Not invaded since the Norman Conquest

One prevailing myth is that England has not been invaded since 1066. There have been endless incursions by Scottish and French backed forces at various times, plus attacks by everyone from Welsh neighbours to Spaniards and even Barbary pirates. But leave out the hundreds of such limited forays, stealing cattle, crops and seizing slaves. If we just focus on where, directly or indirectly, ‘regime change’ was involved, there were still five major invasions involving foreign troops. Some are unknown to many people, and school history lessons were not always energetic at covering them.

1) 1216 Louis

Arrival of Prince Louis from France

The French Prince Louis invaded with up to 700 ships. King John, quite the worst monarch in English history, had junked Magna Carta within a fortnight of it being sealed in June 1215, his move strongly supported by the Pope. Having shown he couldn’t be trusted, John resumed his old ways. The Council of 25 leading magnates which Magna Carta set up to advise the monarch decided enough was enough and encouraged Prince Louis, son of the French king Phillipe Augustus, to come to England as a replacement. Louis duly did so, with a large army. He was welcomed as a saviour, and despite Dover castle holding out against him, was proclaimed king in London.

Over half the country, including London, was soon under French rule. John fled but died at Newark, probably of dysentery, losing his baggage and treasury in the Wash. But his death rather obviated the need for Louis - John’s young son Henry could succeed without the tiresome need to redefine bloodline inheritance rules. Henry, protected by strongman William Marshall, was swiftly crowned king in October. With the main problem solved, Louis' English support rather evaporated. After a defeat at Lincoln and a naval disaster in 1217, he returned peacefully to France, a move sweetened by a £10,000 bribe.

2) 1326 Mortimer and Isabella

Mortimer and Isabella at the execution of Hugh Despenser

Another successful invasion of England, after years of chronic misrule by Edward II and his favourite clan, the Despensers. Many landed families had been robbed of property and title by the arbitrary power of Hugh Despenser and his son, to whom Edward seemed in thrall. Many of them went into exile in France, coalescing around Roger Mortimer, formerly a powerful magnate with extensive Welsh Marches lands, and a bitter enemy of the Despensers. Mortimer had escaped from the Tower in August 1323.

Edward's queen, Isabella of France, had visited her brother, the French King Charles IV, in 1325. She was later joined by her son Edward. But despite endless pleas from her husband she refused to return to England unless the Despensers - who'd contrived to confiscate her lands - were removed from power. King Edward, mesmerised by Hugh the younger, refused to do this.

Mortimer and Isabella worked together. They may have developed a sexual relationship too, though this is not certain, and in any case it is likely to have started as a pragmatic political alliance. But soon Charles was under pressure from Edward not to give succour to this obviously conspiratorial pair, so they left Paris - Isabella to her county of Ponthieu and Mortimer to Hainault. Roger Mortimer had seen his chance to use the leverage offered by Isabella and her son to put together a small mainly French force to invade England. He was backed by the Count of Hainault in return for his daughter Philippa’s betrothal to Edward’s son. Accompanied by Henry Earl of Lancaster, but counting on the support of disaffected people locally, the force of only 1500 or so landed in September 1326 at the Orwell estuary.

Within a few weeks most of the English nobility had rallied to Mortimer and Isabella, chasing the Despensers, Edward and their few supporters from London and into Wales. By the end of the year the Despensers had been caught, and after sham trials were ritually hanged, drawn and quartered, while Edward was imprisoned for nearly a year. Regime change in primary colours.

Roger Mortimer and Isabella ruled for over three years, as guardians of the young Edward III. But they steadily lost support as their behaviour in power mirrored that of the clique they had usurped. In fact their selfishness and greed soon lost them the backing of the enthusiasts who had helped oust Edward II and the Despensers. In 1330 the 18 year old son, Edward, mounted an internal 'coup' deposing (and later killing) Mortimer, cutting his mother Isabella's vast income, and initially placing her under restraint. There is still doubt about the fate of his father Edward II, but none about the son, who as Edward III reigned for 50 years in what was widely regarded as a triumph of kingship.

