Places: The Eleanor Crosses

Kings and emperors have throughout history erected monuments to the women they loved, whether it be the hanging gardens of Babylon or the Taj Mahal.  A Plantagenet king commemorated the love and loss of his queen in a far more simple and eloquent fashion, the Eleanor Crosses.

Eleanor (1241-1290) was a Spanish princess, the daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile.  She had Plantagenet blood in her veins, being a great-granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II.  In 1254, she married Prince Edward, heir to Henry III in Burgos.  She would give birth at the age of 13 to their first child, a daughter who died young, and eventually bear Edward sixteen children, though only a few of them would survive to adulthood.  Through these tragedies, through wars, rebellions, a crusade and back and forth from the Plantagenet holdings on the Continent and throughout his realm, Eleanor followed her husband as prince and later king in 1272.  Love was no expected or required in a royal marriage, but Edward and Eleanor appear to have been blessed with a good death of love for each other.

Then, tragedy struck.  In 1287 Eleanor was struck by what was then known as a double quartian fever, most likely malaria.   She may also have had heart and live problems.  In 1290, knowing that her health was failing fast, Eleanor and Edward set off on one last progress.  Such was the state of the queen's health that parliament was convened in Clipstone, rather than London, so that Edward could stay close to her.  She finally died in Harby, Nottinghamshire on November 28, 1290, aged 49 years old.  Edward was heartbroken.  For three days all royal business stopped.  Edward accompanied her body from Lincoln to Westminster in a grand funeral process.  He also commanded that elaborate stone crosses be erected to her memory at each of the stops between the two points.  They stood at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Westcheap/Cheapside and Charing, each a testament to a king's love and loss.  Of the original twelve monuments, only three crosses survive, those at Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham survive, Geddington being the best example.  The elaborate cupola at Charing Cross is a replica from the Victorian era. 

Edward went on to marry again, but would never forget his beloved Eleanor.  When he remarried again, he and his new wife named their only child Eleanor. 

Descendants: Queen Elizabeth II and the Plantagenets

On February 6, 1952, Elizabeth Windsor became Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.  Today, she celebrates the Sapphire Jubilee, or 65 years as Britain's Queen.  So how is she related to the Plantagenets?  She crosses back to Edward III through the alliances of some of the more fascinating women in British in European history.  Here's the rundown.

Edward III (1312-1377) had two sons, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, aka the Red Rose (1340-1399) and Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, aka the White Rose (1341-1402).  John's great-granddaughter was Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), whose son, the future King Henry VII Tudor, married the great-granddaughter of Edmund, one Elizabeth of York (1466-1503).  Elizabeth and Henry VII Tudor had an elder daughter, Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland as the wife of James IV (1489-1541).  Margaret's granddaughter by her marriage to James IV was Mary of Scotland (1542-1587).  Her grandson by a subsequent marriage was Henry, Lord Darnley (1545-1567).  Mary and Henry had a son who became James VI and I (1566-1625).

James married a Danish princess and together they had a daughter, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia (1596-1662).  Elizabeth had a daughter Sophia, who married the Elector of Hanover (1630-1714).  Her son became George I of Great Britain (1660-1727).  His great-great-granddaughter was Victoria (1819-1901).  Her great-great-granddaughter is Elizabeth II (1926-current).  Thus, Queen Elizabeth is the Red Rose and the White by descent. 

 

Lady Margaret Beaufort

 

Elizabeth of York, Queen of England

 

Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland

 

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia

 

Sophia, Electress of Hanover

 

Victoria, Queen of Great Britain

 

The Sapphire Queen

 

Literature: The Ricardian Poets

Richard II, who reigned 1377-1399, had the misfortune of being sandwiched between two of the more spectacular Plantagenet kings, his grandfather Edward III and his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV.  Like his great-grandfather Edward II, Richard's reign was one distance after another, plague, revolt, political unrest and the like.  However, to his credit, Richard appreciated literature and several of his courtiers or court officials were unusually blessed with ability as poets.  Masterpieces such as The Canterbury Tales, Gawaine and the Green Knight, and Piers Plowman give the lie to the Middle Ages as being all dark and dreary musings on religion and death.  The four towering Ricardian Poets are:

