1.
Henry III of England
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Henry III, also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry assumed the throne when he was nine in the middle of the First Barons War. Cardinal Guala declared the war against the barons to be a religious crusade and Henrys forces, led by William Marshal, defeated the rebels at the battles of Lincoln. Henry promised to abide by the Great Charter of 1225, which limited royal power and his early rule was dominated first by Hubert de Burgh and then Peter des Roches, who re-established royal authority after the war. In 1230 the King attempted to reconquer the provinces of France that had belonged to his father. A revolt led by William Marshals son, Richard, broke out in 1232, following the revolt, Henry ruled England personally, rather than governing through senior ministers. He travelled less than previous monarchs, investing heavily in a handful of his palaces and castles. He married Eleanor of Provence, with whom he had five children, in a fresh attempt to reclaim his familys 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 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Henry supported his brother Richard in his bid to become King of the Romans in 1256 and he planned to go on crusade to the Levant, but was prevented from doing so by rebellions in Gascony. The baronial regime collapsed but Henry was unable to reform a stable government, in 1263 one of the more radical barons, Simon de Montfort, seized power, resulting in the Second Barons War. Henry persuaded Louis to support his cause and mobilised an army, the Battle of Lewes occurred in 1264, where Henry was defeated and taken prisoner. Henrys eldest son, Edward, escaped captivity to defeat de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham the following year. Henry initially enacted a harsh revenge on the 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 suppression of the Jews, to maintain baronial. Henry died in 1272, leaving Edward as his successor and he was buried in Westminster Abbey, which he had rebuilt in the second half of his reign, and was moved to his current tomb in 1290. Some miracles were declared after his death but he was not canonised, Henry was born in Winchester Castle on 1 October 1207. He was the eldest son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, little is known of Henrys early life
2.
Edward I of England
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Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. He spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law, through an extensive legal inquiry, Edward investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, while the law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law. Increasingly, however, Edwards attention was drawn towards military affairs, the first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his fathers reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he sided with a baronial reform movement. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained throughout the subsequent armed conflict. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land, the crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster on 19 August, after suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, Edward subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns in the countryside, next, his efforts were directed towards Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom. In the war followed, the Scots persevered, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. At the same there were problems at home. In the mid-1290s, extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and these crises were initially averted, but issues remained unsettled. When the King died in 1307, he left to his son, Edward II, Edward I was a tall man for his era, hence the nickname Longshanks. He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. The Edict remained in effect for the rest of the Middle Ages, Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Among his childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henrys brother Richard of Cornwall, Henry of Almain would remain a close companion of the prince, both through the civil war that followed, and later during the crusade. Edward was in the care of Hugh Giffard – father of the future Chancellor Godfrey Giffard – until Bartholomew Pecche took over at Giffards death in 1246, there were concerns about Edwards health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246,1247, and 1251
3.
Eleanor of Provence
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Eleanor of Provence was Queen consort of England, as the spouse of King Henry III of England, from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1253, although she was completely devoted to her husband, and staunchly defended him against the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, she was very much hated by the Londoners. On one occasion, Eleanors barge was attacked by citizens who pelted her with stones, mud, pieces of paving, rotten eggs. Eleanor was the mother of five children, including the future King Edward I of England and she also was renowned for her cleverness, skill at writing poetry, and as a leader of fashion. Born in Aix-en-Provence, she was the daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy. She was well educated as a child, and developed a love of reading. Her three sisters also married kings, after her elder sister Margaret married Louis IX of France, their uncle William corresponded with Henry III of England to persuade him to marry Eleanor. Like her mother, grandmother, and sisters, Eleanor was renowned for her beauty and she was a dark-haired brunette with fine eyes. Piers Langtoft speaks of her as The erles daughter, the fairest may of life, on 22 June 1235, Eleanor was betrothed to King Henry III. Eleanor was probably born in 1223, Matthew Paris describes her as being jamque duodennem when she arrived in the Kingdom of England for her marriage, Eleanor was married to King Henry III of England on 14 January 1236. She had never seen him prior to the wedding at Canterbury Cathedral and had never set foot in his kingdom, edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated. She was dressed in a golden gown that fitted tightly at the waist. The sleeves were long and lined with ermine, Eleanor and Henry together had five children, Edward I, married Eleanor of Castile in 1254, by whom he had issue, including his heir Edward II. His second wife was Margaret of France, by whom he had issue, Margaret, married King Alexander III of Scotland, by whom she had issue. Beatrice, married John II, Duke of Brittany, by whom she had issue, edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, married Aveline de Forz in 1269, who died four years later without issue, married Blanche of Artois in 1276, by whom he had issue. Katherine Four others are listed, but their existence is in doubt as there is no record of them. It was because of her influence that King Henry granted the duchy of Gascony to Edward in 1249 and her youngest child, Katherine, seems to have had a degenerative disease that rendered her deaf. When the little girl died at the age of three, both her parents suffered overwhelming grief
4.
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
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He led the rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons War of 1263–64, and subsequently became de facto ruler of England. During his rule, Montfort called two famous parliaments, the first stripped the King of unlimited authority, while the second included ordinary citizens from the towns. For this reason, Montfort is regarded today as one of the progenitors of modern parliamentary democracy, after a rule of just over a year, Montfort was killed by forces loyal to the King in the Battle of Evesham. Montfort was a son of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, a French nobleman and crusader. His paternal grandmother was Amicia de Beaumont, the senior co-heiress to the Earldom of Leicester, the elder Simon had also acquired vast domains during the Albigensian Crusade, but was killed during the Siege of Toulouse in 1218 and his eldest son Amaury was not able to retain them. When Amaury was rebuffed in his attempt to get the earldom back, Henry was in no position to confront the powerful Earl of Chester, so Simon approached the older, childless man himself and convinced him to cede him the earldom. It would take nine years before Henry formally invested him with the title Earl of Leicester. Simon de Montfort shared various levels of consanguinuity and by-marriage connections with both English and French royal lineages, for instance, his ancestor Simon I de Montfort was father of Bertrade de Montfort who herself was a paternal great-grandmother of King Henry II. He was also descended from Henry I, as a younger son, Simon de Montfort attracted little public attention during his youth, and the date of birth remains unknown. He is first mentioned when his mother made a grant to him in 1217, as a boy, Montfort accompanied his parents during his fathers campaigns against the Cathars. He was with his mother at the Siege of Toulouse in 1218, in addition to Amaury, Simon had another older brother, Guy, who was killed at the siege of Castelnaudary in 1220. As a young man, Montfort probably took part in the Albigensian Crusades of the early 1220s and he and Amaury both took part in the Barons Crusade. In 1229 the two surviving brothers came to an arrangement with King Henry whereby Simon gave up his rights in France and Amaury gave up his rights in England. As Lord of Leicester, he expelled the small Jewish community from Leicester in 1231 and they moved to the eastern suburbs, which were controlled by Montforts great-aunt Margaret, Countess of Winchester. It was also a strategy to enhance his popularity in his new domains by banishing the practice of usury, Montfort became a favourite of King Henry III and even issued a charter as Earl of Leicester in 1236, despite having not yet been granted the title. In that same year Simon tried to get Joan, Countess of Flanders to marry him, the idea of an alliance between the rich County of Flanders and a close associate of Henry III of England did not sit well with the French crown. The French Queen Dowager Blanche of Castile convinced Joan to marry Thomas II of Savoy instead, in January 1238, Montfort married Eleanor of England, daughter of King John and Isabella of Angoulême and sister of King Henry III. While this marriage took place with the Kings approval, the act itself was performed secretly and without consulting the great barons, as a marriage of such importance warranted
5.
First Barons' War
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King John in June 1215 was forced to put his seal to The Articles of the Barons by a group of powerful barons who could no longer stand Johns failed leadership and despotic rule. The kings Great Seal was attached to it on 15 June 1215, in return, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty to King John on 19 July 1215. A formal document to record the agreement was created by the chancery on 15 July. The law of the land is one of the great watchwords of Magna Carta, the Magna Carta of 1215 contained clauses which in theory noticeably reduced the power of the king, such as clause 61, the security clause. After a few months of half-hearted attempts to negotiate in the summer of 1215, the war began over the Magna Carta but quickly turned into a dynastic war for the throne of England. The rebel barons, faced with a king, turned to Louis, son and heir apparent of King Philip II of France. The Norman invasion had occurred only 149 years before, and the relationship between England and France was not so simply adversarial as it later became. The contemporary document called the annals of Waverley sees no contradiction in stating that Louis was invited to invade in order to prevent the realm being pillaged by aliens, at first, in November 1215, Louis simply sent the barons a contingent of knights to protect London. However, even at that stage he also agreed to an invasion, despite discouragement from his father. This came in May 1216, when watchmen on the coast of Thanet detected sails on the horizon, and on the next day, John decided to escape to the Saxon capital of Winchester, and so Louis had little resistance on his march to London. He entered London, also with little resistance, and was received by the rebel barons and citizens of London. Many nobles gathered to give homage to him, including Alexander II of Scotland, many of Johns supporters, sensing a tide of change, moved to support the barons. Gerald of Wales remarked, The madness of slavery is over, on 14 June Louis captured Winchester and soon conquered over half of the English kingdom. In the meantime, the King of France taunted his son for trying to conquer England without first seizing its key, Dover. The royal castles at Canterbury and Rochester, their towns, and indeed, most of Kent had already fallen to Louis and its constable, Hubert de Burgh, had a well-supplied garrison of men. The first siege began on 19 July, with Louis taking the ground to the north of the castle. His men successfully undermined the barbican and attempted to topple the castle gate, in the meantime Louiss occupation of Kent was being undermined by a guerrilla force of Wealden archers raised and led by William of Cassingham. After three months spent besieging the castle, and with a part of his forces diverted by the siege, Louis called a truce on 14 October
6.
