The Angevin # 4: Henry II part 2: All Hail the King!

King Henry II as played by Peter O'Toole in "The Lion in Winter"

So when we left 20 year old Henry in the Autumn of 1152, through his political guile and strategical military gamesmanship, he become the undisputed master of nearly the entire western half of France; he was married to arguable the most powerful woman in the realm; had certain legal protections from the church; and cowed the King of France himself into truce. With his traitorous brother in his custody and King Louie defeated, licking his wounds, Henry set his sights on his last remaining enemy, his 2nd cousin, King Stephen of England. For 18 years now Stephen and Henry's mother Matilda had been locked in a Norman civil war for the inheritance of King Henry I, Matilda's father and Stephen's uncle. At stake was the Duchy of Normandy in France and the crown of the whole of England.

Robert of Glouchster and Empress Matilda

Matilda, and subsequently her son Henry had control of Normandy thanks mostly to the efforts of Count Geoffrey of Anjou, Matila's 2nd husband and Henry's father. But England proved to be a much tougher nut to crack for Matilda's forces lead by her half brother, Robert of Gloucester.

But before we see how Henry will finally end the stalemate lets have a look at four points of interest that have come about because of recent events:

1. The devious couple

Abbott Suger

As Henry's conflict with King Louie ended, behind closed doors and in whispered tones peasant and noble alike spoke of the unsavory nature that had brought them to this point. Abbott Suger's death, Louie and Eleanor's annulment, and Henry's marriage to Eleanor was looked at with new feelings of intrigue and fear of the new marital alliance. The circumstances of Suger's death and replacement was of particular interest. The news out of Saint Denis abbey was that he had died of malaria in the night; but some questioned that he had been fine the preceding days and that malaria had not been seen in the Seine River basin since the days of Rollo? The abbey monks used the fear of Malaria outbreak as the reason for the hasty funeral and burial. Then there was Bernard of Clairvaux's swift appointment; he was literally waiting in the wings when his name was put forward and pressed he just so happened to be at court the day news reach the king of his old family friend's death? And finally the controversial marriage, taking place so soon after the annulment, where most bishops would have had them wait. Though no accusations were ever made public in her time, many chroniclers and historians view Eleanor with a great deal of suspicion in regards to these events and believe that in an age of chivalry (and out of fear) no one of the time would have dared point in her direction without overwhelming evidence. She had made many friends and allies within the clergy during the year of preparation for and during her journey of the 2nd Crusade, including Bernard. It was known fact that she had developed a disdain for her husband and wanted a more politically active role. And the cathedral that the marriage took place was one in her territory, that her family had donated to over the years. The questions many historians ask now are: Did Eleanor conspire these events with Bernard or at least members of his entourage upon her first meeting of Henry, when he, Bernard, and Louie all met to negotiate? Did Eleanor have Abbott Suger, the man that was preventing her from leaving Louie, killed and his murder covered up? Was Eleanor behind the church's approval of Henry's political tactics? And if all this is true, how much did Henry know? The fact that he was at the Anjou's southern border with Aquitaine, and not at his family's castle in Angers, or his new territory of Normandy, and being not to far away from Eleanor's proposed meeting place suggests he may have had some forward knowledge. It would not be so far fetched of a member of a Plantagenet family that many have accused of being "of the devil."

2. The Vexin

You have heard me name the region twice during the last post, and it will be mentioned a couple more times before our Angevin adventure is over, but what exactly is the Vexin and why is it so important? The Vexin is a wide and lush plateau that connects the north eastern coast of France to the expansive Seine River Valley and Basin (which right in the middle of sits Paris itself). To the medieval noble or warrior, the Vexin's easy terrain, abundant fresh water sources, and fields of grains make it perfect marching grounds for a large military force; whether you are coastal raiders looking to strike inland, like Rollo and his vikings or a French King looking to exercise his authority over certain troublesome nobles like the Dukes of Normandy or the Counts of Flanders. Just how much strategic importance has been put on this area over the centuries is evident in the numerous castles or ruins of castles that dot the landscape. Louie losing the Vexin and Eleanor to Henry would spark a hatred for the Normans and Angevins, and particularly the Plantagenet family; and that hatred would continue down his bloodline into his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

