A Companion to the Royal Heritage

by Marc Alexander

Overview

More than a biography of kings and queens, this title is an encyclopaedic work on every aspect of monarchy in Britain from semi-legendary times to the present day. It provides a reference for discovering more about individual monarchs and the huge legacy of myths, traditions and practices which has grown up around the institution of the monarchy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752495033
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	05/26/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
File size:	688 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

Read an Excerpt

A Companion to the Royal Heritage of Britain

---

By Marc Alexander

The History Press

Copyright © 2013 Marc Alexander
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-9503-3

---

CHAPTER 1

A

ABDICATION In over eleven centuries of monarchy in Britain, one of the rarest events is abdication, a sovereign ending his or her reign by surrendering the Crown. In AD 962 King Ingulf of Scotland abdicated in order to join a holy order, but within a year his new vocation had ended when he was killed by marauding Vikings. Three centuries were to pass before the next abdication when John Balliol ('Toom Tabard') resigned from the throne of Scotland in 1296. He had been placed upon it by the influence of EDWARD I after the death of Margaret ('The Maid of Norway'), which had left the country without a direct successor to the Crown. A council of twelve disaffected nobles took control of the government and concluded an alliance with England's traditional enemy France. In reply King Edward invaded Scotland and, laying the blame on John, forced him to abdicate, after which he was imprisoned in the TOWER OF LONDON before he was finally allowed to retire to his estates in Normandy.

On 20 June 1327 EDWARD II was deposed by a parliament controlled by his wife Queen Isabella ('The She-wolf of France') and her paramour ROGER MORTIMER, Earl of March. On the 25th of the month the king 'dressed in black, fainting and sobbing' formally abdicated in favour of his son EDWARD III, and the Steward of the Royal Household broke his staff, signalling that his reign was ended. Nine months later the ex-king was murdered at Berkeley Castle.

The next English king to abdicate was RICHARD II, who, in August 1399, was captured by Henry Bolingbroke, who became HENRY IV. Richard formally abdicated the following month and, imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, he died mysteriously the following year.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, when a prisoner at Lochleven, was approached by Lord Lindsey, Lord Ruthven and Sir Robert Melville on behalf of the rebel lords who had taken control, and induced to abdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of her infant son James VI of Scotland, who subsequently became JAMES I of England. Later she escaped from her island prison and found herself at the head of an army of her supporters. She was defeated by her half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray at the Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568, after which she unwisely fled to England to put herself at the mercy of ELIZABETH I. She was held a prisoner until her execution in 1587.

JAMES II was 'deemed by Parliament' to have abdicated on 11 December 1688 by fleeing to France at the onset of the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION. In his court of exile at St Germain he was still regarded as the rightful King of England by his supporters, who came to be known as Jacobites, and funded by the French he endeavoured to regain the Crown with an invasion of Ireland, but was defeated by WILLIAM III at the Battle of Boyne in 1690.

The next relinquishing of the British Crown came 248 years later in what came to be known as the Abdication Crisis. Then, EDWARD VIII abdicated on 11 December 1936 in favour of his brother GEORGE VI in order that he might marry Wallis Simpson. The government and the Church of England had bitterly opposed the idea of the marriage to Mrs Simpson, as it was considered that it would be inappropriate for the king as head of the Church to marry a divorcee. The king had supporters sympathetic to his dilemma – the Crown or the woman he loved – and there was talk of a King's Party being formed, but Edward decided the only solution was his abdication, which he announced to the nation in a historic wireless broadcast.

AGINCOURT, BATTLE OF The most famous victory won by a king in the field, the battle was fought on St Crispin's Day, 25 October 1415. HENRY V, having taken Harfleur, led his army across Normandy towards his object of Calais. Close to the village of Azincourt they were met by a much larger force. As a frontal attack was launched against the English position, Henry's archers cut down the flower of French chivalry and gave Henry mastery of Normandy, making him a national hero, a role immortalised in Shakespeare's play Henry V.

AID The name given to the system whereby the tenants of medieval kings were called upon to provide 'aid', i.e. money, for exceptional circumstances. These could range from the cost of the marriage of an eldest princess to raising the ransom of a captured king. From a historical point of view this practice was important, as councils meeting to consider whether or not aid should be granted to the sovereign were the forerunners of Parliament.

Cut-out figures of Henry V's archers on the battlefield of Agincourt – a generous tribute to the English victors.

ALBERT MEMORIALSee KENSINGTON GARDENS

ALBERT, PRINCE The second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Albert married his cousin QUEEN VICTORIA in 1840, and two years later was made Consort. He was to labour with such dedication for the advancement of his adopted country that he often appeared haggard. As chairman of the Fine Arts Royal Commission, it was his aspiration to make London's South Kensington a centre for the arts and education. His interests ranged from the improvement of housing for the working classes to industrial development and the furtherance of science. The Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park was his inspiration. When it opened in May it was a personal triumph for the Prince, who had seen it through against all manner of opposition. Its success was to underline Britain as the 'workshop of the world'.

