Henry cultivated small border states; the most important was Maurienne, whose counts held the keys of every pass between Italy and north-western Europe. In 1171 Count Humbert, having no son, proposed marriage of his eldest daughter to John. The contract settled his territories on the pair for five thousand marks of English silver, signed before Christmas 1172. Henry summoned Young Henry to a meeting with Humbert at Montferrand before Candlemas, joined by the count of Vienne, the count of Toulouse, and the king of Aragon. Henry’s influence was so high that Raymond of Toulouse agreed to choose him as arbiter in a quarrel with Aragon. Raymond did homage to the two Henrys for Toulouse, promised like homage at Whitsuntide to Richard as duke, and pledged military service and yearly tribute.
The infant heiress of Maurienne was placed under Henry’s care; Humbert asked what provision Henry intended for John. Henry proposed Chinon, Loudun, and Mirebeau. But the Angevin lands, formally invested in Young Henry, could not be dismembered without his consent; he angrily refused. According to one tale, only Raymond of Toulouse’s warning opened Henry’s eyes to the danger from his own wife and children. By Raymond’s advice Henry started with a small escort under hunting pretext and carried his son toward Normandy. They reached Chinon about Mid-Lent; Young Henry slipped away by night to Alençon, then Argentan, and before cock-crow fled over the French border to Louis’s court. Henry’s messengers were told: “Your master is king no longer—here stands the king of the English!”
Henry at once strengthened Norman border fortresses and ordered castellans throughout Anjou, Britanny, Aquitaine, and England to do likewise. Before Lent closed the old prophecy was fulfilled: his “lion-cubs” openly sought his prey. Whether sent by Eleanor or fetched by their eldest brother, Richard and Geoffrey joined Young Henry at the French court. Eleanor, caught trying to follow disguised as a man, was placed in confinement. Louis espoused the rebels; at Paris council he and his nobles swore to help the young king and brothers against their father, while the brothers pledged fidelity to Louis. Young Henry began purchasing allies by pensions and territories, sealed with a new seal made by Louis’s order; his original chancellor Richard Barre loyally carried the old seal back to the elder king.
Nearly three months passed before war broke out; the rebel list showed the Angevin empire a hotbed of treason, almost confined to one class. In Aquitaine the restless barons, smarting from 1169, were eager: the count of Angoulême, nobles of Saintonge, Geoffrey of Lusignan and his young brother Guy. Anjou furnished only five traitors, three from the Ste.-Maure house. Maine supplied seven, including Brachard of Lavardin and Bernard of La Ferté. Normandy was the true focus: Robert of Montfort, Simon of Evreux, the count of Eu, the count of Aumale, the counts of Ponthieu and Alençon, Robert of Meulan, his cousin the earl of Leicester (married to the heiress of Grandmesnil), Hugh of Chester, the aged Hugh Bigod, Earl Robert of Ferrers, Hamo de Massey, Richard de Morville, the Mowbrays, Geoffrey of Coutances, Roger de Mowbray and his sons. Among them was William the Marshal. Most were more Norman than English; the revolt was essentially a feudal reaction against the king’s repressive policy.
CHAPTER IV. — THE GREAT REBELLION OF 1173–1174
By the close of 1172 the stage was set for the storm about to break. Henry, fresh from the conquest of Ireland and the submission of the Welsh princes, had pushed forward his anti-feudal policy with redoubled energy. The great inquest into the conduct of sheriffs, begun in 1170, was followed by an inquiry into the condition of royal forests and demesnes; commissioners were sent into every shire to recover what had been lost and assess every manor of the Crown. In a ceremony without English precedent, Henry had his eldest son crowned a second time at Winchester in the presence of Eleanor of Aquitaine and a great gathering of prelates and barons, to give the boy-king an authority independent of his father. The coronation, intended to confirm the young king’s dignity, proved the signal for feudal discontent: barons who had long borne Henry’s strict rule saw in the crowned boy a natural rallying-point; secret meetings multiplied at the courts of Louis VII and Eleanor, and rumours of plots grew louder.
By spring 1173 the discontent burst into flame. The young king offered the count of Blois a pension and Château-Renaud and Amboise; Philip of Flanders the earldom of Kent and English gold; Matthew of Boulogne the soke of Kirton-in-Lindsey and the Norman county of Mortain. More dangerous was his bargain with William the Lion of Scotland, who took all Northumberland up to the Tyne, with Huntingdon confirmed and Cambridge newly granted to his brother David. Only three prelates lent open encouragement: William the new archbishop of Bordeaux, Arnulf of Lisieux, and Hugh of Durham.
The first hostile movement came from Flemish irregulars who crossed the Seine at Pacy, only to be driven back by townsfolk. Henry II, who had spent Easter at Alençon, appeared unconcerned at Rouen, hunting while secretly filling vacant sees, installing Ralf of Varneville as chancellor, and writing to the Emperor of the East, the king of Sicily, and other rulers for sympathy. His one dependable force was twenty thousand Brabantine mercenaries; according to Geoffrey of Vigeois he pawned his coronation sword for their wages. The chief English rebels, the earls of Leicester and Chester, joined his son in Normandy, and in early June Robert of Leicester and William of Tancarville landed at the young king’s side.
Henry crossed to England in late June, gathered treasure at Northampton, issued instructions, and returned to Rouen so secretly his absence passed unnoticed. His justiciars struck first: on July 3 Richard de Lucy and Earl Reginald of Cornwall besieged Leicester with the national levy. After three weeks the town was fired and forced to surrender; its citizens purchased their lives with a fine of three hundred marks, its leaders fleeing to the great abbeys.
Three days before Leicester fell, an arrow from a Brabantine crossbowman—or, some say, an unknown marchese—gave Matthew of Boulogne his death-wound, dissolving his Flemish host. A fortnight later Henry relieved Verneuil, which Hugh de Lacy and Hugh de Beauchamp had defended against Louis of France. Louis seized the town under truce, set it ablaze, and fled. Henry had his revenge at Dol, where Hugh of Chester and Ralf of Fougères had retired with Breton plunderers. Besieged by the Brabantines and the populace of the Avranchin, Dol surrendered on August 26 with its leaders and a hundred knights; the Breton revolt collapsed. A meeting near Gisors, at which Henry offered his sons half his realms, broke up when Leicester drew his sword on his sovereign. Leicester sailed from Wissant on Michaelmas day, landed at Walton, joined Hugh Bigod at Framlingham, and burned Haughley castle.
The original text of this work is in the public domain. This page focuses on a guided summary article, reading notes, selected quotes, and visual learning materials for educational purposes.