by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, Queen of France (the first wife of King Louis VII of France, marriage annulled after 15 years) and Queen of England (wife of King Henry II of England) survived her first husband, her second husband, and eight of her ten children. She was the longest-lived British Queen Consort until the death of Queen Mary, wife of King George V, 749 years later.  Currently, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother holds the record for the longest-lived British Queen Consort.

Through some historical detective work, historians deduced that Eleanor was most likely born in 1122 in Poitiers, Bordeaux, or Nieul-sur-l’Autis, all cities in her father’s lands, all now in France. She was the eldest of the three children of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Aenor de Châtellerault.  Eleanor is said to have been named after her mother Aenor and called Aliénor from the Latin alia Aenor, which means “the other Aenor.” It became Eléanor in the French and Eleanor in English.

Eleanor had two siblings:

• Petronilla of Aquitaine (c. 1125 – 1193), married Raoul I, Count of Vermandois, had issue
• William Aigret (1126 – 1130), died young around the same time as his mother

Eleanor received an education as befitted a noblewoman of her time at the court of Aquitaine, one of the finest courts of the twelfth century, which saw the birth of courtly love and the influence of Occitan language at the various residences of the Dukes of Aquitaine. Eleanor learned Latin, music, literature, riding, hawking, and hunting. Eleanor’s grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, a lyric poet in the Occitan language, was the earliest troubadour whose work has survived. In 1127, Eleanor’s grandfather died and her father became Duke of Aquitaine. Eleanor’s brother and mother died in 1130, and the eight-year-old Eleanor became her father’s heir.

However, the reign of Eleanor’s father was short. In 1137, William decided to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to atone for his sins. Before leaving, he made his vassals swear to respect the rights of his heir, Eleanor. At the same time, he put both his daughters under the protection of his lord, King Louis VI of France. Eleanor and Petronilla accompanied their father to Bordeaux, where he left them in the care of the archbishop. William then continued his journey to the Shrine of Saint James of Compostela in the company of other pilgrims. However, William never arrived at his destination because he died on Good Friday, April 9, 1137. 15-year-old Eleanor became the Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, and became the most eligible potential bride in Europe.

King Louis VI of France was not in good health. The heir to the French throne was his second son, Louis.  The devout Louis had been destined for the priesthood, but this changed when his elder brother Philip was killed in a horrible accident six years earlier. When the ailing Louis VI heard that his vassal William X, Duke of Aquitaine died, leaving a wealthy female heir, he saw an opportunity and declared that his son Louis would marry Eleanor. In this way, Louis VI would add the large territory of the Duchy of Aquitaine to his family’s holdings in France. Eleanor and Louis were married on July 25, 1137, in the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. Immediately after the wedding, the couple was enthroned as Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine. However, Aquitaine would remain independent of France until Louis and Eleanor’s oldest son became both King of France and Duke of Aquitaine. Therefore, Eleanor’s holdings would not be merged with France until the next generation. As a wedding gift, Eleanor gave Louis a rock crystal vase that her grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine had given her.  Louis subsequently gave the vase to the Abbey of Saint-Denis, now a basilica, the traditional burial place of the French kings and consorts. The vase is displayed at the Louvre and is the only object connected with Eleanor of Aquitaine that still survives.

Eleanor and Louis VII had two children, both daughters:

• Marie of France (1145 – 1198), married Henry I, Count of Champagne, had issue
• Alix of France (1151 – 1197/1198), married Theobald V, Count of Blois, had issue

A week after Eleanor and Louis’s wedding, King Louis VI died, and Eleanor’s husband was King Louis VII of France, and Eleanor was Queen of France. Eleanor and Louis were very incompatible. Eleanor was high-spirited, and Louis led a life strongly influenced by his monastic youth. In 1147, Louis VI and Eleanor left France to participate in the unsuccessful Second Crusade.  The expedition to the Holy Land came at a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor that led to the annulment of their marriage.

