Henry the Young king

Co-King of England

**Henry the Young** (C. December, 1129 - February 6, 1148) was Co-king of England, along side his father Henry II of England from 1140 to February 6, 1148. Henry was disliked by his parents alongside his sister Constance, because of there ideas. For this, Henry became very close to Constance and when he was 13 he took her on a crusade to Jaffa. Henry's political threat were his 2 younger brothers, his mother favored Henry the Young's brother Prince Richard to inherit England, but Henry's father favored Henry the Young's other brother Prince John. Henry married Mary of Gloucester, the eldest child of William, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and Lady Jane Chester. Henry rarely slept with his wife, much to Mary's fury and only had one child named Mary, a year later on Henry's 15th birthday his wife inherited Gloucester, Henry quickly moved to secure his own succession, his daughter was named heiress to Gloucester and Heiress to England, Normandy, Northern Ireland, Aquitaine, Poiters, Anjou, Nantes, Brittany, and Angoulême, Henry at age 16 now wanted real power, his father refused to give him power and signed a contract handing power to John after he died, Henry the Young furious started taking over English lands alongside Princess Constance, who was now Queen of Sicily, when Henry turned 20, while he was pilliging Cambridge, he was pushed of a bridge, and his father ordered a knight to kill Henry, Henry was stabbed in the chest, after his burial his daughter briefly became Co-Queen of England under the care of his wife, but her reign only lasted 5 months before she was replaced with her uncles Richard and John (Though she did inherit Gloucester.) Henry's legacy remains in stories and plays.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Henry was born on December, 1129 as the eldest child of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England, Henry was followed by a younger brother Prince Richard and a sister Princess Constance, the year after his birth, his father created him Co-King of all England and the Agevin empire. Henry was very fond and close to his sister Constance, but he despised his brothers in fear they would gain royal favor and overthrow his position as Co-King. At a young age of 10, Henry was sent with his 8 year old sister to York to have a private court, Richard was going to come along with Eleanor of Aquitaine, but Henry sailed off without them in despise of them, Eleanor and Richard were stranded in Brittany for 2 months, before Henry II of England gave the a ship to sail to London, at this time Eleanor deeply despised her eldest son, and made several attempts to overthrow him. But they all failed, Henry and Constance called Isabella who was there younger sister, to England. Isabella was in Normandy and only 5 years old, they set up a court and they were all raised by Margaret de Vere, who was an Irish noblewoman.

### Marriage

When Henry was 12 years old, he was at the age according to his parents to marry, Eleanor wanted Henry to chose his own marriage as they did not wan't to help there least favourate son, but Henry refused to marry as he felt no need to. Eleanor tired of his son's refusal to marry dragged him out of Conisbrough Castle, and in to the marriage market in Pembroke, Wales. Henry failed to understand the Welsh lords as he only knew French and English, and had to have a transalator do the work much to Eleanor's embarrassment. Constance came with Henry and he spent most of the time with her instead of the possible brides, sense Henry was the son of the most powerful king in Europe, he was a very worthy husband. Henry met Joan of Louvain, who was a French noblewoman. Henry called her a cow-face in-front of the whole Welsh court, everyone was baffled at the co-king's arragonce and stared at him. Joan ran out crying to her father John I, Count of Louvain. Nevertheless many powerful figures tried to propose there daughters to the rude co-ruler. At the end it was the 5th week in Wales, Eleanor refused to let the Co-Monarch leave until he said yes to any bride, Henry desprately wanting to go called his local lord to invite any bride, the bride was name Mary, she was heiress to the Earldom of Gloucester, Mary's parents came in alongside her little sisters. Henry talked to Mary and her parents for 5 hours, and then took the ring out of his pocket and proposed to the Heiress, Mary's parents were shocked that someone like Henry would propose to a little-known noblefamily like them. Henry and Mary road to Normandy to get married, Henry's wedding gift to Mary was a necklace with 6 diamonds, 15 pearls, and 7 rubies. Mary's parents were made vice-roy of Ireland and given power-full positions. Mary moved in with Constance and Isabella in Kent, unsuprisingly Constance and Mary had a poor relationship and fought everyday. 2 days after the marriage, Mary was crowned Co-Queen of England.

