The basis of our modern parliamentary democracy. ibid.
In 1264 England is plunged into a civil war. ibid.
Edward promises them to keep the reforms ... The Plantagenet army is back on the march. ibid.
Most famous for the story of his agonising death, but the story of his life is even more extraordinary – one of obsession, blood lust, political savagery and above all revenge. Dan Jones, Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty s1e3: Revenge
Edward has promoted his best friend to Earl of Cornwall and made him his most trusted adviser. ibid.
The finances, security and political security have all gone to the dogs. ibid.
1321: 13 years into Edward II’s reign, [Piers] Gaveston’s murder by Lancaster remains unavenged. ibid.
1326: 19 years into Edward II’s reign, his support for the Despensers has made him hated throughout England. ibid.
The golden boy who single-handedly ended the Peasants’ Revolt. But Richard II became the most vicious Plantagenet of all. And his reign of terror brought the whole Plantagenet dynasty crashing down. Dan Jones, Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty s1e4: Richard II: Tyranny
1377: England had suffered a decade of turmoil under the ailing King Edward III. His grandson Richard II succeeds him at the age of 10. He is hailed as the country’s saviour. But just four years later thousands of impoverished peasants storm London. ibid.
King Richard II had ridden out to meet rebel leader Wat Tyler. Richard’s men have just murdered Tyler. ibid.
Fear and paranoia stalk the land. ibid.
Henry takes him to London and bangs him up in the Tower. ibid.
Centuries ago Europe was a battleground fought over by Kings and Queens. For hundreds of years power-hungry families fought for the right to rule. And Europe transformed. These rivalries shifted borders, destroyed cities and brought the population to its knees. The fate of millions depended on their feuds and passions, their obsessions and betrayals. Dan Jones, Britain’s War of Thrones: The Hundred Years War I, History 2018
For 300 years the Capetian dynasty reigns in France, one of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe. ibid.
This bloody struggle was the longest war in European history: it became known as the Hundred Years War. ibid.
Edward III was now the undisputed master of England. ibid.
Edward was coming for Philip’s throne. ibid.
It’s difficult to imagine the scale of the disaster that took place at Cressy: more than 1,500 French lords and knights were killed and 10,000 soldiers were massacred by English arrows. The English only lost 2 knights and 80 men. ibid.
In early 1348 a plague known as the Black Death swept across France killing one third of the population. In August it jumped across the Channel. ibid.
121,863. 1392: At the height of the Middle Ages the once great King of France was on his knees and struggling for life. A King went mad. A Queen betrayed her people. A rampaging enemy went roaring across the land. The only hope was a peasant girl who said she was touched by God. The hundred years’ war was tearing France apart. Dan Jones, Britain’s War of Thrones: The Hundred Years War II
Henry (V) advanced towards Paris with no more than 8,000 troops. ibid.
John the Fearless had to stop Henry’s progress. ibid.
Charles trusted Joan and gave her a mission to fulfil. ibid.
Charles II was determined to kick the English out of France once and for all. ibid.
The life of the court is death to the soul. Every day is unpredictable. Peter of Blois, letters 1180
No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller voluntarily offers postponement of this. Magna Carta Clause 28
No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or carts for transport from any free man, without his consent. Clause 30
In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, producing credible witnesses to the truth of it. Clause 38
No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him, except by the legal judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. Clause 39
To none will we sell, to none deny or delay, right or justice. Clause 40
Good people, things cannot go right in England and never will until goods are held in common, and there are no more serfs and gentle-folk but we are all one and the same. John Ball, sermon to rebels 1381
Edward III was not a statesman, though he possessed some qualifications which might have made him a successful one. He was a warrior; ambitious, unscrupulous, selfish, extravagant and ostentatious. His obligations as a king sat very lightly on him. He felt himself bound by no special duty, either to maintain the theory of royal supremacy or to follow a policy which would benefit his people. Like Richard I, he valued England primarily as a source of supplies. William Stubbs, The Constitutional History of England
William’s victory at the Battle of Hastings has given us England’s most famous date: 1066. But this wasn’t just a battle, it was a momentous turning point in European history. In the years that followed, the Normans transformed England, and then the rest of Britain and Ireland ... across Europe, from northern France to southern Italy and on to the Middle East and Jerusalem. Professor Robert Bartlett, The Normans I, BBC 2010
A forest of masts lit up with burning torches slipped across the Channel. ibid.
On this hillside on Saturday 14th of October 1066 a single battle between a few thousand men permanently changed the course of history in England and beyond. It was said to have taken place at the Grey Apple Tree. Nowadays the site is simply known as Battle. ibid.
Two early accounts of the battle say that an arrow struck the King in the eye. The King was dead. And a world was coming to an end. ibid.
The future belonged to the Normans. ibid.
William the Conqueror established the Normans as a formidable force in history. He dominated Normandy for fifty-two years. But his greatest achievement was the conquest of England in 1066. The years that followed saw one of the most fundamental transformations in British history. Professor Robert Bartlett, The Normans II
The coronation of William the Conqueror marks one of the sharpest breaks there has ever been in English history. Anglo-Saxon England was dead. ibid.
This was a complete militarisation of England. ibid.
The systematic slaughter and destruction is known as the Harrying of the North. ibid.
Alongside hundreds of castles they built abbeys and cathedrals on a scale never seen before in England. ibid.
The monks attempted to force William’s corpse into the space. According to Audrick his swollen belly burst and an intolerable stench filled the noses of the crowd. ibid.
Savagery and piety. Conquest and colonisation. The Normans used every weapon in their armoury to re-shape Norman France and the British Isles. They were powerful rulers and state builders. And their legacy can be seen all around us. Professor Robert Bartlett, The Normans III: Normans of the South
In 1099 an international force of 10,000 soldiers stormed through the streets of Jerusalem. This would be the most divisive part of the Norman inheritance: the first Crusade. Among the leaders were Norman knights, including the son of William the Conqueror. As the Crusaders tore through the Holy City they cut down thousands of Muslims. According to one chronicler the slaughter was so great men waded in blood up to their ankles. ibid.
For three hundred years the Normans were among the most dynamic forces in Europe. They colonised countries and created new states and kingdoms. They became patrons of art and learning. And they transformed the landscape with magnificent castles and cathedrals. But the age of the Normans wouldn’t last for ever. In England the Norman dynasty founded by Norman the Conqueror gave way to the Plantagenets. (Normans & England & France & Middle Ages) ibid.
To the early medieval mind the world could appear as mysterious, even enchanted. Behind the wonder was a faith that the world was divinely ordered. But in time that faith would be shaken by an extraordinary cultural revolution: a revolution in the way we think, in the way we analyse the physical world and in our experience of other cultures and continents. Dr Robert Bartlett, Inside the Medieval Mind I: Knowledge
There’s scholarship, science, intellectual exploration and sophisticated logic. ibid.