I wouldn’t say it’s the French’s fault. It’s really all about a Norman empire and push back by the native populations as the centuries rolled on. The French succeeded where we failed and the Aeglish developed Stockholm syndrome and eventually adopted the royal family as their own.
The Normans, Rollo the Viking (Williams 3 greats grandfather), initially invaded the French and had been bought off with a French princess and an entire Dukedom named after them- “Normandy- land of the Northmen”- and then added England in 1066 (and then the rest of the U.K. over next 200yrs ). Our wars for the next thousand years were often Norman wars in which we were initially conscripted but after a couple centuries we’d come to accept our Norman monarchy as English….
Before 1066, William I had taken over the neighbouring county of Maine in France in 1062, and made his son Robert Count of Maine. When William I died, he gave Normandy to Robert (so Robert now had both Normandy and Maine) and England to his younger son William II. Robert then mortgaged Normandy to William for cash money to go on a crusade. So William II became de facto ruler over England, Normandy and Maine. He was planning to invade Aquitaine when he died, naming the youngest brother Henry I his heir. Well Robert surprise ta da! Look who’s back returned from Crusade one month after William II died, everyone was shocked like OMG we thought you were dead and Robert, very much alive, was pretty fucked off that as elder bother he didn’t inherit England from his younger ginger brother (it hadn’t be fair he’d been passed over once, over his dead body would it happen again) and so he fought Henry I…and lost. Henry I imprisoned his eldest brother Robert in a castle in Wales for the rest of his life.
Henry I then married his daughter Matilda to Geoffrey Count of Anjou + Touraine (from this couple the Plantagenets descend). When Henry I died, he had declared his daughter Matilda his heir as he’d lost his only son in the White Ship disaster. But Henry I’s nephew Stephen was a misogynist bastard who felt no woman should rule. So a civil war erupted. Fought to a standstill, a treaty was written saying ok Stephen you can be King for life, but then Matilda’s son Henry II would be king after you. Peace ensued. So then, once Henry II got on the throne of England, he finished conquering Wales, tried to conquer Scotland but failed, conquered some of Ireland and he also owned/ruled within France- Normandy as Duke, and Maine and Anjou as Count.
The shit had really hit the fan with France when Henry II married Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine for her vast tracts of land 😜 which was most of southern France from Bordeaux to the Pyrenees. She had previously been the Queen of France until her husband Louis VII died. But by this widow marrying Henry II, it literally meant Henry II now owned and ruled more of France than the French king did! Sacre bleu! So, it was obvious to the French that this family was literally fucking & fighting their way to take over all of France. So war started in earnest. Count of Nantes was added to Henry II list of titles in 1154 by treaty, in 1166 Henry II invaded Brittany and made his 5yr old son Geoffrey Duke of Brittany.
When Henry II died, Richard I (lionheart) inherited the kingdoms of England and Wales as his elder brothers William and Henry had already died. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overlord of Brittany. But when he went on Crusade, he added Cyprus to his list, but back home, the French made their move to get their lands back. They even captured and imprisoned Richard I on his way back from crusading and ransomed him back to England. The Angevin empire started to crumble and starting with Richard I trying to re-conquer bits of France the centuries of wars we know well between France and England started in earnest.
declared himself King of England, because of deathbed whispers only he heard
I have to apologise though I confused the circumstances of William Is claim to the throne with Harold Is. As with any war, the two sides have different stories in their records.
William claimed Edward made him heir at least a decade before he died….but there is no evidence except he also claimed Harold was witness and later swore to uphold him (calling him an oathbreaker). The Norman sources claim that some years before 1066 Edward designated William his heir. Some also assert that Harold himself went to Normandy and took an oath there to support Duke William’s claim. As with Harold’s possible designation, it is impossible to be certain of the truth.
Harold claimed Edward named him heir on his deathbed. Some English sources claimed that on his deathbed, King Edward designated Harold as his heir. Other sources are more equivocal; the famous deathbed scene in the Bayeaux Tapestry, for example, shows Edward reaching out and touching Harold, who is kneeling beside him, but the text does not explain the meaning of this gesture. As we have seen, in the early days of 1066 the kingdom was recovering from a crisis and Harold was in pole position – did Edward believe that his succession would be best for the kingdom?