Over the years, the prince wore down the mistrust felt towards him as a foreigner by both the public and ministers. When he became the Queen's husband he was practically unknown in England, and lacking position and wealth he was regarded by many as a 'Coburg adventurer on the make'. Indeed, it was not until 1857 that he was officially designated Prince Consort. Too intelligent to interfere openly in politics, his far-sighted advice was passed on to the Cabinet through the Queen. In one instance he is credited with averting a war between Great Britain and the United States of America.

The life of the royal couple was not wholly devoted to politics and advancement. Albert, raised in the romantic countryside of his father's little kingdom, sought to get away from London whenever possible to enjoy domestic life with Victoria and their family at BALMORAL in Scotland and OSBORNE HOUSE on the Isle of Wight.

It has been said that the Prince's most significant contribution to the British way of life was the example he and the Queen set of a decorous and devout family life after the scandals associated with previous Hanoverian reigns. Yet the behaviour of his eldest son Edward, the future EDWARD VII, caused him great anxiety. When Albert and Victoria became concerned about his matrimonial prospects, they were unaware of the talk in London clubs about Edward's liaison with Nellie Clifden, discretion not being one of the actress's virtues. When the story finally reached Windsor it dropped like a bombshell on the royal family. Prince Albert wrote to Edward 'with a heavy heart upon a subject which has caused me the greatest pain I have yet felt in this life'.

Albert travelled in a special train to Cambridge, where Edward was at Trinity, for a man-to-man talk which ended in a reconciliation between father and son. When Albert returned to London, he was in a low state of health, and his symptoms developed into typhoid fever from which he died on 14 December 1861. Believing that her beloved husband's illness had been caused by Edward's immoral behaviour, the Queen refused to send for him and it was only the result of a telegram, dispatched in secret by his sister Princess Alice, that Edward travelled to Windsor early on the day that his father died.

Desperate in her grief, Victoria continued to hold Edward responsible, and she wrote to her daughter Vicky that 'I never can or shall look at him [Edward] without a shudder ...'

ALFRED THE ATHELING Born c. 1008, the son of ETHELRED II ('The Unready') and his second wife EMMA, Alfred was known as 'The Atheling', the name denoting a prince of the blood royal or an heir apparent. A year after the death of Ethelred, Queen Emma married KING CANUTE, by whom she had a son and two daughters. This meant that Alfred and his brother, the future EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, were barred from the succession. They were taken to Normandy to be brought up, and on the death of Canute in 1035 Alfred made a rash visit to England. At Ely in Cambridgeshire he was taken prisoner by EARL GODWINE, then blinded and brutally murdered. His remains were interred in Ely Cathedral.

ALFRED THE GREAT As the legendary KING ARTHUR was to the Celts, so Alfred was to the Anglo-Saxons – a warrior king who held the line against foreign invaders. But Alfred is seen as more than a folk-tale hero, thanks to his biography by Bishop Asser, written in AD 893, which gives the first detailed account of an English king.

Alfred was born at Wattage in AD 849, the fifth son of Ethelwulf who was crowned King of Wessex five years later at Kingston upon Thames. He was said to be more interested in the kingdom of heaven than in his own kingdom of Wessex, and when Alfred was 6 years old he took him on a pilgrimage to Rome, seemingly not troubled by the fact that for the first time Vikings wintered on the Isle of Sheppey, which implied their designs upon England. The ruins of Rome and all they represented had a profound effect on the boy prince and left him with a lifelong ambition to restore learning to Wessex.

In AD 858 Ethelwulf died and was succeeded by his son Ethelbald. He died two years later and was followed by his brother Ethelbert. On his death in AD 865 the throne passed to Ethelred, who like his brothers was destined to have a short reign, spent in opposing the Danes, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle called the Scandinavian invaders.

In the year of Ethelred's accession a huge force of Danes, known as the Great Army, landed in East Anglia and prepared to attack systematically the various English kingdoms. It was led by the sons of the Viking Ragnar Lothbrok ('Hairy Breeches') who, after being captured by the Northumbrians, had been put to death in a snake pit. By AD 870 the Great Army had subdued Northumbria and East Anglia, where King Edmund became a living target for Danish archers when he refused to renounce Christianity.

The Great Army then advanced on Wessex, where on 8 January AD 871 it was checked at the Battle of Ashdown on the Berkshire Downs, the victory mainly due to the courage of Alfred. Soon afterwards King Ethelred died of wounds received at the Battle of Merton, fought on 23 April, and Alfred, the last of Ethelwulf's sons, was chosen as king by the WITAN. The Danes' incursions into Wessex continued and after Ashdown eight other battles were fought against them that year, with the result that the West Saxons earned some respite. Then, early in AD 878, Guthrum, King of the East Anglian Danes, made an attack for which Alfred was unprepared. As the Danes had never campaigned in winter before, the assault came as such a surprise that Alfred, with his wife Ethelswitha and their children, had to flee his palace at Chippenham, after which he became a lonely fugitive.

