Age Of Chivalry Flashcards
(5 cards)
Edward I conquest of wales?
English kings had never conquered wales but many princes of wales had paid homage to English rulers.
When Edward became king, llywelyn refused to swear loyalty to Edward or pay any previously owed money so Edward was determined to show who was in charge.
1: The first campaign,
Following the disrespect from llywelyn in 1276 Edward recruited a huge army of 1000 knights and 15000 infantry and in face of this overwhelming power most welsh princes, including llywelyn surrendered without a fight, travelling to London to pay homage to Edward as their overlord. Edward also started building a series of castles around llywelyn’ land.
2: The second campaign,
English rule and law was highly unpopular in wales and in 1283 there was a series of coordinated rebel attacks led by llywelyn’s brother Dafydd . An enraged Edward decided to gather forces to conquer wales completely and gathered a huge army, but wales now saw this as a national issue and weren’t willing to go down without a fight.
The Welsh got some key victories but when llywelyn was killed in battle the balance started to shift. Parliament granted him a tax so that he could repeatedly call up fresh troops and the rebels were slowing hunted and killed with dafydd eventually being captured tried for treason, then hung, drawn and quartered.
To recover money lost during these campaigns Edward imposed a huge tax on the Welsh which led to yet another rebellion which was quickly crushed by edwards overwhelming power making him the ruler of wales.
Edwards invasions of Scotland?
I’m 1290 Edward was hoping to marry his son to Margaret the heir of the Scottish throne to unite England and Scotland but she died before this could happened, so Scottish nobles asked Edward to decide which of the new claimants deserved the throne, he chose John balliol as he probably thought he could control him, immediately demanding homage.
Edward wanted control of Scotland aswell as wales so to prevent this Scottish nobles formed an alliance with France and launched an attack throughout northern England as far down as Carlisle, this threat won Edward the support needed to raise a tax for an invasion of Scotland and in March 1296 he marched north with 1000 cavalry and 20000 infantry and began to besiege key Scottish castles and towns.
In Berwick when the town refused to surrender Edward launched a full scale attack which killed around 7,000 people and Edward brought in English people to make Berwick an English town.
His victories continued at Dunbar and Stirling castle as he took possession of the castles and the stone of the scone where Scottish kings were crowned and put it in Westminster abbey.
Edwards victory was quick and relatively easy so he left back to England leaving English officials in charge just like in wales, essentially turning Scotland into an English colony, heavy taxes were imposed to pay for the wars and land was redistributed to Scot’s who had supported him.
As in wales this harsh rule led to rebellion but unlike wales it became a successful movement led by William Wallace and Edward had to return to Scotland a further four times each time with a bigger and more expensive army before eventually being killed on his final campaign.
The impacts of edwards wars?
1: Local and national Level,
The wars were immensely disruptive and destructive to areas affected by the wars. In Scotland Edward followed a tactic called chevauchee which meant marching through enemy countryside, looting any valuables and burning the rest. Even when Edward wasn’t purposely destroying areas just his presence was financially draining as if he stopped to rest in your area you would have to host him and his personal household of roughly 200 people at great cost with new buildings being hastily built. This was reflected at national level.
2: government level,
As edwards reign and wars continued he needed more and more money and more soldiers were required. This made the government far more important and in 1295 he called the model parliament including barons, nobles, churchmen and 2 knights from each shire and two representatives of each major town. This gave parliament more of a say in the finances of England and he even reissued the Magna Carta in 1297 to show his loyalty to the government.
3: Psychological level,
The wars built huge amounts of national identity in wales and Scotland rather than crushing it as Edward had hoped and a hated of the English was also developed, but national pride and identity also skyrocketed in England and people started to unite rather than still being divided between Saxons and Norman’s and the church used powerful propaganda to make Edward seem like a chivalric hero and the protector of England. But with this newfound identity a greater dislike of some groups, specifically the Jews also emerged and they were eventually expelled by Edward 1290.
How did the Hundred Years’ War change how all wars were fought 1337-1453?
The Hundred Years’ War was a series of ambitious wars on Englands behalf and monarchs repeatedly attempted to win the French throne, it went back and forth during its massive length but overall England were forced to withdraw permanently.
The changes made in recruitment during edwards reign were now in full effect as most nobles paid scutage rather than enduring military service and many knights were now employed under contracts making them far more expensive, so kings who were struggling to fund wars began to rely on cheaper archers and foot soldiers and this only increased with the arrival of gunpowder, artillery and firearms.
For professional soldiers war became a way to make a living and serious profits for professional knights, so many now fought for money not loyalty or national pride and looting became far more frequent. The bankers who lent out money during the war also made great profits as whilst they lent money to Edward to pursue his war in France they also lent it to his enemies and everybody involved with war started to make good money so waging war became a valuable business.
How did the Hundred Years’ War change England 1337-1453?
1: It dismantled the feudal system,
By about halfway into the Hundred Years’ War heavily armoured knights were no longer the military juggernaut they had once been as the introduction of the longbow exposed their many weaknesses and became their kryptonite so they were replaced by lightly armoured troops called hobelars who could ride through difficult terrain and dismounted to engage the army, this symbolised the end of feudal warfare.
2: It built a sense of national identity,
The war slowly became less a battle purely between the two kings of either country but rather a national war between the people aswell as rumours circulated England that the French were planing on invading and destroying English culture. This fuelled a nationalistic feeling of us vs them in England and finally killed off the use of French in England and also made foreigners in England a target of abuse, which Henry VI saw as an opportunity to win favour and gain money by introducing the aliens subsidy tax in England which taxed all foreigners in England.
3: It reduced the appetite for war,
As in all wars there were anti-war factions in England during the Hundred Years’ War and this grew massively due to the huge costs of the war and the fact that it was fought overseas and not in the interest of the people. People also disliked the mass amount of casualties for no clear gain.
4: it weakened England’s European links,
As England now no longer had so many French lands by the end of the war it became an island on the edge of Europe but this put it in a good situation for European exploration for years to come due to its location and seafaring abilities.
