+- King Henry IX

Henry Benedict Maria Clement Thomas Francis Xavier Stuart was born March 6, 1725, in the Palazzo Muti (now Palazzo Balestra) in Rome. He was the younger son of King James III and VIII and of his wife, Maria Clementina Sobieska. From his birth he bore the title of "Prince of England, Scotland, France and Ireland". Shortly after his birth (and certainly before March 28, 1733) he was raised to the Peerage of England with the title of "Duke of York".

On the day of his birth Henry was baptised in the Palazzo Balestra by Pope Benedict XIII. His childhood and youth were spent between his father's residences in Rome, Albano, and Bologna. In October 1745 he arrived in Paris seeking French support for his brother Charles' campaign to restore their father to his thrones. Henry was successful in obtaining French troops, artillery and ships. However, there were ongoing delays and neither Henry nor the French force ever managed to reach Scotland to support the uprising; this was an ongoing source of friction between Henry and his brother for many years.

In May and June 1746 Henry saw his only active military service at the siege of Antwerp. In October he returned to Clichy (now a suburb of Paris) where shortly afterwards he was joined by his brother. Henry remained at Clichy until the following April, when he returned to Rome.

In June 1747 Pope Benedict XIV announced his intention to enroll Henry in the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. On June 30 the Henry received the tonsure - the formal shaving of the scalp which precedes ordination and marks entrance into the clerical state. On July 3 he was formally created Cardinal-Deacon, receiving on July 9 the diaconal title of Santa Maria in Portico (sometimes called in Campitelli). Henceforward he used the title "Cardinal Duke of York".

Henry received from the pope himself ordination to the four minor orders, the sub-diaconate, and the diaconate, on August 27, 1747, August 18, 1748, and August 25, 1748 respectively. He was ordained priest by the pope, September 1, 1748. Subsequently he received many ecclesiastical offices. In 1751 he was made Arch-Priest of the Vatican Basilica. On December 18, 1752, he was raised to the rank of Cardinal-Priest with the title of Santi XII Apostoli. On March 13, 1758, Pope Benedict XIV named him, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church; as such Henry was responsible for the administration of the Church from the death of Pope Benedict XIV until the election of Pope Clement XIII.

On October 2, 1758, Pope Clement XIII named Henry, Archbishop of Corinth in partibus infidelium, and on November 19, the pope ordained him bishop in the Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli. On February 12, 1759, Henry changed his cardinalatial title to that of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Henry was named Cardinal-Bishop with the title of Frascati, July 13, 1761. On January 24, 1763, he was named Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, an office he held until his death.

For most of the next forty years Henry lived in the town of Frascati some fifteen kilometres south of Rome. He was a very active bishop and even today is still remembered in the town for his numerous acts of charity. Henry also maintained a residence in Rome at the Palazzo della Cancelleria.

In 1765 when it became clear that his father King James III and VIII was about to die, Henry sent Pope Clement XIII a memorial in an unsuccessful attempt to receive papal recognition for the rights of his brother Charles III. While at first he issued a protest against the honours Charles bestowed on his illegitimate daughter Charlotte, Duchess of Albany, Henry later came to have a very warm relationship with his niece.

In January of 1784, when it appeared that his brother Charles might be on the point of dying, Henry published a protest in which he affirmed his rights of succession. At the death of his brother Charles, January 30/31, 1788, Henry succeeded to all of his British rights. He was henceforward recognised by the Jacobites as "King Henry IX". In accordance with the 1784 protest, Henry made certain changes in accordance with his new station. He now used the title "Cardinal called Duke of York" (in Latin nuncupatus and in Italian denominato) in order to indicate that this was no longer his real title. He changed his arms from those of a second son (with a crescent in the middle) to the undifferenced Royal Arms; these were now surmounted with a royal crown instead of a ducal coronet. The members of his household staff addressed him as Majesty.

Henry's financial situation changed drastically in the late 1790's. For most of his life he had been very wealthy, having inherited large amounts of money and jewels from his Polish grandfather and having received a number of lucrative ecclesiastical benefices which provided him with ongoing income. But his financial resources were almost totally depleted in his support of the ransom paid to the Bonapartist French armies to stop them from sacking Rome in 1798. The general upheaval in Europe also meant that he no longer received income from his benefices in France and Spain.

For many years attempts had been made to retrieve the English dowry of his grandmother Mary of Modena, wife of King James II and VII. The de facto British government had repeatedly promised to pay this debt to the Stuarts but had never actually done so. In 1799, however, the Elector George II of Hanover agreed to pay Henry an annual pension of £4,000. While the supporters of the Elector of Hanover have represented this as an act of charity, for Henry it was no more than a first installment on the money which was legally owed to him. In accepting this money he in no way at all considered that he was renouncing his own hereditary rights or recognising the legitimacy of the Elector of Hanover's government in Britain.

On September 26, 1803, Henry was named Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri; he continued however to reside in the episcopal palace at Frascati. It was there that he died, July 13, 1807, when he was succeeded in all his British rights by his second cousin twice removed Charles Emanuel of Savoy; this was confirmed by Henry's will in which he stated that his rights passed to that "prince on whom they devolve by right, by proximity of blood, and by rights of succession". Henry's remains lie in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, where a monument designed by Antonio Canova was raised to his memory.

It is sometimes stated that in his will Henry left the crown jewels to the Elector of Hanover; this is incorrect. According to his will, Henry entrusted all his property to Monsignor Angelo Cesarini who was responsible for distributing this property (presumably according to Henry's wishes). Monsignor Cesarini sent to the Hereditary Prince of Hanover (later the Elector George IV) several jewels from Henry's private collection. These included a Lesser George (thought to have been worn by King Charles I at his execution, and now at Windsor Castle), a St. Andrew's Cross (now at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh), and a ruby ring.

+- Henry VIII (1491 - 1547 AD)

Henry VIII - born in 1491, was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. The significance of Henry's reign is, at times, overshadowed by his six marriages: dispensing with these forthwith enables a deeper search into the major themes of the reign. He married Catherine of Aragon (widow of his brother, Arthur) in 1509, divorcing her in 1533; the union produced one daughter, Mary. Henry married the pregnant Anne Boleyn in 1533; she gave him another daughter, Elizabeth, but was executed for infidelity (a treasonous charge in the king's consort) in May 1536. He married Jane Seymour by the end of the same month, who died giving birth to Henry's lone male heir, Edward, in October 1536. Early in 1540, Henry arranged a marriage with Anne of Cleves, after viewing Hans Holbein's beautiful portrait of the German princess. In person, alas, Henry found her homely and the marriage was never consummated. In July 1540, he married the adulterous Catherine Howard - she was executed for infidelity in March 1542. Catherine Parr became his wife in 1543, providing for the needs of both Henry and his children until his death in 1547.

The court life initiated by his father evolved into a cornerstone of Tudor government in the reign of Henry VIII. After his father's staunch, stolid rule, the energetic, youthful and handsome king avoided governing in person, much preferring to journey the countryside hunting and reviewing his subjects. Matters of state were left in the hands of others, most notably Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York. Cardinal Wolsey virtually ruled England until his failure to secure the papal annulment that Henry needed to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533. Wolsey was quite capable as Lord Chancellor, but his own interests were served more than that of the king: as powerful as he was, he still was subject to Henry's favor - losing Henry's confidence proved to be his downfall. The early part of Henry's reign, however, saw the young king invade France, defeat Scottish forces at the Battle of Foldden Field (in which James IV of Scotland was slain), and write a treatise denouncing Martin Luther's Reformist ideals, for which the pope awarded Henry the title "Defender of the Faith".

The 1530's witnessed Henry's growing involvement in government, and a series of events which greatly altered England, as well as the whole of Western Christendom: the separation of the Church of England from Roman Catholicism. The separation was actually a by-product of Henry's obsession with producing a male heir; Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male and the need to maintain dynastic legitimacy forced Henry to seek an annulment from the pope in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey tried repeatedly to secure a legal annulment from Pope Clement VII, but Clement was beholden to the Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and nephew of Catherine. Henry summoned the Reformation Parliament in 1529, which passed 137 statutes in seven years and exercised an influence in political and ecclesiastic affairs which was unknown to feudal parliaments. Religious reform movements had already taken hold in England, but on a small scale: the Lollards had been in existence since the mid-fourteenth century and the ideas of Luther and Zwingli circulated within intellectual groups, but continental Protestantism had yet to find favor with the English people. The break from Rome was accomplished through law, not social outcry; Henry, as Supreme Head of the Church of England, acknowledged this by slight alterations in worship ritual instead of a wholesale reworking of religious dogma. England moved into an era of "conformity of mind" with the new royal supremacy (much akin to the absolutism of France's Louis XIV): by 1536, all ecclesiastical and government officials were required to publicly approve of the break with Rome and take an oath of loyalty. The king moved away from the medieval idea of ruler as chief lawmaker and overseer of civil behavior, to the modern idea of ruler as the ideological icon of the state.

