Great Dying: the Black Death of 1348

Called the Great Dying, the Great Mortality or the Pestilence at the time, the Black Death (a 17th century term) decimated 40-60% of England's population.  Occurring during the reign of Edward III, this pestilence would cause a drastic change in English society.

Prior to the pestilence, serfdom was rigidly enforced, with severe penalties for anyone caught trying to leave the manor where they were born and would die.  Even for peasants or common people who were not serfs, getting a better life for oneself or one's family was rare.  Sons followed their fathers on the land or in a trade, and passed it along to their sons in turn.  Although sanitation and hygiene in the Middle Ages is likely exaggerated, reports of how bad it was aren't far wrong.  Without modern pesticides and pest control, rats, fleas and other vermin infested streets, homes, clothes and containers of various sorts.  Unbeknownst to humans, the rats carried a bacteria, Yersinia Pestas, that was transmitted to humans via infected fleas.  Since rats and fleas could stow away on animals, wagons, bags and crates, and eventually on ships, the plague spread from China along the trade routes and into Europe.

It first hit the Plantagenet domains of Gascony in 1348.  A seaman traveling from Gascony arrived in Weymouth in June, 1348.  Unknown to him, he was patient one.  By the fall of 1348, plague had spread to London.  It was country-wide by summer, 1349, before dying out in December.  Unlike many other areas in Europe, Edward's government attempted to respond in an organized manner.  In larger cities, provisions were made to carry away and bury the dead.  Understanding of contagion and public health was limited at the time, but not nonexistent.  People were aware that sick persons could spread the disease.  What they didn't understand was that, by the time the sick were quarantined, they had already spread the disease to others.  Church records of the period record parishioner after parishioner dead of pestilence.   Smaller towns and villages were almost empty.  Agricultural activity slowed down and there was a lull in the fighting of the Hundred Years War.

Medical care was primitive, including sweating, bloodletting, purgatives and emetics.  There was some idea that breaking open the swellings and draining the pus might save the patient, but debate on when and how to do this was widespread and many patients still died despite whatever care was available.  There was no strata of society immune from the disease.  Lords and peasants, merchants and farmers, clergy and others all died.   Edward III wrote to his colleague Alfonso of Castile that "destructive Death....has snatch from both of us our dearest daughter, whom we loved best of all, as her virtues demanded."  Meanwhile, many struggled to understand why this disease was occurring, believing it to be the scourge of God.

With villages empty and few laborers available to work the land, peasants were emboldened to leave the farms and fields outright and head to the cities, or to seek land where conditions might be better.  Edward's government tried to prevent this with a series of ordinances, but the peasants either paid no heed or would revolt outright in the Peasants' War of 1381.  It was now possible for someone to leave the manor where they and their parents and grandparents had been born, seek work in a city and begin to build a life other than that of a common laborer.  Another benefit was the number of charitable endowments, especially to the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, on behalf of people seeking to placate God's wrath.  While Europe following the plague descended into hysteria and obsession with the self-flagellation and other forms of penance, the English were busy rebuilding their lives. 

Places: Lincoln Castle

One place that saw its fair share of Plantagenet family history was Lincoln Castle, begun by William the Conqueror in 1068, rebuilt and refortified by subsequent kings over the centuries.

Upon his arrival in 1066, William the Conqueror quickly saw the need to put his own stamp on his new domains, both to keep the local population (Saxons, etc.) in check and to prevent anyone else who might have the same idea from coming in (Scots, Scandinavians).  He began to fortify the castle hill in Lincoln, using remains of both a Roman and Saxon fort that already existed there.  The Castle played a role during the Battle of Lincoln, which included a siege of the Castle in 1141.  Forces under Stephen of Blois were besieging defenders loyal to Empress Matilda, mother of the future Henry II.  A relief force under Robert of Gloucester lifted the siege and captured Stephen, allowing Matilda to reign for awhile under Stephen made good his escape and the tables turned once more in his favor.

In 1190, during the reign of Richard I, Jews in the City of Lincoln sought refuge in the Castle against a mob swept up in the religious fervor that was the Third Crusade.  Unlike their counterparts in York, they were able to hold out against the mob until its wrath was spent elsewhere.  Another Battle of Lincoln occurred in 1217, during the First Barons' War, when forces under the future Louis VIII met an opposing army fighting on behalf of Henry III and led by none other than William Marshal.  Marshal scored a victory and his troops engaged in a memorable looting known as the Lincoln Fair.  That was putting things in polite terms.  A city taken by siege at the time could be sacked, pillaged and burned and its inhabitants killed or otherwise at will.

Over the centuries, the Castle fell into disuse and was used as a prison by the eighteenth century, both for debtors and for criminals.  It was discontinued as a prison in the twentieth century and is now a museum.

Massacre at York, 1190

The Jews of Europe possessed some of the most sophisticated banking and financial knowledge of the time.  Jewish and Islamic bankers invented many concepts that were the forerunners of modern banking practices including things such as accounts, checks, collateral and lines of credit.  They had contacts throughout Europe and the Mediterranean world.  Despite this valuable resource, or maybe because of it, they were subjected to systematic restrictions and violent massacres.  The most dangerous times to be a Jew in Europe, ironically, were before, during and after Crusades, when Christian religious fervor was high.

Such was the case of England's Jews in 1189, when Richard I came to the throne.  Jewish communities thrived in large cities such as London and York.  Wealthy Jewish bankers did business with nobles and the royal family.  They were expected to pay taxes and render homage, but during Richard's coronation ceremony, Jewish bankers and businessmen who came to pay their respects to the new King were stripped of their gifts and clothing and expelled.  Prior to his coronation, Richard had taken the Crusading vow and would need the funding and credit of his Jewish subjects.  Yet in the aftermath of his coronation riots broke out in London.  The Jewish quarter was sacked and several Jewish men, women and children were killed.  To his credit, Richard condemned the violence and ordered the perpetrators punished.  Rounding up the guilty and bringing them to justice was another matter.  Only a few were tried or executed for these murders.  Following this incident, riots broke out in other cities with Jewish quarters.

Richard left for the Holy Land soon after his crowning but the violence against England's Jewish population continued.  In Lincoln, in 1190, Jewish inhabitants of the City sought refuge in the Castle and were able to fend off the mobs.  Jews in York wouldn't be so lucky.  On the night of March 16-17, 1190, as the Jews celebrated Passover, men gathered in York preparing to join the King on Crusade.  Rioting against the Jews began and their leader, Josce, sought refuge for his people within the walls of Clifford's Tower of York Castle, which was partially constructed of wood.  The mob surrounded the Castle, demanding that the Jews within forsake their religion and be baptized as Christians.  Fearing that the mob would penetrate the Castle, the Jews decided on a plan straight out of their historical identity. 

Their leader, Rabbi Yomtov of Joigney, told the people that they should kill themselves rather than face the mob or give up their beliefs.  Josce began by killing his own wife and children.  He was then killed by Yomtov.  Other men followed suite, killing first their families and then themselves.  Finally, Yomtov set fire to the wooden keep of Clifford's Tower, dying in the flames along with those who hadn't yet committed suicide.  Fire, whether self-inflicted by desperate Jewish communities or by mobs seeking their destruction, became a common theme in these pogroms.  A chronicler of the time, Richard of Devizes, writing in 1192, used the Greek term Holocausta to describe these instances, giving rise to the modern term and its more tragic meaning. 

King: Henry the Young King

Young men in the Plantagenet family had a daunting task, to live up to fathers or older brothers who were some of the best kings England ever had9, and/or were celebrities in their own time.  One who might have fit the bill was Henry, the Young King (1155-1183), the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Little is known of Henry's earlier life.  He was the second of five sons of Henry and Eleanor.  His eldest brother, William of Poitiers, had died as a toddler.  Henry II hoped that Henry, Jr., would inherit the lion's share of the Plantagenet dominions including England and Normandy.  To that end, when Henry was 15 years old, he was crowned King of England during his father's lifetime.  This occurred during 1170, at the height of the Becket controversy, and without the Archbishop of Canterbury presiding.  Junior was described as tall, well-built, broad-shouldered, with a long neck, freckled skin, bright blue eyes and reddish-gold hair, the basic Plantagenet blueprint.  Henry II appointed William Marshal to serve as Junior's tutor in arms and military matters.  Under Marshal's guidance, Henry became a tournament champion.  In that day and age, the most common tournament form was the melee and Junior was one of many highborn knights who excelled with Marshal as team leader.

Because Henry II was very much alive and in control, Junior wasn't allowed to exercise any authority on his own and, for many years, that seemed to suit him just fine.  The assessment of contemporaries was that he gave no evidence of any political or military skill or even basic intelligence, probably because he was under his powerful father's thumb during his life.  He could be gracious, benign and courteous, when he wanted to be.  He could also be shallow, vain, careless and high-tempered, again the basic Plantagenet recipe.  What he would have amounted to after Henry II's death we'll never know.  In 1170, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, whom we've already met in a previous post.  They had one child together, William of Salisbury.  The birth was difficult and Margaret never had another child.  To appease critics who believed that Junior's earlier coronation was lacking due to the absence of an Archbishop of Canterbury, he and Margaret were crowned again after the wedding. 

