King: Richard Coeur de Lion, 1157-1199

All other English kings are known by their regnal numbers, the Henrys, Edwards, Georges, and even the Elizabeths.  One king stands above them all.  Though Richard I was only King of England for ten years, 1189-199, and only in the kingdom for a matter of months, he is the Lionheart, or Coeur de Lion in both England and France.  Whole biographies have been written about him, his military exploits and speculation about his personal life.  He's been the subject of movies, plays and novels.  This is just a brief rundown on a controversial and remarkable figure.

Richard was born in September, 1157, at Beaumont Palace, near what is now Oxford, the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.  An older brother, William, had died as a small child.  Richard's older brother, also Henry, was destined to succeed their father as king of England, Duke of Aquitaine, and heir of the home provinces of Anjou and Maine.  Richard was to be Eleanor's heir as Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou.  He spent his early childhood in England but eventually began spending more and more time on the Continent, learning both French and the local language,   Occitan, as well as a working knowledge of English.  He grew to be unusually tall, 6'5" by some estimates, with red-gold hair and light, probably blue eyes, the Central Casting version of a Plantagenet male.  In addition to the knightly and military skills of horsemanship, swordsmanship and the like, he was also a skilled musician and poet. 

Richard was heir to one of the wealthiest inheritances in Europe and was considered an eligible marriage catch.  Various matches were proposed, by one that emerged when Richard was still a young boy was to Alys, a daughter of Louis XVII of France.  Alys was eventually sent to England to be brought up by Eleanor, but for one reason or another, the marriage kept being put off.  This has raised questions about Richard's sexuality.  He was known to have had one biological son, Phillip of Cognac, and was also known to be promiscuous with women when they were available.  Whether he was homosexual or bisexual can't be known for certain and, at any rate, are only Richard's business.  Most likely, the difficulties with marrying Alys concerned constant feuds over her dowry and the constant state of hot and cold war between the two kingdoms.  By the time he was old enough to decide for himself, Alys had acquired the reputation of being Henry II's own mistress.  By any standards, inheriting one's father's mistress had a kink to it and would have been beneath Richard's dignity as a Duke or a King.  When the time came, he would find a wife, royal, virginal and devoted, to meet his needs. 

Henry II and his sons, Henry the Young King, Richard, Geoffrey and John were locked in an eternal struggle from the time the boys were old enough to shave.  Land and power were at the root of it.  Henry had had Henry the Young King crowned in 1170.  Though it was understood that he would inherit the bulk of their family possessions, neither Richard nor Geoffrey and John readily accepted this state of affairs.  Richard was smart, and he knew it.  He had a charisma with men and women, and he knew it.  He knew his way around weapons and a battlefield, probably better than Henry Junior.  To be only a mere Duke when he could have the entire family pie to himself was unacceptable.  Henry, Geoffrey and John knew, as did Henry II and Eleanor, that Richard would take England and Normandy as well as Aquitaine and Anjou, the first chance he got.  Richard could be chivalrous.  He could be gracious.  He could also be cunning and ruthless.  As Henry II grew older, his sons were already spoiling for their inheritance, even if they had to fight him to get it.  Henry the Young King died in 1183 and Geoffrey died in 1186.  That left Richard to square off against his old man and, like his brothers before him, the issue was power.  Henry II wanted to keep everything to himself and Richard wasn't willing to wait.  Henry II would die fighting his two surviving sons in 1189.

And with his death Richard was King of England and Duke of Normandy.  He was invested in Normandy on July 20, 1189 and crowned King of England on September 3, 1189.  Although it was England that made him a King, Richard, like his father before him, esteemed the family's Continental possessions more.  England, with its busy ports and wool trade, was a money pit that could be mined for financing the wars it would take to keep Plantagenet possession on the Continent out of the hands of Phillip II of France.  But, first there was the matter of the Third Crusade.  Crusading fever swept Europe in 1189 and both Phillip II and Richard were to lead two of the larger contingents of knights and men-at-arms to the Holy Land.  That required money.  Richard's reign was marred due to several incidents involving the Jews.  Jewish merchants who came to pay their respects to Richard at his coronation were roughed up and not permitted in the banqueting hall.  As he gathered money, men and material for his part in the Crusade, Richard spared no one.  The Jews were taxed.  So were Church leaders and Church lands in England.  In the fervor, riots broke out against the Jews in many English cities, leading to pogroms and the first use of the word Holocaust to describe widespread destruction of Jewish people and property. 

