The new king, who had rebelled against his father, knelt only briefly beside Henry’s body before turning to the duties of his realm.

Richard had many faults but his leadership qualities in battle were second to none. In both England and elsewhere he was known by his contemporaries as Coeur de Lion, which is a far more impressive title than many other European kings have had pinned on them. All the Norman kings and Henry II had spent much of their time across the Channel, defending or simply governing over their lands. The people of England might have hoped that Richard I would concentrate more on their country. However, if this was the case then the passing of time would dash their hopes.

The changing face of England

Castles

Immediately after the Norman Conquest castles were erected by the new rulers. Most were fairly simple wooden structures on raised mounds of earth but by the time that Richard I came to the throne stone had replaced wood. Castles were dotted about the country and more would be built in the succeeding years.

Churches and Abbeys

The Normans were great builders but not all their projects were for military purposes. Religion was taken very seriously and the great landowners believed they had a better chance of a contented afterlife if they financed the erection of churches and abbeys. Some of the great abbeys still stand today, albeit mostly in ruins. Then there were the cathedrals, towering up in majesty towards the sky. These buildings still impress us today but in the 12th century those who cast their eyes on them must have been awestruck.

New towns

Between 1066 and 1230 no less than 125 towns were founded in England, including Arundel, Boston, Chelmsford, Kingston-upon-Hull, Lynn, Morpeth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Portsmouth, Reigate, Uxbridge and Watford. The driving force behind this came mostly from wealthy landowners, bishops, abbots and lay nobles. People were encouraged into new towns by the privileges and liberties offered by the founders. For example, burgesses (small landowners) held their property by ‘burgage tenure’, a fully-free title that was very close to absolute ownership.

Over time the towns eventually became free from the control of royal or feudal agents. One historian described them as non-feudal islands in the feudal sea. Some were granted the right to hold fairs and the larger ones at Boston, Winchester, Lynn and Stamford lasted for weeks. Ranulf Granville, the great lawyer-minister of Henry II, wrote that if a serf dwelt unclaimed for a year and a day in any chartered town, and was received into the community or a guild within that town as a citizen, then he would become a free man. The medieval saying “Town air makes you free” stems from this ruling.

Flourishing ecconomy

The wool trade was flourishing and expanding, with a great amount being exported to Europe. Cloth was also exported, as was tin and lead. All in all, by the 1190s the look of England had changed, the economy had expanded and the country had gained the respect of most European countries. However, the ruling class still spoke French, the clergy conversed in Latin, and English was still looked upon as the language of the lower orders.

Coinage of Richard I

The voided short cross coinage, introduced by Henry II, continued through the reign of Richard I. Not only did the design of English coins remain the same but so did the name of the king. On the obverse, instead of RICARDVS, the legend starts with HENRICVS. One theory is that in 1189 English currency had a high reputation in Europe; it was known to be of the sterling standard (.925 parts silver out of each 1000), whilst the currency of some other countries wasn’t.

Therefore, officials of the Exchequer decided to still have coins issued bearing the name of the king who had died in 1189. An example is this find of Tom Burton, sent into the website in 2021.

The main mints were London and Canterbury but to facilitate the swift circulation of currency several provincial mints also stuck coins. By far the rarest mint is Lichfield, where a single moneyer struck pennies during the reign of Richard I.

The only coins bearing the name of Richard I are Anglo-Gallic deniers and oboles struck for Aquitaine, Poitou (Pictaviensis) and Issoudun in France.

Some were struck when Richard was Duke of Aquitaine, others after he became King of England.

The Third Crusade

Saladin

The First Crusade had established a Christian kingdom at Jerusalem, which was defended by the military orders of the Knights Templar and Hospitalers. The fact that it had continued to exist was mainly due to disunity amongst the surrounding Moslem lands. However, a great Moslem leader rose up, in the shape of Saladin. His conquests led to anxiety amongst the Christian community in Jerusalem. The King of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, offered the crown to Philip of France and then to Henry II of England but measures were not taken in time.

Saladin proclaimed a Holy War in 1186, promising his followers adventure and booty. The army sent against him was cut to pieces and those of its leaders still alive were taken prisoner. In October of 1187 Jerusalem surrendered and this left only Tyre, Antioch and Tripoli in Christian hands. Shockwaves spread throughout Europe.

Pope calls for a Crusade

The Pope sent legates to all the main European Courts, seeking support for a war against infidels. Amongst many others who answered the call, the kings of France and England agreed to mount a joint Crusade. The largest army ever brought together headed by various routes from Europe to the Holy Land.

Financing the Crusade

Even though the people of England had hoped that Richard would concentrate on their affairs, most understood the Crusade was a sacred enterprise, which might bring the blessing of God upon them. There were men wiling and able to join the Crusade. However, a great deal of cash was needed to finance it. Taxation demands were heavy and Richard sold and resold every office of State. ‘Scutage’, a money payment in lieu of military service under the feudal system, and ‘carucage’, a tax on every hundred acres of land, provided yet more cash for Richard’s war chest. The government of England was entrusted to William Lonchamp, Bishop of Ely, and Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham, both under the supervision of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard departed late in 1189.

Richard marries

The English and French armies wintered in Sicily. Philip of France wanted Richard to marry his sister, Alice, who might have been the mistress of Henry II. Eleanor of Aquitaine then arrived in Sicily with an alternative bride, Berengaria of Navarre. Furious at this turn of events, Philip and his army sailed direct to Acre. Richard, together with Berengaria, left Sicily in April 1191. He paused in Cyprus, fell out with its ruler, conquered the island and married Berengaria before moving on to the Holy Land.

Holy Land

On 9 June he and his followers arrived at Acre.

Richard led from the front and five weeks after his arrival the two-year siege of Acre ended. Negotiations with Saladin had failed and two thousand Muslim hostages that had been held as guarantee of peace were slaughtered. Richard’s prowess was the talk of all nations.

Guy of Lusignan was in dispute with Conrad of Montferrat for the crown of Jerusalem. Richard backed one and Philip of France the other. After a compromise was reached Philip headed home and so did Duke Leopold of Austria, both of whom were at odds with Richard.

The Crusaders scored a significant victory at Arsuf under the leadership of Richard but the Moslems still held Jerusalem.

A three year truce was eventually negotiated, through which small parties of Crusaders could visit the Holy Sepulchre. The quarrel between Conrad and Guy was settled when the former was murdered by members of a Moslem sect and the latter purchased Cyprus from Richard.

Back to England

Late in 1192, after receiving disturbing news from England, Richard set out for home. After his ship was wrecked in the Adriatic, he decided to head home through Germany in disguise. However, he fell into the hands of the Duke of Austria, with whom he had fallen out whilst on the Crusade. Richard was then given over to the Holy Roman Emperor, who demanded an enormous ransom for his release.

Administration of the realm

William Longchamp

William Longchamp, already Bishop of Ely and a Papal Legate, swiftly side-lined Hugh de Puiset and became Justiciar (chief officer or deputy of the Crown) and Chancellor of England. He moved about the country in great splendour and was at first envied but soon hated by all the great barons.

Prince John tries to seize the throne

Longchamp saw that the chief danger to Richard came from his over-mighty brother, Prince John, who held a vast amount of land, together with the honours of Lancaster, Wallingford, Eye (for this refer to the Norman kings) and Peverel. In these areas he was a law unto himself and gave no account of his revenue to the Royal Exchequer.

In 1191 there was a crisis. A revolt of John’s supporters in the Midlands led to Longchamp marching against them. Around the same time Richard had sent home Walter de Coutances (a Cornishman!), who was Archbishop of Rouen, to watch over his interests. The archbishop fell out with Longchamp, who then fled from the country and Walter de Coutances took over.

With Richard out of the country Philip of France saw an opportunity to drive the English out of France. John was a willing partner in this and agreed to raise a revolt in England whilst Philip mounted an attack on Normandy.

At a moment of extreme danger, early in 1193 news reached England that Richard I was being held prisoner in Europe. John took up arms, announced Richard was dead and claimed the crown. Support for Richard came from many quarters, including the Church, Walter de Coutances and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Preparations to guard against a French invasion were set in motion and John’s forces melted away. When an announcement was made that Richard was alive his brother swiftly departed for France.

The ransom

The ransom demanded for the release of Richard was £100,000, a figure equal to twice the annual revenue of the English Crown. Philip and John offered the same sum for Richard to be delivered into their hands. Fortunately, the emperor believed he was honour bound to reject their offer. The size of the ransom was staggering. The Church donated money and treasure and laymen had to give a quarter of their ‘movables’.

Richard released

John took care to collect every penny that was due from all his holdings and promptly pocketed all the takings. There were three attempts to collect the ransom but the sum scraped together was still short of the £100,000 demanded. However, the Holy Roman Emperor, believing that he had extracted as much as he was likely to get, decided to release his famous captive. Richard took more care on his journey back to England. He avoided France and arrived back in London on 16 March 1194, where the impoverished citizens rejoiced at seeing him.

Hubert Walter

The See of Canterbury was vacant from December of 1191 but in May of 1193 Hubert Walter was appointed as Archbishop.

He was not a particularly religious man but through his administrative skills he became an influential royal advisor. He had served Henry II in his financial affairs, in diplomacy and in judicial innovations. Walter had accompanied Richard I on the Third Crusade and put in a great effort to raise the money demanded for his ransom.

Besides being Archbishop of Canterbury, he replaced Walter de Coutances and became Lord Chancellor and Chief Justiciar until 1198. With Hubert Walter in charge Richard could feel confident that the government of England rested in safe hands.

However, in July of 1198 he resigned his secular posts and Geoffrey Fitz Peter took them over. The resignation might have been demanded by the king because he was dissatisfied with Walter’s efforts at raising taxes, or might simply have been because the archbishop wanted to concentrate more on his spiritual duties.

More conflict

Early in 1194 John was again in open rebellion, having seized castles and raised forces with aid from France. The forces already sent to suppress the revolt were joined by Richard, which led to John fleeing yet again to France. In London Richard was crowned for a second time, in a ceremony even more elaborate than the first time.

Richard’s first priority was to defend his possessions in France, with which England was now at war. More taxation was needed to raise the money for arms and men. When everything was in place Richard left Hubert Walter as his deputy in England then crossed over to France and never set foot in England again.

Every year a truce would be negotiated and every year it would be broken. Until 1197 the war was made up of parlaying and skirmishing but in that year a pitched battle led to a rout of the French army. By 1199 most of Richard’s possessions in France were secure but the financial cost was great.

Borders had been strengthened and new castles had been built, including Chateau Gaillard, which Richard claimed to be the strongest fortress in the world. King Philip said that if its walls were made of iron he could take it; to this Richard is supposed to have said: “It they were of butter I would hold it.”

The war had created a need for endless taxation and the success in France had been extremely costly to England.

Land, class and careers

Land ownership

After 1066 the Anglo-Saxon landowners were gradually dispossessed of their property. By the time that Domesday was compiled in 1086 the king and his family held about 17% of the land in England; archbishops, bishops and abbots about 26%; and the tenants-in-chief and other landowners 54%. Some of these holding were huge, with a dozen leading barons controlling about 25% of England. Most of the landowners were Normans, with a tiny minority of Anglo-Saxons and Danes.

Class system

For some time the baronial class could be defined as a ‘closed shop’, for marriage was restricted to those of the same status. There was the ruling class and ‘the rest’. This is not to say there were no ‘in betweens’, for there were some – such as merchants, lesser knights and those who administered the estates of the landowners.

Additionally there was what could be described as ‘the gentry’ (free men with some wealth), who were compelled to defend the king’s judicial and financial rights in the shires, which is a sign that a middle class had developed and was being put to use.

Law of primogeniture

The law of primogeniture stipulated that when a landowner died then the whole of his estate would be inherited by his eldest son. In this way estates remained intact, rather than being shared out amongst sons and daughters. The downside for second, third and other sons was that they inherited nothing on the death of their father. The upside (for England) was that these second, third and other sons, who had often received a good education, had to look for ways in which to make their fortune. But what was available to these men?

Opportunities for sons of the wealthy

Two main avenues were open to them: the Church and military service. Many younger sons chose the Church, even if they were more worldly than holy, for if they rose up the ranks they could gain power and wealth. For those who chose military service there were wars to fight and tournaments, each of which could lead to fame and fortune. By the 1190s legislative and common law had become more and more complicated and this needed educated men who could understand and interpret the rights and wrongs. So, slowly at first but faster thereafter, another avenue of employment opened up for younger sons – that of the lawyer.

