The Plantagenets are a dynasty of kings that held the British throne from 1154-1399. Lancaster and York, who inherited the Plantagenets, are side branches of this dynasty.
The Plantagenet dynasty has Angevin roots. Actually, the dynasty owes its name to the passion of the father of Henry II, Count Godfried the Fair, to decorate his helmet with a branch of gorse (in Latin this plant is called planta genista). Godfried was married to the daughter of King Henry I of England, Matilda. 1133 - from this marriage Henry II was born - the first Plantagenet, who was to gain power in England and found a new dynasty. Thanks to his mother's support, he took the throne in 1154 after the death of the usurper Stephen. In addition to Britain, the Plantagenets, who gave this country 8 kings, were able to seize their hands on vast lands in France. True, at the beginning of the XIII century, most of them were lost.
Henry II
Henry II was in the kingdom for quite a long time - from 1154 to 1189. During this period, English possessions increased (Wales and part of Ireland practically became part of the kingdom), even Scotland was partially dependent on the English king. Henry, like other British kings in the XI-XII centuries, considered the island possessions as something secondary and therefore spent only 14 of his 34 years in England.
Nevertheless, his rule was reasonable and moderately harsh: by order of the king, all castles that were built without his personal permission were destroyed. The king was able to establish a system of centralized control in his state; Through his efforts, the Nobils were removed from the posts of sheriffs, and the local courts, enjoying complete independence, began to cede their power to the royal courts.
In principle, the king's grandfather, Henry I., had to expand and streamline the system of district and regional courts subordinate to "inspectors" with special powers of traveling royal judges. Henry II also established a central court of the Treasury, which was in charge of the state of the financial affairs of the state as a whole. At the same time, many of the functions of the supreme council of the nobles were transferred to a small council, which consisted of persons appointed by the monarch.
Henry equalized bishops and nobles in land rights and made sure that the state controlled the election of bishops. At first, the king was supported by Thomas Becket, who was elected archbishop of Canterbury in May 1162, a man who for many years served the king faithfully as chancellor, who was his loyal friend. Later, the archbishop thought about the excessive growth of power of Henry and dared to subject the overly active ruler to censure.
Promotional video:
In addition, Becket stood for the expansion of the rights of the church, and the monarch sought to limit its rights at all costs and subordinate the church to royal power. The former chancellor, who dared to oppose his crowned friend, quickly turned into Henry's personal enemy. Because of this confrontation, the archbishop was even forced to leave for the continent several times.
1170 Becket overdoes criticism of Henry. As a result, the monarch publicly wished death to the obstinate priest. Plantagenet's supporters - the commandant of Dover Fortress and his subordinates - took these words as a guide to action and killed the archbishop right in Canterbury Cathedral during the service. Following which, serious unrest began in the country, which forced the king to negotiate with the pope and agree to some of his demands.
The king, although he received a good education (partly in England, partly on the continent) and preferred courts to decrees, and diplomacy to armed conflicts, nevertheless waged numerous wars. Perhaps, in those days, hardly anyone could manage such a vast power, stretching to the Pyrenees, in an exclusively peaceful way. In addition, the "Plantagenet empire" consisted of disparate lands that did not have any kind of legal unity.
The greatest threat to Henry Plantagenet was, paradoxically, his own family. The 4 sons of the king, together with his wife, decided that their father had been in power for too long and tried to seize the throne, especially since in 1170 Henry II crowned his eldest son, formally making him co-regent, but in fact not giving him any power.
Heinrich Jr. harbored a grudge against his father. And soon the monarch tried to increase the allotment of his favorite John at the expense of the possessions of another son, Godfried, after which a revolt of the barons broke out in Britain and Normandy, which was supported by both King Louis VII of France and the Scottish king William Leo.
But Henry was able to cope with the enemies and captured William the Lion. He forgave his sons, but he kept his wife in captivity until his death. 1181 - new unrest broke out: after the king's two sons, Henry and Godfried, departed, the king decided to give Aquitaine to John. Then Richard, having teamed up with the King of France Philip II Augustus, tried to prove to his father that he was wrong. The brutal war of relatives lasted quite a long time.
Despite the fact that Henry's troops periodically won victories in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Plantagenet could not establish full power in any of these regions. Richard forced his father to back down; the news that the younger son John, for whose sake, in fact, the monarch went into conflict with Richard, took the side of his brother, finally broke Henry.
He died, tormented by the realization of a life he had lived in vain. Nevertheless, the principles laid down by Henry II in the field of law are still valid today, and the system of public administration organized by the efforts of the first Plantagenet became the best in Europe and remained exemplary for a long time.
Richard I the Lionheart
Henry II was succeeded by his third son, Richard the Lionheart, who ascended the throne on September 5, 1189. He received an excellent education, knew many languages (curiously, there was no English among them!), Was well versed in art, he was a good poet himself. In addition, the new monarch was distinguished by strength, courage and unbridled disposition. It was an amazing combination of a talented administrator, a true nobleman and a tireless adventurer.
Richard got a superbly oiled system of government. In fact, only one thing was required of the king: not to interfere. For 10 years of his reign, up to 1199, Richard I visited England only twice. The rest of the time he preferred to spend in Europe and Asia, taking part in the Third Crusade. This king has the honor of conquering Cyprus, plundering the city of Messina in Sicily and capturing Acre (now Akka in Israel). In January 1199, during the siege of the castle of Chaliu, Richard I received a minor wound in the arm, which caused gangrene, which soon put this adventurer in the grave.
John Landless
Because Richard had no children, in 1199 his younger brother, John, who was in power until 1216, ascended the throne. this sometimes simultaneously. We are talking about the conflict with Pope Innocent III, the war with the King of France Philip II Augustus and the clash with the English barons. None of these conflicts were resolved in favor of the monarch.
Before the Pope, he was forced to capitulate and hand over his crown to his Holiness. Innocent immediately returned the throne to the king, but as his vassal. In the war with France, John was defeated, costing the Plantagenets of Normandy. As for the barons, the fight against them ended on June 15, 1215, when the Magna Carta was signed, drawn up by the barons themselves and taking into account, in the main, their own interests. The Magna Carta has been confirmed as a valid document at least forty (!) Times; in the 17th century it was generally regarded as a symbol of the rule of law and democracy.
Henry III
1216 - John Lackland was replaced on the throne by 9-year-old Henry III, who was to rule for 56 years. The first period of his reign, which lasted until the king came of age, was a time of confrontation between different groups of feudal lords, each of which sought to seize power into their own hands. By and large, this struggle did not stop even after Henry III became a full-fledged ruler, but it continued with less intensity. Later, this representative of the Plantagenets came under the strong influence of the favorites who were foreigners: strangers arrived at the English court after the monarch's marriage.
1258 - The king, under pressure from the barons, signed the Oxford Provisions, a reform program limiting royal power. Soon, Henry, taking advantage of the differences in the enemy's camp, withdrew his signature, which caused the outbreak of civil war, which led to the capture of the king, on whose behalf the chief of the barons Simon de Montfort now spoke. But on August 4, 1265, at the battle of Evesham, de Montfort suffered a crushing defeat and was mortally wounded. Without his leadership, the barons did not dare to rebel again. And already in 1270 the monarch, who by that time had fallen into senile dementia, handed over the government to his son Edward.
Edward I
1272 - the English throne was occupied by a representative of the Plantagenet dynasty, Edward I, who established himself as an intelligent and extremely hardworking ruler, who perfectly wielded both the sword and diplomatic tricks. He came to the throne with a heavy heart, because, while still in the crusade (in Sicily), he received the news of the death of not only his father, but also his eldest son John. By the way, Edward was solemnly crowned in London only on August 19, 1274 - after he had settled all his affairs on the continent.
