England under the Angevin Kings, Volumes I and II

CHAPTER VIII. (Part 1 of 2)

HENRY DUKE OF THE NORMANS. 1149–1154

Henry Fitz-Empress, future Henry II, was a child of three warring realms. His mother Matilda was Henry I’s daughter with Scottish and Saxon blood; his father Geoffrey was count of Anjou. Born at Le Mans in contested Maine, he was all three. An infant when he first visited Normandy with Matilda in 1134, he spent early childhood in Anjou under Master Peter of Saintes before being sent to England at age 10 in 1142 to live with Robert of Gloucester at Bristol under Master Matthew, who taught him letters and courtly manners and later served as his chancellor. Bristol, the “stepmother of all England,” was war-ravaged, but Robert was a knightly model. Henry rejoined Geoffrey in Anjou in 1147, just before Robert died of fever that November; Matilda abandoned England in spring 1148.

In 1149, 16-year-old Henry was granted Normandy by Geoffrey. That May he launched his first campaign, landing in England with a small force, recruiting his mother’s supporters, and being knighted by King David of Scotland at Carlisle. Stephen retaliated by knighting his son Eustace as rival heir. Henry’s joint campaign with David against Lancaster collapsed when Ralf of Chester broke his word. Henry withdrew to Normandy; meanwhile, Theobald, Becket, Bernard, and Murdac laid groundwork for his claim, aided by Stephen’s blunders.

Theobald’s household, including Becket (educated at Bologna and Auxerre), introduced Roman law. In 1149, Vacarius lectured on Roman law at Oxford until Stephen, threatened by Henry’s presence, banned him. The ban spread the study further. Stephen feuded with Murdac, fining Beverley for sheltering him, and insulted a papal legate. The Pope granted Theobald a permanent legatine commission, making him undisputed English Church head. Stephen reconciled with Murdac to support Eustace’s succession; Murdac was enthroned at York in 1151 and traveled to Rome to ask Eugene to recognize Eustace as heir.

Louis VII, whose marriage to Eleanor produced no sons, sought divorce, opposed by Suger until his death in January 1152. A Beaugency council annulled the marriage on consanguinity grounds; Eleanor, fleeing forced marriages to Theobald of Blois and Henry’s brother Geoffrey, offered herself and Aquitaine to Henry. They married at Poitiers at Whitsuntide 1152, making Henry the most powerful French feudal lord. Louis allied with Eustace, Robert of Dreux, Henry of Champagne, and Geoffrey against Henry. Henry crushed them, blockading Geoffrey at Montsoreau until he surrendered, then made peace with Louis by ceding the Norman Vexin and doing homage for Normandy.

That September, Geoffrey died suddenly at 38, catching a fever after plunging into a river, leaving Henry his inheritance and advice not to impose Angevin customs on new territories. Stephen moved to crown Eustace co-heir, but Pope Eugene forbade any archbishop from performing the coronation. When Stephen demanded compliance, Becket helped Theobald escape to France, and bishops refused. Eustace ravaged the countryside but died suddenly in August 1153, choking on food at S. Edmund’s abbey after desecrating its lands—widely seen as divine punishment. With Eustace dead, Stephen had only young inexperienced sons; Henry was the clear successor.

CHAPTER VIII. (Part 2 of 2)

Henry crossed to England in early January 1153, landing on Epiphany; the first words he heard in church were: “Behold, the Lord the ruler cometh, and the kingdom is in his hand.” Within a week he took Malmesbury, blockading Bishop Roger’s impregnable keep. Stephen rushed to relieve it; the rivals met across the swollen Avon. A howling west wind drove rain, sleet and hail into Stephen’s army while Angevins had the wind at their backs. Stephen’s forces turned back, and Malmesbury surrendered. Henry marched to Wallingford, demolished Stephen’s wooden tower blocking the castle’s supply line, revictualled Brian Fitz-Count’s garrison, then besieged Crowmarsh. Stephen advanced to relieve it, but no battle was fought: barons, wanting both rivals as a check, seized on a bad omen (Stephen’s horse reared three times) to force a parley, agreeing a truce with Stephen promising to raze Crowmarsh within five days. No settlement was reached, and the rivals separated amid mutual accusations.

Behind the scenes, Theobald and the repentant Henry of Winchester worked for peace, recognizing Eustace as the main obstacle. Henry advanced, with Stamford, Nottingham, Reading, Barkwell and Warwick surrendering, and Earl Robert of Leicester’s adhesion placing 30 fortresses under his control. At Wallingford on November 6 1153, the sides agreed a treaty: Stephen and Henry would adopt each other as father and son, Stephen would remain king for life with Henry as justiciar, and Henry would succeed Stephen. The treaty’s ideal terms: 1115 unlicensed “adulterine castles” destroyed, lands seized since Henry I’s reign restored, trade and agriculture revived, sheriffs held accountable, and a single coinage enforced.

The treaty was ratified at a Winchester assembly in late November. Stephen accompanied Henry to London, where he was rapturously welcomed. At Oxford, nobles swore homage to Henry as future lord, reserving fealty to Stephen. At Dunstable, Henry protested when Stephen tried to exempt castles from destruction but let the matter rest. At Canterbury, Henry and Stephen met the Count and Countess of Flanders and discovered a plot by Flemish mercenaries to kill Henry; Stephen, allegedly aware and his nerves frayed by an accident befalling his eldest surviving son William, urgently sent Henry back to Normandy. Henry passed through Canterbury, sailed safely, and landed soon after Easter 1154.

Stephen, freed from civil war, gathered strength against rebellious northern castles, taking Drax in Yorkshire—his last military success. He traveled to Dover to meet the Count of Flanders, where his health collapsed. He died October 25 1153, eight days before All Saints’ Day, ending his 19-year reign of blunders. He was buried at Faversham Abbey beside his wife Matilda and son Eustace.

The primate and nobles sent word to Henry, who was suppressing a minor Norman rebellion. He arrived December 8 1153, landing at Portsmouth, was welcomed at Winchester and London, and was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on the Sunday before Christmas 1153. For the first time in 18 years, England was at peace, its king respected; as the English Chronicle noted, “no man durst do other than good, for the mickle awe of him.” The Angevin dynasty had begun.