### Second Crusade

England in the mideval ages was a dangerous place, many nobles and kings were power-hungry and were masterminds behind other peoples downfalls. Henry was no different and he often killed his own local lords for there money, one danger was the Crusades, a series of wars attempting to reclaim Jerusalem as a christian kingdom. 5 months after Henry got married, his father trained the co-king how to fight, Henry's wife would stay in Kent and protect Henry money and household. Henry took off with his best-friend William, 1st Earl of Bolton (Who was 32 at the time) and took off for Jerusalem, Henry the Young was a victorious warrior at just 12, mainly with the help of his older and wiser friend, but he did many things by himself, When he reached Jerusalem, he was slit in the arm, but he still continued to fight, he launched an arrow to an Ottoman overlords head, and took over the Castle along with William of Bolton. They stole all the swords and amunition they had, and fought in Jaffa, when Henry turned 13, 1 year into the crusade, he celebrated his birthday by drinking wine with his fellow soldiers, after they were very drunk, William who did not get drunk had to force them into an underground base, until they were fit to go back to the battlefield. Henry crusaded east to Turkey and was victorious, even a better warrior then his father, the English people cheered as the cried his name, he wen't home to do his marridal duties and sleep with his wife.

## First and only child

9 months later, Henry's wife wen't into labor, as she sat in Denny Abbey, Henry stayed in Kent with Constance, Mary demanded Henry be dragged from Kent, to see the birth of his child. Henry was dragged in by William of Bolton who prusaded Henry to join the nobles in the birth of a child, when Henry entered everyone except his parents bowed down to him. Henry just stared at everyone and then held Mary's hand when she was giving birth, they gave birth to a daughter Mary, everyone pushed in to hold the baby, Eleanor of Aquitaine held the baby first and refused to let Henry have it, then she decided she would name it instead of the respected parents, and named it Mary, but not after her mother, but after Mary, Mother of Jesus. The birth even though it was a girl, it was celebrated and she was given everything the future Queen would need, Mary was named future Queen, which was a controvursal desision, in which many did not want a Queen, but the celebrations wen't on, Henry the Young took both Mary's back to kent, in were the future Queen would get her own establishment in Dover Castle. 8 weeks later, Mary of Gloucester inherited Gloucester in England, Henry wen't there to secure his position as Earl.

## Execution of William, 1st Earl of Bolton

Henry was starting to stop trusting William of Bolton for no reason, Henry started trusting William's enemy, who was Edward, 2nd Earl of Buckingham, Henry and Edward became very close friends and Henry gave Edward a palace near Dover, Constance also was quite fond of Edward and invited him to Dover Castle, William was alerted and wanted to regain royal favor, he reached out to Henry who threw the letter in the fire, William then reached out to Constance who invited William into her bed chambers to talk, William talked on how much he hated Edward. Constance so bored of William sent him to Henry. Henry told William to get out, William refused and explained that he was 40 and wiser, and Henry was 13 and not smart enough, this offended Henry who grabbed a death warrent and threatened to sign Williams name. William glared and threatened to scream at him, Constance walked in a begged him to sign the death warrent, William begged Henry for mercy, but Henry showed no mercy, William was put in prison and then put outside without a crowd, Mary of Gloucester, Constance, Henry's daughter, Constance's children, and himself wen't to the inside hall of Dover and waited for William to be pulled out of his prison, William laid his head on the block and the executioner grabbed his Sword, and allowed William to say his last words, William's last words were "Your making a mistake, a terrible one." after that the swordmaster chopped his head off. Henry wanted to entertain them more, so he grabbed more prisoners in Dover and killed them, Henry invited his new 39 year old friend to join them, after the mass execution at Dover, Henry and Mary invited Edward to live at Dover and get his own room, Edward excepted and his room was on the 5th floor.

