Angevin & Plantagenet Era

Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Angevin & Plantagenet Era’

7
A Matter of National Security King Edward III of England

As various ball sports began to take hold in England, King Edward III became convinced that Government action was required.

In 1363, with England’s glorious victories at Crécy and Poitiers nearly twenty years behind him, King Edward III was seized with anxiety lest England’s famous archers should squander their skills on such fripperies as football and quoits. He therefore issued an order prescribing stiff penalties for those who put amusement ahead of the defence of the realm.

Read

8
An Unsuitable Job for a Bishop William Camden

Richard the Lionheart told Philip, the martial Bishop of Dreux, to decide whether he was a bishop or a knight.

During the Third Crusade, Philip of Dreux, Bishop of Beauvais, spread the rumour that Richard the Lionheart had procured the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat; and after Richard was taken prisoner in Austria in 1192 he tried to make his detention as long and unpleasant as he could. In 1197, three years after his release, Richard stumbled across an opportunity for payback.

Read

9
The King Who Would Not Turn His Back William Camden

When Richard I heard that the town of Verneuil in Normandy was under threat, he made a vow that few could be expected to take so literally.

On March 20th, 1194, Richard I returned to England after two years of captivity to Leopold of Austria, with whom he had quarrelled on the Crusades. Richard’s brother John, who had tried to keep him locked up as long as possible, fled to the protection of Philip II of France; but barely a month had passed before Richard quitted his capital yet again, and was on his way back to Normandy.

Read

10
St John of Beverley at Agincourt The Convocation of the Church of York

Following the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, King Henry V instructed the Church of York to recognise the contribution of one of her eighth-century bishops.

Anyone who has watched William Shakespeare’s play Henry V knows that England’s unlikely victory at Agincourt on October 25th, 1415, came on the feast day of St Crispin and St Crispianus. What is less well known is that it was also a feast of St John of Beverley in Yorkshire, and that owing to a remarkable miracle the King himself instructed the Church of York to keep the day ever after with especial magnificence.

Read

11
Land of Opportunity Thomas Fuller

Edward III enticed over-regulated Dutch textile workers across the Channel with the promise of English beef and English beauties.

In the days of Edward III (1327-1377), English wool was the finest in Europe; but as we knew no more what to do with our wool (wrote Thomas Fuller) than the sheep that wear it, we exported it raw to the Continent and imported the finished cloth at a high price. Lesser men might have imposed taxes, subsidies or price controls to balance the economy, but Edward had a much better idea: some healthy competition.

Read

12
A War of Words Holinshed’s Chronicles

A few years before the Battle of Agincourt, the Duke of Orléans challenged King Henry IV to meet him in Bordeaux for a winner-takes-all joust.

In 1404, during an uneasy peace in the Hundred Years’ War, the Duke of Orléans invited King Henry IV of England to Bordeaux, then in English hands. There they were to do combat — with a few men, or single combat if Henry liked — and the winner would ransom the loser back to his people. Henry played for time, the two princes traded insults and Louis lost his temper.

Read