Wood Family Tree:Information about Henry II Plantagenet
Henry II Plantagenet (b. 1154, d. 1189)
 |
Henry II Plantagenet (son of Geoffrey Plantaganet and Matilda Plantaganet) was born 1154 in Lemans, Normandy, France, and died 1189 in Chinon Castle, Chinon, Indre-Et-Lr, France.He married Eleanor of Aquitaine in Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, France -m2.
Notes for Henry II Plantagenet:http://www.avocadoridge.com/jhcarney/4/15982.htm
Henry was the first of the Plantagenets, the name coming from the fact that he was fond of wearing a spring of the broom-plant in his helmet.
From Enclopedia Britannica Online, article titled Henry II:
"by name HENRY OF ANJOU, HENRY PLANTAGENET, HENRY FITZEMPRESS, OR HENRY CURTMANTLE (SHORT MANTLE) duke of Normandy (from 1150), count of Anjou (from 1151), duke of Aquitaine (from 1152), and king of England (from 1154), who greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and strengthened the royal administration in England. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and with members of his family (his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and such sons as Richard the Lion-Heart and John Lackland) ultimately brought about his defeat.
"Henry II lived in an age of biographers and letter writers of genius. John of Salisbury, Thomas Becket, Giraldus Cambrensis, Walter Map, Peter of Blois, and others knew him well and left their impressions. All agreed on his outstanding ability and striking personality and also recorded his errors and aspects of his character that appear contradictory, whereas modern historians agree upon the difficulty of reconciling its main features. Without deep religious or moral conviction, Henry nevertheless was
respected by three contemporary saints, Aelred of Rievaulx, Gilbert of Sempringham, and Hugh of Lincoln. Normally an approachable and faithful friend and master, he could behave with unreasonable inhumanity. His conduct and aims were always self-centred, but he was neither a tyrant nor an odious egoist. Both as man and ruler he lacked the stamp of greatness that marked Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror. He seemed also to lack wisdom and serenity; and he had no comprehensive view of the
country's interest, no ideals of kingship, no sympathetic care for his people. But if his reign is to be judged by its consequences for England, it undoubtedly stands high in importance, and Henry, as its mainspring, appears among the most notable of English kings." Henry II was Count of Anjou (1151-1189) whose family emblem was the 'plantegenet', a yellow flowering broom; Duke of Normandy (1151-1189); Duke of Aquitane (1152-1189) and as King of England (1154-1189), ruled an empire that stretched from the Tweed to the Pyrenees. He was the Founder of the Angevin, or Plantagenet, line. Henry was the first of fourteen hereditary kings, who were later referred to in the history oracles as Plantagenets. He is more commonly known as FitzEmpress, Henry II Curtmantle, King of England.
In spite of frequent hostilities with the French King, his own family and rebellious Barons (culminating in the great revolt of 1173-74) and his quarrel with Thomas Becket, Henry II maintained control over his possessions until shortly before his death.
Henry II's judicial and administrative reforms, which increased Royal control and influence at the expense of the Barons, were of great constitutional importance. Henry II Introduced trial by Jury.
Henry II, by marrying ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE immediately after her divorce from Louis VII, King of France, gained vast territories in France. Henry had lands reaching for 1000 miles, and it was this vast domain, which was called the Angevin Empire.
In 1153 he invaded England and forced STEPHEN to acknowledge him as his heir. As king he restored order to war-ravaged England, subdued the barons, centralized the power of government in royalty, and strengthened royal courts. Henry's desire to increase royal authority brought him into conflict with THOMAS áA BECKET, whom he had made (1162) archbishop of Canterbury. The quarrel, which focused largely on the jurisdiction of the church courts, came to a head when Henry issued (1163) the Constitutions of CLARENDON, defining the relationship between church and state, and ended (1170) with Becket's murder, for which Henry was forced by public indignation to do penance. During his reign he gained northern counties from Scotland and increased his French holdings.
Henry II was also involved in family struggles. Encouraged by their mother and LOUIS VI of France, his three oldest sons, Henry, RICHARD I, and Geoffrey, rebelled (1173-74) against him. The rebellion collapsed, but at the time of Henry's death, Richard and the youngest son, JOHN, were in the course of another rebellion. He was unfortunate in love, relentlessly and romantically pursuing the hand of his wife, Eleanor, who became a selfish spoilt lady, and who turned her sons against their own father. Because of the rebellion by the eldest son, Henry was crushed, and Eleanor was placed under house arrest for fifteen years. The other brothers placed continual pressure on their father, in alliances with the King of France. Henry died a lonely and grief stricken man deserted by all of those he had loved and honored.
Contemporaries: Louis VII (King of France, 1137-1180), Thomas Beckett (Archbishop of Canterbury), Pope Adrian IV, Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, 1152-1190)
Henry II, first of the Angevin kings, was one of the most effective of all England's monarchs. He came to the throne amid the anarchy of Stephen's reign and promptly collared his errant barons. He refined Norman government and created a capable, self-standing bureaucracy. His energy was equaled only by his ambition and intelligence. Henry survived wars, rebellion, and controversy to successfully rule one of the Middle Ages' most powerful kingdoms.
