486 – Stealing a Crown from your Brother

Speaker 1 Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie, and this is episode 486:

Speaker 1 Stealing a Crown from Your Brother.

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Speaker 1 The cart carrying the body of King Rufus eventually reached the cathedral at Winchester.

Speaker 1 And if we're to believe Malmesbury, blood had been dripping from it from the forest all the way into the cathedral. Though at some point, it must have stopped.

Speaker 1 I mean, even if no one, you know, sorted it out, he would have run out of blood eventually.

Speaker 1 But once the king arrived, a funeral was gathered so that he could be properly buried within Winchester Cathedral. And you'd expect this thing to be well attended, you know?

Speaker 1 After all, Henry would soon be crowned king, so it was probably a good idea to be seen in attendance at his brother's funeral, regardless of how you felt about Rufus.

Speaker 1 And so, it's probably no surprise to you that Malmsbury tells us that a number of nobles made sure to be present at the king's funeral.

Speaker 1 But considering how Rufus had lived his life, it probably also doesn't surprise you that very few attendees actually lamented Rufus' passing. And that's not me riffing.

Speaker 1 Malmsbury took pains to make sure that it was noted for posterity that pretty much no one was sad that the Red King was dead.

Speaker 1 Now, granted, Malmsbury hated Rufus with a passion, so it's not like he doesn't have a dog in this fight, but no other writer contradicts him on this either.

Speaker 1 And honestly, given everything that the Red King had done, and given how the world reacted to his death, I'm guessing this was true.

Speaker 1 And so, rather than coming to pay their respects and mourn the loss of a friend friend and leader, the nobles of this assembly were simply spending an uncomfortable few hours burying a tyrant, all in service of political theater.

Speaker 1 And they probably did it because they hoped it would earn them some goodwill with the new king.

Speaker 1 And maybe it did.

Speaker 1 But also, maybe it didn't. You see, if you've noticed a bit of a gap between this episode and the last one, it's because of this very issue.
You see, I can't figure out how this funeral went.

Speaker 1 And specifically, I couldn't find a clear confirmation that Henry was present. And normally, I would just assume he was, and that the scribes didn't mention his presence because why would they?

Speaker 1 Except, this was Henry, a man who had already abandoned his brother's body once before when he went and rushed to seize the treasury. And it's not like he wasn't still in a rush now.

Speaker 1 Henry needed to be crowned as soon as possible. And coronations aren't something you can just throw together.

Speaker 1 They have rules, and one of them is that they're supposed to take place on a Sunday, which put Henry in quite a bind. Because just look at this timeline.
Rufus was shot on a Thursday.

Speaker 1 His body was later found by some commoners and trundled back to Winchester, probably arriving sometime on Friday at the earliest.

Speaker 1 And Westminster, which was where the coronation was supposed to happen, was over 70 miles away.

Speaker 1 So even if Henry rode light and he skipped all the planning and just rolled with whoever was on hand in Westminster for attendees, he would still need to leave for his own coronation by Saturday morning at the latest.

Speaker 1 And even then, that would result in him arriving absolutely exhausted and filthy from the road.

Speaker 1 And then he'd need to quickly wash, get a nap, and be ready to go in the morning and hope to hell that there weren't any major issues that needed to be dealt with.

Speaker 1 So even if he wanted to be there, I'm genuinely unsure if Henry would have dared stick around for Rufus' funeral.

Speaker 1 I mean, technically, he could have pulled it all off, but it would have required perfect timing and absolutely no surprises or delays.

Speaker 1 Because if anything went wrong, he'd have to wait to be crowned until the following Sunday. And that was a non-starter for the prince who would be king.

Speaker 1 Because speed of action here was critical for what he was doing. We're going to get to it later in this episode, but Henry, by his own admission, did not dare to wait for anything.

Speaker 1 And beyond the pressure of time, there was also how this family treated each other, which wasn't good.

Speaker 1 I mean, we've got civil wars, balcony urination, invasions, insurrections, betrayals, and all manner of plots.

Speaker 1 And I think it's safe to say that Rufus did not have a great relationship with his brothers.

Speaker 1 And as for how much respect this family showed for the dead, Well, these guys literally used corpses as political props.

Speaker 1 And when it came to the bodies of their own family members, well, the conqueror had exploded because they'd abandoned his body for so long.

Speaker 1 So it's not out of the question that Henry would have chosen politics over sentimentality.

Speaker 1 And frankly, given how Henry behaved and how he's going to behave going forward, it would be weird if he didn't. On top of that, our best account for this entire situation is Malmsbury.

Speaker 1 And he just tells us that there were some nobles in attendance, but he doesn't give us a single name.

Speaker 1 And maybe my brain has melted from reading so many chronicles, but these guys loved to brag about royal involvement.

Speaker 1 So the fact that Malmsbury is vague booking this entire funeral, and damn near all the other chroniclers are just kind of skipping right over it or saying as little as possible.

Speaker 1 Well, that really jumped out at me. But regardless of the guest list, what we've got here is a weird funeral.

Speaker 1 Maybe not as weird as a funeral where a guy walks into his own theme song and has pyrotechnics arcing over him, but still, it was pretty f ⁇ ing weird.

Speaker 1 Though weird or not, this body needed to get in the ground because no one wanted a repeat of the overproofed loaf thing that happened with the Conqueror.

Speaker 1 And so Rufus was hastily interred within Winchester Cathedral.

Speaker 1 And for all we know, Henry may have already been on the road riding for Westminster as it happened.

Speaker 1 But if the Red King thought his troubles were over, he was sorely mistaken.

Speaker 1 The tower, which loomed over his final resting place, soon collapsed, which, according to Malmsbury, many people thought was a final condemnation by the Almighty against this king.

Speaker 1 And, you know, I'm not a big believer in the supernatural, but I am a big believer in vibes.

Speaker 1 And the fact that so many people thought that God knocked down his own building rather than have it be tainted by the presence of Rufus tells us something important, I think.

Speaker 1 And yet, one of the most fascinating things about this part of history, at least to me, is not about Rufus himself, nor is it how everyone, including apparently even God, were over this guy.

Speaker 1 No, what blows my mind about this period is that there are many historians who have tried to rehabilitate this king in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

Speaker 1 For example, I've read some historians who argued that you can't trust the records about Rufus because so many people disliked him.

Speaker 1 And therefore, you can't really know what he was like and what he did. He might have been great.

Speaker 1 Basically, because so many people wrote about how terrible he was, and because so many people were convinced that even the famously peaceful Jesus had a vendetta against this guy, well, then the sources must be biased and untrustworthy.

Speaker 1 And there's a problem in the logic here. Namely, unlikable people exist.

Speaker 1 And yet there's a suspicion that if someone inspires near-universal condemnation, then maybe there might be something missing. But think about it this way.

Speaker 1 Imagine a historian 500 years in the future trying to piece together the legacy of a certain Mr.

Speaker 1 Epstein, and then concluding that the preponderance of public opinion against him must be weighed equally against the warm wishes of a single former prince and a single current president.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the logic there is insane, right?

Speaker 1 The fact that Rufus inspired pretty much everyone with a pen to write a screet about him, that's not a sign of a conspiracy of misinformation. That's a sign that he probably sucked.

Speaker 1 But my favorite attempt to rehabilitate Rufus comes from historian Frank Barlow.

Speaker 1 Now, Frank was born in 1911, and he came of age during the reign of King George V.

Speaker 1 As such, he, like all of us, was a product of his culture, and his culture was pro-empire, which probably helps explain how Barlow opened up his epilogue.

Speaker 1 Quote, the importance of the reign of William Rufus is that it prevented the reign of Robert Curt Hose and also assured the reign of Henry I, end quote.

Speaker 1 And right out of the gate, man, talk about damning with faint praise, right?

Speaker 1 But underneath the shade that he's tossing at Short Pants, there's a darker and weirder layer to this defense. He's basically saying, sure,

Speaker 1 Rufus brought us wars, famine, oppression, genocidal ambitions, atrocities, utter mismanagement, political instability due to all those feuds, and an utter economic collapse.