  3. The Norman Divide

The English civil war known as The Anarchy was more than an individual nation's civil war, it was a civil war within a multinational people. The Normans, since Rollo, have been a united people whether it was joint efforts under the Dukes of Normandy to undermine the French King's authority or their united campaign to topple the Saxons lords of England. Sure groups of Normans broke off to go claim fame and fortune else were in the medieval world; helping the Spaniards reconquer their lands from the Muslims, establishing the Kingdom of Sicily or one of the Christian Outremer nations, or hired as a formidable mercenary armies for one of the Italian city-states, but never had they fought each other on such a wide scale. This war rent of fissure in them, turning long time friends and allies against one another; but also bringing out the worst of ambition and greed in others, using the chaos to expand their own personal wealth and power at the expense of their fellow Normans. And since a good number of these lords held land in both France and England, the war started to have the effect of making individual Norman lords prioritize which side of the English Channel was more important to them. A political divide had started to create a cultural divide as the English Normans started to abandon their lands in France and French culture in favor of melding their Norman traditions with that of the Saxon peasantry of their English lands; including the slow transition of preferring to speak in the English tongue over the language of France. Even after peace would finally come this split starts to become more and more apparent as the decades and generations go by. By the end of John's reign in 1216 there will be two distinct people, the English and the French Normans. But the beginnings of this split will bring our next point....

 4. A Magnates' Peace

As I have stated before the civil war has been dragging on for almost two decades now and by this point many of the nobles and knights are just tired and want to get back to the work of making their lands profitable again. And as we just discussed above, some Normans do not see the point in dividing up their time, resources, and energy between their lands in England and their lands in France, especially in these hostile times. The magnates, powerful nobles who had armies of their own and lesser noble vassals under them, but were not necessarily part of either Stephen or Matilda's inner circle sought to lessen their roles and participation in the war. Especially when the two main protagonists, Matilda and Stephen, seemed to have lost some interest and had left the fighting to their children, Henry and Eustace. These nobles starting making separate truces with one another without the consent of their liege lords. Ranulf, the Earl of Chester and Duke Robert Beaumont of Leicester agreed to a non aggression pact, and that if either of them are forced to fight the other they would use no more than 20 knights each against each other. John Marshal, Baron of Marlborough, and Earl Patrick of Salisbury created a binding truce by John divorcing his wife and marrying Patrick's daughter. Other such and varies arrangements were being made all over England between the lords of places like Derby, Chester, Lester, North Hampton, and more.

King Stephen and his son Count Eustace IV of Boulogne

 And so getting back to our story, the leaders of the factions needed to do something fast or an unintended piece would accidentally break out, perish the thought. His father dead, his mother Matilda's right hand man, Robert of Gloucester dead, and Matilda herself, one foot in the grave, retired to a priory, Henry took up sole leadership of the claim for the English crown and his first act would be a bold and unexpected deployment. In the midst of terrible winter storms Henry was to bring an army across the English Channel in January of 1153, to relieve his families supporters. Because things had settled down in France and the French Normans were trying to rebuild; none wanted to commit their own forces and instead gave Henry enough to fund a large mercenary force. But upon arrival, before he could start a new offensive against Stephen he had to get his own house in order.

There had been much infighting since Robert of Gloucester's death and many were not happy with Ranulf of Chester, who had switched sides a couple of times during the coarse of the war, bullying his way into a leadership position and having a non-aggression pact with Duke Robert Beaumont of Leicester. Henry re-excreted his control over his forces, making Ranulf share second in command with Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. With that settled the next step was to rescue two of his mothers most loyal supporters from starvation. If you recall King Stephen had laid siege upon Wallingford castle while Henry was occupied with the forces of King Louie VII of France. Roger Fitzmiles, Duke of Hereford, and Brien Fitzcount, the bastard half brother of the Duke of Brittany, had held the castle for about a year now, having repelled Stephens forces from taking the castle on a number of occasions. However, food was running out and they would soon face the choice of surrender or starvation. Henry deceived Stephen's forces in thinking he was about to lay siege to the castle of Malmesbury. When Stephen rode out to intercept Henry he took the army surrounding Wallingford with him giving Roger and Brien the relief they needed to resupply and regroup. As for catching Henry's smaller force in the open, Stephen would have no luck as Henry would skillfully keep the river Avon between them. With the winter weather getting worse and Stephen realizing that Malmesbury was never in danger and that he was back at square one in Wallingford, he agreed to a temporary truce with Henry where both would wait out the rest of the winter before resuming hostilities. Henry used the truce to travel north and there brokered a deal with the powerful Robert Beaumont, delivering the Duke of Leicester's sizable force to Henry's cause. This was a massive blow to Stephen as Beaumont was head of nearly a quarter of his army and he had relied on the Duke to be a bulwark against any possible future aggression from the King of Scotland. Again, like in France, Henry had combined military trickery and political opportunism to turn the odds against his enemy.