Battle of Lewes
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The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264 and it marked the high point of the career of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made him the uncrowned King of England. However Edward pursued his quarry off the battlefield and left Henrys men exposed, Henry was forced to launch an infantry attack up Offham Hill where he was defeated by the barons men, defending the hilltop. The royalists fled back to the castle and priory and the King was forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, Henry III was an unpopular monarch due to his autocratic style, displays of favouritism and his refusal to negotiate with his barons. The barons eventually imposed a constitutional reform known as the Provisions of Oxford upon Henry that called for a meeting led by Simon de Montfort to discuss matters of government. Henry sought to escape the restrictions of the provisions and applied to Louis IX of France to arbitrate in the dispute, Louis agreed with Henry and annulled the provisions. Montfort was angered by this and rebelled against the King along with barons in the Second Barons War. The war was not initially openly fought, each side toured the country to support for their army. By May the Kings force had reached Lewes where they intended to halt for a while to allow reinforcements to reach them. The King encamped at St. Pancras Priory with a force of infantry, de Montfort approached the King with the intention of negotiating a truce or failing that to draw him into open battle. The King rejected the negotiations and de Montfort moved his men from Fletching to Offam Hill, the royalist army was up to twice the size of de Montforts. The barons held the ground, overlooking Lewes and had ordered their men to wear white crosses as a distinguishing emblem. The baronial forces commenced the battle with a dawn attack on foragers sent out from the royalist forces. The King then made his move, Edward led a cavalry charge against Seagraves Londoners, placed on the left of the baronial line, that caused them to break and run to the village of Offham. Edward pursued his foe for some four miles, leaving the King unsupported, Henry was forced to launch an attack with his centre and right divisions straight up Offham Hill into the baronial line which awaited them at the defensive. Cornwalls division faltered almost immediately but Henrys men fought on until compelled to retreat by the arrival of de Montforts men that had held as the baronial reserve. The Kings men were forced down the hill and into Lewes where they engaged in a retreat to the castle. The King was forced to sign the so-called Mise of Lewes, though the document has not survived, it is clear that Henry was forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, while Prince Edward remained a hostage of the barons
7.
Battle of Evesham
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The Battle of Evesham was one of the two main battles of 13th century Englands Second Barons War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and it took place on 4 August 1265, near the town of Evesham, Worcestershire. Forced to engage the royalists at Evesham, he faced an army twice the size of his own, the battle soon turned into a massacre, Montfort himself was killed and his body mutilated. Though the battle effectively restored royal authority, scattered resistance remained until the Dictum of Kenilworth was signed in 1267. Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, had gained a dominant position in the government of the Kingdom of England after his victory at the Battle of Lewes a year earlier. He also held the King, Prince Edward, and the Kings brother Richard of Cornwall in his custody, however, his sphere of influence rapidly began to deteriorate due to loss of key allies. In February, Robert de Ferrers, Earl of Derby was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower, an even more important collaborator, Gilbert de Clare, the Earl of Gloucester, deserted to the side of the King in May of the same year. With Gloucesters assistance, Prince Edward escaped from Montforts captivity, with the Lords of the Welsh Marches now in rebellion, Montfort solicited the aid of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the Prince of Wales. Llywelyn agreed to help, in return for recognition of his title. Whatever benefits this alliance might have brought Montfort, the great concessions cost him popularity at home, meanwhile, Edward laid siege to the town of Gloucester, which fell on 29 June. Montforts goal now became to unite with the forces of his son Simon, and engage with the royal army, but the younger Simon moved much too slowly westwards from London. Eventually Simon made it to the stronghold of Kenilworth, but Edward managed to inflict great losses on the enemy. When Montfort realized this, he commented, May the Lord have mercy upon our souls. Heeding a lesson learned at the Battle of Lewes, the royals took position on the high ground, along a ridge called Green Hill, just north of Evesham, Edward set up his forces on the left, with Gloucester commanding the right. At about eight in the morning, Montfort left the town of Evesham as a thunderstorm began to rage. At Lewes, the forces had gained confidence to win the day by a sense of divine destiny. This time the army had taken their lead, and wore a red cross as their distinguishing mark. According to the chronicler William Rishanger, when Montfort saw the advance of the troops, he exclaimed that They have not learned that for themselves
8.
Siege of Kenilworth
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The Siege of Kenilworth was a six-month siege on the Kenilworth Castle and a battle of the Second Barons War. The siege was a part of an English civil war fought from 1264 to 1267 by the forces of Simon de Montfort against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward, the siege was one of few castle attacks to take place during the war. The forces of King Henry III had defeated the forces of Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265, de Montfort was killed during the engagement, and his son agreed to surrender that December at Northampton. De Montfort agreed to surrender Kenilworth, the refuge of the Baron loyalists, however, the forces at Kenilworth rejected these terms, first in December 1265, and again in March 1266, the second time by removing the hand of the Kings envoy. The Castle of Kenilworths structure was unique and contributed to the longevity of the siege, the castle was a formidable structure due to its heavy defences. The most notable defence was a dam to the south of the castle, across which a causeway led from the entrance to the bailey, behind the dam was an artificial lake along the south and west sides of the castle, protecting it from a land approach. Ditches along the side and a second pool on the east side of the causeway extended the water protection to surround the castle. The feudal summons for the siege was pushed back from December 1265, from that point on, the siege occurred in earnest. The castle’s garrison was large, over a thousand, usually estimated at twelve hundred men, the attack on Kenilworth Castle began on 21 June. It was the largest siege to occur in England. The royal forces tried all manners of devices, numerous stone-throwing devices, presumably trebuchets, were brought to the siege, as well as turres ligneas, or wooden towers. An ursus or bear was built, with compartments for archers. Barges were sent from Chester to attempt an attack via the lake, and accepted the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth
9.
Civil war
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The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region or to change government policies. The term is a calque of the Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. A civil war is a high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces, Civil wars may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources. Most modern civil wars involve intervention by outside powers, according to Patrick M. Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted on average just over four years, a dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half-year average of the 1900–1944 period. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century while there were over 20 concurrent civil wars close to the end of the Cold War. Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, ann Hironaka further specifies that one side of a civil war is the state. The intensity at which a civil disturbance becomes a war is contested by academics. Some political scientists define a civil war as having more than 1000 casualties, the Correlates of War, a dataset widely used by scholars of conflict, classifies civil wars as having over 1000 war-related casualties per year of conflict. Based on the 1000 casualties per year criterion, there were 213 civil wars from 1816 to 1997,104 of which occurred from 1944 to 1997. If one uses the less-stringent 1000 casualties total criterion, there were over 90 civil wars between 1945 and 2007, with 20 ongoing civil wars as of 2007. The Geneva Conventions do not specifically define the term civil war and this includes civil wars, however no specific definition of civil war is provided in the text of the Conventions. That the legal Government is obliged to have recourse to the military forces against insurgents organized as military. That the insurgents have an organization purporting to have the characteristics of a State and that the insurgent civil authority exercises de facto authority over the population within a determinate portion of the national territory. That the armed forces act under the direction of an authority and are prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war. That the insurgent civil authority agrees to be bound by the provisions of the Convention, scholars investigating the cause of civil war are attracted by two opposing theories, greed versus grievance. Scholarly analysis supports the conclusion that economic and structural factors are more important than those of identity in predicting occurrences of civil war, a comprehensive study of civil war was carried out by a team from the World Bank in the early 21st century. A second source of finance is national diasporas, which can fund rebellions, the study found that statistically switching the size of a countrys diaspora from the smallest found in the study to the largest resulted in a sixfold increase in the chance of a civil war. Opportunity cost of rebellion Higher male secondary school enrollment, per capita income, the study interpreted these three factors as proxies for earnings forgone by rebellion, and therefore that lower forgone earnings encourage rebellion
10.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
11.
Baron
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Baron is a title of honour, often hereditary. The word baron comes from the Old French baron, from a Late Latin baro man, servant, soldier, cornutus in the first century already reports a word barones which he took to be of Gaulish origin. During the Ancien Régime, French baronies were very much like Scottish ones, feudal landholders were entitled to style themselves baron if they were nobles, a roturier could only be a seigneur de la baronnie. These baronies could be sold freely until 1789 when feudal law was abolished. The title of baron was assumed as a titre de courtoisie by many nobles, emperor Napoléon created a new empire nobility, in which baron was the second lowest title. The titles followed a line of descent and could not be purchased. In 1815, King Louis XVIII created a new system based on the British model. Baron-peer was the lowest title, but the heirs to pre-1789 barons could remain barons, as could the elder sons of viscount-peers and this peerage system was abolished in 1848. The wife of a Freiherr is called a Freifrau or sometimes Baronin, families which had always held this status were called Uradel, and were heraldically entitled to a three pointed coronet. Families which had been ennobled at a point in time had seven points on their coronet. These families held their fief in vassalage from a suzerain, the holder of an allodial barony was thus called a Free Lord, or Freiherr. Subsequently, sovereigns in Germany conferred the title of Freiherr as a rank in the nobility, today, as of 1919 on, there is no legal privilege associated with hereditary titles in Germany. In modern, republican Germany, Freiherr and Baron remain heritable only as part of the legal surname, as opposed to this, hereditary titles have been banned completely in Austria. Still, in countries, honorary styles like His/her Highness, Serenity, etc. persists in social use as a form of utmost courtesy. As a result, German barons have been more numerous than those of countries where primogeniture with respect to title inheritance prevails as France. In Italy, barone was the lowest rank of feudal nobility except for that of signore or vassallo, the title of baron was most generally introduced into southern Italy by the Normans during the 11th century. Whereas originally a barony might consist of two or more manors, by 1700 we see what were formerly single manors erected into baronies, counties or even marquisates. Since the early 1800s, when feudalism was abolished in the various Italian states, the untitled younger son of a baron is a nobile dei baroni and in informal usage might be called a baron, while certain baronies devolve to heirs male general
12.
Famine
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A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, every inhabited continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. In the 19th and 20th century, it was generally Eastern Europe, the numbers dying from famine began to fall sharply from the 1970s. Some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, continue to have cases of famine. Since 2010, Africa has been the most affected continent in the world, as of 2017, the United Nations has warned some 20 million are at risk in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen. Agricultural conditions have been fluctuating more and more due to variations in weather, most programmes now direct their aid towards Africa. The cyclical occurrence of famine has been a mainstay of societies engaged in agriculture since the dawn of agriculture itself. The frequency and intensity of famine has fluctuated throughout history, depending on changes in demand, such as population growth. Famine was first eliminated in Holland and England during the 17th century, due to the commercialization of agriculture and the implementation of improved techniques to increase crop yields. In the 16th and 17th century, the system began to break down. These capitalist landowners paid their labourers with money, thereby increasing the commercialization of rural society, in the emerging competitive labour market, better techniques for the improvement of labour productivity were increasingly valued and rewarded. It was in the farmers interest to produce as much as possible on their land in order to sell it to areas that demanded that product and they produced guaranteed surpluses of their crop every year if they could. Subsistence peasants were also forced to commercialize their activities because of increasing taxes. Taxes that had to be paid to governments in money forced the peasants to produce crops to sell. Sometimes they produced industrial crops, but they would find ways to increase their production in order to both their subsistence requirements as well as their tax obligations. Peasants also used the new money to purchase manufactured goods, the agricultural and social developments encouraging increased food production were gradually taking place throughout the 16th century, but took off in the early 17th century. By that time, the Netherlands had one of the most commercialized agricultural systems in Europe and they grew many industrial crops such as flax, hemp and hops. Agriculture became increasingly specialized and efficient, the efficiency of Dutch agriculture allowed for much more rapid urbanization in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries than anywhere else in Europe
13.