In 1173, matters came to a head between Henry, Eleanor, Junior and the other Plantagenet boys.  Whether it was frustration with their father's heavy hand, dissatisfaction with their potential inheritance, instigation by Eleanor, or all the above, Henry's sons rose in rebellion against their father.  Junior's effort gained traction in the form of Norman, Breton and Angevin lords willing to join him and he almost toppled his father from the throne.  The loyalty of the English barons and the timely neutralization of Scotland by the capture of its king saved Henry II's throne.  He and his sons were reconciled, for the time being.  In 1179, Junior represented his father when his counterpart Phillip Augustus, was crowned junior king to his own father, Louis VII.  Then, in 1182, Junior and William Marshal had a falling out.  Rumors had it that Marshal had had an affair with Margaret.  Junior sought an annulment of the marriage around this time, based on Margaret's inability to have children, but maybe there was more under the surface?

Things were never peaceful in the Plantagenet family for long.  Although Junior later patched things up with Marshal, he was once more on the outs with Henry II and Richard, this time over their potential inheritance rights.  As he gathered his forces and funds to march against his father and brother, Junior caught dysentery and began to sink fast.  He sent to Henry II and begged his father to come.  Sensing a trap, Henry II declined and sent a ring as a token of his forgiveness.  Conscience-stricken, Henry, Jr., confessed and prostrated himself naked before a crucifix.  He had given his cloak, with its Crusader's cross, to Marshal with instructions to take it with him to the Holy Land.  Henry died in 1183 and was buried in Rouen Cathedral.

Did It Happen: Fair Rosamund Clifford

King Henry II had many mistresses but none compared in his heart with Rosamund Clifford, the daughter of Marcher lord Walter de Clifford.  To keep Rosamund safe from Henry's spiteful wife, Eleanor, the king kept his lady love in a tower near his castle of Woodstock.  The tower was accessible only by a maze to which the King knew the way.  Rosamund was the delight of his life and bore him many children.  One day, Eleanor figured out the clue to the maze and made her way to Rosamund's tower, presenting her with a sharp knife and a cup of poison.  Rosamund chose the poison and died.  King Henry arranged for his true love to be buried at a nearby priory and masses to be said in perpetuity for her soul.

Did it happen?

First, there was a Rosamund Clifford, c 1150- c 1170.  She was the daughter of Walter de Clifford and had two sisters and three brothers.  She grew up at the family home at Castle Clifford and was educated by the nuns at Godstow Abbey.  How or when she came to the notice of Henry II we will never know, but there was a relationship, though sources doubt that Rosamund bore him any children.  Sources also differ on whether, when Henry traveled throughout his dominions, Rosamund remained behind at Woodstock or one of the other royal palaces, or travelled with him.  If she remained behind, the probably didn't see each other as often as they liked.  As for Eleanor, during the period of time when Henry and Rosamund had their relationship, she was a state prisoner for having instigated the rebellion of her three sons against Henry.  Even if she knew of their relationship and objected to it, she would've been powerless to do anything about it.  Besides, ranking men at that time were known to keep mistresses.  Henry had several, and Eleanor would've had to have been a bloodthirsty mass murderess to have offed them all.   Legends about the tower, maze and the cup of poison didn't emerge until the Tudor era, and later again during the Victorian fascination with Medieval life.

Most likely, Rosamund did die young and was buried at Godstow Abbey.  Whether she had retired there after Henry let her down or died while they were still involved is open to question.  During Henry's lifetime, masses were said for her soul and her grave was decorated with candles.  However, a later bishop disliked the idea of a reputed king's mistress having an honorable burial site within the church and directed that her grave be relocated to the churchyard.  Her gravestone remained on display there until the 16th century.  A visitor to the term recalled that the epitaph read, "here in the tomb lies the Rose of the World, not a pure rose, she who once smelled so sweet, still smells-but not so sweet." 

Queen: Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a formidable woman and her middle daughter, also named Eleanor, took after her in many ways.  Eleanor, or in Spanish Leonor (1161-1214) was born at Domfront Castle, in Normandy.  She was one of eight children of Henry II and ten born to Eleanor of Aquitaine through her two marriages.  In 1174, at the age of 12, she was married to Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos, Spain.  Alfonso was in a dispute with his own uncle over the boundaries of the Kingdom of Navarre.  Henry II believed the marriage between his daughter and Alfonso would strengthen the Pyrenees boundary between Plantagenet-held Aquitaine and Spain in return for Henry's help mediating the dispute between Castile and Navarre.

Eleanor bore at least five living children, though there were others who died young.  All four of her daughter became queens.  Berengaria, Queen of Castile and Toledo, Urraca, Queen of Portugal, Blanche, Queen of France, and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon.  Alfonso came to appreciate his wife's strength of mind and character.  In addition to her diplomatic efforts to resolve the Pyrenean boundary disputes between her family, Alfonso's family and Navarre, Eleanor exercised control over several towns and fortresses within Castile itself.  Alfonso specified that, in the event of his death before his son Henry reached majority, Eleanor was to act as regent in the boy's behalf.  Her marriage to Alfonso had almost been imploded due to her father's treatment of Thomas Becket.  Perhaps Eleanor's own statement on that issue came through her funding of a shrine to Becket in the Cathedral of Toledo.

At Alfonso's death in 1214, Eleanor was so bereaved that she was unable to preside over the funeral and had to delegate that task to Berengaria.  Within months, Eleanor herself was dead, rumor had it, over her own grief at the loss of her husband.  She was remembered after her death for her generosity toward religious institutions, and for her great beauty and dignity. 

In-Laws: Alys of France, Countess of Vexin

Life in the Plantagenet family was never dull.  Drama and danger awaited anyone, particularly women, betrothed or married to the royal family of England and parts of France.  Alys of France (1160-1220) is an often-cited example of this idea.

Alys was the daughter of Louis VII of France and his wife Constance of Castile.  Her half-sisters Marie and Alix were the daughters of Louis by his first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Her full sister was Marguerite, married to Henry the Young King.  A younger half-brother was Phillip II, Louis' son and heir.  When Alys was about 8 years old, in 1169, Louis and Henry arranged her betrothal to Richard, the future Lionheart.  Alys was sent to England to be brought up by Eleanor.  When she was still a preteenager, rumors began to swirl about her and Henry II.  Sources dispute the allegation that he raped her, but differ on whether they eventually formed a relationship.  In 1177, Church leaders threatened to place the Plantagenet French domains under interdict unless Henry II followed through on his promise to allow Alys to marry Richard.  Henry continued to stall for time and Alys remained in England, unmarried long after it would have been normal for noble girls of her era to be left on the shelf.

Henry died in 1189, but still Alys remained in England, following Eleanor's court.  In 1191, while still engaged to her, Richard married Berengaria of Navarre, but still refused to release Alys back to her family.  Phillip urged a marriage to Richard's brother John, but Eleanor of Aquitaine nixed that idea.  With Richard imprisoned in Austria, Phillip was able to demand that Alys be returned, but would have to negotiate her dowry back from the Plantagenet family.  With her reputation tarnished and no dowry, Alys was in danger of being an old maid permanently.  Phillip made her Countess of the Vexin in her own right, hoping to tempt a husband.  Finally, in August, 1195, William IV, Count of Pothieu married Alys and made her the mother of three children.  Her daughter Marie became a famous court lady of the era.  Alys died in 1220, four years after John of England.

Did It Happen: Courts of Love

A common theme among painters of Medieval scenes during the Victorian era are knights and ladies reenacting dramas of love.  A lady fair gives a favor to a knight about to go into battle, etc., etc.  A common fiction in novels and poems of the era was the existence of Courts of Love, where noble women, usually led by Eleanor of Aquitaine or her daughter Marie, solved disputes about the correct forms and procedures of courtly love at Eleanor's castle of Poitou, in France.

Did it happen?

Courtly love, in and of itself, was very much a thing in the Middle Ages and through to the Renaissance.   This consisted of an elaborate set of ideas and rituals which bound younger men of lesser social rank (knights), to older women of higher social rank (ladies), who were otherwise unattainable because they were married, or of too high a social standing, etc.  Troubadours and poets such as Chretien de Troyers composed songs and poems about this form of love.  Books were written about the etiquette of a knight to his lady and vice versa.  Moralists condemned the practice as a cover for adultery.  Courtly love had its erotic features, but the extent to which it was sexual, or even practiced in daily life, is open for debate.  However, in none of the literature of the period is there any mention of Courts of Love, where disputes about love were brought before high-born ladies to adjudicate and render rulings.  This is a later invention and probably a misunderstanding of Medieval life on the part of later generations, most notably the Victorians, who romanticized most things Medieval.

