Henry III of England
Henry III known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry assumed the throne when he was only nine in the middle of the First Barons' War. Cardinal Guala declared the war against the rebel barons to be a religious crusade and Henry's forces, led by William Marshal, defeated the rebels at the battles of Lincoln and Sandwich in 1217. Henry promised to abide by the Great Charter of 1225, which limited royal power and protected the rights of the major barons, his early rule was dominated first by Hubert de Burgh and Peter des Roches, who re-established royal authority after the war. In 1230, the King attempted to reconquer the provinces of France that had once belonged to his father, but the invasion was a debacle. A revolt led by William Marshal's son, broke out in 1232, ending in a peace settlement negotiated by the Church. Following the revolt, Henry ruled England rather than governing through senior ministers.
He travelled less than previous monarchs, investing in a handful of his favourite palaces and castles. He married Eleanor of Provence, with. Henry was known for his piety, holding lavish religious ceremonies and giving generously to charities, he extracted huge sums of money from the Jews in England crippling their ability to do business, as attitudes towards the Jews hardened, he introduced the Statute of Jewry, attempting to segregate the community. In a fresh attempt to reclaim his family's lands in France, he invaded Poitou in 1242, leading to the disastrous Battle of Taillebourg. After this, Henry relied on diplomacy, cultivating an alliance with Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. Henry supported his brother Richard in his bid to become King of the Romans in 1256, but was unable to place his own son Edmund on the throne of Sicily, despite investing large amounts of money, he was prevented from doing so by rebellions in Gascony. By 1258, Henry's rule was unpopular, the result of the failure of his expensive foreign policies and the notoriety of his Poitevin half-brothers, the Lusignans, as well as the role of his local officials in collecting taxes and debts.
A coalition of his barons probably backed by Eleanor, seized power in a coup d'état and expelled the Poitevins from England, reforming the royal government through a process called the Provisions of Oxford. Henry and the baronial government enacted a peace with France in 1259, under which Henry gave up his rights to his other lands in France in return for King Louis IX recognising him as the rightful ruler of Gascony; the baronial regime collapsed but Henry was unable to reform a stable government and instability across England continued. In 1263, one of the more radical barons, Simon de Montfort, seized power, resulting in the Second Barons' War. Henry mobilised an army; the Battle of Lewes occurred in 1264, where Henry was taken prisoner. Henry's eldest son, escaped from captivity to defeat de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham the following year and freed his father. Henry enacted a harsh revenge on the remaining rebels, but was persuaded by the Church to mollify his policies through the Dictum of Kenilworth.
Reconstruction was slow and Henry had to acquiesce to various measures, including further suppression of the Jews, to maintain baronial and popular support. Henry died in 1272, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, which he had rebuilt in the second half of his reign, was moved to his current tomb in 1290. Some miracles were declared after his death. Henry was born in Winchester Castle on 1 October 1207, he was the eldest son of King Isabella of Angoulême. Little is known of Henry's early life, he was looked after by a wet nurse called Ellen in the south of England, away from John's itinerant court, had close ties to his mother. Henry had four legitimate younger brothers and sisters – Richard, Joan and Eleanor – and various older illegitimate siblings. In 1212 his education was entrusted to the Bishop of Winchester. Little is known about Henry's appearance. Henry grew up to show flashes of a fierce temper, but as historian David Carpenter describes, he had an "amiable, easy-going, sympathetic" personality.
He was unaffected and honest, showed his emotions easily being moved to tears by religious sermons. At the start of the 13th century, the Kingdom of England formed part of the Angevin Empire spreading across Western Europe. Henry was named after his grandfather, Henry II, who had built up this vast network of lands stretching from Scotland and Wales, through England, across the English Channel to the territories of Normandy, Brittany and Anjou in north-west France, onto Poitou and Gascony in the south-west. For many years the French Crown was weak, enabling first Henry II, his sons Richard and John, to dominate France. In 1204, John lost Normandy, Brittany and Anjou to Philip II of France, leaving English power on the continent limited to Gascony and Poitou. John raised taxes to pay for military campaigns to regain his lands, but unrest grew among many of the English
Historical European martial arts
Historical European martial arts refers to martial arts of European origin using arts practised, but having since died out or evolved into different forms. While there is limited surviving documentation of the martial arts of classical antiquity, surviving dedicated technical treatises or martial arts manuals date to the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period. For this reason, the focus of HEMA is de facto on the period of the half-millennium of ca. 1300 to 1800, with a German and an Italian school flowering in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, followed by Spanish, French and Scottish schools of fencing in the modern period. Arts of the 19th century such as classical fencing, early hybrid styles such as Bartitsu may be included in the term HEMA in a wider sense, as may traditional or folkloristic styles attested in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including forms of folk wrestling and traditional stick-fighting methods; the term Western martial arts is sometimes used in the United States and in a wider sense including modern and traditional disciplines.
