Message about henry 2 king of england. Henry II (Henry II of the Valois dynasty). Henry VIII, King of England
Reign
During his reign, he pursued with fire and sword the growing Protestantism in the country. He continued the war with England after the death of his father and ended it in 1550 with the return of Boulogne.
Brazilian_ball_for_Henry_II_in_Rouen_october_1_1550
French fleet attacking the Isle of Wight
War with the empire
Already in 1548, he was again with Charles V in barely concealed enmity. Encountering no obstacles from England, he entered into an alliance with the German Protestants. While Moritz of Saxony betrayed Charles V, Henry attacked Lorraine by surprise, conquered Toul and Verdun, and occupied Nancy; the French also managed to capture Metz, but the attack on Strasbourg was repulsed. Charles V besieged Metz with a significant army, where the Duke of Guise defended himself courageously and successfully. In 1554, Henry fielded 3 armies that devastated Artois, Gennegau and Liège and repeatedly defeated the imperial troops.
Henry II enters Metz
Italian wars
In Italy, Henry also waged war from 1552. His marshal Brissac operated successfully in Piedmont. The Franco-Turkish fleet was to participate in the conquest of Naples; but this attempt failed. In 1556, a 5-year truce was concluded with the emperor; but Pope Paul IV decided that the French court had the right to violate this truce, and the very next year the Duke of Guise moved to Italy to conquer Naples. This venture ended in complete failure.
Portrait of Artus-Cosse-Brissac
Francois de Guise
Francois de Guise
War with the Spanish Netherlands
Even more unsuccessfully, Henry waged war on the Dutch border. The constable of Montmorency, hastening to the aid of the besieged Saint-Quentin, was defeated and, together with the best part of the French aristocracy, was captured by the Spaniards. True, in 1558 Giza managed to take Calais from the British and capture the fortress of Thionville, but the defeat at Gravelingen stopped the French advances. According to the peace concluded in Cato Cambresi, Henry was forced to return Piedmont and left behind only Calais. A special article of the treaty obliged Henry to persecute the evangelical church; to strengthen friendly ties, Henry married his eldest daughter to Philip II.
Affectionate as a puppy, unusually devoted to Diana and Montmorency, to his children and wife, Henry II at thirty-eight was a big child, with a beard and a protruding chin, who looked at the world with his empty half-closed eyes. Robert MERLE "Legacy of the Fathers" The French king Henry II from the third (and last) branch of the Valois dynasty, according to the evidence of that time (mainly of Huguenot origin), was a creature so strange and at the same time none that if only a short period of his reign (1547-1559) was not framed by the rising tensions between French Catholics and Protestants, the capture of Calais and, finally, his own death, he would go down in history, most likely as a puppet, and not as a person. Undoubtedly, his love affair with Diane de Poitiers, a favorite who was twenty years older than him and who allegedly “wisely shared it with his lawful wife, was perceived with humor. Both women, although they feared one another, however, decided to agree and share When Henry, on Diana's knees, forgot too much about Catherine (Medici-approx. I. L.), captivated, as on the first day, by her sixty-year-old breasts, Diana strictly reminded him of his duties and drove him into the bedroom of his legal wife " , - we read in Merle's book "The Legacy of the Fathers" .. It is possible that his friendship with the Constable of Montmorency would also cause a smile. Their relationship was so trusting that once Henry, stroking Diana's breasts in his presence, proudly asked, turning to him: "Look, Montmorency, doesn't she have a wonderful guardian?" But the smile quickly disappears when, along with this, we learn that during the reign of the same king, the so-called chambre ardente, "fiery court chamber", was established, which fully lived up to its name. She indiscriminately sentenced all real and imaginary heretics to be burned. The fact is that Henry II considered (although, most likely, he repeated, like a parrot, the opinion of his entourage, to which he was completely subordinate) the Reformed movement as a "pestilence" and declared that he wanted to see his people healthy and cleansed of this dangerous plague and disgusting evil spirits saturated with heresy. It goes without saying that fanatical Catholics used this "opinion" of his, and the bonfires that blazed during the years of his reign obscured, in the end, even the good that could be said about him. In short, the short twelve years of his reign rapidly accelerated the path to the catastrophes that followed. Just a year after his death, the religious wars which inflicted almost as much damage on France as the Hundred Years' War. The infamous St. Bartholomew's Night, when the massacre of the Huguenots by Catholics, was especially imprinted in the minds of the French and the whole world. If we take the French Reformed Movement in the full breadth of this concept (i.e., as resistance to the abuses of the Catholic Church, developing into a subconscious and conscious resistance to the entire feudal system), its origins should be sought in the second half of the twelfth century. Even then, the Waldensian movement was expanding, mainly in Provence, and almost simultaneously with it the Cathar doctrine. In general, representatives of both sects were called Albigenses after the name of the city of Alba, which was one of the centers of this movement. Initially, the Waldensian sect expressed "the protest of the patriarchal shepherds against the feudalism penetrating them" (according to Engels); it received the name "Waldenses" only in the next century, when the Lyons poor, led by the former merchant Peter Waldo, joined it, after which its program acquired a social aspect to some extent: Waldo preached the cult of poverty and asceticism. Cathars (from the Greek katharos - pure), in turn, declared the material world with its institutions, violence, inequality, wealth, on the one hand, and poverty, hunger and suffering on the other hand, the product of the devil. They definitely considered the Catholic Church to be such a product of the devil. The Albigensian movement began to spread with such rapid and menacing force that a crusade was launched against them, at the initiative of Pope Innocent III (1209). Its result was the devastation of the south of France and the brutal massacres of the Albigensians. They tell an incident that occurred in those days when, during the assault on the Qatari city of Beziers, the head of the crusader army asked the papal legate Amalrich: "How can I distinguish the faithful from the heretics?" To which the legate replied: "Kill everyone. The Lord God will figure it out." Twenty thousand people were killed that time. Despite this, the Albigensian movement survived until the second phase of the French Reformed movement, when the Huguenots entered the scene. While the teachings of Luther and Zwingli did not penetrate deeply into French Protestantism, it was Calvin who influenced it, shaping it ideologically. He was a Frenchman who, after his speech against the Catholic Church in his homeland, fled to Switzerland, where he founded his sect and where he died in Geneva in 1464. Supporters of Calvinism in France began to call themselves Huguenots. The etymology of this name is interpreted in different ways. According to one version, it was formed as a result of a distortion of the word Eidgenosse-Eidgenot, i.e. Swiss; others believe that the name was given by the name of one of the Huguenot leaders Gougues. Huguenotism, or rather French Calvinism, spread primarily among the nobility and townspeople, it did not penetrate into the broader masses (with the