Medieval Britain 1066–1509, Year 7: more practice, part 2

Chancellor

提示He ran the king's writing office and was close to Henry II.

为什么Henry made Becket archbishop in 1162, expecting a loyal supporter. Becket changed, and began defending the Church's rights against the king.

The Church's own courts

提示The clergy claimed they answered to a religious authority, not the king's law.

为什么This dispute about "criminous clerks" lay at the heart of the quarrel. Church courts usually gave lighter punishments, which worried Henry.

A group of rebel barons

提示They were powerful landholders who were angry at his taxes.

为什么John had lost lands in France and raised heavy taxes to win them back. The barons rebelled and made him agree to the charter at Runnymede.

Henry III

提示He was the son of King John.

为什么Simon led the barons who wanted to limit the king's power. After Lewes he ruled in the captive king's name and called the 1265 assembly.

Prince Edward (later Edward I)

提示He was the son of the king Simon had captured.

为什么Edward escaped from captivity and defeated Simon. As king he later called parliaments that included townspeople, so Simon's idea survived.

Rats

提示They lived in crowded towns and on ships.

为什么Fleas from infected rats bit people and passed on the plague. People at the time did not know this and blamed bad air, God's anger or sometimes outsiders.

They rose

提示Think of supply and demand: fewer workers, same amount of work.

为什么Landowners struggled to find labour and had to pay more. The government tried to hold wages down with laws, which angered workers.

Richard II

提示He was only fourteen years old.

为什么Richard met the rebels at Mile End and Smithfield. He made promises that were broken once the revolt was over.

Wat Tyler

提示He led the Kent rebels into London.

为什么Tyler was struck down during the meeting by the Lord Mayor of London and the king's men. Without him the revolt soon collapsed.

White

提示The rival Lancastrian emblem was a red rose.

为什么The name "Wars of the Roses" came later, after both houses were linked with roses. At the time the fighting was described in other ways.

Elizabeth of York

提示Her name tells you which house she came from.

为什么Their marriage joined the two families and the red and white roses were combined into the Tudor rose. It helped end the long civil conflict.