During the Late Middle Ages, the longsword had a position of honour among these disciplines, sometimes historical European swordsmanship is used to refer to swordsmanship techniques specifically. Modern reconstructions of some of these arts arose from the 1890s and have been practiced systematically since the 1990s; the first book about the fighting arts, Epitoma rei militaris was written into Latin by a Roman writer, Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, who lived in Rome between the fourth and fifth centuries. There are no other known martial arts manuals predating the Late Middle Ages, although medieval literature record specific martial deeds and military knowledge; some researchers have attempted to reconstruct older fighting methods such as Pankration, Eastern Roman hoplomachia, Viking swordsmanship and gladiatorial combat by reference to these sources and practical experimentation. The Royal Armouries Ms. I.33, dated to ca. 1300, is teaching sword and buckler combat. The central figure of late medieval martial arts, at least in Germany, is Johannes Liechtenauer.
Though no manuscript written by him is known to have survived, his teachings were first recorded in the late fourteenth-century Nürnberger Handschrift GNM 3227a. From the 15th century into the 17th, numerous Fechtbücher were produced, of which some several hundred are extant. Several modes of combat were taught alongside one another unarmed grappling, long knife or Dusack, half- or quarterstaff, pole weapons and combat in plate armour, both on foot and on horseback; some Fechtbücher have sections on dueling shields, special weapons used only in trial by combat. Important 15th-century German fencing masters include Sigmund Ringeck, Peter von Danzig, Hans Talhoffer and Paulus Kal, all of whom taught the teachings of Liechtenhauer. From the late 15th century, there were "brotherhoods" of fencers, most notably the Brotherhood of St. Mark and the Federfechter. An early Burgundian French treatise is Le jeu. 1400. The earliest master to write in the Italian language was Fiore dei Liberi, commissioned by the Marquis di Ferrara.
Between 1407 and 1410, he documented comprehensive fighting techniques in a treatise entitled Flos Duellatorum covering grappling, arming sword, pole-weapons, armoured combat and mounted combat. The Italian school is continued by Filippo Vadi and Pietro Monte Three early natively English swordplay texts exist, all obscure and of uncertain date. In the 16th century, compendia of older Fechtbücher techniques were produced, some of them printed, notably by Paulus Hector Mair and by Joachim Meyer. In the 16th century, German fencing had developed sportive tendencies; the treatises of Paulus Hector Mair and Joachim Meyer derived from the teachings of the earlier centuries within the Liechtenauer tradition, but with new and distinctive characteristics. The printed fechtbuch of Jacob Sutor is one of the last in the German tradition. In Italy, the 16th century is a period of big change, it opens with the two treatises of Bolognese masters Antonio Manciolino and Achille Marozzo, who describe a variation of the eclectic knightly arts of the previous century.
From sword and buckler to sword and dagger, sword alone to two-handed sword, from polearms to wrestling, early 16th-century Italian fencing reflects the versatility that a martial artist of the time was supposed to achieve. Towards the mid-century, however and companion weapons beside the dagger and the cape begin to fade out of treatises. In 1553, Camillo Agrippa is the first to define the prima, seconda and quarta guards, whi
Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the castle, came under royal control. In 1322 and 1389 the Scots invaded England, damaging the castle, it was not to see military action again until the English Civil War. The castle was first used as a prison in 1196 although this aspect became more important during the English Civil War; the castle buildings are owned by the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster, which leases part of the structure to Lancashire County Council who operate a Crown Court in part of the building. Until 2011, the majority of the buildings were leased to the Ministry of Justice as Her Majesty's Prison Lancaster; the Castle was returned to the Duchy's ownership by the Ministry of Justice in 2011. The Castle is now open to the public seven days a week and is undergoing a large-scale refurbishment to allow access to more areas.