Richard delegated this and other problems to a council headed by William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely and departed for the Holy Land.  He arrived in Italy and became embroiled in some extended family drama.  His sister Joanna, Queen of Sicily through her late husband, William II of Sicily.  He had died and his successor, Tancred, was not only refusing to return Joanna's dowry money, but was besieging her in Sicily.  Richard arrived in Messina and proceeded to take the town apart.  Tancred surrendered Joanna and later her dowry, which went into Richard's war chest for the Crusade.  Richard also had personal business.  Having decided against Alys, he had asked his mother Eleanor to open negotiations with the King of Navarre for his daughter, Berengaria.  Eleanor brought Berengaria to Sicily, then went back to England to keep an eye on John.  Richard traveled on toward the Holy Land, traveling in a separate ship from his sister and fiancée.  A storm blew up on the Mediterranean, forcing Joanna, Berengaria, and Richard's crusading funds to land in Cyprus where the Byzantine Emperor, Isaac Comnenus, made the mistake of imprisoning the two royal women and taking the treasury.  Richard landed at Limasol and took it apart, too.  He captured Isaac, who had some phobia about iron chains.  Richard made sure that Isaac was cast in his own dungeon in appropriate silver chains, then married Berengaria and left her and Joanna in Cyprus while he continued on to join the siege of Acre.

Acre was key to the Christian presence in the Holy Land, as it was a seaport town and the staging area for pilgrims heading to the Holy Sites.  It was also a near impregnable fortress.  Contingents from Germany, Austria and Italy had been hard at work besieging Acre since 1189 but with little success.  Phillip of France also threw his men into the effort, but it was Richard, who had thought to bring battering rams, more money, and most of all his own military and organizational aptitude to the struggle.  Acre fell in 1191.  Meanwhile, Richard had come down with scurvy and was near death.  Despite this, he was still a force to be reckoned with.  When Leopold of Austria dared to have his banner hoisted on Acre's walls level with those of the two kings, Richard ordered the banner hauled down.  When the Muslim commander of Acre refused to release Christian prisoners as part of the terms ending the siege, Richard ordered over 2,000 Saracen prisoners beheaded within sight of the town's walls.  His actions angered most of his Christian allies and made him feared among his Islamic foes.  Melech-Ric became a household name, used to frighten little children into being good and minding their manners.

Melech-Ric was soon proving himself a military match for Sultan Saladin, himself no slouch as a military commander.  The two met in several battles, culminating in the Battle of Jaffa, the Battle of Arsuf, and in June, 1192, Richard came within sight of Jerusalem.  Morale in Saladin's army was low, the weather was unbearably hot and rations and supplies were stretched thin.  The prize was Richard's, but at the last moment he turned back, unwilling event to lay eyes on the Holy City.  Why?  Historians and novelists have speculated on his sudden reversal, again asserting that some secret, terrible sin kept Richard from profaning Jerusalem with his presence.  Likely, though, Richard was smart enough to know that the odds of keeping Jerusalem once he'd conquered it were slim.  Saladin would regroup and reclaim the Holy City with more blood spilled on either side.  The best way was to make a truce and agree terms.  Saladin and Richard agreed to a three year truce.  Pilgrims of both faiths could visit the Holy Sites, the Crusader States would remain intact, the military orders could continue to operate.  It was time for Richard to return to Europe where news reached him that John was on the verge of taking over England and Phillip II was already invading Normandy.

As Richard traveled back toward his brother-in-law's domain in Saxony, he knew that he faced the risk of capture.  Phillip II wanted his hide, so did Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Leopold, Duke of Austria.  Richard was captured, humiliatingly, in a tavern outside Vienna, Austria and locked up in Durnstein Castle on the Danube River in Austria, pending a ransom of 150,000 marks of silver, literally 100,000 pounds of silver be paid.  Contrary to legend, Richard's whereabouts weren't a secret and it didn't take his favorite minstrel to find him.  Leopold and Henry VI wanted everyone to know who their prisoner was.  They knew that England and Normandy would turn themselves upside down to get the money, which is about what happened.  After a partial payment, Richard was released but couldn't return to England just yet.  He had to head Phillip off in Normandy. 

