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I think that's just part of the story. There must be more to consider during all this. Remember, Saladin also spent much of his life during this time fighting wars against Syrians, Egyptians and evaded the blade of the assassins numerous times.
@@sulemanhaider1305 you should also remember that in the eyes of the muslim, arab and persian states, the crusader kingdoms were little more than annoying gnats batting away at them. They had much much bigger and more powerful enemies to fight. The importance of the crusades on the middle eastern world is often overstated by european scholars.
Plus it shows why he was so bad at governing. I'd imagine the 'carrot' of the crusades and the 'stick' of having to deal with his own people propelled him to the Middle East
so bloody self sabotage incompetent like CHRIST Richard was probabbly one of the worst kings of england EVER. literal war against your own father when you are the direct heir just... sigh.
That's the PERFECT description! I can totally imagine John shaking his arms in the air in the middle of a square and claiming he is the new king because Richard pressed the snooze button on his clock twice that day. Lol
Which one? There are numerous takes on Prince John in the many, many iterations of Robin Hood, even though the character is generally the same for all of them. My personal favorite was the one from Robin Hood Men in Tights.
@@patrickmcginty3234 I believe the OP is referring to the Disney animated movie with anthropomorphic animals as the characters. Personally, my favorite is Claude Rains as Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood. But that's just because I'm convinced that film is my favorite version of the tale.
Knowing very little about this period of history, I am extremely embarrassed at how long it took me in this series to realize exactly who “Richard” and “John” are. Oohhh THAT Richard and THAT John
In my opinion it would be nice to mention Robin Hood, and Magna Carta with the insulation of Disney's film. In many ways John "Lackland" deserved that very nice song "The Phony King of England"
except he reformed english legal code to be fairer to petitioners against nobles, often judging cases himself where peasants tried to sue their lord. He appointed magistrates, judges and Baliffs, set high standards on their education to the detrement of local lords and Barons. His tax policy targeted noble estates and attempted to alleviate the strain on peasants and others. The magna carta and the Barons war set England and probably the british isles more than half a millenia in common law rights, allowing a nobility to continue to dominate and exploit the peastantry and lower classes. His negative portrayl mostly comes from two chroniclers who were already biased towards him, and commisioned by his enemies most likely. History is written by the those with money and its likely the Barons he fought were the ones who slandered him so. The stain on his reputation second is his failure in France, which by all accounts he was a competent general, and just had the trouble of organising resistance from multiple factions who had multiple reasons to not help him. and in my opinion having a negative opinion of a man because he failed to kill other men is not the best modern interpretation of Kings.
Oh yeah, I forgot this is where the Magna Carta comes in. I think it's noteworthy that John was so disliked that all these hundreds of years later that there still hasn't been another King John in England, despite it being one of the most common boys names in English. It is almost as if no English nobles even wanted to risk the idea their son might even remotely be associated with him
@@jam8539 John is certainly a complicated person and King. While he certainly wasn't as competent as his father or brother, he was also remarkably unlucky. That being said, almost none of the plantagenets were particularly good, so John really gets the stick for being worse than an already bad bunch.
It was around this time when Richard was captured by the Duke of Austria, Leopold II when the infamous Robin Hood tale sprang up. Since when rumor of Richard's sudden and unexpected disappearance in Holy Roman Empire reached England, his brother John wasted no time rebelling against the leaderless crown and attempting to seize power for himself; even the King of France, Philippe II Augustus joined in the fun by leading an offensive into the continental Angevin holdings of Normandy and Anjou. Esentially, this is an example of: when a government is so bad that a theif is praised as a better leader.
Yeah. Then after Richard died, John swiped kingship away from the designated heir for himself by allegedly killing him. That being Duke Arthur of Brittany. Then after pretty much making everyone in Britain angry, the penultimate act of revenge aside from Magna Carta, was allowing Prince Louis of France to invade, forcing him to run to East Angelia. He left his son Henry, who became Henry the 3rd. Also, you wanna know how Richard 1 died? He got shot fatally by a child archer.
It's more accurate to say this is when the modern Robin Hood tale is set rather than that it was this time that it sprang up. The earliest existing tales of Robin Hood specifically mention the tale being set during a King Edward's reign, though we don't know which Edward, and the earliest known references to "Robin Hood" as a name, regardless of stories, is in the 13th century The podcast Mythillogical, located on The Histocrat's youtube channel, has a really fantastic episode on him!
