Henry II of England

King of England

Constance of England

Isabella of England

Eleanor of England

John I of England

Joan of England

Matilda of England

Margaret of England

Illegitimate:

Mary FitzRoy

Geoffrey FitzRoy

Henry FitzRoy

Maude FitzRoy

Joan FitzRoy

Richard FitzRoy

**Henry II of England** (C. 1112 - 1149) (Known as Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry of Anjou) was the eldest son of Empress Matilda and Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou. When he was born, his mother was still fighting over the English throne, against Henry's uncle Stephan of England, when Henry was 14, his mother Betrothed Henry to Margaret of Viennois, but Margaret was murdered by king Stephan, when Henry was 17, he married the 15 year old Dowager Queen of France, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who also Duchess of Aquitaine, in her own right, there first child was Henry the Young King, whom Henry lived to despise, a year after Empress Matilda died, and so did Stephan's heir Eustance of Blois, so Stephan made Henry his heir, a week later, Stephan died of illness, and Eleanor and Henry were crowned King and Queen of England, but it did not take long for Henry and Eleanor to became enemies, Eleanor championed the rights of there second child Richard, to succeed Henry, but Henry despised Richard and Henry the Young, and supported his youngest son John of England to succeed him, Henry had many affairs and mistresses which infuriated Eleanor who later turned his children against him, Henry was defeated in 1149, his son John famously betray him and he died a month later, sense his eldest son Henry the Young died, his son Richard succeeded him.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Henry was born in 1112, in Normandy, to Empress Matilda and Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Henry's parents were fighting to regain the throne from King Stephan of Blois, when Henry was only 3, his father died after being struck in the heart with a bow-an-arrow, for this, Henry was close to his mother Empress Matilda, and only trusted her as a kid. When Henry turned 13, he joined the army on his mothers side, and was appointed grand-master. Henry on all accounts was a fine, and strong boy, beloved by anyone who met him, Henry had a lot of hidden charms, which adored anyone he met, except of course Stephan.

### Betrothal

A year later when Henry turned 14, his mother allied herself with the Dauphin of Viennois, and requested Henry, who was Count of Anjou, to marry Margaret of Viennois, Henry had an okay relationship with Margaret, Margaret at the time was 16 years old, 2 years older then Henry, Henry wanted a younger bride, but he had to tie the knot, so 6 days later, they were betrothed at Château d'Angers. But Margaret was murdered by King Stephan's spies, to prevent the treaty. Matilda, quick witted, wanted to re betroth her son, so she began looking for possible brides.

## Marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine

In 1129, Henry was 17, he was at the age to be married by now, and his mother who was still fighting chose to look more for some possible brides, Henry met one paticular woman, she was the former Queen of the Franks, and she brought 3 of her children with the Frankish king, her name was Eleanor of Aquitaine, who held the Duchy of Aquitaine, in her own right. Matilda was very excited that the Duchess of Aquitaine, who was the most powerful woman in Europe, asked for her son's hand in marriage, Henry proposed to Eleanor and they got married the next day, Stephan was alerted and warned the pair about there attempt to reclaim the throne. 2 months later Empress Matilda died of unknown causes, but Stephan's heir Eustance of Blois also died, so Stephan made Henry his heir, a week later, Stephan died of illness and Henry was crowned "King Henry II of England", and Eleanor was named Queen Eleanor. Eleanor brought her 3 daughters to England while leaving her daughter Agnes in Touraine, and her son Louis in France, Eleanor's daughters she brought were, Alix of France, Blanche, and Marie.

## First Child

9 months into there marriage, Eleanor gave birth to a son named Henry. Henry II of England named the baby after himself, and named him co-king, the birth was celebrated of the future heir, and many people offered there support the the monarchs, but little did they know, there new son would turn out to be there least favourate child. But for now they promoted him and looked for worthy brides, Henry II's son was named "Henry the Young King." A year later Eleanor gave birth to a son Richard, while Henry II was on crusade, Richard was Eleanor's favourate child, when Henry returned from crusade, Richard was 3 months old, and Henry granted Richard the titles, Earl of Cornwall, and Earl of Richmond. 1 year later, Eleanor gave birth to Constance of England, who was his first daughter.