In 1196, Richard began to take back Normandy from Phillip, piece by piece.  He also set about building his masterpiece, Chateau Gaillard, above the Seine River.  Having seen the fortifications in the Middle East, Richard wanted to build the ultimate impregnable fortress.  At an 1198 battle of Gisors, in Normandy, Richard first used the motto, Dieu et Mon Droit, God and My Right, still used by the British Monarchy, today.  In 1199, he was in Limousin, suppressing a revolt by a local vassal at Chateau Chabrul.  On March 25, 1199, Richard was walking around his lines without armor, overseeing the sappers, when a shot from the castle wall from a crossbow bolt struck the King in his upper left shoulder.  Crossbow bolts, thicker and sharper, were almost always lethal because difficult to remove without excessive bleeding and infection.  His surgeons tried to remove the bolt, but damaged Richard's arm and shoulder in the process.  It was only a matter of time.

Gangrene set in as the castle fell to Richard's siege.  The bowman, a young man or boy by most accounts, was brought before Richard, who pardoned him.  He bequeathed his lands to his younger brother John, bypassing their nephew Arthur of Brittany, and bequeathed his personal property to his nephew Otto, who was with him at the time of his death.  Eleanor heard of her son's injury and knew what it meant.  She arrived by April 6, 1199, time enough to clasp her son in her arms before he died.  As soon as he died, the crossbowman who shot him was burned alive.  Richard's heart was buried at the Cathedral in Rouen, his entrails in Chalus, where he died.  Eleanor had the rest of her son transported to Fontevrault Abbey, where a full-length effigy or gisant, was carved to cover the tomb.  Richard's body had been embalmed with spices, but what was left of it was scattered during the French Revolution, though the tomb survives today. 

Thought he'd only spent months in his kingdom, Richard's stamp on the monarchy and the minds and hearts of the English was irreversible.  It was Richard who used the personal emblem of the three golden lions rampant, which became the Plantagenet and thus the royal coat of arms, used by the monarchy to this day.  Stories of Richard's strength, his stern sense of justice that could be tinged with cruelty, his connections to Robin Hood, Blondel the Minstrel, Saladin and the Templars and the Assassins, on and on, continue with each new novel or movie made.  He figures in two Walter Scott novels, Ivanhoe and The Talisman, as well as the novel and movie, The Lion in Winter.  Historical opinion on Richard has always been mixed.  While many sources praise him as a military commander and daring knight, his lack of performance as a ruler, his temper, greed and personal vengefulness and cruelty have been condemned.  It was the Victorian era, though, who put some polish back on the legend and it was during Victoria's reign in 1856, that an equestrian statue of Richard was erected in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, outside the Houses of Parliament.  Whatever his personal failings, he will always be the Lionheart.

 

Royal: Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1341-1402

The two warring factions of the Plantagenets, the Houses of York and Lancaster, would spring from two sons of Edward III and his wife, Philippa of Hainault.  Though Edmund of Langley was a staunch supporter of his older brother, John of Gaunt, the ancestor of the Lancastrians, Edmund's descendants would become the Yorkist side of the family.

As his name implies, Edmund was born at Langley Palace in Hertfordshire.  His godfather had been the Earl of Surrey, and on his death, Edmund inherited his estate, becoming a wealthy young man at an early age.  He saw his first service in France under his father at the age of 18 in 1359 and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1361.  Throughout the 1370's, he was part of several military campaigns in France, and also joined his brother John of Gaunt in Gaunt's attempts to claim the Castilian throne in light of his 2nd wife, Constance of Castile.  By this time, Edmund was married to Constance's sister, Isabella of Castile, by whom Edmund had 3 children.  As things turned out, Gaunt agreed to marry one of his daughters to another claimant of the Castilian throne, Henry III of Castile, and give up his Castilian ambitions. 

