Henry I (Beauclerc) of England

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England

He also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death. Henry was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henry's elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, but Henry was left landless.

Henry purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but William and Robert deposed him in 1091. Henry gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William Rufus against Robert. Henry was present when William died in a hunting accident in 1100, and he seized the English throne, promising at his coronation to correct many of William's less popular policies.

Henry married Matilda of Scotland but continued to have a large number of mistresses, by whom he had many illegitimate children. Henry had a considerable sexual appetite and enjoyed a substantial number of sexual partners, resulting in a large number of illegitimate children, at least nine sons and 13 daughters, many of whom he appears to have recognised and supported. It was normal for unmarried Anglo-Norman noblemen to have sexual relations with prostitutes and local women, and kings were also expected to have mistresses. Some of these relationships occurred before Henry was married, but many others took place after his marriage to Matilda. Henry had a wide range of mistresses from a range of backgrounds, and the relationships appear to have been conducted relatively openly. He may have chosen some of his noble mistresses for political purposes, but the evidence to support this theory is limited.

Robert, who invaded in 1101, disputed Henry's control of England; this military campaign ended in a negotiated settlement that confirmed Henry as king. The peace was short-lived, and Henry invaded the Duchy of Normandy in 1105 and 1106, finally defeating Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray. Henry kept Robert imprisoned for the rest of his life. Henry's control of Normandy was challenged by Louis VI of France, Baldwin of Flanders and Fulk of Anjou, who promoted the rival claims of Robert's son, William Clito, and supported a major rebellion in the Duchy between 1116 and 1119. Following Henry's victory at the Battle of Brémule, a favourable peace settlement was agreed with Louis in 1120.

Considered by contemporaries to be a harsh but effective ruler, Henry skilfully manipulated the barons in England and Normandy. In England, he drew on the existing Anglo-Saxon system of justice, local government and taxation, but also strengthened it with additional institutions, including the royal exchequer and itinerant justices. Normandy was also governed through a growing system of justices and an exchequer. Many of the officials who ran Henry's system were "new men" of obscure backgrounds rather than from families of high status, who rose through the ranks as administrators. Henry encouraged ecclesiastical reform, but became embroiled in a serious dispute in 1101 with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, which was resolved through a compromise solution in 1105. He supported the Cluniac order and played a major role in the selection of the senior clergy in England and Normandy.

Henry's only legitimate son and heir, William Adelin, drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120, throwing the royal succession into doubt. Henry took a second wife, Adeliza, in the hope of having another son, but their marriage was childless. In response to this, Henry declared his daughter, Matilda, his heir and married her to Geoffrey of Anjou. The relationship between Henry and the couple became strained, and fighting broke out along the border with Anjou.

The Anglo-Norman barons were gathered together at Westminster on Christmas 1126, where they swore to recognise Matilda and any future legitimate heir she might have. Putting forward a woman as a potential heir in this way was unusual: opposition to Matilda continued to exist within the English court, and Louis of France was vehemently opposed to her candidacy.

Henry died on 1 December 1135 after a week of illness.
Despite his plans for Matilda, the King was succeeded by his nephew, Stephen of Blois, resulting in a period of civil war known as the Anarchy. Lasting between 1135 and 1154, the period was marked by fierce fighting with English barons, rebellious Welsh leaders and Scottish invaders.

Matilda invaded in 1139 with the help of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester.

Neither side was able to achieve a decisive advantage during the first years of the war; the Empress came to control the south-west of England and much of the Thames Valley, while Stephen remained in control of the south-east. Much of the fighting was attritional in character, comprising sieges, raiding and skirmishing between armies of knights and footsoldiers, many of them mercenaries. In 1141 Stephen was captured following the battle of Lincoln, causing a collapse in his authority over most of the country. However, on the verge of being crowned queen, Empress Matilda was forced to retreat from London by hostile crowds; shortly afterwards, Robert of Gloucester was captured at the rout of Winchester and the two sides agreed to swap their respective captives.

The war dragged on for many more years. Empress Matilda's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, successfully conquered Normandy, but in England neither side could achieve victory.By the early 1150s the barons and the Church mostly wanted a long-term peace. Stephen and Henry agreed a negotiated peace, the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir. Stephen died the next year and Henry ascended the throne as Henry II, the first Angevin king of England.

