Medieval

An Introduction to Medieval England (1066–1485)

Duke William of Normandy’s resounding triumph over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 marked the dawn of a new era. The overthrow of the Saxon kingdom of England was to transform the country the Normans conquered, from how it was organised and governed to its language and customs – and perhaps most visibly today, its architecture.

William I seated on his throne, depicted in the late 12th-century Battle Chronicle, written by the monks of Battle Abbey.
William I seated on his throne, depicted in the late 12th-century Battle Chronicle, written by the monks of Battle Abbey
© British Library Board (Cotton Domitian A.II f.22)

NORMAN RULE

William and his knights, and the castles they built, transformed England and helped impose Norman rule. Norman clergy dominated the Church, and monasteries and churches were constructed in the new Romanesque or Norman style of architecture.

William’s survey of England, Domesday Book (1086), recorded a land governed by feudal ties. Every level of society was under an obligation of service to the class above. Punitive forest laws protected the royal hunting preserves, and reinforced the new regime.

NORMANS AND ANGEVINS

However, baronial revolts plagued the Conqueror and his son, William Rufus (r.1087–1100).

William’s youngest son, Henry I (r.1100–35), brought peace and administrative and legal reform. But the country descended into chaos and civil war when Henry’s nephew Stephen (r.1135–54) was crowned king, despite the rival claim of Henry’s daughter Matilda.

Order was restored by Matilda’s son, Henry II (r.1154–89), the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet kings. A monarch of boundless energy and ungovernable rages, he travelled constantly through his vast dominions, stretching from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. The many fortresses he raised included Dover Castle, which was rebuilt partly as a splendid stopover on the road to Canterbury and the shrine of his ‘turbulent’ priest, St Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral by Henry’s knights in 1170.

Henry’s later reign was clouded by his fraught relationship with his sons and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. When he died in France in 1189 he was at war with his eldest son, Richard, who had joined forces against him with the French king.

Reconstruction drawing of the siege of Dover Castle in 1216, during the civil war between King John and his English barons. Here, French forces, supporting John’s enemies, undermine the castle’s northern defences.
Reconstruction drawing of the siege of Dover Castle in 1216, during the civil war between King John and his English barons. Here, French forces, supporting John’s enemies, undermine the castle’s northern defences.
© English Heritage (drawing by Peter Dunn)

MAGNA CARTA

Richard I ‘the Lionheart’ (r.1189–99) was always abroad or on crusade. His younger brother John (r.1199–1216) was forced by his barons to sign Magna Carta (the ‘Great Charter’), which was intended to limit his powers, in 1215. But ultimately he ignored it. His incensed barons invited Prince Louis of France to invade in May 1216. John died in October 1216, with his nine-year-old son, Henry, assuming the throne in the midst of French invasion.

Louis conquered almost all of south-eastern England (though not Dover Castle), but retreated in 1217 after defeats in the Battle of Sandwich and in the streets of Lincoln.

Floor tile in the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey depicting the three lions of England
Heraldic floor tile in the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey depicting the three lions of England, Henry III’s coat of arms. The shield is flanked by centaurs and wyverns (beasts with dragons’ heads and serpents’ tails)

KINGS, BARONS AND FAVOURITES

The long reign of Henry III (r.1216–72) saw further baronial unrest, from the late 1250s headed by Simon de Montfort. But after de Montfort’s death at the Battle of Evesham (1265) and the long siege of Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, rebellion was finally suppressed. This was a time when chivalric ‘heraldry’ blossomed, enhanced by the craze for legends of King Arthur.

Edward I (r.1272–1307), another great castle-builder, united his barons behind the conquest of Wales (1277–84) and his attempts on Scotland. His Scottish policy proved disastrous for his less warlike son Edward II (r.1307–27), though, whose defeat at Bannockburn (1314) was followed by Scots raids far south of the border.

