The Angevin ‘Empire’

Language of the Court

• Written decisions, charters – LatinLater with French translation

• Oral arguments, decisions – French• Informal exchanges – English

Legal French

• Retention of Anglo-Norman terms• French word order

– Attorney general, heir apparent, court martial, body politic

– Fee simple, sum certain

Military Reform

• 1166 Baronial Charters• 1181 Assize of Arms

– Categories of freemen and their requirements to supply arms

– Ready reserve– Prohibitions on export

1181 Assize of Arms1. Knights shall have a shirt of mail, a helmet, a shield, and a lance;

2. Free layman who possesses chattels or rents to the value of 16m. shall have a shirt of mail, a helmet, a shield, and a lance;

3. Item, all burgesses and the whole community of freemen shall have a gambeson, an iron cap, and a lance

Knight

Also Layman with > 16 marks

• shirt of mail-hauberk• helmet• shield• lance

Layman > 10 marks

• hauberk• iron cap• lance

Every Freeman

• quilted coat• iron cap• lance

Assize of Arms

8. Item, no one shall carry arms out of England except by the command of the lord king: no one is to sell arms to another to carry out of England; nor shall a merchant or any other man carry them out of England.

12 . . . no one, as he loves his life and all that he has, shall buy or sell any ship to be taken away from England, and that no one shall carry any timber or cause it to be carried out of England.

Assize of Arms

6. Any burgess who has more arms than he ought to have by this assize shall sell them, or give them away . . . And none of them shall keep more arms than he ought to have by this assize.

7. Item, no Jew shall keep in his possession a shirt of mail or a hauberk, but he shall sell it or give it away or alienate it in some other way, so that it shall remain in the king's service.

Legal Citations

1. Rudolf B. Lamy “The Influence of History Upon a Plain Text Reading of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” 49 Am. J. Legal Hist. 217, 2007

2. David I. Caplan “The Right of the Individual to Bear Arms: A Recent Judicial Trend” Detroit College of Law Review 1982, Winter, Issue 4

Alfred the Great (?) and Arms

It is the great natural law of self preservation, which, as we have seen, cannot be repealed, or superseded, or suspended by any human institution. This law, however, is expressly recognised in the constitution of Pennsylvania. "The right of the citizens to bear arms in the defence of themselves shall not be questioned." This is one of our many renewals of the Saxon regulations.

James Wilson, Lectures on Law

The Family of Henry II

Dynastic Succession

Henry the Younger

Richard(Aquitaine)

Geoffrey

Angevin Empire- Relationships

Video

• Henry vs. Becket• Henry vs. his family

The Other Woman

Dante Gabreil Rossetti

Arthur Hughes

The Other Woman

Mary Lizzie Macomber

Rebellion in the Family - 1173

• Marriage alliance for 5 year old John marred by Henry the Younger

• Eleanor and her sons go to Paris• Henry offers arbitration

Peter of Blois to EleanorMarriage is a firm and indissoluble union. …From the beginning biblical truth has verified that marriage once entered into cannot be separated. Truth cannot deceive: it says, "What God has joined let us not put asunder [Matt 19]."

So the woman is at fault who leaves her husband and fails to keep the trust of this social bond. …We know that unless you return to your husband, you will be the cause of widespread disaster.

Rebellion in the Family - 1173

• Eleanor captured?Henry IIEleanor JoanRichard Henry

Wall painting from the chapel in Chinon. interpreted to represent the departure of Eleanor of Aquitaine into captivity

Rebellion in England

• Many barons declare for Henry the Younger– William the Lion of Scotland– William captured at Alnwick

• Vassalage• Henry II – castles and cathedrals

Geography of RebellionWilliam the Lion

Earl of Leicester and Flemish

Results

Defeat in the Fens

William surprised at Alnwick

Reconciliation

• Henry the Younger given castles and money

• Richard given half income of Poitou• Geoffrey given half of Brittany• Eleanor comfortable captivity

Angevin Empire- Relationships

The Angevin Empire

• Wales– initially large scale– restore law and order– 1157 Owain of Gwynedd– 1164 Gwynedd, Deheubarth and Powys

revolt

Wales

The Angevin Empire

• Scotland– Social elite heavily influenced by Normans– No border but rather overlapping authority– 1173 William the Lion captured– Treaty of Falaise

Scotland

The Angevin Empire

• Ireland– Irish laws different from Anglo-Saxon and

Norman– 1167 Irish King Dermot asks Henry for

support against Connacht– 1171 Invasion as show of force– 1175 Treaty of Windsor

Ireland

Vassalage

• King of France– Henry the Younger

(betrothed in 1157, married in 1160 to Margaret of France)

Basis of claim by Philip of France to parts of Normandy

• Geoffrey

– Richard(offer of marriage to Alice of France in 1169)

Henry II - Patronage

• Penance for murder of Thomas a Becket– Waltham – reform as Augustinian

monastery– Ambresbury – replacement w. nuns from

Fontevraud– Witham – Carthusian monastery– Promise to join Crusade

Bigod’s Castle – Bungay, 1163-73

Orford Castle 1165-73

Orford Castle

Orford Castle – Upper Hall

Orford Castle – 1660

Last Days of Henry II

• 1182 Makes his will• 1183 Henry the Younger again in

rebellion– seeks to be sole heir

• Henry the Younger dies of dysentery• Henry comes to favor John• Rebuilding cathedrals

Lincoln

Peterborough, 1193

Last Days of Henry II

• 1184 Assize of the Forest (Woodstock)• Philip of France incites Richard vs.

Henry– Truce

• Movement for new Crusade• An ill Henry submits to a treaty with

Philip• Henry dies at Chinon

Chinon

Reunited - Fontevraud