## 2nd Crusade

On the Second Crusade, Henry took his Queen to the Holy Lands, Henry was one of the many kingdom's chosen by the Pope to enter the 2nd Crusade, Eleanor of Aquitaine was an advid fighter sense she was 12, Henry was no sure at first about taking his Queen, he feared she would get killed, but Eleanor assured Henry, she was a good fighter. Henry and his Queen marched there army's and wore colors of Empress Matilda, ans sung "Miri it is while summer ilast" which was a famous mideval song, but even though the song was for summer, the knights sung it in the winter, at the end they won, and they traveled back to Normandy were many of the main castles were.

## fourth child

The Queen gave birth to twins, Isabella and Eleanor, who were both born in 1133, in the Duchy of Normandy. Henry was in Anjou at the time of his daughter's birth, but as soon as he heard of the birth, he moved to Normandy were he saw his 2 daughters, the girls were left without a name for a total of 4 days, Henry named his daughters Isabella and Eleanor, which were popular girl names back then and today, Henry and his Queen at the time of the daughter's birth were ordered by the Pope to declared the christian kingdoms to go on Crusade, the Christian kingdom's included: France, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, England, Spain, Portugal, Navarre, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus', Denmark, Scotland, Luxembourg, Serbia, Bosnia, Greece, Romania, and Slovenia. Wales and Ireland were refused entery in the Crusade, Norway and Sweden were offered the position to go on Crusade, but they were to busy fighting themselves instead of fighting, someone else's war. Henry and his Queen left there children in the care of the Arch-Bishop.

## 5th Child

In 1134, the Queen gave birth to a son John, John quickly became Henry's favorite for his love of war and bloodshed at a young age, Henry soon turned against 2 of his children, Constance of England and Henry the Young King, Constance was a supporter of Henry the Young's idea to have more power as Co-King, Eleanor also was not fond of them, and had Richard as her favorite. Henry II had sent them to Dover Castle along time ago, but he was still bothered by them, he betrothed Constance to the King of Sicily to get her away, which did not work. A few years later, he gave birth to a daughter Joan and the following years, Matilda and Margaret.

## Family Feud

Henry argued that his youngest son John deserved the throne more then his older brothers, the heir was suppose to be Henry the Young, and only a Pope could replace an heir, and sense no Pope was arguing John's claim, Henry the Young made his point clear in front of the court with his 14 year old sister Constance. Eleanor argued Richard who was her personal favorite, should take the throne. The family turned against each other, Henry II was no longer the loving husband to his Queen, he was now a cruel reckless tryant, who started having mistresses in front of the Queen. He had many illegitimate children. He wanted to arrest his Queen, and cease her land, but the knights refused and joined sides with Eleanor. Henry made a script that John was to inherit after him, but the script was so unpopular, he was forced to revert it. Henry's children rallied against him, and his daughter strangled Henry's pregnant mistress, Lady Joan de Burgh, and dumped her disembowled her. Henry furious was willing to kill his own children to stop the rebbelion, Henry ordered a group of loyal knights to strangle Constance, Henry the Young, Margaret, Matilda, Richard, Eleanor of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Joan, and Isabella to death. While the knights were leaving London, they were stabbed in the chest by Henry the Young's guards. Henry II was in a tough stutiation, he either had to fight his eldest son in Cambridge, which the people of Cambridge hated him, or flee to Normandy, were he would he captured and imprisoned, Henry chose number 1, and set with a well trained army. When he arrived, his eldest son was raiding Cambridge, and killed the ruling family. Henry II ordered a knight push him off the bridge deck which he was on, one brave knight pushed the young king off, and Henry ordered him to stab the young king, the king's best friends fled to Gloucester, while Henry the young was stabbed 53 times in the heart to death, his body was driven to London and put in westminister abbey. He did have a daughter Mary, who was rightfully next in line however, but she was deposed by Henry's least favorite son Richard.

## Defeat and death

After the 6th Crusade, Henry wen't to York to meet Richard's army who was prepared to kill them, Henry was prepared with his army as well, and marched across many cathedrals. The Cardinal's that supported Henry gave him a blessing that gave him good luck, but the ones who did not attempted to block entery, but Henry would go through a secret enterey which let them it, when he arrived at York, Richard's army was advanced and crushed Henry's, Richard took his own father prisoner, and forced him to read the names of his supporters, number 1 on the list, was Henry's favorite son... John. Henry had been betrayed, Henry was so devastated and betray, he never talked to any of his family again, and died 1 month later. He was buried in westminister abbey.