exception of Provence, where Huguenotism was established in the form of Waldensianism or Albigensianism). Over time, the Huguenots formed as a religious and political group and in 1555 founded a religious community in Paris. Four years later, a Calvinist synod was held there. Violent skirmishes between Protestants and royalty took place as early as the reign of Henry's father Francis I, Capturing the cradle of the renaissance. Compared with his son, Francis I left a kinder memory in the history of France - he was among the rulers who were popular. During the years of his reign (1515--1547), the organizational unification of France took place, which was preserved with minor changes (for example, division into 12 provinces) up to French Revolution; in addition, he was the type of sovereign who created a representative royal court with magnificent ceremonies, which became a model for many European courts. He, like his predecessors, continued to pursue an aggressive policy towards Italy. This expansion, which lasted the entire first half of the sixteenth century, finally resulted in a military rivalry between the "most Christian" kings of France and the "apostolic" Habsburgs. The first military campaign was undertaken in 1494 by Charles VIII, who, after a bold passage through the Alps, managed to capture the Kingdom of Naples. However, when a coalition of the Pope, Venice and the Duke of Milan was created against the French, they were forced out of the rest of Italy. The attempt made by Charles VIII was repeated with even greater failure Louis XIII . In addition, even then he was faced with Habsburg Spain, suffered several defeats and was eventually forced to abandon not only the Kingdom of Naples, captured by his predecessors, but also the Duchy of Milan, which he claimed as an inheritance after his grandmother Valentina Visconti. It seems that the indifference of the French to the local population also contributed to these failures. So, after this, Francis I made a third attempt. His position from the very beginning was by no means rosy. Meanwhile, France was surrounded by the iron hoop of the Habsburg powers from Spain and Italy to the Netherlands. And everywhere the overly militant Habsburg Charles V ruled, who became emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", inheriting the throne after his grandfather Maximilian. He also ruled over many recently discovered overseas powers. He owns the proudly uttered words that "the sun does not set on his empire" - a motto that his descendants were proud of until the bitter end. Francis I fought four wars with Charles V. During these wars, it became quite obvious that in his struggle for power, the question of religion played an insignificant role. The French king chose anyone as his allies: the Pope, the Venetians, the German Protestant princes (!) and even the "sworn enemy of Christianity" - the Turkish sultan. Charles V acted in exactly the same "Christian" way. In order to punish the Pope for going over to the side of the French king, he sent his Spanish troops along with German mercenaries to Rome, and they unheard of devastated and plundered the city .. However, the fortunes of the war did not favor Francis I. With the exception of a single victory (in 1515 at Marignano, his military undertakings failed, In 1525, in the battle of Pavia, he was utterly defeated and captured. He spent a year in Madrid captivity and was forced to sign a peace treaty, according to which he conceded Burgundy to Charles V. Thus, the Habsburg ring around France closed. "I have nothing left but honor," he wrote after this catastrophic defeat to his mother Louise of Savoy. honor", this can be considered a bit of an exaggeration. For example, although in the fight against the Habsburgs, his alliance with the German Protestant princes did At the same time, cruel measures were taken against her in his homeland during the years of his reign. Some French historians believe that the attacks that were directed under him against French Protestants were rather a matter the fanatical Catholics of his court, while he himself was "tolerant"; however, this in no way changes the essence of the matter. After the so-called poster scam, during which the Protestants (representing then a rather heterogeneous mass - as you know, the Huguenot community was formed later) distributed posters promoting the Reformation, and one such poster even got into the royal chambers, the so-called Edict of Fontainebleau was instantly issued directed against Protestantism (1534). In January of the following year, 35 Protestants were burned and about 300 imprisoned. And ten years later, a large-scale punitive action against the reformers followed, during which about 30 villages were destroyed and over 3,000 people were killed. The popularity of Francis I was associated mainly with the flowering of French culture. The fact is that the so-called Italian campaigns brought the French into direct contact with the Italian Renaissance. Francis I himself especially admired the Italian artists of the Renaissance (Leonardo da Vinci, surrounded by his favor, died in comparative prosperity in France), and his merit consisted in the appearance and development of his own French Renaissance, which developed in an amazing way not only during his reign, but and after him (that is, under Henry III), and was associated primarily with the names of such outstanding architects as Jean Goujon, Pierre Lescaut, Philibert Delorme and others. Thanks to them, beautiful castles appear in France, primarily on the Loire, which today are the pride of France. French literature also enters the European cultural scene with dignity. Her appearance really inspires respect, and it will not be long before she becomes the European hegemon. The Renaissance, as you know, gradually moved from imitation of ancient models to the creation and consistent codification of national literary languages and national literatures. In France at this time, Joashen Du Bellay (1525-1560) and, above all, Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) create the Pleiades poetic group (originally the Brigade, which in 1549 publishes a manifesto (we should pay tribute to Henry II - already during the years of his reign!) under the title "Protection and glorification French ", which refutes the original thesis of the Renaissance that lofty poetic ideals can only be expressed through the ancient languages \u200b\u200bof Greek and Latin. The manifesto affirms (and rightly so) the idea that these languages \u200b\u200band were at first crude and undeveloped, and then what they have become today, it was due to the development of literature, and mainly poetry.An outstanding personality of that period is Francois Rabelais (1494--1533), author of the immortal novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel", a brilliant satire on the French society of that time. the thinker of that period was Montaigne (1533-- 1592), the author of the famous "Experiments", which are still striking in the breadth of their scope. They pose questions and give answers on topics of politics, pedagogy, literature, philosophy. In this book, Montaigne considers morality, character, human health. At that time, in the field of drama, France had not yet reached such a level as Spain or England. Increasing the legacy of his father! after the death of his father, the twenty-eight-year-old Henry II becomes a lump of magnificent court and glory of the French Renaissance (Ronsard was his court poet). His court is as magnificent as his father's, and the cultural flourishing of Renaissance France continues during his reign. It begs the question why history ascribes all this to his father, Francis I. Francis I never gave up his Italian tastes. Therefore, he married Henry to Catherine de Medici, a princess from the family of the Dukes of Tuscany. It was, as we have already said, a strange marriage: Henry II, despite his comically obscene relationship with Diane de Poitiers, always behaved towards Catherine as his lawful wife. Truly amazing, and from a psychological point of view, it is obvious that the chroniclers were aware of this, at least subconsciously, if they described him as "a pensive prince of a mediocre soul." He also attempted to free France from the clutches of the Habsburgs, and, oddly enough, he was more fortunate in doing so than his glorious predecessors. He wisely abandoned the unrealistic Italian dreams and focused entirely on penetrating the French-speaking regions of the western part of the "Holy Roman Empire". At the same time, he first fought with Charles V, and after his abdication, with his son Philip II, who became king of Spain, while Charles's brother Ferdinand I, the unpopular Czech (and Hungarian) king, took the imperial crown. . Henry II had talented military leaders, first of all the Duke deGuisy, Admiral de Coligny, by coincidence, the future leaders of the quarreling parties: de Guise became the head of the Catholics, de Coligny led the Huguenots. Both belonged to one of the most prominent figures in the kingdom. The dukes de Guise came from a Lorraine family: their county, then elevated to a duchy, was called Guise. De Coligny was brought by relatives to the favorite of Henry Montmorency. The diplomatic move undertaken by Henry was also a major success, when he took advantage of the general dissatisfaction of the imperial princes with Charles V after the Schmalkaldic War, concluded an alliance with them and came to their aid at the most critical moment. After the defeat of Charles V, he was rewarded with the three bishoprics of Methi, Toul and Verdun. When Charles V unsuccessfully tried to take Methi again, he allegedly said bitterly: "Fortune is a girl, she prefers the young king to the old emperor." At first, the transfer of Meti, Tula and Verdun was conditional: these three bishoprics were to continue to remain within the framework of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation". But according to the peace treaty concluded by Henry II in Last year his life with the successor of Charles Philip II, these territories were finally annexed to France. Thanks to the acquisition of these lands, France has come very close to its present natural frontier along the Rhine. However, the biggest military and political success during the reign of Henry II was the capture of Calais, the city and port on the English Channel, occupied by the British back in the days of Hundred Years War. The British, of course, attached great importance to such big booty. The port of Calais gave them the opportunity to penetrate into France at any time. They surrounded the city with powerful fortifications and fortifications, and on one of the gates they placed a boastful inscription: "The French will take possession of Calais when the lead floats on the water like a cork." The French conquered Calais in a week. The greatest merit in this success belongs, no doubt, to the commander-in-chief, Francis de Guise. Here, future enemies, Catholics and Huguenots, fought side by side, and at the same time they fought excellently and valiantly. But the shadow of growing religious fanaticism and the harbinger of civil wars already stood at the cradle of this amazing victory. When one of the heroes of the battle of Calais was accused by the Spanish side (that is, the enemy!) of adherence to Calvin, Henry II ordered his immediate arrest ... It was Adelo, brother of Admiral Coligny, who at that time was in Spanish captivity. Henry's violent hostility to the Reformation was, especially if one refers to Huguenot sources, downright abnormal. He issued edicts against the Huguenots, arranged special trials for them, imprisoned them, tortured them, burned them at the stake. He imposed strict censorship on all books coming into France from abroad (primarily Protestant ones). The condemned "heretics" had their tongues cut out, so that even when they went to the stake, they would not infect people with their religion. And in this regard, the narrow-minded Henry, of course, could not understand why the "pestilence" spreads more and more widely, penetrates even into the ranks of the courtiers, the nobility and often, surprisingly, members of the tribunals who were supposed to fight heresy. The question arises whether this hatred and cruelty was a manifestation of his own will (according to available information, the king, however, could not particularly boast of this), or his environment forced him to do this. The second seems more plausible. Henry II was strongly influenced by de Guise, admiring his military skill, and de Guise soon showed himself to be an extremely fanatical Catholic. At the same time, he was subject, albeit within the framework of his strange bigamy, to the influence of his lawful wife. Catherine de Medici, especially after the death of Henry, showed herself as an implacable opponent of the Huguenots, in some historical sources indicates her involvement in the infamous Bartholomew night. Thus, our general ideas about Henry II are rather vague. The relatively short period of his reign obscures, first of all, his attitude towards Diane de Poitiers, and somehow the fact remains that his father, who enjoyed universal love, Francis I, was also not very reserved. Although, according to the testimonies, he was a knight and a gallant cavalier (which, apparently, Henry lacked), but at the same time a sybarite - he liked women, and he liked them even more. He died at the age of 52, and there were many rumors that his death was closely connected with this addiction of his. The military-political successes during the years of Henry's reign also remain completely aloof, they are attributed only to his generals. But what kind of king can win without them? The chronicles also report that Heinrich was especially distinguished in ball games, hunting and tournaments. It is on these tournaments that we will finally stop. His passionate love and enthusiastic attitude to tournaments of the classical type, that is, in heavy armor, with a shaft and a spear, were something anachronistic in those days. One might even say quixotic, perhaps without the romantic-heroic pathos. Heinrich simply did not have enough imagination for this; however, it seems that he did not have it at all. This passion, apparently second in strength to his love for Diane de Poitiers, finally cost him his life. When in 1559 he concluded a peace treaty with Philip II in Cato Cambresi, by the way, it was not particularly successful: although Henry received the three bishoprics finally mentioned (Meti, Toul, Verdun), he gave Philip II French eastern regions Bigy, Brez and Savoy, - then he decided to seal this agreement with two marriages - his daughter Elizabeth with Philip And and his sister Margaret with the Duke of Savoy. However, before that, for the last time, he gave vent to his anti-reformation fanaticism, which undoubtedly intensified in connection with the forthcoming relationship with the Spanish king. He personally arrived at a meeting of the Paris Parliament, at which at that time the position in relation to the Reformed was being discussed. And when two speakers demanded an end to the persecution of the supporters of the Reformation, Henry ordered them to be imprisoned. Of course, he could not assume that this was his swan song. Rock Tournament. In honor of the marriage of his daughter and sister, this gloomy and eccentric romantic ordered, in addition to a series of court celebrations, to arrange also a classical tournament. On it, he was going to demonstrate primarily his own art. He was supposed to have three fights. In the first, with the Duke of Savoy, he was awarded the victory. The second duel, with the Duke of De Guise, ended in a draw. In the latter, he opposed the captain of his guards, Montgomery. When this duel