The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain by Derek Wilson Page A

Langton who ensured the interests of the church were covered. The rightof the church to elect its own bishops and other senior clergy without royal interference was guaranteed. The ancient privileges of the city of London were to be upheld, and merchants were assured of free movement to ply their trade, except in times of war, when foreign merchants were to be detained ‘until we or our justiciar know how the merchants of our land are treated in the enemy country’.
    The rebels tried to give the charter administrative teeth by inserting a clause permitting the barons to appoint 25 of their number to ensure the king’s compliance. The drafters of the charter claimed to be doing no more than holding the king to his coronation oath. In fact, Magna Carta was a denial of the king’s sovereignty, and John could scarcely have been expected to abide by its provisions. He soon had the backing of Innocent III in rejecting it. The pope denounced Magna Carta as illegal and unjust and threatened the barons and their associates with excommunication if they forced the king to adhere to it. The pope, who had appointed Stephen Langton to his office in the face of firm opposition from John, now suspended the archbishop for not backing the king against his barons.
    Now civil war broke out in earnest, and all John’s enemies made common cause. The rebels invited Louis to come from France and accept the crown. Llewelyn-ap-Iorwerth reestablished control of most of Wales. The barons invited King Alexander II to come down from Scotland and invested him with considerable lands in the far north of England. But John, faced with the real prospect of losing England as well as his continental possessions, fought like a tiger. He capturedRochester Castle after a determined seven-week siege, then marched northwards at the head of his mercenaries. His object was to terrify his subjects into submission.
    John advanced into Scotland, harried the Lowlands and burned Berwick to the ground (January 1216). Within two months he was in East Anglia, laying siege to Colchester. In May Louis crossed the Channel and marched to London, where he was warmly welcomed. Alexander II came south in person to pay homage to the French prince. All seemed lost, but John refused to give in. In September he was in Lincolnshire. In October he was victorious in a skirmish at King’s Lynn. Days later he was on his way northwards again. As he crossed the estuary of the River Welland his baggage train foundered in quicksand with the loss of his household goods and treasure. His spirit was not bowed by the procession of disasters, but his body was failing. He fell prey to dysentery. By 18 November he had reached Newark. There, during the following night, he died.

HENRY III 1216–72



Henry III was nine years old when he succeeded his father John, and he reigned for 56 years, longer than any other medieval king. In fact, his record stood for almost 600 years – until the reign of George III (1760–1820). This should suggest that under his rule England enjoyed a long period of stability and peace, something that was greatly needed after the conflicts between crown and barons that had disturbed his father’s reign.
    No longer did the king have to divide his time between possessions on both sides of the English Channel, and the basis of sound and just government had been laid down in Magna Carta. Unfortunately, things did not work out like that. Henry inherited a bankrupt treasury and was obliged to rely on unpopular taxes. He also showed himself to be insensitive and incompetent. As a result the later years of his reign saw a return to civil war.
    1216–27
    These were the years of Henry’s minority. The affairs of the kingdom were put in the hands of a group of regents who had been involved in John’s government and who enjoyed the respect of most of the barons. Prominent among them were William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh. Much of the baronial