Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Johan uten land (eng. John Lackland), 1167-1216, konge av England 1199, Rikard Løvehjertes bror og etterfølger, fikk sitt tilnavn fordi han ikke hadde noe len som prins. En strid med Innocens 3 førte til at han 1213 anerkjente paven som sin lenshe rre. Etter en stormannsreisning ble han tvunget til å underskrive det berømte frihetsbrev Magna Charta 1215. Da Johan, med pavens billigelse, brøt overenskomsten, kom det til opprør, og han døde under striden.




John (of England), called John Lackland (1167-1216), King of England (1199-1216), best known for signing Magna Carta. John was born in Oxford on December 24, 1167, the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry provided for the eventual inheritance of his lands by his older sons before John was born, hence his nickname "Lackland". By 1186, however , only Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, and John were left as Henry's heirs. John had already turned Ireland against him when Henry sent him there as Lord of Ireland in 1185. In 1189, as Henry neared death, John joined Richard's rebellion against thei r father, and when Richard was crowned, he gave John many estates and titles. John tried but failed to usurp the crown while Richard was away on the Third Crusade, but upon returning to England, Richard forgave him. When his brother died in 1199 , John became king and lord of all the Angevin territories, without initially facing much opposition. However, a revolt ensued by the supporters of Arthur of Brittany, the son of John's brother, Geoffrey, partly caused by John's mistakes in handli ng his family. Arthur was defeated and captured in 1202, and John was widely believed to have had him murdered, turning many of his subjects against him. Philip II of France continued Arthur's war until John had to surrender nearly all his Frenc h possessions in 1204, after a flight to England that earned him a reputation for cowardice. He then began to build up monetary and political resources to regain the lost lands. In 1207 John refused to accept the election of Stephen Langton as Arc hbishop of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III then excommunicated him and began negotiating with Philip for the invasion of England that the French king himself had long planned. Desperate, John surrendered England to the pope and in 1213 receive d it back as a fief. Trying to regain his French possessions, he and his French and German allies were decisively defeated by Philip in the Battle of Bouvines of July 27, 1214, an event that greatly enhanced France's position in Europe and ende d John's ambitions there. John's reign had become increasingly tyrannical; to support his wars he had extorted money, raised taxes, and confiscated properties. Some modern authorities regard these policies as misrepresented efforts at sound admini strative reform, but they were certainly seen at the time as oppressive, and his barons finally united to force him to respect their historic rights and privileges. John had little choice but to sign Magna Carta, presented to him by his baron s at Runnymede in 1215, making him subject, rather than superior, to the law. However, John evidently regarded Magna Carta as exacted under duress and sought to evade its terms, and soon afterwards he and the barons were at war. He died at Newar k in Nottinghamshire on October 19, 1216, while still pursuing the campaign, and was succeeded by his son, Henry III.1

1"John (of England)," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Hertug/Konge

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Hernry III was born in 1207 in England; died in 1272.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Henrik 2, 1133-89, dattersønn av H.1, konge 1154, arvet store områder i Frankrike og kom ved giftermål i besittelse av Akvitania, erobret 1171 en del av Irland. H. motarbeidet stormennene, ordnet forvaltning, rettspleie og forsvarsvesen, men ko m ved spørsmålet om kirkens justisrett i strid med erkebiskop Thomas Becket, som ble myrdet 1170. H.s siste år ble formørket ved tallrike opprørsforsøk fra sønnenes side.


