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''This is the page for '''King Henry II of England''' .''<br>
''You may be looking for [[Henry II of Cyprus|King Henry II of Cyprus and Jerusalem]]''
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'''King Henry II''' (March 25, 1133 - July 6, 1189), was the first of the [[Angevin]] [[king]]s. He was a highly effective king who did not hesitate to break a few [[egg]]s if he wanted to make an omelette.

Henry came to the [[throne]] in a [[kingdom]] that was in anarchy after [[King Stephen]]'s [[reign]]. He got the [[Baron]]s into line with remarkable speed. The bulk of his lands were however in [[France]], having acquired [[Normandy]] and Anjou through inheritance and much of south-west France through marriage to [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]]. It was because of these land holding that the [[English Monarchs|English Kings]] claimed the [[throne]] of France until the [[15th Century]].

Henry II received a lot of bad press due to the murder of [[Thomas Beckett]], but it was all a misunderstanding. Honest.

Henry's family was beyond dysfunctional. Eleanor spent most of her married life in [[prison]] and his sons were regularly at odds with him. [[Richard I|Richard]] even attacked Henry with the aid of [[Louis VII]] of France. Still, Henry managed to outlive two of his sons. Henry's legacy was squandered though when Richard lost his [[money]] [[crusade|crusading]] and getting captured, while [[John Lackland]] justified his father's lack of faith in him by losing his French posessions as well as the respect of the Barons.

On the other hand, his antecedents were impressive.  His mother was a king's daughter, Augusta (also ''Maude'' and ''Matilda''), daughter of [[Henry I]] of England (son of the [[William the Conqueror|Conqueror]]) and Matilda of [[Scotland]] (herself daughter of the Scots king [[Malcolm III]]), and widow of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] before her re[[marriage]].  His father was Geoffrey [[Plantagenet]], [[Count]] of Anjou, son of Count Fulk (who had also been [[King]] of [[Jerusalem]]) and of Erembourg (or ''Ermentrude''), [[Countess]] of Maine.  The (slight) blot on the [[escutcheon]] was, of course, the [[legend]] that, back in history, the counts of Anjou were descended, in some way, from the demi-demon ''Melusine''.

==== A Contemporary Eye ====

[[Gerald of Wales]] described King Henry as follows, in his 1188 [[book]] ''The Conquest of [[Ireland]]'': <br>
:... hair that was almost red in colour, grey eyes and a large round head.  His eyes were bright, and in anger fierce, and flecked with red.  He had a fiery complexion, his voice was husky, his neck bent forward a little from his shoulders, and he had a broad chest and powerful arms.  His body was fleshy, and he had a very large belly, naturally so, and not due to the effects of gluttony 

Gerald also noted that he used immense amounts of exercise both to mitigate his plumpness and to bring his body firmly under his mind's control.

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Preceded by:<br>[[King Stephen]]
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[[English Monarchs]]
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Succeeded by:<br>[[Richard I]]
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== External Links ==
* http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England


[[Category:12th century]]
[[Category:Monarchs (medieval)]]
[[category:people (medieval)]]