Edmund enjoyed the confidence of his young nephew, Richard II, who made him Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle.  Edmund also served as keeper of the realm when Richard was on campaign in Ireland, and later when Richard II was courting his 2nd wife, Isabella of Valois.  Edmund was created Duke of York in 1385..  Richard II considered making Edmund's son, Edward, his heir in the event he had no children.  Later, in 1399, while Richard was again away in Ireland, an army led by John of Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke invaded England, intent of seizing the crown.  Edmund initially rallied an army to oppose Henry, but later threw in his lot with him against Richard.  Edmund's defection was a factor in Richard's decision to surrender to the usurpers rather than fight any longer.  Richard would die in captivity in 1400.  Edmund would retire from public life and die in 1402.  His first wife Isabella had died and he had married again, a distant cousin with Plantagenet descent, Joan Holland.  The couple had no children. 

It is from Edmund's third son, Richard of Conisborough, that the York side of the dynasty descends.  Thus, through Richard, Edmund is an ancestor of every English king from Edward IV to the present time.  Edmund is also a character, as Duke of York, in Shakespeare's play, Richard II.   

Place: Corfe Castle, Dorset, England

The various Houses on Game of Thrones aren't the only ones who can dish out vicious punishment on anyone who crosses them up.  House Plantagenet was no joke when it came to anyone who refused to pay their debts or keep their little whispers to themselves.

Corfe Castle sets on the Isle of Purbeck, which is actually a peninsula in Dorset, England.  The castle guards a gap in the Purbeck Hills, hence the name ceorfan, in Old English.  William the Conqueror realized the strategic value of this castle right away, since he insured that, like the White Tower in London, it was built mostly of stone.  Henry I also spent time and money fortifying the castle, which held out against King Stephen during the Anarchy.  The first three Plantagenet monarchs, Henry II, Richard I and John didn't do much refurbishing but John in particular used it as a prison.  His niece, Eleanor of Brittany was imprisoned there by John and Henry III until her death in 1222.  At least she was maintained alive.  Two other members of a prominent family that aroused King John's wrath weren't quite so lucky.

The Braose family were Marcher lords, guardians of vast territory on the Welsh Marches, or borders of England.  They had been loyal to the Plantagenet dynasty.  William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, was a personal friend of John's, which probably accounts for John's loan of 5,000 marks to de Braose.  Perhaps because of the loan, the King began to suspect that de Braose might be wavering in his loyalty.  He demanded that de Braose hand over his oldest son, also William, as a hostage for his continued loyal behavior.  De Braose refused and he was backed up in his refusal by his wife Maud.  Maud was a redoubtable woman who often had to defend her husband's castles against Welsh sieges, and administer his estates, including ordering renovations on their properties, such as Hay Castle, when need be.  The legend that she was over six feet tall and wore armor is probably an exaggeration, but befits the woman.  She prepared her castles for war and, when John sent an army to take William, Jr., fled with him to Trim Castle in County Meath, Ireland.  William, Sr., meanwhile had dressed himself as a beggar and fled to the Continent, hoping to seek asylum in France.

Maud and her son were tracked to Ireland, where Maud is said to have remarked in the hearing of several people that she and her son weren't about to surrender to a King who killed his own nephew.  This in reference to Eleanor of Brittany's older brother Arthur, Duke of Brittany, who died in about 1203 of circumstances unknown.  One thing the Plantagenets did not tolerate was anyone nosing into their business or calling their family drama into question.  Maud and her son were captured by an Irish earl loyal to John and turned over to him.  He had them imprisoned in Corfe Caslte where, unlike Eleanr, they simply disappeared.  Most likely, they were allowed to starve.  Situations such as this, where the King imprisoned without trial nobles or their families may have indirectly led to Magna Carta, one of whose provisions was that "no man should be taken, imprisoned or outlawed...except by judgment of his peers or the law of the land."

Corfe Castle remained in royal hands until Elizabeth I sold it to her favorite, Christopher Hatton.  It withstood two Parliamentary sieges during the English Civil War, both commanded by the then lady of the Castle, Lady Mary Banks, wife of Charles I's Attorney General.  She ultimately had to surrender during the second siege in 1645, at which time the castle was slighted, or partially destroyed.

