Tag: King Edward III

Book Review: “Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State” by Caroline Burt and Richard Partington

On By hmalagisiIn Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Arise, EnglandLike many other countries, England has been through growing pains when it comes to reforming its political, military, and judicial systems. None more so than the pains of the medieval period, specifically from 1199 to 1399. In those two centuries, there were six Plantagenet kings, each with a different style of being king and a different way of changing England with each reign. We often think that the biggest change to England’s political history during this time was the Magna Carta, but in fact, that was only just the beginning. Caroline Burt and Richard Partington have combed the archives to do a deep dive into each reign of these Plantagenet kings, examining the political and judicial changes that happened in a short period. Their comprehensive book is entitled, “Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State.”

I want to thank Faber & Faber for sending me a copy of this book. I have seen this particular title circulating on social media and after the endorsement it received from Dan Jones, I decided to give it a shot. I am not a huge fan of political history as I find it a tad dry, but I wanted to give myself a challenge.

This book is broken into six different chapters, a chapter for each king and their reign, but the chapters are separated by sections focusing on distinct aspects of their reigns. The six kings that Burt and Partington have chosen to highlight in this book are King John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II. In these two centuries, England experienced so much change, starting with the Magna Carta, the Black Death, plenty of revolts, overthrowing kings, the establishment of what we now consider Parliament, and the relationship between the king and his nobles. That does not include external forces such as Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and France wanting to conquer England as their own. When you consider how much these kings had to face, it is no wonder that they had to change England’s political system gradually.

Personally, this book was a bit of a struggle for me with how dense and the amount of information that was presented. While it offered great insight and was meticulously researched, there were parts for me that were dry to read. If you do want to read this as a casual read, I would suggest taking it slow so that you can fully understand everything that is being presented. If you are someone who likes political history and how it changed over centuries in England, “Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State” by Caroline Burt and Richard Partington might be the book for you.

Guest Post: “The Auld Alliance” by J R Tomlin

On By hmalagisiIn guest post2 Comments

The Douglas Bastard Tour Banner 1Today, I am pleased to welcome J R Tomlin to my blog to share a guest post as part of the blog tour for her latest novel, “The Douglas Bastard / The Archibald the Grim Series.” I would like to thank J R Tomlin and The Coffee Pot Book Club for allowing me to be part of this blog tour. 

Many people think that Scotland always fought alone against the English conquest. This was partially true.

In 1290, civil war loomed after the death of Scotland’s seven-year-old queen, Margaret, the Maid of Norway. The Scots turned to what they thought was a friendly monarch, England’s King Edward I. (Sounds crazy, I know, but Scotland and England had been at peace for most of the 13th century). The Scottish government started looking for allies. Phillip IV had just declared England’s possession of Gascony forfeit, so an alliance between Scotland and France looked like a good idea. A Scottish embassy traveled to negotiate with King Phillip, and the Treaty of Paris was signed on October 24, 1295.

In the short term, the alliance was no protection for Scotland. Edward invaded Scotland in 1296, temporarily crushed resistance, stripped the King of Scots, John de Balliol, whom he had chosen, and temporarily ended any Scottish government. It was, in effect, a province of England. Three years later, England and France signed a treaty of perpetual peace, leaving Scotland on its own. In France’s defense, there was effectively no Scottish government for it to support.

As we all know, Scotland refused to remain crushed. Andrew de Moray led the resistance in the north of Scotland, and William Wallace, aided by Robert the Bruce and Sir William Douglas, raised an army in the south. They joined forces to defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. De Moray was killed in that battle. Wallace had probably met with the King of France but received no French aid, and the Scottish resistance was once more crushed, ending with the execution of Wallace. 

Again, Scotland refused to stay crushed and rose once again under the leadership of King Robert the Bruce. But the Bruce had killed one of the Balliol (remember them?) inside a church. (I reject the idea that it was a planned ambush. The Bruce was too intelligent a man to plan to do something so stupid) The pope almost immediately excommunicated him and all of his followers. Luckily for him and Scotland, many Scottish bishops rejected the ex-communication based on English lies to the pope. But the effect was that the King of France would defy the pope by coming to the aid of a government under anathema. 

The war lasted a very long time, and it was not until In 1324 that Bruce’s nephew, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, met the Pope in person at his court in Avignon. Randolph successfully persuaded Pope John to recognize Robert as King of Scots, a major diplomatic coup that allowed the French the option of renewing relations with Scotland. A new, largely precautionary, treaty between France and Scotland, again negotiated by the Earl of Moray, was signed two years later.

The following year, King Edward III signed a treaty recognizing Scotland’s independence and Robert the Bruce as the rightful King of Scots. That should have been the end of it. See me roll my eyes.

King Robert died in 1327, leaving his only son, then five years old, as king and Thomas Randolph as regent.

