severe that it was beginning to affect his rule and Prince Henry, with the backing of other members of the nobility, asked the king to abdicate in favour of himself. In a last statement of defiance, Henry refused his son's request and, as if to prove a point, went on a tour of the country. But his health failed him soon after and he died in 1413. It's not really a surprise Henry IV's reign was a short one. Constant rebellions must have taken a tremendous toll on the king's health and try as he might, his kingdom never had true peace under his kingship.

Edgar The Peaceful

 

Edgar is a king who perhaps does not get the credit that is due to him. Edgar became king in 959 on the death of Eadwig. In the previous century, there had been a number of highly capable rulers who were vital in laying the foundations for Modern England. The most notable are Alfred The Great, Edward The Elder and Aethelstan. Some though, including Alfred's father Aethelwulf, have been almost ignored despite them laying the groundwork for the achievements of Alfred and his immediate successors. Edgar's case is slightly different. His reign is best remembered for relative stability in a troubled time. Following him though was the calamitous reign of Aethelred II. And it's largely because of that Edgar is very often ignored. 

 Edgar was born in the mid 940s which means he was only about 15 or 16 when he became king after the death of Eadwig. Eadwig himself died young, around the age of 19. Eadwig's reign got off to a terrible start He was discovered alone with two noblewomen at his coronation feast by Abbot Dunstan who was not impressed and separated the trio. Eadwig didn't forget this and he soon banished Dunstan from his kingdom. Eadwig's reign didn't improve and his rule proved to be unpopular. It could only be hoped that his successor Edgar would do a better job. And it became clear fairly quickly into Edgar's reign that he was indeed more suited for kingship. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle praises him quite lavishly. Nobility and rulers of other kingdoms were happy to pay homage to him. He is praised for having good judgement and he ensured peace throughout the kingdom. What undoubtedly helped Edgar is that there seems to have been a tailing off, during his reign, of Viking activity. For the time being, Viking raids were being directed elsewhere but Edgar took advantage of that to bring prosperity to his kingdom. His laws and the justice he brought to England are impressive and admirable. In fact, just over 40 years after Edgar died, King Cnut made reference to the laws that had been passed during the reign of Edgar and he swore to uphold them. 

No doubt this was Cnut's attempts to appease the Anglo Saxons who were not impressed by being ruled by a Dane. What this indicates is the impressive authority Edgar had as king. Edgar recalled the wise Dunstan, who would become a saint, from exile and made him Archbishop of Canterbury, Between them, Dunstan and Edgar reorganised the church. First by driving out corrupt members of the clergy and then by rebuilding the monasteries that had been devastated by the Vikings.

Edgar is believed to have been married three times, the most important of these relationships were the first and third. His first marriage, with a woman named Aethelflaed, produced a son and heir, Edward The Martyr. His third marriage was to a woman named Elfrida. With her, he'd have two more sons. One died young, but the other would go on to become king Aethelred II in 978 after Elfrida had murdered her own stepson Edward The Martyr, three years after he had succeeded his father, Edgar. It wasn't all blissful peace throughout Edgar's reign. In 966, a noble raised an army and caused considerable damage. And, in the South, Edgar seems to have felt obliged to retaliate to a revolt in Kent, which he did so, in heavy handed fashion. Both crises though ended relatively quickly. Edgar, in 973, was crowned alongside his queen Elfrida. He would have been declared king in a formal ceremony after he succeeded to the throne but this was the first major ceremony. In attendance at the ceremony, was the king of Scots, Kenneth II, who swore loyalty to the king. This again demonstrates the stability of Edgar's reign. This ceremony indicates that Edgar probably thought he had a lot more time left. But just two years after this coronation at Bath, Edgar died aged 31 or 32. So ended Edgar The Peaceful. He ruled justly, wisely and fairly. But little did he know, his premature death would be followed by decades of turmoil. And Edgar's queen had no little part to play in that. It's an interesting thought to ponder if Edgar could have handled a sustained period of Viking rai

The History of Anglo Saxon England

 

For me, the easiest way of portraying life after the departure of the Romans is to walk through the reigns of key and prominent figures, what actions they took and, if possible, to discuss what repercussions they had. My plan is to give a brief overview of some of the kings in the 6th and 7th centuries and it won’t be until the late 8th century until a bit more flesh can be put on the bones. To begin with, we have king Cerdic who ruled over Wessex from 519 to 534. From the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, we can tell that Cerdic spent much of his reign fighting, particularly against the Britons. In the year he succeeded to the kingdom of Wessex, Cerdic, alongside Cynric fought against the Britons at Cerdicesford.in modern Salisbury in their first encounter. 8 years later, Cerdic and his son again engaged the Britons, this time at Cerdiceslea in Somerset where they were victorious. In 530, they captured the Isle of Wight. 4 years later, on the death of Cerdic, Cynric succeeded his father to the throne. Cynric reigned as king of Wessex for a total of 26 years and his career is most notable for his successes in battle, defeating the Britons in battle in 552. Unlike later kings of England, he seems to have been comfortable handing power to family letting Stuf and Wihtgar rule the Isle of Wight. That’s a quite notable gesture to relinquish some power in those times as he could have been creating potential rivals for his kingdom. He seems to have been confident in his own position enough and trusting of Stuf and Wihtgar enough to be able to do that. His reign is largely uneventful so it can be seen that Cynric was a strong and capable ruler. In the north, in 565, Columba was sent to convert the picts to Christianity and built his monastery on Iona. In 568, the king of Wessex,Ceawlin fought against the king of Kent, Aethelbryt and defeated him in a skirmish. In 577, Ceawlin continued the Wessex success and captured three cities from the Britons, Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath. Although one of his allies was killed a few years later, Ceawlin continued his dominance and captured more and more towns, expanding his kingdom. His run was to come to an end in 592 where he suffered heavy losses in battle at a site in Wiltshire and was driven back. Ceawlin died one year later. Despite that defeat, he had continued Wessex’s military successes and expanded the kingdom. In 597, probably the most significant event in early Anglo Saxon history saw the arrival of Augustine in England to convert the pagan Saxon Kingdoms. The first notable conversion was the king of Northumbria in 601. There seems to have been strong resistance among the Welsh to heed Augustine’s message and as a result many were killed by Saxon tribes who were converting. The Welsh continued to resist and some 200 priests were killed when they were sent there to pray for the Welsh. Augustine died not long after his event but thanks to him, there was now a church in England. He was buried at his abbey in Canterbury. In 617, Northumbria had a new king called Edwin who seems to have been a formidable and forceful king as he defeated all the other major Saxon kingdoms except for Kent. After a failed assination attempt on him, Edwin retaliated against Wessex by launch a brutal attack on the kingdom and forcing them into submission. After being converted in 627, Edwin ruled for a further 6 years before he and his heir were killed in battle. Edwin was one of the most formidable warrior kings of his time and a early fore runner to later kings who sought to unite the country.

