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.Ordericus Vitalis (1075 c.1142), Monk of St.EvroultThe Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy(from the birth of Christ to the reign of Henry I ofEngland)Ordericus Vitalis was born on February 15, 1075, in Attingham nearShrewsbury, England.His father was a follower and council member ofRobert de Montgomery, the Earl of Shrewsbury.Ordericus tells us thathe began his studies in Shrewsbury at age five, and when he was ten yearsold, his father sent him to Normandy, where he entered the scholarlyBenedictine monastery of St.Evroult.Ordericus was soon recognized forhis intelligence and love of learning.In 1086 he became a monk, takingthe name Vitalis.He became a deacon and, in 1107, a priest.Ordericus Vitalis spent most of his time in his monastery, studying andwriting a history of Normandy and England.He traveled once to Worces-ter in England and once to Cambray in Flanders to collect historical ev-idence, and he also attended a general meeting of the Benedictine Order.He finished writing his history at the age of sixty-seven, and he proba-bly died soon thereafter, perhaps in 1142.As one would expect from a twelfth-century historian, Ordericus Vi-talis began his history with the birth of Christ, but he rapidly moved fromBiographies 101the history of Christianity to the history of his own times and placeEngland and Normandy.He called his work an ecclesiastical history, butwe read his books for their insights into his own times.Ordericus in-cluded all the good stories he heard, as well as traditional lore, adven-tures, bits of scandal, and his own opinions, and he blended them all intoa gripping tale.If you want to read the work of only one medieval his-torian, then Ordericus Vitalis is the author to choose.(See Chibnall,Marjorie.The World of Orderic Vitalis.Oxford: Clarendon, 1984.)BUILDERSBlanche of Castile (1188 1252), Queen of France,1223 26; Regent For Her Son during His Minority andWhile He Was on CrusadeBlanche, the daughter of Eleanor of England and Alfonso VIII of Castile,and granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II, married princeLouis of France when she was twelve.Queen at last in 1223, her reign wasshort, for Louis VIII (1223 26), although an excellent warrior, died on theAlbigensian crusade.Blanche became regent for her son Louis IX, over theobjections to her as a woman and a foreigner.She asserted her authorityover the barons, and by pursuing a policy of never aligning herself with asingle faction, she kept the barons divided against each other and retainedcontrol in her own hands.She even kept France out of disastrous wars withEngland and Germany.Even when Louis came of age Blanche continuedto be his closest adviser.Nevertheless, she did not always see eye to eye withLouis, and she disliked his wife, Margaret of Provence, whom he married in1234.Devoted to her son Louis and his brothers Alphonse of Poitiers(1220 71) and Charles of Anjou (1226 85), she played politics to keep allof them in power in their respective territories.She rebuilt the castle atAngers into a magnificent seat of power.When Louis decided to go on acrusade, Blanche opposed his decision.Nevertheless, after four year ofpreparation, Louis left in 1248, and Blanche assumed the regency again.Shedied in 1252 while Louis was still in the Holy Land.Blanche s patronage focused on the Cistercians and their strong yet se-vere art.The castle at Angers and other buildings usually attributed to102 Biographiesthe reign of Louis IX were often built during the regency and under thepatronage of the regent-queen mother, Blanche.Edward I (1239 1307), King of England, 1272 1307;Duke of Aquitaine, 1272 1307Edward was first and foremost a warrior king.He was nearly killedwhile on crusade in Acre and learned he had inherited the throne whilereturning in 1272.He probably met his architect James of St.George ashe passed through Savoy.Edward had married Eleanor of Castile, and thecouple were crowned in 1274.For the next twenty years he stabilized thegovernment at home and carried on a war against the Welsh, especiallyin 1277 and 1282 83 and finally in 1294 95.To control and governWales, Edward built a series of castles, of which the finest are Harlech,Conway, and Caernarfon.Edward made Caernarfon his principal head-quarters.In the 1290s his closest adviser and queen, Eleanor, died.At the sametime trouble increased with France.In 1294 Philip IV tricked Edwardinto giving up Gascony by promising that the arrangement was tempo-rary and that he, Philip, would return the land as the dowry of his sisterMargaret.Of course Philip broke his promise at once.Edward marriedMargaret anyway in 1299, but Edward and Margaret did not get Gasconyback until 1303.Wars with Scotland cast a dark shadow over the last years of Ed-ward s life.Edward defeated the Scots in 1296 and took the  Stone ofDestiny from Scone to London, where it was placed in the royalthrone (and only returned in our own times).William Wallace led asuccessful rising in 1297, but the next year the English defeated theScots and executed Wallace.Robert the Bruce, crowned king of Scotsin 1306, led another revolt.On the way to fight the Bruce, Edwarddied in 1307.Edward was a great patron of architecture, devoting thousands ofworkers and vast resources to building castles and fortification, addi-tional work at Westminster Abbey and the royal palace, and a seriesof monuments to Eleanor, as well as stained glass and illuminatedmanuscripts [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]