[MR] Wikipedia: Louis VIII, Lost King of England

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1217, a decisive battle was fought at Lincoln between 
forces commanded by Sir William Marshal and King of England Louis VIII, 
resulting in a defeat for Louis. Now battles are battles, but there is 
much more to history than just who got themselves killed and who won, no 
matter how high the stakes. It is usually the causes and effects, and 
sometimes the quirky facts surrounding the battle itself, that are far 
more interesting than casualty figures. In the Second Battle of Lincoln, 
it was the presence of Louis VIII's army that is interesting. He is the 
English king you never heard of, and is not acknowledged in the English 
line of kings, yet he officially ruled England for approximately 15 
months: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VIII_of_France .

The whole story hinges on Bad King John of Magna Carta fame. He 
renounced the charter and made war on his rebellious barons during 1215. 
Many barons had their fill of John, and an invitation was extended to 
Louis VIII, the crown prince of France, to rule England. Louis with his 
army landed in Kent in May 1216 and met almost no opposition. Within 
days he was in London where he was proclaimed King of England in St. 
Paul's on 2 June, though there was no formal coronation. Louise 
established a court, received the homage of many barons, made laws, and 
collected taxes, which sounds very much like he was a legitimate king. 
Late in June his forces, English and French, took Winchester which gave 
Louis control of over half of England. Then things unraveled.

On 16 October 1216, John had the bad grace (as far as Louis is 
concerned) to die of dysentery. Suddenly the whole reason Louis was in 
France became irrelevant to the barons. Sir William Marshal ( 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal,_1st_Earl_of_Pembroke ), 
the greatest solider of his time, rallied the English to support the 
young Henry III. Many barons deserted Louis in a wave of anti-French 
sentiment. The Second Battle of Lincoln was a severe blow to Louis, but 
defeat of his navy at the Battle of Sandwich in 1217 ended his English 
reign. Louis signed the Treaty of Lambeth, agreed that his reign was 
illegitimate, pocketed a buy-out of 10,000 marks, and left England for 
good.

Until the late 19th century, England had a paranoia about French 
invasions. We are all familiar with William the Conqueror and his 1066 
invasion, but most of us probably didn't know about Louis. In addition, 
there was a major 1386 incursion in company with the Scots to draw 
English forces north while a larger army struck England from across the 
Channel. The second attack was aborted. There were many more invasion 
plans, coastal raids, and stirring up of the Scots. The greatest threat 
came in 1545 when the French attacked southern England with an armada of 
over 300 ships and an an army of some 30,000. Then there was Napoleon, 
but that's out of our period. One can easily see that the French threat 
to England was very real and annoyingly persistent.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot