British Monarchy and its influence upon governmental institutions
WILLIAM I = Matilda, dau. of
THE CONQUEROR
Baldwin V, Count
(1066–1087)
of Flanders
WILLIAM
II Adela
= Stephen, Adela of = HENRY I,
(1087–1100) Count
of Louvain (1100–1135)
Blois
STEPHEN Matilda = Geoffrey, Count
(1135–1154)
of Anjou and Maine
HENRY II = Eleanor
of
(1154–1189) Aquitaine, divorced
wife
of LOUIS VII,
King
of France
RICHARD I JOHN = Isabella, dau. of
(1189–1199)
(1199–1216) Count of
Angoulême
HENRY III
(1216–1272)
WILLIAM I «THE CONQUEROR» (1066-1087)
Born around 1028, William was the
illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of Normandy, and Herleve (also known as
Arlette), daughter of a tanner in Falaise. Known as 'William the Bastard' to
his contemporaries, his illegitimacy shaped his career when he was young. On
his father's death in 1035, William was recognised by his family as the heir -
an exception to the general rule that illegitimacy barred succession. His great
uncle looked after the Duchy during William's minority, and his overlord, King
Henry I of France, knighted him at the age of 15. From 1047 onwards, William
successfully dealt with rebellion inside Normandy involving his kinsmen and
threats from neighbouring nobles, including attempted invasions by his former ally
King Henry I of France in 1054 (the French forces were defeated at the Battle
of Mortemer) and 1057. William's military successes and reputation helped him
to negotiate his marriage to Mathilda, daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders.
At the time of his invasion of England, William was a very experienced and
ruthless military commander, ruler and administrator who had unified Normandy
and inspired fear and respect outside his duchy. William's claim to the
English throne was based on his assertion that, in 1051, Edward the Confessor
had promised him the throne (he was a distant cousin) and that Harold II -
having sworn in 1064 to uphold William's right to succeed to that throne - was
therefore a usurper. Furthermore, William had the support of Emperor Henry IV
and papal approval. William took seven months to prepare his invasion force,
using some 600 transport ships to carry around 7,000 men (including 2,000-3,000
cavalry) across the Channel. On 28 September 1066, with a favourable wind,
William landed unopposed at Pevensey and, within a few days, raised
fortifications at Hastings. Having defeated an earlier invasion by the King of
Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York in late September, Harold
undertook a forced march south, covering 250 miles in some nine days to meet
the new threat, gathering inexperienced reinforcements to replenish his
exhausted veterans as he marched. At the Battle of Senlac (near Hastings) on
14 October, Harold's weary and under-strength army faced William's cavalry (part
of the forces brought across the Channel) supported by archers. Despite their
exhaustion, Harold's troops were equal in number (they included the best
infantry in Europe equipped with their terrible two-handled battle axes) and
they had the battlefield advantage of being based on a ridge above the Norman
positions. The first uphill assaults by the Normans failed and a rumour spread
that William had been killed; William rode among the ranks raising his helmet
to show he was still alive. The battle was close-fought: a chronicler described
the Norman counter-attacks and the Saxon defence as 'one side attacking with
all mobility, the other withstanding as though rooted to the soil'. Three of
William's horses were killed under him. William skilfully co-ordinated his
archers and cavalry, both of which the English forces lacked. During a Norman
assault, Harold was killed - hit by an arrow and then mowed down by the sword
of a mounted knight. Two of his brothers were also killed. The demoralised
English forces fled. (In 1070, as penance, William had an abbey built on the
site of the battle, with the high altar occupying the spot where Harold fell.