The remainder of Henry's reign was anticlimactic. Anne Boleyn lasted only three years before her execution; she was replaced by Jane Seymour, who laid Henry's dynastic problems to rest with the birth of Edward VI. Fragmented noble factions involved in the Wars of the Roses found themselves reduced to vying for the king's favor in court. Reformist factions won the king's confidence and vastly benefiting from Henry's dissolution of the monasteries, as monastic lands and revenues went either to the crown or the nobility. The royal staff continued the rise in status that began under Henry VII, eventually to rival the power of the nobility. Two men, in particular, were prominent figures through the latter stages of Henry's reign: Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer. Cromwell, an efficient administrator, succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, creating new governmental departments for the varying types of revenue and establishing parish priest's duty of recording births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, dealt with and guided changes in ecclesiastical policy and oversaw the dissolution of the monasteries.

Henry VIII built upon the innovations instituted by his father. The break with Rome, coupled with an increase in governmental bureaucracy, led to the royal supremacy that would last until the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth one hundred years after Henry's death. Henry was beloved by his subjects, facing only one major insurrection, the Pilgrimage of Grace, enacted by the northernmost counties in retaliation to the break with Rome and the poor economic state of the region. History remembers Henry in much the same way as Piero Pasqualigo, a Venetian ambassador: "... he is in every respect a most accomplished prince."

+- Henry VII (1457-1509 AD)

KING HENRY VII - of England, was the first of the Tudor dynasty. His claim to the throne was through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, from John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford, whose issue born before their marriage had been legitimated by parliament. This, of course, was only Lancastrian claim, never valid, even as such, till the direct male line of John of Gaunt had become extinct. By his father, Edmund of Hadham, the genealogists traced his pedigree to Cadwallader, but this only endeared him to the Welsh when he had actually become king. His grandfather, Owen Tudor, however, had married Catherine, the widow of Henry V and daughter to Charles VI of France. Their son Edmund, being half brother of Henry VI, was created by that King Earl of Richmond, and having married Margaret Beaufort, only daughter of John, Duke of Somerset, died more than two months before their only child, Henry, was born in Pembroke Castle in January 1457.

The fatherless child had sore trials. Edward IV won the crown when Henry was four years old, and while Wales partly held out against the conqueror, he was carried for safety from one castle to another. Then for a time he was made a prisoner; but ultimately he was taken abroad by his uncle Jasper Tudor, who found refuge in Brittany. At one time the duke of Brittany was nearly induced to surrender him to Edward IV; but he remained safe in the duchy till the cruelties of Richard III drove more and more Englishmen abroad to join him. An invasion of England was planned in 1483 in concert with the Duke of Buckingham's rising; but stormy weather at sea and an inundation in the Severn defeated the two movements.

A second expedition, two years later, aided this time by France, was more successful. Henry landed at Milford Haven among his Welsh allies and defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth (August 22, 1485). He was crowned at Westminster on the 30th of October following. Then, in fulfilment of pledges by which he had procured the adhesion of many Yorkist supporters, he was married at Westminster to Elizabeth (1465-1503), eldest daughter and heiress of Edward IV (Jan. 18, 1486), whose two brothers had both been murdered by Richard III. Thus the Red and White Roses were united and the pretexts for civil war done away with.

Nevertheless, Henry's reign was much disturbed by a succession of Yorkist conspiracies and pretenders. Of the two most notable impostors, the first, Lambert Simnel, personated the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Clarence, a youth of seventeen whom Henry had at his accession taken care to imprison in the Tower. Simnel, who was but a boy, was taken over to Ireland to perform his part, and the farce was wonderfully successful. He was crowned as Edward VI in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, and received the allegiance of every one — bishops, nobles and judges, alike with others. From Ireland, accompanied by some bands of German mercenaries procured for him in the Low Countries, he invaded England; but the rising was put down at Stoke near Newark in Nottinghamshire, and, Simnel being captured, the king made him a menial of his kitchen.

This movement had been greatly assisted by Margaret, duchess dowager, of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV, who could not endure to see the House of York supplanted by that of Tudor. The second pretender, Perkin Warbeck, was also much indebted to her support; but he seems to have entered on his career at first without it. And his story, which was more prolonged, had to do with the attitude of many countries towards England. Anxious as Henry was to avoid being involved in foreign wars, it was not many years before he was committed to a war with France, partly by his desire of an alliance with Spain, and partly by the indignation of his own subjects at the way in which the French were undermining the independence of Brittany. Henry gave Brittany defensive aid; but after the duchess Anne had married Charles VIII of France, he felt bound to fulfil his obligations to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and also to the German king Maximilian, by an invasion of France in 1492. His allies, however, were not equally scrupulous or equally able to fulfil their obligations to him; and after besieging Boulogne for some little time, he received very advantageous offers from the French king and made peace with him.

Now Perkin Warbeck had first appeared in Ireland in 1491, and had somehow been persuaded there to personate Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower, pretending that he had escaped, though his brother had been killed. Charles VIII, then expecting war with England, called him to France, recognized his pretensions and gave him a retinue; but after the peace he dismissed him. Then Margaret of Burgundy received him as her nephew, and Maximilian, now estranged from Henry, recognized him as king of England. With a fleet given him by Maximilian he attempted to land at Deal, but sailed away to Ireland and, not succeeding very well there either, sailed farther to Scotland, where James IV received him with open arms, married him to an earl's daughter and made a brief and futile invasion of England along with him. But in 1497 he thought best to dismiss him, and Perkin, after attempting something again in Ireland, landed in Cornwall with a small body of men.

Already Cornwall had risen in insurrection that year, not liking the taxation imposed for the purpose of repelling the Scotch invasion. A host of the country people, led first by a blacksmith, but afterwards by a nobleman, marched up towards London and were only defeated at Blackheath. But the Cornishmen were quite ready for another revolt, and indeed had invited Perkin to their shores. He had little fight in him, however, and after a futile siege of Exeter and an advance to Taunton he stole away and took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire. But, being assured of his life, he surrendered, was brought to London, and was only executed two years later, when, being imprisoned near the Earl of Warwick in the Tower, he inveigled that simple-minded youth into a project of escape. For this Warwick, too, was tried, condemned and executed — no doubt to deliver Henry from repeated conspiracies in his favour.

Henry had by this time several children, of whom the eldest, Arthur, had been proposed in infancy for a bridegroom to Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon. The match had always been kept in view, but its completion depended greatly on the assurance Ferdinand and Isabella could feel of Henry's secure position upon the throne. At last Catherine was brought to England and was married to Prince Arthur at St Paul's on the 14th of November 1501. The lad was just over fifteen and the co-habitation of the couple was wisely delayed; but he died on the 2nd of April following. Another match was presently proposed for Catherine with the king's second son, Henry, which only took effect when the latter had become king himself [cf. Henry VIII]. Meanwhile Henry's eldest daughter Margaret was married to James IV of Scotland — a match distinctly intended to promote international peace, and make possible that ultimate union which actually resulted from it. The espousals had taken place at Richmond in 1502, and the marriage was celebrated in Scotland the year after.

In the interval between these two events Henry lost his queen, who died on the 11th of February 1503, and during the remainder of his reign he made proposals in various quarters for a second marriage — proposals in which political objects were always the chief consideration; but none of them led to any result. In his latter years he became unpopular from the extortions practised by his two instruments, Empson and Dudley, under the authority of antiquated statutes. From the beginning of his reign he had been accumulating money, mainly for his own security against intrigues and conspiracies, and avarice had grown upon him with success. He died in April 1509, undoubtedly the richest prince in Christendom. He was not a niggard, however, in his expenditure. Before his death he had finished the hospital of the Savoy and made provision for the magnificent chapel at Westminster which bears his name. His money-getting was but part of his statesmanship, and for his statesmanship his country owes him not a little gratitude. He not only terminated a disastrous civil war and brought under control the spirit of ancient feudalism, but with a clear survey of the conditions of foreign powers he secured England in almost uninterrupted peace while he developed her commerce, strengthened her slender navy and built, apparently for the first time, a naval dock at Portsmouth.

In addition to his sons Arthur and Henry, Henry VII had several daughters, one of whom, Margaret, married James IV, King of Scotland, and another, Mary, became the wife of Louis XII of France, and afterwards of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

( Swrony )

+- Henry VI's Minority (1421-1471 AD)

Henry VI - The last king of the Lancastrian dynasty, Henry VI was born at Windsor Castle on 6th December, 1421 and became King of England in his cradle, he was barely nine months old when his famous father, Henry V, died of dysentry on campaign in France. Two months later he became King of France also, when his grandfather, the mentally unstable Charles VI, died.

