Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as
Henry Plantagenet, ruled as
Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, King of England and
Lord of Ireland. At various times, he also controlled
Wales, Scotland and
Brittany. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother's efforts to claim the throne of
England, then occupied by
Stephen of Blois, and was made
Duke of Normandy at 17.
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| Château de Chinon, France |
Henry inherited
Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married
Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to
Louis VII of France had recently been annulled. The marriage instantly reignited
Henry's tensions with
Louis: the marriage was considered an insult. With his new lands,
Henry now possessed a much larger proportion of
France than
Louis.
 |
| Louis VII of France |
Louis VII organised a coalition against
Henry, including
Stephen, Eustace, Henry the Count of Champagne, and
Robert the Count of Perche. Louis's alliance was joined by
Henry's younger brother,
Geoffrey, who rose in revolt, claiming that
Henry had dispossessed him of his inheritance. But soon
Louis fell ill and withdrew from the campaign, and
Geoffrey was forced to come to terms with
Henry.
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| Henry II of England |
Stephen(then king of
England) placed
Wallingford Castle, a key fortress loyal to
Henry along the
Thames Valley in
England, under siege. In response to
Stephen's siege,
Henry returned to
England again at the start of 1153, braving winter storms with a small army of mercenaries.
Henry was supported in the north and east of
England by the forces of
Ranulf of Chester and
Hugh Bigod, and had hopes of a military victory.
 |
| Ruins of Wallingford Castle, England |
To draw
Stephen's forces away from
Wallingford, Henry besieged
Stephen's castle at
Malmesbury, and the King responded by marching west with an army to relieve it. Over the next summer,
Stephen massed troops to renew the siege of
Wallingford Castle in a final attempt to take the stronghold. The fall of
Wallingford appeared imminent and
Henry marched south to relieve the siege, arriving with a small army and placing Stephen's besieging forces under siege themselves.
 |
| Stephan of England |
In
November Stephan of England and
Henry ratified the terms of a permanent peace.
Stephen announced the
Treaty of Winchester in
Winchester Cathedral: he recognised
Henry as his adopted son and successor, in return for
Henry doing homage to him.
Stephen's remaining son,
William, would do homage to
Henry and renounce his claim to the throne.
Stephen, however, fell ill with a stomach disorder and died on 25 October 1154, allowing
Henry to inherit the throne rather sooner than had been expected.
 |
| Winchester Cathedral |
On landing in
England on 8 December 1154,
Henry quickly took oaths of loyalty from some of the barons and was then crowned alongside
Eleanor at
Westminster on 19 December. The royal court was gathered in
April 1155, where the barons swore fealty to the King and his sons.
Henry presented himself as the legitimate heir to
Henry I and commenced rebuilding the kingdom in his image.
 |
| Westminster Abbey |
Henry had a problematic relationship with
Louis VII of
France throughout the 1150s. In 1154
Henry and
Louis agreed a peace treaty, under which
Henry bought back the
Vernon and the
Neuf-Marché from
Louis. In an attempt to improve relations,
Henry met with
Louis at
Paris and
Mont-Saint-Michel in 1158, agreeing to betroth
Henry's eldest living son, the
Young Henry, to
Louis's daughter
Margaret.
 |
| Mont-Saint-Michel |
Long-running tensions between
Henry and
Louis VII continued during the 1160s, the
French king slowly becoming more vigorous in opposing
Henry's increasing power in
Europe. In 1160
Louis strengthened his alliances in central
France with the
Count of Champagne and
Odo II, the
Duke of Burgundy. In 1164
Henry intervened to seize lands along the border of
Brittany and
Normandy, and in 1166 invaded
Brittany to punish the local barons.
 |
| Seal of Odo II, Duke of Burgundy |
The growing tensions between
Henry and
Louis finally spilled over into open war in 1167, triggered by a trivial argument over how money destined for the
Crusader states of the
Levant should be collected.
Louis allied himself with the
Welsh, Scots and
Bretons, and the
French king attacked
Normandy. Henry responded by attacking
Chaumont-sur-Epte, where
Louis kept his main military arsenal, burning the town to the ground and forcing
Louis to abandon his allies and make a private truce.
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| Silver Penny of Henry II |
Henry's daughter Eleanor was married to Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1170, enlisting an additional ally in the south. In February 1173, Raymond finally gave in and publicly gave homage for Toulouse to Henry and his heirs.
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| Modern Day Toulouse |
In the 1160s
King Diarmait Mac Murchada was deposed as
King of Leinster by the High King of Ireland,
Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair. Diarmait turned to
Henry for assistance in 1167. With his new supporters, he reclaimed
Leinster but died shortly afterwards in 1171.
Henry took this opportunity to intervene personally in
Ireland. He took a large army into south
Wales, forcing the rebels who had held the area since 1165 into submission before sailing from
Pembroke and landing in
Ireland in October 1171.
 |
| Kilkenny Castle, Ireland |
In 1175
Henry agreed to the
Treaty of Windsor, under which
Rory O'Connor would be recognised as the high king of
Ireland, giving homage to Henry and maintaining stability on the ground on his behalf. This policy proved unsuccessful, as
O'Connor was unable to exert sufficient influence and force in areas such as
Munster: Henry instead intervened more directly, establishing a system of local fiefs of his own through a conference held in
Oxford in 1177.
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| Kingdoms of Ireland in 1171, and arrow showing Henry's invasion |
In 1173
Henry faced the
Great Revolt, an uprising by his eldest sons and rebellious barons, supported by
France, Scotland and
Flanders. Young Henry was unhappy that, despite the title of king, in practice he made no real decisions and was kept chronically short of money by
Henry of
England. Meanwhile, local barons unhappy with
Henry's rule saw opportunities to recover traditional powers and influence by allying themselves with his sons.
 |
| Henry the Young |
In the aftermath of the
Great Revolt, Henry held negotiations at
Montlouis, offering a lenient peace on the basis of the pre-war status quo.
Young Henry agreed to the transfer of the disputed castles to
John, but in exchange the elder
Henry agreed to give the younger
Henry two castles in
Normandy and 15,000
Angevin pounds;
Henry's other sons
Richard(later Richard I of England
) and
Geoffrey were granted half the revenues from
Aquitaine and
Brittany respectively.
 |
| 13th-century representation of Richard and Philip Augustus |
Young Henry formed an alliance with some of the disgruntled barons of the
Aquitaine who were unhappy with
Richard's rule, and
Geoffrey sided with him, raising a mercenary army in
Brittany to threaten
Poitou. Open war broke out in 1183 and
Henry and
Richard led a joint campaign into
Aquitaine: before they could conclude it, however,
Young Henry caught a fever and died, bringing a sudden end to the rebellion.
 |
| Tomb and effigy of Henry in Rouen Cathedral |
The relationship between
Henry and
Richard finally dissolved into violence shortly before
Henry's death. The papacy intervened once again to try to produce a last-minute peace deal, resulting in a fresh conference at
La Ferté-Bernard in 1189. By now
Henry was suffering from a bleeding ulcer that would ultimately prove fatal.
 |
| La Ferté-Bernard |
In the dispute between
Henry and
Richard, Henry evaded the enemy forces on his way south and collapsed in his castle at
Chinon. Henry was carried back to
Chinon on a litter, where he was informed that his son
John had publicly sided with
Richard in the conflict.
Henry died on 6 July 1189, aged 56; the King had wished to be interred at
Grandmont Abbey in the
Limousin, but the hot weather made transporting his body impractical and he was instead buried at the nearby
Fontevraud Abbey.
 |
| Fontevraud Abbey |
In the immediate aftermath of
Henry's death,
Richard successfully claimed his father's lands; he later left on the
Third Crusade, but never married Alice as he had agreed with
Philip Augustus. His mother,
Eleanor was released from house arrest and regained control of
Aquitaine, where she ruled on
Richard's behalf.
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| Tomb of Henry and Eleanor in Fontevraud Abbey |
