A Clash of Thrones E-Book

Andrew Rawson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 423

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Medieval Europe is a dark and dangerous place. In 1054 the Church tears itself in two, setting the scene for nearly 500 years of turmoil. Empires will collide and dynasties will rise and fall; marriages will be made and alliances broken. It is a place where love clashes with ambition and violence rules – enemies are blinded, rivals are murdered and heretics are burnt at the stake. As the Black Death sweeps the continent and the Mongol hordes threaten its borders, can the kings of the old world survive the dawn of a new era?

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title

Introduction

1    N

ORTH

-W

EST

E

UROPE

France, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland

2    S

CANDINAVIA

Norway, Sweden, Denmark

3    THE I

BERIAN

P

ENINSULA

Portugal, Galicia, León, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, Mallorca

4    C

ENTRAL

E

UROPE

Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, Austria

5    I

TALY

AND

S

ICILY

The Papal States, Sicily, Naples

6    N

ORTH

-E

AST

E

UROPE

Poland, The Teutonic Knights, Lithuania, Galicia–Volhynia, Ruthenia, Russia

7    S

OUTH

-E

AST

E

UROPE

Hungary, Wallachia, Moldavia, Bulgaria

8    T

HE

B

ALKANS

Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia

9    W

HERE

E

AST

M

EETS

W

EST

Byzantium, Thessalonica, Latin, Nicaea, Rûm Sultanate, Ottoman Empire

10  T

HE

C

RUSADER

S

TATES

Jerusalem, Cyprus, Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli

Conclusions

Select Bibliography

Plates

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the biggest group of warriors, conquerors, philanderers, murderers and back-stabbers you are ever likely to meet. The power-mad medieval kings of Europe.

Starting with the Great Schism in 1054 and ending with the discovery of the New World in 1492, we see how kings and princes used military campaigns and political intrigue to secure their own power and usurp everyone else’s. From conquests to civil wars, and through marriages and alliances, discover how kingdoms grew into the countries we recognise today and learn how some were overrun.

See how the popes and antipopes used God to sway kings’ decisions and influence the power struggles across the continent. Hear about the threats from the Islamic infidels without and heretical religions within, and see how Crusades in the name of God brutally put down anyone who challenged the all-powerful Catholic Church. From the Holy Roman Emperor to the Knights Templar, and many more, powerful men and organisations all vied to promote their own brand of Christianity.

Learn about the princesses and queens who had to marry, forging alliances that satisfy a king’s desire for increasing power while he chased women in court to satisfy his lust for the pleasures of the flesh. Find out how some wives used their wits and femininity to influence their husbands and their barons to change the balance of power in the royal courts. Also hear about the contrived reasons for royal divorces and the political fallout from the break-ups. Encounter some of the royal bastards who helped their fathers consolidate their power and others who plotted to kill so they could take the throne for themselves.

Murder, campaigns, politics, intrigue, torture, marriage: you had to be master of them all to become a successful king. Battles, poisoning, plague, illness, accidents: you had to avoid them all to remain a successful king. Here are their stories woven together in a light-hearted way. Enjoy the lives and struggles of the most important people in medieval Europe as they played the real game of thrones.

NORTH-WEST EUROPE

FRANCEWASAFEUDALSTATE and the seizure of England by the Norman Duke William led to the conquest of Ireland in 1183 and Wales a century later. France and England would alternately make alliances through marriage and make war as a result of these marriages. The England-based Angevin Empire extended to rule Wales as well as large parts of Ireland and France. Most of the French territories would soon be lost.

There would be constant battles along the way between the Scottish and the English, with Scotland relying on France at times, resulting in a mutual assistance pact in 1295. Scotland acquired the Western Isles from Norway in 1266, followed by the Orkney and Shetland Islands after 1468.

THE KINGDOMOF FRANCE

Henri I became King of the Franks when the French crown lands were at their smallest, encompassing only what is now the region Île-de-France, and the rest of the country was run by dukes. He twice failed to capture Normandy from Duke William the Bastard and then met Emperor Henry III to discuss Lorraine. The emperor fled when he proposed hand-to-hand combat to decide ownership. Following his father’s death, Young Philippe I was crowned in 1060 with his mother Anne as regent. Philippe first captured Flanders from Robert the Frisian at the Battle of Cassel in 1071 and then made peace with William of Normandy (also known as ‘the Conqueror’).

Philippe had a son with Bertha of Frisia and then divorced her in 1092, declaring that she was too fat when what he really wanted to do was to marry his mistress, Bertrade, daughter of Simon de Montfort I. Pope Urban II excommunicated Philippe, so he refused to support the First Crusade. Urban lifted the excommunication when Philippe promised to leave Bertrade, but he kept returning to her and became known as ‘the Amorous’.

Louis VI the Fat was crowned in 1108 and he was primarily occupied with fighting ‘robber barons’ who were stealing his income in Normandy. His son Philippe was crowned co-king in 1129, but the disobedient teenager was riding through Paris when a pig made his horse rear and throw him; he died the following day.

Instead, teenage Louis VII, a pious man, succeeded his Fat father, but his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine disliked his devout ways and said she had ‘thought to marry a king, only to find she’d married a monk’. She liked it even less when he vowed to go on a Crusade.

Louis VII and his army reached the Holy Land in 1148 after escaping an ambush near Laodicea. Eleanor asked Louis to support her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, but he divorced Eleanor and headed to Jerusalem to fight alongside Conrad and Baldwin instead. Louis VII returned home in 1149, when their siege of Damascus ended in disaster, having spent his fortune. Meanwhile, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, giving the future King Henry II of England the duchy of Aquitaine, and a furious Louis VII was defeated when he attacked him.

Louis VII eventually had a son with his third wife in 1165, and Philippe II was crowned in 1180. Although Henry II of England continued to expand his territories along the north and west coast of France, there was trouble brewing in England. Henry made the mistake of giving his overseas territories to his eldest son, Henry the Young King. His brother Richard, future Lionheart, allied with Philippe to get his revenge.

The jealousy was reversed when Richard was recognised as heir to Henry’s lands and Philippe was later made feudal lord of Henry’s French lands in 1189. Henry II died shortly afterwards, but the power struggle was interrupted when the Third Crusade was launched. Philippe reluctantly joined Richard I of England and Emperor Friedrich I, but he returned to France after they recaptured Acre. Richard was captured in Austria on the way home, accused of murdering King Conrad of Jerusalem. He was eventually ransomed and returned in 1194 only to find Philippe and John had joined forces to recover Normandy. Richard tried to recover his lands, only to be killed in a skirmish in 1199.

John was crowned King of England but he ignored a summons to Paris to answer a charge so Philippe seized England’s lands in France. Philippe had more than tripled the size of his kingdom and would be known as ‘Augustus’ in homage to the Roman Caesar. But Pope Innocent III was annoyed that Philippe was busy fighting English troops in northern France rather than stamping out the Cathar heresy in the south, so he excommunicated John in 1213 for interfering with Church matters. Innocent also urged Philippe to invade England, seize John and put his own son Louis on the English throne. John repented by turning England over to the pope and it was returned as a papal fief. An Anglo-Flemish-German coalition failed to recover John’s French fiefs, and while John fled to England, Philippe defeated Otto IV of Germany at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.

While Philippe had been successful in military matters, he had trouble at home. Isabelle died in childbirth and he hated his second wife Isambour of Denmark so much that he imprisoned her in a convent rather than crown her. He declared himself divorced but Pope Celestine III refused an annulment because Isambour insisted the marriage had been consummated. To make matters worse, Thomas I of Savoy kidnapped and married Philippe’s bride-to-be Margaret of Geneva en route to Paris, claiming the king was already betrothed. Philippe married Agnes of Merania instead, but Pope Innocent III again declared the union void and placed France under an interdict. Louis finally took Isambour back in 1213.

Louis VIII the Lion succeeded his father in July 1223 and concentrated on reinforcing the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics. Young Louis IX was crowned in 1226 aged 12, with his mother as regent. He expelled the country’s Jewish moneylenders, confiscated their property and used it to finance the Seventh Crusade when he came of age. Louis captured Damietta in 1249 only to be captured at the Battle of Fariskur, and was forced to give up the city to pay his ransom.

Louis was leading the Eighth Crusade to the Holy Land when the Byzantine Emperor Mikhaēl VIII proposed joining the Roman and Latin Churches (at that time they were two separate entities) in order to win the support of the pope, in response to hostility from Louis’s younger brother, Charles of Sicily. Charles suggested Louis attack Tunis instead, to strengthen his position in the Mediterranean. Louis took up the suggestion only to die in North Africa in 1270. Louis’s son, Philippe III the Bold, concluded a truce with the Emir in Tunis and returned to France to be crowned, taking his father’s bones with him.

Pope Martin IV excommunicated Peter III of Aragon for starting the War of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282 and gave Aragon to Philippe’s son, Charles, Count of Valois. Philippe and Charles went to claim the kingdom, supported by James II of Mallorca, but they were beaten at the Battle of the Col de Panissars in 1285. Philippe then died of dysentery, having nearly bankrupted France. Philippe IV, the Fair, inherited Navarre through his wife, Joan, in 1284 and inherited France from his father Philippe the Bold a year later. Edward I of England was a vassal to Philippe but his brother, Edmund Crouchback, agreed all Edward’s overseas lands could be exchanged in return for his own territories in 1293. But Philippe defaulted on the deal and instead offered the hand of his daughter, Isabella, to Edward’s son to ensure peace.

Philippe was defeated at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in Flanders in 1302 but he soon forced the Flemish to accept peace. His debts to the Knights Templar increased and though he expelled and disinherited 100,000 Jews to raise money in 1306, he still did not have enough to pay them off. Instead, Philippe used his influence over Pope Clement V, who had just moved from Rome to Avignon, to arrest the Templars as heretics. On Friday 13 October 1307, hundreds of French Templars were arrested and they were soon being tortured and executed. Their leader, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake in 1314 and he cursed the king and the pope from the flames. Pope Clement V died a month later while Philippe died in a hunting accident, six months later.

Louis X the Quarreler had inherited Navarre from his mother in 1305 and was crowned King of France in 1314. He immediately faced a revolt in Flanders and a scandal in Paris. His wife Marguerite and sisters-in-law Blanche and Juana were arrested for adultery in the Tour de Nesle affair. Marguerite and Blanche were imprisoned and their lovers were executed while Juana was found innocent. Louis wanted his marriage annulled and Marguerite conveniently died soon after; he married Clémence five days later.

Louis drank too much cold wine and died after a strenuous game of indoor tennis in 1316, so his brother Philippe became regent to the pregnant Clémence. Her son, Jean the Posthumous, only lived a few days and some believed that Philippe, who would be King Philippe V the Tall, had poisoned the baby. The majority of the nobility opposed his coronation. Pope John XXII called for a Crusade in 1320 but the recruitment drive turned into a violent anti-Semitic uprising which Philippe had to stamp out. He would die in the summer of 1321.

