Badass Women of History #7: Queen Tamar

Modern day Georgia

There is large strip of land, just south of Russia proper, north of Turkey, and in between the Black and Caspian seas, known as the Caucasus. It is a land that has been rife with conflict and war from as far back as when human civilization arrived there to this very day. It is also a place of exotic and unique beauty and culture. The good and the bad, the culture and the wars, all stem from it being a crossroad between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; a mix of peoples, ideas, and religions, that sometimes meld and sometimes clash. In the middle of this region is the country of Georgia. Georgia is a nation of people who relatively recently regained their independence from Russia in 1991, but whose history goes back to 1088 and who saw the height of their power in the late 12th and early 13th century; during which these fierce Eastern Orthodox Christians had their own empire that feared neither the viking Rus city-states to the north or the the fanatically Muslim Selijuq Turks to the south. For Georgia it was a time of greatness that saw their territory more than double, its treasury filled to the brim and an explosion of art, music, poetry, and literature. And at the center of it all, the architect of their success, was Queen Tamar.

King George III

On the cusp of this pinnacle ruled King George Bagrationi III. In 1177 the Bagrationi dynasty had just had its first crises of succession and civil war. The king's brother, Prince Denma, supported by a powerful group of nobles, tried to seize the throne for himself, claiming George was a bastard and not a true heir of their father; the legitimacy of this claim is unverifiable. After a couple of months and few short battles that saw most of the rebel lords captured, surrendered, or killed, Denma and his father-in-law, Ionae Orbeli, held up in a fortress in Lorhe (modern day Lori, Armenia). As the royal army approached, Denma feared what was left of his forces would not last long and so sent word to the leaders of the various Selijuq Turkish nations to their south, including the overlord of them all the Sultanate of Rum (the precursor of the Ottoman Empire) for aid in exchange for land in southern Georgia. But the king and his forces overtook the fortress before any help could arrive and Denma and Ionae begged for mercy. Upon hearing of Denma's defeat the Turks turned around to head back to their home territories, but word had still reached the king of the Muslim army's movements and in investigating learned of his brothers overtures to the Turk. Incensed that his brother would willingly give over the lives and ruler-ship of their fellow Orthodox Christians to the Muslim Turks, King George ordered his brother Denma be castrated, blinded, and imprisoned for life and that his entire branch of the family be banished. Denma would die a few months later in prison from infection of his punitive wounds. But George still worried about the loyalty of the nobles around him and what they may do when he was gone.

Gelati Cathedral

To preserve his family dynasty he had his 18 year old daughter Tamar crowned as co-ruler, insuring their was no break in continuity of rule between his death and the crowning of his successor and so there was no mistake who he demanded that successor be. When the nobles questioned his actions on the basis of Tamar being a woman the king replied,

"It does not matter whether a lion is a male or female; one knows a lion by its claws and you shall know Tamar by her actions"

The quote has got me curious about Tamar's earlier life which we know nothing about, did he know or witness something in her youth that made him comfortable to leave his volatile kingdom in his daughter's hands in an age where woman were not highly thought of militarily; and then to compare her to a lion? We will never know. Anyway, for the next 6 years Tamar would sit at her fathers side as his equal, but also as his apprentice, learning everything she needed to know to lord over her families realm and to protect its citizen's Christian faith. Then in March of 1184 King George passed away and Queen Tamar was crowned for a second time in Gelati Cathedral.

Qutlu Arslan (left)

It was not long since putting her father in the ground when already there was talk of dissatisfaction and criticism among the nobles and the clergy about being ruled by a woman, and rumors started to spread of the possibility of a coup. She needed to act quickly, as any of these men could have an army within the palace within days to over throw her. Problem was Tamar did not know who she could trust, which nobles were loyal and which were plotting against her. One name that did seem to come up repeatedly as a leader of the malcontents was her father's treasurer, Qutlu Arslan. Instead of implicating him in the open at court, she privately sent him messages that she would be willing to negotiate a power sharing deal with him and the other scheming nobles, insisting that they come in person so to make sure all grievances and wishes could be heard. Qutlu agreed and sent word to his secret co-conspirators. As they arrived at the palace they were shown to a private hall were they were entertained by dancers and given plenty of food and drink. Then her personal handmaidens were sent as negotiators and go-betweens; they explained the Queen's noted absence that she needed to keep up appearances at court in the main throne room, and could not be seen by the public showing weakness by abdicating some of her power. Tamar kept up the ruse for little over three days, pretending to negotiate, hearing offers relayed to her by her maidens and sending back counter offers. But it was all a delay as now she knew which nobles were still loyal and sent for their armies to surprise attack the troops of the rebel lords in their various locations, while their masters were busy feasting and thinking they had Tamar over a barrel. Finally, the Queen sent for Qutlu and his allies to appear in the throne room. They happily obliged, not knowing what had transpired throughout the kingdom the past couple of days. When the nobles arrived, to their shock and horror, the high ranking officers of their individual forces were on their knees in front of the Queen begging for mercy. She had Qutlu arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment and torture. Those nobles who swore upon the cross to never raise arms against her were allowed to leave, those that didn't were executed. She was half way to consolidating her power now that the nobles were in line; now to exert her control over the clergy.

The head of the Georgia Orthodox Church was Patriarch Michael IV Mirianisdze, who had been one of the most open and fiercest of critics of King George when he crowned his daughter. Michael did not oppose Tamar on any theological ground, but was of the belief that the princess would never have the strength to hold the kingdom together or defend the faith from the rising Muslim hoard to the south. He had worked to undermine her rule well before her father died, insisting that she needed to find a husband who could be crowned king before she could properly take the throne and some suspect that it was the priests under his command that passed communication between Qutlu and some of the nobles that were more distant from the capital of Tiblisi, hoping that if enough military and political pressure were placed on her she would come to him to negotiate a peace; were he could propose a marriage to one of the rebel lords of his choosing. It had not played out the way he had hoped and now was looking for a next move. Tamar was quit aware of the old holy man's schemes but again, like with Qutlu's respected status, could not risk indicting a revered member of the clergy in open court. Instead, she would play him at his own game. She called a Synod, a gathering of all the high ranking clergy of the country. At the Gelati Cathedral she humbled herself before the great priests of the land and their master, Patriarch Michael, stating:

"Judge according to righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil. Begin with me – if I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by upbringing and I by will, care for those souls whom God has entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, to escape eternal condemnation.… You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.”

The clergy were smitten with her humility and were in awe of her high esteem for them, for the rest of her reign the rank and file priests would do everything they could to support her. As for Patriarch Michael, he was not wholly convinced and wanted proof of her commitment to heed the church's advise (what he really meant was his guidance). But Tamar was not done, she held aloft a sealed scroll and claimed it was a marriage decree, conferring on whom ever the patriarch chose to be her husband a title and certain powers. The conditions were simple: her suitor had to be of noble christian birth, not be from the Georgia aristocracy, and not heir to the throne of any other existing nation. Michael was floored with glee, he had gotten what he wanted. But it dawned on him, he did not have the knowledge or contacts  to find a suitor that fit all the criteria of a noble outside of Georgia's ruling class. He turned to the one person Tamar knew he would have to go to for advice, her aunt Rusudan, who had diplomatic connections with the various Rus territories all over the northern Caucasuses and beyond. Many believe Rusudan was most likely in on Tamar's long term plan, but the patriarch suspected nothing. Rushadan told Michael of the "perfect match", an exiled Russian prince, who had his own small army and an axe to grind against Georgia's northern neighbors.