ended with a draw, Heinrich did not. wanted to come to terms with this and, contrary to the rules of such tournaments, demanded a fourth fight. It didn't last long. Both opponents broke spears (or, as it was customary to say, the shaft), but Montgomery, instead of throwing a piece on the ground, held it in his hand. “After the skirmish, his trotter continued to gallop at a furious gallop,” we read in Merle’s book “The Legacy of the Fathers,” “and the broken shaft stuck into the king’s head, lifted the visor of his helmet and gouged out his eye. he was just long enough to put his horse around the neck, which still galloped him to the end of the tournament field, where he was stopped by the king's officers. ten more days in terrible suffering. Philip II sent from Brussels the famous surgeon Vesal, who, with the help of Ambrois Pare, examined the wound and tried to pull out chips of a wooden spear from it. Wanting to know the depth of the wound, both great doctors demanded from prison the heads of four criminals who just were cut off, and Montgomery's spear was thrust into them with force. But even these terrible experiments did little to help them. On the fourth day, the king came to his senses and ordered to speed up the marriages of his sister and check it out. What was done, however, in a general depressed state and in anticipation of a fatal end, these weddings, without oboes and violins, resembled a funeral. In a silent procession, many repeated to themselves the bad prediction of Nostradamus: The young lion of the old will win On the battlefield in a strange duel; In the golden cage he will knock out the apple of his eye, One of two blows; then cruel death. People whispered that the "young lion" obviously meant Montgomery, and the "golden cage" meant the royal gilded helmet. The king died on June 10, 1559, two days after the marriage of the princesses. "Captain Montgomery - by the way, he was a Huguenot - after the tournament managed to escape to England, where he settled with his family. Marshal Bernard Montgomery, one of the famous commanders in chief of World War II war, was allegedly his descendant. The mortal wound of the French king Henry II was determined quite unequivocally: a head injury. However, they do not die from a simple bruise of the head or even a concussion. Thus, it was an epidural hematoma, i.e., hemorrhage between cranial bone and dura mater.What exactly can cause death in a head injury?This can happen, for example, if the brain is damaged, especially if the structures of the brain stem are damaged, then it can be complications in the form of a hemorrhage or brain abscess (edema or purulent inflammation).The most common complication of head trauma is hemorrhage. m: 1. epidural hemorrhage, i.e. arterial hemorrhage between the cranial bone and the dura mater; 2. subdural hemorrhage, i.e. venous hemorrhage under the dura mater, between it and the thin meninges; 3. subarachoid hemorrhage, i.e. diffuse bleeding under the thin meninges (also venous); 4. intracerebral bleeding or, more often, localized hemorrhage, i.e. in most cases, arterial hemorrhage in the brain, most often in the forebrain region. What was the cause of Heinrich's death? We know that in the final of his duel with Montgomery, he received a penetrating wound in the eye with a broken shaft. How, then, can his eleven-day agony and death be compared with the individual diagnoses we have listed? The only thing that we can immediately exclude is the epidural syndrome. This arterial hemorrhage is fatal before twenty-four, at most forty-eight hours, unless trepanation is performed, the accumulation of blood is removed and the bleeding is stopped. Subarachoid hemorrhage also seems implausible. Firstly, it rarely occurs as a result of a penetrating wound to the eye socket, and secondly, a strong, relatively young (hardly forty years old) king would certainly have survived it. To do this, it would be enough for him to be in a state of rest for a long time. In contrast, an intracerebral (intracerebral) hemorrhage in the region of the frontal lobe would instantly cause death if it were severe: the king would survive a smaller hemorrhage with a residual neurological diagnosis. In addition, a penetrating wound that would cause intracerebral hemorrhage must have been very deep. Therefore, a subdural hematoma remains. It can be either chronic, developing over months, or acute, developing over several days. In both cases, we are talking about bleeding from veins displaced under the hard shell. So, in this case, Henry II must have had an acute subdural hemorrhage. Penetration with the tip of the shaft could easily injure the veins under the dura and cause subdural hemorrhage there, which would gradually increase until it caused an increase in intracranial pressure, shift of brain tissue, compression of the trunk (the so-called conical signs) and subsequent death. However, there is another, albeit hardly plausible, possibility here. Despite the fact that the famous surgeon of that time, Ambroise Pare, immediately treated the wound (and the no less famous Brussels doctor Vesal advised), infection could occur, which would lead to suppuration and brain abscess. In this case, Henry II could die from sepsis. But we, unfortunately, do not know if he had a high temperature before his death and if he lost consciousness. Thus, subdural hematoma seems to be the most plausible diagnosis. With a brain abscess, a young, physically strong king would probably live a week or two longer. The death of this strange, brooding, melancholy and infantile king - so many epithets he was awarded - rapidly accelerates the decline of the Valois royal dynasty. In France, moreover, still torn apart by civil wars, they are destined to rule for only thirty years ...HENRY II, King of England
King of England from the Plaitagenet family, who ruled in 1174 - 1189. Woman: from 1152 Eleanor, daughter of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1122, d. 1204). Genus. 1133, d. 6 July 1189
Heinrich was born in Mance; he was the son of Queen Matilda of England and Gottfried the Handsome, nicknamed Plantagenet for his habit of decorating his helmet with a branch of gorse. Heinrich inherited from his mother a love of power, from his father - a love of science and disputes, an amazing memory, an ardent temperament and charming manners. He was brought up first in Rouen, "in the house of his grandfather Rollon", then in the ecclesiastical and scientific city of Angers. At the age of nine he was taken by his mother to England and lived in Bristol with his uncle Robert of Gloucester amid anxiety. internecine war. In 1149 he went to Carlyle to visit his uncle David, King of Scots, and receive from him a knight's sword; from then on, he acted as a contender for the English crown. In 1151, Henry received the Duchy of Normandy from his mother; a short time later his father died, leaving him Anjou, Touraine and Maine. He then married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced wife of the French King Louis VII, who brought him the dowry of the Duchy of Aquitaine. After that, he became the most powerful feudal lord of France; his possessions stretched from the banks of Brela to the foot of the Pyrenees and covered the lower reaches of three large rivers: the Seine, the Loire and the Garonne. In June 1153, Henry landed in England and fought against King Stephen of Blois. His victory enabled him to advance as far as Wallingford; then the barons of both armies forced their leaders to agree. The premature death of Eustachius, Stephen's eldest son, facilitated the conclusion of a peace that was finally confirmed by oaths at Westminster. Stephen recognized Henry as his successor, son and heir, and Henry guaranteed Stephen's children the right to their father's continental possessions. Stephen died six months later, and on December 19, 1154, Henry was crowned at Winchester.