William Marshal

William Marshal (born 1147) was the younger son of a minor nobleman, who held the hereditary title of Marshal to the King – an Office of State to which was attached various duties. When he was aged about 12 he was sent to Normandy, where he began his training as a knight in the household of William de Tancarville. His first experience of battle came during 1167 in a campaign in Upper Normandy, which had been invaded by Flanders. He must have fought well, for he was knighted.

Tournaments

In the same year he attended his first tournament, with which he was very impressed at the opportunities to make money. Henry II had banned tournaments in England but they were held regularly on the Continent and re-introduced into England by Richard I. Besides single combat they could involve melees, where groups of knights fought each other. Severe injury and even death were not unusual but William was extremely skilful and soon started to make a good living from prize money, together with capturing and ransoming opponents, their horses and their equipment. It was not long before his fame spread over the whole of Europe.

Welcomed into the Court of Henry II

In 1185 William returned to England and was welcomed into the Court of Henry II. The king gave him a large estate in Cumbria and the guardianship of Heloise, the heiress of the barony of Lancashire. When in 1188 Philip of France tried to seize Berry, William answered the call to arms of Henry.

Spares Richard’s life

The resulting campaign was a disaster for the English. Henry’s son, Richard, fought on the side of the French. William was in the rearguard, covering the English retreat from Le Mans, when he came face-to-face with Richard and had him at his mercy. However, instead of taking Richard’s life William killed his horse instead – saying “I will not slay you. The Devil may slay you.” To have had Richard Coeur de Lion at his mercy proves that William must have been a formidable warrior.

Marries Isabel de Clare

Shortly before he died Henry II had promised the hand and estates of Isabel de Clare to William. Besides the Earldom of Pembroke, this would give him large estates in England, Wales, Normandy and Ireland. However, the arrangements were not complete at the time when Henry died. Would Richard I bear a grudge for what happened during the retreat from Le Mans? Richard must have realised that a man of William’s stature would be a useful ally, so at the age of 43 he was allowed to marry the 17-year-old Isabel. Over time this union would lead to the birth of five sons and five daughters. From fairly humble beginnings, William was now one of the richest and most powerful men in England.

Treasure!

In 1199, when financing the war in France through taxation on England was becoming extremely difficult, Richard received what seemed like good news. He was told that near the castle of Chaluz, on the land of one of his vassals, a cache of treasure had been unearthed. It was made up of a group of golden images of an emperor, his wife, sons and daughters, all seated around a table, which was also made of gold. As he was the lord paramount, Richard demanded that the treasure be handed over to him. When the lord of Chaluz refused his demand Richard laid siege to the lord’s castle.

Fatal blow

On the third day of the siege, as he rode quite close to the wall of the castle, a crossbow bolt struck Richard in his left shoulder by his neck. Had he taken more care and donned his coat of mail before riding near the castle wall then the arrow might have glanced off him. The deep wound was made worse through the need to cut out the metal head of the bolt.

Gangrene set in and Richard knew that he had not long to live. He made various bequests, to his friends and to charity, and sent for his mother. Richard declared John to be his heir and made all those present to swear fealty to him. He pardoned the archer who had fired the fatal bolt and gave him a gift of money. On 6 April 1199, aged 42, after confessing and receiving the offices of the Church, Richard I, Coeur de Lion, died.

Despite being pardoned by Richard, the crossbow man was flayed (skinned) alive.

Richard I

There can be no doubt that when Richard I died the population of England would have had mixed feelings about him. All would agree that he was fearless, either in single combat or as a leader of men in pitched battle.

Some would have been proud that their king was one of the most outstanding commanders during the Third Crusade and had come close to retaking Jerusalem. Additionally, the ruling elite and most English folk must have smiled at the thought that Richard was feared by the French and other countries in Europe.

Cost of crusade

The fond memories of Richard might have been tainted by the cost of his escapades. For a Christian country a Crusade could be looked upon as something that would bring benefit in their afterlife to those who took part in it. But what of the cost involved? Bringing together and transporting an army to the Holy Land meant that a huge sum had to be raised. This fell mostly on the major landowners but they in turn taxed their tenants, so the overall cost fell on the whole population.

Added to this was the enormous sum raised for the ransom demanded by the Holy Roman Emperor for the release of Richard when he was imprisoned. Once again, the cost fell on the whole population, as the ransom money was raised in a similar way to the funds for the Crusade. More cash was extracted from England to pay for the men and equipment needed to defend Richard’s possessions in France.

Absent ruler

During the whole of his reign Richard was in England for only a few months. The rest of his time was taken up with the Crusade, a spell in captivity and fighting to secure his lands in France. He did take care to leave England in safe hands, with various loyal, capable and trusted men running the country under the overall supervision of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

England survived but it would have prospered had not Richard kept draining it of cash. Therefore, it could be argued that it survived despite him and would have been a much richer country by 1199 had Richard not been such a dashing man of his time.

The post Richard I – His life and coinage appeared first on Detecting Finds.

He was fortunate enough to receive a good education, which set him in good stead for the complex situations he would meet with as the eventual ruler of England and other territories.

Becoming king

Agreement with King Stephen

Henry’s first visit to England was as a child in 1142; later in the 1140s two attempts to gain the throne failed. Another invasion mounted in 1153 could have led to much bloodshed had not a settlement been reached, whereby Stephen would remain as king until his death and then Henry would take the throne.

Marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine

In May of 1152 Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine, only two months after her marriage to Louis VII of France had been annulled. The couple would eventually have five sons and three daughters: William (died very young), Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor and Joan.

Crowned King of England

On 25 October 1154 Stephen died and on 19 December Henry Plantagenet was crowned as King Henry II of England. In 1150 Henry had become Duke of Normandy. On the death of his father in 1151 he became Count of Anjou and through his marriage to Eleanor in 1152 he gained Aquitaine. This made him the greatest ruler in Western Europe and his charters were issued under the titles of King of the English, Duke of the Normans and Aquitanians, and Count of the Angevins. Through war, luck and marriage he had come to rule over not only England but a huge slice of France.

Early years as king

Resolving problems from the past

Henry’s first task after he ascended the throne was sort out problems left by the reign of Stephen. Many castles that had been built without license were pulled down and royal authority re-established throughout most of the land. These two aims had been achieved by 1158, together with the overlordship of Scotland. In 1157 Northumberland and Cumberland were surrendered by Malcolm IV of Scotland to England and relations between the two countries remained stable for some time afterwards.

Unruly barons

An example of his early problems with unruly barons is Hugh Bigod, who was allowed to inherit the numerous East Anglian estates of his elder brother when he was drowned in 1120, along with Prince William (heir to the throne) and many other nobles. He also gained the lands of his aunt, Albreda, which were situated in Yorkshire and in Normandy.

On the death of Henry I, Hugh initially supported Stephen but proved to be untrustworthy. At one stage he seized the castle at Norwich but was forced to surrender when Stephen laid siege to the city. At the First Battle of Lincoln in 1141 Hugh fought on Stephen’s side but then took him prisoner. This led to Hugh being granted the earldom of Norfolk by the Empress Matilda. He also supported the notorious Geoffrey de Mandeville during his rebellion against Stephen in 1143-44. Henry II spent the first years of his reign restoring order to his kingdom but Hugh remained troublesome. However, he submitted when Henry marched into the eastern counties in 1157.

Wales

When it was believed that England had been subdued some of the Marcher lords who had been granted land on the frontier zones between England and Wales started to expand their territories. Henry himself attacked Wales in 1157, 1158 and 1163, in an attempt to bring the Welsh leaders to heal. However, bad weather and the ‘hit and run’ tactics of the native combatants prevented him from scoring a significant victory.

In a fit of pique Henry II ordered that the noses and ears of the daughters of Welsh princes, at the time being held as hostages, be cut off; this was followed by the blinding and castration of the girls’ brothers. Later, in 1175, Seisyll ap Dyfnwal of Gwent, together with his wife and small son, were among the Welsh victims of a massacre at Abergavenny. Henry then decided to simply let the Marcher lords do much as they pleased in Wales. The push into Wales by these lords would continue and eventually lead to many castles being built.

One commentator wrote: “They [the Normans] vigorously subdued the natives [of Wales], imposed law upon them in the interests of peace and made the land so productive that it could easily have been mistaken for a second England. There can be little doubt that the Welsh would not share this rosy view of their land being invaded.“

Ireland

Soon after Henry II came to the throne he discussed plans for an invasion of Ireland. However, Henry had more pressing problems to solve, so for the time being the plans were shelved.

In 1169 Richard de Clare (full name Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare), who was the second Earl of Pembroke and later known as Strongbow, answered an appeal for help from the King of Leinster. This was the first time that English soldiers entered Ireland in force. Richard would eventually marry the daughter of an Irish king.

Two years later 400 ships transported Henry II and a large army over to Ireland. Henry claimed he had come to stop the Irish killing each other and most of the local kings submitted to him. After keeping the most important ports for himself (Dublin, Wexford and Waterford) he granted estates to his main followers. In the north John de Courcy took a large part of Ulster in 1177 and set himself up as an independent ruler. In the same year Henry made his youngest son, John, King of Ireland, hoping that Pope Alexander III would agree to him being crowned. Consent never arrived but John took up the title of Lord of Ireland and visited the country in 1185.

Nobles in England became the owners of great estates in Ireland, despite the fact that some of them never went there. Some English settlers, together with a few Welsh and Flemish, crossed the Irish Sea to farm, trade or manufacture goods of one kind or another. William of Newburgh, writing in the 1190s, said of the changing face of Ireland: “This marked the end of freedom for the Irish, a people who had been free since time immemorial. They had not been conquered by the Romans, but now they fell into the power of the King of England.”

European affairs

Henry’s Continental possessions would always take up more of his time and during a reign of 34 years; he spent 21 of them across the Channel.

Flanders

Soon after the start of his reign, Henry had expelled from the country all the Flemish mercenaries then in England, for he had heard that some of them were planning to kill him. The Count of Flanders (Thierry of Alsace) had favoured the French king (Louis VII) but he then leaned towards Henry, as the wool trade between England and Flanders (passing through the port at Boulogne) was very profitable to both parties. Relations between these two trading partners became so friendly that when in 1157 Thierry went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he appointed Henry as the guardian of his eldest son, Philip.

Boulogne and a forced marriage

In 1159 William of Blois, the second son of King Stephen, fell ill and died outside the gates of Toulouse, presumably when he was part of Henry II’s army. This left vacant the lordships of Mortain and Boulogne; the latter included manors in Colchester and London. Henry added Count of Mortain to his long list of titles but wanted to grant Boulogne to Thierry’s son, Matthew. However, William’s sister, Mary, inherited the county and became Countess of Boulogne. Around the year 1150 Mary became a nun and by 1155 she was Abbess of Romney Abbey in Hampshire.

This could have scuppered Henry’s plans in regard to Boulogne but he soon managed to find a way to settle matters to his satisfaction. On Henry’s order Matthew abducted Mary from Romney Abbey and forced her to marry him. This raised up Matthew to be co-ruler of the County of Boulogne and thereafter he was favourable towards England. The marriage between Matthew and Mary was annulled in 1170 and she then became a nun at Montreuil, dying there in July of 1182.   

Toulouse

In 1163 a treaty originally set up during the reign of Henry I was renewed between Henry II and Thierry of Alsace, through which Flanders would provide Henry with knights in exchange for an annual payment.

Henry’s first major campaign on the Continent was against Toulouse, which he claimed should be his by right through his wife’s inheritance. The county was the largest in the kingdom of France and the city of Toulouse was very rich and heavily fortified. Other significant cities included Narbonne, Cahors, Nimes and Carcassonne.

In June of 1159 Henry assembled a large army (one account says the army was led by his Chancellor, Thomas Becket), with contingents from his territories in France, plus English soldiers and added forces from Flanders and Scotland. There can be no doubt that these fighting men hoped to be able to share out the wealth of Toulouse between them. Henry attacked from the north, whilst some of his other supporters opened fronts in different areas.

Cahors was captured together with a number of other castles and the fighting dragged on after Henry left to sort out problems elsewhere in his empire. He was in Toulouse again in 1161 but then left it to his allies to continue the struggle for the county. In 1173 the Count of Toulouse, Raymond V, finally gave up and paid homage to Henry II of England.

