Border Reivers

Two of the most dangerous places in the Isle of Britain in Medieval times were the Welsh marches, a no-man's land between England and Wales that was the domain of powerful Marcher Lords, and the Borders regions between England and Scotland.  The constant warfare between England and Scotland and the even more continual feuding amongst the various clans and families rendered it almost impossible to impose law and order. 

The present-day Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Midlothian, West and East Lothian and Lanarkshire, facing the English county of Northumberland were a continual war zone between invading England and Scottish armies.  In these areas, the soil was poor and inheritance laws made it so that land was inherited among all the sons of a family.  This meant that making a living as an honest farmer was almost impossible.  Families supplemented their incoming by reiving, or cattle-raiding across the borders.  Of course, a family whose cattle had been lifted or stolen could raise the hew and cry and ride after the offenders.  Blood feuds flourished, and royal justice from either Edinburgh or London was too far away to be effective.  Gangs of men, known as border reivers, mounted on fast, light horses called hobbies or hobelars could go on ridings or raids, raid an enemy family's livestock and be back across the border before the victim would know what happened. 

If a victim discovered the theft, they had to react immediately, raise the hew and cry, or alarm and ride hot-trot after the offenders.  They would then help themselves to the offenders' cattle or crate other mayhem, destroying crops and stealing property.  Kidnappings were common and property owners paid black mail to the heads of local reiving families to be left alone.  During wars between England and Scotland, borderers on horseback were effective fore-runners to light cavalry or partisan rangers, sometimes penetrating as far as Lancashire in England during the Great Raid of 1322.  Kings of both England and Scotland would try to impose order by appointing marcher lords to protect the borders from these thieves, but these men were often local and on the take, making it unlikely that they would crack down on the reivers. 

Reiving reached its heyday during the Elizabethan era, but died out after the Stuarts began ruling in England in the 17th century. 

Places: Greenwich Palace

During the Medieval and Tudor eras, when royal and noble households moved from place to place, the choicest locations for houses and castles were along rivers.  River transport was more comfortable than plodding along rutted roads on heavy-footed horses.  The Thames River Valley was especially favored by members of the royal family, who built sumptuous pleasure palaces.  Humphrey of Gloucester, a brother of Henry V, acquired the land for what is now Greenwich in 1443.  He began building a palace there which he called Bella Court.  His creation wasn't complete when, in 1447, he fell out of favor under an accusation of treason and later died of a heart attack before he could face trial.

Bella Court passed to Queen Margaret of Anjou, who continued to work on the palace, having in mind the French chateaux where she had grown up.  She named the property Placentia Palace, though it was often called Pleasance Palace.  The meaning in both the Latin and French was obvious, a pleasure palace, a show piece, rather than one intended for defense such as a traditional castle.  By 1461, Henry VI's reign was over and Margaret was in exile.  Pleasaunce passed to Edward IV and Richard III, but it reached its heyday under the Tudors.  Henry VII added extensively to the existing structure, where his son Henry VIII was born.  It was Henry VII who named the palace Greenwich.  In time, Mary I and Elizabeth I were born there.  Elizabeth I returned often to Greenwich, which was a typical Tudor masterpiece of red brick, towers and mullioned windows.  However, by the time James I and Charles I came along the in 17th century, they much preferred St. James' Palace in London or Hampton Court. 

Greenwich Palace fell into disrepair and much of its buildings were torn down.  What was left became a biscuit/hardtack factory and prison during the English Civil War.  Charles II had an idea to rebuild and refurbish the old palace but only one range of buildings facing King Charles Court was constructed, but never used as a royal residence.  Finally, in 1694, building began on a hospital, later a home for needy sailors and a naval hospital.  The naval hospital became the Royal Naval College in 1873.  The University of Greenwich and a musical conservatory occupy the site today.  However in 2005, some of the Tudor foundations of the palace were unearthed.  Portions of the Tudor chapel and vestry were located in 2006 were located, including portions of tiled floor.  Recently, more rooms, probably used as storage rooms during the Tudor era, have also been located.

What Is: a Caltrop

One of the more dreaded events on a Medieval battlefield was a charge of knights or mounted men-at-arms, riding down foot soldiers who had little or no place to flee.  There were various measures taken to ward off horses on a battlefield, from pike formations such as the schiltron to a nasty little antipersonnel device known variously as a caltrop, cheval trap, jack-rook or crow's foot.  These devices were made of two or more spikes arranged in a formation so that, when thrown on the ground, one of the spikes always points upward.  A horse running over these weapons would get them embedded in the soft part of the foot and go down, taking its rider with it.  A pile of downed horses and riders created fearful mayhem on any battlefield.

The name caltrop comes from a French corruption of the Latin words for a foot-trap, which is exactly what it was intended.  They were first used by Roman armies in dealing with horses or even war elephants, who were just as susceptible to the spikes.  Medieval armies used them, including Scottish armies facing English knights during the battles of Wallace and Bruce, and they remained in use during the early modern era.  Settlers in Jamestown, Virginia kept a supply of them on hand for use against Native warriors who sometimes fought barefoot.  They were also used during World War I, where Australian troops knew them as horse chestnuts.  Representations of a caltrop are used as military insignia by units who trace their heritage to horse cavalry, such as the U.S. Army's 3rd Corps, at Fort Hood, Texas.

Writer: John Gower, c 1330-1408

Books were a highly prized luxury item in Medieval times, due to the amount of work that went into writing, printing, illuminating and binding them.  Medieval libraries included poetry, ballads and stories, histories, religious works, many of them written in French and Latin.  Reading books was a privilege of the upper classes.  Becoming a published author was also expensive and available only to the select few.  One had to have education and connections to secure the patronage of a royal or noble person whose support was necessary to allow time to compose and write, and to print and circulate the work after it was done.

John Gower was one of a group of poets and writers called the Ricardian Poets, since most of them flourished during the reign of Richard II, 1377-1400.  The leading light of this group was Geoffrey Chaucer, who enjoyed the patronage of both Richard II and John of Gaunt as well as Henry IV and whose most famous work was the Canterbury Tales.  Another poet, known probably only to scholars and English literature majors, was John Gower.  Gower was born most likely in Kent or Suffolk.  Little is known of his early life except that his family was well-to-do enough to provide him an education where he could learn Latin and French and have access to the classic works he quoted in his own writing.  At some point, Gower may have become a lawyer in London.  He became acquainted with Geoffrey Chaucer, as well as fellow poet William Langland.   In 1385, he happened to meet Richard II while the King was sailing on his barge on the Thames River.  Richard was impressed enough that he commissioned Gower to write a work that later became a poetic Christian treatise, Confessio Amantis.  Since London lawyers weren't typically invited onto the King's barge and just randomly given commissions, most likely there was some know-who and backstory to this meeting which is lost to us now.  Was Chaucer involved?  We'll never know, although the two men were close, Chaucer naming Gower as an executor of his will. 

Gower is known for a range of works, mostly utilizing allegory and complicated rhyming schemes, as well as writing in French and Latin with heavy quotations from the classics.  It would be dull and boring today but was just the stuff well-heeled audiences of the time favored.  On of his works, Vox Clamantis, was an allegorical commentary on the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, which was one of the highlights of Richard II's reign.  Confessio Amantis and Mirror of Man were both contemplative Christian treatises in verse.  Later, when Richard II was overthrown, Gower achieved the patronage of Henry IV and wrote works for him, including In Praise of Peace, which extolls Henry IV as the savior of England.  Gower also wrote ballads and other propaganda pieces for Henry. 

Patronage could bring many fringe benefits, including personal wealth.  Gower died in 1408 and was buried in a elaborate tomb in Southwark Cathedral.  He obviously died a wealthy man, most likely from royal patronage.  Writers weren't paid royalties as they are today.