The new king was 21 years old. He was tall, broad-shouldered, had the neck of a bull, strong arms and large bony hands, red, short-cropped hair, a rough and harsh voice; his bright eyes, very pleasant when he was calm, widened in a moment of anger and threw lightning, making the most courageous people tremble. He was moderate in food, had a light sleep, and dressed casually, preferring the short Angevin cloak to the long Norman robes; available at all times, he loved people for the services they rendered to him or which he could expect from them; severe in relation to his soldiers, whom he spared as little as himself, he grieved for the dead, because he did not like losses. Henry became king at a difficult moment, after years of civil war. His indefatigable energy, his flexible and quick mind were needed to govern such a vast state, consisting of the most diverse nationalities; his passionate hatred of disorder was needed so that England could emerge from chaos.
From the first minute of his reign, the king surrounded himself with excellent advisers, whom he took from all camps. Following the example of his predecessors, he issued a "carta of liberties", but very short, as if he did not want to take on too specific obligations; then he immediately set to work on the difficult work of inner transformation. The chess chamber began to function properly again. Foreign mercenaries were released; numerous fortified castles, which the nobility had erected illegally in the previous reign, were destroyed. Most of the fafas elevated to this rank by Stephen or Matilda were stripped of their titles; lands illegally alienated from the domain were again returned to the crown. Henry's cousin, the Scottish King Malcolm IV, took the oath of allegiance to him at Chester (in 1157); Northumberland and Cumberland returned to the rule of the English king.
However, more than English king Henry remained an Angevin prince. It is calculated that out of 35 years of his reign, he spent only 13 in England and only three times remained there in a row for two years. The rest of the time he devoted to his French possessions; from 1158 to 1163 he remained in them uninterruptedly. In 1158 Henry's brother Geoffroy, Count of Brittany, died. Power in Brittany then passed to Count Conan. Henry immediately intervened in Brittany affairs and claimed Nantes for himself as part of his brother's inheritance. Then he betrothed his youngest son Gottfried, then eight years old, to Conan's five-year-old daughter, Constanza. Under this agreement, the Brittany count undertook to accept his daughter's future husband as his heirs, and the king in return promised Conan lifelong possession of the Brittany county and assistance.
Having thus settled his continental affairs, Henry returned to England, where a new dangerous conflict awaited him. In 1163, a strong feud arose between the king and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, over ecclesiastical courts. Henry sought their abolition, but met with stubborn resistance from the English primate. Irritated by the opposition of the archbishop, Henry unleashed all his fury on him. Becket was called to court, in response to many vile unjust accusations. Without waiting for the verdict, he fled to France. The pope and the French king were entirely on his side. With Becket's stubborn persistence and Henry's despotic character, reconciliation between them would have been very difficult. However, the king needed the support of the pope to conquer Ireland. This circumstance forced him to postpone the strife. In 1170 Becket returned to his bishopric. Exile did nothing to soften his character. Soon he put a curse on many nobles, guilty, as he believed, of persecuting the church. The dissatisfied hurried to inform the king about this new trick of the archbishop with various additions. “Is it really true that of all my freeloaders,” Henry exclaimed in a fit of rage, “isn’t there a single one who would deliver me from this rebel?” He hardly called for a direct reprisal against the archbishop, but his words were interpreted precisely in this spirit. On December 29, four Norman knights broke into Becket's church in Canterbury and killed him at the foot of the altar. The news of the assassination of the archbishop in the cathedral church made a tremendous impression on all the peoples of the Western Church. The pope expressed his intention to excommunicate Henry and impose an interdict on the kingdom. The king managed to avoid this only by significant and even humiliating concessions to the Church. In May 1172, he swore at Cana on the Gospel that he had not given the order to kill Becket. After that, he canceled all anti-church decrees and vowed to participate in the crusade.
The conflict had not yet been fully resolved when, in the autumn of 1171, Henry went to Ireland. His large army impressed the natives. The rulers of three Irish kingdoms - Leinster, Connaught and Monster - brought the vassal oath to Henry. Only Ulster remained independent. Henry introduced in Ireland church government in the English manner, subordinated it to the action of English laws and the authority of English institutions. However, for centuries after English language and English law only existed in and around Dublin.