Brittany

In 1156 the Duchess of Brittany, Bertha, died. Bertha was the widow of Alan de Bretagne, with whom she had a son, Conan. On the death of his father in 1148 Conan had inherited the title of Earl of Richmond. When his mother died Conan became Duke of Brittany. In 1160 he married Henry’s cousin, Margaret of Scotland. There was a tradition of weak rule in Brittany and discontent amongst the nobles led to a revolt in 1166. This was put down by Henry, who then betrothed his son Geoffrey to the daughter of Conan, who was forced to abdicate in favour of his future son-in-law. This left Henry in control of Brittany, a situation to which many Breton nobles were opposed. This led to invasions of Brittany, which were followed by confiscations of estates of holders, who were replaced by supporters of Henry.

By 1173 Brittany, though not officially part of Henry’s empire, was under the control of men loyal to him. The way that Henry manipulated the affairs of Boulogne, Toulouse and Brittany highlights the method in which he gained influence over territory he did not have direct rule over.

Thomas Becket

Becket’s early life

Thomas Becket was born in 1119 or 1120 in Cheapside, London. Both of his parents were of Norman descent and his father owned property in London. He was influenced by Richer de L’Aigle and visited his estates in Sussex. Becket was fortunate enough to receive a good education but was forced to take up a position as a clerk when his father’s business interests suffered a setback. Later on he gained a position in the household of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury. He represented Theobald on missions to Rome and was then sent to study canon law at Bologna and Auxerre. In 1154 Theobald raised Becket up to Archdeacon of Canterbury and gave him several other ecclesiastical offices.

Beckett and Henry become close friends

He proved to be so efficient that in January of 1155 Henry II appointed him Lord Chancellor of England. Becket and the king soon became close friends. From relatively low beginnings, Becket had risen up to be the holder a secular position second only to the king. It is said that he became famous for his luxurious style of living and that his table was resplendent with gold and silver plate.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Theobald died in 1161 and the See of Canterbury was vacant for more than a year. Early in 1162 Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury and on 23 May his election was confirmed. Many said he was undeserving of this high ecclesiastical office, for his lifestyle was too extravagant and worldly. No doubt King Henry believed he would be the ideal archbishop, as he would put the government of the realm before that of the Church.

On 3 June 1162 Becket was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry of Blois (brother of King Stephen), Bishop of Winchester, together with other subordinate bishops. The king was in for a great surprise, for the consecration of Becket turned him into a different man. He took his position as head of the English Church extremely seriously, even when it meant antagonising the king. Their close friendship was soon forgotten.

Disputes

One of their disputes centred on the way that churchmen who had committed crimes could circumvent the civil law by being tried in an ecclesiastical court. In this way their punishments, if any, were usually far less severe. Henry demanded that miscreant churchmen should be defrocked and handed over to the civil authorities. This was opposed by Becket and in this he received support from other high officials of the Church.

In January of 1164 Henry drew together a council at Clarendon and presented the bishops with a statement of the king’s customary rights over the church; he then demanded from them a promise to observe these customs. After arguing for two days Becket gave in. However, he then changed his mind. Thoroughly exasperated by this, Henry summoned him before the Royal Court to answer trumped-up charges. Becket was found guilty and stripped of all his estates.

Fleeing to France and returning to England

In fear for his life, he fled from England and appealed to Louis VII of France and the Pope for protection. However, by first agreeing to the demands made at Clarendon and then doing an about-turn, he left the English Church in a state of confusion.

In 1169 Henry met Becket (perhaps by appointment) at Touraine in France and this led to the archbishop being recalled to England.

His return on 2 December 1170, amidst a splendid retinue, is said to have been welcomed with great applause.

The final straw

On 14 June 1170 Henry II had his eldest son crowned by the Archbishop of York as King Henry III. This is the first and only time that there have been two kings of England at the same time.

After spending years in exile Henry might have hoped that Becket would be more conciliatory in his dealings with the king. This wasn’t to be. Becket was furious that the Archbishop of York had taken part in the coronation on 14 June and he persuaded the Pope to suspend the archbishop.

It was in a rage after hearing about this that Henry II uttered the words: “Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

Murder

On 29 December four knights (William de Tracy, Reginad FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville and Richard le Bret) entered Canterbury Cathedral and murdered Thomas Becket. Afterwards they took all the loot they could lay their hands on and then rode off.

This deed shocked the entire Christian world. Henry II did penance for this crime and in record time Pope Alexander III declared Becket to be a saint.

The coinage

It is probable that the last issue of pennies of Stephen (‘Awbridge’, type 7) started to be struck after the king had agreed that Henry would succeed him on the throne of England. They would continue to be struck until 1158, when the first coinage commenced in the name of Henry II. The new king had much work to do at the start of his reign, so the currency of the realm would be left to others.

In 1154 all sorts of official and unofficial coins would be in circulation. The latter would include many baronial coins, which were struck without royal authority under the slack rule of Stephen. In 1158 a new coinage (from 31 mints) commenced: the obverse with a crude portrait of the king and the reverse with crosslets in the angles of a cross pattee.

Tealby coinage

A large hoard of these coins was found at Tealby in Lincolnshire in 1807 and afterwards pennies of this type were named after that hoard.

The weight and fineness of English pennies remained the same. However, the standard of striking of the ‘Tealby’ type was appalling as illustrated here by one of our reader’s finds.

Well-struck specimens are few and far between.

The only exceptions being some of those from the northern mints situated in Carlisle, Durham and Newcastle, as illustrated by this find from Anthony Hopkinson.

Improvement to the coinage

In 1180 the ‘Tealby’ coinage came to an end and was replaced by coins with a voided short cross with a cross pommee in each angle on the reverse. This was a change for the better, for the standard of striking was far superior to pre-1180 coins. For this coinage the number of mints was reduced to only ten; they were spread about the country to facilitate the circulation of coins. Below are examples of this coinage found by readers of this website:

Rhuddlan

From around 1180 until well into the reign of John, there was a mint at Rhuddlan in Wales.

The dies were produced locally and the coins struck from them do not conform to the rest of the short cross series. The example shown here was found by reader, John Lashmar.

Anglo-Gallic coins

The reign of Henry II witnessed the first issue of Anglo-Gallic coins. These would come to be struck not only in the king’s name but also in the names of other members of the royal family. Over time the Anglo-Gallic coinage became larger, more complicated and included gold, silver and base metal issues. The earliest coins (the denominations were deniers and oboles) were struck in the name of Henry II to circulate in Aquitaine. Although meant only to circulate in parts of France, a few Anglo-Gallic coins ended up in England and occasionally turn up as detecting finds. The early coins and some of the later ones are not scarce but the series includes some extreme rarities, which are eagerly sought after by collectors.

Henry II and the laws of England

Curia Regis

During the reign of Henry II there was no House of Commons. There were laws of one kind or another, which the king would swear to uphold at the time of his coronation. The Curia Regis (Court of the King) was the central court, which the king, as supreme feudal lord, held for his tenants-in-chief (both secular and spiritual) and this could be described as a House of Lords. Others who had some kind of special knowledge or influence might also be called to attend the Curia Regis.

Development of the justice system

Henry saw a need to spread royal justice over all his subjects. It has been said of him that one of his greatest achievements was his development of English government and justice. His measures included giving the Curia Regis the exclusive jurisdiction over all serious crime; the establishment of the principal of the ‘King’s Peace’, which meant that a crime was no longer regarded as a wrong against an individual but instead as a wrong against the State. He hastened the demise of the old and unsatisfactory means of trial (ordeal and battle) by developing the system of trial by jury. All this tended to make the English more equal with their rulers. In 1154 lectures on canon and civil started to be held at Oxford.

Feudal system

Amendments were also made to the feudal system, one of which led to an increase in the payments of scutage. The feudal system was based upon reciprocity. At the top end a tenant-in-chief had been granted land in exchange for specific obligations, the main of which was to provide the king with fully equipped fighting men during times of need. The tenants-in-chief themselves could grant land to lesser tenants, who also had obligations, which could include military service. At the bottom end of the feudal triangle were serfs, who were tied to the estate they lived on. They would have to do a specified amount of unpaid work and in return they would be under the protection of whoever ruled over the area in which they worked.

Scutage

The payment of scutage released a person or institution (for example a monastery or abbey) from a certain obligation. Henry was a very wise man and must have speedily realised that when people are paid they will put in more effort than if they are doing something simply because they are obligated to do it under the feudal system. Therefore, when he was in need of an army he often called upon his tenants-in-chief not to provide men and arms but to pay scutage instead. Leading on from this, whilst part of an army might have joined through being obligated to do so, the other part would be there because they were being paid.

Money

The money in circulation greatly increased when the voided short cross coinage was introduced in 1180. Whole pennies become more common, as do cut fractions. This may well be to do with scutage descending down the feudal triangle. Tenants-in-chief and their sub-tenants may have been in the same mind as King Henry, in that they had come to believe that men worked harder and longer for cash. Therefore, even some of the lowest members of society may have been able to pay scutage in order to release them from obligations owing to their immediate superiors.

Family affairs

When there was trouble somewhere within or outside his empire Henry was willing to take up arms when he was challenged. Experience would have taught him that it was impossible to keep everyone content but the challenges of the early 1170s came from an unexpected source: his own family.

The disputes would involve his four surviving sons: Henry, Richard, Geoffrey and John.

Young Henry

In 1170 Henry’s oldest surviving son, Henry, had been crowned as king but was given no land to support his raised status. A couple of years later Richard became Duke of Aquitaine. In 1173 the Young King Henry asked his father if he would grant him part of his inheritance – England, Normandy or Anjou – but Henry refused.

The Young King was so upset by this refusal that he joined Louis VII at the French Court. The younger Henry then joined with Eleanor (his mother) and together with his brothers Richard and Geoffrey revolted against Henry II. Seizing on an opportunity to bring down Henry II, William of Scotland, Count Philip of Flanders, Count Matthew of Boulogne and Count Theobald of Blois joined with them. King Henry put down the revolt and imprisoned his mother.

William of Scotland was captured and held at the Chateau de Falaise in Normandy where he was forced to sign the treaty of Falaise.

Hugh Bigod again

In England one of the main leaders of this revolt was an old enemy of the king, Hugh Bigod. Together with Robert de Beaumont (Earl of Leicester), he besieged and took Hagenet Castle in Suffolk. However, Robert was taken prisoner at the Battle of Fornham (near Bury St. Edmunds) by Richard de Luci and other barons. Robert then turned against Hugh, who was forced to enter into negotiations. The end result was that he had to surrender his castles but he was allowed to keep his land and earldom. Hugh would never again have the strength or will to trouble King Henry II. 

Richard and then John

Louis VII died in 1180 and was succeeded by his son, Philip, who was 15 years old at the time. Henry’s fourth son, Geoffrey, became Duke of Brittany in 1183. Richard’s administration of Aquitaine made him unpopular and in 1183 the younger Henry joined in a revolt to overthrow him. Others involved were Philip of France, Count Raymond V of Toulouse and Hugh III of Burgundy. However, the death of Henry later in 1183 led to Richard holding on to Aquitaine.

The death of the young Henry left Richard as heir apparent to Henry II. Richard refused when he was ordered by Henry to hand over Aquitaine to John. Geoffrey of Brittany fell out with his brother Richard and Philip II hoped to use this to his advantage. However, this plan came to nothing when in 1186 Geoffrey was killed whilst taking part in a tournament.

Soon after this Philip and Richard became allies. Needless to say, this was much to the displeasure of King Henry. In 1188, after paying homage to Philip II for the Continental lands held by his father, Richard and Philip went to war against Henry II. Le Mans, Henry’s place of birth, was captured, Tours fell, and Henry was eventually forced to surrender at Chinon.

Two days later Henry died, some say of a broken heart, after hearing that John, the son who had previously stayed loyal to him, had joined with Philip and Richard.

Henry II’s legacy

Brighter future after the civil war

In 1154 Henry became king of a country whose people had lived through a civil war fought between King Stephen and supporters of the Empress Matilda. Some of the ruling elite might have profited from this but most ordinary folk must have been relieved when the conflict ended, for it allowed them to get on with their everyday lives. Thus, the death of Stephen would have brought a sigh of relief and the crowning of Henry II will have met with cheering and hopes for a brighter future.

