England’s greatest enemy during the medieval period was (of course!) French: King Philip II, also called Philip Augustus. Astute and cunning, he played his Plantagenet rivals against one another and, as the historian Catherine Hanley says, became Europe’s most powerful monarch. France was one of the great power-houses of medieval Europe, and much of the […]
Nemesis: Medieval England’s Greatest Enemy by Catherine Hanley
Philip II, also called Philip Augustus, ruled France with an iron fist for over 40 years, expanding its borders and increasing its power. For his entire reign his counterpart on the English throne was a member of the Plantagenet dynasty, and Philip took them all on: Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, John and Henry III. […]