During Henry's minority, the war in France had been executed loyally and ably by his paternal uncle, John, Duke of Bedford. He struggled with the almost impossible task of retaining his brother's conquests in France. England was ruled by a council lead by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest of Henry V's brothers.

In November 1429, the young king was considered old enough to undergo the arduous coronation ceremony and was crowned at Westminster Abbey at eight years old. The following year, at the age of nine, he crossed to his French kingdom and was crowned King of France at Notre Dame. In the streets of Paris he was observed from an upper storey window by his notorious grandmother, Isabeau of Bavaria, the wanton widow of Charles VI, whom the young king courteously doffed his hat to.

Henry's mother, Catherine of Valois, died in 1437 amidst scandal, when it was discovered that the Dowager Queen had contacted a secret marriage with her Welsh clerk of the wardrobe, Owen Tudor and had borne him several children, three sons and a daughter. Henry later created the eldest of these half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper Tudor, Earls of Richmond and Pembroke respectively. Both were later to play leading parts in the Wars of the Roses, the elder, Edmund was to become the father of King Henry VII, the founder of England's Tudor dynasty. Owen Tudor was summoned before the king's council to explain his conduct, but was released without punishment, he ended his days in 1461, when after fighting on the Lancastrian side at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, he was beheaded on the orders of Henry's supplanter, Edward IV.

The wheel of fortune had begun to turn against the English in France. Joan of Arc lead the French to victory, and by 1453, all of the great Henry V's conquests, apart from Calais, were lost.


Personal Rule

According to the terms of a peace agreement with France, Henry married Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Rene, Duke of Anjou and titular King of Jerusalem and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. Margaret was also the niece of the French King, Charles VII. The match was unpopular amongst disaffected elements in England. Margaret, unlike her husband, was a strong headed character, who was unyielding and belligerent, none of which augured well for her future in England.

Henry himself was a gentle, devout and kindly man, but early in his reign is said to have been "unsteadfast of wit". He did not appear to enjoy wearing the magnificent clothing expected of a sovereign and often dressed simply "like a farmer". Unlike his warlike father, Henry possessed a strong aversion to violence and was deeply, even obsessively, devoted to religion.

Contemporary Description of Henry

'He was a man of pure simplicity of mind, truthful almost to a fault. He never made a promise he did not keep, never knowingly did an injury to anyone. Rectitude and justice ruled his conduct in all public affairs. Devout himself, he sought to cherish a love for religion in others. He would exhort his visitors, particularly the young, to pursue virtue and eschew evil. He considered sports and the pleasures of the world as frivolous, and devoted his leisure to reading the scriptures and the old chronicles. Most decorous himself when attending public worship, he obliged his courtiers to enter the sacred edifice without swords or spears, and to refrain from interupting the devotion of others by conversing within its precincts
.
He delighted in female society, and blamed that immodest dress, which left exposed the maternal parts of the neck. "Fie, fie, for shame!" he exclaimed "forsooth ye be to blame." Fond of encouraging youth in the paths of virtue he would frequently converse familiarly with the scholars from his colllege of Eton, when they visited his servants at Windsor Castle. He generally concluded with this address, adding a present of money: "Be good lads, meek and docile, and attend to your religion."

He was liberal to the poor, and lived among his dependants as a father among his children. He readily forgave those who had offended him. When one of his servants had been robbed, he sent him a present of twenty nobles, desiring him to be more careful of his property in the future, and requesting him to forgive the thief. Passing one day from St. Albans to Cripplegate, he saw a quarter of a man impaled there for treason. Greatly shocked he exclaimed "Take it away, take it away, I will have no man so cruelly treated for my account."

In his dress he was plain, and would not wear the shoes with the upturned points, then so much in fashion, and considered the distinguishing mark of a man of quality. Where are warm baths in which they say the men of that country customarily refresh and wash themselves, the King, looking into the baths, saw in them men wholly naked with every garment cast off. At which he was greatly displeased, and went away quickly, abhorring such nudity as a great offence.'

----- John Blakman


The Wars of the Roses

In 1453, at the age of 32, Henry VI began to exhibit signs of serious mental illness. By means of a "sudden fright" he entered into a trance-like state reacting to and recognising no one. Catatonic schizophrenia or depressive stupor have been suggested as a likely diagnosis. This was probably an inheritance from his grandfather, Charles VI of France, who himself suffered from bouts of schizophrenia, which is reported to have come on suddenly in 1392 when he was then aged 24, into which he then suffered relapses for the next 30 years. Charles VI's mother, Joanna de Bourbon, also exhibited signs of mental illness, as did various ancestors of hers, including Louis I, Duke of Bourbon, Peter I, Duke of Bourbon, Louis II, Duke of Bourbon.

The king's cousin, Richard, Duke of York was appointed protector, to the annoyance of the Queen, who strongly felt that she and her party should govern England. An intense personal rivalry developed between Richard of York and Margaret's favourite, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Somerset was descended from John of Gaunt's liaison with Catherine Swynford.

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, stood very near to the throne, his mother, Anne Mortimer, was by the strict rules of primogeniture the true heir of Richard II and York was her only son. Anne's claim derived from her descent from Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence. Henry VI's claim, although in the direct male line, was only through Edward's fourth son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Plantagenet Genealogy

Two months later, Queen Margaret gave birth to a son , Edward of Lancaster. Rumours abounded, fed by the Yorkists, that the child was not the feeble minded king's but Somerset's, all of which threw more fuel on the fires of discontent. The Queen, "a strong laboured woman", was fiercely protective of her son and his rights. Henry eventually recovered his senses and when showed his son, declared himself pleased and enquired about the child's godfathers. Adding to existing doubts about the child's paternity, he declared that Edward must have been fathered by the Holy Ghost.

York, dismissed from office, was discontented. His position, he realised, was now a precarious one, exposed as he was to the suspicion and venom of the Queen, who once again controlled the government.

A great council was called at Leicester. York and his allies, Richard, Earl of Warwick and his father, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, suspecting unimpartial treatment, travelled south with an army. Attempts at discussion between the factions evoked further anger on both sides.

The First Battle of St. Albans was fought on 22nd May 1455. Margaret's favourite, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset was killed and Henry captured by the victorious Yorkists. York was appointed Protector of England. Margaret, true to character, was not going to accept this meekly. She gathered an army to advance her son's cause and York, Salisbury and Warwick were forced into flight before her.

The rebel lords gathered support and in retaliation took London. Warwick met the forces loyal to the king at Northampton, defeated them, and took the unfortunate Henry captive back to London. York returned from exile and laid formal claim to the throne. When asked why he had not previously done so, he responded that "though right for a time lies silent, yet it rotteth not, nor shall it perish." A compromise was agreed on, whereupon Henry VI was to keep the throne for the rest of his lifetime but the

succession was to go to York and his heirs. No one for a moment expected that the spirited Margaret would accept the disinheriting of her son and this proved to be the case.

Queen Margaret lead a Lancastrian army to attack the Duke of York at his castle at Sandal. The Duke was killed leading an impulsive charge against the Lancastrian forces, as was Salisbury and York's second son, the seventeen year old Edmund, Earl of Rutland, whose pleas for his life were ignored. The Queen had their heads impaled on spikes on the city walls of York.

Edward, Earl of March, York's able eldest son, aged eighteen and now leader of the Yorkist cause, retaliated and defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimers Cross. He continued to utterly crush the Lancastrian cause at the decisive and bloody Battle of Towton in Yorkshire. Margaret and her son took flight to Scotland where they found refuge and the new Duke of York was crowned at Westminster as King Edward IV. King Henry VI was eventually taken prisoner in Lancashire and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

The Restoration of Henry VI

Edward IV shocked the nobility when he announced he had been secretly married to Elizabeth Woodville, the beautiful but penniless widow of a Lancastrian knight. The new King had hoped to make the highly attractive Elizabeth his mistress, but she held out for marriage and Edward eventually succumbed to her charms. The old established nobility, and in particular Warwick, where alienated by the meteoric advancement of the new Queen's large and needy family. In 1470, Warwick, later referred to as the Kingmaker, seething with hatred of the "upstart" Woodvilles, changed his allegiance to the House of Lancaster and was re-united with Margaret of Anjou under the auspices of Louis XI.

Edward IV was forced to flee the country before Warwick and King Henry VI was briefly restored. A sad and pitiful figure, he was paraded through the streets of London in a shabby blue gown by George Neville, Archbishop of York and set up as a puppet King, whom the ambitious Warwick ruled through. Edward IV returned to England and defeated and killed his cousin Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. On Edward's return to London, Henry greeted him, stating, "Cousin of York, you are very welcome. I hold my life to be in no danger in your hands." The Yorkist King returned Henry to his former lodgings in the Tower and rode out to meet Margaret and her son who had landed in England on the day that Barnet was fought.

