Rawson - A clash of thrones: the power-crazed medieval kings, Popes and emperors of Europe

Welcome to the biggest group of warriors, conquerors, philanderers, murderers and back-stabbers you are ever likely to meet. The power-mad medieval kings of Europe.

Starting with the Great Schism in 1054 and ending with the discovery of the New World in 1492, we see how kings and princes used military campaigns and political intrigue to secure their own power and usurp everyone elses. From conquests to civil wars, and through marriages and alliances, discover how kingdoms grew into the countries we recognise today and learn how some were overrun.

See how the popes and antipopes used God to sway kings decisions and influence the power struggles across the continent. Hear about the threats from the Islamic infidels without and heretical religions within, and see how Crusades in the name of God brutally put down anyone who challenged the all-powerful Catholic Church. From the Holy Roman Emperor to the Knights Templar, and many more, powerful men and organisations all vied to promote their own brand of Christianity.

Learn about the princesses and queens who had to marry, forging alliances that satisfy a kings desire for increasing power while he chased women in court to satisfy his lust for the pleasures of the flesh. Find out how some wives used their wits and femininity to influence their husbands and their barons to change the balance of power in the royal courts. Also hear about the contrived reasons for royal divorces and the political fallout from the break-ups. Encounter some of the royal bastards who helped their fathers consolidate their power and others who plotted to kill so they could take the throne for themselves.

Murder, campaigns, politics, intrigue, torture, marriage: you had to be master of them all to become a successful king. Battles, poisoning, plague, illness, accidents: you had to avoid them all to remain a successful king. Here are their stories woven together in a light-hearted way. Enjoy the lives and struggles of the most important people in medieval Europe as they played the real game of thrones.

F RANCE WAS A FEUDAL STATE and the seizure of England by the Norman Duke William led to the conquest of Ireland in 1183 and Wales a century later. France and England would alternately make alliances through marriage and make war as a result of these marriages. The England-based Angevin Empire extended to rule Wales as well as large parts of Ireland and France. Most of the French territories would soon be lost.

There would be constant battles along the way between the Scottish and the English, with Scotland relying on France at times, resulting in a mutual assistance pact in 1295. Scotland acquired the Western Isles from Norway in 1266, followed by the Orkney and Shetland Islands after 1468.

Henri I became King of the Franks when the French crown lands were at their smallest, encompassing only what is now the region le-de-France, and the rest of the country was run by dukes. He twice failed to capture Normandy from Duke William the Bastard and then met Emperor Henry III to discuss Lorraine. The emperor fled when he proposed hand-to-hand combat to decide ownership. Following his fathers death, Young Philippe I was crowned in 1060 with his mother Anne as regent. Philippe first captured Flanders from Robert the Frisian at the Battle of Cassel in 1071 and then made peace with William of Normandy (also known as the Conqueror).

Philippe had a son with Bertha of Frisia and then divorced her in 1092, declaring that she was too fat when what he really wanted to do was to marry his mistress, Bertrade, daughter of Simon de Montfort I. Pope Urban II excommunicated Philippe, so he refused to support the First Crusade. Urban lifted the excommunication when Philippe promised to leave Bertrade, but he kept returning to her and became known as the Amorous.

Louis VI the Fat was crowned in 1108 and he was primarily occupied with fighting robber barons who were stealing his income in Normandy. His son Philippe was crowned co-king in 1129, but the disobedient teenager was riding through Paris when a pig made his horse rear and throw him; he died the following day.

Instead, teenage Louis VII, a pious man, succeeded his Fat father, but his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine disliked his devout ways and said she had thought to marry a king, only to find shed married a monk . She liked it even less when he vowed to go on a Crusade.

Louis VII and his army reached the Holy Land in 1148 after escaping an ambush near Laodicea. Eleanor asked Louis to support her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, but he divorced Eleanor and headed to Jerusalem to fight alongside Conrad and Baldwin instead. Louis VII returned home in 1149, when their siege of Damascus ended in disaster, having spent his fortune. Meanwhile, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, giving the future King Henry II of England the duchy of Aquitaine, and a furious Louis VII was defeated when he attacked him.

Louis VII eventually had a son with his third wife in 1165, and Philippe II was crowned in 1180. Although Henry II of England continued to expand his territories along the north and west coast of France, there was trouble brewing in England. Henry made the mistake of giving his overseas territories to his eldest son, Henry the Young King. His brother Richard, future Lionheart, allied with Philippe to get his revenge.

The jealousy was reversed when Richard was recognised as heir to Henrys lands and Philippe was later made feudal lord of Henrys French lands in 1189. Henry II died shortly afterwards, but the power struggle was interrupted when the Third Crusade was launched. Philippe reluctantly joined Richard I of England and Emperor Friedrich I, but he returned to France after they recaptured Acre. Richard was captured in Austria on the way home, accused of murdering King Conrad of Jerusalem. He was eventually ransomed and returned in 1194 only to find Philippe and John had joined forces to recover Normandy. Richard tried to recover his lands, only to be killed in a skirmish in 1199.

John was crowned King of England but he ignored a summons to Paris to answer a charge so Philippe seized Englands lands in France. Philippe had more than tripled the size of his kingdom and would be known as Augustus in homage to the Roman Caesar. But Pope Innocent III was annoyed that Philippe was busy fighting English troops in northern France rather than stamping out the Cathar heresy in the south, so he excommunicated John in 1213 for interfering with Church matters. Innocent also urged Philippe to invade England, seize John and put his own son Louis on the English throne. John repented by turning England over to the pope and it was returned as a papal fief. An Anglo-Flemish-German coalition failed to recover Johns French fiefs, and while John fled to England, Philippe defeated Otto IV of Germany at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.

While Philippe had been successful in military matters, he had trouble at home. Isabelle died in childbirth and he hated his second wife Isambour of Denmark so much that he imprisoned her in a convent rather than crown her. He declared himself divorced but Pope Celestine III refused an annulment because Isambour insisted the marriage had been consummated. To make matters worse, Thomas I of Savoy kidnapped and married Philippes bride-to-be Margaret of Geneva en route to Paris, claiming the king was already betrothed. Philippe married Agnes of Merania instead, but Pope Innocent III again declared the union void and placed France under an interdict. Louis finally took Isambour back in 1213.