King: Henry the Young King

Young men in the Plantagenet family had a daunting task, to live up to fathers or older brothers who were some of the best kings England ever had9, and/or were celebrities in their own time.  One who might have fit the bill was Henry, the Young King (1155-1183), the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Little is known of Henry's earlier life.  He was the second of five sons of Henry and Eleanor.  His eldest brother, William of Poitiers, had died as a toddler.  Henry II hoped that Henry, Jr., would inherit the lion's share of the Plantagenet dominions including England and Normandy.  To that end, when Henry was 15 years old, he was crowned King of England during his father's lifetime.  This occurred during 1170, at the height of the Becket controversy, and without the Archbishop of Canterbury presiding.  Junior was described as tall, well-built, broad-shouldered, with a long neck, freckled skin, bright blue eyes and reddish-gold hair, the basic Plantagenet blueprint.  Henry II appointed William Marshal to serve as Junior's tutor in arms and military matters.  Under Marshal's guidance, Henry became a tournament champion.  In that day and age, the most common tournament form was the melee and Junior was one of many highborn knights who excelled with Marshal as team leader.

Because Henry II was very much alive and in control, Junior wasn't allowed to exercise any authority on his own and, for many years, that seemed to suit him just fine.  The assessment of contemporaries was that he gave no evidence of any political or military skill or even basic intelligence, probably because he was under his powerful father's thumb during his life.  He could be gracious, benign and courteous, when he wanted to be.  He could also be shallow, vain, careless and high-tempered, again the basic Plantagenet recipe.  What he would have amounted to after Henry II's death we'll never know.  In 1170, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, whom we've already met in a previous post.  They had one child together, William of Salisbury.  The birth was difficult and Margaret never had another child.  To appease critics who believed that Junior's earlier coronation was lacking due to the absence of an Archbishop of Canterbury, he and Margaret were crowned again after the wedding. 

In 1173, matters came to a head between Henry, Eleanor, Junior and the other Plantagenet boys.  Whether it was frustration with their father's heavy hand, dissatisfaction with their potential inheritance, instigation by Eleanor, or all the above, Henry's sons rose in rebellion against their father.  Junior's effort gained traction in the form of Norman, Breton and Angevin lords willing to join him and he almost toppled his father from the throne.  The loyalty of the English barons and the timely neutralization of Scotland by the capture of its king saved Henry II's throne.  He and his sons were reconciled, for the time being.  In 1179, Junior represented his father when his counterpart Phillip Augustus, was crowned junior king to his own father, Louis VII.  Then, in 1182, Junior and William Marshal had a falling out.  Rumors had it that Marshal had had an affair with Margaret.  Junior sought an annulment of the marriage around this time, based on Margaret's inability to have children, but maybe there was more under the surface?

Things were never peaceful in the Plantagenet family for long.  Although Junior later patched things up with Marshal, he was once more on the outs with Henry II and Richard, this time over their potential inheritance rights.  As he gathered his forces and funds to march against his father and brother, Junior caught dysentery and began to sink fast.  He sent to Henry II and begged his father to come.  Sensing a trap, Henry II declined and sent a ring as a token of his forgiveness.  Conscience-stricken, Henry, Jr., confessed and prostrated himself naked before a crucifix.  He had given his cloak, with its Crusader's cross, to Marshal with instructions to take it with him to the Holy Land.  Henry died in 1183 and was buried in Rouen Cathedral.

Royal FamilY: the Children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine

Large families were a plus for royalty and nobility in the Medieval era.  Infant and child mortality was high and whether or not a child survived to adulthood was a matter of luck.  Sons who survived could hope to inherit some or all of their family's domains, but would also serve as commanders, governors or in whatever other position was needed.  Daughters were vital for forging marriage alliances through marriage.  Nor was being illegitimate necessarily a bar to advancement.  The illegitimate son of a king still bore royal blood and could inherit land or titles.  King's daughters by unofficial unions could also hope to marry well.  To that end, many Plantagenet kings had large families, both official and otherwise, who in turn had large families, which makes for plenty of drama and intrigue. The children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, who are somewhat familiar from the movie The Lion in Winter, are a case in point.

Eleanor had been married before, to Louis VII of France.  She had two daughters by him, Marie and Alix.  When Louis and Eleanor divorced, Louis kept custody of the girls, though they maintained a relationship with their mother.  Then Eleanor married Henry, and the childbearing began in earnest.  Their first son William IX, Count of Poitiers, died as a toddler (1153-1156).  The other children lived to grow up, including. Henry the Young King (1155-1183); Matilda, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria (1156-1189); Richard I the Lionheart (1157-1199); Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158-1186); Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1162-1214); Joanna, Queen of Sicily (1165-1199); and John, King of England (1166-1216).  Three Kings, two queens, a Duchess, a Duke, and a Count.  Henry was intended as his father's heir, taking England, Normandy and Anjou, which is why he was crowned a junior king in his father's lifetime.  This didn't sit too well with Richard and Geoffrey.  Richard was heir to his mother's domains, including Aquitaine and Poitou, but he also wanted his father's inheritance.  So did Geoffrey, who was Duke of Brittany by right of his wife.  John, who would have to be content with land in Ireland if he got anything at all, was hurt at being left out.  Henry, Richard and Geoffrey started a civil war that turned into a rebellion against their own father.  It was in this atmosphere that Henry called his Christmas court at Chinon in 1183 as depicted in the movie.

An often-told story about Henry II is that he once showed a visitor a tapestry or a mural in the Palace of Winchester that showed an adult eagle being cannibalized by its own offspring.  Henry explained that his own sons would do the same to him and he died fighting Richard.  But for all their squabbling, the Plantagenet siblings would stand together against a common foe.  Richard bailed his sister Joanna out of her dispute over her dowry with her husband's successor, Tancred of Sicily.  After the Crusade, he was trying to reach the safety of the domains of his brother-in-law, Henry the Lion of Saxony, when fate in the form of Leopold of Austria got in the way.  Eleanor, who would survive all but two of her children, had to rally support for Richard during his absence on crusade, while keeping John at bay.  It makes for good movies and novels but would have been a hazardous life for anyone who aroused the ire of the power couple of the age or their brood of ravenous eaglets.