The Last English King

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Jones, J. R. (1988). The Revolution of 1688 in England. Orion Publishing Group, Limited. ISBN 0-2979-9467-0. By August, the English were outside the walls of Paris. The intrigues of the French parties culminated in the assassination of John the Fearless by the Dauphin's partisans at Montereau (10 September 1419). Philip the Good, the new duke, and the French court threw themselves into Henry's arms [ citation needed]. After six months of negotiation, the Treaty of Troyes recognised Henry as the heir and regent of France (see English Kings of France), and, on 2 June 1420, Henry married Catherine of Valois, the daughter of Charles VI of France. From June to July, Henry's army besieged and took the castle at Montereau, then Melun in November, returning to England shortly thereafter. Henry VI was born the following year. In the remaining years of the Hundred Years' War, France reconquered all the English territories on the French mainland except Calais, which was finally taken in 1558. However, the Channel Islands, despite a few unsuccessful attempts by the French to take the islands (culminating with the Battle of Jersey in 1781), have remained under continuous English and British sovereignty, with the exception of a period of German occupation during the Second World War.

Andrews, Allen, Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, Marshall Cavendish Publications Ltd., London, 1976. In the meantime, Charles was attempting to reclaim his throne, but France, although hosting the exiles, had allied itself with Oliver Cromwell. In 1656, Charles turned instead to Spain—an enemy of France—for support, and an alliance was made. In consequence, James was expelled from France and forced to leave Turenne's army. [24] James quarrelled with his brother over the diplomatic choice of Spain over France. Exiled and poor, there was little that either Charles or James could do about the wider political situation, and James ultimately travelled to Bruges and (along with his younger brother, Henry) joined the Spanish army under the Prince of Condé in Flanders, where he was given command as Captain-General of six regiments of British volunteers [23] and fought against his former French comrades at the Battle of the Dunes. [25] Ciardha, Éamonn (2002), Ireland and the Jacobite Cause, 1685–1766, Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-851-82534-7 Covenanters, as they did not recognize James (or any uncovenanted king) as a legitimate ruler, would not petition James for relief from the penal laws.buried in Westminster Abbey on 4 March (Old Style) as "The Lady Isabella, daughter to the Duke of York" [179] Griffiths, R.A., The Reign of King Henry VI, Phoenix Mill, 2004, pp; 17,18,19,217. ISBN 0 7509 3777 7 James's wife was devoted to him and influenced many of his decisions. [37] Even so, he kept mistresses, including Arabella Churchill and Catherine Sedley, and was reputed to be "the most unguarded ogler of his time". [36] Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that James "did eye my wife mightily". [36] James's taste in women was often maligned, with Gilbert Burnet famously remarking that James's mistresses must have been "given [to] him by his priests as a penance". [38] Anne Hyde died in 1671.

Johnson, Richard R. (1978). "Politics Redefined: An Assessment of Recent Writings on the Late Stuart Period of English History, 1660 to 1714." William and Mary Quarterly 35 (4): 691–732. doi: 10.2307/1923211 A dual monarchy gave Englishmen and northern Frenchmen alike the impetus to ensure complete suzerainty of France and to punish the treachery of Charles VII. In the 1420s, the English sent a small expeditionary force to France. As such, many English gentry were given French estates. The scheme was supported in 1417 during the conquest of upper Normandy during the reign of Henry V and was revived by Bedford. Most of Normandy, with the exception of Mont Saint-Michel, was stabilized. The Crotoy in the mouth of the Somme was also in Valois' hands, but was taken over by an English force, with Bedford's aid. Another expedition under the Duke of Exeter consisting of 1600 men (mostly archers) was sent to protect the Lancastrian-dominated part of France. Not only was most of Normandy cleared from the Armagnac French but there was also some attempts south of the Loire to endanger Charles VII's capital at Bourges. This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886, and while he was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex. [1] The future Louis VIII of France briefly won two-thirds of England over to his side from May 1216 to September 1217 at the conclusion of the First Barons' War against King John. The then-Prince Louis landed on the Isle of Thanet, off the north Kent coast, on 21 May 1216, and marched more or less unopposed to London, where the streets were lined with cheering crowds. At a grand ceremony in St. Paul's Cathedral, on 2 June 1216, in the presence of numerous English clergy and nobles, the Mayor of London and Alexander II of Scotland, Prince Louis was proclaimed King Louis of England (though not crowned). In less than a month, "King Louis" controlled more than half of the country and enjoyed the support of two-thirds of the barons. However, he suffered military defeat at the hands of the English fleet. By signing the Treaty of Lambeth in September 1217, Louis gained 10,000 marks and agreed he had never been the legitimate king of England. [44] "King Louis" remains one of the least known kings to have ruled over a substantial part of England. [45] NameEdward continued to use this title until the Treaty of Brétigny on 8 May 1360, when he abandoned his claims in return for substantial lands in France. After the resumption of hostilities between the English and the French in 1369, Edward resumed his claim and the title of King of France. His successors also used the title until the Treaty of Troyes on 21 May 1420, in which the English recognised Charles VI as King of France, but with his new son-in-law King Henry V of England as his heir (disinheriting Charles VI's son, the Dauphin Charles). Henry V then adopted the title Heir of France instead. The Jacobite pretenders were the deposed James II of England and his successors, continuing to style themselves "Kings of England, Scotland, France and Ireland" past their deposition in 1689. All four pretenders continued to actively claim the title King of France as well as that of King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1689 until 1807: James's time in France had exposed him to the beliefs and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, and both he and his wife Anne became drawn to that faith. [47] [c] James took Catholic Eucharist in 1668 or 1669, although his conversion was kept secret for almost a decade as he continued to attend Anglican services until 1676. [49] In spite of his conversion, James continued to associate primarily with Anglicans, including John Churchill and George Legge, as well as French Protestants such as Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham. [50] In England, the Earl of Shaftesbury, a former government minister and now a leading opponent of Catholicism, proposed an Exclusion Bill that would have excluded James from the line of succession. [62] Some members of Parliament even proposed to pass the crown to Charles's illegitimate son, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. [63] In 1679, with the Exclusion Bill in danger of passing, Charles II dissolved Parliament. [64] Two further Parliaments were elected in 1680 and 1681, but were dissolved for the same reason. [65] The Exclusion Crisis contributed to the development of the English two-party system: the Whigs were those who supported the Bill, while the Tories were those who opposed it. Ultimately, the succession was not altered, but James was convinced to withdraw from all policy-making bodies and to accept a lesser role in his brother's government. [66] Goodlad, Graham (2007). "Before the Glorious Revolution: The Making of Absolute Monarchy? Graham Goodlad Examines the Controversies Surrounding the Development of Royal Power under Charles II and James II" History Review 58: 10 ff.

