Henry II of England Birthday, Date of Birth

Henry II ( (1133-March-05) (1189-July-06)5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England, substantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France (including Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine), an area that was later called the Angevin Empire, and also held power over Scotland for a time and the Duchy of Brittany.

Henry was the eldest son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. By the age of fourteen, he became politically and militarily involved in his mother's efforts to claim the English throne, at that time held by her cousin Stephen of Blois. Henry's father made him Duke of Normandy in 1150, and upon his father's death in 1151, Henry inherited Anjou, Maine and Touraine. His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine brought him control of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Thus, he controlled most of France. Henry's military expedition to England in 1153 resulted in King Stephen agreeing, by the Treaty of Wallingford, to leave England to Henry; he inherited the kingdom at Stephen's death a year later.

Henry was an energetic and ruthless ruler, driven by a desire to restore the royal lands and prerogatives of his grandfather Henry I. During the early years of his reign Henry restored the royal administration in England and led expeditions into Wales in 1157. However, Henry was defeated at the Battle of Ewloe, nearly being killed in the fighting. Henry's desire to control the English Church led to conflict with his former friend Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy lasted for much of the 1160s and resulted in Becket's murder in 1170. Soon after his accession, Henry came into conflict with Louis VII of France, his feudal overlord, and the two rulers fought over several decades in what has been termed a "cold war". Henry expanded his empire at Louis's expense, taking Brittany and pushing east into central France and south into Toulouse. Despite numerous peace conferences and treaties, no lasting agreement was reached.

Henry and Eleanor had eight children. Three of their sons were kings, Henry the Young King as co-ruler with his father and Richard I and John as sole monarchs. As his sons grew up, Henry struggled to find ways to satisfy their desires for land and immediate power, and tensions rose over the future inheritance of the empire, encouraged by Louis VII and his son Philip II, who ascended to the French throne in 1180. In 1173 Henry's heir apparent, "Young Henry", rebelled against his father. He was subsequently joined in his rebellion by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey as well as their mother. Several European states allied themselves with the rebels, and the Great Revolt was defeated only by Henry's vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them "new men" appointed for their loyalty and administrative skills. Young Henry and Geoffrey led another failed revolt in 1183, during which Young Henry died of dysentery. Geoffrey died in 1186. The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland provided lands for Henry's youngest son, John. By 1189, Philip swayed Richard to his side, leading to a final rebellion. Suffering from a bleeding ulcer which sapped the extraordinary energy that was a hallmark of his earlier reign, Henry was decisively defeated by Philip and Richard. He then retreated to Chinon Castle in Anjou. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by his son Richard.

Henry's empire quickly collapsed during the reign of his son John, but many of the changes Henry introduced during his lengthy rule had long-term impacts. Henry's legal reforms are generally considered to have laid the basis for the English Common Law, while his intervention in Brittany, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland shaped the development of their societies, histories, and governmental systems. Contemporary chroniclers such as Gerald of Wales and William of Newburgh, though sometimes unfavourable, generally lauded Henry's achievements. In the 18th century, scholars argued that Henry was a driving force in the creation of a genuinely English monarchy and, ultimately, a unified Britain. During the Victorian expansion of the British Empire, historians were keenly interested in the formation of Henry's own empire, but they also criticized certain aspects of his private life and treatment of Becket.