King Henry II of England
1133 - 1189
Sought Pope's forgiveness for the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket
by Rit Nosotro First Published:: 2003( )
King Henry II of England was man who first started the rule of the House of
Plantagenet. He was the father of both Richard the Lion-Hearted and King John,
and husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine. This essay will discuss King Henry II’s
life by reviewing his birth and early life, his impact on English history, his
family, and, finally, the Biblical perspective.
On March 5, 1133, Henry II was born in Le Mans, Maine, which is in France. He
was born to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry
I. Being the first son; Henry inherited all the lands of Geoffrey Plantagenet,
which turned out to be Normandy and Anjou. In addition to this, Henry also inherited
the right to be a vassal of the King of France, This was remarkably ironic as
he owned more land than the king of France and was more powerful than the king,
yet he was subject to him.
Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine on May 18th, 1152, bringing more land into Henry’s domain. When he was crowned in 1154, Henry had power over England, Normandy, Angevin, and Poitevin. This massive amount of property required skilled management. This was extremely difficult was most of these different areas had their own traditional law and feudal system. For instance, England had an intertwined Anglo-Saxon system and feudal customs of Normandy while Normandy, Angevin, and Poitevin all had their own feudal traditions. Henry already had the difficult job of administrating his inheritance and to compound the burden, of having to develop a universal legal system.
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was significant figure in history. She was the daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and, in 1137; she inherited her father’s land. This land, Aquitaine, was the largest independent state next to France. Therefore, in the battle for power between England and France, each vied for as much land as possible, given that land represented power. This made her subject to many marriage proposals. So on August 1, 1137, she marred King Louis VII and later, bore him two girls. However, the marriage was annulled in 1152, since she did not bear him a son. However, she was not long without a husband, and months later, she married Henry Plantagenet.
The previous English king, Stephen, was a weak one and had left the legal and political system, in disarray. Stephen had, inadvertently, made many of the barons more powerful than himself through many land grants. Henry had to fix this problem and remove this threat to civil peace. However, Henry was a very efficient administrator. Within months of his ascension, the English exchequer was in full operation. This exchequer system once again became a model of financial organization for the rest of Europe. After the reestablishment of the exchequer, Henry had to solve the problem of barons being more powerful than he was. He was able to increase the royal power by introducing his coronation charter. This charter set the strict legal basis that was needed to reorganize England.
This charter started what was the eventual shift in power from the barons to the king. Stephen had not made much progress in destroying illegal castles. Henry, quickly, clamped down on this and took back all castles, towns and lands that had been given away by Stephen or seized by the barons. By retrieving the royal lands, Henry was starting to restore the royal position. This helped to increase the finances of the royal treasury and Henry was soon beginning to overpower the barons with sheer territorial power. In addition to retrieving the royal lands, Henry also began the demolition of illegal castles. He had realized that there was a danger of too many baronial castles. So, Henry destroyed enough castles and took back many to the point where the king owned one in every five castles. Not only did Henry restore the royal influence but also he got rid of the many mercenaries in England, who were let in by Stephen. By doing, this he fully removed any threat to civil peace and now with the restoration of the English exchequer, royal officials could easily detect if any of the royal lands had been seized or if any irregular grants had been given away, just by referring the list of royal properties.
Surprisingly, many of the barons did not resist these changes or the confiscation of their property. This was probably because many of them had expected this. The only ones to severely resist were the Welsh lords. This was because that the Welsh had usually considered themselves somewhat independent and resented any law, which restricted them. Although some chose exile or to revolt, most chose to follow the king’s order.
Through these significant changes, Henry was able to bring England back to the road to prosperity. By the summer of 1155, one year after coronation, Henry was able to start enjoying the fruits of his labor. He predominantly enjoyed hunting and riding through his forested estates and was rarely seen out of the saddle.
Although Henry was able to restore the royal influence and make the barons’ who they owed themselves to, England was not as secure as it should have been. The financial matters of England were in dire straits. The lowest revenue of Henry’s reign was from 1156-57, so Henry once again set to work. He reissued coins and was able to reduce costs efficiently and pay off moneylenders.
Finally, with his reign seeming secure, Henry looked for more ways to expand his power. His predominant “rival” appeared to be the Church. Henry did not like the threat of being excommunicated and desired control over it. In addition to this, Henry wanted to switch the power of sentencing of criminals from the Church to the royal courts. Although archbishop Thomas Becket desired the king’s friendship, he refused to grant the king’s blatant requests. This eventually resulted in the execution of Becket. However, Henry was very contrite for his actions, and even crawled from his palace to the cathedral, in sackcloth, to ask for forgiveness.
As mentioned above, Henry was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine. However, their marriage did end well. Their love for each other began to wax cold, to the point where in 1137; Eleanor supported her son Richard I, in a revolt for more land from his father Henry. Unfortunately, the revolt failed and she was imprisoned until 1189, when Henry died.
A Biblical perspective on King Henry II’s life is that he was a good
king. He worked hard at consolidating power and removing some of the power of
the barons. In this age, that action might be looked down on but King Henry
II was living just after the Dark Ages. It was a time was many thugs and thieves
roamed Europe. By consolidating power he was able to provide more of a sense
of security for the common people. This is a good thing since a king is supposed
to be a good leader and take care of the people God has entrusted to him. Although
his bickering with the church and his marriage are not great examples, they
were common of those times.
This essay has discussed King Henry II’s life by reviewing his birth and
early life, his impact on English history, his family, and, finally, the Biblical
perspective.
Sources:
1) Barber, Richard. Henry Plantagenet: A Biography of Henry II of England. Boydell
Press 1964. Great Britain
2) Barber, Richard. The Devil’s Crown: A History of Henry II and his sons.
British Broadcasting Corporation 1978. London, England.
3) Ibeji, Dr. Mike. “The Character and Legacy of Henry II.” About.com.
http://historymedren.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/monarchs%5Fleaders/henryii%5Fcharacter%5F01.shtm
4) Meade, Marion. “Eleanor of Aquitaine”. World Book ed. 2001
5) Pernoud, Regine. Eleanor of Aquitaine. Collins Sons and Co., Ltd. 1965. Great
Britain
6) Tabuteau, Emily Zack. “Henry II”. World Book ed. 2001
7) N/A. “Henry II: British Monarchs”. Britannia http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon26.html
