Angevin # 6: Saint Thomas Becket: Friendship and Truth to Power

The Rise and Fall of a Powerful Friendship

Throughout Europe's history no man's death would have the monumental impact on the duality and politics involved in the relationship between church and state than that of Thomas Becket; murdered in the hallowed halls of the cathedral at Canterbury, it would be one the greatest scandals of the time, and threatened, not only the rule of King Henry II, but his very grip on sanity. For in Becket, Henry had the greatest of friends and bitterest of critics.

In a mercantile district of London, known as Cheapside, lived Gilbert and Matilda Becket. Gilbert came from a line of bottom of the barrel landless knights, his father having knighted him after the family moved to London from the Norman town of  Thierville, France. His marriage to Matilda, the daughter of a long line of Norman merchants that had followed William the Conqueror over to England, may have been an arranged one to keep the families from mingling with the native Saxon population and try and scrape together enough Norman clout to at least stay clinging to the bottom rungs of the nobility. Thomas, the only male of the Becket's 5 children was born December 21, 1119. He would spend his early childhood on the very edges of nobility and respectability, the family with one foot in the commoners world and another in the baronial (lower nobility) world. 

Coat of Arms of Richer de L'Aigle

But their future became a little brighter as Gilbert accumulated enough good will among the cities upper class to be appointed a Sheriff of London. As Sheriff, Gilbert would find many looking to give him and his family patronage; 2nd or 3rd sons of local noble houses or nobles of the surrounding areas that do not have the power or money to be considered one of the countries great magnates, all looking to make (or buy) an ally in the local governance of the capital. The most powerful of these, and by all accounts the one who seemed to not have ulterior motives except to be a guiding hand for the up and coming family was  Baron Richer de L'Aigle. Though a French Norman, and thus his land titles were back in France, he owned considerable amount of rental property in and around London, and a large personal estate in Sussex. He also had the district honor of being the great grandson of a Norman knight that gave his life to protect William the conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. The Baron took an interest in young Thomas and often invited him to his estate for hunting and hawking. With his financial help and money coming in from Gilbert's own newly acquired rental properties, young Thomas was sent for schooling to the Merton Priory to  be taught how to read and write, to learn oratory and debating skills, and study the very basics of math. Later, he was to attend quadrivium classes at St. Paul's Cathedral, the medieval equivalent of earning a liberal arts diploma, studying subjects like music, astronomy, and geometry. Medieval scholars would have the following to say of young teenage Becket:

"His contemporaries described Thomas as a tall and spare figure with dark hair and a pale face that flushed in excitement. His memory was extraordinarily tenacious and, though neither a scholar nor a stylist, he excelled in argument and repartee. He made himself agreeable to all around him, and his biographers attest that he led a chaste life."

Theobald of Bec

Bologna University

The next step of his education was to give him a taste of the outside world, and so was sent to Paris for a year at the age of 20. But his trip would be cut short and he would be summoned back home after a fire raged through London not only destroying his families rental properties but tarnishing his father's reputation just enough to lose his office of Sheriff. To help the family out in this dire time, Thomas started work as a clerk of one of his father's remaining rich allies, Osbert Huitdeniers, a well off commoner who ran a private accounting office for the city. But Baron Richer would not see the boy wasted in such a low social class position, and so arranged for him and Gilbert to meet with the powerful Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Catholic Church in England. Gilbert and the Baron, using the Becket's family ties to Thierville, persuaded the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald the Bec, whose family was also from Thierville, to take the boy into his household as a clerk. It did not take long for the Archbishop to note how clever and intelligent Thomas was and paid to have him and another young man of promise, John of Salisbury (whose written work later in life would have him declared post-humorously one of the preeminent political philosophers of the age) study civil and canon law at University of Bologna, in Italy. As a fellow student, John would say of Thomas:

"His elegance was enhanced by vivacity.... He had excellent manners and was a good talker. Clearly he had the ability and the will to please: he was a charmer.  He also possessed very acute senses of smell and hearing and a good memory. Such endowments make a little education go a very long way. He was undoubtedly intelligent, alert, and  responsive. Once he realized that he had to make his own way he became extremely ambitious."

While in Italy, Thomas made several trips to the Vatican on assignments from the Archbishop and each time, in the words of the archbishop, "preformed his duties to perfect diligence". So upon Thomas's return to England Archbishop Theobald appointed him Archdeacon of Canterbury. Over time because of his faithful and exacting service he would also be named, even though not ordained as a priest, as a lead member of the clergy at both the Cathedral at Lincoln and St. Paul's in London. No matter how many duties or assignments Theobald placed on Thomas, his energy and efficiency never diminished, in fact it was all the elder clergyman could to do to keep up with his servant. This quality gave the Archbishop a stroke of inspiration; only one other man in the kingdom has displayed Thomas's level of vigor in duty, the new King, Henry II.

Archbishop Theobald had been recently counseling the new king on what government advisory and bureaucratic positions needed to be filled and who should fill them. But knowing that the King, with his boundless energy, would be off and away to multiple locations and hotspots a week, he would need someone to corral and supervise all these men and at the same time have the energy to match the Kings. Theobald himself was already and old man and his duties to the church made such travels too difficult. So in 1155 he introduced Henry to his household clerk, Thomas. To say the two hit it off right away would be a gross understatement as within days of meeting and carousing together Thomas was named head of the King's household, and treasurer of the royal families finances. The appointments infuriated Queen Eleanor, but nothing enraged her more than when Thomas was made Lord Chancellor, a position that gave Becket not only the royal seal, but enabled him to speak and command with the King's authority in Henry's absence; all she could do was watch as her dreamed ambitions of being a true and equal co-ruler were yanked out from under her. She would never forgive Henry for it, and it came out in ruthless and vicious ways later in their lives, well after Becket's death. Some claim she could not take out her anger sooner for fear of Becket unraveling any schemes she could come up with.

But for now, for the next couple of years,  it would be great time for Henry. If Henry needed money for a war in Wales or France, Thomas found it. If Henry needed some governance system to ensure unbiased law enforcement, Thomas created it. If the nobles or bishops, including his former patron Theobald, acted out, Thomas gained their compliance. The English side of Henry's realm was the model of smooth and successful governance, operating with surplus in the treasury coffers and not a hint of any complaints from the peasantry. And though the nobles all took issue with someone as low of birth as Thomas having so much power and the confidence of the king, none would dare voice their concerns at court. For Henry and Thomas had developed a relationship well beyond professional, they had become the best of friends. The chroniclers of the time would say of the two "they had but one heart and one mind". and "Often the king and his minister behaved like two schoolboys at play." The two would spend hours partying and feasting together; some say Thomas would gleefully help Henry sneak his mistresses in and out of whatever castle or estate they happened to be at, even right under the nose of the queen, thinking it a sort of game. Practical jokes between the two were also a common occurrence: One story goes that as they were riding along the streets of London on a Autumn evening, when Henry noted a beggar on the street, "Do you see that man? How poor he is, how frail, and how scantily clad! Would it not be an act of charity to give him a thick warm cloak.". Becket agreed but kept riding on. Henry in response dragged Thomas off his horse and forceably removed his cloak, giving it to the beggar, saying he will make sure to tell everyone of Thomas's charitable nature. The two laughed about it on their way back to the palace. But Thomas would have his payback as the next morning Henry awoke to find all his hunting cloths had been given to the staff by Thomas. Henry would have to meet his hunting entourage that morning in nothing but his night gown and a long flowing formal robe, the kind Henry hated to wear even when occasion called for it. His lords all looked worried and anxious, waiting for the famed temper to erupt, but then Thomas burst out laughing at the site and the king followed suit, releasing the tension. Henry even broke convention and tradition to show his love and trust in Thomas when he sent his son, young Henry, to foster at Thomas's estate while he was away. The tradition was nobles would foster their children with other nobles of equal or greater power to spread good will and trust, so Henry giving charge of his son and heir to Thomas instead of one of the great magnates of the realm like Robert de Beaumont or Ranulf of Chester, was considered quit shocking. Again much to the disapproval of his wife Eleanor and his aging mother Matilda. The boy himself was grateful for the placement as later in life he noted it meant he was never to far from his home in London and able to see his mother more often than if he had been shipped to some other lords far off castle, he was even quoted as saying "Becket showed me more fatherly love in those few days than my father showed me in my lifetime." 

For 6 long and prosperous years things went on like this, bringing Henry and Thomas great joy, frustrating the queen and the queen mother, perplexing the nobility, and bringing stability for the entire nation. But it would hit its peak in the spring of 1161. Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church in England , Papal Legate, and Thomas's mentor and patron passed away. Henry wasted no time in putting Thomas's name forward to fill the position. The past couple of years, while the rest of his realm ran smooth, one group had been a persistent thorn, the bishops. Though Theobald had been an adviser at the start of his reign, the old man had started to embolden his subordinates into obstructionist policies, claiming church privilage in resisting paying taxes or abiding by the rule of secular courts. Thomas had always worked things out between the crown and the bishops, but now here was an opportunity to cut out any and all negotiations with the religious sect of his realm. If his own Chancellor and best friend were head of the bishops and have the ear of the pope the church would be in his pocket permanently. Henry made the necessary diplomatic overtures to Rome, promising more tithing, land for monetarists and cathedrals, even a pledge to provide soldiers and knights for the protection of Outremer if needed. Pope Alexander III consented that the nomination can be brought before the King's council for a vote. Henry knew he had the nobility on his side: despite what they thought of Becket, having someone that could tilt the balance of power in favor of secular rulers over the church would benefit them to much to let their prejudices of Thomas low birth get in the way. The Bishops were another matter; a faction of senior bishops, lead by the bishop of London, who up until now was thought of as the natural successor of Theobald, resisted. A series of back door deals and talks occurred bringing the clergy to the kings side. All but the bishop of London who held out the longest, but then unexpectedly changed his mind. Some believe members of the nobility (perhaps with or without the Kings knowledge, no one knows for sure) threatened the bishop for his vote. Surprisingly, the last obstacle was Thomas himself who at first was inclined to refuse the post, pleading that Henry do not put their friendship in jeopardy:

"I know your plans for the Church, you will assert claims which I, if I were archbishop, must needs oppose."

But Henry would not relent, he believed Thomas would put his position as Chancellor and their enduring friendship first above any responsibilities of Archbishop. So on June 2, 1162, Thomas Becket was ordained as a priest and on June 3rd made Archbishop of Canterbury. Their relationship would immediately take a nosedive as the once vain and gregarious lover of fine wine and woman Thomas Becket seemed to transform in a matter of days into a contemplative, pious, solemn, man of the cloth, dedicated to his role in the church and to an aesthetic lifestyle. Becket no longer attended the King's feasts or hunting expeditions. He more than doubled the amount Theobald had expended on the poor and invited large groups at a time into his home to have them fed and to wash their feet. He viewed his past lifestyle as sinful and as penance wore an uncomfortable hair-shirt under his monastic or bishop garb and refused to sleep in a bed, instead sleeping on the cold stone floor. He even took up the orthodox practice of scourging himself or having one of his priests or monks do it to him. 

Clare Family Crest

Henry and his nobles did not think anything of this at first, sure the King was sad that he could not spend the time with his friend like he use to, but thought all this was to detract from Thomas's naysayers who were critical of his appointment as archbishop. But the first sign of strain would come shortly after, when Henry was away excreting his control over his French domains. Thomas had embarked on a campaign for the church to regain control of some lands that the church had reluctantly ceded to the crown under Theobald and then to have them taken off the secular tax rolls. This ran him into conflict with the powerful magnate Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, who owned an estate in Kent that was on land the new Archbishop claimed was once the church's.  When Thomas sent a messenger to the Earl trying to push his authority, the Earl had the messenger eat the letter. Another incident occurred when tax collectors were shooed away by priests when trying to collect a tax called a Sheriff's Aid, to help supplement the income of law enforcement. Thomas claimed that since this was a tax not directly sponsored or approved of by the church it was optional and people could not be forced to pay it. Incidents like these and a few others reached Henry in France and so he made his way back to London to try and smooth things over. Thomas and Henry, meeting for the first time in almost a year since Thomas's ordination, in the city of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, had an intense and almost combative negotiation on the accumulating conflicts between England's secular rulers and spiritual leaders. It is at this meeting that Becket resigned his position as Lord Chancellor and gave Henry the great seal back, feeling the position and honor bore to much of a conflict of interest with his duties as Archbishop. They were able to resolve the issues through compromise but both came away feeling dissatisfied; more so the king who was feeling betrayed by a friend. 

Constitutions of Clarendon

 Knowing this would not be the end, both Thomas and Henry spent the next year maneuvering themselves to have the advantage when the next church and state conflict came upon them. The next great debate was the church's role in the justice system. The tradition since the rule of Henry's grandfather, Henry I, was that clergy accused of minor crimes would be tried by a clerical court, not by the King's justice. The bishops for years have been arguing for an expanding role of the church's courts, but for the most part this had been dismissed. But now under Becket, the church took that idea of expansion to a whole new level; that the right to be heard in the church's courts instead of the secular courts was extended to not just clergy but any in the church's employee. Deacons, clerks, and other lay people of the church could now opt to be judged by the church instead of the courts. Becket went even further and extended it to farmers who worked church owned grounds and craftsmen who were regularly commissioned by clergy. The final straw for Henry was when Becket declared that clergy could not be tried in any secular court at any time for any crime, even for major crimes like treason or murder. The king summoned the magnates and bishops to assemble at the palace of Clarendon to address the crisis. The demand was made that the jurisdiction system be restored to his grandfather's traditions and that the church's court be scaled back to what it was meant to be. Negotiations went on for days and progress was made thanks to the mediating skills of Thomas's old patron Baron Richer de L'Aigle, now a senior statesman and adviser to Henry. Thomas relented and his expansion of the church's court was limited to allow clerk's and deacons to also opt for church ruling for minor crimes, all other changes Becket had made would be rolled back. In exchange certain rights of the accused would be upheld and when it came to the sentence of capital punishment a man cannot be humiliated and degraded in public and then executed "for it would be though he is being punished twice." The final agreement was written in a document now known as the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would become one of the founding documents of English Common Law and would be one of the inspirations for the much later Magna Carta.

Thomas though, only a few months later, rejected the agreement and again started pushing for the expanded rights of the clergy and lay people in the employee of the church. Henry was furious and was looking for any reason to be able to have Becket arrested and brought before him. Both men plead there cases to Pope Alexander III, but the Vatican was determined to stay neutral, as they saw this an internal English matter and asked that the two of them find a way to resolve it peacefully. Henry made his next move when he found out that Thomas was to take a trip to the Vatican. One of the stipulations of the Constitutions of Clarendon was that bishops, being partially high ranking members of governance need the King's permission to set foot into enemy territory; as Thomas's route would take him across France and Henry and King Louie were again at odds with one another, Henry used the coming departure as an excuse to have Becket arrested in violation of the Clarendon Accord. But once at North Hampton were the king was currently holding court, to Becket and the king's surprise, trumped up charges having nothing to do with the archbishop's trip were stacked against him, including illegal confiscation of land owned by John Marshal, Baron of Marlborough, and accusations (most likely orchestrated by agents of the Queen) that he had embezzled large sums of money from the treasury while acting as Chancellor. The Archbishop denied all charges saying the land Marshal is referring to was on loan to him from the church and thus the church had a right to take it back and that every penny was accounted for before he resigned as Chancellor, but was willing to pay the money anyway to resolve the issue. The king was seriously considering the offer in hopes of perhaps salvaging his former friendship when the Robert de Beaumont, as the new Chancellor, and at the urging of the queen, demanded Thomas be tried for treason as well, for his contact with the French. Henry refused Thomas's offer in light of his new Chancellor's accusations which he could not ignore our else look weak and biased to the rest of the Magnates and so decreed Becket should stand trial.

