Catherine Hanley - Two Houses, Two Kingdoms: A History of France and England, 1100–1300

TWO HOUSES, TWO KINGDOMS

Copyright 2022 Catherine Hanley

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Susan

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Plates

Maps

Tables

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A S EVER, ID LIKE TO start by thanking Heather McCallum at Yale University Press and my agent, Kate Hordern, who between them made this book possible. The team at Yales London office, including Marika Lysandrou, Felicity Maunder, Lucy Buchan and Katie Urquhart, have been wonderful; and as the production process entered the final straight the eagle eyes and expertise of copy-editor Clive Liddiard, proofreader Chris Shaw and indexer Ian Craine have been invaluable. Many thanks to them all.

Id like to express my appreciation to the University of Exeter for the honorary research fellowship that enabled me to consult a great deal of material that would otherwise have been inaccessible; I have also benefited enormously from the friendliness and collegiality of fellow medievalists there during my visits to the campus. Access to physical research resources is sometimes difficult when one lives rurally, and I am very fortunate that Karen Collings, at the small but perfectly formed public library in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, did not blanch at some of my more outlandish inter-library loan requests and happily tracked down all sorts of obscure volumes.

A number of academic colleagues were kind enough to discuss or read through drafts of various chapters for me and to offer extremely valuable feedback. Sophie Thrse Amblers unrivalled knowledge of Simon de Montfort was very much appreciated, as she kindly advised on all the sections dealing with him, while also helping me to sort out my Savoyards from my Lusignans and my bishops from my barons. Matthew Bennetts comments on Anglo-Norman warfare and my interpretation of it were invaluable, as were his notes on some of the specific terminology involved (including the fact that I had somehow managed to confuse the radius of a circle with its diameter). Peggy (E.A.R.) Brown generously shared her expertise on Philip the Fair, entering into correspondence and sending me a number of her own research publications, all of which greatly informed my thinking on a king who was initially among those less familiar to me. Andrew Buck and John D. Hosler between them went through every part of the book that mentions the crusades, and particularly the chapter dealing with the siege of Acre; their detailed comments and advice saved me from many an error of interpretation and the occasional outright howler, as well as pointing me towards sources I had been unaware of. Sean McGlynn read the sections on the construction and siege of Chteau Gaillard, as well as providing continuous support, encouragement and (when legally permitted!) tea throughout a planning and writing process that has lasted several years. Kathleen Neal advised me on Edward I and his politics, and kindly sent me an advance copy of one of her own publications on the subject, enabling me to rewrite a section Id been finding particularly tricky. Paul Webster read through all those parts of my text dealing with Thomas Becket, as well as entering into correspondence on the subject of the Anonymous of Bthune, whose chronicle, oft-cited in the present volume, he was editing for publication at the time. Ellie Woodacres expertise on medieval queens was invaluable as she advised on and provided references for the chapters featuring Isabella of Angoulme, Blanche of Castile and Eleanor of Provence. I am extremely grateful to all of these people for their time, expertise, generosity and goodwill. Needless to say, any remaining errors or infelicities in any of these sections of the book are my own; Ill be happy to defend them, probably with a well-organised infantry formation rather than a mass of aristocratic cavalry.

On a personal level, my family have, as ever, been incredibly supportive. Much of the first draft of this book was written during the lengthy UK-wide lockdown periods of 2020 and 2021 (which historians of the future will no doubt analyse in detail), so we were all at home together for many weeks. I owe a great debt of gratitude to all the schoolteachers who set work for our children and continued teaching them in the difficult circumstances that prevailed I certainly couldnt have done such a fantastic job, and this book would never have been written if Id tried.

Inspirational teaching is never forgotten, and Id like to take this opportunity to step back a little into the past and thank Penny Eley and Penny Simons, who jointly supervised my PhD thesis some two decades ago now. I would never have got to this point if they hadnt guided my first attempts at proper writing and yes, I still remind myself constantly of those three words you used to write in the margins of pretty much every draft chapter I ever sent you.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my dear friend and former colleague Susan Brock, who indefatigably reads everything I write these days and always improves it with comments of pinpoint accuracy. This book is dedicated to her.

Map 1 England

Map 2 France

Map 3 The Vexin

Map 4 The Empire and the kingdom of Sicily

Map 5 The Spanish kingdoms