Prince Yuri Bogolyubsky was the commander of an army with no home. His grandfather had been ruler of the The Grand Principality of Kiev (a large chunk of modern day Ukraine), but both his grandfather and father had both died defending their realm from invasion from the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal. With his family's realm annexed into Vladimir-Suzdal, Yuri took what little was left of his former nation's military and wandered as a mercenary army, hoping to earn enough money and gain enough foreign support to one day reconquer his home. But so far, while many were willing to hire him and his men to help with minor peasant rebellions or defend against encroachments from the mongol Golden Horde, none wanted to make an enemy of Vladimir-Suzdal or have the increasingly belligerent and haughty Yuri involved in inter-Rus politics; the Russian nobility had basically disowned his family as one of their own. So when word reached him of the the proposed marriage he more than jumped at the chance. In fact, to prove his worthiness to Patriarch Michael, on his way south to Georgia he decided to conqueror two small principalities, Durdzuketi and Kundzeti, as a gift to the nobles of Georgia so those lands could be used as trade routes to the Rus lands. Before then all trade was done through their ally, Ossetia-Alania, who exacted a steep yet fair toll. But his and Patriarch's enthusiasm would soon come crashing down after the marriage ceremony and the patriarch unsealed the marriage decree to anoint Yuri with his new title and powers. Yuri was not named king, but king-consort and made protector of the frontiers. What this meant was he was not even co-ruler, he was subordinate to Tamar and he held no rank among the Bagrationi's families personal troops, just command of the militia's along Georgia's borders, first response peasants that were little more than cannon fodder to hold up any advancing force until the nobles could get their troops into position. This was not the glorious marriage alliance Yuri thought it would be to bring his family its former power. Yuri was enraged, and at the wedding feast made a drunken and violent spectacle of himself. Patriarch Michael, who himself felt tricked by Tamar and her aunt calmed Yuri and assured him that he would handle the Queen. Yuri and his army were sent to Leketi and Shirvani along the Caspian Sea, that if he could conquer them thus expanding Georgia from sea to sea, it would go along way in bringing the queen around. Yuri agreed and his army, along with the armies of a couple of nobles who were still trying to get back into the Queens good graces after Qutlu's failed coup, traveled east.

Queen Tamar with King David Soslan of Ossetia-Alania

Queen Tamar strung along the Patriarch for months as reports came back to court from the east of not only tales of Yuri's victories, but also of whispers of cruelty and drunkenness. Patriarch Michael would die before  the eastern conquests were complete and the next day the Queen asked for an annulment from her now loyal priesthood on grounds of the marriage not being consummated and Yuri's excessive drinking made him an unworthy match. The priests agreed and word was sent to Yuri of his dismissal. Enraged Yuri turned his army around to attack Tbilisi, but due to the rushed nature of the attack and half the Georgian nobles with him fearing what would happen to them after another failed coup, the insurrection was easily repelled. He was forced to negotiate and the Queen, who expressed regret for the series of events that had him leave his homelands of the Rus city states, offered him Georgian nobility status and gave him the post of royal ambassador to the Byzantine Empire; he and his forces were to leave for Constantinople and establish joint military relations between the nations. Yuri agreed and headed west, however this was a lie, he partnered with the rulers of the small nation of Circassians and gathered the forces of Georgian nobles who still wanted Tamar overthrown and from there made plans to conquer the country he felt was his by marriage. It was at this time Tamar received a welcomed guest to her Palace, Prince David Soslan of Ossetia-Alania. He had apparently been keeping tabs on Yuri since the conquest of their mutual neighbors, Durdzuketi and Kundzeti. When the Russian gained the Circassins as an ally, he saw the potential for his nation to be in a precarious strategic position, and so implored his aging father to allow him to seek a partnership with Georgia. Soslan was a distant relative of Tamar's, as his mother was also descended from Tamar's great-grandfather King George I. The 18th century Georgian historian Prince Vakhushti wrote of David "all that the Latin Crusader knights strove to be in spirit and body, Prince David was naturally." He was charming, polite, pious, gallant, a remarkable horseman, and a patron of the arts. Her aunt even praised him as "Hewn from stone and reared on wolf's milk." Tamar was smitten and agreed to the alliance on the condition that the Prince would court her and seek approval from the nobles and clergy to marry her. It would not take long for the marriage to happen and the Kingdom of Georgia and the Kingdom of Ossetia-Alania were joined together a few months later when David's father died and he made King. Tamer was made Queen-consort of Ossetia-Alania, and David, King-consort of Georgia. The two rode out with both nations military and drove Yuri from the Caucasuses, never to be heard of in history again. They would have two children together, George (who would become the IV) and a daughter named after her aunt, Rusudan. Their marriage would be the beginning of a golden age of prosperity for the entire region. It looked to be a fairy-tale happy ending, if not for the long feared and theorized Muslim threat from the south that finally reared its head, as the Turks saw the Orthodox Christian rise as a threat to their power and planned supremacy for the world.

King David Soslan and the Georgian/Armenian military

David would continue Yuri's wars against Shirvani and Azerbijan to expand Georgia's eastern frontiers. It finally came to an end with the Battle of Shamkor in June of 1195, were David's superior logistical and tactical mind out maneuvered a vastly numerically superior force. Azerbijan's Muslim overlords fled to the Selijuq Turks and the countries leaders agreed to be vassals of Queen Tamar. Hearing of Georgia's victories and prosperity, two Kurdish generals, the Mkhargrdzeli brothers, in Shah Armen (modern day Armenia), converted to Christianity and overthrow the Muslim lords who were vassals of the Sultan of Rum, Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah II. They pledged their loyalty to Queen Tamar and the Georgian Orthodox Church. It was a major coup for the Queen. For the next couple of years, almost a decade, David and the Mkhargrdzeli brothers marched the Georgian/Armenian/Ossentian army across most of the Caucasuses, expanding and consolidating Queen Tamar's power. It was a mini crusade that in their minds was freeing the christian lands from the barbaric Rus in the north and the heathen Muslims to the south. The people enjoyed an unrepresented time of plenty and wealth, numerous slaves were freed from Russian and Muslim slavers. Battle flags of Rus warlords and Islamic emirs, whose sight oft times terrified the people of the Caucasuses, now hung as trophies in churches and the halls of local lords; and a number of treasures thought lost during the early years of Muslim expansion were retrieved, including the 8th century jewel encrusted Icon of Our Lady of Khakhuli. But while the Rus backed away and stayed clear of the Georgian border, the Selijuq Turks looked on with hatred and indignation as they no longer held the populace in fear.

Icon of Our Lady of Khakhuli

Those Muslim Emirs who had lost territory to the Georgians held council with their overlord Sultan Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah II and a joint statement of the Selijuq Turk nations, signed by the Sultan of Rum was delivered to the Queen to remind her of her place and demand that while her and her subjects could continue to practice Christianity in a limited capacity, they must all acknowledge and swear fealty Islamic rule. She rejected the "warning", sending a message back to the Sultan saying

"Your proposal takes into consideration your wealth and the vastness of your armies, but fails to account for divine judgment, while I place my trust not in any army or worldly thing but in the right hand of the Almighty God and the infinite aid of the Cross, which you curse. The will of God--and not your own--shall be fulfilled, and the judgment of God--and not your judgment--shall reign!”

 The shocked Sultan sent a second demand, to be personally read out by one of his top Emirs to the Queen who delivered the statement in a condescending and haughty manor. This time the sultan's message was full of venom, calling her "a simpleton" and saying women can't rule because they are too "feeble minded". The envoy ended the letter with the Sultan's ultimatum, that if she did not either covert to Islam and marry him or become his Christian concubine, he would destroy her and her people. So enraged was Tamar's court that one of the Mkhargrdzeli brothers ran over and punched the Muslim noble in the face so hard that he sprawled out on the floor with several teeth knocked out. David grabbed the man off the floor and told him to tell the Sultan he would kill him on the battlefield and threw the envoy out of the courtroom.

