Edward II of England
Edward II called Edward of Carnarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to the throne following the death of his elder brother Alphonso. Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns to pacify Scotland, in 1306 was knighted in a grand ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Following his father's death, Edward succeeded to the throne in 1307, he married Isabella, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV of France, in 1308, as part of a long-running effort to resolve tensions between the English and French crowns. Edward had a close and controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his household in 1300; the precise nature of his and Gaveston's relationship is uncertain. Gaveston's arrogance and power as Edward's favourite provoked discontent among both the barons and the French royal family, Edward was forced to exile him. On Gaveston's return, the barons pressured the king into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms, called the Ordinances of 1311.
The newly empowered barons banished Gaveston, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edward's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312, beginning several years of armed confrontation. English forces were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Widespread famine followed, criticism of the king's reign mounted; the Despenser family, in particular Hugh Despenser the Younger, became close friends and advisers to Edward, but Lancaster and many of the barons seized the Despensers' lands in 1321, forced the King to exile them. In response, Edward led a short military campaign and executing Lancaster. Edward and the Despensers strengthened their grip on power, formally revoking the 1311 reforms, executing their enemies and confiscating estates. Unable to make progress in Scotland, Edward signed a truce with Robert. Opposition to the regime grew, when Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a peace treaty in 1325, she turned against Edward and refused to return.
Instead, she allied herself with the exiled Roger Mortimer, invaded England with a small army in 1326. Edward's regime collapsed and he fled to Wales, where he was captured in November; the king was forced to relinquish his crown in January 1327 in favour of his 14-year-old son, Edward III, he died in Berkeley Castle on 21 September murdered on the orders of the new regime. Edward's relationship with Gaveston inspired Christopher Marlowe's 1592 play Edward II, along with other plays, films and media. Many of these have focused on the possible sexual relationship between the two men. Edward's contemporaries criticised his performance as king, noting his failures in Scotland and the oppressive regime of his years, although 19th-century academics argued that the growth of parliamentary institutions during his reign was a positive development for England over the longer term. Debate has continued into the 21st century as to whether Edward was a lazy and incompetent king, or a reluctant and unsuccessful ruler.
Edward II was his first wife, Eleanor of Castile. His father was the king of England and had inherited Gascony in south-western France, which he held as the feudal vassal of the King of France, the Lordship of Ireland, his mother was from the Castilian royal family, held the County of Ponthieu in northern France. Edward I proved a successful military leader, leading the suppression of the baronial revolts in the 1260s and joining the Ninth Crusade. During the 1280s he conquered North Wales, removing the native Welsh princes from power and, in the 1290s, he intervened in Scotland's civil war, claiming suzerainty over the country, he was considered an successful ruler by his contemporaries able to control the powerful earls that formed the senior ranks of the English nobility. The historian Michael Prestwich describes Edward I as "a king to inspire fear and respect", while John Gillingham characterises him as an efficient bully. Despite Edward I's successes, when he died in 1307 he left a range of challenges for his son to resolve.
One of the most critical was the problem of English rule in Scotland, where Edward's long but inconclusive military campaign was ongoing when he died. Edward's control of Gascony created tension with the French kings, they insisted. Edward I faced increasing opposition from his barons over the taxation and requisitions required to resource his wars, left his son debts of around £200,000 on his death. Edward II was born in Caernarfon Castle in north Wales on 25 April 1284, less than a year after Edward I had conquered the region, as a result is sometimes called Edward of Caernarfon; the king chose the castle deliberately as the location for Edward's birth as it was an important symbolic location for the native Welsh, associated with Roman imperial history, it formed the centre of the new royal administration of North Wales. Edward's birth brought predictions of greatness from contemporary prophets, who believed that the Last Days of the world were imminent, declaring him a new King Arthur, who would lead England to glory.
