title: Derbyshire

text: There are several towns in the county, with Derby the largest and most populous. At the time of the 2011 census, a population of 770,600 lived in the county with 248,752 (32%) living in Derby. The table below shows all towns with over 10,000 inhabitants.


title: Derbyshire

text: Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, South Yorkshire, and Staffordshire:


title: Derbyshire

text: Because of the size of the county, southern parts of Derbyshire such as Derby, Matlock, Ashbourne and Bakewell are covered by BBC East Midlands and ITV Central in Nottingham, broadcast from Waltham. Northeast Derbyshire, Chesterfield, the eastern High Peak (Hope Valley) and northern area of the Derbyshire Dales (Tideswell and Hathersage) are covered by BBC Yorkshire from Emley Moor, with its "Look North" from Leeds. The western area of the High Peak (Buxton, Glossop, New Mills and Chapel-en-le-Frith) are covered by BBC North West from Winter Hill and Granada Television, both based in Salford.


title: Derbyshire

text: Derbyshire has one Football League team, Derby County, which plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. The next highest-placed team is Chesterfield, which participates in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. There are also many non-league teams playing throughout the county, most notably Alfreton Town, which plays in the National League North. The county is currently home to the world's oldest football club, Sheffield F.C., which plays in Dronfield in north-east Derbyshire. Glossop was the smallest town in the country to have a football team in the top tier of English football, Glossop North End.


title: Derbyshire

text: Derbyshire has a cricket team based at the County Cricket Ground. Derbyshire County Cricket Club currently plays in Division Two of the County Championship. There are also rugby league clubs based in the north of the county, the North Derbyshire Chargers and in Derby (Derby City RLFC). The county has numerous rugby union clubs, including Derby, Chesterfield Panthers, Matlock, Ilkeston, Ashbourne, Bakewell and Amber Valley.


title: Derbyshire

text: The county is a popular area for a variety of recreational sports such as rock climbing, hill walking, hang gliding, caving, sailing on its many reservoirs, and cycling along the many miles of disused rail tracks that have been turned into cycle trails, such as the Monsal Trail and High Peak Trail.


title: Derbyshire

text: The town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire is known for its Royal Shrovetide Football, described as a "medieval football game", played annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.


title: Derbyshire

text: Derbyshire is host to one of the only community Muggle quidditch teams in the country, known as Derby Union Quidditch Club. The Club recruits players from the age of 16 upwards from all over Derby, and has representatives from most local sixth forms and the University of Derby. The team has competed against both the Leeds Griffins and the Leicester Lovegoods in the past and is part of the vibrant UK quidditch scene. It is also an official International Quidditch Association team.


title: Derbyshire

text: The county of Derbyshire has many attractions for tourists and local people. It offers Peak District scenery such as Mam Tor and Kinder Scout, and more urban attractions such as Bakewell, Buxton and Derby. Such places include Bolsover Castle, Castleton, Chatsworth House, National Tramway Museum at Crich, Peak Rail steam railway, Midland Railway steam railway, Dovedale, Haddon Hall, the Heights of Abraham and Matlock Bath.


title: Derbyshire

text: In the north of the county, three large reservoirs, Howden, Derwent and Ladybower, were built in the early part of the 20th century to supply the rapidly growing populations of Sheffield, Derby and Leicester with drinking water. The moorland catchment area around these is part of the Peak District National Park and extensively used for leisure pursuits such as walking and cycling.


title: Derbyshire

text: There are many properties and lands in the care of the National Trust that are open to the public, such as Calke Abbey, Hardwick Hall, High Peak Estate, Ilam Park, Kedleston Hall, Longshaw Estate near Hathersage, and Sudbury Hall on the Staffordshire border.


title: Derbyshire

text: Notable gardens in Derbyshire include the formal ones in 17th–18th-century French style at Melbourne Hall south of Derby, the listed garden at Renishaw Hall near Eckington, Lea Rhododendron Gardens near Matlock, the Royal Horticultural Society recommended Bluebell Arboretum near Swadlincote, and the extensive gardens at Chatsworth House.


title: Derbyshire

text: Ardotalia, also known as Melandra, or Melandra Castle, is an ancient Roman fort built in the north-west of the county. The ruins and foundations are open free of charge to the public.


title: Derbyshire

text: As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Jacob's-ladder as the county flower.


title: Derbyshire

text: In September 2006, a proposal for a county flag was introduced, largely on the initiative of BBC Radio Derby. It consists of a white-bordered dark green cross encompassing a golden Tudor rose (a historical symbol of the county) all set in a blue field. The blue field represents the many waters of the county, its rivers and reservoirs, while the cross is green to mark the great areas of countryside. The flag was subsequently registered with the Flag Institute in September 2008.


title: Derbyshire

text: In 2015, BBC Radio Derby commissioned a Derbyshire anthem entitled "Our Derbyshire", including lyrics suggested by its listeners. It received its first performance on 17 September 2015 at Derby Cathedral.


title: Derbyshire

text: In 1801 the population was 147,481 According to the UK Census 2001 there were 956,301 people spread over the county's 254,615 hectares. This was estimated to have risen to 990,400 in 2006.


title: Derbyshire

text: The county's population grew by 3.0 per cent from 1991 to 2001 which is around 21,100 people. This figure is higher than the national average of 2.65 per cent, but lower than the East Midlands average of 4.0 per cent. The county as a whole has an average population density of 2.9 people per hectare, making it less densely populated than England as a whole. The density varies throughout the county, with the lowest being in the region of Derbyshire Dales at 0.88 per hectare, and the highest outside the main cities in the region of Erewash, which has 10.04 people per hectare.


title: Derbyshire

text: In Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice", Pemberley, the country house of Fitzwilliam Darcy, is in Derbyshire. Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is named as one of the estates Elizabeth Bennet visits before arriving at Pemberley. In the 2005 film adaptation of the novel, Chatsworth House itself represents Pemberley. In one scene characters discuss visits to Matlock and Dovedale.


title: Derbyshire

text: The events of Tom Stoppard's play "Arcadia" take place in the fictional country house of Sidley Park in Derbyshire.


title: Derbyshire

text: Georgette Heyer's detective/romance novel "The Toll-Gate" is set in 1817 around a fictional toll-gate in Derbyshire.


title: Derbyshire

text: The 1969 film "Women in Love" by Ken Russell had scenes filmed in and around Elvaston Castle, notably the Greco-Roman wrestling scene, which was filmed in the castle's Great Hall.


title: Derbyshire

text: The 1986 film "Lady Jane" by Trevor Nunn, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes, has scenes filmed at Haddon Hall.


title: Derbyshire

text: The 1987 film "The Princess Bride" by Rob Reiner, starring Robin Wright and Cary Elwes, was partly filmed in Derbyshire. It included scenes at Haddon Hall and in the White Peak and Dark Peak.


title: Derbyshire

text: The 1988 film "The Lair of the White Worm" by Ken Russell, starring Hugh Grant, was filmed in Derbyshire. The opening title sequence is of Thor's Cave in the Manifold valley.