The Prince of Wales Feathers

The three gathered plumes of the Prince of Wales Feathers is a well-known motif, probably because of the famous pieces of jewelry featuring the design and owned by Wallis, Duchess of Windsor and later Elizabeth Taylor, as well as Diana, Princess of Wales and now Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.  The emblem and its motto are one of the oldest associated with the British Royal Family that are still in use, along with the three lions rampant of the Plantagenet family itself.

A feather emblem is associated with the first English Prince of Wales, Edward, the Black Prince, 1330-1376.  Edward used a shield of three silver feathers on a black field as his peace shield or tournament shield, as opposed to the royal arms, which would have been used in combat or for other purposes.  There are various legends for how he came by the design for his peace shield, one being that he defeated King John of Bohemia in a joust and took over the King's feathered helmet along with his motto of "Ich Dien".  In fact, King John used vultures wings as his personal emblem and the Ich Dien phrase may have come from an earlier association with Wales.  Ich dien, German for I Serve, sounds a lot like Eich Dyn, meanng Your Man.  According to another, more believable legend, Edward III had presented his son, who is also known as Edward of Caernarvon, from being born at Caernarvon Castle, to the Welsh people with the phrase, "your man" or some equivalent.  Over time, Eich Dyn became Ich Dien, probably during the 17th century, and stayed that way.

The feather emblem itself may have had associations with Edward's mother's family, Philippa of Hainault.  Feathers as a heraldic symbol first appeared at the wedding of Philippa and Edward III.  The Counts of Luxembourg, through whom Philippa was descended, also used a feather emblem.  From there, many members of the English royal family adopted various forms of the feather, including the Black Prince's brother, John of Gaunt, Edward's biological son Roger de Clarendon, as well as the future King Richard II.  Henry IV adopted the badge with the motto Ma Sovereign, meaning basically I am the Sovereign.  Henry V and his brothers including John, Duke of Bedford, Thomas, Duke of Clarence and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester also used feather emblems.

Three feathers gathered into a plume was first used as a badge by Arthur, the son of Henry VII Tudor and a Plantagenet on his mother's side.  Prince Edward, the son of Henry VIII also used the 3-feathered emblem, as did Elizabeth 1.  It wasn't until the 17th century when the three feathers and the motto became exclusively associated with the Prince of Wales.  Today, the feathers are often used by Regiments which have an association with Wales or the Prince of Wales.  During World War I, there was some though of reverting Ich Dien to Eich Dyn to get rid of the German origin of the phrase, but that was never carried out and the motto remains Ich Dien to this day.  Perhaps in a bout of wishful thinking on behalf of her husband, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor had a design of the Prince of Wales Feathers made into a brooch, which was auctioned at her death and bought by Elizabeth Taylor, current whereabouts of the jewel are unknown.  Princess Diana owned a necklace with a diamond encrusted Prince of Wales Feathers emblem and a jeweled drop.  Camilla sometimes wears the piece, along with a diamond-encrusted feather brooch of her own.

The Avignon Papacy

A running theme throughout the Medieval world was the constant struggle between the Popes and various Kings, the Church versus royal authority.  The Medieval Papacy was a feudal institution and it was a wealthy one.  In addition to his spiritual authority as head of the Church, the Pope wielded secular authority over the Papal States, a swath of land in central Italy, as well as other properties throughout Europe.  Peter's Pence was collected throughout Europe and church officials, who often themselves presided over manors and other lucrative property, had to acknowledge both a secular overlord, the local king or duke, as well as a spiritual overlord in the Pope.  This dual authority gave Popes wide latitude in dictating policy to various kings.  While the Pope could be an effective intermediary or diplomat, he could also throw the weight of the Papacy behind one ruler or another in a dispute, using as well the weapons of excommunication and interdict to enforce his will.

