by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Henry II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Empress Matilda; Credit – Wikipedia

Geoffrey V of Anjou; Credit – Wikipedia

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

13th-century depiction of Henry and his legitimate children: (l to r) William, Young Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

12th-century depiction of Henry and Eleanor holding court; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Angevin Empire around 1172, solid yellow shows Angevin possessions, checked yellow shows areas where there was Angevin influence; By Cartedaos (talk) 01:46, 14 September 2008 (UTC) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4781085

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.

Early 14th-century representation of Henry and Thomas Becket; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Memorial at the site of Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

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.

Effigies of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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.

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.

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

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Credit – Wikipedia

King Richard II of England was born in the Archbishop’s Palace in Bordeaux, then in the English-held Duchy of Aquitaine (now in France) on January 6, 1367. Because of his birthplace, he was known as Richard of Bordeaux. Richard was the second son and second child of Edward, Prince of Wales (known as the Black Prince), eldest son and heir of King Edward III of England, and Joan of Kent, 4th Countess of Kent in her own right. Joan was a grandchild of King Edward I of England. Her father was Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, a son of Edward I’s second marriage. Richard had one elder sibling, Edward of Angoulême (1365 – 1370), who died young of the plague. After his elder brother’s death, Richard became the second in the line of succession to the throne after his father.

Edward of Angoulême and his mother Joan of Kent, depicted on the Wilton Diptych; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard had five half-siblings from his mother’s first marriage to Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, 2nd Baron Holland

• Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent (1350  – 1397), married Lady Alice FitzAlan; had issue
• John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (circa 1352 – 1400), married Elizabeth of Lancaster, a daughter of John of Gaunt; had issue
• Edmund Holland (c. 1354), died young
• Lady Joan Holland (1356–1384), married John IV, Duke of Brittany; no issue
• Lady Maud Holland (1359–1391), married (1) Hugh Courtenay, no issue; (2) Waleran III of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny, had issue

Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), Richard’s father, was King Edward III’s representative in Aquitaine, and the king had created Edward and his wife Joan Prince and Princess of Aquitaine. Richard had been born in Aquitaine, but his family returned to England in 1371, shortly after his brother’s death. When in England, the chief residences of Edward’s family were at Wallingford Castle in Berkshire (since 1974 in Oxfordshire), and at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire. The Black Prince was an exceptional military leader, and his victories over the French at the Battle of Crécy and the Battle of Poitiers made him very popular during his lifetime. In 1348, he became the first Knight of the Garter and was one of the order’s 25 founders.

Edward, Prince of Wales as Knight of the Order of the Garter, illustration from the Bruges Garter Book; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard’s father entrusted his son’s education to his boyhood friend Sir Simon de Burley, who instilled in Richard a love of literature and music as well as a sense of the importance of his royal office. Richard was the first English monarch who was fluent in English as well as the traditional Norman French of his ancestors. While in the midst of his childhood, nine-year-old Richard’s life changed when his father died at the age of 45 on June 8, 1376. Richard was now the heir to his grandfather’s throne. Because it was feared that Richard’s uncle John of Gaunt might usurp his place in the succession, Richard was quickly given his father’s titles: Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester. On June 21, 1377, King Edward III died and his ten-year-old grandson was then King Richard II.

King Richard II of England with his court after his coronation; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard’s coronation took place on July 16, 1377, at Westminster Abbey, just eleven days after his grandfather’s funeral. The quickness with which all this happened was certainly affected by the controversial succession of a child king whose father had not been the king. Some believed that one of King Edward III’s younger sons (there were three still alive: John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester) should be king. Parliament, which was in a dispute with John of Gaunt at that time, supported Richard’s accession to the throne. John of Gaunt and his two brothers were excluded from councils that ruled during Richard’s minority, but as the uncles of the king, they still held great informal influence over the business of government. By 1380, the councils were abolished because Parliament distrusted Richard’s friends and councilors, particularly his tutor Sir Simon de Burley and Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford.  The uncertainty in the matter of Richard II’s succession laid the groundwork for the Wars of the Roses when the House of York and the House of Lancaster battled for the English throne.