Geoffrey Chaucer (c 1343-1400), was born in London to a wealthy mercantile family.  His father's connections eventually enabled Geoffrey to become a page in the home of a wealthy noblewoman, and he eventually worked his way into the royal service, functioning in various administrative as well as diplomatic capacities.  Geoffrey was a Renaissance man before there was such a notion in England.  In addition to his work as an author, he was also a noted astronomer, philosopher and astronomer.  In addition to The Canterbury Tales, he wrote The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde, as well as a textbook on astronomy for his own young son.  He was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

John Gower (C 1330-1408) was born into a landed family, had access to and the leisure time to read books such as the Bible Ovid, John of Salisbury and Roman classics.  He once met Richard II and was invited to spend some time aboard the royal barge.  Then, as now, one doesn't just run into royalty and then spend time with them, which suggests some connections.  In his early life, John was loyal to Richard, though he later switched loyalty to and dedicated works to Henry of Bolingbroke, who became Henry IV.  He was most likely a lawyer or had some dealings in real estate.  Later in life, Henry IV gave him a pension.  Gower is mostly noted for three poems that are in Latin, French and English, again suggesting a person of some learning.  The Mirror of Man, Vox Clamantis and Confessio Amantis are three of his works that have survived today.  He is buried in Southwark Cathedral.

William Langland (c 1332- c 1386) is the author of one known work, Piers Plowman.  A manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin ascribes the work to William of Langland, son of Stacy of Rockayle, who died in Shipton-under-Wychwood, a tenant of the Lord Spencer in the county of Oxfordshire.  Unlike Chaucer, who left his tracks in official records, little is known of Langland's life.  The dialect of his poem suggests that he grew up and lived in the Midlands.  A note in another manuscript stated that Langland died soon after writing his magnum opus. 

The Pearl Poet or the Gawain Poet, who is called after two of his most famous works because no one knows his/her name or anything else about him/her.  The works are Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, Patience, Cleanness, and maybe, St. Erkenwalde.  The language and subject matter of the Poet's works suggests he/she comes from this time period, and was from a wealthy or leisured background.  Sources have debated over his/her identity, proposing John Dunne, John Prat, a member of the wealthy Massey family or someone else, possibly even a female.  Sadly, we will never know for sure. 

Royal Family: Children of Edward III

An appropriate subtitle for this post might be "where it all began", since it was from the various lines of Edward III's children that the competing families of York and Lancaster would originate and battle for their various claims to the throne.  Here, then, are the underpinnings of the Wars of the Roses.

Edward III married Philippa of Hainault, an area of what is now Belgium, in 1328.  She would bear him 13 children, of whom 9 lived to grow up.  The four unfortunate ones were William of Hatfield (b and d 1337), Blanche (b and d 1342), Thomas of Windsor (b 1347-d 1348, another plague victim), and William (b and d 1348).  Their sons were Edward, the Black Prince (1330-1376), whose only surviving son Richard II we'll deal with in a later post.  Lionel of Antwerp (1338-1368), whose only daughter Philippa married into the powerful Mortimer family, who will play their parts in the ensuing drama.  John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399), whose son Henry of Bolingbroke became Henry IV, the first of the Lancastrian kings.  John of Gaunt had a large family of both legitimate and illegitimate children, some of whom will also factor in later, particularly the Tudor family.  Edmund of Langley, Duke of York (1341-1402), ancestor of Edward IV (and sons) and Richard III, and also ancestor of the Tudors through his great-granddaughter Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII.  And, finally, Thomas of Woodstock (1355-1397), whose daughter married into the Stratford family.  All of these men and their descendants would either launch their own competing claims for the throne, or marry into families close enough to the royal line to be a threat. 

Edward's daughters also carried his bloodline and their own potential claims, which fortunately for the main lines of the Plantagenet dynasty, none of them had the opportunity to exploit.  Isabella (1332-1382).  Her daughter, Marie de Coucy, became ancestress of several European royal dynasties, including the Bourbons and, through Mary of Scotland, every English King or Queen since James I.  Joan (1334-1348), affianced to Pedro of Castile but died of plague before they could marry and beget children.  Also Mary (1344-1362), who married John IV of Brittany, and Margaret (1346-1361), who married in the Hastings family of the Earls of Pembroke.  Neither of these two had children, or at least any children who survived. 