Perhaps the marriage to Eleanor might have continued if the royal couple had produced a male heir, but this had not occurred. While in the Holy Land, Eleanor and Louis visited her paternal uncle Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch.  Louis became suspicious of the attention Raymond gave Eleanor, and the long conversations they enjoyed. Raymond was only seven years older than Eleanor, and they had been close during childhood, however, an affair between uncle and niece was suspected by many. Raymond and Eleanor also differed with Louis regarding the tactics of the Second Crusade. Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged, but the situation now had worsened. Due to their disagreements, Louis and Eleanor left the Holy Land on separate ships.

The ships of Eleanor and Louis were attacked and besieged by storms. Neither was heard from for over two months, and they were given up for dead. Eventually, Eleanor and Louis turned up in Calabria, and they decided to go to the Pope, hoping for a marriage annulment. However, Pope Eugene III did not grant an annulment. Instead, he attempted to reconcile Eleanor and Louis, confirming the legality of their marriage. The Pope arranged events so that Eleanor had no choice but to sleep with Louis in a bed specially prepared by the Pope. Their second child was conceived, but it was another daughter.

Louis knew the marriage should end. He had no heir, Eleanor wanted an end to the marriage, and she would be supported by her vassals. On March 21, 1152, the four archbishops, with the approval of Pope Eugene, granted an annulment on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Eleanor was Louis’ third cousin once removed and shared common ancestry with Robert II of France. Their two daughters were declared legitimate.

Eleanor then set out for her own land in Poitiers. However, two would-be suitors for a wealthy heiress, Theobald V, Count of Blois, (the future husband of Eleanor’s daughter Alix of France) and Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (the brother of Eleanor’s 2nd husband, the future King Henry II, of England) tried to kidnap her to marry her to claim her lands. As soon as she reached Poitiers, Eleanor contacted the young Henry, Duke of Normandy, the future King Henry II of England, who had been fighting for the English throne, asking him to marry her at once. Henry knew it was a good deal because of Eleanor’s land. Even though Henry was more closely related to Eleanor than Louis, 19-year-old Henry married 30-year-old Eleanor eight weeks after the annulment, on May 18, 1152, in Bordeaux in Eleanor’s Duchy of Aquitaine.

Eleanor and Henry had eight children and were the grandparents of many sovereigns and queen consorts.

• William IX, Count of Poitiers (1153 – 1156), died in childhood
• Henry the Young King (1155 – 1183), married Marguerite of France, no children
• Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria (1156 – 1189), married Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, had five children, including Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
• King Richard I of England (1157 – 1199), married Berengaria of Navarre, no children
• Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158 – 1186), married Constance, Duchess of Brittany, had three children
• Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (1162 – 1214), married King Alfonso VIII of Castile, had twelve children including King Enrique I of Castile; Berengaria, Queen Regnant of Castile and Queen of León; Urraca, Queen of Portugal; Blanche, Queen of France, and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon
• Joan of England, Queen of Sicily (1165 – 1199), married (1) King William II of Sicily, no surviving children (2) Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, had two children, Joan died in childbirth with her third child who also died
• King John of England (1166 – 1216), married 1) Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester, marriage annulled, no children (2) Isabella, Countess of Angoulême; had five children, including King Henry III of England; Joan of England, Queen of Scots, and Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress

Eleanor’s second husband Henry, Duke of Normandy was born on March 5, 1133, in Le Mans, the capital of the County of Maine, now in France. He was the eldest of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine and Empress Matilda (sometimes called Maud). Henry’s mother was the widow of Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor, and she used her style and title from her first marriage for the rest of her life. More importantly, Matilda was the only surviving, legitimate child of King Henry I of England and Duke of Normandy.

Matilda’s only sibling and her father’s heir had drowned when his ship sank, leaving Matilda as the heir to the throne of England. On Christmas Day of 1226, King Henry I of England gathered his nobles at Westminster, where they swore to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heir she might have as his successors. That plan did not work out. Upon hearing of Henry I’s death in 1135, Stephen of Blois, one of Henry I’s nephews, quickly crossed the English Channel from France, seized power, and was crowned King of England on December 22, 1135. This started the terrible civil war between Stephen and Matilda, known as The Anarchy. The future Henry II was two years old when this civil war started, and it was to affect his childhood as England did not see peace for 18 years.

The civil war between first cousins, Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois, King of England since 1135, dragged on for many years. Stephen unsuccessfully attempted to have his son Eustace recognized by the Church as the next King of England. By the early 1150s, most barons and the Church wanted long-term peace. Ironically, Stephen’s son Eustace died the same day that Eleanor and Henry’s eldest son William was born. Although William died when he was three years old, the irony of the birth and the death must have been noticed at the time.

When Henry re-invaded England in 1153, neither side’s forces were eager to fight. After limited campaigning and the siege of Wallingford, Stephen and Henry agreed upon a negotiated peace, the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognized Henry as his heir. Stephen died on October 25, 1154, and Henry ascended the throne as King Henry II, the first Angevin King of England. Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey on December 19, 1154. His wife Eleanor was crowned with him.

Eleanor and Henry’s marriage was reputedly tumultuous and argumentative. Henry was not faithful, and Eleanor was somewhat ambivalent towards his affairs, as evidenced by her raising one of Henry’s illegitimate sons Geoffrey, the future Archbishop of York, in her household. By late 1166, Henry’s notorious affair with Rosamund de Clifford had become known, and Eleanor’s marriage to Henry appears to have become permanently strained. As their children grew up, the couple grew further apart, and Eleanor seemed to take delight in backing one son and then another against Henry.

During Henry II’s reign, the lands of the Angevin Empire consisting of an area covering half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales.

The last part of Henry’s reign was taken up by disputes with and between his sons, often encouraged by Eleanor. As Henry II’s children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by King Louis VII of France and then his son King Philippe II of France. In 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled in protest and was joined by Eleanor and his brothers Richard and Geoffrey. France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. Henry II eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor imprisoned for the next sixteen years for her part in inciting their sons. In 1182–83, Henry the Young King had a falling out with his brother Richard when Richard refused to pay homage to him on the orders of King Henry II. As he was preparing to fight Richard, Henry the Young King became ill with dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries, and died. In 1186, Eleanor and Henry’s third son Geoffrey was trampled to death during a jousting tournament in Paris.

By the time Henry II turned 56 in 1189, he was prematurely aged. Two sons were left: Richard, the second son, Eleanor’s favorite and the heir since his elder brother’s death, and John, the youngest child, Henry’s favorite. King Philip II of France successfully played upon Richard’s fears that Henry would make John the next King of England, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to his favorite residence, the Château de Chinon in Anjou. There he was told that John had publicly sided with Richard in the rebellion, and this broke his heart. Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, was at his father’s deathbed, and it moved Henry to observe that his illegitimate son had proved more loyal than his legitimate sons: “Baseborn indeed have my other children shown themselves. This alone is my true son.” King Henry II of England died at the Château de Chinon on July 6, 1189, at the age of 56, and was succeeded by his son Richard.

Richard was not in England when his father died. One of Richard’s first acts as king was to send William Marshal to England with orders to release Eleanor from her imprisonment, but when Marshal arrived, he found that she had already been released. Eleanor traveled to Westminster and received the oaths of fealty from lords and bishops on behalf of Richard. She ruled England in Richard’s name until his arrival in August of 1189, signing herself “Eleanor, by the grace of God, Queen of England”. However, Richard spent little time in England during his ten-year reign, perhaps as little as six months. Most of his reign was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or in actively defending his lands in France.

Eleanor escorted Richard’s bride Berengaria of Navarre on part of her journey to Cyprus, where he was preparing for the Third Crusade and where the couple married. Eleanor ruled England as regent while Richard was on the Third Crusade. Later, when Richard was captured in Germany on his way home from the crusades, Eleanor negotiated his ransom by going to Germany. In late March 1199, when Richard was dying of gangrene from an arrow wound, Eleanor made her way to his deathbed. Richard died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, and the last son John became king.