Edward III felt humiliated by his defeat in the field by a Scottish army led by Sir James Douglas and Thomas Randolph and by having had to sign a peace treaty with Scotland. He backed John Balliol’s claim to the throne of Scotland and repudiated the peace treaty. Randolph died on his way to fight the invasion by Balliol, which the English king secretly backed. So now, that treaty with France would have some use.

At first, the defense against the invasion went badly. Many leading nobles were killed at the Battle of Dupplin Moor, including the new Guardian and thousands of Scottish troops. Although Balliol was then driven from Scotland by a later attack by the Scots, King Edward openly invaded. Soon most of Scotland was in English hands, with only a few castles holding out, and a majority of Scottish nobles, at least for a time, swore fealty to the English and their pretender. 

Now Scotland needed that ally.  In the winter of 1332, King Phillip dispatched a flotilla of ten ships to aid the Scots, but they were blown off course in a storm and never arrived. In the spring of 1334, £1000 came from France to be distributed to the Scottish defenders along with an offer of sanctuary to young King David, his queen, and members of his court. David or Moravia, Bishop of Moray and determined defender of Scottish independence, founded the Scots College of the University of Paris in 1333. He had to have been in Scotland at the time and may have had some influence on France.

The situation in Scotland was desperate enough that the Scots accepted the offer. In May 1334, King David and Queen Joanna arrived in France, along with their confessors, tutors in arts and arms, the king’s sisters, the Douglas children, the late regent’s sons, other children of Scottish nobles, and a number of clerics and nobles. They were given Château Gaillard as a residence. The French regularly sent supplies to Scotland and paid an annual pension of £2000 for the upkeep of King David’s court in exile. In June 1339, William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale, visited King David in France and returned to Scotland, taking with him Arnoul d’Audrehen in command of 200 French troops and several ships, which aided in the attack on and capture of Perth. I have some doubt that Scotland as a kingdom would have survived without this ongoing aid.

In 1346, Edward overwhelmed French forces at the Battle of Crécy. Two months later, David II of Scotland was captured at the Battle of Neville’s Cross in response to a request from the French to attack England in order to force King Edward to return home; King David invaded England. The English captured him at the disastrous Battle of Neville’s Cross. However, the French continued to supply money and some troops to distract King Edward from his war in France, sending substantial funds and about sixty knights to aid in the capture of Berwick. Berwick was quickly lost, but it distracted Edward, who led a large army to ravage southern Scotland. William Douglas, later 1st Earl of Douglas, took part in that and, the following year, led 200 men-at-arms and forty knights to fight with the French at the Battle of Poitiers.

Battle of Poitiers - public domain

For a time, France was so battered as to have no funds for sending to Scotland, and Scotland’s King David I took peace with England as a policy. Even after King Robert II’s accession and the treaty’s renewal, neither nation saw any effects. It was in the following century that thousands of Scots once more went to the defense of Scotland. The Earl of Douglas’s son, the Earl of Wigtoun, and the Earl of Buchan helped the French defeat the English at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. It was a turning point in the Hundred Years’ War. King Charles VII granted Douglas the Duchy of Touraine, the first foreigner to be granted a dukedom in France. On May 8, 1429, Scots fought with Joan of Arc in the relief of Orléans, where legend has it bagpipes played Marche des Soldats de Robert Bruce as she entered the city.

England’s War of the Roses reduced the danger to both Scotland and France, at least for a time, but sometimes for good but often for bad, very bad; the Auld Alliance went on until James VI of Scotland, heir to the throne of England, repudiated it to strengthen his ties with England.

That, however, did not end the strong cultural ties between Scotland and France. The Scots’ language absorbed many French words. The ties with France could be seen in Scottish architecture, such as at Bothwell and Kildrummy Castle, built on French models. Many Scots who fought for France stayed to become citizens eventually. Scottish poets, bishops, and authors studied in France for centuries and brought the French influence home with them. The founder of Scotland’s first university, Bishop Henry Wardlaw, studied in France. So if you study there, you are benefiting from the Auld Alliance.

Cover - The Douglas BastardBlurb:

Young Archibald, the Black Douglas’s bastard son, returns from exile to a Scotland ravaged by war. The war-hardened Knight of Liddesdale will teach him what he must learn. And with danger on every side, he must learn to sleep with one eye open and a claymore in his hand because even their closest ally may betray them…

Buy Links:

The Douglas Bastard:

Universal Link:  https://books2read.com/u/4AAwdp 

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0968X5V3Y 

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0968X5V3Y 

Cover - Trust and TreasonAmazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0968X5V3Y 

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0968X5V3Y

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-douglas-bastard-a-historical-novel-of-scotland-j-r-tomlin/1140930069 

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-douglas-bastard

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1606972264 

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/J_R_Tomlin_The_Douglas_Bastard?id=AM12EAAAQBAJ

Archibald the Grim Series on Amazon:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BDW1VJ61 

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDW1VJ61 

BIM-BLD224477 - © - Steve Smith

Author Bio:

J R Tomlin is the author of twenty historical novels.