For centuries, since the fall of the Roman empire, the Papacy had revolved among leading Italian families, Colonnas, Orsinis and others.  Foreign Popes happened, but they were rare.  Rome's families tended to treat the Papacy and the man who held the current title as their own private preserve, feeling free to depose Popes who didn't suit their will.  In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII, a Caetani by birth, issued a bull called Unam Sanctam, in which he claimed that it was necessary for salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Papacy.  Thus, every person in Europe, from Kings to commoners, owed fealty to the Pope as their secular overlord.  Phillip IV of France, no one to be trifled with, responded that, "your venerable conceitedness may know that we are nobody's vassal in temporal matters."  Stung, Boniface put France under general excommunication and interdict, deposing any clergy not loyal to the Papacy over the King.  Phillip arranged with Italian allies of France to have men break into the Papal Palace and severely beat Boniface, who died shortly thereafter.

Nicholas Boccasini was elected as Pope Benedict IX.  He absolved Phillip IV and his powerful allies of any sin for the attack on Boniface, though the actual perpetrators were ordered to appear before a pontifical tribunal.  Then Benedict XI died and an eleven month conclave ensued before finally Bertrand de Got, a personal friend of Phillip's, took office as Pope Clement V.  Rome was furious that a Roman hadn't been elected Pope, making it highly dangerous for the new Pope to go to Rome.  Instead, and probably with Phillip's pressure behind the scenes, Clement V decided to stay in France, or at least territory conveniently close thereto.  They eventually settled in a Palace located at Avignon, then part of an independent Kingdom of Arles but technically under French purview, and officially moved the Papal Curia there.  Avignon and some territory surrounding it were added to the Papal States and remained so until the French Revolution, when it reverted back to France.  From 1305 through 1377, the Papacy functioned from Avignon and all the Popes and and/or anti-Popes who served from that time period were French.  It wasn't until a Frenchman, Gregory IX finally decided a few years after his accession that it was time to return to Rome.

This period of time was known in Church history as the Babylonian Captivity, referring to the Biblical period of captivity of the Israelites in Babylon.  But there were other reasons for the reference.  Southern France, which included places such as Aquitaine, was always known for its more liberal culture.  The nobility lived well, adorned themselves and their palaces with the finest in fabrics and jewels, listened to the music of troubadours and poems and stories of love and its many dramas.  They saw nothing wrong with affairs, as long as they were discreet, and celibacy wasn't strictly enforced.  This attitude soon prevailed among the Papal courtiers, assuring in decades of decadence, nepotism and excess.  While Reformers raged against the debauchery of the Papal Court, nobody could do anything about it and strong kings, such as England's Edward III, could pull their kingdoms away from the orbit the Church, ruling more as they saw fit without the in-put of the Pope.

Queen: Margaret of France, c 1279-1318

Love wasn't expected to be a part of royal or noble marriages.  People of high rank married for dynastic or diplomatic purposes.  If the two partners treated each other well and grew to respect and trust one another, great.  If not, men, and sometimes women sought their consolation elsewhere.  That which we know today as romantic love was considered silly, if not some type of mental or physical illness.  That's not saying that some royal marriages didn't turn into genuine love matches.  Lightening stuck in the same place twice for Edward I of England.

Margaret, or Marguerite, c 1279-1318, was the daughter of Phillip III of France and his wife Maria of Brabant.  Her father died when she was 3, so Margaret was brought up by her mother and by Jeanne of Navarre, the wife of her older half-brother Phillip IV.  Meanwhile in England, Edward and his wife Eleanor of Castile had forged a bond of union that saw them through the deaths of several of their children, the Plague, a Crusade, and a few other ups and downs in between.  Then Eleanor died in 1290, when Edward was 49 years old.  Royal business stopped for several days as the King grieved his wife, and planned a unique tribute, 12 stone crosses tracing the route of her funeral procession to London.  Edward's heart didn't want to take another chance, but his mind knew he had only one son.  Eventually, he would have to marry again for the sake of the realm.