The French king Charles IV the Fair helped his uncle, Charles of Valois, capture Aquitaine from the English in the 1324 War of Saint-Sardos. Charles’s sister Isabella went to France on behalf of her husband, Edward II of England, to negotiate a peace. But Isabella hated her spouse and started a relationship with the exiled Roger Mortimer. She betrothed her son to a local count’s daughter and used her dowry and a loan from her brother to raise a mercenary army. Isabella invaded England and deposed Edward, who was murdered in 1327, earning a reputation as the She-Wolf of France. Isabella then encouraged her young son, Edward III, to make peace with Charles but only Aquitaine was returned to England.

Charles died without a male heir, and while Charles of Valois’s son, Philippe VI the Fortunate, was crowned, Isabella claimed the throne for her son. Philippe started his reign by giving Navarre to its rightful heiress, the future Joan II, and then took in David II of Scotland in 1334 and declared himself champion of Scottish interests. Philippe accused Edward of rebellion and disobedience in 1337 and seized Aquitaine, starting the Hundred Years War between England and France.

The French fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Sluys in 1340, so Philippe played a waiting game against the cash-strapped Edward. The first major clash at Crécy in 1346 ended with an injured Edward defeating Philippe. The Black Death struck in 1348, killing one-third of France’s population, including Philippe’s wife, Joan the Lame, the brains behind the throne. Philippe married Blanche of Navarre, a union that alienated many people because she had been betrothed to his son. Philippe died soon afterwards.

There were rumours that Philippe’s successor, John II the Good, was having a relationship with Charles de La Cerda, the Constable of France, which scandal resulted in the murder of de La Cerda. The Hundred Years War then flared up and John was captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 by Edward III’s son, the Black Prince. John’s son Louis was held as a replacement hostage in Calais while his father was released and attempted to raise the huge ransom. Louis escaped in 1363 but John voluntarily returned to England, where he died in captivity.

Charles V the Wise was the first heir to the French throne to call himself the Dauphin but there were rumours he was illegitimate. The Black Prince refused to visit Paris to answer charges about his rule of Gascony, so Charles called him disloyal and declared war in 1369. The English were soon defeated, and while Charles recovered most of France, the Black Prince fled to England and died. The Church was split in 1376, with half of Europe supporting the pope in Rome and the rest supporting the antipope in Avignon. It did not matter to Charles, because a festering abscess killed him, the result of an attempt to poison him thirty years earlier.

Charles VI the Beloved drew his sword when a leper grabbed his horse on campaign in Brittany in 1392. He had killed several servants before he was overpowered and the incident marked the start of his madness. Soon Charles the Mad could not remember his own name, his status or his wife. He sometimes refused to bathe or change his clothes and the doors of his apartments were sealed to keep him safe. Charles’s uncles, Philippe of Burgundy and Jean of Berry, dismissed all of Charles’s advisers and even murdered the king’s brother, Louis I of Valois, when he demanded the throne in 1407.

Seeking to benefit from the instability of the French throne, Henry V of England made a claim for the French crown and invaded, defeating the French army at Agincourt in 1415. Four of Charles’s sons died childless while the mad king claimed his fifth son (also Charles) was illegitimate. So he signed the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, which recognised Henry as his successor and married him to his daughter, Catherine. Young Charles sought refuge in the south of France, having failed to defeat the English in the north.

Both Henry V and Charles VI died in 1422, allowing Charles VII to claim the throne ahead of young Henry VI of England.

Orleans was under siege when the teenage Joan of Arc announced she had a divine mission in 1429. A disguised Charles met her, expecting to uncover her scam, but she bowed before him and said, ‘God give you a happy life, sweet King!’ Joan inspired the king to claim his inheritance and he broke the Siege of Orleans and turned the tide of the war. Charles was crowned de jure king after winning the Battle of Patay in 1429, but the Burgundians captured Joan and handed her over to the English. Charles VII did nothing to save her and she was burned at the stake in 1431. The Treaty of Arras would bring the Burgundians over to the French side, meaning that Charles the Victorious had recovered all of France apart from Calais.

Charles refused to give his son, Louis, the powers of the Dauphin and banished him after he quarrelled with his mistress, Agnès Sorel, in 1446. They never met again. Five years later, Louis wed Charlotte of Savoy, who was just 9 years old, without his father’s consent, resulting in war between them. When Philippe of Burgundy offered to support Louis, Charles warned him that he was ‘giving shelter to a fox who will eat his chickens’. Charles fell ill in 1458 but Louis refused to visit his father until he heard he was dying. He then rushed to be by his side, not to make peace with Charles, but to be crowned ahead of his brother.

Louis IX the Cunning used plots and conspiracy to get his way and was known as the ‘Universal Spider’. Edward IV of England invaded France in 1475 so Louis paid him to renounce his claim and leave, ending the Hundred Years War. Louis bragged he had driven the English out with pâté, venison and wine. Philippe of Burgundy gave money in exchange for territories so Louis could go on Crusade. So Philippe’s son, Charles, and the king’s brother, also Charles, formed the League of the Public Weal, hoping to protect their inheritance. The ensuing rebellion ended with the death of Charles of Burgundy and an end was put to the Burgundian Wars at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.

Louis died in 1483 and his teenage son, Charles VIII the Affable, was crowned with his older sister Anne as regent. He was betrothed to Margaret, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian. But when Maximilian married the young Anne of Brittany by proxy (without seeing her) and without Charles’s permission, Charles retaliated by invading Brittany and married Anne himself instead, her marriage to Maximilian being annulled by the pope. The unhappy bride took two beds to her wedding to make her point.