Over the course of the next century, life continued in pretty much the same with the kingdoms fighting among themselves with Kent suffering particularly extensive damage in the late seventh century. In 757, the most famous of all Anglo Saxon kings before Alfred the Great, Offa, became king of Mercia. Unsurprisingly, his route to the crown was not straightforward and he had to fight to win it but he reigned eventually for nearly 40 years. Offa's main rival was a Cynewulf, a king of Wessex, who he engaged in battle in 779. Offa's main legacy and one of Anglo Saxon's most famous legacies, is Offa's Dyke which was probably built in around the 780s. It is probable, though not absolutely certain, that is was his construction. It was during the last few years of Offa's reign that a sense of foreboding swept the land and ominous signs were being spotted. In 793, the monastery at Lindisfarne was sacked. This was the beginning of the Viking raids. England's relationship with the Norsemen would last up until 1066 when Harald Hardrada was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. The Danes attacked again in 836 where they were victorious at the Battle of Carhampton from whereon the attacks became more sustained though they were not entirely invincible and were driven back in 838 although that was only temporary respite and they were to come again. They gained several victories although in 851 they suffered a couple of major setbacks as they sustained dramatic casualties in battles in the South West and then when they retreated towards Surrey, they were hammered in battle by King Aethelwulf. What we have seen here is that although the Vikings were indeed might warriors, the Anglo Saxons were very much capable of uniting against them and, not only just driving them back, but inflicting heavy damage upon. It's this evidence of military success for the Saxons that made Aethelred II failures in the late 10th and early 11th centuries all the more dismal. The aforementioned Aethelwulf is a key figure in Saxon England. Although he was assisted in victory by one of his sons Aethelbald, it was one of his other sons that would go on to become one of England's greatest kings. He was called Alfred who was born approximately 843 and would go on to be known as the great. Aethelwulf had also made a prestigious second marriage, after Alfred's mother had died, with daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor. Her name was Judith of Flanders. We are now set up nicely for the next part of this story. The Vikings had arrived on English soil and caused altogether a lot of damage. Much suffering was felt across the country as it was in other parts of Europe. However, the situation was not lost. The Saxons had shown they were capable of unifying and fighting back against a formidable enemy despite a long history that might have indicated otherwise. And under Aethelwulf's son, Alfred, the first steps towards a fully united England would be made.

The situation in England in the 850s was dire but not without hope. As mentioned in part 3, there had been some signs of attempted unification against the Viking threat which, after several centuries of fighting amongst the Saxon kingdoms, was no mean feat. Aethelwulf died in 855 and a new leader was needed. That was to come in the shape of his youngest son Alfred. In 865, the Vikings settled in England for the first time and not just their usual destructive raids. Violence and pillaging continued all the same and the famous story of King Edmund being tied to a tree and shot to death with a volley of arrows went down in history thought possibly not true. Edmund was later made a saint. In 871, Alfred, alongside his brother Aethelred i (not to be confused with Aethelred II 'The Unready) met the Vikings at the Battle of Ashdown where they were victorious after a fierce battle. Not long after the battle Aethelred died and Alfred became king of Wessex. One thing that does emerge from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is how widespread the Vikings movement were. They did not leave one area of the country untouched. They moved swiftly from region to region only halting when the winter weather set in, In 878, the Vikings marched into Wessex and overran it. In response Alfred roused the men of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset and together they forced the Vikings to retreat. After they were hunted down and besieged by Alfred's force, the Vikings left Wessex after their king had been baptised. The following years went in much the same vein. The Danes went from place to place with the Saxons scrambling to respond. In 882, Alfred engaged them in a sea battle where he wiped out the Danish force by sinking their ships and either capturing, wounding or killing the Danes.

His feats against the Danes were not the only reason Alfred became known as the Great. He was a huge believer in education and had books translated from Latin to English for the benefit of the general population. It was also thanks to him that the main source for our knowledge of the Anglo Saxon period, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, was compiled. In 893, the Saxons and the Danes were again engaged in battle, this time at Farnham, and again Alfred's men put them to flight and stole their provisions. Time and again, Alfred forced the Vikings to retreat. He built defensive structures known as burhs, mimicking the Danes in that regard. He even built the first real English navy although his main successes remained on land. When he did in 899 at the age of about 56, he left behind a legacy of young, educated noblemen who had been schooled thanks to his patronage. He had put in place a network of defensive buildings to enable his son and successor to continue to defy the Vikings and unify the country. He had encouraged literacy throughout the general English population and thanks to him, we have the Chronicle which shines a light on his deeds and on an otherwise distant and murky time. On the death of his father Alfred, Edward, known as the Elder, succeeded him as king of Wessex. Although he was not as inclined towards reading and learning as Alfred had been, Edward would go on to become an extremely capable ruler and continue the work his father had started and added to it. Whilst Alfred's main successes had lain in driving the Viking invaders into retreat, Edward built up the size of his kingdom by reviving regions that had suffered terrible damage. Areas like East Anglia, Essex and Northumbria were brought back to life. Mercia was snatched back from Viking control. Under Edward, the forging of England as a unified kingdom had truly begun.

Defeats for the Vikings continued early into the early 10th century. The men of Kent were victorious against them in battle and at Stafford in 907 the English were once again victorious. Edward made a marriage for his daughter with the king of Northumbria in a further move to bring unity to the country. If and when the Northern king died, Edward could lay claim to that particular region. He added prestige to his slowly blossoming kingdom by marrying his daughter to Charles the Simple, king of France. One of his other daughterS went on to marry the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto I although that took place after his death. Although Mercia was not initially under his control, Edward's sister Aethelflaed ruled it and ruled it quite capably. She rebuilt Tamworth and laid siege to Brecknock castle which was in the hands of the Britons. She claimed possession of Derby and Leicester and when she died in 918, the Mercia which Edward became ruler of had been expanded through her both her will and her guile. Aethelflaed was a remarkable woman and her part in the forging of England should not be underestimated. Edward continued to move across the country and adding to his kingdom. Buckingham and Bedford were taken and fortified. Although the Vikings continued to be problematic attacking, what had been peaceful for a short period, places like Leicester and the new fortifications at Maldon, Edward steadfastly continued on his building programme. Nottingham was also further strengthened. Edward's legacy is possibly slightly overlooked by the fact he was successor to Alfred the Great. But without him, and Aethelflaed, the unification of England may have taken many centuries more and quite possibly made for a different and distinctly more Danish country. Between he and his sister, Edward, through a combination of will, force and diplomacy began to built a more distinctive England. While Alfred's biggest contribution to history was literacy and more specifically the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Edward had changed the shape of the country geographically. Most of the country was under his possession by the time of his death and whilst he probably can't be called the first king of England, that opportunity would be left to his son Aethelstan. Whilst he maybe overshadowed, it is arguable that Edward had the greater impact on English history when compared with Alfred. On the death of his father in 924, Aethelstan became king of an expanding territory although still not the fully unified England as we know it today. One of his first actions as king was dealing with the Scots and their king, Constantine, who had reneged on a peace agreement. After seeking divine inspiration, Aethelstan marched into Scotland and brutally restored peace. Constantine's son was brought down to Wessex to ensure the Scottish didn't go back on their word. In 927, Aethelstan brought Northumbria into his possession and he was effect overlord of all the British kings, including Constantine. Evidently that fact didn't count for too much with the Scottish king and Aethelstan again was obliged to march into Scotland in 934 and lay waste to the countryside. It is evident from the ASC that Scotland was proving particularly troublesome at this time and that the relationship between England and the Scots has not always been defined by English oppression of the Scots. Constantine infringed upon English territory time and again through sheer opportunism. Perhaps he saw the expansion of the Wessex kingdom and thought he could claim further territory for himself. Aethelstan was a piou man and frequently made gifts to places of worship whenever he was on campaign. It's also said he had a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on although how many people claimed to have such a fragment throughout the Middle Ages makes this seem quite dubious. Aethelstan seemed to have a good reputation around Europe and accordingly received gifts from other monarchs and people of stature.