The women of the time were busy, running large households and overseeing their families.  Eleanor herself was ruler of large domains in her own right, held prisoner by her husband for almost twenty years, and running interference between her husband and her various warring sons.  Although she was credited with introducing the idea of Courtly Love from Aquitaine to France and later England, she likely didn't have the time to sit around adjudicating other people's love disputes.  Her daughter by her first marriage, Marie, Countess-Consort of Champagne, also kept a lively court, at which her mother was often a guest.  If Courts of Love existed at all, they were probably salons at which people read poetry, flirted, or in general gossiped about love and its many facets and problems.  Nothing more. 

What is it: The Pardoner

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in the 1380's while Chaucer was an official in the service of Richard II, are to the Plantagenet era what Shakespeare is to the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.  This complex and impressive set of stories set in poetry are important for two other reasons.  Many words are first attested in the English language because they appeared in the Tales.  They are also an important slice of medieval life, shedding light on Medieval people and customs that would otherwise be lost. 

One of the tellers of tales is called a Pardoner.  A pardoner was a member of the clergy, usually a deacon, licensed to sale Papal indulgences.  For a sum of money donated to the Church, according to the beliefs of the time, one could spring a soul (sometimes one's own soul), out of Purgatory or get a pass straight to Heaven.  Even in the pre-Reformation era, Pardoners were looked upon much as used car salesmen are today, not very honest.  Chaucer gives us this viewpoint in his description of the pardoner, a member of the clergy who wears his hair long, has much knowledge of the world and sexual experience, and isn't above supplementing his own income through his employment despite a vow of poverty.  Some pardoners, indeed some priests, trafficked in the sale of fake relics, charged for hearing confessions or dispensing sacraments and engaged in other fleecing practices.  However, because of their role in Medieval society, they were a necessary evil. 

 

Places: Winchester Castle

One of the main, if not the main, residence of the early Platagenet kings when they were in England was this castle, located in Hampshire, England.  The castle was begun by William the Conqueror I 1067 and added onto by successive generations of Plantagenet rulers.  It was here that a mural depicting an adult eagle being cannibalized by its young served as an omen to Henry II of the treatment he would receive at the hands of his sons.  And he was right. 

Henry III was born at Winchester and it remained his favorite residence and base throughout his reign.  He began construction of the Great Hall, which is the only part of the Castle to remain today.  The stone is flint, and the hall had lower walls and a roof with dormer windows.  An imitation of King Arthur's Round Table was placed on the wall of the Great Hall in the 13th century.  It would be repainted during the reign of Henry VIII, when all things Camelot were in vogue.  The roof was replaced in 1873 during the reign of Queen Victoria, a distant Plantagenet and Tudor descendant. 

The Castle and its Great Hall have been witnesses to a great deal of history.  Empress Matilda was besieged in the Castle by the forces of King Stephen.  In 1302, Edward I and his wife were nearly killed when the royal apartments caught fire.  Margaret of York, a daughter of King Edward IV, was born at Winchester, as were other Plantagenet princes and princess whom we'll run across in due time.  Royalists took over the castle during the English Civil War, until it was taken over by the Parliamentarians.  Oliver Cromwell ordered what was left of the Castle destroyed in 1646, which is why only the Great Hall stands today.  Behind the Great Hall is a reconstructed Medieval garden known as Queen Eleanor's garden, though there is no evidence that either Eleanor of Aquitaine or Eleanor of Castile ever used it. 

In-Laws: Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony 1129-1195

In a storied royal family like the Plantagenets, the in-laws are every bit as colorful as the members of the family they married.  Henry the Lion (do we see a theme here?), Duke of Saxony and husband of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine's daughter Matilda was no exception.

Henry was born in Ravensburg, c 1129.  He was the son of Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, of the Welf dynasty.  The Welfs or Guelphs and their numerous rivals are worth a blog in themselves, as are the various nicknames and sobriquets these men used in the eras before last names.  Henry the Proud died when Little Henry was still a boy.  The King of Germany had dispossessed Henry's father of both of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony.  If Henry, Jr., wanted them, he would have to fight for them.  The King of Germany returned Saxony in 1142 and, after the installation of a new Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarosa, he got a piece of Bavaria back in 1156.  This was with the exception of portions of Bavaria that became Austria and remained the domain of Leopold of Austria.  Thus, there was drama between Henry and Leopold even before Leopold became a Plantagenet by extension.

Henry founded many now iconic Bavarian or North German cities, including Munich, Augsburg, Kassel, Schwerin and Brunswick.  He established his capital in Brunswick and had a bronze lion installed in courtyard of his castle there.  The Lion was his heraldric device and became his nickname as well.  He also had built Brunswick Cathedral.  He married twice, his first wife being a German princess, Clementia of Zahringen, by whom he had a daughter who later became Queen of Denmark.  In 1165, he married Mathilda, daughter of Henry and Eleanor.  She bore him three children who survived, including his namesake, Henry, Count Palatine of the Rhine and Otto IV, whom we've already run across.  Henry's power stretched from the Baltic to the Alps, from Westphalia to Pomerania, but trouble was never far away.

Henry supported Frederick Barbarossa, who was his cousin, in his claim to the Holy Roman Empire.  That is, until his own borders came under threat and he had to back out of a joint invasion of Lombardy.  The Lombardy expedition was a disaster and Frederick blamed Henry.  Frederick had Henry tried for insubordination to his overlord and stripped of both his duchies.  Henry's allies turned against him and he had to seek refuge at his father-in-law Henry II's court in Normandy.  He returned to Germany to fight for his inheritance, but was exiled again in 1188, losing Matilda in death in 1189.  When Frederick departed for the Third Crusade in 1189, Henry made a bid for his lost inheritance, but that quickly crumbled into nothing.  Henry was able to hold on to Brunswick and remained there the rest of his life.  It was to Henry's
dominions in Brunswick that Richard I was trying to flee in 1192, on returning from the Third Crusade, before he was nabbed by agents of Leopold of Austria, who had no reason to like either Richard or Henry. 

Royal FamilY: the Children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine

Large families were a plus for royalty and nobility in the Medieval era.  Infant and child mortality was high and whether or not a child survived to adulthood was a matter of luck.  Sons who survived could hope to inherit some or all of their family's domains, but would also serve as commanders, governors or in whatever other position was needed.  Daughters were vital for forging marriage alliances through marriage.  Nor was being illegitimate necessarily a bar to advancement.  The illegitimate son of a king still bore royal blood and could inherit land or titles.  King's daughters by unofficial unions could also hope to marry well.  To that end, many Plantagenet kings had large families, both official and otherwise, who in turn had large families, which makes for plenty of drama and intrigue. The children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, who are somewhat familiar from the movie The Lion in Winter, are a case in point.

Eleanor had been married before, to Louis VII of France.  She had two daughters by him, Marie and Alix.  When Louis and Eleanor divorced, Louis kept custody of the girls, though they maintained a relationship with their mother.  Then Eleanor married Henry, and the childbearing began in earnest.  Their first son William IX, Count of Poitiers, died as a toddler (1153-1156).  The other children lived to grow up, including. Henry the Young King (1155-1183); Matilda, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria (1156-1189); Richard I the Lionheart (1157-1199); Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158-1186); Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1162-1214); Joanna, Queen of Sicily (1165-1199); and John, King of England (1166-1216).  Three Kings, two queens, a Duchess, a Duke, and a Count.  Henry was intended as his father's heir, taking England, Normandy and Anjou, which is why he was crowned a junior king in his father's lifetime.  This didn't sit too well with Richard and Geoffrey.  Richard was heir to his mother's domains, including Aquitaine and Poitou, but he also wanted his father's inheritance.  So did Geoffrey, who was Duke of Brittany by right of his wife.  John, who would have to be content with land in Ireland if he got anything at all, was hurt at being left out.  Henry, Richard and Geoffrey started a civil war that turned into a rebellion against their own father.  It was in this atmosphere that Henry called his Christmas court at Chinon in 1183 as depicted in the movie.

An often-told story about Henry II is that he once showed a visitor a tapestry or a mural in the Palace of Winchester that showed an adult eagle being cannibalized by its own offspring.  Henry explained that his own sons would do the same to him and he died fighting Richard.  But for all their squabbling, the Plantagenet siblings would stand together against a common foe.  Richard bailed his sister Joanna out of her dispute over her dowry with her husband's successor, Tancred of Sicily.  After the Crusade, he was trying to reach the safety of the domains of his brother-in-law, Henry the Lion of Saxony, when fate in the form of Leopold of Austria got in the way.  Eleanor, who would survive all but two of her children, had to rally support for Richard during his absence on crusade, while keeping John at bay.  It makes for good movies and novels but would have been a hazardous life for anyone who aroused the ire of the power couple of the age or their brood of ravenous eaglets.
 

Melusine

There once was a King of Alba (now part of Scotland) named Elynas, who went hunting one day and came across a beautiful woman named Pressyne.  He fell in love with her and persuaded him to marry her.  She agreed, on condition that he never spy on her while she was bathing or birthing their children.  She gave birth to three beautiful daughters, the eldest named Melusine.  Everything went according to plan until Elynas couldn't contain his curiosity and spied on Pressyne as she bathed, finding out to his shock and horror that she was half-woman and half-beast, fish, etc.  She took their three daughters and disappeared, taking up residence on the Isle of Avalon.  Later the three girls determined to pay their father back for disrupting their family.  They caught Elynas and locked him in a mountain for all time.  Pressyne thought this very disrespectful and punished her daughters by condemning them to spend a day a week as a mermaid, undine or other supernatural creature.  Melusine happened to meet Raymond of Poitier (1115-1149, uncle of Eleanor of Acquitaine), Fulk of Anjou (970-1040-an early forbear of the Plantagenets), Guy of Lusignan's father, or an early Count/Duke of Luxembourg and began the cycle again, marrying him on condition he not spy on her in her bath.  Only this time, when he broke the condition she forgive him and stuck by him, until forced to hear Mass, or he insults her by being called a "serpent", "witch" or some such, and she turned into a serpent or worse and disappeared. 

Obviously, a quick check of the relevant records reveals that Fulk of Anjou's wives were Elizabeth of Vendome and later Hildegarde of Sundgau, both very mortal women.  Elizabeth's fate was bad enough, after being caught by her husband in an adulterous affair she was burned in the marketplace of Rouen in her wedding dress, but more on this later.  Guy of Lusignan's father Hugh (c 1110-1171) was married to a woman named Burgondie de Rancon and had a mother named Sarrasine.  Raymond of Poitier's wife was named Philippa and each of these women had an otherwise-normal life as a noble Medieval wife and mother.  No record that any of them looked like the lady on a Starbucks cup. 

So why the fairytale underpinnings of these royal houses?  It depends on which sources one checks.  Normal, in dealing with royal and noble men and women of that age, was a relative term.  If it's normal to fly into a rage and order the slaughter of 3,000 Saracens to get back at their Sultan for refusing demands, than Richard I was normal.  If its normal to leave one's wife and have a relationship with a woman who goes by the nickname of Dangereuse de Chatelherault and have rumors that one's niece (Eleanor) is one's mistress, than Raymond was normal.  Guy is a whole other blogpost and whether his life was mundane or normal I'll leave the reader to decide.  It was a rough and violent age, not a time for sissies.  These men were powerful, knew their way around swords and other weapons, and were in control of lands, castles and men.  To defy any of them was to risk one's life.  To have the power of life and death over those under their control was taken as a given.  But was with the other trappings of power, retinues, arms, jewels and wealth, it didn't hurt to have people believing one had a bit of the supernatural behind them, just a touch in the form of a distant ancestress.  Richard I said openly that his family was born of the Devil and would return to the Devil in due time.  Guy readily boasted that his mother had a undine (a water sprite similar to the Starbucks lady) in his mother's ancestry somewhere.  Fear is a potent part of power and, knowing that one's lord or king might be in league with darker elements added that fear. 

The Massacre of Ayyadieh, August 20, 1191

No one messed with the Plantagenets.  Scots, Welsh, French, Saracens and others learned the hard way that defying a Plantagenet king came at great cost.  Unfortunately, one of these episodes has cast a stain on the honor of the most famous Plantagenet King, Richard I, the Lionheart.

The siege of Acre (1189-1191), took almost two years to break.  It was long, costly, bloody and deadly as both besiegers and besieged succumbed to disease, including for a time, Richard himself.  In the aftermath of the siege, as Saladin the Magnificent, Sultan of the Seljuk Turks, dickered terms with representatives of the European commanders, thousands of prisoners languished in Acre in terrible conditions and tempers flared.  Among the main bones of contention were the return of a relic of the True Cross and the return of Christian captives taken in earlier battles.  Saladin stalled for time, waiting for reinforcements to arrive that might enable him to retake Acre and short-circuit the Third Crusade before it got started. 

Richard fumed, knowing exactly what Saladin's intentions were.  When Richard demanded a list of the more important prisoners Saladin had taken, Saladin refused.  Richard set a one-month deadline for exchange of ransom, relic and prisoners.  When the deadline passed, the fuse that was Richard's temper on the best of days finally snapped.  He ordered the execution of the Saracen prisoners of Acre on a hill called Ayyadieh, in full view of the encamped Muslim army and Saladin's headquarters.  Around 3,000 men, and possibly some female camp followers, were executed.  As the execution progressed, Muslim forces attempted to rush the Crusader camp, but were beaten back.  The execution was completed and drawings of it illustrated the methodical, almost assembly line nature of the work.  Events like this would sear the bitterness between Christians and Muslims even down to today. 

Knight: William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

Centuries before movie stars, rock stars, athletes and the internet famous fed the obsession with celebrity, knights errant and tournament champions were the celebrities of their day.  And none was more famous then William Marshal (c 1146-1219).

William was born in England.  The family surname, Marshal, was an occupational designation, though it isn't clear today just what the Marshal family were marshals of.  A marshal could be a military function, a legal function similar to a constable, or could work in the court of a king or high noble.  What's for certain is that this family was made of stern stuff.  During the Anarchy, William's father John initially supported King Stephen, but transferred his allegiance to Matilda after Stephen took young William hostage.  When Stephen threatened to launch young William against the walls of his father's castle in a form of trebuchet, John Marshal told the King's messengers that if William was killed, he had the hammer and anvil to make even better sons.  Stephen couldn't bring himself to kill a child and William was spared.  It would've been an abject lesson for anyone. 

William was the son of a minor nobleman and had to make his own way in the world.  He became a knight-errant, offering his services to whichever nobleman would pay him.  He also became known for competing in tournaments, where prize money and the captured armor and horses of defeated opponents made him wealthy.  He served William de Tancarville and a maternal uncle, Patrick, Earl of Salisbury.  He entered royal service as a military tutor to Henry the Young King and saved Eleanor of Aquitaine from an ambush, getting himself captured in the process.  Eleanor paid his ransom.  Marshal remained loyal to Henry II during the final tumultuous years of the older man's reign.  As Henry fled before the forces of his son Richard, William met Richard in single combat and knocked the young Lionheart off his horse.  It was the beginning of a close friendship between the two men.  King Richard arranged the marriage of William, now 43, with the 17-year-old heiress Isabel de Clare, daughter of Richard de Clare (Strongbow), Earl of Pembroke.  Though he wouldn't be made Earl of Pembroke until 1199, Marshal was now the wealthiest man in the kingdom.

When Richard left on the Third Crusade, he appointed William Marshal to the council of Regency which would govern England in his absence.  Marshal joined forces with John against Richard's Justiciar, William Longchamp, but soon came to realize that John was using the conflict with Longchamp as an excuse to seize Richard's throne.  Marshal transferred to the Loyalist side of the conflict trying to keep Richard's kingdom together until he returned.  During John's reign, Marshal remained just as loyal to him, though the two men did not get along and had several public quarrels over lands and honors involving Marshal's extensive holdings in Ireland and Normandy.  Marshal was one of the few barons who remained loyal to John during the lead-up to the signing of Magna Carta in 1214.  At John's death in 1216, he appointed Marshal regent for his young son, Henry III.  Marshal held this post until his death in 1219, at which time he turned his duties as Regent over to the Papal Legate, not trusting any of the barons or English clergy to serve the young king as loyally as he had. 

Marshal had always wanted to go on Crusade.  He had traveled in the Holy Land but wanted to do more.  Before his death, he was made a Knight Templar and buried in the robes of the order in Temple Church, London.  He and Isabel had had 10 children together.  William's five boys duly succeeded him as Earls of Pembroke 2-6, but none of them had sons to take the title any further.  Some claim this was due to an Irish curse on Marshal's line because of his harsh treatment of tenants on his Irish lands.  I'll leave that to individual readers to believe or not.  However, Marshal and history would have the last word.  The Pembroke honor passed to his daughter, who married the Earl of Norfolk.  This marriage made the title Earl Marshal hereditary to the Earls and later Dukes of Norfolk for centuries.  William was also the great-grandfather of Robert Bruce, courtesy of his daughter Maud, who married the Earl of Hertford and her daughter married the Lord of Annandale, grandfather of Robert Bruce.  Through another granddaughter, Marshal was ancestor of Edward III.  Thus, Marshal was the ancestor of the final Plantagenet kings, Edward IV and his sons, and Richard III.  And, through Elizabeth of York, he's the ancestor of all English kings from Henry VIII and including the current Queen and her family.  Not bad for a knight errant who almost got shot out of a catapult as a kid. 

(I'm updated to reader Elizabeth Chadwick and other members of the British Medieval History website on Facebook for updated information, which I've included here along with a picture of Marshal's effigy showing his correct shield.  Elizabeth maintains a Facebook group and website page devoted to William Marshal.) 

 

Medieval Life: the Crusades

Throughout history, there has always been a common enemy, whether Saracen (Islam) versus Infidel (Christian, East (Communist) versus West (Capitalist) or the Global War on Terror, us against them is a recurring theme.

