Rival: Louis VII of France

Henry II of England (1133-1189) and Louis VII of France (1120-1180) were the Grumpy Old Men of their day, rivalries over the same woman, the same land, and always in each others' political and family business.

Louis wasn't planned to be king.  As a younger man he tended to be more bookish and religious than his older brother, and destined for a career in the Church.  After Phillip died in an accident in 1131, the responsibilities of being heir to the throne fell to Louis.  His father had him crowned at Reims by Pope Innocent III, similar to the arrangement between Henry II and the Young King.  Then, in July, 1137, Louis entered an arranged marriage with Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right.  The relationship went about how one would expect between a beautiful and high-spirited woman and a nerd who liked books and ecclesiastical arguments better than other things.  They had two daughters, Marie and Alix, but Louis preoccupied with other matters than his beautiful wife.  A young upstart Angevin count named Henry had claimed England and was solidifying his claim to Normandy.  In those days, France was a much smaller kingdom than it is today, with Normandy, Brittany, Aquitaine, Burgundy and other areas controlled by rival and sometimes hostile families.  Louis had reason to fear that Henry might not stop at the Vexin, a buffer zone between Normandy and the Ile de France, and try to come into Louis' territory altogether.  Louis also had wars and rivalries with other nobles.

The Second Crusade in 1147-1149 put the territorial wars on hold.  Louis and Eleanor both took the Cross and Louis distinguished himself in battle, but their marriage fell completely apart.  The final straw was when Eleanor adamantly wanted to help her Uncle Raymond hold on to his Crusader kingdom of Antioch and Louis decided that enough French blood and treasure had been spent on the whole worthless enterprise.  He accused Eleanor and Raymond of having an affair, but agreed to an annulment before the matter could become any more scandalous than it already was.  Eleanor would go on to marry Henry and Louis would marry Constance of Castile in 1154, just as Henry was achieving his conquest of England.  Constance would bear Louis two more daughters, Marguerite and Alys, before dying in childbirth.  This gave Henry a chance to make a dynastic move, asking for Marguerite's hand for his young son and heir, Henry, Jr., and Alys for his son Richard.  Louis agreed.  Marguerite and Young Henry were married, but Alys would have to wait many years for a marriage and family. 

In 1160, Louis married Adele of Champagne and the third time was the charm.  His son and heir, the future Phillip II Augustus, was born in 1165.  Meanwhile, Louis never missed a chance to involve himself in Henry's political and family affairs, supporting Thomas Becket in his struggles with the King of England over supremacy of the Church over secular authority, and supporting Henry's sons as they fell out with their father and each other.  By 1180, already ill and partially paralyzed, Louis had his son Phillip crowned as a junior king, the last French monarch to do so.  He died days after the ceremony in Paris and was buried in Barbeau Abbey.  His remains were moved in 1817 to the royal crypt at Saint-Denis.

Places: Fontevrault Abbey, Chinon, France

The Plantagenets may have been a family on the move, going from one castle to another as needs be, the early members of the dynasty had a spiritual home, the Abbey of Fontevrault.

This abbey, with its village of Fontevraud l'Abbaye near Chinons in Anjou was in the heart the early Plantagenet possessions.  It was a double monastery, which meant that it housed both monks and nuns, albeit in separate compounds.  And, both sets of religious were under the direction of the Abbess, who was always either a royal or noble woman.  The Abbey was founded in 1101, by an itinerant preacher called Robert of Arbrissel.  With noble patronage, he founded the Order of Fontevrault, with this abbey as the motherhouse.  Under the Rule of St. Benedict, the Abbey was a strictly-run sanctuary of contemplation and prayer.  Eleanor of Aquitaine was the first member of the Plantagenet family to take the Abbey under her patronage.  In her declining years, she would sojourn at the Abbey, finally taking the veil before her death.  This was a common practice for nobles of the time, to make one last bid for the salvation of their soul by taking Holy Orders before dying.  Eleanor's daughter, Joanna, would do the same in 1199.

The later Plantagenets would turn their patronage to other orders and churches but Fontevrault continued to enjoy royal patronage, particularly under the Bourbon family.  Several Bourbon women served as Abbess.  In 1789, the Revolutionary government of France ordered the confiscation of all property of the church.  In 1792, the community at Fontevrault was dispersed and its last Abbess died in poverty in Paris.  At that time, the mortal remains of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, Richard I of England, Isabella of Angouleme (wife of Henry I), Joanne of Sicily and her son Raymond of Toulouse were scattered to the four winds.  The gisants or tomb effigies were damaged, and some, such as Joanna's effigy which was intended to kneel at the head of Henry's tomb, were never replaced.  The Abbey was later used as a prison (1804-1963), and some members of the French Resistance in World War II were shot there.  After 1963, the Abbey was turned over to the French Ministry of Culture and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.