Henry was raised in the French province of Anjou and first visited England in 1142 to defend his mother's claim to the disputed throne of Stephen. His continental possessions were already vast before his coronation: He acquired Normandy and Anjou upon the death of his father in September 1151, and his French holdings more than doubled with his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitane (ex-wife of King Louis VII of France). In accordance with the Treaty of Wallingford, a succession agreement signed by Stephen and Matilda in 1153, Henry was crowned in October 1154. The continental empire ruled by Henry and his sons included the French counties of Brittany, Maine, Poitou, Touraine, Gascony, Anjou, Aquitane, and Normandy. Henry was technically a feudal vassal of the king of France but, in reality, owned more territory and was more powerful than his French lord. Although King John (Henry's son) lost most of the English holdings in France, English kings laid claim to the French throne until the fifteenth century. Henry also extended his territory in the British Isles in two significant ways. First, he retrieved Cumbria and Northumbria form Malcom IV of Scotland and settled the Anglo-Scot border in the North. Secondly, although his success with Welsh campaigns was limited, Henry invaded Ireland and secured an English presence on the island.
English and Norman barons in Stephen's reign manipulated feudal law to undermine royal authority; Henry instituted many reforms to weaken traditional feudal ties and strengthen his position. Unauthorized castles built during the previous reign were razed. Monetary payments replaced military service as the primary duty of vassals. The Exchequer was revitalized to enforce accurate record keeping and tax collection. Incompetent sheriffs were replaced and the authority of royal courts was expanded. Henry empowered a new social class of government clerks that stabilized procedure - the government could operate effectively in the king's absence and would subsequently prove sufficiently tenacious to survive the reign of incompetent kings. Henry's reforms allowed the emergence of a body of common law to replace the disparate customs of feudal and county courts. Jury trials were initiated to end the old Germanic trials by ordeal or battle. Henry's systematic approach to law provided a common basis for development of royal institutions throughout the entire realm.
The process of strengthening the royal courts, however, yielded an unexpected controversy. The church courts instituted by William the Conqueror became a safe haven for criminals of varying degree and ability, for one in fifty of the English population qualified as clerics. Henry wished to transfer sentencing in such cases to the royal courts, as church courts merely demoted clerics to laymen. Thomas Beckett, Henry's close friend and chancellor since 1155, was named Archbishop of Canterbury in June 1162 but distanced himself from Henry and vehemently opposed the weakening of church courts. Beckett fled England in 1164, but through the intervention of Pope Adrian IV (the lone English pope), returned in 1170. He greatly angered Henry by opposing the coronation of Prince Henry. Exasperated, Henry hastily and publicly conveyed his desire to be rid of the contentious Archbishop - four ambitious knights took the king at his word and murdered Beckett in his own cathedral on December 29, 1170. Henry endured a rather limited storm of protest over the incident and the controversy passed.
Henry's plans of dividing his myriad lands and titles evoked treachery from his sons. At the encouragement - and sometimes because of the treatment - of their mother, they rebelled against their father several times, often with Louis VII of France as their accomplice. The deaths of Henry the Young King in 1183 and Geoffrey in 1186 gave no respite from his children's rebellious nature; Richard, with the assistance of Philip II Augustus of France, attacked and defeated Henry on July 4, 1189 and forced him to accept a humiliating peace. Henry II died two days later, on July 6, 1189.
A few quotes from historic manuscripts shed a unique light on Henry, Eleanor, and their sons.
From Sir Winston Churchill Kt, 1675: "Henry II Plantagenet, the very first of that name and race, and the very greatest King that England ever knew, but withal the most unfortunate . . . his death being imputed to those only to whom himself had given life, his ungracious sons. . ."
From Sir Richard Baker, A Chronicle of the Kings of England: Concerning endowments of mind, he was of a spirit in the highest degree generous . . . His custom was to be always in action; for which cause, if he had no real wars, he would have feigned . . . To his children he was both indulgent and hard; for out of indulgence he caused his son henry to be crowned King in his own time; and out of hardness he caused his younger sons to rebel against him . . . He married Eleanor, daughter of William Duke of Guienne, late wife of Lewis the Seventh of France.
• RULED, Between 1154 and 1189, King Of England.
• ACCEDED, 19 Dec 1154, Westminster Abbey, London, England.
More About Henry II Plantagenet:
Burial: 08 Jul 1189, Fontevrault Abbey, Fontevrault, Maine-Et-Loire, France.
Title (Facts Pg): King of England.
More About Henry II Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine:
Marriage: Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, France -m2.
Children of Henry II Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine are:
- +John "Lackland" Plantagenet, b. 24 Dec 1167, Kings Manor House, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England412, d. 19 Oct 1216, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England413.