Northwest Europe (1108 – 1251 CE): Plantagenet–Capetian Rivalry, Scottish Consolidation, and Norse Atlantic Retreat

Geographic and Environmental Context

Northwest Europe includes Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Faroe, Shetland, and Orkney Islands, the Channel Islands, and the western coastal zones of Norway and Denmark (west of 10°E).

• Anchors: London–Canterbury–York, Dublin–Waterford, Edinburgh–St Andrews, Bergen–Trondheim, Reykjavík–Thingvellir, Channel ports (Dover, Southampton, Bristol).

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• High-medieval prosperity; population growth in England, Scotland, Ireland.

• Agricultural expansion into uplands; North Atlantic fisheries sustained Iceland and Norway.

Societies and Political Developments

• England: Norman/Angevin monarchy consolidated; Henry II (1154–1189) created Angevin Empire; Magna Carta (1215) constrained King John.

• Ireland: Anglo-Norman invasion (from 1169), with Dublin seized; native kings retreated to peripheries.

• Scotland: Kings David I–Alexander II fostered feudal and ecclesiastical reforms.

• Wales: marcher lordships clashed with native princes (Llywelyn the Great).

• Norway: civil wars (1130s–1240s), followed by consolidation; control of Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides contested with Scotland.

• Iceland: chieftains (goðar) dominated politics; subordination to Norway formalized in 1262 (just beyond this age).

Economy and Trade

• English wool exports grew, feeding Flemish industry.

• London rose as a financial hub; Bristol developed trans-Channel trade.

• Irish ports (Dublin, Waterford) tied into Anglo-Norman trade.

• Norwegian timber, stockfish (dried cod) exported to Europe.

• Iceland exported wool and fish to Norway.

Belief and Symbolism

• Gothic cathedrals in England (Canterbury, Lincoln, York Minster).

• Monastic expansion in Scotland, Ireland, Wales.

• Norse pagan remnants disappeared; Christianity universalized.

Long-Term Significance

By 1251, England was a centralized monarchy with parliamentary roots, Ireland under Anglo-Norman dominance, Scotland and Wales in resistance, and Norse Atlantic power waning as stockfish trade rose.