Their two armies clashed at Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471. Edward, the Lancastrian Prince of Wales, was killed either in battle or during its aftermath, contemporary accounts conflict on the point, some stating he was killed in 'plain battle', others claiming he was taken prisoner and murdered after the battle by Edward IV, his brother Richard of Gloucester and Edward's favourite, Lord Hastings.

The fate of Margaret of Anjou

Queen Margaret was defeated at last by the death of the son she had fought so long and hard for. She was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Her beloved son's widow, Anne Neville, later married one of his suspected killers, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, through this marriage, Gloucester eventually obtained much of Warwick's vast estates.

Margaret's ageing but ebullient father, Rene of Anjou, remained unconcerned about his daughter's fate, having recently remarried, he was preoccupied with his new young wife. Margaret was later removed to Windsor Castle, then on to Wallingford. She remained a prisoner until she was ransomed by her kinsman, Louis XI, at the Treaty of Picquigny in 1475. The embittered ex-Queen retired to her native Anjou, where she took up residence at the Chateau of Dampierre, she died there in August, 1482, aged fifty-three.

The Murder of Henry VI

Henry VI met his death in the Tower, on the night of the Vigil of the Ascension, 21st -22nd May, 1471. The demise of his son had sealed his fate. While Edward of Lancaster still lived, he rendered the removal of Henry pointless. The Yorkist version of his end, that he died of "pure melancholy and displeasure" on hearing on of his son's death was not much accepted, even at the time.
The majority of contemporary chroniclers beleived Henry had been murdered. Richard, Duke of Gloucester is named as the most likely candidate. After the passage of over five hundred years this can never be properly ascertained, but Richard of Gloucester was known to be present at the Tower that night. Ultimately, the responsibility for Henry's murder can only be laid at the feet of Edward IV. Edward had now exterminated the direct line of the House of Lancaster with ruthless efficiency.

Henry was buried at Chertsey. The cult of 'Holy King Henry', although actively discouraged by Edward IV, grew up after his death, when miracles were supposed to have occurred on pilgrimage to his tomb. Henry's body was moved to Windsor by Richard III, an act perhaps occasioned by an uneasy conscience and his overriding desire for the souls of his victims to rest in peace. An unsuccessful attempt was made by Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, to have his half-uncle canonized.

Due to controversy over the manner of his death, George V gave permission to exhume the body of King Henry VI in 1910. The skeleton was found to have been dismembered before being placed in the box and not all the bones were present. Three very worn teeth were found and the only piece of jaw present had lost its teeth before death. The bones were recorded as being those of a strong man measuring five feet nine to five feet ten inches tall. Light brown hair found matted with blood on the skull confirmed that Henry VI had died as a result of violence.

+- Henry V (1387 - 1422 AD)

HENRY V - King of England, son of King Henry IV by Mary de Bohun, was born at Monmouth, in August 1387. On his father's exile in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge, and treated him kindly.

Next year the Lancastrian revolution forced Henry into precocious prominence as heir to the throne. From October 1400 the administration of Wales was conducted in his name; less than three years later he was in actual command of the English forces and fought against the Percies at Shrewsbury. The Welsh revolt absorbed his energies till 1408. Then through the king's ill-health he began to take a wider share in politics. From January 1410, helped by his uncles Henry Beaufort and Thomas Beaufort, he had practical control of the government. Both in foreign and domestic policy he differed from the king, who in November 1411 discharged the prince from the council.

The quarrel of father and son was political only, though it is probable that the Beauforts had discussed the abdication of Henry IV, and their opponents certainly endeavoured to defame the prince. It may be that to political enmity the tradition of Henry's riotous youth, immortalized by Shakespeare, is partly due. To that tradition Henry's strenuous life in war and politics is a sufficient general contradiction. The most famous incident, his quarrel with the chief justice, has no contemporary authority and was first related by Sir Thomas Elyot in 1531. The story of Falstaff originated partly in Henry's early friendship for Oldcastle. That friendship, and the prince's political opposition to Archbishop Arundel, perhaps encouraged Lollard hopes. If so, their disappointment may account for the statements of ecclesiastical writers, like Walsingham, that Henry on becoming king was changed suddenly into a new man.

Henry succeeded his father on the 20th of March 1413. With no past to embarrass him, and with no dangerous rivals, his practical experience had full scope. He had to deal with three main problems — the restoration of domestic peace, the healing of schism in the Church and the recovery of English prestige in Europe. Henry grasped them all together, and gradually built upon them a yet wider policy. From the first he made it clear that he would rule England as the head of a united nation, and that past differences were to be forgotten. Richard II was honourably reinterred; the young Mortimer was taken into favour; the heirs of those who had suffered in the last reign were restored gradually to their titles and estates. With Oldcastle Henry used his personal influence in vain, and the gravest domestic danger was Lollard discontent. But the king's firmness nipped the movement in the bud (Jan. 1414), and made his own position as ruler secure. Save for the abortive Scrope and Cambridge plot in favour of Mortimer in July 1415, the rest of his reign was free from serious trouble at home. Henry could now turn his attention to foreign affairs.

A writer of the next generation was the first to allege that Henry was encouraged by ecclesiastical statesmen to enter on the French war as a means of diverting attention from home troubles. For this story there is no foundation. The restoration of domestic peace was the king's first care, and until it was assured he could not embark on any wider enterprise abroad. Nor was that enterprise one of idle conquest. Old commercial disputes and the support which the French had lent to Glendower gave a sufficient excuse for war, whilst the disordered state of France afforded no security for peace. Henry may have regarded the assertion of his own claims as part of his kingly duty, but in any case a permanent settlement of the national quarrel was essential to the success of his world policy.


The campaign of 1415, with its brilliant conclusion at Agincourt (October 25), was only the first step. Two years of patient preparation followed. The command of the sea was secured by driving the Genoese allies of the French out of the Channel. A successful diplomacy detached the emperor Sigismund from France, and by the Treaty of Canterbury paved the way to end the schism in the Church. So in 1417 the war was renewed on a larger scale. Lower Normandy was quickly conquered, Rouen cut off from Paris and besieged. The French were paralysed by the disputes of Burgundians and Armagnacs. Henry skilfully played them off one against the other, without relaxing his warlike energy.

In January 1419 Rouen fell. By August the English were outside the walls of Paris. The intrigues of the French parties culminated in the assassination of John of Burgundy by the dauphin's partisans at Montereau (September 10, 1419). Philip, the new duke, and the French court threw themselves into Henry's arms. After six months' negotiation Henry was by the Treaty of Troyes recognized as heir and regent of France, and on the 2nd of June 1420 married Catherine, the king's daughter. He was now at the height of his power. His eventual success in France seemed certain.

He shared with Sigismund the credit of having ended the Great Schism by obtaining the election of Pope Martin V. All the states of western Europe were being brought within the web of his diplomacy. The headship of Christendom was in his grasp, and schemes for a new crusade began to take shape. He actually sent an envoy to collect information in the East; but his plans were cut short by death. A visit to England in 1421 was interrupted by the defeat of Clarence at Bauge. The hardships of the longer winter siege of Meaux broke down his health, and he died at Bois de Vincennes on the 31st of August 1422.

Henry's last words were a wish that he might live to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They are significant. His ideal was founded consciously on the models of Arthur and Godfrey as national king and leader of Christendom. So he is the typical medieval hero. For that very reason his schemes were doomed to end in disaster, since the time was come for a new departure. Yet he was not reactionary. His policy was constructive: a firm central government supported by parliament; church reform on conservative lines; commercial development; and the maintenance of national prestige. His aims in some respects anticipated those of his Tudor successors, but he would have accomplished them on medieval lines as a constitutional ruler. His success was due to the power of his personality. He could train able lieutenants, but at his death there was no one who could take his place as leader. War, diplomacy and civil administration were all dependent on his guidance. His dazzling achievements as a general have obscured his more sober qualities as a ruler, and even the sound strategy, with which he aimed to be master of the narrow seas. If he was not the founder of the English navy he was one of the first to realize its true importance.

Henry had so high a sense of his own rights that he was merciless to disloyalty. But he was scrupulous of the rights of others, and it was his eager desire to further the cause of justice that impressed his French contemporaries. He has been charged with cruelty as a religious persecutor; but in fact he had as prince opposed the harsh policy of Archbishop Arundel, and as king sanctioned a more moderate course. Lollard executions during his reign had more often a political than a religious reason. To be just with sternness was in his eyes a duty. So in his warfare, though he kept strict discipline and allowed no wanton violence, he treated severely all who had in his opinion transgressed. In his personal conduct he was chaste, temperate and sincerely pious. He delighted in sport and all manly exercises. At the same time he was cultured, with a taste for literature, art and music. Henry lies buried in Westminster Abbey. His tomb was stripped of its splendid adornment during the Reformation.

