5th March: Henry II

On this date in 1133 King Henry II, the first Plantagenet king of England was born.

1. Henry was the son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda. His mother, Matilda, was Henry I's daughter. He was born in Le Mans, France, on 5 March 1133.
2. When Henry was about two, his grandfather died, plunging England into a civil war when Matilda was passed over for the throne in favour of her cousin, Stephen of Blois. Henry was just fourteen when he landed in England with a small force of mercenaries to attack Stephen's land in Wiltshire. The expedition was a dismal failure and Henry was left unable to pay his mercenaries or get back home to France. Although he'd acted in support of his mother's claim, she hadn't approved of his actions and refused to stump up any cash. In the end, help came from a surprising source - Stephen, who paid the outstanding wages and allowed Henry to retire gracefully. It's thought Stephen was hoping to build a relationship with Henry with a view to ending the war.
3. It went even further than that. As part of the Treaty of Winchester, Stephen recognised Henry as his adopted son and successor, in return for Henry paying homage to him. Stephen's son, William, would do homage to Henry and renounce his claim to the throne. William was Stephen's second son, whose older brother had died, and had shown no interest in becoming king; although there was always the possibility that he might change his mind. The terms of the treaty weren't popular with everyone, and there were rumours of a plot to kill Henry - so he planned to return to France and safety - but Stephen died suddenly and Henry inherited the throne sooner than expected.
4. Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII of France had recently been annulled. They had eight children: five sons—William, the Young Henry, Richard, Geoffrey and John, and three daughters, Matilda, Eleanor and Joan. At first, Eleanor influenced Henry, and he allowed her to rule parts of his kingdom; but later their relationship disintegrated and she sided with some of her sons against him in later years. Henry had several long-term mistresses, including Annabel de Balliol and Rosamund Clifford.
5. Understandably, Louis VII and Henry didn't get along so well - Henry had taken Louis' lands, and his wife and the two rulers fought a "cold war" over several decades, during which time Henry took over more and more of France as well as expanding his empire into Wales and Ireland. The area he controlled became known as the Angevin Empire.
6. Henry's relationship with the church was problematic as well. In the end, when the then Archbishop of Canterbury died, Henry decided to appoint his friend, then also his Chancellor, to the position. This man was Thomas Becket. Henry thought Becket would be on his side - but Becket threw himself into his new role, changed his lifestyle and became a supporter of the church above the king. They fell out over such issues as whether clergy who committed secular crimes should be tried in secular or church courts, and when Henry decided he wanted to crown his son, another Henry, king of England, Becket refused to conduct the ceremony. Four knights decided to take matters into their own hands and went to Canterbury with the intent of confronting and if necessary arresting Becket for breaking his agreement with Henry. Becket, however, refused to come quietly and as a result was murdered in front of the altar. T. S. Eliot's play, Murder in the Cathedral, is about this event.
7. What was Henry like? Contemporary reports describe him as good looking with Red hair and freckles, although he had a large head and short, stocky body, was bow legged from riding and was often scruffily dressed. He had a piercing stare and was moody, sometimes losing his temper, sometimes sulking and refusing to speak at all. Henry was famous for his energy and drive. He was impulsive and frequently a bully.
8. He never spoke English, although he could understand it - he preferred to communicate in French or Latin.
9. Henry's family was what we would call dysfunctional today. Not only did his relationship with his wife go sour, but his sons quarrelled among themselves too. Rivalries and disputes were common in royal families back then, but Henry's family seemed worse than most. Historians have several theories as to why this was, from simple personality clashes to genetic disorders to Henry and Eleanor being rubbish at parenting. It was his youngest son, John, who eventually succeeded him.
10. So what did Henry II ever do for us? The legal changes he made to manage the difficult situation he'd inherited from Stephen were the foundations of English Common Law; and similarly in Brittany, Wales and Scotland he influenced how their political systems developed. He was probably the first king of England to use a heraldic design: a signet ring with either a leopard or a Lion engraved on it. His design was modified by his descendants to become the royal seal of England as we know it today.

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