WITH the beginning of the famous Norman Rule in 1066, the political landscape of England took a new shape. Prior to that, the country had seen many civil wars, invasions, change in dynasty, but never experienced a change like the one brought by the Normans in reshaping society, remodelling church and state, introducing a new ruling culture, and a new relationship with Europe. This kind of feudal England, some say, lasted till 1215. But feudalism was never completely triumphant and was undermined both by old English customs and new economic necessities.
The one person responsible for such a transformation was William I, known in history as ‘The conqueror’. William was the cousin of an issueless English King Edward, the confessor. When the king died, the English counsel (Witan), as per custom of the day, selected Harold Baldwin as his successor. The Duke of Normandy, William I, however, did not accept his nomination and on the pretext that the late king had promised him a lot of things as inheritance. He eventually attacked England and gained a decisive victory by routing Harold’s forces at Hastings, making the name of the place become proverbial. The rule of William I, known by his subjects as ‘that stark man’, lasted for 21 years. He was an effective administrator who provided England with the foundation for a stable and effective form of government.
William the conqueror was succeeded by his third son William II, known as ‘Rufus’ for his flaming hair. His rule did not leave pleasant memories in the history of England. He was tyrannical, cruel and blasphemous having no sympathy for the country he ruled. He did not even speak English. However, his successor Henry I (the fourth son of the conqueror) adopted a conciliatory attitude towards his subjects. He realized the value of English support against his own barons and against his elder brother Robert, the ruler of Normandy. Since his two sons met with a fatal accident and drowned in the ‘White Ship’ tragedy, he nominated his daughter Matilda as heir apparent. But the counsel refused to accept Matilda for being someone from the weaker sex and enthroned Stephen, one of the nephews of the conqueror. His rule, despite being a meek one, remained for almost 19 years. On his death Henry II, son of Matilda and Count Geoffrey of Anjou, nicknamed ‘Plantagenet’, became king.
The rule of Plantagenet stretched over more than 300 years. Henry II was more of a European ruler than an English king. His tenure is remembered for his quarrel with Thomas Becket for claiming more control than the church’s over the country. His successor Richard I (Coeur-de-Lion), though a brave soldier, hardly spent 10 months of his 10-year reign in England. He once remarked: “I would have sold London itself if I could have captured by Duke of Austria, who sold him to Emperor Henry VI.”
So, the crusade to rescue the holy land ended with the sale of one Christian monarch to another. For 14 months, until ransom was paid, Richard was imprisoned in a secret imperial castle. Thereafter, never again did the English King leave for any kind of crusading.
This brings us to King John, remembered as the ‘wicked king’, who is more famous in history for being the signatory to Magna Carta, the famous charter that was sealed on the small island of Runnymede in the Thames near Windsor. He was the fourth child of Henry II, the first Plantagenet, born in 1167. French by descent, a European ruler rather than an English King, John was also nicknamed ‘Lakeland’, because his father initially ignored him by giving his brothers a certain territory when he receive none. However, he had administrative ability, especially when it came to collecting the money. But he was cruel and avaricious.
After Richard’s death due to a fatal injury which he sustained while fighting a recalcitrant Duke, John ascended the throne of England in 1199 as the seventh Norman. His tenure was tumultuous. He first picked a bone with the church, because he refused to accept the pope’s nominee as archbishop of Canterbury and was thus excommunicated for two years, which made him extremely unpopular. His abject surrender to Innocent III two years later could only get him back to the fold of Christianity.
He also lost England of French possessions to France. Only a fragment remained of the once vast Angevin empire. Nonetheless, this loss enforced the insular growth of the English people as a nation. Lord Macaulay has termed this episode as commencement of history of the English nation.
The main factors that united the articulate class of England were mainly the end of John’s quarrel with Rome, allied to misgovernment and raising of extortionate taxes and losing mainland possessions to France that forced him to sign Magna Carta with the following clauses:
1. That the church was free to choose its own officials;
2. That no money, over and above certain regular paymasters, was to be paid by the king’s feudal tenants without their previous consent;
3. That no freedom was to be punished except according to laws of the land.
But John’s son didn’t keep his words. The nobility summoned aid from France, and John died in the midst of an invasion bequeathing enormous problems to his nine-year-old son, the would-be king.
This epoch-making charter, which transformed the mediaeval kingdom, was altered at least 38 times in the first 100 years, yet retained its original characteristics. But, surprisingly, little more was heard of it until the 17th century when not only the British, but also the US (1788) and France (1789) took the concept ahead.
