Henry II

Administration:
- Henry was a good
administrator; he restored
the royal administration in
England, re-established
hegemony over Wales
- Henry came into conflict
with Louis VII and the two
rulers fought what has been
termed a "cold war" over
several decades.
- Henry expanded his
empire, often at Louis's
expense, taking Brittany
and pushing east into
central France and south
into Toulouse






Justice:
Henry introduced several major
reforms. Prior to 1166 trial by ordeal
was a common way of determining
guilt or innocence in criminal cases.
Under this system, an accused
person might have to pick up a red
hot bar of iron, or pluck a stone out
of a boiling cauldron. If their hand
had begun to heal after three days
they were considered to have God
on their side, affirming their
innocence. Henry replaced this
rather painful system with a jury of
12 men.
He also introduced the first personal
property tax.






King and Nobility:
Henry was the son of Geoffrey of
Anjou and Matilda, who was the
eldest daughter of King Henry I and
Duke of Normandy. He became
actively involved by the age of 14 in
his mother's efforts to claim the
throne of England, and was made
the Duke of Normandy at 17. He
inherited Anjou in 1151 and shortly
afterwards married Eleanor of
Aquitaine, whose marriage to the
French king Louis VII had recently
been annulled. King Stephen agreed
to a peace treaty after Henry's
military expedition to England in
1153, and Henry inherited the
kingdom on Stephen's death a year
later. Still quite young, he now
controlled what would later be
called the Angevin Empire,
stretching across much of Western
Europe.
Henry was not so lucky in his family
life. His wife turned his sons
Richard, John, and Geoffrey against
him. They intrigued, fought, and
rebelled against their father. In the
end, the crown went to Richard.
Church:
His desire to reform England's
relationship with the Church through
The constitutions of Clarendon led
to conflict with his former friend
Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of
Canterbury which finally ended in
Becket's murder in 1170.The
Constitutions of Clarendon represent
an attempt by Henry II to exert state
control over the Church in England.
The church had extended its sphere
of influence during the civil war,
and Henry was doing his best to
reverse that trend.
Richard I:
Administration:
- He was not a good
administrator at all.
- In his ten year reign he
spent only six months in
England, and that only to
raise money for his foreign
wars. He fought brilliantly
but cruelly in the Third
Crusade. To finance this, he
sold charters to the towns,
offices and honors and
everything he had the
power to sell.








Justice

King vs Nobility:
Richard was born in Oxford, son of
Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
He married Berengaria, daughter of
the king of Navarre.
He was Duke of Normandy,
Aquitaine, and other places before
being the King of England. Like his
brothers, he fought with his family,
joining them in the great rebellion
against their father in 1173. In 1183
his brother Henry died, leaving
Richard heir to the throne. Henry II
wanted to give Aquitaine to his
youngest son, John. Richard refused
and, in 1189, joined forces with
Philip II of France against his father,
hounding him to a premature death
in July 1189. He was succeeded by
his younger brother John, who had
spent the years of Richard's absence
scheming against him. In the autumn
of 1192 Richard himself started on
his return, journey; but he was
captured by his personal foe,
Leopold of Austria, and handed over
to the clutches of the German
Emperor Henry, who held him in
captivity.
Church:
An enormous ransom was demanded
to fee Richard, but his brother John
refused to pay, but Walter of
Coutances and his successor in the
justiciarship, Hubert Walter,
Archbishop of Canterbury, aided by
the old queen-mother Eleanor,
succeeded in raising the huge
ransom.
Biography did not say much about
his relationship with The Church,
but according to this information, he
seemed to have no problems with
this institution. Besides he was
consider a great warrior in the
Crusades.

King John:
Administration:
During his administration war with
France was renewed, triggered by
John's second marriage. While asked
to mediate between the rival families
of Lusignan and Angoulme, he
married the Angoulme heiress
Isabella, who had been betrothed to
Hugh de Lusignan. A rebellion
broke out and John was ordered to
appear before his overlord, Philip II
of France. His failure to do so
resulted in war.
By 1206, John had lost Normandy,
Anjou, Maine and parts of Poitou.
These failures were a damaging
blow to his prestige and he was
determined to win them back. This
required money, so his government
became increasingly ruthless and
efficient in its financial
administration. Taxes soared and he
began to exploit his feudal rights
ever more harshly.
Justice:
High taxes increased baronial
discontent. Negotiations between
John and his barons failed and civil
war broke out in May 1215. When
the rebels seized London, John was
compelled to negotiate further and,
on 19 June at Runnymede on the
River Thames, he accepted the
baronial terms embodied in the
Magna Carta, which limited royal
power, ensured feudal rights and
restated English law. It was the first
formal document stating that the
monarch was as much under the rule
of law as his people, and that the
rights of individuals were to be
upheld even against the wishes of
the sovereign. This settlement was
soon rendered impractical when
John claimed it was signed under
duress.
King vs Nobility:
John was the youngest and favourite
son of Henry II. On his father's
death in 1189 his brother, Richard,
became king. John received titles,
lands and money, but this was not
enough. In October 1190, Richard
recognised his nephew, Arthur, as
his heir. Three years later, when
Richard was imprisoned in
Germany, John tried to seize control.
He was unsuccessful and, when
Richard returned in early 1194, was
banished. The two were soon
reconciled and, when Arthur was
captured by Philip II in 1196,
Richard named John heir. In 1199,
Richard died and John became king.




