Studying The Angevin Empire and English exceptionalism (Post-Brexit) Danica Summerlin, 26 June 2017

Today Who am I? The Angevins – then, now, and next? English Exceptionalism? E-resources Time for questions from you Caveat Brexit, 1204-style? BL, Royal 14 C vii

Who am I? Medievalist, working mostly on 1000-1250 Research is in legal history and the history of the church (in Europe); teaching on the history of Europe (including Britain) ca. 1050-ca.1250 Interest in the history of England through a couple of routes Becket Papacy Emergence of the ‘Common’ Law ….and, incidentally, someone who did no medieval history for GCSE or A-Level

Angevin Kings (2017 edn) Henry II (1154-1189) Richard I (1189-1199) Still has a temper Awareness of cross-channel links – Angevin ‘Empire’ but also beyond Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent, eds., Henry II: New interpretations (Woodbridge, 2010) Richard I (1189-1199) Still often overlooked Military leader, but given less leeway for it now John (1199-1216) Still a Bad King Stephen Church, King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a Tyrant (London, 2015)

Common themes Growth of royal power Growth of papal power Subsequently, how the two clashed Political Culture in the twelfth-century Cross-channel links Role of individuals in government Development of law Angevin/English ‘Empire’? Rethinking primary sources: Ritual? Practice?

(Royal) Power: Individual vs collective? Power of the king Power of nobles Magna Carta ‘High’ vs ‘low’ politics Parliament and its rise in the later-twelfth century Maddicott, Origins of the English Parliament Vs ‘Great man’ theories Becket Langton William Marshal Peter des Roches And, of course, the kings themselves

Papal Power Traditionally a centralised ‘Papal Monarchy’ Increasingly more local/responsive Papal power as reactive – papacy itinerant and miles away, so therefore relied on local input to know what was happening in the localities Archbishops/bishops as more important Becket Langton Reflected in some e.g. Duggan, Thomas Becket BUT – Innocent III BL, Cotton Cleopatra E I (public domain)

Political Culture ‘New Political History’ By now quite old For the Angevins, this means three things Study of ritual Continued engagement with copious administrative records Consequently, an interest in comparison – with Germany/the Empire, France, even Spain BL, Cotton Vitellius A xiii

Law ‘Although the laws of England are not written, it does not seem absurd to call them laws – those, that is, which are known to have been promulgated about problems settled in council on the advice of the magnates and with the supporting authority of the prince – for this also is a law, that “what pleases the prince has the force of law”. For if, merely for lack of writing, they were not deemed to be laws, then surely writing would seem to supply to written laws a force of greater authority than either the justice of him who decrees them or the reason of him who establishes them’ The Treatise on the laws and customs of the kingdom of England commonly called Glanvill ‘Common’ law Civil law Canon - i.e. Church – law Greater awareness of connections: Stephen Langton (archbishop of Canterbury) and his time in Paris Vacarius and Gérard Pucelle Who in England knew law?

Angevin Imperialism Nature and constituent parts of the Angevin ‘Empire’ Ireland Henry II and Ireland John and Ireland Cross-channel ‘Empire’ Loss of Normandy, 1204 Matthew Paris, Map of Britain: BL, Cotton Claudius D vi

Rethinking primary sources Close reading of texts ‘Literary turn’ Material sources Seal of Stephen Langton – BL, Harley charter 75 A 14 Becket Reliquary - © Trustees of the British Museum

E-resources Emerging from this all are some key e-resources: Magna Carta Project Homepage http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/ The Early English Laws Project http://blog.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/ Fordham Medieval Sourcebook http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/sbook.asp

Magna Carta Project Govt-funded project run by David Carpenter, Nick Vincent, Paul Brand, Louise Wilkinson, and Claire Breay, with assistance from Henry Summerson, Hugh Doherty, and Sophie Ambler, focussing on everything to do with Magna Carta – its genesis, evolution, influence. Scholarly terms, finished up with a major exhibition at the BL and a conference held in London, but also brought a few other things out of the woodwork Public facing terms, created a major and interesting website, ran exhibitions, etc…

Magna Carta Project (II) http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/ Text of Magna Carta itself Text of the Articles of the Barons ‘Feature of the month’ John’s Itinerary: http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/itinerary

Early English Laws http://blog.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/ More academic in some ways – not as public facing as e.g. Magna Carta Project But earlier, so also more suited to looking at early reigns – e.g. Henry II, rather than John

Internet Medieval Sourcebook http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/sbook.asp http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/hoveden-becket.asp http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/sbook1n.asp#Angevin England E.g. coronation of Richard I Display, ritual, ceremony http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/hoveden1189a.asp

British Library Online gallery of images and collections All the images in this presentation are taken from the BL’s online spaces, and all are public domain images Useful too for other types of history than just Medieval – take a look at the BL’s website, www.bl.uk, for more details Magna Carta online exhibition: https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta

Any questions? Danica Summerlin d.summerlin@sheffield.ac.uk