Henry the Young

Henry, known as the Young King, the second son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, was born on 28th February, 1155. Their first child, William, had been born two years earlier. Henry was overjoyed to have a male heir. After failing to produce a son in 15 years of marriage with King Louis VII, Eleanor's achievement was seen as an act of God. Henry of Huntingdon wrote: "God granted a happy issue and peace shone forth. What boundless joy! What a happy day!" Henry went to London "where he was received with joy by enormous crowds and splendid processions". (1)

William, died of a seizure in 1156 and Henry the Young became the heir to the throne. Other children soon followed, Matilda (6th January, 1156), Richard (8th September 1157), Geoffrey (23rd September 1158), Eleanor (13th October 1162), Joan (October 1165) and John (24th December 1166). Henry also had extra-marital affairs and had several illegitimate children, including Geoffrey, the Archbishop of York. (2)

Henry the Young and Margaret of France

In 1158, when four-year-old, Henry was betrothed to the two-year-old Margaret, the six-month-old daughter of Louis VII of France, Eleanor's former husband, and Constance of Castile, his second wife. The marriage was ratified in October 1160 and rushed through the following month by Henry II, who wished to acquire control over the Norman Vexin, her dowry. Under the terms of the agreement, Margaret was to be brought up by Eleanor. (3)

In his youth he was looked after by Hugh de Gundeville. (4) In 1162 the young Henry was sent to be educated in the household of Thomas Becket, the chancellor of England. Elizabeth Hallam claims that "Becket became fond of the boy and spoke of him as his adoptive son, but by the end of 1163 Henry had been removed from his care." (5)

Henry continued his negotiations with Louis VII about his son's relationship with Margaret. In 1169 it was decided at a meeting at Montmirail that Henry the Young would inherit Normandy, Anjou and England after his marriage to the 12-year-old Margaret. It was also agreed that Henry's son, Richard, would marry Alais, another daughter of Louis VII. (6)

Coronation

In June 1170, the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king although his father was still alive. However, he did not have any power and it was just an attempt by the king to show his commitment to merging of the two kingdoms. Thomas Becket was in exile and so he was crowned by Roger de Pont L'Évêque, the Archbishop of York. This ceremony took place without permission of the pope, Alexander III. (7)

Dan Jones, the author of The Plantagenets (2013) has pointed out: "Henry has been portrayed by the chroniclers as a feckless and fatuous youth. In person, he was tall, blond and good-looking, with highly cultivated manners. He was a skilled horseman, with a real fondness for the tournament and a huge household of followers who egged on his chivalrous ambitions." (8) The government official, Walter Map, described Henry as "lovable, eloquent, handsome, gallant, every way attractive, a little lower than the angels". (9)

On 27th August 1172, Henry, aged seventeen, married Margaret at Winchester Cathedral. He was also crowned for a second time, this time by the Archbishop of Evreux. It would hoped that if Margaret gave birth to a son, who would have a claim to both family empires. However, they remained childless. (10)

Henry the Young developed an expensive life-style without the means to pay for it and was heavily in debt. His father had promised him that he would one succeed him as king of England, and inherit land in Normandy and Anjou. He also endowed him with titles, but "as he approached manhood his access to landed revenue and power - the essence of kingship - was strictly limited". (11)

Rebellion against Henry II

Eleanor of Aquitaine suggested that Henry should be given England, Anjou or Normandy to rule. Henry II refused and Eleanor began to develop plans to overthrow of her husband. On 5th March 1173, Henry left Chinon Castle and rode for Paris and went to stay with King Louis VII. Soon afterwards, Louis announced that he acknowledged that Henry was the new king of England. Henry II was furious and declared war on France. He was greatly dismayed when he heard that Eleanor and two more of his sons, Richard and Geoffrey, had joined the rebellion. (12)

William of Newburgh reported that "the younger Henry, devising evil against his father from every side by the advice of the French King, went secretly into Aquitaine where his two youthful brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, were living with their mother, and with her connivance, so it is said, he incited them to join him". (13) Andrea Hopkins has argued that Eleanor identified more with the interests of her sons rather than those of her husband. (14)