In 79 AD, a Roman fort was built at Lancaster on a hill commanding a crossing over the River Lune. Little is known about Lancaster between the end of the Roman occupation of England in the early 5th century and the Norman Conquest in the late 11th century; the layout of the town was influenced by the associated civilian settlement. After the Norman Conquest in the second half of the 11th century, Lancaster was part of the Earldom of Northumbria. In 1092, William II established a permanent border with Scotland further to the north by capturing Carlisle, it is thought that Lancaster Castle was founded in the 1090s on the site of the Roman fort in a strategic location. The castle is one of the most important; the history of the structure is uncertain. This is due to its former use as a prison, which has prevented extensive archaeological investigation; as there are no contemporary documents recording the foundation of the castle, it is uncertain when and by whom it was started, but it is supposed that Roger de Poitou, the Norman lord in control of the Honour of Lancaster, was responsible.
If it was Roger who began construction, the structure would have been built of timber incorporating the earthworks of the Roman fort into its defences. The form of the original castle is unknown. There is no trace of a motte, so it may have been a ringwork – a circular defended enclosure. Roger de Poitou fled England in 1102 after participating in a failed rebellion against the new king, Henry I; as a result, the king confiscated the Honour of Lancaster. The Honour changed hands several times. Henry granted it to Stephen of Blois, his nephew and king; when the Anarchy erupted in 1139 – a civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda for the English throne – the area was in turmoil. Stephen secured his northern frontier by allowing David I of Scotland to occupy the Honour in 1141, it is possible. Due to a lack of investigation, there is little evidence to suggest additions to Lancaster in the mid-12th century. However, the uncertain construction date of the keep means that the King of Scotland could have been responsible for building it.
The war came to an end in 1153. It was agreed that after Stephen died, he would be succeeded by Matilda's son. Part of the agreement was that the King of Scotland would relinquish the Honour of Lancaster, which would be held by William, Stephen's son. After William's death in 1164, the Honour of Lancaster again came under royal control when Henry II gained possession of the Honour. On the death of Henry II, the Honour passed to his son, Richard the Lionheart, who gave it to his brother, Prince John, in the hope of securing his loyalty. One of the functions castles served. Since the 12th century, the monarch appointed a sheriff to maintain the peace in Lancashire, a role filled by the duke and based at the castle. In the late 12th and early 13th century, many timber castles founded during the Norman Conquest were rebuilt in stone. Lancaster was one such castle. Building in stone was time-consuming. For example, the late 12th-century stone keep at Peveril Castle in Derbyshire cost around £200, although something on a much larger scale, such as the vast Château Gaillard cost an estimated £15,000 to £20,000 and took several years to complete.
For many castles, the expenditure is unknown. However, work on royal castles was documented in Pipe Rolls, which began in 1155; the Rolls show that John spent over £630 on digging a ditch outside Lancaster's south and west walls, for the construction of "the King's lodgings". This referred to what is now known as Adrian's Tower, his successor, Henry III spent large sums on Lancaster: £200 in 1243 and £250 in 1254 for work on the gatehouse and creating a stone curtain wall. For the next 150 years, there is no record of building work; the Well Tower is thought to date from the early 14th century. If there was no work on the castle, this may indicate that it was not important enough to warrant expenditure beyond upkeep, as Lancaster was not near a border. Though the region was peaceful, the Scots invaded in 1322 and 1389, reaching Lancaster and damaging the castle; the holdings of the Duchy of Lancaster extended beyond the county, Lancaster was not especi
Battle of Bannockburn
The Battle of Bannockburn on 23 and 24 June 1314 was a Scottish victory by King of Scots Robert the Bruce against the army of King Edward II of England in the First War of Scottish Independence. Though it did not bring overall victory in the war, which would go on for 14 more years, it was a landmark in Scottish history. King Edward invaded Scotland after Bruce demanded in 1313 that all supporters still loyal to ousted Scottish king John Balliol acknowledge Bruce as their king or lose their lands. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army. King Edward assembled a formidable force of soldiers from England and Wales to relieve it — the largest army to invade Scotland; this attempt failed. The Scottish army was divided into three divisions of schiltrons commanded by Bruce, his brother Edward Bruce, his nephew, the Earl of Moray. After Robert Bruce killed Sir Henry de Bohun on the first day of the battle, the English were forced to withdraw for the night.
