September 8, 1157: Birth of King Richard I “The Lionheart” of England.

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Angevin Empire, Berengaria of Navarre, Crusades, King Henry II of England, King Louis VII of France, King Philippe II of France, King Richard I of England, King Sancho VI of Navarre, Kings and Queens of England, Richard Cœur de Lion, Richard the Lion Heart, Richard the Lionheart

Richard I (September 8, 1157 – April 6, 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period.

Richard was the third of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine and seemed unlikely to become king, but all his brothers except the youngest, John, predeceased their father. Richard is known as Richard Cœur de Lion (Norman French: Le quor de lion) or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. The troubador Bertran de Born also called him Richard Oc-e-Non (Occitan for Yes and No), possibly from a reputation for terseness.

By the age of 16, Richard had taken command of his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father.

Henry II died in Chinon on September 3, 1189 and Richard the Lionheart succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. Roger of Howden claimed that Henry’s corpse bled from the nose in Richard’s presence, which was assumed to be a sign that Richard had caused his death.

Richard I was officially invested as Duke of Normandy on July 20, 1189 and was crowned king in Westminster Abbey on September 3, 1189. Tradition barred all Jews and women from the investiture, but some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. According to Ralph of Diceto, Richard’s courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, then flung them out of court.

When a rumour spread that Richard had ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London attacked the Jewish population. Many Jewish homes were destroyed by arsonists, and several Jews were forcibly converted. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape.

Among those killed was Jacob of Orléans, a respected Jewish scholar. Roger of Howden, in his Gesta Regis Ricardi, claimed that the jealous and bigoted citizens started the rioting, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a forcibly converted Jew to return to his native religion. Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury, reacted by remarking, “If the King is not God’s man, he had better be the devil’s”.

Richard was an important Christian commander during the Third Crusade, leading the campaign after the departure of Philippe II of France and achieving considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, although he failed to retake Jerusalem.

Richard probably spoke both French and Occitan. He was born in England, where he spent his childhood; before becoming king, however, he lived most of his adult life in the Duchy of Aquitaine, in the southwest of France. Following his accession, he spent very little time, perhaps as little as six months, in England. Most of his life as king was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or actively defending his lands in France.

Rather than regarding his kingdom as a responsibility requiring his presence as ruler, he has been perceived as preferring to use it merely as a source of revenue to support his armies. Nevertheless, he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects.

Marriage

Before leaving Cyprus on crusade, Richard married Berengaria of Navarre the eldest daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII, King of León and Castile and his wife Berengaria of Barcelona. As is the case with many of the medieval English queens, relatively little is known of her life.

Richard first grew close to her at a tournament held in her native Navarre. The wedding was held in Limassol on May 12, 1191 at the Chapel of St George and was attended by Richard’s sister Joan, whom he had brought from Sicily. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendour, many feasts and entertainments, and public parades and celebrations followed commemorating the event.

When Richard married Berengaria he was still officially betrothed to Alys of France the daughter of Louis VII, King of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile.

In January 1169, King Louis VII of France and King Henry II of England had signed a contract for the marriage between Alys and Richard the Lionheart. The 8-year-old Alys was then sent to England as Henry’s ward.

In 1177, Cardinal Peter of Saint Chrysogonus, on behalf of Pope Alexander III, threatened to place England’s continental possessions under an interdict if Henry did not proceed with the marriage. There were widespread rumors that Henry had not only made Alys his mistress, but that she had a child with him. Henry died in 1189. After King Richard married Berengaria of Navarre while still officially engaged to Alys.

King Philippe II had offered Alys to Prince John, but Eleanor prevented the match. Alys married William IV Talvas, Count of Ponthieu, on August 20, 1195. They had two daughters: Marie, Countess of Ponthieu, and Isabelle; and a stillborn son named Jean.

King Richard pushed for the match with Berengaria in order to obtain the Kingdom of Navarre as a fief, as Aquitaine had been for his father. Further, Eleanor championed the match, as Navarre bordered Aquitaine, thereby securing the southern border of her ancestral lands. Richard took his new wife on crusade with him briefly, though they returned separately.

