The Plantagenet dynasty

The House of Plantagenet was a royal dynasty that ruled England for .................................. years,
from ......................... to .................... The dynasty is also known as the House of Anjou or
the ...............................dynasty.

Henry II. and Richard I.

Henry I.

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Richard I.

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John I. and Magna Carta

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Magna Carta
The Magna Carta, which means “great charter” in Latin, was drawn up by English barons (nobles) and church
leaders to limit the king’s power. In 1215 they forced the tyrannical King John to agree to the charter.

The Magna Carta stated that the king must follow the law and could not simply rule as he wished. It was one of the
first documents to state that citizens had such rights. Today many people consider Magna Carta to be the first
written constitution in Europe.

King John’s cruelty and greed united the powerful feudal nobles, the church leaders, and the people against him.
He demanded too much money in taxes. While the king was waging a disastrous war in France, the leading barons
of England met secretly and swore to compel him to respect the rights of his subjects. When John returned, they
presented him with a series of demands. John tried to gather support in order to avoid giving in to the demands,
but almost all his followers deserted him. Too weak to resist the barons and bishops, at last he met with them
along the south bank of the Thames River, in a meadow called Runnymede. King John affixed his seal to the Magna
Carta on June 15, 1215.

The document then underwent further modifications, with the final version agreed to on June 19.
The document had 63 sections. Although much of it deals with feudal rights and duties, it also includes provisions
that protect the rights of the church, merchants, and townspeople.

The Magna Carta also guaranteed the rights of women and children who inherited property, and it stated that
people could not be punished for crimes unless they were lawfully convicted.

Finally, the Magna Carta gave barons the right to declare war on the king if he did not follow the charter’s
provisions.

English rulers often tried to ignore the Magna Carta. However, it was the beginning of significant limitations on the
English monarchs’ power.

As the monarch lost power, the nobles and, later, Parliament gained it. In later centuries leaders and ordinary
people cited the Magna Carta as a guarantee of basic human rights. The document has become a symbol and a
battle cry against oppression, with each generation reading into it a protection of its own threatened liberties.

Henry III. and Edward I.

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Exercise: Listening

He had been appointed by ........................to the most important religious position in England
in ..............., but was slain after some of the king’s men interpreted one of their ruler’s angry outbursts
as the desire to have Becket killed.

Thomas Becket was appointed ................................. by Henry in 1155. In this job he proved himself to be
a loyal member of the king’s court and so when Theobald, the existing ......................................................
died, Henry saw his chance to dominate the church by appointing Becket to succeed him.

Having a loyal friend in the most senior religious position in England made sense to Henry. However, as
Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket’s allegiance quickly switched to siding with the church. This frustrated
Henry, who asked Becket to sign the ................................................... in 1164 to extend the king’s
authority over the clergy. Becket refused, and shortly after being summoned to the king to explain his
actions fled to France.

Becket returned in .............................. but, after excommunicating members of the clergy for supporting
Henry, found himself the target of an angry outburst by the king – which almost certainly wasn’t "Who
will rid me of this troublesome priest?" Whatever Henry did say, however, it was enough to encourage
four knights to travel to Canterbury and kill him inside the .......................................... It is said that the
fatal blow split his skull. Becket was canonised by the Pope barely two years after the murder, and in
1174 the king himself walked barefoot to Canterbury in penance.