title: Derbyshire

text: The 1993–2002 TV series "Peak Practice" was set in Crich and Fritchley, except for the twelfth and final series, and originally starred Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton. In 2003 an unrelated and less successful medical TV drama, "Sweet Medicine", was mostly filmed in the historic market town of Wirksworth.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: The Bloodline is a villainous professional wrestling stable currently performing in WWE. The stable is led by Roman Reigns and features his real-life cousins The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) and Solo Sikoa, members of the famed Anoa'i family. The group also includes Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman, who serves as their manager.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: Reigns is promoted as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, as he simultaneously holds both the WWE and Universal championships in his fourth and second respective reigns, having the longest reign of the latter. He also took on the nicknames "Tribal Chief" and "Head of the Table" in reference to his role as the leader of the family. His cousins The Usos are promoted as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, simultaneously holding both the Raw and SmackDown tag team championships in their third and fifth respective reigns, having the longest reign and the longest male tag team title reign in WWE history for the latter.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: The Bloodline members have long histories before the advent of the stable. Roman Reigns, the son of Sika Anoa'i and brother of Matthew Anoaʻi (also known as Rosey), made his professional wrestling debut in 2010 at WWE's former developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), under the ring name Leakee after stints playing college and professional football, most notably the Edmonton Eskimos. After FCW was shutdown and rebranded as NXT in 2012, he took on the name "Roman Reigns" and had a short stint on NXT before being called up to the main roster in late 2012 where he became part of The Shield with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose; he would later win multiple world championships after the stable's dissolution in 2014. Meanwhile, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) and Solo Sikoa are the sons of Rikishi and nephews of the late Eddie Fatu, better known as Umaga or Jamal, who was in the previous tag team with Rosey known as the 3-Minute Warning. The Usos made their pro wrestling debut in 2009 where they were one time FCW Tag Team Champions before moving to the main roster in 2010 where they were managed by Tamina Snuka and would go on to win multiple tag team championships. Sikoa made his pro wrestling debut in 2018 before signing with the WWE in 2021 where he made his NXT debut that October until his main roster call up in September 2022.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: The Usos' relationship with Sami Zayn began when they had their first match together facing against The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) and Corey Graves on the April 24, 2014, episode of "WWE NXT" in a six-man tag team match with the trio emerging victorious.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: Before The Usos began teaming up with Reigns, they had several matches against The Shield, Reigns' stable with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, with the majority taking place in 2013. On the May 6 episode of "Raw", The Usos and Kofi Kingston teamed up against The Shield, who won the match after Ambrose pinned Kingston. On the May 17 episode of "SmackDown", Reigns and Rollins defeated The Usos after Reigns pinned Jey. After the match, The Shield continued to beat down Jey until Kingston ran to make the save by hitting them with a steel chair. The Usos gained their first win on the June 28 episode of "SmackDown" after their teammate, Christian, pinned Ambrose in another six-man tag team match. On the July 1 episode of "Raw", however, they lost a rematch, this time with Ambrose pinning Christian. On the July 12 episode of "SmackDown", Rollins defeated Jey in a singles match. At Money in the Bank on July 14, Reigns and Rollins defeated The Usos to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship after Reigns pinned Jimmy. On the July 19 episode on "SmackDown", the two stables brawled until Mark Henry came to The Usos' aid. In return, The Usos helped Henry fend off The Shield on the July 22 episode of "Raw". The following week, they lost after Ambrose pinned Jimmy. Despite this, Henry attacked The Shield after the match, forcing them to retreat. The same match result occurred on the August 7 episode of "Main Event". Throughout the remainder of the year, the two stables would exchange wins, with The Usos teaming with the likes of Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Big E Langston, Cody Rhodes and Goldust, Rey Mysterio and CM Punk. The last match that the two stables would have against each other is on the January 3, 2014 episode of "SmackDown", where The Usos and Punk won after the latter pinned Ambrose.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: Following his split from The Shield and his subsequent singles career, Reigns would occasionally join forces with The Usos in numerous tag-team matches, with The Usos also occasionally becoming involved in Reigns' feuds in support of their cousin. The trio first teamed together on the November 2, 2015 episode of "Raw", where they teamed with Ryback and Dean Ambrose in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods), in which Reigns' team was victorious. Reigns and the Usos continued to team that year until "Tribute to the Troops", where the trio teamed with Ambrose, Ryback, Kane, and The Dudley Boyz to defeat defeated The League of Nations and The Wyatt Family.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: On the May 2, 2016 episode of "Raw", The Usos became involved in Reigns' feud with AJ Styles, as the duo had been feuding with Styles' allies, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at the time, with The Usos and Reigns facing Styles, Gallows and Anderson in a six-man tag team match. After Styles, Anderson and Gallows won the match, Anderson and Gallows wanted Styles to hit Reigns with a chair but Styles refused. When The Usos attacked Styles from behind with a chair, Styles retaliated with the chair. Ultimately, Reigns powerbombed Styles through the broadcast table. At Extreme Rules, The Usos were defeated by Gallows and Anderson in a Tornado tag team match. Later that same night, after Gallows and Anderson interfered in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Reigns and Styles, The Usos interfered to assist Reigns, ultimately allowing Reigns to retain the title.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: On the May 14, 2019 episode of "SmackDown", The Usos aided Reigns from an attack by Elias, Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan, and Rowan, and then lost to them in a handicap match. On the June 3 episode of "Raw", The Usos saved Reigns from an attack by Drew McIntyre and The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson), but lost to them in a six-man tag team match. On the January 3, 2020 episode of "SmackDown", The Usos returned with a new short hair look, aiding Reigns from an attack by King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler. On the January 31 episode of "SmackDown", Reigns and The Usos defeated King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, and Robert Roode in a six-man tag team match to end their feud. Jimmy suffered a legitimate knee injury during the match at WrestleMania 36, putting him out of in-ring action indefinitely.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: At SummerSlam on August 23, 2020, Reigns returned after a five-month hiatus and attacked both newly-crowned Universal Champion "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, turning heel for the first time since 2014. On the August 28 episode of "SmackDown", it was revealed Reigns allied himself with Paul Heyman. At Payback two days later, Reigns defeated Wyatt and Strowman in a No Holds Barred triple threat match to win his second Universal Championship. On the September 4 episode of "SmackDown", after Big E was attacked and injured in storyline, Jey took Big E's place in a fatal-four-way match against Matt Riddle, King Corbin, and Sheamus, where the winner would earn a Universal Championship match at Clash of Champions. Jey won by pinning Riddle to earn the first singles championship opportunity of his career. At the event, Jey lost to Reigns by technical knockout, when Jimmy came down and threw a white towel for him. Jey was given another title shot against Reigns in a Hell in a Cell "I Quit" match at the namesake event with the added stipulation that if Jey lost, he would have to follow Reigns' orders or be kicked out of their family. At the event, Jey lost again after Reigns attacked the injured Jimmy and forced Jey to say "I quit" to save his brother.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: On the October 30 episode of "SmackDown", Jey defeated Daniel Bryan to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. After the match, Jey attacked Bryan at the request of Reigns, thus turning heel and aligning with Reigns in the process, and subsequently became known as Reigns' "right-hand man" and also received the moniker "Main Event Jey Uso". On February 21, 2021 at Elimination Chamber, Jey competed in the event's eponymous match, where the winner would receive a Universal Championship with Reigns that same night. He was the last person eliminated by the winner Daniel Bryan. On the April 9 special WrestleMania episode of "SmackDown", Jey won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Shinsuke Nakamura. This marked Jey's first major singles accolade in WWE.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: Jimmy returned from injury on the May 7 episode of "SmackDown", but did not approve of the alliance between Jey and Reigns, as he called Jey "Reigns' bitch" and started wearing a t-shirt that said "Nobody's Bitch". On the June 4 episode of "SmackDown", The Usos reunited and challenged The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, however, the match ended in a controversial finish in which the referee did not notice that Jimmy had his shoulder up during the pin. The Usos were granted a rematch later that same night, but during the rematch, Reigns interfered by attacking the Mysterios, not wanting The Usos to embarrass themselves again. Following the match, Reigns brutally attacked Rey's son Dominik, which Jimmy felt Reigns took too far, also furthering tensions between Reigns and Jimmy. The ensuing dissension between the two over Jey's allegiance eventually caused Jey to temporarily walk out on the June 11 episode of "SmackDown", after which, Reigns manipulated Jimmy into feeling guilty for their recent dissension. As a result, the following week on the June 18 episode of "SmackDown", Jimmy offered his help to Reigns during his Hell in a Cell match with Rey Mysterio, and he rose Reigns' hand after the match. The following week on "SmackDown", Jimmy attempted to assist Reigns when Edge attacked him and speared him through the barricade.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: On the July 9 episode of "SmackDown", Jey returned and both Usos solidified their alliance with Reigns, thus cementing them both as heels in the process, and properly reuniting as "The Bloodline."


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: On the July 16 episode of "SmackDown", The Bloodline faced Edge and The Mysterios in a six-man tag team match, in which they emerged victorious, although Edge attacked the trio after the match. At Money in the Bank, The Usos defeated The Mysterios on the pre-show to become five time SmackDown Tag Team Champions. In the main event, Reigns defeated Edge to retain the Universal Championship. At SummerSlam, The Usos once again defeated The Mysterios to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and Reigns later defeated John Cena in the main event to retain the Universal Championship. At Extreme Rules, The Usos successfully defended their titles against The Street Profits, and Reigns later defeated "The Demon" Finn Bálor in the main event to retain the Universal Championship. At Crown Jewel, The Usos defeated The Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin) on the pre-show, while Reigns successfully defended his title against Brock Lesnar in the main event. At Survivor Series, The Usos lost to Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle), while Reigns defeated WWE Champion Big E in the main event. On December 17 episode of "SmackDown", Reigns fired and attacked Heyman. Brock Lesnar then attacked The Bloodline and saved Heyman. On January 1, 2022, Reigns was pulled from the WWE Day 1 pay-per-view match due to testing positive for COVID-19, while Brock Lesnar was instead added to Raw's WWE Championship match. The Usos still competed at Day 1, and successfully retained their titles against The New Day.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: At WrestleMania 38, The Usos successfully defended their SmackDown Tag Team Championships against Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs, while Reigns was able to capture the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar, effectively unifying the WWE Championship with the Universal Championship, becoming the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. On the following episode of "SmackDown", Reigns ordered The Usos to go to "Raw" and challenge Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) to unify the tag team titles. The following week, it was confirmed that The Usos would face RK-Bro at WrestleMania Backlash to unify the tag team titles. However, on the April 29 episode of "SmackDown", the contract signing for the match ended with Reigns assisting The Usos in attacking RK-Bro and tearing up the contract in the process. Drew McIntyre then came out and joined forces with RK-Bro in driving off The Bloodline from the ring. Because of what had transpired, Reigns' special counsel, Paul Heyman, then met with WWE official Adam Pearce backstage where Heyman requested that the resulting tag team championship unification match was called off and instead, a six-man tag team match featuring The Bloodline against RK-Bro and McIntyre was scheduled for WrestleMania Backlash, which the Bloodline won.


title: The Bloodline (professional wrestling)

