Wherein, surprise, surprise, Hugh Bigod rebels against the king …
Here we go again with the real life Game of Thrones. Henry the Second's "little misunderstanding" with Thomas Becket didn't just piss off folk on this side of the Channel, it seriously dischuffed Henry's missus, Eleanor of Aquitaine and a lot of her mates. On top of that, Henry decided to marry off his youngest and favourite son, John, known as "Lackland" for having three elder brothers who would snaffle up most of Henry's inheritance, and bequeathed to him three castles on his eldest brother's lands.
You'll recall the brotherly love of the Normans from William the Bastard's murderous brood. Well, plus ça change, etc. Henry's eldest son … er … Henry, encouraged by his mum and the two middle brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, conspired to bribe the French counts with captured lands and promptly invaded Normandy for a bit of patricide, fratricide and regicide, long a family trait.
Over here at Norwich Castle in July 1174, also following a long-held family trait and encouraged by the dastardly Earl of Leicester, chief of the Norman aristocratic rebels, Earl Hugh Bigod traitorously rebelled against the king and claimed Norwich Castle, manning it with eight-hundred soldiers (which must have made a real mess of the poop chutes). He also - for no other apparent reason than his being a git - burned a great part of the city.
Henry the Second drummed up a massive mercenary army to hold Normandy and crossed to England with five-hundred seasoned warriors to kick baronial arse for the second time in his reign. He stormed into Norwich and captured Hugh Bigod, who amazingly weaseled his way into retaining his head, though one of his castles at Thetford was razed to the ground to teach him a lesson.
Heading back south of the Channel once more, King Henry, his four sons, the French barons and King Louis the Seventh of France engaged in a chaotic dance of switching allegiances and chasing around the Angevin territories like the Keystone Kops. By the end of September 1174, Henry and his mercenaries prevailed, forcing the brothers and Louis to accept a settlement and end the rebellion.
He was still royally pissed at Richard, however, who came grovelling and weeping and laid himself at his father's feet for mercy, which was grudgingly given.
The brothers were then tasked with destroying the castles and power bases of the very barons who had been their erstwhile allies, a task which Richard in particular took to with alarming violence and cruelty.
When Henry the eldest son died in 1183, Richard should have become heir to the throne, but Henry distrusted him (with good reason as we shall see in the next chapter) and sent John south to Aquitaine to capture or kill him.
Instead, to simplify what was an insanely complex web of deceit and betrayal, John sided with his brother and, together with Louis's successor King Philip of France defeated Henry at Ballans in July 1189. Two days later, at Chinon, Henry the Second was dead and Richard succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou.
Richard and John would become the next two kings of England and both England and Norwich, city and castle would suffer for it.
Next time: We Need to Talk About Richard …
Sources:
Norfolk Museums Service and the Norfolk Archæological Society
East Anglian Archæology Vol. 132: Norwich Castle: Excavations and Historical Survey: 1978-1988: Part 1: Anglo-Saxon to c.1345: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2009
Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976
The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994
Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994
Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005
The Norman Connections - Castle: Part 1: Norwich Castle: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2010
Mediæval Norwich: ed: Carole Rawcliffe & Richard Wilson: 2004
Francis
Blomefield: An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of
Norfolk: Volume 3: The History of the City and County of Norwich: 1753
to 1775
The Oxford History of England: 1087-1216: From Domesday to Magna Carta: Austin L. Poole (ed): 1951
2 comments:
Not easy to keep track of all the Henrys and Richards and Johns. But what of Geoffrey? Does he reappear? I ask only because that's a name I might be able to keep track of—unless he marries a Matilda, in which case all bets are off.
Geoffrey ends up with lots of Angevin lands. From what happened to his brothers he was lucky not to become a king.
The family are still popping out Matildas at an alarming rate and marrying them off all over Europe.
If you want to get confused, just wait for the Bigods in Chapter VI. They make my head spin.
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