Sultan of Rum

Erzurum Castle

In 1202, the Sultan's forces amassed in the valley of Basiani, just inside the Turkish border with Georgia, 37 miles north from his nearest stronghold, Erzurum castle. It was an estimated 400,000 strong spread out in various locations within the valley, waiting for more troops to come in. Meanwhile, David and Tamar could only amass about 65,000 on short notice, waiting for more to come in from the countryside and their vassal territories. They knew if the Sultan crossed over and started marching on Georgian towns the entire war would become a bloodbath quickly.  Tamar and David led their much smaller army to the cliff-side city of Vardzia. It was thought that if they can engage the Turks there, taking a fortified defensive position they may hold out long enough for the rest of the army to arrive. It was a desperate position, but options were limited. David and Mkhargrdzeli brothers were not at all convinced they could hold long and considered negotiating a peace. That night Tamar claims to have received a vision and told her husband to "have faith enough to leap into the jackal's jaw, God would not allow such a lowly creature to consume a lion." That morning Armenian scouts were able to identify which of the camp clusters was the senior officers and the Sultan himself. David came up with a

daring plan to attack the Sultan directly. The men wear nervous and feared that they would all be surrounded in a matter of minutes. Tamar, took off her shoes and climbed bare foot to the top of the cliff roof of the church and roused her and her husbands soldiers:

“My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before the multitude of enemies, for God is with us.... Trust God alone, turn your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the Cross of Christ"

The soldiers had no more doubt of King David's plan now. Queen Tamar climbed down and dressed in battle gear rode along side her husband to Basiani Valley. At northern the entrance of the Valley, Tamar stayed behind with a contingent of troops to stop any Turks from leaving the valley into Georgia and prayed for David's victory. David broke his troops into three sections with him commanding the middle and each of the Mkhargrdzeli brothers commanding the sections on his flanks. David charged in a surprise dawn attack. The Turks awoke to confusion and hurriedly tried to gear up and fight back. As the Turks started fighting back David feigned retreat making the enemy over confidant enough to try and chase them down without forming ranks. He led them into a bog and turned to fight. Meanwhile the Mkhargrdzeli brothers came in on both the Turkish flanks. During a pitched battle the Sultan's personal battle standard was seized and the Sultan himself injured, causing panic among his men. Other smaller camps tried to get around the battle to hit King David from behind but were harried and pushed back by Queen Tamar and her auxiliary force. The whole Turkish army disbanded in chaos and fell back to Erzurum castle, trying to figure out what just happened. The Turks would make numerous unsuccessful attempts to penetrate Georgia's borders during the years after, but never with the size of force they had as many of the emirs had lost faith in the Sultan.

Alexios I Megas Komnenos

Since then Queen Tamar fashioned herself as the true protector of Christendom in the middle east, a title zealously claimed by the Byzantine Emperor. Shipments of supplies and money sent to the crusader Outremer states from Tamar were constantly seized by the Byzantines masquerading as pirates or bandits. Tamar sent diplomatic envoys to the emperor to talk peace, but the emperor rejected the importance of such a backwater wannabe empire. So in 1204, Tamar financed an expeditionary force led by exiled Byzantine princes, Alexios Komenos and his brother David, to retake a portion of their former home. With the help of the Georgian military, the brothers claimed the entire southern coast of the Black Sea from the Empire and the Turks until a settlement was reached, negotiated by Tamar, that created the Trebizond Empire. Again Tamar had shown that she was a power to be reckoned with and respected by all sides. Her material support and trade with Outremer was never harried again, and the Emperor was willing to share the title of protector.

The Vani Gospels and The Knight in Panther Skins

Tamar's signature on her letter to John the Unworthy

 During the later half of her reign she used Georgia's vast wealth to care for the poor and to construct a multitude of churches and monasteries. One story goes that during a tour of her kingdom her caravan rode through a small village inhabited by the very poor. She stopped by the local church, which was dilapidated and near falling down. She had the priest call the heads of each family in the village to see her. Once assembled, she handed her ruby encrusted belt to a bodyguard to pluck out each gem. One ruby was given to each family and the gold of the belt given to the church. She was also a great patron of the arts, commissioning numerous works of art; music in  Latin, Georgian, and Arabic; and literature. Two famous works that came from her patronage is the Vani Gospels and the epic poem "The Knight in Panther Skins". The Vani Gospels were written by a Georgian monk, living abroad in Constantinople, whose name in history is only known as John the Unworthy. Tamar had wanted to fund his poor monastic mission in Constantinople, but John would not take her money believing it was for holy man to be charitable, not receive charity. So Tamar wrote to him that she would pay to have a manuscript of the 4 gospels written in Georgian and with many color illustrations. When the work was completed and delivered to the Queen she sent back a payment 5 times more than the agreed upon price.

Poet Shota Rustaveli

"The Knight in Panther Skins", written in 1205, is considered the greatest piece of literature to come from that part of the world with literary experts having called it the Beowulf of the Caucasus and being "the Georgian image of how the world ought to be". Famed Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli was enamored with the Queen and all she had done for their nation over her reign and so dedicated his epic work to her. The tale takes place in a fictitious land heavily inspired by Arabia and India, but events that take place around the main characters are all allegories to the Queens rule. The love interest herself, Nestan-Darejan, was the embodiment of all the virtues he saw in his Queen. The tale is an exhibition of medieval Georgian ideals, of their sense of loyalty, chivalry, and romance.

King George IV

In 1207, with her beloved husband dead and she herself starting to feel her age, Tamar decided to do as her father had done, crown her eldest child as co-ruler. Just like when she was younger, George would sit next to her as her equal and apprentice, learning everything he could from his famous and accomplished mother. Ironically, also just like with her and her father, this would also last 6 years before the queen died of an unknown disease, that was reported to have devastating affects to her body. As for her burial site, that is a mystery, as her tomb has not been located in the family mausoleum in Gelati Cathedral. Some historians and archeologists believe she was buried in a hidden niche underneath the rest of her forbearers, kept secret to prevent Muslims or the rising threat of the Mongols from desecrating it. But there is one tale told, but unverified by any other sources, that she may be buried some where upon the grounds of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. A letter written by a French knight in Palestine to the Bishop of Besancon in France talks about the  Georgian army marching across Muslim territory to Jerusalem, destroying any that tried to block their path. Now we do know the Georgian army, led by King George IV, did try to come to the aid of the crusaders during this time and had reached Jerusalem only to immediately turn around back to Georgia due to the coming Mongol invasion. But the French knight claims that the army held before them a casket containing the great Queens remains, declaring it was her holy relic, that led them victoriously across enemy territory to the holy city. He then goes on to tell the bishop that as quickly as they got their, the Georgians left, but without the casket. As I said before, except for this letter, there is no other record of the casket leaving Georgia, but as with many mysteries of the middle ages who knows.

From the rule of her son to even today Tamar remains one of the most popular girl names in the Caucasus and she is considered thee most iconic figure in Georgian nationalism. Many orthodox churches claim her a saint, titling her as The Holy Righteous Queen, and her feast day is May 14th; during which young woman receive a blessing to be strong champions of christian faith and receive a loaf of blessed bread. Many plays, poems, and operas have been written about her but during the soviet occupation these were highly censored or altered, especially around the figure of the Russian Prince Yuri. But since Georgia's independence a revival of veneration has accrued and the old works have been restored to their original texted and played out proudly throughout Georgia, Armenia, and parts of eastern Europe; much to the frustration and rejection of Russian and Turkish diplomats who see her as a controversial figure whose legend serves only to stand in the way of good relations. Never the less she is a national hero, who undeniably, took her small kingdom out of obscurity and made the mighty quake.