Berengaria had almost as much difficulty in making the journey home as her husband did, and she did not see England until after his death. After his release from captivity by Leopold of Austria, Richard showed some regret for his earlier conduct, but he was not reunited with his wife. The marriage remained childless.

On March 26, 1199, Richard was hit in the shoulder by a crossbow, and the wound turned gangrenous. Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him; called alternatively Pierre (or Peter) Basile, John Sabroz, Dudo, and Bertrand de Gourdon (from the town of Gourdon) by chroniclers, the man turned out (according to some sources, but not all) to be a boy.

The young boy said Richard had killed his father and two brothers, and that he had killed Richard in revenge. He expected to be executed, but as a final act of mercy Richard forgave him, saying “Live on, and by my bounty behold the light of day”, before he ordered the boy to be freed and sent away with 100 shillings.

Richard then set his affairs in order, bequeathing all his territory to his brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.

Richard died on April 6, 1199 in the arms of his mother, and thus “ended his earthly day.” Because of the nature of Richard’s death, it was later referred to as “the Lion by the Ant was slain”. According to one chronicler, Richard’s last act of chivalry proved fruitless when the infamous mercenary captain Mercadier had the boy flayed alive and hanged as soon as Richard died.

Richard produced no legitimate heirs and acknowledged only one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. As a result, he was succeeded by his brother John as king. However, his French territories, with the exception of Rouen, initially rejected John as a successor, preferring his nephew Arthur, as how royal inheritance rules applied to the situation at the time of Richard’s death was unclear. The lack of any direct heirs from Richard was the first step in the dissolution of the Angevin Empire.

Richard the Lionheart remains one of the few kings of England remembered more commonly by his epithet than his regnal number, and is an enduring iconic figure both in England and in France.

July 14, 1223: Death of King Philippe II Auguste of France

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Anglo-French War of 1213–1214, House of Anjou, House of Capet, House of Plantagenet, King Louis VII of France, Philip II of France, Philippe II Auguste of France, Philippe II of France, Pope Celestine III, Pope Innocent III., Waldemar I of Denmark, Waldemar II of Denmark

Philippe II Auguste (August 21, 1165 – July 14, 1223), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as King of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philippe II became the first French monarch to style himself “King of France”. The son of King Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne, he was originally nicknamed Dieudonné (God-given) because he was a first son and born late in his father’s life. Philippe II was given the epithet “Augustus” (French: Auguste) by the chronicler Rigord for having extended the crown lands of France so remarkably.

Philippe II Auguste, King of France

After a twelve-year struggle with the Plantagenet dynasty in the Anglo-French War of 1213–1214, Philippe II succeeded in breaking up the large Angevin Empire presided over by the crown of England and defeated a coalition of his rivals (German, Flemish and English) at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.

This victory would have a lasting impact on western European politics: the authority of the French king became unchallenged, while the English King John was forced by his barons to assent to Magna Carta and deal with a rebellion against him aided by Philippe’s son Prince Louis, the First Barons’ War. The military actions surrounding the Albigensian Crusade helped prepare the expansion of France southward.

Philippe did not participate directly in these actions, but he allowed his vassals and knights to help carry them out.
Philippe transformed France from a small feudal state into the most prosperous and powerful country in Europe. He checked the power of the nobles and helped the towns free themselves from seigneurial authority, granting privileges and liberties to the emergent bourgeoisie. He built a great wall around Paris (“the Wall of Philippe II Augustus”), re-organized the French government and brought financial stability to his country.

King Philippe II was married on April 28, 1180 to Isabelle of Hainaut, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders, who brought the County of Artois as her dowry.

Marital problems

After the early death of Isabella of Hainaut in childbirth in 1190, Philippe II decided to marry again. On August 15, 1193, he married Ingeborg, daughter of King Waldemar I of Denmark. She was renamed Isambour, and Stephen of Tournai described her as “very kind, young of age but old of wisdom.” Philippe, however, discovered on their wedding night that she had terribly bad breath, and he refused to allow her to be crowned queen.

