Henry I, byname HENRY THE FAT, Spanish ENRIQUE EL GORDO, French HENRI LEGROS (b. c. 1210--d. July 22, 1274, Pamplona, Navarre), king of Navarre(1270-74) and count (as Henry III) of Champagne. Henry was the youngestson of Theobald I of Navarre by Margaret of Foix. He succeeded his eldestbrother, Theobald II (Thibaut V), in both kingdom and countship inDecember 1270. By his marriage (1269) to Blanche, daughter of Robert I ofArtois and niece of Louis IX of France, he had one daughter, Joan, whom,by the Convention of Bonlieu (Nov. 30, 1273), he promised to one of thetwo sons of Edward I of England, Henry and Alfonso. This would have ledto a union of his dominions with English Gascony, but it came to nothing.King Henry died in 1274; both the English princes died in the nextdecade, and Joan was married in 1284 to the future Philip IV of France.
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John Lackland , King Of England
John, King of England
The youngest son of HENRY II and ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, John, b. Dec. 24,1167, succeeded his brother RICHARD I as king on May 27, 1199. John'sreign is notable for his difficulties with the church and the barons;the king's conflict with the latter resulted in MAGNA CARTA.
John's character was not attractive--he was hedonistic, mercurial,personally unstable, suspicious, and unforgiving. Yet he had manycommendable qualities--he was highly intelligent, well versed in law andgovernment, efficient, and sophisticated. His greatest shortcoming, inview of his contemporaries, was that he was no warrior, in an age whenkings were expected to be great fighters. Moreover, John's difficultiesstemmed largely from the policies of his father and brother. Richard hadbequeathed financial bankruptcy and a ruinously expensive war in France.John also bore the brunt of baronial reaction to the centralization ofgovernment, a policy initiated by his predecessors, though continued withenthusiasm by him.
Early in his reign John lost most of the English possessions in France;by 1206, PHILIP II of France had conquered Anjou, Normandy, andBrittany. In that year John also became embroiled in a quarrel with thechurch by refusing to accept the election of Stephen LANGTON asarchbishop of Canterbury. The pope placed England under interdict (ineffect, closing the churches) until John abandoned the fight in 1213 andaccepted papal vassalage.
The king took this step to strengthen his hand against the barons, withwhom trouble had been building since 1208. The failure of John'sexpedition to Poitou in 1214, however, coupled with the defeat of hisally, Holy Roman Emperor OTTO IV, in the Battle of BOUVINES, gave theEnglish barons their excuse for rebellion. In June 1215 the baronsforced the king to accede to their demands for the restoration of feudalrights in the famous document called Magna Carta. The civil war wasresumed soon after, however, and continued at the time of John's death onOct. 18-19, 1216. John was succeeded by his young son, HENRY III. MagnaCarta
Magna Carta, the great charter of liberties exacted from the English KingJOHN by his rebellious barons and sealed at Runnymede on June 15, 1215,is famous as an embodiment of resistance to monarchy unregulated by law.
The rebellion of the barons and their adherents stemmed from John'sdemand for overseas service that they felt was not owed, from John'spolicies of ensuring their personal loyalties by intimidation, and fromthe domestic policies--especially increased financial exactions--not onlyof John himself but also of his predecessors HENRY II and RICHARD I. Thebaronial opposition initially intended to restore what it regarded as thegood old days of the Norman kings (William I, William II, and Henry I);however, realistic considerations led to an insistence on pragmaticreforms. The issue thus became one of control of the innovationsintroduced by the Angevin kings rather than of their nullification. Thecharter, some of it framed by Stephen LANGTON, archbishop of Canterbury,set forth the law on points raised by the rebels and attempted to reformspecified abuses.
The church, stated the charter, was to be free. Following theecclesiastical concessions, Magna Carta specified liberties for all freemen so that all might be defended from royal whim. Certain taxes were notto be levied without the common consent of the kingdom, whoserepresentatives' decisions were binding on all (a forerunner of "notaxation without representation"). The barons acquiesced in the growth ofroyal jurisdiction since 1154, but certain clauses sought to control thedirection of legal reforms. The evolution of DUE PROCESS was reflectedin the requirements that proper trial be held before execution ofsentence and lawful judgment in royal courts.
Many of Magna Carta's 63 clauses dealt with feudal privileges of benefitonly to the barons. Moreover, the charter was soon violated by KingJohn, bringing a resumption of civil war. Nonetheless, John's successor,HENRY III, reissued it, and by 1225, when it received its final form, itwas accepted by all the parties. It remains a major symbol of thesupremacy of law.
Lusignan FAMILY, noble family of Poitou (a province of western France)that provided numerous crusaders and kings of Jerusalem, Cyprus, andLesser Armenia. A branch of the family became counts of La Marche andAngoulÅe and played a role in precipitating the baronial revolt inEngland against King Henry III. The castle of Lusignan is associated withthe medieval legend of Mélusine.
Hugh (Hugues) I, lord of Lusignan, was a vassal of the counts of Poitiersin the 10th century. Early members of the family participated in theCrusades, but it was Hugh VIII's sons who established the familyfortunes.Hugh VIII's eldest son and successor, Hugh IX the Brown (d. 1219), heldthe countship of La Marche. In 1200 his fiancée, Isabella of Angoulême,was taken for wife by his feudal lord, King John of England. This outragecaused Hugh to turn to the king of France, Philip II Augustus, forming analliance that culminated in John's loss of his continental possessions.
John, in an attempt to pacify Hugh, gave his daughter Joan as fiancée toHugh X (d. 1249), but the marriage never took place. Instead, afterJohn's death, Hugh X married his widow, Isabella, in 1220. Hugh andIsabella fluctuated in their loyalty to John's successor (Isabella'sson), Henry III. When Louis IX of France granted Poitou as a countship tohis brother Alphonse, Hugh at first supported him. Isabella's angercaused a turnabout and, eventually, brought about a disastrous revoltsupported by Henry III. In this revolt Hugh lost his principalstrongholds, but Louis IX pardoned the Lusignans, and they swore loyaltyagain.
Nine children were born to Isabella and Hugh X, five of whom went toEngland at the invitation of their half brother, Henry III. There theywere rewarded with lands, riches, and distinctions at the expense of theEnglish barons, who eventually revolted against Henry and forced theexile of the Lusignan brothers from England in 1258. Hugh XIII (d. 1303)pledged La Marche and Angoulême to Philip IV the Fair of France.
Two other sons of Hugh VIII became kings of Jerusalem and Cyprus. Guy (c.1129-94), through his marriage to Sibyl, the sister of King Baldwin IV ofJerusalem, got the kingdom in 1186 but lost his capital city in wars withthe Muslims (1187) and finally exchanged his empty title for thesovereignty of Cyprus (1192).
Guy's brother Amalric (Amaury) II (d. April 1, 1205) succeeded to thecrown of Cyprus and became king of Jerusalem in 1197 by marrying Sibyl'ssister Isabella after the death of her two previous husbands. Amalric wasthe founder of a dynasty of sovereigns of Cyprus lasting until 1475, whenCyprus was ceded to Venice. His descendants after 1269 regularly enjoyedthe title of king of Jerusalem. Among the most famous members of thehouse who ruled in Cyprus was Peter I (Pierre I; d. 1369), who set forthon various expeditions against the Muslims in a last attempt to gain theHoly Lands. He was assassinated by discontented nobles in Cyprus.
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