Control over the law and finances

With England free from strife Henry could attend to other matters of State. His legislative achievements, merely touched on in this article, were many. The strict control over the Exchequer ensured that money wasn’t wasted or misappropriated by those appointed to collect it. And, all the tenants-in-chief in England bowed to the word and authority of the first king of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Energetic and cunning

Louis VII of France once commented that the King of England seemed to be here, there and everywhere all at the same time. This, of course, would be impossible but when inspecting parts of his empire he did it with great speed. Fortunately for him, he started his reign as a young and fit man, so he would take in his stride the distances covered. Henry had boundless energy, a sharp and educated mind, imagination and vision. However, when the situation demanded it he could be forceful, cunning and manipulative, which, it could be argued, were attributes needed by a 12^th century ruler of both England and lands on the Continent.

Four great lessons

It has been said of Henry II that by the time of his death four great lessons had been instilled into the English people:

One: They had been taught to pay taxes, which is a lesson the French monarchy never succeeded in pressing home;

Two: They had been taught that a crime was an offence against the king’s peace, over which the Curia Regis would have exclusive authority

Three: They had learned that there was one law for whole country, administered by one supreme court, the Curia Regis, with its judges going on circuits throughout the country representing the power of the king; and

Four: they had become aware of the duty of co-operating in various ways in the task of government, either as tenants or citizens, or as jurors for the assessment of taxes, or in the judgement of cases in the county courts.

Over worked

Rather than from a broken heart, the death of Henry II is more likely to have been caused by decades of over-work. All the years of strain and effort involved with governing a complex empire had finally taken their toll.

The post Henry II – his life and coinage appeared first on Detecting Finds.

Stephen becomes king

At the start of December 1135, after a reign of 35 years, King Henry I of England died. In 1127 the leading magnates had all sworn to accept Henry’s daughter, Matilda, as Queen of England when Henry died.

However, in December of 1135 the same magnates must have been having second thoughts. Prior experience had shown that both England and Normandy needed a strong ruler; one who could call upon the support of the all the barons. Did Matilda have the necessary requirements? These doubts and other outstanding questions were speedily settled when Stephen of Blois (nephew and favourite of Henry I), acting with great speed, crossed the Channel and was crowned as king on 22 December 1135.

For a time Stephen’s brother hoped to become Duke of Normandy, which would have raised immediately a situation of divided loyalties. Therefore, most of the Norman barons pledged allegiance to Stephen as King of England and Duke of Normandy. Empress Matilda, widow of Henry V of Germany, was now married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. As could be expected she was not at all happy that Stephen had usurped the throne of England.

The two Matildas

Queen Matilda, Countess of Boulogne

In 1125 Stephen had married Matilda, who was the daughter of and heiress to Eustace, Count of Boulogne. She was the granddaughter of Margaret of Scotland and great, great, great niece of Edward the Confessor, so had Scottish and Anglo-Saxon royal blood in her veins.

Matilda of Boulogne was popular and was tireless in her support for her husband. It was she who organised the events that led to Stephen’s release after his capture at Lincoln. When she died in 1151 Stephen is said to have been heartbroken.

Empress Matilda

The other Matilda was the daughter of Henry I and was known as Empress Matilda (or Empress Maude).

She seems not to have been popular; had she been conciliatory rather than haughty then events might have taken a different course.

War and conflict

King Stephen v King David of Scotland

King David invades

The first problem Stephen had to face did not come from Empress Matilda but from King David of Scotland. In January of 1136 the Scots invaded the north of England. The main reason for this was supposed to be to give support to Matilda’s claim to the throne. However, David might also have seen an opportunity to grab land before the new king had time to consolidate his position, as the Scots had a longstanding claim to Cumbria. Besides being King of Scotland, through his marriage to the daughter of the Earl of Northumberland, David was already and English baron. He had spent much of his youth at the Court of Henry I, where he was influenced by Norman ways and ideas.

Carlisle mint captured

Carlisle and its mint were swiftly captured and this led to the very first Scottish coins being struck. They initially copied the design of the last issue of Henry I but bore David’s name; slightly later coins would copy Stephen’s cross moline (‘Watford’) type.

King Stephen wins Battle of the Stamdard

In February of 1136 the English and Scots came to an agreement, through which the Scots were allowed to hold most of the territory they hade gained and David’s son, Prince Henry, became Earl of Huntingdon. Armed conflict was avoided by this settlement and in 1137 Stephen felt secure enough to cross the Channel to Normandy and enforce his rule on the duchy.

Relations between the English and Scots soon deteriorated and on 22 August 1138 two armies came together in a battle fought at Northallerton, which became known as the Battle of the Standard.

The English were victorious but David I and Prince Henry managed to escape. At this time it was becoming ever more likely that Matilda would be landing in England to pursue her claim to the throne. Being fully aware of this, after the battle Stephen granted the Scots very favourable terms. Rather than losing land, the Scots gained even more when Prince Henry was made Earl of Northumberland. Stephen probably hoped this would placate the Scots and deter them from offering support to Matilda if she arrived in England.

King Stephen v Empress Matilda

It must have seemed to Stephen that as soon as one enemy was pacified he had to contend with another.

Matilda lands in England

Geoffrey of Anjou had already invaded Normandy, so armed men were needed there to protect the duchy. As if this wasn’t enough, Matilda and Robert of Gloucester (an illegitimate son of Henry I) landed at Arundel on the south coast of England, together with 140 knights. Matilda stayed in Arundel Castle but Robert sped off to the West Country to raise more support. This was the start of the period that became know as the anarchy. Every part of England wasn’t involved and armed conflict was sporadic rather than continuous. However, many ordinary folk must have yearned for peace.

Stephen allows Matilda to leave Arundel castle

Stephen besieged Arundel Castle, so Matilda was trapped inside. Curiously, Stephen agreed to a truce, through which Matilda and her household knights were let out and escorted to the south west of England, where she met-up again with Robert.

King Stephen defeated and captured

By 1141 Matilda had the support of the Earls of Gloucester and Chester and of Henry of Blois (Bishop of Winchester and Stephen’s brother).

On 2 February Stephen was defeated in battle and taken prisoner at Lincoln.

For a few months it looked as if Matilda had won. At a council held at Winchester, Bishop Henry said it was the clergy’s prerogative to choose and consecrate a king (or queen). The following day a delegation from London arrived. Instead of agreeing with Bishop Henry they said that King Stephen should be released.

Matilda loses chance of victory

Empress Matilda is then said to have proceeded to London, where she showed her most arrogant face and promptly levied a tax on the city. Not content with upsetting the Londoners, she then quarrelled with the Bishop of Winchester and was expelled from the city. Matilda was determined to take hold of the bishop, so with the aid of Robert of Gloucester and a small army she laid siege to the bishop’s palace, Wolvesey Castle.

Queen Matilda, Stephen’s wife, arrived with a much larger army and surrounded the besiegers. Earl Robert planned to break out and get his half-sister to the safety of Bristol, which was in the hands of her supporters; she managed to escape but Robert was captured. This was a loss that was too great to suffer; there was no other option open but to exchange him for Stephen. With the king free again to organise the war, Matilda’s chance of victory was gone. However, she still possessed enough support to prevent Stephen from gaining total victory.

Matilda retreats to the West Country

The events of 1141 left Matilda in control of the West Country and Oxford, which covered the approaches to Bristol and Gloucester – her main headquarters.

In the winter of 1142 a plan was put together by Stephen to take Oxford with Matilda in it. However, she slipped out with only three knights accompanying her and eventually reached the safety of the West Country.

Count Geoffrey was proclaimed Duke of Normandy

In 1144 Rouen fell and Count Geoffrey was proclaimed Duke of Normandy. Now the leading barons in England who also had land in Normandy were faced with a quandary: who should they support? If they continued to uphold the right of Stephen to be king then their estates across the Channel might be confiscated. If they recognised Geoffrey as Duke then they might loose their English estates. No doubt when the question was asked of them their answer would depend on where they were at the time: in England or in Normandy.

Law and order

Never before 1066 did England have a unified government, nor was there a central court. The local courts of the shire and hundreds were supreme. The shire court was a kind of local Parliament, in that it fulfilled all three functions of government: judicial, executive and legislative. Its officials were the earl, bishop, sheriff and owners of pieces of land – through which they were bound to attend and act as judges at the shire court. The Norman kings saw in the sheriff a useful link between the local administration and themselves and made use of them as royal representatives. However, the power of the sheriffs was sapped by the expanding authority of the Curia Regis (Court of the King).

The Norman idea of government was based upon feudalism. The Anglo-Saxon Witan was little more than a group of great men whose advice the king chose to seek. The Curia Regis was different, in that it was made up of some men summoned by the king but chiefly of those who owed compulsory membership of it by virtue of the fact that the king had made grants of land to them on the understanding that they would perform for him services of various kinds. For example, they might have to provide a certain number of armed men.

The tenants-in-chief (largest landowners) could in turn grant land to lesser tenants, who would have to provide service of one kind or another to their lord. There was a major difference between English and European feudalism. In Europe a man owed allegiance to his immediate superior. However, in England all tenants, no matter what their status, owed allegiance to the king.

Geoffrey de Mandeville

During the period of anarchy the country lacked the strength and authority of a central government. Therefore, some barons did much as they pleased and it was not unusual for them to change sides more than once. Geoffrey de Mandeville is a good example of a turncoat. He initially sided with Stephen, who made him Earl of Essex in 1140. After Stephen’s defeat at Lincoln, Geoffrey switched his allegiance to Matilda. She granted him land and appointed him sheriff of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and London.

However, when Stephen was released from captivity Geoffrey once more pledged allegiance to him. He led a private army of brigands and plundered the countryside at will. In 1143 he was arrested and threatened with execution, so he surrendered two of his castles and the custody of the Tower of London to Stephen. Soon after this Geoffrey rebelled again and used the Isle of Ely and Ramsey Abbey as bases. He met his end in 1144, as a result of being shot by an arrow during a skirmish.

Having already been excommunicated by the Church, the burial of his body at Walden Priory in Essex was denied. His retainers wrapped the body in lead and for some time hawked it round various religious establishments pleading for it to be accepted. Geoffrey was eventually given up to the Templar community in London and his body interred in the Temple Church.

Breakdown in law and order

In other areas, too, some of the barons took advantage of the breakdown in law and order. Few were as ruthless, grasping and untrustworthy as Geoffrey de Mandeville but an English monk, when writing of this period, said: “They greatly oppressed the wretched people by making them work at their castles [mostly built without the permission of the king], and when the castles were finished they filled them with devils and evil men. They then took those whom they suspected to have any goods, by night and by day, seizing both men and women, and they put them in prison for their gold and silver, and tortured them with pains unspeakable, for never were any martyrs tormented as these were.”

The coinage

Had Stephen gained the throne by right then his coinage would probably have been fairly straightforward. In actual fact he usurped the throne. This led to invasions, civil war and barons taking one side or the other.

King Stephen’s coinage

When King Stephen’s official coinage was first classified it was split into seven different types. However, only two (I and VII) were nation-wide issues; type II and VI were struck in eastern England areas under the control of Stephen; the other types (III, IV and V) were struck in small numbers and did not circulate widely. In the case of type I there are several regional varieties. There is also a series of pennies struck from defaced dies, which were once thought to date from the time when Stephen was excommunicated. However, this theory is now believed to be incorrect. 

This type VII penny, minted in Ipswich, was a detecting find from Norfolk in May 2021. It was sold by Spink for £1,500.

Prince Henry of Scotland

At the start of a new reign dies need to be made for making coins. Silver has to be refined, sheets rolled or beaten out and discs cut from them. Then the coins themselves need to be struck and put into circulation. All this takes time and the work might not have been completed when the Scots captured Carlisle and its mint early in 1136. This could explain why the first Scottish pennies struck at Carlisle copied the design of the last type (XV) of Henry I rather than the first type of Stephen. On the obverse they have the name of King David. Later on pennies would be struck bearing the name of David’s son, Prince Henry.

This Prince Henry penny from Carlisle was sold by Spink for £5,200 in 2011.

Baronial Magnate issues

Only the king could authorise the striking of coinage. Despite this, during the anarchy some of the barons on both sides started to make their own coins. This might have been due to a shortage of currency in certain areas, or an exercise in making a profit, or just to advertise their name. Issues attributed to York include coins of Eustace Fitzjohn, Robert de Stuteville, William of Anmale (Earl of York) and Henry Murdac (Archbishop of York) – see my article on a reader’s coin The story of Henry Murdac – a penny of Stephen.

