June 11, 1183: Death of Henry the Young King. Part II.

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Angevin, Anglo-Norman, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry the Young King, House of Anjou, House of Plantagenet, King Henry II of England, Norman, Philippe II of France, Poitevin and Breton, William I of Scotland, William Marshal

Part I

Young Henry fell out with his father in 1173. Contemporary chroniclers allege that this was owing to the young man’s frustration that his father had given him no realm to rule, and his feeling starved of funds. The rebellion seems, however, to have drawn strength from much deeper discontent with his father’s rule, and a formidable party of Anglo-Norman, Norman, Angevin, Poitevin and Breton magnates joined him.

The revolt of 1173–1174 came close to toppling the king; he was narrowly saved by the loyalty of a party of nobles with holdings on the English side of the Channel, and by the defeat and capture of William I, the King of Scotland. Young Henry sought a reconciliation after the capture of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the failure of the rebellion. His funds were much increased by the terms of the settlement, and he apparently devoted most of the next seven years to the amusement of the tournament.

In November 1179, he represented his father at the coronation of Philippe II Auguste as associate king of France at Reims. He acted as Steward of France and carried the crown in the coronation procession. Later, he played a leading role in the celebratory tournament held at Lagny-sur-Marne, to which he brought a retinue of over 500 knights at huge expense. The Young Henry’s affairs took a turn for the worse in 1182.

Henry fell out with William Marshal, the leader of his tournament mesnée. The unknown author of L’Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal suggests that Marshal’s disgrace was because he had indulged in a clandestine affair with Queen Margaret. David Crouch, one of the Marshal’s principal modern biographers, argues that the charge against William was actually one of lèse majesté, brought on by Marshal’s own arrogance and greed. By this account, the charge of adultery was only introduced in the Life of William Marshal as a distraction from the real charges, of which he was most probably guilty.

Though the Young King sent his wife early in 1183 to the French court, it was done most likely to keep her safe in the impending war with his brother, Richard, rather than because she was in disgrace.

The only child of Henry and Margaret was William, who was born prematurely on June 19, 1177 and died three days later. This difficult delivery may have left her infertile, for she had no further children.

Death and burial

Henry the Young King died, aged 28, in the summer of 1183, during the course of a campaign in Limousin against his father and his brother Richard the Lionheart. He had just finished pillaging local monasteries to raise money to pay his mercenaries. He contracted dysentery at the beginning of June. Weakening fast, he was taken to Martel, near Limoges. It was clear to his household that he was dying on June 7, when he was confessed and received the last rites.

As a token of his penitence for his war against his father, he prostrated himself naked on the floor before a crucifix. He made a testament and, since he had taken a crusader’s vow, he gave his cloak to his friend William Marshal, with the plea that he should take the cloak (presumably with the crusader’s cross stitched to it) to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. On his deathbed, he reportedly asked to be reconciled to his father, but King Henry, fearing a trick, refused to see him.

He died on June 11, clasping a ring his father had sent instead as a sign of his forgiveness. After his death, his father is said to have exclaimed: “He cost me much, but I wish he had lived to cost me more.”

After Henry’s death, there was an attempt by his mother and a faction of his friends to promote his sainthood. Thomas of Earley, Archdeacon of Wells, published a sermon not long afterward detailing miraculous events attending the cortège that took his body north to Normandy. Henry had left orders that his entrails and other body parts should be buried at the abbey of Charroux, but the rest of his body should rest in Rouen Cathedral.

However, during the funeral procession, a member of Henry’s household was seized by his mercenary captains for debts the late king had owed them. The knights accompanying his corpse were so penniless they had to be fed by charity at the monastery of Vigeois.

There were large and emotional gatherings wherever his body rested. At Le Mans, the local bishop halted the procession and ordered the body buried in his cathedral, perhaps to help defuse the civil unrest Henry’s death had caused. The dean of Rouen recovered the body from the chapter of Le Mans a month later by a lawsuit, so that the Young Henry could be buried in Normandy as he had desired in his testament.

June 11, 1183: Death of Henry the Young King. Part I.

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Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry the Young King, House of Anjou, House of Plantagenet, King Henry II of England, King Louis VII of France, Margaret of France

Henry the Young King Part I.

Henry the Young King (February 28, 1155 – June 11, 1183) was the eldest surviving son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine. Henry the Young King is the only King of England since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father’s reign, but was frustrated by his father’s refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power. He died aged 28, six years before his father, leaving his brother Richard to become the next king.

Coronation of Henry the Young King

Little is known of the young Prince Henry before the events associated with his marriage and coronation. His mother’s children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France were Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix of France. Henry had one elder brother, William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156), and his younger siblings included Matilda; Richard; Geoffrey; Eleanor; Joan; and John.

In June 1170, the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father’s lifetime, something originally practised by the French Capetian dynasty and adopted by the English kings Stephen and Henry II. The physical appearance of Henry at his coronation in 1170 is given in a contemporary court poem written in Latin, where the fifteen-year-old prince is described as being very handsome, “tall but well proportioned, broad-shouldered with a long and elegant neck, pale and freckled skin, bright and wide blue eyes, and a thick mop of the reddish-gold hair”.

He was known in his own lifetime as “Henry the Young King” to distinguish him from his father. Because he was not a reigning king, he is not counted in the numerical succession of the Kings of England. According to one of Thomas Becket’s correspondents, Henry was knighted by his father before the coronation, but the biographer of William Marshal asserts that the king was knighted by William in the course of the rebellion of 1173 (Georges Duby, Guillaume le Maréchal. Le meilleur chevalier du monde. 1984).

The young Henry played an important part in the politics of his father’s reign. On November 2, 1160, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile, when he was 5 years of age and she was at least 2. The marriage was an attempt to finally settle the struggle between the counts of Anjou and the French kings over possession of the frontier district of the Norman Vexin, which Louis VII had acquired from Henry’s grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, in around 1144.

By the terms of the settlement, Margaret would bring the castles of the Norman Vexin to her new husband. However, the marriage was pushed through by Henry II when Young Henry and Margaret were small children so that he could seize the castles. A bitter border war followed between the kings.

They were formally married on August 24, 1172 at Winchester Cathedral, when Henry, aged seventeen, was crowned King of England a second time, this time together with Margaret, by Rotrou, the Archbishop of Rouen.

This date in History: August 27, 1172. Marriage and 2nd Coronation of Henry the Young King of England.

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Bela III of Hungary, Duke of Anjou, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, Henry the Young King, King Richard I of England, Kings and Queens of England, Louis VII of France, Philippe II Augustus of France, Richard the Lion Heart

Henry the Young King (February 28, 1155 – June 11, 1183) was the eldest surviving son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine. Henry the Young King was the only King of England since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father’s reign, but spent his reign frustrated by his father’s refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power.

Little is known of the young Prince Henry before the events associated with his marriage and coronation. His half-siblings (mother’s children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France) were Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix of France. He had one elder brother, William IX, Count of Poitiers (August 17, 1153 – December 2, 1156) and his younger siblings included Matilda, Richard, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John.

In June 1170, the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father’s lifetime, something originally practised by the French Capetian dynasty and adopted by the English kings Stephen and Henry II. The physical appearance of Henry at his coronation in 1170 is given in a contemporary court poem written in Latin, where the fifteen-year-old prince is described as being very handsome, “tall but well proportioned, broad-shouldered with a long and elegant neck, pale and freckled skin, bright and wide blue eyes, and a thick mop of the reddish-gold hair.”

He was known in his own lifetime as “Henry the Young King” to distinguish him from his father. Because he was not a reigning king, he is not counted in the numerical succession of the Kings of England.

Henry is described as a constant competitor at tournaments across northern and central France between 1175 and 1182. With his cousins, Philippe I, Count of Flanders, and Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, he was a key patron of the sport. Though Henry lacked political weight, his patronage brought him celebrity status throughout western Europe.

On November 2, 1160, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile, when he was 5 years of age and she was at least 2. The marriage was an attempt to finally settle the struggle between the counts of Anjou and the French kings over possession of the frontier district of the Norman Vexin, which Louis VII had acquired from Henry’s grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, in around 1144.

By the terms of the settlement, Margaret would bring the castles of the Norman Vexin to her new husband. However, the marriage was pushed through by Henry II when Young Henry and Margaret were small children so that he could seize the castles for himself. A bitter border war followed between the kings.

Henry and Margaret were formally married on August 27, 1172 at Winchester Cathedral, when Henry, aged seventeen, was crowned King of England a second time, this time together with Margaret, by Rotrou, the Archbishop of Rouen.

Young Henry fell out of favor with his father in 1173. Contemporary chroniclers allege that this was owing to the young Henry’s frustration that his father had given him no realm to rule, and his feeling starved of funds. The rebellion seems, however, to have drawn strength from much deeper discontent with his father’s rule, and a formidable party of Anglo-Norman, Norman, Angevin, Poitevin and Breton magnates joined him.

The revolt of 1173–1174 came close to toppling King Henry II; he was narrowly saved by the loyalty of a party of nobles with holdings on the English side of the Channel, and by the defeat and capture of William I, the King of Scotland. Young Henry sought a reconciliation after the capture of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the failure of the rebellion. His funds were much increased by the terms of the settlement, and he apparently devoted most of the next seven years to the amusement of the tournament.

In November 1179, Henry represented his father at the coronation of Philippe II Augustus as associate king of France at Reims. He acted as Steward of France and carried the crown in the coronation procession. Later, he played a leading role in the celebratory tournament held at Lagny-sur-Marne, to which he brought a retinue of over 500 knights at huge expense.

Henry the Young King contracted dysentery at the beginning of June 1183, during the course of a campaign in Limousin against his father and his brother Richard the Lionheart. Young Henry had just finished pillaging local monasteries to raise money to pay his mercenaries. He Weakening fast, he was taken to Martel, near Limoges. It was clear to his household that he was dying on June 7, when he was confessed and received the last rites.