text: Around this time, Sami Zayn, who had also been in an intense rivalry with McIntyre, started associating himself with the Bloodline and later became an honorary member of the group. A Tag Team Championship Unification match between the Usos and RK-Bro was later scheduled for the May 20 episode of "SmackDown", which the Usos subsequently won, becoming the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, thus making all members of the faction double champions. At SummerSlam on July 30, The Usos defeated The Street Profits to retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, while Reigns successfully defended the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match. At Clash at the Castle on September 3, Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship following interference from Solo Sikoa, Reigns' younger cousin and Usos' younger brother, who became the newest member of The Bloodline. On the September 13 episode of "NXT", Sikoa defeated Carmelo Hayes to win the NXT North American Championship, thus giving The Bloodline a total of five championships. However the following week, Sikoa had to vacate the North American Championship due to not being an eligible option in the fan vote that was to have originally determined Hayes' opponent. At Crown Jewel on November 5, The Usos successfully retained their titles against The Brawling Brutes while Reigns successfully retained his titles against Logan Paul. Three weeks later at Survivor Series WarGames on November 26, The Bloodline defeated The Brawling Brutes, McIntyre and Owens in a WarGames match.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The Angevin Empire (; ) describes the possessions of the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales, and had further influence over much of the remaining British Isles. It may be described as an early example of a composite monarchy. The empire was established by Henry II of England, who succeeded his father Geoffrey Plantagenet as Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou (from which the Angevins derive their name). Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, becoming her royal consort, and inherited his mother Empress Matilda's claim to the English throne, succeeding his rival Stephen, in 1154. Although their title of highest rank came from the Kingdom of England, the Plantagenets held court primarily on the continent at Angers in Anjou, and at Chinon in Touraine.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The influence and power of the House of Anjou brought them into conflict with the kings of France of the House of Capet, to whom they also owed feudal homage for their French possessions, bringing in a period of rivalry between the dynasties. Despite the extent of Angevin rule, Henry's son, John, was defeated in the Anglo-French War (1213–1214) by Philip II of France following the Battle of Bouvines. John lost control of most of his continental possessions, apart from Gascony in southern Aquitaine. This defeat set the scene for further conflicts between England and France, leading up to the Hundred Years' War.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The term "Angevin Empire" is a neologism defining the lands of the House of Plantagenet: Henry II and his sons Richard I and John. Another son, Geoffrey, ruled Brittany and established a separate line there. As far as historians know, there was no contemporary term for the region under Angevin control; however, descriptions such as "our kingdom and everything subject to our rule whatever it may be" were used. The term "Angevin Empire" was coined by Kate Norgate in her 1887 publication, "England under the Angevin Kings". In France, the term (French for "Plantagenet area") is sometimes used to describe the fiefdoms the Plantagenets had acquired.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The adoption of the "Angevin Empire" label marked a re-evaluation of the times, considering that both English and French influence spread throughout the dominion in the half century during which the union lasted. The term "Angevin" itself is the demonym for the residents of Anjou and its historic capital, Angers; the Plantagenets were descended from Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou, hence the term. The demonym, according to the "Oxford English Dictionary", has been in use since 1511.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The use of the term "Empire" has engendered controversy among some historians over whether the term is accurate for the actual state of affairs at the time. The area was a collection of the lands inherited and acquired by Henry, and so it is unclear whether these dominions shared any common identity and so should be labelled with the term "Empire". Some historians argue that the term should be reserved solely for the Holy Roman Empire, the only Western European political structure actually named an empire at that time, although Alfonso VII of León and Castile had taken the title "Emperor of all Spain" in 1135. Other historians argue that Henry II's empire was neither powerful, centralised, nor large enough to be seriously called an empire. Furthermore, the Plantagenets never claimed any sort of imperial title as implied by the term "Angevin Empire". However, even if the Plantagenets themselves did not claim an imperial title, some chroniclers, often working for Henry II himself, did use the term "empire" to describe this assemblage of lands. The highest title was "king of England"; the other titles of dukes and counts of different areas held in France were completely and totally independent from the royal title, and not subject to any English royal law. Because of this, some historians, such as W. L. Warren, prefer the term "commonwealth" to "empire", emphasising that the Angevin Empire was more of an assemblage of seven fully independent, sovereign states loosely bound to each other, only united in the person of the king of England.


title: Angevin Empire

text: At its largest extent, the Angevin Empire consisted of the Kingdom of England, the Lordship of Ireland, the duchies of Normandy (which included the Channel Islands), Gascony and Aquitaine, as well as of the counties of Anjou, Poitou, Maine, Touraine, Saintonge, La Marche, Périgord, Limousin, Nantes and Quercy. While the duchies and counties were held with various levels of vassalage to the king of France, the Plantagenets held various levels of control over the Duchies of Brittany and Cornwall, the Welsh princedoms, the county of Toulouse, and the Kingdom of Scotland, although those regions were not formal parts of the empire. Auvergne was also in the empire for part of the reigns of Henry II and Richard I, in their capacity as dukes of Aquitaine. Henry II and Richard I pushed further claims over the County of Berry but these were not completely fulfilled, and the county was lost completely by the time of the accession of John in 1199.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The frontiers of the empire were sometimes well known and therefore easy to mark, such as the dykes constructed between the royal demesne of the king of France and the Duchy of Normandy. In other places these borders were not so clear, particularly the eastern border of Aquitaine, where there was often a difference between the frontier Henry II, and later Richard I, claimed, and the frontier where their effective power ended.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Scotland was an independent kingdom, but after a disastrous campaign led by William the Lion, English garrisons were established in the castles of Edinburgh, Roxburgh, Jedburgh and Berwick in southern Scotland as defined in the Treaty of Falaise.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The Angevin Empire, rather than being administered directly by the ruling monarch, saw power delegated to specially appointed subjects in different areas. Supported by what W. L. Warren called a "self-regulating administrative machine," these subjects had varied political and military powers.


title: Angevin Empire

text: England was under the firmest control of all the lands in the Angevin Empire, due to the age of many of the offices that governed the country and the traditions and customs that were in place. England was divided in shires with sheriffs in each enforcing the common law. A justiciar was appointed by the king to stand in his absence when he was on the continent. As the kings of England were more often in France than England they used writs more frequently than the Anglo-Saxon kings, which actually proved beneficial to England. Under William I's rule, Anglo-Saxon nobles had been largely replaced by Anglo-Norman settlers whose lands were split between England and France. This made it much harder for them to revolt against the king and defend all of their lands at once. The power of the English earls had grown during the Anarchy between Matilda and Stephen, as they vied for support by granting earldoms to various barons, but this reversed beginning with Henry II, whose reign saw the number of earls half from twenty-four to twelve during his reign. England instead saw a reliance on the exchequer to provide both financial and administrative control on behalf of the ruling monarch.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Wales obtained good terms provided it paid homage to the Plantagenets and recognised them as lords. However, it remained almost self-ruling. It supplied the Plantagenets with infantry and longbowmen.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Ireland was ruled by the Lord of Ireland, who had a hard time imposing his rule at first. Dublin and Leinster were Angevin strongholds while Cork, Limerick and parts of eastern Ulster were taken by Anglo-Norman nobles.


title: Angevin Empire

text: All the continental domains that the Angevin kings ruled were governed by a seneschal at the top of the hierarchical system, with lesser government officials such as baillis, vicomtes, and prévôts. However, all counties and duchies would differ to an extent.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Greater Anjou is a modern term to describe the area consisting of Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Vendôme, and Saintonge. Here, prévôts, the seneschal of Anjou, and other seneschals governed. They were based at Tours, Chinon, Baugé, Beaufort, Brissac, Angers, Saumur, Loudun, Loches, Langeais and Montbazon. However, the constituent counties, such as Maine, were often administered by the officials of the local lords, rather than their Angevin suzerains. Maine was at first largely self-ruling and lacked administration until the Angevin kings made efforts to improve administration by installing new officials, such as the seneschal of Le Mans. These reforms came too late for the Angevins however, and only the Capetians saw the beneficial effects of this reform after they annexed the area.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Aquitaine differed in the level of administration in its different constituent regions. Gascony was a very loosely administrated region. Officials were stationed mostly in Entre-Deux-Mers, Bayonne, Dax, but some were found on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and also on the river Garonne up to Agen. The rest of Gascony was not administered, despite being such a large area compared to other smaller, well-administered provinces. This difficulty when it came to administering the region wasn't new – it had been just as difficult for the previous Poitevin dukes to cement their authority over this area. A similar state of affairs was found in the eastern provinces of Périgord and Limousin, where there was not much of a royal administrative system and practically no officials were stationed. Indeed, there were lords that ruled these regions as if they were "sovereign princes" and they had extra powers, such as the ability to mint their own coins, something English lords had been unable to do for decades. The Lusignans, for example, became rivals to the Angevins during John's rule as he attempted to consolidate his power. Officials could be stationed in Poitou, however, due to a large concentration of castles compared to the rest of Aquitaine.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Normandy was the most consistently administered state within the continental Angevin Empire. Under Angevin rule, ducal government was regularised and strengthened, with the Seneschal of Normandy becoming the pre-eminent figure in Norman government. The seneschals' administrative and judicial power peaked with William FitzRalph. Below them were the baillis, who held both executive, judicial and financial powers. These officials were introduced under Geoffrey of Anjou, replacing the weaker prévôts and vicomtes, in response to the unrest that followed Henry I's death and Geoffrey's invasion. Ducal authority was the strongest on the frontier near the Capetian royal demesne.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Toulouse was held through weak vassalage by the Count of Toulouse but it was rare for him to comply with Angevin rule. Only Quercy was directly administrated by the Angevins after Henry II's conquest in 1159, but it did remain a contested area.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Brittany, a region where nobles were traditionally very independent, was under Angevin control during Henry II and Richard I's reigns. The county of Nantes was under the firmest control. The Angevins often involved themselves in Breton affairs, such as when Henry II arranged Conan of Brittany's marriage and installed the archbishop of Dol.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The economy of the Angevin Empire was quite complicated due to the varying political structure of the different fiefdoms. England and Normandy were well administered and therefore would be able to generate larger revenues than areas such as Aquitaine. This is because England and Normandy were home to more officials to collect taxes and, unlike Aquitaine, local lords were unable to mint their own coins, allowing the Angevin kings to control the economy from their administrative base of Chinon. Chinon's importance was shown by the fact that Richard seized Chinon first when he rebelled against his father in 1187, and then when John immediately rushed to Chinon after his brother's death.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Money raised in England was used mostly for continental issues, although John Gillingham argues that although areas like Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine are recorded to have brought in less revenue compared to England, much of this is due to poor financial accounts for these continental possessions. Gillingham further argues that by the end of Richard's reign, Normandy may have been bringing in even more revenue to the royal treasury than England.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The English revenues themselves varied from year to year. When financial records begin in 1155 to 1156, the annual income of England was £10,500, or around half what the revenue had been under Henry I. This was due in part to The Anarchy and King Stephen's loose rule resulting in the reduction of royal authority. As time went on, royal authority improved and the revenue consequently went up to an average of £22,000 a year. Due to the preparation for the Third Crusade, revenue then increased to over £31,000 in 1190 under Richard. The number fell again to £11,000 a year whilst Richard was abroad. Between 1194–1198, revenue averaged £25,000. Under Richard's successor John, income fluctuated between £22,000 and £25,000 from 1199–1203. In order to fund for the reconquest of France, English income increased to £50,000 in 1210 but then rose to over £83,000 in 1211 before falling back down to £50,000 in 1212. Revenue then fell down to below £26,000 in 1214, and then further to £18,500 in 1215. The first three years of Henry III's reign brought in £8,000 on average due to the fragility the civil war had brought to England.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In Ireland, the revenue was fairly low at £2,000 for 1212; however, all other records did not survive. For Normandy, there were a lot of fluctuations relative to the politics of the Duchy. The Norman revenues were only £6,750 in 1180, then they reached £25,000 a year in 1198, higher than in England. What was more impressive was the fact the Norman population was considerably smaller than England's, an estimated 1.5 million as opposed to England's 3.5 million. This period has become known as the 'Norman Fiscal Revolution' due to this increase in revenue.


