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Cross - Love - Culpepper - Herron - Mordecai - Shelby - Cobb

Henry Of England

Male 1155 - 1183  (28 years)


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  • Name Henry Of England 
    Nickname the Young King 
    Born 28 Feb 1155  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 11 Jun 1183  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I7251  MyTree
    Last Modified 15 Aug 2009 

    Father Henry II Of Anjou,   b. 5 Mar 1132, Le Mons, Anjou, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 6 Jul 1189, Chateau Chinon, Chinon, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 57 years) 
    Mother Eleanor Of Aquitaine 
    Married 18 May 1152  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F3838  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Henry the Young King (February 28, 1155–June 11, 1183) was the second
      of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

      Henry was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and
      Alix of France. He was a younger brother of William, Count of
      Poitiers. He was also an older brother to Matilda of England, Richard
      I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine ,
      Joan Plantagenet and John of England.

      Fostered by Thomas à Becket, in June 1170 the fifteen-year-old Henry
      was crowned king during his father's lifetime, but he never actually
      ruled and is not counted among the monarchs of England. There is a
      story that at the banquet following his coronation, he was waited on
      by his father, who remarked what a rare honour it was to be waited on
      by a king; the younger Henry replied that it was only fitting for the
      son of a count to wait on the son of a king.

      He is now known as "Henry the Young King" to distinguish him from his
      nephew Henry III of England. He broke with his father and allied with
      his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine and brothers in a civil war (1173–74)
      in which he tried to wrest the power of the crown from his father.
      When he died at the age of 28 of dysentery, during the middle of a
      second rebellion, his father is said to have exclaimed: "He cost me
      much, but I wish he had lived to cost me more."

      The historian W. L. Warren said of him, "The Young Henry was the only
      one of his family who was popular in his own day. It was true that he
      was also the only one who gave no evidence of political sagacity,
      military skill, or even ordinary intelligence…", and elaborated in a
      later book, "He was gracious, benign, affable, courteous, the soul of
      liberality and generosity. Unfortunately he was also shallow, vain,
      careless, empty-headed, incompetent, improvident, and irresponsible."

      Henry did not seem much interested in the day-to-day business of
      government, or in the subtleties of military tactics. Instead he spent
      much of his time at tournaments or meddling in the affairs of his
      brothers.

      Henry the Young King was married to Marguerite of France, daughter of
      King Louis VII of France by his second wife Constance of Castile, on
      November 2, 1160 when he was 5 years of age and she was 2. The
      marriage was orchestrated by Henry’s father, Henry II, in order to
      gain control over Marguerite’s dowry, the strategically vital castles
      of the Vexin region between Normandy and Paris. Her maternal
      grandparents were Alfonso VII of Castile and Berenguela of Barcelona.
      Berenguela was a daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona
      by his third wife Douce of Provence.

      The only child of Henry and Marguerite was William, born prematurely
      on June 19, 1177, and dying on June 22 of the same year. This
      difficult delivery seems to have rendered her sterile, as she had no
      further children by Henry or her second husband. In 1182 Henry accused
      her of having a love affair with the famed knight William Marshal.
      Henry repudiated his wife and sent her back to France, and exiled
      Marshal from his court. Marshal offered to prove his innocence via
      trial by combat, but this offer was refused.

      Henry the Young King died of dysentery in 1183, near Martel Castle in
      the Turenne, while in rebellion against his father and brother
      Richard. On his deathbed he reportedly asked to be reconciled to his
      father, but King Henry, fearing a trick, refused to see him. After
      some drama on the way, Young Henry was eventually buried in Rouen
      Cathedral, where his tomb can be seen, appropriately, on the opposite
      side of the altar from his younger brother Richard, with whom he was
      perpetually quarrelling. The tomb of the Bishop of Rouen, who had
      married Henry and Margaret, lies nearby in the ambulatory. His
      brothers Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland both later became
      king.