 

Queen: Berengaria of Navarre

She gained fame as the one Queen of England who never set foot in her adopted country, though in reality she may have come to England briefly after her husband's death. 

Berengaria (c 1165-1230) was the daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre and his wife Sancha of Castile.  Navarre is a small historic region in the Pyrenees mountains, now split between France and Spain but once an independent country.  Little is known of Berengaria's life except that she was convent-schooled, as were many noble and royal girls of the time.  Navarre had adopted the troubadour culture of Aquitaine, a border neighbor to the north, and Berengaria may even have met her future husband, Richard, years prior to their marriage.  His mother Eleanor approved of this match, believing an alliance with Navarre was more advantageous to Aquitaine than another liaison with France.  Richard was betrothed to Alys of France, but the Capets and Plantagenets were already connected through one marriage, Marguerite and Henry, Jr.  Besides, Richard was in no hurry to marry Alys, who may or may not have been his father's mistress by this time.

The death of Henry II in 1189 left Richard more concerned about consolidating his hold on England, Normandy and Aquitaine and not at all worried about Alys or the offense it would cause her brother Phillip II Augustus, if he didn't follow through with the marriage.  By this time, Richard was inclined to seek elsewhere for a marriage and left his mother to arrange matters with Sancho for his daughter's hand.  Then, Eleanor and Berengaria had to hurry to catch up with Richard, which they finally did in Sicily, where Richard detoured to resolve his widowed sister Joanna's dowry dispute with the new ruler, Tancred of Sicily.  This trail of enemies would catch up to Richard in due time, but he was eager to push on to the Holy Land.  Eleanor left Berengaria in Joanna's care and returned to England.  Joanna and Berengaria left for Acre by one ship and Richard by another.  Richard learned en route that their ship had been wrecked in a storm off Cyprus, where the local Byzantine ruler, Isaac Comnenus, was holding both Richard's war chest and the two women hostage.

Richard arrived, laid siege to the Cypriot capitol of Limassol and liberated both his treasure and the two women, banishing Isaac to a dungeon in silver chains.  There, on May 12, 1191, in the chapel of St. George at Limassol, Richard married Berengaria and she was crowned Queen of England.  And, speculation has never stopped from that day onward about whether it was a love match or a marriage of convenience, and what if anything Richard's sexuality played in the fact that the two never spent more than a few weeks in each other's company at any given time and never produced an heir.  Berengaria accompanied her husband for the first part of the Crusade before returning to Europe, where she was active in raising money for Richard's ransom once the Crusade was over and he'd been captured by Leopold of Austria.  Upon his release, he headed straight for England, which he was in danger of loosing to his brother John, and did not bid his queen to join him.  Eventually, Pope Celestine had to order Richard to reunite with his wife.  While he was in France, he would take her to church and appear in public with her, but no heir ever appeared.

Richard died in 1199 and Berengaria remained in Europe.  She never married.  Through her family and her marriage settlement, she was in possession of extensive lands, which she seemed content to rule on her own without a man's help or say-so.  She was in constant dispute with John over her pension money, which he found excuses not to pay until threatened by Pope Innocent III with an interdict.  It may have been in this context in which Berengaria finally visited England.  When John died in 1216, he was still several thousand pounds in arrearage to her on her pension.  His son, Henry III, finally paid up and kept the money coming on time.  Berengaria settled in Le Mans, becoming a benefactor of L'Epau Abbey.  Although she never took vows, she entered the conventual life in her later years, a common practice for highborn widows.  She was known as a benefactor of different religious institutions throughout her life.  She was buried at L'Epau, where a skeleton unearthed in 1960 was believed to be hers and reinterred under her effigy. 

Berengaria has figured in several novels and movies, most with little or no bearing on the actual truth of her life. 
 

Law: the Great Writs-Habeas Corpus

Much of American law owes its roots to England, whether its the Anglo-Saxon jury, or the common law and writs of Plantagenet kings such as Henry II, Edward I and Edward III, the procedures that we think of as due process in criminal and civil matters have an origin of several hundred years.