title: Angevin Empire

text: For Aquitaine and Anjou, no records remain. However, it is not because that these regions were poor; there were large vineyards, important cities and iron mines. For example, this is what English chronicler Ralph of Diceto wrote about Aquitaine:


title: Angevin Empire

text: The Capetian kings did not record such incomes, although the royal principality was more centralized under Louis VII and Philip II than it had been under Hugh Capet or Robert the Pious. The wealth of the Plantagenet kings was definitely regarded as bigger; Gerald of Wales commented on this wealth with these words:


title: Angevin Empire

text: Petit Dutailli had commented that: "Richard maintained a superiority in resources which would have given him the opportunity, had he lived, to crush his rival." There is another interpretation, not widely followed and proven wrong, that the king of France could have raised a stronger income, that the royal principality of the king of France generated alone more incomes than all the Angevin Empire combined.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The Counts of Anjou had been vying for power in northwestern France since the 10th century. The counts were recurrent enemies of the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany and often the French king. Fulk IV, Count of Anjou, claimed rule over Touraine, Maine and Nantes; however, of these only Touraine proved to be effectively ruled, as the construction of the castles of Chinon, Loches and Loudun exemplify. Fulk IV married his son and namesake, called "Fulk the Younger" (who would later become King of Jerusalem), to Ermengarde, heiress of the province of Maine, thus unifying it with Anjou through personal union.


title: Angevin Empire

text: While the dynasty of the Angevins was successfully consolidating their power in France, their rivals, the Normans, had conquered England in the 11th century. Meanwhile, in the rest of France, the Poitevin Ramnulfids had become Dukes of Aquitaine and of Gascony, and the Count of Blois, Stephen, the father of the next king of England, Stephen, became the Count of Champagne. France was being split between only a few noble families.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1106, Henry I of England had defeated his brother Robert Curthose and angered Robert's son, William Clito, who was Count of Flanders from 1127. Henry used his paternal inheritance to take the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England and then tried to establish an alliance with Anjou by marrying his only legitimate son, William, to Fulk the Younger's daughter, Matilda. However, William died in the White Ship disaster in 1120.


title: Angevin Empire

text: As a result, Henry then married his daughter Matilda to Geoffrey "Plantagenet", Fulk's son and successor; however, Henry's subjects had to accept Matilda's inheritance to the throne of England. There had been only one occurrence of a medieval European queen regnant before, Urraca of León and Castile, and it wasn't an encouraging precedent; nevertheless, in January 1127 the Anglo-Normans barons and prelates recognized Matilda as heiress to the throne in an oath. On 17 June 1128, the wedding between Matilda and Geoffrey was celebrated in Le Mans.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In order to secure Matilda's succession to the royal throne, she and her new husband needed castles and supporters in both England and Normandy, but if they succeeded, there would be two authorities in England: the king and Matilda. Henry prevented the conflict by refusing to hand over any castles to Matilda as well as confiscating the lands of the nobles he suspected of supporting her. By 1135, major disputes between Henry I and Matilda drove the nobles previously loyal to Henry I against Matilda. In November, Henry was dying; Matilda was with her husband in Maine and Anjou while Stephen, brother of the Count of Blois and Champagne, who was Matilda's cousin and another contender for the English and Norman thrones, was in Boulogne. Stephen rushed to England upon the news of Henry's death and was crowned King of England in December 1135.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Geoffrey first sent his wife Matilda alone to Normandy in a diplomatic mission to be recognized Duchess of Normandy and replace Stephen. Geoffrey followed at the head of his army and quickly captured several fortresses in southern Normandy. It was then that a noble in Anjou, Robert II of Sablé, rebelled, forcing Geoffrey to withdraw and prevent an attack on his rear. When Geoffrey returned to Normandy in September 1136, the region had become plagued with internal, baronial infighting. Stephen was not able to travel to Normandy and so the situation remained. Geoffrey had found new allies with the Count of Vendôme and, most importantly, William X, Duke of Aquitaine. At the head of a new army and ready for conquest, Geoffrey was wounded and was forced to return to Anjou again. Furthermore, an outbreak of dysentery plagued his army. Orderic Vitalis stated "the invaders had to run for home leaving a trail of filth behind them". Stephen finally arrived in Normandy in 1137 and restored order but had lost much credibility in the eyes of his main supporter, Robert of Gloucester and so Robert changed sides and supported Geoffrey and his half-sister Matilda instead. Geoffrey took Caen and Argentan without resistance, but now had to defend Robert's possessions in England against Stephen. In 1139, Robert and Matilda crossed the channel and arrived in England while Geoffrey kept the pressure on Normandy. Stephen was captured in February 1141 at the Battle of Lincoln, which prompted the collapse of his authority in both England and Normandy.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Geoffrey now controlled almost all of Normandy, but no longer had the support of Aquitaine now that William X had been succeeded by his daughter, Eleanor, who had married Louis VII of France in 1137. Louis was not concerned with the events in Normandy and England. While Geoffrey consolidated his Norman power, Matilda suffered defeats in England. At Winchester, Robert of Gloucester was captured while covering Matilda's retreat so Matilda freed Stephen in exchange for Robert.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1142, Geoffrey was asked by Matilda for assistance but refused; he had become more interested in Normandy. Following the capture of Avranches, Mortain and Cherbourg, Rouen surrendered to him in 1144 and he anointed himself duke of Normandy. In exchange for Gisors, he was formally recognised by Louis VII. However, Geoffrey still didn't assist Matilda even as she was on the verge of defeat. Further rebellion occurred in Anjou, including Geoffrey's younger brother, Helie, demanding Maine. It was during this period of Angevin unrest that Geoffrey dropped the title of duke of Normandy and formally invested his son Henry as duke in 1150, though both Geoffrey and Matilda would continue to dominate Norman affairs. The following six decades of Angevin rule over Normandy would see the establishment of Norman customs and institutions that would last until the French Revolution.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Stephen continued to claim Normandy, believing an alliance with Louis was possible. Louis VII had recognised Henry as duke of Normandy in August 1151 in exchange for concessions in the Norman Vexin, but remained angered by Henry and Geoffrey's treatment of Giraud II of Montreuil-Berlay following Giraud's failed rebellion against Angevin rule the year before.


title: Angevin Empire

text: This situation quickly began to shift when, in September, Geoffrey died and Henry inherited his position as Count of Anjou, with rule also over Touraine and Maine. Geoffrey had planned to leave Anjou to his younger son, Geoffrey, but this would have hampered Henry's ability to succeed in conquering England. Geoffrey instead asked his vassals to swear that his body would be left unburied until Henry promised to abide by his wishes. W. L. Warren suggested that this story was spread purely to justify the younger Geoffrey's later rebellion against Henry, and that the Angevin nobles supported the story as it gave them an opportunity to reclaim their lost autonomy.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In March 1152, Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine had their marriage annulled under the pretext of consanguinity at the council of Beaugency. The terms of the annulment left Eleanor as duchess of Aquitaine but still a vassal of Louis. She left Beaugency for Poitiers, narrowly escaping an ambush by Henry's brother Geoffrey on route, and there, eight weeks later, she married Henry. Thus Henry became duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and count of Poitou. Louis responded with a furious attack on Normandy.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In Anjou, Henry had refused to give the county to his brother, and thus a coalition of Henry's enemies was formed by Louis VII: Stephen of England and his son Eustace IV of Boulogne (married to Louis' sister); Henry I, Count of Champagne (betrothed to Louis' daughter), Robert of Dreux (Louis' brother) and Henry's brother, Geoffrey.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In July 1152, Capetian troops attacked Aquitaine while Louis, Eustace, Henry of Champagne, and Robert attacked Normandy. Geoffrey raised a revolt in Anjou while Stephen attacked Angevin loyalists in England. Several Anglo-Norman nobles switched allegiance, sensing an impending disaster. Henry was about to sail for England to pursue his claim when his lands were attacked. He first reached Anjou and compelled Geoffrey to surrender. He then took the decision to sail for England in January 1153 to meet Stephen. Luckily enough, Louis fell ill and had to retire from the conflict while Henry's defences held against his enemies. After seven months of battles and politics, Henry failed to get rid of Stephen but then Stephen's son, Eustace, died in dubious circumstances, "struck by the wrath of god." Stephen gave up the struggle by ratifying the Treaty of Winchester, making Henry his heir on condition that the landed possessions of his family were guaranteed in England and France—the same terms Matilda had previously refused after her victory at Lincoln. Henry became King Henry II of England upon Stephen's death on 25 October 1154. Subsequently, the question was again raised of Henry's oath to cede Anjou to his brother Geoffrey. Henry received a dispensation from Pope Adrian IV under the pretext the oath had been forced upon him, and he proposed compensations to Geoffrey at Rouen in 1156. Geoffrey refused and returned to Anjou to rebel against his brother. Geoffrey may have had a strong claim, but his position was weak. Louis would not interfere since Henry paid homage to him for his continental possessions. Henry crushed Geoffrey's revolt, and Geoffrey had to be satisfied with an annual pension. The Angevin Empire had now been formed.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In the earlier years of his reign, Henry II claimed further lands and worked on the creation of a ring of vassal states as buffers, especially around England and Normandy. The most obvious areas to expand, where large claims were held, were Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and, as an ally rather than a new dominion, Flanders.


title: Angevin Empire

text: King David I of Scotland had taken advantage of The Anarchy to seize Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumberland. In Wales, important leaders like Rhys of Deheubarth and Owain Gwynedd had emerged. In Brittany, there is no evidence that the Duke of Brittany, Eudes II, had recognised the Norman overlordship. Two vital frontier castles, Moulins-la-Marche and Bonmoulins, had never been taken back by Geoffrey Plantagenet and were in the hands of Robert of Dreux. Count Thierry of Flanders had joined the alliance formed by Louis VII in 1153. Further south, the Count of Blois acquired Amboise. From Henry II's perspective, these territorial issues needed solving.


