Династия Плантагенетов в истории Англии
ИНСТИТУТ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ
ФАКУЛЬТЕТ “ЯЗЫКИ И КУЛЬТУРЫ”
КУРСОВАЯ РАБОТА
НА ТЕМУ:
“Династия Плантагенетов в истории Англии”
Студент 301 а/и группы
Петрова Ю.А.
Научный руководитель
Фролова И.Г.
МОСКВА-2002
Institute of foreign Languages
Faculty “ Languages and Cultures”
COURSE PAPER
«The Plantagenet Dynasty in the History
of Great Britain”
Student 301 a/i group
Petrova J.
Scientific supervisor
Frolova I.G.
Moscow-2002
Contents
Introduction 4-5
Part I. The early Plantagenets ( Angeving kings) 6-16
1. Henry II 7-11
2. Richard I Coeur de Lion 12-13
3. John Lackland 14-16
Part II. The last Plantagenets 17-30
1. Henry III 17-18
2. Edward I 19-20
3. Edward II 21-22
4. Edward III 23-24
5. Richard II 25-30
Conclusion 31-33
Bibliography 34-35
References 36-38
INTRODUCTION
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a
monarchy, now Parliamentary and once an absolute one. That’s why the
history of the country closely connected with the history of Royal
dynasties.
Speaking about royal dynasties in England we should take in mind the
fact, that the first one appeared in the country with the Norman invasion
in 1066. In the ancient time after Anglo-Saxon invasion the country
consisted of small kingdoms each ruled by its own king. Their
representatives (Chieftains of the kingdoms)– the Witan – chose king of
England (for example Edward the Confessor). It was William the Conqueror,
who began the first dynasty – House of Normandy. William I the Conqueror
–Duke of Normandy (1035-1087) invaded England, defeated and killed his
rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King of England. With the
coronation of William the new period in history of England began. England
turned into a centralizes , strong feudal monarchy. The period of small
kingdoms ended and started the Era of Absolute Monarchy. William was Duke
of Normandy and at the same time the King of England. He controlled two
large areas: Normandy – inherited from his father and England – he won it.
Both areas were his personal possession. To William the only difference was
that in France he had a King above him and he had to serve him. In England
he had nobody above him. Nobody could say who he was – an Englishman or a
Frenchman. The Norman Conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by
the establishment of feudalism under which his followers were granted land
in return for pledges of service and loyalty. As King William was noted for
his efficient harsh rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other
foreign personnel especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1085
started Domesday Book. In this book there was the reflection of what
happened to England.
The next kings were kings of Plantagenet’s dynasty.
I have chosen the history of this dynasty as a subject for my course
paper because, on the one hand, being a student of the English language I
can’t but be interested in the history of this country, and, on the other
hand, not so much is written about the Plantagenet’s kings, among which
there were such world-known persons as Richard-the-Lion Heart and John
Lackland.
Part I. The early Plantagenets (Angeving kings)
House of Plantagenet.
“The Plantagenet dynasty took its name form the “planta Genesta”
(Latine), or broom, traditionally an emblem of the counts of Anjou.
Geoffrey is the only true Plantagenet so-called, because he wore a spring
of broom-genet in his cap. It was a personal nickname, such as Henry’s
“Curt-manted”. Soon this nick-name habit was to die, to be replaced by
names taken from one’s birthplace. Members of this dynasty ruled over
England from 1154 till 1399. However, in conventional historical usage ,
Henry II (son of Count Geoffrey of Anjou) and his sons Richard I and John
are Normandy termed the Angeving kings, and their successors, up to Richard
II, the Plantagenets. The term Plantagenet was not used until about 1450,
when Richard, Duke of York, called himself by it in order to emphasize his
royal descent from Edward III’s fifth son, Edmund of Langley.”(1)
Henry II (1154-1189 AD)
“Henry II, the first Plantagenet, born in 1133, was the son of
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count Of Anjou, and Matilda, the daughter of Henry I.
Henry II, the first and the greatest of three Angevin kings of England,
succeeded Stephen in 1154. Aged 21, he already possessed a reputation for
restless energy and decisive actions. He was to inherit vast lands. As
their heir to his mother and his father he held Anjou (hence Angevin) ,
Maine, and Touraine; as the heir to his brother Geoffrey he obtained
Brittany; as the husband of Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII of
France, he held Aquitaine, the major part of southwestern France.
Altogether his holdings in France were far larger than those of the French
king. They have become known as the Angevin empire, although Henry II never
in fact claimed any imperial rights or used the title of the emperor.” (2)
From the beginning Henry showed himself determined to assert and maintain
his rights in all his lands.
In the first decade of his reign Henry II was largely concerned with
continental affairs, though he made sure that the forged castles in
England were destroyed. Many of the earldoms created in the anarchy of
Stephen’s reign were allowed to lapse. Major change in England began in the
mid 1160s. The Assize of Clarendon of 1166. , and that Northampton 10 years
later, promoted public order. Juries were used to provide evidence of what
crimes had been committed and to bring accusations. New forms of legal
actions were introduced , notably the so-called prossessory assizes, which
determined who had the right to immediate possession of land, not who had
the best fundamental right. That could be decided by the grand assize, by
means of which a jury of 12 knights would decide the case. The use of
standardized forms of edict greatly simplified judicial administration.
“Returnable” edicts, which had to be sent back by the head to the central
administration, enabled the crown to check that its instruction were
obeyed. An increasing number of cases came before royal court rather than
private feudal courts. Henry I’s practice of sending out itinerant justices
was extended and systematized. In 1170 a major inquiry into local
administration, the Inquest of Sheriffs, was held, and many sheriffs were
dismissed.
There were important changes to the military system. In 1166 the
tenants in chief commandment to disclose the number of knights enfeoffed on
their lands so that Henry could take proper financial advantage of changes
that had taken place since his grandfather’s days. Scutage (tax which
dismissed of military service) was an important source of funds, and Henry
preferred scutage to service because mercenaries were more efficient than
feudal contingents. In the Assize of Arms of 1181 Henry determined the arms
and equipment appropriate to every free man, based on his income from land.
This measure, which could be seen as a revival of the principles of the
Anglo-Saxon fyrd, was intended to provide for a local militia, which could
be used against invasion, rebellion, or for peacekeeping.
“Henry attempted to restore the close relationship between Church and
State that had existed under the Norman kings. His first move was the
appointment in 1162 of Thomas Becket as archbishop of Canterbury. Henry
assumed that Becket, who had served efficiently as chancellor since 1155
and been a close companion to him, would continue to do so as archbishop.
Becket, however, disappointed him. Once appointed archbishop, he became a
militant defender of Church against royal encroachment and a champion of
the papal ideology of ecclesiastical supremacy over the lay world. The
struggle between Henry and Becket reached a crisis at the Council of
Clarendon in 1164. In the constitution of Clarendon Henry tried to set down
in writing the ancient customs of the land. The most controversial issue
proved to be that of jurisdiction over “criminous clerks” (clerics who had
committed crimes); the king demanded that such men should , after trial in