On April 1, 1204, Eleanor died at Fontevrault Abbey in Fontevraukt, near Chinon, in the Duchy of Anjou, now in France, at the age of 82. In 1562, the abbey church was pillaged and looted by the Huguenots during the Protestant Reformation. There are stories that the royal remains were thrown into a nearby river and also that the monks reburied them in a secret location. However, Eleanor’s effigy, showing her reading a Bible, survived and can still be seen.

In popular culture, Eleanor, Henry II, and their family are the subject of plays, films, and historical fiction. Eleanor, Henry, and their sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John are characters in James Goldman‘s 1966 play The Lion in Winter and in the 1968 film adaptation of the play with Peter O’Toole playing Henry and Katharine Hepburn in an Academy Award-winning role as Eleanor.

The late American historical fiction author Sharon Kay Penman‘s excellently researched and highly recommended Plantagenet Series deals with Eleanor, Henry II, and their family.

• When Christ and His Saints Slept (1995) introduces the beginnings of the Plantagenet dynasty as Empress Matilda (Penman uses Maude) fights to secure her claim to the English throne.
• Time and Chance (2002) continues the story of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and focuses on the rift between Henry II and Thomas Becket.
• Devil’s Brood (2008) opens with the conflict between Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their four sons, which escalates into a decade of warfare and rebellion pitting the sons against the father and the brothers against each other while Eleanor spends the period imprisoned by Henry.
• Lionheart (2011) focuses on Richard the Lionheart’s Crusades in the Holy Land and on what happened to Eleanor when she was finally released after spending sixteen years in confinement that was ordered and enforced by her husband.
• A King’s Ransom (2014) is about the second half of Richard’s life, during and following his imprisonment, ransom, and life afterward.

Penman also wrote a series of mysteries set in the reigns of her sons Richard and John in which the fictional “detective” Justin de Quincy works for Eleanor of Aquitaine in the later years of her life.

• The Queen’s Man (1996)
• Cruel as the Grave (1998)
• Dragon’s Lair New York (2003)
• Prince of Darkness New York (2005)

British historical fiction author Elizabeth Chadwick wrote a series of three novels about Eleanor’s life. Chadwick uses Eleanor’s original name, Alienor, and her research, like Penman’s, is impeccable.

• The Summer Queen (2013) deals with Eleanor’s early life and her time as Queen of France.
• The Winter Crown (2014) deals with Eleanor’s marriage to Henry II of England, their children, and the family rebellion.
• The Autumn Throne (2016) deals with Eleanor’s imprisonment after the family rebellion and her later life.

England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Angevin Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• House of Angevin Burial Sites
• Norman and Plantagenet Weddings

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Henry II of England was born on March 5, 1133, in Le Mans, the capital of the County of Maine, now in France. He was the eldest of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, and Empress Matilda (sometimes called Maud or Maude). Henry’s mother was the widow of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and she used her style and title from her first marriage for the rest of her life. More importantly, Matilda was the only surviving, legitimate child of King Henry I of England and Duke of Normandy.

On November 25, 1120, William Ætheling, Henry I’s only legitimate son, was returning to England from Normandy when his ship hit a submerged rock, capsized, and sank. William Ætheling and many others drowned. See Unofficial Royalty: The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession. King Henry I holds the record for the British monarch with the most illegitimate children, 25 or so illegitimate children. However, the tragedy of the White Ship left him with only one legitimate child, his daughter Matilda. Henry I’s nephews were the closest male heirs. In January of 1121, Henry I married Adeliza of Louvain, hoping for sons, but the marriage remained childless. On Christmas Day of 1226, King Henry I of England gathered his nobles at Westminster where they swore to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heir she might have as his successors. That plan did not work out.