Becket saw the writing on the wall, even if Henry was inclined to see reason, the barons under the influence of the queen would not rest until they had his head. He snuck out of North Hampton castle and made his way to France. Becket lived out the year at a monastery of the Cistercian order in Ponitgny, waging a propaganda campaign against Henry, continually writing to like minded English nobles, the Pope, King Louie and the German Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick I. Meanwhile back in England the Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, came to an uneasy understanding with Henry and took up must of the duties of the archbishop but not the title. When Becket, still technically archbishop, started excommunicating many of Henry's advisers through writ, Henry threatened to start closing Cistercian monasteries all over England unless they kicked Becket out.  Becket appealed to the pope for help, asking him to threaten Henry with excommunication since only the pope can excommunicate a King. Pope Alexander was sympathetic to Becket's cause but did not want to alienate Henry who was an ally against the Holy Roman Emperor's ambitions for northern Italy. So instead he granted Becket the title of papal legate giving his already excommunication decrees more weight. Henry put even more pressure on the Cistercian's and started threatening Becket's friends and allies in England. So Becket left the monastery and was granted asylum by the French King, to stay at his estate in Sens. The Pope saw now, with the French King being involved, how dire the situation was the  getting and feared the potential of it exploding into a war and so ordered both men to stand down, to make no more escalations until a special council he was to convene could decided on the issues. For 4 years things remained in limbo as the papal legalists mulled the events that lead to this. To see an end to the stalemate King Henry sent Bishop Foliot, Roger of York, Hilary of Chichester, and Roger of Worcester, to Normandy to negotiate a deal with the papal commission, who were then to present it to Becket. Terms for Becket's return were hashed out and included promised amendments to the Constitutions of Clarendon. But when the deal was presented to Becket he flat out refused saying that the commission was selling out the church's rights and authority and he did not recognize their authority to negotiate on his behalf, he than proceeded to excommunicate Bishop Foliot, accusing him of being "a wolf in sheep's clothing". This was followed by excommunication of more of King's advisers and the powerful Earl of Norfolk without warning as a way to compel the King himself to see him face to face, and if not than excommunication of more English magnates and bishops would come. With the help of the Archbishop of Rouen the highest clerical authority in Normandy, Foliot had the pope rescind his excommunication and censure Becket from anymore impromptu excommunications.

crowning of Henry the Young King

Meanwhile back in England King Henry had come to a decision on how to split up his Empire among his children. He knew even if he named one of his children as king of England, without a clarification of which child received control of which realm to administer the French King could use it as an excuse to re-exert control over the Angevin and Norman French lands. So to Richard, being his mothers favorite, he named Duke of Eleanor's ancestral lands of Aquitaine and he named him Count of his father's ancestral lands of Anjou, Geoffrey would become the Duke of Brittany, the the title of Count of Bois would still be held by Theobald V and his heirs, and his eldest son Henry would overlord all of them as King of England and Duke of Normandy. But to his youngest, John, there was nothing left, thus earning him the long time moniker Lackland. He also saw an opportunity in all this to to humiliate Becket. It was customary in England going back to the early days of unified Saxon rule that an heir apparent be crowned as king in waiting at the Canterbury Cathedral by the Archbishop, this in theory was to help ensure a smooth transition as a replacement king would be ready to go at the moment of the king's death. But as there was no current Archbishop of Canterbury as far as King Henry was concerned, he had his son crowned Henry the Younger, crown prince and future king of England, by the archbishop of York, Roger de Pont L'Évêque, and with the assistance of the Bishop of London, Foliot, at St. Paul's on June 14, 1170. It was a scandalous move that divided not only the nation by the clergy of almost the entire continent in whether Henry had the right to alter such a tradition. 

Becket again appealed to the Pope, explaining that this could have far reaching repercussion to the balance of power between kings and the church if Kings could dictate the circumstances of coronations, one of the few levers of power the church had to wield over royals. The Pope agreed and allowed Becket to place the whole of England under the threat of interdict, the right of the church to refuse a people of sacraments and other services of the church. This was the final move that would finally force Henry to meet his old friend Thomas face to Face. In July Thomas and Henry met outside of the Angevin ancestral home, the castle at Angers. Their two entourages hung back as the they rode ahead in a field to talk in private. Those watching from a distance say they fought as only two close friends could, screaming at each other at one point, laughing the next, sobbing to each other at other points. 20 years of emotions laid bare that day and an accord was reached with both men returning to their fellows visible shaken. Henry stayed behind in France, and headed for his French capital of Chinon, while Thomas wasted no time to head back to England to Canterbury to resume his duties as archbishop.

But upon his return Becket's first move was to take account all those in the high ranking clergy that had collaborated with the Henry against him in his absence. He again excommunicated Bishop Foliot and several others for siding with the secular power over their duties and loyalty to the church. Bishop Foliot immediately sent word to Chinon of what was happening. Henry was well into the wee hours of the morning feasting and drinking all night in Christmas celebration, when the news was delivered. Accounts say the king was driven into a torrent of emotion, laughing, crying, howling in both despair and anger. At one point even cursing God for not removing the love he has for Thomas from his heart. Many of his guests left not knowing how to handle the situation, all but a few close advisers and a retinue of household knights that were also considered close friends stayed behind to console their conflicted king. It was in this pitiful drunken deranged state that the King uttered those famous and fated words: 

"What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and promoted in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk! Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest."

The King was ushered off to bed by his concerned knights, to sleep of the wine and the heart break. While the king slept his remaining guests whispered about what they could do to help their troubled lord and what exactly if anything the king had meant in his outbursts. Henry locked himself away in his personal chambers, refusing to see anyone, including his own family members, giving no official word of what his next move would be. On December 29, 1170 a few short days after that troubling party, four of the kings loyal household knights, Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, the same knights who at that party  were trying to comfort their king and to sleep,  showed up at Canterbury, with an unidentified royal clerk. They left there weapons outside as custom before entering a church and walked in Becket in the middle of preforming evening prayer, called vespers, demanding that the Archbishop accompany them to Winchester to await the kings arrival, to account for his shabby treatment of his friend and lord. Becket refused, claiming on a spiritual level his duties to the church must come before his former friendship and on a secular level, they being low-born landless knights held no sway over an archbishop. He told them that if Henry wished for their relationship to improve he must come there himself and repent of his sins against the church and its clergy. Becket wished the knights a goodnight and proceeded with nightly duties. The knights left without a word, grabbed their weapons and stormed back into the cathedral. When a monk by the name of Edward Grim confronted the knights about bringing weapons into a church he was thrown aside and wounded. Becket came rushing to see if the young man was okay, when he was attacked. Grim tried to shield the archbishop, trying to block the knights approach with the staff and cross, but again was shoved to the side. In Edward Grim's testimony of the events he states:

"The wicked knights leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the miter which the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself as living sacrifice, and saying in a low voice, "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death." But the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more"

Up for debate is whether King Henry truly sought this outcome, was his drunken outburst an illusion to cover up the fact he was ordering the death or at least the kidnapping of an archbishop. Or was it simply ravings of drunken distraught man that were taken to seriously by loyal sycophants. Whether he was cognizant of what he was saying or not I do not believe he wanted to see Thomas murdered, certainly not in such a brutal fashion. The argument could be made that he may have nudged them towards kidnapping, thinking if they do it great, but if they don't get the hint that's fine also. But again I take issue with this, as a number of accounts say he had been heavily drinking during his Christmas feast and just how clever could he have been well into his cups. Historians can debate all they want, but we will probably never know.

News of the assassination of Thomas Becket spread like wildfire through the whole of England and France. Henry was with the Bishop Arnulf of Lisieux discussing next possible political steps to submit to the papacy against Becket, when the news reached him. This is another notch for those like me that believe Henry had no clue about what was going to happen; if Henry was expecting Becket to be kidnapped or murdered soon, why seek counsel with Bishop Arnulf about how to make a case against Becket to the pope. Seems like their are other ways to cement an alibi than rely on yet another clergyman. The bishop would later report that Henry would not stop crying for three whole days and had refused food and dink to the point were Anulf's monks had to force feed him water. Henry's enemies , including King Louie used the murder as propaganda against Henry's interests and trying to turn the christian world against the Henry's rule in England and France. But none was more vocal than ecclesiastical poet and writer, William of Blois, whose writing and speeches started forming a cult around Becket, convincing a segment of the people that Henry had knowingly slaughtered a living saint. He even wrote to the Pope trying to convince him of Henry's culpability in the matter:

"I have no doubt that the cry of the whole world has already filled your ears of how the king of the English, that enemy of the angels... has killed the holy one... For all the crimes we have ever read or heard of, this easily takes first place - exceeding all the wickedness of Nero."

