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

Mathilda married Heinrich V Av TYSKLAND in 1114. Heinrich (son of Heinrich IV Av TYSKLAND and Bertha VON SAVOY) was born about 1070 in Tyskland; died in 1125 in Tyskland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Geofrey IV Av ANJOU. Geofrey was born in 1113 in Anjou, Frankrike; died in 1151. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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: Sachsen Og Bayern

Notes:

Han er far til Otti IV av Tyskland

Occupation:
hertug

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Richard I,

RICHARD THE LION-HEART, or LION-HEARTED, French RICHARD COEUR DE LION (b. Sept. 8, 1157, Oxford--d. April 6, 1199, Châlus, Duchy of Aquitaine), duke of Aquitaine (from 1168) and of Poitiers (from 1172) and king of England, duke of Normandy, and co unt of Anjou (1189-99). His knightly manner and his prowess in the Third Crusade (1189-92) made him a popular king in his own time as well as the hero of countless romantic legends. He has been viewed less kindly by more recent historians and scho lars.

Richard was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and he was given the Duchy of Aquitaine, his mother's inheritance, at the age of 11 and was enthroned as duke at Poitiers in 1172. Richard possessed precocious political and militar y ability, won fame for his knightly prowess, and quickly learned how to control the turbulent aristocracy of Poitou and Gascony. Like all Henry II's legitimate sons, he had little or no filial piety, foresight, or sense of responsibility. He join ed his brothers in the great rebellion (1173-74) against their father, who invaded Aquitaine twice before Richard submitted and received pardon. Thereafter Richard was occupied with suppressing baronial revolts in his own duchy. His harshness infu riated the Gascons, who revolted in 1183 and called in the help of the "Young King" Henry and his brother Geoffrey of Brittany in an effort to drive Richard from his duchy altogether. Alarmed at the threatened disintegration of his empire, Henr y II brought the feudal host of his continental lands to Richard's aid, but the younger Henry died suddenly (June 11, 1183) and the uprising collapsed. (see also Index: Angevin empire)

Richard was now heir to England, and to Normandy and Anjou (which were regarded as inseparable), and his father wished him to yield Aquitaine to his youngest brother, John. But Richard, a true southerner, would not surrender the duchy in whic h he had grown up, and even appealed, against Henry II, to the young king of France, Philip II Augustus. In November 1188 he did homage to Philip for all the English holdings on French soil and in 1189 openly joined forces with Philip to drive Hen ry into abject submission. They chased him from Le Mans to Saumur, forced him to acknowledge Richard as his heir, and at last harried him to his death (July 6, 1189).

King of England.

Richard received Normandy on July 20 and the English throne on September 30. Richard, unlike Philip, had only one ambition, to lead the crusade prompted by Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187. He had no conception of planning for the futur e of the English monarchy and put up everything for sale to buy arms for the crusade. Yet he had not become king to preside over the dismemberment of the Angevin empire. He broke with Philip and did not neglect Angevin defenses on the Continent . Open war was averted only because Philip also took the cross. Richard dipped deep into his father's treasure and sold sheriffdoms and other offices. With all this he raised a formidable fleet and an army, and in 1190 he departed for the Holy Lan d, travelling via Sicily.

Richard found the Sicilians hostile and took Messina by storm (October 4). To prevent the German emperor Henry VI from ruling their country, the Sicilians had elected the native Tancred of Lecce, who had imprisoned the late king's wife, Joan of En gland (Richard's sister), and denied her possession of her dower. By the Treaty of Messina Richard obtained for Joan her release and her dower, acknowledged Tancred as king of Sicily, declared Arthur of Brittany (Richard's nephew) to be his own he ir, and provided for Arthur to marry Tancred's daughter. This treaty infuriated the Germans, who were also taking part in the Third Crusade, and it incited Richard's brother John to treachery and rebellion. Richard joined the other crusaders at Ac re on June 8, 1191, having conquered Cyprus on his way there. While at Limassol in Cyprus, Richard married (May 12) Berengaria of Navarre.

The holy land.

Acre fell in July 1191, and on September 7 Richard's brilliant victory at Arsuf put the crusaders in possession of Joppa. Twice Richard led his forces to within a few miles of Jerusalem. But the recapture of the city, which constituted the chie f aim of the Third Crusade, eluded him. There were fierce quarrels among the French, German, and English contingents. Richard insulted Leopold V, duke of Austria, by tearing down his banner and quarrelled with Philip Augustus, who returned to Fran ce after the fall of Acre. Richard's candidate for the crown of Jerusalem was his vassal Guy de Lusignan, whom he supported against the German candidate, Conrad of Montferrat. It was rumoured, unjustly, that Richard connived at Conrad's murder. Af ter a year's unproductive skirmishing, Richard (September 1192) made a truce for three years with Saladin that permitted the crusaders to hold Acre and a thin coastal strip and gave Christian pilgrims free access to the holy places.

Imprisonment.

Richard sailed home by way of the Adriatic, because of French hostility, and a storm drove his ship ashore near Venice. Because of the enmity of Duke Leopold he disguised himself, but he was discovered at Vienna in December 1192 and imprisone d in the Duke's castle at Dürnstein on the Danube. Later, he was handed over to Henry VI, who kept him at various imperial castles. It was around Richard's captivity in a castle, whose identity was at first unknown in England, that the famous roma nce of Blondel was woven in the 13th century.

Under the threat of being handed over to Philip II, Richard agreed to the harsh terms imposed by Henry VI: a colossal ransom of 150,000 marks and the surrender of his kingdom to the Emperor on condition that he receive it back as a fief. The raisi ng of the ransom money was one of the most remarkable fiscal measures of the 12th century and gives striking proof of the prosperity of England. A very high proportion of the ransom was paid, and meanwhile (February 1194) Richard was released.

Return to England.

He returned at once to England and was crowned for the second time on April 17, fearing that the independence of his kingship had been compromised. Within a month he went to Normandy, never to return. His last five years were spent in warfare agai nst Philip II, interspersed with occasional truces. The King left England in the capable hands of Hubert Walter, justiciar and archbishop of Canterbury. It was Richard's impetuosity that brought him to his death at the early age of 42. The Vicomt e of Limoges refused to hand over a hoard of gold unearthed by a local peasant. Richard laid siege to his castle of Châlus and in an unlucky moment was wounded. He died in 1199. He was buried in the abbey church of Fontevrault, where Henry II an d Queen Eleanor are also buried, and his effigy is still preserved there.

Assessment.

Richard was a thoroughgoing Angevin, irresponsible and hot-tempered, possessed of tremendous energy, and capable of great cruelty. He was more accomplished than most of his family, a soldier of consummate ability, a skillful politician, and capabl e of inspiring loyal service. He was a lyric poet of considerable power and the hero of troubadours. In striking contrast with his father and with King John, he was, there seems no doubt, a homosexual. He had no children by Queen Berengaria, wit h whom his relations seem to have been merely formal.


BIBLIOGRAPHY.

K. Norgate, Richard the Lion Heart (1924, reprinted 1969), a very full, somewhat old-fashioned narrative, strongly based on chronicle and other recorded sources; F.M. Powicke, The Loss of Normandy, 1189-1204, 2nd ed. (1961), a brilliant surve y of the Angevin Empire on the eve of its disintegration that illustrates Richard's strategic and tactical skill; L. Landon, Itinerary of King Richard I (1935), essential basic information, dating the King's movements, and listing his charters ; S. Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol. 3 (1954), a highly readable, reliable, mainly political narrative, beginning with a good account of the Third Crusade; Amy Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings (1950), a readable and informa tive narrative on the Angevin Empire from the unusual viewpoint of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard's mother.

Rikard (eng. Richard), konger av England. Rikard 1 Løvehjerte, 1157-99, sønn av Henrik 2; hans etterfølger 1189, foretok 1190 et korstog sm.m. Filip 2 August av Frankrike. Etter kamper i Det hellige land begynte R. tilbakereisen 1192, men ble tatt til fange av hertug Leopold av Østerrik e og utlevert til keiser Henrik 6, som slapp ham løs mot store løsepenger 1194. Da han kom tilbake, førte han en langvarig og nytteløs krig mot Frankrike, der han falt. R. skildres i ridderdiktningen som en romantisk idealskikkelse.

Occupation:
Konge

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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Henry III (of England) (1207-1272), king of England (1216-1272), son and successor of King John (Lackland), and a member of the House of Anjou, or Plantagenet. Henry ascended the throne at the age of nine, on the death of his father. During his mi nority the kingdom was ruled by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, as regent, but after his death in 1219 the justiciar Hubert de Burgh was the chief power in the government. During the regency the French, who occupied much of eastern England, wer e expelled, and rebellious barons were subdued. Henry was declared of age in 1227. In 1232 he dismissed Hubert de Burgh from his court and commenced ruling without the aid of ministers. He displeased the barons by filling government and Church offices with foreign favourites, many of them relat ives of his wife, Eleanor of Provence, whom he married in 1236, and by squandering money on Continental wars, especially in France. In order to secure the throne of Sicily for one of his sons, Henry agreed to pay the pope a large sum. When the kin g requested money from the barons to pay his debt, they refused and in 1258 forced him to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, whereby he agreed to share his power with a council of barons. Henry soon repudiated his oath, however, with papal approva l. After a brief period of war, the matter was referred to the arbitration of Louis IX, king of France, who decided in Henry's favour in a judgment called the Mise of Amiens (1264). Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, accordingly led the baron s into war, defeated Henry at Lewes, and took him prisoner. In 1265, however, Henry's son and heir, Edward, later King Edward I, led the royal troops to victory over the barons at Evesham, about 40 km (25 mi) south of Birmingham. Simon de Montfor t was killed in the battle, and the barons agreed to a compromise with Edward and his party in 1267. From that time on Edward ruled England, and when Henry died, he succeeded him as king.1

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

Occupation:
Konge