Had He Lived...

19 June marked a sad date in Henry the Young King and his wife, Marguerite’s life. On this day in 1177 at Paris the queen gave birth to their only child, William. Born premature, the child died soon after. Interestingly enough, there are two different versions describing the event and apparently some controversy arose over it at the time. Roger of Howden, for instance, noted that:

… queen Margaret, the wife of the king, the son, being pregnant, went to her father [Louis VII], the king of France, and, on arriving at Paris, was delivered of a still-born son. The Franks, however, asserted that this son of the king was born alive and was baptized, and named William. (The Annals, Vol I, p.456)

I assume that in this case the Franks must have been in the right. After all theirs was the first-hand information.

In her wonderful novel The Greatest Knight, Elizabeth Chadwick poignantly described baby William’s arrival into this world and his quiet passing shortly after (excerpt quoted with Elizabeth Chadwick’s kind permission):

“The men were leaving the field when a herald came running towards them, waving his arms. ‘Sire, my lord, the Queen is delivered of a son!’ he cried, his face shining with the joy of the news he carried.

Henry shouted a thank you to God and whirled to William, grey eyes fierce with triumph. ‘Do you hear that, Marshal? A son, I have a son!’ He fisted William’s arm hard enough to bruise, even through gambeson and tunic.

‘That is great news, my lord!’ William fisted him back, although without quite as much force. ‘How is the Queen?’ he enquired of the messenger.

‘The women say very tired but joyful, sir.’

‘I must see him!’ Henry’s expression was incandescent as he spurred for the stables, pulling up in the yard so fast that the horse skidded on its haunches. Flinging from its back, he ran into the palace. William followed at a more sedate pace, a burden lifting from his mind. Marguerite had survived the ordeal and the sight of his young lord’s energy and eagerness gave him hope that everything might yet turn out for the best.

‘The heir to England and Normandy now has an heir of his own,’ said Baldwin de Béthune, riding up beside William, his lips parted in a white grin. ‘That’ll change him.’

…

Marguerite gazed at the baby sleeping in her arms. He had been tightly bound in swaddling so that he resembled a little parceled-up fly in a spider’s larder. His eyes were closed and the tiny lashes glittered as if dusted wit gold. Delicate blue shadows lay beneath them and his skin had the pale hue of lavender flowers. His breathing was so silent that she could hardly hear it, or feel it confined within the shroud-like layers of swaddling.

‘William,’ she whispered his name to herself and the speaking of it warmed the cold place in her heart. He had been named for his three times great-grandfather, the Norman duke who had conquered England, and for Henry’s small brother who had died whilst still an infant and who would have been the ‘Young King’ had he lived. But there was another named William in their lives too, whose presence perhaps mattered more.

She thought of the joy on her husband’s face as he entered the birthing chamber, his pride as he held his newborn son and the way that he had shown the child to all in the room in the same way that he would enthuse over a new piece of harness or jousting equipment. It was the first time in their marriage that he shown such a spark when it had a direct connection to her. It had made her feel sad and overwhelmed with happiness at the same time.

…

With a soft rustle of movement a midwife parted the half-closed bed curtains. The wet nurse who had been engaged to suckle the baby stood little behind her. ‘Is our princeling ready for a feed yet?’ The midwife held her arms for the baby. ‘He should be by now.’

Awkwardly, Marguerite gathered his little body and handed him to the midwife, who cradled him gently across to the wet nurse. The women exchanged glances. ‘What is it, what’s wrong?’ Alarmed, Marguerite pulled herself upright on the bolsters and felt the hot trickle of blood between her thighs. ‘Please…’

‘Nothing, madam, calm yourself, nothing is wrong. Your son is just tired after his hard passage into the world. Come now.’

A second midwife arrived to tend to her. The blood-soaked clothes between her legs were checked and changed. The woman gave her a bitter-tasting potion to drink and plumped the pillows. Beyond the curtains she heard the rapid whispering of the women like leaves chased before a storm. She knew something was amiss and struggled to rise from the bed, but exhaustion and loss of blood made her weak and when she set her foot on the floor there was no strength in her limbs and she collapsed. Her women came running and, with cries of consternation, put her back to bed.

‘My son,’ she wept, ‘where is my son?’

‘Hush now, madam, hush now. Do not trouble yourself. He is in good hands.’ Cool fingers stroked her brow and the soporific they had given her made her lids heavy. She fought sleep, but it came anyway on rolling dark waves. The last she heard was the soothing murmur of her women, soft but treacherous as the sea, and not a single gull-like mew of a newborn infant. As she sank fathoms deep into slumber, forced beneath the waves like a broken ship, her son breathed softly once, twice, and with a gentle shudder in the nurse’s arms, died.”

