POWER

1 Power in medieval Britain c1000–c1485 1.3 A constant struggle for power: who ruled in the medieval period?
1 Read Source 4. What
concessions does Henry I
make to the barons?
2 What, if anything, does Henry I
gain from the charter?
3 Draw and label a diagram
to summarise Henry II’s
approach to dealing with the
barons. You could use a seesaw,
a ‘carrot and stick’ or
one of your own ideas.
Case study 2: John and the barons
You have already seen how important it was to William the Conqueror to be
surrounded and supported by loyal barons and bishops. To ensure loyalty, he
successfully used a careful balance of both force and reward. It was a good example
to set for the medieval kings who followed.
Henry I (1100–35)
Henry I took the throne when his brother, William II (Rufus), was killed in a
hunting accident. Another brother, Robert, had a stronger claim but he was away
on CRUSADE so Henry seized the opportunity to claim the crown. When Robert
returned, Henry captured and imprisoned him. The barons felt that Robert was
the rightful heir to the throne and were unhappy about Henry’s action. Henry
knew he could not force the barons to accept him as king, so he offered a series of
concessions designed to win their support. These were set out in his Coronation
CHARTER of 1100 (see Source 4).
Source 4 Extracts from Henry I’s Coronation Charter of 1100.
• If any baron or earl of mine shall die, his heirs shall not be forced to purchase their
inheritance, but shall retrieve it through force of law and custom.
• Any baron or earl who wishes to betroth his daughter or other women kinsfolk in
marriage should consult me first, but I will not stand in the way of any prudent
marriage. Any widow who wishes to remarry should consult with me, but I shall abide
by the wishes of her close relatives, the other barons and earls. I will not allow her to
marry one of my enemies.
• If any of my barons commit a crime, he shall not bind himself to the Crown with a
payment as was done in the time of my father and brother, but shall stand for the
crime as was custom and law before the time of my father, and make amends as are
appropriate. Anyone guilty of treachery or other heinous crime shall make proper
amends.
• Those knights who render military service and horses shall not be required to give
grain or other farm goods to me.
Henry II (1154–89)
Henry II’s rule was a good example of balancing force with co-operation.
He had to restore royal authority to England after years of civil war and
ANARCHY during the reign of King Stephen (1135–54). Many barons had taken
the opportunity to seize lands, stop paying taxes, ignore royal officials and build
castles without permission.
In the 1150s, Henry seized over 40 castles from the barons, keeping 30 of
them and rewarding loyal barons with the others. In the 1160s, the king forced
the barons to provide detailed information about their lands and income. He
taxed them on this basis, but he was careful not to over-tax them and cause
discontent. Henry II also replaced two-thirds of the local sheriffs with officials
of his own choosing.
However, Henry was wise enough to forgive rebellious barons once they accepted
his authority. Geoffrey de Mandeville, for example, had his lands seized in
1157 but by the 1160s he had become one of Henry’s top judges. The king also
consulted his barons on important issues such as changes to the legal system. It is
significant that most barons were loyal to Henry during his dispute with Becket.
Uncorrected proof
John fell out with a large proportion
of the barons.
Many barons were unhappy about the
increased taxes John introduced (although
some historians argue that they could
afford to pay and that in fact taxes
up to this point had been quite low).
However, John really got the barons
off-side by not consulting them about
important decisions and by punishing
harshly anyone who stood up to him.
For example, he imprisoned Matilda de
Braose, claiming that her dead
husband owed him money (some
sources suggest it was because
she talked openly about her
belief that John had murdered his
nephew Arthur). John demanded
£25,000 from her. When she
refused to pay, he left her and her
son to starve to death. He forced
the barons to pay huge sums of money
to inherit their estates or to marry (see
Source 5 on page 38). He also appointed
many sheriffs (including Philip Mark,
the infamous Sheriff of Nottingham
who features in the tales of Robin Hood)
who were not men local to the area.
The barons felt that the king did not
trust them to carry out the roles that
had traditionally belonged to them.
King John (1199–1216)
Unlike Henry I and Henry II, King John did not grasp the importance of give and
take in his relationship with the barons. He was a suspicious man – having rebelled
against his own father and brother in the past, he fully expected others to rebel
against him. His elder brother, Richard, had spent most of his reign off on crusade
or defending his lands in France from the French king, Philip. Richard had sold
off many royal lands in England to pay for his wars, and when John inherited the
throne he also inherited this costly war with France. However, where Richard had
been a great commander and a skilled fighter, John was no more than competent.
Where Richard was generous in victory, John was cruel.
When Philip invaded Normandy (the most valuable of the English king’s French
possessions) John embarked on a disastrous campaign to defend his lands. The
barons were not enthusiastic. Very few of them had land in France any more
and they felt that this was not their war. They were unwilling to risk their best
soldiers and instead only sent small numbers of troops to support John. As a result,
Normandy fell to the French king.
John spent the next ten years trying to raise money for a campaign to win back
Normandy. He raised 25 per cent more in taxes than Henry I had done and by
1214 he had amassed £1.3 million (equivalent to £30 billion today). However,
this financial success came at a high political cost.
The costs
of John’s
success
John abused the justice system.
Henry II had introduced new courts called assizes. They
made the JUSTICE SYSTEM simpler and cheaper. Officials
called justices travelled the country and held assizes,
meaning that people who wanted justice did not have to
travel to London or meet with the king wherever he was.
Assizes were popular with many people and John could
have built support to help him in his arguments with the
barons. However, he became suspicious of his chief justice,
Geoffrey fitz Peter, and insisted that all cases be held by
judges who were actually with John as he travelled around
the country. This proved impossible. In addition, John
began to ‘sell’ justice, judging in favour of nobles
who paid him the most money.
John had a major clash with the Church.
In 1205, the Archbishop of Canterbury died.
John wanted to appoint his ally John de Gray
to the position, but the pope chose Stephen Langton
instead. When John refused to accept this decision, the
pope placed England under an INTERDICT (effectively
excluding England from the Church) and excommunicated
the king. Funerals and church services were suspended.
This was of great concern to the people of England,
who felt that if the pope disapproved of King John then
God must, too. The pope also threatened to offer his
support to the French king in overthrowing John. This
finally convinced John to accept Langton as archbishop
in 1213.
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