Earl of Leicester
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The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England, and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837. The title was first created for Robert de Beaumont, but he always used his French title of Count of Meulan. Three generations of his descendants, all also named Robert, called themselves Earls of Leicester, the Beaumont male line ended with the death of the Fourth Earl. His property was split between his two sisters, with Simon IV de Montfort, the son of the eldest sister, acquiring Leicester, de Montfort however was never formally recognized as earl, due to the antipathy between France and England at that time. His second son, Simon V de Montfort, did succeed in taking possession of the earldom and he is the Simon de Montfort who became so prominent during the reign of Henry III. He was killed at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and his lands, in 1267 the title was created a second time and granted to the kings youngest son Edmund Crouchback. In 1276 he also became Earl of Lancaster, and the titles became united, crouchbacks son Thomas lost the earldom when he was executed for treason in 1322, but a few years later it was restored to his younger brother Henry. Henrys son Henry of Grosmont left only two daughters, and his estate was divided between them, the eldest daughter Matilda receiving the earldom, which was held by her husband William V of Holland. Matilda, however, soon died, and the passed to John of Gaunt, husband of her younger sister, Blanche. Both the dukedom and the earldom were inherited by John of Gaunts son, Henry Bolingbroke, the properties associated with the earldom became part of what was later called the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1564 the earldom was created for Queen Elizabeth Is favourite. Since Dudley died without heirs, the title became extinct at his death, the title was again created in 1618 for Robert Sidney, his nephew. Along with the earldom Robert Sidney was granted the title of Viscount Lisle on 4 May 1605. The Sidneys retained the titles until the death of the seventh Earl in 1743, the title of earl was then recreated for Thomas Coke, but it became extinct when he, too, died without heirs. Townshend was a female-line great-great-great-grandson of Lady Lucy Sydney, daughter of the second Earl of the 1618 creation, the earldom became extinct yet again upon the death of his son, the third Marquess and second Earl, in 1855. The Coke family is descended from the judge and politician Sir Edward Coke. His great-great-great-grandson Thomas Coke was a landowner, politician and patron of arts, Lord Leicester began the construction of Holkham Hall in Norfolk. He married Margaret Tufton, 19th Baroness de Clifford and their only child Edward Coke, Viscount Coke, predeceased both his parents, without issue
14.
Eleanor of Leicester
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Eleanor of Leicester was the youngest child of King John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. At the time of Eleanors birth at Gloucester, King Johns London was in the hands of French forces, John had been forced to sign the Magna Carta, Eleanor never met her father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old. The French, led by Prince Louis the Lion, the future Louis VIII, were marching through the south, the only lands loyal to her brother, Henry III of England, were in the Midlands and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who protected the young king Henry, before William the Marshal died in 1219 Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on 23 April 1224 at New Temple Church in London, the younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on 6 April 1231, days before their seventh anniversary, there were no children of this marriage. Eleanor had brought a dowry of 10 manors and 200 pounds per year to this marriage, according to the law of the time, widows were allowed to retain one third of the estates of the marriage. However, her brother-in-law Richard took all of the estates and sold many, including her dowry, Eleanor strove for many years to try and recover her lost property. The widowed Eleanor swore an oath of chastity in the presence of Edmund Rich. Seven years later, she met Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, according to Matthew Paris, Simon was attracted to Eleanors beauty and elegance as well as her wealth and high birth. They fell in love and married secretly on 7 January 1238 at the Kings chapel in Westminster Palace and her brother King Henry later alleged that he only allowed the marriage because Simon had seduced Eleanor. The marriage was controversial because of the oath Eleanor had sworn several years before to remain chaste, because of this, Simon made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking papal approval for their union. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at Montargis Abbey, a nunnery founded by her husbands sister Amicia. There she died on 13 April 1275, and was buried there, through her son Guy, Eleanor was an ancestor of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV. Eleanors daughter, Eleanor de Montfort, was married, at Worcester in 1278, to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and she would die giving birth to their only child, Gwenllian of Wales. After the conquest of Wales, Gwenllian was imprisoned by Edward I of England, her mothers first cousin, at Sempringham priory, Eleanor appears as a major character in Sharon Kay Penmans novel Falls the Shadow, where she is called Nell. Eleanor is also the character in Virginia Henleys The Dragon and the Jewel. Eleanor makes a appearance in Virginia Henleys historical romance The Marriage Prize
15.
Gascony
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Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the Province of Guyenne and Gascony prior to the French Revolution. The region is defined, and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear, by some they are seen to overlap, while others consider Gascony a part of Guyenne. Most definitions put Gascony east and south of Bordeaux and it is currently divided between the region of Aquitaine and the region of Midi-Pyrénées. Gascony was historically inhabited by Basque-related people who appear to have spoken a language similar to Basque, the name Gascony comes from the same root as the word Basque. From medieval times until today, the Gascon language has been spoken, Gascony is the land of dArtagnan, who inspired Alexandre Dumass character dArtagnan in The Three Musketeers. It is also home to Henry III of Navarre, who became king of France as Henry IV. In pre-Roman times, the inhabitants of Gascony were the Aquitanians, the Aquitanians inhabited a territory limited to the north and east by the Garonne River, to the south by the Pyrenees mountain range, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. In the 50s BC, Aquitania was conquered by lieutenants of Julius Caesar, later, in 27 BC, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the province of Gallia Aquitania was created. In 297, as Emperor Diocletian reformed the administrative structures of the Roman Empire, the territory of Novempopulania corresponded quite well to what we call now Gascony. The Aquitania Novempopulana or Novempopulania suffered like the rest of the Western Roman Empire from the invasions of Germanic tribes, the Visigoths were defeated by the Franks in 507, and fled into Spain and Septimania, as well as Albania. Novempopulania then became part of the Frankish Kingdom like the rest of southern France, however, Novempopulania was far away from the home base of the Franks in northern France, and was only very loosely controlled by the Franks. Modern historians reject this hypothesis, which is sustained by no archeological evidence, for Juan José Larrea, and Pierre Bonnassie, a Vascon expansionism in Aquitany is not proved and is not necessary to understand the historical evolution of this region. This Basque-related culture and race is, whatever the origin, attested in Medieval documents, the word Vasconia evolved into Wasconia, and then into Gasconia. The gradual abandonment of the Basque-related Aquitanian language in favor of a local vulgar Latin, was not reversed, the replacing local vulgar Latin evolved into Gascon. It was heavily influenced by the original Aquitanian language, quite paradoxically the Basques from the French side of the Basque Country traditionally call anyone who does not speak Basque a Gascon. Meanwhile, Viking raiders conquered several Gascon towns, among them Bayonne in 842–844 and their attacks in Gascony may have helped the political disintegration of the Duchy until their defeat against William II Sánchez of Gascony in 982. In turn, the weakened ethnic polity known as Duchy of Wasconia/Wascones, unable to get round the general spread of feudalization and his 1152 marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine allowed the future Henry II to gain control of his new wifes possessions of Aquitaine and Gascony. This addition to his already plentiful holdings made Henry the most powerful vassal in France, in 1248, Simon de Montfort was appointed Governor in the unsettled Duchy of Gascony
16.
House of Plantagenet
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The House of Plantagenet was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154, with the accession of Henry II, until 1485, under the Plantagenets, England was transformed, although this was only partly intentional. The Plantagenet kings were forced to negotiate compromises such as Magna Carta. These constrained royal power in return for financial and military support, the king was no longer just the most powerful man in the nation, holding the prerogative of judgement, feudal tribute and warfare. He now had defined duties to the realm, underpinned by a justice system. A distinct national identity was shaped by conflict with the French, Scots, Welsh and Irish, in the 15th century, the Plantagenets were defeated in the Hundred Years War and beset with social, political and economic problems. Popular revolts were commonplace, triggered by the denial of numerous freedoms, the Tudors worked to centralise English royal power, which allowed them to avoid some of the problems that had plagued the last Plantagenet rulers. The resulting stability allowed for the English Renaissance, and the advent of early modern Britain, Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, adopted Plantagenet as his family name in the 15th century. Plantegenest had been a 12th-century nickname for his ancestor Geoffrey, count of Anjou, one of many popular theories suggests the common broom, planta genista in medieval Latin, as the source of the nickname. It is uncertain why Richard chose this name, although during the Wars of the Roses it emphasised Richards status as Geoffreys patrilineal descendant. It was only in the late 17th century that it passed into common usage among historians, the three Angevin kings were Henry II, Richard I and John, Angevin can also refer to the period of history in which they reigned. Many historians identify the Angevins as a distinct English royal house, Angevin is also used in reference to any sovereign or government derived from Anjou. The term Angevin Empire was coined by Kate Norgate in 1887, the Empire portion of Angevin Empire has been controversial. In 1986 a convention of historians concluded that there had not been an Angevin state, and therefore no Angevin Empire, nonetheless, historians have continued to use Angevin Empire. The later counts of Anjou, including the Plantagenets, descended from Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais, in 1060 the couple inherited the title via cognatic kinship from an Angevin family that was descended from a noble named Ingelger, whose recorded history dates from 870. During the 10th and 11th centuries, power struggles occurred between rulers in northern and western France including those of Anjou, Normandy, Brittany, Poitou, Blois, Maine, and the kings of France. In the early 12th century Geoffrey of Anjou married Empress Matilda, King Henry Is only surviving legitimate child and heir to the English throne. As a result of marriage, Geoffreys son Henry II inherited the English throne as well as Norman and Angevin titles, thus marking the beginning of the Angevin
17.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
18.
Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln
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Hugh of Lincoln was an English boy whose death was falsely attributed to Jews. Hugh is sometimes known as Little Saint Hugh to distinguish him from Saint Hugh of Lincoln. Hugh became one of the best known of the blood libel saints, Little Sir Hugh was never actually canonised. The nine-year-old Hugh disappeared on 31 July, and his body was discovered in a well on 29 August, a man called John of Lexington appears to have suggested that Jews were responsible. Hughs friends apparently claimed that Copin, a local Jew, had imprisoned Hugh, during which time he tortured and it was said that the body had been thrown into the well after attempts to bury it failed, when the earth had expelled it. Copin was arrested and, under torture, confessed to killing the child and he later appears to have implicated the Jewish community as a whole. He was executed, and the story would have ended there were it not for a series of events coincided with the child Hughs disappearance. Some six months earlier, King Henry III had sold his rights to tax the Jews to his brother, Richard, having lost this source of income, he declared that if a Jew was convicted of a crime, any money he had would then belong to the king. As a result, some ninety Jews were arrested in connection with Hughs disappearance and death and held in the Tower of London and this story clearly influenced the myth that developed around Hugh. Eighteen of the Jews were hanged for refusing to participate in the proceedings by throwing themselves on the mercy of a Christian jury and it was the first time ever the civil government handed out a death sentence for a conviction of ritual murder. King Henry promptly expropriated the property of those convicted, the others were pardoned and set free, most likely because Richard, who saw a potential threat to his own source of income, intervened on their behalf. And after tormenting him in ways they crucified him. When the boy was dead, they took the body down from the cross, shortly after news was spread of his death, miracles were attributed to Hugh, and he was rushed toward sainthood. Hugh became one of the youngest individual candidates for sainthood, with 27 July unofficially made his feast day, over time, however, the issue of the rush to sainthood was raised, and Hugh was never canonized. He never appeared in Butler’s Lives of the Saints, the Vatican never included the child Hugh in Catholic martyrology. His traditional English feast day is not celebrated, Lincoln Cathedral benefited from the episode, however, since, saint or not, Hugh was regarded as a Christian martyr, and sites associated with his life became objects of pilgrimage. The legend surrounding Hugh that emerged became part of popular culture, geoffrey Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales makes reference to Hugh of Lincoln in The Prioresss Tale. In 1955, the Anglican Church placed a plaque at the site of Little Hughs former shrine at Lincoln Cathedral, bearing these words, trumped up stories of ritual murders of Christian boys by Jewish communities were common throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and even much later
19.
Hohenstaufen
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The Hohenstaufen, also called the Staufer or Staufen, were a dynasty of German kings during the Middle Ages. Besides Germany, they ruled the Kingdom of Sicily. In Italian historiography, they are known as the Svevi, since they were dukes of Swabia from 1079, three members of the dynasty—Frederick I, Henry VI and Frederick II—were crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The name Staufen derives from Stauf, meaning chalice, and was applied to conical hills in Swabia in the Middle Ages. The family derives its name from the castle which the first Swabian duke of the lineage built there in the half of the 11th century. Staufen castle was finally called Hohenstaufen by historians in the 19th century. The name of the dynasty followed, but in recent decades the trend in German historiography has been to prefer the name Staufer, the noble family first appeared in the late 10th century in the Swabian Riesgau region around the former Carolingian court of Nördlingen. A local count Frederick is mentioned as progenitor in a pedigree drawn up by Abbot Wibald of Stavelot at the behest of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1153. He held the office of a Swabian count palatine, his son Frederick of Buren married Hildegard of Egisheim-Dagsburg and their son Frederick I was appointed Duke of Swabia at Hohenstaufen Castle by the Salian king Henry IV of Germany in 1079. At the same time, Duke Frederick I was engaged to the kings approximately seventeen-year-old daughter, Fredericks brother Otto was elevated to the Strasbourg bishopric in 1082. Upon Fredericks death, he was succeeded by his son, Duke Frederick II, Frederick II remained a close ally of the Salians, he and his younger brother Conrad were named the kings representatives in Germany when the king was in Italy. Around 1120, Frederick II married Judith of Bavaria from the rival House of Welf, when the last male member of the Salian dynasty, Emperor Henry V, died without heirs in 1125, a controversy arose about the succession. A civil war between Fredericks dynasty and Lothairs ended with Fredericks submission in 1134, after Lothairs death in 1137, Fredericks brother Conrad was elected King as Conrad III. In 1147, Conrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, conrads brother Duke Frederick II died in 1147, and was succeeded in Swabia by his son, Duke Frederick III. When King Conrad III died without heir in 1152, Frederick also succeeded him. As royal access to the resources of the church in Germany was much reduced and he was soon crowned emperor in Italy, but decades of warfare on the peninsula yielded scant results. The Papacy and the prosperous city-states of the Lombard League in northern Italy were traditional enemies, under the skilled leadership of Pope Alexander III, the alliance suffered many defeats but ultimately was able to deny the emperor a complete victory in Italy. During Fredericks long stays in Italy, the German princes became stronger, offers of reduced taxes and manorial duties enticed many Germans to settle in the east in the course of the Ostsiedlung
20.
Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
21.
Pope Innocent IV
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Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Born in Genoa in an year, Sinibaldo was the son of Beatrice Grillo and Ugo Fieschi. The Fieschi were a merchant family of Liguria. Sinibaldo received his education at the universities of Parma and Bologna and, for a time and it is pointed out by Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani, however, that there is no documentary evidence of such a professorship. From 1216-1227 he was Canon of the Cathedral of Parma and he was considered one of the best canonists of his time, and was called to serve Pope Honorius III in the Roman Curia as Auditor causarum, from 11 November 1226 to 30 May 1227. He was then promoted to the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, though he retained the office, Vice-Chancellor Sinibaldo Fieschi was created Cardinal Priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina on 18 September 1227 by Pope Gregory IX. He later served as governor of the March of Ancona. It is widely repeated, from the 17th century on, that he became bishop of Albenga in 1235, Innocents immediate predecessor was Pope Celestine IV, elected 25 October 1241, whose reign lasted a mere fifteen days. The two prelates remained incarcerated and missed the conclave that immediately elected Celestine, the conclave that reconvened after his death fell into camps supporting contradictory policies about how to treat with the emperor. After a year and a half of debate and coercion. Cardinal de Fieschi very reluctantly accepted election as Pope 25 June 1243, as Cardinal de Fieschi, Sinibaldo had been on friendly terms with Frederick, even after his excommunication. The Emperor also greatly admired the cardinals wisdom, having enjoyed discussions with him from time to time, following the election the witty Frederick remarked that he had lost the friendship of a cardinal but made up for it by gaining the enmity of a pope. Negotiations leading to this objective began shortly afterwards, but proved abortive, the Emperors machinations caused a good deal of anti-papal feeling to rise in Italy, particularly in the Papal States, and imperial agents encouraged plots against papal rule. Realizing how untenable his position in Rome was growing, Innocent IV secretly and hurriedly withdrew, traveling in disguise, Innocent made his way to Sutri and Civitavecchia, to Genoa, his birthplace, where he arrived on 7 July. From there, on 5 October, he fled to France, making his way to Lyon, where he arrived on November 29,1244, Innocent was happily greeted by the magistrates of the city. The bishops met for three sessions,28 June,5 July, and 17 July 1245. Their principal business was to subjugate the Emperor Frederick II, Gregory IX, had issued letters on 9 June 1239, ordering all the bishops of France to confiscate all Talmuds in the possession of the Jews. Agents were to raid each synagogue on the first Saturday of Lent of 1240, the Bishop of Paris was ordered to see to it that copies of the Popes mandate reached all the bishops of France, England, Aragon, Navarre, Castile and León, and Portugal
22.
King of Sicily
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See Emirate of Sicily Sicily was granted, pending its Christian reconquest, to Robert Guiscard as duke in 1059 by Pope Nicholas II. The Guiscard granted it as a county to his brother Roger, Roger II received royal investiture from Antipope Anacletus II in 1130 and recognition from Pope Innocent II in 1139. Constance was married to the Emperor Henry VI and he pressed his claim to the kingdom from William IIs death, there is evidence that, during the baronial revolt of 1197, there was an attempt to make Count Jordan Lupin of Bovino king in opposition to Henry VI. He may even have been crowned and seems to have had the support of Constance, in the end he was captured and executed. He is accepted as a pretender to the throne by modern historians Evelyn Jamison, Manfred was regent of Sicily for his nephew, the child Conrad II, but took the crown in 1258, and continued to fight to keep the kingdom under the Hohenstaufen. In 1254 the pope, having declared the kingdom a papal possession, offered the crown to the King of Englands son, Edmund Crouchback, but the English never succeeded in taking the kingdom. In 1262 the pope reversed his previous decision and granted the kingdom to the King of Frances brother, Charles of Anjou, conradin continued his claim to the throne until his death by decapitation perpetrated by Charles of Anjou in 1268. Edmund Crouchback, son of King Henry III of England, claimed the Crown of Sicily between 1254 and 1263, the claim was taken seriously by both him and his father, but was completely ineffectual. Peter III of Aragon, Manfreds son in law, of the House of Barcelona, thereafter the old Kingdom of Sicily was centred on the mainland, with capital at Naples, and although informally called Kingdom of Naples it was still known formally as Kingdom of Sicily. Thus, there were two Sicilies — the island kingdom, however, was often called Sicily beyond the Lighthouse or Trinacria, the Duke of Savoy ceded it to Austria in 1720 by the Treaty of The Hague. Charles I, Duke of Parma conquered the kingdom during the War of the Polish Succession, at the end of the war Sicily was ceded to the new Charles V of Sicily. In 1816 the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily were merged as the new Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, List of viceroys of Sicily List of Counts of Apulia and Calabria List of monarchs of Naples List of monarchs of the Two Sicilies
23.
Edmund Crouchback
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Edmund Crouchback, a member of the House of Plantagenet, was the second surviving son of Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. In his childhood he had a claim on the Kingdom of Sicily, in 1265 he was granted all the lands of Simon de Montfort and from 1267 he was titled Earl of Leicester. In that year he began to rule Lancashire, but he did not take the title Earl of Lancaster until 1276. Between 1276 and 1284 he governed the counties of Champagne and Brie with his wife, Blanche of Artois. His nickname, Crouchback, refers to his participation in the Ninth Crusade and he was a younger brother of Edward I, Margaret, and Beatrice, and an older brother of Catherine. In 1255 he was invested ruler of the Kingdom of Sicily by the Bishop of Romania, in return his father undertook to pay the papacy 135,541 marks and fight a war to dislodge the Hohenstaufen king Manfred. Upon Innocents death, Pope Alexander IV confirmed Edmunds grant of Sicily, henrys barons refused to contribute to what they called the Sicilian business and ultimately Henry was only able to pay 60,000 marks. Stephen Runciman says the grant of the kingdom was revoked by Pope Alexander IV on 18 December 1258, Baines and he was granted the honour of the Stewardship of England and the lands of Nicolas de Segrave. He also acquired the titles and estates of Lord Ferrers, that included the earldom of Derby, in 1267 he was granted the lordship of Builth Wells in opposition to the then holder, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. To help him conquer the land he was granted his elder brothers lordships of the Trilateral of Skenfrith, Grosmont. After the civil war in 1267, he was appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire, Henry III created his second son Earl of Leicester in 1267, granting the honour and privileges of that city. The following year, he was made Constable of Leicester Castle, by now Crouchback had a reputation for being a ruthless and ferocious warrior, but he was not in England fighting de Montfort. In 1271 he accompanied his elder brother Edward on the Ninth Crusade to Palestine. Edmund remained loyal to his brother, Edward I, who confirmed the Charter grants of 1265,1267, and 1268-9, in a document of Inspeximus in 1284 and he frequently acted as an ambassador abroad. In 1291, he was sent as Governor of Ponthieu, on behalf of his second wife, on his return from the Crusade of 1271-2 he seems to have made Grosmont Castle his favoured home and undertook much rebuilding there. His son Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster was apparently born there in 1281, Edmunds duty to the church included the foundation of a Nuns of Clara or Poor Clares nunnery at Minories, St Aldates. In 1291, his estate paid for the establishment for the Chapel of Savoy, in memory of his mother, filial piety was part of the chivalric code of an honourable knight. He was a benefactor to the monastery of Grace Dieu in Leicestershire
24.