Speaker 1 But at least he wasn't Curt Hose.

Speaker 1 And I don't want to be a Robert apologist here, but I honestly strain to see how Short Pants could have possibly done worse than Rufus.

Speaker 1 I mean, right before his incredibly suspicious death, the king was on the verge of getting excommunicated.

Speaker 1 He was also embroiled in multiple international feuds, was at the center of international scandals, was plotting further wars, and considering the behavior of his own earls and barons, it looked like a popular uprising was right around the corner.

Speaker 1 So that's pretty bad.

Speaker 1 But Barlow goes on and he explains that one of the big problems with Robert Curthose is that under his rule, Normandy's barons had substantially more freedom and thus more infighting, and the monastic communities had greater liberties, and the lay population were more free.

Speaker 1 And the duchy itself was far less expansionist and less imperial than it was under Rufus and the Conqueror.

Speaker 1 And so, had Robert become king of England? Well, the English, the Welsh, the Scottish, and the Irish might have also had similar experiences, meaning more liberties and fewer wars of domination.

Speaker 1 The horror.

Speaker 1 Now, personally, I don't see that as a bad thing. I think people should be allowed to self-govern rather than live under the boot of another government, or live in fear of said boot.

Speaker 1 And frankly, society tends to thrive in those circumstances. New ideas flourish, markets expand, and material conditions usually improve.

Speaker 1 However, there is also a lot of talking, and a lot of diplomacy, and a lot of disagreement.

Speaker 1 And, as Z and I discussed in the authoritarianism members episode, studies have repeatedly shown that some people find a multitude of voices to be inherently threatening, and they will happily trade away their personal liberty in order to avoid the risk of a cacophony of opinions and views.

Speaker 1 Barlow basically just comes out and says that he's of this mindset, adding that, quote, the reign of William Rufus, therefore, saved England and eventually Normandy from mild or or ineffective royal government.

Speaker 1 This has almost invariably since the 18th century been regarded as a good thing. Historians have usually admired strong and centralizing rulers and despised weak and ineffectual kings.
End quote.

Speaker 1 And on the one hand, I'm not at all surprised that historians from the 18th century through to Frank Barlow had a fondness for empire and centralized authority.

Speaker 1 I mean, their entire culture and economic model relied upon broad acceptance of the domination of others.

Speaker 1 But on the other hand, it really does highlight how brittle that belief structure is, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 I mean, if you have to tie yourself in knots declaring that Rufus was actually a good king, then maybe your preferred style of governance isn't all that great.

Speaker 1 But there you have it. Rufus was dead.
And as far as I'm concerned, his reign was a debacle. And the continued domination of the English and of England's neighbors doesn't change that fact.

Speaker 1 If anything, it only serves to hammer home my point.

Speaker 1 But with the Red King out of the picture, we are now entering the era of Henry.

Speaker 1 And as I mentioned at the opening of this episode, Henry was moving quickly. Very quickly.

Speaker 1 Even if he skipped out on the funeral, he and his close companion, Count Robert of Moulin, would still have been riding hard for Westminster because they didn't have much time.

Speaker 1 Their actions at Winchester had been audacious, and it was, admittedly, politically impressive.

Speaker 1 But it was also a coup.

Speaker 1 And not everyone was gonna be happy about that. In fact, a lot of people, not the least of which were Robert Curt Hose and his his allies, were gonna be furious.

Speaker 1 And that meant that Henry, like Rufus, was beginning his reign with a legitimacy crisis. But he had a solution to that.

Speaker 1 He was gonna get the special anointing that would tell the world that God had made his decision.

Speaker 1 And God doesn't do take-back sees.

Speaker 1 And that's why he needed to get crowned now, like right now.

Speaker 1 Though,

Speaker 1 like Rufus, Henry also has his own gaggle of historians who rush to his defense.

Speaker 1 And at the top of that list is C. Warren Hollister, who claims that actually,

Speaker 1 none of this was a usurpation. And instead, this was a totally fine and normal succession, which, judging by Henry's behavior here, would have been news to him.

