King Henry II
1133 – 1189 · Generation XI · King of England (r. 1154–1189) · House of Normandy · House of Plantagenet
Henry II Plantagenet (1133–1189). King of England (r. 1154–1189). Married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. Ruled an empire from Scotland to the Pyrenees; remembered too for the murder of Becket in his cathedral. He fought his way to the crown through his mother Matilda’s long contest with King Stephen, who agreed at Wallingford to leave England to him. Energetic and ruthless, he rebuilt the royal administration and pressed legal reforms generally held to have laid the basis of the English common law, all while waging a decades-long “cold war” against Louis VII of France and expanding his lands at Louis’s expense. His final years were consumed by his own family: the Great Revolt of 1173, led by his heir and joined by his queen, was crushed only by hard campaigning, and in 1189 Richard, allied with Philip II, defeated him at last. He died soon afterwards at Chinon.
One of 7 people of House of Normandy (until 1154) in this archive. The conqueror’s house — William I took the English crown in 1066 and his sons held it after him.
One of 23 people of House of Plantagenet (1126–1485) in this archive. The longest-reigning English house, counting its Angevin beginning and the rival Lancaster and York branches that fought the Wars of the Roses.
Line of descent: King William I The Conqueror → King Henry I → Matilda the Empress → King Henry II.
Parents
- Geoffrey Plantagenet (1113 – 1151)
- Matilda the Empress (1102 – 1167)
Partners
- Married Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – 1204) in 1152 — 2 children together
Children
- King Richard I The Lion Heart (1157 – 1199)
- King John (1166 – 1216)
Life
- 1133 — Born
- 1152 — Married Eleanor of Aquitaine
- 1154 — Henry II accedes to the throne at the age of 21 upon the death of his second cousin, Stephen.
- 1155 — Henry appoints Thomas a Becket as Chancellor of England, a post that he holds for seven years.
- 1155 — Pope Adrian IV issues the papal bull Laudabiliter, which gives Henry dispensation to invade Ireland and bring the Irish Church under the control of the Church of Rome.
- 1162 — On the death of Archbishop Theobald, Henry appoints Thomas a Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury in the hope that he will help introduce Church reforms.
- 1164 — Henry introduces the Constitutions of Clarendon, which place limitations on the Church’s jurisdiction over crimes committed by the clergy. The Pope refuses to approve the Constitutions, so Thomas a Becket refuses to sign them.
- 1166 — Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster in Ireland, appeals to Henry to help him oppose a confederation of other Irish kings. In response to the appeal, Henry sends a force led by Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, thereby beginning the English settlement of Ireland.
- 1170 — Pope Alexander III threatens England with an interdict and forces Henry to a formal reconciliation with Becket. However, the two of them quarrel again when Becket publishes papal letters voiding Henry’s Constitutions of Clarendon.
- 1170 — Becket is killed in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December by four of Henry’s knights.
- 1171 — Henry invades Ireland and receives homage from the King of Leinster and the other kings. Henry is accepted as Lord of Ireland.
- 1171 — At Cashel Henry makes Irish clergy submit to the authority of Rome
- 1173 — Eleanor of Aquitaine and her sons revolt unsuccessfully against her husband Henry II.
- 1174 — Henry’s sons Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey lead an unsuccessful rebellion against their father
- 1176 — Henry creates a framework of justice creating judges and dividing England into six counties
- 1189 — Died
- 1189 — Henry dies at Chinon castle, Anjou, France