Henry II Plantagenet 
Henry II was born on March 25th, 1133 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Henry II's father was Geoffrey V Plantagenet and his mother was Matilda Empress of Germany Queen of England. His paternal grandparents were Fulk V D'Anjou and Aremburga of Maine; his maternal grandparents were Henry I Beauclerc and Matilda Dunkeld of Scotland. He had three brothers and a sister, named Hamelin, Geoffrey VI, Guillaume and Emma. He was the second oldest of the five children. He died at the age of 56 on July 6th, 1189 in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France. He was buried on July 8th, 1189 in Fontebralt Abbe, Maine-et-Lorie, France.General Notes
REFN: 1383AN
REFN: P1383
Henry II (1154-1189)
Born: 5th March 1133 at Le Mans, Maine
Died : 6th July 1189 at Chinon Castle, Anjou
Buried: Fontevrault Abbey, Anjou
Pare nts: Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and the Empress Matilda
Siblings: Geoffrey, Coun t of Nantes & William, Count of Poitou
Crowned: 19th December 1154 at Westmins ter Abbey, Middlesex
Married: 18th May 1152 at Bordeaux Cathedral, Gascony
Sp ouse: Eleanor daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitane & divorcee of
Louis VII , King of France
Offspring: William, Henry, Matilda, Richard, Geoffrey, Eleano r, Joan &
John
Contemporaries: Louis VII (King of France, 1137-1180), Thomas Beckett
(Archbishop of Canterbury), Pope Adrian IV, Frederick I (Frederick
Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, 1152-1190)
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as Count of Anjou, Duke of Nor
mandy, and as King of England (1154–1189) and, at various times, controll
ed parts of Wales, Scotland, eastern Ireland, and western France. His sobr
iquets incluDe "Curt Mantle" (because of the practical short cloaks he wor
e), "Fitz Empress," and sometimes "The Lion of Justice," which had also ap
plied to his grandfather Henry I. He ranks as the first of the Plantagen
et or Angevin Kings.
Following the disputed reign of King Stephen, Henry's reign saw efficie
nt consolidation. Henry II has acquired a reputation as one of England's g
reatest medieval kings.
Biography
He was born on 5 March , 1133, at Le Mans to the Empress Matilda and her s
econd husband, Geoffrey the Fair, Count of Anjou. Brought up in Anjo
u, he visited England in 1149 to help his mother in her disputed cla
im to the English throne.
Prior to coming to the throne he already controlled Normandy and Anj
ou on the continent; his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine on May 18, 11
52 added her holdings to his, including Touraine, Aquitaine, and Gascon
y. He thus effectively became more powerful than the king of France — wi
th an empire (the Angevin Empire) that stretched from the Solway Firth alm
ost to the Mediterranean and from the Somme to the Pyrenees. As king, he w
ould make Ireland a part of his vast domain. He also maintained lively com
munication with the Emperor of Byzantium Manuel I Comnenus.
In August 1152, Henry, previously occupied in fighting Eleanor's ex-husba
nd Louis VII of France and his allies, rushed back to her, and they spe
nt several months together. Around the end of November 1152 they parted: H
enry went to spend some weeks with his mother and then sailed for Englan
d, arriving on 6 January 1153. Some historians believe that the couple's f
irst child, William, Count of Poitiers, was born in 1153.
During Stephen's reign the barons had subverted the state of affairs to un
dermine the monarch's grip on the realm; Henry II saw it as his first ta
sk to reverse this shift in power. For example, Henry had castles which t
he barons had built without authorisation during Stephen's reign torn dow
n, and scutage, a fee paid by vassals in lieu of military service, beca
me by 1159 a central feature of the king's military system. Record keepi
ng improved dramatically in order to streamline this taxation.
Henry II established courts in various parts of England, and first institu
ted the royal practice of granting magistrates the power to render legal d
ecisions on a wiDe range of civil matters in the name of the Crown. His re
ign saw the production of the first written legal textbook, providing t
he basis of today's "Common Law".
