by Griff Hosker
He might have succeeded but he had a poor relationship with the barons. They cost him Normandy and, as events turned out, almost cost him England.
King William and Scotland
King John invaded Scotland and forced William to sign the Treaty of Norham, which gave John control of William's daughters and required a payment of £10,000. This effectively crippled William's power north of the border, and by 1212 John had to intervene militarily to support the Scottish king against his internal rivals. John made no efforts to reinvigorate the Treaty of Falaise, though, and both William and Alexander in turn remained independent kings, supported by, but not owing fealty to, John. I gave King William an extra year of life. He died in 1214 at the age of 71. I chose to have him lead his army against King John in one last battle. I think William the Lion deserved that end.
Rote
Timeline of the novel
The events which form the basis of the story all happened. I have changed some of the participants to suit my story. Below is a timeline showing the major events of the period.
1209- King John invades Scotland and imposes draconian punishments. The King is excommunicated
1210- King John goes to Ireland
1211- King John goes to war with Wales.
1212- King William asks for help from King John to fight the rebels in his land.
1213 -King John pays a fine to the Pope and his excommunication is lifted
1214- King John invades Normandy. Defeated at the Battle of Bouvines
1215 -Rebel barons gather in southern England. Confront the King who is forced to sign the Magna Carta. King Llewelyn attacks the west of England
1216 -Prince Louis invades southern England. King Alexander of Scotland takes Carlisle. Civil War. Prince Louis goes back to France and there is stalemate. King John died on the night of 18/19 October, probably of dysentery although there were rumours of poisoned plums!
Counsellors named in Magna Carta
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cardinal
Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin
William of Sainte-Mère-Église, Bishop of London
Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester
Jocelin of Wells, Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury
Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln
Walter de Gray, Bishop of Worcester
William de Cornhill, Bishop of Coventry
Benedict of Sausetun, Bishop of Rochester
Pandulf Verraccio, sub deacon and papal legate to England
Eymeric, Master of the Knights Templar in England
William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke
William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury
William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey
William d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel
Alan of Galloway, Constable of Scotland
Warin FitzGerold
Peter FitzHerbert
Hubert de Burgh, Seneschal of Poitou
Hugh de Neville
Matthew FitzHerbert
Thomas Basset
Alan Basset
Philip d'Aubigny
Robert of Ropsley
John Marshal
John FitzHugh
Nicola de la Haie
Born about 1150, she was one of three daughters and coheiresses of Richard de la Haie, a major Lincolnshire landowner whose family had founded the Premonstratensian house of Barlings Priory, and his wife Matilda, daughter of William Vernon. Her paternal grandfather Robert de la Haie, of Halnaker in Sussex, had in 1115 been granted the posts of hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and hereditary sheriff of Lincolnshire. When her father died in 1169 she inherited these two posts, which in practice were filled by her two husbands in succession.
When King Henry II died in 1189, she and her second husband Gerard de Camville travelled to Barfleur in Normandy to obtain a charter confirming her rights from the new king Richard I. Richard then went off to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade, leaving authority in England in the hands of William de Longchamp. In 1191 Longchamp removed Camville from the shrievalty and the castellancy, ordering him to hand over the castle.
When this was refused, Longchamp ordered an armed assault on the castle, while Camville stayed with Prince John at Nottingham. Nicola held out against a month-long siege by a force of 30 knights, 20 mounted men-at-arms and 300 infantry, together with 40 sappers who attacked the walls of the castle. Having failed to take the castle, Longchamp reached a compromise with Camville and restored him to his two posts, but then had him excommunicated. When King Richard returned from crusade and captivity in 1194, he removed Camville from both posts.
Things improved when King Richard was succeeded by his brother John. Though a difficult man who fell out with most people, both Nicola and her husband remained loyal to him and were fortunate in maintaining a cordial relationship. In 1199 he restored the castle and the shrievalty to Camville, who held them until he died shortly before January 1215. Nicola then held both posts and, when John came to Lincoln in 1216, she is reported to have gone out to meet him with the keys of the castle in her hand, saying that as she was now a very old widow she was unable to continue in office any longer. He replied: “My dear Nicola, I want you to hold on to the castle as you have so far, until I decide otherwise.” He also confirmed her right to the shrievalty.
Lincoln Castle then came under attack by the rebels against John, led by the French prince Louis. While besieged there, Nicola was visited by Peter des Roches, the influential bishop of Winchester, who knew a secret way in and assured her that loyal forces would soon attack the besiegers. Her sturdy defence kept the castle intact until May 1217, when the Second Battle of Lincoln resulted in the defeat of the rebels and their French allies.