John, King of England
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John, also known as John Lackland, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. The baronial revolt at the end of Johns reign led to the sealing of Magna Carta, John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henrys favourite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England, Johns elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young, by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richards royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade, John spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. Johns judicial reforms had a impact on the English common law system. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to Johns excommunication in 1209, Johns attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed due to the French victory over Johns allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis of France and it soon descended into a stalemate. John was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine on 24 December 1166, Henry had inherited significant territories along the Atlantic seaboard—Anjou, Normandy and England—and expanded his empire by conquering Brittany. The result was the Angevin Empire, named after Henrys paternal title as Count of Anjou and, more specifically, its seat in Angers. The Empire, however, was fragile, although all the lands owed allegiance to Henry. As one moved south through Anjou and Aquitaine, the extent of Henrys power in the provinces diminished considerably, scarcely resembling the concept of an empire at all. Some of the ties between parts of the empire such as Normandy and England were slowly dissolving over time. It was unclear what would happen to the empire on Henrys death, most believed that Henry would divide the empire, giving each son a substantial portion, and hoping that his children would continue to work together as allies after his death. To complicate matters, much of the Angevin empire was held by Henry only as a vassal of the King of France of the line of the House of Capet. Henry had often allied himself with the Holy Roman Emperor against France, shortly after his birth, John was passed from Eleanor into the care of a wet nurse, a traditional practice for medieval noble families. Eleanor then left for Poitiers, the capital of Aquitaine, and sent John and this may have been done with the aim of steering her youngest son, with no obvious inheritance, towards a future ecclesiastical career
25.
Charles I of Anjou
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Thereafter, he claimed the island, though his power was restricted to the peninsular possessions of the kingdom, with his capital at Naples. Charles was the child and youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. He conquered the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen and acquired lands in the eastern Mediterranean, however, the War of the Sicilian Vespers forced him to abandon his plans to reassemble the Latin Empire. By marriage to Beatrice of Provence, heiress of Raymond Berengar IV of Provence, he was Count of Provence, in 1247, his brother Louis IX made him Count of Anjou and Maine, as appanages of the French crown. By conquest and self-proclamation, he became King of Albania in 1272, by the testament of William II of Villehardouin, he inherited the Principality of Achaea in 1278. Charles was born in March 1227, four months after the death of his father, like his immediate older brother, Philip Dagobert, he did not receive a county as appanage, as had their older brothers. In 1232, his brothers Philip Dagobert and John, Count of Anjou and Maine, died, Charles became the next in line to receive the Counties, but was formally invested only in 1247. The affection of his mother Blanche seems largely to have bestowed upon his brother Louis. The self-reliance this engendered in Charles may account for the drive, upon his accession as Count of Provence and Forcalquier in 1246, Charles rapidly found himself in difficulties. Furthermore, while Provence was technically a part of the Burgundy and hence of the Holy Roman Empire, recent counts had governed with a light hand, and the nobilities and cities had enjoyed great liberties. Three cities, Marseille, Arles, and Avignon were Imperial cities technically separate from the county. In 1247, while Charles was in France to receive the counties of Anjou and Maine, the local nobility joined with Beatrice, unfortunately for Charles, he had promised to join his brother on the Seventh Crusade. For the time being, Charles compromised with Beatrice, allowing her to have Forcalquier, rich Provence provided the funds that supported his wider career. His rights as landlord were, on the whole, of recent establishment, from the Church, unlike his brothers in the north, he received virtually nothing. Charles agents were efficient, the towns were prosperous, the peasants were buying up the duties of corvée and establishing self-governing consulats in the villages, Charles sailed with the rest of the Crusaders from Aigues-Mortes in 1248 and fought at Damietta and in the struggle around Mansourah, Egypt. However, his piety does not seem to have matched that of his brother, during his absence, open rebellion had broken out in Provence. Charles moved to suppress it, and Arles, Avignon, Marseille held out until July 1252, but then sued for peace. Charles imposed a lenient peace, but insisted on the recognition of his full rights, in November 1252, the death of his mother Blanche of Castile caused him to go north to Paris and assume the joint regency of the kingdom with his brother Alphonse
26.
Magna Carta
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Magna Carta Libertatum, commonly called Magna Carta, is a charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, at the end of the 16th century there was an upsurge in interest in Magna Carta. Lawyers and historians at the believed that there was an ancient English constitution, going back to the days of the Anglo-Saxons. Both James I and his son Charles I attempted to suppress the discussion of Magna Carta, until the issue was curtailed by the English Civil War of the 1640s and the execution of Charles. The political myth of Magna Carta and its protection of ancient personal liberties persisted after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 until well into the 19th century. In the 21st century, four exemplifications of the original 1215 charter remain in existence, held by the British Library, there are also a handful of the subsequent charters in public and private ownership, including copies of the 1297 charter in both the United States and Australia. The original charters were written on parchment sheets using quill pens, in heavily abbreviated medieval Latin, each was sealed with the royal great seal, very few of the seals have survived. The four original 1215 charters were displayed together at the British Library for one day,3 February 2015, to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Magna Carta originated as an attempt to achieve peace between royalist and rebel factions in 1215, as part of the events leading to the outbreak of the First Barons War. England was ruled by King John, the third of the Angevin kings, although the kingdom had a robust administrative system, the nature of government under the Angevin monarchs was ill-defined and uncertain. Following the defeat of his allies at the Battle of Bouvines, John had to sue for peace, John was already personally unpopular with many of the barons, many of whom owed money to the Crown, and little trust existed between the two sides. John held a council in London in January 1215 to discuss potential reforms, both sides appealed to Pope Innocent III for assistance in the dispute. John also began recruiting mercenary forces from France, although some were sent back to avoid giving the impression that the King was escalating the conflict. Letters backing John arrived from the Pope in April, but by then the rebel barons had organised into a military faction and they congregated at Northampton in May and renounced their feudal ties to John, marching on London, Lincoln, and Exeter. Johns efforts to moderate and conciliatory had been largely successful. The King offered to submit the problem to a committee of arbitration with the Pope as the supreme arbiter, John met the rebel leaders at Runnymede, a water-meadow on the south bank of the River Thames, on 10 June 1215. Here the rebels presented John with their demands for reform. By 15 June, general agreement had been made on a text, and on 19 June and it focused on the rights of free men—in particular the barons
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Anglo-Normans
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The Anglo-Normans were the medieval ruling class in England, composed mainly of a combination of ethnic Anglo-Saxons and Normans, following the Norman conquest. A small number of Normans had earlier befriended future Anglo-Saxon King of England, Edward the Confessor, when he returned to England some of them went with him, and so there were Normans already settled in England prior to the conquest. Following the death of Edward, the powerful Anglo-Saxon noble, Harold Godwinson, acceded to the English throne until his defeat by William, the invading Normans formed a ruling class in Britain, distinct from the native populations. Over time their language evolved from the continental Old Norman to the distinct Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Normans quickly established control over all of England, as well as parts of Wales. After 1130, parts of southern and eastern Scotland came under Anglo-Norman rule, the Norman conquest of Ireland in 1169 saw Anglo-Normans settle vast swaths of Ireland, becoming the Hiberno-Normans. The composite expression regno Norman-Anglorum for the Anglo-Norman kingdom that comprises Normandy, the English were Catholic and shared this religion with the Normans and they had already an influence in England, before the conquest. Furthermore, the relationships between the sailors from both sides of the English channel had maintained a common culture. The Normans were not a homogeneous group springing from Scandinavian stock, in terms of culture, they represented the Northern French civilisation, who mostly only spoke Langues doïl as languages. The Norman settlers felt no community with the earlier Danish settlers, however, in their own army, they did not even feel any sense of community with the Poitou, the Bretons, and other groups that had different dialects and traditions. The association between these different troops was only occasional and corresponds to a necessity for the Norman ruler. In fact, the Normans met with the steadiest resistance in a part of England that was the most influenced by the Danish, many of the English nobles lost lands and titles, the lesser thegns and others found themselves dispossessed of lands and titles. A number of free geburs had their rights and court access much decreased, becoming unfree villeins, at the same time, many of the new Anglo-Norman magnates were distributed lands by the King that had been taken from the English nobles. The Norman conquest of England brought the British Isles into the orbit of the European continent, especially what remained of Roman-influenced language and it transmitted itself in the emerging feudal world that took its place. The England that emerged from the Conquest was a different place. The Norman conquest of England also signalled a revolution in military styles, the old Anglo-Saxon military elite began to emigrate, especially the generation next younger to that defeated at Hastings, who had no particular future in a country controlled by the conquerors. William, encouraged them to leave, as a security measure, the first to leave went mostly to Denmark and many of these moved on to join the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. Although the Anglo-Saxons as a whole were not demilitarised, this would have been impractical, instead, William arranged for the Saxon infantry to be trained up by Norman cavalry in anti-cavalry tactics. The younger Norman aristocracy showed a tendency towards Anglicisation, adopting such Saxon styles as long hair and moustaches, (Note that the Anglo-Saxon cniht did not take the sense of the French chevalier before the latest period of Middle English
28.