The Angevins (from the French term meaning "from Anjou") ruled over the Angevin Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries, an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland. They did not regard England as their primary home until most of their continental domains were lost by King John. The direct, eldest male line from Henry II includes monarchs commonly grouped together as the House of Plantagenet, which was the name given to the dynasty after the loss of most of their continental possessions, while cadet branches of this line became known as the House of Lancaster and the House of York during the War of the Roses. Titles, styles, honours, and arms [ edit ] Half crown coin of James II, 1686 Titles and styles [ edit ] In 2009, Steven Pincus confronted that scholarly ambivalence in 1688: The First Modern Revolution. Pincus claims that James's reign must be understood within a context of economic change and European politics, and makes two major assertions about James II. The first of these is that James purposefully "followed the French Sun King, Louis XIV, in trying to create a modern Catholic polity. This involved not only trying to Catholicize England... but also creating a modern, centralizing, and extremely bureaucratic state apparatus." [172] The second is that James was undone in 1688 far less by Protestant reaction against Catholicization than by nationwide hostile reaction against his intrusive bureaucratic state and taxation apparatus, expressed in massive popular support for William of Orange's armed invasion of England. Pincus presents James as neither naïve nor stupid nor egotistical. Instead, readers are shown an intelligent, clear-thinking strategically motivated monarch whose vision for a French authoritarian political model and alliance clashed with, and lost out to, alternative views that favoured an entrepreneurial Dutch economic model, feared French power, and were outraged by James's authoritarianism.Henry V's wish that Gloucester be appointed regent for England was controversial, and not clear in any sense that there was any named candidate to adopt the regency to England. On 7 November 1422, which was the day of Henry V's solemn burial at Westminster, dukes of Gloucester and Exeter and Bishop Beaufort studied the attached last wills of Henry. There was some agreement on the authority of the dead king's wishes, but until all of Henry's directions were carried out, there was still going to be objections to Humphrey. John, Duke of Bedford, unsure of his future in France, issued an objection to Humphrey's regency on 26 November. Some lords supported the idea of Gloucester as regent because of his youth, and his emerging reputation; however, most of the lords still disliked the idea and expressed great misgivings about the powers which were later to be bestowed upon him by the codicil of 1422. James allowed Roman Catholics to occupy the highest offices of his kingdoms, and received at his court the papal nuncio, Ferdinando d'Adda, the first representative from Rome to London since the reign of Mary I. [99] Edward Petre, James's Jesuit confessor, was a particular object of Anglican ire. [100] When the King's Secretary of State, the Earl of Sunderland, began replacing office-holders at court with "Papist" favourites, James began to lose the confidence of many of his Anglican supporters. [101] Sunderland's purge of office-holders even extended to the King's brothers-in-law (the Hydes) and their supporters. [101] Roman Catholics made up no more than one-fiftieth of the English population. [102] In May 1686, James sought to obtain a ruling from the English common-law courts that showed he had the power to dispense with Acts of Parliament. He dismissed judges who disagreed with him on this matter, as well as the Solicitor General, Heneage Finch. [103] The case of Godden v. Hales affirmed his dispensing power, [104] with eleven out of the twelve judges ruling in the king's favour. [105] The Tudors descended in the female line from John Beaufort, one of the illegitimate children of John of Gaunt (third surviving son of Edward III), by Gaunt's long-term mistress Katherine Swynford. Those descended from English monarchs only through an illegitimate child would normally have no claim on the throne, but the situation was complicated when Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396 (25 years after John Beaufort's birth). In view of the marriage, the church retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate via a papal bull the same year. [61] Parliament did the same in an Act in 1397. [62] A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's legitimate son, King Henry IV, also recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy, but declared them ineligible ever to inherit the throne. [63] Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's other descendants, the Royal House of Lancaster.