The Greatest Knight, pp. 172-175

Had William survived he might have changed his father into a responsible, energetic man, who would not have got himself involved in one more rebellion against his father and brother. If the young William had outlived his father, and ascended the English throne upon his grandfather ’s death, England would not have had to wait five hundred years for its William III to arrive. Let me add that the Angevin William III might have turned out to be his father’s alter ego… tall in stature and distinguished in appearance, … fair among the children of men, …courteous and cheerful, … gracious to all, … loved by all. As for acute political judgment and inborn intelligence, I would have him molded out of the same clay as his grandfather, Henry II had been. With a little help of the loyal advisers - I am certain that William Marshal would have done for the Young King’s son what he actually did for John’s son- his accession to the throne might have marked the beginning of a peaceful and prosperous reign. This is the optimistic version. On the other hand, we cannot forget of William’s uncles, Richard Duke of Aquitaine, Geoffrey Duke of Brittany and the youngest John, who might have not been so eager to help their twelve-year-old nephew (at the time of Henry II’s death in 1189, William would have been twelve) peacefully ascend the throne. To the contrary, they would have probably sought their own fortune and  reached for the crown, especially Richard, second in line… 

We can only guess…

14 June 1170. Henry’s First Coronation

On 14 June 1170, Henry II had his son Henry [since then called the Young King] crowned king of England at Westminster, with Roger of Pont-l’Eveque, Archbishop of York performing the act instead of the exiled Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Four English bishops assisted at the ceremony. These were Hugh of Durham, Gilbert of London, Jocelyn of Salisbury and Walter of Rochester. The Norman bishops present were Henry of Bayeux and Giles of Evreux. By crowning his eldest surviving son in his own lifetime Henry II followed the continental tradition, which had worked out for French and German kings. The king wanted to avoid future disputes over the succession. The coronation enraged Thomas Becket and renewed the long-lasting dispute over primacy between Canterbury and York. The Archbishop of Canterbury reminded that it was the traditional right of the archbishop of Canterbury, and not the archbishop of York, to perform coronations. In his turn, Archbishop Roger evoked Pope Gregory the Great’s words “Let there be between the bishops of London and York distinction of honour according to seniority of ordination”, and explained that in 1161 he received a letter in which His Holiness, the Pope (Alexander III) permitted the King of England to have his son, Henry crowned by any bishop of his choosing*. Roger was well acquainted with Thomas: the two had been members of the household of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, before acquiring even more honourable positions. When Becket went to exile in 1164, it was Roger who acted as the senior churchman in England, the situation which, on 14 June 1170, led him straight to Westminster Abbey and the young prince awaiting to be crowned. (The act that he was to pay for dearly. The coronation was considered illegal and Roger and the bishops who assisted him at the ceremony excommunicated).

                        The coronation of the young Henry and grand banquet that followed** 

But back to the young prince awaiting his “big day”. He awaited it in Normandy, under the care of Richard of Ilchester, his father’s official and trustworthy man. When the latter received the king’s message, he took his ward across the Narrow Sea to England. Not much is known of the ceremony itself. This would have to wait till Henry’s younger brother Richard’s coronation in 1189, since his crowning was the first to be described in detail. One can only guess that Henry, like the 11^th and early 12^th-century monarchs before him, wore the regal robes that were deliberately priestly in character: the tunicle, the dalmatic and the cope. The custom of burying the kings in their coronation robes and vestments (especially those in which they had received unction) dates back to this period. Thirteen years after his coronation, in 1183, the young king would be buried, as both Ralph of Diceto and Matthew Paris noted, in the linen vestments in which he had been anointed. Each monarch had his own personal regalia and the young Henry’s items probably included: crown and sceptre and ceremonial swords. We do not know whether he was invested with spurs. He was only fifteen at the time and did not undergo his knighting ceremony yet (the pivotal moment in a knight’s life). Furthermore the spurs seem a little bit later addition. What we do know is that the Young Henry swore with both hands on the altar, on which lay the Gospels and relics of the saints. His oath made him vow- in the light of the preceding events- to maintain the liberty and the dignity of the Church. To stress the sacrality of the ceremony, as Professor Matthew Strickland points out, the Young Henry could have been anointed with oil of chrism rather than the usual oil of catechumens. Roger of Wendover noted that "... his [Henry the Young King] body, wrapped in the linen garments, which he wore anointed with the chrism at his coronation, was carried to Rouen..."

Unfortunately, the coronation of 1170 proved to be a cardinal blunder on Henry II’s part. Not only was it done against the pope’s wishes- although it seems that the papal message forbidding the ceremony unless it was conducted by the archbishop of Canterbury (at that time Thomas Becket) was never delivered- but also worked in Becket’s advantage, giving him the chance to appear in the role of a poor prelate who had just suffered yet further insult through a tyrant ruler. At that time Thomas Becket had remained in exile on the Continent after he had fallen out with the King, the reason for their clash having been Henry II’s tries to curb the power of the Church. Furthermore the coronation enraged Louis VII of France, the younger Henry’s father-in-law since his daughter Marguerite, the younger Henry’s wife, for the reasons obscure, was not crowned with him. As a result of the cooperation of the pope and the king of France, Henry and Thomas finally came to terms, with Henry willing to grant all that was demanded of him in order to avoid his continental domains being laid under interdict. The reconciliation took place on 22 July 1170 at Freteval. Thomas Becket was promised a safe passage to England and return to Canterbury. Shortly before he crossed the Channel, the archbishop, doubtful of the king’s good intentions, sent ahead the letters excommunicating the prelates who had participated in the illegal coronation of the Young King, namely the archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Salisbury. The three men hurried to Normandy straight to the king’s Christmas court. On learning what happened Henry burst out with one of his famous uncontrolled rages. ‘Will nobody rid me of this low-born priest?!’ he was to shout. Four days later, on Tuesday, 29 December, Thomas Becket was murdered in his own Cathedral by four Henry’s knights. It all happened in the direct aftermath of the ceremony, but for the king, the coronation would prove to be disastrous also in the long term. By making his son a king only in name and retaining administrative power for himself, the king would drive the ambitious youngster, resented his powerlessness, to rebellion. Supported by his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, by his brothers, Richard Duke of Aquitaine and Geoffrey Duke of Brittany, by discontented barons, and by much more powerful allies, namely kings of France and Scotland, counts of Flanders, Boulogne, and Blois, the Young King would bring about the greatest crisis of his father’s reign, the war that would become known as the Great Revolt of 1173-74.