Speaker 1 But Hollister argues that because the Conqueror had the chance to give Robert England back in the 1080s, and he didn't,

Speaker 1 well, you know, he'd already been passed over, and so he no longer had a claim.

Speaker 1 And let that sink in for a second, because it involves some serious pretzel logic. First, Henry was also passed over by his father.
In fact, while Robert got Normandy from his father, Henry got, um...

Speaker 1 Well, he got some cash from his mom, and, I assume, the finger from his dad, because he didn't get anything else.

Speaker 1 So, I'm not sure how anyone would read that as Henry being the heir apparent after Rufus. And it actually gets worse from there.

Speaker 1 You probably remember that during the reign of Rufus, he and Robert had sworn that all the titles would go to whoever survived out of the the two of them. Basically, the two brothers did a tauntine.

Speaker 1 And then, to make sure that the tauntine stuck, just in case he had any nobles or, I don't know, historians who wanted to try and argue that this deal didn't count, well, they got all the barons to swear to uphold the tauntine.

Speaker 1 And this was such a big deal that our records say that Bretuis specifically brought up the oaths during that confrontation at the Winchester Treasury.

Speaker 1 But then Henry, who wasn't part of this oath, drew his sword and threatened to kill Bretui and plunge England into a civil war if he didn't get his way.

Speaker 1 That looks like a usurpation to me.

Speaker 1 However, Hollister says that that oath didn't count because it happened years earlier. Basically, his defense boils down to, why you bring it up old shit?

Speaker 1 Which is not how medieval people thought of oaths at all. And the reason why I'm bringing it up is because Bretui brought it up, and then Henry threatened to kill him over it.

Speaker 1 So it seems to me like it definitely mattered. And there's also the inconvenient fact that the only form of succession that Henry could cling to for legitimacy was something called porphyrogeniture.

Speaker 1 Basically, this is a form of succession where the titles go to the person in the kingdom who was born of a reigning king and queen. And as Henry was the only one in England, he claimed it.

Speaker 1 Now, one of the many problems with that argument is that England and Normandy never did succession that way. That was a Persian and a Byzantine thing.
The Normans were all about primogeniture.

Speaker 1 And so was the kingdom of England. Now, granted, for centuries earlier, England had elected their kings.
Though, as you know, these elections weren't like anything we'd recognize as an election today.

Speaker 1 Essentially, the heir to the throne went before a group of hand-picked aristocrats and said, hey, I'm my father's heir. And the aristocrats went, yeah, go on then.

Speaker 1 But still, even though it was mostly for show, the fact remained that the Watanagamont played a role in succession within England, and had done so all the way until William came along.

Speaker 1 And I think you could argue that ignoring the role of the Watanagamont was one of the many things that the conqueror did that inspired uprising after uprising against him.

Speaker 1 And as we are all too familiar with by this point, Rufus, being his father's son, took that disdain for norms and he ran with it during his own reign. But Henry was taking a different tack.

Speaker 1 And it's one that I think further highlights that this was a usurpation rather than a normal succession. Because Henry will later claim that he had been elected king.
And that is a hell of a claim.

Speaker 1 And Malmsbury, recording this event, doesn't give us a ton of details about it. But from what he does share, it's clear that this wasn't a Watanicamot.

Speaker 1 Instead, Malmsbury tells us that after, quote, some trifling dissensions, end quote, were raised, and then after the Earl of Warwick, Henry's top ally, browbeat those dissenters into silence, Henry was elected king.

Speaker 1 So at best, what we appear to have is a handful of nobles who were making that decision.

Speaker 1 And for all we know, it could have been the same folks who were arguing outside the treasury when Henry drew that sword.

Speaker 1 Hell, that dramatic moment when Henry got the keys was functionally the moment where his succession was decided. Because once he had the treasury, he had the kingdom.

Speaker 1 And it's not impossible that Henry knew that and considered it to be his election. But however it came about, I've got to hand this to him.

