Henry II (1133-1189)
Henry II was the first Plantagenet king. The nickname Plantagenet comes from his father who wore the branch of broombush (planta genista) in his helmet.
Henry II came to the throne in 1154 after death of Stephen of Blois at the age of 21. Hei s probably one of the most effective monarchs in British history. By his coronation, Henry ended the civil war between Stephen of Blois and his mother Matilda, the daughter of Henry I.
Henry II was a strong man both by his body and character. Hehad bowed legs, because he spent so much time in the saddle, red hair and grey eyes. He was intelligent and had immense knowledges of languages and law.
Reign
In his reign, he walked in the footsteps of his grandfather Henry I. Henry surrounded himself with loyal men. He also reformed the law system. Now every free man had the right to go to the court.
Henry II greatly changed the military system. Everyyear he collected „sutage“ from feudals, a tax they had to pay instead of military service.
Henry II fortified the border with Scotlandand also tried to annex Wales but without results.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Henry`s family tree was impressive. His father Geoffrey Plantagenet, had bequeathed himself immense territories in France and from his grandfather Henry I he had inherited English crown and lands in Britain and Normandy.
In 1152 young 19-year-old prince Henry married 30-year-old Eleanor who before had been married to Louis VII of France and even been with him in the Second Crusade. Henry II got from Eleanor the vaste territories of Aquitaine. In this period, the King of England had more lands in France than the King of France.
Eleanor is considered to be the grandmother of Europe because she cleverly affianced the marriages of her children.
Beautiful, intelligent, cultured and powerful, Eleanor was a remarkable woman. Although he and Henry had eight children, the relations between two strong natures were not always good and Eleanor moved to Aquitaine where she could enjoy the art of trubaours.
Relations with church and Thomas Beckett
The relations between king and church were tense, because bothof them wanted the uktimate power over England.
Thomas Beckett was an educated man, he had studied in Paris, Bologna and Auxerre. He had a successful carreer and he soon became a very close friend of Henry II. After the death of the old archbishop pf Canterbury, King wanted Thomas to be the next. Although Thomas refused several times, he was inaugurated the archbishop in 1162. Henry II hoped that his friend Thomas would be simply controlled and through him he could reign over the church. But the things did not go like that. After becoming the archbishop, Thomas Beckett changed himself entierly and the realtions between him and Henry beacme more and more tense.
In december 1170 when Henry was in one of his fits of anger, he cried the famous words: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"
Four knights took him at his words and rode to Canterbury and killed Thomas Beckett while he was praying. Everybody was shocked, especially the king himself. He locked himselfin his room and sat there three days regretting the murder. The next year Henry walked barefoot into Canterbury Cathedral where he allowed two monks to scourge him as a sign of contrite penance,
In 1773 Beckett was declared a saint and Canterbury became the favorite place for pilgrims. People also started to see miracles on the tomb of Beckett.
Wars
In order to protect his throne, Henry II had many wars both with his sons and the king of France. Henry had had many sons but when he died the only surviving sons were Richard and John.Richard became the new king as Richard I Lionheart. The old king died in 1189 on the 6th of July. His last words were: "Shame, shame on a conquered King"