The Assize of Clarendon, 1166

Once Henry II had established his authority over England, he turned his attention to the legal system of his new country.  He understood, as did most kings of the Medieval era, that royal authority was only as strong as the law.  If wrongdoers were being punished and disputes settled, people would have more respect and fear for royal authority.  Henry had inherited a kingdom were Saxon and Norman customs prevailed.  There was some idea of a jury and of local courts, but these were heavily influenced by customs routed in superstition and susceptible to being swayed by those with more money or popularity.

Trial by combat, where parties to a case or more likely, hired champions, would fight to determine the outcome was still the norm in most civil or criminal cases.  In criminal cases as well there was trial by ordeal, where an accused would be forced to walk over hot coals, hold a red hot bar in their hand, or plunge their hand into boiling water and have their guilt determined by whether the injury became infected.  Wealthy or popular defendants could recruit their friends to swear to their innocence en masse, by a process known as compurgation.  In civil cases, the other side could round up their relatives and friends, forcing judges and juries to go with the more popular side in a given controversy.  Naturally, disgruntled victims and plaintiffs often resorted to taking justice into their own hands.  Henry wanted to put a stop to all this.

He began by setting up assizes or courts to handle property and other civil matters.  He also dispatched justices to travel the country and hold justice eyres.  Upon arriving in a town, the justices would command the local sheriff to convene twelve men whose responsibility it was to investigate any potential crimes in the area, the forerunner of a modern grand jury.  Once the suspects were caught, the jurors would question witnesses and make a determination of guilt, after which sentence would be pronounced and the guilty punished.  An acquittal still resulted in banishment, from either the town or village or even the kingdom for serious offenses, to avoid any private retributions or blood feuds.  As this system continued, there was need to formulate more efficient rules and procedures, which Henry proceeded to do.  During an assize held at Clarendon Castle in 1166, Henry and his advisors laid out the procedures by which judges and juries, not competing, swearing village factions, would determine the guilt or innocence and the right penalty to be applied in the case of the former. 

Under Henry's system, no one was above or immune to the law.  Clergymen and barons could be brought to trial and punished, or made to return property they had taken.  Henry's sense of justice drew no distinction between clergy and laity, a fact that would run him head-on into conflict with his Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket.  The barons were also irked and the conflict between royal and baronial authority would come to a head during John's reign in 1215.  However, on the whole, Henry's system for dispensing swift, regular and equal justice worked and would form the basis of what became the English common law system.

Royal: Joanna of England, 1335-1348

Kings were humans, too.  Over time a myth has developed that parents in former times loved their children less than parents do today.  Various reasons are given, ranging from the fact that so many children died as babies or otherwise tragically young, to the low marriageable age of girls, to the apparent formality with which parents and children treated each other on a daily basis.  While all these factors are true, there can be no doubt that, in many cases, royal and noble parents loved their children and families as much as anybody.  And, when tragedy struck, they felt it as much as did the common people, or people today.

Edward III and his wife Philippa of Hainault had many children, at least 9 who lived to grow up.  Most of the time, the focus is on the boys.  Edward the Black Prince, John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, Edmund of Langley, and Thomas of Woodstock would take up a lot of their parents' time.  However, Edward and Philippa also had several daughters.  Their middle daughter, Joanna would perhaps cause them more pain than any of the others.  She was one of the earliest and, for her time, better known victims of the Black Death. 

Joanna was born in London in 1334.  Edward and Philippa took great care over her education.  She was placed in the care of Marie de St. Pol, wife of Aymer de Valence and co-foundress of Pembroke College, Cambridge.  There, Joan grew up with her brother Edward, the future Black Prince, her sister Isabella and their cousin, Joan of Kent.  Later, Joanna travelled in 1338 with her parents on a visit to Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, seeing the famous German city of Koblenz.  Joanna was to be married to one of Louis' sons, but that fell through later.  In 1345, she was betrothed to Pedro of Castile and departed England in 1348.  Her parents spared no expense on her trousseau, the inventory of which still survives.  Joanna's wedding dress was silk, she had another dress of red velvet, silver and gold buttons, other heavily embroidered gowns, even bed curtains and linens.  She was surrounded by a retinue of servants, retainers, musicians, clergy and men-at-arms.  There was to be no doubt that this was a Princess of England.

Joanna crossed the Channel and made her way to Bordeaux.  By that time, a strange new disease was already making itself felt in Bordeaux and was on its way to England.  Perhaps believing that Joanna was removed from any chance of infection given her rank and the fact that princesses didn't mix with common folk, Joanna's attendants felt she was safe.  Then, members of her close personal retinue began to sicken and die.  Joanna fled to a small village called Loremo, but there the Black Death caught up with her.  She died on July 1, 1348 and her body was buried in the chapel at Bordeaux.  By that time, Bordeaux and England were in the grips of the crisis.  The town mayor of Bordeaux ordered buildings in the town burned to ward away the contagion.  The fire caught the castle, destroying Joanna's remains before he family could claim them.

Meanwhile, back in London, even as he oversaw arrangements to dispose of the large numbers of dead and quell the rising panic, Edward's family would suffer two more blows.  Two of Joanna's little brothers, Thomas and William of Windsor, also died of the Plague.  This disease spared no one.  Royals, nobles, commons, clergy, tradesmen, soldiers, women and children were all susceptible to it.  Meanwhile, life went on and Edward had to write to Joanna's fiancée Pedro's father, the King of Castile, to explain what had happened and formally call off the marriage.  Edward wrote.

We are sure that your Magnificence knows how, after much complicated negotiation about the intended marriage of the renowned Prince Pedro, your eldest son, and our most beloved daughter Joan, which was designed to nurture perpetual peace and create an indissoluble union between our Royal Houses, we sent our said daughter to Bordeaux, en route for your territories in Spain. But see, with what intense bitterness of heart we have to tell you this, destructive Death (who seizes young and old alike, sparing no one and reducing rich and poor to the same level) has lamentably snatched from both of us our dearest daughter, whom we loved best of all, as her virtues demanded

No fellow human being could be surprised if we were inwardly desolated by the sting of this bitter grief, for we are humans too. But we, who have placed our trust in God and our Life between his hands, where he has held it closely through many great dangers, we give thanks to him that one of our own family, free of all stain, whom we have loved with our life, has been sent ahead to Heaven to reign among the choirs of virgins, where she can gladly intercede for our offenses before God Himself. (Source: Wikipedia).

The Great Writs: Quo Warranto

The most prized possessions of any noble family were their estates and especially the castles that provided defense and the manors that provided income.  Often those manor lands came with the right to hold courts, punish and fine offenders, and levy taxes or other burdens on the peasants.  Kings were aware of the intrinsic value of real estate, as they often bestowed property on nobles, and were quick to confiscate the property of traitors and rebels.  Over time, the titles to various properties became muddled and Edward I, reigned 1272-1307, decided it was time to clean house.  His father, Henry III, had made extensive grants of royal land Edward intended to claw some of it back.  From 1278-1294, he dispatched judges throughout England, who were empowered to serve a writ known as quo warranto upon landowners, forcing them to prove what right they had to the property in question.

Quo warranto, Latin for by what right/warrant, forced landowners to divulge whatever documentation they believed gave them authority to retain the land, and more importantly, utilize the produce and income from it.  Since many landowners didn't have written charters, Edward had to be content with proof that the land had been retained by that person or his family since 1189, the beginning of Richard I's reign.  Later, quo warranto became used as a challenge to anyone claiming to exercise royal authority or act in the King's name.  In some legal jurisdictions which descend from English jurisprudence, writs of quo warranto may be used to challenge a public official's exercise of his or her powers.

Descendant: Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, c 1475 -1542

The reigns of the first Tudor Kings were an inopportune time to be a Plantagenet.  Both Henry VII and Henry VIII were ever alert to any threats to their rule, coming from either a legitimate descendant who might have a claim to the throne, or a biological descendant who might support them.  Even members of the family who were otherwise innocent weren't immune. 

