Hello and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

So, let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at the Angevin Empire, and by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to recall that Henry II formed the Angevin Empire upon his accession to the throne, but that many of these territories were lost under King John's reign.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms. And our key terms for today are Angevin Empire and Magna Carta.

The Angevin Empire was territories in England, Wales, Ireland, and France held by Henry II and his descendants in the 12th and 13th centuries.

And the Magna Carta was a document signed in 1215 containing a series of promises that limited the monarch and guaranteed some political rights.

Today's lesson will consist of three separate learning cycles, and our first learning cycle is looking at the germ of an empire.

So let's get us going.

So under the reign of William the Conqueror, England and Normandy developed close cultural connections, and part of this was through necessity.

In the early years of William's reign the Anglo-Saxons were rebellious subjects, and so the motte-and-bailey castles that dominated the landscape of Normandy were replicated across England.

Throughout England, there were rebellions against William's reign.

The largest rebellion was in the north and William's response was brutal, was known as the Harrying of the North, and for decades afterwards, large areas of the north in England were uninhabited and uninhabitable as well.

So the motte-and-bailey castles were really, really important in order for William to be able to organise his response to these sort of rebellions.

As well as the motte-and-bailey castles, William also built grand cathedrals in order to win over the Anglo-Saxons, and did so using the Romanesque architectural style that could also be found in Normandy, as well as frequently building in stone imported from the area around Caen.

And these grand cathedrals were designed to be more beautiful than others in Northern Europe at the time, and they were.

They were exceptional pieces of architecture.

The number of migrants from Normandy to England was limited, but Norman nobles frequently held land on both sides of the Channel, which strengthened the cultural ties of the two regions.

Effectively, the Norman lords who owned land in Normandy and in England and then later on their descendants began to see these territories as effectively one single territory as opposed to two very distinct areas that they were ruling over.

Over time as well, their separate languages began to merge into a distinct Anglo-Norman language.

Now, these cultural ties were strained following the death of William the Conqueror on the 9th of September in 1087.

And the reason being is that Normandy was given to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, whilst England was given to his second son, William Rufus.

Rufus was a nickname due to his red hair, and apparently quite a fiery temper he had as well.

His third son, Henry, received money but received no land at all.

Now, the cultural connection was reestablished though under Henry, surprisingly, in 1106.

William Rufus died in somewhat suspicious circumstances in 1100.

There was a hunting accident in the New Forest.

One of his friends shot an arrow at a deer, apparently.

It hit a tree and bounced back and hit the king.

What made it more suspicious, as opposed to just a really unfortunate accident, is that this friend, a man called Sir Walter Tirel, then immediately fled the country.

And also Henry seemed to know that his brother had died really, really quickly after the event, far too quickly.

So this therefore allowed Henry to claim the throne of England.

And then the subsequent war between the two remaining brothers, Robert Curthose believed that he should have inherited England instead of his younger brother, this actually saw Henry claim Normandy for himself as well.

He defeated his older brother and then put him in prison for the rest of his life as well.

So ruthless with his brothers, if the rumours are to be believed, but incredibly effective at combining territories.

The link between England and Normandy was severed once again upon the death of Henry I in 1135, and the territories were plunged into a long and brutal civil war, which became known as the Anarchy.

People on both sides of the Channel were grateful when the Anarchy ended in 1154 with the accession of Henry II.

Well, let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So which of William the Conqueror's sons reunited the territories of England and Normandy under one ruler? Was it Robert, was it William, or was it Henry? Okay, if you chose Henry, then very well done.

That is the correct answer.

And another quick check for understanding.

It's a discussion-based question.

I'd like you to think, what similarities did England and Normandy share during the 12th century? So see if you can come up with a list, pause the video whilst you do that, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

Let's try think about what you could have said, then.

So you could have said that they were the same ruling family.

Nobles owned land in both territories.

There was a shared language, there was similar architecture, and there was the extensive use of motte-and-bailey castles.

If you've come up with any different ideas than me, that's absolutely fantastic, but hopefully you've got at least some of those on the screen there in front of you as well.

Right, let's go for our first task for today, then.

What I'd like you to do is to identify two ways in which William the Conqueror strengthened the cultural connections between England and Normandy.