This penny of Robert de Stuteville was a detecting find from North Yorkshire in March 2020. It reads RODBERTVS D S|TV on the obverse. This remarkable issue has been the subject of numismatic debate for over three centuries. The auctioneer, Spink, have written a detailed analysis here.

Maltida’s issues

Coins were also struck at Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford, Wareham and other places in the name of Matilda. The names of her supporters found on coins include Brian Fitzcount, Robert and William of Gloucester, Henry de Neubourg and perhaps Patrick Earl of Salisbury, together with some pennies in the name of King William and King Henry, which may be meant to commemorate previous Norman kings.

This penny of William of Gloucester is thought to have been minted in Sherborne, Dorset. It’s a detecting find from 30 August 2020 at Stalbridge Weston, Dorset. It was recently sold by Spink for $13,000.

William was the son of Robert of Gloucester, who was exchanged for Stephen after the Battle of Winchester.

Numismatic legacy

For those living through the anarchy life must have been hard. For later numismatists the period has left a legacy of a fascinating range of official and unofficial coinage, some of which carry the names of well-known personalities of the period. New varieties continue to turn up and even new names, for a penny of Henry de Neubourg from the Swansea mint was not discovered until fairly recently. When these coins were struck they just represented cash to be spent or hoarded but today they help us to piece together the events of long ago. And, of course, they have turned into sought-after collectors’ pieces.

The final settlement

Stephen attempts to name his son as successor

In 1147 Robert of Gloucester died and in 1148 Matilda retired to Normandy, which by that time had been conquered by her husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet. With her departure the anarchy that had engulfed parts of the realm since 1139 subsided. This, though, did not mean the Stephen’s hold on the throne of England was not undisputed. Matilda’s eldest son, Henry, had first visited England in 1142 but soon returned to the security of his father’s dominions. By 1147 he was 14 years of age and felt confident enough to make his first attempt on the English throne. This failed, as did another in 1149 but when he returned to the Continent his father raised him up to be the Duke of Normandy early in 1150.

The marriage of the French king (Louis VII) to Eleanor of Aquitaine was annulled in 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity (too closely related). Very soon afterwards Eleanor married Henry, which brought him more land, wealth and power.

Stephen held on and tried to ensure the succession of his eldest son Eustace by having him crowned. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald, was head of the English Church and loyal to Stephen but was more concerned for the unity and peace of the kingdom than for the military success of the king. The Church decided against the coronation of Eustace and in 1152 the Pope also forbade it.

Henry becomes king

Henry invaded England again in 1153, this time with a much larger army. A few months later Eustace died. This led to Archbishop Theobald and Bishop Henry of Winchester bringing together the barons who wished for peace. In November an agreement was reached, whereby Stephen would be king until his death (1154) and then his second son would inherit his land and Henry Plantagenet would gain his kingdom. This settlement brought an end to many years of conflict.

King Stephen buried at Faversham Abbey

King Stephen was buried at Faversham Abbey, which he founded in 1148. Queen Matilda and their son, Eustace, were also buried there. Their bones were reportedly thrown into the nearby Faversham Creek when the abbey was demolished.

King Stephen, the last Norman king

Apart from Matilda and her supporters, few people at the time or later had a bad word to say about Stephen. He is variously described as being brave, gallant, capable, loyal and a competent baronial leader.

Stephen’s lack of ruthlessness

Stephen certainly lacked the ruthlessness that seemed to be bred into the first three Norman kings. A prime example is when Matilda was besieged in Arundel Castle. She was allowed to go free with a number of men who would later fight for her claim to the throne. It is highly doubtful that William I, William II or Henry I would have done the same thing. A more likely scenario is that Matilda would have been captured and her men put to death. Matilda herself might then have met with some kind of ‘accident’, by falling from the battlements of Arundel Castle, or being thrown from a horse onto stony ground. Perhaps Stephen released her through a sense of chivalry but if so he would live to regret it.  

King Stephen’s inability to complete a task

Despite his numerous qualities, Stephen had difficulty both in controlling his friends and subduing his enemies. His problems in these two areas could have been due to those selfsame qualities. Yet again, the lack of a streak of ruthlessness might have been his main problem. Whilst he was unlikely to lose the war against Matilda, he was just as unlikely to ever be in a position to win it. Gervase of Canterbury said of him: “It was the king’s custom to start many endeavours with vigour, but to bring few to a praiseworthy end.”

William I to Stephen

On Christmas day of 1066 Duke William of Normandy was crowned King of England shortly after defeating Harold II in battle.

He was succeeded in 1087 by his second son, William, who was killed in 1100 by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest. The third son of the Conqueror, Henry, then took the throne and reigned until 1135. The next king was Henry’s nephew, Stephen, who grasped the throne, even though all the magnates had sworn that they would give allegiance to Matilda, the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry.

Anglo-Saxons and the Normans

As mentioned earlier on in this series, the Anglo-Saxons were a minority. Therefore, when Harold II was defeated in 1066 a minority ruling elite of Anglo-Saxons was replaced by another minority: the Normans. Did England gain or loose from this change?

Norman yoke

Historians refer occasionally to the ‘Norman yoke’. This notion first arose during the Civil Wars of the 1640s and again during the latter part of the 18^th century. It looked upon the ruling elite of England as descendants of foreign usurpers, who had destroyed an Anglo-Saxon golden age. The main supporters of this view were those who wished for radical change in the power structure of England. It was a useful argument during times of unrest, especially during the 1640s and the troubled period near the end of the 18^th century. Whilst it was true that some of those in high positions were of Norman descent, ordinary folk would have been no worse off and could even have been better off than they would have been had there never been a Norman Conquest in 1066.

Language

As a result of the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon tongue was looked upon as the language of ignorant serfs. The clergy spoke Latin and the secular rulers spoke the Norman version of French. However, the ‘language of the ignorant’ would continue to adapt, develop and be refined and would eventually be used by great writers. The famous historian G. M. Trevelyan said: “It [the English language] is symbolic of the fate of the English race itself after Hastings, fallen to rise nobler, trodden under foot only to be trodden into shape.”

Another historian, Henry Ince, when summing up his view of the period from 1066 to 1154, wrote: “England without the Normans would have been mechanical, not artistic – brave, not chivalrous – the home of learning, not of thought – a state governed by its ecclesiastical power, instead of a state controlling the civil influence of its church. We owe to the Normans the builder and the statesman.” Therefore, to Ince the benefits gained through the Norman Conquest outweighed the disadvantages. Some might not agree with him but I’m of the same mind.

The post King Stephen – his life and coinage appeared first on Detecting Finds.

Death of William II

On 2 August 1100, William II was killed by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest. William and his elder brother, Duke Robert of Normandy, had agreed that the land, titles and wealth of whoever died first would be inherited by the survivor. Therefore, Duke Robert should have become King of England.

Henry seizes the throne

Duke Robert of Normandy claim to the throne divides loyalties

At the time of Henry’s coronation Duke Robert of Normandy was returning from the First Crusade. When news reached him that King William II had died, he would look forward to being ruler of both England and Normandy. Quite naturally, he would be infuriated when he heard that his younger brother had grasped the throne.

The problem of divided loyalties arose once more. With Henry as King of England and Robert as Duke of Normandy who should the leading magnates support? All had land in both England and Normandy, so to whom should they pledge their loyalty? Conflict seemed inevitable, so swords would be sharpened and retainers told to ready themselves for battle. Henry had invited Anselm (still the Archbishop of Canterbury) to return to England, in the hope of bringing the Church onto his side.

Henry marries Princess Matilda

The fact that Henry chose a Scottish rather than Continental wife was welcomed by ordinary folk in England. This union would not lead to support from the Scots but would at least ensure that the north would remain peaceful. Henry also managed to negotiate alliances with France and Flanders; neither wanted England and Normandy to be united under an over-mighty ruler, which could have happened had Robert become King of England.

Henry and Duke Robert clash

A second Norman invasion

On 20 July 1101, a fleet of 200 ships landed Duke Robert and an army of followers on the south coast of England. On hearing of this Henry feared not only for his kingdom but for his life. It is said that some of the leading magnates were preparing to desert Henry and go over to Robert. Others had yet to decide which of the two they would give their backing to. Archbishop Anselm was given the task of persuading the magnates to support Henry. He was successful, for few changed sides.

Settlement reached

Robert and Henry eventually met together and a settlement was worked out. Henry surrendered most of his land in Normandy and agreed to pay Robert a large pension of £2,000 per year; in return Robert agreed to recognise Henry as King of England. Thus, open warfare was avoided and Robert and his followers returned to Normandy. However, Henry distrusted some of the barons based in England, for he believed they would have given support to Robert. First and foremost amongst them was the rich and powerful Earl of Shrewsbury (Roger de Montgomery, father of Roger de Poitou), who had several strongholds in England. By the end of 1102 Henry he had stripped him of his land and power in England and the Earl departed to his estates in Normandy

Battle of Tiinchebrai

The settlement of 1101 did not last.

The battle at Tinchebrai was the most important since that fought near Hastings in 1066. Besides securing the position of Henry I, it is significant that a large proportion of those who fought for him were English. This was a true ‘coming together’, a unification of the conquered (in 1066) with the conquerors. William I thought of England as being a possession of Normandy; however, 40 years after 1066 it is likely that Henry I viewed Normandy as a possession of England.

After Tinchebrai Henry knew who he could rely on, for they had fought for him; he also knew the names of his enemies, for they had fought against him. In the months that followed several rebellious magnates were dispossessed and their land given to those loyal to King Henry. With a single person in control of England and Normandy the possibility of conflict between two different rulers could now be avoided. This situation was welcomed by both the king and the major landowners with estates in England and Normandy.

The honour of Eye

The honour of Eye, which was one of the largest landholdings in England, was granted to William Malet by William I. William Malet died in 1071 and the honour then passed to his son, Robert. Soon after the accession to the throne of William II, the new king dispossessed Robert Malet and granted the honour of Eye to Roger de Poitou.

During the reign of William II, Robert Malet was out of favour and spent much of the reign on his estates in Normandy. During this time or perhaps before, Robert became closely associated with Henry Beauclerc. He was in Normandy when William II was killed. He sped back to England and arrived in time for the coronation of Henry on 5 August. Robert became part of the inner circle of advisers to Henry I and held the new office of Master Chamberlain.

When Henry came to the throne Robert and Roger de Poitou would come face to face at the Royal Court. Quite obviously, there would be animosity between the two men; one had lost to the other a great estate in England. It was now Roger de Poitou’s turn to be dispossessed; the honour of Eye was taken from him and granted once more to Robert Malet.

In 1106 Robert died. It is probable that the honour of Eye then fell into the hands of the king. Henry held it for seven years and then granted it to Stephen, his nephew, who at the time was Count of Mortain. Stephen held it until 1135 and then gave it to William of Ypres, who was one of his most able military commanders. Yet again, this shows how the ownership of great estates and the revenue they produced could change hands quite frequently.

The coinage of Henry I

15 types of penny

As during previous reigns, the design of the silver penny was regularly changed. Between 1100 and 1135 there were 15 different types, mostly struck for very few years except the last type, which was issued over a period of ten years. The regular change in design allowed the king to gain a profit each time it happened. The sequence of types was first put forward in 1901 by W. J. Allen; in 1916 the order was changed by G. C. Brooke and over the years other amendments have been made. Coins are still catalogued according to the British Museum Catalogue numbers but the sequence now generally accepted is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 7, 8, 11, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Three examples of a Henry I penny. The Class I and Class IV were sold by DNW in 2020 for £1,200 and £1,400 respectively. A reader sent in the other example. I valued this Class XIV penny at £800 in my article Henry I Penny.

Forgeriess and base metal coins

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, by 1124 “. . . the man who had a pound could not get a pennyworth at a market”. This was because many of the coins in circulation were thought to be forgeries or official coins struck in base metal. All the moneyers (about 150 at the time) were ordered to go to Winchester at Christmas. On the order sent by King Henry from Normandy, those found guilty of false coining were to lose their right hand and be castrated. Around 94 moneyers suffered this awful fate.