@@Summer_SnowsYes, the tendency to place Robin Hood during John’s “protectorate” was an innovation of Sir Walter Scott in “Ivanhoe.” Then Howard Pyle took that idea, ran with it, and compiled it with the earlier Robin Hood ballads to give us the characters we know him today.
This definitely helps contextualize the famous royals in the classic Robin Hood story. The "evil prince John" taxed everyone to poverty and was prone to corruption... because King Richard liquidated the nation's money to go fight a war for the sake of glory. They both sucked.
Have you ever read the Brother Cadfael mysteries? They’re about the only novels I’ve ever read that are set in this time. The last one, Brother Cadfael’s Penance, particularly covers the political situation, actually including Empress Maud (she’s referred to as Maud instead of Matilda in the series) as a character.
So basically Eleanor was running around after her adult feuding children, and cleaning up their messes. Except she was doing it on a scale that is unimaginable, without any help.
So like... Listening to this I'm reminded of the Disney Robin Hood movie, and remembering how Prince John was always crying about his mother, and that was a nice bit of historical reference. Lol.
Honestly, I kinda feel bad for John "Lackland": Ignored by his family, being forced to take matters in his own hands (of course it was in his own benefit, but it was better than anarchy at that time), and vilified even today.
He was a fourth son, you don't get lands. Boo hoo, he was still one of the most privileged people in the country. The only thing unfair about his general portrayal is he's contrasted to Richard the Lionheart, who was also a terrible King.
John did exactly the same to attempt to defend land on the continent which he then lost anyway. He also imprisoned, murdered and threatened lords and anyone he wanted. So thats why he is portrayed that way
Geoffrey, talking about his father plotting against his sons and expecting treason from them because backstabbing each other was the only Angevin passtime, other than jousting: "He knows. We know that he knows. He knows that we know that he knows. We are a VERY knowledgeable family!"
That part where King Richard the Lionheart disappears on the way back home to England and Prince John "usurps" the throne along with the ominous music is awesome. Pretty much sets the stage for the tale of Robin Hood and the Baron's rebellion that will write the Magna Carta
Now here is an angle they haven't included in the Robin Hood movies and shows yet. At least not to my knowledge. Robin Hood, agent of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Of all the Disney movies, the one I always wanted to see get a sequel was their animal version of “Robin Hood.” Given the history, what will the characters do when Richard dies, and John becomes king for real? John’s excommunication, Magna Carta, the war with the Barons. There’s easily enough material for a decent sequel.
@@magicaltour1 With Robin now related to John by marriage? That could have been very interesting. Also, in Disney's animated version it looked like there was no resistance from the nobility to John taking over in Richard's absence.
@@Dreamfox-df6bg Well, we never see any other nobles in the movie, aside from Richard. Perhaps Robin could be a baron himself? It’s an obvious plot thread: Robin’s now a baron, but he’s uncomfortable settling into the role after his life as an outlaw. Then John becomes king, starts oppressing everyone again, has Richard’s son Arthur killed, and finally gets all of England excommunicated. So Robin now has to lead the barons in revolt against King John, and the film ends with them forcing him to sign the Magna Carta.
Elizabeth Chadwick wrote an amazing series of books about Eleanor, the Summer Queen, The Autumn Throne, and The Winter Crown. Definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in Eleanor. Her other books are all set in this time period as well.
It is EXTREMELY dubious, even outright incorrect, that Alys was Henry II’ mistress. WL Warren, Henry’s greatest biographer, discounted it utterly. The accounts, apart from mere gossip, of this “affair” come from Gerald of Wales (a compromised anti-Angevin) and Roger of Howden (usually useful but in this case clearly recounting gossip he had heard years after the fact to buttress Richard’s argument to toss aside his marriage contract with Philip II).
If you liked this episode and want more of Eleanor, Henry and their sons you may want to check out "Lion in Winter" the 1968 film starring Peter O'Toole, Audrey Hepburn, Antohny Hopkins and Timothy Dalton or the 2003 made for TV remake with Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart. They rank among my mother's favorite movies and portray one of the most politically charged Christmases in history.