Henry could not concentrate on the conquest of Ireland, as he was constantly distracted by wars on the continent. In subsequent years, family feuds were added to these troubles. Between the king and his wife Eleanor for a long time there was no good agreement. Trying to get Aquitaine, Henry at one time pretended to be in love with Eleanor, but, having achieved what he wanted, he began to treat his wife coldly and had numerous connections on the side. Their marriage, however, was very fruitful. Within fifteen years, the Queen gave birth to eight children. Passionate and vengeful, like all southern women, she tried to inspire her sons with aversion to their father and make them a tool in the fight against him. But even without her intrigues, Henry turned the children against himself with many despotic deeds. In 1170, he crowned his eldest son Henry and assigned England, Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine to his share. To the second son - Richard - he determined the maternal possession: Aquitaine and Poitou. And to the third son, Gottfried, Brittany acquired by him. However, in reality, Henry provided the princes with only a shadow of power, he controlled their every step and constantly made them feel his tough guardianship. Annoyed by this, Henry the Younger demanded that any part of his future possessions - England, Normandy or Anjou - be ceded to him. Having been refused, in 1173 he fled to France. Louis VII recognized him as King of England. The younger brothers, Richard and Gottfried, went to join Henry at the French court. Both arrived there safely, but the mother, who followed them in men's clothing, was captured and imprisoned by order of her husband. The King of France, the Counts of Flanders, Boulogne and Champagne formed a formidable coalition. Princes Richard and Gottfried raised Aquitaine and Brittany against their father. In England itself, a rebellion began, supported by the King of Scotland. Henry crossed first to the mainland. He had only a small army, consisting of Brabant mercenaries. However, the decisiveness with which he confronted the danger brought him victory. In less than a few months, the Count of Boulogne was killed in battle, and the Flemish invasion was stopped. Louis VII was defeated at Conches, and the Earl of Chester was taken prisoner off Dole in Brittany. A truce concluded at Christmas with the French king made it possible for Henry, "forgetting about food and sleep," to turn against Poitou. But alarming news from England forced him to leave the continental possessions only half-pacified. Before turning against the rebels, the king made a public act of repentance in front of the grave of Becket (in And 73 he was declared a saint). At the gates of Canterbury, Henry dismounted and, barefoot, dressed as a penitent, approached the tomb of the martyr. Here he prayed for a long time and received scourging from the seventy monks of the cathedral. On the same day (July 13, 1174) the Scots were utterly defeated at Alnwyn. Soon Hugh Norfolk betrayed his castles, the Bishop of Durham released his Flemish mercenaries, the city of Leicester was taken and its fortifications destroyed. On this side, the case was won, and to stop the French, who resumed hostilities, one appearance of Henry was enough. On September 30, peace was concluded at Gisors between the kings; both sons participated in the treaty and took an oath of allegiance to their father. The Scottish king had to recognize himself as a vassal of the English. Queen Eleanor remained a prisoner and spent ten years in prison.
Having restored peace throughout the state, Henry took up internal affairs. It was at this time that laws were passed that left an indelible mark on the history of the English constitution. In 1176, the ancient form of Saxon judiciary with circuit judges and jury trials was revived, to which the royal lawyers gave clarity and certainty. In the same way, the transformation of the central organs of the state began. If England used to be a military monarchy, now management has acquired the character of legality. From the former council of barons, special institutions began to emerge. which became the basis of a new administrative and judicial order. This assembly itself turned into a body of legislation and was the prototype of parliament. Henry took another step towards uniting the conquerors and the vanquished into a single nation. In 1181, a decree on the militia was promulgated, declaring military service binding on all free subjects. Since that time, the famous English archers began to participate in battles along with the feudal cavalry and brought many glorious victories to the English kings.
It seemed that Henry was provided with a calm old age, but in 1183 the strife in the Plantagenet family resumed. The second son of the king, Richard, refused to swear allegiance to his older brother Henry, and a war broke out between them in Aquitaine. Heinrich himself went to reconcile his sons. Shortly thereafter, Prince Henry died suddenly. This death reconciled the king with his wife. Henry released Eleanor from prison and allowed her to come to Normandy. He had a tense relationship with Richard, especially after he wished to take away Aquitaine from him and give it to his youngest son John the Landless. Irritated Richard demanded that his father officially recognize him as heir to the throne. Heinrich refused. It was evident that he was more willing to bequeath power to his favorite John. Then in 1188 Richard went to France and swore allegiance to King Philip I. Philip announced that he was taking away the French fiefs from Henry and giving them to his son. Old Henry crossed over to the continent and started the last war in his life. It was very unfortunate for the British. In a few months the king lost Maine and Tours with all the territory belonging to them; while the French king advanced on him at Anjou from the northern frontier, the Brittany advanced from the west, and the Poituans from the south. Almost all the barons left the king and went over to the side of his son. Even his younger beloved son John was involved in treason. Not having the means to defend himself, Henry decided to ask for peace. In Chinon, a contract was concluded according to which Henry recognized the King of France as overlord of his continental possessions, undertook to pay him 20 thousand silver marks for the return of his regions, recognized Richard as his heir and promised to forgive all the nobles who secretly or openly participated in the war against him. Shortly thereafter, Henry fell dangerously ill. The dying king was transferred to Chinon. His last words were the words of a curse to his sons.
All the monarchs of the world. - Academician. 2009 .
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Henry II Plantagenet.
Henry Plantagenet, not yet twenty-two years of age, ascended peacefully to the English throne, as was agreed at Winchester with the late king. Henry and his wife Eleanor, six weeks after Stephen's death, were crowned in this city, into which they rode side by side with great solemnity on horseback, greeted with cries of joy, a shower of flowers, and the thunder of music.
The reign of Henry II (1154-1189) began happily. By right of heir and by right of husband he owned a third of all France. His power extended widely. The gifted, young, resolute, full of strength king immediately undertook to destroy some of the evils that had bred in the sad era of his predecessor. All donations of land, which were handed out right and left by both warring parties during the recent civil strife, were declared invalid; many violent hired warriors Henry expelled from England; forced the wicked barons to destroy a thousand and a hundred of their own castles, where people were subjected to monstrous tortures; regained all the castles that belonged to the crown.
Having defeated internal and external enemies, Henry could expect a calm and serene life, ruling vast territory and having many children. However, the long, as it seemed, prospect of well-being and happiness was completely shrouded in gloomy clouds. As soon as his sons became adults, they wanted to share with their father all the income from his possessions, and the queen, offended by her husband's betrayals, provided ardent support to the recalcitrant princes.
Yes, and in Europe, many monarchs did not hesitate to support their claims and assist them. It did not take long for the energetic princes to have enough influence on the continent to organize a powerful conspiracy in their favor.