The defining moment of not only Aethelstan's reign but one of the most important in Anglo Saxon History came toward the latter end of his reign, in 937. The security of his kingdom faced it's biggest threat at the Battle of Brunnanburh where a combined force of Danes, Irish and, unsurprisingly, Scots attacked the kingdom. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells of an emphatic victory for Aethelstan as the Wessex men took no pity on the enemy. The Scots fell, the Danes were forced to flee back to their ships and the Irish headed back to Ireland. Never was there seen to have been a bloodier battle on the Island and effectively established Aethelstan as king of all England although after his death, his successors would continue to have some trouble bringing Northumbria back into line. By the time of his death in 939, Aethelstan was what can be considered the first true king of England. He had subdued his enemies with the single greatest victory for the Anglo Saxons at Brunnanburgh, he had brought Northumbria into his kingdom and had established himself as overlord of rival kings although that didn't count for much as the Scots in particular rebelled time and again. Although it would be left to kings after to him to put out the last flames of resistance to a unified English kingdom, Aethelstan had finished the job started by his father and grandfather.

On the death of Aethelstan, his son Edmund succeeded as king. He was a young man, born in the 920s and not out of his teens when he became king. Edmund soon developed a good reputation and was as capable militarily as his predecessors. He took back control of Leicester, Lincoln, Derby and Nottingham which had been under Danish control before before besieging the Danish King Olaf after his raid on Tamworth where he eventually allied with the Dane and converted him to Christianity. In 945, after the trouble the Scots had caused Aethelstan during his reign, Edmund took a prudent step and gave lands to the Scottish king, Malcolm I, in order to stop further opportunistic raids from up north. Just a year later, Edmund I met a violent end when he was stabbed to death. It had only been a short reign but Edmund had shown great potential and the fact that the Scots swore loyalty to his brother who succeeded him showed his diplomatic skills in 945 had not gone unrewarded. Edmund was succeeded by his brother Eadred. His reign got off to a good start with oaths being sworn to him by the Scottish. In 948, the Northumbrians continued to be problematic and would not acknowledge Eadred as their king and instead supported a Dane, by the name of Eric. Eadred responded to this by marching North and laying waste to Northumbria. Believing he had subdued the rebellion and on his way home, Eadred's forces were attacked from behind by the Danes. Threatened with retaliation and perhaps realising Eadred would unleash a fearful attack upon them, the Northerners gave up and in 954 they drove out Eric who had evidently not given up hope of becoming king in that region. Eadred's reign seems to have followed a similar path to his brother's reign and showed himself to be extremely capable in dealing with uprisings. In 952, he had ruthlessly put down a rebellion in Thetford. Again, his reign was short and he died in 955, having ruled for less than a decade.

Eadred would be followed as king by his nephew Eadwig whose reign would be shorter than either his father's or his uncle's. His time as king was too short to be altogether too remarkable but is probably best known for the story surrounding his feud with Abbot Dunstan, later made a saint. It was alleged Eadwig was forced to go back to his coronation feast after Dunstan had discovered him with a noblewoman. Dunstan was sent over the channel into exile. Eadwig died in 959 at around the age of 19. He was succeeded by his brother Edgar who would leave a better legacy and earn himself the title of "the peaceful". Eadwig did not seem to have been a popular king with his administration being strongly criticised. Edgar was more successful and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is lavish with it's praise of his kingship; It praises Edgar for his ability to bring peace and stability to a realm better than any regime that had gone before and that he ensured strong laws throughout the country. He took on board good counsel and he had good judgement. He is criticised by the ASC for his being influenced by Danish customs but that does not appear to have damaged in any way his reputation with the author. One of his first acts was to bring back the exiled Dunstan who he eventually made Archbishop of Canterbury. In 963, Edgar and Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, began a programme of monastery building and in the process, drove out corruption from the clergy. Such was Aethelwold's work to that he too was later made a saint. In 965, Edgar would marry Aelfthryth who would later be shown to be a woman of some ruthlessness. She is the chief suspect in the murder of Edgar's son from a previous marriage, Edward, in 978 in order for her and Edgar's son Aethelred to become king. Given the troubled reign of Aethelred, Aelfthryth's legacy to history is not a good one. Overall, Edgar's reign, through what the sources, is noticeably stable. There were, as with all kingdoms at that time, periods of unrest but Edgar appears to have dealt with them with the minimum of fuss. Given what was to happen over the course of the next hundred years after his death, his reign of nearly 16 years looks like almost bliss for Anglo Saxon England

On the death of Edgar the Peaceful in 975, he was succeeded by his son, Edward the Martyr who was barely a teenager when he came to the throne. He had a lot to live up to. But it wasn't meant to be for Edward. In 978, he earned his nickname as he was brutally murdered. The blame, as i touched upon in my last blog, has fallen on his stepmother Aelfthryth, more commonly known as Elfrida today. The young king was slain and dumped without ceremony and Elfrida's biological son Aethelred became king on his death. I am not going to go into too much detail about Aethelred's reign as I have done a piece on him in my Top 5 worst monarchs segment and I'll be going into much greater detail when i do a fuller history of England at some point in the near future. As a king, he seemed to have the right qualities to rule. A genial personality and a grace befitting someone of his stature. Unfortunately, as time would prove, these stood for very little. Utterly incapable of repressing the Viking raids, an inability to grasp his tactic of paying them off, Danegeld, was an utter failure and heeding the advice of counsellors who were no more intelligent then he, his reign proved a neigh on calamity. The St Brice's Day massacre in 1002 is one of the most pointless and brutal massacres in Anglo Saxon History and ultimately led to his deposition in 1013 by Sweyn Forkbeard and then from 1016, Danish rule over England for a little over a quarter of a century. Aethelred, only returned in 1014 on the death of Sweyn as the English nobles had no appetite for another Danish king but Sweyn's son Cnut claimed the throne in 1016 on the death of Aethelred.