So just identify them and just give a very brief explanation as to how he managed to do that.

So pause the video whilst you do this and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you got on okay with that task.

Let's think of what you could have said, then.

So you could have said, one way in which William the Conqueror strengthened the cultural connections between England and Normandy was through the building of grand cathedrals in the Romanesque style using Caen stone.

This was done on both sides of the Channel.

This meant that the people of England and Normandy could be proud of their grand places of worship that were bigger and more beautiful than in most other places in Northern Europe.

Another way in which William the Conqueror strengthened the cultural connections between England and Normandy was by granting lands to nobles in both territories.

This meant that nobles would frequently travel between England and Normandy in order to visit all of their holdings, which would generate a sense that these were not separate lands but part of the same kingdom.

This can be seen in the fact that over time, the Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French languages began to merge into a distinct Anglo-Norman language.

So hopefully you've got a similar level of explanation to myself, even if you've chosen different ways in which William the Conqueror strengthened the cultural connections.

Right, let's move on to our next learning cycle of the day, which is the creation of the Angevin Empire.

Now, before he became king of England, Henry Fitzempress, as he liked to call himself, inherited the title of Duke of Normandy and the extended territories of Anjou, which consisted of Anjou itself plus Maine and Touraine.

And through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1151, Henry also gained control of the sizable territory of Aquitaine.

When Henry II was crowned king of England on the 19th of December, 1154, he controlled territory extending from Scotland to modern-day Spain, making him arguably the most powerful monarch in Europe at that time.

These lands were named the Angevin Empire after the region of Anjou where Henry mostly held court.

Let's have a quick check for understanding now.

It's a true or false statement on the screen here.

So Henry II created the Angevin Empire in order to end the Anarchy.

Is that true or is that false? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose false, then very well done.

That is indeed a false statement.

But let's justify now, why was that a false statement? Is it false because Henry's father, Geoffrey of Anjou, created the Angevin Empire, or is it false because Henry combined his territories after the Anarchy to create the Angevin Empire? So choose your justification now.

All right, if you chose B, then very well done.

That is the correct answer.

Now, Henry II quickly set about extending his enormous domain even further, and one of his first acts was to reclaim land in the north of England that had been lost to Scotland.

In 1157, the Scottish King Malcolm IV paid homage to Henry and returned the northern territories.

When his successor, King William the Lion, declared war on Henry in 1173 in order to reclaim what he regarded as his territories, in his defence, he was granted those territories by one of the previous English kings, Henry captured the Scottish king and gained control of Southern Scotland.

So that plan really backfired.

Regular campaigns against the rulers of the kingdoms of Wales were unsuccessful, but Henry had inherited large parts of Southern Wales when he ascended the throne.

In 1167, an opportunity presented itself for the Angevin Empire to extend into Ireland.

The king of Leinster, Diarmait mac Murchada, was ousted and fled to England to beg Henry for aid in reclaiming his land.

Henry allowed a force of Anglo-Norman mercenaries under Richard de Clare, who is the Earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, which is a fun little nickname, to aid in this.

Strongbow's force landed in Leinster in May 1169 and quickly retook Diarmait's kingdom, earning him Diarmait's daughter, Aoife's hand in marriage.

When Diarmait died in 1171, Strongbow claimed the Kingdom of Leinster for himself.

This attracted the attention of Henry, who landed in Ireland in October 1171.

Henry received the submission of the Irish kings, who declared him overlord of Ireland.

The Anglo-Normans extended their territory across much of Ireland with the backing of the Pope, who welcomed Henry's stated aim of bringing reform to the Irish church.

The Irish were Christian, but their form of Christianity had moved away from what the Pope wanted Roman Catholicism to be.

So in that sense, William was very clever in being able to claim the Pope's support by stating that the reason that he was going to Ireland was predominantly to bring the Irish church back into line with the rest of Roman Catholicism.

Now, Henry also used a mixture of war and diplomacy to extend the Angevin Empire.

In 1166, the Duke of Brittany became unable to maintain the peace and order in his territory.

Henry used this opportunity to marry his son, Geoffrey, to the duke's daughter, Constance, and peacefully take control of the region through this marriage.