Richard’s uncle John of Gaunt; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1381, the Peasants’ Revolt led by Wat Tyler occurred over a poll tax of a shilling on all people over the age of 15. The revolt had started in Kent and Essex but ultimately came to London where John of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace was burned down and the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury, who was also Lord Chancellor, and the Lord High Treasurer Robert Hales were both killed by the rebels. 14-year-old Richard rode out to Mile End in London to meet the rebels. Addressing the rebels in English, Richard agreed to their demands. This did not pacify the rebels and they continued the burning, looting, and killing. The next day, Richard met the rebel leader Wat Tyler at Smithfield in London and again agreed to meet their demands. However, the rebels were not convinced, the king’s men grew uneasy, and an altercation occurred in which Wat Tyler was pulled off his horse and killed. Richard, acting calmly, led the rebel mob away from the scene, granted clemency, and allowed the rebels to disperse and return to their homes. When disturbances occurred in other parts of England, Richard revoked his agreement and the clemency and went to Essex to personally defeat the last rebels. At a young age, Richard did show courage and determination in ending the rebellion. However, he saw the danger of his subjects’ disobedience which threatened his authority and this helped shape his ideas of absolute monarchy which would later prove literally fatal.

Richard II watches Wat Tyler’s death and addresses the peasants in the background: taken from the Gruuthuse manuscript of Froissart’s Chroniques (c. 1475); Credit – Wikipedia

When Richard was 15, a bride was sought for him, and Anne of Bohemia, the eldest child of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, and his fourth wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania, seemed a logical choice as Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire were seen as potential allies against France in the ongoing Hundred Years’ War. However, the potential marriage was unpopular with the nobility and members of Parliament because Anne brought no dowry. Richard’s tutor and his father’s close friend Sir Simon de Burley was sent to negotiate the marriage contract and then escort the 15-year-old bride-to-be to England. After Anne arrived in Dover, England, a huge wave wrecked the ship in which she had sailed, and this was seen as a bad omen. The young couple was married at Westminster Abbey in London on January 22, 1382, the fifth royal wedding at the Abbey. It was not until the wedding of Princess Patricia of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and Alexander Ramsay in 1919, 537 years later, that another royal wedding was held at Westminster Abbey. Richard and Anne had no children.

Anne of Bohemia with her husband King Richard II of England; Credit: Wikipedia

Since 1337, England had been fighting France in the Hundred Years’ War, and the English had been consistently losing territory to the French since 1369. Richard wanted to negotiate peace with France, but much of the nobility wanted to continue the war. In 1386, Parliament blamed Richard’s advisers for the military failures and accused them of misusing funds intended for the war. Parliament authorized a commission of nobles known as the Lords Appellant to take over the management of the kingdom and act as Richard’s regents. There were originally three Lords Appellant: Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III and Richard’s uncle; Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel; and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick. Later, Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby (son of John of Gaunt, Richard’s first cousin and the future King Henry IV), and Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk also became Lords Appellant. Richard did not recognize the authority of the Lords Appellant and started an unsuccessful military attempt to overthrow the Lords Appellant and negotiate peace with France. In 1387, the Lords Appellant launched an armed rebellion against King Richard and defeated an army under Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford at the Battle of Radcot Bridge, outside Oxford. They maintained Richard as a figurehead with little real power. Parliament convicted almost all of Richard’s advisers of treason. Most of Richard’s advisers were executed and a few were exiled.

Depiction of Mowbray, Arundel, Gloucester, Derby and Warwick demanding of Richard II that he let them prove by arms the justice of their rebellion; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard’s uncle John of Gaunt had left England in 1386 to seek the throne of Castile, claimed by the right of his second wife, Constance of Castile, whom he had married in 1371. Because of the crisis in England, in 1389, Richard’s uncle and now his supporter, John of Gaunt, returned from Castile and Richard was able to rebuild his power gradually until 1397, when he reasserted his authority and destroyed the principal three among the Lords Appellant.