Cnut was not initially the chosen successor however. That was Aethelred's oldest son Edmund, who would later become known as Ironside, a formidable warrior and quite unlike his hapless father. Edmund claimed early successes against Cnut, defeating the Danes in battle near Somerset. Cnut and the Danes were clearly well aware by now of Edmund's warrior reputation and at a site in Kent, they scattered before him which led to a brutal slaughter of many Vikings. However, push finally came to shove at the battle of Ashingdon towards the end of 1016, where the tide turned against Edmund and towards Cnut thanks to the treachery of an English noble by the name of Eadric who falsely told the English soldiers that Edmund had been killed which led to panic in the ranks. This led to a decisive victory for Cnut. An initial peace was brokered which saw the country split in two for Edmund and Cnut to rule but it's safe to say that he had no intention of sharing the kingdom and so not long after, Edmund died in mysterious circumstances, supposedly murdered whilst going to the toilet and dying in very horrible fashion, leading the whole kingdom to falling into the hands of the king of Denmark. Cnut had won the day through a combination of luck, ruthlessness and treacherous Eadric. Cnut clearly didn't think too much of Eadric's actions as he had him beheaded after he had served his purpose. Whilst this had ushered in a period of foreign rule in England, the story was not over yet for the Anglo Saxons. Aethelred's other sons, Alfred and the future Edward the confessor, were still in exile in Normandy and the infant son of Edmund Ironside, another Edward, who would become known as the exile, would also follow them into exile and would become extremely well travelled. Another person who had been abroad had been Emma, the widow of Aethelred who had been with her sons in her homeland of Normandy. She would return to marry Cnut and her son with him would become king before her son, Edward, with Aethelred would.

Even though Cnut now ruled England by himself, the prospects for him building a long Danish Dynasty in England were by no means guaranteed. As i mentioned in my last blog, the infant son of Edmund Ironside was sent to Sweden on the death of his father and the sons of Aethelred the Unready were still alive in Normandy. Cnut had one son from his first marriage, Harold who would become known as Harefoot, His first wife died so he now took as his wife, Emma. the widow of Aethelred and the mother of Edward and Alfred. With her, he produced another son who, like Harold, would become king. He was called Harthacnut. Perhaps in recognition of how difficult it had been in subduing the kingdom, Cnut delegated power to three nobles. Turkill would preside over East Anglia, Eadric would take Mercia and Eric in Northumbria. Cnut himself would concentrate on Wessex. Ultimately, Eadric was put to death and Eric forced to flee. Cnut had also been advised to dispose of the sons of Edmund Ironside, the little Edward, now known as the Exile and not to be confused with the Edward in Normandy who would become known as the Confessor, and his brother Edmund. Apparently, the Danish king didn't want to carry out the act himself, perhaps in order not to stain his reputation in England so brief into his reign and sent the boys back to Scandinavia were the deed would be carried out. The king of Sweden however refused to kill the boys and they eventually ended up in the court of the Hungarian king.

Meanwhile, Cnut continued to suppress rebellion by stamping out English nobles uprisings and using his army to extract huge sums of money from places where he was still being given a lot of trouble, including London. Around 1019 however, the English and Danes seemed to have come to an agreement of sorts and Cnut now seemed secure enough to go back to his homeland where he'd spend an entire Winter. Cnut's authority continued to grow stronger and Thurkil, who had been overseeing matters in East Anglia, was exiled from the country altogether, although a year or so later they were reconciled and Thurkil now looked after matters in Denmark. Cnut however would have to return to Denmark in 1026 with a combined force of English and Danes in order to repel an attack from two Swedes by the name of Eeglaf and Ulf. Cnut however would be defeated in battle and suffered significant losses. That setback aside, prospects for Cnut's English realm were good. He received an oath of loyalty from the Scottish king, Malcolm II also from the future king of Scots, Macbeth. In 1028, Cnut defeated the king of Norway, Olaf II, who, when he tried to return to Norway after being exiled, was killed by his own subjects. Cnut was now king of England, Denmark and Norway. On the death of Cnut in 1035, he was succeeded by his oldest son Harold in England and his son by his marriage to Emma, Harthacnut, in Denmark . As a ruler, Cnut was a strong king. He predictably favoured his fellow countrymen when he became king of England, handing over to them English lands and property. He was wise enough to delegate power to others as from 1028 onwards, he was king of 3 countries and ruling over them single handedly would have been no mean feat. However, his legacy in England is ultimately limited. There would be no long lasting Danish dynasty and in 1042, on the death of Harthacnut, there would be no more Scandinavians kings of England again although Hardrada would attempt to seize the throne in 1066.

On the death of his father, Harold, known as Harefoot, became king of England ahead of his brother Harthacnut who remained in Denmark. The name Harefoot isn't recorded until much later but likely refers to his fleetness of foot.The succession did not go altogether undisputed. The most powerful man in England at that time was a man by the name of Godwine who was the father of another Harold who would famously die at the Battle of Hastings. Godwine and other nobles attempted to resist the succession but to no avail. Emma, the mother of Harthacnut and step mother of Harold Harefoot, initially went to Winchester to hold Wessex on behalf of her son but was soon driven into exile by the king. Harold Harefoot now held control over all England. In 1036, Godwine carried out a particularly brutal act. The sons of Aethelred the Unready who had remained in exile for over 20 years returned to England in order to see their mother, Emma . who was still in Winchester at the time. Supposedly in an act of loyalty to the king, Godwine and his men attacked Edward and Alfred's retinue, blinding, mutilating and killing many of them. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle says that Alfred was blinded as soon as he step off the ship. So brutal was the act, that Alfred died of his injuries, being tended upon by a group of monks til his death. It is an act wholly unjustifiable and is worth remembering for later on. What Earl Godwine had demonstrated was a ruthlessness to protect the interests of not only the king of England but his own too. These young men were sons of a former king of England and a very real counter claimant to the throne. If they'd been united with their mother, a plot could have been formed to put one of them on the throne and Earl Godwine, most powerful noble in the country, would be in serious jeopardy as someone that'd not only been loyal to a previous regime but a completely foreign dynasty. Edward and Alfred were the sons of an English king, an albeit hapless one, which would have made them a distinctly preferable alternative to a Danish monarchy. These instincts for political survival would seem to have been passed on to Godwine's son.

This act of political savagery was the most significant event of a reign which would end when Harold Harefoot died in March 1040 in Oxford and his body being dumped in a bog by his half brother, Harthacnut. Harthacnut's reign was mostly memorable for how he died. At a feast, he was drinking heavily, in the Viking fashion, when he crashed down to the ground suddenly. I've seen a few different theories for the king's death but the most obvious answer is he simply drank himself to death. With that, ended the 27 year Danish rule over England. The crown was now to return to the hands of the Anglo Saxons and the new king was Edward, son of Aethelred II and brother of the unfortunate Alfred. Edward had escaped the brutality of 1036 by returning to exile. His reign would cast the last two Danish kings into basically complete obscurity and his death would alter the course of English history forever.