* In 1170, under pressure from the exiled Becket, the Pope withdrew his decision, but failed to inform Henry II about it. The two letters in which he informed the king that by the ancient custom ‘… coronation and anointing of the kings of the English belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury’ did not arrive in time and Henry II had his son already crowned. The situation even more complex, for the Archbishop of York was specifically forbidden by the pope to perform the crowning ceremony.

 ** About the banquet the famous anecdote began to circulate. Henry II wanted to serve his son in person. He approached the dias carrying what was with all probablity the wild boar's head (the chief decoration of the high table, usual crowning of Christmas feasts and other festive dinners of the nobility) saying that not always a prince could be served by a king. His freshly crowned son replied that it was nothing unusual for the son of a count to serve the king. (I wish I could see the reactions of the present :-)).

Sources:

Roger of Wendover’s Flowers of History Vol. II translated by J. A. Giles

Ralph of Diceto. Images of History. In The Plantagenet Chronicles, ed. Dr.Elizabeth Hallam Greenwich Edition, 2002.

“Account of the Coronation of the Young King Henry (June 1170) by William fitz Stephen” in English Historical Documents Ed. by D. Douglas and G. W. Greenaway. Google Books.

Coronation. From the 8^th to the 21^st Century by Roy Strong. Harper Perennial, 2005.

“On the Instruction of a Prince: the Upbringing of Henry, the Young King” by Matthew Strickland in Henry II: New Interpretations. Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent. Woodbridge, 2007.

Bishop and Chapter in Twelfth-Century England by Everett U. Crosby. Google Books.

The Angevin Empire by John Gillingham. Edward Arnold, 1984.

Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy by Kenneth J. Panton. Google Books.

Safe Passage to Heaven

Saturday, 11 June 1183. Martel.  The spring in the valley of the Dordogne lazily drifts into summer. A young man, with a sapphire ring fervently pressed to his lips, lies dying in the house of Etienne Fabri’s. He finds himself far from his family, among ‘quite barbarous people’ in Gascony, with only a few faithful companions at his side. That young man happens to be the King of England’s son and heir. Contemporary chroniclers refer to him either as Young Henry, Henry the Younger, the Young King or Henry III. He does not know that since he is destined to predecease his father, his name will vanish somewhere in a dim and distant… future, almost utterly lost to posterity.

                                                          

Ironically, it is Henry’s untimely passing - the best documented moment of his life - that he is mainly remembered for. Additionally, the actions surrounding his death serve as an invaluable source of information concerning the rituals performed at the twelfth-century deathbed. From his example we can learn a lot about medieval ways to ensure the soul's safe passage to heaven. Henry the Young King, ‘his life suddenly cut off like a thread’, died ‘in the flower of his youth’, aged twenty-eight, in the region called Turenne in Gascony, at Martel, on Saturday, the feast day of St Barnabas the Apostle. 

Let me take a closer look at the events preceding the Young King’s death on the 11th of June: In the opening months of 1183 Henry was busily occupied with wresting control of the Duchy of Aquitaine from his younger brother Richard. With Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, another younger brother, and an ardent support of Poitevan barons discontent with Richard’s iron rule, the Young King was desperate to win a portion of the family domains for himself. He stood in opposition not only to Richard, who at that time was facing a formidable French-Burgundian-Toulousain coalition backing up the Young King and his rebels, but also to his father king Henry II of England, who hastened to Richard’s rescue. It was the second time that Henry took up arms against his father, the King. The underlying cause of this revolt was the same as in 1173: he did not want to be a king only in name. In 1170 his father had him crowned a king-associate of England, but in reality, the Young King had no land of his own and no power to rule, the great number of his charters from that period being only either homologues or confirmations of his father’s charters, and his household consisting of the officials of his father’s choosing. In fact, his younger brothers, Richard, Duke of Aquitaine and Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany enjoyed more real power than he, the eldest one. Thus, in taking over Aquitaine, Richard’s maternal inheritance, the Young King saw his chance of gaining real authority and financial independence. With his mighty allies he might have achieved this very goal had he not contracted bloody flux (dysentery) and died on 11 June, aged 28, his passing stirring up the outpouring of universal grief as he was the only member of his family popular in his lifetime. Matthew Strickland in his ‘On the Instruction of a Prince: The Upbringing of Henry, the Young King’ makes an interesting observation, namely ‘while Richard I’s death provoked  the outpouring of grief for the loss of the champion of  Christendom, it is worth remembering that had it been Richard who had died in 1183, he would have left a reputation as a harsh, even tyrannical ruler, as much as that of a fine warrior’.

