The Plantagenets

Sharing my learnings from the book, The Plantagenets by Dan Jones

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones

The first Plantagenet kings inherited a blood-soaked realm from the Normans and transformed it into an empire that stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic narrative history of courage, treachery, ambition, and deception, Dan Jones resurrects the unruly royal dynasty that preceded the Tudors. They produced England’s best and worst kings: Henry II and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice a queen and the most famous woman in Christendom; their son Richard the Lionheart, who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade; and his conniving brother King John, who was forced to grant his people new rights under the Magna Carta, the basis for our own bill of rights. Combining the latest academic research with a gift for storytelling, Jones vividly recreates the great battles of Bannockburn, Crécy, and Sluys and reveals how the maligned kings Edward II and Richard II met their downfalls. This is the era of chivalry and the Black Death, the Knights Templar, the founding of parliament, and the Hundred Years’ War, when England’s national identity was forged by the sword.

• The House of Plantagenet produced the greatest kings to ever rule England. It also produced the most terrible. These kings were as famous for their restlessness and charisma as they were for their quick tempers and cruelty. During the Middle Ages, they ruled England for more than a quarter of a millennium, a period that saw the country transform from a civil war–plagued island backwater into an organized, highly-legislated European power.
• The year is 1120 and King Henry I of England is inconsolable. His beloved son, and heir apparent, has just drowned crossing the English Channel. King Henry is forced to look in a new direction to secure his dynasty: toward his daughter Matilda. To improve her claim to England’s throne, King Henry organizes a marriage between Matilda and the powerful landowner, Geoffrey of Anjou. Geoffrey and Matilda don’t much care for each other, but that doesn’t matter. Their marriage is an important political match, and they have basically one objective. In 1133 they achieve it; their first child is born. They name him Henry, like his grandfather. But the barons still aren’t convinced. When the old king dies, the barons reject Matilda. They throw their weight behind another claimant, Matilda’s cousin Stephen.
• Stephen becomes king, but he’s not very good at his job. His weak leadership soon destabilizes England. Matilda – brooding in France – perks up her ears. Maybe here’s a chance for her to regain what she considers rightfully hers: the crown of England. Endless battles are fought, but the two sides remain at a stalemate. English society collapses. This period of chaos gets an ominous name: The Anarchy. 
• Meanwhile, Matilda’s son Henry is coming into his own. Henry’s reputation catches the attention of a remarkable woman: the 28-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• By 1153, after nine years of The Anarchy, England is exhausted. The English barons are sick of war. And so Henry offers them peace. He’ll stop fighting if they agree to allow him to become king. It’s not too long before the barons have come over to his side. He’s received by the English people as a conquering hero. A new age begins.
• Henry enjoys a lot of success on campaigns in France, but back in England trouble’s brewing. Henry is close friends with his advisor Thomas Becket. Becket’s a religious man, and this makes him the ideal candidate, at least in Henry’s mind, to be the new archbishop of Canterbury. Things don’t quite go as planned. Influential clergymen are scandalized by Becket’s low background, and Becket takes the critique to heart. As soon as he’s elevated to archbishop, he suddenly starts doing the opposite of what Henry has been hoping – he sides with the church on nearly all matters. Tension escalates. Finally, in a pique of rage, Henry utters a provocative insult toward his former friend. Four sycophantic knights are inspired into action; thinking they’re acting at Henry’s pleasure, they murder the archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral. Many believe, though, that he’ll certainly be subject to divine punishment for his behavior. This prophecy comes true the very next year: his wife and three eldest sons rise up against him.
• Ultimately, the whole rebellion doesn’t amount to much. Henry’s an experienced military commander with loyal subordinates, and his rebellious family can’t hope to challenge him in any meaningful way.
• Henry II finally dies in 1189 – after 34 years on the throne. Richard (Henry’s son) is crowned, and he moves quickly to consolidate his power. One way to do this is to boost his image as a great warrior. Richard needs a war, and there’s plenty of war to be had in the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is on, and Richard the Lionheart – as he becomes known – recognizes there’s glory to be found there.
• in 1192, he gets some disturbing news – his youngest brother, John, is plotting with his nemesis Philip II to supplant him on the throne. On his way home through Europe, Richard is captured and delivered as a prisoner to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI. But Richard still has support at home. His allies work tirelessly to raise a massive ransom for his release. They succeed after only six months. Richard returns to England a triumphant hero.
• Meanwhile, Philip II continues to invade Plantagenet territories with the help of Richard’s treacherous brother John. Richard has to put an end to this nuisance. It’s not easy, but through military skill and subtle negotiations, Richard emerges victorious after a few years of war. In 1199, Philip II and Richard meet to call a truce. But peace doesn’t come for Richard. During a break in negotiations, he rides off to put down a rebellion and is shot in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt. The wound festers. He dies at the age of 41.
• John’s the first English king in generations who’s forced to remain in his own realm. And as he learns to rule, England learns what it’s like to have a restless, bellicose Plantagenet king in its midst.