Edward The Confessor was a pious man, indicated by the fact he is known to history as The Confessor. It has been suggested that his piety is the chief cause of his marriage remaining childless although some historians have discounted that. Nonetheless, his marriage was a fateful one and no heirs from it made it all the more so. His wife was a woman by the name of Edith, daughter of Earl Godwine, a man mentioned in my previous blog on Harefoot and Harthacanute, and sister to the future king Harold II who'd use his status to pinch the throne ahead of William of Normandy on the death of Edward on the 6th January 1066. Edward;s reign was a notably long one for an 11th century monarch, over 23 years. His lack of heirs is an interest issue to ponder. He had plenty of time to sire more than enough. Even if his marriage to Edith, who ended up in a nunnery was barren, a king of his time could have been expected to try with another woman. It's possible Edward may not have wanted or believed in divorce. It's also possible Edward needed to remain on the good side of Godwine. Divorcing his daughter would have alienated the powerful Godwine family and giving the king a major problem and possibly one that may have led to his deposition. Edward and Godwine's relationship was not always an easy or amicable one. In the early 1050s, rumours that Godwine and Harold were plotting against the king reached Edward. They were both sent into exile but didn't remain there long and were soon back, plundering on the south coast. It is an indication of how formidable a power the Godwines that they were not out in the cold for long and were soon reconciled to Edward. Godwine died in 1053 and was succeeded by his son Harold.

Harold soon became Edward's main man, restoring peace after an uprising had broken out in 1055. Again, in the 1060s, Harold dealt with a rebellion, this time in Wales. Through a combination of military strength and diplomacy, Harold soon restored order. Although Harold remained loyal to the king, his brother Tostig was altogether a different proposition. He was not a popular man. He had been outlawed and then exiled from his own earldom and it was his through his treachery that England was invaded by Harald Hardrada, perhaps indirectly changing the course of history although that is purely guesswork. So, when Edward the Confessor died in 1066 without heirs, who was to succeed him. William of Normandy, whom i've not mentioned prior to this deliberately as he'll be the first subject of my next series of blogs, claimed he had been promised the crown by Edward when he visited England. But Harold Godewinsson looked altogether a better candidate. He had demonstrated first hand the kingly skills needed. A strong military leader, diplomatic when needed and, what would have been preferable to most nobles if not all, English. There was also a third claimant. A giant of a man from Norway, Harald III Hardrada. In my mind Edward's preferred candidate to throne, if it wasn't to be a son or blood relative, would have been Harold Godwinesson. I find it hard to believe , he would have made a promise to leave his kingdom to a foreign ruler without categorically reaffirming it. He also would have known it would have been a tremendously unpopular decision and would lead to anarchy. A pious would have wanted to leave behind a stable country. It's possible that he had a change of heart but Harold must have looked to him to be the most obvious successor.

The Children of Edward III

 

Of all Edward's children, The Black Prince is unquestionably the most famous and revered. But this is not to say his other children did not leave their imprint on history. John of Gaunt for instance also made a significant impact. His reputation hit a dramatic low during the time of the Peasants Revolt but, over time, would redeem himself. Here i'll be having a quick look at all of Edward III's children, not just the famous ones. Life was hard in the 14th century and there was no guarantee a child would even make it out of infancy. And this was true even for royalty. Four of Edward's children with his queen Phillipa died either shortly after birth or before they were even one. The poor babies were three boys, two Williams, a Thomas and a girl called Blanche. Blanche and William of Windsor are buried at Westminster Abbey, the other William is buried in York and Thomas in Hertfordshire. The fate of these tragic infants is a sad reality of childbirth and life in the 14th century.

The eldest of the children was Edward The Black Prince, born in 1330. His brilliant performance at Crecy aged 16 in 1346 showed he was going to become one of the mightiest warriors of his age. A decade after Crecy, at Poitiers, The Black Prince captured the King of France, John II. The Prince also went on to campaign in Castile, fighting on behalf of King Peter I of Castile at the Battle of Najera in 1367, and Aquitaine. In 1370, The Black Prince sacked Limoges in devastating fashion after it had surrendered to the French. By this point, The Black Prince was not in good health, exacerbated by his exertions across Europe, and he would die a year before his father and so missed the opportunity to become king. That instead would go to his son Richard II.

The eldest daughter of Edward III was a girl named Isabella who married the Earl of Bedford, producing two children. The next born to the king was a girl called Joan born at the Tower of London in 1333. She was betrothed to Peter, or Pedro, of Castile but died on her journey to marry him. Joan was a victim of the plague that was now gripping Europe. She was just 14. The second son to be born, that survived infancy, was Lionel of Antwerp. Lionel, as his name indicates, was born in modern day Belgium and his main duties were to oversee matters in Ireland. In Lionel's household was a man by the name of Geoffrey Chaucer.

The second most famous of Edward III's children was John of Gaunt, born in 1340. Like Lionel, he too was born in modern day Belgium. Like The Black Prince, he too would be the father of a king. The future Henry IV was born to John and his first of three wives, Blanche of Lancaster. John became an extraordinarily rich man which put him at the centre of the ire of the Peasants Revolt in 1381. His palace was destroyed but both he and Henry escaped with their lives. He also had a tetchy relationship with his nephew Richard II. After his return from Castile, where he had tried to win the crown through his second marriage to Constance of Castile, he restored calm in England as Richard II's reign began it's decline. This gave a much needed boost to his reputation. He died in 1399 and was buried at St Paul's cathedral but his tomb was destroyed by the great fire of London. The next child to be born was Edmund of Langley in 1341. Edmund joined in campaigns in France during the less successful 1370s and also assisted in his brother John's attempts to become king of Castile. In 1399, he was one of the men won over by Henry Bolingbroke to usurp the throne of Richard II. Edmund died not long after and is buried at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire where he was also born.

In 1342, Edward III and Phillipa lost their baby Blanche before a couple of years later, another girl was born to them Mary of Waltham. Sadly, Mary's life was another short one, aged just 16 when she died. She did marry John IV, Duke of Brittany, who she seems to have made an impression on and he mourned her passing. The final daughter born to Edward and Phillipa was Margaret and another tragically short life. Margaret was even younger than Mary when she died, only 15. Then around the time of the plague, two infant sons died, Thomas and William of Windsor. Going through the children of Edward III is a stark reminder of the fragility of life in 14th century England. The final son, and child, was Thomas of Woodstock, born in 1355. Thomas would be present, alongside his father, at the death of his beloved mother Phillipa. Thomas was at the forefront of the discontent at the reign of his nephew Richard II and was a leader of the Lords Appellant who sought to remove corrupt members of Richard's government. However, Richard got his revenge nearly a decade later and had his own uncle murdered.

t would have been quite easy for me to have overlooked the infant children as inconsequential and just concentrated on the older of Edward III's children but it must be remembered these were real people and babies not having a chance at life then is as tragic as it would be now. It's a reminder to us all to remember how fortunate we are in the 21st century. It's worth it to take a moment to remember not just the infants but also Joan, Margaret, Mary who also died well before their time. This is my main interest in history. It's about the human element and not just treating these individuals as some sort of inconsequential statistic. Yes, you have to remember the realities of life then but it must be done so respectfully and is worth learning about those whose existence has almost become like it never happened. After all, this'll happen to us all one day.

