King Henry V
09-15-2006, 17:41
The idea for this history occured to me for some reason when I was riding the bus from Berchtesgaden back to Salzburg where I was staying for a few days. As part of the Swiss matriculate, one is required to write a sort of thesis on any subject covered by the curriculum. I thus decided to write a history of the Anarchy for that reason, but also to give the participants of my Alternate History a chance to learn more about the period and perhaps make some better informed decisions.
When Christ and His Saints Slept
“Hi sæden openlice ðæt Crist slep. His halechen. Suilc mare þanne we cunnen sæin. We þolenden .xix. wintre for ure sinnes.”
“They said openly, that Christ slept, and his Saints. Such things, and more than we can say, suffered we nineteen winters for our sins.”
The church bells of the village of Lyons-la-Fôret rang throughout the night as they heard the news from the castle where the old king had been residing for the past week. It was the first Sunday of Advent and two riders rode out from the castle into the dark, cold night.
The first rider was despatched by Audoin, Bishop of Evreux, and made his way west, across the twenty miles of countryside to the city of Rouen. Two hours later he was before the Archbishop. The chief prelate of Normandy crossed himself when he heard the tidings from Lyons-la-Foret.
The second horseman took an altogether different route. He travelled north, towards the turbulent English Channel. Within two days he was in Boulogne. The messenger was quickly ushered into the great hall of Boulogne Castle.
The messenger strode to the fireplace and knelt down before the Count of Boulogne.
“My Lord of Blois, I bring news from Normandy…”
Henry, King of England and Duke of Normandy, was dead.
The death of Henry I in 1135 would spark the first civil war in English history as Stephen of Blois, Count of Boulogne and Mortain would struggle for power in a fifteen year conflict first with his cousin the Empress Matilda, Countess of Anjou, then with her son, the young Henry of Anjou. The war was a pivotal point in the eventual strengthening of Royal power and would lead to the Angevin Empire of Henry II, who would rule a realm stretching from the Solway Firth to the Pyrenees.
The seeds of the civil war that would ravage England and Normandy were planted on a cold November night in 1120. The White Ship had just sailed from Barfleur in Normandy and was carrying some of the most important heirs and heiresses of the realm of England and Normandy, the most notable of whom was William the Aetheling, the only legitimate son of King Henry I. Other passengers included William’s wife Matilda of Anjou, his two half siblings Richard and Matilda (two of the estimated twenty-two bastard children of Henry I) and many others, including the younger sister of Stephen of Blois. Revelry began on board the White Ship even before it set off from Barfleur. Many of the passengers had fought at the battle of Brémule, where Henry I had decisively beaten Louis VI of France, and the wine was flowing freely on board. Before long, both passengers and crew were drunk, including the captain, Thomas Fitz Stephen and the helmsman.
That night, as the White Ship raced ahead at the passengers’ insistence in order to be in front of the main fleet of ships heading for England, the ship crashed its port side into some rocks, tearing open the hull. The vessel rapidly took on water and began to capsize. The White Ship soon sank beneath the waves. The sole survivor was a butcher’s boy from Rouen called Berold, whose ram skin clothes kept him warm while his betters froze in their thin garments.
When the King was told of the death of his son and so many of his relations, he collapsed with grief and wept. Henry I was never to recover from the awful blow sustained that day, and though he would remarry, no son would be born out of that union, leaving Matilda, wife of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, as the sole legitimate child of King Henry.
By 1127, it was clear to Henry that his match to his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain, would remain barren. He thus resolved to ensure that his daughter, Matilda, now a widow for the past two years, should succeed him to the throne. That year, Henry summoned all the barons and prelates of England and Normandy in a council, where all swore an oath recognizing Matilda as heir to the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy. However, according to Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the chief official of the King, the nobles and ecclesiasts, took the oath on condition that the childless Matilda be married only with the consent of the magnates, as her husband, it was presumed according to custom, would rule England.
However, when Matilda was remarried the following year, Henry I did not consult them as he had promised. Henry needed an ally in his wars against the French king, who continually supported the claims to Normandy of Henry’s nephew, William Clito, son of the King’s eldest brother Robert, who was the rightful Duke of Normandy until Henry conquered it from him after the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106.