• in 1214, he overreaches himself. He takes the fight to Philip II, with the goal of regaining lost Continental territories. His forces are routed, utterly, at the battle of Bouvines. The devastating loss at Bouvines is the last straw. The barons just can’t keep quiet anymore. It’s obvious that Plantagenet rule is in need of reform. But what, and how? John doesn’t wait around for them to figure it out: he attacks. Civil war consumes England – again. It’s only when the barons take London that John’s compelled to hear them out.
• Negotiations are tough, but finally an important precedent is set: the king’s no longer allowed to operate unilaterally. From now on, he has to consult the barons before taking sweeping action, and he has to act according to the law. The agreement is called Magna Carta.
• True to his treacherous nature, no sooner has Magna Carta been signed than John violates it. Civil war escalates once again. But then, a reprieve: shortly after war resumes in 1215, John dies of dysentery.
• Time for the next king. John’s son, the somber Henry III, is only nine years old when his father dies. He’s far too young to wield power, so he’s placed under the protection of John’s royalist supporters. He isn’t able to cast off his advisors and rule his own government until the age of 27. Even then, the barons cling tightly to Magna Carta to prevent him from having too much control.
• Henry makes things worse with the barons with a madcap scheme to invade Sicily. The barons don’t think this a wise move; Sicily is a long way away, and an invasion would be expensive. Finally, in 1258, they reach the end of their patience. Four armed men break into the king’s quarters and inform him that the realm will now be run by a committee of barons.
• The issue now is the growing influence of the increasingly rebellious Simon de Montfort – the king’s brother-in-law. Civil war between the opposing forces of de Montfort and the king soon breaks out. The star of the battle is Henry’s soldierly and serious son, Edward. But even his brilliant performance can’t save the day for the royalists. Simon de Montfort becomes de facto king, and the 25-year-old Prince Edward is taken as a hostage.
• Prince Edward doesn’t stay captive for long. After a few months, he makes a dramatic escape and begins plotting with barons unhappy with de Montfort to restore the Plantagenet crown.
• After doing some diplomatic work to help heal England’s deep divisions on behalf of his father, Edward’s sword hand again begins to itch. He slakes his thirst for violence on crusade in the Holy Land. On his way back to England, Edward receives the news that his father has died: Edward is now king of England by law, as well as in practice
• Things are getting worse with France, too. When Edward refuses to submit to King Philip IV’s bullying, the two crowns go to war. But that isn’t all: in 1296, the French and the Scots sign an alliance. Edward’s enemies are now working together. He’s now over 60 years old, and he feels it. Plus, he’s worried his son and heir, also named Edward, might not have what it takes to rule.
• Edward II is tall and fair and looks a lot like his father. But that’s where the similarities end. By all accounts, he’s a poor candidate for king. For one thing, he spends all his time on frivolous pursuits. But most damaging is his proclivity for favorites. The English barons force Edward to exile his favorite. Further, they form a council called the Ordainers to oversee Edward’s kingship. It’s evidence of how little they trust his leadership. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and cousin to the king, emerges as the most powerful of Edward’s Ordainers.
• War comes once again when Edward goes on the attack against Lancaster. His forces are triumphant, and his vengeance ruthless. He executes Lancaster, as well as most of the rebels, in grotesque fashion. Edward’s about to face his downfall, but it comes from somewhere he never expects. His years of neglecting and humiliating his wife, Isabella, are about to come back to haunt him.
• Queen Isabella meets Roger Mortimer at the French court in 1325. It’s an auspicious meeting: first, they become lovers, and then they bring down the king of England.
• A few months after she meets Mortimer, Isabella’s in France on diplomatic business when she senses an opportunity. She calls for her son with Edward II, also named Edward, to join her. Once mother and son are safe under the protection of Isabella’s family in France, she refuses to return. They don’t stay in France forever. The next year, they sail for England to install Prince Edward in place of the troubled king. Barons flock to her side, and the king hemorrhages allies. After only a few months, Isabella’s supporters capture the king.
• Edward II understands that abdication will mean a grisly end, but he ultimately relents. His son Edward becomes King Edward III. And as the former king predicted, his end is grisly; Edward II is later murdered in prison.
• in 1333, he reopens the war with Scotland, delivering a stunning victory at Halidon Hill. But it’s impossible to defeat the Scots as long as they still enjoy support from across the Channel. In typical Edward style, he turns his attention to the source of the problem: France. In 1340, he steps off a ship in the Flemish city of Ghent and makes an extraordinary demand. He calls on the townspeople to recognize him as the king of England and France, claiming royal lineage through his mother, Queen Isabella. It’s the opening salvo of the Hundred Years’ War.
• Edward’s war gets off to a good start, with a decisive naval victory over the French at Sluys. He then delivers another crushing defeat to the French at Crécy in 1346. This time, he has the help of his teenage son, who’s nicknamed the Black Prince.
• Things start unraveling for Edward when the Black Prince catches a debilitating disease while campaigning in Castile. He never fully recovers. Just seven years later, the once-powerful Edward III is senile, and his heir is dead. The Black Prince’s nine-year-old son Richard is now the heir apparent.
• After stewing for years, Richard takes hateful revenge. He puts to death in gruesome fashion the barons that voted against him, including one of his uncles. Things move quickly from here. From Paris, Henry watches the king descend into psychosis, seemingly at war with his own country. When Richard makes the bizarre decision to invade Ireland, Henry knows his moment has come.
• Richard II is the last Plantagenet. Believing that kingship was his by divine right, rather than family lineage, he’s produced no heirs. Now, there’s no one better than Henry to assume the mantle. In 1399, Henry Bolingbroke becomes Henry IV, the first king of a new dynasty: the House of Lancaster.