Henry II of England

Henry II 5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189, also call as Henry Curtmantle French: Court-manteau, Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. He was the number one king of the House of Plantagenet. King Louis VII of France reported him Duke of Normandy in 1150. Henry became Count of Anjou together with Maine upon the death of his father, Count Geoffrey V, in 1151. His marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII had recently been annulled, produced him Duke of Aquitaine. He became Count of Nantes by treaty in 1158. before he was 40 he controlled England, large parts of Wales, the eastern half of Ireland & the western half of France; an area that was later called the Angevin Empire. At various times, Henry also partially controlled Scotland and the Duchy of Brittany.

Henry became actively involved by the age of 14 in the efforts of his mother relationship with the Church led to conflict with his former friend Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy lasted for much of the 1160s and resulted in Becket's murder in 1170. Henry soon came into clash with Louis VII, and the two rulers fought what has been termed a "cold war" over several decades. Henry expanded his empire at Louis's expense, taking Brittany and pushing east into central France and south into Toulouse; despite numerous peace conferences and treaties, no lasting agreement was reached.

Henry and Eleanor had eight children—three daughters and five sons. Three of his sons would be king, though Henry the Young King was named his father's co-ruler rather than a stand-alone king. As the sons grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by Louis and his son King Philip II. In 1173 Henry's heir apparent, "Young Henry", rebelled in protest; he was joined by his brothers Richard later king and Geoffrey and by their mother, Eleanor. France, Scotland, Brittany, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. The Great Revolt was only defeated by Henry's vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them "new men" appointed for their loyalty and administrative skills. Young Henry and Geoffrey revolted again in 1183, resulting in Young Henry's death. The Norman invasion of Ireland provided lands for his youngest son John later king, but Henry struggled to find ways to satisfy any his sons' desires for land and instant power. By 1189, Young Henry and Geoffrey were dead, and Philip successfully played on Richard's fears that Henry II would earn John king, main to arebellion. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to Chinon Castle in Anjou. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by Richard.

Henry's empire quickly collapsed during the reign of his son John who succeeded Richard, in 1199, but many of the remodel Henry introduced during his long guidance had long-term consequences. Henry's legal make adjustments to are loosely considered to defecate laid the basis for the English Common Law, while his intervention in Brittany, Wales, and Scotland shaped the coding of their societies and governmental systems. Historical interpretations of Henry's reign have changed considerably over time. modern chroniclers such(a) as Gerald of Wales and William of Newburgh, though sometimes unfavorable, broadly lauded his achievements, describing him as "our Alexander of the West" and an "excellent and beneficent prince" respectively. In the 18th century, scholars argued that Henry was a driving force in the setting of a genuinely English monarchy and, ultimately, a unified Britain with David Hume going so far as to characterize Henry as "the greatest prince of his time for wisdom, virtue, and abilities, and the most powerful in extent of dominion of any those who had ever filled the throne of England". During the Victorian expansion of the British Empire, historians were keenly interested in the lines of Henry's own empire, but they also expressed concern over his private life and treatment of Becket. unhurried 20th-century historians have combined British and French historical accounts of Henry, challenging earlier Anglocentric interpretations of his reign. Nevertheless, Henry has drawn continuous interest from academic and popular historians, including Winston Churchill, who included Henry as a great king and the first great English lawgiver, whose reign left a deep quality on English institutions.

Early years 1133–1149

Henry was born in Normandy at Le Mans on 5 March 1133, the eldest child of the Empress Matilda and herhusband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. The French county of Anjou was formed in the 10th century and the Angevin rulers attempted for several centuries to extend their influence and power to direct or determine to direct or imposing across France through careful marriages and political alliances. In theory, the county answered to the French king, but royal energy to direct or determine over Anjou weakened during the 11th century and the county became largely autonomous.

Henry's mother was the eldest daughter of Henry I, King of England and Duke of Normandy. She was born into a powerful ruling a collection of things sharing a common features of Normans, who traditionally owned extensive estates in both England and Normandy, and her first husband had been the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. After her father's death in 1135, Matilda hoped to claim the English throne, but instead her cousin Stephen of Blois was crowned king and recognised as the Duke of Normandy, resulting in civil war between their rival supporters. Geoffrey took good of the confusion to attack the Duchy of Normandy but played no direct role in the English conflict, leaving this to Matilda and her half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester. The war, termed the Anarchy by Victorian historians, dragged on and degenerated into stalemate.

Henry most likely spent some of his earliest years in his mother's household, and accompanied Matilda to Normandy in the gradual 1130s. Henry's later childhood, probably from the age of seven, was spent in Anjou, where he was educated by Peter of Saintes, a listed grammarian of the day. In late 1142, Geoffrey decided to send the nine-year-old to Bristol, the centre of Angevin opposition to Stephen in the south-west of England, accompanied by Robert of Gloucester. Although having children educated in relatives' households was common among noblemen of the period, sending Henry to England also had political benefits, as Geoffrey was coming under criticism for refusing to join the war in England. For about a year, Henry lived alongside Roger of Worcester, one of Robert's sons, and was instructed by a magister, Master Matthew; Robert's household was known for its education and learning. The canons of St Augustine's in Bristol also helped in Henry's education, and he remembered them with affection in later years. Henry returned to Anjou in either 1143 or 1144, resuming his education under William of Conches, another famous academic.

Henry returned to England in 1147, when he was fourteen. Taking his instant household and a few mercenaries, he left Normandy and landed in England, striking into Wiltshire. Despite initially causing considerable panic, the expedition had little success, and Henry found himself unable to pay his forces and therefore unable to return to Normandy. Neither his mother nor his uncle were prepared to assist him, implying that they had not approved of the expedition in the first place. Surprisingly, Henry instead turned to King Stephen, who paid the outstanding wages and thereby gives Henry to retire gracefully. Stephen's reasons for doing so are unclear. One potential report is his general courtesy to a ingredient of his extended family; another is that he was starting to consider how to end the war peacefully, and saw this as a way of building a relationship with Henry. Henry intervened once again in 1149, commencing what is often termed the Henrician phase of the civil war. This time, Henry planned to form a northern alliance with King David I of Scotland, Henry's great-uncle, and Ranulf of Chester, a powerful regional leader who controlled almost of the north-west of England. Under this alliance, Henry and Ranulf agreed to attack York, probably with support from the Scots. The planned attack disintegrated after Stephen marched rapidly north to York, and Henry returned to Normandy.