Her historical novels are mainly set in Scotland. You can trace her love of that nation to the stories of Robert the Bruce and the Black Douglas that her grandmother read her when she was small and to her hillwalking through the Scottish Cairngorms, where the granite mountains have a gorgeous red glow under the setting sun.

In addition to having lived in Scotland, she has traveled in the US, mainland Europe, and the Pacific Rim. She now lives in Oregon.

Social Media Links:

Website: http://www.jrtomlin.com  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomlinJeanne 

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/j-r-tomlin 

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.R.-Tomlin/author/B002J4ME1S

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4094154.J_R_Tomlin

Biography: John of Gaunt

On By hmalagisiIn BiographiesLeave a comment

gaunt(Born March 6, 1340- Died March 15, 1399). Son of King Edward III and Philippa of Hainault.  He had three wives, Blanche of Lancaster, Constance of Castile, and Katherine Swynford. He was the 1st Duke of Lancaster, the Duke of Aquitaine, King of Castile, and one of the wealthiest men of his time. His children would become the House of Lancaster, the Beauforts, the monarchs of Portugal and Castile, and the Hapsburgs.

 

John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of Edward III. He wasn’t supposed to be as wealthy or influential as he became but he achieved prestige by marrying well. With his first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster, John of Gaunt was able to become the first Duke of Lancaster. Blanche of Lancaster would die in 1369 and John would marry Constance of Castile in 1371. She was next in line for the throne of Castile and for years John fought for her crown against the Spanish. The problem was that they were also fighting the French as the Hundred Years’ War was just starting.   After his brother Edward The Black Prince’s death in 1376, John took John Wycliffe under his protection as he now had more of a political influence.

When Edward III died, John of Gaunt’s nephew Richard II became king and John was his right hand man. There was a lot of mistrust with the nobility and the common folk which lead to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, which was quickly and brutally taken care of. John went  back to Castile try to take the throne, but as soon as he left, England almost fell into civil war because of how poorly Richard II ruled. John gave up his claim to the Castilian throne to help bring England back to some stability.

 

He would also help sponsor  Geoffrey Chaucer, who was his brother in law since Chaucer married the sister of John’s third wife and long time mistress, Katherine Swynford. John and Katherine met while he was married to Constance and had 4 children out of wedlock. After they were married in 1396, their children were made legitimate and given the name “Beaufort”. There was one catch, they were not allowed to inherit the throne, although their half- brother Henry IV allowed them to have some royal status. John of Gaunt died  of natural causes on March 15, 1399 with Katherine Swynford by her side. He would later be buried by his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster.

Biography: King Edward III

On By hmalagisiIn BiographiesLeave a comment

mw02027(Born November 13, 1312- died June 21, 1377. Reigned from January 1327 until June 21, 1377).Son of Edward II and Isabella of France.Married to Philippa of Hainault. They had 13 children including Edward “The Black Prince”, Edmund Duke of York, and John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster.

Edward III was the king who started The Hundred Years’ War with France. His sons Edmund Duke of York and John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster would be the founders of the Houses of York and Lancaster respectfully.

To say the early part of Edward III’s reign was turbulent would be an understatement. His mother Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer had his father Edward II disposed and placed Edward III on the throne at the tender age of 14. A few years later after a terrible campaign in Scotland, Edward III had Mortimer executed.

Edward III had to deal with Scotland and France throughout his entire reign. He overthrew his brother in law David II King of Scotland for Edward Balliol, but it did not last long. Unfortunately before Edward III could really start a war with Scotland, he had to declare a truce with them as France was becoming a bigger headache. While the English were dealing with the Scots, the French had raided English coastal towns because Scotland and France had an alliance. Edward had a claim to the throne of France and so he decided to fight the French for what he believed was rightfully his, starting the Hundred Years’ War. Edward was able to capture Gascony, Calais, and other colonies in France for England.

Edward III modeled his court after that of King Arthur. It was a time that chivalry was becoming popular. Edward III established the Noble Order of the Garter, which is still active today, and his son Edward The Black Prince, was among the first members. However, the prosperous times would not last long as the Black Death of 1348 consumed all of Europe, including England, killing off a third of the population. In 1356, Edward The Black Prince won an important victory against the French at the Battle of Poitiers. The French king and his son were captured and it looked like England had won, but Edward III would sign the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, which renounced his claim to the French throne, but allowed the English to keep its French territories.

Edward III relied on the military strength of his sons, especially Edward The Black Prince and John of Gaunt. In 1369, Philippa of Hainault died of what seems like dropsy. Edward was distraught and he decided to take a mistress Alice Perrers, who held too much power at court and was banished in 1376. Also in 1376, Edward The Black Prince passed away. Edward III would die the following year from an apparent stroke. He left the throne to his grandson Richard II.