Angevin # 8: The Great Revolt a/k/a Eleanor's Revolt

"There is a legend of a King called Lear, whom I have a lot in common. Both of us have kingdoms and multiple children we adore, and both of us are old, but there it ends. He cuts his kingdom into bits. I cannot do that. I've built an empire and I must know that it is going to last. All of the British Isles, half of France; I am the greatest power in a 1000 years, greater even than Charlemagne...." - Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in "A Lion in Winter"

"Well what family doesn't have its ups and downs" - Kathrine Hepburn as Queen Eleanor in "A Lion in Winter"

By the end of 1172, 39 year old Henry Plantagenet, militarily and diplomatically, was arguably the most powerful man in western Europe save the Pope in Rome. But his recent missteps in the Toulouse conflict and the tragedy that was the Becket controversy, though both situations salvaged, had made him realize his own mortality and concerned him of his legacy staying intact after he was gone. He had controversially crowned his eldest child, 17 year old Henry, as junior king of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou; his next eldest, 16 year old Matilda was part of a marriage alliance with one of the most powerful men in the German Holy Roman Empire, Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria; Henry convinced Queen Eleanor to abdicate her ducal title of Aquitaine to their 15 year old son, Richard; Geoffrey, 14, was betrothed to Constance of Brittany, making him the future Duke of that Celtic-French province; and young Eleanor, 10, was betrothed to the crown prince of the Spanish realm of Castile. All of this planning and assigning of roles was to insure the Angevin Empire stayed unified and House Plantagenet remains a dominate powerhouse after he was gone, all under the overlord ship of his eldest and favorite son Henry. And even with all that he still had 7 year old Joan, 6 year old John, known as "Lackland" since he was the only brother without title waiting for him, and a bevy of bastards to use as place holders or marriage pawns.

Rosemund de Clifford

It all seemed so perfect and the Plantagenets looked to be thee most solidly unified royal family of all of Europe. But something rotten was brewing within the family, and her name was Eleanor. She had been Henry's partner since the beginning with the understanding they would be co-rulers in the empire they had schemed together to build. But she had been cut out little by little. First it was Becket, whom Henry lavished favor and power on. Eleanor saw him as a third wheel and when Becket turned on Henry, she did what she could to prevent any meaningful reconciliation. Then there was control of her beloved homeland of Aquitaine: she understood Henry's appointment of a seneschal as she could not be there most of the time, she would need to be seen at Henry's side at court; but then he had convinced her to give the region up completely to their son Richard. She begrudgingly accepted since the artistic and poetic Richard was her favorite of their children, but it was still a bitter act. Then there was Toulouse, a region her family had been coveting for generations; she thought it was finally within her grasp with Henry obsessing over gaining a Mediterranean port. But then it was gone, given up by Henry in favor of his ambitions against Paris. Henry's Irish campaign was another project she and those loyal to her were cut out of. Henry used his ever loyal Marcher lords to do his dirty work; not one of her southern French nobles that were with them in their mobile court was even considered to be a part the scheme. But what hurt her the most was Henry's love affair with the 19 year old daughter of the Marcher lord Walter de Clifford, Rosamund. Henry met her when she was 14, during the end of his Welsh campaigns, and had become fascinated by her. Said to be extremely mature and intelligent for her age, the half Norman, half Welsh Rosamund was educated and dressed in a mix of both her heritages. For the next four years he kept in touch with the Clifford family, showing them favor at court, showering them with gifts and privileges. And then when she was 18, Rosamund was invited to be a royal courtier. Everyone one knew, and it was an open secret what Henry's intentions were, but no one objected. Even Lord Clifford knew and accepted it as customary for the time. Kings and great magnates of the realm often had "official" mistresses from the lower nobility and he saw it has having a huge advantage to have his daughter in the king's bed ...ah, I mean ear; besides, he had many other children to use for purpose of marriage allegiance. Wives of nobles, like Eleanor, were use to their lord husbands having mistresses and she knew of Henry's many, despite Becket's attempts to hid them; it was part and parcel to noble life. But there was something different about Rosamund. Henry's love for her was well beyond his carnal dalliances with other woman. Worse yet for Eleanor was the comparisons; Rosamund was Eleanor's intellectual equal and was as skilled in manipulating the court as she was: some think it was Rosamund that lead Henry to using only Marcher lords in the Irish campaign as the men picked were all allies of her father. And she was beautiful, having many of the same revered features Eleanor once had when she and Henry first met. Obviously, Henry had a type, and Eleanor could see Rosamund as nothing more than a younger version of herself and a possible replacement. Curiously though, Rosamund drops out of history after that, nothing more is written about her in actual historical documents or relayed by chroniclers; and her family became just another of long list of obscure minor nobles. Many poems, songs, and plays are written about the enchanting Rosamund, some even contemporary of the time. All of them seem to suggest or some flat out implicate that Queen Eleanor had her killed. The most popular of tales tell of Eleanor using a labyrinth of secret passages to enter Rosamund's room at night and having cornered the girl gave her the choice of a dagger or poison; the beautiful maiden choosing the later. Whatever the case may be, Henry, already withdrawn since the death of Becket, now extended his cold shoulder to his wife as well, clearly blaming her for the absence of Rosamund in his life. But this would not be the end of it, Eleanor had only just begun her campaign of misery against her husband. She was determined to squeeze the will to live from him by turning his sons against him, beginning with his first born and favorite, Henry, and threatening the old lion's cherished legacy.

Henry the Younger

Henry, the boy king, was the golden child of European Christendom. The now 18 year old scion of House Plantagenet was a paragon: a tall, blond, handsome young man of impeccable manners and courtesy. A royal clerk named Walter Map wrote of young Henry, "lovable, eloquent, handsome, gallant, every way attractive, a little lower than the angels." There was also his marriage to princess Margaret of France, all eyes turned to the young couple as the future of Europe for when they bore a child, it would bring together the twin powers, Plantagenet and Capetian, England and France united into a new super power the world had not known since the imperial families of ancient Rome. Everyone was in awe of what the future could hold. As if that wasn't enough Henry added an earned an awe-inspiring and celebrity reputation on the tournament circuits throughout France, England, Northern Italy, and western Germany. He was part of a team of knights, all young sons of noble houses, the next generation of Norman leadership, lead by the famed tourney champion Sir William Marshal; and together they won accolade after accolade on the game fields. Befriended and personally trained by the great Marshal himself, young Henry had the horsemanship and melee skill to rival any opponent. To give this sports team a modern day equivalent, Marshal and his team were Belichek and the New England Patriots, and Henry was their Brady. But with the fame came an expected level of grandiose; Henry traveled with a large retinue, equipped and clothed his fellows in only the best and finest, and was generous to a fault. It was a lifestyle that he struggled to maintain, even with the large purses won at tourney. But how could that be, he was the crown prince and held titles in northern France? Well, even though his father had bequeathed him those titles, it was in name only; practical control and use of revenues still rested with his father. Young Henry was given a stipend and given free reign in use of whatever castles or estates in Normandy and Anjou for housing and hosting events, but he had no source of income as his own and his stipend was not cutting it any more. He argued with his father that he was not just throwing money away, that this was all part of developing and nurturing relationships with his future lords and a reputation, an aura, of largess and magnanimity that would pay off in spades of loyalty when he is king. But King Henry wouldn't hear of it, claiming he had ruled through the sword and by being smarter than his opponents, and his son should do the same; that rule through luxury smacked too much of the french courts and look were that has got them. The crown prince's best friend and mentor, William Marshal, pleaded with him to drop it, that he and his men would remain loyal to him no matter what, but in the end it would be his mother's poisonous words that would drive a wedge between father and son.