Richard never forgave the Lords Appellant. His uncle Thomas, Duke Gloucester was murdered in captivity in Calais, probably on Richard’s orders. Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel was beheaded. Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick lost his title and his lands and was imprisoned on the Isle of Man until Richard was overthrown by Henry Bolingbroke. Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby and Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk were both exiled in 1399 and Richard revoked the permission he had given them to sue for any inheritance which fell due, as it did in relation to Mowbray’s grandmother and, more significantly, of Bolingbroke’s father, John of Gaunt. The actions Richard took against his first cousin would ultimately result in his downfall.

In June of 1394, Queen Anne became ill with the plague while at Sheen Palace with her husband. She died three days later on June 7, 1394, at the age of 28. King Richard II was so devastated by Anne’s death that he ordered Sheen Palace to be destroyed. For almost 20 years it lay in ruins until King Henry V started a rebuilding project in 1414. With Richard being childless, the heir presumptive to the throne was Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March who was the grandson of Richard’s deceased uncle Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence. Lionel of Antwerp was the second son of King Edward III so his heirs had a superior genealogical claim to the throne over that of Edward III’s third son John of Gaunt. Despite the fact that Richard officially recognized the claim of Roger Mortimer, the claim was unlikely to remain uncontested.

Soon after the death of Anne of Bohemia in 1394, the childless King Richard II began a search for a new wife. He turned to France seeking an alliance, and after negotiations, a marriage was arranged between Isabella of Valois and Richard who was 22 years older than his bride. Isabella was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. This marriage had many opponents, especially Louis I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of the French king and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest uncle of the English king. Nevertheless, on November 1, 1396, at the Church of St. Nicholas in Calais, seven-year-old Isabella married 29-year-old Richard. Richard and Isabella left for England a few days later and on November 23, 1396, she made her state entry into London. The couple had no children due to Isabella’s young age. After Richard’s death, Isabella returned to France and married her cousin Charles of Orléans. At the age of 19, she died on September 14, 1409, in Blois, France a few hours after giving birth to her only child.

Richard and Isabella on their wedding day; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1398, Henry Bolingbroke, first cousin of King Richard II and the eldest child of King Edward III’s third son John of Gaunt, quarreled with Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who accused him of treason. The two men planned to duel, but instead, King Richard II banished them from England, and Henry went to France.  John of Gaunt died on February 3, 1399, and Richard confiscated the estates of his uncle and stipulated that Henry would have to ask him to restore the estates. Henry returned to England while his cousin Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland and began a military campaign of his own, confiscating the land of those who had opposed him. King Richard II eventually was abandoned by his supporters and was forced by Parliament on September 29, 1399, to abdicate the crown to his cousin Henry. King Henry IV, the first king of the House of Lancaster, was crowned in Westminster Abbey on October 13, 1399. Richard was imprisoned at Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire where he died on or around February 14, 1400. The exact cause of his death, thought to have been starvation, is unknown.

• Unofficial Royalty: Death of Richard II, King of England

Richard being taken into custody by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (Froissart); Credit – Wikipedia

Richard’s body was taken south from Pontefract Castle and displayed in Old St Paul’s Cathedral in London on February 17, 1400, before burial in Kings Langley Church on March 6, 1400.

King Richard II’s funeral; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1413, King Henry V of England, son of King Henry IV, to atone for his father’s act of murder and to silence the rumors of Richard’s survival, had Richard’s remains moved to Westminster Abbey where they were placed in an elaborate tomb Richard had constructed for his first wife Anne of Bohemia.

Tomb of King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia in Westminster Abbey; Photo Credit – http://www.westminster-abbey.org

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.