Arthur Plantagenet was the biological son of Edward IV of England.  Edward had several mistresses, so Arthur's mother isn't known.  He was born in Calais, the sole surviving Continental enclave of the Plantagenet empire on the Continent, the year ranges anywhere from 1461-1475.  Whenever it was, Arthur was soon brought to London to his father's court and may have been as young as 7 years old when Edward IV died in 1483.  Arthur next surfaces in the historical record in 1501 in the household of his half-sister, Elizabeth of York, consort of Henry VII.  Later, Arthur transferred to Henry VII's service and in 1509, with the accession of Henry VIII, he was made an Esquire of the Bodyguard and became a close companion of the young King.

Being a friend of Henry VIII could be a mixed blessing.  Arthur married Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle in her own right.  He was made High Sheriff of Hampshire, and later Vice Admiral of England.  He would attend Henry at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.  In 1523, Arthur was made Viscount Lisle, Privy Councilor, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and finally Constable of Calais.  Elizabeth died and Arthur later married Honor Grenville, the widow of Sir John Bassett.  It was a blended family, Arthur's three daughters from his first marriage, joining Honor's 7 children, including royal ladies in waiting Anne, Elizabeth and Mary Bassett, any of whom were rumored as potential brides for Henry VIII after Jane Seymour's death. 

Anne might have made it had not Henry become suspicious of most of the remaining members of the Plantagenet family by 1540.  Several of them were rounded up, including Margaret, Lady Salisbury and members of the Pole family, as well as Arthur.  The charge against Arthur was that he had conspired to give Calais over to the French.  A real plot was discovered, and its perpetrators executed, but no evidence could be found against Arthur himself.  He remained in the Tower of London, each day uncertain as to whether it would be his last.  Nobody looked forward to a beheading and there had been too many of them in Henry's reign.  Finally, in 1542, Henry decided to release Arthur.  When the news was brought to him, Arthur was shocked, expecting quite the opposite.  He died two days later of a heart attack, no doubt brought on by sheer fright and relief.  One historian later wrote that Henry VIII's mercies were as fatal as his judgments.  Arthur would have agreed! 

A fortunate by-product of Arthur's arrest and the search for evidence against him was that over 3,000 letters written by him and Honor were seized.  Posted at Calais, with three daughters at court, Lord and Lady Lisle had to manage their extensive properties and correspond with friends and family by letter.  The Lisle Letters, like the Paston Letters decades before, provide a valuable primary source for the era.

The Titulus Regius of 1483

The controversies of Richard III's reign don't begin with what happened to his nephews, the Princes in the Tower.  They begin with Richard's own ascent to the English throne.  In those days, strict primogeniture, or descent from father to son, wasn't a done deal.  More often then not, when a King died, the throne was open to whichever male of the Royal Family could fight for it.  Many Kings of the Plantagenet dynasty were lucky enough to die when their heir was an adult, Henry II to Richard I to John, or Henry III to Edwards I-III.  Others were fortunate enough that loyal councilors or members of the family protected the rights of a minor heir, such as young Henry III, who succeeded when he was 9 years old, or Richard II, who succeeded when he was 10.  Twelve-year-old Edward V wasn't so lucky.

Edward IV was madly in love with his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, but that didn't preclude him from relationships with other women.  Jane Shore wasn't his first mistress.  A woman named Elizabeth Lucy had born Edward his son, Arthur, later 1st Viscount Lisle.  And there may have been still others.  At the time of his accession, Edward was resisting a French match being proposed by Warwick the Kingmaker and may have given his troth, or promise of marriage, to another woman besides Elizabeth Woodville.  She was Lady Eleanor Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and more commonly known by her married name of Butler.  According to rumor, Edward IV may have been secretly engaged to her and she may have born him a child.  In those days, an engagement to marry was looked upon almost as legal and binding as a marriage.  If the parties had contracted or promised to marry, they could not legally marry another person, as a precontract would render the subsequent marriage null and void and any children illegitimate.  Whatever the relationship between Edward and Eleanor, they each went on with the lives with other people.  Eleanor married Sir Thomas Butler and became a wealthy patroness of religious institutions.  Edward married Elizabeth Woodville and had 7 surviving children.

Eleanor died in 1468 and Edward died in 1483, having arranged for his son by Elizabeth to become Edward V and his brother Richard of Gloucester to serve as regent.  At that opportune moment, with both Eleanor and Edward IV dead and unable to account for the past, a preacher came forward, claiming that young Edward V wasn't the valid king because his parents' marriage had been tarnished by the earlier engagement of Edward and Eleanor.  Who put this preacher on the trail of this old chesnut will never be known.  Did Richard dig up the information and use the preacher as a mouthpiece to set his plot in motion to take the throne?  It will never be known for sure.  However, once the information became public in the form of a sermon, Richard took full advantage.  Edward V and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury were already in the Tower of London for safekeeping and their they would remain.  But there was another problem.  George, Duke of Clarence left a son, Edward, who was attainted of his father's dukedom, but had inherited his uncle Warwick's title through his mother.  Edward of Warwick had a more senior claim to the throne than his uncle.  He was also a minor and in the Tower but boys grow up and the Tower wasn't escape-proof.  Something had to be done.

Parliament convened in the wake of Edward IV's death and passed a law known as the Titulus Regius, or Royal Title.  During this tumultuous period, with the Wars of the Roses fresh in everyone's mind, a stable reign under a competent adult male was much better than a regency council, or a takeover by another contender.  And, the MPs would have been aware of Henry Tudor waiting in the wings over in France.  The Titulus invalidated Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, making all their children illegitimate.  It not only affirmed Clarence's attainder for treason, but asserted that Clarence, born in Ireland, was born outside of England and thus unable to inherit the throne.  Ironically, this logic would have applied to many Plantagenet kings born in what is now France.  But logic doesn't always prevail when stability and national security are a concern.  With the Titulus in effect, not only could Richard be crowned King and hopefully live long enough to see his own Edward into adulthood, but he could keep his nephews under lock and key indefinitely. 

Then, tragedy struck.  Richard's son Edward died months before his father's death at Bosworth in 1485.  With Henry Tudor now on the throne and due to marry Elizabeth of York, there was a need to remove the stain on her family inheritance by reinstating her parents marriage.  The Titulus Regulus was repealed, with Edward V once more in the list of English Kings.  By this time Edward V and Richard, Duke of York were conveniently dead, maybe, and Edward of Warwick had lived so long in the Tower of London that he was institutionalized and probably wouldn't have been able to function adequately outside prison walls. 

 

Places: Fotheringhay Castle, Nottinghamshire, England

Some places are known for the tragedies that took place there.  Fotheringhay Castle in Nottinghamshire, England will always be associated with February 8, 1587, a day of infamy to Scots everywhere as the execution date of Mary Queen of Scots.  However, long before Mary there was an association with Scotland, and with impending tragedy.

William the Conqueror granted the property that would become Fotheringhay to the wife of the Earl of Northumberland.  Her daughter, Maud, married two powerful men, Simon de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon, and later Prince David of Scotland, who became Earl of Huntingdon after Simon's death and on his marriage to Maud.  What's a Scottish prince doing with a castle in England?  Nobles of the time owned property in many different areas besides their own native land.  Scottish princes were often at the English court, either as exiles or hostages and it was more convenient to give them property of their own to support their stay.  David I later became King of Scots, but held on to the property, which passed down to other Scottish princes until the reign of King John.  John, excommunicated by the Pope and ever suspicious of the loyalty of his barons, demanded that the then Earl of Huntingdon, another David, send his sons as hostages and turn over Fotheringhay Castle.  In 1215, as part of the terms of Magna Carta, some barons managed to recover their confiscated lands and the Earls of Huntingdon recovered Fotheringhay.

