The Middle Ages (1)

Years 1154-1485
Henry I was the first unquestioned ruler. One of the most important kings in the Middle Ages . He had lands in Britain & France . Then the government was the monarch , a person, not a place . He had more land than any pervious king . After his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, he also ruled the lands south of Anjou . His empire stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. England provided most of its wealth , but the heart was Anjou.
Henry II began to regain royal control . During the war some barons had become very powerful . He pulled down some of their castles. He tried to restore law & order . He wanted the same kind of justice to be used everywhere . He appointed his own judges to travel around the country . They dealt with crimes & disagreements over poverty.
Serious offences were tried in the king ’s court . At first they had no special knowledge or training. They were trusted to use common sense . By the end of the 12th cent . They had real knowledge & experience of the law which became known as „common law“, based on custom , comparison , previous cases & decisions. It was unlike in the rest of Europe . In England trial by „ordeal“ was replaced with trial by jury. The work of juries gradually changed from giving evidence to judging evidence of others . Now the king’s laws were in force everywhere.
In 1157 he forced Malcolm IV of Scotland to give up border regions to England. In 1171 he went to Ireland , took it under his rule & made his son John, Lord of Ireland. When he got the throne there had been a civil war between his mother Matilda & uncle Stephen. There was also Church who had become too powerful. The Church wanted the kings of Europe to accept its authority over both spiritual & earthy affairs. Conflict between Henry & Church.
He chose his trusted adviser, Thomas Becket, to become archbishop in 1162, but he began to defend the Church. Henry saw him as a traitor, lost his temper . He is said to have exclaimed „Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest ?“ 4 knights killed Becket on the altar steps. The murder shocked. The Pope made Becket a saint. Canterbury became a shrine. Henry himself made a pilgrimage to Canterbury, walked barefoot through the town and was flogged by bishops at his request.
In the end Henry quarrelled with his beautiful & powerful wife , his sons took Eleanor’s side. In 1189 Henry died a broken man, disappointed & defeated by his sons and the French king. He was followed by his rebellious son, Richard .
Although he spent little time in England (6 months of his 10- year reign), he was one of England’s most popular kings. He was brave, a good soldier , but his nickname „lion-heart“ shows that his culture was French. He died in 1199 . He had no son. His brother John followed.
King John is often regarded as the worst king England has ever had ( unpopular , greedy). He wanted himself to choose archbishops, the pope didn’t allow & from 1208-1213 King John locked the churches. In 1204 John lost his lands in France. He tried to recapture Normandy. As the cost of War had risen, he raised the taxes , the barons didn’t like it. In 1214 the barons rebelled against John. He was forced to sign Magna Carta, the Great Charter ( symbol of freedom , hundreds of years later it was used by Parliament to protect itself from a powerful king),in 1215, but was unwilling to keep to the agreement. The nobles rebelled and civil war was avoided only because John died suddenly. John’s son Henry became King as Henry III.
He was then 9 years old and until the age of 20 he was under the control of powergul nobles. When he became independent, he became involved in wars & got foreign advisers. This upset the nobles. Their leader Simon de Montfort took over the government and called a Great Council in 1258. It included knights, barons & bishops. It forced Henry III to get rif of his foreign advisers and he signed a document in Oxford . In 1265 de Montfort called Parliament. For the first time nobles & spokesmen from both towns & shires met. It was made up of barons, bishops and abbots as usual, but also included 2 knights from every hire and 2 burgesses from every borough. Many nobles didn’t support Simon de Montfort, a civil war broke out. De Montfort was defeated and killed.
In 1295 Henry III’s son Edward I brought together the „represantive institution“, „Model Parliament“, the 1st to include nobles, clergy & commoners. It was a mixture of „gentry“ – knights & wealthy freemen from the shires & merchants from the towns. He divided Parliament into 2 parts – the nobles formed the House of Lords , the other part was called the House of Commons (middle class ). Edward I became king at the age of 35. He was a fine warrior & won the respect of his subjects . He was very tall & strong and his nickname „Longshanks“ referred to his long legs. He was married twice. From his 1st marriage (Eleanor of Castili) he had 15 children , his 2nd wife (Margaret of France) bore him 3 children. He had helped his father , Henry III, to govern since he was 12, and he had also been a crusader. He stamped out corruption in government. He also changed the legal system. Edward was made Overlord of Ireland. In 1282 Edward defeated & killed the last Welsh prince , Llywelyn, and offered his baby son to the Welsh people as their prince.