The Battle of Lincoln, 1141

 

 King Stephen had usurped the throne in 1135 from the Empress Matilda who had made her move to regain the throne in 1139. The country was now at civil war. Lincoln was captured by Ranulf Earl of Chester. Ranulf was the son in law of the Empress Matilda’s key supporter, her half brother Robert of Gloucester so the move for him to snatch Lincoln was likely an act of loyalty towards her. Stephen reacted swiftly to the capture of Lincoln by heading north almost immediately and laying siege to it. The siege itself lasted until early February 1141. Inside the city walls, Ranulf would have been getting desperate. Having the king’s forces outside would have been hugely unnerving. If the city fell to the king then his neck was on the chopping block. So Ranulf in response requested urgent support from his father in law Robert who duly obliged.

Along with his followers, Robert made straight for the king's army. In terms of size, the armies were evenly matched. Robert didn’t have the easiest journey to meet the king. He and his men nearly become bogged down in a thick marsh which Henry of Huntingdon calls “almost impassable”. They eventually made it to Lincoln to relieve Ranulf and attempt to lift the siege. Robert’s first move was to organise his men into three divisions. At the front were his own forces. Behind them was a line of men who had been left disinherited by the king and who now sought vengeance and his deposition. At the rear, Robert had a full view of the battle and from where he could dictate his army’s tactics. Also in Robert’s army was a group of fierce Welsh fighters. Robert’s powerbase was in the South-West, an area, along with Wales, that had given Stephen serious problems early in his reign and a region that would have provided the bulk of Robert’s army. Ranulf would have been very glad to see the arrival of Robert and he addressed his allies with a speech prior to the battle. He addresses, according to Henry of Huntingdon, Robert as “invincible leader” and refers to Stephen as “that treacherous king”. Robert then gave a rousing speech to Ranulf and the army and they were now very much ready for battle.

In Stephen’s camp, there must have been tremendous trepidation. The king’s crown was now very much on the line. The king took mass and no doubt prayed for his salvation and a successful conclusion to the battle. However, during the service, there was an ominous sign for Stephen. He was offering a candle to the Bishop which then fell to pieces into his hands. In the 12th century, signs such as these would have been a strong indication that disaster was imminent. On top of this, a pyx hanging from a chain, fell to the ground. These two seemingly innocuous events may well have greatly unsettled Stephen. Despite the eventful mass, Stephen then took to the battlefield and, like Robert had done, drew up his army into battle lines.

 Here, it might have been expected for the King to give a inspiring and powerful speech. But due to Stephen’s rather feeble voice, the honour of giving the pre battle speech was left to a knight by the name of Baldwin. Once this had been done, and the roars of the fired up armies rang through the air, battle commenced. The second line of Robert’s army threw themselves at the king’s forces, perhaps spurred on by the indignity of their perceived injustices, but they were quickly put to the sword. Then the Welsh part of the army was attacked by two of Stephen’s nobles and they were scattered. So things initially looked promising for the embattled king. But the tide began to turn when Ranulf began to beat back the men of William of Ypres who, seeing the king on foot and right in the midst of the battle, came to the conclusion that his was the loosing cause and so fled the scene of the battle. 

The fighting grew steadily more fierce and there were no more fierce blows being struck then by those of the king. Spotting Stephen, Ranulf charged at him but was driven back by the ferocity of the king’s defences. But the bravery of his fighting eventually proved to no avail. Stephen was eventually overwhelmed and captured. Though he had been defeated by Robert’s forces, Stephen does come out with some credit. He clearly had shown he was a brave man but he had left himself woefully exposed. If he had positioned himself like Robert, at the rear of his army, then perhaps he would have escaped capture. But, even though he was now into the sixth year of his reign, i think it’s quite likely, as a usurping king, that Stephen still felt he had to demonstrate his right to rule and that’s why he threw himself into the midst of battle. Whilst commendable, he had ultimately paid the price and he was now Matilda and Robert’s prisoner. After the battle, he was taken to Bristol where he was held until Robert’s own capture.

Richard The Lionheart: A History of England's Greatest Warrior

 

Richard I succeeded his father as King of England in 1189. Henry II had died a worn out and defeated man, exhausted from years of fighting with his own sons. Henry The Young King, the oldest of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine's children, had died in 1183 aged just 28. He had been spurred on not only by his mother but also by the King of France, Louis VII. Louis was still embittered by Eleanor's divorcing of him, to only then go and marry Henry in 1152, shortly before he became King of England. It had been a tremendous blow to his pride and made matters politically very dangerous for the French king. So, presented with an opportunity to stir up trouble in England, Louis took it. Eleanor herself had been sidelined by Henry in their marriage. Having done her duty and produced for the king the required heirs and spares to secure his dynasty, Henry started to take mistresses with Eleanor moving past her prime and with Henry over a decade younger than her. This did not please her in the slightest and it's said that she had Henry's most well known mistress, a young woman name Rosamund, murdered. But that wasn't her most damaging action. Knowing her sons were chomping at the bit under their father's suffocating grip on power, she incited them into open rebellion. It would cause tremendous harm to Henry's reign and, when he heard who was the real mastermind behind the boys revolt, he was absolutely furious and had Eleanor thrown into prison. She was only released on the death of Henry II in 1189. It was Richard who had released Eleanor from her captivity. Richard was her favourite out of all her children and she would play a key role in not only his reign but also in the reign of her other son, John, up until shortly before her death aged 80 in 1204. Eleanor's role was particularly important, taking charge of administrative matters, with Richard spending very little time in England in his decade-long reign.

