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Individual Record for: II HENRY (male)

Source:

bulkeley.txt

Notes:

Henry II was the first of the Plantagenet kings. The surname of this rema rkable family derives from the nickname borne by Geoffrey, Count of Anjo u, (Henry's father). Geoffrey wore a spring of flowering broom (planta ge nista) as his personal badge.

Henry II ascended the throne in 1154 and reigned for 35 years. He was t he grandson of Henry I.

From Michael Farquhar's A TREASURY OF ROYAL SCANDALS--

Henry II was a model for the ideal monarch: strong, judicious and fai r. Many historians, in fact, credit this twelfth-century king as the fath er of English Common Law. But Henry had a serious flaw: a blinding temp er that tended to diminish his royal dignity.

Besides his treacherous family (see below), King Henry is perhaps best rem embered for his deadly dispute with Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbur y, over the relative rights of Church and State. Exasperated by Becker 's intransigence, Henry screeched, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent p riest?" Several knights, hoping to please the king, took him literal ly at his word and slaughtered the archbishop in his own cathedra l. As a result of Henry's fit of pique, Becket was launched almost immedi ately into sainthood while the king was reduced to wearing sackcloth and a shes in repentance.

While this is the most famous example of the royal temper, it is by no mea ns the most illustrative. Henry looked positively regal in his sackclo th compared to the spectacle he made of himself over a conflict with Ki ng William of Scotland. The scene is preserved in a letter written by Jo hn of Salisbury: I heard that when the king was at Caen and was vigorous ly debating the matter of the king of Scotland, he broke out in abusive la nguage against Richard du Hommet for seeming to speak somewhat in the ki ng of Scotland's favor, calling him a manifest traitor. And the king, fly ing into his usual temper, flung his cap from his head, pulled off his bel t, threw off his cloak and clothers, grabbed the silken coverlet off the c ouch, and sitting as it might be on a dungheap, started chewing piec es of straw."

Henry II was subjected to no fewer that four rebellions by his grasping so ns, all urged on by their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaiane, whose bitter estr angement from Henry resulted in her lengthy imprisonment.

Ruler of vast domains that included all of England and much of France, Hen ry II decided to divaide up his territory among his soms while he was sti ll alive. He even had his eldest son, Henry the Younger, crowned Ki ng of England while he, too, retained the title, If Henry was hoping th is would make the boys happy and ensure a peaceful transition afater his d eath, he was tragaically mistaken. The children wanted the power as we ll as the titles, and rebelled when Henry indicated he wasn't ready to rel inquish that. In various combinations, and with stunning treachery, th ey rose up against their father--and each other.

There was, at the time, a tapestry hanging in the royal chamber at Westmin ster. It featured four eaglets preying upon the parent bird, the fourth p oised at the partent's neck prepared to gouge out the eyes. "The four eag lets are my four sons who cease not to persecute me even unto death," Ki ng Henry reportedly said. "The youngest of them, who I now embrace wi th so much affection, will some time in the end insult me more grievous ly than any of the others." And so it came to be.

The fourth eaglet ready to rip out the father's eyes turned out to be Henr y's belaoved youngest sone, the infamous future King John of Magna Carta f ame. King Henry had striven to advance John's fortunes, especially sin ce he didn't inherit all the lad his brothers did (hence the "Lackland" th at is often attached to his name). Showing just how grateful he was, Jo hn joined older brother Richard (The Lion Hearted) in his final rebelli on against their father.

At least Richard had some legitimate gripes with his father, not the lea st of which was the recurring rumor that Henry was sleepaing with Richard 's fiancee. But John's betrayal was too much for his father to bear. Wh en he saw his beloved son had covertly switched allegiance, and that his n ame now headed the list of conspirators, Henry was finally defeated and br oken. The once proud monarch lay back in his bed, closed his eyes is desp air, and died. John subsequently kept himself busy during the next reig n--that of Richard I--trying to steal his brother's throne while the new k ing was off fighting in the Crusades. It was against this background of f raternal disloyalty that the legendary Robin Hood played his part.


From Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia (c) 1993-1997

Henry II was the first monarch of the house of Anjou, or Plantagenet, an i mportant administrative reformer, who was one of the most powerful Europe an rulers of his time. Henry became duke of Normandy in 1151. The follow ing year, on the death of his father, he inherited the Angevin territori es in France. By his marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry add ed vast territories in southwestern France to his possessions. Henry clai med the English kingship through his mother, Matilda. She had been design ated the heiress of Henry I but had been deprived of the succession by h er cousin, Stephen of Blois, who made himself king. In 1153, Henry defeat ed Stephen's armies in England and compelled the king to choose him as h is successor; on Stephen's death, the following year, Henry became kin g. During the first dew years of his reign Henry quelled the disorders th at had developed during Stephen's reign, regained the northern counti es of England, which ahd previously been ceded to Scotland, and conquer ed North Wales. In 1171-72 he bagan the Norman conquest of Ireland a nd in 1174 forced William the Lion, king of the Scots, to recognize h im as overlord.

