Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The papacy, 1024–1122
- 3 The western empire under the Salians
- 4 Italy in the eleventh century
- 5 The kingdom of the Franks to 1108
- 6 Spain in the eleventh century
- 7 England and Normandy 1042–1137
- 8 The Byzantine Empire, 1025–1118
- 9 Kievan Rus’, the Bulgars and the southern Slavs, c. 1020 – c. 1200
- 10 Poland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries
- 11 Scandinavia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- 12 Hungary in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- 13 The papacy, 1122–1198
- 14 The western empire, 1125–1197
- 15 Italy in the twelfth century
- 16 Spain in the twelfth century
- 17 The kingdom of the Franks from Louis VI to Philip II
- 18 England and the Angevin dominions, 1137–1204
- 19 Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the Twelfth Century
- 20 The Byzantine Empire, 1118–1204
- 21 The Latin East, 1098–1205
- 22 ’Abbasids, Fatimids and Seljuqs
- 23 Zengids, Ayyubids and Seljuqs
- Appendix: genealogical tables
- List of primary sources
- Bibliography of Secondary Works Arranged by Chapter
- Index
- Map 1a The western empire: Burgundy and Provence in the eleventh century"
- Map 1b The western empire: Germany and the north-eastern frontier of Christendom in the eleventh century"
- Map 3 The kingdom of the Franks"
- Map 4 England and Normandy"
- Map 10 Germany under Frederick Barbarossa, c. 1190">
- Map 12 The Angevin empire"
- References
18 - England and the Angevin dominions, 1137–1204
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The papacy, 1024–1122
- 3 The western empire under the Salians
- 4 Italy in the eleventh century
- 5 The kingdom of the Franks to 1108
- 6 Spain in the eleventh century
- 7 England and Normandy 1042–1137
- 8 The Byzantine Empire, 1025–1118
- 9 Kievan Rus’, the Bulgars and the southern Slavs, c. 1020 – c. 1200
- 10 Poland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries
- 11 Scandinavia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- 12 Hungary in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- 13 The papacy, 1122–1198
- 14 The western empire, 1125–1197
- 15 Italy in the twelfth century
- 16 Spain in the twelfth century
- 17 The kingdom of the Franks from Louis VI to Philip II
- 18 England and the Angevin dominions, 1137–1204
- 19 Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the Twelfth Century
- 20 The Byzantine Empire, 1118–1204
- 21 The Latin East, 1098–1205
- 22 ’Abbasids, Fatimids and Seljuqs
- 23 Zengids, Ayyubids and Seljuqs
- Appendix: genealogical tables
- List of primary sources
- Bibliography of Secondary Works Arranged by Chapter
- Index
- Map 1a The western empire: Burgundy and Provence in the eleventh century"
- Map 1b The western empire: Germany and the north-eastern frontier of Christendom in the eleventh century"
- Map 3 The kingdom of the Franks"
- Map 4 England and Normandy"
- Map 10 Germany under Frederick Barbarossa, c. 1190">
- Map 12 The Angevin empire"
- References
Summary
on a November night in 1138, Count Geoffrey of Anjou and his men spent part of the evening feasting in the burghal houses of the Norman coastal town of Touques. The experience, no doubt, was exhilarating. This was the first occasion since King Stephen’s leaving the duchy a year earlier that the count had managed on his own to occupy a major town beyond his wife’s properties along the Maine-Norman border. But the revelry was premature. The castellan at nearby Bonneville, having been left alone, secretly dispersed ‘poor boys and common women’ throughout all quarters of the town in a plan to burn the Angevins out. Forty-six fires were set in all. The amount of smoke and flames made it impossible for either side to engage in combat. Geoffrey and some of his men found refuge in a local cemetery where they waited out the horrific night. Few who waited with him could then have imagined that within six years their lord would become master of Normandy, or that his son, Henry of Anjou, yet a child, would someday reunite the kingdom of England with the duchy of Normandy, joining them in a larger Angevin dominion.
The way to the future lay not with the count’s further campaigns in the duchy, which ended with the Bonneville-sur-Touques debacle, but with the strategic thinking and enterprise of Robert, earl of Gloucester, perhaps the most powerful, certainly the ablest, member of the Anglo-Norman landowning aristocracy. His stature, experience and involvement in the fight of his half-sister, the empress Matilda, countess of Anjou, and her husband for Normandy and England gave the Angevin cause more than hope – it gave it a chance.
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- The New Cambridge Medieval History , pp. 549 - 580Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004