HENRY II

HENRY II

Henry was born at Le Mans in north west France on 4 March 1133. His father was Count of Anjou and his mother Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. Henry had named Matilda as his successor to the English throne but her cousin Stephen had taken over.

In 1150 - 1151, Henry became ruler of Normandy and Anjou, after the death of his father. In 1152, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the greatest heiress in western Europe. In 1153, he crossed to England to pursue his claim to the throne, reaching an agreement that he would succeed Stephen on his death, which occurred in 1154.

He greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and strengthened the royal administration in England. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and with members of his family (his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and such sons as Richard the Lion-Heart and John Lackland) ultimately brought about his defeat.

By 1158, Henry had restored to the Crown some of the lands and royal power lost by Stephen; Malcom IV of Scotland was compelled to return the northern counties. Locally chosen sheriffs were changed into royally appointed agents charged with enforcing the law and collecting taxes in the counties.

Henry made use of juries and re-introduced the sending of justices (judges) on regular tours of the country to try cases for the Crown. His legal reforms have led him to be seen as the founder of English Common Law.

Family disputes over territorial ambitions almost wrecked the king's achievements. Henry died in France in 1189, at war with his son Richard, who had joined forces with King Philip of France to attack Normandy. Richard, known as 'Richard the Lionheart' succeeded his father as King.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_ii_king.shtml
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-II-king-of-England
https://www.royal.uk/henry-ii

FEUDAL SYSTEM

The feudal system is the name given to the system of government which was introduced to England by William I The Conqueror after he defeated Harold at the battle of Hastings. Feudalism became a way of life in Medieval England and remained so for many centuries. It was a simple, but effective system, where all land was owned by the King. One quarter was kept by the King as his personal property, some was given to the church and the rest was leased out under strict controls.

-The King: Leader of the Feudal System:The King was in complete control under the feudal system (at least nominally). He owned all the land in the country and decided to whom he would lease land. He therefore typically allowed tenants he could trust to lease land from him. However, before they were given any land they had to swear an oath of fealty to the King at all times. The men who leased land from the King were known as Barons, they were wealthy, powerful and had complete control of the land they leased from the King.

-Barons: Executors of the Feudal System: Barons leased land from the King that was known as a manor. They were known as the Lord of the Manor and were in complete control of this land. They established their own system of justice, minted their own money and set their own taxes. In return for the land they had been given by the King, the Barons had to serve on the royal council, pay rent and provide the King with Knights for military service when he demanded it. They also had to provide lodging and food for the King and his court when they travelled around his realm. The Barons kept as much of their land as they wished for their own use, then divided the rest among their Knights. Barons were very rich.

-Knight: Knights were given land by a Baron in return for military service when demanded by the King. They also had to protect the Baron and his family, as well as the Manor, from attack. The Knights kept as much of the land as they wished for their own personal use and distributed the rest to villeins (serfs). Although not as rich as the Barons, Knights were quite wealthy.

-Villeins: Villeins, sometimes known as serfs, were given land by Knights. They had to provide the Knight with free labour, food and service whenever it was demanded. Villeins had no rights. They were not allowed to leave the Manor and had to ask their Lord’s permission before they could marry. Villeins were poor. Had small plots of land they could work  for themselves: sometimes a serf saved enough money to buy his freedom and become a freeman.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k0HA3m8nny9kE2OL0fitisJ8Can2UGUF6ZCpJIWhtdY/edit

https://www.historyonthenet.com/medieval-life-feudalism-feudal-system

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was born in the year 1122. Being the daughter of the wealthy Duke of Aquitaine, she enjoyed a good education and was said to be well versed in literature, philosophy, and languages. When her father died, Eleanor became the Duchess of Aquitaine and simultaneously one of the most eligible women in Europe at the age of 15. Placed under the guardianship of the King of France, she was quickly betrothed to his son and heir, Luis. Eleanor and Luis married in July 1137, shortly before Luis father died and the young couple was crowned king and queen of France on Christmas day of the same year. 

The first years of their reign were troubled by some problematic political decisions of her husband. When the pope called for a crusade in 1145, Eleanor joined her husband on the dangerous journey. Yet, the crusade did not go well, Eleanor and Luis grew increasingly estranged and Eleanor requested an annulment. This annulment was finally granted on account of consanguinity (because they were blood-related). 

Only a few months after the annulment, Eleanor married Henry the Duke of Normandy. Spicy Details: Rumour went around that Eleanor had had an affair with her new husband’s father and she was more closely related to Henry than to her ex-husband. 

Nonetheless, the marriage went about and after the death of King Stephen and Henry’s inherent of the throne, the couple was crowned king and queen of England. Henry and Eleanor had 8 children together of which 5 were boys. 

However, Eleanor and Henry likewise became estranged after a few years and Henry even imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting their son’s rebellion against him. She was only released in 1189 when their second son, Richard the Lionheart inherited the throne. 

As the widowed queen, she took over the reign while Richard went on the Third Crusade. When Richard died, her youngest son John ascended the throne. Eleanor died in 1204. Sadly, John is the only child of Eleanor that she did not outlive. 

Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/eleanor-of-aquitaine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine

MAGNA CARTA

Magna Carta, English Great Charter, charter of English liberties granted by King John on June 15, 1215, under threat of civil war and reissued with alterations in 1216, 1217, and 1225. By declaring the sovereign to be subject to the rule of law and documenting the liberties held by “free men,” the Magna Carta would provide the foundation for individual rights in Anglo-American jurisprudence.

With his conquest of England in 1066, William I secured for himself and his immediate successors a position of unprecedented power. He was able to dominate not only the country but also the barons who had helped him win it and the ecclesiastics who served the English church. He forced Pope Alexander II to be content with indirect control over the church in a land that the papacy hitherto had regarded as bound by the closest ties to Rome. William’s son Henry I—whose accession (1100) was challenged by his eldest brother, Robert, duke of Normandy—was compelled to make concessions to the nobles and clergy in the Charter of Liberties, a royal edict issued upon his coronation. His successor, Stephen (1135), whose hold on the throne was threatened by Henry I’s daughter Matilda, again issued a solemn charter (1136) with even more generous promises of good government in church and state. Matilda’s son Henri II also began his reign (1154) by issuing a solemn charter promising to restore and confirm the liberties and free customs that King Henry, his grandfather, had granted “to God and holy church and all his earls, barons and all his men.” There developed, in fact, through the 12th century a continuous tradition that the king’s coronation oath should be strengthened by written promises stamped with the king’s seal.

Although the volume of common law increased during that period, in particular during Henry II’s reign (which ended in 1189), no converse definition had been secured in regard to the financial liabilities of the baronage to the crown. The baronage also had no definition of the rights of justice that they held over their own subjects. As the Angevin administration became ever more firmly established with learned judges, able financiers, and trained clerks in its service, the baronage as a whole became ever more conscious of the weakness of its position in the face of the agents of the crown. Compounding discontent among the nobility were tax increases during Richard I’s reign (1189–99), which resulted from his Crusade, his ransom, and his war with France. John was confronted with those myard challenges upon his rise to the throne in 1199. His position, already precarious, was made even weaker because of the rival claim of his nephew Arthur of Brittany  and the determination of Philip II of France to end the English hold on Normandy.

Unlike his predecessors, John did not issue a general charter to his barons at the beginning of his reign. At Northampton, however, Archbishop of Canterbury  Hubert Walter, royal adviser William Master, and justiciar Geoffrey Fitzpeter summoned the nobility and promised, on behalf of the king (who was still in France), that he would render to each his rights if they would keep faith and peace with him. As early as 1201, however, the earls were refusing to cross the English Channel in the king’s service unless he first promised them “their rights.” In 1205, in the face of a threat of invasion from France, the king was compelled to swear that he would preserve the rights of the kingdom unharmed. After the loss of Normandy in 1204, John was forced to rely on English resources alone, and the crown began to feel a new urgency in the matter of revenue collection. Royal demands for scutage (money paid in lieu of military service) became more frequent. The quarrel with Pope Innocent III over the election of Stephen Langton to the see of Canterbury resulted in a papal Interdict (1208–13) and left the English church defenseless in the face of John’s financial demands. The excommunication of the king in 1209 deprived him of some of his ablest administrators. It is not surprising then that when peace with the church was made and Langton became archbishop of Canterbury, he emerged as a central figure in the baronial unrest. Indeed, it was Langton who advised that the demand for a solemn grant of liberties from the king be founded on the coronation charter of Henry I.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magna-Carta#ref326679