Sir Alexander Seton, a Scottish noble serving in Edward's army, defected to the Scottish side and informed them of the English camp's position and low morale. Robert Bruce decided to launch a full-scale attack on the English forces and to use his schiltrons again as offensive units, a strategy his predecessor William Wallace had not done; the English army was defeated in a pitched battle which resulted in the death of several prominent commanders, including the Earl of Gloucester and Sir Robert Clifford, capture of many others. The victory against the English at Bannockburn is the most celebrated in Scottish history, for centuries the battle has been commemorated in verse and art; the National Trust for Scotland operates the Bannockburn Visitor Centre. Though the exact location for the battle is uncertain, a modern monument was erected in a field above a possible site of the battlefield, where the warring parties are believed to have camped, alongside a statue of Robert Bruce designed by Pilkington Jackson.
The monument, the associated visitor centre, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. The Wars of Scottish Independence between England and Scotland began in 1296 and the English were successful under the command of Edward I, having won victories at the Battle of Dunbar and at the Capture of Berwick; the removal of John Balliol from the Scottish throne contributed to the English success. The Scots had been victorious in defeating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297; this was countered, however, by Edward I's victory at the Battle of Falkirk. By 1304, Scotland had been conquered, but in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne and the war was reopened. After the death of Edward I, his son Edward II of England came to the throne in 1307 but was incapable of providing the determined leadership his father had shown, the English position soon became more difficult. In 1313, Bruce demanded the allegiance of all remaining Balliol supporters, under threat of losing their lands, as well as the surrender of the English forces encircling Stirling Castle.
The castle was one of the most important castles held by the English, as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by Robert the Bruce's younger brother, Edward Bruce, an agreement was made that if the castle was not relieved by mid-summer it would be surrendered to the Scots; the English could not prepared and equipped a substantial campaign. It is known that Edward II requested 2,000 armoured cavalry and 25,000 infantry, many of whom were armed with longbows, from England and Ireland; the Scottish army numbered around 6,000 men, including no more than 500 mounted forces. Unlike the English, the Scottish cavalry was unequipped for charging enemy lines and suitable only for skirmishing and reconnaissance; the Scottish infantry was armed with axes and pikes, included only a few bowmen. The precise numerical advantage of the English forces relative to the Scottish forces is unknown, but modern researchers estimate that the Scottish faced English forces one-and-a-half to two or three times their size.
Edward II and his advisors were aware of the places the Scots were to challenge them and sent orders for their troops to prepare for an enemy established in boggy ground near the River Forth, near Stirling. The English appear to have advanced in four divisions, whereas the Scots were in three divisions known as'schiltrons', which were strong defensive squares of men bristling with pikes. Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, commanded the Scottish vanguard, stationed about a mile south of Stirling, near the church of St. Ninian, while the king commanded the rearguard at the entrance to the New Park, his brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward, but under the command of Sir James Douglas; the Scottish archers used yew-stave longbows and, though these were not weaker than or inferior to English longbows, there were fewer Scottish archers only 500. These archers played little part in the battle. There is first-hand evidence in a poem, written just after the battle by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, that one or both sides employed slingers and crossbowmen.
The exact site of the Battle of Bannockburn has been debated for many years, but mos
Duke of Lancaster
The Duke of Lancaster is the owner of the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is an ancient title, informally used within Lancaster to describe Elizabeth II, the monarch of the United Kingdom; the Duchy of Lancaster exists as a separate entity from the Crown Estate and provides income for the British monarch. It is customary at formal dinners in the historic county boundaries of Lancashire and in Lancastrian regiments of the armed forces for the Loyal Toast to the crown to be announced as "The Queen, Duke of Lancaster." In addition, in Lancaster it was quite common as late as the second half of the twentieth century to hear the national anthem sung as "God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Duke," but this is a tradition that has no constitutional warrant, the British monarch is not styled so within either the County Palatine of Lancashire nor the Duchy of Lancaster in any official capacity as a sign of local,'Lancastrian' loyalty. There were several Dukes of Lancaster in the early 15th centuries.
There were three creations of the Dukedom of Lancaster. The first creation was on 6 March 1351, for Henry of Grosmont, 4th Earl of Lancaster, a great-grandson of Henry III, he died in 1361 and the peerage expired. The second creation was on 13 November 1362, for John of Gaunt, 1st Earl of Richmond, both the 1st Duke's son-in-law and fourth son of King Edward III. John had married Blanche of Lancaster, 6th Countess of Lancaster, daughter of Henry Grosmont and heiress to his estates; when John of Gaunt, the 1st Duke of this creation died on 4 February 1399, the Dukedom passed to his son, Henry of Bolingbroke, 1st Duke of Hereford. That same year, the new 2nd Duke usurped the throne of England from Richard II, ascending the throne as Henry IV, at which point the Dukedom merged in the crown; the third creation was on 10 November 1399, for Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales, eldest son of the new king. In 1413, the 1st Duke ascended the throne as King Henry V, the Dukedom merged in the crown again, where it has remained since.