3) 1399 Henry IV

Henry Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV, invaded from France to oust his cousin, Richard II. The roots of their quarrel went back several years. Richard had become king on the death of his grandfather Edward III, who had reigned for 50 years. Bolingbroke was also a grandson of Edward, his father being John of Gaunt, Richard’s uncle.

Richard assumed the throne in 1377, when he was young (10) and immature. He steadily became more difficult to deal with, and pompous in his attitudes and behaviour. His cousin Henry, with whom he had partly grown up as a boy, was generally loyal and patient with him, as indeed was John of Gaunt, who had carried influence in the kingdom when Richard was younger. But Richard, convinced he’d been put in place by God, was flushed with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. His steadily worsening behaviour, rather like that of his great grandfather Edward II, lost him a lot of friends.

Matters came to a climax in 1397, when Richard moved against a powerful group of aristocrats. While such moves may have been common in medieval times, what was less so was his vengeful treatment of opponents, killing or forcing a clutch of them into exile. These next two years were later called the ‘tyranny’. Those banished included Henry. When Gaunt died in 1399 Richard disinherited Henry of the vast Lancastrian patrimony. This was to attack head on England’s richest and most powerful landed political interest. Henry was left with no alternative but to seek to recover his lands and title.

Henry, based in France but without the support of that country, set sail from Boulogne with a small force (perhaps only 500 men, mostly from Picardie) fully resolved to rid England of its unstable misfit king or die in the attempt. He landed at the mouth of the Humber on 4^th July 1399. Richard, in Ireland, returned immediately. But Henry quickly picked up support from the Northern lords and from his Lancastrian heartlands, where righteous indignation at Richard’s behaviour was especially strong. Important families like the Percys rallied to him. Within 10 days he knew he had most of the country on his side.

With Thomas Arundel, former Archbishop of Canterbury advising him, Henry had himself declared King Henry IV. At his coronation on 13 October 1399, he gave an address in English, the first monarch to do so since 1066. Richard was deposed and imprisoned, but what to do with him? Not wanting a focus for opposition to the new regime, it seems he was just starved to death in February 1400 while in confinement at Pontefract Castle.

4) 1485 Henry Tudor

Henry Tudor (who became Henry VII), invaded England to oust Richard III. The background to this is well known. On the death of his brother Edward IV in 1483, Richard, whose main title was Duke of Gloucester, moved with breathtaking opportunism. He had several powerful figures, including some from his sister in law’s Woodville family, killed. He also took Edward’s sons (his nephews), one of whom was the new King Edward V. These boys, later called the ‘Princes in the Tower’, were never seen alive again.

Henry, Earl of Richmond, had a weak claim to the English throne. He was descended from Henry V’s wife Catherine of Valois, and her second husband, Owen Tudor. The last Lancastrian claimant after the civil war, he was promptly labelled a usurper. But Richard was hardly the soul of legitimacy, either, as the brother of a king who had just grabbed the throne, and who himself had almost certainly had his nephews murdered. It’s surprising that historians with a royalist bias on succession seem to forget the numerous English monarchs who either seized the crown by conquest, were themselves usurpers, or were closely descended from usurpers. Also several British monarchs were ‘unsuitable’ and simply had to be removed. The only way to do this was through death or exile, hoping there might be a son to inherit. Not always the case, of course. A major weakness, perhaps, in this approach to finding a head of state.

Even many loyal Yorkists were sickened by Richard’s behaviour. Henry, based in Brittany since 1471, gained financial and political support from a growing number of people who simply wanted to get rid of the king. Henry’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, was an influential operator, too. Descended from Edward III, she offered a route for a stronger royal claim for Henry. And importantly, she was married (her fourth husband) to one of the powerful Stanley family.