William and his followers were slowly turning the people against Henry's rule. It did not help that the four knights who had committed the deed fled to the Scottish border with the aid of some of the magnates who were known to be harsh critics of Becket's. Meanwhile, Henry had not lifted a finger either way, he had for a time become a shut in, and even when he was out walked as though in a trance. Some say he could sometimes be seen pleading with Thomas for forgiveness as if the archbishop was their in the room with him. The whole of England looked to be a powder keg ready to go off, with the King of France just waiting, licking his lips. But the French king would over play his hand and Henry's sons' revolt against their father, orchestrated by the French King and the vindictive Queen Eleanor, would knock the king out of his stupor. On those events, we will have to wait when we continue Henry's story. As for his Becket problem, instead of trying to suppress or break apart the forming cult and the calls for martyrdom, Henry embraced and championed it. He publicly admitted that while he never desired his friend's death, his drunken, ill-chosen words brought it about. He sent bishop Arnulf to the Vatican to be his advocate and plead not only his case but also the case for canonizing Thomas as a saint. The pope granted Thomas sainthood in February of  1173 and in May sent Henry the Judgments of Avranches, a list of demands that Henry was to meet in order to obtain absolution over Becket's death. First, that Henry was to recruit, equip, and pay for the travel of 200 knights for the holyland, second, the Constitutions of Claredon were again amended this time to state that clergy, deacons, and clerks were to be tried by the clerical court in all matters except murder, treason, and arson. Third, that all churches, cathedrals, and monasteries were immune to taxation for the rest of Henry's reign unless the bishops freely gave to the treasury. Fourth, the four knights were to come to the Vatican to stand in judgement before the pope. And last, the king must make a penance of his choosing that would be satisfactory to the bishops of England. It was this last part that historians debate whether it was public theater, another calculated move to bring in more supporters among the peasantry or if it was a heart felt attempt to appease his friends spirit. I see it both, but you be the judge. The penance he proposed to his bishops would be more than they would have asked for, and all made under public spectacle. To start he dedicating a new nunnery in Barking to the memory of St. Becket (making sure to have the public realize he played a part in the archbishops canonization) and naming Becket's sister Mary as abbess. But more shocking and dramatic was his act of contrition on July 12, 1174. Setting out from the outskirts of Kent his day was described as such by a local monk named Gervase:

"He (Henry II) set out with a sad heart to the tomb of St. Thomas at Canterbury... he walked barefoot and clad in a woollen smock all the way to the martyr's tomb. There he lay and of his free will was whipped by all the bishops and abbots there present and each individual monk of the church of Canterbury."

another monk by the name of Ralph de Diceto added:

"He spent the rest of the day and also the whole of the following night in bitterness of soul, given over to prayer and sleeplessness, and continuing his fast for three days... There is no doubt that he had by now placated the martyr."

  He would try to visit the tomb at least once a year for the rest of his life, often seen talking and laughing at the stone effigy as if having the kind of conversations with his friend all those years ago. Henry was never the same after that, he was noted as being less cheerful unless in the midst of one of his schemes. He was more cynical and even quicker to anger than ever before. And no one would ever feel a genuine bond of friendship from the king.

However, any hatred or disloyalty that the peasantry of England may have had for Henry evaporated. For the rest of his reign he would have them all to himself; not one magnate or bishop, nor any of his wayward children or their scheming mother would ever be able to take the love of the people on this side of the channel away from him. A man that has shown true contrition by suffering in an almost Christ like fashion. And had their new champion, his admitted enemy, raised up into sainthood. In the eyes of the highly religious every-man of the age What a magnificent leader they had, who could rule as magnanimously or as pious as he. King Louie, the Queen, and Henry's children, in their effort to demonize the Angevin king, gave him cause to create a completely opposite atmosphere about him. As for the four knights Henry did not hesitate to have them found, arrested and sent to Rome. There they pleaded their case that they believed they were doing their duty not only as servants of the king but as friends of a comrade in grief and distress. Pope Alexander granted them mercy and absolution in exchange for a 14 year commitment to crusade in the holy land. Their deeds their would bring about the English knightly Order of St, Thomas founded by Richard the Lionheart.

St. Thomas would become one of England's most revered figures, even to this day. Pilgrimages would be made from across Europe to see his tomb at Canterbury. In fact, in the famed anthology Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, it is Becket's tomb the varies narrators are heading to to pay homage. Today a sculpture of 4 swords (representing the 4 nefarious knights) hangs above the very spot were the saint's body laid dead. St. Thomas is venerated in both the Catholic church and the Anglican church with a feast day of December 29th. He his the patron saint of secular clergy, of the cities of Oxford and Portsmouth, of those that stand up to authority in just causes, and those that defend Christians from abuses from secular leaders. Paintings, icons and statues of St. Thomas are often depicted not only with the signature halo around his head like most saints, but also sometimes with a sword running through his head as a symbol of his martyrdom. And besides the innumerable, churches, chapels, shrines, abbeys, and monasteries named after him, one of the largest interfaith non-profits is named for him as well, the The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty a legal and educational institution dedicaed to free expression of religious traditions. His conflict with King Henry II will be recounted throughout the rest of history every time there is a debate in the western world about the relationship between church and state. From Henry VIII spit with Rome to the authority of the Spanish Inquisition, from the American founding fathers principles of separation of church and state to the evolving role of the clergy in the french revolution and Napoleonic wars; each time Becket's tale is made a factor in the discussion.

Like I said with my Julius Caesar posts I like adding movie and TV images as I believe it helps with seeing these historic figures as real people more than looking at old paintings and tapestries. The movie images used for this post are from the 1964 film, Becket, starring Richard Burton as Thomas and Peter O'Toole as Henry, which won an Academy Award for best screenplay. The movie has many minor inaccuracies and omissions in the chain of events and one major one in portraying Becket as of Saxon descent, resentful of how Henry treats his people as one of his motivations, which is wrong. However, it is an amazingly well acted film, with both Burton and O'Toole having been nominated for an award for best actor (both being beaten out by Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field, so its understandable why neither one of them one) and O'Toole winning the Golden Globe best actor award. You will be especially in awe of O'Toole's performance, he really gives off the unbridled cyclone of emotions that I could imagine Henry must have been feeling through all this. O'Toole's manic Henry plays as a great juxtaposition to Burton's Thomas, a more melancholy and contemplative man, but through a talented performance, with skilled use of his eyes and turns of the head, you can see how much he is torn inside, how much he regrets having to go against his long time friend. So for historic purity I give it a 5, but for characterization of our two main subjects I give it an 8. Its supporting cast is meh, but I think that has more to do with the over shadowing nature of the two main characters and the actors portraying them rather than any fault of the rest of the cast. The film was also nominated Academy awards for best Picture, director, costuming, and editing; so not a bad bit of pedigree. Its set pieces and costuming are pretty good for the time the film was made, both winning BAFTA awards. And if, like me, you don't mind that classic percussion and brass heavy, melodramatic orchestra style of score found in old school Hollywood period pieces I really recommend it as a great piece of cinema, just don't go using it as a source for your next history class essay.

Angevin # 5: Henry II Part 3: The Juggernaut Marches On

King Henry II Plantagenet was set to bring his new country in line and into profitability. But this was a country he knew little about compared to his holdings in France or of french politics and culture. Research, and mental preparedness was needy before he could rule effectively. He called upon scholars, philosophers, and other learned men from all over his new country to attained his roving court. As a friend of his would say, "everyday is a school day in Henry's court." I say roving because the king never stayed in the same place more than a few days. His first few months, though it was winter, he traveled throughout England; attending hunts at his or other nobles forests, being hosted at various town and city holiday festivals, feasting with his new subjects, and observing local lords courts. He inquired about every detail; wanting to know the concerns, customs, policies, traditions, rivalries, trades, cash crops, etc., of every locality and its lords, of every corner of the English realm, taking note but never intervening. And he was a remarkable student of it all, in and out of the classroom, absorbing everything and forgetting nothing or no one. When he felt he was ready, he called on all the magnates and barons, minor lords and landed knights, to a great attendance of his court in April of 1155. There he had them all swear fealty to him and his two sons, 1 1/2 year old William and new born Henry. King Henry II presented himself as the true heir of King Henry I, and said he was determined to rule in the law and order style of his grandfather, who was known as the "Lion of Justice."

