John I Plantagenet, King of England

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England

John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his elder brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henry's favorite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England and on the continent. John's elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young; by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richard's royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade.

Despite this, after Richard died in 1199, John was proclaimed King of England, and came to an agreement with Philip II of France to recognize John's possession of the continental Angevin lands at the peace treaty of Le Goulet in 1200.

He was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. John lost the duchy of Normandy to King Philip II of France, which resulted in the collapse of most of the Angevin Empire and contributed to the subsequent growth in power of the Capetian dynasty during the 13th century. The baronial revolt at the end of John's reign led to the sealing of the Magna Carta, a document sometimes considered to be an early step in the evolution of the constitution of the United Kingdom.

When war with France broke out again in 1202, John achieved early victories, but shortages of military resources and his treatment of Norman, Breton and Anjou nobles resulted in the collapse of his empire in northern France in 1204. John spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. John's judicial reforms had a lasting impact on the English common law system, as well as providing an additional source of revenue. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to John's excommunication in 1209, a dispute finally settled by the king in 1213. John's attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed due to the French victory over John's allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, who were unhappy with his fiscal policies and his treatment of many of England's most powerful nobles. Although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis of France. It soon descended into a stalemate. John died of dysentery contracted whilst on campaign in eastern England during late 1216; supporters of his son Henry III went on to achieve victory over Louis and the rebel barons the following year.

Contemporary chroniclers were mostly critical of John's performance as king, and his reign has since been the subject of significant debate and periodic revision by historians from the 16th century onwards. Historian Jim Bradbury has summarized the current historical opinion of John's positive qualities, observing that John is today usually considered a "hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general". Nonetheless, modern historians agree that he also had many faults as king, including what historian Ralph Turner describes as "distasteful, even dangerous personality traits", such as pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty. These negative qualities provided extensive material for fiction writers in the Victorian era, and John remains a recurring character within Western popular culture, primarily as a villain in films and stories depicting the Robin Hood legends.

John's personal life greatly affected his reign. Contemporary chroniclers state that John was sinfully lustful and lacking in piety. It was common for kings and nobles of the period to keep mistresses, but chroniclers complained that John's mistresses were married noblewomen, which was considered unacceptable. John had at least five children with mistresses during his first marriage to Isabelle of Gloucester, and two of those mistresses are known to have been noblewomen.

John's behaviour after his second marriage to Isabella of Angoulême is less clear, however. None of John's known illegitimate children were born after he remarried, and there is no actual documentary proof of adultery after that point, although John certainly had female friends amongst the court throughout the period. The specific accusations made against John during the baronial revolts are now generally considered to have been invented for the purposes of justifying the revolt; nonetheless, most of John's contemporaries seem to have held a poor opinion of his sexual behavior.

The character of John's relationship with his second wife, Isabella of Angoulême, is unclear. John married Isabella whilst she was relatively young ? her exact date of birth is uncertain, and estimates place her between at most 15 and more probably towards twelve years old at the time of her marriage. Even by the standards of the time, Isabella was married whilst very young. John did not provide a great deal of money for his wife's household and did not pass on much of the revenue from her lands. Other aspects of their marriage suggest a closer, more positive relationship. Chroniclers recorded that John had a "mad infatuation" with Isabella, and certainly John had conjugal relationships with Isabella between at least 1207 and 1215; they had five children.

In the aftermath of John's death William Marshal was declared the protector of the nine-year-old Henry III. The civil war continued until royalist victories at the battles of Lincoln and Dover in 1217. Louis of France gave up his claim to the English throne and signed the Treaty of Lambeth. The failed Magna Carta agreement was resuscitated by Marshal's administration and reissued in an edited form in 1217 as a basis for future government. Henry III continued his attempts to reclaim Normandy and Anjou until 1259, but John's continental losses and the consequent growth of Capetian power in the 13th century proved to mark a "turning point in European history".

John's second wife, Isabella of Angoulême, left England for Angoulême soon after the king's death; she became a powerful regional leader, but largely abandoned the children she had had by John. They had five legitimate children:

His eldest son, Henry III, ruled as king for the majority of the 13th century.


Richard became a noted European leader and ultimately the King of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire.

Joan married Alexander II of Scotland to become his queen consort.

Isabella married the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.[232]

His youngest daughter, Eleanor, married William Marshal's son, also called William, and later the famous English rebel Simon de Montfort.

John had a number of illegitimate children by various mistresses, including nine sons ? Richard, Oliver, John, Geoffrey, Henry, Osbert Gifford, Eudes, Bartholomew and probably Philip ? and three daughters ? Joan, Maud and probably Isabel. Of these, Joan became the most famous, marrying Prince Llywelyn the Great of Wales.