But not for long.  In 1218, David of Huntingdon rebelled against King Henry III and the castle was permanently forfeited to the crown.  It was granted to William Marshal, Jr., 2nd Earl of Pembroke.  Later, the castle was granted to the 1st Earl of Kent when he married the then-King of Scotland's sister.  It would pass to the Earl of Albermarle before Henry III retained the castle again.  The castle remained in royal hands until the reign of Richard II, when he gave it to a cousin, John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond.  John's daughter inherited the property, but died in 1377 and the castle changed hands again, going to Edward III's son, Edmund of Langley.  Edmund was the 1st Duke of York and we know where this story is heading.  The castle became a favorite residence of the Dukes of York, including Richard, 3rd Duke of York and his formidable wife, Cecily Neville.  Several of their children were born there, including Richard of Gloucester, the future Richard III, who first opened his eyes on this earth in 1452.  The castle remained in the York family until Cecily Neville's death, when it again reverted to the Crown.

None of the Tudors took an interest in the castle, until it became a needed prison for Mary, Queen of Scots.  There were several reasons for this.  Elizabeth I generally kept Mary in places that were far enough from the border to prevent her escaping back to Scotland, but far enough from London that Mary wouldn't think to make a mad dash there, either.  Mary was beheaded in the castle's great hall in February, 1587 and the castle was abandoned again.  Over time, it fell into ruin.  Locals carted away the stones for their own use, and today only the outline and one foundation stone remain.  The stone is surrounded by a fence commemorating the site as Richard's birthplace, and Mary's execution site.

What Is: Lady Day

Today, we think of January 1, New Year's Day, as being the official start of a new year.  However, Medieval people were on a different timetable, based more on the liturgical calendar and the seasons then the niceties of calendaring and dating.  From 1155-1751, i.e., during the entire reign of the Plantagenet dynasty and then some, Lady Day or the Feast of the Annunciation, was the official start of the year.

The Feast of the Annunciation, now celebrated on March 25 of each year, but in Medieval times celebrated on April 5, corresponds to the Biblical story of the Angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she will become the Mother of Jesus.  The Medieval calendar functioned on four quarter days, or days when contracts were signed, rents became due, and courts began a new term.  Because Lady Day happens roughly around the time of the Spring Equinox and about the time that a new harvest would be planted, it was a logical place to start the year.  If a farmer were about to take possession of a new farm, the rental agreement and the move would take place on Lady Day. 

 

King: Edward V of England, 1470-1483?

He was never crown, yet he retains his regnal number and is one of the more famous of the Plantagenet kings.  Edward V, 1470-1483? is better known to history as the oldest Prince in the Tower.  A young man who showed great promise, should have succeeded to the throne, but then just disappeared, or did he?

Edward V was the oldest son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.  He had a younger surviving brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, and five sisters.  Edward was made Prince of Wales in 1471 and in 1473 given his own household at Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border.  He was nominal president of the Council of Wales and the Marches, though the actual duties were taken care of by adults.  Edward IV placed his son in the care of his maternal uncle, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers and laid down strict instructions for the Prince's education and upbringing.  An Italian diplomat later reported that Edward was bright for his young age, spoke clearly, had a dignified bearing, and showed much promise for the future.  Edward IV was in negotiations for his son to marry a Breton princess.

Then in 1483, tragedy struck.  Edward IV died suddenly.  His now 12-year-old son was King Edward V of England.  Elizabeth Woodville knew the Plantagenet family history when it came to child heirs to the throne.  She took Richard of York and her five daughters into sanctuary at Westminster Abbey.  Edward IV's will named his brother, Richard of Gloucester, as Protector of the Realm.  Edward set out from Ludlow to claim his inheritance, meeting up with Uncle Richard, who was coming from Yorkshire.  They met in Stony Stratford.  That evening, Richard of Gloucester dine with Earl Rivers, Edward's half-brother Richard Grey, and Edward's chamberlain, Richard Vaughn and all seemed peaceful enough.  The next day all three men were arrested and Richard had control of the young King.  In May, 1483, Edward entered into London and was lodged in the Tower, to all outward appearances, soon to be crowned King according to custom.  Richard persuaded his mother Elizabeth to allow her younger son Richard to join his brother.

The Council wanted to proceed to a coronation and avoid the need for a Protectorate.  Richard kept postponing the coronation.  Edward and his brother were regularly seen on Tower Green, playing as young boys would do.  Then, in June 1483 a preacher asserted that Edward IV had been engaged to Lady Elizabeth Butler when he married Elizabeth Woodville, making Edward IV's marriage invalid and all his children illegitimate.  Where this propaganda came from, no one knows but it suited Richard's plans.  A delegation of lords and commons declared Richard III the legitimate King of England, and confirmed that Edward IV's children were bastards and George of Clarence's children forfeited by his attainder.  This was later confirmed in the Titulus Regius, a formal bill passed by Parliament.  On June 26, 1483, Richard of Gloucester was crowned Richard III of England and the two young boys were seen less and less, disappearing from view by the end of summer, 1483.

The commonly excepted theory, which may be Tudor propaganda, held that the boys were smothered to death in their sleep at Richard's orders.  This was the plot used by Shakespeare in his Richard IIIm and later memorialized in the boys' epitaph at Westminster Abbey.  Some sources believe that Edward, who was being regularly seen by a doctor during this time, may have died of an illness.  Still others maintain that the boys were murdered by the Duke of Buckingham on orders of Henry Tudor, who later put the blame on Richard.  In 1674, workers at the Tower of London discovered the bones believed to be of two young children.  Charles II, himself a Plantagenet and Tudor descendant, believed them to be the Princes in the Tower and had them reburied in Westminster Abbey.  Still later, in 1789, workers accidently broke into Edward IV's tomb at Westminster, noticing the coffins for two small royal children, who were actually found elsewhere.  Who were the coffins intended for, really?  The world will never know.

Vassals: the Balliols of Scotland

As anyone whose watched Game of Thrones knows, there are great houses and lesser houses, the heads of lesser houses becoming bannermen or vassals of those higher up the social rank.  This is classic feudal hierarchy.  Everyone owed fealty, which ranged from simple pledges of loyalty to required levies of knights and men-at-arms, monetary tribute and almost anything else, to someone else.  Even kings such as the Plantagenets of England often owed fealty to other kings for lands that lay within the domains of those royal families.  Add in the competing claims to thrones and other titles, often based on complex of descent and the friction only deepened. 

When Alexander III, the last ruler of the House of Dunkeld died without heirs in 1290, the Scottish crown was up for grabs.  A period of interregnum ensued while various claimants jockeyed for backing to become the next King of Scots.  The main contenders, the Bruces and the Balliols, both claimed Dunkeld descent through various female descendants of the late royal house.  Ironically, the Plantagenets also had a horse in that raise.  Henry II's grandmother, Matilda of Scotland, was a Dunkeld princess.  Edward I preferred to remain neutral while providing tacit support to the Balliol family.  The reason, while both the Balliols and Bruces held extensive lands in England for which they owed Edward fealty, the Balliols had a more vested interest and could be counted on to be loyal.  Thus, Edward could hope to control Scottish affairs through a vassal king, rather than having to spend the blood and treasure to fight for it.

The Balliol family hailed from Bailleul in Picardy, in what is now France.  They came to England during the reign of William II, or William Rufus in the 11th century and soon began to accumulate estates and vassals of their own.  John Balliol, the father of the Scottish King, even founded a college at Oxford, Balliol College, that's still in existence.  John married a Scottish noblewoman, Devorgilla of Galloway, whose father Alan of Galloway was a son of David, Earl of Huntington, brother of William I of Scotland.  This gave John's son, John, Jr., a viable claim to the throne of Scotland, as well as an extensive inheritance in England.  The Bruces claimed descent from David I of Scotland.  The nobles of Scotland lined up, not so much on who had the greater claim by descent, but on each noble's willingness to be under English control.  Many of the nobles of Scotland also held land in England, or in Capet or Plantagenet France and had their own tangled ties of fealty to sort out.

John Balliol claimed the Scottish throne in 1292, all the while promising fealty to King Edward I.  Once on the throne, he made the mistake of concluding an alliance with France, a traditional ally of Scotland.  Furious, Edward invaded Scotland in 1296 and John had to abdicate.  The Scottish coat of arms was torn from the surcoat he wore over his arm, leaving him only with the Balliol arms, which had a blank field.  This gave rise to the derisive nickname Toom Tabard or Empty Coat.  While John had time to regret his transgressions in the Tower, he was later allowed to go into exile in France, provided he stay there.

