The Character and Legacy of Henry II

Page 4 of 7

• 1. Early influences
• 2. Personal characteristics
• 3. Family background
• 4. Eleanor of Aquitaine
• 5. Henry and his sons
• 6. Final years
• 7. Find out more
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Eleanor of Aquitaine

On 18th May 1152, the young prince Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the cast-off wife of King Louis VII of France. This in itself was to have far-reaching political consequences, and at the time the marriage scandalised the houses of Europe. Eleanor was eleven years Henry's senior. Strong-willed and impetuous, she was rumoured to have had lovers in both Prince Raymond of Antioch and Henry's own father, Geoffrey of Anjou. In fact, Geoffrey strongly advised Henry not to get involved. She was also closely linked to Henry by blood, being within the fifth degree of kinship which was prohibited by the church, and this was precisely the excuse by which Louis had got his marriage to her annulled.

Still, the marriage worked. Their characters complimented each other: Eleanor was a powerful enough personality to hold her own in Henry's company, and was able to act as regent for him when he was away. She bore him 6 children who survived: among them four sons, Henry the Younger, Richard, Geoffrey and John. Yet, like Henry himself, she was fiercely protective of her inheritance, and valued it above loyalty to her husband. This would inevitably result in friction, with Eleanor supporting her sons against their father in defence of Aquitaine.

'Eleanor was a powerful enough personality to hold her own in Henry's company...'

Contemporary chroniclers failed to understand this driving force within her, and interpreted her 'fickleness' as a variety of women's perceived weaknesses. The most persistent rumour was that Eleanor turned against her husband out of jealousy over his infidelities. Henry undoubtedly had two bastards, Geoffrey 'Plantagenet' and William 'Longsword', and there is also no doubt that the great love of his life was Rosamund Clifford, with whom he took up in 1173 and who died in 1176. Henry is supposed to have contemplated divorcing Eleanor for Rosamund in 1175, and wagging tongues suggested that Eleanor poisoned her the year after. It has also been suspected that Henry had a liaison with Alice, daughter of King Louis, who had been married to Henry the Younger and was then betrothed to Richard for years whilst she remained in the custody of Henry.

Certainly, it is likely that these rumours contributed to Richard's distrust of his father. But Henry and Eleanor had been to all intents and purposes estranged since the birth of John in 1167, and her actions are always geared towards her sons and Aquitaine. Henry's little peccadilloes were of more interest to the chroniclers than they seem to have been to Eleanor (though the implications of a divorce are likely to have stung her into action).

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Published: 2001-07-01