Thomas Becket, who was actually killed at the instigation of Henry, was canonized as Saint Thomas. Henry, knowing how strong religious prejudices were among the people, and perhaps believing himself that the reason for his failures was the wrath of God, decided to subject himself to penance in the shrine of St. Thomas in Canterbury. As soon as he saw Canterbury Cathedral from a distance, he dismounted and walked barefoot through the city, while the monks whipped him on the back.
Then Heinrich prostrated himself on the stones in front of the saint's shrine and spent the whole day and night in fasting and prayers. The next morning he received absolution, and returning to London, he learned that his troops had defeated the Scots on the same day.
From that time on, Henry's affairs began to improve. The barons who participated in the conspiracy were brought into obedience and surrendered their fortified castles.
After a while, the fight with his father, having entered into an agreement with the King of France, Philip Augustus, was started by the second son Richard. This time, decrepit and ill, Henry suffered several defeats and was forced to sign peace on their terms, one of which was to forgive the conspirators in England and grant them certain privileges. Eventually an agreement was reached by which Henry was forced to make many humiliating concessions.
They say that the already very sick king asked to read the list of seniors who joined Philip and Richard. The first on the list was the name of the beloved son of Prince John, - so the king found out about his betrayal. Without listening to the end, Heinrich, turning to the wall, remained motionless for three days. He died on July 6, 1189, in the 58th year of his life and the 36th year of his reign, during which he showed all the wisdom of a legislator, all the necessary qualities of an excellent politician and all the greatness of a hero. True, all these wonderful qualities were tainted with treachery and cruelty, but these vices were characteristic of all Plantagenets.
| Count of Anjou, Maine and Tours | ||
|---|---|---|
| September 7 - July 6 |
Le Mans, Maine
Chinon, County of Anjou, Plantagenet Empire
daughters: Matilda, Eleanor, Joanna
From mistress:
sons: Geoffrey, William , Peter
- Rebellion of the sons of Henry II
Henry II was the first Plantagenet king of England, one of the most powerful monarchs of the 12th century, whose dominions stretched from the Pyrenees to Scotland.
Biography
Youth
Henry II was the eldest of the three sons of Geoffroy V Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, Maine and Tours, and Matilda of England, daughter of King Henry I of England. Henry was born March 5, 1133 in Le Mans (Maine). In addition to him, two more sons were born in this marriage - Geoffroy (born June 1, 1134) and Guillaume (born in August 1136).
Heinrich spent his childhood at the court of his father in Anjou. As the eldest son of Geoffroy V, Henry was heir to the counties of Anjou, Maine and Touraine. Through his mother, the granddaughter of William the Conqueror, he could lay claim to the throne of Normandy and England.
Having acquired extensive holdings on the Continent, Henry resumed his attempts to win the English crown. By this time, the position of Stephen of Blois had been significantly weakened due to a conflict with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Eugene III. In 1153, Henry's troops landed in England. He soon succeeded in capturing Malmesbury, thus securing control of the western part of Middle England. The Duke then marched north through Gloucester and Coventry and occupied Warwick, Leicester, Tutbury, Derby and Bedford. After that, Henry turned to the Thames and moved to Wallingford, besieged by the army of King Stephen. By this time, the English barons had convinced Stephen of the need for a compromise. At Wallingford, a meeting was held between the duke and the king, and the terms of a truce were agreed. The death in August 1153 of Eustachius of Boulogne, Stephen's eldest son, opened the way for a lasting peace. Through the mediation of Archbishop Theobald and Henry of Blois, the terms of the Treaty of Westminster were drafted, ending the long civil war in England. Stephen recognized Henry as his heir to the English throne, and he, in turn, took an oath of allegiance to the king and guaranteed the inviolability of the land holdings of his son William. Early in 1154, at Oxford, the English barons brought homage to Henry as heir to the crown of England. Stephen died on October 25, 1154. Henry II Plantagenet ascended the English throne.
Foreign policy of Henry II
In 1151, Henry II gave up the fortress of Vexin, after the coronation began to demand its return. In 1158, the French king gave Vexin as a dowry to his eldest daughter Marguerite, who had married Henry the Younger.
Immediately after his accession to the English throne, Henry II claimed (as Eleanor's husband) a claim to the County of Toulouse. In 1159 he attacked Toulouse and captured the county of Cahors. With the support of Louis VII, Raymond V managed to defend his county.
Ireland
Henry in 1158 received from Pope Adrian IV - an Englishman by birth - a bull for the conquest of Ireland. It was supposed that the king of Ireland would become younger brother Heinrich, Wilhelm. But Wilhelm soon died, and the Irish project was shelved. It became relevant again in 1166. King Diarmaid mac Moorchada of Leinster was expelled from his realm by the High King of Ireland, Ruaidri wa Conchobair. Diarmuid came to Aquitaine, where he asked for help from Henry II. The English king, busy with continental affairs, issued a charter to Diarmuid, according to which he could hire troops. The ally of the King of Leinster was Richard de Clare, who became Diarmuid's son-in-law and heir. In -1171, the English knights restored Diarmuid and began a struggle for power over the entire island. The excessive strengthening of the vassals caused concern to Henry, who planned to requisition their English possessions. Richard de Clare offered to become a vassal of King Henry II as Lord of Leicester. In 1171, Henry II, at the head of a large army (240 ships, 500 knights, 400 foot soldiers and archers), arrived from France with an army and proclaimed himself ruler of Ireland. Having received an oath of allegiance from the local rulers and clergy, on April 17, 1172, Henry left the island to meet with the papal legates.
After the departure of Henry II, the struggle between the English and the Irish continued. The western part of the island continued to offer resistance. In 1177, Henry's son John was proclaimed King of Ireland. On May 25, 1185, as ruler, he landed at Waterford at the head of an army of 300 knights and several hundred archers. But John's campaign failed, and his troops were defeated.
Domestic policy of Henry II
Domestic politics Henry was aimed at strengthening royal power and centralizing the kingdom. The main direction of the king's policy was the reduction of the judicial and financial powers of the English feudal lords, both secular and ecclesiastical, as well as the creation of a new, for the most part, mercenary royal army, independent of the vassal service of the feudal lords subject to Henry II. In 1184, all the forests of the kingdom were proclaimed the property of the king by the “Forest Assisi”.
