History 2.

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10 August 2020
16:23

Norman and Plantagenet Kings of England

The conquest of England in 1066 brought with it a completely new
ruling dynasty. The Norman kings, beginning with William I, began a
social and legal revolution in England. They also succeeded in unifying
England and blurred the lines between Saxons and Normans.

William II Rufus

Rufus was definitely not a supporter of the church and was deeply unpopular with the clergy.
However in many ways Rufus was a capable king. Under him the barons were in an awkward
position because most of them held land in Normandy as well as in England. Many of them
wanted a single man to rule both.
Rufus also forced the Scottish king to submit to him as his feudal overlord.
William Rufus was hit by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest.

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William Rufus was hit by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest.
Henry II
He was born at Le Mans in France in 1133. He was a highly educated man known for his
violent temper.
However Henry did not just rule England. He also ruled large parts of France. From 1150 he
was Duke of Normandy. From 1151 he was Count of Anjou. By marrying Eleanor of
Aquitaine he became the Lord of that part of France. Later he also became ruler of Brittany.
As an adult Henry spent more time in France than he did in England.
Henry proved to be a strong king. During the long civil war many barons had built illegal
castles. Henry had them demolished. Furthermore Henry reformed the law. He appointed
judges who travelled around the country holding trials called assizes for serious offences.
However clergymen had the right to be tried in their own courts. The penalties were often very
lenient. Henry felt that was unfair and he tried to force the clergy to allow themselves to be tried
in his courts. Not surprisingly they resisted. So Henry made his friend Thomas Becket
Archbishop of Canterbury. However as soon as Becket was appointed he refused to submit to
the king's wishes.
In 11770, while Henry was in Normandy he lost his temper and shouted 'will no-one rid me of
this turbulent priest?'. Four knights took him at his word and they went to England and killed
Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

The New York Times

Thomas Becket,' by John Guy

CURIA REGIS, or Aula Regis, a term used in England from the time of the Norman
Conquest to about the end of the 13th century to describe a council and a court of justice, the
composition and functions of which varied considerably from time to time.
Henry II. In 1178 appointed five members of the curia to form a special court of justice, and
these justices, unlike the other members of the curia, were not to follow the king's court from
place to place, but were to remain in one place.

Development of the Jury System

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 Development of the Jury System

A “jury”: a panel of local residents familiar with local

customs
Accused criminals and collected facts
Guilt or innocence still determined by the ordeal
But in 1215, the Church ended trial by ordeal by refusing to allow
priests to participate.
After 1215, the “petit jury” of 12 men decided guilt or innocence by
majority vote, usually based on testimony from witnesses.

Richard I
Richard I was born in 1157. In his own time he was a popular king because he was a
successful warrior. However he neglected his kingdom to fight in foreign wars.
Richard I – aka Richard the Lionheart – is remembered for being a chivalrous medieval king;
for battling Saladin during the Crusades; and for rebelling against his father, Henry II .Leaving
the country in the hands of various officials he designated (including his mother, at times),
Richard spent only a small fraction of his reign in England, being far more concerned with his
possessions in what is now France and his battles in Palestine. He had grown up on the
Continent, and had never seen any need to learn the English language. He was also highly
cultured and well-educated, and wrote poems and songs. His name has become an English
legend.

King John
John proved to be a failure. John fought a war against the king of France from 1200 top 1206,
as a result of which he lost most of his lands in France. He also, in 1205, began an argument
with the Pope over who should be the new Archbishop of Canterbury, John's choice or the
Pope's. As a result in 1208 the Pope place England under an interdict, which meant that
religious services could not be held. In 1209 he excommunicated John. Finally, in 1213, John
was forced to submit.
Meanwhile John alienated many of his subjects. They claimed that he ruled like a tyrant ignoring
feudal law. He was accused to extorting money from people, selling offices, increasing taxes
and creating new ones whenever he wished. Matters came to a head after John tried to
recapture his lost lands in France in 1214 but failed. The barons patience was exhausted.
Finally in 1215 civil war broke out. In June 1215 John was forced to accept a charter known
as Magna Carta at Runneymede. The charter was meant to stop the abuses. It stated that the
traditional rights and privileges of the church must be upheld. It also protected the rights and
privileges of the aristocracy. Merchants who lived in towns were also mentioned. However
ordinary people were overlooked.
However Magna Carta did uphold an important principle. English kings could not rule
arbitrarily. They had to obey English laws and English customs the same as other men.
Furthermore Magna Carta laid down that no free man could be arrested, imprisoned or
dispossessed without the lawful judgment of his peers or without due process of law.