Historical interpretations of John have been subject to considerable change over the years. Medieval chroniclers provided the first contemporary, or near contemporary, histories of John's reign. These historians were generally unsympathetic to John's behavior under Richard's rule, but slightly more positive towards the very earliest years of John's reign. Reliable accounts of the middle and later parts of John's reign are more limited.

In the 16th century political and religious changes altered the attitude of historians towards John. Tudor historians were generally favorably inclined towards the king, focusing on John's opposition to the Papacy and his promotion of the special rights and prerogatives of a king. Revisionist histories portrayed John as an early Protestant hero.

By the Victorian period in the 19th century historians were more inclined to draw on the judgements of the chroniclers and to focus on John's moral personality, blaming his These historians were often inclined to see John's reign, and his signing of Magna Carta in particular, as a positive step in the constitutional development of England, despite the flaws of the king himself. family background and his cruel personality for his downfall.

In the 1940s, new interpretations of John's reign began to emerge, based on research into the record evidence of his reign, such as pipe rolls, charters, court documents and similar primary records. Interpretations of Magna Carta and the role of the rebel barons in 1215 have been significantly revised: although the charter's symbolic, constitutional value for later generations is unquestionable, in the context of John's reign most historians now consider it a failed peace agreement between "partisan" factions.

Most historians today argue that John was an unsuccessful monarch, but note that his failings were exaggerated by 12th- and 13th-century chroniclers. The current consensus that John was a hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general", albeit, with distasteful, even dangerous personality traits, including pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty.

Buried:
Grave location, photos of tomb and effigy:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1953

John married Isabel d'Angoulême, Countess of Angoulême. Isabel (daughter of Aymer d'Angoulême, Count of Angoulême and Alice/Alix de Courtenay, Countess of Angoulême) was born ca 1188, Angoulême; died 04 Jun 1246, Fontevraud Abbey, France; was buried , Fontevraud Abbey, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Leicester

She was the youngest child of King John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. At the time of Eleanor's birth at Gloucester, King John's London was in the hands of French forces, John had been forced to sign the Magna Carta and Queen Isabella was in shame. Eleanor never met her father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old.

The only lands loyal to her brother, Henry III of England, were in the Midlands and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who protected the young king Henry, and the French were defeated.

Before William the Marshal died in 1219 Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on 23 April 1224 at New Temple Church in London. The younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on 6 April 1231, days before their seventh anniversary. There were no children of this marriage.

Eleanor had brought a dowry of 10 manors and 200 pounds per year to this marriage. According to the law of the time, widows were allowed to retain one third of the estates of the marriage. However, her brother-in-law Richard took all of the estates and sold many, including her dowry, to pay William's debts. Eleanor strove for many years to try and recover her lost property.

The widowed Eleanor swore a holy oath of chastity in the presence of Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury. Seven years later, she met Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. According to Matthew Paris, Simon was attracted to Eleanor's beauty and elegance as well as her wealth and high birth. They fell in love and married secretly on 7 January 1238 at the King's chapel in Westminster Palace. Her brother King Henry later alleged that he only allowed the marriage because Simon had seduced Eleanor. The marriage was controversial because of the oath Eleanor had sworn several years before to remain chaste. Because of this, Simon made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking papal approval for their union.

Simon and Eleanor had seven children:

Henry de Montfort (November 1238-1265)
Simon the younger de Montfort (April 1240-1271)
Amaury de Montfort, Canon of York (1242/1243-1300)
Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244-1288)
Joanna, born and died in Bordeaux between 1248 and 1251
Richard de Montfort (1252-1281)
Eleanor de Montfort Princess of Wales (1258-1282)

Simon de Montfort had the real power behind the throne, but when he tried to take the throne, he was defeated and killed with his son at the Battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at Montargis Abbey, a nunnery founded by her deceased husband's sister Amicia, who remained there as abbess. There she died on 13 April 1275, and was buried there. She was well treated by Henry, retained her incomes, and her proctors were allowed to pursue her litigation concerning the Leicester inheritance in the English courts; her will and testament were executed without hindrance.

Through her son Guy, Eleanor was an ancestor of Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV.


Buried:
Grave location and portrait:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=92166184

Eleanor married Simon V de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. Simon was born 1208, England; died 04 Aug 1265, Evesham, Worcestershire, England; was buried , Evesham Abbey, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Montfort,_Count_of_Nola

The son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England, daughter of King John of England and Isabele de Angoulême, he participated in the Battle of Evesham against the royalist forces of his uncle, King Henry III of England, and his cousin, Prince Edward. Both his father and elder brother were traumatically killed during the disastrous battle, Guy de Montfort was extremely wounded and captured.