In 1164, Henry became involved in a quarrel with Thomas a Becket, wh om he had appointed archbishop of Canterbury. By the Constitutions of Cla rendon, the king decreed that priests accused of crimes should be tri ed in royal courts; Becket claimed that such cases should be handled by ec clesiastical courts, and the controversy that followed ended in 1170 wi th Becket's murder by four of Henry's knights. Widespread indignation ov er the murder forced the king to rescind his decree and recognnize Beck et as a martyr.

Although he failed to subject the church to his courts, Henry's judicial r eforms were of lasting significance. In England, he established a central ized system of justice accessible to all freemen and administered by judg es who traveled around the country at regular intervals. He also began t he process of replacing the old trial by ordeal with modern court procedur es.

From the beginning of his reigh, Henry was involved in conflict with Lou is VII, king of France, and later with Louis's successor, Phillip II, ov er the French provinces that Henry claimed. A succession of rebellions ag ainst Henry,headed by his sons and furthered by Philip II and by Elean or of Aquitaine, began in 1173 and continued until his death at Chinon, Fr ance.

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Henry II was born in 1133, the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet , Count of Anj ou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I . He grew up in Anjou, but visited Eng land as early as 1142 to defend his mother's claim to the disputed thro ne of Stephen; educated by famous scholars, he had a true love of readi ng and intellectual discussion. Geoffrey of Anjou died in September 115 1, leaving Normandy and Anjou to Henry. Henry's continental possessions mo re than doubled when he married Eleanor of Aquitane, ex-wife of King Lou is VII of France. Af ter a succession agreement between Stephen and Matil da in 1153, he was crowne d Henry II in October 1154. Eleanor bore Henry f ive sons and three daughters between 1153 and 1167; the relationship betwe en Henry, Eleanor and their sons Henry, Richard and John proved to be tumu ltuous and treacherous. The empire ruled by Henry and his sons was conside rably larger than the lone English isl and - the French Angevin positio ns extended from Normandy southward to the Pyrennes, covering the counti es of Brittany, Maine, Poitou, Touraine and
Gasc ony, as well as Anjou, Aquitane and Normandy. Henry was extremely ene rgetic a nd traveled quickly and extensively within the borders of his kin gdom.

Henry revitalized the English Exchequer, issuing receipts for tax paymen ts and kee ping written accounts on rolled parchment. He replaced
incompetent sheriffs, expanding the authority of royal courts, which broug ht more funds into his co ffers. A body of common law emerged to
replace feudal and county courts, whic h varied from place to place. Ju ry trials were initiated to end the old Germanic customary trials by orde al or battle. Henry's systematic approach to law provided a common basis f or development of royal institutions throughout the entire realm. The proc ess of strengthening the royal courts, however, yielded an unexpected cont roversy. Church courts, instituted by William the
Conquer or , became a safe haven for criminals of varying degree and abili ty, for one in fifty of the English population qualified as clerics.
Henry wished to tra nsfer such cases to the royal courts, as the only puni shment open to the Church courts was demotion of the cleric. Thomas Becket t, Henry's close friend an d chancellor since 1155, was named Archbish op of Canterbury in June 1162. In an attempt to discredit claims that he w as too closely tied to the king, he v ehemently opposed the weakening of C hurch courts. Henry drove Beckett into exile from 1164-1170. When the Arch bishop returned to England, he greatly angeredHenry over his oppositi on to the coronation of Prince Henry. Exasperated, Henry publicly announc ed a half-hearted desire to be rid off Beckett - four ambitious knights to ok the king at his word and murdered Beckett in his own cathedral on Decem ber 29, 1170. Henry is perhaps best remembered for Beckett's murder, b ut in fact, the realm was better off without the contentious Arc hbisho p. Henry endured a rather limited storm of protest over the inciden t, b ut the real threat to his power came from within his family.

Henry's sons - Henry the Young King, Richard, Geoffrey and John - were nev er satisfied with any of their father's plans for dividing his lands and t itles upon his death. The sons, at the encouragement (and sometimes the tr eatment) of their mother , rebelled against the king several times. Prin ce Henry, the only man ever to be crowned while his father still lived, wa nted more than a royal title. Thu s from 1193 to the end of his reign Hen ry was plagued by his rebellious sons, who always found a willing partn er in Louis VII of France. The death of Henr y the Young King in 1183 a nd Geoffrey in 1186, gave no respite from his children's rebellion - Richa rd, with the assistance of Louis VII, attacked and defeated Henry, forci ng him to accept a humiliating peace on July 4, 1189. Henry II died two da ys later, on July 6, 1189.


Notes Source: bulkeley.txt

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