Buried:
Grave location, biography, photo of abbey ruins and memorial plaque:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1949

Henry married Matilda of Scotland. Matilda (daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Wessex, Queen of Scotland) was born ca 1080, Dunfermline Fife, Scotland; died 01 May 1118, Westminister Palace, London, England; was buried , Westminster Abbey, London, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Matilda

She was also known as Empress Maude and was the daughter of of King Henry I of England and Matilda of Scotland, born around 7 February 1102 at Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire. Her father, Henry, was the youngest son of William the Conqueror, who had invaded England in 1066.

Little is known about Matilda's earliest life, but she probably stayed with her mother, was taught to read, and was educated in religious morals. She moved to Germany as a child when she married the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, her first husband. The match was attractive to the Henry as his daughter would be marrying into one of the most prestigious dynasties in Europe, reaffirming his own, slightly questionable, status as the youngest son of a new royal house, and gaining him an ally in dealing with France. They had no children, and when Henry died in 1125, the crown was claimed by Lothair II, one of his political enemies.

Matilda's younger brother, William Adelin, died in 1120, leaving England facing a potential succession crisis. On Henry V's death, Matilda was recalled to Normandy by her father, who arranged for her to marry Geoffrey of Anjou to form an alliance to protect his southern borders. The marriage proved difficult, as the couple did not particularly like each other. There was a further dispute over Matilda's dowry; she was granted various castles in Normandy by Henry, but it was not specified when the couple would actually take possession of them.

Henry I had no further legitimate children and nominated Matilda as his heir, making his court swear an oath of loyalty to her and her successors, but the decision was not popular in the Anglo-Norman court. Henry died in 1135 but Matilda and Geoffrey faced opposition from the Norman barons.

The throne was instead taken by Matilda's cousin Stephen of Blois, who enjoyed the backing of the English Church. Stephen took steps to solidify his new regime, but Matilda crossed to England to take the kingdom by force, supported by her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, and her uncle, King David I of Scotland, while Geoffrey focused on conquering Normandy. Her son, Henry, remained in France.

Matilda's forces captured Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, but the Empress's attempt to be crowned at Westminster collapsed in the face of bitter opposition from the London crowds. As a result of this retreat, Matilda was never formally declared Queen of England, and was instead titled the Lady of the English. Robert was captured following the Rout of Winchester in 1141, and Matilda agreed to exchange him for Stephen. Matilda became trapped in Oxford Castle by Stephen's forces that winter, and was forced to escape across the frozen River Isis at night to avoid capture. The war degenerated into a stalemate, with Matilda controlling much of the south-west of England, and Stephen the south-east and the Midlands. Large parts of the rest of the country were in the hands of local, independent barons. This time was called the Anarchy because of the unrest.

Matilda returned to Normandy, now in the hands of her husband, in 1148, leaving her eldest son, Henry, to continue the campaign in England; he eventually succeeded to the throne as Henry II in 1154. She settled her court near Rouen and for the rest of her life concerned herself with the administration of Normandy, acting on Henry's behalf when necessary. Particularly in the early years of her son's reign, she provided political advice.

She worked extensively with the Church, founding Cistercian monasteries, and was known for her piety. She was buried under the high altar at Bec Abbey after her death in 1167. Her tomb's epitaph included the lines "Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring: here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry", which became a famous phrase among her contemporaries.

Buried:
Grave location, biography, and cathedral portrait:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8619917

Matilda married Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. Geoffrey was born 24 Aug 1113, France; died 07 Sep 1151, Château-du-Loir, France; was buried , Le Mans Cathedral, Le Mans, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England

Henry was the son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother's efforts to claim the throne of England, then occupied by Stephen of Blois, and was made Duke of Normandy at 17. He inherited Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII of France had recently been annulled.

He ruled as Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, King of England (1154?89) and Lord of Ireland; at various times, he also controlled Wales, Scotland and Brittany.

Henry was an energetic and sometimes ruthless ruler, driven by a desire to restore the lands and privileges of his royal grandfather, Henry I. During the early years of the younger Henry's reign he restored the royal administration in England, re-established hegemony over Wales and gained full control over his lands in Anjou, Maine and Touraine.

Henry's desire to reform the relationship with the 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.

Henry soon came into conflict with Louis VII and the two rulers fought what has been termed a "cold war" over several decades. Henry expanded his empire, often at Louis' expense, taking Brittany and pushing east into central France and south into Toulouse; despite numerous peace conferences and treaties, no lasting agreement was reached. By 1172, he controlled England, large parts of Wales, the eastern half of Ireland and the western half of France, an area that would later come to be called the Angevin Empire.

Henry and Eleanor had eight children. Henry's relationship with his wife Eleanor was complex: Henry trusted Eleanor to manage England for several years after 1154, and was later content for her to govern Aquitaine; indeed, Eleanor was believed to have influence over Henry during much of their marriage. Ultimately, however, their relationship disintegrated and chroniclers and historians have speculated on what ultimately caused Eleanor to abandon Henry to support her older sons in the Great Revolt of 1173-74. Probable explanations include Henry's persistent interference in Aquitaine, his recognition of Raymond of Toulouse in 1173, or his harsh temper. Henry had several long-term mistresses, including Annabel de Balliol and Rosamund Clifford

As the children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by Louis and his son King Philip II. In 1173 Henry's heir apparent, "Young Henry", rebelled in protest; he was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey and by their mother, Eleanor. France, Scotland, Flanders and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. The Great Revolt was only defeated by his vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them "new men" appointed for their loyalty and administrative skills.

Henry had eight legitimate children by Eleanor, five sons: William, the Young Henry, Richard, Geoffrey and John, and three daughters: Matilda, Eleanor and Joan. Henry also had several illegitimate children; among the most prominent of these were Geoffrey (later Archbishop of York) and William (later Earl of Salisbury). Henry was expected to provide for the future of his legitimate children, either through granting lands to his sons or marrying his daughters well. Henry's family was divided by rivalries and violent hostilities, more so than many other royal families of the day. Various suggestions have been put forward to explain Henry's family's bitter disputes, from their inherited family genetics to the failure of Henry and Eleanor's parenting.

Henry struggled to find ways to satisfy all his sons' desires for land and immediate power. Philip successfully played on Richard's fears that Henry would make John king, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to Chinon in Anjou, where he died.

Henry's empire quickly collapsed during the reign of his youngest son John. Many of the changes Henry introduced during his long rule, however, had long-term consequences. Henry's legal changes are generally considered to have laid the basis for the English Common Law, while his intervention in Brittany, Wales and Scotland shaped the development of their societies and governmental systems.



Buried:
Grave location, portrait and tomb effigy:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1951

Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor (daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aenor de Châtellerault) was born 1122, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France; died 01 Apr 1204, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France; was buried , Fontevraud Abbey Fontevraud-l'Abbaye Departement de Maine-et-Loire Pays de la Loire, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England

John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his elder brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henry's favorite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England and on the continent. John's elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young; by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richard's royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade.

Despite this, after Richard died in 1199, John was proclaimed King of England, and came to an agreement with Philip II of France to recognize John's possession of the continental Angevin lands at the peace treaty of Le Goulet in 1200.

He was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. John lost the duchy of Normandy to King Philip II of France, which resulted in the collapse of most of the Angevin Empire and contributed to the subsequent growth in power of the Capetian dynasty during the 13th century. The baronial revolt at the end of John's reign led to the sealing of the Magna Carta, a document sometimes considered to be an early step in the evolution of the constitution of the United Kingdom.

When war with France broke out again in 1202, John achieved early victories, but shortages of military resources and his treatment of Norman, Breton and Anjou nobles resulted in the collapse of his empire in northern France in 1204. John spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. John's judicial reforms had a lasting impact on the English common law system, as well as providing an additional source of revenue. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to John's excommunication in 1209, a dispute finally settled by the king in 1213. John's attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed due to the French victory over John's allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, who were unhappy with his fiscal policies and his treatment of many of England's most powerful nobles. Although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis of France. It soon descended into a stalemate. John died of dysentery contracted whilst on campaign in eastern England during late 1216; supporters of his son Henry III went on to achieve victory over Louis and the rebel barons the following year.