Charles made treaties with Austria and England while recruiting a large army to face the emperor. Pope Innocent VIII also offered Naples to Charles after expelling Alfonso II in 1489, only to form the League of Venice when he became too powerful. Charles was defeated at the Battle of Fornovo in 1495 and he died three years later after hitting his head on a door lintel on his way to play a game of tennis!

THE ENGLISH KINGDOMANDTHE ANGEVIN EMPIRE

At the start of this period England covered the same area as today, with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north, but the first threats came from Norway and France across the seas.

Edward the Confessor had been raised in exile in Normandy and he was crowned in 1042. Ten years later, his father-in-law, Godwin, assembled an army so Edward banished him. Edward favoured the Normans in his court so the English barons invited Godwin back to challenge him, until threat of a Norwegian invasion rallied the English and Danes behind Edward. The deeply religious king, known as ‘the Confessor’, died early in 1066.

Edward’s brother-in-law, Harold Godwinson, was crowned Harold II, but he immediately faced an invasion in northern England by his brother Tostig and Harald of Norway. He defeated them at Stamford Bridge but then had to march south to face a challenge from William of Normandy, who claimed Edward had promised him the throne back in 1051. William the Bastard also had the support of Emperor Henry IV and Pope Alexander II.

William defeated and killed Harold near Hastings and although Edgar the Aetheling, Edward’s intended heir, staged a rebellion and was proclaimed king, he was never crowned. Instead, William the Conqueror was crowned on Christmas Day and then returned across the Channel to defend Normandy. English nobles captured York with Danish help in 1069, but the Normans bribed the Danes to leave. Malcolm III of Scotland also invaded England, but William’s counter-attack resulted in the 1072 Treaty of Abernethy and the handing over of Malcolm’s eldest son as a hostage.

William died in 1087, leaving England to his younger son William Rufus and Normandy to his elder son Robert. Ruling as William II, William Rufus expanded his power into the north of England but turned his attentions to Normandy when Robert went on Crusade in 1096. He died following a hunting accident in the New Forest in 1100 and his brother Henry was crowned. Henry defeated Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray in France and imprisoned his older brother in 1106; he died in captivity.

Henry I sealed the peace with Scotland through his marriage to Matilda of Scotland, but the succession was plunged into turmoil when his legitimate sons William and Richard drowned when the White Ship sank in the English Channel in 1120. His daughter Matilda, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage, was declared heir, but after Henry died from eating too many fish in 1135 her cousin, Stephen of Blois, seized the throne. Matilda invaded England in 1139 and Stephen was soon captured, plunging the country into a civil war known as ‘the Anarchy’. Although the Empress Matilda ruled for a few months, her arrogance antagonised her supporters and Stephen was released in exchange for her illegitimate half-brother, Robert of Gloucester. Matilda retired to Normandy when Robert died in 1147, leaving the throne in dispute.

Matilda’s eldest son, Henry, had been given Normandy and he invaded England in 1149 and 1153. After Stephen’s son died young, the Treaty of Wallingford nominated Matilda’s son Henry to inherit the throne after Stephen’s death as Henry II. Stephen died in 1154 and Empress Matilda died in 1167. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to crown Stephen’s son, Eustace, because Pope Alexander III had declared against him. Eustace died while plundering Church lands in 1153 and his death was seen as a sign from God. Instead, Henry II inherited the Angevin Empire under the Treaty of Wallingford, and it covered England and large parts of what is now France. He soon fell out with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, who was murdered in 1170. Three years later, his sons Henry, Richard and Geoffrey joined their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in a rebellion against their father. France, Scotland, Flanders and Boulogne would also join in before the Great Revolt was settled. Henry had invaded Ireland and the 1175 Treaty of Windsor provided lands there for his faithful youngest son, John. Henry and Geoffrey rose up again in 1183, but their rebellion ended when young Henry died while pillaging monasteries across France. Meanwhile, Philippe II of France had convinced Richard that his father would crown John king. Philippe and Richard rebelled and defeated Henry in 1189. Henry retired and died from a bleeding ulcer.

Succeeding his father, Richard I immediately went on Crusade, leaving others to rule England, and he took over the Third Crusade after Philippe II left. He defeated Saladin at the Siege of Acre and the battles of Arsuf and Jaffa and though he failed to reconquer Jerusalem, he would be known as ‘the Lionheart’. Although Richard concluded the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192, he was suspected of assassinating King Conrad of Jerusalem and was taken prisoner by Leopold V in Austria. He was handed over to Emperor Henry VI in 1193, and while Philippe of France failed to seize Richard’s French possessions, Queen Eleanor stopped Richard’s brother John invading England. Richard was released when a huge ransom was paid. Philippe warned everyone, ‘look to yourself, the devil is loosed’, and John fled to the French court. Richard was recrowned and he recovered all his lands before dying while fighting a rebellious baron in France in 1199. The Lionheart spoke no English, had spent only a few months in England and left no heir.

Henry II’s youngest son, John, was crowned and although Philippe II of France recognised his Angevin lands under the 1200 Treaty of Le Goulet, he seized northern France only four years later. Pope Innocent III wanted Philippe to stamp out the Cathar heresy in the south of France and he excommunicated John in 1213 for stopping him. Innocent also urged Philippe to invade England, but John repented and turned England over to the pope; it was returned as a papal fief.

An Anglo-Flemish-German coalition failed to recover John’s French fiefs and Philippe defeated Otto IV of Germany at Bouvines in 1214 while John was putting down a rebellion in England. The English barons forced their king to sign Magna Carta, to reduce his powers, in 1215. John ignored the treaty, so the English barons offered the throne to Philippe’s son, Prince Louis, and he was proclaimed king and soon controlled half of England. John died of dysentery in 1216 and supporters of his young son, Henry III, quickly defeated Louis and the rebel barons.

