The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain

by Wilson, Derek

  Because the majority of the barons supported the Provisions, Henry had no real alternative but to accept this humiliating restriction of his authority, but he had no intention of submitting permanently. In October he pacified his opponents by formally swearing to uphold the Provisions, which were expanded and clarified at a parliament meeting in Westminster, but he also appealed secretly to the pope to absolve him from this oath.

  Meanwhile, Henry was forced to come to terms with Llewelyn-ap-Gruffydd, who, following his military successes, had begun styling himself ‘Prince of Wales’. He had formed an alliance with the Scottish barons in opposition to the boy king Alexander III (Henry’s son-in-law) and kept a careful eye on events in England to see how he could benefit from the divisions between the king and his barons.

  Henry’s initial reaction was vigorous. Undeterred by the military reverses of 1256–7, he planned a new campaign in the summer. But Llewelyn sent envoys to Simon de Montfort and Simon persuaded the king to agree a truce that would run until August 1259. This infuriated the lords who held lands in Wales and the border that had been overrun by the self-styled ‘Prince of Wales’, and this was a cause of division in the baronial ranks. However, it enabled Simon and his colleagues to concentrate on domestic reforms, which they regarded as more urgent.

  1259–63

  The baronial committee of 24 worked assiduously to put more flesh on the Provisions of Oxford and, particularly, to define more precisely the relationship between central government and the various law courts. As well as baronial leaders and government officers, the best legal brains in the country were brought to bear on a complete overhaul of most aspects of the judicial system. Old laws were reinforced, and new ones were drafted that covered aspects of relationships between all classes in society – everything from taxation and inheritance to murder (differentiated for the first times from accidental death). Agreement was not arrived at without argument, but the new measures reached their final form in the Provisions of Westminster of October 1259. This was a major achievement, the greatest since Magna Carta.

  Over the next four years, Henry had three major problems: the baronial revolt was a severe check to his authority; Llewelyn threatened the geographical integrity of his kingdom; and there were rumours that his eldest son, Edward, was plotting against him. The situation was confused and all parties – king, barons, Llewelyn’s supporters, shire knights, town burgesses and the heir to the throne – were pursuing their own interests, and it was this that would eventually undermine the constitutional reform movement. For the time being, however, the initiative lay with Simon and his followers. While Henry spent long periods on the continent looking after his Gascon territories and seeking the support of the French king and the pope, Urban IV, the Earl of Leicester strove to hold his coalition together and to come to terms with Henry. His task was made easier by the behaviour of the young Edward (19 years old in 1258). The heir to the throne surrounded himself with an entourage of hired, foreign mercenaries and behaved with an arrogance that often tipped over into cruelty. When the prince’s party stayed at Wallingford Priory they ate the monks out of house and home and beat them when they protested. Englishmen were outraged by such events and particularly resented their country’s ‘invasion’ by German and French soldiers.

  In May 1261 news arrived from Rome that Pope Alexander had absolved Henry from his oath to abide by the Provisions of Westminster. The king brought more mercenaries into the country and took up residence in the Tower of London. In August he announced his repudiation of the Provisions and his intention to take royal castles back into his possession and appoint his own advisers. In September he summoned representatives of the shires to meet at Windsor and not to attend the parliament at St Albans. He and Edward had reconciled their differences, and the king opened up fresh negotiations with Llewelyn.

  The baronage was now divided between a majority who were appalled by Henry’s behaviour and a minority who remained loyal to the king and his papal backer. But still there was no open breach because Earl Simon tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement by appealing to Louis IX as arbitrator. Not until June 1263 did parliament, meeting at Oxford, denounce Henry III as false to his oath and proclaim war against all violators of the Provisions. Once again, a show of force was sufficient to cause Henry to buckle. He reached a new settlement with Simon, surrendered several castles (including Windsor and the Tower of London) and, once more, submitted to the Provisions. But the king was intriguing secretly to undermine the earl and in October was behind a plot to capture the earl and kill him. This failure was the spark that finally ignited the Barons’ War.

  1264–5

  In January, in return for a ‘charitable donation’ of 2,000 livres to the crusading cause, Louis IX declared in favour of Henry. The French king dismissed the Provisions but supported ‘the rights English people had enjoyed’ before 1258. Both sides declared their acceptance of this in the Mise (Agreement) of Amiens. The barons could claim that all their actions were in defence of ancient rights and that Henry had violated Magna Carta, but as far as many shire knights and town burgesses were concerned, the Mise of Amiens seemed like a declaration of war. They were faced with the loss of parliamentary representation and all the other privileges they had gained since 1258. Simon de Montfort now found himself at the head of a widespread revolt against the crown, so he made a new treaty with Llewelyn in order to secure his western flank and turned his attention to the military defeat of Henry and Edward.

  The war began well for the royal army – Edward seized Northampton, and Henry marched towards Nottingham – but while they tried to secure the Midlands Simon turned his attention to London, fortified the capital and then marched to the royalist stronghold of Rochester, vital to Henry as a point of contact with loyal forces on the Kent coast and with his agents beyond the Channel. While the siege of the castle was in progress, Henry and Edward belatedly hastened southwards (April). They took Tonbridge and encamped near Lewes. Simon marched to meet them, his army swollen by supporters from London and the southern counties. He offered the king a fresh agreement, which was defiantly rejected.

  The Battle of Lewes took place on 14 May. The royal army outnumbered the barons’ force and enjoyed early success, as Edward and his trained mercenaries easily broke the ranks of the Londoners who fled headlong from the thundering hooves and flashing swords of the vengeful prince. Determined to avenge himself on the disloyal citizens, Edward spent several hours hunting them down and killing all he could find. Had he controlled his anger and stayed with the main battle the result would probably have been different. Here Simon and his captains won an easy victory. In the day’s fighting only about 600 were killed, most of them the Londoners Edward had butchered. Henry and his son were taken prisoner and obliged to reach a new agreement, the Mise of Lewes.

  A triumphal Latin song written by an anonymous monk declares:

  Simon de Montfort had few experienced men of arms.

  The royal army, including the greatest warriors

  in England, was large … But God is on the side

  of those who seek justice and rightfully he aided the earl ….

  Now England breathes again in real hope of

  liberty. Englishmen, who were despised like dogs,

  have raised their heads above their downcast enemies.2

  The triumph was short-lived, however. Simon de Montfort was, briefly, the effective ruler of England, but his very prominence provoked jealousy. Several of the barons deserted him, encouraged by the pope, who excommunicated all the followers of the ‘traitor earl’. In order to widen his power base Simon summoned to a parliament in January 1265 not only barons, churchmen and shire knights but also two citizens from every English borough.

  On 28 May Edward escaped and within a month he had put himself at the head of an army consisting principally of the lords of the Welsh Marches. Simon gathered his forces to meet the royalist host, and battle was joined at Evesham on 4 August. This time the royal army was
victorious, and Simon de Montfort and many of his supporters were slain. ‘Plange plorans Anglia plena iam dolore,’ ran a doleful lament written soon afterwards – ‘Wail weeping England, heavy now with woe’.

  1266–72

  The royal victory at Evesham was not the end of the civil war. Instead of ordering many of the rebels leaders to be executed, Henry satisfied himself with confiscating their lands or imposing financial burdens on them, which simply bred more resentment while allowing malcontents the freedom to create further trouble. A group of rebels, led by de Montfort’s son, also called Simon, occupied de Montfort’s castle at Kenilworth in Warwickshire, and when Henry sent a messenger to discuss terms with them they sent him back – minus his hands. Throughout much of 1266 the king laid siege to Kenilworth, but the fortress proved impregnable, and only when the king offered lenient terms to the rebels, known as the Ban of Kenilworth, was it surrendered (December).