Eleanor has been accused of being the ring-leader of the revolt against Henry: "It is clear that her sympathies lay wholeheartedly with her sons and that, like a lioness fighting to protect her cubs, she was prepared to resort to drastic measures to ensure that they received their just deserts... Henry and his brothers wanted autonomous power in the hands assigned to them, even if it meant the overthrow of their father; Eleanor wanted justice for her sons and, consequently, more power and influence for herself. This, she must have known, could only be achieved through the removal of her husband from the political scene." (15)

In a letter sent to Eleanor by Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, under the instructions of Henry II, he made it clear that he considered that his wife was behind the revolt as she had "made the fruits of your union with our Lord King rise up against their father". He added: "before events carry us to a dreadful conclusion, return with your sons to the husband whom you must obey and with whom it is your duty to live... Bid your sons, we beg you, to be obedient and devoted to their father." (16)

Eleanor's powerful lords from Aquitaine joined the rebellion. Henry the Young also did a deal with William the Lion, the King of Scotland, who promised him Northumbria if he helped defeat his father. However, before the fighting began, Eleanor was captured by the agents of Henry. According to Gervase of Canterbury, Eleanor, left Poiters for Chartres, on a horse, dressed as a man. She was recognized and arrested and taken to Henry who was based in Rouen. (17)

In July 1173 Henry defeated his sons at Verneuil Castle. They fled further into France and the king decided not to go in pursuit. (18) Henry's soldiers also had success against the Scots in Northumbria. His loyal commander, Richard de Lucy, defeated hired bands of Flemish mercenaries at Fornham, near Bury St Edmunds. (19)

By the end of September 1174 it was all over. After their surrender, Henry, Richard and Geoffrey all had their allowances increased. Henry was formally assigned two castles in Normandy, to be chosen by his father, and 15,000 Angevin pounds for his upkeep. (20) However, all three sons had to promise never to "demand anything further from the Lord King, their father, beyond the agreed settlement... and withdrew neither themselves nor their service from him." (21)

However, he was unwilling to forgive Eleanor and she spent the next fourteen years in captivity. The records suggest that she was permitted two chamberlains and a maid named Amaria. Lisa Hilton, the author of Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens (2008) claims that although "Eleanor's living conditions were reasonable, they were not commensurate with her status, as her clothes were no finer than a servant girl's and apparently she and Amaria had to share the same bed." (22)

On 19th June, 1177, Henry the Young's wife, Margaret, finally gave birth to her first child, William. The joy at the birth of a direct heir to the Angevin empire was short-lived, for the infant died three days later. Matthew Strickland, the author of Henry the Young King (2016) has pointed out: "Whereas his father's extra-marital affairs were as numerous as they were notorious, young Henry is not known to have had any mistresses, or to fathered any illegitimate children... this was unusual among men of his rank and power." (23)

This lack of a child created a serious problem for the succession as Henry's younger brother, Richard the Lionheart, was refusing to get married: "Although he had always been close to her (Eleanor) and even though he had been reared in a feminine court, where were respected, he did not like the female sex. Not only was he averse to marrying Alais because she had been his father's mistress, he objected to marrying any woman... For good or ill, she had molded the Coeur de Lion, whose name would be synonymous with valor eight centuries later. The only flaw in her planning was that her son was a homosexual." (24)

Death of Henry the Young

In 1182 Henry the Young renewed his demands for more power, and once again fled to the French court in defiance of his father. Henry II responded by increasing his allowance by an extra 110 Angevin pounds a day for himself and his wife. However, this did not stop him supporting the rebellious barons of Aquitaine against his brother, Richard the Lionheart, who was trying to bring this area under control. The king sent his soldiers to help Richard against his rebellious son. "Returning from a raid on Angoulême, however, he was refused entry to Limoges by its exasperated citizens, and set off on a haphazard expedition around southern Aquitaine, despoiling the monastery of Grandmont and the shrines of Rocamadour." (25) Peter of Blois accused Henry the Young of being "a leader of freebooters who consorted with outlaws and excommunicates". (26)