David Powel, a 16th-century clergyman, suggested that the baby was offered to the Welsh as a prince "that was borne in Wales and could speake never a word of English", but there is no evidence to support this account. Edward's n
Hugh II, Count of Blois
Hugh II of Châtillon, son of Guy III, Count of Saint-Pol, Matilda of Brabant, was count of St Pol 1289–1292 and count of Blois 1292–1307. He married daughter of Guy of Flanders and Isabelle of Luxembourg, they had two children: Guy I of Blois-Châtillon John of Châtillon, Lord of Château-Renault Fegley, Randall. The Golden Spurs of Kortrijk: How the Knights of France Fell to the Foot Soldiers of Flanders in 1302. McFarland & Co. Pollock, M. A.. Scotland and France after the Loss of Normandy, 1204-1296; the Boydell Press
Philip IV of France
Philip IV, called Philip the Fair, was King of France from 1285 until his death. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was King of Navarre as Philip I from 1284 to 1305, as well as Count of Champagne. Although Philip was known as handsome, hence the epithet le Bel, his rigid and inflexible personality gained him other nicknames, such as the Iron King, his fierce opponent Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, said of him: "he is neither beast. He is a statue."Philip relied on skillful civil servants, such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny, to govern the kingdom rather than on his nobles. Philip and his advisors were instrumental in the transformation of France from a feudal country to a centralized state. Philip, who sought an uncontested monarchy, compelled his vassals by wars and restricted feudal usages, his ambitions made him influential in European affairs. His goal was to place his relatives on foreign thrones. Princes from his house ruled in Hungary, he failed to make another relative the Holy Roman Emperor.
He began the long advance of France eastward by taking control of scattered fiefs. The most notable conflicts of Philip's reign include a dispute with the English over King Edward I's fiefs in southwestern France, a war with the Flemish, who had rebelled against French royal authority and humiliated Philip at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. In 1306, Philip expelled the Jews from France, in 1307 he annihilated the order of the Knights Templar, he was in debt to both groups and saw them as a "state within the state". To further strengthen the monarchy, Philip tried to take control of the French clergy, leading to a violent conflict with Pope Boniface VIII; this conflict resulted in the transfer of the papal court to the enclave of Avignon in 1309. His final year saw a scandal amongst the royal family, known as the Tour de Nesle affair, in which Philip's three daughters-in-law were accused of adultery, his three sons were successively kings of France, Louis X, Philip V, Charles IV. Their deaths without surviving sons of their own would compromise the future of the French royal house, which until seemed secure, precipitating a succession crisis that would lead to the Hundred Years' War.
A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born in the medieval fortress of Fontainebleau to the future Philip III, the Bold, his first wife, Isabella of Aragon. He was the second of four sons born to the couple, his father was the heir apparent of France at that time, being the eldest son of King Louis IX. In August 1270, when Philip was two years old, his grandfather died while on Crusade, his father became king, his elder brother Louis became heir apparent. Only five months in January 1271, Philip's mother died after falling from a horse. A few months one of Philip's younger brothers, Robert died. Philip's father was crowned king at Rheims on 15 August 1271. Six days he married again. In May 1276, Philip's elder brother Louis died, the eight year old Philip became heir apparent, it was suspected that Louis had been poisoned, that his stepmother, Marie of Brabant, had instigated the murder. One reason for these rumours was the fact that the queen had given birth to her own first son the month Louis died.
However, both Philip and his surviving full brother Charles lived well into adulthood and raised large families of their own. The scholastic part of Philip's education was entrusted to his father's almoner. After the unsuccessful Aragonese Crusade against Peter III of Aragon, which ended in October 1285, Philip may have negotiated an agreement with Peter for the safe withdrawal of the Crusader army; this pact is attested to by Catalan chroniclers. Joseph Strayer points out that such a deal was unnecessary, as Peter had little to gain from provoking a battle with the withdrawing French or angering the young Philip, who had friendly relations with Aragon through his mother. Philip married Queen Joan I of Navarre on 16 August 1284; the two were affectionate and devoted to each other and Philip refused to remarry after Joan's death in 1305, despite the great political and financial rewards of doing so. The primary administrative benefit of the marriage was Joan's inheritance of Champagne and Brie, which were adjacent to the royal demesne in Ile-de-France, thus were united to the king's own lands, expanding his realm.