## 3rd Crusade

When Henry turned 14, his wife wanted to go to bed with him again in an attempt for a male heir, Henry found no interest in his wife, and found more interest in his sister and war. Henry was at Dover Castle with Constance working in there office, a priest came in to inform them about the fourth crusade, Constance was to young and she was only 11 years old, but Henry was old enough but did not wan't to tell his sister goodbye, so when he was about to leave, he tucked her into bed and gave her a locket, then he wen't on a crusade with Edward, 2nd Earl of Buckingham. Henry set for Jaffa, though he was shipwrecked to Turkey, he managed to make it to Jaffa after slaughtering many warriors, Edward served as his back-up knight, Edward's wife Adezele FitzGerald who was an Irish noblewoman. Edward accompanied Henry at all times, when Henry was to tired to fight or to lead army's, Henry would make Edward the leader, Henry settled in Georgia were the King welcomed him with open arms, Henry and Edward were able to crush a rebellion in Georgia, but they both were forcefully pushed out of Armenia. When they came home, Edward and Henry wen't back to Dover.

## Murder of Joan of Woodstock

Henry was never known to be a nice person, he brought is rudeness and prudentness to his sister and wife and later daughter, one of his wives ladies-in-waiting Joan of Woodstock (Who was the illegitimate child of William of Woodstock) was hated by Henry for her stupidity, Henry banished Joan from the court of Dover, but she came back along with her brother Robert of Woodstock, Mary of Gloucester begged Henry to let them stay, but Henry arrested her for ivading Exile, Henry replaced his wives lady with Margaret de Burgh who was a wealthy land-owner. Henry then took a dagger to Joan's head in her sleep and murdered her, Joan of Woodstock's mother was a friend to Henry's mother and this out-raiged both of them, Joan's mother Elizabeth FitzWilliam led a siege to Dover, when Elizabeth arrived Constance had a spy to assassinate her. Mary lived to despise Margaret de Burgh, even Constance was jealous of Margaret's wit.

## Relationship with Princess Joan of England

Henry had many sisters including Princess Joan, Joan was Eleanor's second favourate child, Henry himself did not like Joan very much because of her place in Eleanor's heart, but Henry liked Joan certainly more then there sister Princess Matilda and there bother Prince Richard. But Henry never mentioned that he hated Joan in front of Joan's face, and acted polite in front of her, unlike Constance who called her insulting names when she visited, Henry's best friend Edward was not fond of Joan only because Henry did'nt like her. Joan was given a seat in Dover, but never a full on set of rooms. Constance destroyed Joan's establishment and attempted to strangle her, only being calmed down at the last moment by a group of guards and her therapists.

## 4th Crusade

Henry was called to Rochester Castle which was the seat of the Royal family at the time, his lesser friend Robert, 1st Lord of Saltoun wanted to alert Henry of the second Crusade. Henry knew the worse was yet to come way back in the third crusade, luckly Henry's army was already prepared, his most loyal friend Edward offered to lead 7 of his army's to Hungary which would make Henry's job easier, Henry accepted and Edward marched 9 army's (Including his own army's in Buckigham.) Henry was left with 5 major army's to lead, his wife Mary would accompany him, Henry wanted the 12 year old Constance to take care of his daughter, but Mary refused to let her sister-in-law handle the baby and instead left the future Queen in the care of her ladies. Henry and Mary took off for Jerusalem, when they arrived in Haifa which was the most famous city in Jerusalem at the time, Mary a faithful wife killed 80 warriors alongside her husband who killed 700. Mary led siege to Jaffa which was an partly owned Ottoman territory, the siege was a victory and the King of Jerusalem reclaimed Jaffa, though Jaffa was also partly controlled by France, Henry and Mary wen't to Greece were Henry's half-sister Agnes of France was ruling as Queen, Henry helped protect Greece and headed for Romania, Romania was one of the most dangerous fighting places in the Balkans, mainly because of its gold and tresures that were left un-touched by pagan rulers of Romania. Edward was nearly killed trying to fight for Romania and advised Henry to go straight back to Dover, Henry who was tired utterly listened and wen't home to celebrate 1 week before his daughters 5th birthday.