The 14th cent. Was a disastrous for Europe as well as Britain. It was the time of plagues & wars. There was also a continous struggle between the king & his nobles. The first crisis came in 1327 when Edward II was deposed & cruelly murdered. His son Edward III was 11. The principal that kings were neither to be killed or deposed was broken.
In 1337 Edward III declared war on France, claiming the crown . The real reasons were economical. The war was later called the Hundred Years War. It ended in 1453. At firs the English were successful.
By the treaty of Bretigny in 1360 Edward III gave up his claim to the French throne. He had re- established his control & captured a huge quantity of treasure . It is surprising that people never rebelled against Ed III. He was an expensive king.
Ed III & his eldest son, the Black Prince, were greatly admired for their courage on the battlefield & their courtly manners. They became symbols of the „ code of chivalry“, the way in which a perfect king should behave. According to it the perfect king fought for his good name if insulted, served God & the king & defended any lady in need.
Ed III introduced the idea of chivalry into his court. Ed III chose 24 knights. They met once a year on St. George’s Day at Windsor Castle, where Arthur ’s Round Table was supposed to have been. The custom is still followed. Chivalry was a useful way of persuading mend to fight by creating the idea that war was a noble & glorious thing . War coult also be profitable . But the realities of war were cruelty, death , destruction.
The Black Prince who was the living example of chivalry in England, was feared in France for his cruelty. Ed III reigned for 50 years (died in 1377). His soldier son, the Black Prince died in 1376.Ed III’s 10-year-old grandson became King Richard II. The boy’s uncle John Gaunt, ruled for him.
Richard II was less fortunate. He had neither diplomatic skills nor popularity . He had bad advisers (a tax for every person over the age of 15). Landlords tried to force peasants back to serfdom. People revolted, their leader was Wat Tyler . R II managed to put it down, but the revolt was a warning to the king & nobles. R II was the 2nd king to be killed by ambitious lords. He had no children. There were 2 possible successors: 1) the earl of March , the 7-year-old grandson of Ed III’s second son; 2) Henry on Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt.
It was difficult to say who had better claim to the throne, but Henry was stronger. He took the crown by force. Became Henry IV. Henry died in 1413 and passed on to his son Henry V a kingdom that was peaceful & united.
Henry V was a brave & intelligent man and like Richard I he became one of England’s favourite kings. Since the situation was peaceful at home, he began fighting with France again in 1415. His war was as popular as Ed III’s had been. The French king was mad & his nobles were quarrelsome. He managed to capture most of Normandy & the nearby areas. By the treaty of Troyes in 1420 Henry was recognised as heir to the mad king & married Katherine of Valois, the king’s daughter . But he never became the king of France, he died a few months before the French king.
His 9- month -old baby son Henry VI inherited the thrones of England & France. Henry the V’s brother John duke of Bedford continued to enlarge the area under English control, but soon the French, inspired by Joan of Arc began to fight back. John of Bedford died in 1435 & with the loss of Cascony in 1453 the Hundred Years War was over. England had lost everything except for the newly captured port of Calais.
Henry VI grew up to be simple -minded & book-loving. He hated the warlike nobles & was unsuitable for such a violent society. He was civilised & gentle man. He founded 2 places of learning that still exist – Eton College not far from London & King’s College in Cambridge . Later he became mentally ill. The nobility was discontented, became divided between those who supported Henry’s family, the „Lancastrians“ (Red rose ) & thos who supported the family of March, the „Yorkists“ (White rose).
In 1460 the duke of York claimed the throne. After his death in battle his son Edward took up the struggle & won the throne in 1461.
Edward IV put Henry VI into the Tower of London, but 9 years later the Lancastrian army rescued Henry & chased Edward out of the country. Edward returner with and army in 1471 & defeated the Lancastrians. Henry VI died in the Tower. Edward’s brother Richard of Cloucester was ambitious. After Ed IV’s death in 1483 he put his sons, the 12-year-old Ed V and his younger brother, in the Tower & took the crown. He became Richard III. A few months later the 2 princes were murdered. Richard III was not popular. In 1485 Henry Tudor, duke of Richmond defeated Richard’s army & was crowned king at once in the battlefield. This year has usually been taken to mark the end of the Middle Ages.
The Wars of the Roses lasted fron 1450-1485. Many nobles were killed, ordinary people knew and cared little about it.