Henry assumed power in 1227, and while he accepted Magna Carta, he made poor choices of friends and advisers. He launched campaigns against France in 1230 and 1242, both of which failed. He also spent money trying to make his son the King of Sicily. The 1258 Provisions of Oxford and the 1259 Provisions of Westminster reduced his powers. Henry renounced them in 1262, so the barons rebelled under Simon de Montfort and captured their king. He escaped and defeated and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

Edward I was a tall man who was known as ‘Longshanks’. He had accomplished little on his Crusade to the Holy Land when he heard of his father’s death in 1272 and he returned to England. Edward subjected Wales to English rule in 1283 after a series of rebellions, but Scotland resisted and he became known as ‘Hammer of the Scots’. His son was crowned Edward II in 1307 and Scotland fought back, freeing themselves from English control following Robert the Bruce’s victory at Bannockburn in 1314.

Edward was victorious in a civil war in 1322 but his wife, Isabella of France, led an invasion of England four years later. He renounced the throne in favour of his son Edward and was imprisoned, but he could not be legally deposed or executed. The barons agreed to depose the king at a secret meeting chaired by Roger Mortimer and he was forced to abdicate in 1327 before he was allegedly murdered by having a red-hot poker pushed into his anus.

Isabella and Mortimer controlled young Edward III and made an unpopular peace with the Scots under the Treaty of Northampton. Edward executed Mortimer and sent his mother into retirement when he came of age in 1330. He then successfully campaigned against Scotland in 1333. He declared himself heir to the French throne through his mother four years later, precipitating the Hundred Years War. He overran Brittany in 1342 and was victorious at the Battle of Crécy in 1346.

The Black Death struck in 1348, curtailing military activities for several years, but Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III, won the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and the Treaty of Brétigny returned large parts of French territories. Later military failures, compounded by the return of the plague, forced Edward III to surrender most of these gains to Charles V of France under the 1375 Treaty of Bruges. Edward retired to Windsor, leaving the throne in the hands of Edward the Black Prince, but Edward died a year before his father, resulting in the succession of his young son, Richard II.

Richard II is famous for having personally stopped the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, when he was still just a teenager, by meeting the rebels outside London.

However, he became dependent on a circle of favourites, many of whom were put to death by the ‘Merciless Parliament’ of 1388; in retaliation he executed or exiled many parliamentary leaders over the next two years.

Richard seized the lands of his uncle, powerful nobleman John of Gaunt, when he died in 1399. John’s son Henry of Bolingbroke raised an army, invaded England and deposed. Richard plotted to recover his throne, but he was probably murdered in prison and Henry, now King Henry IV, put his body on display to prove he was dead.

Henry IV faced a plague in 1400, followed by a revolt in Wales. He then defeated a revolt by the Percy family at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 and executed many of the rebels. Henry regained control of the country but he was dogged by illness and his son Henry assumed control of the country before he died in 1413.

Henry V immediately laid claim to the French crown and sailed for France to capture Harfleur. The Dauphin refused his offer of personal combat, so Henry defeated the French army at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Charles VI of France recognised Henry V as regent and heir apparent to the French throne under the 1420 Treaty of Troyes and married him to his daughter, Catherine of Valois.

Henry went on to capture Normandy only to die in 1422, just before Charles, leaving his infant son, Henry VI, King of England and disputed King of France.

During Henry VI’s infancy, the Cardinal Beaufort and the Duke of Gloucester were his regents in England, while the Duke of Bedford represented him in France. The dual regency was difficult to maintain and the Dauphin and Jeanne d’Arc weakened English rule in France until Normandy was lost in 1450.

Richard, Duke of York was made Protector when Henry VI fell ill and a civil war between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions had broken out before he recovered two years later – the Wars of the Roses. This was a struggle to decide whether the succession should stay with the male line or pass through the female line. Henry’s queen, Margaret of Anjou, was determined to fight for her husband’s and son’s Lancastrian cause. The Duke of York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460 and his son Edward, Duke of York defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton in 1461. Then London opened its gates to the Yorkist forces and Edward was crowned Edward IV – the first Yorkist king.

Henry fled to Scotland but was captured in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Edward was then forced to flee to the continent and Henry VI was restored to the throne by the kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick. His son Edward was defeated and killed by the former Edward IV at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1470 and then Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet. Edward IV regained the throne and Henry died in suspicious circumstances in the Tower. Order was restored in England and peace was made with Louis XI of France at Picquigny in 1475, finally ending the Hundred Years War begun under Edward III.

Edward had secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, the first consort to be crowned queen, and their young son succeeded him as Edward V in 1483. Edward IV’s brother, Richard, Duke of York immediately arrested and executed his nephew Edward V’s protectors, Earl Rivers and Richard Grey. Edward protested, so Richard, Duke of York imprisoned him and his brother in the Tower of London. Richard then produced evidence that Edward IV had been contracted to marry another woman before he married Elizabeth, making the boys illegitimate. He was was crowned Richard III and the ‘Princes in the Tower’ were never seen again; they are presumed to have been murdered.

The sole heir, Prince Edward, died soon after Richard III’s ascent to the throne. Richard’s reign was beset by rebellion from the start, and in the final chapter of the Wars of the Roses, Henry Tudor landed with French troops in Wales and defeated and killed the king at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, ending the war once and for all. Crowned Henry VII, he restored the stability of the English monarchy by marrying Edward IV’s daughter, Elizabeth of York, in 1486, uniting the houses of York and Lancaster. While peace returned to England, the new Tudor king was troubled by the pretenders Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel, who impersonated the murdered princes.