He was held at Windsor Castle until spring 1266, when he bribed his captors and escaped to France to rejoin his exiled family. Guy and his brother, Simon the younger, wandered across Europe for several years, eventually making their way to Italy.

Guy took service with Charles of Anjou, serving as his Vicar-General in Tuscany. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Tagliacozzo and was given Nola and the title of Count by Charles of Anjou.

Guy murdered his cousin Henry of Almain while he clutched the altar at the church of San Silvestro in Viterbo, begging for mercy. "You had no mercy for my father and brothers," was Guy's reply. This murder was carried out in the presence of the Cardinals (who were conducting a papal Election), of King Philip III of France, and of King Charles of Sicily. For this crime the Montfort brothers were excommunicated, and Dante banished Guy to the river of boiling blood in the seventh circle of his Inferno (Canto XII).

Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi and Cardinal Giovanni Orsini were still in Rome and had been ordered to find a secure place of imprisonment in the territories of the Church for Guy de Montfort. Guy was stripped of his titles and took service with Charles of Anjou again, but was captured off the coast of Sicily in 1287 by the Aragonese at the Battle of the Counts. He died in a Sicilian prison.

In Tuscany, he married an Italian noblewoman, Margherita Aldobrandesca, the Lady of Sovana, heiress of a branch of the Aldobrandeschi family, whose lands stretched from the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea to the borders of Acquapendente. With her he had two daughters: Anastasia, who married Romano Orsini, and Tomasina, who married Pietro di Vico.

Among his direct descendants through his daughter, Anastasia are late 15th century Kings of Naples, England's Queen-Consort Elizabeth Woodville, 16th century rulers of Poland, Dukes of Ferrera, and Dukes of Guise.

Guy married Margherita Aldobrandeschi, Countess of Sovana and Pitigliano. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_de_Montfort

She was eldest daughter of Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, himself the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and was an Italian noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. She held the title suo jure Countess of Nola after her father's death in 1291. She also held the titles of Dame de Chailly and Dame de Longjumeau in her own right.

Her father fled England in 1266 after escaping from prison where they had been held following the Battle of Evesham in 1265, where his father and eldest brother, Henry were slain, and he had been captured. Guy eventually arrived in Italy and entered the service of Charles of Anjou who made him Count of Nola and Vicar-general of Tuscany. On 10 August 1270, he married Margherita Aldobrandeschi at Viterbo. Less than a year later, in March 1271, he murdered his cousin Henry of Almain inside San Silvestro church, an act which led to his being excommunicated and stripped of his titles.

He once again took up service with Charles of Anjou and was later captured off the coast of Sicily in 1287 by the Aragonese after the Battle of the Counts. He died in a Sicilian prison in 1291.

Upon his death, Anastasia became the Countess of Nola in her own right. In an effort to retain her lands, Anastasia's mother Margherita Aldobrandeschi married four more times after Guy's death. Her four additional husbands were: Orsello Orsini, Loffredo Caetani, her cousin Guido Aldobrandeschi di Santa Fiora, and Nello de' Pannocchieschi.

Anastasia married Romano Orsini (1268-1327), Senator of Rome and son of Gentile II Orsini, Senator of Rome and Claricia de Ruffo. The marriage had been arranged by Cardinal Napoleon Orsini, who was her mother's guardian. Anastasia, being Margherita's eldest daughter and heiress, eventually brought the rich Aldobrandeschi and Sovana inheritances into the Orsini family.

Together Romano and Anastasia had at least three children:

Roberto Orsini, Count of Nola (1295- 15 January 1345), married Sueva del Balzo, the daughter of Hugues del Balzo, Count of Soleto and Seneschal of Naples, and Jacopa della Marra. Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of Edward IV of England was a descendant of Roberto and Sueva.

Guido Orsini, Count of Pitigliano (died after 1348), married Agostina della Gherardesca, by whom he had children.

Giovanna Orsini, married in 1334 Nicolo Caetani by whom she had children.

Anastasia died on an unknown date, which occurred sometime before her eldest son, Roberto's death on 15 January 1345 as he had succeeded her as Count of Nola. Her husband Romano died in 1327.

Anastasia married Romano (Romanello) Orsini, Royal Vicar of Rome, Count of Soana. Romano (son of Gentile II Orsini, Great Justicer of the Kingdom of Naples and Clarice/Clarissa Ruffo) was born 1268, Italy; died 1327, Italy. [Group Sheet]