King Henry II of England [7797] ¹⁸⁴⁴

   FamilySearch ID: LYD7-TB9. Find a Grave ID: 1951.

  General Notes:

English Monarch. The son of Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou and Queen Matilda, Henry was born in LeMans, France, and acceded the throne of England in 1154, where he was crowned on December 19. He was the first of the Angevin kings, and one of England's most effective monarchs. He refined the government and created a self-standing bureaucracy. Henry was ambitious, intelligent, and energetic, and it is said he spoke every language used in Europe, though it is unlikely he spoke English. He married Eleanor of Aquitaine on May 18, 1152. This marriage brought under his rule the French counties of Brittany, Maine, Poitou, Touraine, Gascony, Anjou, Aquitaine, and Normandy - meaning Henry had more land and more power than the King of France. In 1162, Henry's best friend and chancellor, Thomas Beckett, was named Archbishop of Canterbury. Beckett distanced himself from Henry and angered the king when he opposed the coronation of young Prince Henry. In a fit of frustration, Henry publicly conveyed his wish to be free of Beckett. Four knights took the king at his word and murdered the archbishop in his cathedral. Henry endured a limited storm of protest over the incident, but the controvery quickly passed. As a result of the treachery of his sons, often with the encouragement of their mother, Henry was defeated in 1189 and forced to accept humiliation and peace. He died at Chinon, France, at the age of 56.

  Burial Notes:

Fontrevault Abbey,

Henry married Eleanor DE AQUITAINE [7798] [MRIN: 5751]. (Eleanor DE AQUITAINE [7798] was born in 1122 in Poitiers, Duchy of Aquitaine ¹⁸⁴⁴, christened on 7 December 1122 in Pays de la Loire, Francia,¹⁸⁴⁴ died on 1 April 1204 in Poitiers, Duchy of Aquitaine ¹⁸⁴⁴ and was buried in April 1204 in Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, Departement de Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France ¹⁸⁴⁴.)