The annexation of wealthy Champagne increased the royal revenues removed the autonomy of a large semi-independent fief and expanded royal territory eastward. Philip gained Lyon for France in 1312. Navarre remained in personal union with France, beginning in 1284 under Philip and Joan, for 44 years; the Kingdom of Navarre in the Pyrenees had a degree of strategic importance. When in 1328 the Capetian line went extinct, the new Valois king, Philip VI, attempted to permanently annex the lands to France, compensating the lawful claimant, Joan II of Navarre, senior heir of Philip IV, with lands elsewhere in France. However, pressure from Joan II's family led to Phillip VI surrendering the land to Joan in 1329, the rulers of Navarre and France were again different individuals. After marrying Joan I of Navarre, becoming Philip I of Navarre, Philip ascended the French throne at the age of 17, he was crowned in 1286 in Reims. As king, Philip was determined to strength
John I, Duke of Brabant
John I of Brabant called John the Victorious was Duke of Brabant and Limburg. During the 19th century, John I was venerated as a folk hero. Born in Leuven, he was the son of Henry III, Duke of Brabant and Aleidis of Burgundy, daughter of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, he was an older brother of Maria of Brabant, Queen consort of Philip III of France. In 1267 his older brother Henry IV, Duke of Brabant, being mentally deficient, was deposed in his favour, his greatest military victory was the Battle of Worringen 1288, by which John I came to reign over the Duchy of Limburg. He was outnumbered in forces but led the successful invasion into the Rhineland to defeat the confederacy. In 1288 Limburg was formally attached to Brabant. John I was said to be a model of feudal prince: adventurous, he was considered one of the most gifted princes of his time. This made him popular in Middle Ages poetry and literature. Today there exists an ode to him, so well known that it was a potential candidate to be the North Brabant anthem.
John I was always eager to take part in jousts. He was famous for his many illegitimate children. On 3 May 1294 at some marriage festivities at Bar-le-Duc, John I was mortally wounded in the arm in an encounter by Pierre de Bausner, he was buried in the church of the Minderbroeders in Brussels, but since the Protestant iconoclasm in 1566, nothing remains of his tomb. He was married twice. On 5 September 1270, he wed Margaret of France, daughter of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence, she took the title of Duchess of Brabant. He had a son. In 1273, he married Margaret of Flanders, daughter of Guy, Count of Flanders and had the following children: Godfrey. John II of Brabant. Margaret, married 9 July 1292 to Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor. Marie, married to Count Amadeus V of Savoy. John I had several illegitimate children: Gillis van der Balcht Jean Meuwe, Seigneur of Wavre and Dongelberg. Margareta of Tervuren, she was married on 2 March 1292 to Jean de Rode de Lantwyck Jan Pylyser Jan van der Plasch The duke is remembered in the folkish song Harbalorifa that remains popular.
The popular Dutch beer Hertog Jan was named after the duke. The beer Primus of the Haacht Brewery is named after John I Dukes of Brabant family tree Hertog Jan
Robert III, Count of Flanders
Robert III called Robert of Béthune and nicknamed The Lion of Flanders, was the Count of Nevers from 1273 and Count of Flanders from 1305 until his death. Robert was the oldest son of Guy of Dampierre from his first marriage with Matilda of Béthune, his father transferred the reign of Flanders to him in November 1299, during his war with Philip IV of France. Both father and son were taken into captivity in May 1300, Robert was not released until 1305. Robert of Béthune gained military fame in Italy, when he fought at the side of his father-in-law, Charles I of Sicily against the last Hohenstaufens and Conradin. Together with his father he took part in 1270 in the Eighth Crusade, led by Saint Louis. After his return from the Crusade he continued to be a loyal aid for his father and militarily, in the fight against the attempts of the French King Philip IV the Fair to add Flanders to the French crown lands. Guy of Dampierre broke all feudal bonds with the French king under his influence; when the resistance seemed hopeless Robert allowed himself to be taken prisoner, together with his father and his brother William of Crèvecoeur, taken to the French King.
Shortly before that he had become the de facto ruler of Flanders. He was locked in the castle of Chinon. Contrary to popular belief, the romantic portrayal by Hendrik Conscience in his novel about these events, he did not take part in the Battle of the Golden Spurs. In July 1305, after his father had died in captivity, he was allowed to return to his county; the execution of the Treaty of Athis-sur-Orge would mark the rule of Count Robert. He achieved some success in moving the countryside and the cities to fulfill their duties. However, in April 1310 he started to radically resist the French, with support of his subjects and his family. Both diplomatically and militarily he managed to make a stand against the French King; when he marched to Lille in 1319 the militia from Ghent refused to cross the Leie with him. When his grandson Louis I of Nevers pressured him as well, Robert gave up the battle and went to Paris in 1320 to restore feudal bonds with the French King, but after that, he would hamper the execution of the Treaty of Athis-sur-Orge to the point of being excommunicated.