He set his sights on France in an effort to play off the larger kingdom on the Continent against the Scots in his backyard.  He betrothed his son, the future Edward II to Blanche, Margaret's sister.  However, Edward became aware that Blanche was considered a great beauty and decided to take Blanche as his own wife.  The French king agreed, also agreeing to give up Gascony to the English.  Edward sent his brother, Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, to bring Blanche across the Channel for her wedding.  The only problem was that Blanche was already betrothed to Rudolph, the oldest son and heir of the King of Germany.  Phillip offered Margaret instead.  Edward called off any weddings and declared war on France.  Five years later, with the Pope's mediation, a truce was agreed.  It provided that Edward would marry Margaret and his son would marry Phillip's daughter Isabella.  The English would retain Guyenne, as well as Eleanor of Castile's dower lands in Ponthieu and Montreuil as the dower for Margaret and later Isabella.

Edward was 60 and Margaret was about 20 when they married in Canterbury Cathedral in 1299.  She was invested with the crown of England, or given the right to wear it as queen consort, but not formally crowned.  Edward soon had to hurry off to Scotland and, to his delight, Margaret chose to follow.  Their son, Thomas of Brotherton was born in 1300, with a brother Edmund, born in 1301, they would also have a daughter.  Like her husband, Margaret was fond of chess and minstrels.  She was a patroness of charities, including the Franciscan order.  She and her stepson, the future Edward II, got along well and whenever Edward Senior and Junior got into an altercation, Margaret could smooth things over.  Edward I wasn't a man to be trifled with and wasn't above ordering anyone who crossed him up to be put to death.  He was also a strict enforcer of English law.  Many reprieves from the period attest that the pardon was granted due to the intercession of Margaret.  Unfortunately for her, Edward died in 1207, leaving her a 26-year-old widow with three children all dependent on the now Edward II for their survival.

Margaret could have married again, but stated that, "after Edward, all men are dead to me."  She became more pious and more involved with the Franciscan Order in England.  Friction developed between her and Edward II when he gave his favorite, Piers Gaveston, the Earldom of Cornwall, which Edward I had intended for their son Thomas.  Gaveston also helped himself to some of Margaret's dower properties in England.  But Margaret had remained in touch with her brother Phillip IV and her niece Isabella, Edward's wife.  Margaret threw her support and a generous monetary donation behind the barons' efforts to unseat Gaveston, which eventually led to his exile and enabled her to reclaim her property.  She was present at the birth of the future Edward III in 1312.

Margaret died at Marlborough and was buried in the habit of the Franciscan Order at Christ Church Greyfriars, in London.  Her tomb was destroyed in the Reformation.

Treaty: Le Goulet, 1200

The Capetians and the Plantagenets were in an almost constant state of war during the time of the Angevin Empire of 1154-1214, and of course the issue was land.  While the Plantagenet kings held dominion over almost half of what makes up modern day France, they were in theory under the Capets as their overlords.  Try telling that to Henry II, Richard I or John, who didn't believe they were beholden to anybody.  The various English and French kings involved during this period made several treaties, and just as soon broke them.  The treaty between John and Phillip II Augustus of France in 1200 was just another piece of paper.

The treaty's name comes from Gueleton Island in the Seine River near Vernon, Normandy.  It called on Phillip to recognize John as King of England, even though John's teenage nephew, Arthur Duke of Brittany had the more senior claim as the son of Geoffrey, the brother between John and Richard in birth order.  John had to recognize Phillip as his overlord for all the Plantagenet holdings on the Continent including most of Normandy, and recognize that Phillip, not John, was the overlord of the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders.  John also agreed not to support any rebellion undertaken by the two counts aforementioned.  Phillip demanded 20,000 marks of silver to allow John to keep suzerainty of Brittany, and thus Arthur, and to keep the Plantagenet family's home province of Anjou under his own domain. 

Because Eleanor of Aquitaine was still alive and neither King wanted to cross her up, Aquitaine and Poitou were left out of the equation.  John's niece Blanche of Castile, from his sister Eleanor, was married to Phillip's son Louis to seal the treaty.  Despite the marriage, the treaty blew up within two years.  In 1202, John refused to answer a summons to appear before Phillip to answer charges that John was once again intriguing with some of Phillip's vassals for rebellion.  Phillip declared John dispossessed of his ancestral lands and invaded Normandy.  John rallied an army to deal with the threat, the first of many costly endeavors which would see England lose Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine by 1214.  So much for treaties.