Henry II

**Henry II** (9 August 1110 – 14 March 1144) was King of the United Kingdom of Vestienia from 1131 to his death in 1144.

Henry was the first son of Henry the Great and Margaret Ethling, Henry's first cousin once removed. He grew to be an astounding military commander and an extremely tall man for his time, estimated to around 6'5" at the time of his death. After coming of age in 1126, he immediately came into political conflict with his father after he refused to give him any titles that was common with the Crown Prince.

Once his father died in 1131, Louis III of Belugria tried to fully implement the Anglesec Code, a series of laws that he and his vassals officially ratified without Henry the Great's knowledge a decade before his death that forced any monarch of Vestienia to acknowledge that so long as they held continental territory in Belugria (which they did), they were vassals of the monarch of Belugria and had to pay yearly tributes. Henry adamantly refused to acknowledge this law, and declared war on Belugria in 1138 to force them to be Vestienia's vassal in a royal union as his paternal House was originally a cadet branch of the House of Ormeanteaux, the family that ruled Belugria. This began a long line of wars between between Belugria and Vestienia during the Medieval period, the Grand Western Wars.

During the early period of the war, Henry had major military success defending against the Belugrians at the Battles of La Lepre (1139) and Bouchambaut (1142) and pushed them out of Vestienian territory on the mainland continent. However, during the Battle of Frason where the Vestienians tried to push into the Belugrian heartland, Henry attained a grievous ankle wound that ended up giving him severe gangrene throughout his lower body and eventually killing him in 1144, putting his weak and inbred brother Philip on the throne and ending all major chances of a Vestienian victory against Belugria.

## Early life

Henry was born in the Palace of Newsilver as the first child and son of renowned Vestienian king Henry the Great and his first cousin once removed, Margaret Ethling. Henry was seen as a miracle child and a blessing, as he was born a month premature but developed no major birth defects at birth. As a young child, Henry was considered mildly kind-hearted, but mostly had a very aggressive and cruel behavior that worried his father. As a result, he was sent to be educated by the Archbishop of Newsilver, Arthur Perriwith.

While being educated, he began to become more and more violent to his educator and almost assaulted him at the age of nine. Due to this alarming behavior, Henry's father decided to educate the child himself. He brought him to weekly sessions in Parliament and regularly taught him how to hunt game and basic royal etiquette. He was educated by all of Henry's most important advisers equally, but none taught him more than the Grand Marshal, Alfred de Courtenay, 1st Earl of Rhodon.

By the time he came of age in 1126, Henry was a tall, attractive, strong, and ambitious man who was well-trained in military affairs and ready to inherit the throne. In honour of this, his father held a ceremony in the Palace of Newsilver, where he was anointed and crowned junior king of Vestienia with his father. However, he knew this title was virtually useless and was mostly used as a way to consolidate the legitimacy of the heir, so he demanded he be given the customary titles the Crown Prince was given. Henry refused, stating that the titles were his and his only. This began a long line of political disputes Henry had against his elder namesake.

## Rebellious youth

After coming of age, Henry was supposedly an extremely rebellious and radical youth for the time period who hated his father and his many policies he established during his reign. He supposedly once violently quarreled with the Head Steward after hearing he agreed with other officials to establish a law banning Henry from succession, and was almost exiled from the realm multiple times. However, during this stage of his life he gained a very important friend: William Mongley, who was then heir to the Duchy of Ellevesham, one of the most powerful duchies in Vestienia at the time would be a life-long friend of Henry's and one of the only vassals in his early reign as King that he trusted and personally liked without any major doubt.

## Reign as king

### **Early reign**

In late 1131, Henry the Great died of natural causes. However, many people believed that Prince Henry may have poisoned his father due to his overwhelming ambition. This rumor grew so large during Henry's unfavorable early reign that he personally executed the peasant who supposedly started it as a sign of vengeance. Despite this, he inherited his father's throne, but was adamantly refused to be anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Newsilver, angering Henry to the point where he almost threatened to kill the Archbishop. However, during the peak of his popularity after his many military successes against Belugria, he was finally given a coronation by the Archbishop in 1140.

During his early reign Henry was extremely hated by a majority of his feudal and cleric vassals, so he swore to keep the uneasy yet relatively stable peace his father established. However, his promise was almost instantly broken when a rebellious Perrish vassal revolted in 1133 for the restoration of the Kingdom of Perrland. Nevertheless, the revolt was easily crushed by local militia, and the vassal was hanged and burned at the stake for his apparent connection to various local heresies. This did almost nothing to improve his vassals' opinion of him, so Henry decided to relieve every major council member and adviser of his of their duty in 1135, as he felt it was their fault instead of his. In their place, Henry gave disgruntled Perrish vassals the positions as a way to improve relations with Perrland, which ended up somehow working in the long run.