In a letter of consolation addressed to Queen Eleanor, the Young King’s mother, a royal official, Peter of Blois, expressed his conviction that Young Henry ‘was translated from shadows to light, from prison to kingdom, from mortality to life, from exile to fatherland’. The Young King himself, as he lay dying in Etienne Fabri’s Maison, was not so sure about his future whereabouts. Shortly before he fell ill he had not only betrayed his father, but he had also pillaged the most sacred shrines in Western France (St Martial near Limoges, Grandmont and St Amadour at Rocamadour) in order to pay off his mercenaries. Small wonder he was now trembling with fear at the very thought of facing his Maker. Taking into account the mechanisms working in the twelfth-century mind, he must have believed himself a condemned criminal, and his illness a divine punishment. For this reason he sought rescue in all possible ways of repentance. On 7 June, when it was already clear that he was not going to survive, he prostrated himself naked on the floor, and before the crucifix confessed his sins to Gerald, Bishop of Cahors. As death drew near he had a hair shirt put on him and asked to be dragged out of bed by a noose wound round his neck. ‘By this cord,’ he said, ‘do I deliver myself, an unworthy, culpable, and guilty sinner, unto you, the ministers of God, beseeching that our Lord Jesus Christ, who remitted his sins to the thief when confessing upon the cross, will, through your prayers, and through his ineffable mercy, have compassion upon my most wretched soul!’ According to his wishes, he was then placed on a bed of ashes on the floor, with stones under his head and his feet, ‘in the manner which St Martin prescribed for monks’. On 11 June, surrounded by churchmen, with Bernard, Bishop of Agen administering the last rites, he confessed again, first privately, then in public. There was one more thing troubling the Young King in the last hours of his life: some time before, he had taken the cross. Now regretting the lightness he had done it with, he committed his crusader’s cloak to William Marshal, asking his friend and most faithful companion to take it to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, in his stead. He also sent word to his father, begging him to come so that he could ask his forgiveness, but the king, suspecting another trap (earlier in the spring he narrowly escaped death while trying to negotiate with his sons), refused to come, instead sending a letter and a sapphire ring as a token of forgiveness. The Young King dictated a reply asking, in the words of the twenty-fifth Psalm (verse 7), ‘do not remember the sins and offences of my youth, but remember me in thy unfailing love’. Then in an equally poignant gesture, he kissed the ring and, furnished with the viaticum of the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord, he died.

Despite the offences of his youth, he died a good death, having gone to ‘extremes of self-abasement and penitence’ to atone for his sins. Thanks to the fact that the Young King ‘packed as much repentance into his deathbed as he could’, we can learn a lot about the rituals surrounding medieval passing. What happened after 11 June is enough for another story, for scarcely ever in history did a royal body encountered as many adventures after death as the body of Henry the Young King did on its way north from Martel to Rouen. I am going to discuss its ups and downs in another post. 

Sources:

The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, Vol. II translated by Henry T. Riley, Esq. London, 1853.

Ralph of Diceto Images of History, in the Plantagenet Chronicles, ed. by Dr. Elizabeth Hallam. London, 2002.

Roger of Wendover’s Flowers of History Vol. II translated by J. A. Giles

“On the Instruction of a Prince: the Upbringing of Henry, the Young King” by Matthew Strickland in Henry II: New Interpretations. Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent. Woodbridge, 2007.

William Marshal. Court Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219 by David Crouch. Harlow, 1990.

Death of Kings: Royal Death in Medieval England by Michael Evans. London, 2007.

“The Culture of Death in the Anglo-Norman World” by David Crouch in Anglo-Norman Political Culture and the 12^th-century Renaissance Ed. by C. Warren Hollister. Woodbridge, 1997.

The Angevin Empire by John Gillingham. London, 1984.

Short Biographical Note

As the anniversary of Henry’s death is approaching and I’ve decided to make the month of June absolutely Henry-centric, I thought it a good idea to remind the Young King's readers a few important facts from his biography.

Henry the Young King (1155-1183)

In his Images of History, Ralph of Diceto notes that “…a son, Henry, was born in London to King Henry of England and Queen Eleanor on 28 February [1155] and was baptized by Richard bishop of London”.

Henry was the famous couple’s eldest surviving son and a central figure in his father’s home and foreign policy. In 1158, aged three, he was betrothed to Marguerite, Louis VII’s first daughter by his second wife, Constance of Castile. The princess, still a baby, would bring the Norman Vexin- a heated point of contention between England and France- back under Angevin rule through her dowry. In 1169, Henry II made known that Anjou, Normandy and England should go to Young Henry. Richard, the second son, was to get Aquitaine, the maternal inheritance, and upon his marriage to Constance, Geoffrey, the third son, would receive Brittany.

                               

                                 

Young Henry was declared of age in 1170, settled with a large income and a household of his own (with William Marshal as a tutor in arms), and crowned king of England in his father’s lifetime. In this Henry II chose to follow the continental tradition. There were several advantages to this custom. It could help to avoid quarrels about who should inherit the crown after the ruler’s death. On the other hand, a young and ambitious (and hot-headed as Young Henry was- he had obviously inherited the famous Angevin temper) might not always agree with his father, especially when it meant living in the latter’s shadow while he still lived. Both his younger brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, had more actual power and free hand than Young Henry, a king only in name.

His grievances and complaints lead him to rebel against his father twice, with the first time in 1173 (what would later be called the Great Rebellion). With the support of his mother the queen, his brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, and many more powerful allies, namely the kings of France and Scotland, the Counts of Flanders, Boulogne and Blois, as well as rebels in Poitou, Normandy and England. Henry II managed to emerge victorious against partly due to the capture of Queen Eleanor at an early stage in the war, and partly because, being the richest king in western Europe, he could afford to hire mercenaries on a scale which his enemies could not.