title: Angevin Empire

text: King Henry II showed himself to be an audacious and daring king as well as being active and mobile; Roger of Howden stated that Henry travelled across his dominions so fast that Louis VII once exclaimed that "The king of England is now in Ireland, now in England, now in Normandy, he seems rather to fly than to go by horse or ship." Henry was often more present in France than in England; Ralph de Diceto, Dean of St Paul's, said with irony:


title: Angevin Empire

text: Henry II bought Vernon and Neuf-Marché back from Louis VII in 1154. This new strategy now regulated the Plantagenet-Capetian relationship. Louis VII had been unsuccessful in his attempt to break Henry II down. Because of the Angevin control of England in 1154, it was pointless to object to the superiority of the overall Angevin forces over the Capetian ones. However, Henry II refused to back down despite Louis' apparent change of policy until the Norman Vexin was entirely recovered. Thomas Becket, then the current Chancellor of England, was sent as ambassador to Paris in the summer of 1158 to lead negotiations. He displayed all the wealth the Angevins could provide and, according to William Fitzstephen, a clerk and companion of Becket, a Frenchman exclaimed "If the Chancellor of England travels in such splendor, what must the king be?" Louis VII's daughter, Margaret, who was still a baby, was betrothed to Henry's heir, his eldest son, Henry the Young King with a dowry of the Norman Vexin. Henry II was given back the castles of Moulins-la-Marche and Bonmoulins. Theobald V, Count of Blois handed Amboise and Fréteval back to him.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The counts of Flanders had long been powerful but capricious allies of the kings of France. Count Thierry had taken part in Louis VII's early assaults against Henry II, and Henry had expelled all Flemish mercenaries in England at the time of his accession, but much of Flanders' prosperity relied on English trade and England traded much of its wool via the Flemish port of Boulogne. Henry, therefore, was able to re-establish friendly relations to the extent that Thierry appointed Henry guardian of his eldest son and regent, Philip, when Thierry undertook his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1157.


title: Angevin Empire

text: When William of Blois died without an heir in 1159, the titles of Count of Boulogne and Count of Mortain fell vacant. Henry II absorbed Mortain into his Duchy of Normandy, but granted Boulogne and William's sister, Mary, to Thierry's second son, Matthew. Through this marriage, and the 1163 renewal of a previous treaty between Henry I of England, and Robert II of Flanders, Henry II was assured of Flemish neutrality if war broke out with the king of France again. Flanders would provide Henry II with knights in exchange of an annual tribute in money, known as a "money-fief".


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1148, Conan III, Duke of Brittany, died, leaving behind two children. Although his son Hoël was the natural choice to succeed to the ducal throne, evidence suggests that Hoël was illegitimate and instead he was only recognised as Count of Nantes. Hoël's sister Bertha became Duchess of Brittany, ruling alongside her husband, Eudo of Porhoët. However Bertha had a son, Conan, from her previous marriage to the late Alan de Bretagne. Conan had been too young to succeed his grandfather in 1148, but he became Henry II's perfect candidate to become Duke of Brittany on Bertha's death, as his English holdings as Earl of Richmond meant he would be easier to control.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In Nantes, possibly due to Hoël's recognition of his sister and brother-in-law's suzerainty over the county, the citizens rose up against Hoël in 1156 and installed Henry II's brother Geoffrey in Hoël's place as count, at Henry II's suggestion. In September, this was followed up with a successful invasion of the duchy by Conan against his stepfather, Eudo, ending in Conan's accession as Duke of Brittany, albeit with Nantes remaining under direct Angevin control. However by 1158, Geoffrey had died and Conan seized Nantes. Nantes was especially important to Henry II as it sat at the mouth of the Loire, and threatened trade from Angers and Tours. Henry II responded to this seizure by mustering an army in Avranches, as well as threatening Conan's English estates. Conan submitted, ceding Nantes back to Henry II and in return was recognised as Duke. During Conan's rule, Henry II continued to intervene—he arranged Conan's marriage to Margaret of Scotland and appointed the Archbishop of Dol, despite attempts by the Archbishop of Tours, Engelbald, to subsume Dol into his archdiocese.


title: Angevin Empire

text: By 1166, it became apparent that Conan was unable to independently maintain order in Brittany and, in response, Henry II seized control. He betrothed Conan's daughter and heir, Constance, to his son, Geoffrey, and took possession of the duchy in Geoffrey's name. At Thouars, Henry II received homage from most of the Breton nobles, and then went on to Rennes where the Breton dukes had historically been invested in the city's cathedral. Over the following years, some nobles continued to rebel against Angevin rule, but Henry responded to each rebellion with confiscations of territory and castles. By 1169, the duchy was firmly under Angevin control, with Henry II's son, Geoffrey, receiving homage himself from the Breton nobles in May at Rennes.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Henry II met Malcolm IV in 1157 to discuss Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumberland, which had previously been seized by Malcolm's grandfather, David I of Scotland. In 1149, before Henry II became powerful, he made an oath to David that the lands north of Newcastle should belong to the King of Scotland forever. Malcolm reminded him of this oath but Henry II did not comply. There is no evidence that Henry II got a dispensation from the pope this time, as William of Newburgh put it, "prudently considering it was the king of England who had the better of the argument by reason of his much greater power."


title: Angevin Empire

text: William the Lion, the next King of Scotland, was unhappy with Henry II since he was given Northumberland by David I in 1152 and therefore lost it to Henry II when Malcolm IV handed it back in 1157.


title: Angevin Empire

text: As a part of the coalition set by Louis VII, William the Lion first invaded Northumberland in 1173 and then again in 1174, as a result he was captured near Alnwick and had to sign the tough Treaty of Falaise. Garrisons were to be set in the castles of Edinburgh, Roxburgh, Jedburgh and Berwick. Southern Scotland was from then under firm control just as Brittany was. On 5 December 1189, Richard I of England would annul the Treaty with the Quit-claim of Canterbury, which saw the return of Roxburgh and Berwick and a formal acknowledgment of Scotland's independence in return for money to fund Richard's crusade in what Warren called a "diplomatic triumph," protecting England's northern flank during John's later rebellion of 1193–4.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Rhys of Deheubarth, also called Lord Rhys, and Owain Gwynedd were closed to negotiations. Henry II had to attack Wales three times, in 1157, 1158 and 1163 to have them answer his summons to the court. The Welsh found his terms too harsh and largely revolted against him. Henry then undertook a fourth invasion in 1164, this time with a massive army. According to the Welsh chronicle "Brut y Tywysogion", Henry raised "a mighty host of the picked warriors of England and Normandy and Flanders and Anjou and Gascony and Scotland" in order to "carry into bondage and to destroy all the Britons".


title: Angevin Empire

text: Bad weather, rains, floods, and constant harassment from the Welsh armies slowed the Angevin army and prevented the capture of Wales (see the Battle of Crogen); a furious Henry II had Welsh hostages mutilated. Wales would remain safe for a while, but the invasion of Ireland in 1171 pressured Henry II to end the issue through negotiations with Lord Rhys.


title: Angevin Empire

text: There were further plans of expansion considered as Henry II's last brother didn't have a fiefdom. The Holy See was most likely to support a campaign in Ireland which would bring its church into the Christian Latin world of Rome. Henry II was given Rome's blessing in 1155 under the form of a Papal bull, but had to postpone the invasion of Ireland because of all the problems in his domains and around them. In the terms of the Bull "Laudabiliter", "Laudably and profitably does your magnificence contemplate extending your glorious name on earth."


title: Angevin Empire

text: William X, Count of Poitou died in 1164 without being installed in Ireland, but Henry II didn't give up on the conquest of Ireland. In 1167, an Irish King, Dermot of Leinster, was recognised as "prince of Leinster" by Henry II and was allowed to recruit soldiers in England and Wales to use in Ireland against the other Kings. The knights first met great success in carving themselves lands in Ireland, so much it worried Henry II enough to land himself in Ireland in October 1171 near Waterford and confronted to such demonstration of power most native kings of Ireland recognised him as their lord. Even Rory O' Connor, the king of Connacht and High King of Ireland paid homage to Henry II. Henry II installed some of his men in strongholds like Dublin and Leinster (as Dermot was dead). He also gave unconquered kingdoms such as Cork, Limerick and Ulster to his men and left the Normans carving their lands in Ireland.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1177, Henry II made his son, John, the first Lord of Ireland, but John's youth meant it wasn't until 1185 that he departed with 300 knights to cement his rule. John would almost immediately fail, uniting Irish chieftains and Anglo-Norman settlers alike against him. He returned within the year to his father—he would not return for 25 years, while other Anglo-Normans such as John de Courcy and Hugh de Lacy built castles and installed their interests.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Much less tenable was the claim over Toulouse, the fortified seat of the County of Toulouse. Eleanor's ancestors claimed the large county, as it had been the central power of the ancient Duchy of Aquitaine in the times of Odo the Great. However Henry II and possibly Eleanor were likely not related to this ancient line of dukes; Eleanor was a Ramnulfid, while Henry II was an Angevin.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Toulouse was larger, more heavily fortified, and much richer than many cities of the time. It was strategically important, sitting between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, dominating regional trade and road networks that included significant towns such as Narbonne, Cahors, Albi, Nîmes and Carcassonne. The recurrent conflicts by the Angevins with Toulouse would be called the "Forty Years War" by William of Newburgh.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In June 1159, Henry II's forces gathered in Poitiers. They included troops from all of his fiefdoms from Gascony to England, and reinforcements sent by Thierry and King Malcolm IV of Scotland. Even a Welsh prince joined the fray. The only larger armies of the times were those raised for major crusades. Henry II attacked from the north; his allies the Trencavels and Ramon Berenguer opened a second front. Henry II couldn't capture Toulouse proper since his overlord, King Louis VII of France, was part of the defence and he didn't want to set an example to his vassals or have to deal with keeping his sovereign prisoner. Henry II did capture Cahors along with castles in the Garonne valley in the Quercy region.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Henry II returned in 1161, but too busy with conflicts elsewhere in his fiefdom, he left his allies fighting against Toulouse. Alfonso II the King of Aragon, himself having interests there, joined the war. In 1171 Henry II's alliance was bolstered by another of Raymond V's enemies, Humbert of Maurienne.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1173, in Limoges, Raymond finally gave up after over a decade of constant fights. He paid homage to Henry II, to Henry's sons Henry and Richard, the Duke of Aquitaine.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The attacks on Toulouse made clear that peace between Louis VII and Henry II was not peace at all but just an opportunity for Henry to make war elsewhere. Louis was in an awkward position: his subject, Henry, was largely more powerful than he was and Louis had no male heir. Constance, his second wife, died in childbirth in 1160 and Louis VII announced he would remarry at once, in the urgent need of a male heir, with Adèle of Champagne. Henry II's son, Henry, two years old, was finally married to Margaret under the pressure of Henry II, and, as declared in 1158, the Norman Vexin went to him as Margaret's dowry. If Louis VII died without a male heir, Henry would have been a strong candidate for the French throne.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1164, Louis found a dangerous ally in Archbishop Thomas Becket. Louis and Becket had met previously in 1158, but now the circumstances were different; France was already refuge to a few clerical refugees, and Louis was known as "Rex Christianisimus" (most Christian king), called so by John of Salisbury. Becket took refuge in France, and following this there were growing conflicts between Henry II and Becket. Henry finally provoked Becket's murder in 1170 by announcing, "What miserable traitors have I nourished in my household who led their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk!" Christendom blamed Henry, whereas Louis gained widespread approval due to his protection of Becket. Louis' secular power was much weaker than Henry's but Louis now had the moral advantage.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1165, hopes of Henry II's son's future accession to the French throne were dashed when Adèle gave birth to a son, Philip. Following this, the fragile Anglo-French peace ended. In 1167, Henry II marched into Auvergne, and in 1170 he also attacked Bourges. Louis VII answered by raiding the Norman Vexin, forcing Henry II to move his troops north, giving Louis the opportunity to free Bourges. At this point, John Gillingham mentions in "The Angevin Empire" that he believes Louis "must have wondered whether there was ever going to be an end to Henry's aggressively expansionist policies".


