Creating an English Sovereignty

1. Creating an English Sovereignty From Heptarchy to the Tudors, 600-1485

2. Pre- and Roman Britain • Neolithic and metal-age cultures—Skara Brae in Orkneys • Romans invade in 55 B. C. E. and 43 C. E. • Deep cultural influences, especially in south. • Hadrian’s Wall—122-130 • Roman garrison’s leave Britain ca. 400-410.

3. Skara Brae Hadrian’s Wall

4. After Roman Britain • Angles, Saxons, & Jutes settled Britain and dueled for its control with Celts, Picts, and Welsh. • From about 600 to 871, England was really seven fluid kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy • Alfred (871-899), King of Wessex, asserted control over most of heptarchy

5. The Heptarchy

6. Saxon to Norman Britain • Alfred’s descendants and Dane’s struggled for control of English Kingdom • Edward the Confessor allegedly promised throne to William, Duke of Normandy. • William defeated Anglo-Saxon Baron’s candidate at Battle of Hastings in 1066.

7. William I—(1066-1089) • Norman Feudalism strengthened position of Crown. • Created Curia Regis—very distant forerunner of Parliament • Domesday Survey

8. Plantagenets: 1154-1399 • Henry II (1154-1189) by marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine possessed much of present-day France as well as throne of England • His son, John, a weak king, was forced to sign the Magna Carta (1215) • Edward I (1272-1307), HII’s great-grandson, not only fought William Wallace, he reformed English law (Statute of Mortmaine) and during his reign the Model Parliament met.

9. Henry II & Eleanor

10. Later Plantagenets: 1327-1399 • Edward III (1327-1377) and his son, Edward “The Black Prince” spent most of reign fighting the 100 Years War with the French House of Valois. • Richard II (1377-1399) became king; as a youth, real power rested in hands of Lords Appellant. • Richard’s attempt to rule in his own right led him to seized the estates of Henry of Bolingbroke. • Bolingbroke (House of Lancaster) forced Richard from the throne and claimed the throne as Henry IV.

11. Edward III—1327-1377

13. Problem of Succession • Henry IV could not claim to rule by hereditary right • Values of bastard feudalism unsettled nobility and created a sea of uprisings • 100 years war provided a major distraction. • Indeed, Henry V (1415-22) almost became King of England and of France at same time.

14. House of Lancaster • Henry’s usurpation bypassed the Yorks who were next in line to Richard II. • As long as Lancaster’s were successful rulers, as Henry IV and Henry V essentially were, there was no real problem with usurpation. • But Henry VI was another matter (1422-1461 & 1471); he was 6 months old when he became king.

15. Henry VI and the Wars of the Roses • Henry’s reign coincided with the gradual defeat of England in the 100 years war; English lands came to be seen as Lancastrian and Henry’s advisors—and his French wife—were blamed for misspent treasure and blood. • In 1453, Henry went mad.

16. The Lancastrian Kings: Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI

17. The Yorks • Richard, Duke of York, actually served as guardian for Henry VI twice in 1450s • He and Henry’s French wife Matilda dueled over power • Richard attempted to seize throne in 1460 but was slain; his son, Edward, with the aide of Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, became Edward IV (1461-1483)

18. Edward IV

19. Wars of the Roses • White Rose of York and Red Rose of Lancaster • Dated variously from 1455 (St. Albans) or Wakefield in (1460) to Bosworth Field (1485) or the defeat of Lambert Simnel at Stoke (1487) • At least 49 of the 60 noble families took part • 38 peers were killed or executed in wars • Approximately 400 landowners forfeited their lands—temporarily or permanently—as a result of these wars.

20. Wars of Roses • Didn’t have to end with Tudor Succession. • Edward IV’s death in 1483 left throne to Edward V, who was 12 and Richard, Edward V’s uncle, acted as regent after ousting the Woodville relatives. • Richard declared Edward V a bastard and seized throne on July 6, 1483, as Richard III. • Tudors in behalf of Lancastrians and exiled Woodvilles intrigue to oust Richard. • August 22, 1485—Battle of Bosworth Field.

21. It Mattered: • War discredited feudal nobility in public mind • Served as a vital grist for Shakespeare and other Tudor propagandist: War of the Roses was a bad thing and Henry VII’s (Tudor) victory at Bosworth restored order and prosperity to the English nation.

22. So who were the Tudors: Isn’t this about Lancaster and York • Yes, but many Lancastrians were eliminated early when Edward won at Towton in 1461 and cemented his claim as Edward VI • Other Lancastrians died when they supported Edward’s erstwhile ally, Warwick, in rebellion against Edward, at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. • But the Lancastrian women married Tudor men, who were minor Welsh nobles.

23. Marrying Up: The Tudor Strategy • Owen Tudor married Katherine of Valois, the Widow of Henry V. • Their child, Edmund Tudor, married Margaret Beaufort, a member of the legally-legitimate but really the bastard line of John of Gaunt (Lancaster’s descendents) • Edmund and Margaret’s son was Henry, who became Henry VII (1485-1509)

25. So who’s claim to the throne was correct? • It’s all an exercise in mythmaking • While the Lancastrians were successful, no one fretted about how Henry IV got the throne. • Lancastrian failures permitted Yorkists to raise the issue about how the Lancastrians violated the rules of hereditary succession. • Tudor victory on the battlefield and the equation of further disputes with further war led political nation to accept the outcome of Bosworth Field. • Tudor’s knew, too, that success—not legal claim—legitimated ones title.