 

A number of immediate reforms to put an end to the last remnants of the civil war were declared at the attendance to show Henry was serious about exerting his authority and bringing the country back to the rule of law. His first decree was to have all unauthorized castles, also known as adultrine castles, demolished. If it was built during the years of the Anarchy without the written consent of either King Stephen or his mother Empress Matilda, it was to come down immediately. Also, in respect to and in the spirit of the original treaty of Winchester, any foreigner (non English, Norman, Scot, or Welsh) that had been granted land and title in England by Stephen or Matilda was stripped of those privileges and given compensation (paltry as it may have been). They were also ordered to leave the country unless they submitted themselves under the direct employee of the King or one of the magnates as a household knight or counselor. Many Flemish and French mercenaries, brought to England by Matilda or Henry, were enraged and felt betrayed, but had no recourse as the Count of Flanders was an ally of Henry and the French nobility did not like the idea of their own knights having a divided loyalty between England and France. Finally he made assurances to those who fought for King Stephen that their positions were still secure as long as they show him the same loyalty they had shown Stephen. To further bring about the peace among his nobles he arranged a number of marriages between rival houses.

St. Thomas Beckett

With the last visages of the Anarchy out of the way king Henry saw that his attention needed to be divided in two between re-establishing the authority of the crown both internally and externally; a cementing of royal authority and rule of law through a court and justice system and a show of power and determination for surrounding rival nations. Foreign diplomacy and military deployment and logistics would require a personal face, so he would need help with the internal work of law and order through writ of the crown. He turned once again for thoughts on legal authority and advise to the church. The arch bishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Bec, helped Henry chose a council of men to minister the internal workings of the government To head this group Theobald recommended his personal clerk and pupil, Thomas Beckett; a young man of modest upbringing, being the son of a landless knight and a merchant's daughter, who had excelled in ever task the archbishop had ever given to him. Beckett would bring tireless proficiency and effectiveness to the job and would quickly became a great friend and confidant of the king's. Beckett's life, career, and downfall will be the subject of the next post, so for now, with internal governance well in hand lets get back to Henry's international show of power.

Prince Owain Gwynedd, King Malcolm IV, and Prince Rhys ap Gruffydd

Being a new ruler Henry knew full well that this was the time other kings would size him up and scheme on whether they can take advantage of this transition of power and time of re-building. First and foremost of these threats would be the King of France who would not have forgotten how Henry humiliated him. Henry needed to quickly show he was in full control of the borders of his new domain and that meant bringing England's borders with Wales and Scotland back to per-Anarchy positions; the late King David of Scotland and two prominent Welsh lords had used the chaos of the Anarchy to gain territory from their English rivals. By tackling these border issues Henry would not only shore up his territory and show a willingness to exert absolute control of his borders, but by showing concern for the security of these areas he would win the support of two of the most militant groups of land holding lords in the realm, the Northern Barons and the Marcher Lords.

Pre and Post Anarchy Wales

 Wales was by no means a unified country in the traditional sense; the ruling families had a unique dynastic scheme that for generations pitted all male family relations against one another and very rarely was the country under the rule of one king. Brothers and cousins of the ruling families (which changed names periodically because of shifting marriage allegiances) would split their territory up among heirs, making each a Prince of his own realm, and than continually fight to assume the others territory into their own; creating a sort of survival of the fittest motif to see who would come out as head of a family. Again, only a handful of times in Welsh history would one "Prince" ever gain enough power to be declared King. But one thing that would bring the various Welsh nations to unity or at least non-aggression with one another was their mutual hatred for the English, be it the Saxons or the Normans. After William the conquer had defeated the Saxons, the ones he was most lenient with were those on England's mountainous western borders with Wales. He gave those Saxon lords willing to accept his rule, and Norman knights willing to accept the challenge of establishing households in hostile territory in order to be made lords in this new land, crate-blanch to build up their own private armies and castles on those border lands. From then on they became known as the powerful Marcher lords, constantly in conflict with the Welsh over trade routes, territory, and all other manner of disputes; and the kings of England for the most part turned a blind eye to however these lords dealt with their Welsh rivals. In fact, with a few exceptions, the Marcher lords were allowed to remain mostly neutral in the Anarchy do to the nature of their positions, but those that did chose sides were highly valued as their armies were seen as the most battle hardened. It was those armies being missing that allowed the Welsh to make tremendous gains on the south cost and north eastern mountain passes, under the command of the two most powerful of the Welsh Princes, Owen Gwynedd of the realm Gwynedd and Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth.

Gwynedd

Henry went after Gwynedd first, being relatively close to the Scottish border he wanted to make an impression with the Northern Barons and the King of Scotland whom he planned on dealing with later. Through surprise Henry quickly regained all the territory that had been lost, however he would find his press into the interior of Gweynedd was ground to a halt. Henry had the idea of punishing Owain's opportunism by taking the province known as Rhuddlan, and to take Rhuddlan all one need do is take the castle of Twthill. Owain knew if Henry finished moving the much larger English force and established a siege of Twthill the castle would not last long and to remove English troops by that point would be near impossible. Henry had split his army in two to cover the ground faster; his infantry and bowman took the coastal route to pillage the fishing villages for food and scare the locals, while his knights, sappers, siege engineers, and other specialized forces traveled the forest route to collect supplies for building the siege engines and encampment for when they got to their destination. The thought was it would make for too easy of a target to drag such equipment all the way from an English town to Twthill, that the regular soldiers could distract Welsh forces as the rest of his forces gathered everything on route to be built on site, all with the protection of the elite Norman mounted knights. Owain did not take the bait, he ambushed the forest caravan in Ewloe (now known as Flintshire) and that being in a forest the mounted knights had little room to maneuver and be as effective against the guerilla fighting Welsh. Henry's forces retreated back to their regained territory. Owain saw his victory over the much superior force as divine protection:

"We are supported by divine assistance, we are far inferior to the English; and they, by their behaviour, have made God their enemy, who is able most powerfully to avenge both himself and us. We therefore most devoutly promise God that we will henceforth pay greater reverence than ever to churches and holy places."

 Henry, though, would not let the idea of punishing Owain go lightly, and hatched a dangerous scheme. He would continue to build up forces along the Gwynedd border and engage in small skirmishes, even committing himself and his personal troops to a folly of a battle at Crogen. There, in torrential downpour, his vanguard took heavy losses and he himself almost fell but for Hugh de St Claire, constable of Oakwood Castle, taking a spear in the chest meant for the Henry. Again Henry retreated, but though a loss and a tremendous gamble, it had the desired effect; distracted by the English aggression and tempted by the idea of a counter offensive, Owain and his men over committed themselves to the north eastern border area leaving the southern border with fellow Welsh Prince Powys open for attack. Flush with cash and equipment on loan from Henry, Powys took the oppurtunity to seize a sizable chunk of Gwynedd for himself; ironically, it was as much territory as Owain had originally taken from the English during the Anarchy. The message was received, and while no formal truce or peace treaty was signed, Owain nor his heirs would step foot into English territory and had even given verbal commitments to come to the military aid Henry if called.