England: House of Plantagenet Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Plantagenet Index (1216 – 1399)
• British Royal Births, Marriages, Deaths, and Other Important Events
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Plantagenet Burial Sites

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Edward II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward II of England was born on April 25, 1284, at Caernarfon Castle in Gwynedd, Wales. Known as Edward of Caernarfon, he was the fourth son and the youngest of the 14-16 children of King Edward I of England and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile.  Only six of their children survived childhood.

• Daughter (stillborn in May 1255)
• Katherine of England (before 1264 – 1264)
• Joan of England (born and died 1265)
• John of England (1266 – 1271)
• Henry of England (1268 – 1274)
• Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Henri III, Count of Bar, had issue
• Daughter (born and died 1271)
• Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had issue  (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had issue
• Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284)
• Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II, Duke of Brabant, had issue
• Berengaria (1276 – 1278)
• Daughter (born and died 1278)
• Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
• Son (born in 1280 or 1281, who died very shortly after birth)
• Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, no issue (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had issue

Edward was born less than a year after his father, King Edward I, had taken complete control of Wales. At the time of his birth, Edward had only one surviving elder brother, Alphonso, Earl of Chester. However, ten-year-old Alphonso died four months after Edward’s birth, leaving his baby brother as heir to the throne. The tradition of conferring the title Prince of Wales on the heir apparent of the monarch is usually considered to have begun in 1301 when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. Since then, the title has been granted (with a few exceptions) to the heir apparent of the English or British monarch.

An early 14th-century depiction of Edward I (left) declaring his son Edward (right) the Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1290, Edward’s mother, Eleanor of Castile, died at the age of 49. When Eleanor died, only six children, five daughters and one son, Edward, were still living. Edward was the youngest child and only six years old. King Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession. On September 10, 1299, in Canterbury, England, 60-year-old King Edward I and 17-year-old Margaret of France were married.  Edward also had three half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Margaret of France:

• Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1300 – 1338), married (1) Alice de Hales, had issue (2) Mary de Brewes, no surviving issue
• Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301 – 1330), married Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell, had issue including Joan of Kent (The Fair Maid of Kent) who married King Edward III‘s eldest son Edward, Prince of Wales (The Black Prince) and was the mother of King Richard II of England
• Eleanor of England (1306 – 1311), died young

Because his father was often away on military campaigns and was accompanied by his mother, Edward had seen little of his parents and lacked parental guidance for most of his childhood. He had no living brothers, and four of his five surviving sisters (all older than him) were married, and the other sister was a nun. His half-siblings were not born until after he was 16 years old. Therefore, Edward did not grow up surrounded by siblings. Edward had an official household since he was an infant, and staff that took care of his personal needs and education.

Edward probably grew up as a lonely boy, longing for male companions of his own age, but his choices of favorites caused him many problems. His first favorite was Piers Gaveston from a family from Gascony (now in France). Gaveston had impressed King Edward I, and he was assigned to Edward of Caernarfon’s household and became Edward’s inseparable companion. Gaveston became involved in conflicts between King Edward I and his son. The situation got so bad that shortly before his death, King Edward I banished Gaveston.

Isabella of France; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I died on a military campaign on July 7, 1307. As a child, Edward was betrothed to Isabella of France, daughter of King Philippe IV of France and Joan I, Queen of Navarre in her own right.  The marriage was arranged to resolve the conflicts between France and England over England’s possession of Gascony and claims to Anjou, Normandy, and Aquitaine.  However, King Edward I attempted to break the betrothal several times, and the marriage did not occur until after his death.  Isabella and King Edward II were married on January 25, 1308, at Boulogne Cathedral in France.  The couple’s coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on February 25, 1308.  Isabella and Edward had four children.

