King John of England in his first year or two of rule achieved some successes, but his lack of tact and diplomacy, plus poor decision-making lost him many allies in France. The focus of the escalating conflict between the Plantagenets and Capetians became Chateau Gaillard, a magnificent fortress in the key borderlands between Normandy and the French royal demesne around Paris.

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Picture: Ruins of Chateau Gaillard

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The sons of King Henry II of England, impatient for power of their own and encouraged by Louis VII and then Philip II Augustus of France, rebel against their father and end up damaging the cause of their dynasty, the Plantagenets.

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Picture: Effigy of Richard I Lionheart, Church of Fontevraud Abbey

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The story of France in the High Middle Ages, the reigns of Louis VI and Louis VII. As the twelfth century opened the kings of France barely controlled much land beyond Paris, but these two monarchs began to build the foundations for the French kings' great rise in power and prestige.

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Picture: King Louis VII of France, coin

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William the Conqueror's conquest of England in 1066 and the division of his lands between England and Normandy sowed the seeds for centuries of Anglo-French conflict. This episode covers the reigns of Henry I of England, the Anarchy (civil war over Henry's succession) and the formation of the Angevin Empire of France and England under Henry II

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Picture: King Henry II of England

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When crusaders arrived at Constantinople in 1203 they gazed in wonder, having never imagined that there could be so fine a place in the world. The 'Queen of Cities', founded by Constantine The Great in the early fourth century, had become imbued over the centuries with legends and Christian myths that gave the place a spiritual aura to match its physical grandeur. Yet in 1204 the city would be violently sacked and the once mighty Empire brought to its knees.

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Picture: Conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in1204

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In the year 1204, Constantinople, the largest and most splendid city by far in Europe was sacked, not by Muslims but by fellow Christians - and not only sacked but gutted by fire and indiscriminate violence. Part 1 describes the build-up and first steps of the crusade, including a history of early Venice.

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Picture: Pope Innocen III. Fresco mid 13th century - Monastery of Sacro Speco of Saint Benedict

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After the disaster at Hattin in 1187 Saladin appeared on the verge of completely wiping out the Crusader States from the Middle East. Instead he was met by stubborn resistance at Tyre, and the Acre. And when the kings of France and England arrived at Acre the tide began to turn in favour of the Christians, who now set the sights on recapturing Jerusalem.

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Picture: Siege of Acre

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The emergence of Saladin as preeminent Muslim ruler of the Levant, and the struggle for Egypt between Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. www.historyeurope.net

Picture: Saladin coin

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The Second Crusade (1145-1449), triggered by the Fall of Edessa. Conrad III of Germany and Louis VII of France lead the military campaign to boost the Crusader States in the Levant

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Picture: Raymond of Poitiers welcoming Louis VII in Antioch

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