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dispossessed without the lawful judgment of his peers or without due process of law.

The Magna Carta

Magna Carta is one of the most celebrated documents in
English history but later interpretations have tended to
obscure its real significance in 1215.
This iconic document was not intended to be a lasting
declaration of legal principle.
It was a practical solution to a political crisis which primarily
served the interests of the highest ranks of feudal society
by reasserting the power of custom to limit despotic
behaviour by the king.

Edward III

• Also known as Edward

of Windsor

Focused on military
issues in Scotland and
in France

Started the Hundred

Years´ War

Hundred Years War

The Hundred Years War is a name given (in the 1860s) to a

series of dynastic wars between the ruling families of
England and France. The causes of the wars were dynastic
(King Edward III of England and his heirs claimed to be the
rightful kings of France), territorial (King Edward III held
Gascony from the French Crown as a French duke), and
economic (the English Crown depended on custom taxes on
wine from Gascony and the wool exported to Flanders).
Between 1337 and 1453 there were only nine years of
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 Hundred Years War

The Hundred Years War is a name given (in the 1860s) to a

series of dynastic wars between the ruling families of
England and France. The causes of the wars were dynastic
(King Edward III of England and his heirs claimed to be the
rightful kings of France), territorial (King Edward III held
Gascony from the French Crown as a French duke), and
economic (the English Crown depended on custom taxes on
wine from Gascony and the wool exported to Flanders).
Between 1337 and 1453 there were only nine years of
ratified peace (1360-1369), although there were also
extended periods with little or no military activity (e.g. 1380-
1415).
England wins every important battle but loses the war.

The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality, or the Plague)was
the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history. The Black Death resulted in the deaths of up
to 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking inEurope from 1347 to
1351. Plague, the disease caused by the bacteriumYersinia pestis, was the cause;Y.
pestis infection most commonly results inbubonic plague, but can
cause septicaemic or pneumonic plagues.
The Black Death was the beginning of the second plague pandemic.The plague created
religious, social, and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European
history.
The Black Death most likely originated inCentral Asia or East Asia,from where it travelled
along the Silk Road, reachingCrimea by 1347. From there, it was most likely carried
by fleas living on the black rats that travelled on Genoese merchant ships, spreading throughout
the Mediterranean Basin and reaching Africa, Western Asia, and the rest of Europe
via Constantinople, Sicily, and the Italian Peninsula.
The Wars of The Roses

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The Wars of The Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic wars fought

between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of
Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic
symbols were the red and the white rose, respectively) for the
throne of England. They were fought in several sporadic episodes
between 1455 and 1485, although there was related fighting
both before and after this period. They resulted from the social
and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War. The final
victory went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry
Tudor, who defeated the last Yorkist king Richard III and married
Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York to unite the two houses.
The House of Tudor subsequently ruled England and Wales until
1603.

The Tudors
.
Henry Tudor (1457-1509) was crowned Henry VII on 30 October 1485.
He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle.
Henry is credited with a number of administrative, economic and diplomatic initiatives.
His supportive policytoward England's wool industry and his standoff with the Low
Countries had long-lasting benefit to the whole English economy. He paid very close attention
to detail, and instead of spending lavishly he concentrated on raising new revenues. New taxes
stabilised the government's finances.

Henry VIII
Henry was a clever and active young man. He spoke Latin and French fluently. He also
performed and composed music. He was good at tennis, wrestling, and casting the bar

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performed and composed music. He was good at tennis, wrestling, and casting the bar
(throwing an iron bar). Henry also enjoyed hunting and hawking. He also liked archery and
bowling. In time, Henry became a tyrant and a despot. Completely ruthless, and he let nothing
and nobody get in his way.

Henry VIII creates the Church of England

• Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, did not bear him a son
• After 20 years, he wanted to get a divorce, which was not
permitted by the Catholic Church
• He told Cardinal Wolsey to ask the Pope for special
permission, but he was refused
• Henry used this as a reason to create the ‘Church of England’,
with himself as the ‘Supreme Head’
• His first act was to divorce Catherine of Aragon

One other bonus for Henry from his split with Rome
was that he gained control of the monasteries - the
monastic buildings and land were sold off after the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1538.
Many of the buildings fell into decay, and they lost
their farmlands for ever.

https://en.wikipedia.org
https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/

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https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/
www.historyextra.com
http://epicworldhistory.blogspot.com/

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