Deheubarth

While Henry's campaign in Gwynedd had mixed results, his campaign in southern Wales, which started right after the events of Ewloe forrest, was more of a clear success. In 1063, one of the  pre-William the Conquror original Marcher Lords, Bernard de Neufmarché, had lead a resoundingly successful campaign against the southern Welsh who he accused of banditry and piracy. The conclusion was the defeat of Rhys ap Tewdwr, Prince of Deheubarth at the time, at the battle of Brecon, which resulted in a number of Marcher lords assuming power along the entire Welsh southern coast. But, as stated before, with some of the Marcher Lords' forces being dragged into the Anarchy, much of that territory was lost to his grandson Rhys ap Gruffydd; and like Owain made a couple of inroads into England itself on the extreme southern border. Again Henry, using surprise and lighting speed drove the Welsh from English lands, but this time instead of invasion Henry used coercive diplomacy to bring Deheubarth to heel. Henry posted a large military force on the border with Deheubrath, then let it be known that he intended to support all who have lost territory during the years of the civil war to return southern Wales to the previous status quo. Deheubrath, pre Anarchy was tiny, and had used the confusion to not only take the Welsh lands from the March Lords but made many surprise gains against nearly all its neighboring Welsh provinces, quadrupling its territory. Faced with the prospect of all his grandfathers old enemies coming to destroy Deheubrath with an English army at their back Prince Gruffydd sued for peace with Henry. Henry demanded the entire southern coast back into the hands of the Marcher lords and that English Lord Walter de Clifford be given the castle of Cantref Bychan, inside Deheubarth, to act as a liaison to the English crown. Once things were finalized and settled, King Henry "retreated" from involvement in southern Wales. Lord Clifford made a half hearted attempt to seize one of Gruffydd's castle at Cantref Mawr. Prince Gruffydd appealed to King Henry but after days of not receiving any response took matters into his own hands and drove Clifford not only from Mawr but out of Bychan as well, a surprising victory to the Welsh. But soon the Prince would realize it was all an entrapment. Henry responded to the attack claiming that the Prince had broken their pact and if he had waited just a few days more he would have reprimanded his subject, Lord Clifford, himself. Lord Clifford for his part was "punished" by not being able to reclaim Bychan, but Henry demanded compensation for the Prince's breaking of their treaty, the compensation was that the Prince's son, Hywel was to be hostage to Henry and that Prince Gruffydd was now a client of the English crown, still ruler of Deheubarth but subject to Henry.
 

King David I and King Malcolm IV

Scotland in comparison would be a cake walk for Henry, having already displayed his girt in Wales and with the powerful King David dead, succeeded by the young sickly and impressionable Malcolm IV. Though David had been allies of Matilda and Henry, the Scottish were not keen on just giving up any of the lands they had taken from King Stephen and their hated rivals, the English Northern Barons, during the Anarchy; David and his lords viewed those occupied territories as payment for their allegiance with Henry. But David knew that that argument may be on shaky grounds with the church legalists that Henry had a reputation for having on his side. So before he passed away, in an effort to legitimize continued Scottish occupation and control of the captured lands, instead of annexing them into Scotland, David named his grandsons as the rightful English lords of those provinces (their father having died years earlier). To his eldest grandson and heir, Malcolm, he dubbed the Earl of North Umbria and of Huntingdon; and his younger grandson William he dubbed the earl of Cumbria. But the newly crowned Malcolm had not inherited his grandfather's mettle. Small of frame, constantly ill, not as sharp or as politically ambitious as is grandfather, and reliant on a bevy of advisors, Malcolm was more playing at king than being one. And whats worse for his loyal subjects, he grew up enthralled and in awe of the romanticized tales of the famed Norman knights: of them riding alongside his grandfathers warriors against the "vile usurper" King Stephen or conquering the holy land from the heathen Saracens. Word of the boy kings fancies reached Henry, and Henry in turn was determined to use it to his advantage. He used his recent Welsh campaigns to intimidate any Scottish noble in his way to befriending the boy. He offered his tutelage in what it means to be a ruler, and most of all he promised to groom Malcolm into becoming the thing the boy wanted most, a knight. Henry manipulated the boy by dangling the prospect of knighthood like a carrot on a stick; that all Malcolm had to do was let Henry take him under the elder statesman's wing and heed his lessons. And for Henry's first lesson, the importance that a king demand that his vassals pay him homage and if they do not, to met out appropriate punishment. Henry used the example of his great audience back in April 1155, were all land holding lords of the English realm were expected to come to pay their respect and acknowledge Henry's lordship over them. However, as Henry pointed out, Malcolm and William had not attended, and being Earls of English lands they had committed a grave breach of protocol which must be punished. Malcolm not wanting to disappoint the man he was counting on dubbing him a knight, submitted to whatever punishment his mentor thought appropriate. Henry stripped him of the earldom of North Umbria and William of the earldom of Cumbria, but "graciously" allowed Malcolm to retain the earldom of Huntingdon as a gesture of "forgiveness". The Scottish lords watched helplessly as their king was tricked into giving up two large chunks of land they had fought the Northern Barons so long for control over. And to make matters worse Malcolm gave a promise of military aid to Henry whenever he called, in hopes of winning his coveted knighthood from his mentor. 

One thing that was made clearly apparent in all this was that King Henry Plantagenet was not only focused, but seemed tireless. He preferred hunting and travel cloths to formal wear no matter what the day called for and gave little to no time to pomp and prestige. No fatigue what so ever showed, nor attention diminished, as he bounced from one end of the country to the other, juggling foreign affairs with Wales and Scotland, at the same time convening with his new right hand man Beckett in their partnered efforts in forming the laws, agencies, appointments, and institutions, that would be the pillars of a stable internal English government. Not even the death of his first born, 3 year old William, was enough to slow him down; in fact the tragedy seemed to spur him on in his work even more fervently. The question on everyone's minds at all time was were would the King pop up next. A dispute between two lords over taxing boundaries, a local knighting, a convening of court to dispense justice, the king showed up everywhere ready to work from dawn till dusk. And if not the king than one of Beckett's appointed agents, was assigned to administer decrees in the king's name. With England now secure and the impressive and brilliant Beckett running the realm with clockwork precision (much to the ire of the ever ambitious Queen), Henry could now go back to France in confidence in his ability to expand his power and territory while keeping King Louie of France at bay.

Castle Chinon

 While Henry was away dealing with Wales and Scotland little had changed in France: he had a non-aggrssion pact with the Count of Flanders stating that neither one will help nor hinder the other in their conflicts with King Louie; he officially recognized Theobald V as Count of Blois, instead of just a stand in while he was away; and even had a uneasy peace treaty with Louie in 1154 where Louie formally recognized Henry's control of the cities of Vernon, on the northern end of the Vexin, and Neuf-Marche on the borders of Flanders in exchange for rudimentary acknowledgment that Louie was his King in France, though still Henry would never give official homage in person. In 1158, Henry moved his family back to France: 3 year old Henry, 2 year old Matilda, new born Richard (yes, that Richard), and his queen Eleanor pregnant with their 5th child Geoffrey. While the family stayed in his ancestral home of Angers, Henry would build the impressive fortress of Chinon to be his administrative and treasury center on this side of the channel as London was for the otherside.  The expansive castle was built from the ruins of one of the castles of the legendary King Clovis I and the symbolic importance of Henry setting up his base of power where the first ever king of the Franks once ruled from was not lost on any in France. Standing on top of cliffs over looking the Vienne River, in the heart of the borderlands between his County of Anjou and Eleanor's Duchy of Aquitaine, protected on three sides by cliffs and rushing water it was one of the most impressive bastions in all of France. William of Newburgh would write upon its completion:

"its strength was such that nature seemed to vie with human art in fortifying and defending it"

Mont-Saint-Michel

 But even with his new capital complete, with messengers and packages running back and forth between Chinon and London, night and day, his realms in France and England running like well oiled machines, Henry's ambitions would never rest. Before his next territorial target could be sought he needed to shore up the peace between him and King Louie, so he went into negotiations with the French King in the coastal city of Mont-Saint-Michel in the neutral Duchy of Brittany. The terms of the peace were Louie would formally recognize the Duchy of Normandy's control of the entire Vexin, in exchange Henry's son Henry (3) was betrothed to Margaret (1), Louie's eldest daughter with his 2nd wife. At last peace between Normandy/Anjou and the French crown seemed possible. Henry was now free to set his sights on his next target, the very Duchy he was sitting in for the negotiations, Brittany.