Church:
When the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Hubert Walter, died on
13 July 1205, John became involved
in a dispute with Pope Innocent III
that would lead to the king's
excommunication. The Norman and
Angevin kings had traditionally
exercised a great deal of power over
the church within their territories.
John wanted John de Gray, the
Bishop of Norwichand one of his
own supporters, to be appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury after the
death of Walter, but the cathedral
chapter for Canterbury Cathedral
claimed the exclusive right to elect
Walter's successor. They favoured
Reginald, the chapter's sub-prior.
Pope Innocent disavowed both
Reginald and John de Gray, and
instead appointed his own candidate,
Stephen Langton. John barred
Langton from entering England and
seized the lands of the archbishopric
and other papal possession. Innocent
then placed an interdict on England
in March 1208, prohibiting clergy
from conducting religious services.
By 1209 the situation showed no
signs of resolution, and Innocent
excommunicated the king in
November 1209. Under mounting
political pressure, John finally
negotiated terms for a
reconciliation, and the papal
terms for submission were
accepted.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/
historic_figures/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo
hn,_King_of_England




Henry III, Reigned 1216 - 1272
Administration
- Henry III was only nine
years old when he became
king of England.
- The country was ruled by
a series of regencies until
1234, when Henry took
over.
- When Henry reached
maturity he was keen to
restore royal authority.
- Though personally brave,
he neither taste nor ability
for warfare.





Justice
Finally, in 1258 a bungled deal
with the Papacy threatened
Henry with excommunication.
This, together with defeats in
Wales and local crises,
brought about the main crisis
of his reign. The Provisions of
Oxford (1258) created a 15-
member privy council,
selected by the barons, to
advise the king and oversee
the entire administration.
Parliament was to be held
three times a year and the
households of the king and
queen were also to be
reformed.



king vs nobility
Baronial revolt led by simon
Montfort.
Problems began as early as
1237, when his barons
objected to the influence of
Henry's Savoyard relatives.
he marriage arranged in 1238
between Henry's sister and
English nobleman Simon de
Montfort only made
relationship between Henry
and his leading nobles worse.
In 1242, Henry's half brothers
involved him in a disastrously
expensive military venture in
France.



church
Henry designated Westminster,
where St Edward had founded the
abbey, as the fixed seat of power
in England. Westminster Hall duly
became the greatest ceremonial
space of the kingdom, where the
council of nobles also met.
Henry was extremely religious,
and his journeys were often
delayed by his insistence on
hearing Mass several times a day.
He was also much taken with the
cult of the AngloSaxon King
Edward the Confessor who had
been made a saint in 1161.
Inspired by Edward the Confessor
and built up Westminster Abbey


Edward I, Reigned 1272 - 1307
Administration
- He tried to unify the
empire throughout
Britain
- Unlike his father, King
Henry III, Edward I took
great interest in the
workings of his
government and made a
number of reforms to
preserve royal rights and
improve the
administration of the
law.
- Subdued Wales
- As a military man he was
a brilliant jouster, but as
a strategist he was
careful, painstaking, and
efficient.
From1270 he was on crusades
and gained reputation for
courage.
Wales was brought into the
English legal and
administrative framework
and in 1301 Edward's son
was proclaimed Prince of
Wales - a tradition that
persists to this day.
Justice
At home, Edward was
responsible for a variety of
legal and administrative
reforms, asserting the rights
of the Crown, promoting the
uniform administration of
justice and codifying the
legal system. His military
campaigns necessitated
increases in taxation which
in turn required more regular
meetings of parliament - by
the end of Edward's reign,
these had become an
established feature of
political life. The desire for
financial gain contributed to
Edward's expulsion of Jews
from England in 1290.
There was undoubtedly an
improvement in the application
of the law, and strong action
against corrupt judges and
administratiors, though many of
them were subsequently
pardoned. A popular policy in
1290 was the expulsion of the
jews, a decision which appealed
to a crusader, and was rewarded
by generous grants from both
parliament and convocation
king vs nobility
Wales was incorporated into
England under the Statute of
Rhuddlan in 1284. In 1301
Edward named his eldest son
Edward as the new Prince of
Wales. Ever since this, the eldest
son of each English monarch has
taken the same title. Edward
then turned to Scotland and, on
10 May 1291, Scottish nobles
recognised the authority of
Edward I.
church
Expelled Jews from England
In 1270, Edward left England
to join the Eighth Crusade.