I have often wondered who carried out the punishment on the 94 men. It is highly doubtful that there would be an official hand-chopper and castrator, so the job would have been passed down. In overall charge might be a baron, who would tell one of his knights to do it; the knight would then pass it on to a retainer, who in turn would tell an underling to do it. At the end of the line would be someone at the lowest level. He who would be forced into performing a ghastly task 94 times, simply because he had no-one else to pass the job on to.

Were these men guilty of forgery and debasement? The evidence from hoards, present-day collections in private and institutional hands, together with a high number of finds, suggests that most (perhaps all) would be innocent. Many pennies of Henry I are badly struck and have little eye appeal. However, they are full weight, sterling silver and struck from official dies. “I’m innocent!” many of the moneyers must have cried. The poor man designated to mete out the sentence on them might have replied with: “So am I. But if I don’t do what I’ve been ordered to do then they’ll do the same to me.”

Halfpennies

Some round halfpennies were struck during the Anglo-Saxon period but examples are very rare. They were not struck during the Norman period until circa 1108, when halfpennies were issued by several different mints. The first wasn’t discovered until 1950, when it was published by Peter Seaby. However, more than one expert numismatist cast doubt on its authenticity. The coin was unique until 1989 when no less than five more specimens (all different mint and moneyer combinations) turned up. Today the number known will be around 25; all are different and almost all are detecting finds. There are so many different mint and moneyer combinations that the total number of round halfpennies struck could have run into several tens of thousands. They are still extremely rare but in 25 years’ time the number on record will be at least double today’s figure.

Changes in coinage

Late in the reign of King Eadgar (959-75) a new coinage was introduced and became the model for all succeeding reigns. The obverse had a stylised portrait of the king and on the reverse was the name of the moneyer and the mint. However, the type was subject to regular change. The moneyers had to pay one mark (80 pence) annually for their office and one pound when the type was changed, plus a charge for each new pair of dies. Therefore, with the yearly fees and the charge for type changes, the king would reap a good annual profit from the coinage.

After the Norman Conquest, the weight and fineness remained the same. However, William I altered the moneyers’ annual payments to a single tax levied on every borough that had a mint. Savings’ hoards (as opposed to those containing coins of a single type) prove that not all the coins were exchanged when a new type was introduced. For some payments coins of only the current type could be used; therefore, persons who had accumulated savings would exchange only the amount of currency needed for these payments. When around 1125 the periodic change in type was abandoned this would have encouraged people to spend coins of any type. In doing so it might have led to a greater amount of cash being placed into circulation. This would have stimulated the economy, which in turn would have led to an increase in the amount of tax collected for the Exchequer.

Henry’s reign

War and conflict

William I and William II both had to contend with more than one rebellion. Henry I was more fortunate, for after Tinchebrai, apart from a few minor quarrels, England was free from conflict for the rest of his reign.

When a full scale war was being fought the king could raise an army through the feudal obligations of landowners – both secular and spiritual. Once the war was over the commanders, knights and foot soldiers would return to their bases in England or Normandy. However, besides his councillors and others there was a permanent military element in Henry’s Court. The latter has been described as “a professional corps of young knights”; they were well trained, extremely mobile and in Normandy were on a permanent war footing. These men garrisoned the many royal castles in the duchy. When the need arose they took part in battles, including the engagement fought against the French at Bremule in 1119.

If there was a need for more fighting men Henry hired mercenaries. However, this was only for a limited period during the early years of his reign. After Tincherbrai none were required in England and Henry had sufficient strength in Normandy not to need extra men. There can be no doubt that most of Henry’s subjects will have been delighted that peace rather than war prevailed for most of the reign. However, a contemporary chronicler wrote that professional soldiers (mercenaries), especially those from Flanders and Brittany, had “. . . hated King Henry’s peace because under it they had but a scanty livelihood”. These men would flock to England when war broke out during the reign of Stephen.

Law and punishment

I’ve already given an account of the way in which moneyers were punished because of the state of the coinage. Rather than being an isolated case, a sentence of mutilation was commonplace. Those found guilty of a crime could lose their nose, ears, tongue or eyes.

William I had abolished the death penalty, which could be interpreted as an early instance of compassion. Instead, it was because he preferred mutilation and less fatal forms of punishment. Henry I employed all the non-fatal penalties and was not averse to a sentence of death; in 1124 no less than 44 thieves were hanged in a single day.

Trial by combat and trial by ordeal were also used to settle cases. These were obviously useless in establishing guilt or innocence but both methods of trial would not fall out of favour until the reign of Henry II.

Government

The centre of government was the Curia Rigis, the Court of the King. This was made up of the tenants-in- chief (magnates holding land directly from the knig), together with the king’s personal servants and any others that King Henry believed could offer useful input; his servants and the ‘others’ helped to dilute the influence of the often over-mighty magnates. This was the beginnings of a civil administration body that would develop and grow over years to come.

In the counties the sheriffs were important officials of the Crown. The post of sheriff sometimes fell into the hands of powerful magnates but whenever possible King Henry appointed his own men to this post. Besides upholding law and order it was the sheriffs’ responsibility to collect taxes and fines owing to the king. This led to the creation of the Exchequer, whose name derives from the chequered boards used for calculating mathematical equations. Written records were kept on documents known as pipe rolls, so-called because they could be rolled up like a pipe; over the years some grew greatly in size.

Scotland

David I (1124-53) was the youngest son of Malcolm III and succeeded his brother, Alexander I.

Normans were enticed into Scotland with offers of land and titles. One man who took up the offer was Robert de Brus; a descendant of this man would eventually become King Robert I of Scotland in 1306. 

Religion

Henry I was more like his father, in that most of the time he respected the Church. Therefore, his mindset was totally different to William II, who was irreligious and viewed abbeys and churches are places to be plundered for his own profit. However, when Anselm died in 1109 Henry kept the see of Canterbury vacant for five years.

This was a time when reformers were pushing for changes of one kind or another in the Catholic Church. One contentious issue was in regard to the appointment of bishops and abbots. The Pope, seeking to limit secular control, wanted to be in charge of appointments. However, in England the highest ranks in religious establishments were great landowners; therefore, they had to swear loyalty to King Henry and this being so he argued that he should have the last word on appointments. Henry eventually renounced lay investiture but bishops and abbots still had to do homage for their landholdings. Arguments about whether the King of England or the Pope should appoint men to high offices of the Church would continue into other reigns.

Prince William

When Henry’s wife, Matilda, died in 1118 he had only one legitimate son – William. In 1119 William married the daughter of the Count of Anjou. In doing so this secured a useful political and military alliance.

White Ship disaster

Tragedy struck in November of 1120, when a ship carrying William and other noble men and women was wrecked off the coast of France. There was only one survivor: a butcher, who had managed to cling to the mast until help arrived. Henry was devastated by this loss.

He married Adelaide of Louvain three months later but their union was to remain childless.

Matilda

His daughter, Matilda, was married to Henry V, Emperor of Germany. In 1125 Henry V died but by then Matilda was well settled in Germany and would probably have lived out her life there. However, a daughter was useful for creating alliances, so Henry recalled her to England.

In 1128, much to her displeasure, Matilda was married off to the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. This strengthened an alliance already in place. However, this worried many Norman barons, as it could eventually lead to England and Normandy being ruled by the Angevin who had married King Henry’s daughter. Geoffrey asked that some key Norman castles be given over to his custody but Henry refused. In the summer of 1135, after a period of peace and tranquillity, the two parties went to war. In December of the same year Henry I died.

Henry’s legacy

It could be argued that Henry should never have been king, for he had an elder brother with a better claim to the throne. If the death of William II was an accident, then Henry had been a very lucky man. He grasped the throne, successfully negotiated a compromise with his brother Robert, and then defeated and imprisoned him in 1106. A few ups and downs followed but Henry held England and Normandy together. He must have hoped that the same situation would continue under his daughter.

Henry had the attributes necessary for a strong king. He could be ruthless when the occasion called for it and generous to those who supported him. He was genuinely fond of his children, both legitimate and illegitimate – the most distinguished of the latter being Robert, Earl of Gloucester. Most contemporary chroniclers speak well of him but Henry of Huntingdon, after listing three gifts of ‘wisdom, victory and riches’ said they were offset three vices of ‘avarice, cruelty and lust’. William I and William II both accumulated a great deal of treasure. However, the difference between those two and Henry is that he managed to hold on to most of it.

On hearing of the king’s death, the major landowners must have been restless at the thought of Matilda and her Angevin husband becoming the next rulers. Not for the first time, swords would be being sharpened and retainers told to be ready for action.

The post Henry I – his life and coinage appeared first on Detecting Finds.

France

Truce between England and France ends

The truce, between England and France, signed in 1444, lasted until 1449, when it was broken by a foolhardy English raid into Brittany. When the English refused to pay reparations Charles VII declared war. By now the French armies were better organised and equipped and their commanders had learnt lessons the hard way through past English victories. The design and performance of artillery had progressed and cannons proved to be a crucial element in some of the forthcoming battles. And, the French people were now more nationalistic and tired of the seemingly unending conflict caused through English aggression.

England loses control of Normandy

By August of 1450 the English had lost the whole of Normandy. This catastrophic turn of events, brought about in part through help given to the French by the people of Normandy, was totally unexpected in England. In actual fact it should have come as no surprise. The English army in France had for some time been short of men and supplies. This was mostly due to the Crown now being in debt to the tune of £400,000 when its yearly income amounted to less than £30,000. Additionally, the English had met with most success when they were allied with the Burgundians; however, when the Duke of Burgundy sided with Charles VII, the English were far less likely to become masters of France.

The blame for the loss of Normandy fell upon the shoulders of the Duke of Suffolk. He had made enemies in all classes by his greed in amassing land and offices and the inefficiency of his administration. He was thought to have had a hand in the murder of Duke Humphrey, known to have given away the province of Maine, and believed to have been responsible for costly losses in France.

Murder of the Duke of Suffolk

Hundred Years War ends

A year after the fall of Normandy it was followed by the loss of Gascony. An attempt in July of 1453 by Lord Talbot to retake Gascony ended in total failure. The English army was torn to pieces by entrenched artillery and Talbot himself ended up dead on the battlefield.

Though free from the English, generations had suffered through the privations caused by such a long war. It would take France some time to fully recover. When it eventually did so it would outstrip England in its power and world prestige.

Henry has a mental breakdown

In June and July King Henry had been spending some time in Wiltshire. Whilst there he had a mental breakdown. Whether or not this was due to the grave news from France is uncertain. The king’s memory failed, he couldn’t walk and he recognised no-one. Thus, England had lost not only France but its king.

Background to political intrigues and factions

England was to become subject to a power struggle between the Lancastrian, Edmund Beaufort (Duke of Somerset), and the Yorkist, Richard Plantagenet (Duke of York).

The rivalry between Duke Edmund and Duke Richard was to be a leading cause of the Wars of the Roses.

Edmund, Duke of Somerset

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of King Edward III, had three sons with his mistress, Catherine Swynford. John eventually married his mistress and their children were legitimised. They were known as Beaufort, so-named after the castle in which they were brought up in France. When they grew up, the Beaufort men speedily became rich and powerful. Henry Beaufort became Bishop of Winchester, a Cardinal, and for a time he was Lord Chancellor of England.

Henry’s brother, John Beaufort (died 1410), was Marquis of Somerset and had two sons. His elder son John was Duke of Somerset until his death in 1444. His younger son Edmund was created Duke of Somerset in 1448.

John’s daughter, Jane, married King James I of Scotland and through them descend the Scottish royal line. The Beauforts descend directly from Edward III. However, by an Act of 1407 they were barred from succession to the throne.

Richard, Duke of York

Richard becomes Duke of York

In 1415 the Earl of Cambridge was executed for his role in a plot against Henry V; in the same year the Duke of York was killed at Agincourt. The dukedom of York eventually passed to Richard, the son of the executed Earl of Cambridge. However, being only a child in 1415, it would be some time before he took control of the land and wealth that went with the title. In 1417, the wardship of Richard was granted to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland; in 1424, aged 13, Richard was betrothed to Cecily Neville, who was aged just nine. In May of 1426 he was knighted by John, Duke of Bedford, and formally restored to the duchy of York. In 1429 he married Cecily and on 12 May 1432 he came into his inheritance and was granted full control of the vast Yorkist estates.