Geoffrey of Brittany

Henry the younger knew that his father planned on naming is little brother John as castellen of 3 castles in his duchy of Normandy as a way to make the 7 year old more attractive for a proposed marriage between prince John and the daughter of the Count of Maurienne. But Eleanor lied to her young Henry and told him it is not just three castles his father planes on naming to John, that it was the start of a process to split off a chunk of Normandy into a separate county for John. Couple this with playing on her sons money issues with his father and the boy's resentment toward the king for Becket's death who he loved as a father more than the king and she had sold him on the idea of rebellion against his father. She had her other two sons, Richard and Geoffrey, come to Poitier and meet with her and Henry. Geoffrey was easy to convince, he had been frustrated in his position as almost duke of Brittany, he wanted the title, power and revenues now and did not see the point in waiting for when his future wife Constance was old enough to marry. At 15 Geoffrey had developed a reputation of ambition, deviousness, cunning, and an intelligence that bordered on scary. He developed his parents love of scheming and honed it to a fine art and in the words of his own mother she saw within him, "a great capacity for hate." It was these qualities that had made King Henry suspicious of his own son and why he was making him wait; he knew Geoffrey was more than capable to run his own realm, smarter than any of his other offspring. But he was frightened of what the boy might do without control and did not want to give him the power until he could find a way to keep him in check.

Richard of Aquitaine

It would be a bit more difficult to connive Richard to betray their father. The future lion-heart grew up on the great epic tales and poems of chivalric military figures like noble King Arthur and the mighty Roland. So enthralled with the image of the idealize valorous knight that he himself wrote songs and poems on the subject and dedicated himself to the art of war, gaining and displaying enough skill and bravery at tournaments that he earned his own knighthood at 12, one of the youngest to ever earn the title. He to wanted to utilize the vast revenues that should be his as Duke of Aquitaine, as he wanted to create a retinue of knights of his own and go on the tournament circuits, to live out his dreams of being a world renowned knight like his older brother. Except he and young Henry did not see eye to eye on what it all meant: Henry saw knighthood in the eyes of politics, and fraternity; Richard, saw it through the eyes of a warrior, to test oneself and hone oneself into a better man. The two had never gotten along because of this ideological divide. Richard more than once accusing Henry of debasing the title of knight and the code of chivalry; Henry in turn mocked his younger brother's seriousness, excusing Richard of sucking the joy out of life.  It would have to be Eleanor who would bring Richard around. In the end his mother got to him too, though no one knows exactly how. Rumors, accusations, and speculation surround Richard to this day of his reasons. There are two persistent claims, the ones that there seems to be at least a shred of evidence that they might be true. The first is that his mother seduced him into an incestuous affair which she then lorded over him. There was no denying that Richard, throughout his entire life was Eleanor's favorite child  and that Richard seemed to have a very odd bi-polar relationship with her, were as at some points he was closer to her than anyone else, and at other points would do everything he can to avoid her and not speak of her. The other accusation, though not mutually exclusive from the other, is that Eleanor had found out about Richard's bisexual nature and pushed him into a relationship with Prince Phillip of France, who in turn helped Eleanor in convincing Richard into betrayal. Either way the conspiracy was set and the three started making contacts and allegiances with those they thought would help.

King Louie VII; Prince Phillip, Count of Flanders; Theobald V, Count of Blois; and Matthew of Alsace, Count of Boulogne

A grand alliance was made with Eleanor and her three eldest sons gaining the support of King Louie of France and his his son Prince Phillip who was now also the Count of Flanders; newly crowned King William I of Scotland who succeeded his brother, the King Henry sycophant, Malcolm IV who had died of a degenerate bone disease; the counts of Blois and Bouloge; and a handful of English lords who believed young Henry would be a more inclusive ruler than his iron-fisted father. But as secret plans were being made second thoughts started to creep into young Henry's mind, probably instigated by his good friend Sir William Marshal. Eleanor had to act fast if her plot to overthrow her husband and rule through manipulating her sons was going to work; the alliance was dependent on Henry's charisma and leadership and so needed him committed. She lied to two of her son's top advisers, Richard Barre and William Blund, and his personal chaplain, that they had all made a great mistake and now she could not convince Henry to abandon his plans for revolt; that only King Henry could de-escalate the situation. While the three men rode from Poitier to Chinon to tell the king what was transpiring, Eleanor told her sons that the three men were betraying them all, that there was no going back now and they had to act quickly. When King Henry heard the news he immediately set out for Poitier hoping to stop the madness before it could begin, but he was too late. Young Henry had already made for Paris to connect his forces with Louie and Phillip, Richard rode to Aquitaine to rally the southern French lords to his mothers cause, and Geoffrey rode to Brittany to use his influence to convince the lords there to revolt as well. Only Queen Eleanor was captured; King Henry's men caught her trying to sneak out of the area disguised as a male merchant, making for Aquitaine. By April 1173 the Great Revolt had started and King Henry was forced mobilized his forces against his own sons. The loyal noble houses of his father's Anjou rode north into Normandy and combined their forces with the counts of Argentan and Avranches to protect Henry's rear from Geoffrey and the Brittians, meanwhile Henry consolidated the might of the Normans around what he perceived to be the mostly likely target of his traitorous family, the great cathedral city of Rouen; the spiritual center of all Normans in Europe since the days of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy and where William the Conqueror had built one of the greatest cathedrals in all of Christendom in 1063. If Rouen fell it would be a crushing moral defeat for the famed viking descended Normans. Henry needed to defend it long enough for his English lords to deploy their forces across the channel.

King William I; Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester; and Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk

Socttish Invasion and Rebellion of Norfolk and Leicester

But his loyal lords in England would not be able to come, for the Scottish King, William I had begun an invasion of the northern English region known as North Umberia, and  the rebellious English lords of Leichester, Robert de Beaumont, and Norfolk, Hugh Bigod, started seizing all the castles around the great cities of York and Chester. Henry's realm was invaded on all sides: by the Scottish and rebel English lords in the north; Geoffrey and the Brittians in the West; Richard's and Theobald V's forces in the South; the French crown prince Phillip and the Count of Boulogne to the east; and his heir Henry, with the King of France, like a dagger to his heart were thrusting up the ever prominent Vexin, toward the very heart of Normandy, Rouen. All looked dire for Henry and his advisors all called for a retreat to southern England, to take the fight to the Scottish and the rebel lords first before retaking Normandy and Rouen. Henry would hear none of it. He sent riders to his forces in western Normandy, who had taken up defensive positions west of Argentan, and told them to proceed with an all out attack against the youngest of his traitorous sons, Geoffrey. Though it was a small force, Henry banked on Geoffrey's inexperience; the boy may have been a master political tactician but did his vaunted intelligence apply to military thinking and leadership as well? Turns out Geoffrey was not prepared for such an assault. He had geared himself for a siege campaign against Argentan, his plan to take the city and hold it as a distraction to draw some of his fathers forces away from the more offensive forces of the eastern front of his brother Henry. But now faced with an army coming straight at him he did not have the were-with-all to form an on field impromptu defensive line. His Brittany forces broke apart before the the Anjou/Norman force even reached him. Geoffrey was taken into custody to Chinon to await his father's justice. At the same time, up in England, Richard de Lucy, the sheriff of Essex, had organized a swift mobile hit and run army, attacking supply lines, baggage trains, and foraging parties of both the rebel English lords and the Scottish armies. The chaos of trying to catch him prevented the two armies from ever linking up, giving the loyal English lords time to bolster their defenses and start a campaign of starving out the twin armies, never letting them gain enough stability and preparedness to enact a serious attack or siege of anymore major towns or castles. The rebel Earl of Norfolk, Hugh Bigod, was completely cut off by loyalist forces and was cornered in his own territory. Frustrated, not able to combined with his ally Hugh, rebel lord Robert de Beaumont rode north to try and get the Scottish to break Bigod out  only to find his way blocked by a force of loyalist lead by de Lucy, who has been given the title of Chief Justicar for his earlier efforts, at the bridge in Fornham. At the Battle of Fornham, Beaumont tried to fight his way across the bridge but de Lucy held and forced Beaumont to try and find a long way around, costing him valuable time.

