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The Making of the Angevin Empire*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Extract

During the last half of the twelfth century the kings of England ruled a vast constellation of lands stretching from Ireland to the Mediterranean, known traditionally, if not quite accurately, as the “Angevin Empire.” While the empire lasted, its rulers were the richest and strongest in Christendom. When King John lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine, he also lost much of his income and influence, and the kings of France became the great royal figures of the thirteenth century. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the origins of the Angevin empire, and in particular the union of its two chief components — the Anglo-Norman state and the county of Anjou. Did the empire come about by accident or by political design? And if by design, who was its architect? Was it Henry I, who arranged the crucial marriage between his daughter Maud and Geoffrey, heir to Anjou? Was it Geoffrey, or Maud? Or was it their son, Henry Plantagenet — the ultimate beneficiary of the marriage?

At first glance, the empire would seem to have been conceived in the calculating mind of Henry I, who could hardly have failed to grasp the implications of a marriage joining the Anglo-Norman heiress to the Angevin heir. Indeed, many treatments of the subject, both old and recent, have suggested that the Angevin empire arose from King Henry I's “immensely grandiose designs” to absorb Anjou. But did Henry I have any such desire, or any such intention? The question can only be answered after a careful analysis of Henry I's diplomacy, both in its general contours and in its relation to Anjou.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1973

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Footnotes

*

Mr. Hollister wishes to express his gratitude to the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, the Social Science Research Council, the Fulbright Commission, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for their help in supporting the research for portions of this paper

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31. So named by Orderic, from the Old English Ætheling — prince and heir.

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35. See, on the near failure of nerve, Liber Hyda, p. 316 and Orderic, , Historia, IV, 328–29Google Scholar. On the assassination plot, Suger, , Louis VI, p. 190Google Scholar; Malmesbury, , Gesta Regum, II, 488Google Scholar.

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37. Orderic, touches on it (Historia, IV, 333)Google Scholar but underrates its importance. Cf. “Annales de Saint-Aubin,” p. 7; Gesta consulum Andegavorum,” in Chroniques des comtes d'Anjou et des seigneurs d'Amboise, ed. Halphen, L. and Poupardin, R. (Paris, 1913), p. 155Google Scholar; Suger, p. 192.

38. Orderic, , Historia, IV, 347Google Scholar; Suger, pp. 194–96; Malmesbury, , Gesta Regum, II, 495Google Scholar.

39. Ibid. Malmesbury alone describes the disposition of Maine and may well be confused. Cf. Norgate, , Angevin Kings, I, 238–39Google Scholar.

40. Luchaire, , Louis VI, no. 298Google Scholar and references therein.

41. Simeon of Durham Opera Omnia, ed. Arnold, Thomas (Rolls Series, 18821885), II, 267Google Scholar: terras, urbes, et castella. Cf. Orderic, , Historia, IV, 347–48Google Scholar: the town of Alençon reverted to Robert of Bellême's son and heir, William Talvas, but Henry himself received custody of the castle.

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43. Henry's decisive victory was at Rougemontier on 25 March, 1124: see Orderic, , Historia, IV, 455–58Google Scholar; Gesta Normannorum Ducum, pp. 294–95. The rebellion was accompanied by attacks of William Clito from Anjou: Simeon, , Opera, II, 274Google Scholar.

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45. Recueil des historiens des Gaules, XV, 251, 258Google Scholar.

46. He married Matilda, heiress of Boulogne, a direct descendant of Edmund Ironside and the Wessex kings. Thus Stephen's heirs would inherit the same Anglo-Saxon royal blood that Henry's own children had inherited from their mother, Edith-Matilda. On the marriage see Calendar of Documents Preserved in France, ed. Round, J. H. (London, 1899), no. 1385Google Scholar.

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48. For the date see Round, J. H., Geoffrey de Mandeville (London 1892), p. 31 and n. 1Google Scholar.

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51. On his accession in 1119, Count Charles had continued the war against Henry I that his predecessor, Baldwin VII, had been waging, but the brief campaign ended with a treaty of peace and friendship: Liber Hyda, p. 320; Galbert of Bruges, Histoire, p. 176Google Scholar; Malmesbury, , Gesta Regum, II, 479Google Scholar. In the midst of the 1124 hostilities Charles was a guest at Henry I's court at Rouen: Orderic, , Historia, IV, 460–61Google Scholar.

