What if King John's allies had won at Bouvines?
Philip II's victory at Bouvines in 1214 sealed the loss of Normandy and sent King John home to Magna Carta. What if the coalition had won?
What actually happened
King John of England lost Normandy, Anjou and most of his family's lands in France to Philip II Augustus between 1202 and 1204. For ten years he raised money, often by deeply unpopular means, to win them back. In 1214 he built a grand coalition: his nephew the emperor Otto IV, Count Ferrand of Flanders, Count Renaud of Boulogne and John's half-brother William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury.
The plan was a two-pronged attack. John landed at La Rochelle and campaigned in Poitou, but at La Roche-aux-Moines in early July his Poitevin barons refused to fight Philip's son Louis and he withdrew. On Sunday 27 July 1214, at Bouvines near Lille, Philip met the northern army. Philip was dragged from his horse by enemy infantry and saved by his knights; Otto fled the field; Ferrand, Renaud and Salisbury were captured.
The result was decisive. Normandy and Anjou stayed French, Otto IV lost his throne to Frederick II, and John returned to England discredited and broke. Within a year his barons were in rebellion, and in June 1215 he sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede.
The turning point
Bouvines turned on a few moments. Philip's fall from his horse could easily have ended in his death or capture; the coalition's northern army might have waited for John to draw French forces south; and the collapse at La Roche-aux-Moines left the French free to concentrate. The historian Georges Duby made the battle the subject of a famous study of how a single Sunday became a founding legend of the French monarchy.
Even a coalition victory would not have guaranteed John's recovery of Normandy, which had been governed by the French for a decade. But it would have been a heavy blow to Philip and a huge boost to John's standing at home.
The world that might have been
In Crown & Plough the alternative reads: at Bouvines Philip II fell from his horse and was captured; the Capetians paid a ransom and dropped their claims north of the Loire; Normandy and Anjou stayed in the English king's hands, and the victorious King John never set his seal to the barons' charter. The game removes the scripted Bouvines and Magna Carta events.
Beyond the game, a victorious John would have had less need to bargain with his barons, and Magna Carta as we know it might never have been issued in 1215. Historians would caution that the grievances behind it, heavy taxation and arbitrary justice, were real and that the idea of a written charter of liberties had precedents such as Henry I's coronation charter, so some settlement between king and barons would probably have come in another form.
In France a captured Philip would have weakened the Capetians' rise. An Angevin realm straddling the Channel for longer would have kept the English crown deeply French in its interests, with every later king of England also a great French lord.
Ripples through time
If the Angevins kept Normandy, the later English claim to France is stronger: in the game the dual monarchy surviving at Orléans becomes more likely.
Carried into the Renaissance era (1500), Normandy is still an English duchy at the start, unless the dual monarchy itself has survived, in which case England holds much more of France.
- Shapes What if Orléans had fallen in 1429?
- Carries into the next era Renaissance and the Age of Discovery
Play this turning point
Start in the Middle Ages (1200), or take the scenario The road to Runnymede, which begins in 1213. The Currents of History story Magna Carta lets you take the king's side, which here pushes for the alternative, or the barons' side.
The turning point only occurs if England still holds Normandy, Anjou or Poitou in 1214. The odds compare England plus part of the Empire against France and its allies, so a strong English realm, or your own lands on John's side, make a difference.
Play this turning point → Start the scenario “The road to Runnymede” →
Questions and answers
Why was Bouvines important?
It confirmed Philip II's conquest of Normandy and Anjou, ended Otto IV's career as emperor and left King John so weakened that his barons forced Magna Carta on him the following year.
Was King John at Bouvines?
No. He was campaigning in Poitou with a separate army and had already withdrawn after La Roche-aux-Moines when his allies fought at Bouvines.
Would there have been no Magna Carta?
Not necessarily. The baronial grievances were real and charters of liberties had precedents, so some settlement was likely sooner or later, but probably not the charter of June 1215.
Sources and further reading
William the Breton, Philippide; the Histoire des ducs de Normandie. Modern accounts: Georges Duby, The Legend of Bouvines; John Baldwin, The Government of Philip Augustus; Marc Morris, King John.
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