Henry II (of England) (1133-1189), king of England (1154-1189), first monarch of the House of Anjou, or Plantagenet, an important administrative reformer, who was one of the most powerful European rulers of his time. Born March 5, 1133, at Le Mans, France, Henry became Duke of Normandy in 1151. The following year, on the death of his father, he inherited the Angevin territories in France. By his marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry added vast territ ories in south-west France to his possessions. Henry claimed the English kingship through his mother, Matilda. She had been designated the heiress of Henry I but had been deprived of the succession by her cousin, Stephen of Blois, who made himsel f king. In 1153 Henry defeated Stephen's armies in England and compelled the king to choose him as his successor; on Stephen's death, the following year, Henry became king. During the first few years of his reign Henry quelled the disorder that ha d developed during Stephen's reign, regained the northern counties of England, which had previously been ceded to Scotland, and conquered North Wales. In 1171-1172 he began the Norman conquest of Ireland and in 1174 forced William the Lion, kin g of the Scots, to recognize him as overlord. In 1164 Henry became involved in a quarrel with Thomas à Becket, whom he had appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. By the Constitutions of Clarendon, the king decreed that priests accused of crimes should be tried in royal courts; Becket claimed tha t such cases should be handled by ecclesiastical courts, and the controversy that followed ended in 1170 with Becket's murder by four of Henry's knights. Widespread indignation over the murder forced the king to rescind his decree and recognize Be cket as a martyr. Although he failed to subject the Church to his courts, Henry's judicial reforms were of lasting significance. In England he established a centralized system of justice accessible to all freemen and administered by judges who travelled around th e country at regular intervals. He also began the process of replacing the old trial by ordeal with modern court procedures. From the beginning of his reign, Henry was involved in conflict with Louis VII, king of France, and later with Louis's successor, Philip II, over the French provinces that Henry claimed. A succession of rebellions against Henry, headed by his son s and furthered by Philip II and by Eleanor of Aquitaine, began in 1173 and continued until his death at Chinon, France, on July 6, 1189. Henry was succeeded by his son Richard I, called Richard the Lion-Hearted.1



1"Henry II (of England)," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Konge

Henrik married Eleanor Av AQUITAINE in 1154. Eleanor was born about 1122 in Aquitaine; died on 1 Apr 1203. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Hun ble skilt fra Ludvig VII 21. mars 1152 på grunn av utroskap, men giftet seg da straks igjen med Henrik II av England som også var hertug i Normandi. Eleanor OF AQUITAINE, also called ELEANOR OF GUYENNE, French ÉLÉONORE, or ALIÉNOR, D'AQUITAINE, or DE GUYENNE (b. c. 1122--d. April 1, 1204, Fontevrault, Anjou, Fr.), queen consort of both Louis VII of France (in 1137-52) and Henry II of England (in 1152-1204) and moth er of Richard I the Lion-Heart and John of England. She was perhaps the most powerful woman in 12th-century Europe.

Eleanor was the daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers, who possessed one of the largest domains in France--larger, in fact, than those held by the French king. Upon William's death in 1137 she inherited the Duc hy of Aquitaine and in July 1137 married the heir to the French throne, who succeeded his father, Louis VI, the following month. Eleanor became queen of France, a title she held for the next 15 years. Beautiful, capricious, and adored by Louis, El eanor exerted considerable influence over him, often goading him into undertaking perilous ventures.

From 1147 to 1149 Eleanor accompanied Louis on the Second Crusade to protect the fragile Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, founded after the First Crusade only 50 years before, from Turkish assault. Eleanor's conduct during this expedition, especiall y at the court of her uncle Raymond of Poitiers at Antioch, aroused Louis's jealousy and marked the beginning of their estrangement. After their return to France and a short-lived reconciliation, their marriage was annulled in March 1152. Accordin g to feudal customs, Eleanor then regained possession of Aquitaine, and two months later she married the grandson of Henry I of England, Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy. In 1154 he became, as Henry II, king of England, wit h the result that England, Normandy, and the west of France were united under his rule. Eleanor had only two daughters by Louis VII; to her new husband she bore five sons and three daughters. The sons were William, who died at the age of three; He nry; Richard, the Lion-Heart; Geoffrey, duke of Brittany; and John, surnamed Lackland until, having outlived all his brothers, he inherited, in 1199, the crown of England. The daughters were Matilda, who married Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony an d Bavaria; Eleanor, who married Alfonso VIII, king of Castile; and Joan, who married successively William II, king of Sicily, and Raymond VI, count of Toulouse. Eleanor would well have deserved to be named the "grandmother of Europe."

During her childbearing years, she participated actively in the administration of the realm and even more actively in the management of her own domains. She was instrumental in turning the court of Poitiers, then frequented by the most famous trou badours of the time, into a centre of poetry and a model of courtly life and manners. She was the great patron of the two dominant poetic movements of the time: the courtly love tradition, conveyed in the romantic songs of the troubadours, and th e historical matière de Bretagne, or "legends of Britanny," which originated in Celtic traditions and in the Historia regum Britanniae, written by the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth some time between 1135 and 1139.

The revolt of her sons against her husband in 1173 put her cultural activities to a brutal end. Since Eleanor, 11 years her husband's senior, had long resented his infidelities, the revolt may have been instigated by her; in any case, she gave he r sons considerable military support. The revolt failed, and Eleanor was captured while seeking refuge in the kingdom of her first husband, Louis VII. Her semi-imprisonment in England ended only with the death of Henry II in 1189. On her release , Eleanor played a greater political role than ever before. She actively prepared for Richard's coronation as king, was administrator of the realm during his crusade to the Holy Land, and, after his capture by the Duke of Austria on Richard's retu rn from the east, collected his ransom and went in person to escort him to England. During Richard's absence, she succeeded in keeping his kingdom intact and in thwarting the intrigues of his brother John Lackland and Philip II Augustus, kin g of France, against him.

In 1199 Richard died without leaving an heir to the throne, and John was crowned king. Eleanor, nearly 80 years old, fearing the disintegration of the Plantagenet domain, crossed the Pyrenees in 1200 in order to fetch her granddaughter Blanche fro m the court of Castile and marry her to the son of the French king. By this marriage she hoped to insure peace between the Plantagenets of England and the Capetian kings of France. In the same year she helped to defend Anjou and Aquitaine agains t her grandson Arthur of Brittany, thus securing John's French possessions. In 1202 John was again in her debt for holding Mirebeau against Arthur, until John, coming to her relief, was able to take him prisoner. John's only victories on the Conti nent, therefore, were due to Eleanor.

She died in 1204 at the monastery at Fontevrault, Anjou, where she had retired after the campaign at Mirebeau. Her contribution to England extended beyond her own lifetime; after the loss of Normandy (1204), it was her own ancestral lands and no t the old Norman territories that remained loyal to England. She has been misjudged by many French historians who have noted only her youthful frivolity, ignoring the tenacity, political wisdom, and energy that characterized the years of her matur ity. "She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant"; and, as the nuns of Fontevrault wrote in their necrology: a queen "who surpassed almost all the queens of the world."

BIBLIOGRAPHY. Amy Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings (1950), is a major work with complete notes and a good bibliography and sources. H.G. Richardson, "The Letters and Charters of Eleanor of Aquitaine," English Historical Review, 74:193-213 (1959) , adds some unpublished sources to those gathered by Amy Kelly. Régine Pernoud, Aliénor d'Aquitaine (1965), gives more attention to the personality and politics of Eleanor herself, independently from the history of her two husbands.


Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122-1204), queen consort of France (1137-1152) and queen consort of England (1154-1204), born in France. She inherited the duchy of Aquitaine from her father in 1137, the same year in which she was married to Louis VI I of France. She accompanied her husband on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, where it was rumoured that she committed adultery. The scandal, and the fact that she had not given the king a male heir, resulted in an annulment of their marriag e in 1152 under the pretext of blood kinship between her and the king. Later that year, Eleanor married and gave her possessions to Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, who in 1154 became Henry II, king of England. In 1170, the queen induced her hus band to invest their son Richard the Lion-Heart with her personal dominions of Gascony, Aquitaine, and Poitou. When Richard and his brothers rebelled against their father in 1173, Eleanor, already alienated from the king because of his unfaithfuln ess, supported her sons. Consequently, she was placed in confinement until 1185. After her release, she secured the succession of her son Richard, who had become heir apparent at the death in 1183 of his eldest brother. From the death of King Henr y II in 1189 until Richard's return from the Third Crusade in 1194, Eleanor ruled as regent. During this time, she foiled the attempt of her son John in 1193 to conspire with France against the new king. After the return of Richard, she arrange d a reconciliation between the two brothers. Eleanor continued to be prominent in public affairs until she retired to the abbey in Fontevrault, France, where she died on April 1, 1204.1