Also Earl of Derby, Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Lincoln, Earl of Moray, Lord of Beaufort and Nogent Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster died without male issue Duke of Aquitaine, Earl of Richmond, Earl of Leicester, Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Baron of Halton John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, son-in-law of Grosmont, father of the 2nd duke Henry Bolingbroke, 1st Duke of Hereford, 2nd Duke of Lancaster seized the throne as Henry IV in 1399, at which point all his peerages merged into the crown2nd Duke: Duke of Hereford, Earl of Northampton Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Aquitaine Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales, 1st Duke of Lancaster, eldest son of Bolingbroke, acceded the throne as Henry V in 1413, at which point all his peerages merged into the crown Earl of Lancaster "Of the Countries Subject to the Laws of England," from Commentaries on the Laws of England, chapter 4, by Sir William Blackstone, 1765
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the French House of Valois, over the right to rule the Kingdom of France. Each side drew many allies into the war, it was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe. The war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, the development of strong national identities in both countries. Tensions between the crowns of France and England can be traced back to the origins of the English royal family itself, French in origin. For this reason, English monarchs had held not only the English Crown, but titles and lands within France, the possession of which made them vassals to the kings of France; the status of the English King's French fiefs was a major source of conflict between the two monarchies throughout the Middle Ages.
French monarchs systematically sought to check the growth of English power, stripping away lands as the opportunity arose whenever England was at war with Scotland, an ally of France. Over the centuries, English holdings in France had varied in size, at some points dwarfing the French royal domain. In 1316, a principle was established denying women succession to the French throne. In 1328, Charles IV of France died without brothers, his closest male relative was his nephew Edward III of England, whose mother, Isabella of France, was sister of the deceased King. Isabella claimed the throne of France for her son, but the French rejected it, maintaining that Isabella could not transmit a right she did not possess. Furthermore, political sentiment favoured a Frenchman for the crown rather than a foreign prince; the throne passed instead to Philip, Count of Valois, a patrilineal cousin of Charles IV, who would become Philip VI of France, the first king of the House of Valois. The English had not expected their claim to meet with success, did not press the matter when it was denied.
However, disagreements between Philip and Edward induced the former to confiscate the latter's lands in France, in turn prompted Edward III to reassert his claim to the French throne. Several overwhelming English victories in the war—especially at Crécy, Agincourt—raised the prospects of an ultimate English triumph, convinced the English to continue pouring money and manpower into the war over many decades. However, the greater resources of the French monarchy prevented the English kings from completing the conquest of France. Starting in 1429, decisive French victories at Orléans, Patay and Castillon concluded the war in favour of the House of Valois, with England permanently losing most of its possessions on the continent. Historians divide the war into three phases separated by truces: the Edwardian War, the Caroline War, the Lancastrian War. Local conflicts in neighbouring areas, which were contemporarily related to the war, including the War of the Breton Succession, the Castilian Civil War, the War of the Two Peters in Aragon, the 1383–85 crisis in Portugal, were availed by the parties to advance their agendas.
Historians adopted the term "Hundred Years' War" as a historiographical periodisation to encompass all of these events, thus constructing the longest military conflict in European history. The war owes its historical significance to multiple factors. By its end, feudal armies had been replaced by professional troops, aristocratic dominance had yielded to a democratisation of the manpower and weapons of armies. Although a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of French and English nationalism; the wider introduction of weapons and tactics supplanted the feudal armies where heavy cavalry had dominated, artillery became important. The war precipitated the creation of the first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire, thus helping to change their role in warfare. With respect to the belligerents, in France, civil wars, deadly epidemics and bandit free-companies of mercenaries reduced the population drastically. In England, political forces over time came to oppose the costly venture.
The dissatisfaction of English nobles, resulting from the loss of their continental landholdings, as well as the general shock at losing a war in which investment had been so great, became factors leading to the Wars of the Roses. The root causes of the conflict can be found in the demographic and political crises of 14th century Europe; the outbreak of war was motivated by a gradual rise in tension between the kings of France and England about Gascony and Scotland. The dynastic question, which arose due to an interruption of the direct male line of the Capetians, was the official pretext; the question of female succession to the French throne was raised after the death of Louis X in 1316. Louis X left only a daughter, his posthumous son John I lived only a few days. Furthermore, the paternity of his daughter was in question, as her mother, Margaret of Burgundy, had been exposed as an adulterer in the Tour de Nesle affair. Philip, Count of Poitiers, brother of Louis X, positioned himself to take the crown, advancing the stance that women should be ineligible to succeed to the French throne.