This ruler (father of 19 children, of whom only 10 survived) was able to conquer Wales, which until then was only nominally considered the possession of the King of England. To avoid new problems in the future, he divided Wales into counties, and then, in 1284, annexed it to England. In the same year, Edward had a son. Ironically, the boy saw the light on the newly acquired land - in Carnarvon Castle. Therefore, in 1301, the 17-year-old heir began to be called the Prince of Wales; since then, all the eldest sons of kings have held this title.
As for the legislative initiatives of Edward I, they gave a lot to England. One of the most prominent rulers of the Middle Ages, a wise, fair and prudent politician, he left a number of decrees (statutes), which, in fact, played the role of codes. These documents contained articles that were then valid for centuries!
Throughout his life, Edward could not be reproached for not keeping this word: he always kept it, considering it a holy oath, which cannot be said about the heir to this monarch. 1307, July - during the next Scottish campaign, the king suddenly felt very bad. Realizing that he had very little left to live, the monarch called on his son and expressed his last will: to bury his heart in the Holy Land, and not to bury his body until the time when Scotland is completely subordinated to the English crown.
Edward asked that his bones accompany the British troops on all campaigns - even after death, the old king wanted to lead his subjects into battle. On July 7, the king died, but the son did not fulfill his father's covenant, burying him in Westminster Abbey next to the remains of his beloved wife. On the sarcophagus, by order of the heir, they inscribed: "Here lies Edward I, the scourge of the Scots."
Edward II
1307 - power in England passed to the Prince of Wales. He came to the throne as Edward II and ruled for 20 years. As you can see, nature really rests on the children of geniuses … In any case, on Edward II, she really relaxed: the monarch came out of him extremely unsuccessful. He ruled the country very badly, he always listened to the favorites, in which he had complete scoundrels.
His heart belonged first to one lover, then to another, and his wife, daughter of the almighty French king Philip IV the Beautiful, received only humiliation. Lacking a state mind, Edward II could serve as a model for both a bad politician and a mediocre military leader. In general, Eduard since childhood diligently avoided battles and tournaments. But already as a king, he was very proud of his ability to dig holes and roof roofs. This, perhaps, would characterize a bricklayer well, but it was not enough for a ruler who was supposed to rule the country.
Having ascended the throne, Edward II inherited huge debts from his father. Soon, the perked up barons took up it: if Edward I could put the aristocrats in their place when they opposed the strengthening of power, then his son was too lazy for this. 1311, summer - he made concessions to the Lord Observers (Baronial Commission); as a result, he had to agree to special ordinances, according to which the king practically lost power.
In addition, in 1314, Edward II, who marched against Scotland, suffered a crushing defeat. The Scots, led by Robert the Bruce, on June 24 at Bannockburn defeated the British troops to smithereens.
The barons turned out to be even worse rulers than their overlords (although this was not easy to achieve!). In 1322, parliament, tired of the confusion and contradictions within the country, canceled the ordinances. Unfortunately, the royal entourage in this situation did not help him develop the correct line of behavior; a number of mistakes made by Edward's entourage led to an uprising. 1327, January - the monarch was literally cornered: he was first forced to abdicate, and then killed in Berkeley Castle.
Edward III
The power in the state was again in the hands of the minor king. At first, from 1327 to 1330, the regency council ruled on behalf of Edward III - and very unsuccessfully. Then the young king took power into his own hands and tried to correct his father's mistakes. The new ruler managed to restore order in Scotland by placing his puppet on the throne. But Plantagenet's triumph was short-lived: the Scots turned to the French - the eternal opponent of Britain for help, thanks to which they quickly got rid of the British presence on their territory. By 1342 it was finally clear that Edward III would not be able to take control of Scotland.