## Relationship with daughter

Though Henry disliked his bride, he had no dislike twords his daughter Mary, in fact he was very close to Mary much to Constance's disaproval. Henry took Mary for walks around Dover sense she was born and even though she was a girl, he was happy to make her his successor, Mary was given 7 seats at Dover Castle only on her fourth birthday, and on her 5th birthday she was given Clearwell Castle as a "Small gift" and 80,000 pounds along with many more, Mary's mother was also known for spoiling her daughter, Mary's mother gave Mary, Beverstone Castle along with many jewls and diamonds.

## 5th Crusade

It was only a year until the 5th Crusade was announced, around this time Ireland and Wales tried to join the Crusades, Henry the Young was not a fan of Irish and Welsh people joining the crusades, he feared they would make allies in the crusades against England, so he gave the Pope gold and money, if he would refuse Ireland and Wales access to the Crusades, the Pope listened and Ireland and the Irish and Welsh lords were pushed out of the Vatican. Henry's wife chose to stay in Dover to take care of Mary, and Henry took his 13 year old sister on Crusade, this was Constance's first Crusade and she begged Henry 3 times to let her stay, but Henry comferted Constance and they were able to gather there army's and head to Normandy, in Normandy, they picked up Edward while he was with his wife in a family feud, Edward left in a very bad mood and relied on Henry and Constance to change it. When they arrived in Cyprus, the place was a disaster, this Crusade was way worse then the 4th one, Henry accidently shot one of his soilders while trying to get to the capital. They pair were able to restore the christian kingdom, but the Ottoman's still owned North Cyprus, Constance and Henry did not bother taking back Northern Cyprus, as the Byzantine's were fighting the Ottoman's over Northern Cyprus, they then wen't to Jaffa where they were nearly killed, Edward pushed then back to safety in Venice. When they were able to leave Venice, they wen't to Syria. In Syria they were able to crush many Ottomans, when they sailed home he wrote "No Cross, No Crown" which meant he did not wan't to talk about politics or religion, 2 things he had bee fighting for sense the 2nd Crusade.

## Family Feud

Henry knew he was a mistake, and never tried to sway his parents opinions on him, he only cared if he would inherit the lands he had been promised from birth, Constance supported her brothers claim to the crown, and he was the rightful heir after all. But Henry's father did not like the idea of his least favourate child succeeding him, so Henry wrote a script saying Henry's younger brother John should inherit everything. (England at the time included: England, Northern Ireland, Aquitaine, Brittany, Poiters, Anjou, Normandy, Nantes and Angoulême.) Henry was outraged, he waited now 17 years to keep England, so he started taking revenge, he told his sister Constance to raid Normandy, and his younger sister Isabella who was all the way in Germany, to get an army and raid Poiters, Brittany and Nantes. Henry told Edward to raid Angoulême, while Henry raided Surrey, the ruling Earl of Surrey (Who was a supporter of Henry's father) was forced to surrender along with his children and grand-children, they were imprisoned in *Bacre Palace* which was a large establishment in Dover Castle. Henry's father and Eleanor of Aquitaine were alerted, but Eleanor refused to help Henry's father as they were in a feud themselves. Henry and Constance decided to leave Dover where they lived for 11 years, and move to Abinger Castle in Surrey, Henry included Dover Castle in his daughters inheritance, Henry led siege to Cornwall which his 16 year old brother Richard owned, Richard in fury wen't on the battle field to save his territory, Eleanor came with Richard to re-take Cornwall, Henry was in a tough place, he would either be killed by his mother and brother, or call someone far away, he chose to call his Sister who was in Yorkshire, and Isabella who was in Rome, and his best friend who was in Cambridge, Constance arrived first hearing her brother needed help, she arrived with a 8101 men army, Edward arrived second with his army and Isabella arrived third with an army sealed by the pope. Eleanor killed Edward in eastern Cornwall, Henry was deeply devastated at the lost of his best friend and surrendered to the forces, Isabella fled to Germany, and Constance and Henry were taken prisoners at the Tower of London.