THE KINGDOMSOF IRELAND

There were several kingdoms in Ireland, the main ones being Uí Néill (Ulster), Connacht, Mide (Meath), Munster and Leinster. By tradition Ireland as a whole was ruled by a High King, but in reality this position was far from secure, with the rulers of the respective kingdoms fighting for superiority. As ‘High King with opposition’, to maintain power you would have to control at least the three Viking cities: Dublin, Waterford and Limerick. Only a ‘High King without opposition’ would be able to march his army anywhere in Ireland. It was to this that Ireland’s rulers aspired.

Donnchadh was the King of Munster. His strength was based on the towns of Limerick and Cork, in the south-west of Ireland. But Aed of Connacht attacked him in the 1050s, and he later lost Dublin and Limerick to Diarmait of Leinster. Donnchadh of Munster was defeated in the Galtee Mountains and deposed in 1063; he died on a pilgrimage to Rome the following year. Diarmait of Leinster was killed fighting Conchobar of Mide in 1072.

Toirdelbach had succeeded Donnchadh, his uncle, as King of Munster, and having fought on behalf of Leinster, he was then given Dublin after Diarmait died in battle. Conchobar of Mide and his wife were murdered the following year and Toirdelbach was then able to ravage Mide and Connacht in a bid to consolidate his rule over all Ireland, while his sons Muirchertach and Diarmait ruled Dublin and Waterford and deposed Ruaidri of Connacht. They then defeated his replacement, Ua Ruairc, at the Battle of Monecronock in 1082. But war broke out while Toirdelbach was raiding Mide and he fell ill and died in 1086.

Following his father’s death, Muirchertach banished his brother Diarmait from Munster, so he could be sole king. Muirchertach then established his control of Leinster, Tara and Dublin before killing Domnall of Mide and declaring himself High King of Ireland in 1101.

Arnulf de Montgomery of Wales married Muirchertach’s daughter to form an alliance against the English, but their combined forces were defeated by Henry I of England. Instead they turned on Magnus Barefoot of Norway, who had recently landed in Ireland with a large army. Arnulf then tried to seize Muirchertach’s throne, so Muirchertach snatched his daughter back and married her to one of his cousins. Around the same time, Muirchertach captured Ulster and then married a daughter to Magnus’s son, Sigurd, in 1102 to secure his position. But Magnus was killed in an ambush as he prepared to head back to Norway and the marriage was cancelled. Diarmait briefly seized power while Muirchertach was ill but the latter regained control of Munster and captured his brother; Muirchertach died in 1119.

Domnall, King of Connacht, was born of a dynastic alliance between the ruling family of Connacht and Mor, sister of Muirchertach. But he was deposed in 1106 by his brother Tairrdelbach, with the help of Muirchertach, who went on to secure his position as High King for many years and established the city of Galway in 1124.

Tairrdelbach had over twenty sons by his many wives. Ruaidri of Connacht knew he was not his father’s favourite, and he went to great lengths to secure his position as heir, blinding one of his brothers and arresting three others, while also seeking to prove his status with raids against his father’s enemies. As a result of his machinations Ruaidri became King of Connacht without opposition following his father’s death.

However, he was not High King of Ireland as his father had been; that position was claimed by Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn, King of Tyrone. Ruaidri of Connacht undermined Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn by capturing Munster. Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn and sixteen of his closest followers were murdered as a result of hostilities with the King of Ulster in 1166.

Ruaidri conquered Leinster in 1167 and took many hostages, but the exiled King Diarmait of Leinster returned with Anglo-Norman support in 1169 and captured most of Leinster. Henry II of England followed to assert his rule and he was welcomed by the rebels. The 1175 Treaty of Windsor left Ruaidri with the west of Ireland, while Henry gave the east to his young son, John. Ruaidri’s son Muirchertach led an Anglo-Norman raid into Connacht in 1177 and was blinded by his father for his disobedience. Ruaidri abdicated in 1183, but would return to power briefly in 1185 and 1189.

THE KINGDOMSOF WALES

Wales covered a similar area to modern Wales. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn became self-appointed king in 1055 and annexed parts of England before Harold Godwinson defeated him in 1063. He was murdered by his own men because they wanted to secure peace with England. Wales reverted to the kingdoms of Gwynedd in the north, Powys in the centre and Deheubarth in the south.

The Kingdom of Gwynedd

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn had seized power with the support of Harold Godwinson after his half-brother Gruffydd was murdered, only to be defeated in battle in 1073. He was succeeded by his cousin Trahaearn ap Caradog. However, Gruffudd ap Cynan, a rival claimant to the throne, returned from an Irish campaign and, with the support of Rhys of Deheubarth, killed Trahaearn at the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081.

Gruffudd ap Cynan was captured by the Norman Earl of Chester, Hugh the Fat, after meeting him to discuss an alliance, but he escaped and allied himself with Cadwgan of Powys to revolt against the Normans. They were forced to flee to Ireland when the Normans bribed the Norse fleet they had hired to leave. Gruffudd and Cadwgan recovered their kingdoms the following year and agreed a border with England’s new king, Henry I, with Pura Wallia (the principality of Wales) under Welsh control and Marchia Walliae (the Welsh Marches) under English control.