At Richard's coronation, all the key nobility were there from throughout the Angevin Empire, including the brilliant knight William Marshall. Said to be the only man Richard was ever afraid of, William had come face to face with Richard during one of his rebellions against Henry II. Having unseated Richard from his horse. William now had the prince at his mercy. With Richard pleading for his life, William said he would spare him (as he always was going to do. After all, Richard was still the son of a king, no matter how troublesome he had been). But as a warning to Richard, Marshall drove a spear into the horse he had fallen from. This must have had a tremendous impact on Richard and his ideas on Chivalry. And also brought into stark contrast the loyalties to the crown demonstrated by William Marshall throughout his career and the lack of it shown by Richard and his brothers towards their own father.At the coronation, Richard was stripped down to basic clothing and instead dressed in fine royal regalia, including golden sandals, a tunic, golden spurs and then finally a royal cloak. He was anointed king and in his hand was placed a sword, a symbol of the justice he was to wield in his kingdom before he was made to swear oaths of good kingship. And then finally, he was crowned King of England. There is, unfortunately, an extremely unsavoury tale from the coronation of Richard. After the end of the celebration feasts, some members of the Jewish community came to pay homage to the new king. Richard had expressly forbidden this and had banned any Jews from attending. The result was that the Jews were seized violently, flogged and beaten viciously with some done so to the brink of death and others actually being killed. One man was so badly treated that he accepted forced conversion before later being allowed to return to his true faith. It was an extremely unsavoury start and the violence had spread through London with some of the citizens using it as an excuse to demonstrate their own rabid antisemitism and inflicted great misery on the Jewish communities in London.  There was some repression of the violence with some being hanged for their roles but not for anything they did to the Jews but for the consequences that had been felt by the Christians such as fires that had been started in Jewish areas spreading to other areas with houses of Christians being burnt down. It's certainly not the first time a coronation in English history had gone wrong but it's certainly one of the most repugnant. How responsible Richard was for for the spreading of the violence is difficult to say but he certainly played a part in the abuse given to the Jewish people who arrived at his banquet. It's situations like this that you have to remember to keep the context of the time in mind but it's still hard to not feel great sympathy for the people involved and it's just another in a long line of examples of violence against Jewish people in medieval history.
Shortly after his coronation, Richard had homage paid to him by the King of Scotland, William the Lion, at Canterbury. Elsewhere, Eleanor had banned a foreign cardinal from meeting the king as he had entered the country without the king's knowledge and was thus ordered to remain with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Richard's brother, John, came whinging to the king as he had been placed under interdict, not for the last time, because of his marriage to Isabella of Gloucester. This was overturned and John would eventually divorce her and marry again. Two years prior to Richard's succession, Jerusalem had fallen to Saladin and his Muslim forces. The news of this catastrophe had made it's way back to the west with Henry II taking a vow of Crusade. Henry actually going on crusade was extremely unlikely as his realm, as i have mentioned, was extremely turbulent and he was an old man by this point (or at least by the standards of the day). However, the cause was taken up by his successor and also by King Phillip II of France. Crusades would prove to be an extremely expensive venture and even though Richard had inherited a reasonably healthy financial state of affairs, further money was required and, in some cases, it was gathered by any means necessary. 
Taxes were imposed and collected with such brute force, that it caused great fear across the country. Phillip and Richard attempted to agree to a treaty with Richard recognising Phillip as his overlord but when they reached the Holy Land, that would prove to be entirely unenforcable. As had been the case when Pope Urban II had pleaded his cause nearly a century earlier, a great Crusading energy had been whipped up. And, like the First Crusade, Jewish communities had been on the receiving end of this frenzy with slaughters of innocent people taking place in areas In England as far apart as Norwich and York. The actions are condemned by certain chronicles and attempts were made to prevent the slaughters but during the religious fervour of crusades, atrocities such as these were sadly inevitable. So Richard had made his plans for the crusade. He set sail and he and Phillip II reached Sicily in the Autumn of 1190 where they'd spend the winter. The next two years would define Richard as one of the greatest warrior kings of his, or any, generation. But the consequences of his crusade would be felt in England for the decades to come. Not only for the brutal taxes that his government had imposed but also for the lack of kingship he provided. He would only spend 6 months in the country and would leave himself open to the machinations of his own brother and also the man he was now going to fight a crusade with. He had no heir and even if he survived the crusade, there was no guarantee of an easy 

Spending the winter in Sicily, it wasn't long before Richard I and Phillip II were arguing among themselves. That agreement that had been reached for Richard to treat Phillip as his overlord whilst on crusade together had begun to unravel in very quick fashion. One of the first major issues occurred when it became clear the French king had been in communications with Tancred, king of Sicily about Richard. Tancred presented the letters that had been sent to him and it appeared to prove Phillip's treachery. He had implied to Tancred that the English king would cause him nothing but trouble in Sicily. When Richard had proved that wasn't the case, he had won over the trust of Tancred who, in turn, alerted him to Phillip's untrustworthiness.

Unsurprisingly, Richard was not amused by this and great tension between the two arose. Phillip attempted to clear himself of the charges but Richard refused to accept any claims of innocence and instead broke of to his arranged marriage with Phillip's sister Alice. Instead, Richard arranged a marriage with the daughter of the king of Navarre, named Berengaria. Richard's mother, Eleanor, once again proved her worth as she went to collect the young woman and bring her to Richard so the two could be married. The marriage was hardly an overwhelming success. The two barely saw each other with Berengaria probably never even setting foot in England and the two would produce no heirs which would prove fateful in the extreme. Departing from Sicily, Richard landed on the island of Cyprus. His welcome was far from hospitable and the ruler of the island, a man by the name of Isaac, decided to attack Richard's fleet and, in doing so, caused great damage. Richard's journey to the Holy Land was proving to be far from straightforward. Richard responded swiftly, soon bringing Isaac into submission and taking hostage his daughter whom he left with Eleanor and Berengaria. A treaty was agreed and Richard had conquered Cyprus although this hadn't exactly been a part of his initial plans.

Richard then finally reached Acre in the middle of 1191. The Muslims there were being besieged by the Christians who had been joined by Phillip II around Easter of 1191. The Muslim ruler Saladin had sent a small fleet to the aid of the defenders of Acre but before it could reach them, they were accosted by the king of England. The Muslim ships were overwhelmed by Richard and most of it's crew were thrown into the sea. And after this success, Richard made his way to the port of Acre where he was greeted by great enthusiasm from the Christian army and great despair by those holding out in the city of Acre. Eventually the city surrendered with an agreement being arranged. Saladin was to return to the Christians around 1500 hundred captives he had taken as well as restoring to them the supposed True Cross. However, it seemed that Saladin reneged on his promise and over 2,000 Muslims were executed in retaliation and some of their key nobility were put in chains. After Richard had demonstrated his ruthless side, Phillip showed his treacherous streak and departed home, despite the best efforts of Richard to make him stay. It seems fairly clear that Phillip always had this in mind.

 

With Richard preoccupied in the Middle East, the Angevin empire that he had inherited from his father looked decidedly vulnerable and Phillip absolutely would have known this. Having supposedly done his bit in overseeing the capture of Acre, he left and would use Richard's brother John to cause great strife in the West. Richard too must have suspected that foul play would be taking place back at home but, despite this obvious antagonism, he remained and would firmly establish himself as one of the great warriors of his age and strike fear into Muslims everywhere. In the early Autumn of 1191, Richard and his men faced off against Saladin at Arsuf. The battle looking to be heading for a disaster before the intervention of, first, the Hospitallers and then Richard himself. Not fearing death, the Hospitaller knights launched a counterattack against the fierce Muslim assaults and drove them back. Richard then threw himself in the middle of the battle and fought with such ferocity that he is said to have been "beserk". He struck at every enemy side, cutting a wide path around him and absolutely irrepressible in his progress. It proved to be an absolute rout. The Muslims had now felt the full force of Richard The Lionheart and generations of young children would be told, for their misbehaviour, "if you don't behave, the King of England will get you!"