John's son, Edward Balliol, didn't fair much better.  He, too, tried to rule Scotland from 1332-1338 in opposition to Bruce's son, David II.   He tried several times to maintain a viable rule in Scotland, but ultimately surrendered his claim to Edward III in exchange for a pension.  He died in 1364 and lies buried today under a post office in Doncaster, England.  His cousin married into the Coucy family, which later married into the Bourbon family that later came to rule France and then Spain.  Today the Balliol claim to Scotland rests with the Bourbons, who no doubt won't be exercising it any time soon.

Queen: Eleanor of Provence, Queen of England, 1223-1291

Foreign-born queens throughout history were in a difficult spot.  They had to be loyal to their husband and his country while still advancing the interests of their home countries.  They also had to make themselves likeable to their new subjects, who were often suspicious of them because of their foreign origin.  Some queens didn't fair so well and Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III was one.

Eleanor, 1223-1291, was born in Aix-en-Provence, the daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and his wife Beatrice of Savoy.  Her family had ties to the royal family of Barcelona, which was an independent city ruled by a count at that time, as well as to the Savoyard dynasty.  This relationship placed Eleanor in that group of southern kingdoms and duchies, which included Spain and Aquitaine, which were known for their wealth and culture.  Eleanor herself was well educated, liked to read and write poetry.  She would later be known as a fashionable and learned woman.  She was also well-known for her beauty, a point which helped her family induce Henry III to accept her with no dowry, a rare thing in those days.  In June, 1235, when she was 12 years old, Eleanor was engaged to Henry.

Eleanor first laid eyes on her husband when she married him at Canterbury Cathedral on January 14, 1223.  She was crowned Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey the next day.  In that era, Eleanor was old enough to begin the duties of a wife.  She and Henry would have five surviving children.  The future Edward I, Margaret, who later became Queen of Scotland, Beatrice, who later married the Duke of Brittany, Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, and Katherine, who died when she was about 3.  There were also four little boys who died as babies or soon after birth, Richard, John, William and Henry.  They were a close family.  When Edward became ill to the point of death, the monks at Beaulieu Abbey allowed Margaret to stay with her son.  When little Katherine died, both her parents were grief-stricken. 

Eleanor stood by Henry during some difficult times, but the English people did not like her.  The reasons was that, when she came to England, she trailed a significant number of relatives and others in her retinue, who all seemed to think they were entitled to positions at court, money and other perks.  This greedy pack, called the Savoyards collectively, incited the anger of Henry's barons and word spread.  The people of London didn't like Eleanor either, one time pelting her barge with garbage as it floated down the Thames.  And the feeling was mutual.  Eleanor demanded her full right of monetary tribute, known as Queen's Gold, and wasn't about to let anyone tell her how to spend it.  When Henry was away tending to wars or other issues on the Continent, Eleanor functioned as regent in his absence, particularly in 1235.  When Simon de Montfort rebelled against the King in 1263-64, Eleanor helped raised troops in Europe to fight on Henry's side. 

In 1272, Henry died and her son Edward I, who was away with Edmund on the Ninth Crusade at the time, became King of England.  Eleanor raised three of her grandchildren, Edward's son Henry and daughter Eleanor, and Beatrice's son John.  When little Henry died in her care in 1274, Eleanor was plunged into grief and paid for his heart to be embalmed and placed at Guildford Priory in London.  Her two surviving daughters, Margaret and Beatrice also died young, further adding to her sorrow.  She retired into a convent in Amesbury and died in 1291.  She was buried at the Abbey of St. Mary and St. Melor, Amesbury.  The exact gravesite was later lost, which made Eleanor the only English queen whose grave cannot be identified. 

Royal: Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, 1245-1296

Being a younger son of a king had its perks.  Kings sons, no matter where they stood in the royal birth order, had access to titles, lands, a good marriage and other lucrative side benefits.  The more useful they made themselves in the family, such as serving as military commanders, the more plums they could acquire.

Edmund, 1245-1296, was the second surviving son of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, thus a younger brother of Edward I.  He was born in London, but isn't remembered as Edmund of London.  Sources differ as to where the name Crouchback came from.  Contrary to what it sounds like, there was probably nothing wrong with his back.  Crouchback is a corruption of an earlier nickname, cross-back, which referred to the cross Edmund wore on his clothing when he participated in the Ninth Crusade.  In 1255, when Edmund was 10, he was invested with the right to rule Sicily.  Long story short, some kingdoms in Europe chose to elect their rulers by selling out to the highest bidder.  To claim his kingdom in future, Edmund would need money, both to pay troops to fight off any other contenders and to bribe his future subjects into accepting him.  When the time came, England's barons were in no mood to finance or participate in yet another foreign war and Sicily went to someone else. 

There were spoils nearer to home and in 1265, with the forfeiture of Simon de Montfort's vast estates, Edmund became Earl of Leicester and a wealthy man.  Edmund was later made Earl of Lancaster and granted the Stewardship of England, along with the lands of another nobleman, Nicolas de Segrave.  And the perks and lands kept coming.  Edmund was named Earl of Derby and granted land in Wales, as well as becoming High Sheriff of Lancashire.  Edmund had to work for these honors and became known as a ruthless commander on the battlefield.  In 1271, he accompanied his brother Edward to Palestine on the Ninth Crusade, gaining the right to wear the coveted crusader's cross.  Upon return from Palestine, Edmund continued to prove his loyalty to Edward, who responded with more lands and titles.

Edmund married twice.  His first wife was Aveline de Forz, daughter of the Earl of Albemarle.  She died at the age of 13 and the couple had no children.  Edmund then married Blanche, Countess of Artois in her own right.  The couple had three sons.  Thomas and Henry would later succeed their father as Earl of Lancaster.  In 1296, Edmund would take an army to Aquitaine to suppress a revolt in Bayonne.  Part of any royal army back then included mercenaries.  When the English money ran out, the mercenaries sought work elsewhere, dooming Edmund's effort to failure.  He died in Bayonne and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

The Royal We

The royal we, also called the majestic plural, is a usage by kings and popes to refer to themselves in their official status.  It began in pontifical correspondence, used by popes and cardinals, or by anyone invested with papal authority.  Thus, in 1191, when William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely and Justiciar of England, used it, he was speaking not only in his capacity as justiciar, but also as a papal representative.  He was resented by the other barons, who assumed that he was taking on royal airs.  However, kings and queens also took to using we and our, when they were speaking as "we, by the Grace of God, King/Queen of England, and of all our other realms and territories king/queen..."  In modern times, the majestic plural is a written rather than spoken form.  It's retained in papal documents that are written in Latin.  For kings who write to fellow sovereigns, the term I is used.  When addressing presidents and prime ministers, the term we and our is used instead.

This usage is similar to the royal one, which the current Queen sometimes uses in referring to herself, and is often spoofed for doing so.

The Shrine of the Lady of Walsingham

In Medieval England there were two religious shrines of both local and international importance, that of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury, and that of the Lady of Walsingham in the little village of Walsingham, Norfolk.  The Lady of Walsingham, honoring the Virgin Mary, was particularly sought after by women anxious to bear children or to avoid the perils of childbirth and infant mortality.

The shrine began in the 11th century, with three Marian Apparitions to a noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches.  Richeldis believed she'd seen a vision of the home in which the Virgin Mary received the Annunciation, or announcement that she would become pregnant with Jesus.  Richeldis constructed a model of the house, which was later encased in stone.  As the fame of the shrine grew, a church was built to house the structure, along with a carved statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.  Pilgrims flocked from all over England and Europe to visit the shrine as it became known as a place of miracles.  Members of the Royal Family also patronized the site, including Kings Henry III, Edward I and II, King Henry IV and Edward IV, and Henry VII and VIII.  The Lady of Walsingham became a familiar place to Katherine of Aragon, who made many pilgrimages beseeching God for a son to continue the Tudor dynasty. 