The ruins of Battle Abbey, and the town of Battle, which grew up around it,
remain.) William was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 in Westminster Abbey. Three
months later, he was confident enough to return to Normandy leaving two joint
regents (one of whom was his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who was later
to commission the Bayeux Tapestry) behind to administer the kingdom. However,
it took William six years to consolidate his conquest, and even then he had to
face constant plotting and fighting on both sides of the Channel. In 1068,
Harold's sons raided the south-west coast of England (dealt with by William's
local commanders), and there were uprisings in the Welsh Marches, Devon and
Cornwall. William appointed earls who, in Wales and in all parts of the
kingdom, undertook to guard the threatened frontiers and maintain internal
security in return for land. In 1069, the Danes, in alliance with Prince Edgar
the Aetheling (Ethelred's great-grandson) and other English nobles, invaded the
north and took York. Taking personal charge, and pausing only to deal with the
rising at Stafford, William drove the Danes back to their ships on the Humber.
In a harsh campaign lasting into 1070, William systematically devastated Mercia
and Northumbria to deprive the Danes of their supplies and prevent recovery of
English resistance. Churches and monasteries were burnt, and agricultural land
was laid to waste, creating a famine for the unarmed and mostly peasant
population which lasted at least nine years. Although the Danes were bribed to
leave the north, King Sweyn of Denmark and his ships threatened the east coast
(in alliance with various English, including Hereward the Wake) until a treaty
of peace was concluded in June 1070. Further north, where the boundary with
Scotland was unclear, King Malcolm III was encroaching into England. Yet again,
William moved swiftly and moved land and sea forces north to invade Scotland.
The Treaty of Abernethy in 1072 marked a truce, which was reinforced by
Malcolm's eldest son being accepted as a hostage. William consolidated his
conquest by starting a castle-building campaign in strategic areas. Originally
these castles were wooden towers on earthen 'mottes' (mounds) with a bailey
(defensive area) surrounded by earth ramparts, but many were later rebuilt in
stone. By the end of William's reign over 80 castles had been built throughout
his kingdom, as a permanent reminder of the new Norman feudal order. William's
wholesale confiscation of land from English nobles and their heirs (many nobles
had died at the battles of Stamford Bridge and Senlac) enabled him to recruit
and retain an army, by demanding military duties in exchange for land tenancy
granted to Norman, French and Flemish allies. He created up to 180 'honours'
(lands scattered through shires, with a castle as the governing centre), and in
return had some 5,000 knights at his disposal to repress rebellions and pursue
campaigns; the knights were augmented by mercenaries and English infantry from
the Anglo-Saxon militia, raised from local levies. William also used the fyrd,
the royal army - a military arrangement which had survived the Conquest. The
King's tenants-in-chief in turn created knights under obligation to them and
for royal duties (this was called subinfeudation), with the result that private
armies centred around private castles were created - these were to cause future
problems of anarchy for unfortunate or weak kings. By the end of William's
reign, a small group of the King's tenants had acquired about half of England's
landed wealth. Only two Englishmen still held large estates directly from the
King. A foreign aristocracy had been imposed as the new governing class. The
expenses of numerous campaigns, together with an economic slump (caused by the
shifts in landed wealth, and the devastation of northern England for military
and political reasons), prompted William to order a full-scale investigation
into the actual and potential wealth of the kingdom to maximise tax revenues.
The Domesday survey was prompted by ignorance of the state of land holding in
England, as well as the result of the costs of defence measures in England and
renewed war in France. The scope, speed, efficiency and completion of this
survey was remarkable for its time and resulted in the two-volume Domesday Book
of 1086, which still exists today. William needed to ensure the direct loyalty
of his feudal tenants. The 1086 Oath of Salisbury was a gathering of William's
170 tenants-in-chief and other important landowners who took an oath of fealty
to William. William's reach extended elsewhere into the Church and the legal
system. French superseded the vernacular (Anglo-Saxon). Personally devout,
William used his bishops to carry out administrative duties. Lanfranc,
Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070, was a first-class administrator who
assisted in government when William was absent in France, and who reorganised
the Church in England. Having established the primacy of his archbishopric over
that of York, and with William's approval, Lanfranc excommunicated rebels, and
set up Church or spiritual courts to deal with ecclesiastical matters. Lanfranc
also replaced English bishops and abbots (some of whom had already been removed
by the Council of Winchester under papal authority) with Norman or French
clergy to reduce potential political resistance. In addition, Canterbury and
Durham Cathedrals were rebuilt and some of the bishops' sees were moved to
urban centres. At his coronation, William promised to uphold existing laws and
customs. The Anglo-Saxon shire courts and 'hundred' courts (which administered
defence and tax, as well as justice matters) remained intact, as did regional
variations and private Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. To strengthen royal justice,
William relied on sheriffs (previously smaller landowners, but replaced by
influential nobles) to supervise the administration of justice in existing
county courts, and sent members of his own court to conduct important trials.