Speaker 1 Considering that he had just jumped the line of traditional Norman succession, leaning heavily into the election narrative and thus hearkening back to the old English forms of succession was a clever political move.

Speaker 1 But he was going to need than that.

Speaker 1 After all, having a group of your pals declare you king doesn't make you the king.

Speaker 1 Even having your pals seize the wealth of the kingdom and carry it away to a location that you personally controlled still doesn't make you the king.

Speaker 1 Until you are crowned, you are not the king. You're just Henry, the guy who raided everyone's taxes with his friends.

Speaker 1 And that was why he was hauling ass for Westminster, so he could get it done as fast as possible.

Speaker 1 Though, even with all the speed of action, there was one small flaw in Henry's plan.

Speaker 1 Have you spotted it?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Kings were crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Speaker 1 And depending how you felt about Anselm, England either had no Archbishop of Canterbury, or it did have one, but he was currently living in exile in Lyon.

Speaker 1 Either way, though, there wasn't an Archbishop of Canterbury within England. And that was not a minor issue.
The Archbishopric of Canterbury jealously guarded its primacy within England.

Speaker 1 And beyond that, you might remember that one of the arguments for the conquest was that while Stigand was the Archbishop of Canterbury, he wasn't a proper Archbishop of Canterbury, because he hadn't received his special scarf yet.

Speaker 1 And thus, something, something Harold wasn't a proper king either. So Anselm not being available was a huge issue.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 whatever. Henry needed to be crowned immediately.
And if Anselm wasn't here to do it, then he'd find another priest to stand in his place.

Speaker 1 And he quickly settled on Bishop Maurice of London, who was the highest ranking church official in the area.

Speaker 1 But was it ideal?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Was it the best that he had available on short notice? Absolutely. But man, talk about a lousy way to start a reign.

Speaker 1 Because you just know that Anselm was going to throw an absolute fit as soon as he heard about this. And it seems that Henry knew that as well.

Speaker 1 Because even though he was pressing forward with the coronation, He also took the time to sit down and write a letter to Anselm and explain at length how serious this situation was and how he had no choice but to rush the process because, quote, enemies were intending to rise up against me and the people who were mine to govern, end quote.

Speaker 1 See, even Henry knew this was not a normal succession. But speaking of rushing things, Poor old Bishop Maurice must have been absolutely frantic because bishops of London don't usually crown kings.

Speaker 1 So it's not like he's done this before. And he can't just plot the crown on someone's head and call it a day.

Speaker 1 There are layers of rituals and ceremonies that you need to do in order to make it all feel official. Otherwise, what are we even doing here?

Speaker 1 I mean, at that point, you might as well just call Henry a warlord and be done with it.

Speaker 1 And incidentally, I think we would be far better served if we did start calling these guys warlords instead of kings, since most most people tend to think about ancient lines of succession when you say king.

Speaker 1 In this family, we're more of the smash and grab style of succession. But the fact remains that Henry definitely recognized that King Henry would carry a lot more authority than Hank the warlord.

Speaker 1 And that meant that Maurice needed to come up with a set of rituals and rites, as well as a list of readings, a dress code, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 And this collection of rules and ceremonies was called an ordo, and it's nearly as important as the anointing and the crowning. And here's how rushed this thing was.

Speaker 1 There's a fierce scholarly debate over the ordo, because no one knows what ordo was used.

Speaker 1 No one wrote it down. And actually, poor old Bishop Maurice probably only found out about the death of Rufus on the 4th, likely on the same day that Henry arrived in Westminster.

Speaker 1 So assuming that he was immediately selected for this role, that would have given the bishop less than 24 hours to figure out the ceremony. So he must have been scrambling.

Speaker 1 And it's thought that Maurice might have used the third English ordo, though again, we can't know for sure. However, if that was the ordo used, Here's how it would have gone.

Speaker 1 It would have begun with Henry prostrating himself and giving the threefold promise. To keep the peace, to prohibit rapaciousness and iniquities, and to maintain just laws.

