Harold II "the Cruel"
(1383 - 1416)
(1383 - 1416)
Harold II "the Cruel" (also "the Devil") was born on 9th July 1351 as first son of Emperor Edgar I and Theodora de Quintanar. He became Emperor of Britannia in 1383 at the age of 31 years.
He was married to Leofrun de Berat. They had five children:
Edgar (* 1373)
Sarah (* 1376)
Barbara (* 1377; + 1395)
Ingrid (* 1379)
Beatrice (* 1386)
Harold died due to an illness on his 65th birthday on 9th July 1416 near Aberdeen.
King of Ireland
During the first decade of his reign, Harold focused on destroying the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been established in the year 1342, when the first King, Harold "the Unchaste", was eight years old. In the year after his succession, Harold II raised an army and declared a war on Ireland, which would last for thirty years and end with the total occupation of the island.
From 1384 to 1385 the British army fought over the County of Kildare. In 1385, the last major battle between British and Irish forces was fought near Connor, when roughly 8.000 Irish soldiers died and sealed the defeat of Harold "the Unchaste".
After the annexation of Kildare, Harold II declared himself to be the King of Ireland. The usurpation of this title was followed by the collapse of the Irish Kingdom, when its western parts declared their independence and tried to establish their own realms.
From 1385 to 1389 Harold fought wars against Leofwynn of Connacht and Harold of Tyrconnell. According to contemporary sources, these small counties were not able to field a significant army and it was the population per se, which put up resistance versus the incoming British occupation. The reaction was a merciless war versus the Irish civilians. Especially in Tyrconell several villages and small cities were completely destroyed and the population either killed or relocated, while British immigrants reestablished the settlements.
In 1395 Harold "the Unchaste" had already accepted that he was not Irish King anymore and he referred to himself as King of Ulster. Harold II began a new war in order to occupy the County of Breifne. This was seen as sacrilege by the Church and Harold`s peers, since the King of Ulster had taken the cross and was on a Crusade, when British forces occupied Breifne during a short campaign. In 1396 Ulster was reduced to a territory, that was more or less identical to today`s Northern Ireland.
First Franco-British War
After a short break, Harold continued his military efforts, but changed his focus from Ireland to Scotland. In 1398 he demanded from King Euric of France to cede the Hebrides to Britannia. This demand was denied and Harold raised an army of estimated 30.000 soldiers to wage war against France.
From 1398 to 1400, Harold`s army besieged several locations and devastated the Highlands. Applecross and Dornoch were burned to the ground and most of the population got massacred, when Harold granted his soldiers three days of plundering.
During this time he met little French resistance and historians still debate, why Euric made no real efforts to save his territory from the British onslaught, since there was no domestic unrest or any other armed conflict, in which he was involved. Anyway, Euric decided to give in to Harold`s demand and the Hebrides became British.
Developments in Britannia
Although the economic situation in Britannia remained stable, the remarkable development during the three decades of Harold`s reign was the last golden age in castle architecture. Castles such as Warwick, Bedford and Arundel got their distinctive shape in the years around 1400 in a time, when castle fortifications were about to become obsolete with the rise of gunpowder and the invention of cannons.
Nevertheless this last peak of medieval architecture, which changed the appearance of many fortified places throughout the realm, shaped the impression of the general public about the British medieval with its still impressive walls and keeps.
Civil War
The year 1402 saw an usurpation attempt by Osmund Cerdicing. He and Harold both descended from Emperor Edmund I and Osmund made an attempt to dethrone Harold. It is still debated, whether Osmund had domestic or foreign support or maybe even both. But there is a consensus, that Harold`s character did alienate many of his subjects to the point where they were willing to encourage a change.
Be it as it may, on the 12th August 1402 the battle of Lambeth was fought with approximately 60.000 soldiers participating in one of the largest battles fought on British soil. At the end of the day a total of up to 20.000 men were dead or wounded. Osmund`s army was defeated and in disarray. Osmund himself had been lightly wounded and taken prisoner.
With Osmund captured, the Civil War came to a sudden end. Without any doubt Osmund was guilty of high treason, but although he and Harold were distant relatives only, he was nevertheless part of the dynasty. But after a short trial, in which Osmund was found guilty, he was brought to London, where he was burned at the stake after his body got severely mutilated. Even the most indulgent chroniclers could not hide their disgust toward this decision.
