The Angevine Empire #1 (1154-1216): Overview

An Empire Forged and Preserved By Force of Will and Personality

From the epic of Ivanhoe, the tales of Robin Hood, and the iconic Third Crusade, a vast amount of our collective ideas and stories about medieval times is inspired by the less than 100 year time of the vast Angevin Realm; a time that was one of the markers for the end of the medieval era and into the Middle ages. Out of the fires of the horrific English civil war known as The Anarchy was forged a multinational British realm which many see as the prototype of the much later British Empire. The Norman kings of England, who still held titles and lands in France from the days of their ancestor William the Conqueror, would themselves conquer south Wales and the eastern half of Ireland; they would make the rest of Ireland and Wales, and the whole of Scotland client states, subordinating their kings to the Angevin crown. Even the mighty kings of France would not be able to enact any meaningful sovereignty over those lands controlled by the Angevins though the Norman lords of those lands were technical his vassals. 

Twin Capitals of Angers and Chinon

 From their fortresses in Angers and Chinon, France, the Plantagenet family ruled a multifaceted realm with strength and intrigue, fending off many outside challengers while trying to find ways to dethrone each other. And although the halls of power are a den of vipers, the outside world, to some extant, lives up to it's romanticized image: it is the age of the knight and the beginning of the ideals of chivalry, of deep christian devotion were the idea of making the 100s of mile journey to the holy land to fight the "heathen" Muslim hordes was a noble and valid way to cleanse ones sins; an age of troubadours and poets chronicling the deeds of great men. At least that's how the peasants liked to view it; as it was a welcomed low in the times of pillaging and burning commoners lands. The nobles, for a time, seemed content on attacking each other directly, besieging and counter sieging each others castles. And there was even room and opportunity for lowest of freeman to make some coin and have adventures of their own, if they were willing to "take the cross" and brave the journey to one of the christian strongholds of Outremer (small christian countries in the middle east that had popped up due to the events of the 1st Crusade).

Eleanor and Henry: Thee power couple of the age

The next couple of articles we will explore the events that shaped this realm, from its rise at the coronation of King Henry II to its disintegration under the inept rule of the villainous and incompetent King John; the constant on again off again wars with France; The aforementioned Third Crusade, also known as the Crusade of Kings, and the frenemy relationship between a Christian King and a Sultan of Islam; the scandalous murder of a revered clergyman; the start of the knightly pastime of tourneys; the beginnings of England's tumultuous relationship with Ireland; and the signing of one of the most important documents in western civilization, the Magna Carta.

We will also look at the great figures of the age, from the ruling dysfunctional Plantagenet family to their most trusted allies and bitterest rivals, though the two categories sometimes interchanged. Some of the personalities we will get to know are King Henry II, the skilled power broker and cunning founder who is one of the inspiration for the character of Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones (top left); the legendary (and oft misunderstood) warrior King Richard the Lionheart (top right); the man historians have dubbed "The Greatest Knight" and the "Paragon of Chivalry", William Marshal 1st Earl of Pembroke (middle left); Saladin, the warlord that united the Muslim world (center); Saint Thomas Becket, once friend than political rival of the King, who was murdered in his own chapel (middle right), to name just a few. We will even cross over into our Badass Women of History Series as we look at the life of one of the most powerful and Machiavellian women in European history, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who played the game so well she could give Cersi Lannister a run for her money.

It is also an era of great debate among historians as views and interpretations of the people and events have shifted back and forth over the years. Was King Henry II complicit in Becket's murder? Does King Richard deserve his vaunted reputation and reverence? Was Saladin a pious and righteous defender of Islam or just a opportunistic warlord? Could the great rivalry between England and France, that lasted for centuries and sparked numerous wars, been prevented, and if so who is at fault the Plantagenet's or the Augustus' (French Royal family)? Was Magna Carta inevitable or just the reaction to the policy's of one bad King? How incompetent of a ruler was King John, does he truly deserve the scorn he receives to this day? Was Robin Hood a real historical figure or a fictional folk hero? Did Ireland and Scotland themselves pave the way for England's dominance over them, or was it pure English aggression? Welcome to the end times of the medieval that would shape the coming High Middle Age, and spawn a singular identity for England; just as the Saxons had done by shaking off their Nordic and Germanic connections, so to will the Norman English break its connections with France.