Henry II

Appleby, J.T., Henry II – The Vanquished King, (G. Bell and Sons, 1962)

Foreword  - Quick notes

·         ‘Empire stretched From Scotland to the Pyrenees. No King of England before or after his wielded such power over so vast a territory as did Henry II’ p. Vii

·         Died alone – wife in prison, best friend had been killed at the word of Henry, 4 sons reached maturity – 2 of whom had died while rebelling against their father, 1 had joined France, the youngest had also betrayed him at the end of his life. His barons had deserted him and his servants had even taken his clothes and left him naked while he was dying!

·         Father of English Law

Tyerman, C, Who’s Who in Early Medieval England, (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1996), pp. 182-194

·         Henry accession had to be won – ‘personal fulfilment rather thanb an inevitable progress or political epoch’ – pg 182

·         Excellent education – academically and militarily

·         Wanted to protect the royal claim- got rid of many titles i.e. Sheriffs and Barons as hereditary titles

·         He was interested in his rights and not tradition

·         ‘creator of new laws and a ruler who governed by selfish caprice’

·         Only interested in himself

·         This can be seen in the famous dispute with Thomas Beckett – personal vendetta and to safeguard royal rights to justice and ecclesiastical patronage

·         Henry’s reign compared to the uncertainties of Richard’s and the disasters of John’s – in retrospect his reign was a good government

·         Legal innovator – created possessary assizes

·         Legal revolution – though not a novel idea in reality – no real reform – still the same as previously organised

·         1158 – 1163 – left to his proxies

·         1160s – Becket dispute

·         1170 – coronation of the Young Henry – in order to show his eagerness to not go the same way as Stephen (Stephen failed to have a coronation ceremony for his son during his lifetime)

·         Every English monarch from 978 to 1189 either possessed a disputed title or was establishing a recent claim

·         Hi rule works because of physical energy – always on the road, so fast it was said ‘the King of England seems rather to fly than to travel by horse or ship’ pg 190 Louis VII

·         ‘Henry did not govern his people, he governed his interests’ pg 190

Appleby, J.T., Henry II – The Vanquished King, (G. Bell and Sons, 1962)

·         His wife was previously the wife of King Louis VII of France – Eleanor of Aquitaine – this duchy was given to Henry on his marriage to her – she’s a prominent figure in her own right

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This is important to know because of Becket's murder. I suppose a profile of the King would be useful in setting up the murder of Becket. This could be as a spider diagram or around a picture of the King, printed or drawn

Stephen

Tyerman, C, Who’s Who in Early Medieval England, (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1996), pp. 120-126

·         Unsuccessful King

·         Events were out of control and he was not good at controlling them

·         This may not have been Stephen’s fault – events were worse for him then they were for other monarchs which have been said to be more ‘effective’

·         Faced with Civil War

·         Faced with the same challenges as other new kings in this period – ‘how to secure his position and to manage his kingdoms and magnates’ – pg. 122

·         He was not able to succeed in this – shows that he was not equipped in order to carry out this duties

·         Grandson of William the Conqueror

·         Educated by Henry I

·         One of the richest magnates in the realm in 1130 – married and heiress of Boulogne and was given many titles and land by his uncle Henry I

·         Within 3 weeks of Henry’s death, he had support in London

·         Crowned – 22 December 1135

·         Quickness can be described as similar to Henry I’s quickness at gaining power

·         Lacked the strength to and resources to quell his opponents

·         Captured at the Battle of Lincoln and taken to Bristol where he was kept prisoner

·         Succession argued by Matilda – She had a stronger claim

·         Lost Normandy to Geoffrey of Anjou – strained relations between him and those who were loyal

·         Relationship with the Church became sour

·         Lacked ruthlessness

·         Deemed to be ‘rather colourless, unimpressive in an age when personal impressions counted for much’ – even had to have a spokesman on the battle field – he was not able to speak very loudly.

Henry I

Tyerman, C, Who’s Who in Early Medieval England, (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1996), pp. 69 – 84

•  Demanding – prompted awe, respect and nostalgia.
•  Basis for propaganda and Henry II’s rule
•  Cost was great – ruined houses, destroyed dynastic rivals, taxes for his subjects.
•  Harsh his actions may have been but he was appears to have understood the cost of success and the fragility of his achievement. – suffered nightmares and worried about being murdered in his own bed.
• Given £5000 but no property on his father’s death – had to make his own way.
• 1091 – brother’s against him  - 1096 – re-established his relationship with Rufus.
• ‘Henry had gained experience of war, diplomacy and the subtler political arts of managing men, winning people to his causes, exploiting the weaknesses of rivals and calculating his own long term advantage.’
•  Able to pick men to serve him
• Capacity for affection
• Conspiracy to murder Rufus? – historians don’t think so but it did give him the advantage – showed how fast he was at acting and energy
• Married – Edith (Matilda) in 1100 – 3 functions – heirs, united the new dynasty with the old, secured the Scottish Frontier.
• Had many affairs – ‘driven not by lust but his desire for children’ - many bastard children
• Biggest weapon – fear. 