The second crisis came in 1183 with a family quarrel that pitted the Young King and Geoffrey of Brittany against Henry II and Richard, over the latter’s control of the duchy of Aquitaine.Young Henry and Geoffrey found eager support of Poitevan barons dissatisfied with Richard’s iron rule, and only the Young King’s sudden death on 11 June 1183 prevented this conflict from developing into a full-scale war like the one a decade earlier.

Ralph of Diceto notes that “…the Young King passed away having lived twenty-eight years, fourteen weeks and six days”. Given what is known about his character it seems unlikely that he would have proved an effective ruler of the family’s vast domains. His personal charm (his most formidable quality), the air of charisma hanging around him, good looks and marvelous exploits on the tournament ground were simply not enough to match up with his father or younger brothers, who all proved to be capable rulers.

Although it’s claimed that he was the only member of his family popular in his lifetime, Young Henry evoked most contrasting feelings from his contemporaries: everything from disapproval and condemnation to utmost love and admiration. Walter Map depicts him as a fallen angel, parricide and another Absalom whereas Richard of Devizes calls him the flower of youth and generosity and the glory of all knighthood. Today the Young King would be called a celebrity and in the years he spent rushing all over France participating every possible tournament, he truly was. David Crouch underlines that “… the career of Henry, the eldest son of King Henry II of England, cannot be understood unless you fully appreciate how he made the international tournament circuit his very own… [because] the tournament was not just an expensive amusement. Everyone who was anyone in the western aristocracies took to the fields of northern France…” In that vein, perhaps we would be justified in calling the Young King the ideal aristocrat of his time- something that, by all evidence, he might have valued more than being named sole king of England.

Bibliography

Ralph of Diceto. Images of History. In The Plantagenet Chronicles, ed. Dr.Elizabeth Hallam

Strickland, Matthew.”On the Instruction of a Prince: the Upbringing of Henry, the Young King.” In Henry II: New Interpretations. Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent

Gillingham, John. The Angevin Empire

Crouch, David. William Marshal. Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219

Crouch, David. Tournament

Who’s Who? All Those Who Mattered to Henry the Young King. Part II

On 1 June 1191 Philip, count of Flanders died in the Holy Land, at the siege of Acre. He was one-time ally and mentor of his cousin, Henry the Young King. I thought it a good occasion to continue my story of those who were important to Henry in his lifetime and afterwards.

Members of Henry’s mesnie (military household): William Marshal (c.1147-1219), the fourth son of John Marshal (the second by his second wife, Sybil, sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury); in 1170 appointed tutor in arms of the newly crowned Henry the Young King. The latter’s mentor, guide and best friend for thirteen years, loyal to his young lord until the latter’s sudden death on 11 June 1183. Fulfilling Henry’s deathbed wish, he undertook the pilgrimage to the Holy Land to take the Young King’s crusader cloak to the Holy Sepulchre. Peter fitz Guy- the Young King’s seneschal in the 1170s; Hasculf de St Hilaire (d. before 1180) from the family of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouet, member of Henry the Young King’s household before the outbreak of the Great Revolt of 1173-74; accused of exerting a bad influence on the Young King and turning him against his father. The latter dismissed Hasculf and other knights, from his son’s court, which Robert of Torigni in his Chronicle considered one of the direct reasons for the growing estrangement between the father and the son, and consequently for the outbreak of the rebellion itself. Together with the Breton magnate Ralph de Fougeres, Hasculf was one of the chief instigators of the revolt on the border of Normandy and Brittany. He was among the rebels, who surrendered to Henry II at the castle of Dol, Brittany on 26 August 1173. Robert, Count of Meulan, cousin of the French king, the greatest magnate in Normandy; Simon de Marisco, apart from William Marshal the only Englishman in Henry’s household; Baldwin de Bethune, good friend of William Marshal; brother of the great Picard magnate and Robert, advocate of Arras; Judhael de Mayenne; John des Preaux; Adam d’Yquebeuf, Gerard Talbot and Robert de Tresgoz.

Some of the members of Henry’s Chancery (clerical household): William Barre, present in the household by 1173, who carried the Young King’s seal and returned it to Henry II upon the outbreak of the Great Revolt; Walter the chaplain, Aelward the chamberlain, William Blund, the steward- officials appointed by Henry II, who refused to swear an oath of fidelity to Henry the Young King against his father in 1173 and returned to the old king. Geoffrey (c.1152-1212)- Henry’s half-brother, the eldest illegitimate son of Henry II; during the Great Revolt of 1173-74 stood firmly by his father’s side and won his name fighting the rebels in England. In the aftermath of the uprising appointed chancellor to Henry the Young King. Adam of Churchdown, the vice-chancellor of Henry the Young King after the Great Revolt of 1173-74; infamous for writing a letter to Henry II (whom he considered his true lord), in which he informed of all what he had witnessed at his young lord’s court. The writ discovered, the action enraged Young Henry, who, in the aftermath of the rebellion had his household filled with his father’s men. Adam was for his life. It was only thanks to the intervention of bishop John of Poitiers that he was saved, although he did not avoid punishment. He was whipped naked through the streets of Argentan and later imprisoned. Henry II himself intervened on his behalf and had him placed in Hyde abbey at Winchester. Bishop John saved Adam’s neck protesting that the vice-chancellor was a clerk and, thus, should not be subject to lay jurisdiction. Gervase of Tilbury, Henry the Young King’s most ardent admirer and chaplain in the 1180s; later in service of Henry’s nephew, Otto IV(1175-1218), Holy Roman Emperor, who made him the marshal of the kingdom of Arles and for whom Gervase wrote his most famous work, Otia Imperialia.

Henry’s tutors: Master Mainard, assigned to a post of Henry’s magister in 1156. Not much is known about the man except for the fact that the title ‘master’ indicates that he was both a guardian and a teacher and that to cover his expenses, Mainard received £6 annually from the vill of Dartford, Kent. Thomas Becket (c.1118-1170) Chancellor of England (1155-1162) and later Archbishop of Canterbury (1162-1170), canonised in 1173. Close friend of Henry II. The latter, following Archbishop Theobald’s advice, appointed Thomas to the chancellorship. As a chancellor, in 1158, he negotiated a highly lucrative marriage of Prince Henry and Louis VII’s third daughter, Marguerite. In 1162 he became the young Henry’s tutor, but the prince was removed from his household the following year when the open conflict between Henry II and Thomas, the then Archbishop of Canterbury broke out. William fitz John, a royal familiaris and royal justice; before he was appointed a new ‘magister’ to Prince Henry in 1164, he served as a ‘itinerant justice’, formerly occupied with ‘hearing pleas in Yorkshire and eight shires in the south-west between 1158 and 1161’. His task was to instruct the prince in the mechanisms of the judicial and financial systems of the kingdom. Except for William fitz John, William of Canterbury enumerated  William de St John, William fitz Audelin, Hugh de Gundeville and Ranulph fitz Stephen as young Henry’s tutores, with St John being most frequent witness to the prince’s writs in the time when young Henry was a regent from June 1170 until late 1172.

Philip of Flanders (d.1191) the eldest son and heir of Count Thierry of Flanders and Sybil of Anjou, the sister of Geoffrey le Bel of Anjou; cousin of Henry II; inherited Flanders after his father’s death in 1168, although he had already ruled in his father’s name upon his parents departure for the Holy Land in 1157. In 1155 married Elizabeth of Vermandois (d.1182), Henry the Young King’s first cousin and upon her younger brother, Raoul II the Leper’s death in 1167 gained control over his wife’s inheritance. Ambitious and shrewd politician- under his rule Flanders flourished- and ardent participant and patron of the tournaments; chief supporter of the Young King during the Great Revolt of 1173-74.

Matthew of Boulogne (d.1173) ‘a virtuous and handsome knight’ (Gilbert of Mons), younger brother of Philip of Flanders. In 1160 Henry II arranged for him a highly lucrative marriage. Matthew was to wed the late King Stephen’s daughter, Mary of Blois and thus gain the honour of Boulogne*, but in order to carry out this project Henry II had to haul Mary out of Romsey Abbey, where  she was abbess. Matthew and Mary had two daughters, but the match proved unhappy and they divorced c.1170. Matthew’s second wife was Eleanor of Vermandois (d. 1214), sister of Elisabeth (Philip’s wife) and cousin of Henry the Young King. The year of Matthew and Eleanor’s wedding remains disputable: different sources give respectively 1170 (Robert of Torigny) and 1172 (Vanderkindere, La formation) as the date. In 1173 Matthew, together with his brother Philip, supported Henry the Young King in his rebellion against Henry II. Matthew died in July 1173 at the siege of Arques, after receiving mortal wound from a crossbow shot.

William I of Scotland (1143- 1214) also known as the Lion; one of the most vivid figures of the twelfth-century Britain; best remembered for being the one-time ally of Henry the Young King in the Great Revolt of 1173-74; the second son of Henry Earl of Huntingdon and Ada de Warenne. After his father’s death in 1152 invested as an Earl of Northumberland by his grandfather, king David I.** who was succeeded in 1153 by William’s elder brother, Malcolm (1141-1165). During the latter’s reign William lost Northumberland. As it turned out he never came to terms with the loss and regaining what he thought was rightfully his became his life ambition bordering on with obsession. On Malcolm’s death in 1165, twenty-two-year-old William succeeded the throne. He took part in the Young King’s rebellion after the latter promised to return William’s inheritance. To learn more of William-Henry relations, click here.

Robert, 3rd Earl of Leicester (d.1190) and his wife Petronella (d.1212), Henry’s chief supporters in the Great Revolt of 1173-74, defeated by the royal forces at the battle of Fornham (17 October 1173) and imprisoned by Henry II.

Brothers-in-law: Henry the Lion (d.1195) Duke of Saxony and of Bavaria, married Henry’s sister, Matilda (1156-1189), Alfonso VIII (d.1214), King of Castile, Toledo and Extremadura, in 1170 married Henry’s sister, Eleanor (1162-1214). William II of Sicily (d.1189), the first husband of Henry’s youngest sister Joanna (1165-1199); Raymond VI (d. 1222), Count  of Toulouse and marquis of Provence, Joanna’s second husband.

Sisters-in-law: Constance (1161-1201) Duchess of Brittany, Geoffrey’s wife; Berengaria of Navarre (c.1165-1230) Queen of England, Richard I’s consort; Hawisa/Isabelle of Gloucester, the first wife of Henry’s youngest brother, John (1166-1216); Isabella of Angoulême (c.1188-1246), queen consort of England and the second wife of king John. Henry did know and have occasion to meet only Constance of Brittany. Richard and John married already after Henry’s death.

Clergymen:

Thomas Becket

Richard de Belmeis II, bishop of London

Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen

Henry of Pisa and William of Pavia

Roger of Pont-l’Eveque, archbishop of York

John aux Bellesmains, Bishop of Poitiers

Gerald, Bishop of Cahors

Bernard, Bishop of Agen

To learn more about the men I recommend my text Henry the Young King and the Clergy.

Jordan Fantosme, probably of Poitevan connections, was a renowned clerk in the bishop of Winchester’s household, poet and diplomat tied- by the evidence of his work- to the North of England and the Scottish royal court, especially to William the Lion’s younger brother, David, Earl of Huntingdon, whom he greatly praised, not to say idealized in his Chronicle of the War between the English and the Scots; eyewitness to the main events of the Great Revolt of 1173-74. Fantosme’s work remains a trustworthy source of the rebellion, especially the capture of king William before the walls of Alnwick on 13 July 1174. When it comes to the depiction of Henry the Young King and his uprising, Fantosme’s chronicle differs from the other sources: the author created it without the benefit of hindsight into the Young King’s untimely death, in the direct aftermath of the revolt and thus treated young Henry as his future king and did not judge his actions, only tried to understand the young man’s motives.

Robert of Torigni (d.1186), abbot of Mont-Saint Michel***, who had met Henry the Young King and his family on a number of occasions and acted as one of the sponsors at the baptism of his sister Eleanor at Domfront in 1161. Author of the chronicle, from which we learn much about Henry the Young King, his relatives and the figures and events of the era.

Bertran de Born (d.c.1215), lord of Autafort and famous bellicose troubadour, well acquainted with all three Angevin princes, for whom he made up nicknames, e.g. he called the Young King “the king of Lesser Land”. One of the many dissatisfied Poitevan barons, who wanted to replace their liege overlord, Duke Richard [later Lionheart] with his elder brother Henry the Young King. Author of the famous planh, in which he bemoaned Henry’s untimely death, Mon chan fenis ab dol et ab maltraire.

Sancho de Savannac, a mercenary; captain of the Basques hired by young Henry in 1183. It was him, who after Henry’s death spoke in the name of his soldiers demanding the return of their overdue wages. Since the Young King died penniless and William Marshal had no means to pay off the late king’s debt, Sancho threatened to seize the royal body for ransom. William Marshal had to offer himself as a guarantee to pay the money back. Sancho and his fellow soldiers were paid off by Henry II.

Thomas de Agnellis, archdeacon of Wells. In his sermon ‘Sermo de morte et sepultura Henrici Regis Junioris’ (‘On the death and burial of Young King Henry’ in Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Angicanum) claimed that the Young King’s body when carried from Martel to Rouen became the focus for many miracles. The rumors of the late king’s sainthood began to circulate and Thomas was one of the most ardent advocate of the late king’s sanctity (some suggested his connection with Henry’s mother, then imprisoned Queen Eleanor).

Geoffrey of Vigeois (d.1184), a monk of Saint-Martial, Limoges, and the prior of the small abbey of Vigeois in the southern Limousin. His Chronicon is an invaluable source of information concerning Henry’s revolt of 1183 and his last days (especially the death scene).

Gerald of Wales (c.1146–c.1223), Henry II’s protégé and court official, chronicler, author of “Topography of Ireland", "Conquest of Ireland", "Journey through Wales", "Description of Wales", "Education of a Prince", "Autobiography", and- among the others- Life of Geoffrey, Archbishop of York (Henry the Young King’s half-brother).When Henry II denied St David’s to Gerald- the position that was the latter’s lifetime ambition bordering on obsession- he turned the clergyman into a bitter enemy. The chronicler gave vent to his malevolence in the texts full of harsh criticism and venom. Still, despite bearing grudge towards the elder king, about the young Henry he wrote in a surprisingly gentle manner.

* The honour of Boulogne included valuable manors around London and Colchester. Wissant was the count of Boulogne’s port through which much of England’s wool export passed on its way to the cloth producing Flemish towns (Gillingham, p.22)

** David held the earldom through his wife Matilda de Senlis, Countess of Northampton-Huntingdon [their marriage had been arranged by David’s brother-in-law, Henry I of England] and had it confirmed in a formal charter. In 1149 he was promised by Henry fitz Empress [future Henry II] that “all the land north of Newcastle and the Tyne should belong to the kings of Scotland for ever”. Henry did not keep his word. In 1157 he demanded the return of Northumberland from David’s grandson and successor, sixteen-year-old Malcolm IV.

*** Under Robert’s abbacy the abbey reached its zenith. The library for instance was enriched by about a hundred books, with a chronicle written by Robert himself.

Sources:

Chronicle of Hainaut by Gilbert of Mons. Trans. into English by Laura Napran. The Boydell Press, 2005.

The Poems of the Troubadour Bertran de Born Ed. by William D.Paden, Tilde Sankovitch and Patricia H. Stäblein. University of California Press, 1986.

From Childhood to Chivalry. The Education of the English Kings and Aristocracy, 1066-1530 by Nicholas Orme

The Angevin Empire by John Gillingham. Edward Arnold, 1984.

“On the Instruction of a Prince: the Upbringing of Henry, the Young King” by Matthew Strickland in Henry II: New Interpretations. Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2007

Mercenaries and Paid Men: the Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages by John
France. Google Books.

Death of Kings: Royal Death in Medieval England by Michael Evans. London, 2007.

The New Historians of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance by Peter Damian-Grint. Google Books.

Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy by Kenneth J. Panton. Google Books.