• King Edward III of England (1312 – 1377), married Philippa of Hainault, had issue
• John of Eltham, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1316 – 1336), unmarried
• Eleanor of Woodstock (1318 – 1355), married Reinoud II of Guelders, had issue
• Joan of the Tower (1321 – 1362), married King David II of Scotland, no issue

One of King Edward II’s first acts as king was to recall to court his favorite Piers Gaveston.  From the start of her marriage, Isabella was confronted with the close relationship between her husband and Gaveston, described as “an arrogant, ostentatious soldier, with a reckless and headstrong personality.”  The true nature of their relationship is not known, and there is no contemporary evidence that comments directly on Edward’s sexual orientation. Gaveston was created Earl of Cornwall, a title usually given to the sons of the king, and Edward arranged for Gaveston to marry his niece Margaret de Clare, which greatly displeased the English nobility.

Eventually, with the influence of Isabella’s father, Dowager Queen Margaret, who was Isabella’s aunt, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward agreed to exile Gaveston to Ireland.  However, in a move that angered the barons, Edward made Gaveston Regent of Ireland.  When Gaveston returned to England in 1312, he was hunted down and executed by a group of barons led by Edward’s uncle, Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, and Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick.

Depiction of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 from the Holkham Bible; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1314, King Edward II took up arms in an attempt to complete his father’s campaign in Scotland, resulting in a decisive Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn by a smaller army led by Robert the Bruce, King of Scots.

From 1312 – 1321, there is no evidence that Edward and Isabella had a discordant marriage or that Isabella was not loyal to her husband.  Isabella took a role in the reconciliation between Edward and the barons, who were responsible for the execution of Gaveston. However, during this period, Hugh Despenser the Elder became part of Edward’s inner circle, marking the beginning of the Despensers’ increased prominence at Edward’s court.  His son, Hugh Despenser the Younger, became a favorite of Edward II.  Edward was willing to let the Despensers do as they pleased, and they grew rich from their administration and corruption.

It is thought that Edward’s wife Isabella first met and fell in love with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London, both a royal palace and a prison at that time.  Isabella arranged for Mortimer’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.  In 1323, Isabella helped arrange Mortimer’s escape from the Tower and his subsequent flight to France.  During the next year, Isabella had had enough of the Despensers and left Edward, who made an unwise decision to send Isabella and their 12-year-old son Edward on a mission to France.  Not surprisingly, Isabella met Mortimer in France, where they planned to depose Edward II. Isabella gathered an army and set sail for England, landing at Harwich on September 25, 1326.  With their mercenary army, Isabella and Mortimer quickly seized power. The Despensers were both executed, and Edward II was forced to abdicate. Isabella’s son was crowned King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king.

A 15th-century depiction of Isabella capturing Edward II; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward II was sent to Berkeley Castle, where castle records indicate he was well treated. The circumstances of what happened to him are uncertain.  One theory is that he died at Berkeley Castle on September 21, 1327, murdered on the orders of Isabella and Mortimer.  His body was then embalmed at Berkeley Castle, was shown to local town leaders, and was buried at St. Peter’s Abbey in Gloucester. The abbey was dissolved in 1540 by King Henry VIII and became Gloucester Cathedral in 1541. Certainly, King Edward III arranged for a tomb for his father to be constructed with an alabaster effigy, a tomb chest, and a canopy made of oolite and Purbeck stone. King Edward II’s tomb, restored in 2007-2008, can still be seen in Gloucester Cathedral.  However, there are other theories about his death, including one that says he did not die in 1327 but escaped Berkeley Castle with the help of a servant.

Tomb of King Edward II; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Effigy of King Edward II; By Philip Halling http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/1837 – http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2133715, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31221892

In 1330, the 18-year-old King Edward III conducted a coup d’état at Nottingham Castle, where Mortimer and Isabella were staying.  Mortimer was arrested and executed on fourteen charges of treason, including the murder of Edward II. After the coup, Isabella was taken to Berkhamsted Castle and then held under house arrest at Windsor Castle. In 1332, Isabella was moved to her own Castle Rising in Norfolk, where she was confined for the rest of her life, enjoying a regal lifestyle, until her death at the age of 63 in 1358.

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