The cathedral of Rouen, consecrated 1063

News of Geoffrey's defeat and of the rebel's bogged down northern England campaign reached King Henry and Young Henry around the same time. It was a race against time now. How fast could the old king consolidate his forces and bolster the defense of Rouen verse how fast can his son and his allies get there to take it and win a victory that could call into question the loyalty of Henry's Norman lords. But the old dog still had a few tricks, he divided his forces in half, leaving one half to hold Rouen from the coming besieging force of the Count of Blois and Richard, who were only two or three days away. He secretly lead his other half north and then east coming up behind Prince Phillip's Flemish force. Totally surprised and not yet at full strength for having not linked up with the Count of Boulogne's forces, Phillip was routed and retreated back to Flanders. Keeping the momentum and hoping to catch Boulogne before he heard the news, Henry rode hard south and again caught the force marching for Rouen by suprise, hitting it in the flank. Again, a complete route and the Count of Boulogne would retreat and abandon the war completely. Henry's small garrisons in the Vexin were delaying young Henry and King Louie's forces enough that King Henry could make it back to Rouen before they arrived. Expectedly, the Count of Blois, the old turn coat, Theobald V, and his son Richard were already there laying siege to the city. A parley was called and Henry got Blois to agree to a truce were Blois could retreat a days march back and wait join up with the forces making their way up the Vexin; but more importantly Richard was reconciled back to his father's side. Richard's men of Aquitaine merged with the defense of Rouen and Richard swore to never again raise arms against his father. All he asked for in exchange was that his mother be shown leniency, imprisonment instead of execution for treason. Henry made no grantees to any of their fates, except to welcome his son back, promising to not to see any harm come to him. April of 1174, Richard was left in charge of the defense of Rouen, against the forces of his older brother and the French King, while his father made haste for England to organize a counter attack against Scotland and the rebel lords.

Henry came back to find things well in hand for the most part. He kept up pressure, squeezing Norfolk's domain tighter and tighter until he was forced to surrender. Henry was gracious and let his family keep their original earldom, but Hugh himself set off on pilgrimage and self imposed exile to the holy land for penance. He would die in bed in Palestine in 1177, having never seen his home or family again. De Lucy finally caught up with Beaumont and captured him. Again Henry showed mercy, allowing his family to keep their original lands while the rebel lord himself would find himself as a personal retainer and household knight of his son Richard, whom he would stay by the side of for the rest of his life. As for the king of Scotland, his role in the Great Revolt would come to an end on July 13, 1174, at the battle of Alnwick. King William had met with great success so for, in his bid to conquer North Umbria, having not come across a force that could match his own since the majority of loyalist forces had been dealing with Bigod and Beaumont south of him. But the fact that he was not able to utilize supplies from their lands, which was part of the original plan, he had started to run out of provisions and so made a beeline to get back to Scotland and resupply to continue to consolidate his hold over territory won. A patrolling warband of about 100 English knights lead by Sir Ranulf de Glanville came upon the Scottish forces camp at dawn and immediately attacked the waking Scotsmen. Less than half of King William's men were able to get into armor before the English knights were upon them. William himself having been able to armor up and get on his horse in time was himself soon captured after his horse was killed out from under him in the first 15 minutes of battle. King William was brought before Henry who forced the Scottish King to sign the Treaty of Falaise which stipulated Scotland pay England 40,000 marks of silver (approximately $18 million, give or take a million), a reaffirmation of English dominance of Scotland, and the right of the English king to make several clergy appointment in the Scottish church. Henry also took what was left of the Scottish invasion force down to France with him as part of his final face off with his son Henry and King Louie.

So on September 30, 1174, two massive armies glared at each other across the fields outside Normandy's spiritual heart, the city of Rouen. One one side was King Henry and his Norman and Anjou knights, Richard's Aquitaine force, and the subservient William I's Scottish force. On the other was King Louie and young Henry's eastern French forces, Theobald V of Blois' forces, and what Prince Phillip could regain of his Flemish forces since their flight. Now, with the prospect and very real possibility of 1000s dying including dozens of the great men of western Europe and the magnificent cathedral city going up in flames, both sides agreed to talks, known as the Truce of Gisors. Theobald V of Blois walked away with nothing, a point of irritation between him and prince Phillip in the years to come. Geoffrey would be confirmed as Duke of Brittany, but its revenues were to be split between him and his father and only Henry could call the Brittians to arms. Richard was reaffirmed Duke of Aquitaine with all the rights, privileges, and revenues that went with it. He was also betrothed to King Louie's 14 year old daughter Alys and the Vexin given as an advancement on her dowry. King Louie was promised by King Henry that no more regions of France would be plotted for Plantagenet control; that Angevin expansion was now over in France. Young Henry was reaffirmed as count of Anjou, his father's ancestral home, with all the rights and privileges therein, except again the majority of the county's produced revenue would go to Henry's treasury in Chinon. But the prize that the young Henry had fought these 18 months for, the great Duchy of Normandy, would remain out of his grasp; to remain his in name only and the ambition for greater revenue reduced to a small increase in his stipend from his father. As for Queen Eleanor, she was to be held captive for the next 16 years and moved around from castle to castle under house arrest. Moved often across the empire so as not to be able to sink her claws in any one place too deep. While in captivity see was still treated well and still maintained a semi-luxurious lifestyle, but Henry and their sons rarely saw her, only when state occasions and holidays called for Henry to have his Queen at his side. King Henry had done it, he had staved off the greatest threat his empire and known to date; at 41 he had been attacked on all sides from without and within and he had come out on top. But Eleanor was not done yet getting revenge and so from her towers and house arrests she plotted her next move.........

Angevin # 7: King Henry Part 4: Last Hurrah

When last we left the Angevins, King Henry was truly distraught over the death of his friend, now recognized martyred saint, Thomas Becket; a death Henry himself was not totally blameless and could have caused a religiously inspired revolt to his rule. But our wily king, even in the midst of being visibly shaken and grief stricken, still manged to find a way to turn the political situation to his advantage and gain more popularity among the peasantry of England than ever before. But unbeknownst to him, this would be the height of his success. Twin storms of discontent and dis-function within his own family and resentment from his age old enemies the kings of France, Louie and then his son and heir Phillip, would merge into conflict that will define the later part of his reign. But at the time it would be hard to see trouble coming as during and proceeding the whole Becket controversy Henry manged two more feats of land acquisition, in southern France and the nation of Ireland, using his now signature mixture of strategic military placement and diplomatic trickery.

By this point King Henry II already controlled a vast empire. Besides rule of England, the Welsh Princes and Scottish King were subservient to him as well and were allowed semi-autonomous status as long as they continued sending taxes to London and provided troops when ever Henry called. England was well managed at this time by the not yet ordained and still chancellor, Thomas Becket, so Henry could concentrate on his French ambitions. The Angevin/Norman French realm was massive and monstrously rich, and was beginning to dwarf that of actual France proper. Each of the duchies was manged by a seneschal who reported only to Henry in his French capital of Chinon. And like the rulers of Scotland and Wales were allowed free reign as long as taxes and troops kept flowing to their overlord. Henry also had the allegiance of the Count of Blois, Theobald and a non-aggression alliance with the counts of Flanders (modern day Belgium). Couple that with his control of the strategic Vexin that connected Normandy to the Seine river basin, he was well secure from any machinations of his supposed lord and rival the King of France, Louie VII. But for reasons unknown Henry was adamant that his French lands be connected to the Mediterranean; the three prevailing theories on his motivations are to either increase trade revenue by cutting out the French Kings' tariffs, a desire to open up a crusader port and thus again cut France and/or Italy out of the costs of sending soldiers to the holy land, or a port to help launch his own efforts in the Reconquista for the purpose of gaining his own piece of Spain from its Muslim occupiers. No matter what his reason, to do this he would need the Duchy of Toulouse. 