Many of these royals particularly endowed the Slipper Chapel, so called because pilgrims would remove their shoes before walking the final mile to the shrine, called the Holy Mile.  Because of its extensive patronage, the image and its surrounding shrine were covered with gold and precious gems.  In 1538, the shrine was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the original image was later burned.  However, locals continued to keep the memory of the Lady of Walsingham alive, still insisting the miracles occurred there despite the shrine having been destroyed.  In 1897, the Catholic shrine of the Lady of Walsingham was restored.  In 1938, the Anglican shrine was added.  The Eastern Orthodox church also maintains a shrine at Walsingham and pilgrims flock to the site as they did hundreds of years ago.

Royal Mistress: Alice Perrers, 1348-1400

Unlike the kings of France, for the most part English kings liked to keep their private affairs private.  Rumors abounded about certain kings or other royal men and women but with few exceptions, their names or exact relationships with their royal paramours remain a mystery.  Alice Perrers, mistress of Edward III in his later years, is a notable exception. 

Alice was born in 1348 to Sir Richard Perrers, a prominent landowner in Hertfordshire and sometime MP, who had been sheriff of Hertfordshire and Essex.  Sir Richard had a long-standing feud with the Abbey of St. Albans, probably about land.  Since much of what is known about Alice and her career comes from Thomas Walsingham, the St. Albans Chronicler, most of it is uncomplimentary and some is probably not true.  Walsingham alleged that Alice was actually the daughter of a common tiler and tavern wench, that she was extremely ugly, and that her hold on Edward could only be explained by witchcraft.  Tavern wenches daughters didn't become ladies in waiting to queens, and Kings weren't known to pay attention to ugly women.  The witchcraft allegations were a common charge thrown at women when their power over a man couldn't otherwise be explained.  At 1362, when she was about 14, Alice came to court as a lady in waiting to Edward's Queen, Philippa of Hainault.  Edward and Philippa had a close marriage but, toward the end of her life, Philippa's health was failing and Edward saw no problem taking his pleasures elsewhere.  He and Alice began their relationship soon after her arrival at Court, which made her about 15 and Edward 52.  While Philippa lived, they kept their relationship discreet.  Philippa died when Alice was bout 21, and Edward saw no reason to conceal their relationship anymore.

Edward came to depend on Alice for her companionship and social savvy.  He soon began to gift her with property, jewelry and other favors.  Alice was believed to have received funds from the royal treasury totaling 20,000 pounds, some of it through embezzling.  Aware that she was disliked, the King had Alice arrayed in cloth of gold and paraded around London dressed as the Lady of the Sun.  Alice continued to enjoy the King's favor, and sought property and jobs for her relatives and many friends.  As Edward III's health began failing, Alice began to concern herself with state business, until some believed that it was actually she who was running the country, an unheard of degree of power for a woman of the time.  Courtiers began to suspect that her hold on the King was to his own detriment, that she was privately making his life a misery.  However, fear of her power over Edward discouraged anyone from acting.  Edward and Alice were known to have three children, a boy and two girls, who all married well in later life.  As Edward aged, Alice knew she would need a place to land and secretly married Sir William Windsor.  To keep their relationship secret, she had Edward appoint William his Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. 

Alice continued her father's feud with St. Albans about certain properties of land.  Finally, in 1376, the Commons of the Good Parliament had had enough of Alice and forced Edward to banish her from Court.  They also forced her to let go of the money and land Edward had given her and, within months, Alice was back at Edward's side, and began accumulating more land and money.  Edward died in 1377, and Sir William Windsor died in 1384.  Alice was a wealthy woman several times over.  She retired to her manor of Upminster in 1400, at age 52 and was buried in the Church of St. Laurence, but her grave hasn't survived.

 

The Good Parliament of 1376

Plantagenet kings had a specific use for Parliament, to vote appropriations for war and royal upkeep, and to ruber stamp any laws the King and his council had already decided on.  Most Parliaments met, conducted business, and were disbanded with little ceremony.  Kings tried to rule without Parliament whenever possible, sometimes going for years without convening Parliament.  Over time, though, Parliaments realized that they could use the power of the purse to flex some muscle.  By banding together, the Commons, who were composed of untitled landed gentry and knights, could make some demands and they did.

In April, 1376, Edward III was forced to call Parliament to fund the ongoing war with France.  He'd survived without a Parliament since 1373, and was reluctant about calling another one.  By 1376, he had no choice.  Parliament met, and elected Peter de la Mare, a knight of the shire, as their Speaker.  And they had a lot to say.  On the first day and in the presence of the King and other members of the royal family, including John of Gaunt, de la Mare laid it on the line about corruption in the Royal Council and at court, English losses in France, irregularities in the royal accounts, and he wasn't through yet.  Two royal officials, the Warden of the Mint and Lord Latimer, who were believed to be defrauding the Treasury, were called before Parliament and imprisoned to answer for their activities.  This was the first instance of a royal official being impeached before Parliament.  Edward's own mistress, Alice Perrers was called to account for her wayward life and ordered to live in seclusion on pain of further punishment. 

Edward had no choice but to agree to Parliament's demands to get the money he needed.  Edward III was old.  His son and heir, Edward the Black Prince, was dying of dysentery picked up on his many military campaigns.  The heir to the Plantagenet throne was a ten-year-old, the future Richard II.  Before he died, the Black Prince called his father and his most powerful brother, John of Gaunt, to his bedside and made them swear to name Richard as the next King of England.  This Parliament, which came to be called the Good Parliament, was disbanded in July, 1376 and its members might have believed they made some headway.  But they had reckoned without John of Gaunt.  Plantagenets got mad and they got even.  John of Gaunt convened another Parliament later that autumn, and undid most of the reforms of the Good Parliament, throwing de la Mare into prison at Nottingham and restoring Alice to King Edward's company.  It would take years before Parliament could assert itself again over royal prerogative but this was a small start in that direction.

Mercenary: Mercadier, d 1200

Sellswords aren't unique to Game of Thrones.  Men throughout history have sold their sword to whichever commander or ruler pays the most, or offers opportunities for perks such as plunder or maybe even titles, lands, and the ultimate reward, power.  In addition to their knights and men-at-arms, kings and other rulers in Medieval times augmented their armies with mercenaries, and some mercenaries prospered through the arrangement.   Unlike local fighters, mercenaries weren't afraid to do dirty work, like laying waste the lands of rebellious vassals or enemies.

Mercadier appears in history as a leader of Brabant or Belgian mercenaries in southern France.  He entered the service of the Richard the Lionheart in 1188, while Richard was still Duke of Aquitaine.  Richard saw the need to punish a rebellious vassal, Aimar V of Limoge and hired Mercadier to get it done.  His services obviously pleased Richard, who put him in charge of 17 castles captured from the Count of Toulouse.  Mercadier and his men accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade.  However, when Phillip II of France returned home early, Richard sent Mercadier back to France, rightly sensing trouble with Phillip.  Mercadier and his men guarded Richard's estates during his absence.

Upon Richard's return from the Holy Land, he continued to employ Mercadier.  When another vassal, Ademar de Balnac died, Richard gifted Mercadier de Balnac's erstwhile estates in Limousin.  Mercadier was busy fighting off Phillip II for Richard in Berry, Normandy, Flanders and Brittany.  In 1199, at Chalus, Mercadier was at Richard's side when Richard was wounded by a chance arrow shot.  Mercadier referred the services of his own physician, but it was not enough to save the King's life.  After Richard's death, Mercadier ordered the hapless archer who'd shot Richard flayed alive in retribution.  Mercadier then offered his services to Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Living by the sword meant dying by it, too, and in 1200, while Eleanor was escorting Blanche of Castile to wed Phillip's son Louis, a mercenary hired by John ambushed and killed Mercadier.  A bridge at Chateau Gaillard was named for Mercadier.