However, the introduction of Church courts, the mix of Norman/Roman law and the
differing customs led to a continuing complex legal framework. More severe
forest laws reinforced William's conversion of the New Forest into a vast Royal
deer reserve. These laws caused great resentment, and to English chroniclers
the New Forest became a symbol of William's greed. Nevertheless the King
maintained peace and order. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1087 declared 'he was
a very stern and violent man, so no one dared do anything contrary to his will
... Amongst other things the good security he made in this country is not to be
forgotten.' William spent the last months of his reign in Normandy, fighting a
counter-offensive in the French Vexin territory against King Philip's
annexation of outlying Normandy territory. Before his death on 9 September
1087, William divided his 'Anglo-Norman' state between his sons. (The scene was
set for centuries of expensive commitments by successive English monarchs to
defend their inherited territories in France.) William bequeathed Normandy as
he had promised to his eldest son Robert, despite their bitter differences
(Robert had sided with his father's enemies in Normandy, and even wounded and
defeated his father in a battle there in 1079). His son, William Rufus, was to
succeed William as King of England, and the third remaining son, Henry, was
left 5,000 pounds in silver. William was buried in his abbey foundation of St
Stephen at Caen. Desecrated by Huguenots (1562) and Revolutionaries (1793), the
burial place of the first Norman king of England is marked by a simple stone
slab.
WILLIAM II (KNOWN AS WILLIAM RUFUS) (1087-1100)
Strong, outspoken and ruddy (hence his
nickname 'Rufus'), William II (reigned 1087-1100) extended his father's
policies, taking royal power to the far north of England. Ruthless in his
relations with his brother Robert, William extended his grip on the duchy of
Normandy under an agreement between the brothers in 1091. (Robert went on
crusade in 1096.)
William's relations with the Church were
not easy; he took over Archbishop Lanfranc's revenues after the latter's death
in 1089, kept other bishoprics vacant to make use of their revenues, and had
numerous arguments with Lanfranc's popular successor, Anselm. William died on 2
August 1100, after being shot by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest.
HENRY I (1100-1135)
William's younger brother
Henry succeeded to the throne. He was crowned three days after his brother's
death, against the possibility that his eldest brother Robert might claim the
English throne. After the decisive battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 in France,
Henry completed his conquest of Normandy from Robert, who then (unusually even
for that time) spent the last 28 years of his life as his brother's prisoner.
An energetic, decisive and occasionally cruel ruler, Henry centralised the
administration of England and Normandy in the royal court, using 'viceroys' in
Normandy and a group of advisers in England to act on his behalf when he was
absent across the Channel. Henry successfully sought to increase royal
revenues, as shown by the official records of his exchequer (the Pipe Roll of
1130, the first exchequer account to survive). He established peaceful
relations with Scotland, through his marriage to Mathilda of Scotland. Henry's
name 'Beauclerc' denoted his good education (as the youngest son, his parents
possibly expected that he would become a bishop); Henry was probably the first
Norman king to be fluent in English. In 1120, his legitimate sons William and
Richard drowned in the White Ship which sank in the English Channel. This posed
a succession problem, as Henry never allowed any of his illegitimate children
to expect succession to either England or Normandy. Henry had a legitimate
daughter Matilda (widow of Emperor Henry V, subsequently married to the Count
of Anjou). However, it was his nephew Stephen (reigned 1135-54), son of William
the Conqueror's daughter Adela, who succeeded Henry after his death, allegedly
caused by eating too many lampreys (fish) in 1135, as the barons mostly opposed
the idea of a female ruler.
Ñòðàíèöû: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
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