ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES 4400 - 1100

WILLIAM I

Soon after he was crowned King of England on 25th December 1066, William, Duke of Normandy began erecting castles in order to get control over an increasingly resentful Saxon population. In 1078, William began construction of the Tower of London.

REBELLIONS AGAINST THE NORMANS

William’s reign was riddled with unrest and uprisings from Exeter in the Southwest right through Warwick, Nottingham and York in the north. Soon these fanned the flames of rebellion in the other parts of the country and there were local uprisings in Dorset, Somerset and the West Midlands.

Determined to put a stop to any rebellion, William adopted a ‘Scorched Earth’ policy. This was in reality a euphemism for the carnage that followed which eventually resulted in widespread famine. Called the ‘harrying of the north’, it took the north of England several years to recover from this terrible crime.

CHANGES IN SOCIETY

By 1071 William had wrested control over all of England and brought about a lot of changes in all strata of society, from replacing senior Saxon clergymen with his own loyal followers to changes among the peasants and the cessation of slavery. He confiscated land that belonged to Saxon nobles and bestowed it to his own followers.

The Domesday Book of 1086 stands mute testimony to the time when William carried out a mammoth survey of his kingdom in order to ascertain how rich it actually was.

After William’s death in 1087, his son William Rufus ascended the throne. Nicknamed ‘William the Conqueror" because of his ruthlessness, he was still considered a good ruler as he managed to maintain a modicum of order in an age when lawlessness was rife.

WILLIAM RUFUS 200-50

A capable ruler in many ways, William Rufus crushed two successive rebellions in eastern England and annexed the area that is now Cumbria, which at that time was part of Scotland.

William’s death is shrouded in mystery; nobody is quite sure whether the arrow that killed him was meant for him or whether it was purely an accident.

HENRY I 380- 95

William Rufus was succeeded by his brother Henry, who regained the loyalty of his Saxon subjects after he married Edith, a descendant of Edmund Ironside. Left heirless when his only legitimate son drowned in 1120, Henry wrested a promise from his barons that his daughter Matilda would be accepted as queen after his death.

However, after Henry’s death of food poisoning in 1135, the barons went against their word and crowned Henry’s nephew Stephen as King of England. Matilda refused to concede her right to the throne and thus began the 19-year long civil war that began in 1135 and ended only when Stephen agreed to recognize Matilda’s son Henry as his rightful heir. Matilda’s son became King Henry II following Stephen’s death in 1154. HENRY II 400- 100

Henry’s reign was marred by his uncontrollable temper. In a fit of rage, he ordered the death of his once-friend, Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury for daring to go against his wishes. Following public outrage at this act, Henry was forced to walk barefoot through Canterbury while monks lashed at his bare back.

Because he refused to give his sons any real power, they eventually rebelled against him during 1173- 1174. Though Henry crushed the rebellions and forgave his sons, he died broken hearted in 1189 when his youngest son, John, joined the rebellion.

RICHARD I 150- 36

Though he was a popular king, Richard I neglected his own kingdom and focused more on fighting in foreign wars. During one such conquest he was hit by a crossbow bold and died in 1199. He was succeeded by his brother John.

KING JOHN 320- 85

Accused of being a tyrant and ignoring feudal law, John alienated many of his subjects and proved to be a failure as a king. Following the civil war that broke out in 1215, he was forced to accept the Magna Carter, a charter that upheld the principle that English kings could not rule arbitrarily but had to obey English laws and customs. He died shortly afterwards in October 1216, but not before he founded the port of Liverpool, the one act that saved him from total ignominy.

HENRY III - 301—70

Crowned King of England in 1216 when he was only 9 years old, John’s nephew Henry began to rule in his own right only in 1227. He reneged on all his promises and went on to make enemies first with the barons and then with the pope. During the civil war that followed, he and his eldest son Edward were captured and Simon de Monfort, who led the rebellion created the first English parliament.

EDWARD I 300- 75

Determined to rule over all of Britain, Edward first conquered Wales in 1283 and then went on to conquer Scotland in 1296. He died in 1307 at the age of 68.

EDWARD II 240- 60

Edward II married Princess Isabella of France in 1308. Following Edward’s affair with a young man called Hugh Despenser, Isabella fled to France. In 1326, she and her lover Roger Mortimer, a rebel English Earl led an army from France and took Edward II prisoner. Edward abdicated in favour of his son in January 1327 and was murdered eight months later.

EDWARD III

Crowned king in February 1327, Edward III did not actually rule until after he had staged a coup in 1330. He later claimed the throne of France in 1337 and died in 1377 at the age of 65.

RICHARD II

Just 10 years old when he was crowned, Richard II made several promises to end serfdom with absolutely no intention of keep them. Despite this however, serfdom declined on its own and had all but disappeared by the 15th century.

In 1398, following a coup staged by Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Hereford, Richard II was deposed and Bolingbroke went on to become Henry III. Richard II died sometime in 1400.

ENGLAND IN THE 15TH CENTURY

Henry III reigned until 1413, after which his son Henry V succeeded him. In 1419 Henry V captured Rouen, the capital of Normandy and was recognized as heir to the French throne. He died in 1422.

In 1454, the Duke of York became regent when Edward VI became mentally ill. Forced to step down after Edward’s recovery the following year, the Duke of York led an expedition against the kind and arrested him.

The Duke of York died in the battle of Wakefield in 1460 after which Edward of March took up the Yorkist cause and proclaimed himself Edward IV. He died in 1483 and was succeeded by his 12 year old son, Edward V who along with his younger brother Richard, was imprisoned and murdered after it was declared that they were the king’s illegitimate children.

The throne was then offered to Richard III, Edward’s uncle. Richard’s death in the battle against Henry Tudor signified the end of an old era and the beginning of a new dynasty.