Ruling England, 1042–1227

Richard Huscroft teaches History at Westminster School, London. He is the author of several books on British and European medieval history, including Tales from the Long Twelfth Century (2017), Making England, c.796-1042 (2018), Power and Faith: Politics and Religion in Western Europe from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century and Expulsion (2023).

Part I. Late Anglo-Saxon England, 1042–1066

1. The Reigns, 1042–1066

Edward the Confessor, 1042–1066

Harold II, January–October 1066

The Interregnum, 14 October–25 December 1066

2. Ruling the Kingdom, 1042–1066


King and Nobility

The Crisis of 1051–1052

Royal Government

Local Government

Royal Wealth

Military Organisation

Women and Political Power

Conclusion

Notes

3. The Kings and the Law, 1042–1066



Codes and Cases

Courts and Communities

Trial and Punishment

Conclusion

4. The Kings and the Church, 1042–1066

The Late Anglo-Saxon Church

Royal Government and the Church

England and the Papacy

A Backward Church in Need of Reform

Part II. Anglo-Norman England, 1066–1154

5. The Reigns, 1066–1154

William I ‘the Conqueror’, 1066–1087

William II ‘Rufus’, 1087–1100

Henry I, 1100–1135

Stephen, 1135–1154

6. Ruling the Kingdom, 1066–1154



King and Nobility

Cross-Channel Government

The Royal Household

Local Government

Royal Wealth

Military Organisation

Government in Writing

The Reign of Stephen

Women and Political Power

Conclusion

7. The Kings and the Law, 1066–1154

Continuity and Change

The Principal Courts

The Criminal Law

Civil Cases

Women, Land and the Law

Conclusion

8. The Kings and the Church, 1066–1154

The Church in Normandy

Controlling the English Church

Other Reforms

Kings, Archbishops and Popes

Canterbury and York

The Reign of Stephen

The King’s Jews

Conclusion

Part III. Angevin England, 1154–1227

9. The Reigns, 1154–1227

Henry II, 1154–1189

Richard I, 1189–1199

John, 1199–1216

The Minority of Henry III, 1216-1227

10. Ruling the Kingdom, 1154–1227

The Angevin Empire

The Restoration of Royal Authority

King and Nobility

Royal Government

Women and Political Power

Local Government

Royal Wealth

Military Organisation

The Road to Runnymede

The Minority of Henry III

11. The Kings and the Law, 1154–1227

The Background to the Reforms

The Operation of the System

The Reforms

The Effects of the Reforms

Magna Carta and the Common Law

Conclusion

12. The Kings and the Church, 1154–1227

The Papacy and Canon Law

Royal Expectations

Henry II and Thomas Becket

John and Innocent III

England’s Jews: Murder and Massacre

The Minority of Henry III

The Principal Narrative Sources and their Authors, 1042–1227

Suggestions for Further Reading