Within three years, Brittany was firmly under Henry's control.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So which country did Henry II invade and become overlord of in 1171? Was it Ireland, Scotland, or Wales? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose A, then very well done, that is the correct answer.

Right, let's go for our next task for today.

So I'd like you to explain two similarities between Henry II's expansion of the Angevin Empire in the British Isles and the expansion of the Angevin Empire in Europe.

So pause the video whilst you do this and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you got on okay with that task.

Let's think about what you could have said, then.

So you could have said that one similarity between Henry II's expansion of the Angevin Empire in the British Isles and in Europe was Henry's use of diplomacy.

In 1167, Henry struck a deal with the outcast king of Leinster to help him retake his kingdom.

This gave the Anglo-Normans a foothold in Ireland, which allowed the Angevin Empire to expand in the British Isles.

Similarly, in 1166, Henry arranged the marriage of his son, Geoffrey, to the Duke of Brittany's daughter, Constance, which meant Henry peacefully gained control of Brittany and furthered the empire in Europe.

Another similarity is that Henry inherited a sizable portion of the Angevin Empire in the British Isles and in Europe.

For example, prior to becoming king of England, he had inherited the title of Duke of Normandy, as well as the extended territories of Anjou in modern-day France, which extended the empire in Europe.

Similarly, Henry inherited large parts of South Wales when he became king of England, which furthered the empire's expansion in the British Isles.

If you've got different examples to myself, that's absolutely fine.

As long as you've explained them and used detail to do so, that's the key thing there.

Right, let's move on into our third and final learning cycle for today, which is looking at the loss of the Angevin Empire.

Now, Henry struggled to maintain the Angevin Empire due to its vast size.

During his 35-year reign, he crossed the Channel more than 30 times, leading the French king, Louis VII, to remark that he seems to fly rather than go by horse or ship.

This amount of travel that Henry was doing was unusual at this point in time.

It wasn't unusual for rulers to travel across their empires.

It was unusual for them to travel to this extent across their empires.

Henry had to deal with several revolts during his reign, including from his own wife and children.

This suggests that the Angevin Empire was not as united as one might think.

Upon Henry's death on the 6th of July, 1189, the throne passed to his son, Richard, known better as Richard the Lionheart.

Whilst journeying to the Holy Land to take part in the Third Crusade, Richard briefly added Cyprus to the Angevin Empire in 1191.

He stormed the island after its king insulted Richard's wife.

There we go, so taking over a whole kingdom just 'cause your wife was insulted.

The problem though is that Richard actually had no desire to keep the island.

It was too far away from the rest of his territories, he had no real need for it, and so he sold it.

He sold a kingdom to the Knights Templar, which is a Christian military order.

In 1192 on his return from the Third Crusade, Richard was imprisoned by the Duke of Austria, who Richard had insulted whilst they were sieging Acre together.

So the duke had wanted to put his own flag above the city walls alongside that other king of France and Richard's flag as well, and Richard demanded that he take it down because this guy was only a duke.

As a result, when Richard was journeying back through his lands on his way home, the duke imprisoned him.

In his absence, Richard's brother John conspired with the French king, Philip II, to claim the Angevin Empire.

John tried and failed to invade England, while Philip successfully invaded Normandy, all whilst other rebellions were also occurring elsewhere in the empire.

Richard successfully managed to reverse these losses upon his return in 1194, and actually, he even managed to gain more land near Aquitaine, but he died of an infected wound in 1199.

As heir, John was finally able to take control of the Angevin Empire, but he actually faced competition from his nephew, Arthur, who was supported by Philip.

There's a strong chance that Philip was just trying to sow discord as to really having a genuine interest in Arthur becoming ruler of the Angevin Empire.

The civil war that broke out between them was won by John, but at great cost.

John managed to alienate many of his supporters by his brutal actions.

His poor treatment of high-ranking prisoners led to many of their deaths.

And the real big problem with that is that many nobles in Northern Europe were related at this point in time, so regardless of what side of the civil war they're on, you almost certainly have family members fighting on the other side.

And so these actions had very far-reaching consequences.

Generally speaking, nobles, they might accept that they could die in battle, but you don't die in imprisonment.