Government & Society. Language & Culture.

Society was still based upon rank. At the top were dukes, earls & other lords. Below these were knights (most were not heavily armed fighters on horses, but „gentlemen farmers“ or „landed gentry“) who had increased their landholdings & improved farming methods. This class had grown in numbers. Edward I had ordered that all those with income of L20 a year must be made knights, so even some yeomen farmers became part of the „landed gentry“, while many „esquires“ who had served knights, now became knights themselves. Next to the gentlemen were ordinary freemen of the towns.
By the end of the Middle Ages it was possible for a serf to become a freeman if he worked for 7 years in a town craft guild. Town offered to poor men to become rich & successful. At the same time many successful merchant families were obtaining farmland. In the beginning the guilds protected the production or trade of a whole town, later they protected only those already enjoying membership or who could afford to buy it. The poorer skilled workers tried to join together, these were the first efforts to form a trade union.
„Factories“ in different places in Europe. Wages rose faster than the prices, but signs of future social & econimic crisis (more sheep , less foof crops, fences). In the 15th cent. A new middle class in towns was developing . Most merchants were well educated, considered themselves equals of the esquires & gentlemen of the countryside . The lawyers were another class of city people. In London they were considered equal in importance to the big merchants & clots manufacturers. By the end of the Middle Ages the more successful of these lawyers, merchants, clots manufacturers, exporters, esquires, gentlemen and yeomen farmers were forming a class of people with interests in both ton & country. This was also true in Wales & Scotland. This class was literate. Created a new atmosphere. Questioned the way in which the Church & the state were organised, for both religious & practical reasons. Believed it was partly because it was not economically practical. They also questioned the value of the feudal system, because it didn’t create wealth.
The development of Parliament showed the beginnings of new relationship between the middle class & the king. Ed I had wanted his Parliament to provide him with money , but when Ed III asked for money from his Parliament, they asked to see royal accounts. For the first time the king allowed himself to be „accountable“ to Parliament. Merchants & country gentlemen were anxious to influence the king’s politics both at home & abroadin order to protect their interests. The alliance between esquires & merchants made Parliament more powerful & separated the Commons more & more from the Lords. Many European countries had the same kinds of Parliaments at this time, but in most cases these disappeared when feudalism died out. In England the death of feudalism helped to strengthen the House of Commons in Parliament.
In 1363 Ed III appointed „justices of the peace “ to deal with smaller crimes & offenses & to hold court 4 times a year. These JPs as they became known, were usually less important lords or members of the landed gentry. They were & still are chosen for their fairness & honesty. This made the middle classes still stronger. The JPs remained the only form of local government to the countryside until 1888. They still exist to deal with small offenses.
In the 15th cent. grew discontent with the Church. The greed of the Church was one reason . Another was that Ed III’s wars had made the English conscious of their „Englishness“. Pope was a foreigner, and what was worse , he had been driven out of Rome & was living in France. The taxes they paid to the Church seemed to be help to France. In this the king & people agreed. The bishops & clergy did not oppose the king either. The peasants stormed London in 1381 & executed the Archbishop of Canterbury. Another threat was the private prayer books . At the end of the 14th cent. „Lollardy“. These ideas were condemned as heresy. The leader was John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor . In 1396 he translated the Bible into English. Henry IV, Richard’s successor was deeply loyal to the Church. In 1401 burnt men & women for heresy & orthodoxy.
The condition of women was no doubt hard. The Church taught that women should obey their husbands. The ideas spread about women were: they should be pure & holy like the Virgin Mary ; like Eve they could not be trusted & were moral danger to men. Such teaching led men usually both to worship & also look down on women. Marriage was usually the single most important event in the lives of men & women, but the decision itself was made by the family, not the couple themselves. Once married, a woman had to accept her husband children, preferably sons. The wife of a noble had other responsibilities. When her lord was away , she was in charge of the manor & the village lands, the servants & villagers, the harvest & animals . She had to defend the manor when attacked, to run the household, welcome visitors, store enough food for winter , was expected to have knowledge of herbs & plants to make medicine , visit the poor & the sick etc. She had little time for her own children who were often sent away at the age of 8, the boys to „be made into men“. The peasant women were busy making food, cloth, clothes, worked in the fields, looked after children, geese, pigs, sheep, made cheese & grew vegetables. The family home was dark & smelly, the animals often shared the family shelter at night . A woman’s position improved when her husband died, she could get control of the money. Sometimes she had to marry again: men wanted her land & it was difficult to look after it without the help of a man.

Language and culture.

Already at the end of the 12th cent. schools were set up. Some were „ grammar “ schools, independent of the Church, others were attached to a cathedral . At the beginning of the 13th cent. 2 schools of higher education were established – Oxford & Cambridge. Law schools appeared , producing lawyers who could advise juries.
The number of religious houses grew enormously. Many men & women wanted to be monks & nuns. The reason was economic difficulties. At the end of the 12th cent. there had been sharp rise in prices. Monasteries became centres of wealth & learning. Priests couldn’t be married any longer. A new movement , the „brotherhood“ of friars, wandering preachers, appeared. They were not interested in church power , but in the souls of ordinary people.

Dealing with the Celts .

William I had allowed his lords to win land in Wales. These Normans built castles, mixed with the Welsh. It was a new class, mixture of Norman & Welsh rulers who spoke Norman French & Welsh but not English. They became vassals of the English king. The Welsh who lived around Snowdon were free from English rule. They were led by Llywelyn ap Gruffyd, who tried to be independent. Ed I was determined to bring Wales completely under his control. The English army invaded Wales in 1277. Llywelyn was killed & in 1284 he united Wales with England. Split Wales into 6 counties, encouraged English settlers to go there. In 1301 gave his own baby son Edward (later Edward II) the title of Prince of Wales. From that time the eldest son of the ruling king or queen has been made Prince of Wales.
Ireland had been conquered by Norman lords in 1169. Henry II was afraid his lords might become too independent & went to Ireland himself. He forced the Irish chiefs & Norman lords to accept his lordship. He made Dublin the capital of his new colony . He took money & men for his wars. The Norman nobles & Irist chiefs quietly avoided English authority. As a result the English crown only controlled Dublin & a small area around it, known as the „ Pale “. The Anglo-Irish lords built strong castles, some became „more Irish than the Irish“. The Irish chiefs continued to live as they always had done , moving from place to place & eating out of doors , a habit they only gave up in the 16th cent.
In Scotland things were different. Although they were much stronger than Welsh kings had been, they sometimes accepted English king as their „overlord“. Since Saxon times marriages had frequently taken place between the Scottish & English royal families. The Scottish kings had offered land to Norman knights from England for their loyalty. Normans married into local Celtic noble families. Some Scottish kings held land in England, just as English kings held land in France & did homage, promising loyalty to the English king for that land.
In 1290 a crisis took place over the succession to the Scottish throne. Alexander III was the last Scottish king in direct line from Malcolm Canmore. He died in 1286. The most likely to succeed were John de Balliol & Rober Bruce , born Norman-Scottish knights. Ed I was invited to settle the matter . Now he told both men to do homage to him, then invaded Scotland & put John de Balliol on the Scottish throne. He was king 4 years. The years were not happy .
Another invasion in 1296, Edward stole the sacred Stone of Destiny . Resistance movement led by William Wallace, Norman-Scottish knight , started . He beat the English at Stirling. A new leader took up the struggle, this was Robert the Bruce who crowned himself king in 1306. Scottish nationalism was born, the English army defeated. In 1307 Ed I died while preparing to lead his army into Scotland for the 6th time. His son Ed II was no soldier.
The Scots led by Bruce won tge Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 . In 1328 young Ed III agreed to respect Scotland’s independence. The attempts of English kings to control Scotland had led the Scots to turn to the king of France. Both countries agreed that whenever England attacked one of them , the other would make trouble behind England’s back. In 1346 the Scots attacked England, but were defeated & King David II (Bruce’s son) was taken prisoner. The French paid ransom . But the Scottish monarcy survived. David’s successor was Robert II, the 1st of a new royal line called the Stuarts .
Like the English king the Scottish kings were involved in long struggles with their nobles, Scotland experienced plagues, wars. Many kings died – James I was murdered in 1437, James II died in an accident before he was 30, James III was murdered in 1488. However , by the end of the 15th cent. it was obvious that Scotland had developed as a nation & was separate country from England. Parliament was first called in 1399, towns grew, education developed.