Henry I died on December 1, 1135. He had fallen ill after eating many lampreys against his doctor’s advice. It is possible the cause of death was ptomaine poisoning. Upon hearing of Henry I’s death, Stephen of Blois, one of Henry I’s nephews, quickly crossed the English Channel from France, seized power, and was crowned King of England on December 22, 1135. This started the terrible civil war between Stephen and Matilda known as The Anarchy.  Henry II was two years old when this civil war started, and it affected his childhood as England did not see peace for 18 years.

Henry had two younger brothers who died in their 20s and were unmarried.

• Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (1134 – 1158), unmarried
• William, Viscount of Dieppe (1136–1164), unmarried

Henry’s father Geoffrey of Anjou had a few illegitimate children. One of them, Hamelin, was a prominent person at Henry’s court and the courts of Henry’s sons King Richard I and King John. Henry arranged for Hamelin to marry one of the wealthiest heiresses in England, Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey. Hamelin took the style of her name and title, Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. Hamelin and Isabel had one son and four daughters.

During much of Henry’s early life, his mother was away in England fighting her cousin Stephen for the crown of England. Geoffrey of Anjou took no direct part in the conflict in England, leaving it to his wife Matilda, Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester, the oldest illegitimate son of Matilda’s father Henry I, and her uncle King David I of Scotland.  Instead, Geoffrey took advantage of the confusion the conflict caused and attacked the Duchy of Normandy. By 1144, he had taken control of all of Normandy and assumed the title Duke of Normandy. Geoffrey held the duchy until 1150 when he and Matilda together ceded the Duchy of Normandy to their son Henry.

Henry received his early education in Anjou from Peter of Saintes, a well-known classical scholar. In 1142, Geoffrey decided to send nine-year-old Henry to Bristol, England, which was the center of the Angevin opposition to Stephen. While in England, Henry lived in the household of his uncle Robert of Gloucester and was tutored along with Roger of Worcester, one of Robert’s sons. The canons of St Augustine’s in Bristol also participated in Henry’s education. Henry returned to Anjou in either 1143 or 1144, resuming his education under William of Conches, another famous academic.  Henry spoke French and Latin and understood Provençal, Italian, and English. The young Henry made two unsuccessful military expeditions to England in 1147 and 1149.

Geoffrey died in September 1151, and Henry was now Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Nantes. He postponed his plans to return to England, as he first needed to ensure that his succession in Normandy and his father’s lands was secure. Around this time, Henry was also probably secretly planning his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, then still the wife of King Louis VII of France. Eleanor, eleven years older than Henry, was the Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, and marriage to her would greatly increase Henry’s lands. Eleanor had failed to give Louis any sons and Louis had the marriage annulled. 19-year-old Henry married 30-year-old Eleanor eight weeks later, on May 18, 1152, in Bordeaux in Eleanor’s Duchy of Aquitaine.

Henry and Eleanor had eight children and were the grandparents of many sovereigns and queen consorts.

• William IX, Count of Poitiers (1153 – 1156), died in childhood
• Henry the Young King (1155 – 1183), married Marguerite of France, no children
• Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria (1156 – 1189), married Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, had five children, including Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
• King Richard I of England (1157 – 1199), married Berengaria of Navarre, no children
• Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158 – 1186), married Constance, Duchess of Brittany, had three children
• Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (1162 – 1214), married King Alfonso VIII of Castile, had twelve children including King Enrique I of Castile; Berengaria, Queen Regnant of Castile and Queen of León; Urraca, Queen of Portugal; Blanche, Queen of France, and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon
• Joan of England, Queen of Sicily (1165 – 1199), married (1) King William II of Sicily, no surviving children (2) Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, had two children, Joan died in childbirth with her third child who also died
• King John of England (1166 – 1216), married 1) Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester, marriage annulled, no children (2) Isabella, Countess of Angoulême; had five children, including King Henry III of England; Joan of England, Queen of Scots, and Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress

Henry acknowledged two illegitimate sons:

• Geoffrey, Archbishop of York (c. 1152 – 1212), sometimes called Geoffrey Plantagenet, FitzPlantagenet, or FitzRoy, mother uncertain, she may have been named Ykenai and there is speculation that she could have been a prostitute, the daughter of a knight, a Welsh hostage, a servant, or a daughter of one of the royal servants
• William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (c. 1176 – 1226), his mother was probably Ida de Tosny, married Ela of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury, had issue

The civil war between first cousins Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois, King of England since 1135, dragged on for many years. Contemporary chroniclers described the period “when Christ and his saints slept” and Victorian historians called the conflict “the Anarchy” because of the chaos, although modern historians have questioned the accuracy of the term and some contemporary accounts. Despite this modern hindsight, the 18-year civil war must have been difficult for many.

Stephen unsuccessfully attempted to have his son Eustace, recognized by the Church as the next King of England. By the early 1150s, many barons and the Church wanted long-term peace. Ironically, Stephen’s son Eustace died the same day Henry’s eldest son William was born. Although William died when he was three years old, the irony of the birth and the death must have been noticed at the time.

When Henry re-invaded England in 1153, neither side’s forces were eager to fight. After limited campaigning and the siege of Wallingford, Stephen and Henry agreed upon a negotiated peace, the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognized Henry as his heir. Stephen died on October 25, 1154, and Henry ascended the throne as King Henry II, the first Angevin King of England. Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, England on December 19, 1154. Eleanor was not crowned with Henry. She was in late pregnancy with her second son Henry the Young King, who was born on February 28, 1155. Eleanor also had children in 1156, 1157, and 1158 and her coronation was eventually held at Worcester Cathedral on December 25, 1158.

The early years of Henry’s reign were spent restoring law and order and recovering the Crown land that King Stephen had bestowed on his supporters. Henry was assisted by the Church and Thomas Becket, a clerk in the household of Theobold of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket’s indispensability caused Henry to appoint Becket as Lord Chancellor in January 1155. During Henry II’s reign, the lands of the Angevin Empire were vast and consisted of an area covering half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales.

Henry’s plans to invade Ireland in 1155 fell through, but Malcolm IV, King of Scots was forced to restore to England the land ceded to his grandfather David I, King of Scots. An invasion of Wales occurred in 1157 and then two years later, there was an unsuccessful campaign in France to assert Eleanor’s claim to the County of Toulouse. Henry concluded an uneasy peace with Eleanor’s first husband King Louis VII of France. In 1160, Louis’ two-year-old daughter Marguerite by his second wife was married to Henry and Eleanor’s five-year-old eldest surviving son Henry. The reason for the early marriage was political. Marguerite’s dowry included the disputed territory of the Vexin and King Henry II wanted to possess it.

After taking care of his issues in France, Henry returned to England in 1163 and immediately began a conflict with the Church that would occupy the next several years of his reign. In 1162, Henry named his Chancellor Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury following the death of the previous Archbishop, Theobold of Bec. Henry hoped that by appointing Becket the royal supremacy over the English Church would return to what it had been in the days of Henry’s grandfather, King Henry I. However, Becket wanted to prove that he was no mouthpiece for Henry. An argument developed between the two men over the issue of whether clergy who had committed secular crimes should be tried in secular courts or church courts. Even those men who took minor orders were considered clergy, the quarrel potentially covered up to 20% of the male population of England at the time.

On June 14, 1170, Henry II’s eldest surviving son, Henry the Young King, was crowned junior King of England while Henry II was still alive, adopting the practice of the French monarchy. Roger de Pont L’Évêque, Archbishop of York, Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and Josceline de Bohon, Bishop of Salisbury participated in the crowning. This infringed on Thomas Becket’s rights as Archbishop of Canterbury to crown English monarchs. Pope Alexander III allowed Becket to lay an interdict on England as punishment, forbidding the public celebration of sacred rites. This threat forced Henry back to negotiations and terms were agreed to finally in July 1170.