Henry the Young fell seriously ill with dysentery. A message was sent to Henry II informing him that his son was dying. The king's advisors suspected a trap and warmed against him visiting his son. He therefore sent his physician, some money and as a token of his forgiveness, a sapphire ring that had belonged to Henry I. He also said that he hoped that after his son recovered, they would be reconciled. When he received the ring he replied asking his father to show mercy to his mother, Queen Eleanor. (27)

Henry the Young realised he was dying and "overcome with remorse for his sins, asked to be garbed in a hair shirt and a crusader's cloak and laid on a bed of ashes on the floor, with a noose round his neck and bare stones at his head and feet, as befitted a penitent." (28)

Henry the Young died on 11th June, 1183.

Primary Sources

(1) Dan Jones, The Plantagenets (2013)

In early 1173, the younger Henry was approaching his eighteenth birthday. He was on the cusp of manhood, and married to Louis VII's daughter Princess Margaret. Henry has been portrayed by the chroniclers as a feckless and fatuous youth. In person, he was tall, blond and good-looking, with highly cultivated manners. He was a skilled horseman, with a real fondness for the tournament and a huge household of followers who egged on his chivalrous ambitions. He was a twice-crowned king, for his controversial coronation by Roger archbishop of York had been followed in August 1172 by a second ceremony in Winchester, where his wife was crowned alongside him. On both occasions, Henry had been anointed with chrism - an especially holy oil - and treated with extraordinary reverence in the company of vast numbers of knights. At one coronation banquet he had been personally served by his father. The young king revelled in his own magnificence, and was widely seen as arrogant, greedy and glib.

Despite his exalted position as his father's heir, the Young King was also, paradoxically, denied the real fruits of kingship. Henry planned for him the succession to England, Normandy and Anjou. But as he approached manhood the Young King's access to landed revenue and power - the essence of kingship - was strictly limited. Although endowed with titles, he was never properly invested with the lands and revenues of his kingdom, duchy or county. He was heavily in debt, as a result of maintaining a lavish courtly lifestyle without the means to pay for it. And his pride was wounded. Henry II had been sixteen when the full duchy of Normandy was settled on him. Henry the Young King was nearly two years older and had virtually nothing. The frustrations that he felt during his long wait to inherit were fed enthusiastically by his father-in-law Louis VII.

(2) Elizabeth Hallam, Henry the Young : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

Besieged in Limoges by Richard and Henry II, during April 1183 he played a number of ruses against his father while he fortified the city and sent out for mercenary troops, paying for all this by plundering the townsfolk and the shrine of St Martial. Returning from a raid on Angoulême, however, he was refused entry to Limoges by its exasperated citizens, and set off on a haphazard expedition around southern Aquitaine, despoiling the monastery of Grandmont and the shrines of Rocamadour. He fell seriously ill at Martel in Quercy and sent a letter to his father begging for his forgiveness, but Henry II, suspecting another trick, kept his distance, merely sending a ring as a token. On 11 June 1183 the Young King died of dysentery, allegedly after repenting on his deathbed. He had asked for his body to be buried at Rouen and his entrails at Limoges, but while his cortège was on its way to Normandy the people of Le Mans seized his body and buried it in their cathedral. The citizens of Rouen threatened force against Le Mans, and Henry II insisted that his son's wishes be observed by his reburial at Rouen.

This bizarre incident demonstrates the popularity of the Young King during his lifetime. Tall, blond, charming, and attractive, he was a persuasive talker and extravagantly generous. Henry II's critics, such as Gerald of Wales, praised him as a contrast to his father, but more detached contemporaries highlighted his failings: his arrogance, greed, frivolity, incompetence, and inconsistency. William of Newburgh saw his popularity as evidence of people's gullibility, while Ralph of Diceto commented that the world was a much better place without him.