| Relationship to me: | Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather | Gen -26 | |
| Born: | 5 Mar 1133 | Le Mans, Maine | |
| Died: | 6 Jul 1189 | Chinon Castle, Anjou | |
| Age: | 56 | ||
| Father: | Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou | 1113 - 1151 | |
| Mother: | Queen Matilda (and Empress of Germany) | 1102 - 1167 | |
| Brothers: | Geoffrey, Count of Nantes | 1134 - 1158 | |
| William, Count of Poitou | 1136 - 1164 | ||
| Sisters: | None | ||
| Married: | Eleanor of Aquitaine (m. 18 May 1152) | c. 1122 - 1204 | |
| Children: | King Richard I | 1157 - 1199 | |
| 3 other sons (William, Henry and Geoffrey) | |||
| 2 daughters (Eleanor and Joan) | |||
| King John | 1167 - 1216 | ||
See http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon26.html for further information on King Henry II.
Further Information:
(See http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon26.html)
According to information passed on to me by Ian Caldwell, in Dec 2001: "Henry II King of England=Eleanor of Aquitaine b.1153, r. 1154-1189 b.c.1122, m.1152, d.1204.
Henry, son of Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou, was described by Gerald of Wales as having "a reddish complexion, rather dark, and a large, round head. His eyes were grey, bloodshot, and flashed in anger. He had a fiery countenance, his voice was tremulous, and his neck a little bent forward; but his chest was broad, and his arms were muscular. His body was fleshy, and he had an enormous paunch, rather by the fault of nature than from gross feeding...He waged a continual war, so to speak, with his own belly by taking immoderate exercise....He was seldom seen to sit down, either before he took his supper or after; for, notwithstanding his own great fatigue, he would weary all his court by being constantly on his legs....He was the kindest of fathers to his legitimate children during their childhood and youth, but as they advanced in years looked on them with an evil eye, treating them worse than a stepfather.....His memory was so good, that, notwithstanding the multitudes who continually surrounded him, he never failed of recognising anyone he had ever seen before, nor did he forget anything important which he had ever heard. He was master of nearly the whole course of history, and well versed in almost all matters of experience."
Eleanor was 10 years older than Henry and the former wife of Louis VII of France. Her marriage to Henry infuriated Louis, especially as he now held more French territory that the King of France. When he became King of England in 1154, on the death of Stephen, his domain stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees, but he spent much of his time trying to quell rebellions, apart from going on the Second Crusade from 1147-1148, accompanied by Eleanor. He was accused of guilt in the murder of (St) Thomas Becket and did penance for it and in his later years faced rebellions from his own sons, Richard the Lionheart and John. Henry reformed the legal system and favoured trial by jury rather than trial by ordeal. He created the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer and professionalised the royal household by forming a permanent bureaucracy. He died at Chinon, of blood poisoning caused by an abscessed anal fistula, his sons, John and Richard, fighting against him in league with the French King, with only his bastard son, Geoffrey, at his side".
Last Updated: 23 July 2002