By the Assize of Clarendon (1166), trial by jury became the norm. Since t
he Norman Conquest jury trials had been largely replaced by trial by orde
al and "wager of battel" (which English law did not abolish until 1819). P
rovision of justice and landed security was further toughened in 1176 wi
th the Assize of Northampton, a build on the earlier agreements at Clarend
on. This reform proved one of Henry's major contributions to the social hi
story of Eng
-
Ancestor Pedigree Chart
-
*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.~ 1015 in Gatinais, France
- b.~ 1039 in Anjou, France d.1109
- b.21 Jun 967 in Anjou, Pays-de-la-Loire, France d.21 Jun 1040 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France
- b.1018 in Anjou, France d.18 Mar 1076 in Fleury-sur-Ouche, France
- b.~ 0984 in Anjou, Pays-de-la-Loire, France d.01 Apr 1046 in Jerusalem, Palestine
- b.1090 in Anjou, France d.1143
- b.~ 0993 in Montfort, France d.04 Feb 1030
- b.~ 1025 in Hainaut, Montfort, France d.1087 in Eperon, France
- b.~ 0996 in Ile De France, France d.1051
- b.~ 1058 in France
- b.0986 in France d.1067
- b.~ 1038 in Evreux, France
- b.~ 1004 in Barcelona, Spain d.1051
- b.24 Aug 1113 in Anjou, France d.07 Sep 1151 in Chateau-du-Luoir, Eure-et-Loire, France
- b.~ 1010 d.11 Jun 1110
- b.~ 1080 in Maine, France d.1126
- b.~ 0920 in Aquitaine, France d.3 Apr 963
- b.~ 0942 in Aquitaine, France d.3 Feb 995
- b.~ 0917 in Normandy, France d.Aft 14 Oct 962 in France
- b.~ 0996 d.1097
- b.0913 in Blois, France d.16 Jan 975
- b.~ 0950 in Blois, France d.>27 Dec 1003
- b.0915 in Vermandois, Neustria d.Aft 9 Feb 978
- b.25 Mar 1133 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France d.06 Jul 1189 in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France
- b.0959 in Normandy, France d.26 Aug 1026
- b.~ 1008 in Normandy, France d.22 Jun 1035 in Nice, Bithynia
- b.0982 in Penthieve, Brittany, France d.16 Jun 1017 in Rouen, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy, France
- b.14 Oct 1024 in Falaise, Normandy, France d.08 Sep 1087 in Hermentrube, France
- b.~ 0975 in Falaise, Calvados, Normandy, France
- b.1010 in Falasia, Normandy, France d.~ 1050
- b.~ 0980 in Falaise, Calvados, Normandy, France
- b.Sep 1068 in Selby, Yorkshire, England d.01 Dec 1136 in St Denis-Ie-Fermont, Normandy, France
- b.~ 0967 in Flanders, Holland d.30 May 1035 in Flanders, Holland
- b.< 1011 in Flanders, Holland d.01 Sep 1067
- b.0975 in Luxembourg d.21 Feb 1030 in Flanders, Belgium
- b.1031 in Flanders, Belgium d.02 Nov 1083 in Caen, Calvados, Normandy, France
- b.27 Mar 972 in Oribeans, France d.20 Jul 1031 in Melun, France
- b.1003 in France d.08 Jan 1079 in Monastaerie De L'Ordre De St Benoist, Messines, France
- b.~ 0986 in Toulouse, France d.25 Jul 1032 in Melun, Seine-et-Marne, France
- b.05 Aug 1102 in Winchester, Hampshire, England d.10 Sep 1169 in Notre Dame, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Normandy
- b.~ 0975 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland d.1045 in Dunkeld, Tayside, Scotland
- b.~ 1001 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland d.14 Aug 1040 in Bothganowan, Elgin, Scotland
- b.0984 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland d.1045 in Scotland
- b.~ 1031 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland d.13 Nov 1093 in Alnwick Castle, Berwickshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1000 in Denmark d.1055 in York, Yorkshire, England
- b.1016 in Northumbria d.1040
- b.~ 1020 in Bernicia, Northumberland, England
- b.Oct 1079 in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland d.01 May 1118 in Westminster Palace, London, England
- b.0989 in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England d.30 Nov 1016
- b.~ 1016 in Wessex d.1057 in Hungary
- b.~ 0995 in England
- b.1045 in Hungary d.16 Nov 1093 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
- b.~ 1003 in West Friesland, Barvaria, Germany d.23 Apr 1038
- b.~ 1018 in West Friesland, Barvaria, Germany d.> 1066
- b.< 1005 in Gent, Belgium
-
Henry II and Eleanore were married in a religious ceremony on May 18th, 1152 in Bordeaux Catheral, Gascony. They had five sons and three daughters, named William, Henry, Richard I, Geoffrey, John I, Matilda, Eleanor and Joanna.
Family Notes
REFNMR1941
REFNM5747
-
Children
Richard I Plantagenet
Richard I was born on September 8th, 1157 in England. He died at the age of 41 on April 6th, 1199 in Chalus, France.
Eleanor Plantagenet
Eleanor was born on October 13th, 1162 in Falaise, Calvados, France. She died at the age of 52 on October 31st, 1214 in Las Huelgas, Burgos, Spain. She was buried in Monasterio De Las Huelgas, Burgos, Spain.
John I Plantagenet
John I was born on December 24th, 1167 in Beaumont Palace, Oxforshire, England. He died at the age of 48 on October 19th, 1216 in Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, England.
Henry II and Annebel were married in a religious ceremony on May 18th, 1153.
Family Notes
REFNMR2985
REFNM15822
Henry II and Rosamund were married in a religious ceremony in 1173. They had a son named William.
Family Notes
_MSTATOther
REFNMR2649
REFNM12550
-
Children
William Longespee
William was born in 1176 in Woodstock Manor, England. He died at the age of 50 on March 7th, 1226 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. He was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, England.
Family Notes
REFNMR4587
Page last modified