Anjou was a key ally for both Henry I and Louis VI. Furthermore, in marrying his daughter to the eldest son of Count Fulk V, Geoffrey, Henry I hoped that the lands of Anjou and Maine should pass into possession of the fruit of that union, i.e. the future King of England. Thus on the 17th June 1128, Matilda of England married Geoffrey, now Count of Anjou and Maine (his father had just departed for the Holy Land to marry the Heiress to the Kingdom of Jerusalem), who was eleven years her junior.
News of Matilda’s marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou was not well received by the barons and prelates. As being overwhelmingly of Norman origin, there was the usual neighbourly enmity for Anjou, especially since Count Fulk had fought against them several times in the past. The prospect of an Angevin sitting of the throne of England was not met with any pleasure.
The marriage was not a happy one. Geoffrey was a constant womaniser, and Matilda abandoned the marital bed several times to join her father in Normandy, being sent back at length each time. The relations between father- and son-in-law were also strained, as Henry was reluctant to hand over several castles on the southern Norman border which he promised as Matilda’s dowry. However, as animosity grew between Henry and Geoffrey, Matilda began to side with her husband against her father. It came to such a point that another chronicler of the period, Henry of Huntingdon, said that the demise of King Henry I was somewhat caused by the “perfidy” of Matilda.
During this time, Henry I was also concerned with enriching other members of his family (a paradox considering he blinded and imprisoned for life his elder brother Robert and is suspected of having his brother William Rufus killed as well), most notably his two eldest bastard sons and his two nephews. The former were Robert of Caen, who married the heiress to the earldom of Gloucester and Reginald, created Earl of Cornwall. Robert would become the most powerful and richest nobleman in the realm, and held extensive lands in Normandy, Southern Wales (the Welsh Marches) and throughout England, especially around his two strongholds of Bristol and Gloucester.
His two nephews were the younger sons of Henry’s sister Adela, Countess of Blois. She had sent them to her brother’s court where they were duly favoured, the younger, Henry, becoming Abbot of Glastonbury and also Bishop of Winchester.
The older brother, Stephen of Blois, was given the lordships of Eye and Lancaster in England and the county of Mortain in Normandy, as well as the hand of Maud, heiress of Boulogne. Like Robert of Gloucester, he would also become an extremely powerful magnate, his fortune and lands only matched by Robert. Such assets were undoubtedly of great help when Stephen took the throne.
Thus, when King Henry I died on 1st December 1135, the stage was set for the Anarchy.
To be continued...
When Christ and His Saints Slept
“Hi sæden openlice ðæt Crist slep. His halechen. Suilc mare þanne we cunnen sæin. We þolenden .xix. wintre for ure sinnes.”
“They said openly, that Christ slept, and his Saints. Such things, and more than we can say, suffered we nineteen winters for our sins.”
The church bells of the village of Lyons-la-Fôret rang throughout the night as they heard the news from the castle where the old king had been residing for the past week. It was the first Sunday of Advent and two riders rode out from the castle into the dark, cold night.
The first rider was despatched by Audoin, Bishop of Evreux, and made his way west, across the twenty miles of countryside to the city of Rouen. Two hours later he was before the Archbishop. The chief prelate of Normandy crossed himself when he heard the tidings from Lyons-la-Foret.
The second horseman took an altogether different route. He travelled north, towards the turbulent English Channel. Within two days he was in Boulogne. The messenger was quickly ushered into the great hall of Boulogne Castle.
The messenger strode to the fireplace and knelt down before the Count of Boulogne.
“My Lord of Blois, I bring news from Normandy…”
Henry, King of England and Duke of Normandy, was dead.
The death of Henry I in 1135 would spark the first civil war in English history as Stephen of Blois, Count of Boulogne and Mortain would struggle for power in a fifteen year conflict first with his cousin the Empress Matilda, Countess of Anjou, then with her son, the young Henry of Anjou. The war was a pivotal point in the eventual strengthening of Royal power and would lead to the Angevin Empire of Henry II, who would rule a realm stretching from the Solway Firth to the Pyrenees.