Other Local Resources:
Henry V as a Boy
Henry V as Prince of Wales from a Hoccleve MS
Henry V portrait in an Illuminated Manuscript, c.1451-1480
Marriage of Henry V and Catherine by John Rous, c.1485
Henry V and his Court
Henry V and his Army
The Battle of Azincourt
The Funeral Procession of Henry V
Tomb of Henry V in Westminster Abbey
Later Engraving of Henry V
Helmet, Saddle, and Shield of Henry V
The Great Seal of King Henry V
Henry V's Coinage (Noble, Half Noble, Quarter Noble)
Henry V's Coinage (Groat, Half Groat, Penny)
House of Lancaster
King Henry IV
King Henry VI
Catherine of Valois
John, Duke of Bedford
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
The Agincourt Carol, on the Victory at Agincourt

+- Henry IV (1367-1413 AD)

HENRY IV - , son of John of Gaunt, by Blanche, daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, was born on the 3rd of April 1367, at Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire.

As early as 1377 he is styled Earl of Derby, and in 1380 he married Mary de Bohun (d.1394), one of the co-heiresses of the last Earl of Hereford. In 1387 he supported his uncle Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in his armed opposition to Richard II and his favourites. Afterwards, probably through his father's influence, he changed sides. He was already distinguished for his knightly prowess, and for some years devoted himself to adventure. He thought of going on the crusade to Barbary; but instead, in July 1390, went to serve with the Teutonic knights in Lithuania.

He came home in the following spring, but next year went again to Prussia, whence he journeyed by way of Venice to Cyprus and Jerusalem. After his return to England he sided with his father and the king against Gloucester, and in 1397 was made Duke of Hereford. In January 1398 he quarrelled with the Duke of Norfolk, who charged him with treason. The dispute was to have been decided in the lists at Coventry in September; but at the last moment Richard intervened and banished them both. When John of Gaunt died in February 1399 Richard, contrary to his promise, confiscated the estates of Lancaster. Henry then felt himself free, and made friends with the exiled Arundels.

Early in July, whilst Richard was absent in Ireland, he landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire. He was at once joined by the Percies; and Richard, abandoned by his friends, surrendered at Flint on the 19th of August. In the parliament, which assembled on the 30th of September, Richard was forced to abdicate. Henry then made his claim as coming by right line of blood from King Henry III, and through his right to recover the realm which was in point to be undone for default of governance and good law. Parliament formally accepted him, and thus Henry became king, "not so much by title of blood as by popular election" (Capgrave).

The new dynasty had consequently a constitutional basis. With this Henry's own political sympathies well accorded. But though the revolution of 1399 was popular in form, its success was due to an oligarchical faction. From the start Henry was embarrassed by the power and pretensions of the Percies. Nor was his hereditary title so good as that of the Mortimers. To domestic troubles was added the complication of disputes with Scotland and France. The first danger came from the friends of Richard, who plotted prematurely, and were crushed in January 1400. During the summer of 1400 Henry made a not over-successful expedition to Scotland. The French court would not accept his overtures, and it was only in the summer of 1401 that a truce was patched up by the restoration of Richard's child-queen, Isabella of Valois.

Meantime a more serious trouble had arisen through the outbreak of the Welsh revolt under Owen Glendower. In 1400 and again in each of the two following autumns Henry invaded Wales in vain. The success of the Percies over the Scots at Homildon Hill (Sept. 1402) was no advantage. Henry Percy (Hotspur) and his father, the Earl of Northumberland, thought their services ill-requited, and finally made common cause with the partisans of Mortimer and the Welsh. The plot was frustrated by Hotspur's defeat at Shrewsbury (21st of July 1403); and Northumberland for the time submitted. Henry had, however, no one on whom he could rely outside his own family, except Archbishop Arundel. The Welsh were unsubdued; the French were plundering the southern coast; Northumberland was fomenting trouble in the north.

The crisis came in 1405. A plot to carry off the young Mortimers was defeated; but Mowbray, the earl marshal, who had been privy to it, raised a rebellion in the north supported by Archbishop Scrope of York. Mowbray and Scrope were taken and beheaded; Northumberland escaped into Scotland. For the execution of the archbishop Henry was personally responsible, and he could never free himself from its odium. Popular belief regarded his subsequent illness as a judgment for his impiety. Apart from ill-health and unpopularity Henry had succeeded — relations with Scotland were secured by the capture of James, the heir to the crown; Northumberland was at last crushed at Bramham Moor (Feb. 1408); and a little later the Welsh revolt was mastered.

Henry, stricken with sore disease, was unable to reap the advantage. His necessities had all along enabled the Commons to extort concessions in parliament, until in 1406 he was forced to nominate a council and govern by its advice. However, with Archbishop Arundel as his chancellor, Henry still controlled the government. But in January 1410 Arundel had to give way to the king's half-brother, Thomas Beaufort. Beaufort and his brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester, were opposed to Arundel and supported by the Prince of Wales [later Henry V]. For two years the real government rested with the prince and the council.

Under the prince's influence the English intervened in France in 1411 on the side of Burgundy. In this, and in some matters of home politics, the king disagreed with his ministers. There is good reason to suppose that the Beauforts had gone so far as to contemplate a forced abdication on the score of the king's ill-health. However, in November 1411 Henry showed that he was still capable of vigorous action by discharging the prince and his supporters. Arundel again became chancellor, and the king's second son, Thomas, took his brother's place. The change was further marked by the sending of an expedition to France in support of Orleans. But Henry's health was failing steadily. On the 20th of March 1413, whilst praying in Westminster Abbey he was seized with a fainting fit, and died that same evening in the Jerusalem Chamber. At the time he was believed to have been a leper, but as it would appear without sufficient reason.

As a young man Henry had been chivalrous and adventurous, and in politics anxious for good government and justice. As king the loss and failure of friends made him cautious, suspicious and cruel. The persecution of the Lollards, which began with the burning statute of 1401, may be accounted for by Henry's own orthodoxy, or by the influence of Archbishop Arundel, his one faithful friend. But that political Lollardry was strong is shown by the proposal in the parliament of 1410 for a wholesale confiscation of ecclesiastical property. Henry's faults may be excused by his difficulties. Throughout he was practical and steadfast, and he deserved credit for maintaining his principles as a constitutional ruler. So after all his troubles he founded his dynasty firmly, and passed on the crown to his son with a better title. He is buried under a fine tomb at Canterbury.

By Mary Bohun Henry had four sons: his successor Henry V, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester; and two daughters, Blanche, who married Louis III, elector palatine of the Rhine, and Philippa, who married Eric XIII, King of Sweden. Henry's second wife was Joan, or Joanna, (c.1370-1437), daughter of Charles the Bad, King of Navarre, and widow of John IV or V, Duke of Brittany, who survived until July 1437. By her he had no children.

+- Henry III (1207-1272 AD)

Henry III - , the first monarch to be crowned in his minority, inherited the throne at age nine. His reign began immersed in the rebellion created by his father, King John. London and most of the southeast were in the hands of the French Dauphin Louis and the northern regions were under the control of rebellious barons - only the midlands and southwest were loyal to the boy king. The barons, however, rallied under Henry's first regent, William the Marshall, and expelled the French Dauphin in 1217. William the Marshall governed until his death in 1219; Hugh de Burgh, the last of the justiciars to rule with the power of a king, governed until Henry came to the throne in earnest at age twenty-five.

A variety of factors coalesced in Henry's reign to plant the first seeds of English nationalism. Throughout his minority, the barons held firm to the ideal of written restrictions on royal authority and reissued Magna Carta several times. The nobility wished to bind the king to same feudal laws under which they were held. The emerging class of free men also demanded the same protection from the king's excessive control. Barons, nobility, and free men began viewing England as a community rather than a mere aggregation of independent manors, villages, and outlying principalities. In addition to the restrictions outlined in Magna Carta, the barons asked to be consulted in matters of state and called together as a Great Council. Viewing themselves as the natural counselors of the king, they sought control over the machinery of government, particularly in the appointment of chief government positions. The Exchequer and the Chancery were separated from the rest of the government to decrease the king's chances of ruling irresponsibly.

Nationalism, such as it was at this early stage, manifested in the form of opposition to Henry's actions. He infuriated the barons by granting favors and appointments to foreigners rather than the English nobility. Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester and Henry's prime educator, introduced a number of Frenchmen from Poitou into the government; many Italians entered into English society through Henry's close ties to the papacy. His reign coincided with an expansion of papal power Ð the Church became, in effect, a massive European monarchy Ð and the Church became as creative as it was excessive in extorting money from England. England was expected to assume a large portion of financing the myriad officials employed throughout Christendom as well as providing employment and parishes for Italians living abroad. Henry's acquiescence to the demands of Rome initiated a backlash of protest from his subjects: laymen were denied opportunity to be nominated for vacant ecclesiastical offices and clergymen lost any chance of advancement.

