Henry II
King Henry II was born on the 5th of March, 1135, at Le Mans in Normandy. He was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine and Empress Matilda, former wife of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. She was the daughter of King Henry I of England.
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| King Henry II of England (1135-1189; Reign 1154-1189) |
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| Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (1113-1151); Henry's father |
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| Empress Matilda (1102-1167); Henry's mother |
King Henry I was the third son of King William the Conqueror, who had conquered England, in 1066. Henry succeeded his elder brother, William Rufus, in 1100. In 1120, his son William Adelin died in the White Ship tragedy, thus causing a future succession crisis.
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| King Henry I of England (1068-1135; Reigned 1100-1135) |
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| William Adelin (1103-1120); Henry's heir apparent to the throne |
In 1135, Henry I died of illness. Being the grandchild of the king, Henry had a strong claim to the throne; however, it was Henry I's nephew, Stephen of Blois, who was crowned as King of England. As a result, a civil war became known as ''The Anarchy'' started and it would last for 20 years.
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| King Stephen I of England (c.1097-1154; Reigned 1135-1154); he was the cousin of Empress Matilda |
In 1139, Matilda led personally an invasion to Southern England, with several key noble allies. Despite being unable to defeat King Stephen's forces, she secured key footholds in England. Meanwhile, young Henry was in France, where he received a proper education for a future king. When he was 9, his parents sent him to Bristol, England, in order to galvanize his supporters. In 1147, Henry led a military expedition to England himself. In 1150, he paid homage to King Louis VII of France, thus recognizing him as his overlord. In 1151, Geoffrey died. As a result, Henry became Duke of Normandy, Anjou and Maine. A year later, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, a woman who was 11 years older than him.
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| Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204); she had been previously married to King Louis VII of France |
Her dowry was huge: the entire Duchy of Aquitaine. In 1153, Henry managed to achieve his main goal. King Stephen agreed to a treaty with the young Duke. So, both parties signed the Treaty of Winchester (1153); Stephen would remain King of England, but upon his death, Henry would succeed him. In the late autumn of 1154, King Stephen I fell ill and died, and Henry finally became king. Upon his succession, Henry became the ruler of the Angevin Empire.
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| The Angevin Empire |
No sooner had ''The Anarchy'' ended, that another revolt started. In 1155, Geoffrey, Henry's younger brother, initiated a revolt in France. He wanted some French possessions to be handed to him, now that his brother had become king. Eventually, Henry made Geoffrey the new Count of Nantes, thus ending the revolt. Furthermore, Henry appointed one Thomas Becket as Lord Chancellor of England. Becket was a protégé of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Beck, and he was recommended to Henry and he quickly became an indispensable part of his government.
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| Thomas Becket with King Henry II |
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| Henry II had 8 legitimate children. Surprisingly, all but one reached adulthood. Overall, Henry had 5 sons and 3 daughters, 2 of his sons being the future kings Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland |
Regarding his government, Henry's reforms created an efficient centralized bureaucracy and tackled corruption among state officials. In terms of taxation, he increased the rates payable based on a knight's service from as early as 1166. He also financed the construction of many important public buildings, such as a house for lepers in Caen, France. In 1162, Thomas Becket became the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest ecclesiastical position in England. Back then, England was still a Catholic nation, and Becket theoretically had to answer to the Pope only. However, Henry hoped that he could Becket as his personal pawn to expand his influence over the church. It was a bad move. Becket started to criticize the king's policies almost immediately after he became the Archbishop. As a result, two good friends quickly developed a bitter rivalry. Seeing that his plan was not working, Henry changed his approach. In 1164, he presided over a synod which passed the Constitutions of Clarendon, which sought to reduce clerical independence. However, Becket resisted the Constitutions, so the king imposed a series of financial penalties. In response, Becket fled to Flanders. In 1170, a Papal brokered-peace between Becket and Henry was reached. It would not last for too long.
The murder of Becket soured the relations between England and Papacy. Pope Alexander III canonized Becket in 1173 and he threatened Henry with excommunication, but the latter managed to avoid it. While one catastrophe had been averted, another one appeared. In 1172, Henry the Young, Henry's legal successor, grew restless of his father and he started a civil war. Moreover, his younger brothers supported him; but Henry emerged victorious, once again. Henry and his brothers conceded to their father, while their mother Eleanor was arrested for conspiracy against the king.
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| Henry the Younger (1155-1183); He was Henry II's heir but he died before him |
In 1175, the king sought an annulment of his marriage from the Papacy. The move was criticized by his sons, and Pope Alexander III rejected the claim. Seeking to alleviate his children, Henry granted duchies to govern to each one of them, except for Henry the Younger who received no territory. During his final years of reign, Henry II was at war with France. Philip II, son of Louis VII, had big territorial ambitions and this wasn't good news for the Angevin Empire. After a series of battles and short parleys, King Henry II of England died at the age of 56, in 1189, and he was buried in the abbey of Fontevraud, in the County of Anjou. His son Richard was crowned king two months later, but he would not enjoy peaceful time. In January 1190, he set off for the Holy Land to reconquer Jerusalem in what has become known as ''The Third Crusade''.
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