In the Middle Ages, the all-consuming fight was against the Saracens, whether they be Turks in the Holy Land or Moors in Spain.  There were many fronts for Christian knights to battle for glory and God.  However, the main point of contention and the goal for many kings, nobles and knights who wished to fulfill a Crusading vow was the Holy Land.  There were several Crusades, either to capture or recapture Jerusalem, or at least preserve a toehold for Christianity in kingdoms and principalities known as the Crusader states, we'll get around to them eventually, since Plantagenet relatives had claims to these territories.  For now, though, we'll run through the main Crusades herein.

The First Crusade (1095-1099), a group of Western nobles, including the father of King Stephen of England versus the Seljuk Turks and the Fatimid and Abbasid Caliphates.  It resulted in the capture of Jerusalem by Christian forces and the creation of the Crusader States.

The Second Crusade (1147-1149): This was a multi-theatre effort, ranging from Spain and the Baltic to the Levant.  Eleanor of Aquitaine and her then-husband Louis VII both took vows to Crusade and she followed him to the Holy Land, bringing a considerable contingent from her Duchy of Aquitaine.  Also present was King Stephen of England, taking time out from the running civil war back home with Empress Matilda.  Both sides scored significant victories, the Muslims in Anatolia, the Crusaders in the Iberian and Baltic theatres.  However, they could not wrest Edessa from Turkish control.  As Crusader forces penetrated into Egypt, a peace involving access to the Holy Sites was agreed between Byzantium and the Seljuk Turks.

The Third Crusade (1189-1192: This is the most well-known Crusade of the Plantagenet dynasty, featuring Richard I the Lionheart and his mortal enemies Phillip II August of France and Leopold of Austria, among others, versus Saladin the Magnificent.  The Crusaders scored some significant military victories, notably the Siege of Acre, 1189-1191, which enabled them to agree a treaty regarding more access to the Holy Sites, but Richard didn't press a conquest of Jerusalem, which remained under Turkish control.

The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204): no Plantagenets went on this bloodbath, which turned Latin/Roman Christianity against Greek/Orthodox Christianity in the form of the siege and sack of Constantinople and the creation of new Crusader States on territory seized from the Byzantine Empire.

There was a Fifth (1213-1221), Six (1228-1229), Seventh (1248-1254), Eighth (1270), and Ninth (1271-1272), but the only one featuring a Plantagenet was the Ninth, where Prince Edward, son of Henry III and future Hammer of the Scots, participated.  The Crusaders lifted the siege of Tripoli in Lebanon (not Libya) and agreed another truce for access to the Holy Sites, but nothing else of note. 

In-Laws: Margaret of France, 1157-c. 1197

Margaret's story belongs in the "you can't make this stuff up" file.  Not even a reality show producer could conjure the twists and turns of this woman's life.

Margaret was born in 1157.  Her father was Louis VII of France and her mother was Constance of Castile.  Sounds simple enough until the extended family factors into the equation.  Constance was Louis' second wife, the mother of Phillip II Augustus, Alys and Margaret.  But Louis had been married before, to Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was now married to Henry II of England.  This gave young Margaret some interesting connections around the various courts of Europe.  Her half-sisters were Eleanor's two older daughter's Marie of Champagne and Alix, Countess of Blois.  Margaret's own sister Alys was betrothed to Richard the Lionhearted and may have been the underage (even for that time) and unwilling sexual victim of her own prospective father-in-law Henry II.  Henry and his sons had no use for Margaret's brother, Phillip II, who was their rival in power, land and everything else, and Phillip felt likewise about them.

But politics is business and the Capets and Plantagenets had to find a way to co-exist.  While Alys' betrothal to Richard dragged on, Henry proposed a sop to Phillip's injured family pride by offering the hand of his son Henry, called the Young King, and Margaret.  Henry's status had been elevated to a junior king under his father, both to designate the ultimate successor to the throne of England and to make him an attractive enough suitor for Margaret.  Thus, Margaret stepped into the hornet's nest that was the Plantagenet family on any given day.  What her mother-in-law thought of her.  Whether she was able to connect with her sister Alys is anyone's guess.  The mixed blessing might have been that these families lived in separate residences, often in separate countries most of the time.  Putting up with one another only happened infrequently, usually during holidays or treaty parleys.

Henry the Young King and Margaret were crowned together at Winchester in 1172, against the backdrop of the Becket controversy.  Margaret was lucky enough to have her first and only child, William in Paris, in 1177, likely surrounded by her own family.  Tiny William only lived a few days and Margaret herself almost died in childbirth.  That most likely factored into why she was never able to have a child again.  From that point, Margaret and Henry's marriage deteriorated and there was talk of having the marriage annulled for her inability to conceive when Henry the Young King died during the campaign against his own brother, Richard, in 1183. 

Princesses of the era weren't allowed to remain widows for long and Phillip had Margaret back on the marriage market.  She became the wife of Bela III of Hungary in 1186.  She wasn't able to bear children by him, either.  He died ten years later in 1196, leaving Margaret a widow yet again.  She decided to take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a common thing at the time for those who could afford it.  She arrived in Acre and died eight days later, in 1197.  She was buried at the cathedral of Tyre, there being no way at the time to ship the body back home and because being buried in the Holy Land was considered an honor. 
  

Places: St. George's Tower, Oxford Castle

In a scene worthy of Game of Thrones, the Empress Matilda, mother of Henry II and acknowledged Queen Cersei of her day, is besieged in Oxford Castle, which is about to fall to the forces of her cousin and rival for the English crown, Stephen of Blois in 1141.  As his forces close in, Matilda makes a dramatic escape, being let down by ropes from the window of St. George's tower and escaping across the frozen river in a driving snow.  For greater dramatic effect as well as camouflage, she and her retinue of knights were dressed in white to blend in better with the weather.

Well, not quite.

The above story presumes that Oxford Castle, complete with its tower, high walls and fortified battlements, was the same in Matilda's time as it is now.  Disappointingly, it wasn't.  What is now the site of Oxford castle was claimed in 1071 by a Norman baron named Robert D'Oyly.  D'Oyly was part of William the Conqueror's invasion fleet.  He saw the site, which was already home to a Saxon ring fort and a chapel, and decided to take it for himself.  He began to build a stone church, with a proper castle along the motte and bailey format.  Only he didn't have his fortress built of solid stone, like the Castle today.  The battlements were constructed of gravel mixed with clay to make a rude cement.  The keep was made of wood.  It was this castle which Matilda holed up in during the period in English history known as the Anarchy, while she and Stephen fought for the crown to a lawless stalemate.  And, yes, she was besieged in the castle and had to make a run for it.  But it's likely that she left by one of the gates in the dead of night, not being lowered down the wall.  And, as for the white clothing and all that, probably not.

The present St. George's tower, built from coral rag stone, dates from about 1270, during the reign of Matilda's descendants, the Plantagenet Kings of England.  Over time, the clay and gravel battlements and wooden keep of the castle gave way to stone as successive lords and kings continued to bring the castle up to date with then-existing military understanding about defensive works.  In time, the castle fell into disuse and disrepair, being used off and on as a jail.  By the time of the English Civil War, the castle was almost a ruin.  But it became the Royalist capital and, in 1642, withstood another siege from Puritan forces.  It's re-use as a fortress was short-lived and it reverted to its role as a prison, one of the worst in England and frequently cited by reformers as an example of the need for prison reform. 

Finally, in 1954, the site was taken over by the National Trust to be preserved as an historical site.  The prison closed down in 1996.  A hotel now operates on part of the former prison site. 

Empress: Matilda of England 1102-1167

Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, Mary and Anne Stuart, Victoria and Elizabeth have all reigned as queens of Great Britain and Ireland.  Now, English succession laws will make it easier for a female of future generations to become queen.  Had Charlotte been born before George, she and not he, would be the next heir after her grandfather and father.  But there was a time when it wasn't so easy.  Contrary to what some may have learned in history, Mary Tudor wasn't the first ruling Queen of England.

That honor, or perhaps dubious distinction, belongs to Matilda or Maude of England 1102-1167, daughter of Henry I, granddaughter of William the Conqueror, wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and Mother of Henry II.  Matilda grew up in a large family.  Her father had several children by different mistresses, but only two or possibly three by his Queen, Matilda of Scotland.  These were William Adelin, Matilda, and possibly a younger brother Richard.  In 1109, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, requested her hand in marriage.  They were betrothed in 1111 and Matilda was crowned Queen of the Romans that year, but due to her young age, they wouldn't be married and begin living together until 1114. 

Almost at once, Matilda was plunged into the business of helping Henry V rule his troublesome collection of kingdoms, duchies and other entities.  He was perpetually at war with one or the other of them.  Matilda followed him on his campaigns, attended counsel meetings, and issued writs and decrees in her own name.  Henry was adamant that she be accorded the title of Empress, even holding coronations for her in several cities.  The Pope objected, just one of many conflicts that Henry and the Pope had over the course of Henry's reign.  Henry died of cancer in 1125, leaving Matilda a childless widow, but one with considerable political and military experience and a mind and will of her own.  Her options at that point were to return home, find another husband or take the veil.  Matilda, who was now rightful heir to the English crown after her brother William Adelin's death in the White Ship incident in 1120, decided to return home.  She stayed for the time being at her father's court in Normandy while he and his new wife hoped for more children.  When none seemed to be coming, Henry I secured the nominal support of the barons for his daughter to succeed him.