Henry I and Alexander I of Scotland invaded Gwynedd and Powys in 1116 with the excuse that Gruffudd ap Cynan was sheltering rebels. Gruffudd made peace and retired. Henry I died in 1136 and the kingdoms of Gwynedd, Deheubarth and Powys allied following the execution of Gwenllian, Gruffudd’s daughter and wife of the Prince of Deheubarth. They routed the Normans at the Battle of Crug Mawr in 1136 and Gruffudd died knowing his realm would not ‘go to the flames’ of any invaders.

Owain Mawr (Owain the Great) succeeded his father in 1137. Despite the fact that they had previously fought together against the Normans, Owain quickly became embroiled in a dispute with his brother Cadwaladr. Anarawd of Deheubarth was murdered by Cadwaladr’s men just before his wedding to Owain’s daughter. In punishment Owain stripped Cadwaladr of his lands.

Henry II of England and his allies, including Cadwaladr, invaded Owain’s territory in 1157; Henry was nearly killed in an ambush and then his navy was defeated. Cadwaladr, with the backing of Henry I, forced Owain to reinstate him. However, on the deaths of Madog of Powys and his son Llywelyn in 1160, Owain was able to annex part of Powys and extend his power to the east. He then formed a new alliance with Rhys of Deheubarth and ambushed Henry’s army, forcing it to withdraw, while a mercenary Norse navy failed to harass the Welsh coast. A revengeful Henry II captured and mutilated the sons of Owain and his allies.

Owain died in 1170 leaving the crown to Hywel, his second son. He had become heir after Rhun, Owain’s eldest and favourite son, died mysteriously in 1146. Hywel’s half-brothers, Dafydd and Rohdri, defeated and killed him at the Battle of Pentraeth in 1170. They then turned on one another, with Dafydd exiling his brother Maelgwn to Ireland and imprisoning Rhodri. He sought to rule Gwynedd alone, and married Henry’s illegitimate half-sister Emma to make peace with England. Rhodri escaped in 1175 and the two brothers eventually agreed to divide Gwynedd between them; he was forced into exile on the Isle of Man in 1190.

Llywelyn – son of Iorwerth ab Owain Gwynedd, Owain’s eldest legitimate son – defeated Dafydd in 1194 and ceased his lands, and when Rhodri died in 1195 he was able to reunite the Kingdom of Gwynedd. He became known as Llywelyn the Great.

Llywelyn married John’s illegitimate daughter, Joan, to restore peace with England in 1205. Relations between them deteriorated, however, after Llywelyn allied with the barons who forced John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. Llywelyn signed the 1218 Treaty of Worcester with Henry III to consolidate his territories, but hostilities with the English lords in the Welsh Marches continued until the 1234 Peace of Middle established a lasting truce.

Llywelyn took great care to ensure that his legitimate and favourite younger son, Dafydd, would succeed him, rather than his older but illegitimate son Gruffudd, though Gruffud would be given some lands to rule. This was controversial, as Welsh custom held that the eldest child should succeed his father whether or not he was legitimate.

Llywelyn suffered a severe stroke in 1237, and Dafydd took up his role as successor eagerly, imprisoning his half-brother Gruffudd and confiscating his lands. Henry III of England invaded Gwynedd in 1241 and the Treaty of Gwerneigron forced Dafydd to give up lands and hand over his half-brother Gruffudd as a hostage. Gruffudd would die trying to escape from the Tower of London climbing down a knotted sheet.

Dafydd successfully campaigned against the English occupation, but he died in 1246, leaving no children; Gruffudd’s sons Owain and Llywelyn divided the realm. Henry III demanded that their brother Dafydd be given lands when he reached maturity in 1255, hoping to destabilise the kingdom. Llywelyn rejected the idea and defeated and imprisoned Dafydd and Owain at the Battle of Bryn Derwin, thereby reuniting Gwynedd once more.

Other Welsh principalities united behind Llywelyn to campaign against England, and as the English Barons’ Revolt reached its climax at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, Llywelyn allied with the victorious rebel Simon de Montfort. A peace between England and Wales was formalised under the 1267 Treaty of Montgomery, following the death of de Montfort. The King of England recognised the title Prince of Wales, while the Welsh princes became vassals of Llywelyn.

The principality of Wales ended following the death of Henry III in 1272. His successor Edward I, who wanted to rule the whole of Great Britain, declared Llywelyn ‘a rebel and disturber of the peace’. An English army broke Wales’s unity in 1282 and Llywelyn was forced to sign the Treaty of Aberconwy. The death of Llywelyn’s wife, Eleanor de Montfort, daughter of the rebel earl, in childbirth caused him to have a nervous breakdown and he then rejected the offer of a pension and an estate in England. Llywelyn was killed in an ambush and although his brother Dafydd was proclaimed Prince of Wales, the kingdom disintegrated and his family was captured in 1283. Llywelyn became known as Llywelyn the Last.

Wales became incorporated into England’s kingdom under the Statute of Rhuddlan and Dafydd was hung, drawn and quartered and his children were imprisoned for life. Although Welsh rebellions continued after 1284, the title Prince of Wales was retained by the sovereign until it was awarded to his son, Prince Edward.

The Kingdom of Powys

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon had taken the thrones of Gwynedd and Powys following the death of their half-brother Gruffyd ap Llewelyn. They successfully defended their thrones again Gruffydd’s sons at the Battle of Mechain in 1070 to retain his position, but Rhiwallon was killed and Bleddyn was left to rule alone, until his death at the hands of Trahaearn of Gwynedd in 1075. While Gwynedd was lost to Trahaearn, the Kingdom of Powys was divided between Bleddyn’s sons Maredudd, Cadwgan and Iorwerth.

Iorwerth supported the English king and handed over his brother Maredudd to Henry I, but the lands which he had been promised in return were not forthcoming.