  Resistance continued in the fenland around Ely, and in April 1267 a band of rebels briefly occupied the Tower of London. Not until August, when Henry negotiated a peace with Llewelyn and Edward mopped up the last of the rebels in East Anglia, did all the fighting cease. The rebellion had been put down at great cost but could not be regarded as a royal ‘victory’ because, at a parliament at Marlborough in November 1267, Henry conceded most of the demands made in the ‘Mad Parliament’ of 1258.

  In October 1269 Westminster Abbey, though not completed, was ready to admit worshippers, and Henry took the opportunity to stage what would be the last gorgeous spectacle of his reign. He transferred the remains of Edward the Confessor to a resplendent new shrine in a ceremony attended by all the great men of church and state. In the following August Prince Edward departed on crusade, thus undertaking the holy enterprise that Henry himself had longed to embark upon but had never accomplished. Soon afterwards Henry was taken ill and begged Edward to return, but his health improved somewhat, and in August 1272 he was able to travel to Norwich to deal in person with a mini-rebellion. This, however, overtaxed his ageing frame, and, on 16 November, he died at the age of 65.

  EDWARD I 1272–1307

  Edward I’s reign may be seen as a continuation of much that his great-grandfather, Henry II, had set in motion. The tumults of the previous three reigns subsided, leaving the king free to concentrate on legal reform, constitutional development and relations with Wales and Scotland. Edward clung stubbornly to his lands in Gascony, which involved continuing disputes with the kings of France, despite the reluctance on the part of his English magnates to involve themselves in the defence of foreign territory.

  Edward was over 6 feet tall (hence his nickname Long-shanks), and he was strong and athletic. A fine horseman and swordsman, he was a forceful leader of men in battle. He was firm but fair in his dealings with his parliaments, so that even those who opposed his policies knew where they stood with him. This was a relief after the vacillations of Henry III.

  1272–7

  Edward enjoyed military success in the Holy Land until an assassination attempt weakened him and news of his father’s failing health obliged him to start for home. He did not, however, make great haste to return. Immediately after Henry’s death, the barons had recognized Edward as the new king and sworn fealty to him. Edward believed that the government was in safe hands and that his absence would give time in which the wounds opened up by the civil war might heal. He spent a year (1273–4) in Gascony, trying unsuccessfully to suppress a revolt, and did not reach England until August 1274.

  On 18 August he and his wife were crowned at Westminster. All who owed allegiance to the king, including Alexander III of Scotland, swore their loyalty but a notable absentee was Llewelyn-ap-Gruffydd, the Welsh leader. In November Edward travelled to Shrewsbury and summoned Llewelyn to meet him there, but not only did Llewelyn fail to turn up, he also declared his defiance by raiding English territory, building himself a castle that would govern the approach to central Wales along the Severn valley and declaring his intention to marry the sister of Simon de Montfort.

  But before he could deal with Llewelyn, Edward had more pressing priorities. In October 1274 he had his new chancellor, Robert Burnell, organize a complete survey of the realm. This was an attempt to sort out the confusions over land tenure and infringements of royal rights that had grown up during his father’s reign. The monumental task of Burnell and his agents was completed by April 1275, when Edward called a parliament to meet at Westminster. Following de Montfort’s initiative in 1265, as well as barons and churchmen, two representatives from each shire and two from each city or town were summoned. This parliament produced 51 statutes, many clarifying aspects of Magna Carta, and made clear Edward’s willingness to consult with his subjects on the promulgation of law. This parliament and another later in the same year laid the foundation of the king’s finances. Edward borrowed from Italian bankers to provide for his regular needs, and these loans were guaranteed by export duties levied on English merchants. For extraordinary expenditure Edward relied on grants of taxation made by parliament from time to time.

  Edward called more parliaments than any of his predecessors – usually two a year – which was largely because he needed money for his various wars, but it did mean that the body began to develop its own identity. Parliament became a bargaining assembly at which the representatives sought concessions from the king in return for agreeing to his taxes. Edward I is sometimes called the ‘Father of Parliament’, although he did not have the intention of increasing the rights of his people or limiting the power of the crown.