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54. Clito's various hopes are suggested by the language of his charter to Saint-Omer of 14 April, 1127: “Si contigerit mihi aliquo tempore preter terram Flandriae aliam conquirere, aut si concordia pads inter me et avunculum meum H. regem Angliae facta fuerit, in conquisita terra ilia aut in toto regno Anglorum eos liberos ab omni teloneo et ab omni consuetudine in concordia ilia recipi faciam”: Actes des comtes de Flandre, 1071–1128, ed. Vercauteren, Fernand (Brussels, 1938), no. 127, cl. 7Google Scholar. In his comital charters Clito styles himself Guilielmus, Dei gratia, comes Flandrie, filius Roberti comith Normannie (Ibid., no. 125; cf no. 128). He avoided claiming the Norman duchy as his own because his father still lived. See also Gesta Normannorum Ducum, p. 296, where Robert of Torigny asserts that the Anglo-Norman state enjoyed undisturbed peace from 1124 to 1135, despite Clito's doing his best to disturb it during his short tenure as count of Flanders.

55. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia, p. 247Google Scholar; cf. p. 312.

56. See Galbert of Bruges, Histoire, pp. 78, 146–47Google Scholar; Recueil des historiens des Gaules, XV, 341Google Scholar; Walter of Thérouanne, “Vita Karoli,” pp. 557–58Google Scholar; Henry actually asserted his own claim to Flanders, as son of Matilda of Flanders (ibid., p. 558; Simeon, , Opera, II, 282Google Scholar) but made no serious effort to acquire the province for himself. Henry's claim served as a symbol to which other claimants, otherwise mutually hostile, could rally. He put it forward, in Ganshof's words, “moins dans l'espoir de pouvoir s'en rendre maltre que dans le but d'en chasser son neveu”: “Le Roi de France en Flandre,” p. 210.

57. Galbert, , Histoire, pp. 132–33, 137–51Google Scholar.

58. Ibid., pp. 157–59; Gallia Christiana, X, “Instrumenta,” col. 192.

59. For eight days Henry sat with his army between Paris and Chartres at Epernon, a castle of Amaury de Montfort, formerly Henry's enemy but now in rebellion against Louis. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia, p. 247Google Scholar, provides the year (1128) but not the month. Louis' sudden withdrawal into France can best be explained by placing the Epernon incident in May.

60. Galbert of Bruges, Histoire p. 171Google Scholar. Thierry had the best hereditary claim as grandson of Count Robert I and first cousin of Charles the Good (ibid., p. xli). On his support from Henry I, see Henry of Huntingdon, Historia, p. 249Google Scholar. Succeeding to Flanders on Clito's death, Thierry renewed the money fief treaty with Henry (Galbert, , Histoire, p. 176)Google Scholar. Orderic speaks of a secret alliance between them: Historia, IV, 484Google Scholar.

61. Cf. Malmesbury, , Historia Novella, pp. 34Google Scholar.

62. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1127. Cf. Gesta Stephani, ed. Potter, K. R. (London, 1955), p. 7Google Scholar: “King Henry gave his daughter in marriage with a politic design, that he might establish peace more surely and securely between the Normans and the Angevins …. He wanted to make peace in his own time.” Likewise, Simeon of Durham, II, 282: “Thus, in order that he suffer no evil from his nephew, Henry sought the friendship of the count of Anjou, to whom he had previously been hostile, desiring to join his daughter, the former empress, to the count's son in marriage.” Robert of Torigny (Gesta Normannorum Ducum, p. 300) says that Henry gave his daughter to Geoffrey in order to end the long feud with Anjou and to “escape Fulk's enmity and insolence.” William of Malmesbury states that William Adelin's marriage to Matilda of Anjou and Maud's to Geoffrey were products of a single motive: Henry's desire “to establish peace between himself and the count of Anjou": Historia Novella, pp. 2–3.

63. A charter of John bishop of Sées, dated at Sées, A. D. 1127, sixth indiction, Sept. 1127-Sept., 1128), bears the words, Signum Henrici regis Anglorum. Quando dedit filiam suam Gaufredo comiti Andegavensi juniori: de la Clergerie, Gilles Bry, Histoire des pays et comté du Perche (Paris, 1620), p. 106Google Scholar. Round (Calendar, no. 1192, n. 5) suggests that this clause may have been added later. Henry was probably in Rouen in the later months of 1127: Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, II, ed. Cronne, H. A. and Johnson, C. (Oxford, 1956), nos. 1545, 1547Google Scholar; a later chronicle tradition makes Rouen the site of the betrothal; Annales Monastici, ed. Luard, H. R. (Rolls Series, 18641869), II, 48Google Scholar.

64. The dating of the marriage presents formidable problems which Kate Norgate has satisfactorily solved: Angevin Kings, I, 258–60Google Scholar.