The peninsula duchy of Brittany, like Normandy was starkly different than the rest of France in custom and dialect. But where Normandy was a hybrid of Nordic and French culture, Brittany had a Celtic and French mix due to their strong ties to the Irish and Welsh. Largely independent from the rest of France do to geography it was also not a very centralized province either, the Dukes of Brittany having little real control over their vassals. But currently the entire province was in the midst of an on again off again civil war since the death of Duke Conan III in 1148. Henry had decided to throw his support behind Conan IV and use him as a puppet ruler of the peninsula. In exchange for Normandy and Anjou support for his claim Henry demanded Nantes, one of the Duchy's largest cities, be returned to his brother Geoffrey, as it was Geoffrey's by royal appointment. If you recall, Louie had offered Nantes to Geoffrey in exchange for betraying Henry. The current Count of the city, Hoel of Cornwall, had seized the city after Geoffrey never showed up to take up the position because he had been detained first by Theobald V and than handed over to his brother. Hoel was Conan IV uncle, so Conan refused Henry's offer. With financial and material support from Henry, Geoffrey started an insurrection within the city and overthrew Hoel. When Conan moved against Nantes to restore his uncle, Henry moved the armies of Anjou, Normandy, and Blois in, under the pretext that Conan was committing treason against the French crown by attempting to remove a royally appointed count of the city. Henry's forces easily defeated Conan and declared Brittany under the protectorate of Normandy until such time an appropriate Duke could be named, i.e. when he decided which one of his sons he would name as Duke. As for Louie, not a word, neither an endorsement or condemnation of Henry's supposed defense of a royal appointment or of Normandy taking primacy over Brittany. The silence from Paris was deafening throughout all of France as the whole of the country was starting to truly fear the meteoric rise of Henry Plantagenet and his Angevin Empire.

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.

 

The Angevin # 3: Henry II Part 1: Breed and Groomed for Power

"Born of the Devil"

Henry Fitzempress Plantagenet, also known as Henry Curmantle, for his scorn for long flowing robes usually worn as a symbol of office at formal occasions, opting instead for a shorter less voluminous robes, was born in Le Mans, on  March 3, 1133. His parents' marriage was meant to assuage the hostilities between the Norman lords and the lords of Anjou, a long standing rivalry for dominion over parts of North Western France.

Anjou was a fertile land known for its lush fruits and wines, but whose people had developed a unsavory and scandalous reputation among the peoples of the surrounding lands. The Normans in particular had a disdain and distaste of the Angevin whose lands laid in the midst of the Norman controlled territories of Normandy, Blois, and the Norman aligned Brittany. The Angevin had been seen by outsiders as degenerates and hedonists, who "desecrated churches and murdered priests in the night", and who "ate like animals, devoid of table manners." The gossip around France was severally exaggerated but not baseless, as the lords in Anjou had a continuing disputes with the Catholic church about several issues which had led to some isolated incidents of churches and monasteries being burned and clergy being arrested and executed. The French Kings would always have to step in and mediate the latest standoff, but it was a far cry from the accusations of witchcraft and devil worship the rumor mongers spread among the peasantry. As for the other accusations, with Anjou being so bountiful the Angevin were quick to festival and feast than normal, using even the simplest occasions to make celebration. But to other regions who were more prone to lean harvests, and again, especially to the Normans who are use to harsh winters, this was seen as a sinful extravagance and waste of food. Demonizing of Anjou was at its peak when it came to speaking of the Counts of Anjou. The Counts, ruling for many generations from their castle in Angers, had a reputation of being conniving and

Castle Angers and the Count of Anjou coat of Arms

untrustworthy, political snake charmers who had great and terrible tempers if their charming tricks did not work. The Counts were "Born of the Devil" as the chroniclers of the age liked to say, often citing passages from the family legend that the first Count, Fulk I,  had taken a Moorish pagan enchantress, Melisune, as bride, and after giving him a number of children she did not intend on raising as christian, she was forced to attend a christian mass to baptize her and her children. The story goes that the words of the bible were "like madding poison to her ears", so she flung herself out the window and down a cliff. Instead of trying to squelch the story the Counts, including Henry and his son Richard the Lionheart, would sometimes revel in it, using it as an excuse for some of their more volatile behavior.

King Henry I and Geoffrey Plantagenet

 After years of rivalry between the Norman lords, lead by the Dukes of Normandy and Angevin lords lead by the Counts of Anjou, Henry I, Duke of Normandy and King of England struck a truce with Geoffrey Plantagenet, younger brother of Count Fulk V, that in exchange for raw material and food surplus from Anjou the Normans would throw their military and political weight behind the Angevins in disputes with other French lords (including the King) who may look to take advantage of Anjou, since Fulk was leaving on crusade to the holy lands, taking much of his army with him. To seal the agreement Henry agreed to marry off his daughter, Empress Matilda, widow of Emperor Henry V of the German Holy Roman Empire, to Geoffrey in 1128. Fulk, not intending to return to France, gifted Anjou and the title of Count to his brother Geoffrey as a wedding gift (Fulk would eventually be crowed King of Jerusalem). Meanwhile, a few years earlier, King Henry's son, William, had died during the sinking of his ship in the English channel leaving no clear heir to the throne of England or the Duchy of Normandy, eventually causing the civil war known as The Anarchy after Henry I's death in 1135 (see the last article for a quick recap). And so Henry Fitzempress, heir to the County Anjou, and potential heir to the Duchy Normandy and throne of England was born just before war broke out and was raised during one of the most chaotic times in western Europe. He was left with tutors and nannies, or attended various French courts, for most of his younger years, as his parents were off fighting to press his mother's claims on inheritance; Matilda in England and Geoffrey in Normandy. However, after gaining control of Normandy in 1146 through combination military strategy and diplomatic guile, Geoffrey returned to castle Angers to take personal charge of his son's education. In his father Henry would not find a more able teacher in the art of court intrigue; as historian Dan Jones puts it, "Twelfth-century French politics was violent, changeable and rough, and Geoffrey was an adept player."

Henry's Political Debut

King Louie VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine

Henry, now a handsome stocky red headed teenager of 13, followed and watched his father ride across parts of South and eastern France, making deals, forming alliances, and projecting power and authority with some of the most powerful men of the realm. On this education tour it was noted that Henry was not as refined as his mother, nor was as charming as his father, but was noticed as highly intelligent, had a talent for administration and logistics, and had a piercing stare that intimidated most. In fact the boy seemed to have developed a flare for the dramatic, making strategically timed bullying outbursts if negotiations were not going his way. He garnered a reputation for the famed Angevin temper, when in fact he had become quit adept at acting out varies levels of outrage or indignation to what the situation called for. But him and his father's political skills would be put to the test with the arrival of King Louie VII, returned from a trip to the holy land. Louie having been informed of what had gone on since he left grew concerned at the amount of power Geoffrey had acquired in his absence, especially in his plans to name Henry as Duke of Normandy. To seal the claim for Normandy, Geoffrey offered Henry's hand in marriage to Louise's new born daughter, Alix (yes, I said new born, a 13 year old would be betrothed to a baby. It was not too common but it did happen occasionally, however, actual marriage in these cases would not happen until the younger of the two had reached mid teens).

Bernard of Clairvaux

Remembering their long time dispute with the Angevin and fearing an Angevin influence on the king's court, the clergy, lead by the powerful Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, campaigned against the union and used a convoluted family tree to argue against it; with Bernard writing the king,"I have heard that the Count of Anjou is pressing to bind you under oath respecting the proposed marriage between his son and your daughter. This is something not merely inadvisable but also unlawful, because apart from other reasons, it is barred by the impediment of consanguinity. I have learned on trustworthy evidence that the mothers of the Queen and this boy are related in the third degree. Have nothing to do with the matter." Outraged by the set back, Geoffrey threatened to proclaim Henry Duke of Normandy without the king's consent and in response King Louie threatened to name King Stephen of England's son Eustace as Duke. It would be Henry who would prevent a war between the Angevin and the crown, as he entered Louise's court in Paris and negotiated with the king on his father's behalf. It was seen as a brazen move, as technically he had no standing, he was not a lord, just heir to one, and had no army or land of his own. Henry struck a deal with Louie, that in exchange for a renewed oath of fealty to the French king from his father and the promised gift of the Vexin, a strategic valley that connects the Norman lands and the lands of the powerful Count of Flanders

(modern day western Belgium and north eastern France) to the King's personal domain, Louie would name Henry Duke of Normandy, but only in the understanding that it was an advance on the eventual inheritance from his mother Matilda and that Geoffrey and the County of Anjou had no primacy over Normandy. By this King Louie had just declared for Matilda on the French side of the Channel, helping defend against all claims from King Stephen of England and his family. The decree was finalized by Bernard, Geoffrey, and Louie, and all sides seemed content. It was a tremendous feat for one so young and not yet into his inheritance; for the first time the French nobility took awed notice of this skilled young man, especially the kingdom's young and ambitious firebrand queen, Eleanor. In fact it is suspected by some chroniclers and historians that Eleanor is the only one that knew just how clever the boy had been, more on that in a bit.