Matters came to a head in 1258. Henry levied extortionate taxes to pay for debts incurred through war with Wales, failed campaigns in France, and an extensive program of ecclesiastical building. Inept diplomacy and military defeat led Henry to sell his hereditary claims to all the Angevin possessions in France except Gascony. When he assumed the considerable debts of the papacy in its fruitless war with Sicily, his barons demanded sweeping reforms and the king was in no position to offer resistance. Henry was forced to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, a document placing the barons in virtual control of the realm. A council of fifteen men, comprised of both the king's supporters and detractors, effected a situation whereby Henry could do nothing without the council's knowledge and consent. The magnates handled every level of government with great unity initially but gradually succumbed to petty bickering; the Provisions of Oxford remained in force for only years. Henry reasserted his authority and denied the Provisions, resulting in the outbreak of civil war in 1264. Edward, Henry's eldest son, led the king's forces with the opposition commanded by Simon de Montfort, Henry's brother-in-law. At the Battle of Lewes, in Sussex, de Montfort defeated Edward and captured both king and son - and found himself in control of the government.

Simon de Montfort held absolute power after subduing Henry but was a champion of reform. The nobility supported him because of his royal ties and belief in the Provisions of Oxford. De Montfort, with two close associates, selected a council of nine (whose function was similar to the earlier council of fifteen) and ruled in the king's name. De Montfort recognized the need to gain the backing of smaller landowners and prosperous townsfolk: in 1264, he summoned knights from each shire in addition to the normal high churchmen and nobility to an early pre-Parliament, and in 1265 invited burgesses from selected towns. Although Parliament as an institution was yet to be formalized, the latter session was a precursor to both the elements of Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Later in 1265, de Montfort lost the support of one of the most powerful barons, the Earl of Gloucester, and Edward also managed to escape. The two gathered an army and defeated de Montfort at the Battle of Evasham, Worcestershire. de Montfort was slain and Henry was released; Henry resumed control of the throne but, for the remainder of his reign, Edward exercised the real power of the throne in his father's stead. The old king, after a long reign of fifty-six years, died in 1272. Although a failure as a politician and soldier, his reign was significant for defining the English monarchical position until the end of the fifteenth century: kingship limited by law.

+- Henry II (1133 - 1189 AD)

Parentage and Early Life : Arguably one of the most effective Kings ever to wear the English crown and the first of the great Plantagenet dynasty, the future Henry II was born at Le Mans, Anjou on 5th March, 1133. He was the son of that ill-matched pair, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and Matilda, (known as the Empress, from her first marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor) the daughter of Henry I of England.
Henry's parents never cared for each other, there's was a union of convenience. Henry I chose Geoffrey (pictured left) to sire his grandchildren because his lands were strategically placed on the Norman frontiers and he required the support of Geoffrey's father, his erstwhile enemy, Fulk of Anjou. He accordingly forced his highly reluctant daughter to marry the fifteen year old Geoffrey. The pair disliked each other from the outset of their union and neither was of a nature to pretend otherwise and so the scene was set for an extremely stormy marriage. They were, however, finally prevailed upon by the formidable Henry I to do their duty and produce an heir to England. They had three sons, Henry was the eldest of these and always the favourite of his adoring mother.
When the young Henry was a few months old, his delighted grandfather, Henry I, crossed over the channel from England to see his new heir and is said to have dandled the child on his knee, he was to grow very attached to his new grandson, the old warrior was said to spend much time playing with the young Henry.
Henry's father Geoffrey's nickname derived from a sprig of bloom, or Planta Genista, that he liked to sport in his helmet .Thus was coined the surname of one of England's greatest dynasties, which ruled the country for the rest of the medieval era, although Plantagenet was not adopted as a surname until the mid 15th century. Henry's was a vast inheritance, from his father, he received the Counties of Anjou and Maine, from his mother, the Duchy of Normandy and his claim to the Kingdom of England. Henry married the legendary heiress, Eleanor of Aquitaine, which added Aquitaine and Poitou to his dominions. He then owned more land in France than the French King himself.

Reign : On the death of King Stephen in 1154, Henry came to the English throne at the age of 21 in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Wallingford.
A short but strongly built man of leonine appearance, Henry II was possessed of an immense dynamic energy and a formidable temper. He had the red hair of the Plantagenets, grey eyes that grew bloodshot in anger and a round, freckled face. He spent so much time in the saddle that his legs became bowed. Henry's voice was reported to have been harsh and cracked, he did not care for magnificent clothing and was never still. The new King was intelligent and had acquired an immense knowledge both of languages and law.

Eleanor of Aqiutaine : Eleanor of Aquitaine (depicted right), Henry's wife, was the daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Aenor de Chatellerault. She had previously been the wife of Louis VII, King of France, who had divorced her prior to her marriage to Henry. It was rumoured that the pair had been lovers before her divorce, as she had reportedly also been the paramour of Henry's father, Geoffrey. (The formidable Matilda's reaction to this event has unfortunately not been recorded.)
Eleanor was eleven years older than Henry, but in the early days of their marriage that did not seem to matter. Both were strong characters, used to getting their own way, the result of two such ill matched temperaments was an extremely tempestuous union. Beautiful, intelligent, cultured and powerful, Eleanor was a remarkable woman. One of the great female personalities of her age, she had been celebrated and idolized in the songs of the troubadours of her native Aquitaine.
Henry was possessed of the fearful Angevin temper, apparently a dominant family trait. In his notorious uncontrollable rages he would lie on the floor and chew at the rushes and was never slow to anger. Legend clung to the House of Anjou, one such ran that they were descended from no less a person than Satan himself. It was related that Melusine, the daughter of Satan, was the demon ancestress of the Angevins. Her husband the Count of Anjou was perplexed when Melusine always left church prior to hearing of the mass. After pondering the matter he had her forcibly restrained by his knights while the service took place. Melusine reportedly tore herself from their grasp and flew through the roof, taking two of the couple's children with her and was never seen again.
Henry and Eleanor had a large brood of children. Sadly, their first born, William (b.1153) created Count of Poiters, the traditional title of the heirs to the Dukes of Aquitaine, died at the age of 2 at Wallingford Castle. He was buried at the feet of his great-grandfather, Henry I.
Like his grandfather before him, Henry was a man of strong passions and a serial adulterer. When Henry introduced his illegitimate son, Geoffrey, to the royal nursery, Eleanor was furious, Geoffrey had been born in the early days of their marriage, the result of a dalliance with Hikenai, a prostitute. Eleanor was deeply insulted and the rift between the couple grew steadily into a gaping gulf.
On inheriting England's crown, the young Henry Plantagenet eagerly and with characteristic energy set about restoring law and order in his new kingdom. All illegal castles erected in King Stephen's anarchic reign were demolished. He was a tireless administrator and clarified and overhauled the entire English judicial system.

Henry II and Thomas a Beckett : Henry's quarrels with Thomas à Beckett have cast a long shadow over his reign. The son of a wealthy London merchant of Norman extraction, Beckett was appointed Chancellor.
Beckett was at first worldly and unlike the King, dressed extravagantly. A story is related that riding through London together on a cold winters day, Henry saw a pauper shivering in his rags. He asked Thomas would it not be charitable for someone to give the man a cloak, Beckett agreed that it would, whereupon Henry laughingly grasped Thomas' expensive fur cloak. There followed an unseemly struggle in which the King attempted to wrest the unwilling Beckett's cloak from him. Finally succeeding and most amused at Thomas's reaction, he threw it to the beggar.
Beckett was sent on a mission to the court of France to negotiate a marriage between Henry and Eleanor's eldest surviving son, known as Young Henry and Margaret, the daughter of the King of France by his second marriage. This he carried out with aplomb, travelling with a great retinue, his lavish style made a vivid impression on the French.
On the death of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry II decided to appoint Thomas Beckett to the position. He assumed that Thomas would make an amenable Archbishop through whom he could gain control of the churches legal system. Beckett, however, was unwilling to oblige and on his appointment resigned the Chancellorship. Henry flew into a furious rage. Beckett, undeterred, then entered into disagreement with the king regarding the rights of church and state when he prevented a cleric found guilty of rape and murder from recieving punishment in the lay court.
A council was held at Westminster in October 1163, Beckett was not a man to compromise, neither, however, was Henry. Eventually Beckett agreed to adhere to the 'ancient customs of the realm'. Adamant to win in the matter, Henry proceeded to clearly define those ancient customs in a document referred to as the Constitutions of Clarendon. Beckett did eventually back down, but their quarrel continued and became more embittered, culminating in Beckett fleeing the country.
Four years later, Henry was anxious to have his eldest son, the young Henry, crowned in his own lifetime to avoid a disputed succession, such as occurred after the death of his grandfather, Henry I. In January 1169, Henry and Beckett met again at a conference at Momtmirail in Normandy, which broke up in quarrels between the pair, with the immovable Beckett angrily excommunicating some of Henry's followers. Irritated at such behaviour and refusing to be thwarted, Henry had the coronation of his son carried out by the Archbishop of York to insult Thomas further. In a resultant meeting, a compromise was finally reached and Thomas returned to England.
Disputes again arose between them over similar issues and Henry, exasperated and enraged at Beckett's intransigence, (which matched his own ) uttered those final, fatal words "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?". Four knights, taking him at his word, proceeded to England. They rode to Canterbury where they confronted the Archbishop in the Cathedral calling him a traitor, they attempted to drag him out of the building. Thomas refused to leave and inviting martyrdom, declared himself as "No traitor but a priest of God." When one of the knights struck him on the head with his sword the others joined in and Thomas fell to the Cathedral floor having suffered fatal head injuries.
Europe was a-buzz with the scandal, Henry's fury subsided into grief. England fell under threat of excommunication. In order to weather the storm, the King did public penance for his part in the affair, walking barefoot into Canterbury Cathedral, where he allowed the monks to scourge him as a sign of contrite penance

