King John, Lackland, 1199 to 1216

King John, also known as Lackland or Softsword, was the youngest son of Henry II. Between 1200 and 1204 he fought increasingly losing campaigns to hold onto his Continental possessions. In England he was responsible for refining the government and was instrumental in the spread of literacy. King John, despite his bad reputation, was possibly one of the most learned of all the English kings. He was a keen historian and lawgiver who enjoyed nothing more than to stand in judgement on his peoples. This keen sense of involvement in the running of the kingdom no doubt helped antagonise his baronage, who quite rightly thought that their many privileges were under threat. Magna Carta was the work of an admittedly unwilling King John and his impressive legal advisors, not the rag tag army of discontented barons who faced him at Runnymede. In 1216 when faced by the invasion of a French army he refused to fight them on the coast as, we are told, his history books well reminded him of the fate of a previous king in 1066 who did just that! John's refusal to risk all on one decisive battle led to the long civil war of 1216-8. He died of dysentery at Newark in October 1216 after the infamous loss of his treasure in the Wash.


Henry III, 1216 to 1272

Henry III came to the throne aged only 7 years old and immediately was placed under the tutelage of what should be recognized as a regency led by the old warrior, William Marshall. The first years of his reign saw the country brought back to his fealty until by 1220 most of the land and even Wales was peaceful. The death of the old Earl Marshall did not materially change the set up of Henry's government, and always a weak man he tended to appoint 'strong men' to run the country. Henry's inability to rule as his barons thought fit brought about sporadic rebellions against his ministers of which the outbreak of 1233-34 was one of the worst. Towards the end of the 1250's this discontent was focused in the Marches of Wales where the Marchers had been having a hard time from the attentions of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. In 1258 at the Mad Parliament of Oxford, the barons led by the earls of Gloucester and Leicester commenced the reformation of the government which effectively shackled the absolute monarchy of Henry III and his predecessors with a more or less democratically elected council. This new design worked sporadically until 1263 when Henry, aided by barons who no longer wanted the burden of running the country thrust upon them, helped Henry 'regain his independence'. Unfortunately this led to a bloody civil war known as the Barons' War which lasted until 1266 by which time Henry III had been effectively superseded in the running of the country by his eldest son and heir, the Lord Edward. Henry, wounded at the battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265, contentedly allowed Edward to install a regency government when he left the country in 1270 on crusade. Henry passed away peacefully in November 1272, leaving the government of the kingdom in the hands of the regency council until the return of Edward two years later.


Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, 1272 to 1307

Edward was a far different character from his father and soon put the country on a footing he preferred. In 1276-77 he brought Llywelyn ap Gruffydd to heel as well as putting the finances of the country back in order after the disasters of the previous reign. In 1282 he was surprised by a Welsh revolt and by the April of 1283 he had subjugated the whole of Wales, killing Llywelyn and capturing his brother Dafydd. Even this proved insufficient to totally overawe Wales and Edward faced further revolts in 1287 and 1295, though neither were as serious as the wars of 1277 and 1282. With the conquest of Wales Edward began a massive castle building project that is still rightly seen as one of the wonders of the thirteenth century. Towards the end of his reign Edward became increasingly embroiled in bringing Scotland under his direct rule in a similar manner to that which he had achieved in Wales and this proved by and large to be his undoing. The Welsh campaigns had made heavy drains on the Exchequer and Edward turned more and more to imposing unjust taxes on his peoples and antagonizing his baronage. The conquest of Scotland failed largely because of Edward's success in Wales, he had spent his money and this is why no military masterpieces like Caernarfon or Harlech are to be found in Scotland, where Edward had to content himself more with wooden peels like the one he built at Linlithgow. An increasingly beleaguered Edward, abandoned in some of his campaigns by some of his previously most loyal barons, died crossing the border into Scotland again in 1307.


Edward II, 1307 to 1327

After such a forthright and powerful monarch it was not surprising that his successor should be so weak. Edward II had few of the redeeming features of his father and much more resembled his grandfather. His idea of a good time was living as a rustic on his own play farm while the government of the kingdom was left to less than honest favourites. As a result his reign was punctuated by sporadic explosions amongst his discontented baronage and the rise of a new movement called the Ordainers, who in many respects were the descendants of the reformers of 1258. The Ordainers were decisively defeated in 1322, but Edward failed to capitalize on his success. Instead he was overthrown by his queen and her paramour and put to a grisly 'end' in the dungeons of Berkeley Castle.




Edward III, 1327 to 1377

Initially under the tutelage of his mother and her lover, Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, Edward III bided his time. In 1330 he struck, seizing Mortimer and having him executed. With this Edward re-opened the war with Scotland and then against France having realised that the defeat of Scotland was not possible whilst they received French aid. This helped start the 100 year's war which was the major feature of the reign. War of course needed money and to this end Edward reformed the coinage and came increasingly to rely on parliament to organise the economy and deal with law and order within the realm.


Richard II, 1377 to 1399

The 10 year old Richard succeeded his grandfather in 1377 and immediately his regency council faced all sorts of problems, economic, social, political and constitutional which helped lead in 1381 to the Peasant's Revolt. Then for the first time was heard the rhyme "When Adam delved and Eve span / Who was then the gentleman?" The revolt was ended with the death of Wat Tyler and the young King Richard making various promises to the rebels. However as soon as order was restored the king went back on his promises with the words "Villeins ye are and villeins ye shall remain." The new king was soon set on a path of tyranny and clashed often with his parliament, being defeated by them in 1388 at the battle of Radcot Bridge. Declaring himself of age he then proceeded to rule by fear and attempted to reduce parliament to a talking shop. In 1399 Henry Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur while the king was in Ireland and rapidly had the country rise in his favour. At the end of September Henry, in English rather than French, declared himself king as heir of Henry III and by right of conquest. Richard passed on to a bitter end at Pontefract Castle, either by smothering or self-starvation.




Henry IV, 1399 to 1413

Henry's reign was punctuated by repeated rebellions in the North and the Glyndwr rebellion in the West. Despite this he successfully held the Crown and passed it on to his son, Henry V, though their relationship was always uneasy. His reign effectively ended all military use of castles in Brecknock.


credit ~ Paul M. Remfry