Robert died in 1322 and was succeeded by his grandson, Count of Nevers and Rethel. He was buried in Flanders in Saint Martin's Cathedral in Ypres, as was his explicit wish to be buried on Flemish soil, his body was only allowed to be transferred to the abbey of Flines when Lille and Douai were again part of the County of Flanders. His first wife and his father were buried in this abbey. Robert married twice, his first wife was Blanche, daughter of Charles I of Sicily and Beatrice of Provence, in 1265. They had one son, who died young, his second wife was Countess of Nevers, daughter of Odo, Count of Nevers, in c. 1271. They had five children: Louis I, Count of Nevers, married December 1290 Joan, Countess of Rethel, their son was Louis I of Flanders. Robert, Count of Marle, married c. 1323 Joan of Brittany, Lady of Nogent-le-Rotrou, daughter of Arthur II, Duke of Brittany. Their children were: John, Seigneur of Cassel and Yolande, married Henry IV of Bar. Jeanne, married 1288 Enguerrand IV, Lord of Coucy, Viscount of Meaux.
Yolande, married c. 1287 Walter II of Enghien. Matilda, married c. 1314 Matthias of Lord of Warsberg. Count Robert III of Flanders
Compiègne
Compiègne is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the Oise River, its inhabitants are called Compiégnois. Compiègne is the seat of two cantons: Compiègne-1 Compiègne-2 665 - Saint Wilfrid was consecrated Bishop of York. Wilfrid refused to be consecrated in Northumbria at the hands of Anglo-Saxon bishops. Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, had died, as there were no other bishops in Britain whom Wilfrid considered to have been validly consecrated, he travelled to Compiègne, to be consecrated by Agilbert, the Bishop of Paris.833 - Louis the Pious was deposed in Compiègne. February 888 - Odo, Count of Paris and king of the Franks was crowned in Compiègne.23 May 1430 - During the Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians while attempting to free Compiègne. They sold her to the English.1624 - Compiègne gave its name to the Treaty of Compiègne, a treaty of alliance concluded by Cardinal Richelieu with the Dutch.1630 - Marie de' Medici's attempts to displace Richelieu led to her exile to Compiègne, from where she escaped to Brussels in 1631.17 July 1794 - The Martyrs of Compiègne are executed in Paris during the Reign of Terror.1900 - The golf events for the 1900 Summer Olympics took place.11 November 1918 - The Armistice with Germany, agreed at Le Francport near Compiègne, ends fighting of World War I22 June 1940 - Another Armistice with France was signed between Nazi Germany and the defeated France in Le Francport, near Compiègne, in the same place as in 1918, in the same railroad carriage, but with the seats swapped.1941 - During the German occupation of France, the Compiègne internment camp was established in Compiègne.
A memorial of the camp, another along the railway tracks, commemorate the tragedy.1968 - The starting location of the Paris–Roubaix bicycle race was changed from Paris to Compiègne.1972 - Creation of the University of Technology of Compiègne 1882: 13,393 1990: 41,663, 44,703 1999: 41,076, 44,703, 69,903, urban Château de Compiègne - the castle itself, museums of the Second French Empire and of motoring and tourism within its walls Musée Antoine Vivenel Museum of historic figurines Memorial of internment and deportation The Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest was the site of the signing of two armistices. Hitler chose the location of the second, had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as an irony for the defeated French; the site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original, Marshal Foch's Carriage was taken to Germany as a trophy of victory following the second armistice. Various rumors about what happened to this railway-carriage thereafter, have flourished since.
Some believe it was destroyed by the SS in Thuringia in April 1945. The latter version seems most plausible, since Ferdinand Foch's carriage was displayed at a Berlin museum. Compiègne is home to the University of Technology of Compiègne, one of the top ranking engineering school in France, founded as a Technology University in 1972 to provide an alternative to the traditional "grandes écoles" for students interested in technologies and applied science; the Gare de Compiègne railway station offers connections with Paris, Amiens and several regional destinations. The nearest motorway is the A1 Paris-Lille. Since 1968 Compiègne is the traditional start city of the famous Paris–Roubaix bicycle race, it was the finish city of 3rd stage in the 2007 Tour de France. Compiègne was the birthplace of: Roscellinus and theologian regarded as the founder of Nominalism Pierre d'Ailly and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church Albert Robida, etcher, lithographer and novelist Eugène Albertini, teacher in Latin literature, historian of ancient Rome, epigrapher of Latin texts Marcel Tabuteau, regarded as the founder of American oboe playing.
Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player, international female sport star Lucas Debargue and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields. Compiègne is twinned with: Compiègne is partnered with: Communes of the Oise department Dialogues of the Carmelites Martyrs of Compiegne Monument aux morts Siege of Compiègne Timeline of deportations of French Jews to death camps INSEE commune file City council website Le musée du château/The Château museum Memorial to Nazi/French Internment Camp and Deportations During WW2 Steven Lehrer's Compiègne site Universite de Technologie de Compiegne Joan of Arc Captured At Compiegne customized transport in compiègne Concerts in Compiègne
Floris V, Count of Holland
Floris V reigned as Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by his chronicler, he is credited with a peaceful reign, modernizing administration, policies beneficial to trade acting in the interests of his peasants at the expense of nobility, reclaiming land from the sea. His dramatic murder, engineered by King Edward I of England and Guy, Count of Flanders, made him a hero in Holland. Floris was the son of Count William II, slain in 1256 by Frisians when Floris was just two years old, Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg. First his uncle his aunt fought over custody of Holland. At the battle of Reimerswaal on 22 January 1263, Count Otto II, Count of Guelders defeated Aleidis and was chosen regent by the nobles who opposed Aleidis. Otto II served as Floris V's guardian until he was twelve years old and considered capable of administering Holland himself. Floris’s mother continued to reside in Holland after her husband’s death in 1256, she is buried in Middelburg abbey church.
She died in the same year that Count Floris V was declared old enough to rule without guardianship, on 10 July 1266. Floris was supported by the count of Hainaut of the house of Avesnes, an arch-enemy of the count of Flanders of the house of Dampierre. Floris married Beatrix of Dampierre, the daughter of Guy of Dampierre, count of Flanders, in 1269. In 1272 Floris unsuccessfully attacked the Frisians in a first attempt to retrieve the body of his father. In 1274 he faced an uprising by nobles led by the powerful lords Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel, Zweder of Abcoude, Arnoud of Amstel, Herman VI van Woerden, who held lands on the border with the adjacent bishopric of Utrecht at the expense of the bishop. Gijsbrecht and Herman were supported by the craftsmen of Utrecht, the peasants of Kennemerland and Amstelland and the West Frisians, he assisted John I of Nassau, by making a treaty with the craftsmen. The bishop would become dependent on Holland's support, added the lands of the rebellious lords to Holland in 1279.
He gave concessions to the peasants of Kennemerland. Kennemerland was a duneland. Floris switched allegiance to the Dampierres. In 1282 Floris again attacked the troublesome Frisians in the north, defeating them at the battle of Vronen, succeeded in retrieving the body of his father. After a campaign in 1287–1288 he defeated the Frisians. In the meantime he had received Zeeland-bewester-Schelde as a loan from the Holy Roman King Rudolf I of Germany in 1287, but the local nobility sided with the count of Flanders who invaded in 1290. Floris arranged a meeting with count Guy of Flanders, but he was taken prisoner in Biervliet and was forced to abandon his claims and set free. Floris wanted to resume war, but King Edward I of England, who had an interest in access to the great rivers for wool and other English goods, convinced Floris to stop hostilities with Flanders; when in 1292 Floris claimed the throne of Scotland in the Great Cause, he did not receive the expected support from Edward, but England did support his claims in a new, this time more successful, war on Flanders.
After Edward I moved his trade in wool from Dordrecht in Holland to Mechelen in Brabant, to gain Flanders's support against France, Floris switched sides to France in 1296. Edward I now prohibited all English trade with Holland and conspired with Guy of Flanders to have Floris kidnapped and taken to France; the humiliated lords Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel and Herman of Woerden enter the scene again as part of the conspiracy. Together with Gerard van Velsen they captured Floris during a hunting party and brought him to Muiderslot castle; the news of the capture spread quickly. They were stopped by an angry mob of local peasants. In panic Gerard of Velzen killed the count, the lords fled. Gerard of Velzen was captured and killed in Leiden; the other conspirators fled to Brabant, Flanders and to Prussia, to which many colonists and crusaders from Holland migrated. The life and death of Floris V inspired songs and books in the Netherlands. Best known is the play Gijsbrecht van Aemstel by 17th century playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel, about the sacking of Amsterdam in the days after the death of Floris V.
The nickname "God of the Peasants" was introduced after Floris' death in the nobility, was intended to be an insult. He earned the name because he behaved "as if he were the Good Lord himself with his peasants", he knighted 40 peasants as members of the Order of St. James without permission of the church, provoking the anger of the church and of the 12 existing noble members of that knightly order; this story has no historical basis, just like another story that claims that Gerard of Velzen participated in the conspiracy because Floris raped his wife. What is certain is that Floris was remembered as a saint by the peasants of Holland, that the "God of the Peasants" became a symbolic hero in the struggle for independence from Spain in the Eighty Years' War. Floris V was the son of Count William II of Holland and El