  In the autumn of 1277 Edward dealt with the Welsh problem. He advanced along the coast from Chester at the head of an army of some 15,000 men. He had ships brought round from Kent and Sussex to convey his host to Anglesey, where the king seized all the standing grain, thus depriving Llewelyn of his food supply. The Welsh leader realized that further resistance was impossible, and he hastened to make peace at the Treaty of Aberconwy.

  1278–86

  In 1278 the archbishopric of Canterbury fell vacant and Edward wished to appoint his chancellor, Robert Burnell. The pope, however, overruled him, giving the position to John Pecham (or Peckham), who was installed the following year, an appointment that inaugurated 13 years of conflict between church and state. Pecham combined two characteristics that made him a formidable adversary: he was a zealous Franciscan of austere personal habits (even as archbishop he wore a ragged habit and went barefoot) and personal piety, and he was a brilliant theological controversialist, well able to argue his case with incisiveness and persistence. He arrived in his archdiocese determined to carry out far-reaching reforms and prepared to use the weapon of excommunication against anyone who stood in his way. The two most important topics over which he clashed with the king were the rivalry between common law and canon law and the issues of pluralism and non-residence – that is, clergy holding more than one living or being paid for serving a parish but not actually living and working there. This affected his relationship with the government because the granting of benefices was a standard (and cheap) way for the king to reward faithful service and remunerate men in royal employ.

  In July 1279 Pecham called a convocation at Reading in which he set out his programme of root and branch reform. He threatened with excommunication any royal officials who infringed the church’s rights, and, in order to make it quite clear what those rights were, he ordered copies of Magna Carta to be pinned to the doors of cathedrals and churches. Edward did not respond immediately, but, at the parliament held at Westminster in October 1279, Pecham was forced to back down in the face of opposition from several quarters.

  In April 1282 Dafydd, the brother of Llewelyn-ap-Gruffydd, attacked Hawarden Castle. This was the overture to a determined attempt by the brothers to throw off English control and was followed by military action over a wide area. Edward summoned a large army to suppress this rebellion, advancing from Chester in the autumn, while a naval force occupied Anglesey. Archbishop Pecham made a vain attem
pt to broker a peace, but neither side wanted it. Edward believed that the Welsh were trapped in the northern part of the country, but Llewellyn broke out and faced the English in battle at Orewin Bridge in the Brecknockshire hills. Here he was killed and his force routed. Dafydd continued his resistance until April 1283, when he was handed over to Edward by some of his own followers and executed at Shrewsbury.

  Edward was now determined to ensure the permanent submission of Wales. The backbone of his rule there was an impressive chain of great castles – Flint, Builth, Rhuddlan, Aberystwyth, Conwy, Caernarfon and Harlech – and he stripped the leading rebel families of their lands and imposed on the people the English administrative system. Four new counties were created – Flint, Caernarfon, Merioneth and Anglesey – and he also founded several new towns, which were to be peopled by English settlers. His ‘pacification’ of Wales completed the work begun by the Norman Conquest, two centuries earlier.

  Caernarfon was Edward’s most splendid castle, long associated with Merlin. It was here, in April 1284, that a fourth son was born to the king and queen and christened Edward. They had lost two earlier boys in infancy, and their only remaining son, the 12-year-old Alfonso, died in August of this same year. The infant Edward thus became heir to the throne.

  In 1285, once the Welsh war was over, the problem with the church came to the fore again. During a parliament held at Westminster in the spring the clash of jurisdictions was brought up. Long debate led to the issuing of a royal edict that church courts should confine themselves to issues involving wills and marriages. The bishops protested and complained about the alleged malpractices of the king’s justices, and in the Norwich diocese the bishop and his officers ignored the edict and continued to summon defendants in a variety of cases to appear before the church courts. The king responded by appointing a royal commission to examine complaints against the bishop’s officials for overstepping their authority. Investigations continued throughout much of 1286, but these created more heat than light. Then the king, who was at the time in Paris, issued a conciliatory writ, Circumspecte agatis, in which he listed those issues that should be left to the church courts to decide.