When most people think of invasions of England, it is usually the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror changed the course of English history.

Did you know that 200 years later they tried to invade us again and nearly succeeded. I think that is why we don’t really talk about it, and why not many people know of it, but to be truthful it wasn’t really an invasion.

This is about a French prince, backed by English barons, who came to England and proclaimed himself king in all but name.

He was Prince Louis of France, and the year was 1216.  It was a time of chaos and crisis that became known as the First Barons’ War. In fact, it is a great story that has all the elements of a great historical event, as it has treason, opportunism, a child king, and a country reeling on the edge of collapse.

The Reign of King John: A Nation in Turmoil

As you can guess there was a reason that a French prince attempted to rule England. To start with we need to understand the state of England at that time, King John, the youngest son of Henry II and brother of Richard the Lionheart, was on the throne. In fact, as you probably know, King John was called by many as England’s worst monarch. This is because he was a cruel, greedy, and deceitful ruler. Would you believe in his arrogance he quarrelled with everyone, the Church, his nobles, and then he lost nearly all of England’s French territories, including Normandy.

The result was that by the early 13th century, his heavy taxation, arbitrary justice, and military failures had set him up against most of the nobility. The result was that in 1215 at Runnymede, a meadow near the River Thames in Surrey, a group of barons forced him to sign the Magna Carta.  The famous document, which we all know of, was intended to limit his powers and protect the barons.

Unfortunately, King John had no intention of doing anything in the charter, he was a king after all, and he believed in the divine right of Kings.  So, within months he asked the Pope for permission to disregard it, which he gave.

As you could guess, the Barons weren’t happy, which led to Civil war, when the Barons rebelled.  This civil war became known as the First Barons’ War, though it wasn’t called that at the time, it was history that gave it that name. At the time, to the rebellious barons, it was a revolution. However, if you have a revolution you have to have an aim, and the Baron’s aim was a new King.

Enter Prince Louis

 This meant that the barons needed a different king to get behind. They weren’t going to choose one of their own as they knew it would be argued over and would divide them.  Therefore, they looked across the English Channel to someone they could all agree on.

That person was Prince Louis of France, he was the eldest son of King Philip II.

To explain they chose him because he was married to Blanche of Castile, who just happened to be a granddaughter of Henry II of England, this the barons decided gave him a sort of claim to the English throne. There was the added benefit that as he was a royal, he could be portrayed as legitimate by both barons and commoners alike.

As you could imagine, Prince Louis was ambitious for a crown of his own, so he jumped at suggestion. He quickly agreed to the barons’ proposal and began preparing for an invasion. However, this wasn’t an invasion as we would describe it, you see the barons saw it as a simple mission to remove a tyrant and install a new ruler.

The Invasion: A Flotilla of 700 Ships

 However, Prince Louis didn’t see it that way and therefore in May 1216, would you believe that he set off from Calais with a fleet of 700 ships, carrying thousands of soldiers, knights, siege equipment, horses, and supplies!

I think he wasn’t convinced the Barons were as supportive as they said and he wasn’t sure they could be trusted, so he was protecting himself.  The result was one of the biggest military operations of the 13th century. Anyway, he landed unopposed on the Isle of Thanet in Kent where he was quickly joined by the rebel barons.

He met little resistance as he made his way through Kent, seizing Rochester Castle, which had been rebuilt after a previous siege by John’s forces. Then with the backing of the barons, he moved on to the capital.

He reached London, where he was welcomed as a liberator. The city, a hub of baronial discontent, welcomed him enthusiastically, and he decided that this was the ideal place to set up his headquarters.

Now this is the fascinating thing, he was never officially crowned king, even though they treated him as such. Clergymen preached sermons in his name. Royal documents were issued with his authority. He was pronounced king in Westminster, but he never had a coronation.

However, within weeks, Louis controlled more than half of the country. Towns and castles across the southeast and Midlands accepted to his authority. His army went as far north as Lincoln and also took Winchester, which was the former capital.

At this point it seemed that John’s reign was about to collapse.

John’s Last Stand – And Sudden Death

King John, meanwhile, kept moving from castle to castle, at each one attempting to gather what little support he had left. Unfortunately, it was too late, his reputation was in ruins. Even among his loyalists, there was little appetite for continued conflict under such a despised monarch.

History take an unexpected turn.

In October 1216, John contracted dysentery, while on campaign in eastern England. As his condition worsened, he attempted to cross the Wash—a dangerous tidal estuary in Lincolnshire—and famously lost his baggage train, including much of his treasure, in the rising tides. Within days, he was dead. He died on October 19th, 1216, in Newark Castle.

The Nine-Year-Old King: Henry III

John’s death left the throne to his son, Henry, who was just nine years old.

Suddenly, those barons who had supported Louis were faced with a problem.  Were they to continue supporting a French prince with uncertain loyalty to English customs and laws or rally around a native English king who they could shape and advise as his regents.

Their decision was made easier as the man chosen to serve as Henry’s regent, was William Marshal, the Earl of Pembroke. He was a legendary knight, who was widely respected by both royalists and rebels. Known for his integrity, skill, and political savvy, he played a pivotal role in shifting the tide.