Duke Richard becomes Lieutenant of Ireland

In Henry VI Part One, I gave details about the activities of the Duke of York, including his command of the English forces in France. By the time he returned to England in 1445, Duke Richard’s views on the poor conduct of the war and the corrupt members of the government were well known. In 1447 he was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland. After spending a good deal of time sorting out his financial affairs, he landed in Ireland with a small army in June of 1449.

The Beaufort faction no doubt thought that any influence he had in England or France would be diluted if he was packed off to Ireland. His appointment was for ten years, which would rule him out of any Office of State in England for a whole decade. He had distinguished himself in France during his tenure as commander of the forces there, and his administrative and diplomatic skill over the Channel had proved to be second to none.

On his arrival in Ireland several Irish chieftains submitted to him and he gained the goodwill of the people by crushing some of the lawless elements. Once again, he had shown that he was a wise and capable leader of men. Many of those in high places had already taken note of Duke Richard’s strengths.

Uprising in Kent

In June and July of 1450 a rising took place in Kent, which the Lancastrians suspected had Yorkist support. Jack Cade, an experienced soldier, was the leader. After gathering together a very large following he marched on London and was admitted to the city.

Duke Richard returns to England

It was one thing to complain about the state of affairs in England but leadership was needed to bring about change. In the divisive politics of England, Duke Richard had remained neutral but in 1450 he returned from Ireland without permission and landed on Anglesey. As the king had no children, Richard’s lineage gave him the right to be named as heir to the throne of England. Perhaps he was worried that Beaufort sympathisers would manage to annul the Act of 1407. If this happened then Duke Edmund would have a superior claim.

Duke Richard marched on London and on route many others joined him. After an unsatisfactory meeting with the king on 27 September, Duke Richard continued to recruit followers in East Anglia and elsewhere. At this time the violence was so bad in London that Duke Edmund, back in the city after the loss of Normandy, had to be locked up in the Tower for his own safety.

England divides into two factions

By now England had divided itself into two factions. Duke Richard’s platform was that of a reformer, demanding better government and the removal and prosecution of those responsible for the loss of English possessions in France. The other faction was supposedly that of the king but actually of the Beauforts. It now had Duke Edmund (Duke of Somerset) at its head and in control of the government and could be said to support the status quo. The growing animosity between the Lancastrians and Yorkists does in no way mean a dispute between two English counties. The north, including York, supported the Lancastrian cause whilst Yorkist support came from the midlands and south of England. However, there were some overlaps.

Duke Richard moves back to Ludlow

During a Parliamentary session in 1451 Thomas Young, a member of the Commons, proposed that Duke Richard should be declared heir to the throne. When Parliament dispersed Young was promptly arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Some reforms were made in the name of Henry VI, which helped both to restore public order and improve the royal finances. Duke Edmund was released from the Tower in April of 1451 and given the lucrative position of Captain of Calais.

Richard marches on London

Disgusted by government’s failure to remedy its defects, in 1452 Duke Richard marched from Shrewsbury to London with a large army. However, the gates of the city were locked and he was refused entry. He then moved to Kent, perhaps hoping that the men who had supported Jack Cade would now rally to the Yorkist cause but this didn’t happen. Civil war seemed imminent. Duke Richard now had some nobles on his side but the powerful Earl of Warwick and others were with the king.

After several parleys at Dartford, Richard dispersed his forces and bowed down before King Henry. He assured him of his loyalty but at the same time demanded better government. The duke was taking a great chance, for this was an opportunity for his enemies to slay him. However, his enemies knew what his death could lead to.

King Henry forms new Council, led by the Duke Edmund

The cause that Duke Richard stood for was supported by the Commons and a huge section of the population of England; additionally, his young son (Edward, Earl of March) had a second army manoeuvring on the Welsh border. The eventual outcome was a promise by the king that a new Council would be formed and Richard would be a member. The Court had to choose who would be head of the Council. Queen Margaret, already antagonistic to anyone favourable to Yorkist policy, decided in favour of the Duke Edmund. For more than a year Edmund was head of affairs in both England and France.

Duke Edmund imprisoned

The loss of Gascony could have led to the immediate downfall of the Duke Edmund. However, he managed to hold on until December of 1453, when the Council ordered that he should be imprisoned in the Tower. When King Henry lost his mind in July the queen was pregnant. To many, this must have seemed nothing less than a miracle. With her husband totally unable to function as king, Queen Margaret hoped to be appointed Protector of the Realm. She was opposed by Duke Richard, who wished to be responsible for England whilst the king was incapacitated. In October the queen gave birth to a son.

Duke of York appointed as Protector of the Realm

In March of 1454 the Lord Chancellor (John Kemp, Archbishop of York) died and this made government in the name of Henry VI impossible, for only the king could appoint a successor. Despite opposition from the queen, the Duke Richard was appointed as Protector of the Realm and Chief Councillor five days after the death of Kemp. The post of Chancellor was given to the Earl of Salisbury (Richard Neville) and thereafter the Neville family would support the Yorkist cause. It is said that these changes led to an immediate improvement in the administration; one element that was particularly welcomed was the clamp-down on lawlessness

The lead up to the end game

King Henry recovers

At a time when most disputes had been settled and England seemed now to be enjoying a popular and fair government, in January of 1455 King Henry recovered from his spell of insanity. To quote one historian: if Henry’s insanity had been a tragedy, his recovery was a national disaster. With the king back at the helm, no time was lost in ridding the government of Duke Richard and his Yorkist supporters. Duke Edmund, who had been languishing in the Tower, was released and his influence over the king was as strong as ever. Edmund and Queen Margaret now ruled supreme. It was obvious that they and their adherents would attempt to bring down Duke Richard.

Yorkists defeat Lancastrians at St Albans

Duke Richard retired to Sandal in Yorkshire. He was joined by the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, together with several other nobles. Duke Edmund was denounced as the man responsible for the losses in France and it was said that he would now ruin England. Duke Richard and his supporters took up arms and marched south. Many more men, led by Yorkist sympathisers, headed to the pre-arranged meeting point of St Albans.

The king, queen, Somerset and others of the Lancastrian party, numbering less than 3,000 men, moved to meet them. The king’s army reached St. Albans first and set up a barrier on the main street. The Yorkists did not wait for reinforcements; instead, they advanced.

Duke Richard becomes Constable of England

However, the victors assured the king of their devotion. He was escorted to London and Duke Richard made himself Constable of England. The king was held prisoner and when Parliament met in November it was announced that Henry had lapsed into insanity. Duke Richard took on the role of Protector but resigned the post when King Henry recovered early in 1456.

Uneasy truce

The Lancastrian party was still made up of the majority of English nobles and a few months after the St. Albans debacle they were as strong as ever. Attempts were made at conciliation but there were risings in various parts of the country and bloodshed was not unusual.    

The years from 1456 to 1459 made up a period of uneasy truce. However, both sides must have realised that a settlement would eventually have to be made and this may well be through armed conflict. In 1459 fighting broke out again. A gathering at Worcester of armed Yorkists dispersed and the leaders fled when a royal army arrived. Perhaps not wanting to be responsible for a full scale civil war, Duke Richard retired to Ireland.

Duke Richard being named heir to the throne

July of 1460 marked the start of the real end game. Whilst Duke Richard was still in Ireland, Yorkist lords under the command of the Earl of Warwick came to grips with a Lancastrian army at Northampton. When the battle started Lord Grey, in command of a Lancastrian wing, went over to the Yorkists and this led to the royal army fleeing in panic. King Henry was captured again and taken to London. An agreement was reached through which Henry would remain king for life but when he died Richard of York would become king. This, of course, ignored the fact that Queen Margaret and her son were at liberty.

Duke Richard dies at the Battle of Wakefield

Richard’s son Edward, becomes Duke of York

However, the Yorkist cause was now taken up by a new generation in their twenties: the sons of the Dukes of York and Salisbury. Richard’s son, Edward, now became Duke of York.

Earlier in 1460 Roxburgh Castle in Scotland had been in the possession of the English for some time. Taking advantage of the civil war that had erupted in England, the castle was captured by the Scots.

Duke Edward’s first success

At Mortimer’s Cross near Hereford on 2 February 1461 the new Duke of York (Edward) had his first opportunity to exact revenge. Edward was victorious in a battle where no quarter was given. Amongst those executed in the aftermath was Sir Owen Tudor.

Lancastrian success at St Albans

On 17 February at St. Albans another battle took place. Duke Edward had been heading there to meet up with the Earl of Warwick. However, Warwick’s army was defeated before Edward arrived. Warwick and the Duke of Norfolk managed to escape but half the Yorkish army was slaughtered and many important captains put to death the following day. King Henry, who had been held by Warwick, was now back in the hands of Queen Margaret. Flushed with success and reunited with the king, the Lancastrians headed north.

Duke Edward marches on London and declared king

Hearing of the defeat inflicted on Warwick, Duke Edward was now heading for London; when he reached Oxfordshire he was joined by Warwick and the survivors from St. Albans. On entering London the Yorkists received an enthusiastic welcome. The pretext of acting in the name of the Crown would no longer suffice. They were nothing less than rebels and traitors to the present regime.

King Edward IV marches north

Edward, now acknowledged as King Edward IV of England, marched north to meet what would be likely to be the largest Lancastrian army ever formed. The advance guard was beaten back at Ferry Bridge (now Ferrybridge) in Yorkshire and the Earl of Warwick was wounded. However, the bridge was eventually taken and the whole of the Yorkist army passed over.

Battle of Towton

The following day, 29 March 1461, the two armies came together at Towton, which is near Tadcaster. Estimates of strength vary but the total number of men involved could have been as high as 100,000. Some sources say more but even with 100,000 the contours of the land at Towton would make it extremely difficult to direct a battle. The Lancastrians thought they had chosen a good position and the battle started before the Yorkist army was complete, as the Duke of Norfolk’s contingent was still on its way. The wind drove a blinding snowstorm into the faces of some of the Lancastrians. This not only covered the Yorkist advance but assisted the flight of their arrows.

All the Lancastrian nobles and knights were killed at Towton, either in battle or through the executions afterwards. Queen Margaret and her son escaped to York, where they gathered up King Henry and then sped north and crossed the border into Scotland.

Signet ring at the British Museum

In the British Museum there is a very large and heavy gold signet ring on show in the same display case as the Fishpool Hoard (here’s my article on the Fishpool Hoard). The ring was found (during the 19^th century or before) at Towton and might have belonged to Henry Percy (third Earl of Northumberland) who died during the battle or soon afterwards due to the severity of his wounds.

Edward crowned king

On 28 June 1461 Edward of York was crowned king at Westminster. The Yorkist triumph was heralded as being complete. Edward Plantagenet, head of the House of York, was now on the throne. However, the previous king, queen and heir to the throne were still alive. How long would such a strange situation be allowed to last?

Henry VI

Losing almost all England’s possessions in France

Henry VI reigned over a period during which England lost almost all its possessions in France. This could be put down as unfortunate. Had it not come about during his reign it would have been bound to happen later. Henry V had been very lucky to triumph against the odds at Agincourt. Later victories were with the support of Burgundy. When its duke changed sides and gave support to the French king it was just a matter of time before the English were pushed out of France. England was reasonably prosperous but it simply could not afford the huge cost of a prolonged war over the Channel. Parliament was aware of this fact but the ruling elite clung too long to the costly dream of the King of England also being King of France.

The Norman and early Plantagenet kings probably thought of themselves as more French than English. However, by the 15^th century, even though they would still have liked to rule land across the Channel, kings would regard themselves as being purely English.

Misguided loyalties

Henry VI could be loyal but to the wrong people. When he came of age, his closest friends, the Beauforts and their associate the Earl (later Duke) of Suffolk, simply did not have the diplomatic and military skill that was required. Even when it became obvious that high positions in the government of England had fallen into the hands of men more interested in their own aims than the needs of their country, Henry did nothing to remedy the situation.

Duke Richard turned into an enemy

However, by that time Queen Margaret was the power behind the throne; instead of looking upon Duke Richard as a loyal subject she viewed him as a contender for the throne. By treating him as an enemy she eventually turned him into one. 

Lawlessness

By the time Henry VI came to the throne the civil service had grown to be very large. It included clerks, lawyers, accountants and secretaries, together with their assistants and helpers. Even during the periods of strife, when there was contention and dispute about the highest offices of State, the civil service continued to function. However, in the wider sphere, the sheriffs and justices of the peace in the provinces were incapable of upholding the law against the many nobles who had their own private armies.