Contemporary chroniclers were mostly critical of John's performance as king, and his reign has since been the subject of significant debate and periodic revision by historians from the 16th century onwards. Historian Jim Bradbury has summarized the current historical opinion of John's positive qualities, observing that John is today usually considered a "hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general". Nonetheless, modern historians agree that he also had many faults as king, including what historian Ralph Turner describes as "distasteful, even dangerous personality traits", such as pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty. These negative qualities provided extensive material for fiction writers in the Victorian era, and John remains a recurring character within Western popular culture, primarily as a villain in films and stories depicting the Robin Hood legends.

John's personal life greatly affected his reign. Contemporary chroniclers state that John was sinfully lustful and lacking in piety. It was common for kings and nobles of the period to keep mistresses, but chroniclers complained that John's mistresses were married noblewomen, which was considered unacceptable. John had at least five children with mistresses during his first marriage to Isabelle of Gloucester, and two of those mistresses are known to have been noblewomen.

John's behaviour after his second marriage to Isabella of Angoulême is less clear, however. None of John's known illegitimate children were born after he remarried, and there is no actual documentary proof of adultery after that point, although John certainly had female friends amongst the court throughout the period. The specific accusations made against John during the baronial revolts are now generally considered to have been invented for the purposes of justifying the revolt; nonetheless, most of John's contemporaries seem to have held a poor opinion of his sexual behavior.

The character of John's relationship with his second wife, Isabella of Angoulême, is unclear. John married Isabella whilst she was relatively young ? her exact date of birth is uncertain, and estimates place her between at most 15 and more probably towards twelve years old at the time of her marriage. Even by the standards of the time, Isabella was married whilst very young. John did not provide a great deal of money for his wife's household and did not pass on much of the revenue from her lands. Other aspects of their marriage suggest a closer, more positive relationship. Chroniclers recorded that John had a "mad infatuation" with Isabella, and certainly John had conjugal relationships with Isabella between at least 1207 and 1215; they had five children.

In the aftermath of John's death William Marshal was declared the protector of the nine-year-old Henry III. The civil war continued until royalist victories at the battles of Lincoln and Dover in 1217. Louis of France gave up his claim to the English throne and signed the Treaty of Lambeth. The failed Magna Carta agreement was resuscitated by Marshal's administration and reissued in an edited form in 1217 as a basis for future government. Henry III continued his attempts to reclaim Normandy and Anjou until 1259, but John's continental losses and the consequent growth of Capetian power in the 13th century proved to mark a "turning point in European history".

John's second wife, Isabella of Angoulême, left England for Angoulême soon after the king's death; she became a powerful regional leader, but largely abandoned the children she had had by John. They had five legitimate children:

His eldest son, Henry III, ruled as king for the majority of the 13th century.


Richard became a noted European leader and ultimately the King of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire.

Joan married Alexander II of Scotland to become his queen consort.

Isabella married the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.[232]

His youngest daughter, Eleanor, married William Marshal's son, also called William, and later the famous English rebel Simon de Montfort.

John had a number of illegitimate children by various mistresses, including nine sons ? Richard, Oliver, John, Geoffrey, Henry, Osbert Gifford, Eudes, Bartholomew and probably Philip ? and three daughters ? Joan, Maud and probably Isabel. Of these, Joan became the most famous, marrying Prince Llywelyn the Great of Wales.

Historical interpretations of John have been subject to considerable change over the years. Medieval chroniclers provided the first contemporary, or near contemporary, histories of John's reign. These historians were generally unsympathetic to John's behavior under Richard's rule, but slightly more positive towards the very earliest years of John's reign. Reliable accounts of the middle and later parts of John's reign are more limited.

In the 16th century political and religious changes altered the attitude of historians towards John. Tudor historians were generally favorably inclined towards the king, focusing on John's opposition to the Papacy and his promotion of the special rights and prerogatives of a king. Revisionist histories portrayed John as an early Protestant hero.

By the Victorian period in the 19th century historians were more inclined to draw on the judgements of the chroniclers and to focus on John's moral personality, blaming his These historians were often inclined to see John's reign, and his signing of Magna Carta in particular, as a positive step in the constitutional development of England, despite the flaws of the king himself. family background and his cruel personality for his downfall.