Enter Geoffrey of Anjou, aka Geoffrey Plantagenet.  There had been offers from other more powerful royals and nobles but Henry knew that the trouble spot in his plans would be Normandy, where women were barred from becoming queen regnant in their own right.  If Matilda wanted either England or Normandy, she would have take it by force.  She would also have to have a husband to throw his own support behind her and possibly that of the King of France.  Matilda herself was underwhelmed by the idea.  Geoffrey was only the son of a Count who had not yet succeeded to his father's title.  Geoffrey was still a teenager, with twelve years age difference between Matilda and himself.  Geoffrey's father left to claim the Kingdom of Jerusalem and gave his title over to Geoffrey.  Matilda came around to her father's plan and the two were married in 1128.

The marriage ended up like one would expected.  Within months of their wedding, Matilda had left her husband.  Her father urged her to patch things up and she returned to Geoffrey in 1131.  In 1133, her first son was born, the future Henry II.  Two other sons followed.  In 1135, Henry I died and the barons quickly renounced their oaths to Matilda, favoring Stephen of Blois, an adult male who was the son of Henry I's sister and Matilda's aunt, Adele.  Matilda and Geoffrey wanted to return to England to claim the throne there but first they had to pacify Normandy.  That gave Stephen a chance to make his move, consolidating his hold on the crown through the support of the English clergy, who weren't in favor of a Queen of England.  Geoffrey eventually managed to bring Normandy to order, forcing Stephen to concentrate on England.

In 1138, one of Matilda's half-brothers, Robert of Gloucester, revolted against Stephen while her cousin, David I of Scotland, invaded the North of England.  Matilda and Geoffrey invaded England and a contentious civil war known as the Anarchy began, with both Stephen and Matilda claiming to be the rightful ruler of England.  While Stephen held London, Matilda established her court in Gloucester.  The two fought each other on and off for the next several years, with Matilda finally capturing Stephen in 1341 after the Battle of Lincoln.  Even with Stephen under wraps, her hold on the throne was dicey, with parts of England a lawless no man's land.  The English clergy refused to back Matilda as Queen and, with their instigation, several key barons also refused to swear allegiance.   In 1142, forces loyal to Stephen besieged Oxford Castle and nearly captured Matilda.  She escaped and set up her court at Devizes.  As stalemate ensued and wore on, Henry was growing up and taking more of the lead in securing his mother's kingdom.

In 1148, Matilda decided to return to France, leaving the consolidation of England to her son.  Henry consolidated his hold on the realm and was proclaimed King in 1154.  Henry, male, married and with a viable future ahead of him, was a more attractive candidate to the barons and clergy of England than his mother.  Matilda settled in Rouen and concentrated her efforts on administering Normandy.  She wasn't ready to retire from public life just yet.  Henry counted on his mother to back him up in Normandy and looked to her for advice in policy matters.  She would later attempt to mediate between Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket, but wasn't successful in the end.  She continued to play her part in diplomatic efforts until her death. 

Beginnings: the White Ship Disaster of 1120

Sometimes one person's misfortune is another's unexpected gain.  The Plantagenet family wouldn't have gained their rights to England without this misfortune, the Titanic of its day.

The White Ship was a refitted vessel considered one of the largest and fastest vessel afloat.  The family who owned it were experienced enough.  Thomas FitzStephen was the son of Stephen Fitzairard, who had captained a ship that was part of William the Conqueror's invasion fleet.  Evidently, this family and their vessels were known to the royal family, who patronized their services for decades.  Henry I (1068-1135) was the son of William the Conqueror.  He had several out-of-wedlock children, but only one legitimate heir, William Adelin and his sister Matilda, who married the Holy Roman Emperor.   William Adelin had married another Matilda, the daughter of Count Fulk V of Anjou, we'll get to him soon enough.  Because Henry I was also Duke of Normandy, he traveled between England and Normandy, administering the two parts of his kingdom.  It was on the return of one such journey on November 25, 1120, that tragedy struck.

Thomas FitzStephen offered Henry the use of the White Ship to make the return to England.  Henry declined, as he'd already made other arrangements, but allowed other members of his retinue to board the ship if they wished.  Those so inclined included his son and heir, William Adelin, one of Henry's out-of-wedlock daughters, yet another Matilda, and another illegitimate child of the King's named Richard.  For some reason, William Adelin's wife was already embarked on the same ship carrying her father-in-law and that would be her salvation.  The King's vessel took off without waiting for the White Ship.  Before embarking, the passengers of the White Ship decided to celebrate and many were already inebriated.  This caused others to decide last minute to make other arrangements and disembark.  Still, over three hundred people were crowded on board the vessel and the partying continued.  They urged Captain FitzStephen to make all speed and catch up with the King's ship.  Despite the treachery of the coastal waters and it already being nightfall, he obliged.  The ship struck a rock off Barfleur, Normandy and began to go down.

William Adelin found a smaller boat, but turned back when he heard cries for help.  Drowning victims swamped his small vessel, taking it down.  He and his wife were childless, meaning that William's claim to the crown drowned with him.  FitzStephen survived the sinking, but drowned rather than face the King's wrath.  The loss of his son left Henry I with no heir and the Norman dynasty of England at a standstill.  Henry turned to his only legitimate daughter, Matilda, Holy Roman Empress, ordering his barons to swear fealty to her as his heir.  At his death, Normandy passed to a male heir, as females couldn't inherit that realm in their own right.  Then, the barons had second thoughts about a woman inheriting the crown of England.  The clergy backed Henry I's nephew Stephen, but Matilda wasn't the mother of England's most rambunctious dynasty for nothing.  She and Stephen engaged in an on and off civil war with the crown of England at stake.  It was a war Matilda's son and heir, Henry II would finish, and put his own progeny on the throne. 

The White Ship wouldn't be the last shipwreck to alter the fates of the Plantagenet dynasty, but we'll get to the others in future posts. 

Battle: Bannockburn, June 23-24, 1314

Edward II's reign was one crisis after disaster after drama but this battle in the otherwise costly endemic wars between Scotland and England was one of the lowest points of Edward's reign, both in men and money, as well as national and dynastic pride.

Each time the English concluded a campaign in Scotland, they liked to think that Scotland was conquered for good.  And, each time, the Scots rose under a new leader and gave them a nasty surprise.  Edward I's victories at Dunbar (1296), the Siege of Berwick (1296)) and Falkirk of 1297 gave the English much reason to think they had the job done this time.  Wallace had won a victory at Stirling Bridge (1297), but the English had captured and killed him and removed one claimant from the Scottish throne.  They had reckoned without Robert Bruce, a former vassal of Edward I's who had thrown in his lot with his native country in an effort to win the empty Scottish throne for himself.  Bruce, assisted by his brothers Edward, Thomas and Nigel began the piecemeal work of taking Scotland back.  Edward Bruce besieged the English garrison at Stirling Castle in 1314 and Edward II, never a keen military man, knew he had to answer the challenge.

Robert Bruce was aware that Edward II was on his way and began gathering his army.  Estimates of the two armies vary.  Probably, Edward II's army consisted of 2,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry.  The Scots had 7-10,000 infantry, with maybe 500 cavalry.  On paper, Bruce's chances did not look good.  Bruce divided his army into three divisions known as schiltrons, each surrounded by pikemen meant to drive away the English cavalry.  Though archers were present in both armies, they relied primarily on slingers and crossbowmen.  Though a modern visitors center, monument and statue proclaim what many to believe the site of the battle, near Bannock, Scotland, the actual combat may have taken place nearby.  Unlike many Medieval battles, this one would take two days to complete. 

One the first day, the English vanguard under the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford advance, meeting up with a small Scottish advance led by Robert Bruce.  Bruce directed his attention to Hereford's nephew, Henry de Bohun, who charged at him.  Using his battle-ax, Bruce split de Bohun's head through his helmet, "knave to the chops", as one writer later put it.  Hereford and Gloucestor hurried to cross back over the small burn or stream, which gave the battle its name.  Another English advance then tried its luck, meeting up with the Scots vanguard under the Earl of Moray.  Thomas Gray, whose father Thomas Gray de Heaton was one of the leaders of this second English advance, later wrote of the mayhem caused when the English knights threw themselves against Moray's tightly packed formation with its pikemen and were scattered, several prominent English knights being killed or taken prisoner.

