From the 12th up to the 15th century the dynasty of Plantagenets ruled England. The English Empire stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. The Plantagenet king, who captured the imagination of his time and has been one of the history’s heroes ever since, was Richard I. He hardly spent 7 months in England during his ten-year reign. He was brave and spent most of his reign fighting in the wars between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. His victories guaranteed Christians safe pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Richard I had a nickname “lionheart» and he was everyone’s idea of the perfect feudal king.
While Richard I was away fighting in the Holy Land, England was governed by his brother John. John was unpopular mainly because he was greedy and imposed the taxes, which were too big. During that time there appeared a legend of a folk hero, whose name was Robin Hood. According to the legend, Robin Hood lived with his band of “merry men” in Sherwood forest outside Nottingham, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. He was constantly hunted by the local sheriff but was never captured.
Because Richard had no son, when he was killed in France in 1199, John became king of England. But as he was extremely unpopular both with people and the lords, one of the most important events in the English history took place. It was during this period that Parliament began its gradual evolution into the democratic body it is today. The word “parliament” comes from the French word “parler” – to speak. It was first used in England in the 13th century to describe an assembly of nobles called together by the king. In 1215 the Model parliament set the example for the future by including elect representatives from urban and rural areas. That year an alliance of aristocracy, Church and merchants forced King John to agree to the Magna Carta (Great Charter), the document in which the king agrees to follow certain rules of government.
The 14th century was disastrous for Briton as well as most Europe, because eof the effect of wars and plagues. Britain and France suffered from the damage of wars. In the 1330s England began a long struggle against the
French crown. Both countries were exhausted economically by the cost of maintaining armies. England had the additional burden of fighting the Scots and maintaining control of Ireland and Wales.
After several years of war between the Scottish and English kingdoms, Scotland was recognized as an independent kingdom in 1328 (and remained as such until the 17th century). The repeated attempts of the English kings to control Scotland had made the Scots look for allies. The obvious ally seemed to be the king of France. That was one more reason for confrontation between France and England. Besides the king of France began to interfere with England’s trade to make his position stronger.
England went to war because it couldn’t afford the destruction of its trade. So in 1337 Edward III declared war on France. His excuse was a bold one: he claimed the right to the French Crown. It is unlikely that anyone, except for the English, took his claim very seriously, but it was a good enough reason for starting a war. This war was later called the Hundred Years’ War, which ended only in 1453. After the war England lost all her possessions in France, except for Calais and the Channel, which since then is called “English”.
Edward III and his eldest son, the Black Prince, were greatly admired in England for their courage on the battlefield and for their courtly manners. They became symbols of the “code of chivalry”, the way in which a perfect knight should behave. According to the code of chivalry, the perfect knight fought for his good name if insulted, served God and the king, and defended any lady in need.
Edward III introduced the idea of chivalry into his court. Once a lady at court accidentally dropped her garter (подвязка) and Edward III notice some of his courtiers laughing at her. He picked up the garter and tied it to his own leg saying: “Let him be ashamed who sees wrong in it.” From this strange but true story the Order of the Garter (орден подвязки) was founded in 1348.
During the 15th century the throne of England was claimed by representatives of two rival groups. The power of the greatest nobles, who had their own armies, meant the constant challenges to the position of the monarch were possible. The Lancastrians, whose symbol was a red rose, supported the descendants of the Duke of Lancaster, and the Yorkists, whose symbol was a white rose, supported the descendants of the Duke of York. The struggle for power led to the Wars of the Roses between 1455 and 1485. (The name was coined by the 19th-century novelist Sir Walter Scott, but it is a convenient shorthand for these battles between the powerful House of York and that of Lancaster.) One of the nastiest things about these
wars was the number of people who were executed with or without a trial, off the field of battle. Perhaps the best known of these murders was that of young princes, Edward and Richard of York, said to have been smothered while imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1483. The guilt of their uncle, Richard III as described by Shakespeare, has never been proved. The circumstances of Richard’s own death are well known though. He was killed during the Battle of Bosworth, Leicestershire, where Shakespeare had him offering his kingdom for a horse, while his crown rolled into a nearby bush.