title: Angevin Empire

text: Henry II did not treat his territories as a coherent empire as the term "Angevin Empire" would suggest, but as private, individual possessions that he planned to distribute to his children. Henry, 'The Young King', was crowned King of England in 1170 (though he never ruled); Richard became Duke of Aquitaine in 1172; Geoffrey became Duke of Brittany in 1181; John became Lord of Ireland in 1185; Eleanor was promised to Alfonso VII with Gascony as dowry during the campaign against Toulouse in 1170. This partition of the lands between his children made it much harder for him to control them, as now they could fund their own ventures with their estates and attempt to overrule their father in their respective dominions.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Following his coronation, in 1173, Henry, 'the Young King', asked for part of his inheritance, at least England, Normandy, or Anjou, but his father refused. Young Henry then joined Louis at the French court to otherthrow his father together, and his mother, Eleanor, joined the new revolt against Henry II. Both Richard and Geoffrey soon joined their brother. Enemies that Henry II had made previously now joined the conflict with Louis, including King William of Scotland, Count Philip of Flanders, Count Matthew of Boulogne and Count Theobald of Blois. Henry II emerged victorious; his wealth meant he could recruit large numbers of mercenaries. He had captured and imprisoned his wife, Eleanor, early on, and the capture of King William allowed him to force Scotland into the Treaty of Falaise. Henry bought the County of Marche, then he asserted that the French Vexin and Bourges should be given back at once. However, this time there was no invasion to back the claim.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Louis VII died in 1180 and was succeeded by his 15-year-old son, crowned as Philip II. The man who would later become Philip's main rival, the future Richard I, had administered Aquitaine since 1175 but his policy of centralisation of the Aquitanian government had grown unpopular in the eastern part of the Duchy, notably Périgord and Limousin. Richard was further disliked in Aquitaine due to his apparent disregard for Aquitaine's customs of inheritance, as shown by events in Angoulême in 1181. If Richard was unpopular in Aquitaine though, Philip was equally disliked by his contemporaries with comments describing him as: "astute, manipulative, calculating, penurious and ungallant ruler."


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1183, Henry the Young King joined a revolt to overthrow the unpopular Duke Richard, led by the viscount of Limoges and Geoffrey of Lusignan, where Henry would take Richard's place. Joined by Philip II, Count Raymond V of Toulouse, and Duke Hugh III of Burgundy, Henry died suddenly of a fatal illness in 1183, saving Richard's position.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Richard, now Henry II's oldest son, became Henry's heir. Henry ordered him to hand Aquitaine to his brother, John, but Richard refused. Henry was busy with Welsh princes contesting his authority, William the Lion was asking for his castles to be given back that had been taken in the Treaty of Falaise, and now Henry the Young King was dead, Philip wanted the Norman Vexin handed back. Henry II decided instead to insist Richard to nominally surrender Aquitaine to his mother whilst Richard would retain actual control. Still, in 1183, Count Raymond had taken Cahors back and so Henry II asked Richard to mount an expedition to retake the city. At the time, Geoffrey of Brittany had been quarrelling violently with Richard and Philip planned to use this, but Geoffrey's death in 1186 in a tournament killed the plot. The next year, Philip and Richard had become strong allies:


title: Angevin Empire

text: In 1188, Raymond attacked again, joined by the Lusignans, vassals of Richard. It was rumoured that Henry himself had financed the revolts. Philip attacked Henry in Normandy and captured strongholds in Berry, then they met to discuss peace again. Henry refused to make Richard his heir, with one story reporting that Richard said "Now at last, I must believe what I had always thought impossible."


title: Angevin Empire

text: Henry's plans collapsed. Richard paid homage to Philip for the continental lands his father held then they attacked Henry together. The Aquitanians refused to help whilst the Bretons seized the opportunity to attack him too. Henry's birthplace, Le Mans, was captured and Tours fell. Henry was encircled at Chinon and was compelled to surrender. He gave a large tribute in money to Philip and swore that all his subjects in France and England would recognise Richard as their lord. Henry died two days later, after learning John, the only son that had previously never betrayed him, had joined Richard and Philip. He was buried in Fontevraud Abbey.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Eleanor, who had been Henry's hostage since the 1173–4 revolt, was freed while Rhys ap Gruffydd, ruler of Deheubarth in South Wales, began to reconquer the parts of Wales that Henry had annexed. Richard was crowned King Richard I of England in Westminster Abbey in November 1189, and had already been installed as Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Duke of Aquitaine. Richard demanded Philip surrender the Vexin but then the issue was settled when Richard announced he would marry Alys, Philip's sister. Richard also recognised Auvergne as being in Philip's royal demense and not as part of the Duchy of Aquitaine, as Henry had claimed. The two lion kings, William the Lion, King of Scotland, and Richard the Lionheart, opened negotiations to revoke the Treaty of Falaise and an agreement was reached.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The next priority for King Richard I was the Third Crusade; it had been delayed since Richard had taken the cross in 1187. This was not just a religious pilgrimage however; his great-grandfather, Fulk had been King of Jerusalem and the current pretender to the throne, Guy de Lusignan was a Poitevin noble, related to many of Richard's vassals, while Guy's wife—Sybilla—was Richard's cousin. The crusade, excluding disputes in France, would be the main reason for Richard's absence from England; he would spend less than six months of his reign in England.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Before leaving, Richard consolidated his reign over the Empire. He suspected Count Raymond would expand his lands into Aquitaine so he allied with Sancho VI the Wise, the King of Navarre, by marrying his daughter, Berengaria, to counter the threat. They married in 1191 in Limassol, Cyprus, therefore repudiating Alys, Philip's sister, but the issue had been settled earlier in Messina. To placate Philip, Richard had given him 10,000 marks and agreed that if he had two sons, they would both hold lands in France directly under Philip. The administration Richard left behind worked considerably well, as an attack from Raymond was repelled with the help of Navarre.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The siege of Acre, which had been the last Christian stronghold in Holy Land, was over by July and Philip decided to return to France. It is unclear whether Philip returned due to dysentery, anger towards Richard, or that he thought he could gain Artois following the death of the Count of Flanders, as he had married the Count's daughter. Whilst back at France, Philip boasted he was 'going to devastate the king of England's lands' and, in January 1192, he demanded from the seneschal of Normandy, William FitzRalph, the Vexin, claiming that the treaty he had signed with Richard in Messina contained the intention of Richard that, as the Vexin had been Alys' dowry and since Richard had married Berengaria, he was entitled to the land. Although Philip threatened invasion, Eleanor of Aquitaine intervened in stopping her son, John, from promising to concede the land. Philip's nobles refused to attack the lands of an absent crusader, though Philip instead gained lands in Artois. Philip's return did result in castles throughout the empire being in a "state of readiness". The alliance with Navarre helped again when Philip attempted to incite revolt in Aquitaine but failed.


title: Angevin Empire

text: King Richard left the Holy Land over a year later than Philip in October 1192, and possibly could have retrieved his empire intact had he reached France soon after. However, during the crusade Leopold V, Duke of Austria, had been insulted by Richard, and so he arrested Richard near Vienna, on his journey home. Richard had been forced to go through Austria as the path through Provence was blocked by Raymond in Toulouse. Leopold also accused Richard of sending assassins to murder his cousin Conrad, and then handed Richard over to his overlord, Emperor Henry VI.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In January 1193, Richard's brother, John, was summoned to Paris, where he did homage to Philip for all of Richard's lands, and promised to marry Alys with Artois as her dowry. In return, the Vexin and the castle of Gisors would be given to Philip. With the help of Philip, John went to invade England and incite rebellion against Richard's justiciars. John failed and then had worse luck when it was discovered Richard was alive, which was unknown until this point. At the imperial court in Speyer, Richard was put on trial where he spoke very well for himself:


title: Angevin Empire

text: Richard was to be set free after a deal was finalised in June 1193. However, whilst the discussions had been going on, Philip and John had created war in three different areas of the Angevin Empire. Firstly, in England, John had attempted to take over, asserting that Richard would never return. The justiciars pushed him and his forces back to the castles of Tickhill and Windsor, which were besieged. A deal was made that allowed John to keep Tickhill and Nottingham, but return his other possessions. Secondly, in Aquitaine, Ademar of Angoulême claimed that he held his county directly as a fief of Philip's, not as a vassal of the Duke of Aquitaine. He raided Poitou but was stopped by the local officials, and captured. Thirdly, and finally, in Normandy, Philip had taken Gisors and Neaufles, and the lords of Aumâle, Eu, and other smaller lordships, as well as the counts of Meulan and Perche, had surrendered to Philip. Philip failed to take Rouen in April but gained other castles; Gillingham summarised, saying that "April and May 1193 were wonderfully good months for Philip".