Into 1192, Richard continued to turn the tide against Saladin. He recaptured Darum from the Muslims, taking over 5,000 prisoners and from there landed at Jaffa. Although he was militarily outnumbered, this didn't prevent Richard once again engaging Saladin's forces in battle and wiped out the majority of the enemy. The gains that Saladin had made for his own empire before the Third Crusade had almost been entirely reversed and it's largely due to the military might and brilliance of Richard I. He and his men arrived at Jerusalem but, despite the pleas of some, Richard would make no attempt to recapture the Holy City. Why? Richard must have calculated that his forces were simply not strong enough in either numbers nor physical strength after a long and draining war to make such an effort. You wonder here if he rued, Phillip's rather weak decision to leave after Acre. You most also wonder what Saladin had made of the events of the Third Crusade. He was, after all, one of the great generals of his generation in his own right and made significant and widespread conquests. But he had encountered a unique and brilliant foe. Richard had stormed into battle in a way completely unique to a king, paying little regard to his own safety and inspiring his forces in hostile conditions that were physically demanding on an extraordinary scale. Saladin died the following year and must have cursed, and perhaps begrudgingly admired, Richard. As for Richard, although he departed the Holy Land, this did not mean, he would have an easy journey home and there were now other enemies lying in wait.passage home.

In October 1192, Richard I made his departure from the Holy Land and headed back to Europe. He made his way through the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople. As he made his way back to the West, conditions for travel would have gradually become more difficult as it was now the middle of Winter. However, once he reached Austria, Richard had far bigger things to worry about then the weather as he was captured and taken prisoner by the Archduke of Austria, Leopold. Despite the awesome accomplishments Richard had made on the Crusade, which his captors would have been well aware of, he was not treated with the due respect a man of his stature warranted. He was verbally abused and his captors are said to have behaved in a manner worse than animals. Archduke Leopold then handed over the English king to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. earning handsomely from the deal. Richard was held in an obscure German castle, specifically built for the purposes of holding enemies of the Holy Roman Empire. On hearing the news of the king's imprisonment, his brother John started his designs on becoming king and so endeavoured to ensure that Richard remained stuck in Germany as long as possible, if not indefinitely. The Emperor was demanding an enormous ransom so the possibility of Richard's remaining a captive for a long period was a strong one. And John had every intention of making the most of the situation. Strengthening his castles and winning over allies to his cause, John then went to France to visit Phillip II, another man who stood to gain from Richard's predicament. For John to claim the throne, he didn't just have to usurp Richard but he also had to deal with Arthur, Duke of Brittany, who, with Richard having no children, was technically heir to the English throne. Arthur was the son of Geoffrey, Richard and John's other brother. With no heirs for Richard, the succession passed to the next brother Geoffrey who, having died, the succession passed onto his eldest son Arthur and NOT the youngest of the brothers John. However, this didn't matter a jot to John and, as i shall talk about in my blog on him, the lengths he'd go to to secure power would prove to be quite despicable. For the time being, he made an agreement with the French king to ensure that Arthur would be disinherited in the event of Richard not returning.

Richard himself still attempted to govern his kingdom even whilst in prison. He ordered the Bishops of England to convene and appoint a new Archbishop of Canterbury. For this, they elected Hubert Walter. Richard's and John's mother, Eleanor, continued to oversee matters and ensure there was peace in the kingdom and work to raise the enormous figure for Richard's release. At Worms in Germany, in July 1193, a figure was settled upon. The Emperor Henry VI had paid the Archduke of Austria 50,000 marks to hand over Richard and now he doubled his money with 100, 000 marks being the eventual figure received. Heavy contributions to raising the ransom was made by the church with the clergy donating some of their personal income. The larger churches in England donated their finest treasures and the nobility also contributed financially. It was a severe undertaking and would leave the country in a poorer state. When you consider the harsh taxes Richard had imposed for his crusade, this latest demand would have been economically quite crippling. 

Richard was finally released in early 1194 but not before an agreement on how the ransom was to be paid had been reached. Hostages were handed over to the Emperor until a sizable portion had been paid and Henry VI also demanded that Richard acknowledged him as his overlord. Very little regard was given to that though as the king had only done so under duress. Richard returned to England briefly before he turned his attentions back to his old nemesis, Phillip II. Having got wind of his brother's attempts to keep him in Germany, Richard met John and accepted his begs for forgiveness. Phillip II also would not have been too pleased to see Richard return. Richard now took the attack to him and invaded France. On more than one occasion Phillip beat a hasty retreat when encountered by the sight of Richard's army drawing up against him. I think it's safe to say that Phillip had been left more than a little intimidated by Richard's efforts during The Third Crusade. After Richard made significant gains, a peace between the two sides broke out.

The security of England didn't escape Richard's thinking despite his war with Phillip. One of his ideas was to encourage jousting tournaments so English knights could sharpen their skills in case of foreign invasion with him preoccupied on the continent. Between 1197 and 1198, Richard was once again engaged in a struggle with Phillip over continental supremacy and he pressed for further financial assistance. Given the burdens he had already loaded on the country with his Crusade and ransom, and that also he was hardly ever present in England, Richard's excessive demands for financial assistance is certainly worthy of condemning and it played no little part in the disastrous reign to follow. A Medieval king's duty was not simply to make great military conquests but to also think about the future. Richard produced no heirs so left a contested throne and left England in a dire financial state. 

In 1198, Richard was enraged by the Bishop of Lincoln's refusal to grant further aid to the king. Richard was on the back foot in his struggle with Philip having stronger forces and resources at his disposal. But the church had already made generous donations to the king's cause and the Bishop refused to burden it any further with a foreign war. The only way he would have accepted Richard's demands is if it had actually been for the defence of England. Tension between the Bishop and the king grew and it was requested that the Bishop should travel to see Richard. After a period of Richard having a child like sulk, the Bishop eventually won him over and Richard lodged the Bishop at his stunning new castle at Chateau-Gaillard 

In 1199, Richard was laying siege to a castle when he was struck by an arrow. Mortally wounded, he was carried to his bed. The perpetrator was brought before him where he was asked to justify his actions. The young man responsible replied that his father had died whilst at war with Richard and stated that he was simply getting revenge. Richard seems to have been impressed by the response and asked for his attacker to be released. His soldiers didn't comply with this wish however and the young man was hanged. Richard died of his injuries soon after. But to sum up Richard. He was an extraordinary military leader and a king completely unique in English history in the sense of what he accomplished during The Third Crusade. He has to be regarded as one of the finest warrior kings of the medieval period, if not the finest. However, as king of England, you could hardly call him a great king. He paid little to no attention to the future of his father's dynasty. He left the country in an economically difficult situation. He had left no heirs of his own and spent less than 6 months in the country he was supposed to be king of. England was simply not his priority.