## Imprisonment

When the 2 arrived they were mocked and mugged by English nobles that supported Richard, Henry and his wife and daughter joined him in imprisonment. When Richard visited them, Richard felt bad for Princess Constance and let her free only a week after her imprisonment, Richard also let Henry's wife and daughter out as he wrote "You can't hold an Innocent captive." Henry's imprisonment was also short lived, Henry promised the prisoners of the tower that he would let them free, in return for there support, Henry stabbed the prison guards and all the prisoners were let out, they all fled to Germany and Norway, this was an unpopular move, but Henry made up with it by donating to charity, Henry was back on top.

## Friendship with Edmund, 1st Earl of Bath

After Henry freed himself from his captors, Richard and Eleanor did not bother to get him back. Henry met a noble who supported Henry's succession, it was 17 year old, Edmund, 1st Earl of Bath, Edmund and Henry shared interest in art, reading, and culture, but they both disliked Eleanor, Richard and Henry's father. Constance did not really like Edmund, but she put up with him as she already had her sister-in-law to worry about. Edmund soon became Henry's best friend, Henry arranged a marriage between Edmund and Mary Lisle who was Henry's cousin through his uncle William, 1st Viscount of Dippe, who also took the name William, 2nd Baron Lisle. Edmund now a member of the Royal family took the title **Edmund Plantagenet** and he was given the title Earl of Huntingdon. Edmund also now that he married a royal had a claim on the English throne.

## 6th Crusade

Following that year, Edmund gave birth to a daughter Margaret of Bath and then a son William of Bath. That month it was announced the 6th Crusade was beggining, Henry alerted Edmund and ordered him to go straight to Surrey, Edmund came with his 2 children and wife to Surrey. Edmund was appointed grand-general of Henry's army and they were accompanied by Constance, Constance was very weary of Edmund, and Edmund did not wan't to share Henry with Constance, on there boat to Jaffa across the Mediterranean sea they had a fight, Edmund wanted to sleep next to the co-kings room, but Constance argued she knew Henry more, so she should get the room, at the end they both got rooms next to the King. Edmund did however like Henry's wife Mary of Gloucester, and wrote "That Constance ruined that poor Mary's life" in his journel. Henry turned 19 years old on the ship and the crew celebrated with fruit and chocolate as there was no beer. When they all arrived the 4 marched there army's to Jaffa, the Count's wife Alix of France was Henry's half-sister, so Henry easily got passed the gate. They fought in Jaffa and were nearly killed trying to protect Jaffa. After they protected Jaffa they crusaded in other places, Henry celebrated in France with his half-brother Louis VIII of France and wen't back to Surrey.

## Death

When Louis turned 20 years old, he began thinking he was to good for his father, and took Edmund and Constance with him to pillage Cambridge, this alerted the King and Queen who marched army's to back them away, Henry pillaged West Cambridge and impaled the tax collectors on wooden dule sticks. He marched to on a Bridge where he expected to make it pass to south Cambridge, but his father's knight pulled Henry down and attempted to pull Edmund and Constance, Henry fell into the water and was partly brain damaged according to Edmund, his father ordered that a knight stick a sword down Henry's throat and stomp on it until he dies, the loyal knight listened, Edmund and Constance watched in horror, and for the first time they became friends, Edmund picked Constance up and ran away with her to avoid being killed, after Henry was offically killed his daughter Mary was crown Junior-Queen of England, she was put under the care of her mother, but her tenure was shortly lived, when she was 8 she was deposed by Richard, but to make up for it, Richard named Mary heiress of England if he had no sons, when Richard died childless in 1173, Mary expected to become Queen, but her uncle John used faster army daplomsy to be crowned first, but to make up for it again she was given a lot of money, many ceneturies later the Lancasters who could trace there line to Mary declared that they were the rightful Kings, this led to the war of the roses. And all though Mary never became Queen, she and her husband used the title tituliar King and Queen of England.