The English decided to regroup and try their luck next day.  They crossed the Bannockburn and encamped on the plain nearby, ready to advance next morning.  Robert Bruce received a tip from a Scottish knight who threw off his English alliance and deserted, informing Bruce that English morale was low.  At sunrise, Bruce had his spearmen on the move toward the English positions.  Edward II was surprised at the size of Bruce's force and at the fact that they dropped to their knees before continuing their advance.  "They cry for mercy," he said.  "They cry for mercy," an advisor replied," but from God, not you."  Bruce's spearmen finished their devotions, got on their feet and kept on coming.  Gloucester and Hereford chose that moment to quarrel about who should lead the vanguard.  When Gloucester threatened to sit out the battle altogether, Edward II accused him of cowardice.  The English mustered up a hurried and ill-planned charge against Bruce's pikes. 

It didn't go well.  The pikemen penned down the English knights.  English longbow men tried to get into the battle, but inflicted casualties on their own side, only making the mayhem worse.  The Scots Earl Marischal, Robert Keith, had mounted men at arms on lighter horses.  They road into the English and Welsh bowmen and disbursed them easily enough.  As the confusion worsen, the top priority became to get Edward II out of the area before he was captured.  The Earl of Pembroke and Giles d'Argentan guided Edward away from the fighting and turned back to join the battle.  Both were killed.  The king's flight led to fear and panic in the English lines.  Little by little the English resistance dribbled away before turning into a full-scale route.  According to sources at the time, about 7,000 English men at arms lost their lives.  So did several high profile English knights including the Earl of Gloucester, d'Argentan, one of the most famous knights in Europe at the time, Robert, Baron de Clifford, Henry de Bohun, William Marshal, descendant of Richard I's jousting partner, with the Earl of Hereford, Baron Seagrave, Baron Berkeley and others being taken prisoner.

The route of Edward's army and its pell-mell flight back to England opened up the North of England to raids from the Scots, which were not long in coming.  It also enabled Bruce to try to set up a satellite kingdom in Ireland.  Edward II would spend the rest of his hard-luck reign trying to clean up these messes, draining England's finances and deepening his own rifts with the barons and other members of his own Plantagenet family.  The English never stopped trying to get into Scotland.  There would be other battles and skirmishes just as bloody, but this was the first. 

Opposition: Llewellyn the Great of Wales (c 1173-1240)

The Plantagenet dynasty boasted several outstanding rulers, but it was their rivals and enemies, the Welsh, who had the honor of having two of their leaders named "the Great".  One was Llewellyn, Prince of Gwynedd and Powis Wenwynwyn during the reigns of King John (1199-1216) and Henry III (1216-1272).

Llewellyn (c 1173-1240), may have been born in Dolyweddelan Castle in what is now Conwy County Borough, North Wales.  He was born to a princely family, the rulers of Gwynedd.  Although the eldest son of his father, Gwynedd was not necessarily the first choice as ruler.  Gwynedd was held between his two uncles, who had no intention of giving him the throne.  If Llewellyn wanted his father's throne, he would have to take it by force of arms, which he did, in a struggle which lasted several years (1188-1199), which Richard the Lionheart was crusading in the Holy Land, in captivity in Austria and trying to retain his family's possessions in France before his death.  Llewellyn's opponent was his cousin Davydd, who was himself a Plantagenet in-law by means of marriage with a relative of Henry II.  Llewellyn ultimately prevailed over Davydd in 1203.

In those days, Wales was divided into a series of kingdoms.  That is, the part of it that hadn't already been conquered by English barons (the border area known as the Marches).  Even after the death of his uncles and his cousin Dafydd retiring to England, Llewellyn would have to keep consolidating and conquering.  He would also have to work a fair amount of intricate diplomacy with the English.  He reached an agreement with John, swearing fealty to the English King for his lands.  He also married John's out-of-wedlock daughter, Joan in 1205, thus becoming a Plantagenet by extension.  He then set his sights on the larger kingdom of Powys.  In exchange for a promise to assist his father-in-law with a campaign against William I of Scotland, John stripped the ruler of Powys of his authority and gave that kingdom to Llewellyn.  By means of these two kingdoms, influence with the English and his military and diplomatic ability, Llewellyn was ruler of virtually all of Wales.  He is sometimes called the first Prince of Wales, though he only ever claimed to be Prince of North Wales. 

Relations between Llewelly and John soured, as in-laws often will.  John sent an army into Wales and Llewellyn began a scorched-earth running retreat before the superior forces of the English.  He also ravaged the lands of one of the Marcher lords.  Furious, John backed the former ruler of Powys in an attempt to get his lands back, but Llewellyn wasn't through yet.  Enter Joan, Lady of Wales, who approached her father with an offer of compromise.  John's terms were steep, requiring Llewellyn to hand over his own out-of-wedlock son Gruffydd as a hostage and stipulating that if Joan did not produce issue, all of Llewellyn's holdings and virtually most of Wales would revert to English control.  Joan would later save her husband's kingdom by having a son, also named Dafydd.  Meanwhile, Llewellyn had formed alliances with other Welsh leaders who were fed up with John and the English and willing to fight back. 

John planned an invasion of Wales in 1212, but Joan and William I of Scotland saw an opportunity to play a hand and warned John of the obvious.  His barons were in a mutinous mood.  If he lunged at Wales, he might just lose England and his own life.  Llewellyn reached out to an old Plantagenet enemy, Phillip II of France, then seized and held the town of Shrewsbury.  When John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, he also had to make concessions to Llewellyn in Wales.  Llewellyn, now de facto Prince of Wales, continued his campaigns in 1215, seizing Carmarthen, Cardigan and several other Welsh towns.  He also defeated his old rival and took back the Kingdom of Powys.  When Henry III succeeded his father, Llewellyn concluded with him the Treaty of Worcester, which confirmed Llewellyn in possession of the territory he had conquered.  Llewellyn took the opportunity to marry some of his daughters to the leading Marcher lords in a bid for peace and stability.   Llewellyn was careful not to antagonize Henry III, even backing him in 1229, when William Marshal, 2nd Ear of Pembroke, decided to revolt against Henry.

Then family drama erupted.  Joan was found in bed with one of her husband's old enemies, William de Braose, a leading Marcher lord.  Llewellyn ordered de Braose hanged and his wife imprisoned, which led to tensions with her relatives in England.  Despite this, de Braose's daughter married Llewellyn and Joan's son, Dafydd.  By this time, Henry III was choosing to back another Marcher lord, Hubert de Burgh, against Llewellyn and war broke out again.  Once again, Llewellyn would fight his enemies to a standstill and in 1232, another truce was agreed.  His plan was to have his legitimate son Dafydd inherit his lands in Gwynedd but Davydd would have to fight for his rights, just as his father had. 

Joan died in 1237 and Llewellyn suffered a stroke, severely limiting his ability to rule.  Dafydd took more of a hand in running the kingdom and dispossessed his half-brother Gruffyth, of his inheritance.  Llewellyn died at the Abbey of Aberconwy.  His remains were later moved to St. Grwst's Church, where his stone coffin can still be seen.  Dafydd would have to do homage to Henry III of England to keep his lands.  Gruffydd was taken as a hostage to England and later killed attempting to escape from the Tower of London in 1244.  Dafydd died without issue in 1246 and Gruffyth's son succeeded to his famous grandfather's kingdoms. 

The Oxwich Brooch

In 1968, workmen performing maintenance at Oxwich Castle on the Gower Peninsula in Wales discovered a gold brooch or cloak clasp.  Set with three large rubies and three cameos, it was dated to 1220-1240.  Experts who examined the brooch believe it was originally set with sapphires instead of cameos.  Speculation exists that the brooch might have belonged to Edward II. 

Edward II did spend times in Wales in the 1220's, most notably when he was fleeing from his wife and her lover who had landed on the coast of England in 1226, bent on replacing him with his 13-year-old son and heir.  When he left London for Carphilly and later fled Wales seeking to find refuge in Ireland, it would've been plausible for him to take some valuables with him.  In Medieval times, jewels (which meant pieces of jewelry as well as individual gemstones), could be sold or pawned to pay for troops or supplies.  Plate such as altar pieces, goblets, salt cellars and the like could be used for the same purpose.  For this reason, it's rare to find gems or objets d'art from this era.  Most of them would have been scrapped for the metal and the jewels put to some other use. 

There's no way of knowing for sure whether this jewel did belong to Edward.  The current Oxwich Castle dates from the 1560's.  It's possible the piece was an heirloom of the family that owned the Castle.  Still, its date to the 1220-1240's makes it possible that, even if this exact piece didn't belong to Edward, it's very like something he could have worn.  Seeing bits of memorabilia such as this bring the era closer to our experience and make it easier to see what life would've been like for the Plantagenets and their more wealthy courtiers and subjects. 

The jewel resides today in the National Museum in Cardiff.  The picture below is a replica of the brooch or cloak clasp as originally set with sapphires. 

King: Edward II of England (1284-1327)

One of the two worst of the Plantagenet kings (next to Richard II who met a similar fate), Edward II had an uphill battle as a king from the first days of his reign.  Although there were bright spots, his reign was one failure and disaster and crisis after another until he was deposed, imprisoned, and met an untimely end-or not.