1"Eleanor of Aquitaine," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Dronning

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Anjou, Frankrike

Notes:

Plantagenet, surname, originally nickname, of the English royal House of Anjou or the Angevin dynasty, founded by Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou (1113-1151), husband of Matilda (1102-1167), daughter of King Henry I of England. The name is derived fro m the Latin planta ("sprig") and genista ("broom plant"), in reference to the cutting that Geoffrey always wore in his cap. Reigning from 1154 to 1485, the Plantagenet kings, in the main line of descent, were Henry II, Richard I, John, Henry III , Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II; through the House of Lancaster, Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI; and through the House of York, Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III.1

1"Plantagenet," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Hertug

Geofrey married Mathilda Av ENGLAND. Mathilda (daughter of Henry I) was born in 1102 in England; died in 1167 in Frankrike. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Tyskland

Notes:

Matilda (1102-1167), wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, and claimant to the English throne, the only daughter of Henry I. In 1114 Matilda (also known as Maud) married Henry V. who died in 1125; and in 1128 wed Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou . After her brother William's death on the White Ship in 1120, her father had compelled the barons to accept her as his heir, but they had stipulated that she should not marry outside England without their consent. Her son Henry was only 2 when th e king died in 1135, and a coup brought Stephen, the son of William the Conqueror's daughter Adela, to the throne, supported by the Church and a majority of barons. Matilda's half-brother Robert of Gloucester persuaded her to fight. In 1141, afte r Stephen was captured at Lincoln, she was elected "Lady of the English" by a clerical council in Winchester, and moved to London. But her actions, and demands for money, caused the citizens to chase her away to Oxford before she could be crowned . Her army was routed at Winchester. In 1142 she escaped from Oxford Castle over the frozen River Thames. Her position was now weak, and in 1148 she fled to Normandy, from where she exercised considerable influence on her son, later Henry II. Sh e died near Rouen on September 10, 1167.1

1"Matilda," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
monarch

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Aschehougs leksikon: Henrik (eng. Henry), engelske konger. Henrik 1, 1068-1135, sønn av Vilhelm Erobreren, etterfulgte 1100 sin bror Vilhelm Rufus. H.s indre styre var grunnleggende for Englands forvaltning og rettspleie. Han tok 1106 Normandie fra sin bror Robert.


Henry I (of England) (1068-1135), third Norman King of England (1100-1135), fourth son of William the Conqueror. Henry was born in Selby. Because his father, who died in 1087, left him no land, Henry made several unsuccessful attempts to gain terr itories on the Continent. On the death of his brother William II in 1100, Henry took advantage of the absence of another brother-Robert, who had a prior claim to the throne-to seize the royal treasury and have himself crowned King at Westminster . Henry subsequently secured his position with the nobles and with the Church by issuing a charter of liberties that acknowledged the feudal rights of the nobles and the rights of the Church. In 1101 Robert, who was Duke of Normandy, invaded Engla nd, but Henry persuaded him to withdraw by promising him a pension and military aid on the Continent. In 1102 Henry put down a revolt of nobles, who subsequently took refuge in Normandy, where they were aided by Robert. By defeating Robert at Tinc hebray, France, in 1106, Henry won Normandy. During the rest of his reign, however, he constantly had to put down uprisings that threatened his rule in Normandy. The conflict between Henry and Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, over the questio n of lay investiture (the appointment of Church officials by the king), was settled in 1107 by a compromise that left the king with substantial control in the matter. Because he had no surviving male heir, Henry was forced to designate his daughter Matilda as his heiress. After his death on December 1, 1135, at Lyons-la-Fôret, Normandy, however, Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, usurped the throne, plunging th e country into a protracted civil war that ended only with the accession of Matilda's son, as Henry II in 1154.1

1"Henry I (of England)," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Konge