Edward II Reigned 1307 - 1327
Administration
- First Prince of Wales
- He Lost Battle of
Bannockburn which led
to Scottish
independence
- He had no military
ability, a serious
drawback in a medieval
ruler











Justice
In 1310 the magnates,
remembering the baronial
controls on henry III, demanded
limitations on the king to be
supervised by a group of
ordainers, with powers to
regulate finance and justice
The regime of the ordainers
continued to operate, with
effective power in the hands of
Thomas of Lancaster, the kings
first cousin.
Lancaster was executed, the king
then summoned a parliament at
York, which declared the
ordinances illegal and restored
him to full authority.






king vs nobility
Edward was a king of
England whose reign was
marked by conflict with the
nobles until he was
eventually overthrown by his
wife in favour of his son.
Edward I died in July 1307
and, his three elder brothers
having pre-deceased him,
Edward became king. He
immediately recalled his
favourite, Piers Gaveston
from exile - Edward I had
banished him to France for
his bad influence on his son.
Gaveston was given the
earldom of Cornwall,
previously a title conferred
on royalty.
Had favorite - Piers Gaveston
who was murdered by his
barons
He was deposed in January
1327, after he had alienated the
English nobility. He died the
following September, in what
has been said to be a very brutal
manner.
However, Edward spent much of
his time with the few friends he
shared power with, and looking
to limit the power of the nobles.
This made him appear to prefer
the company of his male
favourites, and in particular,
Piers Gaveston, and this led to
rumours that Edward was
homosexual.
In June 1314 Edward led a huge
army into Scotland to relieve
Stirling. On 24 June 24, his army
was heavily defeated by Bruce at
the Battle of Bannockburn.
Bruce was now sure of his
position as King of Scots, and
took revenge for Edward I's
actions by devastating the
northern counties of England.
Edward II's defeat made him
more dependent on his barons
than ever, but they started to
argue amongst themselves.
Eventually a group of barons so
hated the other barons they
supported more power for
Edward, and he gained more
authority after 1318. Edward
now found an able adviser in
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of
Winchester, a baron of great
experience. His son, Hugh the
younger Despenser, became a
personal friend and favourite of
Edward, and effectively replaced
Gaveston. The barons hated the
Despensers as much as Gaveston
and resented the privileges
Edward lavished them.
Opposition to the king and
his favourite began almost
immediately, and in 1311
the nobles issued the
'Ordinances', which
attempted to limit royal
control of finance and
appointments. Gaveston was
twice exiled at the demand
of the barons, only to return
to England shortly
afterwards. In 1312, he was
captured and executed by
the barons.
church



Edward III
Reigned 1327 - 1377
Administration
Edward III became king when he
was 14 years old. Because of his
age, for the first few years of
Edwards reign, the country was
ruled by the man that murdered
his father, Mortimer.
He was one of the most
successful English kings of
mediaeval times. Edward's reign
was marked by an expansion of
English territory through wars in
Scotland and France. His reign
was marked by the start of the
Hundred Years' War.
The House of Lords was
established during his reign
Facing a resurgent French
monarchy and losses in France,
Edward asked Parliament to
grant him more funds by taxing
the wine and wool trades, but
this was badly received in 1374
1375 as a new outbreak of
bubonic plague struck. The
"Good Parliament" of 1376
criticised Edward's councillors,
and advised him to limit his
ambitions to suit his revenues.
Edward's primary focus was now
war with France. Ongoing
territorial disputes were
intensified in 1340 when Edward
assumed the title of king of
France, starting a war that would
last intermittently for over a
century. In July 1346, Edward
landed in Normandy,
accompanied by his son Edward,
the Black Prince. His decisive
victory at Crcy in August
scattered the French army.
Edward then captured Calais,
establishing it as a base for
future campaigns. In 1348, he
created the Order of the Garter.
Justice
After the death of his queen,
Philippa, in 1369, Edward fell
under the influence of Alice
Perrers, his mistress, who
was regarded as corrupt and
grasping. Against a backdrop
of military failure in France
and outbreaks of the plague,
the 'Good Parliament' of
1376 was summoned.
Perrers and other members
of the court were severely
criticised and heavy taxation
attacked. New councillors
were imposed on the king.
The death of the Black
Prince, Edward's heir,
interrupted the crisis and the
king's younger son, John of
Gaunt, who had ruled the
country during Edward's
frequent absence in France,
later reversed the Good
Parliament's reforming
efforts.
king vs nobility
church