Pilgrimage
In early 1403 a harsh letter from Pope Donus II arrived in Winchester, urging Harold to either repent his sins "which are as numerous as the hairs on your head" or face excommunication. Although excommunication was not as much a threat to a ruler as it was a few centuries before, there was still enough political leverage in this measure to make Harold reconsider.
The result of his decision finding was the pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1403 / 1404. It is accepted among historians, that Harold was definitely not a religious man, so this journey served solely the purpose to appease his critics at home and within the church. Although he visited all holy sites in and around the city, he was probably not impressed and according to a legend, he refused to visit more churches after a week, since he had "seen enough suspicious bones in golden boxes".
It is difficult to properly evaluate Harold`s religious convictions, but it is agreed, that he developed a sincere respect for the local Muslim population and their religious beliefs during his stay in the Holy Land. Being a man of action, it was not to be expected, that his pilgrimage would lead to any kind of spiritual enlightenment. But although his reign would not become less violent or offensive during the following decade, his attested friendly relationship to the Muslim dignitaries would become one of the few silver linings of his reign.
The downfall of Ulster
In 1406, after a decade of absence from the island, Harold returned to Ireland and began his final campaigns to subdue the rest of it. During that time, Ulster had regained Breifne due to dynastic reasons, but Harold II did start his new war in the north and in 1408 the county of Tyrone was annexed.
During the next years Harold II was distracted by domestic affairs, since he had to suppress a violent heretic uprising in Gloucestershire. In 1412 King Harold "the Unchaste" of Ulster died at the age of 78. Allegedly his last words were that he was grateful to not see the end of his dynasty. His son, Harold III "the Ill-ruler", was less fortunate, since Harold II declared war on him right after his succession. Already in the same year Harold III had to cede the County and Title of Ulster to Britannia.
Fig. 35: The British Isles in 1416
Harold III`s realm was now reduced to the County of Breifne, while the County of Oriel became independent. The latter was occupied during a short campaign in 1413. In the same year Harold II committed a last crime in Ireland, when he violated the truce he had with Harold III, which was supposed to endure for ten years. In 1414 the county of Breifne was annexed by Britain again and Harold III fled Ireland.
With the occupation of Breifne the conquest of Ireland was almost finished. The last remaining independent holding was the Barony of Elphin in Connacht, but after the defeat of Harold III, Baron Aelle voluntarily became one of Harold`s vassals. Roughly 120 years after the first British army had landed on the island, Ireland was completely under British control.
Last years and death
Harold had passed his 60th birthday, when he eventually subdued all of Ireland. Nevertheless he began a new year war just shortly later, when his forces started a second invasion of French Scotland in early 1415.
During the first year of the conflict, the British forces made considerably good progress, since several besieged fortified places could be occupied. During this time, Harold faced almost no French resistance, since King Euric I was distracted by another armed conflict with the Holy Roman Empire and a domestic struggle with a faction under the leadership of Duchess Agathe "the Fat" of Berry.
In mid 1416 Harold was with his army, which besieged the city of Aberdeen. According to contemporary sources it was a wet and cold spring and the already old Emperor became sick. Due to the described symptoms historians assume, that he was ill with pneumonia. Harold suffered for some weeks before he died in the evening of his birthday.
Aftermath
The interesting thing about Harold II is not today`s evaluation of his reign, but the negative comments he received from his contemporaries. Bishop Thomas of Salisbury writes about the Emperor`s death in 1416:
"The bled-to-death, suppressed and desperate people thanked God in almost offensive manifestations for a relief, which they had nearly not hoped for anymore even in their most fervent wishes."
Superficially speaking Harold had been a successful Emperor. His achievements concerning the unification of the British Isles are undisputed. But his measures to accomplish these achievements were odious in the eyes of his peers and the people. Two or three centuries earlier he probably would have got more praise for his constant belligerence and maybe he would bear a more flattering epithet.
But the times had changed and with them the requirements one had to meet in order to be looked upon as "Good King". It was not sufficient anymore to slay as many enemies as possible. Massacres among civilians were not getting ignored anymore or maybe even read as a sign of "strength". The medieval came to an end and Harold, the last of the "Warrior Kings", and his reign were already an anachronism in a changing world. Harold`s successors realized this change and became monarchs of a new era.
But this new era inherited the conflicts of the old one. The Franco-British antagonism, which had evolved since the middle of the 14th century, did escalate during Harold`s reign and his successors would continue this struggle. In Scotland at first and in later centuries for the supremacy in Europe and the rest of the world.