Change in Medieval Society: Europe North of the Alps, 1050-1500 by Sylvia Lettice Thrupp. Google Books.

A History of Anglo-Latin Literature. 1066-1422 by A.G. Rigg. Google Books.

William Marshal. Court Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219 by David Crouch. Harlow, 1990.

The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh and Thirteenth Centuries ed. by Marcus Bull and Catherine Leglu. The Boydell Press, 2005.

Flanders and the Anglo-Norman World, 1066-1216  by Eljas Oksanen. Google Books.

King John: New Interpretations, ed by S.D.Church. Google Books.

The Kings and Queens of Scotland by Richard Oram. Tempus, 2006.

Archbishop Geoffrey Plantagenet and the Chapter of York by D.L.Douie. St. Anthony’s Press, 1960.

The Miracles of Our Lady of Rocamadour: Analysis and Translation by Marcus Bull. Google Books.

Mont Saint-Michel by Nicolas Simonnet. Google Books.

One More Time... Invaluable William Marshal.

Still musing over William Marshal's epic life and career in the households of differnet Plantagenet monarchs- first and foremost in the household of Henry the Young King-  I am posting- as a I have promised- by the author's kind permission, links to Marshal Thursdays, wonderful series on Elizabeth Chadwick's brilliant blog. As a matter of fact, the episodes I am linking you to all concern William's young overlord, whom the author of the History described in highly laudatory terms, just like Gervase of Tilbury did in his Otia Imperialia. 

Enjoy then!

The History of William Marshal. Episode 12. We learn of William Marshal's predicament and how the tourneying might have gone quite fishy.

The History of William Marshal. Episode 13. How a grand tournament was held at Eu, and the Young King played the role of judge.

The History of William Marshal. Episode 14. The tournament life again, this time without the Young King, but with the Marshal- singer, dancer, courtier and.... horse whisperer.

The History of William Marshal. Episode 15. Marvellous, albeit a little bit hectic exploits on the tournament field again, and Henry the Young King highly praised.

Two Important May Anniversaries

Two important anniversaries concerning the Young King these days:

On Sunday, 18 May 1152 Henry’s parents, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204) and Henry fitz Empress (1133-1189) were married in the cathedral of St Pierre, Poitiers, the match that was to result in forging the greatest empire of the 12^th century-Europe. Henry, the eldest son of Geoffrey le Bel of Anjou and Empress Matilda, already the duke of Normandy, heir to England, Anjou and Maine was lucky to win the greatest prize on the then marital market- the former queen of France now free to be wed again. Duke William X’s eldest daughter and heiress, Eleanor, two months earlier was divorced, her first marriage declared null and void on grounds of consanguinity. For fifteen years she had been the consort of Louis VII of France (1120-1180), but apparently displeased her husband with bearing him only two daughters, Marie (b.1145) and Alix (b.1151). By marrying Henry fitz Empress just eight weeks after her first marriage was annulled, she must have shocked entire Europe and angered the other candidates eager to reach for the richest heiress of Christendom. Theobald of Blois, second son of Louis’s vassal the count of Champagne, and Henry’s own brother, Geoffrey were both planning to kidnap her. Fortunately their plans came to naught and three years after the Sunday wedding of 1152 our Henry was born, the couple’s second son, who went down in history as Henry the Young King (J). Eleanor and Henry had eight children, seven of whom reached maturity. They were: William (b.1153), Henry (b.1155), Matilda (b.1156), Richard (b.1157), Geoffrey (b.1158), Eleanor (b.1162), Joanna (b.1165) and John (b.1167).
                                                   

                        14th century representation of Henry and Eleanor, via Wikipedia

On 19 May 1218, Henry the Young King’s nephew, Otto, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged 43. Fascinating albeit tragic figure. To learn more about the emperor pay a visit to a brilliant blog run by my friend Gabriele, who kindly agreed to post a link to her text on Otto. Also my favourite author Sharon Kay Penman shared her opinion on the emperor on her wonderful blog. By her kind permission I am including the link as well. Henry the Young King and his nephew could not have seen much of each other, but they probably met during Otto’s stay in England, when he accompanied his exiled parents. There was one person, however, who Henry and Otto “had in common”: Gervase of Tilbury (c.1152 - c.1222). In the 1180s he had been Henry’s chaplain and wrote a work, now considered lost, for him, Liber Facetiarum (“Book of Entertainment”). Gervase was a fervent admirer of the prince, and, when already in Otto’s service, he wrote highly laudatory lines in his praise, which he included in his major work Otia Imperialia, written, as its title suggests, for the emperor to amuse his leisure hours. This is how he described Henry the Young King:

Gracious to all, he was loved by all; amiable to all, he was incapable of making an enemy. He was matchless in warfare, and as he surpassed all others in the grace of his person, so he outstripped them all in valour, cordiality, and the outstanding graciousness of his manner, in his generosity and his true integrity.

Sources:

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Marion Meade. Pheonix Press Paperback, 2002..

Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy by Kenneth J. Panton. Google Books.

Otia Imperialia by Gervase of Tilbury. Fragments in “On the Instruction of a Prince: the Upbringing of Henry, the Young King” by Matthew Strickland in Henry II: New Interpretations. Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2007

Change in Medieval Society: Europe North of the Alps, 1050-1500 by Sylvia Lettice Thrupp. Google Books.

A History of Anglo-Latin Literature. 1066-1422 by A.G. Rigg. Google Books.