Edward II was born in Caernarfon Castle in North Wales, the fourth son of one of the best Plantagenet kings.  Edward I, law-giver, military commander, hammer of the Scots and the Welsh.  It was an intimidating act to follow.  Despite predictions that he would be another King Arthur, little Edward was a frail child.  Though provision was made for his education, there is little evidence that Edward actually absorbed what he was taught.  He was a good rider, had a keen sense of humor, but wasn't particularly interested in hunting, falconry or military pursuits.  Not the typical recipe for a Plantagenet king.  A good-looking man who could be gracious when he chose, his life was otherwise dull normal for the period.  During the later years of his father's reign, Edward sometimes served as regent or even commanded troops on campaigns in Scotland, so he wasn't the total brainless fop he's made out to be in Braveheart.  But he had his weaknesses and they would prove to be fatal in the end.

He did marry Isabella of France and had at least four children by her, and an out-of-wedlock child named Adam Fitzroy, so stories about him being effeminate or a homosexual are probably slanders or later inventions.  Edward's Achilles heel was his friends, particularly friends from lower social status, something not common for royalty of that era.  While still Prince of Wales, his father Edward I, became incensed at the amount of money Edward, Junior, lavished on his friends and banished several from court.  While still a prince, Edward developed a friendship for one of his squires, Piers Gaveston, and lavished funds and honors on him.  Though chroniclers described the "love" between the two, Gaveston likewise was married and had children by his wife.  Were they bisexual?  Who knows?  Even the mention of homosexuality at the time would have been considered sinful, let alone slanderous if applied by a chronicler to a member of the royal family. 

Edward I died in 1307 and his son succeeded him as Edward II.  Edward inherited a kingdom heavily in debt, still embroiled in war with Scotland and uprisings in Wales.  Not an auspicious start to any reign.  The first signs of trouble came when he left England to claim his bride, Isabella, and left the realm in the custody of Piers Gaveston, angering his nobles and officials who believed this was an inappropriate choice, particularly when there were ranking barons and other extended members of the Plantagenet family who should have taken this position.  As his reign progressed, Edward cared little for official business, delegating most or all of it to Piers Gaveston.  He could intervene in matters of justice, particularly where friends or favorites were involved, and he showed an interest in law and architecture, but the day to day business of ruling wasn't something he cared to participate in.  His barons, led by his cousin Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, grew more angry at Edward's involvement of Gaveston in the government, but Edward refused to relent, delegating more responsibility and yet more honors to his favorite.  Tensions ran so high that the barons began mobilizing their levies, prepared to go to war, with Lancaster at their head.

As the wars with Scotland dragged on and more taxes were squeezed out of unwilling parliaments, Edward chose to borrow from Italian bankers.  The country sank deeper into debt.  With his kingdom on the brink of insurrection, the King was finally forced in 1311 to turn over management of the realm to a committee of nobles known as Ordainers, who proposed reforms known as the Ordinances of 1311.  These limited his ability to go to war or grant land without parliamentary approval, gave parliament control of royal administration, forbid borrowing from foreign sources, and set up a system to monitor compliance.  Gaveston was exiled and Edward withdrew to Windsor, too upset about the limits of his power to try to exercise what government still remained to him.  He did an about-face the following year and decided on his own solution to the problem by recalling Gaveston in 1312 and repealing the Ordinances.   As the barons marched on London and the Archbishop of Canterbury excommunicated Gaveston, Edward, his wife and his favorite fled.  Eventually, Gaveston surrendered to the barons and was executed on Blacklow Hill under authority of the Earl of Lancaster.  Lancaster had his own claim to the throne and the will to exercise it if Edward didn't abandon his favorites and get down to the business of governing England.

Tensions between Edward and his cousin continued, as well as ongoing disputes with the King of France over the remaining Plantagenet domains in France.  Isabella used her connections with her family to resolve the disputes and receive a loan from the King of France.  This put Edward in a better position at home and other nobles took the opportunity to reconcile the King and his cousin.  But disaster struck again.  Robert Bruce was slowly but surely winning back Scotland, and he topped off his victory with the costly Battle of Bannockburn on June 23, 1314.  Edward II was present at the battle, and narrowly escaped with his life.  In 1315, the Scots tried to invade England, but were pushed back.  With his political clout in shambles, Edward was pressured to reinstate the Ordinances of 1311.  Edward and his cousin Lancaster agreed to the Treaty of Leake in August, 1318, in which Lancaster was pardoned for rebellion and Edward promised reform, but England was still reeling from a famine known as the Great Famine (1315-17).  The Scots had also tried to establish a foothold in Ireland, but were driven out there and revolts in Wales suppressed.  But these small success were wiped out by Edward's continued behavior of befriending favorites and spending money and honor on them. 

The latest favorites were the Despensers, father and son.  Hugh Despenser the Elder had served both Edward I and II honorably.  Hugh the Younger married into a wealthy family, the de Clares, served as the King's Chamberlain, and acquired land and honors in Wales and on the borderland known as the Welsh marches.  He incurred the wrath of Thomas of Lancaster and the Mortimer family.  Crisis loomed again as the barons took to arms to make the King understand the error of his ways, but the intervention of the Earl of Pembroke in 1321 brokered a temporary peace.  Edward had to send the Despensers into exile and pardon Lancaster and the Marcher lords again.  And, once again, once peace was restored, Edward refused all attempts at reform.  Lancaster rose in revolt again, was captured and Edward ordered his cousin's execution, recalling his favorites.  Other leaders of the revolt were executed, some with barely the benefit of a sham trial.  Edward called yet another parliament to levy more taxes and brought back the Despenser father and son.  He continued to levy honors on the Despensers.  In 1324, war broke out with France again. 

Isabella stepped in to broker a peace between her brother, the King of France, and decided to stay in her native country with her young son.  However successful their marriage had been in the early years. she was fed up with the constant strife and having to step in with her family to clean up Edward's messes.  In retaliation, Edward gave custody of their remaining children to Hugh the Younger's wife.  Isabella developed a relationship with Roger de Mortimer and plotted no less than her husband's overthrow.  The barons rallied to Isabella and her son, Prince Edward.  In 1326, she and Mortimer were amassing an army.  Edward tried to rally defenses but few of his subjects, noble or otherwise, responded to his efforts.  The people were tired of Edward, too.  In September, 1326, Isabella, her 13-year-old son, Mortimer, and Edward II's own half-brother Edmund of Woodstock landed on the coast and met little resistance as they marched toward London.  Edward took refuge in the Tower of London but as the city went over to Isabella and Mortimer he fled, taking the Despenser father and son with him.  He tried to reach the Welsh coast and take ship for Ireland, but rough seas drove him back to Carphilly as more support frittered away and his government collapsed.  Edward fled again and was captured with Hugh the Younger on November 16, 1327.

Edward was taken to Monmouth Castle.  Hugh the Younger was tried and summarily executed.  Parliament, backed by the people of the City of London, declared the young Prince as King in place of his father.  On January 20, 1327, Henry, the son of Thomas of Lancaster led a delegation of nobles and clergy to meet with Edward, who had been moved to Kenilworth Castle.  He demanded that Edward formally give up the throne, or face the possibility that his son would be disinherited as well and another candidate, most likely Henry himself, would take over.  In those days, when children and women were often pushed out of their inheritance to make way for an adult male, it was no idle threat.  Edward agreed and his reign formally ended on January 27.  Young Edward was crowned Edward III on February 2, 1327. 

Edward was moved to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.  With few exceptions, especially when rumors or actual plots at rescue were discovered, he remained there.  No evidence exists for what kind of treatment he received.  Food and other luxury items were purchased in his behalf, but it is unknown how much of this he actually made use of.  The Castle still stands and a room is preserved as Edward's cell, but there's no evidence that it was his actual room or how it looked when he lived in it.  On September 23, 1327, Edward III was informed that his father had died.  Rumors immediately sprang up that he'd been murdered or ordered to be killed, though the red-hot poker up yonder is a later invention.  His body was quickly embalmed and held at Berkeley Castle until a suitable royal funeral could be arrange.  That happened on December 20, 1327 at Gloucester Abbey.  Edward was buried as a king, in clothing he had worn at his coronation and with an effigy showing him wearing a crown, holding a scepter and orb.  A popular cult of sainthood developed around him, with pilgrims visiting his tomb and declaring miracles. 

In 1330, a rift developed between Edward III, who was made of sterner stuff than he father.  Mortimer tried to assert his authority through rebellion, but the insurrection was put down and Mortimer executed.  Edward allowed his mother, Isabella, to receive a pension and remain in public life.  Perhaps to exonerate her, or maybe it's what he wanted to believe, he allowed the story to spread that an underling had been killed at Berkeley Castle and that body buried in the tomb at Gloucester Abbey, but that Edward II had been allowed to escape to the Holy Roman Empire, dying as a monk in a monastery there.  Some historians have given this theory serious consideration, citing letters received from Edward II's Italian banker creditors.  Most likely, though, he died at Berkeley Castle in 1327, of whatever causes.