65. Chartrou, , L'Anjou, pp. 23–4Google Scholar. Fulk had been negotiating concurrently with Henry I and envoys from the kingdom of Jerusalem. He took the cross 17 days before Geoffrey's marriage to Maud.

66. Cf. the cases of the earldom of Huntingdon and the honor of Eudo Dapifer: Complete Peerage, VI, 638–42Google Scholar; Hollister, C. W., “The Misfortunes of the Mandevilles,” History, LVIII (1973), 1828CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

67. Orderic, , Historia, V, 82Google Scholar.

68. Simeon, , Opera, II, 282Google Scholar. Simeon's remarks on continental events in 1127–28 are subject to caution. Cf. his clearly erroneous statement (ibid., p. 283) that after Clito's death, and with Louis VI's consent, Henry became suzerain of Flanders and Count Thierry held it as his vassal — a gross exaggeration of the 1128 renewal of the Anglo-Flemish money fief (above, n. 24). In the years following the marriage Henry did nothing whatever to prepare Geoffrey for the throne. Geoffrey received no lands in England or Normandy and, so far as is known, was never at Henry's court after 1128. He received no oaths from the Anglo-Norman barons and was virtually unknown to them.

69. A third son, William, was born in 1136: see Chartrou, , L'Anjou, p. 37Google Scholar. Maud's irrascibility has been ascribed to her resentment at being joined to a boy 11 years her junior and a mere count. But she was obviously aware of Henry I's exalted plans for her and may well have played an important role in the marriage deliberations. Two of Henry's three chief counsellors in the matter were Maud's close associates, Robert of Gloucester and Brian fitz Count: Malmesbury, , Historia Novella, p. 5Google Scholar; cf. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1126.

70. Orderic, , Historia, V, 45 ff.Google Scholar; Henry of Huntingdon, pp. 253–54; Gesta Normannorum Ducum, p. 320.

71. Davis, R. H. C., King Stephen (London, 1967), p. 61Google Scholar: “All chroniclers agree that in her hour of victory she displayed an intolerable pride and wilfulness.”

72. Gesta Normannorum Ducum, pp. 299–300.

73. Malmesbury, , Historia Novella, pp. 34Google Scholar; cf. Robert of Torigny's dauntless attempt to connect Geoffrey's ancestors with the kings of France: Gesta Normannorum Ducum, pp. 301–02.

74. Malmesbury, , Historia Novella, p. 10Google Scholar: at Northampton, 8 Sept., 1131; cf. ibid., p. 13, and Henry of Huntingdon, p. 252.

75. At Westminster, probably in June or July: Roger of Hoveden, Chronica, ed. Stubbs, William (Rolls Series, 18681871), I, 187Google Scholar: “… fecit archiepiscopos et comites et barones totius suae dominationis jurare fidelitates Matildi … et Henrico filio ejus adhuc minimo, et constituit eum regem post se.” See also Hexham, Richard of, “Historia de Gestis Regis Stephani et de Bello Standardo,” in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Howlett, R. (Rolls Series, 18841889), III, 145Google Scholar; Diceto, Ralph de, Opera Historica, ed. Stubbs, William (Rolls Series, 1876), I, 246Google Scholar. Round, J. H. (Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 31, n. 2)Google Scholar dismisses this evidence, but on insufficient grounds; cf. Chartrou, , L'Anjou, pp. 3637Google Scholar: According to the Gesta Stephani (p. 8), Robert of Gloucester, Henry I's bastard son and Maud's leading supporter, declared himself on Henry I's death for the succession of Maud's infant son Henry. This view seems to reflect Henry I's own; Robert was very close to Henry in his final years and was at the king's side in his last illness.

76. Regesta, III, nos. 634–35: Henricus filius filie Regis Henrici rectus beres Anglie et Normannie; cf. Round, , Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 186Google Scholar. Note the omission of a claim to Anjou.

77. Ibid., pp. 250–61; John of Salisbury, Historia Pontificalis, ed. Chibnall, Marjorie (London, 1956), pp. 83, 85Google Scholar. The pope decided against Maud, confirming Stephen in his possession of England and Normandy.

78.ut filii sui hereditatem vindicet …: John of Marmoutier, “Historia Gaufredi Ducis,” in Chroniques des Comtes d'Anjou, ed. Halphen, and Poupardin, , p. 225Google Scholar.