The seeds of the civil war that would ravage England and Normandy were planted on a cold November night in 1120. The White Ship had just sailed from Barfleur in Normandy and was carrying some of the most important heirs and heiresses of the realm of England and Normandy, the most notable of whom was William the Aetheling, the only legitimate son of King Henry I. Other passengers included William’s wife Matilda of Anjou, his two half siblings Richard and Matilda (two of the estimated twenty-two bastard children of Henry I) and many others, including the younger sister of Stephen of Blois. Revelry began on board the White Ship even before it set off from Barfleur. Many of the passengers had fought at the battle of Brémule, where Henry I had decisively beaten Louis VI of France, and the wine was flowing freely on board. Before long, both passengers and crew were drunk, including the captain, Thomas Fitz Stephen and the helmsman.
That night, as the White Ship raced ahead at the passengers’ insistence in order to be in front of the main fleet of ships heading for England, the ship crashed its port side into some rocks, tearing open the hull. The vessel rapidly took on water and began to capsize. The White Ship soon sank beneath the waves. The sole survivor was a butcher’s boy from Rouen called Berold, whose ram skin clothes kept him warm while his betters froze in their thin garments.
When the King was told of the death of his son and so many of his relations, he collapsed with grief and wept. Henry I was never to recover from the awful blow sustained that day, and though he would remarry, no son would be born out of that union, leaving Matilda, wife of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, as the sole legitimate child of King Henry.
By 1127, it was clear to Henry that his match to his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain, would remain barren. He thus resolved to ensure that his daughter, Matilda, now a widow for the past two years, should succeed him to the throne. That year, Henry summoned all the barons and prelates of England and Normandy in a council, where all swore an oath recognizing Matilda as heir to the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy. However, according to Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the chief official of the King, the nobles and ecclesiasts, took the oath on condition that the childless Matilda be married only with the consent of the magnates, as her husband, it was presumed according to custom, would rule England.
However, when Matilda was remarried the following year, Henry I did not consult them as he had promised. Henry needed an ally in his wars against the French king, who continually supported the claims to Normandy of Henry’s nephew, William Clito, son of the King’s eldest brother Robert, who was the rightful Duke of Normandy until Henry conquered it from him after the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106.
Anjou was a key ally for both Henry I and Louis VI. Furthermore, in marrying his daughter to the eldest son of Count Fulk V, Geoffrey, Henry I hoped that the lands of Anjou and Maine should pass into possession of the fruit of that union, i.e. the future King of England. Thus on the 17th June 1128, Matilda of England married Geoffrey, now Count of Anjou and Maine (his father had just departed for the Holy Land to marry the Heiress to the Kingdom of Jerusalem), who was eleven years her junior.
News of Matilda’s marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou was not well received by the barons and prelates. As being overwhelmingly of Norman origin, there was the usual neighbourly enmity for Anjou, especially since Count Fulk had fought against them several times in the past. The prospect of an Angevin sitting of the throne of England was not met with any pleasure.
The marriage was not a happy one. Geoffrey was a constant womaniser, and Matilda abandoned the marital bed several times to join her father in Normandy, being sent back at length each time. The relations between father- and son-in-law were also strained, as Henry was reluctant to hand over several castles on the southern Norman border which he promised as Matilda’s dowry. However, as animosity grew between Henry and Geoffrey, Matilda began to side with her husband against her father. It came to such a point that another chronicler of the period, Henry of Huntingdon, said that the demise of King Henry I was somewhat caused by the “perfidy” of Matilda.
During this time, Henry I was also concerned with enriching other members of his family (a paradox considering he blinded and imprisoned for life his elder brother Robert and is suspected of having his brother William Rufus killed as well), most notably his two eldest bastard sons and his two nephews. The former were Robert of Caen, who married the heiress to the earldom of Gloucester and Reginald, created Earl of Cornwall. Robert would become the most powerful and richest nobleman in the realm, and held extensive lands in Normandy, Southern Wales (the Welsh Marches) and throughout England, especially around his two strongholds of Bristol and Gloucester.
His two nephews were the younger sons of Henry’s sister Adela, Countess of Blois. She had sent them to her brother’s court where they were duly favoured, the younger, Henry, becoming Abbot of Glastonbury and also Bishop of Winchester.
The older brother, Stephen of Blois, was given the lordships of Eye and Lancaster in England and the county of Mortain in Normandy, as well as the hand of Maud, heiress of Boulogne. Like Robert of Gloucester, he would also become an extremely powerful magnate, his fortune and lands only matched by Robert. Such assets were undoubtedly of great help when Stephen took the throne.
Thus, when King Henry I died on 1st December 1135, the stage was set for the Anarchy.
To be continued...