Angevin & Plantagenet Era
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Angevin & Plantagenet Era’
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, was kind to children and animals but Kings merited firmer handling.
Hugh of Avalon (?1135-1200) was a Frenchman from Burgundy who was appointed Abbot of the Charterhouse at Witham in the reign of Henry II. In 1186, he was raised to the See of Lincoln, where he gained a reputation for kindness towards the sick, to children and to animals, but Henry’s son Richard found that his indulgence did not extend to Kings.
At the Battle of Crécy in 1346, the English army was trying out a new military tactic under the command of a sixteen-year-old boy.
The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 led to a dispute over succession between Edward III of England (whose mother Isabella was French royalty) and Philip VI of France. Matters came to a head at Crécy in 1346, but despite all that was riding on it Edward left the battle in the hands of his son Prince Edward, aged sixteen.
Legend tells how Richard the Lionheart’s favourite singer found where Leopold of Austria had stowed him.
In December 1192, Richard I was arrested in Vienna and imprisoned at Dürnstein in lower Austria near the Danube, on the orders of his former ally in the Third Crusade, Leopold of Austria. According to legend, his place of captivity was a closely guarded secret but one man was determined to uncover it.
A conspiracy of European monarchs sought to delay Richard the Lionheart’s homecoming long enough for John to steal his crown.
During the Third Crusade in 1189-1192, Richard I of England offended Philip II of France by jilting his sister Alys, and quarrelled with Leopold of Austria. He tried to come home incognito, but in December 1192 he was spotted at Vienna, arrested on various charges including murder, and hauled up before Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor.
In April 1203, a royal prince and heir vanished from Rouen at just the right moment for King John.
Prince Arthur, Duke of Brittany, was a nephew of King Richard I who from an early age seemed destined to inherit the throne of England. When Richard died in 1199, however, Arthur was only twelve, and support from the French King, Philip II, served only to increase tensions with his uncle John.
Richard I thought a veteran Crusader and conqueror of Saladin could handle a few French peasants.
Richard the ‘Lionheart’ is best remembered today as the King of England during the time of Robin Hood, an association made for us by Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘Ivanhoe’. He was an inspiring general in the Third Crusade, courageous and ruthless, but his death was testimony to the caprices of Fortune.