Duchy of Toulouse

The position of Duke of Toulouse was currently unoccupied, but one of the Duchy's minor lords, Count Raymond V was making a claim for the entire region. Henry, again, tried to play for a puppet ruler, supporting a cousin of Queen Eleanor's, Raymond Berenguer's claim to the Duchy. However he lost interest soon after and set off for Spain were he would, for his deeds against the Muslims, be made Count of Barcelona. So in 1159, Henry threatened invasion, under the pretext that Raymond V was usurping the Duchy from his wife Eleanor. Henry and Eleanor claimed that she had familial ties all over northern and western Toulouse and so with hers being the greater family, had a stronger claim than that of Raymond. But the ambitious count would receive a bit of propping up from an unlikely source, the French King. Even though Raymond was from a lesser noble family, Louie offered his sister Constance for marriage to Raymond. It seems the French king was not going to let yet another region go so easily to Henry as he had done in Brittany and Blois. Henry immediately called for a meeting with Louie, where at, Louie made reassurances that he was not dismissing Eleanor's claim and that he as King would stay a neutral arbitrator in these competing claims. He also claimed that the marriage was merely trying to preserve Raymond's title and lands for if Henry does invade and takes the rest of the Duchy; helping to preserve the ancestral rights of a loyal vassal as a good liege lord should. Henry left satisfied and began his preparations for an invasion. It all turned out to be a big lie; Henry, for the first time had been played. He arrived with his forces and a force of Scotsmen lead by King Malcolm IV, outside the Duchy's capital, the city of Toulouse, to find Raymond and King Louise already there, as Louie gave the city to Raymond as a belated wedding gift. Louise again claimed that he was not naming Raymond as Duke, just giving control of the capital and its surrounding territories revenues to his new brother-in-law. Henry was livid, he could not attack Raymond for a gift received by the French King, nor could he attack the French King as he would be labeled as a traitor by the church since technically all his French lands were part of France, if in just name only. Henry took out his frustrations on the northern half of the Duchy, destroying nearly all the castles near Toulouse's border with Aquitaine and even taking the entire county of Quercy and several towns and villages in the surrounding counties. For his part, Malcolm finally earned what he always wanted, a knighting by Henry. Louie knew he had pushed Henry into the famed rage of the Plantagenets of Anjou.  With the Scottish king in thrall and awe of his new status and his admiration of Henry, willing to follow him into whatever bloody deed, Henry and Malcolm's troops could ravage the entire duchy into ash and who knows how far this English, Scottish, Norman horde would go if Henry was not calmed. He offered peace terms with Henry: firstly, he could keep the County of Quercy as a permanent part of Aquitaine; next, Raymond would not be named Duke of Toulouse, instead Raymond would hold Toulouse in the name of the French King until his death, when Louie will decide who is the rightful ruler (whom he hinted would be Eleanor), but Raymond's heirs would still hold ancestral titles of counts of the city of Toulouse and the city of Lombers under whomever would be named Duke or Duchess; and lastly, the arranged marriage between Henry's son Henry and the French princess Margaret was reaffirmed and Margaret given to Eleanor to care for as a daughter. This last part was the clincher, Henry would essentially have a royal hostage and the dowry of the all important Vexin was guaranteed. And so a peace treaty was signed in 1160.

Princess Maragret and Prince Phillip of France

 But again it was more French trickery; a delaying tactic for Louie's plan to contain the Angevin expansion. When the English and Scottish went back home, troops loyal to the French king poured into Toulouse along the northern border with Aquitaine. Meanwhile the now widowed Louie married the sister of Count Theobald of Blois, shifting his allegiance away from Henry. Louie had weighed losing the Vexin, his gateway to Normandy, in favor of the ability to threaten southern Aquitaine, the richest and most prosperous of Henry's realms and through Theobald, threatened the eastern border of the Plantagenet homeland, the County of Anjou. Henry immediately responded by a extremely controversial move even by those times standards, he bullied the papal legates to marry his five year old Henry with three year old Margaret. He now could potentially make a legal claim for a just war against Louie, without fear of condemnation from the church of being named a traitor, all in the name of pressing his sons new claim to French throne. It was now just a matter of who would blink first, who would trigger a massive war that could see all of France in engulfed in the flames of war. It would be Count Theobald who flinched, he moved his troops to the south west corner of his county of Blois, its borders meet Anjou and Aquitaine, but he miscalculated where his border ends and Anjou's begin and camped his troops just inside Anjou. Henry immediately claimed his rightful territory was being invaded and launched of Norman, Anjou, and Brittany surprise attack on the Blois capital of Chaumont, taking Theobald's castle and household. Wider war seemed inevitable as Henry sent messengers back to England to call up English, Scottish, and Welsh troops and Louie called upon his loyal vassals, the powerful dukes of Burgundy and Champagne, as well as negotiating a price for Italian mercenaries. It is at this point Pope Alexander III stepped in and called Henry and Louie to peace talkes in the forest of Freteval, in Anjou. The 1162 peace arbitrated directly by the Pope saw the Vexin and Blois legally bound to Henry, meanwhile Eleanor was forced to abandon all claim to Toulouse, which would now be in the direct hands of King Louie. Eleanor was furious, not only did she lose what she felt was rightfully her county of Toulouse and the ability to hold southern ports over her husband, but also her beloved ancestral home of Aquitaine would be forever threatened at its southern border. Henry on the other hand was more than pleased, he now had rightful and church recognized ownership of counties that gave him a permanent staging ground to threaten Paris from the North and the West.

Henry's good mood would be shot down a few pegs upon his return to Chinon at the news from messengers of the disturbing activities of his friend Becket, whom he recently appointed archbishop of Canterbury. He returned to London to sort things out, meanwhile, Eleanor returned to her beloved Aquitaine. Unbeknownst to Henry this was the beginning of the end for his relationship with the increasingly bitter Eleanor, as will come to see. But for now, having spent so much time in France it was time for the King to put things in order in the northern half of his domain, England. While he was concerned about his friends new found piety and what it was doing to the realm, the timing of his return could not have been more fortuitous. The little island next-store, the realm of the last remnants of Celtic self rule was in dynastic turmoil and with turmoil and chaos comes opportunity.

Ireland at the time was composed of dozens of kingdoms, each with their own king. They in turn were lorded over by the four Over-Kingdoms of Munster, Leinster, Connaught, and Ulster. Title of these kingdoms was hereditary, but to keep the peace between all these royal lines, a ultimate arbitrator, known as the High King, was appointed to be the final authority in all disputes. All the kings would gather and vote on which one would be high king, the over kings votes counting more than the lesser kings. It was a lifetime appointment, but not hereditary and so when the high king died the kings would vote again. It was system that had been in place since 1022 when the Ui Neill (O'Neill) dynasty, who dominated Ireland for 100s of years as High-Kings by blood, lost the right for the title to be hereditary under the controversial rule of Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, a member of the O'Neill through is mother. He lost the throne and was only allowed to reclaim it if the clan adhered to the new power sharing system. Members of the O'Neill clan would find themselves to be voted High-King on a couple of occasions since. But for where our story is at, in 1166, the current high king is Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Rory O'Connor), of clan Ui Briuin (O'Brian). High King Rory conspired with a couple of the minor kings of Leinster to oust the Lienster Over-King Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurragh). Dermot was seen as the next choice for high king after Rory's death, and so the high king fearful that Dermot might someday try to have him assassinated and also to try and steer who would be his successor, instigated a revolt seeking Dermot to step down as over-king and resign himself to being just king of Uí Ceinnselaig (modern day County of Wexford). Instead Dermot fled Ireland to seek help from the Welsh, long seen as cousins of the south eastern Irish. But upon arriving in Wales he learned of the Welsh nobles subservience to the English, in particularly to the powerful and militant Marcher lords. Dermot knew just a few of these battle hardened families could help him turn the tide and retake his crown.