Speaker 1 After Henry did that, then Maurice would ask the noble attendees if they would accept Henry as their king.

Speaker 1 And that scene might sound like it was the election that Henry was referring to, but actually he argued that there was an election earlier, which is why I was like, maybe it was just the guys at Winchester.

Speaker 1 Anyway, so assuming that everyone said, sure, why not? He can be our king, then Maurice would have anointed Henry with blessed oil on his hands, breast, shoulders, elbows, and head.

Speaker 1 Then he would add sacred chrism, basically some extra olive oil and balsam, and he'd mix that up with a blessed oil, and he'd anoint Henry's head a second time.

Speaker 1 Then, once Henry smelled like Christmas and charcuterie, Maurice would present Henry with a sword, an armlet, and a pallium.

Speaker 1 Then the bishop would bless the crown, utter a prayer, and place the crown on Henry's head. But we're not done yet.

Speaker 1 Next, Maurice would then invest Henry with the royal ring, the staff, and the scepter, before issuing another religious benediction.

Speaker 1 Then Henry would need to sit on the throne, covered in all this oil and juggling all of these accessories, while Mass was celebrated.

Speaker 1 And this included included receiving communion, which honestly now makes it seem a little less like a ritual and more like a dexterity check.

Speaker 1 But if Maurice did use the third English ordo, that's how it would have gone.

Speaker 1 But however, it was done, on August 5th, just three days after Rufus died, Henry underwent the mystical transformation that changed him from a mere mortal, just little Henry the balcony pisser, into a rex,

Speaker 1 God's anointed leader, a representative of Christ on earth. And make no mistake about it, people very much believed in it.
I mean, hell, a surprising number of people still believe it today.

Speaker 1 But then again, getting crowned was really only stage one of Operation Please Don't Revolt. Stage two was convincing people that he would be a different kind of king from Rufus.

Speaker 1 And Henry had some reforms in mind in order to make that argument. And he wanted to implement them right away.
As in, immediately after the coronation was concluded and he was officially a king.

Speaker 1 In fact, we're told that these reforms were included as part of the oaths he took during his coronation. But only the people in the room would have heard the oaths, and everybody needed to hear this.

Speaker 1 So Henry ordered the 14 declarations to be written down and that copies should be sent all throughout the kingdom. This would become known as the Charter of Liberties.
And they were as follows.

Speaker 1 I, Henry, by the grace of God, having been crowned the king of England, shall not take or sell any property from a church upon the death of a bishop or abbot, until a successor has been named to that church property.

Speaker 1 I shall end all the oppressive practices which have been an evil presence in England.

Speaker 1 If any baron or earl of mine shall die, his heirs shall not be forced to purchase their inheritance, but shall retrieve it through force of law and custom.

Speaker 1 Any baron or earl who wishes to betroth his daughter or other women kinfolk in marriage should consult me first, but I will not stand in the way of any prudent marriage.

Speaker 1 Any widow who wishes to remarry should consult with me, but I shall abide by the wishes of her close relatives, the other barons, and earls. I will not allow her to marry one of my enemies.

Speaker 1 Any wife of my barons who becomes a widow shall not be denied her dowry.

Speaker 1 She should be allowed to remarry according to her wishes, so long as she maintains the integrity of her body in a lawful manner.

Speaker 1 Barons overseeing the children of a dead baron shall maintain their land and interest in a lawful manner.

Speaker 1 Common seniorages took in the cities and counties, which was not taken in the time of Edward the Confessor, shall henceforth be forbidden.

Speaker 1 I shall remit all debts and pleas which were owing to my brother, except those which were lawfully made for an inheritance.

Speaker 1 If any of my barons should grow feeble and give away money or other possessions, these shall be honored so long as the heirs are properly remembered.

Speaker 1 Gifts given by feeble barons under force of arms shall not be enforced.

Speaker 1 If any of my barons commit a crime, he shall not bind himself to the crown with a payment as was done in the time of my father and brother, but shall stand for the crime as was the custom and law before the time of my father, and make amends as are appropriate.

Speaker 1 Anyone guilty of treachery or other heinous crime shall make proper amends. I forgive all murders committed before I was crowned.
Subsequent murders shall stand before the justice of the crown.

Speaker 1 With the common consent of my barons, I shall maintain the forests as was done in the time of my father.

Speaker 1 Those knights who render military service and horses shall not be required to give grain or other farm goods to me. I impose a strict peace on the land, and command it be maintained.

Speaker 1 I restore the law of King Edward, and the amendments of which my father introduced upon the advice of his barons.

Speaker 1 Anything taken from me after the death of my father shall be returned immediately without fine. If it is not returned, a heavy fine shall be enforced.

Speaker 1 So that's the charter. And I'm guessing the first thing that jumped out to you was the same thing that jumped out to me, namely that he forgave all murders committed before he was crowned.

Speaker 1 Interesting thing to include there, Henry.

Speaker 1 But beyond that, overall, these were a pretty solid set of reforms and assurances, especially after Rufus' disastrous reign.

Speaker 1 And that's a good thing, because even if Henry didn't have legitimacy problems, he probably would have needed to go the extra mile to soothe the church, the common folk, and the English nobility after all that idiot red king had done.

Speaker 1 And it's pretty easy to look over that list and see that much of it was a direct response to the abuses of Rufus. But at the same time, it is curious that Henry had all of this ready to go, isn't it?

Speaker 1 I mean, if he was hauling ass to get to Westminster for his shotgun coronation, when did he have the time to work out the language for all of these oaths?

Speaker 1 And granted, Robert of Moulin would have been an excellent sounding board for these ideas, but unless he had these oaths in mind before his brother was killed, we're left with two possibilities.

Speaker 1 Either he did an all-night cram session before the oil and accessories extravaganza, or he came up with all of these reforms shortly after drawing that sword on Bertuis, or on his ride to Westminster, which would have meant that Hank and Rob were shouting ideas back and forth while they were thundering down the road.

Speaker 1 Which isn't impossible, I guess, but it does kind of feel like he's had these in mind for a while.

Speaker 1 Something else that's interesting about these liberties is that while they're honestly pretty good for 11th century liberties, governments rarely surrender power nor grant additional rights unless they have absolutely no other choice.

Speaker 1 And I think it is abundantly clear here that Henry didn't have any other choice.

Speaker 1 It's also notable that Henry failed to keep all of these promises, which, if these were just heartfelt reforms that he wanted to enact and not an effort to sway the public, I suspect he would have just kept his word.

Speaker 1 But the fact is, Henry was in a very precarious position, and promising to correct the abuses of Rufus would have gone a long way towards establishing his legitimacy with the public.

Speaker 1 So it was likely pressure, not probity, that inspired this Charter of Liberties. But this would only fix his legitimacy issue so far.
Promises and a crown are great,

Speaker 1 but sometimes you need a common enemy.

Speaker 1 And that's probably why almost immediately after this coronation, and after sending the Charter of Liberties throughout the kingdom, the newly crowned King Henry did something else.

Speaker 1 He ordered the arrest and imprisonment of his brother's chief advisor, Ranolph Flambard.

Speaker 1 And Henry knew just the place to put him.

Speaker 1 You see, Ranolph and Rufus had been draining the royal coffers with their construction projects for years.

Speaker 1 And one of these projects was a fortress that they had been expanding. And that would do nicely.
I mean, sure, it wasn't meant to be a prison. It was designed to be a fortress and a palace.

Speaker 1 But just this time, just this once, they'd make an exception. And so Ranolph would be the very first prisoner housed at the Tower of London.

Speaker 1 And nothing says you've had a completely normal transfer of power like imprisoning the previous chief counselor in the finging Tower of London.

Speaker 1 I'm a savage. Yeah, classic, bougie, ratchet.
Yeah, sassy. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can reach me at thebritishhistorypodcast at gmail.com.

Speaker 1 You can also join us on social media. The best one, honestly, is Reddit, and you can find a link to that site and all the rest in the community section of the British History Podcast.com.

Speaker 1 Thanks for listening.