The king’s devotion to his low-born ‘favourites’, Piers Gaveston and then the Despenser family, enraged his barons. So when Edward’s spurned wife, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, invaded from France in 1326, they quickly gained support. Edward was forced to renounce the throne in favour of his 14-year-old son, and was almost certainly brutally murdered at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

Although Isabella and Mortimer initially governed, Edward III (r.1327–77) assumed control in his own right in 1330, ousting his mother and executing her lover.

Edward was a great warrior king, winning victories in France at Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356) during the early years of what was later known as the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). His armies included archers using longbows, which became the dominant English weapon of the later Middle Ages.

CHURCH AND SOCIETY

Monasteries and churches flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. New religious foundations such as almshouses and hospitals cared for the poor and sick.

Towns grew in size and autonomy, as the old divisions between Normans and the English began to break down. English began to replace Norman French as the dominant language. Commerce developed, helped by better coinage and the growth of the wool trade. But the growth of a money-based economy began to put the old feudal order under pressure.

Aerial view of Wharram Percy Deserted Medieval Village
Aerial view of Wharram Percy in Northumberland. The village had a population of 200 in the 13th century, but witnessed a steep decline in the 14th century. Scottish raids were followed by the Black Death, which saw the population reduce from about 67 to 45

PLAGUE, REVOLT AND PIETY

Then, in 1348–9, the established order and the population were struck a devastating blow by the Black Death, which killed between a third and a half of England’s population.

The most immediate of its many effects was an acute labour shortage. Survivors demanded higher wages and bond men refused to do unpaid ‘service’ for feudal masters. Attempts to fix wages and prices at pre-plague rates only increased resentment.

Edward III’s grandson and successor, Richard II (r.1377–99), inherited a bankrupt treasury and discontent over reverses in the conflicts with France. In 1381 simmering grievances erupted into the Peasants’ Revolt.

The feudal system was not the only institution being challenged. For the first time in English history, the doctrines as well as the actions of the Church were being attacked, by John Wycliffe and the Lollards. Yet still religion remained all-pervasive in daily life, though the focus of piety changed from monasteries to parish churches. Many people sought salvation by paying to have prayers said for them in chantry chapels, and undertaking pilgrimages.

The Battle of Agincourt, depicted in a 15th-century French manuscript
The Battle of Agincourt, depicted in a 15th-century French manuscript
© Bibliothèque nationale de France (Chroniques Bruges, f.208)

ROYAL UPHEAVALS

In 1399 Richard II was deposed and murdered by Henry IV (r.1399–1413), the first of the many upheavals to afflict the monarchy during this period. Though assailed from many quarters, Henry held onto his throne, and his Lancastrian dynasty was reprieved by the achievements of his son.

The greatest of all English warrior kings, Henry V (r.1413–22) won a startling victory over the French at Agincourt in 1415, achieved largely thanks to the all-conquering English longbow. By the time of his premature death he was ruling half of France.

This 15th-century manuscript illustrates an execution during the Wars of the Roses (1455–85)
This 15th-century manuscript illustrates an execution during the Wars of the Roses (1455–85). One of the bloodiest conflicts in English history, the so-called ‘Cousins’ War’ stemmed from a dynastic quarrel between the descendants of Edward III over possession of the English Crown
© Ghent University Library (MS 236)

The Wars of the Roses

More dangerous was the increasingly fashionable expression of power and status through the recruiting of private armies of liveried retainers. These contributed to the breakdown of order as Henry VI (r.1422–61 and 1470–71) proved incompetent to rule, and rival aristocratic factions contended to control both monarch and kingdom.

These feuds developed into a series of short campaigns (and often bloody battles) fought at intervals between 1455 and 1485, during which the Crown changed hands six times. Cannon were used in some sieges, but the longbow remained the dominant weapon.

The Yorkist Edward IV (r.1461–70 and 1471–83) eventually emerged victorious. But his brother Richard III (r.1483–5) alienated supporters by seizing the throne from his nephew Edward V (r.1483). Richard was defeated and killed at Bosworth (1485) by the Lancastrian heir, Henry Tudor.

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