345938475394

BATTLE CONTEXT
Where
Lincoln, England
When
20 May 1217
Who
English (William Marshal)
French (Comte du Perche)
and English rebels (Earl of
Winchester)
Why
Louis of France’s attempt to
become king of England
RETREAT!
A French knight flees the
battle scene as a royalist
crossbowman takes aim
at him.
Result
Decisive English victory
The coronation of
Louis VIII and
Blanche of Castile
at Reims, 1223
what would later be
called Magna Carta, a
document addressing the
perceived abuses of his reign. But
when Magna Carta was withdrawn
less than three months later, many
English barons concluded that
there was no doing business with
John and invited Louis, the son
of Philip Augustus of France, to
replace him as the king of England.
Louis duly invaded, and with
the support of the rebel barons,
he overran much of southeast
England and East Anglia, although
the castles at Windsor and Dover
4
Original copies of
Magna Carta survive.
One is in Lincoln.
stubbornly held out
against him. Then, in
October 1216, John did what
has been described as the best
thing he ever did for his country.
He died. Much of the baronial
support for Louis had been
motivated by a hatred of John,
and now that he was no longer on
the scene, many barons switched
sides in favour of his successor,
the nine-year-old Henry III,
especially when his advisors
re-issued Magna Carta. Even so,
Louis didn’t abandon his attempts
to conquer England, and while
THE MAN WHO WAS
NEARLY KING
Prince Louis was the son of Philip Augustus, King of
France and Richard the Lionheart’s partner (and
rival) during the Third Crusade. He was born in 1187
and in 1200 he married Blanche of Castile, a
granddaughter of Henry II. At a time when you
didn’t necessarily have to be next in line in order to
take the throne, Louis, who did have royal blood
after all, seemed an ideal replacement for the
tyrannical John. To the English barons who asked
him to be their king Louis was all the things John
wasn’t – brave, pious, trustworthy and a man who
kept his word. After landing in England he was
proclaimed king in London, and within months
about two thirds of the barons and more than half of
the country were under his control. After the failure
of his bid to rule England, Louis returned to France
where he succeeded to the throne as Louis VIII in
1223 and promptly conquered large amounts of the
remaining English territory in the country.
MAY 2017 41