As a token of his penitence for his war against his father, he prostrated himself naked on the floor before a crucifix. He made a testament and, since he had taken a crusader’s vow, he gave his cloak to his friend William Marshal, with the plea that he should take the cloak (presumably with the crusader’s cross stitched to it) to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

On his deathbed, he reportedly asked to be reconciled to his father, but King Henry II, fearing a trick, refused to see him. He died on June 11, aged 28, six years before his father, leaving his brother Richard to become the next king. Henry died clasping a ring his father had sent as a sign of his forgiveness. After his death, his father is said to have exclaimed: “He cost me much, but I wish he had lived to cost me more.”

Three years after the death of her husband, Margaret, titular Queen of England and Duchess of Anjou by righter of her husband, became the second wife of Béla III of Hungary in 1186, after receiving a substantial pension in exchange for surrendering her dowry of Gisors and the Vexin. She was widowed for a second time in 1196 and died on pilgrimage to the Holy Land at St John of Acre in 1197, having only arrived eight days prior to her death.

Legal Succession Part IV: Henry the Young King, Richard I & John

Tags

Angevin Empire, Conspiracy Theories, Eleanore of Aquitane, England, Henry II of England, Henry the Young King, King John of England, King Richard I of England, Kings and Queens of England, Philippe II of France, Plantaganet

Note: I failed to post this when I was doing this series. So in order for it all to be complete and online I will post this today.

The reign of Henry II (1154-1189) saw many battles for power amongst his sons. If you have ever seen the 1967 classic the Lion in Winter then you will understand what I mean. Also, for the first time, maybe the only time, we see a king crown his successor in his life time. It is also during this period that we see the succession of male prefered primogeniture start taking hold.

Henry married the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, the former wife of king Louis VII of France (1137-1180). Eleanor married Henry 1152 when she was about 30 years of age and he was 19. They had a large family, with Eleanor bearing Henry 5 sons and 3 daughters. The eldest son, William, died when he was only three leaving the next son, Henry, as heir to the English throne.

Henry has come down through history known as the Young King. Henry II crowned his son King of England in 1170. The practice was carried out in the Capetian Dynasty in France and Henry adopted this practice as a formal manner in establishing his heir. In 1172 Henry, called the Young King to distinguish him from his father, was crowned once more when he married Margaret d’Anjou, daughter of King Louis VII of france and his second wife, Constance of Castile.

Henry the Young King held his position for 11 more years but had a falling out with his father in 1182. The battles between Henry II and his sons have become the tales of legends and although these are not the focus of this blog entry they do play a role in the battle for the crown. Henry The Young King often struggled financially and had just raided a few monasteries to raise money for his campaign against his brothers when he died from dysentery at the age of 28. Although the Young King was crowned and anointed King of England but since he never ruled in his own right he is not counted or numbered among the kings of England.

When Henry II died in 1189 the throne passed to his eldest son who became Richard I of England known as famously as Richard the Lion Heart. Richard spent the majority of his time on Crusades and was rarely home in England. He married Berengaria of Navarre but had no issue leaving the succession in question once again. Historians claim that Richard was a homosexual although he did have one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac, by an unidentified mother. In March of 1199 Richard had attacked the Castle of Chalus-Chabrol when he was shot in the neck by an arrow from a crossbow. The doctor mangled the surgery and the wound became gangrenous and Richard died on April 6, 1199. Before his death he had bequeathed all his lands, including the English Crown, to his brother John, a prince who was in constant rebellion toward his brother.

This would seem like a cut-and-dried legal succession but during these times the laws covering succession were not always clear. Richard did grant John his titles and this was in accordance of Norman Law. However, in the rest of the Angevin Empire which Henry II had established, the Law of Primogeniture was more in force and this left Arthur of Brittany as heir to the English throne. Arthur was the eldest son of Geoffery II, Duke of Brittany, who was the younger brother of Richard I, yet the older brother of John.

Phillippe II of France (1180-1223) placed his support behind Arthur for the English throne. Arthur, who was only 16 at the time (this was the reason he was by-passed for the throne, Richard considered Arthur too young) led forces into Maine and Anjou. However, nothing came of this and within a year Philippe II changed sides and signed a treaty recognizing John as the rightful ruler over the Angevin lands. Arthur was reconciled to John but in time grew suspicious of the English King. John never trusted his nephew and in time Arthur was captured by the Barons and imprisoned. By 1203 Arthur disappeared from history. No one knows what happened to Arthur but legend has it that he was murdered by King John himself and his body was tied to a rock and tossed into the Seine.

Was John a usurper? I guess it depends on the laws you adhere to. Richard did leave the Crown to him and in that manner his rule is legitimate in England. In the other French territories of the Angevin Empire, that were governed by the laws of male primogeniture, John could be considered a usurper. But one thing historians are unanimous over: John was a bad king.