In the 1940s, new interpretations of John's reign began to emerge, based on research into the record evidence of his reign, such as pipe rolls, charters, court documents and similar primary records. Interpretations of Magna Carta and the role of the rebel barons in 1215 have been significantly revised: although the charter's symbolic, constitutional value for later generations is unquestionable, in the context of John's reign most historians now consider it a failed peace agreement between "partisan" factions.

Most historians today argue that John was an unsuccessful monarch, but note that his failings were exaggerated by 12th- and 13th-century chroniclers. The current consensus that John was a hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general", albeit, with distasteful, even dangerous personality traits, including pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty.

Buried:
Grave location, photos of tomb and effigy:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1953

John married Isabel d'Angoulême, Countess of Angoulême. Isabel (daughter of Aymer d'Angoulême, Count of Angoulême and Alice/Alix de Courtenay, Countess of Angoulême) was born ca 1188, Angoulême; died 04 Jun 1246, Fontevraud Abbey, France; was buried , Fontevraud Abbey, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_England,_Queen_of_Castile

She was Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile and was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Eleanor was born in the castle at Domfront, Normandy on 13 October 1162, as the second daughter of Henry II, King of England and his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine. Her half-siblings were Marie and Alix of France, and her full siblings were Henry the Young, Duchess Matilda, King Richard, Duke Geoffrey, Queen Joan and King John.

In 1174, when she was 12 years old, Eleanor married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos. The couple had been betrothed in 1170, but due to the bride's youth as well as the uproar in Europe regarding her father's suspected involvement in the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket, the wedding was delayed. Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine?s border on the Pyrennes, while Alfonso was seeking an ally in his struggles with his uncle, Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.

Of all Eleanor of Aquitaine?s daughters, her namesake was the only one who was enabled, by political circumstances, to wield the kind of influence her mother had exercised. In her own marriage treaty, and in the first marriage treaty for her daughter Berengaria, Eleanor was given direct control of many lands, towns, and castles throughout the kingdom. She was almost as powerful as Alfonso, who specified in his will in 1204 that she was to rule alongside their son in the event of his death, including taking responsibility for paying his debts and executing his will. It was she who persuaded him to marry their daughter Berengaria to Alfonso IX of León. Troubadours and sages were regularly present in Alfonso VIII?s court due to Eleanor?s patronage.

Eleanor took particular interest in supporting religious institutions. In 1179, she took responsibility to support and maintain a shrine to St. Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Toledo. She also created and supported the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, which served as a refuge and tomb for her family for generations, and its affiliated hospital.

When Alfonso died, Eleanor was reportedly so devastated with grief that she was unable to preside over the burial. Their eldest daughter Berengaria instead performed these honours. Eleanor then took sick and died only twenty-eight days after her husband, and was buried at Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.

Eleanor was praised for her beauty and regal nature by the poet Ramón Vidal de Besalú after her death. Her great-grandson Alfonso X referred to her as "noble and much loved."

Eleanor and Alfonso had 11 children:

1. Beregaria, the second wife of King Alfonso IX of León.

2. Sancho died in infancy.

3. Sancha died in infancy.

4. Henry died young.

5. Urraca married Alfonso II of Portugal.

6. Blanche married Louis VIII of France.

7. Ferdinand, heir to the throne, was returning through the San Vicente mountains from a campaign against the Muslims when he contracted a fever and died.

8. Mafalda betrothed in 1204 to Infante Ferdinand of Leon, eldest son of Alfonso IX and stepson of her oldest sister.

9. Eleanor married in Ágreda on 6 February 1221 with James I of Aragon.

10. Constance was a nun at the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas.

11. Henry was the only surviving son, he succeeded his father in 1214 aged ten under the regency firstly of his mother and later his oldest sister. He was killed when he was struck by a tile falling from a roof.



Buried:
Grave location, historical portrait, biography, and photo of tomb:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10783007

Eleanor married Alfonso VIII (El De Las Navas) of Castile, King of Castille and King of Toledo. Alfonso was born 11 Nov 1155, Provincia de Soria Castilla y León, Spain; died 05 Oct 1214, Gutierre-Munoz Provincia de Ávila Castilla y León, Spain; was buried , Monasterio de Santa María la Real de las Huelgas, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain. [Group Sheet]