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Henry II King of England

Henry II King of England

Male 1133 - 1189  (56 years)

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  • Name Henry II King of England 
    Born 25 Mar 1133  Le Mans, Sarthe, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 6 Jul 1189  Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Age 56 years 
    Notes 
    • Henry II (1133-1189) was the first king of England to come from the Plantagenet family. He resigned from 1154 until his death. Henry carried on policies started by his grandfather Henry I that increased the power of the English throne. Known as the founder of the English system of common law, Henry II revived the use of the traveling circuit judges to apply the law equally throughout the land. He also introduced the use of juries into many legal procedures.

      Henry was born in Le Mans, France. He was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and his wife, Matilda, daughter of Henry I. His marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine made him Duke of Aquitaine. He became king of England in 1154 when King Stephen died. At the height of his power, Henry ruled England and almost all of what is now western France. He also claimed authority over Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In Henry's later years, his sons rebelled against him. Two of them, Richard the Lion-Hearted and John, became the next two kings of England.

      Several of Henry' policies, including his efforts to curb the independence of the church, brought him into contact with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. In 1170, four of Henry's knights, who believed they were acting onthe king's orders, murdered Becket in his cathedral.

      Contributor: Emily Zack Tabuteau, Ph.D., Associate Prof. of History, Michigan State Univ.

      His reforms introduced trial by jury.



      Henry II (of England) (1133-89), king of England (1154-89), first monarch of the house of Anjou, or Plantagenet, an important administrative reformer, who was one of the most powerful European rulers of his time.

      Born March 5, 1133, at Le Mans, France, Henry became duke of Normandy in 1151. The following year, on the death of his father, he inherited the Angevin territories in France. By his marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry added vast territories in southwestern France to his possessions. Henry claimed the English kingship through his mother, Matilda (1102-67). She had been designated the heiress of Henry I but had been deprived of the succession by her cousin, Stephen of Blois, who made himself king. In 1153 Henry defeated Stephen's armies in England and compelled the king to choose him as his successor; on Stephen's death, the following year, Henry became king. During the first few years of his reign Henry quelled the disorders that had developed during Stephen's reign, regained the northern counties of England, which had previously been ceded to Scotland, and conquered North Wales. In 1171-72 he began the Norman conquest of Ireland and in 1174 forced William the Lion, king of the Scots, to recognize him as overlord.

      In 1164 Henry became involved in a quarrel with Thomas ? Becket, whom he had appointed archbishop of Canterbury. By the Constitutions of Clarendon, the king decreed that priests accused of crimes should be tried in royal courts; Becket claimed that such cases should be handled by ecclesiastical courts, and the controversy that followed ended in 1170 with Becket's murder by four of Henry's knights. Widespread indignation over the murder forced the king to rescind his decree and recognize Becket as a martyr.

      Although he failed to subject the church to his courts, Henry's judicial reforms were of lasting significance. In England he established a centralized system of justice accessible to all freemen and administered by judges who traveled around the country at regular intervals. He also began the process of replacing the old trial by ordeal with modern court procedures.

      From the beginning of his reign, Henry was involved in conflict with Louis VII, king of France, and later with Louis's successor, Philip II, over the French provinces that Henry claimed. A succession of rebellions against Henry, headed by his sons and furthered by Philip II and by Eleanor of Aquitaine, began in 1173 and continued until his death at Chinon, France, on July 6, 1189. Henry was succeeded by his son Richard I, called Richard the Lion-Hearted.

      "Henry II (of England)," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1993 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation
    Person ID I1274  Wilson-Maynard Family Tree
    Last Modified 8 Apr 2012 

    Father Geoffrey V Count of Anjou,   b. 24 August 1113 ,   d. 7 Sep 1151  (Age 38 years) 
    Mother Matilda of England,   b. Abt 7 Feb 1102,   d. 10 Sep 1167  (Age ~ 65 years) 
    Family ID F1792  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ID F526  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ID F527  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ID F528  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ID F529  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ID F531  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 6 Eleanor De Aquitaine,   b. ABT. 1122, Chateau de Belin, Gionde, Aquitaine, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. BET. 26 Jun 1202 - 1 Apr 1204, Mirabell Castle, Tarne-Et-Garonne, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 82 years) 
    Married 18 May 1152  Bordeaux, Gironde, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Eleanor Plantagenet,   b. 13 Oct 1162, Falaise, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 13 Oct 1214, Burgos, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 52 years)  [Natural]
     2. Joanna Plantagenet Princess of England,   b. Oct 1165, Angers Castle, Anjou, Maine-Et-Loire, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Sep 1199, Fountevrault Abbey, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 33 years)  [Natural]
     3. John Lackland,   b. 24 Dec 1166, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 19 Oct 1216, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 49 years)  [Natural]
    Family ID F518  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Married 18 May 1153 
    Family ID F530  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 25 Mar 1133 - Le Mans, Sarthe, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 18 May 1152 - Bordeaux, Gironde, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 6 Jul 1189 - Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth