(1133-1189). King of England. The son of Geoffroi IV, count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, Henry II ruled most of western France, yet despite the power at his disposal faced recurrent conflicts with his lord, the king of France, and his own family. Henry amassed his territories largely between 1150 and 1154, gaining Normandy by grant from his father in 1150 and Anjou by inheritance on Geoffroi’s death in 1151. A year later, Henry added the duchy of Aquitaine to his possessions when he married its heiress, Eleanor, shortly after her marriage to Louis VII was annulled; in 1154, England came to Henry on the death of his rival, King Stephen. Louis VII of France organized a coalition to oppose Henry’s growing power, but without success; the two kings were reconciled by 1154. Relations between them remained cordial for half a decade. In 1158, Louis betrothed his daughter Marguerite to Henry’s eldest son (also Henry), and gave his blessing to Henry’s attempts to exert control over Brittany, attempts that soon gained overlordship there for the English king.
This amicable relationship ended in 1159, when Henry asserted his wife’s claim to Toulouse, whose count was brother-in-law to Louis. Louis stymied the attack by defending the town in person, setting off a wider conflict, which (despite an abortive peace made in 1160) dragged on until 1161. Henry then concentrated on tightening his grip on his continental domain, deposing the duke of Brittany, Conan IV, in 1166 and betrothing the duke’s daughter to his son Geoffroi. In 1167, war between Henry and Louis broke out once more, caused mainly by Henry’s intervention in a dispute over the county of Auvergne. Peace came in 1169, and Louis betrothed his daughter Alice to Henry’s son Richard.
Henry’s next serious conflict was with his family as much as his lord. In 1173, Eleanor and Henry’s three eldest sons rebelled against him in alliance with Louis; the revolt took two years to put down. War with Louis threatened again in 1177, but the Treaty of Ivry settled outstanding problems, submitting conflicting claims in Auvergne to arbitration. After Louis’s death, Henry acted as a distant protector to his heir, Philip II. Further disputes among Henry’s sons, largely over the plans for succession after his death, arose repeatedly from 1182, when a revolt in Aquitaine provided the spark. Adopting an antiAngevin policy, Philip supported Henry the Young King and later Geoffroi against their father, but both sons died unexpectedly before much could be accomplished against Henry II. Philip went to war with Henry in 1187, demanding (among other things) Richard’s marriage to Alice. Henry made a counteroffer: his youngest son, John, would marry Alice and receive all the French fiefs except Normandy, which with England would be Richard’s. When Richard learned of this plan, he turned against his father and in 1188 allied with Philip; they made war on Henry in 1189. His health failing, Henry had nothing to gain by a war against his chief heir; he submitted on July 4 and died two days later.
Donald F. Fleming
[See also: ANJOU; BRITTANY; ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE; NORMANDY] Gillingham, John. The Angevin Empire. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1984.
Wattern, W. L. HenryII. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
World History