Queen: Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland, 1404-1445

Two Plantagenet princesses had been Queens of Scots, married to Scottish Kings of the House of Dunkeld.  Joan of England, daughter of John and married to Alexander II, and her niece Margaret, daughter of Henry III and married to Alexander III, both died young without producing children.  It would be a Plantagenet descendant who would marry into the Scottish royal family, and provide yet another link to John of Gaunt and the Lancastrians.

Joan was the daughter of John, 1st Earl of Somerset, himself the son of John of Gaunt by his third wife, Katherine Swynford.  Katherine and John of Gaunt later married and their children were granted legitimate status, though barred from the royal succession.  They took the surname Beaufort, after one of John of Gaunt's many estates in France, and their commoner blood on their mother's side didn't prevent any of them from marrying into the great and the good of the English aristocracy.  John of Gaunt's eldest son, John, Jr., 1st Earl of Somerset, married Lady Margaret Holland, herself the daughter of the Earl of Kent, was the granddaughter of Joan of Kent, daughter of Edmund of Woodstock.  Thus, little Joan, named for her famous great-grandmother, had lion's blood on both sides of her family. 

As a niece of King Henry IV, Joan spent a great deal of time around court, and met James I of Scotland, who was at the time a prisoner of war in England.  James wiled his time writing poetry and memoirs, and composed The King's Quair, or King's Book, in part after seeing Joan in the garden from a window.  Though it may have been a case of love at first sight, it was also political.  Marriage with Joan was part of the terms of James' release, and 10,000 marks was subtracted from his ransom in lieu of a portion of Joan's dowry.  On February 12, 1424, when Joan was bout 20, she and James were married in St. Mary Overie Church in Southwark.  They were given a grand banquet by her uncle, Henry Cardinal Beaufort at Winchester Palace.  Later, Joan accompanied her husband back to Scotland and was crowned Queen at Scone Abbey.  She was known to plead for the lives of those who were to be executed for crimes or who had incurred the King's wrath.

The couple had 8 children, including a Dauphine of France, a Duchess Consort of Brittany, an Archduchess of Austria, 3 countesses, a duke, and the heir, James II of Scotland.  Life in Scotland was dangerous, as James I discovered when he was assassinated in Perth in February, 1437.  Joan was injured in the incident, but escaped with her life.  Now a widow with several small children, Joan at first was appointed Regent for her son, and exacted vengeance on his assassin, the Earl of Atholl.  But the Scots wouldn't stand being ruled by an Englishwoman for too long, and the Earl of Douglas soon replaced her as Regent.  Joan was able to keep custody of her children, including young King James.  Joan married again, James Stewart, known as the Black Knight of Lorne.  Black being used as a term for someone who could be violent if their temper was roused.  He was an ally of the Regent Douglas, but plotted to overthrow Alexander Livingston, governor of Stirling Castle.  Stirling was the nursery palace for the Stewart kings and, by custom, the governor of the Castle was also the legal custodian of the minor king or heir.

Livingstone had Joan arrested and forced her to give up custody of her son.  Not to be outdone, she fled to Dunbar Castle, and continued the fight, dying there in 1445.  She was buried in the Carthusian Priory at Perth.  Her husband survived her, as did her three children from that marriage, including two earls and a bishop. 

 

Pretender: John Deydras of Powderham

Mentally ill people and obsession with celebrities or those in power is nothing new.  Kings have long been the targets of stalkers, assassins and even pretenders.  John Deydras, aka John of Powderham, was an obscure man with one ear who developed an obsession with Edward II.  During Edward's reign, widespread discontent with his rule, including the ruinous ongoing wars with Scotland drove many nobles to think of revolt.  It also led to personal unpopularity with the people.  John, no one knows who he was or where he came from, showed up at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, claiming that he was Edward II and that the Palace belonged to him.  In those days, before mass media, no one had any picture of Edward or voice exemplar to compare to.  Some people did think to question the lack of an ear, and John had his cover story ready.

According to him, as a boy he was playing in the castle courtyard when he was mauled by an angry sow.  This wasn't as implausible as one might think.  In those days, farm animals often roamed in the courtyards of castles.  His nurse knew that she would be in trouble for failing to look after him, so she sent John to live with a peasant family and substituted a carter's baby as the real Prince Edward.  John appeared to be tall and fair haired, and some who had seen Edward said that John resembled him.  Edward himself was away in Scotland, with no quick or convenient way to check in with him.  John further opined that the reason Edward was such a poor king was that, in fact, he wasn't supposed to be king at all.  While some people in Oxford fell for John's explanation, others were skeptical.  John offered to meet Edward in combat to prove his story.  Rumors began spreading and questions were being raised.

John was finally arrested and brought before Edward himself.  He repeated his story to Edward's face, again challenging that he wasn't the real Edward and challenging him to single combat.  Edward was having none of it and had John tried for sedition.  At trial, John confessed, but said that his pet cat was the Devil and was the one who had come up with the idea.  The cat was also seized.  John and his cat were condemned to be hanged and their bodies burned.  Most people, then as now, realized that John was most likely disturbed and gave it no more thought.  Edward's wife Isabella was deeply upset by the incident.  In her mind, Edward's only misrule had allowed a country fool to pull off this scheme and get people to go along with it.  It was personally embarrassing to her and yet one more wedge in her and Edward's relationship.

What Is: A Bill of Attainder

Article 1, section 9 of the United States Constitution provides that "no bill of attainder... shall be passed" by Congress.  So, what was a bill of attainder and why were America's early founders so frightened by it?

A bill of attainder was an act passed by Parliament or royal writ against a person or persons, stripping them of civil rights and property and ordering their punishment, often without benefit of trial.  Called writs or acts of attainder, or a bill of pains and penalties, it allowed for an individual convicted of treason to be attained, or declared tainted, and his titles and property forfeited to the Crown.  The law would also strip the person, if he were a royal or nobleman, of any rights to contest their conviction or punishment, by either a trial before Parliament or personal judgment by the King.  It also prevented that person's heirs from inheriting their title or property.  Thus, not only could anyone who angered the King be stripped of their rights of due process of law, being subject to confiscation and execution, but their family would also be dishonored and deprived of any property or inheritance.

No one was immune.  In 1321, two members of the Despenser family, Hugh Senior and Junior, were convicted of treason, attainted and stripped of their titles and property by Parliament for supporting King Edward II in his quarrel with his wife, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer.  Royals could also face the King's wrath.  In 1415, Richard of Conisburgh, a son of Edmund of Langley and grandson of Edward III was stripped of his title of Earl of Cambridge after he was implicated in a conspiracy against King Henry V.  His son, Richard, later Duke of York, later recovered his father's estates, but it was no easy task.  George, Duke of Clarence, was also attainted in 1478 for rising against his brother, King Edward IV.  Without the benefit of his royal status, George could be executed or even secretly killed at any time, which is what ultimately happened.  Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, George's daughter and one of the last Plantagenets, was attainted in 1540 and later executed.  King Henry VIII of England leveled bills of attainder at two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, as well as Lady Salisbury and other nobles who fell under his wrath.

The American Founding Fathers knew that political wrangling was a risky business and that anyone who fell afoul of the powers that be risked being stripped of his or her civil rights and property unless those rights were protected.  To prevent Congress from passing bills aimed at a particular person, read political rivals of individual members or even the President, the Constitution forbade Congress to pass bills of attainder. 

Place: Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England

Very few castles or palaces associated with the early Plantagenet dynasty survive.  This also holds true for Beaumont Palace, the birthplace of two Plantagenet kings, Richard I and John.  Beaumont Palace was built by Norman King Henry I in 1130.  He built the palace at the gates of the town of Oxford to give easy access to his hunting park at Woodstock, now part of the grounds of Blenheim Palace.  By 1133, the building was far enough along for Henry I to give a banquet, celebrating the birth of his grandson, Henry II, who had been born in Le Mans, France.  Later, Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, frequently used the palace.  Two of their sons were born there, Richard I in 1157 and John in 1166.