The Rebellion of Henry's Sons : Henry was faced with a new threat, this time it came from within his own dysfunctional family, in the form of his malcontented Queen, Eleanor and his unruly sons. Henry, the newly crowned Young King, "A restless youth born for the undoing of many", was dissatisfied, he possessed grand titles but no real power. When Henry II tried to negotiate a marriage for his youngest son, John, the prospective father-in-law asked that John be given some property. The King responded by granting John three castles in Anjou. The young Henry promptly objected and demanded either England, Normandy or Anjou to rule in his own right and fled to the French court. Lead on by his father-in -law, the King of France, who had his own axe to grind, the young Henry rebelled against his father. He was joined at the court of France by his equally turbulent brothers, Richard, Duke of Aquitaine and Geoffrey, now Duke of Brittany since his marriage to the heiress Constance of Brittany.
Henry's relationship with his wife had deteriorated after the birth of their last child, John. Eleanor, twelve years older than Henry, was now decidedly middle aged. She was grievously insulted by Henry's long affair with the beautiful Rosamund Clifford, the mother of two of his illegitimate sons, whom he was said to genuinely love. Eleanor was captured attempting to join her sons in France dressed as a man. She was imprisoned by her husband for ten long years. Normandy was attacked, but the French King then retreated and Henry was able to make peace with his rebellious brood of sons.
Further disputes arose between young Henry and his equally fiery tempered brother, Richard. The Young King objected to a castle Richard had built on what he claimed to be his territory. Henry, aided by his brother Geoffrey, attempted to subdue Richard and the affair provided a further excuse to rebel against their father. Richard allied himself with their father. The Young King began to ravage Aquitaine.

The Death of Henry, 'the Young King' : The Young King plundered the rich shrine of Rocamadour, after which he fell mortally ill. When he knew death was inevitable, he asked his followers to lay him on a bed of ashes spread on the floor as a sign of repentance and begged his father to forgive and visit him. The King, suspecting a trap, refused to visit his son, but sent a sapphire ring, once owned by his grandfather Henry I, to the young Henry as a sign of his forgiveness. A few days later the Young King was dead, Henry and Eleanor mourned the loss of their errant son sincerely.
Henry planned to re-divide the Angevin Empire, giving Anjou, Maine, Normandy and England to Richard and asking him to relinquish his mother's province of Aquitaine to John. In the finest Plantagenet tradition, Richard, incensed, absolutely refused to do so. John and Geoffrey were dispatched to Aquitaine to wrest the province from their brother by force but were no match for him. The King then ordered all of his turbulent sons to England. Richard and Geoffrey now thoroughly detested each other and arguments, as ever, prevailed amongst the family. Geoffrey, a treacherous and untrustworthy youth, was killed at a Paris tournament in 1186.

The Death of Henry II : Phillip Augustus of France was eager to play on the rifts in the Plantagenet family to further his own ends of increasing the power of the French crown by regaining the Plantagenet lands. He planted further seeds of distrust by suggesting to Richard that Henry II wished to disinherit him, in favour of his known favourite, John. Richard, who now totally distrusted his father, demanded full recognition of his position as heir to the Angevin Empire. Henry haughtily refused to comply. Further rebellion was the inevitable result.
The ageing King began to feel the weight of his years and fell sick whilst at Le Mans. Richard believed him to be creating delays. He and his ally Phillip attacked the town, Henry ordered the southern suburbs of Le Mans to be set on fire to impede their advance, but it must have seemed as if the elements themselves had also conspired against him when the wind changed, spreading the fire and setting alight his much loved birthplace. Henry, greatly aggrieved, was forced into flight before his son. Pausing on a hill top to watch the blaze, with bruised pride, he raged against God in an outburst of Plantagenet passion and fury and in his immense bitterness, frenziedly denied him his soul.
A conference was arranged between the warring parties, near Tours, at which King Henry was humiliatingly forced to accept all of Richard's terms. Phillip of France, shocked at the King's gaunt appearance, offered his cloak to enable him to sit on the ground. With a flash of his old spirit, Henry proudly refused the offer. Compelled to give his son the kiss of peace, Henry whispered in his ear "God grant that I die not until I have avenged myself on thee". Henry's only request was to be provided with a list of those who had rebelled against him.
Grievously sick, the ailing lion retreated to Chinon to lick his wounds. The requested list arrived, the first name on it was that of his beloved John, the son he had trusted and fought for had deserted him to join the victors. Utterly crushed, he wished to hear no more. The faithful William Marshall and his illegitimate son Geoffrey remained by him to the end. "You are my true son," he told Geoffrey bitterly, "the others, they are the bastards" As his condition continued to deteriorate he was heard to utter "now let everything go as it will, I care no longer for myself or anything else in this world".
He lingered semi-conscious, breathing his last on 6th July, 1189. His last words were "Shame, shame on a conquered King". King Henry II, defeated at last, turned his face to the wall and died. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Richard I
The king's body was laid out in the chapel of Chinon Castle, where the corpse was stripped by his servants. William Marshall and Geoffrey found a crown, sceptre and ring, which were probably taked from a religious statue. It was then taken to the Abbey of Fontevrault in Anjou for burial.
The new King Richard I was summoned by William Marshall and gazed at his father's corpse without emotion. After lying in state the body of the great Henry II was buried, according to his wishes, at the Abbey of Fontevrault, which was to become the mausoleum of the Angevin Kings.

The Children and Grandchildren of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine
(1) Prince William, Count of Poiters 1153-56 died in infancy
(2) Henry, 'the Young King' 1155-83 m. Margaret of France.
Issue:- (i) William b. & d. 1177
(3) Matilda of England 1156-1189 m. Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony.
Issue:-
(i) Matilda of Saxony 1172-1216 m. Geoffrey III, Count of Perche
(ii) Henry I, Count Palatine of the Rhine 1173-1227
(iii) Lothaire 1174-1190
(iv) OTTO THE GREAT, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR 1175-1219
(v) William, Duke of Luneberg 1184-1213
(4) RICHARD I ' the Lionheart' 1157-99 m. Berengaria of Navarre.
No legitimate issue
(5) Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany 1158-86 m. Constance of Brittany.
Issue:-
(i) Eleanor of Brittany 1184-1241
(ii) Matilda of Brittany 1185-1189
(iii) Arthur, Duke of Brittany 1187-1203
(6) Eleanor of England 1161-1214 m. ALPHONSO VIII OF CASTILLE.
Issue:-
(i) BERENGARIA, QUEEN OF CASTILLE 1180-1214
(ii) Sancho of Castille b. & d. 1181
(iii) Sancho of Castille 1182-84
(iv) Matilda of Castille 1183?-1204
(v) Urraca of Castille 1186-1220 m. ALPHONSO II OF PORTUGAL
(vi) Blanche of Castille m. LOUIS VIII OF FRANCE
(vii) Ferdinand of Castille 1189-1216
(viii) Constance of Castille b 1196?
(ix) Eleanor of Castille 1200-44 m. JAMES I OF ARAGON
(x) Constance of Castille 1203?-43
(xi) HENRY I OF CASTILLE 1204-1217
(7) Joanna of England 1165-99 m. (1) WILLIAM II OF SICILY (2) Raymond VI of Toulouse
Issue:- by (2)
(i) Raymond VII of Toulouse
(ii) Richard of Toulouse b. & d. 1199
(8) KING JOHN 1167-1217 m. (1) Isabella of Gloucester (2) Isabella of Angouleme
Issue:- by (2)
(i) HENRY III 1207-72 m. Eleanor of Provence
(ii) Richard, Earl of Cornwall 1209-72 m. (1) Isabella Marshall (2) Sanchia of Provence
(iii) Joanna of England 1210-38 m. ALEXANDER II, KING OF SCOTS
(iv) Isabella of England 1214-41 m. FREDERICK II HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR
(v) Eleanor of England b.1215 m. (1) William Marshall (2) Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester

+- Henry I, Beauclerc (1069-1135 AD)

Early Life
Henry I was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders and was born between May, 1068 and May, 1069 probably at Selby in Yorkshire. He was named Henry after his mother's maternal uncle, King Henry I of France. On the death of his father, Normandy was bequeathed to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, England was left to the third son, William Rufus (a second son, Richard, had been killed whilst hunting in the New Forest) and to the youngest, Henry, he left a large sum of money.

Henry I of England
Henry seized England's crown on the death of his brother, William Rufus. He had been present on the hunting expedition in the New Forest which resulted in Rufus' death, either by accident or design and left abruptly and in indecent haste to seize the treasury at Winchester. The finger of suspicion has been pointed at Henry of complicity in his brother's death, Rufus was at the time refusing to sanction Henry's plans to marry the (half Saxon) Scottish Princess Edith.
Henry I was crowned at Westminster on 1st August, 1100 and granted a popular coronation charter, promising to reform the abuses of his brother's reign. He imprisoned the despised Ranulf Flambard, Rufus' chief justiciar, thereby evoking the popular support of the English people.

Appearance and Character
Unlike Rufus, Henry had been born in England, which endeared him to the Saxon people. The historian William of Malmesbury leaves us with a contemporary description:-
'He was of middle stature, his hair was black, but scanty near the forehead; his eyes were mildly bright, his chest brawny, his body well fleshed. He was facetious in proper season, nor did multiplicity of business cause him to be less pleasant when he mixed in society. Not prone to personal combat, he verified the saying of Scipio Africanus, 'My mother bore me a commander not a soldier;' wherefore he was inferior in wisdom to no king of modern time; and I may also say, he clearly surpassed all his predecessors in England and preferred contending by counsel, rather than by the sword. If he could he conquered without bloodshed; if it was unavoidable, with as little as possible.'
Henry was well educated and able to read and write in English and Latin, from which was coined his nick-name 'Beauclerc, which was bestowed on him in the fourteenth century.

Henry further cemented his popularity, particularly among the Saxons, by marrying Edith of Scotland, the daughter of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots and the Saxon St. Margaret (the sister of Edgar Atheling, of the Saxon Royal House) Edith, or Matilda, as she came to be known after her marriage, proved to be a good and much respected Queen.
Following the example of her saintly mother, Edith devoted herself to good causes, and often washed the feet of the poor. Though Henry was seldom faithful to his Queen, their's was generally considered a good and happy marriage by Royal standards and helped to unite the rival claims of the Norman and Saxon Houses. Henry invited the much respected Anselm to return to England, a popular move, he had obviously learned from the mistakes of Rufus and was determined not to repeat them.
Henry I proved to be a serial adulterer and begat more illegitimate children than any other English King , in all he fathered twenty bastards, by a continuous string of mistresses. One of these was the beautiful Nesta, Princess of Wales, who became the mother of the King's son, Henry. By far the most famous of Henry's illegitimate offspring was Robert of Caen, later created Earl of Gloucester, he was born in 1090, by a Norman mother, before Henry came to the English throne and was later to play a leading part on the stage of English history. Sybil, his daughter by Sybil Corbet, who was born in the 1090's was married to Alexander 'the Fierce', King of Scots, the brother of Henry's Queen, Edith.

The Conquest of Normandy
Ranulf Flambard, imprisoned in the Tower of London, affected a daring escape and joined Robert Curthose in Normandy in 1101. Robert, being the elder brother, considered England to be his just inheritance and war broke out over the issue. Robert invaded England on his return from the First Crusade, but agreement was finally reached between them whereby Robert renounced his claims to England in return for Henry's Norman lands and a pension.
Henry later led an English army into Normandy which he took from his feckless brother at the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. The Saxons felt that fifty years later, the humiliation of Hastings had been truly avenged. Robert was held prisoner by his brother for the rest of his life and died in captivity at the age of eighty.
Henry I destroyed the power of the tyrannical Robert of Belleme. He set up a regular system of administration, ably aided by his minister Roger of Salisbury, who commended himself to the King by the speed he could get through mass. Henry clashed with Anselm over the rights of the church but eventually came to an agreement with him.

The Tragedy of the White Ship
Although he had many illegitimate children, Henry had only three children by his wife, Edith. Two sons, William, known as the Atheling, for his descent from the ancient Saxon Royal House and Richard. His daughter Matilda, or Maud, had been married in political alliance to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, in childhood. She had spent most of her life in Germany. Richard pre-deceased his father.
Tragedy struck when Henry's only remaining legitimate son, William, on returning from campaign in Normandy, was drowned in the English Channel in the wreck of the White Ship. William had got away in a lifeboat but went back for his illegitimate sister, the Countess of Perche, when his boat was overturned. Henry was overcome with immense grief.
In the hope of begetting another male heir to secure the succession, the King married for a second time to the young and beautiful Adelicia of Louvain, but the marriage produced no issue. After the death of her husband the Emperor, he recalled his daughter, by now known as the Empress, to England. He named her as his heiress and made the barons swear fealty to her.
The proud and haughty Matilda was ordered reluctantly into a marriage with the fifteen year old Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of the Count of Anjou, whom she personally loathed, a dislike which was reciprocated in full measure by her intended spouse. The marriage made an ally of Henry's erstwhile enemy, Fulk of Anjou. When the reluctant and quarrelsome pair were finally ordered by Henry I to do their duty and produce an heir to his throne, a son, the future Henry II, was born. Henry rejoiced that his dynasty was now secure and crossed to Normandy to see his new grandson, namesake and heir. The old king was said to have doted on the child.

The Death of Henry I
In 1135, Henry again crossed to Normandy to see his two grandsons, Henry and his younger brother, Geoffrey, in whom the ageing king took great delight, dandling the young Henry on his knee.
During his visit, he quarreled violently with the overbearing Matilda and her husband. Henry was now an ageing lion, these quarrels with his daughter affected him badly and he died in Normandy on 1st December, 1135 at St. Denis le Fermont, from food poisoning, due to over indulging of his favourite dish of lampreys, which his doctors had forbidden him.
His body was returned to England and was buried at Reading Abbey.
After Henry's death, despite his oath of alliegiance, the throne was seized by his nephew Stephen. Nineteen years of Civil War were to follow as Stephen and Matilda became locked in a bitter struggle for possession of the crown. In in 1153, a compromise was reached in the Treaty of Wallingford. By its terms, Stephen was to retain the crown for the remainder of his lifetime, whereupon it would revert to Matilda's son, Henry and his heirs.
King Stephen died of an apoplexy, the following year and was succeeded by Henry's grandson, Henry II, who became the the first of the great Plantagenet dynasty.

The Illegitimate Children of Henry I
Although he had only three children by his wife, Edith of Scotland, Henry I had more illegitimate children than any other British monarch, numbering twenty-four in all:-
(1) Robert of Caen, Earl of Gloucestercirca 1090-1147
(2) Sybil circa 1090-1122 m. Alexander I of Scotland, daughter of Sybil Corbet
(3) Reginald de Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall c.1103-1175 son of Sybil Corbet
(4) William b. circa 1105 possibly the son of Sybil Corbet
(5) Rohese m. Henry de la Pomerai, possibly the daughter of Sybil Corbet
(6) Gundred possibly the daughter of Sybil Corbet
(7) Robert, d. 1172 son of Edith of Greystoke
(8) Richard c.1099-1120 son of Ansfride
(9) Juliane b. circa 1090 m. Eustace de Pacy, daughter of Ansfride
(10) Maud d.1120 m. Rotrou, Count of Perche, daughter of Edith, she drowned in the White ship.
(11) Maud m. Conan III, Duke of Brittany
(12) Alice m. Matthew de Montmoremci, Constable of France
(13) Constance m. Roscelin de Beaumont, Viscount of Maine
(14) Maud, Abbess of Montvilliers
(15) Isabel b. circa 1120 daughter of Isabel of Meulan
(16) Fulk, possibly son of Ansfride
(17) Gilbert b. circa 1130
(18) William de Tracy d. circa 1140
(19) Henry c. 1105-1157 son of Nesta, Princess of South Wales
(20) Sybil of Falaise m. Baldwin de Boullers
Henry had at least another three illegitimate daughters whose names have gone unrecorded.