Henry was coming under pressure in Brittany, as Richard pressed Duke Francis to hand over to him this exiled figure who represented such a threat. So he moved to France, and gained some support - about 2000 mercenary French soldiers, plus some Scots. He then picked up Welsh and English supporters after landing at Milford Haven, near his birthplace, in August 1485. A few weeks later his force, though far inferior to Richard’s, defeated and killed the king at Bosworth Field. The Stanley contingent stood aside until coming late into the fray on the side of Henry. It was the start of the new Tudor dynasty, an obvious case of regime change.  

5) 1688 William of Orange 

A Dutch force successfully invaded England. Stuart King James II (and VII of Scotland), was ousted, and a new regime and government took power. The episode, often called the ‘Glorious Revolution’. had a profound effect not only on the history of England, but on the British Isles as a whole. It was also to have a big impact on wider European history.

James had succeeded his brother Charles II in 1685. He was a Catholic with close ties to Louis X1V’s France, Europe’s dominant power. Over three years he steadily became more involved in the religion-based British political struggles between Catholics and Protestants. Attempts to increase Catholic representation in the government, army and universities alienated him from both parties in England and from the Scottish Protestants. He dismissed judges opposing his demand to dispense with Acts of Parliament and also quarrelled with the Anglican hierarchy over the Declaration of Indulgence. At the same time he built up the standing army to a huge strength of 34,000, with Catholics in powerful positions. Indeed in Ireland the army was purged of Protestants.

All this was worrying, yet as James had no son the succession would be via his daughter Mary, a Protestant, married to his nephew, Dutch Stadtholder William of Orange. But things reached a crisis when in June 1688 James’ wife gave birth to a son, changing the dynamics. A new Catholic dynasty in the British Isles seemed certain. To compound the problem, Louis XIV’s aggressive moves against French Huguenots had caused up to 900,000 refugees to flee France, outraging Europe’s Protestants. The fear was of a Catholic England allied with an aggressively absolutist Catholic France.

William was an accomplished political strategist, with a wide international perspective. He convinced the main Dutch States that an invasion of England was needed and was helped in this by an invitation from seven leading English figures to free their country from James’ rule. Having expected to succeed to this throne with his wife Mary, the birth of a son to James simply accelerated William’s plan. He landed in November 1688 at Torbay, with 450 ships and 20,000 well trained and equipped troops. After a few skirmishes and the desertion of several of James’ army units and commanders, including John Churchill, William’s forces advanced to occupy London. On 23 December James was allowed to escape to France.

The 1689 Bill of Rights is the foundation of Britain’s constitutional monarchy. Catholicism would not be re-established nor would absolute power ever be held by the monarch. Various ‘Jacobite’ attempts were made by James, supported by Louis, to recover his crown. One clash was on the Boyne, 30 miles north of Dublin in July 1690. A multinational force beat James’ Irish and French troops. While the Boyne is commemorated, the more decisive battle was Aughrim in July 1691.

Some historians have had a limited, too locally British, view of this episode. William had no real interest in being king of England. But he was determined to stop French Catholic domination of Europe, so to this end having England’s resources, plus English military and trading power, were vital. The Grand Alliance he put together, including Dutch, Danish, German, Huguenot and English forces, did successfully halt French ambitions. This wider European struggle is the context in which the Glorious Revolution should be understood.

British foreign policy 

A postscript. William’s policy of alliance building to stop an autocratic power dominating Europe has been a foundation of British foreign policy before and since. Until now, as the country has abandoned it on the Brexit altar. The resulting image is of the hapless UKIP supporter, shaking his stick at the modern world and crying defiance from the White Cliffs of Dover.

Richard Weight, in his 2002 study of the modern British search for identity, says wartime politicians, historians, poets and media drew explicit parallels with the Elizabethan and Napoleonic eras. “They portrayed Hitler as the latest in a long line of jumped-up, power-crazed Continental dictators, and emphasised the unshakeable continuity of ‘the island story’”. Says the head scratching conservative writer Max Hastings, “What is remarkable is not that this thesis exercised such power over British imaginations in 1940, but that it continues to do so 80 years later”.