Stamford and Ipswich

But spring would show why Stephen had held out all those years against Henry's uncle Robert. During the Easter season Stephen would when dual victories only days apart; the rebel city of Ipswich, whose forces were being led by Hugh Bigod fell and the Earl taken into custody. Stephen then broke Henry's siege of Stamford, sending Henry into a full retreat but again unable to catch him. The tide of the war was again turning in Stephens favor. Henry and his forces were at a stand still; besides making a few small scale raids into enemy territory Henry could not find a foothold to make any meaningful gains. Just as Stephen was riding this high and planning his next move his 26 year old son and heir Eustace died suddenly and mysteriously in August. No one knows exactly what happened but many historians believed he was poisoned in his sleep, but by whom is a matter of contention; whether it was an agent of Henry's or a member of the clergy as Eustace was openly hostile to the Church's involvement in governance and would raid and burn cathedrals and monasteries to plunder them for funds to pay his military efforts against the Plantagenets. No one really grieved his death except his father who William of Newburgh said:

"grieved beyond measure by the death of the son whom he hoped would succeed him; he pursued warlike preparations less vigorously, and listened more patiently than usual to the voices of those urging peace."

But as for the opinions of most of English and French, the Anglo-Saxon chronicler of Peterborough puts it:

"He was struck down by the wrath of God for he was an evil man and did more harm than good wherever he went; he spoiled the lands and laid thereon heavy taxes"

Wallingford Castle

 Stephen made one last attempt to end the war, he brought to bear nearly the entirety of all forces loyal to him to renew the siege of Wallingford castle, for once that fell it would open the way to a full on assault of the remainder of Henry's lands on the English side of the channel. The siege force was one of the largest ever seen in England and Henry feared all his efforts would soon come crashing down if he did not prevent the castle from falling. He mustered as much of his forces as he could in short notice, not able to wait for the new massive amount of men he had just acquired from his deal with Duke Robert Beaumont, and march to break the siege before it could possible begin. Just as Stephen arrived at Wallingford and started to set up his siege engines, news arrived of Henry's eminent arrival. He turned his forces around, this time determined to force young Henry into an open field battle. the two armies faced each other over a ford at the river Thames. But something remarkable happened, something you may have seen coming if you were paying attention to the beginning parts of this post.

The armies did not heed the calls to charge, they refused to fight and demanded that Henry and Stephen broker a lasting peace. For the next two months the armies stared down each other from either side of the river while King Stephen and Henry Plantagenet negotiated the terms of peace. So in November of 1153 the Treaty of Winchester/Wallingford was signed. While varies promises were made to release prisoners and exchange lands by both sides the main stipulations were that all foreign mercenaries were to be disbanded and sent home and Stephen would adopt Henry as his son and heir to the throne of England and Count of Bois, meanwhile Stephan's remaining son William would have the protection of Henry from all that would do him harm in retaliation against Stephen or Eustace and that William would be named Count of Boulogne. The treaty was oversaw by and given church binding by the arch-bishop of the cathedral of Winchester and Henry and Stephen sealed it with the kiss of peace. Satisfied Henry would personally escort 16 year old William to his new county in France and wait out the rest of the reign of King Stephen, acting as a mentor and advisor to the boy. For the next couple of months Stephen would would be setting his kingdom straight, preparing the kingdom for the transition of power; riding up to York to re-establish his authority with the northern barons and receiving pledges to be vigilante against the Scots, then riding to the Welsh borders and receiving reassurances from the powerful and militant marcher lords that they would remain vigilant against the Welsh. He even received the Count of Flanders as a guest in the city of Dover in the late summer to ask the powerful rival of the French king to keep an eye out if Louie would attempt to take advantage of his son William. But by then people started to notice a marked decline in Stephan's health  Nearly a year after the treaty that ended the war that plagued his entire reign, on October 25, 1154, King Stephen died to complications with an unknown "stomach illness", which historians believe may have been cancer. And so after the King's burial, next to his son Eustace in the Faversham Abby, and after the respected mourning period, on December 8, 1154 in Westminster Abby in London, Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou and Bois, was crowned King of England and the powerful Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine was crowned his Queen. 22 year old King Henry II was now one of the most powerful men in all of western Europe, having as much if not more money and man power as the King of France and almost as much territory as the Emperor of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.