Parliament of England
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The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Over the centuries, the English Parliament progressively limited the power of the English monarchy which arguably culminated in the English Civil War, the Act of Union 1707 merged the English Parliament with the Parliament of Scotland to form the Parliament of Great Britain. When the Parliament of Ireland was abolished in 1801, its members were merged into what was now called the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under a monarchical system of government, monarchs usually must consult, early kings of England had no standing army or police, and so depended on the support of powerful subjects. The monarchy had agents in every part of the country, however, under the feudal system that evolved in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the laws of the Crown could not have been upheld without the support of the nobility and the clergy. The former had economic and military bases of their own through major ownership of land. The Church was virtually a law unto itself in this period as it had its own system of law courts. In order to seek consultation and consent from the nobility and the clergy on major decisions. A typical Great Council would consist of archbishops, bishops, abbots, barons and earls, when this system of consultation and consent broke down, it often became impossible for government to function effectively. The most prominent instances of prior to the reign of Henry III are the disagreements between Thomas Becket and Henry II and between King John and the barons. Becket, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury between 1162 and 1170, was murdered following a long running dispute with Henry II over the jurisdiction of the Church. John, who was king from 1199 to 1216, aroused such hostility from many leading noblemen that they forced him to agree to Magna Carta in 1215, johns refusal to adhere to this charter led to civil war. The Great Council evolved into the Parliament of England, the term itself came into use during the early 13th century, deriving from the Latin and French words for discussion and speaking. The word first appears in documents in the 1230s. As a result of the work by historians G. O. Sayles and H. G. Richardson, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the kings began to call Knights of the Shire to meet when the monarch saw it as necessary. A notable example of this was in 1254 when sheriffs of counties were instructed to send Knights of the Shire to parliament to advise the king on finance, initially, parliaments were mostly summoned when the king needed to raise money through taxes. Following the Magna Carta this became a convention and this was due in no small part to the fact that King John died in 1216 and was succeeded by his young son Henry III. Leading peers and clergy governed on Henrys behalf until he came of age, among other things, they made sure that Magna Carta would be reaffirmed by the young king
29.
Louis IX of France
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Louis IX, commonly known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. Louis was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII the Lion, although his mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled the kingdom until he reached maturity. During Louiss childhood, Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious vassals, as an adult, Louis IX faced recurring conflicts with some of the most powerful nobles, such as Hugh X of Lusignan and Peter of Dreux. Simultaneously, Henry III of England tried to restore his continental possessions and his reign saw the annexation of several provinces, notably Normandy, Maine and Provence. Louis IX was a reformer and developed French royal justice, in which the king is the judge to whom anyone is able to appeal to seek the amendment of a judgment. He banned trials by ordeal, tried to prevent the private wars that were plaguing the country, to enforce the correct application of this new legal system, Louis IX created provosts and bailiffs. According to his vow made after an illness, and confirmed after a miraculous cure. He was succeeded by his son Philip III, Louiss actions were inspired by Christian values and Catholic devotion. He decided to punish blasphemy, gambling, interest-bearing loans and prostitution and he also expanded the scope of the Inquisition and ordered the burning of Talmuds. He is the only canonized king of France, and there are many places named after him. Much of what is known of Louiss life comes from Jean de Joinvilles famous Life of Saint Louis, two other important biographies were written by the kings confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and his chaplain, William of Chartres. The fourth important source of information is William of Saint-Parthus biography, while several individuals wrote biographies in the decades following the kings death, only Jean of Joinville, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and William of Chartres wrote from personal knowledge of the king. Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris, the son of Prince Louis the Lion and Princess Blanche, and baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His grandfather on his fathers side was Philip II, king of France, while his grandfather on his mothers side was Alfonso VIII, tutors of Blanches choosing taught him most of what a king must know—Latin, public speaking, writing, military arts, and government. He was 9 years old when his grandfather Philip II died, a member of the House of Capet, Louis was twelve years old when his father died on 8 November 1226. He was crowned king within the month at Reims cathedral, because of Louiss youth, his mother ruled France as regent during his minority. Louis mother trained him to be a leader and a good Christian. She used to say, I love you, my son, as much as a mother can love her child
30.
Papal bull
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A Papal bull is a specific kind of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by a pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It is named after the seal that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it. Papal bulls have been in use at least since the 6th century, but the phrase was not used until around the end of the 13th century, and then only internally for unofficial administrative purposes. However, it had become official by the 15th century, when one of the offices of the Apostolic Chancery was named the register of bulls, by the accession of Pope Leo IX in 1048, a clear distinction developed between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The majority of the bulls now in existence are in the nature of confirmations of property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries. In an epoch when there was much fabrication of such documents, a Papal confirmation, under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient evidence of title in cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed. Since the 12th century, Papal bulls have carried a seal with the heads of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul on one side. Papal bulls were issued by the Pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature. Papyrus seems to have used almost uniformly as the material for these documents until the early years of the eleventh century. Popularly, the name is used for any Papal document that contains a metal seal, today, the bull is the only written communication in which the Pope will refer to himself as Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei. For example, when Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree in bull form, while Papal bulls always used to bear a metal seal, they now do so only on the most solemn occasions. A Papal bull is today the most formal type of public decree or letters patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the Pope, the body of the text had no specific conventions for its formatting, it was often very simple in layout. For the most solemn bulls, the Pope signed the document himself, following the signature in this case would be an elaborate monogram, the signatures of any witnesses, and then the seal. Nowadays, a member of the Roman Curia signs the document on behalf of the Pope, usually the Cardinal Secretary of State, and thus the monogram is omitted. The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the seal, which was usually made of lead. On the obverse it depicted, originally somewhat crudely, the early Fathers of the Church of Rome, the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, identified by the letters Sanctus PAulus and Sanctus PEtrus. Each head was surrounded by a circle of globetti, and the rim of the seal was surrounded by a ring of such beads. On the reverse was the name of the issuing Pope in the nominative Latin form, with the letters PP, for Pastor Pastorum
31.
Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester
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Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester, 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, 8th Lord of Clare was son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and Isabel Marshal. On his fathers death, when he became Earl of Gloucester, on Huberts fall, his guardianship was given to Peter des Roches, and in 1235 to Gilbert, Earl Marshall. He was also a powerful Marcher Lord in Wales and inherited the Lordship of Glamorgan upon the death of his father, richards first marriage to Margaret or Megotta, as she was also called, ended with either an annulment or her death in November 1237. They were both about 14 or 15, Hubert, however, protested that the match was not of his making, and promised to pay the king some money, so the matter passed by for the time. Even before Margaret died, the Earl of Lincoln offered 5,000 marks to King Henry to secure Richard for his own daughter. He was among those in opposition to the Kings half-brothers, who in 1247 visited England, where they were very unpopular, but afterwards he was reconciled to them. In August 1252/3 the King crossed over to Gascony with his army and they were to try to bring the young King and Queen to him. They gained access to the Scottish Queen, who complained to them that she and they threatened Roos with dire punishments, so that he promised to go to the King. The King of Scotland apparently travelled south with the Earl, for on 24 September they were with King Henry III at Newminster, in July 1258 he fell ill, supposedly poisoned together with his brother William by his steward, Walter de Scotenay. He recovered, but his brother died, Richard died at John de Griols Manor of Asbenfield in Waltham, near Canterbury, on 14 July 1262 at the age of 39, it was rumoured that he had been poisoned at the table of Piers of Savoy. On the following Monday he was carried to Canterbury where a mass was sung, his body was then taken to the canons church at Tonbridge. From there it was taken to Tewkesbury Abbey and buried 28 July 1262, richards own arms were, Or, three chevronels gules. Richard left extensive property, distributed across numerous counties, details of these holdings were reported at a series of inquisitions post mortem that took place after his death. Richard had no children by his first wife, Margaret de Burgh, by his second wife, Maud de Lacy, daughter of the Surety John de Lacy and Margaret de Quincy, he had, Isabel de Clare, m. William VII of Montferrat. Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester Thomas de Clare, seized control of Thomond in 1277, juliana FitzGerald Bogo de Clare Margaret de Clare, m. Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall Rohese de Clare, m. Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray Eglentina de Clare, died in infancy. His widow Maud, who had the Manor of Clare and the Manor and Castle of Usk and other lands for her dower and she arranged for the marriages of her children. She died before 10 March 1288/9
32.
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester
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Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 3rd Lord of Glamorgan, 9th Lord of Clare was a powerful English noble. Also known as Red Gilbert de Clare or The red earl and he held the Lordship of Glamorgan which was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships as well as over 200 English manors. Gilbert inherited his fathers estates in 1262 and he took on the titles, including Lord of Glamorgan, from 1263. Being under age at his fathers death, he was made a ward of Humphrey de Bohun, in April 1264, Gilbert de Clare led the massacre of the Jews at Canterbury, as Simon de Montfort had done in Leicester. Gilbert de Clare’s castles of Kingston and Tonbridge were taken by the King, Henry III. However, the King allowed de Clares Countess Alice de Lusignan, who was in the latter, to go free because she was his niece, but on 12 May de Clare and de Montfort were denounced as traitors. Two days later, just before the Battle of Lewes, on 14 May, Simon de Montfort knighted the Earl, the Earl commanded the central division of the Baronial army, which formed up on the Downs west of Lewes. When Prince Edward had left the field in pursuit of Montforts routed left wing, Henry took refuge in the Priory of St Pancras, and Gilbert accepted the surrender of the Earl of Cornwall, who had hidden in a windmill. Montfort and the Earl were now supreme and de Montfort in effect de facto King of England, on 20 October 1264, Gilbert and his associates were excommunicated by Pope Clement IV, and his lands placed under an interdict. In October 1265, as a reward for supporting Prince Edward, Gilbert was given the castle and title of Abergavenny and honour, at Michaelmas his disputes with Llewelyn the Last were submitted to arbitration, but without a final settlement. Meanwhile, he was building Caerphilly Castle into a fortress, during Edwards invasion of Wales in 1282, de Clare insisted on leading an attack into southern Wales. King Edward made de Clare the commander of the army invading Wales. However, de Clares army faced disaster after being defeated at the Battle of Llandeilo Fawr. Following this defeat, de Clare was relieved of his position as the commander and was replaced by William de Valence. They married in 1253, when Gilbert was ten years old and she was of high birth, being a niece of King Henry, but the marriage floundered. Gilbert and Alice separated in 1267, allegedly, Alices affections lay with her cousin, after his marriage to Alice de Lusignan was annulled in 1285, Gilbert married Joan of Acre, a daughter of King Edward I of England and his first wife Eleanor of Castile. King Edward sought to bind de Clare, and his assets, on 3 July 1290, the Earl gave a great banquet at Clerkenwell to celebrate his marriage of 30 April 1290 with Joan of Acre after waiting for the Pope to sanction the marriage. Edward then gave large estates to Gilbert, including one in Malvern, disputed hunting rights on these led to several armed conflicts with Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, that Edward resolved
33.