Civil war then broke out when Cadwgan’s son, Owain, raped and abducted Nest, daughter of the King of Deheubarth and wife of Gerald of Pembroke. The Normans bribed Owain’s Welsh enemies to attack him, and Iorwerth was able to drive Owain out of Powys and briefly regained his position as ruler. Owain’s ally, Madog Ap Rhirid, retaliated by having Iorwerth killed in a burning building, and Cadwgan was restored to his throne and recalled Owain from exile. However, the alliance was to turn sour and Madog Ap Rhirid later murdered Owain’s father Cadwgan. Owain took the throne, and when his uncle Maredudd captured Madog Ap Rhirid, Owain avenged his father’s death by blinding Madog Ap Rhirid. Owain was eventually to be killed by Nest’s husband while putting down a rebellion in Deheubarth.

He was succeeded by Maredudd, who raided England. King Henry retaliated, seizing most of Powys. Maredudd was succeeded by his son Madog ap Maredudd in 1132, who regained most of his lands after supporting Henry II’s attacks on Gywnedd in 1157. Madog died in 1160 and his son died soon after, so their lands were split into the much smaller territories Fadog Powys and Wenwynwyn Powys, with a portion being appropriated by Owain Mawr of Gwynedd.

The Kingdom of Deheubarth

Maredudd reclaimed Deheubarth following the death of Gruffydd in 1063. He immediately faced a Norman invasion but was given an English estate for not resisting. He died in battle in 1072. His brother Rhys was defeated by Traehaern of Gwynedd, only to be killed by Caradog of Gwent in 1078. He was succeeded by his cousin Rhys, who faced attacks by Cadwgan of Powys in 1088 and from Maredudd’s son, Gruffydd. Rhys was killed by the Normans in the Battle of Brecon in 1093 and Deheubarth was under their rule until 1155, with his son Gruffydd ap Rhys in opposition.

In 1136, with Gruffydd ap Rhys absent in Gwynedd, his wife Gwenllian, the strikingly beautiful daughter of the King of Gwynedd, had raised and army and led them in battle against Norman raiders. She was defeated, captured and executed. In response, Gruffydd joined the King of Gwynedd to defeat the Normans at the Battle of Crug Mawr in 1136. He died soon afterwards.

His son Anarawad was murdered on Cadwaladr’s orders just before he married Owain’s daughter. Anarawad’s brother, Cadell, was ambushed and badly injured by Normans while out hunting and he would die on a pilgrimage to Rome. A third son, Rhys ap Gruffydd, thus ruled from 1155. However, in 1158 he was forced to submit to Henry II and then had to fight for his lands. He made peace with England in 1171, but when Richard I became king, Rhys took the opportunity to attack the Normans once more.

Rhys ap Gruffydd died during an epidemic in 1197, and his sons Gruffydd and Maelgwn quarrelled until Gruffydd died in 1201. Maelgwn lost lands to Gwynedd before he died in 1230 and Deheubarth became subject to Gwynedd after Maelgwn’s younger brother Rhys was mortally wounded in battle in 1234.

THE KINGDOMOF SCOTLAND

At the start of this period, Scotland controlled the lowlands area known as Alba, while the islands and Highlands belonged to Norway.

Macbeth the Red King killed Duncan I the Diseased in 1040. Duncan’s wife fled, taking her children with her, but Duncan’s son Malcolm Canmore (meaning ‘big head’) returned and killed Macbeth at the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057. Macbeth’s stepson Lulach the Foolish was crowned, but he was assassinated only a few months later and Malcolm Canmore became Malcolm III of Scotland. He made a truce with the Scandinavian-controlled Highlands by marrying Ingibiorg, invaded Northumbria and, now a widower, married Edward the Confessor’s daughter Margaret to seal the peace with England.

But England’s situation changed when William of Normandy invaded and defeated Harold II at Hastings in 1066. Malcolm captured Cumbria and ‘harried’ the north of England until 1072, while Edward the Confessor’s son Edgar took control of the rest of the north of England with Danish help. Malcolm arranged peace between William and Edgar, handing over his son Duncan as a hostage to seal the deal. William II of England reclaimed the north of his country in 1091. Malcolm invaded England again when Edgar fled to Scotland, but subsequently made peace when William II marched north.

Malcolm was killed and his second son Edward was mortally wounded at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093. Malcolm’s widow Margaret died of grief a few days later and Donald III the Fair, the dead monarch’s brother, exiled Malcolm’s sons and took the throne. Malcolm’s son Duncan had grown up in the English court since he was given as a hostage to William I, but he raised an army by promising Scottish titles. He captured the throne from his uncle but the Scottish considered him too English; Duncan II was ambushed and killed in 1094 and Donald took the throne once more.

Duncan’s brother, Edgar the Valiant, returned with another English army and captured Donald, possibly blinding and imprisoning him. Edgar concentrated on securing southern Scotland (the area known as Alba) but he died (possibly murdered) in 1107.

Neither Donald nor Edgar left any sons, so another of Malcolm’s sons was crowned Alexander I. He married Henry I of England’s illegitimate daughter, Sybilla, and then joined the king on his campaign into Wales in 1114. Alexander became known as ‘the Fierce’ after putting down an uprising by the ‘men of the Isles’. He died in 1124.

David, yet another of Malcolm’s sons, living in exile in the English court, claimed the Scottish throne with Henry’s support but he was king ‘in little more than name’. Alexander’s son, Malcolm, led a rebellion while David was visiting Henry in 1130, but David returned with an English army and imprisoned his nephew.