The last Plantagenet king to use the Palace was Edward I.  He later granted the Palace to an Italian banker, Francisco Accorsi, who had undertaken diplomatic missions for him.  Edward II, during his flight from Bannockburn, vowed to found an abbey for the Carmelite White Friars if he made it out of Scotland alive.  He later gave Beaumont to the Carmelites.  They used the buildings until the 1530's, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  At that point, the Palace was taken over by the Oxford colleges of Christ Church and St. Johns.  However, by the 18th century it was a ruin.  Today the buildings no longer exist.  Beaumont Street in Oxford commemorates the Palace, as does a plaque which indicates that Richard and John were born there.

Dynasty: the Stewarts/Stuarts of Scotland

The Plantagenet kings had their hands full with Scotland.  Not only were there continuing disputes about land, Scotland claiming portions of England such as Northumbria, and Scottish kings owing fealty for lands in England or Plantagenet France, but border wars between the two countries were endemic.  The Plantagenets would know, and even intermarry with three Scottish dynasties, the House of Dunkeld, the House of Bruce, and the Stewarts. 

The Stewarts, like many English and Scottish nobles, began in France.  Alan FitzFlaad, a steward or household official to the Bishop of Dol migrated to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest.  They entered the service of the English king and later migrated to Scotland.  Alan's great-grandson Walter became the first hereditary High Steward of Scotland.  A steward, like a seneschal, was originally a household position but later evolved to a court official with powers of a governor.  It wasn't until Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward, that the occupation also became a surname.  Walter Stewart was also given the designation, of Dunkeld.  Walter's descendant, six High Stewards later, another Walter, married Marjorie, the daughter of Robert Bruce.  Their son became Robert became Robert II in 1371, when his uncle David II Bruce died childless.  Robert II would be followed his son, Robert III, then James 1-V, Mary, and finally James VI, who later also inherited his mother's claim to the English crown and became James I of England in 1603.

The Stewarts had several crosses back to the Plantagenet family.  James I would marry Joan Beaufort, a granddaughter of Joan of Gaunt.  However, in 1503, James IV would marry Margaret Tudor, a granddaughter of Elizabeth of York and great-granddaughter of Edward IV.  It would be through James I that Plantagenet and Tudor blood flowed to the English Stuarts, who would rule England from 1603-1714.  James I's daughter, Elizabeth of Bohemia would transmit the Plantagenet and Tudor heritage to her Hanoverian descendants and on to the present Royal Family. 

Royal: Joan of Acre, 1272-1307

Royal and noble women of the Medieval era had to be prepared for anything, including following their husbands on military campaigns and crusades, often taking their children with them.  The Eighth Crusade began in 1270 and the future Edward I was to lead the English contingent in support of Louis IX of France.  His bride, Eleanor of Castile went along.  The seaport of Acre was always a staging area for invading armies as well as pilgrims and while Edward and the others were away fighting, Eleanor welcomed a little girl, Joan of Acre in 1272.

The Crusade was a disaster but Edward was spared when he had to depart early due to the death of his father, Henry III of England.  Edward was now King Edward I and Joan, as young as she was, was soon on the marriage market.  Meanwhile, she lived in France with her grandmother, Eleanor's mother, after whom Joan was named.  Grandma Joan spoiled her little granddaughter, not a wise strategy for any child but definitely a detriment to a young girl with lion's blood.  Edward finally brought Joan home when she was 5, but by that time she already had a mind of her own.  Edward arranged for her to marry Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, a man 30 years her senior.  Despite the age difference, de Clare fell in love with her but Joan was less than impressed.  De Clare persisted and in April, 1290, the coupe were married.  They would have 4 children.

Joan, a 23-year-old widow with four small children, decided to take her life into her hands and do something Plantagenet princesses seemed to get away with if they played their male relatives right.  She caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her father's household.  Or maybe he caught her eye.  She then convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted.  Did Edward wonder why his daughter was so interested?  In January, 1297, Joan secretly married Monthermer just as her father was planning a more suitable marriage to the Count of Savoy.  Edward found out and flipped his Plantagenet lid, sending Monthermer to prison in Bristol castle and confiscating Joan's lands.  Joan, not to be outdone, confronted her father with an obvious pregnancy and a good point, "It is not considered ignominious or disgraceful for a great earl to take a poor and mean (lowborn) woman to wife, neither, on the other hand, is it worthy of blame or to difficult a thing for a countess to promote to honor a gallant youth." 

Edward was had and he knew it.  He released Monthermer, recognized Joan's marriage and gave her back her properties to support his grandchildren.  He gave Monthermer the titles of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Herford.  Monthermer and Joan went on to have 4 children of their own.  Like many woman of that era, Joan died young, in 1307.  Edward had put at least one wife and several children into their graves and lived long enough to see his tempestuous daughter laid to rest before dying himself four months later.  Monthermer was later stripped of the title of Earl of Gloucester in favor of Joan's eldest son by de Clare, but otherwise continued in royal service.  Years later, Joan's daughter, Elizabeth, had her mother's body exumed and found that it was still nearly intact, or incorrupt, as the saying went at the time.  This was considered evidence that Joan had led a holy life, but no evidence exists that anyone ever moved to have her canonized. 

The Angevin Kings of Jerusalem

In 1184, King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, of Kingdom of Heaven fame, wrote a desperate open letter to the rulers of the Christian kingdoms in Europe.  He was dying of leprosy and his heir was a 5-year-old boy, his nephew and namesake, who was already showing signs of the same disease.  His only heirs were his two sisters, whose husbands were already maneuvering to seize the kingdom for themselves.  No one appeared to understand that the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and with it the rest of the Crusader States were teetering on the brink of conquest by the forces of Sultan Saladin.  One of the addressees of the letter was King Henry II of England, a distant cousin.

Though they never referred to themselves as Plantagenets, indeed no one at this early stage did, the House of Anjou who ruled Jerusalem were in fact a cadet branch of England's royal family.  Fulk V of Anjou, 1089-1143, had several sons.  The oldest was Geoffrey, who used the broom plant as his personal badge, hence the later name of the Plantagenet (planta genista) dynasty.  Fulk V as Count of Anjou initially supported the Kings of France against the English, but later allowed his son Geoffrey to marry the widowed daughter of Henry I, Empress Matilda.  In order to be of a somewhat similar social strata as his new wife, Geoffrey had to have a title.  Fulk gave up his title as Count of Anjou, Maine and Tourraine to his eldest son.  He had other, grander things in store for himself and Geoffrey's two younger brothers. 

In 1118, he had gone on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and became an affiliate of the Knights Templar.  Unable to become a Knight himself because he was married, Fulk subsidized and supported their order.  When his first wife, Ermengarde of Maine died, Fulk received a proposal from Baldwin II of Jerusalem to marry his daughter Melisandre.  In 1129, Fulk settled his European inheritance on Geoffrey, left for Jerusalem, married Melisandre and, in 1131, became joint ruler with her of Jerusalem on the death of her father, Baldwin II.  Fulk lived until 1143, when his eldest son by Melisandre, Baldwin III succeeded his father as King of Jerusalem.  Baldwin had no heirs, but his brother, Amalric I had married Agnes of Courtenay.  Their son, the future Baldwin IV, was born in 1161.  He was, thus, a first cousin once removed of Henry II, and a second cousin to the future Richard the Lionheart.  When Baldwin was about 7 years old, his tutor, William of Tyre, noticed some numbness and skin irritation on the boy's right arm.  It developed into leprosy.

Baldwin refused to be sidelined his disease, learning to ride, hold a sword and do whatever else needed doing to rule a kingdom under perpetual siege.  Unlike in the movie or various novels, he didn't wear a mask, though portions of his arm were bandaged as needed.  By the age f 13, he was already leading armies, though with the assistance of experienced leaders, against the Saracens.  He would continue to try to interest Europe in coming to the assistance of Jerusalem until he was too sick to hold a pen or worry about the problem any more.  He died in 1185 at age 24, a true lion's heart.  In 1191, his cousin Richard would arrive in the Holy Land to try to salvage what was left.