title: Angevin Empire

text: When Philip heard of Richard's deal with Emperor Henry, he decided to consolidate his gains by forcing Richard's regents to concede with a treaty at Mantes in July 1193. Firstly, John was handed back his estates in both England and France. Secondly, Count Ademar was to be released and no Aquitanian vassals were to be charged or penalised. Thirdly, Richard was to give four major castles to Philip and pay the cost of garrisoning them, along with other compensation.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Richard failed to be reconciled with his brother, John, and so John went to Philip and created a new treaty in January 1194, surrendering all of Normandy east of the Seine except Rouen and Tours and the other castles of Touraine to Philip, Vendôme to Louis of Blois, and Moulins and Bonsmoulins to Count Geoffrey of Perche. The county of Angoulême was to be independent of the duchy of Aquitaine. The Angevin Empire was being completely split by John's actions. Philip continued to bargain with Emperor Henry, and the emperor cut a new deal with Richard after being offered large sums of money by Philip and John. Richard would surrender the kingdom of England to Henry, who would then give it back as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. Richard had become a vassal of Henry. Richard was released, and whilst still in Germany he paid for the homage of the archbishops of Mainz and Cologne, the bishop of Liège, the duke of Brabant, the duke of Limburg, the count of Holland, and other lesser lords. These allies were the beginning of a coalition against Philip.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Although Philip had been granted many Norman territories, it was only nominally. In February, he captured Évreux, Neubourg, Vaudreuil, and other towns. He also received the homage of two of Richard's vassals, Geoffrey de Rancon and Bernard of Brosse. Philip and his allies were now in control of all the ports of Flanders, Boulogne, and eastern Normandy. Richard finally returned to England and landed at Sandwich on 13 March 1194.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Richard was in a difficult position; Philip II had taken over large parts of his continental domains and had inherited Amiens and Artois. England was Richard's most secure possession; Hubert Walter, who had been to the crusade with Richard, was appointed his justiciar. Richard besieged the remaining castle that had declared allegiance to John and not capitulated: Nottingham Castle. He then met with William the Lion in April and rejected William the Lion's offer to purchase Northumbria, to which William possessed a claim. Later, he took over John's Lordship of Ireland and replaced his justiciar.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Richard I had merely crossed the English Channel to claim back his territories that John Lackland betrayed Philip II by murdering the garrison of Évreux and handing the town down to Richard I. "He had first betrayed his father, then his brother and now our King" said William the Breton. Sancho the Strong, the future King of Navarre, joined the conflict and attacked Aquitaine, capturing Angoulème and Tours. Richard himself was known to be a great military commander. The first part of this war was difficult for Richard who suffered several setbacks, as Philip II was, as described by John Gillingham, "a shrewd politician and a competent soldier." But by October the new Count of Toulouse, Raymond VI, left the Capetian side and joined Richard's. He was followed by Baldwin IV of Flanders, the future Latin Emperor, as this one was contesting Artois to Philip II. In 1197, Henry VI died and was replaced by Otto IV, Richard I's own nephew. Renaud de Dammartin, the Count of Boulogne and a skilled commander, also deserted Philip II. Baldwin IV was invading Artois and captured Saint-Omer while Richard I was campaigning in Berry and inflicted a severe defeat on Philip II at Gisors, close to Paris. A truce was accepted, and Richard I had almost recovered all Normandy and now held more territories in Aquitaine than he had before. Richard I had to deal with a revolt once again, but this time from Limousin. He was struck by a bolt in April 1199 at Châlus-Chabrol and died of a subsequent infection. His body was buried at Fontevraud like his father.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Following the news of King Richard I's death in 1199, John attempted to seize the Angevin treasury at Chinon in order to impose his control of the Angevin government. Angevin custom, however, gave John's nephew, Duke Arthur, son of Geoffrey of Brittany, a stronger claim on Richard's throne, and the nobles of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine declared in favour of Arthur on 18 April 1199. Philip II of France had taken Évreux and the Norman Vexin, and a Breton army had seized Angers by this point. Le Mans refused to declare allegiance to John, so he ran to Normandy, where he was invested as duke in Rouen on 25 April. He returned to Le Mans with an army where he punished its citizens and then left for England. England had declared its support for John thanks to William Marshal and Archbishop Hubert Walter of Canterbury's support. He was crowned on 27 May in Westminster Abbey.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Due to his mother's support, Aquitaine and Poitou supported John, and only Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Brittany remained disputed. In May, Aimeri, Viscount of Thouars, who was chosen by John to be his seneschal in Anjou, attacked Tours in an attempt to capture Arthur of Brittany. Aimeri failed, and John was forced to return to the continent in order to secure his rule, through a truce with Philip II, after Philip had launched attacks on Normandy. Philip was forced into the truce due to John's support from fifteen French counts and support from counts in the Lower Rhine, such as with Count Baldwin of Flanders, who he met in August 1199 in Rouen, and Baldwin did John homage. From a position of strength, John was able to go on the offensive, and he won William des Roches, Arthur's candidate for the Angevin seneschal, to his cause following an incident with Philip. William des Roches also brought Duke Arthur and his mother, Constance, as prisoners to Le Mans on 22 September 1199, and the succession appeared to have been secured in favour of John.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Despite the escape of Arthur and Constance with Aimeri of Thouars to Philip II, and many of Richard's previous allies in France, including the counts of Flanders, Blois, and Perche, leaving for the Holy Land, John was able to make peace with Philip that secured his accession to his brother's throne. John met with Philip and signed the Treaty of Le Goulet in May 1200, where Philip accepted John's succession to the Angevin Empire, and Arthur became his vassal, but John was forced to break his German alliances, accept Philip's gains in Normandy, and cede lands in Auvergne and Berry. John was also to accept Philip as his suzerain overlord and pay Philip 20,000 marks. As W. L. Warren notes, this Treaty began the practical dominance of the French king over France, and the ruler of the Angevin Empire was no longer the dominating noble in France. In June 1200, John visited Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, taking hostages from those he distrusted, and visiting Aquitaine, where he received homage from his mother's vassals, returning to Poitiers in August.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Following the annulment of John's first marriage to Isabelle of Gloucester, John married Isabella, the daughter and heiress of Count Aymer of Angoulême, on 24 August 1200. Angoulême had considerable strategic significance, and the marriage made "very good political sense", according to Warren. However, Isabella had been betrothed to Hugh of Lusignan, and John's treatment of Hugh following the marriage, including the seizure of La Marche, led Hugh to appeal to Philip II. Philip summoned John to his court, and John's refusal resulted in the confiscation of John's continental possessions excluding Normandy in April 1202 and Philip accepting Arthur's homage for the lands in July. Philip went on to invade Normandy as far as Arques in May, taking a number of castles.


title: Angevin Empire

text: John, following a message from his mother, Eleanor, rushed from Le Mans to Mirebeau, attacking the town on 1 August 1202, with William des Roches. William promised to direct the attack on condition he was consulted on the fate of Arthur, and successfully captured the town along with over 200 knights, including three Lusignans. John also captured Arthur and Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany sister of Arthur, but antagonised William, failing to consult him on the future of Arthur, and causing him to leave John along with Aimeri of Thouars and siege Angers. Under the control of Hubert de Burgh in Falaise, Arthur disappeared and John was seen as responsible for his murder, with his sister, the Fair Maid, never released. The Angevin Empire was under attack in all areas, with the following year, 1203, being described as that "of shame" by Warren. In December 1203, John left Normandy never to return, and on 24 June 1204, Normandy capitulated with the surrender of Arques, Rouen, and Verneuil. Tours, Chinon, and Loches had fallen by 1205.


title: Angevin Empire

text: On the night of 31 March 1204, John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, died, causing a rush of "most of Poitou...to do homage to the king of France". King Alfonso of Castile invaded Gascony, using the claim of his wife, John's sister Eleanor. When John to the continent in June 1206, only the resistance led by Hélie de Malemort, Archbishop of Bordeaux had prevented Alfonso's success. By the end of John's expedition on 26 October 1206, most of Aquitaine was secure. A truce was made between John and Philip to last for two years. The Angevin Empire had been reduced to England, Gascony, Ireland, and parts of Poitou, and John would not return to his continental possessions for eight years.


title: Angevin Empire

text: By the end of 1212, Philip II was preparing an invasion of England. Philip aimed to crown his son, Louis, king of England, and at a council at Soissons in April 1213, he drafted a possible relationship between the future France and England. On 30 May, William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury, succeeding in crushing the French invasion fleet in the Battle of Damme and preventing French invasion. In February 1214, John landed in La Rochelle after creating alliances headed by the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto. The aim was for the Earl of Salisbury and John's German allies to attack Philip from the north, whilst John attacked from the south.


title: Angevin Empire

text: By June 1214, John had the support of the houses of Lusignan, Mauléon, and Thouars, but when John advanced into Anjou, capturing Angers on 17 June, the desertion of his Poitevin allies forced a retreat back to La Rochelle. On 27 July, John's German allies lost the Battle of Bouvines, with many prisoners taken, including the Earl of Salisbury. On 18 September, John and Philip agreed to a truce that would last until Easter 1220. In October 1214, John returned to England.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Following the agreement at Runnymede in June 1215, rebel English barons felt that John would not observe the terms of Magna Carta, and offered the English crown to Philip's son, Louis. Louis accepted, landing in Kent on 21 May 1216, with 1,200 knights. Louis seized Rochester, London, and Winchester, whilst John was deserted by several nobles, including the Earl of Salisbury. In August, only Dover, Lincoln, and Windsor remained loyal to John in the east, and Alexander II of Scotland travelled to Canterbury to pay homage to Louis.