79. Haskins, C. H., Norman Institutions (Cambridge, Mass., 1918), pp. 130–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Geoffrey “had won and held Normandy for his son and not for himself.” Cf. ibid., pp. 135 ff; Institutions françaises, ed. Lot, and Fawtier, , I, 3032Google Scholar, and Regesta, III, xxxiixxxiiiGoogle Scholar. Maud, meanwhile, was absent in England from 1139 to 1148 and could play no role in the governance of Normandy.

80. On Whitsunday, 22 May, 1149, at Carlisle, by David king of Scots. For a good discussion of the event and its implications see Ritchie, , Normans in Scotland, pp. 295–97Google Scholar.

81. Maud herself very nearly died in childbirth in 1134: Gesta Normannorum Ducum, pp. 303–05.

82. See Robert of Torigny, Chronica, in Chronicles of Stephen, ed. Howlett, , IV, 163Google Scholar. Geoffrey the Younger came into immediate possession of three or four Angevin castles (Chinon, Loudun, Mirabeau, and perhaps one other.)

83. William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, in Chronicles of Stephen, ed. Howlett, , I, 112–14Google Scholar.

84. “Since both the paternal and maternal inheritances would fall to Henry as the eldest son,” argues William of Newburgh, “the count was unwilling that provision for the others [Geoffrey and William] should be wholly dependent on their brother's favor, for he knew not what disposition Henry might show towards them.” (ibid.) William's analysis of the count's motivation in this matter is doubtful. The awarding of Anjou and its dependencies shows a far greater generosity than Henry could ever have been expected to display towards his brother. Likewise, there is no record of any bequest to the third Plantagenet son, William.

85. See Boussard, Jacques, Le Gouvernement d'Henri II Plantagenêt (Paris, 1956), p. 8Google Scholar.

86. Henry abandoned England in 1149, reports the Gesta Stephani (p. 148), in order to return with the aid of a larger force, enlisting the support of both the Normans and his father. Shortly before his sudden illness, Geoffrey, along with Henry, called for a council to convene at Lisieux on 14 September, 1151, to discuss preparations for the new invasion. Geoffrey died in the week prior to the appointed date and the council never met. Henry scheduled another meeting of the barons in April, 1152, and was ready to embark for England in June with a strong army when hostilities with the king of France delayed him. Finally, in January, 1153, he was able to set out on the long awaited expedition. (Robert of Torigny, Chronica, pp. 162, 164–65, 171Google Scholar).

87. Ibid., p. 165; Annales de Saint-Serge;” in Recueil d'annales angevines et vendômoises, ed. Halphen, , p. 101Google Scholar; “Annales de Saint-Aubin,” ibid., p. 12. Louis' brother, Robert of Dreux, and his future son-in-law, Henry of Champagne, were also members of the 1152 coalition.

88. Immediately following Henry's departure for England in 1153 Louis launched a series of attacks in the Norman Vexin and kept up this harassment until August 1154 when he reached an accord with Henry: Robert of Torigny, Chronica, pp. 171, 172, 174, 175, 180Google Scholar. Between August an dNovember 1154, as a result of this accord, Louis discontinued styling himself “duke of Aquitaine": Etudes sur les actes de Louis VII, ed. Luchaire, A. (Paris, 1885), pp. 910Google Scholar.

89. Pacaut, Marcel, Louis VII et son royaume (Paris, 1964), p. 185Google Scholar. Louis' sister Constance had been formerly married to King Stephen's son, Eustace of Boulogne, whose death in August, 1153, broke the marriage alliance connecting Stephen and Louis. Constance's second marriage took place in 1154.

90. William of Newburgh, Historia, pp. 112–14Google Scholar; Henry was absent at the time of his father's death. When he arrived for the funeral ceremony, he learned that the count had issued instructions to the bishops and magnates present not to give his body burial until his eldest son had sworn to observe his will. Not knowing the will's contents, Henry at first refused to take the oath, but the outcry at allowing his father's body to suffer further corruption caused him to relent.

91. Ibid.

92. Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani a Thoma Walsingham, ed. Riley, H. T. (Rolls Series, 18671869), I, 126–27Google Scholar.

93. “Antules de Saint-Serge,” p. 102. The annalist says that the revolt began at “media hieme.” In medieval writings the term “mid-winter” usually refers to Christmas week, the winter solstice arriving on 21 or 22 December. Midwinter Day was 25 December.

94. Eyton, R. W., Court, Household, and Itinerary of King Henry II (London, 1878), p. 15Google Scholar. Cf. Robert of Torigny, Chronica, p. 186Google Scholar, n. 4 [A.D. 1156]: “Henricus rex in Normanniam transfretavit, prosecutusque est Gaufridum, fratrem suum, qui ab eo dicesserat in Andegavensem pagum.”

95. Eyton, , Court, Household and Itinerary, p. 16Google Scholar; Recueil des actes de Henri II, roi d'Angleterre et due de Normandie, eds. Delisle, L. and Berger, E., (Paris, 19091927), I, 107–08Google Scholar: charter of Henry II in favor of the hospital of Santingfeld near Wissant, issued apud S. Audomarum [1156].

96. Decades earlier Sibylla had seen her marriage to William Clito dissolved by papal annulment and had subsequently married Clito's rival and successor, Thierry count of Flanders. On Count Thierry and Countess Sibylla in Rouen see Robert of Torigny, Chronica, p. 186Google Scholar.

97. Eyton, , Court, Household and Itinerary, p. 16Google Scholar; Robert of Torigny, Chronica, p. 186Google Scholar.

98. Maud attests a royal charter as “My Lady the Empress” at this time (Eyton, , Court, Household and Itinerary, p. 17Google Scholar). The third Plantagenet brother, William, is not mentioned as being in Rouen by any of the sources, but he was with Henry at St. Omer and almost certainly accompanied him to the Norman capital (above, n. 95). He was with Henry in Chinon shortly thereafter (c. February, 1156: ibid., p. 18; Recueil des actes de Henri II, I, 110–11.Google Scholar)

99. Arnulf attested two royal charters at Rouen during this period (Eyton, , Court, Household and Itinerary, pp. 1617Google Scholar). Frank Barlow has expressed doubt that Arnulf participated in the mission to the papal court, using a letter of Adrian IV as his evidence: The Letters of Arnulf of Lisieux, ed. Barlow, F., Camden, , 3rd Series, LX (London, 1939), p. xix, n. 5Google Scholar. The letter, dated 25 April, 1156, mentions Robert of St. Albans and the bishops of Evreux and Le Mans as being present but omits any mention of Arnulf: Epistolae Pontificum Romanorum Ineditae, ed. Loewenfeld, S. (Leipzig, 1885), no. 228, pp. 124–25Google Scholar. It seems much more likely, however, that Arnulf did in fact go to the pope on Henry's behalf in October but had returned by February. The Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani (p. 127), which names Arnulf as one of the envoys, states that Abbot Robert returned to England in June 1156 and that the bishops had gone home earlier. Robert of Torigny places the bishop of Evreux in Normandy on 10 June (Chronica, p. 188). Since Abbot Robert and the bishops of Evreux and Le Mans were all with the pope on 25 April, and since the homeward journey would have equired six or seven weeks, the appearance of Abbot Robert and the bishop of Evreux in England and Normandy in June suggests that, contrary to the St. Albans writer, the bishops of Evreux and Le Mans did not leave the papal court prior to Abbot Robert's departure. Giles Constable in his article, “The Alleged Disgrace of John of Salisbury,” (English Historical Review, LXIX [1954], 69)Google Scholar, quite properly concludes that the Gesta passage actually refers to the previous departure of only one bishop: Arnulf of Lisieux. Evidently Arnulf returned early to inform Henry of the pope's decision concerning the oath, while the other envoys remained to carry on additional business at the papal court.

100. William of Newburgh, Historia, pp. 112–14Google Scholar; Henry easily obtained absolution from his oath on the grounds that oaths extorted under pressure are not binding (above, n. 90). Cf. Chartrou, , L'Anjou, p. 86Google Scholar. The English pope Adrian IV was having serious difficulties at the time with Sicily and with the Roman people, and might have been in an accommodating mood toward powerful potential supporters such as Henry II.

101. Robert of Torigny, Chronica, p. 186Google Scholar; Roger of Hoveden, Chronica, ed. Stubbs, William (Rolls Series, 18681871), I, 215Google Scholar; The policy of reconciliation was subsequently cemented by the betrothal of Henry II's eldest son to Louis' daughter Margaret.

102. Robert of Torigny, Chronica, p. 186Google Scholar.

103. Ibid., pp. 186–87.

104. Ibid., p. 189. In a letter of spring or summer, 1156, John of Salisbury points out the nature of the rift between the two brothers and Henry's final object when he writes, “Geoffrey has refused to abjure in his [Henry's] favor the whole of the inheritance received from his father.”: The Letters of John of Salisbury, ed. Millor, W. J. and Butler, H. E., revised by Brooke, C. N. L. (London, 1951), No. 13, p. 21Google Scholar.

105. Gervase of Canterbury, Historical Works, ed. Stubbs, W. (Rolls Series, 18791880), I, 162Google Scholar; Richard of Poitou, Recueil des historiens des Gaules, XII, 417Google Scholar.