A Statute passed by Parliament in 1429 restricted the right to vote in parliamentary elections to men owning freehold property worth at least £2 per year in rent. This Statute came into being as it was thought men “of little substance or worth” should not be allowed to take part in something as important as election. The necessary amount of wealth, £2, would remain the same until the Reform Act of 1832.

Unsuited to the position of king

Had he had an elder brother then the man who became Henry VI would never have been king. He could have lived out his life contentedly, perhaps as a monk in one of the many religious institutions. Sadly, for himself and his country, he was the only son of Henry V. He became king when less than one year old. Therefore, a man totally unsuited to the stresses and strains of kingship came to rule over England, which at the best of times needed a strong hand at its helm.

Henry VI coins

For a guide on how to identify the various coin issues of Henry VI have a look at Quick Quiz #5 – Henry VI Issues

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On 9 September 1087, William I, King of England and Duke of Normandy died, aged 60. He was buried in the abbey he had founded at Caen.

His second son, William Rufus ((known as Rufus because of his ruddy complexion) was always loyal to his father and raised a magnificent tomb over his grave.

Successor to William I

William I inherited the title of Duke of Normandy from his father, Robert the Magnificent. He was crowned King of England on 25 December1066, after defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

When he died, William I had three sons, William Rufus, Robert the eldest and Henry, the youngest. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc was the most trusted councillor of William I. He carried out the instructions spelled out to him by William I, as he lay on his deathbed.

William Rufus and perhaps Henry, too, had been with the Conqueror when he died but Robert was at the court of his father’s enemy: King Philip of France. Robert was rebellious at times and relations with his father had often been strained. It was only after Archbishop Lanfranc had pleaded his case that Robert was left the Duchy of Normandy.

Division of estate presents dilemma for nobles

Besides holding vast estates in England, the leading magnates also owned land in Normandy. When a single person was both King of England and Duke of Normandy the possibility of divided loyalty did not arise.

However, when the king was one man and the duke another, who would be obeyed? In matters English it would be the king and in matters Norman it would be the duke. But what if one of these men interfered with matters relating to the other? In such a case, if a magnate held land in Normandy and in England, then whose side should he be on?

The dilemma was summed up by the new king’s uncle, Odo of Bayeux, who is recorded as saying: “How can we give proper service to two mutually hostile and distant lords?”

Losers and winners

A change of king would lead to a change in fortune for some Norman barons.

Land taken from one baron to another

I mentioned when writing about William I that William Malet, who had fought alongside the Conqueror on 14 October 1066, had been entrusted with a disposal of the body of Harold II. Malet was eventually rewarded with the honour of Eye (several manors in Suffolk and elsewhere), which was one of the largest land holdings created after 1066. In 1086 it was worth £600 a year and extended into nine counties. William Malet died around 1071 and the honour of Eye passed to his son, Robert.

The coinage

The coinage of William II is very similar in appearance to that of his father. The weight and silver content are the same but the standard of striking is not quite as good as it was during the reign of William I. In some cases the letters are less skilfully entered into the dies and II can be A, H, M, N or V (for U); this can cause problems when trying to interpret the name of a mint and/or the moneyer. There are five types of pennies, each differentiated by the bust on the obverse and the design within the inner circle on the reverse. In addition, there is some doubt as to whether the last type of William I (BMC VIII) was in fact a coin of William II.

Over 60 different mints struck coins of William II. They are rarer than those of William I, which points towards a lower output of pennies after 1087. Most known specimens are from old collections or are single finds. Very few hoards have contained pennies of William II.

Revolts and expansion

Revolt by supporters of Duke Robert

In 1088 there was a revolt in England led by supporters of Duke Robert. However, after Robert failed to set foot in England, William II took swift and decisive action against the rebels and thereby secured his position.

Normans move into Scotland and Wales

Normans had now started to move slowly into Scotland and Wales and through a combination of bribery, diplomacy and military action the influence of the relatively new King of England spread. In 1089 William laid claim to Normandy and managed to gain the support of many barons. In 1095 Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, led a rebellion. It received little support from the other leading magnates and was soon suppressed.

Crusade called for by Pope Urban II

Due to a decrease of support through William’s plotting, by 1096 Duke Robert’s position had become precarious. He was glad to join the crusade called for by Pope Urban II. To finance this enterprise he pawned Normandy to his brother William for 10,000 marks (1,600,000 English silver pennies). At this time the crusading spirit was strong. Turks were pressing the Byzantine Empire and harassing Christian pilgrims. After an appeal from the Byzantine Emperor, Pope Urban called upon European powers to take the crusading cross.

No doubt the Byzantine Emperor was relieved when this great host moved on. There was hard fighting through Turkish held lands. On the Syrian coast the Crusaders met up with a fleet of ships commanded by an English prince – Edgar, great nephew of Edward the Confessor. On 14 July 1099 Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders. Godfrey de Bouillon was acclaimed as ruler and a mixed international body of knights would hold the city for close to a century.

Lands recovered and borders strengthened

From 1096 onwards, as well as being King of England, William was de facto Duke of Normandy. Land had been lost under the slack rule of Robert, so his brother set about regaining it. By 1099 he had not only strengthened the borders of Normandy but had also recovered Maine. This shared a border with Normandy and had been conquered by William I in 1063 but then lost to Hugh V in 1069. All this helped to reduce the problem of divided loyalties in both England and Normandy.

Some historical accounts describe William II as a pale shadow of his father. However, in military terms, in both England and in Normandy, he enjoyed a good deal of success. In diplomatic and political terms too, he proved to be able and wise, though cunning might better describe him. These are all things secular but in matters spiritual it is impossible to defend some of his actions.

William II and the Church

Some said that William II looked upon churches and abbeys as being establishments that he could plunder at will for the royal treasury. Most accounts of the period were written by monks, who were not afraid to point out the shortcomings of their king in terms of his attitude to religion. Amongst other things, some contemporaries accused him of blasphemy. A later historian even suggested he was a devil-worshipper.

What is certainly true is that he was very slow to appoint new bishops and abbots. At the time of his death in 1100, William I enjoyed the revenues of three bishoprics and twelve abbeys. Ranulf Flambard, previously a councillor to William I and advisor to Duke Robert of Normandy, became William II’s ‘enforcer’ of financial demands. For his expertise at wringing cash from various sources, Flambard was rewarded in 1099 by being made Bishop of Durham.

Lanfranc of Pavia, Archbishop of Canterbury

When he thought the situation warranted it, William I could be hard and ruthless. Nevertheless, he took religion seriously and interfered minimally in Church affairs.

Anselm of Bec appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

After Lanfranc died, the most outstanding figure in the Anglo-Norman Church was Anselm of Bec. He is said to have been admired and loved, even by his enemies. Everyone expected Anselm to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. However, he did not want the office, as he argued he was too old and that he could not cope with the unruly son of William I. Then William II fell ill and believed he was dying. This coincided with a visit to England by Anselm in 1092-93. Thinking that his illness could be divine retribution for his irreligious actions, he begged Anselm to accept the archbishopric. Despite his misgivings, Anselm agreed to become Archbishop of Canterbury.

William II recovered and soon began to fall out with his new archbishop. Disputes between the two men were almost continuous. Anselm eventually decided that his position was untenable. He left England and spent the reminder of William’s reign either at the papal court or with the Archbishop of Lyons.

Battle Abbey

This may have had something to do with William II’s love of his father and/or the abbey’s link to the Norman Conquest. Whatever the case, at least one group of monks would look back on him with fondness.

The death of William II

In the high summer of 1100, Robert was on his way back from the crusade and was about to marry a rich bride. This would have given him enough wealth to pay off the 10,000 marks he had received when he pawned his duchy to William II. But is that what William would have wanted? Or, having been in control of Normandy since 1096 and having strengthened it and retaken Maine, would William have wanted to keep it? We will never know what might have happened, for on the second day of August 1100 William was killed by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest.

William killed in a hunting accident

Henry succeeds William as King of England

Soon after the death of William I, his two eldest sons, Robert and William II, had agreed that one or the other should be the heir of whoever died first. Therefore, in 1100 Robert should have been the new King of England.

When Henry and his men reached Winchester, William de Breteuil pointed out that Robert was alive and should therefore be king. However, when Henry argued that he was the only son born after the coronation of William I of England, he was allowed to transport the royal treasure to London.

Mystery surrounding William’s death

Had it been thought that Tirel purposely killed William then it is likely that his faithful knights would have sought revenge and hunted him down. That this didn’t happen raises doubts about his death. One chronicler wrote that William himself shot the arrow, which killed him when it was deflected. Another account says that he fell onto an arrow. Tirel is reported as saying he was in another part of the forest when William was shot. This was said when Tirel was on his deathbed, a time when he was likely to tell the truth. Therefore, whilst it is certain that William was killed by an arrow, the circumstances surrounding this event will forever be shrouded in mystery.

William II, 1087-1100

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The marriage of Henry V and Catherine, daughter of Charles VI of France, led in 1421 to the birth of a son, who was given the same name as his father. When Henry V died on 31 August 1422 his son, then aged only nine months, became Henry VI of England. Two months later, on the death of Charles VI, the child was proclaimed King of France.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, became Protector of England and John, Duke of Bedford, was appointed Regent of France and commander of the English army.

These two men, both brothers of Henry V, together with a Great Council made up of members of the most powerful families, were left to carry on the work of a well-loved king now dead.

Childhood

Henry VI proved to be strong in neither mind nor body. He received a thorough education and is said to have been mild, virtuous and pious; he was fond of literature and (surprisingly) of the hunt. Sadly, he inherited the physical weakness of some of those belonging to the House of Lancaster and through his mother the mental instability of Charles VI of France. When he was young his shortcomings could be overlooked, as others were responsible for running the country. However, when he was older he was expected to rule as a king should rule. Unfortunately, throughout his life Henry VI was swayed from one side to another by powerful nobles with agendas of their own. Henry’s mother played little part in the education and upbringing of her son. This was left mostly to others in the royal circle.

Catherine and Sir Owen Tudor

In the late 1420s the widowed Catherine developed a relationship with a handsome Welsh courtier, Sir Owen Tudor, with whom she had four children: three sons and a daughter. When Catherine died in 1437 Sir Owen was arrested and imprisoned. He escaped in 1438 but was recaptured and held in Windsor Castle.

The following year he received a general pardon from Henry VI and was reunited with his lands and possessions. Additionally, he was granted a pension and given a position in the king’s Court. In 1442 two of Sir Owen’s sons (the third is believed to have been a monk), Edmund and Jasper, both half-brothers of Henry VI on the maternal side, were also welcomed into the king’s circle. Later, in 1452, Edmund was created Earl of Richmond and Jasper Earl of Pembroke. Both proved to be loyal to Henry VI and were steadfast supporters of Lancastrian policy and interests. 

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Cnut married Emma (daughter of the Duke of Normandy) and their only son was Harthacnut. Emma had previously been married to Aethelred II and their union produced a son – Edward, who spent 25 years in Normandy. As could be expected, this man became more Norman than English and was unknown to most of the people in the land of his birth. However, Edward joined the household of Harthacnut in 1040. Harthacnut died in 1042 and his half-brother, Edward, was chosen as the next king by the leading nobles in England.

Edward, later known as ‘the Confessor’, married Edith, who was the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex – the most powerful man in England. For some time the new king was dominated by Godwin, whose family was enriched by great estates. As could be expected, this annoyed some of the other great earls, including Leofric of Mercia and Siward of Northumbria. Additionally, in Edward’s court were many of his Norman friends and they, too, regarded Godwin as being over-mighty.

In 1051 Edward felt confident enough to take action and Earl Godwin and his family were sent into exile. Soon afterwards Edward is said to have designated William Duke of Normandy as his successor. This spell of success proved to be brief, for in 1052 popular support restored Godwin. This led to Normans being driven from Edward’s court and terms being dictated to the king. The following year Earl Godwin died and his son, Harold, became Earl of Wessex.

Edward died in January of 1066 and Harold was anointed King Harold II of England. A strong hand was needed, as England was now threatened by Harold of Norway and William of Normandy. If William attacked then it would be somewhere on the south coast, so many men were sent to watch out for invaders.

Before moving on I’ll provide some details about William’s life leading up to 1066 in the following pages:

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