title: Angevin Empire

text: In September 1216, John began his attack, marching from the Cotswolds, feigning an offensive to relieve the besieged Windsor Castle, and attacking eastwards around London to Cambridge to separate the rebel-held areas of Lincolnshire and East Anglia. In King's Lynn, John contracted dysentery. On 18 October 1216, John died.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Louis was defeated twice following John's death in 1217, in Lincoln in May, and at Sandwich in August, resulting in his withdrawal from the claim on the throne and England with the Treaty of Lambeth in September.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The hypothetical continuation and expansion of the Angevin Empire over several centuries has been the subject of several tales of alternate history. Historically, both English and French historians had viewed the juxtaposition of England and French lands under Angevin control as something of an aberration and an offence to national identity. To English historians the lands in France were an encumbrance, while French historians considered the union to be an English empire.


title: Angevin Empire

text: The 12th century is also the century of Gothic architecture, first known as , from the work of the Abbot Suger at Saint Denis in 1140. The Early English Period began around 1180 or 1190, in the times of the Angevin Empire, but this religious architecture was totally independent of the Angevin Empire, it was just born at the same moment and spread at those times in England. Gillingham suggests that it was only "perhaps in kitchen design" that there was a distinctively Angevin style.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Richard I's personal arms, three golden lions "passant guardant" on a red field, continue to appear in most subsequent English royal heraldry, and in variations on the flags of both Normandy and Aquitaine.


title: Angevin Empire

text: Politically, during the time of the Angevin Empire, continental issues were given more attention by the Angevin kings of England than British issues had been given previously by the Normans. Under Angevin rule, the balance of power had dramatically shifted to France, with Angevin kings often spending more time in France than England. With the loss of Normandy and Anjou, the Empire was cut in two, leaving Plantagent descendants to be solely English kings with additional rule over Gascony.


title: Raazi

text: Raazi ("Agree") is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller film directed by Meghna Gulzar and produced by Vineet Jain, Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta under the banners of Junglee Pictures and Dharma Productions. It stars Alia Bhatt and features Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma, and Jaideep Ahlawat in supporting roles. The film is an adaptation of Harinder Sikka's 2008 novel "Calling Sehmat", a true account of an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent who, upon her father's request, is married into a family of military officers in Pakistan to relay information to India, prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Principal photography of "Raazi" began in July 2017 in Mumbai and was completed on 27 October 2017. It was shot across several locations including Patiala, Nabha, Malerkotla and Doodhpathri.


title: Raazi

text: "Raazi" was released on 11 May 2018. Made on a budget of , "Raazi" went on to gross worldwide, emerging as one of the highest-grossing Indian films featuring a female protagonist. It was also a critical success, with Meghna's direction and Bhatt's performance receiving praise.


title: Raazi

text: At the 64th Filmfare Awards, "Raazi" received 15 nominations and won a leading 5 awards (tying with "Andhadhun"), including Best Film, Best Director (Gulzar) and Best Actress (Bhatt).


title: Raazi

text: Indian Army officer Lieutenant General Nikhil Bakshi addresses a group of Indian soldiers aboard the , detailing a woman's exploits while serving as an undercover agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India's external intelligence agency, in Pakistan.


title: Raazi

text: The story flashes back to events preceding the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Hidayat Khan is an Indian freedom fighter and agent posing as an informant for the Indian government against the Pakistani government. He wishes to make his 20-year-old daughter Sehmat an agent and continue the family tradition of being in service to the country before his impending death from lung cancer. Sehmat is willing so she is trained by senior R&AW officer Mir (Manav Chaudhary) and his assistant, a young Bakshi. Khan uses his friendship with Brigadier Parvez Syed of the Pakistan Army to get Sehmat married to his younger son, Iqbal Syed, another military officer. After migrating to Pakistan, Sehmat settles into her married life, adjusts to a new country, and establishes the trust of her in-laws. Brigadier Syed is promoted to Major General, which results in crucial documents and members of the country's defense forces passing through his house. Sehmat establishes communication channels with her handlers back in India and starts relaying information. Meanwhile, she falls in love with Iqbal and they consummate their marriage.


title: Raazi

text: Sehmat spots information related to the planning of an offensive against India and is able to pass it on. One of the servants, Abdul, discovers the truth about her and Sehmat runs him down with a car to avoid exposing her cover. The event takes a heavy emotional toll on her. The information points to the planned attack on the Indian aircraft carrier , then deployed in the Bay of Bengal. Sehmat reluctantly kills Mehboob Syed, Iqbal's elder army officer brother after he finds her suspicious. She is distraught at having widowed Munira, Mehboob's wife, and saves her from police interrogation. She is eventually discovered as a spy by Iqbal, who is heartbroken by the revelation. He confronts her but dies from a grenade. The grenade was thrown by a member of Mir's team to kill Sehmat should she be caught. Sehmat is alive; the woman Iqbal confronted was actually another burqa-clad agent who switched places with Sehmat and died by the grenade along with Iqbal. Shocked by her husband's death and the fact that Mir was willing to kill her, Sehmat realizes the insignificance of relationships and humanity in this line of work. Broken by the destruction of a family by her hand, she returns to India and discovers that she is pregnant with Iqbal's child. She decides to keep the child.


title: Raazi

text: Nikhil Bakshi concludes his speech, with Samar Khan, Sehmat's son, among the officers. Meanwhile, an aged Sehmat is seen sitting in her chair and staring out of the window of her house in the middle of nowhere.


title: Raazi

text: Since 2014, Priti Sahani, president of Junglee Pictures, was trying to acquire the film rights to Harinder S. Sikka's 2008 novel "Calling Sehmat", which details the true story of an Indian woman secret agent married to a Pakistani army officer to provide the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) with confidential information prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. During the production of "Talvar" (2015), she got in touch with Meghna Gulzar and enquired if she was interested in directing a film adaptation of the novel. Meghna agreed but was informed a few months later that the film didn't materialize. In February 2016, she was approached by another producer to adapt the same novel, and she agreed again, thinking it was "a tad serendipitous" to be offered the same project twice.


title: Raazi

text: When talks on that proposal also fell through, Meghna decided she had "a karmic connection" with "Calling Sehmat" given that Sikka had approached her father Gulzar to direct the film adaptation when the novel was released; she had developed a rapport with Sikka during previous meetings while discussing the production and told the author that they approach Sahani again for the film adaptation. The talks were successful, and in December 2016, Meghna announced the project as her next film. Meghna was drawn to the story as it was "an ordinary girl's extraordinary feat" and was "not chest-thumpingly anti-Pak, pro-India, pro-war sloganeering", and it being a true account "makes [the film] that much more powerful". She tried to remain as true to the story as possible during production.


title: Raazi

text: Even though the film was set in the backdrop of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it didn't feature action scenes unlike other films under the same backdrop since the story leads to the beginning of the war and not the actual conflict. Meghna had heard stories of the war from her family members, having been born after the war was over. She felt it was "an important milestone in [Indian] history" and was motivated to make the film as the story is important in present times when neighboring countries have non-cordial relationships. Meghna said: "The human element makes it timeless. From my father’s friends in Pakistan, I understand that the lines are on paper and brought up politically but at the end of the day, we’re similar in our clothes, cuisine, and culture."


title: Raazi

text: In December 2016, it was being speculated that Alia Bhatt had been offered the lead role in the film, a news which was confirmed to be true in April 2017. Karan Johar's production house Dharma Productions came on board to co-produce the film along with Junglee Pictures in April 2017. The casting of Vicky Kaushal was officially announced in June 2017.


title: Raazi

text: The filming process of "Raazi" began in July 2017 and the first schedule which took place in Mumbai was wrapped up by mid-August 2017. Originally, the first schedule of "Raazi" was supposed to be held in Kashmir but due to the state of unrest in the valley, the makers decided to shift the shooting location to Mumbai where all the indoor scenes were filmed at a set created inside Film City. The second schedule of the film took place in Punjab, where filming was done in Patiala and Malerkotla during August and September 2017. The shooting in Patiala was stalled for a few days due to the violence that erupted after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on 25 August 2017 and the curfew that was imposed as a consequence of which. After completing the Punjab schedule, the production team of "Raazi" arrived in Kashmir on 17 September 2017 for a ten-day schedule where filming was done at Pahalgam, Shiv Pora in Srinagar and Doodhpathri in Budgam district. The final schedule of shooting was supposed to take place in Punjab, but was completed in Delhi instead due to the unrest caused by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's arrest. Filming came to an end on 27 October 2017.


title: Raazi

text: Amidst a heated atmosphere of public anger and discussion during July 2020, Sikka alleged that Meghna changed the title of the film without his permission and he was not shown the director's cut of the film which was part of the contract. He also alleged that Gulzar and her father took a pro-Pakistani stand in the film, and that producers Jain and Johar attempted to discredit him.


title: Raazi

text: The author also claimed that Meghna Gulzar "tweaked" the story to demean RAW and praised the Pakistan Army.


title: Raazi

text: The music and background score of the film is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy while the lyrics are penned by Gulzar. The songs featured in the film are sung by Arijit Singh, Harshdeep Kaur, Vibha Saraf, Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan. The song "Ae Watan (Female)" also contains the lyrics of Allama Iqbal's "dua" ""Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua"", that is the national prayer of Pakistan being offered during school assemblies. The soundtrack was officially released on 18 April 2018 by Zee Music Company.


title: Raazi

text: Vipin Nair of "The Hindu" gave the soundtrack 4/5 stating that it's "a gem of a soundtrack" and "wish the soundtrack were longer". "The Times of India"s Debarati Sen, in her review, said the album is "definitely one to be heard on the loop". She further added that it is a "must for music lovers and Gulzar fans".