Ingeborg protested at this treatment; his response was to confine her to a convent. He then asked Pope Celestine III for an annulment on the grounds of non-consummation. Philippe had not reckoned with Isambour, however; she insisted that the marriage had been consummated, and that she was his wife and the rightful queen of France. The Franco-Danish churchman Guillaume of Paris intervened on the side of Ingeborg, drawing up a genealogy of the Danish kings to disprove the alleged impediment of consanguinity.

In the meantime, Philippe II had sought a new bride. Initial agreement had been reached for him to marry Margaret of Geneva, daughter of William I, Count of Geneva, but the young bride’s journey to Paris was interrupted by Thomas, Count of Savoy, who kidnapped Philippe intended new queen and married her instead, claiming that Philip was already bound in marriage.

Philippe II finally achieved a third marriage in June 1196, when he was married to Agnes of Merania from Dalmatia. Their children were Marie and Philippe, Count of Clermont, and, by marriage, Count of Boulogne.

Pope Innocent III declared Philippe II Auguste marriage to Agnes of Merania null and void, as he was still married to Ingeborg. He ordered the king to part from Agnes, and when he did not, the pope placed France under an interdict in 1199. This continued until September 7, 1200. Due to pressure from the pope and from Ingeborg’s brother King Waldemar II of Denmark, Philippe II finally took Isambour back as his wife in 1201, but it would not be until 1213 that she would be recognized at court as queen.

Philippe II fell ill in September 1222 and had a will made, but carried on with his itinerary. Hot weather the next summer worsened his fever, but a brief remission prompted him to travel to Paris on July 13, 1223, against the advice of his physician. He died en route the next day, in Mantes-la-Jolie, at the age of 58. His body was carried to Paris on a bier. He was interred in the Basilica of St Denis in the presence of his son and successor by Isabella of Hainaut, Louis VIII, as well as his illegitimate son Philippe I, Count of Boulogne and John of Brienne, the King of Jerusalem.

June 11, 1183: Death of Henry the Young King. Part I.

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Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry the Young King, House of Anjou, House of Plantagenet, King Henry II of England, King Louis VII of France, Margaret of France

Henry the Young King Part I.

Henry the Young King (February 28, 1155 – June 11, 1183) was the eldest surviving son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine. Henry the Young King is the only King of England since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father’s reign, but was frustrated by his father’s refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power. He died aged 28, six years before his father, leaving his brother Richard to become the next king.

Coronation of Henry the Young King

Little is known of the young Prince Henry before the events associated with his marriage and coronation. His mother’s children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France were Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix of France. Henry had one elder brother, William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156), and his younger siblings included Matilda; Richard; Geoffrey; Eleanor; Joan; and John.

In June 1170, the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father’s lifetime, something originally practised by the French Capetian dynasty and adopted by the English kings Stephen and Henry II. The physical appearance of Henry at his coronation in 1170 is given in a contemporary court poem written in Latin, where the fifteen-year-old prince is described as being very handsome, “tall but well proportioned, broad-shouldered with a long and elegant neck, pale and freckled skin, bright and wide blue eyes, and a thick mop of the reddish-gold hair”.

He was known in his own lifetime as “Henry the Young King” to distinguish him from his father. Because he was not a reigning king, he is not counted in the numerical succession of the Kings of England. According to one of Thomas Becket’s correspondents, Henry was knighted by his father before the coronation, but the biographer of William Marshal asserts that the king was knighted by William in the course of the rebellion of 1173 (Georges Duby, Guillaume le Maréchal. Le meilleur chevalier du monde. 1984).

The young Henry played an important part in the politics of his father’s reign. On November 2, 1160, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile, when he was 5 years of age and she was at least 2. The marriage was an attempt to finally settle the struggle between the counts of Anjou and the French kings over possession of the frontier district of the Norman Vexin, which Louis VII had acquired from Henry’s grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, in around 1144.

By the terms of the settlement, Margaret would bring the castles of the Norman Vexin to her new husband. However, the marriage was pushed through by Henry II when Young Henry and Margaret were small children so that he could seize the castles. A bitter border war followed between the kings.

They were formally married on August 24, 1172 at Winchester Cathedral, when Henry, aged seventeen, was crowned King of England a second time, this time together with Margaret, by Rotrou, the Archbishop of Rouen.