As soon as I heard “Richard” and “Saladin” in the same sentence, I thought “Wait, Saladin? Richard goes on crusade, no interest in ruling, little brother John… oh yeah, it’s all coming together!
I hope Extra History one day does a series on William Marshal, the greatest knight in England. Eleanor should have complained about him being lazy. and eating anything put in front of him when he served as a page in Aquitane..
I second this, william marshal was one of the most fascinating men of the time, the greatest of knights and the greatest of servants to the angevin family.
What this lacks... is a snake named Hiss who 'convinced'/hypnotized Richard to join the Crusade, and John about to suck his thumb when he finds out Robin Hood humiliates him yet again.
I always wondered what Elanor was thinking during the time three of her sons rebelled. I doubted she was behind the revolt. But why didn't she condemn them, and demand Henry the Young king wait out his life? Did she have some sympathies for HYK since he was already crowned but was still so dependent financially that he needed money from his parents to finance his court? Was she hoping for some kind of political reconcillation?
Whenever Henry II was in England, he didn't give Eleanor's political savvy the credit it deserved. He may have been King of England, but from the age of 15, Eleanor was Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right. It was partly why she took such an active role in raising Richard, so that at least someone in her family would appreciate her. Around the same time Henry gave 3 of the Young King's castles to John, Eleanor found out that Henry had mortgaged off a sizable portion of Aquitaine - HER Aquitaine - to secure a political alliance, without consulting her. That was the last straw for her, and Richard, since Aquitaine was his inheritance.
So, those were Richard Lionheart and John from the Robin Hood? Interesting to know a bit more about them... Also, I love the re-narration of this part of West-European history from Eleaonor's viewpoint... She really was larger than life and a great role model! Great job Extra History! Cheers from Slovenia!
Henry and Aliénor's resting place, wich is also Richard's, is the Abby of Fontevraud, in France. Happen to be 20min from my home. Love to go there, it's so nice and so rich in history. And the tumbs are really beautiful to see.
The "Demon's brood" thing about the angevines was mostly a myth, there was a couple of family conflicts but it was mostly a funtional family. Now, the normands in the other hand! William the Conquerer had to fight most of his family tree xD (Bachrach, 1984, "Henry II and the Angevin Tradition of Family Hostility")
@@DieNibelungenliad ... Yes, I meant wars. Three small scale wars in several generations is pretty mild. William I had to deal with five wars himself, so it's clear that the normands were way more prone to conflict.
No, wait. They have to finish off the Easter Rising series with the Lies episode and music video, then the Pearl Harbor series, then the Frederick the Great Series, then a series on the American Civil War, then the French Revolution.
@@stevejakab274 alot of people do love Richard now so that part is sorta holding up, and while he was an incredibly incompetent statesman he was a great warmonger so half right
Family infighting among Scandinavian rulers is not looked well upon, not even the great kings who did commit murder against their blood to thin out the succession could shake it off even post mortem
This makes me imagine the real reason Richard went off to the Crusades was to have a change of pace from fighting his family. That and compared to his other male relatives Saladin was a cool dude and a lot more trustworthy. :V
Have you guys made any videos about Catherine de Medici yet? She would be a fun figure from history to do a series on. Thank you for this series! Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
Oh he throws an angry tantrum If he cannot have his way. He calls for mum and sucks thumb And doesn't want to play. Too late to be known as John the First, He's sure to be known as John the Worst!
"...Too late to be known as John the first, but is sure to be known as John the Worst.," that was what was going through my head while taking about John in England. You know, from the animated Disney Robin Hood movie.
This woman's life story, when you think about it is pretty amazing - her son Richard? that's Richard the Lionheart isn't it? (Cue Robin Hood!) and her later years (if memory serves me) became the basis of the film 'the Lion in Winter,' I mean seriously, Wow and that's just two references!
Eleanor’s entire story screams at me that no one will seek you own interests than your own mother. Richard was right to appoint his Dowager Queen mom as his representative. She was a serious stabilizing force for his campaigning rule of England
Imagine being a king in a foreign land about to attack another foreign when all of a sudden your mom appears out of nowhere and tells you that you have to marry this woman that she brought along with her. You quickly tie the knot and continue with your plans of attack.
Its wild to me how so many different historical figure's can be just a side figure of another's major story. Also just realized this is Robin Hood times lol
