Ruling England is a key text for students wishing to understand the complexities of medieval kingship in England from 1042–1225.
Since its first publication in 2005, Ruling England has established itself as an authoritative account of English politics and the growth of royal power from 1042.
Using chronicle and administrative records, it focuses on the aims and priorities of the kings of England and on how and why the systems which established and enhanced their authority developed during this period. It explores how the machinery of government worked and grew, and how the legal system evolved to consolidate royal control over the kingdom. It also explores the contribution of the English Church to politics and how the partnership between king and clergy was crucial to the consolidation of royal power.
Now in its third edition, Ruling England is a key text for students wishing to understand the complexities of medieval kingship in England from 1042 to 1227. It has been expanded chronologically to cover the minority of King Henry III and there are more extensive treatments of the interactions between the rulers of England and their British neighbours, the role of women in English politics during this period and of the place in society occupied by England’s Jewish communities.
Part I. Late Anglo-Saxon England, 10421066
1. The reigns, 10421066
Edward the Confessor, 10421066
Harold II, JanuaryOctober 1066
The interregnum, 14 October25 December 1066
2. Ruling the kingdom, 10421066
King and nobility
The crisis of 10511052
Royal government
Local government
Royal wealth
Military organisation
Women and political power
Conclusion
3. The kings and the law, 10421066
Codes and cases
Courts and communities
Trial and punishment
Conclusion
4. The kings and the Church, 10421066
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, 10661154
5. The reigns, 10661154
William I the Conqueror, 10661087
William II Rufus, 10871100
Henry I, 11001135
11091113
11161120
11231124
Stephen, 11351154
6. Ruling the kingdom, 10661154
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, 10661154
Continuity and change
The principal courts
The criminal law
Civil cases
Women, land and the law
Conclusion
8. The kings and the Church, 10661154
The Church in Normandy
Controlling the English Church
Other reforms
Kings, archbishops and popes
Canterbury and York
The reign of Stephen
The kings Jews
Conclusion
Part III. Angevin England, 11541227
9. The reigns, 11541227
Henry II, 11541189
Richard I, 11891199
John, 11991216
The minority of Henry III, 12161227
10. Ruling the kingdom, 11541227
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, 11541227
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, 11541227
The papacy and canon law
Royal expectations
Henry II and Thomas Becket
John and Innocent III
Englands Jews: Murder and massacre
The minority of Henry III
The principal narrative sources and their authors, 10421227
Suggestions for further reading
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, 7961042 (2018), Power and Faith: Politics and Religion in Western Europe from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century (2023) and Expulsion (2023).
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