In the Medieval era, the king was both law giver, judge and law enforcement.  Wherever the King was, courts or assizes would be held.  Judges, or sometimes the King, would hear cases, settle disputes and dispense justice, sometimes by ordering an offender hanged, fined or dispossessed of lands.  This system could be quite chaotic in practice, as the King couldn't be everywhere at once and couldn't possibly hear every case.  Henry established a system of royal assizes or courts staffed by judges and clerks would could hear cases and decide punishments in his absence.  And, where there are courts and clerks, there has to be procedure.  One of the earliest forms of procedure were writs, written authorizations for certain acts to be done. 

One of these writs, often called the Great Writ, was Habeas Corpus, literally Latin for "have the body", i.e., have a person brought before a judge to determine if the person should be placed on trial.  Potential defendants wouldn't be allowed to just languish in jail without benefit of trial, or summarily executed or dispossessed on whim, but could be brought before a judge to determine whether they needed to be held for trial or released.  Though some people believe this writ is a result of the Magna Carta of 1214, in fact it originated much earlier, at the Assizes of Clarendon based on an act drawn up by Henry II in 1166.  Henry wanted to phase out trial by ordeal or combat and replace these with trial by evidence.  One of the courts provided for in the act took place at Clarendon Palace, hence the name.  In 1214, Magna Carta affirmed that no free man would be imprisoned or dispossessed or otherwise condemned without judgement of his peers, i.e., a trial.  During the reign of Edward I, the powers of the writs were expanded and over time various types of habeas corpus writs developed, including writs for extradition, remand to another court, etc. 

Rival: Louis VII of France

Henry II of England (1133-1189) and Louis VII of France (1120-1180) were the Grumpy Old Men of their day, rivalries over the same woman, the same land, and always in each others' political and family business.

Louis wasn't planned to be king.  As a younger man he tended to be more bookish and religious than his older brother, and destined for a career in the Church.  After Phillip died in an accident in 1131, the responsibilities of being heir to the throne fell to Louis.  His father had him crowned at Reims by Pope Innocent III, similar to the arrangement between Henry II and the Young King.  Then, in July, 1137, Louis entered an arranged marriage with Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right.  The relationship went about how one would expect between a beautiful and high-spirited woman and a nerd who liked books and ecclesiastical arguments better than other things.  They had two daughters, Marie and Alix, but Louis preoccupied with other matters than his beautiful wife.  A young upstart Angevin count named Henry had claimed England and was solidifying his claim to Normandy.  In those days, France was a much smaller kingdom than it is today, with Normandy, Brittany, Aquitaine, Burgundy and other areas controlled by rival and sometimes hostile families.  Louis had reason to fear that Henry might not stop at the Vexin, a buffer zone between Normandy and the Ile de France, and try to come into Louis' territory altogether.  Louis also had wars and rivalries with other nobles.

The Second Crusade in 1147-1149 put the territorial wars on hold.  Louis and Eleanor both took the Cross and Louis distinguished himself in battle, but their marriage fell completely apart.  The final straw was when Eleanor adamantly wanted to help her Uncle Raymond hold on to his Crusader kingdom of Antioch and Louis decided that enough French blood and treasure had been spent on the whole worthless enterprise.  He accused Eleanor and Raymond of having an affair, but agreed to an annulment before the matter could become any more scandalous than it already was.  Eleanor would go on to marry Henry and Louis would marry Constance of Castile in 1154, just as Henry was achieving his conquest of England.  Constance would bear Louis two more daughters, Marguerite and Alys, before dying in childbirth.  This gave Henry a chance to make a dynastic move, asking for Marguerite's hand for his young son and heir, Henry, Jr., and Alys for his son Richard.  Louis agreed.  Marguerite and Young Henry were married, but Alys would have to wait many years for a marriage and family. 

In 1160, Louis married Adele of Champagne and the third time was the charm.  His son and heir, the future Phillip II Augustus, was born in 1165.  Meanwhile, Louis never missed a chance to involve himself in Henry's political and family affairs, supporting Thomas Becket in his struggles with the King of England over supremacy of the Church over secular authority, and supporting Henry's sons as they fell out with their father and each other.  By 1180, already ill and partially paralyzed, Louis had his son Phillip crowned as a junior king, the last French monarch to do so.  He died days after the ceremony in Paris and was buried in Barbeau Abbey.  His remains were moved in 1817 to the royal crypt at Saint-Denis.