Becket returned to England in early December 1170. Just when the dispute with Henry II seemed resolved, Becket excommunicated the three bishops who had participated in the crowning of Henry the Young King. Henry’s anger at the excommunications supposedly led him to ask, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” This inspired four knights to set off from Henry’s court in Normandy to Canterbury, where on December 29, 1170, they murdered Becket while he was at prayers in Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England. Henry performed a public act of penance on July 12, 1174, at Canterbury Cathedral, when he publicly confessed his sins, allowed each bishop present to give him five hits with a rod, and allowed each of the 80 monks of Canterbury Cathedral to hit him three times with a rod. Finally, Henry offered gifts to Becket’s shrine and spent a vigil at Becket’s tomb.

The last part of Henry’s reign was taken up by disputes with and between his sons, often encouraged by Henry’s wife Eleanor. As Henry’s children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by King Louis VII of France and then his son King Philip II of France. In 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled in protest and was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey, and their mother Eleanor. France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. Henry eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor imprisoned for the next sixteen years for her part in inciting their sons. In 1182–83, Henry the Young King had a falling out with his brother Richard when Richard refused to pay homage to him on the orders of King Henry II. As he was preparing to fight Richard, Henry the Young King became ill with dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries, and died. In 1186, Henry II’s third son Geoffrey was trampled to death during a jousting tournament in Paris.

By the time Henry turned age 56 in 1189, he was prematurely aged. Two sons were left: Richard, the second son, Eleanor’s favorite and the heir since his elder brother’s death, and John, the youngest child and Henry’s favorite. King Philip II of France successfully played upon Richard’s fears that Henry would make John King, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to his favorite residence, the Château de Chinon in Anjou. There he was told that John had publicly sided with Richard in the rebellion, and this broke his heart. Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York was at his father’s deathbed, and it moved Henry to observe that his illegitimate son had proved more loyal than his legitimate sons: “Baseborn indeed have my other children shown themselves. This alone is my true son.” King Henry II of England died at the Château de Chinon on July 6, 1189, at the age of 56, and was succeeded by his son as King Richard I. Henry was buried at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou, France. The abbey church was pillaged and looted by the Huguenots in 1562. There are stories about royal remains being thrown into a nearby river and the monks reburying them in a secret location. However, the beautiful effigies were not damaged and can still be seen today.

In popular culture, Henry II and his family are the subjects of plays, films, and historical fiction. There have been two plays specifically about the Thomas Becket controversy, T.S. Eliot‘s 1935 play Murder in the Cathedral and Jean Anouilh‘s 1959 play Becket. Becket was adapted as a film in 1964 with Peter O’Toole as Henry and Richard Burton as Thomas Becket. Henry, Eleanor, and their sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John are characters in James Goldman‘s 1966 play The Lion in Winter and in the 1968 film adaption of the play with Peter O’Toole once again playing Henry and Katharine Hepburn in an Academy Award-winning role as Eleanor.

The late historical fiction author Sharon Kay Penman‘s excellently researched and highly recommended Plantagenet Series deals with Henry II and his family.

• When Christ and His Saints Slept (1995) introduces the beginnings of the Plantagenet dynasty as Empress Matilda (Penman uses Maude) fights to secure her claim to the English throne.
• Time and Chance (2002) continues the story of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and focuses on the rift between Henry II and Thomas Becket.
• Devil’s Brood (2008) opens with the conflict between Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their four sons, which escalates into a decade of warfare and rebellion pitting the sons against the father and the brothers against each other while Eleanor spends the period imprisoned by Henry.
• Lionheart (2011) focuses on Richard the Lionheart’s Crusades in the Holy Land and on what happened to Eleanor when she was finally released after spending sixteen years in confinement that was ordered and enforced by her husband.
• A King’s Ransom (2014) is about the second half of Richard’s life, during and following his imprisonment, ransom, and life afterward.

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England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Angevin Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• House of Angevin Burial Sites
• Norman and Plantagenet Weddings