You are treated as an honoured guest because you would then be ransomed.

So your captor would make a huge amount of money, but you would go home safely.

That was, generally speaking, the experience of most nobles in war at this point in time.

John's most dastardly crime, though, was the murder of his nephew, Arthur.

In 1203, John killed Arthur, as we are told.

It might not be true, but certainly many sources suggest that John indeed personally kill Arthur, who was his prisoner at the time, and threw his body in the River Seine.

So it wasn't just the fact that he murdered his nephew; it was the fact that he just unceremoniously disposed of the body as well.

So it was just seen as a really despicable act.

This appalled many of John's allies, who left his side as a result.

Many of John's barons refused to fight for him, which caused John to experience losses on the battlefield.

And in 1204, Normandy was lost to Philip, and almost immediately afterwards, Poitou, which is in Northern Aquitaine, chose to join the French side following the death of John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Effectively, she was the only one holding that territory together.

It wasn't for their love of John that they decided to remain in the Angevin Empire, it's for the love of Eleanor, and when she died, they figured they'd be better off with King Philip instead.

Although John had more success in keeping his territories in the British Isles, by the end of his reign, only Gascony, which is Southern Aquitaine, remained under the English king's control.

Right, let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So, choose two territories from the Angevin Empire that King John lost.

You can choose from Anjou, Gascony, Ireland, or Normandy.

So make your choices now.

Okay, if you chose A and D, then very well done.

Those are the correct answers.

Now, John's barons in France refused to fight for him whilst his barons in England insisted on fighting against him.

In 1215, an army led by the barons forced John to sign Magna Carta as a way to limit his power.

Correctly assuming that John would not keep the promises that he made, in 1216, the barons actually invited Philip II's son, Louis, to become king of England, thus sparking the First Barons' War.

And this just goes to show just the level of discontent that John had fostered amongst his barons, that they would rather have the son of a foreign king on the throne rather than their own king.

Louis successfully gained control of the important towns of Rochester, Winchester, and even London, but he is prevented from being declared king of England after John died on the 18th of October 1216, and as a result, the barons were able to choose a king from their own land.

So effectively the best thing that John could have done to win the war was to die, which is exactly what happened.

But by this time, however, the Angevin Empire was no more.

Right, let's have another check for understanding now.

So I'd like you to number the following events in chronological order.

So put number one as the earliest and number four as the latest.

Okay, let's go through the correct answers, then.

So the first thing that happened was that John became king.

After that he lost Normandy.

Following that he was presented with the Magna Carta.

And finally he took part in the First Barons' War.

So hopefully you got all of those correct as well.

And let's go for our final task for today.

I'd like you to choose three of the following factors and write a sentence for each explaining how they contributed to the loss of the Angevin Empire.

So three of the seven factors on the screen in front of you there.

Pause the video whilst you do this and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you got on okay with that task.

So let's think what you could have said, then.

So I chose key individuals, government, and war.

If you've chosen different factors to me, then that's absolutely fine.

If you've got the same factors of me, but different examples, then that's brilliant as well.

You've now got a whole host of other examples that I've given you here as well.

So let's see what I've got.

For key individuals, I said the actions of King John, specifically how he treated his prisoners, was a main reason why his barons in both England and France turned against him.

For government, I said the reluctance of the barons, who administered John's lands, to work with John meant that he was unable to call for their aid in his campaigns in France.

It was also the English barons who imposed Magna Carta upon him, which limited the king's power.

And finally, for war, I said the Angevin Empire in France was mostly lost piece by piece during wars with King Philip II of France.

Right, let's summarise today's lesson now, then.

So, the reign of William the Conqueror and his heirs saw a growing cultural similarity develop between Normandy and England.

Following the Anarchy, Henry II developed the large Angevin Empire.

He expanded the empire into Ireland in 1171 when he was declared overlord of Ireland.

The actions of King John led to significant unrest amongst his barons, who refused to fight alongside John, ultimately resulting in the loss of the Angevin Empire.

The loss of much of the empire, as well as John's actions, cost him political power with the imposition of Magna Carta and almost led to England being lost to France in the First Barons' War.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully you've enjoyed yourself, hopefully you learnt something, and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-bye.