During the spring of AD 878 he was forced to hide on the marsh-surrounded Isle of Athelney and here the legendary tales surrounding him began. The best known tells how the disguised king took shelter in a cowherd's cottage. While he was sitting in front of the fire making arrows, the cowherd's wife asked him to watch some rye cakes baking on the hearth. Doubtless pondering on the plight of his occupied kingdom, Alfred did not notice that the cakes were being scorched until too late and he was berated in no uncertain terms. Alfred merely laughed over the episode and when he regained his kingdom the cowherd and his wife were rewarded.

By Easter AD 878 he had established a base on Athelney, on which his scattered followers began to converge. They were encouraged when the Earl of Devon's Saxons defeated a Danish army, slaying nearly a thousand Danes, though the real psychological blow to the invaders was the loss of their Raven Banner. This they regarded with superstitious awe, believing that the ill-omened bird, embroidered by the daughters of Ragnar Lothbrok, portended victory or defeat by raising or lowering its wings.

It was at this point another incident occurred that was to become part of folklore. When Alfred was planning to meet Guthrum in battle he was anxious to know the disposition of his forces, so disguising himself as a minstrel he entered the enemy camp, where for several days he entertained the Danes. After his successful spying the order was secretly circulated for all men willing to fight the Danes to muster at Egbert's Stone in a lonely spot to the east of Selwood Forest. Soon afterwards one of the most significant battles in British history was fought when the English met the Danes at Edington in Wiltshire; after the Danes had fled the field, Alfred blockaded their base at Chippenham, where they were 'terrified by hunger, cold and fear'.

Finally Guthrum surrendered, offering hostages as an insurance for a peaceful withdrawal. Alfred was wisely magnanimous in victory and sent in food, and soon Saxon and Dane were feasting together, a remarkable peace celebration after so much bloodletting. Alfred's wish that he should be baptised was realised when the king 'stood godfather to him and raised him from the holy font'. Guthrum honoured his oath to leave Wessex in peace and settled with his followers in East Anglia, where he remained Alfred's staunch ally.

While Guthrum was no longer a threat, Alfred had to defend his kingdom against other invaders until in AD 879 they withdrew and the kingdom was finally at peace. By building ships with twice as many oars as those of the Danes, the king was able to defend the realm by heading off raiders before they could make landfall. His improved vessels, powered by sixty sweeps, shifted the balance of seapower so that Alfred earned the title of 'Father of the English Navy'.

King Alfred founded twenty-five towns, some of which were built on old Roman sites and some of which, like Shaftesbury and Oxford, were new. Although Alfred could now have claimed the title of King of the English, he preferred to remain officially the King of Wessex as he had no wish to weaken the country by regional jealousies. At his court the Witan was composed of Englishmen rather than just men of Wessex, as had been the rule. Part of the work of this broadly based Witan was to assist the king in drawing up a treaty with Guthrum which not only defined his territory, known as the Danelaw, but had more far-reaching objectives. It stated that Englishmen living within the Danelaw should be treated as equals with the Danes, and Danes outside the Danelaw should have the same rights as Englishmen. The effect of this upon the country was so profound that it has been likened to MAGNA CARTA in importance.

Once the wars with the Danes were over, it is estimated that Alfred spent half the kingdom's revenue on bringing enlightenment to what had long been an illiterate land. Monasteries that had been destroyed were rebuilt, schools set up, and foreign craftsmen, artists and scholars were encouraged to come to teach in England. The king decreed that 'all the sons of freemen who have the means to undertake it should be set to learning English letters'. So eager was the king that he had himself taught Latin so he could translate Latin books into the language of his people. As a result he was not only regarded as the Father of the English Navy but the Father of English Prose. Among the works he translated was Orosius' History of the World, which he brought up to date by writing extra chapters.

Alfred's days were so crowded that, at a time when hour-glasses and clocks were unknown in England, he devised a candle clock so he could divide up his time as profitably as possible. This was simply a candle marked with coloured rings, each of which represented an hour. When he was absorbed in writing, a servant watched the candle burn down until a new ring was reached, and it was his duty to announce that another hour had passed. To prevent draughts from making the candle clock unreliable the king invented a special draught-proof lantern to hold it.

Exhausted by his endeavours as a military commander, administrator and scholar, King Alfred – 'England's darling' – died in 899 at the age of 50 and was succeeded by his son EDWARD, who became known as 'The Elder'. Alfred was buried in Newminster Abbey, Winchester, and later his remains were translated to Hyde Abbey, where they stayed until the abbey was demolished following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. There is a possibility that one of Winchester Cathedral's mortuary chests may hold the king's bones.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from A Companion to the Royal Heritage of Britain by Marc Alexander. Copyright © 2013 Marc Alexander. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
A,
B,
C,
D,
E,
F,
G,
H,
I,
J,
K,
L,
M,
N,
O,
P,
Q,
R,
S,
T,
U,
V,
W,
X,
Y,
Z,
Appendix I: Reigns of English and British Sovereigns,
Appendix II: Royal Resting Places,