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Again, this is just to fill in the gaps. If this was taught, then a contrasting profile could be made about William II and Henry I. maybe some kind of dating advert or some such format for the students to do. 

The Feudal System

Simple diagram to explain how Feudalism worked. This would be particularly useful when it comes to studying this in class. Branching off of this, the terms of Knight, Villeins and Freemen can be explained. 

When looking at this topic, I came across this site for an online lesson, something which may have potential when working in the classroom. 

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Lessons/medieval/feudalism.htm

William II - Otherwise known as Rufus

Again, more notes from Tyerman, C, Who’s Who in Early Medieval England, (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1996), pp. 47-54 as this has helped me make the context jump to further on. 

• Brief reign
• One of the most feared and respected rulers of his time
• 1088 – fought off Curthouse who was not happy about his succession.
• 1090-1096 – consolidate his kingdom and reunite the Anglo-Norman dominions – regularly invaded Normandy
• 1096 – had reunited his father’s possessions with much of the Conqueror’s skill, determination and opportunism.
• Main concern was the protection of his frontiers
• Death – 2^nd August 1100 – killed by a stray arrow while hunting deer in the New Forest – political sensation.
• Died without being able to confess – was bad in medieval times.
• Henry took full advantage of the situation his brother’s death had given him.
• Constant war in William’s reign and there was the financial implications for this on the country – taxes
• No tyrant – consulted his advisors on tax and other campaigns.
• English chroniclers – bad-mouthed, homosexual, unflattering portrait of the King – almost demonic.
• Blunt
• Homosexual accusations – explained by an odd cultural barrier between France and England – just different fashions
• Did not marry – exceptional – no legitimate heir
• Builder of Westminster Hall in 1097 – deemed it to be too small. 

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Although not part of the text book I've been following, it is obviously important to fill in the gaps, hence this and the following posts on Henry I. Henry II is important because Thomas Becket is studied so therefore it must be right that this gap is filled. 

The Domesday Book

Just some notes made from Clanchy, M.T., England and its Rulers, 1066-1307, (3^rd Edition), (Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 42 – 45   about the Domesday Book. 

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Greatest achievement that of William I (the Conqueror)
·         1086 – a year before he died
·         Description of land, conducted county by county.
·         Thorough – ‘Anglo Saxon Chronicle commented with exaggeration that there was not one ox nor one cow not one pig which was left off the record.’
·         Detailed information  on different dates – 1065, When William granted the estate, and 1086
·         Questions like –  ‘What was the manor called?’ ‘How many freeman?’, ‘How many villeins are there?’, ‘How many mills?’ etc
·         Domesday – natives reminded of ‘Doomsday’ – the last judgement
·         20 years delay in having it drawn up.
·         May have been needed because the redistribution of land and the process of the Norman Conquest had left the country in a chaotic state.
·         School textbooks suggest that William distributed the land after the battle of Hastings – Wrong. No clue as to how big England really was so didn’t have the ability to be able to do this. More likely to be 1071-2 after he defeated Edwin and Morcar.
·         ‘Survey was a model of efficiency’ – only after the chaos that it seeked to alter.
·         Purpose of the three dates was to obtain information about who possessed what and whate titles they claimed.
·         Showed Royal Family owned 1/5 of land, Church – 1/4 , 10/11 lay magnates – ¼
·         1086 – 2000 foreign knights, 10,000 new settlers in all.
·         Domesday book entitled them to rule
·         ‘Legally if not in reality, the Conquest marked a new start’ p. 45

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If teaching this in school, I would take in my Copy of the Domesday Book for Wiltshire. It has a Facsimile, Translation and history of the book. It also contains fantastic maps which could be scanned and showed to the students.  

Motte and Bailey Castle Board Works Presentation

I found this on the TES Connect website and thought it was a great resource to use in front of a class of year 7s to teach and reinforce about Motte and Bailey Castles.

This is an interactive whiteboard so the students would be able to learn in a hands on way and reinforcement would be in a fun format.

I also found this video which explains the idea behind the Castles in just a few minutes.