Nicola then had to face a new threat, this time from William II Longespée, son of the Earl of Salisbury and husband of her granddaughter Idonea, who tried to evict her. In 1226, when she must have been over 70 years old, she retired from the castle to her estate at Swaton, where she died on 20 November 1230.
Magna Carta
I have reproduced the first two paragraphs to give you a flavour of the language. If you wish more then follow the hyperlink below.
http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/magna2.html
John, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects, greeting.
Know that before God, for the health of our soul and those of our ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of the holy Church, and the better ordering of our kingdom, at the advice of our reverend fathers Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Winchester, Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh bishop of Lincoln, Walter Bishop of Worcester, William bishop of Coventry, Benedict bishop of Rochester, Master Pandulf subdeacon and member of the papal household, Brother Aymeric master of the Knights of the Temple in England, William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warren, William earl of Arundel, Alan de Galloway constable of Scotland, Warin Fitz Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppeley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and other loyal subjects:
First, that we have granted to God, and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church's elections - a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it - and caused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III. Th
is freedom we shall observe ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in perpetuity. We have also granted to all free men of our realm, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:
When Henry became King, the charter was reissued without this contentions clause:
(61) SINCE WE HAVE GRANTED ALL THESE THINGS for God, for the better ordering of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, and since we desire that they shall be enjoyed in their entirety, with lasting strength, for ever, we give and grant to the barons the following security:
The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause to be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter.
If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants offend in any respect against any man or transgress any of the articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us - or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice - to declare it and claim immediate redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief justice, make no redress within forty days, reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared to us or to him, the four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every way possible, with the support of the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of the queen and our children, until they have secured such redress as they have determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then resume their normal obedience to us.
Any man who so desires may take an oath to obey the commands of the twenty-five barons for the achievement of these ends, and to join with them in assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give public and free permission to take this oath to any man who so desires, and at no time will we prohibit any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel any of our subjects who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our command.
If one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country or is prevented in any other way from discharging his duties, the rest of them shall choose another baron in his place, at their discretion, who shall be duly sworn in as they were.
In the event of disagreement among the twenty-five barons on any matter referred to them for decision, the verdict of the majority present shall have the same validity as a unanimous verdict of the whole twenty-five, whether these were all present or some of those summoned were unwilling or unable to appear.
The twenty-five barons shall swear to obey all the above articles faithfully and shall cause them to be obeyed by others to the best of their power.
We will not seek to procure from anyone, either by our own efforts or those of a third party, anything by which any part of these concessions or liberties might be revoked or diminished. Should such a thing be procured, it shall be null and void and we will at no time make use of it, either ourselves or through a third party.
Fact and Fiction
All of the major events happened. King William did ask King John for help against his rebels. The Lady of Lincoln held out twice against rebels. The Cardinal was a real person and it was largely due to his influence that William Marshal was able to have King Henry crowned. There was no crown and he had to improvise a crown from a necklace. Much is made of Magna Carta but it must be remembered that the men who formulated it cared not a jot for the ordinary people. They just wanted more power! Knights like William Marshal and Sir Thomas were rare. De Vesci and de Percy were more common knights.
A copy of the 1864 Ordnance Survey map of Warkworth. I doubt that it would have changed much from 1217. From Amble to Warkworth is less than a mile. The fictitious battle would have taken place between Amble and New Barns.
For the English maps, I have used the original Ordnance survey maps. (See above for an example). Produced by the army in the 19th century they show England before modern developments and, in most cases, are pre-industrial revolution. They are now reproduced by Cassini and they are a useful tool for a historian.
I also discovered a good website http://orbis.stanford.edu/. This allows a reader to plot any two places in the Roman world and if you input the mode of transport you wish to use and the time of year it will calculate how long it would take you to travel the route. I have used it for all of my books up to the eighteenth century as the transportation system was roughly the same. The Romans would have been quicker!
Books used in the research:
The Crusades-David Nicholle
Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1097-1192- David Nicolle
The Normans- David Nicolle
Norman Knight AD 950-1204- Christopher Gravett
The Norman Conquest of the North- William A Kappelle
The Knight in History- Francis Gies
The Norman Achievement- Richard F Cassady
Knights- Constance Brittain Bouchard
Knight Templar 1120-1312 -Helen Nicholson
Feudal England: Historical Studies on the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries- J. H. Round
English Medieval Knight 1200-1300
The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500
Griff Hosker
May 2018
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Griff Hosker
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