Welsh Marches
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The Welsh Marches is an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods, in modern usage, the Marches is often used to describe those English counties which lie along the border with Wales, particularly Shropshire and Herefordshire, and sometimes adjoining areas of Wales. Over the next few centuries, the Angles, Saxons and others gradually conquered and settled in eastern and southern Britain, the kingdom of Mercia, under Penda, became established around Lichfield, and initially established strong alliances with the Welsh kings. However, his successors sought to expand Mercia further westwards into what is now Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. Campaigns and raids from Powys then led, possibly around about AD820, to the building of Wats Dyke, the Dyke still exists, and can best be seen at Knighton, close to the modern border between England and Wales. In the centuries which followed, Offas Dyke largely remained the frontier between the Welsh and English, by the mid-eleventh century, Wales was united under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd, until his death in 1063. The process took a century and was never permanently effective, the term March of Wales was first used in the Domesday Book of 1086. Over the next four centuries, Norman lords established mostly small marcher lordships between the Dee and Severn, and further west, military adventurers went to Wales from Normandy and elsewhere and after raiding an area of Wales, then fortified it and granted land to some of their supporters. One example was Bernard de Neufmarché, responsible for conquering and pacifying the Welsh kingdom of Brycheiniog, the precise dates and means of formation of the lordships varied, as did their size. By about AD1100 the March covered the areas which would later become Monmouthshire and much of Flintshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Glamorgan, ultimately, this amounted to about two-thirds of Wales. During the period, the Marches were a society in every sense. Hundreds of small castles were built in the area in the 12th and 13th centuries, predominantly by Norman lords as assertions of power as well as defences against Welsh raiders. The area still contains Britains densest concentration of motte-and-bailey castles, the Marcher lords encouraged immigration from all the Norman-Angevin realms, and encouraged trade from fair haven ports like Cardiff. Peasants went to Wales in large numbers, Henry I encouraged Bretons, Flemings, Normans, many new towns were established, some such as Chepstow, Monmouth, Ludlow and Newtown becoming successful trading centres, and these tended also to be a focus of English settlement. At the same time, the Welsh continued to attack English soil, the Norman lords each had similar rights to the Welsh princes. The lordships were geographically compact and jurisdictionally separate one from another, Marcher lords ruled their lands by their own law—sicut regale as Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester stated— whereas in England fief-holders were directly accountable to the king. However, Welsh law was used in the Marches in preference to English law. The Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 followed the conquest of the Principality by Edward I of England
34.
Tower of London
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The Tower of London, officially Her Majestys Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle located on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression. The castle was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952, a grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. There were several phases of expansion, mainly under Kings Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, the general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite later activity on the site. The Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history and it was besieged several times, and controlling it has been important to controlling the country. The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a record office. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, in the absence of the monarch, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle. This was a powerful and trusted position in the medieval period, in the late 15th century, the castle was the prison of the Princes in the Tower. Under the Tudors, the Tower became used less as a royal residence and this use has led to the phrase sent to the Tower. Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, in the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to what was felt to be its medieval appearance, in the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz was repaired, today, the Tower of London is one of the countrys most popular tourist attractions. Under the ceremonial charge of the Constable of the Tower, it is cared for by the charity Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage Site. The Tower was orientated with its strongest and most impressive defences overlooking Saxon London and it would have visually dominated the surrounding area and stood out to traffic on the River Thames. The castle is made up of three wards, or enclosures, the innermost ward contains the White Tower and is the earliest phase of the castle
35.
Mise of Amiens
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The Mise of Amiens was a settlement given by King Louis IX of France on 23 January 1264 in the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons, led by Simon de Montfort. Louis one-sided decision for King Henry led directly to the hostilities of the Barons War, the conflict between king and magnates was caused by dissatisfaction with the influence of foreigners at court, and Henrys high level of taxation. In 1263, as the country was on the brink of civil war, Louis was a firm believer in the royal prerogative, and decided clearly in favour of Henry. The outcome was unacceptable for the barons, and war between the two parties broke out almost immediately after the announcement of the settlement. After a victory at the Battle of Lewes in May 1264, Montfort took over control of government, Henrys oldest son Edward – the later King Edward I – started a military campaign that ended in the Battle of Evesham in August 1265, where Montfort was defeated and killed. Parts of the resistance still held out, but by the end of 1266 the final garrison at Kenilworth Castle surrendered. The rebels were given according to terms set out in the Dictum of Kenilworth. By 1264, the reign of Henry III was deeply troubled by disputes between the king and his nobility, the conflict was caused by several factors. The native nobility were offended by the political influence held by these foreigners. Secondly, the king had in 1254 accepted Pope Innocent IVs offer of the crown of Sicily for his younger son Edmund, the offer involved repelling the current Hohenstaufen rulers of the island, and proved to be very expensive. Lastly, there was a dispute between King Henry and one of his subjects, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. Montfort, a foreigner himself, was initially on good terms with Henry, the two fell out, however, and Montfort became the leader of the opposition, together with Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. In 1258, Henry was forced to accept the so-called Provisions of Oxford, in 1259 the baronial program of reform was further elaborated upon in the Provisions of Westminster. The provisions remained in effect for three years, at one point Henrys oldest son Edward – the later King Edward I – even joined forces with Montfort and it was not until 1261 that Henry was able to move against the opposition. Receiving a papal annulment of the provisions, he reassumed control of government, over the next two years, however, Henrys governing deteriorated the situation once more. He failed to reconcile with Montfort, and alienated Gloucesters son, in April 1263 Montfort returned to England after a long stay in France, and reignited the reform movement. On 16 July Henry was surrounded by forces in the Tower of London. Prince Edward, now firmly on the side of his father against Montfort, in October Edward took Windsor Castle, and the baronial alliance started to break up
36.
Henry de Montfort
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Sir Henry de Montfort was the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and with his father played an important role in the struggle of the barons against King Henry III. Henrys father was Simon de Montfort, the leader of the English Barons in the Second Barons War. Simon was the son of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester. Becoming a favorite of Henry III, the younger Simon de Montfort received permission to marry the kings sister Eleanor of England, in gratitude for the Kings permission and support, the first son was named Henry in his honor. In January 1264, Henry was one of the deputies sent to represent the barons at the Mise of Amiens, when the Mise was set aside he commanded a body of troops despatched to secure the Welsh border. On 28 February, he stormed and sacked Worcester, and soon afterwards took Gloucester, with his brother Guy de Montfort, he led the van at the battle of Lewes,14 May 1264. After the victory, on 28 May, he was constable of Dover Castle, Warden of the Cinque Ports. When the siege of Gloucester began in 1263, Henry de Montfort and Humphrey de Bohun, holding the King and Prince Edward as prisoners, Henry then accompanied his father to Evesham, where they intended to rendezvous with Henrys younger brother, Simon the younger de Montfort. Instead they met Prince Edward, who had ambushed the younger de Montforts army and then marched under its stolen Montfort banners to lure Henry, the final act was played out in a monstrous summer storm, such a downpour of rain, such thunder and lightning. The darkness was so profound, that though it was dinner-time those who sat down to eat could scarcely see the food before them. The first of the nobles to fall in battle was Henry de Montfort, first born son and heir, in view of his father, perished. Thus the whole weight of the battle fell upon the earl of Leicester and he stood the shock like a strong tower, but, surrounded by few followers, and overcome by numbers, he fell, and thus terminated an hereditary prowess, rendered famous by many glorious deeds. Henrys brother Simon arrived at Evesham in time to see their fathers head mounted on a spear, another brother, Guy de Montfort, was captured during the battle and imprisoned. Guy later escaped and joined the younger Simon in flight to Europe and they found fortune in the service of Charles of Anjou, and later avenged the father and brothers deaths by killing Henry of Almain, the nephew of the King, and their own cousin. This act taking place in a church, the brothers were excommunicated, as Count of Nola, Guy had two daughters, becoming in time an ancestor to several European Royal Families, including the British. Another brother Amaury de Montfort also fled to Italy, a cleric, he worked in the papacy before accompanying his sister Eleanor de Montfort to Wales for her marriage to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. Captured by pirates in the employ of King Edward, the siblings were eventually released, Eleanor died on 19 June 1282 giving birth to Gwenllian of Wales. Amaury returned to the continent, worked as a cleric, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Norgate, Kate
37.
Simon VI de Montfort
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Simon de Montfort the younger or Simon VI de Montfort was the second son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England. His father and his elder brother Henry were killed at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265. The younger Simon had been slow to bring his forces from London, and had them and their banners captured by Prince Edward. The younger Simon came to Evesham just in time to see his fathers head atop a pike, the younger Simon tried to raise a rebellion in Lincolnshire, but this had petered out by Christmas. He and his younger brother Guy escaped to France and Italy, in 1271 they discovered and murdered their cousin Henry of Almain at the church in Viterbo, Simon died later that year from Tuscan fever at Siena, cursed by God, a wanderer and a fugitive
38.
Worcester
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Worcester is a city in Worcestershire, England,31 miles southwest of Birmingham and 27 miles north of Gloucester. The River Severn flanks the western side of the city centre, the Battle of Worcester was the final battle of the English Civil War, where Oliver Cromwells New Model Army defeated King Charles Is Cavaliers. Worcester is known as the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain, composer Edward Elgar, Lea & Perrins, makers of traditional Worcestershire sauce, the trade route past Worcester which later formed part of the Roman Ryknild Street dates to Neolithic times. The position commanded a ford over the River Severn and was fortified by the Britons around 400 BC and it would have been on the northern border of the Dobunni and probably subject to the larger communities of the Malvern hillforts. It may have been the Vertis mentioned in the 7th-century Ravenna Cosmography, using charcoal from the Forest of Dean, the Romans operated pottery kilns and ironworks at the site and may have built a small fort. In the 3rd century, Roman Worcester occupied an area than the subsequent medieval city. Industrial production ceased and the settlement contracted to a position along the lines of the old British fort at the river terraces southern end. This settlement is identified with the Cair Guiragon listed among the 28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons attributed to Nennius. This is not a British name but an adaption of its Old English name Weorgoran ceaster, the Weorgoran were precursors of Hwicce and probably West Saxons who entered the area some time after the 577 Battle of Dyrham. The oldest known church was St Helens, which was certainly British, the town was almost destroyed in 1041 after a rebellion against the punitive taxation of Harthacanute. During this time, the relocated to the nearby Bevere Island,2 miles upriver. The following century, the town was attacked several times during The Anarchy, by late medieval times the population had grown to around 10,000 as the manufacture of cloth started to become a large local industry. The town was designated a county corporate, giving it autonomy from local government. Worcester was the site of the Battle of Worcester, when Charles II attempted to regain the crown, in the fields a little to the west and south of the city. Worcester had supported the Parliamentary cause before the outbreak of war in 1642 but spent most of the war under Royalist occupation. After the war it used its location as the site of the final battles of the First Civil War. As part of this and not based upon any historical fact, it invented the epithet Fidelis Civitas, in 1670, the River Severn broke its banks and the subsequent flood was the worst ever seen by Worcester. The closest flood height to what is known as The Flood of 1670 was when the Severn flooded in the rains of July 2007
39.
Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby
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Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby was an English nobleman. In 1249, at the age of 10, he married the seven-year-old Mary, daughter of Hugh XI of Lusignan Count of La Marche and this arranged marriage is an indication of Henrys high regard for Roberts father. William died in 1254, so that Robert became a knight and he and his estates became a ward of Prince Edward. In 1257, Edward sold the wardship to the queen and Peter of Savoy for 6000 marks, Robert came of age in 1260 and took possession of the vast estates he inherited. The first of these passed to him from his Norman ancestors, in addition, he received Chartley Castle in Staffordshire, and all Lancashire between the Ribble and the Mersey. This came from the estate of Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester, whose sister, by careful management, the estate had become worth around £1500, which meant that the Ferrers family was among the wealthiest in the country. However the estate was crippled by charges arising from Williams death, firstly a third of its worth was accounted for by his mothers dower, which included the major asset of Chartley. Nearly half was supporting a debt of around £800 incurred by his father, to pay this he had taken a further loan, possibly from Jewish financiers in Worcester. Finally there was provision for his brother William and his wife Mary and it would seem that before taking his inheritance his only income had been the maritagium bestowed by King Henry. Unlike his predecessors, Robert was impetuous and violent, in part, perhaps and he was also unreliable and lacking in political sophistication. Almost as soon as he took control of his estate, he attacked the priory of Tutbury, in the early years, Robert had taken little interest in politics, perhaps because of his preoccupation with the estate. Nevertheless, he was acquainted with the reforms that were being pursued, and with Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and Simon de Montfort, friends of the family. When Montfort returned to England in 1263 to begin a rebellion against the king became known as the Second Barons War, Robert had to take sides. He is on record during May and June as taking the Three Castles—Grosmont, Skenfrith, and Whitecastle in South Wales, when in January 1264, Louis IX of France declared the Provisions of Oxford unlawful and invalid, further unrest followed. Robert first attacked Worcester in February 1264, sacking the Jewish quarter, plundering the religious and private houses and he carried away the bonds recording his loans, effectively ameliorating his debt problem. He then went on to join Simon de Montforts forces at Gloucester Castle, to Roberts extreme annoyance, Edward escaped, having made a truce with Henry de Montfort, Simons son. It would seem that the motives of Ferrers were less about support for reform than they were about hatred of Edward. The origins of this may well have been in the Ferrers familys long held claims on the estate of Peverel Castle through the marriage of Margaret Peverel to Robert the second earl
40.
Winchester
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Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a government district. It is situated 61 miles south-west of London and 13.6 miles from Southampton, at the time of the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district which includes such as Alresford. Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchesters major landmark is Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The city is home to the University of Winchester and Winchester College, the area around Winchester has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with three Iron Age hillforts, Orams Arbour, St. Catherines Hill, and Worthy Down all in the nearby vicinity. In the Late Iron Age, an urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum. It was overrun by the confederation of Gaulish tribes known as the Belgae sometime during the first century BCE and it seems to have been known as Wentā or Venta, from the Brittonic for town or meeting place. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, Venta of the Belgae. Although in the years of the Roman province it was of subsidiary importance to Silchester and Chichester. At the beginning of the century, Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city covered an area of 144 acres, there was a limited suburban area outside the walls. Like many other Roman towns however, Winchester began to decline in the fourth century. Ford identifies the community as the Cair Guinntguic listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains, amid the Saxon invasions of Britain, cemeteries dating to the 6th and 7th centuries suggest a revival of settlement. The city became known as Wintan-ceastre in Old English, in 648, King Cenwalh of Wessex erected the Church of SS Peter and Paul, later known as the Old Minster. This became a cathedral in the 660s when the West Saxon bishopric was transferred from Dorchester-on-Thames, the citys first mint appears to date from this period. In the early tenth century there were two new establishments, the convent of Nunnaminster, founded by Alfreds widow Ealhswith
41.
St Albans
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St Albans /sənt ˈɔːlbənz/, /seɪn. / is a city in Hertfordshire, England, and the major urban area in the City and District of St Albans. It lies east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, about 19 miles north-northwest of London,8 miles southwest of Welwyn Garden City and 11 miles south-southeast of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and it is a historic market town and is now a dormitory town within the London commuter belt and the Greater London Built-up Area. St Albans takes its name from the first British saint, Alban, Alban met a Christian priest fleeing from his persecutors and sheltered him in his house, where he became so impressed with the priests piety that he converted to Christianity. When the authorities searched Albans house, he put on the priests cloak, consequently, he was sentenced to endure the punishments that were to be inflicted upon the priest, unless he renounced Christianity. Alban refused and was taken for execution, in later legends, his head rolled downhill after execution and a well sprang up where it stopped. The name Verulamium is Celtic, meaning settlement over or by the marsh, the town was on Prae Hill,2 km to the west of modern St Albans, now covered by the village of St. Michaels, Verulamium Park and the Gorhambury Estate. It is believed that the capital was moved to the site by Tasciovanus. Cunobelinus may have constructed Beech Bottom Dyke, an earthwork near the settlement whose significance is uncertain. It grew steadily, by the early 3rd century, it covered an area of about 125 acres, behind a deep ditch and wall. Verulamium contained a forum, basilica and a theatre, much of which were damaged during two fires, one in 155 and the other in around 250, one of the few extant Roman inscriptions in Britain is found on the remnants of the forum. The town was rebuilt in stone rather than timber at least twice over the next 150 years, occupation by the Romans ended between 400 and 450. St Alban was probably buried outside the city walls in a Roman cemetery near the present Cathedral and his hillside grave became a place of pilgrimage. Recent investigation has uncovered a basilica there, indicating the oldest continuous site of Christian worship in Great Britain, in 429 Germanus of Auxerre visited the church and subsequently promoted the cult of St Alban. More remains under the agricultural land which have never been excavated were for a while seriously threatened by deep ploughing. After the Roman withdrawal the town, became the centre of the territory or regio of the Anglo-Saxon Waeclingas tribe, St Albans Abbey and the associated Anglo-Saxon settlement were founded on the hill outside the Roman city where it was believed St Alban was buried. An archaeological excavation in 1978, directed by Martin Biddle, failed to find Roman remains on the site of the chapter house. The medieval town grew on the hill to the east of Wæclingacaester where the Benedictine Abbey of St Albans was founded by Ulsinus in 793, there is some evidence that the original site was higher up the hill than the present building, which was begun in 1077
42.
Northampton
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Northampton /nɔːrθˈæmptən/ is the county town of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies on the River Nene, about 67 miles north-west of London and 50 miles south-east of Birmingham, One of the largest towns in the UK, Northampton had a population of 212,100 in the 2011 census. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman. During the Middle Ages, the rose to national significance with the establishment of Northampton Castle. Medieval Northampton had many churches, monasteries and the University of Northampton and it was granted its first town charter by King Richard I in 1189 and its first mayor was appointed by King John in 1215. The town is also the site of two battles, the Battle of Northampton and the second in 1460. The town also suffered the Great Fire of Northampton which destroyed most of the town and it was soon rebuilt and grew rapidly with the industrial development of the 18th century. Northampton continued to grow following the creation of the Grand Union Canal, after the World Wars, Northamptons growth was limited until it was designated as a New Town in 1968, accelerating development in the town. Northampton unsuccessfully applied for status in 1996 and city status in 2000. According to Centre for Cities data in 2015, Northampton had a growth of 11. 3% between the years 2004 and 2013, one of the ten highest in the UK. The earliest reference to Northampton in writing occurred in 914 under the name Ham tune, the prefix North was added later to distinguish it from other towns called Hampton, most prominently Southampton. The Domesday Book records the town as Northantone, which evolved into Norhamptone by the 13th century, present-day Northampton is the latest in a series of settlements that began in the Bronze Age. During the British Iron Age, people lived in protected hill forts. Present-day Hunsbury Hill is an example of settlement, a circular ditch. In the Roman period, a rural settlement is thought to have existed in the present-day district of Duston. Following Danish invasion, the area of the town was turned into a stronghold called a burh. A ditch was dug around the settlement and it was fortified with earth ramparts, having conquered Mercia, the Danes turned the settlement into a centre for military and administrative purposes, which was part of the Danelaw. In the 9th century Regenhere of Northampton an East Anglian Saint with localised veneration was buried in Northampton, by 918, Northampton had an earl and an army dependent upon it, whose territory extended to the River Welland
43.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
44.
Rochester Castle
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Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, South East England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castles most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France, situated on the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester served as a strategically important royal castle. During the late medieval period it helped protect Englands south-east coast from invasion, the first castle at Rochester was founded in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. It was given to Bishop Odo, probably by his half-brother William the Conqueror, during the Rebellion of 1088 over the succession to the English throne, Odo supported Robert Curthose, the Conquerors eldest son, against William Rufus. It was during this conflict that the castle first saw military action, after the garrison capitulated, this first castle was abandoned. Between 1087 and 1089, Rufus asked Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester and he established the current extent of the castle. Though much altered through the centuries, some parts of Gundulfs work survive, in 1127 King Henry I granted the castle to the Archbishop of Canterbury in perpetuity. William de Corbeil built the keep that still dominates the castle today. Throughout the 12th century the castle remained in the custody of the archbishops, during the First Barons War in King Johns reign, baronial forces captured the castle from Archbishop Stephen Langton and held it against the king, who then besieged it. The Barnwell chronicler remarked Our age has not known a siege so hard pressed nor so strongly resisted, after resisting for just over seven weeks, the garrison surrendered. Although the castle had been damaged, with breaches in the outer walls and one corner of the keep collapsed. The castle did not stay under Johns control for long, in 1216 it was captured by the French Prince Louis, who was the new leader of the baronial faction. John died and was succeeded by his son King Henry III in 1216, the year, the war ended. Rochester was besieged for the time in 1264 during the Second Barons War. The castles royal constable, Roger de Leybourne, held Rochester in support of Henry III, rebel armies led by Simon de Montfort and Gilbert de Clare entered the city and set about trying to capture the castle. Again the castles defenders resisted, though this time with a different outcome, after a week, the rebel armies raised the siege in the face of relief from Henry himself. Although the garrison did not surrender, the castle suffered damage that was not repaired until the following century. The castle saw action for the last time in 1381 when it was captured and ransacked during the Peasants Revolt
Henry III of England
Prince Edward
Simon de Montfort † 
Norgate, Kate (1894). "Montfort, Simon of (1208?-1265)". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co.