Church policy. Assassination of Thomas Becket
With regard to the church, Henry II continued the policy of his predecessors from the Norman dynasty. The church was still considered an integral part of the English state and was often used to replenish the royal budget. In 1159, in particular, the clergy were heavily taxed to finance the king's Toulouse campaign. Henry II also completely controlled the procedure for electing bishops and abbots and kept vacant church positions for a long time in order to withdraw the corresponding income in his favor. One of the king's main promoters of this policy was his chancellor, Thomas Becket. At the same time, the weakness of royal power during the anarchy of 1135-1154 and fast development church law as a result of the activities of Archbishop Theobald, significantly expanded the scope of church jurisdiction at the expense of the prerogatives of the king. The ecclesiastical courts have arrogated to themselves the exclusive right to administer justice in relation to the clergy, as well as in respect of a significant number of cases of breach of obligation, including those concerning secular fiefs and claims for the recovery of debts. The situation was complicated by the fact that ecclesiastical courts usually applied only a small fine as a sanction to clergy who committed a crime. According to William of Newburgh, from the time of the accession of Henry II to the English throne until 1163, more than 100 murders were committed by English clergy.
Obviously, it was precisely with the aim of bringing the ecclesiastical judicial system under the control of secular power that, after Theobald's death, the king achieved the election of his chancellor Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England in 1162. However, these calculations turned out to be erroneous: Becket, who did not have special authority in church circles either as a theologian or as a pious righteous man, was an outstanding administrator and ambitious politician. Immediately after his election as archbishop, he resigned his functions as chancellor and devoted his life to uncompromisingly defending the interests of the church.
No less important were Henry's legislative innovations in the field of judicial protection of property rights. Simultaneously with the Clarendon Assize, in 1166, the Assize “On a New Seizure” (“Novel Disseisin” - “New Owner”) or the Assize “On Illegal Possession of Property” was adopted. According to its provisions, any subject of the king could apply to the royal court with a statement that he was illegally deprived of land. In response to this, the plaintiff could receive a royal order, on the basis of which the royal justiciar was to convene twelve law-abiding people who lived in the area where the disputed land was located, and under oath to find out from them whether the land was really illegally and unjustly taken away from the applicant. If the convened jury confirmed this fact, the plaintiff was promptly returned to his land, and the perpetrator of the illegal seizure of land, apparently, was punished by a fine in favor of the royal treasury. It was the first of the assizes dedicated to the protection of property rights. By withdrawing these disputes from the jurisdiction of the feudal lords and transferring them to the jurisdiction of the royal courts, Henry II ensured that the English barons could no longer arbitrarily take land from their smaller vassals and tenants. At the same Grand Council in Clarendon, Henry initiated a new census of land holdings in England in order to clarify and supplement the data of the Domesday Book, compiled on the basis of the results of a general land census conducted in 1085-1086.
Military reform
Key points military reform Henry were reflected in his Assize "On Armament", adopted in 1181. Henry sought to destroy those castles that were illegally created during the civil war. To combat military evasion, he introduced a new tax - "shield money". This tax, which was paid to the king by all free landowners, allowed the king to maintain a mercenary army; it replaced the existing 40-day military service per year for flax.
Sons rebellions and civil war
Crisis of 1173
Henry's attempts to divide his possessions among his many children caused scandals. Henry the Young was crowned, titled King of England, ruler of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine, but did not own anything. Richard, to whom Aquitaine was to belong, might have been unhappy that Henry, after the betrothal of his daughter Eleanor, had promised to hand over Gascony to Castile after the death of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In addition, Richard's bride Alice was called the mistress of Henry II.
Crisis of the 1180s
Final years and death
The last three years of the king's life were spent fighting the king of France. Sometimes in these wars, Henry and his heir Richard acted as allies, and sometimes as opponents.
Philip Augustus demanded custody of Geoffroy's children, an end to the war between Richard and the Count of Toulouse, and the issue of Alice and her dowry Vexin. These demands were rejected by Henry in February 1187. The parties began to prepare for war - Henry commanded troops in Normandy, Richard in Aquitaine. Philip invaded Berry and occupied Isudun Castle. Richard came forward to meet him, and they met at Chateauroux. Philip offered peace, and with the help of the papal legate (who called on the rulers for a new crusade), a truce was concluded for two years.
Philip and Richard went to Paris after the armistice. Heinrich demanded the arrival of his son. In the fall, Richard accepted the title of crusader.
Early in 1188 the English and french kings met again. And there it was decided to go on a crusade. But in the middle of the year the war resumed again, which caused new friction between Henry and Richard.
On November 18, 1188, Henry, Richard and Philip met at Bowlen. Philip demanded that Richard be married to Alice, and that the English barons recognize him as Henry's heir. After Henry refused, Richard swore allegiance to Philip for Aquitaine, Anjou, Normandy, Berry and those lands that were occupied by him in Toulouse. Philip took the oath. The truce lasted until Easter 1189. The war began, during which Henry lost Maine, Touraine.
On July 4, 1189, a peace was concluded, according to which Henry pledged to pay 20 thousand marks, to marry Alice to his son Richard, who should be officially proclaimed heir to the throne. Otherwise, the subjects of the king are released from the oath of allegiance to him. After which the kings had to go on a crusade.
On July 6, 1189, Henry II died. He was buried at Fontevraud Abbey. In 1204, his wife Eleanor will be buried there next to him.
yard
At the court of Henry there were lawyer Thomas Becket, chroniclers John of Salisbury, Pierre of Blois, Walter Map, Gieraut de Barry, poets Vas, Thomas English, Benoit de Saint-Maur, Walter of Chatillon, Nigel Vereker, for some time - the famous Bernart de Ventadorn. One of them, Pierre of Blois, left a very interesting characterization of the young king, where he, in particular, wrote: “When he does not hold a bow or sword in his hand, he is in council or busy reading. There is no man more witty and eloquent, and when he can free himself from his worries, he loves to argue with scientists.
Marriages and children
Wife: May 18, 1152 (Poitiers, France) Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), Duchess of Aquitaine. Children:
- William (1152-1156)
- Henry the Young King(1155-1183), co-king of England
- Matilda(1156 – 28 June 1189), married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria
