Kings vs. Nobles: English Monarchy (1100-1485) | Study Guides, Projects, Research United Kingdom History

II. The Conflict between Kings and Noblemen

This period was marked by:

•A struggle between the centralizing power of the king and the growing challenge from the leading barons;

•A considerable development of trade and towns, which helped to disintegrate the feudal system.

The gradual character of the Conquest and the support of the Church enabled William the Conqueror

(1066-87) to establish a strong centralized state which was in sharp contrast to the anarchy of political

feudalism prevailing on the Continent. The Anglo-Saxon system of shires was revived, and a royal officer

was placed at the head of each; besides, William prevented the creation of great baronies independent of the

royal power. He also established the fiscal basis of the state by ordering a detailed survey of property value

in every shire to be made (the Domesday Book, 1086-87). The process of strengthening the power of the

state was continued by William’s son Henry I (1100-35) and especially by Henry II (1154-89).

Henry II Restores the Royal Power: ENGLISH (PLANTAGENETS)

English royal house, which reigned from 1154 to 1399 and whose name came from the nickname of

Goeffrey count of Anjou, father of Henry 2, who often wore in his hat a sprig of broom, planta genista. It

was used as a family name during the period 1216-1399.

The strong ruler was found in Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou. His mother was Matilda (or Maud),

daughter of Henry I of England, his father was Geoffrey of Anjou. He came to the throne of England as

Henry II (1154-89), first of Plantagenet line of Kings, who were to rule England for 245 years. By marriage

and inheritance, he came into possessions; yet he became one of England’s great rulers.

He ruled over a vast empire comprising England, Normandy and a larger part of France than that

controlled by the king of France. He restored the royal rights, tightened the control over sheriffs and tried to

get all courts under the royal control. Henry also started the English conquest of Ireland, which was never

fully completed.

Henry II sent out trained justices (judges) on circuit to different towns in England to sit in the county

courts. The judge kept records of their cases. When one judge had decided a case, other judges trying the

same kind of case were likely to adopt the decision that had been recorded. In the course of years, legal

principles came to be based on these decisions. Because this case law applied to all Englishmen equally, it

came to be called the Common Law. The circuit justices also made more extensive use of juries and started

the grand jury system in Criminal Law.

Henry II carried on a long bitter struggle with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who asserted

the independence of the church courts against the king’s authority. The church triumphed when Becket was

murdered. After making peace with the pope, Henry did penance at Becket’s tomb. Becket became a sainted

martyr, and for centuries people made pilgrimages to his shrine at Canterbury.

1) From the Norman Conquest to the Hundred Years War: the feudal state

(11th –13th cc.)

Level : 1st year Bachelor Module : History Student : Mr. HANNACHI

Partial preview of the text

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II. The Conflict between Kings and Noblemen

This period was marked by:

(^) A struggle between the centralizing power of the king and the growing challenge from the leading barons;
(^) A considerable development of trade and towns, which helped to disintegrate the feudal system. The gradual character of the Conquest and the support of the Church enabled William the Conqueror (1066-87) to establish a strong centralized state which was in sharp contrast to the anarchy of political feudalism prevailing on the Continent. The Anglo-Saxon system of shires was revived, and a royal officer was placed at the head of each; besides, William prevented the creation of great baronies independent of the royal power. He also established the fiscal basis of the state by ordering a detailed survey of property value in every shire to be made (the Domesday Book , 1086-87). The process of strengthening the power of the state was continued by William’s son Henry I (1100-35) and especially by Henry II (1154-89). Henry II Restores the Royal Power: ENGLISH (PLANTAGENETS) English royal house, which reigned from 1154 to 1399 and whose name came from the nickname of Goeffrey count of Anjou, father of Henry 2, who often wore in his hat a sprig of broom, planta genista. It was used as a family name during the period 1216-1399. The strong ruler was found in Henry Plantagenet , count of Anjou. His mother was Matilda (or Maud), daughter of Henry I of England, his father was Geoffrey of Anjou. He came to the throne of England as Henry II (1154-89), first of Plantagenet line of Kings, who were to rule England for 245 years. By marriage and inheritance, he came into possessions; yet he became one of England’s great rulers. He ruled over a vast empire comprising England, Normandy and a larger part of France than that controlled by the king of France. He restored the royal rights, tightened the control over sheriffs and tried to get all courts under the royal control. Henry also started the English conquest of Ireland, which was never fully completed. Henry II sent out trained justices (judges) on circuit to different towns in England to sit in the county courts. The judge kept records of their cases. When one judge had decided a case, other judges trying the same kind of case were likely to adopt the decision that had been recorded. In the course of years, legal principles came to be based on these decisions. Because this case law applied to all Englishmen equally, it came to be called the Common Law. The circuit justices also made more extensive use of juries and started the grand jury system in Criminal Law. Henry II carried on a long bitter struggle with Thomas Becket , archbishop of Canterbury, who asserted the independence of the church courts against the king’s authority. The church triumphed when Becket was murdered. After making peace with the pope, Henry did penance at Becket’s tomb. Becket became a sainted martyr, and for centuries people made pilgrimages to his shrine at Canterbury.

1) From the Norman Conquest to the Hundred Years War: the feudal state

(11th –13th cc.)

Level : 1st year Bachelor Module : History Student : Mr. HANNACHI

Richard ( the Lion- Hearted 1189-99), the bray and reckless son of Henry II, succeeded his father in

After a few months he left England and went off on his long crusade. The country suffered little in his absence because Hurbert Walter governed it better than Richard himself would have. King John and Magna Carta In 1199 Richard I was succeeded by his brother John (Lackland, 1199-1216), the most despicable of English Kings. By a series of blunders John lost almost all his French possessions except the southwest corner. The English barons refused to help him regain his territory. Angered by his tyrannical rule, they drew up a list if things that even a king might not do. On June 15, 1215, they forced him to set his seal to this Great Charter (in Latin, Magna Carta) of English liberties. Magna Carta is regarded as one of the most notable documents in history. The rights it listed were, in the main, feudal rights of justice and property that had been recognized by the previous kings, but now for the first time these rights were insisted upon against the king’s will. Thus an important principle was established that the king himself must govern according to law. In later years, whenever a king over-extended his powers, the people could remind him of Magna Carta. The Rise of Parliament Henry III , John’s eldest son, was crowned at the age nine and ruled 56 years, 1216-72. He was pious and well-meaning but incompetent and extravagant. The barons took a strong stand against him in Parliament. (The term parliament was gradually coming into use for the Great Council). In 1264-67 the barons, led by Simon de Montfort , rose against the king and brought on the Baron’s Wars. On May14, 1264 Battle of Lewes at which Henry III was defeated and captured. These wars ended when Earl Simon was killed in the battle on 4th August, 1265 by Edward at Evesham. Henry III’s son, Edward I , who ruled England from 1272 to 1307, wisely accepted the limitations on the king’s authority. His parliament of 1295 is called the Model Parliament (1295) called so because it contained representatives of the three estates of Barons, Clergy and Commons (i.e. all the elements of a future parliament).. Many of the Laws passed in Edward’s reign exist in modified from today. Edward I conquered and annexed Wales (1285) but failed in his effort to subdue Scotland. He died on his way north to put down an uprising led by the Scottish hero Robert Bruce. His incompetent son, Edward II , then took up the task and was decisively defeated by Bruce at Bannockburn. In 1327 Parliament used its new power to depose Edward II and place his son, Edward III , on the throne. Flowering of English Medieval Life The 13 th^ century was a time of great enthusiasm for art and learning. In architecture the low, square towers and rounded arches of the Norman period gave place to the delicate spires and pointed arches of the early English, or Gothic, style. New learning was brought into England by friars and other scholars from the Continent. Oxford University won renown all over Europe. One of its teachers, Roger Bacon, a friar, urged

2) From the outbreak of the Hundred Years War to the end of the Wars of the

Roses: the decay of feudalism (14th + 15th cc.)

in France: in 1379, the so-called Poll Tax was imposed on every male over sixteen. This situation resulted in the outbreak of a revolt in 1381. Richard II , grandson of Edward III, was 14 years old when a great band of peasants, headed by Wat Tyler and John Ball, marched on London (1381) from Kent. The boy king went out boldly to meet them. Will that you make us free forever, the peasants asked. Richard promised to help them, and they returned peaceably to their homes. The king did not keep his promise, within a week the judges hanged 1, ringleaders of the revolt. The feudal system of villenage, however, could not be revived. The serfs were gradually giving place to a new class of farmers’ free yeomen. Richard II thirsted for absolute rule and came into conflict with powerful barons. His cousin Henry, duke of Lancaster, led a revolt against him in 1399, imprisoned him in the Tower of London, and compelled him to abdicate. Parliament then placed Henry on the throne of England as Henry IV. The house of Lancaster ruled England only 62 years, 1399-1461. During this period three Henrys father, son, and grandson wore the crown. Their reigns were filled with plots and rebellions, murders, and executions. Parliament had made them kings, and the needed its support to keep throne. They therefore consulted it on all affairs. The Wars of the Roses: the End of the Middle Age in England In 1455, two years after the Hundred Year’s War ended, the House of York and the House of Lancaster plunged into a long and bloody struggle for the crown called the Wars of the Roses. Henry VI , of the house of Lancaster was captured and murdered. Edward IV , of the House of York spent most of his reign fighting to keep his crown. The last yorkist king, Richard III gained the throne when Edward’s sons were declared not to be the rightest heirs. Peace came with Richard’s death in the battle of Bosworth Field. The date of Richard’s death 1485 may well be used to mark the close of the Middle Ages in English history. The Wars of the Roses were the death throes of the feudal system. Battles and executions thinned the ranks of the nobles, and their fortified castles were no longer impregnable after the invention of gunpowder. A new aristocracy was pushing up through the broken crust of feudal society. In the towns a rich capitalist class appeared. Country squires the landed gentry also grew wealthy. The new aristocracy began to seek political power. England was now the chief cloth- exporting country in the world. Enterprising employers tried of the restrictions of the Guild System , supplied wool to farmers and villagers to be spun and made up into cloth. This method of manufacture was called the domestic system, or the putting-out system. It grew steadily and caused the breakup of the guild’s system monopoly. Serfdom also gradually died out. The gentry leased their land to yeomen who paid money wages to their free laborers. French the speech of the governing classes had become blended with Anglo-Saxon into an English speech somewhat similar to the language used today. The great poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in this English and the Bible was translated into it. These works were among the first printed by William Caxton, who brought a printing press to England from Belgium in 1476. Printing made it possible for many more people to have books and helped spread the New Learning of the Renaissance. Before the 15 th^ century ended, Spanish and Portuguese explorers had opened up new continents across the Atlantic Ocean.

Plantagenet House It also called house of Anjou or Angevin dynasty , royal house of England, which reigned from 1154 to 1485 and provided 14 kings, 6 of whom belonged to the cadet houses of Lancaster and York. The royal line descended from the union between Geoffrey, count of Anjou (d. 1151), and the empress Matilda , daughter of the English king Henry I. The name originated as a nick name for count of Anjou Geoffrey and it has been explained as referring to his practice of wearing a sprig broom (latin= plantagenista). The first king was Henry II ; the last king was Richard III. Common Law It also called Anglo-American law , the body of customary law, based upon judicial decisions and embodied in reports of decided cases, that has been administered by the common-law courts of England since the Middle Ages. Criminal Law The body of law that defines criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension , charging, and trial of suspected persons, and fixes penalties and modes of treatment applicable to convicted offenders. 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 provided the foundation for individual rights in Anglo-American jurisprudence. Baron’s War (1264- 1267) Civil war caused by baronial opposition to the costly and inept policies of Henry III. The barons in 1258 had attempted to achieve reform by forcing Henry to abide by the Provisions of Oxford. When, by the Mise of Amiens (1264), the Provisions of Oxford were declared invalid by Louis IX of France, some barons, led by Simon de Montfort , took up arms and, in May 1264, captured the king at the Battle of Lewes in the southeastern Downs. From then until his death at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265, Simon de Montfort largely controlled England and made important administrative and parliamentary experiments. Simon de Montfort A French nobleman granted land in England by King Henry III. A skilled politician and military leader given great responsibility by Henry III. He became leader of a rebellion against the king and he called representatives of all the shires and towns to Parliament.

Kings vs. Nobles: English Monarchy (1100-1485), Study Guides, Projects, Research of United Kingdom History

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Partial preview of the text

Download Kings vs. Nobles: English Monarchy (1100-1485) and more Study Guides, Projects, Research United Kingdom History in PDF only on Docsity!

II. The Conflict between Kings and Noblemen

1) From the Norman Conquest to the Hundred Years War: the feudal state

(11th –13th cc.)

2) From the outbreak of the Hundred Years War to the end of the Wars of the

Roses: the decay of feudalism (14th + 15th cc.)

The Conflict between Kings and Noblemen (Key Terms Definition)