It is at this time, 1148, as I stated in the previous article that Henry gets his first crack at a military campaign. Against his mother's wishes and ignoring the advice of his uncle, Robert of Gloucester, who was the head of Matilda's forces in England, Henry will take a small mercenary army and try to capture the region in southern England known as Wiltshire. It was an unmitigated disaster that was made all the more embarrassing to Matilda that her enemy (and cousin) King Stephen took pity on her boy, and gave him money to go home. But instead of running with his tail between his legs he used that money to reignite his mothers waning alliance with King David I of Scotland. David would knight the boy and would comment to Matilda and Robert of Gloucester what a remarkable young man Henry was. Some of his pride restored Henry returns to France with his mother, both looking to abandon large parts of the English campaign in favor of consolidating the gains made against Stephen's supporters in France.While this was going on there was much distress within the royal house of Louie VII Augustus; his marriage to the young and beautiful Eleanor was not a happy one. Louie had married the Duchess to obtain direct control of her inheritance, namely the large, bountiful, wealthy, and artistic Duchy of Aquitaine.

He and his father had for years been working on consolidating power back into the hands of the crown, and trying to reign in more independent minded nobles. He had made significant diplomatic successes with the Duchies of Burgundy, Champagne, and Toulouse, and was engaged in an on and off war with the Count of Flanders. But his marriage to Eleanor and subsequent acquisition of Aquitaine was a major coup in the efforts to centralize power. But Eleanor was not the submissive bride Louie and his advisors hoped she would be; Louie tried to play for time, hoping that his wife would settle down in her ambitions but it only made her more frustrated and power hungry. The cracks in their union were evidently visible on their return from the holy land, as rumors swirled of scandal that had happened between Eleanor and her uncle Prince Raymond of Antioch; and that events that transpired their hastened Louie's itinerary. So Louie returned to Paris in not the best of moods when he learned of Geoffrey and Henry's efforts to embolden Angevin power, efforts that could undermined his own. Whats worse is Eleanor had yet to produce a male heir; two daughters had been born to Louie and Eleanor, Marie and Alix, and the 30 year old king was growing concerned about succession of the throne, especially seeing what was currently happening in England and his own backyard, Normandy. His nobles counseled him to get a divorce, that his lack of sons may be due to his marriage not pleasing to god. But his families long time friend and advisor, Abbott Suger of Saint-Denis, advised against divorce, that it would lose him Aquitaine and undermine his goal of centralizing power in France. His fretting about succession and marriage, his indecisiveness in the conflicts in Outremer and Flanders, and his inability to bring the whole of his country to heel without making major concessions disgusted Eleanor. A famed chronicler of the time, William of Newburgh, quoted her as saying she "married a monk, not a king." How very lady Macbeth sounding. So when Henry came to court in Paris to treat with Louie, Eleanor took notice. No one knows whether Henry and Eleanor had conspired the coming events together and if so was it from the very start of their meeting? Many are quit suspicious of Eleanor's involvement in the chain of events.

In the winter of 1150, Henry's father died, making Henry Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou. Next came a series of events that would put most soap operas to shame and show the world just what a Machiavellian mind Henry (and perhaps Eleanor) had. 1151, Abbott Suger dies under mysterious circumstances; the body given funerary rights and buried with haste the next morning. The news barely had reached King Louis ear when portions of the royal court lead by Eleanor call for the king to place Abbott Bernard of Clairvaux (you remember Bernard, he help Louie and Henry work things out) as replacement in the advisory position. Bernard took to his new position quickly, claiming he wanted to clean up all the unfinished business Suger left behind. He reopened the debate about Louie's marriage annulment as a way to solve the succession issue, but this time the clerical position was for annulment. So in March of 1152, presided over by the Arch-Bishop of Sens, Hugh de Toucy, and the Arch-Bishop of Reims, Samson of Mauvoisin, an annulment agreement was signed between Louie and Eleanor, where Eleanor would lose her title as Queen but retain her lands as Duchess of Aquitaine. Louie was comfortable with this as he would hold custody of their daughters, heirs to the Duchy. The annulment was finalized and approved by Pope Eugene III ten days later. As soon as word reach Eleanor of the Pope's approval she declared her intention to return home to Aquitaine by barge traveling the Loire river to Tours, a city on the Anjou border and head south from there. But while in Tours she sent a message to Henry to make haste for Poitiers. Henry, now 19, traveled in secret and once their immediately married Eleanor, 30, in the cathedral of Saint-Pierre, combining their two territories.

Enemies of Two Kings and Power couple of the Age

To say King Louie was furious would be an understatement, he demanded the marriage to be dissolved under the oaths of fealty agreed upon in the previous treaty Henry negotiated. But Henry refused, claiming the treaty stipulated his father was the one who swore oaths of fealty, not him. In fact Henry made a counter demand that the Vexin be restored to the Duchy of Normandy, that again technically under the treaty he negotiated and his father signed, Geoffrey, as Count of Anjou had no authority, that Anjou had no "primacy" to sign over the Vexin to King Louie. Louie turned to the church to have Henry declared an oath-breaker and a traitor in rebellion, but the clergy legalists sided with Henry; Henry may have negotiated the terms, but he was not the signatory and that the treaty was legitimate as it was witness by the now deceased Bernard of Clairvaux. Without Henry being declared a traitor he could not force the hands of all his lords, he would need to rely on much smaller personal alliances and coalition building.

Coat of Arms from Left to right, top to bottom: King Louis VII, Count of Boulogne, Count of Bois, Count of Perche, Count of Nantes, Count of Champagne, Duke of Normandy, and Duchess of Aquataine

His coalition consisted of King Stephen of England (acting as the Count of Bois), Stephen's son Eustace (acting as the Count of Boulogne), the Counts of Champagne and Perche, and in exchange for the title of Count of Nantes and promised the County of Anjou, Henry's own younger brother Geoffrey. Geoffrey claimed his betrayal was justified as he had heard rumors from his late fathers servants that it was his dying wish since Henry had Normandy, Anjou was suppose to go to Geoffrey. Eleanor stayed in Aquitaine, as she was beloved by the lords of Aquitaine, and would be a rallying symbol for them to resist the main royalist force lead by Louie. Meanwhile Henry raced up to Normandy, as he traveled he had heard that the Counts of Champagne and Perche had taken the city of Neufmarché-sur-Epte on the border of Normandy and Flanders. Meanwhile back in England, King Stephen, in hopes of goading Henry to split his forces, laid siege to one of his mothers last remaining strongholds, Wallingford Castle. But Henry new better and made a calculated move to scare the French King. Neufmarché-sur-Epte had always been a disputed territory with the King's hated rival, the Count of Flanders. He let it be known he cared not for the city and that he may be willing to recognize Flemish claim to it. He then surprise attacked and conquered the Vexin, creating a potential open doorway for a joint Norman/Flemish attack into the heart of Louie's personal domain. With the threat of invasion, getting nowhere in Aquitaine, and pressure from the church to end what they say was a personal war, Louie fained illness and called a truce, taking the Counts of Champagne and Perche with him. Henry then turned his attention to his wayward brother. With no support and already one of his castles burned to the ground, Geoffrey retreated to what he thought was the safety of his ally

Chaumount-sur-Loire and Theobald V

Theobald V, acting Count of Bois in King Stephens place. Instead, Theobald had him seized and imprisoned. A truce was made between Henry and Theobald that in exchange for the castle of Chaumount-sur-Loire on the Bois/Anjou border, Theobald returned Geoffrey to his brother Henry and promised to never raise arms against him unless his liege lord, King Stephen himself, came down to personally order it. Henry was now the undisputed master of nearly half of France, he could now set his sights on England and hopefully fulfill his mothers dream of seizing her father's throne.