Through his political sagacity he won over his adversaries and succeeded to the French throne as Philip V. By the same law that he procured, his daughters were denied the succession, whi
Attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime. It entailed losing not only one's life and hereditary titles, but also the right to pass them on to one's heirs. Both men and women condemned of capital crimes could be attainted. Attainder by confession resulted from a guilty plea at the bar before judges or before the coroner in sanctuary. Attainder by verdict resulted from conviction by jury. Attainder by process resulted from a legislative act outlawing a fugitive; the last form is obsolete in England, the other forms have been abolished. Medieval and Renaissance English monarchs used acts of attainder to deprive nobles of their lands and their lives. Once attainted, the descendants of the noble could no longer inherit his income. Attainder amounted to the legal death of the attainted's family. Monarchs used attainders against political enemies and those who posed potential threats to the king's position and security.
The attainder eliminated any advantage. In many cases of attainder, the king could coerce the parliament into approving the attainder and there would be a lower or non-existent burden of proof than there would be in court. Prior to the Tudors, most rulers reversed their attainders in return for promises of loyalty. For example, Henry VI reversed all 21 attainders, Edward IV 86 of 120, Richard III 99 of 100. However, this changed with Henry VII. Regnants who used attainder include: Margaret of Anjou: her attainder of Richard of York compelled him to invade England and attempt to seize the throne after the Battle of Northampton, which led to the penultimate phases of the War of the Roses. Edward IV of England: used attainder after killing his brother, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence for high treason; this allowed Richard III of England to seize the throne when he claimed that Edward IV's sons were illegitimate. Henry VII: attainted men after he ascended the throne, he used the threat of attainder as a means to keep the few nobles who survived the War of the Roses in line.
However, he would penalize them with exorbitant fees and fines, or force them to have bonds which would be forfeit unless they exhibited good behaviour Henry VII attainted 138 men, of whom he reversed only 46 attainders, some of these were conditional. Henry VIII: compelled parliament to attaint many nobles during his lifetime, including magnates with major land holdings, any magnates whom he came to mistrust. Examples include: Anne Boleyn: Before her execution, she was stripped of her title, her marriage was annulled. Catherine Howard: Henry VIII had an Act of Attainder passed against Catherine Howard, which made it treason for a woman with an unchaste reputation to marry the king. Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, one of the wealthiest magnates in England, whom Henry had executed on flimsy charges in 1521. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury: One of the last surviving noble Plantagenets of senior line. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: The poet son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Charles I: subsequent to the failed impeachment of his former Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, was attainted during the political crisis of 1640 -1641.
The Bill of Attainder, having passed the depleted House of Commons and House of Lords, was enacted by Charles I as a concession to his political opponents. During his reign, the Long Parliament of 1641 passed an Act of Attainder against William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded in 1645. Charles II: Although deceased by the time of the Restoration, the regicides John Bradshaw, Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and Thomas Pride were served with a Bill of Attainder on 15 May 1660 backdated to 1 January 1649. William III: James, III and VIII, the Old Pretender, 1702 George II of Great Britain, following the Jacobite rising of 1745: Attainder of Earl of Kellie and others Act 1746Once attainted, nobles were considered commoners, as such, could be subjected to the same treatments, including torture and methods of execution. For example, commoners could be burned at the stake. Nobles would refer to the act of being attainted as the person's "destruction". In the Westminster system, a bill of attainder is a bill passed by Parliament to attaint persons who are accused of high treason, or, in rare cases, a lesser crime.
A person attainted need not have been convicted of treason in a court of law. A rumour circulated that a bill of attainder against Thomas Jefferson occurred in 1774 because of his authorship of A Summary View of the Rights of British America. A bill of attainder was last passed in Britain against Lord Edward FitzGerald. Attainders by confession and process were abolished in the United Kingdom by the Forfeiture Act 1870. Section 9 of Article One of the United States Constitution provides that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed by Congress; the following section forbids states from passing them. Corruption of blood is one of the consequences of attainder; the descendants of an attainted person could not inherit either from the attainted person or from their other relatives through him. For example, if a person is executed for a crime leaving innocent children, the
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