The Angevins Kings 

1154 -1216 

Henry 2nd 1154-1189 (21 when Crowned)

Born in Le Mans Anjou, France 1133

Henry owed his Kingship of England to his Norman mother Matilda, daughter of Henry 1st and his vast lands to his father Count of Anjou and his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou. His father Geoffrey was called Plantagenet because of the sprig of broom (in Latin Planta genista) he habitually wore in his hat. Eleanor had been previously married to the King of France, Louis 7th and was the richest woman in Europe. 

When crowned King of England Henry became the ruler of the largest realm in Europe also the richest and most powerful. In those days this meant he was continuously in the saddle and indeed he made sure there were a number of horses  always available to him at strategic points in his empire. He would generally travel with his court which at the minimum was 100 people. Henry, in a similar manner to most Kings since 1066 spent more time in France than England particularly so for Henry, as Anjou was an area of culture, learning, art, music and poetry.  

Eleanor, his wife of 2 years when he was crowned, was 32 on her wedding day and already a royal mother having been wife to the French King but divorced on the grounds of their close blood relations in 1152. Henry was noted for his sex with other women, perhaps because of his marriage for political purposes to a woman 10 years older than himself. However they produced 9 children which with the 2 she had produced with the French King shows the poor woman had a total of 11. Henry had time to sire 12 other children, 3 with a woman called Ikenai and the remainder with 6 other women.

In addition to these mistresses and after 21 years of marriage to Eleanor Henry eventually found the love of his life the 16 year old “fair Rosamund” who, hidden away in a house at Woodstock (near Oxford England) produced him a son but she died after only 3 years of sexual bliss. 
 
Henry and Law and Order

Henry is unfortunately best remembered for causing the murder of his Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. This must be seen as part of the actions he  took to restore law and order which had gone to pot under his predecessor King Stephen. Firstly he had to deal with the Barons who under Stephen were fighting each other from their new castles on confrontational land. Henry ordered these to be demolished. Then the church needed to respect the law to give a good example to the people. To help him Henry installed one of his best friends as Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket.

Henry whished to tighten up on all the standard biblical rules like thou shalt not murder, steal or commit adultery. As we know even today priests are only human and commit such offences. Then Henry wanted wayward priests to be tried by the same courts as the rest of the population. Becket insisted priests were above common law and should be tried by the church courts who then as now tend to be lenient. Unfortunately four Knights overheard Henry saying “who will rid me of this turbulent priest” and taking him at his word went to Canterbury and killed him in the cathedral. Henry was devastated and ordered he himself be lashed hundreds of times as penance. 

Summary of the main benefits in law under and following Henry 2nd.

• Henry introduced trial by Jury for the first time.

• He also set up civil courts in each county shire.

• Henry brought the church under the rules of the civil courts. (His arguments with Beckett.) Prior to this, backed by the Pope, the Church was literally getting away with murder.

• He forbade any appeal to the Pope without his consent.

• He introduced the law that no man can be tried for the same offence twice.

• No tenant-in-capite should be excommunicated without the Kings consent.

• Both Barons and Bishops must come under feudal rules i.e. pay their taxes in cash in preference to kind.

• Forfeited goods (eg confiscated as a state fine) could not be squirreled away in Churches.

• That church revenues in diocese where there is no Bishop should be collected by the King.

Henry and his family feuds

With his wife he produced 9 children including 6 sons, two of the boys Richard and John became kings of England. Neither were good sons nor indeed good kings. After some 20 years of rule 3 of his sons Henry, Richard and Geoffrey egged on by their mother, started a separatist rebellion against him in Plantagenet France supported by Louis 7th the French King. This family rebellion was ruthlessly crushed by Henry within a year.

A year later there was a Barons revolt in England supported by the King of Scotland against Henry’s efforts to bring the Barons under the rule of law. This rebellion was swiftly crushed with the help of the loyal Baron Ralph de Glanville.

10 years after the first rebellion by his sons they did it again. As before crushed by Henry but this time two of his sons, Henry and Geoffrey died.

A third rebellion headed by Richard and supported by his gay partner Phillip the King of France succeeded in ousting Henry from Touraine France. When Henry learnt that his favourite son John was also involved with this rebellion he died within the year of a broken heart.

Henry therefore can be remembered as being the most powerful King in Europe at this time but with a dreadful family life where his sons egged on by their mother rebelled against him. The writing was therefore on the wall for the loss of his French territories because.

• His son Richard wanted to rule the French territories himself in opposition to his father..

• This was initially supported by the King of France, Philip Augustus who was destined to become the greatest king for France during this period.

• Richard and then his brother John, when they became King of England were useless territorial defenders as we shall see later.

Ireland 1166

Early in his reign Henry was visited by one of the rulers of Ireland, Dermot King of Leinster, (Ireland was still divided into small tribal Kingdoms), who asked him to come to Ireland to sort out an inter tribal quarrel. Henry sort advice from the Pope who gave him permission to invade and conquer Ireland with the religious objective of bringing the renegade Irish Church under the strong arm of Rome . Henry who had many more important things to do sent one of his Barons, Richard de Clare, The Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed Strongbow, who quickly reinstalled Dermot who then conveniently died. Strongbow rapidly filled the vacuum making himself King of Leinster in his place.

Henry, jealous of his vassal’s rise to fortune visited Ireland with sufficient show of strength to persuade Strongbow and the other Kings of Ireland to pay him homage.

Note: Henry’s territory in Ireland was small only some 5th of the land and centred around Dublin which became known as the “English Pale”.  

Oxford University

In 1168 some English scholars were expelled from Paris. When they returned home they were permitted by Henry the set up a University at Oxford. Along with Cambridge these have remained the premier universities in Britain until this day.