Then the monarch switched to the Hundred Years War with France, which lasted intermittently from 1337 to 1453. The reason for the armed conflict was the English possessions on French territory, which prevented the unification of the latter. Both powers saw the fate of Flanders differently. The fact that the French stubbornly supported the Scots in their struggle for independence only fueled passions. The formal reason for the war was the claims of Edward III to the crown of France, after it passed to the Valois dynasty.
The confrontation turned out to be so exhausting that, despite the victories won, the king of England hastened to conclude a truce with the enemy. It lasted from 1347 to 1355. Around the same time (1348–1349), a terrible epidemic of the bubonic plague was raging in England. The "Black Death", outbreaks of which were repeated in 1361 and 1369, claimed the lives of more than a third of the island's population!
When the powers resumed hostilities, the eldest son of King Edward, nicknamed the Black Prince, in 1356 defeated the enemy at the Battle of Poitiers and captured the King of France, after which an unspoken truce was concluded between the two states.
The 50-year reign of Edward III is considered one of the most glorious eras in the political history of England. In particular, he was credited with creating a professional army, which made it possible to pursue an active foreign policy. In addition, the monarch sought to reduce as much as possible extortions from the British in favor of the Pope and to free the English Church from the dominance of foreign priests.
Art and science were flourishing. The same ruler, striving to resemble the legendary King Arthur, in 1348 founded one of the oldest orders in Europe - the Order of the Garter, which initially included 25 of the country's best knights, including the king himself and the Black Prince. The 26th member was proclaimed the patron saint of England and the new order - St. George. Even Edward's enemies recognized his leadership talent, wisdom and justice, and the German princes in 1348 elected the Englishman as emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire". But Edward refused this honor, declaring that he considered it his duty before God to fight only for what was due to him by right.
But the last decade of Edward's reign was a time of decline. Since the monarch constantly needed significant funds to conduct a military campaign, he became dependent on parliament, which strengthened the position of the latter. After Queen Philip, beloved by both the people and the courtiers, died in 1369, to whose opinion Edward always listened, his favorite Alice Perrers began to exert a great influence on the widower, who sympathized with the fourth son of the king, John of Gaunt, and disliked the Black Prince.
Alice became the reason that feuds began in the royal family. The courtiers were indignant at the tricks of this intriguer; in 1376, the parliament accused her of fraud and bribery, after which Perrers was removed from the court. Only a year later, the dying king briefly summoned the favorite to him.
Richard II
Since the Black Prince (Duke of Aquitaine), considered a truly good ruler, died a year earlier than his father, the throne of England after Edward III was taken by his grandson, Richard II (reigned 1377-1399). The British demanded reforms in many areas, but the prince was enthroned even before he came of age, so for several years power was concentrated in the hands of ministers elected by parliament and several groups of aristocrats. Only in 1389 was Richard able to change the situation and take the reins into his own hands.
For 8 years, the king painstakingly put things in order in England, acting prudently and in moderation, but he did not have enough patience for long. The monarch, known for his morbid affection for his favorites, resumed hostilities against France, but in the military field he was plagued by setbacks. Richard needed more money and more soldiers. The defeats inflicted by the French could in no way justify the huge costs and tightening of tax policy, and in general the rule of the last Plantagenet, who wore the British crown, left much to be desired.
1398 - choosing the time when the monarch set out on a campaign against Ireland, his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, returned to his homeland from exile with a small army. Soon, significant opposition forces gathered around this relative of the monarch. When Richard, having received news of the mutiny, decided to hastily return to London, he could no longer cope with the situation.
Instead of defeating the rebels, the monarch was expected to be captured and imprisoned in the Tower. On September 30, 1399, he signed an act of abdication in favor of a cousin. As a result, the crown passed to the representatives of the new dynasty, which was a lateral branch of the Plantagenets. And the last of them, Richard II, faced an unenviable fate: he was transferred to the Pontefract castle, where in February 1400 he unexpectedly died. Richard was simply killed by order of the new ruler - just in case …
V. Sklyarenko