Dermot MacMurragh pleads with Henry

So in 1167 Dermot appeared before King Henry and asked his permission to recruit some of the Marcher and Welsh lords to help his just pursuit. He applied to Henry's sense of justice, that he had never plotted against his liege lord High King O'Connor, and that this was all being done in the name of an irrational paranoia and hatred from a man he never offended. Dermot knew better than to ask Henry for direct help, as it would be seen as betraying his country to foreign invaders and would look treasonous to not only his people but again to that almighty arbitrator, the church. Thus why he was only asking to recruit his lords as mercenaries. But unbeknownst to Dermot he was in over his head dealing with such a man as Henry. Henry agreed to allow his men, those that chose to be recruited, to go to Ireland and help the deposed Over-king. He asked for no payment for himself, just that his men be generously compensated for their efforts. This should have been Dermots first clue that he was leading his people into a trap; that there was a reason people claimed the Plantagenets where "born of the devil". What sort of king renders aid with no price? Why a king that had long made plans with his lords and the church to bring the Celts and there wayward church to heel. The Catholic church, for decades, have had no luck in trying to exert control over the Irish clergy and to bring Irish Christianity more in line with the wider Latin community. Henry, being the insistently informed of all goings on in western Europe was well aware of what was happening and so made a secret deal with the church: that in exchange for funds under the table and for the church's assurance that no ecclesiastical legal objections get thrown his way in how he accomplishes Ireland's compliance, he in turn would open up positions within the Irish church to be filled with Rome sympathizers and appointees. So when Dermot landed in Wales, naturally the clergy pointed in Henry's direction as the man Dermont should talk to for the manpower he needed.

With Henry's blessing and "recommendations" of who he should look to recruit, Dermot obtained the support of four prominent marcher lords and their armies: Maurice de Prendergast, Maurice Fitzgerald, Robert Fitzstephen, and the leader of the bunch and most powerful of them all Richard "Strongbow" de Clare. They all swore there swords to Dermots cause, but together had a secret agenda on Henry's behalf, to establish a strong Norman position and presence within Ireland. They landed in May of 1169 in Bannow Bay and immediately made themselves indispensable to Dermot, out preforming any of his Irish commanders and gaining more and more of an influence. The swift results the Normans were making for him even enchanted Dermot to offer his daughter in marriage to Strongbow. This shocked and worried all the Irish on both sides of the conflict, worried about Norman's receiving land rights in Ireland and so compelled High King O'Connor to make peace with Dermot and end the war before more Normans arrived. O'Conner offered Dermot re-installment as Over-King of Leinster as long as he sent his Norman mercenaries home. While Dermot was about to accept the offer, Maurice Fitzgerald landed more men outside of Dublin where he claims he was under constant attack. Fearing how Henry would react if one of his nobles was killed by those he was currently making peace with, Dermot marched on Dublin to find out what was going on as the High-King's allies claimed no knowledge of such attacks. Seeing the arrival of Dermots army spooked Dublin's militia, barred the city, and attacked as if trying to deter an invader. Dermot, shocked and angered by his own peoples reaction to him linked up with Fitzgerald's men and raided the surrounding countryside. At news of this the High-King rescinded his peace offer and hostilities restarterd. As for Fitzgerald's claim of being under attack, who knows if it was ever true. Strongbow arrived in the spring of 1170 with an overwhelming force to take the city of Dublin by force and scare any of the High-Kings armies in the area into full retreat further into Ireland. As a reward Dermot finalazed Strongbow's marriage to his daughter Aife. Things moved at an accelerated pace form there on in, and out of the control of Dermot, who looked in confusion as the Normans, with speed and determination (and per-planning) took over the reconstruction of Dublin, building improved, massive fortifications. He did not know that the money, material, and plans, for this new stronghold had secretly come from Rome through Henry to Strongbow. The Normans now had their foothold. An combined army of several Irish Kings attacked the newly erected fortress city of Dublin and were not only repulsed but chased out of Leinster all together. For the next year the Normans took more and more control of Dermot's war out of his and his Irish commanders hands; more Norman fortifications where erected throughout the coast of Leinster. Dermot had began to see the consequences of his deal with the devils of Anjou. He mysteriously died in May of 1171 and Richard "Strongbow" de Clare declared himself King of Leinster by way of his marriage to Dermot's daughter Aife. Richard even said he would pay homage to O'Connor as his High-King, but the Irish would have none of it, demanding the Normans all leave Ireland and that Dermot's younger brother Murchad was the rightful Over-King. The full might of Ireland pushed the Normans to their coastal strongholds of Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford. Again, Strongbow sued for peace, but all High-King O'Connor would offer was rule of the small city Waterford only, not even his wife ancestral home of Wexford. The final peace of the long trap had been sprung, and Ireland's fate would be sealed.

Henry arrived at Waterford with the might of England. He proclaimed he was there to render aid to a vassal in danger, Richard de Clare and to protect the hereditary rights of de Clare's wife Aife. The clergy that Henry brought with him agreed, that by the recognized laws of western Christendom Richard and Aife were the rightful rulers of Wexford, and that the High-King of Ireland was guilty of unjustified usurpation after Richard had promised to recognize O'Connor as his liege lord in Ireland. Henry's forces swept through Leinster, with many of the Irish Kings of Leinster paying homage to Henry and making marriage alliances with Norman lords. Others Irish lords who did not submit found themselves quickly deposed and a Norman made a count of baron of the area in their place. Strongbow was made Duke of Leinster, holding the former kingdom in Henry's name. The Normans and the Irish collabrators drove the High King and any of his supporters completly out of Leinster and even created and held buffer areas in the other three over kingdoms. But the biggest piece of the conquest was Latin clergy's conversion of the Irish clerics to Rome's way of thinking. The church proclaimed in a document called Laudabiliter were they named Henry as savior of the Irish Church and gave him dominion to call and oversee the Synod of Cashel, where Irish and English clergy met to bring Irish Christians more in line with Rome's teaching and authority. Surprisingly the clergy liked what their English counterparts had to say and saw it as a great opportunity to bring more stability in their parishes and drive out more of the remaining pagan influences throughout all of Ireland. One Irish chronicler had even gone so far as to say "Henry has completed what St. Patrick had started."

It would be the reformed clergy that would apply the political pressure to bring High King O'Connor to the negotiating table. Henry Plantagenet and Rory O'Connor met and signed the Treaty of Windsor on October 6, 1175. Leinster was to stay under the control of English, the High-King would remain in control of the other three over-kingdoms but like Scotland and Wales was to pay homage and yearly tribute to Henry, effectivly making Ireland a client state. Ireland had been added to the Angevin Empire. Though there would be continuing and everlasting border disputes between the Norman and Irish lords as long as tribute and man power came to London when Henry called he did not care who was abusing the terms of the treaty. Just like the Welsh Princes and the Marcher Lords it would be a chaotic mess for years to come, but in the end there was no doubt who the final say rested with in disputes all over Ireland, and it never from the seat of a High-King ever again.