The first thing William Marshal did was to reissue the Magna Carta in Henry’s name, which showed immediately that the boy-king would uphold the reforms the barons had fought for. This single act won over many of the moderate rebels. They effect was that pretty quickly the rebels abandon Louis, mainly out of a desire for stability and a sense that they had had enough of war.

As a result on October 28th, 1216, just nine days after John’s death, Henry III was crowned King of England in Gloucester Cathedral. They crowned him in Gloucester due to the dangerous state of London, as a result the coronation was a hurried and low-key affair. Most importantly, it marked a turning point in the conflict.

The Fall of Prince Louis

Louis, once seen as the saviour of England, now found he was losing support rapidly. His campaign, that had begun so favourably began to unravel. Slowly, key cities and castles deserted to Henry’s cause. Supplies and reinforcements from France were delayed and even cut off.

In May 1217, at the Battle of Lincoln, Louis suffered a major blow where he was defeated by William Marshal and the royalist army. It was a fierce battle but decisive, while the city was sacked, and most of Louis’s key commanders were captured.

Then, a few months later, in August 1217, a French fleet carrying reinforcements and supplies for Louis was intercepted off the coast of Sandwich in Kent at the Battle of Sandwich.  This was a dramatic naval battle that ended in a decisive victory for the English fleet, commanded by the pirate-turned-admiral Hubert de Burgh. The result, Louis’s supply lines were cut, leaving his remaining forces demoralized.

Realising he was in trouble, Louis entered into negotiations with the English regency government. This led in September 1217, to the Treaty of Lambeth, also known as the Treaty of Kingston. As a result, Louis renounced his claim to the English throne and agreed to leave the country. In exchange, he and his followers were granted an amnesty and allowed to return to France safely.

This was the end of one of the most largely forgotten episodes in English history.

Why Has This Invasion Been Forgotten?

 The amazing thing about this story from history is that we have found it useful to forget it.   But why, this country was in fact invaded!

One reason has to be that he wasn’t ever crowned , so he is never included in the line of the kings.

Then his occupation lasted less than two years and he didn’t win anything, and as they say it is the  victors who write history.

Probably, even more important was the fact that barons didn’t want reminding that they backed a a foreign prince over their own king.

Then there is the historical fact that this was quickly overshadowed by the long and turbulent reign of Henry III, which saw even more conflict, the development of Parliament, and further baronial revolts.

I feel that these events should not be forgotten, as they tell us that in this period English identity, politics, and loyalty were far more liquid than we might assume. Youn see it was a time when the concept of monarchy was still evolving. It was a time when the barons were the power brokers, who saw a French king as a legitimate solution to their domestic problems.

Legacy of the First Barons’ War

The failure of Prince Louis’s campaign ultimately strengthened the English monarchy in unexpected ways. The reissue of Magna Carta under Henry III set the stage for future constitutional developments. The regency of William Marshal became a model of responsible governance. And the memory of civil war—and foreign intervention—served as a warning to future rulers.

Most importantly, it demonstrated the power of unity in a time of crisis. When England was threatened by internal division and external invasion, it was not military strength alone that saved it, but political compromise, wise leadership, and a collective desire to restore order.

 Conclusion

The invasion of 1216 may have been forgotten from English history, but we need to remember it, as it was a time when England was vulnerable, fractured, and nearly lost. Would you believe it also a time when a nine-year-old boy whom became king helped to save a kingdom.

It was a  time when a French prince almost wore the English crown.

So remember other that the Norman Conquest or the Spanish Armada, there was a time when a French prince landed on English soil with 700 ships and was proclaimed king by the people themselves but never crowned.

More interestingly he wasn’t he was defeated by might, but by events.

So, was England lucky?

Isn’t history fun?

10 Questions to discuss:

1. Why do you think the 1216 invasion by Prince Louis of France is so rarely mentioned in English history books?
2. What might have happened if Prince Louis had successfully claimed the English throne? How would that have changed English and French history?
3. How did internal conflicts like the Barons’ War contribute to England’s vulnerability to foreign invasion in 1216?
4. What role did King John’s leadership—or lack thereof—play in the events leading up to the invasion?
5. Why did many English barons choose to support a French prince over their own king?
6. What does the invasion of 1216 reveal about medieval concepts of kingship and loyalty?
7. How significant was the death of King John in shaping the outcome of the invasion?
8. What impact did the young Henry III and his regents have on the resistance to Louis’ campaign?
9. How might this invasion be taught in schools to provide a fuller picture of English medieval history?
10. Are there modern parallels where internal division has invited foreign intervention? What lessons can we draw from 1216?

Other links to help understand this event:

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Forgotten-Invasion-Of-England-1216/

https://royalhistsoc.org/calendar/the-forgotten-invasion-the-english-expedition-of-louis-of-france-1215-1217-in-its-european-context/

https://royalhistsoc.org/calendar/the-forgotten-invasion-the-english-expedition-of-louis-of-france-1215-1217-in-its-european-context/#:~:text=Louis%20gathered%20together%20an%20expedition,in%20England%20in%20May%201216.

©Tony Dalton